We were invited to the Creative office today to learn more about the recently announced Zii Egg. Though all its features point to it being a consumer-oriented media player like the Apple iPod touch, the difference is that Creative isn't selling it as such. While anyone can place a preorder at the Zii Web site, the Egg is clearly positioned as a product for developers to work on and create applications for Creative's new Plaszma platform. To that end, it will ship together with an SDK (software development kit).
Google Android will also be available for the Zii Egg, but according to a Creative spokesperson, this will not be preinstalled. The company is working on refining Android's performance on the device and will provide the OS as a download after the product ships. The Zii Egg preorders will be fulfilled from the second half of August. Click for more pictures and a video.
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The Creative Zii Egg in all its Android-loving glory. (Credit: Zii.com)
We knew Creative was up to something when that Zii Egg FCC application flew past us earlier this month, but we had no idea it would be this awesome, or this confusing. Turns out the Zii Egg (what an unfortunate name) is a multitouch, HD video-capable, dual camera (front and back) rival to the iPhone and
iPod touch, running on Google's Android OS (see all the official specs over at Zii.net).
You can grab a 32GB model now for US$399, but don't expect it to be fully baked. Creative is announcing this as a "developer edition" in the hopes that the Android community will pick up the platform and run with it. I guess it takes a village to beat an iPhone.
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On Thursday, Palm announced the public release of its Mojo SDK to all developers interested in creating apps for its WebOS and launched a new developer portal, complete with FAQs, forums, and all the associated documentation for the SDK. In addition, the company said it will open the app submission process to all developers this fall and new applications are already in the pipeline from its early access program. Sweet, sweet news for both developers and Palm Pre owners.