What is the iPhone of personal media players?

pic_q5w It struck me kind of funny that the web site Physorg.com ponders aloud whether or not the Cowon Q5W is "the iPhone of Personal Media Players" because of its "long list of features that far surpasses other gadgets of its kind."

I can kinda see where they’re coming from but it just sounds a little odd to call a media playing device what basically amounts to a phone-less iPhone and not be referring to the iPod Touch which is, in fact, basically the true iPhone of personal media players. 

The Q5W does have some impressive specifications, though, like "Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS, an audio player, photo browser, and a video player, with a 5-inch touchscreen LCD, built-in speakers, and 40-60GB of storage."

"The device can hook up to the Internet anywhere there´s a Wi-Fi connection, and it runs on Windows CE, providing Internet Explorer and MSN Messenger. Users can type with an onscreen keyboard, and navigate with a stylus.

One of the greatest features of the Cowon Q5W is its compatibility with a wide variety of music, video and photo formats. Video formats include DivX, XviD, MPEG4, WMV7/8/9, music formats include MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, WAV, FLAC, APE, MPC, and photo formats include JPEG, BMP, PNG, and even RAW files from various camera manufacturers. Also, its 800×400-pixel screen resolution makes images and video bright and crisp.

The device also has voice-guided, 2D/3D GPS, along with a car dock, and conveniently plugs in to the cigarette lighter adaptor. Also, while you´re in the car, the built-in FM transmitter can wirelessly transfer sound to the car´s speakers, giving a better overall sound."

I’ve sworn off stylus-based navigation forever, so that feature seems more like a detriment and the whole Windows CE thing is a bit weak but other than that, this looks like a pretty cool doodad. Gizmodo also gave it a full rundown a couple days ago, too, if you’re interested and found the player to be "fantastic".

Cowon’s Q5W the iPhone of Personal Media Players? [Physorg.com]