Sennheiser IE 800 and Shure SE846 headphones [dual review]: Epic battle of the tiny giants

I’ve recently reviewed two $99 in-ear headphone offerings, from Sennheiser and Shure, that brought lots of bang for the relatively affordable buck. Now it’s time to bring out the big guns. If you’ve been keeping up with my headphone reviews, you can probably guess I’m somewhat an audiophile. This means that when I wanted to know how well flagship earphones perform, I dived in.

Sennheiser and Shure are two of my favorite headphone manufacturers, and both of their top-of-the-line earphones launched at a blistering $1,000. If you’re floored by that fact, welcome to the world of high-end In-Ear Monitors (IEMs). My obsession/curiosity has eventually led me to own both the IE 800 and SE846 (I know I’m crazy, you don’t have to tell me). So I saw a rare opportunity to do a head-on review, of both at the same time!

Shure SE846

Sennheiser IE 800

There’s a reason why I have both. Sennheiser and Shure take completely different approaches to earphones. These guys might as well be arch-rivals. The design, technology, and sound they’ve gone with couldn’t be more different, which makes them both excel in different ways. Let’s get into what makes these top-dollar earphones tick, and which pair you should leap into if your curiosity also gets the best of you!

Design

I wasn’t kidding when I said that the Sennheiser IE 800 and Shure SE846 couldn’t be more different. Just take a look at them side-by-side.

The size, shape, materials, audio driver technology, and even how you wear them are completely on different ends of the spectrum. It’s really interesting to me that both of these companies are aiming at perfection, but they don’t converge on any design aspect at all. The sound output is also just as different, but we’ll get to that later in the review.

The IE 800’s earpiece is built out of an unconventional ceramic housing. A glossy finish is laid on the material, to give it a shiny, expensive appearance and feel. I would say that out of the two, the IE 800 is more subtle about its lavish upbringing. It is small and black – a description for most earphones on the market. Although, a design feature you won’t find on any other earphone is bass ports protruding from the back of the earpiece.

The chassis smoothly tapers down to these two tiny holes, which are meant to equalize the pressure buildup from the bass output in your ear canal with the outside. The IE 800 produce among the deepest bass reproduction I’ve heard, and a large part of that is thanks to these bass ports. In case you’re wondering about sound leak, you won’t hear any audio escape from these tiny openings.

Now, Shure on the other hand went with a less refined approach. The SE846 follows its legacy pod design language, only with the extra technology crammed in. With Shure, it’s all about what’s under the hood. A good analogy is to think of the Shure earphone as a muscle car and the Sennheiser as a sophisticated german sports car, which is actually totally appropriate, because Shure is in fact an American brand while Sennheiser is a German company.

Therefore, the SE846’s chassis is merely plastic. But that in no ways means that it’s inferior build-wise, it’s as durable as they come. The feel just doesn’t back the exorbitant price tag. However, Shure does somewhat sidestep that fact by making the earpiece transparent and showing you exactly what your money bought you – technology.

The reason the SE846’s earpiece is so much bigger than the IE 800 is because it utilizes four audio drivers (per earpiece). That is, four Balanced Armature (BA) drivers in tandem, each assigned to their own frequency range and output in sync (without conflict). The clear earpiece lets you see the arrangement of micro drivers. If your eyes are good enough, you can even see the laser-etched labeling on each component. It’s unique and pretty darn neat to look at.

In contrast, the IE 800 only uses one driver, based on more conventional dynamic driver technology. But with that said, there’s nothing conventional about the way that Sennheiser produced it. Despite being tiny (only 7mm), it has an extra wide band (XWB) transducer, capable of an insane frequency response range of 8 – 41,000 Hz. I won’t get into the BA vs. Dynamic Driver discussion here, but just be aware that they excel at different aspects in the sound. Many high-end earphone manufacturers have moved on to BA drivers (some even packing 12 drivers per earpiece), but Sennheiser is sticking to its roots and proclaiming that the dynamic driver produces the truest sound.

Pulling out the eartips reveals more design differences. The SE846 have slender, metal nozzles, while the outlets on the IE 800 are stubbier and wider.

The IE 800 has a metal mesh screen to come between your earwax and the internals. The SE846 doesn’t have a protective mesh on the nozzle (maybe because it’s so thin), but Shure did put it on the eartip.

There is an interesting feature within the SE846’s nozzle. Shure incorporated a filter system, which allows the user to do a hardware tweak of the sound signature.

It’s pretty easy to do. The SE846’s packaging includes a key tool for twisting off the nozzle cap. When you pull the nozzle out, you’ll see the colored filter sitting in there. There are three different sets of filters to choose from. Each filter has a differing density of foam, which blocks or allows a certain frequency range (1 kHz to 8 kHz) to pass through, by 2.5 dB. The effect is either a brighter (more treble) or warmer (less treble) sound.

The change affects bass by perception. When the treble is recessed, bass is more prominent, and vice versa. It’s certainly fun to play around with the different sounds, and discover what your ears like best. The stock filter (blue) is neutral – no alteration to Shure’s sound.

The differences between these two earphones continue down the cables. The IE 800 has a slender, pure copper cable, reinforced by a woven kevlar (41″ in total length; 10″ from earpiece to y-splitter). I think it looks sleek, and the small footprint (together with the tiny earpieces) makes it feel like there’s barely anything in your pocket. The SE846 on the other hand are made of nickle-plated copper and have a slightly thicker, clear cable. It’s a less refined feel, but solid.

A notable mention about Shure’s design is that the cable is removable. It uses a MMCX connector standard, which means that you can pop the earpiece right off.

This capability opens the doors to third-party cables. For instance, if you wanted different materials or lengths (Shure actually included two stock cables in the packaging – one at 46″ and the other at 64″ in total length; 16″ from the y-splitter). But probably the most important thing is if your cable fails, that doesn’t mean that your earphones are done for.

The cable on the IE 800 aren’t removable at the earpiece, but rather, on the y-splitter (via a 2.5mm jack). Despite Sennheiser’s previous flagship being detachable (the IE 80), the manufacturer forwent the feature with the IE 800. But at least, with respect to cable failure, there’s redundancy from being a two-part cable.

I think the only thing the same about these two earphones is that their 3.5mm jacks are both right-angled.

Usability

The SE846’s cable curves from the earpiece by design (via a stiff, memory shrink-wrapping). It’s meant to route around the ear. The IE 800 on the other hand is the more traditional just stick in and you’re done. This totally comes down to user preference, but there are definite pros and cons. Resting the cable around your ears tremendously helps microphonics (noise from the cable rubbing on you). However, it’s much easier to don/doff the earpiece by just sticking it in and letting the cable fall. I prefer the latter, but have come to appreciate the around-ear method over time. The fit is more secure, as pulling down the cable pulls on your ear rather than the earpiece.

I will say that Shure does need to work on its cable ergonomics. The thicker shrink-wrapping that maintains the hook shape is pretty darn stiff, so instead of snugly hugging your ear, it springs up when fitted. The stiffness does loosen up over time, but never to my satisfaction. I ended up buying a thinner, third-party cable.

When talking about earphones, eartips are a hot topic. Both fit and seal are of the utmost importance, or else you won’t have the intended enjoyment. Additionally, eartip material plays a part in how the sound comes through. For instance, while foam tips isolate better than silicone, they can dampen bass.

The IE 800 comes with a variety of silicone tip sizes. There are also two differing shapes among those – circular and oval. Sennheiser is confident that your ear canal will find one that it likes. It took some playing around for me to determine a suitable shape. While the tips are flexible, they’re firm, so you’ll get a push-back if the tip can’t go any further (the earpiece is tiny, so it can go pretty deep in the ear). While the seal is maintained during light movement, it does come out pretty easily. I wouldn’t recommend the IE 800 for exercising; only if you stay put for the most part.

Shure includes both foam and silicone tips in the SE846’s packaging. Its signature “Olives” are installed out of the box. I’m torn between them. They isolate really well (and last longer than any other foam tip I’ve used), but they sound slightly muffled compared to the silicone tips. That’s the trade-off I talked about. However, it’s nice to have the choice. I use the silicone tips regularly and switch to foam in noisy environments.

I must mention that because the IE 800 has such a short nozzle, the tips are a proprietary design. There’s a thin grove on the nozzle that the tip’s internal lining has to match up to, for a secure fit. Therefore, the success rate with a third-party eartip (Comply foam tips, for instance) will be low to none.

Sound

*For my listening, I use the LG V10 (HiFi SABRE 9018 DAC setting) and Tidal HiFi music samples.

Before I get into the audio details, there’s a little background story that I feel is relevant to the experience with these earphones. When I tried them, I had no intention to own both. But I didn’t expect the decision on which to be so hard to make. What’s crazy is that they both excel in different ways; actually, they have what each other is missing (I’ll get to this shortly). But the exorbitant price tags meant I could only pick one. I went with the SE846, because it was closer to my preferred sound signature.

Only, after time went by, I couldn’t stop thinking about the IE 800. Elements in its performance are just unforgettable. So despite the impracticality, I saved up and bought it. Now, I switch between them almost daily and couldn’t be more happy. They bring very different experiences to the same music.

So let’s go over what I’m specifically going on about. The two things that won me over on the SE846 were the mids (mid-range frequencies) and the bass output from Shure’s uniquely designed low-pass filter.

Shure is known for giving special attention to the mid-range frequencies (vocals, guitar strums). Pushing them forward gives a satisfying fullness and lushness to the overall experience. It’s more engaging and vocalists sound so realistic and present, giving off a moving and intimate feel.

SE846 low-pass filter component

The low-pass filter adds another level of depth, that earphones haven’t achieved before – a subwoofer-like reproduction to the bass. Shure created a special acoustic pathway that gets triggered from 75 Hz (upper sub-bass to mid-bass range), made out of tiny welded plates with differing cutouts. It simuates the subwoofer roll-off effect (rumble), and you bet it works! I listen to quite a bit of Rock music and this is how the SE846 initally won me over.

I would say that the treble range is not Shure’s strong suit. Not saying that it’s not detailed or articulated well (it better be at this price-point!), but the presence and reach could be refined. It’s a consensus with SE846 users that the upper-end of the treble drops off; not extending as far as it should (i.e. sparkle on high-pitched instruments). I also find it a tad too recessed, but fortunately the filter system allows you to tweak that.

IE 800 exploded view

What’s interesting is that the IE 800’s strengths and weaknesses are almost completely opposite. The treble detail is what hit me off the bat; the IE 800 brings it all forward. It’s amazing. You hear things in music that you’ve never noticed before. Usually, it takes experience to gain a fine-tuned ear to notice these kind of details. But Sennheiser says “Screw that” and makes it loud and clear. I kinda thought in my first impression that the reproduction was artificial; it’s just hard to believe.

Next is that beautiful low-end bass response. Where the SE846 largely excels at mid-bass (80 – 150 Hz range), the IE 800 brings the best sub-bass I’ve heard (0 – 80 Hz). Sub-bass is comprised of both hearing and feeling, and the IE 800 completely nails it. It’s quite unbelievable that these tiny earpieces can do that.

Everything about the sub-bass is exquisite (definition, depth, and impact). When the music calls for it, the extension reaches deep into your skull. Now, I’m not talking about boomy, “Beats” kind of bass. Sennheiser has delicacy in its presentation. It’s silky smooth and delicious – where bass is something to savor, not indulge in. The bass ports must be what allows the bass to reach this depth (or else I think the pressure in your ear canal would induce a headache).

But the mids aren’t as strong/impactful as on the SE846. I wouldn’t call them recessed; the IE 800’s sound signature is very balanced. It’s just, when you hear the SE846’s fullness, it can feel like something’s missing in other headphones. I eventually managed to look past that; not calling one better but embracing the differing excellence that they offer.

Lastly, regarding soundstage (the acoustic spacing that the earphones simulate), I would give the win to the IE 800. While the SE846 covers a wide space (outward from your ears), the IE 800’s audio better simulates a 3D space around your head. This gives the IE 800 an advantage with imaging (placement of instruments in that virtual space). Both do it well, but the IE 800 has an extra level of depth.

Final Thoughts

When you plainly look at the stark size differences between these two earphones, it’s quite remarkable that they can compete. Shure goes with brute force and power, while Sennheiser keeps true to its finesse and technological expertise. I love those two approaches equally, so I found myself torn right down the middle.

If you ever get the chance to try them, don’t turn it down. It’s amazing and exciting where high-end earphones are heading these days. The IE 800 have dropped down from their initial $1K price tag, to $799, while the SE846 are still up there. Hit up the official details on these two amazing earphones in the links below.

Sennheiser IE 800 | Shure SE846

FUGOO Sport Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker review

Every year for the Fourth of July, I host a party with food, fun, and fireworks. The turnout is always good, but every year I run into the same problem; where to put my out of date stereo on the patio. There is only one outlet outside and it is right above where all the coolers go, so every time a guest wanted a drink, I had to move the stereo.

This year, that all changes when I break out my new Sport Bluetooth wireless speaker by FUGOO.

Design

This first thing you notice about this product is its sleek design. There are speakers literally all over this product resulting in 360 degrees of quality sound. This speaker boasts many features, including two neodymium tweeters (clear highs), subs for a midrange punch, and two passive radiators for deep bass. Moreover, it also offers up a digital signal path to help avoid interference and an air-tight seal for acoustic efficiency.

Specs

• 40 hr battery life
• Bluetooth wireless connectivity up to 33 feet
• 95dB SPL-A @ 0.5 meters
• 60Hz-20KHz
• Micro-USB for charging and updates
• 3.5mm audio input for wired connection
• Waterproof up to 3ft
• 1-year limited warranty

Setup

Setting up the speaker is a snap; first, you’ll want to charge it up using the microUSB connector. The Sport also comes with an AC adapter for quicker juicing up. From zero, it ought to take about three hours to fully top off. Fully charged, you’re set for 40 hours of battery life.

Turning the speaker on, the FUGOO Sport has an indicator light to notify users that it’s powered up. Pairing is done with the press of a dedicated Bluetooth button and comes quick and easy. On top of the unit are volume buttons flanking the power button.

Once you sync the FUGOO Sport to your favorite device, you’re off and running, ready to listen to your favorite iHeart radio stations or streaming audio. But, should a phone call come in, you can answer it and have your conversation right through the speaker. Indeed, the built-in microphone turns your speaker into a speakerphone.

Included in the box is a 3.5mm cable which allows for direct connection. This is a handy solution for those of you who might like to keep the speaker in one place, say a desk, for instance. Keep it in a conference room and connect a smartphone and you’ll have a great companion for remote calls.

Sound

Along with the ease of setup and the durable craftsmanship, this speaker also has excellent sound quality. I like a lot of different genres of music and played them all with the FUGOO Sport. I tested everything from heavy metal to thumpin’ hip hop. The sound came through clear as a bell with no distortion whatsoever.

I also hooked the unit up to my computer and used to listen to online school classes. No matter where I’ve used the speaker (basement, work, basketball practice) sound was always great.

The phone feature is nice as well; I’ve had a handful of people call me to test it out. The sound was decent, static-free, however, there was an occasional and slight lag in conversation from receiver to reception.

Versatility

If you don’t like the look of your speaker, there are two other jackets you can get: Style, Tough. Additionally, you can also purchase accessories such as a bike mount, a remote, a strap mount and a multimount. The FUGOO setup is not only highly portable with great sound, but it’s very versatile and can adapt to your changing needs.

Where to Buy

If you’re in the market for a Bluetooth speaker solution that offers excellent sound and flexibility, you’ll definitely want to consider the FUGOO Sport. Currently, you’ll find it on sale for about $170 through the manufacturer’s website. Looking to Amazon, we find about the same cost. On a normal day, you might see it fetch about $200; such is the case with Best Buy.

Nitro Dash – OH NOOO! (review)

Overview

Nitro Dash is a fast paced endless runner that has you hijacking cars, running from the cops, hitting pedestrians and causing utter mayhem for as long as possible. Success is measured 1km at a time.

Setup

Nitro Dash is a breeze to setup. Simply download the game from the Google Play store, find it on your device and click the icon.

When you first open the game, you will be asked to approve certain permissions for the game. The permissions are needed for the game’s public scoreboard mechanic. If you are not comfortable granting these permissions, the game is still playable if you deny them.

Gameplay

Nitro Dash’s gameplay has made this one of the most difficult reviews I’ve ever written. One minute, I love this game. The next minute, I hate it.

Nitro Dash’s description classifies it as a racing game. I disagree with this. Nitro Dash is an endless runner. There is no finish line. There is no end goal. Nitro Dash is all about surviving as long as possible, with success being measured in kilometers.

As an endless runner, Nitro Dash is great. As an endless runner with a Grand Theft Auto twist…sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t. Allow me to elaborate:

Nitro Dash’s levels are “procedurally generated.” I place procedurally generated in quotes because I am not sure if procedurally generated is appropriate to describe this games level design system. You will only see three environments: Neighborhood, Desert, City.

All three are seemingly the same each time. The only difference I really ever noticed was in the amount of traffic on the roads (and maybe the pedestrian count). Sometimes the traffic was light to moderate, while other times it was heavy to ridiculous. The roads could literally become so congested that you were lucky to even make it 1 km.

Do you think you can beat this score?

Your first obstacle to overcome in Nitro Dash is to not crash. Had this been Nitro Dash’s only obstacle, I probably would have given this game a perfect score. However, crashing is not your only concern.

Your vehicles in Nitro Dash lose consistent amounts of fuel as you drive. If your car becomes damaged, you will begin to lose fuel at an even higher rate. You’ve crashed your car once. The car is on fire, you’re one wreck away from an explosive death (cars in Nitro Dash can only survive one collision) and the fuel gauge is showing empty. What do you do? Why, hijack another car, of course!

Hijacking is accomplished by getting into close proximity with another vehicle and pressing the jump button. This mechanic has two glaring flaws:

You can’t specify which car you want to jump to
The jump button is unforgivingly small

There were plenty of occasions where I ended up jumping into an exploding car because I did not have the ability to choose what are I wanted to hijack.

The jump button’s size made it difficult to hijack cars in hairy situations while trying to keep track of my fuel and traffic. There were times when the Jump button seemed to not even respond at all when I actually was able to press it.

The key to success in this game is learning to hijack cars effectively. Unfortunately, this feature just doesn’t fit well in this game. You’re having to avoid traffic, monitor your fuel, time your hijack jumps and on top of that, make sure you hit the tiny jump button.

The game is just too fast paced to allow you to effectively monitor each of these elements. The game would be a lot more fun if all you had to do was drive and not crash. There are the occasional wrench power ups that can restore your car’s health, as well as the occasional gas can that can replenish your car’s fuel. These power ups can be difficult to get to and really offer very little in the way of help. Even after collecting one or the other, I still did not stay in that vehicle for any substantial amount of time rendering them pointless to even try and get to.

In addition to all of the hazards previously mentioned, there are also cops in the game. The cops will risk life and limb to destroy you if they catch you running over a pedestrian or if you crash into them. The game provides you a Nitro button to help you evade the police, but quite honestly, it’s useless.

You basically have no control over your car when you are using nitro and you just cannot expect go faster, have little to no steering and hope to avoid the copious amounts of traffic on the roads. Your car can survive one wreck. Wreck two equals boom. Nitro only hastens boom.

Boom!

To add insult to injury, not only is the Nitro button (and feature) useless; it’s also two times the size of the jump button!

Controls

Nitro Dash offers two control schemes:

Tilt – uses your device’s accelerometer to allow you to control your vehicle by physically tilting your device
On screen controls – your vehicle is controlled via a small virtual steering wheel on the bottom left of the screen

Both control schemes work well. I am not a big fan of tilt controls but I think they work better in Nitro Dash than the on screen controls.

Additional Content

Nitro Dash offers you a total of 12 characters to unlock. Each character comes with their own unique vehicle. Characters can be unlocked using coins or gears.

Enter In App Purchases. 

There are two ways to obtain the in-game currency:

You can collect coins and gears while playing the game. You will find both scattered about on the game’s roads.
You can purchase gears using real money via In-App Purchases.

How does Nitro Dash encourage you to spend your hard earned money? Well, you can unlock further characters using gears or coins, but if you want to continue a game without losing your progress, it will cost you 20 gears.

That’s right. It’s either Game Over, lose your progress, or 20 gears. Or you can watch a video…

You have only about two seconds to decide

It won’t take long for you to discover this. When you start your first game, a game tips box will appear on the screen. Typically, a game will pause in the background when tips are being displayed. Not Nitro Dash. The game will just start in the background and your car will begin cruising down the street whether you are ready or not (and you won’t be). Do you read the tips, or do you crash?

You will crash. After your car explodes, you are given the choice: early male pattern baldness, 20 gears or watch an ad. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

I CHOSE TO SPEND THE GEARS!!!!

In my time with the game, I never chose to spend gears or watch a video. I just started over. Thanks Indy!

You did great, kid!

The unlockable characters had no real advantage over each other. There really wasn’t a noticeable difference in the cars that came with them. The unlockable characters appear to be more about playing with a character that suits your aesthetic preference versus having any strategic advantage in who you choose.

Sound

Let’s change gears and talk about what Nitro Dash does right.

The sound design in the game is EXCELLENT! The music is fun and fits the game’s theme and pacing quite well. The sound effects are top notch. The pedestrian screams, crash sound effects and explosions all sound great.

What I love most about the game’s sound is the over the top Jimmy Hart announcer that yells “OH NOOOO!” after you explode.

Graphics

Nitro Dash looks phenomenal! It’s like Grand Theft Auto, Temple Run and Minecraft had a baby. From the cutesy boxy graphics to the impressive particle effects; Nitro Dash is sure to please those looking for top notch graphics in their game.

Performance

Nitro Dash ran pretty well on both devices I played it on.  There is a High Quality Graphics option, but I’ll discuss that more in a moment.

At default graphics, Nitro Dash ran pretty well on my mid-range ZTE ZMAX 2. There was a little stutter but for the most part, the game ran like a champ.

Oddly, the game only played slightly better, with default graphics, on my NVIDIA Shield K1. This really baffled me, given that the Shield K1 is designed specifically for gaming; which leads me to my next point.

Nitro Dash ran poorly on both of my device’s with High Quality Graphics enabled. It was playable on both devices, but there was a a noticeable difference in performance.

With High Quality Graphics enabled, Nitro Dash ran about as well on the Shield K1 as it did at default graphics on the ZMAX 2.

On the ZMAX 2, High Quality Graphics caused the game to have a noticeable drop in frame rate and very noticeable stutter.

Bugs

There was only one major bug that I ran across that deserves mention:

• I only experienced this once. On one particular occasion of playing the game on my ZMAX 2, the game randomly decided to start itself almost immediately after the loading screen (without any input from me). When the game became playable, I was unable to control my vehicle and would crash. *IKCstudio – the only info I can provide you on this is that I was messing around with Zooper Widgets prior to playing the game on this occasion. The widget application did seem to cause some unnatural behavior on my phone, so the two may be related.

One Last Gripe

I have one final complaint about Nitro Dash. This is more for the benefit of IKCstudio than anyone else.

The game’s description really needs to be rewritten. When I was first assigned this review, I read the game’s description and I was immediately filled with excitement and anticipation. I thought I was going to be playing a portable version of something akin to Retro City Rampage.

Because what I played was so much different than the description I read, it really left a bad taste in my mouth. This bad taste made it quite difficult for me, in the beginning, to see and appreciate this game’s merits because I was judging them against what this game was said to be versus what it is.

Netscape Navigator: The Return, starring Dolph Lundgren

I may infect you. I apologize ahead of time.

This game has ads. They aren’t all that intrusive but was concerns me about them is their content. When I first started playing this game, I was consistently seeing ads that were encouraging me to click them to scan my device for performance issues, or to click them for a virus scan. Usually, I see these ads as malvertising and avoid them like the plague. The presence of these ads is concerning and needs to be addressed by IKCstudio.

Malvertising

I am playing a game on a mobile device in 2016; not surfing the web in 1996 using Netscape Navigator

Conclusion

Nitro Dash is a diamond in the rough. The game has lots of potential. It’s difficult for me to judge the game harshly because it is blatantly obvious that this game is a labor of love for IKCstudio. I have no doubt that they put a great deal of work into this game. Nitro Dash is challenging and can be lots of fun. Thankfully, the game has just enough charm to allow you to look past its flaws and see the true substance that lies deep beneath the surface.

Five for Friday – Apps to track your health and wellness.

We live in an age where most people are conscious about what they eat and how much they exercise, in some form or another. We’re conscious of fat intake, calories, carbs, protein, cardio…the list goes on and on, really. Actually keeping track of all that can be a challenge, especially if you’re working on a diet of some kind that prohibits or restricts one of more of those categories.

Smartphones, as with so many other things in the modern existence, can make this tremendously easier with the right app and a proper application of thumb (or finger) pressure. As such, I present you AndroidGuys’ Five for Friday; Apps to track your health and wellness. Five applications for your Android smartphone that can track food, exercise, and potentially even offer advice on how to improve both.

Built in recipes are unique to Everyday Health.

Calorie Counter – by Everyday Wellness

• Barcode scanning, manual entry, and database selection of foods and meals.
• Database of exercises.
• Database of healthy foods and meals, including recipes.
• Community forums on a variety of health topics, including mental health.
• Full registration at startup.

Share your progress with health professionals.

Calorie Counter – by FatSecret

• Quick signup (Google or Facebook).
• Searchable food and exercise databases.
• Ability to export nutrition and exercise reports.
• Sleep tracker.
• Ability to share your progress with a health professional of your choice.

Lose It!’s fun UI sets it apart.

Lose It! – by FitNow, Inc.

• Unique, intuitive User Interface.
• Social features – connect with your friends to help each other reach your goals.
• Challenges – turn health and nutrition into a game.
• Searchable food and exercise database.

SparkPeople’s Calorie Tracker has a wide, wide variety of options.

Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker – by SparkPeople

• Quick signup (Facebook)
• Reminder and tips via notifications.
• Health and Wellness news stories within app.
• SparkPoints – achievements based on activities and nutrition.
• Built-in coaching and tips.
• Social Features

MyFitnessPal – my personal choice of Calorie Trackers.

Calorie Counter – MyFitnessPal

• Social Features
• Quick signup
• Database of custom foods submitted by users.
• Under Armour supported.
• Custom reminders and notifications.

Pixel RPG Clicker: Wait, this is supposed to be fun? (review)

Overview

Your Android (be it a smartphone & tablet) is an amazing device, capable of incredibly complex gaming controls, graphics, sound, and strategy options. The combination of these options provides a wealth of gaming choices. Amongst this spectrum of lifelike gaming choices is a much more simple matter of digital goal-reaching, one that includes all the brainpower of repeatedly tapping the screen.

You heard me correctly; the control scheme of such a game includes nothing more than tapping your screen, over and over and over and over. Such a game is Pixel RPG Clicker by from Skarwild. Today I’m going to take you on a tour of such a game, but to be honest it’s going to be a pretty short ride.

Setup

Setup is pretty easy; download from the Play Store. You can link to your Google Play Games account, if you’d like.

Gameplay

The idea behind such a simple game is just that: instead of dealing with the complexities of a traditional RPG (Role Playing Game), like managing multiple quests, numerous relationships, and sometimes intricate control schemes, the idea here is to satisfy your inner-fantasy-hero with just a tap of the screen. You start with easy enemies to slay, using basic weapons.  Each enemy has a certain number of “hit points” you need to reach in order to conquer it. Each weapon has varying amount of Hit Points (HP) available with each strike (screen tap). As you kill enemies by repeatedly tapping on your screen, you gain money. This money can be used for several things:

• Upgrading your current weapon.
• Acquiring a new weapon (and then upgrading it).
• Hiring other heroes with specific skills.

You also gain experience points (xp) with each enemy killed. These xp allow you to unlock your own special skills to become more efficient at slaying your enemies.
This game goes on forever… at least I think it could. There are (seemingly unlimited) levels.  Each level has 10 enemies to kill, in increasing difficulty; difficulty being defined by how my Hit Points it takes to kill them.  The 10th enemy is always a boss, with a much higher Hit Point total that the previous 9.

Usually by this enemy, you should have acquired enough coins to upgrade your weaponry to kill that boss. Once you kill that level’s boss, it’s on to the next level where you start attacking (tapping the screen) the next 10 enemies standing in your way. The visuals of the enemies is a looping set of about eight different creatures, and they take turns swapping places in the line of 1 to 10 (or boss).

I’m to understand there’s a storyline driving this game, but I neither was presented it in its entirety nor did I have the patience to seek it out.

The graphics are the colorful 8-bit affair; actually pretty well-done for those of us old enough to remember the arcade D&D games.  Sound & music is also a plus, with good fantasy-hero orchestrals that fit will with the quest at hand.

Summary

Ok, I’m going to give myself some credit here. I had personally not heard of these 1-tap RPG games before downloading Pixel RPG Clicker. And within five minutes of starting gameplay, I was pretty lost. I didn’t understand that all there was to playing this game was tapping the screen as fast as I could (not counting going to the inventory to spend my money from time-to-time). I got frustrated at first and set it aside for a few days, not wanting to continue.

But a trip to Chicago (and a long train ride) ensued, and I gave it some time. I have to admit I got into getting to and killing the next boss in line a little bit, but after a while it petered out. I got to level 27 before writing this review, and that’s as far as I’ll get, forever. Maybe I’m old. Maybe I’m more of a traditional RPG gamer at heart. Or maybe I just don’t get it. But I think my wife summed up these types of games when she watched me play it for a few minutes while on our train ride when she said, “That’s it?”.

Traffic Rider – Console quality racing in a mobile package (review)

Overview

Traffic Rider is a fast paced racing game that has you speeding down perilous, traffic filled highways, on a motorcycle, trying to complete specific objectives. As you complete each race, you earn gold and in game currency that you can use towards upgrading and unlocking motorbikes.

Developer: Soner Kara

Price: Free (Ad Supported, In-App Purchases)

Highlights

• Fast paced, fluid racing
• Console quality graphics
• Great sense of speed
• Challenging
• Multiple game modes including: Career, Endless, Time Trial, Free Ride
• Day and Night cycles in races

 Impressions

I loved Traffic Rider in the beginning. The game looked good. It felt good. I could feel the speed as I was barreling down a highway at 130 km/hr, all the while avoiding traffic. I was hooked.

The game starts you out with a simple moped. Doesn’t sound like much, but the bike flies. Looks are very deceiving with this one.

Deceiving, this one is.

As you complete races, you earn money and gold which you can use towards upgrading, customizing and buying new bikes. There’s also a leveling system that determines what bikes and game modes are available to you.

So there I was, racing my way through the career map when suddenly, I was thrust upon the foe that eventually defeated me: Overtake missions.

The look of defeat

Overtake missions can feel impossible. They are so difficult, so frustrating, SO ridiculous that they eventually made me want to stop playing this game.

They did.

The last mission I played (and could not get past) tasked me with achieving 30 overtakes in 60 seconds. This sounds easy enough, but when you stop and consider that an overtake in this game means bringing your motorbike to within inches (yes, inches) of a vehicle as you pass it at high speed, you can begin to understand the frustration.

If you crash, you will re-spawn where you died, but the timer will still be going and before you can perform any further overtakes, you’ll have to get back up to high speed, which can take several seconds.

Also bear in mind that at the beginning of an overtake race, it can take you upwards of three to five seconds to even get to a vehicle that you can overtake; and that’s only if you’ve reached what the game considers to be high speed.

You can earn more time by performing overtakes, but that time is to the tune of 1/10th of a second per overtake. Not much help.

Short and sweet version: If you crash you’re going to fail the overtake mission. No doubt about it.

The game has a great number of ads in it and they are quite intrusive. The ads range from banner ads to full page ads with videos. I experienced, several times, a bug that caused my phone to go to sleep after a race ended. Every time this happened, I would wake my phone up and some sort of ad had loaded. Every time.

It was very apparent to me, very early on (by mission five in fact) that this game uses tried and true methods to get you to spend real money. How do they do this? Bear with me here, because I have to dive into a conspiracy theory to explain this:

If you fail a race, you can continue from where your race ended, but it will cost you.

Give us your money

You have two options:

Spend gold for a continue (you can only do this twice per race)
Watch an ad for a continue ( you can only do this once per race)

Should you decide to pay the cost of one of these continues (30 seconds of your life you can’t get back, or in-game gold which is very limited) you are awarded with 10 seconds.

On rare occasions, this may be enough for you to finish the race. However, when you start getting missions that require 30 overtakes in 60 seconds, you’re going to end up purchasing continues left and right.

Before you know it, you’re going to be out of coins. What do you do? Trade 30 seconds of your life over and over again in exchange for 10 extra seconds in a race, or do you just take a few seconds and spend a couple of bucks to buy a large quantity of gold?

Spending the money seems to be the easiest route to take and, seemingly, fixes your problem.

Do you see the manipulation?

It’s not as obvious as a pay wall is in a game like Sim City: Build It, but the manipulation is there.

Sound

The game’s sound is adequate. There’s nothing spectacular about it, but it gets the job done. There’s very little variety in the bike sounds and the menu music gets irritating after a while.

Controls

Despite all of this game’s negatives, the controls really shine. Tilt and on-screen controls both felt very accurate and responsive.

I would advise against the ‘Buttons’ control option. It just didn’t feel right.

If you want to use on screen controls, go for the ‘Handlebars’ option.

What I Like

• Accurate and responsive controls (with the exception of the ‘Buttons’ option)
• Fantastic graphics
• Great sense of speed
• Console game feel

What I Don’t Like

• Sound
• Frequent and overly intrusive ads

  

  Goood. Goood. Let the hate flow through you!

• Overtake missions

Conclusion

I really, really enjoyed Traffic Rider when I first started playing it. Unfortunately, the game’s intrusive ads and overtake missions ruined the experience for me and made me not want to come back.

Google Play Store – Traffic Rider