Hands on: Turtle Beach Ear Force Elite 800 review

It's a plane changer

Headset manufacturers don't always tell you the truth. Well, it's almost the truth, but not quite. Want an example? Take 360-degree sound.

You see, most headsets use simulated 7.1 surround sound with either DTS- or Dolby-powered processing to simulate the experience of seven channels of audio. Because a headset only has two drivers (left and right earcup), simulation is really almost the only way to get surround sound while using a two driver system.

That's all well and good, but for the most part true-7.1 systems are angled producing sound above and below your ears giving you a more accurate experience in line with the sound designer's intentions. Until now, that's never been possible in a headset. Enter the Ear Force Elite 800 headset for PlayStation 3 and PS4.

360+-degree audio

By simulating different planes (higher, lower, and at-ear-level), the latest headset from Turtle Beach can actually attempt to go toe-to-toe with higher-end audio setups. During my demo of Wolfenstein: The New Order, I got a chance to use the set to gun my way through a beach level in the game.

While the explosive-laden battlefield wasn't the best place to hear the finer levels of details, I could differentiate between the planes of sound. Perhaps under quieter circumstances, like, say, in a Blu-ray, this will be a bit more pronounced, but for now it's functional.

A lot has changed since the brand's initial launch on new-gen consoles. Their first PS4 and Xbox One headsets suffered from subdued audio that really provided little to no bass. Plus, at least in the Xbox One's case, weren't truly wireless.

The Elite 800 was both completely wireless - thanks to a USB dongle that plugged into the front of the PS4 - and, believe it or not, overwhelmingly loud. There's no volume issue here. The Elite 800 can output the level of sound new-gen console gamers have been craving.

Design and price

At $299.95 (UK£189, about AU$321), this set isn't exactly cheap. But the robust feature set like the downloadable Turtle Beach app that lets you choose between different presets and custom make your own,and sturdy build quality just about justify the price tag.

The Elite 800 does a lot right with its design too. Reduced padding on the bridge reduces the overall weight from previous models while keeping a comfortable, snug grip on your head. Pleather earcups provided passive noise cancellation, while software inside the headset added a relatively powerful active cancellation component.

Controls built into the headset can be accessed via the faceplate-facing side and, once you get accustomed to what they all are, the faceplate can even be exchanged for one of the dozen, franchise-exclusive sets available on the company's website.

There's not much to complain about here, and with a 15-hour battery it's not like you'll run out of juice before getting experience it all.

Early verdict

While $300 is a lot to spend on a wireless gaming headset, the Elite 800 could potentially be the best of the bunch. The possibility of including a tournament-quality audio mix-amp should finally challenge Astro's hold on the hardcore scene, and additional planes of sound should make finding enemy players in first-person shooters a breeze.

Hands on: Razer Nabu SmartBand review

A smartband that features a discreet screen

Updated: We tested a new Razer Nabu Smartband prototype at E3 2014 and talked with CEO Min-Liang Tan in a video interview.

The Razer Nabu is rolling out to early developers right now and then to beta testers on July 10, but it's a little different from the smartband we went hands-on with at CES 2014.

Razer has dropped the device's top, public-facing OLED in the five months leading up to E3 2014, but it has kept the more secretive screen that sits on the underside of wearers' wrists.

This is Nabu's all-important "private message screen." It keeps notifications like calls, text messages and emails away from prying eyes while you still stay informed with the flick of your wrist.

Contrast that to the Moto 360. As eye-catching as its circular watch face looks, Motorola's smartwatch design is likely to invite unwanted glances at your intimate chats.

With Nabu, Razer has a solution for a problem that hasn't been invented yet but will be realized when Android Wear, the iWatch and more wearables go mainstream this year.

Razer Nabu release date

If it weren't for this year's Fitbit Force recall, then the Razer Nabu might have been available to buy right now through its developer program.

However, skin irritation fears among wearable makers delayed the first quarter beta launch date. Razer wanted to make sure the Nabu was "fully certified hypoallergenic."

With those tests out of the way, limited quantities are heading to the earliest of the 30,000 developers who signed up for the program. The betaofficially begins on July 10.

Like the Google Glass Explorer Edition beta program in its first year, Razer is trying to recruit experienced app developers who are going to put the smartband to good use instead of the general public.

That way, a more robust Razer Nabu consumer version with several months of real-world testing will be available later this year.

Razer Nabu price

The Razer Nabu Developer Edition is going to be rather inexpensive for all that it can do, costing just $49.99 (about £30, AU$53) in beta form.

On top of that, 500 lucky "hardcore Razer fans" from the 30,000 developer pool will be given the chance to buy an almost-free Nabu in exchange for more feedback. It'll be just $1.

Later this year, the consumer version is expected to launch for $99 (about £58, AU$105), which is still a cheap price compared to Nabu's smartband competition.

Razer Nabu features and specs

The Razer Nabu isn't meant to be the most flashy wrist-worn wearable. It's being designed so that users can discreetly check important notifications and almost forget about it.

The band simply vibrates whenever a call, text, email or social media notification is beamed to your wrist from a compatible iOS or Android device.

With an intuitive wrist turn, the 128 x 32 pixel private message screen displays the monochrome-colored notification, and pressing its single button or shaking your arm allows you to easily dismiss it.

Nabu also tracks fitness metrics that make use of its built-in accelerometer and altimeter. This includes calories burned, steps taken, floors climbed, distance traveled, hours slept and other personal goals.

With an IP54 water resistant rating, it's not quite waterproof, but the band resilient enough to be sweat and splash proof. You won't need to take it off during most exercise.

Razer Nabu battery life

You should be able to keep Nabu on for a week straight. Wearables have become another gadget to plug in, but this one is poised to last a seven days between charges.

We'll test this in our final Razer Nabu review, but we liked the fact that, in an effort to conserve battery life, the private message screen automatically turns off when it faces down.

This gesture-based wrist rotation toggle should keep you from having to bring out the included USB charging cable sooner than the suggested seven days.

Of course, Razer Nabu battery life will vary depending on how popular you are and how many notifications you get on a daily basis.

Nikon 1 V2 review

Although the Nikon 1 J1 proved to be an incredibly popular compact system camera (which has since been replaced by the Nikon 1 J2 and joined by the Nikon 1 J3), its larger sibling, the Nikon 1 V1, was never as popular.

Perhaps seen as not serious enough for "advanced photographers", its high asking price put off the beginners who were busy investing in the Nikon 1 J1.

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Now, however, Nikon has replaced the Nikon 1 V1 with the Nikon 1 V2, which promises to be an evolution of the existing camera and is what Nikon hopes will attract those lucrative more serious customers - the ones who are more likely to buy additional lenses and other accessories down the line.

The Nikon 1 V2 has a new 14.2 million pixel CX format (1-inch or 13.2 x 8.8mm) CMOS sensor. This is accompanied by a new processing engine dubbed Expeed 3A.

According to Nikon, this sensor and processor combination has enabled it to push the sensitivity range of the Nikon 1 V2 a stop higher than before, extending it from ISO 160 to ISO 6400 instead of ISO 100-3200, which should prove useful in low light.

Low light capability has been further extended by the addition of a pop-up flash unit, as well as a hotshoe, compatible with the new Speedlight SB-N7 and existing SB-N5 flashguns. Previously, the Nikon 1 V1 only had a hotshoe, while the J1 and J2 had a pop-up flash and no hotshoe.

It's also an accessory port, and can accept devices such as the GP-N100 GPS unit for tagging images with location data as they are captured.

One of the most interesting features of the Nikon 1 V2 is its continuous shooting ability. Thanks to that Expeed 3A engine, Nikon promises that the camera is capable of producing up to 45 full-resolution images at up to 15fps in continuous autofocus mode and for 40 images at 60fps when the focus mode is set to a single AF and the focus point and exposure are fixed from the first frame onwards. This makes it a great camera for capturing brief bursts of action.

Lots of its specs are very similar to its predecessor's. It features the same 3-inch 921,000 dot LCD and 0.47-inch 1,440,00-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) for composing and reviewing images.

The EVF is a key distinguishing feature between this camera and the Nikon 1 J1 and Nikon 1 J2, and should appeal to more serious users, as well as making it easier to use in bright sunlight.

The same hybrid AF system can also be found on the camera, with it switching between using the 73 phase-detection points and the 135 contrast detection points as it deems necessary.

The Nikon 1 V2 is priced at £799.99/US$899.95 with one 10-30mm kit lens included, or £969.99/US$1,149.95 with both 10-30mm and 30-110mm lenses.

BlueAnt Pump HD Sportsbuds review

Any athletic person will tell you horror tales of tangled wires and popped headphone cables as they attempt to listen to music on their iPhone 5S while running. Which is why stereo Bluetooth is such a perfect fit for active people.

The catch is that quite often, Bluetooth headphones don't tend to work well with the sweat they invariably start to drown in when used during fitness or sport.

Whether it's the salty liquid getting into the electronics components, or just having the earbuds pop out of your ears, Bluetooth headsets for runners haven't exactly set the world on fire.

Aussie company BlueAnt Wireless is trying to overcome these obstacles with its Pump HD sportsbuds. Rocking Bluetooth 3.0 for crisp, stereo audio and a waterproof, over-ear design, the Pumps are made for runners and other athletes who don't want to deal with the troubles of wired headphones.

Design

The Pumps aren't exactly revolutionary in terms of design - we've seen other behind-the-ear Bluetooth headphones before.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Pumps rest rest fairly comfortably behind the ear, with narrow extensions connecting to the earbuds that go in your ear holes themselves.

Connecting the two earpieces is a fairly short, flat, tangle-free cable, which makes storing and transporting the headphones easy.

Available in a variety of colour schemes, the Pumps are sporty in both performance and looks, which should help them appeal to the athletic crowd.

Built with both kevlar and teflon in the speaker enclosure, and a smooth rubberised exterior, the BlueAnt headphones are fairly comfortable to wear and impervious to liquids.

There's only a single covered Micro-USB port for charging the headphones, with three control buttons located on the right earpiece doing everything else.

Because audio quality from in-ear buds comes largely from how well the buds fit in your ear, BlueAnt has stuffed the box the Pumps come with full of ear buds of different sizes.

There are four small, medium and large attachments, plus a couple of "awareness tips" that don't block out external sound, and two sets of "stabilizers" designed to lock the earbuds in place in your ears.

Even without the stabilizers, the Pumps feel secure when worn. But clip those extra bits of plastic on and these headphones aren't going anywhere.

That's not an inconsiderable achievement, and something athletic types will be more than happy to hear.

The stabilizers do make getting the earpieces in your earholes a touch more difficult, but the security of never having to worry about them falling out is definitely worth it.

Also in the box is a cable tie for the cord behind your head. It seems like an unnecessary inclusion given the cable is fairly short anyway, but the fact it's in the box is a welcome addition.

All of these extra attachments are important though, as having the right earpieces attached is essential. If you opt for an earpiece size too small, the buds are likely to go a little too deep in your ears.

While wearing with the medium buds, my jaw would seal the earbud every time I swallowed, blocking the music I was listening to. Changing to the larger sized buds fixed the problem though, even if they did feel like they sat a little further out than I was used to.

From a comfort perspective, the Pumps feel fairly easy on the ears for extended sessions, so long as the stabilisers aren't attached.

When you do pop the extra plastic attachments on though, the headphones can get very irritable. Its' the price you pay for absolute security of connection though.

Audio quality

Having the best fitting headphones leads to the best possible audio quality. But if you're looking for a massive range in a pair of compact sporty Bluetooth headphones, you're going to be disappointed.

For their size and weight, the Pumps produce decent audio quality. Not great audio, by any stretch of the imagination, but decent.

Bass is always the challenge with smaller earphones, and there's plenty of room for improvement on that front.

Even with a perfect seal, the bass is understated, and without clear definition.

The midrange, too, sounds a bit washed out. We tried the headphones with a range of music and there is a distinct lack of clarity in the mid range, while up top, it's decent without being spectacular.

That may sound like the Pumps are akin to listening to cats shrieking through a tin can, but the truth is that the sound is passable.

What's more impressive is that the headphones manage that sound while feeling secure enough to never fall out of your ears.

Naturally, the Pumps also double as a Bluetooth hands free device, allowing you to make and receive calls while listening to music.

With only three buttons controlling both the music playback/volume and the call settings, remembering which combination of button presses does what is a challenge.

We constantly put the phone into voice control mode when trying to skip a track by double-pressing the play button, for example.

On the upside, battery life is pretty decent - BlueAnt promises 7-8 hours of audio playback, and we got around that number. For such a compact pair of headphones, that's a respectable number.

Fitbit Flex review

Even though the Flex was briefly superseded earlier this year with the arrival of the Fitbit Force, it is once again the company's flagship tracker following the Force's recall earlier this year.

Fitbit has said it's fixed the issues that plagued the Force and is all set to release the new, updated version, but until that happens, the Flex is still the wrist-mounted tracker flagship from the company.

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Announced at CES back in 2013, the Fitbit Flex combines the step-counting technology that made its One and Zip products so useful, and places it on the wrist for convenience.

This big design change has some pretty big advantages. For a start, the fear of having the small sensor pop out from a pocket while walking is gone. With the wrist mounted option, you always know where the device is.

The second major benefit is for sleep-tracking. While the Fitbit One offered the ability to track sleep by slipping the sensor into a soft, velcro arm band, the Flex leaves the sensor permanently attached, allowing you to switch modes without removing the device at all.

Unlike the Jawbone Up, the Flex consists of two separate parts - the sensor and the strap. The sensor itself is smaller than the One, thanks to the fact that it doesn't include an LED display.

Instead, five LED lights indicate the number of steps taken during a day, and are only activated by double tapping the device.

The rubber wristband is lightweight, but a little simplistic in its design. Unlike a watch strap or even a bracelet, the Flex uses a plastic grey latch to poke to plastic prongs into a series of holes on the band.

Getting the Flex closed the first time can be challenging, but it does quickly become second nature. It's not as comfortable or effortless as the Jawbone Up, but it is functional.

The other noteworthy aspect of the Flex band is the clear bar that sits above the LED lights in the actual tracker unit. This band allows you to view your progress while wearing the band.

But after a few weeks, that clear band was already showing signs of wear and tear, with scuffs and scratches, despite a blatant lack of gruelling conditions.

Of course, Fitbit offers a range of bands in a variety of colours, which might be a nice way (although expensive) to work around this problem.

One of the most immediate joys of using the Fitbit Flex over the Jawbone Up is the inclusion of Bluetooth 4.0 wireless syncing. Instead of having to manually remove the device and plug it into your phone to sync, the FitBit will periodically wake up and connect to your phone, keeping your stats up to date.

The catch is that at the moment, wireless syncing to mobile still only works with a very limited number of devices. If you don't own an iPhone 4S,iPhone 5, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 2, then you're out of luck on the phone front.

That said, it also syncs with a 5th Gen iPod Touch, 3rd and 4th Gen iPad and iPad mini and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.

While this is currently a major frustration for Android users, there is good news on that front with Google announcing Bluetooth Smart support as part of the OS, which should theoretically give Bluetooth 4.0 syncing support to a much wider range of devices.

In the meantime, the Flex does come with a small USB dongle for syncing to Mac or PC. It works well, but is nowhere near as elegant a solution as the mobile syncing.

One thing that does work in the Flex's favour is battery life. Despite the inclusion of Bluetooth for wireless syncing, the Flex still managed to almost match the Jawbone Up for longevity when worn side by side.

While the Up can be pushed to 9 days of use - depending on how active you are - the Flex tended to last seven or eight days.

Sure, that's a step down, but the convenience of wireless syncing makes it all worthwhile. Especially given it also offers some kind of real time indication of your daily progress in the form of five LED lights, while the Up has nothing.

The question of accuracy

Like a high-tech hipster, we tested the Flex by wearing it on our weaker arm, with the Jawbone Up right alongside it. Despite the proximity of the two devices, the results were quite varied.

On the sleep front, the Jawbone was easily the stronger device. Nights spent getting up and down to unsettled children were accurately broken up by the Up as times awake, while the Fitbit app claimed that sleep was just a little unsettled.

But when it came to step counting, the devices offered such varied results that you had to wonder how they could both claim to count the same thing.

Without fail, the Flex reported a significantly higher number of steps taken than the Up. On a day where we conquered our 10,000 step goal on the Flex, the Up would bring us back to earth by reporting only 8,000 steps taken.

To test which of the two was more accurate, we physically walked 200 steps, counting as we went. Neither device tracked the steps 100 per cent accurately, although the Flex did come up slightly closer to the mark.

How that extrapolates to larger numbers is unclear, but there's a real question mark over the accuracy of the wrist-mounted device, which is something we didn't encounter with the pocket-mounted One or Flex.

Steps to 'appiness

Fitbit's app is easy enough to come to grips with for even the most novice of users, but does let you drill down into more and more layers of information.

That said, it still struggles with food tracking thanks to a lack of internationally localised cuisines, although that is something that can be worked around thanks to the third party app ecosystem and services like MyFitnessPal.

Compared to the Jawbone, the social aspect with the FitBit app seems undercooked, which seems like a missed opportunity.

On the upside, Fitbit has just launched IFTTT compatibility, which will automate many functions and help improve the overall function of the device with very little effort.

Which goes back to the verdict we came to in our Jawbone Up review, that the Fitbit is a much more useful fitness tool, while the Up is a lifestyle tech accessory.

The Flex does start to veer to the accessory side of the fence with its design, but it's app keeps it firmly in the fitness tool category.

Verdict

The Fitbit ecosystem is a great way to start using technology to keep on top of your personal health. But the Flex is the weakest link in the product lineup, a device that tries to take the same technology as the One and place it in a much more convenient position on the body.

The catch is that it sacrifices too much. Gone is the satisfying feeling of accuracy, with high step counts seemingly too-easy to obtain thanks to inaccurate algorithms.

The wristband itself could also use a little more work. It's lightweight and comfortable, but looks more like the watchband on a kid's watch than a truly stylish piece of tech.

All that said though, Fitbit has shown the strengths of its platform. Wireless syncing is essential in this product lineup, and having a strong app ecosystem is a huge benefit to fitness trackers out there.

There's no doubt the second generation Flex will improve on all of the issues, but at this stage the One is still a much better alternative for your money.