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Cowon Q5W Media Player Ships, Wise to Most Codecs
Posted by Charlie White at 2:41 AM on November 30, 2007
We've been hearing rumblings about its imminent release for a few weeks, and now it's here: The Cowon Q5W is shipping in the US, and the company's released new details about this Wi-Fi-enabled portable media player with its 5-inch 800x400 touchscreen.
Most impressive are the codecs this .79-inch-thick baby will handle, including the pirates' favourites XviD and DivX, the open-source Ogg, and even a favourite audio codec of those with golden ears, flac, along with all the other usual suspects. It's got a tiny remote control, and hey, it even has a Flash player on board. Looks like it might be worth its $US550 price of admission for the 40GB model, or $US600 for the 60-gig. We just don't think we would name anything that's portable starting off with the word "cow". [Cowon America]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
ideaman2020
Posted 1:24 PM 29/11/07
@Weihovah: Q5W FTcoW
ideaman2020
otaking241
Posted 1:13 PM 29/11/07
Please let somebody retail this thing for $400...
otaking241
trampas
Posted 12:46 PM 29/11/07
@TasteTheFlava: Thanks. Good catch. That light blue text wasn't exactly jumping out to me, so I missed it. Curious as to what mapping software they'll use, if any will be a default. Price could jump up $200 by the time you get map software installed.
trampas
xint
Posted 12:45 PM 29/11/07
@slapBOXmaster: Yeah, the Cell Phone thingy is one click above this.
LOL!!!
xint
slapBOXmaster
Posted 12:24 PM 29/11/07
you could always.....you know......take out the battery. unless you have an iphone in which case the CIA doesn't really want to have anything to do with you anyway they are after the real threat..... windows mobile.
slapBOXmaster
TasteTheFlava
Posted 12:00 PM 29/11/07
@trampas: Per the website "[Note] GPS version will be available in early December."
TasteTheFlava
permissionmag
Posted 11:58 AM 29/11/07
The seventh picture made my heart flutter for a moment - until I realized that was just Windows CE running on the Cowon, and it's not a UMPC device.
I like lots of storage and a big screen, but my god, it must have the worst UI possible. A stylus? Those tiny icons all over the place?
I took a look at their web site, and in one screenshot alone, I counted over 50 buttons on the screen at once.
And if anyone can explain why a portable media player needs a 30-button remote, I'd love to hear it.
Why is it so hard for consumer electronics companies to hire just one usability expert?
permissionmag
trampas
Posted 11:13 AM 29/11/07
Dag-nabit...I've been waiting months for the Q5, and it was supposed to have GPS capabilities!? Now it's just another pmp to me. Gimme some GPS with TomTom support, and I'll pay $600 for it.
Still very nice device.
trampas
raleel
Posted 11:07 AM 29/11/07
and beaten to the punch because I'm way too verbose
raleel
raleel
Posted 11:06 AM 29/11/07
Looks very much like it is Windows based. the site for it has multiple pictures with it featuring windows-style things in it, including the trademarked flying windows icon. It's offering Windows CE Office Viewer and then notes that WinCE Pro Plus including Office Viewer is optional. It's claims to battery life make it the best in "Windows based full-featured PMPs with touch screens".
Then there is the tech specs section which says it's running WinCE 5.0 Professional as the OS that I just clicked on ;)
raleel
xint
Posted 11:02 AM 29/11/07
@EMoShunz: The specs on the page say it's got WinCE, which puts another question as per the pricing, but I have to partially agree, even though the features are great and everything a Media Player should have (including WiFi!), it's still running W!ndows.
:S
xint
Weihovah
Posted 10:57 AM 29/11/07
it's pronounced co-won, not cow-on
Weihovah
EMoShunz
Posted 10:54 AM 29/11/07
@xint: tat would be disconcerning. bit pricey, but seems worth it given the features.
EMoShunz
xint
Posted 10:50 AM 29/11/07
Hopefully that's just a W!ndows UI I see there on the last pic and it's not actually running XP.
xint
OtterKing
Posted 4:21 PM 29/11/07
This is more expensive than the eee pc... just throwin that out there.
OtterKing
banmojo
Posted 7:45 PM 29/11/07
give me 160gb plus GPS plus what's already on it, for 400 bucks, and I'll buy that device.
banmojo
lkanthatham
Posted 10:10 PM 29/11/07
I'm getting the review unit in tomorrow. I'll be taking some unboxing photos then. Review to come on Monday.
Look for it on [gadgetaholic.com]
lkanthatham
impendingdoom
Posted 9:17 PM 29/11/07
@OtterKing: Its also far more compact, its $600 because you're paying for that many features and storage packed into a tiny, tiny package. I cant wait for this to run a linux kernel. Hopefully the eee pc one. Q5W FTcoWon !
impendingdoom
drsmith
Posted 9:15 AM 30/11/07
Too expensive. For that price, you could just have a laptop that does everything this device does and more. Yes, the laptop isn't as portable, but sometimes it's not about portability but capability.
On the other end of the spectrum, an HTC Windows Mobile device has the GPS/mapping capability built in, is cheaper, smaller, and also has more capability than this device.
drsmith