Cowon's second announcement regarding the US market on Tuesday involves another one of its personal music players, the iAudio E2. The iPod Shuffle-sized player has Cowon's well-known audio enhancement features, letting users pick from one of eight audio enhancement profiles. Each mode has a built-in voice guide that is used to preview the sound enhancement presets.
Cowon has priced its iAudio 9 portable digital media player and confirmed the device is coming to the US within a week. The first versions of the devices will be available only in black, with an 8GB capacity and 16GB version. The device will sport a 2-inch color screen with a 320x240 resolution and a capacitive touch strip for navigation, as well as Cowon's well-reputed sound processing technology.
Korea's Cowon is displaying an upcoming portable music player on its home page, the iAudio E2. While little is known about the device other than its styling and that it's coming soon, it appears targeted at the same audience as the iPod shuffle as it goes without a screen. Cowon also makes the iAudio T2, which has a tiny OLED screen and a 2GB capacity. It connects to PCs via a miniUSB connection and sports a built-in FM tuner with recording for both broadcasts and voice. Some of these specs are expected to be shared by the E2.
Cowon has quietly begun selling its D2+ portable entertainment device in the US recently just one week after than its launch in the home market of Korea. Like its predecessor, the D2, the new player is available in both 16GB and 8GB versions on Cowon's US online store, JetMall. Unlike the D2, however, the D2+ adds more colors to the same 2.5-inch, 320x240 touchscreen, has a new GUI, new BBE+ sound processing and a slightly different exterior design. The North American version also loses the DMB tuner, which is not usable in the area.
Korean-based portable electronics maker Cowon has replaced its D2 media player with an upgraded D2+ version. The device has the same 2.5-inch 320x240 LCD touchscreen but with improved colors and can now be had with or without a DMB TV tuner. It can be ordered with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of built-in memory, while external memory can be added via a microSDHC card slot that can support up to 32GB.
Korea's Cowon has finally released its L3 multimedia player, which first appeared back in August. The L3 sports a 7-inch, 800x480 resolution display and runs on Windows CE 5.0. The only details released on its CPU is that it has dual cores. The device has 128MB of SDRAM and ships with 4GB of flash storage space. It can, however, be expanded via an SD memory card slot.
Cowon this morning said it has started shipping the S9 Curve to the US. Like the original version, the media player is Cowon's closest equivalent to the iPod touch and centers on a 3.3-inch active matrix OLED with a capacitive touchscreen; the display is both more color-accurate than Apple's and supports the same pressure-free finger input, although without multi-touch gestures. The display is limited to 480x272 is supported by a processor that can decode 720x480 MPEG-4 video versus the 640x480 limit of the iPod.
Cowon today revealed that it will bring its S9 Curve media player to the US in December. The device is the Korean company's most direct answer to the iPod touch and centers on a rare, 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen that both produces more vivid colors than LCDs and also boosts the battery life to 40 hours of music. It also includes an accelerometer to rotate the image into landscape, Bluetooth for wireless audio, and is unusually fast for its category through a dual-core processor.
Cowon today has quietly launched an Americanized version of the O2, its most recent video-oriented touchscreen player. The device is a close cousin of its Korean original and carries a 4.3-inch, 480x272 display as well as the processing power to decode 720p video in some formats. Although it denies the use of the T-DMB TV tuner that would only work in Korea, the O2 continues to support relatively exotic formats that include Monkey Audio and OGG as well as video formats like Matroska and MTV. Several common formats are likewise supported and include both AAC and H.264.
Cowon as of Monday launched a concerted campaign to improve its touchscreen players with three new models. Headlining the move is the S9 Curve; the device is the first narrow-format touchscreen player from the Korean company and also the first to use an active matrix OLED (AMOLED) touchscreen. The switch from LCD both improves color output (up to 16 million colors) and also battery life: despite a 3.3-inch display, the S9 is capable of 40 hours of continuous music while remaining slim.
Cowon on Wednesday added a new entry to its touchscreen players with the P5. Targeted more at video users, the device has a 5-inch, 800x480 touchscreen with a new customizable "shelf" interface with widgets; haptic feedback that simulates physical button presses through vibrations. A new, faster 700MHz processor gives the device both a quick interface as well as the power to decode full DVD-resolution video that includes both offline formats (AVI, DivX, MPEG-1/4, WMV, XviD) as well as digital over-the-air TV through a built-in DMB tuner.
Cowon is already in the midst of developing a sequel to its relatively well-received D2 touchscreen player, representatives from the company's CES booth have said. The D3 should mark a performance upgrade and may be the first to play video beyond 320x240 despite its small frame. This size is also expected to shrink and will see both the overall surface area shrink as the device gets thinner, Cowon says.
Cowon today added to its steadily growing portfolio of US players with the shipment of the iAudio U5. The Korean firm's exported player is designed to undercut the iPod nano, Zune, and other players in the class by offering a handful of features that are not found on the higher-profile players, such as a voice microphone and an FM radio tuner with scheduled recording for listening to shows after they air. Where other players' audio equalizers only offer presets, the U5's settings are fully customizable, Cowon says. A 1.8-inch screen keeps the device comparable to the Zune 4/8 in size.
Cowon today finished its device upgrades for 2007 with the launch of the N3. An upgrade to the N2, the N3 is built to be used either at home or in the car as a multi-purpose tool: though it includes a GPS unit with full navigation tools, the device also uses its 7-inch screen for playing back music and video. A picture-in-picture feature allows users to watch a smaller video window while keeping track of the route ahead, Cowon says. At 800x480, the display is sharp enough to play DivX, MPEG 1/4, Windows Media, and XviD movies at greater than DVD resolution. It also includes a DMB tuner for digital over-the-air broadcasts and will even accept input from a portable DVD player or rear-view camera through a video-in jack.
Cowon has revealed that its Q5W media player, announced for the US earlier this month, will at last ship in early December. The player is unique in several respects; it supports 802.11b Wi-Fi for instance, but unlike Apple's iPod touch, can browse websites with and without Flash. The player also has a five-inch, 800x480 touchscreen, which can be optimized for either fingers or a stylus.
