Cowon iAudio 7 (4GB)

By Donald Bell, CNET.com
Jul 23, 2007

While the Cowon iAudio 7 is cosmetically indistinguishable from its previous life as the iAudio 6, it still proves to be a significant upgrade. Under the hood, the 4GB microdrive technology found in the iAudio 6 has been transplanted with up to 8GB of faster, leaner flash memory and an improved battery life of 60 hours for music playback. We still feel that Cowon's Swing Touch interface takes some acclimation, but with the 4GB player selling for US$170 and the 8GB selling for US$220, the iAudio 7 is one of Cowon's most competitively priced and full-featured MP3 players to date.

Design
When we heard that the latest iAudio player would toss out the microdrive in favor of flash memory, we presumed the result would be a slimmer player. Thus, it was a bit of a letdown to find that the iAudio's dimensions went unchanged. Granted, the iAudio 6 was small to begin with, but it's certainly not as slim as the iPod nano. Side-by-side, the iAudio 6 and iAudio 7 are indistinguishable aside from the iAudio 7's screen being slightly offset and the back cover changing from a matte to a glossy plastic. The good news is that by resisting the temptation to go skinnier, Cowon was able to fit a higher-capacity battery into the iAudio 7.

Cowon's included earbuds look great, but they really don't do justice to the audio quality this player is capable of.

Like its predecessor, the iAudio 7 features a 1.3-inch OLED screen that does an exceptional job of displaying photos and video despite its size. The entire player measures 2.75 by 1.25 by 0.75 inches, weighs a light 1.8 ounces, and fits easily in a pocket. You'll find the Hold switch clearly marked at the top of the player, along with dedicated buttons for the menu and volume control. The left side of the iAudio 7 includes two stereo minijacks, one for line input and the other for headphone output. The right side has an extremely durable rubber door that conceals the USB port and a reset switch.

One of the most notable design elements on the iAudio 7 is Cowon's unique Swing Touch user interface. While we admit it does take some getting used to, the iAudio interface is an effective and novel way to quickly navigate through files. The diagonal bar can be used to scroll through lists in three ways: Swiping your finger up or down, holding down one corner, or just tapping a corner. The Record and Play buttons on each side of the scroll strip also serve to take you in and out of file directories.

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