Lenmar Battery has recently come out with a cover for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs. The cover itself is a fairly standard hardened rubber sort of affair, with a couple of notable exceptions. For one it has a battery built into the case, which can be charged from an external USB source, it also addresses the lack of a flash on the iPhone.

The case has a super bright LED mounted into the back of it which is turned off and on with a small button on the back, the same button is used to switch the phone from using its internal battery to making use of the external one provided in the pack. While the LED isn’t anywhere near as good as the flash you’d find on an actual camera it does provide a passable amount of illumination for close up photos.

The battery pack itself is a 1300mAh Lithium Polymer battery which according to the documentation will provide you with an additional:

• 4 hours of 3G activity
• 4.5 more hours of Wi-Fi
• 17 hours of additional audio
• 5 hours of video
• Up to 240 hours of standby

The unit sets itself apart from the others in the category by being a fully enclosed case unit in two parts, once snapped into place on the phone it has a nice seamless look and adds very little (2 oz) heft to the iPhone, though it does bulk it up a little.

The battery case charges through a USB (micro) port and also has a handy three stage charge indicator light on the back of the case.

One of the more popular items for the holiday season this year will no doubt be the smartphone. Probably the most well known example of this is the iPhone 3G, the Motorola Droid is a fairly recent comer to the scene and has some very nice features.

The advertising campaign Verizon put out to compliment the launch of the Droid was fairly direct and made some less than flattering comparisons between its own 3G network and that of AT&T, the iPhone carrier network. I can attest to the AT&T network being less than stellar in a lot of respects, the dropped calls and spotty 3G coverage are widely known.

Appearance

The Droid of course can’t compare to the sleekness of the iPhone styling. With its sharp corners and slightly blocky appearance it doesn’t have the inherent grace that Apple imparts to its products. Though not hideous by any means, it does lack a certain something and occasionally the default screen image can seem a little ominous.

If the Droids’ design seems a little utilitarian and “boxy” the screen makes up for it. The Motorola Droid sports a brilliantly crisp 3.7” (the iPhone is 3.5”) WVGA display that does very well at delivering video and graphic content. Displaying up to 16 million hues at a resolution of 854×480 (16:9 widescreen) it displays those HD YouTube videos really well (though there’s still no Hulu support).

Keyboard / Usability

The keyboard on the droid takes a little getting used to. The keys are all mounted flush against each other and have very little actual tactile feedback. They’re slick and don’t go down very far when pressed which can make typing by touch a problem.

Eventually though you do get used to it, also there’s a sometimes useful directional pad on the keyboard. My fervent hope is that there will be some games that make decent use of this at some point.

Applications

The Apple Store has well over 100,000 apps for the iPhone, that’s a staggering number of applications and definitely gives credence to the “There’s an app for that” saying that Apple has been using to help market the iPhone.

The Android app store is up to around 10,000 entries. This is bound to increase as Google has taken pains to promote the “open” nature of their platform which allows developers more freedom when creating their applications. This may possibly be to the detriment of the app store as it’s definitely possible that a flood of low quality apps will surface. Time will tell. But at the moment it’s a safe bet that there’s probably an Android app for that too!

Also you may have heard about the GPS service that Google has launched. It’s FREE and works in with Google Maps to provide you with turn by turn directions. It’s just an app so while for the moment it’s only for Android it is definitely coming to iPhones in the not too distant future. This free service is going to play havoc with subscription based GPS (and it’s cool to get turn by turn on streetview).

Though of course you can only run one of those 70,000 apps at a time on the iPhone, so no checking Yelp while you’re streaming Pandora and emailing a friend about dinner plans. That’s a bigger deal than you might realize until you’ve gotten used to doing it I have to say. Background applications are a fabulous thing!

The Droid you’re looking for?

Overall the differences between the two phones aren’t that huge. They’re close enough that some of the deciding factors may be more to do with the service than the phones. The better call quality and somewhat negative public perception of AT&T’s service (possibly helped along by Verizon’s ad campaigns) might be a deciding factor in some people’s choice.

One hint though, if you’re looking to do some more research, avoid forums like the plague, fanboys are rabid and abundant on both sides!

With Technology taking over in pretty much all aspects of life, its no surprise that books have lost there place in our world today. The enjoyment of curling up to a warm fire with a cup of hot cocoa or glass of wine on a rainy day will soon be a thing of the past. Even the sound of the cracking from the binding of opening a new book and the touch the crisp pages of a book fresh from the press have lost there share of the market. Now I don’t know any statistics at the moment; however, I do know the Kindle, iPod and other eBook readers are becoming more prevalent with a huge market places like Amazon selling eBooks.

I am not opposed to change or technology as long as it is for the better. I had the pleasure of speaking with Monique Tilford, co-author of Your Money or Your Life. We spoke about another project that she is working on but it was a great to find her book on Amazon in an Kindle Edition. Which was a great reminder that because the shift to ebooks has begun that doesn’t mean that the quality of books has diminished. If you wanted to find out more about her book, check out her blog at Your Money Or Your Life.info

So what does this all of this have to BatteriesInAFlash? The Kindle battery has been a very hot seller for us and we have not been able to keep them on the shelves. We have literally sold out of the batteries the same day they arrive. The Kindle 2 has just been released (ironically the battery is unknown to us at the moment) and has been selling out as well.

Although, the Kindle is not alone in the world of eBooks. The iPod Nanos and above have the ability to load eBooks and the iPhone or iTouch have Apps that make eBooks possible and even Sony has the eBook Reader. So with all the options out there where do you stand?