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Cowon releases 32GB S9 PMP in Korea
Cowon's done a commendable job in making the S9 a force to be reckoned with in the PMP arena, but the 16GB maximum has likely caused quite a few music aficionados to look elsewhere. At long last, the company is releasing a 32GB flavor over in South Korea, though it'll cost you a stiff ₩379,000 ($287) for the privilege of ownership. There's no word on a US release, but we'd wager that it'll be here within a month or two. Right, Cowon?[Via PMPToday]
Version 2.10 beta firmware makes your Cowon S9 a new PMP
Slowly but surely, Cowon has been issuing firmware updates to make its sleek S9 PMP the music player it ought to be. According to a recent leak of the v2.10 beta, it's about to become even more formidable a rival. Reportedly, the forthcoming update -- which can be downloaded now for those kosher with all things beta -- adds in support for widgets, WMV7/8, pitch correction, full screen mode in TV-out and color tags for subtitles. As for improved functionality, we're heard that the entire navigation process has been smoothed over, particularly in the area of browser scrolling. Check the read link for a download URL as well as the full changelog, and if that lucky individual that won our S9 giveaway doesn't give this a go and report back, you all have to right to throw stones until he / she does.[Via AnythingButiPod, thanks Joseph]
Reminder: Cowon S9 giveaway ends tomorrow!
Didn't take three seconds out of your immensely busy schedule to enter your name to win an 8GB Cowon S9 portable media player? Fret not, as we're reminding you to do so right this moment. The contest ends tomorrow night (full rules are listed in the read link), so you've only yourself to blame if you let this opportunity pass you by as well.
Engadget Giveaway: win a Cowon S9 PMP!
For no other reason than we're just in a particularly generous mood, we're giving away Cowon's latest portable media player, the S9. In case you've been absent for the past month or so, let us remind you that this thing has been unboxed, reviewed, posted in a weekly episode of How Would You Change and even updated a time or two by Cowon itself. If you're ready to take this gently used player into your own loving hands, here's what you need to do. Read the full rules below, and if you're eligible for entering, just leave a comment below with your favorite character from Sesame Street. Or really, just any comment. Good luck!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, promise! You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) 8GB Cowon S9 portable media player. Approximate value is $199.99. Entries can be submitted until Monday, February 2nd, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
How would you change Cowon's S9 PMP?
Cowon's S9 portable media player had a lot of folks excited -- and understandably so. A bright, expansive AMOLED display. A sleek, curvaceous design. And a codec support list worth drooling over. During our time with the unit, we found the user interface to still be lacking in a few critical departments, though we certainly found a long list of reasons to love it, too. Now that it's been floating around on US soil for a hot minute, we're asking you how you'd tweak it. Are you completely satisfied with the UI? Are there any video formats that have inexplicably refused to play? Is the build quality up to your lofty standards? Let it rip below!
Cowon S9 review
On paper, Cowon's S9 is distinct from what most would consider its rivals. It packs a curvaceous design, nary a single front panel button, an AMOLED display and a codec support list chock full of formats that audiophiles admire. Clearly, Cowon is aiming to appeal to portable media enthusiasts who are also sticklers for sound quality, with the core functionality consisting of only the basics that one would expect on a PMP. The sector it's diving into already has a pretty strong list of alternatives on the market, which probably means that you're wondering if it really does (or doesn't) stack up. Follow us past the break as we take a closer look at what the S9 brings (and doesn't bring) to the table.
Cowon S9 firmware update adds Bluetooth speaker support
For early adopters who have already taken delivery of their shiny new Cowon S9, they've already sucked down one firmware update to fix some of the more obvious issues. Now, there's round number two (v2.06) to endure. The company has loosed the second firmware update for its just birthed PMP, with this one adding JPG album art support (for files with the .jpg extension) and fixing a bug that occasionally caused a system reboot after the "remove hardware from PC" message appeared. Most notable, however, is the new inclusion of Bluetooth speaker support, meaning that this device can now stream tunes to BT-enabled sound systems sans cabling or any other black magic. Tap the read link to get your download a-goin'.
Cowon issues first firmware update for S9 PMP
Yes, already. Before the 8GB S9 has even had a chance to become available, Cowon has already issued the first firmware update for its hot little PMP. If you're one of the earliest of adopters, you may want to give this one a download / install before flinging your device upside the wall. Just to name a few, the patch fixes bugs when changing boundary settings for music playback, when viewing particular picture files, when the upper buttons are pressed simultaneously and when connecting Bluetooth Mono headsets. Hop on past the break for the full alert, and tap the read link to access the file.
Cowon S9 PMP unboxing and hands-on
Cowon's 16GB S9 may have just started shipping out yesterday, but we just acquired one of the 8GB models a day before it's expected to hit the rest of America. We're planning on spending a little time with this critter to give you our thoughts, but for now, we figured we'd let you toy around in the gallery below to get acquainted. Our first impression upon cracking open the box was along the lines of "wow, this thing is small... and light!" Maybe that zoomed in press shot we've been drooling over had our proportions all jacked up, but needless to say you won't have a tough time fitting this one in your right front pocket. Check out the images below for an unboxing and UI walkthrough that'll surely bring copious amounts of joy into your life.Update: Full specifications list now posted after the break for easy reference.%Gallery-39662%%Gallery-39663%
Cowon's 16GB S9 PMP ships early to America
We know, it's not December 19th just yet, but Santa's being super proactive this year. As of right now, Cowon's 16GB S9 PMP is on sale and shipping to US consumers from JetMall. You already know what the $239.99 will buy you -- the question is, are you able to hold off?
Lenovo Ideapad S9 available now in US
If you've been waiting around for the elusive 8.9-inch Lenovo S9 Ideapad, today's your lucky day. A smaller version of the already available S10, this one boasts a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and 4GB SSD, all paired with a 1024×600 resolution. It's available for $344.99 at Geeks and $359.46 at Buy.com, so you might want to burn rubber over there right away. Go ahead and admit it: you love ZZ Top, just like us.[Via Laptoping] Read - Lenovo Ideapad S9 at GeeksRead - Lenovo Ideapad s9 at Buy.com
Cowon ships S9 PMP to US soil
Remember those off-the-wall delay rumors? Yeah, Cowon just put 'em to bed. All of 'em. As of today, the luscious S9 PMP is off to America, bringing with it a 3.3-inch AMOLED display (480 x 272), 500MHz processor, capacitive touchscreen operation, Bluetooth 2.0 (for stereo headphones), a battery good for 11 hours of video (55 hours for audio), BBE+ sound enhancements, inbuilt microphone, line-in recording and enough codec support to make a grown man weep for joy. The device should be available on December 19th at a variety of e-tailers, and given the $199.99 (8GB) / $239.99 (16GB) price tags, we'd say a certain touch-friendly rival has a lot to worry about. Full release is after the break.
Cowon's S9 gets toyed with on video, UI thoroughly investigated
It's one thing to have a look at a new user interface in pictures, but watching someone navigate it on video is just so much more meaningful and soul stirring. Cowon's S9 isn't due out in South Korea for another five days or so, but it looks like someone with a video camera and a YouTube account completely missed the memo. For a likely limited time, the video just past the break shows off five minutes of admittedly responsive UI interaction, complete with the ability to alter the equalizer preset from the Now Playing screen (what a concept!). Be warned, though -- the first album to pop up is Mamma Mia!. Terrifying, we know.[Via CNET]
Cowon's S9 PMP delayed for US? (Updated: official date, price, pics)
We've received no official word either way on this, but all the signs are currently pointing to a delay for the US launch of Cowon's S9. The undoubtedly sexy PMP is still set to launch in South Korea this month, but unspecified "production problems" are reportedly responsible for pushing the Stateside shipment back. So, when can we Americans expect to have a US version in our palms? We figuring (and hoping) it'll hit sometime around January at the latest -- any longer than that and we might have to cash in these frequent flier miles for a round-trip jaunt to Seoul.Update: Cowon just issued a press release with date, pricing, and more pictures of the UI and hardware. Starting December 16th, the S9 will be available in Korea in 4GB / 8GB / 16GB capacities for 219,000 won ($150), 259,000 won ($178), and 309,000 won ($212), respectively. Still no word on rest of world releases.%Gallery-38786%[Via Anything but iPod, thanks Waroxy F.]
Cowon S9 launching in the US mid-December with balls to spare
Oh boy, it's almost here (we think). If we're reading the machine translated text correctly, then Cowon's S9, first revealed in August, is expected to land in the US mid-December. No price was listed for the 8GB / 16GB audio and video player with a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel AMOLED display and Bluetooth. Cowon is, however, pushing the player's BBE technology (like that found in the A2) meant to doctor the sound quality. Nothing official on the rather pathetic Cowon America website, but we'll let you know just as soon as something pops.
Touching tale of heartbreak promotes Lenovo S10, rends our hearts in twain
While we've been dealing with short-form ad fare in the States, China's gone all artsy on us, with Lenovo releasing a short film to promote its S9 / S10 netbook. We won't ruin the plot for you -- the dialogue is all in Chinese, so it's not like we could -- but suffice it to say that the Lenovo S10 and unrequited love play major roles.[Thanks, Patrick]
Cowon's S9 rocking retail next month
We tried and we tried but we just couldn't get COWON to show us its new S9 Curve at IFA -- they weren't meeting with the press, only business partners. At least we have a ship date and full specs in consolation. Germany at least will get its hands on the 3.3-inch, 480 x 272-pixel, 16 million color, capacitive touchscreen, AMOLED player at the end of October. The 57.08 x 105.75 x 12.7-mm player (a bit shorter and narrower than the 8-mm thick iPod touch with 4.3-inch display) will initially ship with 8GB / 16GB of storage before getting bumped to 32GB sometime down the road. A 3.5-hour charge off the mains (5.5-hours off USB) will deliver up to 8-hours of video (MPEG-4 SP, WMV9 SP, H.264 BP codecs) or 40 hours of audio (MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV formats). Integrated Bluetooth is of the more power hungry 2.0 (not 2.1) variety with support for A2DP stereo and AVRCP remote control profiles. The S9 for Europe supports FM recording and dictation buts lacks the integrated DMB television tuner of its Korean cousin. Line-in recording and DAB radio is also in the works.[Thanks, Vesal]
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-30372%[Via CNET Asia]
Motorola's S9-HD looks white as a sheet
The follow-on to Motorola's sporty and moderately popular (for a stereo bluetooth headset, anyway) S9 may not have launched yet -- a disappointment, considering the original plan for a Q2 release when it was announced at CES -- but perhaps a little last-minute paint job was the reason for the delay. We've now spotted the S9-HD in a bright white getup with blue accents, a far cry from the black of the model shown at CES (and presumably still slated for launch) or the red of the original, but let's not kid ourselves: this one has a way better chance of finding its way into an ear canal or two. Hopefully we'll see it within a few weeks -- just in time for a successor to be launched at CES 2009, no doubt.
Lenovo's IdeaPad S9 / S10 shows up in FCC database
Hey, look -- another cart before the horse scenario! Long after coming to grips with the fact that Lenovo was indeed producing an IdeaPad S9 and S10, the netbook(s) have surfaced in the FCC's lair. Interestingly, the User Guide looks to tackle both machines in one fell swoop, suggesting that there's not enough difference to warrant the writing of two whole pamphlets that no one will read. There's not too much here that you didn't already know, but it's always a great sign to see a machine make it past this federal hurdle.
