NOT MY STYLE - BUT MAY BE YOURS

Ah buds.

Seems like only yesterday wireless earbuds were just a concept. Now they're absolutely everywhere, in all shapes and sizes and priced to suit every budget.

If you're not comfortable spending $300 or even more on something so tiny, be warned  - there are some pretty big gaps between the cheap and nasty and the more high quality items on offer. However, not all decent buds need to break the bank...

The JBL TUNE 220TWS is a good middle-ground option - both in terms of features and price.

The biggest question here is, are you a stick person or an in-ear person? Obviously, the external column-based design of the TUNE 220TWS means these buds are for stick people. I'm definitely more of an in-ear kind of a guy - although I do get why people go for this form factor.

There's far less fiddling around with different caps, cushions and fins to find the perfect fit... because there aren't any. Earbuds like these aren't designed to fit perfectly. They're meant to fit comfortably - and the TUNE 220TWS buds definitely do that. While there's no hermetically tight seal to provide passive noise cancellation, the upside is you can wear these for hours on end with no real fatigue or discomfort. This is partly due to their lightness, good balance and the feel of the soft-touch paint. (Black, white, pink or blue)

Despite not having outside noises safely sealed away, I found there was plenty of sound supplied by the buds themselves to keep distractions at bay. In fact, I keep getting into trouble while writing this review for ignoring the Domestic Manager... but only because I didn't actually know she was saying anything.

I've been extremely impressed by the clarity of the music reproduction. Yes, there's a pleasant amount of JBL's trademark bass kick (Or JBL Pure Bass Sound as they call it) but it's not at all overpowering and doesn't tend to muddy the general soundscape as can happen when other earbuds go for a big bass response. The overall result may not be quite as warm as other personal sound experiences but it's nice and bright, without being too sibilant or piercing. The steady thump, thump of Lady Gaga's latest dance tracks on Chromatica come across powerfully. Meantime, Sting's acoustic version of Fields of Gold shows off every finger-picked guitar string.

Call quality is great too. It's another big advantage of the column-style earbuds; if you stick the microphone at the end of the column, it's pointing towards your mouth, so it's likely to do a better job of picking you up clearly. This definitely seems to be the case with the TUNE 220TWS - very handy in the current age of Zoom meetings and other online video calls. In fact, I've found these to be great laptop companions indeed.

The JBL website claims you'll get about three hours non-stop use on a full charge and nineteen hours of charge time in the case. This is good, although far from the highest performing true-wireless earbuds out there. In saying that, I haven't tested these claims scientifically; I rarely wear earbuds for more than three hours at a time and there's a very clear LED indicator in the case to let you know when you need to plug it in.

Perhaps my biggest frustration is getting these things out of the case. It's definitely snug, no argument about that but my fat fingers struggle to grab anything firmly enough to slide them out. In fact, in one of my bungling efforts to prise the left bud out of the box, I accidentally shot it from the case and it fell on the footpath - not ideal. All this could have been easily avoided with one small design modification; a lid that flips all the way back instead of one that only opens to right angles - this simply isn't enough room for my fumbling digits to dig each earbud out its resting place, not easily anyway. It's a shame, because the two-tone case is very compact, comfortable to hold and looks great, with the JBL logo embossed on the front.

The on-board controls are a bit of a disaster, I'm afraid. There's an almost microscopic button, about the size and shape of a grain of rice on each earbud. They're hard to find and very uncomfortable to push because you have to press with enough force to jam the earbud into your ear to get it to work. The functions are fairly standard; one press to play/pause, or take calls, double press to return to the beginning of the track etc. But there's no volume control at all - this has to be done from the source device. Why JBL would include voice assistant control (which I'm pretty sure hardly anyone ever uses) instead, is a mystery to me.

Unfortunately, the TUNE 220TWS are not IP or IPX rated for dust, sweat or water resistance, so they're probably not a good option for rigorous exercise. I'm always feel a bit insecure wearing column-style buds running anyway; because they really only sit in your ears rather than fit in your ears, it seems like any decent jolt will send them flying. In defence of the TUNE 220TWS, I haven't actually lost one out of either ear while I've been using them, so perhaps my fears are unfounded. That soft-touch paint finish certainly adds an extra grippyness to help you feel more secure.

While perhaps not the best option for the gym, I'd have no reservations about recommending the TUNE 220TWS as a great commuter option, streaming video or music via phone or tablet and as I've mentioned, they're the perfect solution for online video chats. They look stylish, sound really good, pack a decent bass punch and they're less than $200. Now if I could just get them out of the case...


Click here for more information on the JBL TUNE 220TWS earbuds.

WHEN LIFE GETS MESHY

WFH.

Looks like for many of us, Working From Home is the new normal. In fact, after being forced into setting up a home office in emergency circumstances, a lot of people are wondering why they haven't been working this way for years.

There are so many advantages; no commute, no car or public transport costs, no parking issues, more time to do the job because you're spending less time traveling. Oh - and you can spend all day in track pants if you want to.

There are disadvantages too, of course. Distraction is perhaps the biggest issue of all. Unless you can set yourself up in the right part of the house, away from other people, you can easily find yourself being drawn into non-work related problems like, "Mum! Where's the tomato sauce refill?"

Not what you want to be dealing with in the middle of a Zoom staff meeting.

That's if your connection is strong enough to keep you in that meeting in the first place.

Many of these challenges can be solved in about ten minutes, by setting a decent Mesh WiFi network...

The COVR-1102 AC1200 Seamless Mesh WiFi system from D-Link was designed to make upgrading your home or small-business network as easy as possible.

Right away, the first thing you'll notice is how compact the system is; the two COVR-1100 units the kit ships with are perhaps the smallest, most inconspicuous WiFi access points I've ever set up. If you're worried about cluttering up the house with a whole lot of extra, ugly tech gadgets this is definitely the option for you. Each unit is tiny, the shape of a Rubik's cube and not much bigger - but much, much easier to solve.

Not only are they small and subtle but there's only one minuscule LED status indicator in the centre of the top of each unit. Even this can be turned off once you've set everything up. The COVR-1102 is certainly the most invisible WiFi system I've seen so far... you won't need to hide it (which often causes connectivity issues) because you don't really notice it in the first place. It really is just two little white boxes.

Setting up the COVR-1102 is very easy, although I do have a couple of pieces of advice for you to help the process along. Firstly, be patient. The D-Link WiFi app has become extremely streamlined over the years and makes setting up any D-Link device foolproof. However, there are obviously some standard settings built into the app that allow time for devices to start up or reboot. In the case of the COVR-1102, these default times are clearly far too long; the LED changes from red to flashing orange to indicate it's ready for setup at least sixty seconds before the app will let you proceed to the next step. This is frustrating, as the setup process could be even more efficient than it already is. My point being; there's no use trying to rush things. Just do each step as prompted and you'll be fine.

Except...

On my first attempt at pairing the second unit, it simply didn't work. I was surprised to find the COVR-1102 units pair wirelessly, as previous COVR models have involved connecting each additional device via an ethernet cable to get them to sync. I reset both units and started from scratch, this time taking care to follow the app's suggestion to place the units face to face - in fact, I put them right in front of each other, almost touching. This seemed to solve whatever issue was preventing the pairing process first time round and I was then free to place the remote unit wherever I wanted.

And I do mean wherever - for such tiny little things, they provide surprisingly powerful coverage; up to 325sqm which is plenty for most homes. If you're lucky enough to live in some kind of castle or mansion, not to worry - you can buy extra units to add to your network. Remember, because this is a Mesh system, that means the same network name for the whole house. D-Link's Smart Roaming technology guarantees your devices will always connect to the strongest signal as you move around your home with no dropouts at all.

Smart Steering means your device will connect to whichever of the COVR-1102's dual-bands are less cluttered and most suitable for your needs; not everything needs the extra oomph offered by the 5GHz band but gadgets like smart TV's and gaming laptops do.

The COVR-1102 is also a WiFi certified EasyMesh system. This is a new industry standard that ensures your system is future-proofed to work with EasyMesh devices from other manufacturers too.

There's also an ethernet port on each unit if you need to hardwire something into your network, or you can use the COVR-1102 kit as a dedicated WiFi bridge - the perfect solution if your smart TV or gaming console is out of cable range from your router.

Discrete, powerful, whole-house WiFi, set up and ready to connect to in under ten minutes. If that's all it takes to move your home office off the kitchen table to the other end of the house, away from all those distractions, what are you waiting for?


Click here for more information and pricing on the D-Link COVR-1102 AC1200 Seamless Mesh WiFi System.

THIS TRACKER IS WAY SMARTER THAN IT LOOKS

It's been a little while since I last reviewed a Fitbit device. Last time I tried one I was impressed, as always, by how good Fitbit does its main thing; fitness tracking. This is only partly due to the features and functions of the tracker itself and probably more to do with the Fitbit app, which seems to expand its capabilities constantly, while still remaining user-friendly.

At the same time, many recent Fitbits have made overtures towards being genuine smartwatches; there's a whole gallery of Fitbit apps these days and there are now many functions offered that aren't really anything to do with working out.

So where does the latest Fitbit fit in to that scheme of things? Is it just another tracker or have they managed to squeeze a little more out of the new band?...

The Fitbit Charge 4 looks exactly like... well, like a Fitbit.

A cursory glance and you'd be forgiven for making a lot of assumptions; Simple. Functional. No frills. Shall we say... boring?

No. Don't say that. Not before you actually use it.

First, take another look. The diamond patterned Classic strap is available in Black, Rosewood or Storm Blue and looks quite a bit more classy than previous flat or grooved bands. For another $20 you can upgrade to the Special Edition - which basically means you get the Granite Reflective Woven band with the standard black one thrown in. The bands are more straight-forward to swap out than ever, making the Charge 4 easy to dress up or down depending on the occasion.

The tracker itself is extremely light and slim and if you choose Rosewood, both band and body come in that colour. Most striking of all is the screen itself, a surprisingly responsive touch display that - as per usual for most Fitbit devices - is very easy to read in all light conditions. Although it's only a monochrome display, there's enough use of shading, greys and animations to keep everything looking modern and interesting.

Funnily enough, because the screen curves gently away in all directions, it's actually led to a few mis-swipes. Being so narrow (and my fingers being so fat) occasionally when attempting to swipe up or down, I've accidentally swiped left instead. I want to be clear; this is one-hundred percent operator error, there's nothing wrong with the Charge 4 - other than it is really very compact. This also means some of the information on display is pretty tiny, so if you need strong reading glasses to make out small print, better take them running with you.

There is still one actual button on the left edge of the Charge 4... or is there? It's inductive, so it's actually more of a recess than a button and it vibrates when you use it - a bit like the fingerprint sensor on a phone. Because it doesn't physically stick out, it took me a little while to get used to finding it. As it turns out, there's a knack to it; once I stopped thinking of it as a button and just started squeezing the tracker with my thumb and forefinger it worked for me every time - to be honest, much more intuitive than fiddling around for a button like I was trying to do in the first place.

This button-that's-not-a-button is your go-back key. With a long press it also brings up shortcuts for Do-Not-Disturb, Screen-Off and a recently added Sleep mode, which is kind of a combination of the other two. This means no unexpected vibrations or flashing displays in the middle of the night. 

All the activity and sleep tracking options you've come to expect are still there of course, along with a host of little refinements to accompany them in the Fitbit mobile app. Sleep data seems more clear and more comprehensive than ever - unfortunately for me, no less depressing. There's even an SpO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen - perhaps not top of mind for most people but if big variations show up on the app during the night, it might be time to consult a doctor.

You can choose a selection of six exercises to track from a longer list, although I'd prefer to see even more specific exercises and sports there. Obviously you can select running, walking, cycling and swimming (yes, this band is very waterproof) but while golf and tennis make the cut other common activities like aerobics and football don't. I usually settle for something like "Outdoor Workout" or "Interval Workout" instead but given how awesome the Fitbit app is at everything else, I think it's about time they added a few more exercises.

Of course, there are many other workout and coaching options available if you subscribe to Fitbit Premium, which is free for 90 days with your Charge 4 purchase. Frankly, I've never felt the need to have more Fitbit app than what's already provided; it's pretty comprehensive as it is.

But back to the device itself - what a joy the Charge 4 is to use while exercising. As I've already pointed out, the controls are simple and intuitive, the display is clear and you can easily toggle through things like pace, distance and duration with a single press of that number on the screen. The Charge 4 will auto-sense any exercise you do - I was impressed to see it thought half an hour of table-tennis in my garage counted as "Sport." There are two major advances the Charge 4 brings to the table here; the first being GPS. You can now leave your phone behind secure in the knowledge the Charge 4 can map your walks, runs or rides independently - pretty impressive for a device this compact. For some reason GPS only tracks workouts you activate manually; you won't get a little map of your run if you've left it up to auto-tracking.

The second new feature is the introduction of Active Zone Minutes. The Charge 4 vibrates to let you know when you're in the Fat Burning zone or the Cardio zone and these minutes are saved to your workout and then displayed on your map too. All your daily stats, now including Active Zone Minutes are quickly shown with a swipe up from the main screen.

It's the unexpected abilities of the Charge 4 that have really impressed me though. There are a couple of gimmicky ones; firstly, a Spotify controller that can run your music or podcasts if you're logged in and have the app open on your phone. This works well but I'd rather it was a more generic media controller like Fitbit offers on the Versa 2. Fitbit Pay is another app pre-loaded onto the Charge 4; great news if you're an ASB customer but unfortunately it doesn't work with any of the other major New Zealand banks - which is a bit of a shame in this current age of contactless payments. The point is, both those add-on features work. As do push notifications. Hallelujah, praise be! The Fitbit Charge 4 stays connected to my phone, shows notifications from any app I choose and what's more, I can even set up customised quick replies for each of those apps. This is a real breakthrough for Fitbit. I've always found the reliability of phone notifications to be a bit scratchy on previous Fitbit devices but not this time. Whether it's an alert from my security camera or a work email, everything comes through straight away, without fail. I love it.

This means the Charge 4 is actually more of a smartwatch than some of Fitbit's smartwatches! I'm not trying to oversell the notification services but I really have been genuinely impressed by how reliable they are - and how I can read whole emails on such a small display.

The big letdown for me is battery life. Fitbit claims you'll get up to seven days use on a single charge but I'm not sure how. Perhaps, if you're prepared to turn everything off, don't keep it "always connected" with your phone, don't use any alarms and don't use GPS you might squeeze out a week's worth but what's the point of having a device that can do all the things the Charge 4 can do if you don't actually use it to do any of those things? Using it the way I have been, tracking one or two workouts a day and receiving all my messages and other notifications, I can just about eek out three full days before the battery warning takes over from whichever watch-face I've chosen. (There's a vastly improved selection of these too) 

This doesn't particularly phase me as there are plenty of smartwatches out there that barely last one day on a full charge, let alone two. What's more, the Charge 4 goes from 0-100% in under 90 minutes. Some things don't change though - there's yet another weird charging dongle, specifically for this device. Par for the course for any Fitbit it seems. This style of clip-in charger is easy enough to use, just don't lose it because nothing else will work.

Okay, so other fitness bands often have a much longer battery life but this is the only one I've come across that comes this close to being a bona fide smartwatch so I can definitely forgive the heavy drain, due mostly to the independent GPS.

The Charge 4 looks stylish, without being garish. It's comfortable but durable. It does all the cool Fitbit tracking you've come to expect and it's smart. Really smart. Starting from $269.95 I think it's pretty good value.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Fitbit Charge 4.