They’re out of stock everywhere in the UK and abroad… Do I look happy? 
As soon as I heard about the Nintendo Classic Mini aka NES Mini, I wanted to get one.
I heard about them as soon as they were announced, and thought they’d be pretty popular among a few people like me, who love a bit of retro gaming.
I finally got a new laptop, and it’s the Dell XPS 13 2016 edition!
You’ll have seen the Dell XPS 13 laptop on my blog before, and if you follow me you’ll know how much I like this laptop, and how highly I rate it. I have actually had this for a couple of months now, but just got round to writing about it, I’ve been too busy using it!
WOW…Just Wow!
Back in the day which feels like a lifetime ago (and it was in tech terms) I got a MacBook Pro. That was the first of the unibody Macbooks, way back in 2008. It was beautiful, a design masterpiece, and it’s something which Apple has tweaked and changed over the past few years, but the general design remains the same. Back then it was probably the best looking laptop on the market, and I fancied trying out OSX too…I was not much of a fan, and put Windows on it, and it was still the best Windows offering at the time; Well there may have been a VAIO but I’d already had one of those and wanted a changed.
So if you’ve been reading my blog you’ll have seen my desk of a fashion blogger post where I shared my physical space of where I blog on a day to day basis.
I love a desktop, but I do have a laptop too, and have been thinking lately of getting an upgrade.
If you’re getting presents for a man, or buying yourself something, you can’t go wrong with a bit of tech. Tech can be cheap, but it’s usually expensive, and with everything, you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for some brand new tech, or looking to upgrade something you have, here’s a couple of ideas to get you started.
I have to recommend the JXD S7800 tablet. It’s a gaming tablet, so it has hardware buttons and controls which is essential for gaming. I bought myself one of these and reviewed it here. It’s a brilliant device for playing old retro games, so if you’re 25+ and remember the good old days of arcades, Megadrives, NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Saturn, PS1 and more, you’ll love this and spend countless hours on it. Better still it’s only around £130.
I have to recommend an iPad Mini 2, because a few months back I took the plunge and got one. I decided that I actually did not need the bigger screen of the iPad Pro, and replaced my original iPad 2 with one of these. Sure, it is smaller, but after months of using it I can honestly say the size has not made too much difference, and I really enjoy using it. The biggest selling point is the price, £259 for a 32GB model is such a good price for this device, which will last for a couple of years, no less than a bigger iPad Air.
If you’re into gaming and have still not got one of the latest generations of consoles, now is the time. There’s great deals on both the XBOX One and PS4, you just have to decide which one is for you (or be greedy and get both).
If you want premium sound, the H6 headphones from Bang & Olufsen is definitely one way to get that. They’ve been around for a while, and now do the H8 which are Bluetooth, but I prefer a hard wired connection which will never compromise the quality. They are expensive at around £280, but are worth the purchase for those looking for a serious sound with style.
If money is not an object, and you want to buy a high end piece of tech which most will not have, the DJI Phanton 3 drone will fit the bill. It will cost you upwards of £600, but this is very much the Rolls Royce of drones. With features like an intelligent flight system, GPS which you can map out a route and it will fly to that and return home, it’s easy to use. The camera records upto 2.7K video, half 4K, and can snap 12MP photos in it’s journey which can be anything up to 25 minutes on a full charge.
The Marshall Amps are an iconic design, anyone who likes rock or guitar music or has any kind of music knowledge will instantly recognise the design of this Bluetooth speaker. Coming in at around £170 it’s reasonably priced, and for that you do get this really nice design, which will look great in any bedroom, lounge, dining room or kitchen.
It was launched a few months ago on the back of the successful Surface Pro 3, the Surface Pro 4 looks to build upon that and goes from strength to strength. If you want a laptop replacement this should be worth considering, and if you travel a lot it could save you lots of space as well as being powerful. These start at £749, for power I’d recommend starting at the 256GB/i5/8GB Ram option, which is £1079.
If a new laptop or an upgrade is something you’re looking at, Dell has the one for you. If I was going to get a new laptop I’d have to seriously consider the Dell XPS 13 with the brand new 6th Generation Processor. The XPS 13 (9350) comes with a touchscreen and an infinity display, with an i7, Windows 10, 8GB Ram and a 256GB SSD Drive. All that comes in at just over a grand, £1149 in fact. High end ultrabooks don’t look better than this, and if you want to spend even more you can max this thing out for £1649 and get a 1TB SSD Drive and 16GB Ra. Did I mention it was only 1.29KG.
So that’s the top gadgets this year for Christmas, hopefully you’ll get something here, buy one for someone or buy yourself something 😉
I love retro gaming! I was lucky enough to be born when I was, and so I had games machines like the NES, and a few SNES and Sega Megadrive consoles too; Those to me are my childhood, and when I got a bit older came the PlayStation/Dreamcast/N64 generation; and I had the best one, the PlayStation.
Between those I had others, in the handheld department I had an Atari Lynx and SEGA Game Gear, I also had an Atari Jaguar, and computers including Atari ST along with a whole host of Amigas, including a few Amiga 1200’s, which was probably my favourite in the computer department.
I’ve only gone and got myself an iPad Mini 2!! So this is a strange time to buy this, but I can explain all! 😉
I have an iPad 2, and had it for a hell of a long time, over 4 years in fact which is a lifetime in technology terms. It’s been a great thing to have, but it’s getting a bit old, slow and tired, and although it’s been useable, it has seen better days. Even before I bought that I wanted a bigger iPad, but there was no such thing at the time. Last year the iPad Mini 3 was released, and the Mini 2 came down in price, I think it was £279 for a 32GB which was so tempting! There were rumours of a larger iPad in the works, so I held off.
Several months ago I got what I (thought I) wanted, a larger iPad was announced to be released in November. I was excited, and planned on getting one when they were released. But Apple just stated “November” with no actual date, and not even a price for the UK. The speculated price for a 128GB model is £799, and I was happy to pay that, until I got thinking (also with help from watching the Microsoft Surface keynote).
The iPad Mini 4 is now available, and they’ve kept the mini 2 going, with an even better price of £259 for a 32GB. This was now far too tempting, and after a few weeks of contemplating I have finally upgraded and got myself this brand new iPad Mini 2 and couldn’t be happier.
It’s simple, the iPad Mini 2 fits my lifestyle. I wanted a big pro, but when I thought more and more about it, and what I would actually use it for myself (rather than what it can do for other people) I figured out that it would be a bit of a waste. What do I use my iPad for? Reading web pages, a few apps, and that’s about it. I love my iPhone, and use that a lot, and rarely use my iPad if I’m honest. I wanted a pro for the large screen and big space to put lots of films, but really, I watch films on my far larger and better TV via blu ray, so I don’t think I would watch many at all, even though it seems like a really good idea. The iPad Pro is also untried, and doesn’t have a few things that other new Apple products have such as 3D touch, so it’s almost old before it’s even been released!
It seems a bit odd to go from a regular size iPad, want a bigger one, and in fact buy a small one, but that’s how it’s happened! 😛 I’ve been using it for a little while and love it, it feels so much faster and all round better than my iPad 2, which has been good to me. Why not the Mini 4? I don’t think the higher price justifies it, other than the fact that you can get it in gold and it has slight performance benefits.
I will be using this as a reader, probably a few apps and that’s about it. It’ll be good for reading blogs and doing social media, and should last a couple of years, and for £259 you can’t really see better than that. I don’t think I took full advantage of my iPad 2, and used it sparingly, but I think with this one being smaller it fits perfectly as a coffee table device, and can live on a bedside table too.
As for the Pro? I’ll put the idea of getting one on the back burner for now. I may get one sometime in the future, it just won’t be now, or I may not get one at all, and get an ultrabook like a Dell XPS or a Surface Pro, or Surface Book which are proper computers for just a bit more money.
You’ve made the leap to a DSLR camera from a compact, you’ve had a lot of fun taking great photos with the kit lens you got with the camera, but where do you go from here?
What lens should you buy? If these are the questions you’re asking yourself, hopefully I can give you some advice from my experiences 🙂
Christmas is only a week away, so time is ticking away for getting presents! The last date for UK Christmas post is Friday 19th December for 1st Class, some online shops are still offering next day delivery until Monday 22nd December, and of course there’s always good old traditional shops if you wanna go in store and grab a last minute pressie! 😉
If you’re Apple then you’re saying that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones are “Bigger Than Bigger”. If you have an iPhone or follow technology, it’s been no secret that the new iPhone would be bigger, and the rumours were true, they did indeed release 2 models which they’ve named the 6 and 6 plus.
I have had a few iPhone now; The 3G, 4, 5 and now 6. This is the first iPhone I have ever bought on release day, and the first direct from Apple. It’s also the first time I have gone back to buying a SIM-FREE phone, and will change from a contract to a 30 day rolling plan. This is expensive up front, with the handset costing £699, however it does work out just over a hundred quid cheaper over 2 years which most contracts are. I got the 128GB iPhone 6 in Space Grey, the same handset would have cost me £209.99 and cheapest tariff of £48/month for 2 years! This is too expensive, I was paying £43 which I thought was also too expensive, so I wanted to bring the monthly cost down; I’ll be getting a plan which is around £22/month. Not only is it cheaper, I will not be locked into a deal for 24 months.
OK let’s get down to it. The biggest noticeable change is the size of the phone. It is bigger, it has a 4.7″ screen whereas the 5 has a 4″ screen. The screen size is very noticeably larger when you’re using it, and that’s a good thing. A bigger screen for apps, games and even email and messages is always going to be better, and let’s be honest, that’s why we use these devices. But we have to consider the fundamentals, this is a phone, and you will be carrying it around with you, day in, day out. The iPhone 6 is very slightly wider, and a little bit taller, however it is a lot thinner. Since it’s a lot thinner it fits in jean pockets very easily, and although it’s bigger, it’s not too big for jean or jacket pockets.
The weight is also only slightly more; The iPhone 6 is only 17 grams heavier, and because it’s a bigger device, the weight is spread across it so does not really feel much heavier if at all. It’s also lighter than the iPhone 4, and in fact all other previous models (other than the 5/5S). The most important factor in the size is that it’s super thin, and has rounded edges rather than a squared block-brick style has before.
What about using the phone, as a phone? Yes, it’s a shock some people out there use their phones to actually talk to people. Holding it in one hand is certainly different. I have large hands, and although it’s fairly comfortable, because it’s so thin and is larger than any other phone I have held, it’s an adjustment.
iPhone 5 height – 123.8 mm
iPhone 6 height – 138.1mm
iPhone 5 width – 58.6 mm
iPhone 6 width – 67.0mm
iPhone 5 depth – 7.6mm
iPhone 6 depth – 6.9mm
Another key point for mobile devices such as phone is the battery life. If you’ve got and iPhone or previously owned one, you’ll know that the battery is not great, in fact it’s pretty poor. It’s probably the one thing which has not really made much in the way of development, the standby time is quoted at 250 hours, which has been more or less consistent in the iPhone ranges over the years (the £g/3GS/4 was allegedly 300). In the real world of using it, I have not noticed any improvements, however it’s also not getting worse, and since this is a bigger device and using more power, many may say that it is in fact a net improvement.
Apple still have the internal battery which you can’t remove, it would be really nice to see a swappable battery, where you could always have a spare to swap-out. If Apple ever did this, I am sure they would sell a LOT of batteries for those who want to do this.
In terms of using the device, It feels slightly faster, and slightly more fluid, so you can feel a bit of a difference, albeit small, when you’re using it for day to day stuff. The camera is slightly better too, and the speakers sound much better, clearer and louder. It has NFC however there seems to be no option, and it’s said that this will be locked down to Apple Pay only. Other changes which are in iOS8 will be available to the iPhone 5/5S.
I love technology, and I want the best possible device. The iPhone 6 Plus has a couple of more bells and whistles than the 6. For instance, it’s got a bigger screen, at 5.5″. Not only that, the resolution is better, at 1920×1080 which is Full HD. It’s got OIS (optical image stabilisation) in the camera too, and the quoted battery life is better. There’s no doubt, the tech specs on paper show the 6 Plus as being a more powerful device. However it is far too big! I tested this by using a cut-out of the 6 Plus, and it’s not only a huge amount bigger than the 5, it’s even much bigger than the 6. I decided that it was just too big for me, my pockets and my life. I would love the big screen and the rest of the good stuff, but I think it’s just too big to live with.
The 6 has a few things missing from it, for instance the front facing camera is still the same 1.2MP FaceTime camera as was on the 5, with slightly better aperture. With everyone taking selfies, you would have thought that they’d make improvements in that area. The camera on the rear is also 8MP, the same as the 5, but with the better aperture and focus pixels which promises to make images better. The battery life is not improved, and cannot be replaced. It has the new A* and M8 for power, but the RAM is still 1GB however it is DDR3 rather than the DDR2 of the iPhone 5.
I like the new iPhone 6. The new size is good, I like the design and the slenderness of the phone, and as usual it’s just a nice device to use, if you’ve got or had an iPhone there’s not much of a transition to make. If you have an iPhone 4 or 4S then it’s definitely worth the upgrade. If you love the latest and greatest thing then you’ll be upgrading. If you have a 5/5S and are happy with it, and aren’t bothered about a bigger screen, then you may not want to upgrade. If you are looking for an upgrade or a new phone, it’s worth considering 🙂
UPDATE: Is an iPhone 6 still good in 2020? Find out here.
All the pics below…
Michael 84 is often named amongst the best mens fashion bloggers in the UK and the world.
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