Samsung launches 'world's first' Android MP3 player
iPod Touch-alike from another Galaxy
CES 2011 Samsung has announced the launch of its latest PMP - apparently the world's first Android powered MP3 player, according to the company, which appears to have missed Archos' Google OS offerings.
The Samsung Galaxy Player 50 has a 3.2in touchscreen, 2Mp camera and comes with either 8GB or 16GB of storage, expandable using Micro SD cards of up to 32GB.
With in-built Wi-Fi, the Galaxy Player can connect to Android Markeplace to access over 100,000 apps and games. Its browser is Flash compatible, and the Galaxy 50 boasts broad format support with drag and drop capabilities, Samsung said.
Available from retailers such as Amazon and Play.com, the Samsung Galaxy 50 costs £149.
Other additions to its MP3 player range include the Samsung Q3, which is available in white and pink or black and silver, and the Samsung U6 which comes in black or hot pink. The U6 offers the choice of 2GB or 4GB and starts at £39, while the Q3 comes in 4GB or 8GB and starts at £59. ®
Watch out for Reg Hardware's Galaxy Player 50 review later this week
COMMENTS
Alternatively...
... buy an Orange San Francisco for £99, add a 16Gb micro sd card for £20 and you've got practically the same thing with added phone & internet functionality and spent £30 less.
Niche
Depends on the niche you're referring to.
I have a Cowon/iAudio J3 (32GB). True, it doesn't do apps in quite the same way (only dodgy flash games), but it does have a really nice touchscreen, a coverflow-like system (not that I use it), brilliant battery, and great codec support.
In addition, it has microSD expansion (with proper library integration) and it can be used as a normal mass-storage device on any computer :)
And that's not even talking about the sound quality.
Unfortunately, I can understand why some people might find it a little bit techy, and even I'm disappointed with the playlist support.
Since I have an Android phone, I'm not really looking for anything more complicated than that (though, wifi file transfer would be a bonus, I suppose).
What a pity ... no phone or SMS?
Having gone so far it would not have cost that much more to make it a handset.
Good to see Samsung is using a standard audio connector instead of the multi-pin things it used on it'd earlier handsets.
I think Archos will have to take a pencil to it's price list.
Erm, well yes it would
If you look at the cost of equivalent phones they are substantially more expensive for equivalent spec. in other regards.
I guess it depends on the quality of the components, but there is no reason why something that is less sophisticated shouldn't be cheaper.
For someone that already has a phone, it makes no sense to replace it with another phone that you don't intend to use as a phone.
Spotify
So long as the sound quality and battery life are up to par this could be the PMP I've been waiting for. I've got an android phone but I'd rather have a separate PMP and so long as I can use Spotify offline on it this could be perfect.
I might wait a bit longer to see if Sony get around to an andy pmp but I suspect I'll be in for a long wait.
