Samsung K5 MP3 player review
| Looking wise it’s such a bold design that you’ll either love it or be totally indifferent. At Unbeatable, we loved it. Looking a bit LG Chocolate phone and a bit the Olympus M:robe the K5 is black, chunky and dual purpose. Measuring 98mm x 47.5mm x 18.1mm it weighs 106g but feels much lighter in the palm of your hand. When closed it’s a hefty black digital music player which is fatter than the iPod Nano, but who cares – we don’t. In this closed position, you’ll listen to the Samsung K5 through a set of headphones that come supplied with rubbery ends for added comfort. Or it can be opened and as if by magic a sliver grille speaker panel slides out from the back in a smooth gliding action and sits at an angle for optimum sound quality. The controls are all placed on the front of the MP3 player and accessed via touch-screen arrows which light up in dotted blue lights as apposed to the M:robe’s fetching red, with all the instructions are illustrated on the 1.71inch full colour OLED. At the top you have the on and hold button and at the bottom you’ll find a 24 pin USB cable for transferring and charging the K5 up as well as the headphone socket. Oh be warned, the lovely shiny black exterior is also a magnet for yukkie finger prints as is the speaker. |
| Setup/Installation |
| From taking the YP-K5 out of the box to listening to music took less than 15 minutes. While the Samsung MP3 player was charging we installed the software. Once that was done it was a case of transferring music across to the K5 and listening. |
| Features |
| The biggest feature of the K5 is the sliding speaker which is a lovely touch and means you’ll never have to take attachable speakers with you on holiday – and you also see more and more people listening to music through the speakers on their phone, so it is something that could catch on – think of it as the mini-gettoblaster. The flash memory device comes in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacity and in black or girly pink. The menu is accessed from the touch-screen buttons – stroke it and the arrows light up and allow you to either go forwards or backwards, play with the volume or access the menu. The different functions which include: music, photos, radio, alarm and settings are indicated through the cutest dotted icon. As well as JPEG photos, the Samsung K5 supports MP3 and WMA formats, sub dividing the music into categories including: now playing, artists, albums, tracks, genres and playlist (which unfortunately can’t be done on the K5 but has to be set up on your PC). The photos can be viewed individually or as a slideshow and you can select music to play in the background while viewing. There’s a couple of alarm settings with a snooze function that kick in at selected intervals – there’s also a sleep mode too which is handy if you want to listen to your K5 before going to bed. Sound wise the K5 has: a bass or vocal booster, a 3D sound option, and a concert hall setting that adds reverb but doesn’t have equalizer you can set, although the display shows a graphic EQ while music is playing. And the whole interface rotates around depending on whether you’ve got the speakers extended or not. |
| Performance |
| Using the K5 is simple, the icons are really cute, although they might get on your nerves after a while, who knows. We found that the navigation from the touch-screen was a bit sensitive at times while at others you really had to stab the screen to get a response. Sound quality on the K5 is great. When listening to it via the built-in speakers it is a bit tinny but much better than other speakers around – and the fact that it’s tilted adds to better sound. Where the Samsung YP-K5 comes into its own is when you plug in the headphones. The ones they’ve provided are very good with their squeegee rubber ends for added comfort sound brilliant, providing, clear, crisp sound even with an old recording and the reverb when you listen to concert mode are really good too. The picture function is more gimmick than quality – the pictures are a bit dark and the screen is just too small to see anything clearly. The FM tuner was a big letdown, as hard as we tried we couldn’t get a single radio channel to tune in which is a shame. |
| What's In The Box? |
| Samsung YP-K5 MP3 player, headphones, 24 pin USB, installation CD and manual. |
| Overall Opinio |
| We really like the K5 purely from a design aspect. It just looks really good and as far removed from the iPod as you could get. If you’re looking for a music player that doesn’t weigh too much and had good sound quality then you’ll love the K5 – but don’t expect any more than that. Check out unbeatable.co.uk tomorrow for an exclusive review on the next generation iPod for a comparison. |
By Babita Wakelin
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Pros + Looks great + Good sound quality + Built-in speaker + Easy to use |
Cons - Gets dirty quicky - Small display screen - Only goes up to 4GB capacity |
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Appearance 9/10
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Songs Capacity 8/10
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Build Quality 9/10
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Ease Of Use 9/10
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Value For Money 8/10
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Overall Rating 
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By Babita Wakelin
14/9/2006 at 11:33:14am
14/9/2006 at 11:33:14am
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