Mobile Computing: Cool Gadgets for Hot Weather Fremont OH

By now, we're all tired of the heat. Since I don't know any of you well enough to hose you down, I'll offer relief in a different way--a guide to what's cool right now in portable gadgets.

Combining an MP3 player with a cell phone isn't new--but it is cool. Sony Ericsson's W810, its latest Walkman phone, offers one of the best MP3/cell phone mash-ups yet, says PC World reviewer Liane Cassavoy. She gives the W810 a PCW rating of 80 (very good).

After turning on the device, you can choose between launching just the Walkman music player or all of the phone's features. The W810 also includes a 2-megapixel camera and an FM radio.

There are some downsides: The feature-packed handset lacks dedicated Send and End phone buttons; holding the boxy candy-bar-style phone can be uncomfortable during long conversations; and an unlocked version costs $499. Cingular was expected to offer a version of the phone for less but hadn't announced pricing as of this writing.

Apple's iPod Nano isn't the only cool, flash-memory-based media player out there.

Consider Creative's ultra-compact Zen V Plus, for example, which offers impressive audio quality. It has an FM tuner, a five-band equalizer for tweaking audio, and line-in encoding for recording directly from a CD player or another source. It can play video, but its 1.5-inch screen makes viewing for longer than a minute or two uncomfortable. It's available in 1GB ($199), 2GB ($269), and 4GB ($329) models.

PC World reviewer Eric Dahl awarded the Zen V Plus a PCW rating of 81 (very good).