SOUND CLASH
As published in What Mobile

Samsung K5

Samsung’s K5 is an MP3 player with a big difference. Although to the untrained eye it may look a little chunky compared to a Nano at 18mm thick, there’s a good reason for this extra bulk, as the player features a slide out speaker for social listening. There’s also a host of other features that will have music lovers salivating.
The K5 is glossy black on the front and matt on the back. The large speaker slides out from the back of the device with a satisfying whoosh, because it’s power-assisted like the Samsung D900’s slider.

You may be thinking that if an MP3 player is only 98mm long, the speakers are going to be of a poor quality. However, on this occasion, you’d be wrong as the dual speakers pump out impressive stereo sound. The one disadvantage to having built-in speakers on an MP3 player is that there’s a distinct possibility that the annoying teenager who puts their mobile on loudspeaker while on the same journey as you will be even more tempted to slide the speaker from the K5 and listen to their tunes in an extremely disturbing fashion.

If you’re more one for a quiet life, you can use the bundled earphones that also produce brain shattering sound to drown out the sound of the annoying teenager. They’re in-ear, so may look like a method of torture, but they certainly make sure the sound stays where it’s supposed to.

The touch controls (groan) are surprisingly good. In fact, compared to the controls on the Maxfield (p46), they’re a dream. Although once again the front is too glossy to avoid big fat greasy finger marks, the buttons do eas they’re told without any time lag.

Turning the device on and off is easier too. You simply have to slide the button to one side for mere seconds before you’re greeted with the bright screen. Although the themes consist of icy blue or icy blue, it displays photos as well as you can expect on a 1.7-inch OLED screen, especially as the pics are rotated according to whether they’re landscape or portrait.

On the menu
The menu user interface is as straightforward as you'll get. Simply scroll to find the music, FM radio, photo, alarm or the settings sub-menu and you're presented with a clear list of options that change from grey to white when you highlight them. In the music menu, you can choose to view tracks by artist, album, track, genres or playlists. To backtrack, you simply have to press the arrow key which lights up when the device is in active mode.

The K5 features an FM radio and, like most mobile phones and other devices with this attribute, you’ll have to plug in the earphones that act as the aerial. You do have the ability to blast tunes to your mates and sound is crystal clear as MP3 playback.

Although Samsung has just announced a sleeker version of this product, the K5’s most outstanding point is its slide out speaker, which makes music truly mobile. Just turn it on at a party, and there’s more space for drinks and nibbles on the table. Forget spending hundreds of pounds on a DJ, the K5 is all you need to get the party started.