IPEVO: Good Design Doesn't Have to Be Expensive
When we last checked in with IPEVO, we were enthralled by their Kaleido Digital Photo Frame, and what we really liked was the the attractive and unique look and feel. Today, we’re reviewing two other pieces of gear from them, both of which combine sleek design with insides that a gadget-lover can appreciate.
The Tubular Wireless Speakers are different than several of the other speaker systems we’ve tried out. For starters, they use Bluetooth and are wireless, so you can play music from your phone or laptop easily. We tested them out with our iPhone 3G, and thanks to the 3.0+ firmware supporting A2DP, enjoyed stereo sound in pretty high quality. And if your device supports AVRCP (most do), you can also stop and change tracks through the built-in controls on the speakers. Better yet, the batteries are easily rechargeable via USB, take only about 2 hours to fully charge, and can last up to 8 hours. These babies are light, at around a pound, and have a nifty interlocking clasp that makes for easy carrying or a smaller (tubular) footprint- or you can detach them and have them nicely angled on any flat surface.
Of course, you’re limited in range to the normal Bluetooth sphere- about 30-40 feet. And we haven’t gotten to the biggest issue, fairly typical of wireless speaker systems that we’ve tried- sound quality, clarity and volume. These are only 3 watt speakers, so they simply can’t compete with even a smaller iPod dock. Bass is minimal, sound separation so-so, and though they could handle quite a bit of rock and pop music pretty well, we were disappointed in some fuzz that we could hear in moments of silence. At about $80 and available online, these aren’t the cheapest set of speakers nor the loudest, but they are the best-designed portable ones we’ve tried.
If audio doesn’t grab you, perhaps the IPEVO Point 2 View USB Camera will. As you might’ve expected from these folks, it’s a reasonably decent webcam with a twist- namely a jointed stand that makes it look a lot like a small lamp and a macro mode for better focus when dealing with objects close-up. The target market here isn’t perfectly clear- it’s not particularly notable as a stand-alone webcam. We’ve tested quite a few others, and this 2 megapixel model doesn’t offer the video quality of the Logitech nor the audio of the Blue Microphones models we’ve tried. It also isn’t wireless, but uses USB, and can work with both Mac and PCs simply- just plug-and-play for the most part. Setup in Skype and other similar programs was pretty painless, and you can take snapshots using on-camera buttons.
It’s also small enough to hold like a pen, and fairly comfortable- but we weren’t able to get very clear images out of it that way; perhaps our hands were a bit shaky. A monitor clip is included, so it does offer a pretty wide array of ways to use it, more than any other we’ve seen. And the focus options are nice, if largely unused most of the time. Still, if you are trying to demo objects, or still items, it’s a pretty nifty camera and the flexible stand certainly adds points. At $70 though, most webcam users seeking to have video conference calls or chats might want to look elsewhere.
