Product Comparison: Microsoft Xbox 360 Headsets

I'm a bit of a casual gamer. I play a few rounds of games here and there on my Xbox 360, mostly connected online with friends. It's all fun and games (literally) until we actually need a way to communicate with each other in-game and thankfully, Microsoft was kind enough to supply a wired headset with a purchase of an Xbox 360. Too bad it just doesn't work.

The wired "default" headset is powered by connecting to the Xbox 360 Controller via 2.5mm cable. It has a speaker which will be on one ear as well as a mic for speaking. Speaker quality is not the best, but when your virtual self is being shot at in a battlefield, sound quality is not on my list of things to worry about. What I do worry about is my voice reaching whoever is on my chat. The mic for the lack of the better term, is not sensitive enough to pick up most of what the user says unless the user screams while pressing the mic up against the user's mouth. If a voice does get picked up by the mic, it's mostly muffled sound rather than English words one can recognize.

The headset itself is not very comfortable to wear for any longer than an hour or two. It does at least have a volume dial on the cable along with the mic on/off switch, which doesn't hurt to have, but not used often enough to make an impact with this particular headset. In addition to the frustrating problem of getting a headset that doesn't work as intended, the good folks at Microsoft deny this being an issue as the manual even suggests I speak with my "normal" voice and it should work.

Perhaps I'm the odd one out not speaking with CAPS LOCK ON on Xbox Live.

Earlier I have mentioned the headset having a 2.5mm cable. This means you simply can't use a good headset you may already have for your computer. Considering it's Microsoft who designed the controller and the headset, it's a bit painful to see as to why they couldn't have used a 3.5mm jack like everyone else. If the Xbox 360 was $10 or even $5 cheaper while not including the headset, I would have gone with that option. Unfortunately, Microsoft thought it was funny to get my hopes by giving me an awesome first impression, followed by a kick in the knee.

The wireless headset, retailing for about $40-new, is quite different from the wired "default" headset. Not just the fact that one is wireless and the other is not: the mic does work. Instead of screaming however, you simply have to speak up. Just use the "I'm-trying-to-speak-to-this-person-across-the-table-over-music-in-a-pub" voice. Not exactly screaming, but enough so that you have to put a little effort into it. While there are still considerable amount of muffles and cut outs, the mic is gets the job done 60-70% of the time you speak with a bit of a loud tone.

With the bar of expectation set so low thanks to the first headset, I was a bit happy with this one.

Design wise, it's rather compact and is little bigger than an average size Bluetooth headset and is intended to be worn like one. It tells you which controller it is synced with using an indicator right next to the mic, and has power/mute and volume buttons on the opposite side of the speakers, which can be easily accessed.

The downside besides still somewhat crappy mic is the fact that it's battery operated due to the wireless capability. When the built-in battery dies out, it's time to charge it with a USB cable which can be plugged into a computer or the Xbox 360 itself. The battery life is good for a gaming session of 2-3 hours on full charge. Since it is charged with a USB cable, it does charge a bit slowly compared to most electronics it's size. That said, I just might be spoiled with battery life of Apple products.

In the end, neither headsets from Microsoft proved to be useful. Not even sure if the wireless headset is even worth that $40. Now I'm on a journey to find an off brand now that'll do the job I need it to do. If you know any headsets that does the job for you for under $80, do post a comment regarding which one and I shall try it out.

Product Review: Apple's Magic Mouse

It's a magical tool more likely to be existing in a sci-fi story instead of reality, but it also comes with a curse or two.

It's been roughly about a half a year since I got an iMac and one of the few items that was boxed with, was the Magic Mouse. Being a PC user most of my life and having to use "normal" mouses, the Magic Mouse was rather alienating. To my surprise, I got used to it much faster than I thought. Magical.

The Magic Mouse is about 11cm long, 4.5cm wide, and has the height of 1.3cm. The arc of the mouse isn't the most comfortable, but it's comfortable enough to be used for hours if needed, without breaking the wrist. It connects to an Apple Computer via Bluetooth wavelength and It takes 2 AA batteries. It's amazing how the batteries last so long. Since that time it got out of the box half a year ago, I have changed the (rechargeable) batteries only about 4-5 times in total. And I'm pretty much on this iMac for 2-3 hours on day to day basis. Sometimes, I forget that it takes AA batteries, or even runs on batteries at all since I change them less than often. It really just seems like something from a fictional story. When it comes to futuristic tools, batteries aren't really an issue.

The material on the top half is a white plastic with a small, gray Apple logo near the back followed by a transparent layer of plastic on top, deserving some nice points for the cosmetics. The bottom half has more of an metallic exterior and a battery cover (also with an Apple logo on it), where the laser sensor and on-and-off switch is located. It looks like something CSI agents would use to... check for blood in a room or something... The point, is it looks nice and it even looks as if it can perform tricks. The line splitting left click and right click buttons are something I wasn't too used to seeing gone, however. As I would often misclick to either side and rarely still do since I'm using the two-button-click setting. This means most forms of gaming are thrown out the window to the window's side of things unless I get a replacement mouse, but the saving grace is that mac's in general aren't built for games in the first place.

It also works on just about any surface! It's somehow smart enough to recognize even something ridiculous as my own arm and I can navigate on it. Books, walls, even clothes. It also doesn't seem to struggle like most optical mouses out there where their curser gets "lost" when the mouse is being used on a colourful surface. This is most likely due to the laser tracking mechanism at the bottom of the Magic Mouse. Working on just about any surface as long as it's even enough. That's just alien-technology.

The fact that it has no buttons as mentioned earlier, means the mouse can act more like an iPod Touch or an iPhone in terms of controls. Scrolling of pages can be done with a single finger swiping in any direction, which replaces the middle zoom dial that would normally be found on an optical mouse, and then some. The buttons on the side for the very much admired "back" button that's normally on even a cheap optical mouse now a-days is also replaced by the two-finger swipe function of the Magic Mouse. Just simply swipe two fingers to the left on the Magic Mouse to go back and swipe to the right to go forward of the browser. Surprisingly, the "swipe" features work well. Well, too well. I lost count on how many times it went back a page on my browser while I was reading the contents of the page. It scrolls fast and responsibility, but sometimes, it just runs through the page and I'm left to struggle to find where I was on the page prior to the little scrolling accident having my memory and "Command + F" as my hope to get back where I was. It's not the end of the world, but it's annoying enough for me to make a note of it. If I want to peacefully stay on the page I'm on and enjoy the contents, the only solution is to simply let go of this magical device, which I often refuse to do since I'm more used to having the mouse in my right hand incase I need to do anything while I'm surfing online as opening up another tab or scroll down a little. The two-finger swipe function can be turned off, but that would mean my left hand would need to constantly rest on the "delete/back space" button of the keyboard all the time. The Magic Mouse is a tool that looks simple with complex features. Quite the opposite from an optical mouse, if you think about it.

These little troubles I have with the Magic Mouse can be overcome with time and practice. Well, a lot of time considering I've had it for half a year already. One last thing-and the thing that drives me a little past being annoyed with it's magical-ness: Google Map is impossible to use with the Magic Mouse. Any slight movement can either leave you starring the map at street view of the location where the mouse curser was, or a view of the world map. It magically becomes too sensitive and zooms in or out, very much often on the extreme. I'm forced to use my iPhone infront of the iMac to look up directions on a map.

The features and the ideas behind them regarding the Magic Mouse is great and innovative like most things Apple. Also like most things Apple, it wants the world to get used to the new way of doing things. Most of the time, it's good and it works, but in the Magic Mouse's case, the features seem a little too advanced for my static ways of using a "normal" mouse. And Google Map.

I feel as though, while a "normal" wired optical mouse wont be as beautiful, smart, or technologically advanced (by several decades) as the Magic Mouse and I wont be able to be in awe of its wonderful features every time I use them (correctly), I just might enjoy it better in a sense that it will more... trouble-less.