UPDATED 13:30 EDT / AUGUST 27 2012

NEWS

Samsung’s Galaxy Player 5.8: Biggest Media Player Yet, Biggest Waste Of Space

So far it’s business as usual for Samsung in the aftermath of its controversial court defeat to Apple last week. Seemingly undeterred, the Korean electronics firm has just announced the release of its whopping new Galaxy Player 5.8, the biggest platform yet in its range of Player devices for watching media and listening to music.

Samsung’s previous Galaxy Players came in 3.6, 4.2 and 5.0 formats respectively, but its latest effort puts them to shame with a humongous display that even dwarfs that of its popular ‘phablet’, the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note.

Unfortunately, the size of the device is just about the only thing that the latest Galaxy Player has going for it. Feature-wise, it stinks of mediocrity – it comes with Android 4.0 layered with Samsung’s TouchWiz, storage options range from 16GB to 32GB with 1GB of RAM, there’s room for a microSD card, while the device also boasts Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity and a 2500mAh battery – okay but nothing special. The biggest disappointment though is the pixel size – just 960×540, the same as the Apple iPod but on a screen that’s almost twice as big, and of course, its AMOLED display is no match for the iPod’s Retina.

To be fair, it’s an adequate media player, but the question remains – who the hell is going to want to buy such a device? Samsung probably deserve some applause for being able to come up with an optimal sized device for absolutely everyone, but surely the whole exercise is a little pointless? It’s too chunky for most people, and with smartphones these days being more than capable of doing everything that a media player can, this type of device is surely going to die a slow and lingering death…

Samsung hasn’t yet said how much the Galaxy Player 5.8 will cost, but we can expect that when it does hit the shops it’ll be pricier than the 5.0, which currently goes for around $199.99.

Any takers out there? Let us know in the comments section below.


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