iGo cruisin'

On a recent cruise I took along the iGo Power Everywhere15 charger with "iTips" for most of my tech toys. It was really handy in a compact case (which comes with the unit) I had almost everything I needed to recharge one cellphone, one handheld gaming console, an MP3 Player and two handhelds. Separately their chargers would be five separate power cords, three of them including a large power block or large plug.

The way it works is that once you have bought the iGo power charger (and there are a number of options here depending on whether you want to charge a computer notebook or not, and whether you want to charge two devices at once), you then buy "iTips" for each of your devices. These run at about $10 each, and with careful research (the iGo website has a iTip finder) you can find some tips which work with more than one of your devices - I found one which I can use with both my Sony PSP and Creative Zen Vision:M MP3 Player. Although a number of other manufacturers have come out with similar solutions, I figured that the iGo tips would be easier to find. It also helped that RadioShack had the iGo Power Everywhere15 for $20 less than the iGo website, and my local store had a large selection of iTips. I could not find an iTip for my Tapwave Zodiac, but that was to be expected since it wasn't on the market long enough to get many accessories made for it. After the initial small investment in the iGo, the iTips are not that expensive - for example a charger for my wife's LG VX8300 cellphone (incidentally one of the top ten cellphones of last year according to CNET) costs around $30, which makes the cost of the iTip seem cheap.

Cellphone Research Resumed

After I had suspended my hunt for a cellphone in November last year, the Motorola Q was near the top of my list for CDMA cellphones. Since then I've all but given up on GSM, even though most of the phones I really like are GSM phones. Apart from my experience with GSM carriers who either suck ("Least dropped calls" - yeah, right) or don't have wide enough coverage, I've come to the conclusion that - in my coverage area at least - Verizon's CDMA coverage is really clear. As I mentioned previously I ended my relationship with Sprint - the other CDMA carrier - on a sour note.

A few days ago I saw a Verizon Treo 650 on sale, and did some research on it. When I had the (unlocked GSM) Treo 600, the Treo 650 was the next phone I was considering upgrading to, until my previously trusty Treo 600 crashed and was out of commission for a number of days. The interesting thing about Treo 650 reviews and Motorola Q reviews is that on both CNET.com and on PhoneScoop.com, user ratings for the Treo were higher than for the Motorola Q. The main problem mentioned with the Treo was resets (reboots), usually due to incompatible software, and with Motorola Q it was battery life, with the extended battery being highly recommended. Of course the Motorola Q is a lot newer technology-wise than the Treo 650, which has been superseded by the 700p and now the 750, but both the 700p and 750 are well out of my price range.

Now I've been trying to recall the reasons for my falling out with the Treo 600. I'd forgotten about the crash (probably a hard reset), but do remember being frustrated at the screen resolution after playing with a Tapwave Zodiac and a Tungsten T3.

Ah, December 26, 2005 I ranted about "Treo things that bug me"

The hunt..er..research continues...