It looks like Cowon finally realized that the V5 isn't working outside of Korea and updated the UI with a new 3-D theme. I'm really digging it, AND I think I'm turning into a Cowon fan-boy with all of the great stuff they've been churning out lately.
Here's the source article from Anythingbutipod.com written by dkft (nice job again Martin):
Cowon 3D, a V5W Rehash with Guess How Many Dimensions on Screen
Just when I wrote in my Cowon J3 review that I really want to see Cowon developing an insta-win PMP that looks and handles like the J3… well, they didn’t do that. Instead they are going to re-release the V5 with the faddest (this is a proper word, I just made it up) of all current fads tacked on, a glassless “3D” interface. Of course “3D” here means 2D plus depth, as seen in Pixar and Dreamworks movies everywhere.
I can see that gimmick being useful on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, adding an interesting twist to portable gaming, but come on – on a PMP? Where do you even get content to play on that thing? Another possibility of course would be that just the user interface is “3D”, not the videos that are supported. My gut feeling tells me this thing will stay in Korea and won’t see an international release. We will see.
As for other V5 3D specs, it’s said to play 1080p content on its 4.8″ 800×480 TFT screen, has an HDMI output, Wifi, two web browsers (Opera and a Korean one called uZard Web), and an SDHC slot. It still runs on ye olde Windows Mobile 6.0, and it’s still a TFT screen, no AMOLED or S-LCD. The 3D will be the first Cowon with 64GB internal memory, which is a step in the right direction. Korean release date is December 10th.
Official Korean Cowon 3D site – via Engadget.
I do want to add that I think (rather, "hope") that dfkt is wrong about this unit being a Korean-only sold PMP. I think this replacement for the V5 was intended to be a PMP with global appeal, something that the V5 failed at because of it's uber-cutesy UI that frankly bombed in the U.S. Plus with 64GB of onboard memory this thing is an automatic win in my book! Cowon would be missing the mark big time by not exporting this to the Western world.
Edited by SoulSyde - 11/30/10 at 6:41pm
