Monthly Archives: March 2012

ColcaSac Zagora iPad 2/3 Sleeve

For the last week, I’ve had the chance to try out a new iPad case, known as the ColcaSac Zagora for the iPad 2 and the new iPad (which was just released on Friday here in the UK). The first thing that hit me was the packaging, I mean how often is it that you receive a case packaged as so:

This left quite an impression on me I must say. Straight away, I did a little bit of research to find out about the company. ColcaSac aim to create “healthy products” with a “minimalistic design” according to their website. I also found the following there:

“We use hemp, bamboo, and repurposed jute–materials that will naturally biodegrade and use less resources and do less damage than neoprene or cotton sleeves. We also use recycled packaging that is also both recyclable and biodegradable. We even use our scraps to make other sleeves. We know that more can be done, and are working to improve our process.”

This is quite interesting, I mean how often do you find cases that are considerate towards being biodegradable? It’s certainly a noble intention and it’s good to see it’s something that is being considered when manufacturing iPad cases. Hopefully it’ll grow to other devices (phones and laptops anyone?).

Now, about the actual case.

First off, it’s definitely not a case for the first generation iPad. The first generation iPad has slightly bigger dimensions, and therefore will not fit smoothly at all into this case. This case is a snug-fit on the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

It certainly provides adequate protection and has plenty of padding on the case without making it feel bulky. Previously, I was using a normal sleeve that you can find at pretty much any tech type shop. This however gives more padding that those cases, and also has a little sleeve on the front to carry other items in. Realistically, that will be little pieces of paper or cards, as it’s not a very big section on the case.

As for the main compartment, using what I think is cotton, there is plenty of soft padding and cushioning for your iPad. Added to this is a little velcro flap, which doesn’t make much of a sound when being opened somehow. I think this has been accomplished by not having as sturdy a velcro patch as usual (hard to describe, but hopefully makes sense if you see it in person).

On the whole, it’s quite a nice case to use and carry your iPad around in. It definitely provides enough protection, and feels like a luxurious case rather than just an essential. It’s also a nice feature that it’s biodegradable and made as an eco-friendly product.

With the new iPad now out, you can find plenty of iPad 3 cases and iPad 3 accessories over at GearZap, including the very ColcaSac case that I’ve been using.

Pocket Boom Speakers

I was given the chance to try out the “Pocket Boom”, a little device that allows you to turn any hollow object into a set of speakers.

To me, the device seemed quite gimmicky at first. There are plenty of portable speakers out there for cheap. You can even find them at newsagents now days at cheap as £5! However, it does depend on the quality you want and what you want to use it for.

First off, the sound quality you’ll get from the Pocket Boom is nothing special. It’s pretty standard, however the way it projects its sound is pretty interesting. The Pocket Boom has a little vibration part that can be stuck to a hollow object. By turning sound to vibration, it projects the sound through the hollow object. To me, this only gives an appearance of giving louder volume, however in reality it’s only because the sound is coming from a surface area bigger than normal speakers on devices like laptops and mobile phones.

The device comes with the Pocket Boom unit, a USB cable to power it with (it can also be powered using 2 AAA batteries), and an audio extension cable. It also comes with replacement sticker pads to stick on to other objects. It doesn’t use normal adhesive, but rather similar adhesive to that of screen protectors which can be removed and re-attached to objects.

On the whole, it’s definitely an interesting device. However, usually retailing at £20, it may not be the purchase to go for as you’re main portable speakers. There are plenty of other proven alternatives out there. As a gimmicky type device, that’s certainly small, it’s pretty cool to try out.

Finally, on a completely unrelated note, you can find iPad accessories and Galaxy Note cases over at GearZap. I’ve been told they have new stock, so definitely worth checking out.

The new iPad

You may well have heard about Apple’s latest announcement – the new iPad. It was formerly unveiled in San Francisco last night by new Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, at 6.15pm GMT.

The iPad announcement brings the end to the traditional long series of rumours regarding the screen size, the screen quality, buttons (or no buttons), and a whole load more.

Running an A5X processor, the 3rd Generation iPad is running a dual-core processor with quad-core graphics. This leaves is slightly lagging behind some of its competitors when it comes to processor speed, although the retail price of £390 should keep it more than just highly competitive.

The whopping 2048 x 1536 resolution, retina display is by far the biggest unique selling point of the new iPad, making it the highest quality tablet screen on the market – it is much higher than the resolution to be defined as HD.

Also new to the iPad is a 5-megapixel camera which is almost the best around when it comes to tablets, although is beaten by that of the Asus Transformer Prime. It can record video in 1080p HD and has a unique stabilisation feature where a shaky hand won’t lead to shaky videos.

A great new feature on the iPad is the microphone, tying in with the Siri release on the iPhone 4S, which allows you to dictate rather than type – with a microphone button now taking its place on the iPad keyboard.

One thing that didn’t change as much as was expected is the size and shape, with an almost identical shape that is just slightly thicker (0.6mm) and also a little bit heavier. This makes room for the ever-so-slightly-larger new parts inside the new iPad.

Also announced on the night, prior to the new iPad, was a new Apple TV which keeps its price at $99.

As always, you can expect to find new iPad accessories including new iPad cases over at Gear Zap.

Sociable App for iOS

I always like using lightweight utility applications on my iPhone. One of them that I used to use was called Duo+, a 69p app which allows you to update both your Facebook and Twitter statuses together. It also allows the use of location, but besides that not much. While it’s a nice lightweight app, it had a fair few bugs. Quite often it wouldn’t connect to Facebook, and when it did, it rarely allowed an update. The developer has tried fixing it, but it seems the latest fix now never allows me to update Facebook statuses, making it pretty useful. It was fairly unreliable before anyway.

The Sociable app effectively does the same thing, allowing you to update both your Facebook and Twitter statuses together. However, it has a great polish about it. The wooden effect given certainly gives a nice feel when using the app and makes it feel a lot more professional than Duo+, which quite frankly appears like a hastily put together knock-off in comparison.

The added advantage with Sociable is that on top of location, it allows you to add photos to status updates. This is great for keeping both Facebook and Twitter up to date with the same status and also photo that you may have taken. So far, I’ve found it pretty reliable, so I’m pretty happy with it and it’s worth the 69p over Duo+. If only I could get refunds for apps!

P.S. It also allows you to update LinkedIn and Tumblr statuses, but I don’t really use them.