Comparing Rubbish to Garbage.

After reading through a few scathing reviews of the new HP Touchpad I was surprised at a comment about the "Beats Audio" quality on its teeny built in speaker.  I mean why bother trying to improve internal tablet speakers? On my iPad 1 the internal audio sounds like crap but I don't care. It's good for the occasional bleeps & bloops, notification chimes and the sort. It's even ok as the worlds clunkiest mobile phone handset (using Skype or VoIP). For music it's awful, and that's fine by me. If I listen to music I use headphones.

Voice coil speakers by nature are large beasts.  They require carefully tuned enclosures to get them sounding right. They consist of multiple drivers as each driver will have a resonant frequency or sweet spot.

My iPad one year later

Fujitsu Stylistic 1200, 4lbs of meh

I bought an iPad 1 when it first came to Canada in the Summer of 2010. I instantly recognized its potential as soon as it was announced in the US. I've been working with tablet computers in the hospital field for well over a decade and they were simply put just an awful bag of rubbish. From poor battery life to mediocre displays that required a stylus on an OS that was never meant to be used with a touchscreen.

HyperMac portable battery backup for your MacBook

Business end of a HyperMac MBP-060

No AC power nearby is no problem when you put a HyperMac 060M backup battery in your backpack. The MBP-060 is a 60Wh of battery backed up power for your MacBook (a 13" late 2010 MacBook Pro battery is 66Wh).

Callpod Duo vs Energizer XP4001

A very small & weak connector on the Callpod Duo

Callpod Duo (16.28Wh)
Problem with the Callpod is those small mini USB style connectors, on my personal Callpod Duo both were broken in a matter of weeks. This isn't helped by the strain of their very short adapter cables if you're trying to charge your phone in a backpack or purse for example. The use of a custom connector allows the Callpod to support more than just a 5V output, I just wish they used something that could handle the stress of everyday use.

Common & robust albeit less configurable USB A connectors

   
 Energizer XP4001 (20Wh unconfirmed)
The XP4001 is rated for 4Ah @ 5V unconfirmed (I've yet to figure out how to crack it open without damaging it) It also has a power on button as the unit will power down the USB ports when there is nothing plugged into them.



On a side-note, I wish battery manufactures would post Wh ratings instead of the near useless Ah rating. An Ah (Amp Hour) rating gives only half the information needed to determine just how much capacity the battery has. Example, the Callpod Duo is rated for 4.4Ah (4400mAh) but no voltage is given. Now if it were 5V then the Duo would be 22Wh (4.4 x 5) but it's not, the Callpod Duo sports two 2.2Ah @ 3.7V battery packs or 16.28Wh.

Apple posts their battery specs in Wh, your home electricity bill is determined by KWh (Kilo Watt hours). Windows laptops on the other hand use mAh (milli-Amp hours) just because it sounds impressive but can also be misleading. Need another example, a 1Ah @ 100V battery is 100x more powerful than a 1Ah @ 1V battery...

On the plus side the Callpod does charge an iPad where as the XP4001 does not*.

*the XP4001 will slowly charge an iPad that's in standby.