The Ring Presenter and Noise Isolation Headset- pure Genius

With this evaluation, we continue with the newest member of our ABT staff, Mario Vasquez, who will be heading up our “Mobile corner” as Contributing Editor. Mario (aka ZeroEnigma) will help ABT with mobile platforms. This is the next of many of his upcoming evaluations, articles and blogs.

We also welcome your comments on these blogs and articles and all of our staff are ready to serve you. Also, please remember that each editor speaks his own mind and is responsible for what they write. There is no ABT site “point of view”.

Mark Poppin,

Senior ABT editor

                             
Genius is a company founded in Taipei, Taiwan in 1983 that is looking to break into the U.S market and they are doing so in a big way. Their vision is to “Create Infinite Value with a Magic Touch.”  The products we have received from them come in excellent packaging, support is top of the line, and quality is evident from the first use. Genius is looking to create an agile and wireless world that is free and looks good doing it. The two products in this evaluation are just a taste of their innovation and quality.

Here is a two product review of Genius’ hardware. We begin with:

Genius’ HS-i220: Noise Isolation Headset with Apple Control

AlienBabelTech editors love music as much as the next person, and we also love quality.  The earbud/headphone market is flooded with manufacturers trying to sell their own brands. Most Smartphones come pre-packaged with some form of them, including the main company to do so, Apple.  Its OEM earbuds have always been this editor’s personal favorites since they have some great sound to them and also look. However, they  aren’t the best in their price range.  Apple’s build quality tends to be good but their headphones always seem to break down after heavy use. With Genius’ HS-i220 you get what this company promises, quality.

Features:

-Remote Control with mic allows you to adjust volume,

-Control music and answer calls.

-3 rubber ear caps for different ear sizes

-Gold plated 3.5mm connector

Ergonomically designed to reduce background noise   

When comparing the HS-i220 to the standard white Apple headphones, these have a similar if not better quality feel to them and the packaging is standard and easy to open. The HS-i220s vary in price, the cheapest being about $35.  Apple’s OEM headphones cost about $29.99 at Amazon.

Genius’ obvious build quality alone is worth the extra five dollars. The headphones feel good to hold and to have in your ears. The three interchangeable rubber ear caps allowed us to find the perfect fit, unlike Apple’s which hurt after a while and which also fall out easily. I have gone through many Apple headphones; they consistently fall apart after a couple of months of use.   In contrast, the Genius’ HS-i220 headphones are a great build quality and they sound better.  I always stood by Apples OEM headphones, but they are simply not the best.

What about sound? Apple’s packaged headphones have always had good sound, clarity, and look. The HS-i220 by Genius are no different; they offer clarity with great sound. I heard some sounds that I could not hear with the Apple headphones on lower setting that were clearly audible with the HS-i220 earbuds. They are not noise-cancelling but instead they isolate what you are hearing from the outside world and we actually prefer this approach to being deaf to the outside world.

Hs-i220 in white

The sound isolation of the HS-i220 contributed to some great sounding music, podcasts and phone calls. This is also true with Apples earbuds but what if you’re in a very loud place?  With Apple, you are almost forced to raise the volume to the maximum to drown out the outside noise, while the HS-i220 allowed us to enjoy what we wanted to hear without being forced to max out our volume.

Speaking of volume, using Apple’s earbuds you have to search for the smaller control buttons but on Genius’ ear buds they are bigger and a lot easier to press. By using the Apple-style control buttons that are built in, you can easily feel for the buttons without looking and press them to:

– Answer and end calls by using the middle button

– Change the song playing with a double-tap of the middle button

– Change volume with the +, – buttons

– Long press the middle button to access Siri or Voice control

Our main complaint is with the color of the earbuds as there are only two to choose from: White with green lines, or black with yellow lines. There is no variety, and if you don’t like these color combinations, they aren’t for you. The HS-i220s aren’t studio quality headphones, but for their price, they do a good job.  Bass lovers won’t get too much out of Hs-i220s.

Hs-i220’s feel comfortable and have great sound. All genres of music sound good and don’t overpower the earbuds. We rarely set these to the max because it just wasn’t necessary, even with volume near half in a busy mall we could hear the music perfectly. That goes for calls as well, on both sides calls were clear and sounded the same as if you were holding a phone to your ear.

Pros:

– Same price range as Apple OEM headphones while offering more bang for the buck

– Noise Isolation, with great sound at all levels

– Bigger Apple-style Control button

– 3 sizes of earbud caps to choose from

Cons:

–  Only two color schemes to choose from

– Not a lot of bass offered, but enough to enjoy music without overpowering

– The cord could be a little longer, but it doesn’t feel cheaply made.

We award the HS-i220s the ABT Editors Choice awards.

Let’s take a look at the World’s first ring-style touch cursor controller – The Genius Ring Presenter on the next page.