Acer Aspire 5700-U2112 is an excellent all-in-one PC if you watch a lot of movies. It has a 23 inch screen with an HDMI port which makes it better than iMac for watching movies. The machine is powered by a Acer Core i5 560 processor which gave me excellent performance in my lab tests. I won’t recommend this PC to people who run a lot of processor challenging applications. They are better off with a traditional desktop but I can confidently say that this machine is the fastest all-in-one I have ever seen to date. If you are a movie bluff, the Acer Aspire 5700-U2112 won’t disappoint you. It is great for watching HD movies. There is no discrete graphics chip here, all you get is an integrated Intel graphics card but still movies look good. The playback would have stuttered if this machine had a lower CPU but a faster processor like this one covers up for the absence of graphics card pretty well. There were a few hitches but it is certainly not a deal breaker, especially for the price.  [...]

Bluetooth headsets are extensively used these because they give you freedom from wires. Hence people don’t mind paying a little more money and buy them separately. I recommend these devices to my friends who love to work out as there is no danger of wires coming in the way of the equipment.  Sony DR-BT160AS Active Style Wireless Stereo Headset is the latest wireless headset to come in my labs and it has a mouthful for a model name. The model name says ‘active style’ and this will give you the idea that the set is meant for people who go jogging in the morning or fitness freaks who like to work out all the time. This device is offered in two versions – the Sony DR-BT160AS and Sony DR-BT16IK. The latter comes with a adapter for iPod. You can use the set with the Apple product even though it doesn’t have Bluetooth. The adapter does the needful. I got the AS version in my labs for testing and this review applies to both the devices since they have the same features and audio quality.

This monitor looks exactly the same like the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 and I strongly thing that this product was made to compete directly with the Samsung panel. This is a LED based computer display and the secret behind its thin profile is the use of LED technology. LED lets the panel to be really thin and gives better picture quality too. The stand of the TV is oval shaped and the panel wobbles a lot when you push it from sides. But there is no danger of it getting toppled over because the weight of the stand is distributed evenly through out the stand. I was disappointed to see that the LG Flatron E2350V doesn’t have many ergonomic options. You just get a back tilt and nothing else. The monitor can be tilted back to 10 or 90 degrees. If you push it all the way to 90 degrees, the monitor will be parallel to the wall. I don’t know why there is a 90 degree option. The stand cannot hold the display in this position, it falls down easily. There is no pivot, height adjustment or screen  [...]

Apart from the changes in design and size, the new Amazon Kindle also has Wi-Fi and 3G thrown in. This model comes with a couple of flavors. One has both Wi-Fi and 3G, where as the other one just has Wi-Fi. The latter version is cheaper by $50. There are two color options for this model – graphite and white. I got the graphite version in my labs for testing and it looked quite attractive. I won’t recommend the white model to hygiene freaks since white gadgets are known to accumulate dust quite easily and hence looks dirty after some time. The new Amazon Kindle also has a more memory. You have four GB of internal memory to store the e-books and other files. The predecessor had 2 GB of internal memory and now you its gets even more spacious. The battery life is doubled from two weeks to four weeks with the wireless turned off. So you can stay away from the power plug for a longer time. There is more to Amazon Kindle than just reading e-books  [...]

From the name, I thought this was a high end smartphone but latter I was disappointed to know that it is a basic low end phone made just for calling and sending text messages. The best part about it is that the phone costs just $19.99 with a rebate and is free with a rebate if purchased online. This handset is recommended for senior citizens or for people who are using a cell phone for the first time. You can also buy it if you don’t have much interest in cell phones and are looking to save some money. Samsung Gusto has an attractive design and is very slim. You won’t even notice the weight of the phone when you put it in your pocket. But this is not unexpected in low end phones. The features are all low end and hence you don’t have to there is nothing contributing to the bulk. The phone has a glossy body which easily attracts a lot of fingerprints. If you are a hygiene freak, I would recommend you to carry a cleaning cloth along with you all the time or else the  [...]

Samsung sent me a 55 inch version in my labs and this review will also apply to the 65 (UN65C6500), 40 (UN40C6500) and 32 (UN32C6500) inches of this product since the hardware specs are the same. The picture quality too is the same and the only difference here is the screen size. These TVs belongs to the least expensive line up to feature the apps platform. But the sexiest part of this panel is the thin profile which looks quite pleasing to the eye. Swiveling the TV gives shows off a disappearing effect. It is something that I haven’t seen on other TVs till now. The panel is just 1.2 inches deep which looks really cool. This TV can be hanged to the wall but it is better if you keep it on the bundled stand because the viewers will certainly appreciate the slim profile. The Samsung UN55C6500 has a slim glass which extends beyond the bezel and makes the TV look even sexier. I would again reiterate here that this is the most compact and slimmest TVs I have ever had in my labs. The stand  [...]

Toshiba Satellite T215D-S1140RD is a premium Netbook and which has faster processor and hence gives a slightly better performance than a standard Netbook. The audio quality from the speakers of this Netbook is not that good though. If you wish to listen a lot of music, I would recommend you to invest in a separate set of speakers or headphones. The screen is 11.6 inches big and above it, you have the Webcam. The picture quality is awful; it is unusable for anything other than basic Web chatting. I tried making a call through Skype and found that the streaming was very choppy but this might be attributed to the single core processor inside. Toshiba Satellite T215D-S1140RD is small Netbook and yet you get all the ports which are there on the 13.3-incher T235D and this is really impressive. It has a combo USB2.0/eSATA port, which features Tobhiba’s unique sleep and charge technology. You can charge your gadgets through USB even when the Netbook is switched off or asleep. You can also  [...]

Alienware laptops are made for gamers. I have tested a few of them in my labs and the quality that they have to offer is really impressive. I got the 17, 15 and 11 inch version previously in my labs and Dell has sent me another version of the 11 inch screen size. The previous model was based on Core 2 Duo processor whereas this model has a zippy Core i7 processor with Nvidia Optimus technology. In case you don't know, Nvidia Opimus is a graphic card feature which autmatically turns on/off the graphic card according to the requirements. So if you are in a game the card will switch itself on and when you come out of it, the card will be turned off automatically. The graphic card consumes a significant amount of power as it has to provide all the graphics. So if the card is switched off when not required, you save a lot of power. This version of the Alienware M11x too has an 11 inch screen. It also has high end graphics for giving great eye candy for the games. But the most important diffrence,  [...]

There is a lot of buzz around whenever a Samsung phone is announced and this shows how popular this manufacturer has now become in the gadget market. And it surely will remain popular if it makes phones like the Samsung Galaxy S i9000. The best part about this phone is the gorgeous four inch screen which dominates the front face of the phone. It was a great treat for my eyes watching movies. The phone has AMOLED display which gives you a crisp picture quality. AMOLED screens are also known to consume less power so you get plenty of battery power as well. The only draw back is that these screens are a bit costly and hence are included only in high end phones. But people who value quality above price will certainly not mind it much. I got the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 in my labs for testing. The phone is based on Android 2.1 and it is quite good. This device sports built in accelerometer which gives you a spacious QWERTY keyboard in the landscape mode.  [...]

When it comes to laptops speakers, there is not much to desire because these sets are seriously limited by size. They have to be really small or else it won’t be easy to carry them around. Furthermore, they also have to give good sound quality which is quite rare. I am yet to see portable laptop speakers which give good sound quality but I am not complaining because of the limitations that the manufacturers have in front of them. These speakers should also be economical in power consumption or else you will get reduced work time on your laptop. I got the Twelve South BassJump portable subwoofer in my labs for test and I didn’t expect a lot from it either. This is just a subwoofer; the bass will complement the sound coming out of your MacBook speakers. The external body of the subwoofer is made up of aluminum and it matches quite well with the MacBook. Your friends might think this is an Apple product. On the bottom, there is a rubber sheet. Maybe the manufacturer has put it there  [...]