Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 Review

I Recently bought a Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 because I wanted a budget tablet. I did some research and thought that the Lenovo Tab 2 from Argos for £100 sounded like a good product, I was not disappointed.

My first impression when I unpacked the tablet was it did not feel cheap and was good quality. The back of the tablet is not cheap plastic and is easy to hold and does not slip. The operating system is Android so it was easy to quickly get started and download some apps.

The screen quality is good for the price, however when I used BBC iPlayer and compared it to the iPad Air, there was a clear difference and the iPad is superior, which is expected for 4-5 times the price.

The sound is good and comes from the Multi Dolby Atmos cinematic speakers. It has 2 cameras, a 5MP rear and a 2MP front facing, both seem OK.

The tablet is available in 2 colours, white and midnight blue, which is the one I went for.

The only issue I have with it so far, which is the same for a lot of budget tablets is that the operating system is configured for just 1 user, I would have liked to have setup my son as a user with restricted rights, which is not possible without hacking the OS or using 3rd party parental control software.

Overall the Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 is a good product, it is not as good as an iPad, but then I would expect an iPad to be significantly better for 3-4 times the price, and maybe because of that I should not compare them. When I look at what else in on the market in the budget tablet category, I think I've done well choosing this product, and would recommend it. If I had to give an overall mark out of 10, I would give it an 8.

Pros

• Good quality.
• Price.
• Allows additional storage.
• Good sound from dual speakers.

Cons

• Operating system has been configured to allow just 1 user.
• Screen gets dirtier quicker compared to an iPad.

Technical Specs

CPU - 1.3GHz 32 Bit Qualcomm Snapdragon
Display - 10.1 inch 1280x800 pixels
Memory - 2Gb (older ones have 1 Gb)
Storage- 16Gb
OS - Android 5.1

How to print Word document without comments

I am currently using Word 2010 and tried to print a document the other day, but it contained comments that I did not need. One big disadvantage with Word now a days is the amount of options and it's become hard to find options with the tab page menu bar. Eventually I found how to do it.

From 'Review' tag menu, change 'Simple Markup' to 'No Markup' or 'Original'.

Owning a Nexus 4 after 6 months

I have now had my Nexus 4 for over 6 months, when I first received it I was impressed with what you got for the money. But here are some points about it after owning one:

1. It sometimes switches itself off when there is loads of power and to switch it back on you need to connect it to a charger.
2. Battery life has improved over time, this might relate to switching NFC off and the latest update of Android.
3. Updating Apps sometimes removes them from the main screen and you have to add them back, this might be an Android problem.
4. After updating some apps the icon gets removed and you have to remove the app from the front screen and add it back in. Possibly another Android problem.
5. Android is not as nice to use a iOS. 

Parallels Desktop Review

I have had a iMac for a few months now and I love it. I moved over from a Windows XP PC with no problems, apart from one. I needed to access my work PC remotely using RDP, but I could not get it to work, when I worked for a previous company it worked fine without any problems, but after doing some research and contacting the people in-charge of our network I found out that they do not allow Macs to RDP on our network. The solution to this problem was to use a Windows VM (virtual machine) on the Mac.

I bought my iMac with a copy of Parallels Desktop because I thought I might need it and I had some software that would only run in Windows. I installed a copy of Windows XP and could RDP to my work PC without any problems. I found it really easy to setup and run, and it runs so much faster than my previous PC, this is partly thanks to the iMacs higher spec, but I run a Windows XP VM on my Windows 7 work PC which has a similar spec and it is over 10 times slower (Sophos could be the cause).

Here is a list of features I really like (Pros)

• Quick to start up and shutdown (seconds not minutes)
• Coherence allows you to run Windows applications in the Mac desktop, I generally do not use this, but it is a nice feature.
• Windows icon in Mac dock which lists Windows applications to run, basically the Windows Start menu program list.
• Multiple VMs.
• Specify the number of CPUs and amount of memory to use (RAM), I have it set to a single CPU and 1GB of memory.
• Loads of settings which I need to explore further.

Usually when I review something I put the Pros and Cons, with this software I have not found any at the moment. This is a great piece of software and makes the jump from Windows to iOS a lot easier and more gradual. You can have all the software you are use to on the virtual machine and as you get more comfortable with iOS, gradual move over.

Google Nexus 4 pros and cons

I recently purchased a new Google Nexus 4 phone, I had previously owned iPhones and even though I am a great fan of the iPhone, I decided to try something different and the price of the Nexus is £300 ($465) cheaper than the iPhone 5 costing just £250 compared with £550 for an iPhone. My first impression of the device was it was well built with curved glass edges, the speaker at the back is positioned in a funny place, the camera lens and flash are where you would expect them. There is no physical home button like the iPhone, but the home button is part of the display, which is actually better and I expect Apple will do something similar with the next iPhone..

The power supply for charging is via a micro USB, which is not as nice as the iPhone 5, but is more standard. I have found that the charge like the iPhone does not last that long and need to charge the phone almost everyday.

The Nexus 4 uses the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system, which runs very fast thanks to the quad core snapdragon CPU, and the 2GB of RAM, twice that of the iPhone 5.

The dimensions of the phone are 68.7 x 133.9 x 9.1mm making it larger and thicker than the iPhone and it feels slightly heavier, it has a 4.7 inch screen which fits very close to the edge of the device.

The main camera is 8 mega pixel which works OK, but some of the photos I have taken the result is a bit saturated and the contrast is not that good, it does however have HDR and panoramic options which do work well. There is also a 1.3 mega pixel front facing camera, which currently I have only used to unlock the phone with the great option of face recognition for unlocking.

Here are what I consider the Pros and Cons of the Nexus 4:

Pros

• Price is amazing and what you get for the money cannot be beaten.
• Well made phone which feels nice to use, I have already dropped it from about 5 ft and it survived fine.
• Elegant design with the glass edges curving and the edges having more grip.
• Very fast.
• Latest version of Android.

Cons

• Using headphones the max volume is still a bit to low, solution was to download so free software to boost the output.
• Battery life is short like other smart phones.
• No expandable memory.
• Copy and paste does not work as well as the iPhone.
• Not as intuitive to use as the iPhone.  

In conclusion I am very happy with the phone and at the price is an excellent product.

Canon Pancake Lens Review

A couple of months ago I got a Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens also know as a pancake lens due to its dimensions. It is a small lens which it designed for use as a video lens because of its silent motor (STM meaning stepping motor). The quality of the lens is good with the connection area being metal, instead of plastic on cheap lenses. It has a 40mm focus length which works well in both in-door and out-door situations. When videoing even though the lens it meant to be silent there is a slight noise.

The lens is very thin like a pancake and because of the dimension it easily fits into the camera bag. This is not a professional photographers review of the lens, but after using it for a couple of months I have found it a very useful lens, not just for taking video, but it produces some great photos which are clear and sharp. Because of the size and price, which is less than £200 it is a great little lens to own and would recommend it.

Canon 650D Camera Review

I recently bought a new DSLR camera after doing months of research I decided to purchase the Canon 650D. When I was looking for a camera my budget was in the £600 ($965) region, it came down to the Nikon 3100 and the Canon, after playing with them in a store it was clear that the Canon was a superior product even if the mega-pixels is less, 18 with the Canon compared with 24 with the Nikon.

After owning the camera for a couple of weeks and being on holiday with it I am very happy with it. It takes great photos and I like the touch screen, which I thought I would not use as much as I do. Here is a list of pros and cons I have found so far.

Pros

• Easy to use menu, I have owned Canon cameras before so I found I could use the camera straight away.
• Touch screen which I find very useful for changing settings and reviewing the photos.
• Continuous auto focus in HD video mode.
• When camera is in video mode it is also possible to take a photo when not recording.
• HDR function is useful is some situations and have had some interesting results from using this.
• Good image quality.

Cons

• Video is not have as many options as my other Camera (Canon G9)
• Lens included with the Camera was a 18mm-55mm which has a noisy auto focus so is not good for video. I am currently looking at the Canon pancake lens for video.
• Video file format is mov, would have like it to be in avi format like my Canon G9. There might be a setting I need to find for this.

Overall I am very happy with the Canon 650D and I am still learning some of the features. I think as a beginners DSLR camera it is the best on the market.

Samsung D6530 LED TV Review

I recently bought a Samsung D6530 40 inch TV for roughly £750. The TV was delivered in a slim large box which was packaged well. The TV was quick to setup which took about 20 minutes, and required just a phillips screw driver.

The TV is very slim and the edge of the picture to the edge of the TV is very small both approx width of a thumb. The TV is supplier with a good quality brushed steel stand, I was glad not to get the black glass one.

Once I had connected the correct cables I switched the TV on and it soon tried to connect to my wireless router, I entered the password and it downloaded the latest software updates. After the TV had updated the software and restarted I started to play around with it. The TV picture is very impressive and could easily see it was better than other TVs I had seen recently, because it is LED I thought the black colour in  the picture was very black. The HD channels looked great and there is a clear difference between HD and the normal channels. The sound is good but nothing special, I think I might look into connecting an additional sound system to it.

The TV is 3D so I bought some glasses,  I believe this is a technology that needs improving, but compared to the cinema is OK. There is an option to convert standard 2D pictures to 3D, this option varies depending on the programme you are watching, but generally I think I will not be using this.

What I was most impressed with apart from the great picture is how it connects to the internet and my PC. Samsung have something they call Smart Hub, this opens a screen with loads of options. There is a panel that displays your apps similar to Apple products. There are various Apps like You Tube, BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm, Skype and Twitter that come pre-installed, out of these I think the most impressive is the BBC iPlayer app. The Smart Hub also gives you the option for something they call AllShare, which allows you to connect other devices to the TV wirelessly. I installed Samsung's PC Share Manager and selected the directories I wanted to see and started the server. I then went downstairs and there was a message on the TV saying that it could see the server, I could then play videos, music and pictures that where located on my PC on my TV wirelessly, which I think is very clever.


In conclusion I think my new TV is great, here is a list of pros and cons:
Pros - Fantastic picture, very slim, easy to use, internet connectivity.
Cons - 3D is OK but not great, remote control feels a little cheap.

Specifications

• 400 Hz
• Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Built in Wi-Fi
• 4 HDMI
• USB 2.0 x 3
• Freeview HD
• 3D with 2D to 3D conversion
• Dimensions - width = 1248mm, height = 805mm, depth = 30mm max