[Review] Samsung YP-T10

[invaderzim_2004]

Note:some of the features are similar to YP-K3, so parts of that review is is re-used-with some comparisons noted.

Samsung YP-T10 review by A.A. Fussy:

Price paid:$99 at Harvey Norman

Supplied with:CD,EP-370 earphones,USB cable

Overview:

The Samsung YP-T10 is a versatile MP3 player-plays videos, songs, view video, text and photos and listen to radio and wirelessly using BT headphones with BT built in.

Design

I was impressed at the easy to use touchpad controls-sort of like the iPod touch, but more basic (i.e. it's no match for the P2)

At first glance, the lack of buttons on the face of the T10 is unusual, but over time, the touch controls are simply a great way to navigate through menus and songs.

The screen is the real star feature-it's very easy to read in any light, and is amazingly vibrant and when playing videos or displaying photos, it's automatically put in landscape orientation.

It's a bit larger than the screen on the K3-at 2" compared to 1.8"

My T10 was in purple with a a silver back.

Menus:

It has a funky looking menu system-which is easy to get around.

Samsung calls this "animated gui"-which are 3 preloaded themes (Sammy,pendant,my skin).

-Sammy is a very fun UI:a dog is seen doing various things when you select a feature.

-Pendant has round circles which have glowing icons and dots at the bottom.

-My skin has most of the screen is taken up by a wallpaper with a icon panel at the bottom.

You can get additional themes too and each theme has several settings that can be adjusted color tones and fonts. Wallpaper can be set in pictures.

There isn't a Screensaver feature like on the k3.

Music and radio:

Music playback is fast.

For each theme, you can select a different animation while playing back music.

Radio presetting and playing is good-and took only about 20 seconds to do and reception on the Gold Coast with the T10 (in my office) is excellent.

There's a 7 band EQ and Samsung's DNSE effects you can enable-more on that later.

Also:2 sound effects:street mode and clarity.

Photos:

Very neatly laid out thumbnail view, with instant access to a slideshow via the touch controls. Works quite similarly to the K3-but photos are displayed in a landscape orientation.

Videos:

SVI,WMV,MPEG4 is supported and video playback is very smooth in and in a landscape viewing style.

Charging/transfer:

Via a Samsung USB dock cable, takes 3rs when you first use it, but quick after that.

MTP is supported out of the box for Windows users, and Linux or Mac users may want to install a a newer firmware for UMS (if on a 1.xx FW) from :

http://www.emodio.com

Samsung Media Studio is supplied: a all-in-one media player that can transfer playlists/songs to the YP-T10, also there is a podcast section called "datacasts" and for Windows only.

Emodio is a replacement for SMS, and it's got a much nicer interface

Bluetooth:

This has to be the most suprising feature:bluetooth.

At first it can be quite difficult to pair and connect-but it's worth the wait: it took me several tries to pair it with a Mac and a Vista PC, but got it working after a while.

Initally you could connect to a headphones, but later firmwares let you wirelessly send music or use the mic with a BT equipped cell phone.

I used FW v3.06 and a Mac to transfer a song:it appears in the received files folder (in the file browser) and plays like any other music you have on the T10.

Bluetooth has its own menu screen.

File browser:

Works well-it's perfect for folder based music browsing.

Games:

You can play games that Samsung provides on their website, with v3 firmware but these have to be downloaded separately and installed yourself.

The T10 has the follwing games that you can download:

-BombBomb (Tetris clone)

-Subway (subway maps for various train routes in the US/Europe and Asia/Ocenia)

-BubbleSmile

-Chicken Runaway

The games are fun to play and have cool graphics.

Sound Quality:

Great sound-especially if DNSE is enabled.

Virtually distortion-free, with wondeful sound across all frequencies.

The supplied EP-370's:it's just nice sounding with lots of bass.

Settings menu is used to access the EQ with a 7 band EQ. There's no 3D Bass like on the K3 if you have v1.x firmware, but is enabled with version 3 FW-accessed via the on-screen popup menu DNSE option.

Also:2 sound effects:street mode and clarity-you can enable this while playing songs

Overall:

Like with the YP-K3, I was impressed with its intuitive touch controls and enjoyed using different GUI styles plus Bluetooth in the T10 is a wonderful way to listen with BT headphones and transfer music and can recommend it to anyone.

Photo:

Updates:

15/09/08n-revised EQ description, added games section

Edited September 15, 2008 by invaderzim_2004

[.tony]

$99? Wow, how many GB did you get for that price? That's how much I paid for my 4GB K3 in around January this year at Harvey Norman as well (mind you, it was meant to be 159).

[invaderzim_2004]

$99-for 2GB.