Pocket PC Thoughts: Checking Out This Fall's Gadgets: Pepcom's Holiday Spectacular Press Event

Figure 10: The HP Pocket PC lineup: The iPAQ hx4705 with flip cover open, the iPAQ h6315, the rx3715 and the rz1715 -- it's hard to keep the model numbers straight!

We finally got our hands on the 6000 series iPAQ and it is very comfortable to hold -- however, it has the same screen as the iPAQ 4xxx and 194x units and yellows at an angle. None of the other iPAQs that we saw there do this. The snap-on thumbboard seems quite easy to use, although we didn't play with it extensively.


Figure 11: HP iPod and assorted skins

So we finally got to ask HP the ultimate question about the HP iPod - "why?". Their response: "Because I Can". ;-) (Just kidding) They claim that this gives the iPod more of a reach as HP has many distribution channels that connect to retail, giving a broader store presence. Hmm, maybe it is time for iRiver to team up with Dell (if only Dell did not have their DJ). Anyways, HP had on display several skins to accessorize your HP iPod. Interesting, although Janak thinks they look kinda cheesy.


Figure 12: Rave-MP MP3 player

We finally moved past the HP booths realizing that there were other companies. :) Rave MP was showing off their latest MP3 players. The crimson colored AMP 128 is small and remarkably light. It is pager-size and has an FM receiver, a voice and FM recorder, a slot for adding storage via SD or MMC card, and an AAA battery. When we picked it up, it actually felt almost hollow inside.


Figure 13: Rave-MP AMP along with the ARC?

We're guessing the second device is the ARC. We believe Rave-MP only has two MP3 players and since the booth was very busy, we did not get a chance to ask. The device pictured above doesn't look like the ARC from screenshots seen in the past, but it is still a tiny little MP3 player, and if it is really the ARC then it has a whopping 2.5GB or 5GB drive. We're not sure, and in retrospect, we should have gotten more information on it. ;)


Figure 14: Sonos Digital Music System

Next up was a booth by Sonos. They were displaying their Digital Music system that enables you to remotely play music from your desktop all over the house, and you can control it all from the palm of your hand using their Sonos Controller. The idea is that each room gets a Sonos ZonePlayer which is attached either via Ethernet or 802.11g (it acts as a base station/repeater, as far as we can tell) to your existing home network. Each ZonePlayer is then hooked up to your speakers to produce output.


Figure 15: Sonos ZonePlayer and Controller

Sonos supports playback of WMA, (non-DRM) AAC, OGG and MP3, covering the entire spectrum of popular audio compression formats.


Figure 16: Sonos Controller alongside a 3G iPod

The controller has an interface similar as that of the iPod's, which struck us as rather interesting. The controller speaks wirelessly with the ZonePlayer, and while both the ZonePlayer and the Controller are wireless/802.11 capable, it is their own proprietary wireless protocol implementation on top of it. Both the ZonePlayer and the Controller pick up an IP address so you should have a NAT running. The ZonePlayer sees the music on your computer via an SMB share. The controller itself is a reasonably slick embedded Linux solution.


Figure 17: Sonos Controller UI

One of the other cool features of the ZonePlayer is that it can serve as a repeater so even if one of your nodes is outside the range of your PC, it will be able to communicate with your PC as long it is able to see another ZonePlayer which can ultimately see your PC. Suhit speculates about the security implications, but we'll have to find out more before we can draw conclusions about that.


Figure 18: The I/O of the ZonePlayer. Note the Ethernet ports!

Overall we really liked the Sonos solution. The ZonePlayer will set you back $499 USD while the controller is expected to cost $399. There will be a package deal for $1199 for 2 ZonePlayers and 1 Controller.