Stefan Mileschin

Everything Samsung seems to be just a touch better in Seoul, and the South Korean giant's Galaxy Player 70 is no exception. For starters, it ships with a dual-core 1GHz processor -- a first for the WiFi-only Galaxy Player series. The 5-inch capacitive-touch LCD offers 800 x 480-pixel resolution, and can display whatever the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS throws its way, but it also packs a unique Korea-only punch: a DMB TV tuner, for pulling in terrestrial programming only available in Samsung's home country. There's also a requisite 8-inch retractable antenna, in addition to the standard micro-USB port, microSD card slot, headphone jack, built-in mic and stereo speakers around back. Like most Samsung portables, it's also photo friendly, with a 5-megapixel camera with flash on the rear and a VGA cam up front. The 2500mAh battery isn't easily swappable, unfortunately, since the PMP's backplate is screwed to the housing.

Considering that the Player is only going to be available for purchase in Korea, the only opportunity to go hands-on at this point is at Samsung HQ, which we just happen to be visiting this week. We spent some time with the device today, and while there's no chance of this iteration ever making an appearance on U.S. shores, we certainly wouldn't mind if it did. The plastic housing has the same look and feel as most other Galaxy devices, so there were no surprises there. It does bear a striking resemblance to the Galaxy S II, though the LCD here doesn't offer contrast or color reproduction that's anywhere close to the Super AMOLED Plus display on that record-breaking smartphone. Navigating the TouchWiz interface felt snappy, as it should given the processing duo on board, and the DMB television viewer worked flawlessly -- at least once we had a chance to take it away from the rumored-frequency-jamming R&D facility. Join us past the break for a closer look at the Galaxy Player 70 -- for those of you living outside of Korea, this may very well be your only chance.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/s...core-hands-on/