Cute & Adorable Gadgets!

Canon’s EOS 400D (aka the Digital Rebel XTi) is an impressive DSLR camera with 10.1 megapixels and a 2.5 inch LCD screen. The Rebel XTi will work with over 50 accessories and lenses.

Camera Labs writes that ” Ultimately the Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi is a great entry-level digital SLR which improves on its predecessor in many respects. It has higher resolution without compromising noise levels, a wide variety of anti-dust features, a bigger screen which doubles-up for detailed shooting information, the AF system of its bigger brother and fast overall handling.

The only thing that’s missing is a cheap lens bundle with Image Stabilisation. This will undoubtedly have potential buyers carefully weighing it up against the Sony Alpha A100 which costs much the same, while those with a little more to spend may be tempted by the superior traditional performance of the Nikon D80.”

DPReview states that “The EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) turned out to be everything we expected it to be; a progressive upgrade to the already hugely successful EOS 350D (Rebel XT). Image quality was just as good, with plenty of detail, low noise and sophisticated noise reduction at higher sensitivities an well balanced, and thanks to PictureStyles predictable, color and tone. It also has a significantly improved user interface, dust reduction system, 9 point auto-focus, larger LCD monitor and combined status display / setting change system. All this in a camera which is just as small and light as the camera it replaces.”

Imaging Resource writes that “Ultimately, the Canon Rebel XTi is an improvement of an already superb camera — the Rebel XT — with Canon’s latest and greatest innovations to make digital SLR photography more like you remember from the film days and more versatile to boot. For my money, the greatest improvement to the XTi is the addition of the 30D’s autofocus array. More pixels, a bigger LCD, and dust reduction are welcome, but faster AF is the true benefit to the Rebel XTi, because you can get shots that you couldn’t with the XT. Now I can say that Canon’s flagship consumer camera has it where it counts: fast, accurate autofocus and the best imager you can get for the money. All the rest is gravy. The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi is a fine digital SLR, an obvious Dave’s Pick, and an excellent choice for anyone wanting to improve their photography.”

Olympus’ E-400 DSLR is the world’s smallest and lightest DSLR camera. The E-400 is a ten megapixel camera with 2.5 inch screen, 4/3 type full frame transfer CCD, and a plethora of flash modes (red eye, autofocus, slow synchro, etc).

Camera Labs reports that “The Olympus E-400 has a lot going for it. It’s very small and light without compromising comfort or usability, there’s quick and easy access to all the settings, the resolving power roughly matches rival 10 Megapixel DSLRs, and while noise speckles are more noticeable at higher sensitivities, at least there’s no smearing through noise reduction. And finally the kit lens is decent quality and the SSWF anti-dust system remains unmatched.”

Trusted Reviews writes that, “In terms of overall performance, the E-400 is impressive. It starts up in under a second, and wakes from standby in about the same time. In HQ JPEG mode it can shoot at a continuous three frames a second until the memory card is full, which with a 1GB card means over 200 frames. In SHQ JPEG + RAW mode it can fire off five frames at three frames a second, and it only takes around 10 seconds to empty the image buffer before you can shoot another 5-frame burst. ”

DigiCam Review states, “The Olympus E-400 is an impressive digital SLR camera, offering excellent image quality, and an excellent range of lenses with very precise manual zoom control. The screen is good, and the camera can produce excellent photos. If you can stick with the lower ISO settings and you want high quality large images then this camera should be high on your shopping list. This camera is easy to use (in auto mode) and offers speedy performance, excellent battery life, with good controls and excellent build quality. I would recommend this camera especially to people who want greater creative control that normal compact digital cameras generally do not provide.”

Kodak EasyShare C875 is a 8 megapixel, compact camera with 5x optical zoom, and a 2.6 inch LCD screen.

PC Mag states that, “In my experience, Kodak has consistently offered well-performing point-and-shoot devices, and I was happy to see very little noticeable shutter lag in the C875. Resolution averaged 1,850 lines, which is excellent for an 8MP camera. The bootup time was a respectable 3 seconds, and the 1.7-second recycle time was excellent. There was no pincushion distortion in my test shot, but there was a little more barrel distortion than I’d like to see, especially with just a 37mm wide-angle end of the zoom. All in all, the Kodak EasyShare C875 is quite a good camera, but at $299.95 (direct), it’s a bit pricey for a point-and-shoot.”

DCRP reports that, “The EasyShare C875 is a compact (but not tiny) camera made of a mix of plastic and metal. It feels quite solid, though I must always complain about plastic tripod mounts, so there you go. The camera fits well in your hand, with the important controls in the right places. I do wish that the zoom controller was a bit larger, and that the on/off switch wasn’t right in the middle of the mode dial, though… The screen resolution isn’t great, but again, this is a budget cam. It was reasonably easy to see outdoors, and nice and bright in low light situations.

Camera performance was about average. It takes 2.7 seconds after you turn the camera on before you can start taking pictures, which is on the slow side. The camera focuses fairly quickly at the wide end of the lens, but telephoto delays can exceed a second. Low light focusing was just so-so for a camera with an AF-assist lamp. Thankfully, shutter lag was not a problem, and shot-to-shot delays were minimal. The C875’s continuous shooting mode was just okay — nothing to write home about. Battery life was about average.”

Engadget Mobile spent some quality time with Nokia’s N93. Overall, they were impressed by the Nokia N93’s impressive specs, including high quality video recording, but were a bit put off by the high price and large size of the handset.

Nokia’s N93 is a chubby, little monster.

The front display screen is virtually non-existent.

In video recording, the N93 shines.
Specs of the Phone: a GSM phone (EDGE/GSM 900/1800/1900), WCDMA 2100, 50 mb internal memory, miniSD card slots (supports up to 2 GB), Video Recording, Video Playback, Music Playback, 2.4″ QVGA colour display screen, 320 x 240 pixels, and Bluetooth 2.0.

TIME released a list of its top 8 favourite gadgets (why not ten, I wonder?) of 2006. Some of these gadgets would make great gifts for the holiday season, in the Christmas rush. Currently, with 44% of the public vote, the most popular of these gadgets is Apple’s Macbook Pro.

Without further ado, the Top 8 Gadgets, according to TIME:

Logitech VX Revolution Mouse
Logitech Wireless DJ Music System
Sanyo HD1 Digital Media Camera
Nike + iPod Sport Kit
Apple MacBook Pro
Garmin StreetPilot c550
Nintendo DS Lite
Palm Treo 700w