SigmaTel announced that the new Zen portable media player, launched by Creative is powered by SigmaTel’s STMP3700 SoC. The Zen media player is a credit card-sized multimedia player with a 2.5” color LCD for videos, photos and music. “SigmaTel congratulates Creative on the launch of the Zen. Our STMP3700 solution along with Creative’s own technology enables a great video watching or photo viewing experience in a very compact device,” said Phil Pompa, CEO of SigmaTel. “The STMP3700 continues to ramp smoothly and we anticipate the introduction of other 3700-based media players in the next few months.”

“This Zen’s biggest asset has to be its pocket-friendly dimensions. It measures just 3.3 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.4 inch and boasts a lovely 2.5-inch TFT screen,” said Reuben Lee, CNET’s first take editor. “As usual, the Creative Zen will offer a desirable array of features, including a voice recorder, an FM tuner with support for up to 32 presets, and PIM functionality for syncing contacts and calendar info. Further, Creative is tacking on one surprising extra that we haven’t ever seen in the Zen line: an SD card slot for adding more memory. Considering the move to flash memory from the more capacious hard drive, I’m definitely keen on the addition of the expansion slot.” The user rating on CNET is an excellent 8 out of 10.

The ARM-based, 90 nanometer, STMP3700 is a highly integrated media processor which enables customers to develop feature-rich consumer products with superior video and audio quality, along with industry leading battery life. SigmaTel will also be releasing a highly flexible Software Development Kit (SDK) that allows OEMs to design differentiated PMPs with custom user interfaces for the consumer electronics market. Various beta customers are currently designing STMP3700-based media players with this SDK, and SigmaTel anticipates that it will be generally available by the end of Q4.

Specifications for the STMP3700:

• Up to 6 hours of video or 60 hours of music
• 30 fps QVGA MPEG4, H.264, WMV and flexible video playback support
• Industry-standard 90nm, ARM processor for high performance, robust video playback
• High level of integration for low system cost - no external power management or audio CODECs needed
• Flexible memory and LCD support
• Supports NAND Flash capacities of 4/8/16/32 GB and up
• Bluetooth®, WiFi®, high speed USB connectivity
• WM-DRM10 / PD-DRM (DRM9) digital rights management support
• PlaysForSure™ 2.2x compliant

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