Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

As Black Friday is coming closer and closer, more and more sales are made available for the public.  The guys over at BFads have put together a nice piece about how to buy a HDTV and more importantly, what sales will be taking place.  Keep in mind that these sales are the best deals and not all of the deals taking place on Black Friday.

HDTVs Under 26 inches

The cheapest HDTV under 23 inches was Dynex’s 19 inch 720p LCD HDTV.  This comes with a contrast ratio of 800:1, a response time of 5ms, 1 HDMI input, Energy Star certified, 2 speakers, a maximum resolution of 1440 x 900, comes with a stand, and has a 4 star rating on Amazon.  Right now, it is priced at $229 at Best Buy, but will be on sale for $199.99 at Best Buy. 

MORE »

One of the hottest gifts this holiday season is going to be GPSs.  Everyone, at some point in their life, has gotten lost multiple times while on the road and owning a GPS these days seems almost as necessary as having a cell phone. 

In case you want a general idea of what to look for in GPSs, you can check out Gadgetell’s Buying Guide for GPSs.  However, if you are in need of a GPS and plan to buy one on Black Friday, then you will want to know what’s going to be sold at a cheap price and where it’s going to be sold. 

We have three different GPS companies to talk about - TomTom, Magellan, and Garmin.  Overall, we have four different GPS models that are going to be sold in many different stores.  First, let’s begin with the TomTom One 125, which is going to be sold at Sears, Circuit City, Office Max, RadioShack, and Navy Exchange - all for the same price of $99.99.  Keep reading for more details.

MORE »

Best Buy’s Black Friday ad is out and here’s what they are offering to those brave folks willing to wait in line for the 5am opening:

• Kodak EasyShare M893IS 8MP Digital Camera w/ 2GB SD Card- $59.99 (regularly $89.99)
• Garmin nuvi 260 4.3” GPS Navigation System- $189.99 (regularly $299.99)
• Toshiba 15.4” Dual-Core Laptop w/ 3GB, 160GB, Turion 64 X2- $379.99 (regularly $499.99)
• Toshiba 15.4” Dual-Core Laptop w/ 4GB, 250GB, Turion 64 X2- $479.99(regularly $699.99)
• Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy CD- $11.99 (available now if you order online)

Read the rest of the list after the break.

MORE »

Sections: Video, Computers, Gaming, Web, Websites

This one is not a Black Friday deal, but instead just another nicely priced product coming from Best Buy.  We had recently seen them drop the MSI Wind down to $349, and now they have further slashed the pricing for the Eee PC 900A.  It was not that long ago when it was dropped to $299.99, but now another 20 bucks have been cut, bringing the price down to just $279.99.

Just to recap, the 900A specs include an 8.9-inch display, 1GB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, a 4-cell battery and will be running Linux. The Eee PC 900A is also available in either white, black or purple.

Product [Best Buy]

• Asus unveils the brushed-metal Eee PC 1002HA
• Gadgetell Roundup:  HDTV sales on Black Friday
• Patriots QB joins forces with OLPC

With recent rumors that an updated MSI Wind will be coming soon, this price cut is not much of a surprise, but it is still welcomed.  Best Buy, which has just recently began selling the MSI Wind netbook, originally had it selling for $399.  Now it is just $349.99, which means another reason to grab a Wind, that is if you were considering a netbook purchase. 

This price cut may have me reconsidering the Eee PC 1000h I was about to hit the checkout button for.  Sadly, the one drawback is the fact that it is currently listed as backordered, but if you can handle waiting a bit, this looks to be a great price.

The MSI Wind that you will find at Best Buy is running Windows XP and features a 10-inch display, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, 120GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM.  Additionally, it sports three USB ports, and Ethernet port, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, a built-in card reader and a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam.  You know, the typical netbook specs.

Product [Best Buy]  Via [OhGizmo!]

• Asus unveils the brushed-metal Eee PC 1002HA
• Gadgetell Roundup:  HDTV sales on Black Friday
• Patriots QB joins forces with OLPC

Best Buy seems to be continuing to add worthy smartphones to their lineup.  We have recently seen the availability of the Touch Diamond and the iPhone 3G, and now they have added the BlackBerry Bold. 

The BlackBerry Bold comes as an unlocked handset, which is nice because it means no two-year agreement.  Of course, that means a much higher price tag.  Instead of the $299 that you can pay with AT&T, the unlocked model from Best Buy will set you back $679.99. 

Currently, the Bold is listed as being on backorder, and states that it “usually leaves our warehouse within 1-2 weeks.“  Personally, I would opt for the two-year agreement and save some money, but it is always nice to have the unlocked version available as an option.

Product [Best Buy]

• iPhone is number 1 in mobile ads
• Gadgetell Roundup:  HDTV sales on Black Friday
• Verizon employees suspended for accessing Obama’s call records

The pricing seems to be gradually getting lower and lower for the Eee PC lineup and the latest model to hit that magical sub-$300 price point is the Eee PC 900A.  For those (myself included) that have become confused as to just what each Eee PC model offers, this $299.99 Eee PC features an 8.9-inch display, 1GB of RAM, a 4GB SSD and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor.  This model is also running Linux as opposed to Windows XP. 

The product listing does not mention a battery size, originally the 900A shipped with a 4-cell battery, but with the lower pricing I would not be surprised to see this shipping with a smaller 3-cell battery.

MORE »

Circuit City turned in second quarter results that looked a lot like a black diamond ski slope.  As reported in a previous Gadgetell article, drastic measures had to be taken with a sudden CEO change three weeks ago.

Hopefully, new CEO, James Marcum, is a good skier.  Maybe you are one of the ones holding your breath about the future of the electronics retailer.  Curious about what impending changes are eminent?

Keep reading to find out…

MORE »

Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Computers, Networking, Imaging, Camcorders, Digital Cameras, Web, Websites

In a few weeks, Best Buy will formally introduce two of their own GPSs with their Insignia brand on them.  One of the GPSs will be the 4.3-inch NS-CNV20 and the other will be the 3.5-inch NS-CNV10.

These devices both feature integrated cellular connectivity.  This is the kind of feature that will make these GPSs stand out.  There is only one other GPS manufacturer that currently has cellular connectivity built-in to their devices and that is the Dash.  With this connectivity, both of these GPSs will be able to perform local Google searches, access Google Maps, real time traffic updates, and you can even find maps on your home computer and then forward them to your Insignia personal navigation device. 

Find out more about Best Buy’s new GPSs after the break.

MORE »

As much as this pains me to say, it appears as if Best Buy is becoming the place to go for popular handsets.  It was not that long ago that they added the iPhone 3G and HTC Touch Diamond. 

Now, it looks like customers will soon be able to grab a few more smartphones and it seems that October 26 is the day to look forward to.  On that day Best Buy will make the unlocked Palm Treo Pro available.  Of course, that is perhaps the least exciting of the bunch as the Pearl Flip 8220 and HTC G1 will also be made available that same day. 

MORE »