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Pasen MID5 packs Android, cures insomnia
What do we have here? Pasen, a company who's been boring us to death for years with its MP4 players (and at least one full-on KIRF) has finally come out with something we could conceivably see ourselves wanting to own. Crazy, huh? It's called the MID5 and as a device its about as revolutionary and original as its name, featuring a 5-inch (800 x 480) LTPS LCD display, WiFi, HDMI out, and support for 720p H.264 video as well as many of your fave formats (including DivX / XviD, RMVB, and MKV. Additionally, the company is boasting up to 10 hours of music or 4.5 hours of video playback. The OS is, predictably these days, Android. No word on a release date yet but when it is available it should go for around $200.
Pasen's REI-16 PMP gets examined on video
We greeted the promising Pasen REI-16 with lots of skepticism, and truthfully, this thing still has some work to do to shake the dreadful shackles of the Pasen brand that we've always known. However, the video hosted up after the break does a fairly awesome job of proving that the firm's new owners are serious about producing quality kit. The unit demonstrated is described as an "almost final sample," and so far, we're really digging the interface. Everything looks satisfactorily intuitive, and on the real, we actually caught a whiff of envy watching those thumbs go to town. Don't let us down, Pasen -- we think you've got a winner on your hands here.[Via B4Tech Blog]
Pasen is dead, long live Pasen's new REI-16 PMP
To say that we've been underwhelmed by Pasen's offerings thus far would be like calling the Meizu M8 slightly delayed, but supposedly we're in for a pleasant surprise when next we meet a player from the company. The brand has been bought out by Italian Kiwii LTD and is pledging that those awful interfaces and stolen icons are things of the past. The proof will be in the REI-16 PMP, pictured above serving as a precarious looking wheel chock. It should make for a better media player, and while details are few it's said to offer a "gorgeous" 3-inch touchscreen, "sexy" user interface, and support "tons" of audio and video formats (including ogg). An integrated FM transmitter will pipe tunes to your car, plus there's video output for your TV and even emulation for 8-bit console games. It certainly sounds promising, but we'll have wait for the full specs and some hands-on impressions before we can call Pasen reborn or just rebranded.
Pasen iTouch LE demo video does it again: makes us scream in apathy
Oh Pasen, how you entertain us so! In the company's latest update to the familiarly designed iTouch, the iTouch LE includes a new, faster JZ4732 chipset that they say allows the unit to play 30FPS, unconverted video with less strain on the battery. With 4GB of internal storage (memory card support up to 32GB), voice recording, and support for RM, RMVB, AVI, DIVX, FLV, DAT, ASF, MP4, WMV, 3GP, MPG, and SWF, this $79 unit may just be coming around on something good. The UI isn't any prettier than before, but at these prices, who's complaining? Spot the video after the break if you're still with us.[Via PMP Today]
Pasen F10 PMP rips off both the iTunes and WMP icons
Normally we'd let run-of-the-mill PMPs like Pasen's F10 pass on by, but we just had to stop and call out the blatant use of both the iTunes and WMP icons here -- even given Pasen's history, that's just a little much. Come on guys, the F10 looks like a solid little player -- 2.6-inch 400 x 240 display, MP3 / AAC / FLAC / DivX / XviD / RMVB support, just 0.2 inches thick -- why not actually try and let it compete, instead of saddling it with the trappings of irrelevant KIRFdom? Ugh, we have to go lie down.[Via PMP Today]
Pasen iTouch SE demoed on video: the goggles do nothing
The first Pasen iTouch was almost comically bad, but we'll give the company a little credit for trying again with the iTouch SE, which just popped up in video unboxing form on YouTube. We were a little intrigued by the SE's XviD and DivX support when we first heard about it, but wow -- that interface might finally be usably fast, but it managed to get even uglier, still ridiculously requires double-clicking and now apparently also involves a pen. Third time's the charm, we guess. Check the full vid after the break.
Pasen tries to go legit with the iTouch SE
Pasen's first iTouch earned it a spot in the KIRF Hall of Fame, but it looks like the company is trying hard to go clean with this revised model, the iTouch SE. Like the original iTouch, the SE features a 2.83-inch QVGA touchscreen and decent format support including DivX, XviD, AVI, MP3, WMA, and FLAC, but Pasen's ditched the faux-iPhone look for a sleek white shell with single button. Let's just hope they refined that incredibly slow and janky interface.[Via PMP Today]
Pasen's LAZYBUM claims to be "world's first" mini-PMP
Quite honestly, we're a bit befuddled as to where to even start with this one. Shall we ponder the reasoning behind naming a portable media player "LAZYBUM," or would our time be better spent considering just how absurd the whole "world's first mini-PMP" claim is? Rather than harp on either, we'll just tell you that Pasen's shiny new player sports a 2.8-inch QVGA display, miniSD expansion slot, eight equalizer presets, built-in FM tuner, a voice recorder, integrated text viewer / Tetris-style game and support for MP3, WMA, WAV, AVI, XviD, DivX, ASF, MP4, FLV and lots, lots more. If you're not too offended by the title, and your ego is fine with knowing that this actually isn't the tiniest PMP Earth has ever seen, you probably can't go (too) wrong here.[Thanks, Christian]
Pasen "debuts" motion sensitive ShakeIT PMP, slew of rebrands
If you're looking for some fresh and exciting PMP action, perhaps Pasen can help you out. After the company's unmitigated failure at ripping off the iPhone, the Chinese media player-maker has turned its attentions to the use of accelerometers with the ShakeIT. Continuing the habit of unoriginal ideas, Pasen has rebranded a Telcast player -- which sports a 2.8-inch, QVGA, 320 x 240 screen, 2GB of memory, and the ability to play all your favorite formats (AVI, FLV, MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, JPEG, GIF and BMP). The hook here, of course, is the player's ability to shuffle through pictures, menu items, or songs by being shaken one way or another -- a feature likely to get a number of these thrown across a room. On the plus side, this player will apparently be the first to use Microsoft's PlayFX suite, which does 3D headphone effects and volume normalizing. The company also "officially" announced two other players, the TouchMusic, a Telcast touchscreen PMP rebrand, and the A19, yet another rebrand of a PMP / digital camera first introduced by KBS Industrial. All the players should be available, "In around a month." Check the video after the break to see the ShakeIT do its thing.[Via PMPToday]
Keepin' it real fake, part LXVII: the Pasen ITouch
Although we've seen countless rips of the iPhone at this point, we've only seen a couple of them in action -- and when we do, it's almost always sort of depressing. Take this video of the Pasen ITouch DAP (which bears a striking resemblance to the Onda Honey VX858 and the I-Fighting FT4021): the poor presenter tries valiantly to show off Pasen's "latest and greatest" -- even deploying the awesome power of Jessica Simpson -- but instead just demonstrates that double-clicking and sound effects are kind of annoying on touch devices. On top of that, at 1:37 he attempts some iPhone-style scrolling but fails, so he just exits back to the main screen. Ouch. Looks like there's a reason the MiniOne is expected to cost $989, eh? Peep the vid after the break.
