Bodyguardz offers some slick options for using and/or enhancing your various mobile products. Sure they offer their BodyGuardz UltraTough Clear Skins but they also offer a line of BodyGuardz armor skins (my favorites!), cases and even their own brand of earphones, the earjax. (I have a pair of the earwax that I bought on CyberMonday and they are great!)

Well, Bodyguardz has been kind enough to provide two discount codes for use on their site and, this weekend, we’ll be giving them away.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon via AmazonWireless. This is one impressive smartphone. It features a 4.65″ 720×1280 HD Super AMOLED display, has a speedy dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor, has 1GB RAM and comes with 32GB built-in storage. A 5MP rear camera (1080p video capable) and a 1.3MP front camera let you take images, grab video and make video calls. It also has NFC connectivity, 4G speeds when available, a microUSB slot and, of course, Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi. It is also the first phone running the new Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Off contract the phone is $749.99 and at Verizon it is $299.99 on contract. With… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Cold weather and touchscreen don’t go together. More accurately, they did not go together until now. Yes, if you use an iPhone, Android device, Windows Phone or tablet there are now a host of touchscreen-friendly glove options on the market. We take a look at two such offerings in this video.

From iTouch Touchscreen 3 in 1 Gloves:

Stay Warm and Stay Connected: iTouchTM Touchscreen Gloves with conductive yarn in the fingertips allow you to use your iPod, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, eReader Touch and other touchscreen devices without having to take your gloves off in the cold weather

The JawBone JamBox was released in November of 2010. Yes, that’s almost a year and half ago… ancient by today’s tech standards. So you might be wondering why we’re covering it NOW. The reason is simple: although it was released almost a year and a half ago the JamBox is still the best portable Bluetooth speaker on the market and, thanks to updates and additional apps for it the speaker just keeps getting better and better. Thomas was quick to buy one when it was first released but I held back and only got one a few months ago. I wish I hadn’t waited because it really is an incredible little device. I like it so much in fact that I purchased one for Elana to use when she is training clients.

Oh, and there is another reason we shot the video now… it was the first time since I got JamBox-ified that Thomas and I were together. So here’s a quick video of Thomas and me talking about the device and why it’s become one of our favorite gadgets. Yes November of 2010 was quite a while ago but this is one piece of gear that isn’t even close to becoming long in the tooth.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

We know that Dan is a big fan of the Sonos Wireless HiFi system based on his reviews last year of the PLAY:5 and PLAY:3, as well as his recent video showing how easy it is to set up the system. One thing that holds some people back from a Sonos system is the cost associated with it. Even though these are high-performance systems, the initial entry cost may be high enough to cause some hesitation in the purchasing process. (Though Dan has said to me that it is well worth it.) Well, Target is sweetening the deal for a limited time, so if you haven’t yet made the jump and are interested, read on.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Here at CES last year I was introduced to a new earbud company. YurBuds was offering their Inspire earbuds. The bright red earpieces stood out and promised a degree of comfort and “stay-putt-edness” that is in great demand among people who  listen to music while doing a strenuous activity. I was skeptical but ended up impressed by their sound. Elana, who hates in-ear headphones, tried them on and within minutes co-opted the pair the company had given me for review. (The company kindly replaced mine.) A year later Elana’s YurBuds are going strong and she continues to evangelize for them every chance she gets.

Apparently she is not alone. The company had a fantastic 2011 that saw tremendous growth and a significant expansion of the offerings. Among them are the Inspire Pro headphones. The build upon the original version in some significant ways and take good headphones and make them great. Once again the company was kind enough to provide a pair for review (I expect to lose these to her as well) so lets take a quick look at what is new.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Android people have long been without a great speaker dock solution. Usually you ended up just plugging your phone into desktop speakers and pressing play on the phone. Remote control? No way. Gear Diary’s own Bryan lamented about this lack of accessories just a few weeks ago! Well at CES 2012, Digital Innovations has brought out their Universal Speaker dock for Android! Android users rejoice as you can pause and alter the volume of the music from across the room with a remote just like iPhone users have been able to do for quite some time now.

What is even better is this dock will be available in just a few days from ThinkGeek! They estimate… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Every now and then we are invited to review something that just looks… well… ridiculous but we end up agreeing to take a look anyway. When the “ridiculous review item” first arrives and we open the box our first impressions are, for the most part, confirmed. Yes, more often than not the product is silly, looks like a bad joke and poses a bit of a challenge with regard to actually writing the review. Every now and then however, once we actually start using the item we discover that our first AND second impressions were actually wrong! Sure, the item still looks silly but it actually works well.

That was my experience with the ePillow. I’m not fully sure why I agreed to review it since the pictures didn’t impress me but I’m actually glad I did. I’ve used it to watch some movies on my iPad this weekend and I actually found it quite useful. Seriously!

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at a steep discount for new accounts. While the retail price is $729.99 on contract with this deal you will get it for $224.99 with free shipping (It is expected in 1-2 weeks). If you already have an account and are upgrading prices start at $249.99 and you will get a free 4GB SD Card.  The Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65″ 720×1280 HD Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, 5MP rear camera (1080p video capable), 1.3MP front camera, NFC connectivity, 4G speeds, microUSB, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, 1750mAh battery, and more. This is the first phone running… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

We’ve seen and reviewed a lot of different external backup batteries for mobile devices. Many of them will be coming to CES next month in the hopes that, for once, we won’t be scrambling to recharge our gear. One of the batteries that will be coming along is the Tekkeon TekCharge MP1580 but calling it an external battery is actually not quite accurate. No, the MP1580 can be thought of as a rechargeable battery charger that can double as an external battery. That means it serves a double function when you are on the go. Priced at under $25 it is a neat little product that can come in quite handy in a pinch. Let’s take a look.

My eldest son had a birthday recently, receiving numerous presents. This in and of itself is not unusual, but there was an aspect to one of those presents that triggered a revelation of sorts for me. Before I delve into that, let me preface it with a disclaimer: I currently own no Apple products. Zip. Nada. Zero. In the realm of cell phones, I’m partial to Android. I love the customizability of it, the screen widgets, and how I can choose to integrate it with my PCs. My son, not yet a cell phone user, owns an iPod. Consequently, towards his birthday he wanted some accessories for it. A quick trip to the internet revealed… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

One of the things that has always bothered me about using any phone other than one of the more popular current models is that accessories are not always easy to find. Sure, you can always find a few ugly cases and screen protectors for just about any model out there, but what about docks and automobile mounting solutions? Not everyone has an iPhone, but to see so many of the accessories that come out you’d think that wasn’t the case.

For $29.99, you can solve that problem with the Oona (not to be confused with Ooma, heh).

Take a look …

We love Sena’s leather cases for the iPhone, iPad and other assorted gadgets. Their products are always well-made, designed with gear-lovers in mind and look great. And right now Sena is offering savings of 25%. That is a huge savings on some great cases but hurry… this holiday savings spree won’t last long. Grab the savings here

We had some great accessories to give away beginning last Friday. We figured it was a great way to mark the formal start to the holiday shopping season. Below you will find the prizes we had to give away, links to read the reviews or buy them directly and, of course, the winners.

All winners have 24 hours to email their name, the prize they won and their address to contests@geardiary.com.

 … Continue reading on Gear Diary ...