Hello Once again Folks, were back with yet another review from the PPCGeeks Repository. This time we’re looking at the Droid2, a recently released device by Verizon Wireless. We took a good amount of time looking it over, and have a few things to say about it!

The Droid2 is the sequel phone, and essentially a direct descendant of the little phone that started the big Android war, The Motorola DROID. It  shows this in shape, design, and function.

Unlike previous releases by Verizon, the DROID2 also is being promoted through a special ‘R2D2’ release, but we’ll talk about that later, let’s first go over specs.

For starters, the DROID2 is the VERY FIRST Verizon DROID phone to come pre-installed with Android 2.2, or Froyo. All previous phones came with 2.0 or 2.1 and had to be updated after release, this is not the case for the DROID2, this is of course a major upgrade over the previous versions. The TI OMAP processor also got beefed up big time, sporting a 1 GHZ  processor over the older 512 MHZ DROID released last year. This, along with a newly designed keyboard, an extra 7 gigs of internal storage, and a newly designed battery cover (That wont fall off in the pocket) are but a few of the reasons of why this is a well received upgrade to the DROID. However, there are a few gripes we have with it!

For starters, we’ve come to release, after a year and a half of Android testing, that Android is just not a great keyboard OS! The idea of needing to switch constantly between portrait and landscape to use the keyboard is not fun. Not only that, but even with the 3.7″ screen (which we wished was a tad bigger,) the keyboard is not a necessity. It’s a well received part of the phone though, and if you like keyboards and prefer them, go grab a DROID2! We however think the bigger screen, along with the keyboard, would have been a better sale.

Another gripe is overall performance. Though the phone is a replacer for the DROID, it feels sluggish in usage, and the 3.7″ screen is not exactly great on real estate, especially hard on the eyes when reading content from web pages, get your glasses out!

Lastly, though the phone is shorter in length than the DROID X, the width takes it in place, and weight as well, leading to a phone that has pros and cons like the DROID X, it really comes down to if you want that keyboard. Regardless, the Droid2 is a good phone, and proudly bears the DROID name.

And to promote that name, Verizon has initiated the DROID2, R2d2 phone, read more about its Star Wars design, and special R2D2 apps here!

NOTE: Verizon Wireless has kindly notiifed us that those interested in another one of the popular DROID smartphones – the Incredible, which we reviewed earlier this year, is now available from stores again, as it was previously on backorder. Click here to learn more!

This past week, I had the opportunity to test out a nifty little Android app called CamCard. Its an OCR business card reader that lets you take a picture of a business card and it will scan the text and allow you to add it into your contacts, or you can keep them saved in its internal contact vault. It saves the image of the card as well, so you can always go back and view the original card.

I tried it out with about 5 different business cards from various companies and all in different formats. For the most part, it was pretty accurate. On occasion, it would tag a phone number wrong (office instead of fax, etc). On one card, it didn’t do a very good job at all. It did a good job with the other four cards though. It also lets you edit the details before you save the contact. I had to change number tags on a few of them, but other than that I was very impressed.

I would rate this app a 4 out of 5 stars and say that it is a must have for any business traveler or anyone that doesn’t feel like carrying around lots of business cards. For about $15, its not priced bad either!

Purchase it from the PPCGeeks store today!

I had the opportunity to test out the Motorola EQ5 Bluetooth Stereo Speakers, which comes from their MOTOROKR line. Most people are probably thinking, why get bluetooth stereo speakers when our phones have a built-in speakerphone? You’re probably right, but I put this product to the test to see if it was worth the money. I tested this with my Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) Android smartphone.

The first thing I noticed what its size and color scheme. Its about the same size as my Captivate, only a little thicker. It had a sleek black and chrome/silver color scheme with easy button controls on the front between the speakers. It also has a kickstand around back.

For hands-free operation, it features noise-reduction and echo-cancellation, which seemed to work pretty well. Calls were clear and easy to hear and callers didn’t have any complaints about hearing me either.

Now for the real test though, music. One of its features is SRS WOW HD enhanced stereo performance, but unfortunately, I didn’t find it very “enhanced”. When using A2DP, the music sounded very tinny and not very clear. It also states that it features bass ports for improved bass, but I didn’t really hear any bass. When using the supplied 3.5mm cable, the sound was much better, but still not like a small stereo. The volume was decent, but it could have been louder. You have your phone’s volume control, then a built-in control within the unit. There still wasn’t much bass.

Overall, if you’re going to use it for A2DP bluetooth, I would just stick with the built-in speakerphone in your phone. If you want louder music and are willing to use the supplied cable, then this product works well for that. I’m not sure its worth the $99 price tag though.

You can read more about it and purchase it from the PPCGeeks Store here: http://store.ppcgeeks.com/productaccessories.asp?id=20486&n=Motorola-EQ5-Wireless-Travel-Stereo-Speaker

If you frequently visit this site, then I’m sure you’ve heard of Seidio by now. They make tons of accessories for our favorite smartphones, ranging from extended batteries to cases. Today I got the opportunity to review the Seidio Innocase II Surface for the Sprint HTC Evo 4G.

I previously had the Body Glove case, which can be purchased at a Sprint store. They each have their own unique style and design, and they both have their own pros and cons. We’ll mainly be focusing on the Innocase today though.

First of all, it has Seidio’s common 2 part design, the top and bottom. You slide one part on the top of the phone and the other over the bottom, then they snap together. They do stay together and haven’t come apart on me yet. It offers good protection around the edges and back of the phone, but nothing for the screen. Most cases for touchscreen devices don’t offer protection for the screen anyway, but some do come with a screen protector.

It offers a better grip than the phone by itself by having a soft coating while still offering protection.

It doesn’t really get in the way of any buttons, but it does make the power button a little difficult to press since the case is close to it. It also doesn’t block any ports or sensors.

For about $25, its not a bad case at all and offers about the same amount of protection as most other cases in its class. For those needing more protection, there are other cases out there, but they usually add more bulk. This is great for those that don’t want to add more bulk but want to add some protection.

There’s been some reports of people getting scratched Evo’s with this case, but Seidio redesigned the case to prevent this from happening. If you have one of the original cases, its recommended that you contact them for a replacement. Since I only had this case for a couple of days, I didn’t notice any scratching with mine and it had a tight fit, so I believe its the newer design. The inside is made of the same material as the outside and there’s a felt padding in the middle of both pieces.

If you don’t already have a case or have one you’re not satisfied with, I would highly recommend giving this one a try.

Find it at the PPCG store today!

http://store.ppcgeeks.com/productaccessories.asp?id=64168&n=Seidio-Innocase-II-Surface

Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset Review
November 30, 2009 by tsowen, PPCGeeks
The Jawbone Bluetooth Headset offers noise  
cancellation and great call quality on both ends of the line

Over the weekend I had a chance to review the Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset. Aliph’s Jawbones headsets have always been rated among the highest-rated Bluetooth headsets for awhile now so I was kind of anxious to try this highly rated Bluetooth headset out. So without further ado let’s take a look at what’s in the box.

What’s Inside the Box

The packaging of the box was very nicely done as to be expected. All of the accessories are in an exposed front-facing manner.

The Jawbone PRIME packaging contains the following:

• 1 Jawbone PRIME Bluetooth Headset
• 6 different earbuds (2 different styles)
• 2 earloops (including 1 ‘premium’ leather-wrapped style)
• 1 USB charging cable
• 1 wall charger
• 1 user welcome guide with instructions
• 1 safety informational pullout

Everything you need is nice and neatly packaged in the box.

The Technology
Aliph has been one of the top Bluetooth headset companies priding itself in providing the best sound quality available in a Bluetooth headset. The Jawbone PRIME prides itself on being able to eliminate real word noise better than any other headset because it is the only headset that can accurately separate speech from ambient noise by utilizing a new technology known as NOISEASSASIN 2.0. A quick description of the improvements made to NOISEASSASIN are:

“Jawbone PRIME has even better background noise elimination than the previous generations. NoiseAssasin 2.0 delivers an order of magnitude improvement in the noisiest environments (6 to 9dB) extracting even more noise while keeping the user’s voice natural.

 Acoustic Voice Activity Detector (AVAD) provides a fail-safe mechanism when the Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) doesn’t touch your face. When the VAS is not touching the face, Jawbone PRIME performs as good as or better than any other noise cancelling headset. When the VAS touches the face, you get the turbo-boost to the NoiseAssassin performance.”

Click to Expand

I decided to test the PRIME’s voice detection and background noise elimination at my kids soccer game. During the middle of the game I pulled out the PRIME and made a few calls. The PRIME delivered as expected, the recipients of the calls could faintly hear the cheering and hollering in the background nor could they hear the wind that was in the background. The recipients of the calls were shocked to find out I was talking to them on a Bluetooth Headset. On my end the call was crystal clear as well. I would say of all the Bluetooth Headsets I have owned this one was by far the better when it came to call quality and clarity.

The Design
The Jawbone PRIME like its predecessor the Jawbone 2 is slim and lightweight measuring 2.1 inches long by 0.5 inches wide by 0.5 inches thick, the PRIME is small enough to be discreet when worn. The Device is very lightweight as well weighing in and a petite 0.36 ounces so you barely even notice you have it in your ear. The PRIME sports a rather elegant dimpled loop pattern on the front giving it a very fashionable design.

The buttons on the prime can be a little difficult to find because they’re almost invisible. There is a slight dip towards the top third of the headset which hides the multifunction talk button, pressing the very top of the headset will activate the NoiceAssasin or volume button. Speaking of volume there is only one volume button which I was a little disappointed in so you will have to cycle through the volume levels a couple of times to find the perfect setting.

Flip the headset over and you will find a soft squishy rubber earbud covering the earpiece. The earbud was very comfortable and I found using the large size earbud cover the PRIME felt secure and snug in my ear. The earbuds were probably the most comfortable I have used with any other headset. I give the design on the earbuds and comfort Two thumbs up! There’s also an optional ear hook if you prefer, but I found that I didn’t really need to use it. Towards the back of the PRIME is a tiny nub that acts as the Voice Activity Sensor, which is used to amplify your voice. I found the inside contours of the PRIME followed my face perfectly in a comfortable manner. The PRIME also comes in several different colors also called “EARCANDY”.

“EARCANDY is our summer color burst, to bring self-expression and a smile to our line-up. The 4 colors represent great skin-tone complements and contrast, as well as personal style one cannot resist, this reinforces the basic notion that anything that the consumer wears makes a statement, and it should be designed as such…this is what we call EARCANDY.” Yves Behar, Chief Designer

Paring and Setting Up
I paired the Aliph Jawbone Prime up with my Sprint HTC Touch Pro 2 in less than a minute. Pairing was quite easy and effortless. The PRIME comes with a very detailed instructions manual on setting up and using the device. I tested the device in several different settings, at the mall, in my car, at home and at my kid’s soccer game. In every environment all the callers said I sounded loud and clear, with a natural sounding voice and volume and background noise was minimal in each environment.

The Jawbone Prime has all the typical calling features for Bluetooth headsets such as answering, rejecting, and ending calls; voice dialing support; call waiting support; battery status indicator; call mute; last number redial; and it has multipoint technology that lets it connect up to two devices at once. It has a rated talk time of 4.5 hours and a standby time of 8 days.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is the Aliph Jawbone Prime is a great Bluetooth headset that combines high style with high performance. The device packs some innovative design and technology into a small device. To read about the Aliph Jawbone Prime or to order from our store follow this link.

Full Specifications

Plantronics Discovery 975 Review
November 16, 2009 by tsowen, PPCGeeks
The Discovery 975 offers great-sounding call
quality on both ends of the line

There are headsets that are stylish, and headsets that sound great, but somehow Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset managed to combine these two features into one device. This week I had the privilege to test drive this device and I have to say I was blown away by it. The Discovery 975 has a sleek boom packed with microphones and windscreens that give it a surprisingly sound quality. It is sleek and stylish and comfortable.

Like its predecessor, the Discovery 925, the Discovery 975 requires no futzing: With one hand, you can place the headset in your ear, point the microphone boom down toward your mouth, and tap the call button to get rolling. Measuring 2.7 inches long by 0.8 inch wide by 0.5 inch thick, the Discovery 975 appears almost like a piece of jewelry when worn. Visually the Discovery 975 resembles a slimmed down Discovery 925, and is far less bulky than the Voyager PRO.

The Discovery 975  has a nice ear tip gel cover, with a square loop that lets the earpiece sit snugly within the folds of the ear without the use of an ear hook. Plantronics provides small, medium, and large ear-gel tips, so you have a good shot at obtaining a comfortable and secure fit. Using the meadium earpiece cover felt light–almost breezy–and stable, too.

The Discovery 975’s battery is rated for up to 5hrs talk time or 1 week standby from its 85mA Li-ion polymer cell. The case has its own rechargeable battery, just as the Discovery 925 did, which will recharge the Discovery 975 up to three times. The Discovery 975 can remain powered on and connected while it’s recharging in the case. The case lights up and flashes when a call comes in, just to make sure you notice it. There’s also an integrated display, which shows the separate battery status of both the headset and the case, together with the Bluetooth connection status.

Overall the call quality was excellent on both ends incoming calls sounded crystal clear; and at the other end, my voice sounded crisp and natural. The Discovery’s handling of background noise was somewhat disappointing to me. I tested the Discovery 975 in a somewhat windy environment. The parties on the other end could hear sounds of wind, but my voice was crystal clear.

The Discovery 975 has all your normal features such as answering, ending and rejecting calls, last number redial, call mute as well as voice-dialing. The Discovery 975 also features voice prompt that lets you know when you’ve enabled or disables call mute and the battery and Bluetooth connection status. At the base of the boom arm in the middle of the square diamond is the multifunction call button. The multifunction call button requires a bit of pressure to press since it is part of the overall boom arm. The volume control is a single button that is located on the side. I found myself having to use my fingernail to press this button. Also the volume control is a single button so you will have to cycle through several volume settings before you find the right one.

As for that Bluetooth connection, the Discovery 975 uses v2.1+EDR and supports Secure Simple Pairing (SSP),Hands-free and Headset profiles. It’ll also use Multipoint technology to simultaneously hold an active connection with two Bluetooth devices which is a nice integrated feature. Like the Voyager PRO it comes with Plantronics’ AudioIQ2 noise-cancelling technology and WindSmart systems for avoiding wind noise, with the two adding up to incredibly natural sound.

The bottom line: Despite the finicky controls, the Plantronics Discovery 975 is a stylish headset with a comfortable fit, and sounds great. Few headsets offer the complete package. With excellent comfort, superior sound quality, and beautiful styling, the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth headset is by far the best headset I have tested.

For more information on the product or to purchase this product please follow this link.

Some of its features include:

• Dual-mic AudioIQ2 noise canceling technology enriches voice quality
• Boom places mics where they best capture your voice
• Three layers of protection from wind noise
• Durable headset withstands daily wear and tear
• Multipoint pairs one headset to two phones
• Voice prompts alert battery and mute status
• Fast-charging, long-lasting battery

Its also rated for 6 hours of talk time and up to 5 days of standby time!

If you search for other reviews of this device, you’ll see that its among one of the highest rated bluetooth headsets out there, so I had high expectations from the start.  I’ve owned a Motorola H700 and a Jabra headset in the past, so those will be my main comparisons.

Read my full review after the break, you won’t be disappointed!

Buy it in the PPCGeeks store here!

Unboxing:
It comes in a sleek black box with a clear plastic part showing off the headset. As usual, the first thing I did was put it on the charger to let it fully charge before I use it. The first thing I noticed is that it uses a microUSB charger, so that may disappoint the HTC crowd since they’re accustomed to miniUSB chargers. With the 6 hour battery life, this may not be an issue though.

It is a bit on the larger side for bluetooth headsets, mostly due to its large battery. It has a long mic boom and a sleek design. It also comes with quite a few different ear pieces so you can try to get just the right fit.

Usage:
This is where the real test comes in.  With the bluetooth headsets I’ve used in the past, I’ve had problems hearing the other person if I’m in a loud environment.  I have a fairly loud vehicle on the road, so this is a good test.  So I turned on the headset and it connected to my phone right away (after my initial pairing of course).  I made my first call, and to my surprise, it was quite loud.  I even had to turn the volume down a bit.  During the whole 30 minute call, I never had a problem hearing the caller.

After talking for a bit, I asked the caller how I sounded.  They said I sounded really clear and they couldn’t even tell I was driving.  While I didn’t try it in heavy winds or a really loud environment, it appeared as though the AudioIQ2 feature works quite well.

The one complaint I had from someone was when they called me.  After pressing the multi-function Talk button it took a few seconds for the call to come through the headset, and during that time the caller said they heard a loud noise.

Overview:
I must say, this is one of the best headsets I’ve ever tried.  While its on the larger size, it still has a comfortable fit with excellent battery life and call quality.  I rate this headset a 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I say this is a “must buy” for anyone on the market for a bluetooth headset.  CNet rates this as one of the top 5 best headsets on the market today, and I find no reason to disagree with them.