The player itself is not bad, the construction is not as good as an ipod touch, but seems to be holding together well enough. The screen quality is a big issue for most on this model (try the larger models for a better resolution), but it is good enough if you ask me and I really use this more for music listening and email/casual web surfing, not movies and picture taking. Comparing it to my ipod touch that I am replacing with this, the operation of the device is slightly less snappy and elegant, but again not a big deal for me...I don't count nanoseconds, but if you do, then take this into consideration. The sound of the built in music player is okay, but comparing it to my ipod touch, not quite as brilliant or well EQ'd out of the box - you will have to mess around with EQ settings to get it to sound as polished as the ipod touch out of the box. It is also very similar in size to the ipod touch and maybe barely heavier, but a negligible difference - same with the thickness-it still fits in my pockets as easily as the touch which is why I wanted the 3.6 instead of the larger models. One of the main draws of switching to this from my ipod touch for me was the ability to add memory (32gb for instance) without paying hundred dollars or more extra for it. The micro SD card I am using worked great and this is a very nice feature that Apple has denied it's customers. One of the reasons I considered switching to Android, but having said all that.....
Now the physical product itself I would give 4 stars for being a solid product-it's definitely not a piece of junk, but if you are like me and have mostly used ipod touch or apple products, got fed up with lack of integration and nickel and diming, and decided to try android for more user control and better PC integration, think twice before you make the leap. So far I have been extremely underwhelmed by the supposed benefits gained from using Android over iOS mainly because for my purposes, PC integration (which was my main issue with apple) is plagued by some seriously inadequate at best, and at worst - completely flawed and shoddy software to make the process and operation user friendly and less time consuming.
The primary gripe I have is the lack of a solid, versatile and stable working desktop music organizer (much less a device manager for apps etc.) which would operate like itunes did for the ipod. Given this is a music player after all, I am finding it very frustrating to get my music library organized and then to be able to edit it from my desktop PC (which is what I thought would be easy using Android - boy was I wrong). I am writing this to inform users who like to keep their library organized from the PC and will probably run into the same thing and so consider yourself warned. I have finally, after much headache and trial and error-(seriously it was a PITA and very time consuming), come up with an adequate, if not great, solution which is to use an *older* version of the desktop doubleTwist program to organize my music and get it onto the device, but I still cannot edit playlists and songs (titles, info etc) that are on the device from this program (which was very convenient on the ipod touch with itunes).
If you have your library organized in itunes (in the itunes folder like every good apple user should do), then it is easier because you can just use progs to import your itunes library, but if you are like me and want to organize your music by folders/composers in your own structure and order outside of itunes, then you are in for a big project getting it onto the android device. Also, this might be easier with the Kies program that comes with the player, but I am flabbergasted at how badly programmed this software is and I could never get it to work and had to uninstall it (multiple times, even after updating the program). From what I have read online during the arduous process of figuring out how to easily manage music on my music player (!!), the Kies program is infamous for causing trouble and not working for a lot of people. I remain baffled at how difficult it has been to simply be able to organize my music from my desktop and integrate it all with the Android device - I thought this would be easy and the advantage of using Android, but I was sorely mistaken so wanted to let other potential users know what they are getting into.
I realize that these are birth pangs of switching to a new OS, but the bottom line is this: If you are willing to pay for it, the ipod touch is much easier to use, set up, organize, etc. even without built in integration for use with a PC. If you want to save some cash like me and are willing to put up with more than a fair share of troubleshooting and a learning curve trying to get the device to do what you want, then this will suffice. As much as I dislike Apple, I am considering selling this and just getting a 32gb ipod touch to save me future headaches, though perhaps in time I will learn my way around and figure out how to make it work for me. I desperately wanted to get away from using apple products, but based on my first dealings with this, I am not impressed, particularly with Samsung's music organization options and PC integration dealing with this. Hope this helps and informs potential users of what to expect.
Update: After spending some more time with the device things are slightly easier, but I remain disappointed with the music playback quality in the headphones when comparing it to the ipod touch I own. I cannot get as clear and good mix on my songs with the Samsung. There are apps out there to aid with improving playback quality, but some of the best ones require an OS version above 2.3 and as far as I can tell I am not able to update (without a headache at least). So I am limited on the apps I can use to rectify this problem. Still considering going back to the ipod touch..
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This review is for the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6. Its a bit misleading that Amazon clumped reviews of all versions of the galaxy player together. Although similar, they are different machines with different hardware.I had been looking for a decent mp3 player since my last smartphone had died. I would have just gotten another smartphone, but my provider now requires you to purchase a data plan. I liked the convenience of a smartphone, so I had decided on either this or the Ipod touch as they are pretty much a smartphone without a phone. Aside from price, I have always been a Samsung supporter so I picked up the galaxy player and a 16gb microsd card a day before my flight to Texas. I loaded the microsd with music and headed out. During the flight I noticed my music would randomly pause. I thought I might have been accidentally pressing the button on the earphone cord, so I switched to my headphones and it still happened. I restarted the player, but it then continuously searched the microsd card for media and would no longer recognize my music. I fiddled with it for an hour before I finally solved it by doing a factory reset in the menu. During the next 30 days in Texas, I had lots of free time to fiddle with the galaxy player. I found the camera quality (both video and still) is poor, but that was expected given the players price. I could never get the GPS to work, but that didn't bother me as I mainly chose the galaxy for the music player, occasional WiFi browsing and email. The player had excellent battery life even when using full sized headphones. I fell asleep listening to music over night and it barely discharged the battery. Other than the occasional random pausing, the player worked great. The Player started failing on me in just under 2 months. The screen went blank and I had to remove the battery to get it to power on. After this happened, the battery would completely drain in about 6hrs while in standby. I normally kept the player in airplane mode to conserve battery, but it did not make a difference. Before it went bad, the battery would last at least a week in standby with occasional listening in between. I contacted Samsung and they walked me through a manual reset twice. I asked him what that does and he told me its to re-calibrate the battery (yeah right). The battery continued to discharge, so I contacted Samsung again and they had me ship it to their repair center in Plano, TX. I received it back a few weeks later and gave it a full charge, but it was still having the same problem. I purchase a lot of electronics, so I understand you get a lemon now and then. You send it out and get it back repaired or replaced right? I called Samsung again and told the guy its still not working and he confirmed that they just replaced the battery without testing the player. I asked if they would just replace the unit and he said that it was policy that they cannot replace the unit until it has been sent in twice. He said he would be sure to note in the account that the battery is not the problem. I shipped the player out and received it again weeks later. I gave it a full charge and it was having the same freaking problem. This time I check Samsung's Support tracking online and saw "replaced battery" under status. How lazy can the guys at the Plano, TX Repair center be??? At this point I'm pretty agitated so I called up Samsung again and explained my situation. The guy gave me the "were sorry your'e having this problem" speech and then said "Unfortunately since you are still having problems with the battery you're going to have to send it out for repair". I told him that its not the freaking battery and that it has already been sent out twice and had the battery replaced twice. He then said "Well... what would you like us to do?". I told them I just want it replaced and that they had two chances to repair it, but just replaced the battery twice. The guy then put me on hold and transferred me to another dept where I had to explain everything all over again. I then had to wait a week for approval, then send the phone back and wait for another approval for a replacement only to find out that they are out of stock of the 3.6 player and all other models of galaxy players (yeah right) and that they would just issue me a refund for my purchase amount minus the cost of my microsd card. All in all it took just over 3 months (A Quarter of a year) to get refunded.Aside from the failure of my player these are the pros and cons.Pros:-Expandable memory (MicroSD)-Plays lossless FLAC format in addition to mp3, wav, acc, etc...-Replaceable battery. you don't have to replace or repair the whole player if the battery goes bad.-Great battery life-No software needed to transfer files. You can drag and drop files through windows.-Ability to add whole folders to playlists. This is convenient as I keep my favorite playlists as folders for easy transfer to my USB car stereo.-Earphones with remote. These are the best earphones I've heard that come STOCK with a player.Cons:-Camera quality (both video and still)-On board memory 8gb but roughly 5gb left for install and media.-Annoying beep interval after charged. When left plugged in after fully charged it plays a beep at certain intervals loud enough to wake me from sleep.-GPS never worked.-Music player would randomly pause-Available accessories. At the time of purchase, there was only one soft skin available on Amazon for the 3.6 player. A few soft skins on ebay, but no hard shell cases.The one star review was for the player only and not for Samsung's support. The player failed in under 2 months and was buggy from the start. If you decide to purchase a galaxy player, I would go with a model other than the 3.6. I would also recommend paying the $20 or so for an extended warranty. It will save you LOTS of Frustration in dealing with Samsung support by bypassing it altogether. Samsung has left me with a bad taste and I will be phasing out all my current Samsung products (TV's,Monitors,phone,dvd player) because of it.
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