There's this new headset that I want to try out. I don't know when I'll get to try it out, but it's so cool. It's a voice activated headset. You can control it with voice commands like "answer call", "pair headset"(to properly sync the bluetooth device), and "ignore call". There's a somewhat lengthy list of commands this phone can accept. It can even read the numbers off the call ID for you, so you don't have to look at you're phone, then you would choose to answer or ignore the call using you voice. All that without even touching or looking at your phone. That's pretty cool, so I look forward to trying this headset out sometime in the near future. It does what I mentioned and more, get the complete specs here.

A headset is a major convenience for anyone who uses a cell phone on a regular basis, and it's a must for anyone who uses a cell phone while multitasking. Especially if you talk on the phone while driving you need a headset for legal and safety reasons. Over the past couple of months I have used several headsets. Today I will layout the details of my experience with these handy devices.

Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset
Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset
I'll start out with my favorite bluetooth headset, the Plantronics Voyager PRO. This headset does everything I expected and then some. The killer feature of this device is its noise cancellation feature. This feature far outperformed that of any headset I've ever used. While traveling through Philadelphia's noisy EL train system the people I spoke to had no problem understanding me, and this is in the middle of school/work rush hour with all the loud kids. Some people I talked to with the Plantronics Voyager PRO even assumed I was at home when in fact I was in the midst of subway rush hour. Even on windy days the Plantronics Voyager PRO performed beyond my expectations, people that I spoke with had no idea the how bad the wind was. Plantronics Voyager PRO even adjusts the incoming call volume automatically to compensate for any background noise.

Another neat feature of the Plantronics Voyager PRO is its battery life notification system that gives you a discrete audio alert if your battery is near full depletion. The range of wireless reception was very good. I was able to use the headset with my nokia phone a full 30 feet away so you won't have to be tied to you phone while using this headset.

Another great thing about the Plantronics Voyager PRO is that it feels great around the ear. It's very ergonomically designed for users that want to feel like they have nothing on their ears. The Plantronics Voyager PRO has everything you need too, it comes with everything you need AC wall/travel charger, three soft gel eartips, and two foam eartip covers. Learn more

Another great headset is the Plantronics Voyager 510 bluetooth headset. The noise-canceling feature isn't as good as the Plantronics Voyager PRO but the Voyager 510 is much less expensive. While using this in a bustling urban environment very rarely was I asked to repeat myself. Its windsmart technology was fairly effective. I had no problems using it with an air conditioner blow on my face.

The Plantronics Voyager 510 bluetooth headset is very light on your ear as well, I never felt the need to take it off, a few times I forgot I had it on. I spoke for about 6 hours on it before I needed to recharge it, and its stand by time is 100 hours.Learn Moret

For a limited time only get a free BlackBerry Curve 8330 and $100. The 8330 has a number of upgrades over the original BB Curve, such as integrated GPS and most notably high-speed data/internet EVDO revision 0 network. The camera for the BB Curve 8330 is a 2 MP camera with an LED flash. The front of the phone has a QVGA display, trackball navigation and a full qwerty keyboard.

On the top left of the phone is a 3.5mm headset jack. Music playback is a big part of the BB Curves multimedia functionality. Below the headset jack is a micro USB jack that is for data and charging. At the top of the right side of the phone is a volume rocker. The Curve includes a multifunction on each side that can be set by the user. The Micro-SD card slot is underneath the battery, so you have to take out the battery to access the micro SD slot.

Black Berry mostly known for its email and texting functionality and the Curve 8330 lives up to those standards. The full keypad is great for hands of all sizes. There's unified messaging inbox that shows emails, and texts. Any configured email account will have its own mailbox. Composing a message is easy, you can choose which kind of message you want to create. Such as Email, SMS text, PIN, and IM. If you choose email the Curve 8330 will give you a list of email accounts to send the message from.

The Motorola Renegade V950 is a cell phone that can withstand a serious thrashing and still work like new. It's a showcase direct-connect on Sprint device. The Motorola Renegade V950's form is similar to a Moto razor, with its camera on the top of the display. However this is a rugged device and it meets military specifications for withstanding extreme humidity, extremely high falls, and high force blowing rains.

The Motorola Renegade V950 is a multimedia device with a 2MP camera with LED flash. The Motorola Renegade V950 includes external multimedia controls that light up. On the left side are volume controls and a direct-connect(push to talk) button. On the right is a covered micro-USB port and covered 2.5 mm headset jack. The Motorola Renegade V950 works with push to talk headsets. The loud speaker is on the bottom of the phone.

The inside reveals a large vibrant 2.2 inch display. The keypad is rubbery helping to protect the phone from liquid spills. The buttons have a very good feel and are very intuitive. The overall layout is pretty simple. The Keypad includes camera,home key, and the rest are standard navigational keys as well as call and end keys. On the top are the 2 Nextel keys, the speaker and stop buttons.

The graphical interface is a standard Sprint-Motorola interface, which can be viewed in grid, list,tab and sprint ahead view. The Motorola Renegade V950 offers Sprint TV and Sprint music store.

The Nokia E71X comes fully loaded with 3G, WIFI, GPS, 3.2 MP camera and a beautiful screen.

Up close

The Nokia E71X is a very thin smart phone with a full qwerty keyboard. On the right side is an external volume control and a headset jack. On the left side there's a connect port for the computer where you can access the memory and even sink it with your computer apps. There's a charging port on the bottom of the Nokia E71X. The power button and speaker are on the top side of the Nokia E71X.

All in all it's a great phone and you can get it for free. Nokia E71X

Driving while stupid, I mean distracted, something that many people have been guilty of in recent years. Many states have either considering banning texting while driving or already have. A short list of states that have banned texting while driving include Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. I don't blame them, talking on the cell while driving is one thing that has been banned in many places, but to text while driving is many times more absurd. When you're talking while driving at least you can keep your eyes constantly on the road. If you're texting while driving you're guaranteed to have to take your eyes off the road. Yet there are people out there willing to take on the risk of such a high degree of distraction. And of course this risk taking could greatly affect the lives of people not engaged in the distracted behavior.

Texting while driving has lead to a number of deaths and injuries. Aiden Quinn, a 24-year-old MBTA operator, told authorities he was sending his girlfriend a text message when he missed a red light and slammed into a stopped trolley near Government Center Station. I recently saw footage of a bus driver in Sacramento rear-ending a car because he was texting while driving a bus. Last September in LA a commuter train operator missed a track signal, leading to a collision between the commuter train and a freight train. 25 people were kill including the operator and 138 people were injured. There is much evidence that the commuter train operator was sending text messages while operating the train and was probably distracted and missed key track signals. So clearly there are grounds for the government regulating against stupid and negligent behavior. A number of public transportation systems are considering banning vehicle operators from even carrying portable devices like cellphones.

I don't like the idea of a nanny state but I think there should be more laws against distracted driving period. There are people that do all kinds of dumb thing while driving, texting is near the top of the list, but there are others. Like doing make-up, shaving, etc. My only concern is that some a-hole cops will use this as an excuse to screw over people that don't deserve a citation just to make money and to be all around a-holes. It's a risk society should probably be willing to take.

I was reading up on the MIFI, it's a wifi device that supports up to 5 devices using Verizon's cellular network as its source. I like the concept behind it a lot, I always wanted to have this as an option where I could pretty much set up a hot spot anywhere without the need for cable, dsl, or a computer. Its speed ranges from 600 Kbps – 1.4 Mbp.

I haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet. But what I already don't like are the service options. For $40 a month you get 250 MBs and for $60 a moth you get 5 GB. For $60 a month I was hopefully it would be unlimited. Another option allows you to pay $15 for a day of unlimited serive meaning you can transfer as much information as you want, but option is without a contract so the price of the device will be much higher. The Verizon MIFI is $399 with out a contract and $99 with one. Verizon MIFI

The Chocolate 3 one of LG's newest phones is packed with even more features than it's predecessor. This time around the Chocolate is a flip phone, the old one was open faced. The Chocolate 3 is also the smallest Chocolate to date and the call quality is excellent.

Close Up

On the left side of the phone is a 3.5mm headset jack that works with standard headphones. Also on the left side are external volume controls, a voice command button and micro USB port. On the right side is a micro SD slot that comes with a 8GB SD card on top of 1 GB of internal memory and a music button. The Chocolate 3 includes VZ navigator, VCAST video and VCAST music with Rhapsody. Music, photos, camera, messages, and calender can all be accessed from the external screen while the flip is closed. You can easily take self photos using the external screen or flip open the Chocolate 3 and take photos of your surroundings. The Chocolate 3 includes bluetooth and is fully video capable. Also includes an FM transmitter so you can play music from your phone on your car stereo or an FM receiver. Click here for more Specs.

The Nokia 6650 comes loaded with features. Including GPS, a 2 megapixel camera, video recording, has a SD card slot, and it's 3G capable. The Nokia 6650 comes in silver or red. Other features include Headset jack and bluetooth. more specs

Keys and navigation

The Nokia 6650 has easy navigation. It has dedicated keys for GPS, volume(on the side), vibrate, medianet(internet), and the camera just to name a few. Nokia 6650 another feature rich phone from Nokia.
Nokia 6650
Nokia 6650

For a while there was a lot of hype surrounding the touchscreen keyboard esp with the inception of the iphone about 2 years ago. Personally I've never been a fan of the touchscreen keypad, after using the iphone and blackberry storm I still prefer the feel of a real qwerty keyboard on my phone. I make less errors with real qwerty keyboard. The feel and feedback even give me the ability to use it without constantly looking at the keys. So I was pleased when BlackBerry decided not to make the Bold another Storm like device.
here's a list of some of my favorite cell phones with real qwerty keyboards.
Black Berry Bold

HTC Fuze

HTC Fuze