Review: iPad Air

Ok, after six day of waiting for the iPad that I was supposed to have on launch day it is finally in my hands.  The first thing that strikes you when it comes out of the box is how light it is in compared to the previous model.  The Air weighs in at just 1 pound, and the previous generation was 1.35 pounds.  That 5.5 ounces doesn't sound like much, but the reality of it losing almost a quarter of it's weight is astounding.  I ran PerformanceTest on both the iPad Mini and iPad Air, and here are the results:

Benchmark Results for iPad Mini

Benchmark results for the iPad Air

As you can see, the new A7 processor blows the A5X of the iPad Mini out of the water.  Not a surprise, but this just shows how far performance has gained in the year since the Mini was released.  The display is crisp and clear, and so much more responsive than I ever could have believed with the number of pixels it is pushing.

In all this is an amazing upgrade to anyoe with a previous iPad, and one that really has to be held and sued to be appreciated.  If it had not been such a long struggle to get my order processed I would be comepletely thrilled with everything involved in this process, but even with the troubles getting the device I can't see myself letting this thing out of my hands...at least until the next one arrives.

Apple Store Problems

As anyone who knows me can attest, I have for more than 12 years been a very Large Apple fan. Going to work for AppleCare in 2007 was a dream come true, and leaving to launch this site and Fatboyheaven.com was a very hard decision.

I set the stage thus to let you know that in this light the fact that my experience with Apple today has me re-thinking my love of this company. I placed an order for in-store pickup of the new iPad Air last night, and was given a guaranteed pickup of today. I have been in the Apple Store since receiving an alert almost 2 hours ago informing me that my order was ready for pickup. The iPad with a crisp white label and my name is here in the store managers hands, but I am leaving without an iPad today. Something has gone wrong in the system that transmits online orders to the store, and my order is stuck in a limbo state to the point that no one in the company can even cancel it.

For a company that is renowned (and often heralded by myself and this website) to have a failure of this magnitude is ludicrous.

I was hoping to have a hands on review up for you all to read today, but I am not likely to have an iPad in my hands before the store closes tonight.

For this I apologize deeply, and hope that I have something to review at some later time.

Product review: Kevo Bluetooth Deadbolt for iPhone from Kwikset

Today I recieved the Kevo Bluetooth Enabled Deadbolt for iPhone, and I have to say, this is pretty slick.  Installation took about 10 minutes to remove the old deadbolt and install the new one.  From there it was as simple as installing the app from the app store and registering.  Once I was registered it paired quickly with my phone and was operational in minutes.  Now I simply touch the lock with my phone still in my pocket and the door unlocks!

The Kevo system runs on four AA batteries, and it says they should last a year or more.  The system also includes a keyless entry fob that when calibrated can stay in your pocket and identify itself just as the phone does for those folks you have that need access but do not have an iPhone.  It also includes two standard keys in case batterries die or something goes wrong with the programing.

I was able to send electronic keys to my whole family in about 5 minutes so that they have them on their iPhones, and programming the two extra keyless entry fobs they sent took seconds each.

In all this is a very simple to use system that brings my door lock into the 21st century quite simply and easily.  Highly recomended.

Product Review: Senta Ally Bluetooth Speaker from C. Crane

The Senta Ally from the C. Crane Company is an amazing speaker at a great priceA few weeks ago I recieved the Senta Ally Bluetooth Portable Stereo Speaker from C. Crane, and I have to tell you, this blows any other portable bluetooth speaker I have tried out of the water.  I love music and audio books, and listen to both from my iPhone all the time.  I have been looking for a way to listen wirelessly for some time, and have tried quite a few speakers, but none have the range of sound and richness of tone that this one has.  

I use it via bluetooth only, but it has quite a few other features.  Like others in this category it has a microphone which allows it to be used as a speaker phone, but also includes an FM tuner with 99 presets, the ability to listen to MP3 files from either an SD card or via USB, and an aux in jack to connect your MP3 player.  All of these are great, but it is the sound quality that makes this the best on the market.

C. Crane Company has been in business for a lot of years, and are known throughout the amateur radio community as the go-to place for electronics gear.  This speaker is no different.  Room filling clean sound, loud enough to be heard over the shower, and yet enough battery life to last all night when falling asleep to your favorite music.

Trust me, if you are in the market for a bluetooth speaker avoid the Bose hype and Jawbone or Beats prices.  For $69.95 this is the one to buy.

Product Review: ANKI Drive

The Anki Drive Starter KitI have had the privilege for the last several weeks to be a Beta tester for one of the most eagerly awaited iOS games in a long time, Anki Drive.  For those of you who missed the great demo at WWDC in June, Anki Drive is a racing game brought to the real world in the form of the cars and racetrack included in the $199 Starter Pack, along with two additional cars available at an additional charge of $59.99 each.

Game play is fast paced and a TON of fun for the whole family.  Whether playing against the computer AI characters of the cars or family members, this was a huge hit in our house.  Most of our testing was done by my son and myself, but even my daughter who isn't really into games LOVED her time playing Drive.

Basic game play involves a dog-fight between you and the other cars in your race.  As you win races with other players or the computer you gain points which can then be used to upgrade your cars.  Better weapons, higher gear ratios, and faster engines all reward your success by increasing the abilities of your car.  What makes this better than most racing games on iOS is that these upgrades stay with the cars no matter who is controlling them, so if I upgrade Boson (one of the car characters), then start playing as another car, Boson still has his upgrades when controlled by another player or the AI, making my game play all the more challenging.

Replay is very high, especially when playing against other human players, and changes based on the number of cars in the race.  What this means is even if you get your strategy down against one AI opponent, adding another optional car to the set changes game play radically even if only competing versus the AI.

At $199 the Anki Drive set is a bit spendy, but well worth the time and money if you enjoy racing and friendly competition.  I can't wait to let my friends play now that the NDA is lifted and see how much fun they have.  I'm guessing Anki will sell a few more sets just from those matches.

Special Event: Apple October 2013 Event

Big news on tap from Apple today, and after a "State of the Apple" rundown, OS X was first up

MAC

Apple started of the day with OS X Mavericks, the 10th update to the OS X operating system.  After a rundown of all the features, Craig Federighi made an amazing announcement, Mavericks is free for EVERYONE.  Upgrading from as far back as Lion to Mavericks is free, and available today.

Phil Schiller then hits the stage to announce new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros, with the 13" Starting at $1299, 15" Starting at $1999....each down $200 from last years prices and shipping TODAY.

MacPro was up next, and it is insane!  Intel Xeon E5, 4,6,8, or 12 cores. 1866Mhz DDR3 ECC Ram, up to 64 GB of RAM.  Dual worstation grade GPUs with up to 7 teraflops of processing power.  PCIe Flash storage.  Thunderbolt 2 expansion, and can power up to three 4K displays.  Dual audio out, 4 USB3, 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports. Priced starting at $2999 with 3.7GHz Quad-Core Xeon, 12GB RAM and available in December.  This new MacPro will be the first Mac designed and BUILT in the USA for quite some time.

Next up was Eddy Cue, to talk about applications.  iLife on stage first, with new versions of Garage Band, iPhoto, and iMovie.  Bringing the design cues from the recently released iOS 7.  Photo books now possible from iPad.  iMovie now re-designed to be identical on iOS and Mac.  Garageband now supports up to 32 tracks on iOS devices with 64Bit processors.  Using iCloud integration songs you start working on while on the go with your iPhone or iPad are now available from where you left off on your Mac.  Huge focus here on seamless movement from iPad and iPhone to your Mac when you get home or to the office.  Once again, all FREE with a new iOS or Mac, and available today.

iLife was next, showing of re-designs for Mavericks and iOS.  Full file compatability across iWork, now 64Bit so it's faster than ever.  Context sensitive control panel on the Mac to make changes faster and easier.  Shared editing and live colaboration across all platforms.  Again, all FREE with purchase of a new Mac or iOS device, and available today.  As Eddy said, "today is the biggest day ever for Apps" at Apple.

iPad

In three years iPad has changed the computing world.  Tim showing quotes saying it would not change NetBooks, and one saying "Anyone who thinks this is a game changer is a tool".  More than 475,000 iPad applications in the app store.  Customers using iPads in hundreds of ways the designers never envisioned.

Phil Schiller back to talk about new iPads.  The biggest step yet....iPad Air!  Thinner, Lighter than any iPad yet.  Still 9.7" screen, bezel 34% smaller.  7.5mm thin, 20% thinner than last iPad.  Down to 1lb, was 1.4 last year.  Apple claiming it is the "Lightest full sized tablet in the world".  A7 chip from 5S, full 64Bit computing now on iPad.  Also will have M7 Motion Co-Processor.  Now 8x faster than the original iPad, 72x graphics performance versus original iPad.  Available in Space Grey and White, starting at $499 for 16GB Wi-Fi, shipping November 1st.

iPad Mini was next.  Retina display is finally here.  2048x1536, same pixel dimensions as new iPad Air.  Also running the new A7 chip with M7 motion co-processor.  Also available in Silver and Space Grey.  Starting at $399 for 16GB with Wi-Fi.  Current mini will still be available at $299.  New Mini with Retina Display will ship in November.  

Only real surprises were that the Mini would get the A7 instead of an older processor like the previous generation, and that TouchID was nowhere to be found on iPad, which pundits thought would appear on the full sized device.

In all a big day.  All new software being FREE is an amazing announcement, new Macs to go with the new OS were important to keep momentum moving forward on the desktop, and new iPads in time for the holidays.

 

First Look: Kindle Fire 7" HDX

The newest version of the Kindle Fire from Amazon.com started arriving at homes across the country today, and mine has been here for a few hours now.  First thing you notice is that Amazon put some time into packaging this time around.  Previous Kindle units have arived in a brown cardboard box with very few frills.  This time around we have stamped foil and full color graphics.  This is not critical, but it signals that Amazon is taking the fire far more seriously now than they have in the past.  A lot of that may be their sales in other retail stores, but I think with the HDX and all of the innovation it brings Amazon is finally where Jeff Bezos and his team always envisioned the Kindle would be: a single digital portal to everything the company offers in terms of entertainment and service.

The Fire HD that we saw last year was a decent Android tablet, but the Fire HDX is lightyears beyond.  The polish in this the third version of the KindleOS (now dubbed Mojito) is clear.  Add to this the hardware improvements and you start to see just how important this device can be.

The Welcome screen guides you through using the KindleWhen you power the kindle on you are guided through the setup process.  This is simplified if you have bought it online from Amazon as the device has already been registered to your Amazon account.  As you can see in the background of the picture above, my most recent book downloads are already there waiting for me to start reading once I complete orientation.  The wide range of entertainment options available through Amazon's cloud services is very comprehensive, and anything you have ever purchased is available to be downloaded or streamed immediately.  With the included PRIME membership you also gain access to free ebook rentals, streaming TV, and movies.  If you have never had the PRIME treatment before, this is a wake up call that you do NOT want to let the subscription lapse.

Now the important thing, use.  i obviously haven't had it long enough for a comprehensive review, but the speeed and elegance of this tablet is not to be ignored.  Sound is crisp, clear, and much louder than before.  The enhanced resolution of this model (1920x1200) means it has one of the crispest displays you will find in a tablet of this size.  In all there is no way to be disapointed in the hardware.

Many have been critical of the fact that Kindle devices do not have access to the Google Play store, but unless you have already invested money in Google's store I don't think you will miss the "Official" android marketplace.  Amazon has built their own OS from the skeleton of Android, it will not resemble any version of the "Official" AndroidOS you have ever seen.  However I think that Amazon does one thing better than any other player in this game:  they know what their customers want.  For the vast majority of Kindle buyers what is wanted (and needed) is something that is easy to use and understand.  Add the new live concierge support that the "MayDay" button brings and you have a recipe for great customer experience.

I'll have a full review in a few days, but right now I can't think of anything that I will find that could possibly change my take on this device.  If you've been waiting for a new tablet and aren't waiting to see what Apple announces next week, get this one before supply is limited.

Things they sent me to review

OK, this has been a crazy summer filled with construction dust and contractors while we remodeled our kitchen.  normally each of these products would have their own post, but I am buried under review units and need to catch up, so we will do quick hits on everything.

Atari Arcade Duo

The Atari Arcade for iPad

The Atari Arcade is very cool if you love classic gaming and still have an iPad 2/3 laying around.  It is powered by the 30-pin connector on your iPad, so no batteries are wasted.  Would have been better if they had added a USB or 30-pin port to the back to charge through though.  In all it works nicely and gives you that satisfying arcade joystick feel to bring games like Pac-Man back to their visceral glory.  Can be found cheap online.

 

HP X2 Windows 8 Convertable Tablet/Laptop
The HP X2 windows 8 Tablet with Laptop Dock

The X2 is the first Windows laptop/tablet I have liked in a long time.  Light weight and sturdy, the X2 is decently powered and makes great use of the Windows 8 Modern UI with it's responsive touchscreen and above average spec sheet.  I love that the keyboard dock doubles battery life (up to 16 hours of moderate use) without adding too much weight.  If I wanted to go back to windows, this would get me there.

Rymdkapsel - iOS Game

Rymdkapsel, an interesting new iOS RTS game

Rymdkapsel is short on graphics, but long on re-play ability and challenging.  You need to manage resources and workers to defend your outpost while trying to complete various missions and defending yourself against waves of attacking enemies.  This game has me turning my back on casual games for hours at a time.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8" Tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Note has done the impossible....it is an Android device I could see myself using every day.  I haven't had a lot of love for Android in the past, but this combination of form factor and the pressure-sensitive stylus has me warming to the idea.  The Galaxy Tab 8.0 has 1.5GB RAM, 16GB Storage, and a SnapDragon 800 1.5Ghz processor, giving it plenty of power to run any application.  When combined with the ChromeCast it becomes an easy home entertainment center as well.  The thing that I love the most is the stylus and how easily it adapts to drawing and note taking.  If you miss the days of your Palm Pilot and decent handwriting recognition, but want a display large enough to comfortably read book and watch video, this is the tablet to get for now.

Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Center

The Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player

A handheld that knows what it is and does itself proud, I love having 80 Genesis classics at my finger tips for some retro gaming on demand.  It's downfall is that it doesn't save game progress, so RPG mainstays like Phantasy Star would be pointless. If you are looking to re-gain some of your youth and are OK with only having the platform and arcade titles to draw from, you can do a lot worse than this $59 wonder.

Sega Genesis Arcade Nano - Virtua Fighter Edition

The Sega Genesis Arcade Nano

This little wonder serves to illustrate just how far computing and video games have come in my lifetime.  This little keychain has as much computing power as the Sega Genesis console, and includes the contents of 10 game cartidges besides.  Easily hooks up to any TV and provides quick easy gaming fun for you or your kids.  For $19.99 you can't go wrong.  Also available in a puzzle games version with Columns and 9 other titles.

Credit Card Lightbulb

The Credit Card Light Bulb

Not much surprise here.  Flip up the bulb and it turns on.  Fairly bright and super reliable.  Would be great for emergency kits and cars, or to carry in your gear bag just in case.

 

Impossible Instant Lab

The Impossible Instant Lab

 This was one of the first really big KickStarter campaigns to draw wide-spread attention, and there is good reason.  With photo applications like Instagram and Hipstamatic taking over the camera phone market with their oddly retro photo effects, bringing back physical old school poloroids isn't a huge jump.  Being able to attach your iPhone to the device and transfer your instagram greatness in physical form is pretty cool, but can get expensive due to hard-to-find film cartidges.  Impossible thought this through though, and they have supplies available to keep you in instamatic film for as long as you would like.  The film is still a bit pricey (a 10 shot cartridge still runs about $25), but the novelty makes it a huge hit.  Available from Impossible for $299.00

 

Big Drew's Redneck Tech Sale

Ok Folks, I am running out of room in my den for all of the review units I recieve.  My lack of space is your gain, as I have a ton of things to get rid of that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Below is the list with what I believe to be fair market value:

Redneck Tech Sale

iPad 3 - 64GB, LTE Verizon - $500
Microsoft Surface - 64GB w/ Touch Cover - $450
Impossible Lab w/ 3 packages of film - KickStarter Edition - $200
Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 16GB with White Leather case - $350
Pinball Duo iPad Pinball Controller - $15
iCade iPad Arcade controller - $85
Blackberry Playbook 64GB - $175
Sphero remote controlled ball - $75
OUYA Video Game System - KickStarter Edition - $150
Hype Bluetooth speaker phone - $25
Infinitec TV Stick - KickStarter Edition - $100
iCade Duo Atari arcade controller - $15
Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi - $50
Sega Genesis Arcade Nano - Virtua Fighter Edition - $15
Poloroid Z340 digital camera (14.1 Megapixel) with built in zInk printer - $300
NuMark TTusb Turntable - $100
Dozens of iPad and iPad mini cases - $15-$55 each
6 Disc DVD Duplicator - $450
lomography Smartphone Film Scanner - $50
iD America Crosslink multi-cable (has Micro USB, 30 Pin, and Lightning adapter) - $15/each
6-String mini guitar kit - $65
Kobo Reader eInk ebook device - $25
12 Boxes 1991 ProSet Super Stars Musi-cards (10 series I, 2 series II) - $35/box

 

 

 

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