Zealot B5 headphones

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Decent headphones with good functionality

These are pretty good headphones, which were sent to me for review.  You get a lot of functionality for the price and they're decently made, but there are a few snags.

Positives first:  the 'phones are nicely boxed, they look good and they seem pretty robust.  Mine are "silver" and you may like to know that the padded parts are brown rather than the normal black.  That's fine with me, but some people may not be so keen.  They are fairly comfy and I can wear them for quite extended periods without any problem.  They seem robust and I'd expect them to be durable.

They have wired and Bluetooth inputs, both of which work well and without difficulty.  (No NFC, by the way – standard pairing only.)  There's also a micro-SD slot on one earcup which is also fine, although navigation with just skip forward and back controls isn't easy if you have a lot of music on it.  As well as this, they have an FM radio built in, which isn't bad.  You need a strongish signal, but for most normal strength stations it works OK.  It scans and stores stations and you can scroll up and down between them.  All the controls work well for controlling music and phone calls and the microphone is perfectly adequate.

The sound is pretty good.  They have a very strong bass, but this comes at the expense of really sharp trebles, so for classical music they're not great, with everything sounding a bit muted and a lack of real clarity of articulation.  However, for rock and the like they're very good and especially if you like a real kick in the bass the sound is very pleasing.

Some things aren't so great.  Nothing major, but:

- The manual is very basic.  There is not even an indication anywhere of which is the right and which the left cup.  I had to resort to an on-line stereo checker to find out that the AUX input is on the right-hand cup.  Once you're used to them, it's all fine, but be prepared for a bit of trial and error to start with.

- The charging lead is a pin-connector, not a standard micro-USB lead, so you're completely dependent on this one and will have to carry an extra lead with you to charge them.

- The limitations of the sound, especially in classical music, mentioned above.

Overall, though, these are pretty good headphones for the price.  They work well and give decent sound quality, especially for music which needs a powerful bass.  The card-reading and FM radio can be useful functions, and for everyday headphones with flexible connectivity I can recommend these.

Burei Men's watch, Model BM-13001-P05ER

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very good watch

This watch was kindly sent to me for review and I think it is very good. It is a good quality product and it looks very classy.

The watch comes in a very nice, hinged presentation box with a manual and a little presentation bag, which would make it a very nice present. (There's also, rather bizarrely, a little pink hair-clip included as a "gift.") First impressions of the watch are excellent. It has a large face, 4cm in diameter (about 1.5 inches) and the dial looks great: it is black with simple gold markings and hands, which gives it a nice slightly late-60s feel to me, with a good clear day and date display. (you can have the days in English or French, by the way.)

The watch is reasonably chunky, but the thickness is nicely in proportion. The band is good quality, textured leather with a discreet logo on the buckle to match the watch. The whole thing looks really good, I think, and I would be happy to wear this with formal dress as well as liking it very much for everyday wear.

Functionally, it's very good. It keeps very good time, is shockproof and scratch resistant, and it is rated as water resistant up to 30 metres depth. I can't vouch for this and it's plainly not intended for submersion, but it's good to know that it will stand up well to the sort of knocks and wettings it might get in normal use. It just feels like a solidly made, durable watch. If I have any problems with durability I will update this review, but I'm not expecting any.

In summary, this is an elegant, classy watch which seems very well made and durable. I like it very much and can recommend it warmly.

Audio Dynamix (ADX) Clarity Bluetooth speaker

Rating: 5/5

Review: A very stylish speaker with good sound

This is a really nice little speaker. Audio Dynamix sent it to me for review and I am pleased to say that it is up to their usual very high standard with excellent design and build quality and very good sound for such a small unit.

The first thing to strike you is that it is beautifully designed. The proportions are very elegant at 17cm x 6.5cm x 2cm; it is remarkably slim and very easily transportable. It feels very solidly made and weighs a fairly chunky 280g (10oz). The body is aluminium with a very nice finish and it feels very robust. The controls on the top are stylish and the ports on the side are discreet and easily accessible. It's a lovely object.

The Clarity is very nicely boxed, and you also get a very nice neoprene carrying case, a good instruction manual and two leads: a jack-to-jack lead for AUX connection and a micro-USB lead for charging.

In use it works very well. Bluetooth connection was straightforward and range was good with a solid connection even with me in the way up to at least 8m. The speaker also has an AUX input for non-Bluetooth connection and a micro-SD card slot for direct playing from a card. The controls are as you would expect, with volume, skip forward and back and pause/play for music, and receive/end call using the pause/play button, allowing hands-free calls via the speaker. Battery life is good: I haven't tested it to exhaustion, but the claim of 10 hours playing time seems about right. Everything just works properly and it's a good, versatile and practical speaker.

The sound is good. It goes perfectly loud enough for me with no audible distortion. Tops and middles are excellent, and the bass is pretty good, giving an overall clear and rich sound with very good articulation. It's not hi-fi - but then it's a very small unit and you can't expect really resonant bass. The two bass radiators do a good job and I found that the bass sound improved after several hours playing. A bit of bass boost from the equalizer on my mp3 player helped, too, although too much produces distortion. It performs well on all the music I tested it on, from 16th Century choral music to London Grammar, and as a compact, portable speaker at this price it's very good. (If you want really resonant bass from a portable speaker you'll need something bigger and a bit more expensive, like the ADX Pulse, which I have been using for some time and think is superb.

I contacted ADX to ask about the equalization and got a very detailed personal reply saying that an app will be available soon which will allow equalizer adjustments to the speaker. I've copied their detailed response below; I was impressed with the standard of customer service!

Overall, then, a lovely little speaker. If you're looking for a small, easily portable speaker which is really stylish and well made with very decent sound, this will do you very well and I can recommend it warmly.

(This is the detail of the app as sent to me by ADX:
[The app] will have a number of useful features including:
1) 3-4 EQ presets per speaker specifically designed to get the most of that specific model in different environments.
2) Battery level indicator with multi colour graphics
3) Volume level indictor again with multi colour graphics
4) Gesture controlled music player - swipe the screen left or right to change tracks, or up and down to adjust volume.
5) Various 3D DSP functions

Other features will be added via updates in the future. The App will only be available on the Apple App store to start with and will be locked to only work with our speakers. The App will be free to our customers which we hope will show our commitment to providing the best user experience possible.)

MIxcder 872 NFC on-ear headphones

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very good headphones

This is a review of the Mixcder 872 NFC headphones in plain black.  They were sent to me for review and I think they are functionally very good, with impressive sound.

The headphones are very nicely packaged and come with a standard mini-USB charging lead, a good jack-to-jack lead for wired connection and a decent User Manual in pretty good English. The headphones look good, I think, in black and silver and don't go in for a lot of flashy "design" which is just fine by me. They fold up for transport and storage. They have both Bluetooth and wired connection, and I noticed no difference in sound quality between the two modes. You can use wired connection to connect to non-Bluetooth devices, of course, and also use it if the headphones are out of charge.

These are on-ear headphones; they are fairly light and, as long as you get on with on-ear pads, very comfortable. The ear pads are good and have enough movement to sit comfortably and give a good sound seal. They have a good firm grip but aren't too tight, and I find them fine for prolonged listening.   Bluetooth pairing is very simple both via standard pairing and NFC, and I found both the battery life and range good.  The controls are a feature, in that the volume and skip controls work by swiping a finger in the desired direction.  It took a couple of goes to get the hang of it, but they work very well.  There are also standard basic phone controls and a perfectly decent built-in microphone.

Sound quality is very good. I test all headphones and speakers (and I've tested a lot now) using a playlist of test tracks which give all aspects of the sound a thorough trial. It starts with 16th Century choral music, it ends with London Grammar and it has most things in between - orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber music, classic rock, acoustic music and so on. I thought these performed very well on everything; articulation is very clear, tops are bright without being harsh and the middles are rich and full.  The bass is very good; it's not over-dominant but it's all there so the sound is very nicely balanced, and the bass responds very well to a bit of EQ boost if you want it.  Instruments and voices in classical music are distinct and sound very good, rock really rocks when it needs to, acoustic music sounds bright and airy…I'm impressed, and the rolling deep bass in London Grammar's Hey Now, which really tests bass response, comes over very well.

There is now a crowded market in headphones in this price range, but I think these hold their own very well. You can get headphones with a more dominant bass, but for balanced, clear sound these seem excellent to me.  In short, these are a good quality pair of versatile, mid-range phones which, if anything, out-perform their price.  I can recommend them.

Lavievert Leather Toiletry Bag

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A smart, good quality bag

This toiletry bag was sent to me for review and I like it very much.  It is smart, well designed and seems very robust and durable.

The bag is made of leather with a synthetic lining to protect it.  It looks very good and is the sort of thing I'd be happy have in my luggage.  The materials look good quality and the stitching is neat and very solidly done.  The zips seem very robust, too, so I'd expect this to last well.  (If I do get any problems with reliability I will amend this review, but I'm not expecting any.)

The bag is very spacious, with three large compartments.  Two have net storage on one side for smaller objects and one has a waterproof section for a damp flannel or similar.  It will hold all the modern gentleman's needs even if you insist on a shaving brush, moisturisers and the like. 

In short, this is a very good quality toiletry bag which will hold all you need, conveniently and in style.  You can't ask much more from a bag than that, and I can recommend this warmly.

AIBI Men's Chronograph, Model 02701-3

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very smart, good quality watch

This watch was sent to me for review. I think it is very good – it seems a high-quality product and it looks very stylish indeed.

The watch comes in a very nice, hinged presentation box. The watch itself has a large face, 4cm in diameter (over 1.5 inches), which to me gives it a quality, sophisticated air. It's stainless steel but coated or coloured (I'm not sure which) with a gold metal finish, which again is well done. The band is very good quality plain leather with a discreet logo on the buckle to match the watch. It's rated as water resistant to a depth of 100 metres, which is great – but if you want to go swimming in it, you'll need a different, non-leather strap, of course.

Functionally, it's pretty simple. There is a start-stop button and a reset button to use the stopwatch, and it all works well.

The face itself looks very nice. It I fairly plain in design, with three smaller dials giving minutes and seconds for the stopwatch function and a 24-hour dial. The date, unusually, is at 4-o'-clock rather than 3, but it works well in this design, I think, and I like the look of the whole thing.

I'm impressed. AIBI have made a good-quality wristwatch which combines very smart design with good functionality. It's too early to be certain about durability, of course, but they have a good reputation and the watch does seem very well made and robust, so I'd expect it to last very well. If you like the look of this, as I do, and you want a stopwatch function, I think this will do you very nicely and I can recommend it warmly.

Soundpeats Q11 sport earbuds

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very good sound, but not quite right for my ears

These earbuds were sent to me for review and they are very good in many ways.  They are well made and give excellent sound for the price, although I don't find the earhooks suit my ears.

Soundpeats have a good reputation for this sort of earbud, and you can see why.  The Q11s come nicely packaged and include a very nice carry/storage case, a short micro-USB lead for charging, a selection of silicone tips to fit almost all ears and a little shirt-clip for the lead.  It's a good package and all of it seems well made and durable.

In use they work very well.  Bluetooth pairing was simple with a decent range of at least 4 metres.  The controls on the lead all work well, and the microphone is perfectly adequate, so they do the job very nicely. 

The sound is impressive.  The bass is very solid (although sometimes a bit almost overbearing in classical music), tops and middles are equally good and articulation s very clear.  I have a Test Playlist which I use for audio products which begins with Tudor choral music and ends up with London Grammar and goes through most things in between. These earphones perform very well on everything. Choral and orchestral music are clear and full with most individual instruments audible.  The bass can be a bit boomy at times - but the tympani in the Karelia Suite sound fantastic. Chamber music is pretty well balanced, and in rock the balance is great and the bass punch is very satisfying.

My one gripe with these is that, while they fit OK into my ears, putting the ear-hooks over my ears drags the earbuds into the wrong position which badly affects the sound quality.  As the ear-hooks aren't adjustable, there's nothing I can do about this.  It may not affect you because obviously ears differ, and other reviewers here report them being very good, but for me it’s a bit of a problem.

Overall, though, I think these are very good, especially at this price; at the time of writing they cost under thirty quid, but they sound considerably more expensive to me.  If the ear-hooks work for you they will be excellent, and I can recommend them with that slight caveat.

New Bee NB-9 on-ear headphones

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Slightly weak bass but a good package for the price

I was sent these New Bee on-ear headphones for review and I think they're pretty good. They are very well made, they are reasonably comfortable, they are well accessorized for the price and they have pretty good sound quality.

The headphones are decently packaged and come with a very nice protective carry-case with standard mini-USB charging lead and jack-to-jack lead, and a decent User Manual in comprehensible English, but which is printed very small.  They also come with a good armband to hold your phone (up to about 5.5" size) so they'd be very suitable for exercise use.   (There is also a built in pedometer for counting steps which works via a phone app.)

The headphones look very nice, I think; they have a nice retro-look and fold up for easy transport and storage.  They have both Bluetooth and wired connection, and I noticed no difference in sound quality between the two modes.  They are light and although they're not the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, they're perfectly OK for pretty long periods. The controls are the usual you would expect: on/off and volume + and - buttons which also serve for pause/play, skip forward and back and standard phone controls, and there's a perfectly decent microphone.  Bluetooth pairing is simple with both standard pairing and NFC, and it's impressive to find NFC included at this price. Battery life seems very good; I haven't tested it to exhaustion, but it's still going strong after 10 hours use or so.

Sound quality is pretty good.  The bass is a little weak to my ears, but tops and middles are excellent and the clarity of articulation is good.  I test all headphones and speakers using a playlist of test tracks which give all aspects of the sound a thorough trial. It starts with 16th Century choral music, it ends with London Grammar and it has most things in between - orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber music, classic rock, acoustic music and so on.  They perform pretty consistently throughout and a good bass boost on my player's equalizer helps a lot, but they don't have a real punch in the bass which may be a problem for some listeners – certainly the deep bass is missing on a theorbo or viola da gamba and in London Grammar's Hey Now, for example.

However, overall I find them good as budget, everyday headphones, and they are very well equipped. They seem solid and durable and if you're looking for a set of Bluetooth and wired headphones, I can recommend these.

iRULU case for 10.1" tablet

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good basic case

This is a slightly basic case and stand for a 10" tablet, but it's perfectly serviceable and looks pretty good.

The case is faced with thin leather over a semi-rigid material which feels like card. It is pretty simple and looks nice, with a magnetic closer which is made to look like a press-stud, giving a slightly retro feel. The tablet clips into the four corner pieces which hold it firmly in place, and it works very well both as a case and as a stand

Be aware that there are no holes for a rear camera. I also find that one corner piece slightly interferes with the headphone socket on my tablet (iRULU Walknbook); it's easy enough to move it and plug in the headphones, but it's a slight irritation. Other than this, though, I'm very happy with this case. I use it a lot because it gives good protection and it works well as a stand, so I can recommend it as a good, basic case

iRULU 10.1" Windows tablet/notebook

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good tablet/notebook

I was kindly sent this Windows 10 tablet/notebook for my objective review. I think it is very good.

The packaging is a nice, sturdy cardboard box in which you get the tablet itself, the keyboard/cover, a mains charger, and a micro-USB lead. There's also a manual which is adequate, if not brilliant. It's fine as a quick-start guide, but if like me you're new to the touch-screen Windows 10, you'll need extra help.

The tablet itself is very good. It is robustly made, elegant and good to use. The back is metal and the screen is very good to my eyes: it's bright with good, true colours and has a good tolerance of viewing angle. It has Bluetooth (which is very solid) and ports for USB and HDMI and 3.5mm jack so connectivity is good. Set-up was simple (after a bit of a wait for Widows to update itself), wi-fi connection was easy and remains solid, and syncing with my Windows/Hotmail account was quick and trouble-free.

The keyboard/case is very good. It's soft but durable and ingeniously designed to form a stand which is great on a solid surface although not so stable on your lap without a tray or similar underneath it. The keyboard is excellent and it's like using a normal laptop. (I did find that the connection to the keyboard kept dropping out to begin with. It's easily sorted out by lifting the tablet off and replacing it, but it was annoying. However, it's happening much less as time goes on, so I think it may be a teething problem which will go away.)

The specs are a little basic and in particular the cameras aren't great (2mp front and rear), but the tablet performs very well for what I need. Battery life is around 4 hours with my usage which is enough for me. It boots pretty quickly and programs run without any delays. I don't game or use social media and I don't multi-task much so I can't comment on these things; my usage is mainly TV, music, web browsing, email and some work in programs like Word and Excel. The tablet is just fine for all of these and everything I want just runs smoothly and without problems. Playing and streaming video is smooth (although it does occasionally struggle a little when using Bluetooth at the same time). The speakers aren't bad for a tablet (which isn't saying much, I know) and through headphones or an external speaker the sound is excellent, both wired and via Bluetooth. Obviously, it's a tablet not a laptop so it has no internal hard-drive, but working with external memory seems fine, and for most things I want it's really good.

Pretty obviously, lots of Android apps don't run on a Windows tablet. I can do most of what I want (like watching TV) via the browser, which I find excellent, but if you have a lot of favourite Android apps you'd need to check carefully that you can do what you want in Windows 10.

It's probably worth saying that this tablet has a pin-plug charger rather than charging via micro-USB, so you'll need to take the charger with you if you're going to need extended use. Not really a problem, but it's not as convenient as just micro-USB.

Overall, I think this is a very good tablet/notebook. It has some limitations, but it's well made and it just works for me. It will depend on what you want it for, but if a Windows tablet with slightly basic specs in some areas will suit your needs I can warmly recommend this one. It's a good product which I enjoy using.

Burei Large-face watch

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very nice watch

This watch was kindly sent to me for review and I think it is excellent. It is a high-quality product and it looks very good.

The watch comes in a very nice, hinged presentation box with a manual and a little presentation bag, which would make it a very nice present.  (There's also, rather bizarrely, a little black and gold hair-clip included as a "gift.")  First impressions of the watch are excellent.  It is slim and has a large face, 4cm in diameter (about 1.5 inches) and the dial is very nice: it is elegant and very clear, with an attractive engraved pattern.  The hands are silver and in a traditional shape; there is also a second hand and a date display.  The date display is very small and I struggle to read it sometimes, but in a good light it's fine.  The band is very good quality, textured leather with a discreet logo on the buckle to match the watch. The whole thing looks really good, I think, and I would be happy to wear this to a smart event as well as liking it very much for everyday wear.

Functionally, it's very good.  It keeps very good time, is shockproof and scratch resistant, and it is rated as water resistant up to 30 metres depth. I can't vouch for this and it's plainly not intended for submersion, but it's good to know that it will stand up well to the sort of knocks and wettings it might get in normal use.

In summary, this is an elegant, classy watch which seems very well made and durable.  I like it very much and can recommend it warmly.

PowerLead PLD005 camcorder

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent camcorder

This is a very decent camcorder for the price.  I was sent it for review and overall I am impressed although some small things could be better, I think.

The camcorder is neat and well-built; it looks as though it will be durable even with prolonged use, although it may not stand up to really rough handling, being dropped and so on.  It is decently accessorised, with a simple but practical belt-case, a lead for charging and data transfer, a disc with drivers (which I didn't need) and a fairly good instruction manual. It takes a standard SD-card; I've been using a 32GB card which is fine, but it won't take a larger one.

The camcorder is light and comfortable in the hand, with an adjustable hand-strap which will accommodate most hands, although it may not cope with the very largest; my hands are largeish but not huge and they're toward the upper limit of the strap's size.  It is fairly simple to use once you get the hang of it, but I didn't find the instruction manual as clear as it might be.  Battery life seems to be around 2 hours' use on normal video.   There is an LED light for low-light work, and although it's not all that bright it drains the battery significantly quicker.  The fold-out screen is perfectly adequate and is OK to use for the editing functions.

There are things I'm slightly less happy about.  The picture quality is OK but frankly nothing special, and doesn't seem a lot better than I get from the 13mp camera on my phone.  I find the menus a bit awkward to navigate (although, to be fair, I may just get used to it).  The control buttons are generally well placed for use by a right-handed person, but the Record button isn't easy to reach when the camera is strapped to my hand, and I have to start and stop using my other hand rather than my thumb, which isn't great.  The zoom is digital rather than optical, with the consequent loss of picture quality.  There's nothing wrong with that, but you might like to be aware.  Also, the charging/ data transfer lead is standard USB at one end, but the plug at the camera end is not standard micro- or mini-.  It works fine, but if you lose or damage it, it may be tricky to replace.

Overall, though, this is a very decent camcorder.  It's compact, light and practical, it seems durable and does a pretty good job.  I can recommend it.

Proster Walkie-Talkies ("Full Black")

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good walkie-talkies

I was kindly sent the "Full Black" version of these walkie-talkies for review, and I think they are very good.

The twin units come simply but adequately packaged, with a good user manual.  They take 3 AA batteries each which are not supplied; I use rechargeables which work fine.  The units are solidly made and seem robust and durable – I will report back if I have any problems with durability but I'm not expecting any, and I think these will stand up well to the knocks and drops of regular use.  The belt-clips are very good, by the way, and keep them firmly and safely clipped on.  (The clips are removable if you don't need them.)

They work very well: sound is pretty clear and they have the usual choice of 8 channels to avoid interference.  They are simple to operate and range seems OK, but I live in a very built-up area and here the claim of 3km range is ridiculous; they're OK up to a few hundred metres at best and I wouldn't want to depend on them beyond that.  (You may have better luck where you are, of course.)  However, for the very local use I want them for, they are excellent and will be fine for their advertised uses in "supermarkets, shopping centres, festivals etc."

I'm very pleased with these.  They are well made and they do the job well provided you don’t need very long range.  Recommended.

Cubot S550 5.5" smartphone

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good budget smartphone

I was sent this phone for review and I like it.  There are now quite a few phones in this price range and their quality is often surprisingly good – as it is with the Cubot S550.

When reading this review, please bear in mind that I am in late middle age and that my use may not reflect yours. I don't game or tweet, for example, and I don't use data; I use the phone for calls and texts, music, checking email sometimes, some catch-up TV, occasional photos and occasional web browsing. This means that I cannot advise on detailed comparisons of technical specification and so on, but my  personal view of the Cubot S550 is this:

The packaging is very stylish.  In it you get:

the phone,

a mains charger,

a white micro-USB lead for charging and data transfer,

a decent manual

a basic, transparent case for the phone

a phone stand

a glass screen protector (a nice bonus).

I think the phone itself is very attractive: it's slim and stylish with a robust aluminium frame and sturdy plastic back. I find it very comfortable in the hand. The screen is excellent to my eyes; it's a generous 5.5" with rounded edges and a pleasure to use: bright, true colours and very tolerant of viewing angle. Video, TV catch-up and so on look great and everything works very nicely for me.  It runs Android version 5.1.  It has 2GB RAM (some competitors have 3GB) and the processor is quad-core not octa-core.  Frankly, this makes no difference for my use; everything I want to do seems very quick, smooth and pretty intuitive, but if you use apps with big memory or speed demands it may be something to consider.  The internal memory is 16GB and you can expand with a micro-SD card; I use a 32GB card and it works fine.

Set-up was very easy and so was access to SIM and micro-SD card slots.  These are in a tray with the good old paperclip-in-the-hole access (a "paperclip" tool is supplied).  This is a dual-SIM phone, which can be a very handy feature, but note:

1. it takes one micro-SIM and one nano-SIM, and

2. the memory card and second (nano-) SIM share a slot, so you can't have two SIM cards and a memory card installed at the same time. The phone is 4G enabled, but doesn't support all bands, so if 4G data is important to you, ensure that it's compatible with your network.  (It supports FDD-LTE: Band 1/3/7/20)

Security is OK.  It has fingerprint recognition unlocking, which I never have much success with and don't like, but this works as well as any other I have tried and I know a lot of users do like fingerprint unlocking.

Plenty of apps are pre-installed, including Google Play, and new apps install very quickly and simply. In use, everything I want works very well. Wi-fi connection was very straightforward as was syncing with my account. The battery lasts for several days with my use. (It's not replaceable, by the way, which may be a drawback). The speaker is pretty terrible (as on most phones) but through headphones or an external speaker - both wired and via Bluetooth 4.0 - the sound is excellent. There's no NFC, but normal Bluetooth pairing is very quick and simple, and stable up to about 4 metres.  The cameras aren't the greatest at 8mp and 5mp, but they're perfectly OK and other functions seem very good.

In summary, this is a good, slightly basic smartphone which seems robust and has good accessories supplied.  It works well and holds its own against others I have tried in this price range.  I can recommend it, certainly to fellow non-techies who want a decent smartphone which just does the job.

Guan He gadget case (from Mudder Online)

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A god gadget case

This is a very good gadget case.  It was sent to me for review, and I like it a lot – it is well made, durable-seeming and holds a lot of stuff.

The most important thing to say is that the case is good quality.  It has a firm body covered in a smooth rubber-like material.  (Stop that silly sniggering at the back, please.)  The stitching is solid and there is a good-quality double-zip to fasten it.  Inside there are larger pockets for things like an external hard drive or phone (my 5.5" Android phone fits comfortably), and pockets for eight memory sticks and four SD cards.  It's well designed on the whole; the SD-card pockets are very tight, so getting them in and out isn't easy but everything else is fine.

The picture on this page is slightly misleading.  I have almost exactly those contents: in mine there is an EHD plus lead, half a dozen flash drives and a couple of SD cards, but it's not possible to fit a phone in as well because the case isn't deep enough and won't close.  This isn’t a problem for me, and I keep a couple of leads into that pocket, but you may like to be warned.

There's not much more to say about a case like this; it's just an inexpensive storage item but it's a good one which I'm glad to have.  Recommended.

Dirt-Devil 5-in-1 steam cleaner and mop

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good steam cleaner, slightly limited mop

This is a well made and useful device.  The hand-held steam cleaner is excellent, but I did find that floor-mop function had its limitations.

The cleaner is simple to set up and assemble and it works well with very little fuss.  Basically, you just put about 300ml of filtered water into the tank (you need to filter it yourself), switch on, wait 30 seconds or so and it's ready.  I found the hand-held cleaner very good; there's a powerful blast of steam which really does clean those almost impossible crannies in the kitchen and bathroom where, however hard you try, you can't quite get anything to clean really thoroughly; it is great for the sink overflow, for example.  The two brushes work well, and it's good at shifting ingrained or burnt-on grease, too.

The floor cleaner is OK but not brilliant, I find.  Only one cloth is supplied, which is washable but if it gets too dirty in use, you don't have another to finish the job.  It sticks reasonably well to the head of the mop, but does come loose on anything but the smoothest of surfaces, and if the surface is even slightly rough or worn using the mop becomes very hard work for not much reward and the cloth begins to shed fibres.  It's fine for a small, sealed kitchen or bathroom floor, but not much beyond that, I'd say.

This will suit you well if you need a versatile and fairly light-duty cleaner and mop.  It will struggle for any major floor cleaning, but it's a good, durable unit at a reasonable price, and I can recommend it.