High-Tech Treats for Dad's Day

June 11, 2008 — -- Ditch the black socks and paisley ties this year and give your Father's Day a 21st century update with these high-tech treats.

Who It's For: Dads who love listening to music, watching videos and sending text messages.

Features: With V CAST Music and V CAST Video, Dads can catch video clips from the best names in news, sports and entertainment on their phones. The phone has a QWERTY keyboard, large keys, a 2.4-inch screen, a 2.0-megapixel camera and a camcorder, along with a MicroSD card slot for up to 8 GB of external memory.

Price: $129 after rebate with two-year contract.

Who It's For: Dads who like touch screens.

Features: The Samsung Glyde features a 2.8-inch advanced touch screen that offers a tactile response and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, providing customers with an easy way to send text and instant messages. Other features include V CAST Music and Video, a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, and a MicroSD card slot for up to 8 GB of external memory.

Price: $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Who It's For: Dads who love TV.

Features: The 3-inch wide touch screen LG VU is one of the first two devices to support AT&T Mobile TV, AT&T's new live TV service. Exclusive to AT&T are PIX, which screens movies from Sony Pictures, and CNN Mobile Live. Other channels include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and ESPN. As a 3G phone, it also supports AT&T's other broadband offerings, like AT&T Video Share and AT&T Mobile Music. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, instant messaging, an HTML Web browser and a MicroSD memory expansion.

Price: Phone: $299 after rebates; Mobile TV charge is $15 per month for 10 channels.

Who It's For: Mac-loving dads addicted to movies.

Features: Apple TV is an online service that allows you to rent movies, TV shows, and the like from the comfort of your couch, without using your computer. The service offers 100 high-definition movies as well as TV shows and movies through iTunes. View your .Mac and Flickr photos as well as podcasts, and YouTube videos on your set. You must have an HDTV to use Apple TV.

Price: Library titles: $2.99 standard; $3.99 high def; New titles: $3.99, $4.99. Apple TV boxes start at $229.