Product Review | Fall 2020

Apple HomePod

$299
Apple
★★☆

The Apple HomePod has been mostly quiet since its launch three years ago. Without a major hardware or software update, the seemingly forgotten smart speaker takes a back seat in Apple’s current lineup of products. The cylindrical, 360 design of the soft, round speaker looks great and easily blends into the background of any room. The exterior is covered in a seamless fabric mesh, chosen for its acoustic properties, which feels soft and premium in the hands. A single glass touch sensitive panel sits on the top of the HomePod with Siri activated LEDs. Inside the HomePod are eight speakers, seven tweeters, a single woofer, and seven microphones. From my first listen, I was impressed with the amount of bass and sound that was coming out of such a small package. The HomePod can easily fill a large room with rich, full sound thanks to its 360 design, spatial awareness, and software processing. I am excited to try pairing two HomePods to create a stereo pair for what I’ve read to be an even better sounding system. The best way to interact with the HomePod is voice control with Siri. The HomePod has become the central hub for all smart devices in my home. I have enjoyed using Siri to play music, play TV shows and movies, set timers, switch my lights on/off, and play the news. The biggest downside is that to utilize the HomePod to its full potential, you must be ingrained in the Apple ecosystem. Many third-party apps such as Spotify have only recently gotten support with limited Siri capabilities. For example, if you wanted to play Christmas related music, ‘Hey Siri, play Christmas Music’, would only work if you had an Apple Music subscription. You can still play music from Spotify using AirPlay, but Spotify cannot recognize certain voice commands, rendering the ‘smart’ functionalities of this speaker useless. In short, these speakers sound amazing, but there are many factors that keep it from playing in everyone’s home. Competing products from Google and Amazon saturate the smart speaker market with diversified product lineups that are priced with a low barrier of entry that is accessible to any home. The HomePod’s hefty price tag prices them equal to many higher end speakers, creating greater expectations, while pricing out consumers just getting started in automating their home. The impressive sound and conveniences the Apple HomePod brings into my home has made it worth the higher price point, but it is hard to recommend this speaker to everyone, unless you are deep into the Apple ecosystem.

MX Master 3

$99
Logitech
★★★

When I think of ergonomic computer mice, unattractive and weirdly shaped hardware come to mind. I am sure the strange looking mice are great for long use and reducing fatigue, but they are not something I would enjoy using or seeing every day. The Logitech MX Master 3 changed my view of what an ergonomic mouse could offer in terms of design, comfort, and functionality. The wireless mouse has a sleek, non-offensive, natural feeling shape that is comfortable to use. Standard mice often feel a bit hollow and light, but the hardware in the MX Master 3 adds a nice resistance. The mouse has two silent scroll wheels, one for horizontal scrolling, and one for vertical scrolling. The vertical scroll wheel features an electromagnetic scrolling mechanism which can be activated with a single flick, allowing the wheel to scroll frictionless to traverse the page at over 1,000 lines a second. Four other buttons are placed around the mouse that can be programmed to any app specific function. The mouse is fast charged using USB-C and can last months with a single charge. The feature I was pleasantly surprised with is the ease of pairing. The MX Master 3 can be paired up to three devices at a time using a single button found on the underside of the MX Master 3. Bluetooth devices can be frustrating to pair. Having to manually pair the mouse every time you switch devices or keeping track of a small USB receiver is not ideal. With the MX Master 3, pairing is done once per device, allowing me to easily switch between my work PC to my personal MacBook with a single button with no additional pairing or syncing required.

Philips Hue Play

$129
Philips Hue
★★☆

The Philips Hue Play bar lights are one of many products that belong to the Philips Hue line of smart home lighting solutions. Capable of over 16 million colors and 50,000 shades of cool to warm tones, Philips Hue lights are an easy and fun way to change the mood in your living space. The Philips Hue Play is a long cylinder of light that can be laid horizontally at an angle, attached to the included stands vertically, or attached directly onto the back of a TV using adhesives. The ambient light bars can be placed anywhere in the room, but the marketing material have mostly shown the Hue Plays used as Bias Lighting behind TVs or monitors. Using the bars as Bias Lighting behind my TV was not my intention when purchasing, but I have since learned that Bias Lighting reduces eye strain and fatigue by reducing the contrast of the bright screen against the dark background. The lights do not come out of the box fully functional. A separate $59 Hue Bridge must be purchased that is used to link the lights to the network, and eventually to your phone where the main functionality lives. There is not a lot to say about these lights other than it being a fun novelty that isn’t priced as such. It’s unfortunate that the Hue Bridge does not come included with these already expensive pair of lights.

Apple TV 4k

$179
Apple
★★★

The Apple TV 4k is another product of Apple that has not seen a major upgrade in years, and after using it for some time, I’ve found that it isn’t needed. The list of requirements for what you would expect out of a media streaming device is not long:

1. Play a wide range of media files in high resolution

2. Offer apps to popular streaming services

3. A good user interface

The Apple TV 4k checks everything in that brief list. I used to question the need for a streaming device in the age of Smart TV’s, but after using a Samsung Smart TV for years, the user interface has never been updated and has become laggy to the point of being unusable. The user interface for the Apple TV 4k is the most minimal I have experienced in a good way. Other streaming devices are bombarded with moving previews and even worse, ads. Most popular streaming apps are natively supported on the Apple TV, allowing me to watch TV shows and Movies in high quality without buffering. This was not the case when I was using Plex on the PS4. The Apple TV 4k also has Siri integration, allowing for easy navigation through voice control. I’ve been enjoying using Siri to rewind or fast forward shows as well as search for videos. I no longer have to type out each individual letter of the search term. The remote is a razor thin slab of touch-sensitive glass, the main source of contention for users of the Apple TV. Users complain that the remote lacks grip or any tactile feedback, which are valid arguments that I have experienced myself. Holding the controller requires mindful handling to get right, something that shouldn’t be necessary for a TV remote. But once you figure out how to hold the thing, the touch sensitive glass makes it easy to navigate menus and scrub through timelines. Priced higher than streaming devices like the Amazon Firestick or Google Chromecast, the Apple TV 4k is on par with other streaming devices like the Nvidia Shield TV. Although the lower priced streaming devices can easily get the job done, I happily pay the premium of the Apple TV just to avoid ads.

Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f1.4 SC

$599
Voigtlander
★★★

The Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm is the first M-mount lens I purchased for my Leica M-240 rangefinder camera. The lens is priced at $599, which is relatively affordable when compared to native Leica lenses which can run up to $3000. Being affordable does not equate to horrible quality. The 35mm focal length lens has an all metal and glass build that feels dense and very well built in the hands. It has a maximum aperture of f1.4 and is completely manual, which results in a smaller body due to the absence of internal motors. Aperture ring stops are tactile, and a crescent rest is built into the focusing ring, making focusing smooth and easy. When using lenses and cameras, I don’t like judging the quality based on focusing charts or pixel peeping that is often seen as a bench mark in other reviews. The Nokton Classic does not score well on focusing charts, with very soft edges stopped at f1.4. This lens is not clinically sharp, but produces soft classic renderings that I prefer. Manufactured to behave like vintage lenses, many have stated that the Nokton 35mm produces images similar to version 1 of Leica’s Summilux 35mm f1.4. Most important to me is the feel of the photos that photography gear produces, which is why the Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm has become one of my favorite lenses to use.

Product Review | Summer 2020

Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Kettle

$149
Fellow Industries
★★★

Fellow Industries Inc. is a San Francisco based company that designs and sells coffee making accessories. Best known for their award winning EKG Electric Kettle, Fellow offers a wide selection of well designed solutions that can be incorporated into your home brew ritual. I was looking for a kettle to use in preparing drip coffee. I decided to check out Fellow’s flagship electric kettle. The sleek, modern, electric kettle boasts a minimal design with a single large round button as the main controller. Opposite of the control is a similarly sized information display. Beautiful form is nothing without function. The EKG Electric Kettle features a list of useful functions for brewing the perfect cup of coffee. Temperature can be set to the degree for optimal extraction and can be held at the set temperature for up to thirty minutes. The gooseneck spout allows for slow, even pours, a necessity for making drip coffee. Holding down the single control for a few seconds starts a timer, useful for preventing over extraction. Although priced a bit higher than other kettles, the control the Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Kettle has given me over the brewing process has made using it every morning a joy, with the added bonus of looking great on the kitchen counter.

Chemex

$45
Chemex Corporation
★★★

The Chemex coffeemaker has been around for a long time. Invented in 1941, the timeless and elegant design has remained unchanged for over 70 years, with good reason. The coffeemaker is constructed from a single piece of borosilicate glass, tied around with a wooden handle and leather strap. It pairs with Chemex’s patented bonded filters to brew coffee using a drip method, producing a clean, balanced tasting cup of coffee. An issue I had with coffeemakers such as the french press or various espresso machines was the cleanup. Ground coffee beans would often end up being rinsed into the sink causing clogs. Cleanup is easy with the Chemex. The extracted coffee grounds stay within the bonded filter, which can easily be lifted and thrown away. The brewing process using the Chemex can be easy, or as involved as you want it to be. With a strong community of users, many brewing recipes can be found online. My current favorite recipe:

Materials

• 53g fresh, coarse ground coffee beans

• 700g, 200°F filtered water

Procedure:

1. Clean Chemex filter with heated filtered water to remove paper taste

2. Add 53g fresh, coarse ground coffee beans into Chemex filter

3. Saturate coffee beans with 100g of 200°F filtered water. Allow saturated beans to bloom for 30 seconds

4. After 30 seconds, slowly pour in 200g of 200°F filtered water in a circular pattern.

5. Repeat 2x times to reach a total of 700g

Kinto Travel Tumbler

$35
Kinto
★★★

Kinto is a Japanese brand that sells simple, comfortable to use tableware, drinkware, and interior accessories. The Travel Tumbler functions as any other stainless steel bottle. It keeps cold drinks cold, and warm drinks warm. What sets the Kinto tumbler apart from other bottles such as Hydroflask is it’s minimal, thoughtful design that has solved some of the problems I’ve had with Hydroflasks. The first thing you notice is the clean, minimal design. Kinto’s logo is placed out of sight near the bottom of the bottle, a sign of a brand who is confident in their design and product. The tumbler has a two cap system. Small slits in the first cap allow liquid to pass in a controlled manner, preventing burns from warm drinks, and keeping ice from falling out of cold drinks. An issue I had with bottles such as Hydroflasks was the exposed mouth piece. The caps in previous bottles I’ve used usually sat above the mouthpiece leaving the surface open to the environment. The Travel Tumbler’s second cap neatly covers the mouthpiece, solving the problem.

Taylor Digital Food Scale

$19.99
Taylor/Target
★☆☆

The Taylor Digital Food Scale is a glass top scale capable of measuring up to 11lbs. The scale has a slim profile, small footprint, and touchscreen interface. Through the glass interface, you can toggle through different measuring units (grams, kilograms, or pounds), tare to zero, and power the scale on and off. The problem with most touch screen interfaces is the lack of feedback and affordance. Physical buttons have an advantage over touchscreen interfaces. When you click a physical button, the button depresses, and you often hear an audible ‘click’, signifying that you have clicked the button. With a touchscreen like the one found on the Taylor Digital Food Scale, when you touch either the UNIT or TARE text, you’re left guessing whether the sensor picked anything up. I found myself tapping the TARE text multiple times to get the scale to register my touch. To power off the scale, you need to tap and hold down the TARE | power button, something that required trial and error to figure out. To fix the touchscreen feedback issue, I propose to add either a haptic feedback similarly found in iPhones, or a single beep sound. I would also separate the TARE and power button, though I suspect adding these features would drive prices up. I would not recommend this scale.

Airpods Pro

$249
Apple
★★☆

When the first Airpod was released, it was met with an overwhelmingly negative response. The sound was average at best, but what made it susceptible to criticism was the design. The long stem looked awkward. Although the design was a topic of contention, what won people over was the user experience. Apple excels at making their products work like magic, and that is what they did with the Airpod’s pairing mechanism using the W1 chip. Just open the magnetically latched case and the headphone is paired. Over time, the general public got over the initial shock and now the Apple Airpods is the best selling wireless headphone in the world. For the second iteration, Apple released a Pro version of the Airpods, with a shortened stem and now with noise cancelling. I’m not an audiophile, but I can appreciate a good sounding headphone. The Airpods Pro delivers excellent sounding audio, with great mid-tones and a balanced bass that isn’t overpowering. The sound quality is a slight improvement over the first generation Airpods, but that may be due to the Airpod Pro’s silicone tips that create a seal in your ear. The seal also makes it possible for active noise cancellation. The active noise cancellation is decent, able to drown out low droning background noises, but the high pitches of voices and movement are still audible. Although the active noise cancellation leaves me wanting more, the convenience of the size and pairing, combined with useful features such as transparency mode, has made the Apple Airpod Pros my daily wireless in-ear headphone.

Eorefo Rope Camera Strap

$18.99
Eorefo / Amazon
★★☆

I was looking for an inexpensive alternative to Leica x COOPH’s Rope Strap. Although the award winning camera strap made of climbing rope and leather details would have looked excellent on my Leica M 240, I was not comfortable paying $95 for a piece of rope. After searching the internet for alternatives, I found Eorefo, an unknown brand that sells various types of camera straps at an affordable price point. I decided to try their rope strap in olive green. The strap is made of nylon climbing rope. Not as rugged or tough as the Leica x COOPH Rope Strap, and stretches a bit when pulled on. Leather details are replaced with a leatherette material, but functionally they are the same. Both protect the camera body from the attaching O-ring which I appreciate. Because of the rope is thin, this rope camera strap works best with lightweight mirrorless or full-frame cameras. I wouldn’t imagine it would be comfortable paired with a heavy DSLR. The quality does not feel premium, but given the inexpensive price point I am pleasantly surprised.