Cowon X7 Portable Media Player Debuts

Portable media players (PMPs) often come in handy when someone is traveling light and not exactly in a position to access media streaming sites, and Cowon has just started shipping, in South Korea at least, the X7.

Since it is meant to be easy to carry around, Cowon used a screen with a diagonal of 4.3 inches and which has touch recognition.

This allows the media stored on the hard disk drive to be accessed directly and eliminates the need for buttons or any sort of keyboard-like contraption.

Speaking of hard disks, the hard disk drive actually used has a storage capacity of 160 GB, which means that owners will have plenty of room to store many music and video files.

For those interested in the specifics, the electronic measures 78.6 x 129.6 x 14.5 mm, weighs 212 grams and can also boast hard drives of 80 GB or 120 GB, all using the FAT32 file system.

Of curse, such a high storage space would not exactly be worthwhile in absence of a battery capable of keeping the PMP operational long enough for any length of media viewing.

Fortunately, Cowon's product has a battery that can last for up to 103 hours of music playback or 10 of video playback.

What's more, the company threw in an FM radio tuner, a Bluetooth chip and, of course, the necessary built-in speaker.

Those that seek a first-hand view of the complete specifications need only stop by the official product page that Cowon has already set up on its official website.

The model with a 160 GB hard disk drive has a price of 339,000 KRW, which is the equivalent of $304, whereas those that also want a set of pre-installed dictionaries will have to pay 379,000 KRW ($340).

Finally, while there has been no mention of availability in other regions, the fact that the X7 passed FCC certification tests suggests that it should not be too long before the US receives it as well.