Published in News

Digital Entertainment Handheld in development

by on19 May 2009

Image

Microsoft has a plan for next generation product

We have
been calling it Zune HD for some time, while others have called it Project Pink, and yet others have called it the DEH. What is it? Well, it is the next generation entertainment device from Microsoft. Many of our sources prefer to call it the DEH or Digital Entertainment Handheld. It is in development and Microsoft is hopeful that it can change the way that you look at devices like this in the future.

What it is not is a next generation Zune, but at the same time we guess it will offer all of the features of a next generation Zune device. Is it a portable gaming system? Well, it can play games, but it does that and so much more. The way that we would describe it is that it is a bit of an Xbox with some Zune thrown in, with a sprinkle of the PSP and the cool factor of the iPod Touch. It is not a smart phone or a device that will have any business type applications on it.

While the interface might look a bit like a Zune or perhaps some of the latest smart phones, that is really where the comparisons stop. The hardware is pure power and innovation with the ability to play HD video at screen resolutions that are beyond what we have seen in other devices. Our sources tell us that it will be powered by an ARM v6+ processor that is offered by a lot of sources including nVidia, TI, Qualcomm, as well as others. It will offer OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics hardware as part of the package.

Additional features will include WVGA 800x480 or FWVGA 854x480 display with a screen size of at least 3.5” or more. Touchscreen ability is required. Battery life will be measured in days of use. Controls will be built in that will include Start, Back, Send and End. Cameras will be included, as will GPS (AGPS is required). Sensor support for light, compass, accelerometer, USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Micro USB and 3.5mm audio jack are required.

Builders will have the option to include a FM tuner, as well as SD card support with MicroSD to be the likely standard, DPAD, and Qwerty keyboard or a 12/20 keyboard split configuration.

That is right; we said builders. From what we hear, Microsoft will be focusing on the software and design with others building the actual products. This means multiple sources and different versions of the product.

We will likely see it this holiday season, but still much is unknown about it. We continue to hear rumors of private showings at E3 for some NDA media and developers, but unlikely an official launch. Hey, these are only rumors and you can expect to hear more about this in the next couple of weeks.

Last modified on 19 May 2009
Rate this item
(0 votes)