Gadgetory

this week on a special cnet tech review need some help deciding on the right tech gifts for your friends and family or even for yourself well get ready to feast your eyes on our favorite gift options for the holiday season the cnet tech review Black Friday buyers guide starts right now hi everyone I'm Molly wood and welcome to the cnet tech review where we collect our hottest videos of the week and tell you what's good and what's bad in the world of tech and offer some unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line at least that's what we usually do on the tech review but this is our black friday special so it's all good all the time this week we're wrapping up our top picks from the cnet holiday gift guide and showing them off under the product spotlight so let's get right to it on with the good our first product spotlight showcases what happens to be the most expensive item on our list 3d TV was a hot topic this year but not everyone is sold on the concept just yet that didn't stop Panasonic's 3d Viera line from topping our year-end TV list though here's David Katz my earth to tell you all about it hi I'm David Katz meijer from cnet.com and this is the panasonic tc-p VT 20 / 25 series this is our holiday pick is the top overall TV for a 2010 this is Panasonic's flagship TV for the year and it's also 3d television we'll get to all that in a little bit but first it's worth taking a look at styling this set Panasonic went very conservative around the edge of the TV you'll find the standard glossy black although it's actually a little bit bronze colored and there's a swivel stand here and some chrome accents but otherwise it's not really more remarkable than a lot of the other TVs out there turn to the side you can see it's definitely not an LED TV this is a plasma it's about three and a half inches thick but of course still plenty thin for most people it's definitely a flat panel as I mentioned one of the principal capabilities of the set is 3d it comes with one pair of 3d glasses additional pairs run 100 to 150 bucks apiece and of course you need one for each family member but once your family's equipped with those glasses and you put in some 3d content this TV does a pretty darn good job of displaying it's a 3ds very impressive looking it's also has fewer artifacts than a lot of the other 3d TVs on the market of course it's excellent performance with 2d also translates pretty well over into 3d the downside the Panasonic lacks the 2d to 3d conversion found on a lot of the other 3d TVs on the market but really don't think that's that big of a deal if you want to turn your 2d into 3d we found some issues doing that with some processing out there so we don't really miss it slide for 3d other features on this TV include the internet capability offered by VIERA CAST you can use that service to access Netflix videos as well as Amazon video on demand Twitter even skype if you buy an optional speakerphone attachment doesn't have quite as many content options or quite as much customization as a lot of the other competitors but it's still pretty good for your basic streaming services panasonic also threw in a good selection of picture controls although again there's not as many options as found on an LG or a samsung of those competitors but does offer the capability to play around with things like gamma and color temperature we also appreciate the THX mode on this TV was excellent again you can kind of put in THX mode and forget it for a lot of your critical viewing for movies and such speaking of critical viewing we really didn't think this was the best overall performing TV this year I it's real strength is black level performance now panasonic in the past has had some issue with the black level actually getting a little bit lighter over the lifespan of the TV we tested this one over the course of 2010 and it does actually get lighter but not to nearly same extent as the others and again when it levels off it's still really the best on the market in terms of achieving those nice deep blacks so we really don't think the black level fate is anything to worry about on this TV THX mode does offer excellent color accuracy you get a great skin tones and excellent primary and secondary colors TV also has very good video processing it handles 1080p 24 correctly although we did see some slight artifacts in that mode so purists might want to keep it at the 1080p 60 mode you do have that choice as you mentioned 3d performance is another strength on this TV it's crosstalk was among the best we've seen which means that it doesn't have very many ghostly outlines that are seen on some of the other competitors around 3d objects also that black level and color accuracy translates very nicely into 3d although it's not quite as accurate as some of the Samsung models we saw connectivity on the Panasonic is very good you got four total HDMI inputs three on the back and one on the side two component video inputs of PC and put two USB ports and even an SD card slot in addition to this land port for the wired ethernet connection overall the panasonic VT 20-25 series while pretty darn expensive is the best overall performance today 2010 and that's why it's our pic is the best TV for holiday shopping this year maybe it's best to just think of 3d is an added bonus rather than the main reason to buy a new TV but if you think it's time to dive into the 3d world the panasonic viera is tough to beat but maybe you're happy with the TV you already have so how about this gift idea to help you get more out of it the sony playstation 3 slim much more than just a gaming console the ps3 could easily become the center of your home theater experience brian song here with cnet com and we're signing the product spotlight bright on the sony playstation 3 slim now the ps3 claims it only does everything so we want to dig in and see if that holds true now cosmetically this is a lot sleeker console from its predecessor gone is the shiny black piano finish which I miss a lot and it's replaced by this duller textured surface and a metal accent on the front we like how they trimmed off the fat but it's lost some of its sex appeal at the same time under the hood this current ps3 slim is a beast the standard 299 model is loaded with a 160 gig hard drive it's bringing a blu-ray drive for movies in gaming you'll have built-in Wi-Fi Bluetooth support for accessories and the two USB ports in the front you'll also have easier access to the hard drive that's user upgradeable without voiding the warranty on the back you'll see the same connections as before there's an Ethernet port HDMI video port digital audio out and Sony's AV cable connection for component or composite now the ps3 flexes its technical muscle with exclusive titles like the accident venture treasure hunting exploits of nathan drake and uncharted two or the over-the-top blood-soaked battles in god of war 3 playing online games through the playstation network is absolutely free and that's a price that you can't beat sony is also getting into the motion gaming market with our PlayStation Move controllers and games the tech is more accurate than Nintendo's Wii butter remains to be seen how this will translate to more hardcore titles now if you're not looking for a gaming system it's still an excellent multimedia system it's one of our top-rated blu-ray players here at cnet it up scales standard DVDs you can purchase movies or rent them through the PlayStation Store and it's currently the first device to support netflix with 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound there are things the ps3 slim doesn't have there's no IR port to use universal remotes with it you won't be able to play your old ps2 games on the console because they've removed the backwards compatibility and sony has broken the hearts of hackers by removing the ability to install another operating system like Linux on its box but for 299 this is the best value in home entertainment that's also prepared for the future with software updates and a built-in blu-ray player that separates it from any other console I'm Brad Tom for cnet com with your product spotlight on the sony ps3 slim blu-ray netflix movie rentals and tons of gaming titles the only reason you need to get off the couch is for PlayStation Move games or maybe to go for a walk once in a while alright the ps3 wasn't the only one of our top picks that slimmed down this year the new streamlined 11 inch apple macbook air blurs the line between laptop and netbook and it looks good doing it too i'm dan ackerman and as apple's new 11-inch macbook air is one of the snazziest most popular laptops of the holiday season we're going to shine it under the harsh glare of the product spotlight now 11 inch laptops have really become very popular in the latter half of 2010 originally they were offshoots of 10 inch in town Adam netbooks kind of low-power low-cost systems but now you have 11 inch laptops with dual core ultra low voltage CPUs that are nearly as powerful and nearly as full-featured as regular 14 15 inch or even larger laptops Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air is the latest version of that super thin series from Apple if you remember the original macbook air it was not rightfully sell for only having one USB port the new version actually doubles at 22 you're still missing basics like an SD card slot on the 11 intrusion there's actually an SD card slot on the 13 inch version of the macbook air now in the 11-inch macbook air you get an intel core 2 duo cpu and nvidia is basic 320 graphics that's actually very similar to what you'd find in the basic 999 white macbook although this is a low voltage version of that processor which do get however is a pretty decent graphics for it not truly discrete graphics and enough processing power to do basic chance like word processing and web surfing and streaming video and pretty much what you want to do with your laptop nine to nine percent of the time one of the most interesting things about this new MacBook Air is this is the first MacBook with a 16 by 9 display which is pretty much what you find in any other type of laptop it's a 1366 x 768 display actually the 13-inch macbook air along with the other macbooks still have 16 x 10 displays if this looks very familiar that's because it's got the same flat key widely spaced keyboard that you see on other macbooks along the same large multi-touch trackpad it's almost as big as the ones on the 13 inch macbooks and of course it's got all those cool multi-touch features like using the four finger swipe here to get to all your windows pretty much new pc laptops have a touchpad that is as intuitive and works as smoothly with multi-touch gestures of course one of the reasons you really want to get a macbook airs because they're so slim and so sleek this guy is about point six eight inches thick in the back about point 11 inches in the front and when you open it up it wakes up from a sleep state very quickly in fact it even turns on from a full stop almost as fast if you're thinking that this new smaller screen size makes it look a little bit like an ipad just with a keyboard attached well that actually makes sense Apple is taking some of that iOS development and moving it into the macbook line in the case of the new MacBook Airs you can actually close the lid it'll go into a super low power standby state and you can leave it for up to 30 days without fully draining the battery i'm dan ackerman and that's the new 11-inch macbook air it's really hard to grasp just how thin the macbook air is until you see it in person and in fact we recommend checking out most products in the store before you buy them even if you plan on purchasing online all right our next category digital cameras I like the idea of a camera as a gift because you can open up the box and just start using your present to capture memories of the event after you charge the batteries of course here's Josh Goldman with our favorite snapshot shooter of the year hi i'm josh golden senior editor for scenic views and this is a look at the sony cybershot DSC w350 it's our top digital camera gift pick for the holidays while there are certainly a lot of cameras we could have gone with we think the w350 strikes an excellent balance of design features shooting performance and photo quality for its price this 14 megapixel ultra compact features a nice 26 millimeter equivalent wide-angle f27 lens 4x zoom with optical image stabilization and a bright 2.7 inch LCD all packed into a body that's no bigger than a deck of cards and it's available in four colors silver black blue and pink the W 350s controls and shooting options are basic and uncomplicated on top is the power button and shutter release with the rest of the controls here on back everything's pretty straightforward so just about anyone can start shooting with it right out of the box a switch here on the right lets you choose your shooting modes for still photos there's Sony's reliable intelligent auto program auto for those that want a little more control and several same modes including one tuned for use under water with an optional housing there's an easy mode to that locks down all but a couple settings and enlarges on-screen text making it perfect for newbies if you like to take panorama is that w350 makes it easy with a sweet panorama just press the shutter release and sweep the camera and the w350 will create a panorama shot in the camera of course there's a movie mode on the camera to that can record at 720p HD quality and you have use of the optical zoom lens while recording there's even software embedded in the camera's memory that helps you share your photos and videos online when the camera is connected to a computer photo quality overall is very good up to iso 400 but photos were usable even at ISO 800 and to some degree ISO 1600 so this camera is able to take decent photos in less than ideal lighting and while it's shooting performance can be a bit slow shot to shot it has a low shutter lag so you'll have a better chance of actually getting the shot you want being so small it's rechargeable battery is tiny and doesn't last long so you might want to pick up an extra battery plus no memory cards are included but it does take both Sony's memory stick pro duo cards as well as more standard SD cards all this adds up to make the w350 a great pick for a pocket camera the w350 is very much a point-and-shoot though so if you've got someone on your list that's looking for special features or manual or semi manual controls check out the other digital camera holiday gift recommendations i'm josh golden and that's a closer look at the sony cyber-shot w350 now this camera is available in other colors than pink but personally I say go for it so cute I'd still haven't found what you're looking for we're not done yet we have a couple more gift ideas coming up right after the break see you in a bit when the cnet tech review continues welcome back to the cnet tech review our weekly video digest of all things good and bad we've seen here at cnet TV and this week our holiday tech buying guide continuing on in the good these days tablet sorry readers and e-readers or tablets but Amazon's Kindle is holding firm it's for books here's why we still like that the Kindle is the e-reader that launched the category but will it get buried in an avalanche of tablets hi i'm molly wood from cnet and I'm putting the product spotlight on the amazon kindle three these days the kindle is starting to feel like the last man standing in the e-reader department barnes and noble revamped its nook to add a color LCD screen newspaper and magazine subscriptions and the android operating system people are using their iPads as readers and bigger numbers than ever expected and a new generation of tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab are similarly sized but offer a lot more features so can the Kindle still compete wall in a word yes there's a lot to be said for a gadget that does one thing and does it well and the kindle three is still the best at what it does the latest version of the kindle improved the already good 6 inch e-ink display which looks incredibly like text on a page it's also easier on your eyes than a backlit LCD at least for many people and it's certainly the only thing that's readable in direct sunlight so the Kindle still wins for best beach book this third generation is also smaller and lighter than the previous models it's probably lighter than a paperback in fact it's so holdable amazon also improved the speed of the page turns with this model and it made the page turn buttons a lot smaller and less intrusive giving the whole thing a much more sleek appearance the kindle three also has a better browser although it's still rudimentary at best it has Wikipedia access and a new built-in PDF reader that supports password protected pdfs and amazon has added the ability to share books if the publisher will allow it you can lend someone a book from your shelf for up to 14 days now that was a big feature on the nook and it's a great thing for the kindle to have plus you're not going to find this battery life on a tablet any tablet with the wireless turned off you get up to a month of battery time the Kindle still has built-in 3g amazon calls it the whispernet for downloading books on the fly but they've also built in Wi-Fi now and you can buy a cheaper Wi-Fi only version of the Kindle if you think you'll mainly shop for books at home or at public hot spots now the Wi-Fi only model is nice because Wi-Fi is often faster than cellular access but also because that model is extremely affordable it's just a hundred and forty bucks and the Wi-Fi + 3g model is 190 dollars those are good prices but as the e-reader wars keep on raging you can expect even those to get lower over time an Amazon's book selection still the best in the game there are almost 700,000 titles available and even though you'll still find some books that are dead tree only almost all the new books and best sellers are right there in the kindle store and your purchases are portable because amazon has made the kindle software available on almost every other platform you can download it for free on android iOS blackberry windows phone 7 and on and on and on now you could argue that the standalone ereader is a dying breed but we think there's still a place for a single purpose device like the kindle as long as it's affordable portable and flexible and the kindle three still pretty much meets all those requirements if you're a digital era bookworm to read our full review of the amazon kindle three go to cnet com and search for kindle for cnet com i'm molly wood and let's be honest 140 bucks for a Wi-Fi only kindle is a very doable gift idea but if you're the type to splurge and you want to more do it all experience well there's still that old standby the ipad if there's one new tech product that defined our year is this the Apple iPad I'm Donald Bell here to shine the product spotlight on this game-changing tablet the iPad debuted April of 2010 and immediately reset everyone's idea of what a tablet should be there are two main models of the iPad one that connects to the internet using a combo of Wi-Fi and 3G from AT&T and one that relies just on Wi-Fi the Wi-Fi models are priced at four ninety nine for 16 gigabytes 599 over 32 and 699 for 64 models with 3g are available in the same capacities but are priced at one hundred and thirty dollars higher out of the box you get the ipad a wall adapter and USB cable headphones cases docks are all sold separately and are all worthwhile investments looking at the iPad itself the design is constructed entirely of glass and aluminum giving it a field that's closer to a macbook then to an iphone it's 7.5 inches wide 9.5 inches tall and just a half an inch thick with the diagonal screen size of nine point seven inches on the bottom you have a dock connector and a speaker along the home button the slightest volume buttons and a mute switch and at the top you have the headphone jack a little pinhole microphone and the screen lock button compared to a smartphone or a dedicated ebook reader is not the lightest thing at 1.5 pounds but it's lighter and more convenient than a laptop and that oddly enough gets us to the heart of what makes the iPad great it holds its own between the smart phone and a laptop without making you think why am i bothering with this when I can just be using a smartphone or a laptop it sounds obvious but it's something that the competition hasn't been able to reproduce they go smaller or bigger but we just keep coming back to the iPad so getting past the design what's the iPad actually good for starting with the stock apps you get email a web browser youtube maps videos music calendar notes contacts and photos all of which have been optimized for the iPads large screen you'll find similar apps on competing products but you won't find these here you have links to the itunes store and the ios app store in a way you can boil down the success of the iphone the ipad and the ipod touch to these two killer apps with itunes you get direct access to the world's largest and most popular digital music store along with movies and TV shows that you need to buy or rent and a great selection of podcasts audiobooks and free educational content all of this content downloads directly to your device with no need to connect to a computer more importantly you have the App Store which gives you access to hundreds of thousands of third-party applications and games that can mold the iPad into tons of different uses if you want to use the iPad as an e-book reader you can download apples on iBooks app or the Amazon Kindle reader the barnes noble nook reader or even an app for comic books that's just one example but Apple really does have an app for just about every interest and that's a big part of the iPads appeal now there have been a few changes to the iPad since we first showed it off in April of 2010 after the update to iOS 4.2 the ipad now shares most of the features found on the iphone 4 including folders multitasking TV show rentals printer support and a new wireless streaming feature called airplay if you like staying organized the folder feature lets you group apps together under a custom label the multitasking capability allows you to run multiple apps at the same time and quickly jump back and forth between the currently running apps it's great for productivity but it's also fun just to listen to pandora radio while reading an e-book TV show rentals which came to the iphone the ipod touch in September are now finally on the iPad offering tons of popular shows for as little as 99 cents per episode if you have an AirPrint compatible printer you can now print email photos web pages and I works documents wirelessly from your iPad and if you own one of apple's $99 Apple TVs or you're thinking about getting one the iPads new airplay feature lets you send your videos photos and music straight to your TV over your home network add it all up and you have an awesome product that just keeps getting better it's also one of those few tech products that we feel good about recommending across the board whether you're a gadget fanatic or someone who typically shiz away from computers it's worth giving the iPad a try so that's the ipad from apple it's seen its top pick for tablets and it's also one of the most talked about gadgets of the year and more than anything it's a lot of fun so for cnet com i'm donald so I guess it wouldn't be a tech review without our final segment so for old times sake let's take a look at this week's bottom line the bottom line this week time to start shopping but before you run out the door don't forget to check out the scene at Holiday Gift Guide at Holiday cnet com while you're there you can find more gift ideas in a dozen different categories or use the gift finder to narrow down the choices to just the right one all right folks it's time for me to go but we'll be back next week with an all-new cnet tech review and until then there are tons of great videos available every day at cnet TV com thank you for watching and happy shopping