Publication History For : Paul Smart
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This is a brief look at a couple of items that you might find suitable for Father’s Day gifts. In case it’s slipped your mind it’s not that far away on the 18th June. Both these games are for older children or adults. The two games are Master Dater and Joking Hazard.
Both games are from a company called Cyanide & Happiness. Players vie for attention and also try to create perfect or horrible dates using a range of specific – and perhaps very unusual – interests. You need to match cards using the three packs of cards ‘Head’, ‘Body’ and ‘Interests’. The ‘Head’ and ‘Body’ cards are slightly larger than the more prolific ‘Interest’ cards.
This is the latest A4 multi-function device to land in my hall. It is not that light and I think it has the most strips of orange tape of any unit I have reviewed. This is a colour laser unit and by default it prints double sided, unlike most units I have reviewed previously it lines things up correctly on the second side.
So after around twenty minutes of strong language I am ready to place it in its review position, I plug in the mains lead and then spend a couple of minutes looking for the on/off button which I eventually find under the large display. Around five minutes answers all the questions at the unit so then with CD in hand move to the PC.
This is a new company to the UK, I recently reviewed one of their keyboards as well as a very advanced mouse. Here I am looking at a small set of on ear headphones that can also be used as a headset, they are unlike most others in that they are very light at only 99grams. Another of its advanced capabilities is that it can be linked to two devices at the same time. It also has a very long play time between charges.
Fully contracted there is 17cm from the base of the earpieces to the centre of the lightly padded headband, there is also 2.5cm of expansion on each side available. The boom microphone rotates from the top down 135 degrees in each direction to suit both left and right sided use. The ear pieces are 6cm round and sit comfortably on all but the smallest ears.
This is the latest Smart Phone from a new company to me. POCO is the gaming arm of Xiaomi who I have reviewed phones from in the past. The M5 can switch refresh rates Video 30Hz or 60Hz, Gaming 60Hz or 90Hz and Scrolling at 30-60-90 Hz. Overall the cost of this POCO offing is not very much at all.
The POCO M5 smart phone measures 163x77x10mm in its supplied case that protects the back and sides, it weighs 222grams. Going around the outside has the volume rocker and the on/off button on the right side. The base has speaker and microphone with the USB 'C' charge point in between, this can also be an OTG device. The left side has SIM entry point. The top has 3.5mm socket for headphones or earphones and a further microphone.
Most of us take a keyboard or a mouse for grantage they are just there and we use them. Often they are Wi-Fi sometimes they are corded and just occasionally Bluetooth. These from JLAB are all three. The mouse has an added plus in that you get a three month trial of TIDAL probably the best widely available streaming service.
This is not a small mouse, it is 12cm from back to front, between 5 and 8cm wide and 4cm tall. Apart from the normal two buttons and scroll wheel there are sic other programmable ones. Not finished yet as the left side has a thumb rest and indeed a OLED display showing the amount of battery remaining and indeed which mode you are in. The base has an on/off button and a mode change button with the infra red between them.
All in One is something that normally relates to a printer-scanner-copier and possibly even fax unit. Here however it relates to a screen that also has a computer built into it, the only extras you need are keyboard and mouse and here even they are included.
This is a large screen measuring 71x47.5x2cm which gives notional diagonal imperial measurement of 31½ inches. There is a 3 inch area below the screen that houses the units speakers. The sides are only .5cm as is the top but there is a built in web cam that you pull up when required and this protrudes from the centre of the top of the screen by 2cm. It has a 13 Gen Intel i7 processor running at 1.4GHz. There is 16GB RAM and it has a 1GB SSD drive, this has 892GB free.
While good quality modern SmartPhones can take excellent videos and images they do need some help first a good quality Gimbal as however steady your hand may be a Gimbal makes all movements smooth. Second lights unless you are outside on a bright sunny day you need help and here Zhiyun has a range of offerings light enough for a single person to setup and still be able to take the images.
This offering called X100 Pro not only has the light itself but all the extras you are likely to need for a range of differing uses. The X100 itself weighs only 385g. You can of course just purchase the light but some of the ‘extras’ are things most people will need like a Diffuser. The actual light is 14.5x9.5x3cm, the light itself is circular at 8.5cm. It comes in a padded zip up container 25x22x12.5cm which also contains a charger and a battery, leads and a diffuser.
This is a range of small items that all do their jobs linked though a single Smart Hub. Apart from The Smart Hub I was sent three items a Motion Sensor, Temperature & Humidity Sensor and a Contact Sensor. You can then link extra such units so various door and windows are all covered so no chance of leaving with an open window. While the App is useful so is a in house sound and here both are available as the Smart Hub has a sound output.
Like so many things today you download an App to your phone and then you always know the conditions of the various items. Once downloaded select the model of your Smart Hub with Chime – it wants the part number in this case Tapo H100 found on the front of the box, setup an account and log in after this you just need to select any devices you have to connect to it. The Smart Hub is 7x4.5x3.
Some screens come without a webcam but there are times when one is required and indeed these may require better resolution so a 4K webcam has its place, this offering from HP is quite chunky and because of the higher resolution it needs to be connected via USB3.
This iHP 960 4K streaming webcam measures 11cm deep, 5cm wide with support and 6cm from base of folded support to top of camera. The only other items in the box are a 1.5metre USB ‘C’ to USB lead and a getting started sheet. Let’s start with the instructions they are one of those multi language sheets that say very little and expect the six illustrations to say everything.
This is a ground coffee machine that has the huge advantage of a built in timer so that your first cup of coffee can be ready to drink either when you wake up or arrive at your work first thing in the morning all you need to do is prime the machine with water and your favourite ground coffee before you leave the night before or before you go to bed. Even if you forget I found around six minutes was enough to be getting that high from the coffee smell.
The measures 35cm tall, 24cm wide and 21cm deep. This works in a slightly different way in that all the water in the talk is turned into coffee so working out the amount of ground coffee to inset in the top is important as otherwise the coffee you get with not be to your taste.
This is the latest ink tank unit that can print, scan and copy. Early versions required very careful filling of ink tanks, now this is easy and there is no chance of spilling even a drop of ink. The unit itself is smaller and best of all no difficult questions to try an answer as you link it into your network.
The measures 40x40x19cm; add another 13cm to the depth when you pull out the tray to receive printed sheets. I would say that that installation time from removing the various bits of tape to having downloaded the software inserted the contents of four bottles of ink and printed a test sheet at around 35 minutes. Everything is easy from the small 2.5cm square screen on the unit, and indeed from your PC.
This is the latest offering to cross my desk; it is a SmartPhone that takes the screen right to the edge of the display. Like most recent quality SmartPhones it is all about the cameras and here they are amazingly good. The rest of the phone is also rather nice.
The Honor Magic5 Lite measures 15.7x7.5x.7cm and it weighs 177 grams. The viewable screen is 15.5x7.2cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 6.67 inches. The screen resolution is 2400x1080. As supplied to me there is 6GB of RAM + 5GB Turbo, 128 GB of storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor. For those who need it the USB ‘C’ connection also supports an OTG (on the go) storage device. This phone came with Android 12 and Magic UI 6.1.
Few devices get reviewed more than once, one exception was another Pure offering called ‘The Bug’ and that was one of their first offerings and it is still in daily use. So when a friend asked me to see if I could get her Pure StreamR working I sort of remember reviewing it shortly before Lockdown so I said yes.
She had got it cheaply somewhere and all she had was the unit so firstly I downloaded the Instructions and then found a lead to charge it, while it looks like a USB ‘C’ it’s not so that took a while of sorting out from a range of slightly older offerings. This is basically a battery unit and you should only need to recharge it after around 15 hours of use. Next I left it charging overnight and when I looked in the morning a saw a green light on top of the near square unit.
This is the latest set of over ear headphones to cross my desk. On the face of it they are Bluetooth meaning you have the freedom to move around within the range of Bluetooth. However unlike earbuds which are either Bluetooth or corded with this set from Shure you have the option to use them corded should you wish to do so.
The Aonic 50 wireless headset measures 15cm from earpiece to earpiece when parallel; there is 18cm from base of earpiece to centre of the well-padded headband. There is 3cm plus of expansion available on each side for those who need it. The right earpiece has USB ‘C’ connection for charging as well as on/off button, volume up and down and a slider control. The left earpiece has the 3.5mm connection for the times for wish to use them corded.
This is the latest set of small in ear earbuds from Creative. They connect via Bluetooth so you get a cordless connection. This allows you more freedom to move around that little bit further away up to around ten metres or maybe a little less according to what the walls are made of.
In the outer cardboard box is an inner white plastic container this is 6.5x5.5x2.5cm and this contains the earbuds. Also in the outer box is a short USB ‘C’ to USB lead to charge the container and a couple of difference sized gels as well as a small Quick Start Guide. The container with the earbuds weighs 46 grams and the buds within it weigh only 5 grams each. Before staring you should charge the container.
Creative Zen Air Earbuds
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This is the latest set of small in ear earbuds from Creative. They connect via Bluetooth so you get a cordless connection. This allows you more freedom to move around that little bit further away up to around ten metres or maybe a little less according to what the walls are made of.
Video files are often very big, and while they can of course be moved around by Wi-Fi it is often easier to have them on removable storage, a USB drive is still quite large but these days a USB stick can be very small even to being able to attach onto a keyring. If you do then it’s important as in this case that it is made of metal as keys can damage plastic.
Here I am telling you about a 128GB storage stick that is only 4cm long a tad over 1cm wide and .4cm wide. This latest offering from Kioxia is the ideal way to move around with video, audio and photos.
A 16inch notebook that does not weigh that much, it also does not feel that much larger when you move around with it. Unlike a lot of such devices I get to review this one has an AMD processor, this one runs at 2.7GHz. It has 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
Its dimensions are 36x24x1.5cm and it weighs only 1179grams which is meant to be the world’s lightest. The viewable screen is 34x21.5cm which gives the notional imperial diagonal measurement of 16inches, this is 4K 3840x2400pixel and OLED. On the left edge are two USB ‘C’, USB3 and HDMI. The right side has 3.5mm socket for headphones, USB3 and two LED’s. Both the front and back are clear. The screen goes back to around 45 degrees.
Another recent offering from Emporia a company that produces phones that look normal while offering extra assistance for those of us over 65 who may or may not be retired. Early assistance phones tended to look rather different and while they offered the assistance needed some were reluctant to use them as they were embarrassed.
The Emporia Smart.5 measures 5x7.5x.8cm and weighs 174grams. The viewable screen is 12.4x6.2cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 5½inches. The screen is 1440x720 pixels. The Home screen is half an image of your choosing at the top and four larger buttons for the lower half, Phone, Email, Photos and Notifications. Swipe left and you get a further eight large icons these fill the screen in two columns of four.
The CES show in the USA is where a lot of technology gets launched however the show made a big thing of not inviting certain big players this year as their support for Ukraine holds firm. There are still a good number of new offerings around launched at about the same time but not actually in the CES show. Technically this SmartPhone was launched in 2022 but only now have I been offered one to review.
The Honor 70 Smart Phone with 5G access measures 15.8x7.4x.7cm and weighs 180grams. The viewable screen is 15.5x7cm which gives notional diagonal imperial measurement of 6½inches, but as this phones screen goes over the edges the claim is 6.67inches. The screens resolution is 1080x2400 pixels. There are no side borders and only tiny ones top and bottom. The Selfie camera is mounted centre of the top of the screen. The rear cameras are in two circular 2.
It looks a lot like any normal Tablet but has software that helps those who are slowing down due to age or other reasons. With the aid of a £50 keyboard/book cover – purchased at time of sale – it can be turned into a Notebook so you can still type normally and the magic does not end there as the Tablet is exactly 10.1inches and for that reason Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point are all free to use forever.
The cover will give some protection if it is dropped and of course the screen is covered when book cover is fitted. It weighs 1134 grams and measures 25x16.5x2cm; the viewable screen is 24x14.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 10.1inches. Bootup is not that rapid at 44 seconds but there is a dock provided that if used as a Tablet also keeps everything charged so if you wish is can be always on. Apart from use via Wi-Fi it can take a SIM so usable on a journey.
Sadly this headset arrived a little too late to get published prior to Christmas, however anyone with a little Christmas money left this would be a great way to spend it as this can be both a set of headphones or a headset as the microphone is easily removable. I had to double check the price as to my mind it is far too cheap for a unit of this quality.
It Gioteck HC2 headset measures 19cm from the base of the diamond shaped over ear padded earpieces to the well-padded headband without any of the 3cm expansion available on each side. If the earpieces are vertical there is 15cm between them. Both the hard wired 3.5mm lead and the microphone when fitted are from the base of the left side. There is 42cm from the hard wired connection to the 6x2x1.5cm control clip and then another 108cm to the 3.5mm plug.
This can be a near standard Android phone or by clicking on Emporia during the initial setup one that offers more assistance and help without looking like a phone designed for the older user. While it does have an emergency button the back below the camera it does not look like one it just looks like a second camera so no one need know.
The Emporia SuperEasy Mobile measures 13.5x6.5x.7cm and weighs 147 grams. Going around the outside has the volume rocker and on/off button on the right side. The base has the microphone. The left side is clear. The top has USB ‘C’ port for charging and 3.5mm socket for personal listening.
This is the latest Gimbal from Zhiyun. It comes in a solid fitted zip up case with the parts easily accessible. In facts the only assembly required is attaching the tripod to the base of the handle for those times that you use it remotely. The whole Gimbal has a very solid construction and feel in your hand.
The Smooth 5S Combo gimbal from Zhiyun measures 31cm from the handle base to the top of your mobile phone. At the widest point near your phone it is 16cm. Its total weight in your hand is 471grams – without your phone – and the rubber grip at the lower 9cm of the grip has a great feel. There is a 16x12cm Quick Start Guide that has six pages of information in each of 14 languages. There is also an A5 sheet that describes all the controls.
This latest Keyboard and Mouse set from Trust is said to be their quietest. So if you are someone who the tiny noise of a keyboard clicking disturbs you then this could well be who this set is aimed at. I can understand if one person is typing in an otherwise quiet room that the keyboard can sound loud or indeed if someone is typing while others are watching TV or listening to music.
This Trust TREZO Quiet Keyboard Set measures 44x18x2cm and the last can be increased at the rear by another 3cm if you raise the rubber mounted props. The keyboard has 108 full-size keys plus another six keys beyond the function key row for control of audio. At the far right of this row is on/off button and the normal three LED’s. There is 4.5cm clear in front of the keyboard in a sloping area to accommodate wrists.
This latest offering from Acer is the Swift 5 a small and light notebook that has Windows 11. Just because it is small does not mean it is not powerful. There are a range of models with different processors, sizes of SSD drives and memory.
The Acer Swift 5 measures 31x22x1.5cm and weighs 1278 grams. On the left side there are two USB ‘C’ ports an HDMI port and a USB port. On the right side are 3.5mm audio out socket a USB port two LEDs and the all-important Kensington Lock port. The keyboard is 84 keys with the alpha keys being full size. There is a 2cm border behind and to the sides of the keyboard with 9cm in front and the 10x7cm trackpad being mounted centrally in this area.
These days getting an appointment to see a doctor is harder than ever, when/if you get one often one of the tasks the doctor does is take your blood pressure. A lot of surgeries introduced phone consultations during Covid and of course taking blood pressure remotely is impossible so being able to take it yourself can give the doctor useful information.
While these days the vast majority of images are taken on peoples phones it’s not that many years ago that they were taken on cameras and only a little longer ago they were taken on film with a negative that gave a printed image. So there are still a great number of irreplaceable images that exist only as a printed photograph and each time they are taken from an album the chance of damage happening is increased so get an image now while you still can.
The Canon imageFORMULA RS40 Photo and Document Scanner measures 31cm wide, 17cm from front to back although this increases to 36cm when the receiving tray is extended and 26cm tall. There are folded sheets with Getting Started instructions in several languages. Basically remove the tape and one orange plastic shield.
It looks a lot like a larger Swiss army knife. The difference here is that to access any of the tools you need to push with your thumb to allow any of the tools to be accessed. There is even a clip so wherever you keep it in a pocket or bag it will stay in place until it’s needed.
The Leatherman FREE™ T4 Multipurpose Tool measures 9cm long, 2cm wide and 1.5cm thick it weighs 123 grams. It is available in five colours. There are a total of six tools three on each side and to access any of them you first need to push with your thumb to allow release of a tool. First tool is a knife with a 5cm blade, also on that side is a 3.5cm flat headed screwdriver and 4cm long double sided file.
This latest Sound Bar from Sound Blaster is a 2.1 system meaning not only do you get the main bar but also another box that contains the bass speaker. This gives not only normal sounds such as speech and music from the speakers in the sound bar but also the low notes such as bass action from the other box and in action movies this really give the cinema effects.
Putting it another way as the Quick Start Guide does, this is a ‘Tri-Amplified Multi Channel Super X-Fi Gaming Sound bar with compact Subwoofer’ So while designed for games – hence the subwoofer – it works perfectly well for TV and indeed for Audio. The sound bar is quite small ideal for those who do not have 55 inch or larger TV’s but still want to hear the sound clearly of films and not just the older ones.
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