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Electronics and Home Entertainment
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Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:13 |
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The Bose SoundLink II mobile Bluetooth speaker sounds very good, is extremely easy to use and feels substantial with quality buttons. We tested the unit with the black finish and dark nylon gray cover. It's an elegant design that is rugged enough to pack in a suitcase for trips.
We listened to a variety of music using Bluetooth and plugging directly into the AUX jack on the SoundLink II. The wireless performance is acceptable but impacts the fidelity of the signal. However, for convenience and background music it's a very good option. The best results of course are with the direction connection using the AUX jack.
The overall sound quality is good but a little muddy or what some might call a little boomy. We'd like a little more high end. However, for a speaker of this size the overall output and dynamic range is impressive. The Bose SoundLink II performs best when allowed some head room and not pushed too hard.
Bose claims the SoundLink II will run for about 8 hours with the built in rechargeable battery. We did most of our tests indoors so we tended to leave it plugged in. However, eight hours is plenty to make us feel comfortable about using it without an outlet nearby.
The nylon gray cover also serves as the kick stand for the SoundLink II. Simply pull it away from the front speaker and fold it under the unit and it supports itself perfectly. Very cool way to protect the front transducers and a allow a seamless transition to make the unit upright.
Bose tends to make great products. The company has an incredible innovation team and generally releases products that will be successful or kills them very late in the development process. The SoundLink II is an excellent choice for a portable powered Bluetooth speaker and we expect the build quality and Audi like buttons will provide many years of service.
Visit Bose for more informationa and to get all the specs on the SoundLink II. |
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Electronics and Home Entertainment
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Saturday, 02 February 2013 00:11 |
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Sanyo eneloop AA rechargeable batteries are good a place to start when investing in rechargeable batteries. We were very impressed with the performance of these batteries over an extended period of time using them in wireless mice, Wii remotes, RC toys, radios and misc portable devices.
Sanyo's latest eneloop technology allows the batteries to be recharged up to 1500 times and has improved the self discharge characteristics so the batteries have increased storage life, up to 3 years at 75%. We tend to use all of our rechargeable batteries simultaneously but this improved shelf offers more peace of mind in scenarios where real time swapping of batteries might be necessary such as working remotely or traveling.
The 2000mAh Ni-MH pre-charged batteries are also designed to work in extreme temperatures down to -4 F and Sanyo has worked to eliminate the memory effect so batteries can be recharged when fully or partially drained. We didn't notice any memory effect on our use and generally always filled up our charger with 4 batteries whether they needed charging or not.
The white casing and logo of the eneloop batteries help to make them stand out so they don't get thrown away accidentally.
Battery technology still has a long way to go but the Sanyo eneloop series offer good enough performance to warrant upgrading from disposable batteries.
Visit Panasonic / Sanyo to find out more about the eneloop brand and battery technology. |
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Electronics and Home Entertainment
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Thursday, 27 December 2012 20:41 |
The Kindle Fire HD is an appealing product and a great choice if you consider it a media consumption device first and full featured portable computing device second. If you’re looking for a full featured portable computing device first and media device second it’s worth paying the premium for the iPad mini if it’s in your budget.
The Kindle Fire HD is great for kids and has additional features that aren’t available as part of the app for the iOS. So it’s better than just downloading the app and running it on your iOS device. Amazon has created a compelling full-featured device, although, based on our recent Southwest flight we anticipate the primary uses will be reading books and playing games, and not necessarily in that order. Amazon Prime customers benefit from a library of content that can be “loaned out” or viewed without an additional charge.
Amazon still has a long way to go on it’s design. The front facing camera resembles the button at the bottom of an iPad. Everyone we showed the device to repeatedly pressed the camera lens as if it was a button. And once they figured out it was the camera couldn't understand why it wasn't on the other side of the device. The on/off and volume buttons on top of the device could be improved to make them easier to use as well. Again, for the price the Kindle Fire HD is hard to beat but don’t expect the elegant design of the iPad mini.
The iPad mini is a beautiful device. This is what Apple does better than any company on the planet. We’re all used to the way iOS devices work. So whether you pick up an iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, iPod…whatever, it works the way you expect it to. Plus all apps are thoroughly vetted and best of breed.
You can read countless reviews comparing the specs of the iPad mini, Kindle Fire HD and Barnes and Noble Nook for that matter. There are differences in the display technology, processors, expandable memory…etc., but we consider most of these differences negligible in real world use. What the Kindle Fire HD needs is two cameras.
We’ve yet to see anybody in our testing community complain about screen resolution, memory or processor speed. What they complain about is, “How do I take pictures on the Kindle Fire” or “where is the app that let’s me do x or y”. With the digital convergence of all our mobile computing devices we’ve come to expect full functionality from all our devices no matter the price point.
So if you want a full-featured computing device with the best design pay up for the iPad mini. If games, books, other entertainment are the primary uses and budget is a concern the Kindle Fire HD is a great option. The content perks that come with an Amazon Prime membership also gives the Kindle Fire HD an edge as a consumption device. |
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