Tomato unveils U20 PMP for South Korea

Although South Korea is home to more than a few oddities, the oddly-named Tomato is looking to ship its latest portable media player, the U20, to Seoul and the surrounding areas. Housed in a brushed aluminum / chrome enclosure, this simple looking device boasts a two-inch LCD screen, 15 hours of battery life, USB 2.0 connectivity, and comes in at 2.99- x 1.89- x 0.47-inches in size. Additionally, you'll find a built-in microphone, a miniSD slot for extra media storage, and an ability to play nice with AVI, MP4, WMV, ASF, and MP3 files. Tomato apparently feels that these guys are ready for pickin', as you can snag the 2GB version for 89,900KRW ($96) next week, while the 1GB / 4GB variety will be landing shortly thereafter.

[Via AVing]

[K @ Jan 25th 2007 1:53AM]

Why is Tomato "oddly-named"? How is it any different to Apple?

Oh wait... maybe it's okay to name a company after a fruit, but not okay to name it after a vegetable.

[zonamanoz @ Jan 25th 2007 2:12AM]

Actually, contrary to popular belief, the tomato is in fact a fruit, due to it being a seeding and flowering plant. Society shuns it as a vegetable cos it doesn't fit in with its sweeter tasting breatheren.

[K @ Jan 25th 2007 2:24AM]

I stand corrected.
I looked it up - http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/tomato

But then I read this:
"In 1887, the tomato reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling? Vegetable. So legally, it seems, the tomato is not a fruit."
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question143.htm

So basically, whilst it technically is a fruit, when you refer to a tomato on Engadget, it's a vegetable... since every other person on here seems to be a legal expert.

[sunsfan @ Jan 25th 2007 2:53AM]

Tomato...Tomoto...lets call the whole thing off

[tehuberone @ Jan 25th 2007 5:13AM]

I thought the tomato was an animal.

[Tony C @ Jan 25th 2007 7:38AM]

Yes, technically and botanically, tomatoes are berries -- a fruit. They were legally declared vegetables in the US so that they could be the subject to import tariffs that were not present at that time for fruits. I remember learning that from Alton Brown... :D

Now that PMP... It looks strangely, or maybe not so strangely, like the backside of a digital camera. It's simple, it'll get the job done, and the brushed metal and chrome combo looks very nice, but the screen could definitely stand to be bigger if they're touting the video viewing features. Can likely squeeze another inch, maybe more, into that baby without much hassle.

[oshean @ Jan 25th 2007 9:06AM]

Al Gore is waiting for the Tomatoe version to come out.

[CraigMayhem @ Jan 25th 2007 11:04AM]

Wouldn't that be Dan Quayle?

[dave @ Jan 25th 2007 10:00PM]

it looks like a stormblue A9+ without the bluetooth.

not half bad, tomato. not half bad.