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Time and the mobile gadget industry stand still for no man, and this year was no exception to that rule. From the glut of new products out in the last 12 months, we've chosen a few that caught our attention for your Christmas shopping list. They range from a pricey portable PC- cum-DVD-player to an inexpensive keychain gadget that sniffs out Wi- Fi networks and hotspots. Is every product here a must-have for your organization? Highly unlikely, but you may find a use for some.
Digicam with video and sound
Camera phones are all very well if you only need to take lowresolution snapshots as memory aids. If you have employees on the road who need to take pictures, and occasionally video, for print or Web publication or to provide detailed visual information for technical support, consider the Sanyo Xacti C4. It's a very compact, easy-to-use 4-megapixel (MP) digital camera that can also record excellent MPEG4 video at 640x480 pixels and 30-frames-per-second (fps) with "CD-quality" sound.
The test photos we took were very sharp and clear with good colour. The 4MP sensor captures enough image detail to print at sizes up to 5x7 inches without degradation. The video is equivalent to analog broadcast quality, even when viewed on a big screen TV. The unit comes with a 128MB SD memory card that is capable of storing five minutes of best-quality video or 20 minutes of 30-fps VHS quality video.
The physical design is brilliant. The unit measures 68.6 x 109.2 x 33 mm and weighs only 170g loaded. You hold the C4 like a pistol, the 5.8X optical zoom lens making a stubby barrel. The 1.8-inch LCD viewfinder flips out to 90-degrees from the side and swivels 270 degrees. The controls are on the top rear surface, easily manipulable with a thumb. A docking station/battery charger lets you plug in to a PC, TV or VCR.
One nifty laptop
This should be your CEO's next laptop. The JVC Mobile Mini Note PC is a tiny but powerful portable that clearly sets itself apart in the travelling notebook market. At 91/4 x 11/4 x 87/16 inches and 3 lbs. 4 oz. with the clip-on battery it will be easy on the presidential shoulder. Yet it...