New PMP w/ Wifi?

paulrbeers

Before my meizu, I have had several Mp3 players (even iPod's). This is my first device that also can do video. What a difference. I am hooked. Problem is, is that the M6 isn't the world's greatest video player (the audio drift and low 18/20 fps). So I started to look around and was about to pull the trigger on an Onda Vx858LE for the larger screen (although I am trying to decide if I would rather have the VX858 for the wolson audio chip), when I started to think about my "ultimate" device. It would need to have at least 8GB of storage (flash perferred for size and battery life), Decent screen size (at least 2.8 inches/72mm), and wifi with browser. Basically at this time it seems my only options are the Archos 605 wifi and Apple iTouch. Anyone know of any other devices out on the market?

I am going on vacation soon, and it would be great to have one device that I can use on the plane for music and videos, and then when in the airport to surf the net.

sere83

unfortunatly there are very few players on the market at this current time with wifi/web browsing capabilities apart from the ipod touch and the archos 604/605 wifi, quite suprising considering the technology is not exactly new. There are a number of players slated for release before the end of the year or early 2008 that are supposed to have wifi and web browsing capabilities. notably:

Cowon Q5: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/c...ced-and-dated/
(the price for this is extortionate @ around $980 in the UK, US prices are rumoured to be lower)

Iriver W10:
http://www.iriver.eu/multifunction_p...l?p_id=768&L=0
(looks promising)

And of course:

Meizu M8
(obviously this is a cell phone as well)

Iriver and creative are rumoured to have some other stuff up their sleeves but nothing is concrete. There are many korean manafacturered pmp's from manafacturers like 'istation' with wifi that have never seen the light of day in europe or the US. Have a look around though there maybe some other options. You may consider a PDA such as the dell x51v which has some great 3rd party music apps and expandable storage. Battery life and sound will never be great though.

paulrbeers

Yeah, I thought about an Dell Axion, except for the limited storage (I know I could use flash cards) and the fact that they are no longer available from Dell since Dell got out of the PocketPC biz. Also the size becomes an issue. Actually it is due to the size, that the Archos 604/605 wifi is really out.

I guess I could just hold tight and use my Meizu for video until something else comes out. Thank you for the links.

sere83

no worries, I too had issues a while back finding a decent small-cheap flash player for my video needs. I own a hacha R280s which was very compact had a 2.8 inch screen and a very basic interface but required all video be rencoded at 320x240 @ 20/24fps. The screen was a bit dark and the video playback was decent, but at 24fps A/V desyncing became an issue with video bitrates above 500k. I never used it for music due to lack of playlisting or Id3 browsing. Usually players that use faster processors such as the ADI blackfin get better results for video. I hear the ainol v2000 has good video playback functions, although I doubt the GUI is that great, as with many of the chinese players. I recently purchased a SmartQ T5 (http://www.smartdevices.com.cn/product/jsgg-t5.htm), this players not really available outside china but I managed to source one, It has yet to arrive. Not sure if it is any good though as there are no english language reviews, I read a favourable chinese one though and thought the spec looked remarkable. If you have a bit more to spend the samsung yp-p2 touch screen player that I believe recently released in the US looks amazing (http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic...292354,00.htm), it has bluetooth but no wifi. Obviously next year we can also expect the meizu M7 which looks promising too. You also have the new creative zen:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...89&camp=211189

and the cowon d2:

http://www.amazon.com/Cowon-Portable...1083987&sr=1-1

the screen size of these maxes out at 2.5 inch however and videos must be encoded at 320x240 30fps, again no wifi

paulrbeers

I think I will just have to give up on getting my "perfect" player for now. The Archos 604/5 wifi is just too big and I hate having to use iTunes for everything so that means the iTouch is out. I might just pick up the Onda VX858LE like I originally wanted to, to get me thru until what I want comes along. I looked at the Hacha PC20 and Oppo Luna 5 and both were pretty sweet, but no touch screen so they didn't quite have that cool factor and I couldn't really find any solid reviews.