I’ve been looking for some kind of portable iPhone dock for a while now. I currently have the ability to charge my phone in most rooms either by docking it in an alarm clock, or in the front of a TV, or just by putting it in the dock connected to my mac. The only problem with the ones I have is, a, they aren’t portable, and b, the sound quality isn’t that great.
So….I was in Currys last night at this one caught my eye, as it had a sticker on the box saying “iPhone 4 Bumper compatible”. All the docks in my house currently don’t have any of the dock adapters in them, as this is the only way I can sync/charge my phone without having to take it out of the bumper cover. As you can imagine, seeing a device which catered for this was a massive win !.
Another major selling point for this, was it can be also powered from 4 AA batteries, making it something I’ll be able to take camping, or even just to take out in the garden.
So..what’s it like ?….well it’s surprisingly good, it does claim to have “Crystal clear sound” and that it does, even with the volume cranked right up, it doesn’t distort at all. The design itself is nice, the plus and minus buttons light up on the front in a pretty cool orange, when you doc your device, and there’s a on/off button at the top on the back.
As well as being an iPhone dock, it’s also got an AUX-in at the back to allow you to plug in external devices via a 3.5mm jack plug.
There is also the ability to have this as a dock connector for your PC/Mac as there is a USB cable connector in the back.
I think the final thing to note is the free App you get with it called Fidelio. Now you can use your normal media player on your iPod/iPhone, or you can use their application which gives you a few cools features. It seems to aggregate a few apps I already have, for example Tune-in Radio (a radio app) and AccuWeather (a weather app) and brings them all together into a nice little packaged.
All in all a decent piece of kit, I don’t currently know how long 4 AA’s will last, but will update the post once I’ve tried it.
As always, unboxing pics, and screenshots of the app below.
Since buying C an Xbox for her birthday, I’ve spent a lot more time in the computer room playing on my Xbox Elite than playing in the front room on limited edition Halo Reach Xbox, on the 52″ TV, connected to the TrueHD 7.1 Amp.
To be honest, I actually prefer it, as we’re being a more sociable with each other. In the past, I would normally spend a good couple of hour playing on the Xbox downstairs, and C would lose hours on a “Dinner Dash type” time management game.
In the computer room we both have an LG LED 23″ FullHD Monitor/TV which we have the Xboxs connected to, which we then use as a 2nd monitor. The LED TV’s are great and give a great picture, however the sound quality is only average at best. I’ve spend the last week or so with a pair of £10 Sony headphones on, which does give a lot better sound, but….I do miss the surround sound.
Now we have the history out of the way, you now know why I’ve been out and bought this headset. As I mentioned above, I tend to spend more time in the computer room being “sociable”, but miss the surround sound. I knew there were headsets out there that could product a surround sound experience, as this type of stereo expander has been mainstream for quite a while.
I did look as some headphone which actually had multiple speakers in each earphone which would give an actual surround sound, however these are advertised as being able to give a true 7.1 using only a stereo headset….obviously I was intrigued and bought them.
The DPX21 is essentially a bundle. It’s the Ear Force PX21 headet, with the Ear Force DSS digital processor. The processor itself has an optical input, which then passed 7.1 / 5.1 to the headset giving you the 7.1 surround sound experience.
Now to be honest, I was a little dubious, as everything in my head suggests, that stereo headphones and and will only produce a stereo sound ….surly ?…….I wrong was I !!! These things are AMAZING !!!
Once I’d got everything wired up (which was slightly messy to be honest), I fired up Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox and was totally blown away the the ambiance. I then fired off a couple of shots, and just sat there with the biggest smile on my face. I have to say, that my expensive amp and 7.1 speaker system in the front room has been equalled if not beaten by this £100 headset !
I then plugged these into the PS3 and put on the Black Hawk Down bluray (my Bluray of choice when testing an audio system), and again… AMAZING !
As you can probably tell from the above, the headset is universal, it works on the PS3, Xbox and Mac/PC (assuming you have an optical port)
The headset itself is very comfy, it is a little weighty, but the head strap is adjustable enough to take the weight.
All in all, this is an amazing headset, and suggest to anybody who is playing games on a Xbox, PS3 or even PC/Mac in 2 channels due to not having room to place the speakers….and have a £100 spare, go buy theses, they are amazing !
I found these at Amazon for about £110, however with shopping around I found them at just over £90 at shopto.net with free shipping.
As always, unboxing photos below, as well as the official blurb from Turtle Beach describing how these work.
Posted by Ub3rG33k on Apr 12, 2011 in Apple, iPad, Tech
As you know, I already have the original iPad, or should I say, I had the original iPad (C is now the proud owner of a shiny, carefully used, original iPad).
I decided that due to my iPad 2 shipping early (the 9th, and not the 15th that they originally stated), and C was working away for a week, I could survive a couple of days without the iPad and handed it over on Friday night. To be honest, you don’t realise how dependant you become on tech, I felt like I’d lost a limb…..that was until today when my iPad 2 turned up
A few noticeable things, it’s definitely a lot thinner, and seems a lot lighter….as for the speed…much snappier
Like most people getting the iPad 2, I threw on Infinity Blade to see how it looked. Infinity Blade is one of the games that has been enhanced for the iPad 2….and yup, the additional textures really do make it look at lot better, make me almost forget that it’s the same resolution as the first.
To be honest, I was slightly annoyed at the official announcement of the iPad 2, and how it was keeping the same screen and same resolution. Being an iPhone 4 user, the resolution difference is very noticable.
The only other real addition that affects me is the front and rear facing camera. I’ve had a quick go on Facetime with C, and all worked well, but I can’t see me really using it much. I currently have a front facing camera on the iPhone 4, but can’t remember the last time I used it, and with the recent purchase of the Panasonic DMC-TZ10, I don’t really see a use for the rear camera.
The improved gyroscope is a god send, as I couldn’t play Rage HD on the iPad as I’d got so used to playing it on the iPhone. As for the rest of the games, to be honest, it’s still early for the new hardware, and expect more developers to hit the “More Textures” button as time goes on, as they did with the Retina Display patches they provided. Right now, I’ve just got a thinner, faster, lighter iPad.
All in all, it’s new, it’s shiny and it’s Apple
One last thing, before I had the official case for the original iPad, this time I thought I’d give the Nude Case a go as it was meant to be lightweight…..to be honest I’m blown away buy it, you can hardly tell it’s protected
