alaTest USA - Product Tests & Reviews

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LG Chocolate Touch (Verizon Wireless)
US

The LG enV Touch was one of the best Verizon phones we reviewed this year; it's our Editors' Choice for feature phones. But if you don't need the extra internal LCD and QWERTY keyboard, the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 is just as good. It's slimmer, ...

Sublime voice quality. Solid music and video playback. Sharp camera

Messaging options remain thin, and most cost extra

The LG Chocolate Touch is a top-notch voice phone on Verizon and offers stellar media capabilities, but heavy e-mailers should stick with the enV Touch for its hardware keyboard.

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 89

10 reviews

pcmag.com
HP Envy 15
US

Fast performance, Stylish, lightweight design, Beautiful and bright full HD screen, Good sound ; nbsp ;

Poor battery life, Hot temperatures, Touchpad jumpy for two-handed use, Awkward keyboard layout ; nbsp ;

Sitting at the higher end of HP's new Envy sub-brand, the HP Envy 15 offers blazing speed in a thin and light metal chassis that will turn heads. Thanks to Intel's powerful Core i7 processor and ATI graphics, this $1,799 notebook blows away all other ...

November, 2009

Rating

40

alaSCORE 93

18 reviews

laptopmag.com
Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere
US

The Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 offers an understated, travel-friendly design that's compatible with both iPods and other MP3 players (via auxiliary line-in), and it includes GSM shielding for use with the iPhone. The speaker sounds great; has a built ...

The remote's range isn't very good, and the Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 isn't as compact as many portable speaker options

It may not be the most compact portable speaker on the block, but the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 offers useful extras and great sound for an affordable price.

November, 2009

Rating

75

alaSCORE 96

494 reviews

Partner Source
cnet.com
Samsung Behold (SGH-T919)
US

Samsung's Behold II for T-Mobile USA sports a gorgeous AMOLED touchscreen display and a fine 5 megapixel autofocus camera, which make it an Android phone to notice. But Samsung also gave it the TouchWiz treatment, and that causes some problems. Read ...

The Samsung Behold II had the makings of a great Android smartphone, but turned out to be the merely decent one instead.

November, 2009

No rating

alaSCORE 89

172 reviews

mobileburn.com
Samsung Behold (SGH-T919)
US

Samsung Behold II review

By Philip Berne

T-Mobile's tablet gets an Android update, but is Samsung's TouchWIZ interface a good match for Android? Find out in our Samsung Behold II review.

High-quality OLED screen looks great ;

Samsung's TouchWIZ interface hurts Android experience. Keyboard is cramped and difficult ;

) but it has never been among the best interfaces out there. This becomes especially evident on the Samsung Behold II. In a nutshell, TouchWIZ offers a drawer filled with desktop shortcuts and widgets, as well as a shortcut bar along the bottom. The ...

November, 2009

Rating

70

alaSCORE 89

172 reviews

infosyncworld.com
battlefield 2142
US

Left 4 Dead 2

By Will Smith

Does the world really need a Left 4 Dead sequel already? We love killing zombies. When Left 4 Dead came out, we feared that eventually we'd tire of returning the walking dead back to the hell from which they spawned, but it turns out we didn't. ...

Additionally, the five campaigns are more connected-one picks up where the last left off-and more dynamic, with multiple paths through key bottlenecks in the levels. The available paths-as well as rain, fog, and other dynamic weather effects-are ...

November, 2009

Rating

90

alaSCORE 93

435 reviews

maximumpc.com
Phiaton PS 300 NC
US

Phiaton PS 300 NC Review

By Caleb Dennison

The PS 300's clever design is offset by weak noise cancelling and poor audio quality parameters.

Comfortable Fit, Dual Rechargeable Batteries, USB and Wall Charger included, Comprehensive Accessory Pack

Noise Cancelling circuitry underperforms, Poor audio quality makes them best for certain types of music (Electronica, Trance, etc.)

November, 2009

Rating

55

alaSCORE 90

11 reviews

digitaltrends.com
Vizio VF551XVT
US

Vizio VF551XVT

By John R. Delaney

Best known for its rock-bottom prices on HDTVs, Vizio continues to deliver the latest technology affordably with the VF551XVT. This 55-inch LCD model features LED backlighting and 240Mhz technology, and costs just $2,199—around the same price other ...

Very attractive price for a large-screen, LED-backlit LCD HDTV. 240MHz technology reduces motion blur. Accurate colors. Robust port selection. Low power consumption

Uninspired design. Narrow viewing-angle performance. Some noticeable artifacts in 1080p content

Despite an uninspired design and some minor picture issues, the 55-inch, LED-based Vizio VF551XVT delivers an overall solid picture and is one of the best HDTV bargains you'll find. And, it won't boost your electric bill.

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 92

19 reviews

pcmag.com
Toshiba NB205
US

Toshiba NB205

By Nathan Edwards

Toshiba waited a long time to enter the netbook market, but as the NB205 proves, taking some time to learn from your competitors can be a good thing. The NB205 offers everything we expect from a netbook, as well as some unexpected bonus features, and ...

As we discovered in our netbook upgrading feature, both RAM and hard drive are easily accessible, although the hard drive panel uses TORX-6 fasteners rather than the more common Phillips head screws found on the RAM compartment. Still, if you're ...

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 96

347 reviews

maximumpc.com
Asus G51VX
US

Asus G51Vx-RX05

By Katherine Stevenson

If there's one thing that might take your mind off your financial woes, it's some good old-fashioned fragging. And Asus is happy to oblige by offering the most affordable full-fledged gaming notebook that we've ever tested. The G51Vx-RX05, sold ...

A Power Control Panel option in the G51Vx-RX05 lets you overclock the CPU by up to 150MHz. That's a 7.5 percent boost, which amounted to around five percent of additional performance in our CPU-centric benchmarks: Using the so-called "Extreme turbo" ...

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 90

199 reviews

maximumpc.com
Canon IXUS 95 IS / PowerShot SD1200 IS / IXY 110 IS
US

For the price, the SD1200 packs in the right amount of features for casual photographers. More-experienced photographers will be pleased with the image quality, but the lack of aperture and shutter priority, plus the limited zoom range, may leave them ...

Compact, slim design; good image quality in automatic mode

Image quality suffers above ISO 200; viewfinder is too small to actually use

The SD1200 IS received a Very Good rating in our lab's jury tests for imaging quality, earning particularly high marks in terms of lack of distortion, color accuracy, and overall exposure quality

November, 2009

Rating

70

alaSCORE 96

813 reviews

macworld.com
HP DreamScreen 100
US

HP DreamScreen 100 Review

By Rachel Cericola

The HP DreamScreen which we review, is more than just a pretty face offering music streaming and internet widgets.

Slick chassis makes for nice showpiece

Sound isn't great

November, 2009

Rating

65

alaSCORE 98

12 reviews

digitaltrends.com
Sharp LC 40LE700UN
US

Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN

By John R. Delaney

With the Aquos LC-40LE700UN HDTV ($1,499.99 list), Sharp introduces its new full-array LED backlighting system, which is designed to produce a high contrast ratio and a crisp, bright picture while using a fraction of the power of previous models. For ...

Affordable. Solid color and contrast-ratio performance. Strong feature set. Energy efficient

Colors become less saturated at wider viewing angles. Some deinterlacing issues. Low peak brightness for an LED set

The affordable, 40-inch Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN produces a solid HD picture, offers plenty of connectivity ports and cool Web features, and thanks to LED backlighting, it's energy efficient too.

November, 2009

Rating

60

alaSCORE 91

5 reviews

pcmag.com
Onkyo TX-SR607
US

Whether you've decided to make the leap to all digital, or plan to keep some of your analog components for a while, the Onkyo TX-SR607 makes an excellent choice for the foundation of a 7.2 channel surround home theater system. Support for legacy ...

7.2 channel surround receiver, 6 HDMI 1.3a inputs, Dolby Pro Logic IIz 3D sound, HD upscaling of existing analog content, Legacy I/O support

The Onkyo TX-SR607 includes Dolby Pro Logic IIz 3D sound processing...

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 99

172 reviews

Partner Source
electronicsme.com
LG Chocolate Touch (Verizon Wireless)
US

The LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 which we review has Dolby sound, one touch social media features and more.

Responsive touchscreen with vibrating feedback

Touchscreen has a learning curve

November, 2009

Rating

75

alaSCORE 89

10 reviews

digitaltrends.com
Nikon D300S
US

Highly competitive image quality at all ISO settings, Excellent high ISO performance with low noise and good levels of detail, Highly configurable Auto ISO function (can set maximum ISO and minimum shutter speed), 7 frames per second continuous ...

Unreliable white balance under artificial lighting, Slight tendency to overexpose in contrasty conditions, Rolling shutter effect when shooting video, Occasional 'grain' in blue skies, even at base ISO, Contrast detection AF is slow (as it is on all ...

November, 2009

No rating

alaSCORE 97

68 reviews

dpreview.com
HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)
US

Thin but solid design, Excellent HTC Sense user interface, Mutlitouch support, Very good Web browser, 5-MP camera ;

No camera flash, GPS navigation costs extra, More expensive than HTC Hero (over two-year contract) ;

The Eris has a similar virtual keyboard as the Hero, which HTC tweaked a bit from the stock Android version. It's easy to type on, but switching from vertical to landscape mode takes about 2 to 3 seconds, which is frustrating. Also, if you type fast, ...

November, 2009

Rating

60

alaSCORE 88

2 reviews

laptopmag.com
Samsung Mythic SGH-A897 (AT&T)
US

Mobile TV is beginning to feel doomed here in the U.S.—unlike overseas, where it thrives. That's not stopping AT&T, which is giving it another shot with the Samsung Mythic. Like several phones before it, the Mythic contains a broadcast TV tuner that ...

Attractive. Sharp, high-resolution screen. Fun user interface. Lightweight. Broadcast mobile TV at a reduced price ($9.99 per month)

Middling camera. Low-res video recording

AT&T doubles down on broadcast mobile TV with the Samsung Mythic, a capable, fun-to-use touch screen phone that's worth its high entry fee.

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 88

2 reviews

pcmag.com
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1
US

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1

By Jeff Keller

You can see that in some respects, the WX1 is actually a step down from the cheaper W290. It has a smaller LCD, the lens is slower at full telephoto, it doesn't support conversion lenses, and it has fewer playback mode features. Aside from that, ...

November, 2009

No rating

alaSCORE 91

50 reviews

dcresource.com
Toshiba AV502 Series LCD TV ( 26", 32", 37", 42" )
US

Inexpensive; produces relatively deep black levels for an entry-level LCD; above-average selection of picture controls; adequate connectivity with two HDMI and two component-video inputs

Less accurate color than some entry-level LCDs; some artifacts with 1080i sources; unremarkable styling; confusing remote and menu system

While no style maven or template for reference color, the Toshiba AV502U series can do black levels better than most inexpensive LCDs.

November, 2009

Rating

57

alaSCORE 90

122 reviews

Partner Source
cnet.com
Samsung Behold (SGH-T919)
US

With a gorgeous AMOLED display and an excellent camera, the pricey Samsung Behold II will appeal to multimedia junkies with deep pockets.

Excellent camera; stunning AMOLED display

On the expensive side; TouchWiz feels a bit cluttered

Even so, the Behold II is still quite pocketable and light, and with its curved edges and its brown and black color scheme (Samsung calls it Mystic Brown), the Behold II is much more attractive than its boxy predecessor. The face of the phone has a ...

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 89

172 reviews

macworld.com
Dell 1230c Color Laser Printer
US

Dell 1230c Color Laser Printer

By M. David Stone

There aren't a lot of color lasers that can claim the title of personal printer—small enough to share a desk with and cheap enough to justify buying for just one person's use—but the Dell 1230c Color Laser Printer ($229 direct) qualifies. Its text ...

Small. Reasonably high-quality output. Vibrant color for graphics. Near-photo-quality photos

Slow and with low text quality for a laser (although better than most inkjets on both counts). High cost per page

The Dell 1230c Color Laser Printer offers reasonably high-quality output overall, but text quality and speed are low for a laser, and the cost per page is high.

November, 2009

Rating

60

alaSCORE 100

2 reviews

pcmag.com
Vizio VO320E
US

Inexpensive; relatively accurate color for an entry-level LCD; solid picture controls with detailed color temperature settings and numerous adjustable modes; adequate connectivity with side-panel component-video input

Slightly lighter black levels than some entry-level LCDs; below-average performance as a PC monitor; bluish cast to dark areas; ho-hum styling

The hallmark of Vizio's VO320E isn't "Eco," as the name implies--it's decent picture quality for a rock-bottom price.

November, 2009

Rating

60

alaSCORE 88

11 reviews

Partner Source
cnet.com
Palm Pixi
US

Palm's latest WebOS smartphone, the sprightly Pixi, is a slimmed-down version of the Palm Pre.

Great features in WebOS; cute, pocketable hardware design

Can be slow to open/close apps; no Wi-Fi

The first thing you'll notice about the Pixi is how light it is. In fact, when I first picked it up, I had to check whether it had the battery installed. Weighing a scant 3.3 ounces, the Pixi feels really nice in the hand thanks to its rubberized back ...

November, 2009

Rating

70

alaSCORE 88

21 reviews

macworld.com
Magellan Maestro 4700
US

If you're concerned about keeping both hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, the Magellan Maestro 4700 makes an excellent choice in a portable GPS navigation device. Magellan has done their homework in allowing for true hands-free operation, ...

4.7 inch color LCD touchscreen, Bluetooth capability, Voice command capability, Includes AAA roadside assistance and built-in Tour Book, Lane assist feature

The Magellan Maestro 4700 GPS is Magellan's latest entry in its...

November, 2009

Rating

80

alaSCORE 93

44 reviews

Partner Source
electronicsme.com
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