CNET Editor's rating: 7.0 out of 10
Reviewed by
Jasmine France
Review date: 08/16/07
The good: The Samsung U3 features a cool design and a built-in USB interface. It's inexpensive and easy to use, yet still offers some handy features such as an FM tuner and a voice recorder. It also supports OGG and WMA subscriptions, and the package includes a snap-on belt clip and a headphone cable wrap.
The bad: The Samsung U3 doesn't offer the best sound quality, and the touch-sensitive controls won't appeal to everyone. It has a small, monochrome display.
The bottom line: The Samsung U3 is the proof that a basic MP3 player doesn't have to be ugly and featureless; it's simple, inexpensive, cool-looking, and perfect for the gym.
A basic MP3 player needn't be ugly or featureless to fall into the "simple and inexpensive" category, and Samsung's sticklike U3 provides the proof to that statement. The 2GB flash MP3 player offers a cute design, a simple user interface, and a handy plug-in design. And it will only set you back $80. Sure, it may not have a color screen or video support, but it has the best of basic music playback in spades.
It's hard not to see a pack of gum when first looking at the U3. At 3.2x1x0.5 inches, the thin, rectangular player looks strikingly like a six-stick pack of Doublemint; well, our green version did, anyway. The device is also available in black, blue, or pink versions (all with 2GB storage). The face of the U3 is almost entirely smooth but for the indent of the 1-inch monochrome OLED screen, which sits to the left of the touch-sensitive control pad. Here, you get track shuttle and volume keys, which alternately act as directional arrows within the menus, and a back selector. Continuing around to the right edge, you'll find a thin, retractable USB adapter, which can be popped out via a switch on the bottom side of the player. This area also houses a hold switch, a highly necessary feature in a device with touch-sensitive controls.
Samsung includes a clear belt clip with the U3, which can be snapped onto the back of the player.
Other notable physical features line the edges of the U3. On the top side, there's a play/pause/power button and a record/user-defined key. The left edge comprises a standard 3.5mm headphone jack surrounded completely in opaque plastic, which houses a blue LED that indicates if the player is on or syncing. This combined with the brightly colored, texturized body gives the U3 a cool, designer look--it may not appeal to everyone, but it's certainly not ugly.
We like that the U3's earbuds match the body color of the player, and that Samsung threw a cable wrap into such an inexpensive package.
The Samsung U3 is predictably light on features, given its price and body style, but it does offer some handy ones. It supports MP3, OGG, ASF, and WMA files, including DRM 10 for subscription music. Music is arranged handily by artist, album, genre, and so on. You get standard shuffle and repeat options, a nine-band user equalizer (EQ), and DSNe sound effects, which consist of 13 preset EQs. There's also a built-in mic for making voice recordings and an FM tuner with autoscan and at least 15 preset slots.
If the Samsung U3 disappoints in one area, it's sound quality. Although the sound settings help to fill in the low end and tailor tunes more to your taste, we found that music came across a bit flat, even through our Shure SE310 test headphones. It didn't have the richness or warmth we like, and we noticed some odd feedback during quiet moments on a couple of tracks. That said, the U3's sound is certainly passable; the clarity was quite good overall, and it gets plenty loud--it really is a great player for the gym. The rated 15-hour battery life ain't bad, either, but the actual battery life of 11.8 hours is a bit of a letdown.
5 out of 10 - Average good feature set, but one critical feature doesn't work
Just got my YP-U3 in the mail yesterday, and am thinking about sending it back. The most important feature for ...
Just got my YP-U3 in the mail yesterday, and am thinking about sending it back. The most important feature for me in buying this model was the ability to set the music skip interval to longer time chunks. I use my MP3 player to time-shift my favorite public radio programs (recorded off the web) so I can listen to them during my long commute; this involves relatively long tracks--half an hour to an hour, often. Searching through long recordings to get to a certain point in a radio show is painfully slow on most players. The YP-U3 lets the user set the skip interval to 1-minute chunks, which speeds up the process of fast-forwarding quite a bit.
The problem: none of the settings, skip interval included, persists when the unit is turned off. Any setting you change--equalizer, resume, skip interval, etc etc--is forgotten as soon as you power it down. (Only the FM presets persist.) This renders the "Settings" function nearly useless.
I have emailed Samsung about this problem, but am not optimistic. If this is just the way the thing was made, the thing is going back to the store.
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by mbrice (see profile) -
September 14, 2007
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Well beyond expectations
I recently obtained the Samsung U3 from a big-box retailer simply to have a decent and usable flash DAP for ...
I recently obtained the Samsung U3 from a big-box retailer simply to have a decent and usable flash DAP for physical activity. Past experience has taught me that hard-drive based DAP's are not very tolerable to daily walks to campus or the occasional run on the treadmill. So I saw the U3, which cost a whopping $79 and decided to give it a try. There are a lot of flash memory DAPs out there in the 2gb range, so what initially set this one apart was it's price, which was quite reasonable considering a 1gb Apple Shuffle is the same price. Second, even though the U3 is longer than the Shuffle, it is by no means a large DAP. As the CNET review quite well describes, the U3 is about the size of a pack of Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, and we're talking about the little 25 cent pack. A third reason why this particular DAP stood out is because it does have OGG support, something which is missing on even my Zen Vision:M 30gb. And to top things off, the U3 has a radio tuner and voice recording capabilities. As my summary says, this unit has proven to be well beyond my expectations. The display is bright and animated. The information is easy to read and the interface is intuitive. If someone picked this player up, they would not have to use a manual to listen to music. I particularly like the screen animations which are a nice touch for such a small player. The controls are easy to use, even for someone with large fingers such as myself. It is touch control on the front of the unit, and there are 3 buttons on the sides of the unit. This player feels very sturdy and well built and has a nice matte finish which is nice in preventing fingerprints and promotes better control when fingers are a bit slippery from sweat (like when someone is in the gym) There is a 9 band equalizer, plus numerous presets and 3D sound effects. I will be honest and say that I must disagree with the CNET editors with regards to sound quality. I have tried this unit with Koss Porta-Pros, Etymotic ER-4s and Sennheiser PMX-100s and found the sound to be lively and loud. There was ample volume and ample bass which impressed me beyond belief considering the small size of this unit. There are a couple of neat features on this unit which I didn't expect. First, there is an LED which lights up at the head of the unit, and I love flashy stuff. Second, the USB connector is spring loaded, and with the press of a button, it extends from the bottom of the U3. This means that no cables are required to plug this player into the computer. The only port on this player is the head-phone jack. The software included was extremely easy to use and made loading music onto the player a breeze. I only have one gripe regarding the software and that is the ID3 info on the OGG files I transfered did not transfer to the unit, and therefore I have a lot of music on the player without artist and album information. The only other downfall I see is that the only way to charge this unit is through the USB with the computer. There are no available plug in chargers. Perhaps an Ipod charger could work, but without consulting Samsung first, I have hesitations about trying to plug this unit into a wall. What this means is that unless there's some way that someone knows of to charge via USB through a wall charger, the only way to charge this unit is on a running computer, which in my opinion is very inefficient. So all in all, the unit itself is a great piece of work. As far as comment about design, well, just because a small DAP isn't a square with a circle in the middle doesn't mean it's ugly. I think it's sleek, and the blue LED and vibrant blue display add quite a bit of character to this small and functional DAP. This is an excellent player to take to the gym or on a run. It does not play videos, which would be pointless on something this small. The sound is great, and it does play MP3, OGG and WMA equally well. I think that the player itself deserves a 10 because of everything that is packed into such a small, inexpensive and easy to use DAP. The only reason I give it a 9 is because of the ID3 information (which I will probably be able to solve eventually anyway) and the inability out of the box, or through after market channels, to be able to charge the unit without relying on a computer USB port. These two minor drawbacks aside, if you are considering small flash based DAPs, then the U3 should be on the top of your list.
DAP=Digital Audio Player
Updated I was incorrect regarding the OGG file ID3 information. The files that I transferred to the player did not have the information embedded as I had thought. The player works properly with OGG files the same as it does with the other supported file types, and therefore my previous comments regarding ID3 information not being transferred should be disregarded.
2 out of 10 - Terrible software hard to use
Stay away because if you need help there is no way to find it.
Stay away because if you need help there is no way to find it.
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by td44 (see profile) -
March 23, 2008
9 out of 10 - Spectacular THE BEST ONE YET
Wow, the U3 is a great little mp3 player. I happened to be in a Future shop store today, I ...
Wow, the U3 is a great little mp3 player. I happened to be in a Future shop store today, I was looking for a small mp3 player, something that i can use while on my treadmill, or out walking. There it was, hanging on the rack, the price was $89.99, i had seen the same player on the Best buy website for $59.99. I Asked the clerk, to price match, save me a trip to Best buy. They even reduced it a little more, i got it for $55.99. I couldn't be happier, this is a great little player, I don't find anything wrong with the sound quality, as the editors did, the only thing is, you have to be careful with the buttons, they are touch sensitive, so you can easily change tracks without wanting to. So keep your fingers away from the buttons, unless you wan't to change tracks of course.One person, said that the belt clip will break easy, and it will not stay on where you clip it. Anything will break if you abuse it. I found it real easy to clip onto my pocket, or on the waistband of my shorts, or on the collar of your shirt for that matter. In my opinion, this player blows the Sansa express right out of the water, i really like the usb plug, great idea, rather than having to remove a cap, and misplacing it, they have a button on the side, when you push it, the usb plug pops out, all you have to do is stick it into a usb port, on your computer. Well done Samsung, hope this helps, make up your mind, which mp3 player to buy.
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by red4life51 (see profile) -
November 3, 2007
4 out of 10 - Mediocre not impressed
If you intend to carry this player around you will probably like it but if you expect to use the ...
If you intend to carry this player around you will probably like it but if you expect to use the clip to go to the gym or other, it won't hold up.
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by Wikked1 (see profile) -
September 11, 2007
9 out of 10 - Spectacular almost a 10...
pros: -small -comes with belt clip -easy to use -nice display -color options -cnet said sound was okay, but I ...
pros: -small -comes with belt clip -easy to use -nice display -color options -cnet said sound was okay, but I thought it was pretty good with the adjustable eq's(shure e3c headphones) -adjustable bit rate for voice recordings
cons: -layout of buttons pretty much requires use of 2 hands, with a player this small it doesnt really make any sense, especially if you use it at the gym -can be slippery -transfers seemed a little slow compared to other players I have used (sansa express, zen v plus, vision m -almost no accessories (yet) -a little annoying to erase voice recordings (you have to go to a different menu)
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by js_maher (see profile) -
August 20, 2007
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