It's hard to know where to begin with this, but Creative has confirmed that
Zii EGG handheld we saw pass through the FCC a few weeks ago, and proceeded to slap every odd marketing term the company has come up with over the past few years on it. The Zii EGG runs the new "Plaszma" platform, which has something to do with "
StemCell Computing" and allows developers to simultaneously develop for Plaszma and Android. Since for now the Zii EGG is aimed at developers and OEMs, it runs fairly vanilla Android on top of Creative's
ZMS-05 chip. The hardware itself is rather impressive, with front and rear facing cameras, HD playback, 1080p video output, OpenGL ES support, X-Fi audio processing, 32GB of built-in memory and a
full SD slot. Other more "run of the mill" features include WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and a 3-axis accelerometer. The 320 x 480 screen sounds strictly ordinary, but on top is some 10-point multitouch capacitive input -- Synaptics' new
ClearPad 3000 if we had to guess.
The big drawback here is the lack of cellular data, but hopefully somebody can solve that before long. The Zii EGG is a developer platform, after all, but Creative says the platform is "market-ready" for picking up by OEMs for production -- hopefully they aren't far removed from shoehorning a 3G chipset in there somewhere as well. The Zii Plaszma Starter Kit bundled with the Zii EGG can be had for $400. A video demo is after the break.
[Via
DAP Review]
posted July 28th 2009 10:03AM
Wow, this thing looks pretty mean.. wonder what its read/write speeds are, wasnt that a big part of the Zii thing?
I would much rather have this and a dumb phone than this with phone components. I'm sure it would require a data plan and I cannot see spending an extra $30/month for data.
This is sort of what I was hoping the 3rd gen Touch would be(looks like I will have to pass on apple again). The gps and opengl navigation looks awesome.
Nice device, kinda reminds me of what the Toshiba snapdragon should have looked like. Shame about the annoying Nintendo rip-off name though. Oh and to the people who thinks this is an I Phone rip off, How different can you expect a full touchscreen device to look!!!!!, you could easily say that Apple ripped off the LG Prada or the Sony P series phones, since they all came out before the I Phone. Apple may be a very innovative company, but i would hardly say that all their ideas are their own, eg one of the patients they tried to file for a new control method for the Apple TV was rejected for being to similar to the Wii Mote.
Guys...as shown earlier in the comments...the Zii name was registered by Creative back in 2000!
I actually think it could stand for Zen II or Zen 2.
Now the name in graphic form...AWFULLY close to Nintendo. Haha.
This device seriously has me thinking of a ton of possibilities. Which is exactly what I think Creative was going for here. Provide a hardware platform and allow the users to determine what it can do instead of being locked into a proprietary system. Sounds appealing to me.
In the video, Android was running so fast and smoothly. Great piece of hardware. I would buy one if it had gsm/3g and sim card slot. I do have old phone with those that could be transplanted, but I am no mad scientist.
I wish the Nvidia Tegra prototypes were for sale to anyone like this.
Engadget buy one and review it for us please :)
When Nokia's N900 rolls out, I may jump ship for one of these :/
Awesome! Been waiting for an ipod touch alternative. My wife loves her ipod touch but I don't want to go the apple route. The ZuneHD looked OK but this looks even better. SDHC slot = YES!
I'd love a minimal internal memory setup, maybe 4 or 8GB, and SDHC expansion. That means I can use media monkey if nothing else to transfer music to SDHC with no annoyance. Sweet device.
Dude... I have always liked Creative, but... Christ, if this thing is legit and only $400, they've just created a monster.
An awesome monster that I will buy as soon as it is released, of course.
eeeeerrrrr, this device looks amazing and I am genuinly excited about it but just one thing......has no one noticed that this device LOOKS EXACTLY THE F**KING SAME AS A BLOODY IPOD/IPHONE!!!!!!!! To the point that the whole chassis is almost the same the resolution/ screen type is the same. In fact this it is visually so iphone like it is actually unbelieable they are not getting sued.
And before anyone chats that fan boy smack I have never owned anything apple. The incredible double standards and Brand brainwashing that has become evident from this is actually unbelieavble. Meizu drop the M8 and immediatly they are clone manfacturers. Creative do almost exctly the same and in some aspects worse and no one mentions a thing. Absolutely incredible.....
Does iphone have camera on the front and a HD camera on the back? Or a HD port for watching HD content on a TV?
This is rectangular, black and the front dominated by the large touch screen, like any other touchscreen phone.
If they put some phone capabilities in this device, it would destroy an iphone 3Gs.
Its allot like an iPod Touch when first looking at it .. But apple should look at a few key features they added that even iPhone and iPod owners have been asking for ...
* HD and VGA Dual Cameras ... This is a Big one even if the Zii is WiFI only .. Conference calls to Video Blogging .... APPLE , add a front camera for video conferencing , even if you only add these feature for WiFI only ( seeing how AT&T would bitch ) . These could be added to iPod Touches as well with an iChat app .
Oh but if Apple did as you suggest they'd be seen as TOTAL FORWARD THINKERS (you know..just like how they invented the "shuffle" feature on MP3 players).
Looks like the bar has been raised here. Interesting to see what gets done with it!
I think apple is going to take this as a slap to the face , the whole front VGA camera is going to make people think about iPod Touch or Zii .
With both front a rear camera on it and apples video editor on the iphone , you could make some really interesting YouTube videos ..
As for the Conference calls well that would be better on WiFI anyway you look at it .. But having apple add there iChat app , or even add iChat to the SMS app would make it pretty interesting for both apple and big businesses . WiFI only would keep AT&Ts channels cleared up so they couldn't bitch ...
I would say it the Zii takes off we are going to see some great completion between apple and creative , and would open the door for other companies to compete ...
Keep it non-cellular. An android based non-cellular device to compete with iPod Touch is a great idea.
It would still be able to compete with the iPhone as well . Seeing how in the UK and some cities in the US there is wifi everywhere .
It has a full SD card that supports SDHC memory ... is a device limited in capability to use the new standard (SDXC) based on hardware? Simply, will this device be capable of a bios or firmware update that could open up the possibility of using the much larger and faster SD cards? Seriously, if it could handle what the new cards are 'capable' of pushing - a open source device that could hold as much as 2 TB worth of memory would be much more than a game changer! ... this of course is all depends on the ability to upgrade the SD interface.
So you can grow your own chickens from that EGG?
Whatever that is - a portable gaming console, a skype phone, portable video player with GPS for use in a car
- all sorts of chicken.
Am I getting this horrible metaphor right?
Either way: specs look splendid.
@ derrik
Funny, I don't recall anyone asking for a fanboi to speak. Also, does the iPhone support 1080p out to your HDTV? And Last I checked, the iPhone doesn't have an expansion port for memory cards.
Not everything is an Apple clone. The specifications listed are standard / or the soon to be expected standard for personal media players.
Stupid Engadget Reply System.. Again
Compass please!
I bet everyone whose eyes properly function is capable of realizing that zippy thing fuddling in Home Counties Bloke's hands totally looks like an iPeed - not necessarily a bad thing
I like the SD slot and the specs, I'm just not into this Creative lovefest: I had a 30GB Zen Vision M and it was the most awful POS of a device I've ever had - battery life was abysmal, and UI was a headache
Completely sold with this one... I thought the Zune HD was amazing but this thing is actually mind blowing. Packing 2 cameras one for conferencing and other to photos and videos definitively is truly awesome. I'll pray for the success of this device. I don't care about what apples comes with next, Creative did create an extraordinary platform with this thing.
http://www.zii.com/Developer/SDKVideo.aspx?tab=2
(1) The Zii Egg has a 10 point 3.5" 320x480 true color multitouch Display, The Iphone 3gs/3g/touch 2g The same damn 320x480 multitouch but cant track 10 points. Zii wins.
(2) Zii comes standard with 32gb Flash the Apples 8gb,16,32 gb. i dont have time to decide if my music library needs 8gb or 32 gb. Zii Wins.
(3) The Zii has a standard price of 399 for everyone, the Apples has to have a price for special people with 2 yr contracts and others get stuck with $800 hard earn money bill. Zii Wins
(4) The Zii has a dual core cpu im pretty sure not underclocked like Apples solo core 833 MHz underclocked to 600 MHz processor because it uses stem cell processing, meaning its changeable to what ever you need it for. And turns of cores that are not used to conserve power unlike the iphones. Zii's support both 64/32 bit memory interface. Zii wins
(5) Zii supports Open GL ES 2.0 standard. Original Iphone & 3G: 128 MB DRAM 3GS 256MB and if you need open gl es 2.0 you better buy the 3gs. Zii Wins
(6) Zii can encode and decode 1080p HD simultenously, lets see 3Gs try that. Plus it can play a butt load of codecs.
(7) Zii has 2 cameras, the iphone just 1 and the highest 3mp, the zii has a HD camera and to be considered a HD camera you have to be able to put out at least 720p pics and vids. Zii Wins
I can keep going on and on but Zii is open source, iphone not, theres loads of more stuff the Zii beats apple at so dont hate.
If i were verizon, i would make a contract with zii to supply me, and add some 3g radio in it or even 4g. And sell them for 350.
(3) The Zii has a standard price of 399 for everyone, the Apples has to have a price for special people with 2 yr contracts and others get stuck with $800 hard earn money bill. Zii Wins
Trying to compare it with touches (including the rumoured upcoming one!) would be reasonable,
Anyways, I totally am in the Zii camp!
i don't need another phone kthx. leave the 3g out.
I was seriously considering to start some apps development. I was heavily confused between choosing Symbian (C++) and Android (Java). I am more comfortable in C/C++ but I prefer to develop for Android. And am glad (very) to see that this Plazma platform for this device supports C++ development. I think, I just made my mind.
If they just throw some 3g radios for some extra dollars, I would immediately go for it. This is a killer device! Creative definitely seems to have a winner with this one!
FM Radio, OLED and higher resolutions on the device itself would be some super sweet bonuses.
More about the ARM 926 EJ-S Cores used in this one!
http://www.arm.com/products/CPUs/ARM926EJ-S.html
Great. If this is released by someone to the general public, I hope they could make accessories for it (stereo integration for my car)