Samsung YP-T8Z (1GB)

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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.

The YP-T8 does not disappoint on the sound stakes, either. Besides a host of sound equalizer features like 3D effects (club, stage, studio, user), preset equalizers (classical, R&B, ballad, jazz, rock, house, dance) and a seven-band user defined equalizer, there is a Street mode which Samsung claims to enhance the music fidelity in a noisy environment.

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.

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