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Gadgets

Making it last. All. Night. (Your iPhone that is)

Saturday, 23 January 2010 11:28 Amaya Tech Toys - Gadgets

We all love our iPhones don't we? The large screen, the touch screen interface done well, and the apps oooooh the apps. But I'm no Apple Cultist, I'm the first to admit the iPhone has one giant blaring flaw that 3 editions in they still haven't fixed. The battery life sucks so much it may as well be a vacuum.

If you're anything like me you'll find that a single late night where you forgot to plug in your phone, or even just pottering about on social media sites too much at a Twitter meet up will find you howling as your phone merrily shuts itself off and you are left in the technological dark ages, desperately hoping that someone, anyone has an iPod dock you can borrow. 

Well no more. I have found the best iPhone accessory ever. Dexim make a series of extendable portable batteries with a difference. They're USB, they contain more than one phone charge and they're slim, stylish and easily pop into your handbag. Not since my first USB 3G stick modem have I been so happy with a portable telecomms device.

The batteries take a fair while to charge but my foldable 'media stand' come portable charger gives me a full 2 phones worth of charge on the run, perfect for those mornings talking and texting all the way on the commute. There are a number of options including ones for blackberry and for any mini USB media device but really, it's the way it frees up my iPhone that really has won my heart. 

In the US there are a number of co-branded Brookstone version, in Australia they claim retail channels through Dick Smith and CellNet so enquire at your local store. Or alternatively purchase online through Amazon. Highly recommended. 

 

 

 
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EReaders are awesome

Friday, 10 July 2009 00:29 Ayla Tech Toys - Gadgets

About 2 months ago there was a mention of ebooks getting cooler, but no mention of my much loved device.

When the kindle was released I had a moment of joy until I realized it wouldn’t work outside the USA. I was willing to purchase it despite looking like an oversized calendar until I knew this.

So renewed with hope that all things ebook would star progressing past PDA I went on the hunt and discovered that Sony ebooks are not for sale outside the USA.

Other brands of ebooks had bad reviews and poor support; I thought my dreams would have to be placed on hold for another few years.

So my bookshelf continued to grow, now taking up a wall and three books deep on each self. Amazon sending me parcels of joy about once a month to feed my addiction to all things fantasy and fiction.  

Then I found my favorite toy at www.bookeen.com

They shipped to all around the world, they are on third generation product, they were affordable light and looked sexy. So I made it mine – and it has not left my handbag since.

Pros : Smaller handbag, instant download, fav authors on bittorent, battery lasting days of heavy use, not carrying two books when i'm near the end, entire library in my hand

Cons: Battery running dead on bus because I forgot the charge it, older books not available on mobibook format (bittorrent FTW), no sub folders for books

So  for any fellow book geeks who have been waiting for something there is something out there!

 
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The "S" is for "Speed"

Tuesday, 09 June 2009 13:16 Teena Tech Toys - Gadgets

 

 

 

 

So, WWDC was last night and we have some new apple product upgrades, release announcements and software coming out of beta. iPhone 3GS came out, yes, that 'S' is for speed. Some of the key improvements I like are the 7.2mbit HSDPA support, more RAM and faster CPU and a new 32GB model. It will be available in Australia on the 26th. New phones will ship with 3.0, which is out on the 17th. You can check it out in full here and here for 3.0.

There are also new Macbook lineups, the previously upgraded white Macbook 13" is now the only Macbook available and the other two 13" aluminum unibodies have been pushed into the Macbook Pro category with some minor upgrades and a price drop. I noticed they have shared graphics, so if you're going Pro and want some grunt I'd still go for one of the 15" or higher Macbook's. Oh, they also come with SD cards! I'd rather it came with HDMI but we can't always get what we want.

There are some other changes on those two so you can check the white Macbook here and the Pro here. Snow Leopard has also been announced for a September release, Intel only, so they're officially dropping PPC. Finally! It is also incredibly well priced at $14.95. One last little blip is that Safari 4 is out of beta, but they took away the new view for tabs, which makes me cry lots.

All information sourced from the Apple australia website.

 
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