Black Friday or Bust The highs and lows of shopping for holiday gadgets
Maybe it’s for your daughter or son or spouse or mother or even yourself. As always, there’s plenty of electronics to choose from this holiday shopping season. We took a look at the high-priced (devices of our dreams) and low-priced devices (that we could afford this year.) Here’s what we came up with for your holiday shopping pleasure
By Jessica Davis
Digital TV:
OK, chances are you probably already have one. But who is to stop you from looking at really really big ones, and maybe really small ones too.
Digital TV – Top of the line:
Sony Bravia XBR KDL-70XBR7 70-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Price$17,999Full HD 1080p resolution panel, Motionflow 120Hz technology for natural motion, BRAVIA Engine 2 PRO fully digital video processor.
Digital TV – Budget:
Digital Labs 7-inch Portable Digital LCD TV Price $79.99resolution maximum: 480x234built in speakers, table top stand, includes remote control, headphones and car adapter. Receives broadcast signals.
eReader:
Looks like digital books are here to stay, and the idea of bringing your whole library with you when you go visit the in-laws over the holidays may hold some appeal.
eReader – Top of the Line:
Kindle DX from Amazon.com Price $4899.7 inch diagonal E Ink displayCan store 3500 booksWireless coverage in the U.S. Over 360,000 books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs available. New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99
No Title
eReader – Budget:
Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS300RC (available at Toys R Us)Price: $1995-inch displayHolds up to 350 books Supports ePub and PDFE Ink Vizplex screen technologySyncs with Mac or PC. No wireless capability.
eReader – Ultra budget:
Price: FreeDownload a free Kindle or eReader.com app for your smart phone.
Mobile PC:
Maybe you want to be as cool as those netbook people at the coffee shop. Or maybe your daughter wants to be that cool. Either way, you may be looking at these this season.
Mobile PC – Top of the Line:
Apple MacBook Air Price: $3,000Display 13.3-inches with .16 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM, and a 64 GB solid-state drive. Plus, a video processor with 144 MB shared memory. It comes with a built in webcam, one USB 2.0 drive, built in WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0.
Mobile PC – Budget:
Lenovo S10 netbookPrice $99 with a 2 year contract and new activation from AT&T. Featues WiFi, 3G, an Intel Atom processor, Win XP OS, 2.65 lbs, 2.5 hours of battery life, a 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, 10.1 inch display and a webcam.
Smart phone
They call them smart because of all the other things they do besides being a phone. Camera? Check. GPS? Check. Portable web browser? Check. Etc. etc. It’s hard to pick just one top one, so we picked two. And there are probably more you’d like too.
Smart Phone – Top of the Line:
Apple iPhone 3GSPrice: $199 with contract. This device offers video recording, a 3 megapixel camera, plus the thing that makes the iPhone so popular with everyone – the App store which features applications for everything from games to music to GPS.
Smart Phone – Top of the Line:
Motorola DroidPrice: $199 with contract. The Droid is offers a great looking screen (WGVA on a 3.7 inch display) and a slide out physical keyboard and a 5 megapixel camera. It uses the Google Android operating system and boasts a growing library of Apps, including GPS, too.
Smart Phone – Budget:
T-Mobile Shadow Price: Free with 2 year contractThis phone, featuring the Windows Mobile operating system doesn’t offer all the apps available with the Droid and iPhone, but it does provide web browsing, a 2 megapixel camera and syncing with Microsoft Outlook (which is also available with the two Top of the Line picks as well).
Digital Camera
Some say the digital camera as a stand alone device is going away, but for the real shutterbugs it never will. Interchangeable lenses, filters and other features make the high-end digital camera a device that’s here to stay.
Top of the Line – Digital Camera:
Leica S2 SLR Digital CameraPrice: about $23,000OK, so this one may not be priced right for most of us this year, especially considering that the price doesn’t include any lenses, and a lens could set you back another $22,000. Still, in case you are a pro, win the lottery, or get a big bonus this year, check it out. It’s a 37.5 megapixel camera with a dual shutter system, a MAESTRO image processor, a compact design, and 3.0-inch LCD and color OLED info displays.
Budget – Digital Camera:
Nikon Coolpix S620Price $149.99This 12.2 megapixel 35mm format digital camera has 4x optical vibration reduction zoom and a 2.7 inch LCD display. It comes with a Li-ion rechargeable battery EN-EL12, battery charger, USB cable, and audio/video cable. Nikon says the four-way vibration reduction image stabilization compensates for the effects of camera shake by moving the image sensor.
Ultra Budget – Digital Camera:
The one on your cell phonePrice: you’ve already paid for it.
Games
What would the holiday be without games. Celebrate togetherness this year with a new game console, or just play solitaire. It’s up to you.
Top of the Line and Budget – Game Console:
Nintendo WiiPrice$199We’re listing this at both because it’s still cool this long after it was first released. $199 is the entry level price for the console which comes with a basic sports game package, and you may also want to invest in other game packages to go with it. Super cool because of the acellerometers inside the controller that measure movement in all directions and speeds.
Ultra Budget – Game Console:
Your cell phonePrice: You’ve already paid for itFrom solitaire on up, there are minutes of fun, or at least ways to kill time, with the games already installed on your cell phone.