Cowon unveils P5 player with new haptic UI
updated 08:00 am EDT, Wed July 23, 2008
Cowon P5
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.
Extra wireless comes through Bluetooth 2.0 for some earphones and peripherals; unlike some Cowon players, Internet access is strictly optional but can be added in through a USB-based Wi-Fi adapter.
Audio support is characteristically broad with APE, FLAC and OGG joining more conventional formats like MP3 and WMA, with FM radio as a fallback; voice recording is an option. Despite the large screen, the P5 still nets about 14 hours of music and also manages nine hours of video.
Cowon's Korean home gets the P5 first on July 29th in black, red, and silver aluminum trim levels and with 40GB, 60GB or 80GB of hard drive space. International plans haven't been revealed, although the company often releases versions of its players without DMB tuning for North America and other regions. [via AVING]
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Joined: Aug 2004
LIke Cowon
I have always liked Cowon's products. Since they (and a couple of other companies) have a hold on Korea, they can produce quality, non-iPod, equipment that has so many more features.
Yes, yes, it doesn't integrate with iTunes, but many folks don't care about iTunes.