Samsung hunts down the Shuffle
(Credit:
Crave UK)
A new week and a new MP3 player. This time it's Samsung causing our saliva glands to work overtime, with the unofficial announcement of the YP-U3. The U3 is a flash-based MP3 player and is the successor to the YP-U1 and YP-U2.
It comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities and supports MP3, WMA and good old OGG-format music files. There's a built-in RDS FM radio (very nice indeed, Samsung), a built-in USB plug (less nice) and it still sports a trippy blue LED on one end (oh dear).
Samsung told us this morning the YP-U3 is definitely going to be coming to the U.K. and the U.S. within the next two months, but no prices have yet been announced.
The U3 is going after a similar audience as Apple's iPod Shuffle, but it does so with a significantly larger body and, like previous models, by having a non-color screen. However, we get the feeling that while this is a nice-looking little guy it's just not outstanding enough to make a significant impact on the market, unless it a) costs significantly less than the Shuffle or b) comes with an 8GB capacity--the latter being a definite no-chancer.
We'd love to have seen an 8GB version and feel such a capacity would do very well in a player of this size. We guess we'll just have to wait for the YP-U4 for that. Either way, it looks lovely and if it's cheap enough it'll do alright. Watch this space, Samsungites.
(Source: Crave UK)
