SquareTrade

The Nokia N95 8GB pops up online.

You've got to admire the amount of fanfare that went into the release of the Nokia N95 8GB cell phone.  Which is to say, it just popped up online like your old frat buddy who showed up thinking the party was at your place, right now, on Tuesday morning.

Well, that's not the N95's fault.  We haven't gotten our grubby hands on it as yet, but we do see a nice feature set so far.  It does have that 8GB of memory, same as the iPhone.  It does have built-in A-GPS functions, which we like.  It also has a 5-megapixel camera, which is bigger than any other mobile device that we can think of, and even more powerful than the wimpy 3-megapixel camera we had back in the 90's that ran off floppy disks. The N95 also wireless synchs to your computer, so you can upload those pics with ease, or hook up to your HDTV to watch the videos you shoot on the big screen.

Where it all starts to break down is the boxy design and the $700.00 price tag (but with Free Shipping!).  That's far more than an iPhone, and this doesn't come with any neat touchscreen abilities or even a QWERTY keyboard.  The slides only give you a dial pad on bottom, music controls on top.  The thing is, we can get all those features done better in other devices and still end up paying less than what Nokia's asking, so unless the N95 comes with a sharp discount when purchased with a plan, or there's something truly amazing that they've successfully hidden thus far, we think that price might be a tad out of range.

But, if you don't, you can still get a SquareTrade cell phone warranty for less than any cell phone insurance out there, with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  And let's face it: for $700, it's probably going to be "with."

Cell phone warranty, cellphone warranty, Nokia warranty

New Year's Deals at Circuit City.

It's already 2008 somewhere in the world, so it must be time for a sale here in the good ol' U.S. of A. 

Circuit City must have heeded the call, because they're advertising a 3-Day New Year Sale.  Pretty standard stuff, really; 10% off select GPS devices, HDTVs, digital cameras, 40% off Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players, etc.  But what really got our attention was their discounted outlet laptops.

We often forget about Circuit City's Outlet Center, but there are some choice electronics to be had there for good prices, so long as you do your due diligence.  Some of the better deals they're offering at the moment include a $450 Acer Aspire 14.1" Widescreen laptop computer with an 80GB hard drive - that's $150 off - that comes with a free printer and security software (post-rebate). 

That was nice, but the next Acer up, the 15.4" 160GB model (AS5520-5912) is running at $600, which is a 25% markdown.  Other $200 Off laptops include a Toshiba Satellite 15.4" 200GB ($680) and a Sony Vaio 15.4" 160GB ($800).  And if you're wondering, a SquareTrade laptop warranty would be about 38% less than the Circuit City Advantage Plan, and would offer you Accidental Damage coverage as well, and a 5-Day Service Guarantee.  You can use the widget on the sidebar there to get an instant quote and see for yourself. 

Interesting, how 2007 has become the year of the Affordable Laptop.  Makes you wonder what 2008 will bring.  Flying cars, we hope. 

Laptop warranty, laptop insurance

Amazon's Top Sellers of 2007 include some surprises.

We love you, Amazon.  You make holiday shopping so easy that we buy way too much, and yet always feel surprised when yet another smiley-face box shows up on our doorstep.  And then we lie to our spouses and say "Yes, honey, that one's for you, too." 

We know we're not alone in our unnatural love.  As if to hammer the point home, Amazon has just released its Best Of 2007 lists, and it wasn't all the obvious choices this year.

2007 Top Selling Electronics
Out of all the gadgets, trinkets, and assorted cool stuff available in the entire universe, the top selling piece of consumer electronics on Amazon was the Canon PowerShot A570 IS 7.1MP digital camera.  We're honestly not sure why, aside from the fact that it's the cheapest camera in the PowerShot line, and only by about twenty bucks at that.  The all-around best camera is arguably the PowerShot SD850 IS, but the SD750 and SD1000 are both better options to the A570 for not a lot more money.  You confuse us, Amazon.

The popular but elusive Nintendo Wii was the top seller in Video Games, despite the fact that you can't order (or even pre-order) a Wii from Amazon.  You can, however, buy them for about $150 over list price through Amazon Merchants.  It still blew away the competition, and our Amazon is only getting table scraps out of it.  Sigh.

And for your third head-scratcher in a row, the top-selling computer was the Nokia Internet tablet PC.  Really?  It's not clear whether this is the tally for the N800, the N810, the N770, or all of the above (unfair, but it would explain much).  Sure, it's a neat little device and all, but it just feels strange that the #1 computer is essentially a slider smartphone by another name.  Maybe that's just a sign of Things To Come.

2007 Most Popular Electronics
What's getting the highest ranks (aside from us) by Amazon users?  Well, it 's the Wii.  But besides the Wii, people are really digging their Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-inch portable GPS navigator, and so they should.  It's a nifty little device, even though it doesn't have a built-in radar detector.  Yet.  Whereas on the computer front, the MacAddicts are universally praising the Apple MacBook Pro (also the most gifted computer for 2007), and then voted up Apple Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard for good measure.  What, Vista didn't make the list?

2007 Most Wanted Electronics
Wii.  Duh. 

But for those of you who still haven't seen a Wii in the wild, the gadget everybody wanted most was the Apple 4GB iPod Nano.  They got it, too, as the 4GB Nano topped the "bought as gift" list.  And while the masses may've liked the Macbook Pro and given the Macbook Pro, what they really wanted all along was the under-$400 Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7-inch PC.  Again, we're not sure which model (or if they're lumped in together), but we don't care.  Let's here it for the Budget Notebook!

Like we said, interesting list, and if you got one, gave one, or are getting one before January 6, you can put a SquareTrade Warranty on it for 20% Off our already low price.  Just use coupon code WARRANTYSANTA on the checkout page.

Amazon Best Electronics of 2007, Apple iPod Nano  warrant, insurancey

Well-Hidden HDTV Deals at Best Buy.

It's not over until it's over, folks.  And it's not over yet.

We caught sight of Best Buy's new "All On Sale" banner for HDTVs (including flat panel, projection, and tube televisions), but frankly it was all pretty weak stuff as far as we could tell.  Until we came across the Hitachi Ultravision 50" 1080i flat-panel plasma HDTV, anyway.  Hiding in all the "forty bucks off" chaff is a real deal here: normally running for $2500, Best Buy's letting them go for only $2000.  Not bad at all.

Encouraged by that discovery, we pressed on and found they'd also clipped $300 off the price of their HP MediaSmart 47" 1080p flat-panel LCD HDTV, putting it right at $2100.  As insane as it sounds that the 50" Plasma is a hundred bucks cheaper than the 47" LCD, that's what they're listing at.  The world's gone mad.

But if you're interested, you can inject a little sanity into these proceedings with a SquareTrade HDTV warranty, and you can do it for less money than Best Buy would charge you.  And if you hurry, you can even take advantage of our special 20% Off holiday coupon code WARRANTYSANTA before it expires on January 6th.

HDTV warranty, Cheap Plasma HDTV

Cheap Blackjack i607 at Amazon.

If you're just now waking up and the last five days are something of an eggnog-induced haze, it's time to shake it off.  There's work to be done.

Amazon's got two smartphones you might want if you're willing to sacrifice walking around with the newest of the new in favor of getting a brand-new golden oldie for absolutely no money.  Okay, some money.  A penny, to be precise.  You can get yourself the Blackjack i607 and/or the AT&T 8525 slider smartphone for one cent when you sign up for a plan with AT&T.  That includes free two-day shipping as well. 

The AT&T 8525 was the first UMTS/HSDPA smartphone in the U.S. running on the 3G network, and it still holds its own with integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi connections, push email capabilities, a 2 megapixel camera and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and an overall impressive call quality.  The Blackjack i607 is all that (save for a 1.3 megapixel camera) and a little more.  There's a reason it was able to bust in on the Blackberry's territory, after all.

And you can get a SquareTrade cell phone warranty - with or without Accidental Damage coverage - on either of them.  It'll cost you more than 12% of One Cent, though.  You'll essentially put down the list price of each phone ($500 for the Blackjack, $600 for the 8525) and that's the amount you'll be refunded - within 5 business days, no less - if it breaks down in-warranty and we can't fix it. 

Sure, they're two years behind the times, but if you're not willing to shell out $500 for something with a touchscreen, these two will do almost everything else your iPhone will do.  We call that a good excuse to get rid of your spare change.

Blackjack warranty, cell phone warranty, 8525 warranty, cheap smart phone

Uniden GPS to double as Radar Detector.

Okay, enough with that Christmas malarkey.  It's time to get down to brass tacks, and they don't get any brassier than CES.  Or, as we like to call it, Christmas Part II.  And a bunch of electronics news is already breaking ahead of the conference (running Jan. 7-10 in good ol' Las Vegas) to get us ready for the main course.

First up: prepare to put the Uniden MapTrax GPS up alongside the likes of Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom.  It's okay if you haven't heard of a Uniden making a GPS before, because they've only recently gotten into the game.  Along with phones and CB products and scanners, what they're really known for are top quality cop-foiling radar detectors, and some genius has decided that those are two great tastes that naturally go together.  They're set to become the first GPS with built-in radar detection, and the official announcement will happen at CES.

Uniden currently has three MapTrax GPS models on the market (the pic's their GPS402 with a 4" touchscreen), and there's nothing specific on which ones will get the radar detecting upgrade, or even if it'll become a brand standard.  We also don't know how it will flag you about that smokey on your tail, but just so long as it does, we're sold.  We'll even put a SquareTrade GPS warranty on it with optional Accidental Damage coverage if you want to buy one with all the money you'll be saving by not getting speeding tickets.

Uniden MapTrax GPS, Uniden radar detector, GPS warranty

Last Minute Deals for Holiday Panic Shoppers.

Procrastination is an American Right, and we'll defend t some point in the ill-defined future.  In the meantime, Best Buy and Circuit City are stepping in to reward your seasonal sloth with a few choice discounts.

Circuit City has just put a digital camera sale front and center with a claim of "up to 25% off" on every digital camera they have in stock, but you don't need to go that high.  We found the Cannon SD1000 7.1 Megapixel digital camera for only 20% off, and that's enough to knock fifty bucks off the price.  Most of the other CC discounts run around the 10% range, though you can find a Sony Cybershot 8.1 Megapixel for about 21% off.  That's not bad for two of the better point-and-press options out there.

Best Buy, meanwhile, is going the tried-and-true Laptop and HDTV Sale route.  The laptop discounts aren't all that different from what we reported a while ago, but we were nicely surprised to see $703 taken off the price of a Panasonic 56" 1080p rear-projection LCD HDTV, for a sale price of $997.  That makes this easily the biggest and highest-end HDTV we've seen for under $1000 to date.  Those who doubted when we said this would happen, lament! 

Naturally, if you get it for less, your SquareTrade warranty costs less, too, even if you get Accidental Damage coverage or add extra years of protection.  And it'll cost even less than that if you use our 20% Off holiday coupon WARRANTYSANTA on the checkout page.

Best Buy sale, Circuit City sale, holiday sale, digital camera sale

HP Pavilion Tablet PC Upgraded.

It seems HP hasn't gotten all the hardware upgrades out of their system yet.  Next up: the Pavilion tx1300 tablet PC is getting promoted to the Pavilion tx1400 tablet PC, and while the convertible 12.1" tablet touch screen won't be any different, they sure are changing things under the hood.  Graphics (NVidia GeFore Go 6150) and processing (AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core) are backed by a 250GB hard drive and 2048MB DDR2 RAM.  Built-in webcamera, microphone, and fingerprint reader, too, plus a 5-in-1 media adapter.  It's 4.5 pounds of processing fury, sir and ladies.

But for something that's hardly even out the door, it's surprising to find that it's already up for preorder at J&R for $1200.  You can put a SquareTrade laptop warranty on it whenever you like, too, with or without Accidental Damage coverage.

The breakers of this news over at Notebook Italia say this is just the start of the HP tablet PC extreme makeovers.  Of course, they also say the retail price is going to be $150-$350 less than J&R.  Maybe something was lost in Google translation.

Convertible tablet PCs, best laptop warranty

The New Samsung 17" R700 Laptop.

It looks like Samsung's jumping on the 17" multimedia notebook bandwagon.  Today brings fresh word of the Samsung R700 laptop, and we can't help but feel it sounds a little familiar.  There's definitely a pattern developing around the 17" laptop scene, and it goes a little something like this;

You've got a 1440x900 17" display designed for HD playback, with an HDMI interface to connect to your HDTV (hopefully larger than 17"), an Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS graphics card (8400 GT in the "masthead version"), built-in 1.3 megapixel camera, and read-write CD/DVD player.  It is not, as yet, upgradeable to HD DVD or Blu-Ray, as the new HP laptop SKUs are, but that's okay.  Baby steps, Samsung.  Baby steps.

The wild thing is it looks like Samsung's going to let the R700 go for under $1000, which is pretty damn good, and will make your SquareTrade laptop warranty pretty damn easy on the wallet, too (it even opens up the Accidental Damage coverage option).   On the other hand, they're keeping suspiciously mum on what kind of processor the R700 runs on, so it's vaguely possible the real cost-saving factor with turn out to be recycled Pentium Pro chips.  Sorry, but we don't like the environment that much.

Best laptop warranty

Samsung U940 Touch Phone: the next iPhone Challenger.

We used to know it as the Samsung F700 (or the Samsung Croix for our Vodafone network friends), but the FCC just cleared this smart phone for use in the states under the far better-sounding Samsung U940.

Okay, so the new name isn't much of an improvement.  But as a variant of the F700, this smart phone - which also bares some resemblance to the LG Voyager - sports one of the smoothest touchscreen menus we've seen, only one key on the face, and a slideout QWERTY keyboard that, for once, doesn't make the phone feel bulky.  While the full spec list hasn't been released yet, we do know it'll sport 150MB of internal memory, a microSD slot, the de rigor stereo Bluetooth support, and we've heard that the orginal 5 megapixel camera was chopped down to a 3 megapixel for the Croix, and now to a 2 megapixel for the U940.  Why?  We don't know, except that you can't handle 5 megapixels! 

Jumping the FCC hurdle means we can expect the U940 to show up at Verizon pretty soon.  No word on pricing yet, but you can definitely plan on ditching their grossly overpriced cell phone insurance plan in favor of an economical, sensible SquareTrade cell phone warranty, with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  Finally, something to look forward to in the New Year!

cell phone warranty, samsung cell phone, samsung mobile phone, touch screen phone