Words With Friends is a multi-player word game developed by Zynga. It’s
popularity got a boost from Alex Baldwin’s infamous riff with a
stewardess when he refused to turn off the game during take-off. Similar
to the rules of Scrabble, players can choose to play with a friend or a
random player found online. President Obama has chosen to play the game
with undecided voters using a new word he coined this past week. . .
called "Romnesia"
The Canon S110 is the most refined little pocket camera Canon has ever made. The core design of the S110 remains unchanged from previous iterations. But with a little streamlining and some key new features, it’s inched one step closer to perfection. Are you looking for the highest quality possible in a small point-and-shoot? Check out your new camera. More »
Remember the political refrain “it’s the economy, stupid!” first uttered
in the 90′s by Bush the First and probably more applicable today then
it was then, as evidenced by the vitriol spewing all over the current
contentious presidential election campaigns?
Think the overly generous five-star rating of that god awful burger joint in your neighborhood is a bunch of bull? If Yelp suspects reviews are paid for, it will now post a warning sign. More »
We were at the LG Optimus G launch in Korea on September 17*, where we were able to briefly play with it. The Optimus G is the first smartphone to launch with the Quad-Core SnapDragon S4 Pro processor, so it is supposed to offer state-of-the-art performance. From what we have seen with the pre-production unit in Korea, it was fast indeed.
It looks like LG is back in the game of high-end smartphones with this well crafted unit that is truly a great competitor for the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3. The elegant chassis sports a Quad-Core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor 2GB RAM (vs 1GB for both the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3), a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display (1280 x 768 pixels), a 13 MP camera or 8 MP depending on regions (the international unit we have here has the 13 MP shooter) and 32GB of internal storage.
Google seems to have acknowledged the Optimus G as a top device since, according to the recent rumors, the search giant’s upcoming Google Nexus 4 smartphone might have been designed by LG. This would be the first time that LG will manufacture a Google phone.
With a 2-year contract, the Sprint LG Optimus G will retail for $199.99, which is in line with most high-end smartphone launches, with a few exceptions. AT&T has just announced that the handset will be available on 2ndof November and will be priced at $199.99.
Although performance looks good on the paper and as perceived on the pre-production unit, we need to look into this in detail and answer the question: “How good is it?”. Our goal here is to provide you with our best shot at answering this. In this review, we hope to give you a realistic feel on how it is to use the LG Optimus G in the real world. Ready?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Optimus G more details – preview with videos, New LG P930 device hinted in an XML file could be a smartphone,
Many of my Kickstarter dreams have come tumbling down in disappointing or non-shipping products, which isn’t a knock against the site; that’s a risk I fully accept and take with every project. But without a doubt, the Hidden Radio Bluetooth speaker was one I was really looking forward to. Now, I’ve spent some time with it, and I find myself with mixed feelings about this portable audio accessory.
Since the Hidden Radio first debuted on Kickstarter way back in November, a lot has changed in the world of portable device speakers. Things have gotten better; a lot better, in fact, with stuff like Jawbone’s Big Jambox coming along and basically making everyone fall in love with it. For the Hidden Radio, long overdue according to its original manufacturing timeline, and with specs that in some areas actually fall short of those originally promised, time has not been good for this little upstart. But it is a capable, and for now, cheaper alternative to some of the market leaders.
Features:
Pros:
Cons:
Design
Let’s start with the Hidden Radio’s strengths: it’s a very good-looking device, one that can live happily among a variety of decors, and one that feels particularly at home with Apple hardware. I’ve got the matte black version, and in both closed and open mode, it’s beautiful (check out the gallery below). Plus the design is sensible: when the cap is twisted shut, power is locked off and the speaker grille itself is protected from the elements. The columnar shape is also fairly compact and portable, though it might be less portable (and is definitely less rugged) than say, a Phillips ShoqBox.
The other notable part of the design is the grippy pad on the bottom, which is designed to hold the Hidden Radio in place as you twist the cover open and shut to control power and volume. That part performs its task well, though as you can see in the gallery photos below, the grippy portion picks up dirt and dust very easily and will require frequent cleaning to maintain its stickiness.
The bottom does have one major failing though: in what looks like an effort to keep things ‘hidden,” the ports for both microUSB (charging) and 3.5mm stereo input are housed in a recessed circular crevice in the bottom of the device. It’s nice for keeping things out of the way in theory, but in practice it’s very difficult to get the microUSB cable in and out, and I’m not sure the aesthetic benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Features
The Hidden Radio originally promised 30 hours of battery life for streaming music. It ships with 15, which is good, but obviously not as good. That 15 hours still puts it on par with the Big Jambox, and better by five hours than the more size-comparable original Jambox. Hidden also promised Bluetooth speakerphone functionality, which both the Jambox and Big Jambox offer, but that didn’t make it to the final product. An FM radio is included, but not the promised AM/FM capabilities. It’s understandable that reality would cause some changes, but when a project raises $938,771, far above its original $125,000 goal, it becomes more of an issue.
Still, the Hidden Radio does pair easily with devices, and the twist-on, twist-off feature is very convenient. Also 15 hours is a lot of juice, and plenty for most users, and the FM radio is a nice touch. The original Kickstarter may have over-promised, but that shouldn’t really reflect much on the product taken as a standalone device. Still, if a pre-release notice from an established listed a number of features that didn’t make the shipping unit, they’d definitely be called on it.
Sound
This is the big area for all Bluetooth speakers, and I have to say that I’m less impressed with the Hidden Radio in this regard than I was expecting to be. Audio quality was originally one of its selling points, but it lags behind the leaders in this space. The sound is fine, and the 360-degree nature of the speaker means that it’s good for background music at small gatherings, but audiophiles will be disappointed. And sound quality deteriorates quickly if you use the hardware volume control by twisting the cap down, making stuff sound like it’s underwater – this speaker performs best if kept at full volume, with changes to auditory level controlled from the phone. Sound did seem to improve over time, however, as the speaker got broken in.
Conclusion
At $149, the Hidden Radio is a good little speaker that trades significantly longer battery life for slightly worse audio quality when compared to the Jawbone Jambox, but I’d be less eager to recommend this product at its regular stated selling price of $190 (in black and silver; $180 in white), which it climbs up to after November 15. But in a crowded market, selling features like resistance to the elements and new, more powerful designs have emerged to make standing out largely on the basis of a volume control gimmick a little more difficult, once you’re at or near price parity.
What’s the opposite of a “green thumb”? You. After flubbing a forest’s worth of ficuses and killing countless cacti, it’s time to get some help with this whole indoor gardening thing. The Koubachi plant sensor might just get your houseplants through the week. More »
![Winning The Presidential Election, Gangnam Style: Obama v Romney [Videos]](https://i0.wp.com/inventorspot.com/files/imagecache/ContentHalfWidth/blog1/e81e1b742328b1cce30a35190baa0d4d.jpg "Winning The Presidential Election, Gangnam Style: Obama v Romney [Videos]")
Every generation has had its own dance craze, from the Charleston of the
1920s, the Jitterbug of the 1940s, the Twist (60s), the Hustle (70s) the Makarena (90s) to even the Chicken Dance still a staple at today’s
wedding receptions. Those that stood the test of time etch a notch into
our global zeitgeist. Such is the case with "Gangnam Style," a song and
dance created and popularized by South Korean Rapper Psy.
It’s easy to forget that the iPod touch didn’t even include a camera until 2010. While such a key feature has been standard on the iPhone since its initial unveiling in 2007, Apple apparently didn’t think it was one of the must-have features of the touch. That changes this year.
With the new iPod touch (the fifth generation, for those keeping score at home), which was unveiled a few weeks ago and just started shipping this week, the camera is one of the hallmark features. In fact, it may end up being its most important feature.
I know what you’re thinking: but it’s not even as good as the camera on the iPhone 4S, let alone that iPhone 5. In megapixel terms, that’s true. But it doesn’t matter. It’s a good camera. A really good camera. And for millions of users, it will be good enough to be their only camera.
When I sat down to think about my angle in writing about the iPod touch, at first, I was a little stumped. It’s a fantastic device, don’t get me wrong. But I’m an iPhone guy. I don’t really have a need for an iPod touch in my life since the two are so similar. It would be overkill.
But many people (most, even) aren’t iPhone people. There are huge swaths of the market that are never going to own an iPhone. There are kids with parents who think they’re too young for a phone. There are people with Android phones (yes, I’m admitting this). There are people with Windows Phones. And BlackBerrys. And yes, there are even still a ton of people with feature phones.
And there are a lot of people who want access to the App Store as well as iTunes and all its tidings. Some choose an iPad for this, but plenty choose the iPod touch (and some, of course, choose both). There’s clearly a large market for the iPod touch as it’s the only version of the device that Apple now regularly singles out as the version that is doing well in an age of continual iPod decline.
Anyway, I quickly realized my angle for writing about this particular version of the iPod touch was staring me in the face: the loop. — the wrist strap that comes with the new iPod touch.
There are a few features that the iPhone has which the iPod touch does not (cellular connectivity being the biggest). But the loop is a feature reserved only for the touch. And I think that’s telling.
Clearly, Apple’s thinking here was to take a page from the point-and-shoot camera book. Every single point-and-shoot I’ve ever owned has had a wrist strap. Apple being Apple, rethought how it should work. There is no indented area that you try to fish a cord through. Instead, there’s a metal button you push and up pops a metal latch to which you can easily attach the loop.
This is not something they just tacked onto the iPod touch. They designed the entire iPod touch with this feature in mind. And again, that must speak to Apple’s thoughts about the evolving role of the iPod touch in the world: as a point-and-shoot camera.
In terms of megapixels, the camera found on the new iPod touch matches the one found on the iPhone 4. It’s a 5 megapixel shooter. Again, that may seem slightly lame when the 4S and the 5 come with 8 megapixel cameras, but it’s easy to forget just how good the iPhone 4 camera was when it was first released — even though that was only two years ago!
And this iPod touch camera is actually better thanks to other improvements to these small camera internals made over time, as well as the updates to the camera software since then.
Smartphones have been eating point-and-shoot cameras’ lunch for a while now. You’ve probably seen the Flickr chart. The domination of the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 as the top overall cameras (yes, out of all cameras, period) used to take the pictures on the service has only been slowed by the release of the iPhone 5, which will undoubtedly soon top the list itself.
No point-and-shoot even makes the top 5 on that list. It’s all smartphones (and let’s be honest, just iPhones) and DSLRs.
Still, lots of people continue to buy point-and-shoots. Hell, I’m one of them. I own a Canon S95 which replaced my Canon S90 before that. I basically never use it anymore. It’s all iPhone, all the time now. Those cameras were several hundreds of dollars ultimately not well spent.
But again, not everyone has an iPhone. So for many people, a point-and-shoot still makes sense. Enter the new iPod touch. If the iPhone badly damaged the point-and-shoot market, the iPod touch is going to obliterate it.
Yes, yes, yes. I hear you. The point-and-shoots like the Canon S series cameras are better overall cameras than the iPod touch. No question. But it just doesn’t matter anymore. While the new iPhone 5 camera is fantastic, it’s also still not quite as a good as a good point-and-shoot. And yet, the results are in: point-and-shoots lose.
The point-and-shoot is in a bad spot. People serious about photography opt for DSLRs, which continue to come down in price. The rest of us now mainly go with smartphones for everyday photography. There was still a sliver of people still looking for that point-and-shoot. But those people should and will now look at the iPod touch.
Being a camera isn’t enough anymore. Not in an age of apps. Why spent $300 on a point-and-shoot camera when you can spend $300 on an iPod touch with a solid camera and thousands of great camera apps? Still not sold? What if I throw in a gaming machine, a web browser, a messaging device, a music player, a movie player, etc, etc, etc.
Previously, the camera on the iPod touch was a joke. It was meant to shoot video and the still pictures (sub-1 megapixel — yes, really) were a complete after-thought. And yet, there were still more pictures taken and shared with that device than any of the Samsung Galaxy phones, for example.
Now, this is the first touch where Apple is taking the camera seriously. It’s going to rocket up the Flickr list. And it won’t be to the detriment of smartphones.
As for the rest of the device, it’s great. As I allude to above, some people will buy it just as a gaming device. Some will buy it just as a media player. Some will buy it just for apps. It’s a true jack-of-all trades device without having to worry about carrier contracts.
It’s getting close enough performance-wise to the iPhone where I would consider buying one if they simply added cellular connectivity. Imagine an iPod touch that had built-in LTE and the option to get the same no-contract deals from the carriers. That’s what I really want.
It’s would be the iPhone minus the phone. When you think about it that way, it’s sort of ridiculous that we’re all paying the carriers upwards of a hundred dollars a month for years on end to have the ability to talk to someone over their digital lines in the sky. All we really want is the data, but you can’t get that yet without the phone. (Except on devices like the iPad — presumably because the carriers know you’re not going to walk around using Skype on your iPad to talk to people. Though I’ve seen plenty of people actually do this. Seriously.)
Of course, if Apple did try to add an LTE antenna into this iPod touch, other compromises would have to be made — namely in design and battery life. And those are two of the best features of this device.
Because it can only connect to the internet via WiFi, the iPod touch’s battery seems to last forever. It’s not quite iPad-good, but this thing is a fraction of the size of the iPad. It blows the iPhone battery away despite the device being thinner than even the iPhone 5. Again, a benefit of not including a cellular (and GPS) antenna.
Another striking feature of the new touch is the design. Unlike the iPhone which features a two-tone back that’s a combination of aluminum and glass, the iPod touch has an all-aluminum back (save a small black plastic oval in the upper right for WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.). In my opinion, this looks nicer than the iPhone 5.
And instead of having flat edges that split the front and back of the device, the iPod touch is unibody aluminum all the way to the front plate. This feels like the way Apple would want to design the iPhone if only all those pesky antennas didn’t matter.
The iPhone 5 feels great in your hand — the iPod touch feels even better. The rounded aluminum contours harken back to the original iPhone. But this device is so much thinner and lighter.
The other benefit of this unibody experience is the ability to offer the device in different colors. I’m testing the yellow one, but it also comes in slate, silver, pink, blue, and (product) red. And yes, the loop matches the color you choose.
It’s interesting that all of the iPod touches feature a white front face except the slate version, which features a black front face. This also gives the iPod touch a more playful quality than its iPhone brethren as you can clearly see the accent of the color you chose along the outer rim of the device. For example, on this yellow iPod touch, I see a rim of shiny, polished yellow when I look at the device. I’ve heard aspects of iPhone 5 design described as “jewlery-like”, this is even more so.
In my iPhone 5 review, the first thing I noted was how insanely light the device was. Remarkably, the iPod touch is even lighter — 88 grams compared to the iPhone 5’s 112 grams. But it’s the thinness that’s the even more noticeable difference. The iPhone 5 is incredibly thin. The iPod touch is now absurdly thin. When John Gruber noted the other day that the only thing stopping them from making it thinner still is the size of the headphone jack, he’s actually not kidding. Maybe they could shave an extra micron or two. Maybe. (It’s so thin that the camera actually protrudes out a bit — about the same height as the popped-out loop latch.)
My only real gripe about the iPod touch may be the price. Given everything you’re getting, I don’t think $299 (for 32 GB of storage) and $399 (for 64 GB of storage) is outrageous — especially in an age where the aforementioned point-and-shoots are still around the same price. But it would be nice to see a $199 price too. Yes, I know you can get the older model of the touch for $199, but I’d have a hard time recommending it. The new version is too major of an upgrade in every way.
I can’t believe I just wrote this entire review and didn’t even mention the beautiful new 4-inch retina display, which matches the display found on the new iPhone 5. Well, I just did. All the new apps being tailored for the iPhone 5 screen look and work beautifully here as well. HD movies look great. And, of course, pictures.
In January 2007, when Steve Jobs took the stage to unveil the iPhone, he set it up this way:
Today we’re introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.
So, three things. A widescreen iPod with touch controls. A revolutionary mobile phone. And a breakthrough internet communications device. An iPod. A phone. And an internet communicator. An iPod. A phone. Are you getting it?
These are not three separate devices. This is one device.
This new iPod touch could be set up the same way — with a slight tweak. A widescreen iPod with touch controls. A breakthrough internet communicator. A powerful portable gaming machine. And a great point-and-shoot camera. These are not four separate devices. This is one device.
If there’s one person who’s nailed the art of Kickstarter-driven hardware production, it’s Scott Wilson. The designer’s MNML studio had considerable success with the crowdfunding site, which helped launch his Lunatik iPod nano watch bands, a stylus called the Touch Pen, and now the Taktik heavy-duty protective iPhone case. The last is just making its way out to market (for iPhone 4/4S – iPhone 5 coming soon), and I’ve been provided with a review unit to take for a test drive.
The Taktik is a beast, and with its beastliness comes significant added size for your iPhone. But its purpose is to protect, and in that regard, it does a very good job, even optionally adding an extra layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass into the mix. It also has high water resistance, but don’t go dunking your phone like you might with the Lifeproof.
Features:
Pros:
Cons:
Build Quality And Design
If you’re looking for a durable, damage-resistant case, this is where you want to start. The build quality of the Taktik is very high, which is in keeping with their previous products. It’s made out of aluminum aircraft-grade and a high-density shock-absorbent foam material that handles drops. Upgraded options on my review model include a Gorilla Glas screen protector, as well as Gore water-resistant fabric covers for mics and speakers. There’s nothing loose, rattling or shaking about the case, and movable parts like the dock cover flap and silent mode switch feel sturdy and unlikely to snap off anytime soon.
Maybe it’s because I just watched The Firth Element last night, but this thing looks good to me, too. It’s the type of industrial futuristic design that might be at home in a Halo game or on the bridge of the Battlestar Galactica, and it’s appealing as a result. But also not for everyone. I can see a significant percentage of iPhone users taking one look at this thing and saying, “ugly.” But for the audience it’s after, geeky gadget lovers, it’s a good look.
Durability
I don’t recommend doing the following things to their iPhone, Taktik or not. But for the sake of this review, I dropped my iPhone 4S from multiple heights multiple times, ran it under a tap briefly and splashed water on it. The good news is, it works fine, and even the case doesn’t seem to have suffered any cosmetic damage from my attacks. Falls were a couple of feet (like off of a coffee table), waist height, and from head level (about six feet off the ground). It fell on its face, on its corners and sides, and on its back, on a laminate floor. It bounced around, but didn’t damage the iPhone. That’s very good. Also, water tests revealed nothing inside the case, but Lunatik is quick to note that this thing isn’t waterproof, so don’t submerge it or expose it to water on purpose at all.
Usability
The problem with protective cases and the iPhone boil down to how it affects the iPhone’s natural usability. First, the Taktik adds bulk, making your device more like a Galaxy Note than an iPhone, without the additional screen real estate. And it adds about twice the thickness. Still, it strikes a good balance between grippy and smooth surfaces, so that it’s easy to hold but also slides in and out of pockets without much trouble.
Size aside, the touchscreen works perfectly well under the second layer of Gorilla Glass mine came with (a $25 upgrade from the base model), and the silent slider is a smart and well-executed little innovation. The problem, however, comes from the way the power button and home button are accessed. You have to press pretty hard to get them to register, and it takes some getting used to. I had no problem with the volume buttons, either. But the dock cover flap and the tab that provides access to the headphone jack are both well-made and less of a pain to use than I’ve found with other similar cases.
Conclusion
Lunatik makes good products backed by smart design. The Taktik is no exception. It isn’t without flaws, but those are generally the same kinds of things you’ll see on the Otterbox (which feels less substantial, by the way). Alternatives like the Lifeproof offer waterproof design, and a slimmer profile, but you won’t get the same level of drop protection. Finally, either $100 or $125 or $180 depending on options is a lot to spend (the Otterbox is $49.95), but it’s hard to argue with results, and the Taktik does what it says on the tin. If you want something to protect your iPhone that’s not only rugged, but also stylish, this is a good option, albeit at a premium price.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
