AT&T has started to receive HTC’s new touch device the Pure. I had a chance to spend a short amount of time with the HTC Pure this weekend, here are my observations.

The Pure may be the first Windows Mobile 6.5 device that brings mass appeal to what at best is a finicky touch screen market. To qualify that I will simply just say that I have been sorely disappointed with previous Windows Mobile touch screen devices on the market. To be fare I didn’t know I was disappointed until I picked up an iPhone last year; yes I was late to the iParty. Until then I was a blissfully happy schmuck with my HTC Fuze. What the iPhone had that made it superior was its capacitive touch screen; the HTC had a traditional resistive touch.

Ok, you’ve made the leap to buy that little gem of technology - the iPhone.  Some may argue about whether or not the iPhone is really the best phone under the sun, however, chances are if you bought one you love it.  But, now that you’ve dropped $200-300 on your new phone dark thoughts start to enter your mind that make your blood run cold.  What if you scratch it or worse drop it?  What if you dropped it face down in gravel? Yikes!  Time to start thinking about cases.  Proporta offers several options to put your mind to rest.  Below is a summary of several current offerings I have taken for a real world test: 

Continue Reading: Proporta 3G iPhone Case and Screen Protector Reviews

Imagine a world where you can watch your DVD movie, play a video game, or enjoy your Apple iPod without disturbing anyone, having someone see what you are watching or bothering you, and all in your own private world.  The Vuzix iWear AV920 Video Eyewear allows you see a virtual 62” big screen while wearing the AV920 like a pair of big eyeglasses.  The AV920 is compatible to almost any type of audio/video device such as an Apple iPod, DVD Player, or Video Game Console and using a built-in lithium ion battery, which provide for up to five hours of use, the AV920 can be completely portable.

If you are like me, there are many times where a personal video screen can be very useful.  There are times when I want to play a video game, but my wife does not want to see or hear the game.  There are the occasional nights where she wants to sleep undisturbed and I want to watch a movie.  I have even used the AV920 to watch a movie on an airplane when there was nothing good to watch on the in-flight system.  And each time, I was able to privately enjoy the simulated 62” big screen.  Using two high-resolution displays, the AV920 creates the feeling of viewing video on a big screen display “floating” in front of you.  The AV920 can even display 3D movies and games giving you a true 3D experience, although there are only a handful of 3D movies on DVD and 3D games available.

Read our full review of iWear AV920 Video Eyewear

In less than a decade, mobile devices have undergone a radical transformation. Originally designed just as telephones, mobile devices are now morphing into highly personalized, multi-purpose computers that may soon be more central to our lives than the desktop PC. What is driving this rapid evolution?

Clearly, recent advances in mobile technology are part of the answer. Today’s mobile devices have more computing power, more bandwidth, more storage capacity and many more services available than cell phones did just a few years ago. As a result, users can now download video content, watch streaming television broadcasts, and store thousands of songs and hundreds of movies on their mobile devices.

Read More: Mobile Voice Search: Maximizing the Potential of Mobile Devices

The Samsung BlackJack is simply the best Windows Mobile Smartphone I have ever used.

The Backjack sold by Cingular Wireless now the new at&t brings UMTS/HSDPA to the table…basically DSL/Broadband speeds to you and me. What I have found is that I really don’t use my laptop as much since the BackJack has live push mail, large display, and a QWERTY keyboard. I tossed in a 2 Gig MicroSD Card and sync up my music and TV shows from my Media Center so I can take them with me. Even the 2MP camera gets some use and with all this heavy lifting the BlackJack maintains its sleek super model-esque profile.

What really makes the unit shine is the thoughtful list of applications Samsung and Cingular Wireless now the new at&t included with the BackJack. They didn’t opt for the regular Microsoft Mobile Smartphone app load, they went much further and included a slew of productive tools that really rounds out the phone with just about everything you could ever need.

—Bill Landon

Today’s market is full of Bluetooth Headsets.  There are many choices of size, colors, style, and features.  Even with all the variety, over 80% of the available headsets are basically the same with the same features, performance, and capabilities.  So how can a new company to the market try to differentiate itself? 

Gennum is a relatively new comer to the Wireless Bluetooth market.  The nXZEN Plus model 5500 headset is a small, light-weight unit that comes in 2 different colors and offers an impressive list of technology to create a better experience for the mobile phone user and the people they talk to.

Read our full review of the nXZEN Plus 5500 Wireless Bluetooth Headset

We see a lot of Bluetooth headsets come our way for review here at PDAToday. Most are not very sexy and with the proliferation of these types of headsets recently they can tend to be a ho-hum accessory that gets ignored by the larger gadget websites who focus on trendy MP3 players and the like. We gladly pick up the slack to cover even daily use consumer electronics because when you spend that hard earned money it’s nice to know what’s of value and what’s not; besides who likes to sit in the return line at (insert favorite shopping place) all day.

In this review we will look at the Bluetake BT400 G5, their new flagship offering Bluetooth headset. Bluetake has managed to package a headset that borders on exciting and creative in the world of boring Bluetooth headsets. The BT400 G5 Bluetooth headset is stylish and is finished in a very nice tactile rubber coating surrounded with a snazzy plastic shell. They have opted to go with a marine theme to this line of products…mmm fish. The front is adorned by rubber ridges that disguise the two front buttons to create a scaled look. Weighing in at a scant minnow like 20 grams its light on the ear and features a moldable turntable ear hook. Bluetake uses a hard molded ear bud that rests in your ear canal. If you have abnormally small or large ear canals this may pose a potential problem. I found the unit to fit comfortably and to be easily adjustable. Volume was never a problem.

Read our full review of the Bluetake BT500 G5 Bluetooth Headset…

Bluetooth headset are great for giving a wireless, hands-free connection to your mobile phone, but when I am in the car or office I want a speakerphone.  I want the ability to talk without something in my ear.  I want to talk comfortably without any physical obstruction to my work or driving.  A few mobile phones offer a speakerphone feature, but they almost always have poor performance, weak speaker volume, and poor microphones.  Jabra’s latest SP500 Bluetooth Speakerphone brings true hands-free functionality to your car, office, or home.

The SP500 is the latest update of the original SP100 product.  The SP500 is a 6 ounce, 4.9” x 2.9” x 1.3”, rechargeable Bluetooth speakerphone with a pivoting microphone that gives excellent audio quality and voice pickup.  Most people that I have talked to with the SP500 said that they could hear me clearly.  A couple of people complained about not hearing me clearly or hearing static.  Moving the microphone seemed to fix the problem.  The SP500 now features a noise canceling microphone, which was not available in the original model.  The volume levels from the 2 Watt, 96 db speaker are good, but I wish it had more amplification since I drive a noisy sports car.  The volume levels should be fine for most cars and environments.  The microphone pivots on a soft, flexible arm for optimum voice pickup.

Read our full review of the Jabra SP500 Bluetooth Speakerphone

When Bluetooth (short range, radio frequency communication standard for wireless connectivity) first became available, one of the first devices to take advantage of this new protocol was the cellular phone.  The protocol was perfect for short range use such as synchronizing the phone to your computer, using the phone as a modem, or wireless, hands-free headsets.  I have always been a fan of hands-free headsets.  You could talk on the phone while keeping both hands on the car steering wheel and the earpiece made it easier to hear the person you were talking with.  Not to mention reducing the radiation dangers from holding the phone to your head.

However, I hated the design of the older wired headsets.  I would have to wrap it up after using it, unwrap it while a call is waiting, and it would get tangled up with the keys in my pocket.  When Jabra released their EarGel products, I immediately bought one.  The comfortable EarGels made the headset easier to use for long periods of time, but there was still the issue of keeping it untangled in my pocket.  When they released the EarBoom Winder, I bought it and it became my standard headset.  It was small, compact and the cord auto-winds when I am not using it.  But it still had a cord.

Bluetooth headsets promised to be the ultimate answer to the hassle of using a wired headset with a cellular phone.  But would it be everything that we could hope for?  One of the first companies to produce a Bluetooth headset was Jabra.  By combining a sleek headset design with their comfortable EarGel technology, Jabra introduced the FreeSpeak Bluetooth headset.  Now Jabra has updated the former “FreeSpeak” product line with the new BT500, the latest model in their original line of Bluetooth headsets.

Read our full review of the Jabra BT500 Bluetooth Headset…

About a year ago I wrote a review of the excellent Documents To Go Premium Edition 7.0 from DataViz. I recently got an opportunity to take a look at their newer version.

Like the previous version, 8.0 has a very well-designed and functional desktop application that lets you select files to download to your Palm device, and support to allow you to view and edit files from Word, Excel, and Powerpoint as well as the ability to view JPG and BMP files on your Palm. As I said in my earlier review, Documents to Go does these functions remarkably well and will allow you to do all of the common editing functions on these files and can save them in native format, which means that a Word file remains a Word file even after you edit it, allowing you to share it back to your desktop with changes and open it back up in Word.  Documents to Go is simply the best solution for working with Office files.

Read our full review of Documents to Go Premium Edition 8.0

With the wide array of mobile device that can play MP3 music and / or video, the one thing that almost every one of them lacks is good sound output. From MP3 / MP4 players to PDAs and mobile phones, most devices have a tiny mono speaker at best. Even many notebook computers have a very basic pair of small speakers that are incapable of producing quality, high-fidelity sound. All of these devices are design to use a pair of stereo headphones for listening to music or watching videos, but what if you want to enjoy quality sound without being tied to a set of headphones?

The Boomtube H2O1 from Think Outside, creators of the Stowaway Keyboard, is a portable speaker system designed to be easily stored and transported, but still able to deliver a quality, audio experience. Whether in your home, office, hotel room, boat, or any location, you can have great sound from your mobile device.

Read our full review of the Think Outside Boomtube H2O1 Portable Speakers with bass tube

As I have said in the past, Bluetooth speakers for mobile phones are great accessories.  Offering hands-free convenience, ease of use, and portability, these products are a great accessory for the mobile phone user.  Especially a mobile phone user in the car.  With all the new laws concerning use of mobile phones while driving, many companies are bringing new products to the market to meet the demands of these new laws.  While using a headset does help, a wired headset can still be distracting and a Bluetooth earphone can be uncomfortable on a long trip.  Some law enforcement officers still discourage the use of any earphone or headset while driving.  By using Bluetooth, the Speakerphone can be wirelessly connected to the mobile phone and allow the driver to keep both hands on the wheel and eyes focused on the road.

While many Speakerphone products offer hands-free speaker and microphone convenience, the Easydrive from Parrot has true hands-free features such as built-in voice dialing and speech recognition commands.  Simply plug the speaker unit into the cigarette lighter jack in your car and attach the keypad/microphone, using the adhesive back, to a convenient place on your dashboard and you are ready to start using the Easydrive.

Continue reading our review of the Parror Easydrive Bluetooth Hands-free Car Kit…

Cannons is yet another incarnation of the classic artillery duel game concept.  The game play remains simple.  You take turns with your opponent firing single shots at each others tanks.  Control is limited to ‘Angle’ and ‘Power’.  Terrain varies from round to round which may favor one tank position over the other.  Wind speed may vary from shot to shot increasing the difficulty aiming.  Damage is inflicted based on how close a shot lands near a tank.  Careful, the explosion doesn’t care which tank is near so you can blow yourself up.  Since a direct hit only appears to do about 45% of the damage it takes to finish off a tank, it will take at least three hits to end each round.

In single player mode, the game ends as soon as the player looses a single round of the duel.  While the player is given first shot every round, the variable terrain and wind speed almost always give the player a very difficult starting position to overcome at least every few rounds.  This means that most games are fairly short.  Unless you are very good, the random terrain is going to determine your score more than you are.

Read the full review of Cannons for Windows Mobile Smartphone by PDAMill

A large variety of Bluetooth headsets are now available for almost any mobile phone.  But as features become more advanced and “style” creates large, obtrusive models, it is nice to find a Bluetooth headset that is lightweight, easy to use, and comfortable.

The VIM is very lightweight and easy to wear.  The reversible ear hook makes it adaptable to left or right ears.  A small, rubber tip protrudes a little into the ear to project the sound and is comfortable for most users.  The sound quality is good, but would have been better with more amplification.  Good for most situations, I found the maximum volume to be a little low in noisy environments.

The VIM features:

Full review: Seecode VIM Bluetooth Headset Review

A number of portable, Bluetooth speakerphones are now on the market.  Offering hands-free convenience, ease of use, and portability, these products are a great accessory for the mobile phone user.  Especially a mobile phone user in the car.  With all the new laws concerning use of mobile phones while driving, many companies are bringing new products to the market to meet the demands of these new laws.  While using an earphone does help, a wired earphone can still be distracting and a Bluetooth earphone can be uncomfortable on a long trip.  Some law enforcement officers still discourage the use of any earphone or headphone while driving.  By using Bluetooth, the Speakerphone can be wirelessly connected to the mobile phone and allow the driver to keep both hands on the wheel and eyes focused on the road.

The VISOR Bluetooth Speakerphone is the latest product from the Korea-based Seecode Company.  With its rechargeable battery, compact size, LCD display, built-in dialing, and excellent speaker and microphone performance, it is a great accessory for your mobile phone, both in and out of the car.

Read the full review of the Seecode Visor Bluetooth Speakerphone with Dialer