Bellroy, a company that specializes in Better Ways to Carry, have developed a Travel Wallet that’s small enough to fit in your pocket.  The Travel Wallet is made of midnight or cocoa leather, and it has multiple pockets to organize your tickets, cards, and passport.  (Doesn’t hold the double-thickness passports, only standard ones.)  It holds 8 or more cards, and the ticket section holds your tickets and boarding passes without creasing.  There’s even a micro travel pen tucked inside (see top, left photo) with some extra refills.  The Travel Wallet is $119.95.  Bellroy ships worldwide.

Filed in categories: Gear, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Wallet

Organize Your Travel Papers with the Bellroy Travel Wallet originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 18, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

While most portable battery solutions will only give you 5V out which is useful for keeping juice up to your USB type devices, the minigorilla from powertraveller also supplies voltage settings  of 8.4v, 9.5v, 10.5v, 12v & 19v allowing you to keep power up to many other phones, games systems, GPSs, ereaders, MP3 players  and tablets even up to full netbooks. At 150 X 83 X 14mm and weighing in at 265g, the unit is small and light enough to throw into your gadget bag for those emergency situations. The minigorilla will give up to 6 hours on a Sony Vaio P-series netbook and an additional 8.4 hours for an iPad.

If the USB and DC output ports are empty or the devices attached are fully charged then  the unit shuts off automatically after 2 minutes. If not used for a year, battery capacity loss is less than 10%.  The minigorilla can be charged via mains power or if you’re really outback, via powertravellers solargorilla solar charger. The unit comes with a variety of tips as standard.

Might just be useful for when the monkey’s on your back of needing to charge your gadgets on the go. Note that a separate cable is required if you want to charge a new generation tablet that requires 5V 2A+

Available from powertraveller for £99.95 ($160)

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, Travel Gear

Tagged: External battery, Reserve battery

powertraveller minigorilla – Get the Monkey Off Your Back originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Juicebar DO10-JB

In my ever-present quest for more power for my gadgets, I was excited about the chance to review the solar DO10-JB Pocket Charger from Juicebar when the people at CableOrganizer offered to send one. I have tried other mobile power solutions that haven’t always cut the mustard, so to speak. But the price of this little device is quite attractive, so I was eager to see how it would perform and what kind of quality that price brings.  So I boldly entered the green-power space for the first time, armed with my bevy of gadgets thirsting for juice, to see if the Juicebar was just empty calories or a nutritious treat (how’s that for a metaphor??).  Let’s find out!

(NOTE: click the pictures to see larger versions.)

I was initially surprised at how light the Juicebar charger was. It weights only 4 oz.  The dimensions are 4 inches by 2.5 inches and a half-inch thick.  The built-in non-replaceable rechargeable battery is a 3.7 volt, 2,000mAh Li-ion battery.  The solar panel on the back side is a multi-crystalline solar panel rated at 5.5 volt, 80mAh. The majority of the outside of the Juicebar is stainless steel with black plastic on the top and bottom and thin strips along the sides.  Retail price is listed at $49.99, but I found it online several places for $39.99.

size compared to the Verizon HTC Thunderbolt

On the top of the Juicebar, you will see a standard USB port, which is used to connect the Juicebar to devices to charge them.   You will also find a mini-USB port that is used to connect the Juicebar to a PC or USB charger to charge it when direct sunlight isn’t available. Finally, you will see an LED flashlight on top that is activated by pressing one of the buttons on the front of the Juicebar. The flashlight is supposed to give you 40 hrs of use when the Juicebar is fully charged.  I am puzzled why a flashlight was even included on this device. Am I missing something here?  I mean, ok, I guess it is ok that a flashlight is built-in, but couldn’t they have shaved off some more cost by skipping it? Plus, it is highly possible that the flashlight button gets pressed when it is squeezed into a computer bag, using up the battery power. Maybe I just don’t get it.

On the front of the Juicebar, you will see 2 buttons and an LED indicator bar that shows you how much charge is left in the Juicebar. Press the smaller button to activate the flashlight on the top.  Press the larger button to check the charge level; this is one of the negatives of the Juicebar I think.  Just about every device these days has numerical indicators to tell you how much power is left. To me, the Juicebar would be better if there was a numerical readout that showed me the exact % of power I have left instead of the colored bar, which sort of gradually fades out on the left side of the indicator. So it really is a guessing game as to how much power you have left. The closest you’ll be able to guess is like 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.

Charging the Juicebar by connecting it to a PC via the mini-USB port took me 2.5 hours. Charging the Juicebar via direct sunlight outside is supposed to take 10-12 hours, according to the included user’s manual, but it only took me a little over 9 hours. But then again, as I mentioned previously, the colored indicator bar could have been fooling me.  It looked fully charged to me at just over nine hours but maybe it was only up to like 85 or 90%. Anyway, the bottom line is that to charge via the sun, you need a full day of direct sunlight. I should also mention that after siting in direct sunlight for several hours, the stainless steel was very hot, so be careful picking it up. That makes me think that perhaps a different outside material would have been smarter.

The Juicebar comes with a carrying bag, a mini-USB charging cable, a small instructional user’s manual, and a USB cable with several adapters to connect to various devices.

various adapters for the USB cable

USB cable with micro-USB adapter on the end

The Juicebar claims to be able to charge many devices using those adapters.  For example, Apple products, portable game players, Bluetooth headsets, GPS units, and popular cellphones from Samsung, Nokia, Apple, HTC, and Blackberry. They even claim you can charge your Kindle, although I wouldn’t expect it to charge most tablets because the Juicebar battery capacity is only 2,000mAh.  If your device won’t fit one of the 4 adapters included in the package, then you can use the charging cable that came with your device as long as it has a USB connection on the end of the cable.  Juicebar also claims that it can hold a full charge for 30 days, and I believe that claim.  I let the Juicebar sit for 2 weeks unused, and it still appeared to have a full charge.

You can even use your device if its battery is dead by simply connecting your device to the Juicebar and setting the Juicebar in direct sunlight.  When my HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon died, I connected it to the Juicebar and let it sit unused.  It took 3 hours to fully charge my phone (1,400 mAh battery) with the Juicebar, and the Juicebar was almost totally depleted afterward.

Conclusion

After using the Juicebar for over a month, I can honestly say that I don’t go anywhere without it.  It is small enough to not take up any space at all in my computer bag, and having access to the extra power is wonderful. I have an extra cellphone battery, but it is much more convenient to connect a dead phone to the Juicebar, and the added benefit is that I can connect just about any device I have to the Juicebar to get that little bit of extra power.  I do wish they made a larger capacity version of the Juicebar because the form factor and the function are great, and I would be willing to pay more for the Juicebar if I could get a higher capacity battery. I do wish the indicator bar on the front was actually a numerical readout, but that is not a deal-breaker for me. Overall, for the price, this is a great product.

Filed in categories: Pocket Gear, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Power, Solar

Digital Zone Juicebar DO10-JB Pocket Solar Charger Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 25, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Asus announced the new Transformer TF300T tablet and B&H Photo now has them in stock. Priced at $399.00, this Android tablet offers the latest and greatest OS version (4.0 Ice Cream) along with a 1.2GHz Tegra 3 Quad-Core CPU, 10.1 1280 x 800 Resolution display, Micro HDMI Port & MicroSD Card Reader and 1GB internal memory & 32GB Flash Storage. If you’re interested in snapping one up, you better be fast because Asus tablets tend to be pretty popular. If I was in the market for an Android tablet, this is the one I’d buy. You can order and read more about this tablet at B&H Photo.

Filed in categories: Android related, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Android, Tablet

Latest Asus Transformer Pad Tablet now Available at B&H Photo originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 23, 2012 at 10:30 am.

Do you remember those travel alarm clocks that looked like leather-covered makeup compacts and opened up to display a small alarm clock for the hotel nightstand?  The Sound System Model XS from Geneva reminds me of those small clocks.  This small, 6.2″ × 4″ × 4.5″, 1.1 pound system closes up into a faux leather-covered shell to fit in your suitcase or gear bag.  It opens up to function as an alarm clock, FM radio, and external speakers for your smartphone or tablet.  It has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio line-in to connect your device.  When in Bluetooth and line-in mode, the Model XS is “powered by digital amplifiers for optimal audio performance;” in FM mode, it is ” powered by an analog amplifier for optimal radio reception.”  The 6W 2.25″ woofer and two 3W 1″ tweeters produce 80-20,000K, “true HiFi sound.”  The Model XS has a built-in 2700 mA lithium battery, and it comes with an AC adapter to charge the battery and power the unit.  The Model XS is available in black, white, or red for $249.95 from Geneva.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Alarm Clock, External speakers

Geneva Sound System Model XS Has Bluetooth, FM, Alarm Clock, Speakers, and Amplifier in One Small Package originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 19, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

As any gadget fan knows, the bane of our existence is the battery. No matter how wonderful the device or gadget, if the battery lets you down, you aren’t happy. You would think that someone by now would have been able to come up with a battery that you simply don’t have to worry about, but alas, not so. We can put a man on the moon, but making a cellphone last for longer than a day is almost impossible.  Sigh. Until then, what’s a gadget fan to do? Well, there are many solutions out there to give you more juice on the go. One such solution is the Powerbag Wheeled Briefcase from ful.  I travel several times a month and my biggest hassle is finding a place to charge up my gadgets. I hate trying to find an open power jack in the airport, so I jumped at the chance to review the Powerbag. Was my craving for juice satisfied? Was I no longer banished to sitting on the floor in the airport? Let’s find out!

(NOTE: click the thumbnails to see a larger version of the pictures)

Let me start out this review by saying that the Powerbag is designed to charge all forms of cellphones, tablets, and gadgets, but not computers.  The battery requirements of a computer are simply too big for this bag, or any of the Powerbag products for that matter, to fully charge. I do travel quite a bit, but I am never in a situation where I am going to be away from a power source for days.  By the end of the travel day I usually have access to a power outlet in the hotel or wherever I am going.  Having said that, the Powerbag has replaceable batteries, so you could purchase numerous batteries that really do give you days of juice for all your gadgets.

Bag Tour

The Powerbag Wheeled Briefcase (retail at $250) is a very high-quality bag.  The bag is made of the same type of material as most suitcases, so it is very rugged and sturdy and can handle anything that a typical travel day throws at you. I won’t go so far as to say that the bag is waterproof, but when you get water on the bag it simply beads up, so I feel comfortable saying that it is water-resistant.  In fact, ful even promotes the charging port on the outside of the bag as water-resistant.  The dimensions of the bag are 10.35″x16.5″x10.5″.  It is designed to hold 15″ laptops (or maybe a 16 inch with a tight squeeze) and 10″ tablets in the compartments inside, and there are many, many pockets and compartments on the inside to hold anything and everything that you might need.  The bag is smaller than most of those smaller suitcases that everyone takes on the plane as carry-ons, so I had no problem getting it in the overhead compartments.  I was not able to get it under any seat in front of me. The bag itself, empty, weighs in at just under 8 pounds.

There are many nice touches that ful included in this product.  For example, all the compartments for gadgets inside the bag are fully padded so you won’t have to worry about any device getting bumped or damaged.  The two wheels on the bottom are not only as far to the outside of the bag as you can get, the tops of the wheels are slightly tilted toward the inside of the bag.  That means that you get a very smooth wheeled operation of this bag. When the handle was extended and I was rolling through the airport, even with a very heavy load, it was effortless to pull this bag.  I never once felt like the bag was going to tip over regardless of what I had loaded inside. I could pull this bag with just 2 fingers if I wanted (yes, I tried that to make sure that I included that in this review!).

the Powerbag by ful	back of the bag
bottom of the bag	handle extends to 40 inches tall

The telescoping handle zips up inside an exterior compartment when you don’t need it, and the grab handle on top is fully padded if you need to carry the bag that way.  Just below the zippered compartment on the back of the bag where the handle is, you will find a Velcro-secured flap that allows you to take this bag and slip it over the extended handle of your suitcase so that you can place the Powerbag on top of your suitcase securely. All along the bottom of the bag you will find hard, sturdy plastic panels that protect the bag and its contents when you drag the bag across curbs, escalators, and stairs.  On one side of the Powerbag, toward the top, you will find the charging port that is used to charge the internal battery before you take off.  On the front of the bag toward the bottom you will find the power button that turns the bag on and off.  When you press and hold that button to turn the bag on, you see a lighted bar increase from zero to 4 bars so that you can get a visual indication of how much juice you have left in the battery inside.

power button on bottom front	charging indicator on front
padded handle	charging port on side

There are 3 main compartments in the bag.  The biggest one is on the back next to the handle and it is meant for carrying shoes, clothes, and such. I found that it was just big enough to carry clothing items for an overnight trip for me.  I was not able to carry more than that, so a multi-day trip required me to carry a separate suitcase for clothes.  However, if you were going to wear the same suit and shoes and you just needed some extra underwear, socks, and a shirt, you could probably use this bag for a multi-day trip. You would also need to keep your toiletries to a minimum, so this bag would definitely not be able to handle all the stuff my wife takes with her on a trip!

The middle compartment is meant for your laptops and tablets.  There are 2 padded compartments for those items, and the compartments are fully-padded all around.  I was able to easily carry my laptop and 2 tablets at all times, and I could have probably squeezed in another laptop and tablet if I had to.

The front compartment is where you carry all your small items, like gadgets, cables, pens, jump drives, gum, and in my case… lots of snacks!  There is also a padded pouch that is meant for tablets of any size, up to 10 inches. This front compartment is also where the bag’s battery and charging cables are located (more on that in the next section).  On the front of the bag, you will find the only outside compartment, which is a zippered, padded pocket that I used to carry my travel documents and things I needed quick access to.  But the pocket was designed with the iPhone in mind, as you’ll see in the next section of the review.  Read on..

large compartment in back	clothing items
middle compartment for laptop and tablets	front compartment for all your stuff
padded tablet pouch in front compartment

The batteries

The thing that sets the Powerbag apart from all other business travel bags is of course the ability to charge things, so let’s turn our attention to that. Here are the power specs from ful:

• Battery: 6000mAh Lithium Polymer, weight 0.4 lbs
• Input: 12VDC, 1.2A
• Micro-USB, Mini-USB Output: 5VDC, 800mA combined
• Apple Connector Output: 5VDC, 1A
• USB Output: 5VDC, 1-2.1A

The Powerbag comes with the 6,000mAh battery, but you can purchase additional batteries in 3,000mAh ($39.00), 6,000mAh ($49.00) and 9,000mAh ($59.00) sizes.  I also got the 9,000mAh because I am simply a battery fanatic and never want to be without juice. The batteries plug into a slot inside the bag and can easily be swapped out when one is emptied.  Located in a pouch right next to the battery is where you will find the charging cable that you use to charge the Powerbag’s battery, so the cable tucks away nicely when not in use.

To see the status of your battery’s charge, you simply plug it into the bag, then press the button on the front of the bag to see a visual indicator (from 1 to 4 bars) of approximately how much charge you have left.  Pressing and holding the button on the front will turn the bag on and off.  After a few minutes of non-use the bag will turn itself off.

6,000mAh (left) and 9,000mAh (right)

battery in bottom of front compartment, charging cable to left of battery

Connecting your gadgets

The Powerbag has 3 power cables that are routed through the bag and sewn up into the linings of the bag itself.  In the exterior pocket that I have already mentioned as using for my travel documents, you will find a standard Apple connector so that you can charge your iPhone or iPod.  On the inside of the front compartment, you will find a pouch toward the top of the front of the compartment that contains micro- and mini-USB charging connectors.  I used this to charge my Bluetooth headsets and my cellphone.  Located at the bottom of the inside of the compartment where the bag’s battery is located, you will find a standard USB port for charging USB devices that can’t use the Apple, mini-USB or micro-USB cables.  I used this USB port to charge my HTC Flyer tablet which uses a proprietary charging cable.

front compartment to charge i-devices	iPod charging in outside pocket
charging devices with mini and micro-USB cables	Apple cable pulled into bag compartment from the front pocket
USB port next to the battery

Powerbag performance

Considering the Powerbag as just a business travel bag, I couldn’t be happier.  I have gone through several travel bags over the years, including the MobileEdge ScanFast Checkpoint Friendly Briefcase which I reviewed in Oct. 2010 (which was still my daily-use bag), and this bag is now my go-to bag for travel – simply because having the mobile juice that this bag provides is too powerful a benefit for me to pass up.

Let me go ahead and get out of the way the few negatives that I have toward this bag.  It is strange to me that the only Apple connection you find is on the outside of the bag in a compartment that can only hold an iPhone or iPod.  I would have expected an Apple connection in the inside of the bag’s front compartment where you find that special padded pouch for tablets because you know that most people will want to use this bag to charge their iPads. Of course, you can use the standard USB port next to the battery to charge your iPad, but it just seems odd to me that they didn’t at least have 2 Apple connections.  I should also mention that the Apple cable in the outside pocket can be pulled into the front compartment of the Powerbag so that you can charge Apple devices in that same pouch where the micro and mini-USB cables are.  But there isn’t enough slack in the cable to charge an iPad sitting in that special padded pouch in the front compartment.

I also don’t understand why there is only 1 standard USB port. Not every device uses mini or micro-USB, or the Apple connection.  So it seems to me that 2 USB ports would have been really smart to include.  Also, the mini and micro-USB cables can only handle 800mA outputs, which means that some devices that require higher output (like 1A for example, that some newer cellphones require) are going to be forced to use the standard USB port – which further demonstrates the need for more USB ports. I do admit to being ignorant of power-requirement technology, so I am sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why this was done with the Powerbag, but from the ignorant-consumer point of view, it doesn’t make sense to me.

My cellphone is the HTC Thunderbolt 4G from Verizon, and I found some interesting performance issues with my cellphone and the Powerbag. In one instance my phone was about to die and I plugged up to the Powerbag while sitting in the terminal waiting for my plane.  I had several more calls to make, so I just continued to use the phone with my Bluetooth headset because the micro-USB cable in the bag isn’t long enough to allow me to hold the phone to my head. When I finished using my phone 30 min later, I looked at the battery indicator on the screen of my phone and my phone had not charged at all while I was using it. The Powerbag kept my phone powered up so I could use it, but it wasn’t able to charge it while I used it.  I am guessing that the 4G connection (which kills any battery in sight) and the use of my Bluetooth headset pulled on the battery so much so that the Powerbag couldn’t charge it up.  After I finished using my phone and I turned off the Bluetooth and let the phone just charge, the Powerbag was able to charge my phone just fine.

I also discovered an interesting problem with my HTC Flyer 7-inch Android tablet.  To make a long story short, I contacted the Powerbag tech support people to help with this problem because I wasn’t able to get my Flyer to charge up all the way before my Powerbag battery died.  The Powerbag was using the 6,000mAh battery and my Flyer has a 4,000mAh battery, but I was never able to get more than a 50% charge on my  Flyer.  What the tech support people found out by their testing is that the Flyer, when plugged up to the standard USB port, identifies itself as being charge via a PC which means that the rate of charge is significantly less and takes much longer to charge. When I used my 9,000mAh battery to charge the Flyer I was able to get it fully charged, but it took around 8 hours for that to happen.  So the bottom line is that ‘performance may vary’ when it comes to charging devices. I don’t think we can realistically expect the Powerbag to charge every device and every battery out there. I don’t think it is fair to expect this bag to handle every single situation with every single device.

Let me also say that the Powerbag tech support people were fantastic to work with. When I reached out to them with my Flyer problem, they responded very quickly and even did some testing on their end with an HTC Flyer to confirm what I was experiencing with the Powerbag.  In a world with lousy tech support from many companies, I give them props for responding to my issue.

Conclusion

The Powerbag meets every need that I have when it comes to charging on the go, as long as you don’t expect it to charge your laptop.  It has saved me numerous times while traveling and I needed to find power for one of my devices. I do wish it had more features, like more USB ports, and the price is a bit steep at $250. But when you consider purchasing other mobile charging solutions and the cost of those, compared to the Powerbag, and having the extra convenience of having a business travel bag, it is well worth the cost to me. I have used the Powerbag at many conferences when I needed to carry ‘stuff’ around, back and forth between my hotel room and the conference booth, and that large compartment came in very handy. And if you have ever spent time on a conference showroom floor and needed power, then you are nodding your head right now because you understand. I don’t have to hunt for power outlets anymore, and that is a very, very good thing indeed.

Filed in categories: Bags, Backpacks, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: External power supply, Laptop Bag

Powerbag Wheeled Briefcase by ful Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 19, 2012 at 11:00 am.

The juice pack powerstation PRO from mophie is rugged enough to go anywhere and powerful enough to keep your gadgets charged for days.  With its 6000mAh power reserves, you’ll be able to keep your phones and other small devices going for days while away from wall outlets.  You can even charge tablets with the powerstation PRO (provides up to 2.1A).  The powerstation PRO doesn’t need to be babied, either.  It’s “been tested using international standards for dust and water resistance” and assigned an IP65 rating.  An ingress protection rating of 65 means it is “totally dust-proof (with the ports closed) and resistant to water being sprayed at it with a water-jet.”  You can charge the powerstation PRO using a high-power USB port on your computer or with a USB charger.  (By the way, the powerstation PRO isn’t a pass-through charger, so you’ll need to charge it up separately.)  The powerstation PRO is available now from mophie for $129.95.

Filed in categories: News, Outdoor Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: External battery

Keep Your Devices Charged with the Rugged mophie juice pack powerstation PRO originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 19, 2012 at 10:00 am.

I’m a big believer in using refillable water bottles to stay hydrated, lose weight, be environmentally conscious, and so on, so we usually have half a dozen 32oz. wide-mouth bottles in the fridge. I’ve been thinking about upgrading my system though.  Our local water is a little hard (but still pretty tasty), but about once a month I need to take a 5.5 hour long trip (each way) along boring Interstate and deal with whatever water I get along the way or at the destination. I decided to look for a travel bottle that would fit the cup holder, be at least a little insulated, have a big enough mouth to allow for flavorings or ice, incorporate a filter, and allow drinking without blocking my view of the road. I figured such a bottle would also be useful for hiking and so on.

The CamelBak Groove Insulated Filtration bottle looks like it would satisfy all of these needs, and recently I was offered the chance to review one!  Let’s give it a look.

I was sent a grey Groove Insulated bottle, and a green standard Groove to try. CamelBak made their name with high quality water bladders for outdoorspeople that quickly became a standard of hikers, soldiers, and others who spent time outside and needed to stay hydrated. They’ve pretty much figured out how to do things right.

The Groove series of bottles are a variation on their popular Eddy bottles (which I believe used to be called the ‘Better Bottle’). For the un-initiated, the Eddy’s claim to fame is a flip-up silicone ‘bite valve’ attached to an inner straw. When folded down, the bottle is completely spill-proof. When flipped up, it is still very spill-resistant, but a worn valve may leak a little. The silicon bite valve has a small slit in it – to drink you gently bite the valve to open the slip and suck. You don’t need to tilt the bottle, so it does not interfere with your vision – a real bonus when driving (not that you should be drinking or using a cell phone or anything when driving!) The bottle itself is BPA-free, dishwasher-safe (following the directions), tough as nails, uses an O-ring for a secure seal, and has a hanging loop that many of my cohorts think is really handy and others think is annoying in the way it sticks out. Personally, I don’t think it is a big deal unless you are trying to stick the bottle in a bag’s pocket or something.

What the Groove brings to the party is a plant-based carbon filter to help reduce chlorine, tastes and odors in the water. It is rated to last for about 3 months or 48 gallons of water. Replacements are available and the bottle works perfectly well without it. Please note that with the filter in place you really should not try to use any sorts of flavorings or liquids other than water. Also note that this is a simple filter, not a purification system and it should not be used for questionable or unsafe waters.

The Insulated version on the bottom, the Groove is shown 'exploded' on top.

The things that make it special- flip top, bite valve, filter, and straw filter holder

Contrary to the name, the Groove’s body is not actually grooved, but does feature a paint job of thin vertical lines that adds a bit of flair and some texture to make the bottle easy to hold. (Considering that real grooves would probably just hold dirt, this is probably a good thing.) The Groove is also available in a stainless steel body.

Of course, the difference between the Groove and the Groove Insulated is that the insulated version helps hold the cold in. It is a double-walled bottle that is a bit taller than the standard Groove, so it can still fit in a cup holder. I do not know if there is a vacuum between the layers or not but it keeps things cold for a couple hours easily.

Standard Groove on the left, Insulated on the right

The first thing I noticed in actual use is that it is kind of hard to suck the water up. I am used to just gulping the stuff down from an open bottle, and with the bite valve, it takes a bit of work to get a mouthful. Cracking the seal makes things a bit easier.  Interestingly, the filter does not really make as much difference as I thought it was going to. I’ve also noticed that I really don’t seem to be getting used to the unusual sensations it leaves in my mouth and upper throat. I’m willing to make this trade off for my travel bottle, but not as willing to do so for my everyday bottle. Others I know are not bothered by this at all – a few even like it quite a bit. One of my kids even admits to being mildly addicted to chewing the valve. Fortunately, it is easy to get replacement valves!

Some people instinctively know how to use the bottle... although she isn't getting much water!

As far as flavor and filtration goes – our water is, as I said, pretty good, so I tried it on water from the garden hose and noticed an improvement. The filter is OK but it is important to remember that the water does not travel inside the filter for long, so it will not do the same job as something like a ‘slow drip’ filter on a filtering jug would. This filter is the star of the Groove series, and adds about $10 to the cost of the basic Eddy bottle. This is a great investment if you routinely come in contact with bad-tasting water.

The basic Eddy bottle has a MSRP of $14 and comes in six colors, and there are also insulated, stainless steel and insulated stainless steel versions available. The Groove costs $25 and comes in four colors (or a stainless steel version). The Groove Insulated comes in three colors for $30 (there is not a stainless version available.)

So far, we have a perfectly good, functional, and even attractive water bottle… but we can do more with it! We use Eddy bottles quite often at the rehabilitation center I work at to help people with physical challenges stay hydrated more easily. (We use the bottles over the bladders for easier sanitation at a facility level.) Besides fitting in wheelchair-mounted cup holders and keeping water cold, we can do some pretty cool things with some of the available accessories! The options are designed for hikers, bikers, and so on, and may be just what you need to make the perfect hydration system…

• Hand’s Free Adapter allows you to connect a typical CamelBak-like straw to the bottle, which then lets you use a whole variety of clips, bite valves, one-way flow valves, etc.
• Antidote Insulated Tubing Director tube not only keeps the water cool, it also helps hold the tubing in whatever position you bend it thanks to a heavy wire in the cover.
• Tubing release clips, a flow meter, sleeves, cleaning supplies, and more.

Filed in categories: Fitness, Sports, Outdoor Gear, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: filtered water, Water Bottle

CamelBak Groove Insulated 0.6L Filtration Bottle Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

Planning a weekend getaway with your laptop to a rainy destination?  Chrome‘s got your back with their new Citadel pack.   Made from weatherproof 1000 denier nylon exterior and waterproof 1800 denier military grade truck tarpaulin liner with high frequency welded seams, the Citadel fits up to a 17″ MacBook Pro inside its roomy, full-access, zip-open innards.  Ergo shoulder straps, EVA-molded back panel and lots of organization features and attachment points round out the design.  Available in classic Chrome black on black.  $190.  Also check out its smaller siblings the Soyuz overnighter ($160) and Krakow day pack ($130).  Each guaranteed for life.

Filed in categories: Bags, Backpacks, Laptops and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: Laptop Bag

Chrome Citadel Rainy Weekend Laptop Pack originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 10, 2012 at 3:35 pm.

Earth Day (April 22) not only reminds us to think about our impact on the Earth, it also signals the beginning of the travel season, so it is only natural to think about how to vacation in a more eco-friendly manner. How about a way to use your car, SUV, or mini-van instead of a big old RV? The SwissRoomBox is a series of modules that fit in your car and act as a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom in one package.

The bright red unit sells for about $4,000, but includes everything you need, including the dishes! It straps into your car and can be installed or removed in minutes and just needs an electrical connection to be complete. The power adapter runs a pump, heater, and power outlet.

SwissRoomBox configurations

Filed in categories: News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Car, Earth Day, Travel

SwissRoomBox – A mini-RV inside your car! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 8, 2012 at 11:00 am.

MobiSafe is a compact, high-impact plastic lockbox with a steel cable for security.

We write a lot about keeping gadgets safe from damage.  Cases, gear bags, screen protectors and the like are all subject to being damaged by something you may accidentally do. But what about preventing an unwanted transfer of technology (ie. theft)? We can’t all go around with safes and lockboxes strapped to everything, can we? Well, there is a company on the market now that tries to help you prevent an uncontrolled loss of gear access. FJM Security  has a series of products that can protect various items. Their MobiSafe  is a smallish plastic box with an attached steel cable and combination lock, designed to prevent anyone from walking away with your gear. Light and easy to open or lock, the high-impact ABS plastic case is held to any support that can be surrounded by a 2″ circle of steel airplane cable. I was sent one to test, and found it to be as described on their website. Let’s take a closer look at this little gadget!

MobiSafe next to an iPhone 4 for size comparison.

The basic construction is a clamshell case with a separate piece that contains a cable lock which clips into it, holding it shut. The cable can be released to slide around whole objects by sliding a simple trigger that is completely hidden from access when it’s locked into place. The airplane-steel cable that loops around to secure your goodies is covered with a clear vinyl coating, which will prevent rust and keep it from scratching things, should you attach it to a painted item.

MobiSafe can hold a wide variety of stuff - if it's flat and narrow.

While the case it thin and light, I think it would take a bit of work with a blunt instrument to remove the clip from the collar that holds it.

Usage is simple: Remove the cable assembly, open the case, fill with stuff, put the cable around something permanent or difficult to move, close the case and clip the cable into it. There is a pin in the end of the cable assembly that goes through a molded hole in each half of the clamshell, so there is no way to force it open without actually breaking the plastic itself. This construction greatly increases the strength of the storage compartment lock, but it also means you have to enter the code and remove the cable assembly every time you want to go into the storage area. It’s an irritation, but not as bad as having your ID or phone stolen, I guess. (This is why we can’t have nice things, people! Stop stealing!)

Details showing the pin on the cable assembly and the holes on the storage compartment. Note also the metal slide lock for the cable release on the far end of the lock.

There are two smallish holes on either edge near the cable housing, which allows you to have earbuds or a power cable going into your device. This means it would be nice for a display for, say, speakers, where you didn’t want anyone changing the settings or running off with your music source, but wanted music playing through the demo product. While a great idea, you’ll have to choose your connectors carefully, since most smartphones or iPods have their outputs on the top or bottom. This means the cable may not fit within the box while inserted.

The power or earphone cables may or may not fit into the MobiSafe when inserted.

The MobiSafe is shown on the website’s pictures on the beach, clipped to a railing at a ballpark, and to a chair at a poolside restaurant. While these places could be used, be aware that the case does not seal your devices from water, sand, heat, or humidity. Yes, it may be safe when you return from your romp in the surf, but it may also be covered in grit or seawater or spilled beer. I don’t think the plastic four-digit combination lock would work as smoothly with sand in it, either.

I enjoyed using the MobiSafe during bike rides and when at coffee shops or the like. It’s a hassle to balance everything when going to fetch your food order, or when ducking into the library to get your reserved books, and the safety afforded by this unit is quite nice. I’m sure, with the advent of tablets and larger smartphones, that this category will grow, and other units may have weather protection, etc. But, even as a start, this is a great case for those times when you’re just wanting to secure your phone, a few bills and your ID while you take a turn around the dance floor.

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Mobile gear, Portable storage, Security

MobiSafe Portable Secure Storage Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2012 at 11:00 am.

From the BBC comes a report on “e-textiles” that can provide clothes with a single, central power source to charge devices. Intelligent Textiles from Surrey UK  has developed and is testing a lightweight uniform for the military that has conductive fibres woven into it.  Rather than carrying seperate batteries for each device, a central battery can be carried and devices powered via the conductive fabrics.

“We have built-in conductive yarns that then take power and data to where it needs to be,” Asha Thompson, director of Intelligent Textiles, told BBC News.

Wired for sound (and power and data and….)?

Read the full article here.

Filed in categories: News, Outdoor Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: battery pack, fabric

Wired for sound…and power…and data and… e-textiles originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 3, 2012 at 8:00 am.

If you travel a lot, you’ll know that one of the biggest dilemmas is traveling light but still having enough clothes. In some locations, finding a laundry can be hard and expensive -  or if you’re further afield, impossible to find. Australian inventor Ashley Newland has come up with the Scrubba Washbag, a possible solution that is currently being funded on Indiegogo.

The 142g (5oz) bag is compact and portable and has a flexible washboard built into it. To use you just fill with 2-4 litres of water and a small amount of soap, shampoo or washing liquid, throw in the equivalent of around 2-3 tee shirts and agitate for 40 secs. When finished, you pour out the water, rinse your clothes and then dry. Voila, clean clothes.

The project is already fully funded (with over 3 weeks to go), and you can pre-order for $40. Ashley expects to have the product shipping around mid April.

p.s. Being an Aussie I would of thought he’d have picked a better name.  Scrubber is Aussie slang for a….ummm, I’ll let you research this yourself

Filed in categories: News, Outdoor Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: Cleaning, Travel gear

Scrubba Washbag – Wash your clothes on the move originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 27, 2012 at 10:00 am.

I never liked the idea of using those blankets and pillows they passed out on airplanes, but traveling with my own took up my entire carry-on bag.  Travelrest has a 4-in-1 Travel Blanket that fits into your carry-on without filling it up.  Use the 4-in-1 Travel Blanket as a head, neck, or lumbar pillow while it’s packed away in its carry bag.  Open it up, and it’s a poncho-style fleece blanket that covers you from shoulders to ankles.  It won’t slip off, and it leaves your arms free to use those gadgets that keep you entertained during long flights.  The 4-in-1 Travel Blanket is $24.95.  It’s available at Travelrest or Amazon.com.

Filed in categories: News, Travel Gear

Tagged: blanket, Travel gear

Travelrest Makes Traveling More Comfortable originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 22, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

When I think messenger bags, Berlin isn’t the first city in the world that comes to mind but  Bagjack has been locally producing handmade messenger bags and accessories since 1993. Their 20 litre capacity Messenger NXL (Next Level) is a versatile bag that can be used as a messenger, a briefcase or a backpack (without having an additional bulky harness system). The bag can be closed using “traditional” velcro or should you need to silence it, their Fidlock magnetic hasp system. The NXL uses a splash shield with adjustable closure to keep out the weather and its interior can be customised using their modular and removable building block system.

The  NXL  isn’t a cheap messenger and prices start at  €499 ($650US)

Filed in categories: Bags, Backpacks, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: messenger bag

Bagjack NXL Next Level Messenger Bag originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 22, 2012 at 9:00 am.

The ePillow by Veyl Products LLC is a large, soft pillow with a U-shaped ridge designed to comfortably and securely hold a tablet or e-reader in a usable position for extended periods. If you have an Android tablet, iPad, or one of the heavier eReaders (for example, a Kindle Fire which comes in at about a pound), you’ve probably discovered that holding one of these in a “view a film” or “read a book” position for more than a few minutes isn’t really pleasant. In fact, you’ve probably propped yours up against a pillow or other object to try and ease the strain of holding it up… only to have it slide down (or off!) after a while. In a plane or car it’s even worse, since you’re far more limited in available space to make some kind of prop. This is the problem the ePillow is trying to solve – and it does so simply and effectively.

The ePillow Front and Back

The first shot above is the front of the ePillow. It’s a large (18″x11″) soft, light (honestly I have no idea – less than a pound for sure) and fluffy (about half a foot thick, if fluffed, or compressing down to a few inches) pillow. It comes in either a suede or faux leather finish for the pillow itself in seven colors. The “retaining ridge” is faux leather in black, gray, or pink. There’s a little pocket on the right side for your headphones or a microfiber wipe.

The back just has a strap for easy airplane carry-on – slide the ePillow onto your roll-on luggage and you’re done.

iPad Pillow Fight

This is a simple product, so I’m not going to belabor the point. Pretty much the goal of this thing is to sit there and hold a tablet. I took it for a spin with an iPad2 in portrait and landscape orientation:

The bottom lip of the retaining material is deeper than it seems at first look, which lets you slide the iPad down for a secure hold. Even just sitting on a table for a photograph, the ePillow keeps the iPad at a comfortable “sitting next to it” viewing angle. On a plane on the tray table, or in your lap in a car or plane, the iPad is easy to see. The ePillow is firm enough to hold the iPad steady for navigation (swiping and pressing), but I found it to have a little too much give for serious typing. Not that I can do much serious typing on glass anyway, but I have seen people pound away at their iPads when typing out an email, and I think the ePillow would make that even less accurate than it already is.

In portrait mode you’ll really be thankful for that deep lip, as the ePillow will easily keep your iPad upright without worry that it will flip or fall out. I found reading with the ePillow to almost rival the comfort of hand-holding my tiny 6 oz Kindle. You can also clearly see in this photo that the ePillow has no trouble accommodating an iPad with its Smart Cover attached and flipped back.

10.1″ Android Tablet

Next up is my Viewsonic gTablet; coming in at an inch wider and a quarter pound heavier, this thing really isn’t comfortable to handhold for extended periods.

Horizontally, it’s definitely pushing the limits on width, but it does fit – I’d say this is about as wide as you can go. Also, you should note that with both devices, the front bezel is obscured on the bottom by the lower lip of the ePillow – after all it is slotted down there to hold the thing in place. If you have a tablet with a very narrow, or no front bezel, you might lose some screen viewing/access when it’s in the ePillow.

Portrait mode on the longer gTablet still works just fine on the ePillow. In fact, I was able to actually find a good viewing angle (the gTablet has a pretty horrible screen) and maintain it comfortably for nearly an hour of reading with the ePillow. I’d pretty much given up on the gTablet for reading because it is normally so hard to find a good angle and hold it there, even using pillows or other props.

A Simple Idea That Works

The ePillow isn’t a complicated product. It’s a pillow with a retaining lip, pocket, and strap. The construction is solid – it looks like it will hold up to use and travel. It’s light enough to bring along on a trip, and it’s easily mistaken for a regular pillow so it can be left hanging about the living room. If you use a tablet weighing a pound or more, between 7 and 10.5″ wide, the ePillow will give you a lot of options for comfortably holding it for extended periods.

Filed in categories: eBook Readers and Gear, Reviews, Tablet Computers and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: Universal Tablet Stand

ePillow Tablet and eReader Stand Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2012 at 11:00 am.

The smarter, more capable, and tech-gorgeous our devices get, the more power-hungry they become. Even though battery technology is becoming more and more efficient, most of us regularly find ourselves looking for places to plug in our smartphone or tablet while on the fly. The Highway from Just|Mobile is a stylish option for charging your USB device when a 12V socket is available.

Just|Mobile puts it in writing, you see their motto for the Highway as soon as you open it’s box….’Drive with Style…‘

• 2A output
• Fused for surge protection
• Green micro-LED
• Apple certified – Works with iPod, iPhone & iPad

• 2.5 x 2.5 x 5.9cm
• 0.98 x 0.98 x 2.32in

As you can see, the Highway is a petite cigarette lighter/power port, USB charger with excellent looks.

The USB port delivers a 2.1A output to quickly charge your devices (to include the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch).  Just|Mobile engineered the Highway with a built-in fuse to protect them from power surges. The Highway’s diamond-tread aluminum head is very nice looking and well made. Just|Mobile engineered a ‘subtle’ green micro-LED indicator, power light on the front face of the aluminum head.

The Highway is also available in a stealthy all black.

Just|Mobile has recently released the ‘Highway Pro‘, a dual USB charger of equal build quality and looks of the Highway . Like the Highway, the Highway Pro has a 2.1A USB port, but also includes a 1.0A one as well.

The CallPod USB charger pictured above is what I have been using to charge my iPhone while on the road…..and let’s face it, its relatively bulky and pretty ugly (especially compared to the Highway).

Let’s also face the fact, the Highway looks very nice in my fun-car It’s small form-factor and diamond-tread aluminum look awesome in my SLK.

At just under $35, the Highway is definitely a luxury/splurge item. There are MANY other 12V USB charging options out there on the market for a fraction of the cost. But NONE of them are as good looking as The Highway.

Filed in categories: Car Gear, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Car accessories, USB charger

Just|Mobile Highway Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 17, 2012 at 11:00 am.

We’ve all done this… We get to our travel destination and take all the stuff out of our pockets and dump it on the nearest table. At some point or another, we have problems finding object x because we set it down somewhere in our room and can’t remember where. The Travel Tray from Tom Bihn is an elegant and easy to use solution to this problem. It will keep all your doodads and whatsits in one place so you’ll never have to run around your hotel room trying to find a misplaced item. Let’s take a look.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

The Travel Tray made of a very strong and light weigh nylon ripstop material called Dyneema. It is available in 4 colors: Steel (Grey), Iberian (Red), Solar (Yellow) and Ultraviolet (Purple). I was sent the Steel version to review.

The way the tray has been constructed, allows it to keep a bucket like shape that is ready to hold all your gear. The “bucket” is approximately 7 inches across and 4.5 inches tall.

Here are a few items that I’ll use to demonstrate how the Travel Tray works.

Just drop them in and you have a nice little home for all your gear that will be easy to locate when you need to retrieve an object. Easy to use and useful. But wait, there’s more…

The sides of Travel Tray can turn up to create an even larger bucket, or you can secure the items by cinching the top closed.

The spring loaded lock on the cord keeps the edges closed.

You can then compress the tray to make it as flat as possible for storage inside another bag.

Upon close inspection, I could not find any flaws with the materials or construction of the Travel Tray. It’s a great little accessory that frequent travelers will appreciate. It’s definitely going with me on my next trip.

Filed in categories: Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Organization

Tom Bihn Travel Tray Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 17, 2012 at 3:32 pm.

Tom Bihn is known for smartly-designed, well-built, made-in-USA travel bags. But their passion for “Portable Culture” extends to travel accessories as well. Tom Bihn recently introduced several new items to make your travels a bit easier, among them the Travel Money Belt. Onward!

Specs

From the Tom Bihn website:

• Materials: Webbing is 1.25″ (32mm) wide nylon webbing; buckle is plastic;  zipper is 20″ (500mm) #3.5 YKK coil zipper with plastic zipper slider
• Sizes: Extra Small fits waists 26″-28″, Small fits 30″-32″, Medium fits 34″-36″, Large fits 38″-40″, Extra Large fits 42″-44″
• Colors: Black
• Location of Manufacture: TOM BIHN Factory in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Packaging

Unboxing…er…Unenveloping

The Belt had just one simple product tag sporting the wistfully nostalgic plane logo present on many of Tom Bihn’s products.  I just slid the tag off and that was it.  Easy peasy.

The Belt

The belt, like all of Tom Bihn’s products, is simple but with just the intended features.  It’s basically: belt, buckle and hidden zipper compartment.

The belt is available in any color you want, as long as it’s black.  Sorry, old joke, but it’s true.  No worries to me—black goes with everything, right?  It’s also nondescript, which is what you want in a hidden compartment belt.

The buckle is straightforward, easy to use and adjustable (within its size range).

The opening of the hidden zipper compartment has two tiny tags.  One indicates the size, the other has a small Tom Bihn logo.  The zipper pull is tiny as well, but not so small that I couldn’t grab and pull it easily.

The Belt’s hidden compartment can be used to hold things that you might need as backup or in an emergency while traveling.  Below, I’ve shown a $20 bill folded longways as just one example.  Others items might be important directions to a must-visit pub, a list of secret passwords or a copy of your passport.

The only flaw I found on my Belt was on the free end.  The fibers of the nylon webbing had been melted together, presumably in an attempt to prevent fraying.  However, there was still some minor fraying at the tip that looked like it might progressively worsen if I ignored it.  I just took a lighter and re-melted the fibers at the tip.  Problem solved.  (DISCLAIMER: Do this at your own risk and if you do, please be careful.)

The hidden compartment is 20″ in length on all belt sizes.  This provides a fair amount of space into which you can stuff things, as long as the stuff you’re stuffing is narrow, thin and bendy.  The Tom Bihn site claims that it can hold “up to 15 US $100 bills.”  I should note that the belt and compartment are NOT waterproof or water-resistant.  This means that if you are hiking through an equatorial rain forest and perspiring profusely, get caught in a torrential downpour, or misstep and fall into a murky bog, the contents are very likely to get wet.

The buckle is a solid piece of plastic.  In fact, the entire belt—buckle, webbing, and zipper—are all non-metallic.  Per the Tom Bihn site, this means, “you can wear it through some airport security checkpoints (not Advanced Imaging Technology, though).”  However, in my travel experience, more and more airport security checkpoints are requiring travelers to simply remove their belt, period.  Combining this with the Advanced Imaging Technology situation could make a non-metallic belt less of a benefit in the future.

The belt is comfortable to wear.  I didn’t even notice the zipper or mini zipper pull while wearing it.  Regarding sizing, I asked for a belt in size Medium, which is intended to fit waists size 34″ to 36″.  My waist measures just shy of 34″; however, the Medium belt seemed like it could have been a bit longer—there wasn’t much excess as can be seen below.   I am dubious that it would fit anyone with a waist size up near 35″ or 36″.  One suggestion is that at 1.25″ wide, the belt could have been a bit wider.  This is just a personal preference as I’m not typically a wearer of narrower belts; however, a wider belt might allow a slightly larger items to be placed in the hidden compartment.

Conclusion

In classic Tom Bihn fashion, the Travel Money Belt is simple and straightforward.  It is built solidly of heavy nylon webbing with an adjustable plastic buckle and features a hidden, zippered compartment useful for storing spare cash or other items while traveling (but it won’t protect against moisture).  The belt could be a bit wider for my personal taste, and the sizing is a bit questionable, but at $20 it is affordable, comfortable to wear and does its job—both holding hidden items and holding up your pants.

Filed in categories: Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Travel gear

Tom Bihn Travel Money Belt Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 10, 2012 at 11:00 am.

In my article Amazon Kindle 3G-The Perfect Travel Companion, I talked about how useful I found my 3G Kindle while travelling overseas.  One of the comments left on that article pointed to a blog that said that Vietnam was one of the only places that the author couldn’t get any 3G signal.  This confused the heck out of me, as I had full coverage (and also full web access) from North to South for the 3 weeks I was over there. What was going on?

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

I went to Amazon.com to look at the 3G coverage map. Huh? No 3G coverage in Vietnam? Had I slurped back too much Pho, or had the sun addled my brain, or was it just like an episode of Dallas and it was all a dream?

Then I remembered there’s actually two versions of the 3G Kindle , a US one that is only available in the US and uses an ATT sim card and also an International model that uses a Vodafone sim card.  Now, Australia being NOT being part of the US meant I had an international model. So I went to Amazon.co.uk and check the Vodaphone 3G coverage map there.

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

So you can see while the US (ATT) Kindle 3 offers ZERO 3G coverage in Vietnam, the International version (Voda) gives almost full 3G coverage. The same applies for Cambodia.

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Tasmania US v Intl 3G Coverage

For interest sake I then had a look at Australian coverage.  I live in Tasmania, that little island just underneath Victoria, but couldn’t get my screenshot to include in the map above, so I added separately. (We hate being left off the map of Australia ).  You can see  that there’s dramatically different coverage between the International and the US Kindle 3 3G . Looking at the maps above, in reality I’d be much better off with a US Kindle 3 3G than the International model. Vodafone has notoriously bad coverage in Australia and I can tell from the ATT coverage that they’re partnering on the Telstra 3G network. It’s a bit ironic that a US Kindle would give me better coverage than an “International” version.  But of course if I had a US model, I’d have NO coverage while in Vietnam.

A quick comparison of the maps shows some obvious areas where coverage is different, Morocco (I), Namibia(I), Ghana(I), Belarus(I), Malawi(I),Ecuador(U), Tanzania(U) and Bolivia(U) amongst others, and the degree of difference in coverage varies.

I’m guessing that this “anomoly”  has to do with the partners that the respective Telcos have in the different countries. The long and short, if you’re intending to use your Kindle while travelling, it’s worth checking out if the US or International will give you the best coverage in the countries that you’re going to visit. Be aware though that it’s not possible to get a US Kindle 3G directly from Amazon internationally and conversely an International Kindle 3G in the US, but there are ways of doing it.

Happy travelling

Filed in categories: Articles, eBook Readers and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: 3G, Kindle, Travel gear

Amazon Kindle 3 3G International Coverage – US vs International model originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 3, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Cuppow is a silicone drinking lid that converts any wide-mouthed canning jar into a travel mug.  Canning jars are sturdy, heat-resistant, easy to clean, and cheap, but their wide openings don’t make them a travel-friendly mug.  Simply replace the seal with the Cuppow, screw the ring back on, and you have a eco-friendly cup that you can take in the car without worrying about spills.  The Cuppow is $7.99.  (Hopefully they’ll come out with jar sleeves to protect your hands from hot coffee and tea burns.)

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Travel Mug

Turn a Canning Jar into a Travel Mug with Cuppow originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 28, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Wondering what to get for the stylish gadget guy this coming Valentine’s Day?  It would be difficult for him not to love these Polished Silver Oval Wifi and 2GB USB Cufflinks from Brookstone.  On the surface, they’re a regular pair of classy polished silver cufflinks, but there’s more than what meets the eye.

Each cap can be detached from its base revealing a 2GB USB flash drive on one side and a WiFi hotspot on the other.  Once the corresponding software is installed on a (hard-wired) laptop or desktop, simply plug the WiFi end into the computer and start using your iPhone, iPad, etc from your new mobile hotspot.

These are a bit pricey, but how many other guys can be wearing their very own hotspot?  The WiFi/USB cufflinks are available through Brookstone for $250.

Filed in categories: Gear, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: cufflinks, USB flash drive, wifi hot spot

A Set of Cufflinks Fit for MI6 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 27, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Power, storage and access are the holy trinity of the geek. We cannot have too much access to the Internet, too much storage (digital or physical, for our gadgets) or too many different ways to get powered up. While USB seems to be well on its way to powering everything from GPS units to phones to wrist watches, it’s still difficult to carry enough battery power around to recharge your gear if you’ve left the grid or your laptop behind. Choiix has a line of power devices that are designed to this exact market: small, light, nicely priced, and, most important, very powerful. As a test item, Coolermaster sent me the Choiix Power Fort 5600 in white, which is a rechargeable 5600 mAh brick a little smaller than a deck of cards or a pack of smokes, yet able to recharge your iPhone, iPod, Droid, GPS, flip phone, or just about anything else that you’d usually charge through your computer’s USB port. It’s even capable of charging the iPad, which takes 10 watts, rather than the usual 5 watts most standard USB ports deliver.

Tiny, but powerful, the Choiix Power Fort can fit into almost any small space in your gear bag.

On one side edge of the device is a micro-USB port, and on the opposite edge, a full USB port. The top is a glossy plastic (white or black is available) with a brushed metallic button in the center. Off to one side from this button is a band in the same brushed finish with 4 blue LEDs. All sides except the glossy top are clad with a grippy material. This is helpful if you’re fumbling around in your bag for it, because once you get into your mind where the top is, you’ll know where the power port is, even in the dark.

Full-sized USB port accepts just about anything that can be powered from USB. Note the rubbery texture of the back and sides.

Four LEDs show status when charged, or when charging.

When you press the button for a few seconds, It will display your available power. When charging (through the micro-USB port) the buttons blink as the battery fills up, with the “full” amount staying lit and the next blinking. To go from one, single blinking LED to four solid ones takes about an hour using my iPad charger. I never noticed any loss of charge unless I actually used it to charge something. This is important in this type device, because the usual use case is filling it up, tossing it into your bag or pocket, and only pulling it out if you need to charge something. If you had to continually monitor it’s power level, even if you never used it, that would seriously impact the convienence factor, or it being ready when you need it.

During testing, I invited many friends to “power up” while at lunch or out after work. I saw every phone go from being “in the red” to completely or nearly full in every case. Usual time for, say, an iPhone 4 at 20% was 40-50 minutes to get into the 80% range. That’s a nice bump when you’re facing the prospect of a long drive home and have forgotten to top-off during the day.

Take a look at the above chart I grabbed from the Choiix web page to get an idea of the extended use time this little box can deliver: 6 extra hours for a tablet, 28 more for your smartphone, and 172 more on your MP3 player. They may be a little on the high side (all those times are listed as “up to”, remember), but they are not far from reality, at least from my experience thus far.

As I’m writing this (on my iPad in Evernote), I’m in a park on a biking weekend in Savannah, GA, with my iPhone charging in my saddlebag. The iPad power adapter, iPad, iPhone, and Power Fort are all I brought with me for the 2.5 days I’ll be gone, and between wifi in the motel and cafes, and great 3G coverage on my phone, I’ve not felt cut off in the least. I’ve done other trips with similar equipment, and always felt a little fearful that I’ll not be close to power and will thus run shy somewhere. With the Power Fort, I think that’s behind me. I hope so, anyway.

So, are there any drawbacks? Maybe a few. The microUSB port that is used for charging is one of those that make it difficult to tell which way you plug it in. Over time, I’m wondering if it will become worn out from me trying to plug in, realizing that it’s at the wrong orientation, and then putting it in correctly. Once you’re in the right orientation, it fits fine, but those connectors are so easy to get wrong, I wish companies would stop supporting it. The miniUSB connector is more obviously trapezoidal, so less prone to this issue, but that’s not the fault of Choiix, except in using what I feel is a poor standard. There are worse ones on the market. (Regular USB, I’m looking at you!)

I hate these tiny micro-USB ports. They are easy to plug in wrong.

Another drawback is the lack of a clear “charging” mode. When you plug something in the full-sized USB port, you then have to hold down the button on top, next to the level LEDs, and then it will start charging your device. And it will keep on feeding power at that rate, until you either unplug it or hit the button again. It would be nice if you could plug it in and it would auto-charge until the device was full, then stop charging. On more than one occasion during initial testing, I accidentally just left it plugged in, and ran the Power Fort down, while the device had been fully charged for hours. Once you learn that it’s manual, you know to keep checking, but it’s irritating. Maybe the lack of auto detect power metering is one of the things that keeps the price reasonable.

Something I’d like to see: a ”play-through” feature, where you can power another device through the USB port while you’re charging the Power Fort. It doesn’t do it right now, but it would sure be nice to recharge both the Power Fort and your iPad or whatever at the same time. Otherwise, you have to have more than one adapter, and more than one available outlet.

All things considered, the Choiix Power Fort is much more asset than liability. At $40, it’s half the price of many of the similar devices on the market. I’ve not tested any other USB chargers, but have loads of friends and customers who have, and I’ve not heard good things from many of them. Mophie’s Juice Pack series gets good reviews for an integrated case/battery charger (I reviewed one for my iPhone 3G and loved it!), but their power units that would compare with the Power Fort are nowhere as cheap or powerful.

Included in the package is the Power Fort, a USB cable that will work for recharging, a miniUSB cable, and a velveteen drawstring bag that will hold all items. Also included is a whale of a lot of peace of mind for the roaming gadget user. Four and a half stars.

Filed in categories: Android related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews, Tablet Computers and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: External battery

Choiix Power Fort 5600 Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 23, 2012 at 11:00 am.

The tiny Data Traveler 109 USB drive from Kingston comes preloaded with urDrive software “that gives you a new and exciting way to look at your data“, according to the maker. I am always interested in new and exciting ways to look at my data, so let’s take a look!

Kingston makes good stuff and the Data Traveler 109 thumbdrive is a nice piece of work:

• 2 capacities (8 and 16gb) and 7 colors
• 1.535″ x 0.486″ x 0.179″ (39.00mm x 12.35mm x 4.55mm)
• A bit more than a gram
• Compatible with any USB 2 system (urDrive is for Windows XP or newer)
• Convenient lanyard hole (that is pretty dang close to being bigger than the drive itself!)

The unit is very small in a plastic housing that would not be very tough in a larger unit, but is OK in the smaller package. The large lanyard hole makes it easy to slip on a keyring or, just maybe, a lanyard! In fact, I found I needed to thread a large rubber band in it during the review period just to keep it from getting lost in the detritus on my desk. No instructions are included in the packaging.

"Just how small IS it?"

I was sent an 8MG black and white unit to review, and it works perfectly as a thumb drive alone. It is pre-loaded with the 122MB URDrive software and applications suite which is designed to elevate the thumb drive experience. The site claims “Most USB Flash drives offer passive storage, which simply allows users to store and retrieve their data. urDrive offers engaged, active storage that allows you to easily access and organize your files, photos, videos and music.”

The urDrive is not bootable – it is not an operating system, more like a shell program that allows you to better use and view the files you choose to store on it. When launched from the screen icon or with autoplay, it displays several apps in the main screen, icons on the bottom, and some other scattered buttons or bars like ‘back’ and ‘search’.

The Home Screen

The large app buttons bring up several pre-loaded applications-

• Norton PC Checkup, which needs to be loaded onto your PC.
• Maxthon Browser, which needs an internet connection and can download data straight to the thumb drive.
• vDrive Backup, offering 6GB of free back-up. Needs to install on your PC and requires an internet connection.
• FoozKids Basic, a ‘kid-safe’ zone with educational activities and apps. Installs on the PC and offers a subscription service for more options.
• Games, similar to many on-line games sites, offering a selection of free and ‘for pay’ games.
• A store for apps and music, and apps for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter round out the offerings.

These programs are easily available on-line if you want them and there does not seem to be any benefit to getting them from the drive as opposed to loading them yourself – other than the portability of those that do not load onto your computer. You can also find reviews of each of these apps on-line to help you decide if they might interest you.

The ‘thumb drive shell programs’ are more interesting. Icons take you home, or to your files, photos, music, videos, (Kingston) news, settings, and help. You can use the ‘Import to USB’ button or just drag and drop files into the folder system. One small quirk is that you cannot drag to the Home screen with the apps, but you can to the ‘My Files’ screen. Note that if you drag and drop something like an MP3 there, it will not automatically go to your music file, but if you click on it, it will open with the included player.

The Maxthon Browser

The included players – photo, music, and video – are simple and work great. They seem to be based on Windows Media Player. They are nice enough that I would not mind using them on my laptop since they do such a nice job with such small footprints, but I suspect they actually use your computer’s copy of Media Player to do the job. When playing music or looking at photos, you can click on an icon for ‘Library View’, which taps into the entire media library on your computer – not just that on the thumb drive. This almost feels like a ‘back door’ since you cannot do this elsewhere in the urDrive, and I didn’t find a comment about it in the help.

The Music Player

The urDrive suite is nicely done – attractive, flexible, intuitive, and does everything it does nicely. I am not convinced it is helping me see my data in an new and exciting way, but it is sort of nice to have an on-board set of tools… even though I still have access to the needed tools on the main computer since this is not a bootable system. I suspect most Gadgeteers who are interested in this already have a thumb drive loaded with tools from places like PortableApps.com, which offers a wider range of customization, security, privacy, etc. (Just FYI- there does not seem to be anything in the urDrive that offers more security or privacy than what the Norton or other apps offer.) Regardless, the Data Traveler 109 is a pretty sweet drive!

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Flash Drive, Flash Memory, Security, USB Drive

Kingston Data Traveler 109 with urDrive Software Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 17, 2011 at 5:09 pm.

Sick of having to carry multiple “standard” USB cables to charge and sync your devices?  Innergie has you covered with their Magic Cable Trio .  A single cable gives you access to Mini USB, Micro USB and Apple 40 pin.  Each connector uses a hinge mechanism so you won’t lose the connectors that you’re not using. Just the thing to throw into your gadget bag for that emergency charge.

Available for $20 from Innergie.

Filed in categories: Gear, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: USB cable

Innergie Magic Cable Trio – Pure Magic originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 8, 2011 at 9:00 am.