Tag Archives: 3.0

Linx 1010 Review – best Windows 10 tablet on the market right now?

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Rating: ★★★★½

PROS:

  • Massive improvement from a design point-of-view
  • Two USB ports
  • Windows 10 works well

CONS:

  • Low resolution screen (720p)
  • Office 365 no longer included with Windows 10

Buy now from Amazon – without keyboard 

Buy now from Amazon – with keyboard

Buy now from eBay UK with keyboard

Linx have recently released their follow-up to the great value Linx 10 tablet which ran Windows 8.1, and it’s called the Linx 1010. The new version comes just in time for the new release of Windows 10 and it’s one one of the first tablets to come preloaded with the new software. So what’s new – and how does the new tablet stack up against the old one? Let’s find out!

Introduction

The Linx 1010 is designed to follow on from the success of the Linx 10. It’s designed to be great value for money while providing ample performance for most day to day tasks – such as browsing the internet, checking email and watching streaming services on the go. But the Linx 10 did this job absolutely fine as I pointed out in my last review, so what’s new – and is it worth upgrading from the previous generation?

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Review: 1byone 7-port powered USB 3.0 Hub with charging port

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Rating: ★★★★☆

PROS: 

  • Excellent build quality
  • Good transfer speeds and connection stabilty
  • Mountable to your desk with supplied adhesive strip

CONS:

  • Host USB cable might be a little short for desktop PC users

RRP £26.99, best price at time of writing £17.99 on Amazon

1byone were kind enough to send me one of their popular 7-port USB hubs for me to try out. I’m always running out of USB ports on my computer, so I was keen to put this one through the paces and see if it could keep up with my heavy demands!

This isn’t just any old USB hub – it’s built with a very nice aluminium chassis and has a very solid feel in the hand. It’s compatible with both USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices and will work in a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on your PC – albeit naturally with slower transfer speeds over USB 2.0 as you’d expect.

The packaging for this product is very simple and to the point – something I like to see. No fiddly plastic to have to cut up and no unnecessarily large box. Inside the box you get the USB hub together with a mains power adapter supplying up to 3A of power as well as the power supplied by your host USB port. You also get an adhesive strip, which can easily be affixed to the bottom of the hub for permanent mounting on your desk.

The design of the hub is minimalistic, but it employs a higher level of build quality than many other competing products. The 1byone hub is made with aluminium to strengthen the device and look good on your desk.

The USB hub can be powered independently of your computer with the supplied power adapter if required – in most cases this will be necessary to power all ports sufficiently. If you’re not using all of the USB ports at the same time, you might get away with not having the power supply to hand, but I’d recommend keeping it plugged in all the time.

So how well does the hub work? I conducted some tests, putting the hub under full load with all 7 ports filled to see how well it handled multiple connections. When connected to the mains, the hub was able to successfully connect all of my devices to the host PC without any intermittent communications or drop-outs. Without the power supply, the hub struggles much more but that would be completely understandable given the power constraints.

Data transfer speeds were fairly good over USB 3.0 – all of the onboard ports are USB 3.0 capable and when I connected my USB 3.0 memory stick it achieved very decent transfer speeds for both reads and writes – very close to what it could achieve when directly connected to my PC.

The hub also has a single charging port onboard. When the hub is plugged into the mains, it’ll keep that port powered even if your computer is switched off, so that you can charge up any of your mobile devices. When your computer is switched on, any of the ports can be used for charging. I found this feature to be particularly helpful, as I could leave devices like my phone plugged into the hub overnight to charge without needing to leave my computer on.

If I had anything I’d like to see improved on the device it’d be the length of the built-in host USB cable on the hub. For laptop users a shorter USB cable is likely to be better and means less cable clutter on the desk, but it was just a little too short to comfortably reach the back of my desktop PC case and sit on the desk where I wanted it. As the USB cable is permanently fixed into the hub it leaves little option of extending it – except with a USB extension cable, which is likely to lead to reduced data transfer speeds. This makes it difficult to confidently give the device 5 stars and is the only reason I’m giving it 4.

Other than that minor complaint, I’m very happy with the hub. Not once did I run into any trouble connecting any of my USB devices and I didn’t experience a single device connection drop-out. This is without doubt a very well built USB hub that will stand the test of time. It’s just a shame that the host USB cable isn’t a tiny bit longer or extendible.

Buy now from Amazon

WordPress 3.0 arrives

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I’ve just been notified by my WordPress system that 3.0 has now officially arrived.

I’ve just installed the update and from what I can see, there’s no major overhaul. However, there are a few minor adjustments that make a big difference. Updating plugins has become much quicker with the new updates page on the Dashboard. In addition, a few cosmetic changes have made browsing the WordPress Dashboard much more straightforward and intuitive.

If you want to grab the new update, either do an automatic upgrade from your WordPress Dashboard, or head to wordpress.org and download it from there!

USB 3.0 to be shipping with PCs by end of year!

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It’s good to know that USB 3.0 is expected to start arriving on PCs and laptops from the end of this year.

The new Superspeed USB means that transfer speeds will rise from 480mbps to a whopping 5gbps. That means that if you are constantly transferring big files to USB drives, you’re in luck.

It’s being predicted that the new USB format will start shipping towards the end of the year, with it being available in a few high-end PCs. From 2010, it’s expected that about 26 million PCs will ship with USB 3.0. And by 2012, it’s expected that the number of PCs with USB 3.0 will be way over 300 million.

I’m very excited by the news, but it does mean that my laptop and PC will probably need upgrading. I can probably just upgrade the motherboard in the PC, but in the laptop it will be a bit more difficult. In addition, all of my USB 2.0 devices will seem horribly slow after USB 3.0 arrives.

Ah well, no worries for now. But you know, it’s a bit of a pain when you have so many outdated USB devices that transfer really slowly. Never mind.

iPod Touch OS 3.0 Full Review!

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Apple’s 3.0 OS for iPod Touch and iPhone was released earlier this evening, and GEEK! was of course right at the front of the queue. I’ve downloaded the update and installed it to my 8GB iPod Touch, so now everything is going fine and I’ve had a little time to play around with the new firmware, I thought I’d write a review for it.

Please note that this is a review for the 3.0 OS for the iPod Touch, not the iPhone. iPhone-specific features are not reviewed in this post.

Well the first thing you are going to notice is the price – £5.99 in the UK and £9.95 in the US. Personally I don’t think that is too bad, but I’m a little annoyed that iPod Touch users have to pay at all. Never mind, I’m not going to make a fuss of it.

Once you’ve paid the price, you then need to accept the terms and start the download. It’s thereabouts 240 megabytes and on a good broadband connection will take about 15 minutes to download. Once you’ve downloaded it, iTunes will proceed with an install.

The install is fairly simple. iTunes will back up your current iPod’s settings and then install the firmware. The process takes about 20-25 minutes depending on how much data is currently being stored on your iPod.

Providing everything went through smoothly, you’ll be able to use your iPod as soon as the update is complete. You can unlock your iPod and it will be ready to use.

Here’s a quick run through of the main new features in OS 3.0:

  • Spotlight search means you can search your entire iPod for data – whether it is music, videos, notes, photos, or emails. You can find it on the very left tab in the home screen.
  • New search bars in music, video, email and notes. Get it to it by scrolling up to the very top of the screen in each section.
  • Bluetooth music streaming means you can stream to bluetooth audio devices.
  • Upgraded onboard iTunes store means you can buy and rent movies directly on the iPod. You can also download TV shows directly from the iPod.
  • Upgraded Youtube browser means you can now sign in to your Youtube account. You can now browse your uploads and subscriptions, as well as rate and comment on videos.
  • The iPod Touch now supports Shake and Shuffle. This means you can shake the iPod Touch and it will shuffle the track.
  • Voice Memos is now on the iPod Touch, which is basically a dictaphone for the iPod Touch. You will need a microphone supported by the iPod Touch for this to work.
  • Restrictions can now be put in place as to which applications can be used.
  • Safari has been upgraded under the hood, so the web support is now better.
  • There have also been some bug fixes and minor software improvements.

That’s a basic round up of what’s in the update. In my opinion it is well worth the £5.99, so go ahead and get it if you have the cash to spare.

Thanks Apple, a good update there.