Cyntur JumperPack mini Review

It’s been a long day of work, so you’re stoked about heading home to relax and unwind. You open the door to your car, place the key in the ignition, and then the unexpected happens – the car won’t start, due to a dead battery caused by accidentally leaving on the headlights. Sure, you can call for help, or maybe find a bystander with some jumper cables to help you out, but either way, that’s time involved that could’ve been used to get to your destination quicker. Now, if you’ve ever been in this particular predicament, the folks over at Cyntur have an invaluable accessory that you might find useful for this particular scenario.

We’re talking about the Cyntur JumperPack mini, a 12,000 mAh lithium-ion battery pack that will not only charge your mobile devices, but even offer a serious jump start to your car. In fact, it’s powerful enough to jump start vehicles with up to 8 cylinder engines! The process is pretty simple, as it involves connecting the included jump start cable to the unit – while the clamps are placed appropriately in the correct terminals of your vehicle’s battery. From there, all that’s left to do is start your vehicle, and voila! Your car is back to its working self!

Honestly, the Cyntur JumperPack mini offers peace of mind in this scenario. Better yet, the company claims that JumperPack mini can retain its charge for up to a year. That’s quite generous, especially if it’s something you’ll pack in the glove box compartment, but who knows if it’ll really keep that charge for that amount of time. Nevertheless, the carrying case included with the unit keeps everything organized and within reach. Besides jump starting, we can connect a variety of devices to the 2.1A USB port on the unit to juice them up on the go. Adding more to its arsenal, the JumperPack mini also houses a 200 lumens LED light to act as a torch or emergency strobe light.

In terms of design, there’s definitely a rugged quality to it, as the tough plastic exterior, with its standout orange-black color scheme, is fashioned to be IPX3 certified to protect it from water splashes. Weighing in at 1 pound, it’s pretty remarkable that it’s able to carry on a beefy 12,000 mAh battery – while also offering its jump starting abilities. Some folks might be disappointed by the single USB port on the JumperPack mini, which means that only a single device can be charged at any given time, but in all fairness, we’re forgiving because of the added functionality it boasts over other battery charging packs.

Sporting a price tag of $99.99, it’s definitely a pricey investment, seeing that similar capacity battery chargers can be snagged for easily half as much online. Still, we have to mention that this offers added functionality we don’t get from those other, standard battery chargers. In those times when you need to jump start your car, the Cyntur JumperPack mini is a handy accessory to have – just because you’ll be able to drive home in no time at all.

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ZTE SPRO 2 Review

There’s just so much tech already crammed into the sleek bodies of our mobile devices that every inch of real-estate is maximized, leaving very little room for any added luxuries. Projectors are uncommon in smartphones, but they do exist – evident by past things like the LG eXpo and Samsung Galaxy Beam. Don’t get us wrong, the concept is undeniably cool, where a projector is somehow fashioned into a smartphone, but sometimes the end result is just a lackluster experience with the projector. Rather than attacking it from the same angle as some other folks, the ZTE SPRO2 does it the opposite way. Essentially, what we have here is a projector meeting a smartphone, and not the other way around.
Right from the onset, there’s no denying that ZTE first wanted this thing to be a dedicated projector, which is plainly made obvious by its boxy design. Unlike traditional projectors, though, this is far more compact in size and weight – giving it that mobile attachment, if you want to take along with you. However, for a smartphone, it’s nowhere on the same level that would allow us to put it in our back pocket. And it’s pretty heavy for a mobile device at 19.4 oz, but to be fair, it is packing along a monster sized 6300 mAh battery – while most of the components that make up a smartphone and much more.

Around the back end of the unit, it carries a host of ports that give it added versatility over most mobile devices. Specifically, we have its power port, USB 3.0 port, microSD card slot, SIM slot, 3.5mm headset jack, and a full-sized HDMI port. The latter is especially useful, seeing we can connect another device, like a video game console, so it can be connected to the unit’s projector. Rounding out its features set, it packs a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, dual-band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 with EDR. The only thing lacking here is a camera of some sort.

On its façade, it’s dominated by a 5-inch 1280 x 720 touchscreen, which is set up in a landscape format. Surprisingly enough, it bears some pretty good qualities that make it usable – it’s detailed enough, bright, sports decent viewing angles, and colors are on the neutral side. Beneath that, we have the usual trio of dedicated Android buttons – with the physical power button further down.

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Parrot Zik 2.0 Review

It’s been a long, long time since we’ve reviewed anything from Parrot, the company known for its line of Bluetooth related products. Always known to be a player in the mobile space with its portfolio of Bluetooth headsets, they’ve obviously expanded in the last several years to diversify their reach, which now extends into the high-end Bluetooth stereo headphones range. With the Parrot Zik 2.0, the company has developed a rich and powerful pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones to tackle the competition – reflected by its hefty price point of $400.

Refreshing, it’s the word that best describes the simple, straightforward, and premium nature of the Parrot Zik 2.0’s design. It really doesn’t look like anything else we’ve seen, so it’s pretty astounding that they’re able to come to the table with something so unique looking. Whereas other headphones try to be over stylized, the Parrot Zik 2.0 goes for the minimalist approach – further accentuated by its premium choice of materials. For one, the brushed metal frame provides support and strength to allow for a comfort fit around our head. Add to that, the faux-leather finishes around the ear cups and headband provide a uniform look that’s always clean looking. Lastly, there’s ample cushioning everywhere to make it extremely comfortable to wear over long periods of time – plus, it’s incredibly lightweight too!

Adjustable in height and boasting swivel hinges, they wrap around our head without feeling too constricting. At the same time, too, they’re never too loose fitting to come off with abrupt movement – so it’s usable for running or physical activity. Impressively, Parrot is able to stuff a ton of features into its compact package. The listing includes built-in NFC for quick pairing, adaptive noise cancellation, smart touch controls, and a wired connection for unfiltered quality. Pairing it with an iPhone 6 Plus, its Bluetooth 3.0 connection is exceptional with its range – allowing us to go as far as 30 feet before losing connectivity.

In addition, Parrot has outfitted the Zik 2.0 with a plethora of sensors, like a bone detection sensor, to detect and analyze the vibrations of the jaw when speaking to enhance voice quality. There’s even a sensor that knows when it’s taken off your head, so that it’ll pause music – and resume once it’s worn again. If you don’t want that to happen, the companion mobile app allows users to modify the settings and behaviors of its various sensors. Using the touch sensitive surface of the right ear cup, we can execute all the controls needed for music playback and phone calls. In fact, a single tap acts as the pause/play. Swiping up and down acts as volume control, while swiping right and left performs track forward and reverse functions. It’s just nice we have all the controls at our disposal.

Lots of headphones claim to offer superior noise cancellation, but none of them can come close to the amazing powers of the Parrot Zik 2.0. To be fair, we’ve never come across any pair that totally cancels out background noise, but this one comes pretty close – and it does a lot better job than anything else we’ve come across. Best of all, we can adjust it through the mobile app, which will even all the headphones to amplify sounds. This is especially useful if we want “enhanced” hearing (think Superman hearing).

Quite simply, the Parrot Zik 2.0 also impresses us with its phenomenal audio quality – it’s just rich and delightful on so many levels. You can say that it tries to please all audio ranges, so that consists of lows, mids, and highs, but this it goes to a higher degree by offering us complete control in the way we want to listen to music. Using the companion mobile app again, we can fine tune its equalizer setting to enhance the quality to our liking. Therefore, we can set it to favor lows more than the highs – or vice versa. Even at the loudest volume, the Parrot Zik 2.0 reverberates with an outstanding mixture of audio that’s crisp and refreshing. Trust us, it takes great pride in delivering the best audio experience out there!

Now, we only have two minor complaints with the headphones. First, its battery life is rather short at 3 days of usage – a total of 6 hours, which breaks down to 2 hours each day while using it at the gym. Well, we should note that we had its noise-cancellation option set to its max, which obviously will lessen its usage. Secondly, it doesn’t offer any sort of audio notifications through the headphones. In a couple of instances, the Parrot Zik 2.0 just suddenly stopped, and we were baffled by this. After digging around, we realized that its battery just simply died – we weren’t notified about it unless we checked the app.

This one doesn’t come cheap at all, oh no. Rather, you’ll have to fork over a whopping $400 to pick this up. That’s a serious investment when you look at the number, which costs just as much as any good tablet. However, it’s a treat we’d be delighted to hand over because the Parrot Zik 2.0 is undoubtedly an indulgence we don’t mind relishing on time-after-time. From its striking design, its rich set of features, and outstanding audio quality, it’s worth every bit of the money. Hands down, this one is a clear winner on all fronts!

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Samsung Galaxy S6 edge vs Google Nexus 6

It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been already months since the Google Nexus 6 officially launched, and in that time frame, it’s also equally as mind-boggling that many flagship phones are still not running the latest version of the platform – Android 5.0 Lollipop. Bestowed with the Nexus moniker, naturally, the Nexus 6 from Motorola is one to showcase the latest and greatest there is to offer with the platform. At the same time, it’s also not one to be overlooked because it’s riddled with some astounding specs.

Like a kid amped up on some sugar, the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is a fresh new entrant running on all cylinders. Not only is it incredibly fast, but it’s setting the bar high for everything else that intends on coming out the rest of the year. Best of all, there’s just something alluring about its unique looks, which is further complemented by the new premium design language Samsung has bestowed its flagship line this year.

At the end of the day, there can only be one phone to stand tall, rise above its rival. It’s old versus new, big versus small, and stock versus custom, so which one of these two venerable smartphones will have the guts and glory to reign supreme?

Staring at them longingly, there’s no denying that the two are just two very differently designed phones – crafted to appeal to certain demographics more than other. In terms of aesthetics and appeal, we’d give the Samsung Galaxy S6 the nods on achieving more glances and looks from bystanders, mainly because it has the luxurious qualities that cater to a wider audience.

Brandishing one sharp design, thanks in part to its Corning Gorilla Glass 4 surfaces and metal trim bezel, the entire package is enhanced even further by the way light reflects off the glass, producing this cool shimmering and dazzling effect. Add to that, it’s incredibly skinny, super lightweight, and far more compact, it all translates to an unprecedented change we’re happy to experience from a company that wasn’t all that notable that long ago for its smartphone designs. Lastly, the dual-curved display is a neat touch that gives the phone a cool-looking, unique aesthetic.

Conversely, the Google Nexus 6 is pretty much on the other side of the spectrum with its gargantuan size. That alone, will probably keep some folks at bay, but then again, others favor its phablet-esque dimensions. Yes, it’s obnoxiously large, which surprisingly enough, can catch the attention of some people. However, it’s just a handful to operate – requiring two-handed operation more than anything else. Visually speaking, it’s a bit more contemporary with its design language, comprised out of mostly durable plastic.

Impressively enough, even with its compact stature, Samsung is able to stuff several other goodies into its already tight package – like an improved finger print sensor, wireless charging, IR blaster, and heart rate senor. Meanwhile, the Nexus 6 also boasts wireless charging, in addition to dual front-firing speakers, but that’s all. For having so much real estate to work with, you’d imagine that Motorola would’ve been able to crap a few extra stuff in the process. Guess not.

5.59 x 2.76 x 0.28 inches
142.1 x 70.1 x 7 mm
4.66 oz (132 g)
6.27 x 3.27 x 0.4 inches
159.26 x 82.98 x 10.06 mm
6.49 oz (184 g)



In being true pioneers in the space, it’s wonderful to know that the two handsets tip the scales with their quad-HD resolution displays – something we feel that’s necessary to stand head-above-water over the rest of the high-end crop. For the Galaxy S6 edge, it’s fashioned with an incredibly sharp 5.1-inch 1440 x 2560 Super AMOLED dual-curved display, which achieves a higher pixel density count of 577 ppi. The figures alone paint something exquisite with the Galaxy S6 edge, but we can’t neglect the same level of attention paid to the Nexus 6’s 6-inch 1440 x 2560 AMOLED display – one that still pulls in a respectable 493 ppi pixel density.

Seriously, the two panels cram a ton of pixels, giving plenty of detail in everything that’s being displayed. Whether it’s viewing them up close and personal, or from a normal distance, we can’t argue that they deliver sharp visuals that make it easy on eyes to decipher the most miniscule of things. All told, it purely boils down to size preference – where the Nexus 6 carries more real estate, which some can find useful for specific occasions.

Even though they both rely on AMOLED technology, the S6 edge’s Super AMOLED panel produces higher quality results. To be fair, however, we have to applaud both companies for getting the displays to very close to that ideal color temperature reference value of 6500K – giving them a very neutral tone, neither too warm, nor too cold. Still, the S6 edge’s screen drives away with its stronger brightness output of 553 nits, versus the Nexus 6’s poor mark of 270 nits. Naturally, the vast discrepancy between the two becomes apparent outdoors when viewing the displays under the gaze of the sun. The Nexus 6’s display is just unviewable.

Moreover, Sammy has calibrated its display perfectly in Basic mode so that it’s one of the most color accurate screens out there, which is something noteworthy for AMOLED technology in general. With the Nexus 6, it’s evident that it favors a more saturated color production, made more profound as it doesn’t technically hit each of the target values in the color gamut chart below.

And lastly, we can’t forget to mention the added functionality brought on by the dual-curved display of the S6 edge. From being able to access some of our favorite contacts from the lock and home screen, to the cool visualizing pattern when we receive incoming calls from our favorite contacts, and the notification tickers that bring info to one of its edges, the dual-curved display adds to the phone’s arsenal, but as we’ve detailed already, it’s most profound for the aesthetics.

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