- A portion of this video is sponsored by Plugable.
On the last episode of MrMobile Stays Home.
I reviewed the single most important product
that kept me sane during the New York City shelter
in place order my Samsung the Frame TV.
Now new York's become a little more relaxed since April,
and I've been able to take some day trips to the country
to show up phone cameras and Erie radar towers,
but let's face it.
Most of us non-essential folks are still spending most
of our time at home.
And I've collected a new cluster of products to make
that time more productive but hopefully cleaner,
and definitely more fun.
(upbeat music)
Let's start by getting cleaner.
Ask any junior high biology student,
and they'll tell you your mobile devices absolutely gross.
One study back in 2017,
found that some phones carried 10 times more bacteria
than a toilet seat.
So for the past six years,
a company called PhoneSoap has offered
this simple solution.
A small chamber with two lighting elements
that blast whatever you stick inside
with UV-C ultra violet light.
Now that C is important,
it's the part of the UV spectrum most damaging
to bacterial DNA.
And it also happens to be the part of the spectrum,
the earth atmosphere protects us from.
So that's why you can't leave your phone out on the rooftop
at high noon on a sunny day and expect the same results.
Anyway, 10 minutes later,
the light turns off and your possessions come out
with up to 99.99%
of household germs killed now according to PhoneSoap.
To me, that sounded a little too good to be true,
so I checked out the US National Library of Medicine
who study on UV-C sanitizers found that whoa, yeah,
they do kill bacteria.
And they cause enough damage to some viruses
that those viruses can no longer reproduce.
Now I know what you're thinking, and sadly,
while that includes the Coronaviruses
that cause SARS and MERS.
According to reporting from both CNN
and CNET lab grade samples of COVID-19 are hard to come by,
which explains why COVID killer isn't front and center
of PhoneSoaps website.
The company can't make that claim without rigorous testing,
which I guess it can't do,
or maybe it just feels like it doesn't need to,
even at between 80 and 120 bucks PhoneSoap devices
have been flying off the shelf since March,
even without that assurance.
And even despite testing by sites like review.com
that indicates some inconsistency in its effectiveness.
I have my own complaints,
but they're more usability oriented.
I wish it was bigger,
so I could fit my earbuds cases in there.
And you know, a product
that costs this much should probably look
and feel a little less plastic-y.
But it does have thoughtful features like the ability
to charge your device while it's disinfecting.
And more to the point,
given the choice between rubbing down all my pocketable
with alcohol every day,
or just tossing them in the PhoneSoap for 10 minutes,
I'll take the PhoneSoap,
even if I'm not fully sold on
its effectiveness when comes to viruses.
Now with a home is full of tech as this one is,
I can never really find enough solutions to charge them.
So here's three more,
which are pretty interesting.
I know chargers are hardly the sexiest thing around,
but what I like about the Aukey Omnia line of chargers is
that they use gallium nitride technology,
aka GaN, which means the bigger one here can kick out
the hundred watts of power my MacBook Pro demands
while taking up much less space
than Apple's MacBook Pro charger.
Now other manufacturers make GaN chargers too,
Aukey just the one that's having to send me these.
And there are also 60 wide versions.
If you wanna go even smaller and still have much more power
than your phone could ever soak up.
Next step, y'all know I love my wireless chargers
and I have way too many in the house.
So I almost said no, when some products that's sum offered
to send me three of theirs, but I'm really glad I said yes,
this first one, their disc is just kind of whatever.
It's a nine watt glass and aluminum plate
that in my view, doesn't come close
to justifying at $60 price point,
even though it does look pretty nice.
The dial is where it gets cool, It's even price here
at a hundred bucks, but it does something I haven't seen
from almost any other wireless charger, it twists.
So your phone can either lie flat
or sit at an angle on the silicone rubber base.
So you can keep an eye on your screen
while it charges at 10 watt.
A sum is also launching a new product called
the DROP & DOCK that marries a wireless charger
with a portable battery.
So you can take a wireless charger kind of anywhere.
I've seen plenty of these before,
but not in this cool stacked configuration.
Yeah, it's minimal, it's clever.
And it's live on Kickstarter as this video hits the feet.
And I wanna get to the fun stuff,
so let's wrap up the charging section.
We all have that one device, we just can't let go of
that demands an old charging cable.
For me, it's the Bose SoundWear I reviewed a few years back
and still use literally every day.
That's where the universal cable from Nomad Goods comes in.
It's a USB C cable at its core,
but when I need to charge older tech,
I just snap on the micro USB adapter
that lives on a small strap near the end.
And if I find myself in a car or using a computer
with only USB A ports, well, I've got that adapter
at the other end.
The whole thing is covered in Cavaliers,
so it feels like you could pull a truck trailer with it.
And at three meters long,
I can sneak it anywhere it needs to go.
40 bucks, yeah, it's a lot of money,
but in this case it is totally worth it.
I know I'm hardly the only person playing
Microsoft Flight Simulator this season.
But if the headlines are to be believed,
I am one of the few people who managed
to get an order for a hands-on throttle-and-stick in time
to use them with the game.
Those controls and the overpowered gaming laptop I'm using
to test them after a quick word from the sponsor,
that's made my work from home battle station possible.
This portion of today's video is sponsored by Plugable
who sent over these three USB devices
to bring me out of the basement.
You see normally if I want dual desktops,
I have to go down to my office where daylight is meager,
where pluggables docking stations give me
all the interfaces I need to bring that set up top side.
While my laptop stays juiced up with 60 watt power delivery,
I can wirelessly charge my phone, top up my smartwatch,
connect to external monitors
and use pretty much any other USB peripheral.
And this Thunderbolt 3 dock looks sharp enough
that you probably won't want to hide it.
But if you have a more minimalist aesthetic,
they're single display, USB C mini docking station mounts
to the back of your monitor to keep it out of sight,
keep things tidy.
As for that portable SSD, well with two terabytes of storage
for the giant video files, I'm constantly running
to and from the studio and Thunderbolt 3 transfer speeds,
it's as good a companion at home as it would be on the road.
Hit the link below to check out Pluggables entire catalog,
which is backed by a two year warranty,
US-based customer service and a commitment
to provide better support
than any traditional electronics company.
Thanks to Plugable for sponsoring this portion of the video.
Now a few thing in this setup,
looks like a better match for Star Wars Squadrons
than Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Congratulations, you know, me, here's the thing.
After years of scratching my space combat itch
with nineties classics like X-Wing Alliance
and equally nineties joysticks
from Thrustmaster and Suncom.
I finally decided I'd had enough dancing with dongles
and ordered a collection of contemporary controls,
starting with the Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog.
The Warthog is named after the 8, 10 attack aircraft
whose flight controls it's modeled after.
But while I respect the 8, 10,
I'm a long Island kid who grew up down the road
from the Grumman plant that built the F-14.
So I've craved a proper Tomcat grip since I saw a top gun.
Well, as it turns out a company called VIRPIL Controls out
of Lithuania, makes a great replica called the VFX
and it's compatible with the Warthog base.
And while I was shopping for that, well, of course I had
to catch a glimpse of the VIRPIL mongoos throttle (laughs)
maybe it was the hazard striping,
maybe it was the meaty thrust levers,
maybe it was the 29 programmable buttons and switches,
but I knew I had to have it
for my eventual entanglements over indoor.
Over the past few weeks, I've used the VFX stick,
mostly an X-Wing Alliance,
which despite its age still
lets you program weapons selection to the stick switch.
So you can declare that you're too close
for torpedoes, switching the lasers.
Now look, if you're buying this stuff,
do more research than I did.
I didn't realize that the Thrustmaster base doesn't
actually support all the VFX grips features
like the DLC thumbwheel made to help Tomcat pilots land
on carriers or the twist access for rudder inputs.
And when it comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator,
that game actually has a default profile for the Warthog.
Who's added hat switches also make it easier
to look around the cockpit and trim the aircraft.
Other points in the Warthogs favor and could
the heavy metal build, cool to the touch every time
and superior ergonomics when compared
with the plastic VFX grip.
The mongoos Throttle is just as plastic,
and frankly it was a bear to set up with software
that feels like something out of mech warrior
that took me a couple hours to properly configure.
But now that I'm settled in,
I love the sheer number of controls I can assign
from landing gear to windshield defrost,
to the hats which I use for a rudder input because I haven't
yet ordered a pair of pedals.
Combined cost for all this stuff is about $950.
I know it was a lot, but hey,
it's gonna be a long winter.
And finally, all that flying has been done
on the latest full-sized laptop to hit my review desk.
The ROG Zephyrus Duo from ASUS, normally gaming laptops
aren't really my bag, but this is the defacto sequel
to the ZenBook Pro Duo I've been using
for almost a year.
A Duo of course, because of this addictive second display
that sits above the keyboard, and the new one corrects one
of my key complaints from the ZenBook by mechanically,
propping that monitor up when the laptop is opened,
which reduces glare and goes easier on your neck.
The other reason I asked
for this test drive, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
is being called the new crisis because
of its extreme system requirements.
And this Zephyrus Duo packs one
of the most stellar spec sheets you can find in a laptop.
With just as important,
the twin screens are perfect, because flight simulator
lets you pop out different instruments and dialog boxes
that you can then stick down there,
keeping your field of view clear for flying.
Even with the core i9
and an Nvidia 2080 super graphics card,
I can only get acceptable frame rates
in the second highest graphic setting.
But honestly, being able to fly anywhere in the world
from buzzing my old college campus at ODU
to flying under the golden gate bridge
while completely covered in Karl the fog
and seeing those places rendered in satellite detail,
it's exactly what I'm gonna need when the mercury drops
and it comes time to fight off the next round
of cabin fever.
A full review of this machine is coming soon
and I have a feeling I'm gonna
have a great time evaluating it.
(upbeat music)
Folks, if you'd like to buy any of the products featured in
this video, the links in the description will help you out.
No those are affiliate links,
so my parent company may make a commission
if you do make a purchase, but that has nothing
to do with me.
My product selections
and opinions regarding them are my own.
Also aside from the sponsor Plugable, no company paid a fee
for inclusion in this video and I don't offer copy approval
or an early preview to any company whose products I covered.
They see this video at the same time you do.
Please subscribe to see more videos like this
and check out my other series playlist
at the MRMobile on YouTube.
Until next time, thanks for watching
and if you can't stay home,
then at least stay safe and remember
to wear a mask while you stay mobile, my friends.
(upbeat music)