Creative Zii and Zii EGG touchscreen players with HD cameras served up by FCC

Guess who's back? Creative. Hard to believe, we know, but the company we've all but forgotten looks ready to make a comeback in the portable audio / video game. Creative Labs Zii and Zii EGG just made their first appearance at the FCC. Can't say that we're too enthused by the "EGG" moniker but we're definitely liking the looks of that "HD Camera" module along the backside of these "MP4 players with touchscreens" in addition to the Bluetooth and 802.11b/g WiFi radios. That "developer edition" is also a good sign that Creative is looking to make this a software platform a la the ol' iPod touch only with Creative's Zii system-on-chip architecture secret sauce. In fact, these devices could very well be running Android atop Creative's ZMS-05 chipset as we saw back in February. Welcome back Creative, you've got until September or so before Apple adds a camera to its own iPod touch... best get to work.

[Tony @ Jul 7th 2009 1:22AM]

Creative is back, baby!

[Ende @ Jul 7th 2009 2:03AM]

Zii somehow doesn't sound very creative...

[Tony @ Jul 7th 2009 2:19AM]

Seems like some people still can't get over the name. The one that was chosen about six months ago.

[nowayman @ Jul 7th 2009 5:24AM]

Creative sucks. Apple rules.

[Ya @ Jul 7th 2009 6:56AM]

"Zii" sounds like a German pronouncing "The".

Zii EGG ist boiled. Zu you want ham wisz zit?

[b3tan @ Jul 7th 2009 1:35PM]

I thought this was the back of an iPhone when I saw the picture. I'm looking forward to seeing this.

As others have said though, this doesn't look too 'creative'

[BrianB @ Jul 10th 2009 2:30AM]

You're forgetting that Creative announced the Zii stemcell computing software way back. Will we find it in this hardware?

[Gad Get @ Jul 7th 2009 1:22AM]

Oh yeah! I forgot all about Zii, what with all this Tegra and Snapdragon hype!

[kojo87 @ Jul 7th 2009 1:42AM]

me too. i thought Zii was software but looks like im completely wrong. or am i? aw snap i just blew your mind! no really i don't get it. wtf is Zii?

[AK66 @ Jul 7th 2009 2:39AM]

zii is a system-on-a-chip multiprocessor that is so far ultrahype.

but it is to be comparable to tegra.

^^except the fact that tegra=pwnage.

[Shinigami @ Jul 7th 2009 5:00AM]

Yep. Zii = underpowered Tegra (720p playback with no possibility of 1080p playback) with bigger size (Zii - 15x15mm, Tegra - 12x12mm). And it uses more power. In one work: bad. Don't hope for much.

[Gad Get @ Jul 7th 2009 5:07AM]

@ Shinigami

Not "bad", just not as great.

[skyblaze @ Jul 7th 2009 9:37AM]

and cheaper also, most likely

[sven vollstag @ Jul 9th 2009 1:04PM]

...actually the Zii does 1080p as demonstrated running on android in barcelona...

[The Police @ Jul 7th 2009 1:22AM]

Moar liek Creative Wii. Mirite?

[kojo87 @ Jul 7th 2009 1:40AM]

no urnotrite. dumbass

[ZaxCG2 @ Jul 7th 2009 2:01AM]

Oh come on, you can't ignore the similarities...

that is unless you close your eyes REAAAALLY tight and clench your teeth.

[MegaBite @ Jul 7th 2009 2:37AM]

Even the font looks the same,.

[kojo87 @ Jul 7th 2009 3:35AM]

the font does not look the same. the Z is considerably different. obviously anything ending in "ii" is simply trying to ride the coattails of the Wii's success. i just wish people like The Police would type like they have half a functioning brain.

[ilh @ Jul 7th 2009 7:17AM]

I think the problem is he did type like he only had half a functioning brain.

[Mark @ Jul 7th 2009 12:37PM]

Actually, he just overloaded on memes. I'm at work so I'd rather not go to encyclopedia dramatica, but I'm pretty sure you can find articles on more than half of his exhibited vocabulary. Moar and Amirite are defnitely memes and liek may be as well.

[Brad Green @ Jul 7th 2009 10:54PM]

Hmm, if its using the "ii" to build off the Wii, they could go a step farther and call it the iZii!

[Justin Dennis @ Jul 7th 2009 1:36PM]

UHHHH... is that not a first-gen iphone without the phone?

[Adderz @ Jul 7th 2009 1:34AM]

Nah its more like an iPod Touch with a camera *raises eyebrow*

[sacapuntas @ Jul 7th 2009 1:41AM]

but it will have MUCH BETTER audio quality (major reason for not getting a 'itouch') and will have drag and drop support and NO ITUNES!!!! (my other major reason for not getting an 'itouch') If you have ever used a creative product you know how easy it is to load music onto. If creative does this thing up right it will be tough making a decision between this and a Zune HD :D There is no way to tell what the interface looks like BTW and the processor in this bad boy promises to kick some tail. Give me good battery life and I will be won over (even in spite of all the "iphone ripofz suckz" people).

[Adderz @ Jul 7th 2009 2:13AM]

Well i have had a Creative Zen Micro and Zen Photo and they were HELL to load stuff onto. The programs were absolute shite and im NOT a fan of drag and drop.

When it came time to remove the Creative stuff i had to do a system reinstall, as uninstalling produced a series of errors upon every restart.

[Josh Bradshaw @ Jul 7th 2009 2:45AM]

But its not made by apple, hence it won't be successful!

wii..xii..yii..zii they are only a few steps away from Nintendo too!

[Zsus @ Jul 7th 2009 3:12AM]

sacapuntas, there's drag & drop in iTunes and you have all your music in a same place. Could someone explain why it's better to drag and drop with Windows Explorer than iTunes?

[Mark Anderson II @ Jul 7th 2009 3:19AM]

@zsus

Because it isn't iTunes.

[kojo87 @ Jul 7th 2009 3:31AM]

i had a Creative Zen and i always used WMP to sync it. worked quite well.

[Gi @ Jul 7th 2009 5:24AM]

WMP sync ftw

[Gerii @ Jul 7th 2009 12:41PM]

@Zsus:
Because you can do it on every Windows PC in the world without installing anything.

[transfat0g @ Jul 7th 2009 3:23PM]

Drag and drop with windows explorer is a thousand times better as i dont have to wait for iduds to determine the "gapless playback" for 30 gigs of music every time i load something up.

[Basman @ Jul 7th 2009 1:24AM]

I wonder if the marketing people could preserve a straight face when they came up with, and presented the name Zii. I also wonder why noone at Creative said "NO".

[NG @ Jul 7th 2009 6:06AM]

well, the whole country didn't say "NO" when they ban coca cola in school or chewing gum in the country either, why now?

[sacapuntas @ Jul 7th 2009 1:28AM]

Yes! Creative you made awesome stuff, I hope this new project will not disappoint (ala the x-fi) . I am now throwing a new competitor into the ring for my next DAP/PMP

[Nqduy @ Jul 7th 2009 1:40AM]

I'm still waiting for the Zune HD.

[Gad Get @ Jul 7th 2009 5:10AM]

Really?! You haven't gotten one yet either?

[ZaxCG2 @ Jul 7th 2009 1:59AM]

The Zii.
A name ripoff of the Wii which took influence from Apple ubiquitous "i"s that took the place of the "e-" for the technological world.

...
I need to go to bed.

[Decoy @ Jul 7th 2009 2:38AM]

Sweet. What came first, the Creative Zen touch or the iPod Touch?

[iDavey @ Jul 7th 2009 3:39AM]

Please...don't do it. Nintendo pawns Apple any day of the week...
Take that to the bank.

And Nintendo has.

[Eastman @ Jul 7th 2009 2:09AM]

a little kitten dies every time someone calls a iPod Touch an "iTouch" ...


and this ZII thing looks like an iPhone ... not so creative this time ha ? :(

[LambertxMc @ Jul 11th 2009 5:43AM]

exactly

[Tony @ Jul 7th 2009 2:39AM]

Four sides with camera on back != rip off of the iPod Touch.

[CJ @ Jul 7th 2009 9:57AM]

If that is the case, then I embrace their furry, pathetic genocide.

[ishism @ Jul 7th 2009 2:35AM]

I hope it comes with expandable memory. I love my Zune 30 but I can definitely use an upgrade. I need support for more than just WMV. MP4, AVI, AVC, could go along way. I can go with this, if done right. And I like the drag and drop.
I got it confused with sandisc.

[pika2000 @ Jul 7th 2009 2:36AM]

Wow, I forgot when was the last time there were any news about Creative. The specs seem promising, but is it going to do anything? Hopefully at least it would be android. With Creative and Sony making Android based media players, the better it is for Android as a platform.

[MegaBite @ Jul 7th 2009 2:38AM]

ditto

[Tom Reinke @ Jul 7th 2009 2:48AM]

Now this is a media player I can see myself getting behind. I love Creative products and even still have an old Nomad Jukebox 2 back when it was kinda cool. :P

This will be a definite must upgrade from my iPod video that is WAY out of date.

[Kelmon @ Jul 7th 2009 2:49AM]

OK, I'm interested to know more about this but I want concrete information from Creative and not a filing from the FCC.