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.