"You'll shoot your eye out kid!"
One of my favorite movies is A Christmas Story. There are so many truly funny scenes.
MORE: Retailers race to make online shopping go smoothly
What would Ralphie want to see under the Christmas tree in 2012 - a new smartphone loaded with a copy of Angry Birds Star Wars? Hard to say. There are so many great games and gadgets out there.
With
all that gear, it's also easy to buy a tech dud. No one wants to waste
money or give someone something they don't really want.
MORE: Black Friday draws crowds in stores and online
You may
recall the bulletin I put out last Christmas about tech gear you
shouldn't buy. It included feature phones, GPS units, netbooks, portable
media players and point-and-shoot cameras.
Those are still on the no-buy list, but this year I have a whole new list of things you'll want to avoid.
Budget Android gadgets
While
I still prefer my iPhone and iPad, Android gadgets are now a good
option for any tech buyer. Of course, not all Android gadgets are
created equal.
Older and budget Android gadgets are best to be
avoided. And when I say budget, I'm not talking about low-cost, 7-inch
tablets like the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire. I mean $100, off-brand tablets
and low-powered, free smartphones.
For both phones and tablets,
make sure they're running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. A
budget phone that runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), or a budget tablet
that runs Android 3.2 (Honeycomb), will stagger when running the latest
games and productivity apps.
A $0 to $50 Android phone that was a
$200 to $300 dazzler on contract a year ago can be a good value. But a
$0 to $50 Android with an outdated processor and last-generation Android
version is no bargain.
Plus, manufacturers tend to abandon
support for Android duds. Less expensive or older smartphones often
don't get an operating system upgrade more than once, or even at all.
MORE: Waiting for Cyber Monday? You don't have to
17-inch laptops
Apple
laid its 17-inch MacBook Pro to rest this year. Users just don't want
to lug those behemoths around airports and corporate campuses anymore.
For that matter, a 15-inch laptop makes sense only for gamers or a
graphics and video pro.
Most road warriors can work or kill time
splendidly on a 10- to 13-inch Ultrabook or MacBook Air. Their
solid-state drives and Intel Ivy Bridge chips make them lightning-fast
tools, and their thin, lightweight form makes them a joy to use - and
carry around.
Bridge cameras
Designed to fill a niche
between high-end DSLRs and budget point-and-shoots, bridge cameras
don't make as much sense as they used to.
Compared to
point-and-shoots, bridge cameras give photographers more control over
shutter speed and aperture. But they don't offer much of an improvement
in sensor size or quality. You're also stuck with a permanent zoom lens
that usually isn't a world-beater.
Mirrorless hybrid cameras, on
the other hand, are the fastest-growing digital category for good
reason. They rival compact cameras in size and DSLRs in sensor and lens
quality. They're systems you can grow with and keep for many years.
Prices range from practical - Nikon 1 V1 ($500, with 10-30mm lens) - to painful - Fujifilm X Pro 1 ($1,700, body only).
MORE: After Black Friday comes Small Business Saturday
Entry-level e-readers
E-readers
have really hit their stride this year. Display technology has
improved, and so has the library of new and exciting e-books.
Not
all e-readers are cutting edge, however. Amazon's entry-level e-reader,
the Kindle ($69), uses buttons for navigation and features a standard
E-Ink Pearl display. It's not a bad unit, but for a bit more you could
have something much, much better.
The just-introduced Kindle
Paperwhite ($119) offers a touch screen with amazing resolution and
contrast. Plus, it has an innovative built-in light that makes nighttime
reading very comfortable.
The display on the Nook Simple Touch
($99) is touch-capable but otherwise a standard E-Ink Pearl display.
Barnes & Noble's solution to reading in the dark is the Nook Simple
Touch with GlowLight ($139). The Nook Color ($149) features a nice
multi-touch color LCD and runs a customized version of the Android
operating system.
Budget LCD TVs
TV prices continue
to drop, and there are bargains everywhere you look! Unfortunately, many
of these deals are bargain basement.
Sure, you can buy an
off-brand 50-inch LCD TV for less than $500. But you'll be getting
outdated technology and a poor viewing experience.
Budget LCDs
have a refresh rate of 60 hertz, which can blur motion when you're
watching the big football game. Refresh rates of 120Hz and 240Hz are
standard now. Many bargain-basement TVs also have a resolution of 720p,
compared to the 1080p you want.
Bargain LCD TVs are still backlit
by fluorescent lights. That looked great four years ago, but it pales in
comparison to LCD TVs with an LED backlight.
LED TVs have gotten
so good that they're catching up to plasma screens for blackness level,
color and contrast. That could also be a reason why sales of plasma TVs
have dwindled to about 13 percent of the market.
For larger TVs,
however, plasmas have the edge over LEDs on price. You'll pay about
$1,000 for Samsung's 60-inch plasma; about $1,500 for its 60-inch LED
TV.
If you're going for a second TV, a bargain unit might be OK. But for your main home theater TV, you want something better.
USA Today