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Latest Gear Live Videos
Find iPhone Battery Life with Death Watch
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Internet, Portable Audio / Video,
Those clever folks at PC Magazine have devised an iPhone Death Watch for those of you who are worried about your new toy’s battery and are already fretting over its expiration date and possible withdrawal while you exchange it. Simply enter the date of purchase and the calculator will tell you when to plan for the end and its subsequent replacement.
Apple claims that after 400 charges, an iPhone retains only 80%. Since this was all the info the mag could get out of the company, they just used one of their own to estimate how long between charges, added in the length of trickle charging over a USB port, and came up with 1.5 days. They also stretched the amount of charges to 450, multiplied the two together, and voila, the Death Widget was born. If you get too paranoid about the countdown and take the issue too seriously, we suggest that you take off another couple of days to account for all that calendar reassurance.
Read More 
| PC Magazine
Gallery: Find iPhone Battery Life with Death Watch
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AppleCare Now Available for iPhone for $69
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video,
It’s taken Apple almost a month to get their iPhone extended warranty plan out there, but in this case, better late than never definitely fits. The AppleCare for iPhone package lengthens “hardware repair coverage” by twelve months, resulting in a two year warranty when added on to the one-year of coverage you get with the purchase of an iPhone. Even better, if you happen to own an iPhone Bluetooth Headset, the AppleCare plan covers that as well. You can buy AppleCare for iPhone now for $69 USD.
Read More | AppleCare for iPhone
Gallery: AppleCare Now Available for iPhone for $69
AT&T Claims 146,000 iPhone Activations in First Two Days
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video,
Numbers are finally starting to come out in regards to how the iPhone performed at launch. While no sales figures were given, AT&T is reporting in it’s second quarter financial results that 146,000 iPhones were activated in the first two days that the product was on the market. While this number seems pretty low to us, we have to keep a few things in perspective. First, this accounts for June 29th and 30th. The iPhone went on sale at 6:00 PM on June 29th, so this is really a measurement of a 30-hour period rather than a full 48 hour one. Secondly, as we all know, iPhones are not activated at the point of purchase. We are sure plenty were bought as gifts or to be resold, and thusly weren’t activated right away. Last, it was widely reported that there were plenty of activation issues surrounding the iPhone launch. We got emails from people who purchased at launch and weren’t able to activate for over 24 hours - some even longer than that.
Another interesting tidbit about AT&T’s report is that 40% of the 146,000 activations were for subscribers new to the AT&T network. That’s a high percentage, all thanks to Apple‘s first foray into the mobile phone space. Very impressive.
Gallery: AT&T Claims 146,000 iPhone Activations in First Two Days
Colorware Now Offering iPhone Paint Jobs
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Design, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Portable Audio / Video,
With the iPhone selling as well as it is, we are betting there are plenty of opportunities for people to get theirs mixed up with that of someone elses. After all, do you really want to turn it on and verify that the wallpaper on any iPhone you happen to grab really is your bulldog in his pink tutu? This is why we are intrigued by ColorWare‘s latest addition to their custom paint services; that being for the iPhone. While it isn’t the cheapest thing in the world (but really - is anything involving the iPhone cheap?), we know from first-hand experience that ColorWare’s work is pretty darn impressive - just check out the paint job they did for our 3G iPod back in the day. To get a painted iPhone in your hands, you can take advantage of one of three options - you can pay them $149 USD and mail in your iPhone and they will do it up nice and send it back, or you can just purchase a brand new iPhone from them, which they will then paint and send to you. That runs $649 USD for a 4GB model, and $749 for an 8GB version.
Read More | Colorware
Gallery: Colorware Now Offering iPhone Paint Jobs
BlackBerry 8820 To Be Released
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, GPS, Handhelds, Internet, Portable Audio / Video, Wireless / WiFi,
Research in Motion will be launching their BlackBerry 8820 with plenty of new and updated features, such as built-in GPS with BlackBerry Maps, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi support, an enhanced multi-media player, voice dialing, trackball navigation, and a micro SD/SDHC expandable memory slot that will hold 32GB. Rim’s smartphone still has an easily manageable QWERTY keyboard, a 320 x 240 display, SMS and MMS text messaging, IM, and web browser. The BlackBerry 8820 will be available in Europe in the next few weeks, with a North American AT&T launch during the latter part of this summer.
Read More | RIM
Gallery: BlackBerry 8820 To Be Released
Motorola To Release Two New Clamshells
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Music,
Motorola has unveiled two new cell phones in Taiwan. Their L72 SLVR features the same 11.5 mm thinness as its L7 forefather, and now also has a 2 mp cam with zoom and auto-focus, HSDPA, an FM tuner, a micro SD card slot, and CrystalTalk for improved tonal quality. The Maxx V1110 (shown here) updates the Vodaphone V1100 and works on mostly the same technology as the L7 but has a 1.3 megapixel camera. Contact Motorola for future availability and price.
Read More | engadget
Gallery: Motorola To Release Two New Clamshells
BetUS Places Odds on iPhone Reliability
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Internet,
Since the launch of the iPhone, there has been a ton of hype. So much so that the Website BetUS came up with odds on what the outcome of owning one would be. We wanted to show you what they felt would be issues so that down the road, should your new gadget decide not to perform up to expectations, they can say, “I told you so.”
- Consumers are reported camping out waiting for an iPhone—3/1
- Initial iPhones get recalled—30/1
- iPhone sells at least 12 Million units in 2008—5/6
- Apple’s stock jumps at least 10% in value in regards to the price on 6/30/07—1/2
- Consumers pay at least three times the original price ($1,500) on eBay—2/1
- The screen breaks/cracks like Apple’s first-generation iPod nano —150/1
- There are mass reports of the battery life being less than the promised 8 hours—10/1
- Someone is trampled while trying to get an iPhone—20/1
- iPhone spontaneously combusts—150/1
We haven’t heard of any tramplings or screen breakage as yet, but there appears to be plenty of time to decide if your iPhone made it 8 hours without a charge. Let us know.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: BetUS Places Odds on iPhone Reliability
When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cameras, Smartphones, Handhelds, Misc. Tech, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video,
This is the slogan that Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians at Chicago has come up with to remind you that it’s not just trees that can make you a lightning target. Physicians are reporting that they are having to treat patients for burns who have been out in thunderstorms and get hit through their laptops, PMPs, beepers, and cell phones, and other metal enclosed devices. Although it does not work the way lightning rods do, Dr. Cooper says, “It’s going to hit where it’s going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity.”
Read More | ABC
Gallery: When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors
InvisibleShield Protects Handheld Devices
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Handhelds, Misc. Tech, Portable Audio / Video,
We understand that many iPhone users are already in love, so it is no surprise that there are companies jumping on the gadget’s bandwagon and offering accessories like this InvisibleShield by ShieldZone. Created for the military to protect helicopter blade edges, they not only provide protection for PMPs, PDAs, and cell phones, they will custom make one for anything you own that is handheld. The ShieldZone comes with a lifetime replacement for only $24.95 for your iPhone. After viewing the demo, we think we would buy one just to be able to have something to keep our pizza on, pepperoni-side down.
Read More | ShieldZone
Gallery: InvisibleShield Protects Handheld Devices
Adapters Bloom When Devices Reach Full Charge
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Design, Handhelds, Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Portable Audio / Video,
Because chargers still utilize energy on standby, these Energy Saving Adapters, designed by Gilles Belley, individually hook up in a strip to visually let you know when your cell phone, PMP, laptop, or camera is fully charged. Don’t respond within 3 minutes, and the power is automatically cut off for you. Although still only a prototype, this is definitely an improvement over the usual green and red lights. We were thinking that if you just pay attention, you won’t need a device, pretty as it is, to take up more energy while fulfilling its purpose.
Read More | Yanko
Gallery: Adapters Bloom When Devices Reach Full Charge
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