As someone who has been using a PDA since the HP95LX twenty years ago and Windows CE since the Pegasus days, you’d think I would be an easy sell on a Windows Mobile Phone. So did I … but it turns out that I was wrong. I had a horrible experience with the HTC Touch Pro 2 and couldn’t be rid of it soon enough, which was surprising since I loved Windows Mobile 6.1 on my Dell Axim x51v. I had heard that Windows Mobile 6.5 makes the phone experience better, but there was no solution on Verizon (actually just came out last week!), and I wasn’t going to take the chance of getting stuck with the TP2 by mucking about with a hacked upgrade. So after I got my smartphone stuff handled I took a trip back to XDA-Developers forums to see if there was a WiMo 6.5 update available for the Axim. There was, so naturally I gave it a shot. So what do I think? Read on to see!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In the midst of the on-going financial call financial analyst Gene Munster asked the pointed question as to what the advantage of sticking with AT&T as a carrier is in light of all the issues that have been reported with the network. It was an awesome question in its attempt to get some corroboration of the rumors that iPhone exclusivity on AT&T is ending this Wednesday. The Apple rep didn’t take the bait but The Boy Genius Report may have just the information we need. According to a current post on the site… One of our connects just told us that Verizon Wireless has a “kick off” event in the beginning of Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple is having a big week starting now. The conference call on their Q1 financial results is taking place right now. We’re on the call and will update the post as the information comes in…. Best Quarter Ever!  ”Record 15.68 Billion” Blew away best previous Quarter by an increase of 3 1/2 Billion 3.38 billion net revenue $3.57 earnings per share 33% year over year growth in Mac sales year over year. Sold 21 million iPods iPod touch up 65% year over year Over… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’re anything like me, chances are you juggle a few Apple devices around.  Personally I use an iPhone, iPod Touch and an iPod Classic.  Each device uses Apple’s dock connector on the bottom, to which I insert a charge/sync cable when it comes time to either hook the device to iTunes or add some additional power to the battery. I’ve got one Apple charge and sync cable hooked up to my iMac which means I can charge or sync one of my three devices at any one time. At least that used to be the case……. Thanks to the new DuaLink cable from CableJive I can now charge and sync two of my Apple devices at once. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Late last year I was introduced to Sleek Audio, and among their earphones’ features, I was impressed by their unique method of insuring a customized listening experience through the utilization of removable and interchangeable in-ear ports – even on their entry level model, the SA1. While I enjoyed the SA1 earphones very much and was quite impressed with their quality, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to use one of their more specialized sets, specifically the Sa6.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We have read about how many copies the 2009 mega-hit game Modern Warfare 2 sold, but that was across three different gaming systems. Now a game that is a Wii-port of a super-popular DS game of the same titles that is essentially a new version of a classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game has claimed the crown for being the fastest game to sell 10 million copies. The game has been out for eight weeks in North America and Europe and less than a month in Japan. Most folks anticipate that within a few months at most New Super Mario Bros Wii (NSMB) will have greatly outsold Modern Warfare 2, which has performed like a blockbuster… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

PDAir makes cases and accessories for a wide range of mobile devices.  Their products are typically well made and reasonably priced.  We’ve reviewed PDAir cases on Gear Diary before, recently reviewing a couple of their iPhone 3G/3GS cases.  So, when PDAir offered to provide Gear Diary with a couple of their new Motorola Droid cases to review, we said yes. As a still relatively new device, there is a fairly limited range of cases available for the Droid.  Sure, you can pick up snap-on covers for the Droid at the Verizon store, but they don’t offer much protection for the screen.  To date, PDAir has released several Droid cases offering all-round protection, including book-type and flip-type cases, horizontal and vertical pouches, and a couple of variations on an aluminum case.  For our review, they sent us a book-type case and a vertical pouch with belt clip, both in black leather.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Love the form factor of your iPhone but want to keep it protected from scratches? Measuring at only .08mm the new “Nude” case from SwitchEasy is the thinnest case for the iPhone 3G and 3Gs I’ve seen.  I had the opportunity to see all the colors live at CES 2010 and bring one home for review.  I’ve held off on my review because the cases weren’t officially available yet but that’s all changed today with the Nude’s release.  If you want the least amount of bulk in a case but still keep the back of your phone covered the Nude is what you’re looking for. The case comes… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Aperion has released a new product called the Home Audio Link.  With the Aperion Home Audio Link, you can stream audio from your computer, mobile phone, iPod, iPhone, MP3 Player or any audio source throughout your home.  The Home Audio Link can stream to up to 3 rooms. Specifications: Uncompressed digital audio transmission: 14-bit depth and 48 KHz sampling rate when using up to three Aperion HAL Receivers SNR: 91 dB / 85 dB when using three HAL Receivers simultaneously Range: Up to 100 feet Frequency band: 2.4 GHz Auto-search/synch and dynamic channel selection Forward error correction coding, error detection, and audio-specific error concealment Diversity antennas for strong signals through walls and floors Low latency at… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of CNET T-mobile announced a few weeks ago that the coveted HTC HD2 will be coming to US shores. According to the HTC, the phone will be receiving a nice upgrade before the trip over the pond. Specs show that the phone will have a RAM and ROM update for the US which makes is more compatible with the new 7 mobile OS coming later this year. The original specs are 512MB Rom and 448MB Ram. The new specs will boost the memory to 1GB Rom and 576MB of Ram, which is a nice boost and will be the highest Internal Rom and Ram on a US handset. Another nice bonus thrown in is a 16GB MicroSD card over… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our friends at PS3Maven have let us know about the latest cool PS3 mod – this one right up my alley as a big fan of handheld gaming! This was created by a modder called BronckartN, who has created a wireless interface that allows you to control and watch on a portable device while the console remains elsewhere. Quite cool – check the video to see it in action! Source: PS3Maven Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I was on a Norwegian Cruise Lines “Cruise to Nowhere” this weekend, and on each floor they had large LCD monitors letting you know what was going on around the ship, such as which restaurants had a wait, and what bars were on which deck. Apparently they might want to switch over to Firefox, as Internet Explorer had a little trouble keeping up — and it pooped out a little before midnight on Deck 13!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This GearDeal is truly a DEAL! (and it likely won’t last long!) Our GearSponsor has tracked down a NEW 15.6-inch eMachines 2.2GHz Celeron Laptop for just $279.99 plus $15 shipping. Seriously, for less than many netbooks you’ll get a 15″ screen, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, a 250GB Hard Drive, a 5-in-1 card reader, a DVD RW optical drive and more. Oh, and unlike all those netbooks this deal comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS! This is a serious notebook for under $300 shipped! eMachines eME525-2200 15.6-in 2.2GHz Laptop w/ Windows 7 for $279.99 via… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(all photos courtesy MobileRead) Post-CES, everyone has been patiently waiting for the flood of e-ink screens due to be released. Well, Mobileread caught pictures of the Asus DR-950 on Flickr, and from looks alone these might be enough to make you rethink your gadget budget this year! There’s no word on pricing yet, but here is what is known, courtesy of Register Hardware: The DR-950 measures 222 x 161 x 9mm and weighs in at 370g. A full battery charge – which Asus said takes 3.5 hours – will let owners read for up to four days. Recharges over USB 2.0 will be possible. The machine will support PDF and ePub file formats, Asus said. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Deep Blue besting Gary Kasparov was a landmark moment in artificial intelligence, so much so that it has become almost a cliche of artificial intelligence. It’s even been stolen as a plotline for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles“! Interestingly, the plotline for T:TSCC actually hits very close to Gary Kasparov’s own thoughts on computers playing chess; that it isn’t when a computer goes through the motions that it really plays chess, but when it learns to be creative and think outside set, analytic strategies.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …