Blue Wave updates complete the Samsung P2
Click for pics and detailed info on Blue Wave.
When Samsung launched the P2 late last year, it was already a pretty cool device. It impressed me with a super slick interface (albeit touch screen), plentiful features (including stereo Bluetooth-streaming ability), and some of the sweetest sound to hit my ears in the history of MP3 players. Who knew then that the P2 was only three-quarters baked? Actually, it wasn't too tough to figure that out--the inclusion of a built-in mic with absolutely no usability was a dead giveaway.
Fast forward 10 months later, and Samsung finally has a complete P2 on its hands. The company issued update after update in the form of multiple Blue Wave firmware releases, and the tide has finally stopped coming in, giving me a chance to sit down with the player and test it with all features up and running. Samsung will also be relaunching the player as the P2+--with all the firmware fully loaded--starting September 14. Attractive new pricing will accompany the player as well: $149 and $179 for the 4GB and 8GB models, respectively.
Included after the jump is a comprehensive list of all the updates provided throughout the Blue Wave firmware releases. For more detailed information on several of the new features and my experience with them, check out our slide show. There was simply too much information to include in the already lengthy review, although it is worth noting that the feature additions and price drops garnered the Samsung P2 a score raise, from 7.7 to 8.0.
- Support for AAC audio
- Bluetooth cell-phone connectivity
- Bluetooth file-transfer capability
- FM radio recording
- Voice recording
- Support for Starz Play video downloads
- Two new games: Alggagi and Omok2
- New GUI themes (for a total of 12, see above)
- A-B-looping functionality
- Playlist-specific DSNe-assignment ability
- Increased audio-playback speed-control
- Video-playback speed-control
- Calculator
- Full-screen album art and info
- Password protection
- Navigate by album art
- Separate, customizable video-display settings
- Advanced touch sensitivity (such as recognizing the twisting motion)
- Subway maps
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For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
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Smartly, all the settings for each media are available from pop up menus within each player. You can dim or brighten the screen from within the video player for example. You can change font size, orientation, background, and add a bookmark from within the text reader.
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Any way, this is why I choose this player against the touch:
- Sound quality and sound enhancement features are just mind blowing. This player equalizer is GREAT, you can adjust most aspect of your audio with minimun distortion, I'd say I've not noticed distortion even when listening to MTX bass testing tracks. Not only that but its also powerful enough to drive most headphones with no issues.
- Samsung tradition of upgrading firmware and adding new features to the player for FREE!
- Skins and themes customization options.
- Bluetooth abilities.
- The interface is very intuitive.
In my opinion, it beats the ipod nano since it has more features like bluetooth, FM radio and more. The P2's screen is 3 inches compared to the Nano's 2inch screen. I like the P2's interface better since the menus are nice and you can customize it with its software exactly how you want it. On the nano, the main menu is displayed in a list with a white background! On the P2 you can put any picture as the wallpaper. The P2 is better in my opinion than the Nano.
You cannot really compare the P2 to the ipod touch, since it has wi-fi and many other features and it isn't like a normal mp3 player. In fact, the touch is more like a pda. Therefore, I think the Samsung P2 is one of the best regular mp3 players out there on the market.