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Author: Jim O Brien/CEO
CEO and expert in transport and Mobile tech. A fan 20 years, mobile consultant, Nokia Mobile expert, Former Nokia/Microsoft VIP,Multiple forum tech supporter with worldwide top ranking,Working in the background on mobile technology, Weekly radio show, Featured on the RTE consumer show, Cavan TV and on TRT WORLD. Award winning Technology reviewer and blogger. Security and logisitcs Professional.
The Microsoft Comfort Headset now available for just €15 which is not a bad price,from the Microsoft store. Unlike many other headsets, the earpieces match the shape of the human ear. They’re designed to sit securely in the ear while maintaining maximum comfort—it’s a great fit for most people’s ears..
The earpieces direct sound deeper into the ear for minimum sound loss. Ergonomic design and a perfectly-placed earpiece speaker create a super-comfortable, high-quality listening experience.Pick the one that matches your personality. Add a bit of fun with bright orange, keep it neutral with white, or stay classy with black. Get outstanding sound quality and a colour that looks great.
Use the button to take calls with the headset on. And once you’ve answered, the built-in microphone lets you keep your hands free while you chat. It’s a small feature that makes a big difference.
Not so long ago we had the fantastic Jabra Move headset in for testing and they turned out to be pretty impressive to say the least.This time round its top of the crop for the office and we have the Jabra Evolve in for inspection so how did these turn out to be,lets find out.
First up is the packaging.
The Jabra Evolve come in a nice flat box but don’t let this fool you as to what’s inside,there comes a separate pouch which then contains the Evolve headset which is neatly tucked inside a black pouch with a nice fluorescent zipline,spaced between the cups is a piece of cushion to keep them from harm or rubbing off each other which could over time cause some abrasion marks.Also included is control unit which is conveniently designed for easy use and enables easy productivity.. this can be connected to your in house system or PC via USB,the headphones themselves have a fixed 3.5mm cable with ample length so there is room to move.
DESIGN
The headband is solid with a rubberized material on the underside which is comfortable on the head nor does it catch or interfere with your hair,this seems very durable also and should last a long time,the outer side of the band is plastic which seems very tough and flexible,again this would appear to have plenty of longevity in it.
EARCUPS
The cups are big,not typically something i would see in our office but these are top dollar,covering the entire ear with a soft flexible ear cushions these block out distractions,this is my idea of headphones be it for music or work,these are very comfortable,labelled internally on both sides its easy to dictate one side from the other,both cups have a job to do which we will go onto next.
The left cup houses the micro USB port offering plug and play options so connectivity here is good giving the user choice,also on the left cup there is an indicator to let you know there is power once plugged into your PC etc.
The right cup has some more to offer,this hold the ANC toggle, Active Noise Cancellation. There is a huge difference between on and off here making these more than just useful at the office,if your turn ACN on the sound is amazing,even if you just used these a normal pair of headphones these are impressive and give an amazing sound experience which leaves the distraction behind,you can use these for work or pleasure and get great results for both and in comfort too,to be honest i would have no issue using these as just normal headphones the sound is that good and the experience you get.Also on this side is the boom arm which can be simply moved up or down to turn on and off,so when work is done or you simply want to listen to music and move away from your workspace you can swipe up the boom arm and then connect to your portable device with ease.
Control Unit.
The control unit is a sleek design which offers easy management of what you want to do,the undersize has a rubber ring which keeps it from slipping around and then there is a light around the centerpiece to enable busy mode which actually looks quite nice especially in a darker environment.Its a simple design with large indicators to guide you simply to your chosen action.If you are on a call the light will appear as shown below or you can activate this to yourself which is quite handy if you want to be left alone,i like this idea..
Conclusion.
They are not cheap,£322.but in this life you get what you pay for, originally designed to make you more productive in your workspace these also act as a true pair or typical personal headphones so the price is worth it,they are comfortable,they do the job,they make life easy,especially in the office,they enhance productivity so infact you are getting quite more than your bargained for when you think of it,these big cupped headphones don’t suite everyone lets be honest but if i had these thrown my way from a company i worked for i would have no problem wearing them at home as well as in the office,beggars cant be choosers..There is other models available to form jabra which are smaller than these so again there is choice to suits ones personal taste along with the bosses.
For the full range of the Evolve series look over here at Jabra UK
We all like to keep track of our finances especially in these times and there is plenty of ways to do it,there is apps and there is accountants,the accountants do not come cheap but this app is free and simple to use to help you out with expenses and more.
Kevin Bergin explains. The idea is to define your regular income, expenses & saving (things like salary, rent, UPC, car tax). The app will calculate your weekly spending limit, and you can enter daily purchases – which is graphed to show how close you are to your weekly spending limit. Also you can enter a weekly expense (like leap card) and easily see how much it will cost you for the year. Or enter yearly expenses (like car tax/insurance) and see how much it will cost you per week.
To use Savr you simply need to follow a few easy steps.
1: Enter your total income.
2: Enter your regular expenses. Predictable expenses such as rent, phone bills and transport.
3: Enter the amount you want to save.
4: Monitor your spending with one easy to follow graph of your day to day spending.
Twitter have launched a new featured which enables you to receive DMs from ANYONE. This can be a good thing or perhaps a bad thing,as is i often get DMs from people i don’t follow and this is annoying to say the least and its always marketing companies or someone looking for money in one form or another. Personally i think think practice should be banned full stop giving some users more rights over other that are not even celebs,At that point i think everyone should be treated equally regardless,celeb or not you join twitter,you face the real world..
If you have updated twitter you will now see a prominent message box within the persons profile,before this you would need to tap another button to access the DM feature to the person you are following. Twitter thinks this move will gain more users and perhaps create more mobile revenue,also its said to make people connect more. Below is what you will now see on a person’s profile.
If you do not want to be spammed to death with messages you can simply turn off this feature in settings,It is turned off by default but i would still check this and the rest is up to you from there,for me it will be staying off,having had multiple messages already from people i do not follow is annoying and i do not want anymore.
Twitter say the following on their blog..
Direct Messages are the best way to take your public Twitter conversations private. Today, we’re changing how direct messaging works so that it’s even easier for you to communicate one-to-one or with a chosen group of people, anywhere in the world.
Communicating with people you may or may not know in real life just got easier. Previously, if you wanted to send a Direct Message to the ice cream shop down the street about how much you love their salted caramel flavor, you’d have to ask them to follow you first. With today’s changes, the ice cream shop can opt to receive Direct Messages from anyone; so you can privately send your appreciation for the salted caramel without any barriers.
Windows phone users no doubt have been left in the lurch here too with the new change only on Android and iOS.
What do you think of this new feature ? If twitter ever did a favour it would be to ensure the BLOCK button means BLOCK…
One Plus have announced its ditched the silly invite system in order to buy the device,this means now the device can be bought globally without having to wait for an invite or getting one from a friend. This is good news for one of the best affordable handsets to hit the market over the last year.I was never a fan of the invite idea but it worked out well for them in the end and they produced a super device so hats off to them.
Starting today, the One will be available without an invite. Forever.
“That’s right. In our first big celebration of the One’s successful year, we are opening up sales globally for everyone, every day of the week. We have always wanted to put great products into the hands of more people. And, we now feel confident that we have matured enough to handle the increased complexity that comes along with opening up sales completely.
With the experiences we’ve gained with the One, we will be far more prepared to make the same transition with the OnePlus 2. Yes, the 2 will initially launch with invites. We’re committed to maintaining razor-thin margins in order to give as much value as possible back to our users, and this drastically increases our risk. The OnePlus 2 will bring the challenges that come along with a brand new product, and initially, our invite system will help us to manage that risk. It also helps us to be sure that every OnePlus 2 user gets the amazing experience that they deserve.”
In the meantime there is a promotion running for One Plus fans for 24HRS
For just 24 hours, we’re offering a 75% discount on OnePlus Flip Covers and Premium Screen Protectors. Additionally, Bamboo StyleSwap covers will now be available without an invite (while supplies last). Please note that these promotions are only valid in the following regions: USA/Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
This is a quick first look a the first move into the SmartWatch arena from Hannspree,with a new budget wearable costing around £29.99.This is a very minimalistic design and effort but its making it tempting with its price for people to move into the smart watch game,its slowly taking off and now with many alternatives we are spoilt for choice,mostly expensive but fitness trackers are cheaper now than ever and they will continue to drop in price for sure..
IMAGE GALLERY
The Hannspree sport watch gives us a few ways to track things such as a pedometer,weight loss tracking.sleep monitoring and message notifications.also sorting a long battery life it will make it attractive to some,with an Oled display which the digits are small you will get about 8-10 days of life. You can download a companion app from the store and simply sync to your watch via bluetooth and its good to go..Find out how we got on over the coming days,check out our unboxing and quick look below.
Whilst chatting about the One Plus today amongst some friends they have given us a little teaser on FaceBook and Twitter,although it just shows a photo of an envelope its says nothing more than the date. 20th April and “Youre invited! Also on Google Plus they say “From here on out, anything could happen”
What could it be ? The new One Plus 2,although its perhaps a bit too soon, or perhaps something else,time will tell and we sure are curious.
Millions of phones get lost or stolen every year worldwide and when it comes to finding them it can be a hassle,although there is a find my phone app on Android already this can make things a bit easier because you can now do it from your desktop or home PC. This would be handy for an actual theft or if you misplaced your device at home or at a friends perhaps.
All you need to do is sign in with your Google Account and your device obviously must be on and you must have the latest update of the Google search app on your device.
It all may sound familiar to Android users as you can use device manager alongside other apps to locate and erase data etc.Now from your desktop this can be done which is quite handy and it works here in Ireland too..As you can see on image above you can then ring your device,then below as pictured an icon will appear on your device and you phone will ring for 5 mins.Pretty neat.
Twitter has given itself a new look on the web,this has been experimented on some time now but for now its for US only,where have we heard that before…but it will roll out to more over time,the aim is to entice more users.
Starting today, when you go to the twitter.com homepage, you’ll find interesting topics to explore like Politics, Pop Artists and even Cute Animals. Click on the topic and you’ll see a timeline of Tweets from some of the most popular accounts in that topic. It’s rich real-time content, just like the Twitter experience for users who log in.
People who log in get the full experience: they can browse the complete catalog of public Tweets, Tweet themselves or engage with Tweets they see. Today, we’re making a big change for the many millions of people who visit every month who don’t log in, but still want to know what’s happening.
