Review on Recorder Reduction Portable Transcription Interviews by Mike Ewing

So I bought the first TicWatch and appreciated what Mobvoi was trying to do - change the space by providing competitive products that are good, not great, but just a Fraction of that was the cost compared to the rest of the industry. I've seen this in a few iterations of their TicWatches, but figured I'd grab the recorder to try it out and see if it fits their usual "safe" formula. So let's go through the list. what I like and what I don't like! What I like: - Form factor. By sacrificing things like screen and playback, Mobvoi managed to create a very small device. I have small hands and it still looks very small. There are two buttons and that's it - you have a power/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi button and a record button, that's it. - Clip. The clip is convenient in that it can be attached to a collar or attached to a metal surface, so it is convenient in that aspect. - Simplicity. It was very easy to take out of the box, charge, burn and upload files. I didn't have to worry about weird formats or a complicated file manager just to pull the content off the device with the included cable. Price. That's a bit subjective. For example, I also have a Zoom H4N Pro (not the BEST recorder in the world, but it's a very, very reliable product) that costs about 2.5 times as much. It has two really good microphones and a lot of features like multi-channel recording, different recording modes, support for external XLR microphones and more. But it's $250. On the other hand, it costs $99. You can compare this to something like the "Sony ICD-UX570 Digital Voice Recorder, ICDUX570BLK" (available from Revain - although I've never personally tested this product), which costs about $30 less than this one. . Then you have to evaluate what is important to you - sound quality, comfort or features. What I don't like: - Application. That does not work. I tried to connect my device to the app but I can't. I'd like to add "mobile" to the "What I like" section, but I just can't because it's not working right now. Tried troubleshooting a variety of ways, but nothing helped. - sound quality. The sound quality is good, but not outstanding. It's hard to tell if the audio is 2.5 times weaker than the Zoom H4N Pro. It has an extremely crisp and clear sound that makes most condenser microphones a great value. For €99 I expect a little more. I turned it off for the connected recording, but when my AC was on I could hear it fairly clearly in the recording, so I would have liked to have had some enhanced noise isolation through the software to compensate for the hardware. - Transcription of sound. I can only speculate as I haven't been able to verify this, but I'm a little frustrated that there isn't a monthly free transcription after the first year. I would even like to see a minimum number of transcription credits for users to keep using this feature and power users who use the voice recorder all day, every day should pay accordingly for this service. This voice recorder as a whole offers some modern conveniences. for example WiFi/Bluetooth streaming to connect to your mobile device, eliminating the "need" for built-in playback capabilities, but also lacking many of the conveniences you would normally find in a recording device. It's hard for me to determine if this device is useful or suitable for serious blogging or accompanying a video production compared to a wireless lavalier mic. I could see someone using this for vlogging indoors, but I don't think it's realistic to expect the device to not pick up anomalies and white noise that can affect the overall quality of the final product (without additional processing). And while I find the clip handy, I also felt like it got in the way, so the sound was muffled when I clipped it to my shirt collar. I didn't put it on the collar in the attached video, but even with the recorder under the chin it sounds more muffled than elsewhere - maybe due to my facial hair, but does that affect it? a lot of? I think it has more to do with his affinity for clothes. With that in mind, you may need to trade convenience for quality and compare that to the $99 price tag. If Mobvoi can solve the connectivity issues (which I think is a BIG issue as it is the USP for this device) I would consider upgrading to 4 stars and even then I think my recommendation to others is that to keep an eye on, but don't pay full retail price for it - wait until it goes on sale and then buy it. I think in order to get 5 stars it is necessary to improve the overall quality of the microphones and carefully study the software to improve the built-in audio recording capabilities. I use Krisp on my desktop and it does an excellent job of removing ambient noise, really cranking up my overly sensitive HyperX Quadcast or Yeti.