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A bit of Everything

A while back Samsung had launched their YP-P2 PMP with its touch screen capabilities and Bluetooth functionality. While it wasn’t much of a comparison to the iPod Touch, the additional features both players employed like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was what made me a personal fan. Not particularly of either device, but of devices in general that offer something a little more than just video and music playback. Samsung’s latest, the P3 is also equipped with Bluetooth and tries to offer a more iTouch-like interface. Here’s how it fares as a standalone device though.
Form Factor
It’s an eye-catcher, no doubt. Its sleek and slender lines with a metallic finish also gives it a little bit of a classy feel. It’s light weight, so portability is one of the few things you won’t have to worry about. The 3-inch TFT touchscreen display has a 480 x 272 pixel resolution and also supports very intuitive haptics. A touch sensitive quick access bar to the currently playing music and skip keys is located just under the display.

A hold/power key along with volume control keys and a tiny speaker are located on the top of the device. Samsung’s proprietary connectivity port is located at the bottom near the 3.5mm earphone socket.

While I do like the overall design, the speaker is negligible. Some of the cheaper mobile handsets provide louder and better quality sound.
Features and Performance
Interface
The P3 comes loaded with features. First off is the display characteristic and touchscreen functionality. Like the P2 before it, Samsung hasn’t managed to fix the sometimes awkward touchscreen. It tends to be a little too responsive at times and sometimes annoyingly non-responsive. I do like the interface though. It’s vibrant and colorful, depending on the theme you choose and can be spread across more than one screen, just like in the iTouch.

Trying to keep pace with Samsung’s Omnia and F480 mobile handsets, the P3 also has a Widgets section that can be accessed by simply pressing the screen at any place. The widgets themselves are very animated and serve a variety of purposes. Some are useful, like the dimmer for the display, clock, notes, access to the photo album and calendar. Some don’t seem to serve any purpose at all like the flower or the butterfly and some other odd animated characters. Other than some inane provision for entertainment in those moments of sheer boredom, they don’t do much else. You can also adjust the layout by moving the icons around just like you would in the… wait for it… iTouch.

Reports are stating that Samsung is gearing up for the launch of an Android powered mobile handset sometime this year. Unfortunately, we are still not yet a target audience for Android as Samsung is planning on launching the device with T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel.

The handset would of course feature a touchscreen UI and include Google-oriented applications like Google Maps, Search, Gmail for mobile and of course a mobile G-Talk application.
As of now there’s no pricing on the handset or a time frame of its availability.

Samsung India has announced its entry into the portable PC segment with a lineup of notebook PCs and has also made a foray into the fast growing netbook segment with its N series.
The notebook lineup includes notebooks in different categories – Premium – X series; Mobile Optimum – Q series and Mainstream – the R series.
The X360 and X460 are 13.3-inch and 14.1-inch premium thin and light notebooks. The X360 weighs in at 1.29 kgs and is capable of 10 hours of continuous usage.

Both laptops feature the latest Intel Centrino 2 processors, have a rugged magnesium alloy chassis, a strength providing aluminum plate behind the LCD, a ‘pebble’ style keyboard and lightweight components.

While the X360 is priced at Rs. 115,014, the Samsung X460 is priced at Rs. 80,614.

Samsung’s famous Touch of Color design with its black to red color gradation – featured in Samsung HDTVs and desktop monitors – can be found in the Q and R series notebooks. The Q310 is a highly portable all purpose notebook featuring a 13.3-inch wide LCD display while the R610 features a 16-inch wide LCD with HD compatibility, 512 MB memory and 17 key full size numeric keypad, making it a delight for gamers.

The Q310 is priced at Rs. 61,694 and the R series notebooks are priced between Rs. 34,604 and Rs. 62,339.

The Samsung’s NC10 is a netbook with a 10.2-inch wide LED display, enhanced capacity battery, Intel’s Atom N270 Processor, 160 GB hard drive and weighing in at 1.33 kg.

The sleek and stylish NC10 comes with a 3-in-1 Multi memory slot, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and a built in 1.3 mega pixel webcam. It features a 93% full size keyboard and its standard 5200 mAH high capacity 6 cell Lithium battery, providing up to eight hours of use on a full charge. The NC10 is priced at Rs. 28,477.

VIA TECH2