Cowon IFA 2008 Press Release

[madman]

Cowon IFA 2008 Press Release

Could this be the rumoured D3??

Cowon S9 (http://www.cowon.com/take.php?returl=product.cowon.com/product/IFA/product_page_1.php)

3.3 inch AMOLED 480x272 16 Million Colors
Captive Touch Screen
500mHz Dual Core CPU
Music, Movie, Picture, Document.
T\DMB Bluetooth
FM Radio, Voice Record
Dynamic Dictionary
BBE, EQ filter, Jet Effects
Full UCI\All Flash UCI
Gravity Sensor\TV-Out
USB2.0, 40 Hours music playback.


No SD-Card Expansion, No Information on Capacity.

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3771/ifas90007rq8.jpg


Also the Cowon O2 (http://product.cowon.com/product/IFA/product_page_2.php)

4.3 inch Touch Screen\ Movies\ Music\ Picture\ Text
T-DMB \ Dictionary\ Recording\ SD Card Slot
8,16 & 32GB\ USB 2.0\ 10 Band EQ + EQ Filters
BBE\ Jet Effects\ TV-Out\ Speaker



http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/1972/2008ifao203ju7.jpg

And The Cowon L3 (http://product.cowon.com/product/IFA/product_page_3.php)

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8494/l304dt4.jpg

800x480 7inch Touch Screen
Movie\ Music\ Picture\ Text
T-DMB\ FM Transmitter\ Speaker
Internal Antenna\ SIRF III
SD Card Slot\ Remote Control
Shadow Touch Button

[tirim4]

Oh yea! so the rumors that the cowon shouldnt show up at IFA were false, thx a lot madman...The S9 or the =2 could be sucssesors to the D2, looks more like the O2 got more of D2s design...but its a lot bigger...

EDIT: looked at the page linked and saw a picture of the player, and its like just like very little gigger then the D2, nice job to put an 4.1 inch screen in that!

EDIT: OH and theyre so hot!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUCK THAT iPOD AND IRIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JayG30]

Eh. I have to say the first one, S9, is not appealing to me. The L3 also does not fit into my wants/needs. I don't see either of those being a replacement for the D2. I have to question the L3 release. Doesn't Cowon have enough large players out already?

Now the O2 is VERY interesting. It clearly looks a lot like a D2 successor. 32GB version + SD expansion slot is AWESOME news. I like the layout more without the silver bar on the side of the D2. I'm sure some people will like the added speaker, but I'd actually rather not have it if it would make the player smaller. That is really my only issue with it. It's a bit to big for my needs. I'd take something with the same styling and major features, but a smaller screen and smaller overall player. More along the lines of the D2...more portable like.

Also want to add that one of the pictures lists support for DivX 3.11/4/5/6, XviD, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, WMV 9/8/7, H.264, M-JPEG, MPEG1, MPEG1 Layer 1/2/3, WMA, AC3, ACC, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, OGG FLAC, APPLE Lossless, True Audio, Monkey Audio, MusePack, WavPack, G.276, PCM. That seems like a lot! :D

Another thing I'm wondering is that the S9 says it is All Flash UI. I wonder if the others will be the same. Also the G sensor in the S9 is pretty darn nice. Something I was wishing the D2 had to make vertical/horizontal use really seamless to use together. It would be real nice if they put that in to the O2.

[omjeremy]

Wow! How can you not like the S9?

The O2 is obviously an A2/3 successor; the screen size is large and the port layout on the left side pretty much exactly the same. It may share some similarities with the D2, since it has a touch screen, but it's much too large to be a D2 successor.

[JayG30]

Wow! How can you not like the S9?

The O2 is obviously an A2/3 successor; the screen size is large and the port layout on the left side pretty much exactly the same. It may share some similarities with the D2, since it has a touch screen, but it's much too large to be a D2 successor.

I realize it is bigger than the D2, but the buttons look a LOT like the D2 and the overall design looks like they lifted it from the D2 and removed the silver side bar (which I'm happy to see). It has nothing to do with a simple touchscreen that I think it is like a D2. The A2/A3 looks NOTHING like the O2 at all. I don't see a single button that looks similar, no buttons on the face of the player, nothing.

I don't like the S9 for a lot of reasons. No SD slot is a big reason for starters, as well as no idea of player capacity. I personally find the shape of the player, which appears to be a curved bottom, a bit strange looking and I'm thinking it is going to cause issues in actual use for me. Specific issues will be cases, laying the player down, how to prop it up to watch the screen, and preventing people from becoming frustrated and laying it down on the screen itself ([no]). Also it looks to me that there are buttons on the bottom and top (or left and right if you look at it horizontally) which makes me confused. I'm thinking to myself that it is going to be annoying trying to use buttons positioned underneath and on top of the player with one hand. I'd have to fiddle with it in my hand and probably risk dropping it in the process if trying to reach the other buttons. Two hand use would work I guess. To be honest the S9 styling cues remind me of there pendant player, the T2 (I know a bit of a stretch but I can see it).

[aniym]

I was about to type the measurements into Size Easy's website to compare it to other DAPs like the Samsung P2 and the IPod Touch, to get a sense of scale, but the pictures on this Cowon link pretty much do it for me:
http://product.cowon.com/product/IFA/product_page_2.php

Now the O2 is looking more interesting to me than the S9, mostly because of the SD slot, which really does make it seem like the true successor to the D2. The S9 on the other hand, could possibly be considered as leapfrogging a product like the Iriver Clix 2.

One question: the specs for the S9 clearly list the usage of Flash-based UIs, though the specs for the O2 do not. Can anyone make an educated guess as to whether theme customizability will be an option for the O2 as it was for the D2?

Also, I'm guessing that the S9 will come in at a lower price point than the O2 for similar capacities. Maybe something like 8GB S9=US$200, and 8GB O2 = US$250.

Any guesses on how long we'll have to wait to see a worldwide release after its domestic Korean release?

[WAI]

the S9 is the most likely D2 successor but with COWON you'll never know. god the S9 looks sexy with it's design.

[doniago]

There's already a thread discussing these products. In the future please check for such before starting a new one.

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23096

Closed.