Creative Zii EGG Video — Plaszma OS, Opera Browser Have Starring Roles
Anything But iPod dropped the $399 I wouldn’t — I thought about it, though — and they’re now the proud owners of a Creative Zii EGG developer edition handheld. This early video look offers a detailed introduction to the hardware as well as the Plaszma operating system. It’s clear that this device still isn’t optimized to take advantage of the StemCell computing offered by the ZMS-05 platform, but it shows promise. The touchscreen looks bright, clear and responsive and the native music player appears intuitive. Browsing in Plaszma is done through a version of Opera, so it appears to be quite usable, as expected.
The Zii EGG supports Google’s Android operating system as well, but doesn’t include a cellular radio for voice. It’s conceivable that you could turn this into a fun Android device and use voice apps over Wi-Fi thanks to the built-in microphone. A quick recap of other key specs to refresh your memory of the Zii EGG:
- 3.5″ display running 320×480 resolution with 10-point capacitive multitouch support
- 1080p high-definition output
- 32GB internal storage memory, 256MB of RAM
- SD slot supporting up to 32GB of expanded storage
- 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2.1 +EDR, GPS, 3-axis accelerometer
- 3D hardware graphics accelerator supporting OpenGL ES
- Support for Android and the Android SDK
Although $399 for a development device is still too rich for my blood, I’m keeping an eye on the EGG and the Plaszma operating system for now. I suspect that Creative will have better success with this device using the Android platform, but you never know.
Another mobile OS? It’s like PCs in the ’80s. I just can’t see how a small newcomer without cellular support and a connected Desktop OS should survive this.
I should start collecting data, that makes a perfect marketing case study in 10 years.
This was actually a very tempting device-32 GB of internal storage, a FULL-SIZE SDHC card slot, a multi-touch screen, and Android. Oh, and IT’S NOT A PHONE, so I wouldn’t have to pay the tax associated with phone functionality I’ll never use.
(Does it ever occur to some people that maybe we do NOT want our pocket computers/media players to be the same as our phones, especially if we want to switch carriers, or maybe some of us don’t have as much flexibility in phone choice?)
However, 480×320 resolution, no slide-out thumbboard, and Android’s relative immaturity made it lose out to the Samsung Mondi for me.