Hot Portable Media Players to Look Out For

Samsung Goes HapticSamsung P3

At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung unveiled the P3, a follow-up to its P2 player, with updates to both the interface and the sound technology. Samsung upgraded its EmoTure interface, which offers haptic feedback, which means that you feel a physical sensation when you touch the screen. Every command gesture, from swiping to holding down a digital button, offers a different type of physical reaction.

The P3 has a 16:9 aspect ratio, widescreen video player, a photo album, voice recorder, FM radio, and portable storage drive. The P3 comes in matte black or matte silver finishes--a clever design choice to prevent the smudges and fingerprints that portable media players are often prone to. The P3 is currently available and priced at an affordable $150, $200, and $300 for the 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB models, respectively.

Samsung has a few other PMPs, all rumored to be coming to U.S. shores, but not confirmed as of this writing. Among them: The R1, which like the P3, has a haptic touchscreen display. Currently available for preorder in the United Kingdom, this player supports a wide variety of codecs (including Ogg, FLAC, H.264, and Divx), supports Bluetooth, and has a TV-out function. Also dubbed the "r'mix," it comes with Samsung's DJ software.

Creative Hatches the Zii Egg

The current generation Zen X-Fi player is the top place holder on PC World's Top 10 MP3 Players chart due to its unique features and superb audio quality, so we've been anxious to see what Creative has up its sleeve. The wait is over: Behold the Zii Egg. This player boasts a 3.5-inch multitouch (yes, multitouch!) display, supports output of video in 1080p, has Wi-Fi with a full Opera browser, X-Fi, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, an SDHC slot, two cameras, and more.

Here's where the details about this device get confusing: Creative currently markets the Zii Egg as the world's first StemCell Computer optimized for Android. Cutting through the marketing speak, the Zii Egg is much like an Android phone, but it can't make a call. The Egg, which is currently available for preorder to developers with the SDK kit, will be an interesting player to watch. See images and more information about the Zii Egg on the official product site.

More PMP Rumors Overseas

A few other companies that have a bigger presence overseas than here in the U.S--such as iRiver and Cowon--may have some players headed to our shores later this year or early next. An iRiver device running Android, dubbed the K2, was leaked online thanks to an Australian-based product dealer. The player's rumored specs are a 3.5-inch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, a built in Web browser, accelerometer, Bluetooth, and possibly a digital TV tuner. And Images of the iRiver E200, a follow-up to the E100, were leaked on fan site iriverfans.com. The player's specs are very similar to the E100, but the screen's size jumps from 2.4 to 2.8 inches.

Meanwhile, Cowon Korea has updated its home page with a preview of a soon-to-be-released device called the E2. From the images alone, it sort of resembles the newest iPod shuffle: Completely minimalist design, with no screen or hardware buttons.

Got a hot tip on a PMP player under the wraps? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @pcworld.