IPOD WORLD

Apple iPad Keyboard Dock

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:25:00 +0000

If there's any company in the world that we'd trust to make a great keyboard for a computer, it's Apple -- we've been using and loving its Mac keyboards for years, following their evolution from chunky beige telephone-cabled boxes to clear and white trays and eventually ultra-thin aluminum plates with just enough plastic for keys on the top and elevation on the bottom. We use one every day, and wouldn't replace it with anything else. So the iPad Keyboard Dock ($69) arrived at our door with a certain level of immediate confidence and trust: we know this aluminum-bodied, matte plastic-keyed thing already, understand that the iPad dock behind it is almost exactly the same as the standalone iPad Dock Apple previously released, and like the way it feels almost instantly.
But is it really the same as a Mac keyboard—say, an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard? The short answer: there are differences, some non-trivial, but they’re far more alike than not. The iPad Keyboard Dock is just as wide as the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, with only one less key—function (fn) is gone—and the previously function (f1, f2, f3…) keys are labelled differently. At furthest left is a Home button, which works just like hitting the iPad’s own Home button, the first time any accessory has been able to mimic this feature, while automatically enabling the Keyboard Dock to wake the iPad from its locked mode without any swipes. Then there’s a Spotlight search button that interrupts whatever you’re doing to bring the iPad back into Spotlight mode, brightness down and up buttons, a button to activate Picture Frame mode, and a button to call up the virtual on-screen keyboard should you need it for something you can’t easily do with the Keyboard Dock.
Next is an empty button, the subject of some pre-release speculation, which appears at this point to have no assigned function, followed by track backwards, play/pause, and track forwards controls for iPod music playback, volume mute, down, and up buttons, and finally a lock key. Pressing that merely turns the iPad’s screen on and off. The rest of the iPad Keyboard Dock’s keys are just like a standard Apple keyboard’s, again missing only “function,” with widened “control,” “option,” and “command” keys to fill the same space. Some of the keyboard shortcuts Mac users are accustomed to finding—“command-C” to initiate copy, for instance—are included in the iPhone OS, and more will likely come with time and additional applications. Arrow keys work perfectly to move upwards and downwards within word processing (Notes, Pages) documents, and can highlight text in conjunction with the shift key, but do not appear to have any ability to interact with the Home screen or the iPod application to highlight items or make selections.
Otherwise, using the keyboard after becoming accustomed to Apple’s Mac keyboards is completely intuitive. This entire review was typed on the iPad Keyboard Dock with instant familiarity, and just as much speed and accuracy as using either a wired or wireless Apple keyboard. The feel of the Keyboard Dock’s keys is identical to the Mac accessories, and very similar to using the keyboard on a MacBook computer, for that matter. From these standpoints, it’s a winner. On the back of the Keyboard Dock, just as with the standard iPad Dock, there are both Dock Connector and 3.5mm audio ports, which can connect to Apple’s Dock Connector to USB cable for charging and syncing, and an audio cable for audio-out, neither cable included.
The “normal” way to use the iPad Keyboard Dock, of course, would be either without a wall charger connected, or with the Dock connected to the 10W USB Power Adapter, rather than to a computer. Connecting this keyboard dock to a computer with a keyboard for charging and synchronization wouldn’t make a lot of sense—the reason our rating of the Keyboard Dock isn’t being markedly reduced based on some weirdness we saw when trying to sync the docked iPad with an iMac, something that the Keyboard Dock’s instruction manual claims is one of its capabilities. Several times when we tried to sync the iPad using this Dock, iTunes went through a bizarre, extended process of attempting to re-authorize all of the device’s applications, at two points threatening to delete them. The problems disappeared when we disconnected the iPad from the dock for a sync, and reappeared when we reconnected the iPad to the dock. After switching USB ports on the iMac, we couldn’t replicate the problem again. It’s hard to know what caused the issue, but we hadn’t experienced anything similar with the iPad and a standard Dock Connector connection during prior synchronizations to the same computer.
Sonically, the iPad Keyboard Dock seems to be trouble-free. As with all Apple docks we’ve tested over the past seven years, the Keyboard Dock’s line-level audio is powerful, and appears to have been properly engineered to match the slightly different Dock Connector audio characteristics of the iPad. Unlike Apple’s remote controllable Universal Docks for iPods and iPhones, the volume buttons on the keyboard do not attenuate the line-level audio output; this is left for the connected speakers. Mute, however, does work to cut off the audio output to the line-out port altogether.
The single biggest problem with the Keyboard Dock is one that’s unavoidable based on its all-in-one design: it doesn’t work on a standard slide-out desk keyboard tray unless you’re willing to make some awkward accommodations for the iPad, which leans back on the dock, shadowing the unusually deep plastic accessory as it reclines. Consequently, we found ourselves using it on top of a desk with our palms hanging off the desk’s edge, a less than totally comfortable position for typing. Another compromise is the screen’s orientation, which is forced by the Keyboard Dock into tall vertical mode rather than widescreen; some users may prefer one to the other. A final issue: the iPad Keyboard Dock only accommodates an unencased or super-thin-covered iPad, so if you’re keeping your device protected, you might have some inconveniences to contend with here.
These issues might well push people to prefer Apple’s standard iPad Dock or a third-party stand to hold the iPad, while a separate Bluetooth keyboard goes on a lower desk tray or in the lap. If you’re buying all-Apple items, the cost of either alternative solution will be even higher than the iPad Keyboard Dock’s already iffy $69 asking price, but third-party options may cost less.
One thing that third-party solutions will struggle to beat Apple on is build quality. Though it mightn’t be the most practical or versatile design for traditional desktop use, the iPad Keyboard Dock is every bit as excellent as Apple’s desktop and laptop keyboards for actual typing, assuming that you can get the positioning right. Palm-cramping aside, we churned out this review at a brisk pace with relatively few typographical errors, and felt confident about the stability of the attached device at all times while we were typing. That’s a lot more than we can say for any of the virtual keyboards Apple has produced over the past three years, including the ones on the iPad, and though the Keyboard Dock’s not the perfect implementation of its concept, it’s a good enough start to merit our general recommendation.

Incase Combo Charger for iPod, iPhone & iPad

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:25:00 +0000

Though months have actually passed, it feels like only yesterday that Incase released the Combo Charger for iPod & iPhone, a hybrid home and car power adapter that we liked. With the iPad now in stores, Incase rapidly updated last year's model to become the Incase Combo Charger for iPod, iPhone & iPad ($40), preserving the same price and aesthetics while changing a couple of features.
On a positive note, the new Combo Charger has the same general look and feel as its predecessor: it uses soft touch black rubber to cover a 4.25” long car charging bulb with wall blades on one side and a car charging plug on the other, using glossy plastic for the side that faces outwards in a car or upwards in a wall outlet. A second color is not yet available for iPad users, but the prior iPod and iPhone Combo Charger was also released in a white and gray variation. Incase uses an illuminating white leaf on the glossy side to let you know that power’s running to the USB port, and as with last year’s model, provides no audio-out from the accessory—it’s solely for power. No iPad-ready charger currently offers audio output, but we expect that will change in the months to come.
The USB port is the focus of Combo Charger’s two big changes. First, there’s only one USB port—last year’s model included two, making better use of the relatively large bulb’s body, while enabling users to connect two devices at once for charging. But the bigger difference is under the hood: the iPad version of the Combo Charger is capable of outputting three different levels of power: 0.5 Amps for iPods, 1 Amp for iPhones, and 2.1 Amps for iPads. Consequently, any Apple device you connect to it indoors or in your car will recharge as fast as it’s capable of charging—a real boon for the iPad, which can take as long as 16 hours to fully replenish its battery if it’s not fed enough juice.
We had no problem charging iPods, iPhones, or iPads with the new Combo Charger, and it worked as promised when connected to the wall and when used in the car. Incase discloses on its web site that the Charger may feel warm to the touch when it’s in use, and with the iPad, we did notice the warmth—thankfully, it’s nowhere near as hot as some of the early iPhone-only chargers we tested, as Incase is apparently using cooler-running parts. The single biggest ease of use issue with the Combo Charger turns out to be its size, which will require you to make a little extra space on your wall outlet, or turn the bulb upside down. Incase’s nice roughly 40-inch USB-to-Dock Connector cable matches the Charger, detaching for use with your computer or for easier storage; the wall blades also fold inwards to lower the accessory’s profile in a bag.
If there’s any other issue with the Combo Charger, it’s just the price: to the extent that dual-port, dual-purpose chargers were just about right-priced at $40, Incase is charging a premium here for the novelty of iPad compatibility, and it goes without saying that you can add a car-only iPad charger for $25 or less to the wall charger that comes with your iPad. For that reason, travelers are the primary audience for this new version of the Combo Charger—all-in-one convenience makes it a solid option for people who don’t want to carry two separate accessories around, and are willing to pay a little extra for the versatility.

Simplism Emergency Battery, Dual USB Charger Slide + Dual USB Charger Air

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:24:00 +0000

On our most recent visit to Japan, one thing was clear: Simplism has become a major player in the iPod and iPhone accessory market. Unlike Power Support, which built its brand by delivering Japanese-designed, Japanese-manufactured, and universally high-quality accessories -- all at higher prices -- Simplism has come in from the other side of the market, marketing clean but cheaper Chinese-made options at lower prices. Most of the Simplism accessories we've looked at are cases, but there are three power options in the collection, as well: the Emergency Battery ($25), the Dual USB Charger Air ($17), and the Dual USB Charger Slide ($17). They're sold separately from one another, each in black or white versions, and offer a slightly different twist on accessories we've seen before.
One thing that needs to be said about all three of these items: they all work as expected, and they look nice, but they also all feel cheap—cheap in the sort of deliberate, measured way that enables a company to ask unapologetically, “what did you really expect for $17?” Many iPod and iPhone accessory makers pride themselves on following Apple’s design examples, removing seams from plastic, providing a “right” weight, and providing reassuring clicks or gentle, graceful sweeps when hinges or other parts are moved. These three accessories substantially discard these principles. And that’s part of why they’re so inexpensive.
Take the Emergency Battery, which isn’t actually a battery, but rather a glossy plastic shell capable of turning any set of three AAA batteries into an emergency charger for a depleted iPod or iPhone. There’s a Dock Connector at one end, a compartment on the back to insert the batteries, which you supply yourself, and a cap for protection of the Dock Connector when it’s not in use. It borrows the general look of a black iPhone 3GS, complete with silver Myriad Pro branding on the front to match a plastic-chrome bezel shaped like the iPhone’s, and there’s a little yellow lightning bolt that appears to indicate that it’s charging.
While three AAA batteries aren’t the most convenient choice for a charger—these batteries aren’t generally sold here in three-packs—this combination of thickness and capacity has the advantage of fitting in an enclosure that’s as thin as an iPhone or iPod classic while offering enough power to bring one of these devices back to life from a complete discharge. Based on a set of three fresh Energizer AAAs, we were able to get a dead 120GB iPod classic to roughly the 70% recharged point—around 400mAh of power, we’d estimate—which is enough to get an iPhone to around a 1/3 charge. Yes, it’s for emergencies, and yes, it works.
The Dual USB Charger Air also borrows from Apple’s designs. Air is so named because it uses a pop-open compartment similar to the MacBook Air’s to hide two USB ports for wall charging, enabling it to fit everything in an enclosure that’s tapered to look even smaller than its slightly-less-than 2.5” by 2” by 1” dimensions. Seams are visible on its sides, and the compartment opens with a less than satisfying motion, but it does click into place, and the twin USB ports work exactly as expected. Two standard Apple-style USB cables fit without a problem into these ports, if you supply them yourself, and ratcheting rear wall blades—ones that were a little too tilted outwards, requiring pressure to bend them inwards—fold out to plug into US or Japanese wall ports. Interestingly, the blades ratchet enough that you can have the Charger Air plug straight into an outlet with both USB ports facing directly outwards—a convenience for those with limited space between wall or power strip outlets; otherwise, they’ll face upwards or downwards depending on how you connect the Charger to the wall.
By comparison, the Dual USB Charger Slide has a slide-closed compartment to shield its two ports while you’re traveling. While Slide is a little smaller than Air, its ports face in a different direction—outwards from its longest side—so even though its wall blades ratchet in the same way, the USB outlets are positioned in a place that’s better for unencumbered wall or end-of-power strip positions. Given that they both carry the same price tags and otherwise offer the same functionality, the choice of one version over the other is merely a matter of personal preference. Neither comes with an iPod/iPhone-compatible Dock Connector to USB cable, which accounts for part of the price difference between these $17 models and the $20-$30 competitors from companies such as Griffin.
In sum, all three of these charging accessories are good but not great budget options—if you’re willing to self-supply the batteries or the cables they need, they’re useful and well-designed enough to be worthy of $17 to $25. All three merit our general-level recommendation. That said, spending $10 or $15 more per accessory will yield both design and functional benefits from competing products, a tradeoff that Simplism obviously understands and is willing to make in order to offer its products at such aggressive prices.

Square Enix Final Fantasy + Final Fantasy II

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:24:00 +0000

Given the overwhelming international popularity of Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise -- one of the key reasons Enix merged with Square some years ago -- it's not surprising that the Final Fantasy series has debuted on Apple's iPhone and iPod touch; in fact, given that the first two games in the series, Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were re-released on other platforms, Square's decision to port these titles to the App Store seemed all but inevitable. Often sold as a bundle on other platforms, the iPhone versions of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II are being sold separately on the App Store for $9 each, and are based upon the 2007 PSP releases, titled Final Fantasy + Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition. Both games are very similar in design and gameplay, so we discuss them collectively in one review.
It’s worth mentioning up front that due to a difference in international Final Fantasy naming conventions and release dates, the titles shown here are the actual first and second titles in a series that started in 1987 on the Japanese version of Nintendo’s NES, the Famicom. Square had a very limited presence in North America back then, and waited until 1990 to release the original Final Fantasy with Nintendo’s assistance over here. It then skipped North American releases for Final Fantasy II and III, renaming the 1991 Super NES game—the fourth game in the series—Final Fantasy II. Retroactively, Square adopted the Japanese naming conventions for the entire series, so the Final Fantasy II released for iPhone is the original Final Fantasy II, not Final Fantasy IV.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is a role-playing game (RPG) where you guide a party of four characters—the Warriors of Light—on a quest to save their world from the forces of darkness. To accomplish their quest you must lead your characters through towns, dungeons and the countryside, interacting with townsfolk and other non-player characters, gaining experience by battling various creatures.
The game begins by letting you name and decide the types of characters that will make up your party, choosing each character’s attributes from among six character classes: Warrior, Thief, Monk, Red Mage, White Mage or Black Mage, with each class providing specific skills in terms of fighting and magical abilities. You must also name each character by either entering a name manually or having the game automatically choose a name for you.
The characters start in the town of Cornelia where you discover that the king’s daughter, Princess Sarah, has been kidnapped by the evil knight Garland. The four Warriors of Light undertake their first quest: to rescue the princess.
Final Fantasy’s game world is divided into two general areas: a large-scale world map that you use to travel the countryside between locations, and smaller scale maps that you use when in towns, castles or dungeons. Controls for moving your character in the game are provided in the form of a four-way virtual touchpad on the left side of the screen. When moving around on the smaller-scale town maps, a button appears on the right side of the screen that you can tap and hold to increase your character’s speed.
Most towns contain non-player characters (NPCs) that you interact with by walking up and tapping anywhere on the screen, initiating a conversation. As is the RPG norm, some characters will provide useful information, and others supply little more than idle chatter.
While the characters you’ll encounter in towns are generally friendly and mostly harmless, wandering around the world map will result in random combat encounters with various creatures. This will initiate a turn-based battle sequence in which you choose actions for each character: attack, defend, cast a spell, use a piece of equipment or try to run away. Each successful skirmish raises your characters’ experience points and thereby increases your ability to fight larger and stronger creatures as you progress through the game.
A blue box displaying character stats appears in the bottom-right corner whenever you’re not moving. Touching this box brings up the in-game options menu which provides more detailed character status, access to inventory items and the game’s save and configuration options. Tapping on a character will bring up even more detailed statistics; each character has a number of different attributes that are initially determined by their character class and increased as the character gains more experience in battle and completes various quests.
Towns have shops where you can buy and sell items such as weapons, armor, potions and magic spells, and the selection of items varies from town to town. Most towns also have an inn where your characters can pay for lodging to rest and recover their health, and a church or clinic where you can revive a member of your party who has been killed in combat.
An in-game help system is hidden away at the Cornelia inn as a group of NPCs who explain various game concepts when you speak with them. Beyond this one area that players are left to discover for themselves, documentation and in-game help is pretty much non-existent. Although the game will be completely familiar to fans of the Final Fantasy genre, new players may take some time to figure things out before they’re completely comfortable with the game. Notably, Square Enix has tweaked the game’s difficulty and pacing from the 1987 original, making it easier for first-timers and angering some old school players in the process.
The game also includes a Bestiary that can be found under the Configuration menu, providing a summary of the different types of creatures that you’ve battled and details on individual creatures.
Your progress within the game is automatically saved so that you can resume from where you left off after returning to the app. You can also manually save your game in one of the three provided save game slots. There appears to be no way to load a saved game or start a new game from within the app itself—you must exit the app and then reload it in order to access the main menu on the opening screen. Note that you cannot save your game during a battle nor is it automatically saved—exiting and reopening the game during a battle will resume in your location prior to the encounter.
For the most part the on-screen control system works quite well, although the ability to tap anywhere on the screen to initiate a conversation with a character and progress though the conversation sometimes caused a bit of frustration—we found ourselves restarting the same conversation by tapping the screen one too many times. Gamers accustomed to full freedom of analog joystick movement will find Final Fantasy’s limited, two-axis character movement to be a little cumbersome, as the on-screen touchpad only lets you move up, down, left, or right when navigating the world map; there’s a tendency to want to slide your finger around the touchpad to change direction, and since characters cannot move diagonally the controls end up feeling a bit unresponsive as your characters make the sharp 90 degree turn. Lifting your finger from one arrow button and tapping the button for another direction works much better but feels less natural.
We encountered a few other minor game play issues such as NPCs frequently blocking our path in narrow corridors, however such issues are not unique to the iPhone release; they’re part of the original game code, which apart from the aforementioned difficulty and pacing tweaks has been largely left intact, preserving an early classic RPG experience. On the flip side, the game’s lack of customization is somewhat annoying: it provides minimal configuration options, and no way to adjust music or sound effects volume. This was particularly a concern as we found some of the sound effects loud relative to the background music, and it was difficult to find an iPhone volume level that achieved a proper balance.
Final Fantasy II
The second game in the Final Fantasy series uses most of the same general UI design and gameplay as its younger sibling with slightly improved graphics and a few notable differences.
The characters that form your party in Final Fantasy II have more well-rounded skills. Rather than assigning character classes that restrict a character to a specific set of abilities, the characters in Final Fantasy II begin with a breadth of basic skills which are refined based on how you use them in battle. For example, characters who regularly cast spells will see their magic abilities increase while a character who regularly wields a sword will improve their sword fighting skills. Weapon-related skills in Final Fantasy II are specific to each weapon.
Final Fantasy II also introduces an extra level of interaction with NPCs in the form of “Key Terms” that you can learn and later ask other characters about to gain additional information. Key terms appear highlighted during conversations and you can memorize them for later use by choosing the “Learn” option from the conversation menu. A list of memorized key terms can also be found within the in-game menu.
Characters in Final Fantasy II are left- or right-handed, and when equipping players you choose which hand will hold a weapon or shield. Further, since every character is capable of using magic in at least a basic way, spells are now purchased as tomes rather than being learned directly in the magic shop. A tome can be used later to teach that spell to specific character.
Final Fantasy II is otherwise very similar to its predecessor, with the same user interface/on-screen control system, and most of the same menu options. The majority of the issues and limitations described for Final Fantasy also apply here: Square Enix provides little to no in-game assistance to get new players started, retains the “fine, not great” graphic style from the 2007 PSP release, and the sound effects and music are not as balanced as they should be. When the company released the Final Fantasy titles for Sony’s PlayStations, it updated the artwork from the original 8-bit sprites and backgrounds into what’s essentially slightly glossed up 16-bit artwork, approximating the looks of Super NES titles Final Fantasy IV and V with enhanced color palettes and faux 3-D movement reminiscent of the SNES’s “Mode 7.” The music has similarly been upgraded to roughly 16-bit SNES chip quality rather than the 8-bit chip music of the original; it’s acceptable, but well short of the orchestral compositions of more recent games in the series, and again drowned out somewhat by the effects. Both titles feel like quick and dirty ports to the iPhone and iPod touch, though admittedly, Square Enix could have just ported the original Japanese Famicom versions of the games and some people would have drooled all over the “retro” 8-bit graphics and sounds, anyway.
So, while the graphics and soundtrack in the iPhone versions of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II are definitely nothing special by comparison to many other iPhone games we’ve seen, these versions of Final Fantasy are faithful adaptations of a game series that has become classic, and it’s fair to accept that the presentation of the games form a part of the classic Final Fantasy experience. Despite the aesthetics, the games both have good storylines, strong RPG elements and provide a good length of gameplay, and Final Fantasy fans will almost certainly enjoy these adaptations. It’s also worth noting that both games also include the bonus dungeons first introduced in the 2004 Dawn of Souls re-release for the GameBoy Advance.
Although the $9 asking price for each of these titles is high compared to similar iPhone games—enough that we’d call the titles a little too expensive for what they offer—fans will note that the 2007 PSP versions still sell for around $20 each as retail packages of the game in UMD disc form, not that the packaged versions are directly comparable in price. Regardless, Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II should definitely be of interest to classic RPG fans, and those who haven’t tried RPGs before will find both of these to be simple and straightforward enough to use as a starting point to whet their appetites for the genre. Should you like what you find here, there are at least 11 more and arguably better direct sequels in the series. Hopefully they too will come to the App Store, in even more impressive versions.

iHome iHome+Sleep App

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:23:00 +0000

To say that the alarm clock experts at iHome have taken a big step forward with their iHome+Sleep application (Free) for the iPhone and iPod touch is an understatement: the only question is whether they have bitten off more than they can chew. For five years, the company has dominated the iPod and iPhone alarm business with a series of good to great plastic-shelled accessories that all functioned in generally the same way, containing their own radio, alarm, and/or clock hardware rather than depending on Apple's devices for anything but optional access to their music libraries. This month, with the new clock radio iA5, iHome officially enters a new age in which its iPhone OS software will certainly augment and possibly replace the integrated capabilities of its hardware; this review looks at the iHome+Sleep app, while a subsequent one will cover the iA5 accessory.
iA5 and its more powerful upcoming brother iA100 are on the surface radically simplified versions of earlier iHome alarm clocks: each contains a screen with a clock and an alarm indicator, speaker hardware, and a streamlined collection of buttons to handle volume, power, and clock setting features. Use either with old iPods and it’ll seem more or less like a prior iHome unit, cosmetically redesigned. But plug in the iPhone or iPod touch for the first time and the iHome+Sleep will download, by default automatically disabling the accessory’s clock screen to replace it with something new and arguably better: a clock custom-designed to fit Apple’s 3.5” touchscreens.
iHome could have followed the same route as virtually every other company that has created a clock application for the App Store, offering a single-screen clock with a simple alarm and some flashy graphics to animate the clock’s motion. Nothing’s to say that more visual pizzazz would hurt a future version of iHome+Sleep, but that’s not what was done here. Instead, the company’s clock has one available visual customization—background art—which can come from your iPhone or iPod touch Photos library. Additionally, the time is always presented with the device in vertical orientation, which limits its size but offers plenty of other screen real estate for other features. Yes, iHome+Sleep is packed with other features. A slider underneath the clock lets you catch up on whatever updates your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts have gathered while you’ve slept. Information on the clock accessory’s integrated alarm is presented, alternating with a list of additional alarms that you can create as “cards” from within the app. Weather is presented as sliding “Current,” “Tonight,” and “Tomorrow” panes at the top of the screen. And where appropriate or desired, a play/forward/back window appears to let you control the music you’ve designated for waking up or falling to sleep.
This much needs to be said up front: these new features are just some of many in an impressive list, and iHome deserves commendation both for aiming so high with this feature set and for generally succeeding in implementing them all. iHome+Sleep is currently at version 1.1.3 and still needs some work, but whomever the company selected as its iPhone developer was way beyond the level of ambition and competence we’ve come to expect from app makers in general and clock developers in specific. iHome+Sleep gets an A for effort, without any doubt.
That said, the application’s sheer breadth—and its need to interface with Dock Connector-based iHome accessories—has left a lot to be polished. Introducing a new and arguably confusing clock control paradigm, it offers “Sleep Cards” rather than just plain old “Alarms,” referring to card-shaped windows that are completely loaded with options—everyday, weekend, weekday, and even custom day-of-week alarm repetition, minute-adjustable snooze timers, programmable iPod music playlists, bedtime and wakeup reminder text, and the separate abilities to post your advance-typed messages automatically to Facebook and/or Twitter. This is a lot more functionality than any iHome or other iPod/iPhone alarm clock has ever offered from a single screen.
But it’s also a lot more clicking and setup for the user, especially when you consider that these settings can be specified for multiple “Sleep Cards”—both alarms, and now also for “naps,” which are designed to help you fall asleep to music, rest during a sleep timer, then wake you to a buzzer or music as you prefer. Naps can have their own Facebook and Twitter updates, and so on. In every case, you have to confirm the social media messages before they’re sent, click on the reminders to close them when they’re presented, and navigate your iPod playlists with the aforementioned on-screen buttons. iHome+Sleep feels like it needs a simplified mode for dummies, but then, you can always ignore all of its settings and just use the ones on the iA5 or iA100, instead.
Even putting the Sleep Cards aside, the number of settings and other features found within the iHome+Sleep app is pretty incredible. You can set the level of your iPod or iPhone’s screen dimmer, change the clock’s background art, and even control the connected iHome accessory’s own settings from within the app, adjusting its treble and bass levels, individual alarm or alarms, its sleep timer, and its integrated clock—we found that the app actually did a better job of synchronizing the connected iPod touch’s time to the iA5 clock than the sync button on the clock itself. Another later of content hidden within the app is called “Stats,” tracking your sleep cycles, hours of sleep, bedtime and wakeup time, favorite albums, artists, and genres to sleep and wake up to, and averages for all of the sleep stats by day, week, month, and year. For some, all of these features will be geeky or creepy; others, like us, will just find their inclusion to be somewhat amazing.
As noted above, iHome+Sleep still needs some work—we found that the app crashes sometimes without explanation and needs to be manually reloaded, an issue that seemed to occur more in the process of gathering Facebook and Twitter updates and changing Sleep Card settings than elsewhere in the program; its general stability for putting you to sleep or waking you up is less likely to be an issue than an unexpected crash before or afterwards. Our impression is that there are still some communications issues yet to be ironed out with the iA5, as well, as the interaction between the two devices’ screens and the app’s ability to control the iA5 hardware are occasionally glitchy due to what seems like less than perfect synchronizations between the iPod or iPhone and the accessory. These are non-trivial problems, particularly for a clock application. Thankfully, iHome’s working on updates: in addition to bug fix releases, the company says that forthcoming version 1.3 will add worldwide weather support and downloadable instruction manuals to the prior feature set.
Thus, what iHome+Sleep offers now is an impressive collection of features that truly constitute a next-generation alarm clock, based on both the considerable horsepower of the iPhone and some impressive development work on iHome’s side. What’s needed next is additional stability on the app’s side—a non-negotiable feature for users who depend upon their alarms for work and other events—and an early toggle to let expert users fish through the features while helping everyone else to learn how to use what’s here. This is a good start for iHome, and a far better application than we’ve seen from any other hardware accessory maker to date, but the next layer of polish will be the one that determines whether it’s worth relying upon in place of a traditional, app-unassisted alarm clock.

Simplism Remote Controller 3 Buttons for iPod

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:22:00 +0000

There's no single "perfect" three-button remote control adapter for Apple's current-generation iPods and iPhones, and moreover, the fact that all of the options sell for roughly $20 has precluded any meaningful pricing advantage for one model or another. In this context, Simplism's Remote Controller for iPod ($20, aka Remote Controller 3 Buttons) is essentially just one more alternative -- a design with highly similar functionality to, say, Belkin's Headphone Adapter for iPod shuffle, just with a different design. Each one adds a remote control to any standard pair of 3.5mm earphones you want to use with your recent-model iPod or iPhone.
Whereas Belkin chose to go with a sleek, pill-shaped remote control box, marking its buttons with contrasting + and - labels for volume up and down, Simplism’s glossy casing is the exact opposite: a highly boxy enclosure with markings that can barely be seen but can be felt, with a squared-off ridge differentiating the top, bottom, and multifunction middle buttons. Like almost all of the adapters out there, this one does not include an integrated microphone, but it differs from most in offering a clip on the back for attachment to your shirt, pant pocket, or jacket.
Which article of clothing it will mount on will depend at least somewhat on the iPod or iPhone you’re carrying. It’s fully compatible with the third-generation iPod shuffle, 2008-2009 iPod classic, iPod nano 4G/5G, iPod touch 2G/3G, and iPhone 3GS, and has a headphone port connector that’s as thin as they come, ensuring compatibility with literally any case we can recall having tested.
Roughly 18 inches of rubbery, Apple-like cabling separate the top and bottom of the Remote Controller, which might be too much for iPod shuffle users to double-clip on clothing—the reason that previously-released short-cable, no-clip versions from Belkin and Scosche might serve their needs better. By contrast, this longer-cabled take would be better-suited for users of larger iPods and iPhones, which are more likely to sit inside pockets.
Functionally, there are no major surprises here. The Controller passes through audio from the connected iPod or iPhones, and the buttons do what they’re supposed to do, enabling users to multi-click on the central button to skip tracks, or press once for play/pause features. Though we’re fans of the slim, sleek Belkin style of remote, this boxy version works too, providing a large, tactile surface that’s easy to grip and use; the fact that white and black versions are both available is also appealing. Only one small caveat might limit its enjoyment by some users: the buttons click resoundingly rather than quietly. Apart from that, this is a nice little remote solution with the sort of additional cable length and tactility that some iPod and iPhone users will prize; it’s worth of our general-level recommendation.

Luxa2 H4 iPad Holder

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:21:00 +0000

It's seemingly easy -- very easy -- to build or buy a stand for the iPad. Some users have whittled down wood blocks, others have picked up cheap easels or picture frame holders, and a few have converted their iPad box inserts into makeshift trays. But these makeshift solutions all have common weaknesses: they look cheap, provide little functional versatility, and don't fully replace the user's desire for a properly designed iPad mount. Most are "make do with" options as people await real accessories. As of this point, they have three iPad-specific choices.
We reviewed Griffin’s $50 A-Frame last week, and as this week draws to a close, this combined review looks at Luxa2’s H4 iPad Holder (
~~$50~~ $60*) and Element Case’s Joule Stand for iPad ($129-$139)—rivals that similarly rely upon sculpted aluminum to hold the iPad upright at varying angles for passive viewing, typing, and potentially game playing. All three of these stands are capable of holding your iPad on a recline in either portrait or landscape mode, but from there, they differ dramatically, and the best overall option in the bunch is also the most reasonably priced. [Please see editor’s note at the bottom of this review.]
If we had to choose just one of these stands to recommend to all of our readers, it would be the H4 iPad Holder, due more to its overall combination of versatility, polish, and pricing* than its looks. H4 is the sequel to H1-Touch, a physically smaller but functionally identical version sold for iPod touch- and iPhone-sized devices, and has the same advantages: an iPad-matching aluminum base with a cable managing slot, and a rotating, pivoting cradle with expanding rubber-tipped metal arms that can hold a bare or encased iPad as firmly as you prefer. Like the other two stands, it feels solid and sturdy even without an iPad resting in its cradle; but unlike Griffin’s A-Frame, all of its edges are polished to prevent iPad or finger damage.
All three of these stands have some sort of aluminum base, but only H4 has a cradle with such versatility. Because the cradle has a rubber-padded, hand-like design with fingertips pointing out to serve as grips, its edges are open, enabling it to provide full access to the iPad’s Dock Connector port, speakers, side controls, headphone port, and microphone. Once you place the iPad in the cradle, you can rotate it 360 degrees and tilt it on virtually any angle you might prefer, including completely parallel to the surface the stand is on, only six and a half inches up in the air. The only angle it can’t tilt to is completely perpendicular with the surface it’s on; there’s always at least a modest recline. We mention this solely because users looking to use the iPad as a nightstand TV may—depending on the heights of their nightstands and beds—find the steepest angle to be less than ideal, though neither other stand does better, and current-generation iPad screens remain visible on off-angles.
H4’s biggest weaknesses are interrelated, and a result of the cradle’s design. Yes, Luxa2’s moving metal and rubber arms are definitely the most accommodating we’ve seen on an iPad stand, just as they were with the iPhone and iPod touch on H1-Touch. They can be positioned to hold devices considerably narrower and somewhat wider than the iPad, as well as the current iPad inside almost any play-through case we’ve yet seen. But they have a splayed chicken-like appearance when the iPad’s not there, masked only when the iPad’s inserted—both A-Frame and Joule just look nicer. Also, placement of the iPad in the cradle is a little more challenging than with its competitors when the cradle’s in landscape orientation rather than portrait. These are relatively small but non-trivial issues for some users, and should be fixed in an H4 sequel.
Element Case’s new Joule Stand for iPad is, by comparison with both H4 and A-Frame, exceedingly stylish but extremely expensive and functionally quite limited. The core piece looks somewhat like a tube, but is actually a substantial-feeling solid aluminum base with a groove down the center for the bottom or side of an iPad, a U-shaped Home button cutout, a pill-shaped speaker cutout, and three circular holes on the back. You insert a matching included pipe into your choice of the three holes to change the stand’s angle of tilt. Rubber stabilizes both parts on a flat surface, and a foam lining protects your iPad from being scratched by the metal in the stand.
Though Element Case’s photos of Joule depict it in an attractive chrome finish, which is sold for the $129 base price, the versions that arrived here for review were different: one is called “brushed aluminum” and also available for $129, while the other is nearly identical in finish but black, and sold for $139. The company will also offer Joule with laser-engraved graphics or custom coatings, though the prices aren’t yet listed on its site; an iLounge logo added to the front of the black stand was crisp in detail and brownish gray in color.
Joule has several positives in its favor and a bunch of negatives that preclude it from receiving our recommendation. On the plus side are its elegance and what it does do: in addition to requiring the least space for travel purposes, Joule continues to look sharp when there’s no iPad inside, and holds the iPad with a minimum of visual interference on each of the three possible angles it can be set for. One is steep enough for frequent typing, while the other two are increasingly more upright, eventually resembling H4 at its gentlest recline. You need to turn the iPad on its side by yourself to switch the orientation, just like A-Frame, but unlike H4. This isn’t a problem, and since there’s no need generally to have the iPad on a 45 degree or less rotation, H4’s fully revolving cradle arguably has more turning capability than is really required.
But Joule’s negatives outweigh its advantages. The $129 and $139 asking prices are hard to justify given the functionality offered here, particularly when you consider that you’ll need to fidget with the rear pipe to adjust the angle, and lose the more gradual adjustments offered by competing designs at much lower prices. A more serious issue is that Joule doesn’t work properly with literally any of the iPad cases we’ve tested—even the millimeter-thick Incipio Feather can’t squeeze fully into the groove—so you’ll only be able to use it with a bare or nearly-bare iPad. Some users mightn’t mind this. As we’d never consider using our iPads without something protective on, we mind a lot. Then there’s the Dock Connector issue: Joule is the only stand of the three that won’t let you recharge your iPad when it’s in portrait mode unless you’re willing to turn it upside down and run the cable from its top. That’s not such an elegant solution given the accessory’s otherwise minimalist design.
Overall, our buying advice at this point in time is as follows: if you’re looking for a truly budget-priced, budget-quality solution, you can skip any of these stands in favor of something cheap or homemade, but if you want a mounting solution with versatility and good looks, these stands provide different alternatives. Luxa2’s H4 has the best overall combination of adjustability and device compatibility, but the least attractive design, while the same-priced A-Frame from Griffin is more attractive and aggressive in price, yet a little less flexible and polished around the edges. Joule is the cleanest of the designs, and available with the most colors and customization, but it’s also the least versatile and by far the most expensive stand of the group. You can choose which works best for your home or office.

Gameloft GT Racing: Motor Academy

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:20:00 +0000

For years, the most popular driving games were based on coin-operated arcade machines -- ones that were designed to thrill players for short periods of time -- but as arcades faded away, developers became increasingly focused on driving games with the sort of depth that would keep people playing for weeks or longer, earning money to unlock real cars, tweak them with parts, and attempt to get top lap times on tracks that were grounded in realism rather than fantasy. Using this formula, Sony vaulted from a nobody in the driving game world into a pole position by creating the Gran Turismo series for PlayStation consoles, focusing on rendering licensed cars believably in 3-D, while modeling each car and track to reward skillful rather than action-intense driving. Now Gameloft has duplicated that formula, more or less, with GT Racing: Motor Academy ($7).
As with so many of Gameloft’s titles, GT Racing: Motor Academy pares down the modern console gaming experience you’d expect into a version that’s simpler, but preserves the core essence of its inspiration—particularly older Gran Turismo games such as GT1 and GT2. After unlocking everything, you’ll get to select from 14 tracks, including both paved road and rally courses, as well as over 100 cars from 24 real manufacturers, most of them with surprisingly big-named licenses. Gameloft includes both cars and supercars from Audi, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and RUF, plus humbler models from Citroen, Dodge, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota, and a number of options in the middle of the pack. Consequently, you can race a stock Prius without worrying about the brakes due to settings that automate braking for you, or tweak out a 2009 Lotus Exige S with the sorts of customized parts that only serious car enthusiasts will care about, then drive it with fully manual, challenging controls. A YouTube video upload feature lets you share your performances with friends, as well.
Ultimately, the controls and the graphics are going to spoil GT Racing for some potential players. We found the accelerometer-based steering to be twitchy; by following the Sony Gran Turismo model, Gameloft has backed itself into a corner by going for realistic handling in a driving game without a true steering wheel peripheral, a gear shifter, or pressure-sensitive pedals, so it’s forced to simulate differential handling for various cars using the accelerometer and/or on-screen buttons. Due to the limitations of the iPhone/iPod touch controls, we found ourselves seeking as much automation as possible, largely defeating the purpose of such a realistic simulator; unlike the PlayStation consoles, there’s no way—yet—to connect a wheel or other accessories to make the iPhone or iPod touch feel closer to right. And we can’t say that we’d be willing to pay for such a sophisticated accessory for these devices even if it did exist.
Visually, GT Racing tries as hard as it can to offer a Gran Turismo-like visual experience, and generally succeeds. The car models are both numerous and impressively detailed—amongst the best we’ve seen on the iPhone and iPod touch—with simple reflection effects and slightly rich color saturation. Regrettably, car damage isn’t included in this title, and neither are special effects like sparks, but then, Gran Turismo only started to include damage when it reached the PlayStation 3. Gameloft’s tracks have been designed with the same sort of realism we’ve seen in the Gran Turismo games for years: they’re cleaner than the ones on the original PlayStation but a step down from the PlayStation 2, even when running on the iPhone 3GS, due to a surprising level of pop-up that’s most obvious in city tracks such as Sydney, where pieces of skyscrapers literally materialize in front of you when they’re 1/8 of a mile ahead. We also noticed slowdowns and frame drops on the 3GS under certain conditions, particularly when several cars were on the screen at once, though Gameloft does include a rain and fog weather mode that makes pop-in seem a little more believable, adding raindrops to your screen as you drive. Music and sound effects aren’t especially noteworthy; menu screens and races have good but not memorable synth tunes, overlapped by competing engine noises and modest, infrequent chimes.
If you’re willing to accept GT Racing’s shortcomings, there’s also a lot to like here. Gameloft includes a ton of camera views, including manufacturer-specific in-car views and multiple behind-car, on-hood, and no-car options, then lets the camera turn dynamically as you tilt the device regardless of whether you’re using accelerometer-based steering controls. Those who dislike tilt-based steering can activate an on-screen wheel—ugh, we say—or invisible on-screen turning buttons, as well as calibrating braking, traction, and steering with considerable CPU assistance. Those looking to sweat out gear shifting, manual acceleration, braking and steering have only one challenge to worry about: fitting all the required buttons on screen. GT Racing limits your ability to overload the display with too many control overlays, but with full manual controls, managing everything is a challenge.
Though the graphics and controls may quash some players’ interest, others will be completely sucked in by the game’s depth and features. There’s an arcade mode that’s a little too light on action to be really exciting for single-player action, but does provide instant access to enough of GT Racing’s cool cars and tracks to let players immediately start having fun. Wi-Fi, two-player Bluetooth, and Online modes are all available for multiplayer racing with the better cars, as well. As with Gran Turismo, the meat of GT Racing is in its Career Mode—the reason for the Motor Academy subtitle—which offers four sets of licensing tests that help you perfect steering, braking, overtaking, and drifting, a car dealership, the aforementioned aftermarket part garage, and a collection of special races, all designed to work with a system of earning and spending cash-like credits. This is where you customize and unlock cars, and earn your way race by race from a low-end ride into expensive exotic sports cars.
We’re not going to try and feign a greater level of enthusiasm for GT Racing than we actually feel: under the best conditions, driving “simulators” like this really need to have some arcadey content to get us excited, but this one doesn’t, and it’s hard to feel completely serious about a “realistic” racing game for a platform that demands such substantial control compromises. For what it is, and at the $7 asking price, GT Racing is worthy of a general recommendation: it’s currently as close as anyone has come to a Gran Turismo-style title for the iPhone and iPod touch, and to the extent that this isn’t an easy feat due as much to the manufacturer licensing and car modeling as anything else, Gameloft deserves some commendation here. Just don’t expect to be amazed by anything except for its depth, which will keep simulation fans interested and playing for much longer than anyone else.

Microlab iH11 + iM200 Hi-Fi Speakers with iDock System

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:20:00 +0000

Over the years, we've learned a lot about the way that iPod and iPhone accessory developers can shave dollars off of their prices -- and though it's always exciting to see a breakthrough technology or process that lowers the cost of a new product to a level that might have been unthinkable years before, there are certain all but inescapable realities that govern new product releases. One: it's extremely difficult for a major manufacturer to sell a quality iPod-docking speaker system for $60, and challenging enough below $150 that only a few companies these days are making efforts at that price level. Yet Microlab Technology has released three speakers that all sell for less than $150; we've already reviewed the all-in-one MD332, and today, we're looking at two others, the low-end 2.1-channel system iM200 ($70) and the higher-end 2-channel system iH11 ($140).
A couple of things need to be mentioned up front about all three of these speaker offerings. First, Microlab upped their prices after we originally received them for testing in late February, bumping the iM200 by $10, and the other two systems by $20 each, moving “what’s going on?” prices into the “low but less insane” range. As of today, there are few if any brand new iPod dockable speakers like these at the same price points. Second, we reviewed MD332 first because—despite some of its engineering issues—we were actually pretty impressed by its looks and sound quality for the dollar. iM200 and iH11 were placed on the back burner because they didn’t do as much for us in concept or execution.
Unlike MD332, an all-in-one housing with three speakers and an iPod dock inside, iM200 and iH11 are multi-piece speaker systems with a remote-controlled iPod dock tossed into each package. The dock is called the “iDock 100,” and Microlab actually sells it separately for $50 without speakers, giving the user a silver and black Universal Dock-equipped audio center with a volume knob, RCA-style audio, video, and S-Video outputs, plus a minijack-style audio input for auxiliary audio devices. When connected to power with its own wall adapter, the iDock illuminates its plastic volume knob with a blue ring to let you know that the system’s turned on; you can only turn it off with the included remote control. Flipping a power switch on the back of the connected speakers only turns off the speakers, not the dock. As long as a power supply’s connected to the dock, it will charge a connected iPod’s battery regardless of whether the blue light’s on or off. Video output from the iDock is clean, and even works with iPhones.
Microlab’s iDock remote is a much nicer looking design than the one included with MD332. Square with 12 buttons for power, volume, input selection, track control and iPod menu navigation, it matches the black colors of all of Microlab’s speakers, provides solid tactility with elevated rubber buttons, and feels nice enough in the hand to be unobjectionable. By comparison, MD332’s remote was visually mismatched to the system and oversized, but also included radio, clock, treble and bass features that are missing from both the iM200 and the iH11. We’d prefer to have the bass and treble controls on these systems, but there are engineering reasons that they’re not included.
The key reason: these are just generic multimedia speakers with audio connector inputs for the iDock, with no communication, power line, or other connectivity enabling the remote or dock to control the speakers. In the case of iM200, you get two lightweight, single-driver satellite speakers with smoke-clear plastic edging, plus a wood-cabineted subwoofer that is actually pretty oddly designed: its name and bass port hole are found on its right side, with its bass level control knob and various connector ports on the back, such that if you turn it to make the face visible, you see all the cables sticking out of the side. On a positive note, Microlab’s satellite speakers have RCA-style connectors for easy attachment to the subwoofer, making setup only a little more challenging—though a lot more wire-intensive—than with the MD332. Plug the dock in, connect the satellites, flip a switch on the subwoofer’s back, and the system’s ready to play.
Mostly. When we plugged an iPod into the iM200 for the first time, the volume level was at or near the system’s peak, and due to some electronic mismatches between the remote and integrated volume knob controls, we struggled a little to turn the volume down quickly. Once it was adjusted, it was fine thereafter, and the system thankfully remembered the previous settings even when the power was pulled. It almost goes without saying given that iM200 sells for only $20 more than the iDock alone, but we felt that the sound quality was good for the price—robust in the bass department at any volume, with decent midrange and treble performance at regular volumes, the latter two becoming flatter and less impressive as the volume climbs upwards from there. The bass comes from a 5” dedicated woofer, and the rest of the sound from 2.5” tweeters. Calling the iM200 a “boom and tizz” box that’s heavy on the boom would be fair but for the fact that it sells for only $70; most systems at that price have way less bass, and roughly equivalent midrange, though somewhat stronger treble.
By comparison, iH11 is an upscale model that generally merits its higher price, though it also has little issues of its own. This model has the faux leather-wrapped wooden cabinet design of the MD332—something we really liked—and unlike the other systems actually houses four total speakers rather than three, here a pair of 1” tweeters and 4” full-range drivers behind a fabric and plastic mesh face. A brushed gunmetal plate at the bottom of each speaker face adds additional class that glossy plastic bezels only modestly detract from. Overall, these are nicer-looking and -feeling speaker cabinets than the price would suggest, just like the MD332.
Surprisingly, connecting the speakers and dock to one another winds up taking even more work than the iM200, as Microlab’s left-right speaker wire is a raw strand cable that you need to prime on your own; iM200’s RCA-style connectors made everything simpler. Once again, the dock and remote stand on their own relative to the speakers, such that iH11 requires two wall sockets and has too many cables running from piece to piece.
Though iH11 and iM200 are both in the same general sound category—good for the price, rather than great by any absolute standard—the iH11 is a somewhat better pick for more discerning listeners. As is to be expected from the unit’s dedicated, smaller tweeters and similarly smaller full-range drivers, it offers superior sound fidelity all throughout its slightly higher volume range, with clearer treble and midrange performance, though noticeably less bass, as well.
The iM200’s 5” subwoofer has more of a room-filling warmth relative to the iH11’s tighter but not anemic twin 4” drivers, and the result is sound that most users will like right out of the box without any need for EQing or tweaking. iH11 sounds better when it’s turned up loud than the iM200, with fairly consistent bass performance as it ramps up in volume, suffering a little in the mid and treble department.
As should be clear from both our comments and their prices, neither of these options is going to win any awards based on design, simplicity or overall sound quality; to the contrary, each system’s overly numerous cables, twin power supplies, and little engineering issues should and will preclude them from being top choices for most people. That said, iH11 is a nice enough system to serve as a good budget choice for users who value pricing over simplicity, and iM200 is one of the most aggressively priced iPod docking speaker sets we’ve yet seen with 2.1-channel sound, excelling in bass relative to virtually every other option in its price range. Both are on the edge of our limited and general recommendations, pushed over the edge to flat B ratings based on their prices. Should those prices go up at all, we’d be far less inclined to suggest them as worthy of attention.

V-Moda Crossfade LP

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:19:00 +0000

V-Moda has spent the last four years making a name for itself with fashionable earphones, most of them with a decidedly bass-heavy sound signature. The release of Crossfade LP ($250) expands that legacy for the first time to full-sized, earcup-style headphones, and from the largely metal designs of earlier V-Moda in-canal earphones to a new mix of leather, metal, plastic, and fabric that is aesthetically true to the company's Hollywood heritage while varying in small ways from version to version. If you love your headphones bassy and are seeking the sort of comfort that allows for multi-hour, uninterrupted listening, Crossfade LP is a solid pick, but fans of neutral sound should steer clear of this new offering despite its impressive fit and aesthetics.
Though V-Moda has impressed across a number of different design and engineering categories over the past two years, its biggest innovations have been physical rather than sonic, and Crossfade LP benefits from many of them. Even putting aside the cool packaging—a matte-finished, metallic inked hexagonal box with a leather-like strap and snapped tab on top—the remainder of the contents all enjoy enviable attention to fashion and visual detail. The headphones are bundled with a cool sculpted hard carrying case and a detachable carabiner hook, two different types of fabric-covered headphone cables, a 1/8” headphone port adapter for receivers, and a cleaning cloth to keep the headphones looking sharp. Twin elastic and Velcro inserts hold all of the parts in place inside the case, while the carabiner attaches to the outside if you want to hang the case from a bag or belt loop.
Unsurprisingly, the Crossfade LP headphones look really sharp straight out of the box, and stand up pretty well to extended use, as well. Each set of headphones has a leather-covered plastic and metal headband with a mesh fabric padded layer inside, soft padded leather earcups, and a set of custom-built 50-millimeter dual-diaphragm drivers behind a thin layer of fabric. It’s important to note that V-Moda’s new headphone design has been extensively tested by professional DJs, which is part of the reason Crossfade LP’s headband is flexible—capable of being worn comfortably and stably on one ear at a time, with the other ear exposed to the outside world—yet equally viable for use on both ears for hours at a time. We’ve used Crossfade for extended listening sessions and consider it to be one of the most comfortable full-sized headphones we’ve tested, causing little in the way of ear sweat or physical fatigue.
Notably, the headphones actually differ cosmetically between the three colored versions currently offered: a “phantom” black chrome version has an ostrich-like leather headband, mirror-finished metal and black plastic earcups, matching chrome and black plastic adjustable frame parts, and jet black cables, while a gunmetal version gives up all of the polished parts for matte metals and plastics, swapping the cabling for a gray and black weaved variation, and the ostrich-styled leather for a flat, simple texture. There’s also a white pearl version that we haven’t seen in person or tested, with gray and white ostrich leather alongside chrome and gray metal accents. Some of the cosmetic differences are obvious from photos, and others only when seen up close and in person, but each set of headphones looks distinctive and sharp—though some users might prefer softer, more neutral curves to these angular arms and earcup designs, we really liked what V-Moda has come up with in this design.
Also of note are the two detachable headphone cables, each 4.5 feet long with a straight 3.5mm connector at the headphone end and a raygun-shaped connector at the iPod, iPhone, or iPad end, the latter previously used in V-Moda Vibe II and Remix earphones for superior strain relief. In addition to featuring the company’s specially tested and Kevlar-reinforced wiring, which is designed to withstand many times the abuse of competing products, Crossfade LP’s second cable has a three-button remote control and microphone system that’s fully compatible with iPhone 3GS and 2008 to present day iPods, with its central play/pause/call button working on earlier iPhones, as well. Though our initial testing suggested that the microphone wasn’t performing fantastically—an issue that we suspect might have been due to a poor, one-time connection between the cable and the headphones—we repeated the tests several times and callers told us that Crossfade’s mic sounded virtually indistinguishable from Apple’s current Remote and Mic headsets, so long as V-Moda’s remote and mic capsule was turned to properly face our mouths. You can ditch this cable for the remote- and mic-less one that’s in the package if you don’t need the volume and track controls or an in-line microphone.
As important as the aforementioned factors are in establishing Crossfade LP’s fashion and functional appeal, the quality and balance of the headphones’ sound output are ultimately where this headphone will succeed or fail—and it’s here that the controversy typically begins with V-Moda’s products. Some users absolutely love the company’s standard (but not universal) sound signature, which is outrageously bass heavy, flooding your ears with low notes while distracting you from whatever’s going on in the highs and mids, but we’ve never liked this sonic approach and find it to be less and less appealing as the price of a pair of headphones goes up.
Putting on a pair of Crossfade LPs instantly evokes one word: engrossing. Because the earcups surround your ears, they naturally offer passive isolation from outside noises. When music starts to play, the bass and mid-bass are so significant that the sense of isolation increases, wrapping your ears in the lows while offering just enough treble that higher-pitched sounds don’t sound completely absent. This bass-heavy balance can be a good thing if you’re listening to dance, techno, or rap music and want to be wrapped up in the beats, but it’s less positive for users who prefer more balanced or detailed renditions of music, and those who want voices to stand out from their music rather than blending in. Though V-Moda’s drivers are a step above typical $100-$150 headphones we’ve tested in the detail department, we never felt like we were hearing all of the distinct layers of our favorite songs, and they’re not going to impress really critical listeners. Once again, the company has produced equally fashion-forward and bass-forward headphones; they have much the same skew as Monster’s Beats lineup, and were expressly designed to appeal to the same crowd.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Having used Crossfade LP in prototype form since January, and shared their sound with fans of V-Moda’s canalphone designs, we’re convinced that people who like the company’s prior, smaller earphones will find these to be every bit as enjoyable, albeit with a different form factor and commensurately higher price tag. That tag is higher than we’d initially been told to expect—$250 rather than $200—with the earlier price striking us as so aggressive that Crossfade LP would have felt like a great value on build quality and design, if less so in the audio department. At its current price, this is a good but not great pair of headphones that will wow bassheads, fashion-focused users, and some DJs; we continue to hold out hope that the company will produce a more sonically balanced version as an alternative for those of us who love the look and feel of its designs.
[Editor’s Note: It’s worth mentioning that V-Moda still has a smaller on-ear version in the works, featuring nearly identical styling in a form factor that may appeal to those who dislike the engrossing feel of full earcups. This version was shown for the first time in our 2010 Buyers’ Guide, and was designed with 40mm drivers rather than the 50mm ones in Crossfade LP. It does not have a final name, and there’s no release date other than when “it’s perfect,” according to the company.]

Apple iPod shuffle Chips, Battery, Capabilities and charging

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:37:00 +0000

Thanks to its built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle promises 15 hours of audio playback—a number that is a little more complex than it initially seems. First, that’s up by 50% from a claimed 10 hours in the third-generation shuffle, versus 12 promised hours in the first- and second-generation models. Second, Apple’s promised run times for iPod shuffles have always been conservative, with actual battery life surpassing the claims by variable amounts from model to model. First-generation shuffles actually ran for 16-18 hours, while second-generation models hit nearly 18, and third-generation models ran for around 12.5 in our tests.
Our battery testing for the fourth-generation iPod shuffle showed performance almost precisely in line with Apple’s claims: set at 50% volume with a pair of Apple’s Earphones connected, and randomly playing audio files at various bitrates ranging up to Lossless quality, the new shuffle ran for 15 hours and 10 minutes before chiming and turning off. While different audio settings and files can yield slightly better or worse results, this playtime places the fourth-generation shuffle ahead of the third-generation model in run time, but modestly below the first- and second-generation versions—an acceptable rather than impressive performance.
Charging the fourth-generation iPod shuffle is just like charging its predecessor. Apple’s included 45mm USB cable connects to the device’s headphone port, and provides a full charge within 3 hours, bringing a dead shuffle back to 80% of peak capacity within 2 hours. The company also sells a $19 accessory set called the iPod shuffle USB Cable with a spare 45mm cable and a 1000mm (39”) version in the same box if you want additional cables; any spare USB port or Apple iPod wall charger will work to refuel the little device. Note that the iPod shuffle remains the only iPod model that cannot simultaneously recharge and play music through headphones, as the headphone port is occupied by the special USB cable.

Apple iPad Dock

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:27:00 +0000

Apple's first iPod Dock appeared in 2003, packed in with the third-generation iPod -- the first model to include the company's 30-pin Dock Connector on the bottom -- and since then, there have been dozens of alternatives, most of them better than the original. The single most influential innovation was the 2005 Universal Dock, which introduced a wider, deeper docking well that could be resized with plastic Dock Adapters or left alone for use with thicker cases, a design that continued with a very similar 2007 re-release that also worked with the iPhone. Unfortunately, Apple's iPad Dock ($29) steps backwards in time to the first 2003 iPod design, and though it will be entirely fine for some users, anyone who needs a case will either have to pass or wait for cases that are compatible with Apple's unnecessarily tight mount.
On the surface, there’s absolutely nothing controversial about the iPad Dock: it’s roughly 2.75” deep and 2.75” wide, with a slanted 1.25” tall lip that stands considerably above its 0.38” tall base. Like virtually all of the iPod Docks and iPhone Docks that have preceded it, there’s a gray rubber base on the bottom and both 3.5-millimeter audio-out and 30-pin Dock Connector ports on the back. It is typically Apple in its elegance and purpose: the slanted lip defines the angle that the iPad will rest on when docked, while it and the base provide just enough of a footprint and support to enable the aluminum device to recline vertically without any fear of tipping over. The top of the iPad forms an invisible line straight down to the back of the base—clean, precise, and attractive.
Once it’s docked, the iPad can be charged, synchronized, and used for line-level audio out, assuming that you’re willing to provide the cables and charger yourself, as they’re not included in this box. Audio sounded strong and problem-free through the line-out port, which always outputs sound at the iPad’s peak volume for subsequent attenuation by your connected audio receiver and speakers; the iPad disables its own volume controls when it’s connected to the Dock. When the line-out port isn’t in use, the iPad performs sound through its bottom speakers, which stand enough above the surface of a table to be heard without an issue.
Synchronization similarly worked fine with Apple’s Dock Connector to USB cable, and charging wasn’t a problem with the iPad’s 10W USB Power Adapter; the iPad Dock essentially just passes through whatever power and data it receives from a connected cable. Similarly, Apple’s separately-sold composite, component, and VGA video accessories can be connected to the iPad Dock, and since the iPad has integrated Bluetooth capabilities, it can be used with wireless keyboards, speakers, and headphones while in the Dock, as well.
If you need a hardwired keyboard for the iPad, and don’t mind the fact that it wont be able to sit on the typical slide-out keyboard tray of a desk, Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock is another, more expensive option with a very nice keyboard that looks like it was physically grafted onto the front of this accessory; the screen recline angle is actually a little more pronounced on the Keyboard Dock. The result is a 7 1/8”-deep alternative that some people will find convenient and others will deem unusable. Pairing the iPad with the standard iPad Dock and a $69 Apple Wireless Keyboard is yet more expensive, but will work on any desk.
There’s one and only one reason that we wouldn’t rush to recommend the all-Apple solution, and that’s the iPad Dock’s slanted lip. It is, like the original iPod Dock, precision fit to a specific maximum depth of a specific unencased Apple product. If you want to use the iPad Dock with an unencased iPad, it works without a problem; Apple has actually designed the dock with a little rubber pad around its male Dock Connector, and the iPad with a tilting female Dock Connector port, enabling users to tilt the iPad forward while removing it without breaking either the iPad Dock or the iPad itself. But because the hard white plastic lip doesn’t have any give, the docking system doesn’t work when you try to use it with an iPad case. Even the thinnest of the dozens of cases we’ve received for testing doesn’t fit properly. Consequently, if you want to use the iPad Dock, you’ll need to pull your case off, then put it back on again every time you’re done, a problem that Apple’s Universal Dock avoided completely—at least, with the vast majority of iPod and iPhone cases.
Over time, if full body films or Dock-sculpted case bottoms become popular for the iPad, this may change, but the iPad Dock leaves considerably less room for accommodation than the Universal Dock did for encased iPods and iPhones. Perhaps Apple will release a follow-up dock for the iPad; regardless if it does or doesn’t, third-parties will certainly step up and produce solutions such as stands and alternative docks that are more flexible, if not as elegant as this one. For now, the iPad Dock is a good enough docking solution to recommend to those users who plan to use their iPads without cases, but everyone else should hold off in favor of a more convenient alternative.

Griffin Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:26:00 +0000

When Griffin introduced the Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable ($30) at CES this year, the idea was good enough to win a Best of Show Finalist award, but not to take home the final prize. With a single, simple cable, the company turned a car with an auxiliary audio port into a giant speakerphone for the iPhone, iPhone 3G, or iPhone 3GS, adding a cool-looking chrome microphone and a one-button remote control for starting and stopping calls or music. It made sense, didn't break the bank at that price, and as with all Griffin products, looked nice -- except for a little slice-like defect in the mic's chrome surface.
The bigger issue we anticipated during the Cable’s first showing turned out to be legitimate: the microphone’s placement is going to be an problem in some cars. In the name of efficiency, Griffin places the microphone and the auxiliary audio plug in the same housing, having the mic stick directly out from the aux plug, wherever it may be in your car. If it’s at the right height—say, at the top left of your car stereo, and you’re the driver—callers will hear you just fine even over road noise at typical driving speeds. The auxiliary audio cable will play your iPhone’s music through your car’s speakers, requiring volume adjustment initially on the iPhone’s integrated controls, and callers will sound as loud and clear as the device’s volume and car speakers are capable of rendering them. Griffin’s single remote button is easy enough to grab and press for calls, and to play, pause, or skip forward and backward through audio tracks.
But try to use the Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable in the wrong car and you’ll have major, major problems. Our test Toyota Highlander happens to have an auxiliary audio port at roughly knee level on the driver’s side, a distance and position that rendered our voice almost inaudible over ambient noise—even the iPhone 3GS’s Voice Control feature couldn’t discern caller names when we tried to dial automatically. Your voice will vary considerably based on your position in the car relative to that auxiliary port: if you’re a passenger and in a Honda Fit, for example, you’ll be closer to the mic and more audible than the driver, solely because the aux port’s on the other side of the stereo.
The decision to place the microphone at the aux port may be efficient, but it’s not inevitable. Scosche’s upcoming Plug and Play Handsfree Car Kit uses a similar design, but also includes a wired extension cord and dashboard microphone mount for use in cars where the aux port is too far away from the driver. While Scosche’s solution sells for twice the price of Griffin’s, it also includes other features such as Bluetooth support and a battery, bolstering its value and functionality; for the $30 asking price, Griffin could and should have included a similar extension cable and mount. This is the rare situation when the normally uber-smart company was out-thought by a competitor.
That having been said, the Hands-Free Mic + AUX Cable has a couple of advantages even in its current form: it’s the lowest-priced solution of its sort that we’ve tested, and unlike Scosche’s product, it doesn’t need to rely on batteries. Griffin’s solution will not work in every car, and if the aux port in your vehicle isn’t at the top corner of your stereo near the driver or passenger—whomever’s going to be doing more talking—save yourself the effort and don’t even bother trying it. Yet if the aux port’s in the right spot, this is a budget-priced solution that provides a convenient alternative to wiring up your car with a more deluxe hands-free option. If it was more universally vehicle-compatible, it would be a lot easier to recommend to everyone.

Griffin A-Frame Tabletop Stand for iPad

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:26:00 +0000

Until you've actually used the iPad for a few days, you mightn't realize that something very important is missing from Apple's box, but the omission will soon becomes obvious: hand-holding the iPad becomes tiring, particularly at night, so you'll most likely want a stand -- perhaps even two or three for different rooms around the house. Your options today are cheap stands such as plastic or wood photo holders, good but not great holders like Apple's iPad Dock, and a collection of new custom-designed metal stands from accessory companies including Griffin, Thermaltake, and Element Case. Griffin's A-Frame ($50) is the first we've actually received for testing, and though it literally has some rough edges, it's otherwise a very good option.
The A-Frame is a solid aluminum stand for the iPad that uses gray plastic for padding and hard metal everywhere else, providing an attractive, iPad-matching mounting solution for desks and other flat surfaces. In addition to the plastic, which is in soft rubber form for a bottom-of-iPad lip, desk pads, and two back-of-iPad rings, A-Frame consists of two pieces of metal: one holds the iPad, and the other serves as a pivoting rear arm, allowing you to adjust the iPad’s viewing angle from almost completely upright to a gentle recline that’s similar to the one on Apple’s official iPad Dock.
Yet unlike Apple’s Dock, you can use A-Frame with play-through encased iPads—obviously not sleeves—and turn them on their sides for landscape-orientation viewing. The importance of these two features cannot be overstated, particularly after trying Apple’s Dock and seeing how limiting it is; there’s very real convenience in being able to just drop the iPad into A-Frame while it’s still inside a case, and change the iPad’s orientation to landscape mode at will.
Given that the other landscape viewing options available today are to hold the device with your hand or try to prop it up on other things for the duration of your videos, having a stand transforms the iPad from a cool little handheld computer into a downright addictive alternative to a television.
Additionally, though it mightn’t be obvious from pictures, A-Frame permits both USB cable and speaker access through holes and grooves cut in the bottom rubber padding. In practice, the speaker groove works seamlessly to rechannel a vertically-oriented iPad’s sound without diminishing its volume, and if you supply your own cable, charging and synchronization aren’t a problem regardless of whether the iPad is upright or on its side.
A-Frame isn’t perfect, however. Griffin’s web site suggests that it’s useful either standing up or laying down, but we found virtually no value in using it in the latter position; if its bulging rear hinge was thicker, making its angle on a flat surface more pronounced, this might have been different. More importantly, Griffin’s aluminum machining process isn’t quite up to Apple snuff. While A-Frame looks beautiful, all it takes is a few seconds of handling before its unpleasantly sharp and occasionally slightly rough edges become obvious. Though these edges never make contact with the iPad or table thanks to the rubber padding, A-Frame really needs gentle, iPad-like beveled sides in order to feel safe to carry around in your hands. We found ourselves wanting to just set it in one place and not touch it.
Hopefully, Griffin will polish the rough edges in a post-release tweak, as A-Frame is otherwise a really nice accessory, matching the iPad’s looks and expanding its usability past Apple’s own solutions for both desks and nightstands. Though its $50 asking price isn’t cheap, and may well lead some users to question its lack of electronic functionality relative to Apple’s iPad Dock, we’ve found A-Frame to be more useful than Apple’s design for everything other than line-out audio; it or something like it will soon be considered as mandatory for iPad users as a smart protective solution.
Updated July 12, 2010: At some point after the initial production run of A-Frame, Griffin updated the stand with a version that was supposed to have been improved, with polished edges that weren’t as rough on the fingers. We were surprised to find that the new version (shown in the last photo above) had changed, but not really for the better: due to a tweak to either the metal or the finishing process, A-Frame’s prior smooth flat surfaces became grittier—closer to a sandpaper texture—while its edges stayed as jagged as before, merely blending in with the rest of the rough surface. The Griffin logo is darker on the new version, as well, shifting from gray to black, and the inner rubber surface is marked Assembled in Taiwan rather than Assembled in China. Our rating remains unchanged.

Apple iPod shuffle COnclusion

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:25:00 +0000

After a tough year and a half with the third-generation iPod shuffle, Apple has returned to form with the fourth-generation model—a less expensive, better-designed alternative that incorporates the features people liked from past models without unnecessarily tossing anything out in the process. While the new iPod shuffle is so familiar as to seem retrograded, its form factor is surely an improvement over anything that came before under the shuffle name, and moreover, the capacity and features it offers for $49 are the best Apple has ever assembled at this entry-level price point.
On the other hand, the reality is that even a good iPod shuffle is a tougher sell today than it was in years past—even its predecessors felt long in the tooth conceptually, as competitors continued to push much harder than Apple to improve their low-end offerings with conveniences such as screens and superior controls. It’s a sad fact that $50 can today purchase a 4GB device with a screen, integrated FM radio, and voice recording capabilities from a company such as SanDisk, whereas the same dollars buy a hobbled but “cute” 2GB player like this from Apple. It’s especially surprising that in order to get a screen and better features, your only iPod option is a full $100 more expensive, unless you’re willing to consider refurbished and/or discontinued models. With its comparable size, rear clip, and similar color offerings, the sixth-generation iPod nano feels more like the heir apparent to the iPod shuffle family than this model does; in an alternate universe, Apple might have killed this shuffle altogether and offered the new nano in a less capacious starting model for $99. It would have made a lot of sense.
But that hasn’t happened, and so for users who are looking for an iPod-branded device with a shiny new shell and familiar interface, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle is a solid buy—assuming that the new slate of colors and single 2GB capacity currently being offered meet your needs. Even though there have been more exciting colors, higher-capacity models, and more daring changes in past shuffle releases, the latest iPod shuffle has enough going for it to satisfy the many fans who told us last year that all they’d wanted was the prior model back. This new model is essentially the second-generation shuffle, but with better sound, a smaller and glossier body, and a couple of new interface frills, markedly improving from last year’s C-rated version, and thereby meriting our flat B rating and general recommendation. If this package of features is enough to satisfy your needs, we wouldn’t hesitate to point you in the new shuffle’s direction.

Apple iPod shuffle : Audio performance and Accessories

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:24:00 +0000

The single best piece of news about the fourth-generation iPod shuffle relates to its sound quality, which has—at least under certain circumstances—noticeably improved over the third-generation version. Since the 2005 release of the original iPod shuffle, Apple has played a somewhat unusual game with the iPod shuffle’s sound chips, initially claiming that the first model’s audio had become the gold standard for the entire iPod family, and subsequently making changes that saw later shuffle models fall short of improved and more expensive iPods.
This year’s iPod shuffle is the best-sounding member of its family to date, though the differences aren’t especially noticeable when the device is used with Apple’s packed-in earphones—the ones that most people will wind up using with the shuffle until they break. We currently test all iPods, iPhones, and iPads with extremely high-end Ultimate Ears UE-11 earphones that reveal all of the hiss, clicks, and beeping noises that a device inadvertently puts out, as well as the crispness of treble, smoothness of midrange, and richness of bass heard when music is playing—all of the details that can be heard with earphones that cost $150 and up, plus some that are only audible with the most deluxe gear.
Apple clearly didn’t build some of its iPods to be used with super-premium headphones, but the fourth-generation shuffle is an exception: it’s up there with the best of them. As we noted in our review of the second-generation shuffle, there used to be a very audible level of background hiss during silences that Apple reduced markedly in the third-generation model, but accidentally offset with some signaling beeps at the same time. The fourth-generation model cuts the hiss down to a level that’s basically inaudible with high-end earphones, and removes the beeps, together creating near-silent transitions from song to song, plus cleaner sound when tracks are playing. Voices consequently stand out more from instruments playing in the background, and Apple has made small tweaks to the treble and bass, generally to positive effect. While we noticed an ever-so-slight tendency towards sibilance—a dragging of S sounds—in the treble, it’s offset by more powerful bass that generally makes songs richer and more engrossing than before. Flipping between the third-generation and fourth-generation shuffles, there was no doubt that we’d prefer to listen to songs on the newer model, and that’s exactly the sort of improvement we’re always happy to report.
From an accessory standpoint, the single best feature of the fourth-generation iPod shuffle is that it no longer requires you to buy the $20 remote control accessories—or $20-$30 more expensive custom remote-laden headphones—that were needed just to operate last year’s model. With the exception of specific remote add-ons made by several companies to fit only the third-generation shuffle, the majority of iPod-agnostic remotes and earphones we’ve seen still work with the fourth-generation model, as do the third-generation shuffle charging and synchronization cables Apple and others released last year.
On the other hand, cases designed for prior iPod shuffles will not work with this model. While iPod shuffle cases have been the family’s least popular for years, with very few companies still producing options, H2O Audio’s waterproof designs and the few color shifting shells we’ve seen over the past year will need to be redesigned to accommodate the new model’s dimensions and buttons. Until and unless that happens, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle will be limited to Apple’s primary intended use model, hanging either at shirt or at belt level from its included clip.

Apple iPod shuffle : capacity, transfer speed, VAlue

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:23:00 +0000

Over the years, Apple has offered iPod shuffles in either one or two storage capacities at a time, twice introducing the device with only one capacity and later adding a second at a higher or lower price point. For the time being, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle comes only in a single version that officially has 2 Gigabytes of storage capacity, but actually provides 1.88GB of usable space, with 1.83GB initially available for audio content. That’s enough for between 250 and 500 songs, depending on the size of the songs, and to a minor extent whether you turn VoiceOver on. If so, iTunes will pre-generate spoken song titles and artist names that add roughly 10MB per gigabyte of songs—not much, but enough to cut the capacity down a little.
Every year, we test new iPod models against prior models to see whether Apple has improved, held constant, or noticeably diminished the quality of their internal components. Since it’s so small and limited in features, the iPod shuffle doesn’t have much to evaluate, save for audio quality, transfer speeds, and battery life. To compare iTunes transfer speeds—the time that it takes to fill an iPod shuffle with music—we used a 1-Gigabyte test playlist with 180 songs of various lengths and sizes, starting with an empty third-generation iPod shuffle and an empty fourth-generation iPod shuffle. As we’ve noted in the past, shuffles are generally very slow compared with Apple’s other iPods, so you wind up sitting around for a while waiting for a relatively small amount of music to transfer. Last year’s tests showed the iPod nano to be 3.6 times faster than the shuffle, a sluggish pace that may matter to people who want to quickly load up their shuffles with new music and run out of the house.
In this year’s testing, the third-generation shuffle took 5 minutes, 23 seconds to transfer the 1GB of music with iTunes 10—nearly identical to the time we saw during last year’s test with iTunes 9. Surprisingly, the fourth-generation shuffle took an even longer 5 minutes and 54 seconds to transfer the same 1GB playlist with iTunes 10, plus an additional 5 seconds to complete the synchronization process. Another way of looking at these results: if you’re planning to completely refresh the contents of your 2GB iPod shuffle with frequency, leave yourself roughly 11 minutes per refill plus the time it takes to select the new songs, with fewer minutes necessary if you’re only adding or removing handfuls of songs at a time.
Then there’s the issue of value for the dollar. Though doing straight GB-for-the-dollar value assessments isn’t entirely fair with some iPods given the other features they include, the iPod shuffle’s extremely bare and only modestly evolving feature set makes such comparisons reasonable. Back in February 2008, Apple introduced the first 2GB iPod shuffle for $69; in September 2009, it released a $59 2GB model, and the new 2GB model sells for $49—the lowest price yet for an iPod with this storage capacity. It goes without saying that this fourth-generation shuffle offers the most affordable way to enter the iPod family and to give an iPod as a gift, although as with all previous iPod shuffle models, you give up so much of the functionality of a full-fledged iPod that you need to go in with modest expectations.
Other sub-$100 options include refurbished iPod nanos, which at press time sell for $99 with 8GB of storage capacity, video playback, recording, and gaming capabilities, superior battery life, and nine color options, and products from Apple’s competitors, which have been considerably more aggressive in adding screens, radios, and other features to their $50 and similarly low-end models. While the iPod shuffle is an affordable iPod, and one of the smallest music players out there, it’s just not a great value when the broader marketplace of options is considered.

Apple iPod shuffle : Using the fourth generation ipod shuffle

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:21:00 +0000

As with all iPod models, you’ll need to download Apple’s free media management program iTunes before you can use the new iPod shuffle, then connect the device with its special USB cable to any free USB port on your computer. iTunes organizes your music, podcasts, and audiobooks for individual or collective transfer onto the device. Once again, Apple includes a feature in iTunes that will shrink your songs down to a maximum 128kbps to take up less space on the shuffle, enabling you to store up to 500 tracks on the 2GB device at once. You can also use the iPod shuffle as a flash storage drive for your Mac or PC, using the computer’s desktop to drag and drop files into its modestly-sized main folder.
Once you’ve loaded the shuffle with audio, you can either leave it connected to your computer to fully recharge its battery—the level of which is indicated upon disconnection with a green (“50% to full”) / amber (“25%”) / red (“battery low”) light on its top—or start using it right away. Thankfully, there’s nothing intimidating this time about the controls. Last year’s buttonless model required a convoluted scheme to navigate tracks, but with the return of the shuffle’s built-in buttons, the challenge is gone: the new model is nearly as easy to use as the first- and second-generation models.
On its face are five of its six buttons: the oversized play/pause button is strictly for those features, with + and - volume buttons above and below it, plus track backwards and forwards buttons to its left and right. As with all iPod shuffles, this version’s screenless design restricts you to navigating either in a linear fashion through your collection of songs, or randomizing (“shuffling”) playback so that hitting the forward track button moves to something unexpected. You flip between ordered and shuffled play by moving the top power switch from its far right “off” position into far left “Shuffle” position or middle “ordered playback” position, all control carry-overs that have survived from the very first iPod shuffle.
Last year’s shuffle introduced an additional feature, VoiceOver, which speaks the name of the currently playing song or playlist, for the first time enabling the shuffle to contain and switch between multiple playlists. Previously, you activated VoiceOver by holding down the play/pause button, but Apple now wisely gives this feature its own button—the one that’s on top of the shuffle alongside the power switch. Pressing this button quickly says the song title, holding it says the playlist’s title, and hitting it twice provides verbal battery status so that you needn’t rely solely upon the three-colored power indicator on the shuffle’s top, or flip the power switch back and forth as was necessary in the past, a small but welcome improvement. Hitting the track forward or backward button while you’re in VoiceOver mode switches to a different playlist, while the play/pause button selects it. The new iPod shuffle can also synchronize “Genius Mixes” from iTunes, which are just automatically created playlists of songs iTunes says will sound good together.
If you loved last year’s shuffle or just want to know whether you can still control it with an in-line remote, good news: the answer’s yes. Plug in any Apple or authorized third-party three-button remote control and the volume, play/pause, track control, and VoiceOver features work just as they did before, relying very heavily upon the central remote control button and a sometimes confusing system of multiple clicks and holds to change tracks.
In summary, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle combines the second-generation version’s ease of use with the third-generation model’s multiple playlist, VoiceOver, and battery status verbalization support. From a user experience standpoint, it’s a lot easier to like than last year’s model, and we’d be a lot more likely to actually clip this one on than its predecessor. Notably, the rear clip is firm enough that the shuffle’s not going anywhere when it’s on your shirt; wristband, armband, and other accessories should be considered strictly optional for wearing this model.

Apple iPod shuffle Body, Screen and Packaging and Pack-Ins

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:20:00 +0000

Apple has used every new iPod shuffle as an opportunity to shrink the size of both its music players and its packaging, and though the fourth-generation model breaks a little from that tradition, it continues in the same general direction. Like the second- and third-generation models, it’s made primarily from aluminum, this time either silver with black plastic controls, or colored pink, blue, orange, or green with white plastic controls. There’s still a metal clip on the back, adorned with the Apple logo, while a model number, international electronic certification tags, and a “Designed by Apple in California” inscription are found underneath the clip, invisible unless you’re looking for them. The serial number is hidden on the pinching edge of the clip in squint-inducing text.
While our pictures make the size differences between the models fairly obvious, the specific numbers are worth noting for spec-obsessed readers. The most obvious comparison is between the new model and its second-generation predecessor, which it most resembles: this year’s version measures 1.14” tall by 1.24” wide by 0.34” deep and weighs 0.44 ounces, slightly taller than the second-generation iPod shuffle (1.07”) but smaller in each other dimension (1.62” wide by 0.41” deep) and lighter (down from 0.73 ounces), besides.
An 18% increase in the size of the circular “control pad” on the face of the device is obvious when doing comparisons, seemingly to leave as little empty space on the front as possible—a trick to make you think the new shuffle couldn’t be smaller if Apple tried. The overall slimming otherwise feels like a nice improvement if you use the late 2006 shuffle as a benchmark. Relative to the third-generation shuffle, however, the new model is a volumetric step back. Last year’s version was 1.8” tall by 0.7” wide and 0.3” deep, weighing 0.38 ounces and possessing a “true volume” of 0.26 cubic inches, relative to the 0.5 cubic inch second-generation shuffle and the 0.35 cubic inch fourth-generation model. Seeing the third- and fourth-generation models next to each other leaves no doubt that the new one is a little larger overall, though the improved functionality will guarantee that no one complains about the increased size.
The fourth-generation iPod shuffle also features a subtly redesigned housing, using a smart engineering trick from the third-generation iPod shuffle to create the impression that its body is sculpted from a single piece of aluminum, contrasting with the aluminum frame and plastic core of the second-generation model—and most past iPod nanos. As with last year’s shuffle, the new model’s top, bottom, sides, and back are now entirely metallic save for the controls; a circular metal button and three-way switch are found on the device’s top surface, off to the right of its headphone port and a tiny status indicator light. Apple has done away with the scratchable stainless steel shirt clip it introduced last year, replacing it with a color-matched aluminum version like the second-generation model’s, only smaller than the rest of the shuffle’s back, a change that parallels the reduced-size clip of the third-generation shuffle. The clip fits within the outline of a thin seam in the shuffle’s back, exposing the second metal piece of the shuffle’s body: a rear compartment that service technicians can use to assemble and disassemble the device.
Apple has also tweaked the new shuffle’s metals in some interesting ways. Except for a single special edition stainless steel version, prior models were generally made from a matte-finished anodized aluminum in a wide variety of colors; that’s changed. The five current versions use metal that’s been polished to a finish that’s not as glossy as the car paint-like fifth-generation iPod nano, but still shiny; some users may find the rear surface to be too slippery to handle with wet fingers. More important in our view are Apple’s latest color choices, which include tones that aren’t necessarily as bright as their predecessors—a change that detracts from the otherwise positive design attributes of the new shuffles.
Apple’s new orange, for instance, is a dull copper color by comparison with the vibrant second-generation shuffle and more recent iPod nanos; the blue is just on the edge of purple, while green and pink are somewhat muted. As always, you’ll need to see the new models in person to determine whether one of the new tones calls out to you; we found them to be less than thrilling across the board. Apple also decided to remove the swirled metal finish from the circular top controls; they’re now just flat gray metal surfaces regardless of the color of the shuffle, a small but cheapening touch.
One thing that can’t help but impress iPod fans is the new shuffle’s box, which has the smallest footprint ever for an iPod package while preserving the clear plastic and white cardboard combination that has worked so well for the past two shuffle generations. The rounded cube box opens to reveal the shuffle suspended on its own plastic insert in front of a compartment for accessories—a short USB-to-headphone-port charging and synchronization cable identical to the one packed with third-generation shuffles, a pair of earphones, plus one Apple logo sticker, a diminutive but almost completely explanatory “Quick Start Guide,” and a comically small warranty booklet.
The iPod shuffle USB Cable is 45mm (1.6”) long, or too short to wrap from the back of most of Apple’s desktop computers all the way around to the front, while the Earphones have enough length to stretch from the average user’s ears all the way down to his or her waist. Note that the earphones no longer have the in-line remote control that was included with last year’s model and so troubled by moisture during workouts; they’re just a plain pair of Apple earbuds.

Apple iPod shuffle (Fourth-Generation)

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:19:00 +0000

Apple’s original iPod shuffle was easy to understand when it debuted in January 2005. Back then, Apple was on the cusp of becoming a mass-market retailer, and the least expensive model in its iPod lineup was the $249 iPod mini. Apple needed something really cheap for kids and grandparents, an iPod it could sell at Walmart and use to build market share in developing countries. So the original screenless, Click Wheel-less, fancy box-less $99 iPod shuffle made sense. It had a big play button, a ring with small track and volume buttons, one port for earphones, one port for charging, a necklace so that you could wear it, and a rechargeable battery inside. Dead simple.
But as the years passed, it became confusing. Every competing device in its price range grew a screen, and Apple refused to follow suit. Instead, Apple tried to find justifications to keep the shuffle around, switching its plastic body to metal with the second-generation version, and making it even smaller. Then, with the release of last year’s third-generation model, the shuffle officially became silly, losing its buttons entirely and becoming a bland-looking metal stick with a clip on the back. It looked and felt like a designers’ in-joke that had somehow made it to market, ease of use and iconic looks be damned. We called it the “worst iPod ever,” and time proved the design to be even more problematic than we’d expected: moisture-related shorting problems with its remote-controlled earphones eventually forced Apple into a rare public recall and replacement program.
To Apple’s credit, the fourth-generation iPod shuffle (2GB/$49) arrived faster than its predecessors, which typically survived for two or so years before receiving refreshes. This time, the company has played things safe: the new iPod shuffle isn’t fancy, revolutionary, or “impossibly” anything—on the surface, it looks like a more conservative redesign of the second-generation model than last year’s version. It also debuts at the lowest launch price point ever for a new iPod, matching the mid-lifecycle $49 asking price of the 1GB second-generation shuffle prior to its discontinuation. And the feature set will be completely familiar to anyone who has followed the shuffle family for the past two years.
But there’s more to the story than that. Some of the third-generation iPod shuffle’s better design and electronic changes have made their way into the new version, so we discuss them—and more—in our comprehensive review below. While you can skip straight to our conclusion that the fourth-generation model is the best overall iPod shuffle yet, there are audio, battery, and transfer speed details worth noting, and we explain the reasoning behind our rating below, as well. Read on for the details, and our buying advice, by selecting from the seven pages above and below.

JaDu Industries Skadoosh

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:18:00 +0000

True docks for the iPad have been few and far between, but stands -- docks without any electronic components inside -- have become numerous over the past few months, most using iPad-matching silver metals as justifications for higher prices than earlier plastic iPod and iPhone stands. Today, we separately review two very different stands from a couple of stand-focused companies: the second is Skadoosh ($100) from JaDu Industries.
When we took our very first look at Skadoosh a couple of months ago, it was a substantially different product from the one that’s shipping: a little rough around the edges from pre-production manufacturing, the relatively small machined aluminum stand contained a novel plastic iPad holder that was capable of ratcheting to change the device’s viewing angle, and a metal flip-out kickstand that was only needed when the iPad was reclined to a profoundly sharp level. JaDu had come up with a design that was considerably more versatile than Element Case’s Joule Stand, and at $58, a lot less expensive, too. There was only one hitch: the plastic iPad holder only accommodated unencased or very thinly encased iPads.
Before we began testing Skadoosh, JaDu let us know that some last-minute changes were being made to its design: notably, the plastic holder was being tweaked to accommodate iPads in cases, a tweak that excited us. Some time later, the final version of Skadoosh arrived with the new and improved plastic part, as well as a matching metal and rubber support arm for the iPad, which helped to lessen strain when the device was placed on a recline. JaDu also added a good enough soft fabric drawstring case for the stand (a Skadoosh bag?) to let users carry it around, and made one other adjustment—the price went from $58 to $100.
That huge price increase put us in a quandary, as we’re now obliged to qualify what previously would have been a high recommendation: though it’s saddled with a price tag that’s just too high, this is the best and most useful iPad stand we’ve tested so far. JaDu doesn’t use as much metal as in some of its rivals, but what it does use gets put to work in the best possible way, as the folded Skadoosh occupies only 4.7” of depth, 3” of width, and 1.4” of height, yet has the ability to hold an iPad on either orientation, at your choice of angles, and with added support from that fold-out leg only as necessary. The thoughtfulness of the engineering puts simpler, less versatile stands to shame, and its handling of iPads inside or outside of cases would put it right at the top of our list as a carry-anywhere, work-anywhere solution.
We’d describe the quality of the metal and plastic components here as nearly great—better-looking than in Thought Out’s Stabile, but not quite up to the level of polish we saw in Joule. The aluminum parts are all precision-machined, with only one really sharp edge that’s found on the back, away from where fingers are likely to go naturally, and the black plastic iPad-holding “rocker” piece isn’t beautiful, but it looks totally fine and holds the iPad without scuff or scratch concerns. A tiny bit of extra polish on both the metal and plastic parts would take Skadoosh from the “good” category to the premium, somewhat wow-inducing territory of the higher-end chrome Joules, though Skadoosh really doesn’t need to do anything that would take its price up further.
That’s because the $100 price tag is already pretty brutal—so high by comparison with Griffin’s A-Frame or Luxa2’s H4 iPad Holder that JaDu is going to face an uphill battle convincing people to pick Skadoosh instead. It helps that Skadoosh mounts an iPad so low on the surface of a table that it can be tilted back to serve as a keyboard, something that neither A-Frame nor H4 accommodates as smoothly, and that it’s so much smaller that it can be more easily tossed in any bag and carried around. A-Frame folds flat but occupies a lot more space in a bag, while H4 isn’t designed in any way to be portable. Skadoosh does have its advantages, but then, so do its rivals.
From our perspective, Skadoosh is a great iPad stand design that loses some of its natural appeal solely on the basis of its price tag. Users who got in on it during its now-expired $58 pre-order stage will be absolutely thrilled by what they’re getting for the price, which represents a very fair value for a solid and versatile product. Everyone else will have to weigh the question of whether its diminutive size justifies the premium JaDu is asking over options from more established rivals. Our hope is that JaDu will continue to produce variants on this design, work to get the price lower, and enjoy the success it deserves for coming up with something so cool.

Gameloft Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:17:00 +0000

It would truly be a tragedy if the App Store's relatively few console-quality game developers gave up on trying to push the iPhone and iPod touch past their current widely accepted limitations, but Gameloft's Prince of Persia: Warrior Within ($10, version 1.0.7) is one of the clearest indications yet of how highly capable programmers can put a ton of time and effort into a game, only to see it messed up by virtual controls and other small but non-trivial interruptions. As the screenshots suggest, this three-dimensional action game is a stunning display of what Apple's graphics chips are capable of doing in the right hands, but what they don't depict are the game's constantly stop-and-start pacing, half due to poorly timed loading, and the other due to context-shifting virtual buttons that require you to pay far too much attention to ever-changing conditions.
You take control of the Prince—notably, the more recent, “edgy” prince with long-ish hair, brooding looks and just enough plate armor to keep his torso intact—as he runs, jumps, and slashes his way through complex 3-D environments that are divided into brief segments within 12 total chapters. The environments are unquestionably the star attraction in this game: they were clearly designed for another target platform, as the levels of polygon detail, texture detail, and ambition are all beyond the scope of typical iPhone and iPod touch releases. A pirate ship in the introduction is unusually soft-curved to begin with, then sees its floors and walls shattered as water streams in; later stages introduce treacherous rock formations and buildings requiring climbing, jumping, and sharp corner turning—all the products of level-building tools that were far more sophisticated than ones used on virtually every other iPhone or iPod touch action game to date.
To underscore the prior points, all it takes is a couple of looks at different levels and the things that are going on within them—drinkable water streaming from a fountain or washing up on score, enemies attacking with at least interesting animations, and camera shifts showing far more than just a single fixed perspective on the action—to realize that there’s an awesome game trapped here. Shifting sands, flocks of birds, and the acrobatic capabilities of your character offer frequent if not completely compelling reminders that the game isn’t just your average hack-and-slash adventure; the stages are way bigger than the screen can even contain. On that note, you’re not often presented with the correct camera view to understand your objectives within a room, so you need to hit one of two camera-shifting buttons at the top right of the screen, or swipe around in the center of the screen to shift the viewing angle, at which point arrows will guide you to your next destination. While the process of doing this is tedious and unnecessary on Apple’s devices—streamlining would have helped—it’s at least consistent with recent past Prince of Persia console and computer titles.
But even if you’re willing to accept the camera control issues, the control of your character suffers due to the imprecision of the virtual stick and buttons. Fighting certain enemies requires joystick and multi-button combinations that are hard to pull off—say, move in a direction, then jump, then attack twice while on a tiny platform—and moving from platform to wall to platform with runs, wall runs, and jumps is similarly less than totally smooth at times, resulting in just some of the game’s many falling deaths. Then there are the loading pauses, profound examples of why Apple has tried to insist that games be optimized for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad rather than just tossed onto the devices with recycled code. The first half hour or more of the game is spent just trying to work through screen after screen of different button explanations, and the lessons continue as you play, interrupting the action with cut scenes and tips, as well as red loading circles, sometimes right in the middle of jumps. These interruptions are so frequent that the game feels like it’s been broken into bite-sized parts for too small of a mouth.
Problems aside, there’s otherwise enough content in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within to justify the initial $10 asking price. Though there are little technical glitches here and there, Prince of Persia’s CG-rendered movies—nicely including both dedicated subtitle and skip buttons—tell a fine story, and there’s enough in-game voice work and ambient sound effects to keep your ears interested while solving the game’s many time-pressured level navigating puzzles. Fans of the series will recognize the trip-the-button-run-to-the-door tricks and clock-rewinding powers from past Persia outings, and though they’re hampered by the virtual controls here, they’re still more thoughtful than the straight line action sequences found in other App Store platformers. Your ability to toss a sword like a boomerang, cling to flopping curtains, and access time portals that change levels you’ve just walked through also distinguish Warrior Within from less deeply designed games.
By the standards of most iPhone and iPod touch games, then, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is so ambitious that it’s worth checking out despite its flaws: the action may be halting but the puzzles and the overall ambience of the game will both impress App Store players. Gameloft shouldn’t be proud of how this one turned out in “version 1.0.7” form—most major publishers do better in their first releases, let alone ones that have already seen updates—and there’s no doubt in our minds that this could easily have been an A-caliber game with the additional polish it needed. Yet there’s a chance that a subsequent update may bring the refinements such a bold title really deserves, and if that happens, it’ll be worth turning back the clock to reconsider this game’s value.

Griffin PowerBlock Plus Universal

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:16:00 +0000

Over the past couple of years, several of the companies that previously specialized in iPod and iPhone power adapters decided to take their products to the next level, initially releasing car and wall chargers with two USB ports rather than one, and later, units with one super-powered USB port capable of quickly recharging even power-hungry iPads. Now Griffin is trying something new: a series of "PowerBlock Plus" wall chargers that have one USB port and a pass-through port for any other non-USB wall power cord you may have. Confusingly, there are two lookalike PowerBlock Plus models with different specifications, only one of which we review here: PowerBlock Plus Universal ($30).
Both of the PowerBlock Plus units are glossy white wall power adapters with one USB port on the bottom and a pass-through AC port (the “Plus” feature) on the face. As with Griffin’s earlier car power adapter PowerJolt Plus, the new PowerBlocks are designed to add a USB port to an existing wall outlet without precluding you from connecting something else to that outlet, as well. It bears mention that the new PowerBlocks are a little shorter than their predecessors, similar in thickness, but without retracting wall blades. The pass-through power port is a two-blade North America-style design without a third ground port. While less bag-friendly than earlier PowerBlocks, the new models are seemingly designed to be plugged into a wall at home and stay there.
The version shown here is called “Universal” because it includes a 1-Amp USB port and no cable. It is capable of working with virtually any USB charging cable you may have for a device—iPod, iPhone, cell phone, or accessory—while still providing full power to its AC port. We tested the two ports simultaneously, using an iPod or an iPhone while simultaneously recharging a camcorder, and even tried plugging Griffin’s latest iPad-compatible PowerBlock charger into the AC port while recharging an iPhone with the USB port. It worked without complaint, and the iPad charged from the AC outlet at full speed.
One big caveat: as contrasted with the AC outlet, which can handle power cords and chargers demanding up to 5 Amps of power, PowerBlock Plus Universal’s 1-Amp-capped USB port is not capable of serving as a full-speed iPad charger. Griffin is instead selling a second version called just PowerBlock Plus, subtly adding faster 2.1-Amp charging to the USB port and including an iPod/iPhone/iPad-ready Dock Connector cable. As we haven’t tested this version of PowerBlock Plus, we can’t speak to its performance, but Griffin’s offering a non-trivial set of bundling and electronic changes at a $5 premium.
In sum, PowerBlock Plus Universal is a very simple, utilitarian accessory that isn’t going to amaze anyone, but does make USB charging easy without forcing you to give up a wall outlet. While its lack of a third ground hole precludes it from being used to connect to common Apple computer power supplies, and its USB port is limited to 1-Amp output, it’s good enough for most uses. Users requiring more power can consider the $5 upgrade to the 2.1-Amp PowerBlock Plus, which we’ll review in the near future.

Namco Time Crisis 2nd Strike

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:16:00 +0000

In February of 2009, Namco debuted Time Crisis Strike for the iPhone and iPod touch -- a short, seemingly rushed-together first-person shooting game based on the company's series of Time Crisis arcade titles, albeit downgraded significantly into a cell phone-quality experience. Today, the company has released Time Crisis 2nd Strike ($10), a more expensive sequel that improves the gameplay, challenge, graphics, and longevity, offsetting it with some poor audio, weak cinematics, and continued limitations relative to the console releases.
Time Crisis 2nd Strike relies upon the same general formula as every prior Time Crisis title: you take limited control of a gun-slinging operative whose foot and head movements are almost entirely handled automatically by the game, letting you look through his eyes as he moves through battlefield-like environments filled with masked killers. Your job is simple: pop out from behind safe cover points with your weapon, take out as many of the killers as possible at once, and then duck back behind cover to reload your gun. The name of the game refers to the deliberately very limited time you’re given to clear each section of the battlefield, which is structured as a series of checkpoints with a human or object target at the end. Though you have a lifebar to worry about, the risk of running out of time is constantly present, and you can only extend your time by moving quickly and occasionally shooting targets who dispense clock boost bonuses.
What’s new from a gameplay standpoint in Time Crisis 2nd Strike is a collection of four weapons that are available from the start of the action—an unlimited-round handgun that nonetheless needs to be reloaded, as well as limited-use machine gun, shotgun, and grenade launcher rounds that can be fired until you run out. Targets on the levels are a mix between easy one-shot fillers and brutally dangerous multi-shot enemies with lifebars and powerful weapons of their own, forcing you to make quick choices as to who to eliminate first, which weapon to use at a given moment, and how much to keep in reserve for the next checkpoint within each stage. In addition to a prologue, three “episodes” are included, each with multiple stages, for a total of 10 levels.
To make one point very clear here, Time Crisis 2nd Strike works as a complete video game on a level that its predecessor could only have dreamed about a year and a half ago. The intensity level of the action, the way the game looks overall, and the responsiveness of the new control scheme—pop up/down buttons in the screen’s corners, or tilt like the last game if you prefer—are all superior to the last iPhone/iPod touch outing. Going back and looking at the prior version is almost difficult after seeing how much better 2nd Strike looks; Namco has finally transitioned from offering a mobile phone-quality experience into something that would be viable even on a device like a Sony PlayStation Portable. This is a welcome and non-trivial improvement for a company that has so frequently let players down with half-hearted past releases.
But there are still some issues that detract from the new Time Crisis game’s appeal. Namco is now charging the sort of premium $10 asking price for this version that we’re accustomed to seeing only for “HD” games for the iPad, yet all of the graphics here are low-resolution 480x320—not enough to take advantage of even the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G screens, let alone the iPad’s, where it looks chunky when upscaled. In other words, Namco is showing up in late 2010 with a premium-priced game that would have looked pretty good last year, but now feels behind the times.
The game’s audio is also not very good, though the extent to which you’re put off by it will depend both on your appreciation for what Namco’s audio team was previously capable of, and how much you dislike terrible voice acting. Some people write off bad voiceovers as a common enough part of B-level video games, like B-movies, but on occasion, they’re so lifeless that they actually detract from the action. In Time Crisis 2nd Strike, your character’s female assistant provides guidance with as much enthusiasm as a disinterested ex-girlfriend, killing some of the excitement, and the music never rises to the level of the best prior Time Crisis titles; it’s okay, not great.
Some players may also take issue with the way Namco has structured the challenges here: this is a game full of cheap hits, and unrepentant in its use of them. Keep your body up as you enter a new area and you’re going to get shot. Duck behind cover for too long and you’re going to run out of time. Pop up cautiously to try to choose your targets, and you’re again going to get shot while the clock runs down. The fact that the attacks are modestly telegraphed with large red circles before they hit you is of only limited benefit, as they can seemingly come from anywhere on the screen—in the form of bullets, grenades, rockets, axe attacks, and more.
But it’s all a series of patterns, and linear in a way that some of the prior games haven’t been. At its core, Time Crisis 2nd Strike is a game about learning the completely scripted, always repeated actions of the enemies you’re facing, and knocking them down so quickly that their actions don’t waste your limited time. You have unlimited continues to figure out how to accomplish this, balanced with the reality that when you start with a fresh lifebar, you need to repeat everything from the beginning of a several-minute stage to the point where you left off. Picking the right weapon and using it effectively with a few smart taps—possibly one, if a rare interactive background element like an explosive barrel is around—can mean the difference between taking out three targets at once or spending 20-30 seconds trying to shoot through metal shields. A successful player will be one who learns the game’s sequential activities and shoots so quickly and “wisely” that the targets barely have a chance to move.
The fun and challenge of doing that is the reason Time Crisis 2nd Strike succeeds, despite its faults; even when you’re in the thick of the action, the patterns seem masterable, and the opportunity to swap weapons mitigates the straight-line path you take through the levels. So yes, Namco has surely done better on other platforms with this series, and to the extent that the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4G, and iPad all could have been utilized better this time out, we wouldn’t urge you to rush out and buy this game right now—ironically, there’s no time pressure to make this particular purchase quickly. Our advice would be to hold off until it receives a price drop, try not to focus too much on the voice acting, and enjoy the intensity of old-school arcade action for as long as it lasts. Hard-core gamers will get a few solid hours out of this one, and less experienced players will find it to be challenging, thrilling, and only a little frustrating until they get into its rhythm.

Gameloft NFL 2011

noreply@blogger.com (SYED ALI) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:15:00 +0000

Last year’s release of Madden NFL 10 took place a month after Gameloft debuted NFL 2010, its effort to stake an early claim to iPhone and iPod touch football fans. Following Gameloft’s now standard playbook, NFL 2010 arrived at an $8 price tag and drew everything from its audiovisual presentation to its gameplay from recent handheld games on competing devices, getting enough right in the process to merit a flat B rating. As soon as Madden showed up in the App Store with superior graphics, controls, and color commentary, Gameloft dropped its price, and has since sold at a discount relative to EA’s title. An iPad-specific version of NFL 2010 was released in April, quickly withdrawn from the App Store due to bugs, and then re-released to a generally mediocre reception from players.
This year, Gameloft bowed NFL 2011 for the iPhone and iPod touch at $7, while EA followed a week later with Madden NFL 11 at $8—a modest premium that will no doubt change over the next year. But there are actually two versions of Madden now: a separate $13 “HD” version for the iPad has different menu layouts, tweaked in-game camera work, and the promise of a free “Vintage Voltage Football” mode to be added in a future update. EA also promises to add a wireless multiplayer mode to both the iPhone and iPad versions of Madden; Gameloft hasn’t made any such assurance. For the time being, there’s no iPad version of NFL 2011.
iPhone/iPod touch versus iPhone 4 versus iPad
There’s good news for iPhone and iPod touch players: the graphics on both NFL 2011 and Madden NFL 11 have been improved from last year’s versions, adding additional polygonal detail to the players and improved stadium textures, as well. iPhone 4 owners are in particular luck due to full support in both titles for the device’s Retina Display, which enables the character models in both games to have imperceptibly tiny edges and blend in more realistically against the field. (Our larger screenshots show the iPhone 4 graphics scaled down to 600 pixels wide, while the prior-generation iPod touch and iPhone screenshots are smaller, at full 480-pixel width.)
That having been said, Electronic Arts has done a better job of optimizing its game for the Retina Display. Player names are legible, on-field graphical overlays look TV-quality—better than on the iPad—and even the menus look as if they’ve been designed for high definition rather than just upscaled from lower-resolution artwork. Character models are impressively smooth in detail and animation on both games, though Madden does more frequent and impressive close-ups, and has acceptably detailed crowd animations to make the backgrounds more interesting during its frequent 360-degree field camera spins.
The camera spins highlight one of Madden’s biggest problems on both iPhone and iPad platforms, however: a less than totally smooth frame rate. When the camera turns on either platform, you can see it stuttering through several degree adjustments, and though the game runs acceptably fast on the iPhone and iPod touch during plays, the iPad version feels less optimized, and each platform shows a sluggishness in post-play cinematics that detracts from the otherwise impressive presentation. Gameloft tends to limit the number of players on camera after a play, keeping the frame rate smooth for the shrugs or fist pumps that follow any major development.
Audio
Though Gameloft offers a competent base level of audio performance with the expected crowd noise, tackle grunts and voiceovers, NFL 2011 includes neither color commentary nor full play-by-play, so the stadium cheers, horns, and whistles are frequently all you’ll hear after major plays—touchdowns and field goals excepted.
Madden NFL 11 is a different story, coming alive with voice samples. Huddles end with “break,” plays start with “huts,” and more or less constant color commentary is interrupted only at the start of plays, continuing through your selection of the next play. The crowd noise, whistles, and voices are more energetic, too, helping Madden’s sonic environment to sound more realistic and exciting. Music plays during both before games and whenever you pause it, unlike NFL 2011, which has only some generic pre-game rock music that transitions to a different track for the coin toss. There’s no question that EA has both more and better audio on its side here.
Gameplay and AI
Both games include all of the NFL teams, licensed player names, and four basic play modes. The first is a Quick Play or Play Now exhibition game, which EA equips with weather, day/night, team, and uniform choices, while Gameloft takes you directly into a game with your favorite pre-selected team, but no other selectable options. Next is a regular exhibition game with full team choices—plus, in Madden, the aforementioned other options—alongside a full-season mode, and a playoffs-only mode, each solely for a single player until and unless the companies add online multiplayer modes.
Though there are many different facets of each title’s gameplay experience that could be individually discussed here, one standout feature in the Madden NFL 11 titles offers casual gamers a world of difference: GameFlow. With GameFlow turned on as it is by default, Madden eliminates your need to choose plays, using artificial intelligence to select running, passing, punting, or defensive plays that it deems appropriate to the situation—an optional streamlining that completely differentiates the two titles. Rather than stopping the game for a menu-based play selection mode, Madden just overlays the current play on the field as a collection of lines and arrows that you and the team are supposed to follow, disappearing once the action starts. Though the arrows could stand to be a little smoother visually, the concept here is great, and the game’s action and intensity factors go up radically, akin to watching a football game on TV without any commercial interruptions. At any time, you can flip GameFlow off or on, gaining manual access to a detailed, segmented playbook, and you can redraw offensive or defensive plays with “hot routes” as well. Play selection is considerably easier and faster on the larger iPad screen, which EA has reformatted to display more options at once.
While NFL 2011 from Gameloft doesn’t have these features, it does have a GL Choice feature that lets you see the game’s suggested plays off to the far right of the playbook, and an editor that lets you change passing routes to your preference. The artificial intelligence has been improved to make games more competitive, though it’s still behind Madden’s AI, and occasionally stutters in situations where real players would unquestionably have reacted rather than just stood around. It needs to be said, however, that both games have moments—blitzes, tackles, and attempts at catches—where the players just don’t seem to be interacting realistically with one another, leading to crunches of multiple bodies in small spaces, and animations that are clearly not as cause-and-effect as one might hope. It’s as if both Gameloft and EA were able to achieve the benefits of truly 3-D graphics engines only by giving up the per-player AI that Apple’s CPUs might otherwise be capable of.
Control is somewhat spotty on both games regardless of the platforms they’re running on, and we’d like to see EA and Gameloft really focus on improving the way they handle buttons in the future. Each company uses a virtual joystick and ever-changing buttons to let you know what you’re capable of doing with the player you control, but the buttons fade in and out contextually—on Madden on the iPad in particular, there are times when the buttons don’t appear until a split second before you catch the ball or take control of a defensive player. Consequently, there are moments when both of the games feel like you’re not really able to take full control of the action as you would on a handheld device with dedicated buttons. Both games use tap-to-pass buttons that let you as quarterback touch any color-coded receiver to receive a pass, but focusing on the receivers’ ever-moving downfield positions prevents you from seeing blitzes in progress. EA tries to offset this with a second set of contextual receiver buttons closer to the bottom of the screen, but there’s just too much clutter on a cramped iPhone/iPod touch display.
Conclusions
After playing both NFL 2011 and Madden NFL 11, there’s no question that EA has shown up for this season better prepared—both companies have improved on last year’s iPhone and iPod touch titles, but EA has made bigger strides, and the overall experience of playing Madden is closer to what you’d expect from the game on a competing console, or even watching a real season on TV. Between its more polished graphics, superior gameplay options, and realistic audio, Madden NFL this year merits a high recommendation on Apple’s pocket devices, and is a great value for the $8 asking price. The less expensive NFL 2011 is still worthy of a general recommendation, but even at its lower price, it’s far enough behind EA’s effort that something new is going to be needed to make it stand out against the Madden juggernaut. Perhaps universal iPad/iPod/iPhone support could be Gameloft’s advantage going forward.
Apart from the absence of multiplayer functionality in the initial versions of Madden, EA’s only major weaknesses are in the iPad version of the game, which benefits from considerably more screen real estate and in some cases more interesting camera views of the action, but suffers in frame rate, sometimes also in animation and on-field overlays, as well. The higher price tag and the fact that EA’s even charging twice for what’s essentially the same game demand a superior level of overall performance, yet after playing Madden NFL 11 on the iPad and iPhone 4, the pocket sized version felt more polished and impressive. Future optimizations and additional features may distinguish the versions going forward, but for now, there’s little justification for spending $21 to get both iPad and iPhone/iPod versions. We’d call the current iPad version worthy of a general recommendation at this point in time—it’s good but not as smooth as it could and should be.