R2D2 USB Memory Stick Review

R2D2 USB Memory Stick Review

In a world of USB flash drives that do everything short of making dinner, there's something to be said for a simple flash drive with a small price tag. And while you’re at it make it personal you could go to any computer shop and pick between their black or grey sticks maybe you’ll get lucky and find an Angry birds Memory stick limited to a 2GB storage. We don’t like in a world limited to Black, Grey or Angry for this situation we have the internet for which I thank, It means that I can get a more personal product like this, It makes me able to say every time I get something new “Hey guys look at this” Rather than “I got the Lexar JumpDrive® S70 USB Flash Drive” and Dave saying “Yea me too mate”.

On top of its awesome appearance it seems fairly sturdy with the material it’s made out of I think I could drop it a lot of times without it breaking or risking anything and it should also be moderately water resistant with the head covering the USB most of the time.

Now for any negative points, first the most common problem with personalised USB memory sticks. Its shape isn’t the most effective for its purpose of quickly plugging in to any USB slot. While it’s not oversized or clunky it is effectively a barrel shape so it won’t go into all USB Ports, for me this became apparent when I had to unplug something from the slot next to the one this was going into to test it. So if your ever thinking of buying a USB that looks like this or a cat or anything just be aware that you may be switching around or not able to just slot it in like a basic square USB.

 The second problem isn’t with the product but with the Price/seller. If you are wanting to just buy one and want it for a deal price you will have to wait something like 20-45 days so this can’t be something that you need tomorrow as you could easily double to cost for a quick delivery. With this there is also a tiny issue of having to pay in USD rather than £ meaning that you may need to calculate the actual price.

Features:
* Fully compatible with hi-speed USB 2.0
* USB powered, no external power is required
* Just plug and play into a USB port, easy to operate
* Material: plastic
* Capacity: 2GB to 32GB
* Weight: 38g

Labelled as “robot” USB 2.0 Memory stick in the site pages of Chinabuye.com, This memory stick is a steal. Overall it doesn’t suffer any issues that you don’t get with this sort of product and its just a quick plug in and play. I bought 4GB version to test out costing around £6.40 with a range of 2GB to 32GB ranging from around £6 to £17. *prices depend on postage, Quantity and exchange rates between USD and £.

Mini Egg tumbler speaker

Mini Egg tumbler speaker

I recently bought this speaker for $9.01 (Approximately £6.30 including shipping) from china. Similar to any mini speaker such as a hamburger speaker the purpose of this product is for music on the move, my prefered purpose is for a mobile presentation setup to add a boost to laptop speakers.

Basic Mini hamburger speakers

This speaker is significantly more powerful than the basic hamburger speakers around while it is also significantly bigger at 8cm tall and 5.5cm wide so I will use my previous purchase of a Mini hamburger speaker as a comparison. Immediately the Egg tumbler speaker looks significantly better with a clearer finish while it opens and closes easily and when it is turned on the inside lights up and changes colour making it appear as a well put together product. In comparison the Hamburger speaker does not look as nice, does not close as easily however it does have the ability to work as a standalone MP3 player by just adding a sd card with music into it and its wire connecting it to a laptop is more durable.

Mini hamburger speaker with MP3 built in

Egg tumbler speaker

As you can see on the left the Mini Hamburger speaker has a slot to inser a SD card and a adjustment slide which increases/decreases volume and skips songs.







As you can see below when the Egg tumbler is turned on it glows and changes colours showing that it will always look better than the hamburger speaker.

The wire of the Egg tumbler has brought it down significantly as you can see in the pictures, The plastic has already started to break away from the wire. This happened over a weekend of being in a bag when I tested it. This is important because the speaker is useless without this wire as it needs to be plugged in and does not use a more common method. In addition you can see how short the wire is which makes it much more difficult to use as it means the speaker needs to sit directly next to the laptop.




 
One thing that again makes this a useful portable product is the rechargeable li-ion battery that can also easily be charged using small power kits. This means that you don't have to rely on batteries or a plug socket and the charge lasts for a good amount of time. In addition its shape does make the product itself durable so it doesn't break in transit.



I think this product is a great deal at less than £7 and I would pay from £10 to £15 if it had a good quality wire. I must recommend care with the wire if using this as a portable speaker. In the end I don't think I would buy this item myself just because the Hamburger speaker has so much more to offer with built in mp3 player capabilities.

"mini" hamburger speaker

 The "Mini" Hamburger Speaker


I recently bought this item from Chinabuye for $8.26 (Including free shipping as I'm willing to wait forever for a cheaper item approximately £5.80). My first thought was wow this is not as “mini” as any other Hamburger speaker being around 2-3 times the size of any other one I have seen. This size doesn't make it any less transportable as it can still fit in a pocket however does affect its potential use as a MP3 player....

 

Yes! I did just mention that it can effectively function as a MP3 player an odd thing that this speaker contained within its box a basic set of headphones. The humour of a set of headphones as part of a speaker package was not lost on me. using headphones with this item wouldn't be a bad application of this product however as I found I could just slot my SD card from my phone into it and then with it on it works like a basic mp3 player with just a sliding button for volume and skipping tracks. This means that effectively for £5.80 I have a Mp3 player that could potentially hold a 32gb memory card (mine is 8 gb) this is more than enough memory for just songs. The only problem with this is that you would then need to buy that memory card.



Back to the main function which is essentially a mobile speaker system for playing music which I believe would be perfect for small presentations. It is ideal for this because it is small enough and light enough to be able to put into a laptop case or in a bag along with a Ipad and any other presentation materials. At the same time it is not so small that it would fit into a pocket but if it was that small it would lack the power for a group of people to hear a presentation. The fact that it has a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery that can be charged easily by USB is useful because in a presentation you would have your laptop so you would have a appropriate way of charging it. Also with these it means that I am able to charge it with my little solar panel charger thats primarily for phones. Due to the available power banks such as solar panel chargers (its just a pocket device that holds enough charge that can recharge essential things like a mobile phone) it means that small items such as this do not rely on plug sockets and batteries. Due to this the product is more versatile and ethically just that bit nicer, meaning that now if I go camping I can take this item without any concern of needing to take a bag of batteries or finding a plug socket. 
 


In addition when buying this it stated that it would just come in a package specifically stating in large red letters NO RETAIL BOX however I received it in a box and there are customer videos showing they received theirs in boxes. This item did take from around the 10th of november until the 13th of december to arrive and the alternate options add at least $20 to the price of an individual item so this source of the product does need a patient customer. With this in mind you do still get a lot for your patience for around £5.80 you get a mobile speaker and Mp3 player so its worth alot more than a £5 speaker or basic “mini” speaker that you could get for £5. Personally I would be more than happy to pay £12-£16 however this would be in a shop where I wouldn't have to wait a month for the item.