Best gadget gifts, best electronics gifts, MP3 players, cell phones, smart phones, digital cameras, camcorders
11/23/2007
Stuff to Buy / Bullz-Eye Home
ALSO: Have feedback on our Gift Guide? We'd love to hear it!
Black Friday: It’s the day gadget gurus await all year long. This day we get to spread a grinchy grin from ear to ear when someone asks, “What do YOU want for the Holidays?” That question can be tough to answer if you come to the table unprepared, or if you have more than one idea. We’ve compiled some of the hottest gadgetry we could find to help you commit to the techno-bauble of your dreams. You might even cross a few names off your own shopping list. No matter who you’re shopping for, never forget that cardinal rule: a gift for the whole family is a gift that gives back.
Holiday Gift Guide Sections
MP3 PLAYERS
It’s hard to imagine a time when the iPod wasn’t on every gift list known to man. As the cases get smaller and the hard drives get bigger, you’re able to get more bang for your buck than ever before, including a whole slew of new features. The
iPod Shuffle starts out at 1GB, holding 240 songs for just $79. Best of all, it’s tiny and very lightweight – an ideal combo for the gym. The recently redesigned
iPod Nano now has video functionality in two sizes,
4GB and
8GB, giving you storage room for thousands of songs at $149 to $199. The
iPod classic comes in whopping
80GB and
160GB sizes in a black or silver finish. You’re looking at $249 or $349 for up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. Newest to the family is the
iPod Touch in a $299,
8GB model or a $399,
16GB model. The Touch is just like an iPhone, without the phone. Might sound silly, but if you aren’t looking to get with AT&T, this could be the perfect little MP3 player for you and yours.
The Zune got a lot of hype last year, but unfortunately fell fairly flat. This year Microsoft is back with a brand new Zune meant to fill some of the gaps Apple has missed. Zune 2 comes in three models:
80GB ($249);
8GB ($199); and
4GB ($149). All of these have wireless connectivity to other Zunes and your home PC for syncing. Zune 2 still gives you access to the Zune Marketplace, where you can purchase from the three-million-song database. The Zune really shines with Zune Social, a site where friends can log on and see the music you’ve been playing and vice versa. Every time you sync the Zune, it sends your recently played tunes to the Social site for your friends’ perusal. Better clear off your Celine Dion playlists before your next sync.
PERSONAL VIDEO PLAYERS
If you’ve been thinking about a personal video player for yourself or a loved one, look no further. The Archos 605 Wi-Fi is the granddaddy of all PVPs. The ultra-slim device comes in
4GB,
30GB,
80GB and
160GB configurations, with a touch screen, built-in speaker and Wi-Fi connectivity. Like any good PVP, the 605 allows you to watch movies, play your own videos, view pictures and even play music. You can even download shows from a DVR to watch on your lunch break or that long road trip when your wife offers to drive. The Archos 605 also has some a-la-carte plugins for purchase, including a web browser to maximize that Wi-Fi potential. All in all, this is a very sleek player that can fit in your pocket without burning a hole straight through your wallet.
DIGITAL CAMERAS: POINT & SHOOT
Your son has been begging you for a new digital camera, but you know exactly what will happen to it. He’ll take it back to college where it will be dropped, stepped on and probably drowned in beer before the first week is out. Not to worry, the Olympus Stylus 790 SW can handle all of those things for under $350. Olympus built this camera to be as durable as a point and shoot can be, and then wrapped it in a metal case. It’s shockproof, waterproof and freezeproof, and at seven megapixels, still takes great pictures. The 3x optical zoom leaves a bit to be desired, but the camera makes up for it in kickability. Get your number one an xD card to go along with it, and he can snap pictures to his heart’s content without leaving dear old dad home to worry.
DIGITAL CAMERAS: DSLR
The Canon EOS 40D has been getting rave reviews from both casual and professional photographers, and at $1,300 for the body-only kit, we’d hope so. Weighing in at less than two pounds, the 40D has all of the features you’d expect from a top-quality DSLR, along with some extras. It’s got three 9-point auto focus modes, and can shoot up to 6.3 frames-per-second in burst mode. With a startup to shoot time under half a second, you’ll always catch the last-minute action you don’t want to miss. Be sure to pick up a sizable CF card so you don’t run out of space in the middle of a shoot.
DIGITAL CAMCORDER
The low-end digital camcorder market is emerging as one of the hottest gift markets this year, largely due to the Flip Video Ultra. The Flip is a flash-based camcorder designed for easy shooting and painless uploading. While this camera may not offer the highest quality streams on the market, it is the perfect gift for the film enthusiast or YouTube fanatic in your house. The camera comes in
1GB and
2GB versions, at $149.99 and $179.99 respectively. The 1.5-inch LCD allows immediate viewing so you can delete the clips you don’t want or share your favorite clips as you shoot. Uploading is about as easy as it can get. Swing out the USB arm and plug it in to either your PC or Mac and upload to YouTube or AOL Video at the push of a button.
This Panasonic cam lands opposite the Flip on the quality spectrum. If you’re looking to get your family that perfect vacation camera, this is easily the choice for you. The HDC-SD5 is one of the few solid state, hi-def camcorders on the market. The camera weighs just 12 ounces and shoots 1920x1080i resolution video through a gorgeous Leica lens. As the smallest HD camera currently on the market, we think the $1,000 price tag is reasonable for what you get. While solid state is ideal for size and mobility, you’ll need quite a few cards to shoot at max resolution all the time. Good thing SD continues to get cheaper.
SMART PHONES
Shopping for smart phones can be a bit daunting, so why try to pick and choose your favorite multimedia features when you could have them all? The Helio Ocean brings the motherload. She kicks things off with both a full numeric keypad AND a full QWERTY keyboard. Toss in MySpace access, full HTML browsing, EV-DO support and a gaggle of virtual messaging options, and you have one of the hippest smart phones on the market. What you miss in professional application support you’ll more than make up in style. At the $150 price point, the Ocean makes a great starter smart phone for the college grad in your life.
HI-FI EAR BUDS
Shure has long been known for making any audiophile shiver with glee. The SE110 Sound Isolating Ear Buds are perfectly paired with that new MP3 player you just picked up. With a custom armature design, these buds give you the dynamic range you would expect from a full surround system. Our biggest concern with any ear bud is cord durability, but at three times the standard thickness, your $100 SE110’s will be thumping deep bass and chirping long after your iPod is out of date.
STORAGE: JUMP DRIVES
Any jump drive you can throw against a wall or stomp underfoot without worry of damaged information is a jump drive we’d like to have. The SanDisk Cruzer Titanium has a larger body than several of its brethren, but brings extra features to level the playing field. The drive is preloaded with CruzerSync for storing Outlook emails, CruzerCache for PC file backup, and CruzerLock for securing your indestructible information from potential intruders. The USB interface is retractable, eliminating the need to worry about losing that stupid little cap. These information powerhouses only run you about a penny and a half per megabyte, making the extra durability affordable as well. If you want to get teeny tiny, check out our Also Consider recommendation.
STORAGE: BUS-POWERED EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES
The name may seem misleading but believe it or not, this is an external hard disk drive. All jokes aside, Fujitsu has released a 300GB USB powered hard drive at just $229 making it the largest capacity bus-powered hard drive out. It’s the perfect solution for the ultra-mobile worker in your life, providing plenty of space and 448-bit encryption for some peace of mind. The 4200rpm disk could be faster, but requiring just one cord makes this drive incredibly attractive.
JUST PLAIN COOL
Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play: that’s the motto behind the new Asus EEE PC. If you’ve ever been envious of the hundred dollar laptop, this is your chance to grab a more functional model at an incredible price. The EEE PC is designed to be simple, giving first-time computer users and long-time masters an affordable solution for a mobile lifestyle. With Wi-Fi connectivity and a solid state drive up to 8GB, you can browse the web, type that novel you’ve been cooking up, or enjoy some simple gaming. With an average battery life of three hours or more, you could stay at the local coffee shop all afternoon catching up on your latest fantasy sports teams. Did you ever think you’d see such a thing for $399? Neither did we.
Services like Netflix bring the convenience of a movie store to your mailbox. Problem is, it’s typically on a two-day delay thanks to your local postal service. Say goodbye to intermission between movies with the $399 VUDU Box. As a set top, on-demand movie station, the VUDU gives you access to more than 5,000 movies from every major studio at the press of a button. The video starts immediately, eliminating that nasty downtime between your Lord of the Rings rentals. The VUDU allows you to both rent and purchase movies, storing them to the 250GB hard drive. They’ve promised a deeper movie pool and additional storage capabilities in the near future, making the VUDU the most attractive on-demand box we’ve seen to date.
Holiday Gift Guide Sections
