Cowon Android Talk.

[BruceBanner]

As a few of you have heard recently I am in love with Cowon players at the moment. My current fave is the C2, I just love the BBE DSPs

But i got thinking. In-house I use foobar as my main player for music on my pc, and I also have three apt-x bluetooth speakers (via usb dongles in usb hub), one's in kitchen, the other bathroom and last on the veranda.
Using the pc at home makes the most sense for me to using it as my main music player. The Pc is almost always on, its where i grab new music and i don't have to flaff around with copying/syncing new files onto secondary devices etc.

I use my ipad2 as a remote control for foobar via the app 'MonkeyMote' but there are quite a few different apps available to do this (both in apple and android markets).
It all works out rather well.

---

But already I am thinking and looking towards the future. Ideally I would like a Cowon DAP that doubles as a watch, summin like a Nano 6th gen but made by cowon. Something that has the SQ i have come to love but also perhaps running android and having some apps like a foobar controller would be great. This way i wouldn't have to rely on the ipad2 as a remote interface all the time, instead its on my wrist!

But that's not gonna happen, wishful thinking. I am aware of a few smartphone watches out there that when rooted could do this function, that's a possibility, but I'm curious about the two Cowon players that are based on the android platform.
Am i right in saying they are the D3 and Z2?

so...

1) between the D3 and Z2 which is better? Which is the more latest release?
2) can both be rooted etc to get the google play market installed? Is it difficult?
3) do both sound like Cowon players (along with the BBE tweaks), like the S9, J3 etc?
4) I take it both devices come with a stock player (along with BBE tweaks) but once routed you could infact install Poweramp or a different player of choice?


It's doubtful I'll buy either player as the C2 fits my niche currently, but it does seem cowon have went down the android route, and using my main DAP player to also control foobar remotely does sound neat (tbh it's the first real advantage i can think of for the android platform+cowon).

Just looking for some input from peeps

Bruce

[CrowdAds]

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

I'm curious about the two Cowon players that are based on the android platform.
Am i right in saying they are the D3 and Z2?

Yes, they're the ones.

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

so...
1) between the D3 and Z2 which is better? Which is the more latest release?
2) can both be rooted etc to get the google play market installed? Is it difficult?
3) do both sound like Cowon players (along with the BBE tweaks), like the S9, J3 etc?
4) I take it both devices come with a stock player (along with BBE tweaks) but once routed you could infact install Poweramp or a different player of choice?

1. Z2 is much better, and newer....D3's hardware was underpowered for an Android device.

2. Yes, it can be done....not sure how difficult is it to do.

3. When using the stock music player, yes.

4. Yes, you could install another music app once you had Play store access.

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

It's doubtful I'll buy either player as the C2 fits my niche currently, but it does seem cowon have went down the android route, and using my main DAP player to also control foobar remotely does sound neat (tbh it's the first real advantage i can think of for the android platform+cowon).

Just looking for some input from peeps

Bruce

I answered your questions, to the best of my knowledge.

[BruceBanner]

Thanx Marv. I will turn my attention to the Z2 and see what that is all about.

First negative thing to note is its battery life for music is rated only 22hrs :S
Video however is decent at 8.5hrs.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

Thanx Marv. I will turn my attention to the Z2 and see what that is all about.

dfkt reviewed the D3 here a while back....he pulled no punches, either....lol. An excerpt.....

Under the hood, all is not so fresh. The D3 basically runs on hardware from 2009 – that was aeons ago, counting in computer years. The CPU is a single core Telechips TCC8900, ARM11/ARMv6 with VFP, clocked at a maximum speed of 720MHz, with a measly 173MB of available RAM. The GPU is an equally old ARM Mali-200.

While I don’t expect Cowon to use the fanciest Nvidia Tegra 2 stuff or similar to build their players, it is sad to see that even a lowly entry-level player like the inexpensive Archos 32 uses a TI OMAP 3630, Cortex A8/ARMv7 at 1GHz, with 241MB RAM – and it runs circles around the D3, performance-wise.

It apparently also has battery life roughly equivalent to a Clip, if you're lucky...but you should read through it yourself.
http://anythingbutipod.com/2011/10/c...plenue-review/

As far as I know he never got a Z2 to review.

[BruceBanner]

Yeh i'm having a nosy at the Z2, the battery life is kinda a deal breaker, especially the kinda prices the Z2 is going for and I already have a C2.
I will wait to see what Cowon will make next, it is more than likely I will buy an android watch in the future.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

Yeh i'm having a nosy at the Z2, the battery life is kinda a deal breaker, especially the kinda prices the Z2 is going for and I already have a C2.
I will wait to see what Cowon will make next, it is more than likely I will buy an android watch in the future.

Yeah, I think they should have just kept making dedicated players instead of making Android devices.

[The DarkSide]

The Z2 isn't all that great IMO. The newer Sony's with Android are better,...but without Android is preferable. Android isn't really ideal for a dedicated media player,...unless it has free 3/4G. And we all know that ain't gonna happen,...even the PS Vita has a monthly fee for network connectivity.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

The Z2 isn't all that great IMO. The newer Sony's with Android are better,...but without Android is preferable. Android isn't really ideal for a dedicated media player,...unless it has free 3/4G. And we all know that ain't gonna happen,...even the PS Vita has a monthly fee for network connectivity.

Cowon should have given it a massive battery like the SGP 5.0

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