Cowon Q5w 40 Go

The Q5w is Cowon's PMP superstar, it has a touchscreen and runs Windows CE 5 Pro.

Handling

The Q5w is bulky, heavy and has something of an industrial feel about it. Everything you need is in the box: adaptor, A/V cable, remote, USB cable, instructions and a CD. No USB Host cable…but worry not, given the size, there is a USB port on the side of the player. It can do both Bluetooth & wi-fi.

The graphic interface has skins on top of Windows CE, so you can almost forget about what is underneath. You can customise your own graphic theme and the touchscreen works well with the interface provided.
With a PMP running Windows CE you can choose to transfer either by UMS, MTP or ActiveSync. The Q5w can be recognized as an external hard drive or player and be synched the same way as a pda/smartphone.

Sound quality

Sound quality in Cowon products is remarkable. You can choose between the many supported formats, the graphic equalizer, the Jet Effects…and the headset out is very clear for a PMP. The earphones are quite a disgrace on a product with such sound perfection.

Video and multimedia

Windows and Cowon deliver great multimedia together. In terms of video, it’s slightly behind that of the Archos 5/7, but the display is good. Again let us mention the many supported formats which makes viewing here a real treat. Thanks to the USB Host feature, you an empty your memory cards, USB keys, cameras etc and directly view the files on the 5" screen.

Windows CE ‘s real power appears as soon as you go on the Net. No surprise here, the navigator is Internet Explorer and the Q5w supports Flash. You can do video playback and play online games, you also get WordPad, Messenger, Solitaire and FreeCell.
The USB Host port allows you to connect a USB hub, a mouse, and a keyboard ... but beware, you will be shortening the battery life.

Windows CE 5 Pro may sometimes be a bit slow, especially when booting but is really plain sailing once it is on. Battery life, which is meant to run 7 hours for video and 13 hours for audio only stretched out to  7 hours 30'. This being said, who uses a PMP on a daily basis to surf with wi-fi, while watching videos and playing games...with a connected keyboard and mouse, while operating a transfer from a 16 GB memory card?

Le Q5w is a real Swiss knife and one that has proved to be a success. The Archos 5/7 lag behind. Now all you need is to find somebody ready to use all its features…