The OC Technophile

One of the major shortcomings of the iPhone and especially the 3G version of the phone, was a shorter than expected battery life. When using the iPhone on a 3G network, its very common to run down on your battery by the end of the day and wish for a extended battery or juice. Other than car adapters, there isn’t a perfect battery solution for the iPhone 3G until now.

We received the Richard Solo Backup Battery for the iPhone and iPod’s a couple weeks ago. If you haven’t heard of RichardSolo before, it’s the company started by Richard Thalheimer, who started The Sharper Image, one of the most popular gadget and technology stores in recent times. Richard Thalheimer left there and started RichardSolo.com and this product is the star of the show..

It’s pretty simple, just unpack the battery from the packaging and plug in the battery. It can be charged either via AC or USB power and takes a short amount of time to charge. Once fully charged, it plugs directly into the iPhone or iPod and enables backup power for your device. No funny wires, contraptions, or cables required.

We tested the RichardSolo backup battery recently on a two day roadtrip and but the middle of the first day were at 40-50% power. We plugged in the battery and immediately was recharging the main battery and within a short period charged the phone to almost full power. Once done, we unplugged the small battery and put it back in our case. At the hotel, we charged both units up, and repeated it on day two.

It’s that simple and easy to use. It’s incredibly small and features a great ease of use. You don’t have to be a technology wizard to operate it, and with easy to follow initial directions, should be a required accessory with the purchase of the 3G.

With a device that zaps power as quickly as the iPhone and iPod, it’s a great feature for road travellers and road warriors. The ability to power your device with such simplicity is a solid plus for any piece of technology and thats what this does. Imagine being on a plane while watching a movie on your iPhone or iPod and running out of power 50% of the way through. Just plug in the Richardsolo backup battery and you’re back in action..

Kudos to Richardsolo and the design team for putting together a top notch product and one of the best battery solutions on the market.

The latest and greatest iPhone features the newest ability to download applications to your phone and use them as web applications. There are a bunch of free applications along with some applications ranging from $.99 to $59.99 depending on your wants and needs. We’ve given a bunch of them a try and think a lot of them are worth a look. If you’re a sports junkie, the MLB application is great and only $5.99. There are a ton of movie applications for show times, theaters, and trailers. Other ones include chat applications, an AWESOME poker application with excellent graphics, and others. Which ones do you use? Leave it in the comments.

It’s been about a month since Apple released the iPhone 3G into the wild and with all the fanfare that the original iPhone received, it’s hard to make the original one better, right?

Wrong… Apple has now added 3G coverage, Application functionality, GPS ability, and more.. AT&T has 3G coverage scattered around the US, and we’ve tested the 3G service within the OC and have been very impressed with it sofar. Areas such as Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Laguna Beach seem to have the strongest service, whereas some areas of the OC don’t have the service.

The ability to add applications to the iPhone is something new added with this upgrade. It was previously available to jailbroken iPhone’s, but now you are able to add them to your new phone. Companies such as Google, AOL, WordPress, Sega, and others have added a plethera of programs that you can use and make life simpler. The AOL Radio application allows you to listen to stations such as KROQ with ease. Yelp is another strong addition with restaurants, bars, banks, and more.

The GPS function along with Google Maps is one of the best additions in our opinion. All you need to do is press the Google Maps button and the iPhone will map your current location with a blue dot. You can map out directions to your destination and find your way.

If your company uses Exchange for its mail services, you are now able to include that on your phone. This was not previously included but now ask your company if they’ll allow this. Usually it’s up to your company’s IT policy to dictate this. Of course if you are

It’s not to say that the newest iPhone doesn’t have its negatives though. Shorter battery life has been experienced with some of the 3G and push services. Apple has released the latest 2.0.1 software to clear some of the early bugs that seemed to crash the phone early on.

Overall we’d give the phone a 8/10. If Apple can increase the battery life with the 3G and push services enabled, it’d bump it to a 9/10.

The iPhone 3G