Category Archives: Product Reviews

GEEK! Product Reviews

iPod Touch – I’ve Got One! (It’s a review!)

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Yes, I know how much I really do not like Apple… but I had to get my hands on an iPod, what with all the music and video I have on my computer that I love. So yes, I own one, and I’m very proud of it.

I got the 8GB version since that’s really fine for me. It cost me £165 but I did buy it from The Gadget Show Live event so you know, it’s gonna be a little pricey.

Anyway, what do I think? I love it. It’s fantastic – no other word. It plays my music perfectly – the sound is really good. Videos are great too – I can rent movies from iTunes and stick them on my iPod (although they do take up a large amount of space) or I can put my own on too. Photos look nice on it too with it’s decent LCD screen.

Plus there are small things that are really. The iPlayer site for iPod/iTunes being a prime one. I love iPlayer on the PC, but being able to have it on my iPod is fantastic.

There are some really cool apps as well. I’ll do another post sometime on my favourite apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone. They are some that are just helpful, and others that are just fun to use.

I still do not like iTunes, but I don’t mind using it with my iPod – I can cope for now. I much prefer Windows Media Player to iTunes but you can’t use that with the iPod so I’ll have to make do. Still, iTunes does sync well and backs up my iPod regularly just in case I brick it by mistake.

The battery life isn’t brilliant but it’s enough to be usable. A few hours of apps, music and video will kill the battery in a few hours, but if you listen to music alone and try to keep the screen off, it’ll run for a pretty good time.

Anyway, no matter what, it’s become one of my favourite gadgets. It’s more practical than the PSP (that just feels like a brick now I’ve got my iPod) as it has a better web browser and is in general much more usable, and works as a good personal organiser. It’s got a decent calendar, alarm clock, notepad and calculator, plus it can read DOCs and PDFs from email (did I mention it sorts email as well).

So yes, I love my iPod. And I can’t imagine why I didn’t have one before now. Get one! Yes, there are MP3/MP4 players that have better spec, but there’s nothing like having the pleasure of owning an iPod (please let me know if I ever say that about a Mac – I won’t don’t worry!). I love the GUI and the usability.

This is one of the few times I’ll ever say this, but, good one Apple – great piece of kit, worth every penny!

Spotify – free, legal streaming music in wonderful quality! A must have!

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I recently came across Spotify – it’s a free, legal music streaming service available in many countries. It’s completely free to download and use, so go ahead and get it from www.spotify.com.

The first thing you’ll notice is that it has an interface that (I think) vaguely resembles iTunes – but thankfully, it’s much quicker and easier to use than iTunes. It’s really quick to install, and once you’ve spent 30 seconds of your time creating an account, you’re ready to start listening.

It has some distinct advantages to other free music streaming services available on the net, such as:

  • No listening limits – you can listen to each song as many times as you like. No limits like on sites like last.fm.
  • Really high quality – some sites have noticeable compressed tracks which just aren’t worth listening to. However, Spotify has really good sounding tracks that don’t sound compressed. Perfect!
  • Listen to full albums in one click – You just start the album and it will play the whole way through without any interruption, just as if you owned it.

It’s just really simple and easy to use. I’d recommend it to anyone. It’ll even scrobble to last.fm if you want it to.

Go enjoy some free, legal music that’s worth the bother.

Why bother on a high capacity laptop battery when you can get a car inverter?

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My laptop is fantastic – it’s dual core with 2GB of RAM and is powerful enough for most of the tasks I need it for. There’s only one downside – the battery. It won’t last more than about 1.5 hours even on a good day. Hopeless – even for watching a short film.

So I was thinking whether I should buy a higher capacity battery. They aren’t exactly cheap. And then there’s the thought that in a worryingly short amount of time, it will be worn out and will need replacing again. But then I thought where is the place I use the battery the most? After a good brainstorm, I discovered that the place I use my laptop most is in the car.

I’d heard about car inverters before, but had been told they were quite expensive and weren’t capable of producing very much power. Well when I was wondering around the Maplin electronics store, I suddenly bumped into one. It claimed it was capable of producing 150 watts constant and a 450 watt surge. In addition, it was just £20 to include the inverter, plus a spare fuse just incase it blew. So I thought it’s always worth a try and bought it. Then I went straight back to the car and plugged in the laptop. Worked straight out of the box.

I’ve discovered that laptop chargers generally only need between 35 and 75 watts of electricity to run, so a 150 watt inverter was easily enough to get it going. Plus there are a number of things you can run with that amount of electricity – phone chargers, camera chargers, fans, even small TVs. You can even attach a double socket and power your phone and laptop charger at the same time. So it could be perfect if you are on a camping trip and you need a bit of juice for your gadgets and gizmos. My inverter even came with a low battery warning to make sure you don’t run your car battery flat, plus it has an overheat/overload monitor.

I think it’s a great idea. It saves having to get car chargers and high capacity batteries. And it just plugs into any car cigarette lighter socket. For only £20, it’s hardly worth missing. Mine came with a year’s warranty, so you can’t go wrong. It’s ideal to keep the kids happy in the back as it can charge games consoles and the likes, or charge up your essentials on the way to work.

I’d really recommend one. They are available online and I just got mine from a Maplin store in town. You just plug it into the cigarette lighter and away you go.

Which is the best free antivirus/firewall around?

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Today, you don’t need to fork out money to get a good antivirus. There are plenty of free alternatives available that’ll do exactly the same job for you, without you having to burn a whole in your pocket.

And there aren’t just one or two free options anymore, there’s actually quite a lot to choose from. Some are better than others, but it’s still worth doing your research and doing a bit of testing to see what’s what. So that’s exactly what I did.

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3 (Three/Hutchison 3G) UK Mobile Pay as you Go – Full and thorough review!

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I’ve been with 3 (Three) for just under 6 months, so I feel it’s about time I do a full review. There’s much argument on the internet as to whether 3 is really a good company or whether it isn’t to be used. I have summed up most of the features available on 3 and how well they compare to other mobile operators in the UK.

Bare in mind, this review is based on pay as you go usage, but some categories (such as Coverage) apply to both PAYG and Pay Monthly.

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