Review: MaxTeck Tempered Glass Screen Protector for Samsung Galaxy S4

Product Link: MaxTeck Tempered Glass Screen Protector 
Vendor: MaxTeck
Price: $7.95

I've always used a screen protector with my devices since the days of a Sony Clie PDA and the brand I've typically used is Boxwave.  Anytime I get a new smartphone, I go directly to their site and purchase an Anti-Glare screen protector.  But for the last 2 years, I've been hearing of a new type of "Glass" screen protector.  I've always bypassed it because I thought it was a gimmick.  These glass screen protectors costs about 1-3 times more than the norm and I figured it was a way to get people to cough up more money.  Well after using this MaxTeck Glass Screen Protector for my Samsung Galaxy S4, I'm going to say I'm soooo wrong!

Pros:

• Low cost for a 3 pack
• Easy installation (if you have used screen protectors before)

Cons:

• Poor installation instructions

Package Includes:

• 3 x Glass Screen Protector
• 3 x Dry & Wet wipes
• 3 x Dust-absorber & Guide Sticker

The product pictures don't show it but MaxTeck did a really good job with their packaging box.  The outer shell is hard cardboard made into a book format.  Inner right hand is hollow to hold your screen protector and additional accessories.  It's sealed with a tough sticker that's difficult to break.  I tried to pull it apart, used a dull edged letter opener and I couldn't break open that sticker.  I had to get a scissor with a sharp edge to slice through it.  

As previously mentioned I've used screen protectors before so have a good inkling of how to install.  It was simple enough, remove any previous screen protector.  Wipe the screen clean with first the wet wipes then follow up with the dry wipes.  Now I didn't know what to do with the guide sticker & dust absorber that was included.  MaxTeck did a very poor job with explaining it on the printed instruction.  Essentially, you don't remove the plastic sticker on the screen protector yet. (normal screen protector would have you doing this step first)  Instead, you need to first align the screen protector on your screen.  Make sure you pay attention to the home button.  The cutout for home button was pretty much an exact fit.  After you align it, place the guide sticker on the top and bottom of one side (either right or left is fine).  Flip the protector back to one side and remove the plastic sticker.  Then flip the protector back against the screen again.  It should be an exact fit. 


So this is my first "Glass" screen protector and I'm really sold on this.  The glass is very noticeable, it is a bit thicker than the normal film type so you can really feel it.  I was a bit afraid that the touchscreen wouldn't be as responsive, but I was very wrong.  There was no latency or un-responsiveness to my S4 after using the screen protector.  I did take a scissor and lightly scrap it across the screen and it didn't leave any marks.  But, I didn't go all out and try to break it.  This was also marketed it as anti-fingerprint but I'm afraid mine does attract fingerprint.  Although it just needed a good wipe down to clean it out.

Overall, I love this product from MaxTeck The workmanship was perfect.  The cutouts for the home button and the top microphone section was 100% head on.  But because of its exact fit for the cutouts, that means when you are applying the screen protector you need to align it correctly.  I also really lack that they included enough wipes for each screen protector.  Lastly, I think MaxTeck should consider re-writing the instructions.

Product Link: MaxTeck Tempered Glass Screen Protector
Vendor: MaxTeck
Price: $7.95

Disclosure: I received this MaxTeck Glass Screen Protector for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product. 

Review: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker

Product Link: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
Vendor: Hiluckey US
Price: $19.69

So I've been in search of a good bluetooth speaker to use in the room to listen to light music while reading a book.  I stumble across the W-King S7 Speaker and thought it fit my need well.

Pros:

• Multiple ways to access music (BT, TF/Micro-SD Card and FM Radio)
• Battery life
• Really well professionally looking package

Cons:

• Music starts to break at the highest volume

Package Includes:

• W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
• USB to Micro-USB Cable
• Aux Audio Cable
• Instructions

This isn't my first off-brand bluetooth speaker so I was expecting the regular brown box speaker.  Well opening the shipping box, I was really surprised to see this well packaged W-King S7 bluetooth speaker.  I'm a very visual person, so the packaging really appealed to me and if I had been at a store and saw this and the price, I would have picked it up to read the specs.  It comes in this hard yellow case with the middle being clear front so you can see clearly the bluetooth speaker.  The back had the specifications of the speaker.  Pull the hook on the top and just pull the entire package out.  Apply a little force and pull the speaker out.  To get to the accessories it's in the yellow bar at the bottom.  That's a small box that held the two cables and manual. 

The speaker is a little less than 4in square form factor built very ruggedly and weights heavy.  The speaker grille in the middle was pretty tough too.  I think if I dropped this, I wouldn't have to worry about the speaker breaking.  You can stand the speaker up or lay it down.  The strap was already attached and it looks to be de-tachable if you use a screw driver.  The strap is pretty thick and very strong too.

First thing I did was full charge the bluetooth speaker.  This took about 2 hours, definitely one of the longer charging time I've encountered.  Although I did charge it using a 850mA wall adapter.  In terms of battery life, I use this for the past week on a daily basis and have gotten about 9 hours out of it before having to recharge.  I didn't turn the bluetooth speaker on to super high though (about 25% of volume).  I did notice that around the 8th hour, it did signal low battery.  I ignore it to see how far I can get with the battery.  Pretty satisfied with the battery life.

Pairing was easy but did take slightly longer for it to be detected and picked up.  I'm not talking minutes per se but compared to other bt devices I've paired before I noticed it too at least an extra 10 seconds.  Good thing you shouldn't need to be pairing that often. 

There is an LED indicator on the front, flashing blue means the speaker is searching and waiting to connect to a device.  Steady blue means its connected and in bluetooth mode.  It switches to steady green if you are using the Aux Cable, microsd card, or FM radio.  Flashing green means low battery so if you are near a power source start charging.  steady red is the charging status.

With this 3W speaker sound only comes out one side, (the side with W-King) and the other side had no sound.  The bass was thumping and holding the W7 you can feel the vibration too.  I did notice that at the highest volume from both my BT device and the S7, the sound started breaking.  I think depending on what you are listening to it may distort.  But since I'm using it for soft rock and not on the highest volume, this did not disturb me at all.

The W7 has multiple connection functions besides bluetooth.  It supports NFC which I didn't test at all.  The Aux Audio cable function I tested briefly just to make sure it works (which it does).  But I really have no plan to use this function.  Similarly I tested the microsd card functionality.  Keep in mind that even though product description and manual both refer to it as TF card, the microsd card will work too.  I only tested a 8GB microsd card slot and it played my mp3 music files fine.

The last function to test is FM radio, it works but could use some improvement.  First, there should be separate buttons to scan forward/backward for a station.  When I long press the play button to scan channels, on occasion it over scans by two stations. There's no way for me to go back (or at least I haven't figure out how) and so now have to go through all the channels to find it (thankfully I didn't skip past the channel I wanted).  Another improvement would be to have multiple "favorites" channel.  Currently, the W7 does remember the last station you were on but if you switch and want to come back later you have to go through the entire progress which is very time consuming. 

Overall, the W7 fulfills its job very well in terms of acting as a bluetooth speaker.  It's nice to have all the extra connection functions but I didn't need them and so even though they have improvement points, it didn't affect me at all.  I would recommend before purchasing understand what you need your bluetooth speaker to do.  

Product Link: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
Vendor: Hiluckey US
Price: $19.69

Disclosure: I received this Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product.