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Technology Review

From left to right: The Samsung A580 mobile phone, Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition, Apple's new MacBook in black and white and the Xtatix Freefone. PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

BACK UP YOUR PHONE

By now you have probably received at least one mass e-mail message from a friend that said, "Lost my cell phone -- Please send me your contact info." To save irritation for both absent-minded phone owners and their friends, Sprint has introduced Sprint Wireless Backup, which synchronizes the contact list on a phone with a copy on Sprint's servers. Software on the phone automatically uploads changes made on the handset, and if the original phone is lost or broken, a new phone can automatically download the data.

For now, the service is available on two new Sprint phones, the Samsung A580, shown here, and the LG LX350. Subscribers can also log onto a Web site to view their contact list or make changes that are then sent to the phone. Using a full computer keyboard is easier than entering letters using the multiple taps required on a standard phone's numeric keypad.

The service cannot, however, exchange data with other online address books like those offered by Yahoo and Google, or with desktop information managers like Microsoft Outlook.

MULTIMEDIA CLASS NOTES

Digital voice recorders make it easy to record lectures, discussions and personal notes. But the playback can leave you wondering: What diagram was the lecturer discussing? Whom was I talking with? What on earth was I talking about?

Sony's ICD-CX50 recorder, available now from major retailers for US$400, can help you figure it all out. In addition to recording hours of audio, it shoots digital photos, so you can record lecture slides, faces, objects and events. It records sound in stereo so you can pick out voices in noisy surroundings and tell group members apart if they talk simultaneously. A "digital voice-up" function increases the volume of voices when recording at a distance.

The recorder's 256-megabyte memory, which stores both sound and photos, can hold up to 1,340 1.2-megapixel images, or more than 4,000 at a smaller size. Audio capacity is up to 93.5 hours in mono and more than 22 hours in stereo. Its lithium-ion battery powers the device for 10 hours to 14 hours before it needs recharging.

If you're still asking yourself those pesky questions when playing back recordings made on this machine, you'll have to add one more: Why did I forget to take a picture?

A MAC IN BLACK

Apple's line of laptops aimed at consumers took a leap forward last week when the company released its new MacBook model. Intended to replace the slower iBook laptops, the new MacBooks have either a 1.8-gigahertz or 2.0-gigahertz Intel Core Duo processor under the hood.

The new laptops have a bright, glossy 13-inch wide-screen display and a built-in iSight camera for video chats on the go. The MacBooks come with Apple's Front Row software and a tiny remote control for browsing your photo, movie and music collections without having to fiddle with the keyboard or trackpad.

The MacBook is available in white like the older iBook, but a sleek black model is also available; prices start at US$1,100, and configurations can be compared at www.apple.com/macbook.

Like the high-end MacBook Pro, the new MacBook comes with a MagSafe adapter that connects the power cable to the laptop magnetically -- and easily pulls loose to keep the computer from taking a dive if somebody trips over its cord.

It can connect to the Internet through wireless or Ethernet connections, but the days of dial-up are over -- unless you pay an additional US$49 for an external modem.

LOOK, MA! NO HANDS

For those not yet enslaved by the white earbud, there are plenty of alluring MP3 players out there. Take the Xtatix Freefone, a self-contained player with an FM radio tuner that offers hands-free playback.

The Freefone, which weighs about 113g, is essentially a pair of headphones studded with buttons. A USB cable transfers music from a Mac or PC and charges the built-in battery, which lasts about seven hours between charges. Like the iPod Shuffle, the device plays songs at random or in the order in which they were uploaded.

The 1-gigabyte version costs US$159 and can hold up to 300 songs; a version with half as much storage costs US$119.

A switch on one side of the headphones flips from FM to MP3 mode, and buttons control power, audio playback and equalizer settings. The other side has controls for FM tuning or to fast-forward and rewind.

In addition to music, the Freefone can store computer files, should you want to wear your important data around your ears.

ONE-BUTTON DATA BACKUP

At the rate things are going, we'll soon be able to store 25,000 MP3's on a disk the size of a fingernail. A step in that direction is the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition. This shock-resistant hard drive is about as big as an iPod and can back up your PC or laptop drive with the click of a button.

The OneTouch III is less than a 1.5cm thick and 13cm long. A 60-gigabyte and 100-gigabyte version are available.

The drive comes with an instruction booklet and a USB cable. For PC users, setup is simple: Maxtor has included a full user's manual and backup software on the disk itself, which is preformatted using the Windows NT file system. Once you plug it in, the installation system asks for a few basic facts about your computer. When you're ready to back up, simply press the glowing white button on the front. (Mac users will have to reformat the drive.)

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