Cowon D3 - The (unfortunate) review

[Enzyme]

whats up with that z2 pic...it looks like a black packet of processed ham with it's lil lip on the front :s

no fkn way will they release any product with those ergonomics, i know i need my eyes tested but i think i smell bs.

[WhiteS9]

i know i need my eyes tested but i think i smell bs.

Then you're alone. A 1.2 GHz Cowon device running Android is like a dream come true. I don't think there's anything particularly strange about that random pre-release picture of its backside, but I suggest you wait and see before you judge it by what you perceive as its bad exterior.

I, too, would prefer they choose another processor architecture, but really, the D3 runs a Telechips one as well and it's been handling everything I throw at it just as fine as any Android device with a similar clock speed.

What I'm more concerned with is whether or not this one will have physical playback controls and an S/PDIF out like the D3. If it will, then it just could be the perfect Android replacement for the J3 (though it will no doubt be more expensive).

[globiboulga]

Originally Posted by WhiteS9

Then you're alone. A 1.2 GHz Cowon device running Android is like a dream come true. I don't think there's anything particularly strange about that random pre-release picture of its backside, but I suggest you wait and see before you judge it by what you perceive as its bad exterior.

I, too, would prefer they choose another processor architecture, but really, the D3 runs a Telechips one as well and it's been handling everything I throw at it just as fine as any Android device with a similar clock speed.

What I'm more concerned with is whether or not this one will have physical playback controls and an S/PDIF out like the D3. If it will, then it just could be the perfect Android replacement for the J3 (though it will no doubt be more expensive).

A dream come through would simply be an Android J3 and that will not happen, simply because Android will not allow that kind of battery life. While I concede that the switch to Gingerbread has made the D3 useful, we're still a far cry from a decent Android device and that's predominently due to the Telechip. I can see a very good reason as to why Cowon would stick with a product non one else uses - aside frome nationalistic considerations, which I am sure play a role - the absence of a strong development community. That will simply ensure no one rips off their software. The pathetic attempts to port the D3 to other Android devices have shown that conclusively.

While I use my D3 daily now, I still have my S9 as a backup. And I don't use Android apps on it as the vast majority have trouble working at pace on the Cowon device. The D3 is a great player now that playback issues are sorted - bar gapless not being implemented; thanks Rockbox - but it is far from being a usable Android device.

As I said, I wish Cowon would release its software on the Google Apps Market. I'd use those on all my Android devices.I'd even do with the non gapless aspect...

Anyway, let's see what the Z2 becomes. I doubt it'd replace my D3 yet - unless I give it away!

[WhiteS9]

As I said, I wish Cowon would release its software on the Google Apps Market. I'd use those on all my Android devices.I'd even do with the non gapless aspect...

I totally agree. They would be able to make a lot of money on that. The video and music apps are peerless, and very well designed. Unlike A LOT of competitors. I do hope they will fix gapless playback with future firmware updates - if Rockbox can do it, Cowon can as well.

but it is far from being a usable Android device.

If you by 'usable Android device' mean capable of playing a myriad of pointless little games without lag, then yes. If you mean capable of browsing the Internet, then no. I'm pleasantly surprised every time I open the web browser on the D3, because I never expect it to be as snappy as it actually is (thank you, anti-D3 forum bias). It gets warm though, as I'm sure you have noticed.

[dfkt]

The D3 is horribly slow for web browsing (and most anything else that isn't audio/video related). The exact opposite of snappy, in my experience.

I did a video, comparing it to an older and cheaper Archos 32, which is immensely faster already (but still slower than current-gen devices) - http://youtu.be/f4-CMYVpL4U - browser comparison starts around 2:10.

[WhiteS9]

Sorry, what I meant to say was it's fast enough to be usable, not fast on a universal scale. And considerably faster than I had come to expect it would be, based on all the extremely negative reviews.

My unit does seem to load web pages faster than yours, though.

[t.k. the hedgehog]

it's almost as if every D3 out there is different...mine....didn't run and actually bricked itself at one point thus me having to return it...

err...anyway...the z2 is very promising, I think cowon learned from their mistakes.

[globiboulga]

It’s hard to believe more than a year has passed since I penned that review. The world does seems like a different place, more pleasant, more in tune with my inner self, although I have to admit it does certainly have to do with the fact that I have stopped to repeatedly hit my head against a wall. On occasion, I do regret not having sent back the player within the first 7 days, but that feeling never really goes beyond a small moment of frustration as I do continue to think the D3 is by far the best sounding player Cowon as produced to date – possibly on par with the mighty X5 and, according to some, closely matched by the Z2.
It is true that my relationship with the D3 has evolved dramatically, while always remaining a love and hate affair, one of great literary contradictions that create such great best sellers as 50 shades of grey. Great pleasures joined at the hip with immense pains, like a deadly addiction. A swing of emotions that – in the end – is probably what any music loving aficionado is after.
Anyhow, it seems we’re nearing the end of a fantastic journey. While the release of Gingerbread did spill a fair amount of sweetness on sour dish, my D3 is now struggling to pass the 7 hours of battery (flac, only music, screen barely on). This is tragic. It can now no longer fulfil its limited assigned duty and I am ready to simply throw it in the bin in an act of desperate capitulation, like a soldier surrender would refuse to yield and sacrifice his own life so the fight could continue beyond the grave.
While I accidently destroyed a D2 I used to carry around for training (its electronics splattered across the road like it was an unfortunate racoon dragged along the asphalt by some careless SUV driver), a trusted S9 was lurking in the background to take over musical duties. Yet, the sound has never really been the same, as it seems the curved brother could not live to my expectations. I then dutifully acquired a J3 (this is the only great thing about being old and working hard) before it disappeared from the earth, and to take advantage of the 64gb microSD I acquired with the D3. Yet again, the sound seemed that little bit flatter, that little bit less punchy; as if the D3 had bigger lungs. When the J3 is singing the Opera through a microphone, the D3 boldly stands alone on stage with nothing to carry its voice than the commitment to excel.
Like I could not return the D3 during the first few days I struggled with it, I cannot now throw it down the proverbial drain. Great love stories never die.
As I look in the distance to a future of music, I know the great gods of convergence have not managed to successfully convert me to the pleasure of one device. I have a HTC phone which very average at music and second rate to video. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 (a pleasure I share with dfkt; a player which like the D3 has greatly benefited by finally being fitted with a more recent version of Android; is better at music than the HTC but not quite there yet – oh but what a wonderful video player – which I use continuously); I am yet to find the music device to replace them all. The S9 is now tortured with me in my training sessions and I fully expect it’ll meet its unfortunate fate within a few months and join the D2 in the electronics cemetery of unfortunate falls (I am quite careless and tend to get a bit overexcited during physical exercise – which reminds I actually have a case for it); the J3 has now become my trusted player since the D3 exhausts itself way too fast when pushed a bit hard (a feat we both share actually).
I am a gadget freak and I look there:
- Could it be the Z2, would I dare to go the D3 road again?
- Could it be the upcoming Sony F800?
- Could it be the X9 (although it is quite enormous for a music player)
- Could it be the Q7 (I mean I did rent a long post asking Cowon to actually put a 7” Android tablet on the market and they did ignore my begging of sending a unit for review!
I don’t know. And perhaps none of these. I just can’t convince myself to abandon my D3…

[cowonlover]

Just sent off for the cowon Q7..gingerbread, with wifi etc. It has jeteffect 5 so a tablet with all the basic other tablet functions? well I hope so. I cant find anymore info at present. I have the Z2 and the J3, as sound is everything to me. Now I can get rid of my 1 Gen samsung galaxy tab 10.1. So part of my goal is to have all good sound on all my devises. I have even installed BBe sonicmax pro on my samsung S3..the sound does improve. So pretty long video playback and wonderful battery life on music playback on the Q7 is something I look forward to testing in detail. I am always looking for even more up-to-date cowon products and it is good to read some of the reviews others offer here..that I thank you for