Cowon S9 Review

The new Cowon S9 is one of the most awaited PMPs of 2009, it has got a superb ultra sleek design and great features. It is priced quite decently around $200 and should easily grab a good share of the PMP market in that budget category. In this review, we explore the Cowon S9 and take at its insides.

Cowon S9 Specs:

• Dimensions: 57 x 106 x 12.8 mm
• Weight: 77 gms
• Display: 3.3 inch AMOLED Touch Display, 16.7 mn colors, 480 x 272 pixels
• Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV
• Video Formats: MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, WMV
• Image Formats: JPEG
• Colors: Chrome Black, Titanium Black
• Storage: 8 GB Flash Memory
• Battery Life: 55 hours, 11 hours
• Data Transfer: MTP, MSC
• Other Features: Voice Recording, FM Radio, Bluetooth, Games, Custom EQ

Design and Build Quality:

The Cowon S9 sports a radical new, super stylish and sleek design. It could be used as an example of the new age aerodynamic sleek design. On the first look, you wouldn’t perhaps even guess that it is a PMP, you can easily mistake it for some hi tech super secret military gadget. The body is composed fully of high quality plastic. Not once after using it would you wish it was made of metal. The plastic body shows advantages especially in weight - it weighs only about 77 gms. It is also pretty compact at dimensions of about 57 x 106 x 12.8 mm. It is available in two colors - Chrome Black, Titanium Black, both of which look equally good, I prefer the Titanium look though. The curved design is very ergonomic and offers a nice feel and grip. It is very durable and should easily last you for more than a couple of years.

Display and Interface:

The Cowon S9 sports a brilliant 3.3 inch AMOLED Touch Display supporting 16.7 mn pixels with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels . AMOLED displays are generally more power efficient, better and more vibrant looking and slimmer than normal LCD displays. They also have relatively faster response times. The video playback on the Cowon S9 enters a whole new realm thanks to the AMOLED display, as well as the superb codec support. It has a capacitive touch screen display allowing you to control the interface fully using your fingers. The touchscreen display is very responsive and has great sensitivity. In addition to the touch controls on the display, Cowon also has included physical controls around the device for easy access with better feedback. The top sports the volume controls, pause / play, reverse and forward buttons. You can adjust volume, play / pause tracks and also navigate through the interface etc using those buttons. It also sports a accelerometer for automatic screen orientation - christened by Cowon as the G Sensor. It still is a bit buggy and there is a slight delay between changing orientations.

Multimedia Playback:

The sound quality of the Cowon S9 is truly Cowon.. err.. amazing. It has among the best sound reproduction in this range and is a tough fight to its competitors. It is easily among the best PMPs in terms of overall audio and video playback quality. It comes with a 5 band custom EQ using which you can customize your audio experience. It support the MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV file formats. You can easily pair your headphones with the S9 for an out of the world audiophilic experience, in case you aren’t satisfied with the basic bundled earphones, which is very likely if you take your music seriously by any chance. The UI is very simple and intuitive with all the basic track management features. You can browse through your music by tags, folders or files. You can sort your media files according to Artists, Albums, Songs etc. You can also create custom playlists and bookmarks. The interface features are just like those found in most other PMP devices.

The video quality is also superb on the AMOLED screen. The S9 supports the MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, WMV video codecs / formats. You can transfer your media to the S9 through the MTP protocol using any compatible software like Windows Media Player, Winamp etc. You can also directly copy files to the Cowon S9 like a mass storage device using the MSC protocol. It is compatible with all three - Windows, Mac, Linux. Movie watching is truly a pleasure on the S9 and even surpasses the iPod Touch in some aspects. It plays most video codecs by default, so no need of any complicated video conversion hassles.

Other Features:

Apart from the usual stuff, the Cowon S9 also sports many other features like Flash games and applications - there are just a few as of now, but the numbers are sure to increase. It also has a built in FM Radio with decent reception quality. You can also autoscan and save all nearby FM channels easily. The Cowon S9 also sports a basic image viewing app to browse through and view your image collection. You can zoom into your images, view them as thumbnails or as a slideshow etc. It also comes with a sound recorder to record audio. You can record audio from the built in mic, the line in jack with some external recording device and the FM Radio directly. The recording quality is also pretty decent.

It also has Bluetooth with support for the A2DP and the AVRCP profiles. You can use any wireless stereo headset for a wire free music experience. You can also read text documents on the S9, owing to the large superb display. You can also switch background colors when reading to minimise the strain on your eyes, zoom into the documents and save bookmarks. It has a battery life of about 55 hrs audio playback and 11 hrs video playback. For normal users, it should easily last about 3-4 days. It comes bundled with just the bare basics - earbuds, data transfer cable and the standard Cowon software CD.

Pros:

• Nice Design
• Superb AMOLED display
• Easy to use Touch Interface

Cons:

• No external memory support

Final Words:

The Cowon S9 is a superb PMP at a great price - just about $200. If you try hard, you can also find yourself a better deal. It is a great option to the iPod Touch and gets a recommended rating from the DigitGeek team.

Our Rating: 3.75 / 5.