Archives for December 2014

The Patriot Memory FUEL+ Mobile Rechargeable Battery

12/26/2014 By Hakan Can

My review philosophy is like this. When I review a product, I give it a 3-4 week workout which leads to a result, which could be anywhere on the good-to-bad spectrum. If the product is from a reputable manufacturer, one would expect a good review, and so on. And then you move onto the next product to review. This first product gets used less and less, then collects a little dust or maybe you give it away. Now why do I tell you all this? Because for only the second time, I’ve come across a product which not only gets used daily, but will be used until its life expires. This is a must-have product! And I’m confident you’ll come to the same conclusion. This product is the Patriot Memory FUEL+ mobile rechargeable battery from Patriot Memory.

The Patriot Memory FUEL+ Mobile Rechargeable Battery

For over a year, the FUEL+ line has been available across the globe. How do I know this? Just flip over the product and look at all the governmental approval markings. The FUEL+ is available in 7 versions, ranging from 2200 to 9000 mAh. These mAh (milli Ampere hour) is the same unit of battery life that you’ll find on your smartphone or tablet.

On the lighter end of the scale, the 2200 & 3000 mAh lithium-ion batteries are purely for smartphones and in most cases, will provide one full charge. This 3000 mAh model frame consists of a white housing with blue ends. The 2200 mAh model frame is available in five colors: white with blue ends, and blue, green, pink, and yellow with white ends. One side of each unit has a micro USB input while the other has one USB Type A output.

The mid-range 5200 & 6000 mAh models are for all size of smartphones and small tablets while the upper-range 7800 – 9000 mAh models are for all size of smartphones and tablets. On the mid-to-upper range models, the larger frame consists of a white housing but now with red ends. One side has the same micro USB input, the other now has two USB Type A outputs, one rated at 1A and the other at 2.5A which leads to a quicker charge.

What’s really cool here is the dual charging capability of the FUEL+ as pass-through type. So while you’re charging your FUEL+ battery, you can simultaneously charge two mobile devices. The power button and charge indicator is on the side across all 7 models. Simply press the power button once and you’ll see the available charge across the Blue LED’s indicating anywhere from 25%, 50%, 75% & 100% charge.

Once your devices are connected via the USB ports, you’ll need to press the power button to begin the charging process. Charging times for the mid-range FUEL+ models are between 4-6 hours while for the upper-range models, 6-8 hours. Across the board built-in protections include over-charge, over-current, over-temperature, under-discharge and short-circuit. Not too shabby.

List prices are as follows by model:
PCPB22001 & 30001: $24.99 & $29.99, respectively.
PCPB52002 & 60002: $44.99 & $49.99, respectively.
PCPB78002, 87002, & 90002: $59.99, 61.99, & $64.99, respectively.

Conclusion

Each package comes with the FUEL+ battery, a white 1′ micro USB to USB cable, and multi-language owners manual. All models easily fit into the palm of ones hand, a shirt or pant pocket, or a purse or satchel and come with a 2-year limited warranty. And they’re quite light with the largest model coming in at 0.42 lbs. The FUEL+ is available at many of the bigger internet retailers like Amazon and Tiger Direct.

As an added bonus, I’ve included a photo of Patriot’s beautiful Titan leather iPad case with removable Bluetooth 3.0 keyboard case. Now it’s actually faux leather so all you animal-safe folks can have peace of mind. These items are available at Fry’s for $19.99 for the iPad Mini and $4.99 for 2nd-4th generation iPad tablets. For more information, feel free to send me a tweet and/or check out www.patriotmemory.com.

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What do you think of this Patriot Memory FUEL+ review? Do you agree or disagree with our verdict? Let us know in the comment section below or via social media. We’re eager to hear your thoughts.

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Don’t hesitate to head over to Patriot’s Accessories page to see their newest products. To learn more about service and support, click here for their Support page. The FUEL+ rechargeable battery comes with a 2-year warranty.

FTC Disclosure: Patriot Memory provided Beantown LLC with two (2) FUEL+ samples for review purposes. This writer’s opinion is 100% his own and not a paid product ambassador.

Review: The Qube from Matrix Audio

12/25/2014 By Hakan Can

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Updated: Filed in the better late than never category comes the Qube, the universal pocket speaker from Matrix Audio. Over the past few months (you heard me correctly–I said months, not weeks or even days) I’ve been testing this speaker against an array of portable mini speakers. When I received the Qube, I had wondered how it would compare in the sound department. Suffice to say I was not disappointed. It has become my go-to solo speaker whether in or away from my home office. Over this period of time, I’ve been impressed with not only the sound but its consistency to reproduce that sound months later. No lemons here.

The first thing one notices is how stunning the speaker looks. It’s a well-manufactured beautifully-crafted piece of equipment. It’s sharp looking in its black aluminum finish (available in five other colors: silver, red, blue, pink and purple, see photos) but it’s also sturdy and has some weight to it, 78 grams to be specific. Now, not only is the speaker sturdy, but the packaging is as well. To this day, this packaging, even after a few months, is where I store the Qube when not in use. If you choose to discard it, don’t forget the packaging is 100% recyclable which is important to so many of us.

The speaker is aptly named as a universal pocket speaker. It’s 38mm in each axis thus the name Qube. One can easily and comfortably carry it around in their pocket; I’m not just saying that. It fits well whether in ones pants or shorts front pocket. If you’re afraid it may get scratched, use the ultra-suede carrying pouch and transport it in your purse or satchel. It takes up so little volume that you actually may forget that it’s there. The design is straight forward. On the back side, there’s an On/Off button as well as a micro USB connection. Simply hold down the power button for a few seconds and a blue LED activates, and then you’re good-to-go. To shut it down, use the same method until the blue light deactivates. There’s no volume slider, but then again, what’s the point of having one. Whatever device you connect the Qube to i.e. laptop, smartphone, etc. has volume control so no need for redundancy.

So you ask…how does its 3 watts of audio sound? Pretty good in fact. For sound testing, I use the same 4-5 artists for consistency while constantly plugging and unplugging various speakers for comparisons sake. These artists are 30 Seconds to Mars, John Coltrane, Lana Del Ray, Muse, and now Zedd. Testing the latter first, the Qube was strong and clean in vocals and higher frequency mid-ranges while a bit short in the bass area, which didn’t surprise me base don its design. In testing similar sized speakers, the opposite is true: more boom in the bass and weaker in the vocals. Now we all have different tastes but I’m willing to sacrifice some bass for tighter vocals. And if you need a second opinion, watch what happens with those collapsible portable speakers at mid-to-high volume while listening to say Lana Del Ray’s title track Born to Die. The speaker hops around like one of those novelty Mexican jumping beans. I can’t tell how often those other speakers jumped off my desk and shelves. Thanks to the heft and low center of gravity, there’s no stage diving for the Qube. That last thing I want is a kamikaze speaker. Call me crazy but I would like to use it again. (In case you’re wondering LDR sounded amazing.) Of all the music genres sampled, I’d say Jazz sounded best with Coltrane’s sax on Lazy Bird sounding dynamite, closely followed by the sounds of Muse and LDR.

If you’re looking to purchase the Qube but don’t see it in your favorite online or retail store, you need not look any further than the manufacturer’s website: www.matrixaudio.com. It retails for the price of $39.99. If the Qube isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, Matrix Audio has recently introduced the Qube 2, a universal Bluetooth portable speaker which retails for $79.99. Also available from MA is the NRG which lists for $29.99 and the ONE for $69.99.

For those of you who will be attending CES2015, feel free to visit their booth. The Bayan Audio booth is located at the LVCC North Hall, Booth 6627.

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All photos are courtesy of Matrix Audio

My Interview with Being Human’s Sam Huntington

12/18/2014 By Hakan Can

Two Thumbs Up with Sam Huntington of SyFy’s Being Human

So it’s mid-afternoon on a Sunday and you’ve been hanging out having a great time with one of the lead actors of the SyFy show Being Human, so what do you next? Well you top it off with an interview so that’s what we did. Sam Huntington who plays the character Josh (a werewolf) was kind enough to sit down for about 12 minutes and we spoke about everything that came to mind. Now, I did have a list of items I wanted to cover, but when you’re in a good place, you sometimes forget to address a few. Case in point, the ill-fated television series Cavemen. In all honesty it was probably best we never got to it even though it came up earlier in the day. Sam is a local boy coming from Peterborough, NH and would you believe he’s been acting for 18 years. As he says, “he’s been really lucky.” But I think talent has a lot to do with his success. We discussed Being Human, Not Another Teen Movie and other acting credits as well as life in Montreal, a city I almost moved to many years ago. He’s genuinely approachable and super friendly. It’s my pleasure to bring to you this interview for you all to enjoy.

In case you were wondering, we filmed this in the offices of the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA, hence all the trophies. There were cases full of them, most off screen.

Originally the subject title of this interview was “More Poop and Pee”? After 6 months I changed it. My rationale had something to do with Bing/Google search. Listen to the entire interview and you’ll hear this subject come up in the 11th minute.

You can follow local NH boy Sam Huntington on Twitter at @SammyHuntington.

You can follow the show Being Human (even though it’s wrapped up) at @BeingHumanSyFy and at www.syfy.com/beinghuman.

Update: Sam has a new film The Throwaways set to come out in January 2015. The link will take you to IMDB.

Actor Sam Huntington of Syfy's Being Human

Acting silly with Sam Huntington of SyFy’s Being Human