New Technology Reviews!.: accessories

Review: LG BD670

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LG is currently embroiled in a smart TV war with rival Samsung for dominance of the internet-connected living room landscape. In both TV and Blu-ray, the pair are going head to head with similarly monikered portals (Smart TV and Smart Hub) stuffed with comparable apps and video streaming content, such as in Samsung's recent BD-D7500, which costs around £100 more than the LG BD670 we have for review here.</div>
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A cursory glance might indicate that there's not much between the two brands. But just how compelling is LG's Intelligence Quotient?</div>
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Certainly, at first glance the BD670 doesn't look particularly smart. It's quite scruffy in fact; from its dull black plastic body, to the embossed buttonry, it's a bit of a duffer.</div>
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Rear side connectivity comprises a single HDMI, Ethernet LAN, optical digital audio, phono AV and component port. There's only one USB port, and that's on the front. This is an inconvenience, because the Blu-ray player lacks persistent memory for BD Live applications, so you'll have to live with a thumbdrive sticking out the front if you use BD Live, swapping it over when you want to play media.</div>
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At least there's no need for a Wi-Fi dongle – that's built-in and works well. You can connect via WPS (if your router supports this) or manually. I took the latter route, and popped the player wirelessly on my network in as much time as it took me to plod around the soft-keyboard.</div>
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<img alt="LG ui" class="aligncenter" height="140" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.menu-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.menu-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div>
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Thankfully, the LG BD670 smartens up its act considerably when you get to the user interface. The main Home menu consists of a jolly line of colourful function buttons, designated Movie, Photo, Music, Premium and Apps. Click on any one of the first three and the player will show you other DLNA/uPnP clients on your network, allowing you to drill down and stream your media content.</div>
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For online content options, hit the remaining buttons. Premium takes you to LG's streaming portal (which, bizarrely, appears to reside at the fork in a virtual road, if the background graphic is anything to go by).</div>
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There's a fair amount of entertainment on tap. In addition to BBC iPlayer and YouTube, there's DailyMotion, Acetrax, Cinetrailers and internet radio service VTuner. Filling out the roster is some easy-to-ignore Google Maps twaddle.</div>
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Hop over to the apps store and there's more to explore. Curiously, sandwiched between various colour blindness tests and a typo-ridden keep fit tutorial, we found more than a dozen movies, all free to watch. Ultra low-budget indie efforts, they have rather inventively sidestepped traditional movie distribution to end up as download fodder. We don't mind saying that we were rather chuffed with this haul. It's like suddenly discovering a film festival on your doorstep. Free treats like this make smart TV tech such fun to own.</div>
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The LG BD670 can also stream media across a network and from USB, with a generally good hit rate. MP3s play, along with album art when available, as do AAC files, although both FLAC and WAV are off limits. And, for reasons I can't explain, my standard WMA test rolled out at high speed. Video file support over the network covered AVI, MKV and MOV content.</div>
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<img alt="LG bd670" class="aligncenter" height="158" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.wood01-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.wood01-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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High-definition image quality is suitably sharp from the LG BD670. The Blu-ray deck scrapes a massive amount of detail from 2D HD platters. <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Battle: Los Angeles</span> looks sumptuous. Shot in a high frame rate HD, shaky cam-style, skin tones and textures pop from the screen.</div>
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The smart, connected Blu-ray player also does a reliable job disgorging the DTS-HD MA soundtrack.</div>
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Stereoscopic footage has the potential to look equally sharp. Of course much depends on what your display will do to the image before it hits your peepers. At least the deck itself does a fine job. Naturally, the LG BD670 is quite at home with home-grown, DIY 3D shot in AVCHD.</div>
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Disc loading is a tad tardy. The player took a lazy one minute six seconds to go from tray to Bond logo, on the Java-heavy <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Goldfinger</span>Blu-ray disc. Simpler Blu-rays load rather faster.</div>
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As a CD spinner, the LG BD670's performance is functional. With no Super Audio CD compatibility to give it a resolution boost, this player's unlikely to convert too many audiophiles to its cause.</div>
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But its overall presentation is fun: when playing a CD, it pulls album art direct from the Gracenote database. It also features Music ID, designed to identify any tunes in a platter you're playing, at the touch of a button (it sometimes works).</div>
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As a DVD player, the LG BD670 does a decent job. My venerable Silicon Optix HQV test platter confirms deinterlacing and upscaling to be of a creditable standard. If you have a large collection of SD discs, they'll be in reasonable hands here.</div>
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Overall, the LG BD670 is a great value internet-connected Blu-ray disc player. Sure, it might have the sartorial style of an impoverished funeral director who dresses in the dark, but it's jazzy where it counts.</div>
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Review: LG BD670

LG is currently embroiled in a smart TV war with rival Samsung for dominance of the internet-connected living room landscape. In both ...

Adonit's Jot is a stylish, precise stylus for the iPad

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A few months ago I reviewed the Adonit Writer, a superb keyboard case for the iPad. The Writer was the debut product from Adonit, and it's since released an updated version for the iPad 2. Apparently Adonit was just getting started, because it's nearly ready to launch a new product, the Jot.</div>
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The Jot is a capacitive touch stylus built for the iPad (and any other capacitive touch screen) that comes in two flavors, the Jot and the Jot Pro. Like the Writer it's being crowdfunded through Kickstarter.</div>
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There are a lot of good styluses out there, many of them quite superb, but the Jot is a whole new take on these familiar accessories. What makes the Jot special is that it isn't using a foam tip like most other styluses; instead, it has a clear, flat, pivoting 'Precision Disk' attached on a small metal tip.</div>
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I got an opportunity to give both versions of the Jot a try, and it lives up to its promise beautifully.</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="221" mce_src="http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6213/jotw.jpg" mce_style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" src="http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6213/jotw.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 4px; max-width: 640px;" width="250" />The precision disk is just that, precise. It takes one of the biggest weaknesses of touch screens and drastically minimizes it. You can clearly see the center point of your strokes, and you get more feedback as you draw. I was surprised just how significant that little difference is. Unlike foam, the Jot requires almost no pressure to use and feels a lot like a really nice ballpoint pen gliding across a textureless paper.</div>
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While it handles strokes wonderfully, I did find that I occasionally had trouble tapping buttons with the disk; usually it connected fine, but I found that it sometimes took a very slight movement to make sure the iPad registered the tap. After using it for a while I adapted my taps a little, and I haven't had any trouble with it since.</div>
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Being so fast and precise does actually have a slight downside. I suddenly found that most of the notebook and art apps I use feel sluggish and had trouble keeping up with the Jot. Worse, some of them offset the point a little because they expect you to use your finger or something else of similar size. Despite this, I still love using the Jot everywhere I typically use a stylus; it just takes some adjustments.</div>
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The good news is that Adonit is working on an app fine-tuned for the Jot. From the video it's posted, JotStudio looks really good. Besides being built for the Jot it looks like a flexible drawing program with an internal browser, support for images, web clips and PDFs, not to mention a well designed interface. JotStudio will cost US$2.99 when released, but all Kickstarter backers will get it free.</div>
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With Adonit's Writer, one of the things I was really impressed with was the craftsmanship. It's every bit as evident in the Jot & Jot Pro. They are carefully designed, the materials are solid, they feel great in your hand and the weight is balanced with enough weight to keep a steady hand but light enough to be comfortable.</div>
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One of the first things I tested was pulling the precision disk off like they showed in one of the demo videos. Despite the small size it takes a <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">lot</span> of pressure to separate the disk from the main body -- way more than you'd ever encounter using it under normal circumstances -- and the protective cap keeps it safe in your pocket or bag. If it does get separated, it snaps right back on, no damage done.</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="105" mce_src="http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/3005/jot2b.jpg" mce_style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px;" src="http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/3005/jot2b.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 4px; max-width: 640px;" width="274" /></div>
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What's the difference between the Jot and the Jot Pro? The key components are the same. You get the same precision disk either way; the materials and size are nearly the same as well. The most prominent difference is that the Jot Pro includes a rubber grip that I find nicer to hold. The Jot Pro also has a magnet in it that can attach onto an iPad 2 when you need to put it down.</div>
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Did I mention it's gorgeous? The colors available are different between the two versions. The Jot comes in green, red and purple while the Jot Pro comes in turquoise, gun metal and silver. Personally I find the Pro colors to be more appealing. The black rubber contrasts beautifully with the gun metal of the stylus I'm reviewing.</div>
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="59" mce_src="http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1715/jotcolors1313100628.jpg" mce_style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" src="http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1715/jotcolors1313100628.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 4px; max-width: 640px;" width="274" /></div>
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Adonit's Kickstarter campaign for the Jot and Jot Pro will be over on Saturday. If you want in on the first batch, a $15 pledge will net you a Jot, while for $25 you can get either two Jots or a Jot Pro.</div>
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Regardless of whether you've got a Writer and you're backing the Jot, Adonit is quickly developing a reputation for releasing well-designed, lovingly crafted and unique products. I can't wait to see what it has in store for us next.</div>
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Adonit's Jot is a stylish, precise stylus for the iPad

A few months ago I reviewed the Adonit Writer, a superb keyboard case for the iPad. The Writer was the debut product from Adonit, and ...

ZAGG Keys SOLO Portable Keyboard for Android Available for Pre-Order

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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="204" mce_src="http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2307/zaggtabkeyboard.jpg" src="http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2307/zaggtabkeyboard.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Zagg tab keyboard" width="307" />Today the popular invisible shield and screen protector maker ZAGG that I’m sure most of you have used in the past have just released their new portable keyboard for Android devices. This new keyboard will support a very wide array of mobile devices including those iDevice things but we won’t mention those here. Originally listed as a tablet and iPad keyboard it also supports the HTC Flyer, HTC Sensation, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy S and many more of our Android friends.</div>
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Shown above in Apple white style with a Galaxy Tab 10.1 the keyboard will come in three color options for those that would like a little variety or something different (shown below). The ZAGGKeys SOLO has a built in 510 mAh battery that should only need charging every few weeks and is sleek, thin, and lightweight. The keyboard is a high-tech Bluetooth keyboard according to ZAGG and this allows it to work so well with multiple devices.</div>
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<img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-46546 aligncenter" height="204" mce_src="http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1188/zagg3colors.jpg" src="http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1188/zagg3colors.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="zagg 3 colors" width="307" /></div>
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It features a dedicated power button, Bluetooth enable button as well as status indicator lights for connectivity and battery life. With a easy to type on chick-let style keyboard users should be able to type and work quickly with the portable keyboard. Here is a list of a few other features the dedicated top row of button do:</div>
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Home – Brings you to the home screen<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Search – Brings up the search screen<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Slideshow – Starts playing slideshow of saved pictures<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Virtual keyboard – Allows you to hide or show on-screen keyboards<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Lock – makes the screen go dark and come back when pressed again<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />International Keyboard – Toggles between international keyboards<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Other function keys: Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Music function keys: Previous track, Play/Pause, Next track, Mute, Volume down, Volume up</div>
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<img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-46549 aligncenter" height="204" mce_src="http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/1701/zaggkeyboard.jpg" src="http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/1701/zaggkeyboard.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="zagg keyboard" width="307" /></div>
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While this was originally designed for the iPad 2 these features should all work great for many other devices. Along with a few listed above the ZAGGKeys SOLO Portable Keyboard also supports the Toshiba Thrive, Asus Transformer, Acer Iconia Tab, Galaxy Tab, G-Slate and many more Android phones and devices. It is available for pre-order today for $69.99 and you can head over and get one ordered right now at the source link below.</div>
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<img alt="Zagg tab keyboard" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/5811/zaggtabkeyboard150x150.jpg" src="http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/5811/zaggtabkeyboard150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Zagg tab keyboard" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="zagg 3 colors" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/171/zagg3colors150x150.jpg" src="http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/171/zagg3colors150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="zagg 3 colors" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="zagg keyboard" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7955/zaggkeyboard150x150.jpg" src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7955/zaggkeyboard150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="zagg keyboard" width="150" /></div>
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ZAGG Keys SOLO Portable Keyboard for Android Available for Pre-Order

Today the popular invisible shield and screen protector maker ZAGG that I’m sure most of you have used in the past have just released th...

Crux360 raises the bar for iPad 2 Bluetooth keyboard cases

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Crux360 raises the bar for iPad 2 Bluetooth keyboard cases

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Vogel's RingO iPad mounting system: The versatile iPad 2 mount (Updated)

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<img alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" height="188" mce_src="http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/149/vogelsangbittetuaw13118.jpg" src="http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/149/vogelsangbittetuaw13118.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="134" /></div>
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Netherlands-based audio/video mount manufacturer Vogel's first introduced their iPad mounting solution in October of 2010. Now the company has brought its universal mounting system for the iPad 2 -- named RingO -- to American soil for the first time. I recently had an opportunity to try out the complete system, which consists of an iPad 2 holder, a wall mount, a car mount, and a table stand. How did RingO work as an all-around mount?</div>
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Design</h3>
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I tested the RingO All-In-One Pack for iPad 2 (US$119.99), consisting of the four parts mentioned above. The company sells RingO through Amazon.com in the U.S., and the street price is correspondingly lower -- about $82. The individual components are also available separately, with the iPad 2 holder and wall mount going for $59.99, a separate wall mount for $29.99, the car mount for $59.99, and a table stand or flip stand for $19.99 each. Vogel's is also set to release a Flex Mount ($59.99, on an extendable arm) and an adhesive-backed wall mount ($29.99) in September of 2011.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Update:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>According to a spokesperson for Vogel's, the only products currently available in the U.S. are the Starter Pack (wall mount and holder at $69.99) and the Car Pack ($99.99). The product is available in the physical and online Apple Stores today.</span></div>
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The most important part of this system is the iPad 2 holder, so I'll look at it in detail first. As befitting a European design firm, Vogel's provides a very IKEA-like set of diagrammatic instructions showing how to install and remove the holder. Unlike the HandStand case, which I needed to force onto my iPad 2 with a spudger and muscle, the Vogel's case snapped right on. It's also open on the left side of the iPad 2, so the Apple Smart Cover still works.</div>
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The holder is basically a hard plastic shell with cutouts for the various iPad controls and a circular cutout on the back where the various mounts click in. Let's talk about the functionality of those mounts.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Gallery: Vogel's RingO iPad 2 Mounting System</span></div>
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<img alt="" mce_src="http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9165/ringotuaw1thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9165/ringotuaw1thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/photos/vogels-ringo-ipad-2-mounting-system/#4328909" mce_href="http://www.tuaw.com/photos/vogels-ringo-ipad-2-mounting-system/#4328909" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" mce_src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6301/ringotuaw2thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6301/ringotuaw2thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a><img alt="" height="75" mce_src="http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9721/ringotuaw3thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9721/ringotuaw3thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="75" /><img alt="" height="75" mce_src="http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/3950/ringotuaw4thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/3950/ringotuaw4thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="75" /><img alt="" mce_src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5378/ringotuaw5thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5378/ringotuaw5thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></div>
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Functionality</h3>
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The wall mount can be mounted anywhere that you can safely attach it to a surface with an included wood screw. It's a small aluminum and plastic cylinder -- pulling off the top of the cylinder reveals the hole for the screw. Once it's mounted on the wall, you put the top back on and there's just an unobtrusive aluminum fixture on the wall.</div>
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The car mount is incredibly useful and absolutely the best (and safest) iPad car mount I've seen so far. It consists of a two-part tough plastic molding that locks to the headrest uprights in a car. One part has a RingO mount on a combination swivel and pivot, while the other can be released with the push of a large button to install or remove the mount from the seat. When the RingO car mount is installed, the iPad is held very steady and there's no concern about it flopping about in case of sudden car movements.</div>
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Even if you're just in the market for a car mount, it would be worth it to buy the RingO Car Pack (about $70 on Amazon). The pack consists of a holder, the car mount, and the table stand. Seriously, this is an excellent car mount for iPad 2.</div>
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The final piece is the Table Stand, which is the most overpriced piece of the product line. It's basically a $20 piece of plastic that snaps into the RingO holder. The Table Stand is well-designed, working in either landscape or portrait orientation, but $20? C'mon, Vogel's.</div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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The Vogel's RingO mount system is incredibly well designed and manufactured. However, I have to wonder if the high price tag on the system compared to other stands and mounts might dampen the enthusiasm of some potential buyers.</div>
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I like the fact that the Vogel's RingO mount is a system that makes it easy to go from room to table to car without having to remove the iPad 2 holder. The system will grow in September with the addition of the Flex Mount and the adhesive-backed wall mount -- the latter will be great for those who live in leased space where putting screw holes into walls might be frowned upon.</div>
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As I noted before, the RingO Car Pack on its own would make an excellent solution for anyone who wants an easy-to-install and durable iPad car mount. Being able to install the mount securely in seconds is worth the cost.</div>
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</span></div>

Vogel's RingO iPad mounting system: The versatile iPad 2 mount (Updated)

Netherlands-based audio/video mount manufacturer Vogel's first introduced their iPad mounting solution in October of 2010. Now the ...

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Motorola Droid 3 Accessory List, Extended Battery and Inductive Charging Included

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Motorola Droid 3 Accessory List, Extended Battery and Inductive Charging Included

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5 Ace Acoustic Amplifiers for the iPhone

<div><br/><div><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-560569" src="http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6245/acousticamplifiersiphon.jpg" title="acoustic amplifiers speakers iphone" width="275" /></div><br/></div><br/>There is a range of iPhone “speakers” available that require not one iota of power beyond simple, good old-fashioned analogue acoustics.<br/><br/>As well as offering an unusual and stylish stand solution, these “passive amplifiers” will boost your iPhone’s audio output by around 10 decibels — not exactly room filling sound, but not bad for a planet-hugging, power-free solution.<br/><br/>If you think you could use some of that acoustic goodness in your iLife, then take a look through our gallery of the five best solutions available. Let us know which one blows your trumpet in the comments below.<br/><h4>1. Bone Collection Horn Stand</h4><br/>Bone Collection Horn Stand<br/><br/>While it might look like something Shrek would attach to his iPhone, this funky, colorful horn attachment will give you around 13 extra decibels and can be used in both landscape and portrait mode.<br/><br/><strong>Cost:</strong> $24.95<br/><h4>2. Phonofone III</h4><br/>The glorious Phonofone III is as much sexy ceramic sculpture as it is passive amplifer.<br/><br/><strong>Cost:</strong> $195 (CAD)<br/><h4>3. Griffin AirCurve Play</h4><br/>Griffin's affordable solution uses a built-in coiled waveguide to up your iPhone's audio levels. Its transparent design lets you "see" it work.<br/><br/><strong>Cost:</strong> $19.99<br/><h4>4. Koostik</h4><br/>Described as the "natural alternative" to your plastic-y speaker docks, each koostik is hand-made from a solid block of wood, with various natural finishes available.<br/><br/><strong>Cost:</strong> From $85<br/><h4>5. Tembo Trunks</h4><br/>Tembo Trunks amplify the sound from your iPhone's earphones. Especially suited to travelers, they are stackable, collapsible and virtually indestructible.<br/><br/><strong>Cost:</strong> From $39

5 Ace Acoustic Amplifiers for the iPhone

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