Cowon's O2 PMP ships in Korea October 13, starts at $224

Goodie! The long, excruciating wait for more information on Cowon's exceptionally sleek O2 PMP is finally over, and two of the more important tidbits you could ever want to know have been revealed. The PMP, which supports a gaggle of file types including MP3, OGG FLAC, AAC, WMA, DivX, MPEG4 and WMV (just to fire off a few), will arrive with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, SDHC card slot, 8GB / 16GB / 32GB of internal capacity, an internal speaker, TV output (up to 720p), 10-band custom equalizer, 18-hours of battery life for audio playback (8-hours for video), optional T-DMB TV tuner / e-dictionary functionality and your choice of pink, black or white motifs. The real news? An October 13th ship date in South Korea along with prices ranging from ?294,000 ($224) for the stripped-down 8GB edition to ?399,000 ($305) for the 32GB edition with a DMB tuner. Yanks, sadly, will have to wait.

[Via iAudiophile, thanks Ang]

[NoAndThen @ Oct 11th 2008 7:02PM]

Toss in an OTA HD tuner instead of DMB and you have a sale.

[who? @ Oct 11th 2008 8:26PM]

Well, as long as we're modifying it, throw in $2mil cash and I'll buy!

[Flashpoint @ Oct 11th 2008 7:14PM]

Lets see these korean /chinese PMP makers focus on an internet browser with wifi.

[brandon @ Oct 11th 2008 7:30PM]

Lets see Flashpoint post a comment that somehow doesn't relate back to an Apple product......

[brandon @ Oct 11th 2008 7:37PM]

.......or make me want to punt a baby.......

[)law( @ Oct 11th 2008 7:40PM]

I wonder about your mental stability more and more as you continue to spout nonsense......

[Jesse S @ Oct 11th 2008 9:52PM]

Uhhh...Cowon is Korean and they've made multiple PMPs with browsers...

[Fusion Fuzo @ Oct 11th 2008 7:21PM]

NICE

[who? @ Oct 11th 2008 7:35PM]

Seriously? The phrase "shop around" comes to mind...

[noyp @ Oct 11th 2008 9:45PM]

...and seeing as this is the cheapest comparable pmp WITH probable good sound quality as a bonus, considering Cowon's past, I'd say you're done shopping unless you really need wifi.

[rudy @ Oct 11th 2008 7:25PM]

how much would an ota hd tuner cost to add? and how much different than the dmb tuner for the korean market will the software be.

it's either that or add wifi with a good browser.

[)law( @ Oct 11th 2008 7:41PM]

that one was @ flashpoint......

[Jeremy K. @ Oct 11th 2008 7:43PM]

Nice prices, let's hope it's around the same once it lands in North America.

[Rubicon @ Oct 11th 2008 7:44PM]

A bit lacking on battery life ill say (compared to cowon's D2)

[liv @ Oct 11th 2008 7:52PM]

their website has some wicked pictures of this thing... it certainly is pretty... and for about the same price as an iPod touch you get a bigger and better screen, superior sound and the ability to play Xvid. Fuck WiFi, this thing will save me HOURS of converting videos.

I think the most important thing is that this should have a great UI. If the interface sux, then this will be a pain. That's why Apple is so successful.

Waiting for it to arrive in Europe :)

[holycow @ Oct 11th 2008 8:14PM]

"Fuck WiFi, this thing will save me HOURS of converting videos."

Totally agree!

[GenBanks @ Oct 12th 2008 2:51PM]

Here here, hopefully it makes it to Europe soon :)

[ARL @ Oct 13th 2008 3:25PM]

Just picked up an Ipod Touch 2 weeks ago. My first apple product since playing Maze wars on a Mac+ LAN in my father's attic.

Wifi makes it, and I wouldn't consider a PMP without it. Multi-touch is pretty impressive as well. Being able to sit on my couch with a full very very usable browser while my wife dominates the remote is the cats pajamas. Without Wifi it is a FAIL.

[Kris S. @ Oct 11th 2008 8:24PM]

That PMP is sexy.

[iEye @ Oct 11th 2008 8:29PM]

"Fcuk WiFi, this thing will save me HOURS of converting PRON videos."

there I fixed it for you... you see what I did there?

[liv @ Oct 12th 2008 12:16PM]

God I hope Apple hires you to run their "Creative Design" Department... with a wickedly witty User ID and a smart pun like that... gosh... they could even invent an Iphone WITH A HARD DRIVE!!!! (Runs because he has spoken The Forbidden Words.. :-S)

[Baba Booey @ Oct 11th 2008 8:59PM]

iEye is correct LMAO
I have a Cowon D2, Sansa Clip, and an Archos 504, but I'd add this to the rotation if it's cheap enough in the states :P

[KilgoreTrout @ Oct 11th 2008 8:59PM]

Yes it's not bad at all, but I just don't wanna carry two devices in my pockets.
Until now we have seen a moltitude of phones that can ALSO be used as PMP but why nobody has ever made a nice PMP (just like this Cowon) that can also make UMTS calls when needed? (and therefore, by definition download and/or stream web videos)
I know that all fanboys will reply that the iPhone is just that, but the sad truth is that maybe that's what the iPhone wanted to be, but failed miserably to become.
In reality it turned out to be an average PMP, a bad smartphone, an awful GPS, a terrible camera and a non existing videocam
Shame, coz the iPhone's UI is very good, but you can't sell the divice on this strenght alone.

Now here Cowon seems to have done the PMP part, which is probably the most difficult , quite well, now just add a 3G phone/browser app from your fellow coreans LG or Samsung, a reliable A-GPS and two good camera/videocam.
And Cowon will be surely thrilled to be able to count me among their faithful customers.
For Now? My N95 8Gb is still the best option in town (at least in my scandinavian town)

[LostPhil @ Oct 12th 2008 11:46AM]

Problem with integrating a phone into it is the impact on the size and the already low battery life. The chip in the O2 (Davinci?) is powerful enough for HD video and every format under the sun but unfortunately seems to drain a lot of power. Add in a cell receiver etc then you'll increase the size and since the battery wont last long playing media anyway (primary function), that's your phone gone in a matter of hours too.

Then you start getting onto people wanting Wi-Fi browsing, camera etc etc then things get more difficult. That and the firmware will only get more complicated, something I'm not entirely confident that Cowon could get right enough - I own a D2 (since release) and had an X5, so I'm not biased against.

[maveric101 @ Oct 13th 2008 2:35PM]

perhaps the reason Tom Tom is still working of iphone turn-by-turn GPS is that the iphones GPS isn't accurate enought... i know for me it takes decades to get an accurate signal, and tends to lose it.

[Colin Elkin @ Oct 11th 2008 9:12PM]

first

[noyp @ Oct 11th 2008 9:48PM]

Are you fucking shitting me?

[Badger_badger_badger @ Oct 11th 2008 11:03PM]

second

[htd @ Oct 11th 2008 9:16PM]

too expensive, can do so little...

[rudy @ Oct 11th 2008 9:40PM]

whats else do you want it to do blend?

[noyp @ Oct 11th 2008 9:47PM]

It can probably blend too! Cowon stuff has always been expensive, but its usually worth the price.

[scott @ Oct 11th 2008 11:30PM]

nothing pleases you.

[HyperHacker @ Oct 12th 2008 6:38PM]

Bluetooth headphones.

[noyp @ Oct 12th 2008 8:43PM]

I'd rather not.

[nightstar @ Oct 11th 2008 9:40PM]

Three items make this a good deal.

1) SDHC slot.
2) Probably standard great iAudio Audio quality
3) 4" screen. There a major difference between 3.5 and 4.3 screen. Video better on 4"+ screens.

[garrenteed @ Oct 11th 2008 11:00PM]

Looks sweet, won't make a dent in the market.

[noyp @ Oct 11th 2008 11:04PM]

How so? is it because Cowon isn't very well known? Just wondering, you might just be an apple troll and I just wanted to expose you.

[garrenteed @ Oct 11th 2008 11:08PM]

Looks sweet, won't make a dent in the market.

[hmm @ Oct 11th 2008 11:10PM]

The price will be much higher than $224. $224 is just because of the crazy exchange rate these days which is very unusual. Normally, ₩294,000 would be around $280~$300 USD.

[garrenteed @ Oct 11th 2008 11:10PM]

ya, no I'm no fan of apple. just whatever is good. But knowing people, they don't like change and Cowon is going to mean change for about 99 percent of people.

[novel @ Oct 12th 2008 12:14AM]

I bought the Cowon D2 when it was like $200

I still love it. I'll buy this when that breaks... though the D2 is built tough. I dropped it so many times (one time on a ft of snow) and it's still perfect

[amazingrobie @ Oct 12th 2008 3:38AM]

"Goodie! The long, excruciating wait for more information on Cowon's..."

You've got to be joking. Cowon sucks!!! Anyone sad enough to be waiting for any technology news from that company has obviously never had to deal with one of their products that don't work. COWON may be able to play tons of formats, but when their players break and you have to deal with the actual company, you're better off just buying another product...from a different company, of course. THEY SUCK!!! Horrible service. Just horrible.

Save yourself some money and buy a cheaper device and buy/install the app Coreplayer. It plays everything the Cowon does natively, only more of it and better. Trust me...you don't want to deal with a device that doesn't work from this company, and that's every model they've every made. All of them eventually fail in one way or another. Either it's the drive, the screen, the battery, somehting always gives.

Don't say you weren't warned.

The Q5 is a piece of shite.

[axemt @ Oct 12th 2008 5:03AM]

hhh

[noyp @ Oct 12th 2008 11:10AM]

Its $224 rather cheap for a latest generation pmp, what else do you want, for it to do your laundry? The q5 was not the best device from Cowon, I've heard.

[Dellbox @ Oct 13th 2008 12:00AM]

@ amazingrobie
That's why there are reviews before you invest in this kind of gadgets. Have you heard of the internet?

[ninjagin @ Oct 13th 2008 11:21AM]

How does the Cowon stack up against the Archos 5?