home stereo: Friendtech iDea Wireless Home Dock and Wireless Hi-Fi Headset Hands On
This iDea Wireless Home dock is pretty much an iPod dock that can support PSPs, any MP3 player and mobile phones (using the cellphone adapter).
The iPod portion of the dock works just like a standard iPod dock&mdash you plug in your iPod, plug the dock AC adapter into the wall and USB 2.0 cable into your computer and blammo, just like the official universal dock. The neat part comes when you use the RCA and S-Video cables to connect this to your TV.
By doing so, you can watch your iPod Video's movies on your regular TV screen—yes, this dock comes with both cables. You can listen to your tunes on your home stereo system, which is honestly going to sound much better than any standard dock's speakers. Navigation from the couch is fairly easy using the wireless remote. All the functions are there: scroll right, scroll left, menu, ok, play/pause, and volume adjustment. The only problem we had was actually seeing the iPod's screen from the couch. It would have been much better if they could replicate its UI on the TV instead of having to squint at the iPod to find the next video or song to play.
This dock also works with a PSP, but unfortunately we didn't have a PSP to test it with, so we can't tell you how well it works. The audio jack and power port fits directly into where the PSP's ports are so it can charge and play simultaneously.
You can also plug in a standard MP3 player (read: Non iPod) into the audio jack to pipe the music over your TV or Stereo. Just don't expect any video usage out of it like an iPod Video. Cellphones like the Sony Walkman series also work fine with this too. All three device types give pretty great sounding audio without any kind of distortion from passing through the dock.
The other fun item is the Wireless Hi-Fi headset. This thing was super easy to use. All you had to do was put in the included AA batteries, click the "RF Power" button on the wireless remote for the dock, turn on the headset and instant audio. The dock uses 2.4 GHz to broadcast audio for the internal wireless version (the one shown), and 900 MHz for the external wireless one. That means you'll have to cycle through the available channels to find one that doesn't get interference from your WiFi. The range was pretty good, and we could hear music all the way from the living room into the john.
All in all, the headset's sound quality was nice, if a little lacking in power. The construction feels a little plasticky, but solid enough so it could fit around my giant noggin.
So, if you're looking for something to hook up your iPod/Cellphone/MP3 player to your home stereo or TV, this is it. Lots of functionality with little to no problems with the execution. – Jason Chen
The iPod portion of the dock works just like a standard iPod dock&mdash you plug in your iPod, plug the dock AC adapter into the wall and USB 2.0 cable into your computer and blammo, just like the official universal dock. The neat part comes when you use the RCA and S-Video cables to connect this to your TV.
By doing so, you can watch your iPod Video's movies on your regular TV screen—yes, this dock comes with both cables. You can listen to your tunes on your home stereo system, which is honestly going to sound much better than any standard dock's speakers. Navigation from the couch is fairly easy using the wireless remote. All the functions are there: scroll right, scroll left, menu, ok, play/pause, and volume adjustment. The only problem we had was actually seeing the iPod's screen from the couch. It would have been much better if they could replicate its UI on the TV instead of having to squint at the iPod to find the next video or song to play.
This dock also works with a PSP, but unfortunately we didn't have a PSP to test it with, so we can't tell you how well it works. The audio jack and power port fits directly into where the PSP's ports are so it can charge and play simultaneously.
You can also plug in a standard MP3 player (read: Non iPod) into the audio jack to pipe the music over your TV or Stereo. Just don't expect any video usage out of it like an iPod Video. Cellphones like the Sony Walkman series also work fine with this too. All three device types give pretty great sounding audio without any kind of distortion from passing through the dock.
The other fun item is the Wireless Hi-Fi headset. This thing was super easy to use. All you had to do was put in the included AA batteries, click the "RF Power" button on the wireless remote for the dock, turn on the headset and instant audio. The dock uses 2.4 GHz to broadcast audio for the internal wireless version (the one shown), and 900 MHz for the external wireless one. That means you'll have to cycle through the available channels to find one that doesn't get interference from your WiFi. The range was pretty good, and we could hear music all the way from the living room into the john.
All in all, the headset's sound quality was nice, if a little lacking in power. The construction feels a little plasticky, but solid enough so it could fit around my giant noggin.
So, if you're looking for something to hook up your iPod/Cellphone/MP3 player to your home stereo or TV, this is it. Lots of functionality with little to no problems with the execution. – Jason Chen
