Review of JBL J88A Headphones

There are so many headphones available in the market today.  I own several of them, and being a big fan of JBL speakers, I decided to purchase these JBL J88A headphones when they were marked down to about $25.  I think these were originally retailed around $150 which is a bit overpriced.

These are decent headphones for the $25-$50 price range. I listen to a variety of music with these at home (rap, hip hop, pop, reggae, classical), and this produces a full rich sound.  I own a couple of Sennheisers in this price range and the the Sennheisers have better treble but this JBL has better bass. I've also listen to the Beats headphones a lot, and these JBL J88A compare the same as Beats Solo which retails for $199.  I will say though that the Beats Studio sound better than these JBL, but the Beats Studio retails for $299 so it's your personal choice.

These are not noise cancelling headphones and they don't claim to be.  By noise cancelling, I'm referring to technology such as the Bose QC25 which has the on/off switch to filter out specific frequencies such as airplane engine noise.  The Bose QC25 work great in this regard.  These JBL don't have that feature but due to it's over the ear design and thick cushion, it does filter out a decent amount of surrounding noise.

These headphones also come with a microphone so you can talk to people on skype, or playing games online.

These headphones fold and can be stored in it's accompanying pouch.

Overall, these are decent speakers for this $25-$50 price range.  Not the best speakers in the world but not bad either.  There are literally hundreds of earphones/headphones in the market today so the choice really is a personal decision.

Here's my review on Youtube.

Review of Anker PowerCore 15600 Portable Battery

You probably own several mobile devices (phones, tablets, bluetooth headsets, speakers, etc), and have encountered situations where you need power on the road when you're not near a wall charger.  There are a number of choices for mobile battery packs to serve that purpose.  There are inexpensive knockoff brands on Amazon for $10+ , as well as expensive brands at your electronic stores that are $90+.   Anker is a brand in case you're not familiar with them, that is absolutely superb in terms of product quality and customer support.

I purchased this Anker PowerCore 15600 mAh battery from Amazon for $30 and really love this battery. I have a number of batteries from other brands and a previous generation Anker Astro E4 in the past and this beats all of them in every way.

The box comes with primarily the battery itself, a mesh pouch, and some manual instructions.  Picture of everything is attached below.

The biggest improvement is the 4.8 Amps total across both ports so you can charge 2 demanding 2.1/2.4 Amp devices currently at full speed. Slightly older generation batteries from other brands or the E4/E5/E7 series only supported up to 3A. With today's high demand devices, you need the 4.8A, as most devices are 2+ Amps.

The battery is rated at 15600 mAh, in my real testing I get about 12600 mAh actual which is an impressive 81% efficiency rate! The devices I used it to charge were Note 4 (3220 mAh), Galaxy Tab Pro 8 (4800 mAh), Galaxy Tab S (7900 mAh), Nook HD+ (6000 mAh), iPhone 5 (1440 mAh). From my experience, an 81% efficiency is extremely good for these types of external batteries. I've tried other brands and they don't get anywhere close to that. My E4 could only dish out 8500 mAh although it was rated at 13000, so that's only 65% efficiency. Same with other brands as well, I've typically seen 60 something percent efficiency. With this battery, I can get almost 5 charges on my Note 4 which would last a whole week (I start charging at around 25% battery left).

As I noted above, it can charge my Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ also so that is a big plus. The Nook HD+ is very particular with the 5.1 volt charger it requires so this is great that it is supported for those who either use the B&N interface, or have put CyanogenMod on it.

This PowerCore also does not get hot when charging 1 or 2 devices. With other brands and also the the E4, they did get hot when charging 2 devices concurrently.

This might not be a big deal but I do like the dim led indicators. Other batteries have bright leds to indicate how much battery is left but this one is real dim, almost can't even see them. Hey, if it saves battery to charge my phone, I'm all for it.

This new PowerCore series has changed the finishing on the battery where it's now a matte casing instead of glossy from the previous generation.  The matte finish helps to prevent fingerprint marks that were frequently seen on the E4 series.

This new PowerCore series also took away the flashlight that was present in the E4, but that was a feature I rarely used on the E4.

It was a little longer than the E4 but since then I've been used to it, it's not a big deal anymore. I don't have the E5 so maybe the length is similar to the E5. It's a little too long to fit in your pocket, but it can easily fit into my work laptop bag, womens' purses, and it's easy to carry around to use at home on the couch so no need to be by a wall charger.

Just an awesome purchase, money well spent, and I recommend to anyone. Don't purchase any cheaper knockoff brands, there are tons of them and I can tell you from experience they are very poor in quality (slow charging, sometimes don't work, make high pitch sounds, etc). I've purchased and returned them to Amazon or they are just lying around the house unused. This Anker PowerCore 15600 doesn't have any of those problems, it simply just works great.

The only drawback is the long charging time of the battery itself. It took me 9 hours to fully charge the battery using a 2.1 Amp wall charger. A Qualcomm rapid charger feature would be a nice feature to add.

Here's a Youtube video I put together reviewing this product

Enjoy and Happy Shopping!

Review of Anker PowerLine Micro USB Cable

You lose your phone or tablet's Micro USB charging cable, or it somehow is broken.  Now you need to find a replacement cable but don't want to get a cheap one that will break easily.  Also, you need a cable that will charge your device fast and transfer data to your computer quickly.  Here's a high quality cable to consider.

This is the Anker PowerLine Micro USB Cable, that can be found on Amazon.  Overall, I love this cable for 2 reason: Sturdy construction and fast charging speed

This Micro USB cable is very well built and should easily last you many years.  I have cables from Samsung, Motorola, Asus, JBL, Nexus devices, etc and they are nowhere close to being this sturdy. I have a Samsung Note 4 USB cable where the wires are exposed at both ends with normal usage.  I needed a replacement and this Anker cable is it.  

Many people don't realize that Micro USB cables have varying charging and data transfer speeds. For instance, a slower Micro USB cable from like a Samsung Galaxy S3 is much slower than the cable from a Note 4. The 2.1 vs 1 AMP in the charger makes a difference of course, but switch out the cables from the charger and you'll see a significant difference in charging and data transfer speed. The cables themselves don't indicate a speed or gauge so it's almost impossible to tell. I tested this Anker PowerLine cable with Note 4 and Nexus 6 phones and it charges really fast. Note 4 charged at a rate of 1% per minute, this is without Fast Charging enabled and in line with the stock Samsung Micro USB cable speed.

The fast speed and durable build make this a very good buy for a high quality cable. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a replacement Micro USB cable, or needing one to take for the outdoors that might take a little beating. I've used it both with home AC chargers, as well as the Anker E4 and PowerCore 15600 portable batteries, they all work great together.

I have other Anker products as well and I can tell you their customer service is the best in the industry. Products are well made and you are well supported within the 18 month warranty. Buy and feel secure is all I have to say. Check out their product ratings and user comments, that speaks for itself. Don't buy cheap knock off brands, I've been there, done that to save a few bucks, and what a hassle. Don't let the latest slickdeal lure you into purchasing a lousy product, go with a reputable company :-)

Here's a Youtube video I put together reviewing this product.

Happy Shopping!