The first of its kind (in sorts) 2-in-1 MP3 Player and Camera, the Philips Cam, has been hitting store shelves across the states. The gadget which was first spotted at a launch party in Beijing had an air of uncertainty on whether the gadget would ever see a stateside release. Thankfully, our prayers have been answered.

Anticipated to cost around $99, the MP3 player has beat expectations with its $89.99 price tag. Our reported 1.8-inches was slightly smaller than the player’s actual 2-inch display. Philips seem keen to showcase the player’s bevel control allowing users to switch from listening to tunes to snapping a shot.

Our fears of a lack of expansion slot are allayed because the Cam’s internal memory is expandable via microSD. We have no confirmation on standard internal storage sizes other than 8GB, but I reckon it would be safe to expect 8GB, 16GB, an 32GB flavors.

Although details have been sketchy, but we can now confirm that the Cam features:

• Philips’ FullSound™ technology for an improved listening experience
• Integrated 2 Megapixel camera for both snapshots and video recording
• 2-Inch full color display
• Composite TV-out for videos/images
• Songbird to play and sync files
• microSD expansion slot
• dimensions of 1.9 x 0.5 x 3.8 inches
• weight of 82 grams

The product can be found at most major online retailers including Amazon. Check out this promotional video of the new Cam with some jargon thrown in.

Philips‘ move from chips to pharmaceuticals might be rather short lived after the company boasted a whopping 357 percent growth in the sale of MP3/MP4 players over the previous year. Unfortunately, we not too sure if this analysis in growth is limited to a specific region (namely Asia) or to its global operations. Regardless, considering the state of the world economy that is quite an achievement. Whoever said that the MP3 player as we know it is on the last of its days?

Imp3.net recently had a sit down with Mr. Liu Deren who is the general manager of international business at Tianpeng Sheng (a company that is not only in cahoots with Philips but also manufactures a number of Philips MP3/MP4 players).

Mr Deren has revealed that Philips are set to launch a number of HD-capable MP4 players come June carrying on the tradition of the SA075 and CAM. Unfortunately, no specific details were given, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for a stateside release…

Phililps’ recently released Spark 2 and Activa haven’t really lived up to our wishes for a fully-featured audio and video media player. Thankfully, we have a bit more to shout about. That’s right, Philips has revamped (in sorts) both its GoGear Ariaz and Vibe MP3 Players.

Other than an update in the aesthetics with the move to an Aluminium enclosure, there’s not all that much to write home about.

The Ariaz still offers a 2.4-inch screen, a battery life of 5 hours of video or whopping 45 hours of continuous audio, an FM tuner, 16 GB of storage, and support for MP3, WAV, WMA, FLAC and APE file types. Keeping in line with the Ariaz, the Vibe hasn’t strayed either keeping its 1.5-inch display, 4 and 8 GB of storage capacity, FM tuner and support for MP3, WAV, WMA, FLAC and APE file types.  No word on price or a release date.

Check out the product pages for further details…

[via gmp3]

Philips has announced an update to its Philips GoGear Spark MP3 Player appropriately named the Philips GoGear Spark 2. The “revamped” player brings a number of exciting changes. One notable difference is that the Spark 2 now offers ‘wearability’.

The device packs a smallish 1.5-inch TFT LCD screen with a more intuitive user-interface. These improvements in user-interaction are amplified by a new rocker button situated on the edge of the player making track selection just that much easier.

File support is improved with the intro of FLAC and APE support amongst the previously supported MP3 and WMA formats.  The built-in lithium loses 5 hours of battery life over its predecessor offering 22 hours of continuous audio playback on a single charge. Audio playback is purportedly improved with the new FullSound Acoustic which is intended to make lossy audio codecs sound like CD quality.

The Spark 2 sees the much-needed inclusion of an FM radio with 20 presets. Carrying on the tradition of its former, the device still offers a voice recorder and photo viewer.

In a growing trend seen in other Philips’ players like the Activa, the players pumped out by the Dutch manufacturer are not only becoming smaller but now more wearable. The Spark 2 features a removable clip which makes it convenient, accessible, and easy to attach to clothes and bags.

[via IMP3]

This looks like another case of Amazon getting a bit ahead of themselves – the Philips Activa MP3 Player has made a premature appearance on the online behemoth.

Unveiled at CES 2010, the Activa hasn’t earned much publicity since. Initially expected to make a UK/Germany appearance first, it appears that Americans will be the first to embrace the player.

The good news is that speculation of a $130 price tag was pretty much on the money (pun intended) being just a penny shy of the $129.99 price tag. Although Amazon are claiming a “temporarily out of stock” status, we don’t believe that they’ve received their first batch just yet. After all, Philips don’t even have a product page properly dedicated to the new workout MP3 player.

Recall that the Philips Activa Workout MP3 Player features:

• TempoMusic which will the adjust style of music according to the pace of your workout
• Real-time vocal feedback on your performance
• Workout tracking which will record the progress of your exercise routine.

The device has dimensions of 1.8 x 0.6 x 1.8 inches and weighs in at only 136 grams. For a better explanation of the player, checkout a video of the Activa published by Philips themselves.

There’s more news out of the Philips camp than just the recently announced Android-driven GoGear Connect. Yup, Philips have been busy giving the formidable GoGear Muse a makeover of sorts.

Similar to the GoGear Connect, the Muse sports an aluminium enclosure around a 3.2-inch display complimenting a 720p HDMI ouput. File support is somewhat of a mystery; however, expect support for Audible, FLAC, APE, MP3, and WMA. The down-side is that the device looks to be audio-only putting it in the same league as the iAudio 9.

Available in either 8GB, 16GB or 32GB capacities, the Muse includes a microSD slot for further storage expansion. Additional features include a Songbird player, iPlayer, FM tuner, and microphone.

Prices are sketchy at the mo, but we have seen estimations of the 16GB version coming in at around $170 or 129 Euros. Expect a release date of around May.

[Source]

Philips has announced its newest player to embrace the world of technology – the Philips GoGear Connect. In some respects, this player is unlike any media player that we have previously seen out of the Philips camp.

From a company that has fought many proprietary format wars over the years, Philips has announced that its newest PMP is to sport Google’s Android OS (v2.1). Philips’ adoption of the popular OS will further bolster Google’s ever-increasing hold on the market.

There’s more to this player than Android. The device with its shiny, stylish design features a 3.2-inch touchscreen (320 x 240) with haptic feedback and accelerometer. Consumers will be able to choose from either 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and even 64GB. When space becomes a tight squeeze, the SD slot will come in handy.

But we’ve left the best until last. Although details are sketchy, we understand that the GoGear Connect will feature built-in GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, and even a camera. The Connect will allow consumers to take advantage of the Android Marketplace using the WiFi interface.

A July launch date has been officially stated, but another trusted Philips source has suggested that a September date is more likely (to coincide with the IFA trade show in Berlin).

No word on price.

[Source]

The Philips SA075 might have received the red carpet treatment at a launch party in Beijing, but getting any stats on the much anticipated player has proven difficult. For goodness sake, we’ve had more success getting stats on the less exciting Philips Cam.

Well, we now have the specifications to end all speculation on the newest Philips PMP.

That flash, glossy touchscreen displaying at 800 x 480 pixels extends a healthy 4.3-inches.  The slits for the speakers left and right of the player in combination with the black finish and the player’s rounded edges mimic the iPhone in appearance – we’re not complaining.

The SA075 is available in either 8GB or 16GB flavors and both models include a Micro SD card slot for further expansions.

Filled with support for open-format goodness, the device can handle most popular formats including MP3, WAV, APE, FLAC, and OGG audio formats and AVI, MKV, MP4, WMV, RMVB, FLV, and XVID video formats amongst others with playback support for video up to a 1280 × 720 resolution.

But the SA075 is not just limited to just being your ordinary media player. The player can function as a voice recorder, e-book reader, and FM radio – it has it all.

If that English-looking menu is anything to go on, we should be seeing a Stateside release (or at least we hope). While no word on a release date, the SA075 will retail for 1099 (or ~$161 USD) and 1299 yuan (or ~$190 USD) for the 8GB and 16GB, respectively.

[via source]