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Cat's super-rugged B100 is pretty cool for a feature phone
I know, I know, it's a feature phone. But still, pretty cool as far as these things go. Granted, though, when we played around with the Cat B100, we had to get ourselves back into that pre-smartphone mindset (a phone without a touchscreen? Whaaa?). Like its older sibling, the B15, the B100 is as rugged as you'd expect of a device bearing the Caterpillar branding and a black-and-yellow color scheme. The B100 feels solid, owing much to its metal sides. The phone can take up to a 1.8-meter drop, and thanks to covered ports, can survive being submerged in one meter of water for half an hour. In place of the 15's touchscreen is a large-button keyboard, which you should theoretically be able to operate while wearing work gloves while on the job. On the rear is a three-megapixel camera and flash, along with a large speaker -- or you can just open up the headphone jack located on top of the phone. As for availability, well, we know it's coming to Germany and other parts of Europe this year. No word on if/when it'll be available here, though a rep assured us that more news would be forthcoming on that front later this year. Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble
It's been some time since we heard much from iRiver but the PMP maker is keeping busy with the snow-white B100. This capacitive touchscreen media player will offer up to 36 hours of music playback, or eight and a half hours of video watching. The 3.1-inch TFT screen has a resolution of 320 x 480, but it's backed up by a (relatively) long list of media codecs, including OGG, WAV, APE and ASF compatibility. If you're sick of limited playback options, you might want to consider downscaling those screen-size desires for improved format freedom. The PMP launches today, with prices starting at 11,800 yen (around $144) for the 4GB model, while the 8GB version will set you back 13,800 yen (around $168) at online Japanese retailer, Rakuten. The Google-translated PR awaits your quizzical looks below.
Sony cuts prices on A810, S610 series Walkmans
Sony's new A810 and S610 series Walkmans have just barely made it out the door, but it looks like the company has already decided to shave a few bucks off the price of 'em. According to the Sony Style website, the A810 now starts at $120 for the 2GB model (as opposed to the $140 launch price), while the 4GB will set you back $150 and the 8GB demands an even $200. The S610 series, on the other hand, now starts at just $100 for the 2GB model (down from $120 before), with the 4GB and 8GB coming it at $130 and $180, respectively. The Walkman B100 series, introduced around the same time as the other two, looks to be the only one unchanged, costing $60 for the 1GB version and $80 for the 2GB.[Thanks, Raw32]
Sony's NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 now really, really official and ATRAC free
So long ATRAC, hello NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 Sony Walkmans. The A810 we've seen before, twice in fact, but this is the first time the S610 (pictured) has wiggled free from the rumor mill all dolled-up in full specs and pricing. The S610 series packs the same QVGA resolution in a slightly smaller 1.8-inch display and still one-ups the A810 with an FM tuner bunged inside. Both support USB Mass Storage file transfer, AVC (H.264/AVC) and MPEG-4 encoded video, and AAC, MP3 and DRM'd WMA audio formats without bothering us with any of that icky ATRAC stuff or their much maligned SonicStage software. Sony's also making nice by bringing their B100 series of Walkman DAPs to town in 1GB ($60) and 2GB ($80) models. The S610 series starts at $120 for 2GB on up to $210 for the 8GB compared to a $140 to $230 range for the same capacity A810 models. All available in September, pre-sales now.%Gallery-6575%
Hello Sony Walkman B100 -- bye bye ATRAC and SonicStage
An interesting bit of news from the kids over at ATRACLife this morning. According to "trustworthy insiders," Sony is set to introduce another Walkman stick -- the B100 series -- which supports drag 'n drop music transfer... no SonicStage required. Perhaps oxymoronic considering the source, the player will not support Sony's MiniDisc era codec, ATRAC; a milestone in and of itself. Instead, the player touts MP3, non-DRM'd WMA, and presumably AAC like we've seen in the recent lineup of dedicated Walkman players and phones. The latter necessary to get your DRM-free EMI on (at least initially). The B100 series will ship sometime before May has sprung in 1, 2, and 4GB capacities with or without FM radios. Nice, now where's that nano killer?
