The good:The Samsung S2 Pebble is an excellent value: it's inexpensive, sounds great, and offers a sleek and stylish design. It also includes a couple of useful extras, such as an on-the-go playlist and sound effects. The earphone plug design is handy.
The bad:There's no screen, and operating the Samsung S2 Pebble's extra functions takes some practice.
The bottom line:The Samsung S2 Pebble is a simple, cute MP3 player that offers a super affordable price tag, good sound quality, and some compelling extras. It's a great option for those who like to wear their devices pendant style.
MP3 player manufacturers can count on one thing: there will always be a demand for cheap, basic portable music players. These minimally featured devices are often perfect for the gym or brief, day-to-day use. To that end, Samsung is throwing its chip into the game in the form of the S2 Pebble, a screenless MP3 player that looks like a shiny stone. The Pebble is typically light on extras, but its sleek design, straightforward operation, and super affordable $40 price tag is sure to appeal to those looking for a basic-yet-stylish device.
The Samsung S2 Pebble is perhaps the most stylish MP3 player we've come across in the ultrabudget category. It looks like the ideal skipping stone: smooth and flat and almost perfectly circular, but just imperfect enough to look like a rock. The outer casing is a high-gloss plastic that looks a bit like marble in some of the colors, such as the white version. It also comes in black, red, green, and purple, all of which are shiny and dark. The device is predictably small, measuring just 1.5 inches in diameter and less than 0.5 inch thick.
Since 2003, Jasmine France has worked at CNET covering everything from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices to MP3 players. She currently cohosts the Crave podcast and spends the majority of her time testing headphones, music software, and mobile apps. Full Bio
