Thursday, September 29, 2016

AUKEY 10X Macro Lens

Taking pictures or video with your phone is fun but there are limitations to what your camera can do. Having an add on lens for you phone is not only a plus but a must have. Trying to take macro shots with your phone can be a bit daunting, but if you have the AUKEY Ora 10X Macro lens things get a lot easier. You get two clips, which is an inch and a quarter deep, meaning from the top of your phone to the lens. There is a rubber tip on the clip to prevent damage to your screen, you also get a cloth to wipe away dust and fingerprints, a nice carry pouch, a translucent lens hood and of course the lens itself.
Simply slip on the lens to the clip, no screwing needed, and then slip on the lens hood. With the lens hood on you can now lay your phone on the subject and take a shot, you do not have to sorry about your hands shaking, I love that idea, with a simple lens hood your phone has now gained stability! The lens housing is made from aluminum alloy and had multi elements, not one piece of glass but multiple, the lens is coated to reduce ghosting, reflections and lens flare. The glass is crystal clear, I have not seen any distortion at all. Weighing in at just over four ounces the AUKEY Ora 10X macro lens is light enough to carry around with you all the time. Using a macro lens is not only fun to use but it does get your creativity flowing.
You can get some really clear shots with the AUKEY Ora 10X macro lens, it is not hard to put together and extremely easy to use. Once you start using this lens you will find yourself looking for things to shoot, your creativity will start to flow and you will see a new world of photography. So if you really like taking pictures or video with your phone I highly recommend that you get the AUKEY Ora 10X macro lens and start seeing the world in a different view!!

Monday, September 19, 2016

AUKEY sport earphones with built in pedometer

There are alot of wireless earphones on the market today, some are for casual use and some are intended for sports/exercise. I have found that some of the sport earphones fall short of the expected performance. Some had horrible sound while some were not sweatproof at all. The AUKEY sport earphones with built in pedometer is an example of how a set of sport earphones are supposed to look and perform. You get your standard USB cable and extra eartips ( small med. and large), also the instruction manual, which is really easy to understand especially on how to program the pedometer. I like how the eartips have the ear fin built in, no messing around with separate fins, the ear hook is made from a rigid material, there is some flex but not much.
I liked the rigid ear hooks, for me they provided a really nice tight fit, the earphones did not slip out even when I scratched my ear. The cable is flat and fits snug against the back of my head, if you do not like that feel then these are not for you. It took only two hours to charge the AUKEY sport earphones and I got about five hours fifteen minutes of play back. Taking calls was pleasant, the caller heard me clearly and I heard them with no problems. The Bluetooth connection was quick and strong, I never had signal drop or interruption of any kind, and the distance was 31 feet before I noticed any signal loss. They are light weight coming in at 6.4 ounces, there were times I forgot I was wearing them.
Sound quality was superb, the AUKEY sport earphones has a very well balanced mix to them, the bass was rich and full, the mids had a nice punch to it and the high end was crisp and very well rounded. Even at full volume the mix held its own and performed like a champ. I never encountered any distortion at full volume, no hissing, crackle, static or loss of the mix, just a nice pleasant listening experience. I used a few devices to test the AUKEY sport earphones, the Nexus 7, Lumia 640 and iPod touch 5, each device paired quickly and never dropped the signal. Each device was put at full volume as well and the same results were experienced with all three, excellent sound and strong signal. I would like to mention some of the music I used as well during my testing.
While testing any device for playing back sound I use music from Metallica, George Clinton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kid Rock, Chopin and many more. As you can see I listen to a wide variety of music, the reason is for frequency response and I am proud to say that the AUKEY sport earphones produced an excellent listening performance with all of the genres I listen too. From the complexity of Mozart to the harsh voice of James Hetfield these earphones handles the frequencies superbly.

Monday, September 12, 2016

AUKEY EP-B4 Sport Earphones

Choosing a set of earphones for everyday usage, working out, sports or all the above can be a bit frustrating. First you have to make sure that they fit in your ears without falling out and that they are comfortable, secondly they have to have a great sound. The AUKEY EP-B4 sport earphones definitely have a great sound to them. For me the bass was a bit strong, though it did not muddy up the mix at all, the mid range was really smooth it cut through the mix really well and the vocals were crystal clear finally the treble was sharp and crisp, you can hear the cymbal hits and all the high notes easily. I did not hear any hissing, crackling or static with the AUKEY EP-B4 sport earphones, at maximum volume the earphones performed very well, no distortion, the mix pretty much stayed the same.
Now you do get three sets of ear tips and ear fins, so fitting the earphones may take sometime to get right but once you do you will be pleased. With my ears I used the medium ear tips and the large ear fins(see video), if it were not for the ear fins these earphones would have fallen out all the time. I found that the AUKEY EP-B4 sport earphones were very comfortable to wear. I kept them in for four hours and not once did I feel any discomfort. AUKEY claims 4.5 hours of playback time, I was able to get four hours out of them. The reason for this is because the earphones themselves are a bit quiet so I turned the volume up all the way on the earphones and used my phone(Lumia 640) to control the actual volume of the music. Honestly I have no problem with that, I figure the less time I touch the earphones the less chance of them slipping out or accidentally pushing a button.
The only true negative I can say about the AUKEY EP-B4 sport earphones is the USB cover is a pain to open. There is no tan on it to get your finger nail under to open the port. I used a box cutter with a thin blade to open the charging port. Once you get the port open charging took only two hours, connecting via Bluetooth was easy and I had a strong connection everytime I used the earphones. The distance I got via Bluetooth was 30 feet, then the signal started to degrade or simply cut out completely. When I made a few phone calls the receiver heard me just fine and I was able to hear them easily, so for me I had no problems taking or making calls. Overall the AUKEY EP-B4 sport earphones is an excellent set of earphones, just make sure you fit them properly, as you should with any brand of earphones. Despite the USB flap being a pain to get open I still highly recommend these earphones!

Monday, September 5, 2016

AUKEY Ora 180 Fisheye lens

Everyone has a smartphone now and the cameras in them are actually pretty good, but they are limited, for instance you really cannot zoom in, yes there is a digital zoom but the resolution will suffer and only so much fits into frame. It makes sense to want something to help improve your pictures/videos taken with your phone. The AUKEY Ora 180 Fisheye lens can help improve your pictures/videos, if you like to be creative and artistic then this lens is for you. Made from an aluminum alloy and multi-element coated glass to minimize ghosting, reflections and lens glare, it has a nice premium feel to it. It weighs about six ounces as well so it is not the lightest lens so I suggest using two hands while using this lens. It simply clips onto your phone to give you great shots.
The clip is made from plastic and has a nice soft, tacky rubber on it to protect your phone from scratches. It is only one inch deep, what I mean is from the top of your phone to the camera lens, if your camera lens is farther away from the top of your phone than one inch then this lens will not work for your phone. The glass is really clear I did not see any cloudy spots or distortions, keep in mind that with a fisheye lens you will see some vignetting around the edges, a softening/shadowing, this is normal with a lens like this. In my video I show you how well this lens performs, I really like it, shooting with the AUKEY Ora 180 Fisheye lens made me think of the shot I wanted to take, it made me be a bit more creative. I would definitely recommend this lens to anyone who wants not only a wider field of view but to add some creativity and a different look to their pictures and videos!