Gadgetory

this week on the cnet tech review RockMelt your facebook off with the new browser this Samsung continuum doubles down on touchscreens best tube downloads youtube to your phone and brian cooley picks a fight with iphone fans it's all coming up 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 of course offer that unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line let's get started with the good the internet was abuzz this week about rockmelt it's a new web browser that aims to help you manage all of your social networking needs here's Seth Rosenblatt to show you how it works while rumors of a facebook phone persist one company has gone ahead and created an unofficial Facebook browser RockMelt backed by mosaic founder Mark Anderson among others is so tied to Facebook that at the time of the browser's release you couldn't even get an invite to download it without having a Facebook account rockmelt is more of a competitor for the social networking friendly flock browser than anything else but if that's what you're looking for you're really going to like rock mountain it takes the sidebar which interestingly made its chromium debut in flock 3 and mirrors it creating dual narrow sidebars the left side bar called the friends edge is dedicated to your Facebook friends showing who's online filter or bowl by favorites and a show all friends button the right sidebar the app edge is where you can toggle social networks providing one-click access to your facebook news feed your Facebook profile and your Twitter account an indicator will tell you when you've got new updates Chrome extensions that you install will also live here although they don't always work RockMelt has a few neat tricks up its sleeve there's a share button at the right edge of the URL bar from which you can quickly share a link to Facebook or Twitter with a note also when you land on a page with an RSS feed RockMelt will auto-detect it and provide a one click button for subscribing besides the sidebars sorry edges there are two design changes in Rockville worth noting the first is that the unified options menu has been shifted to the left of the browser mimicking designs seen an opera and the upcoming Firefox for the edges can be toggled here in the options menu or by hotkey but rockmelt also resurrects the dedicated search box since the location bar here possesses the same Omni powers that it does in chromium as well as facebook friend searching it's not entirely clear why the browser has sacrificed the screen real estate note that it won't search your Twitter contacts given the premium that the sidebars force on open screen space I can't say that this was a good idea more importantly rockmelt unabashedly forces you to login to your facebook account and share your friends list with it before you can use the browser the company says that it doesn't share your data with anyone and I'm inclined to take them at face value simply because these social networking features require a trade off if you're not comfortable sacrificing that level of privacy she was a different browser at the time of its release in November 2010 rock mountain is also a security risk it's built on version 6 of chromium while the stable build of chrome is already well into version 7 and is expected to hit version 8 before 2011 given the hyper social privacy busting behavior that rock mount encourages running without the most up-to-date security patches poses a massive potential security risk to users RockMelt is an encouraging take on the social networking browser phenomenon presenting an interesting alternative to flock it still has numerous kinks and bugs to be worked out but if you live and die by Facebook and Twitter this might just be the browser for you it's currently available on cnet download.com the first look at RockMelt I'm Seth Rosenbaum man that whole security thing is just kind of a buzz kill isn't it mean like Twitter or protect my bank information I guess maybe just launched chrome for banking rock melts really fun though now remember when just having a touch screen on your phone was a big deal well if the new Samsung continuum catches on having only one touch screen will just be kind of sad hi I'm Bonnie class senior editor at cnet com and we're here in New York where Samsung and Verizon different unveiled the Samsung continuum this is Samsung's latest galaxy s phone and its unique and then it has two displays we have a three point four inch Super AMOLED display here as well as a Super AMOLED ticker display down here the ticker display acts as a notification bar for your news feeds as well as social networking updates it will also alert you to new messages and voicemail and such you can also use it to control your music player the phone also has grips and for technology so if the main screen is off you can actually just touch the bottom here and it will activate the ticker display so you can just see your updates without having to re wake your phone as far as the other parts of the design it's very much like the other galaxy s PA just nice and thin and lightweight a little bit plasticky in which I've said bit more but not too bad it's running android 2.1 but will be upgradable to android 2.2 as a 1 Giga for coming word processor as well as a 5 megapixel camera with HD video capture like unfortunately being is going to be the default search engine as well as mapping application on here what overall looks like a very nice phone we're looking forward to checking out the ticker display the thief is really useful or just a novelty feature the same company will be available for pre-order on November 11 and in stores on November 18 and the cost is one 9999 with the two-year contract and after $100 mail-in rebate I'm Bonnie ton this has been your first look at the samsung continuum or verizon wireless you know the continuum is also the gadget of the week over on my other show the buzz report just in case you haven't seen it on this show we talked a lot about sexy smart phones and flashy tablets and even burly muscle cars but there are also plenty of digital cameras and monitors and even printers that never get a chance to shine so here's a look at a few of these sometimes overlooked products everyone America Franklin from cnet com and today we're taking a first look at the samsung syncmaster FX 2490 HD the FX is sleek and stylish looking with a very thin profile and unique looking chrome foots 10 when knock from the sides the foot stand does a good job of keeping the monitor from falling over but the panel still wobbles a lot when knocked the panel tilts back 10 degrees and swivels right and left 30 degrees but no other ergonomic options are included the connection options include two hdmi ports component and composite ports a coaxial antenna N and up to audio out port a headphone jack a USB port and an e x-linked port the FX includes a samsung TV like remote and is the preferred way of navigating the OSD picture options include typical controls like brightness contrast sharpness and some custom presets also there's a color temperature option and an option to adjust in red green and blue values individually in movies the samsung Display dark detail just as well as on the Samsung px 2370 will sit out most was the apparent green push noticeable in character faces making them appear sickly compared to the healthy looking faces of the PX 2370 however we were able to make some color adjustments in the settings and things improved greatly we found games to deliver a vibrant image with no hint of that green color tint problem after calibration at least in power consumption the FX would cost nine dot 53 cents per year to run compared with the PX 2377 dot 65 cents per year the FX has performance that rivals the PX 2370 it also has some of the best movie and games performance we've seen recently as a near full assortment HD TV connection options still for 419 dollars Samsung offers essentially a 24-inch television at a very appealing price once again this is eric franklin and this has been the first look at the samsung syncmaster FX 2498 hi I'm Josh Goldman senior editor with Cena and this is a look at the canon powershot SD 4500 is it's the company's smallest Compact magazine featuring a 10x optical zoom though the lens isn't wide-angle so it's not as flexible as some of competing models similarly it has a 3 inch LCD on back but it's a standard 233,000 dot resolution instead of a higher resolution screen that we're seeing on other high-end compact mega zooms overall though it's a nice design if you're looking for a simple easy to use compact mega zoom that's small enough to fit in a shirt pocket the SD 4500 is the second power shot with a high sensitivity 10 megapixel backside illuminated CMOS sensor now that sensor mainly improves low-light photo quality but it also allows for some speedy burst shooting getting up to 3.6 frames per second there are faster compacts but they usually make you wait while the camera stores the photos and the Canon doesn't however the rest of its shooting performance is average bordering on slow it's photo quality is overall very good thanks to generally excellent colour but like most cameras in this category subjects look soft and benefit from a little sharpening the SD 4500 is also capable of recording nice-looking movies and resolutions up to full HD 1080p at 24 frames per second and there's a stereo mic in front and use of the optical zoom while recording there's also a super slow motion mode that records video at 240 frames per second and a resolution of 320 x 240 so really only suitable for viewing on a small screen but it's fun nonetheless all of these features and its small size seem to come at the cost of battery life though the little rechargeable pack is only rated for a hundred and five two shots and using any of the burst or movie modes put real hurt on on battery life but if frequent recharging doesn't bother you or you're willing to buy an extra battery the camera is certainly a compact magazine worth considering I'm Josh Goldman and that's the canon powershot SD 4500 is hi I'm Justin you associate editor for cnet.com with a first look at the oki be 431 DN monochrome laser printer so it's boxy shape and generic aesthetic may be easily confused with other printers but this one deserves your extra attention the appeal of the three hundred and fifty dollar be 431 DN lies in its simple setup ease of use and extra features like an auto duplexer for double-sided printing and an ethernet networking that lets multiple users print at the same time all controls live on top of the unit here and you get your standard array of buttons and two line LCD which is really all you need for a simple monochrome we're also big fans of the dual paper inputs as well the main tray pulls out of the bottom and fits 250 sheets of paper but there's also a multi-purpose tray above it that can fit another 100 sheets most printers only giving you 250 so if you're looking for an efficient printer for simple jobs like business documents and text pages the B 431 DN won't disappoint it printed faster than all four of our competitive printers at an impressive 33.86 pages per minute and it also has the quality to match for its modern features affordable price tag and fast output speed the oki be 431 DN exceeds our expectations for a small business printer and it's well deserving of our cnet editors choice award so I'm Justin you this is the oki be 431 DN and that sounds good sounds good to me too Justin but enough of that for right now we'll get back to the cool phones and apps right after this quick break 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 continuing on in the good have you ever tried to show somebody a hilarious youtube video on your phone only to find out that you can't get a signal I know bummer well thanks to a new app called best tube you'll be able to play your favorite videos wherever you are hey guys welcome to tap that app i'm brian Tong and this is the show where we cover the hottest apps in the mobile space now we all love watching youtube videos on the go but what if you want to save those videos to your phone so you can watch the high quality versions anytime check out the free app in the android market place called best tube by jared w smith for android phones the app showcases the most popular and top rated videos but you can also search for a video that you're looking for once you've found it you'll have the option to preview it or download it directly to your phone's SD card you want to make sure you're on Wi-Fi when you use this app because the quality of the file will depend on your phone's current bandwidth an edge or 3g can be iffy now once it's downloaded you can view your favorite YouTube videos whenever and wherever you want and if you use a long press you'll also have other options to save the file as an mp3 or copy and rename it it's a free app but one negative is the ad banner that appears over each downloaded video if you click on it once it'll take you to another screen but it will never show up again now there aren't any apps like this available through the iphone palm or blackberries official app store so it makes best tube unique and easy to set up if you're looking to save those youtube videos you just can't get enough of then go with best tube and best of all it's free now if you guys have any other apps or dance moves you'd like to see send us along an email to tap that app at cnet com i'm brian Tong thanks for watching and we'll see you guys next week the show finally I can watch the bed intruder song any time I want which is pretty often you know that one right magix hide your wife hide your kids hide your wife cause they rapin errbody on you and I hope that made you feel good because now it's time for the bad sometimes it's hard to find a product that qualifies as bad for the show because most of the things we review have at least some redeeming qualities but that is hardly the case with this new cell phone for metropcs I'm jessica's all court with cnet com looking at the ZTE agent for metropcs now unfortunately this is one of those phones that has little to recommend it it's tall and slim with the soft touch back cover that makes it grip well and feel comfortable in the hand and it can slip into almost any pocket the screen is also nice and large for the phone's height and fairly sharp and clear looking however we did find that the navigation buttons below the screen are a bit constricted and you can see how tall and narrow the talk and hang keys are and the circular toggle here it's a bit too small to make navigation very finger friendly we do like the shortcut to the music player will give it that and we also enjoyed that the dial pad buttons are almost scaled so that typing in a phone number was no problem on the back is a 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder plus a vanity mirror inside there's a slew of metropcs branded apps including a navigator plus all of your usual organizer tools like the calendar there's instant messaging and the metra web browser plus some other preloaded apps like loopt we do have to say that call quality was pretty poor in our tests so to bring it all together the agent is a prepaid phone that will cost you $69 that's a typical price for a not too fancy phone you buy without a contract but frankly you can get better phones with metropcs for less or for a few dollars more we'd recommend you keep shopping around this is Jessica doll court from cnet looking at the ZTE agent for metropcs okay so I guess if you like wasting money on phones that don't really do much then I guess this could be the phone for you and also I want to meet you because why would you do that now let's see what we've got in this week's bottom line the battle between the iphone and android phones is raging and both sides of the fight have their own upsides and downsides so leave it to brian cooley in this week's top 5 to draw a line in the sand okay I gotta get my gear on for this one not sure what's going to get winged at me for this bit of sacrilege it's top 5 reasons android is better than iphone as laid out by the team at cnet's android atlas weekly podcast yeah I know that sounds like we're comparing an OS to a product line but you get it we're going to compare the universe's here OS devices apps and carriers between the two hottest smartphone platforms in the world here we go number five android is open source the folks behind it don't care if you hack the phone you paid for and they don't play games trying to outfox the way you did it instead they have lives and the android marketplace that's pretty much the jezebel of apps welcoming one and all with wide open listings add in the alternate android market places and it all adds up to apt democracy now yes that does mean you can get some lousy buggy scammy apps but you and developers are treated like a bunch of grown-ups in the Android world not like you're going to a daycare number for real multitasking yes iOS does multitasking now but not to the true degree android does apps there are free to do their thing like programs on a personal computer and yes as with a computer it means you can run into some conflicts but see note 1 above about daycare number three Adobe's Flash android phones support it Apple's don't and won't it means your Android phone can hit the web all of it with a browser not a custom app for each website you want to run well on your phone website apps aren't always cool innovation sometimes they're just baggage and with Android you don't have to use them number two handsets lots of them there's something like 80 android phones and Counting Apple has to really one and a half simplicity's worked well for them but then again there's that choice thing android has choice of features through all those handsets features you want features you don't choice of a real keyboard or just a pretty one on the screen choice of a device with removable battery memory expansion slot you get the idea as we see everyone adopting smartphones can one or one and a half devices really fit all before we check out the number one reason Android makes iPhone look like the phone for sheeple let's look at why we're even talking about this androids on fire in the US market it outsold iPhone in q3 of 2010 to grab forty-four percent of smartphone shipments against apple's twenty-six percent that comparison unthinkable a year ago globally Android shipments are up thirteen hundred percent in a year 220 million worldwide Apple still dominates in the number of apps available but where do you think that trend lines gonna be going and finally the number one reason Android is better than iphone really is carriers that pesky choice thing again android phones are on a bunch of carriers iphone is and always has been just on AT&T and even if you're one of the six people who've never heard the constant complaints about eight TNT's network you still might not want to move to it maybe you just like your carrier well they've probably got a good android phone waiting for you so if you're now thinking Apple might be more 1984 than not you'll want to check out cnet's Android Atlas weekly podcast hosted by just a neck house and a variety of other experts he plucks from around cnet every week just head to cnet com / live and for more top 5 goodness its top 5 cnet com I'm Brian Cooley thanks for watching the bottom line this week oh yes he did I would not want to be opening Brian's mail this week but we look forward to your unbiased and well thought-out comments and of course if you don't agree with Brian's list keep an eye out for the top five reasons why I phone is better than Android in the coming weeks okay folks with that it is time for me to go join us next week for a brand-new cnet tech review and until then there are tons of great videos available every day at cnet TV com I'll see you next time and thank you for watching