CLICK TO SKIP REVIEWS AND JUMP TO GIVEAWAY INFO

I was finally fed up enough with the hard case I originally purchased from Verizon (see my gripes here) and made the move to buy a full-coverage Invisible Shield and a pretty Decal Girl skin to use instead. Of course, these are just stick-on skins and don’t protect it from big drops, but I keep my phone in my outer purse pocket and probably dropped it more often with the slippery hard case on it, anyway!

First, I’ll review the Motorola Droid 3 Maximum Coverage Invisible Shield. I got this during the ZAGG Cyber Monday sale for half off (I think their full price of $24.99 is a bit expensive) and it offers great scratch protection just like the one I had on my original Droid.

Maximum Coverage Invisible Shield for Droid 3

The “maximum coverage” version has a panel for every facet of the phone, and let me tell you, it was a pain in the butt to install. I ran out of the spray liquid they send when I was about 80% through the installation, because I had to re-adjust the panels often and tried to keep my fingers damp throughout. There are LOTS of little panels for maximum coverage on the Droid 3. I’d say it took an hour to put on. It has cut-outs for all of the microphones, camera lenses, and speakers on the phone. These are tiny, and I missed punching one out before installing, but was able to pick it out with tweezers after the install.

A disappointing part of putting the Invisible Shield on this phone was that it just wouldn’t stick to the large curve on the back of the Droid 3. I tried the “palming” method that worked on my Droid, but that was for a flat piece curving around an edge that had a mostly-flat surface, like wrapping tape around a pen. This corner on the Droid 3 has more of a spherical curve, so it’s like trying to get a flat piece of tape to lay flush on the surface of a small ball.

Once it was installed, I felt I had great protection from scratches (such as from my keys when I accidentally put them in the same purse pocket), but the one place on my phone that had actually been dented in a fall before wasn’t covered by the Shield (I had taken off the front piece of the hard case a while back). I realize it would be near-impossible to create one that covers this area, but it goes to show that the Droid 3 design has some vulnerabilities, like this raised edge, that can only be protected by a snap-on or silicon case.

One benefit of the Invisible Shield over the screen protector that came with the phone from Verizon, is the texture. I am getting much better responsiveness from the touchscreen and like the way it feels better with this one.

Droid 3 with Invisible Shield

A couple weeks later, that edge that wouldn’t quite lay down is now filled with dust, and I’ll probably have to clip it off so it won’t lead to peeling of the whole back panel.

So, in summary, though I love and recommend the ZAGG Invisible Shields, it’s difficult to apply to spherical curves like the back panel corners of the Droid 3, and doesn’t cover the vulnerable-to-dings raised edges, so a silicon sleeve would offer more protection in this case. I would recommend getting the screen-only Invisible Shield for the Droid 3 and finding another way to protect the edges.

Now, on to the Decal Girl skin. I spent some time looking through the Decal Girl website, and they have some beautiful designs! If they offer a pattern from an artist and it isn’t officially listed for your device, you can still order it by clicking “Shop by Design”, choosing the design you want, then selecting your device from there. That’s how I ended up getting this “Violet Worlds” design for the Droid 3.

'Violet Worlds' Decal Girl Skin on the Droid 3

I chose the Matte finish, and I like it a lot. It’s smooth, but not shiny or slippery, and has a papery feel. The decorative skin offers less coverage than the maximum-coverage Invisible Shield (which is why I applied it over the Shield), but has two front panels and two back panels to cover all but the side-edges of the Droid 3.

My favorite part ended up being something I hadn’t even thought about before buying the Sheild: now I can feel the “buttons”, which are not actually buttons, but touch-sensitive spots below the screen. The thickness of the skin leaves an edge around each icon, so I can feel when I’m touching one and don’t need to look. It’s a great bonus feature!

Decal Girl also offers a wallpaper that matches the design of each skin so you can get a “full coverage” feel, but the Violet Worlds design was a little too busy for the screen, so I opted for a solid color that matched the design background (using the “Colors” app to select a solid wallpaper color).

Left - Decal Girl Wallpaper, Right - Solid Color Wallpaper
(The photos aren't the best, but you'll have to trust me that the backgrounds match the decal in real life!)

I haven’t had any trouble with the decal peeling up or any other issues in the weeks since I applied it, and I recommend Decal Girl skins for personalizing any device.

So, now on to the part you’ve probably been waiting for – the giveaway!

Giveaway #1

In the past, Decal Girl sent me skins for our readers and we didn’t have enough entries to give the Galaxy Tab skin away. I also bought an extra Droid 3 skin since there was a sale on Cyber Monday, and I’m offering that up as a giveaway as well. So if you want one of these skins I already have, just comment below saying which of these skins you want to win!

Samsung Galaxy Tab Skin – “Radiosity”

Motorola Droid 3 Skin – “Drama”

Giveaway #2 – Android Phone Decal of Your Choice!

For this giveaway, I’ll buy the winner any Android phone Decal Girl skin you want! You pick the design and tell me which phone you have, and I’ll send it your way. You have to work a little harder for this one, though! There are two ways to enter:

1. Check out our “Women With Android Apps” series and comment on one of the posts. Ask the interviewee a question, comment on their app, or just offer an encouraging comment about how awesome they are!
2. Bring us a new follower. Tell a friend in person or online about Women With Droids and tell them they should circle us on Google+, follow us on Twitter, Subscribe to our Paper.li newspaper by email, or add our RSS feed to their reader. No matter how they follow us, you get an entry!

Don’t forget to come back here and tell us how you entered. You can enter up to 3 times. So, find 3 new Twitter followers, or make 2 comments on our series and bring 1 Google+ follower, etc.

On January 10, 2012, or once we receive at least 20 entries for Giveaway #2 (whichever comes later), I’ll draw one entry randomly and notify the winner here and using the email you comment with (please don’t include the email address in your comment text, I can see it from the WordPress admin page).

Good luck!!

To be eligible for the giveaway, you must follow the entry rules above and must not have won a WomenWithDroids.com giveaway in the last year. Anyone in the world may enter, but if you live outside of the United States, we may ask you to help with the extra shipping costs to mail the skin to your location.

Two of my favorite Android apps are Google Maps Navigation and Pandora. Both are ideal for driving, but less so when my phone is sliding around on the passenger’s seat or muffled by the center cup holder.

Enter the Auto AirVent Mount, which promises to keep Android handy, visible and in one place. You simply push the device into the air vent on your car, put your phone into it, and suddenly all those car-friendly Android apps are nearly as accessible as if they were built right into your dashboard.

(By the way, I feel compelled here to point out that car-friendly apps do not include texting apps, or anything that takes your eyes off the road while you’re behind the wheel. Let’s all take a vow to get our apps set up before putting the car into Drive. End of public service announcement.)

This device is mostly a breeze to use. It comes in two pieces, but putting them together took about one painless second, with no tools and no room for confusion.

Mounting the device onto my air vents was slightly trickier. The instructions said to simply push it on, “using gentle forward pressure,” and that it would latch on automatically. It took me a few tries to get this to work, and it never did have that satisfying snap that would have reassured me that it was secure. Also, I hoped it would be secure enough that if I tugged it very gently forward, it would still stay in place. That never happened. But after a couple of minutes, I did get it positioned well enough to be pretty sure that it wasn’t going to fall off, so I went ahead and inserted my phone.

Adjusting the size to fit my phone was incredibly easy. You pull out the side wings and then press a button, and they adjust inward until they fit the phone perfectly. The mount is padded and soft, which probably helps the fit. I also had no trouble plugging my phone into its charger while it sat in the mount, or adjusting between landscape and portrait views.

As I drove with my phone in the mount, I did find that the mount occasionally started tilting forward and down, rather than facing straight out or slightly upward as I’d intended. I pushed it back into place, and it generally stayed, but would start to slip again a few minutes later. Still, my phone never fell out (or even came close to falling), and it wasn’t hard to push it back into place.

All things considered, this accessory works pretty well, is easy to use, and is especially convenient when using the Navigation app. I’m keeping the mount in place in my car, and now that it’s there, I frequently pop the phone in while I’m driving. This is an accessory that will make my life just that little bit easier.

I’m happy to announce that we have not just one, but two Android accessories to give away: a Motorola portable charger and an Arkon Mega Grip Smartphone Mount.

First up, the Motorola Portable Charger P790. This small charger is compatible with Motorola phones and other mini-USB-compatible phones, including Nokia and Blackberry. When you’re at home, you plug your phone into the charger and plug the charger into an outlet, and they’ll both get charged up at the same time. Later, if your phone’s battery is running low, the charger will still have enough power to fully recharge your phone.

I love the fact that this portable charger is small enough to slip into a purse—and that it will work anywhere, because you just never know when you’re going to need it. (I adore my Android phone, but let’s face it, battery life isn’t exactly its strong suit.)

On top of that, we’ve got the Arkon Mega Grip Smartphone Mount. This versatile holder will mount your smartphone on the windshield, in an air vent, or on the dashboard. I can think of about a million uses for this—it will make it easier to use the phone’s Navigation app, listen to music, and yes, even talk on the phone. (Just please tell me you won’t use it to text. OK? OK.)

The mount is compatible with several popular phones, including the Droid Pro, Droid X, HTC Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Sprint Epic 4G, Samsung Verizon Fascinate, Nokia E73, and others.

Click the links to see more details and the Amazon ratings on these items – both are getting rave reviews!

So how do you get the whole bundle? Simple.

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment below telling us the number one reason why you’d love to win these accessories.
2. For an extra bonus entry, share a link to any Women With Droids post on Twitter. (Don’t forget to leave a comment and let us know about your tweet!)

We’ll do the drawing from eligible entry comments the day after we get 10 unique entrants.

To be eligible, you must follow the entry rules above and must not have won a WomenWithDroids.com giveaway in the last year. Anyone in the world may enter, but if you live outside of the United States, we may ask you to help with the extra shipping costs to mail the accessories to your location.

I’ve had my Motorola Droid 3 for three days now and I’m finally getting the chance to use it and set it up! Here are some of my first impressions of the phone.

Photo of my new Droid 3 taken with my Original Droid

Here’s why I picked the Droid 3

• I really liked the Original Droid I’ve had for the past 2 years and wanted the latest in the Motorola Droid line
• I wanted a phone with top-of-the-line hardware specs (speed, memory, screen) and a front-facing camera, and the Droid 3 had it all
• It’s slightly bigger than the Droid, but not too big
• Even though I primarily use Swype (which it comes with), I like having a hardware keyboard available when needed

Pros so far:

It’s much faster than my Droid 1, and the touch-screen is nice and responsive

It has a crisp high-quality screen with good brightness

It has Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4)

The camera is impressive, and the front-facing camera is a great bonus

It’s really a great ‘model’ Android phone – has everything you need

Cons so far:

I really don’t like the hard plastic case Verizon is offering with it. Mine is a cool dark purple color and looks fine, but it’s slippery (I always feel like I’m about to drop the phone), and it has a sharp area at the bottom where I put my pinky to balance the phone. The ridge around the screen also makes it difficult to touch the hardware buttons without touching the screen also. The Droid 3 is definitely the largest I’d go with a phone since it’s a bit bulky for my small hands, so I think I’ll skip the hard case and go with an invisible shield, then get a soft case to keep it in. (Edit: I held a friend’s phone with the same case in blue, and his didn’t have the sharp edge! So, it could be particular to the purple color, or to my specific case.)

Sharp edge on the Droid 3 hard case

There’s no dedicated camera button (I’m used to easily being able to start the camera and take a photo with one hand on the Droid).

It does have a bit of bloatware. Some of the apps it comes with can be uninstalled, but many can’t. I don’t root my phones, so I don’t have a problem with the locked bootloader, but I do wish I could uninstall apps like GoToMeeting which I don’t use.

I’m not finding the menus to be intuitive. For instance, I wanted to share a photo I took via Twidroyd. On my Droid, I could simply open the menu when viewing the photo after taking it, choose Share, then Twidroyd, and use the app. In Gingerbread’s Camera/Gallery app, the menu button brings up a menu with Edit & Delete options, Add to Album, and the choice to use the photo as your wallpaper or profile pic. There’s also a “More” menu, but I didn’t see a “Share” button. I exited the menu and accidentally touched the screen. That’s when another menu with Share and Upload buttons appeared. I don’t like how there are 2 menus you get to 2 different ways when looking a photo, that’s not intuitive. I don’t think it should have been tricky for an advanced Android use to figure out how to share a picture!

It seems like the operating system is designed to take as much advantage of ‘The Cloud’ as possible. This is a pro, but the con is that I feel like every app is prompting me to synchronize my data somewhere and connect to every Social Media site. The phone comes with some kind of ‘Media Server’ called DLNA which I haven’t taken the time to figure out yet. I’m sure it’s useful, but the fact that if I weren’t careful, my data would be synced to a bunch of different servers from the moment I set up my phone is a bit disconcerting. I like using the Cloud, but I do want to know where my data is going and why. I’m not sure if it’s the apps Verizon put on the phone or Gingerbread or what, but it doesn’t feel like the data sharing is as transparent as I’d like it to be

Summary:

It may seem like I’m listing more cons than pros, but I just wanted to explain some things I noticed that make the Droid 3 different from the Droid which concerned me. I think my gripes are more with the operating system than with the phone. Overall, I think this is a great phone and I’ll be very happy with it once I get it all set up.

I would definitely recommend the Droid 3 to anyone that wants the benefits of the Motorola Droid line as well as the latest hardware features. Just be ready to spend some time customizing the setup so you have control of what it’s doing with your information, and getting used to Gingerbread if you don’t have a device with it already!

Do you have a new phone? What are your impressions of it so far?

This is part 2 of our DecalGirl giveaway on Women With Droids! DecalGirl has given us 10 skins for 10 different Android devices, and we’re giving them away over 2 posts!

DecalGirl has a ton of attractive removable vinyl skins for many different models of phones, tablets, laptops, and media & gaming devices, and the prices are reasonable – most phone skins are only $7.99. The skins help protect your devices while also making them unique and fun! Additionally, the skins are manufactured here in the USA.

A great feature of DecalGirl skins is that the skins each come with a code to download a matching wallpaper/background for your device, so the screen can match the design, too! I think that’s so neat.

Without further ado, here are the five skins we’re giving away this time:

Wicked for the Samsung Epic

Fall for HTC Droid Incredible

Pink Plaid for the Motorola Droid

Peacock Sky for the HTC EVO 4G

Radiosity for the Samsung Galaxy Tab

How to enter:

1. Follow @droidwomen on Twitter or Subscribe to our RSS Feed
2. Go to DecalGirl.com and pick your favorite skin design
3. Leave a comment below telling us:
   • you are following or subscribed
   • what your favorite design is
   • your phone model (so we can pick one winner for each skin above)

That’s it! We’ll end the giveaway on Friday, February 18, at midnight EST, but we may extend the entry period if there aren’t more than 3 entries for each skin. Good luck!

Get a bonus entry by posting a link to this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook. Try the sharing buttons below! Don’t forget to comment so we know you did it!

If you don’t like the design we’re giving away for your phone, if you want a skin for another device, or if you just can’t wait for the giveaway results, you can shop for your own skin using the banner link below and get 10% off with coupon code DECAL10!

Thanks to DecalGirl for sponsoring this giveaway! Good luck to all entrants!

To be eligible, you must follow the entry rules above and must not have won a WomenWithDroids.com giveaway in the last year. Anyone in the world may enter, but if you live outside of the United States, we may ask you to help with the extra shipping costs to mail the skin to your location.

I’m excited to announce that DecalGirl is sponsoring a giveaway here on Women With Droids! We are giving away 10 DecalGirl skins, spread over 2 posts, for 10 different Android devices!

DecalGirl has a ton of attractive removable vinyl skins for many different models of phones, tablets, laptops, and media & gaming devices, and the prices are reasonable – most phone skins are only $7.99. The skins help protect your devices while also making them unique and fun! Additionally, the skins are manufactured here in the USA.

A great feature of DecalGirl skins is that the skins each come with a code to download a matching wallpaper/background for your device, so the screen can match the design, too! I think that’s so neat.

Without further ado, here are the five skins we’re giving away first:

Winter Sparkle for the LG Ally

Tweet Dark for the Droid X

Her Abstraction for the Motorola Cliq

Dark Rosewood for the Samsung Captivate

Van Gogh Blossoming Almond Tree for the Motorola Droid 2

1. Follow @droidwomen on Twitter or Subscribe to our RSS Feed
2. Go to DecalGirl.com and pick your favorite skin design
3. Leave a comment below telling us:
   • you are following or subscribed
   • what your favorite design is
   • your phone model (so we can pick one winner for each skin above)

That’s it! We’ll end the giveaway on Friday, January 28, at midnight EST, but we may extend the entry period if there aren’t more than 3 entries for each skin. Good luck! Update: As of 1/29/2011, the LG Ally, Samsung Captivate, and Motorola Cliq skins are still up for grabs! I’ll pick winners next Wednesday 2/1, or whenever each gets 3 entries, whichever comes sooner. Tell your friends! (Or enter to win one of these for them!)subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on twitter so you don’t miss it!

If you don’t like the design we’re giving away for your phone, if you want a skin for another device, or if you just can’t wait for the giveaway results, you can shop for your own skin using the banner link below and get 10% off with coupon code DECAL10!

Thanks to DecalGirl for sponsoring this giveaway! Good luck to all entrants!

To be eligible, you must follow the entry rules above and must not have won a WomenWithDroids.com giveaway in the last year. Anyone in the world may enter, but if you live outside of the United States, we may ask you to help with the extra shipping costs to mail the skin to your location.

Etsy seller Jessica Nelson has offered up a cool holiday gift for us to give to a lucky WomenWithDroids reader – a $15 gift certificate to use in her Etsy shop, “Jessie’s Crocheted Goodies“!

One great thing about this gift certificate is that it’s digital and can be emailed immediately, so if you are selected when we do the giveaway on Christmas Eve, you can print it out and give it to someone for Christmas if that’s what you want to do with it! Of course, it also makes an excellent self-gift.

Jessie has lots of crocheted goodies that would be perfect for any Android lover, and she can customize a design to fit your phone – just ask! Check out these adorable & protective device cozies:

Cupcake case for Nook or Android Tablet!

You can keep this cozy on!

Snowman! Lift up the hat to access your phone!

Here’s how to win the $15 gift certificate:

1. Either subscribe to our RSS feed (using the “Subscribe” link at the top of the site) or follow us on Twitter @droidwomen.
2. Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/jmnelson419 store.
3. Post a comment below telling us whether you subscribed to RSS or followed on Twitter, and say something you liked about Jessie’s Crocheted Goodies!

Bonus: After you’ve done the steps above to enter, you can get a bonus entry to increase your chances of winning by following Jessica at @jessiecrochets. Reply to your own comment here so we know you did it!

Enter by December 24 to be eligible. The giveaway is whenever I have a chance to log on that afternoon/evening, so if I haven’t selected a winner yet, you can still enter!

Past winners of WomenWithDroids 2010 giveaways are not eligible. If you’re outside the US, please contact Jessica through her etsy page to ask if shipping is available to your country before entering.

For all of you last-minute Christmas/holiday shoppers, you do still have some time to buy online at many stores with quick shipping options. Here are the top 10 Android accessory gifts WomenWithDroids recommends for your friends & family with Android devices that you can still get in time if you buy them right now!

10. Phone Stand: Twitter user @waterNdirt thinks that beanbag chairs for your phone make good gifts, and we agree! ThinkGeek has several phone stand options, including beanbag chairs. You still have time to order from ThinkGeek with UPS 2-day shipping. Check out these cute phone stand options!

Beanbag Cellphone Chair $9.99

Cellphone Hand Stand $14.99

Grassy Lawn Charging Station $24.99

9. Invisible Shield: One thing in common among Android phone users, regardless of plan or model, is that they want to protect their investments. Twitter user @LoveToText says that the ZAGG Invisible Shield makes a good gift. It is a great way to protect a phone from scratches without adding bulk. See our review here.

Find a ZAGG InvisibleSHIELD for your phone!

8. Protective Case: The Invisible Shield protects the phone body & screen from scratches, but won’t help much if the phone is dropped. For additional protection, give a highly-rated case, like Body Glove, Otterbox or Seido Innocase:

7. Tune Belt/Tune Band: If you have a friend or family member that works out, make it easy for them to listen to music on their Android phone by buying them a belt or band to keep it safely strapped to their body. See our review of Tune Belt here.

6. Touch Gloves: It’s winter and no one wants to have to expose their hands to the cold in order to use their touchscreen device! We reviewed one pair here. These gloves that have conductive thread in the fingertips would make thoughtful and functional gifts:

Degrees® Suburban Touch Gloves from Kohl’s

Isotoner SmarTouch Tech Stretch Gloves

5. Portable Speaker: Phone speakers are limited in volume and range of sound. Enhance their listening experience and allow them to listen without headphones by giving them a cool portable rechargeable speaker, like the X-Mini II that we recently reviewed:

4. Android Dolls : There are a lot of places to get Android-related dolls and figurines online. Many are handmade, and all are so cute! Check to make sure the seller offers shipping upgrades so you get it on time, though!

lilredbug on Etsy (recommended by @androidashley) – Angry Birds pig	Android Mini by Dead Zebra	Droidette Mini Pillow – Droidette Shop
Glendora on Etsy – Crochet Amigurumi Android	Angry Birds Plush Dolls ToyWiz	jan553 on Etsy – Android plush

3. Phone Dock: It’s really great that we can add functionality to our phones by using a media dock or a car dock. Check out our review of the Droid Dock here. Find one for your gift-recipient’s phone by searching on Amazon:

Android Car Mounts on Amazon

Media/Charging Cradles on Amazon

2. Droidette T-Shirt: Of course, we think any fan of WomenWithDroids.com would just LOVE one of our Droidette tees! Check them out at CafePress (more styles there, as well as a few other branded items):

$19.49	$17.19	$22.99	$31
Go to the Women With Droids CafePress Shop NOTE: You have to order on Monday in order to get an item in time for Christmas!

1. Phone Sleeve/Case: A phone sleeve or case is one of the best gifts for an Android owner. It helps protect the phone and adds style, as well as adding some Android identity if you go for one that has a Droid or Droidette on it! There are tons of great sleeve styles out there, and for our #1 gift pick, we’d like to highlight some Etsy crafters that make cool handmade sleeves and cases. Of course, since these are handmade, you’ll have to check on availability with each Etsy seller to see if these can be shipped in time for Christmas:

thameowdesigns on Etsy	freshonmondays on Etsy	khudgins on Etsy
rainydaye on Etsy	pippichick on Etsy	bloodsweatandthread on Etsy

We hope you enjoyed these gift ideas. Run to your store if it’s something you can get there, or BUY IT NOW (after checking the retailer’s shipping speeds) if you want to order it online and get it shipped on time!!

Or, you could always gift one to yourself >(:] )=

Did we miss anything cool? Let us know in the comments!

Type: clothing that doubles as a phone accessory
Price: around $30.00
Get It: If you live in an area with reasonably cold winter weather and want to use your phone outdoors

Last winter I suffered. Oh, in a very, very first-world way, but an uncomfortable one. I had to choose between using my Droid and having warm hands. Guess which usually won? You got it, the Droid!

I had heard of touch gloves but I hadn’t actually seen any in person, but when this winter started coming on, I knew I had to give them a try.

Here’s the basic idea: Touch gloves have conductive fabric at the tip of some or all fingers that makes your touches on your screen just as responsive as if your fingertips were bare, at least in theory.

See the dark silvery bits on the thumb and forefinger?

I looked at a bunch of different ones, finally landing on the Echo Design Solid Touch Gloves, which are reasonably priced around $30 (depending on retailer). I will be honest, a major deciding factor had less to do with the glove design as whether they came in sizes. For example, the Isotoner ones look good, have Thinsulate, and are priced very well but they are one-size-fits-very-few-people. See, I have tiny little hands and I figured fit would be important if I wanted to use my phone.

I was right.

The Echo Design gloves in size small fit me very well overall and they have a nice shape with their proprietary eLink fabric on the thumbs and index fingers. Sometimes the end of the thumb stretches away from the end of mine, though, which can be a little bit of a problem for typing, but a quick tug makes it right. There is also that little seam lump that every pair of gloves I’ve ever had have in the thumb, which is usually okay but a little cumbersome for using on a phone as it feel s like you are disconnected from your screen. You do get used to it, though, much like women with really long fingernails can type properly with their nails on a computer keyboard like I type with my fingertips.

Where these gloves shine is in unlocking and answering the phone, checking notifications, and all the basic tasks you usually do with an index finger.

On the other hand, the index fingers fit, well, like a glove. I have no problems using them for any task, including using either the standard multi-touch keyboard or Swype in portrait mode. In fact, it’s easier to type with them in that mode than with my fingers, as they come to almost a point. I am highly impressed. Unlocking, checking notifications, making calls – whatever task you might do with your index finger is a breeze.

They definitely look good and mostly fit really well.

The styling is very chic, they taper nicely at the wrist and are long enough to slide easily under coat sleeves. I would be happy to wear them to any event, they look more expensive than they are. Good construction makes me think they should last awhile, too. The purple color I chose works well for my wardrobe as a colorful neutral but they are available in a wide variety of colors, wrist styles,  and even fabrics (including luxurious cashmere for $78).

Mine are made of 80% wool and 20% nylon (the eLink fabric is made of 92% nylon and 8% Dorlastan, according to the label), which must be dry cleaned. When they first arrived the temperature was in the low 40s and high 30s and I found myself wearing them even when it was just on the cusp of being cold enough for gloves, as it’s extra-nice to have warm hands if trying to use a touchscreen (plus, I was excited to try them, of course!). They were lovely in the 30s, even as it started dipping lower into them.

However, when the weather turned and the temperature plummeted, even hitting 20° with a wind chill of 9°, they couldn’t really stand up to that. On shorter trips I would wear them but keep my hands in my pockets when not using my hands, on longer trips I would drop them in my bag and wear my warmer gloves except for when I needed to use my phone. There’s a point where you simply need lined and fluffy and even if those had conductive fabric you can hardly even hold your phone properly with them anyway.

In general, I found that I don’t  use my phone quite as much as I would while on the go in warmer (gloveless) weather but it sure is nice to never have to have bare hands!

I am very glad I have these gloves, they fill a big gap in my wardrobe in several ways and look great doing it. I recommend them, despite their imperfections, depending on your weather and willingness to change gloves on the go, if you live somewhere with weather anything like my region (the NYC area, where temperatures are usually in the 30°-40° range for much of winter) they will get you through most weather but don’t expect them to replace heavier gloves for those extra-cold days. If it’s colder where you are you have to decide if it’s worth either changing gloves when you want to use your phone or letting your hands get cold a bit quicker.

I bought an X-Mini II Capsule Speaker for a friend several months ago, and he raved about it so much, I had to get one for myself and share it with you here!

We all know that electronics like laptops (and yes, Android phones) don’t have the greatest speakers. If you want to play music or listen to a podcast when it’s not feasible to wear headphones, like while you do housework or are in the bathtub, or if you want other people to be able to hear the music you’re playing, you need a portable speaker to plug into your phone’s headphone jack. The speaker needs to be small enough to take away from your desk, hold a charge as long as your phone does, sound good, and play music louder than your device can by itself. On all of these fronts, the X Mini II Capsule speaker performs well.

There is a wide variety of Portable Rechargeable Speakers available on Amazon.com and at other retailers online, but many of them are branded for iPod, and as an Android gal, I refused to buy an “iPod Speaker”, even though it would likely use the headphone jack and therefore would be compatible. When I was buying a speaker as a gift for my friend, I read the reviews carefully and thought he would like the highly-reviewed black X-Mini II for his Android phone. Little did I realize at the time that it would become his primary laptop speaker, too! He raved about how long the battery lasted on one charge, and he hasn’t had any problems with it after using it almost daily for several months. I heard it and was impressed with the sound, too.

So, I got myself the Red X-Mini II for my Droid (and laptop) and have been pleased with it so far! I wanted to tell you about it before the holidays because it would make a great gift. You could even hang it on the tree like an ornament!

If you’re a true audiophile, you probably won’t be impressed with the range and bass compared to larger speakers, but for a tiny portable speaker that doesn’t have to be plugged into a power source, you can’t get much better sound than you get from the X-Mini. It sounds a bit better than you’ll hear in the video below, because that’s a recording from a point-and-shoot camera which doesn’t have the best microphone and adds strange clicking sounds, plus the video had to be compressed for YouTube, but I think you can tell there is a marked difference.

The only negative I noticed was that the built-in cable is so short that it’s almost useless (I can’t use it on my laptop since the audio-out jack is on the front and the speaker would get in my way there), but it does keep the whole thing neat and compact – you could just throw it in your purse without worrying about wrapping up a cord – and it’s nice that you can’t lose the cord when on the go. As you’ll see in the video, the charging cable doubles as a longer audio cable, so you’re not limited by the short built-in one.

Check out this quick video demo to hear the speaker compared to my laptop and Droid speakers, and see how it looks up close!

The X Mini II Capsule speaker works well, would make a great gift, and is affordable. It’s currently about $20 shipped on Amazon (updated price and link in linked widget above). Get one for yourself or a friend!

Do you have an external speaker for your phone? Tell us about it in the comments!