Smartphones & Gear

Reviews October 5, 2012

Mission Workshop R6 Arkiv Field Pack Video Review

We reviewed Mission Workshop’s Sanction Weatherproof Rucksack in November of 2011. (Read the review here.) This time out we are taking a look at the company’s R6 Arkiv Field Pack. The Mission Workshop Sanction Weatherproof Rucksack is one of the more unusual backpacks we have ever seen. In fact, it isn’t exactly a backpack. A more accurate way to describe the R6 Arkiv would be to refer to it as “backpackS”. You see, the R6 Arkiv is highly configurable and can be used in a variety of ways. Here’s our video look, the company’s description, and how you might end…

Gear Bits October 5, 2012

This Week’s Entertainment Weekly Has Tina Fey and a Free Phone

Grab the latest Entertainment Weekly edition (the one with the lovely Tina Fey doing her best Audrey Hepburn on the cover), and you’ll also get a bonus inside. An active LCD screen which when freed from the magazine reveals … a working phone? Check out this video where Christina and Lance, from Mashable, tear apart the October 5th Entertainment Weekly to reveal what powers the CW advertisement inside. “It’s a phone! It’s a phone! It’s a PHONE!” Priceless. If you want to get your own free “fully working Android [skeleton] phone” — one that would make MacGyver’s head swim with possibilities —…

News & Features October 4, 2012

Phorus and Play-Fi Want to Bring Music to Every Room in Your House

If you read the site, then you know that I love my Sonos audio system; you also know I am an OS X and iOS guy. Still, I’m always on the lookout for the next awesome home audio solution. That’s why I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with a number of the key players from Phorus a few weeks ago. Phorus, and their signature Play-Fi wireless technology, are poised to challenge your assumptions about home audio on every level. The system is simple to set up, sounds great, offers flexibility with regard to connectivity, is priced to be accessable, can…

Reviews September 27, 2012

Liquid-Armor Invisible Nano-Coating Tech Screen Protector for Tablets and eReaders Review

all photos by Kevin Stanford Like many who ordered an iPhone 5 when they were first available, I didn’t have any kind of case, screen protector, or protective skin on hand when mine arrived. I did have a review sample of Dynaflo’s Liquid-Armor, however. Nano-coating tech? What’s that all about? I was ready to find out! Included in the package are one 0.33 ounce bottle of Liquid-Armor fluid, an 8″ x 8″ microfiber cloth, and a second, smaller (bonus) microfiber cloth The Dynaflo site says that the Liquid-Armor system – Provides scratch-resistant surface for normal wear and tear. – Screen…

News & Features September 27, 2012

Your Mobile Devices are a Germ Haven, So It’s ionSwipes to the Rescue!

One of the most useful sensory and interactive instruments in the human body are our hands and fingers. They help us easily manipulate our mobile devices, allowing us to communicate and plug into the virtual world around us. Ironically, hands and fingers are a double-edged sword, for in addition to allowing us to communicate virtually via our various electronic devices, they quietly and efficiently spread germs via physical handling of these devices. Germs. That catch-all layman word covering bacteria, viruses, protozoa and some fungi. The stuff that gives Howie Mandel heebie-jeebies. In fiction, the cooties that annihilated wayard Martians,…

Reviews September 21, 2012

The Verizon HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Review

all photos by Kevin Stanford It’s hard not to get excited when a new phone shows up for review, especially when one boasts all of the bells and whistles found in the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE. This particular Droid model was announced earlier this year at CTIA, and I have been using it off and on for the past month. What I’ve learned during this time is that while the Incredible has a slightly smaller build than most of the higher-end Android phones we’ve seen lately, you won’t be compromising too much with this device, and there’s much to…

Gear Bits September 21, 2012

iPhone 5 Plus AT&T MicroCell Equals… a Quiet Afternoon (and not in a good way) UPDATED

Meet my iPhone 5 lock screen. Now take a close look… See the ATT Microcell symbol at the top? No? Me either and that’s a problem. You see, I live in rural Texas where there is no AT&T cell reception without the help of a signal booster. Oh, no, sorry, I got that wrong. I live in SUBURBAN NEW JERSEY WHERE THERE IS NO AT&T RECEPTION WITHOUT THE HELP OF A MICROCELL. And guess what? The microcell doesn’t work with my new iPhone right now. And those two bars you see? That’s actually the best reception I’ve gotten, and that…

News & Features September 21, 2012

Just say NO to Verizon Add-On Services!

My cubemate at work asked me a question about his wife’s phone, a Samsung Android device. See, his wife dropped her phone and her screen shattered, of course. When the replacement arrived, we switched the SIM over, and everything was set … or so we thought. All of her contacts were missing. To make sure this doesn’t happen again, he told me that he was looking for apps to prevent this. I told him he shouldn’t need anything for contacts beyond the syncing that happens with Gmail. That’s when I checked his phone and realized it was set up to use Verizon’s…

News & Features September 19, 2012

Sprint Readies the Samsung Galaxy Note II for Release This Fall, Reports 1 Million 4G Devices Sold!

As noted before, this morning we heard from Samsung that they have coordinated with all five major U.S. carriers to bring the massive Samsung Galaxy Note II to market; now Sprint has followed up and announced that they will be launching the 16GB version of the device later this fall on their ‘Truly Unlimited’ network! The Galaxy Note 2 is the successor to the popular ‘phablet’ that was huge for a phone but small for a tablet yet found a solid global audience. The new version increases the screen size to 5.5 inches (from 5.3), has full 4G LTE support,…

Editorials September 18, 2012

Another Step in RIM Death-Spiral As Yahoo! Offers Employees Any Smartphone EXCEPT Blackberry!

Imagine that your employer came around and told you that everyone in the company was getting their choice of smartphone! That would be so cool, and it’s something that just doesn’t happen in most companies. But it was something just done by new CEO Marisa Meyer at Yahoo!. There was just one stipulation according to an article at TechCrunch – you cannot have a Blackberry. The basic thought process behind the decision? Blackberry is for business ONLY, and as a ‘customer facing’ company, Yahoo! needs to be in touch with what people do in their ‘real life’, not just their…

News & Features September 15, 2012

Otterbox on Track to Keep Your Soon-to-be Shipped Shiny iPhone 5 Protected!

Otterbox takes device protection seriously, and their cases reflect a company passionate about doing just that, unsurprising since their About Us page lists “work hard/play hard” as part of the company culture. Now that the Apple iPhone 5 has been announced, Otterbox has just released for pre-order two cases: the Defender and Commuter Series, with the Reflex and Prefix cases not quite available, but coming soon. These cases, most of which offer several color combinations to choose from, should be ideal for owners who want to keep their iPhones very safe but also easily useable, treading the fine line between…

Gear Bits, News & Features, Outdoors September 11, 2012

Emergency Cell-Phone Lasts 10 Hours On A Single ‘AA’ Battery

Picture yourself stranded alone during a hurricane. The rain pelts the windows with oppressive vigor. A howling wind lifts lawn chairs off the patio. You reach into your pocket and grab your smart-phone. You’ve never been more desperate to check your twitter feed, but the battery’s already down to 5%. Four minutes later, that one tough level of Angry Birds: Space finally kills the phone. Out of nowhere, an enormous tree branch crashes through the living room window. You try to call for help, but you left your charger in the hotel room back in Atlanta. What’s the solution? XPAL…

Reviews September 10, 2012

Digital Innovations Nest Earbud Protector Review

Unless you are a fan of stereo bluetooth headphones, you have earbuds. With the iPhone, Android Phones, Mp3 Players and other personal audio items usually shipping with a pair of these, we all end up with at least one favorite pair. They are the bane of our existence, and there have been many attempts at taming these cords. Just take a look below at the mess I usually pull out of my bag. Once I pull these out of my bag, I usually spend the next few minutes untangling them so I can use them. Well now I, and you — if you…

Reviews September 8, 2012

iStabilizer Dolly Video Demo and Review

The other day we took a look at a neat way to create smooth video with the iPhone. (Check it out here.) That’s not the only iPhone camera accessory we’ve been reviewing and today we’ll take a look at the Dolly from iStabilizer. The Dolly is a great tool for taking panning video or creating a stable yet flexible base for time-lapse picture/video settings. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that it isn’t designed to work with a specific smartphone but rather, thanks to the included iStabilizer Mount, you can use it with a wide selection of smartphones in a…

Gear Bits, News & Features September 6, 2012

Motorola Adds Three New Razr Smartphones on Verizon!

Yesterday was a smartphone lovers delight, to be sure. Piling on earlier announcements from other companies, Motorola had an event where they announced three cool looking new smartphones to add to their wildly popular Razr line-up. They updated the Droid Razr with Here are the basics: • DROID RAZR M: An impossibly compact smartphone that puts the world in the palm of your hand. A 4.3 inch edge-to-edge Super AMOLED Advanced offers 40 percent more screen space then the leading competitor. • DROID RAZR HD: This ultra-thin device shows you everything in stunning HD detail that beats the competition. Movies,…

Reviews September 4, 2012

SuperTooth MELODY Bluetooth Stereo Headphones Review

SuperTooth isn’t a well-known company here in the US. They should be. In Europe the company is extremely popular and, based on the SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth speaker we reviewed last year, they make come great products. Most recently, we’ve had a chance to check out the new SuperTooth MELODY Bluetooth Stereo headphones. These on-ear headphones are smaller than we have seen with BT on-ear products and, at $99 they have a lower price than we have seen. But at that price do they FEEL like sub-$100 headphones? Do they sound like sub-$100 headphones? Let’s take a close look. From SuperTooth:…

Reviews September 4, 2012

Sena UltraSlim for HTC ONE X Review

As much as I love using various cases – they add color, style and, often, functionality, my iPhone spends the majority of its time relatively naked. Yes, I usually have a screen protector and some sort of back protection on it but, other than that, it’s just the iPhone. My reason? Simple, I love the feel of the iPhone itself, and even the most minimalistic case adds some degree of bulk. When my iPhone is being used in this state I will either carry it in my Sena UltraSlim pouch or the Creativo Pouch we reviewed here. For about a…

Reviews August 24, 2012

Kanex Sydnee Smart Recharge Station for iPad Review

Our new computer lab will be ready for our students when they return this fall. That means our pre-school will have four or more iPads and our grade school students will, eventually, have access to a dozen or more iPads. That’s all good and well except for the fact that all those iPads need to be recharged. Sure we could get a power strip and put AC adapter and cable after AC adapter and cable into it but that would be bulky, ugly and inconvenient. The alternative would be a multi-iPad charging station. A few exist but most are big and…

Reviews August 22, 2012

The Safetag.me Review

Have you ever lost your keys and not found them? How about your cellphone? Safetag.me aims to make it easier for you t connect you back with your misplaced keys or phone or anything else you can attach a tag to. Does it work? Let’s find out. The Safetag.me kit comes in a kit of two decals and one tag you can attach to your keys. When you get your kit in the mail, you go to the Safetag.me web site to register your tags. When you do, you will indicate what the tag is attached to and whether you…

Editorials August 21, 2012

OnLive, Moto Mobility and the Harsh Reality of Tech Wars for Real People

Over the weekend we heard about the founder of OnLive basically shuttering the company in order to protect himself and the property by using a California loophole that allowed better creditor repayment than bankruptcy, but for workers … they were totally screwed just as if the company went totally belly-up. But that doesn’t mean all is well for creditors and investors. Today we start to learn about more of the fallout of the OnLive collapse: specifically, that troubled smartphone maker HTC is losing $40 million due to the restructuring. This is the same HTC who recently posted a 58% net…

News & Features August 21, 2012

The Nokia Lumia 900 Gets Updated in US

This has been a busy and bumpy year for the Nokia Lumia 900. Just released this spring, it was already declared a dead-end device by Microsoft shortly after its arrival as Microsoft announced that Windows Phone 7.5 phones wouldn’t be updated to Windows Phone 8. Although this wasn’t a complete surprise (due to the hardware limitations of the current devices), many of us hoped some of the features of Windows Phone 8 would eventually make it to Windows Phone 7.5 devices. As of this writing thought, it looks like a rather limited set of features will eventually appears in the…

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