Everything Else Tech

All tech not fitting into Android and Blackberry categories.

HTC: customers prefer thin phones to better battery life | The Verge

0
32 days
by in Everything Else Tech, Gadgets

“At an event today, HTC’s vice president of product strategy Bjorn Kilburn noted that the company had conducted research last year to find out whether customers preferred thin smartphones to those which compromised thickness for better battery life. The answer, interestingly, was that they generally preferred thinness, at which point its plans for 3,000mAh-plus devices were removed from the roadmap.”

*

Yes, most of the customers preffer thin design against battery performance thickness, but that’s just because they aren’t professional or power users, so maybe one charge will get them through the day. What about the others? No 3000 mAh batteries on HTC?
How about manufacturing extended batteries with replacement backplates? HTC should learn a thing or two from Samsung!

http://mobile.theverge.com/2012/4/19/2960922/htc-customers-prefer-thin-phones-to-better-battery-life

Mobile World Congress has started today

0
85 days
by in Everything Else Tech, Gadgets

#MWC is the most important mobile show in Europe, a “must” follow-up of the C.E.S in the U.S.

You can find a list of the hottest items for today, the 1st day of the event.

Pretty exciting stuff, I tell ya!

And last but not least, our own @andreigarbea, with J&M Gadgets: you can find his channel here, give it a try, they make great video reviews!

Got a lot o’ readin’ to do tonite!

The Ocean Marketing fiasco

0
145 days
by in Everything Else Tech, Various Internet stuff

At first I thought this was a bad joke! Paul Cristoforo is the President of a PR company hired to handle communications in regards to a special game controller for disabled customers. Reading all the reports makes me wonder about a single thing: how was this guy able to survive in the business for so long?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/8K6g1l8t0z4/

and

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/paul-christoforo-ocean-marketing-emails

Christ!

Plantronics Discovery 975 – a Bluetooth headset

0
237 days
by in Everything Else Tech, Gadgets

I’ve been using BT headsets for more than 7 years now. I find them more convenient than the wired ones, although it’s true, it’s a hassle sometimes: keep it safe, keep it close, charge it, try to use it when you make and receive a call – oops - disconnected/out of battery/out of reach, the usual stuff.  But all in all, a truly handy tool for long talks at the office or when driving or doing anything else  and your hands occupied.

Over the years Sony-Ericsson BT headsets were trustworthy partners. In fact, these HBH series have to be the most reliable they ever launched; they’re still in production after so many years. Great price, battery life, great connectivity, great comfort. And a little bulky – there’s no perfect solution in life!

But after 3 or 4 of these in as many years I decided I need to move on: something without an over-the-ear-hook! And something less bulky! And I chose the Plantronics Discovery 975.

Here’s why:

Hardware:

  • Build quality is very good, sturdy, nice aesthetics and ergonomics. Hairpin shaped, this headset has a thin, short arm with nice, glossy, finish - yes, parts of it came off after 9 months of usage, but this is a working tool… So much for Premium quality though. While worn and stuck into the ear, the multi-function button works just fine; I need to press it a little harder in order to operate and I have to grab the unit with another two fingers, otherwise the ear would hurt. I try to interfere as little as possible with the headset while I’m wearing it. There’s also a volume button with 3 stages – they are notably different in volume, which is quite high for a BT headset. 
  • Charging/protection case: the headset comes with a charging case (with a battery inside) wrapped in Faux leather, which sports a led illuminated mini-display showing you connection status, charge level of both the headset (if inside) and case. The headset itself is a little lacking on stand-by and talk time (more about that later!), so they threw-in the charging case. This one will keep your headset full at all times. Both devices have the Universal Micro-U.S.B connectors, so I am able to use the same chargers for the phone, headset and charging case.  
  • 3 kinds of different spare small ear-tips for different ear sizes and shapes. I use the medium one, so the headset will fit perfectly in the ear.  There is also a lanyard for the case.
Performance:
  • With Dual-Mic Audio IQ2 noise-cancelling technology and WindSmart wind noise protection this is the best BlueTooth headset I have ever used in operation terms. Yes, others might be lasting longer for example, but your voice will come-out of this one crystal-clear, even in the harshest of environments. Of course, there is the halo effect you find in every BT headset as noticed by my callers, but that’s reduced a lot thanks to the software improvements above.
  • Voice alerts for low battery, as well as led status (red for empty battery, pulsing white light for receiving a call, as well as slow pulsing white light for missed calls – for example, it flashes slowly 3 times for 3 missed calls!) are provided. There is also voice control which I never use because I don’t need it.
  • A double press on the operations button will redial the last number used (sent and received). 
  • Talk time is estimated at 6 hours from the 85 mAh battery inside. I was able to use it for hours at a time but never for 6 hours. I usually find the headset empty after just 2-3 days of being constantly on, used and connected to the phone most of the times.
  • Connection is almost flawless. I’ve been able to move around in the house while talking on the headset, even from one room to another (no brick walls, indeed!). Working distance is ~ 10 meters.
All in all, a great headset! Very expensive when launched in the Autumn of 2009 priced at around 125$, now it can be found on Amazon at around 60$. Not in Romania though: still 125 Euros. But hey, all good things come at a price! And sometimes is just justified.

Sunpak SC-800 solar/USB charger review

1
354 days
by in Everything Else Tech, Various Internet stuff

As stated here, I got the aforementioned solar charger and wanted to try it out and see if it’s a good replacement (even as emergency charger) of my hugely appreciated external 5.000 mAh battery. Because while it can charge two devices at the same time (and receive charge from an electrical outlet at the same time!), it’s quite heavy and bulky to be carried around. Luckily, I employ a big laptop bag when traveling and I do not have to carry it in my pocket.

First of all, of course there’s no comparison with an external battery. The solar charger gets its power from the sun which means it is 100% green but it also means it’s less efficient than the battery drawing its power from the electrical outlet. I won’t go into cost details, as none of the two above are used as main power source.

Hardware: 800 mAh Ni-MH battery included for energy storage, 55 grams, a short cable with 5 different tips: Mini-USB, Micro-USB, Motorola, Nokia and Sony-Ericsson. It takes around 3 hours and a half to charge it up by USB and about 8 to 10 hours to charge it completely from the sun.

The charger is small and light , with its upper part crafted in the form of a bezel allowing the gadget to be hanged or tied to something. It’s finishing is extremely poor, cheap – the plastic makes a crackling sound if you squeeze it. The solar panel is crooked, with parts aligning badly. The cable is fitting itself very well in the USB slot but very poorly with the different tips – I sometimes left the phone charging, just to check 20 minutes later to find out the contact was imperfect thus not charging the phone. It did restart after I moved it a little bit around. Oh, well, check the price and you’ll understand why this happens. You get even less than what you’re paying for.

How it works: Surprisingly well! You can see bellow the stages of the charger discharging and charging my phone:

Full solar charger battery – smartphone at 12% energy left:

 

70% left on the solar charger, smartphone up to 17% after 20 minutes:

 

 

50% left on the solar charger, smartphone up to 24% after 34 minutes:


 

It finally bogged-down after 87 minutes in which time it charged the smartphone up to 40%. Not too bad for small charger and definitely a good choice for a back-up.

It’s also worth mentioned that if you keep it in sunlight and attached to the phone, it will charge directly and sustain any activity on your smartphone, like calling or playing games.

Highly recommended for this price!

Green energy from a solar charger

0
362 days
by in Everything Else Tech

image

Tomorrow I’ll use the beautiful, sunny day to (empirically) test a new solar charger I got by mistake. It’s my belief that this small gadget (a cheap Chinese copycat of a Western techology probably) can and will suply some much needed energy to my phone.
We’ll see!

Next »
Go to Top