Late last year, T-Mobile launched the first ever mobile phone powered by search-giant Google’s own software, Android. The T-Mobile G1 as it was known here in the US (or the Dream to the rest of the world) was produced by one of the world’s leading manufacturers of smart phones, HTC from Taiwan. Now, a new Android-powered phone has come out of HTC’s gates. Say hello to the HTC Magic.

The Magic features a 3.2 inch touchscreen LCD with 320×40 (HVGA) resolution, a 528 Mhz processor based on the Qualcomm MSM7201A, 192 mb of RAM, 512 mb of built-in storage expandable up to 16 GB via a microSD slot, bluetooth with A2DP, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus all in a package that’s slimmer and sexier than the G1.

Like the G1, the Magic has a track ball, but unlike the G1, the Magic has no physical keyboard. Almost all interaction with the phone is done through the touchscreen. What’s not clear at the moment is whether the screen is capable of multi-touch or not.

The HTC Magic comes out on Vodafone’s networks in Spain, the UK and other markets this April. No word yet on when it will make the trip across the Atlantic, but T-Mobile should pick this up soon.

Apple’s iPhone is a wonderful device, able to do a lot of things well with a slick and revolutionary touchscreen interface that has changed the way people interact with their phones. For all its good qualities though, the iPhone still has a major flaw, and that is its camera.

The iPhone has a 2.0 megapixel fixed-focus camera with no zoom, no white balance adjustment, and no video capability, something that could have been great a couple of years ago but something that just won’t cut it anymore. In these days of 5.0 and 8.0 megapixel autofocus camera phones with manual adustments and with high-definition video capabilities, the iPhone’s tiny sensor just can’t compete.

Luckily, there are some things that can be done to alleviate the situation. The first thing of course involves taking better pictures. The basic rules of photography still apply here, so use the rule of thirds, wherein instead of placing your subject dead center, place it on one of the intersections of an imaginary 3×3 grid. Don’t take pictures in direct sunlight as this will result to pictures with hard shadows. Keep the lens clean to get clear pictures. Lastly, hold the phone with both hands and in a landscape orientation to lessen blur.

There are also a lot of applications available on the app store which adds to the capabilities of the iPhone’s camera. There are some that add digital zoom, white balance adjustment, and anti-shake acpabilities. It’s just a matter of finding what you need.

Gadgets, especially computers are expensive and are usually big purchases. As such, people try to save as much money as they can when buying a new computer. To do this, some people turn to refurbished computers which have been bought, used, and then returned to the original vendor. The original vendor cleans the returned or resold computer, replaces worn out parts, and then re-sells it at a lower price.

That’s the main attraction of refurbs, but is it really smart to buy a refurb? Well, at the moment, the answer seems to be no. With the release of cheaper budget PCs, and with the advent of netbooks (which are even cheaper), the main “advantage” of refurbished PCs is basically gone.

Add to that the fact that you can’t change the configuration of a refurb, and the fact that savings aren’t really all that much now, and the case for refurbs goes down the drain.

For a refurb to be considered a bargain, its price should be about 25% less than the cost of a brand new computer. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case most of the time, so instead of going the refurbished route, it would be wiser to go brand new.

When people think of sexy, good-looking all-in-one computers, they first think of Apple’s iMac. And why wouldn’t they? Apple’s wonder computer looks sleek and sexy, with that very thin monitor having all of the computer’s components inside it. It really is a wonder of design and engineering. With all of that though comes one trade-off, and that is the price. The iMac is expensive, with the top models going for about $1,700.

Don’t fret though as Dell is here to save the day. Say hello to Dell’s new Studio One 19. The top of the line model packs a 2.93 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of memory, a 750 GB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, and multi-touch capability, and a sleek and sexy design all for a relatively low price of only $1,200.

That’s a full 500 bucks cheaper than a similarly specced iMac, and that’s the great thing about it. The base model starts at $700, and that loses the Blu-ray drive, the Nvidia graphics, and other optional items, but it’s still a pretty good deal. It’s an especially good deal for people who are averse to white as the Studio One 19 comes in a variety of colors. The Dell Studio One 19 is a great deal for people looking at alternatives to Apple’s iMac.

When getting a new computer, some people neglect the amount of RAM and simply focus on the clock speed of the processor thinking that that will give them the best performance. What they don’t understand is that the amount and type of RAM in a computer greatly affects its speed and performance.

This is because RAM is where the computer stores information that will be accessed by the CPU. More RAM means that the CPU does not need to access the hard drive as much, resulting to faster speeds and better performance.

Different computers need different amounts of RAM, and it largely depends on what the computer will be used for. For most computers running Windows Vista or Mac OS X Leopard, 2 GB should be the minimum. For those used in video-editing or hardcore gaming, 3 or 4 GB should be the norm as those tasks are very taxing. For netbooks that run Windows XP or Linux, 1 GB should suffice.

The bottom line is that almost everytime, the more RAM a computer has, the better. RAM sticks are very cheap now anyway so getting more RAM for an old or even for a new computer shouldn’t be a big problem.