Smartphones & Gear

Electric Pocket’s BookLover for iPhone Review

I know I’ve said it here before, but I’ll say it again: I like lists. I’m a sucker for any promising program that allows me to make more lists, and while I like programs that allow me to create lists for a wide range of needs (Things or ListPro, for example), specialized list programs are great, too, because they can incorporate features that true enthusiasts want but are specific to the list topic. BookLover from Electric Pocket – makers of BugMe! – is just such a specialized list. BookLover, as may not surprise you given the title, is a program…

Reviews

The OtterBox Nokia N900 Commuter Series Case Review

When phones with sliding top halves first appeared, they presented unique challenges for accessory manufacturers. I can just imagine that some of them must have been scratching their heads — wondering how they were going to protect both halves of these devices, yet allow the keyboards to remain functional. After years of watching some of the more offbeat solutions come and go — like clear plastic covering the keyboard and odd straps holding the leather bits in place — many case-makers seem to have settled for offering pouches that will hold the phones when they aren’t being used, but many…

News & Features

Dear Gear Diary: Windows Marketplace Issues

I received this email from a Gear Diary reader, and unfortunately, I don’t currently have a Windows Mobile phone. If anyone can help him out, please offer suggestions in the comments! Hi Carly, I always check out your posts on Gear Diary and find your perspective refreshing and honest. Since you are so involved with researching different techie toys and have a lot more background information than I, I was wondering if with your post on Mobile 6.0-6.1 Marketplace, if you found or encountered stories of this not loading and allowing one to buy apps. I have a T-Mobile Wing…

News & Features

American Foundation for the Blind Looks at Smartphone Accessibility

Smartphones have become nearly indispensable productivity tools. Businesses issue them to employees, and people use them constantly to keep up with their personal lives. But what do you if you are blind or visually impaired? Tiny keyboards and 3-4 inch screens aren’t always great if your eyesight is wonderful, let alone if you have vision issues. Luckily, the American Foundation for the Blind puts out an online magazine called AccessWorld, and several articles this month covered smartphones and visual impairment. For the corporate-types, they looked at an app called Oratio for Blackberries. This is what’s called a “screen reader”, or…

Reviews

WirelessGround Touch Screen Stylus Review: Reduces iPad Fingerprints

Fingerprints. It’s perhaps my biggest pet peeve about the iPad’s glorious screen. It’s one gigantic fingerprint magnet. Unless you plan on joining the Men In Black (they remove your fingerprints) it’s something you just have to deal with. Unless of course you find some other way to use your iPad without touching the screen with your finger. Enter the WirelessGround Touch Screen Stylus Pen. The stylus, which is available in Black, Purple, Blue or Pink, features a soft tip which gives your more precise control when tapping on your screen and allows you to do so with using your finger….

Reviews

PDAir Luxury Silicone Case for Nexus One Review

I like lots of different kinds of cases and switch depending on what I need at a given moment. For quite a few years, I was really into aluminum cases (Rhinoskin, anyone?), then slip cases, pouch cases, play-through cases… you name it. More recently, I’ve preferred to put as little on my devices as possible. With my iPhone, I’ve settled into using just a screen protector and an Incipio Feather case much of the time to protect it from scratches. So when I picked up a Nexus One, I started looking for ways to protect it, but with minimal weight…

Reviews

HTC Desire with HTC Sense and Android 2.1 Review

While the Google Nexus One has been on the market for a few months now, its HTC-branded brother has only just started to make it out. I’ve been using the HTC Desire for the last week or so, and it has surprised me just how good it really is. HTC have been a bit presumptuous from the get-go, calling the phone the Desire. While it looks quite different from it’s Google branded sibling, the two phones are very similar underneath. Both share the same 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 3.7” 800×480 AMOLED capacitive display, and run Android 2.1. There are a few…

Editorials

No Relief in Sight for Palm

Poor Palm just can’t get a break. They are up for sale, but no one’s showed up at their open house, and Jon Rubenstein even baked cookies! In all seriousness, there’s no concrete evidence of a buyer, and the last few days have just been one blow after another. First, their Senior Vice President of Software resigned, and from the looks of the stock grants flying around, apparently, most of the office intended to follow him. Palm threw loads of stock at people to keep them around; if a new, deep pocketed suitor were around no one would be beating…

Reviews

A Quick Look at the Verizon HTC Droid Incredible Android Phone

Just a few days ago we announced the new Verizon HTC Incredible, and tonight they just went live in the Verizon Wireless store. I happen to have one here, so let’s take a look inside the box, shall we? Look at all of that shiny black plastic on the front, just waiting for you to breathe on it, smudge it up, and allow dust to land on its pristine surface. The Droid Incredible measures roughly 4.6″ tall x 2.3″ wide x 0.5″ thick; it’s slightly thinner than an iPhone, with a screen that puts the iPhone’s to shame … even…

Reviews

Native Union Moshi Moshi 02 Review

I enjoy reviewing gear. I enjoy it even more when the product I’m reviewing just makes sense. Such is the case with the Native Union Moshi Moshi 02. I still have a land line at home, but I know many people do not. With today’s unlimited long distance mobile plans and even more companies offering unlimited everything, more and more people are choosing to rely on their mobile phone’s at home and well as on the road. If’ there’s one thing I’ve always struggled with when using my mobile phone at home for extended periods of time, it’s the comfort…

Reviews

Otterbox Commuter Case for the Motorola Droid Review

I take my phone everywhere. During work and everyday life I don’t worry much about it; I work in an office and live in suburban New Jersey. It’s not really a rough life for a smartphone. I do, however, take it when I go hiking, biking and running as a GPS tracker, plus it rides along in my pocket when I walk the dog, rain or shine. So I’m always on the lookout for a solid case that can protect my phone during outdoors-y times, and still look good for everyday use. Needless to say, I was VERY excited when…

News & Features

Vertu Constellation Ayxta Update! It’s Broken!

Vertu Constellation Ayxta If you noticed last week, we did an unboxing on the Vertu Constellation Ayxta. A gorgeous new flip phone that costs oodles and oodles.. Well this week its broken! I put one of my 3 SIMs in it to start using it and absorbing it into my daily repertoire. And then it started happening! I had synched the phone to my PC (Ok Mac Book Pro running Windows XP) and loaded my contacts and a few pertinent pics and was very excited to get started! I turned it on and the screen clock on the inside started…

Reviews

Review of the Google Nexus One Car Dock Kit

I was very excited when I found out that the Google Nexus One Car Dock was available. As I mentioned during my review of the desktop dock, I thought that it was very well designed. In fact, I liked it enough that I bought another one for work. I was hoping that the car dock would be just as useful to me. I will make some comparisons with the TomTom car kit for the iPod Touch, which I currently use. Read on for my impressions of the car dock after its paces over the past couple of days. As soon…

Reviews

Unboxing the Vertu Constellation Ayxta

Vertu, the high-end Nokia luxury handset company, released a flip version of their phone towards the end of 2009 and I finally got my hands on one! So this is the unboxing view, and I’ll come back in a few weeks and do a proper review of the phone whilst in use. I purchased the unit from one of the jewellery stores here in Sydney after much haggling, and carried my plain brown box through the city back to the train stop. I found it a bit odd to carry a large shopping bag from a fine jewellery store through…

News & Features

Windows Phone 7 Series Is Now Simply Windows Phone 7

It’s not major news, but it is good news: Microsoft is simplifying their “Windows Phone 7 Series” to the less cumbersome “Windows Phone 7”. An obvious explanation for the “Series” moniker is that it was meant to “indicate that there would be a range of phones providing choice of hardware and operator.” Microsoft must have realized that the name was a bit too cumbersome and in the interest of simplifying things, shortened it to Windows Phone 7. Good move, since that’s what we were calling it anyway! 😉 Tis the season for Series finales. We’ve got one too – dropping…

Reviews

BugMe for iPhone Review: It Does (But in a Good Way)

It’s times like this that are hard to write a lead-in for a review. Anyone who has been interested in handheld gadgets since the days of the original Palm devices are going to recognize the name BugMe! So, it’s hard not to start off by talking about how much I liked BugMe! back in the days when I used a Palm, and how pleased I was when Electric Pocket finally released it for Windows Mobile, and now the iPhone, blah, blah, blah… So, let’s presume that you, the reader, are not someone who has been using handhelds for the past…

News & Features

Windows Phone 7 Coming to the HTC HD2, From Russia with Love

As Judie, Clinton and I put the finishing touches on a three-way review of the most impressive Windows Mobile 6.5 device today, the Russians have been busy trying to give us what Microsoft won’t: Windows Phone 7. Due to its button design falling outside the requirements of Windows Phone 7, the HD2 was destined to live out its life in the increasingly dull world of Windows Mobile. Things may be about to change with photos and videos demoing a version of Windows Phone 7 running on an HTC HD2, in almost all it’s glory. At this point it’s a tad…

Editorials

Dear AT&T, I’m Going To Purchase One of Your New Microcells, but Let’s Not Act As If You’re Doing Me Any Favors, Okay?

AT&T’s Microcell. You get great reception. AT&T gets to double dip. As you may have read elsewhere on the web AT&T is rolling out Microcells that will solve many of the reception issues people have at home. That is, assuming they already have a highspeed Internet connection. You see, the Microcell will allow you to connect to your high-speed Internet service and then have your iPhone or any other AT&T cell phone jump on the data connection from your cable company and route calls through it. This will, in turn, improve your cell reception because you won’t be using AT&T’s…

Reviews

StarHunt for iPhone OS Review

I play a lot of hunt and find type games on my iPhone 3Gs. Many of them look and run the same. You use the pinch and zoom function of the iPhone OS to move around the screen searching for a items in a list. While this can be incredibly fun it can be difficult to find the sometimes tiny items amongst the various screens. StarHunt takes the point and click adventure genre to a whole different level with stunning 3-D graphics, quick rendering and over 1,000 detailed still frame images. You task is to explore a house which contains…

News & Features

HTC Answers Apple: “We will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation”

photo credit: recompose I know I wasn’t the only person who watched in bemused disbelief when news came out early this month that Apple was suing HTC, arguably one of the world’s most innovative smartphone hardware manufacturers, for infringing upon 20 of their patents. Almost immediately, Engadget had a list of every claim where Apple was crying foul, and they were kind enough to translate the jargon-filled legal lingo so that those of us without law degrees could understand that Apple was suing over items ranging from HTC’s use of “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A…

How to Do It Yourself!

Flip AT&T’s Control over the Backflip

If you bought a Moto Backflip, you probably noticed the odd use of Yahoo Search over Google, and the incredible amount of AT&T bloatware included on the device. Unfortunately, short of rooting it there’s not much you can do about either of those, but AT&T did something far worse to the Backflip that you WILL want to change. Every other Android phone offers an option to install apps from outside the marketplace. Sometimes it is a beta (like the Swype keyboard beta), other times it is things like PDANet, a tethering utility, that isn’t sold through the marketplace. If you…

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