I just got back from my local Best Buy a few hours ago, and sure enough they had 8 Sammy BD-P 1600's on the shelf.It's even smaller than the Sony BD350 and the front flips down hiding the disc drawer behind it(as someone above also stated).It has Netflix and Pandora built in also.It's a might expensive at $299, though my buddy picked one up anyway.So far we've tried 3 BRD discs(King Kong,How the West was Won, and From Russia With Love) and found the picture quality to be excellent(imo exactly the same as the BDP-1500).Bluray disc loading is on average a tad slower than the 1500 but it's with DVD loading that the loading is much faster.The DVD uppscaling isn't in the league of BDP2500/2550 quality but i find the color representation to be better than the BDP1500's with the 1600 being slightly better in the DVD upscaling dept.(we tested The Wizard of Oz,Transformers, and Sleeping Beauty dvds in the 1600).
For someone that doesn't yet have a Bluray player or is upgrading from a 2nd gen Bluray player, i'd easily reccommend picking up the BDP1600,but if you already own a Samsung BDP1500,Sony BD350,Panasonic BD35 players, or one of the higher end units(BDP2500/2550,BD55,BD550),then there really isn't any need to buy into a newer unit as it would be a sideways purchase(unless you absolutely have to have Netflix/Pandora streaming and don't own a BDP2500/2550/LG BD300/Xbox360)and at $299 atm is a bit steep for a player that'll likely be $190 on Amazon in a month or so.Also, if you can wait a month the BDP3600 will have 7.1 built in, as well a a gig of built in memory(the 1600 has no built in memory for BDLive support)and will come with the wireless USB dongle(which the 1600 DOES NOT INCLUDE).Better yet, if you absolutely have to have a new Bluray player today and want an excellent player, don't spend $299 on the 1600 when you can pick up a BDP-2500/2550 for a few bucks more before they disappear.IMO there is no better player for Bluray playing/DVD upscaling/feature sets around for that ammount of money.