Samsung P3 Pulse

Beautiful body, gorgeous face, Thick

This is a very pretty object.  The touch screen is looks lovely and Samsung have added haptic feedback, which gives a satisfying solidity to the controls.  This feature can be turned off if you want to conserve battery life or if you simply prefer your audio devices to be seen and not heard.

The whole thing feels more expensive than the P2 as the casing has been upgraded and this version has a glass screen and metal casing with chrome accents.   There are some physical buttons along the top for in-pocket volume control, though don’t use them too much or you’ll look a bit weird.

The main functions can be accessed through a variety of widgets, which can be dragged around with a finger and distributed over 5 different screens as you choose.  Like the iPhone 3G S, you can flick horizontally to the left or right to reveal more applications.

The main disappointment with this player is its sluggish touch screen reaction, especially towards the edges of the screen.    It’s very frustrating and a little hurtful if an icon ignores you.   The scrolling feature is also a little stand offish when looking through playlists.  On the up side, the video looks crisp due to its 185ppi resolution.

The P3 is compatible with Bluetooth headphones, eliminating the need for wires, but there’s no Wi-Fi connectivity.   One fairly nifty feature is the option to sync the P3 to your phone, so that you can receive calls without juggling two devices.

But the crux of the matter lies in the noise it makes, and the sound is very good although the standard headphones are rubbish.  With a better set, the P3 sounds as good as a Sony S-Series making it one of the better choices for real musos.

Also worthy of applause is the wide range of file formats supported.  Most music devices fail to recognize FLAC files but the P3 has no problems at all.  Another reason to choose a Samsung over the other major brands is the pricing, which gives very good value for money.

In a nutshell, if the P3 were a real life songstress, she would have a beautiful body, a gorgeous face and a wonderful singing voice, but if you were to ask her about foreign policy she’d be stumped.  On the up side the P3 is a cheap date and goes home with almost any type of file.