Updated 18 Jun, 2013, 8:58 pm IST

PMPs to Look Out For This Year

04 Jan, 2011 | by Ashish Koshy

Some Portable Media Players that we would love to see in India. Soon.

Happy New Year to all! Did you spend most of 2010 hanging on to that “Multimedia Phone” because it could play “decent” music? Why not save for a good quality PMP? Yes, it increases the weight you carry in your pockets by around 100 g, but it definitely is worth it.

We’ve seen these players evolve. From meager storage capacities to a gigantic 160 GB, from wav and mp3 support to flac support, why, they now even play HD videos! Also, they are not Java-based any more, these players are now getting better Operating Systems. The price shouldn’t be too much of a problem as most players usually offer a lot for their price.

We list a few players that are slated to come out in 2011 and will set us in motion... dance motion, that is.

Cowon D3 Plenue

Plenue of music and videos this year

Ah, Cowon. A sound for sore ears. Honestly, apart from the X7 fiasco, many audiophiles will agree that when it comes to sound quality, nothing really beats Cowon. The company is set to launch their latest PMP, the Cowon D3 Plenue. The player supports a host of formats and codecs. Right from FLAC, APE and M4A for the audio to H.264 and MKV for the video, this one has it all. Throw in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and the Android 2.1 PS and you have, on paper, a great player in your hands. �

Check out some of the features it has:

3.7-inch AMOLED screen
Wi-Fi (802.11 B/G)
Bluetooth 2.1
MicroSDHC card slot
Full HD 1080p video playback
HDMI TV-out and composite TV-out, S/PDIF audio

Samsung Galaxy Player

You have the galaxy to play with

If the Galaxy S was iPhone’s competitor, then the Galaxy Player is supposed to compete with the iPod Touch. It’s a no-brainer really. The Galaxy Player runs on Android v 2.1 and features a 1 GHz processor.� The player also boasts of a 2MP camera. It will be interesting to see how it really fares against the iPod Touch as they both seem to have similar features. Other features of the Galaxy Player include:

3.2-inch screen at 800x480 (WVGA)
Wi-Fi, GPS
Bluetooth
Rear-facing camera at 2 megapixels
8 GB, 16 GB with micro SD card slot

The player also supports HD Video Playback and is one that we are just waiting for.

Creative Zen Touch 2

Touch it twice

Yes. Creative is joining the Android PMP scene with their latest Zen Touch 2. The specs are pretty good even if it they don't compare to the D3 Plenue or the Galaxy Player. I mean, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a rear camera and capacities of 8 GB and 16 GB are not bad at all. Add to the fact that it also runs on Android 2.1 Eclair and there is nothing really to complain about. Creative is one company whose products deliver consistently and that’s really what matters in the end. Looking under it’s hood, here are some of the features :

3.2-inch screen at a resolution of 480x320
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
2 MP rear camera
8 GB, 16 GB with micro SD card slot

Philips GoGear Connect

Connect with some good music

Philips has been doing pretty well with their GoGear portable media players. Their latest PMP, the GoGear Connect has been released in October 2010, but not in India as of yet. The Connect is said to be the first mp4 player to run an Android OS. The Connect runs version 2.1 Eclair and has Wi-Fi and a built-in camera. The support for audio and video formats are pretty good too. Here are the specs of the Connect:

3.2 inch touchscreen
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Built-in camera
16 GB with expandable memory�

While these players are confirmed to hit the market, the one mentioned below should be coming out sooner rather than later.

Cowon 3D Player

There has been no further word about this 3D player that reportedly boasts of a 4.8-inch touchscreen, battery life with 10 hours of video and 45 hours of music and 32 GB and 64 GB versions. Not to forget, the player is also said to support 1080p videos and supports 3D content without glasses.

Now that you know what to wait for, start saving people. Don’t settle for average sound quality that many of your multimedia phones offer. Go for the best, go PMP. This might be the year to make that switch.

Tags: Cowon , Creative , Samsung , Apple , Google , Android , Eclair , Froyo , D3 Plenue , Zen Touch 2 , Galaxy Player , iPod Touch