Reviews

Cisco's pocket-size Flip camcorder line achieved widespread popularity by making the process of capturing video and posting it to YouTube incredibly easy. Now, a companion set-top box seeks to make viewing those videos--either your own or those shared over the Internet on Flip's FlipChannel service--on your HDTV almost equally effortless. But while the Cisco FlipShare TV ($149 as of 12/1/09) can capably stream high-definition video from your hard drive, the quality of videos hosted online can vary widely. That's because the FlipShare TV streams all of its video from your PC through a peer-to-peer 802.11n Wi-Fi connection using an included, oversize USB dongle--and Internet video must first stream to the PC. This two-step process can easily introduce artifacts, especially if your PC's network connection is also wireless.

To set up the FlipShare TV, you start by attaching the USB dongle to your PC; the dongle then initiates an upgrade to the FlipShare software that all Flip camcorders install when you first connect them via their pop-up USB connector. Once the updated PC software and the drivers for the dongle are installed, you connect the small, white FlipShare TV box to your TV set, through its composite-video or HDMI ports. (The FlipShare TV comes with a composite-video cable, but if you want the superior image and sound quality that HDMI can deliver, you must provide your own HDMI cable.)

On the surface, the Samsung Omnia II ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 12/1/09) seems to be the Windows Mobile phone that fans have been waiting for. With its gorgeous 3.7-inch AMOLED touch display, attractive design, and impressive specs, this phone is a real head-turner. Unfortunately, the Omnia II's performance disappoints. The TouchWiz 2.0 user interface seems to bog down the phone's speed; in one instance, our review unit crashed and had to be restarted.

On looks alone, the Omnia II is quite alluring and fits in nicely with Verizon's line of premium smartphones like the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, and the BlackBerry Storm II. Measuring 4.7 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches thick and weighing 4.8 ounces, the Omnia II is just slightly larger and heavier than the original (which was 4.4 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches and weighed 4.3 ounces). Still, the phone remains quite slim. With its rounded corners, brushed metal details, and smooth red-and-black back cover it is much more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor.

In its warm brown wooden frame, the Kodak EasyShare D830 ($140, as of 11/30/09) easily blends in with any other frames arranged on your desk or coffee table. With this model, however, Kodak has decided to allow you to replace the frame in the box with any picture frame you choose: Simply pop out the D830, slip the new frame over it, and slide the toggles to hold it all together.

The D830 has 512MB of internal memory and it accepts SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick, MS Pro/MS Pro Duo, and xD cards, as well as USB. Simply plug in your card (or transfer photos to the frame from your PC) and the show begins. Images on the 800-by-600-pixel screen popped with vibrance and sharpness.

The Haier Sport Video HHS1A-2G MP3 Player ($50 as of November 10, 2009) is a smooth, water-resistant MP3 player with a 2GB capacity and some nifty features for workoutaholics. The player itself is lightweight and easy to work out with, and sports some cool features (such as a pedometer and video playback), even if some, such as video playback on a one-inch screen, seem a bit pointless and gratuitous.

The HHS1A-2G looks like a soft black-and-aqua pebble. It's also slick like a pebble--and potentially slippery when the going gets sweaty, so the accompanying armband is a real plus. The player's dimensions are about 2 inches high by 1 inch wide, and it has a 1-inch, 128-by-64-pixel OLED screen. The controls, which are fairly intuitive, include a play/stop button; a fast-forward, rewind, and volume control on the main navigational wheel; a menu/power button on the top; and start/stop and reset buttons on the sides (for the stopwatch feature). The USB and headphone jacks are located at the bottom, which I found a bit annoying, but forgivable, when I exercised with it.

If you're sick of using an MP3 player that frequently runs out of battery power, the Haier HV18A-4G ($50 for 4GB, $60 for 8GB) is for you. Featuring an audio-playback time of 30 hours, this sleek MP3 player also plays videos, offers an FM transmitter, and provides a voice recorder.

The HV18A-4G measures 3.5 by 1.5 by 0.25 inches (about the same size as a fifth-generation iPod Nano) and has a 1.8-inch, full-color TFT LCD, as well as a nifty touch-panel keypad. With a slick black-and-chrome encasing, the player is fairly attractive (it looks a lot like the first- and second-generation iPod Nanos). Unfortunately, it attracts fingerprints like nothing else; the touch panel, integrated into the casing, is a smudge magnet, too. The power/lock switch is on the side, while the volume buttons, fast-forward/rewind controls, and OK and Menu buttons are on the touch panel. The touch panel is incredibly responsive--so much so, however, that I ended up accidentally brushing it and changing the song as I was reaching over to press the lock button.

The Pantech Reveal ($80 with a two-year service contract from AT&T) is a compact, light, Bluetooth-compatible, quad-band GSM/GPRS phone that uses AT&T's 3G network. The Reveal delivered great call quality; but its muddy camera, so-so Web browser, and lack of multimedia peripherals drop it a notch below competing models.

Transcend keeps pushing genres with the PF730. Like the earlier Transcend 720, the PF730 ($100, as of 11/25/09) is not only a digital photo frame, but also a video player, an alarm clock, a calendar, and an MP3 player.

The PF730 is quite stylish with its embossed (white or black) frame, and has a bit more of a sophisticated look than the Transcend 720. You might set the PF730 out, say, on the sofa end table, whereas the 720 (which somewhat resembles a radio) would look more at home in the bedroom or on your dorm room desk. The PF730 lacks the FM audio option of the 720, but still has 2GB of internal memory (which could be quite adequate for your entire slideshow collection).

Kodak is straddling traditionalist and multimedia worlds with its S730 frame ($140 as of 11/25/09), and we applaud it for getting the balance right. This stylish, modern-looking, burgundy-bordered frame boasts a rechargeable battery so that it can be passed around without worrying about AC cords. The battery lasts only about an hour, though, so most of the time it will probably be residing on your beside table or desk.

Magellan's Maestro line of GPS devices has always been designed to appeal to consumers who are willing to pay more for more features. And that's still true of the new Maestro 4700. However, Magellan has also added more features to the models in its budget-friendly RoadMate line--so much so that you have to wonder whether the Maestro 4700 is worth even its slight price premium.

Priced at $300 (as of 11/25/09), the Maestro 4700 includes an impressive list of features. You get a larger-than-normal, 4.7-inch screen; maps for the United States (all 50 states), Canada, and Puerto Rico; a database of 6 million points of interest; highway-lane-assist signs; text-to-speech; and multisegment routing capabilities. You also get several items unique to Magellan, such as the AAA tour book and the One Touch feature, the latter of which lets you easily navigate to a favorite destination or search with just a single tap of the screen.