HTC S743 Windows Mobile smartphone
 The HTC S743 could easily be confused as a step-down product. It's the HTC Touch Pro minus the touchscreen, after all. But we think that touchscreen's might be getting more than their fair share of the spotlight, so we're happy to see that HTC has a full-featured, QWERTY slider that skips all the complications and responsiveness issues of an all-touch interface, and sticks with the simpler issues of Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard edition. Too bad this device can't get the Neo interface that T-Mobile's Shadow uses, since both devices come from the same manufacturer. Oh, well. We got some hands-on time with the HTC S743 at CES 2009, and we liked the slim, narrow feel of the device. We're also fond of HTC's admittedly fingerprint-prone glossy styling. With support for AT&T's 3G bands, perhaps we'll see this one alongside the HTC Fuze. HTC Fizz, anyone?
Palm Pre WebOS smartphone
 We're not sure how deep the Palm Pre's new WebOS will dig into the cloud for advanced networking capabilities, but surely the Wi-Fi and 3G radios will play a major part in the device's usage. The Palm Pre goes well beyond updating the stale Palm OS platform, and brings an entirely new interface and hardware paradigm in the form of the Palm WebOS. The WebOS is a jewel of a touchscreen interface, and it includes some interesting synchronization options to allow users to seamlessly navigate between corporate mail, personal e-mail on Google as well as social networking on Facebook. The Palm Pre hardware itself packs all the high-end features you'd expect from a modern smartphone, all in a slim, rounded design.
T-Mobile Shadow consumer-oriented smartphone
 One of the only improvements on the new T-Mobile Shadow is the inclusion of UMA calling over Wi-Fi, so the phone is now an active member of T-Mobile's unlimited HotSpot calling club. The T-Mobile Shadow gets more of a spit-shine than an overhaul in the newest edition of the device, and this starts a trend in T-Mobile's CES lineup. In fact, the second T-Mobile Shadow doesn't even get a new name, it's still the T-Mobile Shadow. That's probably for the best, because when we saw the device here in Las Vegas, we would have had to hold up the former Shadow to its newer self to see the difference. It keeps the SureType keyboard that we've always liked, as well as HTC's offshoot Neo user interface, another way HTC is making Windows Mobile easier for the masses. The T-Mobile Shadow is not a touchscreen phone, and we're glad T-Mobile didn't feel compelled to add the feature. The phone works fine without a touchscreen. Now, 3G networking? That's something we might not be able to live without.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 Web-enabled camera
 The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 is a striking camera with a huge, 3.5-inch touchscreen dominating the entire back of the device. Sony does a nice job putting all that screen real estate to use, too. The camera features an impressive stable of shooting features, including smile shutter with anti-blink detection (getting a bit silly, now), an impressive array of in-camera editing features and more. But the icing on the cake is the Wi-Fi connectivity and the onboard Web browser. The Sony reps we talked to made it clear this is a stripped down, bare bones Web browser. It's meant for uploading photos, not browsing the Web on your commute home. In our hands-on test, we couldn't get the browser to find the CES Wi-Fi network, but we did get a chance to check out the tiny onscreen keyboard and the touch sensitive interface. We'd give a thumbs up to the interface, but the keyboard needs some work. Otherwise, the camera sports 4GB of internal storage, which should be plenty for most shooters to avoid the exorbitant cost of a Sony Memory Stick. The 10-megapixel, 4X zoom shooter is available now for $500.
Sony Walkman X1000 with Wi-Fi Internet browsing
 Sony's first Internet-enabled Walkman, the NWZ-X1000, clearly takes aim at the Apple iPod touch. Like Apple's device, the Sony X1000 will use Wi-Fi to browse the Internet, and like Apple, Sony is also touting the device's YouTube access. The Sony Walkman NWZ-X1000 will also come packed with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, like the iPod touch, and it is controlled by a touchscreen. The Sony device gets a leg up on Apple by including an OLED screen, and in the time we spent in front of the X1000 at CES 2009, we were very impressed with the sharp contrast and bright colors on the 3-inch display. We're also very curious to hear the noise cancellation technology on the device, as we think this will add a lot of value to the portable player, and it would certainly save us money on noise canceling headphones.
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