LG BD550 Blu-Ray Disc Player

If you have Ethernet connectivity in your living room, the smart move is to go with an entry-level Blu-ray player. Most such players available in 2010 offer much of the functionality of step-up models, minus built-in Wi-Fi. That’s the case with the LG BD550 ($150 street), which is nearly identical to the step-up BD570, except it lacks Wi-Fi and DLNA compatibility and costs about $100 less.

If you can live without those features, the BD550 still delivers excellent image quality, relatively speedy load times, and a generous suite of streaming-media services, including Netflix, Vudu, Pandora, and YouTube. It’s missing the expandable Apps platform of the competing Samsung BD-C5500, but if you mostly care about core streaming services, the BD550 is a solid entry-level choice.

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Garmin Nuvi 295W Review

The Garmin Nuvi 295W is a solid point-to-point GPS navigator with a few neat tricks that on-foot navigators may appreciate, but its secondary camera and Wi-Fi-connected features just aren’t very useful from behind the wheel.

What do you get when you yank the phone parts out of the Garmin Nuvifone? The obvious answer is “just a regular Garmin Nuvi.” However, that’s not exactly the case, as the Garmin Nuvi 295W retains more than a few of its smartphone bits, including a 3-megapixel camera and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Garmin 295W features nearly identical hardware and software as the Nuvifone G60 with a few mostly invisible changes, but is this new device raising the bar for portable navigation devices or simply lowering the bar for a smartphone that we’ve already judged as mediocre?

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Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android

On paper, the Archos 5 touch-screen Internet tablet comes across like an Apple iPod Touch on steroids. Every spec is designed to be over-the-top, from the 720p HD video playback and 4.8-inch screen, to the integrated GPS, Bluetooth, and FM transmitter. The capacities on offer are also beyond belief, starting with a $249 8GB model with a slender body and microSD slot, all the way up to a chunky, hard-drive-based 500GB version selling for $489.

In short: every aspect of the Archos 5 is made to lure hard-core digital media nerds away from products like the Zune HD and the iPod Touch. Wish the iPod Touch had GPS? Try the Archos 5. Disappointed by the relatively small screen and limited video codec support of the Zune HD? The Archos 5 is a video junkie’s dream come true. Even the open-ended appeal of the iPhone App Store is addressed with the inclusion of a handful of Google Android applications and a built-in Archos download store where a limited selection of additional applications can be installed.

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Alienware M11X Review

At this year’s CES, we were surprised and excited to see an Alienware laptop that not only cost less than $1,000, but was compact enough to slide into a messenger bag. Dubbed by many as a “gaming Netbook,” the M11x is actually a hybrid 11.6-inch ultraportable that has an ultralow-voltage Intel Core 2 Duo processor married with a Nvidia graphics card that can be switched on or off to save battery life. The end result is a dense but very portable laptop that has the ability to play any mainstream game.

For a student or a PC gamer looking for a truly portable system, the M11x could be a perfect product. Arguably, at a starting cost of $799, the M11x could be justified as the cost of a game console plus the cost of a Netbook/small laptop, while providing the benefits of both (but upgrading the configurable system can quickly drive up the price past the $1K mark).

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Velocity Micro Taps Android for Tablet PCs

Velocity Micro will step away from its luxury gaming throne to dabble in the emerging Android tablet market with the release of three new unusually inexpensive devices this summer: the Cruz Reader priced at $200, Cruz Tablet priced at $300, and Cruz StoryPad priced at $150.

All three devices will use 7-inch screens and run Google Android, although the StoryPad and reader both use screens with a 4:3 ratio, while the Tablet adopts a longer 16:9 aspect ratio.

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Sony PlayStation 3 Review

There’s general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model. Even worse, the PS3 didn’t initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn’t look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.

Since then, the company’s been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new “bargain” PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a “deluxe” model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB. Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB Metal Gear Bundle version on eBay while they’re still out there.

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Apple iPad Review

It was hyped and ripped before it even had a name, and after it was announced, it was both praised and panned.
Apple’s iPad has been the subject of debates about the future of technology and media, and massive speculation about whether people will really want to buy and use it.

Without a doubt, it’s remarkably easy to dump a heap of existential baggage on the iPad. It’s likely that its existence is a direct repudiation of the last 25 years of computer interfaces, an era kicked off by Apple itself. It’s a product in a category—tablet computers—that has been a flop despite nearly a decade of hype.

But before we get into the big, existential questions about the iPad and what it means for life on Earth, it’s probably a good idea to look at what the product actually is: a solid glass-and-metal slab of high technology.

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iPhone 4 Review

The iPhone 4 is no small thing to review. As most readers of Engadget are well aware, in the gadget world a new piece of Apple hardware is a major event, preceded by rumors, speculation, an over-the-top announcement, and finally days, weeks, or months of anticipation from an ever-widening fan base.

It’s a lot to live up to, and the iPhone 4 is doing its best — with features like a super-fast A4 CPU, a new front-facing camera and five megapixel shooter on the back, a completely new industrial design, and that outrageous Retina Display, no one would argue that Apple has been asleep at the wheel. So the question turns to whether or not the iPhone 4 can live up to the intense hype.

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