Samsung's P3 is a touch-screen player with an icon-based menu. Sound familiar? At $149.99 (8GB), $249.99 (16GB), and $299.99 (32GB), Samsung is clearly taking aim at the more-expensive iPod touch. The preloaded software, excellent FM tuner, and haptic feedback are steps in the right direction. But the P3, an update to 2007's P2, lacks Internet access and an accelerometer, making the touchy touch screen feel like a gimmick—and the player seem overpriced.
Measuring 4 by 2.1 by 0.4 inches (HWD), weighing 3.3 ounces, and sporting a 3-inch 480-by-272-pixel touch screen, the P3 has both a smaller frame and display than the iPod touch. A reset pinhole doubles as the microphone, which is found on the bottom panel with the proprietary-to-USB connection and the headphone jack. The top panel houses the Power/Hold button, volume controls, and a built-in speaker. The rest of the controls are internal, operated via the touch screen. Samsung's included earbuds are pretty weak—as usual, we suggest upgrading to something like the Shure SE115, or, for lovers of low frequencies, the Radius Atomic Bass. Also included with the P3: a connection cable for syncing with (and charging from) your PC, and a CD containing EmoDio, Samsung's music- and video-management and video-conversion software. The conversion software is pretty straightforward, but for managing your files, I'd stick with Windows Media Player.
Media players should be easy to use, but the P3 is not especially intuitive. It's easy to navigate to a menu from the main screen, but because the virtual "Home" button is hidden under a flip-up menu (usually at the top of the screen), getting back to where you started can be tricky. The screen is also somewhat insensitive, generally needing several taps to select an option, and it's quite easy to select the wrong one. It's a shame, because Samsung has clearly poured some hard work into the interface's graphics. The main menu is a little cluttered, but it can be customized with various wallpapers. But no matter how nice the graphics are, navigating the device is a generally slow process, and this is bound to annoy all but the extremely patient.
source : http://www.pcmag.com
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