Android brought to MP3 players through Philips GoGear Connect

1st September, 2010 by adina
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Philips has unveiled the possibly first full-fledged and globally available, Android-based media player. Providing full Android and access to Android Market and Google Maps, the GoGear Connect focuses on media applications. Some phone-like features are also built-in, by using a camera and the option of synchronizing wireless media over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

The Dutch company aims for an iTunes-like experience and is providing a Songbird special version to synchronize content. Transferring music manually is also possible for those who want so through the microSDHC slot incorporated.

The GoGear Connect will launch worldwide and shipping in late October with a price of 249 euros for a 16GB model (equivalent of $315). Although an American pricing has not been made public, a launch in the United States is also expected.

Samsung has had only a very limited release of the YP-MB2 phoneless Android handheld, but the operating system of Google has not been seriously used until now for MP3 players. A reason could have been the rudimentary media support offered by Google, but the much stronger position Apple has in the MP3 player zone than in phones certainly makes more difficult the challenge of the iPod. Fact is that the iPod touch is still the least challenged as only few touchscreen players benefit from a true application platform.

The Zune HD of Microsoft has been the only important device of this kind having an application framework, but because an insistent use of Microsoft-chosen applications and the decision the company made to abandon the platform after less than a year of presence on the market, it has been stopped. The Zune HD has been abandoned in favor of Windows Phone 7.


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