Filed under: Digital Cameras

If you skipped over the EOS 40D in anticipation for the next best thing, and you don’t feel like liquidating your kid’s college fund in order to procure the EOS 5D Mark II, the EOS 50D has likely been blinking fiercely on your radar. The intarwebz as a whole had a chance to sit down and scrutinize the decidedly mid-range DSLR, and overall, impressions were pretty positive. For starters, just about everyone felt that it was more than a worthy addition to Canon’s line, citing “a significant number of refinements to a proven design,” a fantastic VGA LCD monitor and expectedly great image quality. Critics also found an improved interface, improved white balance and an ISO setting that was perfectly acceptable up to 3,200 (and 6,400 in a pinch). For DSLR newcomers, the 50D is a pretty safe bet; the only question comes in when trying to decide whether to upgrade from the 40D. Our take? Save the loot and spend it on some decent glass.

Read - PhotographyBLOG
Read - TechRadar
Read - PhotoReview
Read - CNET

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Filed under: Cellphones

When the N95 was released, it was all but universally adored. Even today, nearly two full years after it was first revealed, it’s still one of the most respected in Nokia’s lineup. From the get-go, we knew the N96 was more evolutionary and less revolutionary; after all, the two handsets even look alike. The general consensus this time around is about what we expected: the N96 is a fine phone, and a worthy successor, but probably not worth the high price it’s currently demanding. Oh sure, the call quality was stupendous, battery life was satisfactory and the multimedia playback was superb, but some critics were a bit displeased with the fit and finish given the premium price tag. All in all, don’t go into the links below expecting any huge surprises — the N96 is a nicely revamped, high-priced N95, and if that’s what you’re looking for, there doesn’t seem to be any underlying issues that should hold you back from indulging.

Read - PhoneArena (”Nokia seems to have taken more of a lateral step than pushing forward with innovation.”)
Read - MobileArsenal (”…doesn’t have anything we didn’t see before…”)
Read - LordPercy (”…an improved, quality phone…”)
Read - Mobile88 (4 out of 5 stars)

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Now that the dust has settled on Nikon’s new D700 DSLR — but hopefully not on that anti-dust 12.1 megapixel full-frame sensor — we thought we’d toss together a few general impressions of the new mid-range pro camera. It’s pretty much a landslide, the D700 is a major winner for Nikon. Sure, $3,000 is pricey, but for a camera that basically crams the full-frame imaging prowess of the D3 into the highly portable body of the D300 — and left out only a few pro features in the process — it’s a relative bargain, and Nikon couldn’t have done much better for itself. You’ll also need to pony up for lenses that were actually built for a full-frame sensor to really get your money’s worth, though our hats off to Nikon for letting you use any old lens you please. The only real complaint we heard is that the shutter feels mushy, which is a relevant criticism and an anomaly for Nikon, but unlikely to be a dealbreaker.

Read - Nikonians: “She’s capable of making practically all the moves of the rest of the line-up and she’s arguably the most versatile of the bunch.”
Read - Cameralabs: “Nikon further broadens its impressive DSLR line-up and continues to throw down gauntlet after gauntlet to Canon.”
Read - Scott Kelby: “The D700 just takes a better looking photograph than the D300 (and really, that’s what it’s all about-all the rest is really just bells and whistles).”
Read - Imaging Resource: “One of the finest digital SLR cameras ever produced.”
Read - PhotographyBLOG: “It comes across as a kind of ‘greatest hits’ of Nikon DSLRs.”

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s not every day we get to glimpse a brand new experience from Dell, and while Studio might just be near-XPS laptops in everyman clothing, that certainly seems to be a good thing. The laptops appear to combine the power of XPS and the prices of Inspiron, with some new perks like HDMI out and slot-loading drives to keep things fresh. The laptops tend a little thicker than their XPS counterparts, and the fact that these are hitting just before Centrino 2 might be cause to hesitate, but otherwise we’re getting the feel from these reviews that the Studio line just might be the consumer lineup to beat if you can dig the design quirks and a little bit of bulk.

Read - NotebookReview, Studio 17 (”Hard pressed to find a better 17-inch notebook in the same price range”)
Read - CNET Reviews, Studio 15 (7.3 / 10, “We’d be tempted to save up a few extra dollars for a thinner, lighter XPS.”)
Read - PC Mag, Studio 15 (4.5 / 5, Editor’s Choice, “Retaining many of the XPS’s qualities while selling it for Inspiron prices.”)
Read - Laptop Mag, Studio 17 (3.5 / 5, “For $1,599, you’ll get plenty of multimedia muscle.”)

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The Samsung Glyde was one of the most hyped phones on an American carrier in recent memory leading up to its launch, and there’s one small problem with that: it’s hard to live up to the fanfare, no matter how good (or bad) the phone might be. A common early complaint coming out of the gate seems to be the lack of support for Verizon’s MediaFLO-based VCAST TV service, a service that the Glyde’s main competition, the Voyager, supports. The UI’s also getting panned for being a little more confusing that it needs to be; compounding matters is the fact that Phone Scoop describes it as a “push UI” on account of a fiddly touchscreen. For what it’s worth, it seems that the keyboard is at least quite good — so if you can put up with the negatives, the Glyde might still have a place in your pocket. Otherwise, the Voyager’s still looking awfully good, isn’t it?

Read - LAPTOP Magazine (2.5 / 5 stars, “…limited by a poor UI and unreliable performance”)
Read - Phone Scoop (”The Glyde pairs a few of the best things from the physical and touch worlds”)
Read - PHONE Magazine (”The Verizon Glyde isn’t a bad cellphone, but it’s outshone by its rivals”)

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

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Filed under: Desktops

For the indecisive among us who need a bit more than two but just can’t wrap their wallets around four, AMD’s out to show you exactly what three cores of computing magic can do. Make no mistake, we’ve been waiting quite some time for these buggers to ship, but they’ve finally made it into the capable hands of reviewers web-wide. The general consensus seems to be that the tri-core processors offer no real surprises: it performs better than a dual-core AMD CPU, yet worse than a quad-core AMD CPU. Needless to say, it tends to lag even further behind an Intel quad-core. Still, the Phenom X3 wouldn’t be a terrible option if quad-core Intel chips were still as pricey as ever, but with it slashing prices a few weeks back, the X3 seems to lack the value AMD was hoping we’d see. Still, don’t take our word for it — there’s lots and lots of words on the matter right down there.

Read - HotHardware (…the X3 8750 should also appeal to modders on a budget.)
Read - MaximumPC (Basically, it’s a quad core with one core turned off.)
Read - TweakTown (…a perfect choice to replace Athlon 64 X2s…)
Read - PCPerspective (…isn’t a slam dunk in performance or value…)
Read - Bit-Tech (…Phenom X3 8750 is a good processor in isolation…)
Read - Computer Shopper (…a worthy choice for Athlon X2 owners on a tight budget…)

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Although the A200 has been on store shelves for a tick since its US debut at CES, we wouldn’t blame you for clutching that $700 / $900 tight until a handful of reviews hit the ‘net. Thankfully, that time has come, and here’s what we’re hearing. Overall, the highly anticipated successor to the A100 was deemed a “solid entry-level DSLR that doesn’t really stand out in its very competitive field,” but that’s not to say it’s not worth checking out. When viewed in isolation, most reviewers found the build quality, built-in image stabilization, battery life, dust reduction system and respectable image quality to be above average, but those already slinging an A100 will find very few reasons to upgrade. Still, critics on the whole found more to love than despise about Sony’s A200, so be sure and give those eyes a workout on the review links below if you’ve been fiddling with the idea of picking one up.

Read - PhotographyBLOG (4.5 out of 5; Highly Recommended)
Read - Steve’s Digicams (”…a worthy competitor in the entry-level market…”)
Read - CNET (7.0 out of 10; Very Good)
Read - Digital Camera Resource Page (”…reminded me a lot of my experiences with the Pentax K10D…”)

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Filed under: Laptops

Just in case you feared that Walt Mossberg was out on some sort of limb when he proclaimed that the X300 would satisfy road warriors everywhere, we’ve sourced some other reviews from across the intarwebz to ease your mind. Lenovo’s über-stealthy ultraportable, which officially went on sale today, managed to impress one critic after another, with the biggest complaints coming from the high starting price tag, omission of a DVI port and somewhat sluggish performance — which are pretty much expected given the form factor. Outside of that, everyone was practically in love, with praises addressing the delightful keyboard, integrated WWAN and overall usability of such a minuscule machine. But hey, don’t take our word for it — check out the reviews below in full before you cough up your $2,500 (or more), cool?

Read - PCPro (5 out of 6 shiny stars)
Read - CNET (8.5 out of 10 golden trinkets)
Read - Notebook Review (”big thumbs up”)

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Filed under: Laptops

We’re still on waiting for the official 20,000 word review from John Mayer before we make our final decision, but tech journo heavyweights from USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Newsweek (with Pogue of the New York Times notably absent) have had their MacBook Airs for about a week now, and true to form are espousing some opinion on the slab of metal. Turns out there are few surprises, and you could probably draw the same conclusions from reading the spec sheets and drooling over the press shots like the rest of us losers. Battery life could be the biggest trouble point, with a couple guys rating it around 3.5 hours with heavy use, and even less when watching a movie on iTunes — Apple’s five hour prediction seems a bit optimistic. Nobody’s thrilled about the stuff Apple cut out to get the size down, but it’s hard for these guys to poo poo Apple’s decisions outright (Levy’s comparison to circumcision is downright uncomfortable, to say the least) since there’s an undeniable sexiness to holding and using the Air. One nice perk of the underwhelming power is that the laptop doesn’t run as hot as Apple’s other portables, making it a winner in the “laptop” department. Oh, and 3G? Edward Baig says he asked Jobs about the much-rumored feature, and the idea was apparently tossed around, but eventually dropped due to the desire to give consumers a choice and to keep things slim. 160GB HDD? Again with the slimness. So if you need the sexiest and slimmest thing going, there’s no question the MacBook Air fits the bill, but it certainly looks like Apple excluded a lot of potential customers with the compromises made.

Read - Edward Baig “Given the compromises, I don’t expect anyone to use Air as their only computer.”
Read - Steven Levy “The things that Apple left on were the ingredients for a quality computer.”
Read - Walt Mossberg “If you rely on spare batteries, expect the usual array of ports, or like to play DVDs on planes, this isn’t the computer to buy.”

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Filed under: Displays

The 3008WFP widescreen LCD, everyone’s favorite, 30-inch, DisplayPort-rocking Dell monitor is up for review, and we’ve got a roundup to prove it. If you’ll recall, the behemoth is the first Dell monitor to sport the emerging DisplayPort technology, and it also offers a fairly impressive set of other connectivity options, including dual DVI ports, HDMI, VGA, S-Video, component, and composite. The folks at Hot Hardware weren’t totally stoked on the setup process, but loved the screen’s performance and flexibility. The cats at Computer Shopper seemed pleased as well, though not head-over-heels in love, particularly with the high price tag and color / grayscale “weakness.” CNET Australia had similarly high marks, praising the number of inputs, super-high resolution, and sheer size, though they took issue with the screen’s reflectiveness, the need for a high-end graphics card, and gradient handling. Still, it none of the minuses stopped them (and Hot Hardware) from bestowing their “Editor’s Choice” award on the monitor. Don’t take our word for it, though — hit the links and see for yourself.

Read - Hot Hardware (Editor’s Choice)
Read - Computer Shopper (8.0 out of 10)
Read - CNET Australia (8.9 out of 10)

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

It’s not like we really expected scathing, Apple-coring criticism from the likes of the same motley crew Apple supplied pre-release iPhones to (namely: Walt Mossberg of WSJ, David Pogue of NYT, and Ed Baig of USA Today, but where’s Steven Levy?), but there’s little doubt that if you don’t have a distaste for all things Apple you’re probably interested, if not pretty stoked about Leopard. (As it turns out, the landslide majority of Engadget readers are right in tune with that sentiment.) The gentleman’s club agrees on a few key positives (Time Machine is like, zomg, so rad; Quick View and Spaces are great, and it’s nice not to have to upgrade hardware to make the most of the new OS) and negatives (the new translucent menu bar disappoints, the four month delay in shipping Leopard was a bummer), and, of course, the bottom line that Leopard seems to be Apple’s strongest OS to date — and why shouldn’t it be? This stuff isn’t supposed to get worse with time, remember?

Read - Mossberg (thumbs up): it is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, release, I believe it builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows.
Read - Pogue (thumbs up): Leopard is powerful, polished and carefully conceived. Happy surprises, and very few disappointments, lie around every corner.
Read - Ed Baig (thumbs up): These and other features should satisfy new and old Mac fans. Leopard is one cool cat.
Read - Technology Review (thumbs down): “… people who are thriftier than I would probably do better to hold off on this update.”

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

You’ve had a moment to ponder over that SD870 purchase, so how’s about yet another option, cool? On the docket today is Canon’s SD950 IS (IXUS 960 IS elsewhere in the world), which packs an awful lot of megapixels into a pocket-friendly shell. As expected from Canon’s SD lineup, this one fared pretty well throughout, garnering praise for its sleek design, superb image quality, effective optical image stabilization / face detection and sturdy feel. The only real knocks came from the less-than-perfect noise performance, slower than expected startup / image capture and the admittedly lofty pricetag. Granted, this one should be close to ideal for poster printers needing a camera minuscule enough to reside in a rear pocket, but for the rest of us, one of Canon’s “lower” models should fit the bill (and our budgets) a bit better.

Read - CNET (7.8 out of 10)
Read - PhotographyBLOG (4 out of 5; Recommended)
Read - Good Gear Guide (4.25 out of 5)

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!