Review: JBL Pulse 2

JBL Pulse 2
Price: Rs 13,000 (Amazon.in)

Over the past few years, entertainment has really gone mobile with mobile phones and tablets. Portable speakers have provided accompaniment right from the beginning and have gone an evolution of their own – wired, Bluetooth, and NFC. When we thought that the evolution would stop at this, the JBL Pulse came with its dynamic light display to steal the show. The Pulse got an upgrade to the Pulse 2 with big improvements. Let’s take a look at how well this new show-off of a speaker fares.

Review: JBL GO

JBL GO
Price (MRP): Rs 2000

Portable wireless speakers are in vogue today, thanks to the soaring popularity of mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Needless to say, these mobile devices come with namesake speakers with bare-bone functionality and need portable speakers, which sound much better and which can also be carried around easily. JBL has been a big name in the audio industry and it has also got a range of wireless speakers. The JBL GO is one such speaker that is very compact, lightweight, and portable. Let’s find out if its portability comes at the cost of audio quality.

Review: Creative Sound Blaster Roar (SR20A)

Creative Sound Blaster Roar (SR20A)
MRP: Rs 16,000

Creative has been in the home audio scene since quite some time. For those of you who have had PCs around a couple of decades back, Creative was the only quality option for a multimedia pack consisting of a CD-ROM drive, SoundBlaster sound card, and 2.0 stereo desktop speakers. The company has come a long way since then but it still produces some of the best audio equipment. Changing with the times, the company has got a series of portable Bluetooth speakers to cater to the mobile consumer. The Sound Blaster Roar was released earlier this year, representing the pinnacle of this series and is the de facto flagship in this category. Like all flagships, this one also comes at its premium pricing. Whether or not it’s worth the buy has been covered in this review, so read on.

Review: Creative MUVO 20

Creative MUVO 20
Price: Rs 4500 (Amazon.in)

Portable Bluetooth wireless speakers are the in thing in this age of mobile phones and tablets, and Creative has got a whole range to suit your needs. For those of you who want something louder than the usual stuff, Creative has the MUVO 20, which aim to give you really loud performance and not cost an arm and a leg. The MUVO 20 supports Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, thus can pair with just about any Bluetooth device. Additionally, it works as a handsfree speaker. I got my hands on one of these and tested it out. We’ll take a look at what lies in store with the Creative MUVO 20.

Review: Creative Woof

Creative Woof
Price: Rs 1975 (Amazon.in)

We have all been in situations when we had to listen to music over mobile phone speaker, such as when we live in hostels or go out camping. However, the audio quality of mobile speakerphone leaves you wanting for something more, but you cannot carry a speaker with you everywhere. This is where the Creative Woof comes in. This is a Bluetooth speaker with handsfree functionality, and it is tiny enough to fit on the palm of your hand. Let’s see if this is really a viable option for portable speaker requirements.

Logitech Mashup: A Great Weekend Treat For Tech Bloggers

Logitech held its Media Mashup event on Saturday, 14th September 2013, inviting technology bloggers, reviewers, and gamers for a weekend treat. Logitech was courteous enough to invite me to the event held at The Taj Lands End hotel Bandra located on the Arabian Sea shore where the land of Bandra literally ends and meets the sea. From the start, I was made aware that this is not really going to be a serious tech event, but rather a lively entertainment gala of sorts where everyone can just enjoy the time and interact with each other.

Since I reached a few minutes early, I got a chance to get myself snapped against the Logitech Mashup hoarding. I was told that I will be presented with a framed photo print of the same to take home.

Before the event got underway, I had enough time to take a look at the various music and gaming products recently launched by the company that were on display to get sampled.

The first product that I got my hands on was the Logitech Ultimate Ears (UE) 5 Pro and UE 4 Pro, which is a custom-made in-ear headphone that is not available in India. Where it is available, the company takes an impression of the ear canal of the prospective customer and prepares the silicone rubber buds accordingly to ensure a perfect fit and maximum audio isolation. The Logitech rep said that there are currently no plans to make it available in India. It does sound great and it is a shame that it may not retail here.

Logitech Ultimate Ears UE 5 Pro 

There were a few more of the Ultimate Ears (UE) wired and Bluetooth headphones on display including the UE 4500 (Rs 7995), UE 3600 (Rs 3495), and the premium UE 6000 (Rs 17,995) with on-board amp, active noise cancelling, classy neoprene travel case, and with a folding design featuring removable cable.

Logitech UE 4500 and UE 3600

Logitech UE 6000 

The translucent blue UE 900 IEM was the most expensive of the lot costing a whopping Rs 34,995, which is quite a bit when Logitech is still not calling it audiophile grade. It comes with tangle-free braided cables, which can be detached to attach another cable with an inline remote control that works with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Also, it comes with quad armature design and patented Dual-Bore technology that is said to deliver great audio. Eight ear bud sizes are available to ensure maximum comfort.

Logitech UE 900

Logitech also showed off two portable speakers - the smaller and more portable UE Mobile Boombox (Rs 8995) available in multiple colours, and the larger and more powerful UE Boombox (Rs 21,995). Both the devices can work on Bluetooth as well as via 3.5 mm aux connection. While the former can connect to 2 devices at a time and has up to 10 hours of battery backup, the latter can pair with 8 devices, work with 3 simultaneously to work even as a speakerphone, and can continue to play for up to 6 hours on a full charge. The UE Boombox sports a rugged build with the upper half made of aluminium including a strong handle, while the bottom half is polymer with a rubberised finish to prevent it from moving around on the surface on which it is placed, as it plays music. With 8 drivers present behind the aluminium grill, this one really delivers loud booming sound.

Logitech UE Mobile Boombox

Logitech UE Boombox 

Additionally, there were a few gaming (G Series) keyboards and mice to be seen. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to know them enough because the show got underway.

Subrotah Biswas, Director, India & South-West Asia, Logitech, introduced the event to get things started. He talked about engineering and brilliance, and how explained the "When Science Wins Gamers Win" slogan of the event.

Subrotah Biswas explains the technology

Entertainment was next, as magician (or rather mentalist) Karan Singh, appeared on stage and displayed some card magic. As the show progressed, he called up volunteers from amongst the attendees and freaked them out by reading their minds - cool entertainment!

Magician Karan Singh performs

Next up was stand-up comedian Rohan Joshi who lightened up the mood even more with his impromptu hilarious performance. While there was some political satire, it was overall clean adulterated entertainment that shouldn't offend anyone.

After two hours of interactive amusement, it was my turn to take to the stage (of course, with no live audience), as I talked about the Logitech UE Boombox - the product that impressed me the most. A video was shot, which I will share as soon as I get my hands on it. Before I left the event, Logitech reps handed me the aforementioned framed photo of yours truly - a nice memento of the event.

The Logitech Mashup was a nice way to get to know not just the company's products, but also to interact with others, and to get a nice weekend dose of entertainment that should keep me going for the upcoming week.