Philips debuts new GoGear lineup: Raga, Spark and LUXE

Philips has trickled news about these DAPs over the past few months, but things just got real, man. The Raga is a completely nondescript flash player with 2GB or 4GB of flash storage, a tiny multi-line display, 27 hours of battery life and a $35 or $45 price tag; the Spark steps things up with a fancy 1.5-inch OLED color screen, clix-style navigation and $50 / $60 price points; while the LUXE (pictured) adds Bluetooth and style into the mix for $90 or $100. Spark and LUXE both offer Rhapsody integration and some new "FullSound" EQ tech from Philips, but the real hotness is the LUXE. The player can clip to your clothing and pump tunes as would be expected, but also syncs up with your phone to allow you to interrupt the music and answer calls without ever swapping out your headphones. We got to play around with a couple versions Philips had on display, and it really does look the part -- though we wouldn't mind it a bit slimmer. The Spark looks nice and really does offer a good amount of screen for the size -- plus we're suckers for the clix interface -- but the Raga looks like the red-headed, overweight stepchild of the lineup. LUXE will be available in January, but the other two should be hitting store shelves now. Check out our hands-on shots in the gallery below. Or don't, we're not the boss of you.

Gallery: Philips debuts new GoGear lineup: Raga, Spark and LUXE

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[Oli D @ Dec 16th 2008 5:38PM]

Finally, a player that looks like a blinged up barnacle.

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 16th 2008 5:42PM]

Cool, I needed new blinky lights for my bike anyway

[ugg.tryptophan @ Dec 16th 2008 5:43PM]

three more DAPs to ignore, oh boy

[konshuss @ Dec 16th 2008 5:44PM]

My Philips GoGear 8GB sits as nothing more than an 8GB flash drive, dropped in favour of a Creative Zen. GoGear lacks the ability to remember what song you were listening to, nevermind the song position. It also doesn't seek at more than about a 2x rate, so good luck if you are on chapter 8 of your audiobook because you'll be holding down the FF button for about an hour. The conversion software is abysmal and slow as hell. I have my doubts these basic issues have been looked at when the press photo doesn't even have it turned toward the screen.


Neat, those diamonds are shiny. You know what they say about polishing a turd though...

[ch4s3r @ Dec 16th 2008 7:40PM]

That it is totally possible! .... but in the end your still holding a ball of poop.

[Mehul @ Dec 16th 2008 5:45PM]

Does anyone even buy these?

[Oli D @ Dec 16th 2008 5:46PM]

Pirates, looking for booty

[jd @ Dec 16th 2008 6:01PM]

where is the asian model?the marketing manager at philips should be fired.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 16th 2008 6:16PM]

I think all of them refused to even touch these :p

[jabber @ Dec 16th 2008 6:03PM]

I love how at first glance in the press shot these players appear to be frolicking in a bountiful field of diamonds... yet upon closer inspection, somewhat fittingly, they're just laying in a pile of broken glass.

[Jon Acheson @ Dec 16th 2008 6:16PM]

It's a shame, my first reaction when I saw the picture was "Those are some nice looking bluetooth headsets."

But for an MP3 player, the form factor doesn't work for me at all.

[cwj @ Dec 16th 2008 6:23PM]

I am at a complete loss for snide remarkery, so inconsequential are these devices...

Was "blingware" ever accepted as tech jargon?

Hm..

[yelohbird @ Dec 16th 2008 7:28PM]

Unwanted child of HTC Touch Diamond?

[telepheedian @ Dec 16th 2008 8:26PM]

The Raga looks like an iPod mini mini.

[slycooper_rocker (lorddshadow the amazing) [anti-panda death squadron force five] @ Dec 16th 2008 8:59PM]

did you hear that sound? that was my brain asploding.

[Al Bundy @ Dec 16th 2008 10:00PM]

konshuss, i have the same issue. I went to their website looking for a repair tool to reset my philips flash player, and now it wont even power on. i requested help from their website before, all all i got was "please bring the device to an authorized repair center". Who'd ever thought that their own firmware would fuckup their own devices! I stay away from philips now like the plague! Their support much like their quality is beyond subpar. I did like the sound quality while the player was working, though.

[cobra @ Dec 16th 2008 10:53PM]

I had a Philips MP3 player once. It played fine ... for about an hour.