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Verbatim have recently launched some larger capacity drives, while it was not possible to get these newest items in for review their PR person assured me the smaller capacity ones sent to me were identical in all but capacity.
So the two drives getting a look at are both external drives the ‘Store ‘n’ Go and the Store ‘n’ Save. I was sent a 500GB portable drive, the first problem is extracting it from the shelf pack and once your scissors have cut your way in there is still another layer of protection to remove. Having plugged the supplied USB3 lead into the drive you find four files on the drive – two each for MAC and PC.
Qobuz is both a streaming and download service dependant on your subscription. I first heard about it two years ago in 2015, then in 2016 they gave users with Android a chance to sample their offerings, so now what is new in 2017.
There are monthly and annual subscriptions, these vary according to the quality. The Qobuz difference is the quality, most other companies’ services offer you MP3 and if you are lucky the quality is roughly one tenth of what you get from a CD. Their Premium service – this is their entry level – costs £9.99 a month and you can test this with a 15 day trial. Next up is their Hi-Fi offering at £19.
Named after a planet, Venturer’s tablet comes with a sub-£50 price.
The Mercury 7L is a tablet running the Android operating system. As part of the RCA brand of products, this tablet has been brought to the UK by Venturer, one of the largest manufacturers of audio and video products. This product will be available priced at £49.99 from Asda.com. With dimensions of 185 x 115 x 11mm (H x W x D), this tablet weighs 276g.
This is a flat panel to fit easily on your desk; it protects your eyes for those of us who need to look at a flat panel for hours each day. This latest offering from Philips is a full HD offering at 1920x1080 and the actual viewable screen is 23.8inches.
The screen is 53.5x31.5x1cm and the screen is raised 8.5cm by the 20x20cm stand which clips into a link which has a thumbscrew connection so less than a minute to assemble. As with most recent panels Windows finds a perfectly acceptable driver and really your only choice is whether to connect by VGA or HDMI. It is called an edge to edge display, the top and sides have a very small border with the bottom one being around 1.5cm.
Offering to keep your data secure from unauthorised access is a portable hard drive from iStorage,
Adding to its range of encrypted portable drives, iStorage has released the company’s diskAshur PRO product. Promising to provide the capability of an ultra-secure hardware encrypted portable hard drive, the diskAshur PRO is available with capacities of 500GB, 1TB or 2TB options. I have been checking out the 1TB model. Rectangular in shape with rounded corners, the diskAshur PRO has a weight of 237g and dimensions of 124 x 84 x 20 mm (H x W x D).
As its title suggests Nightfall Mysteries Double Pack consists of two games. Bundles together by GameHouse, a popular gaming site, the two games are Curse of the Opera and Asylum Conspiracy. My review is written in the order I played the games rather than the order in which they were meant to be played.
Developed by Vast Studios, Curse of the Opera is a Hidden Object Adventure game that is based around a group of travelling entertainers who put on operatic performances. Your role is that of a dogs-body or stagehand who seems to do the bidding of everybody else. Prior to starting the game, you can adjust the volume levels for music and sound plus opt for full screen game play and voice-over dialogue.
Recently I told you about the first system that I have seen with Windows 10 v1703 installed when it arrived from Dell, I was not aware that v1703 could be publicly downloaded, with my delving and an extra week of review time from Dell’s PR agency and my own Tablet/Notebook with its small hard drive and limited 2GB of RAM I tell you of my own experiences.
First you will need a fully updated Windows v1607 system and then follow the link and possibly clear out some space you will need at least 8GB of free space to do the upgrade. My Tablet/Notebook was running build 14393 and to get windows v1607 upgraded to Windows 1703 the version you get build 15063. Three things are checked CPU, Memory and Disc Space. In my case I needed to manually delete v1511 (6.55GB). This left 10.6 GB of free disc, space I started at 12.
Adding to its range of products available in the UK, Venturer has released the Saturn 10 Pro.
This product combines the functionality of a mini-laptop with a touch screen and a 10-inch tablet. Both elements run the Android operating system. Priced at £129.99, the Saturn 10 Pro will be available from Asda.com. When operating as a mini-laptop, the Saturn 10 Pro has dimensions of 260 x 175 x 28 mm (W x H x D), when in its closed state, and weighs 980g.
This is the latest electric shaver from Braun. As with most of their recent offering it can be used as a standard dry electric shaver or when the skin is wet as you would with a traditional blade based razor giving you the best of both worlds.
It has an internal NiMH battery that should give enough power for up to 45 minutes of continuous shaving. It is 15.5cm from base to top of the shaving head, 5.5wide just below the head and a maximum of 4cm wide at the trimmer blade 2.5cm below the shaving head. It weighs 204grams. The head has two cutting bars each 4cm long and around .
These look in dimension terms identical, the coffee in them is manufactured in the UK so they should taste almost the same. The difference is that both the base of the container and the lid are compostable and therefore unlike the pods made by Nespresso especially their foil lids are not recyclable.
While I do possess a Nespresso machine and as regular readers will know my day runs on the amount of coffee I consume I have not used it for a while whilst I have tried the delights of Tassimo pods and Krups offerings. I dusted it off – not literally as it resides in its box but once fired up and ready that’s the way it stayed.
The latest device to arrive from Sandberg is ready to accompany you into various battle scenarios.
Gamers of all ages, gender and nationality, do like to be well equipped with the appropriate accessories when entering whatever environment they are about to face in their battle against the virtual enemy.
This is not just another phone, nor even another phone for the hard of hearing, I grant you that it looks like a standard smart phone and it has volume levels that would make most with good hearing jump but this unit goes one step further in that …
It is 14x7.2x1cm and most importantly for those who want to keep their hearing loss to themselves it looks perfectly normal, the standard black screen surround and the back is a matt silver colour. It weighs 180 grams and the notional imperial diagonal screen measurement is 5inches. This is the nearest thing to a standard smart phone that I have seen which is suitable for someone with substantial hearing loss.
Small, lightweight and compact, this next set of headphones comes with a range of accessories.
As I have stated on more than a few occasions in the past, headsets come with a range of styles and feature sets. For example the latest such headset to arrive in my dwelling for review is the Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones. This product has been developed by 1MORE, a Chinese company based in Shenzhen, with its headquarters located in San Diego, California.
Taking on the role of a sea captain, you need to discover why somebody has green eyes.
Developed by Seven Sails, Obscure Legends: Curse of the Ring is a Hidden Object Adventure game. Your role in this game is that of a sea captain whose ship is wrecked in a violent storms in the Caribbean Sea in 1875. You find yourself, as the sole survivor, cast ashore on a mysterious island that is home to a strange character with glowing green eyes.
This is the latest non Windows PC from Acer, it’s the Chromebook 11. From the outside it looks identical to most other notebooks open it and one look at the keyboard tells you immediately that this is a Chromebook as the alpha keys are all lower case.
For those that want to surf the Web, collect and send emails and even write the odd tome then a Chromebook is fine. In fact the Chrome store now has a growing amount of Apps – I counted over six hundred - so you may be able to do more than already described. What it cannot do is run Windows programs or Apps and if that is required then Acer have lots of Notebook and Tablets that will do so.
Available on various monthly plans from Vodafone is the Moto G4 Play.
Now fully integrated into the Lenovo family of products, the Moto G4 is, as its title should indicate, the fourth generation of this popular and well respected brand of handsets. I have been looking at the Moto G4 Play version of the product which is available in a choice of white or, as in the case of my review sample kindly supplied by Vodafone, in black with a silver band encircling the body of the handset.
It’s a very long time since I have reviewed anything from Dell and even longer since I have reviewed a Tower system from anyone, in fact if my memory is correct after my last Tower review I actually purchased it and that was running Windows 7. Here this system is running Windows 10 and version 1703 at that.
The Dell Vostro 3650 Desktop Mini Tower is 28cm deep (34cm with leads attached), 15cm wide and 34cm tall. The face has the on/off button, optical drive, two USB3 ports and an SD Card slot. The back has three audio sockets, video connections for VGA and HDMI, two pairs of USB ports and an Ethernet. Four internal external bays and near the base a kettle style mains lead socket. Dell describe the Vostro as a ‘Business System’.
This is a pair of over ear noise reduction headphones. They come from a company who are stocked by high end and mass market stores, the former as entry level items and the latter as their top of the range quality headphone offerings.
With 5.5cm travel in each arm even those with the largest heads can be accommodated. My only query is for a child with a small head as not only will the closed arrangement be large on them so also will the full size over ear earpads. I think my head is about average and while tight I can wear them with no extension of the side pads. Also for those with lack of on head hair is the large amount of padding across the headband.
My second laptop, and third as well, were both Acer units and could almost be regarded as desktop replacements. The same could not be said of this next Acer unit.
While its title might give you the impression that this next product could be the top-of-the-range offering, in fact the Acer Swift 1 is the opposite in this particular brand line up in its portfolio with regards to specifications. My review sample is decked out in an obsidian black plastic casing, embossed with a silver Acer logo to add a touch of style to its brushed finish. The device has dimensions of 339.4 x 234.9 x 17.
This is a rather fine phone, not like some that are almost too large to hold, this fits easily in the adult hand. Like other recent phones it arrived courtesy of Vodafone. As I am aware of certain black spot areas south of London these areas always get tried for phone and also 4G coverage as part of my tests on the phone and service offered by Vodafone.
It is 14.5x7x.7cm and weighs 159grams. The viewable screen is 11.4x6.4cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 5.2 inches. The edge to edge display shows 1920x1080 (portrait) resolution. This is the first phone from Vodafone that did not immediately work correctly, I was able to do the basic setup of country, then input by Wi-Fi and put in Gmail settings.
Working from home, I like to listen to music when reviewing products. So I am always keen to review speaker systems.
Adding to Edifier’s extensive range of speaker units is the M1360 product. This audio delivering device is a 2:1 + 1 unit that is made up of a subwoofer, a pair of satellite speakers and a wired controller. All the various hardware elements are decked out in a mixture of matte and lacquered black sections. A small multi-lingual User Manual is included in the box with the product to help with the initial set up procedure.
Unlike Dr Who and the TARDIS, you need a glove to visit various time periods in this next game.
Wave of Time, published by Itera Labs, is a Hidden Object Adventure game. This game, as its title might indicate, is based on the concept of time travel and what might happen if an object from the future was left behind in the past by a participant. That somebody is you in your role of a young woman called Jane who has been having some memory problems of late.
This is a small but very power DSLR kit supplied with an 18-55mm lens. I always enjoy my testing of such items as once past the initial learning curve – when I use the Auto settings – in whatever review time remains I extend myself with the range of manual mode choices.
It is 12.5x10x14.5cm the last figure with the lens at its most compressed position, the total weight is 696grams. It is supplied with a neck strap but the normal substantial grip point on the right side I prefer to use it without it. The left side has an anchor point for the neck strap with a rubber bung covering a charge port, USB port and HDMI out socket. The right side has the pair to the neck strap anchor.
Data, whether personal or business orientated, is valuable and needs to be protected from various types of attack. This next Acronis product offers to help.
This is quite a small unit that can alert you to people coming towards your door as well as those who actually ring its bell. You do not need to walk to the door to see who is calling you get an almost instant video reply via your Wi-Fi to your phone or Windows 10 PC.
A bold statement is made in the package that ‘everything that is required is supplied’, almost everything is, the missing things are the drill, bredell and pencil, another item that could help the single person obtain the correct location is a couple of double sided tape pads. With any holes be they in wood or masonry check twice before you mark the spot and then again before you drill.
While most of us have at least one mobile phone, only a small proportion of us have a case for it. There are a huge variety of options from a wallet style that also covers the screen to those that just cover the back and sides of your phone.
Very few units come with a case and often the reason muted by the manufacturers is the same as that used by printer manufacturers for not providing a USB lead, it gives our resellers the chance for an extra sale. Here I am looking at two offerings from Tech 21 who seem to have the highest standard in case design and testing which is far higher than ‘Military Standard’ first Evo GO for the Samsung Galaxy S8 which is stated to be droppable from 3 metres.
Taking you on a trip through Old London, this next title adds a range of features to the familiar Match-3 game play.
Developed by Kool Haus Games, Antique Shop – Lost Gems London is the follow up offering to the similar entitled Antique Shop – Lost Gems Egypt. Fortunately no knowledge of the earlier title is required to play this latest offering which is based on a cursed historic London City built around this Match–3 offering as you find clues and solve mysteries on your archaeological journey.
While I have reviewed several nice small Penclic keyboards including the most recent the KB3 that only failed to get a ‘Highly Commended’ because of the price. Here I will be looking at the Mini Keyboard C2 and a first for me an external Trackpad the NiceTouch T2.
This is a 79 key keyboard, however the other minor keys are there but for some you need to press keys in tandem. However in return for this occasional inconvenience you get a smaller keyboard on your desk, this is only 28.5cm long and 15.5cm deep and at the front is only .5cm thick. At the back it is between 2.5 and 3.5cm dependant on if you use the tilt control lifts or not. This is a USB keyboard and the 1.
While not the name that immediately springs to mind, Moshi has a range of products that include speakers, travel bags and headphones with the latter being the subject of this next review.
When search for the word “Avanti” using your favourite browser’s search engine, you will receive numerous hits covering a range of topics. But it is unlikely, if my experience is anything to go by, that the subject of this next review will appear in the first few pages.
Put your skills as a thief to good use as you attempt to thwart a secret cult intent on taking control.
Released as a combined effort from Playrix Games and Shaman Games is the Hidden Object Adventure game entitled Fall of the New Age. I have been looking at the Collector’s Edition of the game which features a number of bonus items to which you gain access once the main game has been completed. These bonus items include Concept Art, Wallpaper, Screensaver, Art, Music and Video.
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