Gear Diary » Mitchell Oke

The Motorola Droid RAZR Android Phone Review

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:00:07 +0000

The battle for “World’s Thinnest” presses on with the release of Motorola’s latest flagship. Resurrecting the name of a phone that became an icon, the RAZR is back, but aside from the name, it bears little resemblance to the phone-in-skinny-jeans of 2004. The new RAZR, or the XT910 as Motorola define it, is an Android slate measuring a trim 7.1mm at its thinnest point, handily eclipsing the Galaxy S II’s now portly 8.49mm figure. Make no mistake; this is a seriously thin phone. But like a Lamborghini, it may hug the ground when laid flat, but it’s seriously wide. At 69mm its wider than the G S II’s 66mm, and completely dwarfs the iPhone 4S at 58.6mm. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

WiFi Sync your iPhone and iPad using Personal Hotspot

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:15:33 +0000

One of the coolest features in iOS 5 WiFi syncing, which I now use far more often than USB syncing. Being able to hit "Sync" on my MacBook for my iPad while it's still in my bag (it only needs charging every few days) makes me giggle every time I do it. It's just so simple, and works so effectively every time. With it, new music, an updated playlist, and a few new apps are just a click away. Obviously this functionality is normally used over a WiFi connection at home or the office, but it turns out you can actually use WiFi sync when you're mobile too. As a regular user of the Personal Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iOS 5.0.1 Over-the-Air – How’d You Fare?

Mitchell Oke — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:00:23 +0000

This morning the world was greeted with iOS 5.01, a rather minor update designed to address the less-than-stellar battery life that people are reporting. Personally my iPhone 4S has been pretty good on the juice, but both my dad and sister have had major problems with their phones dropping 20% in as little as an hour. In addition to fixes to improve battery life, iOS 5.0.1 adds additional multitouch gestures to the original iPad (I want these on my iPhone...) and resolves iCloud issues. Us Aussie's get a special mention, with improvements to Siri to better understand our "foreign" accent.

I've run the update over-the-air this morning on both my iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Both were done over WiFi (a requirement) while on battery power, and were performed in under 15 minutes, from hitting the download button to the device being ready for use. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ask Siri anything…as long as you’re in the US

Mitchell Oke — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:15:54 +0000

Having trekked down to the Apple Store this morning, I had no trouble picking up my brand new white 64GB 4S. The feature I was most interested in trying was Siri, the "Personal Assistant" included with every new 4S, but unfortunately between the US and the rest of the world, everything is not equal.

Asking Siri to find the closest petrol station greeted me with this unexpected rebuff:

Having had a look through the Apple Australia website and rewatched the Siri section of the keynote (link), I can't find anywhere that Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Lining Up for the iPhone 4S, Australian Style!

Judie Stanford — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:30:33 +0000

Rather than lie in bed lazily this morning (or tomorrow morning, for those of us in the United States), Mitchell has been waiting patiently in line at a local Apple Store along with a crowd of other hopeful iPhone 4S owners.

The irony of photographing the Apple launch on the EVO 3D. I should have brought the Galaxy S II! :P

In an email with the subject line, "I'm a nerd," Mitchell let me know how his morning was going. Well of course you're a nerd, Mitchell! But there's no shame in it, and you're in good company!

After all, I'm the dork that was up until 4am the morning of the 7th, making sure

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Kogan Launches 8″ and 10″ Android Tablets

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:15:57 +0000

As Michael pointed out this week, pricing of some upcoming tablets has shown that the manufacturers haven't been listening. Some people want tablets, but most want iPads, and to get the average consumer interested, the price needs to be low enough to make it an impulse buy.

Kogan's new Android tablets look to fit the bill. Available in 8" 800x600 (SVGA) and 10" 1024x768 (XGA) models, the tablets come with Gingerbread 2.3 (no Honeycomb here, folks), a single core 1GHz Cortex A8 processor with 512MB RAM, 4GB built-in storage, microSD slot (up to 32GB can be added) HDMI output and a front-facing 2.0 megapixel camera. Prices start from AU$149 for the 8" model, and Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Satellite Navigation GPS Review: Navigon 40 Plus

Mitchell Oke — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:00:02 +0000

The increasing reach of smartphones has called into question the usefulness of many dedicated devices, from music and video players, to compact cameras, and of course the ever-useful GPS. With GPS and turn-by-turn navigation almost standard equipment on Android devices, and the prevalence of iPhones, one could be forgiven for retiring their trusty nav and leaving their destination in the care of their phone. Realising this, several of the top navigation device companies have put their eggs in several baskets, with versions of their software and maps available for smartphones across the globe. A personal favourite of mine is Navigon’s iOS app. It’s clear, easy to use, has excellent mapping display and can harness Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: HTC Desire HD / AT&T Inspire 4G

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:00:15 +0000

Mitchell Back in early 2010 I reviewed the HTC Desire, and I liked it a lot. I liked it so much that I actually bought one the day that it was launched here (which lined up well with the day the review unit went back). Unfortunately the love affair ended about 2 months later, and I returned to my iPhone. Why? Apps. Not just the selection of apps, but the polish that so many iOS apps display that other platforms didn’t at the time. My iPhone also had the major advantage of being jailbroken so it was even better. As it stands my iPhone 4 sits on Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

NAVIGON Celebrates 2 Million Users with 50% Off

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:00:40 +0000

NAVIGON have proudly announced that their MobileNavigator app is now on the screens over 2 million iOS and Android devices, and to celebrate are offering all their apps for half-price. Having used the NAVIGON app on my iPhone 3G and iPhone 4, it's easily one of the best on the market, with lane guidance, spoken street names and a simple route options screen to take you where you want to go, the way you want to go. Integrated Google search makes finding POIs a cinch, and the 3D mapping display is clear and easy to follow. Be quick though, as the sale is only for 4 days! Pricing available in the press release Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

MacBook Air 11-inch First Impressions

Mitchell Oke — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:00:26 +0000

When Apple announced the new MacBook Air, I knew that I would be buying one. It looked to fix the issues that I had with the first one and fitted into my current situation better than my 13” MacBook Pro. I purchased the 13” MacBook Pro as soon as it came out. At the time it combined the right size, performance and battery life that I needed whilst at uni, catching the train every day, and needing to do a bit of video editing at home and on the move. That has changed however, since I no longer use my laptop for video editing, and in a lot of cases I want to be Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

HTC Android Devices Screenshotting Your Browsing?

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:00:40 +0000

Tonight I was reading an interesting article on The Boy Genius Report about a curious quirk with the HTC Sense UI on the DROID Incredible. As it turns out, to display those neat previews of websites in the UI the browser is taking screenshots of the site. Doesn't sound so unsurprising does it? What is odd is the way that the phone is storing those screenshots for future reference. According to BGR, these screenshots are stored on the phone's internal storage drive where they are easily viewed in any picture viewing application. What's worse is they are NOT deleted if you do a full reset on the phone. Bit of a privacy concern should you sell the phone without deleting these files!

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: Navigon 6300 Sat Nav

Mitchell Oke — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:00:53 +0000

Navigon’s latest entry into the increasingly crowded sat-nav market looks to be a cracker with a 4.3” display, Bluetooth hands-free phone and a sleek design that makes it easy to hide away when not in use. In my two week test of the Navigon 6300, it really impressed!

Out of the box you get everything you need to get up and running in the car. A very secure windshield mount is fully adjustable to achieve the best viewing angle, no matter what car you are mounting it in, and the power adaptor has a sufficiently long cord should your lighter socket be in an awkward position.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple Announces Australian iPad Pricing

Mitchell Oke — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:25:24 +0000

For those of us outside the US, the pricing for the Apple iPad has been a waiting game, pushed back even further by the delay in launching the device in international markets. Tonight Apple lifted the lid on their pricing for the Australian market, and initial estimates have so far proven fairly accurate, with the official prices looking to be slightly lower than expected.

All six models will be available on May 28th, with pre-orders beginning May 10th. The range starts at AU$629 for the 16GB WiFi iPad, stretching to AU$1049 for the 64GB WiFi+3G model.

16GB WiFi - AU$629
16GB WiFi+3G - AU$799
32GB WiFi - AU$759
32GB WiFi+3G -

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: Uniden Wireless Power Charging System

Mitchell Oke — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:00:27 +0000

Though I’ve never had the opportunity to use a Palm Pre, one thing I know I would like from it is the optional Touchstone charger. The ability to just put down the phone and have it start charging, then pick it up when a you want to use it without having to disconnect cables is a great idea. When I was offered to try Uniden’s new wireless charging system I was looking forward to seeing how handy it really is.

The Uniden Wireless Power kit consists of two components: the wireless base, and the adaptors that link the base to the charging port of your device.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: HTC Desire with HTC Sense and Android 2.1

Mitchell Oke — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:00:33 +0000

While the Google Nexus One has been on the market for a few months now, its HTC-branded brother has only just started to make it out. I’ve been using the HTC Desire for the last week or so, and it has surprised me just how good it really is.

HTC have been a bit presumptuous from the get-go, calling the phone the Desire. While it looks quite different from it’s Google branded sibling, the two phones are very similar underneath. Both share the same 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 3.7” 800x480 AMOLED capacitive display, and run Android 2.1. There are a few minor changes to the hardware, such as the inclusion of an FM radio in the Desire

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: Dell Vostro 3700 with Core i5

Mitchell Oke — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:00:50 +0000

With the plethora of netbooks on the market today sporting 9, 10 and 11” screens, is easy to forget notebooks weren’t always so small. Meet the Dell Vostro 3700, a huge 17.3” desktop replacement powered by Intel’s new Core i3, i5 and i7 range of processors. The 3700 is part of Dell’s Vostro refresh which includes the 3300 (13”), 3400 (14”) and the 3500 (15”). Out of the box there is no getting around the fact this is a very large laptop. While it is not overly thick, it makes its presence known with that big screen. It feels heavier than it’s advertised 2.7kg weight would suggest too.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Windows Phone 7 Coming to the HTC HD2, From Russia with Love

Mitchell Oke — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:00:32 +0000

As Judie, Clinton and I put the finishing touches on a three-way review of the most impressive Windows Mobile 6.5 device today, the Russians have been busy trying to give us what Microsoft won't: Windows Phone 7. Due to its button design falling outside the requirements of Windows Phone 7, the HD2 was destined to live out its life in the increasingly dull world of Windows Mobile.

Things may be about to change with photos and videos demoing a version of Windows Phone 7 running on an HTC HD2, in almost all it's glory. At this point it's a tad choppy while they work on getting the graphics drivers up to speed, and it hasn't been released onto the interwebz yet, but as a fan of the hardware and only so-so on the software, this could make me take up an HD2 full time, if only to enjoy the latest in this space that Microsoft has to offer.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Skooba 40% off $40+ Sale

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:45:51 +0000

If you're in need of a new bag for your gear and have been holding off, or are looking for a change, wait no longer! Many of us here are Skooba bag fans (myself included), and they are having a ripper of a sale across their range of bags and accessories. The catch? You have to checkout their blog at www.skoobablog.com, which keeps you up to date on the latest news and product releases from Skooba. Amongst the posts you'll find a 7-digit code hidden in a post or a photo that will give you 40% off a cart filled with over $40 worth of items! The coupon ends on 3/26/10 so get in quick! Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

AblePlanet True Fidelity with Linx Audio Review

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:04:08 +0000

Having done some traveling during December, you start to get used to the accompanying rumble associated with it, be it from passengers waiting for a plane or the sound of an engine a few feet from your ear. The best way to completely drown the world out is with a decent pair of headphones, and if you couple those with noise canceling you are onto a winner.

While noise-canceling headphones have typically been a pricey proposition, these new ‘phones from AblePlanet come in at just $129.99, and seem to be pretty good value. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Jabra HALO Bluetooth Headphones Review

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:03:14 +0000

Jabra None of the previous Bluetooth headphones that I have had the chance to use have really felt “right”. Many of them were either just like two enormous earbuds in each ear tethered to each other with a wire behind my head, or were too large to chuck in my slender laptop bag that I carted to uni everyday.

The idea of cutting the cord between my head and my pocket was a good one, but there were just too many drawbacks. That’s until I tried the Jabra Halo, which has brought me that much closer to wireless freedom. The Jabra Halo are headphones first up, so they don’t make you look like you’ve been assimilated by the Borg with bits sticking out of your ears. The back of the ear pads are finished in a dark sparkling grey, whilst the band is matte black. The headphones have a soft black lining on the inside which keeps them secure on your head.

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Gear Diary’s SEV Christmas

Judie Stanford — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:30:32 +0000

baby, it's cold outside ...

This year, Gear Diary has hit several milestones; I wanted to do something super-special to mark the event and thank the writers, other than just sending items from their Amazon Wish Lists which is what I have done in the past. After wracking my brain, I wrote to Scott Jordan, a long time friend and owner of SCOTTEVEST; I asked him what kind of price break he could give me if I ordered jackets in bulk, and his answer was surprisingly do-able. Why go with SeV? The answer for me was simple: they are extremely well made, I love their products, these items hold up over time, I think their products look great, I wanted to support a business that I believe in, and I could get item ordered personalized with the Gear Diary logo! :lol: Scott set me up with his custom embroidery guy (Rick from S&R Monogramming), and together they made sure that the Gear Diary writers were perfectly outfitted for the winter weather. After everyone had received their packages, I asked them to send me a picture of them wearing their jackets, along with a few sentences telling what they like -- or don't like -- about SeV products in general. We are all different shapes and sizes, and I thought it would be interesting to not only see how we all looked in our new gear, but also hear what everyone thought about it. :-) Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iPhone OS Wishlist: Going Beyond Version 3.1

Thomas R. Hall — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:19:13 +0000

photo credit: Josh Bancroft Among the chief complaints of the early iPhone OS releases were major missing features available in other phones, such as copy/paste, MMS, Stereo Bluetooth (and other Bluetooth profiles), to name a few. Those features have been added in subsequent iPhone OS releases, to the joy of consumers who sorely missed them, and to the disdain of iPhone haters (as it gave them less to complain about). Since Judie compiled a comprehensive post on our thoughts on upcoming iPhone hardware, we thought it would be interesting to generate a similar wishlist of iPhone OS software features. And we're not necessarily talking about 3.x release features, but even more major 4.x type updates ...

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Star Trek Cufflinks – For Boldly Going to Dinner

Mitchell Oke — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:03 +0000

If you are one of the many millions of Star Trek fans around the world, and aren't afraid to publicise the fact, then this may be just up your alley. Cufflinks.com have expanded their lineup to include several new Star Trek designs, including emblems from Starfleet Command and the Klingon Empire.

From the Press Release:

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the officially licensed CBS Star Trek Cufflinks, Cufflinks, Inc. has expanded the Star Trek line of products to include 7 additional designs for Trekkies everywhere. Attached are jpegs of the new designs. If you should need high res images or more information, please do not hesitate to let me know. Star

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iPod nano 5th Gen First Look

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:00:25 +0000

As I'm sure many of you know Apple have announced their latest refresh of the iPod Touch and iPod nano lines, and while neither were really overhauled the nano picked up a few more features than its big brother. It's been widely speculated that the iPod line-up would gain cameras, but the rumours were only half right, with the Nano squeezing in a VGA 30fps camera, whilst the Touch had to make do with a performance boost and higher capacities. The look hasn't really changed much, with the same basic design of the 4th generation Nano. It is still super slim and super light, but fits a slightly larger 2.2" display, which is wider and has a higher resolution than before. Now at 376x240 instead of 320x240, widescreen videos are bigger and result in less black bars than before, however it is still a very tiny screen, and if you are looking to watch anything longer than short TV episodes or podcasts I'd recommend picking up a Touch. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Taking the Gorillapod to the Extreme!

Mitchell Oke — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:22:08 +0000

My dad made the rather exciting purchase of a jet ski some months ago, and during the summer it was an absolute hoot to go out on the water and race around doing over 100kph (62mph) under the warm sun. I wanted to get some video to show just how quick the jet ski was, but mounting a camera in such a way that it wouldn't fall off proved difficult. Then it occured to me: the Gorillapod. With its flexible legs I could surely work out some way of mounting it on the front of the jet ski. Dan reviewed the Gorillapod a few days ago, and after showing him my little test of it he insisted I put my thoughts up too. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

HTC Touch Diamond2 Review

Mitchell Oke — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:57:27 +0000

Anyone who read my review of the original Touch Diamond will know I wasn’t all that big a fan. In my experience it was slow, cheaply made and its battery life was appalling. The great thing about HTC is they keep trying and seem to learn from past mistakes, which made me all the more interested in testing the Diamond2. Off the bat I’d like to talk about looks, since that was one of the big selling points of the original. Whilst the Diamond was wrapped in a consumer-style glossy plastic shell, that upon closer inspection felt cheap, the Diamond2 has grown up. Gone is the massive plasticy buttons below the display, instead replaced with four slim brushed aluminium ones that just exude quality. The brushed aluminium also borders the whole front of the device, and looks much classier than the usual chrome bling a lot of phones are going for these days (including the Touch Pro2). Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Tip: Getting to Locations from the iPhone Calendar

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:50:22 +0000

One of the things that I found odd on the iPhone was the inability to use Google Maps to plot a route to a locations directly from the calendar. Consider how easy Apple have made almost everything else on the iPhone, it seemed to be a rather odd omission. You can easily navigate to an address or dial a number out of an email, but why not the calendar?

This evening however I found a rather neat trick that manages to get around this problem with almost no fuss whatsoever. Take this calendar item I have for tomorrow (well, today really). I'm getting my car serviced, and put the address of the place I'm taking the car

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

HTC Magic Review Part 2

Mitchell Oke — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:01:59 +0000

It’s been a month now since I posted my first impressions, and it’s time to fess up my thoughts on the HTC Magic. Truth be told, it has truly surprised me! User Interface The Android user interface is simple yet elegant, and was definitely designed with finger actions in mind. Unlike Windows Mobile, Android never makes you wish for a stylus. Icons are nicely sized, menus are large and the flicking motions to advance lists, web pages and menus become second nature as soon as you start using the phone. For some reason Android feels a lot nicer on the Magic that it did on the Dream, perhaps due to the way the Magic fits perfectly in hand and can be used (for the most part) with either one or two hands. The one thing that could do with a bit of work out of the box is the icon set, some of them feel a bit childish. The preinstalled theme is up to the carrier though, and replacement themes can be installed easily through the Market to address this. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

How Much Power Does a 3G Modem Draw?

Mitchell Oke — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:35:58 +0000

I received my brand new 13” MacBook Pro about a week ago and for the most part (a few software issues at the moment), I am loving it. One thing I have noticed is that the battery life I’ve been getting hasn’t really been all that close to what others have been reporting online. Anandtech tested the 15” model they have and were able to quite happily achieve close to what Apple said you should be, so why is it I’ve been getting quite a fair bit under 4hrs out of my machine? Initially I thought it might be because my battery was so new and hadn’t been “broken in” yet. It is now nearing on 10 cycles and life hasn’t really changed.

That was until last night, when I was using it for the first time on battery at home. I had an indicated 6hrs of battery life remaining, something I had yet to see on this machine. This intrigued me, but initially I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then it came to me: 3G. Whenever I take my laptop out of the house, it is faithfully accompanied by a USB 3G modem. And almost every time I use my laptop out of the house, it is connected up to provide sweet internets. Unfortunately the coffee shops I visit at the moment do not have free WiFi, so I have to the use the 3G modem if I want to get online. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

My First Impressions of the 13″ MacBook Pro

Mitchell Oke — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:01:36 +0000

Since Dan posted his thoughts on the new 13” Pro compared to the previous 13” non-Pro, I thought I’d throw together the thoughts I’ve had in my first day of ownership as well. I bought my very first Mac back in 2006 and I have never looked back. It was a second generation 15” MacBook Pro, the first of the Core 2 Duo models, and it was fantastic. Beautiful screen, super fast, looked great and ran an OS that I would become very happy with. Today that laptop headed off to its new owner as yesterday I took delivery of Apple’s latest revision of the MacBook Pro. After 24hrs with it I’ve found a lot I like, and a few little niggles to keep my upgrading bug happy. The model I ordered is actually the base model 13” MacBook Pro, which came in at a grand total of AU$1749 including a $150 discount for being a student. At this price I really feel it is a bargain, since I can’t think of any other machine at this price range that looks as good, feels as solid and is as compact considering the hardware it contains. Continue reading on Gear Diary ...