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Western Digital Passport Elite 320G Portable Drive

The external hard drive revolution continues with the addition of the Passport Elite series. In days past bulky and characterless units were all the rage, now that the novelty has worn off, Western Digital (WD) has introduced a slim device right out of the Jetson Age.

Unlike previous Passport models, the Elite features a bundled software interface, meaning there is no installation disc, its a self integrated plug and play 2.0 USB connection. In addition the outer casing is finished with a soft anti-slip material available in different colors. We also like how WD has listened to its' customers by adding a free neoprene pouch to hold the external drive and USB cable.

The hard drive performs best when connected to a USB 2.0 terminal, but if you do not have one, the user will experience a bottle neck effect when trying to transfer backup files. Again the problem is in the USB or transfer end, not on the drive, which performs surprisingly better than previous Western Digital devices. Finally, the Passport Elite can be used for both PC and Mac, with software appropriate for both platforms.

Pro's:
PC and Mac compatible
Slim modern design
USB 2.0 Connection
Free neoprene case


Con's:
bottle neck transfer without USB 2.0

Final Word:
The Passport Elite is a very nice portable drive, and is PC and MAC compatible. The lighter and slimmed down design is perfect for the traveling professional or student. We like the ease of use and user interface.

Flexpod Gripper Tripod

The days of the old clunky tripod may have come and gone thanks to the Flexpod Gripper. This tiny and compact product has a unique aluminium core design and triangulated leg segments with gripping teeth to securely wrap around just about any suitable support to give photos a fresh perspective. For example, the FlexPod can attach to a pole, railing, chair, bottle, or tree bunch, or anywhere a regular tripod just won't fit.

Furthermore the multi-directional ball head with quick set four position release and auto lock makes it easy to setup and instantly attach a digital camera, as well as take down after shooting. At just under four ounces in weight, this product is ideal for the traveling novice to professional digital photographer. Additionally the incredibly low price tag will attract many "guerrilla style" photographers who are looking to experiment with new camera angles and projects.


Pro's:
Compact flexible aluminum frame
Ballhead and quick release plate for super-fast setup
Compatible for the traveling photographer/photojournalist


Con's:
Can only be used with camera's weighing less than sixteen ounces

Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player DMP-BD55

We got our hands on the Panasonic Blu-ray player DMP-BD55 today. This newly released model features a 3rd generation chip, as well as slimmer body design. Among the added features, Panasonic bundled in a program called BD Live, which allows the unit to be connected to a broadband network. BD Live is allows the user to download or stream additional interactive media, games, and movie features.

It is worth mentioning that the DMP-BD55 is Panasonic's first player for HD televisions. The crystal clear display is akin to looking into a mirror. In other words expect crisp movie theatre images without the annoying sticky floor and screaming kid. Furthermore, when connected to a home network, the blu-ray player will automatically check for firmware updates; while HDMI AV connection brings true HD 1040 resolution.

Finally Panasonic has addressed a need for the mobile digital photographer and videographer by adding a SD card slot. The plug and play method allows the user to directly display digital content without messing around with additional wires. Best of all the lower price and better all around performance makes this blu-ray player a solid choice.

Pro's
Slimmer body design
3rd Generation chip technology
SD Card Slot
Internet Network capability
HDMI connection
True HD 740 - 1040 output

Cons
Slow boot up


Final Word:
Overall the newly designed Panasonic DMP-BD55 is a breakthrough blu-ray player at an affordable price. Impressive HD output and features makes this a top consumer pick.

CES 2009: Computers and hardware wrap-up

Historically, the Consumer Electronics Show hasn't been a place where we'd find a ton of new laptops, desktops, or computer components. After all, PC makers had Comdex (a now-defunct Vegas trade show), and are generally more interested in hitting the back-to-school and holiday seasons than releasing new products in January.

Still, this year was a decent one for new introductions, and almost every major name in the computer business had a handful of new products to show off. Most were more evolutionary than revolutionary, but when you're dealing with essentially the same small pile of CPUs, GPUs, hard drives, and chipsets, anything that breaks away from the commoditization of PCs is a plus.
HP's Firebird Desktop continues the integration of HP and its boutique brand acquisition, Voodoo. The system has the distinct look of a high-end Voodoo PC, but is branded as being "HP with Voodoo DNA," and carries a relatively mainstream price.

We also liked HP's Minibook 2120. In a field already crowded with essentially identical competitors, the brushed metal design and ExpressCard/54 slot are welcome points of differentiation.

Other players who tried to take the basic Netbook concept and improve on it include Sony, whose Atom Powered Atom lifestyle is an upscale take on the mini-laptop; Asus, with a swiveling touch screen version of the popular Eee PC; and AMD, with the new Athlon Neo platform--essentially a low-price midpoint between Netbooks and mainstream laptops. (AMD also has a new desktop gaming platform called Dragon).

Interestingly, one of the most interesting laptops at CES made only a cameo appearance. Dell's slim Adamo was officially designed, and briefly glimpsed, but no real details or hands-on time were forthcoming. Contrary to earlier rumors, the Adamo looked a lot more like Voodoo's Envy 13-inch than the MacBook Air.

Perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise was the warm reception Windows 7 received, despite not really having a big push at the show. Beta testers reported that the upcoming operating system scales very well to low-end Netbooks (which just plain don't work well with Vista), meaning that growing category might have a very big future.

Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera

The Kodak Zi6 is technically an HD camcorder the way a tomato is technically a fruit: it meets the definition, but doesn't deliver the experience. True, the Zi6 records video in 1,280x720-pixel resolution at both 30 frames per second and 60fps--720p resolution--which technically qualifies it as an HD camcorder, but a lot of factors go into creating an image, not just a CMOS sensor capable of capturing an image at a certain resolution and frame rate. Still, the 720p video it does capture is a step up from the 640x480-pixel VGA resolution video you typically find on competing sub-$200 direct-to-YouTube camcorders from Flip Video, RCA, and Creative.
That higher resolution comes at a price. To accommodate the larger 1/4.5-inch 1.6-megapixel sensor and generous 2.4-inch LCD, the Zi6 is bigger than most of its competitors, particularly the similarly priced Flip Video Mino. Weighing 5.6 ounces, it's not huge and it fits in most pockets, but if supercompact is what you're after, there are better alternatives.

Instead of a built-in or removable lithium ion rechargeable battery, Kodak opted to include a set of two rechargeable AA nickel metal hydride batteries and a charger. The upside is that in a pinch you can use readily available standard AA alkaline batteries to power the unit. The downside is you can't just charge the battery with the built-in USB connector like you can with some models, such as the Mino and Creative Vado. Also, a smaller lithium ion battery would probably have helped trim the size of Zi6 a bit.

Like other products in this category, the USB connector is of the flip-out variety. Cleverly, the button for the connector also serves as a tiny mirror for recording yourself. Another nice touch: a switch that toggles between standard and macro focus distance. We also appreciate that the Zi6 incorporates an expansion slot for SD cards. However, the onboard memory is a paltry 128MB--only 30MB of which is available for storage. That 30MB only lets you capture 36 seconds of video recorded at the highest quality (HD, 60fps). Extrapolating--since Kodak hasn't published any capacity information--that's about 50MB per minute, or 41 minutes of video on a typical 2GB card. The Zi6 will accept cards up to 32GB, but you must supply your own cards, whatever the capacity. Kodak includes an inexpensive neoprene carrying case, hand strap, video cables for output to a TV, and there's a threaded mount on the bottom of the unit in case you want to use a tripod.

As with all these mini camcorders, the Zi6 is meant to be easy to use--and for the most part, it is. Unfortunately, we have a few problems with the design. First, it takes some effort to get used to the controls. There's a joystick button flanked on either side by a video/playback button and stop/delete button. When the same button performs two functions it can be a little confusing for some people. and I found myself accidentally hitting the play button at times when I should have been clicking the joystick button. Second, the camcorder doesn't turn on when you plug the USB into your computer, the way the rest of the mini camcorders we've tested do. That's just a bit annoying. But the real kicker is there's no way to completely erase and format a memory card--or even delete more than one image/clip at a time--within the Zi6. Kodak expects you to do that when connected to the PC via its bundled software; that's a serious usability problem in general.

Blackberry Storm - Verizon

The RIM BlackBerry Storm brewed up a lot of hype and excitement as the first touch-screen BlackBerry. The touch capabilities were news enough alone but add to that Research in Motion's SurePress functionality (the technology that makes the screen clickable), an impressive feature list, and the competitive $199.99 pricing, and there were a lot of expectations for the BlackBerry Storm to succeed. However, when the Storm finally blew into town, it was a definite letdown because of the phone's sluggish performance and bugginess.

DesignIn terms of form factor, the RIM BlackBerry Storm doesn't stray far from the other full touch-screen smartphones on the market today, including the Samsung and Apple iphone. Sporting a black casing with silver accents, the handset is a bit blocky and heavy at 4.4 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and weighs 5.6 ounces, so it feels a bit wide when you hold it in your hand and it'll make for a tight fit in a pants pocket. That said, the Storm is a well-constructed smartphone. It has a nice, solid feel and the edges have a soft-touch finish to provide a better grip.

The RIM BlackBerry Storm is a bit shorter and heavier than the Apple iPhone.
While the Storm's design might not be the most inspiring, the smartphone's display is another story. Obviously, the fact that the Storm is the first touch-screen BlackBerry is news enough, but its 3.25-inch VGA glass display also demands attention for its sharpness and brightness, showing 65,000 colors at a crisp 480x360-pixel resolution. We weren't as impressed with the Storm's screen as the Blackberry Bold, but it's still beautiful. You can also adjust the backlighting, font size, and type. The Storm is also equipped with an accelerometer, so the screen orientation will switch from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone from a vertical position to a horizontal one, left or right.

Moving onto the touch-screen capabilities, the BlackBerry Storm uses SurePress, so that when you select an application or enter text, you actually push the screen down like you would any other tactile button. You can see a bit of a gap at the top and bottom of the screen, which but makes the phone. In terms of text extry, the BlackBerry Storm features a SureType keyboard when the smartphone is in portrait mode and then switches to a full QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode (See Performance section for more information). When using the keyboard or selecting applications, you do a simple finger touch over the item until it's highlighted and then you press down on the screen to register the action.

The BlackBerry Storm runs on Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network, which allows for faster Web browsing, e-mail, and downloads. The Rev. A offers an extra boost over regular EV-DO, bringing download speeds up to the 450Kbps-to-800Kbps range versus 400Kbps-to-700Kbps, while upload speeds will average around 300Kpbs to 400Kpbs (compared with EV-DO's 50Kpbs to 70Kbps). Of course, this is all dependent if you live in a coverage area (you can find a coverage map from Verizons Web Site. The smartphone also offers support for the 2,100MHz UMTS/HSDPA, so you can get 3G support while overseas. Unfortunately, there's no integrated Wi-Fi, which we find disappointing. We realize and understand the argument that the 3G radios does away with the need for Wi-Fi, but we still like having that option, especially if you drop out of range or don't live in a coverage area.

The BlackBerry Storm has a full HTML Web browser that you can view in Internet Explorer or Firefox mode, depending on your preference. You can check out sites in page view or column view, and navigate via pan mode or cursor mode. In pan mode, you can move around pages simply by dragging your finger and then double-tapping the screen to zoom in. To select a hyperlink, you just highlight the link and then click. Meanwhile, in cursor mode, you can just place the cursor over the link and click or use the onscreen magnifying glass to zoom in. There's also a collapsible toolbar along the bottom that lets you go to new sites, change views, and more. There is support for streaming media, including YouTube's mobile site. As we've said before, the BlackBerry browser has greatly improved over the years, but it's still not as easy to use as the iPhone and its multitouch screen.

Last but not least of the wireless radios is integrated GPS. You can use the BlackBerry Storm as a handheld navigator, but to get real-time turn-by-turn directions, traffic data, and more , you will need to subscribe to Verizon's VZ Navigator location-based service, which costs $9.99 per month or $2.99 per day.

The BlackBerry Storm features a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording and auto focus.
Moving onto multimedia features, the BlackBerry Storm is equipped with a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, as well a flash, auto focus, 2x zoom, and image stabilization. In camera mode, you get a choice of three picture sizes and three picture qualities. There are white balance settings, and you can add various effects to your photos, such as black and white, and sepia. With the built-in GPS, you can also geotag photos. As usual, options are more limited in camcorder mode as you only get a choice of two video formats (normal and MMS) and three color effects. The volume rocker can be used to zoom in and out in both camera and video mode.

Pro's:

Innovative touch screen that provides tactile feedback to confirm your selection

Dual-mode functionality for world-roaming capabilities as well as EV-DO Rev

A and UMTS/HSDPA support

GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera

Con's:

Touch-screen takes some acclimation and the onscreen keyboard is a bit cramped

The smartphone can be sluggish and buggy even after the firmware update

Speakerphone quality was a bit choppy

Final Word:

The RIM BlackBerry Storm may blow in a frenzy for Verizon Wireless subscribers wanting a touch screen similar to the Apple iPhone. However, there are bugs and performance issues that prevent the Storm from delivering its full potential.