Photo gallery: Samsung YP-U1Editor's note: The Samsung YP-U1 series is available in three models: YP-U1V (256MB, AU$129), YP-U1X (512MB, AU$149) and YP-U1Z (1GB, AU$199)
Long, slim and white. Somehow after the Apple iPod Shuffle, such designs have been popping out of the woodwork in a relentless wave. Whether this is by coincidence or just grudging compliments to the Cupertino design team, comparisons are inevitable. We find out in this review just how the YP-U1Z measures up.
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Design
Measuring just 23.8 x 87.8 x 13.5mm, the YP-U1Z sits very well in either a jeans pocket or a well-stuffed handbag. With a fold-up USB jack, the YP-U1 also does double duty as a thumbdrive and is far more convenient than the Shuffle with its losable USB cap. The YP-U1Z will score points with the aesthetic-minded for its sliding cover, however, the design of the jack is a tad flimsy since it is not rigid enough to support the weight of the MP3 player. We are nitpicking, though.
Befitting its utilitarian status, the YP-U1Z has no colour screen. Instead it uses a monochrome version with a white backlight. Physical controls are few and that is the way we like it; less hassle in remembering the locations of all the buttons. There's a four-way D-pad with a centre-clickable Menu button. In music playback mode, the up/down buttons governs the volume while the left/right keys take care of track skipping. A short press of the centre switch brings up the tree-directory interface while a longer press will display the different menu functions. There is also a Play/Pause button and a Record key plus a Hold switch. Overall, it's a pretty neat layout.
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A metal loop is located at the end of the player for a lanyard, though since the 3.5mm audio jack lies just beneath the loop, it proved difficult for us to plug in stereo mini-jacks with a thicker rubber jacket since the protrusion would impede the full insertion of the cable. However, unlike the mess of cables that is the Shuffle when both lanyard and earphones are inserted (the connection points are located at opposite ends of the unit), unsightly cable clutter is minimised on the YP-U1Z.
The battery is non-removable and despite long hours in our junk-filled pocket, the YP-U1Z survived with nary a scratch. Though the tiny screen may not favour the short-sighted, the tree directory-styled navigation makes it easier to look for tracks especially when songs are arranged in folders. However, those used to the iTunes style of track management, with artist, album and track names neatly arranged, won't find it here.
Button feel is good with decent tactile feedback, but we feel the keys on the D-pad could be made a little larger.
Features
Remarkably, there is no FM radio on the YP-U1Z, a surprising omission given Samsung's track record with flash-based MP3 players. Playlist selection is available, but as with most MP3 players of this calibre, the user is limited to just the one. Earmarking of tracks for the playlist involves just a press of the menu button when a track is highlighted in the tree directory.
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Track management is possible within the unit itself such as track deletion, but the three-step process mars the experience when mass deletion is required. A format option is included, though changes made through that affect all content, as it cannot be applied selectively.
The new Samsung Media Studio software is a great improvement over the earlier version that was shipped with previous Samsung MP3 players. It's definitely more intuitive in terms of layout with a small Windows Explorer window on the left, the music database in the centre and the MP3 player content on the right. One nitpick we have about the software is that the search function can be executed only on one layer, e.g. within a folder, and not throughout the computer. But if you are the sort to dump all your MP3s in the My Music folder, you are in luck.
We are frankly impressed that for such a small player, Samsung engineers have decided to include a whopping nine-band equaliser. Average portable players tend to limit it to just five bands. The YP-U1 also includes three preset equalisers (classic; rock; jazz) and a bass booster.
Performance
In our sound tests, the YP-U1Z performed adequately on the high end though we felt vocals on Diana Krall's You are Getting to be a Habit with Me came across as a little distant. However, tweaking the sound with the aforementioned nine-band equaliser, let us squeeze out a slightly brighter sound. Bass-wise, the unit was quite comfortable with Massive Attack's Angel, though we felt it was necessary to activate the bass booster for a more head-pounding low end.
We would not recommend the YP-U1 for voice recording as the effective range during our test was only a metre or so.
Transfer speed using the Samsung Music Studio software with 240MB worth of music files was a sluggish 1.05MB per second, while with a straight drag-and-drop transfer using the same files resulted in a slightly speedier 1.64MB per second.
Battery life was an unimpressive 13 hours 53 minutes.
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