Cowon's S9 with 3.3-inch AMOLED touch-screen kills with style

Taste that? It's the sweet nectar of want for Cowon's new S9 Curve. This 3.3-inch media player features an AMOLED capacitive touch panel display that spreads 16 million colors across 480 x 272 pixels. Inside you'll find a 500MHz dual-core CPU, T-DMB digital television tuner, Bluetooth, FM radio, TV-out, and G-Sensor accelerometer. All that and nearly two days (40 hours) of music playback from a single charge. No price yet but we expect to hear more later this week as the big European IFA show kicks off in Berlin.

Gallery: Cowon's S9 Curve with 3.3-inch AMOLED touch-screen kills with style

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[Via CNET Asia]

[Al @ Aug 25th 2008 3:05AM]

very nice lets hope it come with 32gb model. Shame it has no sd slot like the D2.

[Yay. @ Aug 25th 2008 3:50AM]

No it's not nice; it's not an iPhone.

Society really needs to become more thoughtful and progressive; the less money and time we spend trying to greedily compete with a superior product, the more money and time we have to spend on introspection and community-building.

On a more serious note, this looks AMAZING!

[Mark @ Aug 25th 2008 4:52AM]

@Yay

Start off by throwing out your computer and living in the wild. Unless you're -selfish! oh no!

[Gordo @ Nov 17th 2008 5:05AM]

@yay
iPhones were the whole 'gimme gimme' last month
find a new piece of technology to worship

[Indefinite Implosion @ Aug 25th 2008 5:58AM]

whoosh...
and the low rank? sure he might have gone a bit far with the sarcasm but he did finish with "on a serious (aka. non sarcastic) note"
ahh well...
but back on topic... that looks friggin cool...
i'd buy it if it had enough storage... but no doubt it'll be flash maxing at 32gb...
ahh well... soon we'll have more...

[Kamokazi @ Aug 25th 2008 8:44AM]

@Mark & Gordo

You fail at sarcasm interpretation

[OneLove @ Aug 25th 2008 12:07PM]

...but it has balls!

[Colin Potter @ Aug 25th 2008 3:06AM]

Does it come with balls?

[Knives_Out @ Aug 25th 2008 3:18AM]

heh.

he said BALLS.

[phoebusdesign @ Aug 25th 2008 4:59AM]

It does, but they're proprietary, so don't get any ideas.

[Andrea @ Aug 25th 2008 11:48AM]

I have a feeling that the random spheres are meant to indicate colour varieties (i.e. chrome, metallic black, and a "brushed silver" kind of options)

[StephenD @ Aug 25th 2008 3:07AM]

That is stunning, though rather oddly designed for viewing in the 16:9 mode...

[mymaclife @ Aug 25th 2008 4:05AM]

The one that shaped for wide screen viewing is the product, the balls are for artistic effect!

[Randavance @ Aug 25th 2008 10:28AM]

COWON without a doubt has always been my favorite pmp making company, I still happily sport their monochromatic 20 gig iAudio M5. They're notorious for their not-so-everyday designs and playing a wider variety of formats, and recognizing as a mass storage device, the two things I want in an MP3 player.

But the best part about COWON? They then to be easily hackable, minimal defenses, and prime targets for projects like Rockbox. I can't wait to see open source firmware on this. http://www.rockbox.org/

[Andrea @ Aug 25th 2008 11:45AM]

Rockbox on a touchscreen.... I wouldn't say that's very likely, they still don't have a version for the D2 and that one's been out for a few years now

[Iain @ Aug 25th 2008 3:01PM]

Actually, there is a RockBox build in the works for the D2 - it may even have reached the early stages of audio playback I think.

But why would anyone want to run RockBox on something as gorgeous as this?

[Al @ Aug 25th 2008 3:08AM]

I dunno this or the Cowon 02 that could be a tough choice.

[Pierre @ Aug 25th 2008 3:11AM]

I can't tell what it is but it's making my pee pee feel funny

[Shaw @ Aug 29th 2008 12:41PM]

Waouwww they should have included a phone in this lol.

[shimmy shimmy yah @ Aug 25th 2008 3:15AM]

awesome! thank you engadget!

[msalivar @ Aug 25th 2008 3:17AM]

Oh, please please please don't have the ogg sound quality bug and the shitty interface of the iaudio7.

[pfromg @ Aug 25th 2008 3:33AM]

Are you having any other life threatening problems we immediately need to know about?

[msalivar @ Aug 25th 2008 3:51AM]

Actually, I have terminal cancer. Thanks for reminding me.

[CJ @ Aug 25th 2008 4:58AM]

Then why are you so worried about the sound quality of an MP3 Player?

Surely you have some slightly more pressing issues?

[TheMagnificen7 @ Aug 25th 2008 3:18AM]

I expect we will see something along these design lines for the next iPhone, with the screen appearing on the surface only when activated, otherwise, the front of the device will appear blank. At least, I would like to see that. Who knows? Other phones harness that design, and I think it makes it look amazing.

[msalivar @ Aug 25th 2008 3:28AM]

Is this made by Apple? Is it even a phone?

No?

Sod off!

[Carl Vitullo @ Aug 25th 2008 3:19AM]

Wow.
I hope that's reasonably priced, it looks sexy.

[kadajawi @ Aug 25th 2008 4:50AM]

It's a Cowon... so... no it won't.

[Mario @ Aug 25th 2008 7:33AM]

It was only a few years ago that people were saying that about LG and Samsung.

[takashisenke @ Aug 25th 2008 3:20AM]

Oh lookie, T-DMB, no US then.

[msalivar @ Aug 25th 2008 3:26AM]

Q5 had DMB in it's initial Korean release, too, but made it here eventually. The same thing is happening with the P5, though I don't think we're sure it's coming over yet. We'll just have to wait longer, which makes sense since Cowon is a Korean company and they don't seem to have the resources to simultaneously release two different hardware versions.

[eggothewaffle @ Aug 25th 2008 3:21AM]

Now why can't Nokia make something like this for their next Internet Tablet?

[Rishone @ Aug 25th 2008 3:22AM]

i want!!!!!!!

[adam @ Aug 25th 2008 3:25AM]

would totally make love to it.

[Alex Lau @ Aug 25th 2008 4:02AM]

I LOVE THE BATTERY LIFE!

[Jubei @ Aug 25th 2008 3:31AM]

Looks nice. A bit thick, not as robust as the iPod Touch. Why bother? The iPod Touch is sexier and can do much more than just play media.

[Al @ Aug 25th 2008 3:34AM]

But for some people like me that what is key. Like I want a device that can play ogg and flac as i have songs in that format. Not to mention it also has better video support, and audio quality than any ipod.

[pfromg @ Aug 25th 2008 3:35AM]

"why bother ?"
why not?
At least they are trying ,which is far more than can be said for you, with your effortless critique.

[AndrewAmazed @ Aug 25th 2008 3:50AM]

yes you say that the itouch can do much more and might be sexier in your opinion.
but in my book , this is much sexier than the itouch/iphone.

next off, this is meant for playing media, and is good at wat its for.
the itouch on the other hand was "meant" for playing media and maybe a contact list or so, but it SUCKS at playing media, and doing everything else even though it might have a bunch of "Fancy" features (well once u unlock it) but those features SUCK, and i much rather have two devices doing what they're meant than buy some craptastic iTouch/iPhone thats supposedly able to do more.

Got it?
now stop talking about APPLE and their CRAPTASTIC products =)

[helloUser @ Aug 25th 2008 3:56AM]

Stupid apple fanboy.

[Juxtah @ Aug 25th 2008 9:55AM]

How can you tell how well its built from a picture? If you actually wanted to think about it properly considering Cowon builds most of it's players to be solid as a rock I'd say that this more then likely will be much tougher then the iPod touch. It looks nicer, will probably be slightly smaller, have better sound quality and have better picture quality and will probably end up costing less then the iPod touch.

[Vcize @ Aug 25th 2008 10:25AM]

Well, for me, the problem is that the last product I owned was a Cowon. While I'm no audiophile, that really spoiled me. I bought an ipod and I just cannot believe that people listen to that crap. It just sounds so awful.

And, putting iTunes on my computer made me want to throw it out of a 50th story window.

[maveric101 @ Aug 25th 2008 10:34AM]

hello? this thing also has a TV tuner and FM radio. neither of which the ipod touch has.

[Jubei @ Aug 25th 2008 12:48PM]

FM Radio. LOL

Well, a TV. How exciting. No browser or WiFi? No 3G, phone capability. So another device to lug around along with your smartphone. Not a very smart decision to buy this device.

[bertross @ Aug 26th 2008 7:55AM]

There's only one way to find out how strong the touch is

Give me yours and I'll throw it off a cliff. What? Comparison with the Cowon?

[Rathori @ Jan 23rd 2009 10:42AM]

Looks soooo cool. Makes me wanna sell my iPod Touch 32gb and buy this one.

[Carl Vitullo @ Aug 25th 2008 11:31AM]

I'll buy it, I'm in the market for a new mp3 player :P

It'll be cheap, right?

[Logboy @ Aug 25th 2008 3:55AM]

What the hell "T-DMB digital television tune" That means Korea. It'll be a year before we see this in US, just like the Q5

[Big Al @ Aug 25th 2008 10:14AM]

There are two types of DMB in Korea:

T-DMB = Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
S-DMB = Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting

T-DMB has 10 TV channels for free. S-DMB charges $6 for 10 channels or $11/month for about 18 channels plus $3/month for some "adult" on-demand stuff.

Korean Link:
http://www.tu4u.com/meet/join/charge.jsp

Sadly for the adult entertainment fans out there, you have the get the basic $11/month package if you want to sign up to see it on your phone... but why on Earth would you want to see that stuff on small screen??

[black @ Aug 25th 2008 11:07PM]

Psst, to take it with you when you "use the bathroom"