The iPod Touch made existing MP3 players look as outdated as mobile phones when the iPhone came out, but this may not be the case much longer. The Samsung P3 is just one of a new generation of MP3 and MP4 players that offer a brand new touch-based user interface that brings them far closer to the iPod Touch than ever before.

Samsung P3 MP4 player in detail

So what does the Samsung P3 offer? Well, obviously an MP3 player, and a nice set of features for organizing your music. You can access your favourite tunes instantly, for example, through the use of a Music Hot Touch Key, while the touchscreen user interface lets you choose tunes by pushing virtual keys and swiping your finger across the screen. As its a haptic interface, the device vibrates whenever you push a virtual key, giving you instant feedback of your actions.

The screen itself is a 3″ widescreen 16:9 format, which is useful for watching videos on, which you can watch in MPEG4, WMV and SVI formats.

The P3 also sports integrated speakers with Samsung’s amusingly-named DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology, and comes with storage of up to 32GB.

As you can see form the pictures of the P3, it also offers a variety of other features, including FM radio, several games, address book, alarm, calculator – in fact, the types of thing you’d find in a mobile phone.

Indeed, the P3′s user interface is called the EmoTure touch interface, which by the looks of it, seems very similar to the Samsung Tocco touchscreen mobile phone. Looking at the P3, then, I can’t help but feel it’s a top-end Samsung phone that’s had its mobile phone internals ripped out – but then, that’s no bad thing!

The user interface certainly looks good, and the brushed aluminium of the device’s body makes it exude a cool and stylish look.

No pricing or release date has yet been announced, which is annoying, as the price will surely dictate how successful the Samsung P3 will be compared to the iPod Touch.

[Source: Electronista]

The mi Shake is yet another new touch screen based media player, but this one comes with a difference in its operation and usability due to the Shocktronix motion sensor. Read on to find out more about the mi Shake.

Several PMPs around at the moment (such as the iPod Touch) have accelerometers built in so they can tell which way up the device is and they can alter the picture as needed. They have also been some interesting uses of this technology such as a lightsaber application which when you shake your iPod Touch or iPhone it makes the lightsaber noise and you can pretend you are a Jedi. But the Shocktronix technology in the new mi Shake, takes this even further. In addition to being able to control your player using the touch screen you can simply shake you mi Shake to perform actions such as changing videos, audio tracks, photos or flipping the pages on an e-Book.

Shocktronix

There are some other neat features based around the Shocktronix technology. It will count your steps as you walk/ run around listening to your music. If you enjoy DIY like me then you can use your mi Shake as a digital spirit level, not sure I would want my PMP that close to my DIY attempts though, things tend to break. Have you ever been walking down the street and thought, I wish I had my dice with me? Well wish no longer, with the mi Shake you have digital dice with you at all times… Yes, it is sounding very gimmicky but bear with the player because once you get past the shaking it does actually have some very cool features.

Other Features

The player has 4GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot so you can further expand the memory by 2GB. Not sure why it has limited you to and expansion of 2GB but in total that is 6GB which is not bad.

mi Shake has a reasonable 2.4″ TFT touch screen and supports both AVI and MP4 format videos which you can simply drag and drop so instant playback. You can view your pictures, text, E-books and if you are feeling creative you can even create your own art on the built-in canvas (again I think that is a bit gimmicky).

As for the audio, Electro BOX, the creators of the mi Shake have not skimped there either. They promise that their advanced miBuds will make you “experience the evolution in audio technology”, OK so that may be over the top but they are high quality and should offer crisp, clear sound. The mi Shake doesn’t seem to offer any audio improvement settings like the Creative Zen X-Fi with its X-Fi Crystalizer, and X-Fi Expand. But it does have built-in speakers and an FM radio. It also has a Dictaphone so you can record your own sounds.

Although the shake feature is the main selling point I am not sure how well it will work, for example, will it keep changing tracks as you jog along because it is shaking with you? Is there a way to turn Shocktronix off, or set the sensitivity? We would live to get our hands on one to test it out. The mi Shock is available for

Sick and tired of tiny screens and rubbish resolutions like those found on the iPod touch with a mere 3.5-inch screen and a measly 480-by-320-pixel resolution? Ainol has come to the rescue with what MP4nation are calling a killer PMP. The Ainol V3000 is set to kick all other PMPs down the stairs and laugh at them as they bounce to the bottom. Read on to find out more.

The V3000 will have a 4.3-inch LTPS screen so not only is the size excellent, it also has a LTPS screen which means the images and videos will look fantastic! LTPS screens are far better than your standard TFT screen. Ainol aren’t content with having a huge screen made from the best materials they have also upped the resolution to a whopping 800X480, as MP4nation says this is more than twice that of any similar Chinese PMP on the market. Even the RAmos T8, that has the same size screen, does not come close because its resolution leaves something to be desired.

The Ainol V3000 will support AVI, RM/RMVB, FLV and has TV Out. There is also a rumour suggesting that it will feature, WiFI, Bluetooth and GPS. You can find out a little more information on Ainol’s website, other than that there is very little information, and a usual a price and release date are too much to be asked for. It is thought that due to price wars and falling prices you will be able to pick a V3000 up for as little as USD$100 in August.

[Source: MP4nation]

iMovie…. mmm… now where have I heard a name like that before? Anyway that aside, the RAmos iMovie T8 has the best screen-to-frame ratio in any MP4 player. As you can see from the picture the 4.3 inch touch screen takes up most of the face. Read on to see the video.

The interface generally seems quite slick and easy to use; the video player on the iMovie is similar to what you get on your PC, with the menu at the bottom disappearing when you leave it.