Smartphones & Gear

Pas Deux: The Vertu Ascent Ti Experience

Pas Deux: The Vertu Ascent Ti Experience

[Note from Judie: This is Drew’s follow-up to his original letter about his first week with the Vertu Ascent Ti. If you haven’t already read that, then you might want to check it out.] I had an opportunity to take a bit of a deeper dive with the Ascent Ti this weekend and tried out some of these other features: 1. Fortress (the over the air backup utility) 2. The camera 3. The music player 4. Software upgrade process One of the big selling features is the ability to back up your personal information to the Fortress, a military shelter…

E-TEN V900 WM Pro 6.1 Mobile Device Unboxing

E-TEN V900 WM Pro 6.1 Mobile Device Unboxing

I am very fortunate to have such a wonderful working relationship with the folks over at E-TEN, now officially a part of the Acer family! I received a wonderful surprise the other day. E-TEN (now Acer, now that the merger between the two has completed) sent me the V900 WM Pro 6.1 mobile device!

Brunton Solaris 26 Foldable Solar Array and Solo Portable Power Pack Review: Al Gore Will Love You for This One

Brunton Solaris 26 Foldable Solar Array and Solo Portable Power Pack Review: Al Gore Will Love You for This One

With all the news lately about the price of oil, and our oil addiction, it is nice to be able to do a review that not only involves a very cool piece of technology, but is also environmentally conscious. I actually got the idea for a review like this one a few months back when I was having trouble with my laptop battery. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if I could just slap a solar cell on my laptop and continually charge my battery with the power of the sun. Of course, it was not that easy, but the…

Palm Treo Pro First Impressions

Palm Treo Pro First Impressions

Today I received a device that could really be a make-or-break product for a company that has been stagnate for quite some time. The Palm Treo Pro really needs to be successful for Palm, as their current line-up leaves a lot to be desired. First off I’ll start with the packaging. Like the box the HTC Touch Diamond comes in, the Treo Pro packaging has a corner lopped off. Why? No idea. It is quite nicely presented though, with the device on display as soon as you take the top off. Included in the sales package is the Treo Pro,…

HTC Advantage X7510 Review Part 2

HTC Advantage X7510 Review Part 2

In the first part of my review of the HTC Advantage X7510, I covered the physical hardware of this new device that resides somewhere between Handheld PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs. If you haven’t had a chance to read the first part of the review, you can do so here and then pick up this review afterward. In this part of the review I will be covering the software aspects of the device now that I have received the final shipping ROM from HTC. I will start by covering Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Operating System of the X7510 and…

The Sprint Palm Treo 800w WM6 Phone Review

The Sprint Palm Treo 800w WM6 Phone Review

During the spring of 2007, when I was still a 700wx user and a Sprint customer, I was more excited by the rumors of a possible “Palm 800” than I was about any other upcoming Windows Mobile device. Some of the reasons for my anticipation included that the Palm Treo candybar with front keyboard has always been one of my favorite form factors; Palm seems to be the single most adept OEM at utilizing the WM OS without speed sacrifices; the 800w was supposed to be the first Treo with WiFi; it would have a better (2 megapixel, anyway) camera;…

Review - iPWR Mobile Power For iPhone and iPod Touch

Review – iPWR Mobile Power For iPhone and iPod Touch

[This is a joint review between Dan and Doug. Dan’s comments are in normal font and Doug’s are in bold italics.] I’m liking a whole lot about the iPhone 3G I picked up the other day. It feels good in my hand and, even though it is a bit thicker, the curved sides make it feel smaller and lighter. I am liking the 3g speed a lot more than I expected. While home and work have WiFi, the 3G speeds make a much bigger difference than I expected when I am out and about. I’m pleasantly surprised how common 3G…

The Vertu Ascent and the Vertu Constellation: A Pictorial

The Vertu Ascent and the Vertu Constellation: A Pictorial

Some time ago, I wrote a semi-mocking post about a just announced Vertu phone which was encrusted with gemstones and that had a price tag in the $100,000 neighborhood; not only was this phone priced way out of my galaxy, it was priced out of my universe. In that post’s comments, Drew came in and mentioned that he had owned a few Vertus, and that they were in fact actually excellent phones – despite their astronomical price tag. He also said that it wasn’t necessary to get them encrusted in stones, and that there were some which were (relatively) reasonably…

Celio's REDFLY - The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 2

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

Celio’s REDFLY – The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 2

In part one of my review of Celio’s REDFLY, I covered the REDFLY’s physical attributes. For part two I will cover the functionality of the device. First, it is important to remember that the REDFLY will only work with Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6 Professional (PocketPC) and Standard (Smartphone) devices and currently only a small subset of the total number of devices available. For a complete list of what devices are supported visit . Having said that, I did test the REDFLY with a number of devices including several that were not on the Celio website. All of them worked…

The OrionGadgets Mobile Power Accessories Review

The OrionGadgets Mobile Power Accessories Review

People who are on-the-go will always appreciate portable syncing and charging solutions, which is why I was pleased to recently open a box from OrionGadgets that contained just that, along with a bonus. Inside I found a Retractable MultiCharge USB Sync & Charge Travel Kit and a 3.5mm Audio Extension AUX Cable (Male to Male). Let’s take a look at them… Retractable MultiCharge USB Sync & Charge Travel Kit The travel kit is composed of the OrionGadgets USB Sync & Charge Cable and a Multicharge AC and Car Adapter. The first item in the kit is the sync & charge…

Nokia 6220 Classic Review

Nokia 6220 Classic Review

Nokia’s latest model for the mid-range market looks to be a cut-priced N95. While it misses out on the larger screen and WiFi radio, it holds onto the 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, HSDPA radio and built-in GPS, at around half the price of the N95. The recommened retail for the 6220 is $689, but as is often the way with these things it will likely be cheaper in-store. I’ve been using one as my main phone for the last week, and I am very impressed…almost. Unlike the N95 the 6220c is a regular candy-bar phone, no funny business there….

One+ Months Later With the i-mate Ultimate 8502 and 6150

One+ Months Later With the i-mate Ultimate 8502 and 6150

Travel at the end of June kept me from posting my follow-up user experience with both the i-mate Ultimate 8502 and Ultimate 6150; now that things have calmed down it is past time to write about a subject which, to put it bluntly, I have been dreading… the i-mate 8502 the i-mate 6150 Don’t get me wrong; all of the warning signs were present nearly from the beginning: First of all, i-mate was a company who promised a line-up of devices which looked truly impressive in pictures and print. But then delay after delay occurred; several of the more exciting…

Review: Verizon Wireless Palm Centro

Review: Verizon Wireless Palm Centro

Whether you believe it or not; I, the super duper Linux geek, have never used a smartphone…until now. Yes, during the writing of this review was the first time I have everbeen able to use a smartphone for an extended period of time. Yes, the Centro was covered by Gear Diary when Sprint brought it out and when AT&T brought it out, but here’s my take on the Centro, written as a first time smartphone user.

HTC Diamond Review Part 3 - The Verdict Is In

HTC Diamond Review Part 3 – The Verdict Is In

The Diamond has been with me now for about two weeks and I have reached a verdict: Fail. I had very high hopes for the Diamond; I wanted it to wipe the smile off Apple’s face, and be a proper competitor to the unstoppable iPhone. But alas it isn’t. It has too many flaws to be a competitor, and to be honest it has too many flaws full stop. Performance for me is the big one. As I said in my Part 2 instalment, the Diamond is sluggish and unresponsive doing pretty much anything, be it using TouchFLO 3D or…

Photo Viewing Made Easy - Review of iWindowsMobile EyePhoto

Photo Viewing Made Easy – Review of iWindowsMobile EyePhoto

With Windows Mobile devices coming with ever increasing quality of digital cameras built into them, the need for applications to view those photos in a quick and easy way has also increased. While the built-in Photos & Videos application of Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6 does a reasonably good job, it still is somewhat stylus intensive. Fortunately the VITO Technology team has seen this as well and has developed a truly easy to use, simple and finger friendly – not stylus – application to meet the need – EyePhoto. EyePhoto is available through VITO’s iWindowsMobile division and is a simple…

HTC Touch Diamond First Impressions

HTC Touch Diamond First Impressions

I’ve been looking forward to the arrival of the Touch Diamond for quite some time. Windows Mobile used to be my mobile platform of choice, but since using the Nokia N95 and N95 8GB, I have been swayed over to the Series 60 OS. The N95 8GB has been my main phone for about 6mths now, and it’s been great. It was faster, more stable, had much better signal and camera than any Windows Mobile device I had used. My hope with the Diamond was that Windows Mobile had caught up to provide the easy and speedy experience that other…

The MWg Zinc II Windows Mobile Pro Review, Part Two

The MWg Zinc II Windows Mobile Pro Review, Part Two

Yep, you guessed it: about a month has come and gone since I received the MWg Zinc II, posted its unboxing, gave a description of the hardware, and mentioned my initial thoughts. If you haven’t already read that portion of this review, click here and then come back; I’ll wait… Today we are going to jump right in and talk about my user experience, the Zinc II’s battery life, its camera, and I’ll give a taste of the included Windows Mobile 6.1 software. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Celio's REDFLY - The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 1

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

Celio’s REDFLY – The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 1

One of the challenges with using Windows Mobile devices, as with most mobile devices, is the size of the screen. It is great having Office Mobile on the latest and greatest device but doing a significant edit of a document on a 3.5″ QVGA screen is, well… fun? Granted, on bigger devices that have VGA screens, the HTC Advantage comes to mind, it is a bit easier but you still end up doing a lot of side-to-side scrolling. Couple this with either a soft keyboard on the device or a small thumboard to type with and once again, doing big…

iHome iP99 iPhone Radio Dock Reviewed

iHome iP99 iPhone Radio Dock Reviewed

I’ve been using the iHome IP99 as a clock radio for the past week. This $149 device claims to filter out the annoying “buzz buzz” that is commonly heard when the iPhone receives or sends data. With other standard radios you can get around this issue by putting your iPhone into “Airplane” mode. However that means you won’t receive any calls or data. The iHome claims to fix this by filtering out the buzzing. Does it work? Sorta kinda. Keep reading for the details.

USBFever iPod/iPhone FM Transmitter Review

USBFever iPod/iPhone FM Transmitter Review

There isn’t an easier way to get your iPod’s sound out to a car stereo than using an FM transmitter. No wires, no cassette adapters, just plug it in, tune your radio to the right station and out comes your music. Problem is at lot of the time they are rubbish. I have tried several over the years and none of them could produce a clear signal at any time, it was constantly crackly and awful. A few days ago when I received the USB Fever FM Transmitter I was expecting more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Nokia N82 Review

Nokia N82 Review

Over 6 months ago I reviewed Nokia’s flagship phone, the N95 8GB, which I thought was fantastic. It was essentially a refresh of the N95 (which I wasn’t enamoured with), fixing the built quality, battery life, and a few other niggly little things that turned me off. Since then the N95 8GB has been my main phone. I was surprised to find myself switching back to it after less than a month of owning the BlackJack II, that’s how much I liked it. Over the last week I’ve been using the N82, which is basically an N95 inside a candy-bars…

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