Samsung P3 - An Average Media Player

Nowadays most of the features of the MP3 players are not related to music and the
Samsung YP-P3C is no different. On the other hand the player is a complete media centre that is so feature-rich that most of your comfort and convenience related needs are taken care of.

Appearance:
The player comes with connecting/charging cable, a pair of earbud style earphones, installation CD and a user's guide. The player has a nice 2.5-Inch widescreen display and slim form factor looks very chunky and fashionable. With no buttons in the front the styling of the P3 is quite contemporary.

Features:
With an 8GB flash memory and a large and vibrant display screen, the P3 is a good video device. It can play many video formats but not the most popular .avi! On the music front, the device plays almost all the known formats. While the haptlc* touch screen responds to swipes and strokes the forced feedback ensures that the conformity to the touch is delivered to the user. The forced feedback has ten adjustable Intensity levels to suit your choice.

To add to the comfort, you can connect the P3 to an A2DP compatible stereo bluetooth headset or speaker set and stream music wirelessly. It is also possible to share data with your PC wirelessly; these can be Images, movies, music or any other data. It is possible to connect the P3 with a mobile phone through Bluetooth so that when one receives a phone call, the music will pause and one can finish the phone call to resume the music — all this automatically.

The equalizer settings are not accessible if you're on Bluetooth headset. The P3 can be a very useful dictation/ spy device with exceptionally clean voice recordings through the built in microphone. But absence of a standard feature like the camera limited the P3 from becoming a complete media centre.

But the real fun begins when you go beyond these major features. The desktop of the P3 comes in very many exciting flavors and colors and setting these up is as fun as using them. Then there are functions like the subway schedule of many leading cities of the world and you being able to store your contacts in the P3!

Samsung has tied up with many third party (Internet) content providers and free trial subscriptions for the P3 owners. Also, through the boring times, the P3 can keep you entertained and engaged by offering the games feature too.

P3 comes in 16GB model too, and the doubling of memory comes at three thousand rupees extra. If you're a movie buff, then having the 16GB version makes sense
(Internet info: at CES 2009 were showcased 4GB and 32GB versions too). If the memory is full and the battery power left is low then you can try the FM radio function to keep yourself entertained. The recording hot key allows the user to create a collection of rare FM recordings. However, an external memory slot would have made this player easy on info exchange and sharing.

The P3 is faster and evidently has brighter display than its lookalike predecessor, the P2. Even the screen resolution is better in the P3. For the sound effects there is a vibration woofer function, which uses the same motor as that of the forced feedback (the tremors or vibrations as effects experienced in-sync with the game action) on the tune of the musical beats.

Performance
You got to be careful with the P3. It is chunky but slippery. It is very easy to start the music or movie as the Icons are ready on the opening screen. For convenience, the movie or music resume from where you had left it even after a fresh start up. Haptic touch screen is not so responsive and easy to operate. There were no feedback modes to choose from and the one that came factory set was a bit annoying as it lingered after the screen strike was over. In fact the issue was the very same one during the woofer operation, as the vibration seemed to be slow and lagging.

The default desktop screen is very colorful and the color rendition of the screen was superb. Small animation vignettes that keep the desktop from becoming drab and boring are very good. You can easily hold or lock the operation with a tap to the power button and unlock the P3 by quickly tapping it twice. But the screen kept coming alive asking to unlock even when the player screen was gently rubbing the pocket seam. The Bluetooth transmitter of P3 works only if the player is in direct line of sight of the headset.
At the video front the movie resolution is slightly lower than the screen resolution, and the movie cannon be seen in full-screen mode! A very basic feature that even a decent Samsung mobile phone has — analogue AV out to connect the P3 to your TV is not available. This would have added to the convenience of sharing images and movies with friends and helped us to getting public from personal!

Bottom line
All the feature related complaints fall short when the core — the audio performance is so good. There is nothing further to say when the price, compared to the reference 8GB iPod Touch, is around 25 to 30% lower.

GoGear - A Portable Media Player By Philips

Phllips. a major player in the mass consumer market has a very good repute with a huge line up of successful products. GoGear MP4 player which may look deceivingly petite at first glance but comes mighty with what it has to offer.

Appearence

The very first thing that strikes you is the huge screen (for a portable player} of this GoGear. A major portion of the player is occupied by the screen and the rest is where all the transport is fitted on to. Also the horizontal orientation is very ergonomic for the simple reason that it becomes very easy and convenient to operate when you hold it horizontally. You will get a protective pouch for the player, a pair of earbuds and a USB chord for charging and data transfer as standard accessories.



Features

Just as simple and basic as It appears In terms of looks, the GoGear is even simpler when it comes to technology. With no fancy frills, there are only a couple of things that should be highlihghted. First being the Full Sound feature which claims to put life into compressed digital music, with the help of real time sound Processing, dramatically enriching and enhancing the sound, so that you experience a CD-like sound which is more immersive and soulful. One more interesting feature is the Bluetooth, where you can pair the player with any Bluetooth enabled headphones or speakers so that It can stream audio through the headphones. The 2.8-lnch screen Is a QVGA LCD display that promises to be long lasting while It continuously gives you the liberty to watch your favourite videos for hours at a stretch. And while you watch movies for hours, the earbuds which are designed to follow the curvature of your ear will not let you experience ear fatigue. Its ergonomic fit enables optimal noise cancellation (acoustic obviously). The SA5245BT packs just 4GB of onboard memory
and supports no other means of memory expansion. On the playback front it can playback .MP3 .WMA and .AAC files in audio while MPEG4 and WMV9 in video.

Performance

There are two options to transfer your data into the player. The supplied media manager software by Philips is recommended instead of the usual drag and drop method. This because, the software comes with its own converter which you can use to convert your audio and video files as per your convenience. Earbuds are really effective and quite convenient to use. They fit perfectly well in the ear and also double up to reduce external noise to a great extent. Musically though they can't be considered as good and effective, nonetheless they are quite satisfactory. What is commendable is the amount of bass these tiny earbuds could reproduce. For almost every song that we played on the player, there was a distinct and prominent (In a good way) bass line that stood exclusively upfront. The Full Sound feature did make a fair bit of difference to the overall sound as it worked its best to make the music sound a notch fuller and more polished. On the video front, this player is a fantastic Investment for those who like to watch their movies while on the go. The screen is bright, optimally saturated with colors and also displays detail. Browsing through the menu is also very easy while other functions like the Bluetooth. Voice Recording, FM tuner etc also are very easy to understand and operate.

Bottom line

The SA5245BT is very easy to use and comes packed with a lengthy list of utilities to optimize your player, apart from its audio and video features. Even though it lacks a bit on the audio front by not being full sounding and complete, it is certainly great at what it does with the video. And lastly, coming at Rs 7.999 it essentially qualifies as a good buy for a portable player.

New iPod Shuffle With Vibrant Colors

Just as the Nano and the Classic, the Shuffle also has things to show off in its latest form. The tiny IPod does not have the liberty to talk about its user interface but it sure has the opportunity to talk about its colours. And it does with great pride as the vibrant blue, green, pink and red shout for attention along with old and the beautiful silver. The new Cirrus Audio chips churn out amazing audio quality as always while the new battery onboard the Shuffle makes up for extra long hours (up to 12 hours) of music playback.

Ipod Classic 6th generation

Along with the 4th generation Nano, even the good old IPod Classic got a revamp as Apple released the 6th generation of the same. The new IPod Classic packs the best of both the worlds — Its experience and the latest technical advancements by Apple. The most striking feature being the inclusion of the Cover Flow feature with the tilt sensor, just as in the new Nano. Apple's click wheel retains the same look but it swiftly adjusts itself with the tilt sensor and makes browsing through the menu much more fun especially whilst playing games. The video resolution is the same as in the new Nano (320 x 240). Considering that Classic's screen has always been bigger than the Nano. this time It could have done with an upgrade. On the compatibility front also there is no change as it plays MP3s, A ACs. Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF music files and audiobooks from Audible. It'll also handle high-quality video in H.264 MPEG-4 format, plus QuickTime movies and your photo llbraries.