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Noontec Hammo TV headphones and listening station review

There are times you want to watch TV, not the computer, and those in the general vicinity don’t really want to hear the sound. (This is known as an opportunity for innovation, or the start of an argument, depending on how it’s handled and the personalities involved.) Recently, I was offered the Noontec Hammo TV headphones and listening station, and hoped this would help in my situation. Let’s take a look. 

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.


The Hammo TV comes with everything you’ll need to connect to most modern TV audio: the headset with charger, the base station (which includes a stand), cables to connect to miniAUX or RCA outputs, and a power cord for the base unit. There is also a clear installation diagram for those whose minds don’t run toward the technical.

Once set up, the unit can hide behind the TV or be visible – it’s not unattractive. My Lovely Bride suffers through a lot of tech lying about our home with few complaints, so I opted to hide as much as possible behind our TCL 40″ flat panel. Check the before and after pics below and see how well I did.


Once installed, you only have to connect the output to the Hammo’s input and watch as normal. I found it to be quite easy to use, even with the hassle of plugging and unplugging the jack. The base station has a bright green LED, which shows the connection. This blinks when you have turned off the wireless headset until you hold the power button down and turn the entire unit off.


The earcups are over-ear, so they are big enough to have decent sound and allow for long viewing/listening sessions. The sound quality is such that music, spoken words, and sound effects are all “present” in full stereo. It’s actually more engrossing than my TV speakers unless I have the volume up pretty loud.


If you’re someone who travels, this unit packs down to a fairly small size, and the headphones collapse like true travel headphones. Sitting in your TV area on the stand unfolded, they still don’t take up much room. But if you’d rather, you can store them in the (included) velveteen travel pouch.

One of the things I wasn’t happy about is that only a single person can use them at once – no shared listening while kids sleep, for instance. I’m sure this could be worked around, but it would be nice to see a company-initiated solution, like a wiring harness solution or similar. Also, there is no gauge for battery level on the headphones. I never had them run out in the middle of a show or anything, but there’s also no way to tell if I should charge them, or just hang them up after use.

I’ve found that having this setup gives us options to read and watch TV while in the same room and not disturbing each other. Sometimes the Lovely Bride wants to watch yet another British crime drama and I need to update an article or play World of Tanks, and yet we can sit together and snuggle, each in our own worlds. And that’s a great technical innovation!

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Noontec. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $119.95
Manufacturer: Noontec
Retailer: Amazon
Requirements:
  • Sound source with RCA or miniAUX output
Pros:
  • Private listening to TV
  • Wireless
  • Over-ear ear cups are comfortable for long wear
Cons:
  • Only a single person can use them at once – no shared listening while kids sleep
  • No gauge for battery on headphones.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Reviews

Tagged:

Noontec Hammo TV headphones and listening station review originally appeared on on March 24, 2017 at 3:54 pm.

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StarTech USB-C Video Adapters with Presentation Mode Review

As a frequent business meeting presenter, I have a variety of device-to-display adapters in my travel bag.  And this collection continues to evolve over time when newer technology such as USB-C video output becomes more prevalent.  Keeping up with this trend, StarTech offers a line of USB-C video adapters and provided VGA and HDMI versions to review.  Additionally, as a product differentiator, StarTech adds a “Presentation Mode” feature to make your meetings smoother and more convenient.  After testing the adapters at home, I’ve also had the opportunity to test in real world situations on a long business trip.  Let’s see how they do…

MANUFACTURER SPECIFICATIONS

StarTech provides a unique feature called “Presentation Mode”.  When “Presentation Mode” is switched on, your device is prevented from entering a sleep or screen saver state.  With this feature, the user no longer has to toggle off these sleep or screen saver states through your OS.

USB-C to VGA Adapter
USB-C 24 pin male to VGA 15 pin female
Supported resolutions @ up to 60Hz

  • 1024×768
  • 1280×720
  • 1920×1080
  • 1920×1200
  • 2048×1280

USB-C to HDMI Adapter
USB-C 24 pin to HDMI 19 pin female
7.1 surround sound
Supported resolutions up to 60Hz

  • 1024×768
  • 1280×720
  • 1920×1080
  • 1920×1200
  • 2560×1440
  • 2560×1600
  • 3840×2160

UNBOXING

Both adapters come in cardboard packaging, which I personally find as a welcome respite from products housed in hard plastic packages.  The interior cardboard packaging secures the adapters and includes a small paper quick start guide.

PRODUCT IMPRESSIONS

Both adapters are approximately 7 1/2″ long from end to end.  The USB end is a 5″ length of 3/16″ cable that is flexible, yet stiff enough to stay in whatever position you want to bend it in up to 90 degrees.  The cable feels sufficiently protected with a 1/4″ stiff plastic strain relief at both the USB and video ends.  The video port end is enclosed in a 1 1/2″ x 2″ plastic housing that also includes the “Performance Mode” toggle switch.  The entire adapter is a matte black sheen with a small StarTech.com logo on the housing.  It is absent of any gaudy colors or logos, which I find appropriate for a business meeting setting which these adapters seem intended for.

TEST EQUIPMENT

For this review, two different devices were used that represent my likely personal usage scenarios:

Cube I7 Book Tablet PC referred to as the “Cube Tablet”

  • USB-C port for video output
  • Capable of 4K 60 Hz video output

Nokia Lumia 950XL  referred to as the “Lumia”

  • USB-C port for video output
  • Full screen app mode using Windows Phone Continuum

Different displays were used depending on the adapter and situation:

  • Dell S2309 2048×1152 monitor to test the VGA adapter
  • Dell S2817Q monitor with 4K resolution and 60Hz frame rate to test the advertised HDMI adapter capabilities
  • VGA and HDMI projectors from various businesses and companies, model numbers unknown
  • TVs with HDMI input from various hotels, model numbers unknown

TESTING

The following scenarios will be tested with the StarTech adapters:

  • Both devices will be tested with both monitors.
  • A variety of monitors, projectors, and TVs will be tested dependent on my business trip environments.
  • Video playback and Microsoft Office will be used to judge presentation quality.
  • The “Presentation Mode” will be tested with both devices having their screen savers/timeouts enabled.
  • Additionally, the Lumia with Windows Mobile 10 has the Continuum feature which allows the use of a connected monitor to enable a desktop-like experience.

Both adapters were brought on a recent multi-destination business trip to test in real world presentation situations.

INSTALLATION AND USAGE

Using either StarTech adapter is just a matter of inserting the USB-C plug into the device and inserting the video cable into the HDMI or VGA port.

I also tried a variety of HDMI and VGA cables I personally had on hand, and they all fit well on the adapters.  On the Lumia, the USB-C plug fit well and felt secure.  On the cube tablet, the USB-C plug felt looser than what I would have liked, but that is more of an issue with tablet port as other USB-C cables felt just as insecure.

The Cube tablet also initially had issues recognizing the device but this turned out to be an issue with Windows 10.  The solution was to go into the Device Manager and right click on the Properties option of the USB Root Hub.  On the Power Management tab, disabling the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” allowed Windows to recognize the adapter.

VGA ADAPTER IMPRESSIONS

Cube tablet

Upon device discovery, Windows by default replicated the display.  The Dell VGA monitor has the same 1920×1020 resolution, so everything scaled perfectly.  The output came out clear with no perceptible lag.  The adapter worked in all situations of my trip which included hardware such as projectors, computer monitors and even hotel TVs with VGA inputs.  I was successfully able to show a Powerpoint presentation at a business that only had a VGA projector.

Lumia

The Lumia does not output via VGA in Continuum mode, so no impressions could be made in this instance.

HDMI ADAPTER IMPRESSIONS

Cube Tablet

Again, upon device discovery, Windows by default replicated the display with no issues.  Switching to “extended display mode” took better advantage of displays with additional real estate and resolutions.  In a variety of situations on my trip, the adapter had no issues connecting to projectors, computer monitors, and hotel TVs.

The adapter advertises the ability to transmit 4K at 60Hz, which the Cube Tablet is capable of outputting.  To test the entire hardware toolchain, I acquired a 4K test image commonly used to test AV equipment.  The image consists of a series of pixel wide lines and gaps that can only be discerned in a 4K display.  In this case, I can confirm that the adapter transmits the 4K image properly.

To test the 60 Hz adapter capability, a 60 Hz video supplied from StarTech was used.  Without having any sort of metric tool to test for frame rate, I resorted to a subjective test by playing the same video back and forth between a work laptop (with only 30 Hz output capability) and the Cube Tablet.  So while I can’t completely confirm output frame rates, subjectively I could perceive a far smoother viewing experience with the Cube Tablet at 60 Hz.

Lumia

After the HDMI adapter was inserted into the Lumia, the Continuum app was activated and “wired dock” mode was selected.  The Lumia immediately recognized the adapter and a Windows Mobile full-screen display mode presented itself on the Dell HDMI monitor.  I was successfully able to connect with a variety of computer monitors, projectors, and hotel TVs on my trip.  In all cases, the display was clear and responsive, and I was able to show Powerpoint presentations and work on Microsoft Office applications without any issues.

PRESENTATION MODE IMPRESSIONS

The “Presentation Mode” feature is physically enabled on or off with a small sliding toggle switch next to the video port end of the adapter. When the switch is set to ‘on’, StarTech states that the adapter sends out ‘small cursor movements’ to prevent your operating system from sensing user inactivity.  Since the USB-C port on both my devices also accept input devices like keyboards or mice, “Presentation Mode” sounds like a clever way of tricking the device to stay active.

For this portion of testing, I initially set the “Presentation Mode” to ‘off’ to confirm that the screen and monitor go blank after 5 minutes of inactivity.  Then the switch was set to ‘on’ and left my devices sitting idle for an hour and the displays continued to stay on.

For both the VGA and HDMI adapters using the Cube Tablet, “Presentation Mode” worked as advertised.

Additionally, for the Lumia, one of my current annoyances with Continuum is that the screen will lock after 5 minutes of inactivity and there does not appear to be a way to disable or lengthen this timeout in the software.  The Microsoft helpdesk and other Windows Phone forums have many posts seeking solutions to no avail.  So it was interesting to see if this adapter would work on the Lumia.  With presentation mode switched to ‘off’, the screen timeout occurred as usual.  However, switching to ‘on’ effectively prevented the screen from timing out and I was extremely happy to finally have a solution to this issue.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If I were shopping for a video adapter, I would have to admit the “Presentation Mode” feature isn’t something I would have immediately sought out.  However, I found that having a physical “Presentation Mode” hardware switch was very convenient.  And it beats having to go into your device settings to fish around with your power and display modes every time.  So for my usage scenario, as a frequent business meeting presenter, the Startech adapters have found a permanent place in my presentation gear bag.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by StarTech.  For more info visit their site and Amazon to check prices.

 

Product Information

Price: $47.99 (VGA), $45.99 (HDMI)
Manufacturer: StarTech
Retailer: Amazon

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Reviews

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StarTech USB-C Video Adapters with Presentation Mode Review originally appeared on on March 24, 2017 at 8:02 am.

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Sandman 4 Port USB Charging Alarm Clock review

How many of you wake to sounds from your smartphone, charging on or near your bed? How many of you still have a clock in your bedroom for timekeeping (not for decoration)? These two questions will determine your interest in the latest gadget to cross my review desk: the Sandman Alarm Clock.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.


We all sleep, and most of us are cursed with the necessity of having to be awakened at a specific time. For this, most of us use some sort of alarm clock or alarm app. While we’re sleeping, most Gadgeteers also plug in their phone, tablet, watch, or another device for charging. The result has made for a lot of tangled confusion on and under nightstands the world over. A company called Palo Alto Innovations has developed something to tame some of this with the Sandman alarm clock. They sent one to me for testing, and I’ve done so with great enthusiasm. (Anything that includes me sleeping is met with great joy.)


The clock itself resembles any of the thousands of LED clocks you’ve seen over the years: black plastic face with large numerals and small dots nearby to indicate alarm status and AM/PM. There are buttons to allow you to change the time, set the alarm, etc., on the back. There’s also a built in backup battery in case of power outage. The Sandman, however, features a multi-level brightness adjustment on the display, which means you’ll actually have a dark room to sleep in once more. (My youngest actually puts an index card over her current clock to dim the display.)


The other secret superpower this clock brings to market is four USB charging ports across the back. No longer do you have to flail about under the bed and nightstand for that cable to plug in your device(s) at the bedside. In fact, since it’s right there on the nightstand, using a short cable or one with several tips makes lots of sense.


With these features, what’s not to like, right? Well, a few things. First, the buttons have no way to lock. So, in the middle of the night, you reach to turn the clock around and read it, and you’ve grabbed the button to change the time. Or you’ve turned off the alarm if you grab the other side. Second, setting the alarm takes a lot of twiddling to get the hang of. With only three buttons, you’d think they could have made some other location for them, or built up a collar around them to make it more difficult to change or add a lock button. And holding the snooze bar while holding one of the buttons on another plane means this is never a one-handed operation.


The sound is loud enough to wake me, but I’d like to change the sound or make it louder on those days I’m going to need some added encouragement to rise. These things should be easy enough to add for the next version, but without them, the addition of USB ports is not quite enough to make me change from my current clock.
How has what you keep on your nightstand changed in the last 10 years? How about the last 15? That question brings into sharp relief the changes brought about by cell phones, iPods, smartphones, and our move from needing clock radios to using phones to wake us. This could be an interesting social science study, actually. Let’s discuss it in the comments.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Palo Alto Innovation. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $44.99
Manufacturer: Palo Alto Innovation
Retailer: Amazon
Requirements:
  • AC outlet
Pros:
  • Variable brightness levels
  • USB port allows charging up to 4 gadgets
  • Backup battery
Cons:
  • Time and alarm status are easily changed when picking up clock
  • No control over alarm sound or volume level
  • Fiddly controls for setting alarm and time

Filed in categories: Reviews, Watches and Clocks

Tagged:

Sandman 4 Port USB Charging Alarm Clock review originally appeared on on March 23, 2017 at 12:23 pm.

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Mpow Bluetooth Over-the-Ear Bluetooth Headphones review

These Mpow Bluetooth headphones are a decent, moderately priced option for people who prefer traditional over-the-ear headphones versus earbuds. They are stylish, portable and offer the choice of a wired connection as well as Bluetooth.

In the box:

  • Mpow Bluetooth Headset
  • 3.5mm Audio Cable
  • USB Charging Cable
  • Packing Bag
  • User Manual

Specifications:

  • Bluetooth Version: 4.0
  • Range: 33 feet (10 meters)
  • Talking Time: Around 15 hours
  • Playback Time: Around 13 hours
  • Charging Time: 4 hours
  • Charging Voltage: 5V
  • Battery Capacity: 420mAh

Design:

It is very obvious that Mpow mimicked the design of the more expensive Beats Studio Wireless headphones when designing this unit. It has similar curves and angles to the Beats and a shiny black plastic exterior with plastic silver inlays over cups.

I did appreciate the small but clear indicators on the inside of the headband denoting the left and right cups.

Comfort:

The inside of the headband is matte red plastic with a very thin “memory-protein material” cushion for the top of your head and the same “material” on the cups for your ears. The cups are oval and quite narrow so these may cause discomfort for users with larger ears. The headphones were very uncomfortable for me after about thirty minutes of continued use. The headband has seven notches for adjustment, but even with that range I experienced some pressure on top of my head and ears. My ears also felt very warm after a short time.

Use:

Following the included instructions I was able to connect via Bluetooth to both my Android Nexus 5X and Apple laptop very easily. Setup is aided by a female voice which tells you when the headphones are powered on or off, when in pairing mode and when you’ve reached the maximum volume.

The controls are on the outside of the right cup and are a little difficult to access when you are wearing the headphones. You have to feel around a bit for the buttons and the clicks on the controls are very loud and require some pressure. The controls include volume up and down, next and previous track, power, play/pause, and call. The buttons don’t light up and are marked in very light grey on the black headphones, so they are difficult to see. The only lit area of the controls is a small ring around the center play/call button which blinks blue when powered or red and blue when pairing.

You can also connect the headphones to your device with an included male-to-male 3.5mm audio cable and an audio port on the bottom of the left cup. It is nice to have the option to use these as wired headphones, but once connected by wire neither the controls nor the microphone work. The sound quality of the wired connection and Bluetooth connection was the same in my testing. The bass was a little light on most tracks and on higher volumes the sound suffered from slight distortion and a loss of clarity. There were occasional dropouts in sound when connected through Bluetooth.

There is significant sound leak at all volumes. You would not be able to use these in an office environment or in public without annoying those around you. This is most likely because these headphones are designed to be passive noise isolating, as opposed to having active noise cancellation. Passive noise isolation simply means that once you have the headphones on and are listening to content, you can’t hear any outside noises. Active noise cancellation counteracts outside noises by creating an inverted waveform to cancel out the noise waveforms and requires extra power.

For phone calls or chatting via computer, there is a small microphone hole on the lower right cup, but maybe because of the design, my voice was muffled on all calls. The sound quality of the caller was fine, but I would not use these as my main headphones for calls or chatting on my computer.

Storage:

The headphones fold at hinges just above the cups for storage in the included case. When fully opened, the cups lock into place with a satisfying click.

Power:

The headphones charge via a micro USB port on the outside of the right cup with included USB cable. The unit takes about four hours to attain a full charge. In my tests, the battery life for playback was right along with Mpow’s specifications, about 12-13 hours. This amount of playback time is great for a set of headphones you plan on using a lot during the day.

Final thoughts:

The Mpow Bluetooth over-the-ear headphones aren’t a great piece of audio equipment by any measure, but for the price, portability and option of a wired or Bluetooth connection, they are a good back-up set to have around.

The sample for this review was provided by Mpow. Please visit their website or Amazon to order.

 

 

Product Information

Price: $36.69
Manufacturer: Mpow
Retailer: Amazon
Requirements:
  • Bluetooth Version 4.0
Pros:
  • Moderately priced
  • Bluetooth and wired connection
  • Included carrying bag
  • Passive Noise Cancellation
Cons:
  • Significant sound leak at every volume level
  • Cheap plastic build
  • Poor sound quality at higher volumes
  • Controls difficult to use when wearing
  • Uncomfortable after prolonged use

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Bluetooth Gear, Reviews

Tagged:

Mpow Bluetooth Over-the-Ear Bluetooth Headphones review originally appeared on on March 23, 2017 at 7:08 am.

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Kanex MultiSync Foldable Travel Keyboard review

If you can touch type on your mobile device faster than you can tap type (I just made up that new term), then a Bluetooth keyboard is a useful productivity tool when you have a lot of text to enter. There are already eleventy billion different travel sized Bluetooth keyboards on the market, so let’s look at another one. It’s the MultiSync Foldable Travel Keyboard from Kanex. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Kanex MultiSync Foldable Travel Keyboard is a universal folding travel sized keyboard that is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows devices. It uses Bluetooth 3.0 to wirelessly connect to and switch between up to four devices.

Design and features

The Kanex keyboard is the perfect travel sized keyboard because it’s only 4.0″ x 6.5 inches when folded. For scale, I show it in the image above next to a Nexus 6P.

It has a dark gray soft touch plastic cover that is a dust magnet. And speaking of magnets, the two halves of the keyboard are held closed with one.

The keyboard opens into a unique V shape that’s 4.0″ x 13.0″ inches. You might be wondering about the big gap between the two halves of the keyboard. Do touch typists have to stretch their fingers to type? No, they do not. The left-hand types the letters on the left side of the keyboard and the right-hand types the right keys. There is no obvious learning curve if you’re already a touch typist other than just getting a feel for the key spacing. The gap in the center of the keys is actually kind of nice because it makes this keyboard feel roomy and comfortable unlike some cramped travel keyboards that I’ve tried in the past.

The keys are made of hard plastic and are slightly smaller than the keys on a full-sized keyboard like the Apple Wireless Keyboard. The keys are nicely spaced, have good travel and good tactile feedback.

On the top edge above the 6 key are two status LEDs. One blinks blue during pairing and the other one will glow red while charging and green when charging is completed. The battery capacity can be checked at any time by holding down the FN and R keys. The right LED will then blink 1 to 4 times to signify if the battery is only 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% (4 flashes) full.

I could not find any information on Kanex’s site about battery life but I’ve been using the keyboard on and off for a few weeks and it’s still on the first charge.

You can click the image above for a larger view of the keyboard key layout.

I didn’t have any issues with the layout. I could type without looking at the keys and didn’t have problems pressing the wrong keys for characters like ;/@? etc.

Using the Kanex Multisync Foldable Travel Keyboard

The first thing you have to do before you can use this keyboard is to pair it with an iOS, Android, Windows, or macOS device. If you want to use this keyboard with more than one device, you’re in luck as it can pair and switch between up to four devices. I tested it with a Nexus 6P and my MacBook Pro (I’m typing on the Kanex right now as I am writing this review).

When you pair a device you assign it to one of four keys (Z, X, C, or B) by holding the desired key with the Fn key. Then you just check for the keyboard in the device’s Bluetooth settings to connect it. Pairing is easy and quick. But switching between multiple devices, which is done by pressing the Fn + the desired device key (Z, X, C, or V), is slower. It takes several seconds for the switched device to “wake up” when you press the Fn + the desired device key. At least I found this to be the case switching between my MacBook Pro and an Android phone. Switching to the MacBook is faster and only takes about 2 seconds for it to recognize a key press. With the Nexus 6P, it can take as long as 10 seconds for it to finally wake up.

Final thoughts

I like the Kanex Multisync Foldable Travel Keyboard because it has a nice form factor. It’s small and flat, so it easily fits in my gear bag.

There is one small gotcha though. You have to use the keyboard on a flat surface because it’s not designed to be used on your lap, which is a bummer. But this isn’t a huge issue since most travel keyboards have this limitation.

At $49.95, the Kanex keyboard is a little spendy. But I noticed when I was searching Amazon for the price, that iClever offers a version of this keyboard for $20 less on Amazon as long as you don’t need multiple device pairing capabilities and only plan to use it with one device.

If you need to be able to switch between four devices when you’re on the go, then the Kanex Multisync Foldable Travel Keyboard will do that for you and you’ll barely notice it in your gear bag.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Kanex. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order one.

 

Product Information

Price: $49.95
Manufacturer: Kanex
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Compact folding design
  • V shape feels roomy
  • Pairs with up to 4 devices
Cons:
  • Switching between some devices is a little slow

Filed in categories: Computer Gear, Reviews

Tagged:

Kanex MultiSync Foldable Travel Keyboard review originally appeared on on March 22, 2017 at 4:31 pm.

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