Search here...
Subscribe
Home Blog Page 94

Amazon in Ireland: Free UK Shipping And Some Other Tips

Marty
-
0
Amazon in Ireland: Free UK Shipping And Some Other Tips

With Brexit still around the corner in what seems to be a never-ending corridor of WTF, shopping over on Amazon.co.uk is still an option for consumers in Ireland. Actually, it looks like it won’t be going anywhere any time soon. I’ll be honest, I fully expected Amazon Ireland to appear in the two years since the UK announced they would be leaving the EU.

I’ll admit, sometimes I feel a little guilty about shopping with Amazon. They’re a massive company and quite a few people believe online shopping is killing the high street in local communities. Unfortunately, we can’t always focus on shopping with local stores and we need to go shopping online. Having these two options of shopping online with Amazon or shopping with a high street store, I’m left asking these two questions.

  • Do I need it right now or can I wait a few days?
  • Could I save a few bob by buying them on Amazon?

If you’re really clever, you can even avail of free UK delivery to Ireland too using some tricks of the online shopping trade.

Looking to bag a bargain? Check out our Amazon Prime Day 2019 Guide

Benefits Of Shopping On Amazon.co.uk?

The UK online shopping market is huge compared to Ireland. Don’t get me wrong, us Irish are hefty online shoppers too, but the UK is bonkers for online spending. As a result, the range available online in the UK is amazing. Online retailers offer a huge range of products you could only dream of picking up on the high street in Ireland. Because they shift larger volumes, there’s also a fair chance you’ll pick items up cheaper from the UK.

Some online stores are still coming to terms with home-shopping but it’s becoming easier to shop online than traipsing into town. The likes of Amazon, Zara and Mango make shopping online and returning either in-store or by mail really straightforward. In the case of Amazon, their customer care is nothing short of incredible.

Back when I started using Amazon I forgot to cancel my Amazon Prime trial and was charged the annual membership rate. That’s about €95. After five minutes on web chat, I was refunded with a full apology. Yes, an apology for my mistake. On another occasion, they covered my Parcel Motel costs for a return, but more on that later. I digress.

Shopping on Amazon opens up a world of choice and the piece of mind that they care about customers. Go a step further, and get yourself an Amazon Prime trial to really live it up like royalty with next day delivery (which takes about two days to Ireland).

But Isn’t Amazon.co.uk Just For The UK?

This is where things get a little interesting. With Brexit just around the corner, this might very well change, but many of the sellers on Amazon.co.uk offer delivery to Ireland. Whether or not there is a charge or not varies between sellers. Others will only ship to the UK, but believe it or not, this is where your biggest chance to save some money lies.

How to Use Parcel Motel with Amazon to Get Free UK Delivery to Ireland

When a seller insists on only shipping to the UK, all is not lost. There is a free delivery trick you can use with the likes of Amazon. In recent years, there has been a rake of new shipping partners popping up in Ireland and the best known of these is Parcel Motel.

When you sign up to Parcel Motel, they give you a free virtual UK address. You pop this in as your shipping address when shopping on Amazon.co.uk. Parcel Motel will recognise your order and do the rest. The virtual UK address itself is free, but you’ll pay €3.95 per day your package waits in a Parcel Motel.

Of course, this delivery trick will work with hundreds of UK stores that don’t deliver to Ireland.

How Does This “Parcel Motel-Amazon Free Delivery Trick” Work?

Don’t be intimidated by the idea of having a virtual UK address. Having one has grown massively in popularity over the past few years. Here’s how it works:

  1. Sign up for Parcel Motel
  2. Get your virtual UK address
  3. Shop and Amazon, delivering to your virtual UK address
  4. Parcel Motel will then ship to Northern Ireland and driver your package to a locker of your choice in Ireland.
  5. You’ll pay €3.95 for every day your package remains in the locker.
Image of a Parcel Motel site courtesy of John Finn

Of course, this is handy when sellers only ship to the UK, but you should always check UK shipping costs. You’ll often save money by choosing free UK delivery to your Parcel Motel over standard delivery to Ireland.

What to Look out for When Shopping with Parcel Motel

While it’s a great service, you do need to know a few things when shopping with Parcel Motel.

Limited Lockers

If you’re shopping around Christmas, give yourself plenty of time. There are limited lockers and if someone doesn’t pick up their package, you could be waiting for space. The lockers also have size restrictions. Big packages or bulk orders might need to be collected from the depot.

Double-Check Your Dates

The delivery date Amazon provides is the date your package reaches Parcel Motel. They will usually take at least another day to get your package to you.

Parcel Motel Alternative

There are a few scenarios where you may need to use a Parcel Motel alternative. One particular situation you might yourself in is an Amazon seller not offering delivery to the island of Ireland, or limiting to mainland UK only.

The reason why some items cannot be shipped to Northern Ireland comes down to what you’re trying to ship. For example, to get that screenshot I looked at a power bank. Items are usually shipped via air and some postal companies have strict rules against lithium-ion batteries being flown by air. 

One way around this is to use An Post’s AddressPal service. Parcel Motel works by using an address in Northern Ireland. AddressPal uses an address in England, which means the first leg of your delivery never leaves England. Technically, you shouldn’t be able to get smartphones or power banks delivered via AddressPal either as they’re restricted items, but I’ve heard from many shoppers who’ve received their packages no problem at all.

Shop With Confidence

There you have it. The handiest way to save some money, shop online and have your package wait for you. We often get asked, what does Amazon think about Parcel Motel. The honest trust is, they are very supportive of the service. As I mentioned above, Amazon has covered the cost of me returning items through Parcel Motel in the past. I was really impressed recently to receive an email from Amazon ensuring I was using Parcel Motel properly:

That’s as close to an endorsement as you get.

Will Amazon Ireland Ever Be a Thing?

Given time, it will be impossible for Amazon to ignore the value of entering the Irish market. With the now inevitable Brexit visible on the horizon, it’s likely that Amazon Ireland will be a thing sooner rather than later. It’s hard to tell just how virtual UK address providers will last through Brexit, so it makes sense for Amazon to set up shop in Ireland.

You can sign up to Amazon Prime Video in Ireland right now. This is actually Amazon’s only official service to Ireland right now.

If you have any questions all of this craic, pop them into the comments below.

Amazon Echo Now Supports Apple Music

Marty
-
0
Amazon Echo Now Supports Apple Music

iPhone is purely a secondary device for me so my music listening is spread across Amazon and Spotify. With this in mind, I apologise for never realising Apple Music users couldn’t easily stream their tunes on an Amazon Echo. The good news is, Amazon and Apple are finally seeing eye-to-eye on this one.

While this appears to have launched Stateside in mid-March, Irish users can now enjoy this feature too.

Stream Apple Music on Amazon Echo

The first thing you’ll need to do to enjoy Apple Music on an Amazin Echo is to have a subscription to Apple Music and an Amazon Echo device. In the Amazon Alexa app on your phone, you can link your Apple Music account to your Amazon account.

Once you’ve done this, Amazon says playing music gets really easy. All you need to do is holler out something like “Alexa, play today’s hits on Apple Music” and away you go.

It might seem like a fairly simple thing, but I bet there are some users out there who have Apple Music and Spotify, with the latter being kept for the smart speaker in the living room.

Problem solved.

Someone Just Hacked a Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Fingerprint Scanner

Marty
-
0
Someone Just Hacked a Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Fingerprint Scanner

This is one of the most legitimate Mission Impossible things I’ve ever seen in real life. As much as I wish it was the ultra-realistic spy mask, this is all about fingerprints.

In-Screen Fingerprint Scanners

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy S10 series in the shape of an S10, S10 Plus and an S10e. The Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus feature an unlocking system Samsung refers to as an Ultrasonic Fingerprint reader. The long and the short of this means Samsung was able to build a fingerprint reader into the screen of their latest flagship smartphones. Huawei achieved this last year with the Mate 20 Pro with an optical sensor which requires bright light to shine onto your finger. Ultrasonic, Samsung promised, would work better with wet fingers while remaining secure.

But an Imgur user has shown there’s a way around these fingerprint scanners.

Mission Possible: 3D Printing Fingerprints

Imgur user darkshark wanted to see if he could trick Samsung’s Ultrasonic Fingerprint reader on his new Galaxy S10 Plus. To be fair, he’s got access to some tech to make this a real Mission Impossible attempt, namely a 3D printer, but all in all the process he has documented was pretty simple.

Fingerprint on a glass captured using the Galaxy S10 Plus

First, he took a picture of his fingerprint on a glass using nothing more than his smartphone.

The fingerprint after some Photoshop work

Next, he brought the fingerprint into photo editing software to increased the contrast and make the fingerprint sharper.

From here, he was able to import his fingerprint into 3D printing software and made a few final tweaks before printing his fingerprint. The print took 13 minutes and this particular attempt was darkshark’s third attempt to fool his phone with the first two proving unsuccessful.

The printed fingerprint

Now with his fingerprint ready, all that was left was to test it all out and see if he could fool the Samsung fingerprint reader.

Just like that, it only bloody worked. I wondered if it might have been a trick using Bluetooth smart unlock but it all looks legit to me.

So What?

To be totally honest, this doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Smartphone security often comes under question. Fingerprint sensors are pretty secure, but at the same time they can be fooled. Front facing camera technology combined with 3D facial recognition is pretty secure, but some phones use quite simple facial recognition with standard cameras – not very secure at all.

You are most likely better off with a pin number and remaining conscious about who sees that number. Convenience is arguably the biggest threat to people’s security these days. Many use the same password because it’s easier to log in, but that comes at a security cost.

Prime Time Electric Scooters Segment

Marty
-
0
Prime Time Electric Scooters Segment

The debate is going national.

Gardai have started to clamp down on electric scooter usage in Ireland. Last week, seizures increased with Gardai citing the driving of an MPV without tax and insurance as the law being broken. This is despite most electric scooter users that I’ve seen around Dublin riding the Xiaomi m365; a scooter which cannot be classified as an MPV.

Legislation has been slow to change, leaving scooter riders in a grey area right now. Gardai have decided it’s for a judge to choose whether or not these are MPVs while scooter riders continue to argue they cannot be classified as such. The debate has roared to the point where it got a Prime Time slot tonight on RTÉ.

It was a good, honest account of the situation and plenty of positivity on Twitter too.

Now, time will tell how scooters fair in the country. I’m feeling more positive after that piece.

Electric Scooter Seized In Dublin

Marty
-
0
Electric Scooter Seized In Dublin

For the past few months, I’ve been commuting in Dublin using my Xiaomi m365 electric scooter. My commute is entirely within the city centre so I’m the perfect use-case of these nimble green modes of transport. There’s a downside though. Right now, electric scooters are moving within what some perceive to be a legal grey area, a grey area one scooter rider found himself on the wrong side of this week after Gardai seized his electric scooter.

The Problem With Electric Scooters

That title is a bit unfair because the problem isn’t actually with electric scooters at all. Legislation in Ireland is generally quite slow to change and as a result, An Garda Siochana are often left dealing with legal grey areas. For electric scooters, this grey area boils down to one simple question: are electric scooters mechanically propelled vehicles (MPVs).

you need to push off and reach 5 kmph before pushing down the throttle

I’ve already written about why my own scooter, the Xiaomi m365, is not classified as an MPV. To start the scooter, you need to push off and reach 5 kmph before pushing down the throttle and letting the electric motor kick in. For this reason, the scooter is not mechanically propelled, a point which is specifically called out on several key websites, including the website of An Garda Siochana and the RSA website.

On the website of An Garda Siochana, they state “the legal position is that if one of these scooters can be powered by mechanical or electrical power alone, and does not require pedalling or scooting for propulsion, then the scooter is considered to be a mechanically propelled vehicle (MPV) in terms of road traffic legislation”.

According to the RSA, “if it can be powered by mechanical or electrical power alone (i.e. it can go without you pedalling or scooting it) then it is considered to be a mechanically propelled vehicle (MPV)”.

With this in mind, I personally feel quite comfortable on my own electric scooter that I’m not riding an MPV and as such, I don’t require tax or insurance. I still ride it safely, using only roads and bike lanes, never riding on a footpath and always wearing a helmet, hi-vis and using my lights when it’s dark. Sensible stuff.

But recently, another scooter owner got in touch with me to say his scooter was seized by An Garda Siochana.

Gardai Seize an Electric Scooter

George rides a Kugoo S1 electric scooter. While different to my own in a few ways, the Kugoo S1 is a kick-scooter. That means, like mine, you need to push to start before the motor will kick in. For this reason, the Kugoo S1 is also not classed as an MPV.

A Kugoo S1 electric scooter, similar to the one seized by Gardai

I chatted with George who explained what happened.

He was stopped by a Garda when riding in a bicycle lane on the Templeogue Road, near the Terenure Library. The Garda had parked his motorbike in the bicycle lane and had already stopped a rider of an electric unicycle.

The Garda asked George to step down from his scooter before explaining that he would be seizing the Kugoo S1. I asked George if he was given a reason for the seizure, to which he explained the Garda had stated it was for “riding an MPV without licence, insurance and tax”. George told me that he tried to explain to the Garda why his scooter was not an MPV, but soon after a tow truck came along to take both the electric scooter and the electric unicycle away.

To get his scooter back, George had to visit the Garda impound and pay €125 to get his scooter released, the same fee paid to have should you ever have your car impounded.

Regards the insurance argument; I’ve contacted insurance companies and here’s what happens when you ask to get electric scooters insured…

Why Did This Happen?

I’ve seen quite a few electric scooter riders do things which, to me, would justify their scooter being seized. Some might think I’m a bit harsh, but riding without some hi-viz, lights and a helmet while staying off the footpaths, is just a requirement for me. If you’re doing any of these things, you deserve to lose your scooter. Like this guy from a few years ago, not wearing a helmet on a scooter with a seat…

So I asked George if this could be the case. He informed me that it was daytime, so he didn’t need a light on but he was wearing a helmet and hi-vis with a flashing red light on his backpack too.

In my eyes, this is a really unusual case because not only is the scooter in question not an MPV, the rider was being as responsible as possible. Rather interestingly, I also chatted to another scooter rider who was stopped in a similar situation on the same day.

Again, a Garda with a motorbike parked near a bike lane and stopped this rider who was riding a Xiaomi m365, just like my own. In this case, the rider explained to the Garda that the scooter wasn’t an MPV. This time, however, while the Garda disagreed with the rider he was let away with a warning and was informed that if he saw him again, the scooter would be seized and it would lead to a court date.

So What’s The Actual Stance Of An Garda Siochana?

I spoke with another scooter rider who, in light of hearing these stories, headed to his local Garda Station in Crumlin Village to see what they make of electric scooters. He asked them if they would stop him if they saw him riding his scooter and they said they wouldn’t bother unless he was doing something stupid. They also stated that they understand the scooters are in a legal loophole.

This does leave the question: why was George’s scooter seized and another rider was told he was being let off with a warning?

To get the answer to this, I reached out to the Garda Press Office for more information. I outlined what happened to George and the other riders and at first they sent me the same information the RSA make available which I’ve shared above.

I asked for further clarifications around why an electric scooter could be seized as an MPV despite falling outside the classification. The Press Office responded, “whether a vehicle is an MPV is defined in the Road Traffic Act and it is ultimately a matter for the courts to decide based on the evidence provided”.

The Garda representative concluded, “our normal policy is not to interpret any particular piece of legislation. If someone has a complaint related to any Garda action there is a process for making such complaint”.

The Verdict

Gardai seized a scooter on the assertion it was an MPV even though it would appear electric kick-scooters fall beyond this definition. On the spot, it’s not the job of An Garda Siochana to interpret the law, but instead, to apply it as best they can. In this situation, it would appear that electric scooters are operating in a grey area. Naturally, with grey areas, this means Gardai are put in a difficult position when it comes to applying the law.

What we need now, more than ever, is those who draft legislation to make a move and shine some light on these legal grey areas. Irish legislation is dramatically behind the requirements of Ireland’s modern inhabitants and it needs to be sorted as soon as possible.

Update: Since I researched this article, another electric scooter rider named Victoria got in touch with Newstalk and discussed how her scooter was seized. She was the fifth scooter on the night to be confiscated and this all took place on the same day. What followed was an incredibly interesting discussion which centered on the possibility that electric scooters were illegally taken by Gardai.

Even more interesting is the experience by the guys over at escoot.ie. After being pulled over on a Xiaomi m365 and presenting Gardai with a printed sheet defining why his scooter wasn’t an MPV, this rider was informed he was completely correct by the Gardai and sent on his way with no further action. I’m away to print this sheet off immediately.

Rethinking Smartphone Photography: Meet the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro

Jon
-
0
Rethinking Smartphone Photography: Meet the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro

A few years ago, Huawei started making some pretty decent smartphones. Martin has said before that he references the P8 as the point where he realised they were onto something. To be fair it’s hard to disagree. At an event I attended in Paris the other day, Huawei announced the long-awaited P30 Series, including the P30 Pro. Strap yourself in becuase here’s because here’s what they announced.

First Thing: Is Huawei Bigger Than Ever?

Well that’s a loaded question. Answering it quite easily, yes. Yes they are. Take a look at the Google search trends for both “S9” and “P20” last year, the flagships of Samsung and Huawei respectively.

trends.embed.renderExploreWidget(“TIMESERIES”, {“comparisonItem”:[{“keyword”:”P20″,”geo”:”IE”,”time”:”2018-01-03 2018-12-31″},{“keyword”:”S9″,”geo”:”IE”,”time”:”2018-01-03 2018-12-31″}],”category”:0,”property”:””}, {“exploreQuery”:”date=2018-01-03%202018-12-31&geo=IE&q=P20,S9″,”guestPath”:”https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/”});

While Samsung’s launch went well, Huawei had an incredible year competing with Samsung for the public’s interest. It’s no wonder the Chinese manufacturer took second spot away from Apple for the top-selling smartphone maker.

In our opinion we’re no longer looking at the Huawei that made a couple of decent phones a few years ago, we’re looking at the Huawei that creates best in market phones today. Over the past year or so, Martin has been using both the Huawei P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro, and he’s been blown away by both. That pretty much sums up where Huawei are now and we can’t wait to test out the P30 Pro in detail. You’ll have to wait for the hands-on review, but for the time being, here are the specs on paper.

What Phones Did Huawei Announce?

We expected to see Huawei announce their P30 Series and with that expected to see a P30, P30 Pro and P30 Lite. We nearly got the lot except for the P30 Lite, a prepay favourite, which will come at a later date.

Let’s focus on what did get announced in the P30 and P30 Pro. First up…

The Huawei P30 Pro

While Huawei’s phones have been improving over the past few years, it was 2018 that I dubbed the year of Huawei. That started with the P20 Pro which totally changed smartphone photography. Naturally, this has left me with high hopes for the P30 Pro and it looks like Huawei delivered again. As now seems to be the Huawei focus, this year it was all about the camera and if initial tests are anything to go by then we could well be looking at an early contender for the phone of the year 2019. So let’s look at the camera.

P30 Pro Camera

Holy moley. What is Huawei at. Seriously, at the event in Paris there was a contingent of approx 30 people from Ireland who got to see the new P30 up close and personal. Every single one of us was blown away. When it comes the Huawei P30 Pro, the spec are completely ridiculous. The first thing you will notice is how Huawei have jammed in five cameras in total on the P30 Pro. One on the front and four on the back.

Huawei P30 Pro with Quad Leica Lens setup

And they’re not just lenses. These are the ever-stunning Leica lenses that really upped the quality of photography that Huawei was able to achieve.

The quad lens setup on the P30 Pro makes this Huawei shooter is incredibly versatile. If you’re a photography nerd, here are some stats for you. The P30 Pro has an ISO rating of 409,600. The quad camera setup on the rear comprises of 40 MP (Wide Angle Lens, f/1.6 aperture) + 20 MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens, f/2.2 aperture) + 8 MP (Telephoto, f/3.4 aperture) and a HUAWEI Time-of-Flight(TOF) Camera. The TOF Camera is designed to detect depth of field and increase the quality of your shots without you having to do anything at all.

The nuts and bolts of the Huawei P30 Pro camera

If you are an advanced photographer, like those extremely talented people over on Huawei Creatives, then you might just prefer to leave the camera in Pro Mode where you can edit settings yourself.

The most impressive feature I have seen so far is the zoom. Not even lying but on hearing about the 10x zoom and the 50x digital zoom, my first reaction was “Yeah right, in a smartphone, suuuure” and then I got to play with it myself. Seriously the below pic is only the 10x with no filtering or editing and just look at that detail. It’s black magic pure and simple. Wait for the full review to see what this is truly capable off.

The Camera for Everyone

Now, if all that went over your head, don’t worry. Huawei has included built-in AI which means if you’re anything like myself you will still end up with great shots every time. Here’s one I considered, would I be tempted to get out for a walk just to try to capture some decent shots? Yes, yes I would. Just look at this quick shot of the Eiffel Tower that was taken about a few short hours after getting the P30. Imagine what you can do with a little bit of practise.

Finally, if looking into all those numbers you feel like you still have no idea if this camera will be any good or not, I have one more little bit of news that’ll make it much clearer.

DXO Mark, independent lens reviewers and smartphone photography review specialists, also announced that today they gave the Huawei P30 Pro an overall rating of 112. This means the P30 Pro overtakes both the P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro which sat atop the same chart in joint position.

Nice Night Shots

There’s one more feature which has grown in popularity since last year. Night mode. While Huawei went big with this on the P20 Pro, it actually became best known for featuring on the Google Pixel 3, turning light into dark almost magically. As you might have noticed most of the early test shots have been taken at night and that’s because, with the P30 Pro, Huawei have gone big. Again as we’ve mentioned already, we will need to test this camera in full detail before we go and make any claims. But on paper and early testing, it’s mighty impressive indeed.

Watch out for the full hands-on review. Coming soon!

P30 Pro Design

The design of the P30 Pro hasn’t massively departed from the P30 Pro. One key change is the smaller notch on the front of the phone. With Samsung opting for an in-screen, hole-punch camera, Huawei opted for a tear-drop notch. It takes up around the same amount of screen as the hole-punch method, give or take.

But the clever design doesn’t stop there with some of the coolest P30 Pro features being things you never see.

The P30 Pro is IP68 water and dust resistant so you don’t need to be afraid of getting it wet or dirty. Next up, is the sound. One slight failing in my beloved Mate 20 Pro is the sound. Huawei has deployed an in-display speaker which should improve call quality and your music listening experience too.

In-screen Fingerprint Sensor

Finally, at least finally for noteworthy features, the P30 Pro will also feature an in-screen fingerprint scanner. This is fast becoming a new standard in smartphone security and you will always feel like you’re living in the future because of it.

Power It Up

Power has become another bragging point for smartphone manufacturers and last year Huawei brought two new things to the table; reverse wireless charging and charging so fast, you could see it.

This tech, introduced for the Mate 20 Pro will now feature on the P30 Pro too. You’ll be able to reverse wireless charge a range of devices or other smartphones, sharing your massive 4200 mAh battery with others. Now at a guess, I would say the charging time of third-party products would be slow and that’s just from what we’ve seen before. Then again we didn’t think that 50x zoom could work so nicely, so let’s wait and see.

Knowing full well I’m a total nerd, I’m probably most impressed with just how fast this phone will charge. Going by the Mate 20 Pro, fast charging will be incredibly important. If you buy a phone like this, use the charger you get with it. It’s capable of getting you from an empty battery, all the way up to 70% from a 30 minute charge.

If you want to get a sneak peek of what’s the come, get on over to the Goosed.ie Instagram and checkout how I got on in Paris, at the Huawei P30 launch day.

The Huawei P30

Samsung and Apple have a different approach to their flagships than Huawei’s approach. Samsung and Apple pack the exact same tech into different sized phones while Huawei does go all in for their Pro model while making the regular model almost as impressive but more affordable. With this in mind, the Huawei P30 packs in lots of the tech you enjoy with the Pro model but does give up a few bits.

For example, instead of the quad camera setup, the P30 opts for a Triple Leica camera. You still gets lots of the features, but lose out on the Huawei TOF sensor. While you won’t have the apparently ridiculous zoom available on the P30 Pro, you will still be able to shoot incredible night shots. In truth, when it comes to the camera, the P30 looks like it’ll be brilliant and the P30 Pro will excel. Again, watch this space.

The P30 will also pack a slightly smaller battery, weighing in with 3650 mAh worth of power on board. The screen is slightly smaller, given it’s 6.1-inches in size versus the 6.4-inch P30 Pro and you will give up a small bit of RAM. All in all, the specs step down a bit for the P30 from the P30 Pro, but to me it looks more like Huawei is creating a two phones for two very different users who are both willing to shop at very different price points.

Speaking of which…

Huawei P30 Pro and P30 Pricing

We’re still waiting to see how much the P30 and P30 Pro will set you back on Vodafone and Three, but eir and Harvey Norman have given us an indicator of what you can expect in terms of price and pre-order goodies.

With eir, the P30 Pro will set you back €349 on their €55 per month plan. The P30 will set you back €149 on the same plan.

If you were to pick this up SIM-free from Harvey Norman instead, you’d be looking at €999 with the P30 coming in at €739.

You can also pick these models up at Carphone Warehouse, selling the phones on eir, Vodafone, Three and SIM-free. The P30 Pro will be available in Black and Breathing Crystal. Yes, it’s called Breathing Crystal. I’m not joking. It’s white.

The P30 will come in Black, Breathing Crystal and Aurora as an exclusive in Carphone Warehouse. Aurora, yeah that’s blue. Notions.

Huawei will also be giving customers who pre-order their new P30 or P30 Pro before 4 April a Sonos (Gen 2) smart speaker worth €229. Even though I’m quite a big fan of Huawei as it is, I’ve got to admit. That’s one of the best pre-order gifts I’ve seen in a long time.

So. It all looks so good so far, right? Well as of now the baby has been handed over to the resident Huawei expert in Martin who will be popping his sim into this phone and giving it a proper run out to check if it matches how good it looks on paper when used in real life. Be sure to give us a follow because if you’re in the market for the new phone, the P30 Series is going to be right up there.

Any Use? Lidl is Selling an E-Scooter This Week

Marty
-
0
Any Use? Lidl is Selling an E-Scooter This Week

Update: Unfortunately, Lidl experienced a delivery issue with this scooter and none of their stores received it. As a result, they will no longer be stocking the electric scooter. Apparently, this will now feature at a later date instead. I’ll keep my eyes out for it. Join the Goosed.ie newsletter for further updates.

 

I think it’s safe to say I’ve become a bit of an e-scooter fanboy. I’ve been fairly vocal in defending them pending potential negative legislation and also will have chats with people when I’m out and about recommending them. They’re not just great craic, they’re also a very practical mode of transport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eypB_sfITHI&t

I ride a Xiaomi m365 that I bought for €450 from Three Ireland and, while it does need some hands-on care and attention, I can’t fault it in terms of performance and practicality.

Fresh in from the weekly grocery shop, I was flicking through the Lidl catalogue only to find they’re selling an electric scooter of their own. I wonder if it’s any use?

The Lidl E-Scooter: A Cat 2Droid Kickster S

The scooter in Lidl this week appears to be a German manufactured Cat 2Droid Kickster S electric scooter. At first glance, it looked like a bit of a toy, sharing a page with some stuffed animals. But a longer look left me appreciating just how close to my own Xiaomi m365 the 2Droid Kickster S is, despite it costing just €199.99. That’s a whopper €250 less than what I paid for my scooter.

Cat 2Droid Kickster S

I had to crunch the numbers to see if this can even come close.

Xiaomi m365

Note: I haven’t had a chance to take this scooter for a spin at all I’m afraid. I’m purely looking at the numbers on the page for comparison.

Xiaomi m365 2Droid Kickster S Comparison

There are some key stats to look at when comparing electric scooters. Here’s my rundown.

Top Speed

The Lidl catalogue claims that this scooter can reach a top speed of 24km/h but after rooting around on the Cat website, this model looks like it’s more likely only going to be able to reach a top speed of 18km/h in sport mode. The scooter also features a 6km/h safe mode if that floats your boat.

My Xiaomi m365 would leave this thing sitting handy enough thanks to a top speed of 25km/h.

I’ll be interested to see if the Lidl e-scooter can really reach that 24km/h top speed or not but my gut feeling says it probably can’t, just from seeing similar models on the road.

Weights

The Lidl e-scooter does bring away two massive wins when it comes to weight. First of all, the Xiaomi m365 can carry a max weight of 100kg, though I can personally vouch for it handling heavier people…ahem. This Cat 2Droid Kickster S is capable of carrying a person weighing up to 120kg.

Next up in the weight wins is the actual weight of the scooter itself. Both scooters fold up so you can carry them around. My Xiaomi weighs in at workout worthy 12.5kg. It doesn’t look like much on paper, but if you do need to carry the m365 any distance at all, you’ll feel it. This scooter in Lidl weighs just 8.9kg.

That’s a substantial amount of additional portability you can enjoy with the Kickster S.

Range

I’m lucky enough that I only ever really take my scooter on relatively short spins. I’ve only really tested the range a few times. The m365 advertises a range of 30km but I really doubt it can comfortably do that. You’re probably looking at 20km really. The Lidl e-scooter advertises 15-20km so if I’m to base this purely on paper, the m365 wins this one well.

My instinct tells me that the Lidl scooter will fall well short of that advertised range, but if you’re just planning on some short spins none of these range limits really come into play.

Power

Power gets a different section to range to offer a slightly different take on what all the juice this scooter gives you. Both scooters have a 250w motor. The Lidl scooter has a smaller battery pack which does give you a substantially quicker charge time of just 100 minutes. The Xiaomi m365 takes up to five hours.

While this looks like a positive, it really tells me that it’s even more likely those range stats could be over the top from Cat.

It’s unclear whether or not the Lidl scooter required you to kick to get it moving, but the name would suggest it’s a kick scooter. That’s important so it’s not defined as an MPV which lets you avoid lots of unwanted legal issues from hanging over you.

Bells and Whistles

Well, literally, both scooters have bells. Both have a headlight and both have brake lights. The 2Droid Kickster S does have some additional lights on the handlebars which inform others whether you’re accelerating or braking.

One additional nice feature of the Lidl e-scooter is the display. Xiaomi opted against including a display at all so this is a nice inclusion.

Lidl Electric Scooter: The Verdict

I want to stress again that I have not tested this scooter from Lidl. With that said, on paper the Lidl scooter doesn’t look bad at all. But I can only imagine that if I took this for a spin, I’d be looking forward to jumping back on my Xiaomi m365. Still, €250 is €250 and that’s a substantial saving if this Cat 2Droid Kickster S is any use at all.

If you’re in the market for a scooter and not willing to spend €450, this might be a punt-worthy pick-up from Lidl’s middle aisle.

Lidl will be stocking the electric scooter from Monday 25th March.

Three Mother’s Day Gadget Gift Ideas

Marty
-
0
Three Mother’s Day Gadget Gift Ideas

Your auld wan isn’t the same auld wan you were buying for a few years back. The Irish mammy of today might still believe there’s great drying out and have an amazing ability to plate up sandwiches in the blink of an eye, but she’s also much more tech saavy. My own mother enjoys the odd gadget here and there too, so today I’m going to smugly recommend some more tech-led gift ideas for mother’s day this year.

Keep in Touch: Amazon Echo Spot

One of the most popular gifts these days is anything with a bit of Amazon power. People would appear to be falling head over heels to have an Alexa assistant in their lives. The Amazon Echo Spot is another one of these devices with a particular trick up its sleeve. The Spot has a screen and a front-facing camera on it.

Why is this so good?

Well, my own mother and myself tend to video call more and more these days. Sometimes it’s WhatsApp but because I got her an Echo Spot, I can just drop into the sitting room and say hi. Dropping in is an Amazon specific feature where no-one has to pick up; my face just rather creepily appears in the sitting room.

While my own mam is fairly up to date with tech and capable of answering video calls, the Amazon Echo Spot is a great way to introduce video calling to a less techie mammy. You don’t need to have another device either as you can simply drop in from your smartphone using the Amazon Alexa App.

You can pick up an Echo Spot from Amazon.co.uk for €140.

A New Phone: The Huawei P smart 2019

Mammys don’t want the old Nokia feature phones anymore. Mammys want to take pictures, share them on WhatsApp and even check emails or Facebook.

At the same time, Mammys don’t want you breaking the bank for mother’s day. So if you want to get your mammy a new smartphone this year without being hit by “ah now, that’s too much you shouldn’t have done that”, why not pick her up a Huawei P smart 2019.

Honestly, when I saw this phone for the first time I did one of those comical double takes.

The specs versus the price just doesn’t make sense at all. For example, you can pick up the Huawei P smart 2019 from Three Ireland on prepay for just €199.99. For that you get an AI-powered dual lens primary camera, a battery that’s plenty big with a 6.21-inch screen to match. Decent smartphones no longer have to be “mother angeringly expensive”.

Read the Signs: Get Her a Kindle

This is another tried and tested winner from the gadgets Marty’s mammy loves. The Kindle e-book reader has been a staple gadget from Amazon for years now. In recent years they’ve improved massively too, with users particularly liking the built-in screen lights which make it easier to read.

Kindle is also an empowering gift if your mother has hung up the reading glasses, cursing small print for ruining the reading experience. With Kindle you can zoom in and make the text bigger, ensuring your mammy can read easier than ever.

Kindle is available from Amazon.co.uk, starting around €85.

So there you have it. Not every mammy wants to be wined and dined with a trip out for afternoon tea. Leave your options open for some of this long-lasting gadgets instead.

5 Top Tips For Protecting Your Kids Online

Jon
-
0
5 Top Tips For Protecting Your Kids Online

OK, by now I presume everyone has at least heard of the Momo Challenge that was recently doing the rounds online. The creepy image was everywhere as the hoax went viral and was broadcast across the media, which in turn exasperated the problem. The face had been used and plastered across videos and hoaxes within content aimed at children. More specifically to self-harm. Personally, I think a lot of the media coverage tanked hard with their reporting on the issue which sent things into overdrive. So what the hell happened and what can people do to protect their kids online. Here’s my thoughts anyway:

So what was the whole Momo thing?

The Momo is an urban legend crossed with a social media “game” that contains a set of challenges that get “more difficult” as each task is completed and the game progresses. This game is not innocent but plays on the fears of children and parents.

The image is actually a model created in a Japanese special effects studio called Link Factory. It took off initially in 2016 as a creepy sculpture but in 2019 it became the internet viral story of the year. Only a couple of weeks ago you couldn’t scroll anywhere on social media without seeing something related to The Momo Challenge. This viral aspect was driven by media in the form of clickbait which then, in turn, played on natural parental fear thus creating a sense of fear for children online.

The UK Safer Internet Centre called it all “fake news”, and YouTube said it has seen no evidence of videos showing or promoting the Momo challenge on its platform. Kat Tremlett, harmful content manager at the UK Safer Internet Centre, said: “It’s a myth that is perpetuated into being some kind of reality.”

These hoaxes do exist and these rumoured games have done the rounds before, remember the Blue Whale Challenge? Anyway, Momo was supposably hacking innocent children’s videos to encourage kids, to harm themselves in various horrific ways until inevitably encouraging them to kill themselves. According to experts that cover the analytics concerning YouTube this is not the case, it’s not possible to “hack” the videos, any videos that could have been seen would have been creating themselves as a standalone videos. It’s unreasonable to suggest YouTube filter all content posted to the channel, it’s open so everyone can share and videos like this don’t break guidelines because sometimes people just want a good scare. That’s not to say if children saw it, it wouldn’t be concerning it would but what’s actually happened is the clickbait journalism created the perfect opportunities for people to make exactly that content. Reporting the content at the time probably would have done the job, the content would be flagged for review, checked and deemed not child friendly and viola.

Sometimes content can slip through the cracks, videos from more adult creators have previosuly slipped through onto the child friendly platform, they were all immediatly removed once the issue was flagged.

What can we learn?

Image result for fake news

Firstly, don’t take everything you read online as a given. I think we are in a time where social media and online reporting is in a strange place with the whole “fake news” culture. So it should go without saying that even if we are 99% sure what we are reading is from a legit source, we should still take a moment to check if what we are seeing is right. Reports that Momo hacked YouTube videos and replacing other characters or sections of the videos with these challenges. This isn’t true but when reports go out in this way some smartarses are likely to make videos targeted at this young audience and thus increasing the likeliness of seeing such content. The smarter option at the beginning, in my opinion, would have been to flag the issue early and have the content removed. Done and over before everything blows up. The content is normally automatically screened and blocked accordingly but sometimes something will fall through the cracks.

Anyway that’s one side of the story on the other hand some children could have seen some of this Momo content. That’s not good and I agree that we should do better to protect children at an early age from the darker aspects of the internet. Suggesting the services providers do can always stop everything is a big ask, anyone can make something and post it to YouTube as long as it’s within the guidelines. This type of stuff isn’t illegal, some people might want to watch crap for a bit of a scare or whatever but kids seeing it we don’t want. So we’ve been thinking about it and we have come up with a few things people themselves to protect their children online.

Tip 1 – Get iKydz

Image result for ikydz

Really I can’t recommend this one enough. We all know kids are getting their hands on tablets or phones from a younger age which is great as their learning skills to last a lifetime. With the good, there is always the bad. That’s why Irish company iKydz is a great solution to control your child’s access to the internet without being overly intrusive.

We covered iKydz at the beginning of their journey as a small Irish Kickstarter and since then they have gone on to become readily available in high street retailers like Carphone Warehouse. So iKydz is a two part concept comprising of a “black box” which very simply plugs into your modem and an app which you download to your either your Android or Apple device.

From there then you can control your home internet off your smartphone, allowing or denying access on an individual device basis. It’s actually very practical, you can do things like set bedtimes on different children, add mealtime settings, block any content you deem unsuitable like adult content. You can also set schedules and timers so you can limit online gaming to certain times and block access to sites during homework time. A really handy device that gives you more control and safety. They also come in at a decent price with the standard box costing €99 and the Pro model which has extra ports for
€139 in Carphone Warehouse or PC World.

Tip 2 – Talk to your childs school about CyberSmarties

I could tell you all about it, we’ve talked about them before and they have appeared on our podcast, we’re huge fans but here’s what was said about them on BBC’s Question Time….

Couldn’t agree more and that really just does hit the nail on the head. Why not suggest it to your kids schools as a safer alternative to Facebook. We think it’s a fantastic idea, their a great company whose already having an impact and we honestly think more schools should be taking their system on board.

Tip 3 – Keep an eye on their content

Obviously parents know their children and their capabilities best but with very young kids you want to know exactly what content they are consuming. As they become a little older we want to trust them more and to be fair some kids are bloody whizzes on tablets by the age of three. That’s life as children grow they will take over more interactions

You may still wish to stay physically nearby to offer assistance and to make sure they stay within appropriate boundaries. Older children still need monitoring and boundaries, but you may wish to install a program to patrol their activities. I think it’s fair to say here when it comes to your child you will know the level of monitoring you feel is appropriate versus their age.

Tip 4 – Keep the lines of communication open

An oldie but a goodie. Let your kids know that no matter what happens on the computer they can and should come talk to you about it. Sometimes kids might just break something, remove an antivirus, delete something important or stumble upon the wrong content. No matter what it’s better you know so you can fix the problem quickly.

Set up the boundaries and change them as the child develops but the open communication is key, it can protect your child, your computer and potentially your data.

Tip 5 – Secure games consoles

Image result for playstation large spends on microtransactions#

Not directly Momo related but a good tip nonetheless. Kids love their games and gamers are some of the most popular people on the planet right now thanks to the phenomenon of Twitch. The big streamers/e-sport players earn huge wages but it’s also coincided with a rise in gaming addiction, anyway that means you don’t want them burning through your wages on downloadable content like some of the horror stories we have heard. This means securing the PlayStation or X-box.

Martin wrote a proper article on the topic where he goes into full detail but essentially nowadays we download games straight to the console from the online store. That means paying with the debit card which means loading it onto the console. Now there are parental controls that can be put in place so when the little ones are downloading a new game, they can’t then accidentally use your card on in-game purchases. Take Martin’s advice and use the parental control, and if you want to know how then fire away.

That’s it really, I think if parents want to be safer with their children online it can be done. It just takes a little time and patience. hopefully this helps any concerned parents and if you have any tips or advice you would like to share, then please give us a shout.

Are Apple’s new AirPods 2 really “More magical than ever”?

Dean
-
0
Are Apple’s new AirPods 2 really “More magical than ever”?

This past Wednesday, Apple unveiled and released their second generation wireless AirPods 2, which they claim are “More magical than ever”. But when it comes to earphones, is there much more that you can really do with them?

Well, we’re here to give you the lowdown.

A more stable and wireless connection

This is what Apple claims to deliver with their new new H1 chip, an upgrade from the previous W1 chip. They likely rebranded it to “H” so as to avoid confusion with their low powered W2 and W3 chips that powers bluetooth and wifi in the Apple Watch. Nevertheless, the new AirPods supposedly switch between devices twice as fast as their predecessors and 1.5x faster when connecting to phone calls. So nothing too flashy, but we’ll take it. The new chip also allows the AirPods to know when you’re listening, so when you take them out of your ears, the music stops and plays music when you put them in. Apple also claims that the AirPods know when you’re talking and filters out external noise so your voice is clear when on calls.

More AirPods – Siri integration

Siri has also become more integrated into the AirPods. You can now say “Hey Siri” and give it numerous commands between changing music, to calling someone and asking it to “Turn down the music”. Although you can still touch the AirPods to answer calls, skip between songs and adjust volume if voice commands isn’t your thing.

Extras

With the new wireless charging case, you can now charge your AirPods wirelessly if you lay them down on a wireless charging mat. This is a good an indication that the new iPhone will likely come with reverse charging which Huawei and Samsung already offer on their flagship devices.

Given that the AirPods battery is relatively poor, this will be a welcomed feature. The new AirPods has a measly 5 hour battery life. I myself listening to easily over 5 hours of music and podcasts during a working day. granted, the AirPods will recharge in their case in 15 minutes which will give you another 3 hours of battery, but does this mean I need to carry around my charging case with me too all day? It’s a hassle I don’t really want to be honest. Although in practice, it might not be as much of a pain as it may sound.

The price tag

So with all of these upgrade, will they be worth the price tag? For the new AirPods, you’re going to be looking at €179.00. Which is fairly expensive for earphones when you could get a very decent set of headphones for the same price. But…. and there’s always a But when it comes to Apple. This does not come with the wireless charging case. That will set you back an extra €50 if you buy them with the AirPods. And if you decide to go with the standard case and buy the wireless case at a later date, you’re looking at €89.00 for it.

The Verdict

My final thoughts on Apples new AirPods 2 are…. meh. They through out the standard buzzwords to create hype for something you won’t even be able to differentiate from their original AirPods. “2x as fast”, “more powerful”, “magical”. For a price tag of €179.00, you’d be better off waiting for another pay check and get yourself a good pair of Bose Quiet comfort 35 II’s. If you’re after something that looks like AirPods but is built for Android, the imminent launch of the Huawei FreeBuds 3 should also tickle your fancy.

But if they do tickle your fancy, the new AirPods 2 are released already and can be bought on the Apple store now.

 

1...939495...181Page 94 of 181

About Goosed

Welcome to Goosed.ie! We test the latest consumer electronics and tech from around the world to help you find gadgets that make your life just a little bit easier.

Must Read

Ireland’s Learning Wallet Could Be the Game-Changer Senior Cycle Needs

Tech News 0
It’s not every day you see real innovation in...

Boards.ie Launches Paid Membership to Save Itself

News 0
Boards.ie is one of Ireland's longest standing online landmarks....

Irish Company Coroflo Wins Red Dot Innovation Award

News 0
A couple of years ago, we introduced you Coroflo,...

Subscribe

© 2024 Goosed. All Rights Reserved.