The Return of SoftMaker

An old favorite among the mobile tech community and mine from way back in the Windows Mobile days seems to be making a return to the mobile arena. SoftMaker the company in question in my opinion had the best desktop and mobile office suite of applications because it was not only compatible with Microsoft Office but in may ways it was quite superior. Their office suite consisted of TextMaker, PlanMaker and SoftMaker Presentations but, as good as it was, once Windows Mobile fell off it seemed like so did they, at least as far as mobile was concerned. After the iPhone was released many former WM users now iPhone users cried out for an iOS version which turned even louder following the release of the iPad but they refused seemingly due to the lack of the ability to sell their software outside of the App Store. Android, on the other hand does have that ability so that was the direction they decided to focus their energy on even though they still waited a long time before making that decision.

Twelve South BookBook Vol 2 for iPad

Any good tablet purchased with travel in mind deserves a good quality case. So, when I purchased Apple’s 3rd generation iPad I decided on a cheap temporary case until I could find one more suitable to my needs and sense of style. My initial thought was to go with Twelve South’s BookBook for iPad but after seeing it and how it works I realized it wasn’t for me. The mechanics behind setting it in an upright viewing angle was made overly complicated by having the user go through to many maneuvers back and forth on a regular basis. To give you an idea, you had to open the case, unwrap the string from the leather button, flip the case over, pull the string out from behind the iPad (by removing the elastic band holding the iPad then putting the elastic band back afterwards), extending it back to the same leather button to finally wrap it around said button. All these moves just to prop it up like regular monitor.

Griffin’s Charge + Sync Cable Kit (Updated)

A little over a year ago I shared my thoughts on the Griffin Charge + Sync Cable Kit which I listed as a “must have” accessory for any iDevice user because it allows you to carry one less cable by incorporating the use of a 30-pin detachable adapter which connects to a MicroUSB cable.