Here’s an interesting one. Siliconera has dug up what it claims to be a Japanese trademark for the term ” Zii ,” and contrary to what you may expect, the application wasn’t filed by Creative . We double checked the database, and sure enough, the paperwork went through on October 30th — which almost certainly means that this was more than just some day-late attempt to fend off the next-generation of KIRF Wii consoles . There’s obviously no way to tell what the Big N has in mind here, nor if this will cause any kind of friction between it and Creative, but we’ll certainly be keeping an ear to the ground for more. Who knows — maybe the Zii is that HD Wii we’ve all been clamoring for since November of 2006

If Nintendo’s follow-up to the Wii is actually called the Zii, I think that’s the first mistake right there. But could this mysterious trademark, filed in Japan in October, actually be for the Wii 2 , or something else? It was spotted on a trademarks database yesterday by the eagle-eyed Siliconera, who rightly points out that it “seems kind of late to protect Wii typos since the console is three years old.” Perhaps it’s that HD Wii which has been oft-rumored? Whatever it is, Creative won’t be too happy . [ Siliconera via Kotaku ]

Creative’s Zii Trinity handset, which we profiled with a quick video just a few days ago , was spotted again this weekend playing Wall-E in glorious HD, using nothing but its diminutive, generic little frame. Short, but impressive. The playback is smooth, the sound apt. Iron out some of the interface quirks we spotted last week in that video and we’ll have a nice little platform for OEMs to work with once Creative options this thing out into the ether. [ Mobile990 via Engadget ]

It’s over far too quickly, but in the video after the break, what you get to see is how well the Zii Trinity mobile prototype handles outputting HD video — in this case, a very smooth playback of a snippet from Wall-E . Can we express more excitement for Creative’s little platform that could? Probably, but we’re already reaching pretty high. Now if only we could get some hands-on time of our own…

Some new video footage of Creative’s Zii Trinity reference hardware, giving us a closer look at the hardware-for-hire . It looks pretty diminutive, but also pretty unfinished. The phone looks tiny, especially compared to the iPhone-sized Creative Zii Egg, but it seems the kinks haven’t quite been worked out—some gestures, like swiping between homepages, result in opening the app tray by mistake. But the hardware looks nice, if a little generic (although it’s probably designed to be generic, since it’ll be optioned by different OEMs). I like the idea of the swappable microUSB/mini-HDMI port on the bottom, but time will tell if that feature stays in the final product

It’s an all too brief look, but it’s infinitely more than we’ve seen so far. CNET Asia has managed some hands-on time the Zii Trinity concept smartphone . Quite a looker, and here we also get a glimpse of it next to the good ol’ Zii Egg . As noted by the narrator, the bottom proprietary slot can be swapped for microUSB or mini-HDMI, there’s a notably-sized 5 megapixel camera on the back, as well as one on the front for video conferencing. Enough talk, take a gander for yourself after the break. [Thanks, kumar] Continue reading Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:41:00 EST.

Ready to start lusting after a new smartphone? If Creative has its way , you’ll soon be enjoying Full HD video on a 3.5 / 4G device, with built-in WiFi, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, accelerated 3D graphics , and mini-HDMI and Composite video outputs. The newly announced 3.1-inch, multitouch-capable Zii Trinity has been designed by Creative subsidiary Ziilabs, and will be licensed out to clients who’ll be able to customize a Zii-optimized Android install and Plaszma interface. As if we haven’t got enough smartphone ecosystems knocking about already, this also marks the introduction of ZiiLife, which aims to be both a content delivery and productivity suite. Powered by the ARM-based ZMS-05 or ZMS-08 , the new handset actually seems destined to perform plenty of KIRF and grey market duties, judging by Creative’s “strategic partnerships” with Chinese manufacturers, but that might be no bad thing as, according to Gartner , the grey market is booming right now. Zii Trinity mobile platform packs 1080p punch, looking for OEM love originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:14:00 EST

Remember the Creative/ZiiLabs StemCell system-on-a-chip from a while back? The one that spawned that Android PMP design ? Well, the Zii project is marching on, which means new hardware, including the dual OS Trinity phone, 360º HD webcam and more. Creative and ZiiLabs are showing off a pile of Zii reference hardware to potential hardware licensors in China today, in hopes that someone will manufacture it. The Zii phone reference design, pictured for the first time above, is the only one we can see right now, and promises full 1080p video playback over HDMI, OpenGL 2.0 accelerated gaming, and support for both Android OS and ZiiLabs’ Plaszma software

We’ve been saying all along that we’d love nothing more than to see someone throw a 3G chip into Creative ’s Zii Egg and sell it as a pretty strong smartphone, but so far we’ve been hit with little to no indication of interested parties making that happen. So when we spot phrases like “Zii Optimized Android Phone platform” and “the line-up of devices on display includes a Mobile Phone platform” on an informational site for the ZiiLABS Showcase happening early December in China, our interested are definitely piqued. The event is geared towards companies who’d like to use the Plaszma platform for their products, and with any luck, some debonair decision-maker will give Zii phone a chance. [Via myCreative Fansite ; thanks, Kyle] Filed under: Cellphones Creative to show off ‘Zii Android mobile phone’ next month at Chinese summit originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:27:00 EST.

We’re still not entirely sure what Creative has planned for the Zii , but things appear to be going according to plan: as promised , an Android 1.6 installer for the Zii EGG developer unit was released today. Things are still pretty rough, however — the camera doesn’t work, and leftover bits of phone code like the signal strength icon are still present. We’re guessing that means we’re still ages away from seeing anything resembling a consumer device come out of all this, but let’s hope this is the first step towards a whole slew of kickin’ Android-powered KIRF devices . Video after the break. [Thanks, Yuki] Continue reading Creative Zii EGG Android build demoed on video Filed under: Portable Audio , Portable Video Creative Zii EGG Android build demoed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:52:00 EST.