For Christmas, our family got one of the Total Blenders from Blendtec. We love it. We also think the videos on YouTube about them are pretty funny…if not a little weird.

Here’s one of our favorites…Blending Glow Sticks:

Here’s another…Blending a Rake:

And oh the humanity! How could they blend an iPad!

They must be Android fans over there…which isn’t a bad thing.

Android fans or not, it makes me cring to watch an iPad getting mashed. “Nooooo” is right.

Aside from the Rakes, glosticks, iPhones, and all the other stuff they’ve tested, the Blendtec Blenders actually do blend food and they to a smash up job at it as well.

We’ve made soup and ice cream in ours (although not at the same time)>

We’ve loved our Blendtec and you will too (well, your own at least…).

Check out our Blentec Total Blender Total Review here to get all the “Juicy” details.

Blendtec Total Blender - We have one and love it!

You’ve seen the videos, heard the rumors…iPods being blended into a soft powdery dust…a rake being chopped down to nothing…How about a glow stick, a remote control car, or the latest–an ipad.

The Blendtec Total Blender is a YouTube craze!  Interesting. . . But how does it work blending foods?

The TotalBlender blends more than iPhones and Glow Sticks

Finally, at a local store, I saw a demonstration using real foods–actually whole foods (stems, seeds, hulls and all)–to make delicious and healthy smoothies, sauces, and hot soups using only raw ingredients.

What I sampled was smooth and even textured (without the enormous ice chips and fruit chunks that my current blender left).

It was something I would want to drink every day.  And the soup?  It still amazes me that you can put raw vegetables into a blender, turn it on soup mode, and pour out warm soup in less than a couple of minutes.

I was sold.

We got the Blendtec Total Blender Basic, and I love it!

Since I had such a hard time finding reviews on blending actual food, I thought I’d give you the information.

Now that I’ve used it to make smoothies, juices, pancakes, ice cream, and dips–

The Basics about the Total Blender Basic:

I love it!  Its powerful, fast, and blends evenly.

The Blendtec is also very versatile.

Although my standard is smoothies, I’ve also used the Blendtec to grind grains, then make pancake batter out of the flour.

No problem.

I put chunks of vegetables in there to make creamy soups.

Unbelievable.  It was warm!  And super smooth!

We’ve made:

• Ice cream
• Hummus
• Pesto
• Fresh juice from whole fruits and vegetables
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Lots and lots of smoothies (where I hide all kinds of greens and seeds–my kids can’t tell they’re there).

After using the Blendtec regularly for several months now, I get frustrated when I’m traveling and use other blenders that just don’t cut it.

Does the Blendtec Total Blender really work better than my old blender?  Yes!  And you’ll notice the difference, too, from the first smoothie you make.

Experience = Lessons Learned

Blendtec Total Blender Tips

Here are a few tips that should save you some time with your new Blendtec:

Order is Important

I was so excited to use the Blendtec Total Blender  for the first time, but luckily I glanced through the recipe book first because I learned a few things:

• Soft ingredients go on the bottom
• Ice goes in last
• Repeat a blending cycle if you want it smoother

Like any new thing, there is a bit of a learning curve.

Smoothies Should be…Smooth 

My issue:  some of the smoothies got stuck with air pockets.

We’d use ice and frozen fruits during the winter and it would seem to jam (it really wasn’t jamming, but air pockets stopped the upper contents from being sucked down into the juicer).

Solutions learned:

• Make sure you have enough liquid
• Try a different setting.  For example, if you’re making a smoothie with lots of frozen fruit, go for the “Ice Crush” setting rather than “Smoothie.”

The air pocket is the only real issue I’ve had, so I’m glad I could figure out how to make it work great!

What Makes the Blendtec Total Blender Different?

From the square-shaped jar to the single-prong wingtip blade, the Smart-Touch Tecnology to the pre-set blending options, and power, power, power. . .

The Blendtec is designed to out-shine, and here’s what it all means. . .

What is Smart-Touch Tec-nology?

The Blendtec Total Blender is equipped with Smart-Touch Tec-nology, which means that the blender automatically speeds up and slows down to draw ingredients down to the blade.

It adds more power and friction just when you need it, then automatically shuts off.

Each cycle is timed, so you simply push the button and let the Blendtec do its thing while you watch the seconds count down on the digital timer.

What are the Preprogrammed Blend Cycles?

The Blendtec Total Blender has 6 Preprogrammed blending cycles in addition to the general speed and pulse buttons.

There’s no guess work here.

With the pre-set options, what you want is what you get.

•  Ice Cream / Frozen Yogurt
• Ice Crush / Milkshake
• Soups / Syrups / Fondues
• Sauces / Dips /Dressings / Batters
• Whole Juice
• Smoothie
• Pulse
• Speed Up
• Speed Down

Also, don’t be afraid to try different settings.  For example, if you’re making a smoothie with lots of frozen fruit, try the “Ice Crush” setting rather than “Smoothie.”

How Much Power are we Talking in this Blender?

The Blendtec Total Blender has so much power that it comes with an Ice-Crushing Guarantee to turn ice to snow.

I haven’t tried this yet, but snow cones are starting to sound pretty good!

Blender Specs:

• 1560 Watts
• 13 Amps
• 3 Horse Power direct-drive motor

. . . All this makes the blade spin at up to 29,000 rpm–this is where the Ice-Crushing Guarantee comes in.

What’s Different About the Blade…Why isn’t is Sharp?

The Blendtec Total Blender has a patented single-prong wingtip blade made of stainless-steel.

The blade is flat and turns up on the ends, and–this surprised me–its not even sharp!

It doesn’t have to be at the speeds that it runs.

You won’t cut yourself on this blade.

It’s an amazing design that the power and square shape of the blender work so well with a sturdy yet blunt blade.

The blade creates a better vortex than the average blender, micronizing whole ingredients and providing smooth, even-textured blending.

What about the Jar Container?

Capacity:  8 cups, 64 ounces, or nearly 2 quarts
Dimensions:  7x7x9.5”
Actual weight:  1.5 lbs.

The jar itself is also shorter and half the weight of typical blender jars that hold the same volume.

It has easy-to-read markings in both ounces and quarter-cup increments.  And I’ve measured–they’re accurate!

You’ll notice the Blendtec Jar has a unique square shape.

This design basically helps to blend whole foods better.

To be more detailed, the square shape works with the wingtip blade to create a better vortex (think of the cyclone down the middle when you’re blending), micronizing fruits and vegetables to make their nutrients more bio-available to the body.

The polycarbonate jar is BPA-free and made of durable copolyester.

This means the plastic is safe to use with food, and the jar is strong and sturdy enough to handle heavy daily use.

I was relieved to find its made from heavy-duty plastic because my old blender had a glass jar that broke when it went from cold to hot too quickly.

The strength and durability of the jar are exceptional.

If you blend in large batches, you may consider getting the WildSide Jar.

It’s compatible with the Total Blender and holds a high capacity of 3 quarts.

The WildSide Jar is available both on Amazon.com and Blendtec.com.

To Top it off…The Lid

The Total Blender Jar is topped with a vented gripper lid.

It fits perfectly, allowing no spillage.

The vent lets the jar breathe–This is especially important when blending hot liquids or making hot soup.

The mid section of the lid is removable, allowing you to add ingredients through the center opening without removing the lid.

How about Clean-up?

Clean-up is a breeze.

Simply put a bit of water in the blender jar, add a squirt of dish soap, and pulse a few times.

Rinse and let it dry. (The ease of clean-up is my husbands favorite feature)!

It Comes With a Recipe Book!

I mean a real recipe book–spiral bound with pictures and lots of detailed recipes.

Glance through it when you get it.

Not only does it inform you of the Blendtec possibilities, it also has some helpful advice for getting the best results out of your Total Blender.

What’s the Size of the the Total Blender?

Dimensions: 7” wide x 15” tall x 8” deep
Actual weight:  7 lbs

What’s great is that it’s sturdy enough for the job but not so heavy that it’s hard to move.

What are Others Saying?

The Blendtec Total Blender has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 215 customer reviews on Amazon.

Here’s just a sampling:

• “I have been extremely happy with the results of my morning smoothie, as well as several cream soups, chopped veggies, and a yogurt from the recipe book which is sent with the blender. . .”
• “Happy to say that after a couple of years of almost daily use, my Blendtec is still going strong!! “

Does it Have a Warranty?

The Blendtec Total Blender has a:

• 3-year motor-base warranty
• 1-year jar warranty
• Lifetime coupling-and-blade warranty

Where Can You Get the Best Price?

Purchase and learn more about the Blendtec Total Blender and any accessories directly from the Blendtec main website.

You can also read the reviews here on Amazon.com.

Although the video is a little old, it’s demo of the Click to see our =====>  Breville 800 jexl Review

Juicers have come a long way in the last 5 years. We were using an Oster, and it was leaking and making a mess. The capacity wasn’t all that great either.

The Breville 800 jexl Outshines other Juicers

The Breville 800 jexl really shines (no, really, it does) compared to other juices.

The great thing about reviewing a juicer is that you can see it in action much easier than other items, and the outcome is sooo tasty.

A Great Juice Extractor Makes Great Juice, but add some Fruit to the Veggies

We made some juice today with a number of vegies, but adding a few fruits really helps to liven up the flavor.

Apples make a great addition to any juice you’re making, you can also add grapes and other fruits.

Apples are just so easy to add and they have a lot of juice in them.

The great thing about the 800 jexl is that you can put the whole fruit in. Got an apple?

Just toss the whole apple in. No need to peel the fruit or cut it up to fit better because the whole thing fits in the Breville.

It’s a lot of fun to try different juice mixes with the family and see what they think, and you’d be surprised in the varied tastes within a family.

Best Reviews of the Breville 800 jexl

Recently, we posted a detailed review of the Breville 800 jexl. In the review, we posted more videos of the juice extractor in action.

Those video demos aren’t as exciting as the one above, but Martha Stewart shows us how to use and invites her associate to come taste her latest creation.

You can view that review here.

Breville 800jexl Juice Fountain Elite

Here’s everything you need to know about the Breville 800jexl Juice Fountain Elite and why we bought it.

We’ve had some family members face some pretty serious health issues as of late and had some of our own.

Of course when these things creep up on us and surprise us, we look for everything we can do to overcome it.

We heard of all the health benefits of juicing and had been fans of antioxidant natural juices, but just recently, we became excited about what Green Juice can do for us and our family.

To make Green Juice and other healthy juices requires a good juicer to do it right. So after a lot of research, I finally decided on the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite Juice Extractor.

Hopefully, what I’ve put here in this review will be helpful to you in your decision.

I was really impressed with the Breville 800JEXL, and since we got it, we use it almost every day.

When I was searching, I watched Breville’s youtube demo video (see below) of this juice fountain, and I fell in love!

It has a 1000-watt or 1 1/3 horsepower motor that can move at 13,000 RPM, so we’re talking major power and speed. In the video, they were stuffing in whole apples, 3 carrots at a time, and pineapple with the rind. And juice came out instantly!

You can have an 8 oz glass of fresh, healthy juice in 5 seconds flat. That’s super fast!

To see how fast the juice flows out of the machine, how fast the pitcher fills up, is absolutely amazing.

Here’s a video showing what it can do:

How fast and powerful is it?

The Breville 800 JEXL has 2 speed controls:

High Setting (13,000 RPM) –  for hard fruits and vegetables, such as carrots and apples. It’s even powerful enough to juice pineapple with the rind.

You don’t have to wear out your fingers with excessive peeling and cutting, and it saves loads of time.

Low Setting (6,500 RPM) – for soft fruits, such as cantaloupe, oranges, and leafy vegetables.

The Breville Juice Extractor is also equipped with an electronic “smart chip” that regulates power to the blades depending on what you are pureeing.

It gives extra power when you put in your carrot, then slows back down for the pear. It varies depending on the juice load.

This is so important because it produces just the right mix making a superior drink compared to other juicers.

How Durable is it?

The Breville Juice Fountain Elite is made of tough stuff. It has a die-cast steel housing, and the parts are stainless-steel.

This makes the juicer:

1. Look awesome (it looks so good in the kitchen).
2. Stronger and much more durable than juicers made of plastic.

The plastic juicers I looked at (and tried in the past) just wouldn’t cut it.

Plastic juicers are easily stained from vegetable juice and the plastic parts eventually crack from too much strain. Neither of these are issues with the Breville 800 JEXL.

The stainless steel on the Breville will not stain, and because it’s so sturdy and solid it easily handles the pressure. We had tried an older juicer made of plastic and it stained pretty bad, the Breville hasn’t stained because it’s…well…stainless.

Compared to other juicers, you won’t get tired arms because the 1 1/3 horsepower motor does the work for you. You just put in the items you want to juice.

The cutter is a titanium-plated, stainless-steel disc, encasing 115 dual-action, diagonal knife blades–Does that sound cool, or what?.

The micromesh filter is also made of stainless steel. I don’t anticipate that wearing out any too soon.

The Breville 800jexl  is all about speed, strength, durability, and longevity.

Plus the look is sleek and sophisticated.

I’m looking forward to using this juicer for years and years. It’s also one that the family loves to comment about when they come over because the design is so elegant and it makes juices so fast.

Martha Stewart featured the Breville 800jexl on her show:

Easy to Use

The juicer is powerful and easily processes rinds so you don’t have to peel. That makes it soooo easy to make juice in seconds.

What about chopping? The feed tube is circular and three inches across to accommodate whole fruits and vegetables, and easily fits a whole apple or orange!

I just couldn’t believe it when I saw you could put whole fruits and vegetables in the juicer.

This is an important feature for me because I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and it’s sometimes difficult for me to peel and chop all that produce. But thankfully, I won’t need to spend the time or effort with this powerful juicer.

How the Juicer Makes Magic

It’s really simple the way the juice extractor works.

The feed tube is located on the top of the juicer. Put the fruit or vegetable in the tube, guide it down with the pusher, and from there it passes through the cutter.

The Breville Juice Fountain has the feed tube centered right over the cutter so it can process large amounts of fruits and vegetables instantly.

After going through the cutter, the pulp is then forced against the stainless-steel micro-mesh filter, pressing out as much juice as it possibly can.

The residue, which is less than you would think, is then extracted into the pulp container.

So much of the juice is extracted from the fruits and veggies that the left-over pulp is surprisingly dry.

You can tell by the pulp that the Breville 800JEXL is nothing shore of awesome. When I was investigating at first, I saw lots of reviewers raving about the smooth and virtually pulp-free juice.

What’s Included with the Breville 800JEXL

The Breville 800JEXL juicer comes with:

• Pulp container to catch the residue. It’s large and holds up to 100 fluid ounces so you can make lots of juice without having to constantly empty the residue.
• Juicing pitcher that catches the good stuff. It holds 34 fluid ounces (or 1 liter) and has measurement markings on the side. It is made of clear plastic and has a handle and a spout. It also has an opening to insert the spout on the juicer where the juice comes out so there is no overspray. Watch for the “MAX” fill marking–look out, it fills up faster than you realize!
• Defrother to go on the pitcher. The 800 JEXL is so fast and powerful, it can produce a lot of froth. The de-frother is a nice addition because you can get rid of any froth you don’t want.
• Recipe Book with the user manual, to help you know what’s going to taste good together. Being a newbie juicer, I welcome all the tips I can get.
• Scrub brush, a good, stiff one to scrub out the mesh filter and cutting blades.

What About Clean-up? Does it Make a Mess?

Now this surprised me, but these parts are dishwasher-safe! That makes clean up easier than ever. If you choose to hand-wash the parts, use the scrubber brush that comes with the Breville Juice Fountain to make it easier to get all the pulp off the mesh filter and other parts.

The smooth, stainless-steel parts make for easy clean-up, and the assembly/disassembly is a cinch.

The parts easily clamp down, so you don’t have to worry about screwing things apart like with other juicers.

A hint that will save you some effort: Wash the juicer immediately after use, before the pulp has a chance to dry and harden.

One more hint: You can line the pulp catching container with a plastic bag, so when you’re done, you simply throw away the residue. One less dish to wash! What will I do with all the extra time?

Where to Store the Juice Fountain?

Before deciding on a juicer, I pictured where in my home this would go–probably on a counter corner because we would use it almost every morning. Would I mind having it there? No, it’s sleek, sophisticated, and it’s among the best-looking appliances I have.  It’s the perfect addition to the kitchen.

It’s dimensions are 8 x 9 x 19 inches

What about the Warranty?

If you do happen to have any trouble the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite includes a 1 year warranty, so you can rest at ease knowing you’ll be taken care of.

What Others Are Saying:

A lot of people are talking about the Breville Juice Extractor. Last time I checked, there were over 600 reviews on Amazon alone!

Buyers of the Juice Extractor have rated it with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars on both Amazon.com and the Breville website too.

Here’s a sampling of what they’re saying:

“For the fantastic quality and rugged construction you are get far more for your money than any other juicer on the market.”

“You may think this machine is a lot of money, but if you want to have a juicer with real speed and a strong motor, this is the way to go. Not only that, but it’s very attractive to look at as well. This is money well spent in my opinion”

“I’ve owned other juicers, but this one is a monster. At high speed, it’s loud no doubt, but it’s power is without equal. I make a monster glass of juice (close to a quart) with 7 fruits and vegetables. It rips through all of them as if it were a joke. All the vegetables take about a minute, then i’m done.”

It was a lot of fun to see a number of juicer owners say that if their house were on fire, their Breville juicer would be one thing for sure that they’d save.

Any Complaints about the Breville?

Breville explains that one minor issue comes when you quickly feed several fruits or veggies with high water content through the juice extractor.

Sometimes a little juice leaks out between the juicer cover and the filter bowl. This is because the juice is extracted so quickly that the force may cause a bit of leaking.

So, if this happens, just make sure the juicer is on low speed and press the food pusher down more slowly. Then you shouldn’t have any more leaking problems.

One person mentioned she had a little juice flowing back into the pulp-catcher, but then she realized she hadn’t been cleaning her screen filter like she should have. Once she scrubbed it clean, she no longer had a problem.

So be sure to use the stiff brush that’s included with your juicer to make sure the screen is clean.

Even though the Breville is a top of the line juicer, I was a little hesitant because of the price.

The videos I watched helped and I hope this review has been helpful to you.

If you want to see more about the juicer, click the links below to view it on Amazon’s website.

It’s durable, long-lasting, fast, easy cleaning, and one person mentioned how she saves money in the long run on produce because the Breville Juice Fountain extracts so much more juice than her old juicer. Less produce is wasted.

Sometimes quality means much more than a few extra dollars. It’s the cry once, love it for a lifetime kind of thing.

Health Benefits of using a Juicer

So, like I mentioned earlier, the health benefits are what attracted us to a juicer that can make quality juice, is easy to use and makes juice with almost no wait time.

I look forward to more healthy eating while being able to make tasty treats in no time!

Just think of all the yummy juices you can make with the juicer and how good for you those juices can be.

I’m not an expert on the health benefits of all the juices you can make, but I sure know that they’re better than all the sodas, energy drinks, and slurpees that are out there.

Just by getting the juicer, you’ll have great drinks to replace those un-healthy drinks with.

Think of all the health benefits of just doing that!

Now think of all the research that is being done and has shown how good the natural vegetable and fruit juices are for you.

If those juices can help you prevent major sicknesses or maladies or just plain make you feel healthier, it’s worth it compared to the mounds of health related bills for not taking proper care of ourselves!

Where Can You Buy the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite?

I looked around online, and when I checked Breville’s site, the Juice Fountain Elite was out of stock.

I checked Martha Stewart’s store, since she recommended it, and it was out of stock there, too. I couldn’t believe it!

Luckily, I found it on Amazon.com. I found Amazon had the best deal, too, because they offer free shipping.

If you see it available, you oughta go ahead and buy it because it’s a popular item.

Click here to see the Juice Fountain Elite on Amazon.

Where Can You Read More Reviews for the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite?

To really get a feel for what people think about Breville Juicer, check out Amazon.com.

When I last checked they had over 600 reviews with an almost perfect user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Click here to read more about it on Amazon.com.

Below are some of the FREE products they offer. The tools are built with Flash, so it had no trouble running in my Google Chrome browser. With the talk about the New Google Chrome Operating System, Aviary is more relevant than ever.

Phoenix

Phoenix is Aviary’s image editor. Bye bye Photoshop! Again, simply awesome that it’s being offered for free, and the pro version is a very small yearly subscription. I’m pretty cheap, but the yearly subscription price looks very good if you want to use it commercially.

Peacock

Peacock can be used to create backgrounds, effects, etc. It’s pretty amazing and even more amazing that it takes place within the browser.

Raven

Raven is the Vector editing program. Simply awesome.

Do these tools replace Adobe’s suite of tools that cost thousands of dollars? Perhaps not right now, but that’s the thing about disruptive technologies; Aviary may very well replace the need for the user that doesn’t need all of the features of the Adobe suite.

So, go Aviary! Sign up if you have the chance for a free account and test it out. If you really like it, sign up for the paid account. I’m sure they’d appreciate it, and that would help the community to keep going.

EA Sports Active is a lot of fun to play.  We awaited the game with anticipation with a lot of other people, and we’re not disappointed.  Of course there are a few things we wish were different, which are noted below, but overall, EA Active is a fantastic game to help you get in shape and tone your muscles.

Game Basics - The game comes with a resistance band (minimal assembly required just FYI), a leg holster for the nunchuck and the game.   The Nunchuck is placed in the leg wrap and it lets the game know how well you’re running, squatting, etc. You a provided a personal training who unlike the Wii Fit, is a real person you can see with video and will give you great feedback telling you to pick up the pace if you fall behind.  The game is also compatible with the Wii Balance Board.

Below are a few video demos of the EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii.

Obviously, if you want games to play with the Wii balance board, you need the board. The board comes with the Wii Fit game which has Aerobics, Yoga, Balance Games, and Strength Training.

Active Video Game Highlights:

Personal Trainer – The game offers you a personal training.  Video of a real person demonstrates how to perform each exercise.  Your trainer will tell you if you’re doing things right or if you need to adjust.  He or she will also offer encouragement to help keep you going.

Exercises – The great thing about the game are all the different exercises that can be combined into a workout.  The resistance band is great for increasing the difficulty of the exercises.  You can fold over the band to shorten it and make the workout more difficult.  The tennis challenge is one of my favorites.

Workouts – The game provides a 30 day challenge with varying exercises each day.  The game will alternate exercises that target different areas of your body.  If you’re not up for a certain exercise in your workout, you can de-select and skip the exercise.

Varying Difficulty - At each workout, you can choose the level of difficulty.  Your selection is made for all exercises in the workout, and is great if you’re not feeling up to a big workout, but would still like to get up and going a bit.

Tracking Progress – The game will track your progress over time as well as the calories burned through each workout.

Two Player with Friends - You can play the game side by side with someone.  Make sure to have an extra nunchuck on hand.  You can also purchase an extra resistance band and leg wrap separately on Amazon: EA Sports Active Multiplayer Pack

Improvement Points:

The game does have a few limitations that are unfortunate, but don’t affect the overall play.

Character Choice – It’d be nice if there were more variety when designing your on screen persona.

Music Choice – The music is not bad, but it’s not great.  It would be cool if you choose music from the SD card.

Love the game, and we’ve been using it every day since we got it.

EA Sports Active is available at Amazon.com.

Any takers? Well if not, search for the episode. Needless to say there have been many humans watching their Android and waiting for the update to 1.5.

Has watching and checking the phone every minute made the the weeks/months go by more slowly. Well, that’s all in the past for some, and soon to be for everyone (until donut comes out).

Android 1.5 aka “Cupcake” is finally out. The roll-out has started, and the T-mobile user forum has the manual link you can use if you choose to manually update your phone (does not require that you root your phone).

I got as far as putting the update.zip on my SD card, and then…I decided I would wait for the Over the Air (OTA) update to be pushed to my phone.  For the following reasons:

1. Visiting the link in Google Chrome provided a hefty security warning dealing with the certificate and URL destination
2. I didn’t want to go until the next update wondering if I just created a security problem on my phone (due to reason #1)
3. In conversation yesterday, referring to credit, I mentioned that things are more expensive to those who can’t wait (I didn’t want that statement to haunt me if I bricked or otherwise compromised the security of my phone just because I couldn’t wait ’til Monday…let’s hope I get it then).
4. Waiting provides an excellent lesson in patience for me.  If you’ve ever read Zen in the Martial Arts (a really good, short book bytheway), you’ll know it’s kind of “kung-fu-ie-and-all” (Kung Fu Panda) to master the anticipation and enjoy fully the excitement, when it is time.

Well, we’ve all felt it’s about time, but a little Zen practice will only help.  So yes, update.zip is sitting on my desktop now, but it is not on my phone, and I will wait for the OTA to upgrade.

For those who have received the update, here’s from the official Android.com page about some of the new features:

Update: 5/29/2009

I received cupcake this morning through the Over The Air (OTA) delivery at 1AM!

The link to the T-mobile Android Forums below provides a great list of the new features in Android 1.5:

http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/board/message?board.id=Android_MR&thread.id=3

The new version of Gmail for mobile devices is much improved. It works on Android, iPhone, and probably other mobile devices. The difference in this version is that Google Gears is employed to help make checking email much faster and offer the ability to perform tasks even when off line.

The new web app offers quick links at the top for Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and “more.”

Gmail in this new version lets you see conversations more easily and allows for bulk edits. The follow bar is interesting when you open a conversation to read.

Google Docs looks great in the new version. The display icons add a lot to the design.

An improvement that could be made (on Android) is to make the links that you click behave more like buttons rather than hyperlinks that receive the standard link box around them when activated or highlighted.

Below is a demo of the new features.

Fortunately, there are now some pretty exciting games coming out soon that we’ve highlighted below.

Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout is a good game on the economical side of things.  If you’ve been using the Wii Fit, this game looks to be an enhancement of the same concept.  The game is compatible with the Wii Blanace board which is a big plus.  We’ve been waiting for some good exercise games to compliment the Wii Fit game.

EA Sports Active looks to be a very promising game.  Not yet released as of this writing, but you can catch a glimpse with the video demo.

What looks neat about this game is that you have more than just the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to toss into your television.  Seriously though, the game comes with an elastic stretch band and a leg wrap.  The Nunchuck is placed in the leg wrap and it lets the game know how well you’re running, squatting, etc.  Pretty neat idea.  The game is listed higher than the Gold’s Gym game, but with all the options and accessories, it looks to be quite good.

Below is the video demo of the EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii.  The Tennis exercises look pretty cool.

Obviously, if you want games to play with the Wii balance board, you need the board.  The board comes with the Wii Fit game which has Aerobics, Yoga, Balance Games, and Strength Training.  The game tracks how often you come back to use it and will give you praise if you come back often, and will also give that little nudge of guilt if you haven’t exercised in a while.  The Yoga exercises are pretty good.  We’re looking forward to more Yoga titles coming to the Wii and Wii Balance Board.

And of course, if you don’t own the Wii, you’ll need to get one.  We had a “fun” time trying to find a Wii to purchase last year.  We tried lots of different stores, tried meeting people in parking lots, etc. The best way, and the way we got the Wii, was by putting our cell phone number into the Wii listing page on Amazon.  Amazon.com then sent us a text message when the Wii was in stock.  Bingo!  We got the Wii!

ShopSavvy

• An incredible application.  It’s so fun to scan items in the store and find them cheaper somewhere else or on Amazon.com.
• If you want to see prices more quickly, turn off the location finder in the application.  That way the app doesn’t have to find out where you are and get local prices.

Power Manager

• Great for saving battery power.  I highly recommend it.  Another great benefit of the Power Manager is that you can easily toggle the Wi-fi, GPS, Cell Location, etc.
• The application has different settings that will take effect on your phone based on the battery level.  You can have it automatically turn off the Wi-Fi, etc.

Opera Mini

• This web browser is great for the G1.
• Pages are downloaded much faster because the images on the page aren’t displayed at full quality.  On the smaller screen however, they look just fine.

MyTracks

• Just ran this morning using MyTracks.  It’s pretty cool, but it took it a second to get a GPS lock on my location.
• The application tracks your position based on GPS and will store the route that you ran on Google Maps (you’ll need to be out in the open for the GPS to get a good lock).

Brain Genius Deluxe

• This application/game is a fun little way to beef up your memory skills.

SkyMap

• This application is great.  Go outside at night, point your phone towards the heavens and the application will show the constellations in the sky based on your location/time of year.
• The constellations are mapped out with names.
• This would have been handy when I was working on that constellation merit badge when I was 12!

Here’s a video demo of SkyMap that we found on YouTube.  The video is a little blurry, but you get the idea:

I’ve downloaded and tried a number of different applications, but ended up not using them very much and removing a number of other apps that always ran in the background but I never used.  How to find out what applications are running in the background, use the System Monitor application – very handy.

All these apps can be found by accessing the Market icon from your android phone.