Canon Vixia HG20

The Canon Vixia HG20 is an excellent HD camcorder that's reasonably easy to operate out of the box and looks good, too. It's almost identical to the company's Vixia HF11, but rather than recording mainly to internal flash memory, it records to a hard drive. As for performance, it's as good if not better than the Sony Handycam HDR-SR11. So in the end, it comes down to a preference for flash memory or hard-disk drive as your storage medium of choice. And if it's for flash, your willingness to pay extra for it.

In addition to the price differential--which varies quite a bit on the Web, so it pays to shop around--there's only a few spec variations between the flash-based HF11 and the HG20. The obvious is the HG20's 60GB hard drive versus the HF11's 32GB internal memory. In recording time, it's 5 hours and 30 minutes to 2 hours and 55 minutes at 24Mbps (and both can be supplemented with SDHC cards). Ironically, there's more differentiation between HG20 and its brother, the HG21: in addition to a larger 120GB hard drive, the HG21 offers an eye-level viewfinder.

Aside from capacity, it's really just a matter of size and weight separating the HG20 and HF11; the HF11 is smaller and lighter at 2.9 inches wide by 2.5 inches high by 5.1 inches deep and 15.1 ounces to the HG20's dimensions of 3.1 inches wide by 3 inches high by 5.4 inches deep and 17.6 ounces. Positions for controls and I/O jacks are slightly altered between the two as well. Most notably the dial to switch from video/still record to video/still playback is on the back for the HG20, on the side for the HF11. However, regardless of the model, the controls are large and easy to operate.

A five-way joystick and Function button--which navigates frequently needed shooting settings--live on the bezel of the camcorder's smallish 2.7-inch LCD. Putting the controls out on the LCD instead of under the thumb can make it difficult to simultaneously change settings and keep the camcorder steady. In addition, manually focusing with the joystick can be a pain, regardless of the zoom-view focus assist.

The HG20 records AVCHD video at a maximum bit rate of 24Mbps, and can hold up to 22 hours 55 minutes of video at the lowest bit rate of 5Mbps. (There are five quality settings in all, which I find excessive.) That higher bit rate goes to support the full 1,920x1,080 capture, the norm for most of this year's new models, compared with 1,440x1,080 for older AVCHD camcorders, which required only a 12Mbps maximum bit rate. You can record best-quality movies to SDHC cards as long as it's a Class 4 or better (Class 6 is currently fastest).

Its optically stabilized f1.8-3.0 12x zoom lens has a longer reach than the typical 10x lens available in this class, but the rest of its features are pretty common in Canon's prosumer models. For video, these include aperture- and shutter-priority exposure modes, 3 fixed/1 variable zoom speed options, a video light, Instant AF, and a wind-screen filter. You can also record in progressive 30 or 24 frames per second modes, as well as 60i. For still photos, metering, flash, and burst and exposure bracketing, options become available as well. The camcorder also supplies a complete set of ports and connectors: component or mini-HDMI out for direct-to-TV playback, mini headphone and mic jacks, and USB for downloading to computer.

The lens performs surprisingly well. Not only does the SuperRange optical image stabilization system work satisfactorily all the way out to the end, but the lens focuses quickly and holds the lock in both dim and bright conditions. Images look sharp, too. On the downside, high-contrast edges show more fringing than usual. The stereo microphone sits beneath the lens and generally delivers good audio quality. However, in recent models, Canon changed the wind-filter option from a forced-on to automatic, and ever since we've found it far less effective. The microphone attenuation (zoom mic) works pretty well, too.

Video overall looks quite good despite the use of a small, 1/3.2-inch 3.3-megapixel CMOS sensor. Recordings were properly exposed, nicely saturated, and sharp. As expected, in low light the video displays a good deal of noise and a somewhat compressed tonal range, but retains a significant amount of detail and fares above average compared with the rest of its class.

For the most part, the 24Mbps video is indistinguishable from the 17Mbps except in low light; when viewed on a large-screen plasma TV, the higher bit-rate video displayed significantly more luminance noise than the lower bit rate. The lower bit-rate video looked slightly softer, however. The difference between the two was still noticeable, but not as pronounced, when viewed on my calibrated CRT display. Even when extracting individual frames, I didn't really see any fewer artifacts that would affect video editing. On the upside, there were no software incompatibility issues with the 24Mbps files.

An excellent choice for hard-disk-based HD recording, the HG20 gives the Sony HDR-SR11 a close run for the money and is a clear champion if you don't like the Sony's touch-screen interface. However, the real question is do you want more storage at a lower price or give up some storage space and extra cash for the smaller, lighter HF11. The HG20 gets my vote in that scenario.

Canon Vixia HF100

Canon may not have been first out of the gate with a flash-based camcorder--or second, or third--but one of its debut models, the high-definition Vixia HF100, gets it right the first time. A sleek, matte-gray compact model with a well-rounded feature set, great video, and excellent performance, the HF100 definitely deserves a spot on your short list of potential home-movie camcorders.

Unlike its brother, the HF10, the HF100 lacks built-in memory, including just a slot for SDHC removable flash. Aside from that and the color, the two models are identical. This review is based on our evaluation of the HF10. The petite HF100 weighs 15.1 ounces with SD card and battery and measures 2.9 by 2.5 by 5.1 inches--small and light enough to fit into a large jacket pocket, which is about as good as it gets on the horizontal designs. That's a hair smaller than its main competitor, the Sony Handycam HDR-CX7 and significantly more compact than its cousins, the hard-disk-based Vixia HG10 or tape-based Vixia HV30. The plastic body feels quite solid, too.

Fortunately, the HF100 doesn't seem to suffer from the usability issues that usually accompany shrinkage. The controls remain large and easy to operate, though Canon has relocated many of them. The Function button and joystick, which call up and navigate frequently needed shooting settings, now live on the LCD bezel. I'm not a big fan of designs that do this, mostly because I find it more difficult to simultaneously operate the controls and hold the camera steady when they're on the LCD than when they lie under my right thumb. In addition, manually focusing with the joystick on the camcorder's smallish 2.7-inch LCD can be a pain, regardless of the zoom-view focus assist. (For more on the design, click through to this slide show.)

It records AVCHD video at a maximum of 17 megabits per second (2 hours and 5 minutes of video), and can hold up to 6 hours and 5 minutes of video at the lowest bit rate of 5Mbps. That higher bit rate goes to support the full 1,920x1,080 capture, the norm for most of this year's new models, compared with 1,440x1,080 for older AVCHD camcorders that required only a 12Mbps maximum bit rate. You can record best-quality movies to the card as long as it's a Class 4 SDHC or better (Class 6 is currently fastest): the Class 4 16GB Kingston card I tested with worked fine.

Its optically stabilized f1.8-3.0 12X zoom lens has a longer reach than the typical 10x lens available in this class, but the rest of its features are pretty common in Canon's prosumer models. For video, these include aperture- and shutter-priority exposure modes, three fixed/one variable zoom speed options, a video light, Instant AF, and a wind-screen filter. You can also record in progressive 30 or 24 frames-per-second (fps) modes as well as 60i. For still photos, metering, flash, and burst and exposure bracketing options become available as well. The camcorder also supplies a complete set of ports and connectors: component or mini-HDMI out for direct-to-TV playback, mini headphone and mic jacks, and USB for downloading to computer. (You can find a complete list of the features in the product manual available via this PDF download.)

The new lens performs surprisingly well. Not only does the SuperRange optical image stabilization system work satisfactorily all the way out to the end, but the lens focuses quickly and holds the lock in both dim and bright conditions. Images look sharp, too. On the downside, high-contrast edges show more fringing than usual. The stereo microphone sits beneath the lens and generally delivers good audio quality. However, in recent models Canon changed the wind filter option from a forced-on to automatic, and ever since I've found it far less effective.

As is usual with compact designs, Canon provides a new 890mAh battery with the HF100, the BP-809, which is rated for about 55 minutes of typical recording time. The company offers an optional double-capacity battery, the BP-819. The larger battery likely ruins the svelte lines of the camcorder design, however.

Though the HF100 incorporates a smaller, 1/3.2-inch3.3-megapixelCMOS sensor than the HV30 and the CX7, the video still looks quite good: properly exposed, nicely saturated, and sharp. As expected, in low light the video displays more noise and a somewhat compressed tonal range, but retains a significant amount of detail and fares above average compared with the rest of its class.

An excellent choice for flash-based HD recording, the HF100 gives the CX7 a close run for the money, and it is a clear champion if you don't like the Sony's touch-screen interface. But then the real question becomes which model is the better deal--the Vixia HF10 or the HF100. The cost difference between the two exactly reflects the current price of the HF10's internal 16GB of flash memory, which makes it tempting to recommend buying the cheaper model and springing for an additional card when the prices inevitably fall (or paying the same for a larger card, when they inevitably ship) later in the year. On the other hand, the HF10's black body is a bit more attractive than the HF100's gray. Decisions, decisions.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (MultiTouch)

Lenovo's ThinkPad brand is virtually synonymous with business laptops, and the company (like IBM before it) has spent years perfecting the nondescript black-box system, with its iconic TrackPoint and double set of mouse buttons.

We liked the 14-inch T400s ("s" for "slim") when we first saw it earlier this year (see that review), as it shaved some thickness and weight off the older T400 model. Now Lenovo is offering an enhanced version of the T400s, adding a multitouch touch screen and some custom touch-screen software. This is also the first laptop we've reviewed with the final shipping version of Windows 7 preinstalled.

The touch screen and accompanying SimpleTap software add a new wrinkle--one that had its appeal--but without a tablet-style swiveling display, we can see the real-world usefulness of adding touch to a standard laptop being somewhat limited.

It can be argued that Lenovo's build quality and attention to detail are second to none, and the T400s feels like a solid, heavy-duty machine that will stand up to a lot of action. ThinkPad buyers (either small business individuals or corporate IT departments) know what they're looking for and don't mind paying premium for it. The touch-screen T400s starts at $1,999, and includes Lenovo's ThinkVantage suite of business and security-minded software and hardware.

Price as reviewed / Starting price	$2,489/$1,999
Processor	2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600
Memory	4GB, 667MHz DDR2
Hard drive	128GB SSD
Chipset	Intel GS45
Graphics	Intel GMA 4500M (integrated)
Operating System	Windows 7 Professional
Dimensions	13.2 inches wide by 9.4 inches deep
Height	1.1-1.3 inches
Screen size (diagonal)	14.1 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	3.9/4.6 pounds

The basic design will be familiar to anyone who has used a ThinkPad in the last few years, with a black, buttoned-down look and the ever-present TrackPoint. Despite being fairly thin and lightweight, the T400s feels solid and sturdy, thanks to its carbon-fiber "roll cage" skeleton. Unlike most other laptops, the lid folds back a full 180 degrees, allowing the system to lie completely flat.

Lenovo spends a lot of effort constantly testing and refining its keyboards. For example, based on detailed analysis of user feedback, the Esc and Delete keys are much larger than normal. This is a traditional tapered-key design, instead of the wide, flat-topped keys nearly all consumer laptops use, and while it may not look as slick, the end result is indeed very comfortable and easy to use. Physical buttons for volume control, speaker mute, and mic mute are also useful.

The large touch pad is hard to see against the matte black wrist rest, but it has a subtle texture that helps your finger know where it's going. Nestled in the middle of the keyboard is a TrackPoint pointing stick--if you're a fan (or you grew up with one as your main laptop input method), it's indispensable. But, the need for a second set of mouse buttons, above the touch pad, eats up some keyboard tray real estate.

The biggest addition to this new version of the T400s is a multitouch display. Windows 7 is a very touch-friendly OS, making it easier for PC makers to add touch functionality. In this case, you can tap and drag Win 7 menus, folder, and files with your finger, as one would on a tablet PC--or there's a custom touch interface provided by Lenovo, called SimpleTap.

The SimpleTap interface lives as a small red button anchored to the side of the display. Tapping it opens the touch interface, which overlays your desktop, and provides a series of large button-like icons. As configured, it provides access to basic system functions, such as speaker volume and screen brightness. You can also turn on the small light above the display, turn the Webcam on and off, or even put the system to sleep.

By navigating to the exe file of any program, you can add a SimpleTap button for it to your collection, choosing its icon, background color, and location on the screen. Each of the small, square icons can also be dragged around to any location on the screen, or automatically regrouped in the center with the tap of a finger. The red button for launching SimpleTap can also be moved to any point along the outer edge of the screen by dragging it.

In practice, the SimpleTap software worked fairly well, although it wasn't as quick and responsive as the touch experience on an iPhone or iPod Touch (we have yet to find a tablet or touch-screen PC that comes close). However, when trying to use SimpleTap from any angle other than right in front of the screen (as one might when showing off a presentation to a group), the control was much less precise, and we often accidentally closed the entire app or sent the icons flying around the screen. Lenovo says the software is currently in beta, and will continue to improve.

A bigger issue, perhaps, is why you'd want a touch screen on a standard nontablet laptop. The practical applications seem limited, although we could see specific users finding tasks (media playback, photo manipulation, etc.) that could take advantage of it. As a $400 add-on to the T400s, it's certainly not an impulse upgrade.

The 14.1-inch wide-screen LED display offers a 1,440x900 native resolution, which is standard for a high-end screen this size (many less-expensive 14- and 15-inch laptops have 1,280x800 displays). The matte finish is a welcome relief from all the overly glossy displays we're exposed to on a weekly basis, and there's an antifingerprint coating that helps keep the screen looking good, even when using the touch functions.

	Lenovo T400s	Average for category [mainstream]
Video	VGA-out, DisplayPort	VGA-out, HDMI
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	3 USB 2.0 (1 USB/eSATA), SD card reader	4 USB 2.0, SD card reader
Expansion	None	ExpressCard/54
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN	Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN
Optical drive	DVD burner	DVD burner

ThinkPads are among the only laptops we've seen in a long time to still have ports and connections on the rear edge of the system. There you'll find both DisplayPort and VGA outs, plus two of the system's three USB connections (one is a combo eSATA port, the other is helpfully labeled as a powered USB port).

One odd configuration note: you're forced to choose between an SD card reader or an ExpressCard/34 slot; you can't have both (we got the SD card reader). Our review configuration also included a 128GB SSD hard drive, which is $200 more than a standard 200GB 5,400rpm HDD.

Windows 7 Professional will seem very familiar to Vista users, and somewhat less so to those still using Windows XP. You can read our full review of Windows 7 for a detailed analysis, but there are a handful of tweaks and features that seemed of particular importance to laptop users.

The most jarring change for many will be the displaced Show Desktop button. Instead of living on the left side of the taskbar, it's now in the system tray on the far right side, and without its familiar icon--it's just a tiny, glowing rectangle. Hovering over it with your mouse turns every open window transparent, except for a thin ghostly outline, and clicking the button, as before, minimizes every active window.

The revamped taskbar can also display thumbnails of all the windows you have open in a particular application (for example, Firefox browser windows), by hovering the pointer over the appropriate taskbar icon. Click on any of these tiny thumbnails to bring that window to the forefront.

Intel's high-end 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo SP9600 offers a good balance between energy efficiency and computing power. Compared with other systems with high-end Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, the T400s performed admirably, and often slightly faster than laptops only a few months old. We'll have to wait until we have more Windows 7 systems tested to determine if there is indeed a performance dividend in real-world testing. In hands-on use, the T400s felt quick and responsive, much as we'd expect from a $2,000 business laptop.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s ran for 3 hours and 33 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. That's decent for a mainstream laptop, but not near the all-day computing holy grail for business systems. Our battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use.

Lenovo includes a one-year, parts-and-labor, mail-in warranty with the system, although for a high-end business laptop, we'd expect a three-year plan as standard. Upgrading to a three-year plan will cost an extra $100, or $186 for three years of next-business-day, on-site service. Support is accessible through a 24-7, toll-free phone line, and an easy-to-navigate online support site with a knowledge base and driver downloads.

Iriver P7 (8GB, silver)

The Iriver P7 is an attractive touch-screen portable video player, offered in 8GB ($169) and 16GB ($199) capacities. Like its smaller cousin, the Iriver SPINN, the P7 sports an aluminum design and offers music, video, radio, and photo playback, as well as voice recording and a text reader. You won't find advanced features such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi on the P7, but its relatively low price and large, 4.3-inch screen make it a tempting purchase for video fans.

Design
We have some legitimate gripes with the P7, but design isn't one of them. The P7's sleek aluminum body looks like it belongs in a modern art museum. In fact, even the plastic carton the P7 is packaged in looks like a design student's graduate project.

The P7 measures 4.5 inches across, 3 inches tall, and a relatively svelte 0.5 inch thick. The overall form is more pocket-friendly than the chunkier design of the Cowon O2, feeling more like an Archos 5 with a shrunken screen. The majority of the P7 is operated using touch-screen control, however, you'll find teeny, tiny buttons for power, menu, and volume on the top edge of the player. The P7's headphone jack is on the right edge, along with a hold switch, and a microSD memory slot covered by a plastic door.

While the P7's hardware looks like it takes a few cues from Apple, the touch-screen interface is entirely unique. Iriver appropriately describes the main menu screen as magazinelike, laying out each of the player's functions on a single screen, compartmentalized into an attractive arrangement of boxes. If you're accustomed to scrolling though menus, the P7's Mondrian-esque layout takes a little time to grow on you. After spending some time with it, we can't say the layout offers any practical advantages, but it's a pleasant break from the norm.

Once you dial down into the P7's music and photo menus, the single-page interface of the main menu eventually gives way to a more common list view. Unlike the iPod Touch's smooth, swift, and responsive song lists, sorting through your music on the P7 requires patience and a precise touch on a slim graphical scroll bar. If you plan on storing a large music collection on the P7, prepare for some navigation frustration.

The Iriver P7 comes bundled with earbuds, a touch-screen stylus, a USB cable, and a mini CD filled with software.

Features
The P7 is easy on the eyes, but the features are nothing to write home about. Despite the movie-worthy 4.3-inch screen with a 480x272 resolution, video really isn't the P7's strong suit. On paper, support for formats such as AVI, MP4, WMV, MPG, FLV, XVID, H.264, and a handful of others, makes the P7's video capabilities seem very impressive. In practice, however, we found that the P7 didn't offer the kind of drag-and-drop video format and resolution flexibility we've seen from competitors such as the Cowon O2 or Archos 605 WiFi. Just like the smaller-screened Samsung P3 or Iriver SPINN, we found ourselves spending extra time converting the videos we wanted to watch on the P7 using the included software. Power users and the patient-minded may be able to put up with the P7's particular video requirements, but people looking for drag-and-drop simplicity should look elsewhere.

In spite of our complaints about the sluggish, unfriendly design of the P7's music menu navigation, the audio capabilities of the P7 are arguably the best feature of the device. The P7 supports MP3, WMA, FLAC, WAV, and OGG file formats, along with album artwork and lyrics, but leaves out the AAC format critical for playing back music purchased from iTunes. Songs are listed in either an ID3 tag sort (Album, Artist, Genre, Playlist) or presented as the user's own custom list of folders. Once a song is playing, you can apply custom or preset EQ (there's also some nice SRS WOW HD enhancement settings), change the playback mode (shuffle, repeat, etc.), rate the song on a five-star scale, and even view song lyric information embedded within the file's ID3 tag. There are also settings for bookmarking, looping, or saving files to a custom playlist.

Between the P7 and the similarly priced Cowon O2, we're a little torn when it comes to each player's audio capabilities. Neither device shines in terms of touch-screen menu navigation, but we suspect the O2's AAC support is more important than its lack of ID3 song sorting (some will surely disagree).

P7 features, such as the FM radio and text reader, are nice to have, but unexceptional. The photo viewer, like most aspects of the P7, is a little sluggish. At best, transitions between photographs take 3 seconds to complete, and the image browser uses the same tiny, tedious scroll bar found on the music player.

Voice recordings are also disappointing. Recordings are made to WMA files and include the same ever-present high-pitched mechanical whine we hear on most MP3 player voice memo recorders. What's maddening is that there's no way to monitor the quality of the recordings you're making, either by hearing them over headphones in real time or by seeing a visual indication of the recording input volume. With all of the P7's screen real estate, you'd think they could slap on a nifty graphic VU to offer some reassurance that the microphone is working.

The main menu of the Iriver P7 is laid out on a single page like a magazine. We found no practical advantage for the layout, but it sure is pretty.

Performance
The Iriver P7's rated battery life of 35 hours of audio and 7 hours of video is impressive for a device that costs less than $200. Our CNET Labs came up with results that weren't too far off from iRiver's predictions, with an average of 37.5 hours of audio playback and 7.75 hours of video. Video and photo image quality are comparable to the Cowon O2, although we encountered dramatic screen darkening while tilting the P7's screen at an upward viewing angle. For audio, the P7's default sound is as rich as what you'll hear from an iPod or a Zune, but with enough help from the integrated EQ and suite of SRS audio enhancements, you can sweeten the sound to fit your taste.

The biggest performance disappointment of the Iriver P7 is the included PC software. Three main apps come bundled on the included CD: a firmware updater; an Iriver-branded app for transferring media to the P7; and a video converter. Under Windows XP, we installed all three applications, and had trouble with each one of them. Initially, the firmware updater wouldn't recognize the P7 and told us so with a barrage of repetitive alerts. After rebooting the computer and the P7 and switching up the device's USB protocol (switchable between UMS and MTP), we finally got the updater to stick. The Iriver media transfer software (named Iriver Plus 3) promised to transfer our music, photos, and video directly to the P7, but turned out to be utterly useless. Even the seemingly simple task of using the software to transfer music to the P7 caused repeated crashes of both the software and the device. In the end, we uninstalled the application, and opted to drag and drop our media directly to the device or use Windows Media Player.

The included movie converter application was the least disappointing of the bunch, although it required the P7 to be set in MTP mode for the software to recognize it. We also noticed that the movie application refused to recognize some of our MP4 and MOV files, which is odd for an application made expressly for converting diverse video file types.

All in all, the Iriver P7 is a beautiful looking product with an affordable price, but its features come up short on just about every front. The music player offers a lot of flexibility, but navigation is pokey. The video player is given a nice, big screen, but file support isn't as good as it seems, the conversion software is limited, and viewing angles aren't great. While competitors aren't as pretty as the P7, we feel most people will prefer the features and flexibility of the Cowon O2 or the older (but still beloved) Archos 605 WiFi.

Samsung Q2 (16GB)

The MP3 player market has done nothing but benefit from the decline in flash memory prices. One of many examples can be found in the Samsung Q2, a plain-looking device that comes in 8GB and 16GB versions for just $99.99 and $129.99, respectively. The Q2 is priced well below its competitors--particularly the 16GB version--and it delivers an excellent value, thanks to good sound quality and a nice array of handy features. However, we're not taken with the player's design.

On first glance, the Samsung Q2 appears pretty sleek, but up close, the plastic design leaves a little to be desired. The light-up touch-pad controls on the face and chrome-like border wrapping around the edges do add hints of style, but overall, the unit has a rather generic look that doesn't seem particularly innovative at this stage in the game. Of course, it's a budget player, so we can't expect the Q2 to have the slick, weighty feel of the P3. It's certainly a reasonably compact player, measuring 3.9 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.4 inch, and the display is relatively large at 2.4-inches diagonal.

The screen--a QVGA number with 320x240-pixel resolution--offers excellent clarity and color saturation. Also, the icon-driven interface is exceptionally easy to navigate, although we found ourselves drawn to touch the screen in an attempt to control the unit, which is not an option. Also, the touch pad may not appeal to some and makes blind navigation impossible--especially since there isn't even a dedicated volume rocker. The only tactile buttons are on the right side (a power/hold key and record button).

Although its construction strikes us as fairly cheap, the Samsung Q2 does pack in an impressive amount of features for the price. You can connect the player to either a Mac (UMS) or Windows (MTP) operating system, and choose between jukebox or drag-and-drop transfer modes. To that end, the device also offers a folder navigation option onboard, in case you prefer that style of browsing for content. Music (MP3, Flac, OGG, WMA) is also organized into the artist, album, and playlist step-down structure. In addition to that media, the Q2 also supports MPEG4 and WMV video as well as JPEG photos. If you get sick of your own content, you can flip on the FM tuner, which includes rudimentary RBDS capability, autoscanning, preset modes, and a recording function. There's even a built-in mic for making voice recordings, and the player accepts text files and datacasts. You may also create one on-the-fly playlist on the device itself.

Hands-on testing proved that the Samsung Q2 is a solid performer across the board, although audio is not as stellar as that offered by the P3. However, you get a plethora of sound enhancement options as well as a five-band user EQ, so most listeners should be able to fine tune things to their liking. In general, music sounded clear and warm, with reasonable, but not thumping, bass response. Although we could hear plenty of high-end detail, it was not as sparkling as that offered by the Q2's touch-screen cousin. Also, the battery life for audio is dismal: CNET Labs clocked it at just 6.9 hours. Video, on the other hand, fared OK, clocking in at 4 hours. But we still have no issues recommending this player as a solid budget option.

Sony S-Series Walkman (second generation, 8GB, violet)

Sony had a major success with the launch of the S-Series Walkman in the fall of 2008. The company stepped up with a sleek and compact device that offered a bounty of useful features along with stellar sound quality and fantastic battery life. As might be expected, when it came time for a second-gen model, we waited with bated breath, expecting something equally impressive or perhaps even somewhat improved. Unfortunately, the exhalation of said breath has emerged as a disappointed sigh. Although the second-generation S-Series Walkman still offers top-notch audio and excellent rated battery life, Sony has hobbled the player by crippling its feature set. The upshot is that this was done in the name of rock-bottom pricing, which makes the S-Series one of the cheapest flash players on the market: you can pick up an 8GB model for $110 and a 16GB for just $130. This--combined with its excellent sound quality and battery life--is the player's saving grace.

Design and interface
For better or for worse, the second-gen S-Series Walkman is noticeably larger than its predecessor. The nice thing about this is it allows for a larger, more video-friendly screen, and the 2.4-inch QVGA LCD is every bit as crisp, colorful, and bright as before. The bigger chassis also allows for a pair of integrated external speakers that flank both sides of the display and pass through to ports on the back of the device for more air flow (something that generally equates to better sound quality). Of course, this means that the new S-Series is not quite as pocket-friendly as the previous iteration, measuring nearly 4 inches long and 2 inches across, though it is only a fraction thicker at 0.4 inch. Also, because of the speaker placement, the player strongly resembles a cell phone, a fact that may or may not deter some users.

Below the screen, Sony has built in its typical circular control pad: a standard four-way directional button surrounding a central play/pause key. This is flanked by two additional buttons--back (home) and option (power)--which are arranged in such a way that one can't help but picture Mickey Mouse. Still, the Disneyesque look doesn't hinder the navigation of the device, which is a breeze. A grid of icons for the main functions makes up the top menu, while the music submenu is handily divided into artist, album, genre, and so on. Playlists, however, are only accessible through a separate, dedicated section, which is a bit odd though not really a navigational hindrance. Unfortunately, the S-Series still does not offer an on-the-go playlist option.

Although the second-gen S-Series Walkman appears to be constructed out of a material similar to what was used for its predecessor, it has a more plastic-y feel that makes it seem a bit cheaper. However, it offers the same shiny, metallic topcoat--in a choice of red, pink, violet, or black--and the player still retains a somewhat sleek and sexy look. We also appreciate that Sony held onto the dedicated volume rocker on the left spine. Here, you'll also find two switches: one for locking the controls (hold) and another for toggling between speaker and headphone modes. The standard headphone jack along with Sony's proprietary USB port live on the bottom edge.

Feature subtraction
It would stand to reason that the second-gen S-Series Walkman is probably a few features short of its predecessor, namely because the entry price is significantly lower. We expected, for example, that this player would probably do away with the integrated noise-canceling functionality and the upgraded packaged headphones--both of those extras represent a cost to the company. What is baffling, however, is the fact that Sony also eliminated core interface-based features such as distinguished podcast support and the smart playlist creator, SensMe Channels. Podcasts are now lumped in with the general music catalog and thus have no bookmarking feature and will playback on shuffle--a glaring annoyance. You also won't find Rhapsody DNA integration, which, while a less surprising omission, is no less disappointing.

These deficiencies certainly mar the S-Series legacy, but the player still includes a fair amount of features for the price. You get support for MP3, secure WMA, AAC, and Linear PCM (Sony's version of WAV) audio as well as JPEG photo, but again a disappointment here: you can no longer set your own photos as wallpaper. There's also video playback for AVC, MPEG-4, and WMV, though this is crippled by the fact that the player is very particular about the size, frame rate, and container of video files. However, we do appreciate the support for videos purchased and rented from Amazon Video On Demand.

The S-Series Walkman also offers a built-in FM tuner with autoscanner and up to 30 preset slots as well as a recording feature. And there's a pinhole mic on the bottom of the unit for taking voice notes, for which you can choose from three quality settings. The external speakers afford a final bonus: you can use the Walkman as an alarm clock and wake up to the radio or a track of your choosing.

Performance to the rescue
Considering how much Sony managed to strip down the S-Series Walkman in its second iteration, it was with some trepidation that we approached the performance of the device. Luckily, it's going to take more than a severe price cut to infringe upon Sony's long history of stellar sound quality and long battery lives. The only area that isn't particularly stunning is the speaker playback, which is rather unsurprisingly tinny and anemic. It's clear and fairly loud, though, so it gets the job done, and the battery life of 17 hours for audio and 5 hours for video is more than decent.

Naturally, when you listen to the S-Series Walkman through a good set of headphones (the Klipsch Image S4, in our case), the sound quality enjoys a dramatic improvement. Music sounds rich, warm, and defined across genres, with sparkly highs and buttery mids. Bass is punchy and encompassing without being overpowering--it's just the amount of low-end oomph we crave. The best part is that the device provides excellent audio across a full gamut of genres, which means it would make a great "everyman's" MP3 player. (And there are plenty of EQ settings to toy with, though no SRS Wow settings here.) Plus, the rated battery life of 42 hours for audio and 6.5 hours for video is nothing to scoff at, and we expect to match or beat those numbers in our CNET Labs testing (check back soon for final scores on that).

Similarly, photos and videos look fantastic on the bright screen, with excellent color saturation, crisp edges, and little-to-no visible pixelation (depending on the original quality of the files). Viewing angles are also great, though you probably wouldn't want to share for long with such a tiny screen. Finally, FM reception is well above average, and our test voice recordings came through very clear with little hiss.

Final thoughts
The Sony S-Series Walkman offers excellent audio playback, a long battery life, a nice screen, a simple interface, and some decent extras for little money--it's obviously a great value. Indeed, it's easy to recommend this player to budget-minded people who are looking for an introduction to the Walkman line. But those who have experienced the previous generation S-Series will be very disappointed by the successor to the line. Although the new version is much cheaper, it represents a diluted version of its former self. In this case, newer definitely does not mean better.

Apple iPod Nano (fifth generation, 8GB, green)

The iPod Nano MP3 player continues Apple's legacy of packing a multitude of features into a colorful, impossibly thin design and comes reasonably priced at $149 (8GB) and $179 (16GB). This time around, Apple is branching out of its iPod formula in a small, but not insignificant way by gracing the back of the Nano with its own video camera. If you've ever considered buying an iPod Nano, the fifth-generation model is the best one yet.

Design
In 2008, Apple broke away from the traditionally flat, rectangular iPod design and surprised customers with a curved, wing-shaped iPod Nano. It's safe to assume that Apple is still pleased with that design, since the fifth-generation model is nearly identical to its predecessor, measuring 3.5 inches tall by 1.6 inches wide by 0.25 inch thick at its center.

To distinguish itself from previous models, the latest Nano includes a slightly larger 2.2-inch screen (up from 2 inches) and a glossy, polished aluminum finish that one CNET editor described as looking like a Christmas tree ornament. However, the easiest way to tell that you're holding a fifth-generation iPod Nano is to flip it over. Unlike its fourth-generation sibling, the latest Nano has a bead-size camera lens on its lower left backside. The lens runs flush with the Nano's aluminum body, but if the worn-and-scratched back of our fourth-generation Nano is any indication, we advise investing in a protective case to keep the camera in good working order.

The fifth-generation iPod Nano (shown center) offers a larger screen than its predecessor (left). Still, video fans should consider stepping up to a product with a larger screen, such as the Zune HD (shown right) or iPod Touch.

The user interface of the 5G Nano remains almost entirely unchanged with the exception of a few new menu items for the video camera, FM radio, and fitness features. The larger 2.2-inch screen can now display up to 12 lines of menu text (up from 10) and the Now Playing screen lists artist, album, and title information in three bolder, more readable lines at the top of the screen.

The majority of the Nano's hardware design elements remain the same as well. Apple's iconic Click Wheel navigation can still be found on the front of the device, just below the curved glass screen. The Nano's wheel measures just an inch wide, but its operation is no less intuitive and responsive than the larger wheels on other iPods. A durable hold switch still graces the top of the Nano's, and an off-center dock connection and headphone jack are found on its bottom. Be aware, though, that Apple reversed the location of the dock and headphone ports, which may create some compatibility issues with third-party accessories and docks, or possibly cause an awkward fit. As usual, Apple includes a white, molded plastic universal dock fitting for the new Nano, which could help in adapting any docking iPod accessories you already own.

Features
All of the features from last year's Nano have migrated to the fifth-generation model, including music, video, and podcast playback, as well as extras such as photos, calendar, games, alarms, stopwatch, contacts, notes, and clocks. If that weren't enough, Apple has upped the ante with an integrated pedometer, Genius Mix support, voice recording, a built-in speaker, video camera, and an FM radio that we've been asking for since 2001.

Even with the Nano's ever-growing stable of features, music playback is still the beating heart of this iPod. As a portable extension of Apple's popular iTunes computer software, the Nano offers an impressive number of options for playing music, audiobooks, and podcasts. The Nano supports all audio formats such as MP3, AAC, AIFF, and Apple Lossless, and it's a breeze to transfer media using Apple's iTunes software (a required install). For those of you with collections of WMA audio files, iTunes will handle converting your unprotected files (DRM-protected WMA files are a not convertible) into an iPod-compatible format. Niche formats, such FLAC and OGG, will also need to be converted; however, you'll need to use third-party software to get the job done.

The iPod Nano's ties with iTunes also brings fantastic media features, including standard, smart, and Genius playlists; the latter creates instantaneous 25 song playlists based around the characteristics of any of your favorite tunes. Aside from turning playlist creation into a simple, one-click affair, Genius playlists can be created directly on the iPod Nano, eliminating the hassle of creating and syncing playlists through iTunes.

Taking the Genius playlist experience one-step further, Apple has introduced a new feature called Genius Mixes, offering extended playlists of music grouped around a common genre. You can think of Genius Playlists as a more evolved take on shuffling your music library, with selections constrained by genre and ordered according to Apple's secret Genius mojo. Unlike Genius playlists, Mixes require no effort to create--they simply appear on your iPod as part of the automatic syncing process of iTunes. Understand, however, that if you set up iTunes to manage your iPod manually or prefer not to activate the Genius feature in iTunes, Genius Mixes will not appear on your Nano.

Another advantage of the iPod/iTunes relationship is the capability to download and transfer movies, TV shows, music videos, video podcasts, and other video content with minimal fuss. The Nano also handles iTunes-rented movies, many priced as low as $0.99, but typically costing about $3. Other welcome features on the Nano's video player include support for chapter markers, playback auto-resume, video podcasts, and subtitles. If you're wondering what video looks like on a device that's hardly larger than a pack of chewing gum--well, you'd be surprised. The extra twentieth of an inch added to the Nano's pixel-dense 240x376 resolution screen is a fairly significant bump over the previous model's 2-inch screen--especially when it comes to viewing videos formatted with a wide-screen aspect ratio. With its significantly larger screen, the iPod Touch is still the better choice if you plan to watch TV shows and movies frequently. However, for casually viewing short-form videos and podcasts, or showing off videos shot with the Nano's video camera, the quality and size of the screen makes is more than adequate.

A video camera and microphone are welcome additions to the iPod Nano; however, we're not crazy about the way they're placed right where you naturally want to hold the device.

The Nano's video camera
Of all the bells and whistles Apple added to the fifth-generation iPod Nano, the video camera is the most notable. Placed on the back of the Nano in the lower right corner (or lower left, if you're looking at the back), the small, bead-size lens brings yet another convenient and useful feature to an already impressive product. We're not thrilled with the camera's video quality, the location of the lens behind your hand, or the inability to take still photos, but it's difficult to criticize when you consider the Nano's relatively low price. A comparable, VGA-resolution video camera such as the Flip Mino has a street price of $130 and includes only a fraction of the features found on the Nano.

There are plenty of nice things to say about the Nano's video camera. First, the Nano's camera is easy to use, letting you to jump right into recording after only two clicks from the main menu. Its 640x480-pixel resolution and MP4/H.264 video recording format (bit rates range between 2,500Kbps and 2,800Kbps) works natively in iTunes and most video playback software as well as video streaming Web sites including YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook. With up to 8GB of storage, the Nano can store an impressive 16 hours of recorded video, and as far as convenience goes, you'll have a difficult time finding a smaller, lighter video camera than the iPod Nano.

In a perfect world, the iPod Nano would be able to shoot still photos in addition to video. Unfortunately, it can't.

In spite of its features, many factors prevent us from recommending the Nano as a camcorder when other options are available. Without a case, it's impossible to use the Nano without repeatedly smudging and abusing the lens on its back. Holding the Nano sideways and gripping its 0.25 inch-thick edges takes practice and patience. Its indoor video quality is poor, and without even basic controls for brightness and contrast, there's nothing you can do to compensate for bad lighting. The iPod's proprietary USB cable and one-computer allegiance makes it difficult to transfer videos to computers other than your own. Its videos are often shaky because of the Nano's exceptionally lightweight design. The Nano's internal tilt-sensor mistakenly recorded some of our videos sideways, requiring intervening software (such as iPhoto) to correct the orientation. There's no easy way to display your recordings on a television without purchasing a video dock or third-party video output accessory. Finally, audio from the Nano's pinhole microphone is easily distorted by wind noise. If you're serious about recording video on a sub-$200 budget, we prefer the image quality of the Flip Ultra HD (here's an image quality comparison).

These complaints aside, there's nothing about the Nano's newfound video recording capabilities that ruin the product. We wouldn't go out of our way to use the Nano's video camera over the one on our mobile phone, camcorder, or point-and-shoot camera; however, we're glad to have the option to shoot video with a Nano. The only instance where the Nano's camera might prove problematic is any situation where privacy concerns are at stake. With an increasing number of schools and health clubs banning camera phones because of privacy concerns, the Nano's video camera might be unwelcome in some circumstances. For better or worse, the Nano offers no outward indication (neither light, nor sound) when it enters video recording mode--making it a particularly small and stealth device for those interested in recording video unnoticed.

We never thought we'd live to see the day Apple would grace the iPod with an FM radio. Usually, we'd be pretty snarky about the late addition, but to Apple's credit, the Nano's radio includes some advanced features you won't find anywhere else.

FM radio
It seems hard to believe, but the fifth-generation Nano marks the first time Apple has included a built-in FM radio on an iPod. We have no idea why it took Apple eight years to bring radio to the iPod, but to Apple's credit, its FM radio is one of the best we've used on a portable device.

Common radio features such as station presets, selectable world radio bands, and manual or automatic station scanning control, are all handled in Apple's typical and intuitive style. Going beyond the competition, Apple's FM tuner includes support for radio station RDS data (often identifying artist and song title information, along with station call letters), including the capability to tag songs for later purchase, and even lets you pause and resume radio playback. We've seen song tagging and RDS support before, in Microsoft's Zune media player (looks like the Zune is actually teaching the iPod a few tricks), but the capability to pause, rewind, and resume audio playback are features that are unique to the iPod Nano. The Nano's time-shifting capabilities come courtesy of its built-in memory cache that can hold up to 15 minutes of recorded radio temporarily until you decide to resume playback.

We had limited luck using the Nano to tag songs from the radio; mostly because of a lack of area stations broadcasting the full RDS data required to identify songs, we had the same tagging problem when using the Zune. Song tagging aside, the Nano's FM reception was great overall, and its radio pausing feature came in handy more often then we imagined (especially during restroom breaks, phone calls, and other distractions). Like the radios on most MP3 players, the Nano uses the wiring of your headphones as its antenna--so be aware that changes in headphones, or using different headphones, may affect reception quality.

Voice memos
Recording voice memos is technically not a new feature for the iPod Nano, but previous generations of the Nano required an investment in compatible headsets or recording accessories to use the feature. Now that the Nano includes a built-in microphone, recordings can be made without additional accessories. However, if you're serious about using the Nano as a voice recorder, spending a little money on a better microphone isn't a bad idea. In our tests, we found the Nano's microphone placement causes a considerable amount of noise caused by handling the device to be captured. If you're careful to keep your fingers away from the internal microphone--no easy task with the mic behind the Click Wheel)--the 128Kbps AAC recordings made by the Nano get the job done and conveniently import directly into iTunes labeled with the recording's time and date.

Need some extra motivation at the gym? The Nano includes a built-in pedometer to help you track your steps and how many calories you burn.

Extras
Under the Nano's Extras menu, you'll find a list of features almost as long as the main menu's list. Traditional extras such as an alarm, stopwatch, calendar, games, contacts, clock, notes, and voice memos, have all made the jump to the Nano in its fifth-generation. A new item labeled Fitness now graces the Extras menu, grouping together a new pedometer feature with any other fitness-related items introduced by third-party add-ons, such as Nike+iPod kit.

The Nano's small, lightweight size already makes it a big hit with the fitness crowd, but the introduction of an integrated pedometer can only help its reputation. The pedometer records your steps, estimates how many calories you've burned, and lets you transfer the data to the Nike+ Web site whenever the Nano is connected to a computer. Nike+ Web accounts are free to create, but don't act surprised when they try to sell you on the Nike+iPod hardware kit.

Although not found in the Extras menu, the fifth-generation iPod Nano includes another new bonus feature called VoiceOver. Introduced as a necessary feature for Apple's button-less third-generation iPod Shuffle, VoiceOver gives your iPod the capability to announce artist, song, and playlist information in a multilingual synthetic voice. The feature comes in handy when you have the Nano in your pocket or bag and want to identify the currently playing song without taking your eyes off whatever you're doing. To use the VoiceOver feature, you'll need to install an optional voice kit software package for iTunes (the download is free) and purchase a pair of headphones that include a compatible iPod remote.

Performance
In spite of the dizzying assortment of features Apple has brought to the fifth-generation iPod Nano, its audio quality and battery life haven't budged. Apple rates the battery of the fourth-generation iPod Nano at a respectable 24 hours of audio playback and 5 hours of video playback (up from 4 hours), but neglects to estimate figures for video camera use. Once CNET Labs' testing is complete, we'll update this review with results.

Sound quality is not one of the Nano's (or any iPod's) strong suits. Apple has gone another year without introducing any sound-enhancement settings to the iPod line beyond its traditional slew of EQ presets. To be fair, while the iPod Nano doesn't offer the sonic richness and advanced EQ settings of a Sony X-Series or Cowon S9 player, its audio sounds balanced and should please most listeners. To make a dramatic improvement to any iPod's sound performance, we highly recommend upgrading from the stock Apple earbuds.

Video playback on the fifth-generation iPod Nano is better than ever, although holding your iPod sideways still takes some mental adjustment. The wide-screen-friendly, crisp, 204ppi display makes watching a full-length movie on your iPod Nano a legitimate (but still somewhat silly) possibility. Compared with the flat screens of the iPod Touch and iPod Classic, the fourth-generation's rounded glass screen makes it difficult to eliminate glare, but images still look remarkably bright and clear on it. Like most portable video players, the iPod has specific file requirements for video playback, so you may have to spend some time converting video on your computer before transferring it. Fortunately, the iPod Nano's video formats are widely known by purveyors of Internet video, which often arrives preformatted for the iPod.

The iTunes factor
If you're considering buying an iPod for the first time, we feel it's worthwhile to remind you that Apple's iTunes software is a required installation for your computer. The software is free and available for both Mac OS X and Windows computers, and we encourage potential iPod owners to get familiar with the software ahead of time to ensure that it works well for you and your computer. To learn more about iTunes, we recommend checking out CNET Download.com's latest review and any user feedback associated with it.

Worth the upgrade?
It's hard not to be swayed by all of the Nano's new features--especially its video camera. If you have an older iPod and you've been waiting for an excuse to upgrade, you can rest assured that the fifth-generation Nano is the best Nano yet.

That said, with the highly rated 8GB iPod Touch sitting pretty at just $199, you'll need to decide whether the Nano's slim design, FM radio, pedometer, and video camera are more meaningful to you than the touch screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and App capabilities of the iPod Touch. From our perspective, it's hard to go wrong either way, but the bright colors, sturdy construction, and lightweight design of the Nano make it an easy choice for children and athletic types.

HTC Hero (unlocked)

The HTC Hero (also known as the T-Mobile G2 Touch) is a fantastic touch-screen smartphone with enough style and power to take on Apple's iPhone 3GS and come out alive. It has zillions of useful features that make it a pleasure to use, from an address book that links to Facebook to a Teflon coating that dodges finger grease. We wish it were slightly faster, and its little chin may scare babies, but the Hero could rescue us from our iPhone addiction.

Chin-tastic good looks
We feared for the Hero when we first saw its publicity snaps. It looked like a trimmed-down version of its ugly older brother, the T-Mobile G1, because of its oddly angled chin. Thankfully, the Hero is much better-looking in person, although we still prefer the looks of its predecessor, the HTC Magic. Rakish beveled edges, a subtle brushed-metal trim, and a matte surface on the case--made of fingerprint-fighting Teflon--all add up to a phone that we'd be proud to wield.

See Sense
The Hero is the first phone to tweak the user interface of the Android operating system. HTC is calling its user experience "Sense," and we love what it's done.

The Hero's chin plays host to plenty of controls, including a rather unnecessary trackball

There are seven home screens that you can swap with the swipe of a finger, and you can add a range of widgets and shortcuts, as well as customizing the wallpaper. You can use Android widgets, and download more from the Android Market, but the ones that HTC has built for the Hero deserve special mention. The Twitter widget, for example, shows a live stream of tweets, and the e-mail widget lets you flip through your e-mail right from the home screen with a flick of a finger. The design of some of the widgets reminded of us the Palm Pre's 'deck of cards' user interface, and it's a good look.

You can also change your whole configuration, depending on your mood, by creating your own themes, known as "scenes." For example, if you don't want to see your work calendar on your home screen on the weekend because those Monday meetings stress you out, you can switch to your "fun" scene, with your music-player widget and relaxing beach wallpaper, instead.

The Twitter widget shows a live stream of tweets

So many choices could be overwhelming for some people, but the phone is set up well right out of the box, so you don't have to change anything if you don't want to.

Social network in your pants
We loved how the Hero grabbed our Facebook and Gmail contacts and merged them together in the address book. This feature can be a nightmare if your Gmail address book is unorganized, since it will drag in everyone you've ever emailed, so definitely clean up before you sync. But we liked how our friends' Facebook profile pictures and birthdays were merged with their numbers and e-mails, especially since the Hero ignores friends that aren't in your phone book.

The Hero also pulls in your Facebook and Flickr photo albums, and your friends' albums, and shows their photos alongside their contact information. Unfortunately, it doesn't support any other social-networking sites. According to HTC, there are no plans for MySpace, Bebo, and the like to get a look in. You can grab apps and widgets for those sites from the Android Market, but you won't see them in the address book and photo gallery.

Shopaholic
The Android Market is less censored than the iPhone's App Store, but that has both positive and negative consequences. There are loads of great apps on there and most of them free, but they don't tend to be as slick as iPhone apps, and finding good ones is tougher. When you do find good apps, though, they're easy to install.

The truth about typing
One of the most important features on a touch-screen phone is its onscreen keyboard, since you can't fall back on physical buttons. The Hero's keyboard is one of the best we've seen, both in its landscape and portrait modes. It offers a QWERTY layout, with excellent predictive text, and you can run through a training mode to help it learn your particular tapping quirks. There's a separate number keyboard, but you can hold down a letter key to insert punctuation and numbers into text without having to switch--a handy feature for typing things like passwords, which often contain a mix of letters and numbers.

The Hero boasts multitouch functionality but it doesn't, for some reason, work with Google Maps. Disappointingly, you have to use the zoom icons on the screen

Like the iPhone after its most recent update, the Hero supports cut, copy, and paste. There's even spell-checking functionality, although it's turned off by default.

Life in the slow lane
But it's not all sunshine and lollipops. Sadly, HTC has saddled the Hero with its old favorite Qualcomm 528MHz processor--the same as the Magic. Using the keyboard reveals the Hero's occasional sluggishness--switching between the landscape and portrait keyboards takes ever-so-slightly too long. Similarly, the phone sometimes seems to hesitate slightly when you're swiping around the home screens and interacting with the widgets.

We found the Hero to be stable, and, unlike the Magic, it rarely hung or crashed, but the occasional lag could get annoying when you're using the phone every day. One way to reduce the lag is to turn off the widgets, but we think that's a real shame, since they're among our favorite features.

Another area where the Hero bests the Magic is battery life. It's quite good for a touch-screen smartphone. We had no trouble getting a full day's use out of the Hero, even with plenty of Wi-Fi surfing and use of Bluetooth.

Solid Web surfer
Surfing the Web on the Hero is a pleasure, thanks to its accurate browser, which includes Flash support, so you won't miss a single whizzy ad. In our tests, however, the Hero didn't handle Flash video very well--our Crave TV videos were far too jerky to watch. And, unfortunately, the BBC iPlayer site's version of Flash didn't seem to be supported at all, so we had to rely on the dodgy beebPlayer app. We couldn't watch videos on the YouTube site either, but the built-in YouTube app worked perfectly.

The Hero has good connectivity, with Wi-Fi and 7.2Mbps HSPA for faster data over 3G, but we found the browser didn't load or switch windows quickly enough. We look forward to installing Opera and seeing if it does a better job. One fantastic addition to the Hero, as opposed to earlier Android phones, is multitouch capability, so you can zoom into pages with a pinch of your fingers to get at those tiny links.

Multitouch also comes in handy for zooming into photos, but, unfortunately, it's nowhere to be found in Google Maps. We had to use zoom buttons on the screen, which means we could only zoom into the center of the map. We were very disappointed to see Google Maps working less well on a Google Android phone than on the iPhone.

There's also a trackball for navigating your way around. It could be useful with Web pages and text, but we think it's overkill when there's such a responsive touch screen at hand. Overall, in terms of navigation, overkill is the name of the game, with way too many buttons on the front suggesting that the touch screen can't be trusted. The Hero's nowhere near as over-zealous as the Nokia N97, but, compared with the elegance of the iPhone, the plethora of context-sensitive menus and options occasionally left us feeling exhausted.

Media-monger
The Hero has a 5-megapixel camera that takes decent shots in good light, but it's almost useless in low light because of its lack of sensitivity. It also shoots video, but it takes forever for the camera to get up and running. As with most phones, the camera on the Hero is fine for snapshots, but it won't replace your compact snapper.

The 5-megapixel camera is no replacement for a dedicated compact snapper

Getting your snaps off the phone, and music onto it, is a different process from that of most phones, because there's no dedicated syncing software for the Hero. Instead, it connects to your computer via USB, just like a flash drive, so you can drag and drop the files you want or sync using most music software. We hate being chained to iTunes with the iPhone, but the lack of syncing software means there's no way to easily back up and restore all of your applications and configurations, and you must use over-the-air syncing with Gmail or Exchange to back up your contacts, although there are apps that can help.

Also, we didn't like that we had to "mount" the Hero each time we connected it by USB before we could access it. It does help if you just want to charge the phone without it being detected as a USB drive by your computer, but we like to transfer data frequently, and it's an extra step we don't need.

Conclusion
There's plenty missing from the iPhone, like Flash support, but what's there works fantastically well. Android, like the Linux from which it was spawned, has always had a whiff of geekiness about it--you're free to bolt on everything but the kitchen sink, but it's not a perfectly polished jewel that's always a pleasure to use.

The HTC Hero smoothes many of those rough edges, with a shiny new user interface that covers Android in widgety goodness. Additions like multitouch zoom, lovely Flickr and Facebook integration and a great keyboard make the Hero the best Android phone yet, especially since it's not as ugly as we feared. In fact, we've grown to like its jutting jawbone. If only it were slightly faster and slicker, we'd consider it an iPhone killer. As it is, we'll class it as an iPhone peer.

Samsung Omnia (8GB, Unlocked)

Along with the RIM BlackBerry Bold and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, the Samsung Omnia is one of the most requested and sought after smartphones of 2008. Why all the buzz? It's not so much the Omnia's touch screen that's drawing attention (after all, we've seen it in the Samsung Instinct), but rather Samsung's TouchWiz interface. It brings drag-and-drop widgets for the Today screen (a la LG Dare) and provides an extra level of device customization. Truthfully, it's not as slick as the Apple iPhone, but it does wonders to make the notoriously unintuitive Windows Mobile easier to use. Plus, the smartphone is loaded with productivity and multimedia features that truly make it an all-in-one device that will satisfy both consumers and mobile professionals.

There's still no official confirmation that the Omnia will be offered by a U.S. carrier, though we think the chances are good it will land on U.S. shores. In the meantime, Samsung was kind enough to loan us an unlocked version of the model that is available in Europe, so we could give you a preview of the smartphone. Keep in mind, we reviewed the European model, so it has some functionality that might not be available in our version (e.g., 3G support, video conferencing). Still, we think there's a lot of potential in the Samsung Omnia. If you simply can't wait, you can purchase an unlocked Omnia, but you'll dish out a steep $600 to $700 for the privilege.

Design
The Samsung Omnia is an eye-catching smartphone but in an understated way. It's simultaneously simple and elegant, with an attractive black-and-slate silver chassis and slim candy bar design that measures 4.4 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide by 0.4 inch deep and weighs 4.4 ounces. While light and compact, it has a nice solid construction and feels comfortable to hold and use as a phone.

The handset isn't adorned with many external controls, rather, like its sibling, the Samsung Instinct, and the Apple iPhone, the Omnia is all about the touch screen. The Omnia features a 3.2-inch diagonal TFT screen with a 262,000 color output and 240x400 pixel resolution. The display isn't as large as the Instinct's (4.25 inches) or the iPhone's (3.5 inches), nor is it as sharp as Apple's starlet. Sure, we could have used more colors and more screen real estate, especially for viewing Web pages and video, but it was sufficient for most tasks, and it was easy to read and vibrant.

As for text entry, there are several methods you can use in both portrait and landscape mode, including a full QWERTY keyboard, Block Recognizer, and Transcriber. The full QWERTY in portrait mode is pretty cramped, so we had a number of mistakes when composing text messages and e-mails. Also, like the HTC Touch Diamond, when opened, the keyboard takes up half of the screen, so if you need to enter text in any fields below the top half, you have to scroll down to access that portion of the page, which is annoying.

Like the HTC Touch Diamond (right), the Samsung Omnia features a unique touch-screen user interface.

The touch screen is mostly responsive and offers haptic tactile feedback that lets you know that your touch has registered with vibrations. You can adjust the intensity of the feedback as well as choose from various vibration rhythms under the VibeTonz folder in the Settings menu. In addition, the Omnia's display has a built-in accelerometer so the screen will rotate from portrait to landscape mode when you turn the phone. Again, there are options for you to adjust the sensitivity of the motion sensor under Settings. Here, you'll also find something called Etiquette mode, which will silence any tones when the Omnia is placed display-side down.

What makes the Omnia unique, however, is Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. TouchWiz allows for an extra level of personalization on your Home screen. There is a tray located on the left side with various applications, such as the clock, music player, photo gallery, games, and notepad. You can then drag and drop these "widgets" to the main screen so they're easily accessible to you every time you fire up your phone. Once you've customized the phone to your liking, you can collapse and hide the tray by tapping the arrow button. Beyond the Home screen, there's also the Main Menu page that organizes the major applications in a nice user-friendly view--very non-Windows Mobile.

All that said, we had a couple complaints about the touch screen and TouchWiz user interface. First, the Omnia didn't register our touch when we tried to use the scroll bar (to the right of the screen) when trying to navigate longer pages, so we had to use the directional pad or virtual mouse. Also, you can't add applications to the TouchWiz interface. You're limited to the preloaded widgets, which is a big downfall, in our opinion. As of right now, you get widgets for photos, the media player, FM radio, calendar, profiles, games, several clocks, new notifications, and the notepad. It's a decent list, but at the very least, we'd like the addition of a Web widget. If you find you're not a fan of TouchWiz or a you're a traditionalist, you can switch back to the standard Windows Today screen back or choose the "Samsung Theme 2," which presents a more simplified home screen, similar to that of the one on the HTC Touch Diamond.

While the Omnia is all about touch, you do get a couple of tactile buttons. Below the display, there are Talk and End keys, and a four-way directional pad. The latter can be turned into a virtual mouse; just go to Settings > System > Finger Mouse and enable the functionality. We appreciate the inclusion of this feature but didn't use it that often and stuck with the directional keypad.

The four-way directional pad can also be used as a virtual mouse.

On the right side, you will find a shortcut to the main menu page, a volume rocker, and a camera activation key, while the left side holds the headphone/power connector port. Unfortunately, Samsung uses a proprietary port for the latter, so be sure to keep track of the included cables and accessories. Also, there's no built-in stylus. One is provided in the box, but you have to attach it with the included lanyard, so it dangles off the left side; we definitely would have preferred it built into the device. Finally, the camera lens and flash are located on the back, and there's a microSD slot, but you have to remove the back cover and battery to properly insert the card, which is a bit of a pain.

The Samsung Omnia comes packaged with two power adapters, a USB cable, a wired headset with extra eartips, a 3.5mm headphone audio adapter, a stylus, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phones accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features
Though it doesn't look like a traditional Windows Mobile device, the Samsung Omnia does run Windows Mobile 6.1 with all the usual trimmings, including the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite and support for Microsoft's Direct Push Technology for real-time message delivery and automatic synchronization with your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts via Exchange Server. The Omnia can also be configured to access your POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts; we simply entered our Yahoo Mail login ID and password and were able to receive and send messages within a couple of minutes. There are plenty of other PIM tools to keep you on task and organized, including a task list, a task manager and switcher, a smart converter, a calculator, and a PDF reader, among other things.

For Web browsing, you could use Internet Explorer Mobile but the Samsung Omnia also ships with the Opera Mobile Web browser, which many find to be a superior browser. There's also Windows Live integration and a Google Launcher that gives you quick access to search, Gmail, and Google Maps. Unfortunately, there's no Flash support. As far as connecting to the Web, you can use the smartphone's integrated Wi-Fi or T-Mobile or AT&T's EDGE network. The Omnia is HSDPA capable, but as we noted earlier, we reviewed the European model, thus it only supported Europe's 2100 WCDMA bands. When and if the Omnia arrives stateside, we suspect (we certainly hope) it will support our 3G bands.

Phone features include quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging. The phone book is limited only by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and there's room in each entry for multiple numbers, e-mail addresses, instant-messaging handles, and birthdays. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a picture, one of 20 polyphonic ringtones, or a group ID. Bluetooth 2.0 is also onboard for use with mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, hands-free kits, object exchange, and dial-up networking. And no need for a Bluetooth GPS receiver, since the Samsung Omnia has assisted GPS.

Multimedia plays a big role on the Omnia. As an alternative to the standard Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Samsung includes something called the Touch Player, which features a nicer user interface and a functionality similar, but not as streamlined, as the iPhone's Coverflow. Supported music and video formats include MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC+, MP4, 3GPP, H.264, and DivX/Xvid. Other goodies include podcast support, a streaming media player, and an FM radio, though you have to use the included headset for the latter. As for memory, the Samsung Omnia comes in two flavors: 16GB or 8GB. Either way, you should have plenty of storage; plus, you have the microSD/SDHC expansion slot, which accepts up to 16GB cards.

The Samsung Omnia features a 5-megapixel camera with advanced settings and editing options.

The Omnia comes equipped with a 5-megapixel camera with a slew of advanced features. In addition to video recording and digital zoom, you get a flash, auto focus, and face detection. For still images, there are three quality settings and six size options. You have a grand total of 15 shooting modes, ranging from sports to sunset to fireworks as well as white balance adjustment, various effects, ISO settings, and much more. You can even geotag your photos with the embedded GPS radio. In video mode, you don't get as many tools, but you still get three size and three quality choices.

We were impressed with the clarity of photos, though we would have liked just a bit more richness in colors.

Picture quality was impressive. We were amazed at how clear and defined objects looked in photos, and the camera response time was also good. The only thing we thing we would have liked is a bit more richness in color. Video quality was better than most camera phones we've tested. Once done, you can, of course, send your photos via e-mail or multimedia message. The Omnia also has a Digital Frame application that displays the time and date, while rotating through your photo gallery in the background. Finally, you get TV-out capabilities and a video editing application is included on the device in case you want to make a quick movie on the spot.

Performance We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung Omnia in San Francisco using T-Mobile service and call quality was OK. In general, audio was good but there were several occasions where there was some crackling in the background, and it got to be a little distracting. We didn't experience any dropped calls, though, and we had no problem using an airline's voice automated response system. Our friends also reported fairly good results with just one complaint of slight distortion. The speakerphone was pretty clear, but the audio can sound blown out when you jack the volume to hear the calls in louder environments. We were able to pair the Omnia with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones.

We were generally pleased with the performance on the Samsung Omnia. It was responsive most of the time but suffered a bit of that notorious Windows Mobile sluggishness when too many things were going on at once. Browsing the Net on EDGE speeds wasn't ideal, obviously, but the smartphone had no problem finding and connecting to our Wi-Fi network so we could enjoy faster Web surfing. Music playback through the phone's speakers lacked bass and like speakerphone calls, the audio sounded blown out when we had the volume set to high. Again, we wish that Samsung included a 3.5mm jack so we could enjoy songs through a nice pair of headphones. Video performance was acceptable. We watched a couple of WMV clips, and sound and picture were always synchronized, but we'd still limit it to short clips.

The Samsung Omnia comes with a 1,440mAh lithium ion battery, which has a rated battery talk time of 10 hours and up to 18 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, the Omnia provided an astonishing 15 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge, which is one the longest results we've seen in a while.

Apple iPod Touch (third generation, 64GB)

Now in its third year, Apple's iPod Touch has evolved so many features and uses beyond media playback that we're not really sure what to call it anymore. Some flock to the Touch for its first-class mobile Web browser and e-mail support, while others see it primarily as a portable gaming device, and some still pick it up for good old-fashioned music and video playback. No matter how you choose to define the iPod Touch, Apple's third-generation version has arrived, flaunting 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities priced respectively at $199, $299, and $399. Its hardware design hasn't changed dramatically from the model we reviewed in 2008, but neither has its status as the world's most feature-packed portable media player.

Design
For better or worse, the first thing we noticed about the third-generation iPod Touch is how unchanged it looks. Side by side with the second-generation iPod Touch, you'd be hard-pressed to find a way to distinguish the two models from each other. Aside from minor differences in the etching on the back of the Touch, the second- and third-generation models are spitting images of each other

Just like its phone-wielding sibling, the iPhone, the iPod Touch is a touch-screen device with a glass-covered 3.5-inch screen that sports a 480x320-pixel resolution. In spite of its touch-screen interface, Apple includes a few physical buttons, including a slim volume control on the left edge, a hold switch on the top, and a home button on the face of the player, placed below the screen. The bottom edge of the Touch includes the same universal dock port and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack as previous models, piercing the otherwise unbroken expanse of chromed steel that wraps around the back and edges of the device.

The shape and dimensions of the Touch also remain unchanged (4.3 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide 0.33 inch thick), defined by a flat-glass front set inside a curved steel backing that feels natural in the hand but makes the iPod a little wobbly when you set it down on a table. Packaged with the Touch is an Apple universal dock connector USB cable, a pair of white earbuds that include a microphone and remote control on the cable, and a molded universal dock insert to use with any charging or speaker accessories.

Features
Out of the box, the third-generation iPod Touch includes an amazing music player, podcast support, video playback (including iTunes rentals and a YouTube player), a Safari Web browser, photo viewer, an e-mail reader (compatible with Outlook, Exchange, MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any POP e-mail service), an integrated iTunes Store for music and video downloads, and a host of smaller utilities (weather, calendar, maps, stocks, notes, voice memos, clock, contacts, and calculator). Provided become proficient with its touch-screen keyboard, the iPod Touch is more pocket PC than an MP3 player.

With version 3.1 of Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch firmware, the device's stock features are just the starting point of apps available. An iTunes App Store, accessible from the computer or directly from the iPod Touch, lets you download and install thousands of applications, including Internet radio players, games, voice recorders, and social-networking tools. You can also extend the capabilities of the iPod Touch using third-party "Made for iPod" hardware accessories such as AV docks, external battery packs, and speaker systems.

Apple first introduced its Genius playlist feature with the second-generation iPod Touch, letting you create instant 25-song playlists based on the musical characteristics of a single song. The Genius playlist feature is still here on the third-generation version, giving you an easy and fun way to generate playlists, provided their music collection holds enough songs to make interesting connections. You can create and save Genius playlists directly onto the iPod Touch, and with automatic syncing enabled in iTunes, you can also transfer them back to your computer.

With the third-generation of the Touch, Apple broadened the scope of Genius selections to include App Store recommendations and extended, genre-based playlists called Genius Mixes. After clicking on the App Store icon found on the main menu, you'll find Genius App picks in a separate "Genius" tab giving you a list of recommendations based on previous app purchases you've made. Genius Mixes are intuitively located in the iPod's Music menu, located by default in the lower submenu strip across the bottom, along with selections for artist, songs, playlists, and more. If you're the kind of person who typically listens to music by hitting shuffle, you might enjoy the way Genius Mixes provide a more curated and genre-specific selection of tunes with a minimum of effort. Those who are more deliberate about their music selections always have the option of knocking the feature into the "more" section and replacing it with a more useful menu item (podcasts, audiobooks, and so on).

Genius Mixes offer extended playlists of your music, which get programmed automatically by Apple. Think of it as "shuffle" with better taste.

Oddly, the Touch's Genius Playlist and Mixes features won't work if you haven't enabled Genius on your computer's iTunes software. If you find iTunes' Genius features too demanding on your computer's resources or too invasive of your privacy (the feature reports your listening habits to Apple), then you'll need to live without the features on your iPod as well.

Not every member of the third-generation iPod Touch family is created equally. Essentially, the 8GB iPod Touch model is still running on second-generation hardware that uses a slower processor than the 32GB and 64GB models and lacks support for new features such as Voice Control, OpenGL graphic support, and advanced accessibility features. As we've already seen with the first-generation Touch, future updates to the iPod firmware may bring features that only the latest hardware will support. Obviously, the 8GB model's $199 price tag makes it attractive to prospective buyers, but be aware that the lower price comes at the cost of performance and a few features.

Are you confused about what features are available on the 8GB Touch compared with the 32GB and 64GB versions? So were we. For the record, iPhone OS 3.1 features such as Bluetooth audio, Genius Mixes, and voice memo recording are available on all versions of the third-generation iPod Touch. Voice Control and accessibility settings, however, are the only features we've found so far that can only be found on the 32GB and 64GB Touch models (or iPhone 3GS). In the next few paragraphs, we'll dive into these features a little more to see if they're worthwhile.

The Voice Control screen of the Apple iPod Touch.

Voice control
As if touch-screen control wasn't futuristic enough, the iPod Touch now includes the capability to control playback using voice commands. To activate this feature, you'll need to press and hold the headphone remote control button until the Voice Control screen appears. Using the microphone built into the included pair of earbuds, you can call out a song, artist name, album, or playlist, and the iPod will interpret your commands and play the request. Playback features such as shuffle, skip, play, and pause can also be controlled using voice commands, but it feels a little unnecessary, since the earbud remote control is available to perform these functions without making you look like a crazy person. One of the coolest uses of the technology is the capability to engage the Genius playlist function by saying "Play more songs like this," letting you steer your listening experience without taking the iPod out of your pocket.

We found Voice Control to be consistently accurate when it came to basic commands, such as "play," "next song," "shuffle," and so on. You do run into some trouble calling up artists with funky names or funky spellings (too bad, P!NK), but that's to be expected. Overall, Voice Control is a fun feature to have, and even more fun to show off. We wish Apple had thought of an easy way to let you to Voice Control while the Touch is plugged into a car stereo aux input, but we've no doubt that third-party manufacturers will solve the problem with special cables or in-car charging docks.

The iPod Touch accessibility menu.

Accessibility
Touch-screen devices present a unique challenge to users with visual impairment. By digging into the General settings of the 32GB or 64GB third-generation iPod Touch, users can now enable features such as screen zooming, white/black reversal, mono audio, home button triple-click, an automatic text reader that will read everything from e-mails to entire Web pages, and a VoiceOver feature that offers spoken feedback of menus and any item selected by touch (apps launch with double-clicks in this mode). For users who have otherwise felt locked out of the iPod Touch and apps experience, the inclusion of these relatively deep accessibility controls is certainly an advantage over previous models of the iPod Touch, and a promising direction for touch-screen devices, generally.

iTunes on the go
Both the iPod Touch and iPhone let you browse, preview, purchase, and download content from the new iTunes Wi-Fi store. You'll have to hop onto an available Wi-Fi Internet connection to take advantage of the wireless music store, but once connected, you can search for any artist, album, or song in the iTunes music catalog, as well as movies, TV shows, music videos, audiobooks, podcasts, and iTunes U educational content. Store purchases require you to enter your iTunes password as a security measure. Once the download is complete, the audio or video is immediately available to listen to and will transfer to your computer's iTunes music library the next time you sync the device. The feature seems to work without any kinks. Even interrupted downloads pick up once a Wi-Fi connection is re-established.

Performance
When it comes to touch-screen performance and menu usability, few devices can rival Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone. In fact, during our reviews of the first two generations of the Touch, no competitor even came close to matching the easy, fluid, and snappy operation of Apple's capacitive touch screen and user interface. This time around, however, competition from Sony, Samsung, and, most notably, Microsoft, has narrowed the gap when it comes to touch-screen speed and interface design.

To maintain its edge, Apple is pushing the speed barrier where users feel it most: gaming. With a promised 50 percent increase in processor power and a new OpenGL graphic processing system, the load time and responsiveness of games on the third-generation Touch have been quickened dramatically. A game of Spore that took 14 seconds to load on our second-generation Touch, launched in just 8 seconds on the third-generation model. If games are your distraction of choice on the iPod Touch, the improved speed and graphics capabilities of the 32GB or 64GB third-generation models are certainly the way to go.

Unfortunately, as much as Apple seems inspired to push the limits of processor speed and video game graphics rendering, the attention it pays to audio quality and sound enhancement is at a standstill. The arsenal of sound enhancement settings packed into MP3 players from Sony, Cowon, and Samsung, lay in stark contrast to the unchanged and marginally useful list of EQ presets included on the iPod. That said, the balanced and smooth audio quality of the iPod Touch is likely to satisfy the majority of listeners, despite the limited scope of its audio control. Like all iPods, the third-generation iPod Touch supports playback for MP3, AAC (including protected files), Audible, WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless. There's still no support for WMA music files, but you can always convert your WMA tracks to MP3 within Apple's iTunes software.

The stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) audio streaming capability included with the OS 3.0 upgrade is one of the iPod's most long-awaited features. Pairing the iPod Touch with Bluetooth accessories such as stereo headsets, speaker systems, or car stereos is quite simple, and a record of previously paired devices is stored in the iPod's Settings menu. The audio quality and wireless range (about 30 feet) using Bluetooth is about what you'd expect from most portable Bluetooth devices, and we're happy to see that the audio from video playback and apps are transmitted over Bluetooth just as easily as music playback. We are disappointed, though, that Apple chose not to fully implement the Bluetooth AVRCP control standard, which would let you remotely control audio playback using other AVRCP-compatible devices. Curiously, support for play/pause control over AVRCP is included, while other AVRCP controls (skip, volume) are not offered. You should also note that keeping Bluetooth active on the iPod Touch will take a toll on its battery life.

If you are looking for a way to take video on the go, the iPod Touch may just be your new best friend. You can load the iPod Touch with video podcasts, TV shows, and iTunes movie rentals, or watch endless amounts of free video clips using the included YouTube widget or other third-party video applications. The viewing angles weren't quite as generous on the third-generation Touch as our second-generation model, but it's not worth us raising a stink over. Whatever diminishment you may notice in viewing angles is made up for in what we perceived as a noticeable improvement to color balance and contrast. During testing, the 32GB third-generation Touch presented a cooler, more natural color balance than the second-generation Touch, and it seemed less prone to washing out at higher brightness settings.

Apple has reined in its battery life estimates a bit from the previous generation, possibly because of the increased demands of the faster processor or the inclusion of new technologies such as Bluetooth. What was once a 36-hour rating for music playback has been whittled down to 30 hours. Video playback estimates, however, have held steady at 6 hours. Historically, our CNET Labs test results find that audio rating of the Touch falls on the conservative side (we squeezed 38 hours from the previous model).

Video battery life is a tough one to test for the Touch or iPhone, since the player has built-in provisions to interrupt video playback when the battery becomes low, requiring us to pick up video playback several times to gauge the full measure of video battery drain. That said, previous tests arrived at 5.8 hours of total (albeit intermittent) video playback.

Once CNET Labs have completed testing on this latest iPod Touch model, we'll update this review with the battery life results.

The iTunes factor
If you're considering buying an iPod for the first time, we always feel that it's worthwhile to remind people that Apple's iTunes software is a required installation for your computer. The software is free and available for both Mac and Windows computers, and we encourage potential iPod owners to become familiar with the software ahead of time to ensure that it works well for you and your computer. To learn more about iTunes, we recommend checking out Download.com's latest review and any user feedback associated with it.

Worth the upgrade?
We think the second-generation iPod Touch is one of the best iPods ever made. Inside and out, the iPod Touch is in a league of its own in the world of portable entertainment. If you have an old, worn-out iPod, and you're ready to upgrade, we think the third-generation iPod Touch should be your first consideration. That said, if you already own an iPhone or a second-generation iPod Touch, it would be hard to justify buying the third-generation Touch unless you find that the improved processing speed, Voice Control, or accessibility features of the 32GB and 64GB models are particularly compelling.

Also, be aware if you're jumping to the iPod Touch from an older MP3 player with basic capabilities, you may be in for a technological overload. If your needs are simple and features such as e-mail, Internet, and games all seem like overkill, you may be better served by a straight-ahead media player like the iPod Nano.