Recently, the trend of electronic appliances can be summarized as simplicity and slimness.  Probably, the cause of that is largely due to the number of products people hold at one time.  Although you haven’t taken all these like Cell phone, MP3 player, Digital Camera, PMP, Laptop, E-Dictionary, PDA, I bet you have an experience in carrying at least 2 or 3 of them.  ‘Becoming wider is bearable, but thickness unforgivable…’ Like the prevailing sentence said, most of the products are getting slimmer.  At this rate, is it too early to worry about the accident which products are broken too easily?

After using K3 for a few weeks, I can define the feeling as slimness and lightness.  And, also I can say it rather focuses on playing music than functions as a multimedia.  Before I get started with the real review, I'd like to talk about the birth of K3 and in order to know it, let's look at the genealogy of YEPP

Samsung Electronics officially opened YP-K3 which an external speaker is excluded from YP-K5 to the public.

This model K3 was introduced in CES2007 held in Las Vegas early this year and got an interest.  It receives the unique concept from K5 which is a speaker inside, and pursue a slim design.  Especially, as the information that it is similar to iPod NANO in many ways came be the public, it became a big topic among the users from inside and outside of the country.

Mobile Speaker
The YA-DS200 is a mobile speaker accessory for the YP-K3. Whereas the K5 offered convenience with its exterior speaker, there were opinions that it was too thick to carry around comfortably in the pocket. The K3 has targeted people with such opinions, taking off the speaker to offer a slim version. The DS200 is a product that can upgrade the K3 a level, as an accessory that not only has an exterior speaker, but also an additional battery function. K3 users should consider using this product.

Taking a little burden off consumers by reducing packaging cost is good, but the truth is products packaged in this way are hard to open. You could cut your fingers opening the packet, so be careful.

Finally, the DS200.
A lithium polymer battery is included inside the product, earphones can be used for 48 hours, and the exterior speaker can play for 5 hours at maximum volume and 19 hours at medium volume. It is 128.3 x 51 x 18.7 mm in size and is very light, at 49 g. The sound output is 800mW, mono. It would be better is the sound was stereo, but stereo and mono sounds sound basically the same with such a small mobile product.



The K3 slides in. The part where it fits in with the speaker may not fit well at first, but it fits just right if you press the K3 slightly with your thumb. I thought it would be good to have an LED light or switch to tell the user whether or not it was properly attached. Of course, the best way would be to turn on the product.

The speaker outputs 800mW, mono. This is sufficient to listen to in a room. There is a 24 pin port at the top for charging, and an earphone port.

The back is extremely impressive. There is a switch where you can choose between an exterior speaker and an earphone terminal. As mentioned earlier, the batteries can be used for an extremely long time of 48 hours when using earphones.


There is a slide button at the bottom, which lets go of the K3 if you lift it up, to detach the K3 from the DS200.



The exterior speaker is especially handy when exercising or resting at home, and also reduces concern over scratches from exterior shocks. I will finish this review with a list of the advantages and disadvantages of the K3 when used with the DS200.

Advantages
- Can be used as an exterior speaker.
   No need to use earphones that may hurt the ears.
- Can protect the product from scratches.
   No cause for scratches even if the product is placed on the desk, because it is protected.
- Longer battery use.
   No need to worry about low battery when traveling.

Disadvantages
- The overall size becomes bigger.