Okay, so maybe Samsung isn't entirely new to the laptop game here in the USA, but for its first line of self-branded lappies, the Q310 ultraportable didn't fare half bad in its first review. Critics over at Laptop Mag found the design of the 13.3-incher to be "handsome," the performance "smooth" and the endurance to be satisfactory enough. It also pointed out that the glossy display wasn't incredibly distracting as with other machines we've personally reviewed, and while they had a tough time finding anything major to harsh on, they couldn't help but point out that the $949 ThinkPad SL300 was likely a better value. 'Course, if money ain't a thang, you're probably safe to make a purchase here.

Sony Ericsson's long-awaited XPERIA X1 is finally closing in on a US release, and Engadget Mobile has the low-down on the North America-bound X1a. Care to see how this hunk of sexy fared in real-world use? Do you love butterflies and magnetic fields? If you can honestly answer yes to any of the aforementioned questions, grab your reading glasses and head on over.

After launching this summer, we're heard way more about netbooks than Lenovo's shiny IdeaPad U330. For those who've refused to forget about it, the aforesaid rig has been reviewed by the kind souls over at Laptop Mag, and impressions were fairly positive overall. The biggest boon here is likely the price -- we mean, $1,199 for a 13-inch lappie of this stature isn't half bad. As with most of the other IdeaPads, the design was applauded, the mix of features and performance was satisfactory and the size (4.4-pounds) was just right. Critics did slam the mushy touch buttons and the below-average battery life, but even so, the U330 was deemed a "a compelling thin-and-light notebook that offered plenty of style and strong performance" for the price.

The Storm's garnering the lion's share of the RIM spotlight at the moment, but let's not forget the mighty Bold -- the fastest, sexiest QWERTY BlackBerry to date. You saw the unboxing of AT&T's version; now, read the hands-on!

We've been impatiently awaiting the red carpet arrival of Freestyle Audio's Soundwave for a few seasons now, and at long last, it appears the units are shipping out -- or, at least one made its way over to cousin site Gadling for a review. The Soundwave is pretty much exactly what you'd expect: a ho hum MP3 player with a rather unsightly design, a disgraceful user interface and the ability to operate where the vast majority of rivals cannot. The reviewer noted that controlling the action was a pain, though the internal battery could keep the jams flowing for well over a day. Of course, the biggest boon is its ability to keep on truckin' while submerged in the pool (or the tub, whatever), and the included waterproof headphones were said to be surprisingly tolerable. Now, if only brown bags were waterproof...

After toying with our heartstrings for like, ever, Dell finally gathered up the courage to formally introduce its 12-inch netbook late last month. After arriving at the testing facilities of Laptop Mag, critics quickly found a lot to love about the relatively expansive display, "excellent" battery life and spacious keyboard. In all fairness, there really wasn't anything to complain about on the surface; the first kvetching we heard was soon after bootup -- er, a fair while after bootup, we should say. The biggest knock on Dell's Mini 12 was its sluggish performance under Vista, not to mention the lethargic hard drive shoved in there. In sum, critics frankly pointed out that the "Mini 12 doesn't have the right hardware to handle this OS," and recommended holding off for one with WinXP / Ubuntu if you were dead set on the design.

Alienware didn't do itself any favors by hyping up what wound up being a decidedly ho hum offering in the M17, but the open-minded critics over at CNET were able to sit the machine down for a tick and give it a workout. Reviewers tested a $1,999 configuration (it starts at $1,399) with twin ATI Radeon HD 3870 GPUs and a Core 2 Duo P8400, and overall, performance was "decent" for the price. Gaming scores were more than adequate and basic computing tasks were handled with ease, but a few niggles were still present. For instance, the smallish touch pad was blasted, and the inability to stay alive for over 1.5 hours during a video playback test was a real (albeit expected) downer. The biggest criticism, however, had nothing to do with performance; rather, critics lambasted the rig's old school design, and honestly, we find ourselves in complete agreement. Hit the read link for the full writeup.

Don't deny it -- you're inexplicably drawn to a digital photo frame that has its own phone number. Rather than just buying blind to see if you really dig the Cameo, however, why not pore over this here review? In testing, the device (manufactured by Parrot) was said to work practically as advertised, with just a few small quirks preventing it from receiving the highest marks. Critics were able to MMS over images from a variety of rival networks, though they did have issues making the frame accept a photo message from Sweden. Overall, however, it was noted that usability was remarkably high and that the process was easy enough for most anyone to grasp. 'Course, you should probably convince yourself you're going to use the thing quite a bit before committing to a $10 per month fee to keep the $100 frame connected, but outside of that, you ought not be too disappointed.

The Canon PowerShot E1 -- an entry-level 10 megapixel digital camera we saw a while back -- variously described as being aimed at "women" and "on-the-go, fashion-conscious teens perfect for capturing every OMG moment" has gotten itself a review over at Photography Blog, and well, it's not exactly anything to "OMG" about. This addition to the PowerShot clan gets a few points for its retro stylings, but the build makes it feel even more like a cheap toy than other plastic models. As for image quality, the E1 predictably packs too many pixels for its sensor, resulting in photos with good resolution, but noise and smearing in anything with fine details. It does, however, get better then expected marks on video quality. Essentially, the PowerShot E1 is called out for being a pricier, updated design of the PowerShot A580, with improved macro and video modes, plus the addition of infinity focus. While the reviewer seems wary of recommending the camera to any adult, they are willing to concede that the it "could still make a good first camera for a child." Wow, burn. It's available now in white, cyan and girlish pink (from the press release, sorry), and retails for about $183.

Anyone remotely familiar with the KURO brand knows that with it comes the expectation of awesomeness (and a large price tag), and the question on everyone's mind has been: will the KURO LCD line live up to the name? According to TrustedReview's critique of the 37-inch KRL-37V, the answer is a resounding "yes." The reviewers put together five long-winded pages detailing the ins and outs of this here set, but in general, they found that it produced better pictures than most other LCDs on the market today, and that's saying something. Sure, it wasn't without its flaws -- there were occurrences where odd color tones popped up in SD footage, black levels weren't astonishing and the viewing angles weren't the greatest -- but the colors in HD were simply terrific. 'Tis a shame we North Americans will have to wait until sometime next year before we can even have a look for ourselves, but those in Europe may want to give this one some serious attention.

[Via HDTV Lounge]

The question has been on your mind since we first got wind of this so-called "Micro Four Thirds" concept back in August: how will it stack up? Now that Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G1 is filtering out to the world, we're able to kick back and digest a mammoth review of this here camera thanks to the fine folks at Digital Camera Resource. Without going into dissertation-level detail in this space, we'll tell you that the biggest issue critics had with the G1 was its price. Not the image quality. Not the size. Just the price. In other words, Panny has delivered a superb camera that offers up "very good quality photos, an unmatched live view shooting experience and a nice collection of both automatic and manual controls." Deemed the first to "truly offer a point-and-shoot experience on an interchangeable lens camera," the DMC-G1 looks to be a real winner if you've got $800 to blow.

[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]

We already knew Aigo's P8860 MID was hacker-friendly, and all that is well, fine and good -- but what about for consumers who aren't into soldering irons and illicit boot ROMs? The crew over at Pocketables sat down with the handheld for a spell in order to bust out their best review, and at the end of the day, they found it to be somewhat compelling and a touch irrelevant all at the same time. You see, hardcore nerds (read: us) will likely be able to appreciate the fact that an x86-based system, with all the amenities of Flash support, etc., was squeezed into such a small device; the average joe / jane, however, probably won't take the time to recognize the advantages over their current smartphone. In other words, this here is an splendid example of a niche product, and you should probably consider how necessary it is in your life before pulling the trigger -- but you already knew that, now didn't you?