Product review: Grace Digital GDI-GSD8200 gdock Charging Speaker Dock for Samsung Galaxy Phones

Gdock is designed for be used as a docking station for use with Samsung Galaxy phones. It can also be used a speakers for any device if the device is connected via AUX IN port by audio cable (included). I received this unit from manufactory for testing purposes to write an unbiased and honest review. I tested this speaker with Android Phone, our two Android tablets (Nexus and Galaxy) as well as a computer speaker. You will find both positives and negatives I encountered during my testing.

Gdock works with AC power source or alternatively can work through a lithium-ion rechargeable battery (sold separately). However, it recharges the phone only when plugged into the AC source. When it operates on the battery it only behaves as the speakers.

I am attaching a collage of seven photos numbered 1 though 7 that I will be referencing in this review.

Photo #1 shows everything that comes in the box: Gdock, cradles, remove control, power cable, audio cable, power supply and cable.
Gdock comes with 6 holders for Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note, Galaxy SII SGH-T989, Galaxy SII GT-I9100 SGH-1777, Galaxy SOO SPH-D719. The GDock comes pre-installed with a cradel fro S III cradle. The cradle can be removed by sliding it up, and replaced with another cradle if needed. Photo #1 shows me sliding one of the cradles into the dock.

Photo #2 shows the back of the unit, where in the center you see audio in and power connections. On the sides of the unit you see two bass ports for extending the bass performance.
One of the things I found in testing is that the sound is significantly improved if you position the unit in a way that the sound coming out of these port holes has a solid surface to reflect on. The difference was significant and significantly improved my opinion of the sound quality.

Photo #3 shows Gdock on the digital scale. It weights in at 3.3 pounds and feels significant and well built.

Gdock comes with a remote control, which has the following operations:
1. On/off
2. Mute on/off
3. Volume up and down
4. Reset to factory settings
5. Bass up and down
6. Change audio from Aux In to Samsung Galaxy
7. Treble up and down

When the unit is turned on a blue LED light on the front of the speaker is turned on. This light is a bit subtle, it shines through the speaker cloth and I did not notice it right away. I put a red square around this light in picture #7 to bring it to your attention.

To position the phone in the doc the phone is slid into the cradle from the top, through the arms of the cradle and inserted into the micro USB jack connector at the bottom of the cradle. The phone can be positioned either vertically or horizontally on the doc by rotating
the docking port.

Photo #4 shows the Nexus Galaxy phone I used for testing. Several important notes on the phone. The Nexus Galaxy phone is not officially listed as a supported phone. In addition the phone is normally used with an extra large battery which makes is significantly fatter than a standard battery. Despite the "unofficial" configuration I thought this test would be of interest to people who own this phone model.

1) Two of the cradles fit the Nexus Galaxy phone with the standard battery: Galaxy SIII and Galaxy SI SGH-T989.
2) When the phone had its extra large battery even though none of the cradles fit, the unit could be inserted into the USB connection without the cradle.
Photo #5 shows the side view of phone with the extra large battery on Gdock.

Photo #6 show the phone charging. I used Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge. The battery app showed that the phone is connected and is charging at slower USB rate. This is not surprising, since the USB connector has to be a data connector to carry music data to the speaker.

Gdock USB source ... 1% charge in 10 minutes
(by comparison AC source charges this phone 6% in 10 minutes)

Difference between a charging cable and a data cable:
Charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fulls devices to see them as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source.

Photo #7 shows the phone playing music. However, Nexus Phone appears to be incompatible with the speaker. The speakers did engage, even though the battery app showed that the phone was connected and recognized by Gdock. Since this phone was not officially listed as a supported phone, I am not deducting any stars from the rating, but this finding was a surprise to me and I wanted to share it with other Nexus Galaxy phone owners.

The rest of my experiments was using the audio jack on the back of the unit. I tested Gdock with Nexus 7 Tablet, Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and as desktop computer speaker. As I mentioned earlier the key to getting good sound from this speaker is to put right agaist a wall or in our case a window pane. This really improved the bass performance. The front facing stereo speakers generate crisp and clear sound, the mid-range was very good. With speaker against the surface the bass sound was reasonable.

When I was testing this speaker as a computer speaker I compared it (using the same piece of music and two different computers) to Cambridge Soundworks speakers and Labtec speakers.
These speakers did not perform as well as my Cambridge Soundsworks but better than Labtec speakers.

To summarize:
1. The mid-range of the speaker was very good, bass performance somewhat weaker but reasonable.
2. Charging is at USB rate
3. Speaker does not work with Galaxy Nexus phone, the charger does work.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Yubi Power pack external battery, Review for use with Nexus 7 Tab, Galaxy Nexus Phone, Galaxy 7.7 Tab, Sansa Clip+ MP3

I tested I 5200mAh Yubi Power external battery pack with Nexus 7 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus cell phone, and SanDisk Sansa Clip+ player.
I received 5200mAh external battery pack for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review and you will find both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.

I am attaching a collage of 3 photos that I will be referencing in this review.

The external power battery dimensions are 4" length x 2" width x 7/8" thickness. It weight 4.7 oz. It comes with a 6 inch charging cable and 4 connectors: Mini USB, Micro USB, PSP, iPhone.
The battery pack should be fully charged before the first use. It took overnight for it to reach full charge. The manufacturer states that the battery life is over 500 cycles.

Photo #1 shows how each adapter connects to the USB cable. The adapters are a weak point of the design, they feel a bit flimsy and it is easy to loose all the small pieces.

A button on top of the unit turns the unit on and off (hold it for a few second to turn off). Note that the unit does not shut off when not in use. It wil continue to drain power unless you turn it off manually.

There 4 blue lights on top of the unit. A single light on one side of the button indicates on/off status. The three lights on the other side of the button indicate the charings status (3 lights full, 2 light 30 to 80% full, 3 lights charge is 80% or more. The power pack also has an LED light, which can be used a flashlight.

The 5200mAh Yubi Power has one USB outlet. I tested my four electronic devices using both my own USB cable as well as the manufacture cable+adapter. I wanted to see the difference between
the cables, and the difference was significant.

The provided adapters fit Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, Nexus 7 tablet and Sansa Clip MP3 (as they take regular USB-to-micro USB cable) but none of the provided adapters fit Galaxy Samsung 7.7 Tablet (so for Galaxy I could only test with my own USB cable).

I used Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

The key findings:
================
(1) The power pack worked well with Nexus devices,but did not work at all with Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet.
(2) Using Yubi Power charging cables vs generic cables made a significant difference

Difference between a power cable and a data cable:
Charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see them as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source. Both my generic cable and Yubi Power cables used in my tests are charging cables.

Description of my tests:
I tested each devices charging them for 10 minutes using Yubi Power cable and using my own charging cable.

The table below summarizes my findings.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (photo #1)
-----------------------------------
generic cable ...... USB source ... 1% charge in 10 minutes
Yubi Power cable ... AC source .... 6% charge in 10 minutes

Nexus 7 Tablet (photo #2)
-----------------------------------
generic cable ...... AC source .... 0% charge in 10 minutes (barely charging, enough to power the screen and not loose charge)
Yubi Power cable ... AC source .... 4% charge in 10 minutes

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7 (photo #3)
-----------------------------------
generic cable .... discharging
Yubi Power cable -- no adapter, cannot be used

SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player
-----------------------------------
generic cable ........ works
Yubi Power cable ..... works

The MP3 player recognized the charger on both outlet, however it behaved differently than charging from the charger it came with.
When I charge Sansa MP3 with a standard AC charger, the MP3 player goes into charging mode, displaying the charging animated icon. When it was plugged into the Yubi Power external battery it continued to play the content. I listen to books on my MP3 player so this caused me to move forward in my book and I had to manually reset my position by a few chapters to get back to where I was when I started charging. The positive side of this, is that is possible to continue listening while MP3 is recharging. This is very handy for Sansa MP3 player since it has built-in battery that cannot be swapped for a charged one.

To summarize:

I liked:
-----------------------------------
1. Good behavior with Nexus devices.
2. Solution for MP3 player with built-in battery

I did not like:
-----------------------------------
1. Does not work for Galaxy Tablet 7.7 (with my own adapter, no Yubi Power adapter)
2. The multiple piece connectors are flimsy and easy to loose. I prefer a one piece charging cable I bought as a replacement.

Overall, I am pleased with this unit and recommend it for the devices I tested with the exception of Galaxy Tablet.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Toothbrush Crayola with Suction Cup

Our dentist gives out a free tooth brush after each visit. On the last visit he gave us a Crayola Toothbrush with a suction cup by Gum. Seemed like a neat idea at first, because some newer toothbrushes have thick handles that don't fit well into the tooth holder cup.

I am attaching a collage of two photos. The first shows close-up of the tooth brush head. It small in size and fits a small mouth quite well, the bristles are soft. The second photo shows the use of the suction cup, which holds up the tooth brush just fine.

However, after the toothbrush has been used it turns out that there is one fundamental issue with this design. Because you stick right to the vanity top the toothbrush drains directly to the vanity creating a mess. I did not like that it created extra clean-up work for me.

This toothbrush is no longer used as a tooth brush, it has been moved to the work shop for use in tools cleaning.


You can find them on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Bark Mulch 2 cubic feet bag. How much does it cover?

I just had a deck replaced and needed to cover the 11 feet by 6 feet area under the deck with bark mulch. Bagged Bark Mulch typically comes in 2 cubic feet bags and I had trouble visualizing exactly how one mulch bag will cover and how many bags I would need to cover my 11' x 6' area. I needed to keep the depth of mulch at around 2 inches, so it does not overflow the pad on which the central air conditioner sits. I did a rough calculation and decided that 6 bags will do it. In fact, the right amount was 5 bags.

I am attaching two photos. The first photo shows how much one bag covers. The area from the house to the edge of the bark is 6 feet. The second photo shows 5 bags covering 11' x 6' area 2" inches thick.

Hope this helps someone working on a similar small mulching project.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Seagate Backup Plus 2 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STCA2000100

I am attaching a collage of 2 photos, where you can see the relative size of the drive. I put a pen into a picture for relative size reference.
In the photos you see this drive laying on its side on top of the netbook computer and fitting into a very small space.
The drive is 5" wide x 7" long x 2" tall.

There is no on/off switch on the drive. If for some reason you need to reboot it, you have to pull the plug. Since I have crammed into a tight place, I had to place the side the unit to the front so I can easily reach the USB plug (which are now facing to the left side) (see photo #1 left side). The drawback of this, that the green light that tells me that the unit is on is now facing the right side inside of the shelve and not visible from the front (see photo #2).

The drive has a fairly large brick, and had to be placed on the edge of the power strip otherwise it would have covered two outlets.
 
I use this drive as an additional drive for home-build DVR. My DVR is a netbook computer running Linux. In addition to using this drive as a DVR, I also use it for redundant back of some critical files. The netbook has a relatively small size internal drive and this external drive nicely supplements my storage needs. This Seagate drive came formated with NTFS format which is a format used by the Windows file system. This format is also supported by Linux so I could have used it as is. However NTFS file system by its nature causes disk fragmentation when you delete and add large files and since in my use of this drive as a DVR I will be constantly adding and deleting large file I reformatted the drive as a Linux ext4, a file system that does not cause fragmentation when you delete and add large files. The reformat took a fairly long time (several hours) but was successful.

Before reformatting the drive I ran bad disk test on the drive and it showed no bad disks.

The netbook computer does not support USB 3, so even though this drive is capable USB 3 I am using USB 2 connection. However, USB 2 is sufficient for recording and playing the video content. I tested the drive's USB 3 connection with my main computer, and it worked well.

I use rsync Linux command to do backups. I use HDHomerun network card and its commands via Linux scripts to schedule recordings and write to the disk. I use a media player to play the recordings. I don't use any of the Seagate software that came with the drive.


Despite the minor annoyances mentioned above, I am pleased with the drive and recommend it.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: VSonic GR07 MK2 Pro Dynamic Noise Isolation Earphones Earbuds

When I opened the package I was impressed with 26 earphone tips, 2 pouches (one soft, one hard) and around the ear wire guides in addition to the earphones. I attached a collage of 4 photos that I will be referencing in this review. The entire content of the package is shown in photos #1 and #2. On the negative side the booklet was entirely in Chinese, without any pictures, so when I needed help for placing ear wire guides I had none (image of instructions visible in photo #2). Amazon description includes a note that these headphones require burn in period of 200 hour for honoring returns. This return requirement was useful to know before evaluating the sound of the ear phones, and I have played them for close to 200 hours before doing the evaluation.


I had some positive and some negative experiences with these earphones, so I used them for over a month before writing this review.

The major positive, and it is a big one, is that the sound of these earphones is very good. Clear, crisp, clean with a lot of nuances at different levels. I am not hearing any imperfections or distortions.

The major negative is that I have not found the earphone to be comfortable. There are two aspects to this. The first, is that the earphones are shaped as a square (1/2 inch x 5/8 inch) and apparently my ears are slightly too small to fit them comfortably. Photo #2 shows earphones from two different angles. Even though the nozzle can be moved as a joystick I could not find a position where the corners of this square do not press on something in my ears. If I wear the earphones for over an hour my ears hurts a bit. The second issue is related to the wire guards. These earphones are different from other earphones I own is that in order to properly fit into the ear the wires have to come down from the top, being wrapped around the ears using wire guards. Sometimes wires pop out of the wire guards, and it takes a bit of fussing to put them on (especially because I try to place them with minimum amount of contact with the ears to minimize the pressure points that hurt). On the positive side, when I wore reading glasses they did not interfere with the wire guards.

The nozzles of the earphones can be moved as a joystick. They can be angled left, right or up and down to position the angle how they penetrates the ear canal. The sound isolation is quite good. 26 different tips practically guarantee that everyone will find a shape and size that fits them. The tight fit also keeps the ear phones in the ear when the head moves vigorously (tested not only during exercise but a fall garden cleanup that required a lot of shaking). The material of the tips also varies, from rubber to compressed foam filler (similar to earplugs) shroud inside a normal tip that is rounded. To replace a tip I use my finger nail to carefully peel the tip away from the nozzle and then remove. Then replacing it with a different tip by push the tip onto the nozzle. The earphones are flat, so you wear ear muffs or a hat over them without catching on the earphones.

The material the earphones wires are made of is very nice. They tangle a lot less that my other earphones. When I brush against the wires I hear no interference in the earphones. And in addition they have a slide which can be moved to adjust the size of the split.

GR07 VSonic wire lengths:
18 inches to split (with the slide all the way down)
33 inches from split to unit
total 51 inches
Plug: 3.5mm8 m 24K gold plated dual-channel plug
Cable: 1.3M max 82-core silver wire
Rated power: 10mW
Maximum Input power: 50mW

I really like the two pouches that came with the unit. The soft rectangular pouch has a snap-shut wire that keeps the case closed (photo #3). The round hard case has a nice zipped closure and two compartments (photo #4). Both pouches are big enough to fit not only the earphones but my Sansa mp3 player. I found this to be very handy as I don't have to worry about the keys scratching my mp3 player as I go for daily walks with my mp3 player.

Overall, these ear buds have excellent sound, wish they fit my ears more comfortably -- the combined rating is 4 stars.

I received VSonic GR07 Earphones Earbuds for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review. In this review I noted both positives and negatives of my experience and if you have any questions I have not covered in my review I am always happy to respond to comments.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Dolica SB-015RD / SB-015BK Sling Backpack for DSLR

I have been using Lowepro sling backpack bag for my photography for years, and did not think I would find a bag that I like better. However I found that I like Dolica sling bag better for the following reasons:

1. Dolica bag has much wider more heavily padded straps and thus I find it to be much more comfortable
2. Dolica has a stabilizing strap goes around your waist, in addition to the strap that goes across your chest. The Lowepro bag has both stabilization strap and the main support strap that go around your chest. I found Dolica system to be much more comfortable and give better support when I carry a heavy load. It feels more balanced on my back, while keeping all the convenience of being able to reach my gear by just swinging the bag around. I am able to change lenses, filters, batteries without having to sit down or put down my bag.

This bag has generously sized straps that would fit larger framed people comfortably: up to 45" waist strap, up to 64" chest strap.

The empty bag weight 1.5 pounds. It comes in two colors Red(SB-015RD) and Black (SB-015BK). External dimensions are 14" high, 6" wide, 10" long. Internal dimensions of each compartment are detailed below.

I am attaching a collage of 7 photos numbered 1 through 7 that I will be referencing in this review.

I am using the Canon SLR camera to demonstrate the relative size of various compartments of this camera bag. My primary lens is 17-85mm (4 inches). The second lens is 75-300mm (6 inches).

There are a total of 6 compartments in this bag.

COMPARTMENTS
* The main compartment is extremely well padded. Its orange liner makes it easier to see the content at the bottom of the compartment.
Photos #1 and #2 show how my camera with primary 17-85mm lens fits into the compartment with plenty of room to spare. This compartment has a neoprene sling which attaches to the Velcro on the sides of the compartment to keep the camera very secure even when you are hiking/jumping. Photo #3 shows the camera out of the bag for relative size.
The main compartment is 8.5 inches deep, 7" by 4" wide at the top of the compartment, 5" by 3.5" at the bottom of the compartment.

* The second large compartment is large enough to hold my 75-300mm lens. See photo #5. Photo #6 has the lens out of the bag next to the ruler for relative size (the lens is 6" long). The camera description says that this compartment is good for holding lenses up to 200mm, but as you see my 300mm fits and has room to spare. This compartment is padded but not as well as the main compartment. My 75-300mm has a padded case, but the lens in its padded lens case does not fit, and without its case it fits a bit loosely. So I would probably put a scarf in the compartment to create some additional padding/filler.
The lens compartment is 8 inches deep. It is triangular shaped with three sides measuring: 4" x 6" x 5.25".

The front of the camera has two narrow pockets (best seen in Photo #4)
* The first opens on the top and is 6.5 inches wide tapering to 4 inches, it can be opened about 1 inch wide.

* The second opens on the side and is 5.5 inches wide tapering to 4 inches, it has a pleat and can open to about 2 inches in the center.
These two pockets are ideal for filter, camera remote control, your sunglasses and so forth.

* The side of the bag has a long narrow compartment (7" by 3") with 2 mesh pockets (see photo #4) this pocket is ideal for memory cards and spare batteries.

* The bag strap has a triangular shaped pocket (6" x 5" x 3"). This pocket can be easily reached even when the bag it on your back, so I see putting lens cleaning solution in there so I can clean my lens without having to open the bag.

The front of the camera has strapping sewed to it which can be used to attach things to the camera bag with straps or rock clips (see photo #7). One strap is included, it is sized to attach a tripod to the camera bag. On the opposite side from the strap there is a square open pocket which is designed to hold the feet of the tripod. See Photo #7 where my Manfrotto tripod attached to the bag. Perhaps my tripod is too long, but I found carrying it on the camera bag unbalanced and uncomfortable. I don't think I will be using this feature.

The case has a nice heavy duty handle to carry it as a bag. The sling strap has another loop/grab handle. It can used to tuck away straps when you carry the bag by the handle on the main compartment.

I started out by comparing this bag to Lowepro bag. Does Lowepro bag have any features that this bag does not? To be fair, yes.
(1) I really like the waterproof cover that can be pulled out of the bottom of the Lowepro bag to cover the entire bag. This keeps the entire bag including all zippers dry so when I finally need to get into the bag there is no chance of any drops going in. Dolica is build out of waterproof material (I have not tested this yet), but the zippers are exposed to the rain.
(2) Lowepro bag has Velcro-based dividers that I can place into main compartment to create extra custom-sized compartments. I like using them to keep some odds and ends that are not often used out of the way.

However, the overall comfort of the Dolica bag made me move all my gear from Lowepro bag to Dolica bag.

I received Dolica Sling Backpack for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review and I described both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review. If you have any questions on features I covered I am always happy to answer comments.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★