With Android finally coming into it’s own (ie, owning the smartphone market), the only thing we haven’t seen much of are accessories. 3rd party manufacturers have been wary regarding Android smartphones because of the wide variation. With the iPhone, they know what to expect. That’s finally changing on a larger scale this year, and Philips is jumping in head first with Android docks.

Like the AS111 I tested earlier, the AS351 is an Android dock that connects to the phone through an MicroUSB connector, which swivels 180 degrees and has two supports to help keep the wide variation of Android smartphones in place. I’ve had the AS351 for an extended period, and it has worked excellently with any Android device. I’ve tested around eight different Android devices with it, including several Samsung Galaxy S II phones, the Galaxy Players, the T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q, etc. They all work just fine with this dock.

That’s because today, as I explained with the AS111, Android smartphones don’t currently support audio out through the MicroUSB. All music playback is via Bluetooth, which is far less convenient than the iPhone, but a problem with Android, not the dock. When I met with Philips at CES they assured me that the docks already support audio through USB, so as soon as Google updates Android to support it, Philips will release a firmware update to enable audio via USB.

The AS351 is no clock radio like the AS111, it’s a mini boom box. You may remember the Philips Fidelio DS8550 Speaker Dock I tested last year. The AS351 is its kid cousin. Besides for the size difference (both the physical size and the size of the speakers), the AS351 doesn’t include a single rechargeable battery, instead working on four AA batteries. This helps keep the price down and promote longer battery life per charge, but if you carry around a dock for music without the power cable, you may want to pass on the AS351. It lasted a good 7-10 hours of continuous playback at varying volume levels. Philips rates it for 8 hours, though if you keep the volume low and maintain a short distance between the dock and phone, it’s pretty easy to preserve battery life.

It works with any Bluetooth device, and also has an auxiliary in cable so it can double as computer speakers on the go. I actually brought the AS351 with me to CES because I stayed in a crummy hotel, and the dock impressed not only with long battery life but also it’s ease of use. I used it with and without audio cables, on multiple devices, and as a charging base for two phones (there is a USB port on the back for an additional device to charge).

For a speaker this compact, the sound quality is Excellent. It gets especially loud – loud enough for neighbors two doors down to complain. Audio accuracy is also very good, with only a few low and high notes not hitting their proper pitch and some tinny sounds at much higher volumes and frequencies. As far as my testing showed, the audio quality is superb.

There are two things I wish were different about the AS351. First, it can’t charge devices when the dock isn’t plugged in. This means if your phone is on it’s last leg and you don’t have a power cable, too bad. The power drain on just four AA batteries would be quick, sure, but the option is worth having.

Second is a slight audio fade in and out, which occurs at seemingly random times. If you are streaming music, like through Google Music, sometimes the AS351 will drop into standby mode while the phone buffers the song. This may help conserve battery life, but also has a very noticeable static hiss, followed by that silent void that is quickly obnoxious when listening to music. It breaks the mood, whether the music is acting as white noise or just needs a second to load. We all know how pronounced silence can be, and the AS351 get’s eerily quiet too often.

With the AS351 users can also download the free Fidelio software. Back with the DS8550 I wasn’t too impressed with it, but slight improvements, plus how the software works on Android (as opposed to iOS) do make a few major differences. The biggest is the option to automatically connect to Philips docks immediately after plugging them to the docks. Philips still uses Songbird, which I don’t like because it requires music to be downloaded directly from a computer. Fidelio also now includes a basic equalizer and bass boost, along with the option to set when if and when the software activates. Overall the Fidelio software is far more flexible on Android than on iOS, but it’s also not nearly as clean or as fast.

The other great thing about Fidelio on Android is the use of Alarm clocks. The AS351 may not look like an alarm clock, but with the Fidelio software it can be, and it doesn’t require any extra effort on your part. Just set an alarm through the Fidelio app and don’t shut the program down. The only downside is that the dock must be on (so plugged in, lest we waste the batteries). This means the lights on the four buttons remain on, though they are very dull. The bigger problem will revolve around your phone model, and notifications. As long as any Android device is connected to the dock, all sound will go through the dock. That means emails, calls, texts, and notifications will be amplified. If you’re trying to sleep and a midnight email rolls in, that’s annoying. Some Android handsets have software to set what times notifications play sounds, but most don’t, so it may not be worthwhile to use the AS351 as an alarm clock until Google sorts out it’s power management settings properly.

As far as Android docks go, the Fidelio AS351 is a fine one to own. It’s a great balance of solid audio performance, portability, and price. The AS351′ overall versatility make it an excellent product to own for travelers and home users alike. Whether you need to listen to your tunes in a mangy motel room or the comfort of your bedroom, or even in the car over a broken dash stereo, the AS351 has provided an excellent experience every time. I highly recommend it. It’s a great deal to boot for $130.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Bottom Line: An excellent Android dock that provides high quality audio, great battery life on replaceable AA’s, and versatility in use.

Pros:

• Excellent sound quality
• Good size; not too small for the bedroom, not too big to take on the road
• Great battery life

What’s it gonna take to get everyone board with an iPhone? I ponder this question and then I get a shiver of fear wavering through my body as imagine a hoard of drones wandering the Earth in need of a 30-pin dock to charge their handset. That said, thank god for Android phones, which aren’t excluded from working with Altec Lansing’s portable speaker dock for the iPhone, the iMT630.

This battery powered iMT630 portable speaker is an understated pleasure that no doubt has passed over, or perhaps even under the gaze of a many consumer. It’s too bad, because its sonic abilities and feature set warrants a look by anyone in the market for a portable speaker for their smartphone.

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Hidden on the face of the iMT630 is an ever so small spring loaded 30-pin dock. Push it and it ejects from the speaker’s grill allowing you to dock your iPhone and pump its tunes through the 2-inch neodymium driven speakers. For those of the non-iOS ilk, there is also a 3.5mm headphone jack in the rear, though once plugged you’ll need to hit the input button, switching from iPod to Aux input. That button is further complemented by a volume rocker, power button and LED light to indicate the input of choice. But the feature set isn’t complete until you look to the rear of this battery powered speaker dock. Flipping up the stand automatically powers down the iMT630, which means you won’t waste precious battery life when it’s stowed away. Flip it down and you’ll reveal the magnetically adhered remote, enabling you to pause, play, skip tracks and adjust volume from afar. And while this may seem like a rather benign feature, consider that most portable speaker docks, if any, don’t include a remote control.

The Altec Lansing’s iMT630′s battery is rated for up to 7 hours of playback on a single charge. And while your mileage will of course vary with how much you prefer to crank your tunes, we found it to be on spec. Charging the device to full capacity takes about 3-4 hours and receives its juice via a micro USB slot. Not the universal standard, but close enough in our book.

Sonically the Altec Lansing iMT630 is very capable, especially considering it’s rather diminutive size, which is measures 12.5″ (W) x 1.5″ (D) x 5.125″ (H) and weighs less than 4 pounds. As with most portable speaker docks, bass was a bit tinny, but nothing below a speaker of a similar class and cost. Amplitude wise the iMT630 is impressive and managed to fill my 8×12 bathroom with enough sound to be enjoyed from up 10-feet away.

While docking an iPad is feasible it’s most certainly not intended, but that’s largely a reflection of this speaker docks size and portability; it would block the speakers and perhaps even fall over from the iPad’s weight. When you run out of juice you can plug it in the wall and use it as a speaker and charger for your iPhone, which means it could play well as a bed side companion. That said, I really can’t find anything negative to say about this dock (Bluetooth would be a nice but unnecessary addition), other than its design leaves something to the imagination and if anything shows that you shouldn’t judge a book, or in this case a speaker, by its cover.

Bottom line: Solid sound quality and amplitude for a battery powered speaker with a magnetically stowed remote and accommodations for non-iOS devices (AUX inputs).

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Pros:

• Battery powered speaker with a excellent amplitude for its size
• Hidden magnetic remote
• Chargers your iPhone when plugged in and their is an AUX input

Cons:

• Won’t work with stand flipped up
• Design leaves something to be desired
• Battery life could be better

Here at GadgetReview, we’re no strangers to testing out some crazy portable speakers.  I think just about everyone on staff has worked with at least one, and there’s more and more coming out all the time.  Sometimes you get something that sounds like it’s being played through a cardboard box, but then other times you’re lucky enough to get something in like the iMainGo X.  With larger home theater speakers, you generally get what you pay for in terms of sound quality (ear buds usually follow this model as well, albeit in a different fashion), but the field of ultra-portable speakers is still trying to find its niche so there are times that you can find something that really puts out the sound but doesn’t put a hurt on your wallet.  Such is the case here, with a portable speaker system that pushes out a crazy level of sound for a budget price.

The first this that you’ll notice about the iMainGo X is that it’s fairly large; I’d liken it to the size of an old Sony Walkman.   I don’t count that as a negative, because being so big it really feels solid – just know that you’re not going to be fitting this inside of a pocket very easily.  Really though, when you pick up the iMainGo you can just feel its solid craftsmanship, and you know that there’s very little space in that big box that’s going to waste.  The actual dimensions are 5.7 inches by 3.8 inches by 2.4 inches (length, width, and height respectively), so you can see what I mean about size.

The design of the iMainGo X is fairly minimalistic, which is nice to see.  The majority of the outer casing is black (or pink if you order that color), with a zipper that splits it down the center height-wise.  On one of the main faces is a clear plastic shield, so you can use the touchscreen on your iPod (or Zune presumably, but I don’t have one of those to test it with).  The plastic isn’t anything that’s really going to offer any protection from damage – however it will protect against dust, dirt, and maybe a splash of water while still allowing you to operate your device without opening the case.  On the other face is a silver panel with the two speakers and air ports as well as a smaller silver panels with the power switch and a bunch of inputs on it.

It is these inputs that separates the iMainGo X from previous iterations in the iMainGo product line.  For starters, there are jacks for two headphones.  This is a great feature – especially if you have ever experienced what it is like to drive somewhere with two children in the back seat fighting over who gets to listen to the iPod.  I’ve done it, and I WISH I would have had this then to help save some of my sanity.  Another thing you can do is use the second headphone jack to daisy chain some more iMainGo unit (or any other external speaker you may have) together for massive sound.  The next input is a microphone input, allowing you to turn your iMainGo X into a portable karaoke machine of sorts.  I have also seen pictures of people using that jack to plug an electric guitar into – turning the iMainGo X into a cheap amp of sorts, but I didn’t have a guitar to check that out with.

The last input on the front of the iMainGo X is for the power cord to charge this thing up.  Sporting a 7.4 volt 800mAh Li-Po battery, the iMainGo X has a decent run time of around twelve hours.  I had read complaints that the battery life was only four hours, but apparently that was from an earlier model, because I never experienced a short battery life like that.  I would be tempted to say that the iMainGo X actually had more staying power than some of the other smaller speakers I’ve tested out – but it should seeing as how it is bigger.

The one thing I would really like to see implemented in a future model or hardware revision, would be some controls on the side in case you have your iPhone and not iPod inside of it.  I take my iPhone everywhere and really use it for anything I want to listen to anymore – however with no way to effectively control it from the outside, I would have to leave the case unzipped when I had it in in case anyone called.  Really the only thing you would need to add would be a button that could activate the power button on an iPhone since they already have it so you can use a touchscreen through the back.  It’s a small issue, but one that bothered me throughout my time testing the iMainGo X nonetheless.

The sound output from the iMainGo X is a lot better than you would expect from a portable speaker.  From the ones I’ve tested before I suppose I was just used to a certain level of “loudness” and accepted that portable jobs wouldn’t do much to improve on it; boy was I mistaken.  I took the iMainGo X outside with me while I was testing out some power tools, and I was able to hear everything coming from it with no problem at all, even over a reciprocating saw.  Not only could I hear it, but I could hear it clearly.  Even at fully maxed volume on my iPhone, I noticed only the slightest distortion.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The Bottom Line:  The iMainGo X is a great speaker for anyone that is looking for a portable job that can put out the most sound for your buck – be warned though that it is a little bulky.

Pros:

• The sound that the iMainGo X puts out is better and louder than any other portable speaker I’ve tried
• All the inputs on the front mean that the iMainGo X is versatile, and able to be used in a number of situations
• Being able to control an iPod without having to open the case is a big plus

Cons:

• The iMainGo X is way too big to fit in a pocket – you almost have to carry it by the strap
• Unfortunately there’s no easy way to control an iPhone with it unless you open the case up
• Did I mention that it’s big?  Yeah?  O.K., just making sure

You can grab an iMainGo X of your very own Walmart (or any number of other online retailers) for only $56.99

The Supaboy pretty much sets the bar when it comes to cheap, old school video games consoles that have been converted into a portable version.  Honestly, we didn’t think it could get much better, that is until we laid eyes on the portable NeoGeo from SNK.  Hard to say how far they’ve gone in the licensing agreement, but considering the NeoGeo has been in the ground for the better part of 15-20 years, does it really matter?

Licensing quips and concerns aside, they say this portable console will ship with 20 legit NeoGeo games stored on its 2GB of memory. The games included will range from the “Art of Fighting” to “Fatal Fury” to “League Bowling”.  Spec wise we’re looking at a 4.3-inch LCD screen, an SD card slot for memory expansion, an analog stick, a set of shoulder buttons, headphone jack, a 2200mAh battery and a body that measures 170x72x15mm.

Unfortunately, there is no word on the launch or price date, but something tells us production will be very limited in light of the Vita recent success, or should we say lack there of.  Also, keep in mind that the Nintendo was popular enough that many folks still have their old SNES games and hence what makes the Supaboy so attractive.  That said, the NeoGeo was never a run away hit due to its exuberant price tag and ultra expensive games ($100+).

Even though our gadgets are fully charged, they’ll often continue to draw power.  This is not only a tax on your power bill, but isn’t environmentally friendly.  The resolve?  Score yourself a power strip that eliminates this shortcoming.   However, a power strip is hardly practical if you’re on the road and only have some much storage space in your pullman suitcase.

Enter Bracketron’s Mushroom GreenZero and Stone GreenZero wall chargers.  They’re pocket sized devices built to charge your portable device.  Both models feature a USB port and will automatically shutdown once your smartphone or tablet is fully charged.  The Mushroom model features a mushroom inspired cap that when pressed by your hand or foot, initiates charging.  The Stone is the smaller of the two and includes a small power button – it’s designed for those who are traveling, but either model should suffice.

Bracketron will sell a few different versions of both models with variable pricing depending on what cord is needed for your device.  The price will range from  $24.95 to $34.95 – the top price reflects a version that includes an iPhone cable.

It seems like every company out there is trying to put out a tablet now a days, and Archos is no different.  With so many different ten inch tablets coming in costing more than $400 mark, they’re not as budget friendly as the smaller tabs for people who don’t need a full on computer (or want a little supplement that won’t break the bank) – Archos wants to change the mold there with this model.  While most tablets don’t bring much innovation to the table, sometimes you get something really neat like the G9.  Even though you could consider this a “budget” ten inch model, it still holds up relatively well to some of the more robust ten inch tabs.

The Archos G9 is loaded with nifty little features that you’ll be hard pressed to find in other tablets.  For one, it has a “kick stand” in the back of it – and this is something you would normally have to buy an expensive tablet case to get.  That alone is worth noting, because cases that offer something like that (and that actually deliver a useable stand) run $50+.  That’s money that you won’t need to spend once you get a G9 – something welcome in today’s economy.  The stand might look small and that it would be flimsy, but I found it to be very good quality, and perfect for watching a TV show or a movie on the go – provided you’re not trying to stream the media unless you’re on WiFi.  Unfortunately the G9 isn’t tied to any service provider for 3G out of the box, but Archos does sell an add-on adapter to enable 3G for the provider of your choice.  I understand the desire to give people the freedom to choose their own provider, but it would be nice to see the “3G Stick” included without an extra cost.  One thing about the add-on that is good though, is that it is a standard USB modem – meaning you can take it out of the tablet when you don’t need it, and drop it into a laptop so you only will need one data plan (One Plan to Cover Them All – apologies to Lord of the Rings fans everywhere for that).

One of the really big things that I love about this tablet, is that is has a micro-USB slot that allows you to hook up an external hard drive with the host adapter cable.  This is really great when paired with a portable external hard drive (like the Hitachi I reviewed last week), because you can really beef up your storage space with little effort.  All that extra storage will be necessary if you want to use the 10.1 G9 to the best of its abilities.  You see, while the G9 plays games as well as any other tablet, and runs productivity apps at a respectable speed, it’s true power is the ability to lay out true HD video using basically every codec under the sun.

The media player that is on board the 10.1 G9 tablet can handle literally any media format you throw at it, and deliver crisper images than some of the more expensive tabs I’ve played with (the Thrive for example).  With a 1280 X 800 LCD screen, you can be sure that anything you want to watch will be beautiful, and it can be viewed from a number of different angles (something I had issues with on other tablets).  To have all of this in a 0.1 inch tablet running Honeycomb coming in right around $300 is crazy (depending on where you get it, the 10.1 G9 can be found for as low as $299), and it’s consumers everywhere that will benefit from that craziness.

The battery life could have been a little bit better in my opinion, but really for the price I can’t complain.  In reality, that’s where any complaint you could potentially levy against the 10.1 G9 falls flat.  Because the price is SO ridiculously low, there’s no reason to complain about things that tablets costing twice as much have.  My Galaxy Tab only lasted just over an hour longer running movies non stop, and base model of that runs $150 – $200 more than this tab; and let’s not even compare the Thrive against it.  Against everything else, that low price is such a shining point that you’ll end up forgetting about little petty things (like the awkward button placement, or overly large area to hold onto it).

The only MAJOR issue with the 10.1 G9 is the amount of RAM that it comes with.  While 1 GB is the minimum for most other tabs, the G9 ships with only 512 MB.  Now this doesn’t affect most of the “casual” tablet games, but try loading a website with a lot of things on it, and you will see performance drop to a crawl.  If you root it and drop an Android manager in though, you can manage that performance drop a bit, and at least make it useable.  The fault isn’t completely on the G9 for that though – vanilla Honeycomb is notorious for memory leaks after time.

Editor’s Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Great

The Bottom Line:  If you’re in the market for a tablet that is cheap, and incredibly good at playing videos of all kinds (and is at least decent at most other tablet tasks), then look no further – if you’re going to be doing things that eat up RAM though I would look elsewhere (for now).

Pros:

• Easily one of the best video players I’ve had the opportunity to use on a tablet
• Such a low price point for a decent tablet will encourage more people to jump on the tablet bandwagon
• The “kick stand” on the rear of the G9 is perfect for watching movies while relaxing

Cons:

• Only 512 MB of RAM really means that performance takes a hit at times
• The button placement is extremely awkward, and the outer casing is a bit bigger than it really needs to be
• While the 3G Stick is a great idea, it would have been nice to see it come standard in the box

You can pick up an Archos 10.1 G9 Tablet from Amazon for $327.55

Solar powered chargers for your portable gadgets are far from an original idea.  But that isn’t to say they aren’t effective or useful.  Case in point is Quirky’s Ray.

Unlike other solar powered chargers, which lay flat, the Ray includes a suction cup mount allowing you to optimize and capture the most energy possible.  That’s all well and good if your in a vehicle, and super convenient if you’re on a plane (case in point, the pics) but what about for flat surfaces?  For that they’ve also built-in in a kickstand that let’s you angle it accordingly, though the suction cup mount is probably optimal in terms of energy collection.

And let’s not overlook portability.  The USB cord tucks neatly into the kickstand and a battery means you can recharge at night, which you’ll know is fully charged thanks to an LED status light.

So how much would you pay for this handy gadget?  Quirky is a crowd funded project.  They want to know how much you’d be willing to pay for this gadget.  We’re saying $35.  Thoughts?  Below is a tally of what Quirky users have said so far.

In this season’s Walking Dead, an AMC show that depicts an apocalyptic world over run by zombies, the survivors happen upon an arsenal of tools neatly encased in one of those chef like canvas wraps, that for all intent and purposes are a bag.  It turns out that it was one giant marketing ploy to sell Gerber tools, but no matter, because you can now actually buy the set and feel like you’re ready to save the world from hordes of flesh eating “walkers.”

Included in the package are 7 tools: Gator Machete, Camp Axe II, Gator Machete Pro, Parang, LMF II Infantry, DMF Folder and Epic. And just in case you’re wondering, those latter tools are in fact a variety of knives – we thought you’d like to know since the names are rather obscure.  The “wrap” is made from a durable canvas, includes a handle and stud buttons to keep things tightly rolled up.  Looks pretty legit to us, even if it was product placement at its best (or do we mean worst).

The Walking Dead Gerber Apocalypse Kit will ship December 5th, but you can preorder it now for $349.  Not a bad deal when you consider the price of each tool.

Time for an age check – when I was a kid, if you wanted to play your music portably and play it loud enough for the rest of the neighborhood to hear you had to use a “boom box” – a radio that at times could be so ungodly huge that you literally had to carry it, and do nothing else until you set it back down.  Times have changed though, and now to listen to music we have tiny things like iPods, smart phones, or tablets – the problem with each of these tiny devices though, is that their speakers are usually pretty much garbage, and only designed for personal use; gone are the days where you could tell people “this is what I like” just by turning up the volume so much that two blocks over knew.  While the NOVA speakers from Tego Audio (pronounced Tay-Go) aren’t that loud – they do satisfy a need to play things loud.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from these little things – they looked like something out of a science fiction movie, or maybe a sticky mine from a video game (another age check – does anyone remember “burple”?  It was a drink that you added water to, then popped up the center to mix it.  These things reminded me of it).  They’re small, sleek, and have lots of rounded edges – a very unassuming design.  It’s when you get close however, and see the circle area that pops out that the design brilliance shines through.  Grab a hold of the center piece and twist, and a hidden baffled chamber emerges.

This center chamber is where your bass comes from, and while I was at first skeptical that something like that would produce clear sounds; I have to say that in the end I was quite impressed.  I ran the gambit on it, listening to every music style from bluegrass to rap to operatic – and the bass was always clear and crisp, with no distortion even at the highest levels.  The highs were not always as rich as I would have liked them (especially when listening to some Bocelli), but that’s not what these speakers are designed for.  The fact that they came through as well as they did with the bass so high really impressed me.

As far as control goes, the NOVA speakers have all their buttons as touch points on their “legs”.  One has the power button (hold it for two seconds to turn on or off), another has the volume up button, and a third has the volume down.  It’s nice because not having buttons stick up everywhere really keeps the design flow looking as it should.  I would think that stray things popping up on the body would have ruined the aesthetics of the whole thing.  Along the base is the UBS jack that you use to charge it – it holds around an eight hour charge on it’s lithium ion battery – and an audio jack.

The audio jack is there because you can daisy chain these things together to create an entire line of speakers; each one adding itself to the sound matrix of the first, and further increasing the depth and complexity of whatever you pump through them.  Tego Audio sent me three of the speakers, and I was quite happy to use all three at once.  The only caveat I’ve found it the incredibly short cord that they have – it’s only about four inches – which means you can’t space them out very well to create a pseudo “surround” feeling.  I understand that the cord needs to be stored around the base to make it more portable, but I would have really appreciated if it came with a separate speaker extension cord so I could have moved them around a bit.

The NOVA speakers come in three different colors – red with black highlights, white with red highlights, or black with chrome highlights.  It’s nice to have some variety, because you’re sure to find one that doesn’t clash with the color of whatever you’re using to supply the beats.  Now I’ve been so saturated with audio devices as of late, that it’s been really hard to impress me – these did the job in spades.  Other than the cord, there really isn’t anything else I would change.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The Bottom Line:  The NOVA Mini Portable Speakers from Tego Audio are an extremely well designed and imagined idea to solve the problem of garbage speakers on portable audio devices now a days – while the short cord limits where they can be placed, the sound they put out more than makes up for that.

Pros:

• NOVA speakers are incredibly portable, weighing next to nothing and fitting in most any pocket
• The fact that you can daisy chain multiple speakers together helps the sound out when you’re with a group of people
• Being able to pick from different colors is better than some other portable speakers where you’re stuck with one

Cons:

• The cord to attach it to a device is extremely short – maybe future models could be Bluetooth compatible, or have an extension
• Highs don’t sound as rich as with non-mini speakers when listening to certain music

You can buy the NOVA Mini Portable Speakers by Tego Audio from their own website for the price of $39.99 each – and that’s for any color choice.  Or you can save a few bucks and get a three pack for $99.99.

What’s this, another portable speaker system?  Yup.  This product category is heating up faster than a Victoria Secret model in a sauna.  Entering the fray is Yamaha with their PDX-11

This octagon shaped speaker houses a unique two-way speaker system and a large 4-inch woofer, which the company says produces strong bass, solid mids and uniquely high notes thanks to the dedicated tweeter.

Clearly, Yamaha is targeting the urban crowd who is always on the move.  In addition to coming in a variety of colors that range from black to a neon green, the PDX-11 sports a metal handle, a perforated steel grille, 6 AA battery slots (it can also be powered of an AC pack) that provide up to 8 hours of playback, a credit card sized remote and an iPhone dock.  If an iOS device isn’t your thing, you can opt for the 3.5mm stereo input jack.

Keep in mind that the PDX-11 weighs 3.3lbs and measures 8-1/4” x 9-3/8” x 9-3/8”.  So, we wouldn’t exactly call it backpack portable, but nor is Yamaha claiming that it is.

Expect the Yamaha PDX-11 to start showing up at retailers this month for $99.95.

Weighing in at under 3 pounds, as soon as you unbox the SuperTooth Disco speaker and see it in its long, sleek velcro carrying case, you almost immediately want to have a barbecue in the park or a backyard party to use it with. In these scenarios, the speaker is ideal, pairing easily to any bluetooth-enabled device to turn the songs you store on your phone into content that can be broadcasted loudly to share with your friends or enjoy while at home. Packaged with a charging cable and a 3.5mm cord to use in a wired environment, SuperTooth prepared for every possible way to use the speaker.

With a 12 watt subwoofer and 2 8 watt speakers, the SuperTooth Disco really does have a powerful sound to it. For personal use, I find it’s more than capable of blasting my music at roughly a quarter of the maximum volume with the bass boost on. Obviously requiring more energy to run with higher volumes, this setting gets me about 15 hours of continuous play, which is certainly more than I’ve ever needed to run in a wireless environment.

Where the battery life gets truly impressive is in the speaker’s standby mode. The Disco goes into standby shortly after sound stops being transmitted through it, and starts back up again a few seconds after sound resumes. In its standby mode, the SuperTooth Disco can stay powered for 1500 hours. Let me do the math for you here: 62 and ½ days. With a full battery, your SuperTooth Disco can sit on standby for two entire months before losing its charge. The device hasn’t been in my possession long enough for me to confirm this exact figure, but I can confirm that I’ve charged it exactly twice since receiving it, once after getting it out of the box and once after testing the continuous play life. Since then I have left it in standby, bringing it out for a few hours every week or so during a get-together, and the speaker just keeps running.

The sound is dominant coming from thisspeaker, as well. There are some minor quirks to it that have made my listening experience less than optimal, however. The subwoofer is located on the back-left of the speaker, meaning that the bass tends to be more dominant on one side than the other, and without the boosted bass, a slight tinny rattle of more treble-focused instruments is easily audible. I was able to fix this problem by putting the speaker in a more acoustic-friendly room with minimal furniture and a tile floor, but these problems keep the speaker from being truly utilitarian.

The speaker looks and works great for the most part however, is easy portable, and can even be gripped in one hand. It’s lightweight, comes with a nice black carrying case with a velcro front for tweaking volume and changing tracks as well as a back velcro flap so that it can be charged or connected to a wired device without having to remove it from its case, as well as a vent for the subwoofer to both draw in and expel air. It pairs very easily to every device I’ve tried to connect it with, including one evening in which I had two people jockeying for the DJ position with their phones. They were able to switch their pairing back and forth quickly without a large lull in the tunes.

The SuperTooth Disco isn’t really a suitable solution for your computer desk or entertainment center, but is just fine to keep you entertained in the kitchen or across the bathroom while you’re in the shower. Out in a public setting like a camping trip or even for an old school-style ghetto blaster experience, the SuperTooth Disco shines head and shoulders against just about any other solution. With one of the most amazing battery lifes I’ve ever encounted and a very powerful blast of audio, the SuperTooth Disco will do wonders as an upgrade from on-board speakers on your phone, tablet, or laptop.

Editor’s Rating

4 out of 5 stars

Great

Bottom Line: The SuperTooth Disco is the most versatile, long-lasting portable audio solution I’ve handled. While there are some flaws in terms of actual audio quality, the output and ease of use wows everybody I’ve shown the product off to. Though it may not be perfect, in the areas the Disco shines, it goes well above and beyond expectations every single time.

Pros:

• Incredible battery life that stays preserved through intelligent sleep mode that activates and deactivates dependent upon whether any sound signal is being sent
• Bass boost is very effective, adding to the already impressive volume capabilities that make the Disco speaker ideal for any kind of large room or outdoor situation
• Easy to transport with Velcro case that allows for wireless or wired use, and track navigating controls featured on the front panel

Cons:

• Treble and higher sounds are tinny when using only the speaker, a problem that alleviates itself in the right acoustic space
• Only one subwoofer on the left side can make the stereo effects feel lopsided from time to time when using the speaker
• With only a one-setting bass boost and no other tuning features, audio enthusiasts may not like the Disco’s sound, and are largely unable to adjust it

The SuperTooth Disco is available from Amazon for $117.18.

Pioneer’s Crew STZ-D1OZ-R Portable Music system isn’t your garden variety boombox. While it can house an iPod or iPhone inside a sealed enclosure the real cache is delivered in its ability to modify music for those who like to get down and boogie.

There are three models to choose from, but this version is the most powerful in the sonic department thanks to a 3-way driver design with dual 5-1/4″ subwoofers backed by 40 watts of juice.  Other than that, they all boast the same music control feature set, which includes:

• A temp control that allows you to adjust the tempo the track without influencing the pitch
• A dance cue mode that lets you snap back to a select point in the track
• An auto battle mode which picks a song and announced the countdown for the 1 on 1 battle
• A dance boost mode which emphasizes the instruments
• An 8-bet skip mode which skips forward and backwards by 8 counts

Each model will be available this November, includes a remote and can be powered by battery. Unfortunately, you’ll need a PC to utilizes some of the aforementioned features, though Pioneer hasn’t made it clear which.

The Crew STZ-D1OZ-R Portable Music system will cost $499, while the lesser models will retail for $349 and $299.

Back in the 90s, which as far as we’re concerned is forever ago, there were a few portable photo copiers on the market.  If you used one, then you know how useless they were.  Gripes aside, the concept still remains a strong one.  Case in point, the Doxie Go.

But instead of firing out a scroll of unreadable thermal paper, this bad boy soaks up the ink into a digital format, storing up to 600 pages and knocking out a full color page in just 8 seconds.  If more memory is required you can jam a USB stick or SD card slot into it and in theory scan an endless amount of materials can be copied.  Everything can be synced to your iOS device, though you’ll first need to connect it to your PC or Mac.

Update: You can by a $39 kit that allows you to sync directly to your iPhone, iPad or iPod.

Once connected the internal battery will begin to charge via your computer’s USB port.  Doxie also works directly with Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, and includes Abby’s OCR software, which like Evernote, makes documents and receipts searchable.

Scanning on the go costs $199, though they’re just taking preorders at this point.

By our account TV is responsible for the vast influx of overweight Americans.  That, and fast food.  As a kid your parents would tell you to go outside and play.  Sure, that worked 20 years ago, but with the advent of portable technology there is no escaping Tinsle Town’s reach.  And now, thanks to Dish Network, you’ll never miss a live broadcast of a game or a show no matter where you and your family travels.  In other words, the final nail has been hammered in the obesity coffin.

Okay, the so the above is purely hyperbole, and the Tailgater Portable HDTV System is clearly targeted at the die hard NFL fan who wants to maximize their NFL Sunday ticket while hanging outside the stadium.  It weighs no more than 10lbs and works any where in the 48 contiguous United States, provided you’ve got a line of site to Dish’s satellites, which if memory serves correct hovers over Texas.

It’s capable of receiving a 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i signal and includes a built-in handle and weather-resistant cover. The Tailgater Portable HDTV System requires no direct power connection, and instead draws energy from the connected Dish box via a coxial cable.  However, you’ll need to power the box, and for now the Tailgater Portable HDTV System is only compatible with the HD Solo Receiver; sorry, no DVR compatibility.  Dish recommends a portable generator or an inverter to power your system off of your vehicle’s DC power supply.   But make sure you start your vehicle periodically, unless of course you need an excuse not to come home from the game.  Lastly, you’ll need some sort of HDTV.

For those of you that already subscribe to Dish, and have a SOLD HD, you’ll be able to pick one up al a carte for $399.  Alternatively, Dish offers a combo package of $499.

4.5 out of 5 stars

When I first put up the post announcing the availability of this new Cocoon backpack, I was impressed by the different innovations it sported.  While I may have wondered if it was worth the price (and at least one commenter wondered about the durability), they sent me one to test out and get my thoughts.  So how does this backpack hold up to the rigors of life, and is it really worth it?

It’s been over fifteen years since I’ve been in school; which puts it at right about fifteen years since I’ve actually used a backpack.  Oh I’ve bought them (for my son to use), but I’ve had no real reason for it.  Now that I have the Cocoon Central Park though, I find myself constantly finding reasons to bring it with me.  Whether it be to the gym, to the park, or just for a long drive – I’m constantly packing things in just so I can take it with me.  To be clear, I had enough data for my review a week ago today, but that didn’t stop me from using it.  It’s really that useful.

For starters, it has the stow-away water resistant hood located in the bottom.  It’s a really neat idea, as it’s basically a rain poncho for your backpack.  I got to try this out the first day using it, because I had just put my new Galaxy Tab (review forthcoming) in it when it began pouring outside.  A quick unzip and stretch, and everything I had in the Cocoon was covered from getting soaked.  I would imagine that after an extended time period things might start to get damp – however for a walk around the block everything stayed nice and dry.

Something else that’s pretty cool about the Cocoon Central Park Professional Backpack, is that it comes with the “Grid-It” system.  This neat little thing was actually just used in a NASA experiment.  Essentially it’s a rectangular rubberized tablet covered with woven elastic bands.  The spaces between the weaves (and the elastic bands themselves) are all different sizes – this means you can put a multitude of things in it.  From chargers to cell phones, pencils to mp3 players, and so much more – the Grid-It system is a great way to make sure things don’t get lost inside your backpack.

There are plenty of other pockets in the Cocoon Central Park to help with the making sure things don’t get lost too – just on the front alone are two small pockets (perfect for a 7″ tablet”).  On the top are the two main compartments, plus one more small one that’s specifically designed for an mp3 player.  They put this pocket closest to your body so that headphone cords don’t have far to go (and have less chance of tangling).  In the first main compartment, there is another mesh zippered pouch (it’s a perfect fit for a 10.1″ tablet), a holder for pencils and pens, a place for business cards, a small velcro pouch (for a calculator perhaps), and another non-zippered mesh pouch at the bottom.  Combine that with enough room for two 1000 page hard cover books (thanks A Game of Thrones) on top of each other.

The second main pouch has a cushioned sleeve for a laptop up to seventeen inches, two deep pouches for things such as documents and the like, and enough room again for two 1000 page hard cover books.  In actuality, just to mess around I found I could hold my laptop, and every book from A Song of Ice and Fire comfortably (it was uncomfortably heavy though – but that was the fault of the books).  One thing I really wish, was that the bottom of the Backpack had more padding.  If I’m carrying my laptop in it, I would like it to be a bit more secure – right now there’s only about a quarter inch of padding.  Raise that to an inch and I’ll be happy.  The cushioning on the interior laptop pouch is about the same, and I wish that would be bumped up to at least a half an inch.

Other than that though, the construction seems to be pretty solid – I purposefully drug it across the sidewalk a number of times with books inside just to see if the base would rip easily, and it easily held up to my challenges.  All of the stitching also seems to be astonishingly well done – nothing like the cheap $15 backpacks I get for my son every four months.  I’ll come back and update this whenever it finally does get a rip, so people know an average expected life; I don’t expect that to be anytime soon though.

While I wish for more cushioning and security, I definitely feel that the Cocoon Central Park Professional Backpack is just that – professional.  If you want to carry school (college) things around in style, this is for you.  With its myriad of pockets, you can be sure you have everything you need for any situation that arises.  I have no problem giving the Cocoon Central Park Professional Backpack a final review score of four and a half stars out of five – if those padding issues weren’t there, it would have easily been a five.

Pros:

• Comes with the Gritd-It system for maximum organization
• Lots of pouches, each with a different size ensuring you can take pretty much anything with you
• Feels extremely well crafted, and the water resistant hood just adds to that feeling

Cons:

• Not enough padding on the bottom- I felt nervous even with a few inch drop
• Not enough padding on the laptop pouch in general – it may not be typical, but if you have something hard in the backpack, you don’t want to accidentally hurt your laptop
• Water resistant hood only covers the back of the backpack – would be sweet if they made it able to go over your head as well

You can snag one of the Cocoon Central Park Professional backpacks from Amazon for $61.89

4 out of 5 stars

I’ve used more than my fair share of grills throughout the years – wood burners, coal, and propane. I have stayed away from electric grills (like the George Foreman) like the plague. I can’t really explain the reason – I mean I’m strongly against electric heat on my stove as well, but that’s just because I was raised on gas. There’s just something about the use of an electric grill that just always felt “fake” to me.

Or at least that’s how I used to feel

Weber is known for making high quality grills, but when they contacted me about the Q140, I didn’t know what to think.  I had always thought of Weber as one of the best gas grill manufacturers, but could they capture that same level of greatness with an electric grill?  When the Q140 arrived, it was in a much larger box than I had expected it to be – from the outset I realized that this wasn’t what I had expected in an electric grill.

Set up was easy, just two screws to hold the handle on, and putting the wheels on the cart (plus taking all the packing materials out and putting the heating element in) and I was ready to go.  How the Q140 works is really impressive – the surfaces inside the grill are reflective to allow the entire thing to reach the optimal temperature.  Unfortunately, there’s no outside thermometer on the Q140, so you’ll have to watch it very closely if you’re cooking something that is temperature specific (such as trying to get a medium rare steak).

The Q140 has a pretty decent amount of cooking space, checking in with 189 square inches of cooking area.  That’s enough to cook twelve burgers easy, or in my case three very large steaks.  I have the before picture to show the space available, however I was hungry (as was the family) and I didn’t think to take a pic of the finished products.

Clean up was a breeze – just pulled out the reflective surface parts and tossed them into the dish washer.  They came out as clean as new, which was pretty nice – God knows how much I have to scrape my gas grill to keep it clean.  The Q140 also heats up amazingly fast – literally within five minutes of turning it on I could hear the sizzle of steak cooking.

Storage is another great thing – my back yard is literally littered with grills (I cool out a LOT), and my wife would probably kill me if I tried to leave another one out there.  The Q140 is small by itself and would be easy to store without the cart, but the cart folds down and makes the grill look like a piece of roll along luggage.  It’s an intuitive idea, and it really helps because I can put it on a shelf in my basement with no issues.

Unfortunately the price will probably be a deterrent for a lot of people – but there is definitely a niche market that will appreciate the Q140.  Maybe you’re living in a condo with regulations on open flame grills, maybe your propane tank is empty and you don’t feel like driving anywhere to fill it – or maybe you just want to try something different.  The Q140 is probably the closest you can get to cooking on an open flame grill without actually having any open flames (another bonus here – open flames can produce flare ups when fat/grease hits them, whereas the electric heating element will not).

I give the Weber Q140 Electric Grill and Cart a final rating of four stars out of five – there are people that this will be great for, but for others the cost will just be too much.  if the grill would come with the cart in a package instead of having to buy them separately, that might help a bit.  The lack of a thermometer for precision cooking is also a glaring flaw – pretty much any other grill out there come standard with one.

Pros:

• Great for people with open flame restrictions
• Small size makes it a breeze to store and set up
• Reflective surfaces are easy to clean, and heat up super quick

Cons:

• No built in thermometer to easily check the cooking temperature
• Too small for a large family to cook an entire meal on
• Price point is way too high, and the cart is even more.

You can pick up the Weber Q140 Electric Grill from Amazon for $219.27, and the Cart for an additional $42.95

Before Apple popularized the MagSafe Power adapter, we’re pretty sure you and everyone we know destroyed at least one laptop power adapter running out the door to a last minute meeting.  In fact, it’s kind of funny to see a laptop without this tech installed.  And while the Powermat, and those products alike sort of resolved this issue when it comes to charging our portable gadgets, the bulkiness, at least in our opinion, is just too much of caveat to justify the convenience.

The Zip USB multi-charging station is effectively a MagSafe charging pad compatible with all micro-USB and mini-USB products.  You just plug the compatible ZipTails into your smartphone and place it near the charging pad.  And like that the magnetic connector is magically sucked into place and charging commences.  Now we know what you’re thinking; “what’s the point?”  Consider this: your charging your phone with a good old AC adapter when a call rings on your handset.  Your natural response is to pick it up, and in turn you end up ripping, as in breaking, the the power connection.  Honestly, how many of you have wonky micro-USB connections as a result of this?  With the Zip USB the connection breaks free without damaging the charging port.

Joy Division, the maker of the Zip USB, says that no power loss occurs with their product.  The pad has 2100mA, so it can charge up to 3 smartphones, or possibly more depending on their power demands.

Included in the starter kit, which costs $79.95, are one mini USB and two micro USB receivers.  Unfortunately, they don’t currently sell an iPhone version, which is just a crying shame, but perhaps they didn’t want to incur the exuberant licensing fees and the possibility that the next iPhone will make their tech obsolete.

Sony refuses to quite on the MP3 player front.  Today, the company introduced three new players: the A-Series, S-Series and E-Series.  All three models boast their karaoke mode, which should not only automatically reduce the volume of the vocal track, but allows you to load an .lrc file for songs and set the lyrics to scroll by in sync with the music.  And thanks to the built-in microphone you can record yourself on the spot, you know, for those moments when you’re suddenly inspired.  The A-Series and S-Series separate themselves from the pact by offering integrated Bluetooth for streaming music to a compatible device and receiving photos wirelessly.

The A-Series (NWZ-A860)

It includes Sony’s Clear Audio Technologies, Bluetooth and a 2.8-inch touchscreen with a 400×240 resolution. It ships with what Sony calls a pair of “premium earbuds”.  Choose from an 8GB model for $179 or 16GB for $219.

The S-Series (NWZ-S760BT)

The player is a watered down version of the W-Series.  However, since it sports a 2-inch LCD screen (not touchscreen) with a 320×240 it can achieve 50 hours of music playback or 10 hours of video.  It too include Bluetooth for music and photo transfer, but only includes a pair of standard earbuds.  It’s available in an 8GB flavor only and costs $149.

The E-Series (NWZ-E460)

The low end of the three players is available in 4GB ($79), 8GB ($89) and 16GB ($109).  It too has a 50 hour music playback battery life anda  2-inch 320×240 screen.  Unlike it’s big brothers it has an FM radio and comes in 5 colors (black, red, blue, green and pink).

Road warriors are the masters of packing a suitcase when it comes to any trip.  Inevitably they must carry a variety of chargers since they’re generally equipped with at the very least a smartphone and a laptop.  Fold in a portable audio player and a tablet computer into the fray and now we’re talking about up to four individual power packs to charge all their gadgets.

The AViiQ Portable Charging station eliminates up to 3 AC adapters and neatly encloses all your plugs into one handy miniaturized zip up suitcase.  Up to 4 USB devices can be charged simultaneously and it uses just one outlet, meaning your gear can be neatly placed in one area of the room.  A retractable USB cable also lets you sync any charging device to your computer.

AViiQ is so confident that you’ll love it that they’ve got a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re not 100% satisfied.  And considering it costs $79.99 there better be.

5 out of 5 stars

Normally when one talks about a multi-tool, they’re referring to something along the lines of a Leatherman or a Swiss army Knife – and not without reason.  There hasn’t been anything in the realm of power tools that could be considered a viable multi-tool.  Sure, some companies make tools designed to do multiple things, but usually those tools end up doing the extra jobs poorly (see my Trio review for an example).  So does the JobMax by RIDGID finally give power tool users a real multi-tool to get excited about?

The thing that makes the JobMax system work is the “Power Base Handle” – essentially the part between the battery and the head.  It’s here that you’ll find your variable speed trigger and the motor.  The top of the Power Base Handle is pretty neat in and of itself – it allows you to situate any of the tool heads at an angle of 0, 90, 180, or 270 – creating a tool that is very versatile, and great for getting into a multitude tight spaces.  The battery is only 12v (so don’t expect to use it on any extended jobs without a recharge), and it’s extremely light – it’s the individual JobMax heads that have a lot of weight to them.  I swear some of the heads weigh more than the rest of the tool itself.

There are five different heads you can get with the JobMax system – the Oscillating tool head that comes standard in the bundle, an Auto Hammer, a 3/8″ Right Angle Drill, a 3/8″ Square drive Ratchet, and a Right Angle Impact Driver.  I tested each tool against a comparable standard tool just to see how well each performed, and I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised.  Each of the different tool heads met (or exceeded) any expectations I had for it.

The Oscillating tool head comes with enough attachments that it can easily replace any other oscillating tool you may have.  I used father in law’s 12v Multi-X to run a comparison, and the JobMax made cuts in a 2×4 MUCH faster (I’m talking about twice as fast here).  On top of that, the JobMax stayed cool as opposed to the Multi-X, which got quite warm to the touch.

I borrowed a friend’s Craftsman Auto Hammer to run a comparison against the JobMax Auto Hammer head, and they both performed pretty much the same.  They were both LOUD as hell (that was expected) – but the JobMax seemed to have an easier time “finishing the job” as it were.  With the Craftsman, if I wanted the nails to be flush I would have had to hit them each once with a regular hammer – the JobMax pounded each nail flush on it’s own.  The JobMax Auto Hammer had to weigh close to double the Craftsman though – so I can see some arm fatigue happening if you’re holding it upright a lot.

The Right Angle Impact Driver head is a BEAST!  Not only is it extremely compact, it’s damn well powerful – having no problems at all running screws through knots.  I ran it against my Craftsman NexTec Right Angle Impact Driver, and the JobMax just dominated it.  The JobMax drove screws well over twice as fast, and the NexTec had serious issues when it hit a knot.  It wasn’t even fair to call this one a competition.

The 3/8″ Right Angle Drill head is nice, but it’s not as nice as some of the others out there (really the only head I can say that about).  It’s extremely compact, allowing it to get into some real tight areas without difficulty (with I had this when remodeling my bathroom counters and vanity), but it only has a 0-550 rpm gear box, and it has no adjustable clutch.  The Milwaukee M12 Right Angle Drill however has a 0-800 rpm gear box with a clutch.  It’s not that much of an issue though, as it performs pretty much just as well (and the weights weren’t too different)

For the 3/8″ Square Drive Ratchet Head I ran into a bit of a problem – that being that there are very few other 3/8″ 12v square drive ratchets on the market (I’m fairly certain Cornwell makes the only other one at a whopping $250 a pop).  So I while I can’t compare it against anything, I can tell you that it’s a really nice head.  I’ve probably used this head more than any other, and it blows my mind that no one else makes a good one.

I have to say that this has to be one of the absolute coolest tool sets I have now – I only with that the little storage bag that came with the base tool was big enough to hold all the heads.  It’s kind of annoying to have everything packed away neatly, and have the choice of either leaving some head out (with the potential of getting lost), or stuff the case so full is looks like it’s going to rip open.  The JobMax also features a nice little LED to help illuminate dark work areas (again, I needed this when I was remodeling my bathroom).

The RIDGID JobMax is a tool that I wholeheartedly recommend for any DIYer or homeowner – you’ll reap the benefits of owning one in no time when you start realizing all the little projects it can help you out with.  For that reason, I give the RIDGID JobMax system a glowing 5 out of 5 stars rating.  I have no problem putting my seal of approval on this little gem.

Pros:

• Does the work of multiple tools, and it does that work well
• Very compact design
• Having the only 12v Square Drive Ratchet Head on the market that’s affordable is a huge “winning” for RIDGID

Cons:

• Some of the heads are quite heavy
• Needs a bigger storage bag
• 12v battery doesn’t last super long (but that’s with any 12v)

You can pick up the RIDGID JobMax Starter Kit (with the Oscillating tool head) from Home Depot for $99.00.  Each of the other heads will only run you $49.97, which is a really nice price.