Quick 6 Review: iPad

Oh, the iPad. We've been drooling over it as much as we've been hating on it. It's a product that's been "on the horizon" for the past decade, and now that it's finally here, what do we make of it? It's nothing completely out of the ordinary that completely revolutionizes the way we interact with computers - all it is is a big iPod Touch! But after you start using this thing, you really start to think to yourself: "holy shit, this thing feels like its from the future…" And that's where your's truly comes in - here's my patented Quick Six Review of the iPad:

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Quick-Six Review: Slingbox Edition

Some of you may have heard about Slingbox, but others may think its some weird sexual contraption. Its not… unless of course you want to stream the Playboy channel from your cable TV box. Basically what it does is take what's being shown on your TV and stream it through the internet to your computer, mobile phone, refrigerator, etc. I find it pretty useful for business trips where there's free WiFi or when I'm stuck in an airport where "The View" is the only thing being shown in the lobby area. Check out my attempt at making a video preview and read my 6 points below:

1. Its Easy: Much like any good sexual contraption, its really easy to use and setup. All you do is plug it into the wall, the TV, and the internet and you're halfway done. From there, you download the software from slingbox.com and go through a simple wizard to complete the setup. That's about it - you're now able to watch all those fantastic Don Draper moments from your laptop.


2. Quality: So the Slingbox I'm using is the Slingbox Solo. It has HD inputs, but doesn't stream in HD - you need the Slingbox Pro-HD to do that. But from what I've experienced, the Solo does just fine and looks great on both my macbook pro and iPhone. As I mentioned in the video above, there is a lag between the real-time TV and what you're seeing on the Slingbox client. Not a big deal at all, but it's there. The audio is really good to and doesn't have problems keeping up with the video like some other streaming applications do.


3. Mobile Applications: This is where the Slingbox goes from cool to awesome. Once you download the app onto your iPhone, Windows Mobile, or Blackberry smartphone, you can immediately watch your TV after some minor setup. I've used it on both a Windows Mobile phone (Motorola Q9) and my iPhone 3GS and both work really well. Keep in mind for the iPhone, you need to be on WiFi to use this app.


4. Control: From either the mobile application or the desktop application, you can easily control what's on your cable box. I use it a lot for accessing my saved shows on my DVR, or even watching live Football games when I'm in an area that doesn't show my local team. As you can see in the pic above, there's a pretty intuitive remote that works with most cable boxes (I'm on RCN, not Comcast, but the remotes work the same). Fast Forward, Rewind, Pause, Video On Demand - its all there.

5. Use it for other TVs: Sling also has another product that puts what's on your cable box onto another TV (like in another room), and its called the SlingCatcher (I know, another sexual contraption name). Think of it as taking what you can do on your laptop and easily throwing it up on the TV screen. Its not useful to me, but I could see this being helpful if you didn't want to pay for cable and hooked up a Slingbox at your parent's house and the SlingCatcher at your house.

6. Cost: Ok, this part may push you away from this pretty fantastic product, but here goes: the Slingbox Solo is $160 on Amazon and the Pro-HD is $260. Its not cheap, but it really is a great addition to your media center if you watch a lot of TV. I should also mention the iPhone app is $30, so the total cost of the Solo and the app is around 2 Franklins. If you're thinking you might want to buy, I'd appreciate you going through Amazon (I get a referral). Here are links to the Solo, Pro-HD, and Catcher for your convenience:

Quick Six Review: Motorola CLIQ

It’s been quite a while since Motorola had a phone worth buying, but the CLIQ may be the end to their drought. When it comes to consumer phones nowadays, there are three types of people: dumbphone people, iPhone people, and other-smartphone people. I think it’s safe to assume our loyal AMDAL readers don’t really care about dumbphones (see MLR’s attempt at going “dumb” for a month here). That being said, if you like the iPhone, go get an iPhone, but if you don’t really want an iPhone, consider the Motorola CLIQ for these reasons…

1. Android: With more and more phones coming out with Google’s mobile OS, consumers have more and more options. In my opinion, Android offers just as nice a mobile experience as the iPhone (save Apple’s app store), but people didn’t really latch on quickly because the first phone, the T-Mobile G1, was ass-ugly. One thing Android doesn't have yet is Microsoft Exchange support, so you suits may need to look elsewhere if getting your work email on your phone is important.

2. Social Networking: Along with the announcement of the CLIQ, Motorola announced their own "skin" to Android called Moto Blur. Basically, all this is doing is throwing some Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. widgets on your homescreen. Its a cool feature, and something I kinda wish the iPhone did rather than just a static image with "Slide to Unlock" at the bottom. Then again, some people's tweets or FB updates are suspect, and could be bad for business displaying them out in the open all the time.

3. Full QWERTY keyboard: Fat thumbs? iPhone keyboard driving you crazy? The keyboard on the CLIQ is actually pretty nice. I'm not sure why the phone's called the CLIQ since its mainly a touchscreenphone, but the keys are easy to press and separated properly. The D-pad to the left of the keyboard will be awesome for games when decent games actually come out. The back-lighting is also pretty solid, and easy to see at night.

4. OLED Screen: The screen is really what makes the CLIQ nicer than the iPhone. It may be about the same size, but the clarity is noticeably better than the iPhone. This may not really mean anything to you, but just know it's sweet, ok?

5. T-Mobile: The thing I hate most about my iPhone is AT&T. The service SUCKS - I constantly get dropped calls in my apartment, which is pretty unacceptable seeing as I live in the 3rd largest city in the country. T-mobile is a lot cheaper than AT&T and the service is probably just as shitty.

6. Replaceable Battery: I remember when my RAZR would last 4 or 5 days on a charge, but these smartphones really only get a day's worth. If you run out of battery on the iPhone, you're SOL, but if you get a secondary battery for the CLIQ, you can actually swap it with your dead battery easily.

So, if you're in the market for a new non-iPhone smartphone, the CLIQ may be of interest. Motorola has been in the toilet, so this phone really is their last attempt at regaining market share - which means this phone has been heavily developed and, from the company's point of view, can't fail. The price hasn't been locked down yet, but I would assume it should be around $199 with a new contract (maybe less, depending on T-Mobile) and will be available this holiday season. For a cool product walkthrough, check out Motorola's dedicated page here.

Quick Six Review - HarborMaster iPhone App

The iPhone and iPod Touch have really changed the way I play video games. Sure, games like Madden and Halo should really only be played on a TV screen with a controller, but some games are just as fun on a portable device. Now that I have a bunch of ridiculously stupid and mindlessly addictive games right in my pocket, I can waste time whenever I want. Enter HarborMaster - the extremely well designed and graphically appealing harboring/docking/screen fondling game. Its awesome for these reasons:

1. Its Easy - I hate games that are impossible to play - they make the bathroom experience less enjoyable.

2. No Real Story Line - All you do is drag boats into docks and drag them back out without having them run into each other. Its simple, and you just do it to the point where one of them crashes - no levels or lives, just fun.

3. Nice Graphics - Sure, the iPhone can run games that look as nice as the Playstation 1 (Remember that, back in the nineties?), but cartoony looking games seem to work the best on the small screen.

4. Island Music - Everyone in the bathroom will know you're having a relaxing time.

5. Soon-to-be Multiplayer Support - When the update comes out, you'll be able to play with the guy/girl in the next stall! I hope they allow you to customize the "you've been challenged" message so I can say "the guy playing the island music wants to play an iPhone game with you."

6. Pirates - Excerpt from the game's description on the App Store: "Pirates!"

To get HarborMaster, click here to download the app in iTunes - I highly recommend it for a whopping $0.99.

Quick Six Review- iPhone 3GS

So this is the first of many (hopefully) quick six reviews. I've been getting more and more "what should I buy" emails, so what better place to make gadget suggestions for my friends than AMDAL. I'm assuming that about 90% of you already have an iPhone and 100% know enough about the iPhone to make this review helpful. Here goes:

1. The "S" is for speed, and its for good reason. Its much faster than the 3G in so many ways - to the point where it makes sense to shell out more money to get the better processor. It makes doing everyday things much smoother and less frustrating, like the keyboard no longer has any lag when you first start typing.

2. The camera is actually good enough to use as a replacement for your point-and-shoot. To focus, you simply tap on the screen where you want to focus/set exposure and the camera quickly makes the appropriate readings. Also, video recording is much better than you'd think - 30 frames per second looks smooth and the auto-focus helps the clarity.


3. The compass is awesome - when you launch Google maps and hit the "Find Me" button twice, it orients the map to where you're pointing. This is especially useful when you're in a new place trying to figure out which way to start walking to find a cab.


4. The latest firmware (3.0) is really optimized for the 3GS, so it runs flawlessly on the new hardware. When using the new spotlight feature, search results are displayed almost instantly. This may be shameless self-promotion, but the wireless headphones I developed as a product manager for Motorola work amazingly well with the new 3.0 firmware: Motorla S305.

5. Open GL 2.0 support may not be so apparent right now, but when new games start coming out that utilize it, you'll appreciate the feature. The easiest way to think of it is 3G:3GS::PS:PS2. I already see a huge improvement in Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and it doesn't even utilize Open GL 2.0.

6. Voice Control - finally you can make calls without having to go to the phone, then contacts, then dial... all you have to do is hold down the home button and wait for the prompt. It works pretty well for me, but asking the iPhone to play a certain artist wasn't so hot.

The bottom line: I'm happy I paid the extra $299 to get the latest iPhone, so if you have $199 to $299 to blow on another iPhone, I would definitely suggest upgrading. Oh, and for you runners out there, the Nike+ support is pretty awesome, so that may be another reason to upgrade.