Samsung YP-U7

[lebellium]

Piracy lol
Well, there is no FM and voice recorder feature on the U7...

I checked: with KR (Korea) and RU (Russia) region code there is the FM menu but with EU (Europe) and FR (France) region code there isn't. So I'm pretty sure this is to avoid paying the European FM tax.
Strangely, in the German, Italian, English or French user manual as well as on the official product page or on the retailers websites, the FM radio is mentioned.
So it rather sounds like a last minute decision that has not been taken into account in the official specs and manuals yet.

And indeed, I doubt it will be released in the US. Samsung has moved to a "Android-only" strategy there while I'm sure there is still a market in the US for small non-Android players.

[CrowdAds]

[John T.]

Hi! I have bought the YP-U7 and I have two problems:

1. I can not change the language in the main menu from french to any other language.
Firmware version is: 1.00 FR-00-LF3.
I have tried the config.dat file posted in thread showthread.php?t=59451 but maybye the file isn´t suitable for YP-U7?

2. I have no radio in the main menu.
You wrote that changing the region code to KR, the FM menu shows up AND the radio works
How can I do this?

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by John T.

maybye the file isn´t suitable for YP-U7?

Indeed, it isn't. The config.dat file is specific to every player and I had not released the one for U7 yet as I did not expect someone to buy it so "soon"/before my review

Here you are: config.dat for U7

That will solve your 2 issues at the same time.

Enjoy

[John T.]

Fantastic!

Main menu in english and radio is working.

Thanks!

[lebellium]

Great! Don't forget to change the FM region in the settings. By defaut it is set on Korea with KR region code

Curiously I just got the same question on a French forum, as if everybody bought a U7 today

[Ricky65]

I've understood that changing the region code to KR the radio is enabled also for Europe.
But does it support RDS like the previous U series devices?

Looking on the Italian manual only frequency is showed.

[lebellium]

No RDS on the U7 unfortunately

[Ricky65]

Originally Posted by lebellium

No RDS on the U7 unfortunately

Thanks.
Another good reason to not buy it.

I've seen in a shop and I continued to prefer my U5 ( perfect for me except battery that is starting to show its age ).

Considering the recent products I think that I've to look to a different brand.

[lebellium]

The U5 was a great player indeed. But the U7 is good too. You'll see in the review when I'm done with it. Of course it's a pity for the lack of RDS and voice/FM recording but the price is much more attractive than for the U5 and U6 at the time.
That's definitely the best product in this category (USB key players). I've tried the Sony B series and the equivalent Philips, Archos and other products, none is as good.
Enlarging the category (not necessarily USB key) only 2 players are better: Sansa Clip+ and Clip Zip.

[Ricky65]

Originally Posted by lebellium

The U5 was a great player indeed. But the U7 is good too. You'll see in the review when I'm done with it. Of course it's a pity for the lack of RDS and voice/FM recording but the price is much more attractive than for the U5 and U6 at the time.
That's definitely the best product in this category (USB key players). I've tried the Sony B series and the equivalent Philips, Archos and other products, none is as good.
Enlarging the category (not necessarily USB key) only 2 players are better: Sansa Clip+ and Clip Zip.

Mmmm. Regarding the price, it doesn't cost less than Z3, that has a bigger display and has RDS radio.
Moreover the user interface is more tricky than with U5 and the metal chassis makes the player a bit heavy.

I know Sansa Clip+ and Zip. The big drawback of these products is that in Italy Sandisk cares only of memory products, ignoring audio products. So these player could be bought only online.

They remember me my first Samsung player YP-T7F. It's really a pity that Samsung stopped producing it and did not replace it with a similar model.

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by Ricky65

Mmmm. Regarding the price, it doesn't cost less than Z3, that has a bigger display and has RDS radio.

That doesn't mean the Z3 is better. Actually, it's one of the worst players I have reviewed so far, I rated it 2.5/5
> http://translate.google.it/translate...msung-yp-z3%2F

Moreover the user interface is more tricky than with U5 and the metal chassis makes the player a bit heavy.

What do you mean by "more tricky"? I like it better, it even has a real context menu button, not a useless user button.

I know Sansa Clip+ and Zip. The big drawback of these products is that in Italy Sandisk cares only of memory products, ignoring audio products. So these player could be bought only online.

Sansa players are officially available on amazon.it ("Venduto e spedito da Amazon.it"). Amazon is where most people buy from anywhere in the world. I don't see why Italians wouldn't buy online but only in physical stores.

They remember me my first Samsung player YP-T7F. It's really a pity that Samsung stopped producing it and did not replace it with a similar model.

As you can see in my sign, YP-T7F is still missing in my collection. Don't hesitate to help me fix that

[lebellium]

I'm just done with the U7 review in French

I don't know yet if I will translate it to English for ABI. Will see....

Review in French
English translation (Google)

[skip252]

Very nicely done. Come through nicely even after being mangled with Google Translate and that's saying something.

If I'm reading this right

In common use (continuous playback of a majority (82%) V0 VBR MP3 files and some files MP3 CBR 192kbps and 320kbps and 3 FLAC files with regular load screen, volume 15/30, normal playback , SoundAlive off), I measured .... 25h30 autonomy!

it get's 25 hrs+ battery life using decent bit rate files, doesn't it? Not shabby at all for something that small.

There's actually a vendor that has these available on Amazon. The price is fairly steep for something that's only 4 GB with no expansion though.

[Marvin the Martian]

I had a 4GB U5 a while back, and it was a solid player. Sounded every bit as good as my Clips with better battery life. Too bad it flew into a deep fryer.

[lebellium]

Indeed, I reached 25.5 hrs battery life with mostly MP3 VBR V0 (that's ~256k) files and quite intensive screen use while the battery is only 120mAh and while Samsung claims max 20hrs with MP3 CBR 128kbps files and screen off.
That's more than U5, U6, iRiver T9, Sony B17x, Sansa Clip+ and Clip Zip. And above all that's much more than what Samsung claims.
It's just....incredible Oo

It probably won't be released in the US as usual so that's import prices

[skip252]

I've read a few times that the AMS SoC in the sansas is fairly old and not very efficient by today's standard. I wonder if it's improvements to hardware, engineering or firmware that's improved the battery life for the U7 this way.

Unfortunately it probably won't matter for me. If it's not released here the price won't come down to where I would buy one. What it's going for now would get me well on the way to a refurb 3.6 Galaxy Player. Considering how much more one of those has to offer I'd put the money towards that instead.

[dreamkatcha]

Originally Posted by lebellium

Indeed, it isn't. The config.dat file is specific to every player and I had not released the one for U7 yet as I did not expect someone to buy it so "soon"/before my review

Here you are: config.dat for U7

That will solve your 2 issues at the same time.

Enjoy

Hi,

I've just bought a U7 too and would like to be able to get the radio working. What do I do with this config.dat file, just place it in the system folder?

[lebellium]

No, at the root (same level as main folders music, system etc...)

[dreamkatcha]

I reckon I can cope with that. Thanks for the quick response.

[dreamkatcha]

Hmm, that's odd. When I re-mount the player the file disappears. Is it possible to keep the radio and have all the menus in English? I found the language option, but when it's all in Korean I can't work out which one to choose.