Expert Reviews on Macs, iPhones and iPods

Review: HTC Droid Eris smartphone

Robert S. Anthony — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:50:00 -0800

If you want a cheaper Android-based alternative to the Droid and can live without a hardware keyboard, the Droid Eris is a good choice.

Review: Sanyo VPC-WH1 HD camcorder

Jim Feeley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:10:00 -0800

There are only two reasons to buy Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-WH1 HD camcorder, but they’re good reasons: It’s inexpensive, and it’s waterproof.

Review: FaceFighter for iPhone

Tim Mercer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:05:00 -0800

With great graphics, cool kung fu sounds, and a multi-player mode, FaceFighter is really entertaining. Add in the ability to create custom foes, and hilarity quickly ensues.

Review: Samsung Moment smartphone

Ginny Mies — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:10:00 -0800

Sony may be on the cusp of introducing the PSP Go, a new handheld gaming system that seems to have borrowed some design cues from the iPhone and iPod touch.

Review: JVC Everio GZ-HM400

Rob Mead — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:50:00 -0800

Designed to sit at the top of JVC’s Everio camcorder line, the GZ-HM400 should give its rivals a run for their money.

Review: HTC Hero (Sprint) smartphone

Ginny Mies — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0800

Although it has some quirks, the variety of features and the high customizability that the Hero smartphone offers is hard to beat.

Review: The Deep Pinball for iPhone

Ben Boychuk — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0800

OOO Gameprom returns with another pinball adventure, this one set in a watery underworld. It's a fun game, with the 1.1 update improving upon the original release.

Speedmark 6: Macworld Lab's new benchmark suite

James Galbraith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:01:00 -0800

The Macworld Lab has been hard at work tweaking Speedmark, our overall system performance testing tool, to better accommodate Snow Leopard and to test the Macs on which it runs.

Review: SketchBook Mobile for iPhone

John Brandon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:31:00 -0800

Autodesk's app is one of the better painting and drawing apps on the iPhone. It's the rare app that appeals to both novices and professionals.

Review: Bombia Design The Invoice Machine invoicing software

Jeffery Battersby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

Simple to manage and easy to use, The Invoice Machine is a good web-based invoice application for very small businesses.

Review: JVC Picsio GC-FM1 pocket HD camcorder

Tim Moynihan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

On paper, JVC’s Picsio GC-FM1 pocket HD camcorder is loaded. But pocket-camcorder championships aren’t won on paper, they’re won on-screen and in your hands

Jitouch adds new gestures to Multi-Touch trackpads

Dan Frakes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0800

Jitouch is a simple program that adds eight new sets of gestures to the Multi-Touch trackpads on recent Apple portables.

Review: AudioBoo for iPhone

James Savage — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:54:00 -0800

This app, which provides a quick, easy way to share audio recordings on the Internet, shows a lot of potential. Recording and publishing is a snap, but more robust in-app browsing is needed.

Review: Research in Motion BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone

Ginny Mies — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0800

If you’re rocking an aging BlackBerry, you should definitely consider the Bold 9700. Its keyboard, display, software, and specs make it the best BlackBerry to date, by far.

Review: 9 The Mobile Game for iPhone

John Brandon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:51:00 -0800

The animated motion picture 9 may have come and gone from theaters, but its iPhone game remains. Unfortunately, this platform game misses the mark because of simple gameplay and weak graphics.

Review: 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs (Late 2009)

Roman Loyola — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:29:00 -0800

The Late 2009 iMacs are really about the new displays—and the displays are impressive.

Review: Sonos ZonePlayer S5

Christopher Breen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:15:00 -0800

Sonos delivers a good-sounding all-in-one wireless audio player.

Review: Studio One Pro 1.0.1

John Brandon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

New kid on the block: StudioOne is a powerful new music creation and production app that rivals Apple and Avid offerings.

Review: BenQ Joybee GP1 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

This ultraportable projector displays good-looking images but works best only in low lighting.

iMac (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:37:00 -0800

Macworld Lab has the new iMacs and we’ve put them to the test.

Review: Alive 4-Ever for iPhone

Tim Mercer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:52:00 -0800

Everything about this zombie survival game is highly polished, from the music and effects to the controls. Alive 4-Ever is the king of its genre.

Review: Memeo Share for iPhone

Lex Friedman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:13:00 -0800

While it suffers from some oversights -- you can't upload multiple photos at once, for example -- this mobile image-sharing app is well-suited for viewing photos that you and your buddies share. You'll need to consider if the accompanying online service meets your needs, though.

Review: Mac mini (Late 2009)

Dan Frakes — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:15:00 -0800

Just seven months after giving the Mac mini line its biggest update ever, Apple has bumped the performance of the company's smallest desktop computers. While the improvements are modest, the latest Mac minis address a few of our biggest criticisms of the Early 2009 models.

Review: Battery Go for iPhone

John Brandon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:55:00 -0800

This app won't tell you exactly how much battery life you have left on your iPhone or iPod touch, but then it doesn't claim to do that. Rather, Battery Go gives you a pretty good estimate for how much juice you'll need to perform tasks on your mobile device. Large icons and a slider make this simple app easy to use.

Delibar makes Delicious bookmarking easy and attractive

David Chartier — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:17:00 -0800

Delibar improves greatly on the experience of sharing, accessing, and creating bookmarks for the popular Delicious bookmarking service.

Review: BuzzVoice Talks and Tick Talk for iPhone

Ben Boychuk — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:13:00 -0800

We look at a pair of apps that read the news to you. BuzzVoice Talks is a thankfully-renamed update to PimpMyNews that adds more options for users. Tick Talk is more of an alarm clock that wakes you up with the morning's headlines.

Review: Google Picasa 3.5 photo organizer

Kris Fong — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

When it comes to organizing, editing, and sharing photos, most Mac users know iPhoto. But Google offers Picasa, a free photo editing and sharing app that rivals iPhoto ‘09.

Review: InFocus IN1102 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

The versatile, 2.75-pound InFocus IN1102 is a superior choice for a double-duty, lamp-based projector that delivers bright, colorful images both in large conference rooms and in cozy living rooms.

Review: CNN Mobile for iPhone

Lex Friedman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:03:00 -0800

News junkies won't go wrong with CNN Mobile. It's the deepest and most complete news app for iPhone and iPod touch.

Review: Acorn 2.1 image editing software

James Dempsey — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

Acorn 2.1 is a great app for digital photography hobbyists, bloggers, or anyone who needs a decent amount of flexibility in editing images but doesn't require the power of a full image editor.

Review: Depth of field iPhone apps

Dale Gardner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:20:00 -0800

A number of iPhone apps promise to help tame the sometimes complex calculations needed for success when attempting to control depth of field. We look at three, each focused on satisfying different types of photographers.

Review: Cygnett GroovePlatinum earphones

Nick Spence — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

Good but not exceptional budget-priced earphones.

Video: Up close with the Magic Mouse

Roman Loyola — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:30:00 -0700

In this video, Roman Loyola takes a close look at Apple new Magic Mouse and its Multi-Touch gestures.

Mac mini (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has the Mac minis, and we put them through our benchmark tests. Our result show that the new Mac minis are impressively faster than the models they replace.

Review: VHS capture tools compared

Christopher Breen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:15:00 -0700

If you have a box of VHS slowly deteriorating in the basement, use these tools to convert them.

Review: CBS Sports: College for iPhone

Beau Colburn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:27:00 -0700

With scores and stats for teams ranked in the Top 25, this app offers some value for college football fans (as well as college hoops fans once that season starts). Throw in exclusive CBS video content -- including a live stream of the SEC game of the week -- and you've got a must-have app for fans of college sports.

Review: Jabra Halo headphones

Aoife M. McEvoy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:44:00 -0700

If you’re looking for nonearbud headphones to handle music and calls—but primarily music—the Halo is a good choice

Review: Toy Bot games for iPhone

Lex Friedman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:38:00 -0700

The Toy Bot Diaries series improves sequel-by-sequel, but Iugo Mobile Entertainment really gets the gameplay right with Spy Bot Chronicles, a spinoff from the physics-based platform game.

Review: Optoma Technology EW330 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:30:00 -0700

Optoma’s compact, 2.4-pound EW330 is a lamp-based ultraportable projector that features 1280 by 800 resolution and enough illumination power for use in a large conference room.

Review: Motorola Droid smartphone

Robert S. Anthony — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:04:00 -0700

The Droid certainly lives up to its promises and does a lot of things the iPhone doesn’t. The iPhone will probably keep its smartphone throne for now, but it will have to deal with a powerful new competitor.

Review: Words With Friends for iPhone

Ben Boychuk — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:25:00 -0700

Words With Friends is a two-person crossword challenge that takes advantage of the networking capabilities of the iPhone and iPod touch to help you take on far-flung opponents in a Scrabble-esque word showdown.

Review: AppBox Pro for iPhone

Brian Beam — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:45:00 -0700

This collection of 21 utilities isn't slick, but that doesn't detract from its usefulness. Bundling nearly two dozen apps into one package means you'll get good value out of AppBox Pro, even if you wind up using just a few of its utilities.

Review: Toshiba DMF82X digital picture frame

Kathleen Cullen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:47:00 -0700

Although Toshiba’s DMF82X digital frame offers various Wi-Fi capabilities, its ease of operation leaves a lot to be desired.

SMART Utility monitors your hard drives' health

Dan Frakes — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

SMART Utility monitors the SMART status of your internal hard drives, warning you if any of them is showing signs of drive failure.

Review: 13-inch MacBook/2.26GHz (Late 2009)

Jonathan Seff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:14:00 -0700

In bringing the unibody treatment to the white MacBook, Apple has added many pro features while removing FireWire and the infrared port.

Review: FIFA 10 for iPhone

Chris Holt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:25:00 -0700

This soccer game offers engrossing competition and graphics that far out-pace what we've seen on the iPhone and iPod touch. Now if only Electronic Arts could do something about FIFA 10's wonky artificial intelligence.

Review: MetaLab Ballpark invoicing software

Jeffery Battersby — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:35:00 -0700

Ballpark is a simple, Web-based estimate and billing application that allows you to manage estimates, bills, and payments from the Web.

Review: Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone

Jackie Dove — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:12:00 -0700

The good part about Adobe's new Photoshop.com Mobile iPhone app is that it's easy, intuitive, fast, and fun, and does what it says it will do. The bad part is that it doesn't do that much.

MacBook (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:05:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has received the new MacBook and has been hard at work, putting it to the test. And while we don’t have Speedmark 6 finalized just yet, we do have some MacBook benchmark results we’d like to share.

Review: FanGraphs Baseball for iPhone

Brendan Wilhide — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:51:00 -0700

With a wealth of baseball data available with just a few taps, FanGraphs Baseball is a must-have app for any fans who wants to learn more about the game they love.