NewTrent's power hog, the iCarrier

Next up we have a small generator with NewTrent’s Powerpak iCarrier. This is a portable power pack that comes carrying 12,000 mAh of power and has two USB outputs for simultaneous charging. Not sure how much juice is exactly available? Let’s just say it is enough to fully charge a phone six times without recharging.  The iCarrier is an upgraded version of NewTrent’s popular iCruiser tablet and smartphone external battery and their highest capacity pack to date, so it’s time to unplug the chargers and see how long it takes before I have to refill.

I have had power packs in the past, mostly somewhere in the ballpark of 2000-5000 mAh, and usually around half the size of the iCarrier. It is small and easy to take on the go, rather than supplying one, maybe two, full charges on the go, it is able to provide almost a week’s worth of juice and fully recharge overnight. The size is nice and compact, but with great power comes great weight, not enough to weigh down a laptop bag, but enough to be uncomfortable swinging in a pocket. It may seem like a long time to fully charge, but looking back at the amount of usage to drain, it is easily worth an overnight charge. It sports a matte finish to prevent fingerprints, but says nothing about smudges as I was often wiping it clean, luckily the velvet pouch that is included helps keep the external battery smudge free. The iCarrier comes through in a clutch, especially on road trips, with the dual charge output, it can recharge quickly multiple devices at the same time along with tablets and other mobile devices/accessories.

The iCarrier is the end all be all of external battery packs and bulky power cases. In my usage, I was able not use my iPhone wall charger for about a week before recharging. With a 12,000 mAh battery pack, there are not a lot of external batteries out there with the same amount of juice and a price tag south of a hundred dollars. You do have to use the wall charger as it does now charge via USB cable like other external battery packs, so make sure the pack is full or you have the charger with you as this is a heavy paperweight without juice. With a guaranteed minimum charge cycle of 500 times, the NewTrent iCarrier is available now for $76.95.

iPad Mini case showdown: X-Doria vs. id America vs. Case Scenario

We have another showcase showdown and this time for apple’s junior tablet, the iPad Mini. Three case manufacturers provided me with their latest cases for the Mini and we are going to see how each fares with my usage and preferences. The cases on the chopping block are in no particular order X-Doria’s Dash Folio, id America’s SmartFold, and last but not least Case Scenario’s Pantone Universe case. All three cases bring multiple viewing angles, auto sleep and wake, and similar black portfolio designs, so what I plan to do is see what separates the three and functionally works best to my liking, so let’s get it on!

First up we have the Dash Folio from X-Doria, sporting a black and gray appearance using multiple layers and an elastic strap when not in use. Fear not, even though it uses a band to hold shut, it still wakes when open and sleeps when closed. My devices easily snapped into the rubber case and had no problem with taking pictures or accessing the charge and headphone ports. What I particularly enjoyed most was the variety of viewing angles, as there are indents for the case to stop on from side to side and are a plenty, not this measly few speed bumps. Of the three cases, this was my prefered case visually, but felt a bit flimsy in comparison. X-Doria’s Dash Folio is available now for $39.99 in black or brown.

Next up we have id America’s version of the case and dubbed the SmartFold fold away cover, ours was the black, but the leatherette portfolio is also available in brown, gray, orange, red, and white. Of the three cases, the Smartfold was the bulkiest but also the best built and most professional looking. The cover both lays flat against the back but also folds into a triangle to hold upright and slightly propped up for easier typing, great for typing up reviews on the go. The Mini slides into the case and a flap folds into place, this was preferred over the other folios, but I would have preferred the magnets to also hold the flap against the back during use. The SmartFold is available now for $39.99 in a variety of colors.

Last but creatively not least is Case Scenario’s Pantone iPad Mini Bookcase, what is Pantone you say? Pantone is the common color language, and is a library of colors recognized globally. The case resembles a color swatch most commonly seen in paint and home improvement stores, and my case 19-4004 and the color is Tap Shoe or black. What I particularly liked about the case was was the subtle and creative design topped with it also being the most compact of the three. With two speed bumps on the cover, you get multiple viewing angles and because it is so compact, the flap lays almost completely flat against the back of the case. While this is another case that you slide the iPad into, Case Scenario did a great job at minimizing the borders and leaving the camera exposed for higher picture quality. Case Scenario’s Pantone iPad Mini Bookcase is available now in Tap Shoe (black) and Scarlet Sage (red) for the price of 49.99 Euros or currently 64.90 Dollars based on today’s conversion value.

It's Leather vs. Aluminum in the iPhone 5 case showdown

I love when we have a face off, getting two products for the same device, what better time to go head to head and see which will stand victorious. The two items we have are iPhone 5 cases, the first is the Beamhaus Case brought to us by Griffin and the other is the Gasket by id America. Both are slim fitting and uniquely styled, built for dads and grads. Who will be left standing of the two, the sleek and sylish Beamhaus case with Horween Dublin leather or the Gasket which resembles one side of a V8 engine block?

The Gasket speeds in front of Beamhaus with the shiny aluminum case thats wraps nicely around my iPhone 5. The car nut in me loves this case and anyone familiar with cars will notice this case in an instant. I was not a fan of the Gasket case for the iPhone 4/4S, but with the 5’s larger size, the case looks much more like a high perform auto part. The cuts were also sharper in the smaller phone model which made me apprehensive at first, but along with beefing up the design, the edges were smoothed to prevent the feel of shaving from knuckles or fingertips reaching into my pockets. Lastly there is a thin foam padding on the inside to make sure my phone fits snugly without rattling while embracing my Iphone.

Next up we have the sleek and very elegant Beamhaus Case. This is the grown up case of the two and visually stands out with the soft Horween Dublin leather. The case wraps around the phone in a slim black plastic case with a soft rubber texture, unfortunately black is the only option for those of you sporting the white iPhone 5. The case fit nice and snug, snapping into place with no loose rattles and lays flat when placed on its back, although with this case, I always kept it face down. Lastly, in the back where the opening for the camera and flash is a little large and immediately stood out to me as you can see the two tone appearance of the phone. I have noticed when manufacturers try to prevent the gaping hole, picture quality suffers and I would prefer the high quality pictures in which the phone was intent to provide.

At the end of the day, the Beamhaus Case stood out to me and my inner grown up, with the subtle black case and soft brown leather. My inner child and upcoming midlife crisis self loved id America’s Gasket, especially how far it has come since it was originally seen at CES last year, but as someone that uses their phone for work, it is high time to retire those Mario and Wolverine cases, and dress to impress. Due to some active hobbies this case was usually removed when outdoors in the open heat as my only fear with this brown leather phone-glove is that it will begin to separate from the case.

Get sensitive, with the new Pogo Connect iPad Stylus | Review

Pressure-sensitive that is...

Stylus', Stylii?  Either way, we've reviewed our fair share of them.  From simple devices designed to mimic holding a pencil, to others that have built-in brushes to mimic, well, a paint-brush.  However, we've recently received the Pogo Connect by Ten One Design, a "Smart Stylus" using the power of bluetooth 4.0 to provide sensitivity to the pressure applied to the pen.

Out of the box, it works just like any other stylus.  It's smooth in hand, has a wide capacitive tip that allows easy use of it as an input device for the iPad.  But to get the most out of the device, and the reason you'd spend the extra money on it, you'll want to download the Pogo Connect App from the App Store.  With it, you can connect your pen via bluetooth, and it has a few other features, such as a handy "ping" feature which lets you see how close your sytlus is, in case it slips between the couch cushions or something like that.  Outside of that, there's a User Guide built into the app, which is handy since you're likely not going to be keeping the box around.

Once you've established the connection with the pen, the differences are still yet to be seen unless you're using a compatible app.  There's a list within the app, some of the most notable are Paper by FiftyThree, Flowpaper, SketchBook Pro, Photoshop Touch and a good deal more.  In most cases, (since I didn't have all of the compatible apps) you have to enable the Pogo Connect functionality within the app you're using it.  I found getting Paper, to have trouble the first few times I attempted to connect, but once I "re-started" the pen, it was all good. 

Now does it work?  For the most part, yes!  Doing some A|B tests, you can see the subtle differences between when the bluetooth is at play.  Mind my nasty bit of hand-writing, but you'll notice when it's on - there line starts off thin, but goes bold when pressure applied.  Off; you'll notice the line stays pretty constant.  Notice also in the words, "By", "you" and "results", how they are much bolder than the others, there was more pressure applied in these instances.

Screen capture taken from Paper by FiftyThree

Another really cool feature is with the "back" or "undo" button the power button double's as within the Paper App.  Each brush stroke, you can immediately press the button on the pen, and it will undo the last stroke.  This is a great feature, with the exception of if you happen to press too many times, you can't redo the stroke (maybe a feature for later TenOne?)

Now, I'm not an artist, this tool in my hands, will probably be underutilized, but I can see the potential for this device if you're doing artwork or using applications where a brush-stroke beats your finger any day. 

The TenOne Pogo Connect, SRP is $79.95; but Amazon has it for much lower, coming in under $60.  We'd highly recommend this stylus over pretty much all others.