The MM02 is a wired handset that comes finished in a black soft-touch or white high-gloss texture. Available in black or white, the Moshi Moshi 02 connects to your mobile phone via its 3.5mm jack, thus allowing you to use the MM02 to make calls using your cell phone. The handset features a weighted base, and it even comes with a silicon mat to hold and protect your cell phone while it’s connected to the MM02. Aside from looking really neat, and making your conversations more enjoyable, the MM02 offers an obvious health benefit- and that is that your face won’t be up against a wireless device for hours on end. The Moshi Moshi 02 retails for $59.99 and will be available on April 15th and it is compatible with all types of mobile phones. The company offers optional adapters available for phones that don’t have a 3.5mm jack. There is also a USB adapter that can be used to connect to your computer for use with VOIP software like Skype.

The MMo3 is similar in design and concept to the 02, but it’s a wireless headset that uses Bluetooth 2.1 to connect to your phone. And because it supports Bluetooth 2.1, that means that you can connect it to two mobile phones at once, or your mobile phone an laptop at the same time. The Moshi Moshi 03 will retail for $129.99 and it will be available on April 15th.

The Moshi Moshi 04i is another bluetooth product from Moshi Moshi that sports a truly beautiful and unique concept and design. First, the MM04i has been designed to works as a dedicated iPhone charging Dock, and a wireless Bluetooth speaker system with support for Bluetooth 2.1. The top part of the system is designed to look like a handset so that you can easily disconnect it from its base to use it to receive phone calls while it’s connected to your cell phone or laptop. Under the hood, the system is sporting high quality NXT speakers which are two watts each. The Moshi Moshi 04i  retails for $199 and it goes on sale on April 15th.

We’ll have reviews of all three of these products as they become available.

 

Step1: Turn off phone and remove battery

Step 2: Dry phone (inside and out) with a cloth

Step3: Check if you have beef Jerky or uncooked rice

If you have Beef Jerky follow the next few steps –

Step 4: Take the silica packet out of the jerky bag

Step 5: Take airtight container and place the phone and silica packet inside

Step 6: Seal the container and leave it overnight

Step 7: Eat jerky in nervous panicky way hoping cellphone isn’t dead

Step 8: Put the battery in the phone and turn it on

If you want to use uncooked rice –

Step 4: Take an airtight container and pour the uncooked rice inside

Step 5: Put your phone in the rice

Follow Step 6 and Step 8 above.

Step 8: Use left over unused rice to make sushi

There you have it one nice and dry phone no matter which method you choose!

The phone heavily focuses on social networking by integrating Facebook and MySpace. In addition, its 3.2MP camera features a special beauty shot mode lets you touch up images right on the camera. A special Lomo mode also adds neat lomography filter effects to photos. Unfortunately, the phone does not have support for 3G, which is pretty much unacceptable nowadays. But one super convenient and unique feature of the phone is its “SOS Message” and “fake Call” feature which can potential save you from the likes of a bad blind date. It accomplishes this by letting users send a direct message or a call to assigned public security services so that they can get a fake call when needed.

So what do you think of this phone ladies? Is it offensive or spot on in its marketing towards women? And hey, at least they didn’t just make it pink or purple this time around! They actually thought more about what features a woman would specifically appreciate.

For those of you eager to get the Diva in the U.S., have no fear since it’s bound to show up on bay unlocked. Meanwhile, you can check out a full review of the phone at Phone Arena.

(Via Pocket Lint)

To make donations via text, customers can send a keyword to the short code designated for the organizations they wish to support. The customer will then receive a confirmation message, to which he or she should reply “yes” to finalize the donation. One hundred percent of all money donated will be passed on to the organization the customer selected, and AT&T will waive text-messaging fees for the donations.

The short codes are:

· Text “4CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Convoy of Hope

· Text “CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through the World Program

· Text “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Habit for Humanity

· Text “REBUILD” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Operation USA

· Text “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through The Salvation Army

· Text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through World Vision

The donations will appear as a line-item on customers’ bills or be debited from prepaid accounts.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

(image via Komo News)

Trained Salesmen
Ever walk into a mobile dealership, only to leave super frustrated because the salesman doesn’t know his head from his tails? We’ve been there! Fortunately, Best Buy Mobile requires 80 hours of training for their employees, and that their employees pass a test in order to ensure that they are well prepared to knowledgeable about the products they’re offering. This is unlike the traditional mobile sales man who may or may not have much of any background at all. The sales team at Best Buy Mobile will also work with you to figure out what your specific needs are. They want you to get both a phone, and a wireless plan that fits your individual needs and lifestyle, and they’ll work with you to figure out what is most suited for you specifically. They will actually take the time to sit down with you, learn more about you so that they can work with you to find the right plan and phone for your budget and needs.

 

Death to Rebates
Best Buy Mobile also told us that not only do they offer very competitive pricing, but all of their discounted phones don’t require any rebates. We can’t argue with that, especially since it seems that the rebate process for mobile phones has just gotten more complicated and tricky as time has passed.

Insurance
Best Buy Mobile offers a premium insurance plan which is comparatively priced to what the carriers offer you. The insurance will make sure your phone is covered for repairs if it gets damaged, or if need be, they’ll replace the phone altogether. They’ll also provide you with a loaner unit while your phone is sent out to be worked on.

Handset Upgrades
When it comes to upgrading your handset, Best Buy Mobile makes the process a little easier. Instead of calling your carrier to inquire about handset discounts, you can head straight to Best Buy Mobile and ask to use their Upgrade Checker. Their upgrade checker will be able to check and see if you’re eligible for a discount on a handset upgrade. If you’re not, they’ll make a note in there system to send a reminder to you when the time does arrive for you to be eligible for a discount. They also automatically send out reminders to their customers after 22 months to let them know that they’ll soon be eligible for discounts on upgrades.

Transferring Content from an Old Phone
Another cool advantage of making a purchase from Best Buy mobile is that they’ll save you a lot of hassle by transferring all of your old phone’s contents to your new one. That includes contacts and multimedia. They’ll even help you set up and install apps.

After Purchase Support
What’s also convenient about buying from Best Mobile is that you can always come back and bother them after your purchase. They promise that they’ll always be around to help you out and answer questions, even if it’s months since you’ve made your original purchase. This is just one reason why I think the next phone I buy for my mom will be from Best Buy Mobile. You don’t know what you just got yourself into guys!

Best Buy Mobile Forums
Best Buy Mobile forums also offers a pretty robust online support system we’re people can ask questions and share this with each other. The forums isn’t quite as robust as the likes of HowardChui, but it feels like it is more suitable for novice users as opposed to HowardChui where a lot of advanced mobile users like to have discussions. The Best Buy Mobile site also offers a nice assortment of How-To’s, Apps, and helpful videos.

Print Buyer’s Guide
Best Buy Mobile also has a free mobile guide available in their stores, which not only highlights the latest products, but it also features a handy guide at the back which breaks down all the different carriers and their rate plans. This guide is actually something that they adopted from the Car Phone Warehouse.

The Car Phone Warehouse
Speaking of the Car Phone Warehouse, after initially browsing around the store I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Car Phone Warehouse. The Car Phone Warehouse is a major mobile phone retailer in the U.K. that carries all of the latest cell phones, mobile products, and accessories. It turns out that the Car Phone Warehouse is actually one of the partners behind Best Buy Mobile, and that Best Buy Mobile stores are actually based on the Car Phone Warehouse concept of being a dedicated mobility store where you can get access to all the different carries, phones and accessories under one roof. Unfortunately, due to government regulations in the old U.S. of A, Best Buy Mobile is not able to carry all 4 carriers in the same single retail location. So each Best Buy Mobile retailer will carry 3 carrier’s products at a time. But to work around this, Best Buy often offers the 4th carrier’s products in the Best Buy Mobile section of a Best Buy store. So for example, Best Buy Mobile’s retail store in Union Square in NYC offers 3 carriers. If you head across the street to their Best Buy location, you can check out the products and services from a 4th provider which are located in the Best Buy Mobile section of the store.

Cheap International Calling
Aside from a fair selection of mobile phones and accessories, one product that particularly stood out for me was their 02 Sim Card. For $29.99 this company’s airtime provides you with 500 minutes of calls to International destinations. This is especially great if you’re a tourist visiting the U.S. and you want to able to call home a lot from your mobile phone.

Most Popular Cell Phone Case
This was kind of a shocker for us, but apparently this Eddie Bauer case is a Best Seller at Best Buy. Every week about 6,000 cases are sold nationwide. Obviously, it must mostly be men buying these cases! Fortunately Best Buy Mobile have more fashionable cases to choose from… it’s just hard to believe that this one is a best seller.

Overall, I was impressed with what Best Buy has to offer and how it’s positioning itself to stand out amongst other Mobile Phone retailers. However, one gripe I had for the corporate folks at Best Buy Mobile was the lack of live phones available for customers to play with. Best Buy Mobile isn’t the only mobile retailer who uses dummy phones at their displays and this just doesn’t make sense to me at all. As a consumer, I need to play with a phone and check out its user interface before I actually make a purchase. Fortunately, the folks at Best Buy Mobile explained to me that they do indeed have several live demo units available from each carrier, mostly in the smartphone arena. All you have to do is ask a salesperson and they’ll sit down with you and let you try out  the phone. My suggestion to them was to put up a sign somewhere announcing that live demos are available. Finally, my last recommendation is for them to increase their selection of prepaid mobile phone and sim card solutions for people planning on traveling abroad. The company does seem to be receptive to suggestions and ideas, and very dedicated to offering a superior customer experience.

February has been an exciting month in the world of technology as we’ve experienced the joys of Mobile World Congress and viewed an obscene number of handsets, some of which will make it to our shores in the next year. Add to that the furor of the first ever London Fashion weeks show being filmed in 3D and we’re feeling extremely stylish as well as techie- a trend we’re noticing that designers are involving themselves in.

Augmented Reality Magic Tee for the Under Fives
Augmented reality seems to be the word on everyone’s lips at the moment, whether they’re talking about the latest AR greetings card , or just how this technology is going to change the world. Well the Brights & Stripes clothing company has taken this onboard and created something that appeals to the youth market. I’m talking about the rather sweetly named Magic Tee, which is suitable for kids ages 0-5 years old. The Magic Tee comes in four colors, emblazoned with little rainbows all over it. This T-shirt allows the user to directly interact with their computer and play with something they’ve called ‘The Rainbow Story’.  When the child stands in front of the webcam wearing the Magic Tee a 3D animated weather story starts to unfold, with the movements of the arms creating wind and rain.
Whilst the technology used may not be that new, I’m very impressed that Brights & Stripes are catering to such a young market, as the implications for how tech-savvy the children of the future will be has just taken one huge step forward.
To see the Magic Tee in action they’ve helpfully created a video for us (see below)

Samsung i8520 Beam
Just when you think they can’t make phone any more interesting, along comes one which blows our preconceptions out of the water. Now that we’re used to mobiles with incredibly high megapixels, Xenon flashes and Zeiss lenses, how do you manage to impress a rather jaded tech journalist? Slap on a Pico projector, that’s how. Samsung have integrated a Pico projector into their latest handset to allow you to project images and movies onto any flat service. This will revitalize how we view photos on our phones as who would want to stare at images on a (admittedly not so piddling) 3.7 inch AMOLED screen when they can view them at in a lovely 40 inch capacity? We saw Nikon introduce this feature onto their S1000pj  camera, and the fact that this has now entered the mobile market, shows just how much the mobile and camera field are merging together.
There’s more to the phone than just this gimmick though as it also features an 8 megapixel camera, 3.5mm jack and the Android 2.1 operating system. It comes with 16GB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSD and full Bluetooth and 3G functionality. It has a potential on counter date of Q3 this year for Europe, and looks like this device may be key in making owning a separate camera redundant.

The Puma Phone
Puma has a long history of being heavily involved in the sporting world, and now they’re turning their expertise into the phone market., Don’t worry, they’re not totally out of their depth as they’ve teamed up with Sagem Wireless for the technical know how. What they’re offering is a 2.8 inch touchscreen that features a 3.2 megapixel camera and the usual Bluetooth and 3G connectivity. What we’re more excited about though is the sporting angle of the phone as it comes with a built in pedometer, bike and running tracking, and rather unusually, a yachting compass. Just don’t drop it overboard, as they don’t say anything about waterproofing features.
They’re suggesting that the user experience will revolve around the live feeds of sporting news that will be integrated into the phone, but we’re rather more enchanted by the hefty solar panel that’s stuck to the back of the device. Could the days of multiple chargers and tangled wires be numbered? Just how much sun is needed to charge the phone is sadly undocumented, but we have hope that this rather large panel could come in very useful, Then again, sun in London? Who are we kidding?
Out soon, with the price currently TBD.

Lingerie Designer Chantal Thomass Creates iPhone Cases and USB stick
The amount of designer/tech collaborations has never been higher with everyone from Porsche to Vivienne Tam getting on the tech bandwagon and producing limited edition pieces that are very covetable. The latest designer to join this party is Chantal Thomass, a French lingerie designer. She has brought her knowledge of silk panties sand corsetry to play here with these rather delicious looking mobile phone accessories.
Keeping to her favourite colour palette of black and pink, we are offered a rubber iPhone case with her traditional lace embroidery and a key shaped USB stick that doubles as a necklace. Her collection is ultra feminine without falling into the sickly twee girly category, and the embellishments such as suede bows and velveteen ribbons really give it that je na sais quoi (well she is French after all).

Trekkies Set New World Record for Largest Gathering in Costume
Valentine’s Day is traditionally either spent with a loved one or staving off suicide with vodka shots in seedy bars. Getting dressed in full Star Trek regalia for a 10am meetup tends to be rather low on the list of priorities, but for hardcore Trekkies, it was an opportunity to show the world that Star Trek is their amour of choice. London’s Millennium bridge was the arranged meeting point, and Guinness World Record judges counted 99 fans in full regalia.
The event was organized by Namco Bandai in order to promote the launch of the MMO Star Trek online,  but it was still impressive to see the amount of effort people put into their costumes, and the fact that cosplay is making it into mainstream awareness. Now that cosplay gatherings are officially worthy of a world record, it will be interesting to see what other displays get arranged, and just how wacky the participants get with their outfits.
[via Inc Gamers ]

Burberry Showcases Their Catwalk in 3D
February has been a big month for 3D broadcasts in the UK as we’ve seen SKY broadcast a  football match in 3D and now the fashion world is lining up for their turn. London Fashion week has been making headlines once more, and this time it’s not just for the desirable clothes on the runway. They’re entering the techsphere head on, by allowing all the shows to stream online, so they’re available to those who don’t possess Vogue credentials. The digital schedule is showing all the shows as and when they go live, meaning that many an office worker can kill time by checking out the latest House of Holland collection.
It opens up Fashion Week to a global audience, and also allows the consumer to feel more involved. Burberry is taking this digital inspiration to a whole new level with the launch of the first ever catwalk show in 3D. Their show (broadcast on the 23rd Feb) streams in 2D as usual, but will also be available in select venues in 3D. Special venues around the world will host 3D showings of the runway, and fashionistas worldwide will have to somehow adjust to wearing those not so flattering 3D glasses.
Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer, said: “We are very excited we are hosting the first ever truly global fashion show. 3D technology will bring our global audience into the London show space allowing them to see the colours and fabrics, to hear the music and to be a part of that moment when it all finally comes together.”

Canon IXUS 130

Face and smile detection have been around for a while but the news of wink detection software brought a smile to my face. Canon have been researching new ways to make cameras more user friendly, and have come up with the ‘wink’ idea in order to play into the market of people who enjoy messing around with their photos. Previous face detection software used to focus on distance between facial features, but the developers of newest wink feature actually look at how the face crinkles up when it smiles or winks- a rather revolutionary way of creating technology.
The camera itself is a pretty impressive piece of kit, with more modes than you’ll know what to do with, including fisheye, miniature mode for tilt-shift photography and pets/food etc.
It also has 14.1 megapixels, a 2.7 inch LCD screen and a 5x optical zoom that can record video in 720p. Phew, if that wasn’t enough the face detection software can also be programmed to recognize 335 faces   at once which you can store on the internal memory. They’ve also added a nice feature- the Face Self Timer which is triggered 2 seconds after you add yourself to the frame, so you better be quick at running around.
£280 from Play.

Newest cellphones and radiation levels:

Tech Expert Rank *	Phone Model		Service carrier(s)	Radiation
# 1		Motorola Droid	Verizon Wireless	1.50 W/kg
# 2		Apple iPhone 3G S	AT&T	1.19 W/kg
# 3		HTC Nexus One by Google	T-Mobile	1.39 W/kg
# 4		Blackberry Bold 9700	AT&T, T-Mobile	1.55 W/kg
# 5		Samsung Instinct HD (SPH-M850)	Sprint	1.16 W/kg
# 6		Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR	T-Mobile	1.10 W/kg
# 7		Motorola Brute i680	Sprint	0.86 W/kg
# 8		Pantech Impact	AT&T	0.92 W/kg
# 9		LG Chocolate Touch (VX8575)	Verizon Wireless	1.46 W/kg
# 10		Samsung Mythic (SGH-A897)	AT&T	1.08 W/kg

To read more about EWG’s study, and to see the list of cell phones for 2010 with the lowest SAR Values, visit http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation

Specs for the phone are as follows:
Frequency: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Camera: 2.0 MP
Video: MPEG4/3GP
Sound Alert Types: 64 Polyphonic Ringtones, MIDI/MP3/ARM Audio Format
Image: BMP/JPEG/GIF Format
Voice: SMS Reading/Voice Commands
Card Slot: MicroSD, up to 2GB
Bluetooth: Yes with A2DP
Messaging: SMS/MMS
Browser: GPRS/WAP 2.0
Phonebook: Yes, save up to approx. 1000 contacts
Stand-by up to 72h; Talk time up to 1 1/2h

There is no guarantee if the actual phone itself is any decent, but it truly is a cellphone for the diehard Snoopy or Peanuts fan. The Snoopy x Katoon Dual SIM Card Cellular Phone is available for pre-order at Dream Kitty and retails for $499.99.

Design:
Even the JayBird Sportsband packaging exemplifies the fact that the Sportsband is intended for those who work out and are athletic. It’s headband style design seems to be a growing popular trend for bluetooth headphones, since its design is pretty similar in style to the Jabra Halo that we reviewed not too long ago. So forgive us if we compare it to the Halo a lot. But unlike the Halo, its design is not foldable so you’ll need to be careful when tossing it into a gym bag, that it doesn’t break. However, the Jaybird’s Sportsband’s earpads do move and contour to your ears for extra comfort and improved sound quality unlike the Jabra Halo which earpads are stationary. The headset itself is a made of a rubberized material and if bent hard enough, it just might snap, but it is otherwise very sturdy. The headset is also adjustable to the size of your head, allowing for the earpads to fit onto your ears perfectly regardless of the size of your head.

Also, unlike the Halo, there are no touch controls on its earcups, but instead there are actual tactile buttons that you press to increase/decrease the volume, pair the device and go the next song or answer a call. I prefer this over touch controls on the Halo which aren’t always reliable. The previous/next buttons also indicate that the headphones have AVRCP support, unfortunately the iPhone doesn’t fully support AVRCP so you wont be able to take advantage of the previous/next buttons when playing music.

 

What’s in the Box:
In the box is of course the Sportsband, as well as a USB cable to charge the device, and User Manual. That’s about it – no carrying case or holster for your Sportsband.

Setup:
Typical of all Bluetooth devices, in order for them to work they need to be paired. The same goes for the Jaybird Sportsband. Unlike, the Halo It doesn’t turn on automatically when adjusting the earcups. To power your Jaybird Sportsband, you must first hold down the main center button on the right earcup and wait for a red light that then turns blue. Second, in order to pair the device you must again hold the center button down for at least a good thirty seconds and the blue light starts to turn red and pulses quickly between both colors to begin pairing phase. I paired it first with my Macbook Pro and then my Nexus One, so that they were both paired at the same time. Overall, the headphones paired easily between each device. To shut the Sportsband off you just hold down the main center button on the right earcup again and it shuts off by emitted a red light, and then a slight beep noise.

Call Quality:
Call quality was clear indoors and outdoors. Would I answer a phone wearing a pair of headphones all the time? Probably not, but having that option is certainly handy when you are exercising. I was able to pick up a call and chat for a few minutes clearly without any noise or feedback, and the party on the other end had no problem hearing me either. I was also able to walk pretty far away from my Nexus One without the call dropping out or getting any kind of noise. I would say that I was able to get as far as 30 feet away without audio starting to cut out.

Music Quality:
As much as we love to answer the phone to chit chat, really this device is going to be used for traveling, working out, or just lounging while listening to music. The need to listen to your music with out the pain of wires is becoming more the norm, but sadly the sound quality for these type of wireless bluetooth headsets are usually poor in comparison to its wired counterparts.And unfortunately, in the sound quality department the Jaybird Sportsband didn’t blow us away – the sound quality was just OK. I listened to music on both my Nexus one and Macbook Pro and even the iPhone, and I wasn’t that all impressed. In comparison to the Jabra Halo, the Halo performed much better. The Sportsband exhibited a lot of noise and feedback, especially when I turned the volume up. And yes, you could hear the bass in the Sportsband, but the overall quality of the sound was not very impressive.  I had to keep increasing the volume in order to really feel the music and when I did – it became even more watered down with static… The sound quality did improve, when you played songs with higher bit rates, but most Mp3 players or cellphones will generally not be playing higher bit rates. We had expected more from this pair of headphones since our previous review of the JayBird JB-200 headphones left us very impressed with the headphone’s audio quality. The headphones also don’t provide noise isolation, but that really didn’t bother me as I like to be aware of my surroundings.

Battery Life:
According to Jaybird the battery music time will last 8 hours, the total talk time will last 11 hours, standby will last 250 hours. Well first things first – the Sportsband did not last the 250 hours it claims on standby – by the next day the battery was already dead and I had to recharge it. It’s also annoying because it charges on by the included USB cable that was included and that needs to be attached to a computer in order to charge. The 8 hours of music playback was about right, but because the battery life is sucks on my Nexus one, I never made it to 11 hours of talk time. However, when I recharged my phone and attempted again (the Jaybird had not been recharged) it did last another few hours of talk time. So all in all, it’s battery life is solid, and as long as your phone has a decent battery life – the Sportsband will keep up with it.

Conclusion:
The Jaybird Sportsband definitely has a lot of nice features: earcups that pivot, a very comfortable design that stays on your head, dedicated buttons that you can operate easily, decent battery life, and solid call quality. However the few places were it lacked seemed to overshadow the other aspects that were good, like the overall sound quality for music and the fact that the Sportsband is not convenient at all for traveling without the fear of breaking it. Pairing can be temperamental as well, when trying to re-pair with a device after you switched to another device. If the Jaybird Sportsband and the Jabra Halo got together and had a kid, then maybe we would have the perfect Bluetooth handsfree headset once and for all. To its credit though, the JayBird Sportsband is much more affordable than the Halo as it retails for $89.99 or $79.99 at Amazon.

The Good: Adjustable earcups, sits on your head comfortably and doesn’t slip off, pairs quickly, tactile buttons.

The Bad: Sound quality was just passable and not outstanding, Sportsband doesn’t fold and could be cumbersome to travel with.

Want to win the MBW-150 Executive Edition Bluetooth Watch for yourself? Shoot us a tweet or an email telling us what kind of display the watch uses. If you’re tweeting you must tweet at us and include this “@chip_chick #SEAccessoriesPrize http://bit.ly/4V9Yui”

HINT: The answer can be found on the MBW-150 product page.

What it Promises to Offer:
PersonalSound™ – In addition to the volume control, you have 3 custom hearing choices available to increase speech clarity and boost your listening power.
Automatic Volume Control – Eliminates the need for constant volume adjustment in variable noise situations such as driving.
Universal Bluetooth Headset – Compatible with most Bluetooth, enabled phones with a range up to 33 feet (10 Meters)
All Day Wearing Comfort
Environmental Mode – When selected, the environmental mode will amplify and increase your listening power between calls, so you don’t have to remove the headset
NoiseNavigation – Multiple Microphones and advanced sound processing removes unwanted background noise for clear calls
Pairs with two Bluetooth Phones

 

What’s in the Box:

The package contained the headset, the Micro USB charger with detachable USB cable, 3 earloops and even an over-the-ear hook (which you probably would not use). The manual it came with was very easy to read and understand. It includes everything you need to know about the product in a rather concise and graphical format.

Design:

The design is real nice. It is pretty minimalistic, but looks pretty sharp. The device has two buttons, which some may find to be a little small. The main button is the standard multi-purpose Bluetooth button. It turns the device on and off, answers and ends calls, and the double tap will redial. The other button toggles off the Environmental mode feature (when holding button), and will also toggle through personal sound modes – normal, moderate, strong, and demo mode (when tapping button). The demo mode shuts off noise reduction. The earpiece will adjust to work for left ear or right, by spinning the earloop on the back

Performance:

Overall, the Sound ID 400 offered great sound on both ends. I was able to hear callers very clearly, and they reportedly heard me very well too. In noisier environments it was helpful to advance PersonalSound to the next level. My callers reported that background noise had been reduced, although it made my voice a bit grainier. The range between the headset and the handset is listed as 33 feet, it seemed to be less than this before audio on both ends started to seriously degrade. If you’re in a house you should be okay in a room adjacent to the one with the handset, but further than that and you may not be pleased with audio quality.

Automatic Volume Control worked well for me when I was driving. When I accelerate to highway speeds, my Jeep gets pretty loud, so it was nice for my Sound ID 400 to adjust for this by making the volume a bit louder. Environmental Mode is a unique feature, amplifying the sound of your surroundings when you are not on the phone feature could be rather beneficial by not forcing you to take off the headset to be one with society. Personally I found the feature to be a little annoying, since it over amplifies and was somewhat ear-piercing.

Conclusion:

I’m not sure if I stressed this enough, but the Sound ID 400 was super comfortable sitting in my ear. I could keep it in my ear for the day and not even realize it’s there, it also sticks in there pretty well. The clarity of the speaker and the microphone was great. The noise reduction feature does work, but may not remove all background noise while maintaining your authentic voice quality. Toggling between the PersonalSound modes can be confusing at first, and the size of the button doesn’t help. If you crank PersonalSound to an unnecessary level, the other caller will hear feedback on their end. Pairing was real simple, no passcode required for Bluetooth 2.1 or higher (otherwise it’s the standard “0000”). The Sound ID 400 can be found at the Sound ID Store for $129.99.

The Good: Really Comfortable!, sounds good on both ends, environmental mode is a cool feature that works, overall easy to use and set-up, looks nice, 7 hours of talk time and 8 days of standby
The Bad: Buttons can be tricky to operate when in use, a little pricey, wireless range is just okay

Want to win the the headset for yourself? Shoot us a tweet or an email telling us how much the HBH-PV720 weighs. If you’re tweeting you must tweet at us and include this “@chip_chick Win the Sony Ericsson HBH-PV720 Bluetooth Headset #SEAccessoriesPrize http://bit.ly/6uVvdS“

HINT: The answer can be found on the HBH-PV720 product page

.

Nimbuzz uses VOiP to make cheap or free mobile to mobile or PC to mobile/landline calls over the Internet. It also connects you with all your contacts from all your favorite social networking sites. Whether it’s Skype, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, Twitter, Google Talk (and more), you will be able to see all of these contacts combined into one list. You can see exactly who’s online to chat with, send an offline message to, call, or send pictures, music, video, etc. without having to sign into each individual location, because everything is combined into one source.

 

What I like about Nimbuzz is the one stop shopping for all social networking tools. If you’re a social networking freak like me and you are constantly checking a million different apps to see what your friends are doing, Nimbuzz is the one app solution. Besides social networking, Nimbuzz is a cheap or free way to call both locally and internationally. Instead of using minutes or a costly international calling plan, Nimbuzz uses the Internet VOiP to make calls so you won’t incur incremental data charges the more you call. You will incur some low international calling fees, but it’s almost guaranteed that it will be cheaper than your regular international calling phone bill. And if you’re really worried about cost, you can just use Skype because that too is fully integrated into Nimbuzz.

Besides the one-stop social networking app, Nimbuzz enables location sharing so you can find your friends on a map. Finally, an app designed for  social networking can be taken into the real world realm with a face-to-face meetup thanks to the map feature.

The app is available in all major and third party app stores, the app can be used on thousands of phones (except the Palm Pre!) as well as any computer including PC and MAC.

The LG eXpo is the first phone available in the U.S. with a projector function. We’ve been hearing about projector phones coming to market for a while now, and almost thought that they’d never really materialize. But finally, one projector phone has made it’s way to U.S. shores. To get up and running with the Mobile Projector accessory, You have to remove its battery cover for it to attach on to the phone since LG’s Mobile Projector attaches onto the LG eXpo’s backside.  It adds a nice amount of bulk to the phone, but it’s totally worth it. We appreciate the fact that you can easily remove the projector when you need to so that the phone can slim down when you’re not using the projector feature.The Projector adds 50grams of weight to the device and is about as thick as the device itself. Unfortunately, while the projector is attached to the phone, the phone’s camera will not work. Also, when the projector is in use, it tends to get very hot just like big projectors do. But not so much so that you can’t hold it.

The projector turns on by pressing the camera button. Hitting the camera button will also make the projector switch from portrait to landscape. Focusing is done by sliding a button on the side of the projector. While the pico projector works best in a truly dark room. The projected image can get impressively big – we’re talking as big as 4 to 5 feet wide without losing too much picture quality. However, this accessory is no replacement for even one of the high end mobile projectors out there, but still it produces quite an impressive viewing experience. I was able to watch a some YouTube clips and some short video clips while sitting on my bed in my bedroom with the lights turned out, and it was a neat thrill. Of course this is going to be one cool tool for a businessman/businesswoman on the go who often needs to whip out a presentation or a video on the spot.

 

Conclusion:

We can imagine that many people would love to use the phone’s projector to watch videos together with friends, which definitely gives it a lot of appeal to college kids and teens. For a relatively new smartphone feature, LG did a very good job of implementing the mobile projector accessory. It works well and is easy to use. Here is to hoping that mobile projectors become the new standard in smartphones, because this is one cool technology that pushes the smartphone envelope.

The Good:
Only adds 50 grams of weight to the phone, can be detached and reattached when needed, easy to use and set-up, works well and manages to project a big picture on the wall

The Bad:
Not a serious projector replacement, only projects well in truly dark rooms, tends to get hot during use

The LG eXpo is the first phone available in the U.S. with a projector function. We’ve been hearing about projector phones coming to market for a while now, and almost thought that they’d never really materialize. But finally, one projector phone has made it’s way to U.S. shores, and is it all it’s cracked up to be? Read on to find out.

The LG eXpo’s mobile (pico) projector accessory is a major draw for this phone, but even without the projector feature, the LG eXpo has a lot of features to stand with on its own. The phone is feature rich with Wi-Fi, AGPS, Bluetooth, a MicroSD card slot for expanding its memory, and all the features you’d expect in a modern day smartphone.

Performance:
Under the hood the LG eXpo is running Windows Mobile 6.5 and a powerful 1GHZ Snapdragon processor. This is the first Windows Mobile 6.5 phone that I’ve used, my last Windows Mobile phone having run Windows Mobile 6.  The improvements over Windows aren’t drastic, but 6.5 does seem to run faster and the interface feels more modern, cohesive and uncluttered. Overall I’m enjoying 6.5 much more then I did 6. The home screen is now much more intuitive, not to mention, prettier. It contains shortcuts for all of the important apps like your email, and you can browse through and access your photos, play music files without leaving the home screen, view missed calls, recent text messages calendar appointments and more.

 

Design:
The LG eXpo is shorter and has more narrower than the iPhone, but with its built-in slide out keyboard, it’s also thicker. Still it’s a nice size and very comfortable to hold in your hand. It’s black and silver coloring also lends to it being a rather nice and sophisticated-looking phone. It’s not quite a head-turner, but its still somewhat of a charmer.
In particular, one very unique feature of the LG Expo is the Smart Senor which is located below its display. We’ve seen this kind of technology on business laptops, but we cant remember ever seeing it on a smartphone. The Smart Sensor is essentially a fingerprint reader that you can use to unlock your phone. That is definitely a lot more secure and convenient than using a pin number. The smart sensor also doubles as a kind of 4 directional D-Pad that lets “turbo”-scroll through menus, lists and down web pages. Unfortunately we didn’t find it very comfortable to use because of its ridges, and we generally preferred skipping out on using it altogether as a D-pad.

Display:
The eXpo sports a 3.2 inch WVGA, 16M color 480×800 resistive touch screen. The display is very bright with great color reproduction. It’s one of the best displays I’ve seen on a smartphone and it makes the eXpo great for viewing photos and videos. On-screen text and graphics also look exceptionally sharp and crisp, making the LG eXpo great for reading.

Putting those positive aspects aside,  the display also ends up being one of the LG eXpo’s weakest aspects. If you try to operate the eXpo with your finger, you need to use hard presses or else you won’t be able to successfully hit buttons and select apps. Because its resistive, it does operate better using your fingernail than it does with the front of your finger. This is nothing like the iPhone, or other capacitive phones on the market which require relatively light amounts of pressure – those smartphones really just need a light tap to launch an app. Not so with the LG eXpo, the eXpo requires hard presses which can be frustrating at times. Also, when trying to push down on smaller icons, like the “X” for closing a window, my finger often wasn’t able to select it and I found myself resorting to my finger nail or to the included Stylus to operate the phone. When it comes down to it, the most efficient way to operation the eXpo is with the included stylus. Unfortunately, using a Stylus in 2010 seems like a step backwards in a world where capacitive multi-touch is slowly becoming the standard.

Speaking of the stylus, this is the first Windows Mobile phone we’ve seen come packaged with a stylus, yet it doesn’t have a stylus slot built into the phone to actually hold the stylus. On the top left corner of the device there is a place to tie the lanyard that is attached to the bundled external stylus. Sure, you can operate the phone without a stylus, but it’s more efficient to use with the stylus, so we wish they would’ve incorporate a slot to hold one. Instead, the stylus hides inside a matching attractive black/silver casing, and it can be extended for more ergonomic use.

Keyboard:
The LG eXpo also has a slideout keyboard which is very comfortable to use and even people with big fingers should have no problem using it. The only issue that some might have with it, is that its keys don’t have much bevel at all and are pretty flush against the base. However I didn’t have any difficult typing on it. The keyboard’s characters also conveniently light up when you type on it in dark environments, which is a nice and very convenient touch. This is also necessary if you want to use the keyboard while the projector is on in a dark room, or else you wouldn’t be able to see what keys you are typing on.

Call Quality:
Call Quality on the LG eXpo is good. I tested it in New York City. I was able to hear callers loud and clearly and they said the same of me. The speakerphone also plays pretty loudly.

Internet:
Internet Explorer has been much improved in Windows Mobile 6.5. I don’t recall loading websites this fast in Windows Mobile 6, even on a 3G connection. On previous Windows Mobile phones we have recommend using Opera Mobile or SkyFire, which is a free web browsing app that offers a faster surfing experience on mobile devices. But this time around we don’t need to recommend SkyFire, and actually the built-in Internet Explorer offers a decent web browsing experience.
Testing the eXpo in New York City, using AT&T’s 3G network we experienced the following loading times:

3.5 seconds for NYTimes.com (mobile version)
3.3 seconds for CNN.com (mobile version)
38 seconds for ChipChick.com
13 seconds for Google.com (mobile version)
13.9 seconds for YouTube (mobile version)
8.5 seconds for ESPN (mobile version)
5.4  seconds for TMZ.com (mobile version)
25.9 seconds for SmashingMagazine.com
16 seconds for Bensbargains.net

Software:
The LG eXpo comes with a wealth of software applications, including Microsoft Office: Excel, PowerPoint, Word, an Instant Messaging app for AIM, Yahoo and MSN, AT&T GPS Navigator, Sprite Backup (for system backups), Adobe Reader, a Mobile Java app, an RSS Viewer, a Podcast app, a stopwatch, a Tip Calculator, and much more. All of these apps really add to the eXpo being a very resourceful smartphone, so much so that it’s almost a mini computer. The are a bunch of cool games included like Tetris, and Monopoly. The games play really well on the eXpo and help show case its beautiful display, unfortunately most of these games are just demos. The Windows Marketplace application also gives you access to a wealth of other convenient apps. Sure, it’s not quite as robust as the appstore, but there are many great apps available there, and many of them are free.

LG has also bundled the phone with their LG Menu software. LG Menu essentially an additional menu system GUI for a user to use if they so choose. It breaks down the phones’ apps into 4 rows of apps – Communications, Multimedia, Applications, and Settings. The GUI is organized nicely enough, but there really is no point to it since Windows Mobile’s menu system is pretty good this time around. LG also includes a Task Manager. The included LG Task Manager is kind of slick, as it displays screenshots for currently opened applications. However, the close buttons are too small and difficult to close unless you’re using the stylus.

Multimedia:
The bundled headphones use a microUSB connector, so that means you can’t use a standard pair of 3.5mm headphones without an annoying adapter. Common LG, haven’t you learned anything from HTC’s past mistakes? This pretty much takes the eXpo out of the running for being a serious music device. But other then that it’s multimedia features are solid. Videos play very smoothly and as I mentioned before, the display is great for photos and video.

Camera:
The eXpo has a pretty pretty robust 5MP camera with autofocus a flash, and video recording. The device takes good pictures, but it’s flash isn’t all that helpful in low light situations.

Conclusion:
The LG eXpo is a solid Windows Mobile phone with a well rounded feature set. We love the fast web browsing, its beautiful display, and that it packs in pretty much everything but the kitchen sink- heck, it even has a fingerprint reader. Unfortunately we are frustrated by the fact that we have to use a stylus to operate the device efficiently, and worse, the stylus has no place to be stashed inside the device. But if you can look past those gripes, you’re going to be wowed and quite taken by its mobile projector accessory. There literally is nothing quite like it out there. The LG eXpo can really be a swiss army knife of a smartphone for a businessman. Need to whip out a presentation on the go without any hassle? The LG eXpo will be there for you. And even though the LG eXpo’s multimedia capabilities are capped a but by the lack of a 3.5MM jack, we can imagine that many people would love to use the phone’s projector to watch videos together with friends, which definitely gives it a lot of appeal to college kids and teens. However, where the LG eXpo lacks, the projector comes in and wins you over. For a relatively new smartphone feature, LG did a very good job of implementing the mobile projector accessory. It works well and is easy to use. Here is to hoping that mobile projectors become the new standard in smartphones, because this is one cool technology that pushes the smartphone envelope.

The LG eXpo can currently be purchased for as low as $99 on contract with AT&T. The Mobile Projector accessory should be available to purchase soon.

Keep checking out ChipChick.com for a special giveaway announcement, as we’ll be having a special LG eXpo giveaway soon.

The good:

A Swiss army knife for a businessman, mobile projector works really well, display is bright and colorful, fast internet browsing, tons of bundled software, nice form-factor with slide-out keyboard

Bad:
No 3.5mm jack for headphones, touchscreen requires hard presses/ a stylus to operate efficiently, there is no internal slot to hold the stylus, smart sensor isn’t very comfortable to use and feels a little funny operating

For a complete review of the LG Expo’s Mobile Projector, go here.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LG Chocolate Touch. All opinions are 100% mine.

I don’t think of the LG Chocolate Touch as a phone with a killer music player, I think of it as a killer music player with a phone. The Original LG Chocolate was also media center oriented, but wow, was I surprised with the quality of the audio this phone was able to play. Who knew my mp3s sounded so good? Let’s be honest. God didn’t create all mp3s the same. Nor did he create all headphones and auditory perceptions the same. The Chocolate Touch coupled with the patented Dolby Mobile Technology gave me the power to make any mp3 sound exactly as I wished it could sound. This phone also restored the little faith I had left in my 3 year old ear buds. A few of my songs even convinced me I was listening to music in surround sound. Now I am an avid iPhone user, and swear by the phone, but for a company that started off making music players and progressed to the phone, I want to know why they can’t make MP3s sound as good as Chocolate. It certainly offers an extremely rich listening experience with “potent bass and sparkling clarity.”

One feature that should be a universal standard for all phones and MP3 players is enabling the device as removable storage for your computer and allowing you to drag all your music on as if it were a flash drive. It just makes life easy [end point]. Obviously, the first thing I wanted to do upon receiving the LG Chocolate Touch loaner was to get my music on there and see what all the fuss was about Dolby Mobile. It was a good sign that the box came with no CD, which meant probably no required drivers, which hopefully means no required software installations? Yes! I was able to plug the phone into right in to my computer, see the drive as an external storage device (like a flash drive), navigate to “My_Music” and bam, I was transferring songs in seconds. Love it! I didn’t have to install any software, perform any conversions, or get through a lengthy syncing process. Even better, I was also able to retrieve the test shots and vids I took with the camera from the storage device. Adding photos was just as breezy, no wait, breezier*. I didn’t have to specify photo albums to share or optimize. Just dragged and dropped all the pics I wanted to add. With Windows this was all extremely easy, when I wanted to add more music from my Mac I ran into an issue–lack of support. I couldn’t access my Chocolate Touch via its microUSB cable. Fortunately, I figured out a work around and hat didn’t turn out to be too big of an issue. I was able to just remove the MicroSD card from the phone, pop it in an adapter and then in to my computer. Once again I had easy access to the files on my phone including pictures, videos, and music. Just make sure you set the phone to store these files on the external memory, rather than internal, in the settings.

 

If that seems like more work than you’re willing to go through, you can connect your Mac with your LG Chocolate via Bluetooth. Similarly all of your phone’s folders and files will pop up enabling you to add pictures, videos, and music, or pull files directly from your phone, wirelessly! There were a lot of bluetooth features on the LG Chocolate Touch, which seem to still be rare for cell phones (ahem ahem iPhone). In addition to sending and receiving files (from phone or from computer), I was able to easily to print directly from my phone to my little wireless Polaroid PoGo printer. I will say I was a bit disappointed that LG Chocolate was unable to pair to my Sony MW600 A2DP Bluetooth headset. It does has A2DP bluetooth stereo streaming support. I guess it just didn’t like my Sony (or vice versa).

Navigating music was easy on the LG Chocolate Touch. Everything is very simple. It doesn’t have the fit and finish of, lets say, the iPhone, but music and media is well organized in a minimalistic fashion still organized by song, genre, artist, album. All of the music on Chocolate, which I had originally organized in iTunes, preserved its meta information i.e. artist, track name, and even the album art. There’s a search button too allowing you to find any song you’re looking for. Another feature I liked was the ability to make playlists on the fly. Notice I said playlists and not playlist. If you’re not in the mood for your own music then tune into the built in FM Radio. FM Radio requires headphones, which it uses as an antenna. You can still play the music over speakerphone, as you can with any of the music on the phone. The FM tuner interface is nice, allowing you to set 12 presets. It also pulls song information (RBDS support) from many of the stations.

When playing music you have options–to keep you entertained and to ensure the greatest possible listening conditions. The most unique is the Join the Band feature. This allows you to join along by playing the keyboard or drums while playing any song of your choosing. The Rhythmical Beat feature is another unique option enabling your handset to vibrate to the beat of the music. I have not yet figured out when this would be necessary, but never the less–cool. For songs lacking cover art you can choose your own image from your picture album. The best feature is the Dolby Customizable EQ settings. As I mentioned earlier, all mp3s are encoded differently and not going to sound optimal on just any headset. These EQ settings give you the control to choose what sounds best. With Dolby presets: flat, bass boost, treble boost, vocal boost, and classical you are sure to find your ideal sound. If you’re feeling daring enough you can use manual EQ and adjust EQ settings across 4 bands. I put music ranging from heavy metal, to indy, to oldies on my Chocolate, so I found myself often changing the EQ for a more pleasant sound. Multi-tasking is great while music or FM is playing. Your listening experience will be uninterrupted. Also on the homescreen is a nice little audio visualizer while music is playing. The speakerphone on the phone, as mentioned, will play your music and FM radio. You can certainly crank it up, but the audio does not live up to the Dolby name. The quality is just subpar (but I remind you, it is loud). Also the speaker is located on the back of the phone, so unless you place your phone screen down on a surface, it will sound muffled.

When your phone is also your camera, it should work like a camera. Hence there should be a physical button to quickly turn it on and a physical button to quickly take a picture. The Chocolate Touch thankfully has this dedicated camera button, allowing you to be taking a picture within seconds of removing the phone from your pocket (not forcing you to go through on screen menus to get to the camera). Also, hold down the camera button for 3 seconds to enter the video camera. You can record 30 second clips to send your friends, or save up to one hour of video. The pictures from the 3.2 megapixel camera come out pretty nice with the default/maximum resolution of 2048×1536. The videos also come out pretty nice, for a phone. Just up the resolution to 320×240 and you should be more or less satisfied. On both Camera and Video Camera there are customizable brightness, white balance, shutter sound, color effects, and self-timer, which certainly come in handy when trying to perfect a picture or video. No camera flash, but that is okay since they usually stink anyway on phones.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the media center aspect of LG’s Chocolate Touch. You can store movies on it too, which is great for those long car and train rides. The only issues I had with this media center of a phone is that there are no hard button audio controls: play/pause skip track…

Specs:

Internal Storage: 1gb
External Storage: MicroSD (not included) up to 16gb
Compatable Audio: MP3, WAM, and unprotected AAC/AAC+ files
Video formats: WMV, MP4, 3GP, and 3G2
Display: 3-inch touchscreen
Camera: 3.2 megapixel
Camera Resolutions: 2048 x 1536 (default), 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 800 x 480, 640 x 480 Pixels
Video Resolutions: 320 x 240, 176 x 144 (default) pixels
Bluetooth: version 2.1 with A2DP
headset jack: standard 3.5mm
Dimensions: 4.3 x 2.2 x .47 inches
Battery: 5.1 hours talk, 470 hours standby