Insignia Sport 4GB MP3 Player Our rating:

The Insignia Sport MP3 Player is in the same price range as Apple’s iPod Shuffle, but packs quite a few more features for the price. With a spin-wheel and a thin, rectangular body, it even mimics the iPod. It’s very easy to control, even when on the run, which means the Insignia Sport lives up to its name. The Sport has an extra slot for a Micro SD card, and is even bluetooth capable. These two options as well as its ability to play videos set it in a league entirely apart from and above the iPod Shuffle. The Insignia Sport has easy-to-use menus, and can also be configured for left-handed use – a very nifty feature. The Sport makes it simple to find and play your music by artist, album, song, genre, and of course playlist, and you can also build your own “now playing” playlists on-the-spot. It also feataures a clock, an fm-radio feature, as well as a sleep timer. The video and audio quality is superb, and unlike many other MP3 players with radios, one cannot complain much about the radio quality. The only downfall is that since the player doesn’t have an external FM antenna, it must be placed somewhere where FM signals are in easy reach. The Sport is available in black, red and blue, and it looks very stylish. It’s simple, yet sleek.

Insignia’s Sport charges through a USB connection to a computer. It is very easy to transfer music onto and even comes with its own software. However, it’s also compatible with iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other common audio programs should you desire to stick with the program you’re already using. Its battery charge lasts a good 24 hours, which is very impressive. The Sport has been very reliable and did not experience any issues with music transferring or disappearing, a common issue among cheaper MP3 players. Although it did freeze a few times during normal use, it was easily restored to its normal “healthy” state upon being plugged into the computer or reset.

One downfall about the Sport is that it reconfigures and won’t return to your “Now Playing” list when unplugged from your computer. Of course, you’ll still have the playlists you have saved, but losing your currently playing list upon unplugging the device is somewhat of a nuisance. However, other than these few minor issues, the Sport is a winner across the board. It’s outstanding technological specs, durability, functionality, and design style easily make it one. Insignia, a Best Buy brand, did a very good job with the Sport MP3 Player and we not only recommend this individual device, but the manufacturer as a whole due to its cheaper price and overall good quality products.

Canon S5IS Digital Camera Our rating:

The Canon S5IS digital camera is a very versatile and user-friendly camera. It features a classic yet stylish body, contoured for a perfect fit into your hands for easy picture-taking, and a rotating flip-out 2.5″ LCD screen. The various shooting modes (Auto, Av, Tv, Manual, Custom, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Special Scene, Night Snapshot, Super Macro, Stitch Assist & Movie) stay true to the Canon line, and live up to the Canon standard. With the optical image stabilization and Digic III image-processing on top of the 12x optical zoom (48x digital) and 8.0 mega pixels, this camera is really one all-in-one package just below the quality of a digital SLR that is very hard to beat. With its zoom function and shutter in the same vicinity, as well as review control and mode switch wheel also nearby, it’s quite simple, straightforward and when necessary, speedy to take high-quality photos. The adjustable ISO settings, optical zoom and normal/macro/super macro functions make it easy to get creative and do just what you want to do with the camera instead of its functions limiting you.

I found it quite easy to learn how to use, and if I have any problems I can turn to the ever-helpful user manual or online support from Canon. The S5 IS is very sturdy, and taking videos is very easy as well, with a separate record button on the back of the camera. The video and audio quality is remarkably good. The lens is a Canon lens, and I’m quite impressed with the overall quality and clarity of the pictures I’ve taken. As an avid photography hobbyist, this camera has fulfilled all my needs, wants, and even more. It keeps surprising me with the professional quality of photos and as I continue honing my skills and becoming more accustomed to the S5IS. It only gets better and easier to use, as opposed to other cameras I’ve used that only seemed to become more problematic over time and more use. This canon has really held up in even very adverse conditions, such as rain, snow, extreme heat and bitter cold, and over time and more use. Since it takes SDHC cards, the memory availability is only limited to the cards available on the market now.

Although I’ve fallen in love with this camera, it does lack what a more expensive, truly professional digital SLR camera has, and is a bit on the large size. Also, it requires 4 AA batteries (I’ve found it’s good to use rechargeable canon NiMH batteries and a canon charger to power it as these last longer than the usual rechargeable batteries), which means it’s quite the power hog, and this makes it almost an absolute necessity to at least purchase rechargeable batteries. The lens cap is very loose, and falls off often, after a bit of research I found this is the case on most if not all models. This is a problem if you are carrying it in conditions or a situation where it could get easily scratched. However, other than these few issues, the S5IS has been a very pleasing camera to own. With it’s price of between 250-350$ dollars, it’s really the most bang for the buck out of cameras in its price and function group. It is possible to upgrade the camera hardware, so this is a great camera for anyone, whether you are a hobbyist like me, a professional perhaps looking for a second camera, a tourist or even a mom who just wants to get clear pictures of her kid’s soccer game.

RIM BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Smartphone Our rating:

The Blackberry 8830, although it looks to be a basic and even to some a boring and bulky PDA/Smartphone compared to others of its kind (and even its Blackberry siblings such as the popular and snazzy Pearl, Storm and Curve), the 8830 is set apart from the others by being both a CDMA and GSM phone. This phone is marketed especially for International businessmen and world-travelers who would benefit most from the network interchangeability. For those Sprint/Nextel and Verizon users who grit their teeth when they want to keep their phone when they change networks, or just switch out their sim card when they travel somewhere overseas with only GSM networks, the 8830 comes to the rescue. With both a CDMA function and a GSM sim-card slot, you get the best of both worlds. For the world-traveler who uses a CDMA network Smartphone, this Blackberry is a lifesaver and relieves a lot of hassle they may have had in the past when it comes to mobile networks and phones. It’s easy to use the World Edition 8830 overseas. Simply activate Sprint/Verizon World Service (by calling Sprint or Verizon, it’s free) and it will work in both CDMA and GSM countries (although the roaming fees are pretty hefty). For those who want to use a local sim-card, just switch out the Sprint or Verizon card for a local network’s card.

The Sprint version of the 8830 lacks a camera, which is a downside and a disappointment since Blackberry tends to stay on the cutting edge, but I suppose most world-traveling businessmen (who this phone is marketed for) don’t need a camera-phone to snap pictures while on a meeting in Beijing. And even though it might not have a camera, you can still fit a lot of media on the 8830 with the memory card option and SDHC capability. The audio isn’t the loudest, but still fairly good for a phone, and the video quality is exceptional. And, since the screen is 2.5 inches, you won’t be squinting your eyes nearly as much as with other, smaller phones. Of course, the 8830 also comes with the mobile internet option and blackberry email, which is outstanding and quite simple to use if you have a data package.

Although the transition to blackberry from another phone, Smartphone or PDA can take a bit of getting used to, since its menu can tend to be a bit complex and difficult to navigate, the convenient “help” functions and online guides make it clear to even the least tech-savvy folks. For those already familiar with blackberries, the 8830 features the trademark trackball as well as blackberry maps, GPS, browser, email, MMS, SMS, wireless e-mail, organizer, and corporate data access. The price is quite fair when you buy it with a new plan or decide to upgrade. Otherwise it retails around $400-600, still a fair price given the features of this one-of-a-kind PDA phone.