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If a smartwatch is in the deepest desires of your heart, but you just can't stand the idea of coughing up $350(ish) to get one of the higher end models, Newegg may finally be the company to get that death grip off your wallet with a new deal on the LG Watch Urbane (which is arguably the best Android Wear watch out there right now).
Disneyland is one of those places that everyone should get to experience at least once - there really is something magical about it. The enchanted castles, famous Disney characters all around, and over-the-top attractions really do make this The Happiest Place on Earth.
Back in October of 2014, a new beta app called Snowball was released. Back then it was a chat head-style multi-messaging client of sorts, which was useful enough in its own right. Snowball 2.0 is out now, and the app has apparently gotten a full overhaul - it's essentially a completely different thing now. Instead of being a messaging client, Snowball is now a full-featured (and damn good-looking) notification center. Check it out:
With Lollipop, Google did something that developers had wanted for a while: a dev preview of the upcoming Android build. With the M release, it made that even better with OTA updates for the first time...but that hasn't gone quite as smoothly as we'd hoped it would.
Earlier this week, Blu announced a handful of new phones: the Vivo Selfie, Studio C 5+5, Studio C 5+5 LTE, and Energy X Plus. Each handset has something that makes it stand out from the others, and all of them come in at the low price points that we've come to expect from Blu. In short, we've got a thin and light phone made for selfies, a pair of ultra-affordable devices with dual 5MP shooters, and one with a battery that's in it for the long haul.I've had three of the four for the last few days, with the only exception being the 5+5 LTE since it's virtually identical to the 5+5, just with the addition of LTE.So, let's talk about 'em.
A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the Inateck MercuryBox, a cheap speaker that left me extremely unimpressed. Like I mentioned in that review, I'm normally really skeptical of speakers that cost less than $100 -- especially ones that hit around the $50 range. But while I was writing about the MB, I got my hands on the new hotness from G-Project: the ultra-portable, water-resistant G-Tube.I'll say this: at $40, the G-Tube changes everything. A new bar has been set.
I wouldn't say that I've reviewed a ton of keyboards that are compatible with Android, but I would say I've spent my fair share of time pecking away at various keyboards that work on various operating systems. One thing I've noticed over time is that most ultra-portable keyboards just aren't very good. The keys are generally too small to be useful or the keyboard itself is too big to really be considered "portable." Or there's some other weird design flaw that comes along with making it easy to carry. It's really pretty annoying.And that was all true until the Logitech Keys-To-Go ($69). I really like this keyboard, and I can't believe how compact it is. And spill-proof. And all the other stuff that makes it great.
I've reviewed a lot of Bluetooth speakers over the past few years. So, so many speakers. In fact, I've even written about the best speakers that money can buy in a national magazine. I feel like, at this point, I have an excellent idea of what's out there, and what's good for the money. Historically, $99 has been my starting price point when recommending a good speaker, as I haven't really been impressed with anything below that price point.So, when Inatech reached out to me about the MercuryBox, a compact, waterproof, $55 speaker, I had my reservations. But it's been a while since I've checked out anything in this price range, so I figured this would be a good unit to see how far more affordable speakers have come.Spoiler: Not very, apparently.
Late last week I took a look at Moov and its cycling app for Android. I had a few things to critique about the unit (which isn't unusual), like its inability to connect with external heart rate monitors. It appears that Moov was already working on something that would fix essentially everything I found "wrong" with the first one, because it just announced MOOV NOW, and it looks like it'll be better in basically every way. Here are just a few things it can do over the existing model:
By now I figure that most of you know I'm a cyclist. If not, well, now you do. As such, I love to review every piece of Android-related cycling gear I can get my hands on (which, unfortunately isn't as broad a market as I'd like at this point). Moov, a $99 wearable fitness tracker that does a lot more than the average watch-style unit, has been on my radar since day one...but before we start with the cycling talk, I first want to point out exactly what Moov is.
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly three years since we reviewed Soundfreaq's original Sound Kick portable speaker. Over that period of time, we've seen a slew of new offerings from the company, including a few ultra-portable options, an alarm clock speaker, and a handful of others. The Sound Kick was really a groundbreaker for us though - it had standout features unlike any other speaker at that time.Fastforward to today, and the SK's successor is finally here. The SK2 takes a lot of what made the original so great, including a tilting design and UQ3, and improves on that. Soundfreaq also threw water resistance into the mix, making this one shower, beach, and pool-friendly. With that, let's start with the SK2's overall design and aesthetic.
NVIDIA changed the landscape of Android gaming with the original SHIELD. And with that, came top-tier titles of recent years, like Valve favorites Portal and Half-Life 2. Since then, the company has released a slew of killer games specifically for SHIELD devices, including Half-Life 2: Episode One. Today, the saga continues with the third Half-Life game available for Android, Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
It's no secret that I love Ultimate Ears' Bluetooth speakers - the BOOM was my absolute favorite speaker for nearly two years. Then the MEGABOOM came out, and UE once again impressed the hell out of me with the amazing sound it can get out of such a portable package. Today, the company announced the smallest in what I still think can be classified as the "BOOM Family" - the UE ROLL. (OK, it doesn't necessarily have BOOM in the name, but c'mon - it's clearly part of the family.)
As far as I'm concerned, Ultimate Ears is the best name in portable wireless speakers right now - the BOOM and MEGABOOM are my personal picks for best all-around Bluetooth speakers on the market. The Mini BOOM had its time, as well, and it was very good for its pint size. Today, however, Ultimate Ears has unveiled the Mini's successor, the UE ROLL. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the name, but it is fitting - it looks like a dinner roll. I have no idea if that's actually what they were going for, but whatever. That's what I'm taking it as.
If you've got a phone that supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge, then you may be doing yourself a great disservice by using a "standard" wall charger. Quick Charge is the only way to go on phones that support the feature, and for a limited time you can grab Motorola's Turbo Charger for just $9.99 plus shipping from Groupon.
AirDroid has been doing its thing for a while now, and the developers are constantly trying to find new ways to make this already-powerful tool even more useful. Today's update to v3.1.3 brings just that, with significant improvements to AirMirror on Samsung phones. For those who may not know, AirMirror is a tool that allows the user to remotely control their rooted Android phone directly from their PC or Mac. It's incredibly useful.
Look, there isn't much exciting about car chargers that we haven't already seen before. I get it. But you know what? There's always a way to take something that's existed for a while and make it better, which is precisely what TYLT has done with its newest car charger, RIBBN.
Back at CES earlier this year, Blu announced a handful of phones, including the Vivo Air, Studio X, and Studio Energy. Today, we're looking at the final phone from that announcement, the Life One, as well as another handset Blu has coming out in a few weeks, the Life 8 XL.Let's jump right in with specs.
Anyone who's been around AP for a reasonable amount of time knows that I'm a big fan of my iPad Mini simply because I love the guitar amp sims available on the platform. For roughly $50(ish), I'm able to cover essentially any tone I can imagine, most of which are very true to the amp they're recreating. While I wouldn't think about using this in a live situation, it's absolutely indispensable for practice and recording quick licks.