Category: Fitness

Fitness, Fun, Geek, Happened to me...

Should I buy wireless headphones?

| mgorecki

Well… no.

 

I really wanted to have wireless headphones for running and gym visits, so I got myself a pair of Skull Candy SMOKIN’ BUDS 2 WIRELESS. Those headphones sound good enough for exercise – on par with in-ear headphones I used so far (Sony from Xperia Z and Z3 and Skull Candy buds).

But I’m not happy with the purchase. Here’s why:

  • The wireless headphones need charging. I’ve already run out of power once in the gym. And even if you have power the headphones tell you they need  charging soon by… beeping. Beep… beep… beep… every few seconds. Try to concentrate with that in your ears.
  • The headphones are not wireless. There’s no wire to connect to the phone, but there’s quite a lot of wire connecting the in-ear buds. And this wire is more annoying that a standard cable, because it’s not attached to a fixed point, so it bounces around neck. And it has a sizeable bit of plastic in the middle. Skull Candy tried to patch this by adding a quite heavy rubbery neck bundle. Which stills bounces a bit and is no less irritating.
  • Android 6 cannot reliable handle BT audio. I’m using BT audio in my car, with Sony SRS-X55 speaker and with those headphones. Switching between Sony speaker, car and SB2 sometimes confuses Android. I had to go to BT settings to remove the connection and reconnect the phone again to all those devices several times. It doesn’t always help – I had to restart my phone three times as well. Which is not what I want to be doing in gym’s changing room!
  • BT range is good in theory, but seems to have gaps. Maybe my phone (Xperia z3) has a directional antenna or maybe it’s the headphones. I can leave the phone 3 to 5 meters from me and the sound is working well, but as soon as I slip the phone into my pocket the sounds starts to break. Not much, but I’m getting very short breaks every few steps – just like my body is blocking the signal.

Would I buy different headphones instead of SB2? No. The whole approach is broken and the whole ecosystem needs updating. I’ll try again in 3 years.

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Fitness, Food, Recipe

Divine, hot and healthy curry sauce chip shop style

| mgorecki

Chip shop style curry sauce – quite healthy and delicious! Use it as a side dish, dip or make a standalone dish by mixing in bits of cooked chicken and green peas.

1 onion, finely diced
1 large apple, peeled and finely diced (yes, apple. I use Royal Gala. It should be quite sweet)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped or minced
curry powder (as much as you can handle)
1 tbsp plain flour
250-300 ml stock. beef cube is fine. you can use veg stock as well
black pepper
Put the onion, apple and garlic into a frying pan, add a bit of water and cover. Cook over a low heat for 5-10 minutes, until everything is very soft.

Add the curry powder and flour, and mix well. Add more curry powder. A bit more. And another bit. (Tasting in the process is highly recommended. I use about 4 heaped tsp of Hot Madras Curry from Morrisons). Add some more curry powder.

Pour over the stock and add plenty of black pepper.

Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for around 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the mixture is thick and the vegetables have cooked right down.

I like bits of apple and onion in my sauce, but feel free to blend it if you prefer smoother texture.

This recipe is based on recipes I found over internet, but I’ve *perfected* it for you!

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