Tracking devices aren’t new…Tile have been making them for years (and credit to tile, their devices work really well) however Apple introducing tracking is a game changer and suddenly the tracker becomes an incredibly useful device.

What is an Airtag?

An AirTag is a small device that you attach to something (e.g. your keys) and your iPhone’s ‘Find My’ app then keeps track of where the AirTag is through the huge Apple device network. If you lose the item your AirTag is attached to your phone can help you find it.

Here are the reasons Apple users should be buying (at least) one on Friday when they’re released for pre-order.

How do AirTags work?

The chip inside Apple’s AirTag effectively bounces off other nearby Apple devices and with an estimated 1 billion active iPhone in the world (plus iPads, Macs, Apple Watch’s etc.) the AirTag already has a guarantee that wherever you accidentally lose your device with your AirTag attached there will be an Apple device nearby allowing you to easily find it.

Tile equally relies off other close-by devices running Tile but Apple’s network is going to be stronger straight away.

What Features Does the AirTag have?

These tiny devices from Apple weight just 11grams and have a height of just 8mm. On top of theat they’re splash, water and dust resistance, make make a noise to help you find them and have a replaceable CR2032 battery that should last for more than a year.

In addition Apple’s AirTags are ready to use with your phone without you needing another app…they just join your other devices in the excellent ‘Find My’ app!

Finally, if you stumble across a lost AirTag in the wild holding your iPhone close to it will show the owner’s name and telephone number (if they’ve enabled this feature) allowing you to reunite the item with its owner.

How good is the tracking on the AirTag?

Of course, if you lose you bag with your AirTag inside you can see on the map where it is but thanks to the U1 chip inside the AirTag those with the iPhone 11 upwards can also experience precision tracking once you’re closer to it with big full screen directions such as ’20ft to your right’ helping you easily find your item in a room!

How much does an Apple AirTag cost?

For once Apple have come up with a pretty reasonable price with AirTags costing $29 for 1 or $99 for a pack of 4. This makes them slightly more expensive than the bottom-end Tile device but incredibly affordable, you can even have them engraved with a couple of letters or your favourite emoji!

Where the price sneaks up is with the accessories. The cheapest official Apple AirTag keychain is the same cost as the AirTag but third party, cheaper options are already appearing on Amazon!

Does the AirTag respect my privacy?

Finally, let’s talk privacy. It’s no secret that Apple have basically gone to war with Facebook over believing data protection is a basic human right and in their keynote yesterday Apple were keen to echo the privacy credentials with their AirTag and have designed it to discourage unwanted tracking. Apple say that if someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff and starts travelling with you it will send you an alert and these are only triggered when an AirTag is travelling separately from its owner.

Should I buy an AirTag?

In conclusion, I think Apple just killed Tile! The AirTag is an affordable, super-effective way to keep an eye on the devices that matter most to you and works with an already robust and secure infrastructure. I for one will be pre-ordering on Friday!

You can read our other reviews here or follow us on twitter.

The post Apple AirTags Finally Announced and Why You Should Buy One appeared first on Mark's Tech Blogs.

Apple’s Official MagSafe Charger

The official Apple MagSafe charger sadly doesn’t come bundled with the iPhone and will certainly set you back more than a standard lightning cable or third party MagSafe charger but at around $35 the official MagSafe charger from Apple is sturdy, reliable and charges your phone well (add an extra $20 for the official 20w power brick to get faster charging).

We like this product because the magnet holds fast and it feels really well made in a way you don’t find with third-party cheaper alternatives.

Apple Leather MagSafe Wallet

Whilst Apple Pay brings us pretty close to being able to leave your wallet at home you probably still need to take your ID and maybe a store card or two out with you. For this reason the MagSafe wallet is a great choice. Apple’s official MagSafe wallet is incredibly well made, comes in a choice of colours (with more rumoured to be on the way) and can fit up to 3 cards in.

We love this because it’s shielded to protect your cards and just snaps onto your phone. In addition to that the small hole enables you to easily slide your cards out. We have however found that some users find it tricky to get used to and can find it detaches from the phone when you put it in your pocket.

Vibeside MagSafe Wallet (Vegan Friendly)

Coming in at just over $20 this is a more budget-friendly option (as well as being vegan-friendly). This means if you’re looking for a vegan MagSafe wallet this this could be the product for you. Much like the genuine Apple wallet it attaches to your phone via MagSafe. It comes in slightly larger than the Apple version but this means you can fit 4 cards with easy access to all those cards with its two pockets.

Spigen MagSafe Car Phone Holder

Car holders for phones come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and MagSafe only expands this already complicated market. This phone holder from well-known brand Spigen is essentially a holder for your MagSafe charger (not included) that clips onto the air vent in your car enabling you to see your navigation or use Siri whilst you (safely) drive and because it utilises the official MagSafe charger you know your phone won’t fly off mid-drive. Coming in at $15 this is a great choice.

WAITIEE 3 in 1 Magnetic Wireless Charger Fast Wireless Charging Station with QC3.0 Adapter Compatible with iPhone 12/12 Pro Max/Mini/AirPods Pro/AirPods 2 iwatch Series

Our next recommendation is the 3 in 1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Station from WAITEE which would look great on your bedside table. It’s got a nice modern design and enables you to charge your AirPods and Apple Watch as well, not only that but the bundled power adapter gives you fast charging for all your devices. Coming in at $47 we don’t think it’s a bad price either!

CASEKOO Magnetic Crystal Clear Designed for iPhone 12 Pro Max Case

Our final choice is the clear MagSafe case from CASEKOO coming in at $26. We know the iPhone 12 is meant to be stronger than other iPhones but if you’re anything like us you don’t want to risk a very expensive drop. At the same time we also love the new design and colours of the iPhone 12 (especially the Product Red model) and so we want to see it as well.

This case offers the best of everything. It’s a clear case with military grade drop protection which means you can enjoy your phone in all its glory without worrying about the occasional drop. On top of this the case is MagSafe compatible meaning you can still attach a charger or wallet to your phone WITH the case on.

That’s it! Those are our recommendations. What are your favourite MagSafe accessories? Comment below and we’ll check them out. Don’t forget you can also follow us on twitter @stupidlemontech or read our other reviews.

The post The best MagSafe accessories for your new iPhone 12 appeared first on Mark's Tech Blogs.

A week ago I picked up the Comica BoomX-D2 microphones with the hope of improving the sound quality of my YouTube videos and I haven’t been disappointed!

Retailing at £225 these are very much a premium product and feel like it as soon as you open the box. Included in the box you get two microphones, a receiver, external lapel mics, ‘dead cat’ windshield accessories, a USB C cable, 3 connectors (for various phones/cameras) plus instructions.

Getting them set up is as simple as charging them, turning them on and plugging them in and the controls are nice and simple.

The transmitters have mute buttons, show you their current volume level and show their battery levels whereas the receiver shows its battery level and the volumes on the two receivers…which you can adjust by up to 12DB…great for balancing audio.

The design of these is something that has been really thought through, they’re nice and small and work exactly as you’d hope they would.

Comica claim they have a 50m working range (although this will depending on whether you’re indoors or outdoors) and whilst I don’t think I’ve been 50m from the receiver the range is certainly impressive and audio is clear. They also say they have 5 hours battery life which is about right.

But…what about sound quality?

In order to really put these through their paces I tested the sound in 4 scenarios (each time contrasting it with native phone recorded audio) and they excelled…here are my tests.

1. Outdoors – Using the wind-shielded lapel mic and just the built in mic I tested these outdoors at various distances. The quality was great in both cases but (obviously) better with the lapel mic.
2. Wind – Rarely, we have nice weather at the moment so I made use of our electric fan and recorded some audio with the built in mic and then a lapel mic with the ‘dead cat’ on. The lapel mic with the wind shield performed incredibly well with great results (you could still hear the wind but it was no where near as bad).
3. Indoors – Spoken – Testing the built in mic and lapel mic for indoor spoken audio with limited background noise gave me very similar results…both sounded great but there wasn’t much difference in quality between the two.
4. Indoors – Music – For this, I connected the 2nd wireless mic and attached one mic to me and one across the room. I then played some guitar and sang…the results were crisp and clear.

So…what’s the verdict?

Sound is usually a subjective thing but in this case there is very clearly a difference in quality between a phone mic and these and these will certainly be my go to mic for all future videos!

You can pick up a set on Amazon here.

The post Comica BoomX-D2 2.4G Wireless Microphones Review appeared first on Mark's Tech Blogs.

Spoiler…I now own two of these!

If you’re well and truly part of the Apple ecosystem then you probably have a need for something that can charge your phone, watch, AirPods and pencil (1st gen) at once.

You’ve also probably noticed that most ‘all in one’ chargers require you to wire your existing Apple Watch charger in…which is great if you don’t want to use it anywhere else but it doesn’t give you a spare charger to use.

This is where the Teminice charger differs.

Out of the box you get the charger itself and a USB C cable…it doesn’t come with a USB to socket but any USB plug will work with it (and let’s be honest, we probably all have some of these kicking around!).

The design is pretty simple. It’s got rounded black edges, a status light on the front and a USB C socket on the back. The phone/watch charger has two upright positions and folds flat giving you a choice of setup. I think it looks pretty good!

In terms of spec, it charges any phone that supports wireless charging (with the case on your phone!) and has 10w, 7.5w and 5w modes depending on your phone*, it gives 2w to your watch, 2w to your pencil and 5w to your AirPods…if your AirPods support wireless charging you can charge them on the pad or the dock.

*For the 10w charging to work you’ll need a 10w charging brick!

It also has built in heat protection which means it doesn’t get hot when charging your devices…and, unlike many Apple Watch chargers out there it actually chargers your watch (although I find you need to angle it to the left slightly because of the strap weight).

And that’s all there is to say really…

The Teminice 4 in 1 charger is probably the best Apple charger out there. It works well, doesn’t get too hot, is portable and looks great!

You can pick one up from Amazon here.

The post Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger Review appeared first on Mark's Tech Blogs.

If you’re looking for an external microphone to improve the sound quality of your videos then the Pixel video microphone might just be the one for you!

Retailing at £40 the Pixel isn’t going to break the bank but does come with everything you need to get started. It comes with 3 shockproof mounts with shoe clips for fitting onto the top of cameras, tripods etc, a foam windscreen, a fluffy windscreen, an extension cable, a cable to connect it to a DSLR and a cable to connect it to a smartphone.

The microphone itself is made of metal, feels incredibly well made and is reasonable small. It’s a super-cardioid microphone with a reasonable range (see Pixel’s diagram below)

However, nice and fancy diagrams are the real proof is in how it performs.

Set Up and Performance

Using the microphone is as simple as plugging it in. I tested it with my iPhone X and once I got the cable plugged into my lightning to 3.5mm adapter the right way round (hint: the end with 3 black lines goes into your phone) it worked with whatever app I recorded audio or video with.

As well as recording a couple of YouTube reviews I was filming anyway I also ran some specific tests with the microphone. (You can watch them in the video review on my YouTube channel).

Music Test
I decided to play some guitar and sing. I recorded the same clip with my iPhone microphone and with the Pixel microphone. Both clips were generally pretty similar except the Pixel clip had less room boom and generally had more low end (which made it sound better).

Background Noise Test
This time I set my iPad up in the hall behind my camera and played some music from it with the door closed. I then recorded some video with my iPhone, with the Pixel and with the Pixel with windscreens on to see how well it blocked out the background noise.

The iPhone microphone clip has a lot of background noise but even the Pixel without a windscreen reduced this noise and adding the windscreens reduced this further.

Outside Test
Finally, I took the microphone outside and did tests on a couple of days. On the windier day the audio using the Pixel with the foam windscreen was clearer than my iPhone microphone audio.

On the day with less wind I found that the fluffy windscreen dramatically improved the sound of my voice and the foam windscreen also made a difference.

Verdict
Overall, the Pixel microphone is a great accessory that is well made and performs well (especially outdoors). It has plenty of accessories and a nice carry case and is certainly a great budget option for recording better audio for your videos.

The post Pixel Universal Video Microphone for Smartphones and DSLR Cameras with Shock Mount – Full Review appeared first on Mark's Tech Blogs.