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Incipio's offGRID 4,000 mAh Capacity backup battery is a life-saving travel companion
In the last decade, cellphones and tablets have gone from important, but simple communication devices to replacing computers, cameras, radios and more. As this winter's unpredictable weather has shown us, we never know when the ability to charge our phones will be stolen cruelly by God or poor city planning. As part of being a prepared adult individual, it's important to consider having a backup charging option for your communication devices when the power goes out, and the Incipio offGRID 4,000 mAh backup battery is a great low-cost solution. Utilizing a 2.1 A output USB port for charging devices, the offGRID's powerful energy supply is robust enough to provide two and a half full charges to a completely dead iPhone 4s or 5c. To test this function, we fully charged the offGRID, and then tested how long it would take to bring a fully dead iPhone 4s battery back to life. We then repeated the test again with the iPhone 5c. In each case, the battery was able to fully charge the phones in a little more than two hours. We then drained the offGRID of power completely and let it sit for a week completely dead. Once the backup battery was recharged, and the charging experiment was run again. The offGRID ran perfectly with no issues, and still held the exact same amount of charge after a week of sitting dead. Obviously after a few months of usage, battery life will go down, but it's nice to know if you screw up and forget to fully charge it for a while, your battery is still going to provide a solid backup. The battery charges via an included micro-USB cable, which was a nice surprise to find inside the box. Since switching to iOS devices, I have fewer micro-USB cables around, and the one that comes with the offGRID is three feet long. Including a high-quality cable of a reasonable length is a big selling point for travelers who pick one up on the road and might have access to oddly located plugs. Best of all, the device is small enough to easily slide into a backpack pocket without taking up much-needed traveling space. The device can be charged while still charging your phone, allowing you to kill two birds with one highly charged electrical wire. If you have any issues, you can look forward to a one-year warranty from the manufacturer. The offGRID 4,000mAh is incredibly affordable, setting you back US$49.99. Given its year-long warranty, ability to keep you going an extra two to three charges when you're away from an outlet and light, easily transportable build, it comes highly recommended. Don't find yourself without power when you need it. If you end up off the grid, the offGRID is a great backup plan.
Olloclip 4-in-1 iPhone lens gives you a new perspective on the world
If you're an iPhone owner, there's a good chance you take a lot of photos with your phone. That's totally understandable, given that Apple's recent smartphone offerings are widely considered to be fantastic for photography. Still, the built-in lens on your iPhone 4, 4s, 5 or 5s is still hampered by its physical limitations. The Olloclip external lens system is a clip-on accessory that offers four different view options that can seriously change the look and feel of your iPhone photos. Specs Lenses: 10X Macro, 15X Macro, Wide-angle, Fisheye Price: US$69.99 Design The Olloclip is tiny, and can easily fit in your pocket or bag with no trouble. That's a pretty crucial aspect of the accessory, especially since you're not going to want to have it equipped as you go about your day-to-day tasks. The clip portion of the device is plastic while the lenses themselves are made of metal (and glass, obviously). The clip feels snug when applied to the iPhone, and while it's not difficult to slide off when you're done, there's also little chance that it would fall off on its own. Because of how the accessory is designed, two of the lenses are placed on each side, and the metal lens casings -- which house the fisheye and wide-angle lenses -- unscrew from the plastic clip to reveal a macro lens on either side. If you read our previous review of the original Olloclip 3-in-1 lens -- which featured 10X macro, wide-angle and fisheye lenses -- this version is essentially an updated version of that, and also includes a 15X macro option. Functionality Once the Olloclip is applied to your phone, taking photos is as simple as it's ever been. There's no tweaking or adjustments needed, and switching from one lens to another takes only a few seconds. The autofocus and other built-in iPhone features work as they always have, so you can shoot burst photos, play around with various filters or shoot slow-mo video without issue. If you know how to shoot a photo with your iPhone now, you'll know how to do it with the Olloclip; it's as simple as that. As a package, the Olloclip's lenses are a great combo, but some are definitely a bit more useful than others. The fisheye lens, for example, is fun for goofy shots, but it's not something you'll use daily. Between the two macro lenses, the 15X option is definitely going to be your go-to, simply because if you're looking for macro functionality, the more the better. The wide-angle lens will get the most use from aspiring iPhone photogs, and it's worth the price of admission all on its own. It's great for outdoor shots as well as large group photos where you need to cram as many people into the frame as possible. Conclusion The Olloclip 4-in-1 is a fantastic accessory that is both easy to use and a whole lot of fun to play around with. The lenses included are great for shooting types of photos you've never had the chance to before, and if you're tired of your Facebook photo albums or Flickr collection is looking a little dull, this is one of the easiest ways to spice it up. Rating
New year, new TUAW hardware reviews
Over the years, TUAW has dramatically increased the number of hardware reviews that are published. This year, we'll be changing the way we do our product reviews to not only make it possible for us to publish even more reviews, but to give our readers a much easier way to compare items in the same product category. To start with, we're cutting down the average length of a product review. There is more raw information and less in terms of descriptive prose, so that you can get to the meat of a review quickly without poring through a 1,500-word description. Each item reviewed now receives a star rating as well. Hardware receives a rating from zero to four stars, with four stars being a world-class product that has few equals, while zero-star products should be avoided at all costs. Our reviews will also include links to previous reviews of similar items, in order to make it simple for you to make comparisons. Note that we're transitioning from our old format, so you may still see the occasional long-format review. As with any new process, there are sure to be a few bumps in the road as we gain familiarity with the new format, but we appreciate your feedback. If you have any comments as we move ahead, please use the "Tip Us" button at the upper-right side of this page to send them to us.
Reviewing the SteelSeries WoW MMO Legendary edition gaming mouse
SteelSeries makes some cool WoW-inspired gaming peripherals, and the World of Warcraft MMO gaming mouse is no exception. The newest iteration in the lineup is the Legendary Edition, a brand new design that takes what worked from the previous versions of the MMO gaming mouse and iterates on core concepts, resulting in an overall sturdier build and better product. The new mouse fits more comfortably in my hand than the old MMO gaming mouse did as well as provides two new thumb buttons that I didn't anticipate liking as much as I did. As usual, I tested out each peripheral for review for no less than a week of actual WoW gameplay and learning, trying out the gear on my main as well as new alts created for the express purpose of learning with a new peripheral from scratch. Here's my week with the SteelSeries WoW MMO Legendary edition gaming mouse.
Reviewing the Razer Nostromo: A comfortable place to rest your hand
Back in July, I featured a submission on Reader UI of the Week from reader Steppinrazor which featured a dual-peripheral setup of the Razer Naga MMO mouse and the Razer Nostromo. The Razer Nostromo is a peripheral that acts as a keyboard for input commands, with buttons for clicking, a D-pad, a scrollwheel, and much more. In my discussion of Steppinrazor's UI, I made note that I was not privy to the Nostromo, having never had the pleasure of resting my fingers on its keys. Now, however, I've spent considerable time with the Nostromo and can tell you my story. Here is my review of the Razer Nostromo. The Razer Nostromo features: Ergonomic form factor and tournament-grade layout 16 fully programmable Hyperesponse keys Programmable eight-way directional thumb pad and scroll wheel (can be used as keys) Instantaneous switching between eight key maps Unlimited macro lengths (this is really cool) Storage of up to 20 different game profiles Adjustable soft-touch wrist pad for exceptional comfort Backlit keypad and scroll wheel for total control, even in dark conditions Enhanced Razer configurator software Works with Mac or PC
Reviewing the Razer Anansi MMO keyboard: A tricky little spider
Razer has very graciously sent me one of its Anansi MMO keyboards to review for you fine people. My previous experience with Razer products has been positive, mostly because its MMO-centric wares fit well into my own MMO-centric lifestyle. I face this simple fact every day -- I play a lot of games. In fact, I play a lot of World of Warcraft. When you play a game this much, you get the tools made for it. How about some features in convenient bullet point form? The Razer Anansi MMO-Gaming Keyboard: 7 thumb modifier keys 100+ programmable keys One-button profile switching (awesome for backlighting your Alliance characters blue and Horde characters red ...) Five additional macro buttons Media keys Gaming mode option
A hands-on with the Razer Anansi
When I first heard about the Razer Anansi, I was beyond excited. Razer had, after all, made the supremely excellent Naga specifically for MMOs, and the Naga is as close to a perfect peripheral as has ever been made. (The original wasn't wireless, which is a big deal for some people, but it doesn't bother me -- and there's a wireless version out now anyway.) I was pretty much certain that the same team working on a keyboard would produce the ultimate one-two punch for online gaming accessories. Sadly, the Anansi isn't the Naga. And therein lies its biggest fault -- you can't help but compare the two products, and the keyboard comes up short. It isn't a bad keyboard, but it lacks what made the Naga so excellent, and for the several things that it gets right it also manages to get a couple of things wrong. Without a doubt, it's going to serve better than the stock keyboard that comes with a new computer, but it's far from a must-have addition to your hardware.
Gearing up for WoW: The Razer Naga [Updated]
We don't normally do hardware reviews. That's usually the domain of the guys over at our sister site, Engadget. But when Razer broke out the $79.99 Razer Naga last August 19 at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany (along with a glow-in-the-dark mousepad), and previewed it a BlizzCon a few days later, we knew we just had to get our hands on it and take it out for a spin. This was Razer's first mouse aimed squarely at the MMO market, and at World of Warcraft players specifically. It isn't the first mouse that tried to appeal to the huge MMO player base -- Steelseries unleashed a World of Warcraft mouse last year, although some players found some issues with the mouse and the way it interacted with the game. In hindsight, we probably should've done our own review of that product. So when Razer announced that the Naga "wasn't going be just a great MMO mouse (but) the best MMO mouse," we weren't going to let the opportunity slip away.[Update: Razer's Heathcliff Hatcher aka Razer|Agent responded to some concerns about the Razer Naga and how its keys currently can't be remapped right out of the box without third party applications. Razer|Agent says, "software driver remapping of keys is a standard function for most of Razer products and we do have suitable solutions that we intend to release in the near future for Naga that will enable this feature out of game." This means that the standard 123 and NUM configurations should be remappable through a future update.]Mike wrote an excellent hands-on report on the Razer Naga when we were at BlizzCon which should give everyone a fair idea of what we're dealing with. Writing a product review for an MMO gaming mouse wasn't going to be a simple task -- one reason there aren't too many full reviews of the Razer Naga is because it takes a bit of commitment to do it. Unlike first person shooters or even real-time strategy games where about an hour or two of gameplay would be enough to give fair impressions of the mouse, properly assessing an MMO gaming mouse needs to be an immersive experience. It requires mapping keys and adapting one's personal playing style to accommodate the hardware.As I'd mentioned in my gearing series that talked briefly about gaming mice, the features of most modern gaming mice are far beyond what MMOs generally demand. You won't need 5600dpi, insane APM (Actions-Per-Minute) values, or even fancy technologies like Razer's HyperResponse buttons. If there's any indication that Razer is on the right track with the Naga, it's that they've loaded it with buttons. MMO players tend to press a lot of buttons. They also took the extra step of creating (or adapting) an AddOn that allows the mapping of keybindings from inside the game. When the Razer Naga finally arrived at my doorstep after a torturous tussle with an ineffectual DHL, I finally buckled down -- as Razer would say -- to get imba. Let's take a closer look at the Razer Naga after the jump. %Gallery-75456%
