Back in August, we wrote about the PlanOn Printstik Bluetooth printer for BlackBerry devices. This past week, PlanOn provided a review unit on loan, and allowed me to put it through its paces for several days. Now that the Printstik has been returned, what did I like about it? What could be improved? More importantly, is this an item that should be added to your gear for daily use? Let’s find out…
I get asked an awful lot to name my favorite mobile device. My answer is usually the same. Well, I like this device for these things, or another device for those other things, but favorite device really depends upon what you want to do. I never found a device which was perfect for all things. Until now. Today, I am ready to name my favorite mobile device, and it is probably not what you expect. This one does not have a screen or a keyboard. It does not make phone calls. It does not access the Internet. What it does…
I am not one of those guys who thinks that everything goes better with Bluetooth. At the same time, I do see the usefulness of Bluetooth in a variety of items. I like using Bluetooth headset, have had some positive experiences with Bluetooth stereo headphones, and I swear by the Bluetooth speakerphone in the car. I had not, however, ever tried a Bluetooth portable speaker before taking a look at the TENQA SP-99 Bluetooth speaker. Am I sold on this Bluetooth gadget? Let’s take a look…
I have really been enjoying the experience of using the Blackberry Bold over the last few weeks. It is a fantastic device for e-mail and IM;and the integration with Google voice, while not as good as you’ll find on a device running Android, is quite good. I cannot see giving up my iPhone, but I am glad to have the opportunity to use both devices in parallel. While I have not gotten into the practice of surrounding myself with accessories for the device in the way that I have with my iPhone, I have discovered a few key accessories that…
Sure it was a bummer that the new iPod touch didn’t add any camera. We all expected that it would be coming with a camera and perhaps even a GPS chip, but we got neither. At the same time, there was a significant advantage to the fact that there were no external changes to the new iPod touch. All of the cases, batteries and other accessories we had purchased for the second-generation device still worked. Yes, I also would have preferred to have a camera but being able to continue using accessories was certainly a nice benefit. That’s not the…
I tend to be a bit of a minimalist when it comes to iPhone cases. I have tried a wide range of cases over the years including expensive leather cases, fancy cases that include a wallet, and everything in between. Time after time, however, I come back to the simplest, lightest and most low-profile cases I can find. Last week Larry was kind enough to send me Case-Mate’s Barely There Clear Case. Larry had ordered one for himself, and when it did not arrive in the expected time frame, the company’s excellent customer service overnighted him a new one and…
I’ve never had a great iPod speaker. I bought a cheap one at Kroger that didn’t last a month. It also required you to have it hooked to the wall all the time which limited its use. The inMotion CLASSIC that Altec Lansing sent me solves both the quality issues with my old speakers and let’s me be free of the wall. While the inMotion CLASSIC isn’t the first speaker dock to have integrated batteries, it is my first one and that has to be my number one favorite feature of the inMotion CLASSIC. If I want some music while…
I am not sure just exactly who coined the phrase “sport utility vehicle” but I feel they were a bit remiss in the target segment they were identifying. Most of those giant grocery-getters of the past decade-and-a-half were anything BUT sporty. Fast forward to the 21st century and we have seen an entire new breed of SUVs, yet most have been redefined as crossover utility vehicles given the nature of configuring some form of cargo box on top of a car-based platform. We recently spent some time behind the wheel of the latest Acura RDX, junior sibling to the MDX…
I’ve been looking at iPhone GPS navigation applications for a while now, and some products need more work, and I’ve seen highly-polished products. One thing that continues to surprise me is that more companies keep jumping into the competition! One of the new entries is GPS Drive from the folks at MotionX. They were kind enough to send me a code for their $2.99 program (which comes with 30 days of live voice guidance) just in time for my semi-annual road trip to visit my mother – about a 1000 mile long trek. So lets take a look at how…
I had grand plans to do a review of the Nintendo DSi right after I bought it on release day back in April – I was going to take a quick look at the new cameras, SD slot, MP3 player, and the DSiWare store. But at the time I was in the middle of playing one of the better games the DS has seen – Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, in my opinion the best game in the GTA series – and then I immediately started playing Broken Sword and Black Sigil and … well, time sort of got away,…
OtterBox has always been one of my favorite case manufacturers. I use their Defender Series case for my iPhone 3GS religiously. My review of it was the very first article I wrote for Gear Diary. There’s no denying the Defender Series is a bulky case. While it provides an unparalleled level of protection for your device it also increases the overall size of your phone substantially. I realize the Defender series isn’t for everyone and OtterBox does as well. For this reason the company has just recently released two new cases, under their new Commuter line. The cases, the Commuter…
One of the most important accessories I carry day in and day out is the Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 3G and 3GS. ($79.95) It is light, doubles as a protective case, and its 1200 mAh battery adds up to 270 hours of standby time, for 4.5 hours of talk time (on 3G) and more. It is a great accessory to keep around, especially on days such as today, when I will be out and about for the next 12 to 14 hours. There is, however, one problem with the case/battery- it adds just enough bulk and weight but…
Scramble is the fast fun game of finding words in a jumbled grid. Compete with friends and play live with fellow word game fans. The iPhone has proven to be a great gaming platform especially for puzzle games. I am a fan of word games like scrabble and text twist. Way back when we used to actually play board games (like physical games, not on a screen!), I liked to play boggle. You remember it! Letter covered dice are shaken up and fall into a grid then each player forms as many words as possible while the sand timer drained. …
With my schedule I find myself with tons of down time throughout any given day. Being in Dr’s waiting rooms, bus rides in the spring during baseball season, or just sitting on a bench while my wife spends hours in the mall emptying our bank account…I always turn to one thing, my BlackBerry. While I have tons of games that could pass the time, RSS feeds to read, or movies to watch…sometimes I just want something more, something live, maybe even a newscast to watch instead of reading the news. Well SPB TV Is an application that shows live TV…
Over the past few months I have highlighted the anticipated release of the Sega Master System classic Golvellius for the iPhone. A couple of weeks ago the game finally released, and the folks at DotEmu were kind enough to provide a promotional code for the App Store, so I’ve been enjoying playing it since. For me there are two questions: does it hold up as a standalone gaming experience for folks like me who never played before, and does it work as fan service for fans who played it two decades ago? Read on and find out!
Baseball Superstars from Gamevil was one of the very first sports games I loaded on my iPhone. I’m a big fan of sports games and until its release there really wasn’t a good team sports game in the iTunes App Store. Gamevil has followed up it super successful title with an all new version of the game. Baseball Superstars 2010 features several new enhancements and features which make it one of the top baseball games available for the iPhone OS.
I’ve tried a few external batteries for my iPhone 3Gs, but none of them have stuck. The cases type (Mophie Jucie Pack Air, Incase Power Slider) are nice but I prefer to use a regular case most of the time and the case batteries result in a much larger phone profile. The other choice, external batteries which plug into the bottom of the phone, are usually bulky or have an awkward connector. The iON Power Pack from FSP Direct solves many of my external battery pet peeves. It features a 1500 mAh battery in a super slim credit card sized…
Last year Judie reviewed the Altec Lansing Orbit speaker. It was an interesting speaker that can be used with any device sporting a normal 3.5 mm headphone jack. The downside to using such a speaker with a laptop is that the internal sound card in most laptops can be a bit noisy. Altec Lansing recently sent me a sample of their Orbit USB iML237 speaker. It solves the sound card issue perfectly.
¡Hola! When I left off last week, I was near the end of Unit 2, which meant a lot of review work and another upcoming milestone. Would this milestone slay me as the first one had? Would I finally “get” the difference between morado (purple), marrón (brown), gris (gray), conoso (gray) and conosa (gray)?
I. Am. A. Mobile. Computing. User… Period. I live for converged devices, laptops, netbooks, and data on the go. I’ve got unlimited data on my Smartphone account; and have tethered my laptop to my phone when I need to be online in a pinch. When I travel, I need to take it with me; and when it comes to airport security, I dread the TSA required aerobics and mandatory disrobing… Thankfully, to help make things easier, Skooba Design has created the CheckThrough Backpack. Let’s take a quick look to see how (and if) this thing makes traveling easier…
Last April I reviewed the SoundID 300 Bluetooth Headset. I described it as “Comfortable; Great sound on both ends; Looks good.” Did I really like it? Well let’s just say that since April it is the headset I most regularly use. So how do you improve on at headset that already is comfortable to wear, not obvious when worn and offers great sound? The company has found a way. Here’s a look at the new SoundID 400 Bluetooth Headset…