What about a new car mount? The boys over at USBFever have managed to put together a fine stock of various style car mounts ranging from suction cup mounted, to air vent mounted, to even a mount that goes straight into the lighter, allowing for a constant charge and little clutter!

We at TamsPalm have obtained a version of the first, a suction cup mounted, 2-in-1 car mount. The shipment comes with the actual mount, and two holders, which are universal to all USBFever products.

The mount is unique in that each arm is made out of a flexible material (USBFever terms it as goosePipe) allowing you to position it anyway that you see fit.

While the dual armed design may seem a little over the top and unnecessary at first glance, having easy access to two devices at once (ie, my lifeflash, which is playing music while I am driving, and my cellular which has speaker phone enabled) is very handy indeed. The dual arms could also be used to hold a gps device or other standalone gizmo along with your Treo smartphone.

The holders themselves are ingeniously designed, allowing you to use virtually any device in any position imaginable. The devices are held in place by two spring loaded arms on the sides of the holders which, when squeezed together, clamp the device into place.  Releasing the device once you have reached your destination is as simple as pressing a button on the back of the holder.

The holder, when attached to the mount arm, allows you to rotate the device 180 degress in each direction, allowing you to view your device in landscape mode (however, I don’t recommend watching videos while driving!) which is preferable for some PocketTunes skins.

The device also has one of the most thought out suction cups I have seen. Most require you to push and prod until the correct suction is reached, or God forbid, you have to lick the cup to attain proper suction, however USBFever’s mounts use a hingy thinger, to obtain an insane suction with little effort on your part by using a locking hinge to gain leverage and suction . The suction can withstand running over even the hardest speed bumps at full speed (believe me ) and make for an insanely reliable mount. The suction cup even allows you to attach the mount to a desk, doubling it as an office cradle, should the need come up!

All in all, the Twin Holder car mount is a wonderful deal at only $25.99 at USBFever. (http://usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=428) To anyone who is ever listening to music while they are driving, has a GPS kit, or would simply like easy access to their speaker phone, USBFever is the place to go!

The charger is available for the reduced price of 0.01 $ (former price 9.99 $) via usbfever.com.
Note: because of this very low price the quantity is limited to 1 pc/customer!

Universal Slim USB Car Charger product page

Palm’s latest GSM Treo’s have the same form factor and use the so-called Athena Multiconnector for data exchange – so, a cradle for the Treo 750v should theoretically also work on the Palm Treo 680. Brando gladly provided TamsPalm with a free sample – let’s get reviewing!

Brando’s products ship in envelopes via standard mail. So far, customs always left the envelopes alone, and the contents always arrived in good condition:

The cradle itself ships in a small white box:

One of the first things one notices about the docking station is its size – it is much bigger than the docking stations for other handhelds. Here are a few pictures next to a Treo 680 and a Palm TX:

A small blue LED is integrated into the otherwise-plain(no hotsync button) front of the docking station. The LED is very bright and always lights up when power is available to the cradle:

Putting the Treo into the cradle requires a bit of fidgeting – it takes a bit of practice to find the point where the Treo gets charged. Also, the angle of the Treo to the desk is unusually straight – Palm’s own cradles usually stand less upright. However, the docking station didn’t topple over in my tests:

Brando finally made the USB cable removable – the back of the cradle now has a mini USB port, where the supplied cable(about 1m long, which is still a bit too short) gets plugged in to establish a connection to the computer. The Treo charges decently fast via USB, altough the cradle also seems to be able to accept a mystery power supply unit that isn’t available anywhere:

The Treo 680 recognizes Brando’s cradle as a power supply – if no PC is connected, the cradle wasn’t identified by a in-house build of AutoSync that works on a Treo 680 and is available on request.

Overall, Brando created a solid cradle for Palm’s Treo 680 and 750v smartphones. If you can live with the slightly fidgety connection process, the lack of a hotsync button and the bulky size, this 20$ cradle will satisfy your Treo’s cradling needs fully.

Brando’s products ship from Hong Kong in rather small envelopes via standard mail. Customs seem to leave them alone, and stuff always arrived in good condition so far:

The cradle itself comes in a small white box:

After unpacking, I noted that one of the ‘feet’ was missing – no real problem, as the other ones fell of real fast too:

It looks like some kind of AC power supply can be attached to the back of the cradle to charge the Treo 600 faster – but as of now, I cant find such a thing on Brando’s web site.

Inserting the Treo usually works well – once you have figured out how to dock the Treo onto the connector. This is a bit more difficult than it was with the multiconnector, as the peripheral needs to ’slide’ into the Treo quite a bit:

A bright blue LED lights up when power is available. When the Treo is docked, it starts to flicker uncontrollably sometimes – dont ask me what that means, none of my USB ports were fried so far. The Treo stands upright in the cradle. It charges even when powered on – since Treos always charge slowly, the USB connection doesnt seem to have a major impact:

Overall, Brando has not disappointed me – they delivered a solid cradle with no serious weaknesses for 22$. If you want a docking station for your Treo 600, look at this cradle by all means.

The case is made of high impact, injection molded ABS plastic(the type used to make crash helmets, according to Proporta). I’ve personally stepped on mine and dropped the case with no ill-effects to either PDA or case. I doubt that it’s very waterproof, lacking rubber gasket seals. The case has a unique interchangeable front and back snap-in color plates feature. If you can’t make up your mind which color insert you like, you can buy their optional colored inserts (now you see why it’s called the “Chameleon”). The review unit I received had blue inserts. These plates can be purchased separately and are also available in Red, Dark Green and Blue. Unfortunately, the plates are difficult to change.

The Palm m500 PDA is held in the Chameleon with a plastic rail which fits securely in the left stylus slot. Inserting and removing the PDA from this case is not difficult. Luckily, you don’t need to remove your PDA from this case in order to sync with the cradle.

The inside of the case is lined with padded foam to lessen shock and protect your PDA’s finish. It also has a SD slot on the inside back side of the case. I guess I should say that it is supposed to have an SD card slot… I was not able to get my SD card to fit in this slot. It just didn’t seem wide enough. The case closes securely when your Palm is not in use via a sliding latch.

All in all, the Chameleon is a great case that is protective and stylish. Now my Palm has a home.

Addon by Tam Hanna for David Zucker: my Palm m500 dropped out of my car window today and survived without a scratch thanks to the case.
www.proporta.com ~$23.95 to $29.95 US

As always, Brandos products ship in yellow envelopes from Hong Kong. Austrian customs left them along so far:

The cradle itself is contained in a transparent foil:

When you look at the cradle, you immediately see the unusual configuration of the Brando Palm Z22 thingy. The long cable connects to the PC, while the short cable connects the apparature to the docked Palm Z22:

Brando couldn’t resist the temptation to include a blue LED; however, there is no hotsync button:

Getting the rather short mini usb cable attached to the Palm Z22 takes a bit of skill at first – however, once connected, the Palm Z22 sits well. Charging a powered on Palm Z22 is no problem btw:

Overall, Brando tackled the impossible and got it working. Their cradle looks cool and works well – if you like cradles, it’s a must have! The price of 20$ is ok…

However, Alexander Panek and I discussed the problem at a Burger King, and suddenly, we had the idea. The WristPDA has a Mini USB port just like the E, so why not plug sth for the E in. And alas, it worked:

The MiniSync with Charger is very small and can be carried around easily. This image shows it next to a Tungsten E2 and a Tungsten T3:

It can be expanded in 5 steps. Compacting it again is pretty easy as well, you just need to pull both ends simultaneously and then let them loose. Failure to pull both ends simultaneously ruins the device, so better be warned though! The length steps are:

Docking the WristPDA to it is no problem, the machine starts charging immediately. The charging rate is exactly what you expect from an USB-Only charger-the MiniSync obviously cant perform the voltage peak a WristPDA needs for full speed charging without frying attached TE’s.

The lack of a hotsync-capable machine made further testing impossible, but the WristPDA was able to “bug” a Windows XP machine so far that it asked for drivers. So, communication should be possible as well.

Overall, this thing comes in handy when you are on the go. The cable that ships with the WristPDA is way to long and bulky to carry it around comfortably with your notebook-the MiniSync is much smaller and can be taken almost everywhere. The mechanics feel very well, it looks as if the MiniSync will survive quite a few cycles. To cut a long story short- a must have if you travel around much!

No cradle review would be complete without a test of the syncing ability of the cradle, so here you go. Something you may notice when you plug it into your computer is that it doesn’t need the power cable to sync, just for music. In fact, it draws enough power to sync, charge, and even power the little blue light, right from the USB cable!

Why you want this!
You have a new Palm, and realize it doesn’t come with a cradle. Crazy right? Well, wait until you realize that the only cradles available on Palm’s website retail for $50. Their TX cradle comes with a universal power kit (who really uses that?), and an audio out connector (I thought that’s what the headphone jack was for). For $18 less (that’s $32), you get a perfectly good cradle that does all of the normal functions, and also plays music.

Any comments or questions about the cradle?

Brando ships the cradle in a regular envelope via snail mail. The box was a bit squashed, but the cradle was o.k..

A day was spent in the workshop and the E2 now fits in:

The secret is to remove the bar in front of the cradle. I erroneously tried to file off stuff from the back. Anyways, the E2 now fits in well, the cradle does not shake around. The machine stands straighter than in the original PalmOne cradles.

Power is supplied to the handheld via USB. A TE2 charges even when powered on. However, there is no way to attach an AC power supply:

A blue LED at the front of the cradle signals power. It light up if power is available, even if no handheld is docked:

The USB cable is about 90cm long-this is a bit too short for my taste. The cradle lacks a dedicated sync button and is not detected as an USB peripheral by AutoSync,… . BTW, the E2 fits into the cradle even if in Brabdo’s aluminium hardcase:

Overall, this cradle is funky. Modding it is not difficult if you know what to remove. The lack of a hotsync button is no problem for me as AutoSync detects the cradle as a power supply if connected to a PC. Automatic synchronisation really helps. The charging speed is fast enough for me-an external AC charger is faster though. However, the short USB cable can be a major nuissance. Also, it is absolutely useless if no PC is close!

The mechanics work well. You extend the cable by pulling simultaneously on both ends-failure to do so will distroy the device according to a “manual”. Expansion can be locked in 5 positions:

Compacting the cable is a little tricky. You need to pull both ends out a bit, and then leave the cable alone. It will compact itself while the momentum is big enough. This may sound strange, but works extremely well!

Of course, when I first saw a T3 charging over USB, I feared that it drew more than the specified 500mA(a T3 is rated 1000mA). Lisa Fletcher from Proporta emailed me the following text:

All USB cables have a limitation, allowing them not to draw as much power as a charger that connects via AC power. Therefore the cable will provide charge slightly slower to comply with the standards that are set. This is the same for all USB cables and not just our product. This will not damage the PDA in any way, as the cable is designed to charge the PDA without problems. The only difference you will notice is that it will take slightly longer and will allow you to charge the PDA off of your computer wherever you are.

So, Proporta says that its cable abides to the USB standard. I tested it on a few boxen with two or more ports and had no problems with fuses burning. However, some “compliant” portable hard disks blow the fuses on subnotebooks according to the c’t-so users of these small notebooks could maybe be at risk.
Last but not least, the connection between handheld and cable is extremely strong and the peripheral identifies itself properly(alert via AutoSync)-just look at this and you’ll understand what I mean:

Overall, this cable is interesting for people who use their handhelds as external drives and are low on space in their pockets. The mechanics are study and the cable works well. Charging a T3 works faster than with a regular usb-only cradle, but a docking station powered by its mains adaptor is faster AND pemits charging independant of PC’s. You need to decide about its suitability on a per-case-basis, but one can say that it can be extremely useful as an accecoire to the existing charge/sync infrastructure!