It is a given fact that everybody on the mp3player market now tries to steal Apple’s thunder. In this competitive environment Samsung has managed to bring a tough contender to the iPod series as the K5 player will most likely target Nano’s position.

Although not as slim and small as an iPod Nano, the K5 manages to outfeature Apple’s counterpart while keeping a sleek look and an innovative design. The 1.7″ touch screen display is based on the OLED (organic LED) technology which permits brighter images with less power consumption.
Still, the most unexpected feature, for such a small device, is the built-in speaker. As you can see in the picture, the screen slides out and, from behind it, the speakers appear to allow listening to music without the help of headphones. Forget Zune’s wireless connection destined to share music to your friends, the K5 solution will turn to be way more popular and significantly simpler than Microsoft’s.

The K5 comes in two options with 2GB or 4GB of memory and you can use this mp3 player as a portable storage device or you can watch a slide show of your personal pictures while listening to your music. It also includes a built-in radio FM tuner and a digital clock with alarm function for those of you who want to wake up with the sound of your favorite song. The Lithium-Polymer battery allows for up to 30 hours of music playback when headphones are used for listening. If you want to share your music using the built-in speaker the battery life drops to less than 6 hours. This is still impressive considering all the K5 functions and the battery are packed in a small stylish box only 0.7″ (18 mm) thick and weighting less than 4 oz. ( approx. 100 grams).

Filed under Audio, Portable Media