The Chinese audio devices manufacturers appear like fat mushrooms after a warm heavy April rain. The new Tsinghua Tongfang brand is the living proof.

Since the company's latest PMC-V616, the manufacturers have introduced a new MP4 player, dubbed PMC-V618 that we all normally call PMP. Compared with the previous version which was a sleek looking stainless steel player with a 1.3 megapixel camera, this one sports a more compact design, better organized interface and an improved camera with a 2-megapixel lens, which can double itself easily as a PC web cam. Not to mention the V618 is also slimmer at only 82mm x 51mm x 12mm.

At a first glimpse, the player looks OK, given the fact that the manufacturers are not known as a heavy name in the industry. On the outside, the player comes with a 2.4-inch 260k-color TFT LCD screen, maintaining the same 320x 240 pixel resolution.

Regarding the new player's capabilities, the company added the same native capability of dealing with AVI file formats, but with a little conversion software, the device will easily be able to deal with almost any format file available on the market, such as: 3GP, MP4, WMV, MOV, MPG, DAT, ASF, MTV, and DVD.

For music, the device can play MP3, WMA and WAV file formats and it views JPEG and TXT files as well, meaning that the user will easily be able to read E-Books and slide show memories with the loved ones, hopefully while listening to music. Other features include a NES simulator, meaning it will be able to deal with Nintendo Entertainment System content.

But, even if the player apparently comes with most of the features that all the manufacturers include in their player's list of technical specifications, the best thing about it remains the low price tag that could kick some big famous asses in the industry. To be more precise, the 1Gb version of the V618 player can barely reach 68 bucks, while the 2GB can cost almost $75. Well, that's a Chinese bargain!