Publication History For : Paul Smart
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A very striking red colour is the first thing you notice when you take it from the box, the next thing is that there are just three items that will only connect together one way and as they click together you do not even require a screwdriver.
The 11 should give a good clue to this not being a new product. Team Viewer has been around for a long time and is a method for someone with knowledge to help those with less knowledge to solve a problem remotely easily and quickly.
Whenever you allow someone access to your PC you should be very sure they are who they claim. With Team Viewer you have to send them the invite. They can then see your screen and you can see exactly what they are doing as they move around trying to solve your problem. Team Viewer has been available for MAC and PC for a long time, now however the latest version also works with Chrome and Android and even for those on Linux. So whatever your environment you should be able to receive or give help.
Protect your home while you are away is something that many companies seem to be producing items for, some insurance companies even offer a reduction in your premium if the item selected meets their criteria. Here is a solution from Nest.
I thought the setup for Nest Protect was easy, this is even easier, select a site for the camera attach it to the magnetic dock provided, plug in the camera to the 3metre micro USB to USB lead a 13amp USB plug front is supplied and start watching what the camera shows on your phone or Tablet.
While I think of ASUS for notebooks and Tablets and although I have yet to review one All In One systems which of course all have screens I was not aware until a recent visit to the BETT education event that they sold standalone screens.
This is a 27.75 inch offering strangely only 27inch is claimed. The screen is 61.5x36x1.5cm the last figure at the edges. It has a 21cm circular stand that raises it by 7cm from your desk. There is a good amount of back tilt and even some front tilt. It weighs 4.47kilos. There is a single line of connections just above the stand mount connection on the rear. DC input, Display Port, HDMI, VGA audio in for VGA and headphone out.
It looks like a round neck pair of in ear buds. It is, so you could use them as a simple music player however it is also a Wearable Music Player with Fitness Tracker, so it can play music in a beat to match your heart rate (pulse).
12cm across and 12cm tall would match the non-twisted size of these buds, each ear has a 5x2.5x1cm unit in front of the bud and their total weight is only 42grams. It would be totally wrong to describe this as a music player even though it can play music.
Another very mature product, as computers continue to get more powerful processors things that took a while to process can now be done almost instantly. Here is a good example you can manipulate your files easily and quickly and improve them effortlessly.
There are three versions of the latest edition of Magix Music Maker software the main difference between them is the number of instruments they come with. In the simplest terms this is electronic music creation software but as with all such software the simple part is putting the music down, the hard part is having the ear to know what is say an annoying earworm or perhaps just very occasionally a true classic composed piece.
However big your desk is there never seems enough room. So things got moved away the tower or mini tower went under the desk, a lot of recent panels have USB hubs what else can you move away, possibly the keyboard or at least have a smaller one.
This unit from Penclic helps as it is small – about the size of that found on a laptop – and it has no wires to connect it as it uses a Wi-Fi dongle. It is 28.5x16cm and weights 345grams with its two ‘AAA’ batteries inserted in its back.
When I first read the press release I thought I remembered the View Master name from the dim and distant past with a stereo projector of images from cards. This is a somewhat different idea that uses a viewer face but the images are 360 degree around a feature.
You get a quite well make headset which from the front looks like quality ski goggles, the rear has rubberised eye pieces to take away external sights. On the right side is a slider, the starter pack comes with a 9cm circular disc that you need to focus on in order the view the contents. However all these parts are dumb as they rely on a SmartPhone and App to activate the content each time you go on an experience.
An analogue watch with a step counter. Yes analogue I do hope younger children are still taught to read a watch rather than rely on digital timepieces. This is a very smart looking offering with a circular dial and absolutely no buttons.
When I reviewed an earlier model I found it difficult to setup this one was a joy, press the back of the case with the tool supplied and you link to the App that you have downloaded, enter a few personal details and then the App and the watch link via Bluetooth and the time is set and that is about it, around five minutes in total.
When a company decides that the blades cannot be improved they then look to what surrounds them and here Gillette work on what to you and me looks like the plastic shield that stops the blades meeting your face at anything but the perfect angle.
So having what think is the perfect set of blades and also the best arm to support the razor it only leaves what surrounds the razor blades. Did you know that the average number of strokes used during a face shave is 170 and 120 or those are made once the protective foam or gel has been removed, no, neither did I so this is why Gillette have brought out extra protection in the surrounds of their blades so stop you and me suffering irritation when we shave.
Not the smallest PC I have looked at but probably the one with the most connectivity from such a small box. Things did not start that well but after the initial problems I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed testing this product.
My first problem was it did not recognise the keyboard, then I was surprised that it did not have Wi-Fi – or so I thought – so after finding an Ethernet cable I was relieved to find that I could use the WPS button on my router to connect it to my Network. After that being online I could let Windows find a driver for my keyboard and unbeknown to me also one for the Wi-Fi so now I do not need the Ethernet cable. So now it runs as I expected it would/should out of the box.
The lasest offering from Philips should be able to support you whatever connection you need as it has VGA, Digital, HDMI and DisplayPort not to mention a rather nice USB3 Hub. So whatever and however you connect you are supported here with this 23.5inch panel showing 1920x1080.
It is 56x35x1.8cm the last figure at the edges. The stand is a circle with a section cut off at the front so its 28cm side to side and just over 23cm back to front. It has a telescopic arm that can raise the panel from a minimum of 5cm above your desk to a maximum of 17.5cm. The arm does stay within the confines of the diameter of the base. The base of the stand is metal but there are seven circular 1.
Last year I looked at a new high quality streaming service which also gave you a chance to download and save in 16 or 24 bit. Now with answers to some outstanding questions I look to a new version for Android (3.2) and more.
First for those new to Qobuz you pay a monthly fee and after that almost all the tracks they have are available to stream, in fact if you click a link you can also play them when offline. Their cheapest offering is for those happy with their music in MP3 quality. I was given a trial of their mid-range offering that allows you to stream in 16bit FLAC for most of their catalogue. Full details of all their offerings can be found on their site, link at the end.
This is a padlock with no keyhole or number combination. According to instructions there are four ways to open it, but in case you forget the pattern you select then when you register you answer three different memorable questions for another way.
For those with bicycles then they also do a U-Lock version. Perhaps the easiest way to open it – even without your phone being available – is a combination of short and long pushes down on the top of the locking part called the shackle, you decide how many and what combination but once you get beyond say eight the security is quite good. Inside the Noke is a 2032 battery which is stated to last for a year and is easily changeable when the Noke is unlocked.
Due to Apple in the UK being, shall we say, frugal with items they send out for review the whole Apple brand gets little coverage. Recently the same external source supplied me with an iPad to review and now the latest iPhone, the S6.
The Apple iPone 6s measures 12.5x6.5.6cm and weights 142grams. The edges are rounded so the viewable screen is 10.5x5.5cm the screen is 1334x760 pixels, this is called a 4.7inch display. A total of 24 icons are viewable in portrait mode, twenty above the line and four fixed items phone, browser, mail and music below the line. For those coming from Android the main thing to adjust to is that below the screen is just a single button. Going round the unit, the right side has the on/off button.
Anyone who wants a very easy to use camera that takes extremely good images and can also take video from a unit which can slip into even the smallest pocket, should be looking at the Canon IXUS range and this tiny offering is no exception.
The Canon IXUS 275 compact digital camera measures 10x5.5x2cm, the last figure can increase by another 3.5cm when the lens is fully extended. The camera weights a tiny 144grams. The left side is clear, the right side also looks the same apart from the anchor point for the supplied wrist strap until you look closely when you see it is a cover behind which there are mini HDMI and AV sockets.
I was sent this from France and to be honest my French is non-existent so I needed to wait for a translation before I could start seeing exactly what it could do to achieve what we all want to save some money from household bills.
Both items in their own way hold things, the first could be a camera or phone and then you could wrap it round something. The second holds data and allows you to transfer it either to anything with a lightning connector on one end and a standard USB on the other.
I certainly remember reviewing other Joby items in the past with their ability to twist round any object to hold your camera securely via the standard screw. On this it works slightly differently the camera screw is still there but now it has a frame attached so that your SmartPhone can be held securely on the fence, lamppost or railing while you take your shots. In a way it becomes a long distance Selfie Stick.
In September I told you about 1TB and 2TB WD portable drives and now I can tell you about the 3GB version that the press release said was released in July sadly it only arrived on my desk at the end of the year, still better late than never.
Most laptop and notebook computers still only have 500GB (½TB) hard discs. My desktop has 1TB and if you have 2TB you probably paid a large premium. So 3TB for a USB powered external drive is still a very large in capacity unit. My first surprise is that it is exactly the same size and weight as the 2TB unit, so unless I have gone further round the twist than normal it means that 1TB or additional memory is stored in more larger carrier but weights exactly nothing.
The last item I reviewed from Sennheiser was a set of earbuds I did not even know they did earbuds this is a quality Bluetooth set of headphones. In the past I have reviewed several sets of wired headphones so for those who prefer not to be tethered
As always my job is to point out problem – however minor – often at the expense of waxing lyrically about the good points. Well I found one minor niggle here so let’s get it out of the way, when I paired it with a PC I am currently reviewing it insisted that it was an Bluetooth earpiece which it is not but as it worked correctly I almost let it pass. The headphones when fully compressed are 20cm from base of the earbud to top of the headband, there is 4.
While there is a lot of hype about watches that work with phones, and one company a fruit make you feel naked if your wrist does not sprout one, here a similar offering from a company that comes from the panel display sector.
The watch itself is 4.5x4x.75cm, attached to is a fitted strap, on the back are four contacts which mean that to charge the watch via a standard micro USB to USB you need a cradle for the watch to fit into, both the cradle and lead are supplied. There is an eight language Quick Start Guide and two of the eight columns – half of one side – have the illustrations and English instructions.
If it sounds too good to be true I thought so to, so I tried it and I can confirm they are offering a range of services and the lowest level of data 200MB a month is FREE and you get both 200 minutes and 200 texts with it as well.
A few modern SIMs are full size, most are micro and a few are nano. Specify which you need at the time of registering. After a few days your SIM arrives and it is already activated ready for you to insert into your phone. You an unlocked phone and at the time of writing you have to accept one of the phone number choices offered, for some this would be a problem but they say that changing your current number will not be essential shortly.
Having recently told you about Roberts new entry level Internet offering, it seems only correct to move up the scale a little to what they call a DAB/FM/WiFi Internet Radio with Music Player and this even comes with Spotify Connect built in.
It is 26x17x9cm disregarding the handle that can slot back behind the unit and the 75cm six piece rod aerial. My unit was a mixture of matt and shiny black with the front dominated by the centre of the 6cm stereo speakers shining through the grill. Both sides and the bass are clear. This unit can run on ‘C’ cell batteries but it is of course mainly a mains unit. At the base of the back is the entry point for batteries.
Although Windows 10 was available to some to download as early as August last year this is the first unit that I have reviewed that was designed to use Windows 10 and by that I mean it can use all the features that Microsoft had as selling points when they tried to persuade people to upgrade. A natively installed product this is what Windows 10 should be.
The HP EliteBook Folio G1 measures 30.5x20.5x1.5cm the last figure at the back and less than 1cm at the front, it weights 1230grams. The left side has a Kensington Lock Port, HDMI, USB3 and Micro SD ports. The front has nothing not even LEDs. The Right side headphone socket, USB3, SD Card port and finally DC charge socket. The back has nothing as the screen goes down over it to 135 degrees.
A change in how review loans are authorised is the reason that there has been an interregnum since the last review from me. Hopefully now I can get back to telling you about the latest offerings from this iconic name in cameras and more.
Canon are best known – and rightly so – for their professional and semi-professional DSLR units. They also do two small pocket camera brands the IXUS and the Power Shot. IXUS unit are always small and sometimes tiny, the size of the Power Shot units vary from as small as the IXUS to almost as large as a small DSLR. This unit, the G9X, is on the small end.
Monster is a name worth considering with headphones, here is for me anyway a first a Wi-Fi set called Freedom, most people will have heard of Cristiano Ronaldo the very rich footballer even if they know nothing about the sport.
If you were in a position to buy a Rolls Royce or Bentley I doubt you would ask about reliability. So in the same way an indorsement by a top player who is certainly in a position to buy the best should give you encouragement here. While these are Wi-Fi headphones they also have the ability to play ‘wired’ so that gives the option where Bluetooth is not available such as with older audio units. A 1.35metre 3.5 to 3.5mm rubber coated lead provided.
This is watch, a fitness device and it tracks your footsteps. More importantly if you wear it while in bed it tells you how well/or not you are sleeping. So what if anything makes this a better device than numerous other such offerings?
The Huawei Talkband B2 measures 4.5x2x.5cm and can be attached to anything or it comes with a wrist strap which is certainly the way I reviewed it. In this way it weighs just 30grams. My unit was black and had a matt black rubber strap. The device clicks into the strap housing. It can fit a wrist between 16.5-22cm my wrist was in the middle of that band in the fifth of ten holes. You need to download an App from either the iOS or Android store.
A sub £100 flat panel is not unusual, a near £100 flat panel from a company like AOC is. This offering has cut a few of the bells and whistles but nothing has been cut that matters and with everyone now worrying about Blue Light this gives reassurance.
The screen of the G2260VWQ6 measures 50.5x30.5x1.7cm the last figure is at the edge. The viewable screen is 48x27cm which gives the diagonal imperial measurement of just over 21½ inches. The stand is circular at 18cm and with the connecting arm raises the unit by 7.5cm from your desk. There is no side to side movement but the unit is light so turning is not a problem, there is some forward tilt and a good amount of back tilt.
This latest Dyson vacuum is both an upright and a handheld cleaner in one. It can perform this seemingly impossible task by having the motor and collection container at the top of the arm remote from the cleaning shoe(s).
The Dyson Wand V6 Absolute measures 112cm from the top to the base of the shoe, the larger of the two provided is 24cm wide. AS stated it can be used with or without the single 65cm connection attached. This means as an ‘upright’ no bending and the smaller shoe sizes mean it can get into far tighter spaces that would either not be accessible or would require moving things around. For very tight places it can be used with other supplied accessories as a handheld device.
This is described as a headset but while it does have a microphone it is of the sort attached to a lead and while it is probably fine for phone calls etc. but I found them less than perfect for say speech recognition use, however the headphone part was fine.
For something to be described as a headset means to me equally able to listen as to hear and for me its listening ability to what you say is not great. Anything coming out of the ‘ear’ part was good be it speech or music no complaints. Each arm has 3cm of expansion to accommodate even the largest head. For me no arm extension and the headset was exactly vertical at the sides for a comfortable fit this being 19cm from outside of one pad to the other pad.
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