1byone Wireless In-Ear Headphones

The 1byone Wireless In-Ear Headphones were sent as a review unit by 1byone.

Let me preface this by saying I love headphones. I have over five pairs of headphones of various quality and purposes. Some are gaming headsets, some are for mixing music and some are for running and gym work. These 1byone Wireless In-Ear Headphones are great for those runs, but they are also just as good for long car rides with the family or walking to class. As a preface, these ear buds have about 50 to 60 hours of burn-in on them.

The box these headphones came in is without a doubt the nicest box that 1byone has put their products in that I know of. The flap of the case is magnetic so it firmly closes when shut. The inside of the case houses the headphone and instructions quite nicely. Due to plastic mold on the inside where everything rests, nothing moves around and everything is neatly organized. Lifting the plastic casing will lead you to the instructions. Spare ear cushions and ear hooks are supplied, and the ear buds are nicely placed in the box. I found that the stock ear hooks and ear cushions were comfy enough, but I’m glad other sizes are offered. The one drawback is the charging cable. It is literally six inches. The 1byone could have done was provided a larger cable for charging.

What a presentation

My headset came charged, and it was quite easy to pair the device. All I had to do was hold the center button on the in-line controls to pair the device to my phone once I searched for it on my HTC One M8.  Once your headphones are fully synced, you’ll be able to use the in-line control panel to adjust the volume of your device and play/pause music. If you receive a call, you can answer it, reject it, or mute it through this panel. You can also re-dial the last person who called using this panel. In addition, in the event that an individual calls you while you are already in a phone call, you can end the current call and switch, or put the current call on hold and switch to the other.

The cool thing about these headphones is that you can pair two devices to it simultaneously. This way, you can listen to music until you get home and then watch a YouTube video on your desktop seamlessly. I found this to be am amazing feature, and I had not heard about this before. The charger on these headphones is put in what I believe to be in the stealthiest spot ever, inside the right ear bud. There is a small panel that you can lift to access the charging panel.

Sorry for the blurry photo, but it was tough to get a clear shot of this.

The headphones feel quite comfy in my ears once I got used to the ear hooks. They actually go around the fleshy part of your ear to keep the ear bud in your ear. Accessing the control panel when you are wearing the earbuds is definitely strange since the panel is out of the way and it is slightly annoying to reach and use.

How it looks inside my ear. 

Now to the important part, the sound. I did a test with three songs in particular, Take The Power Back by Rage Against the Machine, In Case Of Trouble by Darren Korb (From the Bastion OST) and Let it Die by the Foo Fighters. I attempted to select songs that covered a wide spectrum of range musically. The headphones have very apparent bass, but it is not overdone. The mids seem to fall a little short in the mix. The treble, on the other hand, is clear to me. The headphones are a little bright in terms of sound, but I’d rather they be bright than too bassy.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with these headphones. They fit nicely in my ear and are really compact. I fully recommend them to anyone that is interested in good quality wireless Bluetooth headphones that are out of the way. If you want to buy them, check out this link! They come in Green/Black, Black, and White/Grey

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1byone Prismatic Dome LED Light Review

The 1byone Prismatic Dome LED Light was sent to me as a review unit from 1byone

If you guys liked the 1byone RGB Stage Light that I reviewed over at WhatsItTech, then you guys will love this 1byone Prismatic Dome LED Light even more. The box that this LED comes in is better right off of the bat. It is much more secure inside, preventing damage to the LED Light.

The dome itself is quite nice with a clean hexagon design all around the side and then a triangle-esque design on the top of the dome. The front of the panel has a menu button which cycles through the color options. There are various combinations that 1byone has provided such as a preset with Red, Green, White, Yellow, and Blue, another with random combination of different colors, and single color presets such as red and Blue with Yellow. Next to the Menu Button is the Up and Down Buttons that select how fast the light will rotate. The electronic board inside the dome move and cause the lights to rotate on the outside. The last button on the front is Enter, and this saves the current preset for the next time the device is turned on. The display unit is quite nice to have The back panel has the DC Jack, the Sound Sensitivity Knob, and the DMC512 Input and Output. The bottom of the LED light also has two holes so that you can mount this bad boy onto a wall.

After turning on the device and selecting a setting, I could hear the low hum of the fan below the ball and I could also feel the cold air. It is so nice to have that setting just because I worried that the ball would overheat if it was placed on a flat surface since there would be a restriction of air flow. Moving through the settings was easy and I quickly picked up how to adjust everything. The lights are quite bright and even on the fasted setting, the lights oscillate in a soothing manner. The last the presets are random combinations of different colors and the pattern that they follow is through flashing. It can be slightly disorienting, but some may like that.

There are only two features I wish this product had, that would make it fantastic. The first is a dedicated on/off switch. I find it shocking that it already doesn’t have one, but I feel that a product such as this should. The second feature is that the power brick doesn’t exactly have a really long cable. Since this can be mounted on the wall, and is marketed towards a party scene of sorts, it should have a much longer cable to allow for ease of use Those issues aside, this product is exceptionally well made and is available for a decent price. 

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And... We're Back!

Hey guys! So I know I said before that I was moving to WhatsItTech.com, and I have, a lot of my content is still there; but I still wanted to post some reviews on here, so look for them in the future.

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We're moving boys and girls!

Hey guys! I am officially a writer for Whatsittech. This is the merging of my blog (PoweredbyIngenuinity) and my roommates' blog (AEVTech). We ported over our blog posts from Blogspot to the new website so if you missed our articles, it will be there. I will keep the posts from the past 2 months available for your viewership, but all future content will be available there. Thanks for reading!

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1byone Belt-Drive 3 Speed Stereo Portable Turntable Review

Introduction

I was sent the 1byone Belt-Drive 3 Speed Stereo Portable Turntable with Built In Speakers by 1byone as a review unit so I will review it as honestly as possible.

As a musician, I always sought out the highest quality music I could find. 320 kpbs, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, PCM were all fantastic for music, but I always heard a lot about the premier quality that vinyl records offered. There seemed to be a consensus that vinyl was the best quality you could have for music, provided you had a clean vinyl, good turntable, and good speakers. After the resurgence of vinyl in the late 2000’s to the early 2010’s, portable record players started popping up everywhere. Enter the 1byone Belt Drive 3 SpeedPortable Turntable, a clean record player packed into a nice casing with speakers inside. I saw the side panel with the headphones in, 3.5mm in, and was very intrigued by the product as a whole. Let’s get right into it!

The denim is a really nice finish for this case 

Packaging and Build Quality

The packaging for all of 1byone’s product has been quite sparse, which is a relief. They are packed well enough for the product to be secure, and in this case, it came with foam on the bottom to support the suitcase design, but compact enough where you do not have to go through twenty barriers just to access the product. After unwrapping the product, I was greeted by a sturdy record player housed inside of what seems to me is a wooden box wrapped in denim. The design of the outside shell is really clean and I love the look of it. The denim feels nice and the rubber feet on the bottom prevent the player from sliding around on my desk. The speakers are inserted on the front of the case on either side of the handle, which is also quite sturdy. There is a latch on the front of the player to prevent the product from falling out, and it keeps the turntable secure. The latch surprisingly enough feels strong, I was expecting the latch or the handle to be a dud since many products tend to have latches that break after even the slightest use.

Messy bed aside, this was the box it came in. Pretty straightforward, no frills packaging

As stated before, the side panel is where you get to plug everything in. For starters, you can connect your headphones directly into this turntable via the 3.5mm jack onboard. Next to the headphones was the DC in for the power source, and next to that, the Line Out. The purpose of the Line Out is so that you can connect the turntable to your speaker system for louder music and so that you are not subject to using only the speakers. Lastly, the Line In is available if you’d like to connect your iPod, Smartphone, or laptop into the turntable for some convoluted reason.

Side panel is efficient and effective. 

The inside of the turntable is also really well built in my opinion. The tone arm has a holder on it that prevents the needle from physically touching the ground, a great feature since a clean needle can make a world of difference when it comes to how the vinyl is heard. Right of the needle is a small control panel that has three features. The first being a lever for the tone arm to raise and lower it once it is out of the tone arm holder. The lever is pretty solid and safely lowers and raises the tone arm. I noticed the lever does get loose, but it locks in place at the top and the bottom of the ridge, which is all that matters to me. 

The lever is pretty good, and the dipswitch for the RPM is solid as well

Below that is a RPM switch. Vinyl records are meant to be played at specific RPM’s, or Revolutions Per Minute, in order to be heard properly. This switch has the three most common speeds, 33 RPM, 45 RPM and  78 RPM. My Donna Summer’ single ‘Dinner With Gershwin’ had to be played at 45RPM, while the self-titled Rage Against The Machine vinyl had to be played at 33 RPM. The final feature that is on this panel is the AUTO STOP ON/OFF switch. When the switch is ON, it will stop the record when it is complete, and it will not stop the record when the switch is OFF, pretty straightforward. Next to the top of the tone arm is a 45 RPM adapter that should be used when an album needs to be played at, you guessed it, 45RPM. 

The build quality on this product is incredible and I really like it. The one thing I do dislike about the structure of the vinyl is that I cannot close the turntable with a vinyl in it, it sticks out. I dislike this because I want to prevent dust from getting on the vinyl while it is in use and this table prevents that.

Sound Quality

I first tested this turntable with the onboard speakers, but I eventually did test them with my JBL LSR 305 Stereo Speakers. The onboard speakers are okay, but they are nothing to phone home about. I have heard the Rage Against The Machine vinyl is 128 kpbs, 256 kpbs, 320 kpbs, ALAC, and FLAC so I have a pretty good idea as to what this album is supposed to sound like and what sounds I can hear in the ALAC and FLAC versions, that are really deeply hidden in the 320 kpbs counterpart. When I turned the turntable volume to just above “On”, I could generally only hear the cymbals. Once I moved it to 3-4 I was able to hear the full band and it sounded pretty good for what the speakers are. Once I reached 8-10, it seemingly started to distort a bit and it didn’t sound nearly as refined. The onboard speakers are definitely the low point of this turntable.

 

If these speakers were of a better quality, this turntable would be the best in its class

But, how did they sound when I plugged them into the JBL LSR 305 speakers? Absolutely amazing and crisp. The vinyl really shined when it was plugged into the speakers and the turntable instantly redeemed itself to me in my eyes since the table is always right next to the speakers. The quality was absolutely superb and I began to understand why vinyl is often times touted as the premier sound quality.

I then plugged in my headphones to see the quality of the music through my headphones (this was using the onboard speakers, they were unplugged from the JBL). There was a bit of a speaker leak. I turned the volume to around 7 for the turntable and held my ear to the onboard speakers and noticed that I could still hear music through the speaker. I do not know if it is just this unit, or if this is a known issue, but I don’t think I was able to hear the full soundscape through the headphones. I was disappointed with this, but realized that I would seldom plug my headphones into to listen to vinyl.

This just looks so clean, I could look at it for hours

The last thing I tested out was plugging in my phone to the turntable to listen to some of my music that I do not have on vinyl. I will admit that music did sound good through the speakers, but again, nothing to call home about. They can definitely be improved to make the turntable all the more desirable.

Overall/ Final Thoughts

I like the turntable. It is a great introduction into the world of vinyl and has a lot of great features in addition to a solid build. I am still disappointed in the flaws that this turntable has though such as the speakers themselves, sound leakage, and the fact that I cannot close the vinyl while it is playing. The later of the three is the one that irks me the most, with the other two being bearable since I will seldom listen to the table through headphones. The product as a whole is great and 1byone really did a great job with this product. If they release a second version with upgraded speakers and a closeable lid while a vinyl is being played, it’d be a top contender for a great record player for an affordable price. 

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V-Moda Crossfade M-100

Introduction

After my Audio Technica ATH-50’s, these were the next pair of, what I consider to be high quality headphones. I got these along with my roommate two years ago and they have been my main drivers ever since. I primarily used my Plantronics Gamecom 780 Gaming Headset before that as my main driver, and it was nice having a high quality pair of headphones for video calls and Dolby Digital 7.1 Surround Sound, but I really wanted to listen to my music in 320 kbps and FLAC on the go. My roommate told me that he did a product review for a V-Moda before with their LP 1’s and after I tried them out, I was hooked on their look, audio fidelity, and comfort. We did some research on the Crossfade M-100’s and the LP-2’s and eventually we both decided on the M-100’s and we haven’t looked back ever since.

Packaging and Features

I don’t frequently go into depth about the packaging of a product, but these headphones were packed in really nicely. The box was very rugged and it has a nice button mechanism as well as a taut red ribbon that is meant to keep everything contained. After that, the headphones were inside the black clam shell case along with the other paraphernalia inside of it. The zipper on the clam shell case appears to be really solid and has not broke on me yet after 2 years of moderately heavy use. The clam shell case as a whole is extremely strong and I love the molding. I have had zero issues with it and I love how small the footprint of the case is. The belt clip on the side of it seems useful, but I seldom use it

Inside the case were the headphones, ¼ inch adapter, and their SpeakEasy Mic Cable as well as their SharePlay Cable. The SpeakEasy Cable is a standard 2 way 3.5mm (1/8 inch) cable that is a little under 5 feet long with one end being straight and the other a right angle. The SharePlay cable on the other hand is a much longer cable, almost 7 feet, and it lets the user share their music with a friend via the inline female 3.5mm jack. This is great for when my roommate and I want to listen to the same music, but don’t want to have two separate audio sources. The material on the inside of the case is a bright red material that is slightly fuzzy. It feels great, and is a nice added touch

Clam Shell Case. Lots of goodies inside!

Build Quality

The headphones themselves felt very solid in my hands. For starters, the headphones can fold into a very compact shape, and you see this shape when you get it out of the case. I was a bit skeptical about this since the metal frame perceptively looks very weak, but it is still very solid to me. The next thing to note is that the headband is very strong. It is not the same as the M80’s which have extremely bendable headbands, but they still do stretch out quite a bit. The ear cups are made up of memory foam and I personally find them comfortable. It is worth noting they my ears do get hot under these headphones after excessive use (more than two or three hours), but they are otherwise a nice fit for me. The side of the headphones have what V-Moda calls ‘shields’. They are essentially custom metal plates that are screwed into the side of the headphones. If you order the M-100’s off of their website, they will give you an extra set of shield that can be customized on their website. As you can see, I got mine customized with the Rise Against band logo. These shields were super easy to install and they give you the hex key to do the change. In a minute flat, I had a pair of headphones that were one of a kind.

The logo has slight wear, but it is barely noticeable

These are my roommate's M-100's, in much better condition

Sound Quality

Now to the meat and potatoes of this review; sound quality. The frequency response of these headphones ranges from 5-30,000Hz and the impedance is 32 Ohms. Since I have owned these headphones for years, I can only assume that they are properly burned in due to being heavily used. I used a couple songs as a reference point, my three being Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Take The Power Back by Rage Against The Machine, and Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. These three tracks were chosen due to their wide frequency range and their sound stage. After listening to all of these tracks, I have come to the conclusion that the M-100’s have great highs and lows, but the mids are lacking because they are being shadowed by the bass. The mids sound really distant, and therefore, appear to be less present than the bass. This was very apparent in Bohemian Rhapsody. I believe the sound quality is fantastic for this product, but I will admit I have no other reference for other headphones in this price range to properly and justly make that assumption.

Flaws?!

There is no product that is without flaws, and the M-100’s are no exception. I have found a couple glaring issues regarding the M-100’s that I would like to point out. The first is SpeakEasy cable. The cable in itself is great, but I have noticed that the 3.5mm end is longer than the average cable. This may not seem to be a huge problem, but I was looking to get a replacement cable that wasn’t V-Moda’s and I was unable to find a suitable substitute due to the thinness of the cable as well as how long the 3.5mm end is. Another issue I noted with the SpeakEasy cable is that it frays easily. The cable is braided, but after many uses, it started to come undone and you start to see it all begin to fray. Lastly, the last glaring issue I have is with the headband slider. Probably a year into my owning the headphones, the slider for the left side of the headphones somehow managed to split apart for what seems to be half an inch. This is not a big inconvenience to me personally, but I felt it was worth noting.

Overall

These headphones are absolutely stellar for their price range and I fully recommend them to any and all users looking for headphones in a decent price range and great quality. I love the extra punchy bass of the headphones as well as the crisp highs in terms of sound quality. I have never seen a company like V-Moda that provides the user with so much case-candy either, which is always a plus in my book. The product overall is great and I want more people to learn about V-Moda and their great headphones.

Check out a link to the Crossfade M-100 here

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CM Storm Quickfire XT Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Browns Review

Introduction

This is technically my second mechanical keyboard, my first being a CM Storm Quickfire Pro with Cherry MX Browns. I say technically because this is my fathers, I traded my Quickfire Pro for his CM Storm QuickfireXT, also with Browns. There are very few changes between the keyboards, but I wanted to bring to light my thoughts on this keyboard. I bought the Quickfire Pro back in 2013 as a birthday present for myself because I wanted a reliable keyboard for college and gaming use. I was not well versed in mechanical keyboards at the time, so I looked for the quietest mechanical keyboard I could find. I decided on Browns after listening to sound samples, and bought this keyboard as a result of some research on Amazon and some forums. I eventually switched with my father because I felt this keyboard was quieter, and he wanted a slightly louder keyboard that had more weight to it. I have been using this keyboard for 5 months now.

Look

This keyboard is low to the ground and has four rubber strips on the four corners of the keyboard. It hardly if ever slides on my desk and that is a great plus. I do like the kickstand legs from other keyboards, but I like the consistency and reliability of the rubber strips. I’ve seen other mechanical keyboards that have the firm’s logo tossed on it four or five times, but this keyboard only has it on the back and bottom, the latter of which no one will most likely see. The keyboard has no backlight, which I personally prefer due to the fact that I find LED distracting and unnecessary. The keys look nice, standard CM Storm font (which is a derivative of the font of the Nintendo GameCube, fun fact!), but the keys are laser etched.

A keycap can either be laser etched or laser engraved. Laser etched means that the character on the key on the key filled out. They stand out, but they are also wear away with moderate to heavy use. A laser engraved key is generally an outline of the character, but the key will never wear away. My Quickfire Pro never wore away in the 2 years of heavy use, and my XT hasn’t worn away yet, but I am sure it will in due time.

The keyboard itself is really relaxed looked and not flashy. The only “LED’s” on the keyboard are the three lights for Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Screen lock as well as the Windows Lock LED. Otherwise, the keyboard is completely bare, which I like. The cable that comes with the keyboard is braided, and it is quite nice to hold and use. I know it will not tangle up and that it is of a good quality.

Feel

This aspect is the most important part of the keyboard, the feel. As I stated before, my first keyboard was the Quickfire Pro with Cherry MX Browns, so I will be frequently comparing this keyboard to that. It is also worth noting that both keyboards are great, and they both serve the same purpose.

When I type a sentence on this keyboard, I find that it is a lot quieter than the Quickfire Pro. This may be due in part that the XT is thinner in build, so less reverberates within the keyboard, whereas there is more space inside the board the Quickfire Pro, so it is inherently louder. I will supply two sound samples below to present my point, and you can decide. I do not efficiently type at all, and cannot touch type yet, so I still bottom out on my keys all the time. There is only a 5% chance that I do not bottom out, and that is still not saying much. Because of this, I just click the keys at a force that I find comfortable without exerting myself. The Browns overall are definitely quiet keys in comparison to their Blue brethren. I have tried Blues, Blacks, Reds, and Clears once and I prefer the feel and bump of the Browns.

The keycap themselves are quite nice and I love the fact that they mimic the curve of my finger. The Quickfire Pro has the same keycap concept, and I just love it. I barely feel the laser etched keys on my fingers as I type, so you can rest assured that they will not interfere with the experience of the keyboard. The Spacebar has a really nice sound to it and I like that I can click it with my thumb effectively when I type.

This is a sound clip of my roommate typing on this keyboard followed by him clicking the backspace than the spacebar

Build Quality

This will be a much shorter section, but I felt it was worth mentioning nonetheless. The build quality is stellar. It is a very comfortable weight and everything feels extremely solid. I can tell they did not skimp out anywhere on this keyboard. Even the USB port on the back of the keyboard feels of good quality even after I unplugged the cable numerous times.

Overall

This keyboard is great. It is quiet enough where I can use it without my roommates or my family hating me, but it still is loud enough for me to satisfyingly use. They keyboard is not fancy by any means, there are no fancy LED’s or RGB lights or even other profiles that are programmable. It is barebones mechanical keyboard with a couple extra features such as Windows Lock, MS delay for typing and gaming, and multimedia shortcuts when the user presses the function key and the respective “f” key, but otherwise it is scant. They offer other keyboards for a full LED keyboard such as the CM Storm TK with a full or the CM Storm Quickfire Ultimate. The XT does do what it has to do, and a damn good job at that, I recommend it for people that want a mechanical keyboard from a trusted company at a good price with no frills.

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Jotterpad- Writing Has Never Been Easier!

I am trying out a new layout for my reviews so tell me what you guys think!

Introduction

When it came to writing longer pieces of works on my phone, I found there were very few places I could turn to. There were mock Microsoft Word applications and a bunch of ‘writer’ apps that I felt fell short for what I needed. The apps were too clunky, too laggy, and not efficient. Not to mention, half of them lacked a proper way to link to synchronize to cloud storage. When I saw Jotterpad by 2 App Studio, it immediately caught my eye due to its simplicity and file architecture. It looked really clean and efficient. There were tons of features under the hood, but the exoskeleton had enough information for me to like it.

The Interface

Once I started using the app, I began to really like the interface. I love using night mode and was glad that they had one to begin with since a lot of apps lack it. The contrast between black and white was great and it looks very material. The FAB icon creates a new document and swiping from the left to the right lets me seamlessly switch from my local files to my Dropbox files, and it also lets me edit my typography. The folder architecture interface that Jotterpad offers really drew me to the app as well. What’s the point in having a great app if you can barely navigate it at all? It appears to be very clean and it is very fast to use. Navigating my 20+ Dropbox Folders and then navigating to my files is extremely simple. The app overall is smooth and has a layout that is completely uncluttered.

Real easy to use layout

Features

I mentioned Night Mode, but that is not the only cool and useful feature that they have. 2 App Studio have also implemented research, grammar and spell check. I seldom use these features due to the type of writing that I do in the app, which is never school or research based, but it is nice to know that they are available to me. The typography layouts are something that I really like since I tend to write lyrics and poems as well as reviews for products in this app. Typography layouts have arbitrary font settings, but the app lets you increase and decrease the font size.  

The best part of this application for me though is that they have Dropbox integration. I love using Dropbox and the fact that I can write on my phone and then it will be backed to my Dropbox reassures me that I am in good hands. In addition to the Dropbox feature, I recently synchronized a Bluetooth keyboard to my phone to do some note taking for class and was happily greet with the fact that Jotterpad has integrated keyboard shortcuts as well. Everyone’s favorite CTRL + C and CTRL + V are useable and effective in this app. CTRL + S also works which is great for quick saving while I write my reviews.

Jotterpad also implemented a small edit bar that is presented as an overlay for the users. This bar effectively adds some quick edit items for the user such as an asterisk or ellipses. For those quick edits, it has left and right arrows that move the cursor one letter in either direction.

Premium Features

Now, I am not a big fan of the pay gate that some developers put in front of you in order to unlock necessary features for a wonderful experience. Thankfully, Jotterpad is not like that, and their app is very useable without the premium features. I was surprised to see that their premium features cost so much in total (I believe $5.00 or something in that price range) and I was a little skeptical to buy it because I didn’t think I would need the extra features. The main two that stuck out to me during my decision making was that I could export my writings in a docx format into my Dropbox, meaning that I could literally copy and paste my contents into my blog for quick posting. This was a big deal to me, and made me ultimately buy the app, but the other feature that made go buy premium was that I was able to customize the typographies to get a one of a kind layout. I really enjoyed this and felt that although it was an aesthetic feature, it really made the app feel personal to me and it makes me want to use it more. Lastly, the app saves "Snapshots" of your writings which are basically various save states of the piece. This way, if you liked the way something was written before, you can go back to that version. I have never needed this feature before, so I can't say for certain that if you loaded up an older save state, that you would lose every other save state from that one to the present, but it is still a pleasant feature to have

The ability to export into DOCX is a blessing

Overall

The app is great. If this article did not explain that concept well enough, than please go check the application out for yourself. It is not meant to be a Google Docs replacement in my opinion, just like it isn’t a Notes or Evernote replacement. It meant for substantial writing. That is not to say that it cannot be used for making a grocery list, or taking notes in class, but I find that there are other apps that could be much more efficient in their usage.

Check out Jotterpad here 

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1byone Bluetooth Keyboard with Multitouch pad

The 1byone Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard  by 1byone was sent to me as a review so I will review as honestly as possible. This entire review is being typed with this keyboard on my HTC One M8 using the Android App Jotterpad

When I received the 1byone Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard with Multi Touchpad, I was very surprised initially by the box of the Bluetooth Keyboard. It was really clean, flat, and well packaged. Inside the box was just the keyboard with a small instructional pamphlet on how to connect the keyboard to your Windows machine or Linux or Android device. I was able to get this device up and running within a minute after I inserted the Triple A batteries needed. I do wish that the back panel for the keyboard where you insert the batteries was easy to remove, but it only took me an extra 30 seconds. Due to the keyboard’s stainless steel back plate, it feels a lot heavier and feels all that more durable.

Box it came in was clean and easy to recycle.

Upon placing the keyboard on my desk, I realized how low the profile of the keyboard really is. It is slightly angled towards the user due to the battery compartment. I liked this because the keyboard is really thin, so the angle of the keyboard works well for the user. It is also worth noting that this keyboard also has a track pad with a two button click implemented into the keyboard. This is the first, and potentially only, keyboard I own that has a track pad embedded into it. It works surprisingly well once you adjust the sensitivity of the mouse to make it a little faster.

I initially synced this keyboard to my laptop for day to day use, but quickly found that it would be better used on my phone for quick note taking in class and on my tablet for larger tasks during class as well. The fact this keyboard has a track pad in it makes it easier to use my tablet without the need of an external Bluetooth Mouse. The keyboard itself is very comfortable and I find it to be just as comfortable as the on-board keyboard on my Lenovo Y510P. The keyboard that I received with my Winbook 802 Windows Tablet was much too small for my fingers to efficiently type, but this keyboard is a happy medium comfort and efficiency.

Stainless Steel Back

The keyboard is also very responsive and I like how the keys feel as if they do not bottom out forever. On old Dell keyboards and the older USB keyboards, the keys were large so you could feel them bottom out, but since the keys on this keyboard are flat, you don’t feel them bottom out as much. This is great for me because this resembles my laptop’s keyboard even more, making it easier for me to type. I was also able to successfully test the function keys on the keyboard as well. By holding the function key and pressing the corresponding 'f' key, I was able to open my email, pause, play, rewind my music and increase and decrease the volume of my phone. I found these functions to be very helpful in operating my phone when I didn't want to physically click the buttons on my phone and if I wanted to quickly check my email or go to the desktop of my phone.

I do have a two, although very minor, issues with the keyboard though, the first being that it is not rechargeable. Now, I have not fully drained the battery on this keyboard yet, and I have used it for two-three days pretty consistently, but I do wish it implemented a rechargeable battery cell so that I could charge it over night or with a power bank and not have to worry about buying batteries. The second is that the letters looks very cheap on the keyboard. I dislike the fact that I can see the black outline around the keys. If you click on the image to your right, you can see the outline on the C and F key quite well. It is very minor, but I think it is meant to be there so that the keys do not fade away. 

Dark outline of the keys.

Besides that issue, the keyboard is an absolute $23 price tag it is sold for. I currently use a CM Storm Quickfire Pro Mechanical Keyboard with my laptop, so I am much more accustom to mechanical switches than I am membrane, but if I ever have to use my tablet or phone outside to write our paragraphs or for note taking, I am definitely tossing this into my bag.

If you would like to view more of their products, check out their website at this link. You can buy this product off their website here or their Amazon page here

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1byone Portable Tablet and Phone Stand

This was sent to be as a product review so I will be as honest as possible for the sake of the validity of the review. Prior to even hearing from the company, I had been interested in a phone/tablet stand for my Winbook 802 Windows Tablet. The case I have for it has a kickstand, but I sort of wanted something more portable and easier to take around with me. Plus, I felt the case is limiting in terms of the kick stand, but it came with a Bluetooth keyboard which I wanted so I was willing to forgo the less then desirable angles.

When I received this package I was really surprised about the size of the stand, it’s really small. At first, I thought I was being hustled since the other stands I saw by other firms such as Anker, seemed a bit larger. The packaging was clean sleeve and then a cardboard box, followed by the stand itself inside of a Ziploc bag. As I lifted it out, I first noticed how heavy the stand was. It seemed like a solid pound.

There was no paperwork to speak of besides the stand, so I began to fiddle around with it since it is marketed as a foldable stand. Once I got the stand swiveling about, I really got to test out how the stand worked in its unfolded position. It worked well, but hardly optimal. Once I swiveled it and placed it on my desk, I found out the entire bottom end of the stand is rubber. This makes it grip the ground much more securely, and makes me feel much more comfortable about using this as a tablet and phone stand

Standard Wall Adapter in front of the stand. 

I placed my Winbook on there, which has no case to speak of, in the horizontal position and it worked great. There were no issues and it stood tall, proud, and most importantly, secure. I left it like that for a little bit and then I rotated it to the horizontal position so that I could test it like that as well. Just as expected, it worked fantastically.

Solid stand for my tablet. 

I also tested this with my HTC ONE M8 that has an Otterbox Commuter Case on it and it also fits fine. I was a little skeptical about it fitting since the case is on it and it adds to the size of the overall phone, but it stands well both vertically and horizontally. At the price point of a little over $10, this tablet stand works great. The fact that it has a full rubber bottom reassures me of its stability, unlike other products that come with rubber feet that fall off over heavy use. Plus, this product is small. You can easily toss this into your bag along with a small Bluetooth keyboard, and your tablet and use it all as a mini workstation. I would fully recommend this product to anyone who wants an efficient tablet stand that is at a great price! Here are two photos of the HTC ONE M8 on the stand.

Sits flush in the stand

The Swivel is pretty neat and it continuously supports the phone.

If you would like to buy this product, check out the following links:

1byone's Official Product Link

Buy it on Amazon!

Their website for more products

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Kinivo BTH 240 Bluetooth Headset

I will admit that I own a couple headphones of various quality. I have earbuds, Plantronics Gamecom 780, Audio Technica ATH-50, and V-Moda M100 headphones, why should I get another? I bought this headset because I wanted something lightweight that I could use as Bluetooth headset to have hands-free conversations. In my dormitory last year, I had awful cellular reception and I had to stand near the window to get even 1 Bar. With a Bluetooth headset, I was able to leave the phone near the window, and continue my work effectively and easily.

The pads are surprisingly really comfortable. 

I considered a couple of the Plantronics headsets that were a single ear, but I found that I would have a bit of discomfort with sticking the earpiece within my ear. I searched for a stereo headset and found these Kinivo BTH 240’s for $25 on Amazon. I figured it would only set me back a small amount, so I took the plunge. The packaging it came in was pretty basic, and the headphones came in a nice pouch along with the headphones and a small charging cable. The cable is the same as every other Android charging cable so I didn’t worry about using it just yet. The headphones themselves are quite small. You wear them behind your ears so they are practically out of sight minus the two speakers that are visible on the ear. I was initially skeptical about the way the headphones would attach themselves to my ears because it looks like they clip onto them. They in fact are really light on your ears and have not hurt me in extended use.

Charging the headphones only took 2 hours and was done through the charging port on the side of the right speaker. I figured it’d be a little tedious to keep the cable in, but it clicked into place pretty promisingly so I was happy with that. Synchronizing the headphones were extremely easy. It was just a matter of holding the center phone icon until it blinked red and blue and then searched for available Bluetooth devices on my HTC One M8 (Also synced well with both my HP Pavilion DV6, Lenovo Y510P and my old Samsung Galaxy S III). There are two audible clicks when the headphones sync, one for Phone Audio and one for Media Audio. After that, the headset passively blinks blue every five or ten seconds. The listener will never see it unless the room is black and the blue lights the room up.

The little flap that covers the charging port

There are five on board buttons on the headset, a plus and minus that represent increasing and decreasing the volume followed by the center phone icon which is slightly raised . If you tap the button, it will play/pause music, and if you hold it for two to three seconds, you’ll call back the last person you called. When receiving a call, you can just press the phone button to answer and end the call when the conversation is over. The bottom two buttons let you switch the track to the next track, or the previous one. The pads on the headphones are exceptionally comfy and they have not tore on me in the 2 years that I've owned these headphones.

Surprisingly enough, I use these headphones the most when I go out. They are extremely light, have a long batter (I only charge mine once a week and I leave it on pretty much all day besides when I sleep. They quality of the headphones is pretty good for the price and my absolute favorite part of this is how light they are. I completely forget they are on sometimes and they do not burden my movement at all, unlike some of my larger over the ear headphones. I love the audio fidelity I receive from my V-Modas and my Audio-Technica’, but for a run, going to class, or just simple headphones overall, these Kinivo BTH 240’s are fantastic and are in a league of their own for just under $25.

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Guitar Repair #1- Loose Strap Pin

I decided that I would start writing about guitar repairs and a couple tricks. Most, if not all of these tricks I learned from my guitar teacher Dan. He taught me everything I know about repair and quick fixes.

This first post will discuss the strap pin. I use strap locks and I find that every eight months to a year, they come loose, and have at one point, fallen out. I have had this happen to a couple of my other guitars and I felt I should show how I fix it.

A little dusty

The only things you'll need for this repair will be a toothpick, a pair of scissors, a tissue or a cloth to wipe away saw dust, and a Phillips head screw driver

Here's the excess toothpick

Firstly, unscrew the strap pin completely and wipe away the saw dust. The reason the pin came loose is because the screw has nothing to grip inside the guitar. Because of this, the screw spins inside of the hole, and eventually, falls out.

Bent outta shape

Then put the toothpick inside of the hole and bend the toothpick so that the part sticking out snaps off. The alternative to this would be to use scissors to cut off the excess. In doing this, only the part of the toothpick that's inside the guitar stays, you can discard the rest. The toothpick will now let the screw in the strap pin grab the toothpick and the original hole.

Strap Pin grips the toothpick nicely.

Line the screw back into the guitar body and use the Phillips screwdriver to drill the screw into the guitar. If the strap pin had any felt in-between the screw and the guitar, please make sure to put it back so it doesn't damage the body

.

Voilà, your strap pin is now fixed and it only took five or ten minutes. Hope this helped some of you out.

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Anker Power Bank Review (10,000 mAH model)

This is a review of my Anker 2nd Gen Astro E3 Ultra Compact 10000mAh Power Bank. I got this for Christmas last year from a friend of mine and I have found it immensely useful. I was looking into these portable chargers after my Galaxy S3 was limping on its last leg. My battery was dying throughout the day and I found that it died in inconvenient moments. I was searching for a way to charge it portably (I already have two backup batteries), and saw that power banks were now becoming a popular thing to have. I’ve had good experience with Anker in the past, so I decided on that device and figured that 10,000 mAH would suffice for quite a couple charges, and put it in my Amazon wish list. My friend noted that I liked the powerbank and got it for me for Christmas.

This thing is HUGE

My first thought when I got it was that this thing had some weight to it. I compared it to my S3 at the time, and it was larger than my S3! At first, I questioned whether I would use it, but quickly realized that it would be a fantastic help. The power bank comes with two USB ports to plug your devices in, and it can be charged with a standard Android charger. The pouch it came in is quite good, and I am able to store an extra charging cable in there so that I am never without one.

The device itself is a plain black brick has 4 LED’s on it that dictate how much battery the bank has left. Since this one is 10,000 mAH, each circle is roughly 2,500 mAH of power. When you plug your device into it, you press the center button and the device starts charging whatever is plugged into it. I’ve charged my Bluetooth headphones, my smart watch and my phone using it and have had no problems with any of it. It is worth noting that the charger weighs a good amount, 8.16 ounces, which is about half a pound. It took be a back, so I felt that it was worth noting. It can charge within 6 hours according to Anker if you use a 2 Amp adapter and the provided cable, but I tend to charge this power bank over night so I can’t vouch for that claim.  

The device is overall very solid and I fully recommend it to anyone. It has enough charge where I can go without charging it for a week or so and still have enough. My friends use it more than I do to be honest and they all find it to be a great help. I even bought my mother a smaller version of mine when she went to visit family in India and she said that it was the most useful there since she was out and about taking photos on her phone and it was able to keep her charged until she got home to charge the bank and her phone properly again. 

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Perception- My Venture Into Ableton Live 9 And What I've Learned

Perception in music is such a strange thing just because of how many angles they are. You could be a person who listens to music all the time, or just a causal listener. Maybe a fan, or a musician. Each person is lead to perceive music differently, and that's great. This discussion of sorts is based on my recent ventures into Ableton Live 9, a popular Digital Audio Workstation which I am learning in order to create drum beats for my music since I do not have the space for drums due to location and literal space, and because I wanted to learn the software. As I used the software more and more, I started thinking about how I perceive guitar, bass, drums and the like in a musical sense. My mind wondered to artists who create their own music using an instrument, and those that use a computer.

Take for example three very different, yet accomplished musicians. David Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and Deadmau5. David Grohl played drums for Nirvana and would later on found the Foo Fighters. Throughout all of that, he never used a computer to make his music or play his parts. He find that music should be played by humans because it both feels and sounds more natural and well... Human. Trent on the other hand makes industrial rock music and welcomes the use of computers in both the creative and producing processes. He is a very capable and accomplished multi-instrumentalist outside of the computer, but he uses the computer to further his music making capabilities. The last example is Electronic Dance Music musician Deadmau5. He exclusively uses computers to make his music. There is nothing wrong with the way that the music is made, but it makes me wonder as to how we as people perceive music.

I take lessons at a music school and spoke to my instructor about drums. Everything from where to place a fill, and how one should go about making one, to pushing the best or keeping it laid back. I also analyzed the drum beats he played and tried to tab out how it would sound in Ableton in my head. It was during this that my initial curiosity in perception started to ferment.

I was looking at drums as a means to an end if you will. Songs need drums, at least 99% of them do, and I don't have a way to learn drums, record them, or pay someone else to do them. In my early analysis of drums, a instrument I paid little attention to, I sought out the basic patterns and the core fundamentals of it all. Of course I didn't have to worry about stick control or proper toe to heel positioning on the bass drum pedal, but I was still interested in the subtle placement of a kick drum in a Brad Wilk beat, or the placement of a fill that Bonham used.

Because of all of this, I viewed drums differently than my other drummer friends did, mainly because I wasn't a drummer. I showed my drummer friend my basic rock beat and asked her help for a fill. She gave me a fill that would work, and it sounded familiar, but odd. I've heard used it other songs before, but when I wrote it out, it sounded odd. But to the drummer, it correct, good even. That's so strange to me. David Grohl discussed his approach to writing guitar lines for his band and he stated that a lot of his guitar parts sort of act as drum part. He synchronizes some of the guitar parts to the kick drum, and others to the snare. Of course, he is not the first musician to do this, there have been countless others, but it was interesting for him to actually explain it and state it all. But even then I find it odd. It didn’t make much sense to me until I really looked at how it was made. Another example would be the way that progressive rock bands such as Protest The Hero make music. I recently heard the drummer from Protest The Hero record his playing on their song “Drumhead Trial”. The beat at its core was very basic, fast, but basic. The guitars that were layered on top of it though were doing completely different things that worked with the song, but didn’t sound like it should  have. On paper, it may not have sounded good, but in practice it did.

It was through this entire analysis of music and perception that I came to the realization that…well… that’s what makes music so cool to me. That David Grohl could write a guitar riff based on one idea, but if he explained the idea to say, Josh Homme or Tom Morello, it could be perceived completely differently and then played differently. Perception is such an odd thing in music.

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Sleepbot- Tracking Your Sleep Should Be Easy

Sleeping has been something that we have always craved as people. Applications can now track how well a person sleeps. Utilizing your smart phone, you can now not only track how much sleep you get, but your motion can be tracked as well which dictates your REM cycle. Even the sounds you make can be tracked.

The application I would like to bring to your attention today is Sleep Bot. I initially started using this application a year ago during my sophomore year of college. I wanted to make sure I was getting good sleep and I wanted to improve my sleeping habits so I downloaded this app. Since then, it has gone through quite a few changes, and I feel that I now have enough experience to discuss it

The application in itself is quite simple. You open the app to see the amount of hours you got in sleep last night through swiping through the screens, you can see the charts they offer you. I prefer the swiping to access these things as opposed to a clutter of menus that some other apps offer because I find that for this type of application, I don't need a lot.

On the first screen you can see the three functions that are available to you. The first being Smart Alarm. Smart alarm sets an alarm based on when you go to bed and how many hours of sleep you want. Based on those facts alone, it will create an alarm to slowly wake you up and ease you into the day. Personally, no alarm is going to 'ease' me into the day so I generally stay away from that feature. The second feature is the track motion feature and it is the one I use the most. I leave my phone plugged into the charger at bedtime and then leave it in my mattress. It detects when I move and graphs the entire thing. I find it useful to see if I ever reached my REM cycle. The final feature is the record sound function. Since I don't talk in my sleep, and nothing great really goes on around me, I don't record my sleep. I've had roommates before and no one has come to me confessing I snore like an elephant, so until then, I will shy away from that feature as well.

The screen to the right of it displays your sleep and how much you got everyday. The date start time, end time, sleep earned, and how much in sleep debt you're in are all displayed. Now, sleep debt is not as scary as it sounds. You set how many hours of sleep you want every night. It defaults to eight, but I lowered mine to seven. After you get sleep, it shows sleep debt, which is the hours you wanted subtracted by the hours you actually got. If the number is negative, it means you got more sleep then you intended.

The settings are pretty straightforward. It is worth noting that you do have the option to backup and restore your information. This makes it less stressful to deal with crashes and accidental wiping of the memory. Some other unique settings are the bedtime reminder, which is self explanatory, and the punch offset. Punch offset let's use select a predetermined measurement of time, say ten minutes, and use that as the offset. Now, if you click the button to start monitoring your sleep, it will not start until ten minutes later. This compensates for how long it will take you to get to sleep. I see mine to 10 minutes and have encountered no issues with it.

This application fit all of my needs to a 't'. I wanted an app that wasn't cluttered. Don't get me wrong, I love my features in apps, and I love having a lot of them, but with a sleeping app, I find I don't need much. This app was easy enough to understand and use within five minutes and after that, I was set. I recommend this app for anyone who wants a straightforward app that has good features, but isn’t overly complicated to use. 

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