You probably know the name Spigen. The California-based company has made a name by making attractive and cost-effective cases for almost every phone on the market. I’m a huge fan of the Rugged Armor case for my Nexus 6P, so when I saw that Spigen had ventured into Bluetooth earbuds, I was intrigued. Could it’s high quality/low-cost strategy work in audio? I decided to pick up a pair to find out for myself.
Design
Bluetooth earbuds are normally pretty similar, no matter the price. Two earbuds connected with a cord. Somewhere in there is a Bluetooth radio to connect to your phone or computer. I was surprised just how big the casing for the Spigen R12E Bluetooth Earbuds actually is. The rounded body are about an inch across, which doesn’t sound that big until you compare it to the size of the ear tip that goes into your ear. It’s nothing off-putting, just different.
You can pick up the earbuds in two color combinations. I opted for the white with red accents and black text, whereas my wife went with the black earbuds with gold accents and writing. I love the look of both but tend to tilt toward the cleaner white look.
The right earbud houses a large power button with a Spigen logo, a volume rocker, and microphone. There is nothing printed on the earbuds to indicate this is actually the power button. When you look in the instructions it’s laid out, but it could be a bit clearer just by looking at them.
You’ll find wings on both tips to help keep the earbuds in your ears while you’re working out, in addition to R and L text on corresponding earbuds to indicate which ear they belong to. The wings do a great job helping the tips stay in your ears while exercising, and the earbuds provide excellent noise isolation. My wife stood next to me and literally yelled at me while I had music on at a medium volume. I heard nothing.
Functionality
Spigen made the R12E’s pretty easy to operate. A three-second press on the right earbud’s button turns them on, and holding the power button for eight seconds (while off) puts the earbuds into pairing mode.
The volume rocker is easy to press, but also hard to find when you’re searching for it but cant see it. It’s easy to gloss over the two bumps that indicate volume up, and one bump that indicates volume down.
There is a micro-USB port on the left earbud for charging that has a flap to keep liquids out. The in-ear part of the earbuds are curved so they can sit comfortably in your ear canal. In my testing, there was almost no sound leak at all due to this design. If the default tips don’t fit comfortably, Spigen has included a few other sets to suit those of us with different sized ear canals.
During calls, those on the line said my voice sounded accurate with adequate volume. While you shouldn’t expect HD voice quality, these do good enough and my friends and family had no problems understanding what I was saying. Alternately, calls sounded fine on my end too.
The R12E’s get pretty loud, and are very clear on voice calls. This translates well to audio quality for music as well.
Sound
I’ll be the first to tell you I’m not an audiophile. If I were, I probably wouldn’t be using $25 Bluetooth earbuds. But, I can speak to how good these sounds in comparison to others in the price range. I’ve tried Intello’s and Lyrica’s earbuds, and Spigen smokes both of them.
What really blows me away is how much bass these earbuds put out. You can feel it. Most Bluetooth earbuds sound pretty thin with only minor bass, but Spigen somehow got a bassy and full-bodied sound in this little package. Color me impressed.
Highs are clear and crisp without piercing or crackling and the mids are fine. Nothing special. The sounds don’t come out congested but aren’t especially clear. I’d rate the audio quality average in that aspect, but the highs and lows push them into fantastic territory.
Conclusion
I really, really love these earbuds. I tend to go for Bluetooth options because I hate wires, but that generally means giving up some sound quality. Spigen takes a lot of pain out of that equation by putting out a really high quality set of Bluetooth earbuds that are fun to listen to.
These aren’t perfect, but they’re damn close. I wish the beep wasn’t so loud when you reach max volume, but that can be forgiven since it doesn’t happen often. I generally control the audio level from my phone and leave the earbuds at about half volume because they’re loud anyway. I can, however, see how this would be annoying for someone working out that doesn’t want to mess with their phone.
I keep these in my bag with everything else, and while it was banging around some of the red coating came off. Not a huge deal, but annoying.
But, those negatives don’t even come close to undermining how good these sound. I’ve heard plenty of mediocre earbuds in my time, and these exceed all expectations.
Spigen seems to have stepped out of their comfort zone of making phone cases, and they absolutely nailed it. You won’t find many earbuds out there that stand up to the sound of the R12E, regardless of price.
Cricket Wireless this week detailed a partnership with Aaron’s, Inc. that sees the prepaid carrier picking up nearly 2,000 more retail locations. Customers who lease a smartphone via the lease-to-own outlet can activate on Cricket’s network at the point of sale.
Our relationship with Aaron’s not only brings Cricket’s distribution network to more than 12,000 retail locations nationwide, it also carves out a new path to let consumers experience all that Cricket has to offer – great network coverage, phenomenal value and no hidden costs or fees.
Among the phone options to choose from are the Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G3, and Motorola Moto G. Leasing isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s an alternative to paying for a phone outright.
The Galaxy S5, for example, runs about $840 over the course of a lease. Alternatively, you can snag one of the two-year-old phones from Amazon for less than half of that. It’s not so much the device cost itself, but financing fees that drive the price up. Still, if you don’t have hundreds of dollars to drop up front, it might be worth looking into.
Whether you’re a mechanic or not, it’s nice to know what’s going on with your vehicle. Many places will charge you a diagnostic fee just to determine what that problem is. Many times, all they do is hook up a diagnostics machine to your vehicle’s OBDII port and tell you what the machine spits out. BlueDriver is designed to give you that same capability.
BlueDriver overview
An OBDII port is an industry standard diagnostic port for all vehicles sold in the US after 1996. BlueDriver was designed to fit that port and communicate with your phone via Bluetooth 4.0. All in all, it’s a consumer grade version of the same diagnostic tools that the repair shop technicians use. Here is a list of features.
Read and Clear Codes
Confirmed CEL Codes – all makes
Pending CEL Codes – all makes
Permanent CEL Codes – all makes
Enhanced Codes (e.g. ABS, Airbag, Transmission, etc) – GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota (more to come)
Repair Reports – Vehicle-specific for each DTC:
Code Definition
Possible Causes
Reported Fixes
Freeze Frame – Vehicle snapshot when a code is stored
Smog Check – See if the vehicle is ready for a smog test
Mode 6 – Advanced test results (like misfire counts)
Live Data – Graph multiple PIDs or export log to a file
Supports all OBD2 protocols (including CAN)
Free vehicle-specific Repair Reports drawn from a database of over 4.3 million fixes verified by certified auto mechanics
BlueDriver setup
Setting up the BlueDriver is a fairly simple affair. All you need to do is download the app from Google Play, plug in the BlueDriver to your OBDII port and launch the app. The BlueDriver app will search for your BlueDriver tool and will connect automatically without the need to pair the device to your phone.
BlueDriver usage
The first thing I realized about BlueDriver is that the average person will not use it very often unless they have a vehicle that acts up a lot. However the price point is only $99 and many dealerships will charge $99 just to diagnose the problem. That is what makes the Bluedriver so appealing.
The next thing I realized was that just because I was getting a certain error code, did not mean that I knew how to fix the problem. A mechanic friend of mine explained to me this way. “Just because you know what’s failing, does not mean you know what is making it fail.” To that end, BlueDriver will allow you monitor live the readings from your vehicle’s sensors but, if you’re not a mechanic, then you probably won’t know what to look for.
BlueDriver also has the ability to take a Freeze Frame snapshot off your vehicle’s system. So if you’re on good terms with your shop, then maybe you could show them the information and they could tell you what’s going on.
I found the smog test especially helpful as well as this is the first year that I needed to get my Honda Odyssey smog checked. In Arizona vehicles with an OBDII port are emissioned solely by connecting to your vehicle’s OBDII port. The vehicle’s sensors will then determine if the emissions pass or not. The BlueDriver is also able to determine this as well.
Lastly, my favorite feature was that you can clear your vehicle’s error codes. There are many other modes and functions, which I did not use because I’m not a mechanic. The best part is that because everything works through your smartphone, your BlueDriver and app will always be up to date.
3.9 out of 5 stars
Overall if you like to get your hands a little dirty or you just want to keep your mechanic honest, the BlueDriver is a great option. For $99 you really can’t go wrong.
T-Mobile’s streaming initiatives, Binge On and Music Freedom, continue to pick up new services at a regular clip. Today sees the wireless carrier announcing that more than 100 music and video services have been folded into the streaming offerings.
Joining the ranks are Amazon Music, ESPN Radio, Dailymotion, EPIX, Nickelodeon, Spike, and TV Land. Indeed, none of these services will count against your data usage if you are on T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plans — and opt in.
Altogether more than 40 services – including the top streaming services and a wide array of niche and regional providers – are part of Music Freedom, covering a full 96% of all music streamed by T-Mobile customers.
According to T-Mobile, its carriers are loving the Music Freedom and Binge On features.
Since Music Freedom launched, T-Mobile customers have streamed 90 billion songs for free.
Today, T-Mobile customers are streaming 210 million songs every single day without using a drop of high-speed data.
With Binge On, T-Mobile customers are watching 2x more from free streaming sites on plans with limited data and have streamed over 190 million hours of video for free.
With Music Freedom and Binge On together, T-Mobile customers have saved over 350 petabytes of high-speed data.
Forget Batman vs. Superman and Captain America: Civil War. You can create your own civil war right from your Android device thanks to Marvel Contest of Champions. Just choose your character and fight against well-known Marvel heroes and villains, using dead-easy controls that don’t require you to memorize long lists of combos. Even though the core mechanic is really simple, developer Kabam has added a huge amount of content to keep you coming for more. Combined with beautiful graphics, a great character roster, and no paywalls, Marvel Contest of Champions is one of the finest games in the Play Store, with a huge following and a broad community.
Nice stills featuring well-known Marvel characters introduce the game to you.
First of all, the app weighs upwards of 600 MB, so you’ll definitely want to download it on a WiFi connection. Unless you have unlimited data, then you may want to get your money’s worth. Anyways, when opening the game, you’ll notice a very weird dialogue, asking you to go to the app’s info screen and activate the Photos/Media/Files, Contacts and Phone permissions (if you’re on Android 6.0+, obviously).
There are two aspects I want to remark about this. The first one is that the process that Google suggests for asking for permissions does not involve going to your phone settings and granting them, but rather have the app show you dialogues where you can accept or deny them. The second one is that, if you don’t grant them all, the app will simply refuse to start. The functionality attached to each permission should be disabled accordingly, not have the whole app become unusable because of a disabled permission.
After going through this headache and a rather long loading screen, you are shown a little bar at the bottom asking you to create an account. You can ignore it if you wish, but I believe that the game should ask this later since the account is not mandatory and the process has been long enough already.
Features
Through crystals, you can obtain items and new champions.
After going through the initial setup, you’ll be able to see a short sequence of stills that try to depict the events that led us to this contest of champions. After these rather entertaining images, the game teaches you the basic controls. This is no Street Fighter, in which you have to memorize long sequences of attacks in order to make cool combos. A tap for light attacks, swipe for medium and long-press for strong attacks will do.
Also, after chaining several hits, you can activate a special attack that deals a lot of damage. You can even block and dodge attacks, and swiping towards your enemy will make you glide through the scenery and perform an attack immediately. The controls are pretty simple but you have a lot of things to play with during battles.
The tutorial will then take you to the crystal vault, where you will get your first heroes. Hooray! However, you can only watch as a roulette chooses a hero for you randomly. This can prove problematic if you are trying to get a specific hero and the roulette stops at a character you don’t want or know, or, even worse, getting the same ally again.
This game has an unbelievable, console-like amount of modes and things to do. The most obvious place to start is the Story Quests. In here, you will traverse several different scenarios divided into Acts and Chapters.
Chapters have different paths you can travel, each one with its own set of rewards. Each step in the path will consume energy, and, when you run out of energy, you won’t be able to continue your adventures. However, energy replenishes automatically after a certain period, but this system greatly encourages you to play for shorter periods instead of one long session.
Story mode will keep you entertained for a long time.
You need to choose a team at the beginning of each chapter. The difficulty of this mode comes because heroes do not replenish their health at the end of each fight, so you’ll have to analyze closely what lies ahead and plan your strategy accordingly. You can walk through the easy path to make your session more enjoyable and relaxed, or you can navigate the highway to hell and be appropriately rewarded. At the end of each battle, you’ll get potions, gold, ISO-8 (explained later), and sometimes, new crystals to enhance your current roster.
Other single-player modes include Event Quests and Versus. Event Quests are one-of-a-kind/daily quests that will give you more loot than normal events in Story Mode. They will always have a timeframe in which they can be cleared. After that, you won’t be able to access it. Each quest also has its own chapters (normally 3), and only the first one will be unlocked for you. The other ones are unlocked by completing previous chapters. This adds a level of depth to every event and increases your chances of obtaining loot and various items.
Play against other players in Versus mode.
In Versus mode, you can compete with other players in online battles. There are several formats to spice things up. The first one is a simple 1 vs 1, called Quickmatch. You fight against anyone around the world in a single match.
There’s another mode, called Battle Drums, in which you choose a team of three of your heroes and fight against another team. You get points after finishing each battle, and you have to get to a certain milestone before the clock runs out in order to get huge bonuses.
There are other limited-time versus modes to entertain users. For example, Catalyst Clash is basically the same as Battle Drums but with a huge focus on getting catalysts (explained later). The game will reward the best players with massive catalyst bonuses at the end of a two-day period. Making Amends is a 3 vs 3 mode in which you fight other people with Tier 3 or 4 characters for chances of getting a new hero. Crystal Cornucopia focuses on crystal gathering. These are constantly being changed, so there’s always something new for players.
The developer also added a social component called Alliances. Similar to clans in Clash of Clans, alliances are groups of people that can help each other out and go to quests together. You can even battle against other alliances in a mode called Alliance Wars.
By helping your mates, you get Loyalty points, which you can use towards Alliance crystals, which give you perks like performance boosts or champions. If you like to play your games solo, joining an Alliance is not mandatory at all, it just adds another level of depth to an already complex game.
Every character looks absolutely badass.
So, after going through so many different modes, gathering resources and loot, where can it be used? That’s what the Champions screen is for. Here you will get an overview of all of the champions you have available. You will be able to see thorough stats about your hero, or upgrade him or her.
Remember the ISO-8? Combined with gold, both can be used to increase your character’s level. When champions reach level 10, they can be ranked up using catalysts.
Also, every hero in the game belongs to a class. There is a total of six classes, and their main function is to determine something that the game calls a Class Bonus. The six classes are:
Cosmic (strong against Tech, weak against Mystic)
Mutant (strong against Skill, weak against Tech)
Mystic (strong against Cosmic, weak against Science)
Science (strong against Mystic, weak against Skill)
Skill (strong against Science, weak against Mutant)
Tech (strong against Mutant, weak against Cosmic)
Too lazy to remember them all? The game identifies them with an icon and even tells you when an opponent has a class advantage against you, so there’s nothing to worry about.
This impressive amount of modes and deepness would be nothing if the core gameplay was bad. Thankfully, it isn’t. Battles are really fast paced and fluid, as in any fighting game. Controls are extremely responsive, and after a few fights, you’ll be able to master both attacking and defensive stances.
Duel of titans.
I must say that I’m pretty terrible at normal fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and such, but the game’s mechanics are easy enough that even a noob like me could chain combos and have a good time.
Maybe it’s a placebo effect, but I feel Hulkbuster’s attacks are slower than Black Widow’s. However, for the most part, characters basically behave the same, except for their special attacks, which are personalized for each one. In my opinion, this diminishes the lure of getting as many characters as you can, but, combined with class bonuses, creates a more balanced gameplay in which you don’t need specific characters to succeed.
Spider-Man wins. Always.
Speaking of characters and special attacks, the game is an absolute joy to watch. Characters are very detailed, their movements are fluid, special attacks are flashy, and overall the game just feels really well done, with a meticulous attention to detail. From opening a crystal to the in-app store, every element looks gorgeous. Combined with great sound effects and subtle but effective music, this game offers such a cohesive, detailed experience that you rarely see on mobile games.
All of this praise comes at a cost, however. Launching the game from zero takes an inadmissible long amount of time. Whatever it is doing when launching the app, it’s taking more time than adequate. Also, loading screens are very frequent throughout the app, even when returning to seemingly simple sections. I’ve also noticed that the app eats batteries for breakfast. It drains my Nexus 6’s battery at a rate of approximately 1% per minute of gameplay.
Conclusion
It’s easy to be overwhelmed at first with the monumental amount of content that Marvel Contest of Champions offers. There are so many quests, modes, and limited-time events that I am still discovering new stuff every day.
The first thing I thought when I downloaded the game was that it must be an ad-riddled, pay-to-win experience that I would not enjoy. However, aside from the home screen, which is almost completely dedicated to advertising new heroes and crystals, you never feel like you’re being nickel and dimed, and in-app purchases are there if you want to speed things up, primarily character upgrades. Also, since content is constantly being changed, the game offers an amazing replay value, and you could be playing it for months and probably won’t get bored.
If you like the Marvel universe and would like to see your favorite characters duking it out, then you should give this game a look. If you can get past the battery drain and little performance issues with loading screens, you’ll find one of the most complete, gorgeous and entertaining games I’ve come across in the Play Store.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge has been impressing just about everybody since its release just a month ago. It set the standard for flagship devices with its impressive camera, gorgeous Super AMOLED display, and most of all, its high-quality build.
Sandwiched between two curved pieces of Gorilla Glass 4, the S7 edge is a little more fragile than its all metal or plastic counterparts. Being priced at roughly $800 also makes it quite the investment, and breaking it can be heartbreaking. Most people will buy a case for their S7 edge, but many look at covering their pricey and gorgeous smartphones with cheap cases. I’m all for being price conscious, but if you’re buying the S7 edge, you should consider buying a premium case for it from Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge case LED flip cover is one of the official cases made by Samsung. It is a wallet style cover that is made from soft plastic that feels and looks like leather. Available colors are black and gold and it retails for $69.99.
The case I am reviewing is specifically designed for the S7 edge, but Samsung does have an equivalent LED case for the Galaxy S7 and is priced identically.
What makes the LED case unique is the lights on the front of the case that allow you to view notifications, time, calls and power from the front.
On the inside flap of the front cover is a slot where you can hold up to three cards, or a small amount of cash.
The LED case has a minimalist design, with only the logo from Samsung on the back in addition to the +/- symbols on the side to control the volume.
The case fits as perfectly as you would expect since it is an official case of Samsung. When you open and close the front flap, the LED lights come on for a few seconds to tell the current time. If you simply want to check the time, you can also click the power button to turn on the front lights.
I don’t often use smartphone cases, because they sometimes add too much bulk and ruin the look of the device. In this case (no pun intended) the Samsung LED flip cover gives the S7 edge a unique and cool look you don’t find from almost all other cases. It feels great to hold, and doesn’t add an unnecessary amount of bulk. There is a hard internal plastic case that holds the phone inside of the flip cover tightly and offers drop protection. It will keep your double glass sided S7 edge from cracking if you drop it.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge LED flip cover isn’t cheap with an MSRP of $69.99. I don’t normally like to recommend expensive phones or accessories unless they live up to the highest of standards. The S7 edge LED flip cover does that with its incredible build quality, superior fit, and unique LED notification lights on the front. You don’t have to pay full retail if you pick it up on Amazon.com where the price frequently drops below $50. It is a great investment considering it will cost over $150 just to fix cracked glass on both sides.
If you’re wondering, you can use wireless charging with this LED flip cover too.
In regards to the debate surrounding the material used in the LG G5, I’d like to present some facts and explore the process of how aluminum is typically treated and manufactured when it comes to smartphones. This is the iPhone 5c “unapologetically plastic” debate all over again, except in this case the phone is not plastic. Bear with me, we’re going to “science the shit out of this”.
Okay, so in the press release given by LG, they specifically mentioned using a special aluminum alloy in the LG G5, and coating the phone with a layer of primer before the “microdizing” process. What is microdizing? You may have heard of anodized aluminum before, but microdized aluminum is a seemingly new process to enhance the metal.
Aluminum
Let’s start with aluminum. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust (after oxygen and silicon). It’s characterized as a “silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal.” This is important.
Aluminum is a very soft metal and when it’s used in industrial and consumer products, it has to be mixed into an alloy. Otherwise, like gold, it couldn’t be used for industrial production.
The yield strength of pure aluminum is 7-11 MPa (Pascal), while aluminum alloys can have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa.
(An MPa is a pascal, which is a unit of measurement for pressure and stress.)
Common elements used in aluminum alloys include copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin and zinc. There are multiple ways to refine aluminum. The Hall-Héroult process, while consuming a lot of energy, typically produces aluminum with a purity above 99%.
Anodizing Aluminum
Anodizing (also spelled anodising, particularly in the UK, India and Australia) is an electrolyticpassivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts. – Wikipedia
Basically, anodizing the aluminum increases its resistance to corrosion and typical wear and tear, and also helps primers and glues adhere to it better than plain bare metal. In addition to utilitarian uses, anodizing is also used in a cosmetic way, either to add interference effects to the light it reflects, or using thicker coatings to absorb dyes.
Although anodizing by itself doesn’t increase the strength of the aluminum, it’s useful for the decreased corrosion, improved lubrication and improved adhesion. The anodic layer is also non-conductive.
Anodizing aluminum takes place according to certain specifications, the most common of which is a U.S. military spec, MIL-A-8625 (PDF). This defines three types of aluminum anodization:
Type I: Chromic acid anodization
Type II: Sulfuric acid anodization
Type III: Sulfuric acid hardcoat anodization
Microdizing Aluminum
Now, I couldn’t find a lot of information regarding the microdizing process. I contacted LG, who directed me to a YouTube video where an LG representative briefly explained their process:
“…we figured out a way to integrate the antenna bands into the aluminum seamlessly so you can’t feel the lines and covered the LM201b with primer and paint using a process called microdizing which means that tiny particles of metal are infused in the coating and bonded to the aluminum.”
In other words, it sounds like LG has managed to do something that even Apple hasn’t done: sucessfully hide the antenna lines in a metal body without sacrificing cell signal quality. To me, that’s impressive.
Take some paint mixed with microscopic metal particles, and bond it to aluminum, probably using electrolysis. Anodized or microdized aluminum is still not scratch-proof though. Although anodized aluminum is harder than non-treated aluminum, it still has low to moderate wear resistance.
LG specifically mentioned a special type of aluminum alloy they developed at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology: LM201b. As SlashGear pointed out, LG was interested in a new type of Earth-friendly magnesium alloy presented at the 2014 aluminum exhibition, Eco-Mg Alloy for Eco-Aluminum products. LM201b was originally created for use in cars and aircraft.
Ogres have layers
Suffice it to say, the aluminum used in the LG G5 is still anodized. If viewed this way, the phone would have multiple layers of substances upon it:
Aluminum —> Anodic film —> Primer —> microdized layer (paint + microscopic metal particles)
With aluminum alloys, you can theoretically anodize all of them, but the alloy must be carefully chosen to “achieve the desired mechanical properties of the part while also providing an acceptable appearance.” The alloy series range from 1000-7000.
Conclusion
Well, this was all fine and dandy, but what was the point of all this? This was to show why LG needed to use primer on their aluminum phone. Anodizing the aluminum, among other things, helps primer stick better, and the primer itself helps the paint stick better. Also, LG didn’t lie or use false advertising when it said the G5 has a 100% metal unibody. Neither primer nor paint is plastic, so there was no lie here. Using primer may be a little unorthodox when it comes to smartphone manufacturing, but it was needed for the special microdized layer.
Whatever the issue, LG specifically designed the G5 this way to avoid antenna lines without resorting to plastic. Despite how many phones got scratched, the phone is metal. The microdized layer is basically metallic paint. I know metallic paint does sort of look like plastic, but it’s not.
What do you think, does this whole debate matter to you?
There has been some recent controversy regarding the body of the LG G5 phone, depending on who you follow. Our own Derrick Miyao said it was not plastic used, but primer (and he’s a chemist, he knows these things). While it is unusual for primer to be used on a phone, it’s not unheard of.
Now LG has released a statement about the LG G5 unibody:
“Contrary to erroneous reports online that the LG G5 body is composed of plastic, LG would like to state unequivocally that the uni-body casing of the G5 is composed of a special aluminum alloy, LM201 (Feb. 2016 patent pending). LM201 was developed by LG in partnership with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology for use in high-end sports cars, aircraft and consumer electronic pducts [sic] where durability, rigidity and lightness are required. As a die-cast metal, LM201 was determined to be most appropriate material to accommodate the curves of the G5. After the die-casting is complete, the insulating antenna slit is applied directly to the aluminum casing followed by a coating of primer which provides additional insulation and enhances the surface profile for the “microdizing” process, where pigment containing tiny metal particles is applied directly to the primer to provide a smooth and durable finish. While both anodized aluminum and microdized aluminum will scratch if enough pressure is applied, in the case of the G5 the gray primer beneath the pigment layer may be mistaken for plastic when the coloring is scratched off. We want to reassure our customers that the uni-body of the LG G5 is advanced aluminum alloy, not plastic.”
While the issue of plastic vs. primer has been debated to no end, the body of the phone is clearly not plastic, despite having a plastic-like appearance.
For readers who are interested, I’ll be explaining the difference between anodizing and microdizing metal in a later article, and why appearances may be deceiving.
There are certain things that go together. For example, peanut butter and chocolate make the best desserts. However, other things like pickles and ice cream make an unpleasant combination. Remocam takes a security camera and combines it with an infrared remote control. Is it a match made in heaven?
Remocam overview
The Remocam is a wireless security camera that is both viewable and controllable from your smartphone. It comes with an impressive list of features and specs.
HD camera sensor with 720p recording
Motion sensor
Cloud and local recording
335˚ pan and 95˚ tilt motion
256-Bit AES encryption
Night vision
Siren
Two-way communication
Light sensor
Infrared remote sensor
Live streaming
The most unique feature of the Remocam is the infrared remote sensor that allows you to control any device with an infrared remote.
Remocam setup
The setup is fairly easy and it mostly involves the Remocam app found on Google Play. The app will first prompt you to connect to the Remocam via WiFi Direct in order to select your wireless network and if your network is protected, the network key. You will also need to set up an account with Remocam. All this takes around a minute or two to complete.
The only other setup options that you will need to complete, relate to the infrared remote control features. If you have a Samsung, Sony, or LG TV, then the remote setup is extremely easy. All you need to do is select the brand of TV. There are preset TV controls for these TV brands only.
For any other TV brand or infrared remote, you have to program each function for each device separately. This is done by first positioning camera towards the device, pointing the remote at the camera, and then pushing the button that corresponds to the command you wish to record. While this is rather tedious, the good thing is that with one click, the Remocam will move to the position of the selected device and execute the programmed command.
Remocam usage
I found the Remocam controls to be incredibly intuitive. All the controls just make sense. There is only one caveat and that is the non-Samsung, Sony, or LG TV control setup. When you try to add another brand of TV, there is a message that tells you to go to the previous screen to add the TV. However, on the previous screen, there are only two buttons. One that says “TV” and another that says “Add”. You need to go to the add button. I think if they said to select “Add” from the previous screen, it would be more apparent what needs to happen.
One of my favorite features was the motion sensor and video recording. When the motion sensor is triggered then the Remocam saves both the 10 seconds before and the 10 seconds after the motion was detected. I was able to see exactly when packages arrived and when the kids got home from school.
The camera was placed behind a window that the kids loved to smudge with their fingerprints.
As I mentioned earlier, the video can be saved either locally to the Remocam or their cloud service. The first 30 days of cloud service is free but after that, you’ll need to subscribe to one of their plans to continue saving videos to the cloud. Plans start as low as $3.99 per month or $39 per year. It’s important to note that streaming recorded video through the app or online is only available with a cloud plan. If you chose to record locally, you’ll need to remove the micro SD card and insert it into a device for viewing. The maximum capacity card the Remocam supports is 32GB.
4 out of 5 stars
Overall this is a great product, but to maximize its effectiveness you’ll need to make sure and subscribe to a cloud plan.
The Remocam sells for $199 which is right in line for this type of product. Add in the additional features like infrared remote controls and local recording, the Remocam stands out among its competition.
The Android Blog announced today that Google is updating its suite of app icons to give them a fresh, consistent look. The new icons will be gradually rolling out across Android devices and online sites over the next few weeks.
Play Store, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, Play Games, Play Books and Play Newsstand are all among the apps getting updated, with a focus on the triangular Google Play icon.
“Whether you like watching Despicable Me on Google Play Movies & TV, streaming “Sorry” on Play Music, battling your friend in Clash Royale on Play Games or reading John Grisham’s latest on Play Books, Google Play is your home for the best apps, games and digital entertainment. Since launching Google Play four years ago, we’ve always had dedicated apps in addition to the Google Play store. Today, all our icons are getting an update to provide a consistent look across the entire family of Play apps.”
For even more consistency, I’d like to see Google use the same colors for the Google logo and the Play icons, but we can’t have everything. What do you think? Do you like the new icons?
