Photos: Top-rated reviews of the week
CNET Reviews checks out the Canon Vixia HF S100 camcorder, the LG Xenon cell phone, the Dell Adamo laptop, and more.
Canon Vixia HF S100
Canon Vixia HF S100
Editors' rating: 4
The good: Excellent video quality and performance; nicely designed interface; fast battery charging.
The bad: No eye-level viewfinder; expensive; lens cover rattles when closed.
The bottom line: An excellent flash-based prosumer HD camcorder, you may nevertheless pass on the Canon Vixia HF S100 because it lacks an eye-level viewfinder. It's probably a better buy than the identical--but more expensive, because it has 32GB built-in memory--Vixia HF S10.
Canon Vixia HF S10
Canon Vixia HF S10
Editors' rating: 4
The good: Excellent video quality and performance; nicely designed interface; fast battery charging.
The bad: No eye-level viewfinder; expensive; lens cover rattles when closed.
The bottom line: An excellent flash-based prosumer HD camcorder, you may nevertheless pass on the Canon Vixia HF S10 because it lacks an eye-level viewfinder. And the identical--but cheaper, because it has no built-in memory--Vixia HF S100 may also be a better buy.
LG Xenon - black (AT&T)
LG Xenon - black (AT&T)
Editors' rating: 4
The good: The LG Xenon has an attractive touch-screen display, a great QWERTY keyboard, customizable standby screens, plenty of shortcuts, and lots of features like 3G speeds, quad-band support, a 2.0-megapixel camera, GPS, and more.
The bad: The LG Xenon suffers from the lack of POP or IMAP e-mail support, the touch screen suffers from a slight learning curve, the Web browser feels a little clunky, and you're limited to only six widgets to customize the home screen.
The bottom line: Despite a few problems, the LG Xenon is one of the better messaging phones we've seen, plus it has a cool touch-screen interface and plenty of features.
Blue Microphones Mikey
Blue Microphones Mikey
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: The Mikey iPod microphone captures unrivaled stereo sound for the price and uses an attractive, hinged design.
The bad: The Mikey doesn't offer line-input, direct monitoring, or passthrough USB, and the gain switch is difficult to manipulate.
The bottom line: For capturing pristine, realistic stereo audio to your iPod, the Blue Microphones Mikey offers the best bang for the buck.
Dell Adamo
Dell Adamo
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: Sleek, thin design breaks new ground for Dell; good performance for a low-power laptop.
The bad: Very expensive; lacks an SD card slot; feels a bit heavier than it looks.
The bottom line: Dell's upscale Adamo is a 13-inch laptop for those who value design and finish as much as performance, but its luxury price will limit the potential audience.
HP Pavilion Dv2
HP Pavilion Dv2
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: First laptop to use new AMD Athlon Neo CPU; best-looking budget 12-inch laptop we've seen; 4GB of RAM.
The bad: Netbook-style performance at mainstream-laptop prices; no internal optical drive; unimpressive battery life.
The bottom line: HP's slick-looking 12-inch Pavilion dv2 carves out a niche between entry-level Netbooks and expensive ultraportables.
2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe AWD
2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe AWD
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: The 2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe AWD delivers power in a strong and predictable manner. The all-wheel-drive system allows for a little fun before stepping in. Hard drive-based navigation is lightning fast and offers space for music storage.
The bad: Slow shifting automatic transmission steals some of the fun. Also, scrubbing through long lists of digital media can be grueling.
The bottom line: Equally appealing to geeks and gearheads, G37 Coupe combines an athletic presence, a high level of performance, and a complete cabin tech package into a vehicle that's attractive from almost every angle.
Iomega Home Media Network Drive (1TB)
Iomega Home Media Network Drive (1TB)
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: Easy to set up and use; excellent Web-based interface; compact and sleek design.
The bad: Lacks advanced NAS features; hard drive is not user serviceable; can't read NTFS external hard drive.
The bottom line: The Iomega Home Media Network Drive, a single-volume NAS server, is easy to set up and use for even the most novice user; however, its lack of advanced features might lessen its appeal to savvy users.
Samsung Propel Pro (AT&T)
Samsung Propel Pro (AT&T)
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: The Samsung Propel Pro offers a full QWERTY keyboard with a number of e-mail solutions. The Windows Mobile smartphone also has 3G support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Call quality was good, and we were impressed with the picture quality of the camera.
The bad: The smartphone is bulky compared with other messaging phones, and the keyboard is slightly cramped. Samsung uses a proprietary jack for headphones and AC adapters.
The bottom line: The Samsung Propel Pro is a capable Windows Mobile device, but its bulky design makes it less appealing than AT&T's other messaging smartphones.
Samsung TwoStep SCH-r470 - orange (U.S. Cellular)
Samsung TwoStep SCH-r470 - orange (U.S. Cellular)
Editors' rating: 3.5
The good: The Samsung TwoStep offers a functional midrange feature set, intuitive music controls, and a 3.5mm headset jack. Photo quality is excellent, and music quality is satisfactory.
The bad: The Samsung TwoStep toggle is rather cramped and call quality wasn't the best. You can't save music tracks as ringtones.
The bottom line: Even though its call quality could be improved, we'd still recommend the Samsung TwoStep as a good beginner music phone for U.S. Cellular.
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