Platinum Mini Boom Box PTBT-400 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

Platinum Mini Boom Box PTBT-400

When it comes to unnecessary purchase, I am a great offender. The Lazada app has continuously caused my wallet more harm than the government and it sucks. As I was browsing through their on sale products, I came across this one. Platinum PT-BT 400. For those who think they’ve heard Platinum before but can’t remember where. Platinum is the karaoke brand.

What piqued my interest was the color scheme. I have always loved yellow and black evidenced my FJ Cruiser inspired Crosswind. So seeing this costs only about P999 (‘Discounted’ Price) over its ‘Original’ SRP of P1499, I decided to pick one up.

I already have a portable Bluetooth speaker (Philips BT 1300), but I figured it’s always good to have a backup. I had a chance to meet my package at the last weekend (April 22) and I was surprised to see how huge the box was. The BT1300 fits my hand but this is just too big.

 

I’ve had this for a week now so I guess this is now a good time to share my thoughts about it.

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Opening up the box, you get a fairly well packaged device but it comes with bare basics. You get the device, manuals and cables to connect it wired mode and the charging port.

 

BUILD AND DESIGN

I love the color scheme of yellow and black. So this gets a huge plus for me. Everything is enclosed in plastic which I think is not bad considering how cheap this is. The plastic used seems durable enough and it is not prone to fingerprints.

 

At first glance, the device looks heavy, but holding it is a different story, it feels very hollow and the buttons take more force to activate. It has 2 ports at the back, one for connecting a 3.5mm cable and another for a charging port which gives me my first gripe. Why is this not powered by a standard micro USB cable?  Having a circular charging port not only feels extremely outdated but it is also impractical. I don’t want to have to carry a spare cable just to charge this thing. Terrible decision making Platinum.

 

PERFORMANCE

 

This is an ironic device. Being a ‘Boom Box’, anybody will assume that this will pack a huge bass. Partner it with the fact that this is ‘rugged’ means that this is meant to be used outdoors, and that bass assumption is more of a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately, bass is negligible at best. This is definitely a deal-breaker as it is a clear case of false advertising.

BUT!!! Take note of this. If, like me, you only use a Bluetooth speaker indoors to watch series or movies, this will serve you well. Sans the horrendous bass performance, I’m pretty content with the volume (gets decently loud), and the clarity of the voice.

Finally, I must not forget about the icing on the cake which is the crazy battery life. I charged this one on Sunday evening (Apr 23). The next time I charged it was today (April 30). I watch series heavily, minimum of 2 hours per day, and yesterday (April 29), I was watching the whole day (Dota 2 Kiev Major). Additional cherry on the icing is the fact that it fully charges after about two hours. Oh, let’s add sprinkles to the icing and cherry with the fact that if you did not use this for a while, it turns off on its own (this is a plus for me as I always fall asleep when watching series at night)

So if you are looking to have uninterrupted playback, Platinum PT-BT is a fantastic choice for less than a grand.

 

CONCLUSION

To sum up Platinum PTBT in 1 word, adequate. In more than one? I really liked it. It’s bigger than what I anticipated with disappointing bass and the outdated port, and for some, this is enough to stay away. But if you use it for binge watching, performing adequately for more than 12 hours is enough, if not more.

 

What I Liked:

Amazing Battery Life (12hrs + Playback)

Poppy – Eye pleasing design (Subjective)

Affordable

 

What I Didn’t Like:

Bigger than expected

Circular charging port

Terrible bass

Qicent 3-Socket Car Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter with 2 USB Charging Port

Qicent 3-Socket Car Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter with 2 USB Charging Port

One of the problems in this day and age on a relatively old car (I’m using an Isuzu Crosswind XT 2006), are the ports or lack thereof.

Today, Dashcams have become more imperative rather than luxury and this alone takes one spot.

A charger, preferably Quick Charge, have also become a necessity due to terrible battery life of most phones.

So, one of the best cheap solution is an adapter.

Initially, I bought three generic adapters from Lazada. But one broke within the month, and this is just unacceptable.

As I continue to window shop in Lazada, I came across this one. As the name implies this is a 3-Socket Car Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter with 2 USB Charging Port

Out of the box

You get a fuse. This is not only surprising, it’s also amazing. If ever the device won’t work, open it up and change the fuse.

This is an extremely nice addition adding to the device’s longevity

It also has a sticky thing I don’t know what it’s for

Some Manuals and the Device itself.

 

Taking a tour this has 3 sockets with separated on-off switches. Fantastic touch.

It also has 2 5V USB ports. 1 with 1A, another has 2.4A. These are definitely is a nice additions, I have QC 3.0 enabled car chargers so meh

Testing it out. It managed power both my Transcend DP520 and Tronsmart QC3.0 charger.

So it works. I have just recently got this so I will have to test durability out.

Initially though, the better build , on/off switch, and the fuse looks to be a respectable,  if not good, package for a P600 socket.

Hoping this will last me longer than a month as I use 2 ports every time I drive.

Will update after a month.

Edit: Upon inspection of internals, we can see that the cheap Wawawei one is made of literally just metals and jumper cables.

On the other hand, Qicent is made with much more internals including a pcb board, capacitors and a coil.

What I Liked:

Fuse Included

Good build quality (Compared to Generic)

On-Off Switch

3 Sockets

2 Extra USB Ports

What I Didn’t Like:

None so Far

‘QCY’ Lazada Bluetooth Earphone Review (From Wawawei)

‘QCY’ Lazada Bluetooth Earphone Review

Recently, I seem to have been browsing Lazada lately and I happen to come this item which piqued my interest. Why? It looks painstakingly similar to my Soundpeats QY7.

The aforementioned Bluetooth Headset is undeniably the best budget Bluetooth headset period. Especially if you can get it below P1500 (~$30). Regular price is P2500 (~$50) on Lazada with frequent “discounts”

Last Wednesday (Feb 22, 2017), I lost my QY7 due to my carelessness, and since I need a Bluetooth Headset, I decided to pick this one up.

It only cost me P600 (~$12) which I didn’t think was that much expensive. Since it doesn’t have an official name, I decided to call this One ‘Reddy’. Read on and find out my initial thoughts.

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

So let’s get right to it. Out of the box you get the following:

An extremely generic package. It doesn’t even have QCY branding.

Extra sets of ear buds

Instruction manual

A charging cable

And the device itself

 

BUILD AND DESIGN

Taking the device out one thing is certain, the build quality is terrible. It feels extremely plastic and feels like it will break sooner rather than later. It is also lighter than the QY7.

The buttons are clicky and loud in a bad way and you need to press them hard to register.

Having a QY7, you would think that since they looked the same they would have similar build quality, alas, don’t judge a BT headset by its ad clearly applies here.

Reddy has 3 buttons similar to QY7 but same with its look they don’t function akin to the aforementioned.

On the right you have the pairing button which functions as such. You will even be greeted to the same voices as the QY7. The right also has the volume up and down. And this is the worst thing about Reddy.

Obviously you would think that + is volume up and – is volume down. NO. It functions as previous and next track respectively. Imagine how annoying that is.

Lastly, since Reddy replaces an active BT headset, I decided to take it for a jog and surprisingly, it did not come off. Be sure to change the fins and the buds to your ear first though.

 

PERFORMANCE

 

I realized that being a $12 headset, I really shouldn’t expect much not only onto the design but overall.

So as to performance, I can say that its obviously not in par with other $30 Best BT headset but it is serviceable. Reddy has a muffled sound quality which lack quite a lot of detail BUT its not as tinny or ear deafening as Elliot Audio Active 2, which I already consider a win. The bass is verging on not bad but also not good as the muffling really takes a lot out of the experience.

Personally, I would pick Reddy over EA in terms of sound quality.

Battery life is my biggest surprise as it was able to last me a little over 5 hours which, for $12, is really impressive.

So that’s been it guys, for a $12 Bluetooth Headset that clearly channels QY7, is it worth it?

For me, honestly, no, even if it’s just $12, I find everything about this underwhelming at best. The only saving grace Reddy has is average battery life but the terrible build quality, uninspiring audio quality, and the frustrating button functionalities are clear indicators that this is a clear cut case of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’

 

What I Liked:

Battery Life

 

What I Didn’t Like:

Muffled Sound Quality

Stupid Button Functionality

Terrible Build Quality

 

Journey to the West (Philippine Sea) and Back

(I’ll be posting pictures once I have steady Internet)

This seems a little premature. I wanted to blog about all my ‘adventuring’ experiences at the end of the year to signal that 2017 has been a different year.
So far, I’ve been to more places in 2 months voluntarily than all of 2016 combined.

A while ago (7am in Feb 19, 2017), I was just in the West Philippine Sea with my friends.
We decided to go to Crystal Beach Resort because of all the rave it is getting.

We set off at 5.30am on Feb 18, and arrived shy of noon.
Unfortunately Crystal Beach was already packed. Reservations were needed.
Fortunately the resort Next door was open, PRINCE JB BEACH RESORT.

The rooms which were good for 4, probably six if you can haggle it, only costs P3000.
It is a well ventilated and lit room with your own CR. I don’t know if this is cheap of not, please tell me in the comments.

The clincher here is JB and Crystal are literally a step away.

I found nothing interesting to do here other than swim and surf though. The beach is also too wavy to just float around and relax.
Think mini-Baler.

But hey, I love the beach, I personally find it destressing and calming.

At about 7am, we were packing up and getting ready to leave and this is where things got interesting for me.

At Subic we found a place where the ocean is calm and I think its free. I didn’t kick myself of regret but it made me want to go back and experience the calm ocean of subic. See pics below.

Waze sent me off to a different direction going home and I was stopped by a police officer.

My heart raced as evidenced by my Xiaomi Mi Band 2, as everytime I had to stop I had to pay upwards of P1000.

Holy shit was Kuya nice, he let us off the hook saying that just be careful since it was literally my first time there.

As the boring journey continues back to Manila we found ourselves hungry and we decided to stop at Shell of Asia.

We had 2 places to eat. And we chose the wrong one. Expensive, small serving and the pork is horrendous.

As I started Cruisewind after the Shell of Asia stopover, that’s when I noticed something was off with it. IT started funny but it ran, and as I dropped of my friends in Shaw, Cruisewind went out. In the fucking middle of the road.

Fortunately some kuyas again were there to help. After a few ‘kadyots’ Cruisewindwas running again.

After it warmed up for about 30 minutes, I went off again, only to stop again at the middle of Shaw. I immediately called the MMDAs for help. I knew this time my wallet was going to take a huge asteroid.

Holy shitter! The MMDAs were hella nice. They helped me park the car properly and until the mechanic arrived and they asked nothing in return.

I gave them 2 dozens of donuts for all the trouble. Right now Cruisewind is still dead as there are no open battery charging stations on Sundays, but I’m sure my 10 year old, 0.2Billion Metered Cruisewind will live to fight another day.

This was a whirlwind of a stressful experience but I’m glad that everything worked out in the end.

The last words kuya spoke was ‘Pare pareho naman tayong Pilipino tulong tulongan nalang’

Truly an eye-opening experience that Humanity’s kindness is always around and maybe Change has really come.

Elliot Audio Active Review

 

Elliot Audio Active Review

 

 

As 2017 moves ahead, one of the most common New Year’s Resolution is to be fit get healthy.

Enrolling into a gym is the in thing to do, but running on a treadmill is just boring. What can help the tediousness?

Music! And what better way to listen to music than to go Wireless!

Enter Elliot Audio Active 2. As of this writing, EAA has amassed a whopping 150k+ likes. Yeah it’s sponsored but 150k is nothing short of amazing.

What made heads turn around was its insane price tag. P850. I honestly can’t argue with that so I decided to pick one up myself.

 

Seeing as it is only P850, I decided to look at this from that perspective.

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

So let’s get right to it. Out of the box you get the following:

Extra sets of ear buds

Instruction manual

A pouch

A charging cable

And the device itself

 

BUILD AND DESIGN

 

Taking physical tour it has a decent build quality

It feels solid enough to take a few bumps

It has 3 touch buttons that performs different things.

The middle is used for pairing, turning the device on and off, play or pause

It has volume buttons, which can be long pressed to act as next track (+) or previous (-)

This maybe nit-picking but the placement of the buttons feels odd.

Once you wear the headset the (-) button is nearer to your ear which I find annoying especially if you want to play the next.

 

A special feature of this EAA is its ear buds can also be placed together as they are magnetic. Personally this is a very neat trick and a very welcome one.

 

In its name, this is supposed to be an Active device.

For the past two weeks I have used this device, it only came off once.

I have taken this to my workouts and work.

My typical days consists of 15 Minutes Boxing Mitts, 15 Minutes Punching Bag, and 15 Minute Warm-up.

It’s not as intense as a normal workout, but EAA stays on your ear like a champ

 

 

PERFORMANCE

Onto performance though, it’s still ok but I have to share a few notes.

Battery life is above average, expect about 3 workout sessions before charging it.

If you plan to use it as your daily, expect the need to charge overnight.

The device has amazing standby time and about 5 – 6 hours of usage

You can use this device for calls but don’t expect much.

Oftentimes I find myself disconnecting because the other line wasn’t hearing me clearly.

 

Sound Quality is not this device’s strong suit though.

This maybe subjective but I find the highs too, well, high.

And at max volume it is deafening. The cymbals are way too loud.

This is kind of disappointing as most of my tracks have many highs.

I also didn’t find the bass as punchy as some may think it is.

 

I’m by no means an audiophile but I have tried several earphones namely:

 

Audio Technica CKS77

Sound Magic E50

Sennheiser HD600 (Owned by my brother)

Audio Technica MSR 7 (Owned by my brother)

Awei Earphones

Sony SBH 50

Jaybird X2 (Owned by my brother)

 

Though it’s unfair to compare EAA to say the Jaybird X2. I just can’t say that EAA can replace my earphones at home.

Again the sound is subjective to each and everyone’s ear.

What I find bad maybe good to you.

If you manage to get yourself one try comparing your current one with Elliot Audio Active.

Try listening to Brock Lesnar’s theme. And you can see what I mean.

CONCLUSION

Overall though, sans the high highs, I can’t suggest anything else remotely as good as the EA Audio Active for the price of P850.

For those looking for a rugged durable gym buddy that will never leave your side, your ear in this case, this one is a good buy.

I have an upcoming review for Soundpeats QY7, for a few extra hundreds this is miles ahead of EA

 

What I Liked:

Battery Life

Magnetic Tips

Good build

Affordable

 

What I Didn’t Like:

Highs are too high

Distortion at Max Volume

Button-Placement

To My Next Girlfriend

I will channel my inner Piolo Pascual here ala Starting Over Again.

I want you to know something about me. I want you to know that I am a God-fearing person who also love my family and friends. I want you to know that I value my friends dearly as I am the type of person who will make an extra effort for them. Let me give you an example, I had a friend who held a Christening for their child. Even if there was a threat of a storm, our group, me being the driver, pushed through to get there from Manila to Cavite. During that same trip I learned that another friend of mine got laid off. You know what I did after the Christening and taking my friends home? I went to that other friend to talk. Have I mentioned, both these are GUYS?

You also need to know that many of friends are women. UST is a school with tons of beautiful gorgeous women, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise if I have lots of good looking friends. I constantly talk to them because that’s who I am. I talk to my friends on a consistent basis, boy or girl, because I am very talkative. I am very sure at this point in time, you, my crush, I would have made extra effort to talk to you.

If ever you feel threatened, don’t. I just have this undeniable charm where women tend to go ‘Uyyyy ohhh ang funny niya, masarap siguro i-Friend ito’. I’m on that side of the spectrum as opposed to the ‘Uyyy ang gwapo naman, magsusungit ako sa kanya para pansinin nya ako’ side. This is not a generalization on women rather, this is how I have always felt.

Also if we would be together, I want one of my first move to be to introduce you to my friends so you can get to know them and see that they will be no threat to our relationship. Who knows, you may find a new bestie within them.

Lastly, I would like to think that I am an adventurous person even if the farthest place I have ever been is Cebu. I would want for us to have soulful conversation which can help us get to know each other. I would like for me to be your motivation as I indubitably see you. I want us to grow together towards hashtagforever. Even though I have been broken, cheated on, used, I haven’t given up. I know you are out there. If ever you will be my next girlfriend, I don’t want you to just become the next. I want you to become the last. I want you to eventually be my wife.

 

 

Chasing Happiness

At barely 25, I have come to peace with something that I never thought I would be 5 years ago. Hell, even since I was in elementary, I never would have imagined I would find myself in this situation. Where I am chasing happiness. Happiness and comfort over money and experience. Facially, I am one of those who you can brand as someone who chases money. Back in High school, our teacher asked, ‘Who among you wants to be a Politician?’ Two of us raised hands, the other one was the loveable goof of the batch. My teacher commented that he would be a great fit in politics as he has the charm. Comments to me? “You are one of those who would only want to run for money” At that, time she was spot on. Don’t get me wrong, I love that teacher and I was actually surprised that she saw right through me.

 

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to become a pilot, but boy could I not be more wrong. By High school as well, I realized that this is an impossible dream. Why? Aside from the fact that it would literally take me Millions which we do not have, I am physically unfit, I’m too short, too un-pilot-like (Tall and Philippine-parlance accepted Handsome) looking and I do not have a perfect eyesight, something apparently is a requirement for Pilot. And barring the latter I still don’t have millions to spend.

 

Then I decided to become an Engineer. Choosing UST was by far one of, if not the best decision I have ever made, as I felt HAAPPY AND CONTENT THERE. What happened to my ECE dream?  Of course it failed, what else did you expect. Not only did I not pass the Boards I generally felt ECE is not for me, I did not excel the way I wanted and even if I put some effort, I really felt no connection to the subjects.

 

Moving on from one of my biggest failures in life, I decided to work in the IT industry and be still my aching balls! I AM GREAT AT IT. I legitimately enjoy IT-ing and learning new stuff as I move forward. My lack of knowledge did not come as a hindrance, rather, it became a challenge to learn more and more. I can confidently say I instilled a stereotype on ECE to me, I am a jack-of-all basics, master of none. I love breezing through basics of concepts and technologies and learning them.

 

Envy. Originality. Confidence. Dreaming Big. Physical Attribute. These, I realized, are my most glaring weakness.

 

Biggest mistake of my life thus far? I left a place where I was extremely comfortable, I left a place where it has accepted me and my body accepted it, I left my Happy Place. Why? Because I thought I could get more. You can and probably will argue that 2 years of experience is not enough but some of my friends were already jumping from company to company getting hired with 1 year experience on their companies. How could I not be empowered to do the same? Learning your batch mates now earns twice as much as you do on similar fields, how could you seriously not want to try other options?

 

Why am I not given other lucrative opportunity? That has always been my question and I answered it now.

 

I don’t actually blame employers as my ECE background and my self-proclaimed self-studying WILL NEVER hold ground against actual IT graduates and those with more experience than me. In a sea of potential candidates, of course the best one should be picked.

 

Plus I will always attribute back to that fact that I am Philippine-parlanced unattractive hahaha Why? I don’t know if this is coincidence but the moment I removed my picture in my resume I started having MORE CALLS than when I had my picture on. and yeah, tons of my pogi friends or babae friends are constantly getting JOBS THEY WANTED.

 

Also, I did have some job offers and you know what all of them have in common? The job offers I get are from companies where the one that interviewed me were Foreigners. I HAVE NEVER GOT A JOB OFFER from a company where the manager or the final interviewer is a Filipino. How could I seriously not attribute my face there? Call-based I get accepted, Face to face not? Don’t me, I’m ugly, that’s it. Foreigners take chances on me yet my fellow men don’t. If I could, I would seriously consider going abroad but how do I even get VISA, I don’t even have enough to fund myself finding a job on a foreign land. Plus I’m gonna miss my dog. Lol.

 

Lastly, start my own business? Business of what exactly? I don’t have any specialty, my passion is in IT, and I don’t have the funds (Don’t me on Loan wala ngang maisip na business eh).

 

This has been my life and statistics would tell me that it would continue to do so. I was stuck on an impasse, but I have made peace with the fact that this is the best I can be. Work -> Bills -> Work -> Bills. With this, I am now continuously searching, actually I am wanting to come back to my Happy Place and never leave. EVEN IF MY BATCHMATES WILL EARN 200K/MONTH I won’t care anymore. I just want to be happy. I want to come back to Happy Place, be content with friends. I have the attitude to want to learn continuously and I want to do it in my Happy Place. I am now searching to be Happy at Work -> Bills -> Happy at Work -> Bills. Never mind the experience, Never mind the money. What I want is to be Happy.

 

CHASINGHAPPINESS#