New Members of My Gadget Family ~ Critical Mindset

Sorry for the title. Yeah I know it's lame but I just can't think of a better title for this post. But anyway, I know you're feeling the cold winds of December right now. It's the jolliest month of the year because there are lots of things we get excited about - Christmas, New Year, holiday, 13th month bonus, iPhone 4s release particularly this December, you name it. In my case, I'm pretty excited for Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and the latest additions to my gadgets and gears collection. These blessings that I received lately are not that much but I'm very thankful to have them.

Logitech G330

From the moment I started playing Battlefield 3 with a clan, I knew I have to somehow find a way to communicate with them. After all, Battlefield 3 is a teamplay based game and team communication is an indispensable part of gameplay if you want to score that W.

At first I try to chat with them through XMB menu if I really need to say something like if I spotted a hidden sniper, etc. It was really inconvenient and it causes my PS3 to slow down or even hang at times due to multitasking. Also, I have to find a safe spot first so I can have ample time to type what I have to say. Sounds absurd right? It also doesn't help that I always tend to play Battlefield 3 when all my house mates are sleeping, and I don't want to play the game muted. I don't want to always go through all of this so I finally decided to buy a headphone that is compatible with the PS3. I could go with the official Sony wireless headset but that is way too expensive for me. I could go with a really cheap one like CD-R King but I don't want to settle with lackluster quality and poor durability. So I asked my clan mates what their preferences are. Their most recommended headset? The Logitech G330.

It's priced at P1950 which is roughly half the price of the Sony Official Wireless Headset. It also works right out of the box but is also a little tricky to setup if you want redirect the audio output of your game to the headset, otherwise you'll hear only the output of the voice chat in it. Also, it's a wired headset so the distance between you and your TV is limited to an extent, though the wire is long enough so you can game at around 4 feet away from your TV, depending on your setup. If you have a big ass TV though, I certainly won't recommend this or any wired headset for that matter. Aside from that, I believe the sound quality is good as long as I can hear everything in BF3 and I don't hear any unwanted noise. I highly recommend you buy this headset if you don't have enough money for the Sony wireless headset and still want good quality.

Samsung Galaxy Y

After more than 5 years, my Nokia N70 has finally given up on me. I always believed that my N70 has all the functionalities that I needed from a phone and I don't need to buy the more techy and more expensive phones out there. Now that it finally died, I needed to find a suitable replacement. There are lots of great phones and tablet PCs out there, and I got some prospects in mind - the iPhone 4s for its awesome 8 MP camera as well as 1080p HD video recording, Samsung Galaxy Note for being a phone-tablet PC hybrid, or the Asus Transformer 101 or Samsung Galaxy Tab for sheer power in an Android tablet. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy any of this, so I ended up buying the Samsung Galaxy Y instead.

It's unbelievably cheap for an Android phone, and people are getting crazy over this from the moment it was released in the market. I had the chance to ask the sales guy in MemoXpress and he told me they're selling Samsung Galaxy Y's like hotcakes, as much as 10 units in a day. So I finally got one and I'm enjoying it. I wanna put an in-depth review of this phone as well but this is my first Android phone so I'm not sure if I can put up a good comparison with other phones out there. But I will definitely post my impressions about this phone in the upcoming days.

Steel Series Shift Pro Gaming Keyboard

If you've read one of my past articles, I've mentioned that I won an epic gaming keyboard from Let's Go Gamers and I've already received my price a few weeks ago and I'm very excited to use it in my PC. My PC is not a gaming rig, but I have a few games there that I can test with it. Damn, I wish I could upgrade it sometime in the future so I can fully utilize this keyboard. Here are some screenshots of it. Now wipe off that drool coming out of your mouth :-P.

I will post a review of this gaming keyboard sometime in the future. Now if you're not part yet of the more than 10,000 gamers in LGG community then join now and use this invite code: 84bbcd5

Mipow Power Tube

My girlfriend's hometown is in Legaspi City, Albay, and I take a vacation there with her at least once a year because it is such a beautiful place. And during those long trips it helps that I have some of my gadgets to keep me occupied. However, one way trip to Legaspi City is like 10-12 hours and none of my gadgets can last that long, especially with my PSP having a lackluster 3-hour battery life. So when I got to Mall of Asia last weekend I decided to buy the Mipow Power Tube 2200 mAh from Astrovision.

There are newer models with higher capacities like the 4000 mAh, 4400 mAh, and 5500 mAh. I like the design of the 4000 mAh model but unfortunately, it's only compatible with iPhones and iPods. The 5500 mAh looks the same and also compatible with pretty much every gadget or device out there but is way too pricey for me. The 4400 mAh should have been perfect, complete with all the tips compatible with different smartphones and portable game consoles but I don't like its design. It's literally twice as long as the 2200 mAh model so it won't fit your pocket at all. So I just settled for the 2200 mAh model, and during that time the battery charge of my Samsung Galaxy Y is critically low so I tested it right away with its manufacture charge. Both my phone and the power tube fit in my pocket so it is really convenient though it feels a little awkward later because the power tube gets warm while charging the phone. It added a few more hours of life to my phone before it got fully drained. Wonderful. This will definitely add an extra life to my gadgets during a long trip and during those emergencies where you can't find an electrical outlet or whatever.

So I'm gonna post my thoughts about these gadgets in the near future so stay tuned!

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