Have BlackBerry, will travel It's a small world, and we've bagged the latest Lilliputian gear for travelers.
(Fortune Magazine) -- Rand McNally GPS Navigator Why you need it: The mapmaker now offers one of the smallest and cheapest GPS systems for travelers. Price: $500, randmcnally.com/gps Roads change, but roadmaps themselves haven' t much since William Rand and Andrew McNally started printing them in the 1870s - until now. The wallet-sized Rand McNally portable Navigator is simple and intuitive to use, with a built-in stylus for tapping on the 3.5-inch color display. Besides the latest roadmaps, it comes with 26 Best of the Road trip itineraries preloaded, showing restaurants, shops and attractions. Don' t leave home without it. Abacus Bluetooth Watch Why you need it: The watch talks to your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone, showing caller ID on your wrist. Price: $200, abacuswatches.com If you have a stout wrist and a sense of decorum that prohibits whipping out your Bluetooth phone in the middle of a meeting every time someone buzzes you, the hefty Abacus MobileWear wristwatch discreetly shows who' s calling or texting you. Then, at the press of a button, it can mute or reject the call. Only a few phones are currently compatible with the watch; check the Abacus website for details. Canon HV10 HD Camcorder Why you need it: It' s the world' s smallest and cheapest high-definition consumer video camcorder. Price: $1,299, canonusa.com If you already have HDTV, why feed it old-fashioned standard-definition travel movies? Canon' s compact, palm-sized HV10 is small enough to carry anywhere, although its vertical orientation may take some getting used to. Doubling as a three-megapixel digital camera with a 10X zoom lens, the HV10 records remarkably clear 1,920- by 1,080-pixel high-def movies. Apple iPod Shuffle Why you need it: It' s the smallest and cheapest iPod yet, holding about 240 songs, yet it' s the size of a matchbook. Price: $79, apple.com/store The newest iPod is half the size of the first-generation Shuffle. It also comes with Apple' s new earbud speakers, a modest improvement over the originals. Battery life has been improved to 12 hours. Otherwise it' s the same happy iPod experience, working seamlessly with Mac or Windows computers and Apple' s iTunes 7.0 software. BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Why you need it: The newest BlackBerry is small and stylish and aimed at consumers, with a camera and an MP3 player. Price: $200 from T-Mobile, plus voice plan and $20 a month for unlimited data, t-mobile.com/shop RIM, maker of the ubiquitous office BlackBerry, is targeting consumers with a sleek and, dare we say, good-looking new phone and e-mail device. The 1.3-megapixel camera and music player are just so-so, and the alphanumeric keyboard is small and a bit weird (a full QWERTY keyboard model is said to be in the works), but the Pearl is a gem of a quad-band worldphone. After all, if you have to get BlackBerry thumb, at least now you can get it in style. |
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