Seidio Online was kind enough to send me a sample unit of their Convert Combo (formerly known as the Rugged) for the HTC EVO 4G, and I have spent the last week using it and I am now ready to share my thoughts.

First off, the first impression you get is that the case is quite large for an already large phone. The minimal clear plastic packaging holds the belt clip/holster, a Surface hard shell, The silicon outer shell, the ballistic plastic skeleton, and a static cling screen protector with cloth and plastic smoothing tool. The Surface case, the screen protector and the overall packaging had instructions on how to assemble all the various parts that make up the Convert.

Putting the case together was a snap. The Surface case fit snugly and with just that case on, the phone still fits into my leather belt holster. Once you slip on the silicone cover and then snap on the skeleton, though, you can kiss the old stand-by leather holster goodbye. The only way you are clipping this to your belt is with the provided holster that places you phone screen down for protection. The clip on the holster has a lock on it that works surprisingly well and will keep your phone from falling out if it gets snagged on something.

One feature that I like, since I have to be outside for my job from time to time, regardless of the weather, is that the silicone portion of the shell has covers for the headphone jack, the camera, and the USB and HDMI ports. These fit snuggly, but are easy to open and move out of the way when you want to plug in or use the camera. One drawback: When you have the full case on, you cannot use the kick stand, it’s sealed up inside.

Now, since I have kids, I have had my 4 year old play with the phone with the full case on. While he is very good with my phone, he does tend to drop things from time to time, and with the Convert Combo on, there has been literally nothing he has been able to do to damage the phone. The raised edges protect the screen from impact and the rest of the phone’s body is covered in silicone and ballistic plastic. The skeleton reinforces the likely impact points nicely at the corners and sides, giving your phone a high degree of protection in case of an impact or a drop. Very reassuring when your kids take your phone to feed their Angry Birds addiction…
One thing that I noticed was that the contours of the case and its size actually make it easier to hold the phone for an extended period of time. It fits the hands naturally and is still totally usable. You might think that the plastic skeleton would make it slick, but it is positioned in such a way that your hand comes into contact with the silicone more than the plastic, giving you a good solid grip.

Overall, after having used several different cases that were either just skins, or shells similar to the Surface, I will say that the Convert Combo is easily the best case I have used on my EVO. It fits well, and allows you to use the phone just as it was designed (except for the kickstand, of course…). The strength and durability of this case make it a must for anyone with small kids, or if you are going to be in an environment that could put your phone at risk. It looks good on your phone, but most importantly, it provides solid protection for the EVO for those who need it the most.
Thank you to Seidio Online for providing the product sample!

Photos courtesy of Seidio Online.

The latest product found at Boxwave is a Keyboard Buddy case for the iPhone 4. This provides your iPhone with a physical keyboard through a blue-tooth connection, something most users want while others may not be interested. These cases are available now so read more to learn how to get one.

The design and durability of the case, according to sources, fit the phone quite well. The protecting layer on the case comes as a rubber coating instead of hard plastic. This provides a great amount of grip while holding the phone in your hands.The only disadvantage that may bother you or may not is it’s weight. When put with the phone it does tend to be a bit heavy. This is something the sources got used to after a few days though.

The keyboard seems to be impressive in every area but the layout. Some of you may be able to adjust, as most of us do get used to new things, but others may not like the setup. You can see how it’s made in the image above. However sources say the keys seem sturdy, reliable and very responsive.

As with most products, here are pros and cons to getting this case and getting used to it. There are also many benefits to using it, according to your daily duties, wants and needs.

Boxwave, if you’ve never heard of them, has a 100% customer satisfaction policy that includes a 30-day window for returns. If you want to try one out for yourself, click here to do so. You can get this for $69.95 with free shipping in the U.S.

Source: BGR

WINNER: Congrats to Thacounty! Enjoy your EVO Powermat, we’ll be contacting you for address information!

If you (or do not) recall, we ran a review last week of the Powermat kit for EVO, along with other accessories.
Well now’s the chance to get your very own!

From now until just after Valentines Day, 02/20/11, we’ll be running a chance for you to win your very own Powermat kit, and love novelties just as much as me!

Entering is real easy too;

1. Reply to this post. Share your thoughts, anger, love, or indifference to the Powermat

2. Go on Twitter and type something about the powermat, with the hashtag #PPCGeeks or a @PPCGeeksDotCom in the message. We’ll add a second entry JUST FOR YOU!

As always, our contest is open to site visitors and users, but not staff, sorry!

GOOD LUCK!

Hey Geekers! Have you ever been outdoors with the need to charge a cellphone or any type of electronic device without an outlet anywhere in sight? Well, the portable Solio Battery Pack & Solar Charger may be right for you. The compact unit is capable of charging a variety of different devices ranging from cellphones to digital cameras. The connectors included with the package are:

• Micro-USB
• Mini-USB
• LG3
• Female USB
• Sony Ericsson
• Samsung3
• Nokia

The Solio website also has more connectors available if the one you’re looking for is not included.

I’m working on a review for the device, but the midwest snow is not allowing for enough sun, so i’ve done an unboxing for you to get an idea for it. Enjoy.

Hey guys. Tony here bringing you another video review for WP7. This time we take a quick glance at the Twin Blades side scroller and the classic game of Pac-Man. If you have an app or game you would like me to review for WP7 or Android, email me at anthony.pollard@staff.ppcgeeks.com.

.

Courtney1985 here, just saying be sure to hop into our forums and discuss this game. It looks very addicting and I must say, I can’t wait to try it out! What about you?

(EDIT: I apologize at the error in the video, the app is NOT free as mentioned in the video. It’s a one time fee of $2.99.  Many apologies.)

Hey there, Oridus here with a video review for Deluxe Moon from LifeWare Solutions.

As described on their website, LifewareSolutions.com

“The Moon is our closest celestial neighbor and the most prominent object in the night sky.

Although the Moon is so much smaller than the Sun, it strongly affects everything on the Earth, including many aspects of your life. Not only tides and animals are affected by the Moon, but also it influences human emotions, relationships, blood pressure an even finances.

Many forms of life on Earth depend on the Moon movement. If you keep track of it, you will soon discover some amazing relationships. This knowledge could help you make your life better!

We would like to offer you the tool to discover more about the influence of the Moon, your mobile assistant which is always at your service wherever you are.

Enjoy our Deluxe Moon application and save money: it is completely free. “

Features: o  Visual picture of the moon phases and the percent of the illuminated area.
o  Full names of all moon phases.
o  Zodiac Sign the moon is in.
o  Current moon’s age: how far along the moon is in its full cycle.
o  Moonrise and moonset times for your location.
o  Amount of time from moonrise and to moonset.
o  Supported languages: German, French, Spanish, Italian. Learn more
o  Calculations for the current and other dates.
o  Network independence: you can work anywhere in the world without Internet or cellular connections.
o  Your current location determined by GPS or cellular network.
o  Resolutions: QVGA (240×320), HVGA (320×480), VGA (480×640), WVGA (480×800).

Compatible with: Square 240×240, WQVGA (240×400), Square 320×320, SquareVGA 480×480

Hello Folks!

This week, Verizon Wireless kindly sent us a Moto Droid X to get our hands on and open up to see what it was made of!

Read on to find out what we think of it, and for our Youtube Video Links!

The DROID X is the ‘sister’  product to the original Motorola DROID which we reviewed a few months back, we have to say there are A LOT of improvements.
First off, the processor grew from a 524 MHZ TI OMAP to the big 1GHZ. According to What we’ve heard, it’s also one of the highest performing ARM processors on the market, a strong competitor to the Snapdragon!

Second, it got a boost straight to Android 2.1 and sports it all on a MASSIVE 4.3″ WVGA Screeen. We really love the screen’s quality!

The battery cover was a gripe on the old Moto DROID, and this one has been beefed up and won’t fall off in the pocket!

Now, onto specifics. The device is lighter, thinner, but longer (height-wise) than the EVO, which contends it as to being really equal, as some prefer the extra width on the EVO and its more curved simple design. The X sports a curved, thicker edge where the camera is giving it a ramp on the back. This may bother some when held in the hand a specific way, but it also ensure you always pick the phone up from the right side!

Other stats include standard micro-USB, HDMI-Out (Identical to the EVO,) 8MP Camera with Dual-flash and four buttons on the bottom edge. They are ordered – Menu, Home, Back, and Search. This switch in menu and home seems strange, and if you are a previous Android User, it will take some getting used to in order to adjust to the difference!

The software runs a standard Android 2.1 compliment with an upgraded Motorola software enhancer for the homepage. It’s much lighter and more customizable in comparison to HTC Sense, but both serve the same purpose of weather, calendar, contacts and more. the DRIOD X however uses a much more blocky design so they can be interchangeable used in various orders to keep the style. The Sense style is more curved and stylish, unlike the simple coloring of the X, but at the same time is less compatible with “mixing and matching.” Social networking and aggregation is also combined using various internal sofware. It also sports a Need For Speed Demo and various Verizon features (Visual Voicemail, My Verizon, City ID and more) but we still prefer the standard software as always. Did we mention everything has a wicket red style to it for Big Red? Everything moves through just as fast as the EVO’s snapdragon, but the text and content resolution is much smaller, meaning you get more per page, but you will need to strain your eyes a bit at times! The EVO likes it wide and easy to read, but you have to scroll more often.

Lastly, i want to note speeds. The X is of course CDMA just like Sprint, but i’ve always seemed outperforming Download Speeds (for the most part) through various times of the day. Upload speeds however have been slow, perhaps akin to Sprint’s more open bandwidth and allowing the higher speeds. Still, at times Verizon can be inconsistant with speeds as Sprint remains the opposite, which brings questions to mind on how it gets its bandwidth maintained (at least in the New York Metro area where the review was performed)

The 1570 mAH battery performs well through a day of heavy usage. I will admit the EVO slacks on Battery life big time and it can suck you down to 40 in a matter of hours of moderate usage without clockspeed control (through root.) I will admit though both are strong contenders and fabulous devices for the avid Android user.

The EVO and X Both sell at $199.99 through a two year contract on Verizon and the X requires a 30$ smartphone data plan, while the EVO requires a 10 dollar premium data fee not including a data – talk plan. The X is a welcomed addition to Verizon’s “Rule the Air” campaign and surely will prevent Verizon users from feeling left out when interested in a powerful device like the DROID X. Based on current specifications, it’s very likely to hit 2.2 by the end of the year as well.

Reviewer: Mr. Joshua Sherman

Editorial Assistant: Mr. Wayne Sherman

Hello Users!

Last week we asked you to show your support for Didiom Pro and our review of it by commenting on us what you thought of it in order to get a chance to win some FREE didiom keys!

BELOW, We’ve posted the winners, whom we will soon be emailing their keys, congratulations guys!

38, 10, 12, 15, 08,  28,  40, 34, 21, 07, were our winning numbers and below are those people, in that order:

Please note #15 was a staff member therefore we used # 16, the next highest number

dishe

TweetyBear

SlipperyMonkey

ppsee (15 was Staff)

the3rd

Psychobaby

shaggylive

WyldeStile

lawmangrant

crazaytalent

Hello Users!

Courtesy of Verizon Wireless, we here at PPCGeeks.Com took a moment and got in depth with the HTC Incredible, a luxury Android 2.1 smartphone.

Since late April, the Incredible has been making eyes bulge and mouths water as they took look at the sleek, light, and FAST device, featuring more RAM and a faster processor then ever before on Verizon’s fleet of smartphones.

READ ON! And find out what makes the HTC Incredible so.. Incredible!

Now, on a personal note on the review.

I enjoyed the Incredible A LOT. It’s not your average android phone, even without a keyboard. believe it or not, HTC has done justice with their new Android keyboard and features. The device is very light – so light at times i forget i’m carrying it, as i’m a DROID  / TP2 user who’s used to the heft of a hardware keyboard. This is really remind you of the weight of an old BREW phone but don’t be mistaken, the 1GHZ Snapdragon processor is just that, snappy. The full 3.7″ of viewing space works in well. And i didn’t even mention the wonderful internal workings!

Inside the Incredible, you’ve got your 8MP Camera, which is borderline those on modern day digital cameras! though it lacks any optical zooming, it certainly is a powerful camera, as you can see with the photo below.

Along with it is a dual LED flash and Dual speaker, which is great for playing music and hearing your calls. It reminds me of the speaker system from the Touch Pro2, which is just flat out great.

In the end, this device serves to be an all-in-one multimedia device. It’s for your phone needs, app needs, gaming, music, and even photography, on a novice level. if you are a pro, you still carry your digital camera for photography, and if you’re always listening to music, you’ll still have your Ipod. Hence why i see no reason to try to compete in a market of being all-in-one, it’s nice and all but it becomes redundant, especially with only 1300 mAh of battery juice, giving you only a few hours of dedicated usage, i suggest implanting your TP2 battery if you got any!

Well folks, that’s all I have to say, watch the review for more info and a good look at it, and be sure to hunt it down if it suits you!

The Incredible starts at $199.99 on a two year contract with a minimum $30 data plan through Verizon Wireless. Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments!

Reviewer: Mr. Joshua Sherman

Editorial Assistant: Mr. Wayne Sherman

Do you love to pester people with text messages without being identified? What if you could carpet bomb somebody to the tune of 600 texts at once and there would be no way to trace it back to you? At clamtxt.com, you can do just that!

What is it exactly? I’ll let Clamfather, one of the founding clamsman, tell you.

ClamTXT is a web application that will send text messages in batch to a phone number that you choose. How many text messages sent depends on your membership status. There is also a possible custom message, reserved for registered and donating users. When you submit a number, and our bot rolls around to your entry, a message will be sent based on your registration status. Anonymous and registered users will have a link back to the site in the text message. All submissions will have a random character string on it, to avoid filtering of duplicate messages.

Does that sound enticing enough? If so, make the jump to read more!

Tiered Texting

There are four types of users on the site, with three of them available to the public and one being for staff members, with each level getting a greater feature set then the previous.

The first is ‘Anonymous’. There is no registration required for Anonymous users. This level is mainly used by first-time users as registering is easy and enhances the usability of the site. Anonymous users have-

Limit of 10 text messages sent per submission

1 submission per 24 hours

No custom text

No set name in shoutbox (chat function of site)

The next level is for registered users of the site. Registering is simple as it only requires a username, password, and a valid e-mail address. No pain, no side effects, it’s just that simple! Becoming a ‘Registered’ means that-

An increase in the maximum amount of text messages sent per submission to 50

1 submission per queue (about 20 minutes)

20 character custom text to be sent with the messages

Green username in shoutbox

“$5 will get you 600!” If I was marketing for this next level, that would be my slogan. This level, called ‘Donator’, gains access to all the features of the site. For a donation of $5 dollars, users get-

• Tier 1
  • Cost: $5
  • Blue name
  • 150 messages limit per 2 hours
  • Level 2 priority (sent before registered any anonymous)
  • 40 character custom message sent with text
• ☆ Tier 2
  • Cost: $10
  • Blue-gray name
  • 200 text message limit per 2 hours
  • Level 3 priority in queue list
  • 80 character custom message sent with text
  • Star next to name
  • BBCode access
  • Ability to add 1 number to block list
• ★ Tier 3
  • Cost: $20
  • Gold name
  • Bolded name
  • 500 text message limit per 2 hours
  • Level 4 priority in queue list
  • 140 character custom message sent with text
  • Filled star next to name
  • Ability to add 3 numbers to block list
  • Ability to remove 3 numbers from block list per 24 hours

Staff Members are called ‘Admin’ and manages the website itself, along with providing help to any troubles encountered with the site.

Usability

The site itself is functional and easy to use. Submission of the spam text to be sent is as follows.

As seen above, a user inputs the reason behind sending the message (optional), the phone number the text is being sent to, the message itself (length depending on type of user), and the amount of messages to be sent at once to the number into the spaces and then clicks submit. After clicking submit, the message is held in the queue for delivery. The bot that actually sends messages, ‘Robut’, delivers once every 20 minutes or so. The actual time depends on the amount of submissions set to be sent, with a lower amount of submissions speeding up the delivery time.

I registered and made a monetary contribution to become a ‘Donator’ to test the claims out. I sent several (50) messages to Laos101, our faithful compatriot who hosts the PPCG Podcast, and to Cornelious2, a news writer for PPCGN, at the same time they were producing a live a stream of the podcast. As you will hear, both Laos and Corn received the messages in a timely and extended manner. I believe “BigD, stop sending me spam messages!” is what Laos uttered, clearly exasperated (and amused) at the multitude of messages being  received by his phone. Start listening at 43:25 until 43:45 and you will hear Laos. Also, if you listen at 45:00 until 46:15 (that jingle noise is a phone receiving messages) you will hear Cornelious receiving messages.

Mobile Access

Any website that can be accessed via our phones is a plus and this site delivers. While there are no mobile applications (yet) to access this site directly, I found that Opera Mobile 9.7 on my Touch Pro2 works just fine in accessing the Submit page of the site . If you find that your mobile web browser can access the site, please post your results in the comments below!

Additional Site Features

Queue Page

One useful feature is the Queue page. Listed here are all the submissions made by various users that are waiting to be sent, along with the details of each message. This is useful because it allows a user to see where his spot is in the line of submissions. Some of the messages are 18+, so please be careful if foul language and obscene remarks offend you.

Responses Page

A humorous addition is the Responses page. Here lies a list of responses made by the victims receivers of the sent texts to the bot, along with the details of the sent message. Most of the responses are too vulgar to post here, but to get a sense of the possible hilarity, below is a copy of 2 sent message and the replys they received. These were the most amusing replies I could post on PPCG without losing my job. If you want the full effect, you can go here for all the responses.

There are two ways you can access Sly Dial. The first, which is free* but ad-supported, is by calling 1-267-SLY-DIAL (267-759-3425). A short ad will play once you are connected and then it will ask for you to input your victim’s contact’s phone number, after which it will connect your call. I tried it several times and every time it worked, connecting me to the voicemail prompt quickly.

The second way you can access the service is through the SlyDial Application. They currently have apps that work on the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile.

I was able to review the Windows Mobile version of this app. There are two versions for Windows Mobile: Touchscreen and Standard (non-touchscreen). Both are compatible with Windows Mobile  5 and 6. I have received confirmation from MobileSphere that the  SlyDial application is also compatible with WM 6.5.

After installing the .CAB, I opened the application up. Minimalistic interfaces that get the job done without clutter are something I really enjoy, and this one is simple and easy to use. To note, I am using this application on my Touch Pro2 and, as you can see in the image, the words are readable, but blurry. I hope that they release an update that make viewing on a variety of screen resolutions clearer.

SlyDial worked flawlessly, as I was able to connect directly to my contact’s voicemail when selected from the contact list in the application. In all, it took 10-15 seconds to go from the contact list to the voicemail prompt. Of course, results will vary if you are in a poor coverage area.

SlyDial will work in the U.S. for most carriers, but it will not connect to someone who has a prepaid mobile phone (Virgin Mobile, TracFone, etc.), does not have voicemail on his/her phone (like Zach Morris), their voicemail is full, or if they have a third-party voicemail service (e.g. Google Voice, Youmail).

While this application is not freeware, the service itself is free. Is SlyDial worth purchasing? Personally, I would say yes because I have difficulty remembering numbers  which complicates dialing in. For others, the call-to service may suit them just fine. So readers, what do you think of this application?