January 2018 – Page 21

SmartStand360 universal smartphone stand review

Do you ever watch a movie on your phone or use a Bluetooth keyboard with your phone? How do you prop up the phone at the optimal viewing angle? One way is to use a device stand like the SmartStand360. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The SmartStand360 is a universal smartphone stand with a simple but effective design that attaches to your phone with 3M tape.

Design and features

The SmartStand360 is made of plastic and is available in several colors but I was sent the black version of the stand.

The stand is made of three pieces that are connected together in such a way that the pieces can fold into different orientations.

The base of the stand even swivels 360 degrees, which is where the name SmartStand360 comes from.

Installation on your phone

Installation of the SmartStand360 is simple. All you do is stick the 3M sticker on the back of the phone or case and then peel the backing off the 3M sticker attached to the stand.

Next, you stick the SmartStand360 to the sticker that you stuck to the back of your smartphone or smartphone case. I didn’t want to stick something to the back of my phone, so I stuck the SmartStand360 to the back of the Pitaka Aramid Pixel 2 XL case that I recently reviewed. That’s it, you’re done.

You can then unfold the stand to create different ways to prop up the phone on a flat surface.

Even with the pointy “kickstand”, the SmartStand360 keeps the phone steady.

The stand works just as well with the phone turned sideways.

Turn the “kickstand” 90 degrees for a proper stand.

The SmartStand30 can also fold into different configurations.

The hole in the “kickstand” allows you to hang it from things like fingers or hooks.

You can even fold the SmartStand360 into a loop and slide your finger through it to provide better grip on your phone.

And when you’re not using the stand, it can fold up into a small block.

One thing to be aware of is that if you want to remove the SmartStand360, you’ll need to pry it off with a flat tool like a butter knife. That 3M adhesive is strong stuff, so it does take a little effort and that’s why I do not recommend attaching it directly to the back of your phone as it will be really easy to scratch your phone when it comes time to remove the stand.

What I like

Simple to install
Inexpensive
Can be used in different orientations

What needs to be improved

Gets in the way when you’re not using it
Can block fingerprint scanner on some phones
Removing the stand can be tough

Final thoughts

If you don’t mind attaching the stand to the back of your phone or as I recommend, a case, then this inexpensive universal stand should serve you well. It can be used in a number of ways and orientations, which is nice. But just be aware that it can get in the way and removing it can be a bit scary.

Price: $8.00
Where to buy: SmartStand360
Source: The sample for this review was provided by SmartStand360.

OtterBox Symmetry Series Star Wars iPhone case review

Long ago in a news story several pages down Julie Strietelmeier first revealed that Otterbox is harnessing of the power of the Force to protect your iPhone. I have been chosen to reveal how the Symmetry case can protect your phone from the force of everyday use and the occasional “disturbance in the force. ” Read on to see what I think!

What Is It?

The OtterBox Symmetry case is one of the slimmest case designs that they make. It is a one piece design that provides coverage around the back and edge for drop and scratch protection and has a raised front bezel protect the screen surface from contact. OtterBox has created a new series of cases embellished with graphics based on the film, Star Wars: The last Jedi. Compatible with the iPhone 7, 8, 7 Plus, and 8 Plus, these five new cases will protect your iPhone from the dark side of phone ownership while remaining slim and sleek in your pocket. The Star Wars Collection includes the style you see here. I got the BB-8/BB-9E version to fit my new iPhone 8.

Hardware Specs

Featuring an ultra-slim profile (the slimmest OtterBox case to date) and OtterBox Certified Drop+ Protection, Symmetry Series stays true to your phone’s sleek design.

Screen bumper: raised, beveled edge helps protect touchscreen

Highlight your personal style with a selection of lively graphics.

Ultra slim one-piece design slips easily in and out of pockets and purses.

Case slips on and off your phone in a flash

Made from carbonite polycarbonate and synthetic rubber.

What’s in the box?

The case is the only item included in the box.

Design and Features

The ports, switch, speaker and front glass are all exposed. Since the iPhone 7 and 8 are IP67 rated, additional protections on the case aren’t as beneficial as they used to be for earlier models, when a simple drop in a puddle may require several hours of the phone taking a rice nap.

The one piece construction fits onto your phone like a glove. When not installed you can see the rubber inside.

And the intellectual property statement as well as the production run and country of origin information.

The rear of the case is a highly polished plastic. The picture here clearly reflects the electrical receptacle on the wall in the distance. The glossiness of the back is good looking at first, but the design is likely to pick up a number of scratches. It’s made of the same material as a DVD, and we all know how scratched those get… The graphics are applied to the underside of the polycarbonate and will not scratch off.

In this picture, you can also see the OtterBox name is imprinted into the base of the rear.

Around the edge, it can be seen that the rubber rim and the glossy back don’t quite touch. There’s a 1 mm grove that I can only assume is for impact absorption.

The back bows out at the center. You can see that the ends are not resting on the table in the picture below. One thing this does is concentrate the scratches to the center, so one of the BB-9e’s is going to get treated a lot worse than all the others. This design also lets you spin the phone. This is useful to play with while its on a table. It is also useful if a bunch of Stormtroopers need to figure out who takes off their helmet first.

My iPhone is new and I haven’t got a screen protector on it yet, so I still have the Apple applied screen protector on it. That being said, the phone case gets very close to the protective sheet – about 0.7 mm.

The power button and volume buttons are completely covered but they are easy to press. The pop of each button is still present even though it is covered by the case. The rubber edge and details around the volume buttons and below the power button make the phone and case easy to grip.

The opening for the mute switch and the power are generous. The mute switch may even be accessible to a gloved Stormtrooper but probably not a Wookiee.

Positives

OtterBox quality
Good-looking durable design
Buttons work well
Openings for power and mute switch are big

Negatives

Glossy polycarbonate rear is likely to quickly show its age.

Final thoughts

If you really want to add top-notch protection to a phone then OtterBox is one of the best choices available. The symmetry case is very slim and still provides great protection to the hardware inside. Getting the case with one of five graphic designs based on the Star Wars films is a no-brainer for any Star Wars enthusiast.

Price: $44.95 to $54.95
Where to buy: OtterBox
Source: The sample of this product was provided by OtterBox.

KODAK Photo Printer Mini review

Back in the day, the only way you could see a picture that you had taken with your camera, was to have the film processed and prints made. Today, most images that we take are passed around digitally via email, and social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Is there still a place in this digital world for physical prints? KODAK sure hopes so and have created the Photo Printer Mini to get the job done fast and easy. Let’s see how well they’ve done.

What is it?

The KODAK Photo Printer Mini is a portable wireless color photo printer for Android and iOS devices that uses a WiFi connection instead of a Bluetooth connection.

Design and features

The Photo Printer Mini is about the same size as a large backup battery at 6 x 3 x 1 inch. Included in the box is an all-in-one print cartridge and a micro USB charging cable. The printer is available in white, black, and gold. As you can see, I was sent the white version.

There are 2 status LEDs on the top of the printer. One status LED is for power and printing, and the other one is a battery status LED.

On one side of the KODAK Photo Printer Mini, you’ll find a power button.

The micro USB charging port is located on one end of the printer along with a reset switch.

On the opposite end, you’ll find the print eject slot.

And on the other side is the print cartridge door.

The door opens to provide access to the all-in-one print cartridge. The cartridges combine paper and ribbon in one package and come in 20, 30 or 50 prints per cartridge.

The cartridges are easy to insert and remove.

An 8-print cartridge is included with the Photo Printer Mini. This is the only consumable that you need to worry about with this printer. I think KODAK cheaped out by only giving you a cartridge with 8 prints instead of a 20-print cartridge. You can find refills on Amazon where the price ranges from $19.99 each for the 20-print cartridge, up to $35.73 for the 50-print cartridge. The 20-print cartridge is also available with sticky backed prints so you can use them as stickers.

The app

Before you can print your first picture, you’ll need to install the app on an iOS or Android device. I did my testing with a Google Pixel 2 XL. This printer uses a WiFi connection instead of Bluetooth, so you will have set up the WiFi connection including the password.

If you have an Android smartphone, you can also tap the phone on top of the printer to quickly launch the app. But I still had to manually connect the printer to my phone each time by going into the WiFi network list.

If you look at the two images above, you can see that the app is trying to connect to the printer. I saw this message quite often and found the connection between my phone and the printer to be very fiddly.

Once connected, you can access photos from your phone’s camera roll, Facebook, Instagram and a couple other social media platforms, Google images, or even screen grabs from your videos.

The KODAK Printer app has some built-in editing features that allow you to crop, rotate, add frames, stickers, and do other rudimentary adjustments to the image before printing.

After you have chosen and edited the image, all that is left to do is print it. Printing is relatively quick and the print is dry and ready to handle immediately after printing is finished.

See it in action

As you can see, the print time is pretty quick.

The credit card sized 2.1 x 3.4 inch (54 x 86 mm) photos are printed in seconds and dry instantly.

I don’t quite understand the purpose of the small perforated tab that tears off the image though. It leaves one side of the print with a fine serration.

I’ve reviewed other wireless printers over the years like the Polaroid ZIP which use dye-incorporating paper (ZINK) and I find the KODAK Photo Printer Mini’s image quality to be superior in sharpness and color. That’s because the KODAK printer uses dye sublimation thermal transfer with 256 gradations and 16.7 million colors. It also puts a laminated protection layer over the print that is fingerprint and water resistant.

What I like

Sharper and more colorful prints compared to other small printers that use ZINK paper
Quick and easy to use when the WiFi connection is behaving
Fingerprint and water resistant prints

What needs to be improved

WiFi connection is too fiddly
Only comes with an 8-print cartridge

Final thoughts

Except for the problems that I had with the WiFi connection dropping between the printer and my phone, I would say that this is the easiest portable wireless printer to use and prints the best-looking prints. As long as you remember that you’ll need to buy extra printer cartridges, the KODAK Photo Printer Mini will let you have fun bringing your favorite digital prints into the physical world.

Price: $99.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by KODAK.

Hitch and Timber has the perfect EDC card caddy

Do you like to have the things in your EDC kit collected and contained? This EDC Card Caddy by Hitch and Timber might be perfect for your kit. The Card Caddy has room for up to 6 cards, a back pouch for folded currency, plus pouches on the front that can hold a small pen (like a Fisher Space Pen Bullet) and a small knife or pocket tool. The Caddy is made of Horween Chromexcel-tanned leather that’s hand-cut, stitched, and burnished in the US. It measures 2.75″ x 4.25″, weighs 1.8 ounces, and fits in any pants pocket. The Hitch and Timber EDC Card Caddy is available in chestnut, black, English tan, or brown nut for $54.00 at Gallantry.

Electrohome Signature Vinyl Record Player classic turntable stereo system review

If you are in the market for a record player with that classic vintage look then this unit may be something you are looking for, plus a with a few extras. The Signature Classic Turntable Sound System by Electrohome is a collection of music players wrapped into one. In addition to this compact record player, it has a built-in radio with a classic tuning dial, a CD player, a USB slot, and it also comes with an AUX input so that you can plug your smartphone, tablet, or any other device that connects a 3.5 audio cable. One feature that really stands out on this record player is its ability to record music from the record player, and even the CD player, to a USB drive. More on this feature later.

What is it?

The Signature is a record player sound system with a classic vintage retro design and like a typical record player, it can play the 33, 45, and 78 LP records. The Signature has a real wood veneer finish and a nice walnut color to it, too. What adds to the vintage retro look is the warm amber glow of the radio dial on the bottom section of the unit. At first glance, the whole over-all look of this record player could pass as a period piece if it wasn’t for the small LCD Display window giving it away.

Hardware specs.

The record player section of the Signature is familiar such as your typical record player with its turntable and tonearm. On the right side of the tonearm is Selector Switch for the different LP speeds. Be aware, the Selector Switch is not so easy to see because it is rather small and seems to be hidden but it is right by the Cue Lever. This system’s dimension is 17.9” in. x 13.5” in. x 12.1” in. and weighs about 26 lbs. It isn’t a very heavy appliance so carrying it around the room wouldn’t be too difficult should you need to move it from one location to another.

What’s in the box?

Included in the box is the stereo system unit, a remote control, an instruction manual, a 45 RPM adapter, and a Quick Start Guide.

Design and features.

The Signature Vinyl Record Player is a solid and sturdy stereo system that brings back the look, feel, and the sound of yesteryear. With its organic box shape, the Signature has an authentic classic and retro look to it that mimics a true vintage record player.

Some things to keep in mind when you move these record players around is to make sure that the Tone Arm is locked and that the Transit Screw is set. This way the Tone Arm doesn’t get broken from bouncing around and so that the turntable doesn’t jiggle possibly getting damaged as well.

There are push-button selectors on the front to let you choose which mode to put the Signature in. Not only do the buttons give the appearance of a vintage look but the buttons have a nice firm feel to them. If you have used a stereo system from back in the day with this type of layout, like my parents had with the tape cassette and 8 Track, then you may be familiar with the sound of one button popping up as you push another button down. Just playing with these buttons and hearing the sound takes me back.

This record player has a nice sound quality to it thanks to the Signature’s speakers. There are two 5W speakers along with two 15W speakers, each at 8 Ohms. Although the speakers are lacking in the mid and low frequency, the volume does get surprisingly loud. As nice as the speakers may sound, there are times where I would have liked to have listened to records on my headphones, however, there isn’t a headphone jack on this record player. It would have been a nice addition to the Signature if there was a headphone jack.

I think some others would also like the option to listen to a record without disturbing anyone else in the room. There may be times where you really want to get lost in the record and wearing headphones would be better suited. You would think with the technology the Signature has, like the ability to record to a USB flash drive, a simple headphone jack on the side or back of the unit would be a standard feature.

In the back of the Signature stereo system, there is an Auxiliary input jack so that you can connect a device such as a smartphone, tablet or any other device that connects a 3.5 audio cord. This just adds to making the Signature a versatile sound system in addition to its CD player, record player, and USB port. The radio antenna is located in the back of the unit comes neatly wrapped so you may want to unwrap the antenna and position it so that it allows you to get the best reception.

Special feature.

One feature that I was really drawn into is the Signature’s ability to record and encode music from a vinyl LP record to a USB device without the use of a computer. This is also possible with the CD player as well. This is the main feature that truly caught my interest with this record player. This is a neat feature basically allows you to record the music from the LP record onto a flash drive. And once you have the music files on a flash drive you have several options such as burning the music onto a CD, transferring it to your smartphone or tablet, or you can just replay the flash drive via the Signature’s USB slot.

Keep in mind that you are basically recording in real time so if the record runs over an hour then you will have to let the USB record for the whole duration. Just hope that nothing makes the record player skip, pause, or stop during recording or else you’ll have to do the recording all over again. That is unless you don’t mind hearing that part of the recording.

After making a recording from an LP record to my flash drive, the 128kbps MP3 recording had a crisp and clear sound which I was very surprised by. I was honestly expecting a dull and flat recording but it actually sounded very good. Needless to say, I was impressed with the audio recording. However, I do have some concerns. You will get a single audio file since the Signature will not separate or divide the music tracks between each song. If you have ever recorded on a DAT or even a MiniDisc recorder, you have the option to separate songs if there is a long enough pause between two tracks. The Signature makes one long music file of the LP record. However, this would not be a deal breaker for me but for some out there may be some concern.

The CD feature is just like your typical CD player on most sound systems. It has a CD tray that opens outward for you to place your CD onto. With the included remote control you can operate the functions of the CD player. Even though the remote is responsive and convenient to have with this system, be aware of its small size. You don’t want to misplace it. However, you can also control the functions of the CD player right from the buttons on the front of the Signature as well.

Since this is a classic vintage record player, it wouldn’t be complete if you weren’t able to dial in the radio stations the old fashion way the control knobs. No digital tuner here.

Along with the remote control, the Signature comes with a 45 RPM Adapter and is stored in the corner of the record player cabinet.

What I like

Real wood veneer
Vintage retro look
Encodes LP music to MP3
Compact size
Auxiliary input

What needs to be improved

No headphone jack
Lacking mid and low speaker frequency

Final thoughts.

If you are looking for a record player, and want to listen to CD’s and the radio, plus you don’t want to take up a lot of space then the Signature Classic Turntable Sound System may be just what you are looking for. And as an added bonus you can listen to your vinyl records anywhere you can insert a USB flash drive since the Signature sound system can record music to that USB flash drive. With the USB flash drive, you can listen to your LP music in your car or on your computer. You can just about listen to your LP records anywhere thanks to the built-in MP3 encoder.

The Signature record player has a nice classic design to it that will add a bit of nostalgia to any room. Along with its retro design from the record player to the dial radio, combined with the CD tray and USB slot, this sound system is a blend of low tech and high tech. Not only will you enjoy listening to music from it but you will also enjoy getting compliments on it. I really like the look and design of this record player. It does exactly want I want it to do, which is play vinyl records, plus it also allows me to record the music from a record on to a USB flash drive so I can listen to the music from a record in my car. Plus I have the music files stored on the USB drive if I ever need them.

Having various ways to listen to music from one source has its advantages when you are limited on space or even if you just don’t want to take up a lot of space. And with the Signature sound system, saving space will just be one of the many things you will enjoy about it.

Price: $199.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Electrohome.