blog.LucasQualls.com

As most of you know, since February I have used the Motorola Droid phone. I have been trying to find a decent solution to listen to my podcasts in the car. I had an FM transmitter so I could listen through the car stereo. However, this had to physically attach to the headphone jack on the phone and it required two AAA batteries that only lasted about 2 hours per set. I needed something better.

I started doing some research into what other people have used with the Droid phone. One thing I kept seeing was using the A2DP stereo bluetooth streaming to get to some sort of speaker system. So I started looking around the net for a bluetooth speaker that was worth having.

I found the Motorola EQ5 roKr bluetooth speaker and I was intrigued from the point that I saw the picture. I actually thought it was a bit bigger than it is. I expected it to be about a foot long by 6 inches high based on the few pictures I looked at. When it came, it’s actually almost the exact same size as the Droid phone itself.

Here’s a picture of what came in the box:

As you can see from this picture, the speaker itself is not that much bigger than the “wall wart” of the charger. It uses a microUSB charger cable which is the same as the Droid, which will be handy so I can charge both using the same cables I already have. It also comes with a stereo 3.5mm cable to attach things that don’t have A2DP bluetooth capabilities. Looking at the picture above, you can see the plastic panel behind which the 3.5mm jack resides. On the other side, there is a similar panel for the charger jack.

Here is a look at the back:

The fold out stand keeps the speaker tilted slightly upward, making it perfect to sit on a table. You can also see by looking at the pictures that there are no removable parts at all. It makes the device look very slick (Apple like, even) but I wish there was a replaceable battery. When it gets to the point that I have to have power attached to this thing to be able to use it, it will become mostly useless to me. The instruction manual states that it can be recharged up to 500 times, so it should last me a few years at least.

Now for the “meat” of the product. Here’s the front:

I have to thank whoever made this picture for making it transparent because that just looks awesome. Anyway. Back to the review. The left and right speakers are behind the metal on either side. On the top of device is a phone button which answers and ends phone calls when the device is paired with a phone. I haven’t got to try the phone call functionality yet. I will report back on that.
On the front, the top row is a + and – button. These adjust the volume of the speakers. In the middle is the LED that has blue, red, yellow, and green LEDs. If the two volume buttons are pressed at the same time, the LED shows the battery life remaining by showing various colors.
The bottom row contains reverse, play/pause, and forward buttons that will control playback depending on what the paired device allows. On the bottom of the device, there is a power switch.

I know most people upon seeing this are thinking that the sound from a speaker set so small has to be terrible. It actually is very good sound. It has a technology built in called SRS WOW HD which enhances the sound quality by a lot. There is a way to turn the SRS on and off and without it on, the sound quality suffers a LOT. The main use for this will be vocal podcasts, so the quality wouldn’t be a huge thing. However, I will every now and then play music via this speaker. I have played music via MP3s on my phone and Pandora through these speakers. The compression of Pandora via 3G can be heard in these speakers a lot worse than the earbuds I use, showing that these speakers are much better quality. VBR MP3s playback with GREAT quality.
I’ve also synced this to my desktop computer and used it as computer speakers. I played back a few TV episodes on the computer and the sound was great.
Overall, for the price I paid for this device (around $33) and the size, I am giving it a 5/5. The sound is great. The device itself looks awesome. And it is very easy to sync up to different devices.

If you want to buy this, feel free to shop around, and if it is cheapest at Amazon, I would appreciate if you use my affiliate link below.

For more information, check out Motorola’s Official Page for the EQ5.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @lukenova for more information about my other gadget goodness.

This is an awesome little box that plays divx, mp3, and picture files from a USB storage device (flash drive or external hard drive). It cost me a little less than $40 with shipping and all. It has recently been listed on Amazon for $29.99 with no shipping charge. (Feel Free to click my amazon affiliate link if you want to buy this device. It costs nothing extra to you and it will help me out a little…)

Sony SMPU10 USB Media Player (Black)

I took that picture. As you can see, the remote is rather well laid out. The box itself is quite small so it will leave a very small footprint in your video system set up.

Here’s a look at the back of the device (I borrowed this picture):

As you can see, its only long enough to accommodate the outputs it has. To the left is HDMI, then the Green-Blue-Red Component video outs, then the Red-White audio outs, then the Yellow composite video out, then the orange digital audio out. Finally, there is the DC Power input.

The device is very easy to set up. Simply plug in the power cable and the video cable of your choice. Then power on the device either using the power button on the box or the remote. It will lead through a very simple set up process and then it is ready to play. You supply a USB device that has video or audio or picture files on it. I tested it using some video files I have (legally acquired, of course *nudge wink*) and it worked perfectly. I have read that it doesn’t play a wide range of video file types. However, most of the stuff I have is encoded with XviD, which is the open source version of DiVX and it completely compatible.

I am using an older TV with which I have to use an RF modulator to even get A/V cables connected to it. So….my set up is not the best to test the quality of video this outputs. However, I can report that it looks about the same as the output of DiVX/XviD files from the Xbox360 using the same RF modulator. It is said to up-convert to 1080p so if anyone has a 1080p TV they would loan me for testing, that would be great!

Pros:

• Very small footprint

• ability to work with Hi-Def as well as standard def TVs
• simple, yet complete remote
• does one thing and does it well: Plays divx files

Cons:

• Menu system. It is functional but not eloquent. Looks like something from a VCR from 10-15 years ago.

• Lack of file type support. If your content is not in xvid or divx, it will have to be re-encoded.

Pro/Con, depending on your use:

• Only USB port is in the front.
  • If you plan on using this with a USB flash drive and changing content regularly, having the USB port on the front is handy for convenient access.

  • If you plan on using it with an external drive and leaving it as a more permanent set up, having the cable coming out of the front is less than appealing.

All in all, I would recommend this device if you have the need for it. There are other devices out there that will play divx files and do other things as well (such as streaming video from Netflix, etc.) but they are generally more expensive than this box. At $30, I didn’t know what to expect from this one. I was very pleasantly surprised. It is simple, and it does what it does well: play divx files.

As always, you can follow me on twitter ( @lukenova ) for more info on my day-to-day life and perhaps more technology I find interesting. (Be sure to hover your mouse over the @lukenova to see the cool new twitter @anywhere feature I just implemented!)