Ratings
Pros
- Pleasant looking interface
- Excellent iPod player
- Google Maps integration for POIs
- On-screen speed limit indicator
- Logo-based POIs for easy identification
- Superb traffic alerts and up-to-date information
Cons
- Pop-up notifications takes GPS off-line
- No Google or Internet search integration
- Lack of podcast support in Music Player
- Does not support suite numbers in Contacts and mis-routes
The Bottom Line
Magellan RoadMate ignores the iPhones sleek user interface in favor of its own look-and-feel which will help owners of Magellan’s dash mount PNDs jump right into the iPhone application. For first time Magellan users, the simply layout will be a quick learn for any experienced GPS user. Once on the road, RoadMate wraps up its well defined experience into a tightly knit package that will get your to your destination quickly, easily, and accurately.
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Magellan went a, um excuse the pun, different route with its iPhone navigation application. Instead of using many of the familiar iPhone menu items and other common iPhone attributes, Magellan stuck with its interface from its Personal Navigation Device (PND) units found on the windshields of thousands of vehicles across America. This twist helps those going from the PND to the iPhone to minimize the learning curve while keeping the user experience satisfying.
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Pros
- Excellent sound
- Compact
- Comfortable
Cons
- Cable either too short or two long (comes with two)
- Does not support iPhone phone features
The Bottom Line
AKG is well known in the professional world for extreme quality and rich sounding headphones and the K 450 brings that tradition to the personal market. Professional roots come at a price, but any discriminating listener will not be disappointed with a set of K 450s sitting on their head.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
I first heard the K 450s at Macworld 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed the richness of the mini-headphonse. Bass was fluid and deep while highs were crisp and defining. Even in the midst of a noisy convention center, I was able to take in the musical experience from my iPhone with a smile on my face.
AKG sent me a pair of K 450s for some in-depth R and R with them. In a quite office to give them a run through, my impression only improved with the K 450s. The quality of sound is amazing, even while knowing that I am listening to compressed music which in itself has flaws. Yet the K 450 emphasizes the beauty of the sounds it receives and magnifies them in your ears. The highs are clean and crisp and never harsh. Some headphones I’ve reviewed usually have problems in this area adding bitter, jarring, scratchy tones to the highs especially with spoken word. I never had this problem with the K 450s. In fact, listening to well recorded podcasts was a treat with the AKGs making you feel as if you were in the studio with the podcaster.
Pros
- Clear and unnoticeable when installed
- Excellent scratch resistance
- iPod easily fits in dock when installed
- Accessory holes and switch openings align perfectly
- Corners stay affixed to device long-term
Cons
- Very challenging installation
- Difficult to set
- Adhesive dries quickly making removal and reset tough
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for good protection against the elements around your iPod that will keep your music player looking new, then InvisibleShield is a good investment. If you have patience and a skilled hand, then you can overlook the complicated installation and enjoy long-term protection of your musical device.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
While pricing continues to fall for most music players, at over $200 a pop, these things are still not what one would consider “cheap”. If you’re one that cares about your hard earned money and wishes to keep your devices looking as new as possible, then you’ll want to protect it with something. Cases and pouches are popular choices but many just want something non-instrusive. As of late, clear “vinyl” skins are becoming another popular selection in the choice department and InvisibleShield is one such choice for your iPod or other device supported by Zagg.
Pros
- Simple to use
- No PC or Mac needed
- Versatile media selection
- Great video quality
Cons
- No auto-stop recording
- No support for Mac OS HFS+ formated drives
The Bottom Line
If you have a ton of video tape that needs to be archived to a digital format to preserve those years of memories and you want to do it easily and quickly, there is no better option than the Pinnacle Video Transfer.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
A few months ago, SvenOnTech was offered to give Pinnacle’s new gadget a try. When we received it, I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical to how well this would work. I grabbed a Sony SLV-MH1F video cassette recorder out of the garage and a Western Digital Passport external hard drive from the drawer and hooked up all the cables to the Pinnacle device. I shoved in The Ten Commandments (please respect all copyright laws…this was just a test) VHS and pressed the record button on the Pinnacle Video Transfer (PVT). I used the Best video setting which Pinnacle states is a resolution of 720×576 (PAL, SECAM) / 480 (NTSC) 1.5 Mbps video and 192 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz for hard drive and flash media. The iPod’s best is 640×480 1.5 Mbps video with 128 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz and the PSP clocking in at 320×240 1 Mbps video and 128 kbps stereo audio 48 KHz.
After a couple of hours, tape one was done and I pressed the record button again to end the recording. A few lights flashed as it completed the recording process and I then had blue lights shortly after. I unplugged the Passport drive from the Pinnacle Video Transfer and plugged it into my Mac. In a newly created folder, VIDEO, lay my new recording. Affectionally titled VID00001.MP4. I double clicked it and up came QuickTime with The Ten Commandments in all its VHS to computer glory. Even though the video tape was from the 80s, the quality was very impressive. The audio was excellent as well. In fact, it was difficult to sense any loss of quality from the transfer at all. I was highly impressed. At a little less than a gig an hour, you will be able to pack a lot of videos onto your drive.
What surprised me must about the PVT was just how easy it was and how good the results were. Taking the supplied composite cables and hooking them up to the OUT on the VCR and into the PVT and then hooking up the USB cable to your hard drive was all it took. Well, that and the power cord. You select your quality and then hit record. It’s that easy. I’ve used many analog-to-digital conversion kits and they always were a pain to use. In fact, I didn’t use them after recording a few tapes to the computer because of the frustration of difficulty related to them. From Dazzle (I had the very first version and then an upgraded one) to gung-hoo video cards from ATI. In the end, it was the software that made them all suck and that doesn’t even account for the system resources it steals from your computer. No computer time for you while recording or start all over when it crashes. The PVT removes all of this burden.
Pros
- Extends iPhone life nearly 2x
- Light weight
- Small
- Easy to use
Cons
- Slow recharge times
- No color-coded cord
The Bottom Line
With no removable battery on the beloved iPhone, when there is an absolute need for longer lasting power, there really is no better choice than the Mybat External Battery for the iPhone.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
When the iPhone was released, much was made of its internal battery and the inability to swap it out with a fresh one when needed. While Apple tried to douce the critics flames with some ritzy Silicon Valley bottled water with its assurance of long lasting battery life, many ignored the claims. To Apple’s credit, for the most part, the iPhone holds up pretty well, especially when compared with other like phones. However, if you’re on a long flight and are watching a lot of movies, don’t expect to make a long phone call on the way to baggage claims. I know there has been times where I had a full day of calls, email, and minor web browsing and my battery was less than 20% at only six hours. An extra battery would have been nice to have laying around. That’s where Mybat comes in.
Pros
- Incredible sound
- Impressive price point
- iPhone compatibility
- Wall-mountable
- Remote control
- Sleek looks
Cons
- Power connector placement
- Inability to hear calls on systems speakers
- Lack of remote dock
The Bottom Line
Finally, a system you can listen to your tunes to from your iPhone without the GSM interference purging through the speakers with it’s annoying and menacing sound. Oh, did we mention the classic killer Altec Lansing sound?
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Okay, okay, I’ll admit my bias right out. I love Altec Lansing products. I have ever since those first door speakers my dad put in his Ford Ecoline 150 van back in 1985. I still can remember playing the The Theme to Beverly Hills Cop from them at the beach that summer and how rich it sounded. I blasted those babies!
Since that day, I’ve always been keen to investigate anything with the Altec name on it and more times than not, I walk away impressed. When I met with Steve Schlangen, Product Manager of Altec Lansing, in January in a private meeting room off the halls of Moscone Center during Macworld Expo, I really know what to expect from the T612. It was the first real show off of the first officially “Works with iPhone” certification speaker product for the iPhone. Schlangen called it the “rock star of the show” and when he sampled it for me, I couldn’t have agreed any more. The thing was steller in its music representation. With 60 Watts RMS and 120 peak, this thing will fill up the room with rich tones and deep bass quickly. The T612 does this easily from its pair of 3 inch drivers and 1 inch tweeters incased behind a sleek looking black grill.
Pros
- Premium sound
- Inexpensive
- Nice accessories (airline adapter, pouch/container)
Cons
- iM-290 not as comfortable as higher models
The Bottom Line
Sound is important and so is price. Finally, the two can meet in the name of Maximo! With any of the three models, you will be impressed and satisfied with your purchase.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
We’re all looking for those great ear buds for our iPods like those sweet Shure or V-Moda ear buds for something you can afford rather than the $100 plus ticket these two command. Well, SvenOnTech may have just found those very earbuds for you…just in time for Christmas!
Maximo contacted us a few months ago and sent us all three of its ear bud offerings. The iM-290 budget earbud, the iM390 for iPods and such, and the specially Sansa designed iM-490S. The later two are pretty much the same earbud with a slight variation in look and cord attachments. Priced from $29.99, $39.99, and $49.99 (respectively,) these are true bargains for the sound they produce.
We flung the Sansa ones to our SanDisk lovin’ man, Nathan, and he gave ‘em a spin. Nathan put his SD playing Sansa to the test pulling out bass heavy music, crisp highs, and all around everyday listening. His impression? “Awesome, dude!” Ya, Nathan liked them. 
He also appreciated the short cord connector that allows you to shorten the iMetals and plug into the Sansa remote without creating a headphone cord length of five thousand feet.
I tried the other two and was impressed myself with them. For $30, I was really surprised how good the iM-290 sounded. I mean really impressed. Sure, they didn’t jam on the bass heavy stuff or shatter my ear drums on the highs, but dude, for the price, they certainly out did some $50 head sets I’ve heard. Lacking the nice little rubber ear pieces of the two big brothers, the 290′s do start to give some discomfort to your ear canals after long periods of use which should be expected at this price point.
Maximo recommends a “burn-in” period on all of its earbuds. So we did that with all three sets playing music at a low level for about an hour of an iPod with the EQ flat (off). After completing this burn-in stage, I placed the iM-390s in my ears and listened to iTunes directly off my Mac Pro through my Altec Lansing’s FX6021 ear phone port. I pushed the earbuds with some heavy bass (via the R&B preset EQ setting,) and I was amazed that they handled the loud music with the burden of the bass pretty well. After an hour of various genres ringing through my ears, I took them out without a tinge of soreness in my ears.
I then took the earbuds and used them on my iPod for an hour and then moved onto the iPhone with both the Monster and Shure adapters. Both the iPod and iPhone had better results than with the Mac Pro due to the lower wattage being pushed into my ears. Bass was tight, mids good, and highs decent. I found high quality podcasts such as This Week in Tech (TWiT) and CNET’s Buzz Out Loud, sounded superb with the 390s. I actually found myself in my truck wanted to hear them on my iPhone rather than via my iPod on the Alpine head unit!
Overall
There is nothing earth shattering with these earbuds. They are just excellent economical earbuds. Maximo’s Andrew Houston told SvenOnTech when he introduced us to the product the line that it was Porsche-like sound at VW prices. We liked that description so much after using them for a month that we titled our review as such. Houston hit it on the nose, or rather, ear!
The iM-290 , iM-390, and the iM-490S are true bargins for the sound. While we love the higher end earbuds we’ve reviewed in the past, I think we would all agree here at SvenOnTech that these earbuds are the first in the budget line to definitely not just brush off because of its price. These are excellent pieces of audio devices that we hope many will be able to appreciate like we did.
Price: $29.99 (iM-290), $39.99 (iM-390), $49.99 (iM-490)
Platform: Standard Mini-Stereo Headphone Jack (1/8″)