Tuesday’s Top Netbook Deals

Tuesday’s Top Netbook Deals

•Toshiba mini NB255-N245 for $289: We were fans of the NB255′s snappy performance sony vgp-bps13b/q battery and stylish, fingerprint-proof design when we reviewed the netbook in August. A lower-cost alternative to Toshiba’s premium mini NB305, sony vgp-bps13a/q battery this machine packs a 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N455 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.

Learn Morehard drive. (Read Review)

•HP Mini 110 for $279.99: This updated HP Mini 110 comes with a six-cell battery, a feature the netbook did not have when we reviewed Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery it in May 2009. Available in Black (default), Pacific Blue ($19) , or Moonlight White ($19), this 10-incher is customizable through the Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery HP website. The base configuration comes with a 160GB hard drive; those who crave more space should spring Sony VGP-BPS13 battery for the recommended configuration (250GB), which ships for $299. (Read Review)

•Samsung NF310-A01 for $399.99: An attractive, lightweight netbook with a hi-res display for its size, the Samsung NF310-A01 boasts sony vgp-bps13/b battery a speedy 1.5-GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. We gave the netbook four stars for its sleek design, comfortable keyboard, sony vgp-bps13/q battery and strong performance. (Read Review)

•HP Mini 210 for $329.99: Hurray for choices! While Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery the HP Mini 210 deal we featured yesterday offered the notebook in a bold shade of fuschia, today’s bargain is available in Charcoal, Crimson Red, Lavender Frost, Luminous Rose, or Ocean Drive. The 3.1-pound netbook features a faster 7,200-rpm Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery hard drive and is slated to last as much as 10.75 hours on a charge. (Read Review)

Tuesday’s Top Notebook Deals

•ASUS N71JQ-XT1 for $899.99: The ASUS N71JQ-TX1 features all the speed and graphics performance Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery you’d expect from a media-centric machine. Boasting a 1.73-GHz Core i7 CPU, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, and a Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery 17.3-inch, 1600 x 900-pixel display, the N71Q is primed to stream all the HD content you can handle. The notebook originally came with a $1,199 price tag, but it can be yours for $899.99.

•MSI S600-017US for $579.99: For $120 less than the listed price, the MSI S600-017US packs a 2.4-GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, toshiba pa3535u-1brs battery and a 500GB hard drive into its 4.7-pound body. Though we haven’t reviewed this particular model, it’s similar to the A6200, Toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery which we liked for its classy design and long battery life.

•HP G62-340US for $399.95: A steal at $150 off the list price, vgp-bps21a battery this notebook offers stellar performance. With an Athlon II dual-core 2.2-GHz CPU, 3GB of RAM, and Radeon HD 4250 graphics, the G62 is one of your best bets in the sub-$600 notebook category. (Read Review)

•HP Envy 14-1163SE Beats Edition for $1,031.99: We’re fans of this special-edition HP notebook, which sports a hip, red backlit keyboard vgp-bps21/s battery and a bright 14.5-inch screen. The Envy runs a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5 CPU under the hood, along with 4GB of RAM, Radeon switchable graphics, vgp-bps21b battery and a 750GB hard drive. (Read Review)

•HP Touchsmart tm2t Touchsmart Tablet for $699: Available vgp-bps21 battery with a Core i3 CPU for $699 or a Core i5 CPU for $799, this tablet boasts a 7,200-rpm 320GB hard drive and 6GB of RAM. This deal gets you as much as $370 off the listed price—plus a free upgrade to a 500GB hard sony vgp-bps21a/b battery drive

Slate tablets like the iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab may hold firm ground in consumer r61 battery mindshare right now, but convertible tablets like the HP Touchsmart tm2t offer the best of many worlds: a solid typing experience, the ease t400 battery of touch navigation, and stylus input that pairs well with built-in handwriting recognition software.

Today LogicBUY uncovers several ways to save on the 12.1-inch convertible tablet we lauded for excellent performance, t500 battery strong battery life, and sleek design.

Your options to save include free upgrades to 6GB RAM and a 500GB 7200-rpm t61 battery The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.

Learn Morehard drive, free shipping, half-off two t60 battery 6-cell batteries, and an instant $200 discount from HP.

There’s also a $100 stackable coupon available from LogicBUY for configurations over $1,000. We suggest upping the processor t60p battery from Core i3 to an option that includes a Core i5 CPU and a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon Graphics chips are responsible for processing all images r60 battery sent to your computer?s display.

Learn Moregraphics card to activate the discount r60e battery and max out the specs.

Once the dust settles, the final price on a quick-paced touch tablet with a considerable CPU and discrete graphic power x60 battery will be just $799

When Dell released the business-focused Vostro V13 notebook in March, we praised X60S battery that machine's sleek and stylish aluminum chassis but lamented its lackluster speed and endurance. Now comes its successor, the Vostro V130, t40 battery which keeps the stylish chassis but doubles the performance with a Core i5 processor, adds some ports, and includes new cooling technology. Unfortunately, the battery life is even worse this time around, making this ultraportable not very portable t42 battery at all.

Editor's note: Portions of this review were taken from our earlier review t43 battery of the Dell Vostro V13.

Design

Measuring a thin 13 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches and weighing a studio 17 battery mere 3.6 pounds (just 0.2 pounds lighter than the V13), this ultraportable practically disappears into a messenger bag. Not that you'd want to hide it. For a small business notebook, the V130 is quite stylish. The lid and underside are made of brushed studio 1737 battery aluminum, and the inside is a matte black plastic; neither surface shows fingerprints, and the entire look is quite classy. Combined with reinforced zinc studio 1535 battery hinges, the V13 feels like it can survive the rigors of business travel. Similar to the Adamo and XPS 14 and 15, the V130's lid is hinged about e5500 battery half an inch forward of the back edge of the notebook.

Heat

For such a thin system, the V130 stayed fairly cool during our testing. The notebook is the first to employ what Dell calls e6400 battery Hyperbaric Cooling, which draws cool air into the notebook, rather than pushing hot air out. After playing a Hulu video at full-screen for 15 minutes, the e6500 battery touchpad registered 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 81 degrees, and the middle of the underside reached 91 degrees. e4300 battery Those temperatures are all cooler than the V13, which is impressive.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The V130's keyboard is a mixed bag. The keys abut each other at the base, and the top of each is terraced, much like the HP hp battery EliteBook 2540p. The layout is certainly large enough, but the keys made a fair amount of noise while typing. The keyboard also isn't as comfortable apple battery to use as the one found on the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13.

Considering it's such a small notebook, acer battery we were pleased with the size of the 3.2 x 1.7-inch touchpad. While the same color and material as the keyboard

deck, it's slightly recessed, making it easy to find by feel alone. The touchpad itself offered little to no friction, and the discrete mouse sony battery buttons offered just the right amount of resistance

This week I had a nice long look at the Nook

This week I had a nice long look at the Nook Color and I can honestly say that I was impressed. akku r60 Maybe there needs to be a little back story here. You see, since I’ve started doing this column for Laptop Magazine, K. T. Bradford has always pa3535u-1brs been trying to show me various eReaders that come across her desk. And each one I chuck aside and state that I’m not interested. My main issue: no color.

We’ve reviewed 140 notebooks this year and not many of them boast the twin perks of ”incredible performance” and “long battery life”. Then sony vgp-bps8 battery again, I guess an Intel Core i5 machine with a starting price of $1,399 should have a few choice adjectives thrown its sony vgp-bps13/b battery way. It would also be helpful to have another descriptive term stapled to it: Affordable.

Now before you assume that the reason I want Sony VGP-BPS13 battery color was because of the iPad, you must know that this just wasn’t the case. My main gripe was the fact that everywhere now we are blessed with HD color, 3D color, and even IMAX HD 3D Color. So why in the world can’t I get some color for an eReader? Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery And yeah yeah, eInk does a good job of trying to copy an actual book’s likeness, but I embrace tech and I want my color. I don’t care Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery if it is on a LCD screen. So, because of this, I had no love for any eReader. And then the Nook Color came.

I think you know where this is headed.

Not only is Lenovo slashing the price off an extremely capable 12.1-inch business notebook Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery with discounts ranging from $400 – $515, LogicBUY is offering a stackable coupon worth another 20% off.

So say you were to configure the Lenovo ThinkPad Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery X201 to cost $1,899. That would include Core i7 quad-core processing power (which may be overkill considering the X201 is available only with Intel Graphics chips are responsible for processing all images sent to your computer?s 3000 v100 battery display.

Learn Moreintegrated graphics, but follow along with us here, won’t you?), a 500GB The storage 3000 v200 battery device that holds your OS, programs, and data.

Learn Morehard drive, 4GB of RAM, and the long3000 n100 battery -lasting 9-cell battery (just an extra 30 bones to upgrade) in your system. How much would you pay with Black Friday discounts from Lenovo and LogicBUY?

This thing is beautiful! Not only is the Nook Color more stylish on the outside, but that color screen finally does something for me. First 3000 n200 battery off is the new look. Compared to the original Nook, this one definitely has style. Seeing a product in black or graphite always outdoes one 3000 c200 battery that’s in all white. An all white product feels cheap and plasticity; all black it just oozes with chic appeal.

The Nook Color also has a nice rubberized back 3000 y410 battery panel, and products that have rubberized parts are always cool in my book as they just feel great. There is a small hook on the bottom left side, which I’m told is to hook charms into. This is the only part or feature of the Nook Color that it could r51e battery of done without.

And finally there is the screen. LCD, color, sharp, and bright. If there is any eReader r50e battery that would get my blessing and I would want to put the G Style official stamp on it, the Nook Color is it. If you can bare with the LCD screen which can x300 battery possibly be a little tough on the eyes after extended use, then this is the eReader you need

Oh, just $1,200. That’s only $900 back in your pocket. No big deal. That’s not worth a 42-inch HD-television set or a cruise x200 battery for two to the Caribbean or anything like that…

see the Iconia in action.What We Don’t Like

•The Iconia seemed sluggish. We counted six seconds just to launch the photo app, r61 battery though this is not the final product.

•At 6.2 pounds, this is definitely one of the thinkpad t400 battery heaviest laptops with a 14-inch display we’ve seen, but since there’s two screens some people may be willing to live with the heft.

•Battery life is rated at a wimpy 3 hours, which is understandable given the two huge 14-inch screens but still a bummer. Plus, thinkpad t500 battery the battery is sealed in the design so you can’t replace it.

•When using Windows 7 beyond Acer’s own apps, it was difficult to close applications, just thinkpad t61 battery as with other Windows slates. Our demonstrator jabbed at on-screen items multiple times during the video to perform a given action. (See video.)

What We Like

•The dual 14-inch touchscreens felt pretty thinkpad t60 battery responsive, and we like the way the two displays interact, yet are capable of separate operations.

•We also like the thought Acer has put in to the touch programs they developed. Acer’s custom gestures take advantage thinkpad t60p battery of the screens’ remarkable 10-finger capability. For example, placing both palms on the bottom screen launches the keyboard and placing thinkpad r60e battery five fingers on the screen launches a fan-like menu that lets you choose which program to run.

•A special Social Jogger that reminds us of Tweetdeck hp battery delivers feeds from Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr, but Twitter isn’t on board yet.

•The touch-friendly browser allows you to draw a box around areas of web page that interest you and save them in your portfolio. dell battery When you open the portfolio app, that part of the web page can automatically update itself, such as a stock price or weather apple battery update.

•In addition to the built-in gestures, Acer is realing an SDK next month will hopefully result in a lot more great acer battery software at launch. Check out our hands-on below to

Sony’s Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5 Are The Company’s First Interchangeable Lens Cameras

You know a category’s going mainstream when Sony jumps on board. That’s how Akku Sony VGP-BPS8 we felt when the company debuted its first, er, netbook the original Vaio P, and it’s how we feel now about interchangeable lens digital cameras. These cameras have the guts of a point-and-shoot, but take removable lenses, just like a DSLR. Olympus and Panasonic pioneered this hybrid style of camera, and Samsung recently jumped on the bandwagon, but now that Sony has released the Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5, the category seems to be picking up momentum.

And having spent a little time with the Akku Sony VGP-BPS8a NEX-3 (pictured) and NEX-5, we can tell you these aren’t just me-too cameras. They’re by far the smallest and lightest cameras in this class, so people looking for DSLR quality but not DSLR heft might actually find the right combination of photo quality and camera size. While both are small, the NEX-5 has a bigger hand grip, while the NEX-3 has a more rounded design, reminiscent of a point-and-shoot.

The two 14.2-MP cameras use in-lens image stabilization (right now, there are three options: an 18-55mm, 18-200mm, Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery and a 16mm wide angle lens). For $200, Sony is selling an adapter that will allow Sony’s Alpha DSLR lenses to work with these cameras. The company will also sell ultra-wide and fish-eye converters for $139 each. Both cameras also have 3-inch LCDs with a high resolution of 921,000 pixels.

Both cameras have a user interface that’s designed to be novice-friendly; instead VGP-BPS9/B of cramming in lots of buttons, Sony added soft keys, like the kind you’d find on a phone, whose functions vary depending on the menu you’re in. In our brief hands-on, we especially liked a mode that lets you use the scroll wheel on the back to adjust the sharpness of the background. We think achieving that depth-of-field effect is the number one “artsy” thing amateurs want to pull off, and Sony makes it foolproof.

Finally, both cameras record HD video, VGP-BPS9A/B Battery except that while the NEX-5 records 1080p video using the advanced AVCHD codec, the NEX-3 records 720p video using the simpler MP4 codec. These specs more closely match what you’d find in a pocket camcorder.

Oddly, you’ll pay a premium for an 18-55mm lens, the standard size that comes with any DSLR kit. The NEX-3 starts t $549 VGP-BPS9/S battery with a 16mm lens and costs $599 with an 18-55mm. The NEX-5 starts at $649 with a 16mm lens and costs $699 with an 18-55mm lens. Look for them in July.

Panasonic Toughbook C1

The lightest convertible tablet delivers durability, speed, Akku Sony VGP-BPS8 and a display that supports pen and touch input.

There's something oddly satisfying (and a little scary) about dropping a notebook from 30 inches to see it if can survive. The Toughbook C1, the world's lightest 12.1-inch convertible, barely flinched. Then we did it again. Nothing. And that's not all this multitouch tablet can take. The C1 (starting at $2,499; $2,829 as configured) can shrug off 6-ounce liquid spills and up to 225 pounds of pressure. Just as important, demanding Akku Sony VGP-BPS8a healthcare and field sales workers will appreciate that this Core i5 notebook performs like a champ and lasts up to 10 hours on a charge--if you pay for the second battery. While too pricey for most road warriors, the durability and versatility Panasonic offers will easily win over its target audience.

Design and Durability

You could try to find a lighter 12-inch convertible, but you won't. At just 3.2 pounds with a single battery and 3.7 pounds Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery with an optional battery in the second bay, the C1 weighs less than the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 (starting at 3.5 pounds), the Dell Latitude XT2 (3.6 pounds) and every other competitor on the market. On the other hand, this Toughbook is on the chunkier side, measuring 1.2 to 1.7 inches thick. The XT2 has a 1.1-inch profile, and the X201 is 1.3 inches.

What you get in return for that extra girth is serious durability. The C1's magnesium VGP-BPS9/B alloy case has been tested to withstand 12-inch drops to any side (non-operating), as well as a 30-inch drop on the base (while operating). We know this Toughbook is tough because we tried the latter torture test during this review. The first time a rubber bumper on the back right of the machine popped off, but we easily put it back on. The second time nothing happened at all; this business rugged machine just kept running. We even dropped the unit a third time from 30 inches to no ill effect. The C1 also survived a 6-ounce water spill and VGP-BPS9A/B a 180-pound man standing on top of the lid (with a board in between to evenly distribute the weight).

Whether you're roaming the hospital or you're out in the field, the C1 is easy to use and carry. That's because this convertible features an ergonomic hand strap on the bottom of the unit, along with a raised dome underneath that makes the machine easier to grip with one hand. A unique triple-hinge design--two for opening and closing the lid VGP-BPS9/S and one for rotating the screen--makes this tablet less susceptible to failure over time. We needed to use more force than we're accustomed to when switching into tablet mode and back again, but the screen location lock was reassuring.

Heat

The Toughbook C1 is one of the coolest notebooks of any size we've tested. After playing a Dell Studio 17 Battery Hulu video for 15 minutes, we measured temperatures between 78 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, between the G and H keys, and on the underside of the system. Most notebooks register in the mid 90s or higher. The C1's fan got a little loud at times, but it's definitely working.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Because the C1's keyboard

is flanked by rubber bumpers (designed to protect Dell Studio 1737 Battery the screen bezel when the lid is closed), the layout doesn't extend to the edges of the desk. This results in some undersized keys, especially the space bar. The keys are also shorter than we're accustomed to, which made typing feel cramped at first.

However, the keys provided solid, springy feedback, and we noticed zero flex. In addition, the two rubber bumpers on the back Dell Studio 1535 Battery of the C1 raise the laptop, resulting in a more comfortable angled typing position.

We've never been huge fans of the circular touchpads on Toughbooks, but this one VGP-BPS13B/Q gets the job done. Though it's a somewhat small 1.8 inches in diameter, moving the cursor was easy. You'll find two dedicated mouse buttons underneath that are easy to activate.

Ports

The left side of the C1 houses two USB ports, Ethernet and modem jacks, good battery and the power connector. You'll find an old-school PC Card Type II slot on the right side, along with the digital pen holster, a third USB port, and a VGA connector. The front edge of the notebook has a power switch, wireless switch, headphone and mic jacks, and an SD Card slot.

This configuration did not include a webcam, but it's available as battery an option, as is a fingerprint reader.

Will Facebook Places Make Us More Human or Just Marketing Pawns?

For years critics of Facebook have blamed the social networking service VGP-BPS8 for making its users less, well, social. Why go out when you can just sit at home and tend to a virtual farm, muse on someone else’s wall, or try to break your high score on Bejeweled Blitz? Facebook Places has the potential to silence those naysayers. It’s a new service (available in the updated iPhone app and via a mobile site) that encourages VGP-BPS9/B users to check in at bars, coffee shops, concerts, restaurants, and other locations where we interact with flesh-and-blood—and not just virtual—friends.

According to Facebook, the goal of this new feature is to keep the Third Place alive. That’s what sociologist Ray Oldenberg VGP-BPS9/S calls the vital public spaces that exist between home and work, where we share our stories and ideas. During the launch event, vice president of product Chris Cox, who referenced Oldenberg, argued that Facebook Places would encourage its members not just to gawk at friends’ photos, but participate in the real world. However, what will we sacrifice by popping our protective bubbles?

Like Foursquare and Gowalla, Facebook Places lets you check in to various Dell Studio 17 Battery businesses and locations, but this service isn’t a game with badges or mayorships. Facebook says it’s really about sharing stories and “staying connected” to the friends around you. And yet Facebook Places will integrate with both Foursquare and Gowalla, leveraging Facebook’s API. So if you use either of those apps, you’ll be able to share those check-ins on your Facebook feed. The popular user-review service Yelp will also leverage Facebook’s platform. As you might expect, marketers want to be your friend, too.

Every time you check in to a location, you can Dell Studio 1737 Battery see what other Facebook members are nearby (People Here Now), and an update will get posted to your Facebook page. Your check-ins will also appear on that location’s Facebook Places page, whether it’s a park, restaurant, or store. Unfortunately, according to one early review, you can’t block merchants from posting your check-in notices. So is Facebook Places really a do-good initiative or is it just another way for companies to hawk their wares based on your Dell Studio 1535 Battery whereabouts?

A how-to guide distributed to marketers by Facebook says that “these check-in stories VGP-BPS9A/B can generate powerful, organic impressions in friends’ News Feeds, extending your brand’s reach to new customers.” As TechCruch noted, while businesses cannot target people who check-in to places, they can target those who Like a business’ Places page. Facebook says that users of this new service won’t be bombarded with location-based offers at the start, but there’s no way the company can ignore an ad market that’s expected to ring up $4.1 billion in sales by 2015.

The good news is that Facebook has made a concerted Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery effort to give Places’ users more control over their privacy settings. For example, by default the service will share your location only with friends. You can then narrow this group to only the people you specify, or open it up to friends of friends, or even everyone. When you check in to a place, you can remove yourself from the People Here Now feature if you prefer not to be discovered (though, in this case, it’s all or nothing). Another Facebook Places feature is tagging, so you can notify friends when you’ve arrived at a location. If you grant permission, friends can even check you into a location.

And that’s where Places really gets tricky. As Facebook opens up its service to third parties, the company says “your friends Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery will be able to share your check-ins with the applications they use to help create new social experiences.” If Facebook doesn’t have the right safeguards in place, however, some of these experiences could be harmful. This week thousands of members enticed by good battery an offer to download a Dislike button app were duped into adding $5 per month to their cell phone bills. Location adds yet another layer of potential danger.

So, yes, in a way Facebook Places does put the “social” back in social networking. And the sheer Dell GD761 Battery number of people expected to use this service could enrich our lives as conversations get more local. But all of those drop pins falling from the sky could really sting unless Facebook deftly balances its desire to help us share stories with the temptation to line marketers’ pockets using our coordinates.

Editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer directs LAPTOP’s online and print editorial Sony Laptop Battery content and has been covering mobile and wireless technology for over a decade. Each week Mark’s SpoonFed column provides his insights and analysis of the biggest mobile trends and news. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Mobile Flash Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right

I’m the last person on earth who wanted to believe Steve Jobs when he told Walt Mossberg Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery at D8 that “Flash has had its day.” I took it as nothing more than showmanship when Jobs shared his thoughts on Flash and wrote that “Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices

.” After spending time playing Dell Studio 17 Battery with Flash Player 10.1 on the new Droid 2, the first Android

2.2 phone to come with the player pre-installed, I’m sad to admit that Steve Jobs was right. Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.

How bad is mobile Flash? When I went to ABC.com and tried to play a clip, I waited five minutes while the player said “loading.” During that time, it Dell Studio 1737 Battery was nearly impossible to scroll around the page or tap objects on it. Eventually, I scrolled up to see a message that was previously obstructed and said ”Sorry. An error occurred while attempting to load the video. Please try again later.” It gets worse…

When I visited Fox.com and tried to start an episode of House, the program actually played but, even Dell Studio 1535 Battery over Wi-Fi, the playback was slideshow-like. Worse still, the player became unresponsive as it ignored my attempts to tap the pause, volume, and slider buttons. At some point during playback, an overlay message warned me that this video was “not optimized for mobile.” I encountered the same message Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery when I tried to play a trailer of the Expendables that was embedded on the movie’s mySpace page. Wasn’t Flash 10.1 supposed to erase the boundaries between mobile and the desktop?

During these Flash lockups, it was nearly impossible to scroll around the screen and most taps were ignored or followed many seconds later. The only way I found to get your phone back to normal when it’s having a Flash meltdown like this is to hit the back button or the home button to get out of the program and even then the phone Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery takes a second to become responsive again.

To help users find content, Adobe promotes its Abobe Flash showcase for mobile in the Android Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery Market, but it’s just a link to a mobile site, not an app. There I found a link to the Sony Pictures trailer site, and all of the clips played smoothly at full screen. I also found links to a number of TV shows that play in Flash, but not always well. An episode of CSI on CBS.com actually played without locking up the system, but it was rather jerky.

The difference between the smooth Flash VGP-BPS9/S trailers on Sony.com, the jerky episode of CSI, and the system locking Flash video on Fox.com is that the smoother ones were optimized specifically for phone playback. But if content providers have to go back and optimize their videos for mobile platforms, one of the key benefits of mobile Flash–backward compatibility with millions of existing videos–is lost. If you’re modifying your videos anyway, why not go the full monty and use an HTML 5 player instead Dell GD761 Battery of Flash?

Back in April, Jobs pointed out that mobile Flash had been promised and delayed since dell Latitude E5400 Battery the beginning toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery of 2009. “We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath,” he wrote. Unfortunately, many Web content providers haven’t been holding their breath either. As we surfed around, we found more and more sites that work with HTML 5. The difference between an HTML 5 video and a Flash video that works well is so slight you can’t tell. I visited South Park Studios on my PC and saw that it used Flash to play episodes of the popular show, so I tried it on dell Latitude E4300 Battery my phone. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Flash episodes of South Park streamed over 3G, until I realized that the site had detected that I was on my phone and was serving me HTML 5 video instead.

After my mixed experience with video, I was curious to try Flash-based games on our Android phones. When I tried going to famous Flash game Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad R60 Battery sites like Newgrounds or Addicting Games, I found that, as Steve Jobs said, “Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.” Many of the games I loaded were slow to start and slowed the system, making it difficult to scroll around the page or tap on links. But much worse was that, even when these titles loaded, there was no way to control most of the action. Most games required keyboard or mouse actions I simply could not perform on my phone, even with its Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad R61 Battery QWERTY slider. One shooter wanted me to hit the CTRL key to fire; another asked for the left mouse button.

Finally, I went to Mochi Games, a site that Adobe points to from its Flash showcase, a site Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T61 Battery that is designed specifically for mobile flash. There, I found an attractive looking zombie game called Blood Red that was made for touch and required me to tap the screen to fire my gun at the oncoming undead. Unfortunately, when I tapped my shots went all over the place and I was dead within seconds. Was Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T60 Battery it Flash that caused the bullets I shot to go to places I didn’t tap or was it my poor hand-eye coordination? I don’t know, but I was frustrated.

Aside from playing videos and gaming, another purported benefit of Flash is that gives you the real web, without showing empty boxes on your favorite sites. While I love this idea, I actually found that some Flash sites had more difficulty loading on the mobile browser when I had the plug-in enabled. At one point, for a period of about 45 minutes, I was inexplicably unable to load either New York Times home page or LAPTOP’s home page as the Droid 2′s browser got stuck at the point where it was trying to download some Flash ads Dell Vostro 1500 Battery and a Flash video player.

When we ran our phone battery test, which surfs the Web Dell Laptop Battery until the handset’s battery dies, the whole process crashed when the browser reached Veoh.com, a site with an autoplaying Flash video on its home page. Once we disabled Flash, we were able to run the test to completion.

Despite all the problems I experienced with Flash Player 10.1, I suppose Adobe deserves credit for bringing the grownup PC experience of Flash to phones. Now, I can browse around the Web and attempt to use Flash sites that were never designed for my phone and see how it goes. Sometimes, I’ll even be good battery pleasantly surprised. The South Park Avatar Creator, which is featured in Adobe’s showcase, is a really neat Flash tool for creating a South Park version of yourself.