IMPORTANT NOTE: The Portable USA PU-12WB digital frame is almost identical to the Portable USA PU-10WB digital frame. The only difference between the two frames are the screen size (PU-12WB has a 12.1 inch screen size and the PU-10WB has a 10.4 inch screen size) and screen resolution resolution (PU-12WB has a screen resolution of 800x600 and the PU-10WB has a screen resolution of 640x480). Aside from the increased resolution both frames performed the same way and functioned the same way. As such you will find that both reviews are almost identical in nature, with the only changes being references to screen size, product name and specifications.

The PU-12WB sold by Portable USA is an elegant wooden frame. The frame is wireless via bluetooth technology and features speakers for music playback as well as a remote to guide you through the menus. A bluetooth adapter is not included in the box, but can be shipped to you free after filling out a postcard and submitting it to Portable USA.

THE HARDWARE
The construction of the frame is good. Its display is protected by a glass over a matted frame that hides the infrared sensor for the remote. The frame accepts SD/MMC/MS/CF cards as well as USB memory sticks, and the bluetooth adapter that uses the USB port. It can also be plugged in to any PC or Mac to have images transferred over to its 256 MB of on-board memory. The bluetooth is useful for transferring pictures from your phone and makes it fairly easily. All in all it is pretty solid in the media format acceptance category.




THE SET UP
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.


THE DISPLAY
The 12.1 inch display is really bright and clear.

The test images we used were all taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D300, so they were high resolution to begin with. We enjoyed the quality of the pictures being represented as they appeared with little or no distortion. The colors were actually better than we had expected, with nice saturation and decent blacks. Unfortunately the audio playback failed to impress us as the quality of the speakers was not great.






These pictures don't do the frame justice as it was hard to capture a screen shot that would show the quality of the display when showing off the pictures. If you are interested in purchasing I would get a memory card ready with some of your favorite pictures and take it to BJ's Wholesale club, Ritz Camera or Circuit City. All three of these stores carry the Portable USA line of digital frames. Once you have decided which one you like, go to Amazon and purchase it there since it is much cheaper.

The frame can also play videos of the following formats MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, and DivX. If you really wanted to you could probably watch a full length film as long as it fits in your memory card.

THE INTERFACE
Looking deeper into the frame's inner workings we found ourselves looking at a not-so-nice user control panel.














The user interface lacks the crisp-looking graphics you should expect from a fancy digital frame. and it was somewhat difficult to navigate through the menu using the buttons on the frame itself. The full function remote however takes care of this problem. You can actually do more things with the remote than you can with the on-board buttons. The only thing we found the on-board buttons useful for was raising and lowering the audio volume on the frame.




The menu offers you all the necessary controls such as language (Chinese, English, Dutch, French, and Spanish), speed for slide show and transition type selection. You can choose transitions that range from: slide from the top towards the bottom, fade in and out, open like a door, or random, which is what we used to make use of all the transitions. Your clock could be set from the control panel along with a one time use alarm to remind you of something or wake you up in the morning. We didn't find the alarm useful because it has to be set every day since it is linked with the date on the frame.

We tried putting the frame in portrait view but there is no option in the setup to do this. You can have all your pictures in either portrait or landscape but your menu will always be in landscape. This makes it a bit hard to see the calendar, alarm clock, mp3 audio player etc...

The PU-12WB has a list price of $299.00, but we have seen them on Amazon for about $169.99.

SPECIFICATIONS
- Bright 12.1" diagonal TFT Active matrix LCD display
- 800x600 resolution displaying up to 12MP images
- Compatible with CF, SD, MMC, MS, XD and USB media cards
- No PC needed to enjoy pictures
- 256MB on board memory
- Bluetooth wireless transfer compatible with cellphones, PC and MAC OS (requires separate adapter)
- Direct connection to computer with included USB cable.
- Ships with rich cherry and true-black frames, suitable for every decor.
- 12 month FULL warranty, parts and labor

IN THE BOX
- Digital frame with cherry wooden surround
- Alternate black wooden surround
- Remote control
- AC power adapter
- USB cable
- Locking Stand
- User's manual
- Card to submit to Portable USA to get your bluetooth dongle

THE GOOD
- Nice bright display
- Speaker to listen to audio mp3 files
- Full function remote control (priceless)
- Somewhat easy to use (if you use the remote)
- Good price in comparison to similar models
- Bluetooth compatibility is great.

THE BAD
- Alarm clock not very useful to have to set it daily
- Cheap looking setup / menu interface
- Good luck figuring out how to use the menus if you loose the remote.
- Sound from speakers is not so great.
- No ability to make menu display in portrait mode.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Portable USA

The PU-10WB sold by Portable USA is an elegant wooden frame. The frame is wireless via bluetooth technology and features speakers for music playback as well as a remote to guide you through the menus. A bluetooth adapter is not included in the box, but can be shipped to you free after filling out a postcard and submitting it to Portable USA.

THE HARDWARE
The construction of the frame is good. Its display is protected by a glass over a matted frame that hides the infrared sensor for the remote. The frame accepts SD/MMC/MS/CF cards as well as USB memory sticks, and the bluetooth adapter that uses the USB port. It can also be plugged in to any PC or Mac to have images transferred over to its 256 MB of on-board memory. The bluetooth is useful for transferring pictures from your phone and makes it fairly easily. All in all it is pretty solid in the media format acceptance category.




THE SET UP
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.


THE DISPLAY
The 10.4 inch display is really bright and clear.

The test images we used were all taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D300, so they were high resolution to begin with. We enjoyed the quality of the pictures being represented as they appeared with little or no distortion. The colors were actually better than we had expected, with nice saturation and decent blacks. Unfortunately the audio playback failed to impress us as the quality of the speakers was not great.






These pictures don't do the frame justice as it was hard to capture a screen shot that would show the quality of the display when showing off the pictures. If you are interested in purchasing I would get a memory card ready with some of your favorite pictures and take it to BJ's Wholesale club, Ritz Camera or Circuit City. All three of these stores carry the Portable USA line of digital frames. Once you have decided which one you like, go to Amazon and purchase it there since it is much cheaper.

The frame can also play videos of the following formats MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, and DivX. If you really wanted to you could probably watch a full length film as long as it fits in your memory card.

THE INTERFACE
Looking deeper into the frame's inner workings we found ourselves looking at a not-so-nice user control panel.














The user interface lacks the crisp-looking graphics you should expect from a fancy digital frame. and it was somewhat difficult to navigate through the menu using the buttons on the frame itself. The full function remote however takes care of this problem. You can actually do more things with the remote than you can with the on-board buttons. The only thing we found the on-board buttons useful for was raising and lowering the audio volume on the frame.




The menu offers you all the necessary controls such as language (Chinese, English, Dutch, French, and Spanish), speed for slide show and transition type selection. You can choose transitions that range from: slide from the top towards the bottom, fade in and out, open like a door, or random, which is what we used to make use of all the transitions. Your clock could be set from the control panel along with a one time use alarm to remind you of something or wake you up in the morning. We didn't find the alarm useful because it has to be set every day since it is linked with the date on the frame.

We tried putting the frame in portrait view but there is no option in the setup to do this. You can have all your pictures in either portrait or landscape but your menu will always be in landscape. This makes it a bit hard to see the calendar, alarm clock, mp3 audio player etc...

The PU-10WB has a list price of $249.00, but we have seen them on Amazon for about $149.99.

SPECIFICATIONS
- Bright 10.4" diagonal TFT Active matrix LCD display
- 640x480 resolution displaying up to 12MP images
- Compatible with CF, SD, MMC, MS, SM, XD and USB media cards
- No PC needed to enjoy pictures
- 256MB on board memory
- Bluetooth wireless transfer compatible with cellphones, PC and MAC OS
- Direct connection to computer with included USB cable.
- Ships with rich cherry and true-black frames for every decor.

IN THE BOX
- Digital frame with cherry wooden surround
- Alternate black wooden surround
- Remote control
- AC power adapter
- USB cable
- Locking stand
- User's manual
- Card to submit to Portable USA to get your bluetooth dongle

THE GOOD
- Nice bright display
- Speaker to listen to audio mp3 files
- Full function remote control (priceless)
- Somewhat easy to use (if you use the remote)
- Good price in comparison to similar models
- Bluetooth compatibility is great.

THE BAD
- Alarm clock not very useful to have to set it daily
- Cheap looking setup / menu interface
- Good luck figuring out how to use the menus if you loose the remote.
- Sound from speakers is not so great.
- No ability to make menu display in portrait mode.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Portable USA

Streaming digital entertainment is the future of movie watching at home — that much has been established. There have been a lot of companies hoping to capitalize on this, including: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and so on. VUDU is another company hoping for a piece of the pie and like Apple and Microsoft (and now Netflix), they are one of the only companies with a direct link to where movie watching happens: Your television.


WHAT IS VUDU?
The VUDU Box is a set top box that you connect to your TV that let's you stream both standard definition and high definition content via the internet. The machine has an extensive array of video connectivity options including: HDMI v1.1, Component, S-Video and Composite. Audio connectivity options include: HDMI v 1.1, Digital Optical, Digital Coax, and RCA. You can connect the device as-is to the internet using an Ethernet connection. The device comes with an HDMI cable, VUDU Remote, an Ethernet Cable, Composite Video with Analog Stereo Audio Cable, and 2 AA Batteries. All of this for the price of $295.




Right away you might notice one big problem with the standard VUDU Box — the lack of WiFi right out of the box. We were surprised that such a forward-thinking company like VUDU would opt not to include such a basic functionality of a internet connected device in this day in age.


THE SET UP AND THE INTERFACE
After following four simple set up screens and connecting the cables, the device basically set itself up by choosing the correct network settings and video resolution. We were impressed at the ease of set up, however immediately after that, we were forced to download a firmware upgrade that took about 10 minutes to download and install and then we had to run a catalog upgrade that took nearly as long. So, though the device was easy to get up and running, the upgrades made plug-and-play more like plug-and-wait. In all, after downloading and upgrading the device, it took well over 30 minutes to get up and going. Though we understand forcing the upgrade to keep everyone at the same level, it would have been preferred if the device would do this overnight instead of during the initial set up.




Once we got past that initial wait, we were presented with the VUDU interface. And what a beauty it is. The interface is colorful and modern with large copy that was easy to read in both standard and high definition televisions. You can browse the catalog in many different ways including: most watched, new on VUDU, by genre, and in HD. You are also presented with a slew of options to search for any catalog in the VUDU library (as of this review 6,000+ movies). VUDU also allows to watch a small preview of a movie, which is typically a trailer, for certain movies in their catalog. We must admit that it was fun browsing through the movie catalog, scrolling through for sometimes, I kid you not, thirty minutes. Once you are ready to either rent or buy a movie, you press WATCH NOW, pay for the movie, and off you go.





MOVIE/SOUND QUALITY
We tested movies in both standard definition televisions and high-definition televisions. Standard televisions had no issues playing back SD and HD content as the VUDU down-converted the HD movies to display on standard televisions. Likewise, high definition televisions performed well as the VUDU and the television upconverted the standard definition content and played back high definition content perfectly. That leads us to actual display quality.

VUDU standard definition movies looked sharper and more saturated than their DVD counterparts, though like the DVD movies being upconverted, the streaming VUDU movies showed significant artifacts in both dark and light scenes. Though it is hard to judge sound quality, we did not notice any difference in sound quality between VUDU and DVD movies.

VUDU high definition content was obviously better than the standard definition content showcasing a more colorful display, a sharper image, better contrast, and richer textures. When comparing VUDU high definition content to Blu-ray, the VUDU is not able to outperform the competing media. The VUDU high definition content was more in line with broadcast quality HD than with a physical media like Blu-ray. The sound quality edge goes to Blu-ray as some of their titles support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio while VUDU audio support is limited to Dolby Digital Plus at the highest end.

Of course movie quality also varies from title to title with newer titles like "Fools' Gold" looking better than older titles like "Carlito's Way." "Ladron Que Roba Ladron" in HD looked miles better than "Abandon" did in HD as another example.

For the hearing impaired there is currently no subtitle support, but VUDU made it clear to us that they are working on that feature and it should be made available via a software upgrade in the near future.


THE PERFORMANCE
If you are watching a standard definition movie on a regular high-speed connection (DSL for example), those movies will start instantaneously. High definition movies on the other hand, will take some time to stream depending on your connection. During our tests, high definition movies became available typically after 1.5 hours of downloading. We were surprised that the VUDU service was 100% reliable in our tests. Day or night the standard definition movies streamed immediately and did not stop once during play back to catch up.


THE REMOTE
We wanted to briefly mention the VUDU Box remote control. The VUDU Box uses RF (radio frequency) instead of IR (infrared), meaning you can be 20+ feet away, behind a wall, and the remote still controls your VUDU Box. This is extremely useful and we are thankful for the mobility. The remote is ergonomic, molding to your hand while giving you easy access to the scrolling wheel (similar to that of a mouse) and the play and pause button. Navigating the screens was easy enough and we had no issues finding the very few buttons on the remote.

What we did have an issue with was the way the VUDU Box handled scrubbing on the movie time line. Scrolling the wheel upwards fast forwards the movie while downwards rewinds. Sounds simple? It isn't. Sometimes we were wrestling with the scrubber trying to get the movie to the place on the time line we wanted, making it frustrating to navigate.


THE COST
The biggest issue we have with the VUDU is the price. $295 is a big pill to swallow for a set top device that just plays movies you then have to purchase or rent. Like current Blu-ray players, the cost of admission is too high. We hope for VUDU's sake that the price of the unit can come down to the low one hundreds soon, specially since the device lacks WiFi.




We felt that movie rentals are fair. $2.99 allows you to rent most old catalog releases and $3.99 are the typical prices for new releases. There are some movies available at $0.99, but those are hard to find. High-Definition movies will cost $3.99 to $5.99 per rental. The price of BUYING a movie also varies from $9.99 to $19.99, though we found a few HD movies with prices of $24.99.

Television shows cost $1.99 per episode to own and there was no option to rent. The third season of Prison Break ran us $25.87 for 13 episodes. We hope VUDU offers people the option to rent a TV show at a discount in the near future.

One HUGE disappointment with the VUDU (and all similar devices) is that movie rentals are valid for only 24 hours after you press WATCH NOW. We found ourselves time and time again not being able to finish a movie in domestic settings. VUDU offers extended play at a discount to help ease the pain, but not all titles support this feature and quite frankly, we prefer if they offered 48 or 72 view periods as standard. Since this is digital media, there is no excuse for 24 hour viewing periods.


THE VERDICT
The VUDU Box is a great device. We enjoyed putting the device through the paces. There is a great wealth of titles available, the video quality, particularly standard-definition, is outstanding, and the movie rental prices are fair. Unfortunately, the cost of admission is a big problem and the lack of WiFi right out of the box is baffling. We would like to see the 24 hour viewing restriction gone as well.

If you have the cash to spring for a VUDU Box and you have no problems with the device's issues, you will not go wrong with the comfort this device will afford you.


THE GOOD
Prices of movie rentals are fair
Sweet interface
Easy set up
Every output option imaginable
Great standard-def picture quality
Very stable box
Large hard drive
Great network performance


THE BAD
24 hour viewing period per title
No WiFi included (adapter can be purchased seperately)
Fast forwarding/rewinding needs work
Price of the VUDU Box is too high
Not all movies are available for rent
No subtitles
HD quality not up to snuff (Blu-ray has this by a mile)

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
VUDU, Inc

The Philips AJL308 7 inch Digital Photo Frame and Clock Radio came out of left field for us. It is the first digital photo frame that tries to also be an alarm clock. Can you imagine the challenge for the Philips engineers and design team: How do you create a user-friendly alarm clock, while also being a sexy photo frame.

For the most part the Philips AJL308 delivers on this challenge. It looks both like a photo frame and a high-end alarm clock. Part of the reason this device gets away with it is because it has a piano black face. This allows the buttons (also in piano black) to blend with the rest of the face. The button labels are in small white type so they are barely noticeable from far, but legible up close. Of course, if you are not a fan of black, this will automatically disqualify this frame from your list, and we wish Philips would offer a few other color choices like white or brush nickel.

The interface of the Philips AJL308 is slick and one of this device's highlights. Picture Mac OS X widgets and you'll have a good idea as to how this frame displays typical calendar and time information. What you find useless as a computer widget, on this device it makes perfect sense.

You also have the ability to customize the display by choosing from four different wallpapers: red, blue, green, and purple offering a nice variety to coordinate with your existing room decor. Additionally, you are able to chose which image is displayed as your default for the alarm clock display by clicking through your images in your USB/Media Card device. There are a few things we would like to see improved though. One of those things is the ability to set tell the device to randomly select a different picture each day for the alarm clock display. Two, it would be nice to open up the image browser to select the picture for the display.

One of our fears with the Philips AJL308 was that the display would be too bright during the night time in a bedroom setting. To combat that, the Philips AJL308 allows you to set auto dim settings. We set the machine to auto dim at 11:00pm and come back to life at 8:00am. It worked flawlessly. You also have the ability to dim the device at any time by pressing the dim button at the very top. Fears vanquished. On a side note, we cleverly came up with another use for this feature: If you have the AJL308 in your living room, you can set the auto dim to activate and save electricity while you are away at work.

The sleep feature is also very useful since it will play relaxing music for a pre-determined amount of time that you select. There are a total of four pre-set sleep tunes in the machine.

As a digital photo frame the Philips AJL308 is average. The resolution and picture display should be better for the price range. The lack of WiFi connection is also a disappointment for us. Imagine the ability to play slideshows from an RSS feed from your Flickr account. That kind of functionality would have made the Philips AJL308 the most versatile digital photo frame on the market.

Other features in the Philips AJL308 include: solid audio support (MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX and MPEG4 file), FM radio (though we wonder why this device is not showing AM some love), two alarms, and SD/MMC media support.

Retailing for $139.99 the price is a bit steep, but the concept is refreshing. Although this device receives high marks from us, we recommend you wait for version 2.0 of this device. By then, we hope they Philips provides more color options for the display, improves the device's display capacities, and introduces more flexibility. However, for those not willing to wait, this photo frame is as feature rich as it currently gets and it performs surprisingly well.

THE GOOD
- Loaded with options
- Greatly designed and engineered
- Awesome user interface
- Great concept

THE BAD
- Display is average at best

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Philips USA

The Emerson iTone iC200 SmartSet Alarm clock radio claims to be a good bang for your buck. Service Villa research labs put it to the test to see if the claims are true.

When we plugged in the Emerson iTone iC200 SmartSet Alarm clock unit, the smart set feature did exactly what it was supposed to do: It automatically incremented the time and accurately displayed the present time, month, day, and year. We were very impressed by not having to set the time of the alarm clock at all. After that, we went through all the menus and felt they were relatively easy to navigate even without reading through the instruction manual. The remote control, although lacking some features, did the basics and did them well.

Testing of the radio didn't go so well. The Emereson iTone iC200 SmartSet had no reception and we were unable to listen to either AM or FM stations in the heart of Miami, Florida. We thought at one point that there must be an antenna we forgot to plug in or something, but after reading the manual it states that the antenna is built into the power cord. After noting this we began moving the power cord and the radio and still nothing. We took the unit out of our labs with a long extension cord and still nothing. We felt this was one of the most important features of the alarm clock because odds are you won't wake up to any alarm if you can't hear it. To give Emerson the benefit of the doubt, we went to a local store where they sell the unit and tried a different one. It seemed to have the same problem.

Disappointed, we decided to try the iPod dock that is built into the unit. To our surprise, it worked remarkably well. We were able to set alarms using the iPod and the sound was relatively good compared to other systems of the same price range. Alarms could be set to ring Monday - Friday, all seven days of the week , or just weekends, which was an excellent feature and worked well with the iPod.

Another thing that we didn't like with the Emerson SmartSet Alarm clock was that we could not set the time ahead by a couple of minutes like many people like to do to trick themselves into getting up earlier. It felt odd we couldn't actually set the time we wanted.

All in all, if the radio would actually work, it would be a great buy, but since it doesn't, we thought the Emerson iTone iC200 SmartSet Alarm clock was a bust. Instead of purchasing this unit, we recommend the iHome iH9 for its better sound quality and functionality, all for just a couple dollars more.

THE GOOD
- Automatic time set
- Good sound quality when connected to the iPod
- Good iPod connectivity

THE BAD
- Atrocious AM/FM Reception rendered it useless
- Can't manually set the time ahead

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

If you are looking for a small and affordable ball head for your DSLR stop right there - you just found it! The 488 from Manfrotto - Bogen is a remarkable piece of equipment for the price. Our photographer here at the Villa clued us in on this product when he purchased one for our studio.

This ball head, although small, is remarkably strong - it can hold up to 17.6 Lbs, which comfortably hold our studio's Nikon D300 or equivalent camera. The height of the head is 4.25 inches and it has a 3/8" female thread to connect to your tripod. The best part of this head is that it has a tilt of -90 degrees +90 degrees and a pan of 360 degrees, which has its own independent lock from the actual ball that holds your camera. This is great for producing panoramic shots. We liked the 488 over the 486 for its extra weight support and independent lock lever for the pan. If the pan is not important to you, then the 486 is an even cheaper alternative, but we figured for an extra 30 dollars the feature is worth it.

We didn't find any faults with the head, except that it could be a bit too heavy, but then again, that's what gives it its strength.

To sum it all up the Manfrotto - Bogen 488 RC2 is an easy to use affordable ball head that attaches firmly to any camera, features good stability, and a large range of motion.

THE GOOD
- Provides great stability
- Solid construction
- Great pan controls


THE BAD
- Somewhat heavy

WHERE TO BUY
We found the best prices at:
Amazon.com at $107.00 with free supersaver shipping.
Adorama, one of our favorite shops, has it for $110.00 + shipping.
B&H Photo has it for $109.95 plus shipping.

One key electronic device in your home that has probably not had a significant make-over in the last decade has been your landline cordless telephone. Panasonic recognizes that and recently introduced the KX-TG3031 line of 2.4 GHz cordless phones in the United States. The hook is that this line of cordless telephones will be available in a plethora of color choices appealing to the "I want choices" consumer. But does Panasonic succeed?

The color choices for the Panasonic KX-TG3031 Phone with Digital Answering Machine are separated into three very distinct categories: bold, fresh, and elegant. In the bold line you'll find very loud version of the colors green, orange, red, and violet. The fresh category on the other hand, contains much softer tones like pearl blue (pictured in our review), pearl pink, pearl yellow, and pearl violet. Lastly, the elegant line has a more chic attitude with the colors deep blue, copper, wine red, and moss green. Each one of these colors has matching handsets that you can purchase separately (models KX-TGA300). Needless to say should you desire to create a rainbow of colors in your home, you can opt for your main phone and digital answering machine to be pearl blue, one additional handset in pearl pink, and another in heaven-save-you, moss green. In total, your phone network can be made up of four different handsets.




The voice quality of the Panasoic KX-TG3031 is on par with other Panasonic phones. That is to say that voice quality was good and in our tests did not receive interfering from other wireless devices. Additionally, the phone did not interfere with said wireless devices.

Battery life on this phone is also good, with up to 14 days on stand-by and up to 5 hours of talk time. Once you've exhausted the battery, it will take about 7 hours for a full recharge. Of course, if you place the handset back on the cradle after use, you'll never notice. Like most modern handsets, the Panasonic KX-TG3031 supports caller ID so you can ignore your boss calling you at home. And while we are in the subject of features, there are seven ring tones total, but what is there is very good.




The Digital Answering Machine is capable of recording up to 12 minutes worth of messages which it stores in flash memory. Thankfully Panasonic allows you to delete messages even if you do not hear them, a feature that unfortunately some phone manufacturers have yet to implement.

In general the Panasonic KX-TG3031 color line of cordless telephones work well. The extensive option of colors is welcomed, but to be completely honest, we don't feel the phone design is at all interesting. That is of course a matter of taste, but in our opinion a bit of a disappointment that Panasonic didn't take a risk on the actual design of the phone. Furthermore, additional handsets retail for $49.95, about $20.00 more than similar phones, no doubt a premium for the choice of out-of-the-ordinary colors.


THE GOOD
- A lot of colors to choose from
- Solid voice quality


THE BAD
- The phone design leaves a lot to be desired
- Only seven ringtones
- Retails for more than similar phones


Manufacturer's Web Site | Buy Online

Though on the surface the Braun Tassimo looks like just another espresso / coffee machine, it is much more than that - it is a multi-purpose brewing machine, or what the manufacturer refers to as a hot beverage system. It is a good description to be sure, but what the description doesn't tell you is that the Braun Tassimo is one heck of a machine.

What Can the Braun Tassimo Do?
In an effort to be brief we'll just list what the machine can do: coffee, espresso, real milk-based lattes and cappuccinos, cafe crema, hot tea, tea latte, and hot chocolate. Surprised yet? We were.


This is how it All Works
T-Discs - that's what makes the Braun Tassimo unique. If you've ever used a pod/capsule-based coffee machine, then T-Discs will seem very familiar on the surface, but they are actually very different. Each T-Disc has a barcode imprinted on the top that tells the Tassimo how much water to inject through the T-Disc. The result of this process is an exact brew that has the same taste time and time again. Alternatively, the Tassimo also lets you manually control the brewing process by simply pressing and holding down a button. It is all about options.

Speaking of options, unlike other coffee and espresso machines, you have a wide selection of brands offering a multitude of flavors and types of beverages. Don't like Seattle's Best Coffee? No problem, you have a choice.

As of this writing the following companies offered at least one product under the Tassimo Label:

Gevalia
Seattle's Best Coffee
Maxwell House Cafe Collection
Mastro Lorenzo
Kenco Classic Blend
Carte Noire
Nabob 100% Colombian
Jacobs Kroenung
Twinings Tea
Suchard Hot Chocolate
Tazo

On the down side, like all other capsule-based coffee machines, the price of each T-Disc is significantly higher than if you were to purchase a bag of coffee at the supermarket. So, what you'll gain in speed and ease of clean up, you'll have to pay for with your wallet.

A Taste of the Tassimo
In the past we've always complained about the strength and flavor of capsule-based machines. Some of the espressos felt watered-down as if the amount of coffee in the pod was not sufficient compared to the amount of water being injected through the capsule. Not so with the Tassimo, the Gevalia espresso in particularly delivered a completely balanced espresso with a smooth, yet strong taste. We were also pleasantly surprised at the taste of the cappuccino, perhaps aided by the fact that the Tassimo uses real milk in their cappuccino T-Discs.

Of the different coffees (cafe Americano) we've tried, the taste of Carte Noire was exceptional and in this category the Gevalia performed well again. Of course if you are already a fan of any of the participating brands their T-Discs will probably not disappoint.

Though we are not experts (or even casual drinkers of Tea), and thus can't speak much on the matter, the Twinings Earl Grey Tea we tried was actually a nice introduction for us. Moreover the Suchard's Hot Chocolate T-Disc was one of the ones we were most excited about, and though it had a good taste, we would have preferred if the Tassimo had some support for milk for the hot chocolate as an option (the Tassimo uses a water-based recipe).

The Performance
The Braun Tassimo is not the fastest of the capsule-based brewing machines we've reviewed, that award belongs to the Nespresso brand of coffee machines, but it is still fast enough to brew an espresso in just 30 seconds, and coffee and tea in under 60 seconds. The machine will take approximately thirty seconds to warm up before it is ready for use.

Sadly, the Tassimo is missing a milk frother attachment, which is a standard feature in many other coffee machines. Though the cappuccinos are delicious and have some froth when using the cappuccino T-Discs, it would be nice to be able to have apply as much milk foam as desired. You'll want to keep this in mind before making a purchase.

Conclusion
The Braun Tassimo is easy to use, easy to clean and easy to recommend. With such a wide range of options and features it is truly in a field of its own. And even though this is as multi-purpose as it gets, the Tassimo performs extremely well in all categories, most importantly in the taste department.

Service Villa's Editor's Choice Award Winner.


THE GOOD
- Gives you a choice of flavors and brands
- Brews fast
- Easy clean up
- Does more than just coffee
- The machine is affordable considering what it can do

THE BAD
- T-Disc are on the pricey side
- Lacks a milk frother


Manufacturer's Web Site | Buy Online

The Nespresso Essenza C100 is one of the more modestly priced Nespresso espresso machines retailing at around $229. Like all other Nespresso machines, the Nespresso Essenza C100 makes use of the Nespresso capsule system, which are small capsules filled with coffee for one-time brews -- you simply click a button and discard the used coffee.

What Does it Do
The machine has a 0.9 liter removable water tank which lets you keep enough water to brew espressos all day long. There are two buttons: one for pre-programmed espresso brewing and another for brewing lungos. If you'd like to overwrite a particular brew time, all you need to do is hold down the brew button for as long as you want to brew your particular espresso. The machine is missing a milk frother which is a bit of a let down, specially since even the most budget-friendly espresso machines include this feature.

Brewing with the Nespresso Essenza
Like the more expensive cousin of this machine, the Nespresso Le Cube, to brew a shot of espresso or lungo with your Essenza you lift the lever on top of the machine, place your Nespresso coffee blend capsule into the machine, pull down the lever, and press the brew button. It typically takes an espresso about 7 seconds from the time you press the espresso button till the last drip falls into our cup. The lungo takes roughly 14 seconds to brew. Unlike the Nespresso Le Cube however, the lever system is not as high-end.

Once you are done brewing your espresso, the coffee capsule blend falls into a capsule container that can hold up to 14 used capsules. So, clean up is done once every 14 brews when you remove the basket from the machine, throw the used capsules into a waste basket and wash the capsule container to ensure you keep things clean.

Taste It
As of this review, Nespresso offers 12 premium coffee blends (9 espresso, 3 lungo), each one with a different taste, aroma, and richness. This means that most tastes will be satisfied. Though the coffee was rich, we found that even the strongest blend, the Ristretto, was not strong enough to satisfy our taste. Strangely enough, the less potent Arpeggio espresso blend was our favorite, perhaps because each sip was bitter-sweet (we detected a hint of cocoa). Maybe we are used to the full flavor of a typical Cuban espresso, but we wished that Nespresso would provide a stronger bodied capsule blend for those of us who like our espresso really strong.

Individuals who prefer the taste of caffe americano enjoyed the Finezzo lungo blend and the lighter espresso blends like the Volluto, but did not like the stronger espresso blends like the Roma.

Conclusion
The Nespresso Essenza lacks a milk frother so it feels a bit incomplete, specially at $229. However, if you are looking for a fast espresso machine, it doesn't get any faster than this. If you are on a budget and love Nespresso coffee, we recommend this machine over the Le Cube. If you have a bit more money to spend, we recommend the Le Cube over the Essenza as it is a more nicely designed machine with better components and a sexier outer body.


THE GOOD
- A more affordable Nespresso
- Lighting fast brewing
- Easy clean up
- Great variety of espresso blends are available

THE BAD
- Overall, not the prettiest espresso machine
- Coffee pods are on the pricey side
- The strongest espresso blend isn't strong enough
- Lacks a frother

The Nespresso Le Cube C185 is a beautifully crafted capsule-based very 50s looking espresso machine designed by Antoine Cohen for Nespresso. The machine is capable of brewing both espresso and lungo (a single or double shot of espresso with typically twice the amount of water or a regular espresso). So with that in mind, let's have a look at how this beautiful machine performs.

Features
The Nespresso Le Cube is a streamlined machine. It has an on and off button and two pre-programmed buttons: espresso and a lungo. Don't be fooled, though the buttons are for the pre-programmed settings, if you are a control freak, by holding down either of the buttons you will be able to control the time of the brewing process. Like other capsule-based espresso machines, the Nespresso Le Cube has a water tank to pull water from. In the Le Cube's case, the water tank can hold up to one liter of water. Sadly missing on the Le Cube is the now industry standard milk frother.

Brewing with the Nespresso Le Cube
To brew a shot of espresso or lungo you lift the lever on top of the machine, place your Nespresso coffee blend capsule into the machine, pull down the lever, and press the brew button. It takes about 7 seconds from the time you press the espresso button till the last drip falls into our cup. The lungo takes roughly 14 seconds to brew. If you ever used a consumer espresso machine you are probably used to longer brew times, so the incredible speed of the Le Cube will leave you breathless.

Clean Up is Quick
Another sweet feature of the Le Cube is the used capsule container. Each time you brew an espresso, the used capsule falls into the capsule container. You can brew about 15 espresso shots before the machine alerts you to dump the the used capsules into the trash by activating a back light. At $0.49 cents a capsule however, convenience will come at a price, so if you are on a budget, you will want to keep this in mind.

The Taste Test
As of this review, Nespresso offers 12 premium coffee blends (9 espresso, 3 lungo), each one with a different taste, aroma, and richness. This means that most tastes will be satisfied. Though the coffee was rich, we found that even the strongest blend, the Ristretto, was not strong enough to satisfy our taste. Strangely enough, the less potent Arpeggio espresso blend was our favorite, perhaps because each sip was bitter-sweet (we detected a hint of cocoa). Maybe we are used to the full flavor of a typical Cuban espresso, but we wished that Nespresso would provide a stronger bodied capsule blend for those of us who like our espresso really strong.

Individuals who prefer the taste of caffe americano enjoyed the Finezzo lungo blend and the lighter espresso blends like the Volluto, but did not like the stronger espresso blends like the Roma.

The Brew is Concluded
All in all the Nespresso Le Cube is a great machine. It has a sweet minimalistic design we love and it brews coffee faster than any other consumer espresso product we've tried. And although we came away a bit disappointed at the strength of even the strongest espresso blend, Nespresso offers enough coffee variety to satisfy almost anyone.

THE GOOD
- Lighting fast brewing
- Easy clean up
- Great variety of espresso blends are available

THE BAD
- Coffee pods are on the pricey side
- The strongest espresso blend isn't strong enough
- Lacks a frother