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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.
The recent pandemic, along with recommendations to self-isolate, has introduced us to the term "Lockdown" and all it entails.
With this concept, our way of living has changed as we deal with the consequences of this new term which, incidentally is not featured in my copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. I have used the chance, offered by "Lockdown" to catch up with some game reviews but how are you adjusting to "Lockdown"? Recent research, polling 2,000 adults, on behalf of Alcatel, has come up with suggestions as to how technophobic Brits have made of their time during "Lockdown".
Alexery Pajitnov has a lot to answer for with regards to puzzle addiction with his Tetris offering.
Personal Computer users will appreciate that over time their piece of equipment will often loose its initial fast responsiveness. Tasks that once could be completed at a rate that was more than acceptable during the earlier months, now take their time thus causing degrees of frustration.
Now up to version 5.65, Ccleaner Professional follows a fairly standard pattern. After downloading the software and providing the necessary registration details, such as user name and license key which consists of letters, numbers and dashes, you can access the various features of the product. The opening view will be familiar to users of previous versions of the software as you are presented with a list of categories running down the left side of the screen.
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.
Do you consider yourself to be a typical adult? If so then you could find yourself spending around £40,000 on tech during your lifetime.
These various components were not arrived at just because of wishful thinking during a spare moment in lockdown but the results of a research survey commissioned by musicMagpie. So what do the owners of this Aladdin's cave of desirable kit do with items that have passed their best and have been superseded. Well it seems that many, more than a third of the 2,000 questioned, merely hang on to them.
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.
Where did the crew and cargo disappear to is a mystery you need to solve in this next game.
With the lengthy title of "Left in the Dark - No One on Board", this is a Hidden Object game. Developed by Moonrise Interactive, this game places you in the role of Detective Charlotte Austin. You are summoned by the Mayor of Providence to investigate the strange case of a sailing ship which left Providence with a full crew and plenty of cargo. It then disappeared for a while before reappearing but without crew or cargo.
While hardly what you would call the ideal circumstances, the period of self-isolation has provided the type of situation that can help with the setting up and checking out of a home security device. By taking on the role of an intruder, you can see how the product works.
The home security device in question, and the subject of this review, is the YI Home 1080p camera. For the benefit of those readers who are perhaps not so familiar with YI Technology, to give the company its full title, is an organisation that has set out to provide enhanced safety and productivity on a worldwide basis for consumers and business users.
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’.
With more puzzles than you could shake a stick at, this next game tells the story of a town that can only be visited once every 300 years.
This is an indoor security camera, the colour option works in lower light than a lot of others and while easy to setup once you have decided what ‘password’ it wants you to enter to link, then it offers a great deal more options in the settings than almost any other such camera and for those who want them it can provide so many choices over the basics.
It is a round offering on a flat base 9x9x11cm the latter is with the supplied micro USB to USB lead inserted in the back of flat base. It can also be hung via screws and an attachment to the base. The camera rotates to any position so via a setting it can then follow whatever moves and another setting allows this to be human, to explain the last part this can stop it following your pet such as a cat and then avoid false positive notifications.
"As the sequel to the "Ghost of Maple Creek", "Enigmatis-The Mists of Ravenwood" is a Hidden Object Adventure game. Developed by Artifex Mundi, the game casts you in the role of a female detective on the trail of a demonic preacher who was featured in the original title.
I have been using the Collector's Edition of "The Mists of Ravenwood" which contains a number of bonus items categorised as Extras. Some of the bonus items give immediate access while a couple require the main game to be completed before you can enter them. In the case of the former you can check out Concept Art, Wallpaper and Achievements.
While always looking for new titles, sometimes dipping into the past can bring rewards.
I never sleep well, for a while now I have been looking for a new mattress; then the problem is what to do with the old one. This all became worse now the Pandemic is here with no courier or delivery driver coming further than the front doorstep. The solution I hit upon was to try a memory foam mattress topper on top of the mattress that I already have.
It arrived via Amazon three days after ordering. Packed in a large blue outer bag and then the inner bag with the mattress topper rolled inside, there is also a supplied cover. It has an A5 ‘Care Instructions’ sheet saying that there will be a residual smell that will disappear after a period of time and that the mattress will expand to original shape in around 8-10 hours.
With time on your hands, you could create a robotic pet to keep you company.
In the past, the Fereday household has been home to a collection of various pets. I can distinctly remember a cat (actually my grandparents when they ran a pub in Wolverhampton), several dogs, a gold fish, a couple of budgies ( including one that told me to "drop dead"), a white mouse, gerbil, hamster and at least three cockatiels. I am now about to add yet another creature to this list.
This is the last of the recent batch of new SmartPhones from Emporia. This brand of phones looks like a normal SmartPhone but gives the user extra help be it more volume for those of us with hearing loss or brighter and more distinct displays for those with sight problems; however they can also be used as a standard Android SmartPhone.
It is 15x7.4x.7cm and weighs 177grams. The viewable screen is 12.3x6.5cm with the normal three control buttons below the screen in the surround, the centre home button is a slightly raised solid button. Going around the outside has the volume rocker buttons with the on/off button below these. The base has USB ‘C’ for charging as well as the contacts for the supplied charging dock. The left side is clear and the top has 3.5mm socket for earbuds.
You are about to join a family of explorers on their quest to locate the City of Mists.
It all began with Great Grandfather who spun many tales of this strange island which, like the town of Brigadoon, would only become visible and accessible to mere mortals once every twenty years. On one of these infrequent occasions, Great Grandfather claimed he discovered that the island was home to a mysterious vault that contained treasures untold. As proof of this claim, Great Grandfather was happy to show off a mysterious charm required for access.
Here I am ensconced in self-isolation in order to avoid coronavirus, looking at a product from MenKind.
It has to be noticed that several years, actually a full decade, had passed since I last reviewed a MenKind product that went by the name of Dave the Monkey. Sad to say, I was unable to locate Dave the Monkey on the company's website. However I do have the company's 3in1 Smart Viewer to occupy my time during the period of self-isolation.
Web Cams until the recent CoronaVirus were something that sat in the top surround of a panel of your Notebook/Tablet, often people worried about being spied upon, recent panels I have seen now have no Web Cam. So hence the need for decent offerings like this one from Logitechh that can keep friends and family in touch.
I installed it on a not that recent Windows 10 system and that involved screwing the tripod base to the camera and plugging in the hard wired USB lead and saying yes a couple of times. So anyone can do it, this means a son or daughter can purchase this online and post to their parent so at least they can chat and see each other, thus keeping friends and family in touch during the current Pandemic.
A recent message from Trend Micro revealed how the company has been kept busy due to an increase in certain Internet activity.
It has to be noticed that several years, actually a full decade, had passed since I last reviewed a MenKind product that went by the name of Dave the Monkey. Sad to say, I was unable to locate Dave the Monkey on the company's website. However I do have the company's 3in1 Smart Viewer to occupy my time during the period of self-isolation.
Charles Dexter Ward returns to try and undo the mistakes he made in the past.
Fans of Gothic Horror will no doubt recognise the storyline on which this next game of "The Soul Keeper" is based. Drawing on a source of inspiration from a H. P. Lovecraft novel and forming part of the Dark Mysteries series, "The Soul Keeper" comes with the claim of being a supernatural Hidden Object game. I have been looking at the Platinum Edition of "Dark Mysteries: The Soul Keeper" which is developed by Cerucus Media.
Since these two devices were reviewed towards the end of 2019 I have been asked to tell you about changes made to them in order that should you purchase them now you have the actual updated information for instance the Pixel 4XL was one of the first to come with Android 10 as standard.
My first look was published in November and apart from the obvious change with it coming with Android 10 it has significant improvements to AI. Gestures were in the original release but now you can do much more without touching your phone. They say it can even tell if you have had an accident in a vehicle and if required it can even call the emergency services. Hopefully a feature you will use more often is to motion sense your music so going back, moving forward and pausing all by gestures.
Let me open with a question for those who were involved in the past with building their own computer or just upgrading their current system with a harder capacity hard drive.
Do you remember the price and capacity of the internal hard drive that was to be included in a new or upgraded system? In my case I can distinctly remember scouring through adverts in several computer magazines for a hard drive that would increase my computer's storing capacity. As my budget was around £200, my choice of possible drive was limited to those drives with a maximum capacity of 200MB (this is not a typing mistake as MB was the current standard at that time).
As a fan of the Anne McCaffrey series of novels based on the interaction between telepathic dragons and humans on the planet Pern, I am instinctively drawn towards games with "Dragon" in their titles such as "The Legend of Eratus - Dragonlord".
Developed by eFunsoft, "The Legend of Eratus - Dragonlord" is a Match-3 game that follows the recent trend of dividing its action into a series of chapters with each section featuring upgrades that need to be completed before you are allowed to progress to the next chapter and areas of the realm where this story is based. With this game, you are about to enter a land where King Haleth ruled over this peaceful land.
This 24inch panel from Philips displays in 1920x1080 like the majority, but here the refresh rate is up to 75Hz instead of the standard 60Hz. Another of the plus features is USB ‘C’ and the ability to charge and transfer data from your notebook or Tablet via a single supplied cable. It also has pivot ability so can be used in portrait mode as well.
It is 53.5x32.5x1.5cm; the viewable screen is 52.5x29.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of just under 24inches. The bezel at the sides and top is .5cm and at the base is 3cm, the six control touch buttons are at the right end of this with only a white LED visible. The total weight with stand is just over 5 kilos. There is 30 degrees of back tilt and 5 degrees of forward tilt.
Adding to the ever-growing range of smartphones, Xiaomi has developed its Mi10 family of products.
Meeting up with Alexa certainly opened several doors to ways of doing things.
Having recently told you about a couple of Emporia phones that are designed with Android Go and an Interface for those who need assistance here I am looking at a phone that has Standard Android (version 9) and then a possible skin to suit those with sight or hearing problems designed by Emporia but this can equally well work without it.
Providing the means to position a smartphone in a vehicle is a device from Groov-e.
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