Friday, April 17, 2015




This FRiEQ 12W NFC Wireless Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker offers very loud, quality sound in a small speaker. I was quite impressed with not only its volume level but the sound quality in general. It produces crisp treble and remarkable dynamic bass for its size. In fact, it is easily one of the best sounding Bluetooth speakers which I have come across so far… and I’ve listened to over 12 similar Bluetooth speakers (from other manufacturers) so far. My only complaint about this particular speaker is that the black rubbery surface of the speaker looks unevenly colored because of how it picks up oil, dust, fingerprints. This takes away from the otherwise premium look of the speaker. Other than that, this speaker is a superb example of a really amazing sounding Bluetooth speaker.

PROS:
-Amazing sound from a speaker this small.
-Great volume without too much distortion
-Easy to pair and use.
-Good variety of features such as NFC, 8-hour battery life, and line-in (audio in jack)

CONS:

-The black rubbery surface looks unevenly colored because it picks up oil, dirt, fingerprints like crazy.

DT's Rating :








This White Philips Wake-Up Light with Radio is one of the most unique items I have had the privilege to review. It’s basically an alarm clock/radio which wakes you up gradually with simulated sunrise. It comes included with two nature sounds that you can wake up with… basically sounds of birds chirping in a forest. But what makes it unique is its design and interface. It resembles a big flattened light-bulb with touch sensitive buttons on its surface… super futuristic look and feel. The touch sensitive buttons work really well and I noticed that it actually senses your hand when it gets a few inches from the surface of the front face of the Wake-up light and lights up the button menu for you. I love this feature because when you have the light off, you can just put you’re near the front of it and it will show you the button to turn the lamp function on! As for the light, I like the warm color of this light and I also like that it has so many levels of intensity to choose from. You can customize it too, so if you don’t want to use the ‘wake up to light’ function, you can disable it and use it as a traditional alarm clock and wake up to the radio or nature sounds instead. You can also just use it as standalone bedside lamp and not use the alarm functions at all. The light can get very bright if you decide to use it strictly as a lamp. I would say that it’s at least as bright as a 60 watt bulb in its highest setting. All of these functions makes the product very versatile. Overall, I’m super impressed with the quality, function, and design of this wake-up light/alarm clock radio/lamp and would recommend it to anyone looking for a very unique, versatile, and functional alarm clock.

PROs:
-Easy to set up
-Lots of options for alarm… radio, light, nature sounds.
-Very unique look and design
-Functions as great as it looks.
-Small and lightweight, which makes it perfect for a bedside table
-Very bright light with many brightness settings (levels from 1 to 10)
-Light is ‘warm’, (to simulate sunlight) which I like.

CONs:
-No internal battery means it has to be plugged in at all times. If it gets unplugged, you’ll have to set up your alarm settings again.


DT's Rating : 


This product is available at Amazon.com at :

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Wake-Up-Light-Radio-White/dp/B00E91EGDS/



The new Samsung Galaxy S6 EDGE is in many ways, a giant leap in improvement and innovation for this Flagship series. It brings together elements which I love about the iPhone (refined metal and glass build quality, responsive fingerprint reader, and elegant design) and elements I love about Samsung phones (Super-Amoled Screen Technology, Innovative design such as the curved screen edges, and wireless charging) and combines them into one phone. There are things from the last iteration of this flagship series (S5) that did not migrate into this new version though… and I do miss them. Among these features that are lost are the removable battery, expandable memory (micro-SD expansion capability), and waterproof design. I’m guessing that the water-proof design will at least show up in the S6 Active version of this phone if they make one (and it’s pretty likely they will). I’m also guessing that Samsung will perhaps bring the removable battery and micro-sd expansion back in the future Galaxy S7 perhaps.

Even when considering the features that were lost, I have to admit that I really dig this phone. It is really aesthetically pleasing, and a joy to hold in one’s hands. It’s also darn fast… like zero lag fast! And the curved Super High Resolution 5.1” Screen with 1440 x 2560 pixels (~577 ppi pixel density) is amazing to behold. If you haven’t had a chance to see the phone at a retail store or at your carrier store… I’d highly recommend checking it out. I tested this phone out with my Qi wireless charging mat and it worked great too! So no need to buy Samsung’s fancy (and expensive) charging mat. You can just buy an inexpensive Qi Standard Mat and you’re good to go. The fingerprint reader is also a joy to use. You no longer need to swipe your thumb down (like previously on the S5), you simply press your thumb down on the sensor and it unlocks almost instantly… exactly like on the iphone fingerprint sensors. Overall, I am really loving this phone. I’m really happy that Samsung finally upped the build quality of their Flagship phone… it is honestly better than the build quality of the current iphones because making a curved (Amoled) screen phone is immensely challenging and Apple can’t quite compete with it at this time. Of course, this is partly due to the fact that Samsung is at the cutting edge of Amoled screen tech which Apple is only beginning to utilize (in its smart watch). It will be interesting to see if Apple will utilize Amoled screen technology in their next generation of phones and/or tablets. But that discussion is for another day. Today, I will definitely recommend this phone to anyone who is in the market for a cutting edge phone who doesn’t mind too much the omission of a removable battery and expandable memory.

PROS:
-Beautifully Sharp Screen
-Nice form factor.
-High build quality
-Super fast and responsive with zero lag time
-Fantastic Camera Quality and Video quality… can shoot up to 3840x2160 UHD Video!
-Unique curved Amoled screen design is unique. Super hi-resolution as well.
-Finger-Print Sensor works great! …Very similar to iPhone finger-print sensor.
-Samsung Music player has great MP3 sound output.
-The “sapphire black” colored version of this phone has a great subtle dark blue hue to it.
-The lowest tier of capacity they offer is 32GB … which is awesome. The 16GB standard capacity should have been ditched long ago.
-Slow motion video capture function.
-Built-in Wireless charging is compatible with Both leading standards “Qi” and “Powermat”.


CONS:
-No Expandable Memory
-Not water-proof (like previous S5)
-No removable Battery



DT's Rating: 


Special Note for the Fanboys:

FYI: I’ve owned many iphones and Galaxy phones in the past. I love both iOs and Android. I believe both operating systems are excellent. I don’t believe anyone should limit themselves to just one OS or manufacturer. Diversity is the spice of life… is it not? Try all the flavors, it’s more fun that way '

Saturday, January 27, 2007

It's an Ipod, It's a Phone.... No it's Iphone (Unveiled)

Here's a "RETRO" review of mine from way back in 2007 for the first generation of the iPhone. How things have changed :)   I thought it would be fitting to keep this review here for history's sake.  It is also fitting that my return to posting reviews to this site will be initiated by posting a new review of the new Galaxy S6 EDGE! :)  



Apple unveils it's new product: The Iphone! Now, I'm not a huge Apple follower but I have to admit that they have done a brilliant job with this latest Ipod incarnation. If they keep this up, they may very well turn me into another loyal customer... must fight it.. must... but so pretty... so damn cool looking... what? Touch screen? Wifi?.... okay, I want one :)

Yes, among it's other features are the abilities to play video, music, and of course make and take phone calls. The touch screen is a cool new feature but I think some will definately miss the circular click wheel. Plus, wouldn't the thing get dirt and prints all over after just one day? Does it come with a free pair of white gloves? heh heh. Oh did I mention that the screen intelligently flips and adjusts the image depending on how you hold it? It even turns the screen off automatically if you hold it like a phone to your ear to save power.

Does this mean that Apple will take over the cell phone market as well as the mp3 market? Well... not yet as the price is slated to be $499 for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB. I have one question for Apple: why even have the $499 version? If you have $499 to shell out for a cell phone/mp3 player, wouldn't you just pay that little bit more and get twice as much storage? Then again, they probably thought of that and are banking that most will go for the more expensive model. Also, there are rumors that the price will fall quickly after it's release.

The only problem I have with this thing is that it should have more storage for such a device that does so many things. If it can play music and video, then you have to give the customers enough memory to actually put some music and video on it. I think it should have a bare minimum of 30GB of storage. Of course knowing Apple, they probably won't have a 30GB version until the 3rd generation of this thing. I hope not though. For everything else Apple, I tip my little hat to you.... this time!

Note to Microsoft: What is wrong with you guys. All you came up with is a stupid outdated mp3 player with a stupid name... and it came out too late in the game! Fire all of your marketing guys and hire me on. You guys are far behind the big "Apple". Start "Innovating" already! Too bad Walt Disney's not around when we need him. Now he was a genius! If he were still here, "Tomorrow-Land" would be here today and we'd all be riding flying cars.... Yay! Flying Cars, Woo hoo!