Smartphones & Gear

HTC Magic Review Part 2

It’s been a month now since I posted my first impressions, and it’s time to fess up my thoughts on the HTC Magic. Truth be told, it has truly surprised me! User Interface The Android user interface is simple yet elegant, and was definitely designed with finger actions in mind. Unlike Windows Mobile, Android never makes you wish for a stylus. Icons are nicely sized, menus are large and the flicking motions to advance lists, web pages and menus become second nature as soon as you start using the phone. For some reason Android feels a lot nicer on the…

Reviews

ArmPocket Sport 20 Review

Have you ever wanted to take your smartphone with you on a workout, but your workout shorts don’t have pockets and neither does your T-Shirt? What would you do? Well you could order a arm band for your prospective device, but one downside to this is you must buy a new one when you buy a device that doesn’t fit the arm band. That’s where the ArmPocket Sport 20 comes in. The ArmPocket Sport 20 is essentially a universal arm band that is designed to work primarily with touch screen based devices like the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, The T-Mobile…

Reviews

ColorSplash – iPhone App Review

Yesterday Larry posted about his favorite new iPhone Photography app Pix Remix. It made him go “Wow” and, after following his advice and purchasing it, I had to second his “Wow!” It has now been added to the collection of image editing apps I keep on my iPhone.

Reviews

PixRemix Review

Every once and a while an iPhone application comes along that makes you go WOW! Well for me PixRemix is one of those applications. WOW! In simple terms what PixRemix does is allow iPhone users to take a bunch of their pictures and turn them into a slideshow, complete with captions that you can then share via Facebook, Twitter, E-mail etc. The application allows you to create three different types of slide shows. Collage – which is an animated collage made up from as many photos as you select. Slideshow – which is a slide show of your photos. Pan…

How to Do It Yourself!

Taking Notes iPhone-Style – A GD How-To

So here was the dilemma… I was sitting outside in the sun rereading a book I purchased a number of years ago. (Yes, a dead tree book!) I remember some insights in it that might prove useful for some talks I need to be giving in a few weeks. So there I was on vacation reading it for the second or third time. And I was right, there was something worth noting on every other page. The problem was I didn’t have time and paper nearby and, quite honestly, I didn’t feel like sitting there and taking notes while reading in…

Reviews

HTC Touch Pro2 After Awhile

If you haven’t already, please read our Initial Thoughts on the HTC Touch Pro2. That’s where you’ll find a full gallery of Touch Pro2 pictures as well as our unboxing banter. So without further ado… Drew: The TP2 Rocks! I haven’t been this excited about a WM phone since the Advantage came out and then I was mollified for quite some time with the TyTN II. The gorgeous screen, super keyboard, and excellent phone/sound definitely make it a keeper if you are in the corporate world.

How to Do It Yourself!

Create Podcasts On The Go With AudioBoo- A GD How-To

This began as a review of Audioboo, a relatively new service that allows you to create voice podcasts either on your computer or on the go using an iPhone, or an iPod touch in quickly and easily upload them to the net and share them with the world. In the process of creating this review I decided to make a brief podcast of my very first recording and realized that it actually might be more useful and, I hope, more interesting, if I did this post more as a “how-to” than a review. Step One — Visit the AudioBoo website…

Reviews

Belkin Breaks iPhone Users out of Case Boredom with New Lineup Review

Just the other day I was discussing the state of the current lineup of iPhone cases with a fellow blogger. We were both remarking how disappointed we’d become with the current stock of cases available on the market. It just seems as if there hasn’t been anything new released for quite some time. Well Belkin has come to the rescue. I knew that Belkin was one of a select group of case manufacturers that had planned to launch an entire new line of cases in conjunction with the launch of the iPhone 3G S. I recently received 3 review samples…

Reviews

Peggle for iPhone Review

Just a couple of weeks ago I highlighted the awesome $0.99 sale on Peggle at the iTunes App store. As I mentioned, the concept of Peggle is simple: you are presented with a board of pegs, some of which are orange. You have a ball shooter at the top center of the screen. The goal is to remove all of the orange pegs from the screen using the balls from your shooter. Since gravity and physics are the laws in the Peggle universe, you need to estimate the trajectory of bounces off other pegs if you hope to clear all…

Reviews

Prowl – the way push e-mail on the iPhone should be

If there’s one thing that bugs me about the iPhone it’s the lack of proper notifications for new e-mail messages. Sure you get a little sound clip or a quick vibration when a new message arrives but that’s about it. If you happen to miss the alert you have to actually wake the phone up and slide the unlock slider to check your mail icon for any new badge alerts. Why there’s no default alert for mail like there is for text messages (you get a brief look at the subject/sender on the lock screen with SMS messages) I don’t…

Reviews

Rivet Now Hard Leather Pouch for iPhone 3G/3GS Review

The Rivet Hard Leather Pouch is made from a hard plastic shell that’s surrounded by a high quality leather exterior. The case has a vintage look to it that separates it from a traditional black or brown leather case.

Reviews

Gear Diary Reviews the Palm Pre

First impressions are important – and the Palm Pre makes a great first impression. It’s small, light and fits nicely in the palm of your hand. The screen is bright and easy to read in nearly all lighting conditions. Data downloads on the Sprint network were fast and my Gmail account delivered email nearly instantly – at least as fast (or faster) than either of my BlackBerry devices. So why was I left with the feeling that the looks of the Palm Pre faded quickly once I began to peer beneath the surface of Palm’s new flagship phone?

Reviews

SplashMoney Personal Finance Manager for BlackBerry Smartphones Review

So fact of the matter is, I will never be confused with a CPA or give classes on money management. I have yet to look at my check book register since the lady at the bank wrote the beginning balance…that was almost 11 years ago when I was 18! Luckily I have a job that keeps a nice cushion in my bank account and I never really worry about balancing my account…hope my wife doesn’t read this :o) Having said that I have always wanted to carry my check book with me to keep tabs, I just hate the whole…

How to Do It Yourself!

How to force quit an application on the iPhone 3GS

If you’re using one of the new iPhone 3GS models you may have noticed it’s no longer possible to force quit an application by holding the home key down for 5 seconds. This worked on prior models but now holding the home key down will only bring up the voice control. Instead to force quit an application running on an iPhone 3GS press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. When the Quit/Cancel screen appears THEN you can hold the home key for 5 seconds and the application will force quit. When even that doesn’t work I’ve found the…

Reviews

PhatWare’s WritePad Notes, Affairs, and Events Review

Phatware has been making handwriting recognition and note taking software for [what were called at the time] pocket PCs and smartphones since 1997. I’ve used PhatPad on my Windows Mobile devices for quite a few years now, and it’s often one of the first things that I install when I get a new device. When they announced their first products for the iPhone at the end of May, Phatware offered Gear Diary an opportunity to review their first three programs: WritePad Notes, WritePad Affairs, and WritePad Events. All three programs feature PhatWare’s handwriting recognition software for the iPhone, WritePad.

Reviews

Jaybird Tiger Eyes Earbuds Review

It’s been a while since I reviewed the JayBird JB-200 Bluetooth headphones. In that time, Jaybird has expanded their line from simply Bluetooth audio, and they have introduced two new sets of earbuds. Today I am reviewing one of those, the Jaybird Tiger Eyes Earbuds. These are like the Altec Lansing BackBeat Pros that I just reviewed; they are the in-ear style. They are a little smaller than the BackBeat headphones, and they are not as noticeable as the BackBeat headphones when you wear them. One other difference from the BackBeat Pro is that these have a microphone and a…

Editorials

Is the iPhone 3G REALLY a Good Deal??

TechCrunch has an excellent post up answering the question “Should you get an iPhone 3GS” from a number of perspectives. Overall it is a fantastic piece that looks at a wide range of variables and offers answers to the question based upon each, and I must say I agree with the authors conclusions. Well, that’s not COMPLETELY true. He had me at “Hello” but lost me at the end when he wrote… Overall? Maybe. As I said, there’s really no clear-cut answer as to if you should get the device. You really need to look at the functionality above, and…

Editorials

“There Is No Science Fiction”

The divide between our imaginations and our reality may not as be as wide as we think. Tonight’s “60 Minutes” had a repeat piece titled “Mind Reading” on the development of a budding technology referred to as ‘Thought Identification’ or in laymen’s terms – ‘Mind Reading’ – and it’s a technology that seems to work with a fair degree of accuracy. As Lesley Stahl asks: “How often have you wondered what your spouse is really thinking? Or your boss? Or the guy sitting across from you on the bus? We all take as a given that we’ll never really know…

Reviews

Myst (iPhone / iPod Touch) Review

As noted in my original article when the game was released, Myst is a classic adventure game released for the Mac in 1993 that was the best-selling PC game for a very long time until the arrival of the Sims franchise. Aside from being the ‘killer app’ that was largely responsible for the CD-ROM drive gaining traction in the marketplace. Since the initial Mac release and follow-up PC release, the game was re-released on the PC as a fully 3D game, got a series of sequels and even a (failed) online game, and more recently been released for the DS…

Reviews

Music Skins Keep Your Devices Rocking

Carly Z: There are some moments that make you think the people around you are psychic. I remember sitting in my friend’s dorm room in college studying for a final, when she suddenly stopped, took a looooooooooooong drag on her cigarette, and looked at me with my bright dyed hair and worn out Descendents sweatshirt and said, “Brandeis will suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck the puuuuuuuuuuuunk out of you.” Sadly, she was right. But I can recapture a little of that ol’ punk-ass spirit with a MusicMatch skin for my MacBook.

Reviews

Mediafly for BlackBerry Review

You may remember our recent coverage of the Mediafly service that syncs media content — specifically podcasts for now — to a wide range of devices. Well, Mediafly is wasting no time. Their goal is to launch on multiple smartphones throughout 2009, and then hit even more home stereo/video equipment in 2010 so you can have your media content synced and shared on just about any consumer device out there. The fact that Mediafly is device-agnostic is exciting in that your content goes with you, regardless of what device you may use or decide to uopgrade to in the future….

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