PRICE:$199.99 - $349.99
Samsung 's Access is a basic way to tune into AT&T's Mobile TV and high-speed Internet. This handset sits in the shadow of the much more glamorous LG Vu and it is costly considering its other features, but it's worth a look if you want Mobile TV without all the frills of a high-end touch-screen device.

A wide, flat candy bar–style phone, the Access has a relatively large, high-resolution 320-by-240-pixel display. Below the screen are flat keys that I found relatively easy to press, though there isn't much separation between them. The phone weighs 3.5 ounces, and, at 4.49 by 2.28 by 0.47 inches (HWD), fits into a wide pocket. On the side are volume, camera, and application switching buttons, the last of which makes multitasking easy.

The quad-band GSM, dual-band HSDPA Access is a good voice phone. Phone reception was strong, and the handset did a good job of grabbing and holding onto 3G signal. Sound transmission is loud, but there's no in-ear feedback of your own voice. The speakerphone is on the quiet side. Background noise is easily picked up by both the handset and the speakerphone, so you may need to speak up in noisy situations. I was able to pair the phone with Plantronics 520 and 590 Bluetooth headsets without a problem; if you want to use a wired headset, you'll need to find one that fits Samsung's proprietary jack design. There's no voice dialing. The phone works with AT&T's Video Share service, which lets you beam live video to other AT&T subscribers with compatible phones.

The Access's flagship feature is AT&T's Mobile TV with ten channels of true mobile television from top networks, shown 24 hours a day. You trigger Mobile TV by pressing a button on the side of the phone. Surprisingly, although there's no pull-out antenna on the Access, its reception is almost as good as that of the LG Vu, which has a long, bendy antenna. As with the Vu, you can listen to your TV audio through the built-in speaker, a wired headset, or a Bluetooth headset. I got 6.5 hours of TV time on a single charge.

The Access comes with AT&T's lackluster mobile IM and e-mail clients, but there's some really good news here: On our test model, third-party Java programs were fully Internet-enabled, so you can run add-in browsers like Opera Mini , e-mail clients like Flurry, or anything else you find on the Web. The 190-MHz ARM9 processor did very well on our JBenchmark Java performance tests, performing better than the LG Vu on business and multimedia apps but not on games.

You may not need Opera Mini, however, because the Access's NetFront 4.3 HTML browser does a very good job of representing desktop Web pages (though you can't see much at a time on the small screen.) The phone can even handle H.264 streaming video links, such as those on YouTube Mobile.

If you'd rather use your own media, the Access syncs both music and video, including playlists, from Windows Media Player. The phone handled our 8GB SanDisk microSD card just fine, and also has 108MB of internal memory. I was able to play MP3, WMA (including protected WMA) and AAC files without a hitch through the built-in speaker and Bluetooth headphones. Video support is limited to 3GP and relatively small MP4 and WMV files.

We expected little from the Access's 1.3-megapixel, flashless camera and it delivered, taking reddish, relatively indistinct photos, underexposed in sunlight and blurry in low light. The video-camera mode, on the other hand, took surprisingly good 320-by-240 videos at 15 frames per second.

The Access is an HSDPA 3.6 high-speed device and worked well as a modem when hooked up to a Windows Vista PC with a USB cable; we got 1,244 kilobits per second down, an excellent speed. Oddly, the stellar network performance didn't help when I tried to watch AT&T's generally underwhelming Cellular Video clips deck, which perpetually stuttered and rebuffered. The problem was clearly with the deck, not the phone.

Ultimately, the Access is in a tough position in AT&T's lineup, with midrange feature phones that do almost everything the Access does for much less, most notably the Samsung SYNC and the Sony Ericsson Z750a. The Motorola Z9 our current Editors' Choice, swaps out the Access's MMobile TV for improved voice quality, a 2MP camera, and GPS, all of which will likely appeal to a broader group of consumers. And if you really want MMobile TV, it's hard to argue against the flash and pizzazz of LG's Vu, even though it is more expensive. There's nothing wrong with the Access, but in a crowded field, it's not my top choice.

PRICE:$0.00 - $99.99
Some people don't need smartphones or PDAs with all the bells and whistles; they just need a simple, dependable phone for making calls. After all, isn't that why the telephone was invented? A simple voice phone needs to do three things: be easy to use, make decent phone calls, and have good battery life. Although it occasionally underreports reception and has some issues with distortion on the speakerphone at high volumes, the LG VX5400 does all of the simple tasks well. An attractive design, excellent call quality, and terrific battery life lead me to recommend this without reservation to any Verizon user looking for a basic phone.

The VX5400 is cute enough. Light gray with rounded edges, it measures 3.5 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches and weighs 3.2 ounces. On the front there's a mirrored surface above a very bright LCD that lights up to show caller ID information and the time, or to be used as a photo viewfinder. The LCD is plenty bright enough to be seen outdoors, though you might have some issues with reflections off the mirrored surface.
Inside is a very usable keypad of clear, black-and-white keys, and a bright 1.8-inch, 128-by-160 LCD screen. There are no surprises with the user interface, either—it's the same standard UI that Verizon has been using for years. This UI, with its simple text-based menus, can be frustrating on phones with lots of features, but for basic voice phones it simplifies learning when you're moving from device to device. You can store up to 1,000 contacts in the capacious phone book.

The VX5400's reception is a bit behind that of the excellent Motorola E815, but it's very good nonetheless. The phone did seem to underreport reception a bit, frequently showing only one or two bars when it could still make perfectly clear calls. It supports not only Verizon's CDMA network, but also the dwindling analog coverage in rural areas of the U.S. and Canada.

The VX5400's earpiece quality is simply stellar. Voices sound very true, and the earpiece goes very loud without distorting at all. Transmissions through the built-in microphone sound good, and there's just enough feedback of your own voice to prevent "cell yell." I couldn't hear background noise on a call made from a busy street. The speakerphone isn't perfect—it's loud, but it distorts at top volume. It's fine for inside a car, provided you're not driving a convertible. It doesn't work with the flip closed.

Better hands-free options include a standard 2.5mm mono headset jack and mono Bluetooth , which automatically paired with both the Plantronics 520 and the original Aliph Jawbone headset. The phone features voice dialing and voice commands—which you can trigger with a Bluetooth headset—that don't require training.

Battery life is the best I've ever seen on a consumer Verizon phone, at almost 6 hours of talk time. Both the phone's ringtones and vibrate function are powerful enough to be noticed.

The VX5400 does a few other things, but—whatever. Non-voice features are pure gravy here. There's a VGA still camera that takes grainy, overexposed photos that you can remove from the phone only via picture messaging. The phone plays games as well as any midrange device does, and plenty of games are available. You can load in Verizon's Mobile Email program for POP3 e-mail accounts; use Yahoo!, AIM, and Windows Live instant messaging; send text or picture messages; or browse a stripped-down mobile Web through the WAP browser. If you really want to stretch the VX5400's powers, you can use Verizon's VZ Navigator GPS driving directions system, which works surprisingly well. About 36MB of onboard memory gives you plenty of room for games and photos.

Since voice-only users probably have geek friends (and maybe that friend is you), I'd like to mention that the VX5400—like most Verizon LG phones—can sync contacts, calendars, ringtones, and photos with a PC using a third-party cable (usually around $10) and a freeware program called BitPim. BitPim isn't for the non-tech-savvy, but it's a very useful tool if you're willing to tinker with it.

If you catch it at the right time of the week/month/year, the LG VX5400 is free with a contract from Verizon, and it holds up well in Verizon's lineup of simple voice phones. We're happy to replace the LG VX3450 as our recommended simple voice phone with this model. If all you need is talk, the VX5400 will be a faithful companion.

PRICE:$550.00
Until the ASUS Eee PC 4G burst onto the scene, the UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) category was something of a joke—the target of numerous wisecracks from journalists and reviewers (including yours truly). Our derision was due to the UMPC's inability to deliver on its promises: an affordable price and a functional platform. The 2-pound Eee PC 4G changed the way manufacturers approached profit margins and brought the promise of a sub-$500 system back into full swing. The ASUS EeePC 900 is the second iteration of this groundbreaking laptop. The system is available with both a Linux operating system and Windows XP Home at e-tailers like Newegg.com for the same price. Although there weren't any drastic changes, the move to a bigger, 8.9-inch widescreen and the addition of 16GB worth of extended storage are welcome improvements. But is it worth the $550 (street) price tag? I think so.
Despite a bigger screen, the EeePC 900 maintains the same sleek physical measurements (6.6 by 8.7 by 0.8 inches, HWD). Because of the second (16GB) solid state drive (SSD) and a slightly bigger battery, the unit tips the scales at 2.2 pounds, a fifth of a pound heavier than the EeePC 4G. The extra heft is hardly noticeable, and you can carry it to every occasion imaginable—it's a pound lighter than the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. Laptops in this price range are typically bulky, unattractive, and not worth my time, but both the EeePC 900 and the HP Mini-Note break that mold with their pretty designs.
Although the EeePC 900 is not as light as the 1.5-pound Samsung Q1 Ultra, it comes with something well worth the extra weight—a functional keyboard. Because the dimensions haven't increased, the EeePC 900 retains its 83 percent keyboard. The 92 percent keyboard on the HP Mini-Note is far more comfortable to type on, as the tightly spaced keys have the feel of a full-size keyboard. You can attempt to touch-type on the EeePC 900, but that will take some practice and a lot of patience. Even more annoying, however, are the stiff mouse buttons. They make a loud clicking noise, and you'll have to exert some force to press them.

The original EeePC didn't take advantage of the lid's full width, and the speakers, which were placed beside the screen, made the interior look cheap. That version's 7-inch screen has been replaced by an 8.9-inch one in the EeePC 900—the same size as the one on the HP Mini-Note. Also helping to enhance your multimedia, working, and surfing experience is the increase in resolution from 800-by-480 to 1,024-by-600. As for the speakers, they're underneath the laptop.

The features are just like that of any other laptop. At this weight, the three USB ports are very generous. The EeePC 900 doesn't have a FireWire port because it is not a video-editing laptop. Though I could criticize ASUS for leaving out an optical drive, I won't: It keeps the EeePC smaller and lighter. The Ethernet port, a modem, and built-in Wi-Fi (802.11g) cover all your network connections. The Wi-Fi card picked up my Verizon FiOS wireless access point almost immediately, and I was surfing the Web within seconds.

A VGA port is also available for external monitor hookups. Even more impressive is that ASUS adds a SecureDigital and MMC card reader on the right-hand side of the system and a 1.3-megapixel webcam right above the screen. The feature set, however, is not as impressive as that of the HP Mini-Note, which has numerous hard drive options and an ExpressCard 34 slot that can hold an EV-DO modem.

Storage capacity is much better than in the previous EeePC version. Though it doesn't have high-capacity spinning drives like the HTC Shift and the Fujitsu Lifebook U810, the solid-state drives are more durable and faster. In addition to the standard 4GB SSD, ASUS fills in the available internal mini-PCI express slot with a 16GB SSD drive for a total of 20GB worth of storage. This is a game changer, because now you can put multiple operating systems on this unit, including a dual-boot configuration of Windows XP and Xandros Linux. For those who had to run XP from an SDHC card, the extra storage is a godsend.

In terms of operating systems, you now have a choice of Windows XP Home or Xandros Linux. Both are shipping for the same price. My configuration came with Linux and for the most part, the interface hasn't changed. It's divided into a series of tabs, representing an area full of Web links, another area for OpenOffice 2.0 and a PDF reader, one for games and educational software, and the last for video and music players. As usual, I tested this system with a host of file types to see if a typical Windows user can survive with this version of Linux. Most of my MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files took a while to load in OpenOffice but were fine when they eventually opened. The exception was .docx files (the open XML format used in MS Office 2007), which this version of OpenOffice doesn't recognize.

The EeePC 900 uses Mozilla Firefox for a Web browser, and I had no problems playing back videos from YouTube, running remote access through the LogMeIn site, accessing my Outlook Webmail, and uploading photos to a photo-sharing site (Flickr). It can handle multiple apps at once. It also loads Mozilla's Thunderbird Web client, which doesn't come even close to MS Outlook but does a decent job of collecting e-mail from popular sites like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail. Xandros Linux supports many—though not all—printer models, including the HP PhotoSmart 7550 and the Epson Stylus C62 photo printer. Xandros recognizes various file formats, including MP3, AAC, and WAV, and it comes with its own media player, which does a good job playing back WMV, H.264 and MPEG video files. However, playing back a DVD movie or an audio CD through an external USB optical drive is still dicey, producing all sorts of artifacts and distortions. The machine and its processor are simply not powerful enough to handle these tasks well.

Aside from a fast external optical drive, you don't need fast parts to run Linux, but now that ASUS offers a Windows XP version, a faster processor would have been nice. Unfortunately, the EeePC 900 runs a 900-MHz Intel Celeron M processor, the same one found on the EeePC 4G. This would have been an excellent opportunity for ASUS to use the new Intel Atom Centrino platform, which consists of the A110 processor and a new chipset (including graphics) and should improve processing speed, but I guess prices for the new platform aren't as cheap as Intel makes them out to be.

As a consolation, the 1GB of RAM is double the amount from the previous version, and the SSD drives help speed up transfer speeds. The HP Mini-Note has a slight edge because it runs 2GB of RAM, although its VIA processor doesn't help it much. Nevertheless, the Linux-based EeePC 900 system booted up in just 21 seconds, as opposed to twice that on a typical Windows operating system. It goes without saying, though, that any form of gaming should be Web-based, as most of the 3D-intensive ones will not be supported by this operating system. I couldn't run any of my performance tests because they lack support for Linux.

The four-cell battery is a little bigger than the one in the EeePC 4G, going from a 39-Wh to a 42-Wh one, although this capacity increase will net you 3 to 4 hours, according to ASUS.

The EeePC 900 is RoHS-compliant but has yet to be certified for Energy Star 4.0 and EPEAT. Running my own tests, using a PS3 International Kill-A-Watt meter, the EeePC 900 fell well within the limits of Energy Star's specifications. The 14 Watts it consumed matches that of the Apple MacBook Air and the Fujitsu LifeBook P8010, but because it doesn't have all the necessary certifications, it doesn't earn PC Magazine's GreenTech Approved seal.

It's really hard to make physical enhancements to a laptop without raising prices, especially when the price is $400 and its name is the EeePC. The ASUS EeePC 900's price is now up to $550, but the wider 8.9-inch screen, the extra 16GB SSD drive, and the 1GB of RAM are worth at least the extra $149. Very few manufacturers can hit this price point, let alone a $400 one. It's still a tremendous bargain no matter how you slice it.

PRICE:$1,299.00
Gateway has developed a reputation for bundling state-of-the-art processing parts in relatively inexpensive laptops. The Gateway M-152XL, for instance, is a desktop replacement laptop that runs on Intel's latest "Penryn" technology and includes an ATI graphics card for casual gamers—not bad when you combine this kind of raw horsepower with a $1,299 (direct) price tag. In a world filled with innovative laptop designs, however, Gateway doesn't really break any new ground by offering this model in several colors.
These days, the design theme for many mainstream laptops involves decorative art embedded underneath a glossy finish, such as the In-Mold Decoration on the Toshiba Satellite U405-S2830 and the HP Pavilion dv6500t. Better yet are metallic finishes seen on the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn) and the Dell XPS M1530 that give them a refined look. The Dell M1530 actually uses both color and a brushed aluminum finish. I wouldn't call the M-152XL's design lackluster by any means, but solid colors on a lustrous finish are no longer cutting-edge. Fortunately, the M-152XL gives you several hues to choose from, including red, silver, and navy blue. It even offers a theme called Arctic Bloom, in which the lid is covered with floral graphics splashes.
In this day and age, anything that weighs more than 6 pounds and comes with a 15.4-inch screen is likely classified as a desktop replacement. (The big exception is the MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn), which weighs a mere 5.3 lbs and is considered a mainstream laptop.) At 6.2 pounds, however, the M-152XL weighs exactly the same as the Dell XPS M1530 and the Fujitsu Lifebook A6120. These systems aren't built for frequent flyers, but they afford some portability, provided you have a strong back. The 15.4-inch widescreen is bright, but its 1,280-by-800 resolution is a yawner. The Apple MacBook Pro and the Dell M1530 come standard with 1,440-by-900 screens, as do others. I found the full-size keyboard to be quite comfortable, but the mouse buttons, inherited from the Gateway NX570X, are loud and hard to press.

This is the first time I've seen Gateway use a slot-loading DVD drive instead of a tray-ejecting one, emulating the Apple MacBook Pro and the Dell XPS M1530, and achieving a cleaner look. The multimedia and DVD playback control buttons above the keyboard should have been touch-sensitive, like the ones on the Toshiba U405-S2830 and HP Pavilion dv6500t. You literally have to jam them down to get a response. There's no FireWire port, which is surprising for a multimedia laptop of this size. It does, however, come with an HDMI-out port, a 5-in-1 card reader (SD, MS, MS Pro, xD, MMC), a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and a fingerprint reader.

The Gateway M-152XL clearly built this system for performance first, because it incorporates a 7,200-rpm hard drive with only 160GB worth of storage space. In comparison, the Toshiba U205-S2830 and the Fujitsu A6120 are serving up 250GB-to-300GB capacities at slower rotational speeds.

Although it's not by any means a standout in terms of features and design, the M-152XL is a performance thoroughbred. Its 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 processor and 3GB RAM helped produced a SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score of 121, which easily topped that of the Toshiba U405-S2830, the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn), the Sony VAIO VGN-FZ485U, and the ASUS M50Sa-A1. The 7,200-rpm hard drive played a big role in achieving such high marks as well, by enabling faster transfer speeds. Video-encoding and Photoshop tests were some of the best I've seen on a laptop at this price point. The configuration I tested uses an ATI Mobility Radeon 2600XT graphics card, which is powerful enough to play games like Unreal Tournament and World of Warcraft but doesn't fare as well with hard-core 3D games like Crysis and World of Conflict. If gaming is a priority, the ASUS M50Sa-A1 has a better ATI graphics card for about the same price.

Battery life with the 57-Wh battery wasn't spectacular. The 2 hours 27 minutes it scored on MobileMark 2007 is disappointing, but expected. Gateway offers a nine-cell battery for an extra $200, which I recommend it despite its premium price.

The number of mainstream laptops being offered at competitive prices is daunting. Very few have a complete package like the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn) and the Dell XPS M1530. Some mainstream laptops focus on design and features, while others target performance. The Gateway M-152XL delivers on the latter. Although the system's design and features are satisfactory at best, most users will value the inexpensive price tag above all else. Performance, thankfully, is its saving grace: The M-152LX delivers speeds that will shock the likes of Apple and Dell.

PRICE:$178.00 - $260.00
It's always easy to tell when a product's been slapped together haphazardly. But when one is as thoughtfully designed as the 8.1-megapixel Nikon Coolpix P60 ($229.95 list), the care shows in the little details that may not be obvious at first. Though the P60 certainly has room for improvement, it offers a number of innovative features that make this compact camera exceptionally pleasant to use.

Though it is large for a compact camera, at 2.5 by 3.76 by 1.42 inches (HWD), the P60 is surprisingly light. It has almost the same dimensions as its cousin, the Coolpix P5000, yet Nikon has managed to shave roughly an ounce and a half off its weight. I wouldn't want to carry this camera around in my pocket, but the P60's bulk and its rubberized grip make it comfortable to hold. The power button and shutter fall under your right index finger, and the settings wheel is right next to them for easy access. The camera's 5X zoom is impressive for an entry-level model. Its 35mm-equivalent focal-length range of 36mm to 180mm is generous as well.

Like other Nikons before it, the P60 has a four-way controller pad that offers one-touch access to frequently used items like exposure compensation, flash modes, the self-timer, and focus options. I didn't find myself using the focus settings much, but the flash and self-timer buttons really came in handy. The other control buttons on the camera activate playback mode, delete images, and open the menu. The P60 offers roughly 12MB of onboard memory, and it also takes SD and SDHC memory cards.

The rest of the camera is taken up by a 2.5-inch LCD. Though images look bright and crisp on the glossy screen, it's far too reflective to use in direct sunlight. Luckily Nikon has an innovative solution. Pressing the monitor switch activates the electronic viewfinder, which, impressively, lets you use all the same functions that you would normally access on the LCD—menus, image review, scene modes—without having to avert your gaze from the viewfinder. I tried this out during a walk in the park, when I wanted to take a close-up of the blossoms on a tree. The bright day rendered the LCD nearly useless, so I switched to the viewfinder, and I was easily able to use it to view and navigate the menu, change the setting to close-up scene mode, zoom in and shoot the picture, and then review the image in playback mode.

The P60 is fine for fully automatic shooting, but it also offers a decent amount of control for more advanced digital photographers. Specifically, the Program and Manual exposure modes offer capture control, although adjusting the settings can take time. High ISO mode can crank the P60 up to ISO 2000, great for low-light shots when you can't use a flash. The resulting images show a noticeable level of noise—something we frequently see in point-and-shoot cameras—but even shots taken at the highest ISO level had decent exposure and a good color balance. Photos taken inside a dimly lit museum still looked bright, with only minimal blurring when figures walked through the shot. At lower settings, like ISO 100, photos were clean with no discernible noise.

The camera automatically turns face detection on, but I left it off for the most part. I found that the face-detection feature added some lag time, so it works better for stationary subjects than when you are trying to capture any sort of motion. The camera's 12 scene modes run the gamut from Museum to Fireworks Show, but don't quite match up to the 15 offered on the more entry-level Fuji FinePix J10.

Other interesting options include a continuous shooting mode (similar to the Sports option, which takes three shots in quick succession), and some in-camera editing features. With continuous shooting turned on, you can take as many as four shots in a row at 2 frames per second just by holding the shutter button down. The P60 also offers Best Shot Selector mode, similar to that of the Coolpix S200, where the camera shoots up to ten pictures when the shutter is held down and automatically selects and saves the sharpest image. My favorite editing option, D-lighting, can help you recover dark or backlit images, saving a new, brighter picture alongside the original. It can't recover every photo, but it definitely helped a few of my darker shots. Other features include in-camera red-eye fix, cropping, and the ability to "lock" images so they can't be inadvertently deleted.

Another useful feature is the ability to start the camera in review mode by holding down the playback button. Press it again and you can get back to normal shooting mode. This is one of the ways Nikon enables you to conserve battery power, which is important since this model takes only AA batteries. Still, Nikon claims the batteries should last for about 190 shots, and just one pair made it through all of my testing. To further conserve power, the camera goes into sleep mode after a period of time, but snaps right back with a press of the power button.

In the lab, the P60's performance was a mixed bag. Its resolution test scores, averaging 1,850 lines, were, well, average for an 8.1MP camera. The less-expensive Canon PowerShot A590 IS averaged a much more impressive 2,150 lines at the same resolution, but its daylight shots were not nearly as sharp, and showed some purple fringing. The P60's daylight test shots were well exposed, with vivid color and no noticeable fringing. Flash shots, on the other hand, were slightly underexposed, though still clear with good color. The P60 suffers from noticeable barrel distortion on the wide end of the lens, but only slight pincushion distortion. The results weren't particularly surprising for an entry-level camera.

The P60's image stabilization feature is called Vibration Reduction (VR) and can be accessed in Setup mode. It does a solid job of improving image quality, particularly in low-light situations. In a dimly lit concert hall, I attempted to photograph the performer from a sizable distance. Though the photos taken with VR were not in focus, at least the singer's expressions were discernible. In the photos taken without VR, he was no more than a spotlighted blur.

My biggest issue was with the camera's responsiveness, or lack thereof. In our tests, the P60 came in at an average boot-up speed (4.3 seconds), but its recycle time was poor—nearly 5 seconds—and its shutter lag, at 0.74 seconds, could be better. If you're like me and constantly fishing your camera out of your bag in a hurry to try to catch a shot, you'll want a much quicker model, such as the Canon PowerShot SD790 IS.

The P60's video is smooth and clear, but I ran into an issue during playback. On three different computers using three different players, when I viewed my videos the accompanying audio cut out between 1 and 2 seconds before the end of the video. I contacted Nikon, and they're still investigating. Initially, Nikon chalked it up to a "codec issue" with my player and stated that when they viewed the files the audio cut out closer to 3/10 of a second before the end of the video. (This is standard to avoid recording the sound of the camera's lens retracting.) I'll update this review as soon as I get the final verdict.

Recording standalone audio is simple on the P60. In addition to the Voice Recording option under scene modes, you can record a memo over photos you've taken. Just hit OK in playback mode to record up to 20 seconds with any image.

Though the Nikon Coolpix P60 offers an impressive 5X zoom, and clear, crisp images, its price holds it back from the ranks of truly stellar, less-expensive compact cameras like the Canon PowerShot A590 IS. The impressive A590 IS offers a lot of the same features and manual controls as the P60 for roughly $50 less. But if you're willing to put up with the slow start time and bulk of the P60, you might just come to appreciate the thoughtful little details Nikon incorporated, like the capable electronic viewfinder and the ability to start up in review mode.

PRICE:$200.00
After lagging behind its competitors for the last few years, Kodak is poised for a comeback with its new EasyShare M1033 ($199.95 direct), a simple camera that boasts a generous feature set. The 10-megapixel M1033 adds style, comes in six colors, and is easy enough for any beginning photographer. It even offers 720p resolution HD video capabilities. Although it's not quite on a par with Canon 's high-quality cameras, the M1033 is certainly an affordable alternative.

At 5.12 ounces, the M1033 is lightweight and small enough to fit into a pocket but feels solid at the same time. Its big, bright 3-inch LCD screen makes framing shots easy, and to my amazement I found it viewable even in direct sunlight. This is especially important because the camera lacks an optical viewfinder.

I do have some gripes, starting with the power and shutter buttons. Both are recessed into the top of the camera and can be difficult to find by touch, and it took some effort to figure out just how much pressure on the shutter button is needed to snap a shot. The zoom control is easy to access with your right thumb while shooting. I was disappointed that there were no dedicated buttons for frequently used controls, such as white balance or ISO settings; you have to go through the main menu to access these. The Canon PowerShot SD790 IS, for one, offers a few different ways to access important settings on the fly.

For automatic shooting, the M1033's "smart capture mode" analyzes the scene and automatically optimizes the settings for each shot, using what Kodak calls Intelligent Scene Detection, Intelligent Capture Control, and Intelligent Image Processing. I found it rather annoying, though, that no matter which mode I was in when I turned off the camera —other modes include manual and movie—when I powered it up it automatically defaulted to smart capture mode. Don't get me wrong, I liked this mode, but I would prefer to have the camera default to the last mode used. Although smart capture mode is not as consistently effective as Panasonic 's Intelligent Auto (on the DMC-FS20 or FX35), it comes in handy. In my testing I found that, most of the time, smart capture mode selected the appropriate scene and eliminated some noise in low-light shots.

Indeed, all of my low-light shots were impressive, with just a small amount of noise under about ISO 800. Settings go all the way up to ISO 6400, but I wouldn't recommend going any higher than 800, as noise became distracting at higher settings.

The M1033 has a 3X optical zoom, and a 6.25mm-to-18.75mm lens (35mm equivalent: 35mm to 105mm) with maximum f-stops of f/3.1 to f/5.7. I've seen a number of point-and-shooters with a wider-angle lens, though, among them the Panasonic FX35, which has a 25mm lens.

During lab testing the M1033 turned in distinguished results. Boot-up and recycle times were fast—2.69 and 2.22 seconds, respectively. Parents who seek to capture spontaneous shots of their kids will find this very helpful—they won't miss a thing. The M1033 was able to resolve 2,250 lines on our resolution test, which is superb for a 10MP camera and on the level of a D-SLR. Still, it fell just short of the SD790's score of 2,350.

Image quality was, for the most part, excellent. My still-life shots were uniform and vivid. Outdoor testing proved to be exceptional, as well, with accurate and bright colors in daylight shots. I also tested face detection in a number of scenarios. The M1033 had no problems detecting and optimizing the shots for skin tone and the angle of people's faces, even with multiple people in the frame. Flash shooting was a bit of a disappointment: Images were a tad underexposed.

The ability to record HD-quality video at a resolution of 1,280-by-720 and 30 frames per second is unusual for a camera under $200. You can even zoom in while recording, a rare convenience in a point-and-shooter. Video quality was good, with little pixelation and smooth playback. The M1033 accepts SD and SDHC cards and comes with 32MB of internal memory.

A very easy-to-use camera, the Kodak M1033 takes images of good quality and offers a number of excellent features, like smart capture mode and HD movie recording. While it can't quite match the Canon SD790 IS in overall performance or the Panasonic FS20 in terms of features, as a basic camera it will please most amateur shutterbugs.

On Thursday, Adobe Systems made publicly available a pre-release version of the next generation of its browser plug-in software, Flash Player 10.

Flash is the most widespread web browser-enhancing software, installed in 98 percent of browsers, according to company representatives. The new version, code-named "Astro," can be downloaded from the Adobe Labs site.

Astro adds new capabilities for developers such as custom filters and effects, native 3D transformation and animation, extensible rich text layout, and GPU hardware acceleration. The beta download is available for Windows Vista, Windows XP , Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Mac OS X, and Linux. As with all beta releases, the software is not intended for general use, but for web developers to test their applications and provide feedback to the company.

This is the first version of Flash that allows developers to create these custom filters and effects and combine them with native Flash effects. "For over ten years Adobe has pushed the limits of creativity and redefined rich interactive Web experiences with Adobe Flash Player…We believe this beta release of Adobe Flash Player 10 raises the bar once again," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe.

Text and layout is another focus of the new release. It will allow control over font attributes like anti-aliasing, rotation, style, and ligatures. In text layout, vertical, bi-directional and right-to-left choices will mean rich internet applications can be built for more languages and eBooks and online publications can be made to look more attractive.

Flash has come a long way from its simple start as a vector-graphics-player plugin. Flash 9 added powerful video playing capabilities, and Adobe is hoping that the 3D horsepower in version 10 will further transform the web browser, making possible immersive, cinematic web viewing experiences.

We installed the new plugin on a Windows XP system to test out the new features. You can either download an ActiveX control (required for Internet Explorer ) or a generic plugin for Windows; we tried both, so that we could test in Firefox as well as Internet Explorer. Both weigh in at about 1.8 Mbytes. Installing the beta version necessitates uninstalling previous versions of Flash. Setup is a one-step operation after download; simply run the installer, and you'll get a "Completed" message—nothing to fill in, no options. Adobe is making this as easy as possible to get the most possible installations.

I checked out a few sites I like that use Flash. The first, box.net, worked just fine, as did another of my favorites, Meebo. One of the biggest users of Flash, YouTube, also looked sharp and smooth, as did the high-definition content on Vimeo. In face, Adobe Labs claims that the new plugin can automatically adjust to network traffic problems to avoid stop and start video, and my testing seemed to bear this out.

Next, I checked out the Flash 10 demos Adobe Labs has made available. Most of these show off the software's ability to use the PC's graphics hardware for producing 3D effects, including GPU compositing and surfacing. The demos here were mostly videos of programmers showing how to use the new capabilities, but Pixel Bender is a live app using the technology. This shows portable filters, blend modes, and fills, which can even be animated at runtime. Some of the effects, such as Twirl and Crystallize, were pretty interesting, especially when applied to video. Oddly, after viewing the last demo option, the button interface stopped working—beta is still beta, after all.

My advice to consumers is to wait for a more final release before making the switch, as some sites you like may not work properly. But based on our experience with the beta, the effects and capabilities will be well worth the upgrade when the software is finally released.

Reports are all over about problems with some users installing Windows XP SP3; their systems go into a continuous reboot cycle.

Now Microsoft has provided an explanation, and it's an interesting one. The problem occurs on AMD-based systems where Windows was build from an OEM image captured on an Intel-based system. Perhaps it never mattered before, but in such cases, and depending on a particular registry key, an Intel-specific driver (Intelppm.sys) is loaded.

Microsoft Knowledge Base article KB88372 explains this some more and gives instructions for what to do if you are experiencing the problem. There is even more on the subject in this forum post on microsoft.com.

Creating system images in this way is, when you think about it, a pretty stupid thing to do and the OEMs are clearly at fault. By the same token, the SP3 beta test was pretty large and I wonder how something like this could have escaped notice.