Samsung's new YP-P2 follows the South Korean manufacturer's excellent YP-T9, which scored 8.3 in our gruelling tests. Like the T9, the P2 comes equipped with stereo Bluetooth, video capabilities and a stylish design. However, it enters the market with Apple's iPod touch and the innovative 3rd-generation iPod nano -- tough competitors on all levels.
The YP-P2 comes in 2GB, 4GB -- which we review here -- and 8GB capacities, costing £99, £109 and £129 respectively. With these aggressive prices, not to mention Bluetooth, has the P2 got the guts to take on the dominant iPods and win?
Design
Admit it: the YP-P2 looks a lot like the iPod touch. The P2's large 76mm (3-inch) touchscreen takes up almost all of the player's face. Below, there's a small circular function LED light. Unlike the touch however, physical volume controls sit on the right hand side of the device while play/pause and hold controls sit on the left. A proprietary USB socket lives at the bottom next to a 3.5mm headphone socket.
For a small flash-based player it's surprisingly weighty at 85g, but the result is a very solid-feeling device. It's still notably lighter than the touch which, with its massive glass screen, weighs a chunky 120g. Still, the P2 is a lovely player to hold. The only downside to the large glossy touchscreen is its ability to retain mucky fingerprints, which stick like glue.
The small microphone underneath the player currently doesn't have a function. Samsung told us a firmware upgrade in the future will add functionality that lets you answer calls through the P2 when it's paired with a compatible mobile phone.
Features
The YP-P2 plays just MP3 and WMA -- protected and unprotected. There's no AAC, no lossless WMA and not even WAV support. It's not surprising then that there's no love shown for FLAC, the lossless format that costs nothing to implement in a player. The lack of AAC support means DRM-free songs from the iTunes Plus music store aren't compatible and audiobooks from Audible are also not supported.
MPEG-4 and WMV video is supported, as well as JPEG photos. A zoom control lets you zoom into images and sweeping gestures let you navigate the enlarged image. You can also choose to view you photos with a slideshow and use them as backdrops to the player's menus.
A gesture-based navigation system makes browsing the P2 quite refreshing. The main menu, for example, requires you 'stroke' the screen up and down in order to navigate through the stylishly animated menu. Similarly, when browsing a list of artists, fast scrolling is possible by 'throwing' the list in the direction you want to travel. It's similar to the same feature in the iPhone and iPod touch, though the slightest delay makes the process less fluid on the P2.
Context menus give access to a bunch of useful options within the P2's various function screens. Although built-in stereo Bluetooth allows, say, joggers and gym fanatics to use wireless earphones, a jogger will have a hard time navigation menus blindly, thanks to the lack of physical navigational buttons.
Finally, a clock, text viewer and calender feature alongside an FM radio. The text viewer will display your .txt files and thankfully, it'll preserve formatting, so brief reading sessions aren't out of the question on the high-resolution screen.
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sonymad 9 March 2012
Good: brifgt screen good battery life easy to use large icons video quality is amazing sound quality is great
Bad: no apps and games lacks wifi f.m signal is rubbish doesnt support alot of formats but deasnt software included to help convert
Comment: Samsung YP-P2 8GB Media Player
Right now, there's no doubt what the coolest gadgets of the moment are in the minds of the digital music-buying public. It's the latest touchscreen-driven devices from Apple. No matter what your preferences or which technological axe you may have to grind, you can't possibly deny that both the iPhone and iPod Touch are amazing examples of what can be done with a simple concept and great software and hardware design.
The big problem is that to get your hands on one of these you have to fork out quite a bit of cash. We all know how expensive an iPhone is - even before you get to the price of the obligatory contract - and those who don't want the phone still have to pay through the nose for the Touch.
But there is another way to get your hands on a sexy, touchscreen music player, and it's called the Samsung YP-P2. It's clear from the start that this is trying awfully hard to match the iPod Touch. It has a hard touchscreen with very little else in the way of controls on the front panel. It even looks the same, though the small circular element on the short edge of the screen turns out to be merely a status light, not a home button as it is on the Touch.
A closer look, however, reveals this isn't a straight rip-off after all, and in many ways it's the more practical music player. For starters, it's much smaller and more pocketable than the Touch. At 100 x 52 x 9.9mm and 85g it's not going to get into the teeny-tiny hall of fame any time soon, but it's a darned sight more svelte than the Apple device and it's put together just as well too. Though the screen attracts greasy fingerprints like a dirt magnet, it seems highly scratch resistant, and the rest of the device is extremely solid.
It has dedicated hardware controls for common functions, which is something the Touch lacks: volume controls are sited on the right spine, while the power button and hold switch are on the right, which just add to the usability of the player and mean the volume can be adjusted whether you're in menu or music view. And another feature missing from the Touch that you get here is an FM tuner. Strangely, though, there's no voice record mode despite the presence of an external microphone.
nightcrawler 16 April 2010
Good: Crisp and Clear screen resolution (480 x 272) Responsive 16:9 Widescreen Touchscreen Intuitive Control DNSe EQ Settings Bluetooth Portable Looks Great App Support Sounds awesome Good build quality Included earphones are good Screen Protector included
Bad: Does have software bugs that need sorting out Could use some more music options Could use more apps Touchscreen can be inaccurate at times No expandable memory Limited Format Support Lacks Wi Fi
Comment: The Samsung YP P2 is an excellent player in its own right, only let down by Samsung's proprietary garden and inability to take advantage of their player in certain situations. It offers a wide range of features and executes them quite well, even if it may ocassionally run into a glitch or two. The sound quality is among the best players I've ever heard and isn't that what we buy MP3 Players for? Bluetooth was also a very nice and unique addition, as were many of its prime pack options. The lack of Wi Fi can be forgiven for a player this price but what it does do it does well. The inclusion of tactile buttons is a nice plus and it looks sophisticated enough to make it worth carrying around with you.
The apps were a nice touch (including games, subway maps etc) but could have done more to be more useful.
It looks great, it sounds great and it's a great price. Only let down by its limited format support, lack of some music playback options, some glitches as well as the indirect method of deleting files, it's a player worth owning.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
nightcrawler 16 April 2010
Good: Crisp and Clear screen resolution (480 x 272) Responsive 16:9 Widescreen Touchscreen Intuitive Control DNSe EQ Settings Bluetooth Portable Looks Great App Support Sounds awesome Good build quality Included earphones are good Screen Protector included
Bad: Does have software bugs that need sorting out Could use some more music options Could use more apps Touchscreen can be inaccurate at times No expandable memory Limited Format Support Lacks Wi Fi
Comment: The Samsung YP P2 is full of features, including App SupportPacking a text reader, a calculator, a dictionary (Korean firmware only), Games, an Alarm, Voice Recorder, World Clock, Address Book and a Subway Route Map for 24 major cities across the globe, the YP P2 is more swiss army knife than your standard player. However there are shortcomings. The games on offer, while fun won't keep you occupied for very long and it's clear that the instructions were not written by English speakers. There are 5 games available for this player and the potential is there but lack of developer support means there isn't a sleuth of entertainment on offer here (probably thanks to the YP P3). The Text reader is fairly accomplished, allowing you to zoom to different levels and intuitive use of the EmoTure software makes it simple to use. The large screen lends itself to being easily readable but again the lack of format support lets it down (.txt only) although on an MP3 player it can be forgiven. Many of the other functions are fairly basic, useful fo day to day life but nothing too extensive.
The Subway map feature is perhaps one of the most useful, including maps for 3 major continents and 24 major cities including London, Paris and New York complete with points of interest annotated and explained it is a very useful tool, but lack of written instructions can make it confusing at first.
The prime pack proves fairly useful but in some areas gimped by some shortsighted decisions (e.g. the Calender does not have task support and the lack of developer support means the app function is under utilised).
The YP P2 sounds beautiful and the included earphones are above the standard for many pack in ear phones that I have heard although you'll need to make use of the DNSe EQ settings to get the most out off them. With DNSe, the bass sounded well pronounced and electric guitars powerful and with presence although not enough to overwhelm other parts of the music. The rendition of Mirror's Edge's soundtrack Still Alive was warm and full bodied but the player doesn't quite match the atmosphere of the Creative Zen but it is awesome in its own right.
Album Art looks beautiful, provided you find an album art picture of high enough resolution. You are given 3 different visualisations but these don't react to the music that's playing and are a more a preset loop of animations plus an actual EQ. If that's not your sort of thing you can get the standard Album Art view or double tap the screen to get it in full screen together with album information. The YP P2 has you covered for music playback and options.
The DNSe Settings (Samsung's EQs) allow you to alter the sound of your music and if you intend to use the included earphones, I recommend you make good use of the DNSes. It is one of the best sounding players I've ever heard but if you want to get even more out of it you may want to purchase a set of Sennheiser or Shure earphones as the included ones aren't good at noise cancelling.
It's a shame about the lack of programmable play and the inability to edit or create a playlist on the fly. You either take your songs as they are (which is all of them) or take none at all. Yes, the player does have the option to make up to 5 playlists but these are prenamed and must be made before you start playing any music. It would have been nice to see an Add to Now Playing Option in the music library for every song or the ability to remove a track from a currently playing playlist. You could say this is counteracted by the ability to jump to your music library which is never more than one screen press away from the now playing screen and jump to a song that you want in less than 30 seconds, but it would have been nice to see a more seamless music playback option. The ability to rate your music tracks, but unfortunately Samsung felt it unneccessary as was the ability to do album to album play by different artists (you either play 1, all by 1 artist or none at a
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