Have BlackBerry, will travel
It's a small world, and we've bagged the latest Lilliputian gear for travelers.
Peter Lewis

(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.  Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.