Reviews

Wireless Fun with the Sphero iOS and Android App Controlled Robotic Ball

2013-07-09

And now for a little bit of fun! Check out the Orbotix Sphero, the first robotic ball gaming device that you control with a tilt, touch, or swing from your smartphone or tablet. You can even use Sphero as a controller for on-screen gameplay. Sphero interacts seamlessly with mobile apps, giving you new ways to test your skills, play games with friends, or get inventive and co-op this for your own nefarious purposes. A Bluetooth connection makes Sphero ready to play as fast as you can launch an app. And with single- or multi-player games, there will be plenty of surprises.

Acclaimed by Popular Science, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and MSNBC and featured as one of the year’s hottest gadgets by TechCrunch, Wired, Gizmodo, Engadget, and Make magazine, Sphero offers a new type of game play for the smartphone generation.

A durable, impact-resistant polycarbonate shell allows for lasting gameplay. Easily operate the Sphero robotic ball from your smartphone or tablet’s touchscreen. Controlling from your mobile device is easy and intuitive–just tilt, gesture, or swing, and it responds. Because your experience changes with every new app you download, the entertainment never stops.

Sphero’s Bluetooth connection ensures control is always responsive and fluid, even at long ranges. You will be able to steer through homemade obstacle courses, weave it between feet, and even out-maneuver your family pet.

Sphero immerses you in a new type of gameplay called mixed-reality, in which real and virtual elements are seamlessly merged together. Several free apps are available for download (and more continuously being developed), providing you with plenty of gaming thrills.

Standout apps include Sphero Drive, where you can choose from touchscreen interfaces like joystick, old-school RC control, and tilt mode to give you a variety of ways to test your skills and challenge friends. In a mixed-reality version of golf, you create a hole, then swing your phone to putt towards the hole. Think Sphero just rolls? Think again. Hold it in your hand, start up Chromo, and move Sphero to match colors and patterns as they appear on your screen.

Roughly the size of a baseball, Sphero is compact enough to slip into a bag or jacket pocket. The durable, impact-resistant polycarbonate shell allows for lasting gameplay. And with customizable colored LEDs, you can change color to suit your mood, play in the dark, or create a team color.

Sphero is extremely efficient. A single battery charge delivers over an hour of full-throttle play, thanks to cable-free induction charging. Sphero is compatible with a variety of mobile platforms, including iOS 4.0 or greater, Android 2.2, Android 2.3.3+, and Android 3.0+. Sphero also has an Open API (application program interface) for developers, which allows virtually anyone to program new games and apps for Sphero. The API is intuitive, so you will be able to use it whether you are a seasoned developer or a novice app programmer.

What’s in the Box? Sphero robotic ball, inductive charging base, quick-start card, and user’s manual.

Free Apps Available via Download Include:

Sphero

Familiarize yourself with Sphero’s personality, give commands, and gain access to basic driving functions. See where you stand on leaderboards and achievements. Even discover new apps as they roll in.

Drive

Drive Sphero with joystick, tilt, or old-school remote controls. Create challenging courses, race against friends and family, or turn out the lights for a little night racing.

Golf

Sphero is the ball and your phone is the club. Create a “hole” then swing your phone or swipe a finger to hit. Challenge friends to a round of office golf, create your own course at home, or venture out and make your own course practically anywhere.

SpheroCam

Have fun with Sphero and never miss a funny moment. Use the built-in camera on your device to record video or take snapshots while you simultaneously drive it. Will your SpheroCam video go viral? Record, upload, and find out!

Draw N’ Drive

Use your finger to trace a shape or path on the screen and it will follow it before your eyes. Just give your smartphone or tablet a shake to clear the slate. Even make Sphero change colors as it rolls by using the integrated color wheel.

Chromo

Get ready to challenge your coordination and memory with the first app that lets you use it as a controller. Move Sphero to match the colors on your screen for an entirely new way to challenge yourself. You can choose from six different game modes.

MacroLab

Create easy, repeatable programs and macros. Arrange simple commands and settings in any combination you choose to let Sphero drive autonomously, follow unique patterns, and more, all while learning basic programming. Play your commands, save favorites, and even share them with friends. MacroLab makes programming easy and fun.

So we at QTOOTH say give it a whirl, it looks like fun!

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B0081J2LRC’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B008X0ACP2′]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B007HZLLOK’]

Lapka — Personal Environment Monitors for iOS

2013-07-08

Here’s a quick look at the LAPKA Personal Environmental Monitor for your iOS powered devices. We’re stepping out a little bit on this product by covering something that is not wireless, per se, but works with a wireless device, namely the iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch.What does it do exactly? Well, it monitors your environment on key factors like temperature, humidity, electromagnetic fields, radiation, and even the conductivity of nitrate ions left behind in fruits and vegetables by the use of fertilizers to give you a quick gauge of just how “organic” that food really is.

Here’s a look at each sensor and what it does:

Lapka Radiation

Professionally precise. Lapka Radiation reveals highly accurate information about the radioactive particles around you and how they might be affecting you.

Method and Process

Сonnect Lapka Radiation to your iOS device usingthe cable from the box. Lapka Radiation averages the number of particles it detects over time, so running the test for longer than two minutes will yield more accurate results. Just wait until the indicator turns black before completing the test.Lapka Radiation is sensitive to low levels of hard beta and gamma particles. Use it to measure the background radiation level wherever you go, or to detect increased levels of radioactive particles in certain scenarios (like on a flight). After testing, you’ll get a personal report comparing the final results with established guidelines, which you can save to your diary box or share with the world.

Lapka Organic

Designed to detect significant quantities of nitrates in raw produce left behind by the use of synthetic fertilizers.

Method and Process

Сonnect Lapka Organic to your iOS device using the cable from the box. Remove the cap from Lapka Organic and insert the stainless steel probe into any fruit or vegetable included on the preset list.Lapka Organic simply measures conductivity, which correlates to the relative concentration of nitrate ions left behind from nitrogen-based fertilizers. In other words, the less electricity a fruit or vegetable conducts, the more likely it is to be free of impurities (distilled water, for example, is nonconductive). Each fruit and vegetable has a defined limit for nitrate concentration, and conductivity that significantly exceeds these limits suggests the use of non-organic farming practices.Be sure to clean the probe after every use.

Lapka EMF	Detects electromagnetic fields (EMF), which can be caused by electronic devices, wireless transmitters, or nearby power lines. Lapka EMF can be used to help find a spot in your home with the least electromagnetic pollution — perfect for your bed, desk, or yoga mat.
Method and Process	Сonnect Lapka EMF to your iOS device using the cable from the box.Lapka EMF can measure both High Frequency (HF) Low Frequency (LF) fields. Depending on the preset, Lapka EMF can be used to detect cell phone antenna activity, microwaves, or exposed wires. Move around, discover, and investigate new places. Or try wearing Lapka throughout the day.

Lapka Humidity

The temperature and relative humidity of your environment are measured, combined, and compared with our knowledge base of comfort standards to help you better understand your personal climate at any moment.

Method and Process

Give Lapka Humidity 10 minutes to fully acclimate to a new environment before use. Once acclimated, connect Lapka Humidity to your iOS device using the cable from the box.Lapka Humidity will measure the temperature and relative humidity simultaneously. After measuring, you’ll get a personal report comparing the results with established guidelines. Don’t forget to store the results in your diary box!

These monitors are great for those of us who really want to know what goes on around our bodies and for determining where we want make changes to improve our immediate surroundings and what we choose to put inside of us. The next two images show how the accompanying apps can make suggestions as to how make those changes and give us statistics over time as to whether or not we are headed in the right direction.

So far the LAPKA system only seems to be available on their own website. But check it out if you, or someone you love, fits the profile of someone who just “wants to know”.

via Lapka — Personal Environment Monitor.

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00BSZCT5A’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00B1TLQY8′]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00BNXISL6′]

Acer’s Iconia W3: Full Windows 8 on an 8-inch Tablet

2013-07-07

The Acer Iconia W3 (starting at $379) is among the first tablets to come with a full version of Windows 8 of the gate with a product.

The following notes are for the $429 version; the extra $50 boosts the storage capacity from 32 GB to 64 GB. Acer also sent an optional $69 Bluetooth keyboard that doubles as a both a stand and type of carrying case for the small slate:

The 8-inch tablet is solidly built and shares design elements from Acer’s larger Windows 8 tablets such as the W510. You can’t flex the device due to a solid body (likely polycarbonate) but the back is all plastic meant to look like metal.
At 8 inches, the 1280 x 800 display provides a decent 188 pixels per inch, yet some text and images appear grainy and not so crisp. It could be the fonts or font sizes used by default, but the viewing experience is marginal to my eyes: not terrible nor impressive. The screen is not an IPS panel, so viewing angles aren’t the best either. Screen brightness is quite good except in full sunlight.
Because of the resolution, the W3 doesn’t support snapping apps in Windows; you can’t run two apps on the screen at the same time unless you connect the tablet to an external monitor of 1366 x 768 resolution or greater.
Instead of a capacitive Windows button under the screen when in landscape, Acer used a physical button that’s off to the right in this orientation. Holding the tablet in portrait mode puts the button under the screen, but I find myself using Windows 8 in landscape far more often. I suspect most others do, or will do, the same. Windows 8 screen gestures all work great.
The device’s two speakers also suffer from what I call “portrait-itis”: When holding the tablet in landscape, both speakers are on the right side of the unit. I’d like to see Acer add a third speaker to offset this. The speakers aren’t very loud either.
For a tablet of this size, I think you get a fair amount of ports and interfaces: micro USB, micro HDMI and micro SD memory card slot, in addition to the expected power port and headphone jack.
Battery life is rated for 7 to 8 hours and, although I’ve only had the unit a short time, I was able to use it continuously for 5 hours with juice to spare. I think the run-time claims are accurate.
The 1.5 GHz Intel Atom chip is helping in the battery department: this chipset is used in Acer’s Iconia W510 tablet, which gets similar battery life. There are 2 GB of memory, which is standard for the Atom-powered Windows 8 devices on the market.
Likewise, performance on the W3 is similar to the larger Atom-powered tablets currently available. That makes sense since the guts of this 8-inch tablet are mostly the same as its larger siblings. It’s certainly not as fast a Windows 8 machine running an Intel Core chip, but it’s at least as fast as Windows RT machines. And unlike those devices, you can install any Windows application you like on the W3.
The device has two cameras — front and rear — and I can’t say that either impressed me. I’d use the front camera for video chatting but the rear sensor is sub-par.
I’m still not a fan of jumping between the Windows Desktop for full Windows apps and the modern user interface for touch-friendly apps. That’s more of an issue with Windows itself, not the W3 tablet, and is due to some personal preference on my part.
Microsoft Office is pre-installed, which is a big value for those that need it.
Using the Desktop mode is a bit of a challenge, at least for me, because it’s not optimized for touch and everything is a bit smaller in a screen of this size. You can modify the DPI scaling (I find 150 percent to work well) and even the size of Windows elements, such as title bars and scroll bars, but I think Acer should optimize these out of the box.

The touch apps I used all worked well on the small slate, offering the same experience as a full-sized Windows 8 or Windows RT computer.
I want to like the keyboard, but have a major issue with it. It’s easy to pair with the tablet; I like the feel and layout of the keys. And it’s nearly a full-sized keyboard. There’s a slot to prop up the tablet on the keyboard that works fine… until you start tapping at the tablet screen. That’s quite often since this is a touchscreen device. When closing apps — swiping from top to bottom on the display — the tablet would often fall out of the keyboard. And as I tapped the display with regular use, each little tap dislodged it a little more from the rubber keyboard grip, eventually causing the W3 to tip over. Perhaps it’s me or a defective unit, but this doesn’t seem well-designed.
I do like how the tablet clips in to the back of the keyboard, making it easier to carry while protecting the screen.

If you like or mostly use Metro style apps and don’t mind limited performance, I suggest considering the W3 tablet. The 1.1 pound device measures in at 8.62 x 5.31 x 0.45 inches, so it’s easy to tote around. And it runs the full version of Windows 8 with support for legacy Windows software. Is it a super-fast performer or a premium device? No, but starting at $379, I think many will find it a great value for the price, given all Windows capabilities.

via Hands on with Acer’s Iconia W3: Full Windows 8 on an 8-inch tablet — Tech News and Analysis.

Fitbit Flex vs Jawbone Up

2013-07-06

Fitbit Flex vs. Jawbone Up

The race to be the best in wearable fitness technology is heating up. Check out this comparison of the Fitbit Flex vs Jawbone Up:

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B0095PZHPE’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00BGO0Q9O’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00CIX260Y’]

Samsung Introduces GALAXY S4 Zoom – First Smartphone to Offer 10x Optical Zoom

2013-06-16

Samsung Introduces GALAXY S4 zoom – the first smartphone to offer 10x optical zoom, for perfect picture taking.

Samsung Electronics announced the launch of the Samsung GALAXY S4 zoom, a powerful new device which combines the stylish heritage of the latest GALAXY S4 smartphone with advanced photographic capabilities.

Part of the GALAXY S4 family, the GALAXY S4 zoom is the realization of Samsung’s mission to create a single device that can fulfill the role of both an industry leading smartphone and a high-end compact camera. Combining 10x Optical Zoom, 16 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor, OIS and Xenon Flash with the very latest Samsung GALAXY S4 technology, the GALAXY S4 zoom sets new standards for perfect mobile photography. It is the ultimate smartphone and camera experience in one, and the only device you’ll ever need.

Revolutionary new interface

Do it all and miss nothing thanks to the revolutionary new Zoom Ring, a simple and intuitive way to access the GALAXY S4 zoom’s key features. When you’re in the middle of a phone call and you see something you absolutely have to share, a quick twist of the Zoom Ring will activate the In-Call Photo Share feature, letting you capture and send an image directly via MMS to whoever you are talking to simply.

For easy camera navigation, the Zoom Ring can be used to activate the Quick Launch and Shortcut features, giving you instant access to multiple camera modes including Auto, Gallery and Smart Mode with a simple twist.

The Zoom Ring also revolutionizes conventional camera zoom controls. Optical zoom control replaces traditional dials and buttons with smooth, easy-to-operate digital controls. Professional-quality accuracy and unprecedented ease of use are just a twist away, making it easy to compose a scene and capture wide-angle shots or tight close-ups.

Capture the best images

When it comes to high quality photography, bigger isn’t always better. The compact GALAXY S4 zoom’s best-in-class 10x Optical Zoom and 16MP BSI CMOS Sensor lets you capture beautiful images from far away or up close and personal, in all light conditions, without having to carry heavy camera gear around with you. Furthermore, the built-in Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) helps keep the camera perfectly still even when you’re not, reducing blur and stabilizing the image while zoomed in for high-quality photos and video.

Photo Suggest instantly connects you to huge libraries of images taken by fellow photographers, to help you find and compose your best shots anywhere in the world. Photo Suggest can even direct you to the ideal nearby location which will give you the vantage point you need for that perfect photo.

The GALAXY S4 zoom also features Samsung’s popular Smart Mode, so you can stop worrying about settings and start taking professional-quality artistic shots. Simply choose from a series of pre-set modes and the camera will automatically adjust to ensure you capture the best photo possible. Use Drama Shot to merge continuous shots of moving objects into a single composed image, or Action Freeze to instantly capture high-speed action. If you aren’t sure which Smart Mode to select, the Smart Mode Suggest feature can assess the scene for you and provide a short list of the best options for your consideration based on surrounding factors such as light levels, focal length, or face detection, ensuring you always get the best shot you want.

Unlimited entertainment in the palm of your hand

The GALAXY S4 zoom’s heritage is evident throughout, from its sleek and stylish design to the powerful, yet intuitive user interface. Running on Android Jelly Bean 4.2, the GALAXY S4 zoom boasts many of the same features as the recently launched GALAXY S4, including Touchwiz, which lets you fully customize various aspects of your device including the lock screen and notification bar, for a truly personal mobile experience.

When you return from your travel adventures, Story Album lets you arrange all of your treasured images and videos into one timeline to share with friends and loved ones. You can also edit images and even order prints directly from the device through a partnership with blurb*. If you’d rather transfer your images to your laptop or tablet for safe keeping, Samsung Link lets you do so quickly and easily with just the touch of a button. Alternatively, you can sync all of your data in your own personal cloud through HomeSync, providing the ultimate peace of mind and ensuring your images and videos are waiting for you whenever you need them.

The GALAXY S4 zoom features the new Samsung Hub, a one-stop destination for all of the latest music, videos, books and games. Search, download and enjoy all of your favorite entertainment at the touch of a button, all directly from your device. When you find that amazing new track or game that you can’t wait to share with your friends, Group Play lets you connect directly with their Samsung devices so you can all listen and play together, without the need for a Wi-Fi AP or cellular signal.

via Samsung

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00DRH70ZQ/’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00DSR62KY’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00CQ253WU’]

Nokia Lumia 925 vs HTC One

2013-06-14

Here’s a great little video review on the pros and cons of the Nokia Lumia 925 vs. the HTC One from the folks over at PocketNow.

nokia-lumia-925-qtooth Each of these phones are the flagship of their respective companies. Both have some stunning features and just like most phone shootouts, each comes out on top… depending on what features you value the most. Choices, choices. Nokia Lumia 925 or HTC One. Hmm… htc-one-qtooth

Check it out:

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B009ZC90P0′]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00C5SJEXO’]

[amzn_product_inline asin=’B00BOG1MS8′]