T3 India

Sujith Gopinath

Noise Stealthily Readies Pre-Order Passes for Upcoming Smart Wearable

by

Our little birdies have been picking up some fairly consistent noise from the industry, and this time, it is around the next wearable from Noise. The latest scoop from our source is that the product would be released exclusively via pre-order. The pre-order pass would allow users to get early bird access along with other benefits. And if we are allowed to speculate, the pre-order pass model of release suggests a premium device that the company has the confidence to keep exclusive. If correct, this would mean that Noise has reached a certain maturity to march boldly into the premium wearable space with this innovation, shedding its image as an entry-level player.

Media chatters also hint that Noise could have crafted a powerful ring, probably a smart version of what Frodo took to Mount Doom, albeit with a titanium build. We also hear that the new device will bring about a “transformative shift in lifestyle”. Putting these chit-chats together, we visualise a smart wearable in the shape of a ring that can measure and assess your health and lifestyle parameters and do much more.

Our birds are still in the air, listening to tech chatters. We will bring you more updates as soon as we have them.

Review: Bird Hub

by

₹106,599, birdai.com

Most of us are still in a hybrid work environment, and remote collaborations have increasingly become part of our lives. There is now more than one way to collaborate, but at the enterprise level, you need a reliable and fixed solution that can be deployed within a short span of time and that offers scalability in a conference room environment. Bird Hub is such a collaboration hub that is complete in itself and yet can be deployed with minimum hassles.

The Bird Hub can be attached to any display, even the ones with the slimmest bezels. I used it with a Sony Bravia TV on review. There are foam paddings on both sides to keep the mount from causing any damage to the bezel or screen. A flexible arm with a Velcro-type hook-and-loop fastener tape on the flat end shifts most of the weight to the back of the TV. The device has two cameras — one facing you and one facing the screen. The screen doesn’t require a touch interface since the touch detection and interactive functions are handled by an EyeRIS 3-D Dual-band Optical sensor. At the back of the device are the I/O ports and slots — HDMI, USB 3.0, Micro SD, DC In, LAN, and USB Type-C. The device offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The supplied Air Mouse allows you to control the device wirelessly and point and click. The mouse also houses an alphanumeric keyboard. An infrared pen is also supplied with the device. Installation support is provided, but if you choose to install the device yourself, once connected, the device straightaway takes you to the calibration screen. The Bird Hub has to be mounted at the exact centre of the screen and you get a position indicator on the screen. Calibration is as simple as tapping on the sequentially appearing dots with the pen. You may need to do manual calibration if the pen is not recognised on the launcher screen. The device also supports BYOD mode to connect with any laptop via a single USB-C cable.  

The hub recognises faces automatically and the 4K UHD camera intelligently frames and zooms in to the presenter. The camera captures a wide area of the room with amazing clarity, which ensures that everyone is included in the frame. The far-field multi-microphone array offers noise cancellation. The system uses a four-microphone array that offers adaptive beamforming, full-duplex acoustic echo cancellation with barge-in support, de-reverberation, and automatic gain control. The mics are capable of capturing voice from a 5m radius and offer Voice Activity Detection and Direction of Arrival.

The Bird Hub uses an Android interface complete with a built-in collaborative whiteboard and PlayStore to download apps. The device uses a 3.2 GHz 64-bit Hexacore ARM processor along with 4GB RAM and 16 GB onboard storage. The storage can be expanded up to 128 GB. An AI NPU supports intelligent features. The hub offers multiple-screen–sharing with remote users and supports Airplay and Miracast. You can share the content wirelessly across up to four screens. The Bird Hub supports popular collaboration platforms including MS Teams, Skype, BlueJeans, Google Hangouts, Zoom, and Slack.

<strong>Rating</strong>

WE’RE IMPRESSED Works with any screen with HDMI input, clear visuals, hassle-free set-up, supports a wide range of platforms

WE’D IMPROVE Better documentation and troubleshooting guide

THE LAST WORD This collaboration hub makes every screen an intelligent interactive unit complete with a full suite of connectivity options.

Review: BenQ DesignVue PD3205UA

by

Price: ₹59,990

BenQ’s DesignVue series monitors, as the name indicates, are created for graphic designers who need a reliable display for colour-critical applications. The 32-inch PD3205UA and its smaller-sized sibling, the 27-inch PD2705UA, are not your ordinary desktop monitors with flat bases. These are made for professional designer studios with fixed muti-display setups. The stand has to be attached to the desk with the sturdy metal clamp at the base and the monitor is then attached to the ‘ergo arm’. The device has a three-side bezel-less design with a thick frame, curved at the rear. The stand has concealed channels for cable organisation. Apart from the base, all other parts are made of sturdy polycarbonate materials.

The PD3205UA is a 31.5-inch 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) monitor. The IPS display supports HDR10 and is stated to reproduce 99 percent sRGB and Rec.709 colour spaces, capable of delivering up to 1.07 billion colours. The monitor offers 5ms response time and provides 250 nits of brightness along with 1000:1 contrast ratio. The monitor offers near-accurate colours with a deviation of Delta E <=3. The monitor boasts corner-to-corner uniformity in brightness and colour reproduction with BenQ’s AQColor technology. The display comes Calman Verified and Pantone Validated along with Pantone SkinTone Validated certification for accurate reproduction of skin tones.

The monitor houses a KVM Switch that auto-pairs with input signals via the HDMI or DP connected parallel with the designated USB port. This helps you to connect a PC and a Mac seamlessly with the PD3205UAThe device offers two USB Type-B ports, two USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port, an HDMI port and a Display Port at the base along with a Mini USB for the hotkey puck (OSD controller). There is one Type-A and one Type-C port at the side along with a 3.5mm audio output jack. You can use the hotkey puck G2 to switch between inputs. Designers can make use of BenQ’s Display Pilot software, which gives access to various customisation option for colour mode, display and more, and to set up advanced features like ICC Sync, which automatically sets ICC profiles to match the colour mode selected.

As mentioned earlier, this is not a portable monitor. Once clamped to the desk, it is difficult to move it around. But the flexible ‘Ergo Arm’ provides a greater degree of movement than normal monitors and hence the freedom to position the monitor precisely where you want it. With concealed cable management channel on the stand, the setup looks professional and less messy. The part of the base that sits atop your desk is small and flat, hence it occupies less space.

We found the panel delivering uniform illumination across the display area as BenQ claims. We measured the native colour reproduction, and could verify the claims of 99 percent sRGB reproduction (97.3 percent coverage, 118.7 percent gamut volume). The monitor can reproduce up to 77.9 percent Adobe RGB gamut with 81.8 percent volumetric coverage, while the figures for DCI P3 was found to be 83.8 percent and 84.1 percent respectively. The monitor has two 2.5W speakers, but we found it practically useless as in the case of most built-in speakers.

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Good colour accuracy, uniform illumination, flexible Ergo Arm

WE’D IMPROVE No shading hood, not portable

THE LAST WORD A colour-accurate studio monitor for creative professionals

Review: Yamaha TW-E5B

by

Price: ₹14,200

Yamaha has experienced, replicated, and engineered probably every sound that can be produced by wind, string, membrane, or any other vibrating surface. A leading manufacturer of audio equipment and easily one of the most recognisable brands in musical instruments, Yamaha traces its origins to a legend surrounding reed organs. And this is the legacy and expectation that their debut line-up of true wireless earbuds tries to live up to. The TW-E5B is the mid-range model in Yamaha’s TWS line-up and joins a crowded and competitive space. 

The Yamaha TW-E5B comes in the largest charging case we have ever seen, and it is certainly not comfortable to be carried in your jeans pocket. The earbuds too are uncomfortably big. To give credits where due, both the case and the buds offer premium build quality. The device carries IPX5 ingress protection rating, making it resistant to water splashes. There is no touch interface, but the physical buttons are quite responsive and offer much better control than most touch sensitive buds. The earbuds have a twist-to-fit design. The fit depends much on the shape of your ear and the size of your ear canal. Yamaha has included four sizes of eartips. Even though I managed to get a good fit, the top-heavy design and the large protruding body made it extremely uncomfortable to wear during my walking and workout, checking the fit often. I also felt the tips were sensitive to temperature changes since the buds were coming loose often while flying onboard chilled aircraft cabins.


The E5B doe not feature active noise cancellation, and hence noise cancelling depends on the fit of the buds. The buds connect with smartphone via the Headphone Control app. Like the earbuds, the app is quite basic. It lets you activate ambient sound mode, gaming mode and Listening care mode. It also provides an equaliser with six presets along with a customisable user setting. Apart from the ambient mode, we did not find much difference in sound by toggling the other settings. The equaliser certainly helps in fine-tuning the sound profile, but with a limited range. The app shows battery status only for the buds and not the case.

Coming to sound, the earbuds offer a more or less balanced sound with emphasis on strong bass, like we Indians prefer, which is enjoyable to most people. However, we felt some overlap in certain instruments like cymbals and high-hats in addition to amplifying the uncomfortable background hum in husky male vocals. The percussion and jazz notes sounded particularly pleasing. The earbuds use 7mm drivers. The E5B does not offer a lot of volume range and hence you could find it restrictive while playing old tracks with low reproduction volume. I found myself playing music at full volume, which Apple Health app found to be around 65 dB. Overall, the experience was quite enjoyable, particularly when the earbuds could afford a proper fit.

The TW-E5B offers Qualcomm cVc (Clear Voice Capture) technology for better voice clarity during calls. The buds support SBC, AAC, and aptX codecs, making it compatible with high-res audio from a wide range of devices. It also supports Siri and Google Assistant. The earbuds provide up to 6 hours of playback time on a single charge and the case holds enough juice for three additional recharges.

<strong>Rating</strong>

WE’RE IMPRESSED Excellent sound quality, IPX5 rating, supports a wide range of codecs, battery life

WE’D IMPROVE Hefty design, the fit is more like a hit-or-miss, software needs much improvement  

THE LAST WORD As a first attempt from Yamaha, the TW-E5B is a decent release. However, it’s a highly competitive space, and others are doing much better.

Review: Sony SRS-XV900

by

₹79,990, sony.co.in

Sony’s magic hat never ceases churning out goodies, and 2022 has been particularly trying for us reviewers, thanks to their never-ending series of launches. After exotic flowers and rabbits, the brand has pulled out a massive, ear-shattering party speaker, the SRS-XV900, just in time for the New Year blast.

The SRS-XV900 is a full-size party speaker 88 cm high and weighs 26.6 kg. Like all Sony sound systems, the polycarbonate exterior provides a rugged feel with a matte finish that enhances the premium look. For the ease of moving around this monster speaker, Sony has incorporated two wheels at the back along with a sturdy ring-type handle on top. With this, you can lug the speaker around like a trolley bag without much effort. The touch-responsive control panel on top allows you to control volume, activate Mega Bass, and configure lighting effects. It also includes a Bluetooth button. On the rear are the physical connectors that include a USB port, 3.5 mm audio jack, and optical port for input. The USB port also offers 5V/1.5A DC power output to charge your smartphone. It also offers two karaoke MIC input jacks with individual volume controllers, one of them doubling as a guitar input. There are two buttons, one for switching to guitar mode and the other to activate Battery Care feature. The speaker connects to Sony Music Center app, which provides more than the basic adjustments including an equaliser. Connecting with Fiestable app allows you to access more party features like lighting and karaoke. The device supports SBC, AAC, and LDAC codecs.

The SRS-XV900 is designed to deliver omnidirectional sound with an X Balanced main speaker unit aided by six tweeters, making it ideal for large parties. The front tweeter is approximately 50mm in diameter, while the side and read tweeters are approximately 40 mm in diameter each. The midrange speaker is approximately 120 mm in diameter while the woofer is about 320 x 320 mm. The tweeter pairs are positioned at the front, sides, and top for optimal spread. The device offers distortion-free sound even at high volumes. The speaker’s size has been utilised to its full capacity with a jet bass booster at the base providing a large chamber and optimised horn for thumping bass. With Mega Bass feature, this offers earth-shattering lows that do not interfere with other notes or drown the vocals in its reverberation. The speaker offers a Live Sound mode for the best party experience. The XV900 offers a TV Sound Booster feature that provides louder and clearer highs. In this mode, the speaker balances the position of sound to match the TV’s position even with non-central placement. If you are living in a multi-storied apartment, you may not be able to enjoy the speakers beyond 60-70 per cent volume.

The speaker offers a playback time of up to 25 hours on a single charge. It features quick charging feature that provides three hours of playback time with 10 minutes of charging. The device offers a Battery Care mode that prevents overcharging and optimises the charging cycle. The speaker supports Party Connect via Bluetooth pairing, which enhances the possibility of expanding the size of the party even further by connecting with up to 100 compatible Sony Bluetooth speakers.

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Balanced distortion-free sound, high volume with fine control, deep and optimal bass, battery life, castor wheels for transport

WE’D IMPROVE Looks complete from our side

THE LAST WORD This speaker can serve any size of party you can think of and function as your personal TV or multimedia speaker when you are not partying.