Philips Pimps New GoGear PMPs

Philips SA5245/5285
Product Name: Philips GoGear PMPs
Description: Like a cop giving out tickets at the end of the month, Philips is definitely trying to fill some kind of quota…. The company released just about every variation of portable media player you can think of here at CES. Settle in, I’ll try to be brief.

GoGear SA3025/3045: 2GB or 4GB of flash, 1.5-inch screen, 11fps video playback (worthless!), and a whole 10 hours of battery life for music. $59/$79.

GoGear SA3225/3245: 2GB or 4GB of flash, 1.8-inch screen, 15fps video (still mostly worthless!), 20 hours of battery life for audio and 5 for video. $69/$129.

GoGear SA5245/5285: 4GB or 8GB of flash, 2.8-inch screen, 30fps video, 25-hour battery for audio and 5 for video, also available in a Bluetooth-enabled version for wireless listening.

GoGear SA6145/6185: 4GB or 8GB of flash, 3.5-inch screen, 30fps video, 16 hours for audio and 4 for video, $149/$169 (not bad for 8GB!).

GoGear SA6545/6585: 4GB or 8GB of flash, 4-inch 16:9 screen, 30fps video, 16 hours for audio and 8 for video. The 6585 also has video-recording capability and TV output. $179/$199.

All of them have FM tuners and voice recorders. They support MP3 and WMA, while the 5245 and 6585 also rock the AAC. All but the 3xxx series do protected WMA and protected WMV, and they all do regular WMV.

In-store date: All are available in Q2 2008 except the 6145/6185, which is available now.
Site: www.philips.com
Why it’s cool: I can’t say I’m particularly excited about anything here, though it’s nice that Bluetooth is popping up in more media players. But boy, how ’bout those sexy product names, huh?