Review-Samsung YP-P2

[invaderzim_2004]

Samsung YP-P2 review by A.A. Fussy:

Price: $140 at Myer (http://myer.com.au)

Capacity: Tested model has 8GB

introduction:

Samsung?s YP-P2 is a touchscreen media player offering a great feature set including music, video, FM radio, ?Prime Pack?, datacasts, photos and BluetooPackaging and Design:

:

Like the YP-T10 that I reviewed previously, the P2 comes in a hard plastic box with a transparent front showing off the player and its headphones. This makes it great to give to someone as a Photos of the packaging and contents:

:

[/b]i>

Inside you get a excellent set of accessories-these are:

• Samsung headphones
  
• A screen protector (no need to purchase one separately)
  
• CD with Samsung Media Studio and user guide
  
• ?Easy holder?-a novel stand for viewing videos in landscape, also doubles as a carry strap
  
• Quick start guide
  
• Foam ear pads
  

For best results, I would highly recommend that you download Emodio from emodio.com instead of using the supplied Samsung Media Studio version on the disc.

The player is quite beautiful looking-mine is in black and has the following physical features:

• volume +/- buttons on right hand side
  
• hold and on/off button on the left hand side
  
• dock connector, built-in mic and earphone jack on the bottom
  
• glowing power LED below the screen
  

Screen quality is remarkable for a touch screen-vibrant and legible.

Also comes with some great pre-loaded content-including a video designed by Samsung to showcase the highlights of the P2.

Here is a photo of the P2:

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/1958/img0068t.jMenus:

enus:

it has a intuitive menu system called the Emoture UI-which is easy to get around by using your fingers.

As it is a capacitive type screen, there is no need for stylus-it is very responsive to your actions.

Included are 3 preloaded themes:

• Cosmos-the default skin (everything is in a column like view
  
• Matrix: Walkman menu style skin
  
• My skin has most of the screen is taken up by a wallpaper with a icon panel at the bottom-similar to YP-T10
  

You can get additional UCI themes too and each theme has several settings that can be adjusted and you can create your own if you wish using a GUI themMusic:

usic:

Music playback is fast and easy to use.

The music playing screen is organized nicely-with direct access to music controls, DNSE and the pop-up playback menu.

The DNSE icon is replaced by a A-B repeat icon in later firmware releases.

You can select different visualizations-these are lively and add a nice aura to the experience.

Also via the pop-up menu-a interesting horizontal stroke feature for skipping through parts of song by a swiping gesture across the screen and DNSE access (with more recent firmware versions).

Music browser modes are:

• album
  
• artist
  
• now playing
  
• genres
  
• playlists
  
• music browser
  

Many of these display album art, if your songs include that.

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.

I liked the preset buttons when in the FM radio section-makes selecting preset stations quick and fuss-free.

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

Also:2 general sound effects are on offer :street mode and cPhotos:

otos:

The photos section has a very neatly laid out thumbnail view, with instant access to a slideshow via the touch screen controls.

Works quite similarly to the T10-but photos are displayed in a landscape orientation and can be easily be viewed with a swiping like gesture.

You can view photos in portiat or landscape orientations-there is a changeable setting fVideos:

deos:

SVI,WMV,MPEG4 is supported and video playback is very smooth in and in a landscape viewing style and three selectable DNSE presets-action, drama andCharging/transfer:

sfer:

Via a Samsung USB dock cable, takes a while to charge when you first use it, but quick after that.

Transfer speed is excellent.

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 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 is for Windows only.

Datacasts also can be played on the P2 using the Datacasts section.

Emodio is a replacement for SMS, and it's got a much nicer interface and feature set-I suggest using that for full functioBluetooth:

ooth:

This has to be the most surprising 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.

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

Bluetooth has its own menu screen and works similarly toFile browser:owser:

Works well-it's perfect for folder based music browsing and you can delete unwanted songs usinPrime Pack, firmware and games:games:

Samsung provides a nice set of applications called Prime pack which has a world clock, a alarm, calendar and a text viewer.

Multiple firmware updates have expanded the P2?s already rich feature set with new ones like:

• Bluetooth phone manager
  
• Bluetooth file transfer
  
• AAC support
  
• Address book
  
• Larger album art image
  
• Improved menu graphics
  
• Slight update in the EmoTure is also noticeable
  
• RDS (EU only)
  
• En-en and en-kr dictionary (KR only)
  
• Lyrics support (KR only)
  
• Touch Games - Three fun games (PowWow, Bubble Smile, and Jigsaw Puzzle) are provided.
  
• FM Radio recording support - FM broadcast can be recorded as MP3.
  
• Repeat A-B - Select a section of music and play it repeatedly.
  
• Play Speed Control - Control the music play speed.
  
• File Deletion support - Delete files on your P2 without having to connect to a PC.
  
• EmoTure 1.5 - EmoTure is further improved with features such as horizontal viewing of text.
  
• 3 GUI themes and Sammy Matrix UI supported
  
• Calculator function supported
  
• Separately Changing LCD brightness on Video mode
  
• Video play speed changing option from 0.5 to 1.5 (Some WMV x1.3)
  
• LCD turn off option on Video mode
  
• Music by passing on playing Game (If music playing, no game sound but music)
  
• GUI theme tool on EmoDio
  
• DNSe set to playlist on EmoDio & file type user DNSe on device
  
• Worldwide major 24 city subway maps with simple information
  
• 2 bluetooth games: Algagi and Omok (P2, T9, S5 compatible)
  
• Voice Recording (mp3 128kbps)
  
• Password
  
• TTS (Text to Speech) on EmoDio
  

When you update to the latest firmware, you?ll find 3 fun games to enjoy:

• PowWow
  
• Bubble Smile
  
• Jigsaw PuzzSound Quality:d Quality:
  Great sound-especially if DNSE is enabled.
  Virtually distortion-free, with wonderful sound across all frequencies.
  The supplied earphones:it's just nice sounding with lots of bass.
  Settings menu is used to access the EQ with a 7 band EQ.
  You can cycle through the DNSE presets when playing music by pressing on the DNSE icon in the music section.
  These include:
  
  • User with 7 band EQ and 3D/bass settings
    
  • Jazz
    
  • Concert
    
  • Studio
    
  • Normal
    
  • Rock
    
  • Classical
    
  • Jazz
    
  • Ballad
    
  • Club
    
  • R&B
    
  • Dance
    

  Also:2 sound effects:street mode and clarity-you can enable this while plOverall:b>Overall:

  Like with the YP-T10, I was impressed with its intuitive touch controls and enjoyed using different GUI styles plus Bluetooth and iPod like touch screen is a highlight and I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for a alternative to an iPod touch.

[i_was_here]

Hows the battery life?