Yesterday, I was invited by Virgin America to the opening flight San Francisco-Fort Lauderdale and I tested the free in-flight wi-fi, courtesy of Google during the Holiday season (ends January 15th, sigh). It worked very well: the login time is very fast unlike when I had to go through the payment process on Gogo Inflight Internet website, the user interface was terrible and it often returned error messages. The most impressive technology feature is the power plugs provided for every seat in economy class, Virgin America is a true 21st century airline! I was able to post articles, the Microsoft Office 2010 post was published from the sky...

Check out the photo gallery, I shot some really nice pictures of the inaugural flight event, Virgin America CEO David Cush cut the ribbon in SFO and Sir Richard Branson himself welcomed us at our arrival in Fort Lauderdale.

The Motorola Droid is the first Android 2.0 to be commercially available. Droid is a high-end Android phone with a superb high-resolution screen, a slim shape, a physical QWERTY keyboard and Google's latest build of Android (the operating system). The inside of the phone is interesting as well: it has a decent CPU and uses a relatively fast 3D graphics chip. Among the improvements that I like most, I want to mention the native support for Exchange, the unified contact list and the awesome new mapping and navigation application from Google. Is the Motorola Droid the Android phone that you were waiting for? It's time to find out.

Dell just announced that its Dell Adamo XPS, a laptop that is only 9.99mm (4/10") thin, will ship this month. The laptop that used to be shown behind closed doors as a "prototype" will now make its debut as a product for this holiday season. You've seen the leaks, the photos, the teasers, and now you're finally getting the real price: Adamo XPS starts at $1799.

Dell has gone through a lot of trouble to design an ultralight that is thinner than the Macbook Air, its direct competitor and the incumbent in this category. The Adamo XPS is indeed thinner, but it has a similar weight (3lbs or so) to the Air. On the other hand, the Air has a faster CPU and graphics processor, plus a longer battery life (Apple claims 5hrs, while Dell claims 2h30 with the standard battery). The Adamo XPS can receive a bigger battery, but I haven't seen what it looks like and I can't imagine that it would be a good thing for the slim line of this laptop. The Adamo XPS has 4GB of memory, versus only 2GB for the Air, and memory can make a big difference, depending on what you do.

Nokia is facing a tide of ferocious competitors in the lucrative high-end smartphone market, but the company is on the move: Nokia is battling on multiple fronts a the same time: OS, app store, maps and devices. With the N900, Nokia wanted to build a "handheld computer with phone functionalities". I suspect that for prospective users, if it looks like a phone, it should work like a phone. Nokia has equipped the N900 with decent hardware: it has a 600Mhz processor (the same used in the Motorola Droid) that integrates a PowerVR SGX 530 graphics processor (OpenGL 2.0). Finally, the N900 runs Maemo, a Linux-based operating system that is backed by major players like Intel. Where does the Nokia N900 fit in the current smartphone landscape?

After a long walk in the desert, Motorola surprised everyone (or at least me) with the Motorola Cliq, an Android smartphone with a QWERTY sliding keyboard and most importantly MotoBlur, a combination of software and web services designed to unify all your communications in a single medium that is "people-oriented" instead of "service-oriented". It seems very nice in theory and our initial impression was good. Now, we have spent enough time with the Motorola Cliq to share a complete review of the device. Will you and the Moto Cliq... click?

Roku has just officially introduced the Roku HD XR, a box that lets you watch Netflix and Amazon Video movies directly on your TV, without the need for a PC/Mac. The Roku HD-XR sells for $130 and when compared to the Roku HD ($100), it has Wifi-N and a USB port for "future use". You could argue that a Roku Box can be replaced by a PC, even a beefed up Netbook. That said, the Roku box is just cheaper and simpler to use if what you want is watch/rent from the two video services mentioned above. The significant downside of Roku is that you can't browse Netflix movies (for now). Instead you only have access to your "instant queue". It is possible to browse the Amazon videos and even get a 2mn preview, which is nice. Note that Roku also has a $80 Roku SD box. As its name indicates, it connects only via composite video and connect via WIFI-G or wired Ethernet. Product page

The BenQ Joybee GP1 is a mini-projector that is marketed by BenQ as a fun device that follows you in any room, in any place. The Joybee GP1 accepts VGA or analog signals, so it is compatible with a wide range of devices from laptops to game consoles or DVD players. Its resolution is slightly higher than DVD, which makes it a good candidate to play movie with. It is small - much smaller in fact than most projectors thanks its LED lighting system. That sounds pretty cool, but how does it do in the real world?

After playing with the Zune HD for some time, here's the complete review. The first Zune was an interesting device, but it was not sexy and didn't have any real edge over the iPod, except in two areas: the WIFI sync and more importantly, the Zune Pass: a music rental option that doesn't exist with Apple.

The Zune HD *is* sexy, slim and solidly built. It is actually smaller than it looks on the product photos and many people are surprised when they see it for the first time (which is good for a music player). It is also very light (2.6oz, versus 4.23oz for the iPod touch). The other day I was looking for it, after forgetting that it was in fact in my pants pocket... However, once you get over the first physical contact, the new user interface and experience is really what matters. So, is the Zune HD hot or not?

The Sonos S5 ($399) was launched recently, and we had some private time with it. Here are the first impressions: first, the sound-quality is very good. I mean, it's Bose-like although I can't scientifically measure it. That's what I thought of when I heard it in action.

The S5 is the easiest Sonos device to setup. Plug the juice, the network, and voila. It is possible to setup 32 Sonos devices in a given mesh network. They can either play different songs or the same one, in perfect synchronization. The first Sonos (S5 or other) would be connected via wired Ethernet. Subsequent Sonos/S5 devices then access the network via the WIFI signal broadcasted by the first one.

You have to pay attention to one thing: you need a device to control the Sonos S5. It could be a computer, an iPhone or the Sonos 200 remote ($349). The latter seems expensive and the computer might or might not be practical, depending on what your setup/use is. If you already have an iPhone/iPod Touch, you are all set – that’s the ideal scenario. Unfortunately, no other phone is supported at the moment. Sonos is open to build more software, but only if there is a clear demand.

There's a flurry of Android phones out there and not so long ago but the HTC Hero is different not only because it has a better physical design, but also because it has HTC Sense, a proprietary user interface extension that only HTC-branded phones have (unlike the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G, which is a white label phone). Yet, you can expect all the advantages that come with an Android phone: very good integration with Google services, decent web browsing experience and many 3rd party applications. In this review I'll tell you how well the HTC Hero worked for me and if it lives up to the hype.

We spent a short time with the Nokia Booklet 3G, and so far, here are our first-impressions: The Booklet 3G is very nicely built. It clearly outclasses most Atom-powered Netbooks out there and besides the lack of backlit keyboard, there's not much to complain about the physical design - except that the screen doesn't seem bright enough for the outdoors.

Windows 7 boots in about one minute (give or take 10sec), and applications seem to perform just like they do on other Atom laptops. We did not have enough time to verify Nokia's claim that the battery lasts for 12hours (in which conditions, we don’t know), but it has more battery Cells, so we're confident that the Booklet 3G will outclass many Netbooks in that respect. By how much remains to be seen.

Archos has shocked gadget fans worldwide when it launched its android-powered Archos 5 Internet Tablet last week. The operating system, the sheer size of the device and the screen quality (800x480) have generated a wave of "buzz" unknown to Archos until now. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet, powered by Android, has a sleek design which is actually not so different, on the surface, than the non-Android Archos 5 PMP. As we often say: the value is in the software. With Android, Archos now has access to a stable, proven OS, and can tap into the vast amount of application of that platform to build on a foundation that will last. That sounds nice, but can the Archos 5 Internet Tablet live up to the hype?

The Mobinnova N910 is probably the first Tegra smartbook to hit the U.S market. The "when" is still a little fuzzy but we've been told by Nvidia that it is imminent. If you don't know what a Smartbook is: it's basically a small computer that uses cellphones components (processor...). The idea is that performance is now good enough to do basic tasks (web, web video, email, social networking...) but the power usage is so small that the battery life is much longer. It can also be turned off and on like a cellphone. In fact, it should never be shut down completely (again, like a cellphone). So, how does it feel to use this smartbook?

I just spent some time with the new iPod nano... needless to say that it is super light and thin (that’s not new). The camera is oddly placed on the bottom of the device where your fingers would tend to be. That said, it's easy enough to hold it rotated at 90 degrees and use the widescreen or take the less intuitive approach of holding it on both sides to snap a movie. The video quality and frame rate seemed OK, although I did spot some motion blur here and there. It's too hard to tell on the tiny display We'll have to look at it on a computer… and on YouTube.