While you could use a set of headphones for some personal aural entertainment, why not share you wonderful music library with the world by using the Scosche boomBOTTLE rugged portable Bluetooth speaker instead? As its name implies, the speaker is effectively shaped like a water bottle and it is designed to fit perfectly in the water bottle cage on your bike. I’m not really sure where you would put your water then–maybe you’d need a camelback or something–but there you have it.

Of course, the rugged speaker doesn’t have to go in the bottle cage on your bike. It can be more versatile than that, taking your tunes wherever life’s adventures may take you. They say it’s well suited for camping, hiking, and otherwise enjoying outdoor activities. There’s a non-slip surface and, even if you drop it, there’s a shock-absorbing exterior, as well as a weatherproof design to handle whatever nature throws at you.

As far as tech specs, you can expect 10 hours of continuous playback on a single charge via its pair of 3W speaker drivers, passive subwoofer, and pair of omnidirecitonal diffusers. There’s also a mic in there for Bluetooth handsfree calls. The grey Scosche boomBOTTLE is shipping now for $149.95 with blue, pink, yellow and green versions slated for next month.

[Source]

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With every generation of smartphone — soon with quad-core superphones — comes bigger screens, faster GPUs and speedier network connections.  This quite often results in shorter battery life. Not to mention all the googling, random fact checking, and tweets we’re punching out, battery life is a huge issue.

With a bag full of mobile battery packs and solar chargers we set out to find the most reliable solution to keep your smartphones and other gadgets topped up for when you run out of juice on the go.

Scosche solBAT II
I’ve always loved the idea of solar chargers. Whether you’re on the road or at home, they can reduce your inner techie’s footprint by using nothing but the sun to keep your electronics humming along. Just leave ‘em in the sun and plug in whenever you need the juice.

It sounds flawless in theory.

In practice, though, unfortunately the solBAT II has a long way to go before it will ever be a part of this utopian ideal. The $30 solBAT’s specs sound alright: A 1500mA li-ion battery, full USB port with 5v/500mA output; a solar panel on the reverse with a suction cup cradle for easy window mounting. Indicator lights. Nothing wrong there.

So why is this not the best charger to toss into your bag to keep your mp3 player or smartphone alive for those extended mountain-trail treks? The problem is that the charger needs to be in direct sunlight for four to five days! Yes, four to five days, before you’ll have a full charge. If the solBAT II is your choice for backpacking emergencies, you might be roughing it in the woods for a business week before you can charge your cell and call for help. Considering most smartphones need to be charged daily, this doesn’t exactly match up with the schedule.

Scosche recommends charging the battery using the included USB cable for the first use. After doing so, the solBAT II only charged my iPhone 4 to 32% before dying completely. If I had waited five days for that charge, I would have been less enthusiastic about giving this backup battery a second chance.

For the second attempt, it’s been sitting in my kitchen window for two days and shows no charge on the indicator. I can’t justify giving the Scosche solBAT II more than a 3/10 for most uses. Unless you’re only taking it along to refuel non-essential, low-drain devices on the road or forgo the solar panel entirely, or you live in Africa or Arizona, it’s simply not going to cut it.

IOGEAR GearPower GMP1001B
Despite the lack of solar charger, this little beast was far more impressive by comparison. At only $20 on Amazon, the GearPower’s price is right. With 2000mAh, it has more capacity than the solBAT II. Only slightly larger than a business card and 78mm (0.37 inches) thick, its tiny form factor has probably one of the best size-to-function ratios out there — perfect for keeping in your pack or purse for emergencies. The large, single button and four blue LED lights quickly let you know how much charge you’ve still got on the battery.

Depending on your phone or device’s own battery capacity, IOGEAR says the GearPower will deliver up to two full charges. In practice, it did fully charge the iPhone 4 slightly more than 1.6 times over.

The only downside of IOGEAR’s answer to the backup battery is that, of all the portable chargers we’ve tested, this is the only one without a full-size USB — likely because it’s too thin for a port that size. This means you won’t be able to use your iPod’s USB cable to charge, but rather will have to sift through the handful of adapters to find one that fits.

But, considering this is the only point really standing against the GearPower, I’d give it a solid 9/10 for price, portability and reliability.

Duracell PowerSouce Mini
An impressive little thing. With a 3Ah li-ion battery, two USB outputs and colour-coded charge indicator, it stands out above the other two as a more heavy-duty backup. It’s original selling price was $60, but it’s selling on Amazon for $25 at the moment, putting it in line with the other two.

What makes this one different, though, is its ability to charge two devices at once using the swing-out mini-USB arm for one and the full USB port for the other.

Despite being released in 2008, the PowerSource Mini is defending its place as a very portable, very reliable backup.

In testing, it charged an LG Shine Plus in no time, followed by, again, the iPhone 4 — and has a bit of extra power left over. It’s a bit bulkier than the solBAT II and the GearPower, but not by much at 6.7 x 2.4 x 8.2 cm (2.6 x 0.95 x 3.25 inches), meaning it still won’t take up too much space or add too much weight in your jacket pocket or bag.

Overall, the Duracell PowerSource Mini has earned a 8/10 in our books. It does its job, and it does it well.

Zagg Sparq 2.0
This one’s a heavyweight. The price is far more — $100 on the Zagg website or $56.63 with free shipping on Amazon — but you definitely get what you pay for. It’s also a lot bigger, at 3.5 x 3.5 x 1 inches, putting it at roughly the same size as a MacBook charger — something I’ve never had to make room for before tossing into my bag.

From what I can tell, though, they haven’t wasted any of that extra space or price.

The Sparq holds an astounding 6,000 mAh in its lithium polymer battery, which can be accessed via the “optimized” or “regular” USB ports. The optimized port, says Zagg, is “optimized for smartphones and devices capable of taking an optimized charge,” meaning it works at the same rate as the iPad charger as opposed to a standard computer USB. What’s more, it holds enough energy on one charge to refill most smartphones four times over. That’s enough to keep two phones running for a weekend-long road trip. Plus, with the extra capacity, it’s not only good for mp3 players and cell phones, but larger devices such as your PSP or PlayBook.

As with the solBAT II and the GearPower, it has four indicator lights and a single button to let you know how much power you have saved.

On one charge, it managed to fill the iPhone 4 twice, topped up a BlackBerry Torch from half and got up to 23 per cent on an iPad 2 before dying, earning the Sparq 2.0 a 10/10 for reliability, relative portability, efficiency and value for the price.

Just Mobile Gum Plus
One of the more “stylish” portable battery packs for your mobile needs.  The Gum Plus from Just Mobile is for those looking for something more aesthetically pleasing and in line with the way Apple devices look.  It will match your MacBook Air, and charge your iPod, iPhone, iPad and other USB-powered devices too.  This beast has 5200 mAh of power charge and charged our iPhone to about 80% in a little over one hour.

Silver is always better.

Sure, this one is good looking, it even has LED lights that match the older generation MacBook built-in battery indicators.  It has both a regular USB port and a mini-usb for charging it up on your wall. At $80 though it’s a bit pricey.  But we still like it because its solid aluminum design means durability, which earns it a 9/10 not only for being stylish, but for packing a powerful punch.

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It is no secret that using a cellphone in a car can be very distracting, and ultimately can contribute to the likelihood that you’ll end up in an accident. This is even more true for younger drivers, such as teens.  You can try to talk to your kids about the dangers of talking/texting while driving, which might help prevent the problem, in other cases they will just retaliate. So what’s a parent to do? Leave it to Scosche’s cellControl, a unique device that is installed in your vehicle’s ODBII connector to prevent calls and texts while a vehicle is in motion. The cellControl device uses bluetooth and works with almost all major cellphones, with the major exception of the iPhone.  While an interesting concept, it does have some limitations. You must already have a special app installed on the phone in order for it to work with the cellControl device so it doesn’t really prevent your teen from using another friend’s phone in the car, for example.  For those that are interested, you can purchase the cellControl unit from the Scosche website for US$129.95.  I think a more useful way to do this would be to just detect the speed of movement on the phone via GPS positioning, if it exceeds that of a human on foot, turn off radio antenna.  Could probably be a free download from the app store too.

[ source ]

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Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster earlier this year, the world has been much more on edge about radiation levels and other related risks. Wouldn’t it be useful if you could measure radiation without some super expensive industrial equipment? Scosche thinks so and that’s why it has announced the RDTX portable radiation detector.

This radiation detector effectively works like a dongle with your iPod or iPhone and it works in tandem with the related radTEST iOS app. You can use it to detect radiation levels in the nearby area and it accurately detects gamma radiation above 120keV within +/- 10% accuracy. That’s not quite as good as the more expensive pro version, but that’s still pretty darn accurate.

Just like how you would with Speedtest, you can use the radTEST app to share your radiation results with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and Google Maps. You can see how this would be very useful in disaster situations, as up to the moment data can be posted by all the iUsers in the area who have a RDTX device.

For now, the Scosche RDTX is a Japan-only product and it sells for ¥21,000.

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We deal with a lot of messy cables these days. We’ve got HDMI cables leading from our televisions, audio cables leading from our headphones, and USB cables leading to our various peripherals. While it doesn’t solve all of life’s problems, the Scosche flipSYNC II looks like it could help. In fact, Scosche took home a CES Innovation 2011 Design and Engineering Award.

It doesn’t look like much, but this follow-up to the original flipSYNC can retract up a standard iPod/iPhone charge and sync cable into a package that is much more easily handled. Pull out the connects when you need them, fold them back in when you don’t. It sounds so simple, helping you eliminate those messy tangles. Stuff like this is pretty useful when you’re on the road.

In addition to the iPod and iPhone model, the guys at Scosche tell me that they’ve also got microUSB and miniUSB versions of the flipSYNC II. No, this isn’t going to blow you away like the Motorola Atrix 4G would, but I can see how this would be useful.

Similarly, Scosche was showing off a carabiner-equipped version called the clipSYNC. Like the flipSYNC II, it does USB 2.0 for both charging and data synching.

[Apple Store]

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Revivelite II portable charger

Scosche, an accessory maker for mobile devices announced Revivelite II.  A small, sleek, portable iPhone charger that is equipped with a USB port to allow a second iPod or iPhone to be charged simultaneously.  It has a collapsible iPhone docking station and wall socket prongs for folding up on the go, and includes various foam inserts for different iPod models.

The LED night light helps you to find it in unfamiliar territories, and so you don’t trip. It automatically switches on in low light but has a manual on/off switch too.

The Revivelite II portable charger will be available in spring and is expected to have a price tag of $25 and come with a 1-year Manufacturer’s warranty.

The post Revivelite II simultaneously charges iPhones and iPods + one more device appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It is illegal to use a handheld cell phone while driving in California. A similar cell phone ban recently kicked in over in the province of Ontario. While you could certainly partake in a regular Bluetooth headset or even a wired headset, it may be more comfortable in the long run to consider a Bluetooth speakerphone instead.

One of the troubles that you’ll encounter, however, is how to keep this speakerphone charged up when you are constantly on the road. The car charger cable can be cumbersome and you don’t want to uninstall it every time you want to bring it home for charging. Overcoming this very concern is the Scosche solCHAT Bluetooth speakerphone. Harnessing the power of the sun, you may never need to plug it into a power outlet.

Features and Box Contents

In terms of raw functionality, the solCHAT doesn’t really break the mold. It’s there to accept your phone calls, letting you chat without having to hold anything up to your head. There’s a powerful speaker and a built-in microphone.

Easily the biggest selling point here, of course, is the integrated solar panel. Using the provided mounting equipment, you can attach the solCHAT to your windshield with suction cups. This way, the solar panel is constantly facing the world around you and it’s getting power all day long.

Aside from the suction cup mount, there is also a metal clip that can be used to attach the Scosche solCHAT to your car visor. This isn’t quite as good for solar power, but it may be more convenient for some. There’s also a USB cable and car adapter if the solar panel isn’t keeping up with your power needs.

Easy to Use with Voice Guidance Too

To get your way through the functions of the Scosche solCHAT solar-powered handsfree speakerphone, you are only using three buttons on the face.

The biggest button does just about everything. You hold it to turn it on, turn it off, and start the pairing process. Shorter presses are there to answer and hang up on calls. For the purposes of handsfree utility, it may have been better to include a larger button, but this one works just fine. The other two face buttons are to adjust the volume. You probably won’t be using these nearly as much, since you’ll find your desired volume level and stick with it.

To further add to the ease of use, the solCHAT offers all sorts of voice responses. When you enter pairing mode, a somewhat robotic female voice will tell you that you are doing so. When you turn it off, the voice will tell you that it is disconnecting and shutting off.

These voiced directions are incredibly pervasive. Instead of having to stare down at the smaller display of your cell phone when you get an incoming call, the solCHAT will announce the caller ID with the incoming call’s digits. Pretty handy, but it would have been even better if it could use text-to-speech to announce the caller’s name instead.

Voice Quality During Calls

As mentioned, the speaker on this device is very strong and I was able to hear everything loud and clear whenever I had a call.

Asking the person on the other side of the line, it seems that the microphone on the solCHAT is about on par with other handsfree speakerphones. The voice quality on that end is reasonably clear, but you may sound a little “distant” compared to when you are using a regular headset or the phone’s microphone itself.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for something positively revolutionary in its approach to handsfree phone calls, you may want to look somewhere else. However, the Scosche solCHAT does offer two important features that make it a better option that most other Bluetooth speakerphones.

First, the integrated solar panel is a definite plus, since you will never need to worry about charging this device. The suction cup-based mount is perfect for this purpose. Second, the voiced announcement for caller ID and other functions aid in the user-friendliness, but I would have preferred a text-to-speech solution for caller ID.

The Scosche solCHAT is a great Bluetooth speakerphone. It’s compact, easy to use, and offers good voice quality. Just make sure that you don’t park in shadier neighborhoods with this attached to your windshield.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

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