Cowon Q5W PMP Touts Touchscreen and Wi-Fi

Cowon's new Q5W PMP takes on the iPod touch with a 5-inch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Windows Mobile, 40 and 60 GB capacities, and $549 and $599 price tags.

Cowon has taken the wraps off its new Cowon Q5W portable media player, a device that aims to not only be a portable audio and video entertainment center, but also serve as a mobile workstation with email and Web browsing capability—and with an optional add-on, even act as a GPS navigation device.

“The COWON Q5W is the first three-in-one portable device that delivers premium multimedia player, mobile PC, and GPS navigation capabilities to holiday gadget shoppers and digital media enthusiasts nationwide,” said Cowon’s senior marketing manager Francis Choi, in a statement. “Discriminating consumers can now do it all in one definitive PMP package: watch movies on a large widescreen, use Wi-Fi to browse the Internet and check e-mails, wirelessly connect to Bluetooth-enabled stereo headphones and even plot their journey home with an optional GPS navigation package.”

The Q5W offers a 5-inch LCD touch screen and runs Windows Mobile CE 5.0, which means it comes with mobile email and Web browsing capability (Cowon has also rolled in Flash 7, and an optional Windows CE Professional Plus upgrade gets users mobile versions of Microsoft’s mainstream productivity applications). The Q5W is built around a 600 MHz AMD Alchemy Au1250 processor, and sports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking, a wireless remote control, an integrated FM receiver, an internal mic and voice recording capability, built-in stereo speakers, composite and S-Video output, and USB 2.0 connectivity. For video playback, the unit supports AVI, ASF, WMW, MPEG, and OGM, and codec support for DivX, XviD, MPEG4, and Windows Media 7, 8, and 9. On the audio front, the Q5W supports MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, Flac, APE, and MPC formats, along with support for MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, Wave, Flac, APE, and Musepack. Cowon says the built-in lithium ion battery can offer up to 13 hours of audio and seven hours of video on a single charge.

The Q5W is available in two capacities (40 and 60 GB—that’s hard drive, not flash) at suggested prices of $549.99 and $599.99, respectively. For another $199.99, users can get an optional GPS navigation package, consisting of a cradle with a SiRF III internal antenna, an FM transmitter switch for audio playback via an in-vehicle radio, and Tele Atlas maps of North America. The Q5W is available through JetMall, as well as retailers like Amazon.com, NewEgg, ZipZoomFly, and eBay.