Philips just introduced the GoGear Connect, a touchscreen media player that can probably be worthy of rivaling the iPod touch in terms of apps thanks to its Android OS. We’re not saying that Microsoft’s Zune wasn’t “worthy,” but in terms of available apps you can you’d want to run, the GoGear Connect’s link to the Android Market is a very good thing.
It packs the features you’d expect from your typical Android smartphone—sans the phone part, of course—with a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 16GB internal memory, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-fi, and an app pack that includes Google Maps and a full web browser. For an easy iTunes-like interface, the GoGear Connect will feature Songbird that sorts, plays, and syncs your music to the device. Wireless syncing is also said to be available, while a microSDHC card slot can also be used for transferring files between sources and the player.
Oh, and the bundled sound isolation in-ears look awesome. Definitely a big improvement over the stock (read: crappy) earphones that usually ships with porta-players. Philips also mentioned that they’ll be adding their FullSound audio tech that provides cinematic surround effects during movie playback. Nice.
Aside from that, we should know more in very soon. Philips is expected to formally introduce theGoGear Connect at IFA this week, followed by a launch in the US, Western Europe and China in late October for 249 euros, or around US $315.
Tags: GoGear, Philips, Portable Media Players
