If you have a large studio or perhaps even a small studio space in your home, chances are you have asked the question, “how in the world am I going to build a cyclorama wall?” Check out this, ahem, inspiring video by the good people over at EyeHandy which outlines each and every step needed to make a solid and sturdy cyc wall for your studio or in this case dining room. I love one youtuber’s comment, “after a while i stopped being aroused and started being amazed!” Happy summer time tool project!

The good: Extremely fast, 10-megapixel continuous shooting; very low noise; highly customizable; well-designed body with weather sealing; 3-inch LCD; abundant optional accessories.
The bad: Heavy; may be a bit too large for people with small hands.
The bottom line: Canon's EOS 1D Mark III offers a luxurious cocktail of high-resolution, extremely low noise, blazingly fast burst shooting, abundant customization, and a build quality and ergonomic design among the best you'll find in today's camera market.

If you've ever looked at the sideline of a major sporting event and seen a gaggle of huge white lenses, then you've witnessed Canon's dominance in the sports shooting world. Part of the reason for Canon's edge is its 1D series of SLR bodies which, in the form of the new EOS 1D Mark III, will no doubt continue the Japanese camera company's preeminence among the paparazzi, sports shooters, news photographers, and anyone else who has to shoot fast bursts of high-megapixel images. This new SLR feels like a machine gun when set to its Continuous Shooting mode, with which we were able to capture 10-megapixel JPEGs at an average of 9.9 frames per second. Add to that this camera's amazingly low noise, high-end build quality, and vast custom-function menu, and you've got one of the hottest cameras to hit the market this year.

Design
At first glance, the 1D Mark III doesn't look all that different from its predecessor, the 1D Mark II N. It still has a built-in vertical grip, with duplicate shutter and control buttons, so you don't lose functionality when changing grips. In fact, from the front, the most noticeable difference is that the Mark III has a steeper slope to the camera top on the nongrip side and a smoother slope from the prism hump on both sides. However, even that is difficult to see unless you're very familiar with both cameras.
Turn the Mark III around, though, and you'll see that things have changed quite a bit, largely due to the addition of a 3-inch LCD. This has forced Canon to move some buttons around to make up for the fact that the LCD now extends to the left edge of the camera. Menu and Info buttons move above the screen, while the playback button drops to below it. The Select button from the Mark II N is now obsolete, thanks to the Mark III's Set button, which is mounted in the middle of the large scroll wheel, much like the scroll wheels found on the EOS 30D and 5D. Another feature drawn from those siblings is the tiny joystick controller, which is used to navigate between various menus, among other things.

One of the only problems with Canon's 1D and 1Ds series bodies is that they are big and heavy. Some photographers simply don't want to deal with the weight--about 3 pounds without a lens-- while those with very small hands often complain that some controls are out of reach. After a long day of shooting, my right arm definitely did feel the awesome weight of this camera, but I didn't have trouble reaching any important buttons, even though my hands are on the small side for a man. Canon does place the exposure compensation button a little too far to the left, but since the large scroll wheel doubles as exposure compensation in aperture- and shutter-priority modes, it wasn't a problem for me. In case you're worrying about accidental exposure compensation, know that you can disable the large wheel with the three-way off/on/on-with-scroll-wheel switch, which is easy to manipulate with your thumb. My biggest control complaint is that Canon didn't clearly mark a hard button for white balance. The Func button does let you change white balance when in shooting mode, but it easily could have been labeled as such. I had to consult the manual to find that out.
While the Mark II N used button combinations for bracketing, drive mode, and ISO, the only combo that remains in the Mark III is for bracketing. ISO moves to its own button just behind the shutter button, which I found extremely useful and convenient compared to the old configuration. Drive mode gets doubled up with the AF button, with the two split between the small scroll wheel behind the shutter and the large wheel on the camera's back. Metering and flash compensation get the same treatment, as they did on the Mark II N.
Canon also has added a new viewfinder, which the company says ups the magnification to 0.76x from 0.72x and the viewing angle to 30 degrees, from 28.2, while maintaining the same 20mm eye point and the same claimed 100 percent coverage. Suffice to say that the viewfinder is nice and bright and a pleasure to use for manual focus. If you're the type that likes to change your focusing screen, you'll like the fact that Canon offers 11 different kinds of optional focusing screens for the 1D Mark III. Like its predecessor and big sister 1Ds Mark II, the Mark III includes numerous rubber gaskets to keep dust and moisture out of the camera. New to this model is a redesigned hot shoe that is surrounded by raised plastic and made to mate with a rubber gasket on the new 580 EX II Speedlite, to effectively seal one of the few places that wasn't already sealed on the 1D Mark II N.

Features
At the heart of this camera you'll find a newly developed 10.1-megapixel Canon CMOS sensor. Like all other 1D cameras to date, the sensor is APS-H-size (28.1x18.7mm), which gives the Mark III a 1.3x focal-length multiplier. That means that a 50mm lens will give you a field of view that is similar to that of a 65mm lens. As such, the 1D Mark III's sensor size lands between the full-frame sensors offered by the EOS 1Ds Mark II and the EOS 5D, which have no effective focal-length multiplier, and the 1.5x/1.6x focal-length multipliers found on almost all other digital SLRs on the market. Whenever you turn the camera on or off, the camera vibrates the IR-cut filter to shake away any dust that may have settled on it. If that's not enough, the camera can find dust particles on the sensor, plot their locations, and store that data so the included Digital Photo Professional software can remove the dust spots in post processing.

 To process the data from the sensor, the camera uses a pair of Canon's Digic III processors, making it the first dual-processor camera that I've ever seen. Instead of the 12-bit analog-to-digital converters found in Canon's other cameras, the Mark III uses 14-bit converters, which theoretically allow for more tonal gradations than their 12-bit brethren. A dedicated AF processing unit drives the camera's 45-point autofocus system, which includes 19 cross-type points. For comparison, both the EOS 5D and 30D sport only one cross-type point, while Canon's 16.6-megapixel 1Ds Mark II has a mere seven cross-type points. Cross-type AF points provide a higher level of sensitivity than standard points. The points are both user-selectable and groupable, so you can fine-tune the AF system as you like it.

 Exposure metering options are just as sophisticated as the AF system. The camera uses a 63-zone through-the-lens (TTL) metering system that offers full-frame evaluative metering, center-weighted average, and partial and spot metering. According to Canon, the partial option uses the center 13.5 percent of the frame to determine exposure, while the spot setting uses 3.5 percent and can be set to the center or linked to the AF sensor in use, or you can choose up to eight spot readings and let the camera average them. Canon calls this last option "multispot metering." In our field tests, the 1D Mark III yielded remarkably accurate exposures and was rarely fooled by tricky scenes, but the 3D color Matrix Metering found in Nikon's D2Xs--with its 1,005-pixel sensor and onboard database of comparison image data--barely edges out the 1D Mark III's system when it comes to very tricky situations. Ultimately, though, this may be a matter of preference on my part, since the Nikon tends to err on the side of caution in preserving highlight detail by slightly underexposing in some situations, while the Canon will serve up what is traditionally a proper exposure. Really, you can't call either approach "wrong." If you're really worried about highlights, though, you can activate the Mark III's Highlight Tone Priority custom function, which extends the upper portion of the dynamic range to help preserve highlight detail.

 While most photographers likely will stick to a neutral color mode, the 1D Mark III offers an entire Picture Style menu in which you can quickly adjust sharpness, contrast, saturation, and color tone to change the overall look of the images you capture. In addition to six presets, which can each be modified as you see fit, there are three user-defined settings so you can make up your own. Among the presets is a monochrome setting, which includes filter effects that mimic traditional (yellow, orange, red, and green) black-and-white filter sets. In addition to the filters, there are also toning effects, such as sepia, blue, purple, or green. The black-and-white filter effects are subtle, but do a decent job of approximating the effect of real filters. Best of all, you can access the Picture Style menu from a dedicated button next to the Func button, so if you want to create different styles for different situations, it's easy to switch between them quickly.

Including the one mentioned above, the Canon 1D Mark III has 57 custom functions. Just for reference, the Nikon D2Xs has 42. Both of them can be customized extensively, and it would behoove any owner of either camera--or of almost any midlevel or higher digital SLR--to read the manual to find out how to tweak the camera to suit their shooting style. If you own a previous 1D series camera, don't assume that the number-labels of specific custom functions will be the same on the 1D Mark III. Some functions lend themselves to one-time settings, such as the ISO speed range, which lets you set the highest and lowest available ISO from among the camera's range of L (aka ISO 50) all the way up to H (aka ISO 6,400). While the camera displays L and H for these two extremes, they show up as either 50 or 6,400 in your images' EXIF data. Other custom functions, such as the number of bracketed shots (from two to seven), or linking spot metering to the selected AF point, lend themselves to more frequent changes. Thankfully, Canon groups the custom functions into four submenus to make it easier to find the one you want to change.

Canon officially joins the live-view SLR revolution with the 1D Mark III, which lets you frame images with the big 3-inch LCD on the back of the camera instead of the optical viewfinder, should you choose to do so. Once the Live View mode is enabled in the setup menu, all you have to do is press the Set button to enter Live View mode. When you do, the camera locks the mirror up, thereby cutting off the optical viewfinder, and you are restricted to manual focus. Conveniently, you can use the playback zoom controls to zoom in either 5x or 10x on your subject, to aid in manual focusing. Canon doesn't set any strict limits on how long you can remain in Live View mode, but it does mention that the sensor heats up in Live View mode and that you may encounter a thermometer icon on the LCD once the camera reaches a certain temperature. I never saw this icon when I used Live View mode, but if you typically shoot in very warm environments (studio hot lights, anyone?) you may run into it. As you may guess, shooting at higher ISOs should make the sensor heat up faster than at lower ISOs. Canon also warns that increased temperatures can lead to increased image noise.

The good: Very fast; excellent photo quality; flexible autofocus system; big, bright viewfinder; streamlined interface; adds wireless flash control.
The bad: Single card slot; some annoying small and hard-to-feel buttons; limited to three shots for bracketing; Live View focusing still slow.
The bottom line: An excellent midrange dSLR, the Canon EOS 7D delivers for the money.

Canon basically ceded the entry-level pro performance market to Nikon in 2005 with the arrival of the D200; since then, Canon's 30D, 40D, and 50D have taken the slower but less-expensive road, with a relatively stagnant AF system, which Nikon leapfrogged. But with entirely new AF and metering systems, a new high-resolution eight-channel readout sensor coupled with dual Digic 4 image processors and a new 100 percent coverage viewfinder, plus 1080p video capture, the 7D looks like an aggressive attempt to make a comeback.
In addition to a body-only version, Canon sells the 7D in a kit with the 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens (44.8-216mm equivalent). I'm not really fond of it, though, and if you're looking for a starter kit, I'd recommend the newer 15-85mm f3.6-5.6 IS USM lens (28.8-136mm equivalent) instead. It's a lot more expensive and a bit shorter, but I think it's a significantly better lens.
One of the heavier single-grip dSLRs available, there are no radical design departures in the 7D but there are tons of subtle, and a few conspicuous, interface changes that greatly enhance the fluidity of the camera's operation. The new viewfinder is great, comparable with that of the D300s: big and bright, with an optional overlay grid. It's also slightly more comfortable than the D300s' because of the larger eyecup. (Since I didn't get to take the camera to Antarctica to test its weather sealing, cold resistance, and ruggedness, I'd follow Ole Jørgen Lioden's testing on that, if you're interested.)
Adding to its traditional array of buttons for metering, white balance, autofocus, drive mode, ISO sensitivity, and flash compensation the 7D now includes an M-Fn button used to cycle through the AF point options, plus Canon brings the LCD illumination button into action for registering the orientation-linked AF points. Unfortunately, the buttons are very difficult to differentiate by feel, and the M-Fn and illumination buttons are even smaller and harder to use than the others. Following trends in consumer dSLR design, the 7D now also has an interactive control panel for changing frequently accessed settings, called up with the Q button. Though I generally prefer buttons and switches for quick access, the control panel is ultimately easier to use than trying to differentiate between the small buttons on the top of the camera without looking.

Canon consolidated the screen for programming the behavior of the buttons and dials with a visual guide as to where they reside on the body. It's a very nice design.

By adding a specific switch with start/stop button for Live View and Movie capture modes, Canon removed a lot of the operational ambiguity of the 5D Mark II (where you have to have a custom setting enabled just to trigger Live View, for example), and allows the Playback button to function normally, unlike the D300s. It definitely adds to the usability of these modes. More subtle enhancements include an updated switch for the thumbwheel lock and the odd addition of a silver ring on the thumbwheel. The joystick remains unchanged, but I think its design could have stood some tweaking; it's still a bit too easy to accidentally push up when you're trying to go left or right.

	Canon EOS 50D	Canon EOS 7D	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Sensor (effective resolution)	15.1-megapixel CMOS	18-megapixel CMOS	21.1-megapixel CMOS
	22.3mm x 14.9mm	22.3mm x 14.9mm	36mm x 24mm
Magnification factor	1.6x	1.6x	1.0x
Sensitivity range	ISO 100 - ISO 3,200/12,800 (expanded)	ISO 100 - ISO 6,400/12,800 (expanded)	ISO 50 (expanded)/100- ISO 6,400/25,600(expanded)
Continuous shooting	6.3fps 16 raw/90 JPEG	8fps 15 raw/94 JPEG	3.9fps 14 raw/310 JPEG
Viewfinder magnification/effective	95% coverage 0.95x/0.59x	100% coverage 1.0x/0.63x	98% coverage 0.71x/0.71x
Autofocus	9-pt AF all cross-type	19-pt AF all cross-type; center cross-type to f2.8	9-pt AF center cross-type
Shutter speed	1/8000 to 30 sec.; bulb; X-sync 1/250	1/8000 to 30 sec.; bulb; X-sync 1/250	1/8000 to 30 sec.; bulb; X-sync 1/200
Metering	35 zone	63 area	35 zone
Live View	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video (highest resolution)	No	1,920x1,080 at 30fps	1,920x1,080 at 30fps
LCD size	3 inches fixed 920,000 dots	3 inches fixed 920,000 dots	3 inches fixed 920,000 dots
Shutter durability	150,000 cycles	150,000 cycles	150,000 cycles
Wireless flash controller	No	Yes	No
On-camera flash	Yes	Yes	No
Battery life (CIPA rating)	640 shots	800 shots	n/a shots
Dimensions (inches, WHD)	5.7x4.2x2.9	5.8x4.4x2.9	6.0x4.5x3.0
Body operating weight (ounces)	29.8	35	32.9
Mfr. Price (body only)	$1,199.00	$1,699.00	$2,699.00

Canon went from very few AF options to a gazillion in one model. Of course, there's the veteran full automatic AF selection. Spot AF is a subarea of the traditional single-point AF, and for both of these you can choose from any of the 19 AF points. AF point expansion uses the three or four (depending upon location) points surrounding the chosen one. Zone AF is similar to AF point expansion in that it allows you to define clumps of points in the center, top, bottom, or sides of the full AF area, but in contrast to expansion, where you still choose the primary focus point and it only uses the other points if the subject moves, the camera automatically chooses points from within the defined zone. The bulk of these are really designed to improve focus tracking during continuous shooting, and, much like Nikon's AF system, you have to think very carefully about matching the AF choice with the shooting situation or you can end up with surprising results. Ditto for the flexible global and lens-specific microadjustment tools, which it carries over from the higher-end models. Very few users need all of these options, and Canon provides a solid interface for enabling or disabling the choices to minimize on-the-fly confusion. In Live View mode you have three AF options: Live mode (contrast AF), face detect Live mode AF, or Quick AF (the "traditional" faster Live View AF, which uses the faster phase-detection scheme but requires more mirror flipping).

Navigating all the new autofocus options--spot, single point, expanded, zone, and area--is pretty straightforward. In a nice touch, you can selectively enable or disable each option for speedier selection under pressure.

Unlike the Nikon D300s, which changes modes electronically, Canon retains its mode dial, with three custom settings slots. Which design you prefer is very subjective; I happen to like the dial better, especially for accessing custom settings. Unfortunately, with great power comes great interface responsibility, and the custom settings interface is groaning under the weight of the new features. While the dial is faster for access, Nikon's implementation of separate configurations for shooting and operation is less likely to make you crazy. That's because shooting settings tend to vary a lot, while operational controls tend to remain similar. In order to make sure to retain the settings you want you have to first set all of those, then register them to all three slots. That's fine if you never change your mind or make mistakes.
Then there's something like the linked AF-point capability, in which you can register a default AF point, zone, or scheme for each orientation (horizontal and two vertical). It's a truly useful capability, especially in conjunction with the saved settings. But you have to globally enable it, which means you then have to set it for each custom slot; otherwise, when you go vertical it will default to the dumb automatic 19-point area AF setting (which no one shooting this class of camera should use).
Another so-close-but-not-there implementation, at least for me, is the Raw+JPEG override button, which, if it's set for Raw or JPEG, will override with Raw+JPEG for one frame. Because of they way I shoot (Raw+JPEG with the occasional need for just a low-res JPEG), I'd find it a lot more useful if you could do the opposite as well, the way the Olympus E-620 does: program it to override Raw+JPEG with just JPEG.

The good: The third generation of Apple's iPod Touch is still the king of the hill when it comes to portable, Wi-Fi wielding media players. New additions such as Voice Control, graphics enhancements, improved accessibility, higher capacity, and a faster processor help to refine and already excellent product.
The bad: Apple's 8GB Touch doesn't share the same hardware improvements as its higher-capacity kin, and the video cameras found on the iPhone 3GS and iPod Nano remain conspicuously absent. The lack of refinements to its audio quality, hardware design, and video playback leave us feeling just a little uninspired.
The bottom line: Though the updates are subtle, the third-generation iPod Touch still leaves its competitors in the dust.

Now in its third year, Apple's iPod Touch has evolved so many features and uses beyond media playback that we're not really sure what to call it anymore. Some flock to the Touch for its first-class mobile Web browser and e-mail support, while others see it primarily as a portable gaming device, and some still pick it up for good old-fashioned music and video playback. No matter how you choose to define the iPod Touch, Apple's third-generation version has arrived, flaunting 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities priced respectively at $199, $299, and $399.

Design
For better or worse, the first thing we noticed about the third-generation iPod Touch is how unchanged it looks. Side by side with the second-generation iPod Touch, you'd be hard-pressed to find a way to distinguish the two models from each other. Aside from minor differences in the etching on the back of the Touch, the second- and third-generation models are spitting images of each other
Just like its phone-wielding sibling, the iPhone, the iPod Touch is a touch-screen device with a glass-covered 3.5-inch screen that sports a 480x320-pixel resolution. In spite of its touch-screen interface, Apple includes a few physical buttons, including a slim volume control on the left edge, a hold switch on the top, and a home button on the face of the player, placed below the screen. The bottom edge of the Touch includes the same universal dock port and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack as previous models, piercing the otherwise unbroken expanse of chromed steel that wraps around the back and edges of the device.
The shape and dimensions of the Touch also remain unchanged (4.3 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide 0.33 inch thick), defined by a flat-glass front set inside a curved steel backing that feels natural in the hand but makes the iPod a little wobbly when you set it down on a table. Packaged with the Touch is an Apple universal dock connector USB cable, a pair of white earbuds that include a microphone and remote control on the cable, and a molded universal dock insert to use with any charging or speaker accessories.

Features
Out of the box, the third-generation iPod Touch includes an amazing music player, podcast support, video playback (including iTunes rentals and a YouTube player), a Safari Web browser, photo viewer, an e-mail reader (compatible with Outlook, Exchange, MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any POP e-mail service), an integrated iTunes Store for music and video downloads, and a host of smaller utilities (weather, calendar, maps, stocks, notes, voice memos, clock, contacts, and calculator). Provided become proficient with its touch-screen keyboard, the iPod Touch is more pocket PC than an MP3 player.
With version 4 of Apples iPhone and iPod Touch firmware, the device's stock features are just the starting point of apps available. An iTunes App Store, accessible from the computer or directly from the iPod Touch, lets you download and install thousands of applications, including Internet radio players, games, voice recorders, and social-networking tools. You can also extend the capabilities of the iPod Touch using third-party "Made for iPod" hardware accessories such as AV docks, external battery packs, and speaker systems.

Apple first introduced its Genius playlist feature with the second-generation iPod Touch, letting you create instant 25-song playlists based on the musical characteristics of a single song. The Genius playlist feature is still here on the third-generation version, giving you an easy and fun way to generate playlists, provided their music collection holds enough songs to make interesting connections. You can create and save Genius playlists directly onto the iPod Touch, and with automatic syncing enabled in iTunes, you can also transfer them back to your computer.
With the third-generation of the Touch, Apple broadened the scope of Genius selections to include App Store recommendations and extended, genre-based playlists called Genius Mixes. After clicking on the App Store icon found on the main menu, you'll find Genius App picks in a separate "Genius" tab giving you a list of recommendations based on previous app purchases you've made. Genius Mixes are intuitively located in the iPod's Music menu, located by default in the lower submenu strip across the bottom, along with selections for artist, songs, playlists, and more. If you're the kind of person who typically listens to music by hitting shuffle, you might enjoy the way Genius Mixes provide a more curated and genre-specific selection of tunes with a minimum of effort. Those who are more deliberate about their music selections always have the option of knocking the feature into the "more" section and replacing it with a more useful menu item (podcasts, audiobooks, and so on).

Genius Mixes offer extended playlists of your music, which get programmed automatically by Apple. Think of it as "shuffle" with better taste.

Oddly, the Touch's Genius Playlist and Mixes features won't work if you haven't enabled Genius on your computer's iTunes software. If you find iTunes' Genius features too demanding on your computer's resources or too invasive of your privacy (the feature reports your listening habits to Apple), then you'll need to live without the features on your iPod as well.
Not every member of the third-generation iPod Touch family is created equally. Essentially, the 8GB iPod Touch model is still running on second-generation hardware that uses a slower processor than the 32GB and 64GB models and lacks support for new features such as multitasking, Voice Control, OpenGL graphic support, Bluetooth keyboards, home screen background images, and advanced accessibility features. As we've already seen with the first-generation Touch, future updates to the iPod firmware may bring features that only the latest hardware will support. Obviously, the 8GB model's $199 price tag makes it attractive to prospective buyers, but be aware that the lower price comes at the cost of performance and a few worthwhile features. Are you confused about what features are available on the 8GB Touch compared with the 32GB and 64GB versions? So were we. For the record, iOS4 features such as home screen folders, e-mail threading, iBooks support, and spell check are available on all versions of the third-generation iPod Touch. Multitasking, Voice Control, Bluetooth keyboards, and home screen background images, however, are a few of the features we've found so far that can only be found on the 32GB and 64GB Touch models (or iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4). In the next few paragraphs, we'll dive into these features a little more to see if they're worthwhile.

The Voice Control screen of the Apple iPod Touch.

The good: The Archos 7 Home Tablet delivers a large screen, slim design, microSDHC-based memory expansion, and a familiar Android operating system, all for an unbeatable price.
The bad: Its resistive touch screen is clunky, the processor is sluggish, storage is skimpy, and basic buttons for home screen and volume control are missing. There's no support for Adobe Flash, Bluetooth, GPS, video output, accelerometer, digital compass, and multitouch, and previous Archos tablet accessories are incompatible. App support is hit or miss--mostly miss.
The bottom line: The Archos 7 Home Tablet isn't going to amaze you with its specs or features, but its low price and core Android features--Web, e-mail, media playback--make it a workable iPad alternative.

We have to give Archos credit for being the first to market with a 100 percent Android tablet and at a price ($199) that's within reach for most people. If you're looking for an iPad killer, the Archos 7 Home Tablet misses the mark, but it's not without its redeeming qualities.

Design
Like most tablet computers, the Archos 7 Home Tablet isn't much to look at. It's a plastic slab that measures 8 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall by 0.5 inch thick; the dimensions feel nice in the hand and may even fit in a generous-size pocket.
Taking a cue from Apple, Archos' tablet design has few buttons and ports. There's a power switch up top, along with a microSDHC memory expansion slot. On the right side, you'll find sockets for headphones, the included power adapter, and a Micro-USB port. Apart from the speaker grilles on the front and an integrated plastic kickstand on the back, that's about all there is to the tablet's design.
If you were hoping for a volume switch or a home button, you'll have to be content with the tablet's onscreen controls. We can't say we're happy about that, especially given the inherent response latency that comes with resistive touch screens, compared with the capacitive displays used on many of today's smartphones. In spite of the screen's generous size, it often took us a few tries to get the onscreen home, back, and volume buttons to respond.

 The Archos 7's onscreen keyboard is a different kind of disappointment. Sure, its sluggish touch-screen response is a drawback, as is the lack of multitouch support and predictive text, but it's the keyboard's tiny spacebar that really has us singing the blues. The tablet's design is small enough that you naturally want to grab it with both hands and type on it with your thumbs, like a giant smartphone. Unfortunately, its narrow onscreen spacebar, logically located in the middle of the keyboard, is just out of thumb's reach, requiring you to cradle the tablet in one hand and type with the other. Since the tablet doesn't reorient itself when held in portrait mode, there's only one way to type on the screen, and it leaves much to be desired.
The 7-inch screen on the Archos 7 Home Tablet does have a few qualities working in its favor. The backlit LCD has an 800x480-pixel resolution that gives movies and photos crisp detail and balanced color. The plastic overlay on the LCD provides a matte, antireflective finish that stands up to outdoor use better than the iPad or iPod Touch, provided you have the screen brightness cranked. The finish also affords the tablet better resistance to smudges and fingerprints, compared with the glossy glass screen of the iPad and Touch.

Features
As the Archos 7 Home Tablet comes loaded with Google's Android OS (version 1.5), it includes many core apps, such as e-mail, a Web browser, photo viewer, and media playback for music and videos. Because of hardware limitations, other features of the smartphone operating system have been removed from the tablet, including apps for camera, maps, contacts, and messaging.
Another critical distinction to make between the Archos tablet and a conventional Android smartphone is that the included app store isn't Google's Marketplace, but is instead a collection of downloadable apps selected by Archos. In our conversations with Archos, company representatives cited several reasons for using its own app store, most notably the fact that many apps aren't yet optimized for use on tablets and rely on hardware features that aren't available, such as GPS, camera, or accelerometer control. In the end, users will either need to make do with the app selection provided on the device through Archos, or do some tinkering to load apps manually. This comes as disappointing news to anyone looking at the Archos 7 Home Tablet as an unrestricted gateway into the world of Android apps.

 There are some useful apps for the tablet, though. Twitter fans can download the popular Twidroid app. There are games and Internet radio apps, apps for social networking, and for reading e-books. You probably won't be able to download the hot app of the week, or month, but there's enough substance in the Archos app store to lend the device the kind of mutability you want from an Android product.

The good: Samsung's 7-inch Android tablet is a serious competitor to the Apple iPad, boasting two cameras, Flash compatibility, and a more convenient size.
The bad: The Tab behaves more like a supersize Android phone than a Netbook alternative. The Android OS and its apps aren't yet optimized for the larger screen. Depending on your plan, you may be in for a two-year contract and a commitment to monthly charges.
The bottom line: The Galaxy Tab is a beautiful product with features that will make iPad owners envious, but its in-between size and possible carrier commitments hold it back from broad appeal.

Since the arrival of the Apple iPad in April of 2010, we've seen a handful of competitors step up with inexpensive tablet alternatives in all shapes and sizes. With the Galaxy Tab, Samsung has created a true peer of the iPad--an uncompromising product that stakes out new territory in terms of both design and features.
Unlike the 9.7-inch iPad and its Apple iOS software, the Tab's screen measures 7 inches diagonally and runs Google's Android 2.2 operating system. T-Mobile's version of the Tab sells for $399 with a two-year contract and your choice of monthly data plans. Data plans come in two versions: a $24.99 plan with a 200MB cap, and a $39 plan with a 5GB cap. Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all have similar versions of the Tab, though pricing and plan options vary.

Design
Tablets are only as good as their screens, and the Tab's screen is a glossy beauty with the strength of a beast, thanks to a protective layer of Corning Gorilla glass. The LCD underneath it is a crisp 1,024x600-pixel resolution, which is on par with the iPad, but since the screen is about half the size, the pixel density is much tighter. The screen uses a capacitive, multitouch technology that can match the iPad in both response time and usefulness. Not once did we catch ourselves cursing at it--at least, not in the same threatening tone as we used with the Dell Streak and the Archos 7 Home Tablet.
Above the screen you have a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, perfect for video chat with the included Qik app or self-portrait photos. Across the bottom you have the typical Android-style buttons for menu, home, back, and search. There's a standard headphone jack on the top, and volume and power buttons on the side, along with a microSD card slot and an accessible slot for the T-Mobile SIM card. Unlike the Tab model we reviewed from Sprint, the T-Mobile version does not include a preinstalled microSD memory card to complement the integrated 16GB of internal memory.

Samsung's dock connector and a pair of built-in speakers are located on the bottom edge. The dock connector works with the included USB adapter and power brick, but can also be used for accessories, such as a keyboard dock or video output adapter.
On the back of the Tab you'll see a smooth black plastic back and a more impressive 3-megapixel camera with an integrated flash. The camera can capture video at a maximum resolution of 720x480 pixels at 30 frames per second.
Overall, the Tab, at 7.5 inches tall by 4.7 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick, has a solid, paperback book feel that can be comfortably grasped in one hand. Unlike the Apple iPad, we never felt that we needed to set the Tab on our lap or cross our legs just to use it comfortably. For better or worse, it operates and behaves just like a giant Android smartphone, requiring little to no learning curve to navigate menus, type e-mails, or browse the Web.

Features
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what the Tab has to offer, let's state for the record that the two best features of the Tab are the least complicated to understand. First off, you have the size, which is smaller, lighter, and more convenient than the iPad. Second, there's the full, undiluted Android 2.2 experience, complete with third-party apps, and the official Android Market for all the latest and greatest apps. We've seen other Android tablets this same size, but none running Android 2.2 with Market support. Similarly, we've seen tablets like the Dell Streak that offer the Android Market, but the size is cramped and the OS isn't yet up to 2.2. Currently, only the Galaxy Tab hits this "just right" Goldilocks zone among Android tablets--and that's what makes it exciting.

When you unlock the Tab's touch screen, you'll find a familiar home screen with a floating Google search bar, and dock icons for e-mail, Web browser, and a drawer for apps. Hold the Tab in either portrait or landscape view, and the built-in accelerometer sensor will reorient the screen automatically. By default, the Tab includes three main home screens, which you can jump between by flicking left or right. Beyond the core apps in the dock (mail, Web, drawer), the first of the five home screens comes preinstalled with apps for Qik video chat, Samsung's video download portal, Media Hub, Slacker Internet radio, the Amazon Kindle e-book reader, the Asphalt 5 3D racing game, the Android Market, YouTube, Navigation, and a T-Mobile account management app.

 You have to dig a little deeper to appreciate the work Samsung did to differentiate the Tab experience from its line of premium Android smartphones. Spend some time in the app drawer, and you'll find that seemingly benign apps like Contacts, Calendar, and Memo have all been optimized by Samsung for the larger screen, using split-screen views and nested tabs to take advantage of the added screen real estate.
Most Android apps, unfortunately, aren't yet designed for the larger screens of tablets. It's a complaint you'll hear echoed in all of our Android tablet reviews so far. With all the extra room, some apps stretch unnaturally to fill the space (Pandora), whereas others appear like large print versions of their original smartphone incarnations. Until Google commits to the tablet form and offers developers and consumers a way to distinguish tablet-optimized apps from smartphone apps, this is going to be a recurring headache for everyone.  

The good: The Dell Streak 7 tablet offers dual-core processing, 4G network compatibility, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, front and rear cameras, and an inventive reimagining of Android 2.2.
The bad: Dell's Stage interface doesn't make up for the stale operating system. Screen quality and responsiveness are not as good as they could be.
The bottom line: The Dell Streak 7 polishes Android 2.2 to a tablet-worthy shine, and is the first to deliver 4G compatibility--but it's not enough to distract us from the incoming wave of Android 3.0 tablets.

The Streak 7 is the tablet we've been waiting for Dell to make. It's a device that's worthy of the company. It couples solid, refined hardware with a creative spin on Android 2.2. Granted, we've seen similar 7-inch Android tablets come and go, but this time around Dell is raising the stakes by making the first 4G-compatible tablet (courtesy of T-Mobile), priced at a tantalizing $199 with a two-year contract ($450 without).

Design
Powered off, the Streak 7 looks nearly identical to Samsung's Galaxy Tab. The construction is mostly plastic, with a glass-covered screen, and a sleek (if smudgy) design that tapers around the edges and feels sturdy in your hand. The Streak is longer than the Tab by a half-inch, measuring 7.75 inches long, 4.6 inches wide, and a hair under a half-inch thick.
Because tablets measure their screen size on the diagonal, you may be surprised to realize that the Streak's 7-inch screen is about half the size of Apple's 9.7-inch iPad display. In our experience, 7-inch tablets offer a more convenient portable design than 10-inch designs, but can't quite offer the laptop-like Web-browsing experience of the larger models.

 We've also found that without extensive design help, many apps made for the smaller screens of Android smartphones can seem out of place or oversized on tablet-size screens. Dell makes an effort to address this with its inventive "Stage" user interface, but doesn't do much for users after they dig past the home screen. By contrast, Samsung's Tab took the same basic Android 2.2 elements, left Google's home-screen design alone, and optimized basic apps such as notes, e-mail, and calendar for a more tablet-friendly, split-screen view. Dell gets points for creativity, but compared with Samsung's practical tweaks, the Stage interface is just window dressing.
One of the small design details that distinguishes Dell's hardware from Samsung's is a decision to tailor the hardware and user interface for use in landscape orientation, rather than the smartphone-centric portrait mode. To this end, the tactile buttons for home, back, and menu are located on the right side of the screen, gathered together to make them easy to navigate with your thumb. It's a thoughtful design choice, and one we prefer over the Galaxy Tab's giant smartphone layout.

Features
The Streak 7 offers most of the features we'd expect from a high-end tablet. You get a 5-megapixel camera on the back (with flash) that can shoot photos and 720p videos. A camera (with microphone) also sits on the front, offering a 1.3-megapixel quality that's just fine for self-portraits and video chat. In fact, Qik video chat software comes preinstalled and T-Mobile is quick to point out that users are free to use the service over their cellular connection, though it's a surefire way to burn through your data plan.
Other basic features such as 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth audio and data connections are here, though we wouldn't mind having an 802.11 n setting. There's a standard headphone jack on the left side, smartly placed above where your hand would naturally grip the device. Similarly, a pair of stereo speakers sit in the topmost corners of each side, delivering decent volume, though understandably thin acoustics (fortunately, earbuds come included).

 The right edge of the Dell Streak 7 has a hinged flap concealing a SIM card slot and a memory card expansion slot for full-size SDHC memory cards, allowing you to expand the storage beyond the integrated 16GB. In our experience, the standard SD cards used by the Streak are much easier to come by than the microSD cards used by so many others--not to mention that they are more affordable.
Though the SD card slot was a nice gesture toward ease of use, Dell had to go and throw its proprietary 30-pin connector on the bottom, making charging and syncing the device a bit of a hassle. Once connected to your computer, the Streak appears as an external USB drive and comes preloaded with DoubleTwist software for syncing and managing media. It's not the elegant plug-and-play of the iPad and iTunes, but it gets you close.

 Of course, the biggest feature the Streak 7 has to offer is compatibility with T-Mobile's 4G wireless network. Because 4G is still in its early rollout phase, coverage will vary from location to location, so check with T-Mobile's 4G coverage map before making the jump. For us, the 4G speed enabled faster loading for YouTube videos, with less frequent dropouts. We'll update this review with test results from the CNET Labs with a more in-depth speed comparison once results are available.