Reviews by The Church of Apple

Tag: Mobile

  • Spracht BluNote+Chat Review

    The Spracht BluNote+Chat is a portable, wireless, battery powered speaker that allows you to listen your music and have a conversation with someone wirelessly on the go. The BluNote+Chat’s best quality is the portability of the speaker without eliminating good sound. The speaker is available from Spracht for $99.00 or $54.99 from Amazon. Let’s see if it’s the speaker for you.

    Form

    One of the first things you will notice about this speaker is it’s size. The speaker is very small and very light. It makes you wonder how such a small speaker would ever produce a good sound. For what it is, it produces excellent sound. The portability of the speaker, I feel is it’s biggest point. It is small enough to fit in a large duffel bag or small backpack, perhaps even a large enough purse. The speaker is all black for all of the speaker except a nice silver brim at the bottom of the speaker that adds to the look of the speaker. The speaker has a nice black chrome finish, with the speaker felt below it and of course the aforementioned silver lining at the bottom. The top of the speaker has a set of touch sensitive buttons that light up red. These buttons add to the overall cool-ness of the speaker. In addition, there is an led screen that lights up to tell you a caller ID, whether or not bass is on or off and the up and down of volume. I appreciate that the screen only lights up when it needs to so that it isn’t a distraction nor does it subtract from the look of the speakers. In addition, to the solid look of the speaker, the speaker is also made solid. It is made to be carried around so as such it is made pretty sturdy. It isn’t unibody but it doesn’t have to be, the different parts that make it up are put together tightly and no parts are loose. I do raise a slight concern with the rubber pads on the bottom, but I’ve never been a fan of these on any product so it’s so much the product itself, it’s just my prejudice against rubber pads on the bottoms of things since they eventually fall off. Also, I wish the speaker was available in other colors. Overall though, this speaker has great aesthetics in such a small package.

    Function

    One of the main points of this speaker is the fact that it is small and compact. However, at a $99 price tag, it needs to have a powerful punch in the small package. Fortunately, Spracht has delivered on that. The speaker, while small, has a good sound range. The bass and treble are both hit pretty well. The notes are hit and while it doesn’t sound like you are in a theatre or music venue, it still sounds great. In addition, the sound of a call on the speaker sounds like it would on a clear phone with great signal. In fact, it sounds better than listening to it to your ear. The screen will display a caller ID on it so you know who is calling. It does not show names of people who are calling so you will have to know someone’s number in order to recognize who is calling. I think that it would be great if the speaker had that capability. The speaker is all wireless, including the fact that it is rechargeable so it can literally go without wires including a power cord for several hours. That leads me to the battery. I have gotten great battery life on the speaker, with an average of about 5-6 hours which more than enough for me. If I needed to have it for longer than that, I would just get a corded speaker. The only problem I have with the speaker, and this is somewhat slight. Let’s say I am playing music and I pick up the speaker, I really have to watch where I pick the speaker up at because I might end up touching the buttons at the top, which are very sensitive. I may put the device on standby, change the song, pause it, change the volume all without intent. Of course, the buttons aren’t all bad, I appreciate that they are lit up at night so that I may see the buttons. However, I do wish they weren’t so sensitive. Overall, the functionality of the speaker is great and will impress anyone intending to buy a small, portable speaker.

    Conclusion

    Pros

    -Great design

    -Put together well, not falling apart

    -Small and compact

    -Great sound

    -Great minor features

    Cons

    -Only comes in black

    -Future of the rubber pieces at the bottom

    -Buttons are a bit too sensitive

    Things to improve

    I believe that the company should try selling different colors on the speaker. I think that would attract the younger demographic. The rubber pieces at the bottom should be removed or make it better integrated with the speaker rather than just gluing it on. Finally, touch sensitive buttons are great but I think the product would do better with physical buttons that are engrained in the speaker.

    This is a great speaker that I feels earns high marks. It’s light, portable and still has a great sound. While I think it is a bit on the high end in terms of price, I personally think it is worth it. Great job Spracht, your speaker earns 4 and a half stars from me.

    Thanks for reading,

    Joe

     

  • ION iCade Mobile Review

    The ION iCade Mobile is a wireless bluetooth gaming controller for certain games available on the Apple App Store. It allows you to turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a sort of PSP-like device. The iCade mobile is available direct from iCade for $49.99.

    Form

    While the form of this product isn’t nearly as important as the Function of the product, it still needs to be covered because who wants something thats cheap plastic? Or looks like it’s a piece of junk? This product, in terms of aesthetics definitely isn’t that. The iCade Mobile is sturdy and looks as though it will not shatter if dropped. It consists of two parts. The controller and an insert if you use an iPod touch. If you don’t have an iPod touch, just take the insert out and you can use it with your iPhone 4/4S. The controller is made out of a chrome material, hard plastic (not cheap plastic) and rubber. The buttons and front of the controller are chrome, the spot to put your iPod touch or iPhone is a soft rubber that while won’t scratch your device, will protect it while it’s in the controller. The backing is a hard plastic that I feel fairly certain will hold up if dropped, I think it could take a lot. The device actually looks pretty nice aesthetically. The chrome gives it an interesting look, almost like the PSP itself, which as you know, with it’s sleek chrome is a very nice looking product. The controller is black with silver only and it may only be one color combination but trust me, it looks very nice.

    Function

    The abilities of this controller are far more important than how it looks. The controller connects via bluetooth very well and I have had no problems with it disconnecting on me which is great, I don’t want to lose a game I’m playing! The controller truly transforms your device into a PSP-like device. It has four buttons on the right that resemble the X-Square-Circle-Triangle pad on the PSP. Also on the right is a D-Pad that resembles the D-Pad on the XBox controllers. It has L1-L2, R1-R2 like buttons on the top as well. These buttons are easy to press, easy to use and they aren’t stiff. At first I thought the way the device is made is a bit awkward to use but after further use, I learned to get used to it and I actually like it’s profile because it fits in almost any bag or traveling case or whatever. It is easily stored. The containment that holds your device can flip from landscape to portrait should any of the games you play require it. The device actually reminds me of a case and I wish the containment that holds the device came off so I could do such a thing. It really seems like it would do a good job at protecting your device and it really isn’t all that thick either. I also appreciate the fact that they made it an iPhone and iPod touch accessory. It is important that they made it for both. The insert that goes into the holder can get lost though, which is my concern for such a thing, however most people will use it for one device anyways. There are a few things that I am not a fan of though. Despite the many good physical things with it, there is a severe issue with the device in terms of when I can actually use it. Currently, the Apple App Store has a total of about 130,000 games available on the App Store. This controller can work with 139 games (some of which have multiple classic games on them). That is .001 of all the games of on the App Store. Also, even then, I’ve only heard of a few select games such as Temple Run, Frogger, Nyan Cat, Namco, Midway Arcade Collection and Final Run. For this product to be successful, they truly need to work on getting more games to support it and not only more games but better quality games, ones that are much more successful. The apps they have are limited in number and limited in popularity and that, I think, is hurting this product and preventing it from being much more popular than it could potentially be. Truly the only thing that needs help is not the product itself (maybe the controller could be less awkward to hold) but the amount of apps that support it.

    Conclusion

    Pros

    -Great Aesthetics
    -Supports both iPhone and iPod touch
    -Landscape or portrait view
    -Similar to the controllers already out there
    -Great gameplay with the controller
    -Does not drop bluetooth connection

    Cons

    -Needs more, higher-quality games, as-is, it is just way too limited
    -Controller is a bit awkward to hold especially for someone with big hands

    This controller is a true example of something that shows true potential. The controller itself is a great product, something that makes you think, I should have thought of that! It has all that you would think that a device like it would have. Unfortunately, the thing that needs serious improvement also is the most important thing, it’s support for a large base of games which it does not have. The potential in this device is huge and it makes you see how much you miss not using the touch screen. However, a great product/service is different than great potential. The product has only been on shelves for a year now and is destined to take off with a lot of games. In order for it to be truly successful, their roster of games needs to improve. Until then, the ION iCade receives a 4 star review from me. As the roster improves and more games are added, I absolutely will update that rating. However, as of right now, 4 stars feels right. It’s a great working product with great potential that just isn’t there yet. I feel, though, it can and will be.

    Thanks for reading,

    Joe