Choosing the right Bluetooth Speaker

I have always loved the idea of being able to take my music with me and share it with the people around me.

The Kingone K5 Speaker is a great bluetooth portable speaker with an awesome price tag.  Its sound could be heard in the entire room without sacrificing the sound quality.  Aside from its bluetooth capability, you could also play your favorite tunes using the auxiliary in(aux in). If you are not familiar what the aux in is, it is where you use a 3.5mm jack male to male (see image below) and plug it to your music player just like an ordinary earphone jack and plug the other end to your kingone K5.  The Kingone K5 also has a microsd slot where you could play directly from your microsd card.

3.5mm jack male to male
Image from ebay

Kingone K5

The Sony SRS-X5 is the biggest of the three bluetooth speakers that I have, and has the most amazing bass amongst the three. Because of its size, I only use it at home. But sometimes, I bring the Sony SRS-X5 with me during outdoor picnics or when travelling out of town, since it is not only a bluetooth speaker but can also be used as a powerbank.  It also supports Aux In same as the Kingone but unfortunately doesn't support microsd, which means you need a music player with the Sony SRS-X5.

Sony SRS-X5
Image from Sony

Back of the Sony SRS-X5
where you could see the USB Female
which you could plug your usb charger
to power 

The last but not the least of the three speakers is the JBL Clip. Why is it called a JBL Clip? Because it has a built-in carabiner which is perfect for those who love the outdoors.  With its carabiner, you could just clip it in your pants or bag and you are ready to go. Unfortunately this little baby doesn't have much bass and cannot handle very high volume, but this baby still packs a punch.  This has a built-in aux wire attached to the back, so there is no need to purchase a wire. Just like the Sony X5 it doesn't support micro sd.

JBL Clip
Image from JBL

So after using the three portable bluetooth speakers, here are my reviews and comparisons.

The Sony SRS-X5 is perfect for home use.  Due to its size the Sony X5 is not for your everyday travel companion, but still perfect for those long drive or out of town trips since it also doubles as a powerbank.

The JBL Clip is perfect for those who love to travel since it is very compact, and with its built-in carabiner it is very easy to bring with you.

The Kingone is the cheapest of the three, so if you are looking for a decent bluetooth speaker that will not hurt your budget, then this one is for you.

REVIEW l Seagate Wireless Harddrive

When I accidentaly dropped my Portable Harddrive and broke, I was really devastated.  Fortunately my wife, Mrs. A, gave me a Portable Harddrive last month as her advance Birthday gift to me (since she knew how I loved my Portable HD).

Portable Harddrives have the same purpose as any Harddrives out there, the only difference is that with that of a portable HD you don't need to plug it in.  If you travel a lot for work or pleasure with a laptop, and is in need of an extra memory for storing pictures or files then you definitely need a Portable HD.

So after a lot of research (and believe me when I say A LOT since it took me months to decide) I finally chose the Seagate Wireless Portable Harddrive.  And yes you read it right, it is wireless.  So what made this Seagate Wireless HD my choice? Well for starters, it is wireless, which means that you could connect any device which has wifi capabilities to this HD.  You could store your photos from your phone directly to the HD without the need for a computer, not only that but you could also download photos or files from your HD to your phone or any device.  I specifically use this to watch movies or look at photos during long haul flights or while waiting at the terminal before boarding.

The reason it took me months before I could decide, was because I couldn't decide if I should choose the 2TB or 1TB (TB stands for Terabytes).  The price difference between the two are not that far off, but I ended up choosing the 1TB since I don't need that much memory space, and since I have another HD specifically for my desktop. The other reason was, if I should get the wireless HD or not since the wireless HD almost cost twice as much as the one without the wireless capability.  So after a long and gruesome decision making, I finally decided to get the one with the wireless capability.

The Seagate Wireless Portable HD has its own battery that would last upto 10 hours as per advertised, but as per using it the battery only lasted for roughly 8 hours on a full charge, which is still great. It would take you 2-3 hours to charge the seagate and then you are ready to go.

So overall my experience with my Seagate Wireless Portable Harddrive has been positive, the only downside is that not all video formats are playable in your mobile device.

I would highly recommend this product to those people who love to take a lot of pictures or love watching movies on the go.

Front

Front

Back

REVIEW l Transcend DrivePro 220 Dash Cam

When I got into an accident last year, that is when I decided to purchase a dashcam.  What entered my mind back then was that if ever I got hit by another driver it would be easier to prove that I was innocent or guilty(works both ways guys).  After all the repairs were done I bought myself a dashcam, and take note guys that it took me quite sometime before I decided to buy the Transcend DrivePro 220.

What I really love about this dashcam is its wifi capability. Whenever you want to connect your mobile device to the dashcam to download a video which makes it very convenient, all you need to do is turn the wifi signal on and connect to it, just like from a wifi signal from a router.

Front

Back

The Transcend also has a GPS which means all the video that gets recorded has a GPS geo tagging, with its GPS it would be easier to locate where the video was taken once you view it on your computer.

 What it looks like from your Personal Computer

My transcend already comes with a free 16GB memory card so there is no need to purchase another set of memory card. You don't have to worry about running out of memory, since it would automatically rewrite the oldest video(video looping).

Aside from recording your travels and giving you peace of mind on the road, the Transcend DrivePro 220 has some added features.  The Lane Departure Warning System which would warn you if you suddenly leave your lane(like if you suddenly doze of) and Forward Collision Warning System which would warn you when the vehicle infront of you suddenly hits the brake and you didn't notice it. Both of these features would only kick in at a certain speed of your choosing.

So if you are planning on buying the Transcend DrivePro 220, here are the few things you need to know:

        - Little bit pricier, but you get your money's worth.

        - Wifi capabilities

        - GPS for Geo Tagging.

        - 130° wide angle lens

        - Emergency recording
        - Lane Departure Warning
        - Forward Collision Warning
        - Speed Limit Warning

For Android users here is the link to app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.transcend.cvr

REVIEW l Asus Zenfone Selfie

Have you ever thought of buying a new Mobile Phone but can't decide?

Well maybe this review could help you.

Earlier this year, my wife and I decided to purchase an Asus Zenfone Selfie as gifts to ourselves, since then I have been a satisfied user of my Asus Selfie.

The first thing that caught my attention when I opened the box, was how big the lens of the front camera which is the same as the back.  Below are the photos I took upon opening the box.

After Opening the Box

Front

Back

The Asus Selfie has both a 13.0 Mega-Pixel Camera for its front and back camera which is good for those who love to take selfies due to the high Mega-Pixel Front Camera.  It also has a flash for both the front and back which would make it easy to take photos or videos during low light or during the night time.  Aside from the flash function option when taking a photo you could also use the flash as a steady torch when taking a photo or video which is good if you are taking a photo in pitch black.

The Asus Selfie also has a 3GB(Gigabyte) of Ram and 2GB of which is usable which means it wont have a hard time with your applications and games so you don't need to worry about giving your Asus Selfie a hard time when opening multiple apps and games.  It also has an internal memory of 32GB which is a huge storage space for all your photos, videos, games, etc. but, it is still not enough there is an option to expand your memory with its memory card slot(which you could purchase at any tech shop) up to 128 GB of additional memory, so there is no need to worry about storage.

It is a dual standby phone which means that there is a slot for sim 1 and sim 2 which are both active so if you have two mobile no.s there is no need to buy another phone.  Since I have two mobile no.s have a dual sim standby is a great help since I could have both of my sims in 1 mobile phone and please take not that you have to have a micro sim when using this phone so if you are still using an old sim card you could opt for it to be replace with your carrier to a micro sim card or you could have it cut(most of the shops offer cutting your sim card for a minimal fee).

True to its description, its camera is amazing. Its camera is really like a mini DSLR when taking photos.  Taking photos using the front and back will give you the same quality since they have the same Mega-Pixel and function.  Using the Camera Application you, will have a few camera modes that you could use in taking photos.  My favorite mode is the "Depth of Field" since it focuses on your subject by keeping the background blurred.  And if you are not familiar with the different features there is a help button which gives you the description of the feature.

Different Camera Modes

Different Camera Modes

Description of Auto Mode

 For connectivity it has bluetooth and wifi which you could use to connect to other devices and the internet.  It is already a 4G/LTE capable phone which means if your carrier is already offering LTE then you could maximize your data speed usage.


Here are some of the sample photos I took.

Taco Fries(Back Camera)

Pizza(Back Camera)

Selfie(Front Camera)

Selfie(Front Camera)

Sunrise(Back Camera Low Light)

After using the Asus Zenfone Selfie for 6 months there is nothing to complain about.
Overall the Asus Selfie is an amazing phone for under 12K.