Apple iPad is available in three storage sizes. 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB which costs  £429, £499 and £599 respectively. If you want 3G too, you will have to pay another £100 for it. This means the most expensive Apple iPad costs £699. 3G will need some extra money for the data plan as well.

The features of this device are the same as iPhone except for the cellular features. The size is the same as an A4 paper. It is bigger but certainly easier to carry than a Netbook. The only problem with this device is that it isn’t targetted towards any specific audience. It can deliver your e-mails and it may be also serve as a good substitute to your e-book reader.

The Apple iPad is neither as flexible or as powerful as a laptop but the iPad isn’t trying to replace it. Just like the iPod Touch or the iPhone, it tries to be a fun device for Web surfing, watching videos or listening to music that you have purchased from iTunes. Also, it is great for killing time; games look superb on the iPad. The gadget doesn’t make you wait for a long time for booting like a standard computer. Finally, this device is the most travel friendly computer I have ever seen.

If you have used an iPod Touch or iPhone before, the iPad will look very much familiar to you. The user interface is simple and has just a single button on the bottom that brings you to the home screen. On the display, there are a bunch of icons which are the various apps and features of the device.

Just like the iTouch or iPhone, you can either download the apps from the App Store of the device or download them first on the computer through iTunes and then transfer them. The iPad has a huge screen, as compared to smartphones. If you’ve ever wanted to play Flight Control on a big display or wanted to have the speed and style of the smartphone on a Web-friendly, large screen, this product will be like a dream come true for you.

A lot of iPhone apps like Flight Control have been upgraded to fit the bigger screen of the Apple iPad. Some Websites are also optimized for this device like the Gmail for iPad. It is implemented quite well and is easy to use too. However, a lot of apps are costlier than the the iPhone versions.

iPhone apps can be played on the iPad too but you won’t see it in full screen unless the pixel-doubling zoom feature is enabled. It enlarges the image but the quality is awful. You will be craving for the iPad version after a few moments.  Also noteworthy is that the Apple App store is the only source of all the apps and games.

Apple says that the iPad can replace your ebook reader. I would certainly recommend this device ahead of tiny smartphones for reading the books. However, the backlit and shiny screen cannot match the power efficiency and comfort of an E Ink display on the ebook readers like Amazon Kindle.

iBook app might look cute initially with the edges that look like a real page and the swiping of the finger for turning the pages. However, once the novelty wears, I bet you will yearn for full screen pages and a single tap for turning the pages. Apple should focus more on user interface innovations like they did with the iPhone rather than trying to imitate real like objects. On the bright side, the iPad has a few advantages for reading books as compared to the readers. For instance, the pages turn faster and hence you can flip around quickly. The books can also include video, music and other interactive elements. This device also gives you glorious full color magazines, comic books, graphic novels, etc for reading.

For getting the books, the App store is your first source. Other than that, you can get the content from Amazon Kindle app or load the books in ePub format (this includes titles from Google Books or Project Gutenberg)

The best feature of the Apple iPad, according to me, is its Web surfing capability. A lot of people use smartphones for checking out stuff on the internet but their screens are too small. On the other hand, laptops take a while to boot up and hence might turn off people with less patience. Even the iPhone’s screen is small for heaving Web-browsing.

The intuitive user interface and the multitouch screen are the two features that make the iPhone one of the best cell phones for Web surfing and they are even better on the Apple iPad. It is fun to use and starts up quickly. This gadget can be your most preferred one for replacing everything from cookbooks to newspapers.

My review model had 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity but there was no 3G. Browsing experience was faster than that of the iTouch or iPhone on the same network as it involves a lot less zooming and scrolling. I was disappointed to see that there was no Flash support and you will miss a lot on the Web till Apple gives updates, if they ever do. BBC iPlayer, Vimeo and YouTube have all been optimized for Apple’s lack of interest in Flash but there will be a few hiccup while surfing. On the flip side, you get a stable and fast browser than doesn’t tax the battery too much. In my lab tests, I got around three to four days of light use on a full charge.

The bigger on the Apple iPad gives you a bigger on-screen keyboard than the iPod Touch or iPhone. It works pretty well too, courtesy of the responsive and fast touchscreen. You can easily type documents and e-mails on this iPad if you are ever gonna do it. However, you might it a bit awkward to have the keyboard at the same angle as the screen especially if you are used to laptops. A better way to type is to prop the iPad at an angle on the table and then keep you fingers poised like talons of a bird with an extended straining neck. You can type while holding the iPad in one hand and typing by the other but this will slow down your speed. There is a keyboard dock accessory available if you are going to do some heavy typing.

The iPad does look like a typical Apple product with the aluminum back. The gadget is heavier than it looks at 680 grams. This can be a bit tiring to hold for a long time and this was perhaps my only turn off about the device. I would recommend you to purchase a case looking at the price and the weight of the product.

Apple iPad is a great product for gadget lovers. People who spend a lot of time online too will love it. The device offers a slick mix of games, media and apps just like the iPhone, in a bigger chassis.

Thumbs Up:

Compact size, FM tuner, built in clip, fitness centric features like heart rate monitor, stop watch and pedometer. Comes with fitness tracking software, player can be used with both Mac and Windows

Thumbs Down:

Pedometer isn’t accurate, no playlist support, fitness software is not compatible with Mac

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Haier America Trainer has 2 GB internal memory, bundled software includes heartware and drivers and utilities. Supported formats for music include WA, WAV, and MP3. The player has one inch OLED display with 128×64 pixels resolution. Additional features include USB 2.0 compatibility, heart rate monitor, calorie counter and pedometer. The gadget also has digital FM tuner with presets. Connectors include USB and 3.5 mm headphones jack. The maximum estimated battery life of this player is ten hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

Haier America Trainer is very light, small and durable. Of course, you have the built in clip behind the player to hook it up to your shirt sleeves. The body is made up of plastic and is made to keep the sweat out. The player has blue, gray and muted black color. On the front, there is a monochrome display along with navigation button, playback buttons, volume controls keys and also a heart rate sensor. On the sides, there is a power/hold key, USB port, 3.5 mm phones jack and menu button.

Inside Dope:

An MP3 player can serve lots of purposes apart from just playing your music. Some people use to carry their songs in the pocket and then plug it in to a high end audio system. Apart from that, there have been some players with compact sizes made for working out in the gym. We previously got to review the Sony Ericsson player which was a built in device in to the ear buds. The player is located between your ears. Apart from that, there also have been compact players like Sandisk which are tiny and hence easy to carry in the pocket. Haier America Trainer is the first player in our labs to have a small size and yet comes packed with some fitness features. This player will put you back by $60 and we think that it is fully worth the price for the features that it is offering.

You normally don’t expect such a compact player to have so many buttons and hence we were quite overwhelmed. Initially we thought that the player would be a bit difficult to use because of the number of buttons but that was not so. We got used to the interface very fast. The volume controls can be used along with the track shuttle for different functions of the menu. Getting music on the player is extremely easy. All you have to do is plug in the player to your computer and then drag and drop the files. Both Mac and Windows files are supported. You can also copy the entire folder. We were disappointed by just one thing, the player doesn’t support playlists but on the bright side, the device plays subscription WMA songs and MP3s.

There are plenty of fitness centric features on the Haier America Trainer. You get a stopwatch, heart rate monitor and pedometer. For checking the calorie burn out, you can put your weight, sex and height. FM radio is also on-board to you can groove to the FM stations in case you are done with the music on the internal memory. The presets for the FM station can be stored in the internal memory. Multitasking was a surprising feature on this tiny gadget, you can listen to music while running the stop watch and the pedometer in the background.

Haier America Trainer has a built in pedometer and its accuracy is really important or else the whole purpose of having this player would be defeated. We had some mixed results while testing. First we set the stride by starting and stopping the pedometer for a specified distance (100, 200 meters, and so on). Then we counted the steps to see if the gadget to track it correctly. The pedometer didn’t get accurately but it was quite close. We walked for about four miles but when we checked the player with the app, it showed just 2 miles. This must also mean that displayed calorie burn out is less than what was burned. But still, we liked the fact the player got this close.

We then tested the Haier America Trainer for its audio quality and found that it was good for this price. The bundled ear buds are awful though. We would recommend you to get a separate set. We tried our own Bose headphones and music sounded clear and warm. Bass response too was quite decent. Sansa Clip is actually better than this in terms of sound quality but we guess it is not that important for such a fitness based player. FM tuner was also good. We didn’t test the Trainer’s battery life and it is surprising that the manufacturer doesn’t mention the rated battery life any where in the manual.

All in all, we would say that this player is quite good if you work out a lot. But the pedometer could have been accurate. We will still recommend this player for fitness freaks as there is currently no MP3 player in the market offering such versatile fitness features.

Nitty Gritty:

Tailor made for fitness freaks – this is what we thought when we went through the player in our labs. The pedometer is not that accurate but still there the fitness offerings are quite impressive.

Thumbs Up:

Practical, sophisticated sporty design, comfortable in the ears and lightweight, different earbuds included for good fit, we liked the on/off mechanism, sufficient controls for music player, sports centric design, good battery features,

Thumbs Down:

Internal memory cannot be increased, you cannot use alternative headphones, controls which are located on the right module might be too small for big hands.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Sony NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman has two GB of storage memory and it stores about five hundred tracks. The 13.5mm EX Series headphones gives power ful and clear sound is comfortable and has high audio quality. The battery life of the player is 12 hours and a three minute quick charge gives 90 hours battery time. Supported audio formats are WMA, AAC, MP3. The player also has ZAPPIN technology. Playback modes are Shuffle and Repeat or Repeat

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman comes in five different color options and the biggest advantage of this player is that there are not dangling cables descending down from the ear pieces to bother you. The gadget is very much flexible and it will easily fit various head shapes and sizes. The two pieces of earphone are connected together by a plastic flexible tube and this tube is what communicates between the two modules. You might think that the cable which connects these two modules is quite delicate and will wear out easily over a period of time. But let us assure you that this player is made for gym enthusiasts and hence Sony has put in extra efforts to make sure nothing happens to the player and it remains rugged. It feels like the player will remain intact even if you put it down from a distance but we didn’t test this and don’t advise you to do it either.

Inside Dope:

Before we got this gadget in our labs for testing, we saw a few advertisements of it in local newspapers and were quite intrigued by the heart shaped design of the player. We aren’t fans of such compact music players but this design did draw our attention quite easily. The player is also extremely light weight at just 35 grams. You will barely feel it in your hands. This player has been made especially for people who like to work out a lot at the gym. There will be no cable mess and you won’t be bothered much because of the lightweight. This is not the only player we have seen in our labs to sport this design. We have had a couple like iRiver N12.

Sony NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman’s controls are hidden under the right ear module. They are all easy to reach and press but you cannot see the controls when the player cuddles up in your ears. On the bright side, you will get used to this easily as you will remember where all the controls are located after some time. There is no discrete button to turn the player on or off. For switching off the player, all you have to do is bring together the two ear pieces. There are magnets there which get activated and hence the player gets switched off.

For keeping the 2 ear pieces together and preventing consumption of battery when it is not needed the manufacturer gives a plastic case for the earpieces. If you are expecting iPod like playlists on the player, then you will be disappointed because there are not any. All the controls, like mentioned above, are located on the right module along with a multifunction jog and volume control buttons. There is a shuffle slider on the inside. If you don’t use this, tracks will be played in alphabetic order. The jog dial is used for most of the activities of the player. For pausing or playing all you have to is click on it. For skipping forward, you have to sweep forward on it and for going back, just sweep bag. The controls and functions of Sony NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman are quite simple, we got hang of it relatively quickly.

There is a new feature called ZAPPIN and we bet most of you don’t know about it. Well, it plays the chorus of the song, which is like a preview. If you like it, you can press the jog dial once and the song will start to play from the beginning. For activating this feature, you have to long press the jog dial button. The clip length can be changed from anywhere between four and 15 seconds. If you switch off the device while it is in ZAPPIN mode, the player will wake up in the same mode when you turn it on.

There is just one playback mode but the sound quality, fortunately, has not been compromised. Music is loud enough, I didn’t have much to complain while running outdoors or working out in gym at home. The players earphones which are built in, have good bass and on some occasions, you might think it is too heavy. You cannot adjust this, but it won’t bother you anyways if you have heard a lot of music on e-books readers. This player, overall, is great and has crisp music quality. We bet you will miss it if you don’t wear it while working out.

Nitty Gritty:

This player is recommended if you work out in the gym a lot and are looking for an alternative to the iPod.

Thumbs up:

Low price tag, easy to use interface, supports plenty of audio formats, along with Amazon video and subscription music, videos and photos look good on the big screen, superb audio quality, rated battery life is quite impressive, has built in external speakers and also alarm clock along with voice recorder and FM tuner.

Thumbs down:

Doesn’t offer noise cancellation anymore, headphone quality is still the same, lacks supports of podcast, SenseMe Channels, you cannot create playlists on-the-fly, getting videos on to the device is a chore.

The Whiz Kid speaks:

Sony S-Series Walkman has 16 GB built in memory and weighs just 0.2 lbs. It is two inches wide, 0.4 inch deep and four inches high. Color options are Red, Violet, Black and Pink. Bundled accessories are USB cord, ear bud headphones, and flip out stand. Supported audio formats are MP3, WMA, AAC and LPCM.

The screen is 2.4 inches big and has a 240×320 pixels resolution. Supported video formats are WMV, MPEG-4 and AVC. For photos – JPEG format is supported. Playback modes include Normal, Shuffle/Repeat, Repeat one song and standard Repeat. There are four factory equalizers: Heavy, Pop, Unique and Jazz. There is FM radio which supports frequencies of 87.5-108 MHz and has thirty FM tuners. The set has built in speakers and microphone. You get binaural ear buds and USB cable along. The lithium ion rechargeable battery has rated life of 42 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony S-Series Walkman, second generation, is made out of material similar to its predecessor but the player has more of a plasticky feel and it feels a bit cheap. The exteriors are made up of same metallic and shiny coat and you have a choice of black, pink, violet or red color for this. The gadget still retains the sexy and sleek look which made me fall in love with it in the first place. On the left side, there is a discrete volume rocker button and on the right, you have a button to toggle between the headphone and speakerphone modes. On the bottom, there is the headphone jack.

Inside Dope:

Sony made millions with the S-Series Walkman when it was released in 2008 and for its successor; the manufacturer has made the player more compact and sleek. There are plenty of useful features including a big battery life and awesome sound quality. When it comes to newer generation devices, I usually assume that it is better than the previous iteration but this is not true for the second generation Sony S-Series Walkman. The great battery life and stellar audio quality is still there but the feature set is shrunk. On the bright side, the price has been brought down. This player costs $130 for 16 GB model and the 8 GB version will cost you $110. The price along with battery life and audio quality saves the day for this player.

Sony S-Series Walkman, second generation is bigger than the previous iteration. A bigger device might come in the way of portability but you get a bigger screen. This player has a 2.4 inch QVGA screen which gives bright, color full and crisp images on the screen. The bigger body also comes with a built in speaker set on the display sides and also provides ventilation to the player. The gadget is four inches long and two inches wide and about 0.4 inch thicker than its predecessor. It is not as easy to carry around as the first generation device because the size is a bit big. Due to the speakers, this player looks a lot like a mobile phone.

Underneath the screen, there is a circular control pad with pause/play button in the center. On the sides, you have discrete back and option button which also double up as home and power buttons respectively. The layout is arranged in such a way that the entire thing looks like a Mickey Mouse face. For the main menu, you have icon grid for the main functions and the submenus are categorized in to genre, artist, album, etc. The Playlists can be accessed only through a dedicated separate section which is a bit odd but doesn’t hinder the navigation experience. There is no on-the-fly playlist option.

Features wise, the Sony S-Series Walkman second generation is a bit short as compared to the previous product but this is done mainly to keep the price tag low. You no longer get integrated noise cancellation technology and the headphones quality is not upgraded either. I didn’t care much about these two but I was particularly disappointed with the absence of core interface features like support for podcasts and smart playlist creator, SensMe Channels. Podcasts are dumped in the catalog of general music and it doesn’t have the bookmarking feature anymore. It will play in the Shuffle mode, which is quite annoying. There is no Rhapsody DNA integration either, which is another disappointment.

The screen of the Sony S-Series Walkman is bright and video as well as photos look quite well on it. The color saturation is excellent, the edges are crisp and there is no pixilation on the screen. Off angle viewing on the screen is also good but I won’t recommend sharing this screen with a friend because it is too tiny. Finally, the player has integrated FM and the reception is better than what I usually see.

Quality of audio playback on the Sony S-Series Walkman is excellent. Along with that, I really liked that the player offered good battery life, good screen and easy to use interface. There are also some good extras which offer value for money. I would recommend this player for budget users who are buying a MP3 player for this first time. But if you have are looking for advanced features, stick to the first generation. I wouldn’t recommend an upgrade in any circumstances.

Nitty Gritty:

This is a great MP3 player but it is made mainly for budget users but low cost comes with a compromise of the feature set.

Thumbs Up:

Ultra compact and innovative design, player is integrated on to the ear buds, easy to use, great ZAPPIN feature for browsing through songs.

Thumbs Down:

The design might not be comfortable for all users, no screen

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony W-Series Walkman has 1.68 GB memory available to the user, the player weighs 1.5 oz. The player is black colored and comes bundled with holder, stand and ear buds. Supported audio formats are MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC-C, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM). Response bandwidth is 20-20000 Hz. Additional features include ZAPPIN technology and volume limiter. There are two playback modes – shuffle and normal. The player has binaural in-ear ear-bud design. USB cable is included. The player is powered by lithium ion rechargeable battery, recharge time is 90 minutes, and rated battery life is 11 hours.

Supported OSes are Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1,  Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 or later.

Razzle Dazzle:

We liked the compact design of the Sony W-Series Walkman, it is available in just black model. The two big rectangular audio pieces are a bit rounded off and this makes the player look sexier. The pieces are two inches long, 0.4 inch deep and 0.8 inch wide. They are attached together through a twisting, flexible neckband. This is the most compact MP3 players we have ever seen in the market and at 1.3 ounces; it is pretty light weight also.

Inside Dope:

When we saw the ‘water resistant’ label on this player, we instantly realized that this is a player made for people who work out in the gym. Sony first gave us such headphones in 2009 and their success in the market has instigated a new model with the same design. The player is made for fitness freaks and it comes with two GB internal memory which should suffice for your gym sessions. The manufacturer has also knocked off $10 from the MSRP (as compared to its predecessor), the price is now down to $59.99 and we have no reason not to recommend this player to you. You will also love this design if you are sick of headphone cords dangling out of full fledged MP3 players.

We were concerned if this player would fit well in our ears. Fortunately, it had no problems regarding this and the Sony W-Series Walkman got a secure fit in our ears. We jumped, jogged, walked and still this player refused to budge out of our ears. But we were then concerned about the one size fits all design. Your ear cartilages might feel pressured by the earbuds’ hard plastic portion. Sony gives three different silicone ear tips but there will be issues regarding this.

Sony W-Series Walkman does not have a screen and we don’t mind that because accessing the screen would have been hard on this player anyways. The tracks are played in alphanumeric order but you can also set the music to be shuffled. There is a button on the right earpiece for this. On the right module’s bottom, there is a jog dial along with two volume buttons which make up the remainder of controls. For moving through the tracks, you have to swipe the dial backward or forward. One press will play or pause the music. If you connect the two earpieces along with the integrated and tiny magnets; the player shuts off.

The Sony W-Series Walkman doesn’t have a traditional interface and getting music on the device is simple. All you have to do is drag and drop the tracks. Both Windows and Mac computers are supported. To transfer music from jukeboxes like Windows Media Player and iTunes, there is Content Transfer but it works in Windows only. Supported formats are MP3, WMA (subscription included) and AAC (unprotected only). We saw a playlist section when we connected this player to a computer but there is no button for this on the player. Playlist feature on this player would have been an icing on the cake.

The Sony W-Series Walkman doesn’t have much extras as compared to other players but there are still some unique and interesting features. For instance, Zappin gives you a preview of the track by playing its echo. If you like it, you can press the jog button and the track will play from the beginning. There is also the quick charge feature where in you get ninety minutes of playback with just three minutes of charging. Overall battery life is just 11 hours which is a bit low but still forgivable owing to the compact size. We would have also liked FM tuner on this player.

The ability to stand sweat and water is the highlight of this player. We worked out in the gym and our sweat didn’t have any effect on this player. Washing underneath a running tap also didn’t cause any damage to the device. We are quite confident that this player can stand water in any circumstances. In terms of audio quality, it depends on how the headphones fit in your ears. Quality will be better if the headphones can sink deeper in your ear. Also, there is no background hiss or distortion even at the highest volume level. The headphones doesn’t block all the external noise but this is good for people who jog outsides.

Nitty Gritty:

This player is made for you if you need a companion while working out in the gym.

Stereo speakers with inbuilt MP3 player; ships with 2GB micro-SD card and standard SD-to-microSD adapter card; stowaway cable to connect 3.5mm audio source; headset jack to daisy chain with other speakers.

Thumbs Down:

No navigation options; starts up at the loudest volume

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player is a speaker with inbuilt MP3 player. It has micro-SD card slot and supports MP3/WMA audio formats.

The sound output mode for speakers and headset is stereo. The connector set includes 1×USB and 1×3.5mm headset jack.

Accessories supplied inside the box are 2GB micro-SD card, USB cable, USB charging cable, standard SD-to-microSD adapter card, and user manual.

Razzle Dazzle:

The X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player is 1.6 inches tall with 2.2 inches diameter. It can extend its height up to 2.5 inches.

Inside Dope:

You can easily find the speakers for your MP3 player or iPod. The companies have manufactured the pocket-size speakers to large one. In contrast, it was a bit difficult to find tiny speaker with inbuilt MP3 playe. Now you can find such a gadget – X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player. It is a portable stereo speaker with inbuilt music player that easily fits in pants pocket. $74.99 priced X-Mini Happy also has some impressive features and definitely worth your consideration.

You can pop the X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player to reveal the subwoofer that increases the bass. There are several ports and controls on the base of each speaker. You will find an integrated patch stereo cable on the bottom that can connect with any audio source having 3.5mm standard headset jack. The LED light glows static red when speakers are powered on and blue while charging. It will flash red while playing songs via internal memory.

The X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player has inbuilt micro-SD expansion slot. It ships with standard SD-to-microSD adapter card and 2GB micro-SD card. We like this offering as the MP3 player can use both small and large media cards. The other ports are mini-USB port and 3.5mm headset jack. You can use this jack to daisy chain other headphones, speakers, and X-mini Speaker.

There are playback controls for volume adjustment, forward and backward, power on/off, and play/pause music tracks. However, there is no navigation feature to drag and drop music tracks as you do in Mac Finder or Windows Explorer. The different tracks played every time on turning on the device, which indicates that the X-Mini MP3 player is on permanent shuffle mode. It is not annoying, but remains a bit bothersome as its speaker plays the music at the loudest volume while turning it on.

The X-Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player provides loud and impressive sound with a bit distortion for some songs. The audio comes with good richness and warmth. Unlike large speakers, you will not get any thumping bass.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need tiny speakers with inbuilt MP3 player and micro-SD card slot for your iPod or MP3 player, then we will recommend you to buy – X Mini Happy Speaker MP3 player.

Long battery life; movie rental support; HD radio tuner; excellent OLED display; integration of subscription based music.

Thumbs Down:

Zune HD is not supported to Mac computer. Zune Marketplace needs Microsoft Points. The HD player has limited video support and lacks advanced audio controls. Moreover, you have to purchase additional docking station for HD output. The complete combined cost of Zune HD and recommended Zune Pass plan is more than the cost of Apple iPod Touch. Microsoft offers stink selection of games and applications.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Zune HD is a portable digital media player/radio. It has integrated 32GB memory and its computer interfaces include Hi-Speed USB and Wi-Fi. Supported audio formats are WMAPro, WMA, MP3, VBR, CBR, and AAC. Supported video formats are H.264, WMV and MPEG4. The HD also supports JPEG still images.

The additional features are Variable bit-rate compatible, Wireless music download, Inbuilt FM radio, Inbuilt games, Web browsing, JPEG photo playback, MPEG4, H.264 and WMV playback, stereo sound output, ID3 tags support and shuffle mode.

3.3 inches touch-screen OLED display of Zune HD has 480×272 pixels resolution. The display menu languages are English, French and Spanish. The media player has Binaural wired stereo ear-bud.

The connector set of Zune HD includes 1×Docking Station, and 1×Headphones/ composite video. The HD player has lithium ion rechargeable battery that has a life of 33 hours audio playback and need 2 hours for recharging.

Razzle Dazzle:

Microsoft Zune HD is 4 inches tall, 2.1 inches wide and 0.4 inch deep and it weighs 2.6 ounces. The Zune HD has slender body with aluminum anodized construction that gives industrial and futuristic look of a particular sci-fi movie prop. A block of tilted aluminum curves on the back. Zune HD gives solid feel while taking in hands.

Inside Dope:

Microsoft Zune was a good alternative to the Apple iPod. Now, Microsoft launched new – Zune HD, which is only one alternative to Apple iPod Touch in terms of pricing and beauty. The 16GB model of the Zune HD costs $219 and 32GB Zune HD costs $289. If you have continuously used the Apple iPod then you might need some time to become familiar with Zune HD. The HD has totally different user interface from iPod. There is main menu that shows Quickplay menu, album art and screen. We are disappointed to know that there is no dedicated physical volume control button on the Zune HD. We agree that onscreen volume icons are easier to use than virtual volume slider at first-generation iPod Touch. However, it is difficult to adjust the volume while listening music, especially when the Zune HD is in your pocket.

3.3 inches glass-covered capacitive touch screen is located on the front of Zune HD. You can swipe your finger or press your fingertip to control the functions. You will find hold/power button on the top, home button beneath the display, and shortcut key for displaying playback and volume controls on the screen.

You will get options for Internet, Marketplace, radio, pictures, videos and music on the main menu. In addition, the main menu categories are available for audio books, applications, and pod-casts. Audio player of Zune HD supports WMA Lossless, WMA, AAC, and MP3 formats, with audio book files from OverDrive and Audible. It has a strong music interface that can sort music tracks by play-list, genre, song, album and artist. The strength of music player will reveal when you select any artist to play. Zune HD will exhibit their albums with their photo and tags of their additional photos, biographical information and list of related artists. All of these details are gathered offline from Zune software. On connecting the Zune HD to Internet through Wi-Fi, you will get entire album catalog of that artist that allows to preview, explore and download the additional songs. However, you have to subscribe for Zune Pass music plan to get extended album and similar artist listings.

The additional features of Zune HD are content management and on-the-fly play-list creation. Quickplay menu will show all new songs with playing song, history and user selected pinned items. You can hold the finger on any item and then a pop-up menu appears to ask to pin in Quickplay or add in Now Playing list. You can add complete play-lists, genres or album to Now Playing list. A disk icon will allow saving and providing a name the Now Playing queue.

Microsoft Zune HD is a dream machine for every music fan. It is most video friendly media player till date with 3.3 inches screen of 480×272 pixels resolution, OLED display technology, contrast advantages and movie rental support. Only, Sony X-Series Walkman remains in the competition with Zune HD in terms of video. Zune HD supports H.264, MP4 and WMV, but you have to do some conversion for MOV, DivX, AVI and other files. On the contrary, the iPod Touch is very limited and restrictive for video formats; still it offers large selection in video catalogs for iTunes.

For more video features, you can purchase Zune AV dock additionally for $80 that output 720p HD videos to HDTV via HDMI or composite connection. You can transfer downloaded videos from Microsoft Xbox 360 to computer using Zune software and then sync them with Zune HD. Moreover, you can download and purchase HD videos from the market.

Microsoft Zune HD also has included Radio features. On the contrary, the latest Apple iPod Nano is simulating the RDS FM Radio as well as song tagging features. However, Microsoft continues to introduce HD radio broadcast support with existing FM tuner. HD Radio stations offer numerous sub-channels with improved sound quality and additional content. It also features revamped broadcast metadata that allows song tagging for download and displays information for currently playing song. As a result, Zune HD is perfect radio on compact media player that features both HD broadcast and FM radio.

There is Internet Explorer Mobile edition in Microsoft Zune HD, which features multi-touch virtual keyboard, Bing Web search, bookmarks and icons for forward/backward. Like Apple iPhone, the browser has inbuilt tilt sensor to rotate the pages on tilting the HD player. You can double tap to zoom in and its scroll is quick responsive and smooth. This Web browser is miles ahead from the browsers of Archos 5 and Sony X-Series Walkman. However, the Zune HD’s browser does not have the Flash support and lacks several features including multi-window browsing, copy-paste and auto-fill. That is why, the Zune HD’s Internet Explore Mobile browser falls short as compared to iPhone’s Safari.

Zune HD has access to some applications such as weather, calculator and games as well as standalone applications for Facebook and Twitter. On the contrary, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch supports numerous applications. Moreover, the Wi-Fi of Zune HD does not make a try to simulate smartphone features including maps, stock tickers, email and other productive tools. Microsoft has only emphasized on the quality of video and music experience of Zune HD.

Yes, it is true that Zune HD is cheaper than iPod Touch. However, most of the interesting features like seamless explore of music via Similar Artist URLs, play-list channels, on-the-air song and album streaming, and unlimited song downloads will require a $14.99 monthly subscription of Zune Pass account. Zune Pass offers comparable music features and good selection like by Napster and Rhapsody. However, it does not offer broad device support like compatibility to other media players. As a result, if you are monthly buying Zune Pass with Zune HD then it will be a bit more expensive deal than iPod Touch or iPhone.

Zune HD will need Microsoft Zune 4.0 client software to sync the songs from computer. It offers same capabilities and features as that of iTunes. It has separate tab for Zune Marketplace download store that has a catalog of more than five million tracks, audio/video pod-casts library, and recommended download section for TV shows, movies and music videos. You can rent or purchase the contents, but you have to use the Microsoft Points ($1.25 for 100 points). Most of the videos and songs are priced comparable to Amazon and Apple.

The video quality is the best at Zune HD as its video processor is enough to decode video clips even of 1280×720 pixels resolution at 30fps. OLED screen technology of Zune HD also gives it an advantage over common backlit LCD. The iPod Touch shows better visibility than Zune HD in direct sunlight with full brightness. However, Zune HD’s display is enough to view easily in direct sunlight.

The music playback quality is one of the star features of Zune HD. ON they contrary, Samsung P3, Cowon S9 and Sony X-Series has much better audio features. The audio quality of the iPod was better than Zune HD. We will prefer to use customized graphic equalizer presets of iPod Touch instead of the HD.

The multi-touch onscreen keyboard of Zune HD is more responsive and accurate than that of other touch-screen phones. It loaded pages very quickly and frequently used wireless hot spots and their respective passwords already stored in the memory. Unfortunately, it does not include the Flash support and its browsing speed is not as good as that of iPod Touch. The HD also does not have parental lock and safeguards features, whereas the iPod Touch has included them.

Microsoft Zune HD has a battery life of 8.5 hours of video and 33 hours of audio playback. This battery life is well comparable to the iPod Touch with 8.3 hours of video playback.

Overall, Microsoft Zune HD is good portable media player and first affordable and appealing alternative to Apple iPod Touch. We appreciate the Microsoft for introducing a better video and music experience beyond Apple standards.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need a next generation portable media player with the best video and music quality and does not mind the monthly cost of Zune Plan then you can buy the Zune HD. However, we will recommend you to check Apple iPod Touch that costs similar if you buy Zune Plan with Zune HD.

Archos 5 Internet tablet offers high-resolution large display, GPS, integrated kickstand, inbuilt speakers and microphone, Web browser, email client, Bluetooth, Flash video and game compatibility, music and video playback and Wi-Fi. It also supports limited Google Android applications.

Thumbs Down:

GPS signal reception is poor; glossy body attracts fingerprints; Copying and pasting text is difficult; Flash video support is not so good; various popular Android applications are not supported.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Archos 5 Internet tablet has 4.8 inches LCD display. It works as Voice recorder, Digital video recorder, Digital audio recorder, Digital photo viewer, Digital video player and Digital audio player.

The additional features of Archos 5 Internet tablet include FM receiver, FM transmitter, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi for IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. The tablet supports still image formats of GIF, PNG, BMP and JPEG.

Supported audio formats are FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, AAC+, AAC, PCM, Protected WMA, WMA and MP3. Archos 5 Internet tablet has inbuilt microphone and speakers.  Its audio features are VBR and CBR. Digital video playback formats include MJJPEG, MKV, WMV, H.264, MPEG48 and MPEG4. Supported operating systems are Linux, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or later.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has standard lithium polymer batteries. It has three connections for composite video, headphones and USB. Accessories supplied inside the package are DVR station adapter, USB cable and earphones.

Razzle Dazzle:

Archos 5 Internet tablet is 3.3 inches tall, 5.5 inches wide and 0.4 inch deep and it weighs 6.4 ounces. This measurement and weight remains same for 32GB, 16GB and 8GB models. We reviewed the 32GB model. Its body complete body works as fingerprint magnet to capture fingerprint and smudges even on gentle touch. The tablet is small enough to easily fit in the jeans pocket.

Inside Dope:

Archos 5 Internet tablet is better than Apple iPod Touch on paper. It features FM transmitter, Bluetooth, integrated GPS, 4.8 inches screen and 720p high-definition video playback. The interesting factor is that it comes in different specifications starting from $249 for 8GB model with micro-SD card slot and thin body. Its hard-drive version of 500GB costs around $489. Our test model of 32GB costs $362.99.

Every aspect of Archos 5 Internet tablet is so made to attract the die-hard digital media fans and stay away them from Apple iPod Touch and Microsoft Zune HD. If you ever wished to have GPS in Apple iPod Touch, then go for Archos 5. If you ever think about small screen and limited support for video codec in Zune HD, then go for Archos 5. This tablet device uses Google Android platform and provides Archos Download Store. This store has limited variety of applications; still it is comparable to iPhone App Store.

Archos 5 was also launched earlier in 2008. Its success Archos 5 Internet tablet shares some features with its predecessor, but lacks compatibility for Android applications. The new model still has the same defects of its predecessor’s design. Headphone jack is located where you have to hold the tablet. The matte display is reflective like 605WiFi.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has inbuilt metal kickstand on the back. You can flip out this kickstand and use it for standing the tablet on flat surface for continuous usage. For the company, Archos 5 is the thinnest media player and first one to use micro-USB PC connection. You will find the other proprietary connections on the bottom such as battery packs and A/V media docks.

The feature set of Archos 5 Internet tablet includes accelerometer, speaker, microphone, FM tuner, Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi. We will discuss each feature one by one. The features of Archos 5 will attract the technical and freaky users because the normal users will like the simple features and qualities of iPod Touch.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has Wi-Fi that supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. Its wireless connection interface is easy to use with hotspot sign pages. In addition, the Archos 5 allows the tethering with your cell phone and piggybacking to other cellular data connection. In simple words, you can use Archos 5 as a modem for connecting to internet at your cell phone and allows the tablet to refuse the connection request of another cell phone. We agree that this feature needs some technical knowledge, but you will get various benefits from it as you can connect your laptop, Netbook and computer in the similar way.

The worthy advantage of Archos 5 Internet tablet over Apple iPod Touch is GPS. We liked the GPS features of turn-by-turn directions and accurate selection of interesting locations. However, the overall GPS experience of Archos 5 is frustrating. We are disappointed that the GPS takes 45 seconds to load. Moreover, the there was some delay on tracking our regular changing positions.

We did not any complaint about the Bluetooth feature of Archos 5 Internet tablet. We paired stereo Altec Lansing Backbeat 904 Bluetooth headset with the tablet. It offers good audio quality even at 30 feet distance. The other Bluetooth 2.0 profiles include HID, EDR and AVRCP. Occasionally, you have to restart the Archos 5 Internet tablet so that it can detect the micro-SD card slot. The integrated microphone and speakers are good additions. We found them to work good while testing.

As usual, the FM transmitter of Archos 5 Internet tablet requires attaching headphones. FM Transmitter did not work fine while testing, whereas its Radio Receiver worked fine. It also offers song IDs and RDS station. The inbuilt accelerometer is good for rotating Web pages, but has slow performance as compared to that of Zune HD and iPod Touch.

The video playback is one of the solidest feature of Archos 5 Internet tablet. It supports Flash video content, H.264, MKV, MPEG4, WMV, AVI, XviD, DivX, BitTorrent and provides resolution options up to high-definition quality 720p. For more support, you can invest $20 for HD plug-in for enabling 720p HD video playback via MPEG2 and WMV HD files. We will recommend this small $20 investment as you are already paying between $249 and $489.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has Android Web browser that supports Flash Lite. Still, the browser does not have predictive text input, multi-touch keyboard and pinch zooming. Most of the Web pages loaded in mobile format and copying/pasting of text is difficult. This support acts as different application outside the browser, so some services and Web sites will not be compatible. YouTube website worked fine, whereas websites like Comedy Central, ABC, CNET TV and Hulu did not work well. This condition was same for flash-based online radio portals like Last.fm, Slacker and Pandora. We would prefer the manufacturer to improve the Flash based interface to overtake the features of iPod Touch and Zune HD. On the contrary, the Android email is a good alternative to iPod Touch.

The inbuilt music player of Archos 5 Internet tablet supports WAV, Ogg, FLAC, WMA, AAC and MP3 files. The WMA support also includes DRM protected files. The tablet can also be set to stream music over Internet radio stations or Wi-Fi connection from nearby phones and computers. The music players features album art, sorting by ID3 tags and ability to bookmark audio files or music tracks. It also offers album art grid-view. However, the tablet takes some time to load thumbnails for album artwork.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has built-in photo viewer that supports PNG, GIF, BMP and JPEG. You can load pictures in this application through Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP), micro-SD card and via PC. It makes large screen, digital and ideal photo album, but still takes few seconds to load and navigate through images. The zoom and resize options are useless. However, you will get advantages of drag-and-drop picture transfer and large screen. The overall photo experience of the Archos 5 does not match the standards of Zune HD and iPod Touch.

To your interest, Archos 5 Internet tablet also has few options for streaming media. You can stream any video and music file stored on networked computer using Windows Universal Plug and Play support. There is a Media Club menu that has Web radio and Web TV directories to access the streaming of local news, global Internet radio stations and video pod-casts via Wi-Fi.

Theoretically, the access of Archos 5 Internet tablet to Google Android Mobile application will be beneficiary for the new product. However, the application selection is limited. The Archos 5 Internet tablet has ThinFree application for opening PDF and Microsoft Office documents, Yellowbook, High Paying Jobs, Moov, Craiglist, Wikipedia, Linkedin, instant messenger, and Twitter. Some applications will only display a normal Web page of their content except messenger and photo viewer. We had the same complaint with the iPhone applications. The other two media applications including Deezer and Dailymotion only works in France (native country of Archos) and not in the U.S.

Android 5 Internet tablet has a life of 7 hours continuous video playback and 22 hours of audio playback. The audio quality is good and comparable to iPod Touch. However, Samsung P3, Sony X-series and Cowon S9 provide superior quality.

The video quality of Archos 5 Internet tablet is superior due to its large support of video codecs, high resolution screen and large display. We agree that it cannot beat a good laptop playing video on VLC, but still the audio and video quality of Archos 5 is impressive.

Nitty Gritty:

Archos 5 Internet tablet offers you advanced Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS capabilities with exciting audio and video performance. However, the manufacturer still has to work hard to improve GPS, photo viewing and internet browsing features. Apart from its drawbacks, it will be the reality for dreams of video cognoscente with its vast video codec supports. We can call the tablet as a rose for video downloader and media crazy persons. If you need a tablet just for great video and music playback and can manage the disadvantages of photo view and browser, then buy this tablet.

The movie and music playing features of this one are as same as the Archos Media player but is based on the Google Android version of Linux which is quite commonly found in the mobile phones. Its loaded with a 5 inch touchscreen display. Also at a thickness of 1 cm this one could easily be termed ultrathin. This one goes foor sale on amazon from tomorrow and ranges between £199.99 to £369.99.

The other internet tablet being launched by Archos is the 9PCTablet and would be out in the market by 22nd October. Actually Archos is waiting for the official launch of the Windows 7 to release this one. This one is going to have a 9 inch screen touchscreen Intel Atom Z510 processor, 80GB hard disk, and built-in DVBT TV. However irrespective of when it is going to be launched this is surely going to be compared to the Apple TV and is priced at €450-€500. What this has in store is that it can double up as a portable TV set as well as entertainment TV.

I guess we ll actually have to wait for the launch to see this one in action.

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Good sound quality, decent video and picture quality, low price.

Thumbs down: Boring design, earbuds aren’t that comfortable.

Inside the trunk:

• Product type Flash player
• PC interface(s) supported USB
• Flash memory installed 8 GB
• Weight 0.1 lbs
• Dimensions (W x D x H) 1.8 in x 0.4 in x 3.5 in

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: Sony has always been known to bring out the best MP3 players at rock bottom price. With this one Sony has launched the latest 16 GB player at a price of $100 and the 80GB version is being offered at $80. It has compromised a bit on the styling and the design but it has retained the same battery life and audio quality.

A look at the player and I was like “ nothings really new or innovative in this one.. atleast as far as the looks are concerned. Below the 2 inch screen there is a five way control pad, a menu button and a back/home button. At times the up arrow key is a bit difficult to press. Its got a standard 3.5mm headphone jack below it and the volume rocker has been placed on the right spine. Also the USB port is below the player next to the headphone jack.

At 3.2 inches tall by 1.7 inches wide by 0.3 inch deep this one easily slips into the pocket and can easily be strapped to the waist band or to your armband. Along with the black version this one comes along in a blazing red option as well, wherein the top part is black and the bottom part is all red which is pretty much a killer combination.

The main menu features the icons for the functions in a grid layout. However there is no option where you can change the wallpaper or the theme of the player. The songs are divided in o categories by artists, genres, albums, track etc. on the submenu. The album art though cannot be resized to full screen can easily be magnified on the playback screen.

Coming to transferring music or getting music onto the player, this is pretty much an easy process and all you have to do is drag and drop files from your hard drive using the Sony Content Transfer App. Also this one is compatible with most of the jukeboxes like windows media player and rhapsody. However the bad news for the Mac users is that it does not support content transfer through Mac.

This one has been spattered with a variety of features and supports MP3, secure WMA, unprotected AAC, and LPCM audio. Also it supports JPEG photos and MPEG-4, WMV and H.264/AVC video. On the other side, Sony has done away with the Rhapsody DNA which has a huge fan following and also this one doesn’t support podcasts.

The sound setting is pretty much flat and can be tweaked using the presets and the 5 band custom Equalisers. The sound quality is crisp and clear and well balanced. And as usual I rarely have any complaints when it comes to the sound quality from Sony players. Again I would recommend using Headphones instead of the Earbuds which come along with it.

The videos and photos are also pretty much clear and vibrant. However there is also a slight amount of glare. Though I have always been highly impressed with the battery life offered by Sony this one is kind of disappointing with just 30 hours for audio and 40 hours for video compared to the astounding battery life that the others in the E series have to offer.

Nitty-Gritty: This one is surely the best one in the price range. So if u don’t wan to spend a bomb on  the player and all you worry is about the sound quality, then go ahead and grab this one.