I have just got my hands on a lovely new Panasonic TZ-30, this is a direct upgrade from my last Panasonic, a TZ-7. It served me very well indeed and I hope this latest manifestation from Panasonic will live up to my expectations.
Next to come is the unboxing photos, a few sample shots and my initial impressions. I know you’re looking forward to that!
OK so first off it should be noted that I am a little bit OCD when it comes to keeping my gadgets and tech in pristine condition. I mean after all I paid big money to have them, money that I had to work damn hard to get, and as such I want to keep my stuff looking nice and shiny.
Now I know that some people say that you shouldn’t obsess about keeping things immaculate, I have to say I don’t, I just try and buy a few things that will keep my tech new and shiny without me having to worry about them at all. Means more money back on the re-sale for the upgrade too!
So my iPad (3) then, it cost me £659. For a little further investment I can keep it clean, scuff and scratch free and protected anywhere I go, without having to worry about it.
My iPad (3) for example has a Zagg Full body invisible shield on it, an Apple Smart Coverand a Belkin rear shield. As far as scuffs and marks go it is pretty protected, all I needed was something to keep it safe in my bag.
Then I went to the Gadget Show Live 2012 at the Birmingham NEC, and whilst wondering around I saw a yellow iPad case. Now yellow is my colour so I was instantly intrigued. Then came the claims of this yellow iPad case being the home to an iPad that was dropped from 100,000 ft and survived.
I have been flat out over the past week, since I came home from the Gadget Show Live, however whilst over there I made a few purchases, one such purchase that I am particularly proud of is a G-Form Extreme Sleeve. http://www.g-formuk.com/
They dropped this thing from the edge of space, 100,00 feet, with an iPad in it, and the damn thing survived!
Now to be far in the latest episode of the Gadget Show : World Tour, a ninja was able to break an iPad in one (yes though it was a real ninja).
Full review to follow!
I finally got myself an iPod Nano! This thing is so cool, and I’m not going to bore you with a review of it, as there as literally thousands out there, but I do plan on sharing my thoughts on a ‘Best Skins Ever’ (www.bestskinsever.com).
I am a Zagg InvisbleShield (www.zagg.com)man through and through but this is my second Best Skins Ever and I have to say they are impressive, and a fraction of the cost.
Full pictorial on the install and a review to follow!
Well I am leaving the hub of Northern Ireland at Stupid O’Clock in the morning and heading for the NEC in Birmingham were I will be attending the Gadget Show Live, and more importantly getting a glimpse at Suzi Perry!
I will be tweeting live from the event so make sure you follow me @TomBoyNI and I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say about it when I return home, so watch this space!
Have you get the “Unable to Purchase” error on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch when you try to update, or purchase apps from the AppStore? The error looks like this : Although maybe not as bad, as I have 56 Errors!
The name of the app and the number of “other items” will of course be different from person to person, and over time the number of “other items” will also increase.
I know it now a week later since the new Apple iPad got released in the UK (amongst others) but I didn’t have the time to get my little post up on release day so I thought today would be a good enough day as it is 23rd MArch 20212, and for those of us not in the first wave of releases, it is release day for the new iPad. Today the new iPad gets released in a further 23 countries so here is my experiences with the unboxing. Also works quite well as on release day I was not in possession of my Zagg invisibleShield. It actually arrived on 17/03/2012 and I got it on on the 18/03/2012. This is despite it being advertised by Expansys eBay store as being in the UK and getting dispatched 1st Class, it actually came from France, so took longer than I was prepared to wait, had I have known this another UK based seller would have got my business! Anyway thats another story.
This story begins at 05:00 hours on 16th March 2012 when I pulled myself out of bed, and drove to the nearest McDonald’s, got myself an awesome double sausage and egg McMuffin along with a hash brown and some brown nectar in the form of Coca Cola, brilliant!
Feeling a little fresher off I trundled to the Apple Store, Victoria Square Belfast, arriving at the shopping centre at about 05:40 hours I was worried that the queue would be horrific (from last year’s iPad 2 release) but to my surprise there was only around 100 people ahead of me. By the time the store opened there would have been 200 – 300 people in the queue so I was happy enough with the timing.
In and went and out I came £658 lighter in the pocket, having picked up a iPad 64Gb wifi along with AppleTV (see previous post) and home I went, where I waited on the postman, with the iPad still in its little box, still untouched by a human hand, and there it would remain until 18th March 2012! Gutted, and all no thanks to Expansys! Not impressed!
With each and every launch day that Apple announces a buzz inevitably follows. A buzz that means one thing, a queue outside your local Apple Store. Today is Friday 16th March 2012 and that signifies another Launch Day for an Apple Product. Actually on this occasion it means two products making their entry into the Apple world. The first needs no introduction as it is officially the world’s most popular tablet – The new iPad, or the iPad 3, or the iPad HD, or as the box says the 3rd Gen iPad.
The second product to be released today is the new AppleTV, the main thing for this sleek little bit of kit is the addition of support of full HD, or 1080p. I personally have never had an AppleTV before, but it has always intruiged me. I pretty sure I don’t need one, but I’m pretty sure I don’t need an iPad either, so negating the ‘need’ issue, the next question is do I want one? Hell yes!
So they come in at £99.00. Pretty tidy little price tag, I think when these devices debuted they were clocking closer to £400!
Why then do I want one? I have no idea! Probably because it has an Apple on it! Anyway I decided that I would sacrifice the 4G model of the iPad and take the £100 saved and splash the cash on this, and therefore in effect be £1 up, result!
So today I had a great day shopping, having queued outside the Belfast, Northern Ireland Apple Store from around 05.30am in I walked to the store and a mere 10 minutes later walked out £658 lighter in the pocket, but with a new AppleTV in one hand, the other gripping onto my new white 64Gb wifi iPad. Result!
Oh and remembering Northern Ireland is a pretty small wee country the queue at this time of the morning was reasonably substantial : (Although to be fair, last year with the 17.00 hours launch of the iPad 2 the queue was 4 or 5 times this!)
By the time the door opened I would reckon there was around 250 people waiting, good work Apple. And yep it was an event, cheering, high fovea, wooing, running, photos, videos, tweets, facebooking and free tea and coffee. All makes it that little bit easier when you are standing there! Anyway, I bought the iPad and the AppleTV. The net will be flooded today with iPad related posts so I thought I would go visa versa and mention briefly the Apple TV – (Also I haven’t opened by iPad yet as my Zagg InvisibleShield hasn’t arrived yet! Thanks expansys for your pi$$ poor delivery speeds by the way. Everyone else who does ‘1st Class’ gets things here First Class (99% next day) not four days, and with Monday being a bank holiday that won’t be happening either! Piss poor expansys, piss poor my friends! The AppleTV then, here you will find the unboxing photos, I won’t bore you with the details, that’s ultimately why I took photos, but it is easy to see the usual applies, the packaging is discreet, tidy and exceptionally well designed, beautiful from Apple as usual. Even the little plastic protectors over the AppleTV are works of art, remembering once you rip it out of the box these little strips are for the bin, but yet clearly effort has went into their design…
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Here’s the rest for you to admire…
The last three pics there give you a little insight into the new layout and new app icons that AppleTV has decided on, and with this being my first look at the product I am massively impressed. The first thing I noticed was that the setup was an absolute gift. Enter your wifi password, enter your AppleID and away you go, that’s it, it’s done! Then turn on home sharing in the settings and every tune you have, very movie is just waiting there fore you to listen to or watch, this to me is brilliant. I have noted also that Photostream is there and waiting however I haven’t turned this on yet, on anything, phone, MacBook, old iPad, so it is still a bit alien to me, so I will give you a verdict on that is a few days onceI have a proper play around with it.
Couple this with the vast library of stuff on iTunes and this is a pretty decent media centre for £99! I had a quick blast with the HD and decided to watch a trailer, and boom clicky, likey, streaming in glorious HD, it was quick and this was at 17.00 hours on a Friday evening. Good stuff, this is something I am looking forward to playing with properly.
I will post up more thoughts on AppleTV as I go along, but initial impressions are, easy setup, looks wonderful, vast library and home sharing…great.
Oh and Airplay just popped into my head, Airplay looks great, but I need to get the iPad cracked out for that, so hurry the hell up expanses and get my IS here quick smart!
Anyway, I bought the iPad and the AppleTV. The net will be flooded today with iPad related posts so I thought I would go visa versa and mention briefly the Apple TV – (Also I haven’t opened by iPad yet as my Zagg InvisibleShield hasn’t arrived yet! Thanks expansys for your pi$$ poor delivery speeds by the way. Everyone else who does ‘1st Class’ gets things here First Class (99% next day) not four days, and with Monday being a bank holiday that won’t be happening either! Piss poor expansys, piss poor my friends!