The P2 (le YP-P2JAB) is meant to seriously compete with Apple’s iPod Touch.  Equipped with a large tactile 3 inch screen (16/9), you use your finger to navigate through controls.  This actually turned out to be amazingly easy.  In addition, the P2 is fully devoted to its audio capabilities with Bluetooth 2.0 (see box) technology as well as DNSe 2.0 which is supposed to produce a sound that is strikingly real.  So is the P2 a true alternative to the expensive iTouch ?


For this product review, we had this Samsung portable player and the Touch side by side.  First of all, the former comes in the same packaging as the T10 and the bundle is rather attractive.  Once out of the box, it’s hard not to see a striking resemblance to the iPod Touch even down to the button on the screen ; however, with the P2 it’s not for changing settings but rather a simple indicator of the battery level, and if it’s on Hold or connected.  Frankly, we could have done without it.

The P2’s finishing touches are excellent.  A plastic film is included and once applied there is no longer a fear of finger smudges or scratching.  This is something that plagues almost all of its rivals including the iPod Touch.  Samsung had the good idea of adding a flexible plug that is supposed to prevent dust from entering the connection port, on the other hand, there is no carry pouch.  The P2 is coated with a fine quality plastic although we naturally prefer the brushed metal of the Touch.  As for the screens, they are more or less equivalent but Apple’s is a half inch bigger (7.6 cm for the P2, 8.9 cm for the Touch).

In terms of the interface and navigation, we have nothing bad to say.  The screen responds perfectly and all maneuvers are simple.  Ideally, we would have liked to have seen (like on the Touch) a shortcut button to go back to the main menu, which, by the way, comes in three formats that are all equally pleasant to use.  The Play/Pause and volume control buttons on the side of the P2 are a bonus compared to the iTouch which exclusively relies on the screen. 

Video is not easily accessible…

As we expected, it’s impossible to play a video by directly dropping it into the memory although this is comprehensible. And it’s not too much better with the Samsung Media Center (SMC).  Instead, it’s preferable to go with a manual conversion.  Moreover, for the more adventurous, the SMC enables including subtitles (.SRT) when re-encoding videos.

For the audio aspect, we find exactly the same characteristics as on the T10.  In other words:   for the rest, we have nothing bad to say about audio capabilities other than this player is quite simply excellent.  Sound is clear, basses are deep, and frequency ranges are distinct.  There is only a slight lack of strength in volume.  Finally, we were even impressed by the P2’s standard earphones, which although they lack a little intensity in basses, are of high quality.