The next-gen touchscreen Sonos controller is here, and as strange as it seems to say, it’s actually better than the Sonos app for iPhone/iPod Touch for controlling their multi-room music solution wirelessly. But it is expensive.

The CR200 is available by itself for $350 and as part of the Sonos 250 Bundle for $1000. You save a little bit on the bundle since the ZonePlayer 120 and ZonePlayer 90 are $500 and $350, respectively. If you’re not familiar with Sonos, it’s basically a very fancy (and expandable) Airport Express-like unit to get music throughout your house. Our previous review of the last gen ZP80 was good, but the ZP90 and ZP120?this gen?are much better. They’re both capable of streaming music either over your network, or wirelessly through a $100 ZoneBridge unit.
The main competitor to the Sonos controller isn’t actually the last-generation Sonos controller, it’s the free iPhone/iPod Touch app. With an iPod Touch coming in at $230 ($120 less than the CR200), using that to manage your music or internet radio and piping that through different rooms in your house seems like the natural (and cheaper) choice, seeing as the thing also doubles as an iPod Touch when not controlling your rig. Why would someone want to use the CR200? Because it’s good.

Somehow Sonos managed to get the multitouch as responsive and as usable as the iPhone. Scrolling, flicking and even typing are taken directly from Apple’s user interface designs, and thus, should be instantly familiar to just about everyone now. The screen is bright, and the blue theme throughout the controller is classy?unlike the blue iPhone app, which is just slightly tacky looking.

Chinazrh via from Gizmodo

Feature

• E-book reader
  
• Support incoming call Vibration
  
• Telephone directoreis: 300 groups of contacts of carte de visit, support incoming call with big head sticker, grouping ring
  
• Messages &Multimedia messaging: support 200SMS, 100MMS
  
• Schedule power on/off:?support auto start/close, can set user-defined photo of starting/closing
  
• Alarm clock: support auto start/close, can set user-defined photo of start/close
  
• Alarm clock: 5 groups; can set from Monday to Sunday at random
  
• More information: MP3, Hands free, Voice recorder, WAP, Bluetooth, GPRS download, E-book, IP dial, equalizer, voice recorder, self-establish ringtone, photo editor, calendar, memo, alarm clock, world time, calculator, currency converter

Technical Specifications

• GSM Compatibility: Tri Band 900/1800/1900MHz
  
• Screen: 1.3 inch touch-screen 160k color; 128 * 160px
  
• Support Bluetooth
  
• Ringtone: 64 chord; Ringtone format: mp3, midi
  
• Music: Music: support equalizer; four loudspeakers with stereo output, larger volume and good sound quality
  
• Video: 3GP,MP4,support to play in full screen, speed and pause
  
• Date Transfer: data wire/U disc/ Bluetooth (voice, stereo)
  
• Standby Photo: jpg
  
• CAMERA is 1.3M Pixels
  
• Standby Time:?about 120-180 hours
  
• Talking Time:?about 2-3 hours
  
• Dimension: 60 * 46 * 18 mm(L * W * H)
  
• Language: English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/German/Arabic

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Development of China’s third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications network service will enter a “golden time” despite the gloomy industrial situation worldwide, China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said in a published article.

“Although the world economy is undergoing a tough time amid the widespread financial crisis, and the telecommunications industry faces great uncertainty, China’s telecom carriers still expect vast opportunities,” Chang said in an article in Caijing magazine’s latest yearbook.

Diversified customer demand would lead expansion of such services, including faster data downloads, allowing cell phone users to make video calls and watch TV programs, he noted.

More opportunities and competition will emerge after telecom operators receive 3G licenses from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), according to Chang.

The top three telecom companies are expected to receive 3G licenses soon. China Mobile will use TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), while China Unicom and China Telecom will use Europe’s WCDMA and North America’s CDMA 2000, respectively.

MIIT head Li Yizhong confirmed that the government would give “strong support” to promote the domestic TD-SCDMA standard. Relevant departments were asked to enhance industrialization of core chips, terminals and test equipment as well as to expand network coverage.

China will invest 280 billion yuan (41 billion U.S. dollars) to develop the 3G mobile telecommunications network over the next two years.

China has the biggest telecom network worldwide, with 977 million phone users as of September, including 624 million cell phone users and 353 million fixed phone customers. There were 253 million people online at the same time.