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Showing posts with the label catherine.ellis@futurenet.com (Cat Ellis)

Garmin Vivosmart 5

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Two-minute review The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a lightweight fitness tracker that takes the fight directly to Fitbit – and fares well. It's certainly not as attractive as devices like the Fitbit Charge 5 and Fitbit Luxe thanks to its rather utilitarian design and monochrome screen, but it's practical and puts a huge amount of data right at your fingertips. Key specs Size: 19.5 x 10.7 x 217mm (small), 19.5 x 10.7 x 255mm (large) Weight with strap: 24.5g (small), 26.5g (large) Display type: grayscale OLED GPS: No Sports modes: 14 total, 10 available on watch at a time Operating system: Garmin Watch OS The most obvious upgrade from the Vivosmart 4 is the larger, higher resolution screen. Garmin makes good use of all that extra space to cram in an impressive array of data – including graphs and charts to show trends, which is something you don't get on many fitness trackers this size. Despite the lack of color to differentiate different pieces of data, it...

Amazfit GTR 3

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One-minute review The Amazfit GTR 3 is a good-looking entry-level sports watch that delivers impressive performance for its modest price tag – but doesn't quite live up to all of Amazfit's lofty claims. It has very respectable fitness tracking chops, with a huge selection of workout modes (six of which can be identified and start tracking automatically), accurate GPS tracking for outdoor training sessions, and dependable heart rate monitoring. The heart rate monitor wasn't quite as quick to respond to changes as we'd like to fast interval training sessions, but if you're new to working out then that's unlikely to be an issue. Key specs Case diameter: 45.8mm Weight (with strap): 43g Display type: OLED GPS: Yes Sports modes: 150+ Operating system: Zepp OS Recovery is a key part of training, so it's good to see Amazfit's excellent sleep tracking present and correct. With SpO2 monitoring enabled the watch accurately detects sleep stages ...

PDF-XChange Editor

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PDF-XChange Editor is a PDF editor that's the successor to the excellent PDF-Change Viewer. Its design has been totally overhauled, making it much clearer and easier to use. Aside from that, PDF-XChange Viewer boasts all of the same strengths as its predecessor, with editing tools for highlighting, selecting and striking out text. The selection of stamps and commenting functions lets you easily track changes in documents – features sometimes excluded from free PDF readers. You can also extract or delete entire pages from a long PDF file and embed new content like text, images, blank pages or entire PDF documents. PDF-XChange Editor is also excellent for converting documents between PDF and Word formats, and even includes OCR (optical character recognition) for converting scanned documents into editable text. There are two versions of this PDF editor available, PDFX-Change Editor and PDFX-Change Editor Plus (Image credit: Tracker Software) Plans and pricing PDF-XCh...

Hoka Kawana

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One-minute review If you're a runner on a budget, you'll likely use your road running shoes at the gym rather than investing in a separate set of indoor footwear. Provided they're not muddy, what's the harm? Hoka has acknowledged that fact with the Kawana, which is built to allow you to switch comfortably between the pavement and the treadmill – and it strikes a (very) comfortable middle ground. This is an exceptionally soft shoe. Not only do you get acres of squishy foam in the midsole, there's also much more padding in the tongue and collar than we've come to expect from many of Hoka's running shoes. The overall result is an extremely comfortable fit, with an upper that can be laced good and tight with no awkward rubbing. The high heel tab is particularly kind to the Achilles area, and we can see this being a great shoe if you're recovering from an injury. (Image credit: Future) It works well for training runs of all distances, and is surp...

SoundLAB Pillow Speaker

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30-second review Despite being one of the cheapest pillow speakers around, the SoundLAB Pillow Speaker is one of the best around. Despite looking like a piece of PC equipment from the early 1990s, its 'ivory' plastic exterior is actually very well designed. The speaker grills positioned on the sides mean sound isn't muffled excessively by your bedding, the lack of a battery means it won't overheat due to lack of ventilation and present a fire risk, and the headphone cable is long enough to stretch comfortably from a phone sitting on your nightstand. Sound isn't top quality, and if you're planning to listen to audiobooks then you'll prefer an under-pillow speaker that delivers crisper trebles, but if you're among the many people who like to fall asleep listening to white noise or rainfall, there's no need to invest more than this. However, you won't be able to use it with many modern phones unless you invest in a headphone adapter, which could...

Sound Oasis Sleep Therapy Pillow Speakers

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30-second review Sound Oasis produces a huge range of sleep devices to help you get a better night's rest, including noise machines , wake-up lights, masks, and under-pillow speakers. This particular pair are mono, but there's also an amplified stereo version available for a little extra cash. The speakers slip into your pillowcase, underneath the pillow itself, and connect to a phone, radio, MP3 player or other device via a 3.5mm headphone jack. This will be fine if you have an older handset, but if you have a recent iPhone or Pixel phone, you'll need an adapter. The audio quality is acceptable if you want to listen to white noise (under-pillow speakers can be a good alternative to a white noise machine if your partner prefers to sleep in silence), but higher frequencies aren't rendered well and the overall sound is quite muddy. If you want to listen to audiobooks or music then the Roberts Radio Pillow Talk Speaker would be a much better option, and is around the...

Iolo System Mechanic Ultimate Defense

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Iolo develops System Mechanic. It’s an American software company focused on security tools for Windows PCs, with System Mechanic as its best-known product.  There are four different tiers of System Mechanic. The highest tier, Iolo System Mechanic Ultimate Defense , is what we’re reviewing. We’ll judge it based on specific criteria, including features, customer service, user-friendliness, pricing, etc. There are actually several versions of System Mechanic available depending on your needs (Image credit: Iolo) Plans and pricing Let’s start by listing the four different tiers of System Mechanic. System Mechanic (Basic) This version is the basic one, with various tools to improve your PC’s performance. It includes the essential functions such as: Junk file deletion Bloatware removal Disk defragmenter Internet speed optimizer Software vulnerabilities checker System Mechanic Business This version is almost the same as the basic System Mechanic but explicitly buil...

Piriform CCleaner Professional

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CCleaner is a device maintenance and management tool. It offers a broad range of features to retain your computer in peak performance, such as a driver updater , PC health checks, and automatic app updates. The company behind CCleaner is Piriform. It’s a British software company and a subsidiary of Avast, the Czech cybersecurity software giant. Piriform was an independent, privately-owned company for over a decade before Avast purchased it in 2017. We’ll evaluate Piriform’s CCleaner based on specific criteria, including pricing, features, ease of use, customer support, etc. The cost of CCleaner Professional depends on the length of your subscription and how many PCs you want to cover (Image credit: Piriform) Plans and pricing There’s a free version of CCleaner aptly named “CCleaner Free.” However, it lacks many features compared to “CCleaner Professional,” the paid tier. CCleaner Professional is available on a subscription basis. You can pay for either a one-year or two...