Plug in to electronics for holiday gift ideas

Regardless of whether you understand the latest trends in technology, local electronics stores can offer insight into the popular items this year for the holidays.

Giving voice commands to his Motorola Droid, a new cell phone for Verizon Wireless, D.B. Horton of D.B.’s Satellite and Electronics in Seymour said the phone came out on the market last Friday.

The phone has a Google operating system and more than 18,000 applications for download.

Using one of the applications on his phone, Horton scanned a barcode and was given stores where he could buy the item and the price of the item at the store.

“It’s the neatest thing Verizon has ever had,” Horton said.
Blu-Ray players, netbooks, wireless keyboards and mice are also popular electronics this year.

Don Luecke, one of the owners of Luecke Audio-Video-Appliances in Seymour, said he expects Blu-Ray players to be a hot item this Christmas. He said the price of the players has dropped dramatically.

“It’s become very popular,” Luecke said. Blue Ray has been “embraced across the board” with Blu-Ray discs available at movie rental stores, he said.

Luecke said prices have come down this year.

“The prices on electronics have come down to the point where they are much more affordable,” Luecke said. He said small and large TVs are “much lower than they were a year ago.”

He said a trend in purchasing electronics for children is parents buying a 19-inch or 30-inch television for a child’s room.

Pausing two televisions at his store in Seymour, one plasma and one LCD, Horton pointed out the quality of the pictures on the screens.

“Plasma has better quality,” Horton said. Plasma TVs come in 42-, 50-, 58- and 60-inch screens.

Horton said the typical size of televisions is a 46-inch screen.

Cody Marshall, electronics lead at Staples in Seymour, said netbooks are going to be popular this year. He said a netbook is a small-end laptop computer generally used for web surfing and small documents. Netbooks are more portable and have a longer battery life than larger laptops.

Wireless keyboards and mice are also popular items this year, Marshall said. The wireless keyboards and mice can be set up with the netbook to make a desk station.

Purchasing appliances this holiday season is a purchase for the whole family, Luecke said. He said appliances have become a special purchase for the family because of the economic situations.

“Buying appliances is now a family mindset instead of on one individual,” Luecke said.

Horton also said people are starting to spend more time at home and the decision to purchase electronics is usually one between husband and wife.