When I bought my iPad, I also bought the Apple iPad Case, mainly because I knew I needed a case and at the time it was pretty much the only one that was available. Now we have lots of choices with new cases coming out every day. The Apple iPad Case frustrates me because you can't leave it on the iPad and put the iPad in Apple's own iPad Dock/Keyboard Dock (unless you're willing to cut the case). It's also not easy to the get the iPad in and out of the Apple case. So I immediately began looking for alternative cases. I have three cases now and the Macally BookStand is my goto iPad case when I want a thin case that's easy to get the iPad in and out of. Since I haven't found a case yet that allows docking and sleeves don't usually allow you to stand the iPad up for video watching, the Macally BookStand is a very nice compromise. 

It's very easy to put the iPad into this case. You simply snap it in to the four corner holders. All of the ports and controls are exposed so there is n't much protection on three of the sides. There is a nice suede feel to the outer case and a nice leather strap that folds over. The case can be used either so it opens to the left or to the right, which makes it nice for left or right handed people. Flip the cover over and around, insert the strap and you've got a nice easel like stand. If you want to use the iPad in a Dock, just pop it out of the case in about 3 seconds. That's pretty much it! It works and it works well. I took it with me on a recent trip because I was low on space and like the Apple case this one is very thin. 

You can get the Macally BookStand here for $37 ($49.99 List Price)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7JNZNctUk

The original Jawbone bluetooth headset was my least favorite headset of all time. However, I can easily see the Jawbone ICON quickly becoming my favorite. They got the size and fitting right as well as the iPhone integration can't be beat! 

Sound quality?

As far as sound quality goes, it's no better or no worse than any other headset I've used. It simply works, but it's not stellar. My callers tell me that I sound "OK" and I can hear them just fine.

Micro USB?

Looks like we have yet another USB "standard" connector. I'm all for USB charging! I think it's great when manufacturers can all standardize on ONE type of charger. However, throwing Micro USB into the mix means yet another cable goes in my bag! That was one thing I loved about the Apple Bluetooth headset and that was it used a single cable to charge both the headset AND the iPhone at the SAME time! It would really be cool if some enterprising inventor would make a USB cable that had a 30 pin dock connector AND a micro USB (Y) cable on the same cable. 

MyTalk?

As far as the MyTalk features go, I couldn't test them as I hadn't been approved for the testing program as the writing of this review. However, you can see what the Wall Street Journal had to say about MyTalk: 

Here's another video:

Speaking of Charging

One advantage of my Truepower IV backup battery for the iPhone is that it has a standard USB connector on the bottom which allows me to charge the iPhone that's in it AND the Jawbone Icon headset at the same time.

The Bottom Line

If you're an iPhone user, this is the most integrated bluetooth headset currently on the market. It shows it's battery status on the iPhone itself and works easily with the iPhone's Voice Control. Great comfort fit with multiple ear gels. It's also quick and easy to charge. You also can't beat the variety of styling! Very fashionable and proves that tech doesn't have to look like tech. Find out more about the Jawbone ICON here. Order it on sale here.

Although I'm a fan of GPS devices in general and couldn't live without GPS navigation, I have resisted buying a car kit. I've resisted these gadgets for one reason and one reason only, I believe they are generally overpriced ($129.99). Don't get me wrong, I believe they are working great and definitely improve GPS reception for navigation apps on the iPhone, it's just that at the current price it's hard to justify a car kit that basically goes for the same price as a full blown (low end) GPS unit. With that said, I'm not opposed to reviewing one if a company is generous enough to send me one and Magellan is just that kind of company

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth?…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTP34pSA6LU

More details

Now that you've seen both the Magellan Car Kit and Magellan Roadmate 2010 iPhone/iPod touch App in action, let me give you a few more details and things that I experienced that weren't covered in the video.

Did you test the kit with any other apps? Yes, I used the kit with my iPhone 3GS and tested it with Navigon, NDrive and TomTom. All 3 apps performed great in the car kit with the enhanced GPS signal.

What else does the Magellan App offer? Aside from the basics such as Text to Speech, Lane Assist, Address Book lookup and POIs, the Magellan app also offers a "Find your car" features that remembers where you parked, In-App Music Control, Pedestrian Mode, and Quick Spell Address Entry

What about the speaker phone? I did try the speaker phone with my iPhone and I was pleasantly surprised that speaker phone integration is via bluetooth. As soon as I went to Bluetooth Settings on my iPhone, the Magellan Car Kit showed up and paired perfectly. As far as the call quality goes, it's "OK". My caller said that there was some "white noise". I could here them over the speaker just fine. My only complaint is that the Control button is on the back of the mount instead of the side. It just means that you have to reach that much further to press the button to accept/reject calls. The button does a nice job of activating the iPhone's Voice Control.

Get a Friction Mount (bean bag)

Although the Magellan Car Kit has a great suction cup, I still prefer using a Friction Mount. Here's the link to a generic one that will allow you to just use your existing suction cup on any dashboard. 

The Bottom Line

If you can get past the price, then this Car Kit is definitely a great thing to have. After I got home from the first road test the first thing I thought was "I'm selling my Garmin!" The more I think about it, I'm always going to have my iPhone with me when I travel. The Navigation apps have definitely matured enough for me to use when I rent cars and since I'd be carrying my IPhone AND the Garmin and the mount, I might as well just carry the iPhone and Magellan car kit. If you're an iPod touch (2nd or 3rd generation) user then the Car Kit makes even more sense as it lets you do something that you otherwise couldn't do with your iPod touch. Also when you factor in that it's a handsfree bluetooth speaker phone, it makes it more valuable as well. 

As far as the Magellan app goes it's definitely a contender for a great full featured Navigation app. I certainly rank it up there with Navigon and TomTom. One more thing: Save $20 when you buy the Magellan App and Car Kit. Although I'm not sure how they are implementing this, according to the Magellan page on the App Store you get $20 off of the Car Kit. I noticed that the price for the app at the time of this review was $79.99. So maybe that's the $20 savings, but if that's the case anyone can get that price. So this will require further investigation/clarification to see if you get it for $79.99 and then $20 off the Car Kit too. 

You can order the Magellan Premium Car Kit here for $129.99.

Hey, it's winter here and the average this week has been about 35°F. So needless to say I'm wearing my gloves a lot. The problem with gloves is that you usually have to take them off in order to use devices with a touch screen such as your iPhone or iPod touch. My friend Linda was showing me some gloves that she picked up that had special tips on the end of the index finger and thumb to allow you to make proper contact with a touch screen.

So needless to say I went in search for a pair of my very own. I had no luck finding any locally and didn't want to spend a lot of time fighting the crowds doing their holiday shopping. So I turned to online sources and found a pair of Tavo gloves. They arrived and I started using them immediately. 

How well do they work?

They do work as advertised. I was able to use my iPhone with minimal effort with the gloves on. I was even able to tap some of the smaller icons such as the Mail trash can. 

However, the one problem I did have was trying to do pinch moves with the finger and thumb. The special conductive overlay tip on the thumb works, but it needs to wrap around the top more to be effective for pinching. Pinching and expanding with two fingers worked fine, but then required two hands. 

The Bottom Line

If you want to keep your hands warm and use your touch screen/pad devices then these gloves are a good fit Other than pinching gestures they work great. You can get them on sale here. See more of my favorite iPhone and iPod touch accessories here.