I’ve tried shoulder bags before, but I have to say that I prefer backpacks. They make lugging around a laptop, books, iPad and pencil cases a lot easier in my opinion. However, if you are looking for something more stylish, and that will work in any office, check out Incase’s Pathway bags. They look pretty sleek.
Incase’s Pathway collection includes folios, totes, sleeves, and bags. They’ve got a pretty timeless look, with a leather strap and cotton twill body. This combination of fabrics is unisex, and the colors are neutral, so they’ll go with whatever you’re wearing this fall.
Pathway collection bags start out at $59.95(USD) for the folios and goes all the way up to $249.95 for the shoulder bag and the tote.
OK, you got me. My iPhone is white, as is my iPad, so having a gray or black keyboard folio kind of sucks. So it’s cool that Logitech decided to released a white version of their Ultrathin Keyboard Cover.
The Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is one of many Bluetooth keyboards available for your iPad. The battery is supposed to provide up to 6 months of usage, based upon a daily use of 2 hours, which is good. Logitech is making their devices less power hungry. I’ve got their Marathon Mouse M705 and it’s still got 1070 days of autonomy left months after I purchased it – though Bluetooth is way more of a power hog than Logitech’s proprietary unifying receivers.
I like how slim it looks, but the slot-stand is a bit hit or miss. On the Zagg Logitech Keyboard Case, that wasn’t my favorite feature. And while white might look cool for a cover, it might grimy quickly.
The Ultrathin Keyboard Cover will sell for $99.99(USD) and be released later this month. Now if they could release a white Solar Folio Keyboard, I’d be pretty happy.
While there are a bunch of Bluetooth watches on the market, none of them could be easily worn by your fashionable Bond-like gentleman. LEDs and LCDs don’t really go with a tuxedo. Sure, these days, a lot of us don’t need to wear a tux to go to work, but it never hurts to have a fashionable stealth watch that also has Bluetooth technology built-in.
The Citizen Eco-Drive Promixity is exactly that, a Bluetooth watch that looks like many other manly-chronograph watches. It will definitely cut it in a business meeting, thanks to its bold lines and steel casing. The watch can sync up to your iPhone 4S that has Bluetooth 4.0, as well as the next generation iPhone once it arrives.
If you miss a call or get a message, the second hand of the watch will point towards a word on the inner flange to indicate what happened on your phone. An analog cellphone indicator dials sound like something out of steampunk! There are no LEDs or flashing lights to make you look like a tech geek with this watch. There’s even a search mode that allows you to help your phone if you lose it in your house.
The Eco-Drive Proximity will sell for $550(USD) when it’s released this fall. That’s not cheap, but the design is certainly more timeless than the barrage of digital “smartwatches” hitting the market these days. Hopefully the tech inside won’t be outdated by next year.
I liked the design of the Grove Skateback, but I’ve been waiting for Grove to release a full-on wooden case for the iPhone. It looks like that time has come, and you can even pre-order one for the iPhone 5. If you plan on sticking with your iPhone 4 or 4S, then you can buy yours right away.
The Grove Case for iPhones is handmade and made out of wood. The case uses a slide-together design made out of bamboo that has a plant fiber core. The back of the case looks very neat, and it’s the perfect place for some fancy artwork that you can either upload or choose from the available designs. There are also custom engraving options, but these will cost you $20 extra (that’s how much it costs for the iPhone 4S version).
If you pre-order your Grove Case now, until September 30th, with a $20 deposit, you’ll get the iPhone 5 case for only $59. That sounds like a deal. The case will be released in the first week of October – shortly after the anticipated mid-to-late September release of the iPhone 5.
You’ve probably noticed that headphones are becoming a fashionable accessory once again, even when going out to bars and clubs. Thankfully these new Sennheiser headphones aren’t just for the hipsters, they have plenty of sound to satisfy your ears when you need to listen to your tunes.
The Sennheiser Momentum Headphones come with 40mm drivers, encapsulated in large, comfy ear pads made from soft leather to dampen outside sounds. The Pittards leather treatment continues on the headband, flanked by stainless steel on either side.
They also have a three-button in-line remote and mic, allowing you to control the volume and change songs without having to take out your smartphone. The Momentum headphones will sell for $350(USD) when they are released in the USA this fall.
Remember when RAZR phones were cool? That was about 7 years ago, or even more. That didn’t stop Google’s Motorola Mobility division from trying to make the RAZR cool again, albeit not with its new moniker.
Yes, the name is quite ridiculous but the new RAZR MAXX HD comes with a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD display (1,280 × 768 pixels), which is pretty cool. It has 4G LTE networking, powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with 1 GB of RAM, and running Android 4.0. (The OS will be upgraded to Jelly Bean 4.1 later this year.) Its main camera is 8MP, while the front-facing camera offers 1.3MP for video chats. There’s a microSD card to boost its 32GB of onboard storage.
Motorola wants to be known for massive batteries, and the RAZR MAXX HD is no exception. It comes with a 3,300 mAh battery, which is enough for 21 hours of talk time, 27 hours of streaming music, or 32 hours of mixed use.
I have to say that I’m loving the very powerful battery. I also like that the back is made out of Kevlar, which is supposed to be water-repellent. For the moment, the specs of the RAZR MAXX HD definitely beat the iPhone 4S, but with the iPhone 5 likely to be announced next Wednesday, who knows how long Google’s advantage will last.
Bartz entered his concept into Instructables and Jack Daniel’s Independence Project. Bartz’ concept is based on the Toradex Colibri, an ARM-based all-in-one module with an nVidia Tegra 2 CPU. The idea is to have the CPU module plug into a baseboard where all the other components are installed. When a newer processor comes out, you simply open up the tablet, unplug the CPU module and replace it with the newer one, similar to upgrading parts on a desktop computer.
Aside from the CPU, Bartz also mentioned on YouTube that he was considering making the Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi components upgradeable as well. That’s a far cry from today’s tablets, where the only hardware upgrade that can be done comes in the form of swapping SD or microSD cards to expand storage capacity, and even then not all tablets have this feature.
If you’re not ready to run out and buy one of Amazon’s new Kindles, three new devices have been added to the kobo eReader line. The three new eReaders include the Mini, the Glo and the Arc.
The Mini is going to sell for $79.99(USD) and promises to be the world’s smallest and lightest full-featured digital reader. It has a five-inch screen and weighs just 134g. The Glo aims to solve the problem of the typical E Ink eReader and its lack of a backlight. The Glo uses ComfortLight technology to provide an integrated backlight to allow users to keep reading with no lights in the room and no need for a light accessory. The device has a six-inch screen and will sell for $129.99(USD).
The last model is the Arc and it features a color screen measuring seven-inches and display 16 million colors. The device will come in an 8GB model for $199.99 or 16 GB for $249.99. The Arc has a dual core 1.5 GHz processor and runs Android 4.0, and features a user-configurable interface called “Tapestries,” which helps you organize your content and customize themes, as well as recommends eBooks based on your preferences.
All three new Kobo readers will be available sometime this fall at select retailers.
The latest horse in the increasingly cluttered mobile controller race is still hampered by the same problem as the others: it’s not compatible with all mobile games. But it is compatible with a lot of hardware, not just mobile devices.
On the Android side, the SteelSeries Free Mobile controller works with all Zeemote-enabled apps, while on the iOS side it should work with all apps that are also compatible with the iCade. Aside from that limited compatibility, the controller should also work with “controller-enabled” PC and Mac games.
Hardware wise, the controller connects via Bluetooth and has almost the same layout as a PS3 controller, except it only has two shoulder buttons. It has a rechargeable battery, which apparently is good for up to 20 hours of “casual play.” I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
The controller will be available for the rather exorbitant price of $80 (USD) (€80 in other European markets) this October. One interesting tidbit that I read on the controller’s product page is that SteelSeries is working on a “mobile version” of Engine, the company’s app that lets users customize their controllers. I wonder if it means that the company has found a way to make the controller be compatible with more games.
Amazon today took wraps off a whole new family of Kindle tablets and e-readers, taking aim at top, middle and bottom of the portable media device market. The biggest announcement of the day was the new series of Kindle Fire HD tablets, ranging in size from 7″ to 8.9″ and aiming squarely at Apple’s iPad juggernaut.
Priced at $499 USD (32GB) to $599 (64GB), the top-of-the-line Kindle Fire HD offers an 8.9″ 1920×1200 touchscreen display (for full 1080p video playback), 4G LTE connectivity, Dolby audio, dual stereo speakers (so you get stereo in either landscape or portrait modes), and a front-facing HD camera for video chats. Also revealed was an improved dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi system which claims to be 40% faster than the latest iPad at streaming content on a compatible Wi-Fi network. The tablet is powered by a speedy 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4470 CPU with a PowerVR 3D graphics core.
In addition to the 4G LTE model, a Wi-Fi only Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ is available for just $299 (16GB) or $369 (32GB), dramatically undercutting Apple’s pricing scheme for similar models. Those who pick up the 4G model will be happy to hear that AT&T and Amazon have teamed up to offer a full year of 4G service for just $49. However, this does include only 250 MB a month of data, so you could burn through that quickly – especially with streaming HD video content. 3GB and 5GB data plans are also available, but pricing wasn’t announced.
There’s also a 7″ Kindle Fire HD going for just $199 (16GB) or $249 (32GB) with all of the same features, but a slight cut in processor speed down to 1.2GHz, and a reduction to 1280×800 screen resolution, but there’s no 3G or 4G option available for the 7″ model at this point. We can only imagine that if Apple is to reveal an iPad Mini, it will be similarly priced and spec’d.
All models offer an IPS display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology to make the screen as useful as possible in a variety of viewing environments. include unlimited cloud storage for content from Amazon, as well as integrated Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and Exchange support. Of course, you’ll also be able to load Android apps, as well as have access to the Kindle Owners’ free Lending Library with these tablets.
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ models are expected to ship on November 20th, while the Fire HD 7″ model will be available next week – on September 14th. And if you’re perfectly content with the plain old Kindle Fire display and Wi-Fi, you can grab one today for just $159, with the bonus of a 40% speed bump, twice the memory and improved battery life from the original.
If you’re in the market for an e-Reader, today is your lucky day – with the reveal of the Kindle Paperwhite, you can finally get the benefits of an electrostatic ink display, but also be able to read it at night. The Paperwhite offers not only a super-sharp paper-like display, but has a built-in light so you can read it in bed without an external light source.
Amazon claims an astounding 8 week battery life for the Paperwhite, even with the light on! Amazon also says the paperwhite display has 62% more pixels and a 25% higher contrast from standard E-Ink displays, as well as a bunch of specially optimized fonts for making reading as good as any paper book you ever looked at.
The Wi-Fi model of the Kindle Paperwhite is going for just $119 (if you’re willing to look at Amazon’s special offers), or $139 without, while the 3G version is $179 (with offers) and $199 (without).
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Incase’s Pathway collection includes folios, totes, sleeves, and bags. They’ve got a pretty timeless look, with a leather strap and cotton twill body. This combination of fabrics is unisex, and the colors are neutral, so they’ll go with whatever you’re wearing this fall.
