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Looking for a gift for your favorite technophile? Here’s a brief look at six new high-tech toys available this holiday season.
Treo 650
PalmOne’s latest offering in the Treo 600 smartphone series, the Treo 650 blends cell phone, PDA, and digital camera capabilities into one, small 4 by 2 inch package. The device, available as of mid-November from Sprint and Verizon, boasts several improvements over the 600 model, including Bluetooth wireless technology, a built in MP3 player, the ability to capture video, improved keyboard and button layout, and a sharper, more vibrant display. The Treo 650’s processing speed and battery standby time are greater than the 600, although PalmOne did not increase the relatively small 23 megabyte memory capability with this latest version. As with the 600, the Treo 650 offers both quad-band GSM and dual-band CDMA phone capability.
Prices for the Treo 650 were not available at press time, but Sprint has reported that it will retail for less than $500, with two versions available: one with an integrated camera and one without.
Blackberry 7100t
One of Blackberry’s latest offerings, the 7100 series, is another device that combines phone, email, and organizer capabilities. Although Blackberry has traditionally marketed its handheld devices to business customers, the quad-band 7100 series is designed for the average consumer, and has a price tag to match. Slightly larger than the Treo 650, it lacks the digital camera capabilities of the Treo, and has a shorter battery life, but does offer more memory and also comes with Bluetooth capability. Corporate customers who are interested in the new Blackberry model will be happy to know that the device is fully compatible with Blackberry Enterprise Server.
The Blackberry 7100t model is available in the United States from T-Mobile. It is currently retailing for $200 after a special promotional rebate T-Mobile is running through the end of the year.
HP iPac H4155
The New York Times listed the HP iPac H4155 as one of the top technology devices to give this year in its November 18, 2004 article “Circuits Holiday Buying Guide.” “If ever a palmtop could tempt you to leave your laptop behind, this would be it,” reported the article. At 4.67 ounces it is currently the lightest handheld device that offers wireless connectivity.
In addition to 802.11b WAN support, the HP iPac H4155 also boasts Bluetooth wireless technology, 64MB of memory, a speedy 400MHz processor, multimedia capabilities, and fairly robust software options. The price tag: around $450 is the suggested retail price, but you may be able to find it for less. CNET.com reports that the HP iPaq H4150 and H4155 are the same models, except that the H4155 is sold only through retail outlets.
iPod Photo
iPod, the tiny portable music sensation from Apple, has a new cousin: iPod Photo. In addition to all the features available in the iPod, iPod Photo offers photo upload, storage, and display capabilities – including an AV cable that allows you to connect your iPod photo directly to a projector or TV. The iPod Photo’s LCD screen displays 65,536 colors and has a 220x176 pixel resolution. You can view 25 color thumbnails at a time, scrolling through them as you would a music play list.
The new version of iPod’s software, iTunes 4.7, will allow users to import images from either a Mac or PC, and is compatible with image files from iPhoto software for the Mac, as well Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 on PCs
iPod photo comes in two sizes, a 40-gigbyte model that retails for around $499 and a 60-gigabyte model for $599.
LG’s VX7000 Video Phone (Verizon)
Also featured in the New York Times piece, “Circuits Holiday Buying Guide,” the new LG VX7000 is a camera phone with video-recording and playback functionality. Users can film up to 15-second clips and share them through the phone’s email and text messaging capabilities.
The phone’s camera features a rotating lens, a flash, a timer, and a dedicated camera button on the outside of the phone, so you can take pictures or video with the phone closed. Photos can be taken in a range of resolutions and up to 200 shots can be stored in the phone’s 5-megabyte memory card.
A CNET.com review in August 2004 gave the phone high marks on its display and camera features, but criticized the phone’s email and instant messaging capabilities and lack of Bluetooth or IR support. The handset is available from Verizon Wireless, retailing at around $250.
Dell Pocket DJ
Dell entered the mini hard drive market this fall with its 5GB Pocket DJ, a smaller version of its DJ-20. The device is clearly targeted to competed directly with other mini hard drive players, especially the uber-popular Apple iPod Mini. The Pocket DJ offers slightly more memory than the iPod Mini, 5 gigabytes over 4, and can store and play music in MP3, WMA, and WAV formats. Its battery life is rated at 10 hours.
Priced at $200, $50 less than the suggested retail for the iPod Mini, the Pocket DJ offers a good value in the market. |
