Christmas Gift Guide - Good Gear Guide

Telstra Tough T90 mobile phone

It may not be the most pleasing mobile phone to look at, b ut Telstra's Tough T90 does what it's designed to do – provide a solution to those who require a phone that can take some punishment. It's a little expensive, though.

ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Seashell) netbook

The ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Seashell) is one of the best netbooks on the market due to its small size, good looks and relatively roomy keyboard. It's not perfect, but it's an appealing choice for anyone -- especially a traveller -- who wants a very mobile netbook that's still quite easy to use.

Nokia E72 smartphone

Nokia's E72 retains a similar style and feature set to its predecessor, with a few minor improvements. If you already own an E71 there is no compelling reason to upgrade, but for everyone else the E72 is a stylish business smartphone with a good keyboard.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35K digital camera

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 is a powerful, semi-compact megazoom camera with an awesome range of controls for both stills and video.

Canon PowerShot G11 digital camera

The Canon PowerShot G11 is a good camera, but it's not without its flaws. We wish it had sturdier buttons and that its zoom control was better. Photos are a little soft, but this camera is still capable of capturing some excellent pictures. It's a good choice for users who want full manual control but dislike the idea of paying over $1000 for a digital SLR kit.

Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray player

The Panasonic DMP-BD80 is a top brass Blu-ray player with a respectable brace of bells and whistles. If you specifically require 7.1ch audio and DivX playback, it's pretty hard to beat. Otherwise, plump for its cheaper stable mate, the DMP-BD60.

Sennheiser MM 450 Travel headset

Sennheiser's premier Bluetooth travel headset has great sound quality considering its portability. Good active noise-cancelling and a flawless Bluetooth implementation make it even more appealing.

Sennheiser MM 450 Travel headset

Sennheiser's premier Bluetooth travel headset has great sound quality considering its portability. Good active noise-cancelling and a flawless Bluetooth implementation make it even more appealing.

MSI Wind 12 U200 netbook

The MSI Wind 12 U200 is bigger and more powerful than a typical netbook, yet it's still small and easy to travel with. We love its keyboard, its battery life is good and its CPU is relatively powerful. Our main complaint is that it's a top-heavy unit, so firm knocks can make it topple backwards, especially when using it on your lap.

Toshiba 19DV615Y LCD television

If you're looking for a small television to put in a bedroom, Toshiba's newest 19in model is a good choice. It has a decent quality picture and a speedy integrated DVD player, and if you aren't going to wall-mount it there are few downsides apart from a questionable price tag.

Toshiba 19DV615Y LCD television

If you're looking for a small television to put in a bedroom, Toshiba's newest 19in model is a good choice. It has a decent quality picture and a speedy integrated DVD player, and if you aren't going to wall-mount it there are few downsides apart from a questionable price tag.

Nokia 6710 Navigator smartphone

Nokia's 6710 Navigator won't replace your standalone GPS due to its small screen. For a mobile phone though, it provides a solid and smooth navigation experience thanks to a combination of good hardware and well designed software.

The Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook

There's nothing spectacular about the Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook -- until you take its price into account. With an RRP of just $999, it's one of the best-value all purpose notebooks we've tested.

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS digital camera

If you want an advanced compact camera that can do just about anything then the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS digital camera is the one to shortlist! It's great for macros, it takes excellent night time photos, it has a huge zoom and built-in optical stabilisation, and it even does a good job of capturing HD video.

Samsung Galaxy Icon smartphone

The Samsung Galaxy Icon isn't a bad phone by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it's quite the opposite. The AMOLED display is excellent, the 5-megapixel camera is a nice addition and the interface is slick and responsive. However, we would have appreciated some tweaks to the standard Android UI.

Samsung HD Icon smartphone

The Samsung HD Icon is recommended for anyone after an excellent camera phone. HD video recording is superb, it can take excellent photos and it's a very capable music player, too. The Symbian OS isn't perfect and can be the cause of some frustration, but Samsung has done a much better job than Nokia with this touch-screen smartphone.

HTC Hero smartphone

The HTC Hero is without doubt one of the most impressive smartphones we've reviewed. The design is distinctive, the user interface is absolutely superb and it's packed with all the latest features. Unfortunately, the Hero doesn't seem to have the hardware needed to keep up with its innovative software, resulting in a sometimes slow and frustrating user experience. It remains a superb phone that is really only let down by slow performance.

Ricoh GR Digital III digital camera

Small, good looking and stocked with manual features, the Ricoh GR Digital III is capable of taking superb shots and is the perfect point and shoot for a professional or enthusiast photographer. It costs a lot, but its f/1.9 prime lens and overall great performance make it a desirable product if you can afford it.

Sony Walkman X-Series (16GB)

While it is certainly on a par with the Touch in terms of audio and video quality, the Walkman just doesn't have the iPod Touch's readily available plethora of apps and accessories. A lower price would have given the Walkman the edge of being a less expensive, but still it's a high-quality alternative to the iPod Touch.

Samsung Omnia Icon smartphone

The Samsung Omnia Icon's TouchWIZ UI isn't as slick or polished as some of the alternatives, but it remains an excellent way to spice up the normally drab and clunky Windows Mobile UI. It's not perfect, but a superb display, excellent features list and an interface that is intuitive for the most part combine to make this one of the best Windows Mobile smartphones on the market.

LaCinema Black PLAY media streamer

Beautifully built and feature rich, the LaCie LaCinema Black PLAY media streamer is a solid device.

HTC Snap smartphone

HTC's Snap is small, light and functional, and it has one of the best physical keyboards we've seen on a smartphone. The Snap doesn't offer anything revolutionary but what it does, it does very well.

Sony Bravia KDL22S5700 LCD television

If you’re looking for a TV for the bedroom or kitchen, check out the Sony Bravia KDL22S5700. It's got USB and Ethernet connectivity, a stylish design and good picture quality.

Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1 camcorder

To be fair, the Xacti FH1 is hardly an expensive piece of kit: we think its asking price is fair given the overall still and video quality and the advanced capabilities of the camera. It’s simply that when a product promises Full HD at 1920x1080 and 60fps progressive capture at that, we expect superlative results. The Sanyo Xacti FH1 gives reasonable results and provided us with some memorable footage.

Canon PowerShot SX200 IS digital camera

Canon's PowerShot SX200 IS is a very good camera with plenty of features for everyone: novices will make good use of the easy mode, while experienced photographers will appreciate the manual features. It's a comfortable camera to hold and it has the ability to take some good looking shots — even in dim light.

HTC Touch Diamond 2 smartphone

HTC's Touch Diamond 2 is a far better smartphone than its predecessor. The lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is annoying, but a larger display, a professional design and a much improved user interface make this one of the best Windows Mobile smartphones we've reviewed.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ7 digital camera

Apart from a couple of design quirks, we think the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ7 digital camera is almost the perfect point-and-shoot. It's easy to use, has a wide-angle lens with a huge zoom, produces good colours and clear images, and it can double as a capable video camera. We definitely recommend it.

Canon PowerShot D10 digital camera

The design of the Canon PowerShot D10 is spot-on for a ruggedised camera. It feels good to use and, most importantly, it’s very easy to use. It takes clear photos but we wish it rendered them with more contrast. Pick it up if you’re after a ruggedised camera for snorkelling, or just to use while you hang around the pool.

$500 to $1000

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