October 2013 - Page 2 of 2 - TBNI.Blog

Nook Simple Glow Light – UnBoxing

October 17, 2013 by TomBoyNI

In my previous post I mentioned my Nook Simple Touch. A short time after I bought this Banes and Ernst dropped the price of the Nook Simple Glow Light to £49.

I had mentioned in the above post that one of the only faults with the Nook Simple Touch was the fact that without a source of light you couldn’t read from it. The Nook Simple Glow Light solves this problem.

The Glow Light is a back lit e-Reader and makes reading your Nook anywhere a complete possibility. It has been mentioned across the web that the back light isn’t great, however I think that it is important to point out that there is nothing else at this price point offering such a complete e-Reader experience. The light isn’t as uniform as that of the likes of a Kindle. However it is perfectly usable making reading in the dark a doddle!

My advice however is, if you are going for a Nook, go for the Glow Light, I didn’t think having a back light would have made much of a difference, however it only took me a matter of hours before I realised how handy it would actually be. The most obvious on is in bed. No back light means a bed side light at the minimum needs to be on. The just by lying on your back you arm is likely to cast a shadow on the screen blocking off part of that ‘page.’ The back light removes any such problems and at such an affordable price point you should definitely considering making the extra investment in the Nook Simple Glow Light.

Finally one other difference between the two is that the Nook Simple Glow Light comes supplied with a waller charger (plug & lead – the lead doubles up for data transfer purposes also). The Nook Simple Touch comes only with a charging and data transfer lead, if you don’t already have a compatible wall charger you will need to buy one or rely on charging through a USB port on your computer.

Nook Simple Touch UnBoxing

October 17, 2013 by TomBoyNI

I already had a few options for readings whilst on the go, the first being books and magazines, but c’mon it is 2013 and actual books are heavy and awkward. I know to some people I have just committed a crime against humanity by stating that actual books are in some way less than the perfect item to place your eyes upon, but for me they are ideal. I had my iPad, iPhone, and more importantly with the mobile internet do we actually need to read one specific thing when there are millions of articles and pages to read online?

That opens up thousands more questions but I think it is safe to say that at some point most people will come across a title that they want to read, something that they have a genuine interest in and the internet just won’t cut it.

It is this point for me that an e-reader has a role. I am not a ‘big’ reader, I have probably read about 10 books in the last as many years however there are a few books that have appeared in the recent past that have made me look at a techy way of reading them.

So the iPad and iPhone are options, iBooks seems like a good solution too, and with Apple’s OSX Mavericks coming very soon with iBooks built in Apple seems to have a great solution. One main problem is the screen, the screen that is so perfect for so many things just doesn’t suit reading, then you have battery issues, an iPad lasts hours, an e-reader can last months.

Then along came the biggie, the price reduction in the Banes and Ernst Nook Simple Touch e-Reader. Coming in at £29 it made e-Readers very affordable. So I bought one, and they are great. With a program called Calibre you can convert many different eBook formats to be compatible with the Nook, it evens handles pdf files reasonably well (a little laggy, but completely functional). The biggest benefit in these e-Readers is the e-Ink, and the paper type display, it greatly reduces any eyestrain and makes reading from the tablet much easier on the eye. It is actually like reading from paper.

Books can be downloaded from the built in book store (accessed via wifi), or for some other source and transferred to the Nook, remembering Calibre you have a huge library of both free and paid books available.

The next big advantage is the battery life, one charge can last up to three months, say no more!

Late 2013 Apple iMac UnBoxing

October 17, 2013 by TomBoyNI

About 3 months ago I had a great setup for my computer needs, namely an early 2011 i7 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro with a Apple Cinema display for my desktop requirements.

As my requirements changed I decided it was time for a change in the computer. Now as any Apple user knows, ‘when you go Mac, you don’t go back,’ so it was time to upgrade. The rumour mill was going mad online of a new iMac coming at the end of August. I seen it is a good time to change. So towards the end of July I sold my MBP and Cinema Display set up and squirrel’d the money away to patiently wait on the imminent product refresh from Apple.

The end of August came, and no iMac refresh came. Then along came the iPhone announcement and its subsequent release on 20th September 2013. No new iMac. During this time life without a computer was pretty tough. I did get myself a Netbook to cope with the emergencies and the iPad was worked hard until 24th September 2013 when Apple announced the iMac refresh : http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/24Apple-Updates-iMac.html

Finally time to get my hands on this beast. I decided to bit of maxing out of the specs in order to get a long life out of it. As it was a custom build it had to be ordered online, the delivery time was given to me as some stage on 11th October 2013.

It was this date that it arrived. Delivered by UPS, whom I found to be bound down by red tape in relation to their deliveries but that is an entirely different story!

Anyway the iMac was here and specc’d as follows :

Specifications

3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2X4GB
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
Magic Trackpad
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide
Accessory Kit

So with this spec I decided to max out the processor, the graphics and take on a Fusion Drive (some nifty technology that combines a standard spinning hard drive and some flash memory – the storage capacity of a HDD, with the speed of an SSD). I stuck with 8Gb of RAM as this is user upgradable, and much cheaper to do yourself than having it done in the factory.

Having only been using the machine for a week I am already hugely impressed, the Fusion Drive seems as capable as the SSD I had in my MBP, the speed of regular tasks is supreme, I have done a little video editing (for the FAKE Otterbox video posted 2 posts earlier) and the speed of conversion was breath taking in comparison to what I was used too. I have a couple of USB 3.0 external drives connected and they are super sharp in relation to the USB 2 speeds I had been working with. The 27″ screen needs no comment other than ‘STUNNING!’

As yet I haven’t really pushed any aspect of this machine, I am looking forward to playing about with some GoPro footage to see how the graphics card handles some HD editing. It was this sort of tasking that my old machine had started to splutter.

So in what is ultimately a very quick initial thoughts posting I am massively impressed with this machine, it was expensive, but I can see this being an investment that I will continue to enjoy for many years.

Oh and of course I got AppleCare, something I have never had to use thankfully, but anyone who I know that has can not sing its praises highly enough.

G-Shock DW6900-CS-1ER : The Zombie Slayer – UnBoxing

October 16, 2013 by TomBoyNI

Casio G-Shock DW6900-CS-1ER:

G-Shock Classic Watch featuring Shock resistance, 200M WR, countdown timer, 1/100 sec. stopwatch and auto-calendar. Black resin band digital watch with green face.

This model has affectionately been named amongst the G-Shock Community as the ‘Zombie Slayer’ and with the increasing popularity in all things ‘undead’ this watch has become a cult classic in its own right.

I picked this watch up in a sale, the price was far too good to miss, however the only issue from this being a sale item was that it came in a generic Casio box rather than the rather cool looking G-Shock Casing, forgetting that the watch arrived in perfect condition and it now has a good spot in my G-Shock Collection!

Tech Specs:

Shock Resistant
200 Meter Water Resistant
EL Backlight with Afterglow
Flash Alert
Flashes with buzzer that sounds for alarms, hourly time signal, countdown timer time-up alarm
1/100 second stopwatch
Measuring capacity: 00’00”00-59’59”99 (for the first 60 minutes)
1:00’00-23:59’59 (after 60 minutes)
Measuring unit: 1/100 second (for the first 60 minutes)
1 second (after 60 minutes)
Measuring mode: Elapsed time, split time, 1st-2nd place times
Countdown timer
Measuring unit: 1 second
Countdown range: 24 hours
Countdown start time setting range: 1 second to 24 hours
(1-second increments, 1-minute increments and 1-hour increments)
Other: Auto-repeat
Multi-function alarm
Hourly time signal
Full auto-calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2039)
12/24 hour formats
Accuracy: +/- 15 seconds per month
Battery CR2016
Approx. battery life: 2 years
Module 1289/3230

Fake OtterBox Defender for iPhone 5s Damages Phone.

October 16, 2013 by TomBoyNI

Following on from my last post I put together this very quick video illustrating the damage that the FAKE Otterbox Defender for iPhone 5s did to my phone.

Thankfully this damage was able to be cleaned off, thanks solely (in my opinion) to the protective shield I had installed. I can’t imagine cleaning this off the aluminium would have been in any way easy!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SyBNsnVzsj8]

My advice on this one is simply, avoid any FAKE Otterbox Defender cases like the plague!

FAKE Otterbox Defender for iPhone 5s – Unboxing, Review and Warning!

October 9, 2013 by TomBoyNI

IMPORTANT UPDATE : After making contact with Otterbox this case has found to be fake! A refund was received from the seller who claims it was a genuine mistake. The original post has been corrected by removing any reference to this case being genuine and any Otterbox related conclusions then, I would like to stress Otterbox were extremely helpful as was the original seller, however at this point I will use this post and associated gallery as an illustration of what you can look for for!

For clarity here is a copy of the confirmation I received from OtterBox informing me the case was fake :

Apple iPhone 5s – Does it Blend?!? – Just Kidding – Just a Regular Unboxing!

October 9, 2013 by TomBoyNI

I have temporarily fallen behind in my posts mainly due to the fact that I was without a computer for the best part of two months there. Well today my new iMac arrived in its 27″ of glory, so that’s me back on track. I am going to throw up a few quick galleries and posts of stuff that I gathered up in my computerless times, but in order to make some progress I wont be dwelling on them.

The first such gallery is my iPhone 5s unboxing. This is a release day model, 64Gb white, silver iPhone 5s, which I purchased with, the new to the UK, AppleCare+

It was picked up on release day from the Apple Store in Belfast, and I only had to queue from 3.30am! (Stocks were that low however that I had to updrage to the 64Gb model as the 32Gb were all sold out, there were only about 50 people in front of me!)

My initial opinions on this phone are great. This is another excellent device released by Apple, with the freshness of iOS7 a new lease of life has been given to the phone.

The camera is brilliant, the slow-mo addition is one of my favourite new additions and the fingerprint scanner brings a wee bit of the future a little bit closer.

I will throw up a few more tips / tricks / thoughts if and when I have them, until such times here is my gallery…

Will the Otterbox Defender for iPhone 5s work with an InvisibleShield?

October 4, 2013 by TomBoyNI

IMPORTANT UPDATE : PLEASE READ :

Having used this case for a number of hours I took it off to check that it was causing no damage. Something I do with each case I try and it is for exactly this reason that I do this.

The case has an Otterbox Logo embossed into the rear part of the case (inside the case). The rear of the phone sits against this. Upon checking my phone this logo had transferred itself onto the rear of my phone, in a big black ugly printed mess.

Much like if you left anything lying on a newspaper.

Photos will be added soon.

I have no idea if this transfer occurs onto the aluminium of the phone, however it certainly does if you have a shield / skin on the rear of your phone.

My advice is simply do not use this case if you have a skin on your phone.

The transferred logo did come off the rear of my phone with a lot of clean and scrapping with a fingernail however it was a mess.

I will be contacting Otterbox and will advise in due course.

IMPORTANT UPDATE : PLEASE READ :

For me this is one of the biggest questions I have in relation to any case. I have dedicated this post to this question so anyone else searching for the answer to this question should hopefully find it easily.

1. Will the Otter Defender for iPhone 5s work with a Zagg InvisibleShield?
– No. Watermarks are present across the entire surface of the Otterbox and thus massively affects the screen clarity and usage.

2. Will the Otter Defender for iPhone 5s work with a Best Skins Ever?
– No. Watermarks are present across the entire surface of the Otterbox and thus massively affects the screen clarity and usage.

3. Will the Otter Defender for iPhone 5s work with a Body Guardz?
– No. Watermarks are present across the entire surface of the Otterbox and thus massively affects the screen clarity and usage.

4. Will the Otter Defender for iPhone 5s work with a Matt / Privacy Screen Shield?
– Yes. No watermarking occurs. Although the clarity of the screen will decrease as does the sensitivity of the screen it will function.

In relation to the above if you have one of the other screen guards on you can apply a Matt screen protector over the top of it. It will prevent the watermarking. However the clarity and sensitivity of the screen will decrease. It does mean you can keep your invisible shield etc for when you change cases.

I will add images to highlight the above when I get my computer back.

Might even do a quick video, but don’t hold me to that.

Still no Computer!

October 2, 2013 by TomBoyNI

I haven’t gone away you know!

I am still computerless however that is all about to end very soon. My Apple iMac has been ordered and should be with me by 11/10/2013. That will be pretty much two months to the day without a computer.

In that time I have gathered up a few things to comment on, my new iPhone 5s, a G-Form Extreme iPhone case, a Spigen Tough Armour iPhone case, a soon to be delivered Otterbox Defender for the 5s and finally you’ll be hearing my thoughts on the new 2013 Haswell iMac, which I am getting loaded with the i7 processor and 4Gb graphics card.

Full details will follow.

Hopefully you have had a decent end to the summer and I’ll be back and rolling forward again very soon!

Oh I just read that it is 84 sleeps to Christmas!

Specifications

Disclosure :