Publication History For : Paul Smart
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Leap Frog a big name in toys for babies and young children bring out a nightlight that can help to remove the fear of the dark for youngsters. I reviewed a similar night light product a few months ago from Philips so what has this to offer.
The Scout's Goodnight Light from LeapFrog measures 16cm tall and 13cm wide at the handle, very solidly constructed so it should survive the odd knock to the floor. It is battery driven and they are sealed behind a Philips screw shut opening in the back. It has a four position yellow slider on one side, a red button on the front and another yellow push button on the outside of the substantial handle.
I think of Doro for home phones and basic mobiles for those with hearing and sight problems. While they have released a SmartPhone previously I never got to see it. This was shown at their Xmas In July event but only arrived with me in November.
The Doro 8030 Android SmartPhone measures 14.6x7x.9cm and weighs 141 grams. The viewable screen is 10x5.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement of 4½ inches. Start-up is 51 seconds and shutdown is 14 seconds. Even though this is chunky in comparison to most standard SmartPhones it does feel solid in the hand. Going around the outside finds the charge point on the right side with a dedicated camera button towards the base of the right side.
Having told you about McAfee and Kaspersky the latest offering from Panda arrived. Most Notebooks I get to review come with some sort of Anti-Virus or Internet Security trial installed, so when one arrives without such security it’s an ideal testing medium.
A lot of items that I get to see are downloads and often what I test the software on comes without an optical drive, the unit I used to test this had no optical drive in fact it only had a standard USB port on the keyboard section of a Tablet.
While this company seems to have been in the UK since 2012 the first of their products I saw was the excellent P9 Smartphone earlier in 2016, then I get to see their ‘cheaper’ brand the Honor 5C SmartPhone and now this rather smart Windows Notebook/Tablet the MateBook12.
The initial look is ‘wow’ not a word that crosses my lips that often. It is 27.5x19.1x.6cm and weighs 642grams. The viewable screen is 35.5x17cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement of 12inches the normal screen resolution is 1920x1080. Switch on is a very impressive 16 seconds, shutdown is 3 seconds.
This is one of three special packs launched by Gillette to coincide with the latest Star Wars film. The razor and gel are branded ‘Mach3 Turbo’ so once through the hype what sort of shave does this unit give or would buying the parts separately be a better buy?
I recently heard in the ‘business news’ that a famous triangular chocolate bar would now have larger gaps between the chocolate triangles but we will have to pay the same price. How does this relate to this shaving set well at a previous Gillette launch the razor came with two spare blades and a normal size container of Gel, here you get the razor and two spare blades but a smaller Gel container.
Bluetooth headphones and Earbuds were given a huge sales boost by Apple removing the 3.5mm socket from their latest offering in the autumn and so here an offering from Optoma nu force the BE Sport3 earbuds for those who exercise.
These definitely click the small and light boxes as they weight only 12.6 grams and their total length is 44cm and this includes any excess that is captured in a loop. They are stated to last up to ten hours between charges and I managed this on one occasion, another was slightly more but a third test was around twenty minutes less so ten hours is a fair average. Total recharge is just over an hour using the supplied micro USB to USB lead and charging from a PC or Notebook port.
Over the years I have looked at a good number of phones from the French company Archos. Here I think I have received their first rugged phone. This is still a normal phone in other ways but it is able to stand up the odd drop or three.
The Archos 50 Spahir measures 14.2x7.2x1cm and weighs 219grams. Rather than being the perfect oblong the corners are shaved off at perfect 45 degree angles. This is a dual SIM phone with SIM 1 being capable of 4G, SIM 2 3G but instead of two SIMs you could have a single SIM –SIM 1 - and a micro SD CARD. Going around the outside the right side has a volume rocker and below this the on/off button.
Teufel are a German manufacturer and as far as I know nothing to do with British Telecom so the BT name here is just a name given by them to a decent set of Bluetooth earbuds. They are mainly known as quality speaker producers.
The box does not need to be destroyed to access the contents, while this may not matter I consider it a plus that allows all the accessories to remain in place for the times they are required. In the box is a solid 11x9.5cm zip up case and inside this a weighted container that has exact positions for each earbud and a waist to wind the connecting cable around, so with luck you will store the buds in the container and the case when out and about.
In the autumn after a round of press/trade shows all the software companies rush to get their 2017 versions of software releases and updates on the market. Here I am looking at two such items from CyberLink who like Nero now reside in Germany.
Unlike a lot of other software companies CyberLink do not try to make all their versions have the same numeral at the end of the product name. So the two getting the once over here are and Anyone into making videos will love the obvious new feature 360 degree video maker. It allows you to make 360 degree videos and even to use 360 degree video footage in standard video output.
This is the first of my reviews for machines launched at the very end of November by Acer in Glasgow, those who saw my launch report will know it was not cold, wet or snowy; I got the very cold bit almost as soon as I got back to the south of England.
The Acer Swift 3 measures 33.5x23x1cm, the last figure at the back while it is little more than half of that at the front, it weighs 1551 grams. Silver Grey in colour with only the four round rubber feet and the black hinge being different when closed. Open the lid and again the majority is Silver Grey with only the hinge and the keys of the keyboard being black. The viewable screen is 31x17.
This phone has no curves and for some that maybe in vogue, but I am no fashion guru. After Apple and Samsung perhaps the best known brand is Sony and this offering is the latest one from them to come across my desk courtesy of Vodafone.
The Sony Xperia XZ measures 14.5x7.2x.8cm and weighs 159grams. Top right on the rear is the camera and just below this the LED flash. The right side has a large on/off button in silver grey. Below this in the same colour as its surround is the volume rocker and even lower a dedicated camera button. The bottom has a USB 3.1 port for charging. Towards the top of the left side is a covered slot which takes the Nano SIM and any micro SD card you use this is stated to be up to 256GB.
Up until the last few years a bathroom scale read out your weight. Now they link to Apps and seem to tell you so much more, this item will even tell you your bone density and before long they will possible even tell you what you had for breakfast.
My last comment was flippant but you never know. The scale is 35x35x3cm it weighs 2.64kilos. Setting up to a recent SmartPhone – either iOS or Android – is straightforward providing you have Bluetooth 4. There is a barcode on the back of the scale and this needs to be scanned using your SmartPhone once the App is downloaded and running. This then links your scale to the App.
I love manuals, and of course with most software been sold as downloads the best you get today is a PDF file which also needs to be downloaded. Serif software have been around for 29 years and they have recently produced Affinity Designer firstly for MAC and now for the PC, this is their workbook a heavy hard backed tome.
The front cover puts it well ‘learn digital design and illustration with Affinity Designer’. The book is 20.5x23.5x2.7cm and it weighs 1.47kilos. Unusual perhaps to give the dimensions and weight of a book but then it does give me a chance to get over this is a textbook written by the team at Serif who will be thirty years young next year.
While some other companies may have a wider choice of models from more companies AO have a big plus in that they offer next day delivery by their own vans, you are rung on the day and yes they deliver when they say they will. Another plus their prices are very keen.
This toaster is called ‘Bit More’ as it allows you to just add a little more colour to your toast without starting the whole process again. Heston Blumenthal is a chef whose restaurant is always full; his name is linked to a lot of unusual dishes cooked in strange ways.
When I asked to review this I assumed that it would arrive assembled, wrong. They state use by children 14 and above, OK. You need patience to assemble and above all follow the illustrations that form the vast proportion of the instructions.
It was a good job they arrived disassembled as the postman put them through my letterbox on a day I was out and certainly if they had of been assembled it would have meant a journey to sorting office to collect.
Firstly a set of earbuds from probably the biggest name in Reggae, Bob Marley who has a whole range of audio products in his name. Second an item that arrived without request or documentation but something that might be of use when away from electrical power a Solar Charger.
Bob Marley a huge name in pop was always very distinctive and so are his earbuds with their bright colour cords and red and green earbuds but for most what matters is the sound and not the look so what do these earbuds offer. A 1.5metre long from the wood backed earbuds to the L shaped 3.5mm adapter. 15cm down from the left earbud is the 2cm long control and then another 15cm to the connection where the too cords become one for their 1.2metre journey to the L shaped 3.5mm plug.
Yes security software is almost as boring as backup software but both are nevertheless essential software in the world we currently live in as there are vast numbers of people making their living from defrauding innocent people of their data and money.
Almost all new PC’s and notebooks/tablets come with a limited time trial of Anti-Virus or more likely full Internet protection software and most of those that I see seem to be a version of McAfee. McAfee now part of Intel called Intel Security they do four versions, first McAfee Anti-Virus which covers you from most Virus attacks and helps keep you clear of dangerous web sites.
Two Olympus Items Joined
Published in Cameras
on
23 Dec 2016
Over the last few months I have told you about the new small LS-P2 PCM Recorder and also the Olympus OM-D camera. So here finally is the meeting of the two parts connected by a standard audio cable and an adapter that fits into the camera shoe so you can have brilliant audio linked to your videos.
If I said Master Socket few would know I was referring to how your Ethernet connection should be connected, if you have problems with slow speed or lots of time your line drops it’s the first thing the phone engineer will talk about.
It seems that the only thing that should connect to your Master Socket is your Modem or Modem/Router. Phones should only connect via secondary sockets, of course this is not a problem if everything connects via Wi-Fi and everything is well in range. Only once you satisfy these criteria will BT or whoever your ISP is will then look to see if the problem is elsewhere. A pair of Orbi routers can be the answer, in my case they are.
This is a small Bluetooth speaker from a company with a good reputation for sound quality. However they also have another less desirable reputation – for me anyway - that of their boxes having to be destroyed to get the contents out of them.
The Barricade Bluetooth Speaker from Skullcandy measures 12x10x7.5cm and weights 510grams, the last figure could be important as it has a fabric thumb loop to enable use while on the move. It should be drizzle proof – I try to say that rather than shower as some might consider shower to mean what occurs in the bathroom – with a rubber bung covering external connections.
Anti-Virus software was developed in response to people who wanted to harm your computer, then it was the whole Internet Security thing with people trying to get at your money, now the latest Kaspersky suite focuses on protecting your children from harm.
As with most recent products this is multi-platform which means not only your PC – or MAC – but also your SmartPhone and Tablet or Notebook in fact most things that connect to the outside world. So count up the number of devices you need to cover before you buy as Kaspersky have versions for 1, 3, 5 or 10 devices. No longer do you purchase a ‘boxed copy’ or as in this case a DVD cased copy because what is inside is a credit card.
Ego Power+ Blower LB5300
Published in Homes and Gardens
on
16 Dec 2016
At this time of year a lot of people just forget their gardens, nothing much grows even the weeds call a truce. So here something for those who cannot leave well alone a garden blower to move those leaves around and regiment them in neat piles.
Wrist watches are less popular now than at any time since people stopped using a pocket watch. However fitness devices worn on the wrist are now so popular that the fact they also tell the time is perhaps often overlooked by many.
The Asus VivoWatrch measures is 3.5x4.5x1cm and weights only 48grams with the attached strap.
Having recently told you about an A3 printer that was little bigger than an A4 unit here this is not only larger and faster it has two built in paper trays and can easily serve a whole office via Wi-Fi and Ethernet and even print remotely.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 is an All In One that means not only, Print, Scan, Copy but also for those who need it Fax. It is 58x48x38cm and if you use the flatbed a little more space is needed on top of the last figure but unless you use it under the eaves this will not be a problem as few shelves will be able to cope with its 19.5 kilo weight. It has four inks the three colours are as supplied stated to last 640 pages and the black to last 1000 pages.
A set of earbuds that stay in place even during exercise and while they are not tiny they can be close to invisible if you have long hair as they fit in then tuck over the ear and behind the neck to complete the connection at the other ear and they are of course Bluetooth.
Bluetooth just got a whole lot more important as if you have an iPhone 7 you no longer have a 3.5mm socket to plug into. Bluetooth has another advantage in that your phone can be in a bag or purse and of course with the long hair scenario already mentioned no one need know you are even listening to music.
A battery powered scooter as sold by Halfords in the UK was for me anyway the most interesting thing I viewed at the Halfords Christmas Show held in London in September, so I asked to see one and this is what I was sent to review.
It should be easy to assemble using the supplied Allen Key and a mid-sized Philips screw driver (not supplied), while will pester you for one this is for them, the stated age is 8 plus and I would suggest that this is the correct age or even older. This is not a light unit and it is only steerable by leaning left or right, as children need a helmet to ride a bicycle they should also need one for this as the battery gives a good speed boost and the brake is only on the rear wheel.
This is one of a new variety of cameras that have interchangeable lenses but are still almost small enough to fit into a pocket, yes they are therefore a DSLR but probably not considered so by the purist. Meet the Canon EOS M10 which is a mirrorless camera.
Canon describe the EOS M10 as a ‘a compact system camera that combines DSLR performance with effortless portability.’ It is 10.5x6.5x8.5 when the 15-45mm lens in locked shut, it weights 438grams. It comes with a neck strap but I preferred using it in the hand. In deference to those whose life would end without the ability to take a Selfie the TFT swings through 180 degrees to allow this process to take place.
Coffee Machines have always been popular with Gadgetspeak readers and none more so than those produced by Nescafe Krups. However it’s been quite a few years since I could get my hands on one and they certainly have changed a lot.
This unit is designed for the small home and is quite small in its worktop width, it is 16.5cm wide 32cm deep and 18cm tall when shut and 31cm tall when open and ready to use. This small size means that the water container is also quite small and it can take no more than two pints of water.
Often finding suitable small gifts for members of the opposite sex is not easy, I mean friends but not those especially close to you. However if they use an iPhone I might have some suggestions that are also affordable options for Christmas gifts.
This is described as external memory for iPhone but I see it also works with the iPad. However not only is it storage but once connected to your ‘i’ device it will download an App that even for people like me – a confirmed Android user – can understand. The App allows very simple transfer of files – music, pictures and videos – from the iPhone to the iBridge and also the reverse.
Samsung A3 6
Published in Phones
on
2 Dec 2016
Not everyone wants or needs the largest SmartPhone so this slightly smaller offering from Samsung may fit their needs. It seems that the mobile phone teams to follow are Samsung or iPhone as far as the vast quantity of publicity created.
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