Dork Adore » Phones

Smart Gloves for Smart Phones

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:21:50 +0000

Smartphones have become almost ubiquitous over the last couple of years. Even my mother has a touch screen phone, although she hasn’t quite grasped typing on it: she still sends me messages saying things like ‘Crime home soon’.

I think then that I can speak with confidence when I say that we’ve nearly all of us experienced the pain of cold hands whilst trying to type a message at a bus stop or walking to walk in the winter; touch screens just don’t work with your fingers covered.

But worry not! There’s a solution to this problem in the form of these Smart Gloves for Smart Phone from Gizoo. I gave them a test drive for the benefit of you lucky Dork Adore readers.

Listen carefully, here comes the science bit.

You see, the way a smart phone knows what you want it do is via the electrical current travelling from your fingers to the screen. A layer of capacitive material under the screen monitors the change in charge depending on where your finger is touching the phone.

But when you’re wearing gloves they act as an insulator, effectively blocking the electrical current and stopping the phone responding to your touch. The Smart Gloves get over this hurdle using conductive material woven into the tips of of your main screen-surfing fingers so that the current can still pass through and allow the touch screen to function.

I was initially worried about this conductive yarn, assuming it would be irritating to the fingers or scratchy like wire wool, but I was happily proven wrong. The gloves are comfortable and warm. I was genuinely excited when I tried them out with my iPhone and realised that they worked as well as my bare hands, even when it came to typing a text (though unfortunately they did nothing to help my terrible spelling).

It’s no exaggeration when I say that owning these gloves is going to change my life. I get horribly cold hands and I’m also horribly addicted to Twitter, but now I can stand at a bus stop and tell the internet all about it! I’ve already wowed colleagues and family with them; I can definitely see them popping up in a few people’s Christmas stockings. The gloves are compatible with all smart phone and are available at Gizoo for £7.99.

In the interests of honesty these gloves were provided to me free of charge by the good people of Gizoo, but the opinions remain all my own.

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Colour blocked kitchen gadgets

Katie — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:00:26 +0000

Colour blocking has got the fashion bloggers in a froth of late. We thought it only right to bring you a piece about kitchen electricals that was bang on trend.

So if you’re ready for a full kitchen makeover and you think you could cope with the sight of a rainbow bright array of appliances first thing in the morning, you’re in luck.

There’s a chance I may have got a bit carried away on Polyvore. Just be grateful I didn’t try to put together an outfit for you.

Francis Francis X1 Ground Coffee Machine Dark Blue: Amazon.co.uk £517
KitchenAid KitchenAid yellow pepper mixer £419 GBP
Whirlpool Max 25 Microwave Oven £120
Delonghi Icona Jug Kettle £56
Bodum Bistro Toaster £49
Magicbox Colombo Cordless Telephone £41

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iPhone cassette cover. Nostalgia is so hot right now

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:00:26 +0000

See: vintage clothing, classic cars and the reformation of Take That (OK, perhaps not that last one).

Although technology is constantly advancing, there’s always going to be the crowd that prefers their vinyl collection to MP3s, and who will probably never get over the news that Sony js to stop producing the Walkman.

I’m the first to admit to being one of these types, but as an ardent technophile too I’m forever torn between the new and the old. So, step forward this iPhone cassette cover! Allowing me to continue to enjoy the ease of MP3 whilst retaining my geek chic credentials, the case is £12.95 from gadgets.co.uk.

It also doubles as a handy stand when watching video with new and old working in beautiful harmony.

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Frackulous: death to voicemail and default phone browsers!

Susi — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:58:16 +0000

Another busy week full of apps to make your life top banana-like. There are apps to help Emma/Hermione Watson/Granger settle into another year at Uni, something to make voicemail less sucky, and a new game to soak up your spare time even more effectively that Angry Birds. Watch on, for the omnibus to rule all other omnibuses.

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Vodafone Sure Signal. Dork Review

Dork Adore — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:00:33 +0000

This week, guest blogger Wez Knowles tries out Vodafone’s latest gadget.

I live in a village smack-bang in between two major cities (Sheffield & Nottingham) which also happens to be the place mobile signals go to die. Every time I want to make a call or send a text message I have to stand near a window and pull positions even a Yoga pro would wince at.

For the past few months, every time I’ve planned on making a call, I put my phone on my desk next to the window and use a Bluetooth headset (shudder) to place the call. Yeah, yeah, I know.

I recently switched from O2 to Vodafone for a better signal. But there are still dead spots in my house and 3G is nowhere to be seen.

But browsing the Vodafone forums put me onto a new device from Vodafone called the Sure Signal. Formerly known as the Vodafone Access Gateway, the Sure Signal is a small white box that connects to your internet router and sends your call over the network instead of through the air. The upside of this is no matter where in your house you are, your phone will receive a full 3G signal. No dropped calls, no missed messages. Of course, you’ll need a 3G compatible handset (most modern phones are) and at least 1MB internet.

It’s £50 if you’re on a £25 per month contract or above, or £120 if you pay less than £25 per month. Not cheap, but much less expensive than paying for a chiropractor if you put your back out leaning out of a window while hunting a signal.

Gains points for:

Easy setup

Does exactly what it says it does

Not too ugly

Loses points for:

Maybe too expensive depending on your contract

Vodafone only (I’m sure they could open it up if they wanted to)

Do we really want another box hanging out of our phone sockets?

Conclusion

I’ve been using the Sure Signal for the past couple of weeks and I love it. It’s a great idea and I’m sure it won’t be long before other networks are jumping on the bandwagon (Orange already do something like this for BlackBerry). In time I expect the price to drop, but for now, it all depends on how much a good phone signal is worth to you.

Vodafone Sure Signal

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Retro Rebellion: Bringing back the landline

Emma Cossey — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:24 +0000

Who actually uses cordless home phones these days, aside from the elderly and the technophobic?

Mobile phones may have replaced much of the need for a home phone, but this home basic still has its benefits. For a start, the battery tends to last longer, you don’t need to worry about lost signal, and (as the BT advert rightly points out) you’re more likely to focus on the conversation at home then in the pub.

Models like the iDect C51 Twin Digital Cordless Telephone on the right (£64.99 from Amazon) combine style with functionality. The portable handset offers the advantages of a mobile phone, with a sleek design and a comfortable curve to the base.

Need a landline update? Here are a few more options.

MagicBox Toque DECT with Answering Machine

MagicBox has some really lovely designs, and several of them mirror the contemporary black designs of the iDect.

The MagicBox Toque DECT with Answering Machine (£59.99, Cordless-phones) has been designed specifically with home décor in mind, rather than the practicality of an office. Glossy and minimalistic, it wouldn’t look out of place in the pages of a lifestyle magazine

The charging system is similar to that of the Powermat, where you simply plop it into the dish, and it recharges.

Siemens Gigaset SL565 Bluetooth® Cordless Phone

This phone (£68.08, cordless-phones) might not have the high-tech appearance of the previous two cordless phones, but it makes up for it in features.

The bluetooth element allows you to go hands-free at home, and you can also send and receive SMS messages. It uses up 60% less energy then most other cordless phones, which should appeal to the eco-friendly amongst us.

Philips DECT ID937

Emerging Terminator-style from the compact gloss base, the Philips ID937 has a surprisingly soft touch for such a solid looking phone.

Highlights of this handset include a sim-card copying facility and XHD sound. Plus the price (£34.99 from Amazon) isn’t too shabby either.

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Powermat gadget charger review

Emma Cossey — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Loose cables are the bane of my working life. Between my phone, netbook, Nintendo DS and iPod, I’ve got wires all over the place.

Even with an extension lead, I’m still using all the available plugs. So how can I reduce the amount of cable clutter in my room?

The designers at Powermat think they’ve got the solution, and they’ve sent one over for me to try out.

The Powermat Home & Office edition is a hoverboard- shaped charging mat for a multitude of devices. The mat connects to the main with one cable….and that’s all the cables you’ll need.

To charge your gadgets, you click the phone/iPod/Nintendo DS into a receiver, and place it on the mat. Then with a joyful little beep, it starts to charge at the same speed as if you’d plugged it straight into a normal charger.

The benefits of this device are varied, including:

Space saving: You can charge up to four devices at once (with the extra USB port) so you’re not tripping over a web of cables.
Easy to use: Once you’ve clicked the receiver on, you just need to place the device on the mat and it’s charging. Job done.

However, it loses points for

Additional receivers: The mat doesn’t come with any basic receivers, so you’ll need to order one for each device you want to charge separately. And they’re not cheap at around £30 per receiver.

You’ve still got clutter: Unless you want to walk around with the receivers clipped to your gadget all day, you’re still going to have to store them somewhere. So you’re replacing wires with chunks of plastic.

Conclusion

For the ultra tidy gadget queen, this is a tempting product. Stylish, compact and convenient, it’s a clever gadget. It’s worth remembering though that you’re effectively paying around £70 for the mat, and an extra £30 per receiver to simple save you a little space and mess.

You can buy the Powermat from Amazon for £67.80. You can also get a package deal of the Powermat, iPhone 3G receiver and Powercube for £131.85.

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The 10 most confusing gadgets of the last decade

Emma Cossey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:01 +0000

I’ve lost count of the amount of time I’ve spent puzzling over why a gadget is refusing to work. A recent study suggests I’m not alone in this area.

Research carried out by Confused.com has discovered that consumers constantly come across problems and confusion with their gadgets. And what was the biggest offender? The Wireless Router, of course.

Having spent hours in my old student house sitting on the phone to BT after conceding defeat to my router, I can sympathise with this top choice.

Coming in a close second is the iPod or MP3 player. I’m assuming this is more down to the actual set-up rather than the day-to-day use.

Perhaps one of the reasons behind all this confusion is that in our excitement to try out our latest purchase, we skip past reading the directions. Of the 2,000 participants in the survey, 48% admitted that the instructions book sits gathering dust. This leads to 55% of participants connecting up the leads incorrectly, and 45% incorrectly inserting the batteries (seriously? How hard is it to insert batteries?).

So, aside from the Wireless Router and MP3 player, what other gadgets made it to the list?

1. Wireless router (27%)
2. iPod/MP3 player (16%)
3. Mobile phone (20%)
4. Digital camera (19%)
5. Sat Nav/GPS (14%)
6. Sky+ (10%)
7. DVD Player (9%)
8. iPhone (7%)
9. Ninendo Wii (6%)
10. Video camera (6%)

Source: Confused.com

What gadgets have caused you the most confusion?

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Dork Review: Motorola DEXT Android phone

Emma Cossey — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:00:14 +0000

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Google Android: All the newest phones

Emma Cossey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:00:11 +0000

Since the Apple vs Android war has officially kicked off, I’d like to pledge my allegiance to Android. I’ve yet to get my paws on the newest generation of phones, but I’m an avid Google fan and the idea of buying an iPhone leaves me feeling a little blah.

After checking out what’s currently on offer, and what’s to come, I’m more than a little excited.

The HTC Magic (right) sits at the more aesthetically pleasing end of the Android scale. The HTC was the second offering from the Google Android market after the T-Mobile G1, and the improvements show.

It’s much slimmer than the G1 thanks to the removal of the QWERTY keyboard, and general reports seem to indicate a system with far more usability.

HTC are dominating the Android market at the moment. Their latest offering, the HTC Hero, is professional-looking and stylish enough to face up against Apple’s iPhone.

Following in the footsteps of the Magic and the G1, it features that ‘chin’ at the bottom that seems to be bit of a Marmite feature. The Hero’s camera is the big difference between this handset and the others, boasting a high quality 5-megapixel camera.

The search feature is a nice touch too, allowing you to search through tweets, e-mails and messages.

Samsung have recently entered the Android market with the Galaxy i7500 (right), currently exclusive to O2. Measuring just under 12mm, it’s a skinny handset packed full of features and widgets.

There have been some complaints of slow reactions on the touch screen, and a lack of customisability (a common complain with most of the Android handsets), but overall it seems to have strong reviews.

I’ll be interested to see what the recently announced i6500 Saturn will bring to the table, and whether it will fix the buggy screen.

The Motorola Dext (left) reverts to the old QWERTY keyboard, much to my fat-thumbed glee. An Android aimed at social networking fans, the handset boasts the Motoblur function to make keeping in touch even easier.

Whilst this initially wooed me, the news that it’s currently only available on Orange was a massive turn off. Rubbish signal and sitting on the phone to customer services for hours is not an appealing feature.

Sony Ericsson have finally entered the market too with the Xperia X10, the first of many headsets that will be appearing in early 2010. The handset includes a wireless stereo headset, 8.1 megapixels camera and a features called Timescape which holds all your communication for one person in one place. So in theory you can browse the texts, e-mails, tweets and facebook messages of one person at a single click.

The phone everyone is really waiting for though, is the Motorola Droid. This smartphone features a huge screen, 5-megapixel camera, and a free GPS system powered by Google.

The system is reported to be ultra fast, and many are comparing it to the iPhone for its performance.

With news of several more handsets in the works from Archos and NVIDIA, 2010 should be a very good year for Android.

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Dork Adore » Phones

Smart Gloves for Smart Phones

Listen carefully, here comes the science bit.

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Colour blocked kitchen gadgets

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iPhone cassette cover. Nostalgia is so hot right now

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Frackulous: death to voicemail and default phone browsers!

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Vodafone Sure Signal. Dork Review

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Retro Rebellion: Bringing back the landline

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Powermat gadget charger review

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The 10 most confusing gadgets of the last decade

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Dork Review: Motorola DEXT Android phone

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Google Android: All the newest phones

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