Publication History For : Paul Smart
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All you need is a USB port and an aerial then you can watch TV or even record programs anywhere. In theory the supplied mini aerial will be enough but that depends on the reception in the area that you are viewing from.
The PCTV Nano Stick just a USB stick with a connector on the end for an aerial lead, plug in to your PC or Notebook and install the software on the supplied CD and let it search for channels. Certainly I would initially use a roof or loft aerial to find the maximum number of channels, in my case it found 110, once tuned then – dependant on location – the mini aerial supplied may be enough. The receiver is 7x2.4x1.
First one designed for use with an iPad and by having Bluetooth it can also work with other systems even if it does not fit smoothly in. Second something the size of a Palm type device with a small QWERTY keyboard and large trackpad.
What I am looking at is a Bluetooth Keyboard that was designed to work with an iPad or such similar type device. Sadly Santa failed to bring me one of those - once again - but it works with any device capable of pairing so a PDA or Android device can be used without problem.
In the mass market Canon are best known for cameras and ink jet printers. For the professional photographer its the DSLR camera, for office users its possibly their laser printers. Here an All In One that can suit home or small office.
The Canon Pixma MG6250 all-in-one measures 46x38x16cm, you will need another 10cm on top of the 46cm depth when you have photo paper in the back upright tray. You probably need 10cm on the 16cm height for that purpose as well as placing items on the flatbed. The power lead is inserted back left while USB is inserted back right. The front right edge has a USB port and behind a door on the curve of the right front edge are three card ports that accept most common card types.
A phone from a service provider, not I think unique but certainly most seem to come from third party companies, often a phone for a period anyway are only available from a single provider, here the Vivacity from T-Mobile.
The T-Mobile Vivacity measures 11.2x5.6x.8cm and weights 120grams. Front and back are black with the edges all in silver grey. The viewable screen is 7.6x4.6cm that is 3½ inches diagonal for those who still think imperial. All the controls are touchscreen with the exception of the on/off on top of it and volume up/down on the right side of the unit. There is a fold out Quick Start Guide that covers most of the basics for anything else a mini CD is provided with a User Guide.
For those who have laptops with an HDMI out then I guess this will be of little interest. However for those with a Desktop who want a second display then this little piece of kit from HIS, this could well be what you are looking for.
Often to connect a second display to a PC will require a second graphics card. Here HIS have developed the first USB3 box that is capable of giving a signal to another display – it will work with USB2 – in fact they claim that up to six of these devices can be used from one PC giving the notional ability to connect seven displays from a single PC.
While Christmas is of course the biggest selling time for games, presents for other things such as Birthdays come at any time of year, two very different offerings here a box game of Angry Birds and a board game His and Hers.
Most things today tend to become ‘Apps’ here however is something that started life as an ‘App’ and has come the other way to become a physical box game that can be played without any electrical device required at all. I have come across many games that have been converted from board/box to computer or ‘App’ but this is the first that has gone in the reverse direction. I think this is a great idea otherwise kids will think only the screen can entertain.
I wondered when I saw a range of MFU items recently why Hero 6.1 was not in the range. They were all designated "home" products. Here is the exception the 'office' offering, scan, print, copy and fax all in the one package.
The Kodak Hero 6.1 measures 46x39x24cm and is not sleek, but as it is an office machine looks are not important only user functionality. I am no fashion guru but alongside the Hero 7.1 it looks bulky – probably because of the page feeder – and dare I say it a little last year in design. Still in an office the only thing that matters is its performance.
The Canon Ixus 230HS is another offering in possibly the best range of small pocket cameras around. This is the latest Ixus offering, Canon do another smaller unit the PowerShot apart from their many offerings in the DSLR market place.
The Canon Ixus 230HS measures 9.5x5.5x1.5cm and the last figure can expand by another 4cm when fully zoomed out. It weights only 138grams. While on the face of it a lot of other units have greater than 8x optical zoom, the quality is in the sensors within the camera and anyone wanting to zoom to that sort of level will need a tripod to get reasonable results.
The title above may be the understatement of the year, yes it is powerful and it is a torch but it is also so much more. The box calls it Bright Light Ranger Ultra bright, heavy duty LED light. It can be charged by mains, car cigar lighter or hand crank.
The box contains the light and mains lead as well as an Instruction sheet. So you will need to purchase a cigar lighter adapter should you wish to charge it in this way. The unit is 21x18x8.5cm and weights 1400grams. The 12 LED light 8x7cm is stored face away against the face of the unit to avoid possible damage. While the most typical action is to flip it through 180 degrees this will add 8cm to the height. It can be used in any point during the 180 degree flip it has no side to side movement.
On a very cold day at the start of February Microsoft launched a free app for Android. Those with long memories will know they recently purchased Skype a free online telecommunications product and also offered everyone a free 5GB Sky Drive.
One Note first launched in 2009 and my version was an option within Office 2010 (Office 14) in fairness it was not something I have used much until now but as we all have numerous devices using different ways of control, moving shared files around is something that one device on the Cloud (Sky Drive) is ideally suited to do. First some background to One Note, it comes as a part to most paid versions of Microsoft Office.
Two more offerings from Hedkandi, first a set of Headphones and amazingly they are blue and not pink. Second a small and compact travel speaker ideal for those occasions when you want to share your music with others.
A headphone set in turquoise blue with a pink extension lead should give you the idea that this is aimed at those in their teens. Interestingly enough there is quite a bit of technical information about the headset on the side of the box; this is often missing – even in the small print – from a lot of more well known names in the headphone marketplace.
This has been around for a while, but for one reason or another I never got to look at one. This device can take a signal from Freeview, Freesat, DVD, Blu-ray and most other things and send it by your router to almost anywhere.
Having recently spent far too much time trying to make sense of a simple device I approached this far more complex product with more than a little trepidation. There is a setup sheet consisting of six points, all the required leads are supplied, all went well until it asked me a question whose answer was not immediately obvious, never fear it offers advice and soon, I had two red lights on the front of the SlingBox Solo box as it says I should.
This is a small All In One unit capable of working via Wireless or USB. Often in the home space is a problem and a small unit capable of sitting on a shelf or in a cupboard is the answer not least to satisfy the Lounge Police
The Brother DCP-J725DW measures 37x35x17cm and weighs around 9kilos when the cartridges are installed and with paper in the built in tray. The front edge has a column of three buttons plus a home button and on/off button and what looks like a huge TFT. In fact the 8x3cm screen is actually 4x3cm and the other half (right) is where you can program choices. The home touchscreen (left) will display copy, scan, menu and photo with ink levels and wireless state above them.
Here two totally different things that both cut, the first from Bosch that can cut felt, card and best of all those plastic containers that normally require industrial scissors. Second a nifty device for men of a certain age whose hair grows everywhere but on their head.
It is 23x5x10cm and has a built in rechargeable battery, it weights 430grams. It is predominately green with the top being a black rubber grip, ideal for those who suffer with sweaty hands to give a nice solid grip at all times. According to the instruction book (12 pages in English) it is intended to cut flexible items up to 6mm in thickness.
Looking like an old fashioned alarm clock the sort with bells on the top this is a digital clock with FM radio. However you can place an iPod in the dock in front and play content out of some quite good quality speakers.
The clock itself looks like the clockwork alarm clock I grew up with just after the war. It is 13x13x7cm, However the face is digital (no hands) and at the back where you would have the winder you have the DC power input and below this a semi circle of five items four buttons and a 3.5mm Auxiliary input. There is no external FM aerial. So plug in your clock and let the fun begin, I say fun because the manual only describes what these four buttons Mode, Set, Down and Up do.
Nero started life as a method of burning CDs. Now it is far more than that as not only does it work with CDs and DVDs but also Blu-rays. In fact it is a one stop shop for all your music, photos and videos in one box.
Like a lot of software today this can be purchased as a download, but as long as box products are easily available that is what I review. There are two versions of Nero 11 the basic where things not covered by the basic product can be purchased – should you need them – as add-on or as here included in this the Platinum version. Briefly Nero 11 Platinum can Burn, Play, Sync, Manage, Create, Share, Convert, Restore, Edit, Backup for your Photos, Music and Video in SD, HD and Blu-ray.
This is probably the largest DAB radio I have reviewed, but to be fair it is also FM, Internet, Media Player, Wi-Fi and has an iPod and iPhone dock. However as yet it has stubbornly refused to do the washing up or the ironing.
Moving this around is something you think about before you do it, not simply because its not light but also because it has no handle and so unless you are a skilled waiter you will need two hands as there are no grip points. Recently –around four weeks ago - I reviewed the more normal size Pure One Flow that does much the same as the Contour. However the larger size means that of course you have larger speakers and of course a fuller sound.
Kingston produce a slightly oversize memory stick and this can easily be 32GB, they also produce one that the cap is bigger than the memory module think tiny USB receivers for keyboards and mice and these can be 8 or 16GB.
With cap in place it is 7.5x2.2x1.5cm and weights 20grams. Doing a range of tests data was transferred to it nearly six times faster than with the USB2 below. Same machine and same data and even using the same USB port. The only difference was that this was a 16GB unit and the USB2 one is 8GB, the data was a range of MP3 and video files totalling just over 5GB.
I had to find my long lost feminine side to review this and endured many a ribbing while reviewing it, mind you there were certain parts of London I avoided as a man of mature years with a very pink digital camera could cause problems.
Of course if you are female it will be more than acceptable not least for the fact that it is unlikely to be nicked by most men. The Nikon Coolpix S6200 measures 9x5.5x2.5cm the last figure can increase by up to another 4cm when the lens is fully zoomed out to its 10x maximum. This is a 16MP offering but you can of course take perfectly respectable images at far less than that figure.
My 32inch TV is light in compassion to my previous offering, at 28inches this is only slightly smaller but is so much lighter again. Going back still further my TV before was also 32inch but a CRT and this far heavier again.
It is of course HD a scan finds 112 channels. So providing 1080p is what you want or need this certainly has things to recommend it, however the built in Freeview is not Freeview HD. It is 66.5x45cm with the stand raising it by 5cm from whatever you place it on. The stand is 35x21cm and provides the stabilizing weight. The viewable screen is 60x36cm giving the notional imperial diagonal measurement of 27.5inches.
Anyone who tends to want fresh juice really should have a juicer as they tend to get far more from items than the manual alternative. This unit claims to get 10% more juice out than other such products; I have tested this over Christmas.
In fact even though I trained for two years as a chef it was over 50 years ago and although the various kitchens had huge mixers I do not remember any with juicing ability. Certainly at that time the only things that got juiced were oranges and lemons. While recent years have allowed the juicing of almost any fruit, vegetables still seem to be more of a novelty.
Here I am looking at two rather different USB hubs. The first is branded with the Highstar name and not only is a hub but also a memo pad and has a clock and temperature sensor. The second is far more normal both come from Brando in Hong Kong.
Not only is this a hub but also a clock a temperature gauge an alarm clock and an erasable illuminated memo pad. It is 14x7x12cm overall size. Where the hub is at the back of the unit it is 9x2cm, at the front where the clock is 10.5x5cm. The illuminated Perspex is 14x10cm set 1.5cm behind the clock, a pen to write on the Perspex is included. This is a USB2 hub and unless you set the clock at 90degrees to yourself then the ports will always have the Perspex between you and the ports.
This box connects to your TV via an HDMI lead. Then the box connects to your network. The box itself can also have a hard disc or just stream content. It can also attach other hard discs with content or USB sticks to play music or video.
The box is 22x16x6cm but you need to allow up to another 5cm to the 16cm depth for the attachment of various cables. The top, sides and base are all smooth while the face has one small blue LED when the unit is on. All the connections are at the back. These are in a line, DC input, USB2 (host), USB3 (client), HDMI, Ethernet, Coaxial, Audio out left, Video, Audio out right (these last four in two rows of two) and finally Optical.
A waterproof camera that can by the aid of GPS tell you where you were when you took the image or movie. I did not get a chance to test if the two features worked together; in fact the only waterproof tests were in my bath.
he Pentax WG1-GPS measures 12x6x2cm, these are maximum figures the zoom works on the periscope principle required for a waterproof offering. It is also quite sculptured with either end being 6cm tall but the middle only 5cm, it weights 165grams. The right side has a substantial wrist strap which is useful if you take it underwater. The base has a slide door behind which is the solid battery and any SD card you insert.
If you only listen to Internet Radio then this could be for you. It also means providing you have a decent Broadband connection almost any station anywhere in the world is available to you even if normal radio reception is naff.
The Stream 105 from Roberts measures 26x8x15cm and weights 700 grams (without batteries). There is a 2cm difference between back and front and the whole unit is a stretched oval, with the carrying handle raised the height is increased from 15 to 21cm. The rear has a battery bay should you wish to run it on 6x‘C’ cell batteries. Above this are USB (for upgrading only) headphone socket, auxiliary input and the DC input, the supplied lead 1.85 metres long, just adequate.
With the wrist watch seeming to go the way of the pocket watch nearly a century ago most people now seem to check the time on their phone a new offering needs something different about it to raise more than a glance.
This is different, very different. The one sent to me was lime green with a light grey strap fixed tightly so the watch can stand vertically even when not attached to your wrist. It is slightly wider than it is tall and still reasonably thin. It weights 60 grams and the face is 4x3.7x1cm, however the moulded strap is so thick and tight near the watch that the 3.7 becomes a lot nearer 6cm. I suspect it could become a fashion accessory if worn by a few models/pop stars.
Nokia have recently jumped off the Simbian bandwagon and joined forces with Microsoft. Here is their first offering together Nokias phone expertise and Microsofts mobile operating system when Windows 8 arrives on the PC it is rumoured to lot a lot like this.
My first surprise is that it uses a Micro SIM and so many phone providers think it is only Blackberry and Apple that use this smaller SIM. My own opinion is that it is fiddly to fit, but another journalist friend of mind thinks it is the way all phones will go. Still once in, it need not move. Technically I am told it is possible to cut a full size SIM.
Very few DAB radios have the ability to record (in MP2) to SD card, the original Bug by another manufacturer was one and here from Roberts their RecordR offers this extremely useful feature both for timed and instant recording.
While this is a perfectly acceptable DAB and FM radio the main selling point is its ability to save (pause) or save for replay later anything broadcast on any DAB or FM radio station so if you are a fan of a regular program that you always seem to arrive home just as its ending never fear you can set it to record it and then listen whenever suits you.
Netbooks continue to be a useful solution; however this one nearly did not get reviewed. It was slow to boot almost as slow to shut down and as for opening any applications, luckily I am known for my determination so read on.
As always these come in preconfigured to a point, in theory all you need to do is enter your passcode for your wireless router activate the Norton trial and off you go. One thing I do first is to switch off and then time the boot. At this point I knew things were not right. The boot took 90seconds and shutdown from desktop took 45seconds. During the next three days I did just short of 100 updates as soon as I thought I had done them all more arrived.
Another product that is certainly mature once they got beyond 12 they started using roman numerals, most people thought that was to avoid 13 but a year so later X4 comes so what does a mature product have to offer that is new?
Paintshop Pro X4 comes on two discs, the first will install various updated Microsoft bits like Direct X etc and then the program this took 12 minutes on a reasonably fast Windows 7 PC and took 381MB of hard disc. Disc two is a range of bonus features (something Corel have always given even when the product was on floppy discs) and this took another 3 minutes and a further 310MB of hard disc space, so 691MB and 15 minutes to do the install.
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