Loaded an OLED display and an incredible 64GB of storage (further expandable via MicroSD), you simply run the pen (lengthwise) over text and color images to capture them at 600dpi. But to simplify matters even more, you can either unload images to a PC through USB, or you can just transfer shots to whatever device you'd like over Bluetooth.

According to DVICE, the quality was surprisingly good in testing, though for $369, it'd better be. [PlanOn via DVICE]

That's in part, because it is a trick, since it has netbook guts and Sony's asking you to pay $1300 for it. But, in your hand, it makes you question how skinny is too skinny, how much weightlessness (1.6 pounds of it, to be precise) is an asset before it approaches nothingness. (The fatty VGA port very nearly destroys the illusion, though.) The effect, still, is remarkable, at least at first touch.

Sturdiness? It borders on feeling fragile, but never quite crosses that line. When you try to bend it, you definitely feel like there's a breaking point that won't require a ton of additional force on your part.

The keyboard layout is around 90 percent of full sized which is why it feels a little cramped, but I typed better than I expected, honestly, even with its tiny ticky-tacky keys that fit the fingertips of a small child. The multitouch trackpad only supports zoom gestures—no two-finger scrolling—which are janky at best, at least inside of Internet Exploder. (Sub-question: Why can't PC makers do a decent multitouch trackpad?)

Considering it's a got 2GHz Atom chip, notching it a 2.4 Windows system rating on the one I messed with, it moved pretty decently, more nimbly than I'd have expected, even with Windows Media Center. This is mostly because of Windows 7 I suspect—with Vista it probably would've been tortuous.

Knowing that it's running Atom inside, when it's wrapped in feats of material and sensory goodness, definitely creates a sense of ambiguity, like Sony's repeating the Vaio P all over again. Like it's special effects. Except that it seems like it sorta kinda works this time, which is the actually weird part.

Thanks to its 11.2 inch display it looks really compact and that carbon fiber outside and keyboard, oh that keyboard, make my mouth water. As for what is on the inside, we don't know much. The guys at NetbookNews say there is discussion of an Intel Atom processor (they seem to be hoping for the next generation Pineview CPU), but we won't be surprised if they go with Intel's new ULV offering. Either way it is something low powered since Sony has been touting crazy all day battery life (from the video though the battery doesn't seem to be replaceable).

Now it would be typical Sony to jack up the price on this 1.5 pound baby, but I am thinking it might not be as high as some anticipate (crossing my fingers for under $750). Don't forget Sony was saying a few months ago it wants to enter the low cost ultraportable space. Our sources tell us this sweet lappie will launch sometime in October with Windows 7. [Netbook News]

Update: Aaaand that's cause it's apparently got an Atom processor inside Engadget's been told. Didn't Sony learn anything from the Vaio P?

For those keeping score on thinness, Adamo is 0.65 inches and weighs around 4 pounds, while MacBook Air's ballooning ass is 0.76 inches and it weighs about 3 pounds, though both of them have 13-inch screens versus the X-series 11.1-inch display. But still, Atom? And god, I don't even wanna know how much it's gonna cost. [Engadget]

That's not to say it isn't an impressive player in its own right. It handily beats the Samsung P3 and the Cowon S9, but I'm left wondering who would pick this up instead of a Touch. But if Sony were to stick this UI into one of their Sony Ericsson Walkman musicphones, they might have something powerful indeed.

Click for gallery

Physical
The X-series is a very sleek player, similar in size to the Samsung P3 and significantly narrower and shorter than the iPod Touch, though ever so slightly thicker. It's designed with an unusual aesthetic: The sides of the player are this odd sort of rough, glittery metal, similar to unfinished granite, and the back and front bezel are black glass with little shiny sparkles in them, like a granite countertop. It's a nice-looking player, certainly, and it feels very solid in the hand. I just don't totally get the granite thing—it's not spectacularly eye-catching.

On the front of the X-series is the screen, an unbelievably responsive 3-inch OLED capacitive touchscreen, and a large "Home" button underneath the screen, much like the iPod Touch. The screen is crystal clear, the sharpest picture I've ever seen on a PMP—it lives up to the promise of OLED. Viewing angles are limitless, and touch response is great, without any lag at all. Unfortunately, that glass front and back are awful fingerprint magnets, though being glass, it does seem to resist scratching fairly well.

The right side hosts the noise cancellation switch and a surprisingly cheap-feeling volume rocker. The top has the headphone jack and the pleasantly firm play/pause, track forward and back buttons, while the bottom edge is home to the proprietary USB jack. Interestingly, the hold button is a giant semicircle switch on the back of the player—it seems weird, but I actually love how easy it is to reach and how solid it feels. The numerous hardware buttons make it a very nice player to control in the pocket, despite mostly being touch-based player.

The X-series is one of the only PMPs with built-in noise canceling, but it only works with the included earbuds. Fortunately, said earbuds are excellent for freebies, and the noise cancellation worked perfectly on my noisy Chinatown bus ride between Philly and New York City. Noise canceling does slaughter the battery life, though, draining it twice as fast as regular playback. When you're trying to drown out the kind of crazies who take the Chinatown bus, you'll be glad it's there.

Audio quality is a hallmark of Sony's PMP line, and the X-series does, in fact, sound great. It includes a customizable five-band equalizer for audio dorks and some nice sound enhancers like DSEE. On the other hand, you're limited to the lossy codecs Sony supports (MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, AAC), so it may not be a good choice for serious audiophiles.

Click for gallery

UI
The home screen has a familiar grid of icons, including Music, Movies, Photos, Podcasts and some more intriguing Wi-Fi-based apps like Slacker, YouTube and Browser. Navigating through lists of artists, songs and albums is very similar to the iPod Touch style with a grab-and-flick interface, though a fast flick leads the list to cycle through a lot faster than the touch, almost like there's less virtual friction, and we'd say it feels just a hair less exact.

At the bottom of the Now Playing screen, there are four icons I've decided to term Back, Navigate, Web, and Options. The icons themselves aren't very literal: The Back icon is a bulleted list, and Navigate is a magnifying glass, so it's slightly confusing at first. But once you touch it, it becomes very clear what each button does, and I had no problems after that.

The "Navigate" button is great: It'll bring up a list containing Artist, Album, Songs, etc that'll let you jump right to that list without having to hit the Back button four times. The iPod Touch doesn't have anything like it, and now I wish it does. The Web button is also really cool: It brings up a screen that'll let you search the track name, artist, or album with Yahoo or YouTube. The Yahoo search brings up hits like Wikipedia and AllMusic, and the YouTube search immediately brings up a ton of music videos, live concert footage and more to watch on the player. Pretty cool stuff. Oddly, the X-series will prompt you to re-connect to a wireless signal every time you try to do one of these searches, and though it remembers your password, it's still annoying.

The X-series also includes an FM radio, and it's worth mentioning because it's one of the stronger FM tuners we've seen in a PMP. It's not like it'll change the way you think about radio, but it does as good a job as you could ask.

Web Apps
The YouTube app is really great, quite similar to that of the iPod touch or iPhone except with a classy sheer black skin to match the X-series' aesthetic. Videos load quickly and are very clear and watchable, provided you've got a solid Wi-Fi connection.

Slacker is another hit for the X-series, giving access to either the free or paid versions of the Pandora-like service with the same skin as the rest of the UI. It's super fast to load and sound quality is excellent.

Unfortunately, Sony's only two for three on the web app front, and the most exciting of its new features is a major fail: Its internet browser—NetFront-based, like PSP and Sony Ericsson—is completely unusable garbage. All text entry is done via an infuriating T9 interface (why not just rotate to a landscape QWERTY? There's plenty of room!) that's inexact and totally unhelpful. It requires you to type in "http://www." before every URL. Even if you've got the patience to sit there for ten minutes to type "http://www.gizmodo.com/", the browser can only manage those dinky mobile sites without totally freaking out. Browsing full sites is an exercise in futility, as the two zoom buttons don't always work, you can't navigate before a site has fully loaded and tapping links is inexact and frustrating. Basically, it's worthless as a web browser, which is a huge disappointment. This image pretty much sums up the X-series web browsing experience.

Desktop Software
The X-series has both a MTP (Windows-only) and a UMS (shows up as a drive, compatible with Mac and Linux as well), though UMS must be switched on before each connection. That means it'll work with most any media player, save iTunes. Sony's "Media Manager" software is included, but it's pretty awful, very archaic and difficult to use, and won't convert video unless you pay for the "Pro" upgrade. That last part is a real killer for the X-series' video capabilities.

Speaking of video conversion, you'll be doing a lot of it, since the X-series only supports a few video codecs and none of the common pirate formats (Matroska, XviD) are included, unlike the pirate-friendly Samsung P3. I used Cucusoft and was able to get a few MPEG-4 videos onto the player, but your average user will definitely have trouble figuring it out. None of the WMVs I tried would work, and I never was able to get a great-quality video on to test out what the OLED screen can really do. iSquint for Mac does work, but the quality, while totally watchable, is disappointing: On an OLED screen like this, you want to be blown away by video quality, and I wasn't.

Audio codec support is disappointing too, considering the X-series' stellar audio performance: The only lossless format is WAV, which nobody will use due to its massive file size. Besides the preferred lossless formats, more niche codecs like OGG aren't supported either. The player has incredible capabilities, yet Sony cripples it by limiting its compatibility—they could have courted the audiophile market, but 320kbps mp3 files can only sound so good.

Price and Conclusion
The X-series, according to Sony, is a premium gadget and thus commands premium prices—coincidentally the same prices as the iPod Touch. The 16GB version costs $300, with the 32GB going for $400. The difference is that the iPod Touch comes with a massive App Store for boatloads of new features, not to mention an accelerometer, a web browser that won't make you long for the days of WAP, tons of accessories, and software that actually works. The X-series just can't compete with that.

The X-series is a really solid player: The form factor is nice, the screen is incredible, sound and video quality are as high as these things get, and it comes with built-in noise canceling. If it were $50 cheaper, I'd have no hesitation about recommending it over the Samsung P3 and Cowon S9, but if you're spending at that level, you'd be buying the wrong machine if you chose the Sony.

On the other hand, we do see a successful future if Sony put a phone version of this up against Nokia's XpressMusic. It could never be a smartphone, not in this shape, but it could be a great music-based dumbphone.

Sony understands that PMPs can't just be PMPs anymore: basic iPods aren't selling like they used to, and the Touch is part of a mobile computing platform. But to just stuff in some Wi-Fi features without thinking about software expandability or even a usable browser—that's not going to cut it these days. Sadly, despite all the things the X-series does right, and its impressive stats list, it's just not enough in a day and age owned by networked and app-friendly gear. [Product Page]

Beautiful and responsive OLED touchscreen

Great size

Nice extra features like noise canceling and YouTube

Excellent sound quality

UI is sometimes unclear, but has more options than iPod Touch

Battery life is above average but not thrilling

Web browser is complete garbage

Frustrating T9 text entry system

Limited audio and video codec support, and video conversion is a pain

Too expensive

Wish we had more, but again, these are just trademark filings. [Digitoday (translated)]

It's got 32GB of storage, uses the same NetFront browser as the PSP, plays all of the major audio (MP3, AAC, WMA, not OGG) and video (AVC, H.264, MPEG4, WMV) formats, and its built-in digital noise canceling has a noise suppression ratio of 17dB. Oh yeah, Windows only.

It looks like Sony gets a lot of little things right, which bodes well, since it's the little thing that are usually Sony's undoing. Check out the full spec splooge here: [Sony Style]

Shhh, it's coming out of its lair now to display this yellow brick road of scrolling album covers. Astounding! Resemblance to its similar species, the iPod touch, is clear, especially when the built-in wi-fi is considered in kind. And what's this? A mating dance? We should see the NWX-1000 hitting stores this summer. Stunning! [Anything But iPod]

Much like its direct competitor, the iPod Touch, it comes in 16GB and 32GB flavors and can be used to surf the web. The screen's half an inch smaller, but it's also OLED (rather than the Touch's LED) so you can expect brighter colors and better contrast.

It also comes with digital noise canceling—a first for any MP3 player I've seen. The feature, allows any accompanying 13.5mm EX headphone to block out ambient noise, and basically renders those expensive Bose earphones you just got for Christmas obsolete.

What I like about this is that it's one of those “D'oh, of course!” ideas. I've always hated how the sound gets muffled and crappy (or turns off completely) when your noise canceling headphones run out of batteries—you don't have to worry about that if it's all incorporated into the MP3 player.

We'll have to run it through the standard tests to see if it's all it's cracked up to be, but what worries me most about the X-series, and it's most likely roadblock to widespread success, is the price. Right now it's TBD. Sony has come out with a ton of outstanding MP3 players, but unless it's willing to sell this one for $400 and lower, the X-series probably won't knock the iPod Touch off its perch.

Sony's Motionflow wall which was in the process of being powered up had a 240Hz set like the 200Hz Bravia we saw at IFA (240Hz NTSC = 200Hz PAL), which indicates Sony is bringing some or all of its Euro IFA goods (including, hopefully, the super-thin ZX1) stateside. We also spied a Sharp X-Series Aquos all fired up in their booth (shown in the image above), which very well may be the WHDI wireless set announced in Asia a few months back, which indicates Sharp is pushing their thin LCDs even harder, and in larger sizes. We also learned that it must really suck to have to vacuum tradeshow floors after setup. Hit the gallery for more shots of the majors' booths.

SHARP To Offer Ultra-thin LCD TV with Wireless HDTV Link by AMIMON

AMIMON's WHDI Technology Enables High Quality and Robust Wireless Uncompressed HDTV Link to Sharp's New X-Series LCD TVs

Santa Clara, Calif. and Osaka, Japan - April 30, 2008 - AMIMON Inc., an emerging leader in semiconductor technology for wireless high-definition (HD) video, has partnered with leading LCD TV manufacturer Sharp Corporation to offer a wireless HDTV link for the new X-Series ultra-thin LCD TVs. AMIMON's WHDI™ technology, capable of delivering uncompressed HD video streams wirelessly, will simplify the installation of Sharp's ultra-thin LCD TVs by eliminating the need for an audio/video cable between the TV panel and the separate tuner unit.

AMIMON's WHDI technology uses a unique video-modem approach to deliver wirelessly uncompressed HDTV. With a range of over 100 feet (30 m), through multiple walls and with latency of less than one millisecond, WHDI technology offers universal wireless whole-home HD connectivity with quality equivalent to that achieved with HDMI.

"WHDI is becoming the technology of choice for wireless HDTV," said Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen Chairman and CEO of AMIMON Inc. "With AMIMON's WHDI technology, consumers can enjoy wireless ultra-thin TV displays that are easy to install and easy on the eyes."

Sharp's new X-series models, which come in 37-, 42- and 46-inch screen sizes and are only 3.44 cm thick (at their thinnest part), go on sale in Japan in March. This series adopts a discrete component configuration that separates the display section from the tuner section, and these two sections can be connected with a cable or by using an optional wireless video transmitter unit that employs AMIMON's WHDI technology.

About Sharp Corporation

Sharp Corporation is a worldwide developer of innovative products and core technologies that play a key role in shaping the future of electronics. As a leader in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and digital technologies, Sharp offers one of the broadest and most advanced lines of consumer electronics, information products and electronic components, while also creating new network businesses.

Sharp Corporation employs about 58,900 people in the world (as of December 31, 2007) and recorded consolidated annual sales of 3,127,771 million yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. For more information, please visit Sharp's Web site at http://sharp-world.com/index.html.

About AMIMON

AMIMON is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering wireless uncompressed high-definition video for universal connectivity among CE video devices. AMIMON's uncompressed Wireless High-definition Interface (WHDI™) enables HDTV manufactures to offer consumers wireless flat panel displays that can interface wirelessly to all HD video sources throughout the home at a quality equivalent to that achieved with wired interfaces such as HDMI™.

The company is headquartered in Herzlia, Israel, with offices in Santa Clara, Calif., USA, Tokyo Japan and Seoul Korea. More information is available at www.AMIMON.com.

WHDI is a trademark of AMIMON, Ltd. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are those of their respective holders.

After everyone has jumped on the Full HDTV bandwagon with both feet, Toshiba has said WTF and is launching their new X and Z series, two Regza LCD lines that are 1080p-ready and go up to 57 inches.

Both come with 3 HDMI sockets, so you can connect them to a HD DVD, a PlayStation 3 and even to the Xbox 360 Elite's lame HDMI port at the same time, all without having to use HDMI switch. The X series will come in 40 and 46 inches, while the Z will be available in 37, 42, 47, 52 and 57-inch flavor, with added Active Vision M100 support, Toshiba's technology to reduce flicker. Pictures of the Z model, in Darth Vader shiny-shiny black, right after the jump.

The Z series, available in Darth Vader black.

The X series, on the stand.

– Jesus Diaz

Toshiba X and Z series TVs launched to offer viewers choice [Pocket Lint]