Thursday 17 December 2015

Kingston Data Traveler G4 USB 3.0

Now this review was quite a quick one, lets be fair here. With a usb drive, sometimes waiting for things to be copied over like Windows installers can take time and after a recent purchase of a 64GB usb 3.0 drive for £15 (this was for my smart TV to help record and actually teach my farther that pausing live tv is as common as a deal in morrisons tempting to purchase), I felt it was needed and since i've used Kingston before and was impressed by the USB 3.0 speeds on the other drive, I hoped that it would be able to compete, which sadly i was a bit mistaken, but i'll get into that later.
There was a video recorded but reviewing a usb drive isn't really that popular so i'll put it off for now.

But they are nice to look at so if you want one, they are quite good value.


The Packaging and stick itself

Well with most USB drives, the packaging is thin but clear for the most part, and Kingston is no exception, with its famous statue face (I actually saw something similar in outrun 2006 C2C, but different colour) and a clear font to show the Size and Model as well as the Speed along with the Drive itself. taking up the width of the packaging. 

the Front of the drive packaging


The back however, now that is quite unclear and full of text it puts alot of people off reading it, sure its important to have this documentation on there but it seems too filled, there is info like Warranty, Social Media and Operating system support which is a plus. Also barcodes and various translations are there too :). 

The back of it with much writing

Now one thing with the inside (when you have to use scissors or teeth to tear it open, is that there was MORE small print,  of course since a USB drive is simple and common, no manual was included but its not not not not that hard to use a usb drive to copy things to and from the thing. But a platic holder for the stick is nicely presented. 

So much writing

So much more writing



But as we get to the stick, with a lovely white coast, embedded Kingston logos on the back, a blue USB port, covered with the white cap and a yellow big hook, it was a really well crafted drive from its outside, the cap is quite stiff which is good for safety in one way but stressful in another way when using it it often, but wear and tear over time will fix that. 


A nice design

The bottom of it with a imprinted kingston logo

The standard USB Connector

Th bottom of the usb connector

The testing. 


Now this is where i was going to learn a truth of some speed. Since using CrystalDiskMark is a very good idea with testing devices, I installed it once again since i didn't when i used the Toshiba Canvio to backup. The drive was picked up in windows within seconds and I could access it in a similar fashion, but then I ran the tests and i was in for a suprise. The speeds were different than what I would expect. 

The speeds for the drive in a usb 3.0 Port
I was a bit holy um..... The wriste speeds were just poor, especially with the 4k read and write, i mean 0.003 MB/s is WORSE than a Toshiba TransMemory USB 2.0 and that was a 2 MB/s write speed. The Read speeds however were pretty impressive, like more than what i would of guessed


Then it was time to just do a test of how Rufus will perform with it, since I had decided that this will be use many a time (before this review) that i would be copying Windows to it quite a lot so i can get friends and customer's laptops and devices installed with windows. But after how long it took in the USB 3.0 Port, that changed my mind. 37 Minutes and HOLY fuck that is slower than actaully INSTALLING windows to a device FROM a USB Drive.

The 2.;6GB file was actually the quickest part of it

This was near the end. but these small files are a terrible problem for it


So with that in mind...

omracer's Rating: 4/10

The good points:

  • The value is good
  • The read speeds is pretty impressive
  • The design is nice and easy to attach to a keyring

The bad points: 

  • THOSE WRITE SPEEDS ARE ABYSMAL
  • It can burn young children due to the heat causes from a copy such as windows isos or a film.

Well that sums up a quick review. More reviews in 2016 to appear

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Vidonn X6 Smartband

Another review, this time this was a review my mum actually inspired me to do since she was intrested in smart bands and fitness wrists, now since i do cycle and run everywhere, this was to keep an accurateish trail of how i actually perform since mytracks is not as easy.

Only costing me £25 from Banggood. This seemed like too good to be true, but my mum got hers, and 2 weeks later, I ordered mine and my sister's (christmas present). Its a nice concept and from what my mum has with hers, it actually works nicely.

The video Review is below:



The packaging: 

I'll admit. the size of the box is smaller than what most would expect, but its a decent modern design, white background, simple text on the front. But the back is actually nicely laid out if you can understand Traditional Chinese. Showing off the band, the product features and also the requirements to use the product, But sadly it is NOT compatible with my phone, since thats android 4.1 not 4.4.4. My mum had the same problem but flashing CM11 onto her phone did the trick.

The packaging does explain the product nicely so i can't really complain.

The front of the box

The left and right side of the box

The bottom of the box with the shipping seal still on

Take the seal off and it sows the detail nicely.


Lets look inside...


The contents of the box was quite small, only the cable to charge it, the band itself and a manual, which actually it ideal from the getgo. The cable is a nice apple feel to it with the magnetic attaching by the battery. It does NEED a few HOURS to charge as the video didn't show turning it on easily but, thats like any eletronic gadget. Also the band looks very light and feels light but still solid and clear when lit. 
The look into the box

A look at the usb charging cable

A Closer blurry look at the band


The bottom of the band with the logo is actually metal, if you have skin problems this might affect you


The Manual


From the video, I actually reviewed and read both the English and Chinese parts, at least when filming the raw footage, it got me thinking there was only an chinese section, but its quite useful to know, such as the charging for a few hours and also how to pair and setup the notifications. Pics are only for the English Side. 

The first few pages of the Manual

The middle pages

The last pages

Getting it setup.


Now i had to delay myself a bit for this, well the battery was flat, but charging it is a breeze but NOT with a power bank, at least the solar one i had didn't get on with it. But using a normal mains charger did and after an hour and a half, it was up to 70% ish. It did feel light on my wrist eventually, its better than a normal watch, thats for sure.

Charging it through the power bank didn't work

After updating the Firmware after charging it to 65%
Then i connected it to the tablet, the onda's android is ideal for it. Since Vidonn do have a APK copy of it if the playstore isn't working for you. Which for me i actually just wifi transfered the apk from the playstore since i put it on my phone, which DOES NOT WORK WITH IT, which is because its android 4.2 which only 4.4 and BT 4.0 and higher work with it. I signed up a few days before so i skip the registration process for better use. 

Once its setup, it tracked 14 steps before i updated the firmware

It can set alarms (which buzz on the thing) 

I can set my sleeping times, i say 1:30 since i fap between 12 and 1:30

More details about the band 

The testing of the steps


Ok so now it was testing the thing, which is actually quite easy, but one thing you can do, is track a route manually, so holding the diamond (its a button) on the band for 3 seconds and a timer appears, which lets you record that distance, Well i ended up going with my mum to Lidls by walking with Rosie. We took an hour due to me not thinking where the cooking chocolate was, But for that hour, I took 3000 steps, luckily i could logon to the website  and check the stats. Which when i got back, it was about 5,000 total, so about 3700 steps and over 300 calories burned. 

The website shows the stats nicer. 

So it was even counting steps as i was walking, it was pretty cool. The only downside for me so far is the fact i have to use Android on the Onda v820w to sync the data. But later on i will have to check the other part of the app, the one that lets you measure the sleeping pattern you have and how the alarm feels. But that will be for tomorrow (this was done over 2 days).


The first full day


After a shave and haircut, i get to be about the 12:30 mark and then head off to sleep at 1ish, which was peacful, especially according to the chart, but i'l get to that later. Nearing the time though, I noticed my phone went off first and NOT the band, but the band had been 3 miutes out of sync compared with my phone, which means it wasn't the correct time from what devices I had with me, the buzzing was quite assertive, so it won't shock you but you will feel it in some way. 
Eventually i got up and got running to work. The day went meh and after a nice end with a home visit, but running home did help boost steps.

checking the time before running home

4,385 steps before running home

248 calories burned

2,986 m travelled. 
 Then after getting home and food and things, it was time to upload the data and see how i performed today. it was quite less than i thought with only 6,000 steps. But the sleep data, was interesting.

This showed how well i slept over that night. 

A better look of how it performed


Well the battery was quite weaker but i've not fully charged it yet. I'm proud of it and i might as well review the conclusion:

omracer's Rating: 8/10

The good: 

  • Good value
  • pretty accurate,
  • nice design
  • works with android and ios 
  • light on your wrist

The bad: 

  • Requires Android 4.3 or IOS 7 and Bluetooth 4
  • The battery needs to be fully charged before using it. 
  • There can be hard to fit if not fitted properly. 
  • The app isn't that easy sometimes, also no PC support.


Well reviews will be next year now