High Technology Product Reviews | Trends and News

To the casual observer, there's nothing particularly slim about the new Sony PlayStation 3's ($299.99 direct) sleek black housing—it's only when you compare it with its nearly three-year-old counterpart, the previous-gen PS3, that you see how much smaller it is. The bigger news here, however, is the $100 price drop; the original PS3 retailed for $600 when it launched in 2006, and up until last week, the least-expensive PS3 you could buy was $400—and that was for a console with an 80GB hard drive. A more-reasonable $300 now buys you an incredible gaming device that's more compact, sports a roomier 120GB hard drive, and is one of the best Blu-ray players you can find. In general, the new PlayStation 3 offers a near-identical experience to the previous-generation console, which, incidentally, is still available, but for $100 less. It's also $299.99, but with the larger case and a smaller hard drive (80GB), it's hard to see why anyone would opt for it over the PS3...

The first Windows Phone for T-Mobile, the HTC HD7 ($199 with contract) is a big, beautiful device well-suited for media and gaming. Like AT&T's Samsung Focus ($199, 4 stars), it steps out of the way to let Windows Phone 7's beautiful graphic design take center stage. But the HD7 still needs a few improvements, and we still recommend T-Mobile's more mature Android devices over this first-generation Windows phone. Physical Features and Call Quality The HD7's defining feature is its huge, 800-by-480, 4.3-inch LCD screen. It's big, all right, but it's no higher-resolution than any other Windows Phone 7 screen (even those that are physically smaller), and it's dimmer than the Samsung Focus's AMOLED screen. The phone itself is big at 4.8 by 2.7 by 0.4 inches (HWD), but not quite as big as Verizon's huge Motorola Droid X ($199, 4.5 stars). At 5.7 ounces, it's plenty hefty as well. Specifications Service Provider T-Mobile Operating System Wi...

If you're looking for a camera with big zoom, without breaking the bank, the 14.1-megapixel Kodak EasyShare M580 is a fantastic choice. This pocket shooter delivers 8x optical zoom, along with excellent image and HD-video quality, all at a $199.95 (direct) price that's hard to beat. The M580 doesn't have the slim build you'll get on some other cameras in this price range (like the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS ($229.99, ) or the Sony Cyber-shot W350 ($199.99, ), but what the M580 lacks in portability, it makes up for with excellent image quality, a large LCD, and big zoom. Specifications Type Compact Megapixels 14 MP Media Format Secure Digital High Capacity 35-mm Equivalent (Wide) 28 35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto) 224 Optical Zoom 8 x LCD size 3 inches Wireless Connectivity No HD Video Capture Yes Design and Features Undoubtedly the best feature of the M580 is the 8x optical zoom lens it packs into a 1-inch thick body. The nondescript camera comes in a me...

There's nothing new about a portable device that you can plug into a dock to use as a desktop unit too. Lots of laptops have let you do that for years. Somehow, though, the idea of a scanner doing the same thing seems like an exciting new trick, and it's the one feature in the Visioneer Strobe 500 ($399.99 direct) that's most likely to grab your attention. It firmly plants the scanner in two separate categories—portable and personal desktop document scanner. Ultimately, though, it's best appreciated as a capable desktop scanner first and a portable only as a decidedly secondary role. Specifications Maximum Optical Resolution 600 pixels Mechanical Resolution 600 pixels Maximum Scan Area Legal Scanning Options Reflective Flatbed No The scanner comes mounted in its docking station, which includes a 20-page automatic document feeder (ADF) and an output tray. The combination of the two is about the same size as a typical personal desktop scanner, with an 11.7- by...

Many small businesses could use the ability to print documents on larger than legal-size paper, but few affordable options have existed, particularly in multifunction printers (MFPs). The HP Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-All-in-One joins the Editors' Choice Brother MFC-6490CW in this small niche. Moreover, the 7500A's combination of supertabloid printing (up to 13 by 19 inches), fast print speeds, and a wealth of all-in-one and ePrint features edge it past the Brother (which is restricted to tabloid (11 by 17) format) as the new Editors' Choice for a wide-format inkjet MFP. Specifications Printer Category Ink Jet Type All-In-One Color or Monochrome 4-pass color Ink Jet Type Standard All-Purpose Connection Type USB, Ethernet, Wireless Maximum Standard Paper Size Wide Format Direct Printing from Cameras No Standalone Copier and Fax Copier, Fax Duplexing No The 7500 builds on the HP Officejet 7000 Wide Format Printer ($229 direct, 4 stars), one of several w...

The Dell XPS 15 ($1,115 direct), a desktop replacement laptop, is a wonderland of lavish features and cutting-edge components. Even more impressive is that most of its parts are customizable before finalizing your purchase: The XPS 15 can be completely over the top or priced to meet a certain budget. It's one of the few 15-inch laptops that has support for a full 1080p screen resolution, a Skype-certified HD webcam, floor-thumping speakers, and every wireless technology imaginable. If the Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 420M (with Optimus technology) aren't groundbreaking enough for you, there are options for quad-core processors and a more powerful graphics card. The only thing left to do now is hand the XPS 15 the Editors' Choice in the desktop replacement laptop category. Specifications Type Gaming, General Purpose, Media, Desktop Replacement Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Processor Speed 2.53 GHz Processor Name Intel Core i5-460M ...

The Dell Inspiron One 2305 (IO2305-3114MSL) ($849.99 list), available at Best Buy, is an all-in-one touchscreen desktop PC with a large 23-inch widescreen display. It has a 1080p HD display, wireless everything, decent design, and an attractive sub $900 price. However, it's a little sluggish on most functions, particularly the multimedia tasks like photo and video work that would look great on such a large screen. Maybe with a little more power and a more features, the Inspiron One could be a contender, but not this configuration. Specifications Type Multimedia, All-in-one, Touchscreen All-In-One Processor Family AMD Athlon II X2 RAM 4 GB Storage Capacity (as Tested) 750 GB Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 4270 Primary Optical Drive Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Design and Features The Inspiron One 2305 looks like most other all-in-one PCs—basically it looks like a widescreen monitor. It takes after the HP TouchSmart 600 series an...