Samsung YP-R1 PMP Shows Up Early

There's still half a month until pre-orders for Samsung's YP-R1 touchscreen PMP turn into shipping orders, but one of the slimline mediaplayers has already dropped into the careful hands of Le Journal du Geek.  While they're keeping quiet on performance, they haven't held back on photos.

The UI seems a strange mixture of Samsung's BEAT series cellphones – with rotating CD menus, half-circle buttons and the like – and a more bizarre interface with gingerbread men.  Hardware wise, there's a 2.6-inch 400 x 260 touchscreen, 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of storage and both a 3.5mm headphone socket and A2DP Bluetooth for wireless headsets.

Supported formats are numerous – they're listed here – and it's a pleasingly small device at 85 x 45.5 x 8.9 mm and 50g; Samsung have also squeezed in a voice recorder and FM radio.  It's apparently set to arrive in September priced between €149 ($207) and €279 ($389), while pre-orders in the UK are already being taken for a July 30th release.