All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Unknown's avatar

About Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

President, CEO & Editor of https://gavinsgadgets.com Reviews & News of Technology

Another Review from the Past – Brando USB Fridge

Historical Reviews, Tech News

This review was written in August 2007. I must of had a fascination with usb gadgets back then.

Brando USB Fridge

Welcome to my next review. I really must start by thanking Brando Shopping for sending me another USB product. I must admit I was not sure what to expect when I knew I would be receiving a USB Fridge, but nonetheless I was very excited to open the packaging and connect up my new Fridge to my laptop. And what a beauty. I had a lot of curiosity at work, with my boss even trying to steal my fridge. The fridge comes in a large box packaging to protect it perfectly during transit. The operation is very simple. Plug into a usb port, open the fridge door and place can inside. It is as simple as that.

Image

The main specifications/features are:-

– Cools a beverage from 5V USB Power

– Stylized as a mini fridge

– Holds one can

– Internal LED light

– USB powered

– No batteries required

– Plug and play

– Temperature of cooling pad decreases to 8.5 degrees after 5 mins

– Dimension: 19.4x9x9cm

– Weight: 362g

Image

A cool gadget and highly recommended.

Any questions, please ask. Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Review From the Past – Brando USB Roll-Up Drum Kit

Historical Reviews, Tech News

Here is another gadget review of mine from the past. Actually it was written on 19th June 2007

Brando USB Roll-up Drum Kit

Pros: Great fun, small and discrete. Won’t annoy the neighbours.

Cons: None

Image

Good day everyone. For my next review, I thought I would review another item that caught my attention from Brando Shopping – a USB Roll-Up Drum Kit.

The USB Roll-up Drum Kit came in a well package box to protect the contents, which included the drum kit, 2 plastic sticks, instructions and cd software.

I first installed the software onto my pc, and then plugged the drum kit into the usb port and voila. In case you are wondering, the official specifications are:-

  • Rolls up to a small size
  • Easy storage
  • Innovative interfaces allows all programming and sound to be activated on your computer screen
  • 3-level learning feature
  • Play along option
  • Record/playback and program option
  • Save and E-mail to friends
  • Tone: 6 Levels and Default of (-3 to +3)
  • Tempo 40-208 Bpm
  • Five playing pads (for Sanre, kick, plus 2 toms)
  • 50 Percussion Sounds
  • 20 Preprogrammed percussion sets
  • 100 Preprogrammed beats
  • Plugs into your USB for power
  • No batteries required
  • Compatible with Windows XP/2000
  • A pair of drum stick
  • CD with software
  • User guide

As you can see from the photo below, it is not too big. There are many options and special effects. You do not have to use the external drum kit, you can operate it via your pc using the mouse on the drum controls on the software. However, I personally found using my hands on the external drum kit the most fun.

The pc controls are very simple. My laptop has seen better days, hence the vertical lines on the screen. Refer to picture below:-

Image

Obviously, this drum kit is not as good as the real thing, but it certainly takes away a lot of frustration, and is very fun to use and has a number of options, more than I anticipated. Recommended. Any comments or questions please ask. Gavin.

The Ultimate Watch for your iPhone 5 / 4S

Apple, Tech News

I came across the Casio GB-6900AA-1ER and immediately I was taken aback. It is a G-Shock watch, featuring Bluetooth v4.0 and has a special app for linking to the iPhone.

Bluetooth v4.0 is a low powered device, and allows the watch to alert you on incoming mail and calls, has a phone finder function alert, auto time update and much much more. It’s is also a full featured G-Shock watch.

Rather drool worthy. Don’t you think so too?

Time to show some love for the Apple Lightning to 30 Pin Adapter

Apple, Tech News

New products and a new connector, with a high price charged by Apple to make your old products work with the new connection, lightning.

To be honest, I really like the new connector. It is reversible, light and looks rather neat. I don’t like the £25-30 cost of the adapter or adapter cable.

However, it may be time to show some love towards the 30 pin adapter. Why, well actually it’s a complex piece of kit. More importantly its has a Wolson Micro High Performance WM8533 Digital to Analogue Chip inside. In addition there is a Cirrus Logic audio chip with markings CL1I596A0. There are also a number of other micro components inside.

The Wolson DAC is a great little number and great at converting the audio from digital to analogue. And it is of reasonable quality.

Is the cost of the adapters still justified. Not really, but at least you can quote chip name and numbers and feel slightly better about it.

The iPad Mini – The impact on the AppStore

Apple, Tech News

The iPad Mini is Apple answer to all the 7 inch android tablets. Except Apple did something clever, they made it 7.9 inches. And provided a beautifully made product at a beautifully high price. Whether its worth the high price is debatable. But if you want one, that’s the price and that is what you have to pay. However, judging by the current sales, the IPad Mini is a runaway success and is sure to feature in many people’s Xmas presents.

It is also impacting the AppStore. It is not unusual, to see a ton of app updates hit the Apple AppStore before Xmas but what is really noticeable over the last few weeks, is the number of apps suddenly go universal and in the what’s new section, mention the iPad Mini. In addition a number of apps have been fine tunes for the iPad Mini.

So, if you have both an iPhone/iPod Touch and an iPad Mini, look carefully at the list of uninversal apps. You will find some new additions like Copilot and Tumblr.

My new Blackberry Curve 9320 vs BB10

RIM, Tech News

At work we have tight security. So we have to use work supplied blackberry’s that needs crazy long passwords each and every time you need to use it. Whilst this is a nuisance it does provide top notch security if the phone is ever lost. For the last 2 years I have been using an old blackberry with a roller mouse. Finally it gave up the ghost. I now have a Blackberry Curve 9320 which feels state of the art compared to my last blackberry. The keyboard feels easier and faster to type on. The screen is marginally better simply because I have more colour. This will be used for email, texts and phone calls only. For this function it is a superb piece of kit. It also seems to have a newer firmware, so I am seeing extra information in various screens.

I do wonder how BB10 will compare to the blackberry of old, and will it lose it key focus. Time will tell. I also wonder if blackberry lost their opportunity to strike some years ago before their market share crashed.

What do you think?

Get Ready for Free Apps, Music, Videos & Massive Reductions

Android, Apple, Tech News

It’s at that time of year where Google, Apple and developers are getting ready to offer free and reduced media, from apps, films, music and more.

Firstly, make sure you have the 12 Days of Xmas app from Apple installed. Every day from the 26th December something free is given away. Last year was a mix of songs, music videos, films, apps and TV shows. If you install the app now as I did, I have already have received a free music video.

Second. The Apple AppStore closes shortly, and it is then that a number of developers reduce their apps. Why. Well just think of all those people opening Apple gear over Xmas. Reducing and promoting the reduction, in turn pushes your apps higher up the table, and in turn creates more sales. In fact, getting it right over Xmas means a massive spike in sales for developers. For us consumers, we get a ton of apps for a small amount of money.

So if you have android watch out as Google is offering something similar to Apple’s 12 days of Xmas. In fact it has also given away a free music video, ironically of the same artist Rod Stewart. If Google do anything like they did last year, they offered a sale on apps at crazy low prices. In fact, when I got my new Samsung Note last year, I was able to purchase all the apps I wanted for under £5. I bought over 15. Link to Google promotion Xmas Google Offer

In addition, the developers on the android platform offer similar reductions. The difference here is making sure you check out the variety of difference sources the apps are available from as android apps can be bought from many difference places. Make sure you have the Amazon AppStore app installed. Between Google, Amazon and the developers own websites they is sure to be huge discounts on offer.

So whatever you do, do sneak a peek at the deals whilst eating your Xmas pudding.