This week you are going to see 95% of the small tablet news focused on the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, but there is another 7″ tablet device that we just got some more pictures of that will never hit the market – the HP TouchPad Go.
Every now and then you hear about something – the $100 laptop, the $35 tablet, the $19 smartphone plan – that seem to good to be true. And in some ways they are – there are limitations and compromises and caveats. In terms of the $19 smartphone plan, this week Republic Wireless unveiled their rumored plan – and it is both good and bad. The system is based on controlling the hardware – you need to use one of their special LG Optimus phones – and shifting much of the ‘heavy lifting’ to WiFi. So if you need the latest…
I like items that have their own personality and that aren’t similar to every one else’s, but lately it seems like all of the HTC Android phones that I have been posting about have been basically the same phone — albeit with different features or screen sizes. Has it seemed that way to you? Whether it’s been the Vivid, or the Rezound or all the EVO iterations, there are traits that most HTC Android phones seem to share: they are rectangular, they have four capacitive buttons on the bottom of the screen, there is a noticeable speaker grill at the top of the screen, they…
A few weeks ago we brought word that Sound iD was coming out with their newest Bluetooth headset the Sound iD SIX. We have reviewed the company’s previous headsets, so I was anxious to get my hands on the SIX. Unlike those headsets, they were entirely black, the SIX has an attractive carbon fiber look to it. So it looks nice, but how does it sound? From Sound ID: The power of EarPrint™ for iPhone®, Blackberry® & Android® smart phones. Patented VoiceMenu technology is Sound ID’s answer to Voice Recognition. Unlike voice recognition, Voice Menu is discrete in public and is…
While the first reaction to this news might be ‘so what?’, it is worth noting because the on-demand services have been slow in arriving on Windows Phone 7, and their offerings have been generally anemic when they DID appear. I am thinking specifically of Slacker, whose initial app was both unreliable and a battery drainer, and also Rdio, who supported the platform but the offering definitely paled compared to their iOS and Android apps. That was then, this is now – Slacker fully supports background playback, Live Tiles, instant resume, and more. And Rdio’s Mango update includes background play and…
As a small town guy living in the Chicago area, there are a lot times when I get frustrated with the traffic, the density, and the general inconveniences that are necessarily associated with urban living. Then again, there are times like today, when I’m happy to be living in one of the larger metropolitan areas in the country because we tend to be among the first to get new technologies, such as AT&T’s new LTE network. At the moment, AT&T has two phones able to take advantage of the LTE network: the HTC Vivid and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket….
Last week my 15-year old son ran a load of laundry. That would be a great thing … except that he failed to remove his cell phone from his jeans! Another phone on the heap of teenage abuse! So when I heard that US Cellular was releasing the rugged PCD Wrangler later this month, all I could think was … THERE is a phone made for my son! Here is the description: Rugged and tough, the PCD WranglerTM works and plays as hard as you do. The compact clamshell design has been tested to withstand rain, extreme temperatures, high humidity,…
Smartphone maker HTC has unveiled a plan with cloud storage company Dropbox to give 5GB of free cloud storage to new HTC Android phone owners. According to reports, the deal is tied to phones using HTC’s new ‘Sense 3.5’ UI overlay. Drop Box gives users 2GB for free, so this is an extra 150% for free – plus HTC will pre-load the DropBox app on all new phones. This appears to be yet another reaction to Apple’s iCloud service, which offers 5GB free storage to anyone using an iOS 5 device. Microsoft offers 25GB of SkyDrive storage to Windows Phone…
I have had the opportunity to review each generation of Sound iD’s Bluetooth headsets. The first was a small but excellent device and with each generation the devices have gotten better and better. Now the company is back with their Sound iD SIX Series headset and it looks great. Here’s what the company has to say about it: Sound ID redefines the Bluetooth experience with the new SIX. Destined to be your go-to headset, the SIX boasts a sleek look and more than one new audio trick, resulting in a true marriage of outstanding sound, true comfort and advanced technology….
Just over two months ago HP created market hysteria by killing off the TouchPad tablet and then dropping the price for quick sell-off to $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB version. In a dazzling internet-breaking weekend, a variety of sites posted and quickly sold out of the TouchPad at those prices. All of which is nice history, but it is relevant because now we are starting to see some stock of the TouchPad trickling out to a few deals sites, Amazon.com and HP itself. All of this before the anticipated final rush of TouchPad inventory made to…
As regular readers of Gear Diary may know, I used an original Droid for almost two years. In fact, up until a few months ago, I was totally convinced my next phone would be an Android device. But Android and I had a falling out, and I picked up an iPhone 4s on Friday. Why? And is the learning curve tough? Read on for my thoughts! First, there’s the “why”. A few things dragged me away from my little robot friends. One, Android is becoming increasingly fractured. It seems as though the only way to guarantee timely updates and continued…
Vertu is now taking reservations for the newest Constellation, their first touch-screen model, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nokia C7. Okay, the uncanny resemblance is actually an intentional resemblance, as I have it on direct authority from a Vertu rep that this is the phone the Constellation is “most like”. Now obviously it is nothing new for Vertu to offer a phone with many similarities to currently available Nokias (witness the Vertu Constellation Quest), but in my ownership experience there are always a few disparities between the Nokia version and the Vertu version, and it bothers me. Let’s start with the…
If you have been wondering when the next member of the EVO family would make itself known, the wait is over, as the fifth member of the HTC EVO family — the EVO Design 4G — is about to be available from Sprint. The HTC EVO Design 4G builds on the wildly popular EVO line, but brings you more in a sleek new package. The first EVO family member touting World Phone capabilities, the HTC EVO Design 4G builds on many of the “must-have” features of its predecessors, including a 1.2Ghz processor and large 4” qHD touchscreen display, while sporting a…
Ah, AT&T. So, I’m sitting here staring at my shiny new iPhone 4S. It’s unusable right now, thanks to AT&T’s lack of preparedness. They’ve had several years to figure out how to handle the spike in the load on their servers that accompanies the launch of a new iPhone model. Yet they still manage to hack up a hairball when it comes time to process orders and activate phones. Apparently, I’m not the only one, either. Several blogs are reporting AT&T customers are experiencing widespread problems with activations. When AT&T carried the iPhone exclusively, I could at least understand that…
Today GalaxyTabLife is reporting that J&R has the new Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus 7.0 available for pre-order in 16 and 32GB configurations. That is great news – the original Galaxy Tab had a number of fans at Gear Diary, even if overall sales were extremely lackluster (especially since Samsung dumped 1 – 2 million into the channel and only sold <10% of them). The new ‘reboot’ version ups the specs to pretty standard levels for late 2011, with 1.2GHz dual core processor, Honeycomb OS, 1GB RAM, and updated cameras. Unfortunately it looks like Samsung either missed what has happened in…
Bad news for Blackberry and B&N fans; you’ll have to pick sides soon. B&N is notifying Blackberry users that effective January 1st, they’re dropping all support for their eReader app. Of course, if you want to go through contortions, you can always sideload your books via USB. Or you could switch to Kobo or Amazon, both of whom offer fully supported ebook apps for Blackberry. According to Crackberry, this is the email B&N has sent to affected users: We are writing to inform you about important changes being made to the BN eReader software for BlackBerry. Changes to the BN…
I recently wrote about my initial experiences with the HTC 7 Pro from U.S. Cellular and commented on some early concerns about Windows Phone 7.5, aka the ‘Mango’ update that some are touting as what will save Windows Phone and enable Microsoft to lead the smartphone market. Despite early concerns and more recent issues with Windows Phone Marketplace ‘spam’, most early reports indicated that Mango is what Windows Phone 7 SHOULD have been a year ago. No one really knows exactly what the mobile market will look like five years from now – and certainly any analysts in 2006 making…
It seems silly to refer to an external battery as “good-looking”, but mophie’s new juice pack power station is one good-looking battery. It is sleek, solid and feels great thanks to the combination of polished metal and soft touch material. And with a footprint that is a bit smaller than an iPhone, this 4000mAh battery is simple to carry around all the time. From mophie: juice pack powerstation: This powerful 4000mAh external battery can charge virtually any USB device in the world including the iPhone and iPad. With completely reengineered battery and electronics, the powerstation can charge your device at…
We have talked about the so-called ‘Tablet Market’ as really being the ‘iPad Market’, with some marginal players scraping for scraps. Some of us have bought or spent considerable time with one or more of the various tablets that have come out over the last year – the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook, HP TouchPad, HTC Flyer, Acer Iconia, and on and on. Yet in all of these cases there have been some serious flaws that have derailed the tablets and ultimately resulted in the failure of the tablets to gain market penetration. Last week the IDC released…
Cords and cables… they seem to be everywhere. and most of the time they are a tangled mess. Sure you can use a Bluetooth headset but they need to be recharged and Bluetooth is less than reliable at times. (I’m being nice.) The Sinch seeks to end the mess of tangle headphone wires that plague modern society. Using a unique design that includes two strong magnets it creates a “pocket” that can hold your earbud cord when wrapped around a device or when used in isolation. Let’s take a look at this rather unusual new accessory. From…
One of my students excitedly hurried into my classroom the other day, exclaiming that I had to see her new phone. Kids show me their new gadgets everyday, but this was obviously something special since the other students were just as excited. When she presented it to me she just exclaimed, “3D!” In her hand was one of the newest Android handsets from LG to sport 3D technology. The LG Thrill is exclusive to ATT and can be purchased for $99. The hardware seemed nice and was similar to other Android phones I have played with, but I really just…