User Rating:
Good: Shazam identifies songs, television shows, and commercials almost flawlessly. It has neat features for music discovery and lets you see how your friends and the rest of the world are using the app.
Bad: The app still can't recognize singing or humming, which is something competitors already have.
Bottom Line: With new features and a redesigned interface, Shazam is a top app for music identification and discovery. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec's turbodiesel power-plant delivers an exceptionally good blend of smooth, confident performance and thrifty fuel economy. The vehicle feels luxurious enough to justify its price tag and the available safety tech impressed.
Bad: Dated, confusing COMAND infotainment is in need of a redesign. Mercedes-Benz apps are sluggish and nearly unusable. Tiny, hidden prompts for the optional parallel parking assistant make the otherwise great system difficult to use.
Bottom Line: The powerful, efficient 2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec is a great car -- nearly the total package -- but it won't be a great "tech car" until its dashboard tech gets a much needed overhaul. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: Peek Calendar is great to look at with a clean modern interface. The app makes it quick and easy to switch between day and month views.
Bad: You can't invite people to a created event. There are no search features. The app won't let you create multiple day events.
Bottom Line: Peek Calendar has a great-looking interface, but too many missing features make it a download worth skipping for now. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The LG Tone Ultra HBS-800 is a Bluetooth stereo headset that improves on the design of the previous Tone models and is comfortable to wear. It also offers better sound (more bass, better clarity) and decent battery life, particularly when you turn the noise-canceling off.
Bad: Expensive compared with previous LG Tone stereo headsets; noise-canceling feature didn't seem to make a difference.
Bottom Line: With a little help form JBL, the LG Tone Ultra wireless stereo headset gets a design and sound quality upgrade -- along with an unwelcome price bump. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: Crock-Pot keeps the cooking aspect simple with the Cook & Carry Digital Slow Cooker, and usability tweaks like a locking lid and a thermometer vent add some bonus convenience.
Bad: It kept food warm while it was unplugged, but it was close enough to the food-safety red zone that you'll still want to keep tabs via a separate thermometer.
Bottom Line: The Crock-Pot Cook & Carry Digital Slow Cooker delivers all of the low-maintenance cooking performance we expect from a slow cooker, with a few nods to convenience and portability that give it an edge over its competitors. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The feature-packed Nokia Lumia Icon has a gorgeous screen, a fast processor, and a proven 20-megapixel camera. Low-light image quality is excellent.
Bad: Its flat, slab design is uninspiring, and the Icon is a little heavy and thick. Call quality was mediocre, and media hounds won't be able to expand storage with a microSD card.
Bottom Line: Buy the Nokia Lumia Icon for its beautiful display and well-rounded features, but skip it if you require gobs of storage, are on a budget, or prefer a power user's OS. [Read more]