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A recently received email was my introduction to the subject of this next review.
This is one of a new range of ‘health’ devices from Philips. I saw the range at their Christmas In July event and despite my nagging only at the end of December did the first of them arrive. This is their health watch which tracks heart rate, activity, sleep and more.
It comes with strap attached but for those with a small/large wrist a separate strap is supplied to avoid large amount of excess strap. The watch is black as is the strap and it looks normal with only a shiny outer ring. The default display is a very traditional analogue but you can choose a digital one in settings. However telling the time is just a minor part of what it does. The watch is circular at 3.5cm and it is 1cm thick with the rubberised strap attached it weighs 51 grams.
If a pair of headphones are designed for a DJ, they must give good all round sound and they must also be comfortable as anyone ‘spinning discs’ for hours on end has enough to worry about with his/her aching feet and possible bladder requests so everything else needs to be comfortable.
A gold plated connection means both 3.5mm and the larger 6.3mm connector are supplied as one unit the larger one unscrews to reveal the 3.5mm offering underneath. Dependant on ear size these could be ‘on’ or ‘over’ ear offerings. With no side extension they are 18cm from a mid-point at the base of the ear pads to the padded headband. They are 25cm from side to side when the earpads are parallel. The lead emerges as a 3.5mm connector from the base of the left ear pad.
The paperless office is an urban myth as 80% of document-based processes are depended upon paper with employees spending 25% of their time on the labour-intensive and time-consuming process of handling paper documents
It has been a while since I last took a look at ABBYY’s FineReader product. In fact it was over 30 months ago when I checked out the company’s FineReader 12 Professional edition of this OCR and PDF software that can scan a paper document and turn it into editable text. In the intervening period, ABBYY has been busy developing its product line-up in various areas such as its Transformer PDF software.
Most viruses are clever and even though you can often delete them they remain in memory and to remove them from there is trickier. So perhaps the best way to remove them is when they are not active and that means outside of Windows.
Assuming that your PC allows you to boot from a USB stick this device called FixMeStick may be able to help. In a perfect world place this stick in a USB port and it will update itself – so Ethernet or possibly Wi-Fi will need to be active.
It is cylindrical, comes in a choice of colours and provides a Bluetooth experience in the round and it has been developed by Edifier.
As part of the company’s new generation of portable speakers, Edifier has developed its MP280 model. This is a Bluetooth speaker that also offers support for receiving input from an AUX source and SD card. The MP280 is cylindrical in shape and available in a choice of red (my review sample), blue or black; The speaker has dimensions of 183 mm width and a diameter of 58 mm. While a little too bulky for just slipping into a pocket, even of the patch variety, and weighing 0.
Described as the exciting Tick Tock, beat the clock challenge, this Leapfrog product is aimed at the 3 – 6 year age group.
Leaping Letters from Leapfrog is an alphabet game that is aimed at the 3 – 6 age group. The product has been designed to cover the core learning skills of the Alphabet, matching skills and fine motor skills. The Leaping Letters product consists of 29 game pieces. Central to this game, based on alphabet letters, is a plastic 3D tray element.
Sub titled The Athlete’s Headphone this set of earbuds will get noticed for its lime green colour, still I suppose the athlete will be able to move fast enough to keep the attention on them rather than the earbuds that they are using.
These buds will stay in place during even the most vigorous of exercise simply because of the hook fitting behind the bud. Hook is perhaps the wrong word as it does not spear you merely its silicon rubber attaches to you to be held securely. They are 1.3 metres from the ‘L’ shaped grey connector to the lime green and grey earbuds.
Back in the day products came with comprehensive documentation but today it is different.
One of my pet bugbears, and yes I do have more than one, relates to products that arrive for review with minimal information regarding the installation or set up procedure used by the product. Falling into this category is the Polk Boom Swimmer Duo offering. This piece of hardware is a Bluetooth arrived packaged innovatively in a plastic glass tube.
While the Apple Watch does what it does quite well it could do more for you especially if you have certain medical conditions so here is a band (strap) to attach to your Apple Watch to fill the void left by the basic Apple software.
In the box are two part black rubber straps. The first 12cm long with a 1.7cm square hole cut just before the top it is 2.2cm wide. The second is the same width but slightly longer at 14cm, this a square metal disc in the same place as the cut-out in the first part strap. So at this point you probably should download the Kardia App. If you have had an Electrocardiogram in hospital you will know the amount of wiring that needs to be attached to you to give the results.
Apart from being a large panel in dimensions it also looks different as it is not a normal 1920x1080 offering. Just looking at it tells you it must have a larger width, this turns out to be 2560x1440 and of course you see so much more than 1920x1080.
Eye Care is a thing that has always mattered as we only get one set and even with modern technology they still cannot be replaced, so good resolution, good clarity and viewing a panel correctly all help those who spend hours each day looking at a screen and in the last few years ‘Eye Care’ and ‘Blue Light’ have become something to look for in a panel. Before you rush out to purchase one the size of the unit and th3e stand will be important so let’s start there.
I must admit that I passed through my DIY phase several years ago as other matters became more prominent in my life. Maybe, however, this period of getting my hands dirty might have been extended if I had access to a kit such as the subject of this next review.
The Dremel 4000 is a collection of tools designed for the enthusiastic DIY person who wants to carve, grind, polish, cut, sand and carry out other miscellaneous tasks in and around the home. Forming the central unit of this tool kit is the Multi-Tool device that features the new EZ Twist Nose Cap. Sporting a colour scheme of black, grey, blue and silver, the Multi-Tool is cylindrical in shape with dimensions of 230 x 41 x 43 mm (L x W x D) and a weight of 0.66 kg.
If all you want from a Notebook is to be able to collect your emails and browse the WWW then something like this should high up your wish list, nowadays it is possible to work off line with Chromebooks so word processing and dare I say it games are possible when not online.
The Asus Chromebook C202SA measures 29x20x2cm and weighs 1182g. It has a tiny pattern on front and back with the edges in a blue rubber material, the back has a slim rubber strip at the front and a chunky one at the back which means there is a slight tilt when in use rather like a conventional keyboard on a PC. The viewable screen is 25.7x14.7cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 11.6inches the standard screen resolution is 1366x768.
Adding to its range of smartphones, Wileyfox has introduced a new member of its Swift 2 family.
Following the launch of its Swift 2 and Swift 2 Plus smartphones a couple of months ago, Wileyfox has introduced a third member of the family with the Swift 2 X. As with the earlier offerings, Wileyfox has adopted the approach of melding together aspects of London-based design concepts with best-in-class Chinese manufacturing using tier one components and the Popular Android software supplemented with some additional tweaks.
The crash of your plane near Blackburn is just the start of your troubles with this next Hidden Object Adventure game.
Created by N-Tri Studios, Crossroad Mysteries: The Broken Deal is a Hidden Object Adventure game available from various gaming websites. As usual with games of this type, you can create profiles so that individual players can enjoy the game with their own set of customised options. These profiles can contain the volume audio levels for features such as sound effects, music, speech and ambient sounds.
Canon do three ranges of cameras the IXUS the smallest, next is the PowerShot and finally their DSLR range. However the area between the last two is somewhat grey, this PowerShot is considerably larger in size than a small DSLR.
The Canon PowerShot G3X measures 12cm wide, 8cm deep and 11cm from the screen to the front of the lens when closed however when fully zoomed this last figure increases to 17cm. So with that amount of optical zoom (25x) you will not be surprised that it weighs a good bit more than most PowerShot offerings at 738grams. Of course all recent cameras have to have the ability to take selfies so the TFT can flip through 180 degrees to show above the camera.
Flash drives can have multiple uses including providing a cross-platform backup service.
Whether being used to capture Selfies or probably more picturesque scenes, the tool of choice for many users is that of their smartphone or, in some cases, a tablet. Once these images have been captured, it can sometimes be a wrench to dispose of them in order to make space for further additions to your photographic collection. However a possible solution could be available with a product from Picture Keeper entitled Picture Keeper Connect.
IP surveillance cameras can be expensive so when LIDL brings one out at under £60 it is certainly worth taking a look. This camera can be connected by Ethernet or Wi-FI and everything you need – apart from a drill and screwdriver – are in the box.
While lots of companies have a vast range of phones that they produce cases for the vast majority of cases produced by Tech21 are for the iPhone. Here I am looking at a detachable wallet case for the iPhone 7 and a brand new case for the iPhone 7 Plus.
Unlike a lot of phones that have a Plus after their name that you have to scrabble around to find the differences here it is obvious the iPhone has a 4.7 inch screen while the iPhone Plus has a 5.5 inch screen. The latter went on a three day trip to Scotland recently with me arriving the day before departure and was immediately fitted to an iPhone 7 Plus that was being reviewed so three days the phone and case were my constant companions. It is 14.5x7.
It’s small, available on a 30-day basis and provides a mobile hot spot service. For more information, read on….
Unlike a lot of phones that have a ‘plus’ or extra ‘enhanced’ version where the differences may only be minimal this has a big difference that you do not even need to measure it to see it’s the overall screen size which is a lot larger.
The Apple iPhone 7 Plus measures 15.6x7.8x.8cm and weighs 186grams. The viewable screen is 12.2x6.8cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 5½ inches whereas the standard iPhone 7 is 4.7inches. On the iPhone 7 Plus the screen resolution is 1080x1920 (portrait) the same as most computer screens. The left side has the two volume buttons near the top and even closer to the top is the small volume off slider button.
Rather than ask for assistance when getting out of a car, you could help yourself with the subject of this review.
As you get older, tasks that were once considered easy and straightforward, slowly become an effort and tricky to complete. It does not help when, due to the ravages of time and other considerations, you develop complaints that sometimes cause amusement to others while distressing you. These complaints can have the effect of reducing mobility and causing discomfort.
Playing in the guise of a novelist, this next game sets you the challenge of solving a murder that many believed was committed by somebody held in prison.
Dana Knightstone is the central character is a series of games developed by Boomzap Entertainment. She is a novelist who has a habit of stumbling into mysteries that involve ghostly apparitions. Dana’s latest such adventure occurs in Death at Cape Porto as she is visiting Portugal while writing a romantic novel. It isn’t long before Dana comes across a situation where an innocent soul is labelled a murderer.
A tablet that comes with a keyboard, when the keyboard is attached then Hotspots become available so while out and about you can get 3G and even 4G coverage. When detached from the keyboard it’s a tablet that can take advantage of Wi-Fi wherever you are.
The Alcatel Plus 10 measures 26x14.4x1.5cm the tablet itself is 8mm thick and the total weight is 816 grams with the keyboard attached the keyboard being 362 grams of the total weight. On the left side of the keyboard is a USB port and on the right side a micro USB port as well as a micro SD slot. The keyboard has 67 keys and on a 1cm strip behind the keyboard are three LEDs and a 3G/4G toggle. Both the left and right side of the keyboard have a 1cm strip clear.
The NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S is an AC2600 Smart WiFi router. I have been looking at the latest R7800 model of this particular device. It offers the user quad-stream X4S architecture for use with advanced gaming and streaming features on your LAN.
Following the standard NETGEAR plinth shaped appearance, combining a plastic matte black base with a dark grey top, the Nighthawk X4S has dimensions of 285 x 185 x 50 mm (W x D x H). To gain the full benefit of this router you will need to attach the provided four antennas. These antennas can be screwed into sockets that are positioned on either side of the unit and along the rear of the router.
I never saw the first version of this mid-range SmartPhone, I was not even aware they had entry level phones in fact what I knew about this company before the launch in London I could have written on the back of a small postage stamp.
The Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus has a silver grey back and sides with a black face. It measures 14x7x.7cm and weighs 162 grams. The diagonal imperial screen measurement is 5inches. The screen resolution is 1280x720 the whole unit has a two year warranty. This can be increased by a year to three years with a £14.99 fee that includes screen replacement so if you tend to drop or regularly mistreat your phone it could be a good investment.
Dogs give you loyalty, cats stay with you if they want to, and while you say you own a cat it might be more accurate to say you have a cat that spends time with you, as unless he/she never leaves the home you never know what else it does and where, that is until now.
Assuming your cat allows you to place a collar on it then this device will enable you to track its whereabouts. I have reviewed a couple of larger devices recently that allow you to find your keys, car, bicycle and suchlike, and I believe both those companies are planning such a device to place on an animals collar, while this is sold for a cat I see no reason why it should not live on a dog who normally accept a collar without problem.
Vodafone has come up with a choice of special viewing options for its Smart Platinum 7 smartphone.
The Smart Platinum 7 is another member of the Vodafone family of smartphones. This particular model features stylish rounded corners. Weighing 155g and with dimensions of 154 x 75.7 x 7 mm (H x W x D), this is a 5.5-inch unit. It is black in colour with reflective front and rear faces that are less inclined to gather finger smears than many smartphones I have used over time.
This is a Notebook and a Tablet; the 11.6inch screen can show 1366x768. As it’s a Tablet as well as a Notebook it of course has touch and then Windows 10 starts to make sense, not for Cortana but for the on screen annotation ability.
The Acer Aspire R3-131T measures 29.5x21x2.1cm the last figure at the back and it is only 1.5cm at the front, it weighs 1509grams. Going around the outside, on the left is an Ethernet port, HDMI, USB3, USB2 and finally a headset port. The front and back are clear, the base has reversing speakers, this leaves the right side that has volume rocker, two pin hole LEDs, on/off button and DC input. The viewable screen is 26x14.5cm which gives the notional imperial diagonal measurement of 11.6inches.
As one of the leading players in the arena of computer protection, Bitdefender has a range of software offerings to suit the different needs of users. You can select from products such as the 2017 versions of Antivirus Plus, Internet Security, Family Pack, Antivirus for Mac or Total Security which is the subject matter of this next review.
Available in a choice of boxed product or download, Bitdefender Total Security 2017 is the company’s current flagship offering. If you opt for the latter method of receiving the product, as I did, then I would advise that you also download the User Manual.
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