Author Archive: Gareth

Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.

By Gareth November 10, 2016 Read More →

Venturer Upgrades Its Affordable 2 in 1 Mini Windows Notebooks

Following the hugely successful launch of its BravoWin and EliteWin 2-in-1 affordable notebooks in the UK earlier this year, premium audio and video manufacturer Venturer is pleased to announce the next models in the series; the BravoWin S and EliteWin S. Both Mini Notebooks have a stylish new build with a tactile soft touch feel exterior and more storage capacity than the earlier models. The BravoWin S is available in an attractive shade of blue and the EliteWin S in a sleek gun metal colour and both will be available to purchase from Amazon in December.

Easy to use and incredibly durable, the new Venturer 2-in-1 Mini Notebooks are ideal as a first computer for students heading to secondary school, college, university or even home use. Like the earlier models, the new 2-in-1 Mini Notebooks are equipped with Windows 10 and Office 365 or Office Mobile (model dependant) and both models now have increased memory space. While BravoWin S has 64GB Flash memory, EliteWin S has a total 96GB of memory (32GB Flash memory plus a 64GB Micro SD Card included free of charge), vastly improving its storage capacity.

With the new sleek soft touch, light weight design with soft curved edges, and long battery life, the BravoWin S 10KR or EliteWin S 11KT are ideal for work or entertainment on the go with up to 8 hours usage whilst travelling.

Unlike other more expensive tablets on the market, the Venturer convertible notebooks are equipped with a detachable smart keyboard that has a pressure sensing trackpad which clips on magnetically so it can be used as a stand-alone tablet or quickly transformed into a working laptop, making it easier to type, work and surf the internet.

With an Intel Atom Core Quad Core processor with an impressive 64GB and 96GB memory for the BravoWin S and EliteWin S respectively, the new models offer a quick and responsive user experience. Both have the ability to access the internet within seconds and an expandable storage space for photos, videos, music and work files. The 2MP dual cameras at the front and rear allow you to take photos or videos, skype your friends or make a conference call at work, producing good quality images and videos.

The BravoWin S 10KR has a 10.1” 1280 x 800 display and comes with all the key software from Office Mobile you require, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. The EliteWin S 11KT has a larger 11.6” screen with 1366 x 768 display and is fully loaded with the latest Windows 10 software and a month’s free trial of Office 365 (Word, Outlook, Excel and Powerpoint) making it an ideal laptop for any school or office environment.

With headphone, micro and regular USB ports to attach or charge other devices and an HDMI output allowing you to easily connect to your TV for an enhanced viewing experience, the Venturer tablets have all the necessary outputs for a great multimedia experience.

Priced at only £199.99 and £249.99, the new Venturer Mini Notebooks are the ideal choices for those looking for the flexibility of a tablet and laptop combined, for a lightweight device that easily fits into a schoolbag or work satchel but with the quality, reliability and durability for work, for play, for every day.

Keep an eye out for Venturer’s other 2-in-1 notebook models designed specifically for business users due to be launched in early 2017.

The Venturer BravoWin S 10KR is available in Blue from Amazon in December RRP £199.99

The Venturer EliteWin S 11KT is available in Gun Metal from Amazon in December RRP £249.99

Posted in: Laptops, News, Press Releases, Tablets

By Gareth November 4, 2016 Read More →

Griffin Elevator Review

The Griffin Elevator is a very handy piece of kit to have if you have a laptop made from quality products and with a certain elegance and want to match that to a stand without breaking the bank. The Griffin Elevator really enhances the desk with minimal effort.

Essentially, the Griffin elevator is two pieces of bent metal with some pieces of rubber set strategically in order to avoid any scrapes or scratches to either the desk or the bottom of the laptop. There a couple of pieces of clear plastic to hold things together. Most of the elevator screams quality.

The main idea of the Griffin elevator is to lift your laptop to allow you to regain a little bit of desk space, in reality, this doesn’t quite work as there’s not much you can put underneath it save for a temporary storage for peripherals or documents. The elevator still occupies the space under the laptop with the legs and feet, however, it still gives you somewhere to put things in out of the way. Once used on the desk it’s quite difficult to go back as you realise just how much space you’re actually saving and it actually makes your laptop a great deal more comfortable to use.

In an effort to make the elevator portable Griffin have added some transparent plastic to hold the supports together this can be removed and the elevator can be compacted down to fit in a laptop bag or suitcase to be taken with the user. One slight issue with this is that the transparent plastic used in the separator scratches is quite easily when the metal legs are removed and inserted. This is unfortunately quite visible because the plastic is transparent.

It would have been nice to see some for a cable management built into the Elevator, detachable/interchangeable clip to support your laptop’s charger cable.

Other alternatives on the market tend to be highly overpriced whereas Griffin has managed to get the combination of price and quality just right. Little issues like these scrapes are easy to overlook when you consider the price of this item.

Posted in: Accessories, Laptops, Reviews

By Gareth November 4, 2016 Read More →

Strike Hands Free Motor Genius for iPhone 7 Unboxing

Secure your iPhone 7 whilst on the road with the new iPhone 7 Car Cradle from Strike! This phone holder is specifically designed and built by Strike for your iPhone 7. It has fast charging capability similar to an original iPhone charger with its built-in Apple lightning cable. You can now use your iPhone longer and access your mobile applications safely whilst driving with this Car Cradle from Strike! MagSafe Chargers enhance this convenience even further by providing secure and efficient wireless charging while on the road. Their magnetic alignment ensures that your device stays in place and charges reliably, eliminating the need for awkward cable adjustments.

The internal passive antenna of this iPhone 7 Vehicle Mount & Phone Holder is specifically incorporated to improve your mobile signal once used with a reputable external antenna. The cradle comes with a FME male connector so it can be connected to an external antenna for additional signal boost.
Easy DIY package, no need for to hire a professional installer.
This iPhone 7 DIY phone holder is compatible with any Bluetooth car kits.
Check out the professionally-installed car mount version here.
Comes with a windscreen mount. Other mounting options can be purchased separately.
3 in 1 Smarter Solution: Secure, charge, and record. Use this Alpha Cradle and turn your iPhone 7 into a dashboard camera once a Dashcam app* is installed. Record your driving and charge your device simultaneously. Save costs, no need to purchase a stand-alone dash cam kit.

Find out more about the Strike setup here.

Posted in: Accessories, Videos/Unboxings
Tags: Featured

By Gareth November 4, 2016 Read More →

Presenting the Pisher for little boys going to the toilet

Forget potty training toddlers – older boys need training in toilet etiquette too… Enter Pisher! Launching in 2017 this device is the answer to all the wishes of parents of boys worldwide. It’s a new electronic toilet training device for kids. Many mothers will no doubt agree that they are fed up with the cleaning aftermath of their children going to the bathroom. Pisher is the first electronic toilet training device for little and big boys, projecting a playful electronic target inside the toilet to capture your child’s attention and help them take aim, so there’s no need to clean up after them every time they take a trip to the bathroom.

The idea came about in 2015 when best friends, Mira and Sarit, became exasperated with their continuously messy bathrooms. Together they co-wrote “Pisher’s Adventures,” an exciting children’s book about aliens visiting planet earth in search of fuel for their spaceship. Together with the help of little boy Pisher and his dog, Buddy, they discover a surprising solution to the alien’s problem… by peeing on the spaceship they have lift off!

In conjunction with the launch of the book, Sarit and Mira also created the Pisher toilet training device. This ingenious invention is placed under the toilet seat (fitting to all types of toilets with its universal grip) and then, when the lid is raised a cheerful sound will be heard and an image, taken from “Pisher’s Adventures,” is projected on to the ideal spot for your little boy to aim. Children will then be rewarded once they’ve put the seat down (another important skill in life) with another congratulatory noise – mission accomplished!

The usual boring challenge of toilet training is now transformed into a fun and enjoyable process for both you and your child. With every purchase of the Pisher toilet training device, parents will also receive a copy of “Pisher’s Adventures,” so the whole family can be entertained by Pisher and his adventures.

Sarit and Mira are not only trying to ensure clean bathrooms worldwide, they’re also wanting to give back to others. In each Pisher package, you’ll also receive a Harmonia coin which your children can donate to a number of worthy causes on the Pisher website. So whether your passion is animals or helping less fortunate children you can make a simple donation and the money will be taken from Pisher’s own revenue.

Pisher will be launching on Indiegogo at the beginning of 2017 to raise funds. Backers and the first 300 customers to their site will be offered a special reduction to only £39 rather than the retail price of £55.

See www.pisher.net for further information.

Posted in: Gadgets, News

By Gareth November 3, 2016 Read More →

Tech Addicts UK Podcast – 2nd November – A Miracle Recorded

Gareth Myles, Jay Garrett and Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

RSS Link: http://mobiletechaddicts.libsyn.com/rss

https://audioboom.com/posts/5238300-tech-addicts-uk-podcast-2nd-november-a-miracle-recorded

What have you been playing with?

Gareth

LOGITECH M330 SILENT PLUS UNBOXING

Archos Diamond Selfie

iTrip Clip – Aidan?

Gavin

Obi Worldphone MV1 – £99 – Iconic Design

DJI Osmo Mobile Review

Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 Review – Don’t BUY IT

Video highlight of the 150+ Apps on my iPhone 7 Plus –

Honor 8 review PLUS shootout with iPhone 7 Plus

Jay

Dell XPS 15 – 4K laptop

Dali Katch Bluetooth speaker

Parrot Minidrones – Swing and Mambo

Main Show URL: www.techaddicts.uk

Join the Discussion: https://goo.gl/spaces/6FF6jraF9KHiPUyA6

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @garethmyles ; @gavinfabiani ; @GadgetyNewsCom ; @JayGarrett

Web: http://gavinsgadgets.com ; http://GadgetyNews.com

Google Plus: +garethmyles ; +gavinfabiani-laymond ; +JayGarrett

Posted in: News, Podcast
Tags: Featured

By Gareth November 2, 2016 Read More →

Enhance GX-C1 Laptop Cooling Stand review

The enhance is something of an interesting product in that I can’t imagine how many people will actually need it, however, it’s position on the market is easy to justify. People need their laptops cooled down especially when gaming. The gaming laptop is on the rise so peripherals like this are becoming in demand.

There are a lot of options on the market and some of which are better value than others, however, the Enhance really has something a lot of the competitors cannot brag and that’s the number of fans. For £20 you’re getting one huge fan and four baby brothers. When working all together these fans produce a vast amount of airflow to cool your laptop down.

There are a couple of extra features added to this that some of its competitors do not have. There is USB passthrough, meaning this doesn’t really occupy a USB port on your laptop. The Enhance allows you to plug a device into the Enhance and it will work on the laptop. A rotary dial allowing you to control the speed of the fans and indeed the brightness of the LEDs, 2 rubber braces at the edge of the surface that prevent your laptop from sliding off in the event that your laptop’s rubber feet may not be enough.

On the underside are retractable legs, these legs have three different options the highest of which raises the unit around 3 inches from the desk, an entirely second pair that raises the unit an inch and a half and some pads for no height adjustment. The unit itself is almost 2 inches thick at the widest part so the raise is quite considerable when you have the longer legs in action.

However, this cooling comes at an expense when plugging this into your laptop as it will drain the battery quite quickly. I have noticed that after being plugged in for half an hour on my laptop the battery dropped by almost a quarter. I kept the fans at full speed the entire time just to get an idea of the (pun intended) blow to the battery. A better solution maybe to hook the fan up to are portable battery or power bank.

One negative I will say is it’s a very difficult one for any company to try and work around is portability. Obviously, this works off your laptop’s battery, however, the unit itself has to be the size of a laptop to cover the area of the laptop. This makes the Enhance a little cumbersome to take with you as it will occupy the same amount of space on a laptop bag as a laptop.

There are plenty of alternatives on the market some quite a bit cheaper however none of them offer as many fans as this in such a simple design. Being able to control the speed all five fans mean the battery won’t take at big a hit as all five fans give more coverage than two large fans running twice as fast. This certainly isn’t the highest quality but then again the price tag isn’t particularly high either. Overall, It does what it says on the tin and it keeps your laptop cool on the go whilst looking kinda badass.

You can find the blue variant on Amazon.

Posted in: Accessories, Desktop Computing, Laptops, Reviews
Tags: Featured

By Gareth November 1, 2016 Read More →

iTrip Clip Bluetooth Headphone Adapter Unboxing

Griffin has sent a sample of their iTrip Clip. This little Bluetooth device cuts the cable between your smartphone and headphones to deliver some wireless freedom between your phone and some wired headphones.

No headphone jack? NO problem! – Don’t worry if your favourite smartphone doesn’t have the headphone jack. iTrip Clip connects your favourite headphones wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet using Bluetooth 4.1.

Set it and forget it: iTrip Clip reconnects automatically with your smartphone or tablet once properly paired.

Fingertip controls: You’re in complete control of your smartphone or tablet with iTrip Clip’s play, pause, skip tracks forward and backward and volume controls. Activate Siri, and make phone calls, too.

Clip in and go — iTrip Clip’s built-in clip slips onto a sleeve, shirt collar, or bag strap for total control at your fingertips. We actually love iTrip Clip for running and outdoor activity because it’s small enough to clip onto a hat or visor.

Wireless headphones, wireless in-car audio, wireless everything – Bluetooth support is great, wirelessly connect your headphones, car stereo, or home audio system to any smartphone. Built-in handsfree mic is perfect for video and audio calling.

Cut the cables that tie you down. With iTrip Clip.

https://griffintechnology.com/

Posted in: Gadgets, Headphones, MP3 Players & Accessories, Videos/Unboxings
Tags: Featured

By Gareth November 1, 2016 Read More →

5 Useful Tech Hacks For A Smooth Christmas

With Christmas drawing ever-so-closer, it’s time to start planning in earnest for this year’s festivities. Whether you’re throwing a big one for the whole family, or hosting a more intimate meal, to help make the holiday period go as smoothly as possible online electronics retailer, reichelt.co.uk, have thrown together the most useful tech hacks for the festive period…..

reichelt – online electronics retailer, with many products up to 20% cheaper than elsewhere in the UK

Keep kids entertained with the Google Santa Tracker

This one’s perfect for big kids and little ones alike. Track where Santa and his trusty reindeer are headed on Christmas Eve via Google Maps, as he traverses the globe bringing gifts to families.

In the run-up to Christmas, you can also check out Santa’s village and prepare for festivities with the elves, jetski with the man himself and learn how different countries celebrate their festive period. Check out the fun here: https://santatracker.google.com/

Rustle up your festive feast the easy way

Ever felt super rushed getting the turkey and all the trimmings done in time? Well, have no fear, the handy Christmas Menu Maker app from ‘Fine Cooking’ is a good tool to have up your sleeve. It enables you to build your Christmas day menu in advance and helps you put your shopping list and schedule together. We’re impressed! Why not grab chocolate shipped cookies and deliver Christmas cookies to your loved ones in the most wonderful time of the year!

Take a look at their all-time favorite Christmas recipes, such as beef tenderloin and roast turkey, as well as their crowd-pleasing winners for more formal occasions.

Download the app for just 79p on the iTunes store and say hello to culinary perfection.

If you are looking to buy an induction hob then it can also be tricky as there are so many considerations and different options available, also have a look at these induction hob reviews as that is a great way of finding the best.

And while you’re preparing to cook up a storm in the kitchen…

Pop your device onto this awesome penguin tripod for easy recipe-following

While you’re attempting to beast that cranberry sauce, having your device well within eye-level for cooking tips is a winner. Forget accidently getting sauce (or brand!) on your iPad, this gadget could well save you a mini tech disaster and is also handy when streaming Christmas carols or watching your favourite festive movie. Nab this one from Mantona for just £18.30 at reichelt. It also doubles up as a selfie stick for bottles, so you can nail that celebratory photo – neat! For fun food recipes and reviews for kitchen products, visit www.spicekitchenandbar.com.

Hang those Christmas lights easily with this DIY tech fix

Want to get those Christmas lights up so they won’t budge this year? Inexpensive cable ties are great for fixing them securely, and allow you achieve the much sought after straight line. Added bonus: at the end of the season use them to tie up the lights, so that next year you won’t have to deal with a big, knotted mess. Win.

And finally…

Get psyched to run off those calories post Christmas

With January looming round the corner, it’s time to get off the sofa and beat that Christmas bulge. And while you’re saving up the pennies again, getting trim for cheap may well feature on your to-do list. Well, we’ve got just the gadget to help you get motivated without breaking the bank. This bargain fitness tracker from hot German brand, Technaxx (available at reichelt for £34.80), is the perfect entry-level device. It monitors how many calories you burn, your number of steps and distance travelled. The device also syncs with the Technaxx ‘My Fitness’ app to give you real-time coaching and keep you updated on the status of your goals. Feeling inspired? We are.

Posted in: News, Press Releases, Promotion

By Gareth October 31, 2016 Read More →

Archos Diamond Selfie Review

With superior build quality the Archos Diamond Selfie is marred by a couple of little concerns, however, these can easily be ironed out by a software update. It has to be said that once you pick up the Archos diamond selfie it’s difficult not to fall in love with it. The all metal surround and the black glass really give off a real, premium feel. Certainly there is a lot of weight and heft to the device, however, you will quickly notice just how slippery the device is, especially on a cold day.

The Archos Diamond Selfie has some of the best specs we have seen in a phone from Archos and that are very competitive for the price bracket too.

Display – 5.50-inch 1920 x 1080 (FHD) IPS, Full lamination
Processor – Qualcomm MSM8937, Octa-core Cortex-A53 1.4 GHz
Front Camera – 8-megapixel
Resolution – 1080×1920 pixels
RAM – 4GB DDR3
OS – Android 6.0
Storage – 64GB + Micro SD card, up to 128GB
Rear Camera – 16-megapixel
Battery Capacity – 3000mAh Li-ion, Quick Charge

Looking around the device on the top there are two slits for the antennas and a 3.5-millimetre headphone jack.

On the right-hand side lies a volume rocker the power button and another antenna slit.

At the bottom are some fool speaker grills, that we will get back to those later, a microphone hole and a micro USB charger slot. Again some antenna slits.

On the left-hand side is only has an indentation for the micro SD and SIM card tray. This is where we come to one of the first problems with the phone. This tray is not flush with the device you can feel it move ever so slightly every time you run your finger over it. Your fingernail will stop at the slight protrusion at the hole for the sim ejector tool. The tray itself fits two cards, a microSD or Micro SIM in one and a Nano SIM in the other.

The back is entirely black glass and finger print city. At the top are the camera and the LED flash. Midway down there is a fingerprint reader and towards the bottom a whole for the speaker. Yes, the speaker is on the back of the device despite the two grills either side of the micro USB connector.

The screen is almost perfect, it’s beautiful, bright, responsive, and efficient. Archos have added an extra button to the screen buttons toward the bottom of the screen. This button removes the onscreen buttons to maximise the screen resolution.

The battery life of the device is quite impressive. Having used it for a few days as my main device I noticed that I was finishing the day with around 40% left, perhaps I don’t have as many apps installed on this as I do with my Nexus 6P, however, having it finish the day with a good bit more than I usually have, is quite impressive.

Android itself runs perfectly smoothly on this device there is very little in the way of additions from Archos. Aside from a couple of applications that they have added, that are not required to be installed during the initial setup. However, there has been a button added to the interface of the Task Manager. A small, ugly button, off centre, to speed up your device the closes all of the applications.

As it turns out these grills at the bottom are purely cosmetic, the speaker is situated on the back of the device. Whilst this is hardly a problem, or a flaw, it just opens a little concern as to why there would be grills at the bottom, did the device have to be reworked at a later stage in development for reason?

As this phone is called a Selfie, you would expect there to be an impressive experience with the photos front facing camera. In truth the camera works well, however, the added features in the beautification mode mean that camera’s on-screen preview run at around 15 frames per second, and in low-level light, the preview is around 2 frames per second. I can only hope this device has an early version of the selfie software and retail will see an update.

Flip the camera round the to the rear camera and you have 120 frames per seconds on the preview and it looks gorgeously smooth, the exact opposite of the front facing camera.

The shots are crisp and attractive. There is little in the way of compression, and honestly, this camera turns out to be one of the better cameras on the marker for the money, Archos have done some great work here. As you can see from the gallery below the colour mix is impressive and the clarity is never questionable.

So what is wrong with the Archos Diamond Selfie? Not that much, to be entirely honest. The phone is retailing for around £200 and what you are getting is amazing. Certainly, you can notice where some of the cutbacks have been made. The lack of precision on the sim card tray, no support for the 5Ghz wifi spectrum, the weight. However, what it does have it is hard to find in that price range, a decent stills camera, a beautiful screen, 64gb of expandable storage and a speedy performance. I really like this phone and I am prepared to admit that I honestly wondered why I paid more than double for a Nexus 6P.

Posted in: Phones, Reviews
Tags: Featured

By Gareth October 30, 2016 Read More →