Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Manufacturer: Perfected Case Chemistry (Seido)

Model: Platinum (SNC10SL)

Device: Samsung Nexus S

Type: Hard Plastic

Website: www.bestbuy.com

Price: $30

Weight: 18g

Pros: Good fit and grip

Cons: Flimsy bezel

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

We were eager to take a look at Sony Ericsson’s LiveView Micro Display when the device was first announced last month.  The tiny device can display all sorts of useful information from your Android phone, including text messages, calendar data, and Facebook and Twitter updates on its 1.3” OLED screen.  This allows users to keep their phone in a pocket or bag, while viewing updates on the LiveView’s screen – a compelling proposition especially for users of larger Android devices.

Unboxing

The LiveView box contains the LiveView display itself, a wall charger, two bezels, a wrist strap and user guide.  In our case, we received a European wall charger, although we had no trouble charging the device with a standard micro USB cable connected to our PC.

There are two ways to use the LiveView.  The device can be worn on your clothing with the included clip bezel, which does a good job of securely attaching to the LiveView and clipping the device to a piece of clothing.  The LiveView is surprisingly comfortable to wear, and at 15 grams you barely notice the device’s weight.

The LiveView can also be worn as a watch with the included watch bezel and wrist strap.  The wrist strap has a nylon band with a velcro clasp – not impressive from a fashion standpoint, but functional and secure.  The watch bezel attaches to the wrist strap, and does a good job of holding the LiveView device in place.  However, you do need to remove the LiveView from the strap for charging.

The front of the LiveView is consumed by the device’s 1.3” screen.  There are two physical buttons on the left and right of the device’s top edge.  There are also four capacitive buttons that are placed on the right, left, top and bottom of the LiveView’s screen.  The LiveView has a cheap plastic construction, which makes us wonder how well the device will hold up over time, especially when worn as a watch.

LiveView App

Before using the LiveView, you need to first download the free LiveView app from the Android market.  This app allows you to define what “tiles” are shown on the LiveView’s screen.  You can select Text Messages, Missed Calls, Calendar data and RSS feeds.  The app also allows users to input Facebook and Twitter user ID data, which enables the LiveView to display updates from these social networking sites.

In the future, you will also be able to use Plug-Ins with the LiveView.  These aren’t available yet, but we hope that third party developers use Plug-Ins to further enhance the functionality of the LiveView.

Usability

Our biggest complaint with the LiveView is the process of connecting the device to our Android phone.  In our testing, we used the LiveView with an HTC EVO 4G and had frequent problems with the LiveView disconnecting from the phone and then failing to reconnect.  This is especially problematic since the LiveView relies on this connection to display all of its data – even the current time and date – so when the LiveView is not connected to your phone it serves no purpose whatsoever.

Once we did get the LiveView device connected to our phone, we did enjoy seeing updates on the device’s screen.  It was convenient to read text messages, RSS feeds, and Facebook/Twitter updates on the device.  The LiveView’s 1.3” screen is a bit small for reading long messages, and the screen doesn’t do a great job of displaying color, but the coolness factor of having this information on your wrist makes up for the display’s limitations.

The LiveView is also supposed to be able to control the music player on an Android device, but in our testing we weren’t able to get this feature to work.  The LiveView was able to control the volume on our phone, but it was not able to skip through tracks or display artist/song data.  We’re not sure if this feature only works with Sony Ericsson phones or with a particular music player, but we were very disappointed that we couldn’t get this feature to work.

The LiveView also has a “Find Phone” button that, when pressed, instructs your phone to send out an audible alert.  This is a helpful feature if you happen to misplace your phone, but it only works when your phone is within range of the LiveView display.

Battery

Battery life on the LiveView display was disappointing.  In our testing, we couldn’t get a full day out of a single charge, which is a big downside if you’re using the device as a watch.  Of course, battery life will vary based on how frequently you use the LiveView, and we do admit that we used it pretty heavily in our testing, but we think that most users would need at least a full day of life out of the device’s battery, no questions asked.

Overall

We love Sony Ericsson’s effort and ingenuity with the LiveView, but unfortunately the device falls short in a few key areas.  Bluetooth connection issues with the LiveView were a frequent annoyance for us that decreased the device’s usability substantially.  The inability to use the device’s music player controls was also frustrating.  We’re not sure if these issues are due to the LiveView, the LiveView app, or our HTC EVO 4G, but we’d suggest that users wait for the LiveView to receive a few updates before purchasing the device.

Battery life was also a key limitation of the LiveView.  We hope the future iterations of the device offer at least a solid full day of battery life.  As is, you need to recharge the LiveView during the day, which is particularly inconvenient when using the device as a watch.

Overall, we can’t recommend the LiveView at this point.  There are just too many bugs and limitations that need to be worked out.  With that said, the LiveView platform holds tons of potential, and Sony Ericsson has done a lot of good work here, but for now we suggest that users wait for the next version of the LiveView – or at least for a few software updates – before investing in the LiveView platform.

It looks like Google and Apple can indeed play nice.  After a long wait, Google’s Google Voice app made its way to the Apple App Store yesterday, suggesting that the supposed feud between Google and Apple has subsided…at least for now.

So is Google Voice everything that we’ve hoped for?  Well, it depends.

First lets start with the Google Voice interface.  The app has a convenient inbox that makes it easy to access voice mail, text messages, call history and starred calls.  Google Voice transcribes voice mail messages to text, and while the accuracy of this feature is not stellar, you can usually piece together the gist of a transcribed message.

Google also does a great job with contact management.  You can divide your contacts into groups, and define how the Google Voice service manages calls from different groups.  You can also create a quick dial list, which makes it easy to dial your most treasured contacts.

But there are some features that are noticeably missing from the iPhone Google Voice app.  You can’t place calls over WiFi – instead when you dial a number the iPhone’s phone app opens and you place a call through a third number.  This is an awkward, inconvenient process that needs to be refined – in fact the only real benefit of dialing through the Google Voice app is your Google Voice phone number shows up in the caller ID information.

When someone calls your Google Voice number, the call must be answered through the iPhone’s phone app – you can’t receive calls over WiFi.  Additionally, there’s no indication that a call was received through Google Voice – all you see is the caller’s caller ID information.

The reliance on Apple’s phone app means that Google Voice doesn’t reduce your usage of cellular minutes, at least not in the United States.  Since calls are placed and received through the iPhone phone app, Google Voice burns exactly the same minutes as a normal call.

Google Voice does provide popups when a call is missed or a text or voicemail is received.  But again, this feature is not unique – it’s very similar to Apple’s existing missed call, voice mail and text notifications.

Overall, the main benefit of Google Voice is the app’s convenient inbox, voicemail transcription and contact management features.  The app’s other features just do not offer enough benefit over the iPhone’s existing phone and text apps to be of much value.

The Google Voice app will be valuable for users that already rely heavily on the Google Voice service.  However, the app doesn’t offer much incentive for new Google Voice users to invest heavily in the service.

Still, the Google Voice App is free, so it’s definitely worth a try.  Note that to use the App you must have a Google Voice account, and an iPhone with iOS version 3.0 or newer – the iPod Touch is not supported.

Manufacturer:  Cobra

Model:  iRadar iRAD-100

Device: Apple iPhone 4, 3G S, 3G, iPod Touch 2nd and 3rd Gen

Type:  Radar Detector and App

Website:  www.cobrairadar.com

Price:  $130

Pros: Innovative system, easy to use app

Cons: Bluetooth connectivity issues

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: Powermat

Model: Wireless Charging System

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Receiver Case with Powermat

Website: www.powermat.com

Price: $60 for system, $40 for case only

Weight: 30g

Size: 124.3mm x 61.7mm x 14.4mm

Pros: Innovative wireless charging technology

Cons: Expensive, must remove case to sync

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: iLuv

Model: Wave2 Deluxe

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Silicone case

Website: www.i-luv.com

Price: $30

Weight: 26g

Size: 118.5mm x 62.7mm x 13.8mm

Pros: Interesting wave design, thick silicone construction

Cons: Loose fitting sides, thick

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: Seidio

Model: Innocase Active X

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Silicone skin with plastic shell

Website: www.seidioonline.com

Price: $25

Weight: 34g

Size: 119.5mm x 63.5mm x 14.3mm

Pros: Good protection, comfortable to hold

Cons: Thick, bulky

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: Seidio

Model: Innocase II Surface

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Hard plastic case

Website: www.seidioonline.com

Price: $30

Weight: 24g

Size: 118.9mm x 62.6mm x 13.2mm

Pros: Good fit, solid design

Cons:  Thick

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: Speck

Model: GeoMetric

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Soft plastic case

Website: www.speckproducts.com

Price: $30

Weight: 24g

Size: 117.5mm x 61.1mm x 12.3mm

Pros: Interesting design

Cons: Slightly loose sides

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »

Manufacturer: iLuv

Model: FLIP (iCC734BLK)

Device: Apple iPhone 4

Type: Flip cover case

Website: www.i-luv.com

Price: $35

Weight: 38g

Size: 119.6mm x 63.4mm x 17.3mm

Pros: Attractive design, good protection

Cons: Awkward to use, bulky

Rating:

Read the rest of this entry »