Ulefone MIX 5.5 inch with Triple cameras 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Review

Lovely phone I really like it, I bought my son the exact same phone for Christmas after he smashed his iphone and talked him into giving Android a go as I was converted several years ago and he really loves it, I have been filled with phone envy ever since so when I saw it on offer from this seller £30 below what I paid before I decided I needed an upgrade and went for it.

The phone arrived in a nice and simple Ulefone branded lift top box with the phone on top, manual, sim release pin, little metal phone stand, charge lead and retractable pin three pin USB plug in the bottom. This has a simple manual with good clear and detailed illustrations giving you all the basics you need to know.

I wanted to keep all the apps and data off my old phone so went through the setup selecting ‘Keep your apps & data’ then ‘Another Android device’ which then took me through a simple step by step on screen menu to restore a backup copy from my old phone and after I inserted a sim card and a micro SD card I was soon up and running, I used a micro SD card to test the feature but plan to run it with duel sims so tested that as well which worked fine even setting up different ringtones for them using MP3’s something iphone won’t allow no idea why.

I set up the fingerprint recognition using three of my fingers so I could open it with either hand and also use my thumb on my right hand, I like the fact the finger print recognition is on the front of the screen as it’s on the back of my old phone and I have to take it out of the case to use it. I browsed the net and ran a few videos on YouTube which all worked great giving a great sound and very clear and clean display. I ran a few games and was pleased to see they ran flawlessly without any lag or stuttering with very responsive and accurate movement on the touch screen.

I tested out the camera which was superb one of the reasons I had phone envy as I have seen some of the shots my son has taken with his and I found a nice little free app to test the phone running it with everything checking out and it was working great, I decided I needed a case even though it comes with a rubber case fitted I tend to slip my phone in my front pocket when I go out so wanted a wraparound case and found one I liked on a well-known auction site for £3.50 delivered (bargain) and it had a cut out that fitted the camera everything I wanted.

Overall this is a really nice phone with 4gb of ram and 64gb of rom it’s fast and smooth with a great camera, fingerprint recognition on the front, a great display and sound with the ability to use duel sims or sim and a micro SD card and the reason I have given it full marks. I have added a video and will also add some pictures showing how easy it is to set up and going through some of the functions such as adding the fingerprints and running a phone test.

Price: £119
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Cigarette Socket AC 220v Mains to DC 12v 5A 60W Power Inverter Review

I have a few gadgets is use in my car that I also use in my house the main one being the car vacuum which I find ideal for vacuuming round my desk and cleaning out the dusk from in and around my desktop PC case, for the last 10 years I have been using a big block plugin convertor which had worked reasonably well although I wasn’t sure how safe it was as it got very hot and last week it finally stopped working all together so I needed another.

I had a good look round at different ones and the reason I went for this one is I didn’t want another socket based one, it had over and under working voltage protection and short circuit protection, it was available on prime and had good review feedback.

The unit works well and I have tested a few of my gadgets in it without any problems, the only negatives I have found with it are I would have liked a thicker/stronger cable on the cigarette female end for added protection and the cable from the three pin plug socket either being longer or shorter as it’s not long enough from a 4tf high wall socket to sit flat on the floor and has excessive cable if it sits on the side next to the socket, overall a very handy device that works well and I have given it four stars for that reason.

Price: £13.99

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Nitecore D2 DigiCharger for Rechargeable Battery with LCD Display Review

I purchased this as I am a e-cig user and the two main modboxes I use have removable 18650 batteries and although one of them has a charge socket the other relies of external charging and I had been swapping the batteries between the two when I wanted to charge but decided to get this along with a second set of batteries so I could just swap out for a fresh set when they depleted.

It arrived in a nice branded box with a sheet of printed instructions which covered all uses and modes although the print is very small and quite hard to read, I have given it a good test charging two different types of 18650 batteries, 2 x 3.7v 3500mah and 2 x 3.7 3100mah and two different sets of AA batteries, one set 1.2v 2800mah the other 1.2v 2700mah, I then charged a 18650 3.7v 3000mah and a AA 1.2v 2800mah to test charging two different types at the same time. All charged well and were easy to insert and remove, the display screen is good providing all the information I personally need and easy to switch between slots, the charge time averaged 6 hours 25mins on the 18650 batteries and 5 hours 20mins on the AA batteries.

The charge time is quite a bit longer than a standard charger but I do understand the slow charging might help extend the life of your batteries a bit and was pleased that none of the batteries got hot while charging just slightly warm and the long charge is not really a big issue for me as I am never in a rush for them.

Overall a neat little unit with a good display that allows you to monitor the battery charging process, this is not the charger for you if you are looking for a rapid charging unit.

Price: £14.30
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OUKITEL K5, 4G 5.7 inch Smartphone with Android 7.0 Review

My daughter cracked the screen on her phone a few weeks ago and although it still worked and had not disrupted the pixels it is still a bit of a mess, I looked into getting the screen replaced but due to the cost it really seemed better to get her another phone after making her suffer the broken one for a few weeks :)

As my daughter listens to a lot of music on her phone along with surfing and social media she needed something smooth, fast and that would have the ability to extend the storage by taking a micro SD card and this looked ideal giving the option of duel sim or sim and a micro SD card which she is now using.

The phone arrived in an orange branded OUKITEL box nicely packed and presented with the instructions and lead in the bottom along with already being fitted with a rubber bumper case for added protection. After unpacking it I said I would set it all up for her and put all her music on a micro SD card for her which gained a ‘thanks dad’ high praise indeed.

Setting it up was very simple just running through a few options most of which I skipped for my daughter to set up her personal settings and then went on to give it a good test going through all the features, first impressions where it’s quite heavy and feels around the same weight as a iphone 6 with a similar look and lightning fast flicking through the menus, the first thing I did was to test out the duel sims although it isn’t something she will be using I wanted to make sure it was all working smoothly if she ever needed it.

Duel sims work perfectly and it gives the ability to set a different ringtone to callers and unlike the iphone it’s a simple case of selecting a music track or ring tone the phone and assigning it to the caller something apple don’t allow, I rang each sim number and it switches automatically with no messing about, I connected it to the home wireless which was very simple and did a bit of surfing on it all very fast and smooth watching some videos on YouTube and reading through the BBC website.

The menu is very clean and easy to navigate with features such as switching the wallpaper almost instant, I got my daughter to set up her finger print to open the phone and also added mine as you can add several finger prints for opening the phone and it seems to work flawlessly or at least I couldn’t get it to fail and it opened every time.

The camera is really impressive and I took it outside to test out the panoramic feature which is extremely impressive with the results giving a picture I have not been able to see any flaws or joins in, the front camera is also very impressive but I didn’t post any pictures as with my ugly mug I didn’t want to frighten anyone :)

After finishing setting it all up and filling my daughters micro SD card and fitting her sim it was handed over with warnings about looking after it, she won’t get another one blah blah blah and she absolutely loves it, keeps raving about the speed and how great the sound and display are compared to her old phone.

• 18:9 Full Screen 2.0 The screen edge is revolutionary narrowed by another 12%, offering more pure viewing experience on the 18:9 full display. The moment you light up the OUKITEL K5, you will find that this is what the full screen really should be.
• Dual-lens Rear Camera OUKITEL K5 prepares a 13MP and a 2MP secondary lens for the rear camera, offering SLR shooting experience. For the front camera, it gets 5MP 80°wide angle camera for shooting.
• Dual curved design Meets IML Craft OUKITEL K5 4G smartphone gets 2.5D curved screen and 3D curved battery cover. With poly-carbonated and IML craft, creating a stunning 3D flowing battery cover and mellow edge.
• XLocker & Large Battery Lock your SIM free smartphone as well as APPs by the press fingerprint of K5, safe and professional. It features 4000mAh long lasting battery. Together with the intelligent power consumption management system, K5 offers longer using time.
• Chinoiserie Style K5 combines Chinese classic ceramic element, modern 3D space design and fashionable IML craft, creating a delicate elegant art.

Overall this is a very nice phone, fast and smooth, easy and simple menu system, huge battery capacity with my daughter saying she only charges it every few days compared with twice a day with her old phone, great quality cameras with a nice camera app offering loads of features, no messing about with complicated interfaces when you want to add or change anything it’s just a simple case of plugging it into the USB port of your PC and you have full access or dropping stuff to micro SD card and inserting that. I’m impressed with it and my daughter loves it so it gets full marks from me.

Price: £119.99
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CHUWI Hi13 13.5" 2-in-1 Windows10 Tablet PC 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Review

As I work from home I am sitting at my desktop PC for up to 14 hours a day and wanted to get myself a tablet that would allow me a bit more freedom from my desk to move about a bit more while still being connected to the net and able to do a bit of browsing but also being practical enough to be used for work, I don’t like the small screen tablets and didn’t want a ipad due to it being so limited and the way it controls the choice of what will run on it so thought this looked ideal.

It arrived in a big square branded box all nice and tightly packed and has a good solid feel to it, I started it up and the screen is great with a very clear display and the choice of either using it in Windows 10 mode or tablet mode. After connecting the wireless to my home network I started the inevitable windows updates which didn’t take too long and everything rebooted fine although I had to add the virtual keyboard back to the taskbar which is a simple case of long pressing the taskbar and selecting it from the options.

This tablet is certainly very fast and smooth, I have been using it far more than I thought I every would running YouTube videos, surfing the net and social media but I have also been able to do quite a bit of work on it that I would normally be sitting at my desktop PC doing and using the micro SD card slot to transfer a multitude of things between the two all very fast and smooth.

The camera is very good and the windows camera program comes with a built in zoom as standard, I recorded some footage from the screen with a capture but I think with the conflict between the recording program I used and the onscreen video framerate it failed to record properly so I have added the actual footage taken at the end of my video.

The tablet has USB-C so I was able to plug a hub I have giving me three additional USB ports, HDMI out and a hardwire network port which works very well and this also allowed me to connect a wireless keyboard and mouse which was instantly recognised and ready to use. I connected up my Bluetooth speaker very easily which gave me an additional sound boost for listening to a bit of music and also very clear and stable.

Overall I am really pleased with this purchase it’s a really nice tablet, the screen resolution is great, it runs really smoothly, easy to switch between Windows 10 and tablet mode, very large battery capacity so masses of use before it needed charging, the 13.5” screen is ideal for my uses and with USB-C easy to connect whatever I want. This is a lot more than just a tablet for surfing and social media and capable of doing a lot more and the reason it gets full marks from me.

Price: £312.99
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BESTEK Cordless 4400mAh Handheld Vacuum Review

I purchased this as a gift for my wife from my daughters for Mother’s day, I know some will raise their eyebrows at this as a Mother’s day gift but I had strict although indirect instructions from my daughters that this was what mummy wanted so I ordered this and added an additional ‘best mum in the world’ mug along with the cards.

The vacuum arrived in a nice branded box with a little carrying handle on the top, the vacuum was in a plastic sleeve in the middle with the manual, connections and power charging lead in in the bottom, my wife was delighted with it and said it was exactly what she needed :) The manual is clear and easy to follow with a few diagrams showing and explaining how to empty and clean the filter etc.

After it was fully charged I decided to give it a good test and was pleasantly surprised how powerful it was for a handheld vacuum picking up coffee, sprinkles and sugar with no trouble at all and giving great suction, the attachments just slot in and out of the front making a nice addition for hard to reach places, the filter is plastic and very simple to wash and clean in lukewarm water.

I ran it for 38 minutes non-stop until the power ran out just to test the battery capacity but also to see if it faded and right up until the last minute it was still giving good suction and picking things up. Overall this is a nice portable and powerful handheld vacuum that does away with a trailing power lead and best of all my wife loves it.

Price: £55.99
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ExquizOn P8I Pico Video Projector Portable Android 7.0 Built in Review

I do several coaching and guidance seminars a year and part of this includes me using a projector, I have been struggling with an old large projector for a few years but it was time to retire it as its heavy, has a very limited menu with no Wi-Fi option, it’s noisy, the projection quality isn’t the best and it’s a real pain carrying all the leads including an extension lead due to many places not having a power point near the setup area.

I chose the ExquizOn P8I Pico due to it being small enough to slip into my case, it having a two hour plus battery life which is more than adequate for my presentation, I can use media from USB and micro SD cards via the on-board slots, it has a base Android 7 operating system which allows me to install apps and utilities and has an inbuilt Wi-Fi so can be used for streaming online content or surfing the internet.

It arrived in a lift top black branded box with the projector on top boxed up much the same as a new phone is having the HDMI lead, instructions, power supply and stand below. Although I had already seen the size dimensions it still surprised me how small it actually was and I set it up to give it a good test, the HDMI slot on the side takes a full size HDMI connection which is great as I know some have a step down to mini HDMI meaning you need an adapter. The Android menu is very clean and simple to use with a couple of preinstalled apps on the main screen and a browser.

After linking it to my Wi-Fi I tested a few of the apps and the browser all of which worked great and also tested the Eshare app something I have not used before but once installed on my iphone 6 very simple to mirror my iphone to the projector screen, I tested some live TV and found the projection quality superb with a little wheel on the side for fine focus, I linked it up to my Xbox One to test a bit of gaming and this also looked great, I hooked it up to my PC which gave me a huge screen display, very clear and usable, I tested a bit of media on USB and micro SD card as this is something I will be using when giving a seminar and it was very easy to use from the FileExplorer on the main screen and worked great.

In summary this is a great easily portable projector which is very quiet without any complicated setup that gives you over two hours playtime from the battery should you need it, the picture quality is superb and with the Android 7 operating system making it highly versatile for a multitude of different uses, I have used it for one seminar so far and worked perfectly allowing me to set it up on a desk, switch it on and away I went no hassle.

• Pico Size & Large Projection The projector has a palm size just like a smartphone and light weight of 255g. It can be even carried in your pocket. Yet its projection is still up to 120 inch.The projection distance is from 1 to 3 meters.
• Smart Projector with Android 7.0 The little device runs the latest Android OS 7.0 and combine with 1GB RAM +8GB ROM. You can install APPs like Netfix and Youtube to watch online videos or just save the video on its internal storage.
• DLP Chips for High Quality Picture DLP (Digital Light Processing) makes it possible to give high quality image from its small body. 1080P full HD,1000:1 contrast ratios and 100 ANSI Lumens brightness. Same as a common and huge LED projector.
• Wireless Connection: Wifi and Bluetooth Project your phone easily via wifi with no cables. 2.4G & 5G dual-band Wi-Fi offers stable connection. With BT 4.0, you can connection keyboard or speakers with it.
• Better and Convenient Viewing Experience Multi interfaces: HDMI, USB, TF card port and 3.5mm jack for speaker and earphones. Auto keystone correction is available. 4500mAh battery offers 2.5 hrs life for playing.

Price:  £199.99

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BELEEV Kick Scooter Kids 3 Wheel 4 Adjustable Scooter Review

A bright pink scooter for my niece on her 3rd birthday and she loves it, my sisters daughter is either a million miles an hour or asleep and when I asked my sister what to get her for her birthday she said something to wear her out so I thought a scooter would be ideal and am pleased to say she was delighted with it.

I set it all up for her and sent my eldest daughter out to give it a run round test and show her how to use it as it was a new experience for my niece and she would have to get used to riding it which actually only took around half an hour before she was pushing herself round on it fairly confidently. The scooter really is bright pink her favourite colour and all the wheels light up great while in motion, adjustment is very simple with it locking tightly in place with the push release holding pin and securing with the twist grip on the handle. The main handle pushes in and locks in place with another push release holding pin which is very solid.

It arrived in a nicely branded wedge shaped box with all the contents being protected with bubble wrap, the instructions book is very basic but more than adequate as the assembly is very simple and somewhat obvious, I have added a short video and will also add some pictures showing the unboxing, assembly, my daughter giving it a good test run round then I showed the wheel lights in the darks as you can’t really see them on the video from the top view.

• ADJUSTABLE HANDLEBARS: Our kids scooter design with adjustable height handlebar, T-bar and Upgraded Lifting Lock can adjust from 24" to 34" from the deck. 4 adjustable height settings to accommodate ages 3 to 12 years old, suitable for 33" to 63" height.
• PU LUMINOUS WHEELS: The kick scooter features 2 big front LED wheels and small rear LED wheels, which are bright enough to see during the day and are really neat at night. Lights get brighter the faster you go with our Magnetic Core Wheels. Protects the wooden floor from scratch.
• TURN & STOP EASILY: Flexible and lightweight design offers better control turning and keep balance easily by your child's physical incline. Large aluminum reinforced rear-wheel foot brake is easy to stop the scooter quickly when tread, and prevent muddy water from splattering on your kids back legs.
• SAFE & COMFORTABLE: The toddler scooter comes equipped with non-slip deck, unique 3 PU high-rebound wheels and ABEC-7 bearings, make the children scooter glide stably, smoothly and quietly, even ride on the rough ground. Providing an extra level of safety and comfort so they can ride all day long.
• REINFORCED & WIDE DECK: The kick scooter features streamlined new deck design, sturdy enough to hold up to 120lbs. The deck is low-to-the-ground, making it easy for little kids to hop on and off. Large enough to place Both Feet on the deck, kids can switch from pushing to enjoy the ride.

Overall this is a nice little scooter very well made and sturdy, ideal for a small child and with the adjustable handle should last them a good few years as they grow, the wheels are nice solid rubber, the lights look great and best of all my niece loves it although I am not sure it’s wearing her out much she’s still into everything and everything at a million miles an hour :) 

Price: £43.99

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