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GEEK! Product Reviews

Review: Urban Armor Gear Scout Folio iPhone 6 case

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Rating: ★★★★☆

Phone cases are often a really difficult issue for me – trying to find a case at the right price which is durable and designed with the usability in mind is often tedious.

I recently managed to get my hands on one of Urban Armor Gear‘s latest offerings for my iPhone 6. They have a very large selection of cases for most recent phone models and they offer you a wide variety of case types. Being a bit obsessed with keeping my phone’s screen scratch and dirt free, I opted to go for their iPhone 6 Scout Folio case.

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The case arrived very quickly direct from the US having ordered directly from UAG – I was very impressed that it got across the pond to my UK address in around 5 days!

The case itself looks really well built and certainly worth the approximately £25 it would cost here in the UK. My iPhone fits very snugly into the case and doesn’t move around at all.

(Screen protector is NOT included)

When you place the phone into the case, you immediately notice the thickness of the strong rubberised material around the phone. It certainly gives the impression that the case would withstand drops even on to nasty surfaces like stone.

With regards to the folio part of the case, it covers the front of the phone well and a fairly strong magnet keeps the case closed. For me, I perhaps would have liked to have seen the magnet slightly stronger – as when I drop tested the case myself from around 5 metres the case did open when dropped. A button popper might have been a slightly better choice in my view. Nonetheless, because of the thickness of the material surrounding the device, the device was well protected regardless of whether the case opened or not.

The folio cover also comes with a card slot which really impressed me. Many of my debit and credit cards are now contactless meaning I can make micro payments without needing to enter my PIN or insert my card into the reader. The design of this case made this feature so easy to use and meant I could leave a single card in the case just for contactless payments. The card is also easily removable if you need to use it for conventional transactions.

All ports are easily accessed (see the photos above) which is a vital plus point for me. I don’t think the case would fit very well into a dock connector, but that’s very commonly an issue with most cases.

Overall, I was very impressed with the case and certainly feel that its a strong, reliable case that gives a very high level of protection. If you work in the sort of environment where your phone is likely to get abused through drops and knocks, this is certainly a very good range of cases to consider.

Lenovo Miix 3 10″ Windows 8.1 Tablet – Quick Review

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So in the latest roundup of tablets on the market right now I managed to pick up a Lenovo Miix 3. This new tablet range announced late 2014 adds to the growing range of low-cost Windows tablets that are available.

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As you can see from the slideshow, it’s a 2-in-1 tablet that can be used in a number of forms – docked with the keyboard, reverse docked as a stand, closed to act as a case, and finally of course detached as a standalone tablet.

PROS:

  • Two FULL SIZED USB ports. No more Micro-USB to USB adapters – you’ve got two USB ports ready to use on the keyboard dock. Don’t expect to be charging devices from them for any extended period of time, but they’ll be ideal for syncing your iPhone or whatnot. Uncertain whether they’re USB 2 or 3 at this point.
  • Full 1080p display (1920×1200). To be fair, it looks absolutely fantastic having that kind of pixel density on a screen that size.
  • Decent solid keyboard rather than touch keys – makes it much easier to type emails or longer documents.
  • Micro-HDMI and Micro-SD connectors built in – often standard on Windows tablets these days, but nice to see.

CONS:

  • Battery takes a while to charge – probably about 5-6 hours from flat to full, although I’ll need to run a proper benchmark on it.
  • Display brightness isn’t terribly high – it’s absolutely fine in indoor situations but I’d struggle to get on with it outdoors especially considering the rather reflective display.

Buy now – Amazon

Windows 8.1 Tablet Buying Guide

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These days a tablet is very much the device to have if you need to get computing done out and about. They’ve actually been around in various forms for a number of years, but a massive drop in pricing over the course of 2012 and onwards has led to them becoming incredibly popular.

What people may not realise is that Windows tablets have also fallen dramatically in recent months as processor prices have fallen and Microsoft have introduced incentives to get more Windows devices on the market. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the latest Windows 8 tablets you can buy and compare their features.

We’re going to be looking at five Windows tablets – the Linx 7, Dell Venue 8 Pro, Asus Vivotab 8, Linx 10 and the Asus Transformer Book T200.

Linx 7

So let’s kick off with what is by far the cheapest and smallest of the tablets we’re looking at today. The Linx 7 comes in around £77* on Amazon which is pretty impressive when you consider it comes with a ~£50 one year Office 365 subscription. Being the cheapest, it also has the most basic specifications – we’re looking at a quad core Intel Atom processor which clocks in at 1.33Ghz (up to 1.8Ghz turbo boost), 1GB RAM and 32GB storage. The processor you see in this device is common to a lot of Windows tablets these days – but considering its pricing it really does perform pretty well and, being quad core, it can handle opening applications pretty quickly. My main concern with this tablet is the measly 1GB RAM is provides. Let me be clear, though – 1GB will probably be plenty if you’re planning to use the device on the go for the odd bit of web browsing or email here and there. You’d be more likely to run into problems if you started running several applications at once – you’d find Windows will eat up that RAM fairly quickly and that’ll start to hamper performance. Overall, though, it’s a damn good tablet for the price and when you consider Office is included, you quickly begin to realise this tablet’s potential for being able to touch up your Word documents on the way into work.

Buy Linx 7 from Amazon

Dell Venue 8 Pro

Next up, we’ve got the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The Venue 8 Pro is probably the Windows 8 tablet I’ve heard the most about since I started looking into the market. It’s a decent all-rounder that features slightly better specs compared to the Linx 7. You’ve got a slightly bigger screen at 8 inches, a better Atom processor which will turbo boost up to 2Ghz, and (crucially) 2GB of RAM. This brings the tablet much more in line with a netbook, and that extra RAM will allow you much more freedom in terms of having multiple applicaitons open at any one time. I can’t help feeling that you’re paying for the Dell logo with this device, though – coming in at around £185* on Amazon. I’d still argue that it’s a good deal as I’d be more keen on the better specs, but if you’re on a tight budget this might not necessarily be your answer as you’ll see later in the article that there are larger tablets at a similar price.

Buy Dell Venue 8 Pro from Amazon

Asus VivoTab 8

The Asus VivoTab 8 is by far the most characteristic of the tablets we’re looking at today. The tablet features a Wacom stylus included in the box, which makes this device ideal for note-taking. It’s coming in on Amazon at around £210*, but you do have to bear in mind that it includes 64GB of storage as opposed to the 32GB storage in the Dell and Linx devices discussed in this review. That extra storage will be a big bonus if you’re looking to carry more data on the go. The tablet also comes with Windows 8.1 Professional – presumably to allow for business use, although we struggle to see any huge benefits in having this extra functionality on a tablet of this size. It doesn’t, however, include a copy of Office so you’ll have to fork out for that on top if you want it. The VivoTab 8 is an impressive device and having the stylus will definitely suit those who would normally spend time writing notes with pen and paper. Additionally, the stylus proves very helpful in navigating the traditional Windows UI which is obviously fairly small on a screen of this size. I feel that the VivoTab has a very specific market and perhaps isn’t so much an all-rounder as other devices, but for those who do need the stylus and business features of Windows, this certainly is a good contender.

Buy Asus VivoTab 8 from Amazon

Linx 10

The Linx 10 is the only device that we’ve previously reviewed here on GEEK! and still stands to be one of my favourites – certainly amongst the 10″ range at least. Currently available on Amazon for about £169*, it features a 10″ display, 2GB of RAM and 1 year of Office 365. You can read my full review here, so there’s no point in going to in huge amounts of detail here – but suffice to say it’s a very good value for money tablet that has decent build quality and can also be purchased its own keyboard case if necessary. Keyboard cases will generally only be available on 10″ devices and above – only because there just incase enough space in a 7″ or 8″ device to justify a keyboard. Performance was pretty good on this tablet and having the larger screen definitely made Windows easier to use. This device is probably the value device that I’d recommend as it does bring exceptional value for money and I’d argue you’ll find it difficult to find a 10″ device with better specs for the same price.

Buy Linx 10 from Amazon

Asus Transformer Book T200

This is the final device we’ll see in this article. I’ve included it for good measure. It is by far the most expensive device in this article coming in at around £365* on Amazon, but it does have useful extra features which makes this device much more of a laptop when docked to the included keyboard. As well as your usual specs, you’ve got a 500GB HDD on top of the 32GB drive so storage will not be an issue on this device – but the 500GB HDD is in the keyboard dock, so the device must be docked to access it. You’ve also got two USB ports (one USB 3, one USB 2) onboard the keyboard dock making connectivity considerably easier. This device is much more aimed at people who want to have a laptop and a tablet in one device. It packs a good tablet for on the go usage, plus an easy to use dock which adds extra features you’d normally see in a laptop.

Buy Asus Transformer Book T200 from Amazon

So there you have it – five very capable Windows 8.1 tablets. It’s easy to see how many different shapes and sizes are available – many of which at decent price ranges. If you’re browsing rather than buying at the moment, keep an eye out for the upcoming launch of Windows 10 (likely later this year), as it’ll be interesting to see what this will bring to both the tablet and laptop market.

Best Macbook Pro with Retina Display 13″ case – Clear mCover Hard Shell Case

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I’ve owned my 13″ Retina Macbook Pro for well over a year now and during that time I’ve tried many cases in an attempt to keep scratches and dirt off it. There’s no doubt that you can go to places like eBay and pick up a case for well under £10, but I’ve found most of them don’t work very well. They either fall apart after no time at all, or actually end up putting scratches on your device that weren’t there before it was fitted!

However, I did come across this case – the CLEAR mCover Hard Shell Case for 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I’ve had it on my Macbook for around 3 months and I have to say it is without doubt the best case I’ve bought so far.

The case snugly fits on your Macbook and is almost completely see-through – so much so that many don’t even realise my Macbook has a case on it. The case is sturdy and will definitely be strong enough to protect your Macbook from a small drop or from being scratched.

The biggest selling point for the case by far and away, though, is the feet that are fitted to the bottom of it. They allow the back of the Macbook to be raised slightly, which makes it much more comfortable to type longer documents (particularly if you’re used to working on a desktop keyboard). It works seamlessly and is a very neat little design feature.

You can buy the case now from Amazon.

It’s also worth noting that they have Macbook Air 11 inch and 13 inch versions available too, as well as 13″ Macbook Pro (non-retina) solid colour variants.

Toshiba P850-138 review: well priced mid-range entertainment laptop

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Toshiba has always had a history of producing decent quality laptops that last and feel well built. This laptop is no exception. Whilst the laptop is, by no means, the most powerful machine around, it definitely does pack some decent hardware.

I think Toshiba’s idea was to create a light entertainment machine that wouldn’t cost the Earth. It seems to do that pretty well – considering it has a dedicated 2GB nVidia graphics card, Harmon/Kardon speakers and built in Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless N Wi-Fi for easy streaming.

However, it’s not all high spec hardware. After all, the machine only has a 2.3Ghz dual core Core i3 processor. Whilst the rest of the hardware in the laptop makes the slower processor unnoticeable, you’d think they’d have looked a bit higher for something that originally cost £600.

Thankfully, the price has since fallen to £500, which I believe is far more reasonable.

The laptop will cater for the average person’s entertainment desires pretty well. The 2GB nVidia GT630M will handle most pre-2012 games at high quality settings without breaking a sweat – and even 2012 games will run if you’re prepared to sacrifice a bit of quality. I tested the machine with GTA IV, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Just Cause 2 – all of which played really well, even at high settings. That, paired with the Harmon/Kardon speakers – which provide a really good audio experience with fairly good bass and treble (especially for a laptop), make games and HD films a pleasure to play/watch. With the bonus of a 640GB hard drive, you aren’t likely to run out of storage for your multimedia.

And for those that need to travel, it’s got you covered too. Battery life is fairly good – expect 4-5 hours of use when browsing or word processing. You’ll even get a couple of hours of gaming out of the battery – but watch the laptop doesn’t overheat when fans are throttled by power management (but rest assured it will shut down if it does get too hot). The device isn’t too heavy to carry around either. At 2.6kg it’s hardly light, but it’s not something that would be too heavy to take to work or commute with. The lid of the laptop has a very smart looking aluminium finish which will stand out in the office, too.

There are a couple of issues. There seems to be a bit too much movement in the keyboard when typing heavily – which doesn’t seem fragile but I would have liked it to be a bit more sturdy. Also, don’t be surprised when you find the laptop full of bloatware from the start – although not all of it is useless. Things like McAfee security can be binned straight away (get Microsoft Security Essentials instead) – however tools like Toshiba’s Sleep and Charge can be a lifesaver.

Sleep and Charge is a utility that’s been bundled with Toshiba laptops for some time now. Basically, two of your four USB3 ports (yes that’s right – four USB3 ports) are programmed so that when you shut down, sleep or hibernate the laptop, the ports remain on. This means you can plug in your phone or MP3 player into the port and charge it off your laptop battery. There’s also a similar tool for the onboard speakers – plug your MP3 player into the 3.5mm mic jack while the device is off and make use of your nice speakers.

Overall, I think that at £500 you won’t get much better in terms of an entertainment laptop. Yes, it has it’s few minor issues – but overall it has all the hardware to keep you entertained for hours on end. I’m really impressed with it, and with a brand like Toshiba I can be confident it’ll be working well for years to come.