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New MacBook Has One USB-C Port to Rule Them All

Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:00 AM PDT

MacBook USB-C Adapters 01

The most baffling thing about Apple’s new 12″ MacBook is not its design, nor the price, but the fact that the only port it comes with is an USB-C one that involves a lot of adapters.

Apple’s new MacBook is a beauty to behold, and the keyboard that stretches from edge to edge is one of the main things that makes it so attractive. Cupertino dropped the ‘Pro’ and the ‘Air’, and there’s no mention of the Retina Display, even though it’s clear that this laptop features one. Launched at the company’s Spring Forward event, the all-aluminum MacBook is slightly thicker than a smartphone, at its 13.1mm, and even though it has a no-fan design, its design will have plenty of fans. Considering that it costs $1399 for the 256GB version, respectively $1799 for the 512GB version, people might think it’s a bit pricey, and that’s without the great number of adapters that must be acquired post-purchase.

The new MacBook is 24% thinner than the Air, and to achieve this, Apple had to drop many of the older model’s ports. That doesn’t sound like a very bad idea until you think that from time to time you might want to connect your flash drive or your camera to your notebook. Not to mention that connecting external displays or projectors to the MacBook is now impossible without an adapter. The most disturbing thing is that many of the new MacBook’s USB-C adapters need to be purchased separately, whereas other manufacturers might have considered bundling them with the notebook.

Some of the accessories that MacBook owners might need include the new 29W Power Adapter ($49) with a built-in USB-C port, a USB-C charging cable ($29), an adapter extension cable ($19), multiport adapters (one with VGA, normal USB and Type-C, the other with HDMI, USB and Type-C). It should be noted that the first two come with each new MacBook, while the others are sold separately. Should you lose any of the bundled ones, you will have to pay for them.

All in all, the single USB-C port is quite inconvenient, considering how much users would have to pay for the whole range of adapters. On the upside, Apple has achieved something great with the new design, and since this is coming from a person who has bashed this company’s smartphones and tablets, it should really mean something.

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BlackBerry Leap Smartphone Announced, Will Cost $275

Posted: 11 Mar 2015 06:00 AM PDT

BlackBerry Leap promo poster

As BlackBerry looks to turn its fortunes around, the electronics maker announces four new smartphones, including the $275 BlackBerry Leap.

Ever since the iPhone launched in 2008, the BlackBerry has been on the decline. Although BlackBerry handsets were once some of the most-used phones around, the company was slow to embrace the smartphone phenomena that quickly took over the mobile market.

But now, after years of business trickling down the pan, the once dominant company has a new look and a new strategy for regaining its profits and its power. Part of this strategy, it seems, is not to blindly chase Samsung, Apple and other smartphone heavy hitters but instead BlackBerry will do what they do best; they’ll cater to the young professionals who made such good use of their devices in yesteryear.

The first device in line with that strategy is the newly announced BlackBerry leap. In a promotional image for the phone (which you can see above) the company is very clearly looking to market to professionals who are on a budget; people who need a phone that can keep up with them but isn’t going to eat into their company’s profits before they’ve even earned a single dime. In terms of specs, the Leap has a 5-inch HD touchscreen with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and an 8 megapixel camera that can record video of up to 1080p at 30FPS.

Admittedly, none of those specs really jump out at you, and the phone doesn’t even appear to have a selfie camera (how are these fresh-faced professionals going to commemorate business deals?) but BlackBerry appears to be making up for that with price. The BlackBerry Leap will be available – contract free – from just $275.

As for other phones that BlackBerry is working on, the Leap will be joined by a curved phone with a slide-out keyboard and another keyboard-based model. No word on when those will gets names/prices/specs but we’ll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: re/code

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Super Charge Your Gadgets with Inateck’s USB Wall Charger

Posted: 11 Mar 2015 05:30 AM PDT

Inateck UC4001 4-Port USB Travel Wall Charger 06

The number of devices that charge via USB has increased dramatically over the past few years, so it’s no wonder that chargers with multiple ports, such as Inateck’s 4-port USB wall charger, have become so useful.

When you own a tablet, several smartphones, eBook readers, wearables and a power bank, charging all of these devices using the desktop PC or notebook’s USB ports is out of the question. Computer USB ports have a small amperage that barely makes them suitable for powering external hard drives. If you want to charge multiple devices in as little time as possible, you have to rely either on the original chargers of the devices, or on a wall charger with multiple ports and an amperage suitable for both smartphones and tablets. Inateck’s 4-port travel USB wall charger, codenamed UC4001, seems to be the perfect solution while on the road, especially since the alternative is to take multiple chargers with you.

Contents of the Box

The Inateck 4-Port 30W USB wall charger comes in a plain cardboard box with a sleeve over it detailing the specs of the product.

On the back of the sleeve there are some technical details, the product’s main features and the certifications and standards it respects.

The cardboard box includes Inateck’s logo, fact that makes it easily distinguishable, in case you’re deciding to pack it away, and have several similarly-shaped boxes with you while traveling.

Inside the box you will find the USB charger itself, a piece of cardboard that prevents it from moving around while being transported, and an instruction manual.

Specifications

Inateck offers the UC4001 charger in two versions, depending on the continent you live in, and consequently, on the type of power plug that’s used. Hence, there’s a version for North America, and one for Europe (as well as parts of Asia and Africa). The one in question comes with the EU plug, and knowing how bulky the UK and Australia power plugs are, I’m not surprised that Inateck has decided to make it this way.

The charger itself is very compact and feels really solid, which indicates that it was built using high-quality components. The two ports that are the farthest from the power LED are Super Charger/S ports using a current of 5V/2.4A. On the other hand, the Universal/U ports charge devices using 5V/1A. However, the total output is of 6,000mA instead of 6,800mA, which means that the overall amperage drops slightly when all the four ports are in use.

The manufacturer points out that Apple and Samsung chargers cannot be used interchangeably, but that won’t be a problem with the UC4001 USB wall charger, as its Super Charger ports have a smart USB charging port controller that detects the attached devices and adjusts the right current accordingly. In addition to that, the Inateck charger includes a surge protector that delivers reliable power to all of the connected devices, and prevents them from getting damaged due to over-current.

Performance

Over the past seven weeks, I’ve tested the charger with a first-gen Nexus 7 tablet, two Samsung smartphones and a new 16,000mAh Xiaomi Mi Power Bank, both at home and while traveling. Knowing that the batteries of the mobile devices weren’t exactly new, and thus, not at peak performance, I decided that the power bank would be the most adequate for assessing the efficiency of the charger.

I used both the Super Charger and the Universal ports to test how fast the power bank charges, and taking into account that the Xiaomi Mi Power Bank accepts a current of up to 2.0A while charging, I obtained the following results: the batteries took a bit over 8 hours to get to 100% when using the 2.4A ports, and double that using the 1A ports. That’s a major improvement over the computer’s USB 2.0 ports, which deliver a current of 500mA (or 900mA for USB 3.0, unless your motherboard has Super Charge ports, too).

Price and Availability

Inateck sells its products on Amazon to several markets across the globe. At the time of the writing, the UC4001 4-port USB wall charger was available on Amazon US ($13.99), Germany(€13.99), France (€16.99), Italy (€13.99), Spain (€17.99), and Canada(CND$ 18.99).

Conclusions

Having tested other Inateck products in the past, I got used to the high quality this German company delivers. The UC4001 4-port travel USB wall charger does not fail to impress either, and considering its usefulness and its compact design, I’m sure that it will a home in the backpacks of many geeks out there.

One thing I could complain about is the blue LED that indicates that the charger is plugged into a power outlet. The LED is quite powerful and the light it’s emitting can become distracting at night, so it would be nice if it lit up only when the charger is in use. Considering that it features multiple ports, turning off the LED when finishing charging each device is not really an option.

I would like to thank Inateck for sending me a product sample, and for making this hands-on review possible.

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