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Charge Up With Summer!

June 19, 2012 in Android, Business, Business, Computers, iPad, iPhone, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Mac, Main Blog, PC, Phones, Product, Slideshow, Tablets, Travel, Travel, Travel, Travel, Travel

So summer is here and the sun is shining, but now you have a terrible dilemma. You want to be outside but the electricity is inside, so what do you do? What if I told you, that all you had to do was strap on a backpack and you would be good to go? I know you may be thinking “Awww, it’s summer; schools out, I don’t wanna wear a backpack.” Just hear me out. Samsonite developed a very light weight that makes a great travel bag, laptop tote, or overnight rucksack. Introducing the Samsonite Solar Powered Backpack.

While the Solar Backpack clearly lacks creativity in name, Samsonite obviously chose to spend that time on the actual product. Time well spent, in my opinion.

The Use

The Solar Backpack goes on like a normal backpack, no surprise there. I found the straps and back to be extremely comfortable, even when carrying a laptop and a few books. Here is where it gets interesting though. The Solar Backpack has a 12v adapter (a car charging port) attached to the front pocket and connected to a solar panel. With this port you can plug in any adapter that you would normally plug into a car and supply power to that device. The backpack works great on iPhone, iPads, iPods, and numerous other portable devices. The smaller devices can be charged in about 4 hours of sunlight, while larger electronics will take longer. One trick that I do is use my USB Power Bank, a portable power pack, and have that connected to the backpack and always charging when in the sun, then I just plug in my devices into that and I can have power regardless of whether I have sun or not.

The only problem I had with Samsonite was that they do no provide a USB car adapter, therefore I had to purchase my own to use with my iDevices.

The Compartments

 

The Solar Backpack is a treasure trove of pockets. The Backpack consists of three main compartments ranging to the largest, which can accommodate a laptop up to 15.9 inches along with some books, to the smallest front panel which is great for storing all of those gadgets. On the outside you will find a side zippered pocket as well as a mesh water bottle holder, both of which are good sized. The only problem I have noticed with the compartments is that there is no hole in the front one to feed a charging cable out to a device or headphones from a charging device to my ears.

The Solar Panel                                    

I thought I would breifely mention the quality of the solar panel. It is flexible and durable, and it appears that it will be able to withstand a beating, which is good especially if you are a frequent traveler and choose to use this bag as your carry on. The only problem I have noticed is that the both the solar panel and the backpack get quite hot, expectantly so, considering they are black and sitting out in the sun. I just worry that a laptop might get overheated in these conditions, so be careful.

 The Overall

Overall the Samsonite Solar Powered Backpack is a great product. It is very spacious and comfortable as well as durable. The solar technology works great at topping up my devices and I take comfort in the fact that I can now venture outside without having to worry about dead batteries. The only problems I had were the lack of an adapter as well as a headphone hole and, the excessive absorption of heat. The Solar Powered Backpack can be purchased HERE originally for $300, but right now it is ON SALE FOR $134.99!! So get it while its hot! I give it 4.5 Stars because of the minor problems.

 

Did you get it? Have an app or product you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.

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SMS Audio STREET By 50 Headphones Rock My World

April 16, 2012 in Accessories, Android, Entertainment, Entertainment, iPad, iPhone, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Main Blog, Music, Music, Music, Product, Slideshow

Music is one of the main reasons I purchased my iPod Touch in the first place, yet Apple’s headphones, while iconic, are severely lacking in quality. Enter STREET by 50 Headphones. These super stylish headphones are incredible, not only are they super comfortable but they also look great wearing around your neck, meaning you can embrace your inner hipster and walk the boulevard in fashion.

The Presentation:

I have to hand it to SMS Audio, their packaging is quite stunning. I could tell just by looking at the box, that they spared no expense for these headphones. Inside you’ll find the STREET by 50 Headphones of course, a convenient carrying bag, cleaning cloth, owners manual, and also as an added bonus, an airplane adapter which is great if you travel a lot.

The Design:

The STREET by 50 Headphones are a pair of over-the-ear headphones, they come in blue with black or black with blue and feature leather padded ear cups and head band. The headphones are gorgeous with a matte trim and elegant logo. The 3.5mm cable is decent in length, and is completely detachable from the headphones like other high end pairs. The cable also has mic/music controls, great for playing or pausing music, changing the track, or calling up Siri. The microphone is well positioned and will capture every word you speak.

      

Durability:

SMS Audio prides themselves on the durability of their headphones, the Street by 50 are no exception. SMS Audio uses a custom polymer plastic that is stronger and more flexible than alternative headphones. In fact, they are so confident on the durability that they dared me to try and break them, I passed them up on that offer; but 50 Cent himself didn’t, so check that out below. The only downside to this construction is the headphones do not fold up for travel, but SMS Audio claims that they purposely did this to create a more secure product.

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Another plus of the STREET Headphones is the design of the ear cups. SMS Audio uses sound absorption gaskets, fancy for overlapping seams and lots of padding materials, which provide very minimal sound leakage; meaning no matter what you may be listening to,  I won’t judge, no sound will be heard by others. The Street headphones also include Passive Noise Cancellation, this means that instead of canceling outside noise by producing an opposite frequency SMS  Audio chose to keep your music pure, and engineered the acoustics and mechanical construction to produce 95% Total Harmonic Distortion sound, which means when your music is playing, that is all you’ll hear.

The Sound:

Okay, by now you are probably wondering, “when is he gonna get to how these sound?” Well reader the time is now; the STREET by 50 produce stunning sound. Like melted butter, your music will flow into your ears, warming your soul. On a serious note, the sound is astounding. Every note is crystal clear, each melody is literally music to my ears. The bass is freaking awesome; each WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP can pound your brain in to mush, if your so inclined. The volume range is great as well. I generally keep my volume slide just past the play/pause button in the music app, yet with the STREET Headphones  I can place it about half as far and still hear just as well.

The Overall:

So there you have it, my take on the SMS Audio STREET by 50 Headphones. In case you’ve decided to skim my article, and merely look at the pictures, let me break it down for you.

 Good: Audio Quality, Comfort, Style, Packaging, Music Control

 Bad: Not Collapsible, A Little Large

With a $249.00 price tag, they are a little on the pricey side, but still they are right along line with the other top of the line headphones. I definitely think they are worth it, 4.7 stars for sure. I mean I do wish they could collapse, but SMS Audio knows best, so I take comfort in the fact that my headphones will outlast my friend’s Beats.

Did you get a pair? Have an app or product you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.

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App Review: iHome + Sleep

May 17, 2011 in iPad, Lifestyle, Main Blog, Uncategorized

Name: iHome + Sleep, the alarm clock app from the expert on alarm clocks
Category: Utilities
By: SDI Technologies
Price: Free
Compatible devices: All devices with iOS 3.0 or above
Plomonet rating: 8/10

I have always been bad at waking up in the morning. Over the years I have bought countless alarm clocks but I never seemed to find a good one. Recently I’ve been using the alarm clock feature on my cheap phone which I haven’t been able to replace as I was saving up for the iPad. It works well – but it was really crappy with no features.

So when I got my iPad 2 the other day I thought I could take advantage of the louder speaker on it to use it as an alarm. I later realised that it didn’t have a built-in alarm application so I went to look for one. The application I was first introduced was the iHome + Sleep app. It has various useful features – you can sleep to your favourite music, as well as wake up to them, and it probably has all the features you would want from an alarm clock. Because of the loud volume of the iPad, it basically plays max volume music in the morning, and you can set multiple alarms with custom repeats.

You can set reminders to sleep by setting it on the alarm settings, to prevent yourself from staying up too late. You can also enable the option to post on your twitter or facebook when you sleep/wakeup if you want to be stalker-friendly, although I see no point in using that. You can also add your weather location to the app, to see the current weather, and the weather for “tomorrow morning” and “tomorrow evening”. It’s not too useful for me since I do not care too much about the weather, but it may help some of you to decide when to sleep warm. Another great feature is that you can select your sleep “type” – nap or alarm. With the nap feature, you can set the length of your nap, and it starts counting down once you slide the screen to tell the app that you are going to sleep. Other than that, it has the same features as the normal alarm clock.

In the past, I have used Sleep-cycle for the iPhone on my iPod touch. The problem I had was that I couldn’t sleep my iPod, so I had to have a charger on my bed. I also had to have it plugged into a speaker so that it would ring loud enough in the morning. With the iHome+Sleep app, the speaker of the iPad is loud enough to wake you up (unless you think you can’t wake up with your iPad playing music with the maximum volume), and you can sleep your iPad. This is especially important for me since I only use the smart cover to protect my screen, and leaving it out with no cover may make my screen dirty.

Overall I have had no problems using this application – it definitely is the best alarm clock I’ve used so far. It allows 1 minute snoozes (anywhere between 1-60minutes, with 1 minute intervals), which is good for me as well since I often simply turn off my alarm and never wake up. I’d give it a 8/10, it’s definitely a great app. Improvements that can be made could include having more built in sounds – especially for sounds you “sleep-to”, since my iTunes library doesn’t really consist of anything I can sleep to. It also would be better, if it had some other feature that makes use of the abilities of the iPad. For example voice recognition for snoozing and stopping the alarm, or somehow using the accelerometer to snooze. At the moment it is simply a very good alarm clock.

About the Author: Shoki Hoshino – Windows user. Does not see the benefits of using Mac OS X, however prefers iOS devices over android. Prospective engineer and web entrepreneur, currently a student.

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