Review Cowon D3
Relatively recently, I did a review of the Cowon X7 multimedia player - then I hinted that the company was preparing a “bomb”. Apparently, on my table was exactly what was being said - Cowon D3 , one of the first players on the Android OS. In general, initially it is positioned as a pocket tablet, but, looking ahead, with the same success, any communicator can be called a tablet.
Goal, as always, for the invention of a cunning - this time from a cardboard box from the device it is proposed to make a small box with two retractable drawers.
For the sake of fun, I followed the manufacturer’s advice - so another regular appeared in my workplace, which now stores all kinds of small stuff - flash drives, memory cards, cogs, case keys, screwdrivers and so on. Although it looks ikeevsky, it fits perfectly with the size of the window sill, it’s very IT-oriented and, most importantly, completely without any need. By the way, in previous devices (such as Cowon J3 or iAudio 9) it was proposed to use a plastic container packaging as a flower pot . I appreciate such decisions - this is the first advantage of the device.
Well, what was inside? And it was pretty typical there:
- The Cowon D3 player itself
- Power adapter (charging)
- Wire for connecting to a PC
- Headphones and replaceable “pads” for them
- Disk and manual
The adapter (output: 5.0V, 3.0A) has a modular system - the kit includes both a “Russian” and a “European” plug. I'll talk about the wire a little lower in the paragraph about connectors. The instruction is in several languages, which is why it is very uninformative - it is proposed to download the full version of the manual on the site; traditionally recorded on the minidisk JetAudio combine.
I usually always put aside the headphones from the set of devices to the side (how about 5 things are typed - I send them to my acquaintance, they are always welcome there), but this time I took my interest - I decided to see what Cowon puts with its wonderful devices. Firstly, the "earbuds" barely fit in my ear - for several years I got used to the "gags"; secondly, the wires of the right and left “ears” turned out to be of different lengths (so that one was thrown behind the neck), and thirdly, the wire itself was short to comfortably use the player from the pocket of the trousers ... in fact, this is where the acquaintance with the headphones ended) But what was surprising - they play relatively well, so if there are no better ones, then at first you can use complete ones.
Cowon manufactures players in three different sizes - very tiny “drones” with or without a screen (for example, E2 , D2 and iAudio 9 ); mid-sized multimedia players (such as S9 and J3 ) and PMP combines such as the X7 , V5 and A3. The first ones are ideal for those who just want to have some music with them - for example, in the gym or ... well, anywhere. Still others, due to the large diagonal of the screen, are ideal for lovers to travel, because gigabytes of content are great for spending time on the go. But about the latter, Piglet put it very well - "my favorite color ... my favorite size" - these are small gadgets that can do a lot. As a rule, they are chosen by those for whom a good tinnitus really means a lot. Well, in general, I wrote this paragraph only so that you look into all previous reviews and you had something to compare with) A joke.
So, Cowon D3 is an all-in-one multimedia player with a rather modest size - you can always take this with you. Moreover, "all in one" in this case is in the literal sense, but more on that later. The size of the player is really comfortable in everyday use - it is no larger than the average communicator, so it easily fits in any pocket.
Compared with HTC HD2, HTC Gratia and Nokia N8,
90% of the front side is occupied by a screen, or rather the glass that protects it. Maybe it’s not glass at all - I didn’t check for wear resistance for various reasons (one of which was a factory protective film on the screen that I didn’t want to peel off - then I wouldn’t stick it normally).
The screen is glossy, which means easily soiled - the factory film does not save from prints, but nothing prevents you from buying a matte one.
Above the screen is the smallest speaker I have ever seen. Bottom - three touch buttons, "Back", "Menu" and "Home". Their disadvantage is that they are sensory and do not light up, which is why in the dark you can control the player only after a certain knack. But it saves that there are only three buttons and they are separated by large gaps.
It is very convenient and pleasant to hold the D3 in your hand - the reason is the practical matte case made of high-quality plastic. The back side is made of slightly rubberized material, vaguely reminiscent of "soft-touch". There is also a grid of a large speaker (this time a larger one) and an opening of a hidden Reset button.
Otherwise, everything is predictable, but there is nothing at all from above. On the left is the switch button (s) (it also locks the screen when pressed once and turns off the screen when pressed twice) and the plug of the microSD card slot. It's nice that the device supports cards up to 32 GB - even if you take the youngest model of the player (8 GB; sometimes 16 and 32) and buy a voluminous card for it, you get a universal device in which there is enough space even for a large music collection.
On the right are two button blocks. Two volume buttons are made in the form of "rockers" and are located below, and above - three buttons to control the music (there, pause and here). The "Pause" is located exactly in the middle of the upper block of buttons and has small relief projections at the edges - so that it is more convenient to navigate blindly. But, unfortunately, I still can’t get used to this decision - for me, the standard of control remains S9.
Well, the last part of the tour of the elements of the body - that on the bottom. And there are a mini-jack (3.5 mm) for headphones, a connector for power from the adapter and a plug, behind which is a connector for connecting to a computer.
On the one hand, the proprietary connector is not very convenient - you will lose such a wire by accident and it will be problematic to find it among the environment.
But on the other hand, they made it here for a reason, if only to introduce their own connector - this is a symbiosis of the USB and HDMI interfaces, through which synchronization and charging are carried out, as well as image output via the optional HDMI or AV wire (also optional - composite / SPDIF)
Looking at the Cowon D3 player, I first regretted that the company does not produce communicators. Agree that in appearance this device is much more interesting and practical than most of the "shovels" that are currently on the market.
It was a little disturbing to turn on the device for the first time - for Cowon this is the first experience with Android OS and I worried, no matter how they screwed up) But the interest was irresistible - I knew that a new interface was traditionally waiting for me and it was generally interesting to see what there it was kneaded and served with what kind of sauce.
After pressing the Power button, a white logo appears on the screen, which later begins to shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. The benefits of the AMOLED display were immediately felt - everything around this logo was invariably black, indistinguishable from the state of the device turned off. The device turns on for a very long time - about 20 seconds, after which a clock with a lock screen appears before the user.
Full size desktop. This resolution fit in the screen with a diagonal of 3.7 ".
Initially, there are five desktops ... although I will probably start in a different way. So, there is a real Android version 2.2 (or 2.3? More about this later), with all its pros and cons. And there are firmware in which something changes from version to version - I will speak in the article on the example of the latest firmware, x.31 from 03/09/2011. By the way, the device has just begun to be sold, and 3 versions of firmware have already been released for it, in which something is being gradually completed in a complex way. Firmware weighs an average of 60 MB - download the file, drop it to the root of the file system (or to the memory card), go to the system settings and click on “System Update” - everything will be ready in a minute. By the way, it was very surprising that NTFS is used as the file system on the player.
So, what am I all about. In the first updated firmware, it became possible to change the number of virtual tables, which I did - I left only 2 tables, since 5 is a lot (I just have nothing to put on them) and more resource-intensive (and therefore more brakes). On any screen, you can traditionally place anything - widgets, shortcuts or sites. Initially, there is a clock and several icons, but all this can be moved, removed, added to your taste, so I won’t describe everything in detail. Anyway, the article is already getting healthy, but I didn’t even start talking about the player’s capabilities ... so watch a demo video (it was recorded on the original firmware, with “brakes”, etc.), and I will tell you very briefly below about the software part.
Audio player
The main part of the audio player will be occupied by the image of the cover of the track, so it makes sense to have these covers (put in the album folder or push directly into the file itself). Standard control buttons, a bit inconvenient (due to the tiny size) of the timeline file. The name of the track, the name of the album and the name of the group are displayed - sometimes (rarely) there are problems with Cyrillic tags. On the same screen, you can change the playback speed of the track, as well as parameters such as the equalizer, the playback area (1 file, folder or all at once) and the playback method (sequentially or randomly). By clicking on the large arrow to the right of the album image, the user enters the media library - there is all the music that can be sorted by folders, songs, albums, artists and genres. The function of adding to favorites is somewhat illogical - you need to do a long tap on the file and add it from there; if you just press “add to favorites” during playback, only a bookmark will be created.
Nothing prevents to put any other music player, for the sake of interest I put the monstrous PowerAMP and the legendary WinAMP - both worked like clockwork. I will even say this - I recommend using a third-party player, because they are updated more often and they have more features. And these programs are quite friendly with the hardware control buttons, so that the user does not lose anything. Moreover, when installing third-party players, widgets will appear in the system, so you can customize the appearance of any desktop any way you want — you just want buttons, there will only be buttons; want with a cover - please. The names of songs, by the way, will also be displayed in the status bar of the player.
PowerAMP:
WinAMP:
Video Player
At first glance, the built-in video player is quite simple, but with a closer acquaintance, it turned out to be very functional. A similar file browser for selecting files, controlling playback speed, creating a screenshot, outputting an image to an external device, subtitles (with the ability to choose a language, color, size and position), choosing an audio track ... in general, it's pretty thick. The player easily pulls non-converted video up to 1080p (although it all depends on the file), but I advise you not to be a pervert and still convert the video (at least through the same Cowon JetAudio from the kit) - it will take up less space on the device, there will be less resource-intensive processing and ... and in general, do not forget that FullHD makes sense to display only on a large external screen with the appropriate wire.
Well, again, nothing prevents you from installing third-party video players.
Photo
You can watch a photo, there is a multi-touch (no more than 2 fingers can be processed at a time) and a slide show. There is no “apple” smoothness, well, okay - we will survive this trouble.
I forgot to say that the screen diagonal is 3.7 ``, and the resolution is decent 480x800 pixels, so you can see a lot of things on such a screen. The color rendition is wonderful!
Radio
FM range from 87.5 to 108 MHz, auto-search stations and the ability to record broadcasts. Radio is like a radio.
On one of the desktops there are icons of some unknown (most likely Korean) services (Google, Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo! and Wikipedia) - at first I thought that these were special programs ... but these were just website shortcuts. When they start, a web browser opens, which I immediately replaced with Opera Mobile.
I forgot to note an interesting point. On all virtual tables there is a line in which dd.mm.yyyy and hh.mm are displayed, as well as the number of running applications and the device’s memory status (in MB and%). But in the same line is the Apps button, which I noticed far from immediately) It opens the player’s menu, which contains all of all applications - if you talk about them, the story will be very long. Eeeee, wake up! )
Seriously, the menu contains primitive applications for working with documents, a microphone, a clock, drawing, mail, a calendar, a calculator (including a scientific one), contacts and some comics. It’s not very clear what half of this list is for, but if there is, then let it be. Contacts are present only formally (this is not a phone) - they can be imported from an account on Gmail or from a memory card, just so that they are at hand, well, or so that someone can write a letter if an email address is specified.
Perhaps the most useful application is mail (with Exchange support) - a Gmail account is picked up in a couple of clicks. There is a calendar, but failed to synchronize it. Be that as it may, I’m unlikely to use all this, since on the same iPad I will spend less time on the same tasks and do everything with greater convenience. The good news is that there’s nowhere to insert a SIM card in the device, that is, a restless android in the absence of a Wi-Fi network will not send anything to German spies, which means it will not spend money. Nicely.
Speaking of wifi. It works (Wi-Fi 802.11b / g) without problems, it is pleasant to like "tenacity" - even those grids are visible that the phone often does not see. With access to the network, the freedom of action on the device becomes even greater - the same opera, twitter, social networks, music ... in general, what the soul wants. There is Bluetooth, but I have not tried to connect anything to it yet.
But the most pleasant thing in Cowon D3 is, of course, the ability to install applications - I have already given some examples above. There is no application market, so the only way to install applications at the moment is through a computer. Download the necessary applications in * .apk format from w3bsit3-dns.com and drop them into the player’s APK folder - after disconnecting the wire, all applications will be automatically installed, and their icons will appear in the menu.
Here are the applications that I installed:
- ASTRO File Manager - well, that goes without saying !
- PowerAMP to try on the advice - did not really like it, since there is a lot of excess;
- WinAMP - but it left, a classic of the genre) What I need from the player. Friends with the hardware buttons of the player;
- Opera Mobile - there were no options! It works fine, though scaling pages is sometimes weird;
- SoundHound - in case an unknown pleasant little music starts playing somewhere;
- Trillian - have not yet understood why, as I try to get rid of IM;
- Yandex.Maps andYandex.Metro - always come in handy;
- Swype for text input - everything works.
Diagnostic:
- Android System Info , Elixir , Battery Graph , ScreenShot It , Drocap2 and Multitouch Visualizer 2 - thanks to these applications, screenshots and more detailed technical information appeared in the review. From 5 virtual tables, I left only two - on one clock, the player’s widget and the most frequent applications, and on the second other programs and all kinds of indicators (Wi-Fi and its signal level, backlight, etc.) from Elixir - you can do anything.
But what has not been established is TweetDeck, QIWI Mobile, Alfa Click, FPSE. Why? I don’t know, they’re just not being put and that’s it. AngryBirds set it - they work without brakes, noooh ... with a very unpleasant glitch - instead of text, some spots are everywhere displayed, respectively, neither the text of the screensavers, nor the number of points, nor the number of stars per level are visible.
In principle, even this is superfluous for me on the player, since most of the tasks (mail-sites-cards) are on the iPad. But there is nothing stopping me from installing other programs - it's just that I'm still not very well oriented in the Android environment.
Programs are programs, but I want the article to be complete - you can’t do without interface images. I took a picture of the device immediately after unpacking, but, frankly, I did not want to process more than 100 of the same type of photos from RAWs. And then I went to the fascinating world of finding the root for the device) Unfortunately, there was no manual or utility for rooting Cowon D3 on the network, and then I decided to go from simple to complex. The first thing I did was install the SDK - it’s strange, but the Player didn’t want to appear in Device Manager (of course, with USB Debug turned on). Other utilities did not help either - asm, Droid Explorer, MyPhoneExplorer and others, and everything was set up correctly - my HD2 was perfectly located in all cases!
When all the “legal” methods ended, almost losing hope, I decided to use the remaining option - “universal” routers like UniversalAndroot, VISIONary and z4root. The attempts did not end in success, because of which I was increasingly wondering, “how ?!”, and most importantly, “why ?!” Cowon made such an analo-fenced device, because in their interests, on the contrary, there should be maximum customization of the new product. In general ... I was almost starting to convert RAWs, when suddenly the last utility in the alphabetical list dumbfounded me with my message - z4root made temproot, that is, temporary root-access that is completely safe for the device, which disappears after rebooting the device! I realized that everything worked, from the Drocap2 program, which, in fact, made it possible to take all the screenshots in the article. If anything, ruled the European firmware 2.29,
Inside, a single-core ARM processor is installed, capable of operating in the frequency range from 294 to 720 MHz. Most of the time it works just at 720 MHz, which means that the frequency can be lowered (if there is a root) and it’s good to win in the operating time - but this is only if you do not need all sorts of tsatskas and ryushenki that will be at a lower frequency to brake.
As for memory - it's easier to see screenshots 1 time. The battery is built-in and not replaceable, lithium-polymer.
Battery life. When the rumor passed that the upcoming D3 will work up to 100 hours in playback mode, I did not believe it. And, as it turned out, he did the right thing - a large screen, multi-tasking OS, standard device sizes ... In general, in music playback mode, the device works “just” a little more than a day (with a periodically turning on screen), which in my opinion is not very cool - that's all S9, J3 and D2 were spoiled by playing 50-55 hours at a time. On the other hand, not a single communicator with such a screen diagonal will be able to work for 24 hours in music playback mode.
Well, the last, most important thing is the sound. He is traditionally gorgeous, you can not complain about him. And if someone tries to do this, let him first try to listen to all available branded BBE presets in good headphones, of which there are even more in this model.
The quality and volume level of the player is comparable to S9 and J3, the volume margin is enough for any listener. But this player, it seems to me, does not reach D2 / D2 + - if in these players from some compositions at a maximum volume there was a slight chill on the cheeks and started stabbing somewhere in the pelvis, then in the case of all subsequent devices I do not observe this . It is for this reason that I keep D2 +, although for the convenience of management it is not nice to me.
I don’t want to talk about the settings - there are typical Android troubles, there is no point in listing them. For all the time the device hangs only 1 time - when I connected the player to my computer through a wire and pulled it out without safely removing it. Now I always remove USB devices only “correctly”, especially since it’s not difficult to press a couple of buttons on the player’s screen.
There is still very little information on this player on the network - more questions than answers. Therefore, in addition to the review itself, I went over several sites, I collected the main questions and try to answer them.
>> How are they fundamentally different than the Wi-Fi module? Has anyone tried flashing J3 with firmware from D3?
- Next) No, I did not come up with this question - see for yourself .
>> The forum stated a contradiction with the characteristic of additional flash memory, on the official website it is indicated up to 16 GB, and on the forum up to 32 GB, where is infa still correct?
- The player supports cards up to 32 GB inclusive. Another question is that a 32 GB microSD flash drive costs 2–3 thousand rubles.
>> I understand that at the moment they did not create a cover for the D3, but in general, wherever it was, it was reported that it will be?
- At least already there are two official covers, one plastic, the other made of leather (well, or leatherette - it is not clear). Plastic is transparent, and at the same time it’s very cheap-shitty, so there won’t be much sense from it - until the first fall.
But leather is much more interesting - even with it the device becomes twice as thick, but scratches on the case will not appear soon; another of the pluses is +5 charisma and more convenient control (because all the buttons are in the slots and they do not need to be grope). A few photos:
Who tried to access the Internet using D3? How well does he do it?
- I tried it. 5 minutes, the flight is normal) There is no difference from the Internet on the screen of any other device - the main thing is to put Opera Mobile on time.
What special points can be made between S9 and D3?
- Nevertheless, these are different players and you just can’t take them and compare them. S9 captivates with battery life (with a very large screen), performance, sound quality and ease of management. But there, for example, there is no Wi-Fi and a memory card slot, which is critical for many. So here it is necessary to look according to needs - for some, give the androids, and for someone, S9 is enough for a couple of years.
How can I add a Russian keyboard?
- Perhaps it can somehow be added through the settings, but nothing prevents the use of alternative programs. I set the Russian-English Swype for WVGA resolution, everything works like a clock - the main thing is not to forget to choose it as the default input device.
Are video / USB cables from S9 / J3 to D3 suitable?
- Not. But it should come, for example, from V5.
1. Has anyone put Skype on D3? If so, share your experience on how to do this.
>> 2. Is it possible to install applications from the android market?
>> 3. How to solve the font problem in Angry Birds?
1. Put skype, it works. You just need to drop the installation * .APK file into the player’s memory.
2. There is no original market, I have not tried to install non-original ones. For the rest, see paragraph 1.
3. I do not know)
is it possible on Cowon D3 to update the version of Android to 2.2 or 2.3?
Honestly, I'm completely at a loss. The site says that inside 2.1, you are talking about 2.2, and on my latest official firmware all diagnostic utilities display 2.3. How to be )
Information about the operating system. Perhaps, instead of the Android version, the program displays the firmware version.
The names of some tracks are written by krakozyabry
- You need to change the encoding of tags
Changed j3 to D3. Displeased scary. The screen is ugly black. It's not black, it's some kind of dirty purple. The image seemed less clear to me. At J3, the black color on the screen was impeccable. Picture too. In the settings, I found only brightness. Has anyone paid attention to this? Does anyone have any practical advice?
- Perhaps the marriage - on my device, black is blacker than black, which is noticeable immediately after switching on, on the splash screen. There are no problems with color reproduction and image clarity.
Has anyone tried running psx4droid or Fpse - playstation 1 emulators for android? pliz, try to put and respond about the performance, it is very necessary)
FPSE was not installed, but psd4droid got up. But now some BIOS asks - at the time of writing, all references to this BIOS did not work. But the rest, I think, should not be a problem.
Extremely useful box of the device
Impeccable build quality
Appearance, practical body materials
Large bright AMOLED-display high-resolution
memory card slot, Wi-Fi, accelerometer output for external devices
The ability to install any application
Traditionally, high-quality sound
can not flash
Slight braking during operation
Installation applications so far only through a computer
Quiet external speaker
High price
I did not attribute the battery life (days +) and ease of management to the disadvantages Niya - the same S9 in this regard is more interesting, but such a comparison is somewhat incorrect.
Cowon D3 8Gb - from 10 000 rub
Cowon D3 16Gb - from 11 500r
Cowon D3 32Gb - from 14 000r
These are the prices. Over the hill is much cheaper.
When I was first hinted at the upcoming continuation of the D2 player, I melted in a smile and thought - “Hooray, be another review for which I will gladly take up and for the device from which I will not be ashamed.” And after all, how did he know that so it will be!
The capabilities of this device go beyond the average needs, therefore, first of all, such a player is suitable for those who like to “dig deeper”. But this is not the end of the CA - Cowon D3 will equally suit everyone who wants to listen to music, even the most capricious connoisseurs of tube sound) Do you want to watch movies that were dropped in the morning on your way to work? Then you can also get in line. There are drawbacks, but Cowon also knows how to do the work of mistakes ... otherwise, it’s cool, but the beginning is good.
But what makes me most happy is that this is only the beginning - under the Plenue sub-brand, Cowon is going to release other devices based on the Android operating system in the future. We wait? Definitely!
Goal, as always, for the invention of a cunning - this time from a cardboard box from the device it is proposed to make a small box with two retractable drawers.
For the sake of fun, I followed the manufacturer’s advice - so another regular appeared in my workplace, which now stores all kinds of small stuff - flash drives, memory cards, cogs, case keys, screwdrivers and so on. Although it looks ikeevsky, it fits perfectly with the size of the window sill, it’s very IT-oriented and, most importantly, completely without any need. By the way, in previous devices (such as Cowon J3 or iAudio 9) it was proposed to use a plastic container packaging as a flower pot . I appreciate such decisions - this is the first advantage of the device.
Well, what was inside? And it was pretty typical there:
- The Cowon D3 player itself
- Power adapter (charging)
- Wire for connecting to a PC
- Headphones and replaceable “pads” for them
- Disk and manual
The adapter (output: 5.0V, 3.0A) has a modular system - the kit includes both a “Russian” and a “European” plug. I'll talk about the wire a little lower in the paragraph about connectors. The instruction is in several languages, which is why it is very uninformative - it is proposed to download the full version of the manual on the site; traditionally recorded on the minidisk JetAudio combine.
I usually always put aside the headphones from the set of devices to the side (how about 5 things are typed - I send them to my acquaintance, they are always welcome there), but this time I took my interest - I decided to see what Cowon puts with its wonderful devices. Firstly, the "earbuds" barely fit in my ear - for several years I got used to the "gags"; secondly, the wires of the right and left “ears” turned out to be of different lengths (so that one was thrown behind the neck), and thirdly, the wire itself was short to comfortably use the player from the pocket of the trousers ... in fact, this is where the acquaintance with the headphones ended) But what was surprising - they play relatively well, so if there are no better ones, then at first you can use complete ones.Appearance
Cowon manufactures players in three different sizes - very tiny “drones” with or without a screen (for example, E2 , D2 and iAudio 9 ); mid-sized multimedia players (such as S9 and J3 ) and PMP combines such as the X7 , V5 and A3. The first ones are ideal for those who just want to have some music with them - for example, in the gym or ... well, anywhere. Still others, due to the large diagonal of the screen, are ideal for lovers to travel, because gigabytes of content are great for spending time on the go. But about the latter, Piglet put it very well - "my favorite color ... my favorite size" - these are small gadgets that can do a lot. As a rule, they are chosen by those for whom a good tinnitus really means a lot. Well, in general, I wrote this paragraph only so that you look into all previous reviews and you had something to compare with) A joke.
So, Cowon D3 is an all-in-one multimedia player with a rather modest size - you can always take this with you. Moreover, "all in one" in this case is in the literal sense, but more on that later. The size of the player is really comfortable in everyday use - it is no larger than the average communicator, so it easily fits in any pocket.
Compared with HTC HD2, HTC Gratia and Nokia N8,
90% of the front side is occupied by a screen, or rather the glass that protects it. Maybe it’s not glass at all - I didn’t check for wear resistance for various reasons (one of which was a factory protective film on the screen that I didn’t want to peel off - then I wouldn’t stick it normally).
The screen is glossy, which means easily soiled - the factory film does not save from prints, but nothing prevents you from buying a matte one.
Above the screen is the smallest speaker I have ever seen. Bottom - three touch buttons, "Back", "Menu" and "Home". Their disadvantage is that they are sensory and do not light up, which is why in the dark you can control the player only after a certain knack. But it saves that there are only three buttons and they are separated by large gaps.
It is very convenient and pleasant to hold the D3 in your hand - the reason is the practical matte case made of high-quality plastic. The back side is made of slightly rubberized material, vaguely reminiscent of "soft-touch". There is also a grid of a large speaker (this time a larger one) and an opening of a hidden Reset button.
Otherwise, everything is predictable, but there is nothing at all from above. On the left is the switch button (s) (it also locks the screen when pressed once and turns off the screen when pressed twice) and the plug of the microSD card slot. It's nice that the device supports cards up to 32 GB - even if you take the youngest model of the player (8 GB; sometimes 16 and 32) and buy a voluminous card for it, you get a universal device in which there is enough space even for a large music collection.
On the right are two button blocks. Two volume buttons are made in the form of "rockers" and are located below, and above - three buttons to control the music (there, pause and here). The "Pause" is located exactly in the middle of the upper block of buttons and has small relief projections at the edges - so that it is more convenient to navigate blindly. But, unfortunately, I still can’t get used to this decision - for me, the standard of control remains S9.
Well, the last part of the tour of the elements of the body - that on the bottom. And there are a mini-jack (3.5 mm) for headphones, a connector for power from the adapter and a plug, behind which is a connector for connecting to a computer.
On the one hand, the proprietary connector is not very convenient - you will lose such a wire by accident and it will be problematic to find it among the environment.
But on the other hand, they made it here for a reason, if only to introduce their own connector - this is a symbiosis of the USB and HDMI interfaces, through which synchronization and charging are carried out, as well as image output via the optional HDMI or AV wire (also optional - composite / SPDIF)
Looking at the Cowon D3 player, I first regretted that the company does not produce communicators. Agree that in appearance this device is much more interesting and practical than most of the "shovels" that are currently on the market.
Inclusion and work
It was a little disturbing to turn on the device for the first time - for Cowon this is the first experience with Android OS and I worried, no matter how they screwed up) But the interest was irresistible - I knew that a new interface was traditionally waiting for me and it was generally interesting to see what there it was kneaded and served with what kind of sauce.
After pressing the Power button, a white logo appears on the screen, which later begins to shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. The benefits of the AMOLED display were immediately felt - everything around this logo was invariably black, indistinguishable from the state of the device turned off. The device turns on for a very long time - about 20 seconds, after which a clock with a lock screen appears before the user.
Full size desktop. This resolution fit in the screen with a diagonal of 3.7 ".
Initially, there are five desktops ... although I will probably start in a different way. So, there is a real Android version 2.2 (or 2.3? More about this later), with all its pros and cons. And there are firmware in which something changes from version to version - I will speak in the article on the example of the latest firmware, x.31 from 03/09/2011. By the way, the device has just begun to be sold, and 3 versions of firmware have already been released for it, in which something is being gradually completed in a complex way. Firmware weighs an average of 60 MB - download the file, drop it to the root of the file system (or to the memory card), go to the system settings and click on “System Update” - everything will be ready in a minute. By the way, it was very surprising that NTFS is used as the file system on the player.
So, what am I all about. In the first updated firmware, it became possible to change the number of virtual tables, which I did - I left only 2 tables, since 5 is a lot (I just have nothing to put on them) and more resource-intensive (and therefore more brakes). On any screen, you can traditionally place anything - widgets, shortcuts or sites. Initially, there is a clock and several icons, but all this can be moved, removed, added to your taste, so I won’t describe everything in detail. Anyway, the article is already getting healthy, but I didn’t even start talking about the player’s capabilities ... so watch a demo video (it was recorded on the original firmware, with “brakes”, etc.), and I will tell you very briefly below about the software part.
Audio player
The main part of the audio player will be occupied by the image of the cover of the track, so it makes sense to have these covers (put in the album folder or push directly into the file itself). Standard control buttons, a bit inconvenient (due to the tiny size) of the timeline file. The name of the track, the name of the album and the name of the group are displayed - sometimes (rarely) there are problems with Cyrillic tags. On the same screen, you can change the playback speed of the track, as well as parameters such as the equalizer, the playback area (1 file, folder or all at once) and the playback method (sequentially or randomly). By clicking on the large arrow to the right of the album image, the user enters the media library - there is all the music that can be sorted by folders, songs, albums, artists and genres. The function of adding to favorites is somewhat illogical - you need to do a long tap on the file and add it from there; if you just press “add to favorites” during playback, only a bookmark will be created.
Nothing prevents to put any other music player, for the sake of interest I put the monstrous PowerAMP and the legendary WinAMP - both worked like clockwork. I will even say this - I recommend using a third-party player, because they are updated more often and they have more features. And these programs are quite friendly with the hardware control buttons, so that the user does not lose anything. Moreover, when installing third-party players, widgets will appear in the system, so you can customize the appearance of any desktop any way you want — you just want buttons, there will only be buttons; want with a cover - please. The names of songs, by the way, will also be displayed in the status bar of the player.
PowerAMP:
WinAMP:
Video Player
At first glance, the built-in video player is quite simple, but with a closer acquaintance, it turned out to be very functional. A similar file browser for selecting files, controlling playback speed, creating a screenshot, outputting an image to an external device, subtitles (with the ability to choose a language, color, size and position), choosing an audio track ... in general, it's pretty thick. The player easily pulls non-converted video up to 1080p (although it all depends on the file), but I advise you not to be a pervert and still convert the video (at least through the same Cowon JetAudio from the kit) - it will take up less space on the device, there will be less resource-intensive processing and ... and in general, do not forget that FullHD makes sense to display only on a large external screen with the appropriate wire.
Well, again, nothing prevents you from installing third-party video players.
Photo
You can watch a photo, there is a multi-touch (no more than 2 fingers can be processed at a time) and a slide show. There is no “apple” smoothness, well, okay - we will survive this trouble.
I forgot to say that the screen diagonal is 3.7 ``, and the resolution is decent 480x800 pixels, so you can see a lot of things on such a screen. The color rendition is wonderful!
Radio
FM range from 87.5 to 108 MHz, auto-search stations and the ability to record broadcasts. Radio is like a radio.
On one of the desktops there are icons of some unknown (most likely Korean) services (Google, Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Yahoo! and Wikipedia) - at first I thought that these were special programs ... but these were just website shortcuts. When they start, a web browser opens, which I immediately replaced with Opera Mobile.
I forgot to note an interesting point. On all virtual tables there is a line in which dd.mm.yyyy and hh.mm are displayed, as well as the number of running applications and the device’s memory status (in MB and%). But in the same line is the Apps button, which I noticed far from immediately) It opens the player’s menu, which contains all of all applications - if you talk about them, the story will be very long. Eeeee, wake up! )
Seriously, the menu contains primitive applications for working with documents, a microphone, a clock, drawing, mail, a calendar, a calculator (including a scientific one), contacts and some comics. It’s not very clear what half of this list is for, but if there is, then let it be. Contacts are present only formally (this is not a phone) - they can be imported from an account on Gmail or from a memory card, just so that they are at hand, well, or so that someone can write a letter if an email address is specified.
Perhaps the most useful application is mail (with Exchange support) - a Gmail account is picked up in a couple of clicks. There is a calendar, but failed to synchronize it. Be that as it may, I’m unlikely to use all this, since on the same iPad I will spend less time on the same tasks and do everything with greater convenience. The good news is that there’s nowhere to insert a SIM card in the device, that is, a restless android in the absence of a Wi-Fi network will not send anything to German spies, which means it will not spend money. Nicely.
Speaking of wifi. It works (Wi-Fi 802.11b / g) without problems, it is pleasant to like "tenacity" - even those grids are visible that the phone often does not see. With access to the network, the freedom of action on the device becomes even greater - the same opera, twitter, social networks, music ... in general, what the soul wants. There is Bluetooth, but I have not tried to connect anything to it yet.
But the most pleasant thing in Cowon D3 is, of course, the ability to install applications - I have already given some examples above. There is no application market, so the only way to install applications at the moment is through a computer. Download the necessary applications in * .apk format from w3bsit3-dns.com and drop them into the player’s APK folder - after disconnecting the wire, all applications will be automatically installed, and their icons will appear in the menu.
Here are the applications that I installed:
- ASTRO File Manager - well, that goes without saying !
- PowerAMP to try on the advice - did not really like it, since there is a lot of excess;
- WinAMP - but it left, a classic of the genre) What I need from the player. Friends with the hardware buttons of the player;
- Opera Mobile - there were no options! It works fine, though scaling pages is sometimes weird;
- SoundHound - in case an unknown pleasant little music starts playing somewhere;
- Trillian - have not yet understood why, as I try to get rid of IM;
- Yandex.Maps andYandex.Metro - always come in handy;
- Swype for text input - everything works.
Diagnostic:
- Android System Info , Elixir , Battery Graph , ScreenShot It , Drocap2 and Multitouch Visualizer 2 - thanks to these applications, screenshots and more detailed technical information appeared in the review. From 5 virtual tables, I left only two - on one clock, the player’s widget and the most frequent applications, and on the second other programs and all kinds of indicators (Wi-Fi and its signal level, backlight, etc.) from Elixir - you can do anything.
But what has not been established is TweetDeck, QIWI Mobile, Alfa Click, FPSE. Why? I don’t know, they’re just not being put and that’s it. AngryBirds set it - they work without brakes, noooh ... with a very unpleasant glitch - instead of text, some spots are everywhere displayed, respectively, neither the text of the screensavers, nor the number of points, nor the number of stars per level are visible.
In principle, even this is superfluous for me on the player, since most of the tasks (mail-sites-cards) are on the iPad. But there is nothing stopping me from installing other programs - it's just that I'm still not very well oriented in the Android environment.
Programs are programs, but I want the article to be complete - you can’t do without interface images. I took a picture of the device immediately after unpacking, but, frankly, I did not want to process more than 100 of the same type of photos from RAWs. And then I went to the fascinating world of finding the root for the device) Unfortunately, there was no manual or utility for rooting Cowon D3 on the network, and then I decided to go from simple to complex. The first thing I did was install the SDK - it’s strange, but the Player didn’t want to appear in Device Manager (of course, with USB Debug turned on). Other utilities did not help either - asm, Droid Explorer, MyPhoneExplorer and others, and everything was set up correctly - my HD2 was perfectly located in all cases!
When all the “legal” methods ended, almost losing hope, I decided to use the remaining option - “universal” routers like UniversalAndroot, VISIONary and z4root. The attempts did not end in success, because of which I was increasingly wondering, “how ?!”, and most importantly, “why ?!” Cowon made such an analo-fenced device, because in their interests, on the contrary, there should be maximum customization of the new product. In general ... I was almost starting to convert RAWs, when suddenly the last utility in the alphabetical list dumbfounded me with my message - z4root made temproot, that is, temporary root-access that is completely safe for the device, which disappears after rebooting the device! I realized that everything worked, from the Drocap2 program, which, in fact, made it possible to take all the screenshots in the article. If anything, ruled the European firmware 2.29,
Inside, a single-core ARM processor is installed, capable of operating in the frequency range from 294 to 720 MHz. Most of the time it works just at 720 MHz, which means that the frequency can be lowered (if there is a root) and it’s good to win in the operating time - but this is only if you do not need all sorts of tsatskas and ryushenki that will be at a lower frequency to brake.
As for memory - it's easier to see screenshots 1 time. The battery is built-in and not replaceable, lithium-polymer.
Battery life. When the rumor passed that the upcoming D3 will work up to 100 hours in playback mode, I did not believe it. And, as it turned out, he did the right thing - a large screen, multi-tasking OS, standard device sizes ... In general, in music playback mode, the device works “just” a little more than a day (with a periodically turning on screen), which in my opinion is not very cool - that's all S9, J3 and D2 were spoiled by playing 50-55 hours at a time. On the other hand, not a single communicator with such a screen diagonal will be able to work for 24 hours in music playback mode.
Well, the last, most important thing is the sound. He is traditionally gorgeous, you can not complain about him. And if someone tries to do this, let him first try to listen to all available branded BBE presets in good headphones, of which there are even more in this model.
The quality and volume level of the player is comparable to S9 and J3, the volume margin is enough for any listener. But this player, it seems to me, does not reach D2 / D2 + - if in these players from some compositions at a maximum volume there was a slight chill on the cheeks and started stabbing somewhere in the pelvis, then in the case of all subsequent devices I do not observe this . It is for this reason that I keep D2 +, although for the convenience of management it is not nice to me.
I don’t want to talk about the settings - there are typical Android troubles, there is no point in listing them. For all the time the device hangs only 1 time - when I connected the player to my computer through a wire and pulled it out without safely removing it. Now I always remove USB devices only “correctly”, especially since it’s not difficult to press a couple of buttons on the player’s screen.
FAQ
There is still very little information on this player on the network - more questions than answers. Therefore, in addition to the review itself, I went over several sites, I collected the main questions and try to answer them.
>> How are they fundamentally different than the Wi-Fi module? Has anyone tried flashing J3 with firmware from D3?
- Next) No, I did not come up with this question - see for yourself .
>> The forum stated a contradiction with the characteristic of additional flash memory, on the official website it is indicated up to 16 GB, and on the forum up to 32 GB, where is infa still correct?
- The player supports cards up to 32 GB inclusive. Another question is that a 32 GB microSD flash drive costs 2–3 thousand rubles.
>> I understand that at the moment they did not create a cover for the D3, but in general, wherever it was, it was reported that it will be?
- At least already there are two official covers, one plastic, the other made of leather (well, or leatherette - it is not clear). Plastic is transparent, and at the same time it’s very cheap-shitty, so there won’t be much sense from it - until the first fall.
But leather is much more interesting - even with it the device becomes twice as thick, but scratches on the case will not appear soon; another of the pluses is +5 charisma and more convenient control (because all the buttons are in the slots and they do not need to be grope). A few photos:
Who tried to access the Internet using D3? How well does he do it?- I tried it. 5 minutes, the flight is normal) There is no difference from the Internet on the screen of any other device - the main thing is to put Opera Mobile on time.
What special points can be made between S9 and D3? - Nevertheless, these are different players and you just can’t take them and compare them. S9 captivates with battery life (with a very large screen), performance, sound quality and ease of management. But there, for example, there is no Wi-Fi and a memory card slot, which is critical for many. So here it is necessary to look according to needs - for some, give the androids, and for someone, S9 is enough for a couple of years.
How can I add a Russian keyboard?- Perhaps it can somehow be added through the settings, but nothing prevents the use of alternative programs. I set the Russian-English Swype for WVGA resolution, everything works like a clock - the main thing is not to forget to choose it as the default input device.
Are video / USB cables from S9 / J3 to D3 suitable? - Not. But it should come, for example, from V5.
1. Has anyone put Skype on D3? If so, share your experience on how to do this. >> 2. Is it possible to install applications from the android market?
>> 3. How to solve the font problem in Angry Birds?
1. Put skype, it works. You just need to drop the installation * .APK file into the player’s memory.
2. There is no original market, I have not tried to install non-original ones. For the rest, see paragraph 1.
3. I do not know)
is it possible on Cowon D3 to update the version of Android to 2.2 or 2.3? Honestly, I'm completely at a loss. The site says that inside 2.1, you are talking about 2.2, and on my latest official firmware all diagnostic utilities display 2.3. How to be )
Information about the operating system. Perhaps, instead of the Android version, the program displays the firmware version.
The names of some tracks are written by krakozyabry- You need to change the encoding of tags
Changed j3 to D3. Displeased scary. The screen is ugly black. It's not black, it's some kind of dirty purple. The image seemed less clear to me. At J3, the black color on the screen was impeccable. Picture too. In the settings, I found only brightness. Has anyone paid attention to this? Does anyone have any practical advice?- Perhaps the marriage - on my device, black is blacker than black, which is noticeable immediately after switching on, on the splash screen. There are no problems with color reproduction and image clarity.
Has anyone tried running psx4droid or Fpse - playstation 1 emulators for android? pliz, try to put and respond about the performance, it is very necessary)FPSE was not installed, but psd4droid got up. But now some BIOS asks - at the time of writing, all references to this BIOS did not work. But the rest, I think, should not be a problem.
Advantages and disadvantages
Extremely useful box of the device Impeccable build quality Appearance, practical body materials Large bright AMOLED-display high-resolution memory card slot, Wi-Fi, accelerometer output for external devices The ability to install any application Traditionally, high-quality sound can not flash Slight braking during operation Installation applications so far only through a computer Quiet external speaker High price I did not attribute the battery life (days +) and ease of management to the disadvantages Niya - the same S9 in this regard is more interesting, but such a comparison is somewhat incorrect.
Cowon D3 8Gb - from 10 000 rub
Cowon D3 16Gb - from 11 500r
Cowon D3 32Gb - from 14 000r
These are the prices. Over the hill is much cheaper.
The end
When I was first hinted at the upcoming continuation of the D2 player, I melted in a smile and thought - “Hooray, be another review for which I will gladly take up and for the device from which I will not be ashamed.” And after all, how did he know that so it will be!
The capabilities of this device go beyond the average needs, therefore, first of all, such a player is suitable for those who like to “dig deeper”. But this is not the end of the CA - Cowon D3 will equally suit everyone who wants to listen to music, even the most capricious connoisseurs of tube sound) Do you want to watch movies that were dropped in the morning on your way to work? Then you can also get in line. There are drawbacks, but Cowon also knows how to do the work of mistakes ... otherwise, it’s cool, but the beginning is good.
But what makes me most happy is that this is only the beginning - under the Plenue sub-brand, Cowon is going to release other devices based on the Android operating system in the future. We wait? Definitely!