Posts Tagged ‘accessories’

SoundBender Review

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

SoundBender is the brainchild that sprung forth from the creative mind of Moshe Weiss of Simply Amazinc, a start-up based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moshe set up a KickStarter campaign soliciting funding for his unique product. With a goal of $4,500 to get things running, backers from all over have almost tripled the amount of the requested goal. Needless to say, there are many people who believe in this gem of a gadget, and I’m one of them.  

What Does It Do?
Have you ever struggled to hear the sound coming from your iPad 2? While the speakers are pretty loud, they face away from the screen as they are located at the back of the iPad 2. The SoundBender attaches to your iPad 2, and amplifies the sound emanating from your speaker by redirecting it, or “bending” it back to.
 
It’s a smart-looking, light-weight device that snugly attaches along your iDevice by way of plastic arms that hold onto your unit.  It requires no power to use and is sturdy and looks pretty slick. It comes in a variety of colors for you to choose from for those of you who (like me) are into mixing and matching accessory colors to your device and/or case.
 
Features and Recommendations
The SoundBender comes with arms that have magnetic clips for a more secure hold, as well as arms that come with no magnets included. I’ve tried both versions, and both not only held steadfastly, there was no reduction in the sound quality.  
 
I was able to experiment using a couple of cases, namely the Yaboo leather case and the Saddleback Leather Case. Yaboo has pinholes in the speaker area of its cases. The SoundBender would not fit over the casing and I would have to remove the case in order to use the device. Ironically, even though the Saddleback leather case is much thicker than the Yaboo, I was able to attach the SoundBender without any problems. This is because the Saddleback case has a cut-out over the speaker area allowing users to insert the SoundBender in the available opening.
 
Perhaps future versions of SoundBender could include an adjustable arm that expands or contracts and locks into place, in order to meet the varying sizes of the myriad cases on the market. This would definitely meet the demands of more people with cases, broadening the target SoundBender audience. However, in its current form, it does a great job of improving the overall listening experience.

Conclusion
Simply Amazinc has produced an essential, must-have accessory that is sure to please everyone who has ever wished that the sounds coming from the back of their iPad 2 could be enhanced and amplified. With the SoundBender, the nuanced sounds from your games or songs you may have missed because of the position of the speaker, or you simply didn’t have your headphones with you, can now be better heard with a compact and sleek, power-free device that bends the sound back to you, for a more enriching listening experience. The SoundBender is innovative, intuitive and flat-out impressive!

  • Rating (1-10):  10
  • What I Enjoyed: Compact and portable, yet powerful and practical. 
  • What Could Be Better: The accessory doesn’t fit over some cases
  • Price: $15 base price with more options to show your support.  Please see the website for more pricing details.

For more information and to contribute to this project, visit the Simply Amazinc Kickstarter project website.

 

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The Changing State of Devices and User Interfaces

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

It’s a good time to give a small update towards a recently purchased iPad, and also what I feel is something that I think we miss in respect to the many devices and user interfaces that we have to deal with.

First, iPad Thoughts
Let me just say off the top that I like the iPad not because of applications or screen size, but because the battery life is absolutely amazing. My impressions really begin and end with the fact that the device can last all day (in a coffeehouse setting). And for my uses, I’m just using the web browser. Tons of windows open at a time mind you – and an occasional blog posting such as this one – but really, its Wi-Fi all the time. Amazing really.

Lot’s of questions have come from folks asking if it has a USB port. And then I ask them why it needs one. Usually the answer is “to put files on there.” Then I ask them, what kind of files and the conversations get silent. We’ve become used to managing files on portable media, but not really understanding of why we do that (obvious answer: because you need a non-online ability to read or edit something). Thing is, for many of these folks, these are files (documents, multimedia, etc.) which they usually access next to an Internet connection. So why not use something like email, or fancier like GDocs instead? For them, its a different way of thinking and acting, but one to consider with the iPad.

Which Leads to User Interfaces
User interfaces – or UIs – are interesting. On many computers, because we are used to the keyboard and mouse methodology, we are accustomed to controls and behaviors that take advantage of these items. For example, we look for keyboard shortcuts just about everytime we have a keyboard. With the iPad, that line of thinking needs to go out of the window – even mores than some other mobile devices which have touch screens.

The iPad doesn’t make any concessions to ways of interacting with content/media that act as if they first need a mouse and/or keyboard. Everything is designed with the idea of touch and go. And its actually to the point that there are some actions that could use a gesture or better touch-style control, but those don’t exist – such as managing browser windows. The device, and its software, don’t rely on former methods in order to make the point that you can interact with content. It’s designed so that you don’t have to assume much of anything.

Hence this really interesting paradigm of use and behavior that develops with the iPad and similar-sized devices. You have this device that’s the size of a book, that’s simpler than many books, and that allows you to forget that there’s a such thing as a power supply nearby – and you simply just use it. If not careful, the simplicity of the UI and the functionality around it takes what was previously a chore in terms of engaging content, and makes it into “the way it always was.”

When designing for a touch-based UI, this is the kind of thinking that needs to be cultivated into function. The fact that we physically touch digital planes means that we can (and sometimes do) ascribe a deeper sensory connection to it. It’s not just a Bible reader, but I’m touching and manipulating the very lines that make up the Bible so that I better understand it. This is similar to the student who has a pack of highlighters and the resultant multi-color textbooks. The colors and actions of highlighting allows for a kind of interaction with the content that makes it easier to recall and reuse the content. In the same way, touching allows for a newer (or older, depending on your perspective), relationship to content.

When a site is well designed for the size and ability of modern-day touchscreen devices, its not just another site – it becomes another type of experience. If done really well, and then control mechanisms are contextual, you don’t miss the former methods at all, but do wonder why it took so long for things to get this simple.

In relation to the iPad, this is how using it makes me feel. I look forward to digging into the various unique applications that have been designed for this platform – and don’t just want to display content, but want to present ways of engaging it that are deeper, wider, and altogether more engrossing than other types of media. With mobile, mobile w/touch, this is very much the bar to be reached, and the bar to be explored.

 

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