Cowon A3

Tejstar

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There's finally been some more information on the Cowon A3. There's hardly been any news since the beginning of the year.

However, there is a video of the player in action here. It looks like the form factor will be similar to the A2, sporting a 4-inch 800 x 480 screen.

No release date or prices yet, but lets hope this will come out by the end of the year.
 
According to Engadget this player will finally be making its way to the market on 14th November. It will come out in 30Gb and 60Gb versions.
 
US pricing and availability has now been confirmed. According to Crave, the player will ship in early December, and cost $349 and $399 for the 30GB and 60GB variations, respectively.

I wonder where their Q5W player fits in, which adds some WiFi to the equation, among other things.
 
:confused: Cant understand why no one is interested in this player on this forum, spec wise it kills the 605 and cowon has supposedly better build quality..

Can't decide wether to get one off advancedmp3players over here or wait till i go to ny at the end of Jan
 
Woohoo - nice to see some interest. The A2 was one of the better PMP's on the market so vert eager to see how well the A3 is received.

The only issue is one of manufacturer support in this country, I've heard of a few horror stories when trying to get things sorted from the US.
 
I have the Cowon A2 and it's a great bit of kit, better and cheap than the equivalent Archos when I bought it.
As mentioned, the biggest problem with Cowon is support in UK and Europe, it's dire to non existant. Cowon Europe (Germany or Netherlands, I forget) are next to useless (unless things have changed radically). If you do have problems then it has to be shipped to Korea for repair and you have to foot the postal charges.
I had a problem with my A2 not charging not long after purchase so went through the mindfield of getting help, rather than waste money on sending it off I opened it up and it was just a simple case of the battery connection coming loose (wasn't inserted correctly) so I was lucky.
Support in the US is FAR better, they are very good even to the point of trying to help UK people when they shouldn't as Europe is not their responsibilty.

In short, Cowon offer great bits of kit but are let down by little to no support over here (unless things have changed in 2 years). I can't recommend them which is a real shame, I really like my A2 and it's been fine since the first minor problem.
 
I have the Cowon A2 and it's a great bit of kit, better and cheap than the equivalent Archos when I bought it.
As mentioned, the biggest problem with Cowon is support in UK and Europe, it's dire to non existant. Cowon Europe (Germany or Netherlands, I forget) are next to useless (unless things have changed radically). If you do have problems then it has to be shipped to Korea for repair and you have to foot the postal charges.
I had a problem with my A2 not charging not long after purchase so went through the mindfield of getting help, rather than waste money on sending it off I opened it up and it was just a simple case of the battery connection coming loose (wasn't inserted correctly) so I was lucky.
Support in the US is FAR better, they are very good even to the point of trying to help UK people when they shouldn't as Europe is not their responsibilty.

In short, Cowon offer great bits of kit but are let down by little to no support over here (unless things have changed in 2 years). I can't recommend them which is a real shame, I really like my A2 and it's been fine since the first minor problem.


The forum on advancedmp3players has good Cowon support.
 
TrustedReviews were quite positive on the A3 too!

The A3 is such a multi-talented media player that it's hard to knock it too much for the battery life. If its sheer power and flexibility you're after, the A3 has no peer, but taken with the other shortcomings - its lack of style, old-fashioned physical interface and the high price of £280 - it's enough to hold it back from bursting through the finishing tape in first place. The gold medal still remains the property of the Archos 605 WiFi which is considerably cheaper and has better all-round battery life.
 
I was really hoping this thing would be serious competition to the Archos, if only to shame Archos in releasing the plugins for free, to actually uncripple their player. But without the redesign, no wifi, small HDD and very high price, this will still be a niche player I reckon. Yes, it can play a HD movie, but who would want to on a 4in screen!!

A big, big shame, Archos will be pleased I reckon. :mad:
 
I had considered swapping my Archos 605 for the A3 but the reality is the A3 has not received the review ratings I was expecting it would.
 
Cowons are usually very good in battery life. This one should be nice choice for hardcore travelers. But I personally don't like cowon's screens - they are dull.
 
Has anyone got one of these yet? I went to Tottenham Court Rd in lunch hour yesterday and took a look at one and what was in the box. All very nice, 1st shop said £345 for the 60GB saw it in 2 other shops the last giving me a price of £295.
I that a good price? Personally won't be in the market for one for a few months but love the product - need to upgrade from my iriver H-140 was going to ipod classic until saw this.

Smudja
 
I have to say I am a proud owner of a new Cow A3. I have a had it a few weeks now and i did consider it against the Archos 606Wifi. Althought bought have good and bad points i have choosen the Cow A3 because of the vast ability to play so many different types of files and this is only down to my specific use. I was gonna get mine from advancemp3s but saw it was cheaper at www.overclockers.co.uk at £300, a week later it was £15 cheaper due to the price drop on all Cowon products >_<"... the only nag i have with the player and i knew it was gonna be a problem from the start is the navigation jog style controller. I had one same on my SE moby and it broke in a years time, atm i am finding it hard to press the middle button with out it press the over direction first.

edit/ it is now 270 , 30 squids cheaper than when i got it ;(
 
Nice one Sorj, if the price keeps dropping by the end of April (when I'll be in the market for one) I may be able to go for the Q5!!

Anyone got any views/experience with the Q5?
 
I was really hoping this thing would be serious competition to the Archos, if only to shame Archos in releasing the plugins for free, to actually uncripple their player. But without the redesign, no wifi, small HDD and very high price, this will still be a niche player I reckon. Yes, it can play a HD movie, but who would want to on a 4in screen!!

A big, big shame, Archos will be pleased I reckon. :mad:

Actually that facility is exactly what I'm after. I had an A2 up until recently, and apart from the awful joystick navigation it was a fantastic bit of kit, playing back virtually everything I through at it.

However, the lack of HD support meant that I was having to transcode my downloads before I could play them and I have to use a dedicated media centre PC for playback on my main screen.

The A3 will solve all those prolems (I won't be going 1080p any time soon, so it will suit me for a long while). I can have a compact PMP for watching things at my convenience and do away with my media centre pc at the same time.
 
Bought a cowon a3 from ebay and got it yesterday. will try and answer any questions if you have any.

Looks like a serious piece of kit, archos 605 looks really plasticy and cheap in comparison to it
 
I must admit I think the exact opposite. The metal bodied 605 is a far more solidly built and higher quality looking product IMO.

I've also read lots regarding the A3 case warping during sustained use which is not ideal.

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19225

each to their own i guess. When i was in ny i compared the two side by side and i honestly preferred the look of cowon. I'm not a cowon fanboy and i was considering the 605 but the buying of all the bits serpately (docs +codecs) pushed me away from it.

I've read about the case warping issue from that forum and i'm hoping it only happens in a few. Nothing has happened with mine so far, so fingers crossed.
 
Another positive review, this time from Engadget.

Overall, we feel that Cowon has a winner on its hands with the A3. The outstanding audio quality, tightly integrated video recording / playback and tremendous codec and format support make this a unit worth craving -- if you can get over the somewhat burdensome chassis, that is. Truthfully, we'd recommend getting up close and personal with one of these before diving in head first unless you're absolutely certain that heft and bulk are not concerns, as it's really a bit harder to recommend this device to those who value compactness. Additionally, don't expect to be blown away by the unwieldy control scheme, which is really the only thing outside of size that's holding this unit back from being an absolute champion. Still, if you're willing to overlook its quirks for an interface that will hardly ever disappoint, a screen that will make all your pals envious and PVR capabilities that are atypically useful, the A3 is most definitely worth your while.
 
Unless something comes out to rival it, I'll be picking one of these up just as soon as they fix the battery-bulge issue.

My A2 was one of the best gadgets I've owned and I've been lost without it since it sold, but at least I got a good price for it before it was superceded.
 
Hi all,

Could any owners of the A3 please tell me how long it can record video for at high quality on a single charge of the battery? If someone could run a test I'd be grateful.

I ask as I bought a Chinese PMP that can record full PAL video and was using it with a headcam for skydiving/flying. However, it can only last about 15 minutes, maybe 30, on the battery, sort of defeating the purpose.

The A3 looks great, but I need to know whether it's capable of recording for a decent amount of time on just the battery. Thanks all.

Rob
 

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