AOL is showcasing a Linux-based hard drive-equipped portable media player (PMP) manufactured by Haier, at CES this week. The Smartscreens Media Device packs a 30GB drive, plays MPEG4 and WMV videos over wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones, and can also receive Internet radio stations via WiFi.

(Click for larger view of the AOL/Haier Smartscreen)

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According to a report by PC Magazine, the device is packaged in “a metal box about the size of an iPod,” and is operated by means of “a simple, text-based interface navigated by skimming your finger over a touch pad below the gadget's screen.”

The Smartscreens Media Device by Haier was designed by AOL's Tegic subsidiary, a Linux mobile phone pioneer
(Click any image to enlarge)

The model spotted at CES has a 30GB hard drive, the same size as Apple's entry-level iPod. An AOL spokesperson at the show reportedly said the device would let users download content from online services such as Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! The spokesperson did not say that AOL/Time-Warner might launch its own online music service to go with the player, but this seems possible or even likely, according to the PC Magazine story.

Wildseed lineage

PC Magazine notes that the Smartscreens design was created by Wildseed, a Linux mobile phone startup that AOL acquired in August of 2005.

Before its AOL acquisition, Wildseed was focused on the mobile phone industry. In fact, it built the first mass-market Linux phone for the U.S. market, a curved number called the “Identity” featuring themed “smart skins” that snapped over the phone. Each skin held a small “SmartKey” embedded with ringtones, wallpaper, and other theme data related to a popular musician or group. About two dozen SmartSkins were available at one time.

The original SmartSkins phone design included a SmartKey embedded with themes, ringtones, and games

Despite the Identity's innovative technology, Wildseed apparently had difficulty selling the device in sufficient volume to make it cheap enough for teenagers — the intended target market. The company also ran into legal difficulties with Kyocera, the OEM initially contracted to manufacture the design.

Since the AOL acquisition, Wildseed appears to have kept its focus on the entertainment industry, while jilting the mobile phone network and SmartKey chips in favor of WiFi and Internet-based music services.

Availability

The Smartscreens Media Device by Haier is expected in the second or third quarter of 2007.

Haier is a large Chinese OEM best known for refrigerators. It has also previously manufactured the N60 Linux phone.

More about the new Smartscreen PMP can be found at PC Magazine, here.

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