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| Canon Vixia HF20 |
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 We're beginning to wonder if Canon is capable of manufacturing a bad camcorder. We haven't seen a dud from the company in years, and the Canon Vixia HF20 represents yet another A+ in consumer classroom. We loved the ultra-compact nature of the Vixia HF20, allowing us to transport the little bugger with ease. Its menu system cannot be beat and shooting features were not only plentiful, but also of the highest quality. Speaking of which, the Vixia HF20 cranked out one of the best video performances we've seen to date, even rivaling the Canon Vixia HF S10. We had few complaints at the end of our jaunt, and we're sure future Vixia HF20 owners will feel the same. At $900, the Vixia HF20 is a steal in terms of bang for the buck. Another winner from Canon. Jeez, this is getting old. Release: April 2009. Price: $900.
Pros: Great video performance. Excellent features. The best menus system in the biz.
Cons: Skimps on external controls. No viewfinder.
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| Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is a nice, mid-range multimedia machine, and Lenovo even includes some nice extras if you want to customize your rig. Multimedia fans will appreciate the good, LED backlit display, which did a fine job with our movies, as well as the standard outputs for an HDTV, and the battery life that was strong enough to get through a long, loud action flick. We loved the deep, responsive keyboard that felt more like typing on full size desktop keys. Some of the extras fell flat with us, though, including the unimpressive "Dolby" speakers and subwoofer, or the time-consuming VeriFace logon. There was also plenty of bloat to slow things down or cause problems, and we wish Lenovo had focused on adding multimedia software instead of the wealth of security options. Overall, though, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is a nice machine at a competitive starting price, and makes for a reasonable buy even with some serious upgrades for the graphics processor and system memory. We were pleasantly surprised with its performance from casual Web surfing to playing intense first person shooters. It's not as stylish as some other options, but it packs plenty of punch and makes for a solid device. Release: August 2009. Price: $1050.
Pros: Great keyboard. Solid gaming and multimedia performance with discrete graphics option. Solid selection of ports and hardware.
Cons: Big, plastic shell was unwieldly. Screen good, but could be better. Security bloat slowed us down.
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| Sprint Hero |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The HTC Hero on Sprint is the best Android phone to date, and one of the best smartphones on the market. This isn't a novice smartphone. The Sprint Hero will take some time to learn, but the device rewards patience. The interface running on top of Google's Android, HTC's Sense experience, is thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent. In almost every way, from the intuitive contextual menus to the desktop widgets to the detailed calling screens, HTC gets things right with the Sprint Hero. It's not an Apple iPhone killer. It handles some functions much better than the iPhone, like integrating and managing social networks. But in other ways, like multimedia playback or even camera performance, the Sprint Hero still comes up short. That said, if your phone is a conduit to your social network, the HTC Hero on Sprint does a great job delivering the information to you, and helping you connect with your online friends. Release: October 2009. Price: $100.
Pros: Fantastic interface design. Great Twitter and Facebook apps and widgets. Solid messaging features. Desktop-grade Web browsing.
Cons: Multimedia playback, especially with pre-recorded videos, was difficult to manage. Camera was disappointing. Design could be more exciting.
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| Nokia N95 8GB NAM |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Nokia N95 8GB has only improved since we last saw it, but so have our expectations grown as well, and we've come to feel stronger about great interface design and a fast, reliable bit of desktop synchronization software. This isn't the iPhone killer, in fact it's the exact opposite of that device. The Nokia N95 is packed to the gills with features; it does just about everything we've ever seen a phone do, at least in this country. But it lacks an intuitive, fun interface, and the desktop software, though improved to the point of being usable, is a far cry from Apple's seamless, reliable iTunes experience. It's a tough call between the two, and as phone geeks, we'd love to own the feature-rich N95, though we wouldn't hock our iPhone to buy one. In the end, we're glad both phones are out there, because they each represent the goal that the other should strive to achieve. Release: March 2008. Price: $450.
Pros: Feature-packed, now with loads of internal memory and faster networking. Camera, GPS navigation and media functions are among the best in class.
Cons: Big, square phone without much style. No touchscreen. Interface is uninspired and aging. No QWERTY.
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| Panasonic HDC-HS300 |
| Full review » Gallery » |
 What began as an ethereal tryst throughout the realms of innovative camcorder architecture and Manual controls had instantaneously crashed to a tragic halt when we discovered that the Panasonic HDC-HS300's video and photo quality just couldn't hack it. It's a darn shame too because the camcorder is equipped with a killer fleet of image controls, and we had a great experience with its hybrid touch-screen LCD. The HDC-HS300 is also littered with practical ports and rocks a prosumer-like Control dial. We had a blast with the HDC-HS300 out in the field, but when we threw our memories up on the big HDTV screen, we tried to quickly forget them. The Canon HG21 and Sony HDR-SR12 both lapped the Panasonic HDC-HS300 in terms of video quality, but this is not headline news. We've seen Panasonic mashing gears in third place for quite some time now, and perhaps the company needs to scrap the 3 chip configuration in favor of a single mother of a CMOS sensor. The best HD camcorder Panasonic can offer is also a significant chunk of change, so we highly recommend checking out the new Canons and Sonys before a regrettable decision is made. Release: April 2009. Price: $1400.
Pros: Great architecture. Chock full of ports. Enhanced manual controls.
Cons: Mediocre video quality and poor photo quality. Terrible AC adapter and DC input setup. LCD screen is too small.
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74%
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