Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo – Waterproof, Dirtproof & Shockproof Bluetooth Speaker Review

accessories, Audio, Reviews, Tech News,

Polk Boom review

Welcome to my review of the Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo. The Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo is a great bluetooth speaker. I am having a blast using it and it has replaced all bluetooth speakers in my home. Now watch my review to find out more, and watch it dance too! The recommended retail price of the Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo is £49.99.

Video Review

The Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo Lowdown

Waterproof – The Polk BOOM is IPX7. That means it can be immersed in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes. Take it to the pool, ocean, and even the shower. Bottom line — just soak it and boogie away.

Dirtproof – Completely sealed from dirt, dust, mud and sand, the Swimmer keeps all filth out and your favorite tunes on full blast wherever you adventure. Journey on!

Shockproof – The Swimmer’s rugged rubberized exterior is built to absorb the drops inherent in any great adventure. Leave your worries at the door and don’t worry about dropping it.

Key Specifications

– Power Ouput: 2.5 Watts
– Battery Type: Lithium-ion Polymer 3.7 V, 430 mAh
– Battery Charge Time : 2 hrs at 0.5A
– Frequency Response: 220Hz – 20kHz
– Signal-to-Noise Ratio: > 75 dB
– Transducer: 30 mm full-range suspended within 45 mm passive-radiator
– Bluetooth Version: v4.1
– Bluetooth Support: A2DP v1.3, HFP v1.6, HSP v1.2, AVRCP v1.5, SPP v1.2
– Bluetooth Transmitter power: 8 dBm
– Bluetooth Transmitter Frequency Range:2.402 – 2.480 GHz
– Battery Life – 8 Hours
– Link 2 for stereo
– Answer calls, end calls, adjust volume and tracks

Final Thoughts

When I first got my Polk BOOM Swimmer Duo my expectations were blown away from the moment I turned it on. The sound is loud and punches way above its weight. Its versatility from being waterproof, dirtproof, shockproof and attachable to clothing, walls, chairs and more make it a clear win and recommendation.

Useful Links

Latest info and pricing on Amazon UK – http://amzn.to/2dFGYg7

Polk Boom review

FYI – Video/Photos shot/filmed on a Honor 8.

Shot on the Apple iPhone 7 Plus – My Favourite Sunset Shot

Apple, Photography, Tech News, ,

Since iOS 10 opened up native RAW support, the iPhone just became far more flexible. Shot on the iPhone 7 Plus in raw, using the Adobe Lightroom Mobile app, and edited with the app too.

Cracking Colours at Sunset

The sun was near perfect at sunset on Dartmoor. The natural colours were wonderful.

Cracking colours at sunset #dartmoor

Honor 8 Smartphone Review – The Best Phone under £400 – Plus Camera Shootout with iPhone 7 Plus

Android, Reviews, Tech News,

Honor 8

Welcome to my review of the Honor 8 smartphone. The Honor 8 is one of the most beautiful phones on the market, yet it only costs £369 sim free.

And yet its not all about the looks. The Honor 8 shines in so many other areas too. To recap on my earlier posts –

First Camera Shots from the Honor 8 – Plus Video

Night Time / Pitch Black Camera Shootout – Apple iPhone 7 Plus vs Honor 8

Honor 8 – Impressions One Week Later

Unlike my previous reviews, I am going to start with my conclusion. The Honor 8 is the best sub £400 phone I have used and consequently highly recommended. To find out why, view my video review below and additional video on the photos. For the latest pricing on Amazon UK – Click HERE.

Video Review

The Honor 8 Review

Camera Shots Video

The Key Specifications

– SCREEN 1920×1080 5.2″ LCD, 423ppi
– OS Android 6.0 with EMUI 4.1
– CPU Eight-core HiSilicon Kirin 950 (four 2.3GHz Cortex A72 cores and four 1.8 GHz Cortex A53s cores)
– RAM 4GB
– GPU Mali-T880 MP4
– STORAGE 32GB plus a Micro SD slot
– NETWORKING 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC
– BANDS WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B8, GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz,LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B17/B20
– PORTS USB 2.0 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
– CAMERA Dual 12MP rear camera, 8MP front camera
– SIZE 145.5 x 71 x 7.45mm
– WEIGHT 153g
– BATTERY 3000mAh
– EXTRAS NFC, 9V/2A quick charging, fingerprint sensor, notification LED, IR blaster

Honor 8 hardware

The Honor 8 Lowdown

Following on from my video review, the Honor 8 is a remarkable phone. It looks stunning. It has superb wifi, bluetooth and cellular strength and connectivity. It includes an infra red blaster. The 3,000mah battery lasts a day and a half. The phone is the perfect size for one handed use and fits in all my pockets. The camera for photos is excellent. The camera app includes so many modes to make photography easy and enjoyable. Into selfies, the 8mp front camera makes you look perfect! In terms of video, its performance is not the strongest but it did outperform my iPhone 7 Plus this week. This week I have another 4 videos being published on Gavin’s Gadgets. Three of them were recorded on the Honor 8, the other one and the review of the Honor 8 were filmed on the iPhone 7 Plus.

Camera Samples

Honor 8 - Lightroom mobile enhanced shots

Church of St Michael & All Angels - Spooked #Honor8

Dartmeet - Long Exposure #Honor8

Bellever Tor, Dartmoor #honor8

Delicious Healthy Food #Honor8

Don’t forget to check out the posts linked at the start which contain further camera samples.

Final Words

After a decent android phone. Then check out the Honor 8. It is my top recommendation of 2016.

Useful Links

Latest Pricing and Info on Amazon UK – http://amzn.to/2dCqngz

Google Pixel Phone – First Shots from the Camera

Android, Tech News, ,

When Google announced the new Pixel Phone, it claimed it had the best camera on any phone and had the highest mark ever awarded by DxOmark of 89. So to wet your appetite, below are a selection of photos from the Pixel Phone, courtesy of Google.

1

5

1

4

If you want to check out even more shots from the Pixel, hit the link below.

Source – Google

AT&T looking to end all sales of the Samsung Note 7 – Details

Android, Tech News

Via Bloomberg.

“AT&T Inc. is considering stopping all sales of Samsung Electronics Co.’s flagship Galaxy Note 7 over concerns about the smartphone’s safety, according to a person familiar with the situation. A final decision will likely come as soon as Friday, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook declined to comment.”

After my post yesterday on the continuing drama on the Note 7, to recap Click HERE if AT&T halted sales of the Note 7, this would be the end of the line for this phone, as other networks/carriers would follow suit soon after. AT&T is Samsung’s third largest customer too.

This is not good news – A Replaced Samsung Note 7 explodes – Lab Test Results are in – UPDATED

Android, Tech News, , ,

fire
Updated – AT&T and Sprint have now told their customers that they can return their replacement Note 7 for any other phone. 

Samsung is not having a break on the continuing saga on the exploding Samsung Note 7’s. Samsung has upset many people who bought the Note 7, myself included, over their poor communication and handling of the situation.

Now matters get worse.

A replaced Note 7 exploded as a customer was boarding a plane in the USA. The Verge have verified via the IMEI Samsung Note 7 recall checker that it is a replaced phone. The Verge also confirmed that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission is opening an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile back in the UK, the Royal Mail (UK’s Post Office) are not allowing any Note 7’s to be posted. This has been verified by Android Authority.

Now the Telegraph has reported that a laboratory took a Note 7 and applied some stress to it, to see what happened. As you can see from the photo above, it exploded rapidly.

So this leaves some unanswered questions, none of which Samsung are currently explaining or demonstrating in an open environment. Is the design of the Note 7 flawed? Is it too thin? Does applying some pressure trigger the battery plates to touch and then ignite? Were the batteries really faulty? The list of what ifs goes on an on. Surely, it would make sense for Samsung to put a global position of unity and invite members of the press to record and see for themselves, Samsung undertaking a range of tests to prove the safety of their phones.

Samsung’s brand is taking a bruising. This is not going to be an easy ride!

Rear Cameras with high DxOMark Scores are Pointless Now – This is Why?

Android, Apple, Tech News,

Zoom Test

I have used 4 smartphones with more than one lens setup. These include the LG V10 (with 2 front cameras), the LG G5 (with a normal and super wide lens), the Honor 8 (with a colour and monochrome lens) and the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (with a wide and telephoto lens). The photo above is using the iPhone 7 Plus wide and then telephoto lens.

The additional camera tricks these dual lens phones can pull off often outweigh the benefits of a single camera with higher quality scores, often produced by DxOmark. I know some of you will say DxOmark scores are inaccurate, well actually they are correct as the are measuring the camera sensor, not the sensor plus software plus ease of operation etc.

But we now have reached a point where a DxOmark of 80 and above is good enough, often very good. Any errors in exposure etc can be covered up with a filter or are so insignificant it doesn’t matter if the photo is pixel perfect. So it now falls to having a dual lens setup and the artistic options these provide. In my experience using the 4 phones, I can honestly say I would always pick a dual lens camera phone setup over a single rear camera lens that had a higher photo quality output.

My one proviso is that a dual lens camera setup is quick and speedy to take a shot. A fast processor and ISP are needed for these lenses. My last thought is that whoever snaps the shot, knows the basic photography techniques on how to compose a photo properly!

Google Pixel Phone – Only £819 for 128gb and no OIS – My Thoughts (I’ll try and be polite)

Android, Tech News,

Pixel

Google announced the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphone.

Pixel

There is no micro SD Card support so the 32gb version is not a storage size I would recommend. 128gb is the other option. In the larger XL phone, this costs a whopping £819. If this price seems familiar it is the same price as the new iPhone 7 Plus 128gb.

So let’s be very clear here. This is no iPhone. It is the run of the mill top end hardware specifications that are seen in many android phones, some of which cost around £400. What you are paying for is a pure Google experience. Well, you can achieve this without buying the Pixel phone.

My recommendation is not to buy this phone. Instead if you want to spend iPhone money, buy an iPhone. If you want an android phone then buy a Honor 8, Samsung Note 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 or a HTC 10. All of these phones will offer more interesting software and hardware experiences.

Apparently the Google Pixel phone obtained the highest mark for its camera sensor by DxOMark of 89. Whilst the sensor might be excellent, the camera software and processing are just as important. Looking at the rear camera in more depth, it only has a f stop of f/2.0. It also lacks optical image stabilisation. This concerns me that whilst the pixels are large it is not really any further advanced in the camera department over last years Google Nexus 6P.

There are no standout hardware features on the Pixel Phone either. If you buy a Honor 8 you have dual rear 12mp cameras and an infra red blaster. Plus the Honor 8 is gorgeous to look at. If you spend a bit more you get the HTC 10. Great hardware and software plus a monster headphone amp. Plus its camera does have OIS. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is a similar price to the HTC 10 but has more features than your kitchen sink. The Note 7 and iPhone 7 and packed to the rim with hardware and software innovation. The Google Pixel phone is bland in comparison and so bloody expensive.

Maybe you’re shouting at me as they come with free video and photo backups at full resolution. It’s not free really as the cost clearly has been built into the price of the phone!

In fact, I am so unimpressed by this phone from Google, words fail me!

Honor 8 – Impressions One Week Later

Android, Tech News, ,

Honor 8 hardware

It has now been exactly one week since my Honor 8 arrived. Below are my week one thoughts. My full review will come next week.

Without a shadow of doubt the Honor 8 is a beautiful phone to look at. It is also a phone that can be used one handed as it is not too big.

It is also the best Honor or Huawei phone I have used from a software and hardware point of view. Whilst its launcher skin is not everyone’s cup of tea, I have shown it to several non techie friends, all of which loved it and all the software features provided by EMUI v4.1. As I have mentioned before, if the launcher skin is not to your liking, android has many offerings available like Nova or Google Launcher to tweak the design. Personally, I like what Honor has done plus the ability to download different themes.

So apart from the gorgeous design, I have found battery life to be excellent. The screen is good too with excellent viewing angles.

The standout feature is the dual lens camera though. It has snapped some amazing photos and with ease. The different camera modes give the Honor 8 the edge over phones like the Samsung S7 too. For example, Night mode created this shot below.

Honor 8 - Lightroom mobile enhanced shots

This is Silky Water mode below. Again so simple to snap a quality photo like this on the Honor 8.

Dartmeet - Long Exposure #Honor8

Or just use auto to get a great shot like below.

Bellever Tor, Dartmoor #honor8

In fact I have not snapped a duff shot on the Honor 8. The front selfie camera is great too and has lots of adjustments to ensure you take the perfect selfie!

Apart from the camera there is an infra red blaster which has proven useful for adjusting my TV volume regularly. The Honor 8 uses USB Type C to charge too.

All in all, I really happy with the Honor 8 so far.

For more information and the latest pricing on Amazon Click HERE.