Review: OtterBox Defender for iPhone 6 – Excellent Durability, More Attractive

I’ve been a long time fan of OtterBox cases, and since the weather has been so nice lately, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to get out of my office to review the new Defender case for the iPhone 6!

Shop the Defender case on Amazon.
More info on OtterBox Products.
How the hell do you remove a defender case???

PSA: This is the last week to Double Your Data on AT&T!

double_data_chart.jpg.thumb.282.611Just a friendly reminder! Last month AT&T started up a promotional plan for their Family Share Plans, doubling the data you can use per month for the same price. Those promotional plans will disappear after October 31st. It’s a pretty solid deal if you’ve got a number of devices on one plan. You can catch more info at http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html

AT&T Bundling Kindle Fire HDX 7 Tablet for $50 with Fire Phone Purchase

ns_amazon_fire_tablet.jpg.thumb.432.946After catching the news that Amazon is sitting on millions of dollars worth of Fire Phones, it would seem they’re throwing a bone to their launch partner AT&T.

Starting today you can score a Kindle Fire HDX 7″ tablet for $49.99 with the purchase of an Amazon Fire Phone, which you can actually score for pretty cheap at the moment.

If you’re shopping an inexpensive two screen solution, and you’re a fan of Amazon services, you can catch more info on the AT&T Kindle Fire page.

Amazon Writes Off $170 Million During Earnings Call Following Weak Fire Phone Sales

I’m not sure what Amazon could have done to be honest. Even if they had been substantially more proactive, putting people on the ground, building a grass roots fan base, courting influencers and creating evangelists, instead of the top-down marketing and outreach they decided on, it still might not have meant success for their first phone outing.

Launching a new phone in this market is a near guaranteed failure. While Amazon has found quite a bit of success with their Kindle series, tablets are companion devices. Second screens. Phones are mission critical communication devices for most folks. That makes consumers far more conservative. We’re a lot less likely to take a risk with a phone.  Continue reading “Amazon Writes Off $170 Million During Earnings Call Following Weak Fire Phone Sales”

Microsoft Doubles Quarterly Surface Sales, Moves 9.3 Million Lumias

Microsoft CEO Satya NadellaDuring their earnings call, Microsoft had some good news for their hardware divisions.

Redmond managed to more than double their revenue on the Surface line up of tablets, reaching $908 million over last quarter’s $400 million. Lumias also had their best quarter yet moving 9.3 million phones, built largely on the popularity of low cost handsets. In all the Devices and Consumer Hardware division revenue grew 47% over last quarter to $10.96 billion.

However, following restructuring costs and Nokia’s hardware integration, Microsoft’s stock is down $0.11 a share.

While it’s not earth shaking news, it is positive growth, and any positive traction in this market means we’ll be seeing more competition moving forward. Fingers crossed this means we’ll see new Microsoft Branded Lumia phones sooner rather than later.

Microsoft Earnings Report

microsoft earnings

LG Confirms G Watch R European Release In November – Still No Pricing Info

GWatchR1The G Watch R is drawing eyes as another fashionable option designed to compete against watches like the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch. It’s pricing and release date have been shrouded in mystery. Tonight we at least have half of that mystery answered.

The G Watch R will hit select European and UK markets the beginning of November, with the United States and Asian markets to follow “soon after”. When it does drop we can expect to see it for sale on Google Play, but we still don’t have any official word on pricing. As it’s the more fashionable option opposite the terrifically inexpensive G Watch, I would expect pricing to be comparable (if not higher than) the Moto 360.

(Via LG UK Blog)

Long-term Review: Kyocera Brigadier – The Best Android Phone of the Year?

Kyocera went BEAST MODE in building the Brigadier, and they’re only the second company to use Sapphire Crystal for their display. After using the Brigadier for a couple months, let’s chat about the experience of using this rugged little brick…

Shop the Kyocera Brigadier on Amazon.

Review: GGMM M-Show Bluetooth Speaker and Tablet Dock

Trying to combine several desktop items, GGMM’s M-Show is a handy little BT speaker, which can also act as a desktop lamp, and an elevated tablet stand. Let’s see (and hear) how it performs!

Shop the M-Show on Amazon.
More info on GGMM products: http://www.ggmm.com/en/