I’ve been a long time advocator of the Pebble Smartwatch and have carried one for several years. For the price and what its worth, it’s a good entry level smartwatch. The Pebble Time has a nice ring to it too — Pebble took what they did best, and added new features to it. On the other side of the fence, the Apple Watch is Apple’s first smartwatch. So why choose one over the other?

Pebble Smartwatch

Pros

The Pebble has long been praised for its outstanding battery life. Seriously, the battery can withstand anywhere between 5-7 days on a single charge. The battery charges from 0-100% in less than an hour. Plus it’s the first device where a 20% warning means, “Meh, it’ll last the rest of the day, maybe even tomorrow too.”

The watch is also water proof with a water resistance rating of 5 ATM. According to this document, the Pebble should be able to withstand “Surface swimming, shallow snorkeling and similar activities”. On the surface, this sounds insane considering this is a technology device. But, from my experience, I was able to shower with the Pebble on a daily basis. I also took my Pebble on vacation and was able to take it in the pool for a swim. Continue reading this post ->

On Monday, a new video popped up on the web going over the boot times for Apple’s upcoming Watch. The boot time averages sixty seconds, depending on the model, going up to the Clock face. First spotted by 9to5Mac, the video was recorded at an Apple Store on one of their demo units. The video should be taken with a grain of salt because this is based on an Apple Watch demo unit with a demo OS.

The video shows off Apple’s in-house S1 chip, specifically designed for the Watch. The processor had previously been noted to be comparable to Apple’s A5 chip, giving it enough power to refresh the Watches display at a buttery smooth sixty frames per second.

It’s worth noting that the Watch takes much longer to boot than Apple’s iPhone 4s, which is equipped with the A5 processor. The difference between boot times may indicate that the Watch is running at a lower clock speed to help retain a better battery life. Continue reading this post ->

Not too long ago Gameloft‘s highly anticipated first person shooter, Modern Combat 5, made its debut on the App Store with some huge graphical improvements for the newer generation of iOS devices. With the game being pretty resource intensive, it’s safe to assume that older devices like the iPhone 4S to not have graphics as good as the iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C. That being said, there hasn’t a side-by-side comparison until now thanks to the folks at AppSpy. As seen in the video above, the difference in quality is fairly obvious. If you’re an iOS gamer and wanting to upgrade from an iPhone 4S, Apple will hopefully announce the iPhone 6 sometime later this year. Continue reading this post ->

Even though fingerprint senors are relatively new to mobile phones thanks to the iPhone 5S and the Samsung Galaxy S5, it’s safe to say that Apple has done the best incorporating it so far. With the technology still evolving and there being plenty of room for improvement, let’s take a step back and take a quick comparison to see where we’re at right now. Reddit user, Kiggsworthy, posted a GIF (now removed) comparing the two phones to show how they differ when scanning your fingerprint. As you can see, the iPhone 5S is much simpler by just holding your finger over the scanner leaving less room for error. On the other hand the Galaxy S5 takes the approach where you must swipe your finger down to utilize the scanner. Like we said earlier, seen as how this is the first time this kind of technology has been added to a phone, we can’t discredit Samsung too much and hopefully they’ll make it more user friendly later on.

[Reddit] Continue reading this post ->

Eton BoostTurbine2000

Eton has come up with a new innovative idea regarding mobile phone external battery packs. I believe the BoostTurbine is the first of its kind as it packs not only a 2000 mAh battery, but also a hand crank to recharge the battery. The battery itself is fairly large compared to competitors at 1” thick, 2.2” wide, and 5” deep, however, the feel of the battery is very premium — it has a brushed aluminum shell and a plastic interior. Although the hand crank is a great feature, its usability is mainly for emergency purposes. Continuous cranking for one minute provides enough battery for 30 seconds of talk time. Unless you are willing to let your arm fall off, don’t rely on the crank to charge the device enough to be able to use it for a long period of time. To find out how much battery the BoostTurbine has, just press the button and the LED charge indicators will let you know how much battery charge you have left. When using the battery to charge my iPhone 5 (1440 mAh) when it was dead, I was able to charge the iPhone to 85% on a full charge on the BoostTurbine. You can recharge the BoostTurbine via Micro-USB. The BoostTurbine retails for $59.99 and you can purchase it here. The BoostTurbine is great if you are looking for an emergency-situation charger, this larger-than-normal size battery charger is for you.

Here are its features:

• Backup battery pack with rechargeable 2000mAH lithium-ion battery
• Hand Turbine power generator
• Lightweight and durable aluminum body
• Fully charges most smartphones when fully charged
• Button press for LED battery charge indicator
• Micro-USB DC input for use with smart phone chargers (iPhone block, etc)

TYLT PowerPlant

The TYLT PowerPlant is a great small product packing a whopping 5200 mAh battery. I love its small size and portability. The TYLT PowerPlant is available in a 30 pin, Lightning connector, or Micro-USB option. In the Lightning version, the battery comes with a flexible lightning cable attached to the battery so you do not need to worry about carrying it with you. TYLT calls this patented technology the Flex charging arm, which is on the side of the device. To charge the PowerPlant to full capacity, it takes around 6-7 hours. When using the PowerPlant, I was able to charge my dead iPhone about 2 times on a full charge. One of the best features of the PowerPlant is that it is extremely lightweight and small. I am surprised at how small a 5200 mAh battery charger can be. I have simply been impressed by the TYLT PowerPlant and you can grab yours here for $89.99.

Here are its features:

• 5200mAh for plenty of charging power
• Built-in Flex Arm for charging on the go
• Micro USB and Apple 30-Pin versions available
• Universal USB Socket for charging any USB device
• Rapid charge or charging 2 devices simultaneously
• LED Battery level Indicator lights
• Automatic shut-off
• Will retain a single charge for up to one year

Kingston MobileLite Wireless

The MobileLite is Kingston‘s latest portable wireless storage device that ships without embedded storage and instead enables users to use memory cards (SD/SDHC/SDXC and microSD with included adapter) or USB flash drives to increase storage for tablets, phones and other mobile devices. Not only that, the MobileLite acts as a external battery for mobile devices as well.

Here are all the features for the MobileLite Wireless:

• Inputs for Storage: USB and reads SD, SDHC, SDXC and microSD (with included adapter)
• Wireless Network Interface: Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA2)
• Rechargeable Battery: up to 5 hours of continuous use
• Battery: built-in Li-Polymer 1800mAh 3.7v
• Local Storage: wirelessly transfer files to and from app and hardware
• Camera Roll support: move photos from a mobile device to MobileLite Wireless
• Cable: USB to micro-USB cable included
• Guaranteed one-year warranty, free technical support
• Customizable Device Name (SSID): User selectable Wi-Fi priority list when there are multiple APN/Key available
• File Support: MobileLite Wireless can store any file type. Playback and viewing based on device support
• General file format support: MP3, WAV, m4v, mp4 (H. 264 video codec), jpg, tiff, pdf
• Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C
• Storage Temperature: -10°C to 45°C
• Dimensions: 124.8mm x 59.9mm x 16.65mm
• Weight: 98g

The MobileLite is extremely portable and lightweight. I was shocked at how surprisingly light the device was. While using the built in external charger, I was able to charge my dead iPhone little over 40%. This also in a way acts as an emergency charger as its main function is to be used as a wireless SD card/USB card reader. You connect to the MobileLite via an app which is downloaded from the App store or Play store depending on your device. The MobileLite retails for $59.99 and you can purchase it here. Continue reading this post ->