Productopia | Jargon Buster

You've probably heard the term "unlocked phone" floating around, but you may not know precisely what that means. An unlocked cell phone is one that's not tied to a specific carrier or long-term contract; in fact, you can use it on multiple carriers at home and abroad, making it a flexible travel companion. You can buy an unlocked phone at retail or, with some exceptions, unlock a cell phone that you've purchased through a carrier. There are pros and cons to unlocking a phone. It really comes down to how you plan to use your cell phone, as not everyone will benefit from an unlocked phone. And it's important to remember that even an unlocked phone has restrictions.

There's a lot of information out there -- we've waded through the best of it and created a primer on unlocked cell phones. We discuss how unlocked phones and SIM cards work, and how to save money on phone calls overseas with an unlocked phone. We also have reviews of over 200 cell phones - both locked and unlocked.

With camera companies rolling out cameras with higher and higher resolution, and only subtle upgrades to zoom and focal length, we have to ask -- how important are megapixels?

Consumers seem to find them compelling, with 70 percent of the nearly 23 million households that upgraded cameras in 2008 seeking "more megapixels and new features," according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). But does a 12-megapixel camera really offer better picture quality than a 10-megapixel camera? Not necessarily. Megapixels alone will not help you take a better picture, though higher resolution enables you to make larger prints. Better image quality really comes down to sensor size, a spec that is rarely mentioned at flashy press conferences.

If you've been shopping for an LCD TV, you've no doubt noticed that manufacturers are touting models with higher and higher "refresh rates," such as 120 Hz and 240 Hz. Unless you are a confirmed videophile, you've also probably scratched your head and said, "that's nice; what does it mean to me?"

Refresh rate refers to how often a TV image is repainted on the screen. Up to now, most TVs used a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which means the image is repainted on the screen 60 times per second. That's fast enough so that the eye perceives what it sees as one fluid, moving image rather than a string of individual frames. Boosting up the refresh rate to 120 Hz or 240 Hz updates the image two times or four times more often than with a 60 Hz refresh rate.