 |
The Samsung Q1 (YP-Q1) digital media player is so boring and frustrating that I don't want to spend any time giving it my full review treatment. Instead, I'd like to share some of the photos I originally took for the review and talk about what I think Samsung did wrong when designing the flash-based player.
The Samsung P3 (YP-P3) is the long-awaited upgrade to 2007's P2 (YP-P2), the company's first touchscreen digital media player. Though almost identical in design, the P3 one-ups its predecessor with an aluminum casing, haptic feedback, integrated speaker, DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology, and customizable Flash-based user interface with widgets. It retains the same rich Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support and 3-inch 480 x 272 display of the P2, but features a slightly revamped design that gives it a cleaner, more streamlined look.
Released in Korea in December 2008, the Samsung P3 is expected to become available in the US in the first half of this year. Of course, if you can't wait, Warehouse123.com already has the 8GB ($247) and 16GB ($268) models in stock.
Why is Samsung sneaking new products onto its website without telling anyone about them? Last week it was the less-than-thrilling Q1EX UMPC and today it's the 8GB and 16GB Q2 (YP-Q2) digital media players.
Frankly, I'm not sure what Samsung was thinking with this one, as it's basically nothing more than 1) a larger, higher capacity S3 with a 2.4-inch QVGA display or 2) a YP-Q1 in a different body. Other than a reported 50-hour audio battery life, I'm sorry to say that the Q2 doesn't have much going for it.
Maybe that's why Samsung is trying to keep it quiet. I only came across it today because I'm working on my Samsung P3 and Q1 reviews and went to check the company's official US website for good measure. Instead of finding information about those players, I found the new and unreleased Q2 instead.
Full specs of the Samsung Q2 in the product database.
If you can't wait for the official US release of the long-awaited Samsung P3 digital media player, head over to Warehouse123.com to order the 8GB device in black or silver for $247. And while you wait to hold the slim aluminum body in your hands, tap the 3-inch haptic touchscreen, and check out what the integrated Bluetooth 2.1+EDR can do for yourself, take a look at my unboxing to bide your time.
Following NaviGadget's discovery of the FCC documentation for the new Samsung Q1EX, Engadget found that the Nano-powered UMPC already had an official product page full of specs, some photos, a user manual, and other details. Since then, Samsung put the device up for preorder for a fairly reasonable $750. In addition to the 1.2GHz Nano processor, 2GB of RAM, 60GB hard drive, and Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system, the Q1EX features a 7-inch WSVGA touchscreen, 4.5-hour battery life, Bluetooth, WiFi, and . . . I'm sorry, but is anyone else bored?
I was wide awake when the story first hit Engadget's Twitter feed (half-past midnight here in Hawaii) but was so uninterested that I actually decided to go to sleep (hours later, mind you) instead of write about it.
A press release issued by Samsung yesterday included a casual mention of a MID:
The latest and the most diverse Mobile WiMAX line-ups include mobile WiMAX Ubicell Notebook, Mobile Internet Device (MID) and Smartphone, so as to target a diversity of consumer demands.
A Samsung MID has long been rumored to be in the works, so a simple statement like that would've been enough for many to begin speculating about what else besides WiMAX the handheld device would have. Fortunately, the team at Ubergizmo saved us from all the googling, feeding the rumor mill, and searching the FCC site to unearth more details by snapping a great set of hands-on photos of what has been identified at MWC as the Samsung SWD-M100 (specs below), a Windows Mobile 6.1 connected slider device with a 4.3-inch touchscreen and Opera browser.
I got in touch with Samsung's PR people this morning to find out more and was told that they couldn't talk about US availability of the "SWD-M100 WiMAX PC Card" (PC card?) right now. I'd ask for ideas on what you think that might mean, but since doing so would only cause exactly the kind of speculation we just avoided, I'll sit tight until the PR folks are able to speak more freely.
In stark contrast to Samsung's showing at CES 2008, which was overrun with Q1 Ultra Premiums that people could touch and use, this year's enormous booth is almost completely devoid of them. We walked through the booth several times looking for the UMPC display and were about to give up when we spotted a lone Q1 Ultra inside a glass case set up way on the side. What was it doing?
With Christmas only about a week away and my fiber-optic tree still in the closet, what better way to get into the spirit of belated holiday decorating than to unbox a Christmas-colored digital audio player?
This is the Samsung S3 (YP-S3) that came out a few months ago. I don't have the time or interest to review it, but when else am I going to have an excuse to unbox a green DAP? I only chose this color because delivery of the black one I originally ordered got delayed until mid-January (not sure why, as the S3 is hardly a must-have this season), but I have to say that I don't mind it too much.
Unless your interests include both UMPCs and audio remixing/producing, you may have missed the news this summer that the Samsung Q1 Ultra traded its Windows coat for a Debian/Ubuntu-inspired Linux outfit called Transmission and began hanging out at clubs. Not to worry, though, as Linux.com just pulled the story out from the back of the closet and put it back into circulation.
"Conceived as the intersection of pro audio engineering and mobile computing" by US-based Trinity Audio Group, the 40GB UMPC has been rechristened the Indamixx and comes preloaded with audio goodies like DAWs (digital audio workstations), analog synths, plug-ins, a drum machine, and digital DJ software.
Part of the reason we tend to forgive companies for missing release dates is that it's easy to forget about promised devices when the follow-through takes more than a few weeks. Things move so quickly in technology that before we can even remember to remind ourselves to check on the whereabouts of a particular device, we're already hot on the trail of an even newer piece of gear with an even more uncertain release date.
Case in point: the Snapdragon-based Samsung MID that a Qualcomm representative said was "expected to hit retail stores" by the end of June. Most sites reported the news when it broke in mid-June and seemed impressed with the claimed specs, which included HSDPA, GPS, HD video playback capabilities, and support for a 12-megapixel camera. I skipped covering it here because it seemed a bit suspect, but there was some talk about in the forum. I figured I would wait for the official overseas announcement (Qualcomm's US legal issues still haven't been resolved, right?) or at least a blurry leaked image before writing it up. But neither came.
Worse yet, no one cared. It's now been five weeks since the end of June, and the absence of the Samsung MID has gone unnoticed. It's true that Samsung themselves have only gone on record (via UMPCPortal) as saying that a MID would come eventually, but that Qualcomm rep obviously knew something. Man, how good is Qualcomm's benefits package that an employee still hasn't slipped something through to Engadget? I mean, seriously. Where is it?
