CorysTechTime

  Sony has long been in the headphone game and the latest over-ear model from the company has me really enjoying what they put together in this mid-tier package. Check out the video for more on my first week with the Sony WH-CH720N. 

  I recently tried out the Sony WH-CH520 and quickly discovered that there is a lot to like about the entry level headphones. Don't want to give too much away so check out the video for more. I will say that Sony packed a bunch of features into these budget headphones at a solid price.

Sony's latest budget headphone offering based on features alone seems to be very compelling. When you add in the specs to go with the features one can help but to get excited. To have them in hand and have used them you can quickly tell Sony has something special in the mainstream budget headphone category. Lets talk about it. Build  The build of the headphones are very light but feel well made. Sony uses recycled plastic that seems sturdy with no creaking. I like the matte finish and the overall smooth feel of the headphones.   Device I/O With these being budget headphones one would think Sony would cut back in this area. They did just not completely. You get Type C for charging but no headphone jack. This may be a deal-breaker for some, however, I find this omission to be acceptable in 2023.  Comfort Finding headphones that are comfortable for me is hit or miss due to the size of my head. Yes, it's large. With the Sony CH 520 I found them to be light on my head and...

The long-awaited feature that Google announced in November 2021 could be nearing a release. I received the new Ambient Mode on one of Chromecast with Google TV and the update surprised me a bit.  As for what is present, there is Ambient Mode which takes you to a familiar screen, what seems to be recent apps, and the weather. This is personalized so what you see will be tailored to who is signed in and active. Unfortunately, the update does not include multi-user support. I noticed that a notification came with the update and it pretty much let you know what the update is. Right now the update seems early to me and hopefully more functionality is added in the near future. But I do like the look and believe there is potential here especially when multi-user support is added. I'm looking forward to how this plays out and we may hear more about the feature during I/O next week.

I came across this concept Youtube app on Google's own Material Design Twitter page and fell in love with it instantly. The app looks very modern and seems to be more functional or at least as functional. The navigation rail is on the left making it easier to dive into other menus on larger screens. Up next is on the right just like it always has and I would assume live chat and maybe even the description would appear as an overlay when selected in the same area.  But that's only half of the story. With Android 12L and beyond the OS will be more adaptable and will be able to adjust to the size of the display or in this case type of display. Here we have a foldable and the YT app splits in half to take advantage of the device being folded. I believe the idea here is to keep the content front and center while making the other touch elements more accessible for the form factor.  Google, can we get this now, please?  

 Hopefully, we will see more of Google's Android apps receive tablet optimizations.  With the introduction of Android 12L, Google has been focused on making better and more optimized apps for Android tablets and Chromebooks. I'm sure this has been in motion for some time but we are now starting to see the fruits of that labor. Earlier this year I noticed that the Google Podcast app received an update that better utilized the space with two rows instead of one podcast listing stretched across the screen. Now we're seeing the same thing with the Files app. Google is now using a navigation rail on the left side. Similar to the Google Photos Android app. This makes navigating Files by Google much easier and more importantly, the app is utilizing the space effectively. Elements in the app is not stretched across the screen creating a more aesthetically pleasing app to look at on a large screen and that's the goal with Android 12L. The tablet UI improvement can also be seen w...

I've been with T-Mobile for 10 plus years and lived through a few data breaches. Unfortunately, one of the latest breaches got my information out there on the dark web. To say the least, I was not happy. I've been getting calls that I never received before and I even received a notice that my SSN was out there as well amongst other personal identifiable information. T-Mobile tried to make things right and sign those up who were impacted for a credit monitoring service for free for the next two years but that did not seem enough for me. So, I started looking at other cell phone providers in the US.  I'll save time and say that AT&T and Verizon seem way too expensive for me so I went with Google Fi. At the time I signed up 2 lines for $128 dollars per month. This was about the same amount I was paying so I was mostly fine with it. Although, I was hoping to save some money. I also like that I got the same features as I had with T-Mobile. The main ones being unlimited talk,...

Today I am checking out Sony's premium headphones the WH-XB910N. See what I have to say about the sound, build, and my overall experience. There's a lot to like but it's definitely not all good.