My MP3 is practically my best friend; it goes everywhere with me and I don't think cycling would be the same without it. I once had an IPOD shuffle but it got stolen. Although distraught, I have to admit it wasn't practicable because there was no screen - you couldn't see what you was playing.
I bought a Samsung 1GB KP3 which was really stylish and reliable. The obnly problem was that I ran out of room on a 1GB. That's when I decided to get an 8GB YP-Q1 at only £70 from Amazon! Bargain for an 8GB which stores 4000 songs!
*Features Okay, lets describe the product. I treasure Samsung which is reknown for its quality and liability- both my phones are Samsung (G600) and (J700) and they are made really well and are a major leading manufactuer in the technology industry (Phioens, TV, DVD, MP3 etc). I was drawn to the Q1 because I really enjoy touch screen. I've never been a huge ran of the Ipod's as I've found that circular keypad rather annoying when I've played on my cousins. Below are some of the features on this awesome product:
*Video - The Q1 comes preloaded with 4 videos which have outstanding quality. There's a bear by the water, a butterfly and a flowing lake. There is also a very long video of an animated pig and a crocodile I think it was but I found this seriously weird and disturbing so I deleted it.
Pictures - The Samsung will hold any amount of pictures with regards to how much space you have. So if you have lots of music, the less space will be available for other features. The picture quality is really good and you can upload your pics from your computer straight onto it in files. You are able to view your pics as a slide show,
zoom in and crop. Plus, you can even set them as your background (I have David Tennant on mine! lol). There are lots of pictures preloaded but these are things like flowers and the sea and stuff (the kind of things you get as a default setting on computer backgrounds).
Text - I've not actually used this and so, I'm not really sure what it does. I think you can transfer text from your computer to the samsung. I don't know why you would do this. Maybe, if you wrote a shopping list or something but then it would be quicker to just write on paper!
'PrimePack' - depicted by a symbol in the shape of a preset with bow. You'll find sub categories of voice record (microphone symbol), games (game cosole) whcih features 'Bomb bomb' 'bubble smile' and 'chicken run'. Basically, there are like those computer games you get where you have to catch the falling ball on revolving platform or escape some farmer that's after you. There's also something called SUBWAY but I still haven't figured out what this does.
FM Radio - I love this feature as I like to listen to radio 1 Chris Moyles in the morning sometimes. You can save stations to 'Present' so that when you scroll across your touch pad, your stations will automatically appear. There is a 'Auto mode' which will keep flicking through stations until a clear signal is reached, or 'Manual mode' which will stop at every available station as you press the pad, regardless of whether there is clear signal. I always have mine set to 'present'.
Settings - This is where you adjust your MP3 to suit your preferences. You can set a volume limit; an automatic turn off after however long to save battery life; date and time; preference to background skin (you can have a saved picture; black and white or colour icons on the welcome screen; you can create a welcome message (mine come's up 'Lacey's MP3')
Datacasts - This is stuff you download off the embio website, like podcasts, skins, videos etc
File browser - allows you to quickly locate music and other files
All these Icons are shown in the welcome screen and are stacked as three rows of three. In the background behind these will be your chosen picture. In order to click on these, you have to use the touch pad, which is in the shape of a diamond. Obviously, you touch each corner to move left or right and the top and bottom to move up or down. The pad is fairly sensitive but not overly sensitive; you don't have to press hard or more than once to get it to work but nor does it automatically go somewhere else really easily if you accidently click the centre (equivalant to a computer 'enter' button) whch I found is the problem with IPODS. As you highlight each symbol, it bounces on the screen which I find quite charming and as you click to enter it, the slide transition is 'box out' if you're familar with Microsoft Powerpoint features.
Sounds quality The sound is amazing and there are so many varities to chose from, each with a unique sounding experience. For example, there's concert which is very deep; church which echoes; dance which gives the music a bass base sound; street; vocal which takes away any sort of background disturbance and focuses purely on the vocals; Normal,; studio; rock; classical; rhythms and blues etc...there's loads to pick, all under 'DNse' which is listed on a sub menu screen whilst in the music file. You can further choose to repeat certain songs, one song, skip songs and so on.
Music is stored under the picture of your album cover if you have uploaded it from your computer. If you have download music, the album cover will be defaulted as a little record symbil, but you can change this for a new picture, or just as text. Once you've chosen an album, all you songs in that album will be shown on a new screen. What I find really handy is that there are all your other album folder across the top which you can flick through by clicking left or right. So if you accidently clicked on an album, instead of clicking back and them flicking down to find the album you want, you can just use one click to view all the songs in that album.
If your looking for a certain song, you can go to all tracks andserach for it there, which are listed alphabetically, or if you know the artists naem, go straight to Artists and locate the singer and their tracks will come up. Whilst playing music, you can pick a play screen. There's a really jazzy one which shots out ever changing bubbles and hypnotic swirls which I put on when listening to beaty music. There a calm one that looks like ripples across the screen which I use for slow songs; a 'passionate' which is a little like window wipers acorss the screen, changing colour or you can have random effects under 'auto'.
Music is really easily to upload onto the MP3. Simply install the software and you're away. I use CD's myself. All you have to do is RIP the songs you want on Media player to your Library, plug in your Samusung and click 'Sync' and it transfers them at about 4 secs each. The only thing I find annoying is that the software automatically starts to load when you plug the samusng in using the provided USB cable. This software is called EMBIO and is the equivalant of ITUNES with an IPOD. I never really want to use this software; only media player, and so, it's fustrating because you have to wait for it to load up before you can do anything else, and then all I do is click it off!
To turn on the Samsung there is a little bar on the right hand side. You have to oush it down and hold it for about half a second. A little music tunes will greet you, along with blasts of blue bubbles on the screen, your welcome message and the text 'Samung Q1 www.Embio.com). If you've recently unplugged it from your computer, you will be taken to the main screen. If you're simply turning it on after having used it previously, you'll be taken straight back to the last played song/video. The bar can be locked so that you don't accidentally knock the touch pad whilst it's in your pocket. This is useful but sometimes I find it a pain to switch song if I'm cycling because I have to carefully pull it from my pocket with one hand, remove the phone case I have put over it to protect the screen, push the bar to the centre to relase the hold, click the pad to activate it and then pick by song. Phew!
The touch pad lights up in the diamond edges as blue flashinglights whilst listening to music and also when you press them. They turn off when your music playscreen turns off (your music carries on playing but the screen is blank, possibly to preserve battery life.)
Lets move onto the look. It's extremely stylish and I've had people wanting to take a good look at it when I've whipped it out at college or even on the bus! I never let anyone touch it though - It's my baby and I don't want anyone's grubby hands spoiling the shiny black smooth surface (fingerprints show easily and make the touchpad work less well so polishing is recommened; or not eating sticky things whilst using it! lol). It's about the size of a deck of cards and very slim, though not ultra slim where you worry it will snap. It feels fim and chunky in your hand; you can grip it nicely and you feel comfortable and at ease when jabbing the pad (i.e. Not worried it's going to slip; though I do just because I'm paranoid and want to take extra special care of it). The screen is an excellent size to provide large fonts (the font size can be adjusted and even changed!!) The keypad is also a perfect size; it's not fiddly trying to position your hands on it.
Overall, I think this product is absolutely amazing and I wouldn't ever consider any other product. I think I'll be buying updated versions of these from now on if, god forbid, anything should happen to it (I am now touching my wooden desk!).
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