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June 16, 2004 |
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Lately, mobile topics have been topping our search and site logs. Currently top-of-mind: cell phones that let you do e-mail, PDAs and other portable gadgets that get good battery life, bargains on digital cameras, featherweight MP3 players, and desktop PCs you can lug around. |
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Cell phones with keyboards
As cell phones learn to do more and more--from text messaging to Web surfing and e-mail--they've run up against a fundamental problem: How do you type? Some awkwardly rely on the number keypad--you know, 2 equals a, b, or c depending on how many times you hit it. But while that may suffice for entering addresses in your address book, it's a major pain if you're trying to type even basic responses to e-mail messages. That's why we're seeing increasing numbers of phones with built-in keyboards. No, you won't be able to touch-type on them. But they're enough that, with a couple of dexterous thumbs, you'll at least be to respond to your most pressing messages.
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Battery life
When we ask CNET users which features matter most in portable devices, good battery life almost always shows up high on their lists. That's why we've been looking a lot lately at cell phones, PDAs, and MP3 players that last longest in our battery tests. Unlike notebooks, these gadgets can't rely on bigger cells to last longer between charges; instead, they must utilize clever power-management designs. But until we get fuel cells, that design will mean the difference between taking your gadget with you or leaving it at home, hooked up to the electric IV.
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Olympus C-755
Lots of you have apparently been thinking about buying new digital cameras: lately, we've seen a big spike in searches for cameras in general as well as for specific models. One of the latter that caught our eye is the Olympus C-755. The reason: the C-755 isn't sold in America; this upgrade to the C-750 has been announced in Japan but not yet in the States. So why the sudden interest? Turns out that Costco included something it called the C-755 in a recent coupon book with an advertised price of $379. (As we write, it's listed for $479 on Costco.com.) Was it a typo? Is it really the C-755? You'll have to ask Costco.
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Creative Zen Touch
The Apple iPod is one of the products that immediately becomes the standard against which all others are measured. In this case, we find ourselves looking at MP3 players and asking, "Yeah, but how does it compare to the iPod?" In the case of the Creative Zen Touch, the answer is, "Pretty well, actually." We've taken only a preliminary look at the Zen Touch, but we found a 20GB hard drive player with impressive audio specs (a 97dB signal-to-noise ratio) that claims to get 24 hours of playing time on a single battery charge. More importantly, it looks and feels way cool, with touch-sensitive controls that mimic the iPod's. We'll get the full review to you ASAP.
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Small-form-factor PCs
Recently, we've been seeing more desktop PCs that don't really look like desktop PCs: their cases have been reduced to cubes half the size of that old tower PC, sometimes with handles on top. They're small-form-factor PCs, desktop machines specifically designed to be carried (typically to gaming parties) and to sit unobtrusively next to your living room's home entertainment system (where they can stream MP3s or other digital content) or on executive desktops (where you don't want anything announcing that the occupant does anything as plebeian as typing). But we're seeing a lot more variation in these tiny PCs than we usually see in their full-grown, commoditized counterparts; performance and features in these systems both run the gamut from pretty darned good to not so hot.
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Click to Save up to $300/yr on calls
