A lot of thought was put into Zipp’s design; there’s no mistaking that. The speaker is packaged with three different colored, interchangeable felt sleeves that are easily ‘zipped’ on or off, depending on your mood. Zipp will fit anyone’s style at home. Place it next to your flower vases or your DVD collection, alongside a desk lamp or a cutting board. It is elegant but fun, stylish and classy.

The interior, a black plastic cage houses a deceivingly powerful 2.1 speaker system — that’s dual 1-inch ribbon tweeters for the mids and highs, packaged above a booming 4-inch bass driver. Speaker placement is significant to Libratone’s FullRoom sound, pushing audio like acoustic instruments, resulting in a pleasing 360-degree effect. In other words, put Zipp anywhere in the room and you’ll be in a ‘sweet spot’ from any angle or distance.

It yielded a warm live performance-like experience with my jazz albums and an invasive, ballsy guitar assault with my rock music collection — just how I want it. Due to its versatile sound range, Zipp is capable of spotlighting all musical components…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Libratone Zipp – A Sharp Dressed Wi-Fi Speaker

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Skinny Sleeve for the MacBook Air. The Skinny Sleeve is from Acme Made, priced at $39.99, available in a variety of colors and made for the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air. The Skinny Sleeve is touted as having an ultra-thin design, a unique StretchShell neoprene that is both water and stain resistant and a zipperless closure. With that, continue reading to see what our thoughts were and perhaps more important, whether we would suggest anyone spend their money on this sleeve-style case.

Disclaimer: This Acme Made Skinny Sleeve was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

My thoughts

I have been using the Skinny Sleeve for a few weeks now, mostly just to offer some protection while I bounce around in town. Nothing fancy, just from the house to car to destination….

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Acme Made Skinny Sleeve for the MacBook Air

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is a Smooth Series iPhone 5 case from Ballistic. The case is described as being sleek, slim and minimal. But perhaps more important for some, the Ballistic cases are said to be designed to survive life and capable of surviving a drop. All that aside, at first glace the case does appear to be nice. And on top of that, it comes with a few colored bumpers to add a bit of personalization. This case is currently available, selling in a variety of colors and priced at $29.99. Read on to see what we thought…

Disclaimer: This Ballistic iPhone 5 case was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

My thoughts

This Ballistic case, so far, is the only case that I have used on my iPhone…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Ballistic Smooth Series for the iPhone 5

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today we have a few items from Joby. The goodies include the GorillaTorch 100 along with the GorillaPod Original and the GripTight Mount. The GorillaTorch is currently available and priced at $29.95, the GorillaPod is currently available and priced at $19.95 and the GripTight Mount is expected to be available in October/November.

Disclaimer: These items were provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of the review.

My thoughts

These offerings from Joby are not new. In fact, the idea of this flexible tripod has been available for some time now. I have even considered buying one of these from time to time. But being cheap at times, I have always resisted as they are not something that I could not live without. And while I am not saying I could not live without these products going forward, they have proved their…

Continue reading GadgeTell hands-on with some GorillaPod and GorillaTorch goodies from Joby

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Jabra Solemate, a portable speaker with Bluetooth. The Solemate is currently available, priced at $199.99 and is touted as being the “ultimate portable speaker.” That being said, read on to find out if we think that ultimate description is accurate or a silly tagline.

Disclaimer: The Jabra Solemate was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

The specs

• 3 front-facing speakers (2 acoustic tweeters and 1 subwoofer)
• 1 “proprietary” passive bass radiator on the backside
• Bluetooth and 3.5mm headphone jack connectivity
• Sweat, dust and splash resistant
• Built-in rechargeable battery with up to 8 hours of wireless music listening time (and up to 40 hours on standby mode)
• Voice Guidance for pairing, connection status and more
• Status Display for at-a-glance checking of connectivity and battery level status
• Measurements: 6.77 x 2.52 x 2.75-inches
• Weight: 21.5 ounces
• Included in the box: a carrying bag, 3.5mm audio cable and AC wall…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Jabra Solemate portable speaker with Bluetooth

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the High-Performance 2.1 Wood Tower Speaker Dock for the iPhone and iPod touch, a product made by Fluance. The model number for the item is FITSD600 and it is currently priced at $349.99. The company touts this speaker dock as being the “choice for audio enthusiasts” and notes that it has a “stunning sound performance, professional grade cabinet design and exceptional value.” That being said, continue reading to find out how well we feel it holds up to those claims.

Disclaimer: The Fluance speaker dock was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

The specs

• Dual 0.8” neodymium-balanced pure silk dome tweeters for vibrant, high-frequency response
• Dual 3” midrange: polymer-treated and butyl rubber surrounds for broader, dynamic range
• Front-firing 6.5” subwoofer: polymer-treated and butyl rubber surrounds for deep, undistorted bass
• Ferro-fluid cooled for longer life performance
• Butyl rubber surrounds suppress unwanted cone resonances, ensuring durability and performance reliability
• Precision-crafted in audio-grade MDF wood with a glossy piano-black finish

In the box

• Two 1″ isolation floor spikes…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Fluance High-Performance 2.1 Speaker Dock for the iPhone and iPod touch

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Card Sharp, a credit card sized folding safety knife. Or in simpler terms, a knife that you can carry in your wallet, that when turned out will form into a knife. We suspect that this may cause issues for some should you say, have a run in with a law enforcement officer. But knowing your local laws aside, while this is certainly not something you will be carrying for defense, it has proven to be a nice addition to my daily carry. That said, keep reading to find out what I liked and what I didn’t like about the Card Sharp.

Disclaimer: The Card Sharp folding knife was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

My thoughts

For the past few weeks I have had an additional item in my daily carry, and while small in size, it has proven nice to have around on several occasions. That addition (as you likely realize) is the Card Sharp. Before I dive…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Card Sharp, a credit card sized folding safety knife

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Touchfire screen-top keyboard skin for the iPad. Some may remember this as a Kickstarter project. Regardless though, that project was a success and as of today, the keyboard has begun to ship out to those who backed the project and is also available for purchase for everyone else. The Touchfire is selling for $49.99. That bit aside, the folks behind the Touchfire were kind enough to send an early review unit for us to checkout so we have actually been using one for a few weeks now. Given that, we suppose it is just about the perfect time to share some thoughts on what we liked and what we didn’t like.

Disclaimer: The Touchfire keyboard skin was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

My thoughts

The Touchfire keyboard skin is, well,…

Continue reading GadgeTell Hands-On with the Touchfire keyboard skin for the iPad

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today are the a-JAYS One+ headphones. These headphones are currently available for sale and priced at $59.99. The a-JAYS One+ will work with any device with a 3.5mm headphone jack including the iPhone and Windows Phone, however they are optimized for use with Android devices. The headphones have an in-line mic and remote as well as tangle free cables. Oh, and they also have their very own Android app. That all being said, read on to see if we find these to be worthy of a purchase.

Disclaimer: The a-JAYS One+ headphones were provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

The specs

• 45-inch cord length
• 0.49 ounce weight
• Silver-plated 3.5mm headphone jack
• Driver: 8.6mm dynamic driver
• Isolation: -40 dB @ 2 kHz
• Sensitivity: 95 dB SPL @ 1 kHz
• Impedance: 16 Ohm @ 1 kHz
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 18kHz

My thoughts

I mentioned the basic specs as well as the tangle-free cables, in-line microphone and even the Android app, now lets get into what I thought during use. To begin with, yes they…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: a-JAYS One+ headphones — tangle-free with mic, remote and Android app

What is being reviewed?

Up for review today is the Jabra Supreme UC Bluetooth headset. Jabra is touting this particular headset as being able to improve the quality of your conversations using features such as HD Voice and Active Noise Cancellation. That being said, we suspect Jabra is referring to the quality of the audio in the conversation. After all, some conversations simply cannot be helped. Nonetheless, read on to find out if the Jabra Supreme UC measured up to our standards here at GadgeTell.

Disclaimer: The Jabra Supreme UC Bluetooth headset was provided to GadgeTell for the purpose of this review.

The specs

While not a complete list, here are some of the highlights;

• Bluetooth 3.0
• Multiuse – for connecting to 2 Bluetooth devices simultaneously
• Auto-Pairing
• Dual-microphone (Noise Blackout) with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to remove noise
• USB Charging
• Battery Status indicator light
• Standby time of up to 360 hours
• Talk time of up to 6 hours
• Voice Control and Voice Guidance for hands-free operation

My thoughts

Sure, what we have here is a Bluetooth headset. Something that many people make fun of others for wearing and using. And on that…

Continue reading GadgeTell Review: Jabra Supreme UC Bluetooth headset