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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

Mpow Cheetah wireless earphones review – bargain sports earphones?

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Minimalistic packaging is something I always like to see – easily recyclable and no cut-yourself-when-you-open-it nightmares here!

PROS:

  • Nice fit to the head, even if it takes a little while to get used to
  • Handy functions such as phone number readout
  • Minimalist easy-to-open recyclable packaging
  • Available in a variety of colours
  • Bluetooth 4.1 spec

CONS:

  • Audio quality a little lacking, poor treble and bass in my view
  • Dimwitted mapping of buttons

Rating: ★★★★☆

Price at review: £16 – buy from Amazon

Over the past few years I’ve tried and tested a number of wireless earphones and headphones. Many of them are very much the same – great idea, but poor design and average audio quality. I picked up a set of the Mpow Cheetah wireless earphones last week with the hope that these might be slightly different. Their design very much interested me because if you ask most sports earphone users, their number one complaint is that they fall out of the ears. Here are my thoughts.

The earphones arrive in firm but simplistic packaging which is nice to see – no annoying and wasteful plastic inserts or anything like that. Inside you’ll find the earphones, together with two extra sets of earbuds bring a total of three wearable sizes (small, medium, large), a micro-USB charging cable and some basic instructions and warranty information.

Setting up the earphones is very easy. Simply switch them on by keeping you’re finger pressed on the multifunction button – keep the button pressed until they beep to confirm they’re in pairing mode. Then grab your phone or other bluetooth device and pair the two devices up. Once that’s done, you’ll get a nice audible confirmation from the headset and you’re ready to go.

In terms of functionality, I was impressed with the wide range of functions that the headset can perform. As well as being able to play music through the headset, you’re also able to skip tracks, adjust volume, and even take phone calls with the device’s built in microphone.

There are one or two fundamental flaws though. First of all, the microphone that’s built in is nothing to shout about. The microphone just isn’t in the right place to catch your voice effectively enough to use as a long term handsfree device – it’s not really the device’s fault as no comparable wireless headset would be able to put the microphone close enough to your mouth that you’d get good feedback. It’s OK for the odd phone call here and there, but I wouldn’t use it all the time for that task. On the other hand, the device will read you the number of the person that’s calling when your phone rings which is a handy extra feature.

The second flaw I’ve found is a little more dimwitted. You can skip tracks and adjust volume by using the forward and back buttons on the right earpiece. You tap the buttons to adjust the volume up and down or hold the buttons to skip forward or back. However, those two functions are alternately placed on the device – so the button that turns the volume up is the same button that skips back a track – you’d think it would make sense that the volume up button would skip forward and vice versa. Small niggle but it’s irritating nonetheless.

I did really like one little feature though. As the device uses a recent Bluetooth specification, it can do things like tell your phone the device’s current battery charge level. A small feature, but useful nonetheless.

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The device can report battery charge level to your phone’s notification icon area – see the top right of this image.

In terms of sound quality, I found it wasn’t much to shout about. There are a number of reviews (particularly on Amazon) which give mixed feedback about the audio quality and I, for one, can’t help but feel it’s a little disappointing. Fair enough, if you’re going to use the device for it’s intended purpose (running, most likely), it’s probably not going to hugely bother you whether they sound amazing. However, when using them in a less active environment, I found that the audio quality was fairly flat and that both the bass and treble were lacking. For a £16 pair of wireless earphones, don’t expect the world, but I still couldn’t help but feel I’d tried £10 wired earphones with better audio quality.

Overall, they are a decent set of earphones with a reasonably good fit to the head (it takes a little getting used to but does result in a good fit) with handy functions, but leaving a little to be desired in terms of audio quality. A good buy for £16, but I’d spend a little more if you’ve got the budget available.

Buy from Amazon

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.

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.