Despite the rather petite screen, Samsung is punting the R1 as a serious video player with format support covering all the popular codecs and containers including DivX, XviD, H.264, MPEG4, WMV, AVI, MP4, ASF and QuickTime. The R1 will also support file resolutions above its native screen size up to and including 720 x 480 – a trick the P3 can't pull off.
Coverflow style for video and audio libraries
With a full beans 16 million colours palette and a more than respectable DPI of 166, the R1's screen makes for a highly satisfactory viewing experience with video looking extremely crisp, clear and colourful.
Aspect ratio can be manually adjusted to either full screen 16:9 or original, which is handy if you are watching DVD rips of feature films. The fast-forward/rewind functions have been very well thought out, which makes zipping about through large video files a cinch.
To pop a cherry on the cake, the R1 also supports SubRip subtitle files. Also, utilising Samsung's Digital Natural Sound Engine (DNSe), you can access a video-optimised set of sound modification functions whilst actually viewing the video. This made watching Kieślowski's Double Life of Veronique an absolute treat. Not only did it look and sound great, but we could read what was going on! Move away from video and you will find that audio and picture file support isn't too shabby either with MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, FLAC, WAV, JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG files all accepted.
Like all Samsung media players we have tested recently, the sound quality is firmly towards the top of the pile. Not only is this helped by DNSe tweaks, but by a better than average pair of bundled in-ear earphones, which come with three sizes of rubber bud.
The Touchwiz UI takes care of the menus and navigation
Unlike the Samsung Q2 we looked at recently, we had no issues loading DRM protected BBC iPlayer downloads onto the R1, nor did we have any problems getting it to show up as a mass storage device when plugged into Mac and Linux machines. Playlists can either be set up on-board or synced across from an MTP compatible media player.
COMMENTS
Gingerbread
Is it me or is there something a little perverse about Gingerbread Man with a sign saying "Touch Me" over his... I think you get the idea.
Why is there a kinky gingerbread man on the home screen anyway?
Gapless?
That is why my Rio Karma still rocks... it is unbelievable that an old player like that still have unique features.
Gapless
hi-robb - sad to say the R1 doesn't support gapless playback. Its a feature I really wish the likes of Samung, Sony, Sansa etc would try to rig up for their players as I listen to a lot of opera on the go.
Gapless?
Good review, but does it support gapless playback?
The masses need to know!
D
