Doubleduty devices

The original Swiss Army Knife made in the 1880s, had multiple tools, including one to dismantle a musket  and another to remove stones from a horse’s shoe. The latest   edition of the knife, updated for a Digital Age, includes a detachable USB Flash drive and a biometric fingerprint reader. The Swiss mantra of “one tool, many roles”, is seemingly embraced by many of today’s digital productivity and entertainment tools. I have been experiencing three of them recently.

A-head of its times: Headphones are only as good as the  music or speech they relay — or so I thought till I tried out the Zebronics Gaming headphone IronHead v2.0. This is a fairly large and well-padded over-ears headset, complete with microphone, 3 metres of well-insulated cable and a snug control pod  for Vol+, Vol-, sound mute and mike mute.

What distances the IronHead from many similarly priced products is the built-in audio processor which converts the received audio into simulated 3-D surround sound. This is one of very few headphones I have tried, that comes with its own installation CD. This lets you fine-tune the surround sound, simulate virtual speaker positioning and set up the headset for a karaoke session.... all features which are beyond the line of duty of the average HiFi headphone. The IronHead costs Rs 2,190 — but online sites offer good discounts.

For footloose digerati: Kingston’s mainstream business is Flash storage — but its Mobilite Wireless Media Reader G2  combines at least three distinct roles — it works as a portable card reader, freeing up valuable space on your phone or tablet. To do this it has a USB port, with a cable to convert to micro USB, an SD memory card reader with an adapter for micro SD cards. A second role  comes from its ethernet port  which allows you to plug in a broadband connection and effectively turn the reader into a WiFi router. The third function comes from its 4640 mAh storage, which lets you use it as an emergency power bank.

If you install the Kingston MobileLite app (Android  and iOS), you can share photos, files, and movies with up to 3 users simultaneously, upload vacation photos from your SD card directly to Facebook and Twitter or to your email. For around Rs 3,150, at Online sites,  this reader-plus is a steal and a must-have travel companion for footloose digerati.

Speaker-player-radio: Appearances can be deceptive. The Frontech Wireless Bluetooth Speaker model JIL-3906 looks and feels like any other portable speaker —except for the microSD card slot next to the  USB charging port. This lets you plug in a card with your favourite tracks and play them straight from the speaker, without  the benefit of a separate player. If you insert the AUX cable provided, it serves as an antenna and unleashes the FM radio  function of the speaker.

Recognising that parties are often held outdoors, the JIL-3906 is encased in rubber-like waterproof material and the controls are all recessed —almost like a piece of military equipment. The colour is appropriately camouflage  green. This dinky unit belts  out 3 watts of sound and the Bluetooth and NFC connection technologies let you pair it wirelessly to your mobile phone, music player or tablet. It is priced at Rs 1,100.