Reviews
Review: Mugen 1400 mAh extended SL battery for Pre3 4
Anyone who has used a webOS phone for any period of time knows that battery life is not one of the strongest features of those phones. While it has gotten significantly better from when the original Pre was first released in 2009, it's still a difficult task to make it through a full day with any type of moderate usage. For Pre, Pre Plus, or Pre 2 owners, the good news was that you could use spare batteries from any of those phones interchangeably or purchase spare stock or extended batteries from places such as the webOS Nation store.
With the official limited release of the HP Pre3 in Europe and the slew of AT&T (and a few Verizon) phones making their way to eBay, we found ourselves in a bit of a quandary: the only way to get a spare battery for those phones was to buy an extra Pre3. Not exactly an inexpensive (or efficient) proposition. And if you didn’t want to spend the hundreds of dollars on another Pre3 just for its battery, what would happen if/when the battery stopped working after extended usage, shorted out, or gets trashed?
Seeing a potential business opportunity, Mugen Power Batteries (who previously made extended batteries for both the Pre and Pixi) created their own a survey late last year to gague interested in extended batteries for the Pre3. Within just a few hours of opening the poll, Mugen announced that they received enough feedback to justify development of Pre3 batteries. Pre-orders were opened in December for a 1400 mAh "SL" extended battery for $46.95 and a 2800 mAh "XL" extended battery for $98.95, the latter of which comes with a larger back cover for the Pre3. As compared to the stock Pre3 battery that clocks in at 1230 mAh, these batteries should provide an extra 14% or 128% of battery life before your phone needs to be plugged back in.
Review: RF3 ENVi Natural Wood headphones 6
While webOS devices do a great job supporting Bluetooth audio, there are times when you may want to go wired rather than wireless, especially if you're at all concerned about exposure to electromagnetic fields. The RF3 ENVi Natural Wood Stereo Earbuds with Earhooks, available from the webOS Nation Accessory Store (from which I received a complimentary pair for this review), have a few unique features that set them apart from other wired audio choices.
First, the basics: The ENVi earbuds do a decent job of noise isolation (not cancellation, though), with a variety of rubber tips to allow the best possible fit for different ear sizes. Although the buds themselves do not always feel solidly seated on their own, the unexpectedly comfortable wire earhooks (which can be turned and bent) help support the ENVi earbuds and keep them in place. For telephone calls, the ENVi offers an in-line microphone along one of the two earbud wires; it is usable but not ideal either in placement or quality. The microphone also doubles as a squeeze control for pausing/resuming music that works with webOS. The overall look is minimalist and industrial, combining angles and curves in a pleasing (to me, at least) way. As the ENVi is unpowered, it does not require charging or separate battery, nor does it offer any independent amplification of the sound it is carrying.
App Review: Archive Manager 17
While the ability to ZIP and UNZIP files directly on your webOS device has existed in homebrew via command line (or embedded in apps like Save/Restore from WebOS Internals) for a long time, the release of Archive Manager by pcworldSoftware finally enables the general webOS user to both compress and extract archived files. Currently on sale for $1.99 for the first week of its release and available for any device running webOS 2.1 or higher (including the TouchPad), Archive Manager can extract almost all archive formats (e.g. ZIP, RAR, 7z, tar, gzip, bzip2, iso and many more) or compress files and folders (to a ZIP, 7z, tar, gzip or bzip2). In addition, it is also has a full File Manager built into the app. While the file manager aspect of the app isn't as fully featured as Internalz or Gemini File Manager, it still gives you quite of lot of features such as the ability to copy, move, rename, email, delete, open or create files and folders. Those features alone would make this a worthwhile investment (if Internalz Pro weren't already available for free in Preware).
As for the archiving nature of the app, it's simple to use and gets the job done. To compress/archive files or folders, you just select them using checkboxes in the file listing, tap an icon on the bottom of the screen to access the "multi-select menu" and then select "compress files". You then have an option to name the archive, select the archive file type, set a password, and even specify a size limit to split the archive into multiple files. To extract a compressed file, you just tap it, select "extract" from the pop-up menu and optionally specify the location to extract the files. If you have an archive that is split among many files, just extract the first one and the app will automatically extract them all.
TouchPad Go Video Review 18
In a hurry and don't have time to read our entire review of the unreleased and unannounced HP TouchPad Go? That's fine, though we'd recommend that you find the time to read about this rare seven-inch webOS tablet that could have been. In the meantime, we went ahead and summed up the whole thing in under five minutes for you above in the webOS Nation video review of the TouchPad Go. You've got to have five minutes, right?
Review: HP TouchPad Go 41
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The unannounced and never-released TouchPad Go, HP’s 7-inch webOS tablet. Going smaller doesn’t mean you have to compromise.
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The Good
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The ConclusionInside this review...
App Review: VoogleXL 9
Following in the footsteps of their last application under the Voogle banner, webOS World, the creators of Villo.net, have recently pushed out a new app for TouchPad owners, appropriately called VoogleXL. This latest app to grace our TouchPad app catalog is a nice, clean-looking alternative to the GVoice app by Eric Blade, even while it does have some small glitches that could be worked out. At $1.99, it's not only an affordable solution for bringing Google Voice to your TouchPad, but is considered a "Must Have App" time and time again in the reviews by other VoogleXL users.
But how did it hold up in our own tests? Hit the break below to see some screenshots of the app in action and find out if it's a good fit for you.
Review: White 1.5GHz HP TouchPad 58
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The HP TouchPad, but in white with more speed. Kinda.
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Review: HP Pre3 103
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The HP Pre3. The best webOS smartphone that never was.
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App Review: A1 Tasks Pro 4
When PreCentral user bedhan asked on a recent comment thread about where to find a great task manager on webOS devices, I knew that we were on the right track. As the first of several task management apps that we'll be reviewing here on PreCentral, I wanted to take a look at my personal favorite, A1 Tasks Pro, and show you guys what is so great about it. While it might not have all of the features that some users, including bedham, might be looking for, A1 Tasks Pro by A1 Development is perfect for people who want to see their progress with each project updated as they finish individual tasks.
App Review: MLB.com At Bat 11 11
As the Boys of Summer head towards the Fall Classic, and magic numbers start lowering, baseball fans who want to catch every last minute of the action and pour over every stat and piece of news, will still find At Bat 11 from Major League Baseball's MLB.com a useful addition to their TouchPads. At $4.99 (the app was released in mid-season and its price reflected that fact), it offers a variety of ways for baseball fans to follow their favorite teams and players (and revel in rivals' misfortunes). (Those who aren't fans of U.S. baseball, though, will likely find both this review and the app less than useful.)
At Bat 11 is a TouchPad-only app, with typical Enyo sliders and other design elements. There are three major sections of the app: Scoreboard, News, and Standings. Scoreboard (which updates in real time) offers both summary and full pop-out scores going back to March 31, 2011 (Opening Day for the regular season--preseason stats aren't shown). Tap on a game, and you get a choice of animated Gameday simulations of pitches and hits (archived games offer a wrap-up instead), full box scores, game summaries, video clips and a diagram of the field and players' positions on it.News is just that: stories (including video highlights) and opinion pieces from MLB.com's own staff. Standings is also self-explanatory, with both divisional and Wild Card stats for both leagues.
