Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 Review

Introduction:

Love Android smartphones, but don’t care for the cellular connectivity that normally accompanies them? Well, you’re in luck, because the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 aims to provide the wealth of functionality found with Android, without costing a whole lot of money out of your pockets. Priced at $149.99, this portable media player is Samsung’s answer to comparable devices such as Apple’s iPod Touch.

Design:

Without a doubt, the design of the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 follows in the same premise as most other Samsung made devices – meaning, it’s comprised out of lightweight plastic. However, it lacks any sort of appeal with its appearance, and ultimately, it comes off as something forgettable.


Around the sides of the Galaxy Player 3.6, we find a 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, microUSB port, volume control, power button, and a spot for a lanyard. Furthermore, much like its smartphone counterparts, it features a front-facing VGA camera and a trio of Android capacitive buttons.

Flip it over, we find a 2-megapixel camera and two notches for its speaker grill in the rear of the device. Meanwhile, prying off the rear cover grants us access to its 1,500 mAh battery and microSD card slot.



Display:

Many of Samsung’s smartphones are outfitted with some high-tech displays, but sadly, the Galaxy Player 3.6 settles with the leftovers. Specifically, it’s donning a 3.65” HVGA (320 x 480) LCD display that’s one of the poorest quality we’ve seen in a while – mainly because we’re repulsed by its bland colors, poor viewing angles, and its near invisible appearance outdoors.

Interface:

Right away, we’re greeted with a familiar interface, as the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 is featuring the manufacturer’s very own TouchWiz UI running on top of Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. Of course, it’s great that we’re given the full functionality and features available with Android, but we’re perturbed that it’s lacking most of the wealthy set of Samsung widgets found with its smartphone counterparts.



Processor:

Once deemed as one of the most cutting edge things, especially when it was found in use with the original Samsung Galaxy S, the 1GHz single-core Cortex A8 processor that’s hiding under the hood of the Galaxy Player 3.6 is effective with most operations – albeit, we experience some bouts of slowdown every now and then. For the most part, we’re accepting of its overall performance, but then again, don’t expect anything mind-blowing. Even more when its benchmark results barely raises our eyes.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6	1911	2733	20
Samsung Galaxy S II	3113	6076	51
Samsung Galaxy Nexus	2000	5503	24
HTC One X	4848	11024	47,4

Multimedia:

Somewhat a relief to see, we’re grateful to find the device sporting an eye-catching “disc view” with its music player interface, which presents us with a cool looking carousel. As for the audio quality from its internal speaker, we’re pleasantly surprised with its loud output, which can be enhanced thanks to the multitude of equalizer options that are available.


Interestingly, we’re able to load a video on the device that’s encoded in MPEG4 1280 x 720 resolution. Naturally, it’s able to handle its playback with no problem, but its poor quality display doesn’t make for an endearing experience.

Outfitted with a 2-megapixel camera in the rear, there’s not much to expect out of it, since it fails to impress us with its muddy details. Additionally, it struggles most in low lighting conditions, as images come out blurry, noisy, and bland in tone. More of the same, we can actually say the same thing about its VGA video recording.


Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 Sample Video:



Internet:

Indeed, it’s not the fastest thing out there, but we’re gladly accepting of its web browsing performance. Sure, we might see some choppiness every now and then, but for the most part, it’s tolerable enough to handle most complex pages – even with ones that have heavy Flash content.

Performance:

Packing along a 1,500 mAh battery and using it via Wi-Fi, we’re able to get a little bit under 3 days of light usage on a full charge. Luckily, it’s not something that’s going to require nightly charges.

Conclusion:

Here’s the deal. Even though the Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 might seem like a valuable media player at $149.99, we’re a little hesitant about it because you can actually pick up some prepaid basic Android smartphones for around the same price. On top of that, it’s even possible to even find the original Samsung Galaxy S at or near the same price point, which makes it a better buy considering the superior hardware it’s packing. Some uninformed consumers might take notice since it’s priced less than its primary competitor in the iPod Touch, but seriously, you’re still better off looking into buying a prepaid Android smartphone.  

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Android Version: 2.3.6
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-CL964210
Build Number: GINGERBREAD.UELB5

Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 Review: