Review: PPC Techs Lil Sync Duo HandsFree and Charging Adaptor.
Posted by: dgoldring on Nov 24 2007 - 2,350 views
Some of the best Windows Mobile devices available today are crafted by HTC. I reviewed both the Sprint Mogul and Touch and, while both were fantastic devices, they shared a fatal flaw. Notably, HTC does not include a headphone jack on its devices. Instead, it supplies a 2.5 mm adaptor which plugs into the 11-pin mini USB jack. In my opinion, this was one of the worst design decisions HTC could have made. In my review of the Mogul, I noted:
I had two problems with this adaptor. First, it is huge, weighing in at over four inches, it was longer than the device itself. It is also unnecessarily stiff, meaning that it is difficult to fold or roll into a smaller size. This completely destroys the portability aspect of the device when listening to music.
Additionally, the headphone jack on the adaptor is a 2.5 mm plug instead of the more standard 3.5 mm. Lately, I have noticed a small trend toward 2.5 mm plugs on mobile devices. While I understand that this can save some valuable space, it is extremely frustrating to me because almost all high quality headphones use a 3.5 mm plug.
The need for a 3.5mm headphone jack is paramount. Without such an adaptor, it is impossible to use high quality headphones with HTC phones. Fortunately, there has been no shortage of improvements to the HTC adaptor. In fact, not long ago, I reviewed the Boxwave solution, which worked extremely well. The Boxwave adaptor, however, did have a few drawbacks. Unlike the HTC adaptor, there were no additional connections allowing you to sync or charge while listening to music. Additionally, there was no microphone so you could not use it to place and receive phone calls without specialized earphones. In other words, the Boxwave adaptor was good, but incomplete.
Enter PPC Techs, the uber-gurus of Pocket PC accessories and their Lil Sync Duo Pro HandsFree and Charging Adaptor. This is the one you have been looking for. With this small adaptor, you can sync your device, charge your battery, listen to music, and even place and receive phone calls from any set of headphones — all at the same time.
A closer inspection of the adaptor reveals two distinct sections. The main unit and the headphone adaptor.
The main unit is a blocky piece of plastic. On one end is a male mini-USB adaptor. On the other end is a female mini USB adaptor.
Shooting off from the center of the main unit is a thin headphone wire. At the end of this wire is the 3.5 mm headphone jack. In the middle is a microphone, allowing you to place and receive phone calls.
Compare this to the adaptor included with the Mogul (and Touch). That one was a large, rigid adaptor, longer than the device itself. The PPC Techs adaptor is smaller, more flexible, and clearly more powerful than that clunker.
It all seems pretty simple. Just plug the male mini USB end into your device, and connect any pair of headphones into the 3.5 mm jack.
Now, you can listen to music or place and receive phone calls with ease. If you want to charge or sync your device while listening, simply attach a mini USB to USB extension cable to the female end and then plug it into your computer.
One note about syncing and charging, and I will just let PPC Techs explain this one since they understand it a lot better than I do:
The majority of new HTC devices are equipped with a new 11-pin USB interface which accommodates two different charging modes: a sync-n-charge mode through a computer USB port (slow charge) and a regular charge mode through an AC/DC adapter or any other charging accessory (fast charge). Those two charge settings require two completely different pinouts and are not compatible with each other. The new HTC ExtUSBTM interface also includes the headset connection.
In other words, if you want to sync and charge through the USB port on your computer, set the switch on the adaptor to "S". If you want to charge through an AC adaptor or car charger, set the switch to "F".
In order to connect your device to a computer or charger, however, you will still need to find an USB extension cable. I utilized the PPC Techs Lil Sync Pro Retractable Cable, which worked great. These retractable cables are all the rage lately. They are perfect for the mobile user because they expand to give you a greater degree of flexibility while you are connected, but retract into a nice portable unit for easy transport.
I particularly liked the PPC Techs cable because, as you can see in the picture above, it expands to almost twice the length of most retractable cables. When it is retracted, however, it is only slightly larger and fits easily into my gear bag.
In order to utilize AC power or a car charger, you will also need a universal AC or car adaptor. I have not reviewed it, however, PPC Techs offers an all in one solution with the Lil Sync Penguin Charger, which can connect to AC power or your car.
OK. Now that we have discussed all of the different connections, let’s take a look at how this adaptor worked. The first thing I tested was how it handled my music. As I have mentioned, one of my real frustrations with the Mogul was its inability to connect to my high quality headphones due to the included 2.5 mm adaptor. For reference, I am currently testing with the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3, which I will be reviewing here at JAMM shortly.
I plugged the adaptor into my Mogul and snapped the Ultimate Ears headphones into the 3.5 mm plug. I was fully prepared to be disappointed, expecting that there must be some distortion (there wasn’t) or sound loss (none) from this adaptor. Put simply, the sound quality was excellent. There was a little bit of "noise" in the background when I listened to music, but this was almost imperceptible. I was impressed.
OK. So, test number one passed with flying colors. Let’s move on to some more complicated tests. The next thing to do was connect it to my laptop and sync while listening to music. And I did not just want to sync. I had an enormous file (over 100MB) to transfer to the microSD card on my device. Let ‘er rip. Get ready for some stuttering music as the processor starts paying attention to the files being transferred rather than the music. Pfft. Not even a problem. Although I recognize that many different factors, including the quality of the adaptor, work together to provide this kind of multi-tasking, I was impressed by how well the adaptor could handle large amounts of information traveling in different directions simultaneously.
OK. So, for the final test, let’s take a look at how well the phone functions from the included mike. Pushing the button on the mike takes you to the voice command prompt. At this point, it did not pause my music. This was a little disconcerting, however, as soon as the phone begins to dial, the music was immediately paused. Hang up and the music returns.
Likewise, if you receive a call, the music is automatically paused as soon as you answer the call. When you hang up, it will automatically switch back to your music. This worked flawlessly, and I was extremely impressed by how well it interacted with my device.
While talking on the phone, I found the sound quality to be superb. Of course, your experience will vary based upon the quality of headphones you choose to connect. As I mentioned, one of the real benefits here is that you can use any of your favorite headphones while talking on the phone.
I was a little bit nervous about the microphone. I mean, there it was just dangling on the cord. It sat pretty far from my mouth as it was near the back end of the phone. Again, I was not terribly optimistic. However, when I made a test call from it, the microphone displayed (if that is the correct word) amazing clarity. In fact, I would have had difficulty telling this microphone apart from some of my higher end Bluetooth headsets. Very impressive. We even tested moving the microphone closer to and farther from my mouth. The only time I found any distortion at all was when I shoved it into my pocket.
As I have mentioned, the headphone adaptor was one of my biggest disappointments with HTC devices. If anyone had asked me what I would have replaced it with, however, I am not sure I would have had an answer…until now. With this adaptor, PPC Techs has perfectly captured exactly the functionality which should have been included with all HTC phones out of the box. No longer do I need to fashion ugly, Frankenstein looking adaptors just to connect my high quality headphones up to the low quality 2.5 mm adaptor included with my phone. The fact that it includes a microphone, turning your high quality headphones into the ideal headset is simply an added bonus. If you are planning to buy an HTC phone, I suggest you simply budget an extra $20 and plan to buy this adaptor as well. It is the most essential accessory I have ever used with my HTC device.
Vital Stats:
Name: Lil Sync Dup Pro Hands Free and Charging Adaptor
Manufacturer: PPC Techs
Available From: PPC Techs
Price: $19.95
Also See:
Lil Sync Pro Extended Retractable Sync-N-Charge Cable ($19.95)
Lil Sync Penguin Charger ($24.99)
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