I’ll be switching off each week between the Top MP3s Post and this one, so check back next week!

Sony NWZ-A810 & NWZ-S610:
Both of the two new video Walkmans sport the new user interface to browse through music, photos, and videos. Both units feature a QVGA 320 x 240 pixel LCD display running at up to 30fps. And both units can playback music for up to 33 hours, however the S610 can play video for up to 9.5 hours while the A810 runs short at 8 hours. Also since the new Sony Walkmans are “open platform” they now support non-secure AAC and MP3, secure WMA, plus JPEG for pics, and MP4/H.264/AVC video codecs.

The A810 comes with a high-quality set of Sony ear-buds (MDR-EX082), while the S610 includes a built-in FM tuner with custom presets. Both models are available in three capacities: 8GB, 4GB, & 2GB.

Sony NWZ-B100:
For those who just want a music player, the B100 packs a 3-line color LCD display and a FM tuner. In addition the entire unit can be plugged right into a USB port to charge, transfer music, and even copy other documents. In addition, the B100 can even record FM radio in addition to capturing voice notes with its built-in microphone. Since this walkman is also “open platform” it can also play any non-DRM music file. This Walkman is available in 1GB and 2GB capacities and offers up to 12 hours of playback.

All three players is available online at SonyStyle.com/walkman for pre-order and will become available in retail stores starting in September. Pricing is as follows. A810 Series: 2GB $140, 4GB $180, and 8GB $230. S610 Series: 2GB $120, 4GB $160, and 8GB $210. B100 Series: 1GB $60 and 2GB $80.

Links: SonyStyle.com

Last week, Home Media Research released a study revealing that Blu-ray had just outsold its competitor, HD DVD, by 2-to-1 for the first half of 2007. To be specific, HD DVD movie sales only reached about 795,000, while Blu-ray reached 1.6 million. To be even more specific the popular Spartan epic, ‘300′, which became the fastest selling High-Def movie, sold 190,000 Blu-ray discs and 97,000 HD DVDs (approx 2-to-1 again). Even the popular movie rental service, Blockbuster Video, which began offering rentals of both formats in late 2006, announced in June 2007 that they have decided to drop HD DVD and stock Blu-ray in all stores.

Although it may seem as though Blu-ray now has the upper hand, HD DVD is still in the game. While Blu-ray has the support of many large corporations, including HP, Dell, and Apple, HD DVD has secured more deals with major movie studios. If HD DVD continues to grab exclusive content from Universal, Rouge, Paramount, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros through the Christmas season, they might just be able to take down Blu-ray for the 2nd-half of 2007. Despite this, as of this week, there are 322 Blu-ray titles while HD DVD just falls a bit short, with 273 movies.

Another factor which makes it difficult to tell which format will come out on top is the pricing of the stand-alone players. HD DVD players are now available for as low as $250-350, while the cheapest Blu-ray player is still $450-550. This also reveals that the high amount of Blu-ray sales are mostly due to PlayStation 3 sales, since the console supports HD optical media right out of the box, whereas Xbox 360 users are required to purchase a $180 HD DVD drive. Companies such as Samsung and LG, who would much rather reap profits from both formats than subscribe to a futile war, have already released hybrid players which support both formats. Unfortunately for us, these units have price tags of $1,000.

Finally as for the technical side, the Blu-ray has a much larger storage capacity holding up to 50GB total (25GB/layer). The HD DVD can only hold 15GB/layer, therefore totaling a max of 30GB. As far as replicating the ultimate movie experience, both formats are practically identical, statistically speaking, as well as to the average eye. However, Blu-ray has the upper hand, in my opinion, since it can store more data for games. Luckily for Sony, as of now, the Blu-ray format is most definitely not heading in the same downhill direction as their Betamax did about 20 years ago.

Links: HD DVD | Blu-ray Info

After about three years of rumors and thousands of mock ups of an Apple Phone, the iPhone has finally been announced. Apple’s “reinvented phone” features a wide screen display, full iPod functions, touch controls, email client, web browser, and much more. The new device is more of a powerful smart-phone rather than a regular cell phone.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” Steve Jobs, Apple CEO.

No More Keyboard:
Apple has eliminated the entire idea of a solid QWERTY keyboard, which appear on phones such as the RIM Blackberry and Palm Treo. According to their ideology, keyboards are a waste of space when not in use. To solve the issue they have replaced it with a touch sensitive virtual smart keyboard. The onscreen keyboard will appear while composing SMS messages, emails, chatting, or performing similar actions.

Visual VoiceMail:
Apple has “reinvented” voicemail as we know it. With the iPhone and Cingular service, Visual Voicemail will allow viewing messages in a list (similar to an email inbox) rather than having to call up a server and skip through multiple messages. With a click, any selected message can be played back instantly and can be paused/rewinded/forwarded like a song.

iPod Features:
The iPhone has “built-in iPod” which utilizes a 3.5-inch widescreen display. The unit is controlled using completely touch-sensitive controls. A new “scrolling” method is used to browse through lists of songs, albums, artists, or playlists. In addition to music, the iPhone supports playback of TV shows, movies (widescreen), audio books, podcasts (video and audio), and viewing photos. A cool feature it includes is the Cover Flow effect which appears while playing music, which was introduced into iTunes 7.0.

Syncing Content:
The iPhone includes a 30pin standard iPod connector. Data can be transferred between the phone and the unit using a standard USB cable. The iPhone will continue to use iTunes (probably v7.1) to manage music, video, and photos, in addition to phone book contacts and calendar.

Communications:
Unlike most smart phones, the iPhone features a full rich HTML email client. The unit can fetch email in the background using POP3 or IMAP services. It is already known to support Microsoft Exchange, Apple Mail, AOL, and Gmail for sure. In addition to mail, the unit features an advance Safari browser and can view regular web pages rather than having to visit special mobile websites. All web communications can be performed using either a local WiFi network or Cingular’s EDGE service.

Google Services:
After making a deal with Google, the Apple iPhone will include a variety of Google services built into the phone. A portable edition of Google Maps will be included on the phone and will offer maps, directions, traffic, and even satellite images. Google can also be found as the default search engine for their web browser. More services will be announced later.

Pricing & Release Date:
According to Apple, the phone will be available in 2 models: 4GB and 8GB. The units will retail for $499 and $599, respectively, with a Cingular contract. The phone will be available in Apple’s and Cingular’s online and retail stores sometime in June 2007.

Other Specs:

• Provider: Cingular (quad-band GSM)
• Software: Apple OS X (cut down)
• Battery Life: 5hrs Talktime / 16hrs Music
• Camera / Camcorder: 2.0 megapixels
• Storage Space: 4GB or 8GB
• Screen: 3.5″ 320×480 pixels at 160ppi
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g & Bluetooth v2.0
• Weight: 4.8 oz | Price: $499/$599

Other Announcements:
Apple also made a few other announcements yesterday in addition to the iPhone. The Apple TV, originally named iTV, was announced for launch in February 2007 for $299. The AppleTV features a 40GB hard drive, WiFi 802.llb/g/n, and HDMI 720p support. The purpose of the unit is to easily bring content from Macs or PCs to home TVs. With a Apple TV plugged in, you can access downloaded movies, music, photos, and more. Apple also stated that the reached a record setting 2 Billion Songs sold on iTunes since it first opened. A new deal with Paramount will bring add 150 movies to the iTunes Store. Finally, Apple Computers has changed their name to simply “Apple” because they are no longer just in the computer market.

Links: Apple iPhone | Apple TV
iPhone Demos: iPod | Phone | Internet | Specs

Ever wish you could get a high quality of version of a song when you purchased the video from iTunes? A new Apple promotion now offers iTunes users the option of purchasing a combo of a certain Music Video along with the original Song for $2.50. Songs and Videos can still be purchased separately for $.99 and $1.99 respectively. Although this isn’t an “amazing” deal, it will however save you a mere $.50 if you do plan to purchase both the song and video. (select link below to launch iTunes for the offer)

On another note, Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, seems to be working on sorting out a deal with a few major motion picture studios, to begin to offer iTunes users the ability to purchase any movie for standard rate of $9.99. According to Apple, after this deal is complete, consumers will begin to see full high quality movies being offered in the iTunes Music Movie Store.

Links: iTunes Song + Video Special Offer
Related: Get iTunes | Apple iPod