The Hardware – 4/5 stars
I was quite interested with the Samsung Moment since I first noticed the large display and the physical slide-out keyboard when it was announced. Initially it does appear to be bulky, but once you get handle it for a bit, it’s not too bad. It’s actually not that bulky and relatively light weight too (5.67 oz.) The Moment is coated with a metallic chrome finish that complements the black trim well. Sliding the phone’s keyboard out feels solid, however it is a bit flimsy when slid-out. The two different pieces wiggle slightly. I’m not sure if it was just my unit, but other slide out devices such as the Motorola Droid didn’t have this issue. On the front face you’ll find a physical Call and End button. There’s also the Home, Menu, and Back keys right above a touch pad. It’s a well appreciated alternative to the trackball found on BlackBerry and HTC devices. The optical joystick registers your finger’s touch just like a regular touch pad. I found it worked well and at times more preferable to use than the touch screen. There is a dedicated button on the right side of the phone that brings up voice recognition as well as the camera. On the left side there’s a volume rocker. I was glad to see a standard 3.5mm headphone jack at the top and a flash included with the camera on back. Overall, the phone is definitely a bit larger than other smart phones, but won’t make much of a difference when carrying it around.

The Display - 3/5 stars
The touch display on the Samsung Moment is a 3.2″ AMOLED (320 x 480) wide-screen. When I first used it, it looks just fine. It’s a bit recessed into the phone’s frame, but isn’t an issue. However, once you compare the display to an iPhone or HTC Hero, you’ll be in shock. The colors on the Moment has a blue tint to it while other phones seem to have much warmer colors. It’s still better looking than the display on Sprint’s most expensive device, the HTC Touch Pro2. The screen was slightly lacking in terms of responsiveness. I often had to flick panels or items slower deliberately for it to detect my command properly. The Android OS interface seems to run a bit smoother (less choppy) on the HTC Hero and the Droid Eris. I don’t know if I can attribute that to a display issue, a software bug, or a processor lacking, but it’s there. To sum things up, the screen just doesn’t have that vibrant spark that you sense when you first look at other cell phone displays.

Slide-Out Keyboard - 4/5 stars
Don’t get me wrong, I love my touch-screen device these days, but I often become frustrated with its shortcomings. I sometimes do yearn for the original speed and feel of that physical keyboard. On the Moment I was pretty satisfied with how texting played out on my fingers. The keys are for the most part well mapped out and placed. It did at first take me a while to get used to the bottom row of keys which were positioned slightly to the left. It doesn’t pose much of a problem but you’ll have to tuck your thumb if you need to hit the ‘Z’ or ‘X’ buttons. The keys are well-sized and offer a bit of an edge over a touch-screen keyboard that sometimes won’t register your keystrokes properly. Plus it’s easier to have the physical feel when multitasking and can’t keep your eye on the device at all times.

Camera & Camcorder - 3/5 stars
Something that was left out and that I was longing for with my current phone is a camera with flash to complement it. To that end, the Samsung Moment does oust my HTC Hero. The Samsung moment sports a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus. I took some outdoor shots with the Moment and the iPhone 3GS. The Moment resulted with brighter images, but the colors were slightly washed out. While the colors weren’t as rich as with the iPhone 3GS, it still looked better overall. Unfortunately the viewfinder isn’t as snappy as the iPhone. When held side by side and panning in different directions, the Moment was clearly a fraction of a second behind. The inclusion of the flash definitely does help with dark shots. The largest problem comes in with the software. It lacks any custom settings or features. The only available options are to enable geo-tagging, choose Hi or Low for Video Quality, and enable Flash. There’s not even an auto setting for the Flash. There’s no custom resolutions for images either. Even cheap camera phones offer some special effects and settings, this phone doesn’t. I should not that, it does allow sharing images with web services, email and MMS. There’s also an image crop feature built in. Overall, there’s still a lot of room for improvement for Samsung to do with a future iteration of this phone.

Music, Media and Syncing – 3.5/5 stars
Music playback through the phone’s speakers as well as the standard 3.55mm audio jack both sound great. The jack is protected with a plastic cap cover which I found to be a bit annoying and cheap-looking, nonetheless it’s there. Especially seems like a small complaint, when they finally adopted a standard earphone jack. The Music app that comes with the Moment is fairly basic. There’s no fancy album cover flow features as found on phones like the HTC Hero/Eris. Graphic layout aside, it is easy to navigate through, browsing by albums, artist, and songs. There’s also the standard play all or shuffle all option. Music on the Moment functions well enough and audio quality comes in at an enjoyable level. Being that it is an Android OS phone you have the option of downloading more enticing music apps and services such as Shazam, Pandora, and Last.fm.

User Interface – 3/5 stars
Perhaps I came into this review with the expectation bar set too high , but after using the Samsung Moment’s interface for a few days I began to appreciate the interface on my HTC Hero more. The Sense UI that HTC has customized Android is truly marvelous. On the other hand, the default interface on the Moment is quite bland. The only extra custom widgets are from Sprint and aren’t exactly too attractive. Some even look like 8-bit Nintendo era icons. Well maybe not that bad, but you get my point. There’s just not that WOW factor. That being said the phone does come with some extras. These include an Instant Messaging, Nascar Sprint Cup, NFL Mobile Live, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, and a few more. This aspect is quite neat since other Android devices from competing providers don’t include these features by default. I also did all my data syncing with Google this time around. I was able to instantly pull in my Calendar, Contacts, and Email from the ‘cloud’. The Google features worked smoothly.

Battery Life - 3/5 stars
Just like with my current HTC Hero I feel that the Moment is a bit pressed on battery life. The projected 5.5 hours of continuous talk time is a bit ambitious. I felt as though I reached a lot for the charger through my day-to-day tests. I would recommend having most services turned off  when not in use (GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth). This will just mean not checking your email and Facebook updates as often throughout your day. Additionally, I would consider the option of investing a little money in a portable external battery to take with you if you do run a little low on juice. That being said, most smart phones are known for their horrible battery life. The Moment isn’t an exception. Even the famous iPhone 3GS gets rendered useless in no time.

Bottom Line
My initial reaction to the Samsung Moment was definitely positive curiosity. After spending time over my week with it, to be quite honest there were definitely some shortcomings. None that would at all impede the average user who just needs a little bit more control over the features of their phone. The physical keyboard adds a nice functional flair to the phone and will be likely appealing to the heavy texting crowd. I know I voiced my complaint over the interface to be bit a little bit lacking as well as the battery life, but when it works, it does just about everything you want it to do. The display’s colors was a bit odd to get used too, but if you don’t have another device to compare it with, you won’t notice. The Samsung Moment comes packaged with Micro-USB charger, Headphones, and Micro-USB transfer cable and documentation. I would have to say that the Moment is a mid-range Android phone. It certainty isn’t as well designed as the Sprint HTC Hero. Even the Palm Pre offers a lot more for nearly the same price. Speaking of cost, the Samsung Moment will run you about $179 with a new 2-year agreement after a $100 mail-in-rebate.

DEAL: Samsung Moment for $80
Links: Sprint.com Samsung Moment

So what is it exactly that differentiates a $200 and $500 monitor of the same size?
That’s where some important factors come into play.

When it comes to choosing the right monitor, there are ten factors to consider:

• Price
• Size
• Resolution
• Viewing Angles
• Contrast Ratio
• Color Quality & Color Gamut
• Brightness
• Response Time & Processing Lag
• Video Inputs
• Monitor Stand and Adjustments

The first nine have very much to do with the panel technology used in the display, which I’ll discuss.

Price
If consumers are buying panels based on their needs, then the truth is that most people are out to get the biggest display for price. For most consumers, size does matter and big monitors are no exception. Many people can’t tell the difference in picture quality if the monitors aren’t side by side. That being said, if picture quality doesn’t matter as much as size, which is what the market is geared to deliver based on demand, then you can expect to pay the prices below. Monitors at these prices will suffice for most people and will meet their expectations for quality and features. And if you’re buying retail as opposed to online, expect to pay a more.

Size and Resolution
These often go hand in hand and there are a number of common resolutions for the various monitor sizes offered. All LCD panels are measured diagonally from corner to corner, which consists of the entire viewing space. This is different from CRTs which are measured by the size of their tube, which is partially obscured by the bezel. That’s why a 32″ CRT television display only measures about 30″ diagonally … but you probably don’t have to worry about that anymore.

While physical size plays a bigger factor in televisions, resolution is more critical when it comes to monitors due to the very close viewing distance. Resolution, with  regards to LCD monitors refers to the fixed number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. For example, a resolution of 1280×1024 means there are 1280 pixels in width and 1024 pixels in height for a total of 1,310,720 pixels. A pixel is the smallest physical unit that displays color that make up the resolution of a display. This differs from image pixel size, which isn’t related to the panel’s physical pixel count or size.

Given our two monitor examples, while both of these are 24″ displays, they have different resolutions. The Samsung 2494SW has a resolution of 1920×1080 and the HP LP2475w is 1920×1200. That respectively equates to 2,073,600 and 2,304,000 pixels, with the HP LP2475w having 10% more. This is where pixel density comes into play, which is the number of pixels per square area; in other words, the physical size of the pixels. A higher pixel density equates to a sharper picture. The change in resolution also changes the aspect ratio of a monitor. Previously, widescreen monitors differed from widescreen televisions in that the aspect ratio of a widescreen monitor was commonly 16:10, while widescreen televisions are 16:9. This changed with the advent of 16:9 monitors, marketing a 1920×1080 resolution as “True HD”, the same resolution as 1080p televisions. Since both of these monitors have a width of 1920 pixels, they will both display 1080p video at native resolution, the only difference being that there will be a gap of (1200-1080)=120 pixels or 60 pixels on the top and bottom of the clip. Don’t let marketing confuse you on “Full HD” monitors, the only advantage a resolution of 1920×1080 has over 1920×1200 is the lower cost usually associated with 1920×1080 panels. A 16:9 panel of the same [diagonal] size will have slightly wider horizontal and shorter vertical physical dimensions than its 16:10 cousin, at the cost of a lower pixel density.

Back to the topic of resolution. A higher screen resolution is desirable due to the increase in screen real estate, giving the user more workspace–more windows, icons, etc. Certain resolutions are common to particular sizes of monitors.

Common Resolutions and Monitor Sizes

Note that there’s some overlap in screen sizes. The screen size doesn’t necessarily determine the resolution and vice versa. As an example of this, 21.5″ monitors are typically 1920×1080, giving them the same screen real estate as 1920×1080 24″ monitors and a higher pixel density. This brings up the question of what is a high enough pixel density, to which I’d answer that panels are built such that they have an acceptable resolution for their size. The only recent complaints I’ve heard are about the 1024×600 resolution of 10.1″ netbooks, to which some companies have responded by offering models with 10.1″ 1366×768 panels, over a 40% increase in pixel count.

Viewing Angles
These are the horizontal and vertical fields of view where the display’s image appears acceptable. Typically viewing angles are poor with twisted nematic (TN) panels, which make up the majority of monitor panels. 160/170 degree horizontal and 160 degree vertical viewing angles are typical with TN panels, whereas 178 degrees horizontal and vertical can be found in nearly all in-plane switching (IPS), multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) and patterned vertical alignment (PVA) panels. TN panels are bottom barrel and mediocre viewing angles are just one of  their weaknesses. TN technology’s greatest success is that it’s cheap, and since the market is driven by the demand for dime-a-dozen monitors with little regard to quality, TN displays are plentiful.

Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratio refers to the ratio of the lightest color (white) to the darkest color (black) that the monitor is capable of displaying. Traditionally panels were rated based on their static contrast (the ratio above), but the recent implementation of dynamic contrast has created some confusion for the consumer. Dynamic contrast (DC) used in LCD displays is a method to artificially increase the contrast by lowering the backlight when a dark image is displayed on the screen. We end up with an LCD panel that’s marketed as having a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, but has a much lower static contrast, around 500-1000:1. This is exactly the case for our two example monitors. The Samsung 2494SW is listed as having a 50,000:1 DC while the HP LP2475w has a contrast of 1000:1, yet their static contrasts are both 1000:1. While dynamic contrast works well when the panel displays darker images, the highlights and bright areas of the darker images may appear blown out or overexposed. All in all, an LCD with a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast and 1000:1 static contrast has an inferior contrast ratio to a plasma panel with a 3000:1 static contrast. The higher the static contrast, the better. While 500-1000:1 is common for LCD panels, organic LED (OLED) displays are able to naturally achieve much higher contrast ratios along the lines of 3000:1 static and 1,000,000:1 DC. Currently, OLED displays are only available in a few very expensive TV models, but monitors should be commercially available in the not-so-far future. It’s definitely a tech to keep your eye on and there should be some interesting OLED advances shown at CES next month.

Brightness
All modern monitors have more than enough brightness for all indoor lighting conditions, which is why this shouldn’t be a deciding factor. LCD panels are typically backlit with fluorescent tubes called cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL).  Over the past few years, manufacturers have introduced panels backlit with LEDs, which results in a better picture for a number of reasons. Brightness is measured in candelas per square meter (cd/m2). Older LCD monitors can usually be found with a brightness of around 250 cd/m2, whereas newer ones are anywhere from 300-500 cd/m2.  For indoor use, a properly calibrated monitor will be set around 80-120 cd/m2, low levels that cheaper monitors won’t adjust down to without a loss in picture quality.  Only laptops really require higher levels of brightness for outdoor use.  In fact, most of you probably have your monitor brightness set much higher than it should be.  Think of brightness as the “black level”. The ideal brightness setting will display the darkest black while still being able to differentiate between as many shades of grey as possible between pure black and pure white.  You’ll need to calibrate using a colorimeter for the best results, but you may have some luck with a grey scale test chart.  This is the same for the contrast setting–it’s likely set too high, turning many shades of a color into fewer shades by crushing similar colors together.

On a properly calibrated monitor, you should be able to differentiate between shades

There’s a growing consumer trend that high brightness and saturation equate to a better image, driving the production of extremely bright backlighting and stuff like glossy screens. (eww!) In actuality, these end up oversaturating and overexposing the image. While monitor standards are vital for people doing color corrective work, such as photographers, having a properly adjusted monitor will display a wider range of colors and thus a better image.

Color Quality and Color Gamut
A monitor’s color gamut is the range of colors that it can display accurately and is largely dependent on the backlighting. NTSC and Adobe RGB 1998 color gamuts are common profiles used to rate a monitor’s color gamut in the coverage of a color space chromaticity.

As a wide gamut prosumer monitor, the HP LP2475w has a rated 102% NTSC color gamut, while most TN panels are around 82%. You’d be hard pressed to find color gamut coverage for many of the TN panels out there since they’re marketed as bang for your buck monitors, not necessarily for their quality color ranges. Generally, TN monitors have a poor color gamut and color accuracy. This is because TN panels represent colors using only 6-bits per color as opposed to 8-bits and therefore cannot display 24-bit truecolor (16.7 million colors). Instead, TN panels use dithering and interpolation to simulate the desired colors. While the color simulation is noticeable, most people aren’t aware of the differences as they’ve only ever been exposed to TN panels. Almost always, monitors using IPS, MVA and PVA LCD technologies will have superior color representation over TN, but you’ll pay for the difference. The cost is sometimes significant, as seen in the price between the $209.99 Samsung 2494SW, which uses a TN panel, and the $549.99 HP LP2475w, using an H-IPS panel, one of the IPS technology variants.

Processing Lag and Response Time
I’m going to make this brief as you only have to be concerned with an excessive amount of lag in PVA panels. These both relate to the time it takes the monitor to respond and change its image–namely in regards to image persistence as it refreshes each frame at 60hz, aside from the few 120hz NVIDIA 3D Vision rated monitors available. Neither of these will likely have any effect on your viewing experience on non-PVA monitors. If you’re in the market for a high-end S-PVA panel, it’s likely that you’ll do your homework on whether it will fit your needs. Since color correction work won’t be affected by slight lag, trading a slower response time for improved color accuracy and other features is acceptable.

Video Inputs
There are a number of inputs commonly found on LCD monitors and almost all will be equipped with a DVI input and often a VGA input as well. There are some outliers that only have an HDMI input, for example, so keep your eye out. While you likely only need a DVI port, more inputs will give your monitor versatility when connecting to different devices.

On this HP LP2475w we have two DVI ports, S-video, composite, and component inputs, HDMI and DisplayPort support, SPDIF out and six USB 2.0 ports. Short of having a built-in TV tuner with a coaxial connector, this monitor has everything. The addition of DisplayPort support is a nice touch, particularly useful to those looking to take advantage of ATI’s Eyefinity multiple display technology. With HDMI and s-video/composite/component support, this monitor can also be used with any number of gaming consoles or can be attached directly to a DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD player, effectively doubling as a 24″ 1080p television that can function independently of a computer. In comparison, the Samsung 2494SW only has one DVI and VGA port, as you would expect from a 24″ monitor at the $200-250 price point.

Monitor Stand & Adjustments
Would you buy a car without adjustable seats? Well, maybe if it saved you some cash. A stand with proper monitor adjustments can make the difference between viewing the screen comfortably and well … not. The HP LP2475w has it all; height, tilt, swivel, and 90-degree pivot rotation.

The Samsung 2494SW just has vertical tilt, the only adjustment that couldn’t be removed without making it non-functional. While the monitor is still very usable with only having a tilt adjustment, you might have to stack a couple of books underneath to bring it to the proper height. While cheaper monitors can skimp on stand adjustments, a prosumer monitor like the HP LP2475w is expected to fully adjust, which is one of my complaints about Apple monitors.

The Big Question
So what’s the best monitor? That’s for you to decide. I know, it’s a pretty lame answer. I’d say the best monitor is the one that fits your needs (or wants) at the lowest price. While this article didn’t delve into brand quality, you may be surprised to find out that many of the monitor and television brands use panels from only a handful of panel manufactures. An example of this that stirred up some controversy a few years ago was that the higher priced Apple 20″ cinema display used the same LG panel as Dell’s UltraSharp 2005FPW. Lastly, take the manufacturer’s warranty into account, it can make the difference between a monitor continuing to work years down the road or not. Now that you know what to look for, go out and do some research before you purchase your next monitor. If your needs are few and you have a tight budget, it’s a fairly easy decision. But if you’re a gamer with some fun money or a professional looking for a high end monitor, you have a lot of options.

Editor Note: Please welcome Josh Shapiro to the Skatter Tech team as the new Hardware Expert. More articles like these are on there way! Follow us on Twitter (@skattertech) or on Facebook.

Best Battery Life: Asus Eee PC (1005HA-EU1X)

One of the early companies to debut with the popular netbook market was ASUS and for the amount of time they have gained quite some experience in terms of their hardware designs and innovations. Enter: the Eee 10.1″ model available to customers in a spacious 160gb hdd. The display is a 1024×600 resolution WSVGA made for more ease in viewing your content. The core specs are similar to most other netbooks out on the market but perhaps what makes this netbook so popular today is the lightweight and professional looking design. The newly revamped keyboard is a great example of how far along their lineup of netbooks has come. This one also boasts a whopping 10.5 hr battery life!

Buy: Asus Eee PC 1005HA for $330

The Basics: MSI Wind (U123-003US)

Another early contender in the market of netbooks is MSI with their lineup of mobile notebooks dubbed ‘Wind.’ These attractive netbooks are not only easy on the eyes but also easy on the hassle. According to customer ratings and reviews, this piece of hardware runs spry thanks to its 1.66 gHZ processor and 667 onboard memory. Also attractive this option is the crystal clear display measuring 10.2″ and the more powerful Intel GMA 950 graphics. Should be getting plenty of mileage as well with 9-cell lithium battery and you even get a protective case to boot.

Buy: MSI Wind U123 for $380

Well Rounded: Samsung (N110-12PBK)

Samsung has seemingly been slow to adopt into the world of netbooks but I guess with time and patience you get the right product out into the world. The design is solid and its internal hardware is highlighted with Intel’s GMA 950 for video and 160gb hard drive  for storage. Also included in this tidy little notebook is Bluetooth support. Screen sizes in at 10.1″ making good use of the more capable graphics card. Runs Windows XP like a champ.

Buy: Samsung N110 for $375

Mid-Range: Acer Aspire (751h)

Arguably the brand that has been seeing a lot of market share in recent years is the Taiwan based Acer. Known for its affordable machines without sacrificing an arm and a leg, the public is now treated to one of their latest entries into the netbook coliseum. After many revisions, the Acer Aspire is now a lean mean fighting machine. Updated with the 11.6″ size screen capable of doing 1366 x 768 resolution (720p) this easily sits higher up on the food chain in the netbook world. The brilliant screen is not put to waste as it also is outfitted with an HDMI port for the greatest HD experience on the go. Plus with HD audio and support for up to a total 4GB memory you start see a blurring in the line between netbook and notebook. But staying true to its nature this fella weighs in at just 3 lbs!

Buy: Acer Aspire 751H for $390

Sweet Design: Toshiba (NB205-N310)

Also a newer brand to deliver on the netbook market is Toshiba. They already have a good reputation for making well priced and reliable notebooks so it’s not surprising that they deliver on a well made netbook. This particular model boasts a 10.1″ screen with a nice crisp 1024×600 resolution. Perhaps the most distinguishing of this netbook is the elegant design. The row of indicators light up to tell you what services you have on. The card reader is placed in the front instead on the side. The keyboard is spaced well and large enough for those with larger hands to type comfortably (as comfortably as you could on a netbook). I particularly found the raised keys on the keyboard to be a pretty aesthetically pleasing. The NB205 series are preloaded with Windows 7 starter and pack a larger 250gb hard drive that will be sure to keep the media users happy.

Buy: Toshiba NB205 for $309

Specs Master: Gateway EC Series (EC1435u)

Gateway continues to keep me interested in their latest lineups especially with their entry into netbook production. This model in particular goes head-to-head with the  Acer Aspire matching its screen size of 11.6″. It weighs in light as well and reviews have cited it to run quiet without too much fan noise. The touchpad is multi gestured and it feels nicer and more responsive than the Aspire. The operating system that does come preloaded is Windows 7 Home Premium64-bit. Max 4 GB memory capacity, 160 gb hard drive, 1x HDMI port, and 1.2ghz celeron processor.

Buy: Gateway EC1430 for $550

Best Graphics: HP Mini (311-1000NR)

HP is perhaps the leader in affordable and reliable computers and with their inclusion of a netbook lineup you can probably expect to see the same treatment. This time around it boasts a look slightly more synonymous with their full-sized notebooks and overall taking on a sturdier look (it shows in the weight slightly higher than the rest). It boasts Nvidia’s ION Le graphics solution and handles your higher quality video with less hassle and interruption. This paired with the bright 720p screen will make your media playback all more enjoyable. Battery life is also good, rated at around 6+ hours.

Buy: HP Mini 311 for $450

Tips the Scale: Lenovo IdeaPad (S12)

The Lenovo IdeaPad is pretty much a skinny-fat. It’s still marketed as a netbook however its screen size is 12″ (1024×800 resolution) and weighs roughly 3.4 lbs.  It is chock full of all the features you can find in the other netbooks out there. It sports the classic IdeaPad look  on the outside with a full-sized keyboard and a functional touchpad. Underneath the hood you’ll find a capable Nvidia ION chipset and 2gb RAM to power all your netbook endeavours. Comes preloaded Windows 7 32bit. If you’re looking to get the most out of your netbook hardware, look no further this one fits the bill!

Buy: Lenovo IdeaPad S12 for $435

This is a part of our ongoing Skatter Tech Holiday Gift Guides.

Things To Consider When Buying HDTV:

• Browse for TVs online using Amazon.com and NewEgg.com.
  Use the filters they offer to narrow down by price and size.
• Bigger isn’t necessarily better.
  Consider viewing distances when purchasing a TV.
• Which resolution? 720p vs 1080p?
  If it’s over 50 inches, get 1080p for sure. If under, consider 720p.
• What kind? Plasma, LCD, or LED?
  Skip to the bottom for more details!

Samsung PN42B450 Plasma HDTV 42-inch 720p

I am a student, so when I bought this TV for only $625, I was ecstatic. Now, this Samsung is once again around that price on Amazon, so I advise you to buy it! I love the quality when watching anything on this plasma. It does not have any internet connectivity such as the other two models listed below, but I can connect it to my laptop easily through either a VGA or HDMI cable and stream HD fine. If on a budget, pick up this TV!

Buy: Samsung PN42B450

Sony BRAVIA Z Series KDL-46Z5100 LCD HDTV 46-Inch 1080p (240Hz)

The quality of this Sony impressed me from the start. In addition to its great quality, this TV features several HD inputs, internet connectivity, as well as online widgets to make your entertainment experience better. You can also connect your camera, USB storage device, or a mp3 player to the TV via USB ports.

Buy: Sony BRAVIA 46Z5100

Samsung UN46B8000 LED HDTV 46-Inch 1080p (240Hz)

Although this TV comes with a hefty price tag, no one can debate its quality. At Fry’s, when I saw this LED, the picture I saw amazed me. Even though I knew that the salesmen purposely set its settings to their best, it was beautiful. It includes everything the Sony features and more. Also, the 1.2″ depth and light weight definitely impressed me.

Buy: Samsung UN46B8000

My piece of advice:
Articles from different sources concerning the differences between 720p vs. 1080p sometimes give contrasting advice. Here are my 2-cents on the issue: after going into several stores and researching online, I found that unless I sat two to three feet away from the screen, I found little to no differences between 720p and 1080p on screens smaller than 50 inches. I bought the first Samsung on the list below, and the quality, when watching HD satellite, looks almost the same when comparing it to my other 46 inch 1080p Sony Bravia back at home. But again, go into stores and see for yourself.

Watch out for salesmen being bias, they might try to mislead you! Quick story- I bought my TV at Fry’s Electronics. When I went into Fry’s, I already knew that I wanted to buy this TV, but I browsed around anyway to see other comparable TVs. I bought this TV on a budget, so I did not want to spend anymore money than what I already allocated. Anyways, as I am browsing around, I notice that my TV looked terrible when compared to the other ones in the store. I began talking to a salesman about the differences between 720p and 1080p, but he only talked about 1080p and gave me cons to 720p TVs. As I moved in closer, I noticed that my TV and the other ones in that section (all of which were 720p) looked dusty and poorly lit. In addition, unlike the other 1080p HDTVs, the ones in this section hooked up to DVD players and not Blu-ray players. I asked the clerk why they did this, to which he responded “Oh, well, uh…the building wasn’t set up properly for it.” Okay, seriously? Do you really expect me to believe that? (I did not say that, but I should have!)

When it comes to plasma versus LCD, again, check it out at a store! In the TVs I saw, plasma’s give deeper black levels and provide better viewing angles. However, LCDs can be found in larger sizes, weigh less, and do not have the “burn in” issue that some older plasma TVs have. With the newer plasmas, burn in is not really an issue. What about plasma vs. LED? LED TVs usually come with internet accessible features, a good number of HD inputs, and incredibly thin widths. LED, a relatively new technology, performs better in some respects to plasma, such as depth perception and brightness, but for the most part when comparing a 1080p plasma and 1080p LED, the difference between the quality is not worth the price paid. But then again, I am a college student, so I tend to be very frugal with my money. Don’t get me wrong- LEDs are beautiful and great for anything, whether it be movies or gaming, but I feel that the current prices are too high.

This Gift Guide is a part of our ongoing Skatter Tech Holiday Gift Guide.

Best Choice: PlayStation 3 Slim (120GB HDD)

No surprise here. I would still recommend the PlayStation 3 as the best Blu-ray player. It’s now slimmed down and cheaper than ever before. Other decent Blu-ray players will cost nearly half as much, but lack can’t match what the PS3 offers. A standalone Blu-ray player will require purchase of an expensive WiFi adapter to get online. The PS3 has WiFi built in, plus it’s a media center too. You can playback music, photos, and movies on your PC on the big screen with the PS3. You can even store a local copy on the whopping 120GB HDD. It’s entirely upgradable with software updates too. NETFLIX STREAMING TOO

Buy: PlayStation 3 Slim | Link: PlayStation.com/PS3

Most Affordable: Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player DMP-BD60

Panasonic has always been a key player in the world of video entertainment. This particular model made our list for its straight-shooter build and features all contained in a competitively priced package. The HDMI+ and 24bit sound connections ensures that you will have a true cinematic experience, no strings attached. In addition to Blu-ray playback, this device will even upconvert your old DVD collection and playback CDs. (MP3, MPEG2, and JPEG supported too!) Most importantly it’s one of the most affordable ones out there. While there were a few sub-$100 Blu-ray players on Black Friday, this still offers the bang without leaving your wallet empty.

Buy: Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc Player DMP-BD60

Best Looking: Samsung Blu-ray Disk Player (BD-P4600)

This is probably the best-looking Blu-ray player out there. It won’t be an ugly box sitting under your fancy HDTV set. It’s also packing plenty of features most Blu-ray players don’t. It’s got built-in up-scaling and WiFi. That means old movies look better and you’ll even have access to Netflix and Pandora. Firmware upgrades are also just a click away. In addition it can playback DivX, MP3s, JPGs, and more.

Buy: Samsung Blu-ray Disk Player (BD-P4600)

Web Content: LG Network Blu-ray Disc Player BD370

If you are a fan of web content, the LG should not to be left out. In addition to High Definition 1080p Blu-ray playback, the LG player supports access to CinemaNow, Netflix, and YouTube. Of course, it also supports, now-legacy, CDs and DVDs. It’s priced fairly reasonably at around $180 and offers better playback quality than other cheaper models.

Buy: LG Network Blu-ray Disc Player BD370

Massive Overkill: Sony BDP-CX7000ES 400 Blu-ray Disc Mega Changer

Where do I begin? Yes, this is a Blu-ray player. Not just any Blu-ray player, probably the most massive one you’ve ever seen. It holds 400 discs and can switch through them automatically with your remote control. It sports a PS3-like cross media bar interface and will display cover art for every disc in the device through the on-screen visual browser. With 7.1 Audio, DVD up-scaling through HDMI, USB flash drive support, and even a quick slot for Rental DVDs this is probably the most hard-core player out there. But that’s only if you’re are made of cash and are a “movieholic.” This costs about $1,900. On the plus side, they include two AA batteries for the remote. ;)

Buy: Sony BDP-CX7000ES 400 Blu-ray Disc Mega Changer

This Gift Guide is a part of our ongoing Skatter Tech Holiday Gift Guide.

Body Design: 4/5 stars
Keeping with the environmental theme, the Samsung Reclaim is available to customers in two colors: “Ocean Blue” and “Earth Green”. Although the colors are quite bright and standout, it has a nice glossy feel and texture. Plus, it stands out and is a nice change from the standard black and silver trimmed phones that most phones have today. The Reclaim has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which is great for texting. Although they keys were somewhat narrow and cramped, it should be fine after some getting used to. There are dedicated left/right soft keys and send/end buttons. A speakerphone key, okay, and back key are also included. The large size and color almost reminded me of Fisher Price toys, but they are solid and comfortable. There’s also a volume rocker and a camera shutter key on the side. I was also truly surprised to see a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which even some smartphones launched earlier this year didn’t offer. There’s also a standard microSD card expansion and an micro USB port concealed under a plastic cover. Other than that, sliding out the keyboard reveals a 2 megapixel camera on the back. The device is fairly compact to fit into just about any pocket.

Display and Interface: 4/5 stars
The Samsung Reclaim sports a 2.6-inch QVGA 320×240 pixel display. Although the colors and graphics aren’t stunning, it’s appropriate for a phone in this price range. The phone uses Sprint’s fairly new “One Click” user interface. Everything is controlled by the directional pad and text entry with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The UI is well polished, fairly responsive, and even has an “eco-friendly theme” incorporated. It’s fast to navigate, easy to use, and you’ll find the usual array of address book, calendar, world/alarm clock, calculator, memo, and stopwatch programs. Furthermore, there is even a chat client (AIM, Live, Yahoo), Facebook, MySpace, and a Mobile Email client. Although the Web Browser isn’t anything to get excited about, staying informed and even updating Twitter statuses is painless.

Camera: 3/5 stars
I didn’t expect too much out of the Reclaim’s camera when I picked it up. The quality is mediocre, images lacked color and were a bit blurred even with a steady hand. I did like the dedicated capture key on the side, which was convenient. The max capture resolution is 1600 x 1200 pixels. Fortunately, the user interface was quite impressive. It has plenty of options including self-timers, brightness setting, custom tones, night shot, and a few other fun features. The phone surprisingly also offered the ability to share images by uploading Facebook or Flickr as well as MMS. The Reclaim can also capture videos, however quality isn’t any better than taking photos. A newer iteration could use a few improvements.

Music Playback & Sync: 3.5/5 stars
The multimedia features were quite impressive for a phone in this price range. With a standard headphone jack and microSD expansion, this can easily be turned into a fairly decent MP3 player. Although the included card was unfortunately only 512MB, picking up a 8GB microSD is just $20. The phone supports playback of most major formats (MP3, AAC, & WMA) including support for Amazon MP3 and iTunes Plus Tracks. Transferring media over is quite simple with a micro USB cable, which I wish Sprint had included with the packaging. The Samsung Reclaim also has access to Sprint’s Music Store. It’s also compatible with Stereo Bluetooth Headsets such as the Jabra Halo.

Phone Calls + Texting: 4/5 stars
The most important feature of any phone is making calls. The Samsung Reclaim fell a bit short compared to other devices with slightly worse signal strength. Despite that it didn’t lack on quality for the most part. The person on the other end could hear me just fine. The speaker phone was a bit choppy at times. The phone battery can last through about 6 hours worth of calls with a full charge. When not in use, it should last at least 2-3 days on standby. Plus, with a full QWERTY keyboard messaging others is quite a snap. It was quick to send text messages and even using the instant messaging features.

Environmental Benefits: 5/5 stars
If I wasn’t told this was a recycled phone, I wouldn’t have known. The build quality is pretty impressive and it’s actually better than many other phones in this price range. If there’s a way to get people to “Go Green,” this is one of those. While most eco-friendly devices are over priced or lack on features, the Samsung Reclaim doesn’t linger on either. Sprint has taken the initiative to cut down on technology wastes in the next several ears. Along with Samsung, they managed to manufacture a device from bio-plastic, making the phone 80% recyclable. Even the packaging is entirely recycled materials and the printed ink is from soy-based materials. Although cell phone chargers don’t consume much power, Samsung even emphasized on the Energy Star approved AC Adapter. The phone is also pre-loaded with a number of links to Guides to living a healthy eco-friendly lifestyle. Sprint also donates a few dollars of the proceeds made with each sale to programs that help benefit the environment.

Bottom Line:
While most people are caught up in the smartphone trend, devices and initiatives such as these are often overlooked. Non-smartphones such as this Samsung Reclaim still account for the vast majority of mobile phone market share. The price is probably the best part. It’s available for just $49 with a new two-year contract. It’s probably even free if you are eligible for an upgrade. This phone has just about all the features an expensive top of the line device had just a year or two ago. I wouldn’t recommend this phone for Business or tech savvy customers, however it’s beyond excellent for students, those on a budget, or those looking for an environmentally friendly device. The Reclaim doesn’t sacrifice any important features. I would definitely love to see Sprint push this initiative further and apply it to even the smartphones that are becoming increasingly popular. If you are looking for a new device to make calls, text, and even to listen to music, definitely take a look at Sprint’s Samsung Reclaim.

Deal: Samsung Reclaim for FREE
Links: Sprint.com – Samsung Reclaim

Using Powermat is quite easy. There’s only one cable needed to power the Powermat itself. Gadgets can be placed on any of the three magnetic charging spots on the device. It plays a futuristic sound and display an LED indicator to verify that it’s charging. If you begin to get annoyed with the sounds once the “coolness-factor” fades, there are buttons on the back to adjust the volume and indicator brightness level as well. An additional powered USB port has been conveniently added to the back to charge legacy devices that don’t yet have support for the Powermat.

Here’s when it gets tricky. The devices you own just don’t charge on their own if you place them on the Powermat. You’ll first need to place them in special Powermat sleeves. There are a number of receivers offered, however we were provided with three: iPod Touch Sleeve, Nintendo DSi Sleeve, and iPod Dock. Their website reveals sleeves for other devices including popular models of the RIM Blackberry. The Powermat representative we spoke with stated that many more accessories for popular gadgets are on their way.

The first device I tested was the iPod Touch Sleeve. I slipped the iPod Touch into the case and placed it on the Powermat. After the Powermat did it’s thing, played a sound and lit up the LED, the iPod Touch displayed the charging screen after a short delay. The case was actually quite a decent one and seemed like it would do a fairly good job of protecting my device. It did unfortunately have that obtruding portion on the back which is necessary for this technology to function. The case also required that I use a little headset dongle and their own USB cable since neither a standard headphone cable or iPod Connector would reach through the case. Although I didn’t see any negative impact to the performance of WiFi on the iPod Touch, I’m not sure if it would cause any signal issues on the case for the iPhone they are releasing this month. Charging worked perfectly and just about as fast, but the need for a headphone dongle made it seem a bit annoying.

The next receiver I tried was the Powermat iPod Dock. At the moment this is a workaround for charging an iPhone 3GS. However the dock also works with the majority of iPods on the market with a few exceptions. It detected and charged both a 2nd generation iPod Nano and iPod Touch perfectly. It also has an adjustable backrest to adjust for the various sizes of these Apple devices. This accessory also seemed to wirelessly charge a device in just about the same time a traditional wired charger would.

Although we only had a standard Nintendo DS, we were able to borrow a Nintendo DSi to test it’s sleeve device briefly. It snapped on easily and immediately began to charge the device. It does add a bit of bulk and make holding the Nintendo DSi a bit more awkward, but it wasn’t too big of an issue. And it was a lot more convenient to place the DSi on the Powermat rather than having to reach for a cable that is probably tangled up or fallen off a desk.

The final accessory we tested the Powermat with was the included and highly versatile Powercube. This was one of my favorite aspects of the entire product. It’s a simple cube that’s placed on the mat with a cable coming out of it. There are plenty of adapters for devices such as Apple, LG, Samsung, Sony, Nintendo, and mini/micro USB products included. Although its not really making anything more cable free, it’s almost a universal charger for the majority of devices out there. We’ve got plenty of gadgets coming in and out at Skatter Tech and this could probably charge just about all of them. Powermat even includes a little storage box that magnetically attaches to the Powercube to carry around a couple of the adapter tips you use most. While this certainly isn’t as awesome as simply placing your iPod or BlackBerry on the Powermat, it’s definitely a welcome addition.

The Powermat works exactly as advertised. We didn’t face any issues or problems. The version we tested is the “Home and Office” version, but Powermat also offers a foldable portable version for travel. A question that a couple of friends asked was, “Is this safe?”.  After a little investigating, I found that there’s nothing to be concerned about. The device is fairly low voltage and it wouldn’t have been approved for sale if there were potential health risks. It doesn’t damage any other devices placed near or on it either.

So does the Powermat have a catch? Yes, the price. The base unit sells for about $100 alone. Although it includes a Powercube and those set of adapters pictured above, it’s still expensive. Plus, each of the device-specific sleeves sell separately for around $30 each. Sure, if you’ve got the cash to spare, go for it. It works. I loved the simplicity of  not having to plug my devices in, but I don’t necessarily think it’s worth spending that much. Plus this technology has already been natively implemented into devices such as the Palm Pre. Dell even showed off the Latitude Z laptop that charges without cables. This technology is closer than ever and I wouldn’t be surprised if it appeared in a lot more gadgets we use everyday. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of those as early next year during the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. In the meantime, it might just be best for the rest of us to wait until prices drop or until it becomes a built-in feature of new versions of gadgets that hit the streets.

Buy: Powermat for $99 | Accessories
Related: Powermat Video Demo
Links: Powermat.com

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Links: Sprint.com

Samsung Rogue SCH-U960 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (1.9 GHz /850 MHz CDMA)
• Displays: 3.1-inch 800 x 480 pixels & 18 bit colors
• Camera: 3.0 Megapixel Camera w/ Autofocus, Flash & Image Editor
• Music: MP3, M4A, WMA, AAC/eAAC/eAAC+
• Memory: 512Mb (internal) / 16GB microSD (external)
• Dimensions: 4.29″ L x 2.17″ W x .65″ D
• Battery: 280 Minutes Talk Time & 300 Hours Standby
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1 | 3.5 mm Audio Jack

The Body: 4/5 stars
The Samsung Rogue shares the same form factor as the Samsung Glyde, a sliding keyboard under a touch screen, but it has a new look. Although this phone is taller than the Glyde, it is thinner and has a more streamlined finish. The face of the phone is very simple. Underneath the 3.1″ touch screen, there are three “brushed metal” buttons: send, clear, and end. The back of the phone has a rough bronze-colored texture, which offers a decent grip. The speaker, a 3.0 megapixel camera, the flash, and a tiny mirror for self portraits are on the back. The position of the camera causes one small issue. Each time I picked up the phone, I had a tendency to place my index finger directly on the camera lens. I found this to be annoying since it was a pain to continually have to clean the lens, but then again, this might be an issue only for me. The volume controls and the USB connector, used for both charging and data transfer, are on the left side of the phone. On the right side there’s a screen lock, voice command, a zoom in/out button for the camera, and a camera capture button.  The lower portion of the right side features the 3.5mm headphones jack and the microSD expansion slot.

The Keyboard: 2/5 stars
Verizon Wireless advertises the Samsung Rogue as great phone for texting. Therefore, I expected it to have a great keyboard, unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. There are four lines of keys instead of having a additional symbol function. This makes things easier to find and faster to type. The keys are not small or cluttered, but are neatly spaced out. Unfortunately the problems begin with the layout of the keys. Some buttons are too far off to the left and others are properly centered. Even though the keys feel great to type on, their locations don’t feel natural. They feel as though they are a bit jumbled and not placed in traditional keyboard format.

The Display: 5/5 stars
I was impressed with the 800 x 480 pixel (AMOLED) touch screen display. With a higher resolution than Apple iPhone’s 480 x 320 pixels, the Samsung Rogue’s display looked beautiful and had rich colors. Even with a mid-range brightness setting, the display was fairly visible even in direct sunlight. The Rogue also has haptic feedback. Every click results with a small vibrating pulse in addition to audible feedback. A built in accelerometer changes the orientation of the display automatically from portrait to landscape and vice versa. A proximity sensor automatically turns of the display when the phone is held up to your ear to save battery life.

User Interface: 4.5/5 stars
To lock the phone, there’s a physical side button. To unlock it, just press any button so the display turns on, then click the on-screen unlock button. The home screen is quite customizable, you can change the brightness, the banner, change the text font, the wallpaper, and even the clock format. There is a collapsible side bar that holds all the supported widgets. You can easily drag the ones you use the most on to the home screen by simply dragging them over. There’s an analog and  digital clock available as a widget as well.  On the bottom of screen, there are two rows for actions. The first row is for notifications for missed calls, voicemails, text messages, calendar, alarm clocks, and more. The second row contains four buttons for the phone dialer, contacts, messaging (text, picture, email, etc.), and  the full menu. These two rows are static and can’t be customized. It would be a great idea if they offered the ability to dock other programs such as the web browser or media player to that menu. In general, the user interface is clean, simple, well designed, and works!

Call Quality & Features: 4/5
The call quality was excellent, plus there were a few extra unique features added in. For example if you are in a library or a lecture hall and have to whisper, there’s a mode for that! Just click the “Whisper Button”  and it amplifies your voice so it sounds almost normal for the person on the other end. For the most part, the regular voice quality was excellent on both ends, no complains. The only reason the phone didn’t live up to a five star rating was because of the speaker phone. The speaker wasn’t loud enough or clear enough. It works fine if you are in a truly silent room, but it’s quite difficult to hear when in a car. If you normally use a Bluetooth headset, you won’t need to worry about this.

Messaging: 4/5
Just like most phones today, the Rogue supports text, picture, video, and voice messages. Text conversation history is saved to keep track of everything that’s been said. You can compose a message with either the pull out QWERTY keyboard or the on-screen digital keyboard. The digital keyboard isn’t in a QWERTY layout, but a normal alpha-numeric keypad.

Voice To Text: 1/5 stars
This was a feature I was truly excited for. It theoretically allows you to say a phrase to your phone, which should automatically be converted into text. Unfortunately this feature barely worked. Even after training my voice, I only had successful results about 25% of the time. The rest of the time, the program types in something completely incorrect. For it to work, you’ll have to speak very slowly and clearly, emphasizing each word. For example, I said “This is a cell phone review” and the program typed in “This is itself under view”. It doesn’t accept slang too well either. Another example, I said “Let’s go see Zombieland at 10 o’clock” and it typed in “Left to see some reliant@koch”. To wrap it up, this feature is a great idea, but needs a lot of work. For now it’s not worth using; it’s faster to type the message yourself.

Camera & Camcorder: 4/5 stars
The camera on the Rogue has all the standard features you would expect: zoom, flash, and focus. There are alternate image options such as mosaic, frame, panoramic, and multishot. Image resolution and brightness are also modifiable. After you take a picture, you can edit it with some fairly cool effects. In addition to the standard effects such as sepia and black & white, some other effects such as sketch, emboss, soft-elegant, and fright are thrown in. For the most part, the camera takes excellent photos. The only issue I faced was a small lag from when you click the capture button to when it actually takes the image. If you make any sudden movements, it looses focus. That results in blurry image quality.

The camcorder mode can record video only limited by the available space on the memory card. However you can only MMS clips that are a max of 30 seconds. It records at a 640 x 480 pixel resolution. There are five recording effects, similar to the ones for the camera. Quality looks fairly good for a phone, but gets choppy at times. It obviously isn’t comparable to a decent camcorder or even a Mino Flip.

Music Player: 3.5/5
The Samsung Rogue was designed to be a full MP3 player with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The media player has a search function and lets you browse your library by Artists, Genres, and Albums. During playback, the album art isn’t shown on the full screen, but rather as a thumbnail. Other than that, the interface is quite nice. Controlling playback, such as play/pause, next track, and so on, are easy to use and work without any problems. The media player has a shuffle and repeat mode. The audio quality with headphones was great and it didn’t cackle when turned up too high. The speaker on the other hand was an issue. They just weren’t loud enough and wasn’t clear. Another major issue is the lack of multitasking. You can’t do anything else while playing back music. Phones such as the LG enV Touch allow browsing the web, texting, and doing other things while the music player runs in the background. This is a major drawback and needs to be addressed.

Other Features: 4.5/5
There are a lot of other features that this phone offers. Some built-in tools include a calculator, a tip calculator, and a unit converter. The Rogue also syncs to your computer with the included USB cable to transfer music and data. The media player also supports playing video files, however quality isn’t too great and supported file formats are limited. The web browser was impressive. It still isn’t on par with a browser such as the one found on smart phones such as the iPhone. But for the most part it has all the essential features such as navigation, favorites, and zoom. It rendered most pages fairly quickly as well. The VZ Navigator works really well. The GPS module tracked my location very precisely. I do feel that the navigation interface could use a bit of a face lift. The program also offers voice turn-by-turn directions, but once again the poor speaker quality was an issue. Another truly unique feature is the business card reader. All you have to do is take a close up image of a business card in a fairly well lit location. It automatically scans the card and creates an entry in your address book with all the information from the card. It worked really well with just about every card I tested it on. The final feature I’d like to note is the document viewer. It supports viewing Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, and Power Point) and PDFs. The interface allows scrolling and zooming for all files. To get files onto the device you can simply copy them onto a pre-created folder on the microSD card or sync them over using the data cable.

Conclusion:
After spending a little over a week with this phone, I was fairly satisfied. I was impressed with some of the rather unique features such as the voice-to-text and the business card scanner. The largest drawbacks were probably the odd layout of the slide-out QWERTY keyboard and the quality of the speakerphone. Other than that, the phone performed quite well. The home screen is one of the best parts of the user interface experience. The phone excelled in the most import aspect, call quality. I suggest going into a Verizon Wireless store to handle the phone before buying it over the phone or online. If you are ready to buy it, the Samsung Rogue is available online for price of $99.99, with a 2 year contract.

Buy: Samsung Rogue for $99
Links: VerizonWireless.com Samsung Rogue

The Apple iPhone will be getting another competitor very soon with the launch of the Samsung Instinct for Sprint. The phone features a large 3.1 inch touch-screen display with tactile feedback to improve the interface experience. The Samsung Instinct utilizes Sprint’s network to allow owners access to GPS Navigation with Traffic, Live Search, Sprint TV, and Sprint’s Music Store. In addition the phone features EV-DO Rev. A, which means it can be used as a modem with your computer brining speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps for downloads and 1.8 Mbps for uploads.

“Instinct brings customers what they want with the immediacy they want. Every decision during the development process focused on simplifying the user experience,” said John Garcia, Senior VP of Product Development and CMO for Sprint. “The end result is a great-looking phone that makes the value of Sprint’s fast NOW Network come to life, but most importantly, it is fun and easy to use.”

The phone also takes some moves out of the iPhone’s play book with features such as visual voicemail, but also has stuff the iPhone lacks such as a powerful voice-activated dialing and actions. The Samsung Instinct sports a POP3 client, multi-tasking capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, a web browser, a 2.0 mega pixel camera/camcorder, and micoSD expansion of up 8GB. For convenience the phone uses a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a standard USB cable for syncing music/data. Sprint has not yet set decided on either the pricing or the date for this phone, however we do know that monthly plans will begin at roughly $70 which might be a bit too much for most consumers. There’s a lot of iPhone-like phones coming out, not to say that the iPhone was entirely original either, but most of them such as the LG Voyager have failed to perform in most factors.

Links: Samsung Instinct From Sprint (nowisgood.com)
Download: Samsung Instinct Data Sheet (.pdf)

The LG Voyager:
The Voyager by LG also known as the VX10000 features a large external 400×240 pixel touch-screen and a full-functioning QWERTY keyboard (plus another regular screen) once flipped open. Instead of the standard BREW browser found on most Verizon Wireless phones, the Voyager will feature a true HTML browser. They haven’t specified what type of browser the phone has just yet, but hopefully it will be on level with the iPhone’s Safari browser. The VX10000 also supports VCAST Mobile TV, plays music (mp3/wma/aac), takes photos with a 2.0 megapixel camera, has high-speed broadband access, microSD expansion (8GB max!), bluetooth, stereo speakers, and plenty more. (check back for a full review)

The Venus by LG:
The Venus is a unique phone since it has two displays right on the front. The upper screen shows data, while the smaller square screen below is touch sensitive (has vibration feedback!) and is used for navigation. The phone itself remains a slider revealing a physical keypad below. (similar to the LG Chocolate) The LG Venus also supports microSD expansion, plays music, has Get It Now features, and even has a 2 megapixel camera. If you are wondering if this a replacement for the fairly new Chocolate, as far as we can tell, Verizon seems to be planning to sell both devices.

The Samsung Juke:
The Juke has been primarily created as a MP3 player phone and it would be fair to give it that title since it has 2GB of built-in flash storage. If I’m correct, this is Verizon’s first phone with built-in memory. As for the music files it will play mp3, wma, and unprotected aac files. (supports iTunes Plus and Amazon tracks) The phone itself looks unusually long, and “flicks” open like switchblade to reveal a keypad. In addition it sports a VGA camera with NightShot, supports the bluetooth stereo profile, works as a navigator, and is available in blue/red/teal. This will likely be the most sold of the four.

Blackberry Pearl 8130:
The new Pearl from RIM features full wireless EV-DO broadband, GPS-based Navigation, music playback, stereo bluetooth for wireless headsets, a 2 mega pixel camera, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and a new improved interface. Although too much information hasn’t been provided just yet, but it is expected to be a major improvement to the current Pearl.

As of now, no pricing or exact date has been set by Verizon, however they are guarantying that all four of these phones will be available by Thanksgiving (Nov. 22nd)! We’ve got a short little video below with a quick view of each of the four phones. We are trying to get a Voyager unit for review, so check back!

Links: VerizonWireless.com/next

Last week, Home Media Research released a study revealing that Blu-ray had just outsold its competitor, HD DVD, by 2-to-1 for the first half of 2007. To be specific, HD DVD movie sales only reached about 795,000, while Blu-ray reached 1.6 million. To be even more specific the popular Spartan epic, ‘300′, which became the fastest selling High-Def movie, sold 190,000 Blu-ray discs and 97,000 HD DVDs (approx 2-to-1 again). Even the popular movie rental service, Blockbuster Video, which began offering rentals of both formats in late 2006, announced in June 2007 that they have decided to drop HD DVD and stock Blu-ray in all stores.

Although it may seem as though Blu-ray now has the upper hand, HD DVD is still in the game. While Blu-ray has the support of many large corporations, including HP, Dell, and Apple, HD DVD has secured more deals with major movie studios. If HD DVD continues to grab exclusive content from Universal, Rouge, Paramount, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros through the Christmas season, they might just be able to take down Blu-ray for the 2nd-half of 2007. Despite this, as of this week, there are 322 Blu-ray titles while HD DVD just falls a bit short, with 273 movies.

Another factor which makes it difficult to tell which format will come out on top is the pricing of the stand-alone players. HD DVD players are now available for as low as $250-350, while the cheapest Blu-ray player is still $450-550. This also reveals that the high amount of Blu-ray sales are mostly due to PlayStation 3 sales, since the console supports HD optical media right out of the box, whereas Xbox 360 users are required to purchase a $180 HD DVD drive. Companies such as Samsung and LG, who would much rather reap profits from both formats than subscribe to a futile war, have already released hybrid players which support both formats. Unfortunately for us, these units have price tags of $1,000.

Finally as for the technical side, the Blu-ray has a much larger storage capacity holding up to 50GB total (25GB/layer). The HD DVD can only hold 15GB/layer, therefore totaling a max of 30GB. As far as replicating the ultimate movie experience, both formats are practically identical, statistically speaking, as well as to the average eye. However, Blu-ray has the upper hand, in my opinion, since it can store more data for games. Luckily for Sony, as of now, the Blu-ray format is most definitely not heading in the same downhill direction as their Betamax did about 20 years ago.

Links: HD DVD | Blu-ray Info

Since the advent of Bluetooth, the sizes of the headset that have accompanied the wireless technology have begun to drastically shrink. This is arguably the greatest strength of Samsung’s WEP200. This is a typical wireless headset for cell phones and other bluetooth compatible devices.

Samsung WEP200 Specs:

• Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0
• Battery: 4hrs talk | 70hrs idle
• Weight: 9 grams
• Size: 1.5 x .75 x .75 inches
• Keys: Multifunction and Volume

The WEP200 has 3 basic buttons: a multifunction on the front and an up/down volume control buttons on the side. The device stays in one’s ear as a typical stereo ear bud, but Samsung includes a unique rubber loop to help prevent it from falling out. The device’s failure to stay secure in one’s ear is quite arguably the unit’s only major downside. As opposed to other headsets which have a piece of plastic that loops around one’s ear, the WEP200’s atypical ear bud design is very cumbersome to fasten properly. However, if it is properly secured, normal movements of one’s head does not seem to disturb its position to any great extent.

The included plastic case is about twice the size of the actual headset and it also serves as a charging base for the unit. However the downside of the case also doubling as the charger is that if the case is misplaced there is no longer way to charge the headset. Samsung provides a charger cable along with the headset, but if you happen to own a recent Samsung phone, the same power supply cord can be used to charge both the headset as well as the phone. This was quite convenient since it allowed me to leave one charger cable at home and the other at work.

The overall performance of the unit was impressive, possibly even surpassing our expectations. In a straight sight line, the unit was able to maintain clear connection with the phone for over 15 yards. However anything past that, the connection began to crack and the fidelity decreased rapidly. The multifunction button functioned as expected, press it to pick up or disconnect a call. However, with a complimentary Bluetooth 2.0 cell phone, the true advances began to appear. By simply tapping the multifunction button, a command section can be accessed that will either recognize a name in the phone’s address book or even dial a specific number. The voice recognition was fairly responsive, recognizing specific numbers over 80% of the time on the first try and picked up common Caucasian names with easy.

The Samsung WEP200 is quite affordable costing only $39, although it is available for as low as $30 online. There are plenty of more expensive devices which offer a longer talk time and better voice quality available, but for this price it is quite reasonable. While its signal was very strong, its size was much less awkward than the traditional design, the in -cooperative- ear piece will lead to much frustration until you can figure out the best method of getting it in. The stylish WEP200 is probably better purchased for those who own phones with Bluetooth 2.0, otherwise even cheaper traditional models will provide the same hands-free experience.

Links: Samsung WEP200

Last week Sprint announced the availability of the Samsung UpStage (aka SPH-M620). Sprint was kind enough to provide Skatter Tech with a unit for review. The dual-sided UpStage is notable due to having a phone on one side and a iPod-like Mp3 player on the other.

Although the phone is extremely compact, at first glance, the front side of the phone looks dull due to the tiny LCD display. However everything changes after turning the unit around to the backside. In terms of basic features the Samsung Upstage features a 1.3MP camera, MicroSD, Bluetooth, and background Music Playback. As a bonus Sprint’s service allows access to 99 cent music downloads, Live TV, Internet Radio, Games, Web Browsing, and other Power Vision services.

Samsung SPH-M620 Specifications:

• Provider: Sprint Exclusive (CDMA)
• Form Factor: Dual-Sided Candy bar
• Dimensions: 1.73W x 4.07H x .37D inches
• Battery: Up To 6.3hrs Talk Time with Wallet
• Screen: Front 176×65 & Back 176×220 pixels
• Digital Camera: 1.3 MP with 5x Digital Zoom
• Storage: ~53MB Internal + MicroSD (2GB max)
• Sound: Standard Headphones with Adapter
• Others: Bluetooth v1.2 + 4hr Wallet Battery
• Price: $150 + Tax w/ New 2-Year Contract

UpStage Body: 5/5 stars
This phone is tiny, measuring only .37 inches thick, making it thinner than the Motorola RAZR. Although a bit larger, the phone resembles the shape and form factor of an iPod Nano. The front side of the phone has a Alpha-Numeric Keypad for making calls or text messaging. The back side looks like an iPod Nano, but with a large screen and an square touch pad. The phone is small enough to fit in most pockets and can be placed flat on its back or front. The phone almost doubles in size after placing into the battery wallet, which I assume most people plan to use. Although the case allows access to both sides of the phone, it still becomes quite tedious to keep switching back and forth. Despite the fact that the unit is harder to hold with the wallet, the flexibility of removing the case is an advantage.

Displays: 4/5 stars
The front display is extremely small only 176×65 pixels making it hard to read text. Navigating the front display is quite difficult since it can only fit about one-line of data on the screen at a time. Luckily most functions of phone are performed through the large/bright 176×220 pixel screen on the back side. Unfortunately since there is no keyboard on the back, you will find yourself having to “flip” back to the front side for data entry.

Music Playback: 5/5 stars
The UpStage supports playback of DRM-Free MP3s, WMA, AAC, and WAV in addition to music purchased through Sprint’s Music Store. Sprint now offers .99 cent over-the-air downloads of high quality tracks (with a data plan). Music can be sorted by Songs, Artists, or Genre in the interface, however due to the lack of a search function, scrolling through hundreds of track is tedious. We still prefer Verizon’s standardized music playback application, which works on most of their phones. One big bonus is the ability to “hide” the music playback app while listening to music and continuing with other tasks such as browsing the web or playing games. Album Art is displayed during playback in addition to the track title, duration, and artist/album. Also supports playlists & shuffling songs.

Speaker and Sound: 3/5 stars
For a “music phone” the lack of a decent set of stereo speakers might be problematic. The phone’s single (mono) speaker does a mediocre job, which functions as a speaker for calls and music. As the volume level increases, the sound begins to crack. Although this should be fixed in a future model, the issue should be non-existent since most people will use headphones for music. (Adapter for standard headphones included.)

Digital Camera / Camcorder: 2/5 stars
The camera on the UpStage remains a mere 1.3 mega pixels while most new phones on the market are now 2.0. When the camera is activated, you must flip the phone around and use the large LCD on the back as the viewfinder. From our results, the image quality was mediocre and images were blurry even in well lit situations. Video clips may be recorded for a duration limited only by MicroSD capacity, however clips longer than 30 seconds may not be mailed. The small front LCD functions as a tiny viewfinder for self-portraits.

Battery Life: 5/5 stars
Unlike the majority of phones on the market today, the UpStage does not have a removable battery. Instead, the UpStage has a battery built into the unit. Since the unit is small and the talk time is only about 2.5 hours long, Samsung provides a battery wallet with the phone. When the phone is in its case, the talk time increases by over 4 hours. (up to 6.5 hours) Since the case is easily removable, you’ll have the freedom to choose whether you want the additional battery life or light-weight phone to carry around.

Usability & Interface: 4/5
The interface on the front is a joke, it only allows performing four menu actions: view call history, find contacts, add a contact, or send a text msg. Other than that, the only other use of the front is to display caller id, date/time, battery life, signal, and Bluetooth status. The interface on the back is a different story. The back is controlled by using the square touchpad at the bottom. UpStage users must make up & down motions on the left/right sides and left-to-right motions on the top & bottom instead of using circular motions to navigate as you would do on an iPod. (Apple Patent!) In addition the top left/right corners act as soft keys while the other labeled parts are the Menu, Back, and End buttons. The only hark key is the center Select/Play button. Although navigating becomes quite easy after a bit of practice, data entry will remain a hassle. For example, while browsing the web (back side), you’ll have to flip over to enter the URL text and then flip back to view the page. Some applications support an onscreen keyboard, however you’ll find yourself flipping back & forth a lot.

MicroSD: 4/5 stars
Like most phones on the market today, the M620 supports up to 2GB MicroSD cards. Since Samsung intends this phone to double as a MP3 player, as a bonus, they include a USB data cable, which most cellphone makers do not. The included CD assists installing the necessary drivers. When placed in “Sync Mode,” the phone appears as a disk drive. Windows XP users can either manage data themselves or use the included application. Mac OS X users must manage the data on the MicroSD themselves since the included software is Windows Media Player based.
P.S. 1GB microSD cards cost only about $12. 2GB microSD for ~$25

Bluetooth: 5/5 stars
The Samsung M620 uses Bluetooth 2.0, which supports the use of Stereo Headphones for music playback, in addition to standard headsets. The Bluetooth can also be used for transferring contacts, printing photos to wireless printer, and to connect to computers for use as a wireless modem. Another new feature is Audio Caller ID, which reads out a name or phone number when using a bluetooth headset. From our testing, sound quality was excellent there were no issues with pairing devices or other features.

Sprint Power Vision: 4.5/5 stars
At this time most Chatting, Navigation, and Gaming apps are not yet available for the M620 due to compatibility issues because of the unique controls, however new working versions should be available soon. Applications such as Google Maps Mobile and Opera Mini work great. The On Demand section provides access to News, Weather, Movie Show Times, Maps and more. Sprint Power Vision offers access to thousands of clips and Live TV channels such as ABC, FOX, MSNBC, CNN, and Comedy Central (plus radio). One of my favorite features is the built in Podcasting client, which streams any podcast you choose directly to your phone without the need of a computer. Saves the hassle of having to sync new files.

Designs similar to that of the UpStage have been available in Asia for a while, yet this marks the release of the first dual sided phone in the U.S. Although we like this phone a lot for its new innovative and compact style, text entry remains a hassle and is probably the #1 problem. Other than that, another thing we found frustrating was that songs you own may not be used as ringtones. Anyways this is one of the best phones Sprint has had in a while, therefore if you are ready to upgrade you should consider this. The Samsung UpStage is available in Sprint Stores and Online now for $150 + tax with a new 2-year contract. In my opinion this is quite a good deal since Sprint includes the Battery Wallet, headset adapter, USB Sync Cable, and a 64MB microSD all of which is not normally included.

DEAL ALERT: FREE Samsung UpStage (M620)
Links: Sprint.com | SPH-M620 Spec Sheet
Product Shot: High-Resolution UpStage Image
Help & Support: fourms.skattertech.com

Today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless announced V CAST Mobile TV and two new phones to go along with it. The upcoming service will allow subscribed customers using either of the two new phones to watch standard TV channels “on-the-go.” Verizon Wireless is expected to launch Mobile TV by the end of March ‘07.

V CAST Mobile TV:
If you are wondering if this is different from the current V Cast Video, it is completely different. The currently available service only allows viewing short clips from major broadcasting networks, while Mobile TV will allow watching the same live broadcasted content you receive 24 hours a day on your regular TV. During the initial launch only certain TV channels such as CBS, Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, and NBC will be available, but more are expected to added the lineup soon after. Also since the content isn’t “on demand” you will need to check a program guide. This very similar to the grid guides found on Cable or Satellite TVs for finding timings when shows are aired. The schedules can be found on any Mobile TV enabled phones.

The 2 New Phones:
The first two phones to support this new service will be the Samsung SCH-u620 and the LG VX9400. Both phones feature a large and bright LCD display for viewing Mobile TV content. Also along with the new service, the phones will continue to support the “NOW standard” features such as V CAST Music/Video/Games, Mobile Web, and Get It Now. The two phones feature a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth (stereo headset support), speakerphone, and microSD expansion for music storage. A neat multitask feature will mute media (or pause if music) when a phone call is received and continue playback right after hanging up.

Pricing:
Verizon Wireless has stated that pricing for the V CAST Mobile TV will not be available until the service is actually launched. The current V CAST service costs $15/month so they will probably charge another $10. And as for the two phones, the pricing hasn’t been set yet, but will be available in the weeks prior to launch. I’d expect both two be quite pricy because of the new features, but hopefully below $200 with a new plan.

Links: Verizon Wireless Press Release
Related: Skatter Tech Mobile | Free LG Chocolate

P.S. Check back for more CES and Macworld 2007 Coverage throughout the week!

1) Google Calendar screenshots have been revealed by TechCrunch, a popular Web 2.0 blog. (Yahoo! apparently fed them the info) Anyways “to be launched” service is an online AJAX based calendar service, which is suppose to be called CL2. The service has a gmail-like user interface and will have plenty of colaboration features, including RSS. It should also become intergrated with many of Google’s other services.
Links: Tech Crunch | CL2 Login Screen

2) Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been added to the iTunes Store. The “season pass” will cost only $9.99 and will download the current episode plus the next 16 shows when they become available. Epsiodes can still be purchased individually for $1.99.
Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report
iTunes Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report

3) Microsoft has announced that their code name “Origami” Tablet PC should be available by the end of April. This is a new line of products, influenced by Microsoft, which are ultra-portable machines that are powered by Windows XP. Samsung’s version has a 7″ touch screen display, an extendable keyboard, Bluetooth, and WiFi. They can also run standard apps such as MS Office as wells as support playing videos, listening to music, and viewing photos. (Pricing will be around $600-1000)
Links: Origami Project | Microsoft’s Preview

4) MSN Live (aka. Windows Live) has just gotten a full AJAX makeover. Although still in beta, the service looks simple and clean. It has support for custom RSS feeds, as well as a selection to choose from. (weather, horoscope, email, news, etc.) The interface looks much better than Google IG. One neat feature that other services don’t offer that MSN Live does is Feed Search. For example search for “CNN” and when the results appear, if a feed is available a “add feed” button will be displayed.
Links: Windows Live | LiveCom Offical Blog

Some new rumors indicate that Sony may be planning to release a new and improved edition of the PSP by the end of this year. The unit might be called the “PSP 2″ if it ends up to be a complete redo. (it will still probably be considered a first generation portable gaming device) These rumors indicate that the PSP will get 4GB of internal NAND flash storage, which will be provided by Samsung Electronics. They also claim that SCEA may also include a small camera into the unit to allow taking pictures, recording videos, and streaming content to others using WiFi. (it can stream to PS3) Many posts also indicate that the PSP may be cut down in size of the depth by a quarter inch.

If this rumor were true this would be a great step for Sony and they would have fixed the biggest drawback of the unit, storage space. The PSP would cost more because of the included 4GB of memory, but would be cheaper than purchasing a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo costs ~$300. (1GB card = ~$80) With internal storage the portable can hold music, photos, and videos without the need of expensive MS media. The “PSP 2,” would be a big competitor for Apple’s iPod, which can now play video. Sony would once again take the lead because the iPod doesn’t offer speakers, a large screen, WiFi, or true gaming. UMD sales have also dropped drastically so SCEA may plan to offer downloadable content through the PSP’s browser as they stated at the Consumer Electronics Show 2006. (downloaded media can be stored on “new” internal drive).

I personally doubt that such a major hardware update will be released so soon unless they have a really good reason. For example the PlayStation was launched in 1995 and only in 2000 did they release a totally redesigned smaller version. Then for the PS2, which was launched in 2000, there were no major hard ware updates until 2004 when they completely redid it and released a slim PS2. With this record, very slight chances that a new PSP will be released within a two year period.

Links: U.S. PlayStation | SCEA Products
Related: PSP v2.60 HomeBrew