Author Archives: GEEK!

[Quick fix] Fix no or incorrect auto rotate on Windows 10 tablets

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One thing I have noticed having used Windows 10 on various tablets, is that in many cases the auto rotation feature doesn’t always work correctly – both out of the box and after upgrading from Windows 8. I was confused, as my system’s Device Manager reported that the built in accelerometer was working fine – but despite this I still had no rotation.

I believe the issue might be relating to the fact that, bizarrely, when you first activate Windows 10 (after a clean install or an upgrade), it is set to lock the auto rotate function by default. This meant, maybe coincidentally for me, that when I connected my tablet to a keyboard dock, it shows the screen as portrait when it should be landscape.  It seems like a bit of a design flaw to me, but it’s easy to fix.

With your touchscreen, swipe in from the right hand side of the screen to bring up the Action Centre. Then, check the option called ‘Rotation lock’ – if it’s on (i.e. its highlighted with a colour), tap it to turn it off. The icon should switch to a grey colour.

Then try rotating your tablet. It should work correctly now. When you dock your keyboard (if you have one), it should also stay in the correct rotation.

Drop a comment below letting us know whether this worked for you if you were having a similar issue.

A first look at the Linx 1010 – full review now live!

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UPDATE: Our full review is now live – see it here!

I’ve just got my hands on one of the first fully-fledged Windows 10 tablets to arrive on the market. It’s called the Linx 1010 – and it is the successor to the great value Linx 10 tablet which I reviewed late last year.

I’m going to write up a full review over the next 2 weeks, once I’ve had a chance to give the device a full test as my daily driver. In the meantime, however, I thought I’d post up some initial photos and impressions to give you a feel for what the device looks like and how it works.

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The images above aren’t edited or cropped – they are simply to give you an idea of what the device looks like.

Initial thoughts:

  • The new keyboard dock is a MASSIVE improvement on the last one for the Linx 10 – such a better experience. It’s often difficult to use such small keyboards for large amounts of typing – just because the keys are too small – but this one works unbelievably well and gives very nice feedback as you type.
  • It has TWO FULL SIZE USB ports – I’m not joking. This is fantastic for such a small, budget tablet. I’m not 100% sure whether they are USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 – I would think most likely the former – but even so this is a fantastic improvement. They’re on the tablet itself too – not on the dock, so you’ve immediately got a way to charge your phone or sync music directly from the tablet. Well done Linx!
  • Hardware-wise there are very few changes on the last Linx 10 tablet. Same processor, same RAM, same storage.
  • Same 720p screen resolution – not bad and perfectly usable, but a little low given the standards set by many tablets these days.
  • Battery life about on par with expectations – six two eight hours of normal use depending on the types of tasks being performed.

Full review coming in the next 2 weeks – stay tuned!

Buy now from Amazon – without keyboard

Buy now from Amazon – with keyboard

[ENDED] WIN! £15 to spend at Amazon.co.uk

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It’s competition time again! We’ve got another £15 Amazon.co.uk voucher up for grabs – ideal for if you’ve been saving up to buy some new tech (although you can spend it on whatever you want!).

To enter, simply fill in the form below and like GEEK! on Facebook – it’s that simple. You’ve got until Friday 18th September to enter – rules are at the bottom of this post as normal!

Hopefully this goes without saying, but you can enter even if you’ve previously entered GEEK! competitions and/or if you already like GEEK! on Facebook.

Competition has now closed – results will be announced soon! Thanks for your entries.

Congratulations to Judith Hamilton who won the £15 Amazon voucher. Your prize has now been sent to you.

Review: 1byone Bluetooth LED Light Bulb with Speaker

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Rating: ★★★★★

RRP £24.99, best price at time of writing £15.99 on Amazon

“Smart” technology is very much a thing of the present with everything from TVs to central heating systems to security systems all now being available with enhanced functionality when connected to the internet or another device. Another device we’ve seen become “smart” lately is the light bulb. Philips Hue lighting is a great example of this – a light bulb that you can control over your wi-fi, use with a wide variety of colours, and even use (with other hardware) to sync up to devices like your TV or games console. The only issue is that it’s rather expensive technology and won’t suit everyone. So what if you want something a bit more wallet-friendly?

1byone were kind enough to send me one of their latest offerings – their 1byone Bluetooth LED Light Bulb. Available from around £16 on Amazon, it’s a fraction of the cost of the Philips Hue and should offer similar features, as well as having the bonus of a built in speaker. Lets find out!

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The bulb comes very well packaged in a decent cardboard box so is unlikely to get damaged in transit. Inside the box you’ll find the bulb together with some short instructions.

Setting up the bulb is really easy. Simply screw it into any Edison screw bulb holder (you can get bayonet adapters separately if you need them), turn on the light and it’ll immediately power up. It’ll default with a cool white light if no device is connected and that works nicely. At this point you can pair it up to a device (it’ll reconnect automatically once it’s paired) and get started. You then simply need to download the free TecPowerBulb app for either Android or iOS and you can get started.

Once you’ve got the app open you can access a number of controls. Use the lamp tab to choose pretty much any colour you like from a colour picker – the lamp responds almost instantly and output is really good – a very decent bright output. You can also use setting tab to set a delay before turning the lamp off – ideal if you need a security light while you’re going out or if you simply want a night light. The clock with the movable hands makes it really easy to set a switch-off time.

If you want, you can also use the music tab to set a song to play, but in my test with iOS 8 I could simply use the onboard music player to transmit audio through to the onboard speaker – a method I much prefer. The onboard speaker was surprisingly good – a warm sound (if a tiny bit tinny) which fills the room very effectively. Really not bad at all. It actually makes quite a lot of sense because if your ceiling light fitting is in the centre of the room, the omni-directional speaker does a fantastic job of directing volume equally. I was very surprised at how well it worked.

The only feature I felt the device lacked was an automatic on-off feature. It’d be nice if you could automatically turn the lamp on when it becomes in Bluetooth range of your phone, and then turn off when it falls out of range – but I feel this is a feature that could easily be added in future. This would certainly appeal to people trying to be “green” with the environment.

Overall, I am very happy with the device. For the 6W of energy the lamp uses, it produces a really bright output. The colour customisation really appeals to various moods – love the idea of mood lighting. It isn’t quite perfect, but it’s damn near close for a Bluetooth bulb – and the minor things that are missing could easily be added with an app update. At around £16, it’s a bargain, and if you’re looking for a budget colour-changing light bulb – this could be a great option.

Buy the 1byone Bluetooth LED Light Bulb from Amazon

Review: Intel Compute Stick – an entire PC in a dongle?

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Rating: ★★★★☆

RRP £119, best price at time of writing £115 on Amazon

Over the past few years we’ve seen computing get much smaller – the Raspberry Pi revolutionised the lower powered computing market with its tiny build size and its ability to run various flavours of Linux.

When Intel first announced the Compute Stick, I was interested to see what kind of computing power today’s world is looking at in incredibly small spaces. And who else better to try and pack multiple processor cores into a small space than Intel themselves? So I picked one up and decided to give it a test drive to see what we’re looking at.

There are actually two versions of the Compute Stick – a Linux designed version which is cheaper and comes with more basic specs – and this one which comes with a full fat version of Windows 8.1 ready to go. In terms of tech specs, you’re looking at a quad core Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, a MicroSD card slot, one USB port and an HDMI connector.

Set up is as simple as any other Windows device really. Plug in the HDMI connector into any TV or monitor, the micro USB connector into the supplied power adapter and you’re just about ready to go. As soon as the device powers up it’ll go straight into Windows setup. Before you know it, you’ll be at a Windows desktop, ready to use the machine.

It’s not the most powerful computer in the world – I think it’s best to compare it to a decent spec Windows tablet. However, you’d be surprised at what it is capable of doing. Without too much trouble at all I had Microsoft Office 2016 running smoothly together with my favourite music streaming apps and basic Windows store games. It’ll happily play streaming video in 1080p – YouTube videos were playing without any dropped frames.

The device has a significant advantage over other low powered Windows devices because it does have a small fan fitted over the CPU. When the Compute Stick is idle, it runs completely silently – it’s often quite eerie using a desktop computer and not being able to hear anything. If CPU load starts to run quite high, then the CPU fan will kick in – it’s reasonably quiet but not by any means silent. What this means is that the Compute Stick can sustain higher CPU loads, whereas other devices like tablets would be forced to reduce clock speed to prevent overheating. The device can therefore use the full potential of the top 1.83Ghz turbo boost clock speed – not bad.

So who is this device aimed at? Well I think this is ideally someone who wants to turn a TV or projector setup into a smart setup with Windows. Having Windows on your TV is about as good as it gets for smart functionality as you have very little limitation in terms of which services you can use as they’re pretty much all going to work with Windows. This device would also work well for those who need to take their computer with them everywhere but don’t want the weight of a laptop. For example, if you spend quite a lot of time in hotel rooms then this could be ideal for you as it really is just plug and play. Your whole computer is ready to go wherever you go – in something the size of a large USB stick.

There are one or two downsides. Firstly, I found that I had to do a number of driver updates to get the most out of the device – all of which were available on Intel’s website – but I felt it made such a noticeable difference that it is worth recommending to everyone. Secondly, the single USB port does make connectivity quite difficult particularly when you’re probably going to be using the port for a wireless keyboard and mouse. You can quite happily run a powered USB hub with the device to get extra ports, but it somewhat defeats the point.

Other than those minor niggles, this really is a fantastic device that’s ideal for people who want to transform a TV or have ultimate PC portability. At around £120 here in the UK and around $150 in the US, it is a fantastic price for a tiny PC – especially when you consider it comes with full Windows 8.1 (which should be upgradable to Windows 10 once all Windows updates are applied) and a year of McAfee antivirus.

Buy the Intel Compute Stick on Amazon