Samsung YP-T8Z (1GB)

As Samsung's latest flash-based MP3 player to hit the market, the YP-T8 is an eye-catching device with a noticeably large LCD display which distances it from similarly-speced players. Laden with a slew of features, the YP-T8 not only manages to avoid tripping on its varied functions, it also proved its mettle in our lab test. We heartily recommend it to users looking for a pint sized multimedia solution without the sacrifice in performance.Design
Other than the 1.8-inch display which dominates the front of the player, the YP-T8 embraces an elliptic-like design with a gentle curvature on its front, back and sides for an overall comfortable feel reminiscent of the first time we laid hands on the Zen Micro.

	The navigation key makes for a hor hum alternative.

Though the buttons have relatively good tactile feedback, the layout is all over the place. Rather like our beef with the iRiver H10 which has the Play button sitting on the right side of the device, the YP-T8 employs the same concept which dampens the intuitiveness inherent in players with playback controls located only on the front panel.

The YP-T8 uses a clickable rocker switch beneath the display to scroll up and down the menu. While this may not be as convenient as the iPod's Click Wheel, the commonsensical layout of the buttons: Left arrow to enter a menu, right to backtrack, up/down to scroll, eases the learning curve a little. Though most of the functions have their own dedicated buttons, the menu key can be dual-activated--press and hold to exit to the main menu, a short press to access the contextual sub-menu for the feature e.g. preset controls and manual tuning while in FM radio mode. The same also goes for the rocker switch.

	Now that is so much cleaner.

Oddly, the microphone is located on the bottom of the YP-T8. It's not a major quibble for us, but if you need to check the length of the voice file while recording, it helps if you can read upside down.

Display is bright and colorful with ample space to display basic ID3 tag info like artist name, album, song title and bit rate. There are even three mini visualizers though two of these are not reactive to music playback; they are simply graphics put on a perpetual loop.

Though the YP-T8 comes in a very pocket-able design, a condom belt-clip casing is also included as well as a corded lanyard (looking like a length of rope) to hang off the neck. Not exactly very stylish options, we would rather whip out the YP-T8 every now and then to show it off.

Features
The main grouse we had with the older Samsung YEPP models was that the bundled music management software was essentially a waste of time. However, the new Samsung Media Studio has been given a cosmetic overhaul and now comes in an iPod-ish white with a tinge of ash-blue. The new design is very clean and easy to navigate and a whole lot less painful than the previous renditions. It covers the basics like playlist creation, ID3 tag editing and Gracenote support amply well, though it is still not on par with iTunes.

	The rubber condom casing makes it look like a mobile phone.

A separate Multimedia Studio covers the picture and video transfers to the YP-T8. It's odd that Samsung did not choose to integrate both together. The Multimedia Studio covers basic image editing and handles the conversion of videos into the .svi format for viewing on the YP-T8. The conversion is something we could have done without, but this is a prevalent requirement in all the flash-based MP3 players (with video playback support) we have encountered so far.

The YP-T8 also fulfills the standard set of features in an average MP3 player; FM/voice/line-in recording, playlist creation, FM radio and the usual codec support (MP3, WMA, OGG and WAV). Unlike the iPod, the photo viewer function on the YP-T8 does not support thumbnails which makes searching for a specific JPEG a relative hassle. This Samsung could be improved with a screen brightness adjustment as well as a zooming function.

	The rubber condom casing makes it look like a mobile phone.

In addition, this Samsung MP3 player can also act as a text reader and USB host device, but users intending to utilize the latter, must bring along the USB host cable. We tried the YP-T8 with both a Super Tangent and a thumbdrive and the Samsung recognized both without any problems. However, the transfer speed was real sluggish; we clocked 0.21MB per second on average.

A nice bonus is the motion-sensitive gaming capability. Our review unit came with four games: One Shot Dart (dart throwing), Crazy Hurdles, Hextris (a Tetris clone) and Pipe Dream Plus. The first two games require hand motions to control the characters and takes some getting used to, but once mastered, the games make for amusing fun. One word of caution, fellow commuters on a bus may give you a wide berth after bearing witness to your violent hand movements trying to throw a virtual dart.

Video playback on the YP-T8 follows a landscape orientation and the 1.8-inch screen certainly suffices for short videos without straining the eyes. However the color display is not exceedingly brilliant and there is no zoom function or an orientation adjustment for the display.

Performance

	Para para on your MP3 player.

On testing, we find that it is only an equalizer enhancement to achieve a brighter sound to overcome ambiant noise. We would rather vote for noise-canceling earphones anyday.

Vocals on the YP-T8 are very clear and crisp and though it is not lacking in bass, it certain is in need of equalizers to up the low end on dance tracks. We recorded transfer speeds of 6.51MB per second on average for the YP-T8, a very respectable score, and it even managed to best the manufacturer-claimed battery life of 20 hours with 21 hours and 50 minutes.