Hands-on with the Samsung K5

At last, I got a chance to play around with the K5, Samsung's cell-phone-sized MP3 player with slide-out speakers. Both Gina and Robin wrote about this device when it was announced in September, but I've been carrying the K5 around for several days and feel strongly enough about it, so here's my hands-on.

I love it.

I was fully prepared to hate this thing. It seemed gimmicky. And since my experience with non-iPods in general is inconsistent, I don't get that excited about new players usually. But this thing has worked like a charm.

Mostly, I've been using the K5 as a downloading receptacle and listening device for tunes from AOL's Music Now service (which, like Real Rhapsody, Napster, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited, offers subscription "to-go" tunes). I downloaded a bunch of tunes by My Chemical Romance, The Decemberists, and The Cure and had no problems with replay.

My favorite thing about this player is the volume, which truly goes up to 11! I like my music loud, and I didn't even have to turn the volume control up all the way—a true rarity in the MP3 players I have tested out.

As for the much touted built-in speakers—I was impressed. While the sound produced isn't quite at the level of a small iPod speaker dock from Altec Lansing, it's still good enough for a hotel room or an echo-y bathroom while you're taking a shower.

I also love the interface—a sleek OLED screen with blue lighting, fun little animations, and a touch screen (that can be a bit sensitive at times). The alarm works well. I set it to wake me up to Sleater-Kinney's "The Fox," a rockin' tune that woke me up no problem, though I did press the snooze button (which works by just tapping on the touchpad) several times.

Though I usually have no reason for the FM-radio function in MP3 players, I found it handy in this case, particularly for listening to the news when I'm away from home. (I think it's the slide-out speakers, which make this device more radio-like than other players.)

Pictures look crisp and colorful on the 1.7-inch screen and blend in nicely with the overall package when the K5 is sitting on a desk.

Now if only this thing did video! Since it looks like Samsung has a mini-hit with this one, it's probably only a matter of time before they come out with a video model. Samsung also released the T9, which I wrote about yesterday (hold on for a hands-on with that one).

If you're looking for a sweet gift for music lovers this holiday, you won't go wrong with this player and, say, a gift subscription to one of the online music services.

Disclosure: Yahoo! Music Unlimited is an online service owned and offered by Yahoo!, Inc., which also owns and operates Yahoo! Tech.