iOS 7 background fetching

I've had iOS 7 on my device since it was released to developers last June and I really have got to liking the background fetching feature added to it. I have several apps that make use of it and in some cases, allows me to not even use the app.

For instance, I have OneDrive on my devices for the sole purpose of wirelessly uploading all of my photos and videos to OneDrive (I'll save why OneDrive & not Flickr for another post) and syncing to my computer. This lets me move them in to aperture when I am ready. Never have to plug my phone in, nor open OneDrive on my phone. It just does it in the background for me.

My podcast app is always up to date with the latest and greatest podcasts which is nice and in most cases my RSS reader is updated before I open it.

This is probably my favorite feature of iOS 7.

Motorola Wireless buds Review

So I picked up a set of wireless buds from Motorola this week to see how well they work. I've used wireless headphones in the past and have not been very thrilled with them. I was hoping these would be better; which they are.

The primary reason I wanted a set of wireless earbuds (and not headphones) was because I listen to content in just one ear at work so I can hear when people need to ask me something. So I needed ear buds. Did I have to have wireless? Probably not, but at home when walking with my newborn, the wires can be painful for my ears as she grabs a hold of the wire and jerks the buds from my ear. So wireless earbuds it is.

I was surprised actually buy the weight of the Buds, expecting them to be a bit lighter overall. Once I got them on though, I found that I tend to forget I'm wearing them. So the weight really isn't an issue for me.

The Buds come attached to a U shaped stem. The stem goes around your neck and connects via Bluetooth to your device. The earbuds themselves are connected to the stem and have a bit of cable attached to them. Essentially, you unplug them from the stem when you want to listens and then re-attach the to the stem when you are done. They're connected using a magnet which makes it really easy.

The stem is a bit long for me, as it tends to jut out a little past my chin. One of the downfalls of a "one-size-fits-all" I suppose. Again, I don't notice it myself when I wear it, but it does draw attention to it from those around you.

The stem has your typical controls on it, volume control on one side and play/skip on the other. The buttons will work with your phone calls, since the headset has a microphone built into it. Making phone calls on my iPhone was easy. I pressed and heled the play/call button, spoke to Siri and the call was made. Really easy.

The ear buds themselves fit into my ears really well. I've tried nearly a dozen Bluetooth headsets and have yet to find a pair that fit well in my ear until this set. It comes with a series of bud covers that you can use to adjust the bud size, but I found the standard size that came default worked well.

The audio quality is pretty good. Considering what I am using it for, I was not expecting Beats level audio quality. There is a noticeable lack of bass, and music sounds a bit "tin" like, but it works just fine for what I needed them for. I typically listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks where you can't really hear any quality loss from the standard Apple ear buds.

Overall the product is solid and works great, I would definitely recommend them to people.