Archos 5G vs Cowon Q5

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Tue May 15, 2007 6:43 pm

It's been a while since I posted but I thought I would start a thread now that some info is out on the next gen Archos. Although it is early and I am willing to eat my words if I am wrong. IMHO I am not sure I will be getting a 5G vs the Cowon Q5 unless a SDK is released with the 5G. The reason why I am saying that is even though some great features are being added such as VOIP,Youtube(maybe that means flash but maybe not),bittorrent. The only draw back that I see is that there is no room for third pary apps which I do see possible with the Cowon because it's running Windows CE 5. That said if the price is more competitive than the Cowon I could be on board only time will tell for me IMHO.

Andy W · Post by **Andy W** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:12 pm

Welcome back! Good point and I think over the next month or so this will become a massive thread!

As you've probably seen the Q5 was supposed to have been launched today in Korea. I just checked the iaudiophile (Cowon) forum website and there does not seem to be any news (yet) from anyone who's got one.... Hopefully we should see some early feedback soon via those guys and gals who are members in Korea.

Budwzr · Post by **Budwzr** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:28 pm

The Q5 looks to be a knockoff of the Archos line. Except they use WinCE. I noticed one of the supported video codecs is Matroska. That one's all but dead isn't it? And the "mp4" support is not for podcasts. These "Far East" manufacturers like to throw a lot of acronyms around to trick the uninformed. Methinks Archos will match whatever features the Q5 has over Gen4 models to keep current customers from straying. Look for a major firmware update soon for Gen4 owners. That's my opinion.

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:11 pm

The big question will be the price point. If it is to expensive people wont buy it.Can Archos deliver all the features right out of the gate at a good price point? Not sure on the extra codecs that the Q5 is throwing in their but you have to remember that the U.S version and the Korean version are two different animals. It's to early to for me to judge but right now IMHO the Q5 has a leg up just because other apps can be added by third parties but I will wait to see what Archos can deliver.

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:03 am

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14872

Well the Q5 is out in Korea so if your interested take look at the link. Remember the American version will be a bit different with no DMB for Tv. reading some of the other forums I have heard it will be in the states in the AUG/SEP time frame but it could be sooner.

Budwzr · Post by **Budwzr** » Sun May 20, 2007 6:31 am

I read a post somewhere that this thing doesn't record. Is that true?

mikey · Post by **mikey** » Sun May 20, 2007 6:58 am

Budwzr wrote:I read a post somewhere that this thing doesn't record. Is that true?

The specs say Fm radio and recorder so im sure it does

Cowon make great quality products and they actually do firmware releases often, they also include wait for it...............
an ac adapter. Normally one only has to buy a nice case after purchasing a Cowon product

Their lets down though is no removable battery and small hardrives. This will only be 40 and 60gb

frieddonuts · Post by **frieddonuts** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:20 am

One of the main turnoffs for me is the external wifi USB. That thing looks UGLY. I also heard that the HSDPA connectivity as well as the full version of Windows CE are not included in the base price. Is that true?

mikey · Post by **mikey** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:46 am

frieddonuts wrote:One of the main turnoffs for me is the external wifi USB. That thing looks UGLY. I also heard that the HSDPA connectivity as well as the full version of Windows CE are not included in the base price. Is that true?

Reading around the forums the Usa is to see the wifi built in at the expense of the built in Tv.
Cowon have the worst marketing people its all kept quiet until its released but with pleasant surprises most of the time, so its wait and see

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:34 pm

http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video- ... prod.txt.1

CNET has a pretty good sneek peek at the q5. I am hoping that the 5G has flash and not just a codec for .flv videos.

Post by **Charbax** » Tue May 22, 2007 2:42 pm

I do not understand Korean, but I really don't think that the Cowon Q5 has HSDPA built-in, HSDPA would probably run externally using a 200$ HSDPA usb adaptor on the usb-host connection. Also Windows CE is a crappy OS, the Alchemy processor from Raza is not very good in terms of multimedia performance and stabillity compared to the Texas Instruments DSP+ARM solutions.

Also the Cowon Q5 is quite large and heavy, and it's screen quality is not so great, at least if it's still approximately the same components used as with the prototype which I filmed at CES: http://ces2007.video-blog.eu/cowon/

So, while I would look for more details online for how the Internet experience is with this device with Wi-Fi and HSDPA (maybe only through Bluetooth). I don't think it's gonna be impressive with the Cowon Q5. Probably it's just a Windows CE experience with a large expensive external HSDPA dongle.

mikey · Post by **mikey** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:38 am

Mojorisin69 wrote: I am hoping that the 5G has flash and not just a codec for .flv videos.

Cowon have announched flash support for their d2 in next firmware, so im sure it the q5 will support it.

604owner · Post by **604owner** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:59 am

It seems to me that we are almost at the point (size and price) were an ultra portable makes sense.

This may be the year that ultraporable tablets come into their own.

I don't need a new PMP right away. I can wait for Christmas.

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:24 am

You might be right about that the 1 gen UMPC(even newer umpc like samsung ultra q1) are bound to go down in price so thats why they better price these PMPs competively.

Post by **Charbax** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:29 pm

Rumor I think is that the price will be below $250 for the 5G with the 4" screen.. (based on what was said in investors documents about the 5G, it said $150-$250 I think, and the CEO also talked about it having to be cheaper as one of the important goals to reaching mass market) Basically I think the announcement might be saying on the 14th of June that Archos 5G with 4" touch-screen and Wi-Fi is half the price of the iPhone without any subscription contracts and has many more features including much more memory, Wi-Fi Internet multimedia features and more.

And if ever there will be a smaller and cheaper UMPC, say about when a 4" UMPC becomes available at around $600, then Archos will have their line of 4" Wi-Fi and HSDPA VOD connected PMPs probably already at below $200 and with all sorts of amazing features. Yup ultra cheap prices and large volume sales through retail partnerships, that's partly where it's going.

Mojorisin69 · Post by **Mojorisin69** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:09 pm

If that 4 inch 5g archos could surf the web and had flash They would rock for that price that would be insane. It would be an ipod/zune killer.

Post by **Charbax** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:45 am

Announcement for the 5G is planned the day before the launch of the iPhone, it is made like this so that Archos can simply kill the whole iPhone buzz. If Archos succeeds it's gonna be insane, and prepare for thousands of new users in this forum..

frieddonuts · Post by **frieddonuts** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:15 am

I don't think that archos will ever scratch apple's numbers, simply because most people have not heard of archos in the US. I always get asked, "What the heck is that, it looks pretty cool." Another thing is that Archos is simply not geared toward to the average consumer. It is much more suited to the advanced user. iPod has a simple interface, cute looks, and a fantastic program and online store(iTunes) to boot. I don't like iPods, just stating the truth. Unless Archos imitates Apple and beats them at their own game, iPod will continue to dominate, imo.

kitty · Post by **kitty** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:29 am

I love my Archos but I think Charbax statement that the 5G will kill some of the iPhone buzz is apples & oranges. Archos may compete against MP3/PMPs but it isn't a phone.

Archos should worry about Cowon and leave the phones to Nokia.

Post by **Charbax** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:32 am

Well Archos will now try to beat the iPhone with the 5G, that's why Archos chose to release their product the day before Apple, so just wait and see..

Imagine the word of mouth could go quite crazy for Archos, if they have a product with 20 times more memory, half the price without any 2-year telephone subscription lock-in, video-on-demand over Wi-Fi and all the other multimedia features that make Archos technically better than the iPod (codecs, screen, removable battery, modules, built-in recording, usb-host...)

Archos 5G vs Cowon Q5

Archos 5G vs Cowon Q5

IMHO

If your interested in the Q5

external wifi

Re: external wifi

cnet video

Re: cnet video

UMPC

That would be awesome

I dunno