So I managed to finally destroy my old Sansa c250. I could only get audio out of one side. So for about a week now, I've been happily enjoying its successor: the 1 GB Samsung S2 Pebble.
DESIGN
Before I get into the actual results section, I'm going to break down the aesthetics a bit.
This thing is gorgeous. I know the benchmark for electronics design these days seems to be Apple, but I really think Samsung did a great job with this one. It's small, unobtrusive, but it looks great when it hangs around your neck (using the included necklace earbuds). The interface is simple enough. In fact, when you plug the earphones in, it orients the player perfectly so that the volume up button is on the upper side of the player. The back is a tad too shiny, making it a fingerprint magnet, but the idea was to make it resemble a polished pebble, so that's pretty unavoidable. It has no screen, putting it in the same class as the Shuffle, but this does have a convenient LED indicator on the back that will signal the status of the player (e.g. flashing red for low battery). It makes it pretty intuitive, overall.
FUNCTION
Ah yes, the meat and potatoes. The sound on this thing is quite decent for a player that won't cost north of $30 (Note that I got the 1 GB model. I believe there is a 2 GB model, but that one costs more). I opted to use my own earphones, because the necklace earphones provided seem to cut out some lows. Volume runs a very acceptable range, and I was able to drown out a very crowded train pretty easily.
One feature on the Pebble, however, has me sold: the ability to create a playlist on the fly. There is a fifth "smart button" on the player, which will allow you to switch modes. Holding the volume button will add the current song to a playlist (max. 30 songs) which can then be accessed by holding down the smart button. For someone who enjoys different groups of songs on different days, this feature really is a selling point.
ACTUAL RESULTS
Time to test the box claims. Samsung says the Pebble will get 13 hours of playback, which I unfortunately didn't manage to pull off, but just barely. I kept the player playing more or less constantly during four 3-hour train rides I took, and only about an hour into the last one did it conk out. That's a decent 10 hours of playback, before a charge is needed. Samsung's keeping it pretty honest here.
Final Rating: 4.5/5 - It's a solid low-cost player that's great for trips to the gym or places you wouldn't want to bring your main MP3 player.
This thing is gorgeous. I know the benchmark for electronics design these days seems to be Apple, but I really think Samsung did a great job with this one. It's small, unobtrusive, but it looks great when it hangs around your neck (using the included necklace earbuds). The interface is simple enough. In fact, when you plug the earphones in, it orients the player perfectly so that the volume up button is on the upper side of the player. The back is a tad too shiny, making it a fingerprint magnet, but the idea was to make it resemble a polished pebble, so that's pretty unavoidable. It has no screen, putting it in the same class as the Shuffle, but this does have a convenient LED indicator on the back that will signal the status of the player (e.g. flashing red for low battery). It makes it pretty intuitive, overall.
FUNCTION
Ah yes, the meat and potatoes. The sound on this thing is quite decent for a player that won't cost north of $30 (Note that I got the 1 GB model. I believe there is a 2 GB model, but that one costs more). I opted to use my own earphones, because the necklace earphones provided seem to cut out some lows. Volume runs a very acceptable range, and I was able to drown out a very crowded train pretty easily.
One feature on the Pebble, however, has me sold: the ability to create a playlist on the fly. There is a fifth "smart button" on the player, which will allow you to switch modes. Holding the volume button will add the current song to a playlist (max. 30 songs) which can then be accessed by holding down the smart button. For someone who enjoys different groups of songs on different days, this feature really is a selling point.
ACTUAL RESULTS
Time to test the box claims. Samsung says the Pebble will get 13 hours of playback, which I unfortunately didn't manage to pull off, but just barely. I kept the player playing more or less constantly during four 3-hour train rides I took, and only about an hour into the last one did it conk out. That's a decent 10 hours of playback, before a charge is needed. Samsung's keeping it pretty honest here.
Final Rating: 4.5/5 - It's a solid low-cost player that's great for trips to the gym or places you wouldn't want to bring your main MP3 player.
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