Smartphone Upgrade

Despite the fact that I have a cell phone charger that converts power from a standard outlet to a micro-USB plug at home and one at work and one that converts power from the cigarette lighter in my car (two of these came with my previous phone), the bright screen of my phone manages to drain its battery during the time it takes to sit down and sip a cup of coffee.

I thought about getting a solar powered charger or an external battery charging device.  I like the fact that these devices would charge the battery on both my current phone and other devices with a micro-USB port.  The downside is that these items are bulky and since I don't carry a murse there is a good likelihood that I would not have them with me when my battery dies.  


Recently, I purchased a second battery for my LG Revolution smartphone for about $6 including shipping from Amazon.com (although that prices doesn't take into account the $90+ annual charge for being a member of Amazon Prime).  With a second battery I hope to be able to change out batteries on the go and keep my phone ready to do my bidding.  The battery is small enough to fit in the little pocket on the front right side of a pair of jeans.  One problem with having a second battery I quickly discovered is that you can't tell by looking at it if it is charged or not and there is no point in bringing a dead battery with you anywhere.  I came up with the following solution to this problem and now have a system in place on both batteries that instantly lets me know if the spare is charged just by glancing at it.  I present the smartest thing I have done in recent memory:

It's dead, Jim. 

Fit and Ready for Action

With the addition to four colored stickers (two on each of my two batteries), I now know if my batteries are charged at a glance.  Green side up or facing away from my body in my pocket means that it's charged.  Red up or away means it is dead. 

If I did this all over again, I might go with a black sticker or piece of black tape for dead and white to indicate charged to fit with the black and white theme of this blog and lifestyle color choices but what's done is done.

Pro-Tip: Electronics only work when they have power making it useful to know if a battery is fully charged or not.

A Gadget Arrived

Wireless Keyboard and Track Pad Combo

Twenty-two months ago, in June of 2010, I made a note to myself indicating that I would like to buy a wireless keyboard that has a built-in track pad so that I could control a computer connected to a TV monitor from the couch.  Now it's here!

It's Bigger IRL

In the past, I tried using a wireless keyboard and mouse that come as two separate pieces, which does not cut it for me.  Using a wireless mouse from the couch would require me to have a book or something else that is both large enough to move a mouse around on and rigid enough to be able to set down on a soft couch and remain flat.  The problem with this is that the mouse inevitably moves around, which is a pain when you're trying to watch a movie and even the tiniest movement of the mouse causes the controls on the screen to pop up and distract from the story being told.  Counting the keyboard, now you have three things that all take up real estate which could otherwise be used for sitting or lounging as the couch was intended.  Finally, the last wireless keyboard I tried to use was not able to communicate with the computer unless I held it the bottom of it directly at the receiver on my computer, which is less than ideal for typing.

The ideal solution in my mind is to have one unit that has a full-sized keyboard with the same kind of track pad that you find on every laptop computer attached.  That way moving the device won't tell your computer to hold everything because you moved the mouse, you're not going to lose it between the couch cushions and you can use it to manipulate your computer a lot more effectively from the couch by just using a wireless mouse.

Aside from the benefit of being able to hook up my computer to my TV to watch internet based video, it's also nice to see how well, or how poorly (I'm looking at your Bing with your images that don't scale up on a large monitor) websites look when viewed on a large monitor.  Being able to pause a movie when the mood strikes to band out a bit of typing is also a really nice feature.