Samsung YP-K5: Boop bip beep bibble

In the tribal howling ground that is public transport, the loudest speakered mobile phone is king. But what if you want to inflict your taste in music on not merely the top, but both decks of the bus simultaneously? The 2W speaker in your Sony Walkman phone is not going to cut it now is it, dear hoodie? There will be a passenger on the lower deck unable to properly hear Dre cussing his tricks. What you really need is this Samsung YP-K5.

Our review model arrived this week and its built-in speaker is louder than a Glock-toting G popping caps in a banshee. As tiny portable speaker systems go, we were impressed. The K5 filled most of our hive with music, albeit slightly tinny music.

The organic display was pretty to look at, although as meaningless to the layman as any graphic equaliser. On-screen icons are equally attractive and the interface is, thankfully, easy to get to grips with straight away. As with all Samsung players, the K5 is wonderfully drag-and-drop -- you won't need any software at all, provided you're using a computer with USB and have the ability to mount external drives (this covers just about every OS since the Amiga). The speaker slides neatly back under the main body of the MP3 player when you're stowing it for transport.

Look down at yourself. Are your trousers (you will probably call them 'pants') baggy like a parachute and hung off your thighs? Is the label still attached to your baseball cap? Do you have the strange compulsion to kill strangers for nominal amounts of small change? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then this is the MP3 player for you. Go forth, confused youngster, and blast us all with your blips and beats. -CS

Update: a full review of the Samsung YP-K5 is now live.