Samsung U3 MP3 Player

Samsung MP3 players have always been a hit-or-miss affair. The U3 is a progeny of the U2, which was credited to have a few tricks up its sleeve. Now, to relive the glory, Samsung improved on it to give us the U3. It's tiny, lightweight and looks like a USB pen drive. Sticking to the theme, Samsung has kept the player simple and without any frills.
There are two ways of looking at this player. If you need a player to make a style statement and carry loads of music with you everywhere, this is not for you. However, if you need a simple device and you are not a power user, the U3 is worth considering. If you need a player to help you burn a few calories on the jogging track, you will be happy to find that the U3 fits the bill.

The device is not too flashy, with a small four-line OLED screen and touch-sensitive buttons on the right. The portion that holds the 3.5mm earphone jack comes in a casing that lights up in translucent blue. I like this as it doesn't consume too much battery, and doesn't look too cheesy either. The inbuilt USB system looks kind of flimsy as it can't take the weight of the player too well while attached to the computer.

The touch-sensitive buttons can be a bit of a pain. I like the fact that Samsung chose to keep the face of the player simple by making most of the buttons touch-sensitive, but the way things are you might end up chasing your target. Since a light touch can lead to creating additional response from the player, it’s quite aggravating. But I would still give points to Samsung for trying to keep things simple.

The U3 is not only an MP3 player but also a voice recorder, which frankly wasn't impressive at all. It works only when held close to the person speaking, and even then the recording isn't very clear.

The FM radio, however, is quite impressive. By this I mean the reception quality is good even in areas where we normally face problems. But it was silly not to have included FM recording.

The performance of the MP3 is average. The music sounds muffled, in a way that takes away the pleasure of dreaming about being in the act while listening to song. The bass is garbled, and the mids lack resonance. Trebles are sharp and the earphones packed don't make any difference.

The player is decent if you are looking a cheap option. Consider it a pen drive-cum-MP3 player. It doesn't require any software to transfer data, and has no USB cables to bother with. And it's cheap, no matter what you say.

However, do keep your needs in mind before you pick this up. Although it offers 2GB for just Rs 3,300, there are other players that can give you better sound quality for almost the same price.