Technological advancements always fascinate consumers. Some of the best gadgets were introduced in the market in 2009 and really altered the meaning of innovative and intelligent devices.

Apple iPod nano 8GB, 5th Generation

Coming with a super music player, advanced video and photo viewer, vibrant video camera, Fm tuner, voice recorder, and pedometer, the iPod nano 8G is a dream come true. Featuring an mp3 player, a photo album and a video camera in one device, the Apple iPod nano weighs only 1.28 ounces and can fit in the palm of one hand as its tiny size is great (3.6 x 1.5 x 0.24 inches), but never feels losable.

Its wide 2.2-inch screen is crystal clear allowing for high composition when shooting with the in-built camera. Although it cannot offer a widescreen experience, the camera has 16 built-in special effects allowing users to shoot solid videos at 30 frames per second with 640 x 480 resolution. Picture quality is great, although when the shot is in quick motion, the video may look a bit harsh.

Although apple has long resisted including an FM tuner in the iPods, in the iPod nano 8GB has included a tuner that takes the FM experience to the next level. Using the headphones as an antenna, users can set favorite stations, tag songs they like to look up and save live radio broadcasts to the iPod’s memory for enjoying them later.

The iPod nano 8G can store up to 4,000 songs, which can unstoppably play for 24 hours. This magnificent gadget adds even more features that include a speaker for playing music and other audio, a pedometer so that users can upload exercise data to the Nike + website, Voice Over accessibility kit; and Genius Mixes

The iPod nano 8G comes in many colors and is, admittedly, a quality upgrade of the previous model. Particularly, the video camera and FM tuner are its groundbreaking features that put iPod nano 8G on the top of the integrated media device roster. All in all, Apple iPod nano 8GB, 5th Generation is plain on the outside, but pretty sophisticated on the inside and this comes at the starting price of $139.99.

(http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/apple-ipod-nano-fifth/4507-6490_7-33770785.html?tag=rnav).

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is an attractive device that, although it doesn’t have the elegance of iPhone’s interface, it performs greatly and it’s easy to handle setup. Being Nokia’s first mainstream touch control device, the phone features a variety of applications making a really attractive music majoring proposition.

Weighing just 109g and measuring 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic features a smartphone that bears the distinct look and feel of Nokia. Its 3.2-inch, 16-million color 640×360 pixels display offers the user space to use the new Nokia touch user interface, while a small stylus is also offered into the back panel for a more precise tapping option. Nokia also offers a plectrum on a wriststrap.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic features a built-in 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, an autofocus system, LED flash, and a new touch-based user interface. Shooting quality is great and Nokia has also included a variety of online-based features allowing users to share stills and video content, and a spread of online links to services such as Facebook, and a full web browser.

The phone features a S60 music player with a fine interface and 8GB in-box MicroSD storage supplements that come extra to the 81MB onboard storage. Sound quality is great and the device is capable of producing an exceptional audio performance, with clear and deep sound and hefty bass thanks to the 3.5mm headphone socket on the top of the phone.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic features more applications including A-GPS location finding and mapping technology; instant messaging and email; Wi-Fi support plus HSDPA high-speed 3G mobile data connectivity allowing users to render quickly on pages, zoom in and out on pages and swipe around; and a host of smartphone multimedia gadgetry.

Overall, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a powerful phone with unique functionality that can deliver up to 400 hours on standby in 3G coverage when fully charged, while average talktime is up to 5 hours on 3G or 8.8 hours on GSM networks.

Starting price for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is at $269.99

http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-XpressMusic-Unlocked-Card-U-S-Warranty/dp/B001SEAOC6

Sony Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC

Sony Vaio P series Lifestyle PC introduces an inimitable combination of style, mobility and connectivity. Featuring a groundbreaking design that matches the dimensions of a mobile phone and weighing just 1.4 pounds, this innovative notebook is so thin that can fit into the pocket of a jacket or a handbag. Besides, it is so practical, advanced and user friendly, that it, admittedly, introduces the new era of notebooks.

The Vaio P series can simultaneously deliver entertainment and computing due to its pioneering features. Introducing high resolution 1600 x 768, Sony’s XBRITE-ECO LCD technology that replicates high quality images and LED backlit 8-inch ultra-wide diagonal display, the Vaio P series Lifestyle PC becomes a tool that extends beyond a typical notebook.

Some of the great features of the P series include a larger keyboard area, GPS navigation, Bluetooth, integrated wireless WAN 3G Mobile Broadband and Wi-Fi. Besides the notebook has an instant mode option that gives direct access to files and to Sony’s Xross Media bar interface for quick boot up and a built-in webcam. Sony Vaio P series Lifestyle PC comes with Windows Vista operating system and is available in exceptional colors like classic black, emerald green, crystal white, garnet red, and onyx black.

Starting price for the Sony Vaio P series Lifestyle PC is at $849.99 (http://www.sonystyle.com)

HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC

Featuring a strong Intel Core2 Duo P8400 processor, a 320 GB high-speed hard drive and a Virtual LAN (VLAN) driver, HP dx9000 TouchSmart business PC is much more than a PC. It is practically an all-in-one touch enabled desktop that addresses the advanced needs of business users through the use of innovative, interactive technology.

Coming with a Hi-Fi diagonal widescreen HP BrightView LCD display and Windows Vista Business operating system at 64-bit, HP dx9000 TouchSmart business PC allows users to use video conference options, enable e-mail and internet connection and manage their calendar, contacts, images and photos without using its wireless keyboard and mouse. Besides, the desktop carries a built-in camera and microphone, an integrated SuperMulti DVD drive, premium stereo speakers and built-in five-in-one Media Card Reader.

Starting price for the HP dx9000 TouchSmart Business PC is at $1,399 (http://www.hp.com)

Palm Pre Web OS smartphone

Being widely viewed as the iPhone’s rival, Palm Pre has captivated consumers as soon as it debuted in the market. Featuring a groundbreaking technology based on Palm’s new platform, Palm Pre web OS smartphone stands out primarily for its Web OS that allows users to enjoy a unique web-connected experience. The new OS is extremely user-friendly, integrated in a great design that gives users a unique feeling when touching the interface, while the phone’s look is advanced featuring fluid animations on its 3.1- inch touch screen features a 24-bit color 320×480 resolution HVGA display.

Weighing only 135 grams and having a thickness of 0.67 inches with rounded corners, the new OS comes in a totally comfortable size and weight that makes it fit in hands and pockets. However, in spite of its size, Palm Pre integrates great technology. Featuring a 3-megapixel digital camera with LED flash and extended depth of field, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA and 8GB memory, Palm Pre is a phone that can offer everything to the user.

Besides, Palm Pre allows synchronization with Facebook and Google contacts and features iTune capability that makes it function like an iPod when synched to iTunes. Users can transfer music and videos rather easily although some files are not supported by Pre.

Starting price for the Palm Pre Web OS smartphone is at $149.99 (http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/palm-pre-sprint/4014-6452_7-33490473.html?tag=psum)

Content Source: Bukisa – Best gadgets of 2009

Although October sales of Nintendo’s Wii console dropped 36 percent compared with the same period last year, company executives expect robust sales in the holiday season.

“We’ll have a very strong November and December,” Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president, predicted.

Mr. Fils-Aime said in a telephone interview that Wii sales are in line with expectations at this point in the product’s life cycle. (It was introduced in November 2006.) Nintendo’s sales were particularly strong in October 2008, when it sold 803,000 units. He said, “The third year is always the strongest.” Mr. Fils-Aime said he was encouraged by an 80 percent increase in weekly sales since the price of the console was lowered in September to $200, from $250.

Nintendo remained the leading console maker in October, with 506,900 Wii units sold in the United States, the NPD Group, a market research firm, said Thursday. Sony’s PlayStation 3 was the second-biggest seller, with 320,600 units, while Xbox 360 sales were 249,700.

“You just can’t sniff at 500,000 units,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. “They’re doing fine.” Nintendo has sold 22 million Wii units in the United States.

Still, there is little question the current game machines are reaching the end of their life cycle.

“There’s such a thing as market saturation,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group. “One or more of the competitors’ consoles is in 60 percent of Wii households.”

At this stage, Nintendo is concentrating on “adding value for the late adopter,” Mr. Fils-Aime said. He pointed to the eight million units sold in the United States of the Wii Fit gaming exercise board as evidence that the strategy is working. “This has given us the unparalleled ability to bring in new consumers, especially females.”

Mr. Fils-Aime acknowledged that the current console game titles needed freshening, and said this will happen Sunday with the release of a new version of the Mario Brothers franchise, Super Mario Brothers Wii. It will compete for the gamer’s dollar with the just-released Activision sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs, the title sold 4.7 million units on its first day of release in North America and Britain.

The combined sales of Nintendo’s portable game devices, the DS Lite (for dual screen) and DSi, were 457,600 units in October, putting the game platform in second place. Sony’s PlayStationPortable and PSPgo sold 174,600.

While some analysts have expressed doubts that Nintendo can continue to prosper in the hand-held market now that inexpensive games have proved popular for the owners of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, Mr. Fils-Aime expects no impact on the company’s portable business.

The application has launched today and for £6 a month people can access the Sky Sports bundle – which includes access to Sky News, the Sky Sports channels and the ESPN channels live on their handset or iPod Touch for the first time.

The Sky TV app is free to download initially and allows users to stream TV via WiFi and not 3G at this stage. It is understood this is because of restrictions from O2. It will be available to all iPhone owners, regardless of what mobile network they are signed to, including Orange, which begins selling the handset today.

Subscribers to the app will have access to live televised matches from the Barclays Premier League, Scottish Premier League and Football League, and other sport tournaments such as the European Tour golf, Premiership rugby and international and domestic cricket.

O2 is offering its iPhone customers three months’ free subscription to Sky Mobile TV. The service is available to anyone but it is standalone – meaning existing Sky subscribers will still have to pay the monthly fee for the live mobile access as it is not included in any TV-broadband bundles. Anyone who wants the service also needs to register for a Sky customer ID.

David Gibbs, general manager for Mobile at Sky, said: “In less than a year we’ve already seen millions of downloads of Sky’s Apps from the App Store. Our new Sky Mobile TV App combines the demand for great live TV on the move with the high quality viewing experience offered by iPhone and iPod touch.”

According to Sky’s figures, there have been two million downloads of the other Sky apps to date. These include Sky+ Remote Record, Sky News, Sky Sports Cricket Score Centre and Sky Sports Football Score Centre.

Apple’s iTunes software is utilized to operate the iPod (m3 / mp4 player). The software is compatible with all Mac systems. The operating system is stored on its hard disk. A boot loader program is contained in a NOR flash ROM chip (either 1 MB or 512 KB) which instructs the device to load the operating system from the hard disk. The iPod has a 32 MB of RAM, a portion of which is used to hold the operating system from firmware, and the rest is used to cache songs from the hard disk. Apple also invented a technology whereby the hard disk of iPod could spin up once and about 30 MB of upcoming songs could be cached into the RAM. This did not require the hard disk to spin up for every song and thereby saved battery power. Apple also introduced a Windows version of iPod, at a later stage.

The audio files that iPod (mp3 / mp4 player) supports are MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, Audible audiobook, and Apple Lossless audio file formats. MIDI and WMA files can be played only after a convertor accomplishes conversion, for non-Digital Rights Management (DRM). Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and other open-source audio formats are not supported at all.

Apple wanted an extremely user friendly interface and thus adopted the minimalist interface, which features only five essential buttons, namely, Menu (to access functions and to toggle the backlight); Center (for menu item selection); Play/ Pause (this also works as an off switch when held for few seconds); Skip Forward/ Fast Forward; and Skip Backwards/ Fast Reverse. An additional Hold button is provided for accidental button pressing prevention, and it can reset the iPod if it has frozen or crashed. Functions such as volume control, scrolling are handled by the usage of the rotational click wheel. Later models have some minor changes in the functions of the buttons but overall the number of buttons has remained at five.