Publication History For : Paul Smart
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This is a watch that could help you lose weight and as such is an aid for those of us termed as ‘Obese’ and one of the vast range of subjects that the Government are working on apart from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The reason they care if we are obese is simple we are more likely to become diabetic and have other problems such as asthma and so those who are obese cost the government more as we will have more hospital visits. The watch is circular at 36mm and the surround is steel with a rubberized strap.
The lack of ports is often a problem for a lot of small Tablets as they have as little as a single USB ‘C’ port, this means that unless everything is online you need a hub; earlier hubs were full size USB offerings. This hub is right up to date being USB ‘C’ and the only driver you might require is if you decide to use the HDMI port to output your display to it.
This 6 Port USB ‘C’ Hub from D-Link measures 9.5x4.5x.8cm and it weighs only 66grams. There is a 15cm hard wired USB ‘C’ lead emerging from one end. The back has a full size HDMI port and a USB ‘C’ port. The front has two USB3 ports a SD card socket and a micro SD card socket to make the units six ports.
Having recently told you about Primephonic (Classical only), Spotify and Deezer here is another service this one however concentrates on the quality of reproduction their lowest level useful on SmartPhones is called Normal and then above that High, Hi-Fi and then Master the last only available from your PC.
Sixty million tracks are what they say they have, as regular readers will know my Genre is Jazz and certainly there is a good selection for me. So apart from the quality which as stated you do need a PC for is the ‘Master’ however a lot of older recordings are not available in this quality. What extra Tidal has is Videos as well as music and currently these are not available on Deezer or Spotify.
This is the latest value offering from Honor, unlike recent offerings from their parent company Honor still seem to have access to Google and therefore no different to other manufacturers and for you the user all the Apps you use are still available from the Google Play Store.
The Honor 9x Lite measures 16x7.5x.8cm apart from where the two cameras and LED flash protrude at the back top left, it weighs 189 grams. The viewable screen is 15x7cm apart from the front facing camera that takes up .5x2cm at the top centre of the screen. The notional diagonal imperial measurement is a tad under 6½inches. The viewable screen has almost no borders as you can see from the dimensions. This looks and feels like a phone that should cost far more than £200.
This looks outwardly rather similar to the Krups Piccolo XS machine published in December 2019 but that was a manual machine and this one is automatic in that all Nescafe Pods now have a number of strokes to represent the amount of water to make the perfect drink. You adjust the dial on the machine and the correct amount of hot or cold water is then dispensed.
The Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio S measures 26x28x9.5cm with the head where you insert the pod being 6cm taller than the rest of the machine.
For less than £500 you can buy a rather nice electronic keyboard from Casio. While I do play a bit this deserved better than my touch so a retired dance band pianist friend of mine tried it in my garden and as I thought he would be, he was rather impressed with the sound.
What you get for your money is the keyboard, music stand, damper pedal and mains lead. The 8watt internal speakers are plenty for a home room and if you are a total novice this can be muted via headphones so the rest of the household do not need to suffer. However for me anyway this is not the total novice’s keyboard others are available at a smaller amount of octaves and lesser quality.
Duolink Go Speakers and Buds
Published in Entertainment
on
22 Jul 2020
A pair of small Bluetooth speakers that contain a pair of earbuds, this is certainly a first for me. Once paired there is no need to turn them on or off, simply pull them apart – held together by magnetism – and they switch on, reverse the procedure and they turn off.
This is a filter coffee machine that has a timer built in so you can set it up before you leave the office or in the home before you go to bed. The timer delay means the coffee will be ready to drink when you wake up or arrive at the office.
The full title is Melitta LOOK Therm Timer, the last three words do not seem to be related but when use the machine they start to make sense. It is 36cm tall, 23cm wide and 20cm from front to back. The water tank can hold enough water for up to 10 large cups of coffee (or 15 smaller ones) the scale on the front of the tank is divided into two sides showing both measurements. The amount of filter coffee you place in the filter will depend on the way you like your coffee.
Last October I had the chance to try some headphones from Adidas, yes like you I thought they only did trainers, here I get the chance to try another of their products, this time a set of earbuds, these are Bluetooth and link easily to whatever your Bluetooth SmartPhone.
The earpieces are attached to a thicker shaped piece that sits around the back of the neck each earpiece and lead is around 30cm so would lie on your chest. The shaped and stiffened middle bit sits comfortably around the back of your neck with the last six centimetres each side at 1cm wide and just over half that thick, three buttons on one arm along with the USB ‘C’ connector to charge its solid battery and one button on the other arm.
This is quite like the last couple of flat panels that have passed onto my desk however this has one thing to commend it over them a slightly increased resolution as this has 2560x1440 resolution while not a huge amount you can work with more windows open without straining your eyes.
It is 52.5x32x1.5cm. The viewable screen is 51.5x29.5cm; the screen edges are .5cm at the sides and top with the base being 2cm. On the right edge of the bottom bezel are a line of five push buttons the only one you are normally likely to need is the on/off the rightmost which has a white LED when the unit is powered on.
While this may look like just another speaker I can assure you it is not. Just hear the sound quality from any of a range of sources and you will understand, be it Bluetooth, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Optical or even a USB Stick. It is not cheap but if it was then I would know there was something wrong, this is quality.
The Pulse Flex 2i measures 18x12x9.5cm and weighs 1530grams. The top has controls for back a track, forward a track, play/pause/on/off, - volume and + volume. In front of this are the numbers 1-5 these allow you to preset various things like a favourite over the air radio station. The rear has external connectors for USB ‘B’, Ethernet and Service in one line, below this another line of connections Headphones out, USB in, Optical In and Analogue In.
I have seen several grips some that seemingly defy gravity likewise stands that keep your phone at the correct viewing angle. Here is a device that does both allowing a couple of fingers to slip through a gap or by opening up the aperture to lean or hang in the correct position to view ‘handless’.
The Clckr stand measures 9.5x3cm and as it is ‘Universal’ will stick to the back of most phones. If your phone has a glass back then follow the specific instructions in the small instruction booklet that is stuck to the card that holds the Grip when it first arrives.
Strange times not that long ago if you went into a bank or jewellers wearing a mask the alarm would sound. Now if you go on a bus or train and you do not wear a mask then you face an immediate fine. Yes it’s a different kind of mask but when people wore a hijab with just the eyes showing lots of people were very unhappy, now with a Pandemic not only is a mask OK, its required, even in a lot of shops.
While this may not be unique it is certainly something that I have not seen before. A set of headphones for a younger child – 3 upwards – that does not involve placing anything in the ear canal. So how do they perform I put them to the test.
A seven centimetre wide fabric headband that is fifty four centimetres long, it is secured by Velcro pads on the inside of one end that can accommodate most children’s heads. The soft speakers can be moved within the folded piece of material to suit the area between the ears of the child. The headband itself has a stitched image of the Gruffalos face with ears and horns protruding from the top of the headbands width. A 1.2 metre long 3.
A Chromebook can do a lot of the things that a Microsoft Windows Laptop can do however they normally cost less money. This is a ‘Touch’ version so assuming what you want is available in a Chrome App then this offering may suit your needs.
You will need a Gmail or Google account and very little more, early Chromebooks required Internet access to do most things as there was little internal memory this is no longer the case so if you are working on a series of document offline it’s OK. So basically if your requirements are email, word processing and web access then this certainly ticks all the boxes. It is 31.5x22.5x1.5cm and weighs 1356grams. The viewable screen is 30.5x17.
Having recently told you about a conventional watch whose straps are made from recycled plastic and the watch is solar powered. Here we are right up to date with a Smart Watch that can do almost everything while linked to your SmartPhone, so far I have discovered 16 different faces for the watch, some just tell the time others do much more with the Wear OS App.
It has a 42mm face with a rubberised strap, it weighs 48grams. It is quite thick at .9mm there are three buttons on the right edge. There is a fold out 10.5x10.5cm card, three sides of this are useful, Charge and Power on, Download and Pair and Useful Tips these end with two web sites one for the watch and the other for Wear OS the operating system. While the Charge and Power on bit was easy enough using the supplied 1 metre long USB to magnetic connection that attaches to the back of the watch.
Knowing the price of something when I start reviewing is not my choice as it might predetermine the value score, here however I do know the price and ‘I do not believe it’ came immediately to mind. As always there must be minus points, now to try and find them.
Really top end offerings by Samsung and Apple can get towards four figures, while Honor is a part of Huawei their prices are normally somewhat lower but this offering is really low, the initial promotion price was sub £200. Sadly this offer finished just as I received the unit to review, the price now is £249.99 but you do get one of a choice of three free gifts with it. It is 16x7.3x.8cm and weighs 210grams.
This is an outdoor (IP65 waterproofing) camera, it uses custom batteries that form more than half of the units overall size. Fitting can be done by anyone happy to climb a ladder and it should take only a few minutes but do not try to install it before you have linked it to your phone.
The KAMI Outdoor Wire Free Camera measures 13cm from front to back and the body is round at 6.5cm, it is heavier than most at 402grams. The majority of the weight is the four solid rechargeable batteries stated to last between 4 and 6 months between charging. These are each 6cm long and round at 1.5cm each of the four batteries weigh 46.5grams. The back 9cm of the housing unscrews to allow the batteries to fit into the centre of the unit.
A rare find these days a Desktop offering, rather than a Laptop/Tablet/Notebook. This is a very small offering the dimensions are below and it comes with a Wireless keyboard and mouse set so nothing apart from the panel needs to be on your desk.
The Acer XC-885 desktop computer measures only 10cm wide, 29cm tall and 32cm from back to front but add another 4cm for cables etc. so 36cm deep. On the back it has two HDMI connectors and a VGA. There are 4xUSB and below that 2xUSB3 and Ethernet. The standard three 3.5mm audio connections and there is still room for two internal blanking plates. The front has on/off button at the top and working down an SD Card reader, two always on ports USB ‘C’ and USB and finally 3.
Most people with limited sight or poor hearing will have heard of Doro and over the years I have reviewed a number of their handsets. Outwardly it looks like any recent SmartPhone so there is no embarrassment about using it. Right from the off things on the Home screen are just that more widely spaced and more easily focused upon.
Going around the outside has the on/off button on the right side, 23 seconds boot to Home and three seconds shutdown to blank screen. The base has USB ‘C’ for charging, microphone and speaker. The left side has separate buttons for volume down and up, and, the SIM and Micro SD Card entry point. The top has 3.5mm sockets for earbuds or headphone.
These look very similar to earbuds that Apple first produced not that long ago. They sound excellent and quite unusually because they weigh so little do not irritate my ears when wearing them for longer periods of time.
Each earbud weighs less than 6 grams and in their charging case the total weight is only 63 grams The buds are 4.5cm long and shaped to fit in the ear at less than 1.5cm wide. There are four sizes of gels supplied. A USB ‘C’ to USB lead is included as is a 13amp plug front to USB.
While a lot of people totally rely on their phone to know the time I am not one of them I still prefer a watch. This offering from Fossil is made with around sixteen recycled plastic bottles that go to make up the five straps supplied with the watch. The watch itself has an outer ring that is a solar cell so this and other things help protect the planet.
The watch has a 42mm dial so suitable for both men and women to wear, However they also do a 34mm dial version. It comes with five interchangeable straps which come in two pieces and an ingenious fitting mechanism with the lugs fitting top and bottom on the face of the watch. At the connecting end of the strap is a finger nail movement that means no knife or other sharp implement is required to fit into the watch. Each of the two pieces are doubled over and fit into a metal centre piece.
This is a voice and audio recorder from Olympus who while they are probably best known for high end cameras also do extremely good voice/audio recorders so any new device from Olympus be in photographic or audio is always of great interest.
The Olympus LS-P4 is called a Videographer Kit. I am surprised my spell checker did not have a fit over Videographer a clever word new to me but one that describes it use very well for a photographer who wants top quality sound. This with the right camera taking video would give excellent results far better than what was the option a few years ago a Camcorder. The recording unit is 11x4x1.5cm and weighs only 75grams with the supplied ‘AAA’ rechargeable battery inserted.
This is a small and light 14inch screen notebook with an AMD processor from Honor. It is a fast product, so what if anything is there that could be improved, first it is not that cheap but then all the components are high end, second there is only a single SSD drive of 256GB divided into ‘C’ and ‘D’ and on an office desk you could be short of connections.
The Honor MagicBook 14 measures 32x21x1.5cm the last figure is the maximum, it weighs 1371 grams. The only other things in the box are a 1.7 metre USB ‘C’ to USB ‘C’ lead and a 13amp plug with USB ‘C’ out on the top. This however is a 65 watt fast charge module so a 70% charge from empty takes 70 minutes and in my tests a discharge rate of 10% per hour when streaming music and keeping the screen live takes place.
This 24 inch flat panel from Philips is one of their ‘B Line’ range. It gives 1920x1080 HD resolution and has a range of connections which includes USB ‘C’. Other reasons to purchase include a small stand, very easy assembly, the ability to swing it from side to side on the stand and narrow bezels.
This Philips monitor measures 54x32x2cm and its stand is 20.5x20.5cm and this raises the panel by between 4-20cm from your desk when in landscape mode. The stand is a single piece, the connecting arm is a single piece that attaches to the stand by a fitted twist screw, then the stand and arm click into place in the back of the panel very simple and no tools are required to assemble.
Earlier versions had one problem for my door frame they were slightly too wide. This version solves this and indeed another problem that I had never thought of. So the people at Ring have listened to my moans and probably that of others and now both are solved.
The problem(s) are solved by the inclusion of a corner mount and a wedge mount so now if you have narrow door frames or indeed live on a hill the doorbell will sit exactly where required to give you a perfect view and a perfect secure fit. It is 12.6x6x2.7cm and weighs 198grams. It is black and grey, the top part is the camera that has a wide field of view and the lower part the bell push.
This is the latest offering from Motorola the Moto g8; it can work using the three buttons at the base of the screen or after a single click in Settings with ‘Gestures’. Unlike a lot of recent phones this still has a 3.5mm socket for headphones or earbuds. It also comes with a clear cover for the back and sides for protection for the odd drop.
It is 15.8x7.5x1cm with the transparent cover fitted and it weighs 216 grams. The viewable screen is 14.5x6.8cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement of 6.4 inches which is the same resolution as most standard computers Full HD 1920x1080. Also in the box a Getting Started guide, 13amp USB plug front, USB to USB ‘C’ lead and the all-important pin to open the side of the case to insert SIM.
Like everyone I had wondered what exactly was on Britbox that was worth remembering. When I started the month’s free trial I found things I had never watched for a variety of reasons and now with more hours in the day as you cannot go to the cinema or the pub or in my case to my favourite music gigs I started delving into its content.
While I had originally watched some of the later series of Downton Abbey those I did watch were only via my video recorder as all commercial channels are a ‘No No’ for me to watch live. I started with series one which were slightly shorter than later series at only around 45 minutes when there are no adverts to cut out.
Audacious SIM
Published in Phones
on
4 May 2020
This is a SIM with a difference, it is tuned to your hearing, so your phone conversations in any phone are as clear as they can be, and this service is ideal if you have a little or a lot of hearing loss. The process is simple and they have several plans to suit the amount you use your phone. In these times where meetings in person are not encouraged the phone becomes more important than ever.
I have been testing this service with the range of Emporia phones recently reviewed but I have also tested it with other recent SmartPhones. In fact I would never have heard of Audacious without my meeting earlier this year with the man from Emporia. You go onto the Emporia website and select the service that suits your needs, in fact you can conduct a hearing test before you sign up. They recommend you do the test a couple of times and certainly you should repeat it if you get a new phone.
These buds actually fit into your ear, the controls are all by touching the back of the buds. As regular readers will know some buds give me problems after as little as an hour of wear, these seem better than most and allow longer wear without discomfort.
The buds are around 2x2cm at the front end and up to 2.5cm deep dependant on the size of the silicon bud you fit onto them. The weight of each bud is around 5.5grams. They are designed to fit into the ear and certainly will not fit in comfort if put into the wrong ear, each bud is marked either ‘L’ or ‘R’.
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