NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX

The NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX ($535 street) is a bright 24 inch display featuring several video input choices and a handsome cabinet design. The 1,920 by 1,200 resolution panel is a decent performer, although it does have trouble displaying the darkest shades of gray. With its matte black casing and piano black bezel, the LCD24WMCX is stylish without going overboard. The panel, which rests atop a round base, can be tilted forward and backward but lacks height and swivel adjustment capabilities.

At the rear of the display is an assortment of A/V jacks, including an HDMI port, component audio and video jacks, DVI and analog (RGB) connections, SPDIF (Sony/Philips Digital InterFace) audio output, and an audio input for the integrated speakers.

There's also a headphone jack, but I'd prefer to have that mounted on the side or front, where it would be easier to reach. It found the embedded stereo speakers to be surprisingly dull sounding, despite their 3W power rating.

Perhaps a subwoofer, such as the one on the ASUS PG221, would help round out the audio output with some much needed bass response.

Centered along the bottom bezel are six well marked function buttons (including the power switch), two of which are used for raising and lowering the speaker volume. There's also an Auto button that can be used to optimize the image while using an analog signal, and a Source button that toggles through the various input choices.

The on screen display menu system is fairly easy to navigate and includes adjustments for luminance (brightness, contrast, gamma, and dynamic contrast ratio), color temperature (warm, cool, and normal), and image setting such as clock, phase, and position. There's also a Color Boost menu that allows you to highlight reds, blues, or greens depending upon the image or example, a scene featuring a deep blue sky can be enhanced by enabling the Sky-Blue setting but I found that these "enhancements" only served to saturate the picture, not to optimize it.

For users who would rather use their keyboard and mouse to change image settings, NEC's Naviset software is available as a free download. Naviset offers a user friendly Windows-like interface for changing image properties, is available in seven languages, and works on both Windows and Mac platforms.

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Toshiba 32CV510U REGZA LCD TV

Among the most important qualities of an HDTV are its contrast, color, and detail, and the 32 inch Toshiba 32CV510U REGZA LCD TV ($899.99 list) delivers a near clean sweep by producing excellent picture contrast and image detail especially with quality HD material. Nonetheless, its color quality, while above average, reveals some inconsistencies when depicting darker scenes. Still, anyone looking for a space efficient HDTV that delivers superb picture detail with quality video content such as Blu-ray movies, broadcast HD, and even the latest console game systems will find this set to be a solid choice.

The set's all black styling includes a 1.5 inch glossy bezel with rounded edges and a wrap-back design. A thin mesh covered stereo speaker bar with two 9W speakers centered below the screen provides ample volume levels for a midsize room, but the bezel that borders the bottom edge and sides of the speaker bar is a bit unsightly.

Resting upon its matte finished stand, the 32CV510U measures 22.3 by 31.0 by 9.7 inches (WHD) and weighs 28.6 pounds.

Removing the stand reduces the TV's overall height and depth to 20.7 and 3.4 inches respectively.

The flat, baton style remote control is lightweight and solid. Its glow in the dark buttons proved helpful in a dim environment but were initially intimidating, as many of them have one or more alternate function labels. Figuring out all the functions of each button took some time. The remote was responsive and precise from distances exceeding 20 feet and at off-axis angles beyond 50 degrees.

The primary input panel is located on the back of the set toward the left hand side, with the ports facing outward for easy access. HD compatible ports include two HDMI ports, two component video inputs, a VGA input, and an RF input that feeds a combo tuner that supports analog and digital broadcast formats (NTSC and ATSC) and unencrypted cable channels (Clear QAM). The left hand edge of this input panel incorporates the TV's on display controls as well as a set of side accessible inputs, including an additional HDMI port. The set's HDMI ports support lip-sync correction and consumer electronic control (CEC) functionality with compatible devices.

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BenQ V2400W

The BenQ V2400W ($499 list) is a bright, attractive 24 inch LCD monitor that will handle most of your everyday home and office viewing needs. The display is very sleek and is one of the more attractive displays that I have tested, so it's a fine desktop companion, looks wise. Nonetheless, I was disappointed with the panel's viewing angle and grayscale performance. The first thing I noticed about the V2400W was its slim profile the panel and casing measure just under 2 inches in depth.

The 1,920 by 1,200 resolution panel is supported by a unique curved silver stand with a mounting arm that is offset to the right of the base, giving the display a contemporary look.

Unfortunately, the panel lacks height and swivel adjustability, though it can be tilted 5 degrees forward and 20 degrees backward.

The glossy black cabinet sports a curved back and an extremely thin matching bezel with rounded corners.

A slice of silver trim frames the bezel, becoming slightly wider on the bottom left to accommodate five touchpad style function keys and a power switch.

All keys are backlit by blue LEDs and are very easy to identify. Colorful icons and a simple, uncomplicated menu system make it easy to change image settings such as timing (clock, phase), horizontal and vertical position, brightness and contrast, sharpness, and color temperature.

You can also toggle between the various Picture Modes (dubbed Senseye+Photo Technology) to enable application-specific optimized settings, including Movie, Photo, and Standard modes. There's also an sRGB mode that allows you to match colors with external peripherals, such as printers, and there's a Dynamics mode for gaming applications. Additional settings include the Senseye Demo option, which uses a split screen to compare each mode to a Standard mode image.

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Insignia NS-LCD26-09

If you're shopping for an HDTV, chances are price is a big consideration. There's likely a top price you're willing to pay, and if you come in under budget, getting a set that delivers excellent performance is merely icing on the cake. The $479.99 (direct) Insignia NS-LCD26-09 26 inch LCD HDTV is built for and sold by Best Buy, and its tempting low price includes an impressive picture brimming with detail and accuracy provided you make some minor setting adjustments and stick to the set's digital inputs.

Featuring a matte screen framed by a glossy black bezel that measures about 1.4 inches wide, the NS-LCD26-09 is relatively thin for a TV this size. An integrated stereo speaker bar with two 5 watt speakers adds a stylish curve to the set's bottom edge, but the relatively weak audio output is best suited to a small room. The TV's on display controls are located within easy reach on the right hand edge of the set. With its glossy oval shaped stand attached, the TV measures 19.1 by 25.7 by 9.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 19.4 pounds.

Without its base, the height and depth are reduced to 17.1 and 3.8 inches, respectively, and its weight to 17 pounds. The baton style remote control features a roomy keypad layout with clearly labeled buttons that help compensate for its lack of a backlight. Performance was good, for the most part, even at distances exceeding 20 feet and at off axis angles greater than 50 degrees. I did occasionally have to press the remote's power button twice before it turned the TV on, however.

The selection of HD compatible video inputs include two HDMI, a component video input, VGA (cable included), and an RF input that feeds the TV's combo analog/digital/cable tuner. With this set, Insignia offers the ability to customize the TV's input names (up to ten characters). Most HDTVs provide only a handful of preset generic input labels such as VCR, DVD, Cable, and Satellite.

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Nokia E51

Description :

Classically designed with high speed mobile browsing, email, multimedia features, a multitude of connectivity options, and convenient shortcut keys.

Product Specification :
FeaturesCell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, FM Radio, Push to Talk, MP3, Video
Cell Network Technology WCDMA, GSM
Wireless Technology Infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 2 Megapixels
Talk Time 4.4 hrs.
Standby Time 13 days
Operating System Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 3.1 Edition
Screen Size 2 in.
Supported Media Format RealVideo and RealAudio (RealMedia), MPEG-4, 3gp, H.264, AAC, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player, Radio
Connector Types USB, Headset jack, Data port, Sub-mini-phone 2.5 mm, IrDA
Messaging POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, MMS, AOL Instant Messenger Service (AIM)
Additional Features Push-to-talk Mode, Text-to-speech (Text Recognition)
Antenna Style Integrated
Colors Black Steel
Digital Camera Yes
Included Accessories Headset, Software Kit
Included Functions digital camera / digital player / FM radio
Network Technology WCDMA (UMTS), GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Voice Dialing Yes
Vibrating Alert Yes
Digital Camera FeaturesDigital Zoom 4 X
DisplayDisplay Features Wallpaper, Screensaver
Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 240 x 320 Pixels
Display Color Support Color
Power ManagmentBattery Technology Lithium Ion
General Product InfoHeight 4.5 in
Width 1.9 in
Depth 0.5 in
Weight 3.5 oz
Also known as Nokia 002C9N1, Nokia
Manufacturer Part No. 002C9N1
Company Info Nokia
Dimension 4.5 in x 1.9 in x 0.5 in (HxWxD)

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Samsung SGH-U600

Description :

Inspired by the shine and shimmer of the crown jewels, Samsung's Ultra Edition 10.9 (U600) exudes elegance and modern style, coming in a choice of colors which includes sapphire blue, garnet red, platinum metal and copper gold casing. The clever design of Samsung's Ultra Edition 10.9 (U600) includes a unique and stylish interface for the ultimate sophistication and usability. It also comes equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera encased in an ultra slim profile and boasting a 2.22" wide TFT LCD widescreen.

Product Specification :

FeaturesCell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, FM Radio, MP3
Cell Network Technology GSM
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 3.2 Megapixels
Screen Size 2.2 in.
Supported Media Format MPEG-4, H.263 video and AMR audio, WMA, AAC, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player, Radio
Messaging MMS, EMS
Digital Camera Yes
Included Functions digital camera / digital player / FM radio
Network Technology GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
Vibrating Alert Yes
DisplayDisplay Type LCD
Display Resolution 320 x 240 Pixels
Display Color Support Color
General Product InfoHeight 4.1 in
Width 2 in
Depth 0.4 in
Also known as Samsung SGH, Samsung U600
Manufacturer Part No. U600
Company Info Samsung
Dimension 4.1 in x 2 in x 0.4 in (HxWxD)

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Samsung SGH-A737

The A737 is a high powered multimedia tool that allows you to get downloads fast and utilizing the video share SIM card share real time videos with your friends. With 3G-HSDPA for ultra high speed downloads, you can get your music radio feeds and video in a flash. You can download music and ringtones, or transfer your favorites from your own digital media collection onto a microSD card.

Take and share photographs with family and friends with the A737's digital camera. Want to get closer? You can with its digital zoom. With a video share capable SIM (ISIM) card, your can use Video Share, the service that lets your share live, real time video with friends who subscribe. With CV you can stream premium video and catch the latest in news, sports and weather.

Product Specification :

FeaturesCell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, Bluetooth, MP3
Carrier AT&T
Cell Network Technology GSM
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Megapixels 1.3 Megapixels
Talk Time 3 hrs.
Standby Time 10.4 days
Supported Media Format MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player
Messaging MMS, EMS
Additional Features Intelligent Typing (T9)
Antenna Style Integrated
Colors Orange
Digital Camera Yes
Included Functions digital camera / digital player
Network Technology GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
Phone Book Capacity 1000 Names & Numbers
Vibrating Alert Yes
Digital Camera FeaturesDigital Zoom 4 X
Self Timer Delay Yes
DisplayDisplay Type LCD
Display Resolution 176 x 220 Pixels
Display Color Support Color
General Product InfoHeight 3.7 in
Width 1.9 in
Depth 0.6 in
Weight 2.1 oz
Also known as Samsung SGH, Samsung SAMA737ORGATT
Manufacturer Part No. SGH-A737ZOAATT
Company Info Samsung
Dimension 3.7 in x 1.9 in x 0.6 in (HxWxD)

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Nokia 6205

The Nokia 6205, which comes in a Dark Knight edition emblazoned with a Batman logo and preloaded with Bat-related ring tones and wallpapers, is a decent midrange Verizon Wireless phone, but we think that both Bruce Wayne and his alter ego would pick a more exciting device. The black 6205 (there's also an otherwise identical plain old silver version sans the Batman tie-ins) is a skinny, rectangular flip phone (3.62 by 1.77 by 0.72 inches HWD, 3.3 ounces) with a mirrored 1.3 inch, 128 by 128 pixel front screen that's pretty much impossible to see in sunlight.

Flip the 6205 open to find a small but bright 2 inch, 176 by 220 pixel screen and a keypad of large but closely tiled buttons. On the sides of the phone are a conveniently placed microSD memory card slot, a micro USB charging port, a 2.5mm headset jack, and buttons to trigger voice dialing and change the volume. We had no problems with reception on the 6205, which is an average quality voice phone.

The earpiece is extremely loud, but it's almost useless at top volumes because of heavy distortion. At a normal volume voices sound okay, although there's a bit of a background hiss.

The speakerphone is oddly quiet, but it too distorts slightly at top volume, and it doesn't work with the flip closed.

Transmissions through the microphone were good at canceling background noise but sounded a bit weak on the other end. Voice dialing comes via the excellent Nuance VoiceSignal setup. The 6205 has a jack for 2.5mm wired headsets and also works with Bluetooth headsets, but we heard pops and clicks in our Motorola S9 Bluetooth headset. Stereo Bluetooth isn't supported. Ringtones are unusually loud, but also hideously tinny. Battery life was very good, with more than 5 hours of talk time.

The standard Verizon music player is on board, which plays MP3, AAC, and WMA files and syncs with Rhapsody when linked to your PC via a micro USB cable (not included). That the 6205 doesn't work with Nokia's PC Suite, which lets almost every other Nokia phone sync contacts and calendars with a PC. You can't use it as a modem, either, and forget about video playback. The phone's processor wasn't powerful enough to give us decent frame rates on any of our test videos.

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HTC Touch Diamond

Cell phone maker HTC understands that software design is important. Many of its smart devices run Windows Mobile, a full featured, flexible OS that's usually let down by a combination of inadequate hardware and balky control schemes. That's why the company developed TouchFLO, a shell that provides one touch controls, finger swipes, and a nicely organized home screen. The company's latest TouchFLO phone, the unlocked Touch Diamond, is a striking affair with a full VGA screen and robust feature set.

Despite plenty of high end features, however, it's difficult to recommend. In person, the Touch Diamond feels like a jewel at least compared with the company's earlier chunkier Touch models. It's a slim slab that measures just 4.0 by 2.0 by 0.4 inches (HWD).

Combined with its 3.9 ounce weight, you'll barely notice it in your pocket. The front panel is almost all screen, aside from four big hardware buttons and a circular five way control pad.

The back of the handset features staggered cuts in the black gloss plastic that give the edgy design character.

The sides of the unit are mostly clean, save for two volume buttons on the left, a power button on the top, and a mini USB jack on the bottom. The Touch Diamond's 2.8 inch, 480 by 640 pixel touch screen beats even the iPhone's sharp 320 by 480 display, although the HTC's is smaller by 0.7 inch. The home screen is one of the Touch Diamond's best features. It includes a large clock with flipping, Rolodex style numbers, along with quick access buttons to the Web browser, address book, text messaging, and email.

The screen responds to finger gestures for browsing the Web and launching programs, but it's not as smooth as the iPhone it often had to repeat the gestures several times. Interface graphics fade in and out smoothly, and there's lots of slick animation. Even the fonts are sharp and crisp due to the increased screen resolution.

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Motorola Adventure V750

Are you fed up with cell phones that have cramped keypads, small screens, muffled speaker phones, and short battery life? If you want a phone that feels like a phone first, the Motorola Adventure V750 on Verizon Wireless is for you. One of the first handsets to use Verizon's new push to talk (PTT) system, the ruggedized V750 is one of the easiest to use phones I've tested this year. It does a lot more than make voice calls, but it's also likely to be a hit among those who want a basic and straightforward phone. The simplicity starts with the design.

The 3.9 ounce V750 is a broad flip phone (4 by 2 by 0.7 inches HWD) with a grippy, textured back. It's billed to be ruggedized against shock, dust, and vibration, though the back panel flew off when I chucked it at a wall it's no G'zOne Boulder that's for sure.

On the front there's a big, clear 1.6-inch 120 by 160 pixel color display with three music control buttons, and a 2 megapixel camera. Flip open the V750 to find Verizon's best keypad, bar none. The round buttons are very clearly marked and widely spaced. On the main 2.2 inch, 320 by 240 pixel color screen inside, numbers and menu options look big and bright.

And the V750 comes set to a simplified menu system that's even easier to navigate than Verizon's standard, already easy menus. The V750's finest feature is the speaker phone: It's Verizon's best. Located on the bottom of the handset, it's very loud, but never distorts voices. The ear piece is also of decent volume, though it does sound a little bit muddy. Transmissions, both through the handset microphone and the speaker phone, sound terrific, with almost no background noise coming through.

Reception is in the average range. The V750 uses the excellent Nuance VoiceSignal voice dialing suite and works with both 2.5mm wired headsets and Bluetooth headsets. Ringtones are really loud, thanks to that delightful speakerphone. Vibrating alerts are short but sharp. And battery life was excellent, at over 5 hours of talk time.

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PalmOne LifeDrive

The first PDA on the U.S. market with a hard drive, the palmOne LifeDrive ($499 direct) is a device that digital pack rats should love. In fact, the folks at palmOne consider it a mobile manager, one of an entirely new class of handheld products. Its 4GBs of storage should be enough for almost anyone to carry all their critical documents and media. Be forewarned, though. You'll have to recharge the device frequently, and we did encounter some irritating bugs and crashes during our testing, which prevented us from awarding it even higher marks.

Even so it's a cool new device for the gadget fanatic who wants to do a bit of everything on a regular basis, whether play a movie, game, or music, pull up photos, do some tolerable Web surfing, view or work on the occasional Office document, or look up an address.

It's the first device we've seen that can actually handle all these tasks, even if it's not the best at any one in particular. Boxy yet sleek, the LifeDrive looks like something designed by Porsche.

It measures 4.8 by 2.9 by 0.7 inches, weighs 6.8 ounces, and accommodates a huge 320 by 480 screen and a 4GB Hitachi 3K4 Microdrive. It's not actually longer or wider than many other PDAs, but it's deeper.

Holes on the back help vent the drives heat; the LifeDrive gets a little warm, but never uncomfortably so. The LifeDrive is designed to hold all your portable files; we filled ours with 600 MB of MP3s, a full length movie, and a flotilla of review notes, and it was still more than half empty.

(Program files must live in 64MB of RAM, but that's plenty of room for Palm OS software, which is generally pretty compact.) There's a slew of ways to get your files on and off the device, too: You can beam them over Bluetooth, drop them in via SD Card, share them using built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi, sync them from a PC with included software, or just plug the LifeDrive via USB 2.0 into any PC or Mac, where it becomes an external drive without you having to add any additional software.

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Palm TX

With Palm announcing a deal with Microsoft recently, we can't help wonder if this could be the last Palm OS 5 PDA. If so, the Palm OS is going out with a bang. The terrific Palm TX is the paragon of the Palm PDA, and an excellent all around handheld that gets. A long, slim slab that closely resembles Palm's (actually palmOne at the time) earlier Tungsten T5, the TX has an SD memory card slot, a headphone jack, and a huge, 320 by 480 screen, which is excellent for surfing the Web or reading documents.

At $299, it matches the HP iPAQ rx1950's price tag as the cheapest PDA with built-in Wi-Fi. The TX replaces the Tungsten T5 in Palm's lineup, and it's interesting to see what Palm tweaked in the new device.

Out goes the 416-MHz processor, 256MB of storage, and unusual flash drive mode. In comes Wi-Fi, a 312-MHz processor, 128MB of storage, and a $100 price drop. Though this might look like one step forward and one step back, we think it's in line with what users want.

It's easier and cheaper to add more storage to the TX than it is to add Wi-Fi to the T5. Even though the TX has less memory than the T5, it still has more memory than the HP iPAQ rx1950. And the $300 price point is a very sweet spot.

We connected easily to both WEP and WPA enabled Wi-Fi networks on our TX, viewing Web pages in Palm's Blazer browser and downloading e-mail using Palm's VersaMail program. The TX can also access the Internet through Bluetooth phones. Its list of supported phones is better than the T5's, though there are still some conspicuous omissions, such as the Nokia 6620.

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Samsung YP-S3

The Samsung YP-S3 takes its style cues from its good looking big brothers, Samsung's YP-T10 and YP-P2. The slim, cell phone esque design is sure to appeal to fashionable folks who aren't tied to iTunes. And what's better, for only $100, you get 4GB of flash memory. The S3 doesn't offer great video performance and may not be a breakthrough product, but it's certainly a solid one. Truly tiny, the S3 weighs under 2 ounces and measure 1.7 by 3.7 by 0.4 inches, with a 1.8 inch 240 by 320 pixel display.

The controls on the front of the player are backlit, touch sensitive buttons that seem to disappear when not in use, an effect that Samsung has used before on some players but that's particularly cool here.

The typical navigation arrows and Play/Pause/Enter button are complemented by a control that takes you back to the previous menu and the extra features button for various options, depending upon the menu you're navigating.Buzz up! on Yahoo! The S3 comes in five fun colors green, red, blue, black, and white.

There's a side switch for Power and Hold functions, a lanyard loop, and a proprietary jack that connects to a USB port for computer syncing.

(A cable is included.) The bundled earbuds are low quality; as always, I recommend an upgrade. Ultimate Ears and Radius both have new, inexpensive higher quality pairs on the market. My biggest design complaint with this player design is one I've expressed before, lthough the touch sensitive buttons look cool, they don't always respond as quickly as you'd like, and it is easy to overshoot your selection when browsing the menus.

The menu is arranged in typical Samsung style, with animated graphics behind each option: Music, Videos, Pictures, FM radio, Datacasts, Prime Pack, File browser, and Settings. Most of these options are self explanatory, and the interface organizes everything intuitively, not unlike on an iPod. Datacasts houses your podcasts and audiobooks and the Prime Pack section includes games, a world clock, alarms, and text explanations of functions on the players.

In the Settings menu, you'll find tools to change the menu style (each with a different graphics theme), set the EQ, and adjust the display's sleep timer and screen saver, along with other standard adjustment options.

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Creative ZEN X-Fi with Wireless LAN

The wireless version of the ZEN X-Fi comes in two capacities, 16GB ($199.99) and 32GB ($279.99). There's also a $149.99 8GB version, which lacks wireless capabilities, but offers everything else that the 16GB and 32GB models do. We took a look at the 16GB player. Some people will see the slick, glossy black credit card size 2.4 ounce ZEN X-Fi and instantly fall in love, but the thirteen buttons on the front panel seem excessive to me, especially in this era of scroll wheels and touch screens.

Regardless, the nine button, phone pad like array works in the same basic directional way that a scroll wheel does the top middle button navigates up and the lower middle is down.

The four additional buttons on the front panel are for skipping forward and backward, playing, pausing, and displaying submenus.

The 2.4 inch, 320 by 240 pixel screen offers sharp video and photo playback, but the codec support leaves something to be desired (more on that in a second).

You get an SD slot for playing files stored on external cards, a mini USB slot for syncing with a PC, and a built in mic, and speaker. The player comes with Creative Centrale, an app that organizes your PC's music and media, and can convert your video files that won't play nice with the ZEN X-Fi. Codec support for audio is generous : MP3, WMA, WAV, Audible, and AAC4. For videos and photos, it's far more limited. While Creative claims the player natively supports MPEG4, MJPEG, and WMV video, all of my test files had to be converted with the software in order to play.

This doesn't mean is the company is fibbing, it's just that the ZEN X-Fi will only play certain types of MPEG4's and WMVs, and if all the file's parameters aren't to its liking, conversion is required. This is a bit annoying, but plenty of players, like the Sansa Fuze for example, require similar video conversion. Photo support is limited to JPGs. The Wireless LAN feature is the flashiest aspect of the ZEN X-Fi. Unfortunately, it isn't a snap to set up because the user interface isn't intuitively organized.

You have to poke around in the menus to find what you're looking for. Also, the Creative Centrale software on your PC doesn't default to sharing mode, so you need to first enable the Centrale Media Server or your player won't be able to find your PC's music. Connecting to an 802.11B or G wireless network is fairly straightforward, though entering a password on the keypad is a bit of a pain.

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Creative ZEN Mozaic

The Creative ZEN Mozaic is the latest example of Creative's long standing tradition of developing good looking budget portable media players. The Mozaic comes in 2GB ($59.99 direct), 4GB ($79.99), and 8GB ($119.99) capacities, and its control pad, as its name would suggest, looks a lot like a tile mosaic.

It's the kind of player that puts fashion before function, but that doesn't mean the Mozaic is a clunker.

The user interface isn't going to win any awards for ease of use, but with an FM radio, voice recording, and a small screen for video and photo, it offers a lot more than the no frills, screen free iPod shuffle for about the same price. The itty bitty Mozaic measures 3.1 by 1.6 by 0.5 (HWD) and weighs 1.6 ounces. It comes in three colors black (all capacities), silver (4GB only), and pink (2GB and 4GB only). The black and silver versions look cool, while the pink player is more cute than slick.

(We looked at the 2GB version in black.) The 1.8 inch screen has a low 128 by 160 pixel resolution, but that's to be expected for a device in this price range. The controls on the front face offer typical navigation : Up, Down, Previous Menu, Extra Features, and a user assignable Shortcut button that comes in handy if, say, you want to be only a click away from your photo collection.

The Mozaic is also outfitted with a Power/Hold switch, a built in speaker, a microphone for voice recording, a miniUSB jack for PC syncing, and a lanyard loop. The included earbuds sound typically subpar. If you want to stay in the budget range but improve your audio experience, upgrade to the Radius Atomic Bass or the Ultimate Ears Loud Enough earphones both pairs are in the $40 range.Also included is software that is pretty much essential if you want to load your videos onto the device.

It converts most popular codecs into AVI files that will play on the Mozaic. Don't expect to be blown away by the video quality here, but it's not horrible considering the price. The same goes for photos, if they're not JPEGs, files need to be converted. Audio codec support is a bit more generous and includes MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible 4 files.

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HTC Touch (Alltel)

There's an often ignored yet brilliant buying rule for technology, get last year's product. Unless you're a voracious power user, the tech will likely be good enough to fulfill your needs, and it will come at a lower price than a brand new, cutting edge gadget will. If you're a Windows Mobile fan, the HTC Touch for Alltel is a great example. This Touch looks just like the Sprint model PC Mag reviewed last year.

It's a small (4 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches, 4 ounces), easily pocketable slab with a soft touch plastic case and a 2.8 inch 320 by 240 pixel display. The only physical controls are a cursor pad, phone pick up and hang-up, camera buttons, and a volume rocker.

A stylus tucks into the upper right-hand corner, and there's a 2 mega pixels camera on the back of the handset.

Powered by Windows Mobile 6, the Touch doesn't run the latest WM 6.1, but most of the changes that came with version 6.1 were for non-touch screen devices anyway.

(Alltel says it will offer an upgrade to WM 6.1 for current device owners in the future.) When you turn on the phone, it serves up HTC's custom TouchFLO home screen, a finger friendly screen that offers a big clock and message and weather alerts along with your chosen apps.

Swiping your finger along the screen gives you access to your favorite contacts, music, videos, and popular programs, which is a good thing. But ultimately, this is just a skin. Dig down another level into the UI and you get Windows Mobile's tiny interface elements, which aren't very finger-friendly, so you'll be pulling out the stylus frequently.

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LG Scoop AX260

The Scoop is basically Alltel's version of the LG Rumor for Sprint, and in design and performance it's pretty much the same as that excellent device. A relatively thick, rounded little candy bar style phone, the 4.3 ounce Scoop measures 4.3 by 2 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and features a slide out QWERTY keypad, whose screen promptly rotates when you pull out the keys.

The Scoop runs on Alltel's CDMA 1X network, which isn't 3G but is widely available across Alltel's coverage area. A very good voice phone, the Scoop has middling reception, but its audio quality is solid.

Calls through the earpiece and speakerphone are quite loud, though there is a bit of distortion at top volume. Transmissions through the microphone came through with only slight background noise.

The Scoop paired easily with our Aliph Jawbone headset Bluetooth voice quality was okay, but there was noticeable background hiss. Battery life was impressive, delivering more than 5 hours of talk time.

Ringtones are loud, but the vibrating alert was of middling strength. With the Scoop, the real fun is in the messaging. Slide open the keypad, and you're immediately presented with the option to send text messages or log in to AIM or Yahoo! Instant Messenger.

The IM client, from OZ, runs in the background but doesn't support entire AOL buddy lists, just "mobile" buddies. There's also an excellent $2.99 per month e-mail client from Seven that supports AOL, Gmail, POP/IMAP mail, and any Microsoft Exchange Server with Outlook Web Access enabled.

Messages come through as text only, but the interface is sharp and attractive. The phone even cobbles together a quickie address book from the names on your recently received messages. The Scoop is sort of a poor man's BlackBerry.

READ MORE - LG Scoop AX260

HP iPAQ 910

HP's venerable iPAQ hand held line has seen its ups and downs over the years. But today, the company's tight enterprise focus distinguishes it from its competitors. Even Research In Motion, the perennial business-handset manufacturer, has pushed into the consumer smart phone space. But HP is sticking to its corporate guns. The unlocked iPAQ 910 is HP's latest business smart phone, and the successor to the company's hw6900 series handsets.

The new version comes loaded with Wi-Fi, GPS, and HSDPA data radios, along with a 3 mega pixel camera, and good video playback performance. But first and foremost, HP is positioning the iPAQ 910 as a corporate e-mail device that can access workplace data anywhere in the world. Despite the iPAQ 910's bulging feature set, it's not ungainly in fact, it looks much like a BlackBerry 8800 or Motorola Q9c.

The handset measures 4.5 by 2.5 by 0.6 inches (HWD), and is fairly hefty: 5.4 ounces. Still, those numbers pin it as slightly smaller and lighter than the Palm Treo 755p�an apt comparison, given the iPAQ 910's 2.5 inch, 320 by 240 pixel touch screen and stylus input.

HP packs into the box an AC adapter, a USB synchronization cable, a metal stylus, and wired stereo ear buds. Fashioned in a glossy black, the iPAQ 910 has a gunmetal gray chrome surround on the front bezel.

With its rubberized back panel, the handset is comfortable to hold and talk into. Control wise, the iPAQ 910 is the anti iPhone neither sleek nor minimal, and covered in buttons, dials, and ports. On the front panel, there's a five way navigation key in the center, with four buttons to either side, which perform various functions. The left hand side of the unit houses a hardware volume control, a voice control button, a mini USB port, and a microSD slot.

The right hand side, meanwhile, contains a scroll wheel more on this below along with OK and Camera buttons. On the back of the handset, you'll find the camera sensor and flash, a small self-portrait mirror, and the phone's mono speaker. My preproduction review unit had a troublesome rubber port cover on the left side.

READ MORE - HP iPAQ 910

LG Glimmer AX830

A gunmetal gray slider phone with a brushed metal back, the Glimmer is pretty big (4 by 2.05 by 0.59 inches HWD), and relatively heavy at 4.48 ounces. The front of the handset is dominated by a big 2.8 inch 240 by 400 pixel screen. Slide it up to find a lighted keypad of flat metallic keys that are just a bit too small to accurately press with the pad of your finger. There are lock, volume, and camera buttons on the sides, and a 2 mega pixel camera with a weak LED flash on the back.

Buzz up!on Yahoo. The Glimmer uses LG's touch screen interface, very similar to the one on Verizon's VX10000 Voyager and AT&T's Vu CU920.

The phone's home screen has five main icons: Main Menu, Phone, Messaging, Contacts, and a configurable Favorites button, which pops up a grid of nine of applications of your choosing.

Since the Glimmer has a physical keypad, though, you enter text using the phone keys, not with an on screen keyboard. The touch screen is a bit balky.

Often, I needed to press extra firmly to get my touch recognized, and occasionally I had to press twice.

More recent touch screen phones such as Sprint's Samsung Instinct have more accurate touch sensors. Also, you can't "swipe" to scroll in many applications; instead, you have to use some slightly awkward virtual cursor keys. With the physical keyboard popped down, the top half of the phone overhangs the keypad a bit, and the keys are not quite long enough.

I kept hitting the key below the one I meant to press. Once I successfully dialed calls, reception was good and the ear piece was loud. The speaker phone volume was a bit lower than I'd prefer, but it was fine indoors or in the car. Audio sounded a bit compressed and speaker phone transmissions were slightly garbled at one point, but there wasn't much background noise.

READ MORE - LG Glimmer AX830

Nokia N78

At 4.5 by 1.9 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and 3.9 ounces, the N78 cuts an unobtrusive profile. It's similar in looks to the N82 but thinner and lighter, and it features a slick, black glossy face and a dark chocolate brown back (the N82 is silver). The display is a standard issue 2.4 inch, QVGA 240 by 320 pixel LCD, oriented vertically. There's an ambient light sensor on board to adjust screen brightness depending on the surrounding light.

Nokia may have sacrificed a little function for form here. The sleek keypad lights up whenever the phone is activated, but actual typing was difficult; although the keys engage with a positive click, they're extremely small.

And this is the only way to input data there's no touch screen, no QWERTY keypad, and no SureType style setup like on a BlackBerry Pearl. The N78 does include one interesting control feature: the Navi wheel, which looks like a standard five-way control pad.

But the Navi wheel also responds to a light touch, as if it were a square version of an iPod's click wheel. It performed well when scrolling through Web pages, but positioning it for other tasks was difficult.

Generally, it just ignored the touch feature and used it as a regular control pad. In testing, the N78 turned out to be a solid voice phone. Calls sounded clear in both directions, both indoors and out, albeit with a touch of hiss in the background most of the time. it experienced no reception issues even in remote areas.

In addition, the handset's lightweight body was very comfortable to hold for extended periods. The N78 paired on the first try with an original Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset Its speakerphone sounded well balanced but was loud enough only for indoor use.

READ MORE - Nokia N78

Palm Treo 800w

The Treo 800w's well balanced design and rubbery grip is a pleasant middle ground between the small but cramped Centro and the bulky Motorola Q9c. The dark blue handset measures 4.4 by 2.2 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.0 ounces. Its full QWERTY keyboard is identical to prior Treos in size, layout, and feel, right down to the raised plastic keys. It's certainly not as slick as the iPhone 3G, but it's very comfortable to hold and talk into.

The 2.5 inch display's increased resolution now 320 by 320 pixels looks sharp. Though a huge improvement over the 240 by 240 pixel screen that plagued earlier Windows Mobile Treos, it's still not standard size most Windows Mobile handsets are actually 320 by 240. But the increased resolution makes Web browsing and general navigation more pleasant.

It's too early to see whether the nonstandard screen size results in display issues with third party apps the same way the old screen did. Unfortunately the Treo 800w's touch screen is picky it often took several pokes to complete a task. And the included plastic stylus feels cheap. On the plus side, there's a useful hardware switch at the top to switch to silent or vibrate mode, along with a second one for the Wi-Fi radio.

In the box, Palm includes a smallish AC adapter still not as diminutive as the beauties Nokia supplies with its unlocked smartphones along with a set of wired stereo earbuds. The AC adapter jack is microUSB. Better than satisfactory at voice calls, the phone sounded clear and punchy in both directions in most instances, both through the handset and when paired with an Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset.

Outdoors, a moderate breeze was undetectable to one caller. Reception was good, too; it was sufficiently strong to pull in EV-DO data in a rural area outside of Boston. The speakerphone was also loud enough for outdoor use.

READ MORE - Palm Treo 800w

T-Mobile Sidekick LX

The Sidekick LX, which we reviewed when it first launched last October, is a messaging limousine, a gigantic device that's 5.1 inches long with a 3 inch, 400 by 240 pixel screen.

Its 1,540-mAh battery lets it run for almost 11 hours of talk time. Compare that with the new Sidekick 2008, a more compact model, at 4.7 inches, that has the same 400 by 240 pixel resolution on a 2.6 inch screen and achieves about 8 hours of talk time on its smaller battery.

Check out our original review for the basic details of the Sidekick LX. We'll focus on the 2008 improvements here.

We dinged the Sidekick LX for not supporting stereo Bluetooth for music, video recording and playback, or Yahoo! Mail. All those features are here now. The LX paired easily with our Plantronics Pulsar 590 stereo headset to play unprotected AAC, MP3, and WMA files.

The LX also plays small video files like the ones sent in MMS messages. It doesn't do a good job of playing larger files, though; even our relatively undemanding 320 by 240, 15 frame per second 3GP test file was jerky and choppy. Video capture is strictly for picture messaging, but it's here. The LX now takes wobbly, pulsing, and grainy 176-by-144 videos of up to 20 seconds in length and stores them on a memory card. Our 8GB SanDisk microSD card worked fine as a source and destination for music, photos, and videos.

READ MORE - T-Mobile Sidekick LX

T-Mobile Sidekick 2008

That's the mind set of someone who would pay up to $200 extra to buy a phone emblazoned with the logos of pop-culture figures you may not have heard of, like tattoo artist Mr. Cartoon or basketball star Dwayne Wade. The Sidekick 2008 is a fashion item and an expression of identity, not a geeky toy. And its best feature is its case, or rather, cases. This is the first hand held to offer completely customizable, interchangeable shells.

With the Sidekick 2008, T-Mobile has partnered with Skinit (a company that makes customized stick-on labels for electronic gadgets) but has raised the bar a bit. Fortunately, not all the designs are expensive.

T-Mobile's $14.99 shells (in various preprogrammed designs or built from your own words and pictures) are actually painted directly onto the Sidekick's body, an effect that looks classier, feels smoother, and is much more durable than a sticker.

This is a big step forward in phone personalization. So what's inside the fancy case? A Sidekick.

At 4.7 by 2.3 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and 5.3 ounces), the Sidekick 2008 is a slimmer version of the Sidekick LX. Wisely, T-Mobile kept Sharp as the manufacturer and retained the signature Sidekick swiveling screen, now a bright and tight 240 by 400 pixel color panel.

The trackball, on the right, pulses in multiple colors, and the backlit keyboard is an absolute joy, with small, hard, nicely spaced keys. All Sidekicks have the same easy to use operating system that works via a rotating series of menus, and this model doesn't change much. Since all the devices mirror their data online, you can import and export contacts, photos, and such through my.t-mobile.com.

You can import contacts or calendar files from Microsoft Outlook, or contacts files from Palm Desktop. For $9.99, you can buy Intellisync, an add-on that perpetually syncs your Sidekick's address book, calendar, and to-do list with Outlook on a PC.

READ MORE - T-Mobile Sidekick 2008

LG Chocolate 3 VX8560

The LG Chocolate 3 VX8560 is the very model of a midrange music mobile phone. It's a slim flip phone that delivers decent performance, reliability, flexibility and quality all at a reasonable price. LG has abandoned the previous Chocolates' slider form factor this time around. The 3.3 ounce Chocolate 3 is a slim but broad (3.9 by 1.9 by 0.6 inches HWD) flip phone, with a shiny black front and a matte black back.

On the front of the handset there's the signature Chocolate scroll wheel, along with a 2-megapixel camera and a large color screen. Flip it open to find large, flat number keys well separated by ridges and a large, bright 2.2 inch, 320 by 240 pixel color screen. The front of the phone and the keypad are both shiny and tend to attract smudges, but in general, it's a nice workaday look.

Quick action buttons let you get to the camera, music player, and speakerphone quickly, and there's a microSD memory card slot in the side. With the flip closed, you can use the big 1.8 inch, 176 by 220 pixel front screen to access your music, messages, and photos, the phone's calendar, and the camera.

The calendar is the one sore spot there: Like most LG calendars, it doesn't sync with anything on your PC or online, so it's completely useless. As far as call quality is concerned, there's little to complain about here. The Chocolate 3 gets good reception, though the handset tends to under report its reception.

This means you'll see it display one bar of signal a little too often, but it will still be able to make calls without a problem. The earpiece is quite loud, and there's plenty of in-ear feedback of your own voice. When there was a lot of background noise, the quality of transmissions through the microphone degraded somewhat, with some "popping" artifacts; on the other hand, it couldn't hear the background noise at all.

The speakerphone is moderately loud, but it doesn't work with the flip closed, which is odd, since the speaker is on the outside of the flip. Voice dialing uses the excellent Nuance VoiceSignal suite, over a wired or Bluetooth headset. Battery life, at 4 and a half hours of talk time, was average for a Verizon phone.

READ MORE - LG Chocolate 3 VX8560