Syllable G600 headphones (review)

It’s not necessarily a rare thing to find a great pair of headphones for $30. On the other hand, finding an amazing pair of headphones for $30 is. I have made such a discovery with the Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio headphones. Here are my thoughts.

Technical Specs

• Active noise cancelling technology
• Dual audio drivers on each side
• 2 hour charge time
• Up to 12 hours of playback time
• *250 hours standby time
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Built in HD microphone with noise cancelling technology
• 1 year manufacturer warranty

Design

These headphones look great. The exterior is made of a shiny black plastic with a Porsche red, rubber interior padding. The headphone cups themselves are also constructed from a shiny black plastic with a matte black padding inside.

On the right earphone you will find the power, volume, fast forward and rewind keys. The fast forward and rewind keys also double as the volume up and volume down keys. I personally do not like this design choice but it gets the job done.

On the left earphone you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack. The addition of this jack is fantastic because it allows you to the use the headphones wired if the battery has died. All you need to do is plug one end of the included male 3.5mm to male 3.5mm cable into the headphones and the other end into the device of your choice.

As much as I love the design of these headphones, they have one glaring flaw: the word “SYLLABLE” monogrammed in giant, white letters on both sides of the headband. Even with this small flaw, these headphones look and feel great. The build quality is superb and really makes you feel like you are using a $100 pair of headphones instead of a $30 pair.

Sound

The Syllable G600’s sound great. These headphones, hands down, are the best I have ever used. In fact, I would stack the G600’s against any pair of Beats by Dre studio headphones and wager that users would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test. But I must disclose that I have not owner a pair of Beats.

The bass, highs, mids and lows all sound phenomenal and in perfect balance. I literally have no complaints about the sound produced by the Syllable G600’s.

Battery Life/Functionality/Comfort

Even with extended use, the Syllable G600’s stayed pretty comfortable. There might have been some minor fatigue here and there, but it was so slight that I didn’t feel the need to take the headphones off because of it.

On the battery life front, I got about 8-12 hours of use with the Syllable’s connected to a Bluetooth device (usually my tablet). The included 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male cable allows you to continue to use the headphones after the battery has died. I love this feature and I am so glad that Syllable had the forethought to include it.

As far as the Bluetooth connection goes, I have no complaints. I noticed little to no skipping in my music while using the Syllables, and any that I did expereince was more likely caused by the device the headphones were connected to versus the headphones themselves.

Verdict

Without a doubt, the Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio headphones are the best headphones I have ever used. They are comfortable, reliable, built well and sound fantastic. You will not find a better pair of headphones at this price; and as stated before, I would wager that these $30 Syllables are every bit as good as a pair of Beats.

Syllable G600 Bluetooth Studio Headphones – Amazon.com

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*photos courtesy of Amazon.com and Google Images

AUKEY Bluetooth 4.1 Audio Receiver: Bluetooth for your car at an affordable price (Review)

Just a few weeks ago my wife and I were discussing cars. More specifically what discussed what we wanted in the next vehicle we purchase. Despite the fact we are a couple years away, it’s never too early to get a headstart on it. One of the things I mentioned that I want is Bluetooth capabilities. We had the chance to have that put in our current vehicle but I was being a cheapskate and didn’t pull the trigger. But it’s really a no-brainer to have this in your car in today’s world of hands free requirements.

Fast forward a few weeks and guess what I ran across? Aukey’s Bluetooth Audio Receiver. Think of it as the old cassette adapters we had for our CD players in cars, if you are old enough to remember them. It makes playing music and making calls from our phones to our car easier.

Let’s learn more.

In the box

• Wireless audio receiver
• microUSB charging cable
• 3.5mm audio cable
• 3.5mm audio connector
• User manual

Design and Functionality

Aukey’s Bluetooth Receiver is a small compact Bluetooth device that measures less than five inches long. It has a built-in microphone, 3.5mm input and a microUSB charging port. Overall it resembles a tiny version of the Amazon Fire TV remote.

The front of the receiver is where the controls reside. There are three buttons that are multi-function controls. The plus and minus buttons control volume and skip tracks, where you short press for volume and long presss for tracks. Your last control button is the multi-function button. This controls the play/pause and answer/hangup portion.

The controls for the volume/skip track seems reversed to me. I find myself wanting to short press to change tracks and long press for volume. While this isn’t a deal-breaker, it should be changed if they decide to build a newer model.

The Audio Receiver’s built-in microphone worked flawlessly. It was placed around two feet away from me, and the person on the other end of the phone call could still hear me talk as if I were in the room. The Bluetooth technology worked without any hiccups. As I walked away from my car, I tried to connect with the Audio Receiver, and it still picked up between 25 and 30 feet away.

It doesn’t have a very long battery life, two hours in fact. So I would use it sparingly away from a power source. When I try to use it while connected to the charger, it doesn’t seem to work. I have to unplug it from the charger before it decides to connect to Bluetooth.

Summary

This is one handy little device for older cars that doesn’t have Bluetooth. In today’s world, it’s almost a necessity. Most of our music is slowly going away from physical form and into digital form. So just jump on board with Aukey’s Bluetooth Audio Receiver for $13 on Amazon. You’ll be glad you did.

Buy AUKEY Bluetooth 4.1 Audio Receiver 

The Hottest Android apps and games around (July 1)

Welcome to Week 6 of The Hottest Android apps and games around!. On top of pulling the top 10 downloaded apps and games from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore I have also included the top 5 New apps and games from Google Play and Amazon’s Underground project.

If you are not familiar with Underground check out this Article, but it’s basically Amazon taking apps that normally cost money and making them free, even the in-app purchases are gone so you pay nothing for an app that normally cost money! Leave a comment below if you download any of this weeks apps.

Top 5 New Free Apps and Games (Google Play)

1. Farm Heroes Super Saga

2. T-Mobile Tuesdays

3. Pets Unleashed™

4. Ice Age: Arctic Blast

5. Rodeo Stampede: Sky Zoo Safari

Top 5 New Paid Apps and Games (Google Play)

1. Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

2. Wheel of Fortune PUZZLE POP $0.99

3. Pocket Arcade Story $4.99

4. Toca Life: Vacation $2.99

5. Zombieville USA 2 $0.99

Top Actually Free  Apps and Games (Amazon AppStore Underground)

Sonic Dash

 2. Flow Free

 3. Word Twist

 4. Flow Free: Bridges

 5. WorldCraft : 3D Build & Craft

Top 10  Free Apps and Games (Google Play)

Messenger
Snapchat
Facebook
slither.io
Farm Heroes Super Saga
Instagram
Pandora® Radio
Netflix
GO Speed (Clean & AppLock)
iFunny 🙂

Top Free Apps and Games (Amazon Appstore)

slither.io
Sonic Dash
Facebook Messenger
ES File Explorer
Goat Simulator Waste of Space
Amazon Video
Netflix
YouTube
Color Switch
Facebook

Top Paid Apps and Games (Google Play)

Minecraft: Pocket Edition $6.99

Nova Launcher Prime $0.99

Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

Wheel of Fortune PUZZLE POP $0.99

Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords $0.99

Sleep as Android Unlock $0.99

Minecraft: Story Mode $4.99

Geometry Dash $1.99

Bloons TD 5 $2.99

Poweramp Full Version Unlocker $0.99

Top Paid Apps and Games (Amazon AppStore)

Minecraft – Pocket Edition $6.99

Teeny Titans – Teen Titans Go! $3.99

Plants vs. Zombies $0.99

Geometry Dash $1.99

Minecraft: Story Mode $4.99

Five Nights at Freddy’s $2.99

Bridge to Another World: The Others Collector’s Edition (Full) $2.99

Toca Life: Vacation $2.99

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 $2.99

Terraria $4.99

Sennheiser PRESENCE wireless headset review

It’s funny that the “phone” part of “smartphone” has somewhat gotten lost. Many of us prefer typing to communicate rather than frightful human interaction. Then there are those who rely on vocal communication to function on a day-to-day basis. Especially for the business folk, phone calls are still crucial.

Bluetooth wireless headsets have been helping such users for a while now, but that doesn’t mean that aren’t improvements to be had. Today, we’re looking at a new one from Sennheiser, called the PRESENCE.

Sennheiser is a long-standing audio manufacturer most known for high quality, leading headphones, but it also has a say in the wireless communication space. The PRESENCE comes with the promise of functionality innovations and exceptionally effective audio. Let’s check out if it delivers.

Design

The PRESENCE makes a nice impression right away, because it comes in a fancy and sturdy carrying case. Opening it reveals an organized layout of the headset components.

Laying it all out, we have the earpiece, four different ear tip sizes, a Bluetooth dongle (for use with a computer), short microUSB to USB cable, and car charger. It’s important to know that the PRESENCE is available in variants. If you don’t care for the carrying case or USB dongle, then you can pay less for what Sennheiser calls the PRESENCE Business. Our package is the PRESENCE UC.

The wireless earpiece has a functional but sleek-looking design. The materials aren’t the most premium feeling (it’s all plastic construction), but that in-turn makes the unit very lightweight.

Three are three physical buttons total – a primary button on the glossy strip that runs down the middle and two small volume buttons towards the back end. The center button initiates all the functions, like pairing and answering/ending calls.

The ear support arm is attached sturdily and rotates any which way, and it’s easily removable if you don’t care for it. You’ll also get ear support from three of the ear tips, which have a small extension (fin) that fit within your inner ear. The ear tips aren’t anything special; it’s typical silicone.

On the back end, you’ll see an exposed microUSB charging port (which I’m not sure is best in regard to durability; it could rain on you while you’re on a call) and an LED status light directly above it.

Function

The PRESENCE has more to it than meets the eye. It doesn’t just throw in Bluetooth and call it a day. Sennheiser put a huge focus on a clear and distraction-free audio experience. The unit has various technology to filter out noise. The goal was to maintain sound presence (hence, the product’s name) in the midst of noisy office coworkers or a windy outdoor environment.

The microphone voice input is also efficient. A voice detector reacts when you begin to speak and utilizes three digital microphones to deliver consistently clear sound to the listener.

The earpiece wear is fairly standard. It’s not the easiest to don, but once you do, it stays put and is comfortable (you barely notice it). A nice feature is the boom arm (the silver rim around the unit extends out). You turn the earpiece on by pulling the arm out, and vice versa. I prefer this method over holding down a button.

The functions are pretty simple; it just takes a little playing around to figure out the what different presses of the primary button do. But it’s pretty intuitive if you’ve used a Bluetooth headset before. To get started, hold down the center button for a few seconds to initiate pairing and simply find the PRESENCE in your mobile device’s Bluetooth settings. Double pressing it will have it call the most recent phone number. And holding the button for one second will initiate the phone’s voice function (i.e. Google Now).

The battery is said to last up to 10 hours of talk time. If you do run out, fortunately, the charging speed is no slouch. 30 minutes replenishes half its capacity. And the Bluetooth range can go up to about 80 feet (depending on the environment).

As expected, the call sound quality is solid. Even with a noisy environment, the caller’s voice comes through distinctly and clearly, albeit, a little tinny-sounding. It’s pretty great when your surroundings aren’t able to drown out the sound that you’re trying to focus on. You’re able to give the caller your undivided attention.

Final Thoughts

Sennheiser did a fantastic job on this earpiece. It’s packed with a lot of behind-the-scene technology, which I think accomplishes the goals of efficient and clear audio. It’s not the cheapest Bluetooth headset out there (the price ranges from $100 to $150, depending the model), but if you really value communication performance, then look no further.

Sennheiser PRESENCE product page

Tansfer money securely with Circle Pay (review)

Hamburger Menu

In today’s digital age, it has become common place for us to want to want to do everything from our mobile devices, including banking. Speaking for myself, I hardly ever carry cash anymore. If someone asks me for money I have recently been resorting to, “Why don’t I pay and you can pay me back?” or vice versa. The next dilemma is paying them back. I again look to my mobile device for answers. Circle Pay offers an easy way to send someone that reimbursement with a simple text or email.

Impression

A simple, free download from the Google Play store and you can launch the app. The only setup required is to register an email address for your account. Upon login, we find warm and inviting colors matched by that classic material design we all feel comfortable with. Taking a look at the home screen, we have a hamburger menu in the top left, an ellipse menu in the top right, our account balance in the center and below the balance, we see our recent activity. Finally, in the bottom right of the screen, we have a “+” button that allows us to initiate sending or requesting of money.

Hamburger Menu

Home Screen

When we try to dig a little deeper we find how simplistic Circle Pay really is. The whole basis of the app is quick, convenient money transfer. From the hamburger menu, you can quickly send money, request money, add money to your account (yes, Circle Pay has its own account balance) or Cash Out (put you balance back into your Bank). The only downside is the $300 per week limit for deposits which is understandable for a free service and can be increased if you are a frequent user. On the other hand, cash out, spend and receive is unlimited.

Great, sending and receiving money is easy but where does the money come from. Simple, Circle Pay allows you to link directly to your bank account or debit card for free and, if you so choose, you can convert your money to Bitcoin right from the app (after accepting all potential liabilities that come with Bitcoin of course).

Settings and Security

More Settings and Security

Along with discussions of money and technology comes the ever looming question of security. Circle Pay has you covered. By default, it requires two-factor authentication to sign in and to send or receive anything over $30 (this can be adjusted in the settings). The app also allows you to easily create a PIN number that must be typed in before you can access the app. Finally, there is an option to hide your account balance from the home screen if you are worried about prying eyes over your shoulder.

Looking ahead, the developers tell us that there will soon be support for the Euro as well.

We will soon open Circle Euro support to consumers in Spain as the first part of a broader European-wide rollout to come over the coming month. We are currently working with the regulators to finalize our approach, but are excited about the opportunity.

Conclusion

Circle Pay has succeeded in what it has set out to do, become an easy way for people to quickly share funds. They have not skipped out on security, functionality, or style. I would love to see the app grow into becoming more than just a money sharing app but an all purpose purchasing app. If you think Circle Pay might be just what you need in your life, click the link below and get started today.

Download Circle Pay from Google Play

Fitbit Blaze review

As the company’s first take on the traditional every day watch design, the Fitbit Blaze falls somewhere between a smartwatch and an activity tracker.

On paper the wearable matches up with the likes of Samsung’s Gear Fit family and the Withings Activite Pop. Running a proprietary OS, the Blaze technically offers less practicality and flexibility than an Android Wear watch or Apple Watch.

The Fitbit Blaze doesn’t blaze any new territory and does pretty much the same stuff you’ll find in various Garmin models. Heck, it’s not unlike a number of other Fitbits when it comes to function. Pricing is listed about $200 but there are other bands and accessories which can be purchased, too.

What does all of this mean to the average user? How does the Fitbit Blaze work in the real world? In short, it’s a great little device that does more for wearers than they might expect. But, it comes with a small adjustment and acclimation period.

Design

Introduced in early 2016, the Blaze looks like a first-generation approach to smartwatches. It’s angular and the black and silver aesthetics are decidedly masculine. You might be forgiven for thinking it’s more of an enhanced techie watch than a fitness tracker. Should you want something a little less serious there’s also a plum/silver and blue/silver option. On the other end of the spectrum is an all-black unit.

The watch is considerably lighter than it looks and doesn’t feel as if it constricts movement in any way. The default band is a tad wider than we might have liked but it is generally comfortable to wear.

Features

The Fitbit Blaze tracks just about any fitness-related activity you might think of, including steps, flights of stairs climbed, heart rate, and sleep. It’s very similar to its sibling, the Fitbit Surge, but this one adds in the touch-friendly color display and side buttons while swapping out the standalone GPS.

Should you want to track a bike ride or run you will need to have your phone nearby; the GPS comes from the handset and talks to the app/watch combination.

Out of the box, the watch gives users quick access to nearly all functions. Additionally, the watch can double as a timer or stopwatch. Wearers can go into the app on the smartphone to toggle other details and customize a few settings such as watch face and notifications. It’s also in the app where you can track how many glasses of water you’ve had or set up a meal plan to help lose weight.

Where to Buy

• Amazon
• B&H Photo Video
• Best Buy
• Target

Wearers will notice the watch can show incoming phone calls, calendar reminders, and message notifications from a variety of apps. Moreover, there’s also a music player with basic controls that handles songs from your phone.

The Blaze will detect and record “active exercises” when it notices you’re doing something more intense for a period of ten minutes or longer. Along those lines, the software makes it so that you’re just a few taps away from manually tracking a number of physical activities, too.

Battery

Touted at one week, we found the battery life on the Fitbit Blaze to be excellent. This was good, because the method of charging was wonky to say the least. To charge the battery you are required to remove the main square component from the watch and place it inside of a cradle. Moreover, the cradle locks down similar to a roller coaster harness. Yeah, it’s weird and somewhat awkward, but thankfully you’re only doing this once every six to seven days. We charged in a Monday night and went into Saturday before throwing it back on a charge at bedtime.

General Impressions

As someone who normally has an Android Wear-powered watch on, it took a day or so to get acclimated to a less “smart” unit. Conversely, it was great to have all of these health and fitness options so readily accessible. It’s nice to not have to go digging for an app or launching something if I want to track water intake or a particular exercise.

The display automatically turns itself off, which is a great way to preserve battery. A quick flick of the wrist or tap of the screen pulls up a watch face that shows time and usually some aspect of tracking. We wished there were more than four faces to choose from or some elements of customization. But, given this is a fitness and activity tracker, we understand it’s not all about the watch aspect.

While we do understand that the watch is designed to help track sleep, it’s somewhat odd to wear the Fitbit Blaze to bed. After a long day of doing whatever it is we do, sometimes the last thing we want is to have something wrapped on our wrist. For us, sleep monitoring isn’t the key reason to own this, so we’d recommend a different wearable for that use case. But, if you don’t mind the “confinement”, the Blaze is great at detecting heart rate and sleep.

There’s plenty of discussion about how accurate of a pedometer you’ll get in a watch, regardless of band. Wear any two products in a day and you’re bound to find different figures in the end. Along those lines, we’re not sure how accurate the Fitbit Blaze is as compared to other models; we didn’t wear it in conjunction with any other brand.

Staying with accuracy, we liked that the watch would help us with tracking different activities. But, let’s be honest here, there’s no way the Fitbit Blaze knows how good your form is when lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. The silent buzz prompts are a nice touch, but it’s mostly like having a coach blow a whistle for you. A coach who has his face in his phone and not paying attention to whether you’re doing things properly.

We really appreciate the way in which Fitbit held our hands in designing a meal plan or goal for losing weight. It’s a simple process of putting in a starting weight, desired goal, and determining how aggressive you want to be. The app can be used to forecast the date you should reach your goal, help track foods (barcode scanner for the win), and let you know whether you are on pace for the day. Our advice is to stick with it once you start. Doing it sporadically won’t help you in the end and you’ll not be able to mine your data very effectively.

Optional Accessories

Fitbit offers a number of accessories to choose from for its Blaze, including other elastomer bands, leather straps, and steel-link straps. Pricing ranges from $30 to $100, to $130, respectively with color options along the way.

Conclusion

It’s easy to find a fitness tracker in 2016. There are plenty of models to choose from, each with a variable reason to consider. Heck, Fitbit alone has more than a couple devices to choose from. You’re not going to go wrong if you pick something from Fitbit. You’ll just want to figure out which model speaks to your needs.

If you’re mostly interested in tracking basic stuff like steps taken or heart rate, there’s plenty of other, cheaper options. But, should you wish to step things up include distance, water intake, weight tracking, and meal plans, the Blaze is a terrific option.

The Fitbit Blaze occupies a space somewhere between a generic fitness tracker and a smart watch. It’s not going to have the overall flexibility and intelligence of an Android Wear or Apple Watch, but it’s excellent at what it does. We would have liked for a waterproof design, but understand that lines have to be drawn somewhere. The same goes for not having an internal GPS. Going this route might nickle and dime us into a price point that turns people away. With a recommended $200 price tag for the Fitbit Blaze, it’s definitely attractive enough to justify its cost.

The post Fitbit Blaze review appeared first on SmarterWatching.

Where to Buy

• Amazon
• B&H Photo Video
• Best Buy
• Target

[Review] Take the Aukey wireless outdoor speaker on your next adventure

If you’re looking for a rugged Bluetooth speaker the next time you go camping, then this Aukey speaker may be what you’re looking for. Let’s take a look.

First Impressions

Weighing in at just over half a pound, this rugged device is perfect for camping, hiking, road trips, etc. The speaker is labeled as water resistant, although I wasn’t able to find an exact specification. The speaker grills are made from anodized aluminum, while the casing is made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). To get technical, it’s a thermoplastic polymer with three monomers.

ABS rubber is amorphous in nature so it doesn’t have a true melting point. It’s also impact and mechanically tough even at lower temperatures, providing a safe range of use between -4˚ and 176˚ F. Even though the rubber is durable, it’s also silky smooth to the touch, so holding the speaker is a tactile delight. For reference, ABS is what Legos are made of.

Features

• Bluetooth version: 4.1
• Standard: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
• Weight: 1.43 lbs (650.6 g)
• Dimensions: 8.23 x 3.27 x 2.87in (20.9 x 8.3 x 7.3cm)
• Play Time: 30hrs
• Charging Time: 6hrs
• Operating Range: up to 10m / 33ft
• Power Output: 2×5 W
• AUX: 3.5mm audio-in jack
• Power Input: DC 5V
• Battery Type: Rechargeable lithium-polymer battery (7.4V 2600mAh)

Usage

Even though this is a Bluetooth speaker, it still has an auxiliary port so you can plug in an aux cable directly into your phone. On the bottom, there is a 1/4’20 standard screw mount so you can screw it onto most camera tripods if you wish.

The speaker has dual 5W drivers which deliver a clear sound that is fairly balanced amongst bass, mids and highs. In addition, the speaker has a built in microphone to take audio calls.The sound output is loud so you don’t even have to turn it up much.

As a way to test the sound quality of audio devices, I like to play this song. It has a lot of bass and sub bass, and those drops are sick bro. Check it out:

On one end of the speaker you’ll find a place to attach a keychain attachment (not included) so you can hang the speaker from a tree branch, bike, a tent frame, etc.

The speaker battery seriously lasts for a long time. It’s 2600mAh, which may not seem like much, but it’s rated at 30hrs of battery life and that’s only if you use it frequently. I was able to use it for a week without needing to charge, but as it says in the manual, it does take six hours to charge.

Due to the bulk of the speaker you probably won’t find yourself casually throwing it into a purse or backpack, but it’s still portable enough to easily carry around in a suitcase or duffel bag.

Conclusion

After having reviewed several Aukey products, I can objectively say that they are a good company. This speaker, along with the Bluetooth headphones I reviewed, are both awesome products. It’s a great accessory for your smartphone, whether you have an iPhone or Android phone.

This speaker is affordable at $47.99 and you can pick it up on Amazon (Affiliate link).

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Greenlight: Taking car safety to the next level (Review)

Driving is not an option in our world. We rely heavily on vehicles to get us to where we need to go. Over the last few decades, we have seen huge leaps in car safety. Better seatbelts, airbags and even more secure ways to install a car seat for babies. We have tons of campaigns to encourage safer driving and discourage using our phones while driving. Fact is we know better and yet we still do it.

We have a major addiction to our phones. We feel the need for it to be by us at all times and since that’s not going to change the founders of Greenlight decided to create a way to use your phone to make us better drivers.

In the box

• SmartCradle
• iOS adapter
• Android adapter
• Greenlight button
• MicroUSB cord
• Cigarette lighter adapter

How it works

Once Greenlight is launched it begins recording on a loop. It will continually record the until you turn it off. When a trigger incident occurs, such as hard braking or quick take offs, Greenlight automatically saves the clip to your device and the cloud.

 Design

The SmartCradle

There are two parts to Greenlight, the hardware, and the app. Let’s start the walkthrough with the hardware itself. Greenlight has a typical sized cradle that is similar to most cradles that hold phones or GPS devices. It has adjustable sides that can conform to any size phone, including phablets. A suction cup bottom teamed with a sticky adhesive ensures that the SmartCradle stays firmly attached to the surface of your dash.

It also features recording in portrait or landscape mode by simply turning the phone sideways in either direction you wish to place it in. The SmartCradle supports tilt adjustment by pressing a small green button and placing it in the most comfortable viewing position.

You have two adapters cords, one for Android and iOS each, that connect to the Greenlight button. The button lights up green when it’s ready to go. The button itself has two microUSB ports, one that goes to the phone and the other that goes to the phone charger. For the system to work all cords must be connected.

Since we’ve covered the hardware, let’s go to the software. There is an app for both iOS and Android. Here we will be covering the Android version. When installed you will go through a short tutorial and it automatically goes into recording mode. At the bottom of the main screen, you have the options to stop the recording, take a snapshot, or save which does exactly the same thing as the green button which will be explained later.

The hamburger menu gives you several options. View your media gallery where you can choose what to do with your clips. Configure your video setting, like the length of recording and quality. You can also choose where to upload your clips and your uploading preferences.

The overall design of the entire product, both hardware and software are clean and elegant. The SmartCradle and button operate properly, while the app is easy to understand and navigate.

Functionality

Let’s start this by saying this is a hard product to test safely. The very nature of it almost demands you to be in a wreck to trigger the camera. However, there were a few times when I took off a little quicker than normal, it was enough to trigger the saving of the recording.

The Button

There is also two other ways to trigger the save feature. Simply tap the button with the G on it and it will save the recording. You may also tap the save button at the bottom right of the screen in the app.

Speaking of saving the recording you probably wonder how that works. By the time it recognizes that you are in a wreck, wouldn’t it be too late to record the incident properly? Glad you asked!

The Greenlight app gives you four different recording lengths from 30 seconds to three minutes. For this example, we will say your recording is set for one minute. When an incident trigger occurs it will take the previous 30 seconds before the trigger and the next 30 seconds after the trigger and save that portion. Anything not in that time frame is automatically dumped and you don’t have to worry about your phone being filled up with the useless footage.

There are other settings that are available including three video quality options from 480p to 1080p, but 480 is plenty. You also can upload your videos to either your Google Drive or Dropbox accounts. And don’t worry about automatic uploads, the default setting requires you to manually upload them. However, you can upload them in WiFi only or when you have service.

When receiving a call or text you will be removed from Greenlight but once you’re done you can simply return by tapping the button.

Upcoming Features

Coming down the road they have some other cool features not yet available in the beta that I wanted to cover. First, they will collect your driving data like average speed, braking profiles and more to give you a look at where you can improve.

Next Greenlight will give you a driving score just like a credit score. They do this by comparing your data against the rest of their data and determine your driving score. You can then track and get tips on how to improve your score.

They are also working on accessibility to ensure you can use tools like maps, music, and communication safely without putting yourself and others at risk. There is still many places they can take this app. But it’s still in early stages, so they need to concentrate on the first final product.

Review

Greenlight offers a lot of great features and makes it a little easier to let go of your phone. It’s a plug and plays product, literally. Once you dock the phone it starts up. Now I have to mention the beta flaw that I have encountered with this product. I call it a beta flaw because that’s exactly what it is.

If you are in an area where temperatures are high, it’s very likely you could experience overheating of your phone. This can also happen with older phones as well. A simple adjustment like lowering the resolution of the recording to 480 can ease the strain on the processors which in turn reduces the heat.

Now I could have simply ignored this in the review, but that wouldn’t be very honest nor would it have given me the opportunity to give praise to the team behind Greenlight. How Jason responded to the problem and worked hard with me to solve this issue shows how much they care about their product.

Now you have to remember again what I’m testing is a beta product and shouldn’t show up on the final release. There is a lot of time between now and September.

Greenlight takes the best features of driving cameras and elements of snapshot, from places like progressive and combines them to make a great product. There is potential for this to save money on insurance if they choose to accept it once it proves to be accurate.

Summary

This is by far one of the coolest gadgets I’ve had the pleasure to review. It’s a safety oriented product that doesn’t feel gimmicky. It offers a simple to use product that works well. The team behind Greenlight is working hard to take safety to the next level. Greenlight doesn’t ship until September, but they are taking pre-orders right now. At $50 it’s a reasonable price and great time to get in on the ground floor.

Pre-Order Greenlight

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Elephone S3 review: An elegant, unlocked, stock Android experience for $180

Designed by Chinese smartphone maker Elephone the S3 is a mid-range handset released in spring of 2016. Sold unlocked, it’s capable of working with GSM carriers on 3G and 4G technologies. If you’re a “typical” US consumer looking for a new phone for AT&T, T-Mobile, or any of their respective prepaid brands, this is the sort of device you might consider.

In terms of hardware, the Elephone S3 matches up closely with phones such as the Moto G (fourth generation), Blu Life One X, or Nuu Mobile X4. In other words, it’s more than enough to get you started in the world of smartphones, but it’s not going to set any benchmark records. Specs are a generation or two behind the flagships, but pricing is attractive enough to make them worth a closer look. It’s these sort of phones that come in around $150-$200 and offer the sort of experience most people would be happy with.

If there’s one thing that intrigued about this phone going in, it’s the nearly stock Android build. You don’t often find companies willing to leave off their own custom software touch; it’s common for a brand to push its own agenda wherever possible. Aside from the Nexus line, you don’t have much to choose from and that goes double when you’re at this price point. Most companies hope to differentiate with a unique skin but we were actually more impressed upon learning the Elephone S3 didn’t have one.

Specs

• 5.2inch bezel-less 2.5D Arc FHD 3D curved glass Incell screen (1920×1080 pixels)
• CPU:MediaTek MTK6753 octa-core 1.3GHz
• GPU:Mali-T720
• Android 6.0
• 3GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage
• microSD support for up 128GB
• Dual sim card: Micro + Nano sim card
• 5.0-MP front camera
• 13.0-MP Sony IMX135 camera with flashlight
• LTE: 800/1800/1900/2100/2300/2500/2600MHz

Design

Thanks to its bezel-less design and 2.5D Arc display, the Elephone S3 looks more expensive than it actually is. The unibody metal build materials keep pace with other, more costly phones such as the HTC 10 or the Samsung Galaxy S7. Judging books by their cover, you would be forgiven for thinking this one runs $300-$400.

The screen size comes in a 5.2-inches but the phone holds like a 4.7-inch or 5-inch handset. The Champagne Gold finish on our review unit was classy; the chamfered edges add just the right amount of sophistication to help the phone “pop” a bit. All in all, these elements combine to deliver a simple yet elegant approach that feels great in hand.

Looking directly at the phone, you’ll find the power and volume buttons along the right hand side of the device. Power sits below the volume and is the first one you’ll feel if blindly looking to take action. The buttons are ever so subtle and protrude ever so little. Pressing them, however, gives a nice response and a slightly audible click.  Across to the other side you’ll find the dual SIM tray slot which allows for micro-SIM and nano-SIM (with adapter) cards.

Up top we find the 3.5mm headphone plug, set off approximately ¾ to the right. Down below is the microUSB port flanked by a pair of stereo speakers. The back of the phone houses the rear 13.0MP Sony IMX135 camera and just below that, a fingerprint reader. Like the Nexus 6P, this one puts the reader in a convenient and natural spot. Finally, we move around to the front where the 5-megapixel camera sits

Display

With phones pushing ever closer to a 5.5-inch screen size as a norm, we often find that some of the best models on the market are just a tad unwieldy. Sure, they’re ultra-powerful and able to handle anything we throw at them, but they can get to be a literal to work with at times. Given we appreciate being able to operate a phone with one hand, the larger flagships sometimes don’t play nice.

The Elephone S3 fits comfortably in one hand and feels like it has a smaller screen. That is, rather, until you turn on the display and actually use it. It’s then that you see how spacious it is and how it reads for text and basic usage. At 5.2-inches, the S3’s is in somewhat of a sweet spot for us.

As for resolution, the Elephone offers up a 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD screen. It’s on the lower end of the spectrum by today’s standard, but it doesn’t look bad whatsoever. We just happen to be in place now where a full HD screen is average. Would we like a 2K resolution? Sure, but then we’re trading off battery life, performance, and price. Given the rest of the hardware we’re completely content with the Elephone’s S3 screen.

We found the handset worked well in all lighting conditions; the ambient light sensor was responsive outdoors and pushed the brightness to where it was fairly easy to read text or discern what’s going on in photos. The DragonTrail Glass, which keeps things protected against your typical scuffs and scratches, is the same you’ll find in Sony’s Xperia Z line.

In summation, we quickly fell in love with edge-to-edge screen and pocketability of the Elephone S3.

Camera

The camera on the Elephone S3 was pretty solid but was far from perfect; the 13-megapixel rear shooter has an aperture of f/2.2 so it’s not quite on the level of the more costly phones. But, with that in mind, we still found the camera experience to be respectable.

We weren’t holding our breath over a $180 phone’s camera but we’ve come to expect at least something worth sharing to social media. That’s exactly what you get with this one — a camera that takes good and sometimes great photos worthy of sharing online. It’s not always fast and it’s not going to win any head-to-head competitions, but we’ve seen people settle for far less.

Autofocus was rather quick in most cases, but occasionally we found that we had to manually tap the display to set the focal point. Switching on the HDR enhancement we noticed no difference in focus times. Taking pictures did slow, though, and the S3 felt as if we were going to capture the wrong moments.

There were rare occasions (see in gallery above) where it would do an almost ghosting or two images on top in action scenes. In trying to capture a truck driving down the road it ended up putting two pieces of a truck together instead of blurring it. This only happened every so often in the dozens of pictures taken over a few weeks, and we learned how to “shoot around” this. Really, it comes down to having a super steady hand on the HDR shots.

Results varied across the board, but there’s nothing here that we felt was poor. It didn’t take long to learn what it was good at shooting and where it lacked. Sometimes we’d find some white haze in low-light indoor shots where others it would be fine. Again, remembering what we often do with these images snapped by phone, it’s somewhat of a non-starter. Once you filter a photo or throw it online it’s going to degrade anyhow.

There aren’t too many settings or custom shooting modes in the phone and the app itself is pretty bare bones. Toggling to and from video is straightforward enough as is setting flash or the front-facing camera. Dig a little deeper and you will find there are enough manual settings (ISO, white balance, exposure, etc.) to satisfy a more savvy user. Along those lines, you can also toggle timers, picture size, face detection, smile shot, and gesture shot.

Sound

Sound is rather impressive for the Elephone S3. There’s no rear or stereo setup, and there’s no software enhancement, but things come across loud and clear. Watching a video in landscape might take a short amount of time to get used to, but it’s no worse than any other brand with a similar hardware setup.

Taking calls on speaker was pleasurable as was listening to podcasts and select music. We’d like to say all music sounds great, but that’s just not the case with phones. Some are louder than others, yes, and a few models are more rich than others. By and large, though, it’s usually a case of how loud do you really want to hear before it gets annoying? Want to listen to extended periods of music? Throw in some headphones or pair to a Bluetooth speaker.

The Elephone S3 pumps out loud, crisp, and clear music. What it doesn’t do, though, is provide an overly rich sound. You won’t find the range of highs and lows that you might think of when you hear “stereo” sound.

Battery

One area where we would have liked to see improved a bit is in the battery. Because the phone runs Android 6.0, it does feature the Android Doze feature and its ability to put devices into a deeper sleep or shut down unused apps and services. That alone helps handsets eek out more usage life than in previous versions of Android. Good, right? Well…

The Elephone S3 comes with an internal, non-removable battery at 2100mAh capacity. That’s considerably lower than you’ll find in many of today’s Android phones. If we’re being honest, it’s about 500mAh, at a minimum, lower than it should have. A lot of the flagships and mid-range phones are pushing into that area and it would have been nice to see Elephone do the same.

How does this relate to daily usage? It’s good, but not great. The processor is a Mediatek CPU so it doesn’t come with the Quick Charge feature present in Qualcomm-powered models. We’re definitely able to get more than a typical day’s usage out of the phone, but we always appreciate a few more hours away from an outlet. On the plus side, the phone does charge fairly quickly, something we partially attribute to the 2100mAh capacity.

The Elephone S3 employs the microUSB charging port so you’ll be pleased to know all of those cables you have around the house still work. Would we like USB Type-C? In mid-2016 that’s a tossup. Any earlier and we wouldn’t care much. Later on, though, we’re going to expect it.

Software

Powered by Android 6.0, the Elephone S3 runs a pretty current version of the platform. With Android 6.0+ Marshmallow having been out for roughly a year now, we’d expect nothing less. Not only for some of the UI tweaks, but also for the security that comes with the latest releases. It’s not as if an older release leaves a phone necessarily vulnerable to anything particular, but there’s nothing like peace of mind.

The model we tested came with an essentially stock version of Android. This is a big plus in our eyes as it doesn’t force some weird OS down our throat. Considering this is a device from a Chinese vendor we expected to see a strange layout or configuration. After years of acclimating to the various custom flavors of Android, we are able to quickly hop in and navigate about our phones. The S3 proved to be no challenge in getting started; things were presented in English and nothing felt “foreign” about the experience.

Although the phone comes with a number of Google apps, one you won’t find out of the box is Chrome. You do get a browser but it’s a no-frills client that we weren’t in love with. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but we’ve come to appreciate what other alternatives provide.

We’ve not had any previous time with Elephone models so we cannot attest to the manner in which software updates are done. Seeing as how this is a pretty lean and clean build, and the phone’s not tied to any carrier, we would not anticipate slowed updates. Then again, you’ll have to factor in price and market availability. Those two give us pause, at least for now.

Is there enough here to keep us from not recommending the phone solely based on operating system? Hardly. Just know that you may be left with what you get out of the box, save for some minor updates or OEM tweaks.

Performance

Generally speaking, the Elephone S3 was able to handle everything we threw at it. This includes your typical social media, productivity, and casual gaming. We didn’t load any high-end first person shooters on this one as it’s not what we might do on a daily basis. Moreover, we suspect the “average user” target demographic doesn’t have that sort of usage in mind. If you are here to play bleeding-edge games, you are likely eyeballing a different phone anyhow. But, given what we did with the phone, we didn’t run into any snags or hangups. Part of this is likely due to the clean OS that is void of carrier or heavy UI customizations.

The fingerprint reader responded well to our touches in almost every case. We did have a time or two where it wasn’t reading on the unlock screen but the backup PIN got us in just fine. Validating purchases in Google Play and PayPal was always accurate and as quick as we’d hoped for.

Hopping to and from various apps and games was seamless with no stuttering or noticeable lag. We might have liked more storage for local media but aren’t going to write the phone off because of it. Users will just want to get familiar with cloud-based backups sooner rather than later.

Conclusion

All things considered, the Elephone S3 makes for an enjoyable and elegant mid-range phone. It looks more expensive than it really is and handles pretty much anything your common user wants to do with it.

What really impressed us is the concept of a sub-$200 phone with a nearly stock Android OS. It’s unclear whether there will be any major updating beyond the 6.0 Marshmallow build but we’re okay with that today. You’re not going to find too many companies doing the stripped down Android approach so props to Elephone for taking this route.

We’re not sure how well the Elephone brand will fare in the US, but we’d be happy to recommend this one based off our experience with it. We don’t know how often the S3 will receive software updates so we’re cautious. Along those lines, finding custom cases and accessories might be trickier than normal. But, at roughly $180 it’s worth taking the chance, if only as a stop-gap replacement while you wait for the next big flagship.

We’d like to thank our friends at GeekBuying.com for providing us with the Elephone S3 for review.