It's scary how good yet inexpensive Amazon's ereaders have become. The 3rd generation Kindle is smaller, lighter and better looking than its predecessors. It's lighter and thinner than the Nook and the WiFi version makes the once price-leading Kobo Reader seem overpriced. The Kindle 3 has the usual 6" E-Ink display, but it's the high contrast Pearl E-Ink display we first saw on the 9.7" Kindle DX Graphite not long ago, and it looks great. The Kindle 3 is available in two colors, graphite and white and in two wireless versions: WiFi for $139 and WiFi + 3G for $189. The latest Kindle has an improved Webkit web browser that you can use over WiFi and 3G, the usual text-to-speech, much better PDF handling and an improved keyboard.
Sprint's second 4G superphone is here. The Epic 4G dares to be different with its large QWERTY keyboard that strays from the more common slate design. And it's a great keyboard with a dedicated number row, Android buttons and arrow keys. If you're a Sprint customer who lusted for the HTC EVO 4G but cringed at its on-screen keyboard, Samsung has your number. The Epic 4G is a Galaxy S family phone and it has that series' 4" Super AMOLED 800 x 480 display, 1GHz Hummingbird CPU with GPU acceleration, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. Improvements include a 5 megapixel camera with flash and a front-facing VGA camera and a notification LED. The Epic runs Android OS 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 UI.
Do you like electric blue? And really cool bubble patterns on your phone's back? For better or worse, these two features stand out most on the Eternity II. While the first Samsung Eternity back in 2008 was one heck of a cool touch screen phone for its time, the Eternity II doesn't really add anything to that two year old formula. The second Eternity is inexpensive though, and we actually really do love that blue color. The phone is available on AT&T and it has a 3" resistive touch screen, FloTV, 3G HSDPA, a 2 megapixel camera, music player, Bluetooth and a GPS. The phone runs Samsung's TouchWiz UI and it comes with social networking software, streaming video and other goodies.
Sony is always at the forefront of miniaturization, and interchangeable lens cameras like the Olympus PEN were already pretty darned small. The 14.2 megapixel NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras are the smallest ILC camera bodies yet, and despite that they have an Exmor HD APS-C sensor rather than the smaller micro 4/3 used in most other ILCs. The NEX is available with 16mm and 18-55mm zoom kit lenses and it features a magnesium alloy body, sturdy metal lenses, an accessory flash and an extremely high resolution 3" LCD. The NEX-5 can shoot AVCHD 1920 x 1080 60i video with continuous focus and it boasts excellent low light performance. If you're looking for DSLR image quality, strong 1080 video and interchangeable lenses in a crazy tiny package, the NEX is well worth a look. Oh, and it's easy to use too.
It's very thin, looks sleek, weighs only 3.2 lbs. and it's a Toshiba R series notebook; must cost an arm and a leg, right? Think again! The Toshiba R700 series notebook starts at under a grand and has serious CPU options rather than some low-powered, older processor that you might expect from an ultralight. The 13.3" Portege R705 model we look at is currently exclusive to Best Buy, though you can buy a range of models in the R700 series with up to an Intel Core i7 CPU. The R705 measures just .06 inches at its thinnest point and feels uncannily light. It has a sharp and colorful LED backlit display, an internal DVD drive, a 500 gig hard drive and 4 gigs of RAM. It's got enough power for the road warrior on the go, has ample battery life and it looks good too. In fact, the Toshiba R705 earned our Editor's Choice Award.
RIM's latest BlackBerry dares to be different, and that's a good thing. The Torch 9800 has both a capacitive touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. There's a new OS to go with that multi-touch display and it brings the BlackBerry into the 21st century. It's intuitive, enjoyable and quite powerful, yet veteran BlackBerry users won't find it unfamiliar. The Torch has a new Webkit web browser, a 3.2" display, the usual excellent hardware keyboard, push email galore and a heap of multimedia. Other amenities include a 5 megapixel camera, 4 gigs of storage, a GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. The Torch is certainly good enough to keep Berry addicts loyal, but is it enough fight off Android and iOS?
The Droid is back and it's better. With a faster CPU, an improved keyboard and Android OS 2.2 Froyo, the 1GHz Droid 2 can compete with the big boys. It doesn't stray far from the original Droid formula when it comes to size and design: the Droid 2 is still a slim, modern QWERTY slider with a 3.7" capacitive multi-touch display. The corners are now chrome-clad and rounded, and the design is a bit more conformist, but we doubt anyone will dislike the look. The Droid 2 has a full hardware QWERTY keyboard that's rare among Android superphones, 8 gigs of storage plus an 8 gig microSD card, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS that works with Google Maps and VZ Navigator and 3G Mobile Hotspot WiFi Internet connection sharing.
Think of the Sharp FX as a Sidekick minus the Sidekick OS. This multimedia-heavy feature phone has FLO broadcast digital TV, AT&T's streaming video, a capable music player with Napster support and a 3.5mm stereo jack. The FX has a roomy QWERTY keyboard, a resistive touch screen and solid build quality. The usual goodies are there too: a GPS with AT&T Navigator, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo and a microSD card slot. If you're looking for a multimedia messaging phone and don't want to get into the smartphone thing, the Sharp is a worth a look.
Touch screen phones might be all the rage, but not everyone wants a smartphone or a required data plan. The Sentio is an entry to mid-level touch screen feature phone that aims to capture the non-smartphone market. It has a 3" resistive touch screen and a very intuitive user interface complete with widgets. It's slim and nice looking and fits easily in a pocket. The Sentio has a GPS that works with TeleNav and Google Maps, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot and a 3 megapixel camera. The phone has plenty of social networking and email options and it runs on T-Mobile's 3G HSDPA network. But that resistive screen is just so-so.
Making a complete about-face from the trend toward Jumbotron Android superphones, the Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro are teeny tiny Android smartphones that will fit in small pockets and other tight spaces. The 3.1 ounce mini and 4.2 ounce mini pro are nearly identical with the pro version sporting a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. We look at the unlocked GSM versions, the X10a mini andmini pro that have 3G HSDPA on AT&T's 3G bands. Like their big brother the Xperia X10, they run Android 1.6, but step down the processor to a 600MHz Qualcomm model. The 2.5 QVGA displays are capacitive and sharp, and the phones have GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. Somehow, SE managed to fit good 5 megapixel autofocus cameras with flash into the design too.
Not into the touch screen craze? Just want a solid 3G messaging phone? The eco-friendly Samsung Restore is a full-featured messaging phone with EV-DO, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, the Netfront web browser and a solid music player that handles MP3 and AAC iTunes format music. The Restore has a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but when closed it looks like a normal candy bar phone with a standard number pad. It has a GPS, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth with stereo support and an SDHC microSD card slot. A nice mid-tier offering from Sprint and Samsung.
It seems that everyone down to El Jobso agrees that the iPhone 4 needs a case. Antenna-Gate aside, anything that has two plates of glass and is small and slippery begs for protection from life's bumps and grinds. You've already shelled out precious bucks for that lovely phone, and in these difficult times, you just might not want to buy one of those pretty but pricey cases hanging on the Apple Store's walls. Speck comes to the rescue with their beefy silicone Pixelskin case that isolates the antenna and protects the iPhone from bumps and perhaps worse. It has a play-through design so you can operate all controls easily and it's one of the more affordable name brand cases on the market.
Though they share a similar design and OS, it's hard to say that the Intercept is Sprint's replacement for the Samsung Moment. The Intercept runs a newer version of Android OS and it drops the heavy dose of Samsung TouchWiz software but it gets a lower resolution, non-AMOLED display in the process. The Intercept targets first time smartphone buyers and those who don't want to spend big bucks on a phone but would like to play with Android. The Intercept has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 megapixel camera, an 800MHz CPU, a GPS that works with Google Maps, 3G, Sprint TV and stereo Bluetooth. It's available in two colors: pink and gray.
Gosh, with a sexy name like that, how could you go wrong? OK, seriously, while Gateway's naming conventions are questionable, their recent notebook redesigns are anything but. For a reasonably priced 15.6" laptop, the NV59 series has gobs of style, a slim design and weighs less than 6 pounds. It focuses on multimedia and the built-in Blu-ray drive and HDMI port are unusual in this price segment. We take a look at the Intel Core i3 2.13GHz model, but you can get it with a Core i5 as well. The machine has Intel HD integrated graphics, a colorful display, WiFi 802.11n and 3 USB ports.
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