PC World Podcast 36: Office 2010, Smartphone Costs, and a Real-World Phone Battle

This week on the PC World Podcast, editors Tim Moynihan, Darren Gladstone, Ed Albro, and Mark Sullivan discuss the new features in Microsoft Office 2010 and ponder the whereabouts of Clippy. Will the new, Web-centric Office tools give Google Docs a run for the money? Can the updated office suite make spreadsheets even more exciting? And what about the universally-loved Ribbon? Find out now.

Also on this week's show, Mark Sullivan discusses the total cost of ownership of today's top smartphones. Buying and activating the phone (and sending in any mail-in rebates) is just the start of the spending process; Sullivan has factored in what data charges, SMS fees, monthly fees, and more will really cost you over the course of a two-year contract. Discover just how pricey that new BlackBerry, iPhone, T-Mobile G1, or Palm Pre will end up being.

And if cost means nothing to you and you just need to decide between the two "phones du jour"--Apple's iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre--Darren Gladstone discusses what he picked between the two of them. He spent a couple of weeks using both phones on a day-to-day basis, and has some interesting insight on how both smartphones performed in the real world. Read his feature-by-feature breakdown here, and listen to the podcast to learn about his final judgment.

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@pcworld.com, and review our podcast on iTunes. You can subscribe to the weekly PC World Podcast on iTunes or via the PC World RSS feed.