New Creative EP-630i With In-Line Microphone For iPhone!

Creative Technology Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products, today announced the Creative EP-630i In-Ear Stereo Headset exclusively designed for the iPhone and iPod.

The difference between the Creative EP-630i and the Creative EP-630 is that the Creative EP-630i comes with an in-line microphone! So if you have been searching for a pair of great in-ear earphones, but have been put off by the lack of a microphone, then here’s your answer.

Available in sleek black, Creative EP-630i In-Ear Stereo Headset is perfect for call answering and music listening. With an integrated slim in-line microphone that toggles between calls and music at the simple press of a button, users never have to worry about missing a call when listening to their favourite iTunes.

Powered by 9mm Neodymium magnet drivers, Creative EP-630i In-Ear Stereo Headset offers excellent bass with crystal clear speech. The in-ear design complete with soft silicone earbuds in 3 different sizes offer personalised fit while providing great noise isolation.

Key Highlights of Creative EP-630i In-Ear Stereo Headset:

• Integrated microphone with answer/end call switch and customised 3.5mm 4-pole plug connection to iPhone
• Lightweight and tangle-free cable in Y-configuration for ease of use
• 1.2m Oxygen-Free Copper cable and gold-plated plug offer pristine speech and music delivery

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Can’t Call Out With The iPhone? Fix To The Call Failed Problem with iPhone

I found out that my new iPhone has terrible reception, even in places with supposedly good coverage. It turns out that it’s because of certain settings that I didn’t configure properly. After I changed them, all was good again!

So if your iPhone is like mine and you see “Call Ended” and then “Call Failed” immediately after trying to dial out from your iPhone, even though there’s a good signal (i.e. you can see signal bars, so you are connected to your carrier). Then relax, because there probably is no problem with the phone — you PROBABLY just need to do these 2 steps:

1) Go to Settings > General > Date and Time. Switch off “Set Automatically” and manually select your hometown (the default is Cupertino). If you dont change it, you will not be able to make outgoing calls. But the wierd part is, you will still be able to receive incoming calls. Once done, manually set the date and time, and restart your iPhone. If you want, you can reset the 2 settings to “Set Automatically” again.

2) Next, go to Settings > Phone > Show My Caller ID > Switch this to “ON”. Usually with these steps, things should be okay already. If not, you have to turn off “Call Forwarding” and “Call Waiting” as well.

Hope that helps!

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Cheap iPhone Earphones From eBay - The Real Deal?

One of the problems with my previous phone - the Samsung i780 - was that it was incredibly hard to find accessories for it. I couldn’t find a headphone jack converter for it - and I really needed it because I couldn’t use the stock earphones as they kept falling out. So I couldn’t use my normal earphones with it, which was a bummer.

With the iPhone, it came with an in-built 3.5mm headphone jack, so things were great - or so I thought. Turns out that the iPhone’s headphone jack was 3.5mm, but it was recessed so that only mini 3.5mm plugs could fit it. That meant that I couldn’t use my Panasonic earphones with it (the earphones had a L-shaped jack).

Since it was about time that I changed earphones, I went to look around for a good pair, and I found that the Creative EP-630’s came well recommended for their value for money. The first place that I tried to get a pair at was eBay, and imagine my surprise when I found that the earphones were sold at nearly half-price! Thinking that it was extremely lucky of me to have found this super-bargain, I nearly purchased them on the spot, but for some reason, I didn’t — good thing though! I poked around, and found some places discussing the earphones that were listed on eBay and other places that were a fraction of the original retail prices. It turns out that almost all of these earphones were imitations and sounded nowhere close to their originals.

They look almost identical though - and they had imitations for almost any models in the market. For the plain Apple earphones to the complex Shures — everything was online and for sale. And just by the pictures on the listings, it was almost impossible to tell the real from the fake. The fakes even came with packaging so real you’d be amazed! After looking through several listings, I realised that there are some cases that have obvious mistakes though - just take a look at the listing photo below of these Panasonic RP-HJE500 earphones that supposedly came with aluminium housings, or in this case, “alminium housing”.

After receiving the earphones, you’ll realise that they’re manufactured at a lower quality too. For example, if you were to get a pair of Shures, you might realise that the imitations have plastic grey capsules, unlike the more metallic texture of the originals. The top halves might also be made of glossy plastic instead of the matte finish in the originals. The letters in the Shure logo are placed further apart from each other and in some cases, the “R” and “E” characters don’t connect like in the case of the authentic Shure logo.

So if you’re buying from eBay and the seller/price looks too good to be true - then it probably is! The earphones are probably still fine if you’re not too discerning about sound quality though - they aren’t the originals, but at those prices, they can be your pair of backup earphones or earphones for more rough use, like when you go exercising.

In the end, I decided to go to Amazon instead, and purchased my pair of Creative EP-630’s (link to Creative EP-630). It comes with a straight plug, and the sound quality is awesome for its price!

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Samsung i780 versus Apple iPhone

To cut a long story short, I sold off my Samsung i780 for an Apple iPhone. I bought the Samsung i780 at SGD680, and sold it off for SGD480. It was 3 months old, but in great condition, and I hated to see it go.

So that’s a SGD200 loss. Verdict? I love the iPhone. It’s gorgeous and user-friendly as hell. After getting it, I realised how clunky the Windows Mobile interface was. It just isn’t intuitive as the iPhone’s, or even Palm’s (which was what I was using before I switched to my Samsung i780).

With the switch, I gave up certain features like the ability to edit Office documents, do custom Windows Mobile programming, and use Microsoft Exchange, but I realised that it wasn’t a big deal at all. In fact, I didn’t even miss those features. So I guess it really boils down to what you really need, versus every features thrown into the mix. The Windows Mobile interface just didn’t cut it for me, which was why I decided to sell the i780, and I’m glad I did so!

Updates about the iPhone soon!

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Brown Leather & Stainless Steel Bi-fold Wallet

I just came across the very interesting Stainless Steel Bi-fold Wallet by Stewart/Stand. It claims to be durable and resistant to corrosive materials such as salts, acids and even seawater. I’m not sure about that — but I know that I love the way this wallet looks, because it’s very unique and very different from your usual men’s leather wallet. The difference in these Stewart/Stand wallets, and why they look absolutely gorgeous, is the woven stainless steel texture. The inner pockets are made from this material, so the interior feels silky and looks unlike any other wallet. If you’re a geek or just love cool stuff, then this wallet is a must-buy!

It’s currently sold on Amazon: Brown Leather & Stainless Steel Bi-fold Wallet

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