The number one complaint I hear from new adopters of the latest God Phones is the problem they have with dropped calls. Battery life issues can often be fixed with firmware updates, but when you’re out of range, you’re out of luck.

In an attempt to help address this problem, the folks at ARC Wireless Solutions have released the latest version of the Freedom Blade wireless signal booster for PDAs, cell phones and laptop wireless access cards.

More info after the jump.

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eWEEK seem to have gotten a bit confused by what constitutes a Smartphone, because one of these phones does not belong.

Apple’s recently announced iPhone has been widely criticized for being a closed platform, not open to 3rd party developers, which rules it out as being a Smartphone in the true sense. While not a very comprehensive list, up till the last phone the gallery shows quite well the development of the Smartphone from an add-on card for a PDA to today with integrated 3G, push email and more.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you all what I am thankful for this year…

1. I am thankful for my family and close friends, that they put up with my odd hours and compulsive computering without too many complaints. I am thankful that they are all generally very understanding and forgiving of the fact that I spend nearly every waking moment doing something gadget related - even when I am sick or supposedly on vacation. I am thankful that they usually understand that the only way for me to relax is if I am in front of a screen - whether it be PDA or computer. Yep, I am a geek.

2. I am thankful for the contributors to this site, the ones who have written articles, commentaries and reviews. You all make it possible to keep Gear Diary well rounded - and not just from the viewpoint of one person. Thanks to you all, I can take a breather every now and then. I truly appreciate you!

3. I am thankful for the people that email or comment telling me that they appreciate this site and the work that we are doing. Your support means more to me than you will ever know.

4. I am thankful for the people that come to this site but that never email or comment; those that enjoy our posts and come back again and again looking for “new stuff”. We’ll do our best to keep you entertained, informed, and coming back for more!

5. I am thankful for the friends I have, those I’ve met in person and those I’ve met only through email, that encouraged me with emotional and technical support when I decided to start my own site. Each one of you is awesome…and you know who you are!!

6. I am thankful for the vendors and companies that have shown support for this site, either by sponsoring it directly or by providing contest give-aways. I would like to take a moment to recognize Michael from RoadWired, Federico from Vaja, Johan from Neuros Audio and Mike from Ultimate Ears. I would also like to thank David from Netline (which manages our Free Trade Publications section) and Steve from Mobihand (which manages our software and accessory store). You guys are wonderful, and I appreciate you!

7. I am thankful for the other mobility site owners and writers that send me links when they have posted something they want to share with Gear Diary readers. It is not always possible for me to comb each and every site everyday for the latest news - even those on my favorite’s list! I appreciate that you all email me to share your breaking stories.

8. I am thankful for the other mobility site owners and writers that post links back to reviews and blurbs that we have posted here. Nothing makes us more proud than to see one of our posts mentioned on another site. We appreciate the link love, and hope to return the favor when we can.

2006 has brought me much to be thankful for. Thank you for sharing it with me, and thank you for your continued support.

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is wonderful and you get to spend it with the people you love!

Over the last year I have grown incredibly spoiled when I travel because I no longer need to pack a tangle of “spaghetti”; instead, I bring along a set of Gomadic Charging Cables. The same single cable charges my PDA, mobile phone and digital music player. It can charge Sarah’s phone and Sarah’s digital music player, too; all it takes is the proper tip for each particular device.

For those unfamiliar with Gomadic, I’ll state the premise in a nutshell: They sell cables with plugs on their ends which will accept their specially made tips; these tips fit many of today’s popular consumer mobile devices. Gomadic’s “Tip Exchange Technology” means that the same cable can be used for years - and as devices are added to the user’s collection, new tips can be purchased to swap out with the old.

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The HTC Universal is the device-of-a-thousand-names: i-mate JasJar, O2 XDA Exec, QTek 9000, SPV M5000, and HAL 9000 for all I know. It’s a hefty (10.2 oz/290 g), big (5.2″ x 3.1″ x 0.93″), hi-res (640×480 VGA), versatile (3G/GRPS, wifi, bluetooth, 1.3 Mp camera, Window Mobile 5), expensive ($1000 retail–go to eBay!) SmartPhone/PDA/convergent device with a clamshell design that hides a decent-sized keyboard and an interesting open, spin, and fold screen that converts it from a sort of micro-laptop form factor to that of a regular PDA.

Judie has already reviewed the Universal at The Gadgeteer, but poor Judie got the i-Mate version, which apparently has one of the world’s most boring unboxing experiences.  

I scored an O2 Exec on eBay, and whatever else these O2 folks do–and I’ve heard some bad stories from folks in the UK, alas–they sure made one cool package for this device.

First, understand that I’ve had the device for a couple of months now, so this is not a “fresh” unboxing, but rather a “recreated” unboxing. But that caveat aside, I think you will enjoy it.

Here’s the box as it comes shipped–a blue rectangular solid:

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As the owner of a Tapwave Zodiac, I’m pretty far behind the curve (or way ahead, depending on how you look at it) with regard to PDA/handheld/UMPC/convergent device development. I love these gadgets, mind you, but the last time I went to buy one I found such a dearth of Palm OS devices (you can have a LifeDrive, or a Treo, or, um, a different Treo, or, um . . .) that I got depressed and kind of gave up.

So anyway, I didn’t hear about the whole Origami thing until someone on Tapland mentioned it in passing, as it were. (Us Zodiac folks are always on the lookout for handheld devices with decent graphics, you see.) That, combined with a need to get my wife a new cell phone, sent me out looking at the market for convergent devices, SmartPhones, UMPCs, and the like.

As everyone reading this blog probably knows–hey, I said I was behind the curve–there’s an awful lot of overlap in these devices. There are smartphones with 4″, full VGA screens that run Windows Mobile 5; there are PDAs that have Bluetooth and WiFi built-in, but don’t have cell phone capability; there are UMPCs that (it seems to me) might as well be really expensive PDAs with slide-out keyboards. Or even without slide-out keyboards. And on and on.

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There are two ways to do video conversion from your DVD to a file for viewing on your PDA:  direct from the DVD, or by ripping the DVD first and then converting the ripped file.  I have found that the best bet is to rip the DVD first.  This has two advantages:  it saves wear and tear on your DVD drive, and it allows you to reconvert your video if you find it necessary.

I have also found it a good idea to choose a few representative minutes of your DVD and rip and convert those.  This takes a bit of extra time, but it can save you (literally) hours of trouble by allowing you to tweak your conversion settings with a short 100-300 MB file, instead of the 3.5-5 GB file of a full film.  For my Zodiac, I have my settings down pretty well, so these days I usually don’t have to convert a clip for testing purposes, but for the Universal, I’m still at the clip conversion/testing stage.

For ripping DVDs, I use a free utility called DVD Shrink.  DVD Shrink lets you edit what you are ripping, so that you clip out the credits if you like, or choose your 3-5 minutes of test clip.  The interface is a little wonky and takes a few tries to get used to, but after you’ve done it a few times it’s really pretty simple.  Other folks like to use DVD Decrypt, but I personally don’t like it.  I find the interface too clunky, and you can’t do any editing, which is a deal-breaker for me.  Both DVD Decrypt and DVD Shrink get around the various copy protection software that are built into most DVDs.  The only DVD that I have been unable to rip so far using Shrink is “Sin City;” I have no idea why.

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I like the idea of RFID technology - being able to quickly pass an embedded item near a reader for immediate access or payment, but there are certain uses that make me nervous - like having an RFID embedded in my passport or other ID that contains most if not all of my personal documentation. These documents can then be easily read by anyone with the proper equipment.

I recently received information about a new product that will block RFID readers from being able to scan the new embedded passports and other documents.

Okay, so this picture doesn’t make the product look fashionable at all, but the function is truly what matters here.

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I mentioned in my Loading the Hermes post that I have been using a beta version of Spb Insight RSS Reader. Today I just got notification that the release version is available. Check out the screen shots here.

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Many of you by now will recognize the name HTC as the abbreviation for the Taiwanese based company High Tech Computer. They are the world’s largest manufacturer of Pocket PC and Smartphone OS based PDAs, and as such they are responsible for many of the more recognizable devices which are rebranded by companies including Hewlett Packard, i-mate, Audiovox, and Dopod - to name a few.

The device we’ll be looking at today is known by several names including the O2 XDA Trion, the MDA Vario II, Orange SPV M3100, and the Dopod 838Pro. This review will specifically cover the HTC Hermes branded as the Dopod 838Pro; while some of its included software may differ from other branded versions, the general hardware specifications should be about the same.

Similar to the HTC Apache / Sprint PPC-6700 which I reviewed last year, the Hermes features a compact touch-screen PDA form factor with a left-sliding keyboard which only appears when needed. The Hermes is intended to function not only as the user’s mobile phone, but also as a fully functional PDA, an email and text messaging center, and a compact means to wirelessly surf the internet.

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