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Sandisk's Sansa e270 gets nude
Loyal Engadget reader turned gadget pornographer Francis noticed how much we cared for Sandisk's new Sansa e200 series MP3 players, so he cracked his open and sent us pictures of the silicon and flash memory goodness that spilled forth from within. Sure, the photos don't leave much to the imagination, but you can't tell us you weren't wondering what that navigation wheel looked like under its shiny plastic cover. Don't worry, we're not here to judge.[Thanks, Francis]
Engadget Chinese does Computex
You didn't really think that just because the Computex trade show is going on halfway around the world, we wouldn't send a crack team of reporters to cover the event, did you? While our US staff neglected to renew their passports in time for their flights, the folks over at Engadget Chinese (traditional or simplified, your choice) were just a hop, skip, and jump away from Taipei, Taiwan, so they've graciously stepped up to the plate and provided the coverage necessary to make us feel that we're right in the thick of it. They've already posted a number of booth tours of your favorite companies, like Intel (who've apparently rented out an absolutely mind-boggling swath of hall), Sandisk, Toshiba, and, um, A Data, with the latter company's tour proving that our Asian colleagues have the same unhealthy obsession with cartoon-inspired gadgets as we do. Don't worry, we'll keep you apprised of the highlights from this year's show, but for the full in-your-face Computex experience, chinese.engadget.com is the place to be.Read - IntelRead - SandiskRead - ToshibaRead - A Data
Kingston announces K-PEX media player
Perhaps a bit jealous of fellow memory manufacturer SanDisk's successes in the portable audio space, Kingston is breaking in with their own portable media device. Titled the K-PEX (Kingston Portable Entertainment eXperience), the unit sports a 2-inch LCD, SD card slot, and about all the video and audio codec support you could ask for. Weighing 2.3-ounces, the device manages a lot for its size: a built-in mic and speakers are included, and you can hook up your camera via USB to pull off pictures on the go. You wouldn't be wrong to think this thing looks like a certain portable gaming device; Kingston is packing in two games with the device, and while third party support is never a given, we're guessing there should be a few more options down the road. We're not sure on date or price just yet, but the K-PEX should be coming to the US "soon" in 1GB and 2GB capacities.
SanDisk hits up Rockbox for some firmware
You already know how we feel about SanDisk's new 4GB Sansa e260, but apparently SanDisk isn't averse to a little help on the firmware side of things. They've just pinged the Rockbox community for a port of the open source Rockbox firmware to the e200 series, which at least should give them some serious nerd cred in a time when most everyone else is locking down their hardware. Rockbox has been ported to plenty of music players over the years -- including quite similar iPod hardware to that of the Sansa -- and its codec support, gapless playback, equalizer and numerous plugins make it an often preferable option to standard firmware. So there a lots of opportunities, but so far there's no word on if or how SanDisk is going to aid Rockbox in this endeavor, or if they have any plans for the Rockbox firmware other than as a nerdy alternative to theirs.
SanDisk Sansa e260 review
A couple of years ago this would have sounded crazy, but SanDisk, which is probably best known for flash drives and memory cards, just put out one of the best MP3 players on the market. Yeah, I know, I'm just as surprised as you are, but after spending a few weeks with the new 4GB Sansa e260, part of SanDisk's new Sansa e200 series, I'm going to be sorry to send this one back. The e260 isn't without its faults, but if you're looking for a solid alternative to the iPod, and haven't been so fired up by the latest models from Creative, Samsung, et al. (or are still in mourning for Rio), then you should do yourself a favor and check this one out. Or at least keep reading the rest of this review.
1GB Pro Duo on the cheap
If you swing on over to online retailer Buy.com, you can acquire a 1GB Pro Duo for your PSP for the very reasonable sum of $24.95 U.S. after a mail-in rebate. Offer is only valid until the 4th of June, so if you've been holding off on shelling out some dough for a larger memory stick, now seems about as good a time as any to upgrade.
SanDisk wants you to say iDon't to iPod
In a viral marketing move that's sure to draw the fire of Apple fanboys enthusiasts (probably right here in the comments, if history is any indication), SanDisk has posted a website called "iDon't" that encourages people to flee the closed iPod universe (the "iTatorship," they call it) -- and to pick up a SanDisk Sansa e200 while they're at it. While we certainly won't go into the pros and cons of each company's products here (mainly for fear of getting flamed), we must say that the iDon't site features little compelling content other than a few cheesy wallpaper downloads and some links to anti-iPod sites, and mostly comes across as sour grapes from the runner-up in an industry being dominated by a single player. Still, other manufacturers need to do something in order to gain market share, and R&D is, like, really expensive, so if you can convince a couple of kids to sport t-shirts and buddy icons featuring your propaganda, who knows, maybe a few consumers will bite.[Via iLounge forums]
SanDisk RapidGX Memory Stick PRO Duo cards trump Sony
If you want something done right, you'd better do it yourself. That's SanDisk's thinking anyways, with their new RapidGX Memory Stick PRO Duo cards they're showing at E3. The cards do the usual Memory Stick PRO Duo thing, namely providing music, movies and other content for PSP owners, but they include a bit of SanDisk special sauce performance enhancements to speed file transfers up to 15MB per second, double the normal rates for PRO Duo cards. Seems like they just got tired of Sony's limitations in the Memory Stick tech, and figured a way to improve it themselves. The 1GB card is all that's available right now, and it retails for $85. The price -- for a limited time only -- includes for free SanDisk's new MicroMate high-speed card reader to help the RapidGX hit its maximum speeds, and also includes PSP loader software to maximize space and convert files.
SanDisk and Philips team for mobile payments
Philips has been peddling its SmartMX contactless payment system for a while, but things are really looking up now that SanDisk wants to get in the game. They're now working with Philips to include the SmartMX tech in their TrustedFlash microSD cards, allowing any phone with a microSD slot to make payments. The details are a bit slim, but it looks like you would have to buy TrustedFlash cards loaded with "credits" in order to make payments, which frankly doesn't sound like much of a step towards convenience for consumers, but rather a boon to SanDisk and Philips who will no doubt be taking a cut. However it works out, the industry is clearly marching towards contactless and phone-based payments, let's just hope it works out as an actual plus for the people who are carrying around the phones and making the contactless payments.[Via Gadget Review]
DRM and battery life: no real effect after all?
Last month we wrote about a CNET study that quietly laid claim to PlaysForSure DRM cutting player battery life by as much as 25%, and FairPlay draining iPod batteries by up to 8%. DAPreview put it to the test, though, by comparing playback time on 25 albums in 160KBps non-DRMed and DRMed WMA in sequence on a fully charged SanDisk Sansa e260 with volume at 50%, screen brightness at low, and the backlight left on. And wouldn't you know it, the DRMed files played all of 25 minutes less, or 2.8% less than the 14:55 pulled from the non-DRMed music. However, since the test was only run on a single device, this only means you can conclude that the Sansa e260 handles DRM well; with so many chipset designs for player internals, you couldn't expect all devices to produce the same positive results. But hey, it's encouraging, if nothing else -- especially if you're a Sansa e260 user.
Engadget Podcast 059 - 01.06.2006
UPDATE: OUR RSS FEED IS EXPERIENCING SOME DIFFICULTIES, BUT RATHER THAN CONTINUE TO WITHOLD THE PODCAST, WE'RE POSTING IT. WE'RE WORKING ON IT, THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE! On our second day of CES coverage we didn't exactly get much more sleep, but we did manage to have the best keynote coverage of anyone anywhere. Marc Perton, our resident keynote ninja, sits down with Peter to talk about his day spent with Moto, Dell, Samsung and Sony. Besides the keynotes, we pontificate on Verizon finally adding V CAST Music, SanDisk rocking two new MP3 players, and TiVo yanking a keynote at what looks like the last minute. Plus, Peter interviews Dell CEO Michael Dell (yeah, that Michael Dell). The Engadget podcast from CES is a-go! Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the show (enhanced AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Hosts Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - Jobs that Require Headphones Format 38:54, 17.8 MB, MP3 Program 03:33 TiVo announces the Series 3 DVR, but kills their press conference 05:20 Verizon VCAST Music 06:02 Sandisk intros new PMPs 07:09 Recap of Intel's keynote 16:17 Marc Perton on Sony's keynote 20:42 ... and on Michael Dell's Keynote 25:59 ... and on Samsung's press event 28:14 ... and also on Motorola's press event 33:09 Interview with Dell CEO Michael Dell LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Call up the Podcast at: 1-888-ENGADGET
