PadStand
A few weeks ago I purchased a PadStand as an affordable accessory that could go on my desk when I want to watch movies or TV on my iPad. I had already bought an iPad Keyboard Dock when I first bought my iPad and I love it - I use it to input lots of text, and occasionally do work on there. My only problem was when I wanted to watch anything on my iPad as the Keyboard Dock is portrait-only. I first heard about PadStand from Sam on Twitter and when I read her review of it. I immediately was drawn to the PadStand and wanted to order one. I chose black out of five colours (white, blue, green, pink and black). I was very impressed with the delivery - I ordered it on Saturday and it had arrived on Tuesday. PadStand is very compact, and fits on my desk with no extra space at all. I’m not sure about all the other colours but black was the only colour that I knew I wouldn’t regret when I ordered it. The one thing that I love about it is that it’s very portable and can be taken anywhere around or out of the house - anywhere with a hard-ish surface. Also, since this is only £9.99 with £1.99 shipping there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t have one if you have or are planning to buy an iPad. Below are some photos I took of the PadStand:
XMI X-Mini II
I have just ordered the XMI X-Mini II from Amazon and thought I’d share a few thoughts about it. My first impression of the box when it arrived is that it was very recognizable an quite cool and different. The box slants inwards from the outside to the speaker which is displayed in the middle. To get into the box you have to open it from the side and then pull up the two flaps. You take out a piece of plastic with the speaker in it and underneath that are the charging cable, carry case and user manual. You will probably not need to read the manual as it is a rather simple product - as it was designed to be. When you first hold the X-Mini II you will notice how light it is. It is a bit bigger than the origninal X-Mini, but not by much. The speaker itself is very sleek and the colour combinations are nice. Black on the outside and red as the colour of the actual speaker. There are a few different controls and features on the speaker that I will go through. First of all, the on/off switch. This is around the side of the speaker and when you turn it on a blue LED light turns on on the bottom which also boosts its cool factor. This light turns dim when on low battery, red when charging and blue when fully charged. I will explain everything round the speaker clockwise from the on/off switch. Next along, there is a 3.5mm jack socket where you are meant to plug in other X-Mini II’s to create a sort of daisy chain for better sound. XMI call this the Buddy Jack system. The volume control is next, and it is actually a wheel instead of two buttons like in the first generation X-Mini’s. Finally, there is a mini-USB port which is used to connect to your computer or laptop to charge it. On the bottom of the device there is a 3.5mm headphone jack to plug into your iPod or computer. This is really great as it means I don’t have to carry around another cable as it is built in neatly in the bottom. You can turn the top half of the speaker clockwise to reveal a sort of rubber spring in the middle. This adds more bass to your sound. The charging cable is used to charge the speaker from your computer or laptop. Insert the mini-USB into the speaker and the USB into your computer. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the charging cable. If you want to you can plug this into any other audio playback devices. The carry case is quite nice just if you want to take your speaker somewhere. Overall the X-Mini II is a very good speaker for its size. If you want a speaker that is small enough to carry around with you, a good enough speaker and something that is so cool then choose the X-Mini II. You won’t regret it. You will also be amazed at how loud the little speaker goes up to. Here is a video of the X-Mini II in use: or… X-MI X-Mini II from Jono Muller on Vimeo.
