Hands-on (again) with Samsung's P2
Yeah, we already got our P2 touching on back in those heady days of August, and we even saw this sucker unboxed in September, but now Samsung has made everything official and thrust it into some impenetrable plastic packaging for our own unboxing pleasure. Seriously, this thermoformed plastic was some of the worst we've ever encountered, and due to a sudden absence of scissors at the Engadget HQ, we were literally risking life and limb to get this thing open. Once we broke in, it was smooth sailing. The device is pretty slick, and Samsung seems to have tweaked the touch sensitivity a bit more to our liking. The default scrolling menu is still pretty bad, but it's easy to switch to a basic grid interface. The preloaded songs were of course smooth jazz bad techno, but it was no trouble at all getting some of our Rhapsody tunes onto the device -- no installation necessary, we just plugged it in and it worked, and we got similar results with Windows Media Center for some TV transfers. It's hard to get used to that little round dot at the bottom of the player not being a button, but the screen controls are easy enough, and the side buttons are a nice touch for when you're operating the device without looking. The included headphones are naturally horrible, but you're going to be picking up some stereo Bluetooth headphones for this one anyways, right?























Your scissors have vanished? I would think it would be dangerous to run away with scissors.
I get the feeling this device was cobbled together in a rush.
For it to be "rushed", its my favorite mp3 player out of all the ones I've ever owned. Its really slick and works great with Bluetooth stereo headphones.
And I have the feeling you have absolutely NO idea what you're talking about. I have this unit and am thoroughly pleased.
Did you:
Use the lighter to heat up the plastic,then poke it with precision screw drivers.Seeing that it didn't work, you proceeded to use the Big guns[larger screw drivers]to sharpen your knife before you butchered the plastic case?
In fairness to the headphones included, audio wise > BT headphones. Stick a shure in there,then you're all set.
video please
At least when you stab yourself opening the blister pack from hell you will have a pretty PMP to keep you company in the hospital.
Got mine a week ago.. from Best Buy in Canada.
I guessed i missed my chance to be featured in engadget.. le sigh..
So what does the little round dot do?
Its the power light
That's it? You'd think the screen would be a big enough power light.
Thanks, I was seriously wondering.
The screen goes blank after a while if you are listening to music so I guess its there to let you know its still on. Plus the light turns red when charging.
It's still isnt available in my crap country :(
Yer, lets be honest you don't see many pmps that can better the iPod but this looks like it would come close, especially with the bluetooth. Am i right in thinking the P2 doesn't have WiFi though? Does it do albumart?
No to the wifi,yes to the art. I think...
This reminds me off when I bought Vista and fought with the package using knifes in 10min until I gave up, sat myself in front of the computer and searched for tutorials for opening the Vista case. I really had no clue about how to open or unfold the CD-slot.
And no I'm not stupid.*built my first PC without any help at the age of 14, 6 years ago*
What resolution of video does it support? I'm looking for a compact PMP that can do decent res video (none of this 320x240, I want to download a show and dump it on there).
I feel dirty when I say this, but I'm actually considering the iPod touch 16GB!!!!
according to Samsung's website, this player supports 16:9 video at 480x272, which is pretty descent really... i really like this player, and am considering it as my next... waiting for the zune for a comparison.
Are there any seriously good bluetooth headphones available at retail levels? Seems to me the general complaint about them is poor audio fidelity...
What the hell is going on here? Is this a weak attempt at spam or just stupidity?
I use a razor knife for such things, always being careful to point and cut AWAY from me or my fleshy parts.
As far as I know, this only supports headphone profile and not AVRCP (remote control of track, pause and play) which makes the blue tooth a slightly less interesting feature. If it had that function, I'd snatch one up quickly.
It absolutely does support AVRCP. I can play/pause, skip forward and back with my bluetooth headphones.
mm id love to see those smash a w/e people buy this, pull out their hammer, then get owned by the packaging.
I'm considering upgrading my old (somewhat broken) IOPS for either this or the Creative Zen... I have an idea that Creative delivers awesome audio quality (and probably also a quality product at that). I haven't really heard anything about the P2, so I assume that the quality is fine - but great? Also, while the bluetooth is spiffy and all, I doubt I'll ever use it. On the other hand, the Zen has an expansion slot for extra memory which is a huge plus for me. However, it lacks the really neat interface of the P2.
How hard would it to be to block any comment containing a URL with myspace in it?
Seriously WTF? why is this person reposting over and over all this crap?
Seriously? $250 for the 8GB model? For $50 more I can get the ipod touch with wifi, safari web browser, email, and multitouch.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to be convinced to get something other than an ipod (damn apple and their propensity towards the proproetary), but until this thing hits $200 or less for the 8GB model I'm not interested.
The Bluetooth alone is worth it to me. I've been waiting on a decent player with stereo Bluetooth for a long time. This is even better than I was hoping for. And I have no desire to surf the net on my mp3 player. Plus I don't want to be locked into using iTunes are any other music management software. I can plug the P2 in and copy music directly to the player. The only time you have to use their software is to copy video since it transcodes. But I bought this for music while I'm working out, not to watch video. And now I don't have to worry about wires getting in the way. I don't even need to touch the player since I can control it from my headphones.
Yes, Touch has wifi (BIG plus) but, I just have to have my DRM tracks
(Rhapsody-To-Go) I just can't bring myself to get screwed by iTunes
every time I want a new song.
do embedding videoes work? this is a review from a korean site..
if that doesnt work, click here http://dory.mncast.com/mncHMovie.swf?movieID=10015873520071030032522
It's simply amazing : )
Thanks for the Vid, I'm considering getting this and I have no need for it.
I know someone who has an ipod touch...the wifi is slow as dsl. if im gunna wait that long for a web page i might as well do it at home. the reason these aren't flying off the shelves is because ipod is more popular.
now we need some decent Bluetooth headphones. why aren't more manufacturers stepping up and making cool BT stereo headphones?
I totally agree. After buying this I looked around for some decent bluetooth headphones, and came up empty handed. Ended up leaving with a pair of corded Shures.
Can anyone confirm whether or not you can use the player as a headset replacement? I read somewhere that you could have the pmp detect your phone, then hear calls through your headphones and speak through the pmp's mic. My phone doesn't have stereo bluetooth, so I can't check.
Even without using bluetooth, I really enjoy this device. Great buy. Oh, has anyone else been able to apply the screen guard? Cause I've failed so many times.
give me one for free (i couldn't think of some postive to say, since this is ,like, the 5000000000000000000000000000000 review of the thing I've read)
I LOVE Mine, and my box didnt look like that after i was done with it, you could hardly tell that it was open except for the fact that their was no player in it.
I'm looking for bluetooth stereo headphones for it, anybody know of any high quality ones which would work? Or what about the ones that can change tracks that Sam suggests, i've no idea where to look or what to buy :(
yess the P2 does album art
to steal a line from the NFL
I WANT THAT