Filed under: Handhelds

We simply can’t get enough of cheap, nasty, and niche Windows CE devices — which is why the iOpen-081A is like music to our ears. Awesome music. This garish pile of plastic does just about everything you’d want a portable device to do, unless you need to do a lot of data entry (or any, since it doesn’t have a keyboard of any sort). Still, the iOpen features a 480 x 272 touchscreen display, an ARM926 CPU, 2GB of flash storage, 64MB of SDRAM, 802.11b/g, GPS, SD and MMC card support, as well as a USB port for hooking up something like a keyboard or flash drive. As a media player, it seems to support all of the familiar formats (MP3, MP4, WMA, AVI), and we wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few emulators hanging around on this bad boy. Hey, if you’ve got 2300 yuan (about $336) to spare and absolutely no concerns about what your devices look like, you could do worse.

[Via Pocketables]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

The long-rumored resurrection of Gizmondo from the ashes of Stefan Eriksson’s bisected Ferrari Enzo is near. Near, that is, if you believe Rich Jenkins, CEO of Media Power, the company behind this rebirth. Jenkins recently showed Swedish journalist Hans Sandberg a box full of pre-production gaming handhelds, all looking suspiciously like old, decidedly post-production units. According to Jenkins the changes are all internal, consisting of new graphics hardware from nVidia and an uprated battery (to be offered as a free upgrade to scorned owners of the original). Pricing is still undetermined but Android is confirmed; owners will have to choose either Google’s new hotness or Microsoft’s decidedly more tepid Windows CE, but can’t have both — unless they buy two. Release is still set for the end of this year via a “really cool website” hitting the intertubes next month.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It’s a UMPC! It’s a MID! It’s a multifaceted PMP that relies on Windows CE 5.0! Whatever it is, the Nurian Avatar F1 comes touting a 5.8- x 3- x 1-inch chassis and isn’t likely to stray too far from South Korea. The PMP conglomerate not only plays back MPEG1/2/4, DivX, XviD, WMV, OGG and MP3 files, it also defines words, tunes into mobile TV (DMB) broadcasts and outputs video via the component dongle. You’ll also find a 4.3-inch WQVGA display, USB socket, a built-in equalizer and an integrated mic for good measure. Take a wild guess at the price, chances are you’ll be in the neighborhood (minus the flight to Seoul).

[Via Pocketables]

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Not content with dominating the PC and smartphone market in the realm of operating systems, Microsoft has apparently now set its sights on PNDs. Today the folks in Redmond announced a new OS aimed directly at GPS units, dubbed Windows Embedded NavReady 2009. The software is based on Windows Embedded CE, and combines navigation tools enriched with Live Search, MSN Direct, and Windows SideShow integration, coupled with an emphasis on Bluetooth connectivity. The company says that the system is shipping to OEMs and developers as we speak, which will yield consumer devices in time for the 2008 holiday season.

[Image courtesy of Jim Clark]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables

Ready for some honesty? We can think of a good handful of timepieces that we’d buy before we dropped $629.95 on this catastrophe, but for folks with pants too slim and hands too full to carry around a separate cellphone, we suppose it’s a so-so alternative. The EGP-WP98 claims to be the first quad-band GSM watch phone to come with Windows CE 5.0 installed, and while it’s supposed to tout a SIM card slot, water-resistance, a 266MHz CPU and a 1.45-inch display with handwriting recognition (for real?), that little line informing us that specifications are “subject to change without notice” makes us a touch leery. Nevertheless, you can also expect (though you may not get) a 1.3-megapixel camera, WiFi, a T-Flash expansion slot, multimedia player and built-in Bluetooth. According to one particular e-tailer, it’ll be ready to ship on April 25th — whether or not anyone’s fat-fingered enough to push an order through, however, remains to be seen.

[Via UnwiredView]

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Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio, Portable Video

If you’re an owner or prospective owner of the Cowon Q5W, you’re probably impressed with its myriad audio and video playback capabilities — but did you know it can handle emulation as well? Apparently, since the device is based on Windows CE, it’s fairly easy to get game emulators up and running on the 5-inch PMP. In the video you can watch a setup of what appears to be an SNES imitator playing both Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Kart (two favorites of our SNES fanboy, Paul Miller, we suspect). The games are controlled by a decidedly non-Nintendo accessory — a PS1 controller connected via USB adapter. With that recent $50 price drop, this may be just the incentive you need to spring for a shiny new edition to your gadget library.

Continue reading Cowon Q5W does SNES emulation with a PS1 controller

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Filed under: Handhelds

Enter the Cuso PC S600 “UMPC,” your ticket to near-constant ridicule from friends and family. Sure, you’d think with specs like the blazing 266MHz ARM CPU, 1GB or 4GB of flash memory, 802.11b WiFi, miniSD support, playback of MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, OGG, AAC, APE, AVI, WMV, DIVX, H.264, ASF, and 3GP files (um, with the freeware app TCPMP), and all kinds of Windows CE-powered document handling (TXT, DOC, XLS, PDF, PPT, PPS) you’d be all set, but we don’t think it’s that simple. There’s something about that cheap looking plastic casing, stereo speakers, and totally out of line use of the term UMPC that tell us this probably isn’t much more than a glorified PMP. On the bright side, we’re thinking this isn’t going to break any banks, though we’ve got no word on price or release date.

[Via thegadgetsite]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Given the sheer bulk of press Meizu’s M8 has received over the course of its young, controversial life, it’d seem likely that even the slightest trickle of units onto Chinese store shelves would lead to unboxing shots, videos, and reviews within hours, wouldn’t it? Reports are starting to flow across the ‘nets that M8s are now being made available through several of Meizu’s suppliers, but without a single in-the-wild picture of a fully functional, final spec unit — from Meizu, much less a paying customer — we’re not buying it. For one thing, there aren’t any “zomg I just picked up my m8!” posts on MeizuMe; secondly, MeizuMe’s Err0r says that his site will be the “first place” we read about a release (and frankly, we believe him); and third, after the trials and tribulations the handset has gone through on its long journey to retail, you’d think that we’d at least see it at a trade show before it hit the streets. So, anyone want to prove us wrong by posting shots of their M8?

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Filed under: GPS, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Although Windows Mobile generally gets all the attention, a whole spectrum of PMPs and GPS units run Windows CE (also known as Windows Embedded) with great results, so the feature list for Windows CE 6.0 R2 is a little sneak peek at what we might see in the next year or so. Microsoft isn’t actually officially announcing R2 until Thursday at an event in Japan, but the changelog and a download have already appeared on the web for your eager eyes — revealing the big addition of video over IP calling in addition to bolstered VoIP features and other obvious-but-welcome tweaks like SDHC support and Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. No word on when OEMs will start rolling any of this out, obviously, but that’s not stopping you from checking the whole list at the read link and dreaming of your own personal super-PMP, now is it?

[Via eWeek]

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