Digital Home Thoughts: Cowon A2 30GB PMP Reviewed

"As with all Cowon products, the A2 is an extremely well-engineered product. It's not particularly attractive in today's iPod-obsessed world, with its pearl-white and gun-metal grey plastics, but it has a heft to it and rigidity that suggests longevity in a way the Archos 605 doesn't. The joystick control and the four buttons arranged down the right hand edge of the screen feel solid too, and even the plastic flap covering the connections on the left hand side feels like it'll last, though this is just as well as it covers the frequently-used USB socket. And there are other areas where the A2 outdoes the competition as well. Unlike Apple or Archos players, for instance, this player comes with everything you need in the box. There's no need to buy extra cables in order to take advantage of its ability to record and output video. There's a USB stub cable for attaching your digital camera so you can copy photos off your digital camera and music files from a USB stick or flash-based player. You get a line-in cable and a decent leather case too - a nice touch."



I have never actually been a big fan of PMPs in general due to their sheer size. I find the size of a Zune much more appealing, and at most a PSP. But the nice hard drive size is certainly appealing. I think a good value add would be to include Wi-Fi to make this a good camera companion since a number of cameras have Wi-Fi included these days to transfer images. Good article though, nice comparison to the iPod.