Cowon have officially announced the L3 combination PMP and GPS navigator, with a 7-inch touchscreen display, dual-core processor (each core running at 480MHz) and DMB digital TV. First spotted back in August last year, the L3’s sizable display runs at 800 x 480 WVGA with 128MB of SDRAM, 4GB of storage and an SD card.
After Friday’s confirmation of the Cowon S9 Curve’s UK release, now it’s the turn of the US to get the touchscreen AMOLED PMP. Both the 8GB and 16GB versions of the S9 will be available from December 19th, priced at $199.99 and $239.99 respectively. That gets you a 3.3-inch, 16m color 480 x 272 touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0 with stereo A2DP support and a bevy of supported audio and video formats.
Last we heard, Cowon’s S9 PMP was experiencing “problems in production” and delayed, outside of Korea at least, until early in 2009. Now, though, UK availability for the AMOLED touchscreen media player has been confirmed [pdf link], with the 8GB and 16GB versions launching on December 15th. It’s with no small amount of fanfare, either; they’re suggesting it could be the best sounding MP3 player to date.
Cowon’s S9 Curve PMP was meant to have launched in Europe by the beginning of last month, but the slinky media player is still yet to arrive. However the latest news is pointing to “problems in production” delaying the Korean release to December 2008, with availability outside of there pushed back to 2009. Cowon themselves have issued a new release regarding the Korean launch, where the 3.3-inch AMOLED display PMP will be priced at 219,000 won ($150) for the 4GB, 259,000 won ($178) for the 8GB, and 309,000 won ($212) for the 16GB.
More details, including GUI screenshots, after the cut
Cowon have released a new version of the SDK for their O2 PMP, allowing developers to create third-party apps for the device without needing to actually have the O2 to hand. The software now includes an emulator, which means new code can be tested more readily rather than needing to transfer it to the PMP itself.
If you’ve been waiting for the O2, you’re in luck. Cowon has officially announced the release of their O2 touchscreen portable media player today and it packs in quite a few features.
Cowon have announced European pricing for their O2 media player, announced at IFA 2008 and set to launch in November 2008. The O2 has a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 touchscreen, T-DMB digital TV tuner and 8, 16 or 32GB of internal storage that can be augmented via an SD/SDHC slot. Prices start from €289.99 ($400).
Cowon’s S9 Curve PMP is set to launch in Germany by the end of October, according to the company’s regional webpage. The S9 has a 3.3-inch widescreen 16m color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, running at 480 x 272, and will initially be available in 8GB and 16GB versions with a 32GB model following later.
A trio of new PMPs from Cowon today, waiting in the wings for their official announcement at IFA 2008. Each has a touchscreen and Cowon’s typically minimal selection of hardware buttons, with the range starting out with the most compact, the S9 Curve. The first from the company to use an AMOLED display, the screen measures 3.3-inches and has a T-DMB digital TV tuner as well as audio & video playback.
It’s become somewhat traditional to start the week’s review with what’s happening in the netbook world, a niche that’s arguably the fastest developing right now in consumer tech. Fujitsu kicked things off with the proclamation that budget ultraportables “don’t add up” and that the current race to the bottom line doesn’t give manufacturers enough room to make profit; Fujitsu were rumored the week before to be planning a netbook of their own, only with the emphasis on build quality rather than solely the price tag. Sony also picked up a few netbook-in-progress rumors, tipped for Q4 2008, and HP revealed that they’re working on a follow-up to the 2133 Mini-Note that will be less sturdy but also less expensive.
LG, too, are said to have a netbook in the works, with a model tentatively named X110 running Intel’s Atom CPU and made for them by MSI. It’s uncertain whether, if this turns out to be true, the X110 would be a rebadge of the MSI Wind or a whole new design. Finally, ASUS confirmed they wouldn’t be letting up the pressure as firm most associated with the segment; there’s talk of an “all day” battery and cloud storage option for release later on in 2008.
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