Archive for November, 2010
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 1 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
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Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 2 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
Posted in Inside iPod, iPod News, iPod Tips & Tricks, Technology and Gadgets, Weird iPod Stuff | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 11 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
Posted in iPod News, iPod Pics, Software News, Weird iPod Stuff | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 2 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
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Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 0 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
Posted in Inside iPod, iPod Accessories, iPod Pics, iPod Tips & Tricks | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 6 views
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere. I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see. As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800
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Sunday, November 28th, 2010 0 views
“Good news, everyone,” as Hubert J. Farnsworth would say. One might believe not much has changed since Cowon released the S9 . On paper, the J3 is basically the same player, just with and additional MicroSD slot and a speaker. Fans of Cowon players already know: the company is usually trying to reinvent the wheel with every new player – changing hardware layout, user interface, and general design cues willy-nilly, as if there’s no brand recognition to worry about. So Cowon actually trying to improve on a winning player like the S9, trying to go an evolutionary route rather than the ‘revolutionary’ way is something that doesn’t happen very often. Whoever read my reviews of the Cowon O2 and V5 video players knows what I’m talking about – the latter is in many aspects worse than the former, even if it has the same basic form factor and feature set premise. No evolution, no building on tried and proven interface aspects, Cowon starting from scratch once again, and failing. The J3 however is a very different beast. It took all the good aspects of the S9’s design, hardware- and firmware-wise, and made them better, seemingly organically and effortlessly. The form factor is an improvement, the tactile buttons are better placed and have a better feel to them, the interface is even more responsive, and easier to operate. The additional MicroSD slot is a godsend, and the battery life is even better than on the S9. No need to play the suspense card and the old “read on to find out” teaser – the J3 is simply the best player Cowon ever made. Be my guest if you still want to read on, though. Cowon J3 Specs Capacity: 4/8/16/32GB internal, MicroSDHC slot up to 32GB Display: 3.3″ 480x272px capacitive AMOLED touchscreen Battery life: max. 64h for music, max. 11 hours for video Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WAV, AAC/M4A (unofficially) Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4 (unofficially) / DivX, XviD, WMV7/8/9, h.264 (unofficially) Subtitles: SMI, SRT (unofficially) Image viewer: JPEG, baseline and progressive Document viewer: TXT Bluetooth: 2.0, A2DP, AVCRP Transfer modes: MSC, MTP Additional features: Speaker, FM radio, voice recorder, line-in recorder, Flash 7 support, calculator, notepad, typist, stop watch, countdown, comic viewer, alarm, sleep timer, pan/balance Included accessories: earbuds, USB cable, software CD, quick start manual Accessories Accessories are on the very basic side. The J3 comes with an almost proprietary USB cable, a set of cheap earbuds, and not much else. Not much else meaning, a CD with some software that doesn’t need to be installed, and a quick start manual that doesn’t mention half the features of the J3. I wrote ‘almost proprietary’ for the cable because the J3’s USB port is actually a standard in South Korea, enforced by the Korean Telecom, and used by almost all cellphones and many MP3 players there, including most new iRiver and Samsung models. It is the same cable the S9 already used, and we’re probably going to see it on many more players to come. It’s nice seeing Cowon cables becoming standardized, slowly but steady. For the eight Cowon players I have, I only need six different cables in the meantime. The included earbuds are not worth mentioning, they’re don’t do justice to the sound quality the J3 is capable of. People using Cowon players usually provide their own higher quality headphones or IEMs anyways, so in reality Cowon could actually save a few cents and stop bundling those sub-par earbuds with their players altogether. Other accessories have to be bought separately, such as the TV-out cable (composite, 3xRCA), and the line-in cable (female 3.5mm stereo jack). Any standard USB AC charger will work with the J3, but Cowon sells one of those too in their JetMall store. Of course there are also official and third-party cases and silicone skins to be had. Design, Build, Specs The J3 certainly looks fetching, understated. While the S9 felt a bit hollow and the side panels – especially on the ‘chrome’ version – were fake plastic/metal, the J3 feels more substantial, yet not heavier. It has the exact same measurements, length- and width-wise, but it’s a bit thinner than its predecessor. It’s very pocketable. The strip of anodized aluminum at the bottom is real metal. It doesn’t have any functionality, but it doesn’t hurt either. The slightly curved bottom edge seems to be Cowon’s new thing – the iAudio 9 and the X7 have a similar form factor. It’s the first generation of Cowon players that share some similar design cues; most players before the current batch were uniquely shaped. The rest of the J3’s front real estate is occupied by the gorgeous 3.3” AMOLED screen, protected by a fairly scratch- and impact-proof layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s a capacitive touch screen that’s very responsive, provides excellent contrast ratio, and doesn’t suffer from washed out viewing angles at all. Contrary to AMOLED screens found on Sony players and such, the J3’s color rendition is much more natural, not as oversaturated by far. With a resolution of 480 x 272, the pixel density is just right for a 3.3” screen, not blocky looking at all. It’s no good in direct sunlight, same as most other OLEDs and TFTs, but that’s to be expected. The buttons on the J3 are perfectly fine, better than on the S9. They’re all placed in ergonomic positions on the sides of the player, and have a good tactile feedback. The best improvement Cowon made with the J3 is the power button. Almost all Cowon players before the J3 had a slider that turned the player on and doubled for a hold switch. While this was ok, the J3’s push-button is just better, much more elegant, in my opinion. A long push turns the player on or off, a short push engages hold, a second short press turns the screen off. While the screen is in hold mode, the buttons can still be used, which is immensely practical as well. This feature can be turned off, but it’s really better the other way. Another great feature is sleep mode, which can be mapped on the power button. Instead of a full power-off, which would require a ~10-15 second database refresh on every startup, the played starts up instantly that way. I didn’t notice any battery drain from sleep mode, so I use it all the time. The J3 provides all the tactile buttons one needs on the go – contrary to the D2, i9, O2, V5, and other Cowon players that lack those buttons and are a hassle to use while out and about, without looking at the screen. There’s dedicated volume buttons that work on any screen (not just the music screen), FFWD/REW/skip buttons, and a play/pause button that doubles as a ‘home’ button when pushed longer. On the backside of the player there’s the slot for the speaker, the microphone, and the reset hole. I never had to use the reset hole, since the player never acted up on me. The microphone is the microphone is the microphone – it’s what one would expect from a player such as this. Voice recordings sound ok, nothing special. The same can be said about the speaker. Don’t sell your B&W or Dynaudio home setup, the J3’s speaker is no match for them. It works ok for audiobooks or TV shows where you don’t care about sound quality, but that’s about it. It sure is a welcome addition for some people, but it’s of course neither overly good sounding nor overly loud. The one thing I dislike about all modern Cowon players is the latch that hides the USB port and SD slot. I’m not aware of many other manufacturers feeling the need to hide those – it’s just one more needless step to perform when connecting the player or swapping the MicroSDHC card. On the J3 you need a decent length finger nail to get the tiny latch open. When a headphone with an angled plug is plugged in, it gets in the way – it needs to be turned to the side or unplugged first. It’s not a really big deal, but one of these days I might just cut that latch off. On the inside of the J3, among other things, is the battery (or at least I hope so). Cowon’s battery life claim of 64 hours for audio and 11 hours for video are of course exaggerated as always, using synthetic benchmarks, but real usage shows that the J3 is still among the best, as far as stamina goes. With regular ~640
Posted in Inside iPod, iPod News, Players, Technology and Gadgets | Comments Off
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 4 views
“Good news, everyone,” as Hubert J. Farnsworth would say. One might believe not much has changed since Cowon released the S9 . On paper, the J3 is basically the same player, just with and additional MicroSD slot and a speaker. Fans of Cowon players already know: the company is usually trying to reinvent the wheel with every new player – changing hardware layout, user interface, and general design cues willy-nilly, as if there’s no brand recognition to worry about. So Cowon actually trying to improve on a winning player like the S9, trying to go an evolutionary route rather than the ‘revolutionary’ way is something that doesn’t happen very often. Whoever read my reviews of the Cowon O2 and V5 video players knows what I’m talking about – the latter is in many aspects worse than the former, even if it has the same basic form factor and feature set premise. No evolution, no building on tried and proven interface aspects, Cowon starting from scratch once again, and failing. The J3 however is a very different beast. It took all the good aspects of the S9’s design, hardware- and firmware-wise, and made them better, seemingly organically and effortlessly. The form factor is an improvement, the tactile buttons are better placed and have a better feel to them, the interface is even more responsive, and easier to operate. The additional MicroSD slot is a godsend, and the battery life is even better than on the S9. No need to play the suspense card and the old “read on to find out” teaser – the J3 is simply the best player Cowon ever made. Be my guest if you still want to read on, though. Cowon J3 Specs Capacity: 4/8/16/32GB internal, MicroSDHC slot up to 32GB Display: 3.3″ 480x272px capacitive AMOLED touchscreen Battery life: max. 64h for music, max. 11 hours for video Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WAV, AAC/M4A (unofficially) Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4 (unofficially) / DivX, XviD, WMV7/8/9, h.264 (unofficially) Subtitles: SMI, SRT (unofficially) Image viewer: JPEG, baseline and progressive Document viewer: TXT Bluetooth: 2.0, A2DP, AVCRP Transfer modes: MSC, MTP Additional features: Speaker, FM radio, voice recorder, line-in recorder, Flash 7 support, calculator, notepad, typist, stop watch, countdown, comic viewer, alarm, sleep timer, pan/balance Included accessories: earbuds, USB cable, software CD, quick start manual Accessories Accessories are on the very basic side. The J3 comes with an almost proprietary USB cable, a set of cheap earbuds, and not much else. Not much else meaning, a CD with some software that doesn’t need to be installed, and a quick start manual that doesn’t mention half the features of the J3. I wrote ‘almost proprietary’ for the cable because the J3’s USB port is actually a standard in South Korea, enforced by the Korean Telecom, and used by almost all cellphones and many MP3 players there, including most new iRiver and Samsung models. It is the same cable the S9 already used, and we’re probably going to see it on many more players to come. It’s nice seeing Cowon cables becoming standardized, slowly but steady. For the eight Cowon players I have, I only need six different cables in the meantime. The included earbuds are not worth mentioning, they’re don’t do justice to the sound quality the J3 is capable of. People using Cowon players usually provide their own higher quality headphones or IEMs anyways, so in reality Cowon could actually save a few cents and stop bundling those sub-par earbuds with their players altogether. Other accessories have to be bought separately, such as the TV-out cable (composite, 3xRCA), and the line-in cable (female 3.5mm stereo jack). Any standard USB AC charger will work with the J3, but Cowon sells one of those too in their JetMall store. Of course there are also official and third-party cases and silicone skins to be had. Design, Build, Specs The J3 certainly looks fetching, understated. While the S9 felt a bit hollow and the side panels – especially on the ‘chrome’ version – were fake plastic/metal, the J3 feels more substantial, yet not heavier. It has the exact same measurements, length- and width-wise, but it’s a bit thinner than its predecessor. It’s very pocketable. The strip of anodized aluminum at the bottom is real metal. It doesn’t have any functionality, but it doesn’t hurt either. The slightly curved bottom edge seems to be Cowon’s new thing – the iAudio 9 and the X7 have a similar form factor. It’s the first generation of Cowon players that share some similar design cues; most players before the current batch were uniquely shaped. The rest of the J3’s front real estate is occupied by the gorgeous 3.3” AMOLED screen, protected by a fairly scratch- and impact-proof layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s a capacitive touch screen that’s very responsive, provides excellent contrast ratio, and doesn’t suffer from washed out viewing angles at all. Contrary to AMOLED screens found on Sony players and such, the J3’s color rendition is much more natural, not as oversaturated by far. With a resolution of 480 x 272, the pixel density is just right for a 3.3” screen, not blocky looking at all. It’s no good in direct sunlight, same as most other OLEDs and TFTs, but that’s to be expected. The buttons on the J3 are perfectly fine, better than on the S9. They’re all placed in ergonomic positions on the sides of the player, and have a good tactile feedback. The best improvement Cowon made with the J3 is the power button. Almost all Cowon players before the J3 had a slider that turned the player on and doubled for a hold switch. While this was ok, the J3’s push-button is just better, much more elegant, in my opinion. A long push turns the player on or off, a short push engages hold, a second short press turns the screen off. While the screen is in hold mode, the buttons can still be used, which is immensely practical as well. This feature can be turned off, but it’s really better the other way. Another great feature is sleep mode, which can be mapped on the power button. Instead of a full power-off, which would require a ~10-15 second database refresh on every startup, the played starts up instantly that way. I didn’t notice any battery drain from sleep mode, so I use it all the time. The J3 provides all the tactile buttons one needs on the go – contrary to the D2, i9, O2, V5, and other Cowon players that lack those buttons and are a hassle to use while out and about, without looking at the screen. There’s dedicated volume buttons that work on any screen (not just the music screen), FFWD/REW/skip buttons, and a play/pause button that doubles as a ‘home’ button when pushed longer. On the backside of the player there’s the slot for the speaker, the microphone, and the reset hole. I never had to use the reset hole, since the player never acted up on me. The microphone is the microphone is the microphone – it’s what one would expect from a player such as this. Voice recordings sound ok, nothing special. The same can be said about the speaker. Don’t sell your B&W or Dynaudio home setup, the J3’s speaker is no match for them. It works ok for audiobooks or TV shows where you don’t care about sound quality, but that’s about it. It sure is a welcome addition for some people, but it’s of course neither overly good sounding nor overly loud. The one thing I dislike about all modern Cowon players is the latch that hides the USB port and SD slot. I’m not aware of many other manufacturers feeling the need to hide those – it’s just one more needless step to perform when connecting the player or swapping the MicroSDHC card. On the J3 you need a decent length finger nail to get the tiny latch open. When a headphone with an angled plug is plugged in, it gets in the way – it needs to be turned to the side or unplugged first. It’s not a really big deal, but one of these days I might just cut that latch off. On the inside of the J3, among other things, is the battery (or at least I hope so). Cowon’s battery life claim of 64 hours for audio and 11 hours for video are of course exaggerated as always, using synthetic benchmarks, but real usage shows that the J3 is still among the best, as far as stamina goes. With regular ~640
Posted in Inside iPod, iPod Accessories, iPod News, Players, Software News, Technology and Gadgets, Weird iPod Stuff | Comments Off
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 5 views
“Good news, everyone,” as Hubert J. Farnsworth would say. One might believe not much has changed since Cowon released the S9 . On paper, the J3 is basically the same player, just with and additional MicroSD slot and a speaker. Fans of Cowon players already know: the company is usually trying to reinvent the wheel with every new player – changing hardware layout, user interface, and general design cues willy-nilly, as if there’s no brand recognition to worry about. So Cowon actually trying to improve on a winning player like the S9, trying to go an evolutionary route rather than the ‘revolutionary’ way is something that doesn’t happen very often. Whoever read my reviews of the Cowon O2 and V5 video players knows what I’m talking about – the latter is in many aspects worse than the former, even if it has the same basic form factor and feature set premise. No evolution, no building on tried and proven interface aspects, Cowon starting from scratch once again, and failing. The J3 however is a very different beast. It took all the good aspects of the S9’s design, hardware- and firmware-wise, and made them better, seemingly organically and effortlessly. The form factor is an improvement, the tactile buttons are better placed and have a better feel to them, the interface is even more responsive, and easier to operate. The additional MicroSD slot is a godsend, and the battery life is even better than on the S9. No need to play the suspense card and the old “read on to find out” teaser – the J3 is simply the best player Cowon ever made. Be my guest if you still want to read on, though. Cowon J3 Specs Capacity: 4/8/16/32GB internal, MicroSDHC slot up to 32GB Display: 3.3″ 480x272px capacitive AMOLED touchscreen Battery life: max. 64h for music, max. 11 hours for video Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WAV, AAC/M4A (unofficially) Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4 (unofficially) / DivX, XviD, WMV7/8/9, h.264 (unofficially) Subtitles: SMI, SRT (unofficially) Image viewer: JPEG, baseline and progressive Document viewer: TXT Bluetooth: 2.0, A2DP, AVCRP Transfer modes: MSC, MTP Additional features: Speaker, FM radio, voice recorder, line-in recorder, Flash 7 support, calculator, notepad, typist, stop watch, countdown, comic viewer, alarm, sleep timer, pan/balance Included accessories: earbuds, USB cable, software CD, quick start manual Accessories Accessories are on the very basic side. The J3 comes with an almost proprietary USB cable, a set of cheap earbuds, and not much else. Not much else meaning, a CD with some software that doesn’t need to be installed, and a quick start manual that doesn’t mention half the features of the J3. I wrote ‘almost proprietary’ for the cable because the J3’s USB port is actually a standard in South Korea, enforced by the Korean Telecom, and used by almost all cellphones and many MP3 players there, including most new iRiver and Samsung models. It is the same cable the S9 already used, and we’re probably going to see it on many more players to come. It’s nice seeing Cowon cables becoming standardized, slowly but steady. For the eight Cowon players I have, I only need six different cables in the meantime. The included earbuds are not worth mentioning, they’re don’t do justice to the sound quality the J3 is capable of. People using Cowon players usually provide their own higher quality headphones or IEMs anyways, so in reality Cowon could actually save a few cents and stop bundling those sub-par earbuds with their players altogether. Other accessories have to be bought separately, such as the TV-out cable (composite, 3xRCA), and the line-in cable (female 3.5mm stereo jack). Any standard USB AC charger will work with the J3, but Cowon sells one of those too in their JetMall store. Of course there are also official and third-party cases and silicone skins to be had. Design, Build, Specs The J3 certainly looks fetching, understated. While the S9 felt a bit hollow and the side panels – especially on the ‘chrome’ version – were fake plastic/metal, the J3 feels more substantial, yet not heavier. It has the exact same measurements, length- and width-wise, but it’s a bit thinner than its predecessor. It’s very pocketable. The strip of anodized aluminum at the bottom is real metal. It doesn’t have any functionality, but it doesn’t hurt either. The slightly curved bottom edge seems to be Cowon’s new thing – the iAudio 9 and the X7 have a similar form factor. It’s the first generation of Cowon players that share some similar design cues; most players before the current batch were uniquely shaped. The rest of the J3’s front real estate is occupied by the gorgeous 3.3” AMOLED screen, protected by a fairly scratch- and impact-proof layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s a capacitive touch screen that’s very responsive, provides excellent contrast ratio, and doesn’t suffer from washed out viewing angles at all. Contrary to AMOLED screens found on Sony players and such, the J3’s color rendition is much more natural, not as oversaturated by far. With a resolution of 480 x 272, the pixel density is just right for a 3.3” screen, not blocky looking at all. It’s no good in direct sunlight, same as most other OLEDs and TFTs, but that’s to be expected. The buttons on the J3 are perfectly fine, better than on the S9. They’re all placed in ergonomic positions on the sides of the player, and have a good tactile feedback. The best improvement Cowon made with the J3 is the power button. Almost all Cowon players before the J3 had a slider that turned the player on and doubled for a hold switch. While this was ok, the J3’s push-button is just better, much more elegant, in my opinion. A long push turns the player on or off, a short push engages hold, a second short press turns the screen off. While the screen is in hold mode, the buttons can still be used, which is immensely practical as well. This feature can be turned off, but it’s really better the other way. Another great feature is sleep mode, which can be mapped on the power button. Instead of a full power-off, which would require a ~10-15 second database refresh on every startup, the played starts up instantly that way. I didn’t notice any battery drain from sleep mode, so I use it all the time. The J3 provides all the tactile buttons one needs on the go – contrary to the D2, i9, O2, V5, and other Cowon players that lack those buttons and are a hassle to use while out and about, without looking at the screen. There’s dedicated volume buttons that work on any screen (not just the music screen), FFWD/REW/skip buttons, and a play/pause button that doubles as a ‘home’ button when pushed longer. On the backside of the player there’s the slot for the speaker, the microphone, and the reset hole. I never had to use the reset hole, since the player never acted up on me. The microphone is the microphone is the microphone – it’s what one would expect from a player such as this. Voice recordings sound ok, nothing special. The same can be said about the speaker. Don’t sell your B&W or Dynaudio home setup, the J3’s speaker is no match for them. It works ok for audiobooks or TV shows where you don’t care about sound quality, but that’s about it. It sure is a welcome addition for some people, but it’s of course neither overly good sounding nor overly loud. The one thing I dislike about all modern Cowon players is the latch that hides the USB port and SD slot. I’m not aware of many other manufacturers feeling the need to hide those – it’s just one more needless step to perform when connecting the player or swapping the MicroSDHC card. On the J3 you need a decent length finger nail to get the tiny latch open. When a headphone with an angled plug is plugged in, it gets in the way – it needs to be turned to the side or unplugged first. It’s not a really big deal, but one of these days I might just cut that latch off. On the inside of the J3, among other things, is the battery (or at least I hope so). Cowon’s battery life claim of 64 hours for audio and 11 hours for video are of course exaggerated as always, using synthetic benchmarks, but real usage shows that the J3 is still among the best, as far as stamina goes. With regular ~640
Posted in iPod Accessories, iPod Pics, iPod Tips & Tricks, Players, Software News, Weird iPod Stuff | Comments Off
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 3 views
“Good news, everyone,” as Hubert J. Farnsworth would say. One might believe not much has changed since Cowon released the S9 . On paper, the J3 is basically the same player, just with and additional MicroSD slot and a speaker. Fans of Cowon players already know: the company is usually trying to reinvent the wheel with every new player – changing hardware layout, user interface, and general design cues willy-nilly, as if there’s no brand recognition to worry about. So Cowon actually trying to improve on a winning player like the S9, trying to go an evolutionary route rather than the ‘revolutionary’ way is something that doesn’t happen very often. Whoever read my reviews of the Cowon O2 and V5 video players knows what I’m talking about – the latter is in many aspects worse than the former, even if it has the same basic form factor and feature set premise. No evolution, no building on tried and proven interface aspects, Cowon starting from scratch once again, and failing. The J3 however is a very different beast. It took all the good aspects of the S9’s design, hardware- and firmware-wise, and made them better, seemingly organically and effortlessly. The form factor is an improvement, the tactile buttons are better placed and have a better feel to them, the interface is even more responsive, and easier to operate. The additional MicroSD slot is a godsend, and the battery life is even better than on the S9. No need to play the suspense card and the old “read on to find out” teaser – the J3 is simply the best player Cowon ever made. Be my guest if you still want to read on, though. Cowon J3 Specs Capacity: 4/8/16/32GB internal, MicroSDHC slot up to 32GB Display: 3.3″ 480x272px capacitive AMOLED touchscreen Battery life: max. 64h for music, max. 11 hours for video Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WAV, AAC/M4A (unofficially) Video: AVI, WMV, ASF, MP4 (unofficially) / DivX, XviD, WMV7/8/9, h.264 (unofficially) Subtitles: SMI, SRT (unofficially) Image viewer: JPEG, baseline and progressive Document viewer: TXT Bluetooth: 2.0, A2DP, AVCRP Transfer modes: MSC, MTP Additional features: Speaker, FM radio, voice recorder, line-in recorder, Flash 7 support, calculator, notepad, typist, stop watch, countdown, comic viewer, alarm, sleep timer, pan/balance Included accessories: earbuds, USB cable, software CD, quick start manual Accessories Accessories are on the very basic side. The J3 comes with an almost proprietary USB cable, a set of cheap earbuds, and not much else. Not much else meaning, a CD with some software that doesn’t need to be installed, and a quick start manual that doesn’t mention half the features of the J3. I wrote ‘almost proprietary’ for the cable because the J3’s USB port is actually a standard in South Korea, enforced by the Korean Telecom, and used by almost all cellphones and many MP3 players there, including most new iRiver and Samsung models. It is the same cable the S9 already used, and we’re probably going to see it on many more players to come. It’s nice seeing Cowon cables becoming standardized, slowly but steady. For the eight Cowon players I have, I only need six different cables in the meantime. The included earbuds are not worth mentioning, they’re don’t do justice to the sound quality the J3 is capable of. People using Cowon players usually provide their own higher quality headphones or IEMs anyways, so in reality Cowon could actually save a few cents and stop bundling those sub-par earbuds with their players altogether. Other accessories have to be bought separately, such as the TV-out cable (composite, 3xRCA), and the line-in cable (female 3.5mm stereo jack). Any standard USB AC charger will work with the J3, but Cowon sells one of those too in their JetMall store. Of course there are also official and third-party cases and silicone skins to be had. Design, Build, Specs The J3 certainly looks fetching, understated. While the S9 felt a bit hollow and the side panels – especially on the ‘chrome’ version – were fake plastic/metal, the J3 feels more substantial, yet not heavier. It has the exact same measurements, length- and width-wise, but it’s a bit thinner than its predecessor. It’s very pocketable. The strip of anodized aluminum at the bottom is real metal. It doesn’t have any functionality, but it doesn’t hurt either. The slightly curved bottom edge seems to be Cowon’s new thing – the iAudio 9 and the X7 have a similar form factor. It’s the first generation of Cowon players that share some similar design cues; most players before the current batch were uniquely shaped. The rest of the J3’s front real estate is occupied by the gorgeous 3.3” AMOLED screen, protected by a fairly scratch- and impact-proof layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. It’s a capacitive touch screen that’s very responsive, provides excellent contrast ratio, and doesn’t suffer from washed out viewing angles at all. Contrary to AMOLED screens found on Sony players and such, the J3’s color rendition is much more natural, not as oversaturated by far. With a resolution of 480 x 272, the pixel density is just right for a 3.3” screen, not blocky looking at all. It’s no good in direct sunlight, same as most other OLEDs and TFTs, but that’s to be expected. The buttons on the J3 are perfectly fine, better than on the S9. They’re all placed in ergonomic positions on the sides of the player, and have a good tactile feedback. The best improvement Cowon made with the J3 is the power button. Almost all Cowon players before the J3 had a slider that turned the player on and doubled for a hold switch. While this was ok, the J3’s push-button is just better, much more elegant, in my opinion. A long push turns the player on or off, a short push engages hold, a second short press turns the screen off. While the screen is in hold mode, the buttons can still be used, which is immensely practical as well. This feature can be turned off, but it’s really better the other way. Another great feature is sleep mode, which can be mapped on the power button. Instead of a full power-off, which would require a ~10-15 second database refresh on every startup, the played starts up instantly that way. I didn’t notice any battery drain from sleep mode, so I use it all the time. The J3 provides all the tactile buttons one needs on the go – contrary to the D2, i9, O2, V5, and other Cowon players that lack those buttons and are a hassle to use while out and about, without looking at the screen. There’s dedicated volume buttons that work on any screen (not just the music screen), FFWD/REW/skip buttons, and a play/pause button that doubles as a ‘home’ button when pushed longer. On the backside of the player there’s the slot for the speaker, the microphone, and the reset hole. I never had to use the reset hole, since the player never acted up on me. The microphone is the microphone is the microphone – it’s what one would expect from a player such as this. Voice recordings sound ok, nothing special. The same can be said about the speaker. Don’t sell your B&W or Dynaudio home setup, the J3’s speaker is no match for them. It works ok for audiobooks or TV shows where you don’t care about sound quality, but that’s about it. It sure is a welcome addition for some people, but it’s of course neither overly good sounding nor overly loud. The one thing I dislike about all modern Cowon players is the latch that hides the USB port and SD slot. I’m not aware of many other manufacturers feeling the need to hide those – it’s just one more needless step to perform when connecting the player or swapping the MicroSDHC card. On the J3 you need a decent length finger nail to get the tiny latch open. When a headphone with an angled plug is plugged in, it gets in the way – it needs to be turned to the side or unplugged first. It’s not a really big deal, but one of these days I might just cut that latch off. On the inside of the J3, among other things, is the battery (or at least I hope so). Cowon’s battery life claim of 64 hours for audio and 11 hours for video are of course exaggerated as always, using synthetic benchmarks, but real usage shows that the J3 is still among the best, as far as stamina goes. With regular ~640
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