New iPhone Is Better Model–Or Just Get OS 3.0
Apple’s new iPhone 3G S and OS 3.0 offer plenty of new features. But the software may be enough of a boost to keep many users from buying the new model, Walt Mossberg writes.
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Computer Buyers Have to Consider System Upgrades
This year, with Microsoft and Apple set to upgrade operating systems, Walt Mossberg’s spring computer buyer’s guide focuses on buying a machine for the new OS you may soon want.
Amazon’s Kindle 2 Improves the Good, Leaves Out the Bad
Walt finds that Amazon.com has fixed the worst design flaws in the Kindle, its popular electronic-book reader, while maintaining the excellent book-buying experience that made the first model tolerable despite those problems.
Sony’s Vaio P Has Sportscar Looks Without the Power
Walt gives high marks to the new Sony Vaio P for its stylish looks, but finds it to be underpowered and frustrating to use.
BlackBerry’s Storm Presses Into the Touch-Phone Fray
Walt reviews the hotly anticipated BlackBerry Storm, the first BlackBerry model without a physical keyboard. Typing and navigation require tapping on glass, just as users do on the iPhone. Verizon will be selling the Storm for $250 with a two-year contract, though a $50 mail-in rebate can bring the price down close to the $199 that Apple charges for the base model of the iPhone.
Shopping for Basics and Saving Money on Your Next PC
In his annual fall PC buyer’s guide, Walt focuses on computers and laptops for consumers whose budgets have been shrunk due to the global economic slowdown.
Apple Polishes Popular MacBook for a Higher Price
Apple’s MacBook laptop, the company’s low-end portable computer aimed at average consumers, isn’t just any old product. It’s the best-selling Macintosh in history, at a time when Mac sales are growing much faster than sales of PCs in the U.S. overall. And, according to the sales-research organization NPD Group, the midrange model of the MacBook has been the single best-selling laptop of any brand in U.S. retail stores for the past five months.
Google Answers the iPhone
In the exciting new category of modern hand-held computers — devices that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a traditional phone — there has so far been only one serious option. But that will all change on Oct. 22, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.
The TouchSmart Has Improved–But Not Enough
Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new TouchSmart, a desktop computer with touch-controlled software. The hardware and software are better. It’s attractive, more versatile and fun to use. But the latest effort still has some problems.
Samsung’s Instinct Doesn’t Ring True as an iPhone Clone
The parade of iPhone lookalikes continues, and the latest to arrive is the Samsung Instinct. While it isn’t a bad phone and has some features the Apple product lacks, it’s no match for the iPhone.
Consider Your Needs, Then Use This Guide to Buying a Laptop
With laptops outselling desktop PCs, Walt Mossberg offers a quick guide to the key factors you should consider when buying notebook computers.
Solid-State Drives Challenge Hard Drives in Speed, but Not Value
The hard drive is being challenged by the solid-state drive for its role as the principal storage device in computers, but current SSDs offer much lower capacity and have much higher prices.
Asus Offers Travelers Small, Mobile Eee PC, but It’s Too Cramped
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.
Dell’s All-in-One PC Has the Guts, Design to Compete With iMac
Dell’s new all-in-one PC, the XPS One, is a stylish Windows Vista machine that runs well and won’t cost a fortune. If it didn’t have the Dell logo on it, the XPS One might be mistaken for a product of the PC industry’s design leaders, Apple or Sony.
Amazon’s Kindle Makes Buying E-Books Easy, Reading Them Hard
Amazon’s Kindle makes buying e-books easy, but its hardware design and its software user interface are marred by annoying flaws, Walt Mossberg says.
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