Motorola Droid Razr Maxx hands-on (video)

Its showing wasn’t as noteworthy as it was last year, but Motorola still at least brought a few new goodies to put on display. The latest major addition to Verizon’s Droid Razr family, the Razr Maxx, was on hand, as were the white and purple variants of the original version. So what makes the $300 subsidized Maxx so different from its predecessor? Simply enough, the name is a direct reflection of the phone’s battery life, as it sports a thicker (translating to a thickness of 8.99mm, a couple millimeters thicker than the original) 3,300 mAh juicepack that promises an out-of-this-world 21 hour talk time. Sadly, we didn’t have 21 full hours to dedicate to testing this claim, but we did have enough time to get a few pictures and a video of the entire Droid Razr family together at last below the break.

Nyko cures Kinect's farsightedness, brings bountiful battery life and alarm clock capability to the 3DS

E3 2011 is upon us, and you know what that means, a heaping helping of new gaming gear from Nyko. Zoom for Kinect is a set of clip-on specs that lets you get 40 percent closer to the sensor bar with no loss of function — so the studio apartment set can get in on the gesture gaming craze. Nyko’s Play Clock is a charging dock for Nintendo’s 3DS that doubles as an alarm clock, because you always wanted to turn your 3DS into an alarm clock. Nintendo’s new handheld could definitely use some longer battery life, however, so the company’s also rolling out three new extended battery packs for the 3DS. There’s the Shock n’ Rock that brings thrice the juice, “added vibration feedback,” and four speakers to your personal gaming party, while the Power Grip is an ergonomic external battery that also triples the 3DS’ battery life. Lastly, the Game Boost battery simply snaps on for an extra hour or two of gameplay. Prices and availability remain unsaid, but there’s eye candy in the gallery below and PR’s after the break.

Verizon and HTC offer Thunderbolt extended battery, give your phone dumps like a truck

Though never confirmed by Verizon, it seems likely that battery life (or more accurately, the lack thereof) played a part in the series of delays preceding the Thunderbolt’s launch. To combat this problem, Big Red and HTC are offering a rather unsightly extended battery pack that nearly doubles the handset’s capacity from 1400mAh to 2750mAh. All that extra juice will certainly come in handy for folks leaning heavily on the phone’s LTE radio. However, the device costs $50 and adds an ounce of junk in the trunk — on a device that isn’t svelte to begin with — so why not buy another standard battery for ten bucks less instead? Then you can use the Qi-compatible back and induction charging station Verizon’s releasing in April. It’s just under $100 ($29 for the back and $69 for the pad) for those who want to cut the cord and don’t mind the expanded waistline we assume comes with the privilege.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 review

Admit it, when you look at the picture above, all you really see is a laptop with a design that hasn’t changed much in the last ten years. It’s true, based on its professional aesthetic alone, the ThinkPad X220 can’t really be distinguished from the other X Series laptops Lenovo’s released pretty much on an annual cycle, but there’s much more than meets the eye with that there ultraportable. The 12.5-inch machine is filled to the brim with the latest and greatest technology, including a new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor, an IPS display, and a six-cell battery. And if you look even closer, Lenovo’s made some small tweaks to the touchpad and keyboard, which make more difference than you’d ever think. The point is, that all-too-familiar ThinkPad can deceive you with its boring business looks, but it’s arguably one of the best laptops we’ve ever tested. Hit the break to find out why we think it’s so laudable.