We had the opportunity to hear a preview of the $399 Sonos S5 all-in-one speaker ahead of its 27 October US launch (November 10th in Europe). For comparison, we had it staged side-by-side with a pair of Sonos 100 speakers -- a setup that costs $678 ($499 for an amplified Sonos ZonePlayer Z120 and another $179 for the separate loudspeakers). Unfair, perhaps, since Sonos is actually positioning its five speaker (two tweeters, two 3-inch mids, and a built-in 3.5-inch sub) S5 with five dedicated amps against premium iPod speaker docks like the $600 Bose SoundDock 10, $600 B&W Zeppelin, or legacy $349 Apple iPod Hi-Fi. So how did it sound? About what we expected, which in this case is a good thing. Click through to find out why.

For many, the perceived high cost of getting into a Sonos wireless home audio system has been a significant barrier. While you crave whole-home, distributed audio that just works without pops, hisses, or clicks, you simply can't justify dropping $350 on a ZonePlayer ZP90 and another $200 or so for a pair of decent amplified speakers. Even then, you're still only talking about a single room -- adding more rooms (or zones) and dedicated Sonos controllers jacks the price up even higher. Today, Sonos fills a significant gap in its product portfolio with the introduction of its $399 / €399 all-in-one ZonePlayer S5 speaker. The 217 x 365 x 123-mm S5 brings a decidedly Bose-like external design while packing a 5-driver speaker system (two tweeters, two 3-inch mids, and a built-in 3.5-inch sub) that's meant to fill a room with Sonos' wireless audio. And because the ZonePlayer is integrated right into the all-in-one chassis, it easily drops into your existing Sonos device network to extend audio into any room that needs it -- no wiring required. There's even a headphone jack for stealth listening in the bedroom. Of course, the beauty of Sonos is in the wide variety of audio sources available: freebies like thousands of internet radio stations, your iTunes library, CIFS NAS storage, or line-in devices like your home stereo or MP3 player; or subscriptions music services like Last.fm, Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius, or Deezer depending upon your geographic location.

If you already have an iPhone or iPod touch and the ability to easily network the S5 back into your router (via fixed Ethernet or close proximity), then $399 / €399 is what it now takes to get started with Sonos. Otherwise, you'll need to add a $99 / €99 ZoneBridge to link the S5 to your router over Sonos' proprietary SonosNet 2.0 (think 802.11n but optimized for distributed mesh audio) and another $349 / €349 for the dedicated CR200 controller if the free PC / Mac software controllers don't serve your need. We'll be getting our hands-on with a unit soon and will update you with our subjective listening experience. Until then, you can ponder the "end of October" and November 10th ship dates for the US and Europe, respectively. Video demonstration after the break.

Being that Release Candidate 1 just hit the tubes, we weren't really expecting a big Windows 7 presence at Computex this year. Much to our surprise, Viliv has announced that it will be showcasing the first official Win7-powered MID at the Taiwan-based show later this week. The heralded S5 will be the lucky device, with a duo of WiMAX-equipped cousins (X70 EX and S7) hanging around to demonstrate live video streaming. Needless to say, we'll be doing everything we can to drop by and see how things are going.

[Via CNET]

The Viliv S5 has had its fair share of positive reviews, in spite of its not-as-friendly $600 price tag, and now it looks like the company's ready to up the ante with the S5 Air and S5 Air Ready, according to a report from our friends at Engadget Chinese. From what we gather, both will see an improved, haptic keyboard and support Chinese character input / handwriting input, while the Air Ready also throws in HSDPA to boot. Those in the country can pick one up reportedly in June for an as of yet unknown price, while the rest of us around the world will just have to wait and see if Viliv decides to launch it anywhere else.

You've seen its introduction, its unboxing -- in two different languages, no less -- and maybe even fancied the pre-order page. Now Pocketables has what appears to be one of the first full-fledged review of the Viliv S5, and the verdict? It's quite a sturdy and well-built MID, with surprisingly good battery life and video performance from the Intel Atom Z520 processor (same one as found in the Vaio P). The virtual keyboard leaves a lot to be desired for, and it's a shame to hear the joystick's mouse functionality is limited to four directions, but despite these complaints and a $599 price tag, the conclusion is still a overwhelmingly positive for those who like the form factor. Hit up the read link for the full examination.

While neither has officially gone on sale yet here or abroad, two anticipated MIDs, the Viliv S5 and UMID M1, both went on pre-order last week in their home nation of Korea, and while the S5 sold out of its initial allotment of 1,000 units in just 8 hours, UMID still has unclaimed devices from its first batch of 500. This is at least in part due to some sketchy quality on the M1, with a finish on early machines that looks like a Tamiya kit haphazardly glued together by a four-year-old. The company is saying it will step up and replace all of the pre-ordered units with better ones once it gets its molds to line up, but having to trade in your new computer after a few weeks seems to partially defeat the purpose of getting one early in the first place. Of the two only the S5 is said to be officially coming to America at this point anyway, so hopefully that's the one that caught your fancy.

We just played around with Viliv's latest MIDs, the stylish S5 and X70. Both devices use haptic feedback for onscreen keyboard input, and despite the resistive screen we found them both to offer some of the best touchscreen interaction we've seen on devices like this. They were both running Windows Vista, and seemed rather responsive and usable, even with Atom under the hood. What's really impressive is the X70 (pictured), which is thinner than the S5, and also can be mounted to an optional leather case that brings a keyboard and foldability to the device, and turns the unit into a laptop of sorts. Neither device is particularly thin or light, but there's a lot of quality going on here, and for folks sold on this sort of functionality and form factor, it would be hard to do much better than these at the moment -- of course, you'll have to swim to Korea to do it. Video of the S5 is after the break.

We finally have the release and pricing details for the Viliv S5. Up for pre-order on the 24th in Korea, the XP-based MID with 4.8-inch touchscreen will begin shipping locally on March 3rd. Closer to home, the $649 S5 Premium model is scheduled to ship to the US and Europe by the end of March. That configuration will include a 60GB hard disk, Intel Silverthorne-class 1.33GHz Z520 CPU (yes, the very same proc as the VAIO P), GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 1GB of memory. Lesser spec'd models and a maxed-out F-LOG version with a DMB television tuner will only be available in Korea. And know what's great about a MID running XP? You can install pretty much any application you want, including iTunes as demonstrated in the video posted after the break. It's no iPod touch, but then again... it's no iPod touch.