Samsung T9+ is an MP3 player with Bluetooth games
Music on the move meets mobile multiplayer malarkey
Bluetooth multiplayer has never quite taken off with mobile phones, perhaps because when people are within ten metres of their mates, they prefer to actually talk to them. I know, crazy idea isn't it?
Samsung is hoping to buck that trend with its new T9+. But it's not a mobile phone. Instead, it's the company's latest MP3 player in South Korea, with a 1.8-inch screen and up to 8GB of internal memory to store your collection of Celine Dion and Cheeky Girls MP3s.
Wait! The device also comes with a suite of preloaded Java games, which can be played against other T9+ owners via Bluetooth.
It sounds like a bit of a novelty, relying as it does on you and at least one friend owning the same MP3 player. And the games aren't famous ones: Master Of Defeat, Food King and Hand Crush being three titles. However, it's a new sign that Java gaming is spreading out from mobile phones to other devices.
And it's made us think – if Apple puts Bluetooth in its next iPod (which is a near certainty, seeing as it'll allow you to listen to music on wireless headphones), we could see Bluetooth multiplayer games for that device too.
In the meantime, the T9+ has only just been announced in Korea, so there's no news yet on when (or if) it'll come to the West.