It's not exactly the world's biggest secret that we cover our fair share of gadgets here at infoSync World - and of
course we have our own personal favourites for 2005. Curious?
Xbox 360
Beating
Sony's PS3 and
Nintendo's Revolution to the punch by several months, Microsoft's next-gen gaming console has won accolades from both owners and the press in general courtesy of its high-performance graphics sprinkled with extensive online gaming capabilities and media streaming. Granted, there's been reports of crashes hither and thither, but hey - it's all in the holiday spirit of keeping up traditions (oh come on, as if we'd let that one slide).
 Nokia N70
It may not be the most powerful smartphone Nokia has made, but the N70 does a brilliant job of merging a broad range of high-end features in a compact and good-looking package that simply has it all. Highlights include a 2 Megapixel camera, 3G connectivity and Bluetooth, as an absolutely glorious screen, audio player and business software; team it up with
a Nokia SU-8W Wireless Keyboard and you've got yourself a match made in heaven.
 Sony PlayStation Portable
Crashing in on what used to be Nintendo's turf exclusively, Sony's PlayStation Portable is a powerhouse of a portable gaming console that offers graphics capabilities beyond anything we've seen. Its media capabilities aren't too well exploited and we don't care for the proprietary disc format it uses, but seeing classics like Wipeout and Ridge Racer run with PS2 quality graphics on that thing is just amazing. Too big? Get
a Nintendo Game Boy Micro instead.
 Sony Ericsson W900i
Not everyone wants a smartphone, which is why Sony Ericsson invented the W900i. One of the highest-end handsets we've ever laid our eyes on, it includes a 2 Megapixel camera and excellent audio performance courtesy of its Walkman heritage; in fact, it'll easily kick an iPod shuffle to the curb. We don't exactly mind the superb screen and phone performance either, and business users will be happy to blame their purchase on its 3G support.
 Apple iPod nano
Speaking of iPods, have you heard about a little something called the slobberingly sleek nano? Unveiled by the ever-charismatic Steve Jobs, this flash based version of the world's most popular audio player brand offers up to 4 GB of storage in black or white editions and became an instant sales hit - much like other iPods, come to think of it. It doesn't hurt that Apple managed to negotiate a 50% rebate with Samsung on the memory it uses, either.
 JVC Everio GZ-MG50
Although they mostly slipped under the radar, 2005 saw the launch of several models of hard drive enabled digital camcorders - of which we particularly favoured the Everio GZ-MG50 from JVC. Fitted with a 30 GB hard drive, 15x optical zoom and more than decent image quality, it stores directly to MPEG2 format and removes the need for conversion, squeezing a whopping 7.5 hours of hi-def video onto its drive. It also shoots stills, but chalk that up as a gimmick.
 Archos AV700
Meet the mother of all portable media players. With its massive 7-inch widescreen display, the AV700 supports a battery of audio and video formats for playback on the go, dwarfing such entries as
the Apple iPod Video or
the Creative Zen Vision:M. Its only major drawback is the lack of a proper content pipeline - but what does that matter when you've also got recording capabilities built-in? Oh, and did we mention it has an unbelievable 100 GB of storage?
 Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook P1510
Although we didn't manage to chalk up a review in time for our Top 10 list, we have a sample of this tablet convertible in our labs - and trust us, it's awesome. It's small, light and suitably powerful with up to 60 GB of storage and an active touch screen which makes for a more precise tablet experience (and lets you cheat with a fingernail once in a while). Pair it with a petite 3G handset such as
the Samsung SGH-Z540, and you'll be the envy of everyone at the office.
 Acer Media Gateway MG-3001P
Something of a dark horse, Acer's MG-3001P came out of left field to snag first place in our media extender category. This stylish box will easily fit into any home theater setup and streams audio and video formats galore effortlessly over Wi-Fi 802.11g or 100 Mbps Ethernet using the UPnP protocol for standards compliance. Want more? It also views your pictures and can hook up USB Mass Storage portable drives for direct playback or copying to your network.
 O2 XDA Exec
As Europe's first 3G-enabled communicator, the XDA Exec - alongside the T-Mobile MDA Pro and Orange SPV M5000 - is a hulk of a device. Still, its considerable bulk also conceals a solid dose of power and versatility courtesy of running the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform in conjunction with a large and comfortable thumbboard. Also sporting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, we can't wait until they're able to squeeze all of this into a package the size of
the XDA Mini S.
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