Gadgetory

this week on the cnet tech review nokia celebrates 25 years of cell phone innovations with some futuristic designs pick the right tablet with our holiday buying guide amateur movie makers can go pro with this mini camcorder and how to stay safe and secure when shopping online it's all coming up right now hi everyone I'm Hollywood and welcome to the cnet tech review where we collect our hottest videos of the week and we tell you what's good and what's bad in the world of tech plus offer our own unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line let's start things off with the good no matter what you think of Nokia now you have the nokia research center to thank for a lot of the mobile phone developments we take for granted from ringtones to text messages the center opened in 1986 and to celebrate its 25th anniversary in november the NRC held an open house to show off some innovations that we can look for in the years to come Bonnie cha was there for the tour hey everyone i am Banita from tina calm and we are here in Sunnyvale California where Nokia is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their nokia research center over the years they've come up with things like the ringtone SMS and now they are working on some really interesting exciting stuff including bendable displays and all touch screen phones so let's have a look at what they're doing ok so we are here with auntie salo who is the product manager of a very interesting device called the kinetic device so why don't you explain what it is and give us a little demo yeah so no kinetic device shows you how intuitive and easy interaction can be by bending and twisting a flexible device so by bending to watch you you can zoom in the image is pending away to mouth and twisting you can browse to me cheese either in the stepwise or keep it twisted good go slowly or fast if you twist more then when you find the image you just paint in the tomb went out to mouth we have a music application where you can browse list by twisting and then activate the song by by bending the device and unpause it and that's an Okie connect device a little while ago I wrote up about a nokia concept phone called which was an all touch screen phone and now we've got the senior design manager here your go to explain the concept so you've got the phone on front here and you've got you know in this sample there is the phone on the front and the labs on top right on the back side right and it of course I can interact for example dragging the content let's say an address to the map but then it fights ok so this application is called 3d World gates and it's basically lets you see through the planet so we are now looking on top of Sunnyvale where we are and i zoom in so it makes everything transparent below us and wherever I point with the phone it it always shows what's on the opposite side of the planet if you would dig a hole to South America able to dig to that direction you can show news or we can show images that people have uploaded from these places so there you have a look at some of the projects that Nokia is working on unfortunately probably won't see some of these devices in the near future but hopefully we'll see some of the technology in upcoming devices and we look forward to more great inventions from Nokia in the years to come I'm Bonnie top or cnet com usually bonnie is pretty critical of a flimsy handset that Ben's too much but I guess in this case it makes sense if nothing else did should lead to fewer cracked screens in the future and maybe some of those advancements will make their way into the tablet world as well but until then there are still plenty of models to choose from and more coming every day but if you're looking to buy a tablet in time for the holidays here's a handy guide i put together with donald bell to help you make up your mind I am ollywood from cnet com here with a 2011 holiday buying guide I'm talking with senior editor Donald Bell about tablets and e-readers hello Donald has gone what is happening in the tablet world is it all still just iPad in theory no in the hearts and minds of most probably yes it's our highest-rated tablet on cnet our editors choice it nails everything you kind of want content wise on the device it doesn't hurt that it's also like one of the most attractive-looking devices on the market so what are some of the alternatives to the iPad though if you decide you want to go a different direction and why would you sure really the alternatives all android based this year we saw a lot of android-based tablets coming out like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 this is one with really the kind of the same dimension the same screen real estate as the ipad 2 but you're getting the android interface the android options a lot of people i have android smartphones they're comfortable with the Android services and the Google way of doing things the other great choice that we recommend is the sony tablet s and Sony's done a lot of work to make the Android experience on their tablet kind of uniquely theirs you're also getting a lot of a PlayStation gaming support on this too so you're going to have gaming content here that you're not going to find on the iPad do what about people who are trying to decide between a tablet and an e-reader what are some of the differences there obviously other than the huge price difference well that's really I'd say the biggest difference you're getting now down to 79 dollars I want to thank for the the Amazon Kindle with ads they're going to work outdoors in direct sunlight where a tablet screen isn't going to do as well you're also going to get a lot better battery life out of ink piece because it's working so much less to have graphic performance and display all the colors so one big question this season with the introduction of the kindle fire seems to be what should you get ipad or kindle fire can you give us the pros and cons well yeah sure there's a big difference in price you're only paying 199 dollars for the kindle fire versus 499 at minimum for an ipad you're also getting a lot of the services that if you're a big fan of amazon you're going to have those built right into the tablet front and center and it it's going to be a great ereader as well so the kindle fire it seems like in some ways the ipad is a full-fledged tablet experience the kindle fire is a fancier ereader the kindle fire is is one of those good enough products that's going to be for a lot of people who don't want to spend the five hundred dollars you just couldn't spend the five hundred dollars is going to get you close and it's going to provide a lot of fun but it's not going to be the kind of device that you would take to work necessarily and use as I as a laptop replacement what do you say that a tablet or e-reader is going to be a popular gift this year yeah yeah there's plenty of them out there a lot of people want to sell them to you there's gonna be some good prices out there people when they get them they're going to know that there's something new to dig into and a lot of that app store experience we're going to be able to find games and content really customize it for what you're into is the big appeal great thank you so much tunnels absolutely for all of Donald's tablet and ereader pics visit our cnet holiday gift guide at cnet com and if you're trying to decide between tablet specs or really any wireless device from a phone to a computer to a router Brian Cooley has a new episode of device and conquer explaining all the different ways to get online with wireless not uncommon anymore to see someone walking down the street with all this stuff in their hands a laptop a tablet a smartphone and none of it makes any sense unless it's connected wirelessly but a lot of people are still unclear on 3G 4G Wi-Fi how you use them and where you find them i'm brian cooley here to lay out the flavors of wireless okay in no particular order the flavors of wireless our Wi-Fi 3G and 4G Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity which tells you absolutely nothing about what it is or what it does so that's why no one ever calls it by the long name what it really is is a wireless internet connection that you know from places like this like building lobbies coffee shops airport lounges it eliminates this the internet or Ethernet cable but gives you similar speed within a wireless range of let's say about a hundred feet from one of those that's a Wi-Fi router it could also be a Wi-Fi access point now Wi-Fi is generally the fastest of the connections I'll show you today but it also has the most brittle or limited range now when your device to text Wi-Fi in the area you have found what's called a hot spot but move too far away from that hotspot you lose your connection so here's our snapshot of Wi-Fi speed high range 100 to 200 feet enough to cover a home office or shop cost anywhere from free when you're at home and some public places to free with purchase at some merchants to really expensive on a plane or other places where it's a profit Center okay now 3G 3G comes to you over cellular networks like what powers your smartphone coverage here is the big story with Wi-Fi for example you can walk out of coverage literally in a few steps in some cases with 3g you might drive for hours and not leave coverage but the speed is like night and day this is just a fraction of the speed you'll get on a Wi-Fi hotspot so you make a trade-off now the way you connect is real different too unlike with Wi-Fi you don't run around scrounging up another network when you don't find coverage with 3g you have signed up for a carrier and their giant coverage area should do you if though you're in a dead zone you're stuck you're not gonna hop on to some other cellular carrier ad-hoc you're just gonna sit there fuming so here's our snapshot of 3g speed okay not great range up to hundreds of miles or more cost typically 30 to 50 bucks a month through your wireless carrier bill now as I mentioned 3g speed isn't really all that great it's mostly about coverage but that's where its new cousin 4g comes in it's the coverage of 3g promising the speed of Wi-Fi anyway you go or put another way it might finally make smartphones and tablets work as fast as they show you in the TV commercials but getting the 4g requires you cross two big hurdles first of all your network provider has to offer it that's a lot of upgrading it has to be done across the country then you have to go replace whatever it is you're carrying with something 4G enabled you see a 4G network does nothing to improve a 3G device we've been talking about all these flavors of wireless as they pertain to mobile devices but bear in mind these same technologies are doing great things for gadgets and products in your home that never go anywhere as well as in cars that never stop going everywhere but now wherever you encounter the flavors of wireless you'll understand how they work and how you get them mainly the flavor of wireless that I want is everywhere and always on and totally reliable but it sounds like that's not quite on the menu yet if you're looking for the type of gadget to take along to the types of places you probably won't have Wi-Fi you want to check out one of our favorites the GoPro Hero sports camera the gopro hero is back and after three generations not much has changed for the sports camera at least not physically I'm antuan goodwin let's take a first look at the newest member of the GoPro sports camera family the gopro HD hero2 now externally there are only a few places where the HD hero2 differs from the first gen gopro HD hero that we tested almost two years ago it's got a larger recording indicator on the front and three more indicators on the top back and bottom so that you can now tell from every angle whether this thing's actually on or not the lens is a higher quality glass unit but the focal length is still fixed at GoPro signature 170 degree wide angle now back there's the backpack port for connecting GoPros add-on modules such as an LCD or an extended battery there's a new hdmi video output and on the other side the analog inputs and outputs are now labeled you also won't need to break out the instruction manual to understand GoPros newly designed interface which now features icons text where the old model only had cryptic numeric codes this if anything is the single greatest update that the HD hero2 games over the predecessors but it's not the only one the HD hero2 also features a new 11 megapixel sensor for still photography and a new burst photo mode that captures 10 full resolution shots in just one second there's also a new slow-motion video mode that capture standard definition video at 120 frames per second that's perfect for capturing the minut details of motion that are normally too fast for the eye to see the rest of the GoPros video modes are still intact with the total of seven video modes including 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second and 720p video at up to 60 frames per second and there are four still photo modes including a time lapse single shot and the burst mode that we mentioned earlier the gopro hero line of cameras is still among the rugged ax stin the market this first in HD hero has fallen off no fewer than three cars at speed and it's no worse for wear and the increase in user friendliness and functionality helps catapult the HD hero2 back to the top of our list of favorite sports cameras you want to check out my full review of the gopro HD hero 2 on cnet com for even more details about the things that I liked and disliked about this camera and how it compares to the competition from contour until then I've been antuan goodwin and this is going to first look at the gopro HD hero2 sports camera system leave it to Antoine to come up with the action shots to help show off the cameras he covers but please tell me there are some outtakes well I go track down some lost footage let's take a break we'll be back with more CNN tech review right after this welcome back to the CNN tech review our weekly video digest of all things good and bad we've seen here at cnet TV continuing on in the good it is deeply annoying to sit down and watch a movie or a TV show on your big beautiful flat screen TV and having a giant streak of light on the screen but sort of hanging the walls with blackout curtains or putting the TV in the basement what can you do Brian Cooley has the answer five of them in fact I'll tell you today's list kind of makes a mockery of the name of this entire series top five how about the only five that's about how few good non-glare high-def TVs are out there for you you're about to meet most of them I'm Brian Cooley with the top five non glare matte screen televisions so you can watch TV without having to sit in the dark number five the toshiba TL 5 15 series it gets a good rating from us does the basics well it's an LED LCD with solid image quality but it's off angle viewing suffers more than most it's backlighting was a little unstable at times and you can pass on its passive 3d technology it does have toshiba's net TV platform of connected services which you're probably about as excited over as the content partners who aren't on it number for the sony kdl ax 720 series this is currently Sony's least expensive TV that combines 3d and a 240 hertz refresh rate to those are nice specs it's also their best TV right now that has one of these anti glare screens we rate this one good as well like the toshiba it's real energy efficient by the way it got our green pick award number three steps us up into the very good category with the sharp aquos quattron le 730 to you series it's a good-looking TV but more than that it's a big TV 70-inch TVs this size are rare even in rich folks homes but this one could actually be in your home thanks to a remarkably cheap street price around 2,500 bucks that's a great value on a per acre basis but that doesn't include construction costs for reinforcing the wall where you hang it number two the samsung LN d630 series this is the non glare TV you want if you just want a non-glare TV and don't care about built-in internet streaming and 3d and LED backlighting none of that here but a good picture in a nice-looking case with low glare for a good price that could be the formula okay before I take you to our favorite non glare TV why are there so few of them out there well three major reasons first a glossy screen tends to deliver a picture that looks a little sharper because matte screens tend to scatter the light of the image secondly a glossy screen may attract images like a Kardashian attracts stupid but the manufacturers say they contain the reflection better instead of kind of smearing it around like a matte screen and finally glossy screens look really shiny in the store and manufacturers think they catch your eye better and you walk over and check it out seriously okay the number one TV that won't act like some giant makeup mirror on your wall is the LG LW 5600 series this will get you the best image quality in the bunch today it's an LED backlit LCD it has good internet connectivity for streaming on the other hand it's passive 3d technologies kind of lame and if you get well off angle the picture goes to pieces pretty fast but if you want the best picture in a non-glare set this is your guy thanks to cnet's david katz meyer who personally loves non-glare tvs as i do and i would recommend you always check out his team's reviews before you buy any television or you might end up buying some real nasty shiny thing and a whole lot of blackout curtains to go with it and that's not a good for more top 5s like this go to top 5 cnet com i'm brian cooley thanks for watching it's kind of a bummer that you have to make so many trade-offs to avoid the glare although speaking of trade-offs let's take a look at another display that will never show up in that top 5 list as we move along to the bed now that 3d has made its way onto gaming consoles the idea of picking up a 3d TV may seem more worthwhile unless you actually get tricked into buying this little number from Sony hey what's going on everyone I'm Jeff Bakalar for cnet.com today I'm checking out the sony playstation 3d display now this sony playstation 3d display is a 23 and a half inch monitor specifically designed to use saima hbu technology now that allows two players to see their own screen with the use of these 3d glasses now the image each player sees individually of course is in 3d but it definitely works and it's actually a very cool effect it also comes with a copy of motorstorm apocalypse and an hdmi cable unfortunately though that's about all this display has going for it I experienced a handful of disappointments with the display during my month of testing it now for starters the display only comes with one pair of these 3d glasses which basically takes away the whole idea of some of you you need two sets of glasses for it to work and they go separately for about seventy dollars also there's only four games in the playstation 3 library that actually work with some of you so if you're buying this just for that the novelty is probably going to wear off pretty quickly now in terms of design the display is actually pretty slick but I don't understand how Sony is shipping this without a remote control how do you do that I guess it's good that the screen is so small though because you probably only want to sit within an arm's reach to play anyway luckily then you'll have access to the controls and buttons that are on the backside of the unit now this is a display monitor not a TV so there's no tuner around back you can't just plug in your coax cable you can they'll connect up to three devices it's got two hdmi ports and one component input I also like the fact that there's a headphone jack around back too so you can plug that in and not disturb anyone around you the PlayStation 3 has a lot of 3d games and they look great on the display picture quality is actually pretty good but when you're using the Sign love you technology things become a little dicey first off the two players need to sit really close together so that the angle isn't disturbed which really does not make for the most comfortable of gaming environments also considering how small the screen actually is also it's going to take you some trial and error to correctly program the glasses so that they work properly with the one and two player settings it's tough to imagine using the PlayStation 3 display in a practical situation Sony first download it as a great dorm room fit but it's five hundred dollars for that price two roommates could go out and buy their own bigger HD televisions it's also too small for most practical uses so I really think gamers will prefer a bigger screen speaking of the screen this is among the most reflective things I've ever seen in my time here at seen it the glare is awful well it's got good picture quality its price and laundry list of annoyances make the PlayStation 3d display tough to recommend to anyone in particular if it dropped in price maybe got a bigger screen size and rid of this god-awful glare I'd have an easier time recommending it to someone I'm Jeff Bakalar for cnet.com and this has been the sony playstation 3d display i'm sure it seemed like a good idea on paper but i can't really imagine two guys in a dorm room playing gears of war 3 while practically sitting on each other's laps but maybe it's a good date idea alright let's keep it moving right on down to the bottom line Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and now the holiday shopping season is in full swing odds are you're doing more of your shopping online than ever but are you doing it safely you will be if you follow these tips from Sharon Vaknin with the holiday season in full swing it's easy to get a little retail happy online and more than that on the web you've got customer reviews no long lines and no psychotic shoppers with pepper spray fighting you for products yeah that happened in real life but before you start crossing items off your wish list there are a few online shopping tips you need to know I'm Sharon backing for Cena here to show you how to shop safely and avoid online scam first only shop on sites that are trusted and well known like every holiday season you'll see a ton of email Facebook and Twitter spam for heavily discounted gadgets if you do click through on any of these offers always check the address bar to make sure the URL matches the website you're on scammers love creating websites that look and act like real ones only designed to steal your information so verify that URL and look for that lock that tells you the website is using a secure connection when you're sure the website is trustworthy and you're ready to purchase the product consider these things while checking out you'll probably be asked to create an account with the website that's fine but give it a unique password different from any other online account and do not let the site store your credit card information they do this to speed up the checkout process for future purchases but if someone gets a hold of your account they'll have easy access to your funds and definitely use a credit card instead of a debit card or checks because it's actually the safest way to shop online the electronic funds transfer Act limits your liability to 50 and sometimes zero dollars depending on your bank if you report fraudulent charges within two days of discovering them so always keep tabs on your online credit statement for fraud in order to take advantage of that limited liability when you checked out take a screenshot of the order page and save it to a dedicated receipts folder for future reference in case your order is somehow mishandled and finally even though this might be obvious please for the love of Technology do not shop on a public computer where there might be keyloggers installed which are programs that can record your keyboard strokes on the same note don't shop on a public unsecured network like a cafe or your neighbors Wi-Fi your web transactions could be intercepted but if you absolutely have to shop on an unsecured internet connection use a program like hotspot shield to protect you from any kind of spying you have any online shopping tips tweet me or let me know on facebook for cnet I'm Sharon Vaknin the bottom line this week spend without fear little shoppers I was kind of sad to hear that my plan to curl up in a Starbucks chair and get all my shopping done is probably a no-go but maybe I'll just bring my own internet because i do not do stores and that's going to do it for this week's show everyone but come back next time for an all-new cnet tech review when we'll start looking at our top gift choices for the 2011 holiday season until then there are tons of great videos available every day at CNN TV com I'll see you next time and thank you for watching