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Although it did not arrive via remote control delivery, this next Amazon product quickly made itself at home.
It is not often that I get the opportunity to check out the original version of a product and the new all-singing and dancing version of the follow-up version. However this rare occurrence has happened with the Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Fire HDX versions of the seven-inch tablet. The former offering was a Christmas present that had been bundled with a one-year subscription for a national newspaper while the latter was supplied for review by Amazon.
Even before I had the opportunity to get into this next game, I had received an email announcing a price drop for this Match 3 offering.
Developed by NordCurrent and available as a download from Avanquest’s GSP game catalogue, Jewel Keepers: Easter Island is a Match 3 title. Profiles can be set up for three different players with adjustable volume levels for rather distracting and repetitive background music and sound effects plus whether to play in full screen mode or not.
TV sound even on an expensive unit is not great so a sound bar can improve the quality and clarity of the volume. My own bugbear is movies where they tend to speak in a whisper and even turning up the TV volume cannot always help.
The soundbar is 88x10x11cm, the middle figure is the measurement at the front, at the back it is only 7cm. I used it in a variety of places as it is far more than a TV soundbar. I used it sitting on tables and stands as the shape allows sound from the small 7cm under speakers to come out. It can also be wall mounted but as it is not light do check your wall can support it, in this case the mountings are on the rear. The main speakers are behind the grill that runs the length of the unit.
A tube strike, while making it difficult to get t0 my destination, did not hinder my attendance at an event to promote the release of a USB 3.0 flash device.
Kingston Digital Inc., an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products, has just released an all-new version of its DataTraveler® product. This is the DataTraveler Locker+ G3 USB 3.0 Flash drive which, depending upon your needs, will be available in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB capacities. My review sample was the 16GB version.
In much the same way that Windows 8.1 is an updated version of Windows 8.0, Windows 8.1 the missing manual is an updated version of the original book. As such, it covers the Windows 8 tile and touchscreen interface together with the enhancements introduced with Windows 8.1. Hence, it should meet the needs of the power user who may or may not have been initially using 8.0 as well as the person who is coming fresh this latest version of Windows.
As with its predecessor this volume, which has over 900 pages, is divided into logical sections to enable users new to Windows 8.1 to become conversant the various aspects of this new operating system a key feature of which is its touch-screen interface. It also covers Windows RT which is, in essence, a variant of Windows designed to run on the lower power ARM chips that are widely used in tablets. The opening section deals with the basics of the tile-based touchscreen-focused face of Windows 8.
The last unit from Gigabyte had a problem with battery loss when not in use so one of my first jobs here was to charge this fully and then leave it, four days later it still had 99% so no problems there. Maybe it was the lid colour that was bright yellow this is a more sober orange.
The Gigabyte P27 latop measures 51x27x4cm, the last figure at the back and this is 2cm at the front, it weights almost 3.2kilos. So this is a desktop replacement and if you took it anywhere then may I suggest by car rather than public transport as walking around with it could soon have muscles complaining. It has a solid feel, the left side has a Kensington Lock port, a USB2 socket, three 3.
The word Wireless is often misunderstood to mean Bluetooth and sometimes people think Bluetooth means Wireless so just to help things here I have a set of Bluetooth called Wireless Conspiracy and a set of Wireless from Geemarc.
When fully collapsed they are only 16cm from the top of the headband to the base of the earpiece. The earpieces are 5.5cm across and the extension is 3.5cm per side. I needed 1.5cm of extension so someone with a large head may struggle. They are very light at 127grams and as mentioned the earpieces are small so definitely an on ear offering. The padding on the inside of the headband is soft so even if you are bald they are comfortable.
Small enough to fit into your pocket, a product from Sandberg proves that not all Android devices are created equal.
TLAs (that’s Three Letter Acronyms) are not restricted to the IT sector but they are certainly a favourite with many who occupy this particular environment. One of the more recent TLAs to come to my attention is OTG with the arrival of a product from our friends at Sandberg – more on this product a little later. OTG is not to be confused with the similar OTT.
Cameras that fit in a pocket or purse are often considered only for novices, not so this offering from Canon. The SX270HS is a member of the PowerShot range which used to be larger until they swapped to using solid batteries. Now its only the size that's small.
The Canon PowerShot SX270HS measures 10x6x3cm the last figure can increase to 8.5cm when fully zoomed, it weights 225grams. It feels solid without feeling heavy in the hand. Looking from the rear the right side has a wrist strap anchor point and a rubberised bung behind which is a multi out port for HDMI, Digital and A/V. The left side is clear. The base has a tripod screw and a door behind which is the solid battery and any SD card you may use.
Google bought Motorola Mobility $12.5 billion in 2012 and has now sold it on to Lenovo for a mere $2.91 billion, retaining, however, a raft of valuable patents. The Moto X is the culmination of Google's breath of life into the previously moribund mobile phone pioneer. Chris Bidmead assess this final fruit of the transitory relationship.
Why do we still call these things phones? If my own usage is anything to go by, traditional point-to-point voice communication is no more than 7 per cent of the work we put them to. Tweeting, email, online shopping, Web browsing, photography, photo-copying, ebook reading - these all take up far more of my head-down hand-held screen focus time. My phone's a pocket tablet. I'm using it, for example, to write this blog.
From its Belgium base, as part of its Document to Knowledge mantra, IRIS has released the latest version of its IRISPen product. This is the IRISPen Executive 7 offering which boasts You scan, it types as it performs its designed role of a hand-held scanner.
While the product’s title refers to the scanner element of this package as a “pen”, it is more like a black magic marker or highlighter in appearance right down to the removable cap at one end. It is this end that contains the scanner element which is protected by the cap when not being used. This “pen” unit has dimensions of 15 x 140 x 25mm (H x L x W) with a mini USB port at the opposite end to the cap.
Set in southern Indian, this next game challenges you to complete Match-3 grids to make progress in a treasure hunt.
The Ricoh HZ15 is a small digital camera from a brand that is both Pentax and Ricoh as they are now one company. A lot of people think of Ricoh for printers but cameras are also their thing both digital and DSLR. Here one to fit into a small pocket or purse.
The Ricoh HZ15 digital camera measures 10.5x5.5cm these figures are width and height, the depth is interesting when off and the lens is retracted a single figure would normally suffice here at the right end its 3cm and at the left end little more than 2cm. With the lens fully zoomed it is 8cm. This is a 16MP and 15x optical zoom offering. RICOH produce their own lenses and this offering is24-360mm.
Vendors Verbatim and Kingston Technology are both using the USB OTG (On-The-Go) technology to enable users to overcome the lack of a micro-SD slot in some Android tablets or smartphones which prevents additional memory being added. This technology provides the means of expanding the storage of compatible devises to as much as 64GB.
OTG is an enhancement to the USB specification. It allows a compatible tablet or smartphone to act as a host to which flash drives and other USB devices can be attached. This is a very useful facility as it can be used to provide a device with additional memory as well as enabling files to be backed up without the need of a PC connection. Then, in due course, as the flash memory stick has a standard USB connector, it is also a simple task to subsequently transfer files to/from a PC.
Joining the like of Apple and Samsung in offering users both smartphone handsets and tablets, Sony latest release in the latter category is the Xperia Tablet Z. This is a 10-inch tablet running the Android operating system.
Predominately black in colour apart from the silver Sony logo on the front and the Xperia name on the rear, the Xperia Tablet Z has dimensions of 266 x 172 x 6.9mm (W x H x D) with a weight of 465. Looking almost as if it has been on a diet, this tablet should have no problems with regards mobility.
Marketed as a way of saving the overweight placed on a number of childrens backs with all the text books they have to carry to a from schools a 8 inch Android tablet and a Bluetooth Pen could be the future to save later life back problems.
It is 20x15x1cm and weights 426grams. The viewable screen is 16x12cm giving the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 8 inches. The tablet itself worked fine it comes up with the logo nextbook during boot up. The boot takes around 20 seconds with shutdown being less than two seconds. Battery life was rather good and no doubt it will be left in standby most of the time. It is Android 4.1.1 which today seems rather old but it is stable. The Wi-Fi on it works well but there is no .
This is nothing to do with NFC as the word Touch might cause you to think. It is a mobile speaker that allows you to place any Smartphone or i device on top of it and the internal speaker output is greatly increased and I mean greatly.
It is 12.5cm deep and 10x10cm at the front and 7x10cm at the back. It weighs only 218 grams. No other connection is required it has an internal solid battery that you can recharge by the micro USB to USB cable provided. So when you want to share your music simply place your device on top of the Boombox switch it on and whatever is coming from your unit’s internal speaker is greatly increased without distortion.
suppose it had to happen sooner rather than later. With mobile devices, namely smartphones and tablets, being our constant companions giving us access to data and then storing what is important to us, you would expect companies to develop printers capable of supporting mobile printing. Well actually they have been around for a while but they are rarely promoted as such. That is until now as I have been sent a printer product that promotes itself as a Smartphone and tablet printer. The product in question is the HP ENVY 4500.
Let me clarify one important point first of all. The HP ENVY 4500 is a fairly standard All-in-One (AiO) device pure and simple. It combines print, scan and copy facilities along with a choice of USB or Wireless connectivity. In common with numerous other products from different manufacturers, it can accept content from and deliver it to various sources as long as they belong to the same network.
This is a DAB, FM and Internet radio; however it is also a music player and has a full Last FM trial. Roberts are one of the main names in these devices so how does this mid sized unit shape up overall for both quality and value.
The Roberts Stream 205 measures 28x22x9cm which include the handle but not the five piece rod aerial that will add 60cm if used vertically. It can be used on mains or on batteries but the latter requires six ‘D’ cells. The control panel is on the sloping top of the unit there are 15 well marked buttons of different size and shape spread along the top and a large silvered knob to change station. There is a large clear display 6.5x3.4cm which shows relevant information.
One of these days Edifier is going to produce a speaker system with a more traditional design concept for one of its speaker unit. But this is definitely not one of those days with the arrival of this next Edifier speaker system.
Arriving in packaging that reminded me of a suitcase, the Edifier Luna Eclipse is a 2.0 speaker system that once again put me under pressure when attempting to describe the shape of the speaker units. Let me deal with simple matters first before getting down to the shape of the speakers. The two speakers making up this system are decked out predominately in a highly polished lacquered black coating.
It is time to venture underwater as you embark on a Match 3 extravaganza with a choice of two difficulty levels.
Hidden Wonders of the Depth 2 is a Match 3 game originally published by Big Fish Games and now available as part of Focus Multimedia budget BlackLime catalogue. Developed by ERS Games this title brings together different types of Match 3 styles of game play with some additional forms of puzzles plus the opportunity to spend the money earned for completing tasks in an aquatic themed shop.
This rather nice unit from Philips turns any PC or Notebook of recent vintage into a touch unit with the aid of any normal connection method and a USB lead, so all your finger messages are transferred from the screen to the PC.
This Philips touch sensitive LCD monitor measures 55x36x3cm not including the flip out stand that extends backwards to allow the screen to sit at an almost infinite range of angles to near flat. So whatever your standing or sitting angle can be accommodated. The viewable screen is 51x28.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 23inches.
The Achilles heel of home projectors in the past has always been the lamp - short-lived, expensive to replace and generating heat that typically needs a noisy fan to disperse. For the past five years or so a solution has been waiting in the wings. LED as an illumination source is much cooler and longer-lasting. But for any other than small unambitious projectors it's been too dim. Or far too expensive. Until now.
Like the previous two projectors I've reviewed here, the Optoma HD91 could be described as an entry-level offering. But compared to the Epson EH-TW490 and the Viewsonic PJD7820HD it's by no means cheap. This is because it's an entry into a much higher class of projector - the semi-pro home theatre category, where prices can easily run into 5 figures. The Optoma HD91 comes in at a hair under £3,000.
There are headsets and there are headsets. This is also the RIG system.
Newly basking in the lime light following winning a prestigious International Forum Product Design Award 2014 in the Audio / Video category, the RIG system is a Plantronics product. It has been designed to allow users to immerse themselves in an audio environment supplied from various sources.
If you are considering Windows 8.1 for you next PC then it really should have touch and this offering from HP has it. Windows 8 was made for touch so if you can change your working style then this could well be a good way to adapt.
The HP Pavilion TouchSmart measures 38x25.5x2cm, the thickest point is at the back and it is barely 1cm at the front. The left side has DC input, Kensington Lock point, Ethernet, full size HDMI port, two USB2 ports and a Card slot. The front is clear, the right side has a couple of pin hole LEDs a 3.5mm socket for headphones, a USB port and the Optical drive. The back is also clear as the screen goes over it. The viewable screen is 36x19.
Its not often a single word describes a product here is does as its a ZIP with USB on one end and splits for Micro USB and Lightning on the other. The second item is a magnetized three LED Torch capable of being twisted to almost any angle.
This is 37cm long – the maximum distance between the cable plugs is 31cm – but when the zip is fully unzipped there can be 60cm between the Lightning and Micro USB plug ends. My unit was yellow with just the plugs in a more normal black, but I see they also do Black, Blue, Red and White. However if you have the normal mass of various cables dotted around colour is a good item differentiator. The voltage supported is up to 2.4amp with 30/30 AWG Micro USB transmission.
The original Amazon Kindle eBook Reader was quickly followed by the Kindle Touch model. This version, in turn, gave way to the current Kindle offering named the Paperwhite.
My review of the Paperwhite is based on the Wi-Fi model which is the technology used when you need to connect to the Amazon Kindle Store for purchasing your choice of literature. With dimensions of 117 x 169 x 9.1mm (W x H x D) and weighing 213g, this eBook Reader gives you a 6-inch viewable E Ink screen area for your reading material delivered at a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.
This is a speaker with a handle that can be mains or battery powered. Apart from Bluetooth, NFC and the ability to have a hands free conversation with it from a Smartphone it also has a 3.5mm socket so an MP3 player can be connected.
The Sony SRS-BTM8 Portable Speaker measures 19x8.5cm at the base and 25x2cm at the top where the handle has all the controls. The total height is a tad over 16cm. With the optional 4x 'AA' batteries inserted in the base it weights 1060grams. At the base of the back you can insert the provided power adapter it has a 1.5metre lead to a small power brick built into a 13amp plug. The base of the back is also where you will find the 3.5mm socket for Auxiliary input.
To paraphrase a certain cake companys claim, HTC designs some exceedingly nice looking handsets. A prime example of this from the Taiwanese manufacturer is the HTC One offering. This product is a smartphone device which is the subject of this review.
With its all-metal silver casing, bevelled polished edges and glass frontage, the HTC One certainly has a touch of style about it. The Smartphone’s dimensions of 137 x 68 x 9mm (H x W x D) and a weight of 143g means it can fit comfortable in the hand as it attracts admiring glances from others or while tucked away safely in a pocket or bag without causing any inconvenience. Leading the way in gathering these admitting glances is the 4.
To avoid any confusion for older readers, I should point out that the subtitle of this next game, Return of the Duke does not refer or have anything to do with Marion Mitchell Morrison (aka John Wayne) who was the star in numerous action films.
The Scuffs 2: Return of the Duke is a Hidden Object Adventure game that is now available on Avanquest’s GSP label. Spread over 10 chapters, this game sets you the challenge of helping Grandpa Scruffs, the rightful heir, become the next Duke of Scruffold. For some reason, not explained in the game, it has taken Grandpa Scruffs 30 years before stepping forward to claim his rights.
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