Samsung YP-T10 MP3 player review

20 December 2007 11:00 GMT / By Darcy Fairbottom

Small and sleek the Samsung YP-T10 is the company's follow up its it T9 model last year and the new player comes in a variety of sizes including a 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versions, but can it offer you a decent alternative to Apple's iPod nano and Creative's Zen? We get listening to find out.

Get passed the small size and the range of colours including Midnight Black, Mystic Purple, Maple Red, Lime Yellow and White Cloud and you get a 2-inch colour LCD display (the same size as the iPod nano) the offer of 30 hours of music and 4 hours of movie from a single charge.

If that wasn't enough you'll also get Bluetooth 2.0 compatibility to connect to a set of wireless headphones and there's also a radio on board with presets so you can listen to other music once you get bored of your own collection of tunes.

The interface, which has been given an overhaul over the previous model, is incredibly easy and the menus are really simple to use.

Those looking to personalise their T10 further can even chose three different user display formats, each with three unique graphic equalisers and interfaces when the music is on (well actually each has five choices of display and for two of the user menu styles, those five are the same but it's still wow) and we especially liked the cartoon interface that was more MTV rather than boring menu interface that you seen variants of on other players.

Unlike the iPod when it comes to getting music on the device again everything is very simple. The interface with your computer for downloads is really easy although when you open two windows to manage this, one window is smaller than the other and you can't expand it to see further info. It's a tad more confusing that it should be, but its not the end of the world.

So what's the catch? Well I found the earphones that came in the box were uncomfortable (I do have small ears though) and after an hours viewing the screen couldn't get the wallpaper back until I switched it off and back on again.

Additionally the keypad is very sensitive and as it is touch sensitive, it can mean you move through menus to go to areas you don't want to before you know it. It's a problem that affects the company's phones and it seems here to.

As for the physical size, we found the 2GB model we reviewed to be adequate but it's not the model you want to go for. Those looking for the on the go movie experience, 2GB holds just one movie and about 300 songs.

As for the Bluetooth connectivity, again like the interface and pretty much all of the player it was incredibly easy to you with the pairing process simple to do. Sound over Bluetooth was comparable in performance to listening to the music via a wired connection and on our test tracks; Scouting for Girls and a range of Christmas Songs (well it is December) plus Amy Winehouse.

As for the sound, it was very good, with all our tracks, admittedly mainly pop tracks performing well.

Verdict

Overall the Samsung YP-T10 offers a nice alternative to the Apple iPod nano and the Creative Zen.

Like for like the Creative Zen is still the better player with its bigger screen and now as recently announced here on Pocket-lint bigger memory (up to 32GB). However as an improvement to the T9 and compared to the Apple nano, this is a great little MP3 player and comes highly recommended.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Samsung
Price as reviewed: £99
The good: Interface, transferring songs, size, built-in radio
The bad: earphones uncomfortable
Quick verdict: Overall the Samsung YP-T10 offers a nice alternative to the Apple iPod nano and the Creative Zen.
Score