Samsung YP-Z5

[Joe P]

With a modern and eye-catching design, the Samsung YP-Z5 clearly stands out in the current market for personal audio. I bought myself one of these about a year ago to express my rebellion against the iPod trend and couldn?t have been more satisfied. Not once did I have a problem with the device, unlike the two previous players I owned before. The audio quality was awesome and even the supplied earphones were of a good condition, which is more than what can be said for the first generation iPod earphones...

The player is available in three different versions based on capacitynot including different coloursi>); 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. Clearly from this it strikes out total hard-core music lovers as the capacity probable won?t amount to what?s available with other competitors, yet for those of us who can just slip by in surviving with a smaller capacity, I?d recommend this as being ideal.

Now to talk about the player itself; upon turning it on, you?re greeted with the Samsung logo, this only stays on the screen for about 30 seconds, and usually only shows up when turning on the device for the first time, or after being reset. After that, you arrive at the main menu withMusic, Pictures Playlists, Shuffle All, Settings, & Now Playinglaying. In my opinion the design is really made for ease of use, and the learning curve to get to grips with using the touch-sensitiveness of the device is pretty steep. By now you?ve probably realized that this is also a media viewer foJPEG, GIF, PNG..etcPNG..etc), and therefore it can display album art, which is a nice touch to the Now Playing interface.

One criticism would be the screen transitions between menus, the zoom effect seems to mimic that of a certain iPod, yet the effect still looks cool, so it doesn?t bother me, but I guess for those of us that like to pick out every little problem with everything, it?d be a slight dispute, for those of you ? you?re shallow and pedantic.

The battery life of the player is impressive, a whopping 35hrs of battery life means you don?t have to charge the battery for about a week in between usages. The player is charged via USB and is a PlayForSure device, which ensures that it will work with WMP.

The only time this device has failed me was once when it wasn?t displaying anything on the screen at all, and wouldn?t turn on, but this was soon sorted out upon paper-clipping the reset button?. Oh and that time when it accidentally got put in the washing machine and needed to be replaced...

Overall, this being my first review for a piece of electronic kit I?d conclude with the recommendation of this product to anyone who wants a player that just works, with a hinPS. I hope this was of some:laugh:o anyone who reads it. :laugh: Also, I have no interest in people that:no:l spam & flame this. :no: m & flame this. :no: