Customer Reviews

COWON Q5W 60GB Dark Navy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Cowon Q5 is quite simply the best big touchscreen player for quality video. It is 5" measured diagonally, and the larger size makes videos vibrant and reduces eye strain. While touchscreen players have an inherently grainy screen, the Q5 somehow eliminates most of the graininess that plagues other touchscreen players (such as the Archos 705) and provides great clarity, contrast and detail when watching videos. And the audio quality is stellar (consitent with most other Cowon players). Music sounds so much better than on iPods, Zunes or other music players. Detail, soundstage, and stereo separation are all exemplary on this player. You can also customize your music with some of the best effects and equalizer settings available on any player.

Much has been written here and in the press about the UI and the use of Windows CE 5.0 as a base program for the Q5. While some of these complaints are legitimate, most of the complaints have been resolved through firmware upgrades (the last time I counted there were five upgrades in a very short period. The most recent firmware upgrade, 1.47, was just released a few days ago.) As a result of these upgrades, the UI is no longer sluggish, the wifi browser is much more user-friendly and there is no stutter in the playing of videos.

It has been said that Cowon makes some of the best hardware and only mediocre software. This is usually true at the inception of a product, but Cowon does regularly upgrade its software to address problems identified in its forums.

I did not award the Q5 five stars because it does have some shortcomings that have yet to be resolved. There is no pan and scan feature as in the A3 to adjust the size of videos to the screen. (The Q5 has adjustments for the aspect ratio, but these adjustments are not always satisfactory.) Music is not recognized by ID tags, and all songs cannot be played randomly, but random playing is limited to folders at this time. There are white lights that shine mostly from the bottom of the player which are noticeable during dark scenes. (Some users are bothered by this and others are not.) The flash player is outdated, and people generally have trouble playing youtube videos without some hesitation or audio/video sync problems.

However, based on Cowon's history of firmware upgrades, some of these problems will certainly be solved, while others are not significant enough to impair my enjoyment of this player. Above all, if you value the highest quality video and audio playback, you will enjoy this player.

I have owned a variety of mp3 players over the years, and therefore am not a newcomer to the field. I had good experience with the Creative Zen Extra, but when my player was "borrowed," I decided to add video to my options. I had replaced my wife's Phillips mp3 player with a Zune, which I regret, as both of these were clearly inadequate for our purposes. I embarked on an extensive "review of reviews" online, and the COWON kept coming up as being "too expensive, but worth it." So I got a Q5W.

Other than perpetual battery life, I cannot think of anything I would add to the Q5W. It has internal speakers which, considering the size, are actually as usable as those on my Sony laptop. Wireless works well, movies look good and play well, MP3 sounds good.

The unit is accessed via USB, and presents as a disk drive with numerous folders. The "drag and drop" works well. Accompanying software compresses videos adequately.

My wife and I both use MP3 players to listen to Audible.com audio productions. The Zune presents severe obstacles to such use, not the least of which it doesn't play the ".aa" files, and a laborious conversion to mp3 is necessary. Getting the files to play in the proper sequence is a headache. There is no direct access to the files on the player; it "synchronizes" with directories on the computer. Strangely enough, if I change the MP3 tags on a file, it keeps the old tags! It takes me hours to get an MP3 novel's files in the right order, using a playlist. But I digress. . .

None of the problems I have with the Zune occur with the Cowon. The "drag and drop" assures me that the files I want are on the player, and that there are no others. If I need to, I can directly modify the MP3 tags on the Cowon. The files play in alphabetical order based on the "title" MP3 tag (which I generally set as identical to the filename.)

The unit itself has a sturdy feel to it. The touch controls are easy to use, even with my large hands and wide fingers. Controls are properly labeled and generally intuitive.

Two notes: 1. download and install the latest firmware. It enables, among other things, the entry of the wireless WAP key.
2. The available screen protector's instructions are in Korean. If you don't read Korean, beware. I was unable to apply it without significant bubbles, and had to remove it. (This doesn't come with the unit; it's available elsewhere. The web site for it is entirely in Korean.)

I recommend the leather case (sold separately).

Now that my wife has taken it over, I'll have to get another one.

i have used this Q5W for 2 months and i am 100% satisfied with the item.
It has very high-quality video player which is much better than archos 605 and ipod touch. The sound quality is way better than other mp3 players.

Wi-fi,,, is not that super as i expected at first, but, you will get used to it. One important thing is that you cannot watch YouTube from internet not because of Active X, but because of so slow motion. If you are youtubing person, Ipod touch would be better choice.

Radio is great option in this PMP. Lyric can be written on the songs so that PMP will display the lyric.

The most important options on my favorite are the COMIC VIEWER and TEXT VIEWER. As zip files or folders, it can display comic books. With 5" size screen, there is no difficulty in reading them. The text is super that you can feel as you are actually reading the books.

Also, battery life is outstanding. Even though it does not last 7 hours actually, it does last about 6 hours, which is still long enough to do everything outside.

Anyway, i recommend this PMP to everybody if you are condisering among other PMPs or MP3s

I've had the q5w 60gb model for about 2 months and overall I am very pleased with it's performance. The only drawback was the fact that it does not play AAC music files, but adding Coreplayer took care of that. Wifi works well, I can go approximately 90 feet from my linksys 54gs router without any slow web pages or disconnect issues. Audio is awesome, even using Coreplayer instead of the built in one. Video looks fantastic on the 5" screen. Battery life could be better, but I get 7 hours on audio and 5 on video. A bigger hard drive would also be a plus, but that can be solved by adding a bigger one. This is my first Cowon product and I would buy from them again.

Review from wadjus (wadjus@voila.fr):

The quality of sound and image of the cowon Q5W are simply magnificent, the device supports many audios and videos formats what is practical and nice, the menus are rather intuitive and we meet ourselves there well, there is what is needed in the box and it is indeed. I think that it's one of better PMP of moment! It's really great!!!

I purchased this product few weekes ago. It is a great product with tons of features and possibilities. It needs some improvements but overall i'm pleased with it.

Pros:
-great screen quality and resolution.
-great audio and video codec support.
-sensitive radio.
-very functional internet browser.
-can read excel, word, powerpoint or pdf files.

Cons:
-crapy wireless module. You have to stay close to the wireless router (up to 15/20 feet) to be functional. I wasn't able to make it work from one room to another in my apartment.
-need a lot of improvements on user interface functionality.
-only headset profile over bluetooth.
-can't record from radio.
-week build in microphone during recording.
-can't play VOB video files.

Pro's: I'm VERY happy with the clear sound produced through the headphones, the crisp video and general quality of the Cowon. The equalizer is a mini sound studio in which you can tweek EVERYTHING, including the playback speed. It's incredible. One of the surprise best features for me is the output functionality. After a video or photo is loaded to the Cowon, its a pleasure to watch it on my HiDef TV. That was a bonus because I mainly purchased the Cowon for the larger screen size. The touch screen is fine but it is not close to the coolness of the Iphone. And as with all touch screens, if you have large fingers it's going to be problematic. The Cowon does come with a stylis that makes it easier. The external speakers are ok. My blackberrys' external speaker actually sounds better. The charge lasts for a few days when listening to music, less when watching videos. I found myself charging it every 3 to 4 days. The Cowon has a standby feature that makes you think it's off when it's not. Found this out the hard way on a few occasions.

Cons: One is the software. Although it reads basically evey kind of file out there, it still needs to be upgraded so that it is more user friendly. The Cowon is similar to listening to music from folders on your computer. You can't listen to all artist at the same time unless you have them in one folder. I guess it keeps everything organized, but I would like the flexibility. The other is the size and weight. It's heavy and so far I have not found a belt clip for it, which means I have to keep it in my COAT pocket. It's to large for regular pants pockets.

I continue to find more great features about the Cowon and would recommend it to anyone that wants a true media player. The extra bells and whistle more than make up for it's little quirks.

After being in the TV business over 25 years-I've seen it all. The COWON Q5 is the media player of fantasy. It simply is the best rig all-around. High screen resolution, superb audio quality and features yet undiscovered that will never let you get bored with it. This rig is a 3x5" screen personal media player on steriods! One of the many features that caught my eye was its ability to interact with several video formats. See complete details on the product description. Note: The first rig shipped to me came DOA. The charging system was corrupted in the COWON itself. Amazon came through quickly with a lightning fast replacement. I am always-ALWAYS-confident in Amazons superior customer service. So this return issue was fast and easy.
There always will be features you'd like on any piece of electronics. It would have been awesome to plug in my ATT wireless internet module into the USB and get it to work. The COWON is also built tough-but still would use caution in any high shock environments. After all this is a hard drive unit and can get placed into a lock-up (reset required) event with a variety of minor and/or major consequences. You will not be dissappointed with the COWON Q5.[...]

I bought this player too, overall it plays the Video & audio in high quality.What is a bit disappointing is that you can't charge the unit via USB but perhaps that will be possible some day by software modify.The wifi area is to small, when I get only a 50% signal from my router I can,t connect to the wlan/internet.What I like too about the player is the Windows CE 5 ( ok Win CE6 would've beenbetter)I found already a lot of applications for the Cowon Q5W.

This is now my third cowon unit see my other review for The Cowon A3 review. I have owned this unit for now a little over 90 days.

Pros
Like everyone says beautiful picture can even read subtitles, very good sound and lots of storage. Remote control very nice when hooked up to my entertainment system. One plug end to hook up to Tv and entertainment system also nice can choose between Svideo or Component video and also choose between analog sound hook up or finally a digital coaxial for sound (5.1). Looks great plugged in to the TV and sounds very good on my home theater system. Picture viewer nice also and can do slide shows comic book read view ect. ect. interface for control is OK not bad but not great either finger control can be used for main functions but for secondary like video selection on the bar or double tapping on the Microsoft CE system spotty at best. Stencil control is usually 90-95% this only applies to double tapping otherwise 100% good.

CONS
Horrible battery life don't even think about getting even close to 7 hours of video or 12 hours of music. Try Between 3 1/2 to 5 hours of video at best most people I see reviews on settle on about 4 to 4 1/2. Mp3 time varies between 6 1/2 to maybe 9 if you are one of the lucky ones.
Most probable reason for this shortened battery life is two factors one the software/Firmware combined with the excessive heat this will build up after using it for a couple of hours straight causing the CPU to work harder thus burning up more energy. Sometimes after listing to music with screen off of course, for 3 to 4hrs my system will crash when trying to switch tasks like to main screen or picture viewer for instance quick pop sound and poof its off. Firmware updates if you have the American version good luck none since sept 2008 Korean version 3 major updates since that time Ps can't use theirs either because incompatible because of they have live tv while we have WIFI trust me I have tried. So a firmware may or may not take care of this problem but we may never no since we don't seem to get the updates.
Customer service from their company HA HA HA HA just review some of the so called help from their own company's community board. Think about it they won't even give you a phone # just instant chat Ps look at their return/ repair policy they do their best not to help and to make it difficult as possible ps you pay shipping to get it there.
Wifi is an absolute joke harder than heck to get on even when 2 feet from my tower and a 50 to 60 foot range when you finally do get on and the speed just watch that snail pass you buy fortunately I don't care about this not the reason I bought it but others should know in case this is important to you

Pro/Con
Video Codec support still better than anyone else BUT.... No MKV like on their A3 model WHY???? also does not support AC3 2.64 audio so no real point to the digital Sound cable if it can't read hi def audio LAME.
But it still does AVI,OGM and you can get mkv support thru third party but you will have to do a Hacked version of that software to load it on to the system don't believe the third party seller it will install on your windows wince device it WILL NOT but you can and heres how. I did this only thanks to the company's CUSTOMER support forum no not the company's reps but their customers helping out customers and giving reviews and advice. You will find them to be more knowledgeable and helpful 75% the time over their own reps this does not just apply to the aftermarket stuff but everything. Cowon should have just included the MKV support from the start just like the A3 model.

Summary Despite the beautiful screen and good sound and the ability to hook directly to Tv or Entertainment center this will be my LAST Cowon. I will take my chances sometime in the futrue with The Archos Android estimated release date some time June to July 2009. or hopefully another manufacture who is willing to step up to the plate who has a better customer service record and more solid name behind the product who will give us MKV & Avi support along with the high tech and high end features that many of us crave coupled with a good promised battery life they will stand behind.

Overall star rating 2 1/2 to 3 until they fix the issues if they do I will update.

Thank you for reading this, You have been warned.