All Things Digital

Skip to main content.

Personal Technology

Personal Technology

Sort by: Newest First | Oldest First 1-15 of 34 Results

Samsung Phone Offers Wireless Broadband, But It Has Drawbacks

The new Samsung i730 surfs the Web and sends and receives email at broadband speeds, but Walt says the short battery life and two-handed navigation can be aggravating.

Read more »

Imagine It: The Sun, Some Ancient Ruins, You With No Laptop

Walt tests his theory that it’s possible to leave a laptop home on some types of trips and rely on a combination of a high-end cellphone and an iPod. To his surprise, the no-laptop vacation worked really well.

Read more »

Two Tech Leaders Aim For Bold New Portable, But Miss the Mark

Samsung’s Q1, an Ultra Mobile PC that’s smaller than the smallest mainstream laptop, goes on sale next week, but the machine is so deeply flawed in key respects that it amounts to little more than a toy for techies.

Read more »

It’s Time to Reduce The Tangle of Wires We Use for Gadgets

Walt Mossberg looks at the tangled collection of cables, chargers and spare batteries that he carries for his electronic devices and wonders why there isn’t more standardization.

Read more »

Nokia’s Smart Phone Offers a Bargain Price For High-End Utility

Nokia’s E62 smart phone is a little computer that is meant to be a serious email device as well as a phone. And it may well be the best bargain in its category, Walt Mossberg says.

Read more »

Pearl BlackBerry Offers Video, Camera, Music, As Well as Great Email

BlackBerry’s new Pearl is aimed squarely at consumers who need powerful email capabilities, but also want style and bells and whistles. And it’s a beautiful piece of work, Walt Mossberg says. (Video)

Read more »

Dash and Treo 680 Have Bargain Prices, If You Can Compromise

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)

Read more »

Desktop Modules Help To Personalize Data, Cut Through Clutter

A free Web site called Netvibes is poised to give My Yahoo a run for its money, writes Walt Mossberg. It allows users to create personalized pages with modules that gather headlines, email, weather and other data from all over the Web.

Read more »

Don’t Get Caught In a Losing Battle Over DVD Technology

LG’s new combo player can handle both new formats vying to replace DVDs — Blu-ray and HD-DVD. At $1,200, it’s only for videophiles with deep pockets, but Walt hopes it’s the start of a trend that will end the DVD format war.

Read more »

Tiny FlipStart PC Gets Caught in Snag Of Too In-Between

The FlipStart, part of a new wave of tiny Windows PCs, has a decent battery life, but its awkward, in-between size and $2,000 price tag is likely to keep it a niche product. (Video)

Read more »

Helio’s New Ocean Has a Clever Design For Phone and Email

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.

Read more »

This Time, Samsung Has Made a Tiny PC That’s Practical to Use

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)

Read more »

Hate Voice Mail? New Services Turn Recordings Into Text

New services using voice-recognition technology aim to eliminate checking voice messages by transcribing them into text. To see how efficient they are at transcription, Sarmad Ali tested two such applications.

Read more »

Ahead of the iPhone, Other Makers Offer Some Quality Devices

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)

Read more »

Accessories for iPhone Are Hitting Market; Some Are Worthwhile

Walt Mossberg takes an early look at add-on hardware and software for the iPhone. While the iPhone uses the same hardware ports as the iPod, most add-ons will require buying new gear or adapters to make the old iPod gear work.

Read more »

1-15 of 34 Results

Search The Mossberg Archives

Latest Personal Technology Videos

More Videos »

Click below to browse or search past editions of Walt and Katie's columns.

Personal Technology »

Walt's main column, written since 1991, in which he reviews hardware, software and web sites, and comments on technology issues.

Mossberg’s Mailbox »

Walt's weekly column in which he answers readers' questions.

The Mossberg Solution »

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.

Read more »