Cowon's all singing all dancing A3: November 14th

Rumored forever before its CES debut in January, Cowon is finally releasing their A3 personal media player. So tell us oh gentle reader, was the DaVinci chipset; 4-inch, 16M color, 480x272 800 x 480 (!!) pixel display; USB host; FM radio and recorder; MPEG-4 video recorder; 1280 x 720 HD output; and vast codec support including DivX, FLAC, OGG, and wide variety of lossless audio worth the wait? Available November 14th in 30GB and 60GB flavors for ?349,000 (about $387) and ?419,000 (about $465), respectively.

Gallery: Cowon's all singing all dancing A3: November 14th

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[Via AVING]

[M @ Nov 7th 2007 3:37AM]

I still prefer my Archos 605 with 160GB drive. (4.3 inch beautifull screen at 800x480 which is great for displaying High Rez images and SD video very nicely.)

However, the extra codecs are nice but not killer. The extra processing power for 720 is very tempting! I would still go with Archos, but tough call.
M

[M @ Nov 7th 2007 2:22PM]

Well, at 800x480, that at least clears one hurdle for me. However, when other devices are coming in at 160GBs, 60 seems small. Espcially considering my media collection is larger than 60 and fits comfortably on the Archos.
M

[m16 @ Nov 7th 2007 3:36AM]

That thing is HOT!

but since im pooooor, I'll still be rockin my 5 year old Cowon M3. Not a big deal because it still sounds amazing.

[E71 @ Nov 7th 2007 8:27AM]

Stuff 160GB into that thing and I'll throw my Archos 605 Wifi out the window. All I need is a 800x480 screen, 720p MKV (x264/AC3) support with a capacity of 160GB.

[JohnTitor @ Nov 7th 2007 10:12AM]

people love how the A2 gives a lot of codec support for "free" but Archos charges
technically Cowon is still charging you, but they make you pay right away
and an 80GB 605WiFi with all the codecs bought (it can play HD too) is still a good bit less than the Cowon A3 60GB. And nevermind the touchscreen and Internet

with the A3 already bing more expensive, it'll be hard for Cowon to fight Archos with their WiFi enabled Q5 which will probably be even more

[E71 @ Nov 7th 2007 12:23PM]

I agree that unlike Cowon, Archos give you the flexibility of getting a cheaper player if you don't need the extra codec support.

However, in this day and age, you really need HD MKV support -- the need for it is enough to make me put up with the Cowon's A-series never-changing butt ugly looks and higher price but not the capacity.

Which one do you reckon will come first: An Archos 605 WIFI update that'll give us 720p x264/AC3 encoded MKV support or a Cowon A3 with 160GB+ capacity?

[Richard @ Nov 7th 2007 3:39AM]

YAY! finally a PMP that actually plays my avi files and it has a decent resolution. Many other PMP's fall short of the mark by not supporting much other than DRM crippled formats and mp3/mp4 (MP4 is sooooo 1990) Yes that last comment was also aimed at the fruit branded products too.

[L.Cyphre @ Nov 7th 2007 4:33AM]

It might actually be possible to watch subbed animu on this. Nice!

[suntiger @ Nov 7th 2007 4:57AM]

Having watched subbed kung-fu flicks on my Nokia 770 (same screen res, same size), yes, it should be possible. Gratuitously easy in fact.

[Emichan @ Nov 7th 2007 9:11AM]

I have an A2 and watch TONS of subbed anime on it. It is very doable. The TV output is also very good.

[David @ Nov 7th 2007 4:35AM]

This also supports MKV and H.264 mind you.

[EvanG @ Nov 7th 2007 5:32AM]

Wow.
That is hot.
@_@

If only it matched the 160gb of the new Archos models. :(

[Alex M @ Nov 7th 2007 6:21AM]

If this has a user-removable battery and a better interface than the a2, should it replace my vision:w?

[labrats5 @ Nov 7th 2007 6:25AM]

Um, that looks exactly like the model they've had for, what, two years now? More?

[vkv.raju @ Nov 7th 2007 7:21AM]

Cowon A2 was awesome and I hope this beats that by including an user removable battery. Not to forget the included 800*480 and HD output.

[AmazingRobie @ Nov 7th 2007 8:38AM]

Will this have wifi internet?

[Neeko @ Nov 7th 2007 9:15AM]

Agreed if it doesnt have wife internet then NO DEAL. Currently iam mulling over getting the Archos 605 or ipod touch. Ill use my 3G WM5 sprint phone as a wifi adhoc. I just want a portable video player with wife internet. Thats all i need. Codec support isnt a prob b/c i have a great PC to do the conversions.

[Preston @ Nov 7th 2007 10:24AM]

What's "wife internet"?

[alex @ Nov 7th 2007 11:06AM]

A "wife internet" is a wife that does all of your internet browsing for you so you never have to lay your fingers on the keyboard ever again. It's a new feature that I hope will be adapted by other PMP real soon!

[orochi @ Nov 7th 2007 6:45PM]

It looks like the A2 but too bad they crippled the awesome battery life with all the new additions. :(

[Jason @ Nov 7th 2007 9:47AM]

Okay, weird question, but it makes a big difference to my wife. Anyone know if this thing has a kickstand?

[Rudiger @ Nov 7th 2007 10:41AM]

So "wife internet" is not a big deal, but "wife kickstand" is? Talk about strange priorities.

[Sam @ Nov 7th 2007 11:40AM]

Tempting, but I think I'll stick with my A2 (and Samsung P2) for now...

[Mr Corsini @ Nov 7th 2007 12:16PM]

get one of these and a 16gb meizu m8 when it drops and i will be so sorted it will be unbelievable.

[bela @ Nov 7th 2007 1:24PM]

You guys are forgetting several main issues.
- The Cowon A2 (I have now) has a battery life of 10+ hours when playing video!! (Try that with an Archos or any other player for that matter)
- The cowon has a direct A/V analog input for MPEG4 video recording. For the Archos you have to buy a docking cradle for that.

Unfortunatelly, the Cowons will be limited in disk size, as they use the much smaller 5mm 1.8" hard drives, and the max. capacity for those right now is 80GB.

Bela

[Alex M @ Nov 7th 2007 3:11PM]

if it weren't for the interface(which i guess can be a blessing or a curse) and the lack of a user removable battery...my zen vision:w would be on ebay right now.

[thethirdmoose @ Nov 7th 2007 4:02PM]

...which TOTALLY explains all those 160 GB iPods and Archos 605's going around, right? ...right?

[bela @ Nov 7th 2007 6:03PM]

There are two different versions of the 1.8" HDDs...
One is 5mm and the other 8mm.
For some reason (size?) the Cowon went with the 5mm version, and the biggest one is 80GB as of now. The 8mm version is available up to 160GB i beleive...

[fred @ Nov 7th 2007 8:42PM]

what about the Q5??? Any release date for it yet?

[rambo @ Nov 8th 2007 5:53AM]

Archos... oh my goodness... you guys are stupid. Cowon rocks the best sound quality and much much better build quality. So what if you have 160gigs on you the whole time. Like you'll EVER go through that 160gigs. I'll bet most of it stays untouched....the WHOLE time. Wifi...that's just a toy. Who needs to use wifi from their PMP.

[uberlemurguy @ Nov 8th 2007 6:20AM]

I have an Archos 605 Wifi 160GB. Okay just to let you know I have recorded well over 100 gigs of movies and TV shows with the docking station. I also have over 15GB of music and 25GB of pictures. That is 140GB and I am still recording TV. As for the internet browsing, it keeps thing incredibly interesting. I mean you don't like watching something halfway through, being left on an edge during the whole four hour meeting you can just check scores on ESPN or something like that. As too the sound quality PC Mag just said that Archos has better sound quality than almost all other brands, including Cowon.

[Adam @ Nov 9th 2007 6:54PM]

There is no way you're going to watch 100GB of video in one sitting, or even in one week. Even if you went on a one month vacation I doubt you'd go through all that. You must have interacted with your computer since you got the Archos and now, which means you have could have put everything you already watched and everything you don't need on there. There is no reason anyone would need 160GB for a PMP at this moment in time, and likely not for quite a ways into the future since compression is just getting better and better. The only way you would need 160GB on a PMP is if you have an 80GB or less HDD in your computer.

[PenaltyKillah @ Nov 9th 2007 1:21AM]

Finally... and it's not completely black! And a release date! Now I can add that to Wikipedia... And it seems like EVERYONE is whining on every player on one or two features that the other player has! I don't think the majority would find WiFi that useful for their lifestyle (and I'm talkin' about soccer moms and teenyboppers!), do they?

[Duelle @ Nov 9th 2007 6:42PM]

WiFi on a PMP is just another feature that bloats the price and lowers battery life. If you can't go for more than a few hours without using the internet, you have a serious problem. And if your job demands it, then you already have a laptop or PDA.