Although COWON promised new advanced players for the near future, it comes up with a hybrid player. N2 has less PMP functions and more DMB/GPS features, not exactly what the public has been waiting for. Anyway, COWON hopes to better penetrate the navigation devices market with this new hybrid.

Regarding PMP functionality, N2 is still capable of audio and video but there's a major drawback: only 32 MB of onboard flash memory. Not quite a player-friendly number. But this memory would be used as system memory and users may connect other devices to it through the built-in USB-Host, taking advantage of the 480X234 7" Touch-sensible display.

The hybrid runs Window CE 5.0, offering more multimedia features and compatibility and it is powered by a 500 Mhz AMD Alchemy processor. Apart from extended GPS and DMB capabilities, N2 knows how to handle MP3, WMA, Ogg and WAV audio file formats (no FLAC unfortunately). Video seems to be no problem for N2: there is DivX 3/4/5, XviD, Mpeg4 and WMV9 support. 32 MB of onboard memory not enough? (clearly!) COWON thought about this and added support for up to two SD card slots. Forgotten about audio functionalities? COWON includes a Line-out jack, FM Transmitter and built-in stereo speakers. Not to forget that infrared sensor for in-car remote use. The size is 191 x 120 x 26 mm and it weighs 540g.

The N2 is expected some time soon but it will be available only in Korea.