Customer Reviews

Cowon O2 32 GB Video MP3 Player (White)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this on 11-5-8.

This is the first time I've ever reviewed anything online and this is my first portable video player. I'd always thought about getting one, but the ones with the features I wanted were way too expensive. If they were going to cost 600-700 to get everything I wanted, I might as well get a mini laptop that had good codec support, full internet browsing, etc. I actually did end up doing that, buying a U810. I got it for 700 and it was very good for "portable" video and connecting to wifi hot spots. Eventually, it wasn't so practical and portable for video purposes. It's slow to load because it's a fully functional pc and most of the time I just wanted to get straight to watching video. Also, weighing over a pound, it gets to the wrist after 20-30 minutes. So, after reading as many previews and reviews I could find, I had some second thoughts, but eventually took the plunge. The main thing that drew me was the fact that you didn't need to convert your video files.

I'll dive right into the cons.

If you love mkv files, do NOT buy this player.
I tested one and it rendered terribly. It plays as advertised, but it just reminded me of VLC mkv rendering. Awful.
Some others just won't play. "Can't play file" is what it said. Perhaps it may have been the encodings, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

Mp4 videos are pretty bad as well. Again, the files play, but lag and frame drops will disappoint you. Also, one didn't even play the video, just the audio.

720p or 1280x720 videos (AVI) also play, but the video lag hurts.

I didn't even touch the earphones they provided. Just an aside, after using Shure e500s and my current ER*4Ps, I have never gone back to regular earphones. I highly recommend doing some research and investing in some quality earphones.

Not much of a con for me, but the video resolution may not be up to par for some of you. It's 480x272. Videos look very nice. Crispness and clarity are subjective anyhow. If you're accustomed to your HD 1080p, it might look a lot worse in comparison. Just something to think about.

Some people may not like the touchscreen as the main user interface.


Now, if I haven't scared you off yet, here are the pros.

AVIs around 480p or less, wide or regular, play just fine.
This is the bulk of the video files I have.

Good music support. Lossless fans can play their flac files without worry.
Sound is very good. I'm no audiophile, but I play one in RL. At least, I have better earphones than most people. Music wasn't the main reason to get this thing for me, but I don't have to carry my zen stone around anymore.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the O2 is the recent files folder.
It keeps track of the files you've recently played and includes the percentage progress of the file. Choosing a file from the list jumps back to where you left off in the file. Beautiful.

The mini stand and "stylus" combo is nifty. It's rectangular and folds out with ridges for the O2 to sit on. One of the corners is pointed (with an arrow) and used as the "stylus." Not much of a stand since it's so small, but it's nice if you don't like touching the screen with your finger.


List of the other little extras and features:

Document Viewer - TXT files. Other documents need to be converted. Text is clear and readable. I guess it's useful for reviewing some notes and stuff.

Photo Viewer - It's okay. High resolution pictures look quite blurred even with 200% zoom. If you have a need to carry around photos to show people, I guess it's nice.

User Programs - There's a calculator with scientific mode and a notepad to scribble short notes. Multiple notes can be saved. There's supposed to be an SDK, but I cannot find it.

AV OUT - Untested. You need to buy a separately sold cable.

SD Card Slot - Untested. Expand your library of media files.

Built-in Speaker - It's on the back. I guess the reason is to make it as compact as possible with the largest screen. It sounds okay with your hand cupped in the back so it echos back toward you, but the main reason to get this is to listen through headphones/earphones anyway.

Voice Recording - Works. There's a built-in mic. Don't see myself using this much.

Timer - Untested. It apparently sets a timer for a file to play or a recording to start. Don't see myself using this much either.


Noteworthy:

I upgraded the firmware immediately after opening and charging it. The current version as of this review is v1.11 and can be downloaded from their website. It's fairly straightforward. JFGI.

Battery life - A good rule of thumb is probably divide the maximum hours it states by 2 to get average usage time. It states 8 hours of video / 18 hours audio on their website. I'd say about 4 hours realistic average video usage. I'd estimate I got about 4 hours of video with lcd brightness set at 3 (MAX is 8). I used the music player in between as well so I can't give an accurate time. If you're likely to watch videos all day, it's probably a good idea to carry around the charger. I believe with my usage I'd need to charge it every other day. Keeping it charged everyday might not be a bad idea. You don't want it to die in the middle of a long train ride. This happened the other day. Once the low battery warning comes up, it shuts off in about a minute. Can't even turn it back on for music.

It actually remembers where I left off even after the battery died. When I turned it on after 4.5 hour charge, as stated, it continued where my video left off.

When going from a video file to music file, it seems to auto-adjust the volume level. It's interesting.

Using the user programs stops the music or video file that was playing.

User interface is pretty good. Can be changed to simplified mode. Only the volume buttons and the power/hold switch are not touchscreen. UI isn't perfect. For example, it sometimes lags a bit when responding to a tap. Not terrible, but it might turn some people off.

USB drive - Drag and drop. Put files in their respective folders.

Most of the files I have are AVI and 480p or less. These require no conversion/transcoding and play fine. For other files, I do not really care for and have not really tested since I do not have many, if any, of the other types, but I'm certain the files listed on their website play. How well they play, well...I've mentioned the main types people use and the resolutions. I'm sure you can imagine how they'll play. If worse comes to worst you just need to convert the file. There are many free programs out there. MediaCoder, for example, is a good one. Also, I have read some reviews with a complaint that it doesn't play DRM files. Why one would subject themselves to that, I do not know. Lastly, the 720p problem is understandable. Even my regular laptop has some lag issues with some 720p files.


All in all, the O2 is the type of portable video player I've been waiting for. I can watch more videos quickly and easily. Of course, it's not perfect. It's far from it. But even with its imperfections, I do not regret buying it. It has replaced my zen stone and u810. It boots up in about 10 seconds, so I don't have to wait long to watch a video. It's light, small, and portable, fitting nicely in most pockets. It requires little to no file conversion. It's just a great, decently priced AVI player.

Hopefully, this helps some of you decide whether or not the O2 is for you.

If you are looking out for music on the move with wi-fi only then this is not the player for you.....however if you are a music buff who wants less complications of installing softwares and prefers your player to support a wide range of formats to play anything from anywhere after downloading then this is the one for you....You cannot compare it with iPod since it does not compare to iPod in looks nor does it have internet connectivity or wifi bundled with it......however it is much omnre powerful when it comes to downloading videos right of say a portal like youtube and playing it out directly without the need of any conversion....again the player is cheaper than the 32 gig iPOD and gives terrific value for money...comes with a installation CD for installing the software on your laptop, has a AV out facility ( you need to seprately buy the cable for $8) and you can watch all your stuff on your TV if you want...has a USB plug in which is quite common and comes with a charger and a adapter (this is really cool since if you are a traveller like me you would need it hands down)...the earbuds are ok kinds, the regular ones..and that's about it....it plays your videos, reads your documents and pdf files, shows your pics, plays your audio files (a large support for format is notable), records voice etc. etc. etc......does not play FM radio though....but with a 32 gig hard drive you already have enough on it...overall a great value for money product

Got the O2 on 11/14/08

My previous MP4 was the Cowon D2 and that was a very well-rounded MP4. However, time has passed and now I wanted something better. O2 seemed to fill in nicely, it surpasses all the functionality of the D2 by a mile (and this is expected). Overall, I would suggest this to anyone who wants a nice do-it-all hassle-free and elegant video player, who could care less about other gimmicks and features. Now, onto the specifics.

It does music fairly well; I've tested all the formats that I had and ,not surprisingly, it could take them all, as the D2 before it could as well. (I had MP3, Flak, Wav, ogg, and bunch of others). The equalizer and other music enhancers are still there and still do a great job at making your music sound better.

One of the main reasons I got the O2 was for it's vast format and resolution compatibilities, and for the most part, they work. Now most of the files I play on the O2 aren't HD (and honestly, why would you play HD files on a Portable video player). The various files that I used to have to convert for my D2 now play fine on my O2.

Speaking of video, the screen is brilliant; the lighting is smooth, and there's very little contrast loss when tilted. The screen brightness is also equally impressive; Max brightness is almost painful to look at.

As you know, the O2 has a touchscreen interface, which means your player can have a bigger screen, but also means that you'll have to touch it (hopefully using the stylus). I was very fond of the touch screen interface of the D2; it had a gesture-based navigation, and it was very easy to use; Up or down to scroll, left or right to go into out out of folders, also acts as 'play'. While playing a file, tapping your screen in the middle was pause/play and tapping on the sides was next an back. This elegant navigation has been replaced with tapping the buttons in a menu. Whereas previously tapping or swiping anywhere on the screen was an action of some sort, the Os's functions are all confined to the bottom portion of the screen, which doesn't fully utilize the touch screen.

One of the things I like about it's interface is the 'recent files' feature; it remembers a bunch of the recent files you've looked at and where you've stopped. So it's easy to resume movies, even if you're watching multiple movies.

There's no real trouble with the touch screen itself; if you use the stylus, it'll be fine. The stylus is oddly designed, but also very functional. It doubles as a stand that can support what seems to be either a 30 degree tilt or a 60 degree tilt. I thought that I wouldn't use it, but I've found that I've started to use it quite frequently. Just being able to place it on a table at an optimum viewing angle, freeing your hands to eat, do work or what have you; it's great.

This thing also has a speaker. It's not amazing in terms of speakers, but it's quite impressive for it's size. Fairly useful if your watching something with a friend. As long as your not in a tightly packed room with everything chatting up a storm, the volume that this speaker can emit is just fine.

One Great feature of this player is that there's no software required on the computer. You wanna put something in it; all you have to do is drag-and-drop. You could even use it as a hard drive if you wanted too.

The space available is a nice amount; but the SD slot just makes it seem so much spacious. I use a bunch of micro SDs with a SD adapter which I can swap in and out on the fly and considering you can get a 4G micro SD for under $20, getting more space shouldn't be a problem.

The design is simple but elegant, there's really not that much to talk about there. You can charge the device by either plugging it into your computer or straight into the grid (actually plugging it into the power charges way faster).There's also a mic; it's of decent quality, but you should probably turn to something else if you're really doing audio work.

There are also some other features, like a text reader and a picture viewer; both work, but could be better.

All in all, if your looking for something that can play videos and music very well and can basically play any reasonable format (it can slowly chug through the HD or play bits and pieces of weird formats), plays basically every single type of music file on the face of the planet, easy to use and upload files, has well-designed hard-ware and interface, but doesn't have many other features )it has no online features, and doesn't even has a radio), than look no further than this.

Oh yeah, it's cheap too/ :D

Pros: Great screen, Sensitive touch controls, audio quality, tons of file support, SDHC slot, battery life, 10-band EQ, expandable extras

Cons: No EQ during video playback, gaps between audio tracks long, no playlist support, interface navigation slow, audio output less than previous Cowon players.

When the Cowon O2 was released, I was saving my pennies to pick up perhaps the answer to all my portable needs - a large screen for video viewing, excellent sound quality, and a SDHC slot. Granted, it does everything that it was advertised to do (minus poor MKV support, but I can live with that since the majority of my video files are XviD), but its the minor annoyances that prevent this player from being the ultimate PMP.

First the positives: The screen is excellent, although not as sharp as some would want (480x272 resolution), but for video viewing, it is more than acceptable. The touch screen is very nice and sensitive. Audio quality is standard Cowon stuff, you get the BBE, Mach3Bass, and 3D enhancements, along with the crystal clear reproduction that you would expect from them. The SD slot is a must-have for me, as I have tons of stuff archived on SD cards that I can just carry along with me, rather than move stuff around if I wanted something new. The 10-band EQ is excellent, as you can precisely tailor the audio output to your tastes. Battery life is rated at 8H Video / 18H Audio. My personal real-life performance shows that it's pretty close to that, provided you bump the brightness of the screen down and set the screen to shut off as fast as possible when playing audio.

The negatives: The interface is extremely slow and unresponsive at times, especially when browsing through your files. Sometimes the screen will register a touch, but the actual command is not recognized, sometimes needing a second touch. The interface reminds me of Windows Mobile, with X buttons, scroll bars, and non-finger-friendly lists. The included stylus is fat and not exactly helpful when trying to press some of those small buttons on the screen. The audio output is noticeably lower on this player than previous Cowon offerings, for video output (especially with no EQ settings for video) the volume has to be maxed out, there are no exceptions to this rule, and its STILL not loud enough for some situations. My audio volume is 35-38 (out of 50) and anything under 25 is not very audible. The lack of playlist support is not a big deal-breaker for me as I have all my audio sorted perfectly in folders, but for others, it could prove to be quite annoying. There is a "favorites" list that you can add tracks to, but it shares that list with video files as well, which negates any benefit you may have or want for playlist support.

My complaints regarding this player seem like they can be remedied with a firmware upgrade, and if Cowon gets around to fixing these issues, this could very well be the perfect PMP... however, until they do, these small nagging issues prevent it from being exactly what I was looking for.

I believe the profile of the person who would enjoy this product the most is someone who loves videos and/or does a lot of traveling. Also this is for someone who doesn't like to mess with a desktop user interfaces or a complex sync software in order to put items in the device. I wouldn't necessarily call it an iPod killer simply because it's designed for a different use than the iPod. Although the Archos 5 has a bit more features they charge you for extras like codecs to play certain video types forcing you spend hours converting. That was the main reason I stayed away from it. The O2 pretty much works like a flash drive just drop your videos in it and 99% of the time they'll play on the device. You do get a sync helper and a respectable user interface, but in no way does it compare to the iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. I recommend using Window Media Player to do the syncing just to keep things simple. As far as the player itself, it's just really simple use, very predictable, and no need to open the manual more than once. As far as Podcasts are concerned you can download a free organizer for that (there's many) and just sync it with the O2, which will play them just fine. Bag for the buck is what attracted me to it the most. It just does what it's suppose to do and although I would have liked Bluetooth I can always just get an adapter for it (which many times works even better since BT eats up battery quickly and third party adapters always boast their long batt life). The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because of the BT, which really wasn't a big deal as I mention, and I would have liked more desktop software support for handling Podcasts. I had a Zune before and I loved how it helped you find and sync Podcasts. It'll allow you set up your Podcasts to download the newest ones, set a limit for how many episodes you want of each Podcast, delete what you've already watched, and it did all this automatically. You can still do this with the O2 by the way, just use the Zune software and set the location for the Podcasts to your O2. Bottom line this thing is very easy to use and will play 99% of what you put in it regardless if it's audio or video.

Well, I rated this O2 5 stars because it is exactly what I wanted and it is fullfilling my needs :
- no need to convert movies (very very very usefull !! no need to think half a day before the movies you will watch in the train or the bus, just drag it 10 min before !!),
- good sound,
- good screen (size is big enough, and quality of the screen is very nice),
- autonomy very good (I don't use it every day, but have watch 6 movies in 15 days without having to load it !!),
- big capacity (32 go is very confortable),
- SD card player (I have an extra card of 16go)
- TV out very usefull and simple to use

Only two small things I noticed : sound some time a little bit low, SD card appears separatly in the browser.

I purchased this for my 3 year old daughter to watch her "shows" on a long flight from Florida to Hawaii. With 32GB, it held all her shows and music, plus all of mine. She loved using it so much, the only time I could use it was when she fell asleep! The battery stayed charged for the entire flight, plus some. Very easy to use and understand touch screen controls. For the price, this beats anything out there.

Update 11/2009
The touchscreen stopped working. It probably had something to do with a 4 year old being the primary user. I contacted Cowon Customer Support. They were very nice and professional. They asked me to mail the unit to them. In no time at all, they had shipped me back a brand new unit! I even think my original unit was out of warranty. Cowon was a great company to deal with. Occasionally, electronics stop working, that is the nature of the product. How the manufacturer handles it is another story. Cowon is A++ in my book!!!

The cowon o2 is a pmp done right it has a huge 32gb and a sdhc slot that can support 32gb cards. A generous amount of formats so you just drag and drop the files in instead of converting for hours on end. About the only thing missing is the tuner for digital tv in Korea wasn't converted to the American standard. Outside of that I have no complaints


Also if your not use to resistive touch screen you'll have a adjustment period, not a big deal once you learn the sweet spots.

Perfect for use during long flights as most times the airlines' movie selection is poor, just pair it with some good earbuds. Much better sound than any i-pod, really, you will find i-pod audio quality disturbing after getting used to the O2's quality. I would've given 5 stars to it if it handled playlists other than favorites; hopefully this issue will be address in future software upgrades.

I like this product so far. i was looking to purchase an mp3 player that does not require some type of software to transfer music files from my computer to the player & this was the one. it works just like a mass storage device or thumb drive. you can create your own folders & sort your music just as you want it & this is exactly what i was looking for. the stylus is kind of funny looking but all in all this product is awesome if you are looking for strictly a video & music player!!!