If you’re interested in buying the music player, you’ll have a hard time searching for it under the name “Pebble.” Samsung has rebranded the device and has officially called it the “Muse.” It may seem counterintuitive since Pebble makes a whole lot more sense, but either way, it’s available now in the US for only $50.

Users with a Galaxy device (Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, etc.) will be able to connect to the Muse with the help of the Muse Sync app that users can download for free. The app is used to transfer songs and other data without needing to connect to a computer. The Muse player features a metal clip, 3.5mm headphone jack, 4GB of internal storage, and SoundAlive audio tech. So, while you may not be able to fit your entire music collection on it, it’ll definitely hold a few hundred songs for you to enjoy during your daily 5-mile jog.

The device is available now to purchase on Samsung’s website for $49.99, and while it’s not the most versatile music player out there, $50 certainly isn’t too bad of a price. Still, most users will likely stick with their smartphones as their music-listening device, but we certainly can’t blame those who would rather leave their phones at home to prevent damaging or losing it during exercise.

[via Android Community]

The 5.8-inch screen with have a qHD resolution, with the display making use of standard LCD technology instead of the company’s popular Super AMOLED tech. That falls in line with previous Galaxy Player releases, however, helping to keep costs down. Other specs for the device include a dual-core processor clocked at 1Ghz, 1GB of RAM, a three megapixel camera and VGA front-facing camera, plus Ice Cream Sandwich and TouchWiz 4.0.

The player won’t be as svelte as some smartphones, but we doubt many will be complaining about the 10.8mm thickness. The device is said to weigh 223g, and it will feature other radios such as Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and T-DMB for mobile television in South Korea. The battery is rated at 2,500mAh, and a microSD card slot is included for 32GB of storage. There’s no word on how much storage the player will come with as default, but we imagine it’ll fall in the 8 to 16GB range.

Interesting, the design looks to be a cross between the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 10.1. You have the same white glossy finish and curves as Samsung’s flagship handset, while two speaker grills are located at the top and bottom of the device, not unlike the Note 10.1 where similar speakers sit on either side. It also looks like the device will be going with a physical button plus two capacitive buttons, just like the Galaxy S III. There’s no word on when Samsung plans to release the media player, but SamMobile speculates that it it may make an appearance at IFA.

[via Android Central]

Hardware

Unlike its slightly more massive cousin which you can see in our Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 Review, this device is extremely thin and certainly one of the lightest smart devices on the market today. The only lighter device we’ve seen along these same lines is one you can see in our Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 Review – a tiny device, to be sure. This 4.2-inch relative of those Galaxy Players has many of the same specifications but here may well have the most ideal combination of palm-fitting form factor and media playing prowess.

Here you’ll find a device with Android 2.3 Gingerbread – certainly not the most advanced software available from Google or Samsung for that matter, but enhanced in several ways that make it equitable in a few choice ways. You’ll be able to see all of the applications you’ve got open at once by holding down the physical center button on the front of the phone. Access Google search by holding down the menu button. Turn the entire device on, the display off, and adjust the volume from the right side of the device, this handset having both its power and volume buttons sitting right under your thumb – if you’re right-handed, that is.

The two speakers on the front of this device remind us that Samsung has begun moving to this sort of model. We’ve seen this same cue on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 as well – have a peek at our Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Review to see how we enjoyed this feature just as well there as we did here. The vast majority of smartphones working with exterior speakers have been on the back, made to bounce sound off of the palm of your hand and reserve space on the front of the phone for screen space. Here Samsung is making it clear that this is not a smartphone, but a device made to play games, play music, and play movies first and foremost.

The Galaxy Player 4.2 has a display that’s right on the sweet-spot for what I’d consider a perfect screen size. Most adults with mid to large-sized hands should be able to reach the entirety of the device’s display with their thumb without needing two hands to do it, and the ideal location of the power button and volume button only adds to that ideal media-controller situation.

This device is able to connect with DLNA displays with the app called AllShare, Bluetooth devices with Bluetooth 3.0, and of course wi-fi internet. You’ll be connecting to your computer for media transfer with the free desktop-connected app Samsung Kies, and your USB connection is 2.0. You can play AVI, MP4, 3GP, WMV, ASF, MKV, and FLV videos as well as MP3, WMA, Ogg, FLAC, AAC, and WAV audio files. Inside your basic Music application you’ve got a sound levels controller called SoundAlive which has a set of presets such as Rock, Dance, Jazz, and Auto – and there’s a couple of customizable sets as well.

Software

Here we see Samsung’s most advanced version of media-player-ready Android 2.3 Gingerbread with TouchWiz enhanced for a rapidly evolving Ice Cream Sandwich-heavy environment. It’s unclear why this device does not simply have Android 4.0, but perhaps it is just that – updating this device mightn’t be so simple. It’s not extremely necessary to have that newest version of Google’s mobile OS for media and game playing, and that is what this device is made for without a doubt.

Below you’ll get a glimpse of how quick the Galaxy Player 4.2 works with its installed software, and we’ve got a couple of benchmarks here as well for you to compare with the rest of the smartphone and media player world.

Hands-on

Sound Quality

Samsung has never disappointed with their ability to place excellent speaker systems in the smallest of devices, and this is no exception to the rule. Through the earbuds included with the Galaxy Player 4.2 or through higher-quality headphones, you’ll not be let down by the headphone jack on this machine. The same is true of the two impressive speakers on the front of the device, each of them perfectly strong enough to use in a crowded bus station or on your own in the darkness.

Camera and Battery

This device has a front-facing camera good enough for basic video chat, a back facing camera with 2-megapixels imaging quality power, and both are fairly good. Compared to the kings of the smartphone world, they’re not so fabulous, but for taking photos for Facebook or Twitter, you’ll be fine. Have a peek at a few examples below and behold all 2 megapixels of fury.

Battery life on this device is fantastic if only because there’s no mobile data to be sucking it down hours after hour. We’ve gotten at least a day’s use out of this smart handset if not a day and a half after web browsing, streaming video over Wi-fi, and playing music through the whole test. The Galaxy Player 4.2 is a very well-balanced device as far as battery life goes, that’s for sure.

Wrap-Up

If I had to choose one Galaxy Player from the whole lineup released or announced thus far to work with, this would be it. The Galaxy Player 3.6 is just a bit too small to want to work with, and the Galaxy Player 5.0 is much too thick to want to have anything to do with. The only misgiving I’ve got with this particular model is the slightly less than stellar lighting in the buttons on the front of the device. This seemingly out-of-character feature does not look great, but does not hinder the operation of the device in any way.

Here at $199 this may well be the best deal on the mobile market if you’re not in the market for a tablet-sized device. Later this year we might be seeing sub-$199 tablets at 7-inches with next-level processing power. For now, $200 with no contract for an entertaining device such as this with Android is a fairly decent price. Find shops both online and offline to purchase this device through Samsung and gain entertainment in excess.

Featured: So there’s a lot of talk about people ‘cutting the cord’ (getting rid of cable or satellite) in exchange for Netflix, Hulu, etc. But our Don Reisinger laughs at that proposition in his column, Cable cord-cutting? Ha, never. In addition, we take the latest HTC One device for a test drive – HTC One V first impressions. And finally, we have a good old-fashioned review for you – Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 review.

Boeing Phone, Legal Stuff, & Canon: So let’s wrap up the rest of the stories that made waves today. First up, how cool is this? Boeing plans a super secure Android smartphone. And while this isn’t too exciting for most people, Microsoft has got to be happy about this – Microsoft wins delay in Microsoft patent case. And finally, for all you camera buffs out there, Canon Cinema EOS C500/C500 PL granted price and first peek.

Hardware

The device at hand here isn’t going to compete with the Galaxy S II line by any means – it’s not meant to break down the competition with a high definition display nor a fabulout dual or quad-core processor. Instead it’s made to play media, and that it does well. The 3.6-inch display is not high definition because it’s meant to act primarily as a control interface for the rest of your devices as well as play music with Samsung’s simplified apps for just that purpose.

What you’ll find here is a handheld device that’s perfectly sized for your palm, made to fit there and provide a display that’s able to be accessed with one hand’s thumb rather than having you use two hands to do any action like larger devices do. The camera is OK, certainly not fantastic, and the sound quality from the built-in speakers will bring you enough volume and quality for some hands-free video chat and bluetooth connected calling if your smartphone allows. Sound quality from the headphone jack is standard high-quality as with all Samsung devices while SoundAlive integration allows level changes on the fly.

Have a peek at our Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 review as well to see Samsung’s other much more gigantic look at the Player line. Also have a peek at the following benchmark result from Quadrant Standard to see how this device compares to the rest of the Android world by the numbers:

Software

You’ll be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread here out of the box, complete with a set of applications that allow you the ability to connect with a host of other devices. Connect with your DNLA devices with AllShare, connect to your Samsung Smart TV with SmartView, and enhance your whole sound experience with SoundAlive. You’ve also got the ability to work with VoIP calling with this device’s built-in microphone.

Each of these services allows you a connection to a bigger, better device. Again you wont be competing for specification supremacy with this Player, instead you’ll be happy to know that you payed a whole lot less to own this device than your smartphone which cost more both initially and each month – the Galaxy Player requires no monthly fee because it is Wi-fi only.

Have a peek also at what you can do with a few quick app modifications via Screen Replacement apps as downloaded from the Google Play App Store. The one we’re using in the video below is ADW Launcher EX which you can download here: download ADW Launcher now!

Camera

The camera on this device will bring you basic shots suitable for the wallpaper on the device your working with, for taking shots of your family members to send to friends and relatives, and that’s about it. The video quality too is OK, but certainly not something you’re going to use to create a masterpiece with. Have a peek at some examples below to get a better idea of what you’re working with with this 2 megapixel camera on the back (and VGA camera on the front.) Video and photos below:

Battery

The battery on this device appears relatively astounding until you realize you’re not using mobile data. That in and of itself is one of the biggest battery drainers on most smartphones – here it’s not an issue. Expect to be using this device for at least a full days’ music and video controlling action.

Wrap-Up

This device is not an iPod touch competitor. Instead it’s Samsung’s effort to bring their user interface and media-controlling prowess to the non-mobile smart device world. You’ve got no mobile data, but the rest of the Android fun is all here – and at $149.99 (in stores now) you might not be able to resist such a relatively inexpensive fun machine. Should you also have a smartphone on hand – especially if it’s one so gigantic as the Galaxy Note, for example, this device will act as your everyday connection if you plan on leaving that beast in your backpack – connect it!

Is this device worth the cost? If you’ve not already got a similar device on hand – yes it certainly is. You can use this device essentially as a smartphone everywhere there’s a Wi-fi connection, and given Android’s ability to be hacked and modified from here to outer space, you’ll have the experience you want whenever you want. Put all your music on here, your videos galore, and connect to your HDTV and Bluetooth stereo for an awesome time had by all.

Over on the other side of the pond, this device is called the Galaxy S Wi-fi, but because of what Samsung has done to promote this device and its sibling the 3.6 here in the USA, they’re going with the Player tag here in the states. You can use this device as a Bluetooth headset, connecting to your phone and taking your calls on the run, connect it to your Bluetooth stereo and run your tunes, and of course get in touch with your Samsung Smart TV with apps like Peel.

Check out our review of the Galaxy Player 5.0 from a few weeks ago and also see our hands-on with the Galaxy Player 3.6 from earlier this week! Below have a peek at our hands-on with the Galaxy Player 3.6 as well.

Of course the real battle here is going to be between this device (and it’s brother the 3.6) up against the iPod touch. Given both, one next to the other, it’s not going to be easy for Samsung to sell this experience as much more valuable than Apple’s answer to the situation. Once May 13th rolls around and this device along with the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 come out on the market here in the USA, we’ll see how well it does in the real world.

This situation might just come down to how well this device is marketed!

This device runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a single-core Cortex A8 1GHz processor, working with Bluetooth 3.0 and Wifi 801.11 b/g/n for connectivity with your other Samsung devices (and Bluetooth devices galore). You’ll be working with SoundAlive SoundEngine for audio and Samsung Smart View and AllShare for moving and streaming media. This device is meant to assist you in consuming media of all kinds, acting as both a player in and of itself and controlling the Samsung devices you’ve got around the house – namely your Smart TV and point-and-shoot cameras – how sweet!

We’ll get into more of all this for the review which will be coming up this week here on SlashGear, but for now know this: this is not your everyday average teeny-tiny amount of storage device. Inside you’ve got 8GB to start with, then a microSD card slot into which you can insert a 32GB microSD card to expand your memory to the max. Files you can work with include DivX, WMV, MPEG4, H.264, MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, and FLAC – all of that right out of the box.

This device looks and feels very similar to a Galaxy S device, it having the same user interface we’ve seen on recent Samsung smartphones and having three Android menu buttons below its display, this indicating that it may, if you’re lucky, be ready for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich sometime in the future. Have a peek at our hands-on photos above and below as well as the unboxing video we’ve got here, and feel free to ask any and all questions before our full review comes up this week!

What you’ve got is two devices aiming at doing the same thing for you, the consumer. Both devices can be considered what was once a popular term before smartphones arrived, PDA or Personal Digital Assistant, I’d argue that the Galaxy Player, at least the 5.0 version, is much closer to that description than either the 4.0 version or the iPod Touch. In that you can successfully tap away at the digital keyboard on the Galaxy Player 5.0 without worrying about how large your fingertips are no matter HOW close your fingers might be to sausages, the 5.0 gets the first point.

Both devices are marketed at media players. That means they’re meant to play music and videos and games. In that the iPod Touch and the Galaxy Player 4.0 are both small enough to fit in anyone’s pocket whereas the 5.0 is too large to fit in anyone’s pocket without consideration for emptying out of all the contents including your billfold, the smaller devices have the upper hand. A music player, better known still as an MP3 player today, should always be able to fit in your pocket easily.

For video and games, on the other hand, here the TFT LCD on the 5.0 player really shines the brightest. Not literally, mind you, as the pixels are much more densely packed on the iPod Touch at 640 x 960 pixels on a 3.5-inch display, but even at 480 x 800 pixels on a 5-inch display there is much to be said about the extra space. The space of course comes in handy when you want to actually see the detail in your Transformers movie rather than a highly-packed jumble of intensely colored tiny, tiny bits. It also comes in rather handy when you want to use on-screen controls for games – on the iPod Touch and the 4.0 Galaxy Player, you’ll be blocking quite a bit with your thumbs.

Of course then there’s the different markets you have access to. The iTunes app store and iTunes as a media store are much more diversely packed with high-quality applications, movies, TV shows, and music in one place than the Android Marketplace. Google’s offering is growing every day, of course, and might be a contender someday if a reliable music purchasing component can be rustled up, but for now there’s no better one-stop for everything than iTunes. Note though, that even if the iTunes market has it all, you don’t necessarily need it all, especially depending on what you plan on using the device for. If you already have all the music you need and otherwise import music from CDs, both devices are pretty good for that, though you’ll find the iTunes app on your desktop computer the best for that again.

If you plan on using the device for its ability to store notes for you and/or display images that you’d otherwise carry around in a wallet or a small portfolio, the Galaxy Player 5.0 is the clear choice. The size is currently unique at 5-inches and the color and detail is certainly more than good enough for both taking and displaying notes as well as any photos you’ve got and/or visual works you want to show off to colleagues – especially if its video-based.

The speakers and headphone output on both devices are essentially equal, as far as my ears can hear. The one difference that can be instantly seen (and heard) on the Galaxy Player 5.0 is the two speakers on the back, one speaker grille for each. Not many smart devices these days have two speakers, much less one good one, and although the iPod Touch does have a decent speaker in it, it’s still just one, and it still has to play through either metal or glass to get out from under the casing.

The camera on the Galaxy Player 5.0 is much nicer than the one on the iPod Touch, both in practice and in number: 0.7 megapixels compared to 3.2 megapixels, while their front-facing cameras are equally terrible when it comes to anything outside basic video chat.

If I was only allowed to carry one device around for the rest of my life, which one would I choose? The Galaxy Player 5.0, simply because I can use the larger display for more than just controlling my music and watching the tiny, tiny videos that the iPod Touch is able to show on its tiny, tiny screen, and the speakers are the best. That said, there’s one reason that makes me think the iPod Touch (4th generation only) is the better choice: the fact that it works with the Apple HDMI converter cord that allows you to play things like Netflix through an HDMI cord to your television. I already do that with my iPad 2, and I can tell you right now: it’s pretty boss.

Check our the rest of the review series of the Galaxy Player 5.0 we’ve got going here on SlashGear inside the Galaxy Player portal!

The Galaxy S II comes in several different shapes and sizes here in the United States, two of the more powerful ones being the two we’ve got right here, the Galaxy S II from AT&T and the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. The first of two has a 4.32-inch display at 480 x 800 resolution and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor made by Samsung. The Epic 4G Touch has the same specifications on a 4.5-inch display. This means that the pixel density is down but the power is the same. The Galaxy Player 5.0 has a single-core processor at 1Ghz that’s also made by Samsung and a display that’s 5-inches large with the same 480 x 800 pixel resolution. In addition, the Galaxy Player has a TFT LCD display while the Galaxy S II units both have a Super AMOLED Plus display. Have a look here to see if you can spot the differences in quality:

Each of the displays above are set to full brightness, and the device on the far right is the Samsung Stratosphere. This device is a 4G LTE enabled Samsung device with a Super AMOLED (not plus) display also at 480 x 800 pixel resolution. Again, see if you can tell the difference from the photo above. Have a peek at the video below for a hands-on comparison of the Galaxy Player 5.0, the Galaxy S II in the two flavors mentioned, and the Stratosphere, each of them in kind:

So what about price comparisons? Have a peek here at some prices that are live RIGHT this second here:

Galaxy S II AT&T $199 on contract $549 off contract
Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch $99.99 on contract $599.99 off contract
Samsung Stratosphere $149.99 on contract $409.99 off contract
Galaxy Player 5.0 $259.00

And heed this again: the Galaxy Player 5.0 has no on contract price because there is no contract in any instance, it’s a Wi-fi only device. The question you’ve got to ask yourself, as with all decisions between devices like these, is “what do I want this device to do?” If it’s just having a one-time-only cost for a 5-inch display having device that’ll work as a display for games and videos in a variety of places on a Samsung interface, the Galaxy Player 5.0 is your clear winner as it’s essentially your only choice.

If on the other hand you want power, thinness, and connectivity wherever you go, you’ll be best off with one of the Galaxy S II devices. For 4G LTE, you can either choose the Stratosphere here or the DROID Charge, another lovely choice from Verizon. Of course all of these are Samsung devices. What if you want a comparable device to the Galaxy Player 5.0 but don’t mind if it’s not a Samsung-made interface and set of hardware? We’ll be working with an iPod Touch next – stay tuned to SlashGear for more!

Hardware

This is the 5-inch Galaxy Player, one of two, the other having a 4-inch display. This device has a WVGA TFT LCD display, this meaning it has 480 pixels across and 800 pixels down. This means that it’s got the same amount of pixels that several Samsung devices out on the market have already, all of them with smaller screens. This means that the pixels on this display are spread over a larger space rather than being tightly packed as its family members display’s pixels are, making the display on this device appear comically large. Notice the amount of icons on the screen on the Galaxy Player compared to these other Samsung devices, each of them with the same amount of pixels across different sized displays: Epic 4G Touch 4.52-inch, Galaxy S II from AT&T 4.32-inch, and Stratosphere 4-inch:

Of course these displays have different technology behind them, the Galaxy Player with a TFT LCD, the GSII devices with Super AMOLED Plus, and the Stratosphere with a Super AMOLED. That said, the image above showing each of these devices at full brightness says a lot. I’ll be posting more on the comparisons between these devices in a future post here on SlashGear, but for now know this: this device isn’t simply larger, it’s essentially taffy pulled to a larger size, stretched if you will. That said, just like any other device, if you’ve not got each of the devices next to one another or your not used to a higher definition device, you won’t know the difference.

The Galaxy Player 5.0 is a total of 11.9 mm thick, meaning that it’s thin compared to your laptop, but not compared to your smartphone. This media player isn’t exactly meant for sticking in your pocket unless you’ve got absolutely nothing else in your pocket and you’ve got 141.3 x 78.2 x 11.9 mm left over. It’s basically the size of a stack of dollar bills large, but of course much more precious.

Inside you’ve got 8 GB of storage with a microSD card slot along the top so you can expand by 32GB, a single-core 1GHz processor made by Samsung, and two cameras: one VGA on the front for video chat, and a 3.2-megapixel shooter on the back. This device might not play some of the highest-powered apps of today, but it’ll play most of them, and HD video and audio play fine, without a hitch. The only drawback here is that you’ll only be able to play the video files on the device itself where most modern smart devices worth their salt these days have either a microHDMI or an MHL port so that you can use a converter to output to HDMI. Of course since the display is much smaller than your average HDTV and has an amount of pixels that’s much greater than your average TV, you’ve still got a superb picture – and with two speakers on the back that sound rather nice, you’ve got a movie player for any occasion.

Hands-on Video

Software

You can play DivX, Xvid, WMV, MPEG4, and H.264 videos, MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, and FLAC audio files, and essentially any app you can imagine. Of course again this device only has a 1GHz processor where the top smartphones on the market have dual-core processors (at least twice as powerful,) there are some selections that wont run superbly. For these you’ll want to wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note, the slightly larger and much more powerful new sibling of the Player. That said, your stock video player showing off some video on the WVGA TFT LCD doesn’t look half bad, and be sure to check out the hands-on video again for a better peek.

The Galaxy Player uses a version of TouchWiz that’s been replaced since its original release earlier this year by the versions on the Galaxy S II as well as the in-between version on the Samsung Stratosphere. You’ll notice the difference in that you have none of the perks outlined back in August and there’ll be that memorable “candy coating” around your icons in the apps drawer.

Have a peek at a couple of benchmarks here for good measure:

Camera

The camera is OK but by no means a replacement for the camera you’ve already got on your smartphone or your point-and-shoot. It’s a 3.2-megapixel camera, that being comparable to many of the tablet-sized devices that’ve come out this year, and it’s capable of 480p video recording. Have a look at a photo here, a few more in the gallery below, and a video recording demonstration to see what we’re dealing with here.

Battery

There’s a 2500 mAh battery in this device, and you’ve got no phone signal to bog you down, so you’ll be running in at least a full day’s use if you’re using it in a medium to heavy way. If you’re watching videos all day or downloading or watching streaming movies for hours at a time, expect much less.

Wrap-Up

This review is just one part of a series we’re doing on this device as part of our new initiative to give you a better look at the value of a reviewed product as compared to its competition. The devices we’ll be looking at have been listed in this review earlier, those being the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Samsung Stratosphere, the Apple iPod Touch, and of course the Galaxy Note. As a preview, know this: if you’ve ever used a smartphone before and expect to switch to this device, you’ll feel as though you’re using an oversized handset as opposed to a tiny tablet.

This device is good for bringing along on the airplane to play some videos and play some simple games, for handing to your kid if you don’t want him to smudge up your $400 smartphone, and for showing off your tiny portfolio. While I’m loath to say this, it’s essentially true: your only other option for a device like this is an iPod Touch, and $262.94 for a 5-inch smart device with no contractual obligations, it’s enticing! Stick around here on SlashGear for the rest of the review collection for this device.

Update: the review continues with Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 vs Galaxy S II vs Stratosphere also seen here in short: