1. Palm-Top
Who needs a laptop? The Samsung Blackjack quad-band world phone ($325; www.samsungblackjack.com) delivers easy email access, seamless synchronization with Microsoft Office, and Cingular's superfast 3G data network. Its camera (still and video) and MP3 player seal the deal: Productivity-wise, you can't get smaller or better.

2. Peacemakers
Tuning out fellow passengers gets a lot less cumbersome with the 5.6-ounce (159-gram) Bose QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones ($349; www.bose.com), which are nearly half the size of their silencing predecessors.

3. Entertainer
The 4.2-ounce (119-gram)  Nokia N95 world phone ($749; www.nokia.com) relieves even the shortest attention span with one device. In your hand: a five-megapixel camera, quality video recorder, MP3 player, and GPS unit. Email software is basic, but phone reception is excellent and Wi-Fi Internet access speedy.

4. E-Library
Leave the bulky paperbacks at home. The leather-covered Sony Portable Reader System-500 ($349; www.sony.com) stores up to 80 e-books in a wonderfully tactile nine-ounce, seven-by-five-inch (18-by-13-centimeter) pad. While the screen could be a little brighter, the text is sharp and easy to read.

5. Small Screen
The 30GB Archos 404 Camcorder ($350; www.archos.com) makes an OK video cam (YouTube quality), but an exceptional portable video player. Fractionally bigger than a deck of cards, it holds up to 40 MPEG-4 movies, which play smoothly on the three-and-a-half-inch (nine-centimeter) screen.

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