:iAUDIO X5 mini review

Apple revolutionized the portable audio world, so whether we like the iPOD or not, we have to admit that this product gave a serious boost to the MP3 players sales. At Akihabara News we're no big fan of the iPOD players, because they are expensive and do not offer the best audio quality on the market (they offer a good quality, but not more than that). But if we ignore the existence of Apple, we're faced with quite a deserted market, even our Taiwanese friends are not better off. But onto the stage jump our Korean friends from iRIVER and COWON, and we'll have a first look at COWON's latest and much anticipated X5.

Video of the X5


Even this morning, your dear green pig was a huge fan and vowed ONLY to get iRIVER stuff... and after holding the X5 in my hands, I have to admit that I'm TOTALLY blown away by it. This product is of an exceptional built quality, it's beautiful, solid, made of materials that ooze out a High-Tech atmosphere and last but not least, the colour screen (262000 colours) is of an exceptional quality!




The X5 that is available in Japan at this moment is available with a 20Gb capacity, and just as a reminder, the beast is MP3, WMA, OGG, Jet Audio and Mpeg4 video compatible. It also has the USB OTG (USB HOST) functionality.





This is the list of devices that are compatible with its OTG function:

OLYMPUS
C-2Z
Mu-mini
Mu-300 Digital
SONY
DSC-P72
DSC-F717
DSC-T1
DSC-T33
DSC-P200
NIKON
Coolpix SQ
Coolpix 950
Coolpix 2100
Coolpix 3700
Coolpix 4300
Coolpix 5600
Coolpix 5900
Coolpix 8700
D70
FUJIFILM
Finepix F170
Finepix F420
Finepix F450
Finepix S3 Pro
Konica Minolta
DiMAGE-Z2
DiMAGE-7i
DiMAGE-G400
KYOCERA
Finecam S3
Panasonic
DMC-FX7


Despite the rich specifications list and its 20Gb capacity, the X5 does not look and feel like a brick compared to the H10... incredible!











We did not really have the time to play around in an in-depth way with the video player aspect of this device, and we only tested the supplied videos. On top of that, COWON did a good job by delivering the required tools for your X5 on a CD.




The model we had in our hands did not have the remote control nor the charging/synchronization cradle, but we have to say that the package is quite complete: you get an USB cable, a USB Host (OTG) cable, an AC adapter (100~240V), the headphones and a small extensions cable for the headphones. There is also a connector to plug all your cables on the player. The aspect that I appreciated the most was the fact that 2 small screen protectors were included in the package... a big hooray for COWON!




We won't delve too deep here because we really did not spend enough time with the beast. In fact, we were that impatient to share our first impressions with you that we did not have time to do everything. We can say that the ergonomics of this device is top-notch and that the pad is superb, and even lefties (like myself) can use this pad without any problems. The menus are clear and the navigation in them is very simple, just like on a PC or on the iRIVER 120/300.
When it comes to the battery life, we haven't had the time to make in-depth tests, but our friend Totoro is about to crack and he will get one and provide some details about that soon!