Offical ABI S9 Review

[ronnie]

love it !! its real nice for my needs (don need sd slot or wifi ) .. just wish they could rectify radio, stabilize the g-sensor and smoothen the cover flow.. it'd be perfect then !!
thanks E10 !

[CrowdAds]

[joyounghoon]

Originally Posted by Claw

I agree! Though S9 is better at playing music (better media library support, codec, etc) - but its inferior to the P2 in every other way.

It is of course completely within Cowon's power to change all that (though I highly doubt that they will - they may just rely on hype to sell as much as possible then move on to a new model - really hope its not the case).

I can't understand how you think that way.

The S9 has an AMOLED screen, better battery life (Though I must admit, it's an overkill), doesn't need conversion for video formats supported, actually gets firmwares, bigger screen with more colors, and better build. Other than Bluetooth, what DOES the p2 do better?

I personally don't need bluetooth, seeing I don't even use my cellphone much, and I'd rather use my cellphone itself.

[trikon000]

Guess I will pick up a 32GB in February 2009 when it comes out. I should probably do a tear down on it just see whats inside.

Is there plans for a 64GB version after this one?

[SWEATY BUFFALO]

I read earlier that the S9 doesnt place songs in order of number (as they would be on a CD) but it places them alphabetically. Is this true ?

I couldnt work it out by looking at the ABI video reviews either =/

[Claw]

Originally Posted by SWEATY BUFFALO

I read earlier that the S9 doesnt place songs in order of number (as they would be on a CD) but it places them alphabetically. Is this true ?

I couldnt work it out by looking at the ABI video reviews either =/

If you go by Artist, and select All albums - the tracks from that artist are placed in alphabetical order. However if you select a single album, the tracks are in proper track # order.

[Claw]

All right - let me explain.

My P2 was stolen, so I have to go by memory. I liked P2's form factor (thin and flat) more than the curved design. P2 came with really good extras (like subway maps) and had an awesome radio. Besides great reception, the radio even had RDS! I gave up trying to use S9's radio after about 5 minutes.

P2 was at least customizable (wasn't great, but at least it was there) - different menu interfaces - ability to set backgrounds. If you use a player every day this becomes important. And I am sorry to say it that S9's G-sensor implementation is crap in music mode - I wish it could have been turned off. I select a song and place the player horizontally - and the play window changes to a completely nonsensical coverflow (playlist has 1 track in it, but coverflow shows 5 icons - all identical). 'Now Playing' screen is very important - no excuse to butcher it this way.

UI is nice and colorful, but designed incorrectly (I have done GUI usability design - and not much went into it here). I won't bother writing out the list of issues unless anyone cares ...

P2 on the other had had UI designed pretty well (again I have to go by memory) and I had no problem operating it one-handed (think of having it plugged via line-out in the car - I can hold steering wheel and operate P2 at the same time, but I won't be able to do it as easily with s9). Even if I lay S9 flat on a seat, its curved design won't allow easy button presses.

Also - though its pretty subjective - I think P2 sounded better than S9 ... and I use Sennheisser HD590 headphones (when I am at home at least).

Bluetooth is also very important at least to me. I still need to buy a pair of bt headphones (my other pair was stolen with P2) so I cannot comment on quality. However, P2 had a file transfer profile in their BT implementation (so I can at least send something from it) - I could send stuff to / from my phone. Didn't work with all devices though.

Don't get me wrong - S9 is good and I am glad I got it. It has a better music playing implementation than P2 (very nice music library support), bookmarking (its awesome for mp3 audio books), AMOLED screen, and battery life. But so far that about it. Of course I got P2 after 4th bluewave was released, so it may have been pretty bad when it just came out.

As far as firmwares - I won't count on it too much. P2 had what - 5 bluewaves? I used to have Cowon X5L - I think there were maybe two firmware updates that just fixed a few bugs, and that was it. The last firmware was in a beta form for nearly entire time I owned the device. I ended up switching to Rockbox.

In any case, virtually everything I listed can be fixed by a firmware update - if Cowon would do that. But I unfortunately have seen this too often in the industry - hype something up - rely on people to buy it in the first wave - then move on to next product. Do you really expect cowon to continue improving S9 for next year or so? I sure hope so because the player has lots of potential!

Anyhow - sorry for a rant

And for the record - I thought that P2's phone sync was just a gimmick - no use for it at all! ...

Originally Posted by joyounghoon

I can't understand how you think that way.

The S9 has an AMOLED screen, better battery life (Though I must admit, it's an overkill), doesn't need conversion for video formats supported, actually gets firmwares, bigger screen with more colors, and better build. Other than Bluetooth, what DOES the p2 do better?

I personally don't need bluetooth, seeing I don't even use my cellphone much, and I'd rather use my cellphone itself.

[dexterslabmi]

Yes expect numerous firmware upgrades... if cowon treats the S9 the way they treated the D2. Its why there is a love-hate affair for many of us... love getting possible new features from updates and hate it when its buggy or lacks any real value.
I am of the opinion if I have to download a patch there should be something xtra there for my troubles... others probably just like feeling techie. At any rate .... Cowon will address many of the concerns with updates... as a D2 owner with at least 2 elected firmware upgrades in one year, I have little doubt.

[Andreas]

Those videos saved me $240. Not in a million years am i going back to a crappy UI like that, no matter if the features are good. The way I see it, Cowon messed up yet another player that looked good on paper. Of course some like features more than user experience, and thats of course OK, but it's not my thing

[Olley]

Originally Posted by SWEATY BUFFALO

I read earlier that the S9 doesnt place songs in order of number (as they would be on a CD) but it places them alphabetically. Is this true ?

I've got one. It lists Albums alphabetically, but when you click on the album the songs are in track order. If you just list songs then yes they are in alphabetical order. Artists are listed in order.Genres are listed in order. Years are listed in numeric order. New Music is listed in Time order. If you've got a large collection of songs, alphabetic order is the standard way to search.

[SWEATY BUFFALO]

Thanks for clearing that up Olley, I just wanted to make sure the songs within an album were placed in track order. Otherwise i would be put off massively.

By the way, any ideas why they put brackets around the writing like this > (Artist) ? Is there any way to remove them ?

[Olley]

Song names alone aren't in brackets, only an album or folder or genre that has files within it. I'm guessing it's their way of designating the difference.

[ronnie]

Originally Posted by Cptnodegard

Those videos saved me $240. Not in a million years am i going back to a crappy UI like that, no matter if the features are good. The way I see it, Cowon messed up yet another player that looked good on paper. Of course some like features more than user experience, and thats of course OK, but it's not my thing

@Cptnodegard
so u would actually prefer an itouch(with an awesome UI) to an S9 ?

[iPoo]

Form over factor vs. factor over form.

It's what you prefer.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by ronnie

@Cptnodegard
so u would actually prefer an itouch(with an awesome UI) to an S9 ?

I have an itouch, i have the money for an S9, but im not gonna get one. Its not only the UI but 2 million small things that has annoyed me with other players and that continue to be (for me) dealbreakers with the S9 and prob every new cowon player in the future. Bottom line, it's all about individual choice and the S9 is sure to be a major seller around these forums with a feature set that no current player can match. My personal choice is however that I'd rather have a mediocre player thats awesome to use than an awesome player thats mediocre to use.

[Olley]

The S9 still needs work, that's for sure. I bought one knowing that, but expect it to get better with time. I agree with Cptnodegard about how disappointing the UIs on many of the new players are. It's as if they knew that had to put a touchscreen player out there, but didn't really invest the proper dev time. Samsung did that with it's P2, but at least kept working on it after it's original release. It's now an amazing player. I'm betting that the S9 will be an amazing player within 6 months. Meanwhile I'll enjoy it's flaws.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Olley

betting that the S9 will be an amazing player within 6 months.

Good luck. 2 years after the D2's release and what theyve managed to add is basically flash support, a mis spelled calculator that calculates wrong and raising the file limit by 1000. Samsung is exceptional at firmware upgrades, second to none, while cowon firmwares are likely to bring as many bugs as it fixes. Add cowons hardware skills, apples UI skills and samsungs ability to get firware out and not cripple everything (like apple does) and you'd have a hell of a player.

[Cowon#1]

Originally Posted by Cptnodegard

Good luck. 2 years after the D2's release and what theyve managed to add is basically flash support, a mis spelled calculator that calculates wrong and raising the file limit by 1000. Samsung is exceptional at firmware upgrades, second to none, while cowon firmwares are likely to bring as many bugs as it fixes. Add cowons hardware skills, apples UI skills and samsungs ability to get firware out and not cripple everything (like apple does) and you'd have a hell of a player.

To bad Samsung doesn't have the sound quality or the video quality of the Cowons. Those are what I care about most of all. I had the P2 and returned it because it really stunk on those 2 issues and more.

It's unfortunate we can't get everything we like in one player...but I'm picky, and so are a lot of us.

But I'm buying the 32gb S9 when it comes out knowing it has most of what I want in a player.

Awesome review EnzoTen...

[Olley]

The only thing that might have kept me from buying my 16gb S9 is the Pictures app that won't show a photo full-screen with no menus or icons covering it. I more often show people photos on my big-screen players than watch videos. The SPINN clears the icons off after a second or so of oening a photo. The problemm with the SPINN's photo app is that it won't zoom or let you rotate photos. Nobody seems to get it all right.

[ronnie]

after reading all this, my worst fear is that i'll end up spending 240 bucks on something and then regret it.. thats something i don want to do. (i mean i'd rather spend more and not regret anything)

[Olley]

I'd wait a month then, ronnie. By then we'll have seen what Sony brings to the table, the Samsung P3, and maybe the Samsung P4.