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Cowon X7 debuts in home market of Korea with 4.3-inch screen, American ambitions
What was merely an indistinct outline in August is today a bona fide retail product. Cowon has made its X7 PMP official over in South Korea, letting us take a gander at the spec sheet if not necessarily buy one just yet. A 4.3-inch touchscreen takes center stage, backed by up to 160GB of hard drive storage and a battery rated to last for 103 hours of music or 10 hours of video playback. An FM radio tuner, built-in speaker, and Bluetooth chip fill out the "retro modern" body, while the software front reveals DivX-encoded video compatibility and a smattering of your usual note-taking and utility apps. The standard 160GB model is going on sale for 339,000 KRW ($304), or if you're a globetrotter and need a set of preinstalled dictionaries, it'll set you back 379,000 KRW ($340). There's no word on US availability just yet, but this thing didn't go through the chore of getting certified with the FCC for nothing.
Cowon X7 materializes from the ether into a real life FCC applicant
Alright, so this isn't quite like seeing Duke Nukem Forever popping up on Walmart shelves, but the Cowon X7 has been a long time in the making. Rumored since 2007, the Korean company's portable media player has now finally sauntered up to America's Communications Commission to dot some Is and cross some Ts. We're let into the knowledge that it'll come with a Bluetooth radio and a HDD of some kind, which GenerationMP3 speculates will be a 1.8-inch unit. Really now, a spinny thing in our PMP feels better suited to good old '07, but then if Cowon can combine some capacious storage with a large screen, it could still have a winner on its hands. Particularly if the rumblings of Android as the OS turn out to be true.
Nokia's 16 model house reveals a smokin' S series, N9 MeeGo?
Lovely home except for those pesky leaks. This Nokia house built (circa 2010) upon on a foundation of Symbian with a MeeGo roof is also sporting an interesting looking S-series smokestack. Most of the building blocks we've already seen including the flagship N8. The N9 is almost certainly Nokia's followup to the N900 and Espoo's first handset to feature its new MeeGo OS. But what's with the business-class E7, mainstream C7, and socially entertaining X7? None of these handsets have been announced, yet all three are at the top-end of their respective series meaning more functionality at a higher price. Still, the most interesting revelation is the S-series which Nokia has never referenced under its new naming scheme. The translated text from the S-series bullet describes it as, "A name reserved for limited phones. Mobiles that do not fit in other categories come in here." The first Moorestown phone to run MeeGo, perhaps? Hey, we can dream. [Thanks, Mark]
Oh, by the way: July 10, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Friday, July 10th, 2009: Russia's RoverPC is now shipping its G7, X7, and V7 models running Windows Mobile 6.1. All three feature heavily-customized interfaces by SPB. [Via TamsPPC] If you're willing to go with a refurb, the iPhone 3G 8GB is now down to $79 even on AT&T. [Via TUAW] The BlackBerry Tour 9630 is available through Canada's Bell -- beating Sprint's and Verizon's Sunday launches -- for CAD $249.95 on a three-year deal. [Via Electronista]
First shots of the Cowon iAudio X7?
We'd heard that Cowon was planning to ship a 40- and 80GB iAudio X7 in September, but these supposed product shots that just surfaced at DAPreview are the first tangible evidence we've seen of the device. Based on what we know they look pretty legit, but our expertise on Photoshop fakery can only take us so far.
Cowon D2 to get capacious upgrades, iAudio X7 / X5 on the horizon?
After patiently wait for what felt like ages to finally have the Cowon D2 on American soil, here's a tidbit sure to make you early adopters a bit disgruntled. According to a blurb at GenerationMP3, Cowon is planning to release an 8GB and 16GB rendition of its diminutive media player, and additionally, it will reportedly sport a built-in SDHC slot for cramming even more media onboard. In other news, the iAudio X7 is slated to land sometime in September, and will be available in both 40GB and 80GB flavors, but the release of the iAudio X5 is a bit shaky considering that production on the device has "been stopped" for the time being. Per usual, we aren't exactly sold on the legitimacy of these reports, but you won't catch us complaining if a roomier D2 finds its way stateside anytime soon.[Via PlayerBites, thanks Gavin]
