Mysterious smartphone offers up integrated 7.1 surround sound

Believe us, we've seen "surround sound" get put in places it was never meant to be, and while the likes of headphones, laptops, and even PDAs have yet to be spared as companies try anything to attract attention to their presumably lackluster offerings, the mobile phone doesn't typically see such desperate measures -- until now, of course. While minor gimmicks are fairly commonplace on humdrum overseas handsets, a mysterious Hong Kong-derived smartphone (another snap after the jump) purports to rock 7.1 audio right on the device itself, and by the looks of things, it's not lying. Of course, there will be absolutely no separation of channels with this thing, and we've got to believe that there's a few wires crossed within giving off a more matrixed wall of sound in reality. The rest of the specs (if they're to be trusted) include a 3.5-inch QVGA touchscreen, Bluetooth, two-megapixel camera, a microSD slot, and a transparent protective lid, and please, shut off that little voice that's urging you to ponder about where to find and purchase this hunk, alright?

[Via JustAMP, thanks Wigald]

[elan @ May 2nd 2007 7:34AM]

Windows Vista.

[RijilV @ May 2nd 2007 7:40AM]

doesn't it defeat the purpose of surround sound if all the speaker are right next to eachother?

[Jonathan Keim @ May 2nd 2007 7:40AM]

.... all consumers want is two really good speakers in their electronics.

[kevink @ May 2nd 2007 7:44AM]

you sir are a genius. how about a speakerphone that doesn't sound like a drive threw window? how about a handheld device that can actually play some good stereo tunes? quality over quantity people

[Mike @ May 2nd 2007 8:33AM]

I agree.

I'm also kinda happy with my Chocolate speaker...for how small it is, it can belt out some pretty good audio (minus the bass).

[Marc Mitchell @ May 2nd 2007 7:58AM]

stereo was invented by walt disney for the film fantasia in the 1930z.. it took 30 years for the music industry to accept it & the word " stereo " to appear on the front of all those timeless 60z & 70z vinyl's.. its been twenty years now of surround sound in the movie genre & its our inevitable Digital future that surround sound will become as standard tomorrow as stereo is today. many pioneers have tried to make surround sound a standard over the years but the cost of consumer electronics & formats has always held back its growth. Now in this digital age the game board has changed with the majority of digital broadcasts , game consoles & computers supporting multi channel audio outputs, there really is no consumer choice any more, surround sound is here to stay.

If you are interested in surround sound please head to "The Surrounded Podcast" the worlds only 5.1 pod-cast in the itunes directory or go to www.surroundedpodcast.com

[treetrunk @ May 2nd 2007 8:30AM]

@Marc:

Stereo was first demonstrated by Clement Ader in 1881. Bell labs and EMI worked on it in the 30's. Fantasia was merely the first commercially released film to use stereo (incidentally it flopped and was later downmixed to mono, so is perhaps not the best example for you!).

It didn't take years for the music industry to "accept" stereo, indeed, it was (unsurprisingly) the music industry who did a lot of the work which led to it being used at all!

I disagree entirely that "the cost of consumer electronics and formats" have held back the growth of multi channel audio, the problem is that PEOPLE DON'T WANT IT! This is fairly evident when the biggest selling music player is an expensive 2-channel device with limited functionality which most of the time plays lossy-encoded compressed audio (the iPod).

[Marc Mitchell @ May 2nd 2007 8:46AM]

Brilliant :) see you learn something new every day, thanks for the info tree trunk.. it all adds to the knowledge.. but in my opinion i still believe surround sound is the inevitable future.. i humbly concede any mis information & thank you for setting me straight .

my 9 year old only knows surround sound... my point is, that if a consumer chooses a stereo device they hear stereo, if they have a surround device they hear surround, current formats allow the mix down depending on which audio system it detects. so as long as people are going to go buy new hi fis, tv systems etc, the chances are that there next purchase will include multichannel outputs unless as you say there out & about with there ipods.

hit me up via the website.. would luv to chat more.

www.surroundedpodcast.com

[brett @ May 2nd 2007 10:51AM]

StereOWNED

[Jeff @ May 2nd 2007 8:36AM]

7.1? That's 5.1 too many ....

[iskndr @ May 2nd 2007 8:57AM]

It kinda looks like a fancy modernist european-designed stove top in the first picture.
That alone warrants my interest. But then again I like cooking.

[Jonathan Allen @ May 2nd 2007 9:20AM]

Is it just me or does that look like either 6.1 or 8.1, but not 7.1?

[Big @ May 2nd 2007 9:22AM]

A worthless gimmick.

#1 Even if you had 7.1 enabled audio media your ears would have an extremely hard time distinguishing from each speaker due to their closeness to each other. That's why a home theater requires speakers to be spaced.

#2 What kind of audio file type supports 7.1 anyway?

#3 They'd be better off making headphones with independant subwoofers, tweeters and mids.

[GioNYC @ May 2nd 2007 9:37AM]

The PSP needs something like that.

[apeguero @ May 2nd 2007 10:51AM]

This is just so dumb. Why not just two good speakers in the front and a nice low freq driver in the rear? Also, 7.1 surround and they can't even give us a decent VGA screen on that device? Makes no sense to me.

[bonaparte @ May 2nd 2007 11:10AM]

This phone reminds me of the Moto Ming with that clear flip screen cover. It seems nice I could careless about the speakers I just think the phone looks nice. I they get info on somemore of the specs and price.

[Brandon @ May 2nd 2007 11:12AM]

I would have opted for a stereo sound bar, 3 left and 3 right speakers high mid and low. My single speaker doesn't produce any lows and the mids suck. Love my ppc just want better quality sound for music, vids, and most important calls.

[andrew @ May 2nd 2007 11:17AM]

i heard the iphone has this feature, too.

[Dernfara @ May 2nd 2007 11:42AM]

It is actually just 7.0, the sub comes separately ;0)

[Pete @ May 2nd 2007 11:58AM]

Surround sound is superb with a games console, even the headphone based solutions (the Dolby Headphones models, like the Creative one) work very well and have a major benefit. I notice a lesser benefit for films, not worth a big expenditure IMO.

I see no reason for any other application, including music or PDAs, to go beyond high quality stereo. Who really wants to hear music coming from behind them?

[Pablo @ May 2nd 2007 12:18PM]

if this thing rocks a sub...that's freakin' sweet!

[KC @ May 2nd 2007 12:20PM]

I wonder how many watts the sub puts out?

[t-bone @ May 2nd 2007 1:17PM]

This is proof that we need to stop automatically adding "Surround Sound" after ever number over 2. 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 doesn't make it surround sound, it is the placement of the speakers, not the number, that counts. This is a pretty worthless gimmick.

[murray @ May 2nd 2007 2:16PM]

So dumb.

[Astropods @ May 2nd 2007 2:54PM]

Who cares about the speakers, it runs Vista! WOW!

[evader @ May 2nd 2007 3:22PM]

Translated from Chinese using Google Language tools, I find the sellers' description of this phone AMAZING. The phone on the other hand scares me.
*****
"From the huge 3.5-inch LCD applied to the cell phone, no one has been able to shape beat me. This 998 and has a unique transparent cover design impressed me. Although still has huge fuselage, but always in the hands of totally stupid, but Sven is a fashion business atmosphere. Turning to business, but not Bluetooth. Produce 998 to 2,000 milliamperes, such as the extra-long machine and Bluetooth stereo music as a selling point. accompanied TXT electronic schoolbags and electronic dictionary functions, but also many business people touched the hearts! The fuselage was missing after the 7.1-channel speaker system, the number of noise control was very satisfactory, and it knew the bass, treble highlighted really hard to find! Single-card standby is quite good ........."

hahahahahahahahahahahahahah

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=zh%7Cen&u=http://www.m8cool.com/mobile/1/417/2965.html&prev=/language_tools

[pikkoz @ May 5th 2007 10:15AM]

3.5-inch QVGA ? Wow thats some high spec.