One of the things I love to do with my HTC Legend android smartphone is watch video.... same with my PSPgo. And one of the big frustrations with doing so on either of those devices is trying to prop it up when I want to go hands-free.
So I was scouring the web back in late December 2010 & came across these mobile phone stands at DealExtreme. They come in packs of 2, I ordered 2 packs (4 total) and keep them around the house & in pocket so I always have one at arms length when I need it.
They're a very simple design, made of thin metal but very light & easily strong enough to hold a small gadget like a phone. I was using my homemade paperclip stands, but the good thing about these sandi stands is they're easy to pocket, which I can't do with the bent-up paperclip ones. When I'm at Tim Horton's or wherever, I can whip it out as I need it & pack it away quick & easy.
Each stand comes with 2 rubber pads with adhesive bottoms, but they don't explain where exactly they're supposed to be placed. I'm not sure if it's visible from my pics but I tried to put them where the device would meet the metal so it doesn't touch it & scratch them. But I needed 3 pads and they only come with 2, so I cut the big one into 2 pieces (very easy to do so) and that worked great. For the 2 that I already stuck the pads to before realizing I could've cut them, I used electricians tape as a very light third pad.
The stand is just a shaped strip of metal, I think anodized aluminum, not sure about that. And there's a cute devilish face with one fang pattern cutout in the metal. Reminds me of a Jack-O-Lantern.
These stands work awesome with my HTC Legend, the angle is great for me. They're best for looking down on a table rather than propping a device level with the eye; basically they angle the viewing angle upward.
The PSPgo is a bit of a different story. It will only fit it when the PSPgo is open. If it's closed it will not fit on the stand.
These stands are great if the device is small. Though oddly enough, my 8.5"x 6" Aluratek Cinepal media player fits on the stand-- precariously. Seems strange that a big PMP player like that fits but my PSPgo (when closed) is too thick? Very weird. But yeah, these stands are really only good for SMALL devices like a phone, iPod touch, etc. Regular-sized PSPs, PSP-2000/3000 and sure as hell not PSP-1000 series... will NOT fit on these stands.
I ordered these from DealExtreme, but I wouldn't advise ordering from them anymore. They took a LONG time to ship these to me. I think 2 months..... I saw the same ones at Focalprice for less and I've had a good past experience with them so if I had to order more I'd probably get them from there.
So why do they have "sandi" written on them anyway? I have no idea. I thought if I found the lettering too distracting I'd just rub it off, but I actually don't mind.
So I am completely nuts, right? I think I established that when I bought 4 freakin' PSPs (recap: 1 PSP-1001, 2 SW white PSP-2001s, 1 PSPgo)
Not crazy enough? How about 2 Game Boy Micros-- 1 with a black faceplate, 1 with a gray faceplate. And YES, I *know* that the GBA Micro faceplates are replaceable..... I dunno. Just crazy, I am.
So in late January 2011, I get all whipped up into a frenzy for the 3DS. I preorder the Cosmo Black one online from Future Shop.
But then... I really wanted the Aqua Blue one. So I preorder that one from Best Buy's website. I wait a couple weeks before deciding that I really want the blue, so I cancel the black preorder from Future Shop's website.
But then... Future Shop offers a free case & extra styluses (stylii?) with preorder. Best Buy gives me nuthin' extra with my preorder. Hmmm.
So today... I went into Future Shop & checked to see if they had an in-store preorder. Turns out they do; you buy a little cardboard 3DS voucher thing that looks just like a PSN card or game card, and put down either a $25.00 minimum deposit or all the way up to full purchase price. I only put down the $25.00, because I want to be sure I get a receipt dated the release day for warranty purposes. I asked the guy about the free case & stuff, and he assured me that they'd include it, and I made sure that if I pre-ordered a 3DS in the store, that I would get it.... he said I would, that one would be set aside for me until I picked it up.
Buying it in-store seems better because then I'll get it the first day (it comes out on a Sunday, March 27,2011) I'm betting that online orders are shipped March 28.... meaning it could be a week before I'd get it in the mail.....
So yeah-- I pre-ordered from Futureshop.ca, pre-ordered from Bestbuy.ca, cancelled my pre-order from Futureshop.ca, cancelled my pre-order from Bestbuy.ca, and pre-ordered in store at my local Future Shop. Got all that?
At least I'm only buying one......
... but I'm *still* really liking the black one too.....
... like I said, crazy.
Oh yeah-- and I bought Plants vs. Zombies DS (cartridge format).
As with every console be it handheld or home console, there's always tons of MISinformation floating around about it before it's released. It's laughable all the misinformation & wrong facts that can be found about the PSP back in 2005. Even sites like IGN proliferated wrong info... these sites should know better.
So one of the wrong "facts" about the 3DS people are assuming is that because the screens have higher resolution than the previous DS iterations, that the 3DS screens are actually physically larger than them also (aside from the DSiXL series of course)
I bold the pertinent point-- the bottom 3DS screen is only 1mm larger than the DS Lite screens. Yes, the top screen is wider obviously, but it doesn't look taller, it may in fact be smaller from top to bottom because of the 16 x 9 proportion... which this side-by-side pic I found bears out:
So the 3DS will offer a fuzzier image of DS games on its screens.. but the actual screen image will be the same size. A lot of people seem to be ok with fuzzy images because they think they're getting a bigger screen out of the deal when they aren't. It's like accepting that a standard-def image shown on a big screen TV will be fuzzier. Except what if you're getting a SAME size screen TV that shows a fuzzier image than one you're used to seeing?
At this point I have no idea how DS games look on the 3DS, but I'm preparing myself to accept they may not look as good as on my DS lite. But it's not like my DS Lite immediately stops working the minute I bring a 3DS home-- it better not-- 'cause I *love* my DS Lite......
I'm starting to think that even though the 3DS looks like a DS with more added into it..... it's NOT a DS. It's a DS EMULATOR when it's playing DS games. If you keep that in mind, it may keep expectations in check.
The misinformation about the 3DS size has been an advantage for me in one way though: I've been seeing a few DS Lite cases for dirt cheap... cases that will probably fit the 3DS just fine. I bought this (very faux) leather slip case for $0.96.... good thing people don't know any better otherwise they might get the same idea as me....
As we get closer to the 3DS release, my enthusiasm for it is waning a bit.
The launch games lineup is not that strong. Currently I have 2 day-one game purchases in mind: Ridge Racer 3D and Pilot Wings Resort. I love the first Ridge Racer on the PSP. And Pilot Wings Resort looks very "Wii-ish" in a good way... that and I'm *itching* for a good flying game.... but I have to admit that neither game looks groundbreaking; Ridge Racer is one of the most conservative franchises out there-- it barely changes anything from game to game... I didn't even buy Ridge Racer 2 because it looked like the exact same game as the first one. I've never played a Pilot Wings game but from what little I've seen of Pilot Wings Resort-- which is VERY LITTLE-- it also looks a bit light in content. Plus I'm not sure either of these games are for sure available at launch.
Then the browser & online 3DS game shop aren't coming until May I think?
So I'm thinking that I'll be playing a lot of DS games on the 3DS for the first few months. But a couple of disturbing details are creeping out about that too. Gamespot reports that DS games take a bit longer to load on the 3DS. According to their charts, it's about 5-7 seconds longer, which doesn't seem like much but I'm wondering if there are going to be other inconsistencies with DS software.
I don't really see it on the video myself. But I credit it to the poor quality of the video, the guy didn't even turn off the 3D-- the slider is still on full. Sheesh. But seen in real life it may be more noticeable.
This is somewhat understandable given the higher resolution of the 3DS screens.
I play Gameboy Advance games on my HTC Legend smartphone, and the games are upscaled to fit the screen for it.... and I have to say, they look GREAT. Some look better than others, but in general I'm quite happy with how they look on my phone. How they PLAY, using onscreen controls, is another matter...
So if DS games look as good as GBA games look on my phone, I'd be ok with it. But my HTC Legend has an AMOLED screen which looks really good. I even prefer the screen quality of it over my PSPgo for watching videos, it's just brighter & crisper... I don't know.
Another thing I'm excited about is that we can use the 3DS analog nub to play DS games! I am looking forward to playing my fave DS game MechAssault: Phantom War using the analog nub! But I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I know that it won't offer levels of sensitivity normally characteristic of an analog nub, it will simply operate the same as the D-pad.
Yeaahhh.... ordered on Monday, shows up on Thursday! I love how fast Nintendo Canada sends me stuff!
True to Nintendo form, it came in a very basic package-- just the pouch in a clear plastic bag, but with one addition: a little thank-you note from Club Nintendo:
It says, "THANK YOU for your feedback! We hope you enjoy your Club Nintendo reward. Your valuable input helps us create new opportunities to bring smiles to our fans."
The pouch is a bit big compared to my DS Lite, but it's not freakishly so.
This is what it looks like with my DS Lite inside:
The pouch is reversible. As can be seen in the pics, the red side has a little 8-bit Mario and the word "Nintendo" on a patch that is stitched onto the pouch. The inside is a beige-ish colour that has the "Club Nintendo" logo printed on the corner. I think the Club Nintendo logo actually looks a bit better than the Mario one...
Both sides feel very velvety & soft. It's simple but this is what a gadget pouch should feel like. I can't wait to put my 3DS in this thing.
Wooo... a few months ago I was cleaning up around the house, sorting among other things my games stuff, like Gameboy Advance cartridges & PSP UMD games paraphernalia that was laying around.... and some of that was a bunch of Club Nintendo game registration codes.
So last week I pulled some of those out of the drawer and entered them into my account. Yesterday I went back into my account to fill out some followup surveys for those games I registered (had to wait 7 days) so I could get some more Club Nintendo coins. And yesterday I had enough to get the pouch they're offering!
250 coins for it. I ordered the red, and it's reversible. I ordered it to go with my upcoming Nintendo 3DS that I'll need a pouch/case for since I don't think it comes with one... it does come with a charging stand though......
The only thing about this pouch is that it says it's for the DS Lite, DSi, DSiXL..... DSiXL? The pouch must be big if it fits that thing. I think the pouch dimensions are listed as 8" x 5"... so that does seem rather large. I'd prefer it be more sized to go with my upcoming 3DS, which from what I can tell will be about the same size as the DS Lite. Sure, that means I could probably use a DS Lite case for it... but at least this one's free. And kinda snazzy.
I really like my PSPgo PSP-N270 Bluetooth headphone remote, it's good quality and compatible with all my BT devices, but it still needs a wired set of headphones. Sure, they don't have to be tethered to the device but they're still tethered to the remote... and they get in the way sometimes. I've been looking for a true wireless BT headphone solution for some time.
I saw the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones[listing at The Source] on sale at The Source... I tried to research them to see if there was any review information out there but all I could find was Marc Saltzmans' Youtube video (which I will post at the end of this review).... apparently The Source has a no-return policy on headphones, so I ended up taking a chance-- plopped down my $39-something (including tax) to try them out and give a review!
What's in the box:
Headphones
proprietary power adapter-to-USB cable
2 sets of rubber in-ear bud thingies
instruction foldout
nylon carrying pouch which feels really gross & smells funny
Product specifications (from the instruction foldout):
Bluetooth V2.1+EDR
Support profiles: Headset, Handsfree, A2DP, AVRCP
Operative range: Class 2, 10 metres (approx. 30 feet)
Battery: 170 mA rechargeable lithium
Talk time: up to 9 hrs
Music time: up to 8 hrs
Standby time: up to 16 days
They have a really small form factor. They fold up nicely, I could see these being very pocketable and in that respect even more convenient than my PSPgo bluetooth remote... I usually clip that to my shirt and wrap the headphone cord around my neck. With these, just take them off & slip them in my pocket.
The yellow stripe separates the 2 parts of the "cup". The outer side has a bit of a soft rubber feel which is comfortable when touching, say, while operating the controls or whatever. The inside of the cup that faces your head is hard plastic, but it doesn't actually touch your ears so it doesn't affect comfort.
I thought the band that connects the ear pieces was just a regular cable, but it's not-- it's a stiff flexible band that pulls the ear pieces toward your head keeping them in your ears. This is the direction of the pressure when it's stretched as if wearing it:
Despite that squeezing, it's fairly comfortable and feels very secure on the head.
As mentioned, the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones come with 2 sets of (medium & large size) rubber in-ear buds that you place over the actual headphone speakers:
They are soft rubber, but they kinda stab into your ear canal... like if you take a single sheet of paper, it's soft & flexible, right? But if you roll it up into a tube and push the end against something, it's quite rigid. That's sort of how the tube part of the buds feel.
Even though the rubber buds do a fairly ok-to-good job of outside noise isolation, for some reason the audio quality through the headphones is not as good.... it is amplified though.
So I've been using these foam covers I got from the Dollar Store years ago, for my PSP-1001(!) headphones.
They feel a lot more comfortable, the audio quality seems a bit better but there is no outside noise isolation.
I like the stylish control buttons, they kinda remind me of the Sony Walkman logo...
The buttons are easy to press, and are very clicky. In fact, they are a bit too clicky-- it's good that they are tactile enough to know you pressed them without being able to see them, but as they're right up against your ears, the clicking of the button presses is quite loud. There's also a lot of travel to them-- as in you have to press down on them quite a bit to register a press-- so you can't just press them with an index finger alone, you need your thumb to pinch the headphone cup when you press a button.
The bluetooth light flashes very infrequently, it seems like every 10 seconds or so. I suppose that's good for those that don't necessarily want to be a big flashing beacon while walking down the street or whatever. The instructions say that when the battery is low, it will flash red once every 15 seconds... once every 15 seconds??? Like who's gonna even notice that?? Not that you can even see the light while wearing them... so it may be difficult to tell when the battery runs out before it's too late.
Hold down the POWER/PLAY/PAUSE button for 4 seconds to turn the headphones on/off. Hold it for 7 seconds to pair the headphones with a device. I've paired them with all 3 of my BT devices: my Toshiba NB-205 netbook, Sony PSPgo, and my HTC Legend Android smartphone.
The right side has a port for a proprietary power adapter-to-USB cable. There's no wall adapter, you can only charge via USB out of the box. I suppose I may need to get a USB wall adapter some time, but for now I'm using my PC to charge it. And don't lose that proprietary cable... or uh-oh!
The power port on the headphones has a flimsy rubber stopper to cover it, but it never seems to stay in. I also think it will break off after a short time. It feels cheap.
Connecting the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones to my devices was fairly easy. I did have a bit of a hiccup when first pairing it to my HTC Legend, which is odd because it's the easiest of my devices to deal with bluetooth headphones-- the PSPgo remote had no trouble pairing with it. But it wasn't a big deal at all and eventually the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones paired with it fine. The only issue I have now is the PLAY/PAUSE button doesn't work with the HTC Legend-- it worked ONCE, but since then it doesn't seem to any more. Odd.
I paired the headphones to my PSPgo, and all the button functions work well with it. Had no problems pairing it. Of course the PLAY/PAUSE and TRACK+/- buttons don't work in SensMe, but I think that's more a problem on the PSPgo end as the other remote has the same issue.
And when I need to re-connect the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones to my PSPgo after using it with another device like my phone, when I connect it it gives me this error:
But it still connects. Go figure. I have similar/worse problems with the PSPgo BT remote after using it with other devices also, so I also chalk it up to another PSPgo BT issue rather than the headphones.
I haven't used the MIC on the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones yet, so I can't comment on the quality of it or the phone functions. In his video, Marc Saltzman says something like "there's a MIC, but these are primarily headphones" which sounds like the MIC is probably nothing to write home about. Still, with it's placement it might be better than the PSPgo remote's MIC.... I haven't used that one either but I can't see it as being very effective. At least this one is close to your face.
So the sound quality of the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones.
Unfortunately, sound quality is mediocre.
They don't sound BAD necessarily, but I've been rocking my Creative EP-630 earbuds on my PSPgo Bluetooth remote, and those sound really good. They are my favourite earbuds, I have 2 pairs of them. Maybe I am spoiled since I rarely use average sounding earbuds anymore.
The audio from the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones is a bit muffled. Yes, bluetooth audio in general is not as good as through regular cables, but I'd say the PSPgo Bluetooth remote audio has better fidelity... but it also have a bit of background hiss, like Sony's Mega-Bass system used to. The HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones don't have any hiss at least. And using foam covers rather than the supplied rubber ear buds slightly improves the audio quality.... but again, at the cost of lack of noise isolation that the rubber buds provide.
The range is advertised as 10 metres, about 30 feet. With my PSPgo, I find that the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones do work at that range (with a some audio cut outs) but with my HTC Legend, the range is much much shorter. I'm not sure why, because my PSPgo remote also has the same range and it's the same with both the PSPgo and the HTC Legend.
I bought the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones on sale for like $34.99... apparently their regular price is $70.00? $70.00 is way too much for these, but if you're looking for some affordable bluetooth headphones in the under-$50.00 range, there's not much selection in Canada. In the U.S. they seem to have much more choice like from Amazon.com or wherever, but here in Canada I've rarely (maybe never) seen bluetooth headphones for $35.00. Don't expect too much from them, but they're compact, easy to use, fairly comfortable (when using foam covers) and work as advertised.
If you only need one bluetooth headphone device, I might the PSPgo remote over these because it's pretty good and works surprisingly well with other devices like my HTC Legend... though I haven't tried it with an iPhone/iPod touch and can't guarantee it'll work with all devices. But for a budget set of bluetooth headphones, this isn't bad... not that we in Canada have much choice.
Marc Saltzman's HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones video overview :
