I genuinely love YouTube Rewind every year. But I’ve got to admit, with every year that passes I know less about the trends. Like, I vaguely get the flossing thing from Fortnite, but the Baby Shark song, as adorable as it is, I had no idea that happened. Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy YouTube Rewind 2018:
Ad Blocking: How To Get Rid Of Ads on RTÉ Player
As you may have already read, RTÉ is finally giving the RTÉ Player a long overdue overhaul. The rollout hasn’t been very smooth with the Beta currently only available on Desktop. There is some good news for desktop users though. While RTÉ said they’ve listened to feedback to improve the ad experience:
Will it have 13 ads before you can watch a second of content?
— Rob Magee (@robmagee86) December 2, 2018
The internet has gone one further and removed ads altogether. Massive hat tip to Dean, Goosed.ie resident Redditor who spotted this over there.
How To Remove Ads from RTÉ Player
Yup, you can just block the ads altogether. How long this will last for remains a but of an unknown, but enjoy it while you can. With this little trick, you’ll get to smirk as RTÉ Player videos do this weird little dance at the start, skipping through the ads and starting straight into that show you actually wanted to watch.
What You’ll Need
- Chrome (it may work with Firefox too)
- uBlock Origin (I tested others and couldn’t get this to work
- A snippet of code (copy and paste job)
- RTÉ Player Beta
Right, let’s get to it.
Blocking Ads on RTÉ Player Beta
Open up Chrome. That was an easy start, right?
Next up, you’ll need to install the uBlock Origin Chrome extension. Once that’s installed, open up the extension from the top of your browser. If you’re wondering what that looks like, it’ll be similar to the one in this here picture, in the orange box:
In the window that opens, you need to go to the tab called “My Filters”:
Finally, you’ll need the blocking code. Don’t worry, this is a simple copy and paste job:
Then switch tabs, popping into Filter Lists and click on Update Now.
This is the best part. Get on over to RTÉ Player, click into the Beta and pick out what you want to watch. Next, you’ll see the ads freak out briefly before you show starts!
Isn’t that great!
Is Ad Blocking Ok?
I’m not even going to say this is a grey area. Ad Blocking is perfectly fine. If you are one of the good ones who also pay a TV license, it’s a double whammy. I think the real question is whether or not it’s moral that you have to sit through crappy ads from the state broadcaster!
Samsung Galaxy Watch: Best smartwatch for Android?
The humble smartwatch, the most inherently contradictory piece of tech on the market. We expect them to do so much, to look sexy and yet at the same stage be simple to use. They need to look and act like a watch but also have a battery life to do all the extras we expect without an issues. The power to run apps, take calls, track health and fitness, monitor location and all the rest requires power that we barely expect from a phone but in a watch we want it all. That’s what Samsung are hoping to achieve in their brand spanking new Galaxy Watch. Branded as the Samsung flagship smartwatch, this is by far the most feature packed wearable Samsung have ever made. So let’s have a look and see what it’s all about.
Pricing
If you are a fan of the Galaxy Watch series you will be pleased to hear that despite this being the best and best looking watch they have launched to date, this new model actually comes in cheaper than the Gear S3. Well at launch anyway. I’ve been using the larger model over the last couple of weeks and as a self professed watch fan (grow up in a family of jewellers and try not be) I have to say that the price of the new Galaxy Watch is very fair considering what you would get for spending the same money on a standard watch.
To put this in perspective the Gear S3 came it around £350 when it hit the market, whereas the best price I have seen on the Galaxy Watches was €310 for the 42mm and €320 for the 46mm. Now these prices are from Amazon.co.uk
But if you are concerned your snazzy watch won’t come in time for Christmas you can order from Samsung Ireland or Carphone Warehouse.
Galaxy Watch Pricing |
Amazon.co.uk |
Samsung Ireland |
Carphone Warehouse |
| 42mm | €310 | €320 | €320 |
| 46mm | €320 | €340 | €340 |
To be fair the prices aren’t that different and you might be cool with plumping the extra couple of quid to get your hands on one straight away rather than waiting, totally up to you. Also these prices are for the Bluetooth variants of these sizes, with LTE / 4G variants costing more and coming a little later in the year. Plus let’s face facts here, who actually buys the 4G model? Literally no-one as we always have our smartphones on us and Bluetooth does exactly what we need.
The Galaxy Watch is available to buy now.
Design
As I mentioned in the previous section the Galaxy Watch is available in a 42mm or 46mm model, you also get three colour options in Rose Gold, Midnight Black and Silver. Now personally I couldn’t be wearing Rose Gold so I got the Midnight Black model and as you can see from the picture above, it’s a really nice looking bit of kit.
Anyone that has been unfortunate enough to hear my rants down the years about smartwatches will know I want my watch to look like a watch that just happens to be smart and on first glance the Galaxy Watch looks just like a watch. A big win in my books. I think its the nicely rounded face, bexel detail and steel framing… and while fans of the Apple watch won’t agree with me, this is how I want my watch to look.
One slight issue comes from this approach though, while the Apple watch has a design that sets it aside as a smartwatch you are more inclined to forgive a weak battery, however here you either get used to charging the Galaxy Watch so you can use the always on display or risk looking at a black circle more often than not. I plumped with the charging option and it’s been lasting me three days at a time easily. So it kind of comes down to style preferences and asking yourself the question, how much do you want people to know your wearing a smartwatch? if like me you prefer the subtle styles of a cleanly designed watch, then you will like the Galaxy Watch.
Hardware
Sorry now that little style rant is out of the way we can talk hardware. How you interact with the Galaxy Watch is a thing of clever beauty. Genuinely rarely am I this impressed by a smartwatches usability and ergonomics, that’s why when buying my own smartwatch I went for the Emporio Armani Connected, but Samsung may have just beaten it here.
The spinning bezel and two side buttons not only add a “watchy” style to the Galaxy Watch but they also double up as a brilliant way of navigating though the UI. Basically spin the bezel to go through your menus, hit the top button to go back and and bottom button for recent apps. Simple and that’s a big positive. Funnily enough the bezel makes this satisfying click noise when you turn it and it’s worth noting that this is so tactile that after a couple of minutes a three year old was able to navigate the Galaxy Watch with ease.
We said that there is two version of the watch which means there will be slight differences in terms of the base specs of the variants so here they are:
Specs |
42mm |
46mm |
| Display | 1.2 inch | 1.3 inch |
| Strap size | 20mm | 20mm |
| Weight | 42g | 63g |
| Battery | 270mAh | 472mAh |
So as you can see the differences are marginal, basically my recommendation here is go for the model that fits you better, no point going for the bigger model if you have tiny wrists just for a slightly larger display.
Finally in terms of what else is going on under the hood both models sport a Bluetooth and 4G version with a dual-core 1.15GHz chipset and 4GB of internal storage space. The only difference between the Bluetooth and 4G model is that the latter has 1.5GB of RAM vs 768MB but that’s just for the extra power needed to maintain a mobile connection.
In terms of the OS, we once again get Tizen 4.0. This means the Galazy Watch is compatible with all Android phone running Android 5.0 and beyond and it will even work with any iPhone running iOS 9 or above. Sure you won’t get calls or texts but the fact it works with Apple is another plus point for those Apple folks who want their watch to look like a watch.
It’s a bit of a love and hate relationship with the Tizen OS, on one side it puts Wear OS and watchOS to shame in terms of how simple and fast it is to navigate. However as a result we can only use Samsung’s own apps as third party support is non existent. Now the third party thing isn’t a deal breaker, it just would have helped make the Galaxy Watch better again.
Features
Samsung Health is the big focus on the Galaxy Watch with a hole host of new features such as stress management,breathing features and activity reminders for all of us who spend their days in an office chair.
We also get a collection of 21 indoor workouts and 39 tracked workouts, which is cool and intuitive. Walking the dog? The watch will know your walking and start tracking for you, busting out some time on an elliptical machine? again the watch knows and will track things like your activity, heart rate, steps and calories burnt live. Through this simple tracking I’ve lost a couple pounds so woo big win, look the watch doesn’t do the workout for you (which would be great) but the ability to monitor and track yourself in real-time can help you push out that little bit extra.
Anyway here’s the full list of tracked workouts:
- Running
- Walking
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Other workout
- Treadmill
- Exercise Bike
- Weight machine
- Circuit training
- Arm curls
- Arm extensions
- Back extensions
- Bench press
- Burpee test
- Crunches
- Deadlifts
- Elliptical trainer
- Front raises
- Hiking
- Lat pulldowns
- Lateral raises
- Legs curls
- Leg extensions
- Leg press
- Leg raises
- Lunges
- Mountain climbers
- Pilates
- Plank
- Pull-ups
- Push-ups
- Rowing machine
- Shoulder presses
- Sit-ups
- Squats
- Star jumps
- Step machine
- Stretching
- Yoga
A very impressive list and if that’s not enough you can easily switch between the various tracking functions and modes by rotating the Galaxy Watch’s bezel. For the standard user the Galaxy Watch is on another level when it comes to health and fitness.
Outside of the fitness stuff the Galaxy Watch also has the ability to measure stress (which is hilariously stressful in itself if you have never monitored it before), it will also remind you to take a couple deep breaths and of course it will monitor sleep. For research purposes I wore the watch once while sleeping and it tracks perfectly but who actually sleeps wearing a watch?
The final feature to mention is Bixby and in all honesty while it’s an improvement on S Voice it’s no Google Assistant. That’s all I have to say on that.
The Goosed Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is by far the best smartwatch Samsung have ever made, fact! I personally have been very impressed with the style and the range of straps available which makes this one of the few smartwatches that is viable in a suit or shorts. The Galaxy watch is a lovely looking bit of kit that comes stacked with a couple new fitness tracking abilities which is cool for the gym bunnies out there.
The fact that you can by the watch is 2 sizes also adds to the appeal, while a decent battery life, Tizen Os and the funky bezel used for scrolling makes this a very intriguing bit of kit.
But and I hate that there is one but as good as the Galaxy Watch is I think it could be better. Bixby need to be replaced by the Google Assistant and there could be some support in terms of third party apps. While I appreciate the little pack on the back the watch gives you for simply getting up some might find it annoying but that’s no reason to not buy the Galaxy Watch.
You know what it’s a great watch but there wasn’t anything that made me jump out of my seat and go “Oooooh” because in the era where flagship is once again standing for innovation this is sadly just lacking in that area. Final thought, want a good smartwatch with that will monitor your life and all that jazz? Go for this it’s pretty, functional and easy to get your head around, but if you want to use Google pay maybe look elsewhere.
Summary
Pros
- Great Design
- Battery Life
- Software
- Rotating bezel – really slick
- Screen – Options of size to suit you best
Cons
- Style won’t be to everyone’s taste
- Bixby
- Charge time – not a major issue but some might find it a turn off
- Lack of “Wow” feature
-
3rd party app support
Angela’s Christmas: The Irish Christmas Film Proving a Huge Hit on Netflix
It’s officially December and we all know that means Christmas is well and truly upon us. For the team at Goosed it means a couple of things:
1. Ramping up reviews to help you get the best Christmas presents for those techie folks in your life.
2. The annual argument about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it’s not there I said it, sorry.)
3. Watching a rake load of “real” Christmas movies to find the best one’s to watch this holiday season.
Well taking step number 3 quite literally, I sat down over the weekend and watched the best of what Netflix has to offer. What I found was this adorable, 30-minute long animated short named Angle’s Christmas. Here just check out the trailer:
A potential Christmas Classic?
Maybe not quite the Christmas classic but to be honest if Angela’s Christmas doesn’t make you go “Awh” then you have a heart smaller than the Grinch himself. The story as you might have guessed by now is set in Limerick in the year 1914 and is based on the story by Pulitzer Prize winning Irish author Frank McCourt.
Anyone from Limerick is probably going to spend a good portion of the film recognising streets and buildings that look like they haven’t changed since way back then. Keep an eye out for South’s Pub cameo appearance.
Anyway Angela’s Christmas was made by Brown Bag films, you might remember them as the makers of Give Up Yer Aul Sins (and the Fig roll ads too), as well as other children’s shows such as Doc McStuffins. If getting these heavy hitting creators on board wasn’t enough, Frank McCourt’s wife Ellen McCourt even got involved in the production.
“It was Frank’s dream to see this delicate little Christmas story transformed into a classic Christmas tale” Said Ellen McCourt “He would be thrilled with Angela’s Christmas, as is the entire extended McCourt family.”
The cast included Oscar nominated actress Ruth Negga as Angela’s mother, and Lucy O’Connell (from the Oscar nominated Song of the Sea) as Angela.
It was written by Song of the Sea’s writer Will Collins and Damien O’Connor, who is one of the writers behind Doc McStuffins.
Angela’s Christmas Storyline
“McCourt has a way of capturing the mind of young Angela that will have you laughing and crying. The story lends itself beautifully to animation and we are so excited to share this with audiences around the world.” Darragh O’Connell, Creative Director at Brown Bag Films
As with many short films, Angela’s Christmas leaves you yearning for that little more, but maybe that was the hole point?
If you have kids you should sit down and watch this with them as the brilliance of the story is the understanding of how the mind of a child works. As we all know a child’s mind can run wild and in Angela’s Christmas, the little lady herself has a moment of wonder as the local priest tells the story of the baby Jesus.
Seeing the doll of the little baby in the cot and relating it to her own life experiences, Angela decides that baby Jesus needs a blanket or he will “catch his death” in the cold. Well as you can imagine this sparks her wild imagination and leads her to stealing the doll to keep it warm, much to the dismay of the Church going community.
Without giving much of the story away, the rest of Angela’s Christmas sees the little girl trying to protect the doll to make sure he is warm and safe. What we get is a heartwarming story that represents the child’s persistent and innocent desire to ensure everyone even the baby Jesus is taken care of during the loneliest time of year.
Angela’s Christmas is a delightful little Irish short that’s earning rave reviews and rightly so, give it a watch you won’t regret it.
Other Notable Christmas Movies on Netflix:
It’s that time of year to make yourself a hot chocolate, wrap up in the blanket and hide from the cold winter weather. To be fair, Angela’s Christmas is a nice little warm up to get you in the mood for the Christmas flix. So here is a list of movies on Netflix worth getting stuck into (in no particular order):
- Arthur Christmas
- The Christmas Switch
- Christmas Chronicles
- The Nightmare before Christmas
- Jingle all the way
- A Very Murray Christmas
- Love Actually
- Scrooged
- Home Alone
StorySign: Huawei Launches Story Platform for Deaf Children
Huawei has had a pretty impressive year with not one, but two amazing handset launches. Today, they launched StorySign, an app aimed at making story time more enjoyable and accessible for deaf children.
Appreciating the Challenge Children Face
Just a few days ago on the Late Late Toy Show, Michael stole the hearts of a nation. First and foremost, he was a straight-talking GAA fan with impeccable style and confidence. He is also blind.
Young Kerry fan Michael gets a surprise visitor on the #LateLateToyShow and a special #GAA gift #rtesport pic.twitter.com/3KK8TEUkMH
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) November 30, 2018
Michael’s disability played second fiddle to just how cool a kid he was. He enjoys reading books in braille and, to be honest, he made me think about all the things I took for granted as a kid. I was never massively into reading, but still here’s a kid who loves it even though it presents a unique content challenge for him.
On the Late Late Toy Show, we learned that despite children’s different abilities, reading is extremely important. That and getting as many autographs as possible, but that’s another story.
Using AI to Help Deaf Children Enjoy Storytime
I learned a few things today and one of those is that Ireland has a specific dialect of sign language. I also learned that storytime, a time most children get to enjoy without even thinking about it, can be frustrating for deaf children. That’s all year round, but Huawei’s latest campaign shows just how much a child can feel they are missing out on from the buzz of Christmas.
I also learned that deaf and hard of hearing children can experience particular difficulties when learning how to read. Due warning, this ad, staring deaf actress Maisie Sly from The Silent Child, is John Lewis levels of heartwarming:
Many deaf children struggle to read. Using AI, we created #Huawei #StorySign, an app that translates select children's books into sign language to enrich story time for families.
Discover the magical story: https://t.co/p4q9xeUyza pic.twitter.com/Zm2mObEWmg
— Huawei Mobile IE (@HuaweiMobileIE) December 3, 2018
That’s why Huawei’s announcement today is really exciting.
StorySign
Huawei announced StorySign, an app which uses artificial intelligence to translate regular books into sign language. This makes digesting literature much easier for deaf and hard of hearing children. At launch, StorySign will support the well-known children’s book, Where’s Spot by Eric Hill.
Unfortunately, I don’t have it lying around but I did get a page of it on Amazon.co.uk to test out. Here, you get to meet Star, the avatar who signs the story to the reader:
With over 32 million children globally either deaf or hard of hearing, Huawei’s AI-powered reading assistant will be a welcome bit of tech for families around the world. The most important thing now is that the app grows and adds more books, making this a must-have platform for deaf children to dive into literature with.
StorySign is available to download now from the Google Play Store.
Four Reasons To Be Delighted With the RTÉ Player Relaunch
With the rapid advance of technology, many platforms have struggled to keep up with demand. Few have been more visible than the state broadcaster’s digital streaming platform, RTÉ Player. Finally, the player is getting a long overdue overhaul and here are just three reasons this is fantastic news.
RTÉ Player on Chromecast for Android
With Android being my weapon of choice I only found out today that RTÉ Player has supported on iOS for quite some time. A barmy scenario when RTÉ opted not to support Google’s own platform but still this was the scenario.
The good news is that with RTÉ’s relaunch of RTÉ Player, no more will Android users be left out in the cold. You’ll be able to sling your stream from any mobile device to a Chromecast.
This is such a game changer because who really wants to tie up their laptop or smartphone while watching a livestream? Have the fun is in Tweeting along to the craic.
Ad Experience Will Be Improved
Nothing makes you more annoyed to be paying a TV license that a crappy ad experience. Actually, if you’re paying for TV at all, it’s infuriating that ads have to be a part of it. Anyway, look they are. The real problem was poetically summed up on Twitter earlier today:
Will it have 13 ads before you can watch a second of content?
— Rob Magee (@robmagee86) December 2, 2018
It did indeed feel like watching a thirty minute show required an hour of ads. Even worse, was seeing the ads streaming perfectly and then getting lag for the show you wanted to watch. While I’ve yet to see what RTÉ considers to be an improved ad experience, it would be hard to make it worse, right?
Slightly related side note. If you are involved in advertising, give some real thought to whether or not you want your brand to be what people see for a minute before they get to the show they really want to watch.
Love/Hate on Tap
It looks like RTÉ will be massively expanding their back catalog of content for us all to stream to our hearts’ content. That will include some classics like Love/Hate (if the video promo is anything to go by) and also a barrage of RTÉ Player Originals that don’t feature on TV. This approach is growing popular as older TV institutions struggle to keep up with chord cutting culture.
Digital Box Sets has proven massively popular on Sky and shoule RTÉ pull this one off, RTÉ Player could genuinely get the state broadcaster back in the game.
It Might Actually Work
While ads are annoying as hell, nothing is worse than actually sitting through the ads, loading your stream and then five minutes into it, it craps out.
This was unfortunately common with RTÉ Player.
With the RTÉ Player relaunch, I have to hope that they’re actually improving the infrastructure too that’ll help the player cope with massive demand. If the teaser is anything to go by, the Player will have more content than ever before and as such, you can expect more users than ever too. If they only improved the looks and not the infrastructure, this whole thing could be a disaster.
I’m Quietly Confident
I’m quietly confident that RTÉ’s reimagined RTÉ Player will deliver what everyone has been waiting for. An I should emphasise the word waiting there. Boards.ie has been lighting up with people wanting this update for years. RTÉ themselves announced this back in April 2017, yet it’s only launching now!
In the famous words of George Hamilton, a nation holds its’ breath. Here’s hoping this RTÉ Player relaunch was worth the wait.
All this is coming your way tomorrow! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/YSYFZejbGB
— RTÉ Player (@RTEplayer) December 2, 2018
PS. Hey, RTÉ! Any chance we could get that Downfall mockumentary about Sellafield uploaded? I missed it years ago and have been looking for it ever since. Sound!
Motif: Print Captured Memories from Apple Devices
I’m a massive fan of snapping photos on my smartphone. Right now, I’m enjoying the stunning shots both the Mate 20 Pro and Pixel 3XL are capable of capturing. There’s a catch though. I capture all these incredible memories in respectable shots but rarely relive them. Generations before me couldn’t do that. They had something like 24 shots per film and to view them they had to be developed. That’s much rarer these days which is why I was really excited to try out Motif.
What is Motif?
Apple used to have a service called Apple Photo Print Products. Simply put, you could capture shots on your Apple devices, like iPhone, and then send them to Apple who would send you back various print products. In September, Apple discontinued this service but wanted to facilitate another company to take this on instead. Enter Motif.
Motif is now Apple’s printing partner and they’ve developed a plugin for the Apple Photos app on MacOS. Motif lets you print calendars, books and cards.
I got to see what creating one of these Motif Photo Books was like after my recent trip to New York.
Are Motif Photo Books Good?
My better half is usually the creative one, but still, I wanted to create a photo album of our trip to New York as a surprise for her. That meant I was on my own with a couple of hundred photos and the Motif add-on for Apple Photos.
I should point out the one catch here. Motif is purely for MacOS. Obviously, I’m an Android man, but I do use a MacBook Pro so I was able to test out this process. If you don’t have a MacBook, check out Photobox.
Building the album wasn’t just easy, I actually rather enjoyed it.
You start out by choosing either a black or white album. Then, you pick out all the pictures you think you want and start popping them in. There’s a massive selection of shapes, sizes and styles and you can even add in some text with various font styles. I went for the safe option and kept all the photos, more or less, in order of our trip, with labels here and there saying where we were.
The photobook that arrived a couple of days later was really cool. I’m easy to impress, but my better half was delighted with it.
How Much Do Motif Photo Books Cost?
Motif Photo Books start at €9.99 with Photo Cards starting at 89c and Photo Calendars from €19.99. Of course, these are the basic packs with various upgrades in styles and sizes. The book I ended up getting was €42 with €8 for shipping.
So, how do I feel about the pricing? It’s not the cheapest thing in the world, but the final product is brilliant. When you’re stumped for an anniversary pressie or want to give your other half something extra special for their birthday, €50 for a very thoughtful gift that’ll definitely earn some brownie points is a bit of a no-brainer.
Motif Photo Print: The Verdict
Printing off images of a special occasion seems to be coming back into fashion again, and rightly so. Having physical photos of our trip to New York is just a lot more special than them being stored away in the cloud. I could actually see myself making a habit out of budgeting €50 of every trip to go into an album and turning these into a full collection.
If you do have a MacBook and want to give this a try, Motif is happy to give Goosed.ie readers 30% off their printing to celebrate their recent launch in Ireland. Just lash in Goosed30 in the checkout. To get started, download the Motif App from the App Store for MacOS.
Enod Audio Wireless Earbuds Review: Incredible Sound and Value
You’d think that being close to technology and playing with gadgets all the time would lead to it all becoming a little stagnant. Yet I’m still taken aback by how fast technology moves on a regular basis. Last year, just after testing the Sony WH-1000MX2, and being mighty impressed by them, I bought the Sony WF-1000X. Great sound quality, but considering the massive price tag, these were too buggy in general and really laggy when watching video on YouTube of Netflix.
So I was sceptical when I got my hands on another pair of truly wireless earbuds that cost a fraction of the Sony ones. Here’s what I thought of the Enod Audio Wireless Earbuds
Who is Enod Audio?
You might not have heard of Enod. I know I hadn’t until very recently. Enod is a Chinese audio company that came into being back in 2015. The company was founded by a few audiophiles looking to spread high-quality audio experiences to the masses. For me, this is quite an impressive mission to set out upon.
If you’re in the market for some new headphones or earphones, there’s really no shortage of choice. I’ve tried out some good and not so good Sony audio bits, some very impressive budget Tronsmart buds too and my cans of choice, the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. Depending on what you’re after, buying earphones or headphones can be a bit of a minefield. So if Enod Audio can deliver a truly brilliant audio experience at a great price, they could be on to something. The question is, can they?
The Enod Audio Mini Ring Wireless Earphones
I got to test out the Mini Ring Wireless Earphones from Enod Audio. These are truly wireless buds which mean you literally get two buds that pop into your ears. Straight off the bat, these are some seriously comfortable buds. With a little fiddling and twiddling, you won’t even feel the buds in your ears. Even Sony’s flagship buds couldn’t achieve this level of comfort. I don’t want to labour this too much, but comfort with truly wireless earbuds is a very important matter.
Comfort
Truly wireless earbuds have nothing holding them in place except your ears. As a result, every little bit of imperfection when it comes to comfort will add to the ear fatigue you feel. For this reason, most users won’t be able to bear truly wireless earbuds for longer than an hour or two – and that’s if the battery lasts that long.
While the battery in these Enod Audio buds isn’t anything specifically noteworthy, their unbelievable comfort is.
Audio Quality
Let’s not beat around the bush too much here. It’s all well and good saying these are comfortable but are they any good for listening? The short answer is yes, very much so. I ran through a few audio tests with these and couldn’t believe the quality they deliver. Some of the higher tones cut out a little but the lower bassy tones were incredible and it was these tones I’d half expected to lose when wearing such a tiny little earbud.
It’s important to point out, that these are not noise cancelling earphones so the only environment noise they block out will be purely based on the seal between the silicon bud and your ear. The sound quality is so crisp and the volume is so loud (when you want it to be) that I don’t think many will be bothered by this lack of noise cancelling.
Connection Quality
Because the Sony WF-1000X earbuds gave me such incredible sound quality but terrible connection quality, I had to consider the connection quality. Here’s why.
Truly wireless earbuds have an unusual connection system. One of the buds connects to your smartphone; this is known as the master earbud and is usually the left bud. Then the other earbud, referred to as the slave, connects to the master. All these connections and possible points of failure mean truly wireless earbuds can be extremely irritating, case in point being the Sony WF-1000X.
The Enod Audio Mini Ring earbuds are substantially better. I’m not going to say they’re perfect as they did cut in and out a couple of times, more than the likes of my Bose QC 35 II or Sony WH-1000MX2 did. However, the breaks are few, brief and far between so it’s far from being a deal breaker.
Battery Life
I alluded to this already but the battery life with these buds is fine. Because they’re quite small, the most you can expect to get from them is about two or three hours. They do come with a charging case which gives you another three of four charges and they do charge quite quickly, up to 100% in just 45 minutes. For me, that’s perfect because you can wear them for a few hours work, go for a bite to eat and then come back to use them and close out the day.
Value
Price does kind of have the power to negate nearly everything else in a review up until this point. Those Sony buds are expensive so expectations are incredibly high, expectations that weren’t met. Personally, I thought these Enod buds were right up there with the Sony buds and as such I checked their price through squinted eyes, fearing the worst.
The Enod Mini Ring buds cost less than €75.
Seriously.
This changes everything. Everywhere along the way through this review where I hummed and hawed, I take it back. I had kind of assumed these would cost at least twice that price so at €75, the audio quality is mind-blowing.
I’m stunned that tiny wireless earbuds costing just €75 can be as good as this
The battery is fantastic. The comfort is even more incredible and the connection quality is good. I started this out by saying how fast technology moves and I’m stunned that tiny wireless earbuds costing just €75 can be as good as these buds.
Enod Wireless Mini Ring Buds: The Verdict
I’m stunned. Genuinely.
With so many phone manufacturers moving away from the audio jack, we have little choice but to adopt wireless audio. I’ve gone out on a limb and said it’s unavoidable so it’s best we all start looking for the best wireless audio we can.
Until now, that meant wireless over-ear headphones, sacrificing some audio for consistent connection or spending a fortune on something that just wasn’t perfect. Enod Audio has created something here which sits in a sweet spot for quality and value.
You can pick these up on Amazon.co.uk for about €75.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Mini Ring Buds
I’ve taken a quick look online to find the most commonly asked questions about these Enod Audio buds that I didn’t include in the review.
Are these ok for training?
Absolutely. I gave them a fair shake test and they really didn’t budge that much. You also don’t have to worry about sweating as they are IPX4 protected.
Will these connect to a computer?
Yup. I only tested this with a smartphone so that’s why I only mention smartphones. Bluetooth earphones will work with any computers which also supports Bluetooth.
Can these take calls?
Yep. They can take calls.
Can Just One Bud Be Used?
As I mentioned above, the buds connect through a master and slave connection. These are left and right respectively and as such you can use just the left bud alone, but not the right bud on its own.
PlayStation Classic Review: A Rushed Return to a Classic
There’s some beautiful irony here. I’m just back from Sony’s launch of the PlayStation Classic in Dublin. I was going to settle in for a night of Battlefield V before the damn Xbox One informed me that it needed an update. PlayStation never had that problem right? Anyway, the Japanese gaming giant, Sony, has indeed brought us the PlayStation Classic; a console preloaded with 20 games from days gone by. I’ve avoided continuing to use the world classic because this retro ride well let down many.
What is the Sony PlayStation Classic?
The Sony PlayStation Classic is a really wee mini PlayStation. The first PlayStation, not the weird roundy one that came out a few years after the original. When I say wee, I mean wee:
That’s a credit card-sized business card right there to help you grasp just how wee the PlayStation Classic is!
So, the PS Classic is much smaller than the original while looking fairly similar. It’s powered by micro USB, has HDMI and two USB ports for the original, non-DualShock, PlayStation controllers. That’s worthy of note by the way. The two controllers are USB so if you’re after a basic PC gaming controller, there’s a good chance you could hack these to work.
Finally, another big difference is the fact discs are no longer a thing. Instead, the PlayStation Classic has 20 games of days gone by hardcoded into the machine. While the console looks cool and feels cool, unfortunately, I can’t ignore just how disappointing the game choice is from Sony.
What Games Are Not On The Sony PlayStation Classic?
I’ll go into a list of all the games that you do get in a second, but I need to address just some of the absolute classics that are nowhere to be seen.
Crash Bandicoot
I went out on Instagram and asked people what their favourite retro PlayStation game was and the results were pretty solid. The two options were Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear Solid with one of these being available on the PS Classic. A whopping 70% of people said they had the fondest memories of Crash Bandicoot, yet it’s nowhere to be seen on the PS Classic. You do get Metal Gear Solid, but is there actually a more iconic game that Crash Bandicoot for the PlayStation generation? Imagine the SNES Classic launched without Mario. That would be insanity, yet that’s the level this omission reaches for me.
Gran Turismo 2
Nothing humbled me as a kid more than taking my Honda Prelude out onto the track, desperately trying to get my racing license and never getting past a B. At least I think that’s what it was. Unfortunately, I won’t get to relive that just yet either. Gran Turismo is another epic PlayStation game that doesn’t make the cut for the PS Classic. Instead, we get Ridge Race Type 4.
At the launch event itself, I spotted a game case for Colin McRae Rally and that just made me question the game choices even more. Of all the race games the original PlayStation games had, it’s a pity Ridge Race Type 4 made the cut above others.
Destruction Derby 2
This is where I got really annoyed. The PS Classic does feature Destruction Derby, the first of the four-game series. This is a single version of the game which seems a little dull. The sequel, on the other hand, was quite the roaring party of demolition which let two people play each other, a feature not present in the original and as such not available on the PlayStation Classic.
Tomb Raider
Politics is an awful pain in the hole. Tomb Raider is the third best selling game in PlayStation history. It’s also still an active series after launching a new game and movie in 2018.
Unfortunately, this obviously meant the franchise was too expensive for Sony to include with the Classic. Politics sucks.
Spyro
I remember when I got my first PlayStation, I thought I actually got Spyro, but instead it was Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, a classic in its own right. Neither of these games features on the PS Classic. Again, politics comes into play here. Spyro is currently being given a modern revamp by Insomniac Games, the studio that developed the incredible Spider-Man game this year.
They are currently working on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and as such, again, the game license would have been too expensive for Sony to include. Yup, modern games companies are afraid that a twenty-year-old classic could impact their modern-day efforts. Sigh…
Tony Hawk: Pro Skater
I’m going to finish on this one. Tony Hawk nailed so many things in the early days of disc-based console gaming. The style, feel, control and sounds of Tony Hawk were addictive. On the PS Classic, we get Cool Boarders 2, complete with weird clunky control. This was the definition of a “grand” game in the most Irish sense of the word, not the Elizabethan British sense of the word.
I’m going to leave it there, but it’s interesting to note that of the top ten selling PlayStation games of all time, Sony has included just two in the so-called Classic. Let that settle in for a second.
What Games Are On The Sony PlayStation Classic?
Right, so of the top ten best selling PlayStation games, what do you get? Just Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid made the cut with 10 million and 6 million copies sold respectively worldwide. Here’s the full list:
- Battle Arena Toshinden
- Cool Boarders 2
- Destruction Derby
- Final Fantasy VII
- Grand Theft Auto
- Intelligent Qube
- Jumping Flash
- Metal Gear Solid
- Mr Driller
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- Rayman
- Resident Evil Director’s Cut
- Revelations: Persona
- Ridge Racer Type 4
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Syphon Filter
- Tekken 3
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6
- Twisted Metal
- Wild Arms
Let me be totally honest for a second; it’s not a bad range of games at all. My personal favourites in there are Grand Theft Auto, Tekken 3, Metal Gear Solid, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee and Resident Evil are genuinely worthy of the classic title. The rest, quite frankly are meh. Take them or leave them. Contrary to the Sum 41 classic, there’s quite a more filler than thriller. If you think that’s harsh, I could budge on Rayman, but that’s it.
Maybe, just maybe I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about this but I have a really good reason for that.
The PlayStation Classic is Not a Great Christmas Gift
Sony has spotted what Nintendo did last year with the SNES and decided they want to cash in. They figure, if they make a cute wee PlayStation, people around the world, not quite sure what to buy for someone else, will just spring the €99 and give them a PlayStation Classic. Don’t get me wrong, for some, they’ll be delighted.
On Christmas morning, they’ll load up the console, get a shiver down their spine as the PlayStation logo loads up and they crack into a game of Resident Evil, not quitting until they’re done. Trip down memory lane complete. The controllers are authentic and even have a USB port, so I’d imagine you can use them with your PC too.
And actually, that got me thinking…
Have You Heard of Console Emulators?
Emulators are a kind of grey area when it comes to gaming. Basically, an emulator is a piece of software you install on your PC or laptop which lets you play old games. I go on a retro binge at least once a year, downloading every kind of emulator going, from Sega to SNES and even to PlayStation. With very little knowledge and a willingness to play around on YouTube, you could download ePSXe and be up and running with all the top-selling PlayStation games in no time. Actually, some of these emulators even work on Android too for gaming on the go.
Now I say this is all a grey area because while these games are readily available online to play, they are still all within copyright and it is illegal to share these games online. While emulators themselves are legal, downloading the games to play is not. But that’s kind of beyond the point. You’re thinking of buying a retro games console for a lifelong PlayStation fan and I find it very difficult to believe they’ve never delved into the world of emulation myself.
Which leads me to my conclusion.
Verdict: Sony PlayStation Classic Review
The Sony PlayStation Classic is cool. Its design is awesome and it does bring back a big old lump of nostalgia. Myself and the guys over at Elite Gamer rocked out Tekken 3 for a good while and I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed that. But once the controllers got put back down the only excitement I got was from realising the controller itself was USB – so it could probably be used with a PC. And then the eureka moment hit me. Emulation.
The Playstation Classic is a rushed gifting idea which falls foul to bad timing and big-budget remakes
Why on earth would anyone pay €99 for a Sony PlayStation Classic limited to 20 fairly substandard games? In short, it’s because it’s Christmas and it’s the easy gift to give. I’d just recommend that you think long and hard about gifting someone a PS Classic this year because it’s an easy gift that I feel few will find it to be the right gift.
Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II: Noise-Cancelling Headphones Review
Over the past twelve months, I’ve come to appreciate a good pair of headphones. It started with the jaw-dropping Sony WH-1000MX2’s that I reviewed earlier this year. That made me realise that not all headphones are created equal. Which got me thinking. Aren’t Bose supposed to be the market leader in noise-cancelling headphones? I got myself the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II noise-cancelling headphones to review and here’s what I think of them. Wee spoiler for you. I bought these myself and use them every day.
Quiet
Alright. If you’ve gone an put “quiet” in the title I guess these better be damn good at blocking out noise. I was lucky enough to have picked up these bad boys in the US so I had a seven-ish hour-long flight from New York to Dublin to test out these Bose cans. In some ways, a flight is the perfect test for noise cancelling headphones. They excel at removing monotonous background noise – like jet engines, but they do struggle to knock out noises that vary, such as people talking.
I slept for large portions of the flight listening to music or briefly watching movies. You could argue that the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II are too good. When you’ve had them on a while and take them off it’s a little bit scary. You feel overcome by the noise that surrounds you. While that sounds all negative, it’s a testament to how much background crap gets blocked out by these headphones. Good job Bose.
Comfort
The noise cancelling offers aural comfort and the design of the Bose flagship headphones doubles down on comfort. The earpads feel great and are the perfect size to sit over the ears. They also feel like they create a pressurised seal between you and the headphones which just adds to the feeling of being taken away to another world.
They’ve got a nice headband profile with some comfy padding too. I’m not entirely sure what comfort factors people would be looking for, but like I said – I slept for hours with these guys on and they felt great.
Battery
Sony really threw a cat amongst the pigeons when they launched the WH-1000MX2s. What blew me away, beyond the sound quality, is the battery life. Up to 30 hours on a single charge is fantastic. These Bose cans promise up to 20 hours of battery life. So while they’re not Sony levels, that’s plenty of battery life for most people. Also, if you do get caught short, 20 minutes of charging will give you another 2.5 hours.
Audio Experience
I was mightily impressed with the Sony WH-1000MX2s. So much so, I didn’t think the Bose could stand up to them. I was wrong.
The sound quality coming from the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II is incredible. Crisp and crystal clear while offering crushing volume without loss of quality. As I admitted in my previous headphone reviews, I don’t claim to be an audiophile, but I do know what sounds good. Boy, oh boy, do these sound good.
Price
And then we hit a snag. I love these headphones. They’re great. But the price of them is insane. You’ll fork out €325 for these Bose cans on Amazon.co.uk while the Sonys are now going for just €280. The thing is, Sony announced their WH-1000MX3 range at IFA. I’ve had a play and while they’re awesome with slightly improved noise cancellation, they go back up to full whack at €370. So really you’re left with a choice of the Sony WH-1000MX2 or the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. So which is it?
The Verdict
I went for the Bose headphones, but there are extenuating circumstances. I was in the US at an outlet. Here I found a Bose store selling refurbished models of the QC 35 II. I effectively picked them up for €200 – an absolute steal. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of Bose starting to sell refurbished models in Ireland so that’s not really an option for you. I do feel that the Bose headphones pip the Sonys ever so slightly, but it’s so slight I’m not sure I can justify paying more for Bose over Sony. Like I’m very happy with my choice, but they’re all awesome.
So which should you buy? Well, you won’t be disappointed with either. They are both simply incredible headphones. Battery life in the Sony headphones is a touch better but the audio experience wins this for Bose on a points decision.