Samsung Solstice SGH-A887

Samsung Solstice SGH-A887 offers a trim design with rounded corners. It's not quite as angular as the Samsung Behold or the Eternity, though it lacks the Highlight's color choice and patterned back side. We wouldn't call it stylish, but it's not unattractive either. It measures 4.3 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.5 inch and weighs 3.3 ounces, which gives it a comfortable and sturdy feel in the hand. The 3 inch display is just big enough, though we wouldn't want it to be any smaller.

With support for 262.000 colors and 400x240 pixels, it has a pleasant resolution that shows colors and graphics well. It won't knock your socks off, but it's suitably bright and vibrant for phone of this caliber. Samsung's TouchWiz interface gives you instant access to a variety of features, though we wish its customization options were more extensive. The icon-based menu interface is simple and intuitive.

Permanent touch icons on the bottom of the screen open the dialpad, the phone book, and the main menu. The dialpad and QWERTY keyboard are unchanged from previous Samsung touch screen models. The dialpad features large alphanumeric numbers for calling and sending texts using T9 predictive text. The keys are somewhat small, but you can use T9 here as well. Basic punctuation is surfaced on the primary keyboard, but you must click through to a second keyboard for numbers and symbols.

The Solstice's accelerometer works across many applications. As with other Samsung touch screen phones, you can switch between the keypad and keyboard by rotating the phone to the left (rotating it to the right will result in an upside down keyboard). The handset also offers a motion detection feature that will automatically mute a call or an alarm tone when you turn the phone and place it face down on a surface. The display is responsive, whether you're selecting icons or scrolling through long lists.

You can adjust the intensity of the vibrating feedback and change the display's calibration. As for other customization options, you can change the display's wallpaper, brightness, backlight time, font type, and greeting message. Three physical buttons sit below the display a Talk button, a back control, and the End and power key. The calling controls are flush, but the back button is easy to find by feel. The volume rocker rests on the left spine while a combined headset or charger jack and camera shutter sit on the right spine.

The jack is proprietary and you can use only one peripheral at a time. Also on the right spine you'll find a control that opens a shortcut menu for the browser, the games menu, the music player, the messaging app, and the dial pad. There's also a command to end any open application. The camera lens and self-portrait mirror rest on the phone's back side and the memory card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery.

Navigon 7200T

Like Navigon 2000S, Navigon 7200T features a slightly new design with a black matte casing rather than the lacquered finish of the company's previous models. It still keeps the compact size, measuring 4.6 inches wide by 3.2 inches tall by 0.7 inch deep and weighing 6.5 ounces, so you can use it in multiple cars or take it with you on vacations for use with rental cars. Navigon 7200T's display is slightly different from the company's other models. The screen is completely flat and doesn't have a beveled edge, so it gives the GPS a more sophisticated and streamlined look.

The display measures 4.3 inches diagonally and is sharp and bright, making it easy to view maps. The touch screen is also more responsive than other Navigon units we've tested in the past. The on screen keyboard is slightly larger than Navigon 7100, so address entry was easier and more accurate. Also, the GPS features predictive text, so as you enter letters, it will automatically bring up possible result matches. Unfortunately, you only have the option of an ABC formatted keyboard and not a QWERTY one. The user interface is pretty intuitive.

From the start menu , you have four main options : New Destination, My Destinations, Take Me Home, and Voice Entry. As we've noted in our other reviews, the Navigon interface isn't quite as clean or easy as a TomTom or Garmin GPS. For example, if you simply want to go to the map screen, you have to tap Options first and then Show Map, whereas the other systems have direct shortcuts. The extra steps required on Navigon 7200T, but it definitely made us appreciate the simplified interface of the other units.

There's a power button on top of the unit, while there's a microSD expansion slot, a reset hole, a mini USB port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom. Finally, there's an external antenna jack on the back. Navigon 7200T comes packaged with a car charger, a vehicle mount (windshield and dashboard), a software CD, and reference material. The car mount is slightly different than the ones that shipped with previous Navigon units. It consists of a disc that attaches to the back of the GPS, and that piece connects to the arm of the mount. There's a bit of assembly required, but it's quite easy. What's difficult is removing the unit from the disc; there's a little release lever at the bottom, but we still had problems. The good news is the mount securely held Navigon 7200T in place during our road tests.

Features
Navigon 7200T includes maps of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To plan a trip, you can enter a location by specific address, point of interest, recent destination, user defined home, and so forth. Of course, the big news is that you can enter addresses by voice. When you first use the voice command system, you do a little test read in your car so the GPS can learn your voice and the environment in which you'll be using Navigon 7200T.

The first couple of times we used the voice entry system, the results weren't very accurate, but the more we used it, the better it got (check out the Performance section for more details). Unfortunately, unlike the Garmin Nuvi 880, the voice command system is limited to just address entry and can't be used for other tasks. Navigon 7200T can calculate routes in one of three ways fast, optimum, and short and gives you the option to allow or avoid highways and toll roads.

There are also pedestrian and bicycle modes. In addition, Navigon 7200T offers free real time traffic updates for life, so you can know the road condition before hitting the road or finding alternative routes if you happen to get caught in traffic. If there are any incidents along your route, you'll see a little exclamation point on your map screen (as well as get an audible cue) and by tapping it, it will bring up a list of congested areas. You can select a specific incident and get more details on the problem or choose to ignore it.

Lenovo IdeaPad S12

Unfortunately, there's nothing game changing about Lenovo IdeaPad S12's looks. While the design made up of glossy plastics and embedded circular patterns is tastefully done, it's been done before by the likes of the HP Mini 110 and Mini 1000. Its hues white and black aren't as varied as the colorful offerings of the Dell Mini 12, although it's not as plain looking as the Samsung NC20.

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is now officially the heaviest netbook on the block, tipping the scales at 3.5 pounds (the dv2-1030us weighs 3.8 pounds, but HP refuses to call it a netbook). The extended 52 Wh battery is a major reason why it's heavier than your average netbook the rest has to do with its dimensions, as the S12 measures 11.5 by 9.2 by 1.2 inches (HWD). The NC20 is a bit smaller (11.5 by 8.5 by 1.2 inches), while the Dell Mini 12 (11.8 by 9 by 0.75 inches) is the thinnest among this 12 inch group.

Picky netbook users will be drawn to its 12 inch widescreen, questioning whether it's a netbook. The size of the screen and its 1.280 by 800 resolution don't suffer the same limitations as a 10 inch screen with a 1,024 by 600 resolution (scrolling, for instance, is minimized with long web pages and Adobe's Photoshop CS series has a 1.024 by 768 resolution requirement). It's not unusual, though, as all of its 12 inch peers possess the same screen characteristics.

The typing experience, however, does stand out. Its full size keyboard eclipses the 92% ones of the Dell Mini 12 and the HP dv2. It's on a par with the NC20's full size keyboard, with the slight edge going to the former's noise free mouse buttons. A bigger than normal netbook frame has its advantages, especially with cramming in features. The S12's three USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, an integrated Webcam, and a 4 in 1 memory card reader are standard netbook parts.

What makes it stand out among its 12 inch counterparts is the ExpressCard 34 slot. This slot, which can enable luxuries such as 3G wireless, extra USB ports, FireWire, and Serial port, can be a handy commodity for road warriors. The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (Red) and HP Mini 2140 are the only other netbooks that carry this slot, but they're miniature frames causes them to lose a third USB port.

Navigon 8100T

Navigon 8100T is a bit of a departure from the company's other portable navigation systems as far as its design. It sports a silver brushed metal finish rather than the typical black plastic casing, giving the GPS a more sophisticated look and quality build to match its high end feature list. Navigon 8100T is slightly on the larger and heavier side, at 5.3 inches wide by 3.3. inches tall by 0.9 inch deep and 9.4 ounces, but there's a good reason for the bigger size. The reason is that Navigon 8100T features an extra wide, 4.8 inch touch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Most of today's GPS devices sport 4.3 inch displays, but Navigon added the extra screen real estate to complement Navigon 8100T's Panorama View 3D, which we'll talk about in the Features section. In general, maps and text look clear and bright. You can choose between day and night map colors or set it to automatic so the system will switch it for you based on the time of day. Navigon 8100T's user interface is like other Navigon products : fairly easy to use, but not as intuitive or simple as a TomTom or Garmin.

The on screen keyboard is large enough that you should be able to input addresses without too many mispresses. That said, we're disappointed that there's still no QWERTY format option, but even more frustrating is the system's sluggishness, which affected the address entry process. We'd input letters, but they wouldn't appear for a couple of seconds, or we'd try to delete a letter, but since the system wasn't quick to respond, we thought our touch didn't register and ended up tapping the back button multiple times and inadvertently erasing everything.

Aside from the touch screen, the GPS does have some tactile controls. On the left side, there's a back key, a mute button, and an external antenna jack; there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and external volume controls on the right side, which we always appreciate since then you don't have to dig through menus to adjust the volume. The top of the unit holds the SD expansion slot and the power button. A mini USB port and reset hole are on the bottom, but be aware that when you're using the car charger, you need to plug it into the mini USB port on the vehicle mount and not the one on the unit.

Navigon 8100T comes packaged with a car charger, a vehicle mount, an SD card preloaded with maps and points of interest, a soft protective pouch, and reference material. Navigon's Web site states that Navigon 8100T comes with an adhesive disc for the dashboard, but our sales package didn't include one. The company reassured us that this was just a mistake and all others will ship with the accessory. The vehicle mount itself is similar to the one that ships with Navigon 7100. It consists of one long arm and a suction cup. It's quite modern looking and works well, but we still prefer the more traditional vehicle mounts, since they allow for more adjustments as far as placement and angles.

Features
Aside from the 3D panorama views, Navigon 8100T offers a feature list very similar to that of Navigon 7200T. The GPS is equipped with a SiRFStarIII GPS chip and comes with an SD card preloaded with maps of the United States and Canada and 5 million points of interest. To plan a trip, you can enter a location by specific address, point of interest, recent destination, user defined home, and so forth. You can also enter addresses via the voice command system. As with 7200T, you will have to read a short paragraph so the system can learn your voice.

It's also recommended you do this exercise in the car so the GPS can get the optimal settings for the environment. Unlike the Garmin Nuvi 880, the voice command system is limited to just address entry and can't be used for other tasks. Navigon 8100T can calculate routes in one of three ways fast, optimum, and short and gives you the option to allow or avoid highways and toll roads. There are also pedestrian and bicycle modes.

In addition, like most other Navigon products, Navigon 8100T offers free real time traffic updates for life, so you can know the traffic condition before hitting the road or you can find alternative routes if you happen to get caught in traffic. If there are any incidents along your route, you'll see a little exclamation point on your map screen (and hear an audible cue) and by tapping it, the 8100T will bring up a list of congested areas. You can select a specific incident and get more details on the problem or choose to ignore it.

The PND supports multi destination routing so you can add multiple stops to your trip or add waypoints on the fly. The points of interest (POI) database includes all the major categories, including gas stations, lodging, and ATMs. You can search for restaurants by cuisine type, and there are also specialized categories like golf courses, marinas, and museums. In addition, you can search for POI by Zagat Survey ratings and reviews it's available for hotels, night life, attractions, golf courses, and restaurants, and once you've selected your category, you can refine your search even more by top service, best buy, and so forth. Tapping the information icon on a business listing will then bring up specific ratings and reviews. You can then have it shown on a map or navigate to the POI from your current location.

Philips GoGear SA6185

One of the latest Philips products is Philips GoGear SA6185 multimedia player. This media player is capable of playing videos, music, radio and voice recording. Also pictures can be viewed on it. The version we tested has been equipped with an 8GB internal memory, has a weight of 153 grams and is black. Philips GoGear media player is packed in a plastic package that nicely shows the device.

Included in the package, besides Philips GoGear SA6185, we found a software CD, a quick guide in eight languages, earplugs and a USB cable for recharging the media player and for transferring files. The GoGear media player has been equipped with a 3.5 inch LCD monitor with QVGA resolution of 320 x 240 pixels in 65.000 colors. Philips GoGear is just over one centimeter thick and a tad bigger than a hand sized media player.

Next to the large monitor on the front of the media player, some buttons are positioned. The menu button that lets you return to the main menu at all times, and the navigation buttons with the on and off button in the center that also serves as play and pause button. Furthermore we find two integrated speakers on the front. The bottom side carries a button to lock the GoGear. On the topside the volume button is placed for adjusting the volume and the button on the right side of the device lets you go directly to the playlist.

Sony Ericsson Satio

The ultimate multimedia experience with the new Sony Ericsson Satio multimedia mobile phone. Feast your eyes on movies, TV series’ and video clips thanks to the 3.5 inch screen and crystal clear 16:9 wide screen format just like watching them live. A friend pulling a funny pose? Snap them with the amazing 12.1 megapixel digital camera and share the picture with friends.

Sony Ericsson announced Satio which provides you access to all your media in one place just tap directly into your favorite features with the five standby panels and you're ready to go. First introduced in Barcelona as the ‘Sony Ericsson Idou', Satio puts the future of mobile entertainment in the palm of your hand. You can watch your favorite movies on the bus or catch up with your TV shows while on your lunch break thanks to Satio.

Download exciting music, movies and games from Sony Ericsson PlayNow arena to personalise your entertainment experience on Sony Ericsson Satio and enjoy them in crystal clear 16:9 wide screen format. The Sony Ericsson PlayNow arena provides a full range of mobile entertainment available by dual download to both your Personal Computer and mobile phone with specially developed ring tones and music tones and DRM-free music tracks and TrackID charts from around the world.

Sony Ericsson Satio features

• Visual communication like never before
• True 16:9, 3.5 inch wide screen feast your eyes on movies
• Express yourself through images 12.1 megapixel camera
• Intuitive touch focus, Xenon flash and face and smile detection
• Web albums with messages talk through pictures and share info
• Intuitive full touch media menu tap into your favorites, from web pages
• Symbian Foundation operating system 1000+ applications available online
• Music player play your tunes loud and proud
  

Sony Ericsson Satio technical specifications

• Size : 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm
• Weight : 126 grams
• Colors : Black, Silver and Bordeaux
• Main screen : 16.777.216 color nHD TFT
• 16:9 wide screen
• Resolution : 640 x 360 pixels
• Size : 3.5 inches
• Cell phone memory : 128 MB
• Memory Card Support : SanDisk microSD
  

Sony Ericsson Satio mobile phone supports GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and UMTS / HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100. Sony Ericsson Satio multimedia phone will be available in selected markets from early Q4 in the colors Black, Silver and Bordeaux. As soon as we receive a Sony Ericsson Satio test sample, we will publish a photo gallery with high resolution pictures, followed by an extended Sony Ericsson Satio review.

Plustek BookReader V100

Plustek BookReader V100, which comes with a one year parts and labor warranty, is a niche product. Plustek BookReader V100 says it's aimed primarily at libraries and other institutional users that may find it helpful to convert printed books into audiobooks, particularly for the benefit of the visually impaired. It could also see it being of great interest to someone with, say, macular degeneration, which leaves sufferers with peripheral vision only and makes reading difficult or impossible.

But what Plustek BookReader V100 doesn't do is convert printed books to audio so easily that it's worth doing yourself just so you can, say, listen to books while driving. In reality, Plustek BookReader V100 is a conventional book scanner (more on that in a moment) paired with optical character recognition (OCR) software to turn scanned images into text and text to speech (TTS) software to turn the text into audio. None of these technologies are new or even unusual. OCR software comes with most scanners, and TTS software has been around longer than Windows.

Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150

The cooler than cool Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 drew big crowds at the 2008 NAB Show. Why? Simply because it offers an unheard of Bang for the Buck, in a 1/3 inch three chip hand held tapeless HD camcorder, while retaining the core versatility of the DVX100B. Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 sports a 28mm lens right out of the box and a new PH Record mode (21 Mbps) which offers higher resolution with a host of recording formats including 24p.

Add to that, amazing low light performance, long record and battery time and professional Audio capabilities at a price that will make it an instant hit with a wide range of AV Shooters, Indie creators and Event video professionals. Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 represents a major step forward in the introduction of a next generation solid state HD camera that extends the six year successful track record of the popular DVX100 plus a lot more.

Polk Audio RC85i

Polk Audio RC85i 2 way In wall Speaker delivers incredible sound to any room in your home without using any floor or shelf space. Polk Audio RC85i is easy to install, requiring only that you cut a hole, feed the wires through, and simply drop the speaker in where it is held in place by rotating cams that safely secure the speaker with no extra assembly or mess. Once installed, the paintable grille and flange allows this in wall speaker to virtually disappear in the room.

Polk Audio RC85i utilizes an eight inch dynamic balance, mineral filled polymer composite cone with a rubber surround that outlasts cheaper foam surrounds, as well as a one inch dynamic balance, metalized soft dome tweeter with a swivel mount. The swivel mounted tweeter is aim able for direct high frequency control that ensures spacious imaging with amazing clarity, and well balanced sound in any listening position, even off axis listening positions, rather than in just a small sweet spot.

Constructed of durable, moisture resistant materials, Polk Audio RC85i is safe for use in bathrooms, kitchens, saunas, or even under outdoor eaves, and features a wide dispersion design for even sound coverage throughout even large rooms. Polk Audio RC85i also features infinite baffle tuning which uses the virtual enclosure of in wall space for superior bass response, and is timbre matched to the Polk Audio Monitor Series for seamless, enveloping imaging when used in a home theater system.

Technical Details

• Pair of 2 way in wall speakers timbre matched to the Polk Audio RTi Series for seamless imaging
• Equipped with one 8 inch dynamic balance, mineral filled polymer composite cone
• Frequency response : 35Hz - 20kHz
• Equipped with one 1 inch dynamic balance, metalized soft dome tweeter with 15 degree swivel mount
• Constructed of durable, moisture resistant materials for use in bathrooms, saunas, or under outdoor eaves
• Price : US$147.38

Alienware M17x

The 17 inch widescreen, which is usually a sight to behold on a gaming laptop, is one of the M17x's weaker points. While the intense brightness levels (backed by two CCFL lamps) and awe inspiring 1.920 by 1.200 resolution are top notch, the screen itself has the characteristics of a mirror. The glare is magnified because the entire screen including the surrounding black borders is covered in glass. Half the time I was trying not to take notice of my reflection.

Changing the black Alienware background and minimizing surrounding light sources should help reduce glare. It's a departure from the boxy look of gaming laptops like the Falcon Northwest Fragbook DRX and Gateway P-7808u FX Edition, as the M17x's front side slopes downward at 45 degrees. Likewise, the back of the unit has a reverse slope, giving the entire frame a weird rhomboid look. The shape of the system is accentuated by an all metallic ensemble.

Samsung Moment (Sprint)

You wouldn't be off base if you initially confused the Moment with Samsung's other touch screen phones. Indeed, with its rounded ends and prominent display it looks a lot like the Samsung Rogue. Yet, a closer look will show that Samsung Moment (Sprint) is larger than its siblings and its color scheme and soft touch material on its battery cover put it more in line with the Hero. The result is a rather unremarkable design, particularly when compared with its Android counterparts, but the smooth lines give the Moment a minimalist appeal.

Samsung Moment (Sprint) is more than just large (4.6 inches by 2.34 inches by 0.63 inch), it's also quite heavy (5.67 ounces) for any kind of cell phone. The extra bulk is noticeable and Samsung Moment (Sprint) can make for a tight fit in some pockets, but the trade off is a solid device with a sturdy build. The slider mechanism is sufficiently stiff and the handset has a firm feel in the hand. We noticed, however, that when the slider is open Samsung Moment (Sprint) feels a bit top heavy. When typing, be sure to steady the back of the slider with your fingers.

At 3.2 inches, the Moment's vibrant AMOLED display is smaller than the iPhone's, but still large enough to allow for comfortable navigation. Though the resolution (480x320 pixels) is lower than on the Rogue, the rich color support (16 million hues) means that colors and graphics pop right off the screen. You can change the brightness, the wallpaper, and the backlight time, and you can adjust the accelerometer settings so that the display doesn't change automatically when you rotate the phone. A proximity sensor will switch the screen off when you're on a call.

Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S315i

Digital music has revolutionized how you listen to music, because you can listen to your favorite songs anywhere. Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S315i will blow you away with 20 hours of music when you use the power saving mode. That's a full day's (or night's) worth of music without missing a beat. This little beauty powerfully reproduces your favorite songs with accurate highs and every note will be heard loudly and clearly.

A custom, full range driver brings you crisp, sharp sounds. And since it's rechargeable, this is a sleek and stylish speaker and goes with you wherever you go. You can play and charge your iPod or iPhone with a dock connector. The result is a product that makes the most of your music. Go ahead. Play a song or two or 300 without recharging.

Technical Details

• Rechargeable with up to 20 hours of listening pleasure (in the power saving model).
• Play and charge both iPod and iPhone.
• Weighs just 1.47 pounds, so it¿s easy to take with you.
• A 3.5 mm auxiliary input lets you connect and listen to other portable players.
• Fold-in foot makes it easy to take with you around town.
• Price : $114.00

LG Xenon

LG Xenon appears to be just another touch screen phone. Measuring 4.16 inches long by 2.11 inches wide by 0.62 inch thick, the Xenon has smooth, sleek lines all around, with a touch of chrome around the border. It's a little smaller than the LG Vu and a little thicker as well. The Xenon is fairly lightweight at 3.81 ounces, and it's slim enough to fit in a front pocket. LG Xenon looks like a touch screen phone from the front.

Dominating its entire front surface is a large 2.8 inch touch screen display. It's smaller than the 3 inch displays on the LG Dare and the LG Vu, but it still looks good. It supports 262.000 colors and 240x400 pixels, which result in great looking graphics and colorful images. You can view the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and photo caller ID. Even when the screen is locked, you can see the date and time in a screen overlay.

You can set the brightness, the backlight timer, and the font size. For dialing fonts, you can set the color as well. Along the top of the screen are three icons, each of which corresponds to one of three customizable standby screens. You get one just for your favorite contacts, one for the home screen, and one for your favorite application shortcuts.

All standby screens have four shortcut icons along the bottom, which correspond to the phone dialer, the contacts list, the messaging menu, and the main menu. The main menu interface is similar to the one on the Vu, with four tabs along the right to differentiate applications. You get one tab for Phone related apps, one for Multimedia, one for My Stuff (which includes the media gallery plus productivity tools), and another for Settings.

Iriver P7 (16GB)

Iriver P7 (16GB) measures 4.5 inches across, 3 inches tall, and a relatively svelte 0.5 inch thick. The overall form is more pocket friendly than the chunkier design of the Cowon O2, feeling more like an Archos 5 with a shrunken screen. The majority of Iriver P7 (16GB) is operated using touch screen control, however, you'll find teeny, tiny buttons for power, menu, and volume on the top edge of the player. Iriver P7 (16GB)'s headphone jack is on the right edge, along with a hold switch, and a microSD memory slot covered by a plastic door.

While the P7's hardware looks like it takes a few cues from Apple, the touch screen interface is entirely unique. Iriver appropriately describes the main menu screen as magazine like, laying out each of the player's functions on a single screen, compartmentalized into an attractive arrangement of boxes. If you're accustomed to scrolling though menus, Iriver P7 (16GB)'s Mondrian esque layout takes a little time to grow on you.

After spending some time with it, we can't say the layout offers any practical advantages, but it's a pleasant break from the norm. Once you dial down into Iriver P7 (16GB)'s music and photo menus, the single page interface of the main menu eventually gives way to a more common list view. Unlike the iPod Touch's smooth, swift, and responsive song lists, sorting through your music on Iriver P7 (16GB) requires patience and a precise touch on a slim graphical scroll bar.

HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless)

Though HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless) touts itself as a multimedia smartphone, it is not as flashy as other multimedia focused hand helds. This is not to say it isn't attractive indeed, we love the large touch screen display as well as the smooth edges and tapered corners. But the dimpled bezel surrounding the display, which doubles as the speaker, and the thick plastic casing gives it more of a hefty industrial feel. Measuring 4.6 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighing 5.25 ounces, HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless) has quite a sturdy construction and is not at all flimsy or cheap.

The back of HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless) is partially covered in a matte black soft touch finish, which gives it a comfortable feel in the hand. By far the most stunning thing about HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless)'s appearance is its large 3.6 inch WVGA touch screen. It has 65.000 colors output, 480x800 pixel resolution, and a smooth glass surface, which result in beautifully crisp images and sharp text. The extra screen real estate lends itself well to Web page scrolling and video viewing as well.

Fuji FinePix Z5fd

The Z5fd is stylish looking, with a well constructed metal body. When opened, its sliding front cover turns the camera on to expose the 3X zoom lens and built in flash. A small number of buttons puts essential controls at the photographer's fingertips. These buttons also provide one touch activation of a face detection mode and a digital anti blur mode that boosts the shutter speed and ISO setting to capture sharper automatic shots.

Another function button on the camera provides quick access to quality, ISO, and color settings. Not every feature gets a quick access button, however exposure compensation and continuous shooting modes are among those that don't.

You have to go into the main LCD menu to use them. The Z5fd is oriented toward automatic shooting and provides just 12 scene modes, in addition to natural light and natural light + flash modes.

The latter takes a quick pair of shots, one with flash and one without, and lets you save the one you prefer. The 3X zoom lens offers a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 36mm to 108mm, with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 on the wide end to f/4.2 when zoomed in.

It's an average range, with no especially noteworthy capabilities. In most situations, Z5fd's 2.5 inch LCD viewfinder works well and presents a sharp, clearly visible image. You can adjust not only the display's brightness but also its refresh rate, making your own choice about which is more important a smooth view or battery stamina.

The LCD even has an internal sensor that automatically adjusts the display's gain in low light so that you can see what you're photographing. In bright light it's still fairly easy to use as a viewfinder. Like many of Fujifilm's recent cameras, this model incorporates IrSimple connectivity, which lets you beam images to, and receive them from, compatible devices. IrSimple hasn't been broadly implemented in imaging devices, but it can be a handy way to exchange photos with friends who also have Fujifilm cameras.

HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)

In the hand, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) feels like a solidly constructed phone. It measures 4.45 inches tall by 2.19 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and weighs 4.23 ounces, so it's slim enough to slip into a pants pocket and feels comfortable to hold during phone calls. In addition, HTC added a proximity sensor, a feature that was missing on the Sprint HTC Hero, so now the screen will turn off when you're on a phone call to prevent any accidental misdials from a brush of your cheek.

Speaking of the screen, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)'s 3.2 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen is hard to ignore. With a 320x480 pixel resolution, the display is amazingly sharp and vibrant. Text is easy to read and the colors of images are vibrant and rich. The Android interface, with its icon based main menu, is familiar, but we're disappointed that HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) comes only with Android OS 1.5. That means you'll have to wait for OS 1.6 and 2.0. In addition to a light sensor, the screen has a built-in accelerometer so the screen orientation automatically changes from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone.

Samsung Delve SCH-r800

As we said in our earlier Delve review, the handset looks like a Samsung Instinct but with a few physical buttons added below the display. Both phones are exactly the same size (4.57 inches tall by 2.17 inches wide by 0.49 inch deep), though the Delve weighs slightly less (3.63 ounces). You'll also recognize the silver and black color scheme, the rounded corners, and the comfortable, sturdy feel in the hand.

The 3 inch display is smaller than the Instinct's. Though it should be big enough for most users, we felt it doesn't take full advantage of the Delve's real estate.

Yet, it is bright and vibrant with support for 262,000 colors (240x400 pixels). You can change the brightness, the backlighting time, and the intensity of the vibrating feedback. The U.S. Cellular Delve also comes with a stylus, but there's no slot for storing it on the handset.

In all respects the touch screen is fast and responsive. We didn't notice a lag when selecting commands or scrolling through a long list. The menu system shows a variation of Samsung's nifty TouchWiz interface.

You must drag widgets out of the sidebar to activate the relevant feature, but U.S. Cellular adds widgets for mobile versions of Facebook and MySpace, a Tone Room application for purchasing ringtones, and a help menu. You'll also find widgets for standard features such as the calendar, the music player, the Web browser, and the notepad. The intuitive main menu comes in an icon or list design while on the top of the home screen is a collapsible shortcut bar for your messaging inbox, the Web browser, the music player, and the Bluetooth menu.

The U.S. Cellular Delve also offers the second shortcut bar at the bottom of the display with touch controls for the phone dialer, the contacts menu, the messaging menu, and the main menu. With separate keyboards for letters, numbers, and symbols, the Delve's virtual keyboard is almost indistinguishable from those on other Samsung touch screen handsets. The keyboards are responsive, but people with larger hands may find them a bit cramped.

Yet, the Delve also offers a handwriting recognition tool in either a full or half screen mode. It works quite well, but we still preferred to use the QWERTY keyboard. Of course, you also can use a standard alphanumeric to type your messages, but we can't imagine a good reason for doing so. On the downside, however, this Delve doesn't have an accelerometer. Among other things, that means you can't switch keyboards simply by rotating the phone bummer. Instead, you have to press an on screen prompt.

MSI X340

MSI X340 is the first laptop we've reviewed with the single core SU3500 processor, and it seems like an excellent test case a superslim 13 inch that reminds us of much more expensive systems such as the Dell Adamo or MacBook Air, albeit with a much more plastic feel. At the same time, MSI X340 ends up in the same murky middle ground as systems with AMD's new Neo processor that are aimed at Netbook users who want to trade up to a bit more power for a bit more money, but without buying a standard sub-$1,000 Intel Core 2 Duo mainstream laptop, or Apple's $999 basic 13 inch MacBook.

We've never met anyone who admitted being part of this highly specific target demographic. But while X340's price may seem excessive viewed through the prism of low power 11 and 12 inch Netbooks, it seems much more reasonable when compared with traditional ultraportable systems or the aforementioned slim 13 inch models, which can cost $1,500 to $2,000 or more.

Sony HDR-FX7

Shoot like a pro with Sony HDR-FX7 High Definition Handycam(R) camcorder. Capture amazing video and still images in high definition with the first HDV 1080i 3 CMOS sensor consumer level camcorder and player in the world. The three 1/4" ClearVID CMOS Sensors provide stunning detail and precision, while a 20x Optical Zoom Carl Zeiss Lens maintains image clarity. Since Sony HDR-FX7 records video in high definition, you can dual record still images at the same time.

So no matter what the occasion, Sony HDR-FX7 is the perfect camcorder for the situation. A Sony developed Real Time MPEG Encode/Decode system with reduced energy consumption and compact size to fit inside a personal camcorder. This provides efficient MPEG2 compression, and recording and playback of clear HD images at the same bit rate of the DV format, so that High Definition video can be recorded on the same cassettes as are used for MiniDV recording.