Great Gadgets for the Holidays
Get into gear and check out our selection of the latest and greatest smartphones, MP3 players, handheld organizers, digital cameras, and digital camcorders.Frank Thorsberg
Got your shopping list ready? It's never too early to think about gift ideas. You're bound to stack up a pile of sincere thank you notes if you give friends and family some of today's hottest handheld tech gear. Boring, bulky cell phones and oversized organizers with clunky interfaces have given way to an amazing array of fun and functional products: sleek camera phones and PDAs, compact music players, intuitive digital cameras, and versatile digital camcorders. We've compiled a list of the best products in these categories, including links to more detailed reviews.
If you're looking for more entertainment, check out "Fun Tech," which includes reviews of 12 innovative products to use on the road--and at home. You'll find hands-on reviews of Garmin's IQue 3600 GPS-ready PDA, TDK's DA-9000 CD-RW Jukebox, Gateway's huge 46-inch P46M103 Plasma TV, NEC's Showcase HT1000 projector, and LG Appliances' Internet Refrigerator. (We're not kidding about the fridge.)
Big Features on Small MP3 Players
Digital music players are making a lot of noise in gift land this season. If size matters, you can choose from many mini models that might actually get lost in a large pocket or purse. Or you might want to consider the heavyweight contenders with generous storage capacities, near-audiophile playback qualities, and included Wi-Fi connections that are a boon to music downloaders.
Apple's three IPod models, which appear on the newest branch of the Apple family tree, are the pick of this year's crop. The IPod comes with a choice of 10GB ($299)
For PC World's review, check out "Slick New IPod Even Better."
If you thought really great things don't really come in small packages, then you better think again after listening to the Rio Nitrus. This $300 player is just 3 inches high and 2.4 inches wide. It's a mere 0.6 inches thick and weighs 2 ounces, but it can hold more than 375 songs, thanks to its 1.5GB hard drive. The company promises 16-hour continuous playback with the rechargeable lithium ion battery. There's also a USB 2.0 connection for quick hookups to your PC.
Read "More Than a Good Gig (of Music)," and check out "Digital Audio Players: Tote Your Tunes."
Brighter Image for Combo Phones
By now, nearly everyone on your shopping list has a cell phone, but a new camera phone makes a compelling choice for anyone who'd like to spice up their communications with digital pictures. Many newer cameras are Internet- and e-mail-capable, so you can do some basic browsing, and shoot and share pictures from the same device. Don't expect museum-grade prints, although picture quality is definitely on the upswing. Look for wireless connectivity, and compare battery life from one product to another before you make a buying decision.
The Nokia 3650 is a tri-band phone with voice dialing, a voice recorder, and an integrated speakerphone (very handy in some situations). You can browse the Internet, and play Java and Symbian games--these games are specially formatted for phone users. With Nokia's PC Suite software, purchased separately, you can sync the phonebook, calendar, and to-do lists with your PC.
You can also download an endless variety of polyphonic ring tones--snatches of songs, sounds, or sayings--which can be downloaded over the Internet for a fee. America Online, for example, offers cell phone users hundreds of ring tones, logos, and screen savers for $2 apiece, through its AOL Mobile Download Center and AOL Entertainment for Mobile (AOL keyword: mobile downloads).
The 3650 offers wireless connectivity via Bluetooth and infrared, but don't look for thoroughbred performance from its low-resolution camera (640 by 480 pixels), which takes both still pictures and video. Users can share stored images with friends using built-in multimedia messaging technology. List price is $350, but the phone sells for as low as $49 with bundled wireless service, depending on the carrier's offerings in your region. The phone package is currently offered by AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile.
Check out PC World's cell phone camera review.
Digital Cameras: Slender Super Shooters
Photograph by Rick Rizner
Small and thin cameras are in. All the big players, including Canon, Casio, Minolta, and Pentax, for example, have their versions of the slim-and-trim products, but our pick is Canon's PowerShot A70. This unit is a small, light, and flexible 3.2-megapixel camera. You get a bunch of useful controls at your fingertips, or, if you prefer, you can rely on the six built-in scene modes to set up your shots.
For even greater versatility, the A70 will accommodate accessory lenses, thanks to a bayonet mount that's familiar to 35mm camera veterans. Another unique feature: The A70 uses regular AA batteries, not proprietary rechargeable batteries like other cameras. Its street price runs roughly $250 to $350.
Check out our hands-on Canon PowerShot A70 review. For additional reviews, see Top 10 Digital Cameras Under $500 and Top 10 Digital Cameras, $500 and Over.
Your Digital Assistant: Go Fancy or Go Basic
Personal digital assistants go far beyond electronic record keeping. Top-end models now combine organizational tools and tiny keyboards with digital cameras and wireless voice and e-mail communications. You'll find brighter screens, a growing library of software programs, and more functions in their repertoires.
Handspring's trendy Treo 600 sits atop a growing pile of feature-heavy PDAs. This new smartphone rolls several tools into one unit: A mobile phone, the Palm OS organizer (version 5.2.1H of the operating system), wireless e-mail, text messaging, Web browsing, and a digital camera. You'll find a QWERTY keyboard, 32MB of onboard RAM, and an SD/MMC expansion slot. The pleasing LCD sits in a 4.4-by-2.4-inch case and weighs just over 6 ounces. The Treo offers fingertip control with a five-way navigation button just below the bright CSTN (color super-twist nematic) backlit display.
At press time, the Treo 600 was available only from Sprint. The Treo package starts at $449, and if you sign up with Sprint, you can receive a $150 service credit from the carrier. However, additional offers are expected soon from Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, and AT&T Wireless. For PC World's review, check out "Impressive Treo 600."
The Palm Zire 21 is the reigning king of the entry-level PDAs. It's a perfect gift for that student on your shopping list or a great stocking stuffer for any business person who doesn't already own a PDA. The unit features a basic organizer, memos, and to-do list applications, but it doesn't have a color screen. Other downsides: The Zire doesn't have a backlight, and it lacks an SD card slot. It weighs just 3.8 ounces and has 8MB of installed memory. Still, for $99, that's a decent bang for anyone's PDA buck.
For additional details about the Zire--and to learn about Palm's newest offerings with its Tungsten models--see "Palm Refreshes Tungsten, Zire PDAs." For detailed reviews of both Wi-Fi devices and phone-based units, see "Well-Connected Handhelds."
Ultra-Portable Digital Camcorders
How do they do it? Panasonic's new SV-AV100 D-snap SD digital video camera is only 3.51 inches long, 2.56 inches wide, and 1.31 inches thick, but it packs quite a wallop into such a tiny form. It can shoot MPEG2 and MPEG4 formats, it boasts a 10:1 optical zoom lens, and features a 2.5-inch LCD. Storage is handled by an included 512MB memory card. Price: $999.
On a tighter budget? Check out Gateway's entry into the mini digital camcorder field: the DV-S20 Pocket Multi-Cam. The unit has a 2-megapixel digital still camera with a 1.5-inch LCD that promises to also record up to 18 minutes of MPEG4 video on the 64MB of internal memory. Add a Secure Digital card, and storage ratchets up to 144 minutes of video. It weighs only 4.3 ounces, and measures 3.5 inches high by 2.5 inches wide (and only 1.2 inches deep). Its street price is $199.