Mobility Digest Video Unboxing: Nextar Q4 GPS

by

We are going to have a bunch of videos posted tonight and first up is the Nextar Q4 GPS. Kristofer Brozio has just received the Nextar Q4 GPS and is going to give us all  a video preview to get our appetites wet for his final review.

Go boldly into the world with this Nextar Q4-01 Portable GPS Navigation System! It can show and tell you how to get to ANY destination in the United States – by address, by intersection, or by a location selected directly from the map.

With Text to Speech you get clearly pronounced instructions, including street names in English. Plus, the included 2 GB SD Card comes pre-loaded with the entire USA map! You can also use the SD card slot to add more memory.

Locate the essentials no matter where you end up. This Nextar Q4-01 GPS features 1.6 Million Points of Interest including Hotels, Restaurants, Gas Stations, and more so you won’t have to suffer!

The 4.3-inch touch screen display makes it easy to navigate. The Q4-01 plays MP3 music and allows you to view JPEG images for your entertainment on the road. Finding your way across the United States is easy with this Nextar Q4-01 Portable GPS Navigation System, so order today!

Jump after the break for the specifications on the Nextar Q4 GPS or head on over to Geeks.com where you can purchase the Nexstar Q4 GPS for $69.99!

Read more

Mobility Digest Review: Sony Webbie MHS-CM1 HD Camcorder

by

So this is MobilityDigest where we cover all things Mobile. Yes most things we cover are phones, but we’re not just limited to that are we?

Today for review I’ve got a product from our wonderful friends at Geeks.com.  Geeks caries a lot of cheap camcorders and today I’m looking at one, specifically one from Sony actually. Wait, I have Cheap and Sony in the same sentence there don’t I? We often don’t think of Sony products being cheap do we? Most all companies though do have cheap or entry level products and Sony is no exception, you have to have these types of products as many people can’t afford the higher end stuff, so it’s a market segment that needs to be tapped. The product is actually a decent one, it’s an entry level HD camcorder called the Sony Webbie, and it’s not bad at all. it’s takes decent videos, especially if you consider the price is just barely over $100, but what really surprised me though is the quality of the still pictures, they’ve very nice. Normally when you have a camcorder the still camera is sort of like an added function just tossed in there, but the one here is actually decent, even rivaling regular point and shoot camera. So I could keep rambling or you could just continue on to check out this neat little camera…

Read more

It’s not about where Android is, it’s about where it’s going…

by

So David and Doug have been back and forth about this whole Android/WinMo thing, and it has mostly centered around Apps.  We can debate about the quality of Android apps and the archaiety of WinMo apps forever as there is plenty of ammunition around to make the US nuclear stockpile look like firecrackers.  However, one specific trend sticks out in my mind that spells D-O-O-M for Android if they’re not careful.  Microsoft stumbled on the same problems and are now facing a major overhaul. 

Read more

Some More FpseCE HD2 Videos

by

I’m not sure I ever can get enough of FpseCE running on the HD2. For those of you who don’t know, this is the Playstation emulator and it hums along at 40-50fps and features an onscreen transparent keypad that supports multitouch, etc. XDA member Audio Oblivion just posted some video of FpseCE .10.1 on YouTube … Read more

Nexus One Sales Tax Refund

by

So you got a Nexus One and you feel like you got shortchanged? Well it may just be your lucky day. It turns out that Google was charging sales tax on the full retail sales price at times when they were selling the phone at discounted prices. So, instead of paying tax on $250 people … Read more

Google Goggles v1.1 For Android Released

by

Android users need not wonder what in the world they ordering in another country again thanks to Google hooking them up with Goggles v1.1! This handy little app will let you take a picture, say of a menu, and translate it for you  into English or one of these newly released languages: English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Also included in Goggles is an improved barcode feature.  You can read more in the announcement coming from their blog this morning below. 

Traveling to another country can be an amazing experience. The opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture can give you a new perspective. However, it can be hard to fully enjoy the experience if you do not understand the local language. For example, ordering food from a menu you can not read can be an adventure. Today we are introducing a new feature of Google Goggles that will prove useful to travelers and monoglots everywhere: Goggles translation.

Here’s how it works:

  • Point your phone at a word or phrase. Use the region of interest button to draw a box around specific words
  • Press the shutter button
  • If Goggles recognizes the text, it will give you the option to translate
  • Press the translate button to select the source and destination languages.

Jump after the break for the rest of the press release by Google on Goggles v1.1 for Android!

Read more

to root or not to root

by

Tough question. We’re talking about Android, by the way. I’ll start with a case against rooting: Well, first off, what is rooting? If you asked yourself that question before I threw it at you just there, I’d advise against rooting, unless you are looking for a hobby more than you are looking for a phone. Root is the superuser account on Linux, UNIX and UNIX-derivatives. Lets you modify and execute any file however you want basically, regardless of the permissions set on the filesystem and bind to any network port. And Android is Linux, more or less, the Linux mascot is a penguin (pic related); so there you go, rooting.

Your Android phone was badass the moment you hit the power button the first time. There’s a ton of software on the market, a lot of which is both good and free (and some good ones that cost a buck or two). If you come across an application not on the market for some reason, you don’t need root to install it, usually. Good chance you won’t feel the urge to root unless it’s an old habit from your WinMo days (well, that was called hardspl, not rooting, but similar idea).

On the other hand, there are some things that might tip the scale of your decision to root over the edge. Some examples include wifi tethering, manipulating the trackball or LED or your phone’s equivalent to give you differently-colored notifications depending on the notification, going crazy with skinning, VPNing, screen capturing, remote wiping, making backup images, tweaking the YouTube client to use HQ by default and adblocking. Among other things. Maybe the biggest reason is plain old curiosity, the type that brought you to this article in the first place.

Read more

Some New WP7 Apps To Gaze At

by

Looks like developers are into WP7. There’s a bunch of new app samples floating around out there to show off what they’re playing with. Here’s a WP7 Jogging application. It’s linked to the Bing API that tracks a users run on Bing maps and calculates the distance traveled. Pretty straightforward and I’m sure it will … Read more

Marble Madness Hits Marketplace

by

Ah the classic is back. For those of you who weren’t with me in ‘84 maybe you should stop reading now but for those of us who were there – it was sweet. Marble Madness is a simple game of getting the marble to the end of the board. This version does not use the … Read more