Samsung YP-K3: Almost an iPod nano

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

ONCE in a while, an electronic device manufacturer would try and compete with Apple in the portable MP3 device market. Most of the competition would try to make theirs look as simple as the iPod that they end up looking like the iPod.

Korean electronics giant Samsung has previously attempted to enter the MP3 device business with their small Yepp series. Now, the company is stretching its legs as it launched the K3 series. Not surprisingly, it looks like the iPod nano and because it is somewhat a clone of Apple’s mid-range MP3 player, the K3 admittedly looks good.

The unit is just slightly longer than the nano but is just as thick. It has a stainless frame lining while top is covered in seamless colored laminated glass with a large black-tinged LCD. The K3 comes in three colors: black, green and maroon.

When powered up, unit reveals the navigation control buttons, which are touch-sensitive lighted icons consisting of a four-way directional icon, a middle “enter” button and two upper buttons that serve as “exit” and “options” selectors.

The unit comes with a white earphone about 2 1/2 feet long and a proprietary USB transfer and charging cable, as well as a CD that contains the Samsung software.

In some cases, the K3 would turn heads because of its similarities to the iPod nano as well as due to its slightly larger frame. The LCD is also quite good. Unlike the nano which has a white backlight, the K3 uses a black backlight and everything else (text, equalizer, battery and volume indicator, etc) is in white or blue. While it cannot be used to viewvideos, the unit can display photos, though the color quality is not as good as on the iPod. Surprisingly, the K3 can view text — not the type that you send on your mobile phone but documents in text format. This featur, however, is very limited.

On the other hand, the K3 has an internal radio tuner and works much better than the iPod’s own attachable radio tuner. While it has no antenna, it can receive weak transmissions even inside buildings or while in a moving vehicle. The K3’s radio system is pretty solid and first-time users can easily navigate through different stations by just holding down the left or right navigation button until a signal is found. Once a station is located, it can be saved as a preset station and all the user has to do is to press on the left and right buttons to change channels. It would have been helpful though if the manufacturer added a title capability on the unit. Though the K3 does sound enticing, the interface is not exactly as user-friendly as it should be. The radio navigation may be easy, but browsing through the songs isn’t; the songs are listed down according to artists!

Users of the K3 will not be able to navigate according to song title, genre or frequency of playback for a song. Browsing for a particular song or artist means going through the entire list. Sure you can build a playlist through the PC but having a playlist on the fly would have been convenient.

Another problem of the K3 is the extremely sensitive navigation panel. Literally, it’s touch-sensitive and users can inadvertently change to the next song or increase the volume or stop the playback while casually holding the unit. There is, however, a locking mechanism on the right side of the K3 (which also serves as the power up button) but that means finicky users will have to keep toggling the lock on and off just to control the volume or change the songs. The supersensitive navigation control buttons become annoying at times.

On the other hand, the unit’s saving grace is the surprisingly easy-to-use software, the Samsung Media Studio, which is similar to Apple iTunes. The Media Studio scans the hard disk for all multimedia files, and most of these files can just be dragged and dropped into the K3. The files’ ID3 tags can be changed on the PC but not when these files are already in the K3. This is a more or less good thing, however, as it forces users to clean up their ID3 tags from the PC.

It’s also on the Media Studio that users can add playlists so that they could change the choices of genres or artists in the K3.

Of course, an MP3 player wouldn’t be an MP3 player if it’s not about the sound. Luckily, the K3 can reproduce quite respectable audio on most of the frequency channels. The earphones are still in stereo but using a semi-professional (and expensive) headset would let you appreciate just how good the sound is. In fact, the K3 sounds as good as the iPod nano especially when the nano’s earphones are used on the K3.

Overall, the Samsung YP-K3 is a good alternative to the iPod nano, if only for its near-perfect sound and solid design. However, the designers should make some changes to the extremely sensitive navigation controls and also include options to play music based on artists, title and genre. Other than these problems, the K3 deserves a market of audiophiles who want a fresh change from the iPod.

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