Nikon S3100 - Review

The S3100 is based on the design features of being easy to use and small and compact you are are able to fit it into your pocket and if you want to take a picture just point and shoot. Showing off a range of scene modes you are able to pick the situation you are in and it will adjust the setting of the camera to get the best shot possible. Rocking at 14 megapixel CCD sensor is for those who just want to take simple photos the camera is a plain and simple point and shoot.

The camera is very easy to use, using the zoom which is positioned round the shutter release you are able to zoom up to 5x using the optical zoom into your subject and simply just focus and take a photo. The camera when using it seemed a little bit slower than I expected from a compact camera and some others in the same price range I know to have a faster focus time. When taking a photo of a landscape I was pleasantly surprised at some of the results as it was able to take a good shot as long as you had a good few seconds to take the photo.

In a compact camera these days consumers expect a good performing continuous shoot mode so they can keep up with subject weather that is kids running round the house or their dog in the park and when using this shoot mode on the S3100 is seemed very unresponsive and slow so if you are using it this this kind of environment your result would be poor.

Navigation through the different setting was very simple and easy to use, just pressing the record button you could put it into video mode without having to change it into video mode in the settings. Being able to select the different scenes was very easy again which shows how Nikon know who the camera is aimed at and have made the different feature easy to access to take advantage of. For those wanting to do a little but more with the camera the only setting you will be able to have fun with is white balance as this range of camera does not support any kind of manual setting what so ever.

My overall conclusion of the camera being that if you are after just a very simple point and shoot camera for landscapes and taking picture of the family then this will be perfect for you, with a range of colour you will be able to find one that fits your style but for those expecting a high performance compact camera this would not be a camera I would recommend. It struggled in macro mode when trying to take pictures of small details and objects up close but the landscape features seemed to be good. Personally does not suit my needs for a camera but would be good for someone looking for just a very simple point and shoot.

Nikon J1 - In Depth Review with Sample Images & Video

Nikon J1 - Initial thoughts
When you first take a look at the camera you can tell it is a camera which is aimed at the consumer market and this is clear from the size of the camera and also how it is designed. The design is very sleek & sexy which will appeal to the consumer market which will care about how the camera looks when they are using it but that is not the only appeal to the camera cause the power inside this little body is a force to be reckoned with in the compact systems market Slightly smaller sensor than the standard micro four thirds mirror camera range currently on the market but don't let that put off the camera as what you may think it lacks in spec it will make up for in quality images and video!

User Experience
Using the camera is a pleasure when you are using both the image and video aspects of the camera, using the crisp and sharp screen you get a good indication to the quality of the image before you get home and get it on the computer or print the image. The easy access to the flash is perfect when in low light situations it truly lights up the whole area and the images produced when using the flash are surprising in terms of the quality of expect. I have found when using other camera when you are focusing to take to take the photo it is a slow process and sometimes the moment you were waiting for has passed by the time the camera has focused, not with the J1 the camera has the fastest focusing time in the camera market at the minute, it is very impressive how fast the camera has focus and you are able to take a very crisp and high quality image in a matter of seconds which when I have used the bigger DSLR camera this is not an experience I have been able to have which really shows you the power of this camera.


Usability 
When navigating through the camera weather that is going through and changing the settings manually or you are just going through the photos and scroll wheel on the back makes this a pleasant experience and this in pairing with the easy to use menu system will not scare anyone who dares to play with the settings who is new to the word of photography. It is clear what every button does and the camera is not littered with buttons which have not purpose on the body when they could just be in the menu.

Modes 
The camera has a series of modes which will allow the new users of this style of camera to learn about all the different settings or allow them to just use the camera in automatic and let the camera do the work and allow them to get some excellent results. There is mode such as programmed auto which will allow to adjust a few of the settings but the camera still does some work, Shutter priority which allow you to create images with longer exposures, aperture priority creating images which will make the subjects of the image pop out and really make a crisp image and full manual mode which would be fantastic for DLSR to use if they are just wanting to use a camera with a smaller body but still wanting the same features that they can access on the bigger more powerful cameras.

Lenses and accessories
There is a series of different lenses that can be purchased with the camera and different boxed bundles that can be purchased as standard with the camera. When purchasing the camera I highly recommend you go for the twin lens kit as this gives you the 10-30mm lens (wide angle) and the 30-110mm lens (zoom lens) for most people these lens will be all you will ever need as this allows you to zoom into subjects and also get a wide angle landscapes you are after.  The reason I recommend to get the twin lens kit is cause you'll pay about £50 more for the package but if you wanted to get the zoom lens separate you will pay around £150 for it so you are making a saving you are getting a better range of images as with the one lens you will only be getting wide angle shots which for most users will put them off using the camera due to the limitations one lens will give you. 

Portability
The camera is very compact and this is perfect for people who love to travel either on holidays or days out, want to be able to go places and take quality photos but not want all the size and weight that having a DLSR system requires. I carry the camera in the LowePro Streamline which is a small bag but I use this cause normally I wouldn't carry bags on a day out but the weight of the camera when using it in the bag is minor and having the bag is worth it for the quality of the images you are getting, although we would all love a camera that with just shove in your pocket you wont be able to do this with the J1 but a big coat pocket would be perfect for this camera so the size is slightly awkward but you will put up with the just a little to big body to have the power of a camera like this with you.

Conclusion
This camera is perfect for someone wanting to pay a little bit more money for a lot more quality than your standard point and shoot, want the near quality of DLSR systems but in a compact body and the portability that comes with a camera this size, want to be able to get into photography but not be thrown in at the deep end as the camera allows you to use all its different modes to the users advantage and if you love the idea of changing the lenses on your camera and want a professional feel the the pictures you are taking then this camera is perfect for you! I have had this camera for about 2 months now and it has not put a foot out of place and that is why I rate the camera so highly as it ticks all my boxes. The only down side to the Nikon 1 range is the current lack of lenses but Nikon are saying on the website they're working on more lens for the product, I would mainly like to see more a lens with a large zoom then the 30-110 as in rare situations you are limited to what you can take but that would be the only thing I can take away from this camera. Take a look at some of my sample images and see the quality of the camera for yourself.

ZipUp Headphones from ThumbsUp!

Zip up, look Sharp!

 New zip headphones from technology developers ThumbsUp are set to make headphone wires more consumer friendly. The zip feature of the headphones makes it less likely for the wires to get tangled up means less prep time when listening to music as most headphones these days come out of your pocket or bag tangled up leaving you a task before your tunes start.  

The headphones combine usability with style as the headphones come in colours orange, pink and black which will fit into the modern day trends and fashion but the usability coming from the zip itself as the zip allows you to adjust the length that you would like the wire, handy cause most wires these days are either to short or to long! 

The earphones are set to release at the RRP of £12.99 and work with a 3.5mm jack which are compatible with all apple products (iPhone, iPod & iPad), most modern day smart phones and MP3 players making them suitable for kinds of users.

More information and purchases are available from www.menkind.co.uk and http://www.iwantoneofthose.com

Google Drive Review

Google drive is Google’s answer to drop box, recent rumours have put Google’s was working on online cloud based storage. This has in fact been correct as yesterday Google announced the service and what they have to offer. 

Google Drive offers a free usage of 5GB which beats off the competition of DropBox which only currently offers 2GB of space which sees a Google advantage. But questions have been asked if Google are too late with this service as other companies have already made their way into the market and established customers and a reputation.  I think that Google are not too late with this service as they are currently working to integrate all their different services into one package which I feel makes the service simple and easy to use as you only need to log on once and you have access. Also for those who already use and like Google’s services will switch or begin to use this service as they will already have a Google account. 

Only negative that has been found with the service is the terms and conditions that come with the service. “Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.” Now depending on what you are storing on this service this may or may not affect you. I personally to do believe this will bother me what so ever as I have experience with Google and know what to expect from there services also what I will be storing will not have a great deal of importance just documents and files I would like to access to from more than just my laptop. But in definition of the terms and conditions they can do what they want with whatever you upload.

If you want more space with this service you are able to pay a monthly fee to increase the size of your storage space, this payment is more affordable than DropBox’s increased storages sizes and can reach from just 25GB of space for $2.49 to 16TB of space for $800 a month. Due to the fact they have a variety of different sizes on offer I believe this will be a large reason why people will want to user this service.

Overall I think what Google is doing is great and I will be using this service when it is released to the public, the service will allow you to share and collaborate with others not just access your work and you can download the folder to your computer which will update to all your other storage points which can be another computer, on a MAC or even on your phone as Google already have a Google drive app ready to be used when the service is released to the public. 

Orbitsound T3 Portable Speaker

This speaker from Orbitsound is small and compact. It may be small but don’t let its size deceive you. Most speakers I have tried that are of a similar size have had a sound quality of a mobile phone, but the T3 can put out some incredible sound quality.

I have used the speaker in different scenarios so I was able to test it for different purposes. I plugged it into my IPod to watch a film, the speaker did not struggle at all. Movies sounded very clear and had no problem dealing with the louder parts of the film such as explosions or gun shots.

Listening to music on the speaker is great due to its size. As it has no wires, you can just pick it up and take it wherever you go. This gives it a great advantage to most travel speakers that need to be plugged in. Having tried various music genres with the speakers it has proved it can handle any sound. The only negative I have discovered is that the sound that seems to muffle slightly during dubstep drops.

The speaker can be very loud. However,  I have found when using it with my phone the speaker begins to muffle  after the three quarter volume mark. I have only had this problem with my phone. When using the speaker with my laptop and IPod it puts out fantastic sound quality.

Battery on the speaker is a lot more than stated. I find I can get about 15 hours out of the speaker whereas the creators of the speaker say it can do around 10 hours. I found the battery life very impressive and think that the brilliant sound output makes it a very good travel speaker.

Overall, the speaker in terms of a travel speaker is very impressive. The size of the speaker does not give a good representation of what the speaker can really do. When using the speaker you can easily fill a room with sound. I would definitely recommend this travel speaker as it has excellent all round performance.

JVC HAFX1X Xtreme Xplosives In-Ear Headphones

The Xtreme Xplosive JVC headphones came highly recommended from a lot of reviews on amazon and due to the price tag on them they were worth buying if they were to be poor headphones. As soon as you try a song with these headphones you can straight away tell that there is something different about them and that’s the fact that the quality of the music is so much higher than any other headphones you have bought for the same price. The headphones have a broad range of sound so no matter what style of music you listen to they are able to make it sound more brilliant then what you have listened to the song on before, the design of the headphones is very stylish and has a coloured wire which makes them stand out and gives them a fashionable edge.

Practically after long term testing the headphones of the last 4 months I can with confidence say that if I listen to music on other headphones of this size the music does not sound half as good. Due to the fact they are in ear they can be used for more than just travelling to work with, I find that you can go to the gym with them in and I have never once had them fall out of my ear as they come with different size ear cups which allows you to find the correct fitting to they sit in your ear comfortably and tightly art the same time.  I currently use they to travel to university with which involves walking down busy roads, riding the bus and travelling on the train. When you put the headphones in you can just about block out any sounds which are around you and that’s without even having any music which means when you are listening to the music that is all you can hear which is the way I think music should be listened to.

In my personal opinion having tried the competition on the market out such bas the dr. dre beatz in ear headphones they have a better sound quality and for the price you’re paying it makes them so much more desirable than the beatz as they have a fantastic sound quality. I you are looking to buy some headphones for general use, travelling to work / school or the gym I can strongly recommend them in all these categories.

My JVC XX review Video



Gadget Show 2012

I went to the gadget show very excited as this was my first time I have ever been to a convention and I had seen what was on show at other conventions like E3 and CES. I had a press pass for the Tuesday and a public pass for the Thursday as there is plenty to do while you are there and I am tech lover so on both days I would have loads of fun. The main things on show were TVs, headphones, speaker systems and games.

The show was not at all disappointing, as soon as you walk into the place you feel instantly excited about looking round as you can see all the bits of tech in the booths from phones to TVs and it suddenly makes you feel like a kid in a candy shop. As I am only young looking at the TVs were not my main attraction when I was at the show but some of them that were there were impressive. The 3D era has begun as every company there were showing off their version of the 3D effect, some of the TVs has a great picture with the 3D although I am not a fan of viewing in this style in the home as I would prefer to see this done correctly at the cinema but what stood out above the rest was the “LG 60PZ550” which allows 2 people to watch two completely different TV shows or 2 players see different screens while playing a game using 2 sets of 3D glasses you can only see 1 thing on the screen and the other person cannot see what you are watching, that was the stand out feature of a TV at the gadget show for me.

Headphones are one item I do not leave the house with ever and there were lots on show. You could get anything from in-ear, on-ear, over ear to normal headphones so there was plenty types to give a try for peoples preference and lots of a brands showing off their latest tech. I tried out lots of headphones while I was there as all types seems to work well with me so if the product delivers a good sound quality that would be the product I would want to purchase. The over ear headphones which really stood out to me having tried them with lots of styles of music were the Soul brand headphones by Ludacris, giving a fantastic noise cancellation as when I had them on even without music I could not hear the many noises of the convention and when I put the headphones on they had some fantastic sound which I can easily say can match or even beat the Beatz but I cannot say for sure without a real test but the Soul headphones were very impressive but on the expensive side of the headphone market. Even thou I already own the headphones I must say the best in-ear headphones had to the JVC XX series headphones but now they have re-designed the headphones and improved them. The headphones new series makes them look visually a lot more stylish and appealing and although the improvement to the sound quality is minor they are fantastic headphones anyhow and I would recommend them to anyone who wants a good priced set of headphones but a fantastic quality sound. 

Orbitsound T12v3

To accompany the TVs that were on show you’ll have to have a fancy sound system to as in recent years as TVs have got thinner it has been sacrificed at the cost of good sound quality. At the show there were lots of surround sound systems for televisions which were all very impressive but for a common house having the having subwoofers and speaker scattered around might not be possible or practical. The speaker system which appealed to me the most was the Orbitsound T12v3 which is a sound bar which sits under your TV, using technology that will make a surround sound like environment this awesome bit a kit will kick out some sound which will compete with any surround sound system on the market, this piece of kit was making easy work of the latest avengers trailer which was being shown on the television with the sound bar. 

There was a whole range of games to soon be released onto the market to try out the demo of on HD TVs on some of the best PCs and consoles you could get your hands on. Out of the few that were on show which were Spec ops: The Line, Sniper Elite V2 and Dirt: Showdown,  Sniper Elite was the game that stood out the most for me, I have not played the original game so I tried the game with a fresh slate on what the game might be like. The game is extremely well thought out set just after World War 2 when the Russians were invading Germany. Playing as a sharp shooter playing in 3^rd person you sneak round the levels using your sniper to take out targets and having tried to just go in the shoot my way mindlessly through the game it does not work and it is a whole lot more entertaining finding a good vantage point and picking off your enemies and the game going into its bullet time showing you where you shot them and the damage you do to them with the bullet which adds another level of entertainment to the game. The game is nothing like I have played before and it was a breath of fresh air to play it and I intend to buy the game when it gets released.

Gadget show 2012 was a fantastic event to attend which I really enjoyed, if did not attend the event I would highly recommend that you attend next year if you get the opportunity as the ticket entry is nothing compared to all the fun you can have at the show. After the fun I have had at this year’s show I will defiantly be attending next year.