Sony's China-only PMX-M70 PMP gets reviewed

French site Le Journal du Geek recently got their hands on Sony's slick China-only PMX-M70 PMP, and it looks like it's a pretty solid little player. The orange-and-black unit managed to play back most video files on its 4.3-inch screen, including DivX and H.264 vids, and it packs in 8GB of storage and a touch screen in a device much smaller (and much more stylish) than the Archos 605. The only problem seems to be that it's apparently impossible to get one outside of mainland China -- a situation Sony should think about remedying immediately. Check a video of the unit (in French) after the break.

[Via PMP Today]

Sony PMX-M70
Uploaded by JournalduGeek

[Derek @ Dec 13th 2007 6:19PM]

Does anyone else find it funny that a French site is reviewing a China-only device?

[bigassmuffin @ Dec 13th 2007 6:25PM]

no

does anyone else find it logical that a gadget site is reviewing a gadget?

[Derek @ Dec 13th 2007 6:27PM]

Ok, but you think a Chinese gadget site would be doing it, not a French site...

[James Cameron @ Dec 13th 2007 6:32PM]

No, I find them to be damn lucky to get their hands on any cool gadgets.

[Kinowolf @ Dec 20th 2007 8:35AM]

If you think that's difficult to comprehend, your mind might be shattered if you freeze frame the video. The person speaking is East Asian, possibly Chinese. Too much? Have the borders in your mind suddenly come undone and begun to strangle you yet?

[j.d.ripper @ Dec 14th 2007 5:06AM]

The person speaking in the video is French, a native French speaker. You might have caught a bit of reflection of his face, but he has no accent when he speaks.

BTW, he mentioned it goes to 220/230 EUR in China.

I saw this in Shanghai last month for 200EUR. (I'm sure I could have negotiated off another 20EUR)
I was very tempted to get it, but in the end I got this :
http://www.asia-product.com/jxd-951-2-gb-pmp-digital-dv-camera-mp3-mp4-4-tft-p-243.html

75EUR (after some lengthy negotiation, of course)

[j.d.ripper @ Dec 14th 2007 5:10AM]

Oh, that link has one error on it :
SD slot expandable to 2GB memory

It actually supports SDHC, and I have a 4GB card in mine.
Not sure what the maximum would be though.

[Kinowolf @ Dec 20th 2007 8:47AM]

j.d.ripper.... you are aware that when a person grows up in a country they don't necessarily have an accent, accents aren't genetically encoded. If he grew up in America he'd be American and speak American English, but that wouldn't mean he wouldn't have friends/family/contacts back in the country his parents or grandparents are from. This is called immigration.

[Will @ Dec 13th 2007 6:30PM]

Resolution?

[Kris S. @ Dec 13th 2007 6:37PM]

Doom?

[James Cameron @ Dec 13th 2007 6:41PM]

Yeah, you can play "DOOM" the VIDEO but NOT the GAME.

[James Cameron @ Dec 13th 2007 6:38PM]

480 x 272

[mac @ Dec 13th 2007 6:42PM]

I was sad this player wasn't coming to the US until I read that...not nearly as intriguing with the low-resolution display.

[Mark @ Dec 13th 2007 6:55PM]

So let me see...

A Sony PMP that has a miniUSB port, sexy industrial design, expandable memory via storage card, and plays DivX files, and it isn't available in the US??

Screw you Sony, may you suffer the death of a thousand Meizus.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Dec 13th 2007 7:07PM]

No kidding. They finally get it right and they won't bring it to the U.S.? Say it isn't so, Sony!

[Alex @ Dec 13th 2007 7:57PM]

Other than the size and weight issues, why get this thing if you can get a PSPSlim, which costs less and does more? 4GB memory sticks are less than $50 if you know where to look..

[Wwhat @ Dec 14th 2007 3:11AM]

It's probably a licensing issue, for the US they probably have to disable all formats or pay 300 bucks per device extra.

[tekdroid @ Dec 15th 2007 6:28PM]

PSP still does more and has an easily replaceable battery in addition to flash memory expansion, too. Albeit at a fairly significant size disadvantage and no kickstand.

[slipperywhenwet @ Dec 13th 2007 6:58PM]

"[I]t packs in 8GB of storage and a touch screen in a device much smaller (and much more stylish) than the Archos 605."

It's smaller, I'll give it that, and the unit looks excellent, but I'm pretty sure that it's not a touch screen.

[James Yopp @ Dec 14th 2007 12:25AM]

It's definitely not a touchscreen. In fact, the linked source article lists that as one of the minuses.

I tried to buy one of these in China a few months back. It's basically an identical movie experience to using a PSP, but at the time, I looked everywhere and only a 2/4GB model was available. I ended up with a new iPod nano instead, but if the 8GB had been out, the story would be different.

[block1of4 @ Dec 13th 2007 7:07PM]

i bet sony won't release this in any other territories because of the divx support and the large availability of pirated movies and tv in that format. they figure china just counterfeits everything anyway, so why fight it? hahaha i also can't wait until a chinese knockoff of this comes out.

[Tony @ Dec 13th 2007 7:15PM]

Or maybe because the market in China is five times larger than the US?

I doubt the people in charge of this just said, "Well China counterfeits everything anyway, so what the heck."

[skrew @ Dec 13th 2007 7:56PM]

i doubt divx is the reason, seeing as how the ps3 is getting divx in the next update

[slingblade @ Dec 13th 2007 7:33PM]

XMB - is this thing on every SONY media device now? PSP, PS3, PMX-M70

[Tony C @ Dec 13th 2007 7:58PM]

Watch the video. It's not quite XMB: the icons line up across the top of the screen and their sub-menus don't scroll vertically over each.

A couple of Sony's home theater receivers and high-end TVs have XMB as well.

[Thorin78 @ Dec 13th 2007 7:35PM]

interesting, the same unit is available in 2gb and 4gb as well. PMX-M75 and PMX-M77 respectively. It's about $300 US if you buy the 8gb version from china. I wonder what the battery life is just for audio.

[Jamar @ Dec 13th 2007 7:36PM]

Wonder how much of a business I could make of importing these from China...

[Tony C @ Dec 13th 2007 7:46PM]

BTW -- it's *not* a touchscreen device -- JournalDuGeek listed "Not Touch Screen" as a minus point.

OK... So basically it's a PSP without the "wings" (i.e. game controls) that only plays back media?

If they'd get rid of the ugly little navigation pod bumpout on the side, the profile would look so much cleaner! Increased resolution would be nice -- as it is, it's the same LCD screen found in the PSP.

Bring it on!!!

[tekdroid @ Dec 15th 2007 6:36PM]

the navigation bump is what i like about it and what makes it easier to use, I would suspect. If everything were flush it wouldn't be half as easy to locate the controls, I feel.

[mik @ Dec 13th 2007 7:52PM]

kinda sucks its not coming here, but is it that much different than a PSP? PSP has better screen reso and it plays games.

[Tony C @ Dec 13th 2007 8:00PM]

PSP resolution is 480x272 as well... Same LCD panel.

[Thorin78 @ Dec 13th 2007 8:06PM]

Well that's true but the PSP doesn't have an 8gb internal memory. 8gb memory stick duo pro sells for over $100 so it would be cheaper to buy this PMP if you only needed it for video or MP3 or radio. But if you buy the PMP with 8gb, you can upgrade more memory as well. The resolution on the ipod touch is better and it's got wifi. When you want to add the PMP 8gb + 8gb memory stick, the prices comes out to be more than the ipod touch. But you can't make the ipod touch stand up and don't get a 4.3" screen.

[mik @ Dec 13th 2007 8:13PM]

fair enough, think i'd stick to PSP tho ;)

[kev @ Dec 13th 2007 8:26PM]

Except...what games? A lot of them are rather bad and or just portable versions of their PS2 counterparts.

[Natedog @ Dec 13th 2007 8:01PM]

Being a Knoxvillian, I feel the need to challenge your definition of orange :P

[Geoff @ Dec 13th 2007 9:59PM]

That's RED and black. Commies.

[John McKenna @ Dec 13th 2007 8:16PM]

Oh okay, nice... an iPod touch for Chinese Apple HAters

[John McKenna @ Dec 13th 2007 8:17PM]

*and France i guess
**and without WiFi!!!

[Manny @ Dec 13th 2007 10:48PM]

I'm just going to wait for the "Craiginator" (not its official release name) in March/April 2008. Details are found here:

http://bluwiki.com/go/Craiginator

[XGM @ Dec 13th 2007 10:51PM]

Thats hot, id sell my iPod and Zune for that.

[frappe987 @ Dec 13th 2007 11:08PM]

....must.....have......wifi........A2DP.........must

[Jeff @ Dec 14th 2007 12:54AM]

Did anyone else notice that the guy speaking is probably Chinese? His hands are pretty tan and in the reflection in the device he looks Chinese. Being a Chinaman myself I thought it was somewhat humorous and weird seeing a Chinaman mastering a language that isn't English.

[fearless_fx @ Dec 14th 2007 2:32AM]

Dude, have some self respect. Even as half a chinaman I still feel degraded by your comment.

[deedeedee @ Dec 14th 2007 12:41PM]

@Jeff: What a douche, i'm nominating you for the biggest douche in the universe you douche!

[Astradam @ Dec 15th 2007 8:06PM]

Yep, cause America is the only country with Chinese immigrants, right?

[Anh @ Dec 14th 2007 7:05AM]

Hi,

I'm the guy of the french website. FYI, i'm french (my parents are vietnamese), i'm a gadget lover and one of my best friend live in China so i've just ask him to send me this player !


that's all !

[BrianB @ Dec 14th 2007 10:22AM]

Nicely put.

[benjasmine @ Dec 14th 2007 10:46AM]

PMX-M70 is the flagship. Sony China also introduced PMX-U50 along with this.

this isn't a "real" Sony product IMHO. It was designed and developed by Sony China to aim at China's market. Sony Japan headquarter had little to do with it. Personally, I feel the design is like a "fake" Sony product.

this thing also is overpriced. It's more expensive than PSP. Even though PSP is not officially available, but you can buy one easily at an electronics market.

[benjasmine @ Dec 14th 2007 10:50AM]

sorry, but i mean PSP is not officially available in mainland China

[George @ Mar 8th 2008 6:26AM]

i have a chinese friend who gave it to me and its superb especially transfaring files to the hdd is much easier,also its the slimest ive ever seen and easy to travel with.archos is a bit bulky.