Accessories
Emergency Cell Phone Charger
If you've ever been involved in building out a large scale network, you've undoubtedly heard about single points of failure. The BlackBerry network itself is a single point of failure as we saw last week: if it goes down, every single person that relies on BlackBerry email is hosed (pun intended: it is a Canadian device!). But for you personally, the biggest single point of failure is probably your battery: if you run out of juice and you don't have your travel charger, you are, well... hosed.
Which is where the latest BlackBerry accessory I found comes into play: an
Emergency Cell Phone Charger that runs off of a couple (four to be exact) double AA batteries. This gadget can be used anywhere: it generates an extra 20-30 minutes of talk time, when your battery is drained out and fits in your pocket or purse. Pick one up now before your battery runs out!
February 18, 2008 in Accessories, Hardware, Tips by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Pinger... really cool
Joe from Pinger.com wrote back March (wow I'm way behind, sorry!) about some new functionality that they're offering over via Pinger.com that gives you the ability to send voice mails to anyone in your Pinger.com address book by calling pinger (858-274-6437), saying the name of your contact and then leaving a voice mail. The really cool part come next though: you can create 'groups' on pinger.com and then leave a voice mail that gets distributed to all the members of the group by saying the name of the group and then leaving your voice mail.
One of the less noticed parts of this that I like is that your contacts don't live on the phone: one of the biggest pains is moving from one phone or carrier to another only to have to re-enter all your contacts and all your phone numbers. Having the phone numbers on pinger.com means you can place calls to pinger.com all day long without having to have a single number on your phone. Also, for those of you who don't actually want to talk to the person you're calling but really just want to leave a voice mail, pinger is a god send.
Check out the cool demos they have on their homepage or read about some of the 'why' questions on their FAQ page.
May 22, 2007 in Accessories, Reviews, Software by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
New Leather Cases for BlackBerry 8800 from Sena
Ramsey from Sena Cases wrote to let me know about the new leather cases they're offering for the BlackBerry 8800 model. The website shows 4 different models: a vertical pouch, a leather skin, a magnetic flip case and a flip down case. The Croco Red case looks pretty sweet from where I'm sitting, but you can see them all here.
May 22, 2007 in Accessories by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Product of the Week: BlackBerry GPS Receiver
If you've got a BlackBerry with Bluetooth version 2.0, you need to check out the USGlobalSat GPS Receiver, available on ShopBlackBerry.com for $129.99 and Amazon.com for $117.45 (prices as of 4/4/2007). The GPS receiver will get you the ability to super charge the BlackBerry Maps application, instead of having to type in an address, your BlackBerry will know your address, which will way impress your friends and could possibly score you a date at a bar. Well, it'll impress your friends.
March 05, 2007 in Accessories, Hardware, Tips by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Otterbox: Suburban Protection for your BlackBerry
I got an email from Kristin with Otterbox a couple weeks ago about the new Otterbox Rugged Cases for BlackBerry Handsets. I didn't think much of it (cases are everywhere) but holy mackerel these things are gigantic. I mentioned Suburban in the title because it reminds me of the truck: it's almost totally encases the BlackBerry and makes it look impregnable: ready for anything. Downside: $130 for the case BUT if you work in an industry (construction for instance) where you're outside in the elements or around a lot of dust and dirt, you can probably afford one anyway. You can buy them online from otterbox.com directly for either your 8700 or your 7200 series.
February 20, 2007 in Accessories, Hardware by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
BlackBerry HS-655 Bluetooth Headset
The November 2006 edition of the BlackBerry Connection newsletter featured the very sleek and ultra cool looking HS-655 Bluetooth Headset. It looks like a lipstick case my wife might carry in her purse (which automatically dings it 10 points in my book) but that's actually the case, not the headset (btw: how many bluetooth headsets have you seen that come with a carrying case, nice touch!). The pocket case apparently vibrates to let you know that you have a call (also a nice touch) and the Bluetooth connection back to your BlackBerry is encrypted using 128-bit encryption (which is especially interesting in light of the recent news that criminals can eavesdrop on your cell phone conversations by remotely installing software on your cell phone).
You can buy it now at ShopBlackBerry.com for $139.99, but it won't ship until December 15th so you may not get it in time for Christmas. Boo hoo.
December 06, 2006 in Accessories, Hardware by ajohnson | link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)