14 DAY TRIAL // Thomson has finally unveiled the A1. According to the French company, the videoplayer is going to be one of the most compact widescreen PMPs on the market and probably the smallest player there is. Its size is 82 x 12 x 50.9mm and weighs about 87 grams.
The A1 player is just a little bit larger than its integrated 3-inch wide screen 16 :9 high-definition TFT. It enables the user to use a couple of controls that seem rather "pushed to the edges". Even if it seems to be quite humble compared to others, the 3-inch screen is great for watching video clips, in AVI file formats, using a film-grade of 24 frames per second.
It comes in different color versions. Apparently, all the display panel was ingeniously occupied by the screen and its non-button panel design. It features a 2.5mm headphone jack and a data reading speed of 3.23Mb/s with a write speed of 2.05Mb/s. As for the storage capacity, the player can store up to 2 GB of your favorite music. It supports USB 2.0 interface for data transfer and charging.
Regarding its capabilities, A1 can deal with most of the formats available on the market, so it comes natural to read MP3, WAV, or WMA songs.
The Thomson fellow managed to find additional room for an FM tuner and recorder, meaning you can either listen to your favorite radio DJ live, or record it for later lightening.
As expected, the player's launching will first take place in China, but the A1 should be available very soon with 4GB with a $106 price tag or in a bigger 8GB version for no less than $120 of flash memory. However, Thomson has made no mention on whether the device will sell in its home country, France, or other areas, such as Europe or North America.
