I've used many different smartwatches over the past months but as they tend to have a rather weak vibration motor I started to look into a device to use along with it solely for notifications, and then I found the Miband 1S which seemed to fit my needs. I've positive experiences with Xiaomi devices in the past so I placed an order, I've now used the Miband for about a month and this is my review of the unit. Let's jump into it, shall we?
The Miband itself comes in a tiny little box that don't reveal all that much about the actual product, other than a Xiaomi logo on the front and on the back of the box there's some technical specifications that are related to the product. When you open the box, the first thing that you'll find is the actual "core unit" attached to a thick piece of cardboard, and below it is the accessories that are included with the product. There's not many accessories other than a special proprietary charging cable with a flat noodle-styled cable and a band made of some kind of rubber.
After removing the unit, I almost instantly felt that the item was made out of high quality as it feels very solid, and it definitely doesn't feel cheap in any way I could think of. The front of the core unit is covered by a plate made out of anodized aluminum and there's also 3 LED's, and on the back is the actual sensor that's used to measure the heart rate. On the side there’s nothing more than 2 pins that are made out of copper, that are used to charge the unit as it’s waterproof.
To fully take advantage of the MiBand 1S you’ve to sideload an application that’s available on the Chinese MIUI appstore, as the app for Miband that’s available on Google Play is heavily outdated and doesn’t support the heart rate monitor. After the app is sideloaded, the pairing process was very straight forward as the app is in plain English and guides you through the entire process.
So when it comes to the app for the product, I really like the fact that it’s easy to navigate and does display the data in a way that’s very easy to understand, and it’s also very easy to make changes to the settings of the band. I also like the fact that there’s a running mode and that you can manually measure the heart rate from there. However, there’s some major disadvantages with the app such as that it does not offer not many settings and lacks some features such as no proper notification support. However, with third party apps such this isn’t really a problem and those apps work along with the official app with no issues that I could find.
When it comes to the tracking the band does, I’m quite surprised by that it’s pretty accurate for the price that this unit comes in at. The statistics are pretty much the same as the ones that my other unit, Moto 360, counts while wearing both devices at the same time. The data isn’t very detailed but it does what it’s supposed to and make monitoring easy, and the added heart rate sensor is a nice bonus that bring additional value to the product.
The battery life isn’t as good as with the older generation of the Miband, but that’s primarily due to the added heart rate sensor that consume additional battery. For me, the Miband lasts about a week on a charge with all the settings enabled that are said to decrease the battery life but for me that’s not a problem as for me it’s a habit to put the device on the charger.
So conclusion time; the Miband 1S is one of my favorite smartbands out there due to its competitive pricing. The battery life is decent and the vibration is strong, and the data it collects are accurate. There’s no real reason not to buy this device and for the $26 that it costed me it’s certainly one of the better purchases I’ve made lately!
Bought my unit @ Everbuying.net for $26 and the link is:
http://www.everbuying.net/product1113384.html
Pictures
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Related
Havit 'ME' Bluetooth Speaker
I've never bothered with too many phone peripherals. When I travel, my philosophy has always been 'less is more' where lugging stuff around is concerned. However there are times when having a more robust external sound source comes in handy and more than once I have really wanted an accessory speaker because the sound that comes from the microscopic phone speakers just doesn't cut it.
The Havit 'ME' Bluetooth speaker is a very nice balance between performance and size for ease of portability. Having been provided one of the units for evaluation, the best word I can use to describe my experience is 'surprising'.
Amazon link to product here: CLICKY
The packaging is what one might expect. No big deal, there's a 'clam shell' style cardboard box that encloses the speaker inside a clear plastic shell. Two connectors are included - one USB, the other a stereo micro-jack for those who for whatever reason can't connect to the unit with Bluetooth. Also included are a warranty card and instruction manual, which I'll comment on later in this review.
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Reflecting on my earlier comment, I have to say the construction quality was surprisingly good. Crafted from a textured aluminum casing with soft-touch rubberized controls and coating, the unit just feels nice. Many low-end products are made of plastic, or some fancy word for plastic like "polycarbonate" that sounds important but still means plastic. Not with this little guy. You know you're holding something in your hand - it has some 'heft' to it.
Size comparison:
Once you get to the unit, there are four rubberized controls: Power, Reverse/Vol-, Play/Pause, Forward/Vol+, the secondary functions being triggered by a press-hold on the corresponding button. For example, to skip to the next song, press the > button once, to turn the volume up, press and hold that button. That's when the magic starts.
Upon powering up, the unit emits a power on tone, and my initial reaction was "Whoa!" when I heard it the first time. That a device so small could make a rich, robust sound was quite surprising. I'm not saying you can ditch your home stereo just yet, but the unit has a surprisingly good dynamic response, especially in the lower frequencies, which is uncharacteristic of many small speakers of this sort. Maybe I haven't been keeping up on developments in electronics, but it seems the driver used is fairly high quality, and by mounting it with the proper case, it's almost like a micro-subwoofer. Audio quality is very good, though there are some sacrifices that one must make when demanding full-range audio from a single driver.
Additionally, the unit also has a built-in microphone, and the controls serve to operate the unit as a remote Bluetooth hands-free speakerphone, enabling you to make and receive calls, a nice additional feature not seen in many other products in this category. The outgoing call quality was not what one would expect from a dedicated hands-free device, but the fact that this was included in their design specs shows some nice forward thinking, and is a helpful feature to have in a pinch.
In use:
Charging:
There's just one complaint I have, and it's addressed to all of our overseas trading partners who develop products for our market. I wish you manufacturers would PLEASE contact an American-speaking consultant who has a grasp on our language before putting your instruction manuals to print. First, the typeface in the manual was so microscopic, I could barely read it, even with my glasses:
The bigger problem is that the translation was not well done. We completely understand English isn't your language, but please - before printing this stuff - contact someone with a full grasp of the localized language. I'm available for a reasonable fee to help.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, if you're looking for a small, portable, simple speaker that delivers a high quality audio experience for something like audiobooks or even hands-free calling, you can't beat this little unit for price and performance.
About a month ago, MPow contacted me about a Bluetooth speaker they wanted me to review for them. As I wanted one for quite some time anyways, I thought why not kill two birds with one stone.
The shipping was rather fast, the device arrived just two or three days after I agreed to review the device.
Overview
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Looking at the specs, the MPow AquaPro is IPX7 rated. For everyone not familiar with IP ratings, it basically means the device is water resistant and withstands immersion up to 1m for 30min. While the packaging titles the speaker “waterproof”, I personally wouldn’t call IPX7 waterproof, but rather water resistant. But this should still be more than enough for what most users are gonna do with it anyways.
Another point is the rugged shell: the case is well built and has a very solid feel, especially because of the green/yellow rubber coating surrounding the case
A, for me personally, rather useless feature the speaker has is the SOS alert, which makes a loud noise in case you’re in an emergency. But well, maybe it could come in handy for someone, someday, who knows?
The device was neatly packaged with a short, but rather useless manual, a 30cm USB cable for charging and a 60cm 3.5mm aux cable.
The speaker has 4 buttons on the top for power/connect, vol-, vol+ and play/pause. On the right side you can find the SOS button as well as the USB and aux ports and the charging indicator LED.
Features and Impressions
When I first looked at the speaker, my initial thought was that the speaker was rather small with 8x8x4cm, too small to be loud enough, nor make a clear sound when using max volume. However, I could not have been more mistaken. The speaker is more than loud enough and also has an impressively clear sound. But what impressed me the most is the incredible bass, coming from such a relatively small speaker. It even managed to move around my table once while I played a bass-heavy song.
Looking at the battery, it may not be the biggest battery available, but I got between 7 to 8 hours of actual play time out of one full charge. This brings me to my only big negative point about this speaker: the low battery alert. It really is annoying as hell. As soon as the battery reaches a certain level, the speaker starts playing a godawful sound every minute. This could have been implemented way, way better using an LED first and after a certain amount of time moving on to a sound notification. But well, it is something you usually don’t encounter that often anyways.
One more rather small criticism I have to add is looking into the manual. The best you can do is not to look into it at all, because as I said before, it is quite useless. The use of the speaker is rather self-explanatory and the times for powering the speaker on and off, as well as connecting are anything but accurate. But as the manual isn’t really needed, I don’t really care about that at all.
Conclusion
Now, to sum things up, the device really makes an impression. It is well built, it is more than powerful enough for pretty much all use cases and it is not expensive at all. I have been using it mostly for showering, and after one month worth of showers the device is still working perfectly. So if you are looking for a small, affordable but still powerful Bluetooth speaker, this is the way to go.
Special Offer
As an extra, they also offered me a discount code for 4$ off when buying on Amazon:
Code: 75UGBSUR
Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019VROWAG
http://www.xmpow.com/mpow-aquapro-portable-wireless-bluetooth-speaker-mbs9.html
Expiration date: June 20th
Code does not work. Not in the Canadian store s at least...
It's useful after I tried it.
kojam said:
Code does not work. Not in the Canadian store s at least...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's useful on the giving link provided in the review on Amazon after I tried it on the right permalink. But what a pity, there are only three days left.
This is the Oittm Smart Wi-Fi Aroma Diffuser
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Unboxing
Unlike some other non-smart equivalents, this one doesn't include any extra accessory in the box, containing: 1x 12V Power Adapter, 1x User Manual and the device itself. That's it! No dispenser or cleaning tool is included.
The build quality is decent, but not superb. Being 100% made of plastic, at least for the chassis, it can't fell premium of course, but this is normal for this kind of products. Something not normal is the way all plastic parts are cut, definitely not as good as i would have expected.
Starting from the front side, there are five buttons used to configure and manage the device. I like that the manufacturer left all manual controls even if this is a Smart Device. As you can notice, there are also lots of LEDs that indicate the current status, timer, power and mode.
On the back there is only the power connector, while on the lower side there is a small fan and lots of holes for heat dissipation.
As regards the transparent parts over the buttons and on the top side, this is where the RGB LED light do the "magic". First of all, the brightness isn't super-high, thus i had to take a photo with no in-room light. I know, the photo is noisy, but i had no other ways to let you see it.
Usage
Being a Smart Home device, it requires a dedicated app to manage all controls. The app is called "Oittm Smart", at least on the Play Store, and works perfect, with Amazon Alexa and Google Home compatibility. Unfortunately both services are not available yet in Italy so i won't be able to test them.
The app is well-made, with no noticeable issues neither translation errors, and there are lots of features. Of course it isn't made only for this humdifier, but for the whole Oittm eco-system.
It is possible to add scenes linked to the WiFi connection and so on, everything synced online.
Here a video where i show all the real-time changes using the app. It is vertical because, unfortunately, the app doesn't support landscape mode.
Conclusions
Some of my followers know that i am gradually making my, or better my parents's, home smarter and smarter day by day, and this is only the beginning.
This smart humidifier, or "aroma essential oil diffuser" as they call it (dammit soo many words), does his main job brillantly, and the smart management works perfect thanks to a well-developed application. It doesn't mean that it is perfect though, since build quality isn't superb, and LED brightness can't be adjusted.
So, do i recommend it? Yes, it is a valid smart home device.
Pros:
- Well-Developed App
- Google Home and Amazon Alexa compatible
- Easy to configure and manage
Cons:
- Fixed LED Brightness
- Mediocre Build Quality
Rating: 8.6
Packaging and Accessories: 7.5
Design and Materials: 7.5
Usage: 9.5
Price: 9.5 (based on Amazon price)
Official Manufacturer website: http://www.oittm.com/
You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/EHCOD
Another smart home stuff
Now the industry of a smart house is developing by leaps and bounds. Especially with Amazon.
Amazon recently published the news that they are developing a smart AR mirror. In addition to displaying weather, time, web search, etc. Its main function will be that it will show in real time how one or another outfit will look at you, taking into account the physics of the fabric and the movements of the operator's body.
P.S. The oil diffuser is useful thing)
This is the Koogeek S1 Smart Scale
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Unboxing
Just like all Koogeek products, also this one comes with no accessories: 4x AA Alkaline Batteries, 1x User Manual, 1x Quality Certificate, 1x Warranty Certificate and the product itself.
Similar to most high-quality scales, this one features a solid build required to handle the weight (up to 150kg declared) and they declare to be using a tempered glass for the surface, something i can't confirm unfortunately because i managed to scratch and leave marks on it pretty easily (slightly visible in the photo). The plastic used for the corners and for the whole chassis is as good as it should and with a nice silver painting.
The upper surface hides all sensors and most important, the display. It is pretty bright and sharp, with all indicators for Bluetooth and WiFi connections.
Here you can see the display. (the camera struggles to focus properly on it)
On the lower side there is the slot for all batteries where a reset button is also located, and there is a useful QR Code to download the app easily.
Usage
Just like the other Blood Pressure Monitor, also with this one there are three ways to handle the scale:
1) Without BT/WiFi (but it would not make any sense).
2) Using BT that trasmits data to the Koogeek App in real-time.
3) Using WiFi that transmits data to the Koogeek Server in order to sync everything even without having access to the app or smartphone.
Thanks to the Koogeek Ecosystem, it is possible to use a single-app for all Smart Health devices, and the app is well-made, available on the Play Store and also constantly updated for bug-fixes.
The dashboard is complete with all info about each result, and each one provides an high amount of details since this scale supports 8 different measurements: Weight (well...of course), BMI, Body Fat, Lean Mass, Body Water, Bone Mass, Visceral Fat and BMR.
In order to use all features it is required to connect the device and register for an account where all data such as Height, Birth Date and so on must be added. Different users can be added for multi-user usage.
Google Fit is also supported, useful for those who prefer to keep everything synced in the same app, and, finally, notifications have been implemented so that a new result gets notified instantly.
It is also possible, for those who have a child, to measure the child's weight using the specific feature.
Conclusions
Koogeek products keep impressing me for the ecosystem, well made with a decent app available, even though the build quality is not as good as i would have expected compared to the premium Smart Blood Pressure Monitor i have tested before.
As already said, i am getting into this Smart Health/Home world, and i am really appreciating the way all these devices are getting better and better, and also more accessible to everyone. Something about battery life will be added as soon as the included batteries gets discharged.
So, do i recommend it? Yes, unless you are already part of another ecosystem from another brand.
Pros:
- Solid with a great design
- Dual Connection BT/WiFi
- Well-Made Smart Health app
Cons:
- Easy to scratch surface
- Lack of premium touch-and-feel
Rating: 8.3
Packaging and Accessories: 7
Design and Materials: 8.5
Usage: 9.5
Price: 8 (based on Amazon price)
Official Product page: https://www.koogeek.com/smart-health-3076/p-ks1.html
You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/MA0Mj
The trend of ditching the headphone jack brought and popularized the usage of wireless earbuds, that connect via Bluetooth and WiFi. 2 days ago, I joined this trend with headphone jack-less phone and a pair of Dudios Free Mini earbuds that I bought on Amazon. My goal was to get premium earbuds that live to its brand and be durable and efficient, yet, be affordable. Out of many options, I was convinced by the Dudios Free Mini that grabbed my attention. It provided the premium and sleek design and the budget price, which was a great bargain for me.
The following is a detailed review. TL;DR is at the bottom, enjoy reading!
Package:
User manual.
2x Earbuds.
Charging box.
Charging cable (USB).
3x Pairs of tips (small/medium/large).
2x Safety cushions (Box & content).
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Features:
Bluetooth 5.0.
IPX5 Rated (protects from sweat damage).
Durable and last up to 15 hours.
Touch control that provides easy functions (Phone call, Music, etc).
Comfortable and yet hold firmly.
Provided charging box.
Experience:
The earbuds came with little battery and I emptied it completely to note down the charging time. It completed its charging after 1 hour and 50 minutes, which is less than the official time (2 hours). Of course, it may vary between 1:30 and 2:00 hours charging times. Knowing that gyms are closed, I went for a normal cardio session outside to test the durability of the earbuds and how comfortable it is to train with them.
To be honest, I didn't feel them. They were super comfy and didn't put any pressure on my ears and didn't annoy me while running. I enjoyed the run with the earbuds and the Bluetooth connection was stable. The volume and the quality of the audio was perfect for my style and didn't feel off at all. I took my time testing the product, considering that I'd want to make sure that it's up to my expectations. Another test was cleaning the car, which included a lot of water sprays and wet areas around the ears.
The earbuds did NOT slip off and didn't seem to annoy me at all, which was quite pleasant. I've used it too for some various calls and with that different usage of them, it lasted 11 hours and had 20% left. This means that I used it for Media playback and calls, which lasted more than an hour.
To this point, I'm still experiencing with them and I have no issues whatsoever with the functionality or the connectivity. To conclude, it has the expected functionality and surpassed the expectations by being comfy and easy-to-use earbuds.
Notes:
I'd like to highlight, that you need to remove the charging film on the earbuds before putting them in the charging box, otherwise, it wouldn't charge.
TL;DR:
Sleek, premium and minimal design.
Touch control is as easy as it can get.
Multiple functions with a few clicks on the earbuds.
Last long and can be easily re-charged.
IPX5 Rated, don't worry about doing sport!
Budget price.
I hope you enjoyed reading. I'll see you in my next review!