Archive for the ‘ Toys ’ Category
1:18 AUTOArt from my homie Tony a year ago…(pls excuse the iPhone pics)
Lego Polizi LP560-4 Lego I scooped this past weekend!
The Real Deal Polizi Car
And a crazy sick Gallardo SL Polizi Vinyl look-a-like from GR2KX (Photo courtesy of Herman? from L4P) Nice Shot!
Buddy came thru with a 70-200 Canon THERMOS!! Been wanting this since they gave them away to Photogs at the Winter Olympics. Thanks Krist! Camera is apart to get the sensor cleaned and actuation count tomorrow…
NOTE: This is being typed on my iPad 3G, via the wordpress iPad app.
If you want the iPad, I’ll save you some reading time – go get one. If you’re on the fence or have some questions/concerns or actually read my blog – read on…
Believe it or not, I was not initially going to pre-order the iPad at all. I had seen the keynote and had convinced myself that I’d wait till the wifi was released, play with it hands-on and make a decision from there…I’m usually a big proponent of Apple products and although this seemed “magical and revolutionary”, for once I was playing it level headed and was determined to try it first and then decide to buy…
That sensible patience changed (FAST) on pre-order day.
My brother (which is probably where I get most of my toy and car traits) hits me up at 6AM.
“Dude, you gonna pre-order?”
“Eh, I dunno…I’m on the fence”
“You don’t want to miss out, you can always pre-order then cancel if you get cold feet”
“GAH!! I’ll call you back”
5 minutes later, I had my order in for a 32GB 3G Version.
So $840 something dollars later (also ordered the OEM Carry Case) I sat there thinking…what the heck am I going to do with this thing? I’m a POWER Macbook Pro user. I check email, photoshop, surf the web, tweet deck, Facebook, FTP, build websites, handle post production for my images etc…this is a giant iPhone and I already have an iPhone!
As the days went on I tried to justify it.
I’ll just sell my trusty Macbook Pro and use this instead. It’s more portable, has better battery life – I’m tech savvy, I’ll find a way to do everything I need on it. I’ll actually SAVE money by getting this and selling my Macbook Pro (those that know me know I’m so notorious for justifying things this way) Hell, my process of thinking goes in that if you’re tires are worn, you might as well buy rims. If you have maintenance, registration due at the same time, you may want to see what other car options you have…thus is the reasoning of Albert Roxas. (Why fix when you can upgrade? LOL)
As the wifi’s started to hit the public and I did more research, I realized I might not be able to do “everything” I need my Macbook Pro for. People were comparing the iPad to a Netbook – something only good for basic word processing and surfing in a small form factor. Reviews said “$499 for a netbook? no way!”. Was it really just a giant iPhone? I guess I’ll find out when I get it.
Expected ship date was “late April”, gotta love Apple for being so specific. Everyone had been anticipating this release as much as the original wifi release – especially me, seeing as how I worked from home that day to ensure I didn’t miss the FedEx guy. The FedEx (Girl) came to the door and mentioned she had delivered 27 already (this was at 1PM) and she was shocked how many people were available to sign LOL. Apparently I wasn’t the only giddy one waiting for my new toy.
First things first – I had to skin the front. Because it’s a touchscreen (and I’m a bit of a germa-phobe) I needed some type of protection for the front. I went with the usual clear bra (front only) installed by Fusion of Ideas at the Irvine Spectrum. They skinned all my previous iPhones (front and back) and although they are pricey, they do good work and stand behind their product. $45 to cover the front screen only with installation, talk about making a killing.
NOTE: Fusion of Ideas is right across from the Apple store. When I arrived to get my iPad 3G (about 4PM on launch day) the line for the Apple store was easily 120 people deep.
Once skinned, I went home and plugged it into my macbook pro to start the setup.
Concern #1 - what if this is your only device for computing? What if you don’t own a PC / Mac, how do you get this thing going? I’m willing to bet the Apple Store would allow you to connect up after purchase to setup an iTunes account and get the thing going, but it’s a legitimate concern for “first time buyers” that have no other computing device.
The iPad syncs to iTunes just like an iPhone. iTunes recognizes it, it takes a minute or so for “activation” and you’re golden. During the sync it asks if you want to sync your songs, photos, iPhone apps, etc – I selected my iTunes library and thats it. Sync was quick and painless, with no issues.
If you’ve used an iPhone, you’ll be very very familiar with the UI (user interface) of the iPad / they share the same OS. Slide to unlock and you’re in. I immediately set a passcode (for those of you who don’t have this setup on your iPhone, seriously consider it) and took a look around.
Very basic homepage apps – Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Maps, Videos, YouTube, iTunes, App Store and Settings. On the homepage dock are Safari, Mail, Photos and iPod. This pales in comparison to the clutter of my iPhone screen (smaller real estate understandably) and the iPad felt a little empty at first glance.
The new Calendar is slick. Very “dayrunner” style (only digital) and is much easier on the eyes than iCal. The only other subtle change is in mail, where there is a nice preview pane and the visual look of deleting emails is more slick (it piles multiple emails like paper prior to deletion).
Let’s get into the good stuff – browsing the web.
Safari ALMOST functions as a full browser. I say ALMOST because I still ran into a few sites that detected the browser as “mobile” and forced me to a crippled version of the site (granted most of these sites were a bit obscure). On the other hand, larger sites such as ESPN have an iPad ready site which changes the Flash videos to HTML5 – better yet, some sites such as eBay have an app that is better than the browser version itself! This is where I believe the iPad really shines, it sincerely makes sites look amazing. The glossy screen really makes colors pop – the ease of flicking a finger to scroll, etc, are what make this device somewhat “magical”. Sites load nice and fast (even on 3G) and although I did find some missing functionality here and there, none of it was a dealbreaker. Some little things (like being able to read source) might bother some of you power users, but guess what…there’s an app for that LOL. The browsing experience alone will sell a bundle of these things.
Virtual Keyboard
This is a lot easier to use than people think. I probably had at least 6 people try it out over the weekend and each one of them was surprised at how easy it was to type on. A trick that I found was that if you keep your palms from resting on the table, you tend to be a bit more accurate and faster on the Virtual Keyboard. There is no tactile feel obviously so you do need to glance every so often to ensure your fingers haven’t drifted, but I find for average use, the virtual keyboard is definitely usable. When I say average use I mean, emails, blogs, IM’ing etc…I don’t know if i’d want to write an entire paper on one, but it’s definitely do-able. For those that want some extra real estate to surf (the keyboard takes up a little less than half the screen) you can utilize a bluetooth keyboard for lengthy typing.
Quick pic of my Apple BT keyboard in use w/my iPad.
Touchscreen
This is what the iPad is all about. The ability to touch, tap, scroll, swipe your way thru the entire interface. It’s crazy intuitive. Even for me, sweaty palms and all – the interface works like a champ. A major pet peeve is definitely the fingerprint marks across the entire screen, especially after a day of everyone wanting to mess with it. Nothing that a good microfiber towel can’t fix, but can get annoying for those of us obsessive compulsive types. Apple surprisingly didn’t include one of these in the packaging, so simple, cheap and usable – they normally include these with their products, but for some reason it’s missing from the iPad.
Along with the fingerprints, the glare from overhead lighting is a bit distracting at times. The OEM case puts a nice angle on the iPad to limit this, but for those without it I could really see this as being an issue.
Sound
One of the biggest gripes about the iPhone is that the speakerphone is not loud enough. I had my concerns with the iPad as well, but the speaker is much better and handles sound very well. Another thing missing from the packaging is headphones! It has a headphone jack and yes, I have my headphones from my iPhone, but it’d be nice to get a second set of buds with something this pricey.
Battery Life
Marketed at 9 hours for the 3G (10 hours for the wifi only) – I’d have to say it’s pretty damn close. I used it from 2PM Friday afternoon, all the way until Saturday at 10PM (heavy use showing people videos, browsing etc) before i had to recharge it. That included finding hotspots at restaurants, forgetting to click the “sleep” button while in use and such, so I’m sure I could stretch some extra power out of it if need be. Another thing it should have came with that I purchased is a USB extender, the OE cable is a bit short for me, especially if you plan to use it while plugged in. A $3 cable that would make life much easier if included IMO.
NOTE: It takes a good 3 hours to charge from 0%. I asked the apple geniuses about this and there is no way to get this to charge quicker.
3G connectivity
Very easy to setup- a no-brainer to pickup this option ($130 add) IMO. I actually enabled mine in a parking lot of a Japanese restaurant in 4 minutes. Speed on the 3G seemed faster than on my Iphone although I don’t have the bandwidth reports to back it up. I’m guessing processing power may have a little to do with this as well. Don’t forget to cancel you’re contract at the end of the month otherwise it will continue to roll. A calendar reminder does the trick for me.
File sharing/uploading/saving
One of the biggest gripes that i hear about, although ironically – there a bunch of apps available for sharing/storing. In fact, with the camera connection kit and a simple jailbreak, the iPad will happily accept an external hard drive or memory card.
When it comes down to it, the iPad is a spectacular secondary device. It shouldn’t be your only – but for travel, strictly for portability and battery life alone, the iPad kills all. It’s worlds better than any netbook, pricier for sure – but you get what you pay for. I personally use a 27″ iMac at home, a 15″ Macbook Pro for travel and now, my 32GB iPad 3G. My Macbook Pro will hit Craigslist shortly as I haven’t used it since my iPad arrived 
If you have particulars that I didn’t write about, shoot me an email – would be happy to give you some feedback.
CASE. UGH. I don’t know how much longer I can wait for my 3G version to get here!!
Headed to Costco today (Sunday) which is nuts in itself, decided to try out the CardKing app that I have on my iPhone. It scans any UPC based card (rewards cards, etc) and organizes them for you. Pretty slick, utilizes the built in camera for scanning. Walked in and showed my iPhone which had the app open with the Costco logo on it, the lady took a second glance and let me thru. Did our shopping and headed to the cashier. Got to the cashier and asked her to scan my phone, she was super polite and worried it was going to ruin my phone lol. She scanned and was super psyched about it, a few box boys came over to check it out and then had the Store manager come over to see it LOL! This is by far one of the most useful apps out there, considering I normally carry a Costco card in each car to avoid having to put one in my wallet. Will be handy for all those dumb keychain grocery rewards cards etc…even for LA Fitness! Anyways, here’s a a screenshot, UPC and membership blurred for protection lol.
I know that sounds hilariously funny, but it’s legit. If you’re into timepieces, you’re gonna want this phone. Illmatic.
2 Quick shots of my collectors cases for my favorite diecast cars in my home office. Sorry for the lack of posts – been CRAZY lately!
goose! Sick Single Speed Ducati roadbike that I’ve caught at C&C a few times – nice detail, down to the bronze Brembo Too bad he couldn’t rock the matching marchesini wheels
Been waiting this to come out for awhile (saw it on Gizmodo mid-last year) – was walking thru Target and BOOM, it’s sitting in front of me. The one major drawback of the 3GS is battery power, if you use the phone/internet/apps like I do, you can last almost a full day; however, I’ve found that when I’m on vacation and away from a wall-plug, car a/c adapter and walking around, I really need an extra battery on the go. This is the “best looking” of the ones I’ve seen and I like the USB out that allows me to charge my Blackberry as well (or any other item that accepts USB) – I also picked up a iphone/usb “short” cord for it to keep it clean. Will def. come in handy the next time I’m out all day and low on power…
and no, that’s not where I bit the name for the site LOL.
Some background info:
Wendy bought me the Audio Technica Quiet Points ATH-ANC7’s last year, right before we headed for Miami (I still think my postman took the first pair) – I wanted a pair of noise canceling headphones for the airplane ride and settled on the A-T’s after reading some reviews and some suggestions from friends.
This year my brother gave me a set of Beats by Dre | Studio headphones for my bday (thanks bro!) in WHITE (also casually mentioning that they’ll match my future G) – haha, I wanted to post up a quick review for those of you who asked, so here’s a quick breakdown:
Brand Name:
The A-T’s are made in Japan and have a solid fanbase amongst the audio crowd as well as the gadget crowd. I’d equate them to a “Panasonic” of sorts in the audio world – Good value along with solid quality, but not necessarily a high-end audio brand name.
The Beats are a collabo of Monster Cable and Dr. Dre – manufactured in China. Monster Cable has a dual reputation of some amazing equipment for audio as well as “overpriced/inflated” wires.
Packaging:
The A-T’s came in a nice one piece box, including a travel case, batteries, 1 headset wire, 1 dual headset adapter (1 into 2) and 1 large headset adapter. Nothing special as far as boxing goes, with good accessories included. NOTE: the travel case included which is thin and short is a much more ergonomic fit for luggage as opposed to the Beats travel case (more on the Beats case below). The A-T travel case is about the size of a small square box of chocolates.
The Beats were boxed as if it were an Apple product – incredible presentation and well thought out. The is 2 pieces, one part sleeve, the second part a book of some sorts that opens up (binding intact) to reveal a separate ribbon opening that holds the instructions, wires and batteries. A travel case is included as well. Accessories included 2 headset wires (1 with a remote to answer calls) a single headset adapter, batteries, and a red Monster Cable microfiber cloth for cleaning. The Beats travel case is much more hip, with a rubberized outer, hinge lock clasp and the Beats logo embossed on the top. Unfortunately, because of the way the headphones collapse, the shape of the travel case is a bit more obtrusive on the beats with it becoming a weird tall and thick diamond shaped object.
Aesthetics:
The A-T’s look like your prototypical studio headphones – medium size with black with comfy padding, once open you can hardly tell they collapse. If they were a car, they’d be an Acura. A single blue LED illuminates when noise canceling is on – via a single switch on the left hand side.
The Beats, well – let’s just say they’re the Rolls Royce Phantom of headphones when it comes to aesthetics. They’re big, you’re rocking em, everyone is gonna know, there’s no discretion- that’s why they are what they are. Putting these on immediately made me want to bob my head and cut, mix and scratch. Bright white, Red Beats logo, single LED on the right to identify whether they’re on or off.
Performance:
Both did their duty as far as noise canceling, overall quietness over ear and fit and finish, but some things stood out:
- Although the A-T’s were very solid, good highs, good mids and good bass – there was no denying the Beats sounded better. Better highs, better mids, INSANE BASS. I’m not a crazy audiophile so take it with a grain of salt, but the Beats simply sounded better overall. Win for the Beats.
- Both headsets cupped completely over ear and had excellent dampening without the noise cancellation on; however, it must be noted that the A-T’s can work without power and without the noise cancellation on. This is important in the event you run out of battery and just want to “listen” to your music. The Beats require that noise cancellation be on just to listen at all. Thus, if you want to just listen without noise cancellation, you’re out of luck. Even worse, if you run out of battery, you get nothing. Win for the A-T’s.
Fit:
The A-T’s fit nicely, I have a rather large head LOL, I wear a size 7 ¾ hat so the headsets are almost at full extension for me to be a comfortable fit. There is solid “cuppage” around each ear without being too tight.
The Beats fit nicely as well, a little less “ergonomic” and plush feeling, the padding is a little “harder” than the A-T’s, but do provide noticeably more sound reduction when simply over ear (with no noise cancellation off)
Price:
That A-T’s retail for $219.95 – can be found for $120 on Amazon
The Beats retail for $349.95 – can be found for $260 on Amazon
Summary:
Price being no object, the Beats by Dre easily win. They look better, sound better, and have “the name” to go along with them. Build wise, they’re on the same level, dare I say that the A-T’s seem to have slightly better fit and finish if any.
If you’re looking for best value, the A-T’s are the winner. $140 difference can get you 2 pairs for the price of 1 set of Beats. Unless you’re a huge audiophile, I sincerely don’t think you’ll notice a $140 difference. When I was listening to R&B or Bassy music, it was very apparent. When I listened to some Christmas music or slow jams, they were more on the same level.
If you’ve got the money to spend, get the Beats. If you are looking for something less “in your face” with better value, the A-T’s are a great choice.