Among the good news with the upcoming iPhone 3GS is the additional battery life of anywhere between 10 and 20%. That will be a welcome addition as the iPhone 3G was, at best, problematic with regard to battery life. At the same time, even with 10 to 20% of additional runtime there is no question I’ll be burning through my iPhone’s battery long before the day is through. Yes, I use it that much.

Thankfully, there are a host of extra battery options available and every single one that was designed for the iPhone 3G will continue to work with the iPhone 3GS.

One of the newest is also one of the more unusual. The Fuel from Case-Mate is a formfitting battery pack that, rather than taking a "piggyback" approach, functions as a hip holster while delivering 2300 milliamps of additional power to the device. Let’s take a look.

I don’t like clear and visible skin protection on my devices. I know a lot of people swear by them. I know they provide excellent protection. Unfortunately, I’m just not a fan. I don’t particularly like the way they look and I definitely don’t like the way they feel. It’s a shame because there’s no question that they gave the best consistent protection to delicate electronic devices like the iPhone. As a result, I tend to use larger heavier cases it’s okay but it’s not as nice or as delicate a solution. That’s why I was interested to learn about domes in. It’s a very different solution for protecting your device and for giving it a brand-new decorative look, as well. Let’s take a closer look.

I was excited to receive my Noreve Tradition B iPhone case, which arrived in the mail this week.  Upon opening the package I was struck by the care taken in packaging the case. Every Noreve case comes with a black gift box to store your case and/or wrap it as a gift for somebody else. What’s more, the lid of the box is stacked under the bottom so that you can see your case in all its glory before opening the package. This made unboxing the product especially pleasurable.

The build quality of the case itself is quite superb. I received the Dark Vintage, which is a dark suede outer coat and a leather inner coat. It is incredibly soft to the touch and looks quite classy.  While I initially thought that the softness of the case would detract from its ability to protect my iPhone, there appears to be stiff inserts in place to protect the device.

One of the benefits of writing for both whatsoniphone and GearDiary is that when I find a truly outstanding product, one about which which I am totally enthusiastic, I’m able to share that enthusiasm with a larger audience of both iPhone AND general tech enthusiasts. That’s certainly the case with the Sound ID 300 Bluetooth headset I have been using since last week and the reason I am posting this review on both sites.

Bluetooth headsets are commonplace these days. They come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. When evaluating them there are, to my mind, four criteria by which we can assess them- comfort, sound appearance and value. As noted above, I’ve been using the new Sound ID 300 headset for a little less than a week. Let’s take a look at it from each of these four perspectives…

I’ll admit it, having had the opportunity to review numerous excellent headsets over the past year and a half I have become spoiled. It was, in fact, the inability to use anything but the stock Apple earbuds that prompted me to return the new Shuffle I bought in exchange for a Nano. As a result, I wasn’t sure how I would find the Radius Atomic Bass Silver Aluminum Earphones for iPhone W/ Built-in Mic that were sent to me for review. Sure they looked great, but at a retail price of just $49.99 they were priced far below any of the headsets I have been using lately.

How did they hold up? Let’s take a look.
 

Prior to buying the Apple in ear headphones I spent almost a year and a half sending back faulty vModa Vibes. When their new design only lasted me two weeks I knew I was in the market for another option. I wanted something in the similar price range with good sound quality. Since the Apple offering was actually cheaper I decided to order a pair.

First, I will not describe myself as an audiofile, but I do prefer headphones with a nice sound and a higher quality than included buds. I know there are options at a much higher sound quality, but $100 is a lot for me to spend so I tend to not go over that limit. I was happy to find that these buds seem far nicer than the $79 price tag.

Sure, Apple has a dock like this, but Apple just prices their accessories too high.  Enter Dexim’s AV Dock.  It comes with Remote, Cables (Video / Audio), Dock, Batteries, and the variety of adapters you would need to fit all of the different iPods / iTouch / iPhones out in the market.

The Dexim AV Dock doesn’t provide you with a component video cable, instead it provides the standard RCA type yellow, red, white plug.  The quality of the output is decent, no worse than the one that you would get from the Apple solution.  Watching YouTube and native iPhone videos and photos on my TV worked flawlessly.

Even though the remote is infrared, our test unit had no problem picking up a signal from 20 feet away (as long as we pointed it at the dock of course).  The remote is very good in that it lets you navigate through menu choices, select songs and videos, control volume, play/pause, and even includes more than one set of batteries.

In general, if you are looking for a video/audio dock that is full functional with remote, and something that isn’t going to break the bank, Dexim has produced the right product at the right price.

The Dexim AV Dock Station with Remote Control can be had for $70 at www.richardsolo.com.

Our Take:
First off, this is one of the three accessories that you can get from Ten One Designs. There is a “better” stylus called the “Pogo Sketch” which supposedly allows you more precise or accurate sketching capabilities.

What’s so Special?
What do you think? It’s one of the few styluses’ out there that has capacitive touch technology. Doesn’t that make you want one? Capacitive Touch Technology…Wow! Ok, I sort of made up the Technology part but yes, there is some worth to this stylus because the iPhone is considered to have a capacitive screen which means…
A capacitive touchscreen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide, that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes – it achieves capacitance. The human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits capacitance. Capacitive sensors work based on proximity, and do not have to be directly touched to be triggered. It is a durable technology that is used in a wide range of applications including point-of-sale systems, industrial controls, and public information kiosks. It has a higher clarity than Resistive technology, but it only responds to finger contact and will not work with a gloved hand or pen stylus. Capacitive touch screens can also support Multitouch.

In a nutshell, you can’t use any ordinary stylus like your pen cap, palm stylus, or any similar type of writing utensil. Now you understand why this Pogo Stylus is very special. It WORKS!

One of the most exciting things about yesterday’s iPhone 3.0 announcement was the inclusion of stereo bluetooth on the iPhone and the existence of bluetooth on the iPod Touch 2G. I have longed for the option to use bluetooth headphones with the iPhone and Apple’s resistance to the feature has long perplexed me. Well, we can finally look forward to cutting the cord but still enjoying our music and I can look forward to using my ety8 stereo bluetooth headphones without the dongle.

I first got the ety8s when I was in the midst of reviewing Etymotic’s hF2 headsets and, while looking over the Etymotic catalogue, was struck by the rather odd-looking headset. I asked Gail Gudmundsen, Etymotic’s Director of Sales and Marketing about them. They looked heavy and uncomfortable. She wrote back-

The one thing people say repeatedly once they have tried the ety8s is how small and lightweight they are compared to what they were expecting.

A few days later a review pair arrived (Thanks Gail!) and I can honestly say that Gail was right on target. They are much smaller and lighter than expected and they sound awesome!

That was July. Fast forward more than a few months later and I continue to find them “rather odd-looking” but I use them all the time because… they sound AWESOME!!