Firm commitment
Future firmware updates may fix these problems though. Three upgrades have turned up in the last two months, this review being carried out using the latest version 2.27. But as it stands, the way the D3 handles music files for navigation is an irritation.
A great all-round player, but for a price
Battery life proved to be close to Cowon's claims of 10 hours for video and 21 for audio – cycling through a standard definition AVI file yielded a figure 9 hours 30 minutes and the same test with 192kbps MP3 files lasted just over 18 hours. You can recharge either with the rather bulky 240VAC mains adapter or USB. However, for the latter to work the screen has to be off and the device in standby.
Verdict
In terms of £-per-GB-of-storage, the Cowon D3 Plenue is a shade more expensive than the iPod Touch, but you get MicroSD card expansion, a bigger screen, broader file support and you don't have to use iTunes. On the down side, audio content navigation is rather primitive, the UI could be more fluid, there is no camera, no opportunity for adding apps or games and the Archos 43 is cheaper to the tune of £70 in 16GB form. Even so, as a hand-held video player the D3 is a cracker – it will play just about any common AV file type at any resolution and video files both look and sound fantastic. ®
Thanks to AdvancedMP3Players for the loan of the review sample.
More PMP Reviews... |
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 Archos
43 |
 Samsung
Galaxy Player 50 |
 Sony Walkman
NWZ-A845 |
 Apple iPod
Nano 6G |
Cowon D3 Plenue Android media player
AdvancedMP3Players Cowon D3 Plenue page
COMMENTS
Why is everyone obsessed with touch?
Doesn't anyone else keep their music player* in their pocket any more? Touch is all well and good for web browsing, etc., where looking at the screen is the point of the exercise, but having to take your media player out of your pocket in the rain, just to skip, pause, or change the volume i9s a right royal pain. I know there are some non-touch devices out there but they seem to be getting smaller in number, unless you want a 5GB throwaway player rather than something you can keep your entire collection on.
*Trying to watch films and TV on my commute doesn't appeal, and the screen is so small even on the biggest of these that I'd only watch video if desperate to watch something different to the in-flight movie on a trans-Atlantic flight or similar.
RE: entire collection...
I don't like to get personal on these comments but you are obviously a moron.
The reasons for wanting my entire collection of music are simple:
1. I'm never sure in the morning what I'll want to listen to in the evening or at work.
2. If I have a yearning to listen to something, or remember it I can.
3. I can listen on "shuffle" to everything if I feel like it.
4. I can have a book on tape or a language CD on there as well as the music.
5. When away from home I have access to my entire collection.
6. It's a good "off-site backup" as well as just a good backup to avoid recoding if my HDDs fail.
Not related directly to it being my entire collection is:
7. Can trade music with friends.
8. Can be used to "off-site backup" other stuff too, like a photo collection.
@Brian 6
If you read my original post you may have realised that this is what we are complaining about -- it doesn't seem possible to buy a non touch device any more, unless you want a throwaway.
Show music playing me a device with <70GB of storage, physical buttons and no touch screen and I may be in the market.
Still no gapless playback?
Sort it OUT, Cowon! How hard can it be?
This is not a title
By the sounds of it then, forget that it's Android - the OS is no more accessible than in a sony walkman - and the rest of the review was of a media player.
This is as things should be. Buy the product, not the development route. Wide range of formats, clunky menus. But by the sounds of the review the audio quality is good, which is what I would expect from Cowan. 21 hours battery life is not bad for something with a big screen, I think I might be tempted.
How do you get music on and off it? USB storage mode in Linux?
