Publication History For : Paul Smart
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The latest offering from Vodafone to cross my desk is the Motorola Edge 20 Pro, this SmartPhone feels nice and well balanced in your hand and comes supplied with a silicon back and sides cover. While the face is of course shiny black it remains almost mirror like as finger marks do not tend to show, the back is a shimmering midnight blue.
The Motorola Edge 20 Pro measures 15.5x7x.8cm apart from the rectangular area top left of the back which takes it to close to 1cm thick, however with the cover that increase is almost negated, the units weight is 186 grams. The viewable screen is 15.3x6.5cm which give the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 6.67inches and a screen refresh rate of 144Hz and a screen size of 1080x2400 pixels.
While these are sold as for kids they were big enough – with the slide extensions – for me to wear so unless you have a rather large head they could well be suitable for an adult as well. These are solidly built and should certainly stand the rough treatment often handed out by younger children.
The headphones are 16cm wide at the earpieces when opened to horizontal; they are also 16cm from the tip of the earpieces to the inside of the well-padded headband, that is with the 2cm of expansion expanded. The weight of them is 132 grams. I was surprised that no instructions were given and while I soon worked out the controls – and if I could – I am sure most children could also do so.
Trust are a well-regarded name in mechanical keyboards, however they do other peripherals and here I get to try out not only the Mazz keyboard but also the YBAR mouse. Both of the reviewed items are USB and solidly built.
The keyboard is 42x13.5x2cm and the USB cable emerges 9cm in from the right. The rear has two 2.5x1cm rubber feet at the front and two pimples at the back if you want to use the keyboard without any rack, it has two 4cm long adjustments that raise the keyboard by 1.6cm. The USB cable is 1.8metres long. The keyboard has 105 keys all well-spaced with .6cm horizontal clearance between each key. In use there is a satisfying click on each press.
Plantronics is a name some will know as they produced headsets and Bluetooth earpieces for many years. Then there was another company that did things in larger office environment, just over two years ago the two companies’ combined to produce Poly. Like so many things then went on hold through Covid and now we see what they combined to produce.
This is a very small full HD video conferencing camera and microphone that is true ‘plug and play’ as it is USB, a few seconds after plugging it in you can join a Zoom – or any other type online meeting – by simply hanging the unit over the top of your monitor or notebook screen and plugging it in. The unit is 6cm from lens to its rear; at the front it is round at 3cm. It swivels on a fitment that give a firm but gentle hold.
Teaching a child to tell the time with an analogue watch/clock is not easy. I remember a comedy sketch done by the brilliant Dave Allen when he was desperately trying to teach a young child to tell the time using a conventional clock I have found a video of it link at the end, the punch line was he gave up and gave the child a digital watch, here something better as this just hugs the wrist like a bracelet with no strap to do up.
Small sets of wireless earbuds seem very popular at the moment, recently I have reviewed a couple that look very like those sold by Apple at a lot of money. While these are small they do not imitate those just mentioned as the whole bud goes into the ear without any leg dropping below the ear.
The buds themselves weigh only 4 grams each and in their charging case the total weight is just 54 grams. Unlike other cases that just show a number of LED’s these from Eona show a percentage figure for the amount of battery remaining, there is an LED to the left and right to show charging. When you highlight the Eona Earbuds in your Bluetooth settings it shows a percentage of battery power remaining in the buds.
Here is a recent Chromebook from Acer, this is a powerful unit more than capable of running Chrome Apps and that also means Android Apps – although some may look a little strange with the swap from portrait to landscape – so things that you use every day on your phone can now be viewed that little larger in your living room as well as on the road.
The Acer Chromebook Spin measures 30x23x1.5cm, the last figure at the back if you measure at the front it's barely 1cm, it weighs 1368 grams. Going around the outside has USB ‘C’, USB3, 3.5mm socket for headphones and Micro SD card socket on the left side. The front is clear. The right side has volume rocker, HDMI out, USB ‘C’ and finally on/off button. The back is clear as the screen rotates 180 degrees to become a Tablet. The base has four landscape rubber feet 3x.
A headset is often more desirable than speakers, and certainly, using a microphone near to your jaw means you can speak in a normal voice. Headsets that connect via audio ports are not always that easy to configure, often one sound level can be fine but another is not what you want. Using USB as both input and output can be the answer.
Here is an offering from Creative Labs that is truly ‘plug and play’ something often claimed but not always delivered. I tried this headset on a PC, a Notebook, a Tablet and a Chromebook, all worked first time without any problems. It is 20cm from the base of the ear cups to the inside of the padded headband; this includes 3.5cm of expansion on each side. Twelve clicks from fully closed to fully opened means you can get an exact fit for your head.
A gimbal was something that gave professional camera people the ability to capture video smoothly whilst they were on the move, now SmartPhones capture such good movies they also need Gimbals so that you and me can also move while capturing movies and in a way they need to be better as we amateurs are not used to moving while capturing images.
This offering from Zhiyun is called the Smooth-Q3 is not only a very comprehensive Gimbal but has an arm that can also be a tripod; it also has an added light that can improve what you capture in low light conditions. In the box is a padded zip up case that contains the collapsed Gimbal the arm that can be used either as a Gimbal extension useful for seeing over others as it can give you another 12.5cm of height or as mentioned as a tripod as its three legs splay out to form a tripod.
You might mistake these small and light earbuds as something from Apple but instead of them being white they are black; I see they also do them in a post box red. So these are small and light and they come in a small circular container with a flip to the side lid, replace the buds in the box and they immediately start to be recharged.
The container is round at 4.5cm and 3cm deep. Inside the box are the buds which on my kitchen scale register at 5 grams each. The buds in the container weigh only 54 grams. The outer box is 9.5x9.5x3cm and this also contains two extra different sized pairs of Gels and a USB to USB ‘C’ lead. Finally there is a small card that contains a QR code to get more information and a link to an App.
OWC are a company that produce internal and external solid state drives, enclosures and cables for both PC and MAC users. The unit I am looking at is a 1TB external SSD drive usable on PC or MAC. They also do a similar model – Envoy Pro SX - that is Thunderbolt only so as far as I know that makes it almost a MAC only unit as currently although a USB ‘C’ cable will fit it the power is not there to format it.
This 1TB SD drive from OWL measures 11.2x7x1.4cm and weighs 231grams. It is very solidly built, it comes with an OWC format utility that will create a single Windows readable drive and give that drive the next available drive letter. Once formatted – a far faster one than if Windows does it – you have from this 1TB unit 893GB of free space available.
Oppo are an upcoming company who hit the UK a few years ago, they made a big splash with small well positioned adverts at Wimbledon and other such events. Of course all this would mean nothing if their phones were not up to scratch. This is one of a range of recently released offerings.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro measures 16x7.4x.8cm the last figure expands to 1cm around the cameras on the back top left of the unit, unlike other units this one champers the edges around the cameras. The on/off button is on the right, the base has speaker, microphone, USB ‘C’ connection and the SIM entry point. The left side has buttons for volume down and up. The top is clear. The viewable screen is 15.2x6.8cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 6.
Sometimes the appearance of clothes can be deceptive, you know you wore it yesterday but it still looks pristine, so will you wear it again, perhaps your nose has the answer if that says no you probably do not. However there is something that could turn that no into a yes.
The FreshUp by Bosche is an item to remove smells and odors from your clothes. Not just personal odors but also smoke and food smells. It is 16x6.5x3.5cm and comes with what looks like a slip in glasses case, charging is by USB but for those without a USB port there is also a mains plug front supplied in the box. A full charge of the internal battery is around three hours, while charging a very bright white LED flashes on top of the unit, the on/off button is beside the LED.
This is one of the few pieces of software that is always installed on my PC or notebook, I have used it for years and apart from a couple of occasions when I have had to do a total reinstall of everything when the hard disk failed all other problems – including my stupidity – have been resolved by visiting my last backup normally to restore files.
For just over a year I have not had other security software and just relied on Acronis – now Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office – to keep me safe from those who wish me harm. Some may wish to make money from things like Ransomware and others just want to prove they can make life difficult.
This is a lightweight over ear headset, which can work in a range of situations however it is sold as a Gaming headset. As with so many recent products the unit has to be saleable in many countries and because of this the documentation is minimal and most of it is images. So what do the Philips Gaming Headphones 3000 series have to offer?
The word featherweight appears on the front of the box while 213grams is not that light it is quite light for a corded set of headphones that include a microphone arm. There is 20cm from the tip of the earpiece to the inside of the padded headband; this figure includes 2.5cm of expansion on either side. 16.5cm has the earpieces parallel. Each earpiece can turn through 90 degrees. The earpieces can also move by around 15 degrees forward so should fit almost any head. Each padded earpiece is 9.
These are small and light even in their charge and storage case they weight only a tad over 50grams. Honor were a new company from China and now they are building a reputation for being a quality company whose products do the job at a reasonable price so what have these wireless earbuds got to offer in a very congested market?
First the figures the buds in their charging case where you should keep them when not in your ears weigh only 51 grams. Each bud weighs only 6 grams and I found initial linking was just a case of opening the case and pressing the button on the side of the case and the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite showed as a link in my Bluetooth settings, once linked each time I put them in my ears I got music immediately from my phone. The outer box is 9.5x9.5x4cm which then contains the 5.
The problem with most upright cleaners is when you need to move them over obstructions or upstairs they are quite heavy. Now Hoover has produced an upright cleaner that is 30% lighter than previous models but still just as powerful.
The Hoover Upright Pet 300 measures 116cm tall and the foot is 30x23cm. The accessories in with the unit are a small 11cm wide foot and a small 20cm long nozzle to fit onto the hose and a double ended brush, these can either be stored in the box or fitted to the sides of the unit so they never get lost. Next a nice surprise a twelve side A4 manual in Landscape that covers everything and it’s all in English.
Creative Labs do a lot in sound, most will know this with SoundBlaster range of headphones and earbuds however they also do DAC’s and of course speakers, here a set of rather nice speakers so those who like to fill their rooms with sound can get satisfaction.
They are 20x8x12cm and while by far the simplest way of taking sound from your PC or notebook is via USB and these speakers do that they also need a mains connection to work. If you only have USB then you are still catered for by an adapter in the box but natively the connection is USB ‘C’ and the lead to the master speaker is 1.
This is a battery controlled external camera with Siren and Floodlight and you have the choice of what it can detect, as an example ‘human only’ would be great in my area with the number of cats and foxes that roam around, if can save lots of false alarms that both you and your neighbour's will appreciate.
The Arlo Pro4 Spotlight Camera measures 7x4.5x8cm, the last figure the depth is to the back of the camera the mount can add around another 4cm to the depth. Like so many things today it is linked to your phone and indeed the setup of the unit is on your phone in the Arlo App.
Samsung are one of the most popular brands of Android Smartphones. As with most recent Smartphones the main advances are made with the cameras and for that reason you could say this is a camera phone as a lot of people no longer bother to carry a camera day to day.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra measures 16.1x7.2x1cm the last figure is at the large camera area top left .2cm less for the rest of the thickness, it weighs 225 grams. The viewable screen is 7x15.7cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 6.8inches. The screen resolution is 3200x1440 and can display 16 million colours. Going around the outside has the volume rocker and below that the on button both on the right side. The base has speaker USB ‘C’ (USB 3.
This is the latest item from Pure to cross my desk, it is a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Auxiliary music playing device that has Spotify support and also works with Alexa and the last named can allow you to select what you play on Spotify without leaving the comfort of your chair. Best of all the output from its speaker sounds excellent. So this is not a radio as such but a Smart Speaker with 360 degree playback.
The Pure DiscovR measures 13cm tall when open and is roughly square at 9cm. It works on its rechargeable internal battery and can be used whilst being charged. A USB ‘C’ to USB cable is supplied in the box but no USB plug front, Pure are being waste conscious and they say that any PC or other device can do the job.
Last week I told you about the first eighteen tools in the latest version of Parallels Toolbox perhaps best of all you can choose if it loads automatically on bootup, so many other tools do not give you that option and startup can often be time to make a cup of coffee and a slice of toast and if all you want to do is check your emails then…
Hide Desktop so all you see is the Window you are showing and those other sixty nine icons remain hidden, ideal if you are show someone a presentation, a single click brings all the icons back. Launch this allows you to put several programs together and show the time it takes for them to launch, so you can have several ready to open on a single button touch. Lock Screen means exactly that no one else can ferret around if you have to walk away for a moment.
There are a good number of things that can be done in Windows that are not always that obvious as to how you do them. Sometimes people find a way but often it takes a lot of effort to do it. Here are a package of little things that can make what was hard easy again. Best of all you can download a free seven day trial to see if they are for you.
The first of these is Archive this allows you to just drop items you may need in the future onto a window on your screen and while they are still available just not there in your face. Barcode Generator is a tool that helps you make a barcode you just choose what content needs to be encoded and drop it on a window on screen. Barcode Reader this is something most of us will have used on our phones to download an App here it uses the camera on your PC to read barcodes.
During Lockdown and afterwards I spent a lot of time online with Webinars and various Zoom and various other online meetings both work and friend related, far too often people were moaning about the times they could not get into group simply because Windows was spending ages upgrading, other were getting problems with bandwidth for various unconnected reasons. The polite version from many was I am going to get a Chromebook as they do what you want.
So here one of the latest range that may help them and if there are programs and Apps that you cannot do without them Chrome already allows access to the Android store so Apps on your phone now work on recent Chromebooks. Better still Parallels is just launching a program that allows you to run Windows on your Chromebook. This offering from Acer measures 30.5x205x1.5cm the last figure is the maximum thickness as at the front it is only 1cm thick, it weighs only 1125grams.
Having recently told you about a small DAC from SoundBlaster here a larger one, this however is not just a DAC it is also an external 7.1 sound card and still more. While the recently reviewed DAC was useful for those on the move to get great sound quality here the X4 is definitely for those in a static position probably to get improved sound where an internal card is not available.
The SoundBlaster X4 measures 12.5x12.5x3cm with a big round volume control knob on the top that increases the height by close to another centimetre. Also on the top are three indented touch buttons for Audio Balance, Direct Mode and Super X-Fi. The front has 3.5mm input for microphone and 3.5mm output for headphones. Both the left and right sides are clear. The back has four 3.5mm Line out sockets for front, side, rear and Q/Sub, there are also Line in, Optical Out and USB ‘C’.
This is a quality speaker that has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Chromecast and Auxiliary input; it has control by voice curtesy of Google and of course like everything of quality ‘size is not everything’ as it is quite small. Setup should be a matter of minutes then just enjoy the quality of the sounds and wonder why other speakers even large ones do not sound so good.
The Braun LE03 measures 16x16x7.5cm but the power lead sticks out from the back by another 4cm, if you were thinking placing it on a shelf it weighs 1.7kilos. There is possibly another problem but I will mention that later. Setup is first placing the unit, then linking it to Google Home and then enjoying your purchase.
A lot of rather nice Tablets and Laptops come with only a 256GB SSD drive and once a few larger programs and Apps are loaded you start to see a smaller than 50% of free space load a few videos and things start to become critical. So this offering of an external SSD unit of 512GB – or even 1TB – is a very nice option to have.
This fingerprint secured external SSD from Verbatim provides 512GB of storage, measures 11x4x1.2cm and it comes with a 60cm USB lead. The lead plugs in to the top end of the SSD drive .5cm from the top of the unit is the 2.5x1.6cm finger print reader.
This is the first product I have seen from Rock Jaw Audio, a set of in ear earbuds they are wireless and these Bluetooth buds come with a charge box that means the buds internal batteries can be quickly recharged without needing to find power as the box provides extra power for the buds and also provides a safe storage space for them when not in use.
So what do you get, a flip open box 7x3.5x3.5cm which is the charge point for the earbuds, a 30cm long USB ‘C’ to USB cable that is used to recharge the box. The buds are fitted with a pair of gels and there are another five sets in the with the unit, there are also a pair of silicon fit fins for those doing workouts to keep the buds in place. There is also an annoyingly small 9x4.
A bag within a bag this backpack is very lightweight and indeed folds up to a small size to fit into its own bag for easy transportation when not in use. It’s made of a lightweight material and when folded in its bag it could even fit into a larger handbag and quickly be unfurled to carry a good amount of stuff before fitting onto your back. They even provide a waterproof drawstring bag to put it in for those times when it has been used and got wet.
When folded up in its outer bag it has a size of 20x13cm and its weight is 270 grams. When unfolded it becomes 39x28x13cm the last figure is at the top and bottom, the central area is slightly more at 15cm. The straps are well padded so it does sit comfortably on your shoulders, as a well-built man I needed the extension to easily fit onto my shoulders but a thin smaller person could easily take these in via the fitting strap and give several centimeters less in overall size.
Available in two colours, when I delved into what colour I was sent I find it was listed as Pink but to me it’s more like a light violet. This is a rather nice and quiet powerful Laptop from a company known for producing top quality items.
It is 21.5x31.5x1.5cm the last figure is at the back, at the front it is only 1cm. The screen display is full HD 1920x1080 and the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement is 14 inches, it weighs 1428 grams. The connections on the left side are 3.5mm socket for headphones and a USB port. The front is clear.
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