I am always in the market for a pair of quality headphones, so I recently picked up a pair of “Diddybeats” High Performance In-Ear Headphones with ControlTalk. You can see my unboxing video here. I purchased them from Best Buy for $149.99. They are in the same product line as the “Beats by Dr. Dre” from Monster. I want to give you what I see as the “pros” and the “cons”.
Cons:
I had a slight problem getting these headphones to stay in my ear (as compared with the Bose in-ear headphones and the standard Apple ones). They seem to slip out very easily. I even had one (of the many they give you) ear pieces get stuck in my ear, the left headphone itself slipped out, leaving the foam ear piece in my ear. All this being said, it could just be me and I doubt this is a widespread problem.
Pros:
The design of these headphones are simply beautiful. I don’t know if I have seen any other in-ear headphones of the build quality as the Diddybeats. Monster spared nothing in ensuring that these headphones were stylish and of excellent build quality – they do not feel cheap. The sound is excellent (though nothing to get too excited about) and the ControlTalk feature is a huge “win” with being able to control the music on my iPhone and even use the Diddybeats in place of the white Apple in-ear headphones when wanting to do hands free calling.
I have throughly tested these headphones at the gym, around the house, at the office, and in the car. My conclusion is that they are great headphones, but the price point is too high at $149.99. I believe these headphones should be closer to the $99.00 price point. The sound is great, but nothing spectacular. In the end, you are paying for the brand and build quality and less for the sound quality in my opinion.
Having used Flip’s previous products I wanted to give Kodak a try. I purchased the Zi8 and have used it for about two months. While I like many of the features, I have had some sound and video quality issues. Last week I got ahold of Flip’s MinoHD and I must say I am already in love! Which do you think has better quality? Judging by my YouTube comments Flip is the winner. Below are the two test footage videos.
A client of mine had their iPad 3G, and all the accessories, shipped to my office where I set everything up for them today. I must say, if I did not have my Verizon MiFi card I would be envious of the 3G version. I think I would recommend the 3G version to all clients and friends now, especially since the plan is month to month.
What better place to write your iPad review than at 35,000 feet using your iPad with inflight WiFi! The iPad makes for a great travel companion with GoGoInflight’s WiFi service, but I will talk more about that later. I have had the iPad for about a week now and I am absolutely floored at not only the features of this device, but more so the future potential of the iPad. Calling this just a large iPod Touch is absurd. The large screen real estate, speed, and portability of this device opens up whole new doors to application developers. Like with the evolution of the original iPhone, I can’t wait to see what this device is like two to three years from now.
The best way for me to sum up my review of the iPad is that it has replaced my MacBook Pro for casual browsing, entertainment, and e-mail. I have found myself not using my MacBook Pro when returning home from work unless I want a live stream on in the background. The iPad allows me much more flexibility when wanting to be online, like lounging in the lazy boy or laying on the couch (admit, you do it too). At the office I no longer have to disconnect my MacBook Pro to take it with me for staff meetings, I just grab my iPad and go.
I could list many more examples, and list the various technical aspects that I like, but you all get the picture. The iPad is not a killer device, but rather a device that is going to change the way we do portable and casual computing. I cannot wait for the OS 4 improvements that are coming this Fall, multitasking is much needed for this device to truly be an industry leader. Back to my earlier point, this device is an inflight computing dream and will do wonders for inflight entertainment (that is the travel geek in me).
Saturday is a major day for all Geeks and Macheads! Even if you do not plan to get an iPad on Saturday, the excitement is very contagious. For those getting an iPad, I want to know, what are your plans for iPad day? Will you be doing anything special? Making videos? Live streaming?
I am having my two iPads (one for me, one for the wife) being shipped to our office, so after acquiring some delicious Dunkin Donuts iced coffee I will be in my office awaiting UPS. I will definitely be doing an unboxing video immediately upon delivery, and then possible a live stream. Afterwards I will head home to give the wife her iPad where I am sure I will have 1,000 questions to answer!
I recently did an unboxing video for the “Beats by dr. dre (Solo) Headphones“. As promised, I would like to give a quick review. As stated in the video, these are replacing my Beats Studio edition. I loved the Studios but they were very bulky, and as I primarily use these for travel, were a major space hog in my carry on. However, I LOVED the sound quality and design of the headphones. When I heard the “little brother” Solo edition was coming out, I went to Best Buy and purchased a pair.
After using these for a week, I fell in love and sold my Studios on eBay. While the Solos are not as big as the Studios, I see no major difference in sound quality, they are much more portable, and just as comfortable on the ear. I hear a lot of people talking about these headphones breaking, which if mine do you will be the first to know on Twitter, but I have a large head and have had no problem thus far. Bottom line, if you are not in need of the noise cancellation feature, and want more portability, go with the Solos!