16 August 2007 – Samsung today revealed that its Yepp line will grow to include a new touchscreen player that the company hopes will take on Apple’s iPod nano. The YP-P2 will include a three-inch LCD with touch as the near-exclusive control scheme; like the iPhone, the only physical controls needed are a lone front button and side-mounted controls for power and volume. The expanded screen serves as an ideal platform for watching MPEG-4 or WMV videos at a native widescreen ratio, Samsung says. Other rare features are also standard, such as Bluetooth for wireless headphones and a file browser for manually clearing files from the player.
Exact audio format support is unknown beyond MP3s but is known to include an FM radio as well as explicit support for podcasts (dubbed "datacasts" by Samsung). Running on flash memory extends battery life to 30 hours of continuous music or 6 hours of audio, by the company’s estimates. 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB versions of the player will be available soon. Samsung has not committed to a release date or price but is expected to provide full details at Berlin’s IFA technology show, which begins late this month and may see the YP-P2 available worldwide.
