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Lenovo’s thin and light ThinkPad X300 is an innovative laptop that will be perfect for many mobile PC users. But its file-storage capacity is low and its price tag is high.
Apple’s MacBook Air is a beautiful, amazingly thin computer, but one whose unusual trade-offs may turn off some frequent travelers. It’s impossible to convey in words just how pleasing and surprising this computer feels in the hand. But there’s a price for this laptop’s daring design: Apple had to give up some features road warriors consider standard in a subnotebook, and certain of these omissions are radical.
A tiny new computer called the Eee PC is better than competing products in certain respects, such as text entry and price. But it still has too many compromises to pry most travelers away from their larger laptops.
Verizon’s new Voyager looks remarkably like the iPhone and even beats Apple’s product in certain respects. But Walt Mossberg says the Voyager suffers badly in the area where Apple’s phone shines: software.
Every average consumer using a computer should at least look at the Mac, suggests Walt Mossberg. Here’s a quick guide — a sort of Mac FAQ — to shopping for a Macintosh.
Gateway One is striking like the iMac but offers smaller screens and lower resolution — huge factors in an all-in-one machine — for prices that can exceed the iMac’s, says Walt Mossberg. Video
The iPod Touch is an elegant and capable music player, but this cousin of the iPhone is short on battery life and lacks some important software features, writes Walt Mossberg. (Video)
Walt Mossberg tries out two new smart phones ahead of the iPhone’s highly anticipated release. One is the latest attempt by BlackBerry’s maker to appeal to consumers. The other is a high-resolution camera phone by Nokia. (Video)
Walt Mossberg tests Samsung’s Q1 Ultra, and says the tiny PC addresses the biggest weaknesses of an earlier model and throws in other improvements such as a built-in keyboard. (Video)
Walt Mossberg tests out the new smart phone from Helio. He finds the Ocean has an elegant solution to the common design problem of how to optimize smart phones both for making voice calls and for email and Web surfing.
A new program helps people who prefer to use keyboard shortcuts rather than moving their hands to use the mouse. And its commands needn’t be memorized, because they are entered in plain English.
Palm’s Treo is being challenged by new rivals that are thinner, lighter and less expensive. So it is striking back with a cheaper model of its own. Walt tests the Treo 680 and T-Mobile’s Dash and finds that neither is as good as it could be. (Video)
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
