Pitaka Air Trio triple device wireless charger review

CROWDFUNDING REVIEW – How many of you need to charge more than one device every night? I’m guilty for sure. I’ve been an Apple addict since playing games on my Apple II as a teenager. These days I’m not without my Apple Watch (series 4) and my iPhone X. Both of those end up needing a charge every night and my iPad Pro (11″) frequently does as well. Well as it turns out Pitaka has a new product that solves that exact issue. It’s called Air Trio and I’ve got a pre-production unit from Pitaka that I’ve put through the paces to tell you all about. Here we go.

What is it?

Air Trio is a triple charger that can charge an Apple Watch, a device with wireless charging and a larger device with USB-C. It’s also available with a Lightning connector instead of the USB-C if that suits your quiver of devices better. There’s a lot of unique features, so let’s push on.

What’s in the box?

A reminder that this is a preproduction unit so some details could change before the Air Trio ships.

  • Air Trio
  • Wall adapter (supplies all necessary power)

Hardware specs

Device Support: 3 devices; Apple Watch, Wireless Phone, and USB-C tablet. (Lightning optional instead of USB-C)
Power:
– Input: DC15v/3.5A
– USB-C Output: 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12v/1.5A
– Apple Watch Output: 5V/1A
– Wireless Output: 3 coils supporting 7.5W and 10W fast charging

Design and features

Pitaka has followed its brand ethos with the main surface of the Air Trio. The entire top is their aramid fiber with the silky smooth soft-touch finish. The Apple Watch charger sits in the back half just in front of the USB-C connector and adjustable tablet rest, and there’s a small punch-hole to the left of the watch charger with a recessed LED.

Both of these connectors/chargers have additional functionality. On the right side of the device is a button which releases the Apple Watch charger allowing it to slowly rise to a vertical position. Here’s a closer look.

The USB-C has about 15º of range either side of the vertical position which allows for flexibility while connecting and disconnecting devices or adjusting the lean of your tablet. The dial on the right side raises and lowers that connector so you can match the depth of any case you might have on your device. Here’s a look at the high and low limits of that adjustment.

At the back of the device is the pivoting tablet rest which you can adjust between vertical and any amount of recline all the way to folded under for stowing. Without taking it apart I can’t really tell, but it’s either a friction pivot or opposing springs and holds its position without being difficult to move.

Also on the back is the power-in port (left) and an additional port which houses the LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) which enables a sleep mode of reduced brightness.

On the bottom are four rubber feet for a stable stance and it’s here that you realize just how much of the device is a polished zinc alloy. The entire bottom, sides and complete tablet rest have this finish.

The wall adapter resembles a MacBook charger with a fixed cable that could stand to be a bit longer and barrel jack at the end.

Setup

The sample I received did not have any kind of instructions but I’m pretty confident the retail units will. Regardless, setup is pretty easy. Figure out where you’re going to place the unit, connect the wall adapter’s barrel jack to the back of the Air Trio and then plug the adapter into the wall. Any additional setup is specific to your devices so let’s move on to how it works.

Performance

First off, the Air Trio has some significant heft in all the right ways. It weighs in at a little over 2lbs, 3oz. For reference, my 11″ iPad Pro with keyboard and pencil is about 1lb, 110z, so the stand has plenty ballast to keep from tipping over even before you add a phone and a watch.

For my purposes, I’ve been using the Air Trio on my nightstand. It’s super handy for being that last stop as I go to sleep. I can plop my watch and phone down and then dock my iPad after I finish getting just enough blue light to let me have trouble sleeping.

The iPad rest is set a little shy of vertical. I have the Apple Smart Keyboard Folio on my 11″ iPad Pro and between the lean angle and the amount of space between the connector and the rest, there’s no issue docking it with the cover closed or folded behind.

I mentioned the adjustable height USB-C before which lets it adjusts for both case depth and/or your lean angle up until the point you go beyond the connectors angle limitation. Only things to know here is that if you’re running a case with a charge port really tight to the Apple USB-C cable, it could be tight. It’s also really tricky to dock your iPad with a single hand because the connector moves forward and back. This gets even tricker if you’ve got the Apple Watch charger flipped up as I do.

So, why does the charger flip up? One, it enables nightstand mode on your watch. Super useful for me as I like my bedroom dark and the watch display will time out until I knock on my nightstand for it to display again. Two, some of the bands available for Apple Watch do not fully disconnect which makes charging them on a flat surface very hard, if not impossible. Here’s Apple’s Link Bracelet to demonstrate that point and one of a flat charging position.

All the real estate to the front is for wireless charging your phone or other accessory. My iPhone X fits there really well, perhaps feeling a bit cramped when the watch charger is flipped up and occupied. Those of you with larger phones may find your phone overhanging the front a bit. There are three charging coils up there to help deal with the different coil placements in phones.

Overall, the Air Trio is a solid accessory if you’re charging a trio of Apple accessories. Here’s some things to be aware of…

As you can see, some of the screen of my 44mm watch is obscured when I also charge my phone. Definitely not a deal breaker by any means, but if your case is much thicker it could be frustrating.

The charging coil is relatively tolerant to position, just experiment with your particular phone and adjust to make sure you’re actively charging.

With as heavy as the Air Trio is, I was expecting to be able to grab my iPad with one hand for removal. Alas, the USB-C connection is a good one and I’d rather not wiggle the whole thing until it releases. One hand on the front of the base lightly while the other lifts and you’re good to go.

That little LED to the left of the watch charger is really bright, and for some reason, it blinks while your devices are charging. If you put a piece of tape over the light sensor at the back, the LED power cuts in half. I’m relying on my devices to tell me they’re charging so my piece of tape is going over the LED itself.

Finally, you can order any color you like as long as it’s Aramid/Polished Zinc (carbon fiber look with chrome). This is sitting on my nightstand, so not a huge deal, but otherwise could be polarizing for potential customers.

What I like

  • Fast charging for 3 devices with 1 charger (remember to choose USB-C or Lightning for the tablet at purchase)
  • Heavy and stays put
  • Works with cased devices and any watch band combo

What I’d change

  • Remove the LED since your devices show charging status
  • Power cable could be a bit longer for getting behind furniture
  • More color options, less or no chrome

Final thoughts

Pitaka has a great charging product here and it’s less Apple centric as it might initially sound. The Apple Watch charger is actually the only Apple specific thing as the USB-C rear and wireless front chargers can work with many devices. I really appreciate fewer cords and the Air Trio is a sweet spot for the accessories I use daily. It replaced 3 separate chargers on my nightstand with a single unit that works very well for me.

Price: $129 and up
Where to buy: Kickstarter (campaign launches in 2-3 weeks)
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Pitaka.

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Pitaka Air Trio triple device wireless charger review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 9, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Etekcity Smart WiFi Light Switch review

REVIEW – We are smart home fanatics at our house.  We have almost every light in our house, including ceiling fans controlled by Amazon Alexa.  The few lights we don’t have under Alexa control are either lights we rarely use, or they are three-pole lights.  Three pole lights are lights that are controlled by two different light switches.  That means each switch has extra wires coming into it compared to a single pole switch.  Up until recently, there were no smart light switches available that handled three pole switches.  So when I was given the opportunity to review the Etekcity Smart Wifi Light Switch that can handle three poles, I jumped at it.  Let’s see how it works.

What is it?

Etekcity makes several smart products.  Two of which are smart switches.  One is for a standard single pole (ESWLO1) and the other for three pole switches (ESWLO3).  I received the ESWLO3.  Like I stated above, a three pole switch is a switch that can control a single light or lights along with another switch.

What’s in the box?

  • 1 x Safety Card – states that the device should only be used to control incandescent, LED, Halogen, and compact fluorescent lightbulbs.  You should only use the device indoors, and turn the power off while installing.  It also mentions contacting an electrician if you are in any way uncomfortable with installing the device.
  • 1 x Facebook group foldout card – asks you to join their Facebook group
  • 1 x Etekcitizen foldout card – will give you an extra year of warranty, free products, and exclusive deals if you join their Etekcitizen group.
  • 2 x packages of hardware to install two light switches
  • 2 x smart light switches including backplates.  I have one facing up and one facing down so you can see the wires coming into the back of the unit.
  • 1 x user manual

Hardware specs

The big thing to note about these switches is that they are specifically designed for three pole switches.  You have to have a neutral wire, ground wire, two traveler wires, and a hot wire in your box for this device to work.  Also note that even though they give you two switches, you only need to replace one of the two switches on a three-pole system for it to work.  So technically, you can replace two different three pole setups with a single box.

Setup

The first thing the instructions tell you to do is to separate the face plate from the main switch.  This was easily done in the picture above by just popping the switch out by pressing on it.

The picture above shows you the light switch I am replacing.  Its partner switch is part of another two switch bank that I did not feel like messing with.

I did not take pictures of the actual wiring.  There is a great video put out by Etekcity showing you how to install the switch.  I ran into two ‘issues’ when installing this switch.   My original switch had four wires coming out of it.  The two traveler wires, a ground wire, and the hot wire.   I had to dig into the back of the box to find the neutral wire already tied off to another neutral in the box.   So I ended up adding the new switch neutral wire to an already existing neutral wire pair to have a total of three neutral wires tied together.   The other issue was just the amount of wire I had to try and stuff back into the box.  I have large metal boxes for my switches, but I guess I have a bunch of extra wire coming into them.  I really had to stuff those wires back in order to get the large switch to fit flush into the box.   The video of the install you can find on YouTube here: Etekcity Three Pole Light Switch Install Video

The picture above shows the light switch installed. You just simply touch the power button area and the light will turn on or off.  You don’t feel any kind of switch movement.  It is a touch sensitive plate.  The WiFi indicator below helps you connect the switch to your WiFi and shows you if the switch is currently connected.

After installing the switch, the next thing I did was to install the Vesync app.  This is available for both Android and iOS.  In the screenshots above you can see the app first asked for an account or you can create an account.  I created one with my email address.  An email was sent to my account to verify it before I could continue further.   Once signed in, I was asked to add my first device.

As you can see from the screenshots above there are many products from Etekcity.  I chose switches and was then presented with two choices.  I chose the three-way switch.

The app then asks to make sure the switch is installed properly.  I tested this by being able to turn my lights off and on with the switch manually.  My next step was to press and hold down on the power button for five seconds.  After that period of time, the WiFi logo below started to blink on and off.

The app then instructed me to connect my phone’s WiFi to the switches WiFi.  You can see the Etekcity WiFi name in the screen shot above.  I connected my phone to that and went back to the app.

The next step which I won’t show, was me having to place my WiFi password into the app.  I was then presented with the screen above that did a count up to 100% as it connected to my WiFi.  Once connected I was able to rename the switch to whatever I wanted to.  I chose the word Breakfast since it controlled the lights in my breakfast area.

The first screenshot above shows the main control screen in the app for my breakfast switch.  The app has several nice features where you can set a schedule to turn the light off an on (great for when you are on a vacation) and a basic timer.  The other screenshot shows the device in my Amazon Alexa app.  I simply added Vesync as a skill and logged into my account.  I then searched for devices and it found it.   In Alexa, I could add the light to my group ‘all lights’ or any group I wished.

Performance

The switch has been performing flawlessly for how we use it.  I have not tried any of the scheduling features.  I did notice there is a firmware update, so I will be sure to update the switch when I get next to it again with my phone.

What I like

  • The app is really easy to use.
  • Setup of the app and getting it to recognize the switch was a breeze.
  • I like how the switch is just a touch panel and not a toggle switch.

What I’d change

  • Please try and not make the switch box so deep.  I realize it may have a lot of technology, but it makes it difficult to install with all the extra wires.

Final thoughts

I can highly recommend this switch for anyone looking to convert a three pole switch to a smart switch.  I have installed several other smart switches and it was very easy to set up app wise.  Like I stated earlier, I just wish the switch box were not so big.  People with small plastic switch boxes in their walls will not be able to use this switch because it will be too big with all the extra wires involved.

Price: $49.98
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Etekcity.

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Etekcity Smart WiFi Light Switch review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 9, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Crane Bone Conduction Headphones review


REVIEW – Over the past year and a half, I have reviewed several Bluetooth earbuds with a wide range of results and conclusions. All of those earbuds were similar in design and function. Several years ago, I owned some bone conduction headphones, and while I loved the sound they produced, they were made of very rigid plastic, that would hurt to wear for an extended period. In addition, the rigid plastic meant very little flexibility, and eventually, they broke. Just recently, I got my hands on the Crane Bone Conduction Headphones. Since it has been years since my first experience, I want to believe that several design elements must have changed that would all but guarantee a different if not better experience. Let’s see!!

What is it?

The Crane Bone Conduction headphones allow you to listen to music and make calls without earbuds in your ears or anything heavy on your head and resolve the need to remove them whenever you need to hear other sounds or conversations. They also remain in place while you work out.

What’s in the box


1 x Crane Bone Conduction Headphones
1 x Micro USB Cable
2 x Ear Plugs
1 x User Guide

Design and features

Specifications
• Bluetooth: 5.0
• Weight: 26 grams
• Waterproof: IPX5
• Playtime: 4 hours playtime
• Receiving Sensitivity: 88dBm
• Frequency range: 20Hz-20KHz
• Mic: Anti-interference microphones, -42DB

Features

  • Built-in microphone with background noise reduction
  • On-bone detection (autoplay/pause)
  • Siri / Google assistant
  • Multipoint connection: Connect 2 devices simultaneously, you will never miss any calls from your devices
  • Controls: volume, play, pause, next song

These headphones have one set of controls on the right side of the neckband. They are volume up, volume down and the micro USB charging port. There is also a mic and the LED status indicator light.


On the right side earbud, there is the multi-function button that controls power on/off, answer/hang-up calls, the Bluetooth connection, and Siri communication.

On the left side earbud, there is a button that controls play/pause.

Performance

When I received these headphones, I was so excited to try them that I was hoping that they were already partially charged. Much to my delight, they powered on, and immediately entered pairing mode. Once I easily connected them to my iPhone, they showed an 80% charge which allowed me to start my testing right away. I placed them around my neck/head and on my ears as shown below.


I took some time to find my comfortable placement, and I started the music. I was immediately delighted. The headphones while not audiophile, do provide a well-balanced sound, and because of their design are very likely much better for preserving your hearing. I can still hear the ambient sound around me, but there is noise management capability that does not allow the ambient sound to adversely affect the listening experience. It is a very nice balance. Winner Gear also provides a pair of earplugs should you want to completely shut out all of the other sounds around you. The headband that connects the two earpieces is extremely flexible and so much so that they would not be easy to break. I was concerned that the material was so flexible that they would not properly stay in place and that they would easily fall off. I was wrong again. Not only do they stay in place, but they never fall off despite my vigorous movement to dislodge them. These will work great when working out.

Most of our readers that have followed my earbud reviews know that I always experience major issues when using them for phone calls. This is not the case with these and neither myself nor the person on the other end of the line experienced any quality issues. For me, this is fantastic. I also test Siri, and that was as easy as it could get. I love the autodetection feature that allows them to automatically stop/pause the music when removed and start the music when I put them back on.

The only other issues that I notice is that the Bluetooth connection does not have the range of several other devices I own. If there is no line of sight, it seems to be limited to about 15 ~ 20 feet. (This is with no line of sight but still open doors from one room to another). Also, the battery charge only allows 3 ~ 4 hours of playtime with the longevity being closer to 3 hours if played at high or maximum volume.

What I like

  • Build quality including that it is lightweight
  • Simple controls
  • Comfortable to wear
  • Nice sound if worn correctly – including phone calls
  • Flexibility
  • Ambient sound management capability
  • Auto-detection feature

What I’d change

  • Better playing time between charges
  • Stronger Bluetooth connection to enhance the range

Final thoughts

When I first removed these headphones from their packaging, I did not expect much from them. They felt way too flexible and quite different from the construction and design of the ones that I had previously tested years ago. However, my testing has made me a fan and quite unexpectedly they have become a fixture in my EDC bag. I take the railroad back and forth to work every day, and with conventional earbuds and headphones, I have frequently missed announcements that have left me scrambling to find out information when there has been a change or cancelation of service. With these headphones that is not an issue. For me, they provide more than adequate sound for non-audiophile, daily leisure listening, and no discomfort when wearing them for extended periods of time. My phone calls are always clear and the auto-detection feature is a winner. While they are not perfect, I give them a well done and two thumbs up!!

Price: $149
Where to buy: WinnerGear website
Sample: The sample for this review was provided by WinnerGear

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Crane Bone Conduction Headphones review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 9, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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