4moms Origami Hands-on: Baby stroller or Mars Rover?

It's arguably one of the coolest strollers for tech-obsessed parents, but is the big-ticketed price tag worth the investment? Our hands-on with the 4moms Origami stroller finds out.

The 4moms Origami stroller is one of the most unique baby strollers available on the market. Unlike traditional strollers that require manual setup, the item folds and unfolds on its own with just a push of a button. At $850 retail, it’s not cheap; However, it is comparable in price to high-end models from companies like UppaBaby and Bugaboo, and the Origami brings a style all its own to the sidewalk.

Look and feel

Be prepared: You will get noticed. When you take your child for a walk in the Origami, people will stop you. Much in the same way technophiles are stopping strangers when they see an iPhone 5, people are drawn in by the Origami’s looks. From the raised seat for the baby, to the LCD screen, to the daytime running lights, this won’t be confused with a $20 umbrella stroller. It’s even got lights underneath the stroller to illuminate pathways when you’re walking at night. While the stroller body is relatively slim, a small, detachable luggage bag can be clipped on the lower back of the frame for additional storage. The back of the seat also has rooms for a thermos, magazines, stuffed animal, whatever other accessories you might need for your baby.

All the attention this thing gets is fine — exciting, even — but it’s frustrating because you can’t stop every time for every person who asks, “Is that a spaceship?” to show off the feature that will truly blow people’s minds: the one-touch electronic fold.

The wow factor

When you do get to your car, get the baby loaded securely in the car seat, you hope that at least a few of the gawking masses who’ve noticed the Origami are still there when you are ready to fold it up and stow it. With a slight twist, the gray button on the handle begins glowing blue and you know something special is about to happen. Push the now-illuminated button and watch the magic as this full size stroller contracts itself into a horizontal pod, ready to be placed in the back of the car. Press it again and the pod reforms itself into a stroller. Each process takes about 2.5 seconds (it doesn’t help to yell “Autobots, Roll Out!” before you do this, but it doesn’t hurt) to complete but the crowd impression is sure to last way longer. [See video below for a demo.]

More than meets the eye

Onlookers will think you stole a top secret government project like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, but there’s more to a baby stroller than slick engineering. After all, this is going to be holding your most prized possession, so let’s discuss comfort and handling.

We tested this stroller with my son, Harry, who is 13 months and 22 pounds. He can’t say much beyond “Daddy” and “Book,” but judging by his overall demeanor when riding in the Origami, he seemed very comfortable. The baby rides up a little higher than in most strollers, which is nice for the baby to be able to see better, and for adults who want to see him. One drawback is that the Origami does not fully recline. There is a curved bar underneath the baby seat that prevents a full lay-flat option, which is not ideal for every child.

The handlebar design of the stroller’s control grip provides an extremely natural way to walk and direct the vehicle, and the suspension is calibrated to provide a pretty smooth ride. You can push it quite easily with one hand.  The pedal brake is easy to use and effective. There are two cup holders for the parent and two cup holders for the child, which is a nice touch. The sunshade also does a good job of protecting your baby from bright sunshine and harmful UV rays. A car seat adapter is available and a pram attachment will be released soon. No word yet on a kickboard for a second child to ride along with you.

Baby tech

The Origami comes equipped with an LCD screen that provides some useful features including a speedometer and an odometer. While you’re not likely to get the Origami up much faster than three or four mph on most walks, it’s nice to see how far you’ve gone at the end of the day. If nothing else, it provides a little extra sense of accomplishment when you realize you walked five miles while running all those errands. 

There is also an icon that tells you whether or not there is a baby in the stroller. Now, I’d like to think most new parents will take the extra step of looking at their actual, physical child to ensure he/she is in the carriage rather than depending on their digital doppelgänger, but it actually serves another, more important purpose. Answering the obvious question, “Will this thing fold up with my baby in it?” there is a weight sensor built in (which triggers the digital icon) and we can say definitively, no, the Origami will not fold with a baby in it. (Truth be told, we tested it with a fire extinguisher first!)

The kinetic energy from the spinning wheels also charges the unit, so there’s no need to plug in like an electric car to charge the running lights. In fact, there is an optional kit that allows you to charge your cell phone directly from the Origami itself. That is cool.

Some drawbacks

Unfortunately, with all that tech built into the stroller, the Origami is not light. At 29 pounds, it’s one of the heavier strollers available, and for smaller moms and dads, that can cause some difficulties picking them up to load into their oversize SUVs. That said, getting the stroller in and out of the car will probably be the extent of carrying it for most people. With a ride this smooth, you’ll just want to push it everywhere.

The Origami’s one-touch folding feature is intuitive to use. The stroller comes out of the box charged and ready to go, and assembly takes about two minutes. But remember when we said the unfolding setup was foolproof? Well, maybe it’s too foolproof. The flip side of all that ease is that other children can take one look at this extremely interesting vehicle and figure it out just as quickly. As was the case when my 3-year-old turned the knob and pushed the glowing blue button and leaped into my arms in fright as the stroller transformed before her very eyes. There’s a lock on the underside of the button to prevent these Curious George-type moments, but it’s up to you to remember to lock it.

Bottom line

The 4moms Origami stroller, with its smooth glide and futuristic features, provides a comfortable and eye-catching experience for both child and parent. Again, at $850, it’s not cheap — but for parents who love to be ahead of the curve, it’s a great pick.

[Editor's Note: Sean is the Vice President of Sales at Digital Trends, however, this review is not a paid endorsement from the company. He happened to be the only one at DTNY with a young child to help test the product! The Origami stroller maybe for 4moms, but Sean loves it and he's a dad, so don't fear the brand name!]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung is now among the Top 10 most valuable brands for 2012, Apple takes second place

The investment Samsung makes in the marketing of its two latest Android flagships, the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II has paid off not only in massive sales, but also in boosting the brand’s worth, shooting it among the top 10 most valuable in the world.

According to Interbrand’s 13th annual Best Global Brands report, Samsung, for the first time in its history, finds its place in the Top 10 of the prestigious ranking. In fact, it’s now considered the 9th most valuable brand on the planet and is estimated to be worth $32.8 billion.

Samsung’s value has increased by 40% since the company became the world’s largest smartphone and mobile phone manufacturer. Moreover, the aggressive marketing campaign and the buzz the Koreans have generated around the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II has also helped them boost their value.

At the other end of the list is Apple cozily taking second place right below Coca-Cola. Valued at $76.5 billion, the Apple brand has made an incredible 129% jump in value compared to last year.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Has 4G become meaningless?

A cesspool of acronyms, overoptimistic marketing claims and incompatible technologies has made 4G incomprehensible to the average consumer. Now carriers will suffer for the mess they’ve created.

Recently, the investment firm Piper Jaffray conducted a study that found a full 47 percent of U.S. consumers don’t feel the need for 4G. This isn’t good news for the carriers, which have been fiercely touting their 4G networks for a few years now. Almost all new smartphones have some kind of 4G connectivity, including the new iPhone, at long last.

Part of consumers’ apathy over 4G might come from their inability to understand the difference between different flavors of it. The same survey found that 51 percent of consumers said that all 4G networks are the same. Not only can’t they name which is best,

That’s bad news for an industry as competitive as wireless communication, with recent marketing campaigns based upon name calling as a means of brand differentiation. With carriers betting ever more heavily upon data tiers as a main revenue stream, what can carriers do about consumers who don’t seem to understand their services?

How to be 4G

Confusion is the name of the game, and the carriers haven’t helped explain to consumers the benefits of 4G. Commercial mobile technologies are standardized by a complex number of bodies such as the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the 3GGP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), and the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Still reading? Good. They are tasked with bickering until they set a strict, definite standard for each iteration.

These powers that be hold conferences, conduct studies, and perform secret ritual sacrifices in order to define what it each G – or generation – actually means. 4G is, of course the next numerical step, but the powers stumbled when it came to defining what that actually meant.

Strange encounters of the fourth generation

The 4G war got off to a specular fail from a marketing standpoint. There were many, vastly different technologies all vying for subscribers.

Sprint tried to get the ball rolling with WiMAX in 2008, a technology descended from the same tech in your Wi-Fi router. It was branded 4G, though real-life speeds were often more equivalent to a particularly fast 3G device. This was promising, but Sprint eventually declared the technology dead and migrated to LTE (Long Term Evolution, if you were curious). One down.

T-Mobile further muddied the waters with an upgrade to HSPA+, which is technically more like 3.5G, but which has been branded 4G.

AT&T had a wide, but much decried 3G network (partly blamed on iPhone exclusivity for years). While AT&T deploys its 4G LTE network nationwide, it’s also making things needlessly confusing by offering HSPA+ alongside, and branding it 4G just like T-Mobile. If you have an AT&T iPhone 4S, you might see a 4G logo appear sometimes, but it’s not the “true” 4G LTE you would get by upgrading to an iPhone 5.

Verizon launched a 4G LTE network in late 2010 – in its truest sense – it fulfilled the 4G guidelines.

Simple, right?

Setting low bars

No. Not simple, at all. Once the carriers got to building their new networks, the powers that be decided to change the definition of 4G. They lowered the minimum speed guidelines, so that carriers wouldn’t have to do too much heavy lifting, meaning that 4G networks would not be as revolutionary as they had first planned. Hence the bickering over “true” 4G. On top of that, building 4G networks gave carriers a chance to improve their existing networks with beefier backhaul – the connections that tie cell towers back to the backbone of the Internet. This greatly improved 3G speeds and availability, closing the gap between 3G and 4G.

It’s not surprising that the average consumer doesn’t care about 4G when they don’t get it, and 3G networks are progressively getting better. Coverage matters more than speed to many people — a souped-up network means squat if there isn’t a tower in your area.

The consumers don’t care

With so many different carrier definitions of 4G, and even an official designation that’s a moving target, it’s hardly surprising that people are confused. So what can the carriers do?

Agree on a standard speed definition. This is probably impossible, because the telecom industry is notorious for talking at, rather than with each other. But setting a baseline speed for 4G would at least let customers know what they’re being promised.

Stop slapping 4G on everything. This is really aimed at AT&T and T-Mobile, which are allowed to brand older HSPA+ 3G tech as 4G due to a magical shift in definitions back in 2010. While this is legal, it confuses people to a point where they don’t care.

Stop lying about speeds. Advertised speeds are not the same as real world speeds. T-Mobile might advertise 42mbps, but that’s the theoretical limit. That doesn’t look so rosy when you’re getting 45kbps downloads. Averages work much better, and leave less room for error.

Change phone branding conventions. While some handset-makers are responsible for this, it isn’t in a carrier’s best interest to have a phone named after wireless services. For example: The HTC EVO 4G LTE. Not the easiest name to understand. This particular model caused a friend to ask “What is a 4G?” as if it were some kind of new device. Apple keeps it simple with 3, 4s, 5 and so on. Heck, even Samsung does with its flagship line of Galaxy phones (S2, S3). I wonder where that inspiration came from?

Conclusion

The carriers have themselves to blame for the consumer confusion they’re currently stewing in. Unexplained acronyms, incompatible networks, technologies that vanish as soon as they’ve appeared – it’s as if they’re running Area 51, not voice and data networks. Carriers have the leverage to make the average consumer more interested in 4G, but it’s all up to them.

More speed is nice, but most of us would just settle for better reception. After all, if a guy with a mohawk can put a robot on Mars with less cash than it took to put on the Olympics, why can’t I have cell reception in an elevator?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com