If the shockingly large screen and 4G speed on the LG Nitro HD isn’t enough for you, we’ll delve into the greedy, dirty little details a little bit.

When, you get up close, the Nitro HD’s 4.5″ screen might as well be a 50″ plasma in your den. Combined with 4G speed, it turns the phone into a portable man cave that you can use to actually fulfill those fantasies of watching a football game during a wedding or making a last minute fantasy team switch during church that you see on all those commercials.

The 4G LTE is amazing. It’s still relatively new around here in Boston, so we’re still getting used to not having to troll around for Wifi hotspots to download vides and apps. YouTube videos stream just as fast as they would on WiFi. That makes watching game highlights and an occasional catch-up episode easy on the train or during downtime at work.

It is amazing how far the cell phone has come in the past few years, and this is a prime example. The display is in 1280 x 720 resolution, at 329 pixels per inch, with real RGB pixels, giving you the best possible display on a cell phone.

And the phone zooms Android 2.3 with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor.

The display is truly impressive. There’s a lot of real estate, and it’s incredibly crisp when playing videos. I checked out some highlights from my Steelers absolute laydown against the 49ers on Monday night, and I loved how detailed everything looked on the phone’s screen. Everything sounded clean and clear as well.

The ESPN ScoreCenter app also looks amazing on the larger screen of the Nitro, letting you check on all your teams, but what’s even more amazing is the ESPN Bowl Bound 2011 app that gives you highlights and analysis of the coming college bowl season. If you’re not a huge college football fan, all you have to do is play with this app for five minutes, and you’ll be hooked.

What makes it easier is that, on the 4G LTE network, the videos and data stream as fast as they would if you were sitting at your office computer. The only difference is that you can check everything on your mobile man cave of a phone instead of “company time” on your work computer.

Having high-def video content over 4G LTE makes a world of difference. You really notice the improvement over the grainy “mobile video” content of yesterday. It’s like having HDTV at your fingertips.

If you’re a Google user, the phone will be more comfortable right away, because the Nitro HD comes preloaded with the major Google apps like Maps, Mail, and Calendar. There is also an office-esque app, visual voicemail, and YouTube and Twitter onboard.

The 8 megapixel camera is also a great feature, same as the iPhone 4S. Finally, phones take real photos.

The whole package also makes it easier on the battery. The display is energy-efficient, and the battery gives you up to seven hours of talk time, so you can also use your man cave as a phone.

What makes LG Nitro’s True HD IPS Display so amazing? 16:9 Aspect ratio for widescreen entertainment, sharper, crisper images, amazingly accurate colors and more. Exclusively available on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Find out more at NitrobyLG.com.

LG provided a sample phone for the purposes of this article, and the author was paid or otherwise directly compensated to promote the product in the article.

You can’t help but love the Vers brand. A start-up, local company that makes natural wood speakers and accessories for Apple products. It’s like a tree-hugging vegan made a baby with a super-geek.

And that starts their iPhone 4/4s Slimcase off on the right foot.

“For each tree we use in production, 100 are re-planted through our partnership with The Arbor Day Foundation and the U.S. Forestry Service. Use a tree – plant a forest; we’re excited to be able to go beyond achieving sustainability to helping to restore the environment where it’s needed most,” said David Laituri, creative director and founder of Vers, which is based in Wayland.

The case is designed to be slim and fit in a pocket, and while it does add some girth to the phone, the case keeps the phone size manageable. The case also doesn’t add much depth to the screen, so it’s still easy to text and type. The lightly-colored bamboo shell also gives a great contrast to a black iPhone.

The Slimcase comes in two pieces that snap together and pull apart cleanly with some force. When assembled, you can tell that it’s two pieces of wood, but it doesn’t detract from the loook.

The felt-backing on the inside of the case allows you slide it on smoothly without damaging the back.

If there’s one drawback, it’s that the case does add some depth to the bottom of the phone, which doesn’t allow you to plug it into some common device docks. You have to pull the bottom piece off to fit it in.

The Slimcase is $39.99, so get your wood on.

I’ve had a plethora of cases for my iPhone 4. Along with snap-on cases, I have also owned slide-on cases, silicone cases, and everything in-between. With all of these cases, none has been as fun as the Gameboy iPhone 4 case from iCovers4U.

Simply put, this case is really cool. Both the original Gameboy and the iPhone are seen as iconic symbols in the world of technology, and bringing those two icons together has never looked so good. The iCovers4U Gameboy case comes in some bold colors; made for the iPhone
that’s looking to stand out in the crowd.

The case is your basic silicone iPhone case. It’s easy to put on and just as easy to remove. The one thing that is different with this case over other silicone cases I have used is that, instead of the usual “sticky” feel,it  has a smooth powdery finish that leaves it not only pleasant to the eyes, but also to the touch. The iCovers4U Gameboy case is great for the nostalgic gamer or even just the iPhone 4 owner that loves to have a conversation piece by their side. I have definitely gotten some double-takes of my phone while having this case on.It’s not all for amusement though, it also provides a lot of shock absorbency against hits and drops.

Blast Factor: iCovers4U has made a case that I literally have no complaints about. If you’re not a fan of silicone, this amazing looking case is most likely not for you. With it being unusually powdery soft to the touch, this case may convert some silicone-case-haters. Most importantly — It looks like a classic Gameboy! Need I say more?

So here is a list, in no particular order, of five applications/widgets available for free on the Andriod Market that everyone should have downloaded (if they don’t already) on their android smartphone. If there are other applications that you feel are vital to the operation of your android smartphone, please feel free to comment below and just maybe you’ll make someone very happy for providing them an application treasure trove.

1. Widgetsoid (2.x)

This app lets the user create customizable widgets that looks like the “Power Control” widget that the android phone already has. What is particularly awesome about this app is that you can change the color schemes, use any of your apps, settings, and other tools as buttons (against Power Control’s GPS, WiFi, BT, Sync, Brightness buttons only and without any customizations). This widget creator allows users to modify the buttons to control silence/vibrate/ring, or use the phone’s flash as a flashlight on command, or the amount of RAM your phone is using, or even a battery widget that takes you directly to your phone’s battery usage. This widget simply has it all and is a great starting point to customizing your smartphone with a sleek and organized design.

2. Fancy Widget

This widget, when placed on your home screen, displays a digital clock, the date, battery percentage, and most importantly the weather (with a temperature gauge, his and lows of the day, and a weather icon) in a “fancy” looking interface. You can tap the time to bring up the customizable settings or you can tap the weather icon that will immediately bring up a screen that forecasts the next three days, gives you sunrise and sunset times for the current date, and even humidity and wind calculations for the current date. You can even change the color combinations and the location of all the information displayed. Essentially, this widget not only looks cool on your phone, but is also a productive tool to keep you informed of the weather situation in your locale.

3. PdaNet

As my absolute favorite app, PdaNet allows the user to tether their phone to a computer, laptop, tablet, etc. and use the phone’s 3G/4G service to browse the internet on the computer. Although the critics may say, “but most android smartphones already have USB enabled tethering”, this app also pops up incoming text messages on your laptop that allows the user to directly answer from their computer rather than picking up the phone to respond. The only thing with this app is that you must go on PdaNet’s website and download the software for the computer you plan to tether to. This app is particularly useful when you want to peruse your favorite websites (like Blast!) on trains and other public transit systems or anywhere else you can imagine that doesn’t supply free and secure WiFi. Once that’s done, all you have to worry about is going over your service provider’s data plan.

4. Handcent SMS

There are a lot of messaging service applications out there, but I like Handcent the best for its reliability and customizability. This app lets the user completely customize their text message interface, from icons to fonts, to LED color notifications on the front of most android phones. If you are like every other person who has went through high school with text messaging, then you’ll want an app that allows you to pick color schemes, backgrounds, appearance settings and so on. If you haven’t tried this app yet, give it a whirl and maybe you’ll experience some more pleasure in text messaging.

5. Lookout Mobile Security

This app offers spyware and malware protection, backup to their website (after creating an account on the website) and it offers a missing device service. If you lose your phone in between the cushions or leave it behind, you can go on that same website where your backup rests and make your phone ring, even if it’s on silent, so that you can find it in no time. If you regularly keep your GPS enabled, you can also get a GPS location on your device through the website. If someone has the sleight of hand to steal your phone, then this app may bring you back to your long lost android smartphone and catch a thief in the process. What an app.

Honorable Mention: Launcher Pro

This last one replaces the standard android home screen functions and replaces it with a similar, but customizable user interface. Launcher Pro also has a variety of new icons, a bottom app bar, color customizations, backup, and a customizable app drawer. This app may offer a smoother experience for some users in comparison to some of the others (like Dolphin Browser or even the stock android Launcher), but as these smartphones become more power (Dual-Core, Snapdragon processors), the less smoothness will be noticeable between the different platforms.

Doesn’t it seem like a matter of time before the car “cigarette lighter” power socket is replaced by — say — a USB hub? Does anyone smoke in their car anymore? Better question: does ANYONE use the car’s cigarette lighter to light up?

Answer: No. Your GPS is already plugged into the cigarette slot. Or your phone charger. Or your iPod charger. Or something besides a cigarette lighter.

That’s where the Kensington PowerBolt comes in. It fills the slot snuggly — sheesh that sounds dirty — and replaces the cigarette lighter function with a 2.1 amp powered USB port that you can plug any device into.

The device is specifically marketed at the iPod/iPhone/iPad market, with the 2.1 amp capability meant to deliver quick charging to the Apple devices. It also comes with a detachable Apple cable. But you can plug in anything you want, even another smartphone or audio device.

By the way, there are about 6 billion USB devices out there. The electronics standard has been popular since its mainstream introduction in 1996.

The device works. It plugs in, fits perfectly, and has an LED indicator to let you know that you’re in business.

It’s 10 bucks and available at Amazon or most electronics stores. Tell your car “welcome to 1996.”

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer unveiled the new Windows Phone 7 platform showcasing the 4 device partners set at an AT&T conference this week. Microsoft Phone 7 vision comes 7 years after the first smartphone release but focused more to reflect our modern lifestyles by allowing the user to get more done in fewer steps by getting the user “in, out and back to life.”

“Windows Phone 7 is a big bet for Microsoft, and we think, for the industry,” says Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Division. “We focused on three things: making a phone that’s easy to use, rich end-to-end experiences, and building great hardware and software together.”

Microsoft Phone 7 share the green animated Live Tiles “so you can quickly see everything you care about”  to reflect pending messages, appointments, news & weather or game & friend status, all refreshing wirelessly so you always have the most current information available at all times. The user can change colors, pin people/apps/playlists/pictures and other favorites so they’re always at your Start screen.

• The People Hub brings your contacts (phone book, email address, Facebook) all together in one place that makes it easier to update your status, change your profile picture across multi-networking sites at the same time from your phone with the innovative “The Me” card.
• The Pictures Hub houses your entire collection including the opportunity to automatically sync all of your photos from your pc, save the photos on your phone and those that your friends have posted and you’re even able to take pictures even with the phone locked so you never miss the perfect moment again.
• Office Hub provides full mobile versions of Word, Excel, and Power Point. OneNote allows you to take notes during meetings, make lists, keep track of random thoughts on your phone and access them from your PC later. OneNote syncs wirelessly and can even include voice clips and pictures all with the ability to share with coworkers.
• The Games Hub provides you with the ability to play Xbox Live from your phone as well as access other games, sync music wirelessly from your pc, apps, view TV shows, movies, pod casts on a hi-resolution screen, stream/download from the Marketplace Superstore which is available on either your pc or phone with one-click billing, purchase directly to your phone bill. As a user you can create custom playlists, recommend music to friends, enjoy the built-in FM radio and optional Zune pass subscription for unlimited music is available for a low monthly fee.

“Ending bad phone behavior with better phone design.”

Todd Peters, corporate vice president of Microsoft Mobile Communications Marketing Group said “Microsoft thinks there is a better Smartphone experience….By designing a better way to organize all that information Windows Phone 7 helps people get to the stuff that is most important to them – easier and faster.”

Internet Explorer allows up to 6 tabs with the ability to toggle between them making browsing a cinch; scroll with a flick of a finger and zoom with a pinch much like other Smartphone’s we are already familiar with.  The address bar suggests as you type and does web searches that allows you to tap the phone or addresses to either call or map quickly. Search Bing for web, maps, turn-by-turn directions down to the street level look at your final destination, with the optional voice search if for those days when you just need a little help.

Emailing is easy with Outlook Mobile which is streamlined to work with Windows Live, Google, Yahoo! and other popular providers that also support multiple Microsoft exchange accounts for work.  You are able to combine both personal and work in a single, color-coded Calendar making it easier to manage your time. Map appointment locations with a single tap and if you happen to get stuck in traffic there is one touch pre-written “I’m running late” email sent.

The “Find my phone” service on Windows Live gives the owner an opportunity to log into Windows Live from any pc to remotely ring, lock, erase, show location on a map or post a “please return to me” note on the screen for those panic induced times all without requiring any additional paid services or apps.

According to PCMag.com who got the chance to actually experience each of the devices, the Samsung Focus ranked the most impressive for AT&T’s selection, with the Dell as the favorite for the T-Mobile option with workable keyboard, and full of custom apps provided by T-Mobile. The HTC HD7 will also be carried by T-Mobile providing a 4.3” screen, the largest screen of the Microsoft phones. Each of the new phones with the Windows 7 phone software will run on the Qualcomm 1-GHz QSD8250 chipset which provides ample speed to the carriers. All of the new phones will share similar hardware such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a minimum 5 megapixel camera.

Windows Phone 7 Device Lineup

“We’re going to have the biggest TV marketing campaign in the history of the mobile business, with the ads running on shows such as “Hawaii Five-O”, “Bones”, “Saturday Night Live” as well as late-night talk shows. The holiday season is coming and the ads will be running frequently. If you don’t see them, then we’re not doing our jobs” said Peters.

The Microsoft enabled phones will be available at AT&T, T-Mobile, select Microsoft stores and Amazon November 8, 2010. Sprint is set to release Microsoft Phone 7 devices early 2011.

Like many Americans today, I have a variety of gadgets that I use on an everyday basis. There’s my Blackberry, iPod, laptop, handsfree car system, camera and more. How do I manage to get everything charged? Frankly, I have a whole shoebox full of chargers and it’s almost impossible to keep the wires bundled together, so you always end up with a mess of wires. Then there’s the problem of never having enough outlets available to charge all your electronics, especially with the ones that use large power bricks.

A product from IDAP called the IDAP i4 recently came across the desk and claims to help to change all this and free up your outlets. The IDAP 4 is a charging station that allows you to charge up to four different devices simultaneously on just one plug, without the need for messy cables. The device comes with a series of interchangeable tips that insert into the three slots on the product and the other end simply plugs right into the device you wish to charge. Also along the side of the device is a USB port for devices that need to be charged via USB. The company claims the IDAPT i4 is compatible with over 3,500 brands of mobile devices, including Apple, Nintendo, PSP, Blackberry, Garmin, and more. The IDAP i4 creates a hassle free and mess free solution that doesn’t require you to dig out tons of cables or allocate lots of space for charging your gadgets.

The IDAP i4 ships with either six tips from the factory or you may choose up to four of your own tips online. Additional tips can also be purchased for $9.99 and an AA/AAA battery charger tip is also available for $19.99. Customers may decide purchase additional power cords for $13.99, which is a great option especially for travelers who plan to be in another country and want to still use the IDAP i4 to charge their gadgets.

I found the device works perfectly. Gadgets fit well when placed onto the unit and can be removed also very easily. I’m pleased to see that the company included both small LED status lights directly in front of each charging slot that indicate that charging status and a main power switch located in the back center of the unit.

The IDAPT i4 sells for $59.99 and is available online in three-color choices of black, white or silver.

The use of cell phones while driving not only poses a danger for yourself, but for everyone else on the road as well. Hand-held cell phone use while driving is distracting and its no wonder many states are prohibiting it while driving.

Currently eight states including: California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington as well as the Virgin Islands and D.C now have laws prohibiting drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. In Boston, young drivers can’t be caught on a cell phone and no one is allowed to text while driving.

You will need to pickup a hands-free device to avoid a hefty ticket if you get caught.

Moshi feels they have the right handsfree calling solution to keep you safe while driving, allowing you talk on your cell phone handsfree with their Bluetooth Handsfree car kit. So you’re probably wondering what exactly is it?

Basically the device is nothing more than an advanced speakerphone about the size of a standard garage door opener transmitter, just like the one that attaches to your visor. But don’t let this fool you because it does much more than act just as a speakerphone. The device ships with integrated Bluetooth, so as soon as you get into your car, it will automatically connect to your cell phone and give you the ability to dial and check basic phone status information like battery life, signal strength and allow you to place calls using the built in voice command system, all hands free.

Once you pair the device up with your phone, just say "Hello Moshi" to activate the voice commands and your able to say commands like "redial," "call back," "call favorite # 1-5," "call home," "call voicemail," etc.

I found the device to work very well. Callers were able hear me clearly and vice versa and the voice recognition picked up on what I was saying almost every time. I was also impressed to see that the device recognizes voice commands even from a long distance away. Battery time is also decent with six hours of talk time and 40 hours of standby time.

The device ships with the Moshi Car Kit, magnetic visor clip, car charger and a manual. I was impressed with the design and build quality of the accessories. Normally this isn’t something I pick up on, but I do like the design and how they incorporated in a magnetic visor clip instead of using something non-detachable like plastic. The device removes easily from the visor clip and it is a breeze to bring it inside your home or to switch it out from car to car. The included USB car charger is also a nice plus since it uses standard USB, which can be used to charge other USB devices you might have laying around in your car like a maybe a cell phone or iPod.

There were a few things I didn’t like about the device however. One being that you don’t have the ability to say extension numbers for the device to dial. You also can’t disconnect from a call without pressing any buttons. I also wasn’t pleased when receiving a call from someone in your contacts, the device doesn’t say call from (Persons Name here); instead, it will just read out the person’s number. I found this annoying because I don’t know everyone’s number and I rely heavily on my phone’s contact book for numbers. Finally, I would have liked to have the ability to play my own custom ringtone or jingle rather than having the voice prompt’s machine voice tell me I have an incoming call.

Overall I would recommend this device to anyone looking to go handsfree. Setup was simple, it took less than a few minutes and once the product was paired to my phone, it worked great and connected no problem every time. Another added plus is the compact size and weight of the product. Its almost the exact size of a garage door opener so you can practically charge it up, leave it there and forget about it.

The product is available for $79.99 at moshilifestyle.com.

There are few things worse than running out of cellphone “juice” at the worst possible time. Well, enter Technocel’s Sprint Battery Boost. The Battery Boost is a portable recharging solution and SD card reader all-in-one for your mobile phone, Bluetooth headset and most micro USB devices. Sprint Battery Boost features include:

• Built-in Battery – With a 600 mAh lithium ion battery, the Battery Boost provides convenient recharging to your mobile or USB device for up to 1 hour of additional talk time* via the micro-USB connector
• Micro SD card reader — Battery Boost doubles as a micro SD card reader that allows you to store and transfer data files including photos, documents and music files
• Retractable USB Connector — When Battery Boost is placed within any USB port such as a computer, home or car charger, it will automatically charge its internal battery. You can even charge a battery and your handset at the same time
• Built-in Carabineer Clip — While on the go, use the built in carabineer to clip it on your belt loop, purse, keys, backpack or anywhere else
• Power button & internal battery status indicator — This indicates a low to high battery charge so you can easily see how much juice you have remaining

"Battery Boost consolidates mobile power and media storage into one convenient all-in-one device.  Perfect for a quick recharge or sharing your latest pictures, movies, and songs, this is one product that you’ll truly never want to leave home without," said Rami Rostami, CEO and founder of Technocel.

Sprint Battery Boost is available for $29.99 at Sprint Stores nationwide, and 1-800-SPRINT1. For more information on product specifications and availability please visit www.technocel.com

Expandable phone systems have been around for quite some time now, but what makes the VTech LS6245 so much different from the others and worth mentioning?

How about if we told you this phone system can wirelessly connect to your cell phone via Bluetooth and give you the ability to use your cell phone plan minutes while enjoying the ease and comfort of your home telephone system? Best of all, if you no longer have a landline phone or you are considering getting rid of it, in place of using your cell phone, your in luck as the LS6245 does not require a landline phone connection and will seamlessly work off just your cellular connection.

The unit is also designed for individuals who receive poor cell phone reception in most of their home. The LS6245 is great in a situation like mentioned above because users can connect their cell phones to the unit and leave their phone in a spot where cell service is plentiful and then use the LS6245 handset to travel around their home, even in the basement where you would never receive cell signal, all without having to worry about dropped calls or reception issues.

Out of the box, the system includes a base station with one handset that lives and charges on top of the base station. From there, you can connect up to 12 additional handsets to the base station, which do not require to be connected to a telephone jack. The first thing you notice when your unpack the device from the box is the sleek, shiny, all black design with brushed aluminum trim, which makes for modern looking, nice appearance. Both the base station and the handset use touch sensitive buttons pressed against an all black shiny surface. It’s almost similar to the two front soft keys on a first generation Black LG Chocolate phone. The shiny, all black surfaces look great and give the unit an elegant, yet modern feel; however one thing to keep in mind is that it does attract a lot of fingerprints. VTech is aware of this and includes a black microfiber cloth that easily removes dirt and fingerprints from the unit.

When you remove the handset from the base station, the first thing you notice is the eye appealing backlit keys that pop out and can easily be seen in both day in night situations. We really have to hand it over to VTech for doing such an awesome job with the backlighting on the handset and the stellar appearance. We also really like how they added a red circle around the navigation buttons, which is especially helpful at night and adds better organization. We can’t say that about the base station however. The company did such a great job with the backlighting on the handset, that it seems they forgot about the base! It’s disappointing that only the home and cell button keys light up, which makes it almost impossible to dial or operate the unit from the base station at night.

Aside from that, we’re pretty impressed with the LS6245. It paired very easily and works excellent with a BlackBerry Bold 9650. The entire pairing process took just a few minutes and was very simple. Once paired, the unit was very easy to operate, and call quality was excellent on both the handset and base. We initially thought that the touch sensitive keys might be a problem and make dialing and navigation issue, but that wasn’t the case. Both dialing and navigation was very good and I didn’t end up with one misdialed call, which we have had happen with other phones that utilize touch sensitive buttons. Dialing took a little to get used to since after you enter the number, you must press one of two buttons: one with a house on it or another one towards bottom of the handset that says "Cell." As you would imagine, these buttons correspond with the type of phone connection you wish to use. Calls placed though the landline gateway sounded loud and clear, even when using speakerphone on the base and handset.

Calls being placed though the cellular connection will connect via Bluetooth to your phone and the phone will then dial and place the call. One thing to note is the LS6245 does not charge your cell phone and your phone will continue to work off battery power unless you have it plugged in and charging through and AC adaptor. Also keep in mind that your plan minutes still do apply when you are connected though the cellular connection. Its also nice that the LS6245 has a nice little battery meter in the corner, which keeps you posted on the battery life for the cordless phone, but not the battery life on your cell phone.

The LS6245 is feature packed offering answering machine with remote access capability, Bluetooth connectivity, a directory, call log, intercom support, handset locator, inferred sensor, customizable ringers for each handset and for both landline and cellular calls, call transfer, call waiting, hold, voicemail, conference calling, call screening, automatic redial, caller ID, call sharing, DECT 6.0 technology for better call clarity, range and more.

We also like the intercom functionality. This feature alone is a key selling point of the device and it is incredibly useful. It almost works like an extension system you would find a public building. Select intercom from the main menu from either the base station or from a handset and then select which unit you wish to call. This will ring that phone or base station and you can have a one-on-one conversation with the person where the phone is located. This is perfect for families since they’re now able to call each other for simple things, rather than have to walk across the house for just a short message. One feature we would have liked to have seen, is the ability to broadcast a message to all the handsets at one time. Again, think how useful this could be in a family situation. Mom could say, "Dinner is ready" and broadcast the message to everyone simultaneously, rather than have to yell across the house or call room by room. I’m not complaining though; the one room at a time works for now, but in the future or through a software update, it would be nice to see a broadcast message feature.

There were a few things we didn’t like. In the directory, you must manually program each contact into the phone. This is not only time consuming, but is a pain and We’re not sure why VTech didn’t include the ability to import contacts via Bluetooth. The missing backlight on the base station makes it hard to dial at night and the phone can only be connected to two Bluetooth phones or a handset at a time, but paired to four, which may be an issue with large families. Finally, the LS6245 isn’t really an expandable phone system out of the box and to give it that functionality you must purchase additional handsets that cost around $40.00 per phone.

With its excellent call quality, ease of use and Bluetooth functionality, we can’t help but to recommend the device. It works great, looks amazing and is feature packed. The system is available online in a variety of configurations.

With assorted Droid phones seemingly hitting stores every month or so, purchasing a smartphone (if your service provider is either Verizon or Sprint) has all of a sudden become much like buying an automobile or a desktop computer. Meaning, as soon as you take it off of the lot or walk out of the store, it’s almost immediately replaced by something infinitely better.

Well, fear not, owners of the HTC Droid Incredible. The Droid X isn’t that much better than what you already own. In fact, to me, it’s not even close.

Now, don’t get me wrong, (and not to sound like a hypocrite) the Droid X is a technically superior phone to the HTC Incredible. It features more storage space (up to 40GB compared to 24GB) slightly better resolution (854 x 480 to 800 x 480) image stabilization, better battery life, and an HDMI output. The X also has a bigger screen, too; the 4.3-inch touchscreen (with Swype, but you can now install that on the Incredible) beats the Incredible’s 3.7 inch screen. And while that doesn’t sound like it’s THAT much bigger, it is. Trust me.

Silly as it may seem to some, it’s the aforementioned size difference that’s really the reason I can’t say I’d buy the Droid X. To me, it’s like trying to carry around a dinner plate in your pocket. I can’t stress this enough.
IT’S HUGE.
I know it’s just my personal preference, and I realize that smartphones are going to get larger just based on added “bells n’ whistles”, but I still want to use something that is the size of a normal cellphone. While trying to talk on the Droid X, I constantly found myself trying to get comfortable while using it, and I just couldn’t. Also on a device this size, it’s next to impossible to click on anything in the top left corner (missed calls, messages, Tweets) with your thumb, unless you’ve got giant “man hands”.

Speaking of which, I purposely let my girlfriend use the Droid X for a few days (and no, she doesn’t have “man hands”) just to see what her reaction would be, and she returned it to me after one day saying, “I think it’s pretty, but it’s too big for my hands.”
If only she could say the same about yours truly. *sigh*

So, what if the size of the Droid X isn’t an issue for you? Well, while I personally don’t know anyone (no matter how tech dorky they may be) who would hook up a smartphone like the X to their television to watch a movie more than once or twice, perhaps that’s something you want from your phone.
Me? I just want fast internet access, clean and clear reception, some fun apps, a decent camera, and a high res screen. Yes, the Droid X features all of these things, but it just feels like there’s too much going on with this thing. Again, I still want to feel like I’ve got a cellphone in my pocket, rather than a laptop that makes phone calls.

The bottom line? Despite it’s enormous girth, the Droid X is a very powerful device. You get Verizon’s top notch service, and yes, it’s got much better multimedia features than the HTC Incredible. However, if I was forced to choose between this and the Incredible, I’d much rather plunk down my $200 on HTC’s gem of a smartphone.

For the full specs on Motorola’s Droid X, click here.

With cell phones getting "smarter", faster, and multitasking-ier, the need for them to be more mobile is inherent.  With every evolution of the cell phone, each generation seems to get smaller and lighter in order to appeal to our sleek society.  Unfortunately, having a phone, smaller and thinner than the wallet of a BP executive means you might forget it somewhere (and GOD FORBID we leave the house to grab a 40 of Mickey’s and leave our celli behind).

This is precisely the dilemma which spawned: BRINGRR

The idea, conceived in 2009 by James Logan, was to solve the common problem of leaving your phone at home, at the store, at a bar, or that one time with the stripper in the VIP room.  The idea behind the gadget is that if used, you will no longer have to fear "Mercedes" is making long distance calls to her family in Taiwan on your dime.

By plugging the device into the power port or lighter outlet of your car, any Bluetooth enabled phone is now "tracked" by the Bringrr system.  Once the car is started, Bringrr, paired with your phone, searches for it in your car.  If you have the phone on you, the light on the device turns blue and distinctively chimes, assuring that you still have your precious.  If you did, in fact forget it, say, inside that girl’s house, you never would have driven all the way to Dighton before realizing.  If the paired phone is not found in the vicinity of your car’s interior, Bringrr turns red, and a different chime is heard.

The Product is due to hit the shelves mid-July. You can purchase your very own "Cell phone Rememberer" at www.bringrr.com for $35.

For as many times as I have had to cancel my plan, change my number, and get a new phone, due to my own drunken stupidity, this product is definitely worth its weight in rupees.

Ok, so unless you’ve completely avoided all things media related in the last 24 hours or so, you already know that Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, this past Monday. Well, what you may not know is some of this phone’s shiny new proverbial bells n’ whistles.

Guts

The iPhone 4 has a new processor — the A4 — which Apple says makes the phone faster than competitors and faster than the processor in the iPhone 3GS. Apple debuted the A4 processor as part of the iPad in January

Multitasking

The iPhone’s operating system, which Apple calls iOS 4, got an upgrade along with the iPhone 4′s hardware. Among the most-awaited changes is multitasking, which means that the phone can run multiple applications at once. Want to listen to record a voice memo and check e-mail at the same time? Well, now you can with iPhone 4. Welcome to 2008, Apple

Better (but still kind of shitty) camera

The quality of the iPhone 4′s camera is improved over previous models, but in my opinion, that’s not saying very much. The iPhone 4 shoots photos with 5 megapixels of resolution, compared to 3 megapixels before. That’s still not the best on the market. The HTC Droid Incredible has an 8-megapixel camera, and should (to me) be the new industry standard. The iPhone 4 also shoots HD video, and a video-editing app called iMovie, which Apple will sell, allows people to shoot, edit and share videos with the phone. Oh, and what’s clearly a “catch-up move”, Apple has added an LED flash to the camera, so users can actually take photos at night now. Again, welcome to like 5 years ago.

Video conferencing

In addition to the back-of-the-phone camera improvements, Apple also added a second camera to the iPhone 4, which faces its user. This can be used for video conferencing, which Apple and Jobs expect to be an emerging trend in mobile phone use, but more than likely will just be used to that dudes can show other people how huge their penis is on Chatroulette.com, just now while they’re driving.

Stainless steel antennae

The iPhone 4 is flat on the front and back, and a band of stainless steel goes around the edge as a trim. This isn’t just a design feature, Jobs said. It’s actually the antennae. Nice. Sexy AND cancerous, all at once.

Sharper screen

With 326 pixels per inch,  four times that of previous Apple phones, Steve Jobs says the iPhone 4′s “retina display” screen is years ahead of anything else on the market. ”Text looks like you’ve seen it in a fine printed book, unlike you’ve ever seen on an electronic display before,” he said. “Once you’ve used a retina display you can’t go back.”

Still no Verzion (WTF!?)
Yup, sorry folks. The god awful AT&T (now with an even WORSE data plan!) still has a stranglehold over the iPhone, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.

The iPhone 4 can be pre-ordered via Apple’s website, starting June 15, and will be available for purchase, June 24. It will cost between $199 and $299.

For more photos, and demos, just click here.

This won’t be a popular sentiment, but I don’t care, I’m going to say it anyway.

Folks, enough with this whole “going green” gimmick. The planets ecosystem is unfortunately fucked beyond repair, and too many companies are making a quick buck selling “green” products to a guilt ridden public.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m actually all for trying to save the Earth, but I don’t think driving a stupid Prius and using low wattage light bulbs that prevent me from seeing a fucking single thing are the ways to go about it. Hell, as it is, most of these “planet saving products” don’t even do what they advertise!

So with all of that pessimism out of the way, you could probably imagine my eye-rolling and groaning, when I was sent the Novothink Solar Surge for the iPhone 3G and 3Gs.

The Surge is the first Apple approved charging case available to consumers that features a solar-charging option. Think of it as a hybrid (pun intended) external battery and case/solar charger for your iPhone.

Does it make your not so slim iPhone even bulkier? You bet it does.

Still though, I’ll give the Surge this. It is made very well. Within it’s sleek packaging, the Surge boasts a 1500mAh lithium-ion battery that should double your iPhone’s already sub-par battery life. You can charge the battery via a USB 2.0 port, or more importantly, through the solar panels on its backside.

During my testing of the unit, I charged it by leaving it outside to soak up some rays for a few hours. Thanks to the LED battery status indicator below the solar panels, I knew I had successfully charged up the Surge once all four bars were the color … wait for it … green (of course they are.)

Once attached to my increasingly obsolete 3G, I proceeded to use the hell out of my phone more than usual, just to see if the Surge worked as promised. Much to my surprise, it actually did. It seemed to add a good hour or so of extra juice to my iPhone 3G.

I’ll put it to you this way. I normally wake up at 9 a.m., use my phone throughout the day, and I’ll need to charge it up again, usually around 4 p.m. By using the Novothink Surge, I didn’t have to charge up again until almost 6:00 pm. For that alone, I applaud the hell out of this product.

But, does all that extra battery life actually make the Surge worth buying? Well, I guess that depends on your frame of mind. If you’re like me, and you’re either tired of all this “going green” nonsense or, if you couldn’t deal with additional bulkiness added to your iPhone, then I can’t justify paying nearly $70 for this thing.

However, if you’re one of those militant Eco-Nazi types who won’t even let their
house guests use paper napkins (wait, you want me to wipe my mouth with this rag? Gross!) and you’d rather use solar energy while using your iPhone, well, then pick up a Surge. It’s definitely no gimmick.

The Novothink Solar Surge for iPhone 3g and 3GS retails for $69.99.

Before I get into the meat of my review, let me preface it by telling you that I’m a card carrying Apple ballwasher of the highest order.

Yes, I’m one of “those people” who turn their nose up at anything that’s a P.C., I look forward to Steve Jobs’ press conferences like they’re the Superbowl, and I will not budge on my stance that Apple’s iPhone is the greatest cellphone ever produced, and it will never be topped by any company no matter how hard they try.

Apparently, I was very, VERY wrong.

After about a week of use, I have no doubt in my mind that the HTC Incredible is the fastest, most user friendly cellphone I’ve ever gotten my mitts on, and, it destroys my iPhone 3G.

*Feels awful for betraying my beloved, but now slow as a snail iPhone*

The HTC Incredible is so lightning fast, thanks to its 1GHz Snapdragon processor.

This means that everything, from watching YouTube videos, to sending an email, to posting on Facebook, to downloading new apps, happens almost instantaneously. And that’s WITHOUT the use of WiFi. With it, the speed of this phone is absolutely mind boggling.

Also helping this phone’s speediness, and helping me to forget about using my iPhone, is it’s software. The Incredible uses the new HTC Sense UI, and its ease of use can’t be put into words. So instead, here are some of the highlights of this operating system that I think you should know about.

• There are SEVEN home screens. You can pinch the home screen to view “cards” of all the home screens at once. Flickr is included and can be synced with your album on the phone
• The keyboard is awesome (more on that in a bit)
• Flash lite is included with the browser
• Integrated Twitter app

In regards to the HTC Incredible’s browser, it works great and renders web pages very fast. As I noted above, you DO get Flash lite, but not the full version, so don’t be surprised when every flash page that you go to doesn’t work properly. That little annoyance aside, I loved how easy everything is to use. You can “pinch-zoom” pages in as far as you want, you get a nice screen shot of bookmarked pages, and they can all be viewed in landscape or vertical configurations.

If the HTC Incredible’s speed and ease of use isn’t enough to get you salivating (and it should be) its sleek looks and feel might be the thing to convince you to purchase one. This is the thinnest smart phone I’ve ever held, and its styling is fantastic. It’s slightly curved, and rubberized on the back, adding a “grippy” feel to the phone, which is great for a klutz like me, who’s constantly dropping everything I touch.

The Incredible’s 3.7 inch, 480×800 WVGA AMOLED touch screen is also pretty bad ass. It’s super bright, very responsive, and has the perfect amount of haptic feedback.

Because of the Incredible’s responsive screen and large size, the phone’s keyboard is much easier to use than my iPhone 3G’s. It’s way faster (again, see the theme here?) and I loved how the user can hold down a key to get the “shift” row. I also liked how the manufacturer fit a comma and return key in place of a dedicated “smiley face” button. Oh, and if that’s not all cool enough, the HTC Incredible also has built in voice input on any text field, and much to my surprise, it actually works and I wasn’t able to trip it up!

And now, let’s get to the HTC Incredible’s camera.

Sorry iPhone 3G.

You’re being left in the dust, yet again. The Incredible’s camera is 8 megapixel, and has two LED flashes. The photos I took were the sharpest I’ve ever seen taken by a smart phone, and bursting with color and contrast. They’re also incredibly (pun intended) easy to take, what with the phone’s track-pad button or by simply pressing the screen. Zooming in and out, turning off the flash, and making any kind of adjustment to your snapped photo (brightness, saturation, etc..) is also a cinch, as is sending out any photo via text or email.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot — it makes phone calls, too.

For the week I used the HTC Incredible, I was reminded just how much I missed Verizon’s service, and just how shitty AT&T’s really is. I didn’t once have any issues with dropped calls, or any annoying “Can you hear me? HELLO!??” moments, like I’m wont to do with my iPhone 3G.

OK, enough gushing about this phone, and let’s just get to the bottom line. The HTC Incredible beats hell out of any other smart phone available as of this very moment.

If you’re a Verizon customer, and you’re looking to upgrade, get this phone immediately. If you’re a Verizon customer, and you’ve been seething iPhone envy, same thing. Buy it now. You’ve finally got something that’ll make a devout Apple dork like myself rethink their purchase of the once mighty iPhone.

Let this be a lesson, Steve Jobs. You’d better knock my socks off with the iPhone 4G this summer, or else I’m buying me an Incredible.

It is extremely hard to design a case to shield all the buttons and balls of the BlackBerry.

OtterBox somehow found a way to get as close as you can.

While you still can’t throw it in the ocean and make calls from the deep end of the pool, the OtterBox Defender. The tough plastic shell we’re used to with an OtterBox combines with an optional clear membrane to protect the screen and keyboard.

The case is surprisingly comfortable. It’s still easy to use the keyboard, but the trackball is a little more awkward. How awkward? It’s harder to play BrickBreaker and make those quick saves when the ball suddenly accelerates or jumps because you got a text message.

The OtterBox is comfortable, but practicality is a slight concern. It’s not waterproof. It protects against a few accidental drops of water, but that’s it. So you can’t really count on it when you’re in the canoe or something. I did find that it keeps a lot of the sand out at the beach, though.

OtterBox is a popular brand with outdoorsmen. I’m not sure how many hunters and fishermen carry a BlackBerry, but the OtterBox is as good as it gets. If you drop your phone a lot or work with your hands and are always banging your phone against something, the Defender is great.

As the search continues for an iPhone killer, the ball is in Blackberry’s court. The Storm has made a valiant effort, and once again, it’s a solution that’s just not as good as the iPhone.

The Blackberry Storm has implemented a new type of touchscreen. To beat the problems of a lack of accuracy that have faced other touchscreen phones, the Storm touchscreen is a two-step process. First, an item can be selected on the screen by placing a finger over it. The item will be highlighted to ensure that it is in fact the user meant to select. Then, the user presses down on the screen over the selected area and voila, item selected. While it works the majority of the time, but is a real pain and takes too much time and effort.

Blackberry phones are above all work phones, so the cross over to a fun, application based toy like the iPhone felt a bit awkward. Instead of being all work or all play, the Storm lost itself somewhere in the middle, making it a bit of a pain to access e-mails and the business functions, but equally as uninteresting to play games and use the other fun-based apps.

Typing on the Storm’s touch keypad is fairly simple, the implemented touch-and-tap system making accuracy all the easier. However, there are three types of messaging styles: the vertical QWERTY keyboard similar to the one used for the Blackberry Pearl can either be set to auto-text or normal and a horizontal full QWERTY keyboard. The problem with the three types of keypads is they are not universally implemented on the phone, and it is hard to be sure which type is being used.

The Storm is heavier than the other touchscreen phones out there, weighing in at 5.5 ounces. For someone used to the tiny Krazor, its 4.43″ by 2.45″ body was too awkward to hold comfortably.

The Storm’s 3.25 in. screen plays video and displays pictures beautifully, it’s auto-focus feature on its 3.2 mega pixel camera makes taking photos far easier than your standard camera phone fare and its music player booms sound out sufficiently. Verizon’s great VZ Navigator GPS feature tends to be a little laggy on the Storm, stating after a street is passed that it was the proper one to turn down. Blackberry’s venture into the touch screen is valiant and solid, it just doesn’t have anything unique to set it apart from the competition.

Close but no iPhone

Technically speaking, the Storm is a great phone. It doesn’t have any major flaws, and is sufficient for any phone users daily needs. However, that is as far as it goes. It does not have any stand-out features to set it above the rest of the touch screen phones out there. It certainly is not the best, though it weighs in about second in the race for the best touch phone on the market.

For Verizon customers, the Storm is better than the LG Dare, but no one has yet to come close to topping Apple and its iPhone.

With everyone’s eyes directed to the flashy touch screen phones, like the iPhone, the LG Dare, Sprint’s Instinct and the Blackberry Storm, one little touch screen phone seemed to have slipped under the radar. The Motorola Krave ZN4, though, is by far one of the best touch screen phones that has been released so far.

The Krave is unpretentious in a way that that the Dare, Instinct and Storm are not. No, it does not come close to besting the iPhone as the best touch screen phone out there, but the Krave offers new and unique capabilities and has one of the better touch screens in the market.

What sets the Krave apart, and confuses some at first glance, is that it combines the flip phone with the touch screen. The Krave has a clear cover that, in order to text message, access the internet or e-mails or talk on the phone, flips open like a normal flip phone would. However, when closed, users can touch through the cover to access new text messages or music, V Cast TV, photos or VZ Navigator; a helpful and compact way to use the Krave’s four main amenities. There is a “lock” switch on the side of the phone as well so that the touch buttons do not accidentally get pressed when the phone is put in a purse or pocket.

Though using the phone’s inner touch pad when it is locked causes some issues with the accuracy of the touch pad, the Krave has one of the best touch screens in the market. While it is not as accurate as the iPhone, the touch screen on the Krave buzzes back at the user whenever they touch the screen so they can tell whether the tap was registered or not. This comes in especially handy when using the key pad, which is a regular keypad when held vertically or a QWERTY keypad when held horizontally.

Similarly, the browser is one of the easier to use because of its own unique quirk: instead of just tapping on the link that the user wants to access and hoping that the phone registers the right one (one of the major problems with the Dare), the Krave has a pointer that lines up with the proper link, and the user clicks on the pointer to guarantee accuracy. There is no need for zooming in to try to click the appropriate tiny link with this helpful addition.

The inner menu is easy to navigate. By contrast to when the Krave is closed, the four main icons when it is opened are for messages, the dial pad, the full menu, and contacts. After clicking either the “Menu” button or just the bottom half of the touch screen, a full menu opens up, offering a full array of options from Bluetooth and Media Center to Tools and Settings. All access points in the phone can be reached via this menu.

Let’s be clear, these OtterBoxes are not meant to be stealth. They aren’t designed to stay out of the way. They aren’t there to be convenient. They exist to protect your asset like a big hulkin’ bodyguard pushing his way through the crowd.

They add weight, width and bulk to your devices, but they are one of the best solutions out there for active gadget geeks. The few and the proud.

Blast took a gander at three OtterBoxes: two “Armor” class boxes that waterproof iPod touch and Nano, and a “Defender” series case for the iPhone.

OtterBox Armor Case for 3G iPod nano (Clear)

OtterBox Armor Case for 3G iPod nano
$30 4 out of 5 stars

• Waterproof to 3 feet
• Dust, dirt, drop and scratch protection
• Click wheel still works
• Adds a ton of girth to the product

OtterBox Armor Series for iPod touch

OtterBox Armor Case for iPod touch
$40 4 out of 5 stars

• Completely changes look and feel of iPod
• Waterproof to 3 feet
• Dust, dirt, drop and scratch protection
• Interface still works thanks to thin protective membrane
• Makes the iPod look tough

OtterBox iPhone Defender

OtterBox Apple iPhone Defender Case
$65 3.5 out of 5 stars

• Bump, scratch and drop protection
• Not waterproof
• Less obtrusive than other boxes
• Very expensive for a cell phone case.
• Has a holster

How many times have you dropped your phone on the ground? Can you even remember the last time it fall out of your pocket and the cover split into tiny little pieces? Have you had waking nightmares of dropping your phone and never being able to put it back together?

Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme — or maybe it’s just us — but the fact is: phones are breakable. Before the only solution was an unattractive protective case or an expensive insurance policy, but now Motorola and Verizon are teaming up to come up with a better solution: an unbreakable phone.

And oh, did we try to break it.

The most damage we did to the new Motorola Adventure V750 was the plastic outer-coating protecting the battery falling off. The battery remained intact, the plastic piece was resilient, and the phone continued working unscathed.

While there is no guarantee that the phone will be able to survive a trip the bottom of a lake or being run over by an 18-wheeler, (our resources are only so vast) the Adventure can hold its own against whatever its owner wants to put it through.

The phone is a bit bulky and the material used to make it feels a bit cheap, but all that is part of the package: you can’t expect a sleek, flashy phone to survive a tumble down concrete stairs or falling to the ground while flipped open — yet.

The Adventure offers a great camera with 2.0 megapixels and loud speakers that make it easy to hear conversations over speakerphone or blast some downloaded music. The phone sports VZ Navigator and push-to-talk technology, but beyond that, it felt like just an average phone.

It’s not that the phone was lacking in anyways, it just didn’t have any features that put it above and beyond the rest. It just felt like one of the cheap phones that you get when you sign up with Verizon, albeit an extremely durable one. The Motorola Adventure is the phone for those who want a phone to just be a phone, but might need that extra bit of protection.

The Adventure can be bought on the Verizon website for $119.99 with a two-year contract or for $299.99 with a month to month contract.

While it is the right step in the right direction, the Adventure didn’t offer enough beyond a sweet camera, clear music playing, and a durable outer coating to really “Wow” us at Blast. If an unbreakable Blackberry Storm comes out, though, maybe we would be willing to dish the cash out for it.

The much-beloved social networking site Twitter allows users to keep their friends updated on their whereabouts and activities through status updates known as “tweets.”

Until recently, the most common ways to tweet were via Instant Message, Web, SMS or a desktop application; however, TwitterFone has developed a system that enables users to make a phone call, record their tweet, and let the company take care of the rest.

TwitterFone just launched into private beta and is currently inviting users to try out the service, so I figured I would give it a shot.

My experience with the service has been excellent. The registration process was extremely easy; just visit their website and fill out a form. Within minutes, I was given a number to instantly record my tweet.  Once again, the process was very user-friendly. Twitterers merely dial the number, record their tweet and hung up. The recorded message is then sent to TwitterFone where it is transcribed and relayed to your Twitter account.

I decided to put the service to the test by recording a tweet right when I woke up and got of bed in a voice still clogged with sleep and TwitterFone was able to understand my message without any mistakes. During the day, I decided to record even more tweets while I was out, and the service’s performance and reliability were top-notch.

Overall, TwitterFone is a new, great, convenient way of tweeting without the need to be stuck at your computer or using up valuable text messages for sending status updates. The service is currently free under private beta, but it’s unclear if the company will eventually begin charging users. If you’re interested in trying out TwitterFone, you can apply for an invite at: http://www.twitterfone.com/.

IOGEAR’s GearJuice is a nifty little product that’s perfectly handy for college students, glove compartments, suitcases and laptop bags.

It supplies emergency power to nearly any small, portable device, but not in that disposable, one use, drug store special kind of way. The rechargeable lithium polymer battery will fill up your cell phone’s gas tank three times before the GearJuice runs dry.

GearJuice will charge your Blackberry, iPod, iPhone, PDA, Bluetooth headset, cell phone and nearly any low-power device that takes a USB or mini-USB source. The device detects how much juice you gear needs and outputs the correct voltage.

The product can charge itself from any USB device — so you can just plug it into your laptop or desktop computer. It comes with six attachments, including iPod touch and iPhone and mini-USB connectors. Some models come with American and European wall plug adapters, but my model didn’t come with an AC adapter — which I didn’t mind because it’s actually much easier to charge the GearJuice right off my computer.

One small complaint: the GearJuice should have come with two full-size USB dongles. If you’re charging the device off USB, you aren’t left with a spare cable to go right ahead and charge up your cell phone or iPod at the same time. To this effect, GearJuice won’t turn your laptop into a power inverter.

The device itself charges up in a few hours from a dead, empty battery and IOGEAR says it will hold a charge for six months.

There are a variety of specialty adapters you can buy for GearJuice including the full-sized AC adapters and Samsung, LG and Motorola phone packs if — somehow — your phone doesn’t fit any of the included connectors. (When are all cell phones just going to charge and sync via mini-USB?)

Do yourself a favor, don’t throw out or lose the spare connectors. Put them somewhere where they won’t get lost or tossed. You’re probably going to break, lose or replace your cell phone within a year, and you’ll be crawling around trying to find the other connectors.

GearJuice is compact, comes in a soft, velvet carrying bag and priced right at under $30 on most websites. I approve.

Quick hits:

Developer: IOGEAR
Genre: Power
Launch Date: August 10, 2007

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Download facts and specs

After getting the iPhone, the hottest new gadget on the block, I needed to find some way to protect it.

It wouldn’t be good to get a brand new iPhone scratched up after a week, so I tried iSee from Contour Design.

In an odd note, the directions show how to take the iSee apart and put it back together. This was a bad packaging decision because the directions are packaged inside the iSee, and you need to open it to find the directions that show you how to open it.

Putting the iPhone in the iSee is actually easy. The back slides off and the iPhone just sits inside. Then the back just slides back on.

The case is raised on the front, allowing access to the power button, touchscreen and speaker. The side has a hole for the volume controls and the ringer disable button, while the back has a hole for the camera. The top and bottom also have holes for the dock, the headphone jack and the hold button.

All of the holes are curved with beveled sides. This is important on the front; the raised sides mean it is less likely to scratch the main screen. If the iPhone is dropped with the iSee on it, it will hit the sides and not the screen. Also, if it slides around it is sliding on the iSee not the iPhone, itself.

The iSee also comes with a handy belt clip.

Unfortunately, the side of the clip where it holds the iSee extends too far and makes it hard to press the keys on that side of the screen. This can be an aggravation when typing. The clip swivels on the back so the clip can be attached vertically or horizontally.

If the iPhone happens to hit a sharp point, however, the iSee might not be of any use. I also found it irritating when I couldn’t get to the side keys when the clip is on.

I think the iSee is a great product. It does a good job protecting the iPhone from most possible causes of damage. It doesn’t have anything over the screen so it is still possible to scratch up the screen. Apple seems to have done a good job on the screen though and made it hard to damage.

Overall, I give the iSee a 9 out of 10. It does a great job of protecting the iPhone without being obtrusive.

PopCap has released Bejeweled specially designed for the iPhone.

For an iPhone web site game, they did a very good job. Unfortunately it has many limitations, but they are all based in the way the iPhone deals with third-party games.

The game only plays in the portrait mode. If the iPhone is switched to landscape half the board is off the screen. The game plays by touching one of the jewels you want to move and then the one you want to swap it with. Since it’s a web application there is no timer on the game. It also seems like you should be able to drag the jewels, but the iPhone recognizes drags as trying to move the web page. It also runs slowly; this is a factor again of it running through the Internet.

Otherwise, Bejeweled for the iPhone plays just as good as any other implementation of bejeweled–giving the player more points for combos or for getting four or more in a row. When the bonus bar at the bottom fills it will remove jewels for you as a bonus, giving points for each. This also mixes up the board opening up new matches.

If you like Bejeweled, this is a good adaptation to the iPhone. So I give it a 7.5 out of 10. It’s well done. The game would be better if Apple lets PopCap write the game directly for the iPhone. Since the game is available for free from their site check it out.

Note: You can only find the game via the iPhone’s Safari browser — PopCap’s website can tell if you’re coming from that browser, and in that case the option for the free Bejeweled for iPhone appears. Special thanks to Garth Chouteau over there at PopCap for the info.

I took the sim card out of my old formerly-Cingular phone and inserted it into the shiny new iPhone.

I plugged it into my computer.

iTunes came up said it found an iPhone and asked me to activate it. iTunes listed the phone number attached to the account asked a couple questions to verify who I was. The software waited for an activation message, which arrived less than five minutes later.

Then I made my first iPhone-to-computer sync.

–

Most of the phone is very well layed out. It’s easy to use, and the cover flow looks really nice, though it’s mostly Eye Candy, that I could do without.

It’s an iPod, Safari web browser, e-mail client and, of course, cell phone all in one.

In the built-in iPod, when you find a music album you want to listen to, clicking on it flips the album around, and on the back is a list of all the songs in that particular album. A little flick of the finger sets things in motion, and that feature makes it so easy to scroll through a long list of items.

I would even venture to say it works better than the old iPod spining wheel paradigm.

On the Safari, web-enabled portion of the iPhone, I find I do a lot of zooming in and out and a lot of moving the page around to find what I’m looking for. Pages often load slow and lag.

Google maps seems to fly, though. The satellite images take time to load, but the streets load fast enough that you can scroll around and only have momentary pauses waiting for the details. The directions on the maps application is hit and miss.

The weather app is fairly straightforward. It lists weather for up to the next five days downloaded of the Internet. Stocks also available and look like the OSX widget ported over to the mobile device. Similarly most of the applications feel and look like they are widgets recompiled to run on the iPhone.

This makes me wonder if, when Apple talked about a SDK for the iPhone, they were just going to allow people to recompile widgets to run on it.

YouTube, is still mostly bare. It runs nice, but since they have to convert all their videos to the compatible format, you don’t get as many results as you would on an actual computer. I expect this will get better once YouTube has converted their video’s from flash to the h.264 format.

The on board camera acts like any other camera phone, but takes higher quality snapshots. It’s still not designed for more than quick pictures, with few options beyond pressing the click button.

The photo app is one of the better features. It is extremely easy to use and looks nice. It allows the user to move picture saround and zoom in and out. It’s nice that if your looking at a picture and you want to show someone across from you; just flip over the iPhone and it automatically flips the image so it’s not upside down.

On the flip side, if you have an image in your library that isn’t oriented correctly it will display it incorrectly, and if you try to rotate the iPhone to compensate it will keep rotating the image. I had to go through all my images and make sure they were all oriented the right way.

The pinch and stretch functions work nice for zooming in and out to see the details of the image.

There is a calendar application, which works nicely. It feels like iCal, just on a smaller screen.

Text entry throughout the phone works surprisingly well. I hit the wrong keys every so often, but the iPhone figures out what I wanted to type and corrects it for me. If it suggests something wrong the user can ignore it. The magnification for moving text around is good too.

The mail application doesn’t work well with Gmail. It only supports Pop3, and because of that it has quickly gotten annoying. It downloads all your messages new and old, and they all appear as new messages on your iPhone. This makes it hard to tell if you actually got a new message.

The text app, looks and feels like iChat, only instead of using AIM under the covers, it is using SMS messaging. With AT&T’s default policy of 200 text messages this could easily run out and become expensive.

I’m hoping that people will discover a way to use AIM instead which would be free, with the standard unlimited data package, providing the same features of SMS.

Now, finally we have to remember that iPhone is still A phone.

The contact list is a sorted list of names that can be synced directly from your computer, which gives you the names and addresses wherever you are. They scroll like the iPod, so it’s really easy to find someone. It also adds two ways to sort them; either by groups, or the user can add their favorites to a smaller list.

The iPhone does feel weird holding it up to your ear. The included headphone/microphones work nice to compensate. Voicemail is purely digital. It feels like the messages are downloaded over the data connection and stored on the phone, instead of calling in to retrieve your messages.

So is iPhone a good deal?

I found it to be a lot of fun. Whether it is worth its price tag or not is up to the user. I will note though there are more pricing issues with it than just the initial expense. AT&T removes any discounts the user has from their account upon activating the iphone. They also will not allow you to insure the iPhone. I admit Apple Care is great, but if you drop it yourself, you may be on your own and out $500-$600.