Opening the package reveals the device, a power lead with a three-pin plug and a mini Welcome booklet.  Tubular in shape, with a height of 155 mm and a diameter of 45 mm, the champagne coloured Coach, with its aluminium sheen, perches in an upright position.  Running down the front face of the Coach is a slim elongated window which displays feedback information regarding the health of the dwelling using a colour coded system.

Security can come in many different forms.  In the case of Sengled, a company that is best known as an internationally active manufacturer and supplier of innovative lighting solutions, you could say that light was being directed at the problem of home security.  This solution is known as the . Designed for use either indoors or in a garden environment, the Snap bulb is of the large bulbous type with dimensions of 148 mm height and a 121 mm diameter.

Melody is a turtle.  She is also the central component of a Leapfrog product.  As befitting her role in the product, her name forms part of the title which is Melody the Musical Turtle. Aimed at the 2+ year age group, Melody sets out to help the young child develop the core learning skills of number, colour recognition and memory skills.

As a specialist in the production and manufacture of premium audio solutions with innovative design concepts, Edifier has a portfolio consisting of a wide range of speakers developed to fulfil different user needs and budget constraints.  Currently the company has speakers that could be classified as Bluetooth, Desktop, Cinesound, Wireless, Portable, Bookshelf and Speakerphone.

You may have heard, read about, or actually participated in the upsurge in the sale of vinyl music recently – as old technology fights back in the marketplace.  But, as the old saying goes “One swallow does not a summer make” and the rise in vinyl sales popularity does not necessary mean that other superseded technology, such as VHS recorded tapes, is about to make a comeback thus allowing you to access your treasured collection of old video tape-based recordings.

With a title of “Bit” and an appearance that could be mistaken for a stubby flash drive, you could be forgiven for wondering just what was the purpose of this next device under review.  In fact, as part of the Polk Boom family of devices, the Bit is a wearable Bluetooth speaker.  Available in a choice of colours that include Black, Sport Blue, Lava and Mist Grey plus the Volt unit I had been sent as a sample.

With all the necessary tasks about the home completed, it is time to sit back and enjoy the traditional English tea party.  And what better way to indulge this important act with younger family members than with the Musical Rainbow Tea Party product.  As part of the Leapfrog “learn as you play” range of products, the Musical Rainbow Tae Party is targeted at the 1 – 3 years age group but I am sure they will not mind older members of the family taking part.

It has been a while since I last took a look at ABBYY’s FineReader product.  In fact it was over 30 months ago when I checked out the company’s FineReader 12 Professional edition of this OCR and PDF software that can scan a paper document and turn it into editable text.  In the intervening period, ABBYY has been busy developing its product line-up in various areas such as its Transformer PDF software.

As part of the company’s new generation of portable speakers, Edifier has developed its MP280 model.  This is a Bluetooth speaker that also offers support for receiving input from an AUX source and SD card.  The MP280 is cylindrical in shape and available in a choice of red (my review sample), blue or black; The speaker has dimensions of 183 mm width and a diameter of 58 mm.  While a little too bulky for just slipping into a pocket, even of the patch variety, and weighing 0.

Leaping Letters from Leapfrog is an alphabet game that is aimed at the 3 – 6 age group.  The product has been designed to cover the core learning skills of the Alphabet, matching skills and fine motor skills.   The Leaping Letters product consists of 29 game pieces. Central to this game, based on alphabet letters, is a plastic 3D tray element.

One of my pet bugbears, and yes I do have more than one, relates to products that arrive for review with minimal information regarding the installation or set up procedure used by the product.  Falling into this category is the Polk Boom Swimmer Duo offering.  This piece of hardware is a Bluetooth arrived packaged innovatively in a plastic glass tube.

The Dremel 4000 is a collection of tools designed for the enthusiastic DIY person who wants to carve, grind, polish, cut, sand and carry out other miscellaneous tasks in and around the home.  Forming the central unit of this tool kit is the Multi-Tool device that features the new EZ Twist Nose Cap. Sporting a colour scheme of black, grey, blue and silver, the Multi-Tool is cylindrical in shape with dimensions of 230 x 41 x 43 mm (L x W x D) and a weight of 0.66 kg.

Following the launch of its Swift 2 and Swift 2 Plus smartphones a couple of months ago, Wileyfox has introduced a third member of the family with the Swift 2 X.  As with the earlier offerings, Wileyfox has adopted the approach of melding together aspects of London-based design concepts with best-in-class Chinese manufacturing using tier one components and the Popular Android software supplemented with some additional tweaks.

Created by N-Tri Studios, Crossroad Mysteries: The Broken Deal is a Hidden Object Adventure game available from various gaming websites.  As usual with games of this type, you can create profiles so that individual players can enjoy the game with their own set of customised options. These profiles can contain the volume audio levels for features such as sound effects, music, speech and ambient sounds.

Whether being used to capture Selfies or probably more picturesque scenes, the tool of choice for many users is that of their smartphone or, in some cases, a tablet.  Once these images have been captured, it can sometimes be a wrench to dispose of them in order to make space for further additions to your photographic collection.  However a possible solution could be available with a product from Picture Keeper entitled Picture Keeper Connect.

As you get older, tasks that were once considered easy and straightforward, slowly become an effort and tricky to complete.  It does not help when, due to the ravages of time and other considerations, you develop complaints that sometimes cause amusement to others while distressing you.  These complaints can have the effect of reducing mobility and causing discomfort.

Dana Knightstone is the central character is a series of games developed by Boomzap Entertainment.  She is a novelist who has a habit of stumbling into mysteries that involve ghostly apparitions.  Dana’s latest such adventure occurs in Death at Cape Porto as she is visiting Portugal while writing a romantic novel.  It isn’t long before Dana comes across a situation where an innocent soul is labelled a murderer.

Following the standard NETGEAR plinth shaped appearance, combining a plastic matte black base with a dark grey top, the Nighthawk X4S has dimensions of 285 x 185 x 50 mm (W x D x H).  To gain the full benefit of this router you will need to attach the provided four antennas.  These antennas can be screwed into sockets that are positioned on either side of the unit and along the rear of the router.

The Smart Platinum 7 is another member of the Vodafone family of smartphones.  This particular model features stylish rounded corners.  Weighing 155g and with dimensions of 154 x 75.7 x 7 mm (H x W x D), this is a 5.5-inch unit.  It is black in colour with reflective front and rear faces that are less inclined to gather finger smears than many smartphones I have used over time.

Available in a choice of boxed product or download, Bitdefender Total Security 2017 is the company’s current flagship offering.  If you opt for the latter method of receiving the product, as I did, then I would advise that you also download the User Manual.

Alicia Griffith is a detective whose role you take on in the game entitled Lakeside Murder.  Published by Agnostemona Ltd., Lakeside Murder is an Adventure game spread over four chapters as you encounter various characters in a variety of locations.  According to the initial information I received regarding this game, I was expecting it to contain Hidden Object game play but this particular aspect failed to make an appearance during the review period.

Huawei has been busy of late with various new releases featuring both Huawei and Honor For The Brave brands.  Hot on the heals of the launch, held in Munich, of the Mate 9 model with its dual lens featured reviewing recently on this site, the focus switched to a new flagship offering from the Honor brand.

Arriving with the claim of being the first wearable device that tracks both physical movement and state of mind issues, Spire is a small device that has been designed to help reduce stress in the wearer by increasing calm and focus while reducing tension.  I have been road-testing, actually more chair-testing as I will explain later, the company’s Spire Stone product as it checks out how I have been spending my time during the day.

Developed by Cervo Media, Crazy Rings is a game that sits firmly in the Match 3 Shooter genre.  For reasons not explained, the zoo animals of the world have become involved in a mass breakout.  You are called in to take on the role of the person who has to corral the escapees so that they can be returned to the enclosures in their home zoos.

When out and about, either when relaxing and enjoying the surroundings or involved in various energetic pursuits, you often need access to a supplementary power source for those mobile devices we seemingly find it impossible to live without.  One such supplementary power source is The Action Charger.

The Epson Expression Home XP-442 is a member of the company’s range of All-in-One devices.  This particular product gives the user a choice of print, copy and scan features either via a USB or WiFi connection with the additional option of sourcing documents and images from SD media.

Adding to its range of NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices, Buffalo has introduced its TeraStation™ 3010 series. This particular series consists of three main models covering capacities from 2TB up to 16TB with either 2 or 4 bays. I have been looking at the TS3210DN0202-EU model which is a 2-bay unit with a capacity of 2TB of storage. Featuring a pair of 1TB SATA drives, this NAS box is predominately black in colour although there are gun metal grey panels around the front of the unit.