| The iAudio A3 is Cowon's flagship PMP with a | | | | is tethered a plastic door that conceals a |
| very thorough list of supported codecs in | | | | 3.5mm composite AV output, a 3.5mm composite |
| both music and video. The 800x480 16.7 | | | | AV input, a proprietary jack made for |
| million color screen is crisp and will do | | | | connecting an included S-video and |
| justice to your video collection. There is a | | | | component-video output cable, and a USB jack |
| lot of good going on with the A3, and it's | | | | for transferring files from your computer or |
| probably the best PMP of its size on the | | | | hosting devices, such as digital cameras or |
| market. | | | | USB memory sticks. |
| | | | |
| The video player is smooth (load times are a | | | | The A3's 4in, 800 x 480 resolutions, |
| second or two), but navigation is a little | | | | 16m-colour TFT screen is little short of a |
| wonky with the 4-way stick taking the place | | | | work of art and makes nearly every other |
| of a directional pad. It's not too bad, but | | | | comparable personal media player on the |
| occasional down-clicks for selecting | | | | market look like an Etch-a-Sketch. Supporting |
| something didn't get registered, or got | | | | video resolution up to 1280 x 720 - so we are |
| registered as an up click instead. Photo | | | | talking HD here - it's simply a thing of |
| viewing is also sweet on the bright and ample | | | | beauty. Bright, clear and crisp with solid |
| display, and the transition time between | | | | blacks, it is by some way the best PMP screen |
| photos is negligible. The only problem comes | | | | we've seen, besting even the Archos 605. |
| from the navigation stick and trying to | | | | |
| cleanly press down on it without moving the | | | | The iAudio A3 can connect to a TV with a |
| stick in another direction as well. | | | | composite video cable, and also comes with a |
| | | | component output for much better video |
| Its predecessor, the Cowon A3 includes two | | | | quality. As the player's audio volume was so |
| stereo speakers and a mono microphone on its | | | | low, we had to turn the TV's volume up to |
| top edge, a power button on its right, a hold | | | | maximum. It can also record directly from a |
| switch that doubles as a video-out switch on | | | | composite or S-video source, and recorded |
| the bottom, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the | | | | video had few artifacts when viewed on the |
| top left edge. Below the A3's headphone jack | | | | player's screen. |