Samsung YP-M1 Review.

I can't fathom why Samsung doesn't sell the YP-M1 media player in the U.S.. The 3.3" OLED screen over a Tegra processor has the stones to compete with the offerings of Cowon and iRiver and any other Korean maker, as well as Sony. Perhaps it is Apple's dominance that has them too timid to go head to head. No way of knowing, of course. I ordered this M1 from ExportPrive.com in South Korea, and it arrived within a week or so of my order. Pricey though for an 8gb touchscreen PMP.

So, what can a Tegra processor do for a pocket media player? In this Samsung it can process just about any media you can throw at it. From lossless audio files to 720p video, the M1 doesn't blink. Files that other devices choke on the M1 plays with no complaint. Samsung packs this power in a device smaller than last year's YP-P3 yet with a bigger screen. They've retained the P3's key features, but one-upped it in every media type application. Music and Video play, and even photo display are broadened and more visually entertaining.

Dimensions: 53.6 x 99.6 x 9.9mm. Weight 3.4 oz. or 95 grams (with microSD card inserted).
Included: Bundled earphones (EP390), USB Cable, PDF manual (on the M1), and a Quick Guide. Controls include Volume +/- and a Power/Hold button on the top edge with the microphone hole.

There is a microSD slot on the left side, with USB and headphone jacks on the bottom edge.

The M1 is stainless steel and tempered glass. Built like a tank. Some features:

• G-Sensor. Well utilized, with landscape and portrait modes of most main apps.
• Haptic Feedback. "Vibe Woofer", and tactile feedback of screen taps.
• Speakers. Top and bottom of the screen. Better than most.
• Microphone. Voice recording and phone calls.
• MicroSD-HC slot (not well integrated).
• Bluetooth, including headphone/file transfer/and phone.
• 1280 x 720 video support.
• TV-out (not HD, sorry). NTSC or PAL. Accessory cable not included.

Music: The M1 handles MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, AAC, M4A (not lossless), and FLAC files. I've gotten a sample of every codec to play, although some high bitrate (lossless) versions generate an error message. The M1 is rated for up to 30 hours of music playback on a battery charge.TThe Now Playing screen is complete, with full width album art. The title, artist, album, file format, Play Mode, song length are also displayed. You have to tap the screen once to call up shuttle controls. The bottom row gives you quick access to the Music Settings and A-B marking.
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The Settings include DNSe, Play Mode, Music Play Screen, Horizontal Stroke, Add to Playlist (up to 5 user playlists), Add to Alarm, and Play Speed. EQ (DNSe) preset options include Auto, Normal, Studio, Rock, Classical, Jazz, Ballad, Club, Dance, Cade, Concert Hall, and Church. There are two user EQ (MyDNSe) settings available.
·I found the Music Player very complete. The output from on-board speakers is better than most. Using good headphones the sound is excellent. Throw in Bluetooth output and you've got an A+ music app.
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Video: Samsung claims the M1 will play WMV, DivX, Xvid, SWF, H.264, ASF, and MPEG4. I have no doubt. The M1 is rated for up to 5 hours of video playback on a battery charge. It played every form of video file I threw at it. There is video out with the right cable, but sadly it only supports SD resolutions over NTSC or PAL.
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Notice the little camera icon on the left above. When video is paused a tap on that icon will save an image the M1 will use to identify the movie when listing them. There are three list modes including a text list, an icons lists, and something like a coverflow list.·
Videos look stunning on the 3.3 inch OLED screen. You can see complete info about the video playing with a tap on the screen. The Settings menu includes DNSe, Display, Horizontal Stroke, Play Speed, and TV Out. You have Normal, Drama, Action, and Theater presets under DNSe. Display includes Brightess, Screen Size, and Subtitle options. You can a Bookmark one location in any video. Trying to add a second bookmark will over-write the first. It is a great video app, but not quite as complete as that on my Cowon J3. For that reason video gets an A-.
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Photos: The M1 will display JPEG, BMP, and PNG files. There are two graphic preview styles. The one on the right above is dynamic, panning vertically up and down to reveal your photo thumbnails. Photos are automatically rotated to best fill the screen. You have the option to manually rotate them in 90 degree increments. Zoom is available up to 3X. Tap on a magnifying glass icon to bring up a vertical zoom slider. Photos that are higher resolution than the screen appear to zoom without pixelating. You can actually use this photo app for zooming in on detail in a photo. There are several clever visual transition options for slide shows. No doubt thanks to the Tegra chip. The delay between photos in a slide show seems to be fixed at 5 seconds though. I like the Photo app. It is fairly complete. Surprisingly it is not quite as full featured as that on the earlier Samsung P3. The OLED screen is much better looking though. I give the M1's Photo capability a B+.
Documents: The Samsung P2 and P3 have great txt file readers, and the M1 follows in that tradition. You get a coverflow style list of the documents on board in the landscape mode. Text will rotate as the M1 rotates. You can change the background (paper type) and text colors, as well as the text size (small, medium, large). There is a nice graphic page flip animation when turning pages. You get one bookmark setting for each file. Again, there is nothing apparent in this application that looks improved over the P3's version, except of course the larger screen and clever graphic list view. It remains one of the best text reader you'll find on any PMP, so I give it an A. The Samsung P3 is an amazing player. This M1 is slightly better, but mainly in the graphic effects the Tegra chip apparently encourages. There is far more than Music, Video, Photos, and Text you can enjoy with the M1 though. In the 2nd half of this review I'll cover the more esoteric features. So far, the M1 is looking good.
Stay Tuned.
4D