I received the Case-Mate Tigris Creatures iPhone 5 case for review. Unfortunately, I only have an iPhone 4 so will be reviewing the quality and style of the case and not the fit of the case as I usually do.
When I first received this case, I was gutted that it wouldn’t fit my iPhone because of how cute it is! You get a good view of the case through the preview window on the packaging and you can also feel the texture of the case through a small hole in the front of the box.
After removing the case from the packaging, I was very impressed with the detail and style of the case. Texture wise, the silicone case was nice to hold and you can feels as if it would be comfortable to hold whilst on a phone call. Looking at the case, you are greeted with a very cute tiger design. It is a very detailed design and the facial features are raised, not just etched on to the case. Saying this though, the case still lays flat when placed on a surface.
You have all of the usual holes in the usual places – charger, speakers, mute switch and camera. The volume and power buttons are covered by closed, but raised parts of the case. The space left for the camera and flash is also very generous, so no chance of any flashback when using the flash. Along the bottom right hand side of the case, you have the Case-Mate branded logo and on the inside of the case, there is a small paw print pattern.
The small paw print charm attached to the bottom corner of this case is a nice touch and only adds to the charming factor. On the back of the paw print charm, you will find a Case-Mate branded logo.
All in all, this case has all of the cuteness you will need. From the cleverly designed tiger features, right down to the paw print charm, it is worth every penny. If the tiger is not your thing, there is a very large selection of other animals from the Creature Case range available.
When you pay for something as extravagant as a laptop, you want to be able to ensure that you have something that will protect it in every way possible. Today, I will be taking a look to see if the Dicota Base Notebook Bag can live up to the challenge.
When I first received the bag I could tell by looking at it that the quality was high. I removed it from the plastic packaging that it arrived in and took a closer look. The bag that I was sent was the 15-15.6″ inch bag (38.1-39.6cm).
Looking at the front of the bag, there is a velcro sealed large pocket that can be used for a whole variety of things that you would like to keep close at hand, without having to store them actually in the bag. On the bottom right corner of the flap there is a nicely placed leather Dicota branded badge. If you flip the bag over, you will find a slip pocket that comes in very handy for paperwork and/or documents.
Using either of the two zips, when you open the bag up, you are greeted with a very well padded section for your laptop to sit in whilst being carried around. The removable shoulder strap included is very well made and attaches to the rings on the side of the bag. The velcro strap that is inside the bag does its job really well when it comes to holding your laptop in place. Once my laptop was in the bag and strapped in, there was no movement whatsoever. Surrounding the laptop section is also a wired metal frame that adds even more protection to your laptop, which provides extra peace of mind when carrying the bag around. Any little knocks and bumps that may happen along the way should have no ill effect on your laptop, thanks to this. Lastly, but by no means least, you are also provided with pockets that allow you to carry around extra accessories whilst keeping them in order and not loose in the bag.
Overall quality of the bag itself is very good. The stitching looks very well done and also looks as if it will withstand a lot of use, which of course is important when it comes to protecting your gadgets.
This laptop bag does its job very well, and for the small price of £10.95GBP (on Amazon UK), it really is a small price to pay to protect your laptop.
As you may have noticed, I have a soft spot for cases for my iPhone. I am constantly changing them out and using different ones. So when the kind folk over at caseable agreed to let me review one of their iPhone 4 cases, I was over the moon.
After sitting and having a long and detailed look through their large range of iPhone 4 cases, I finally decided on the Bobafett Orange case. Once the order was placed, it was a case of waiting a few days for delivery. If you would rather design your own case, there is also an easy to use ‘Create My Own’ section of the site. You just select your device from their large range and go through the motions that way.
caseable make all of their cases using durable, recycled materials – recycled plastic bottles when it comes to iPhone cases. They also use green neoprene for their laptop sleeves and the strong cardboard in their iPad and Kindle cases is also recycled.
When my case arrived, it was packaged nice and securely so that no damage occurred whilst in transit. First impressions were very high. The orange popped and is very eye catching and the Boba Fett design on the back is very well detailed, right down to the mustache and the ‘Mustache Wars’ text on the back in the Star Wars font. The colour and details on the phone case are very vibrant and very nice to look at.
You have spaces in all of the usual places – camera, mute switch and volume buttons, power button, earphone jack, and the bottom for the charger cable and speakers. The gap where the mute and volume buttons are is actually fully accessible with nothing surrounding the buttons at all. I found things easier when it came to removing the case as there was no fear of snapping the little piece of case that is usually there. The case itself fits very nicely to the phone and is a snug fit to the edges with no raising around the phone. It has a nice feel to it, as well as not adding extra weight to the phone as the case is very light.
Overall, it is safe to say that I am very pleased with the case. There is a very large range to choose from, and as mentioned above, you can create your own personalised case if none of the artist made cases catch you eye.
The ‘Bobafett Orange’ iPhone 4 case is available on the caseable website for £24.90GBP.
I also have been provided with a £5 discount code for you to use if you would like to either purchase one of the designs for yourself, or even create your own case from caseable. Just enter ‘TootieTazzy’ at the checkout to receive the discount.
For years, the Xbox gaming community was asking “what comes next”. Tuesdaynight…Microsoft revealed what was to come next….Xbox One.
As a long-term Xbox gamer, I have seen the brand start from the gimmick box, to become the community built and driven games console that rivalled the legendary Sony Playstation brand in every way, to then become something that Microsoft Accountants would use to be nothing more than a revenue generator in any way they could bastardise the brand.
So, what are we left with. Well, we now have the all in one entertainment hub device for the living room of the home, the American living room. You can plug your TV provider’s source box, into your Xbox One to then watch TV through it….where you can simply just plug it right into your TV and watch it traditionally. A feature designed to make use of Kinect which is already a…
Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway. I would also like to welcome all of my newest followers.
Now for the reason you are really here – the lucky winner of the Kingston Chinese Year of the Snake USB stick! (Big thanks to Kingston Technology for supplying the USB stick for this giveaway!)
I went through all of the names who entered, took out the duplicate entries and put them all into Twitter Draw, clicked the Generate button and the winner came out as….
@ldcklf .. Congrats!! This USB stick is all yours!
Please DM your address on Twitter and I will get it sent out ASAP.
Again, massive thanks to everyone who took part and retweeted – it is appreciated. Stay tuned for more giveaways!
The constant hassle of remembering to charge batteries or the inconvenience of your controller dying halfway through a game can be a major pain. This is part of the reason I changed to a charging station so I could hook up my controllers and leave them to charge. I couldn’t switch to a wired controller because of the two rowdy dogs that are constantly running around the room. Wouldn’t it just be easier to be able to leave out the batteries altogether? Well, now you can!
Evil Controllers have come up with a new Vision Backplate that you can attach to the back of your controller, getting rid of the need for batteries and rechargeable packs. The guys over at Evil Controllers were kind enough to send me out one of their Vision Backplate DIY Kits for review purposes.
The Backplate itself has been completely redesigned, resulting in the controller being a lot lighter than it previously was. The Backplate does not change the feel of the controller, but does make it easier and more comfortable to use due to there being no battery pack on the back. Overall, the removal of the battery pack should reduce uncomfortable hand cramps that occur during long game sessions.
When the Backplate kit arrived, I was glad to see that everything needed was included. I had the Backplate, the required Torx Screwdriver tool and a 6ft Mini USB cable that is used to charge the Backplate. The installation help video is below.
I will admit, the thought of removing the need for batteries altogether was a bit daunting. I had visions of me totally screwing my controller up or breaking the Backplate to the point of no repair. These thoughts and visions were totally uncalled for.
When it came to fitting the Backplate, it really could not have been easier. It was a case of taking the back of the controller off, removing the battery spring connectors and then putting the Backplate into place and putting the screws back in. That is it! After screwing everything back into place securely, just hook up the controller to the included USB cable and plug into your console and let it charge. There are LED Charging Indicator lights on the top of the controller where you plug the USB cable in – Red for charging and Green for charged.
You will also find a small red button next to where you plug in the USB cable. This button allows you to turn the controller off with a simple click. So, say for example your controller turns on accidentally and there is no console within range, instead of having to hook it up to a console, you can just press this button and the controller is off. I know this was easily addressed when using a battery pack by just removing the battery pack and plugging it back in. I think the red button is a good way of getting around this issue and kudos to Evil Controllers for including something to make things just as easy.
Because having a built-in battery instead of a battery pack can cause the inside of the Backplate to get a bit warmer, you will notice that air vents have also been included. Warm air should be able to easily leave the back of the controller. In turn, this should extend the life of the controller.
The tech specs state that the lightweight Backplate should hold over 36 hours of charge. I haven’t used the controller for 36 hours as yet. I am at about 15 hours so far and still on full battery charge when I press the Xbox Guide Button on the controller. I usually lose a couple of battery bars when using my rechargeable packs after about 4 hours, so, so far so good.
I am really excited to have replaced my bulky battery pack with the newly designed Vision Backplate. Not only is it one of the easiest modifications that I have added to my controller to date, I think that it is a great idea and it has such a simple, yet effective design to it. If you suffer with the same issues as I did with batteries running out, or forgetting to charge battery packs, then this will solve everything at once, as well as adding a bit of style to your controller. Prices start from $29.99 USD.
When it comes to the world of online gaming, communication, more times than not, is the key. Having a headset that provides excellent communication is a definite must have. The EX-03 chat headset is available as a bluetooth version for use with the PS3 and a wired version for use with the Xbox 360. Gioteck were kind enough to send over the Xbox 360 version for the purpose of this review.
The Gioteck EX-03 chat headset for the Xbox 360 is a military styled headset that is designed exclusively for gaming on the Xbox 360. It has a unique military style camo effect, flexible over the ear hook and a noise cancelling microphone.
The headset comes packaged in a nicely designed, flat style box. As soon as you remove the headset from the box, you are greeted with a packet of three different sized earbuds to attach to the ear piece on the headset, along with the headset itself. The cable on the headset is a flat, non-tangle cable, which is always a positive for me because I have a habit of tangling things easily.
The three earbuds that are included are small, medium, and large. I like the fact that they provide separate earbuds rather than either making you remove and replace the one that comes pre-installed, or, having to just use the generic one that comes with the headset. They are easy to attach to the headset too. It is just a case of pushing the desired size bud on to the ear piece.
The ear piece that goes into the ear has a slight angle to it. This allows the ear piece to sit comfortably just inside the ear and lessens the likelyhood of it slipping out. The flexible ear hook fits nicely over the ear and combined with the angled ear piece, ensures that wearing the headset is a very comfortable experience.
On the non-tangle cable you will find an in-line control switch which enables you to change the chat volume and also to mute your microphone. As far as the positioning of the controls on the cable, they are not too far down so that they get in the way of gaming, but not too far up that it gets difficult to use them.
The microphone on the chat headset is one that sits snugly up against your cheek. It is long enough for you to be heard but not too long that it gets in the way or picks up any breathing sounds.
Sound quality wise, I had no issues. Voices of the people that I was playing with game through nice and clear, and I was told that my voice came through loud and clear, with no static or distant sound.
Overall, I like the Gioteck EX-03. It is comfortable to wear, the voice chat came through nice and clear on both ends and the non-tangle cable is a godsend! For the price that you pay (found on Amazon for £8 GBP), you can’t go wrong.
This giveaway will be for one of these awesome USB sticks from the kind folk over at Kingston Technology.
These USB drives are to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake and not available to buy anywhere in the UK!
To be in with a chance of winning one of these snazzy looking sticks, you have to be following both myself @TootieTazzy and @kingstontech on Twitter (I will be checking ). Just click the red names and it will take you to the correct Twitter profiles. Once you are following us both, just tweet the following message:
I’m following @TootieTazzy and @kingstontech and want to win a Kingston Chinese Year of the Snake USB stick! #TTKUSB http://wp.me/p1s6Lk-aP
Because this giveaway is for such an awesome bit of kit, I will leave it open until next Wednesday (May 22nd) evening UK time and announce the winners either that night or some time on Thursday.
Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Jabra is a company most known for their range of audio devices. Most recently, their Jabra REVO headphones from their Jabra Music range were released. You have a choice of either corded or bluetooth wireless headphones. I have managed to get my hands on a pair of the corded REVO headphones for the purpose of this review.
To say that I was looking forward to receiving these headphones is a massive understatement. I had previously used a Jabra hands free headset for use in the car so was eager to see how this headset lived up to the high expectations I had already.
The Jabra REVO headphones arrived packaging that is very easy on the eye. Everything from the box that they arrived in to the striking yellow rubber strip that runs down the middle of the packaging just popped and was pleasant to look at. You also get a good view of the headphones through the clear front packaging which made me even more eager to get into the box.
Once inside, you are greeted with the headphones, a slight glimpse of the orange braided cable and two small black boxes. The headphones are held in place by two velcro straps just above the earpads. Inside the larger of the two boxes you find the orange cable (3.5mm jack), a bag that is used to house the headphones while they are not in use or being transported around and a small pile of booklets and information leaflets. Even the small paper wraps that are used to keep the headphone bag and the pile of information in place goes really well with the main packaging with the choice of yellow and black colouring.
The style of the headphones is very sleek and well designed. They are a headphone that I would be proud to be seen out and about with. With the striking white, grey/aluminium and orange colour scheme, everything just melds together. The orange cord is also a nice touch. Rather than going with a black or white colour, the orange actually compliments the headphones. You will notice also that you have a choice of which side to plug in the detachable orange cable. Very handy if you have a preference over what side you would rather have the wire attached. Speaking of the orange cable – on the in-line controls you will find a microphone so that you can take and answer calls without having to disconnect anything. You also have the ability to pause your music, skip tracks and adjust the volume level too. If you look at the earpads too, you will see the nice orange mesh inside and instead of having the standard L & R telling you which ear is which, it actually tells you on the orange mesh. A very nice touch! The wire that runs from ear to ear through the headband is visible above the earpads and has just enough slack to be left undamaged when adjusting the headband to fit both larger and smaller heads. The wire does not get trapped as you make the headphone size smaller nor does it get over-stretched as you make the size bigger.
I tried using these headphones with a few different devices just to see if the sound quality was the same on all. I am very glad to be able to say that it was. The sound was very crisp and clear, and the quality was amazing. You could hear the bass, although it was not over-powering. Each and every song that I listened to was a pleasure to listen to, no matter what it was that popped up. Connectivity wise, you can use these REVO headphones with your phone, PC/laptop, and an MP3 player.
Looking at the headphones at first I was a little unsure as to how comfortable these headphones would be. Sure, there is a nice amount of memory foam padding on the earpads and the fully adjustable headband was soft to the touch but it still wasn’t enough to convince me that the comfort would be long lasting. How wrong was I! The first day that I tried them I was sat on the laptop and had music playing through my phone whilst using these headphones. I was easily sat here for three hours non stop and felt absolutely no discomfort whatsoever. There was also no unwelcomed sweatiness on the ears as I have experienced with other headphones after using them for long periods of time. I did not experience any discomfort in the headband either, despite expecting to.
Having a built-in mic is a very nice feature too. Not having to disconnect the headphones to be able to take calls makes things so much easier. I made a number of calls whilst using the REVO and feedback was always positive. I could be heard clearly with no static, and call quality on my end was just as good, too. The placing of the in-line controls did prove to be a little fiddly at times, but nothing that would hinder my choice of purchasing this headset. I think maybe the controls were just a little too far up the cable, but as I said, nothing choice changing.
The Dolby Digital integration would more than likely sway a lot of people towards this headset. The app required is available through the Apple or Android app stores. You also require a product code which is included in the little bundle of information you find when you first remove everything from the box. You will also find a handy QR Code that you can scan so you don’t have to go searching the App Store for the app. After downloading and installing the app and then entering the product key, I realised that you have to have music on your device to be able to use this app/feature. I had to add a few songs to my phone via iTunes because all of my regular listening is done via a streaming service straight to my phone.
Once I had manually added a few songs it was easy to get started. Fire up the Jabra-Sound app and away you go. You can choose your music from the dedicated menu within the app. In the Settings menu you have the option to make changes via the Equalizer and also have the option to turn the Mobile Surround and Dolby Processing on and off. There is also an option to share your settings to Facebook and/or Twitter. Using the app was easy and straightforward> Now whilst I could definitely tell the difference between just using my streaming service, I do not think I would go ahead and purchase all of my music and import it to my phone so I could use the app. It will be very useful for people that do purchase their music from iTunes though.
The Jabra REVO headphones are very robust and could withstand anything that I threw at them. Saying this, I did not go out of my way to attempt to break them, but I also did not handle them as if they could break at any minute. Looking at the product details on the Jabra website it tells you there that the headphones themselves have been ‘Tested for life’. They have been bend tested 10,000 times, fold tested 3,500 times, drop tested from 2 meters, and the cable has been tested to 15kg/33lbs. After using the headphones for awhile, I can quite honestly believe that they have been tested to these extremes to ensure that they aren’t going to just fall apart.
Overall, the Jabra REVO headphones were an absolute pleasure to use. They are very well made and will withstand anything that is thrown at them, within reason, obviously. The sound quality is immense and the style of the headphones is just quality. If you are looking for headphones that are highly durable, offer great quality sound, and that are styled to suit anyone, these headphones are for you.
I have another t-shirt giveaway for you today. The t-shirt that you have a chance to win this time around is an Elgato Gaming tee – they are very nice, even if I do say so myself.
To be in with a chance of winning one of these amazing tees, you have to be following myself @TootieTazzy, @XBLGAMERHUB & @elgatogaming on Twitter (I will be checking ). Just click the red names and it will take you to the correct Twitter profiles. Once you are following us both, just tweet the following message:
I’m following @TootieTazzy, @XBLGAMERHUB & would like to win an @elgatogaming tee! #TTXBLGEG
This giveaway will run until Monday evening UK time and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards.
). Just click the red names and it will take you to the correct Twitter profiles. Once you are following us both, just tweet the following message:
TootieTazzy 