Tymbark Apple Mint Drink

So, Lockdown is 30 days in and well its time to finally do small reviews. Such as nice drinks and other bits of tech. Well, we kick off with the first of different reviews and a cheap drink is for one of them, This one was a bit of shopping in Tesco a few days before for an amazing £0.29. But enjoy the quick review

The Bottle: 

The design is standing out and almost carnival-like design, to clearly show the mix of apple and mint flowing through and actually not much of a translation happening here. There's not much sugar as some will expect to have in that one which is about the 8.4g of sugar for the 250ml bottle. The colour of the drink does look like pee though,. 

The front of the bottle 

The back of the bottle 

from underneath the bottle 

Then it was time to see how the lid opens up like the ring lid sometimes might be a popper like but its actually a film style peel which has an interesting tagline in the lid itself. 

the top of the lid 

Opening the lid 

The lid

Under the lid 

But then it was time to drink

The tasting 

There we have to taste and actually was a lush refreshing taste, one with that hint of mine but you know the apple is there as well as if you drink more you do feel it has been diluted a bit which gives it a bit of a safer mix. I mean it does help with the digestive system apple and mint too. 

The conclusion: 

All in all, this is one good drink for a very good value and cheaper than lemonade in some cases, well not for the quantity but the quality in this way. 

omracer's Rating: 9/10

The Good Points: 

• Very good value since soft drinks that amount end up £1 sometimes 
• The refreshing taste of Apple and mint
• ITs not too sweet due to the dilution 

The Bad Points: 

• There is only 250ml per bottle
• Not easy to see unless you look in the right place 

Well there you have it, one review done and a few more down to go during the lockdown, see you for those soon

omracer 

Calypso Lemonade

So, finally, the time has given me a chance to get a review of not one but 2 bottles of lemonade done. From the fair at 2 for a Fiver, . Now enjoy a maybe bit rushed review but we enjoy some oof the best drinks that are not actually too expensive.

The Bottles,

They stand out, for the most part, the brand of them. The bright yellow for the lemon. This also gives a clear detail on what happens like the ingredients used which haven even iron in it. The bottles are also really strong glass.

The bottles 

The Ocean Blue

The back of the bottle 

Tropical Mango 

The back of tropical mango 

The bottom of the glass

The Pouring: 

Now it actually looks exactly like the glass, it's probably the flavouring of it is artificial but its American drinks really.  But it really does make it attractive. 

The ocean blue look

The Tropical Mango 

 The tasting: 

Well theres a bit of bittersweetness to it actually, well both of them/ But there are differences

• Tropical mango does have a heavy mango taste to it.
• There is a feeling that ocean blue is more syrup but its actually just extra sweet from the lemon

But it was really good and made some good taste for the drink. 

Conclusion: 

Its one of those rare good value drinks and will makes things really tasty but it will give you a sugar buzz feeling too. 

omracer's Rating: 

Tropical mango: 7/10
Ocean Blue: 9/10

The Good Points: 

• amazing taste
• its a large amount
• Blue raspberry is my dream flavour

The Bad Points: 

• Can be hard to find without importing
• This is really expensive if importing or from local indie sweet shops
• Too sweet or too bitter for some people 

Well thats a quick review done, new ones are being planned with new things soon. 

omracer 

Frugo Ultra Green Juice

A quick review of a juice I bought actually while I was shopping in Tesco one evening. It was something called Frugo. This was actually in the import isle in the local Tesco and it was quite a nice drink, now there was a video but I found out when i was filming on the phone, it dropped into the water and fried the mic :(((. So that means as well as my sister's cat dying young yesterday, the phone can't do vlogs any more easily, so i've had to order a new one for technically £10 more without a case but its uk stock. But thats a different thing.#

The bottle itself

Well its a small 250ml glass bottle which has a jungle theme to it with, it was nice with a tiger and chamleon. Then the cap was quite nice in its design. 

The top of the bottle

The details of the flavour of the juice

The bottle and logo

Another look at the logo

The taste:

Well the taste is actually quite fruity, its a mix of fruits but its a different taste to lilt, But you can taste the apple and the kiwi but there is a mix of the bitterness to one of the other fruits in there. 

omracer's Rating: 7/10

The Good Points: 

• Only £0.50
• Its a juice
• There is a decent taste to it

The Bad Points: 

• Glass bottles can break
• there is a slight bitter taste within the decent taste

Well thats that, But with the phone having to re-arrive soon, I can get on to reviewing in video form again .

omracer

DragonWar DragonShock Black PS3 Controller

This was a rare item to find, well i noticed this when looking for a backlit keyboard by Dragonwar in work many times, I noticed a PS3 controller, which looked really nice and had a different appeal compared to other controllers i had seen. Bascially searching various marketplaces for this was frustrating but after looking at some EU suppliers, i found one that WILL deliver to the UK, that company was called GAMEGEAR. This site is in the English language and i was able to order the controller for €40.55 EUR including P&P, Taxes and a Paypal Fee. €24.99 ex TAX and P&P for the controller itself. All in all this came to just under £30 for me to buy (using conversion rates etc). After ordering on Sunday night while missing emma, I was just waiting only 2 days (Dispatched on Monday 18/05/15). Then while a day off i was having to dog sit, a yodel van arrived and it was signed for and yay, it was all mine,


Well if want this, you can buy it HERE. The video of it is below and lets begin:

Looking from the Outside.

The box has a nice dragonware feel to it, with the same colour scheme as the controller itself, with clear info on the features, a nice shape and all in all the same style as the controller. But there was nothing that you couldn't understand about the product on it. Enjoy the pics below:

The front of the Box

One of the sides of the box with focus on the controller buttons

The back of the box with more detailed features

Another side of the box with more features to boast about 

The top of the box with the URL and hook on

When you open the cover of the front of the box up, this appeared

Some clearer pics of the inside cover

Some clearer pics of the inside cover

A calendar from the supplier i bought it from FOR FREE

Once the box was open

Well inside the box was just a plastic mould for the controller and a mini usb cabled wrapped, thats it, so it was time to connect it to a PS3 and play. i mean its that simple, since the battery was flat, the wireless would not sync so i left it to charge for a while. Then it worked fine. 

The controller in the plastic container

Behind the plastic lies a mini usb cable

Yay, the controller

The buttons on the back are blue too

The dragon logo looks good

The bottom of it

 Well after testing, it worked nicely with PACMAN CE DX and although i made one or 2 mistakes, the grip on the controller was pretty good, the dpad moved slightly but no controller is perfect. But i felt comfortable with it which is the main thing.

Then i had the option of using it on Steam (due to me installing SCP to make PS3 Controllers work) and it was responsive very shortly after installing, which means it was the similar device id as a PS3 but with a different name called "PS (R) Gamepad".

But all in all i'm happy with this so lets get the conclusion sorted.

omracer's Rating: 7/10

The good points:

• Very similar to a standard Dualshock 3, except with cooler looking buttons and a dragon watermark
• Better grip with rubber coating
• Nicely packaged

The bad points:

• Not (yet) available in the UK without import
• battery does take a while before allowing wireless sync
• the dpad moves slightly

Well i hope this helps you if you are into looking for a nice looking non modded PS3 controller. More reviews to come soon at various points.

omracer

Playstation Vita TV (Known as Playstation TV in US/EU)

Well as many of you might of known, I've mentioned that i had wanted a PS Vita TV since it was announced in September . Its now November and they have been released in Japan, I've been checking Play-Asia and eBay and found some offers. it turns out Otaku was listing one for $149.99 + $12 postage (tracked). Which comes to around £110. But i did make an offer for everything (The console + tracked delivery) for $160 which when paid with Paypal, came to about £102.44. So that was ordered Friday evening

I worked an extra day this week due to Dickensian Night happening this Friday, and since a customer wanted to have a lesson with me and was only in Tavi on the day, so i worked, i did finish at 6:30pm or so. But i found it had arrived withing 5 days, that's quick, even quicker than chinavasion with £12 delivery from DHL (That had customs, this didn't ?). So when i arrived home, i found it, looking at me, i undid the outer packaging and you can see the box below.

The box, sealed up, with the PSVita TV logo infront of me, i was excited but i had to pace myself.

So, after the evening was sorted, everyone else went to sleep and i started to get this review underway, It was quite cold in the kitchen, but i made sure to get what i needed before i started. With a Figure 8 cable, my fake DS3 and i did get the usb cable to pair it part way through, but i was ready. You can enjoy the review below, which includes what was in the box, setting it up and looking through the PS Store, but there are bits i have missed which i will cover in this, so do read on...

The Unboxing and setup 

Well Getting the seal off was quite tricky. But the box has a nice PS feel to it, advertised what was available, the interface and of course, parental control, trademarks and safety regulations. Have a look at the unboxing pictures below:

The top of the box, with the logo and some of the bubbles

The back of the box, with detailed descriptions as well as the Reigon, HDMI trademark, Parental controls and something that looks like a date on the right hand side

The Right side of the box, with the Mode numbers, POS Bar code, URL for more info and where it was made, well china for obvious reasons :D

The bottom of the Box, which has sony's trademarks and "FOR SALE IN JAPAN ONLY". But many have been lucky to import.

The Left hand side of the box, with the pictures of the interface, mentions the ability to play PS1 and PSP games (You'll See later). Also the sony icons as well as the GUI is shown.

So with the box shown, its time to look inside. Now there isn't much to show you inside but a list of what is actually included is as follows:

• The Console itself
• A HDMI Cable, 1.8m, standard V1.4
• An AC adapter, which can support 100-240V (So maybe its not just localized for Japan perhaps ?)  and the cable to plug it in to the mains, which is a figure 8 cable, so you can buy a local cable for your country, plug it in and not worry about using adapters. I was actually running around before i left work, looking for a 240V to 110V adapter aha. 
• A manual which folds out and is double sided, it even tells you how to replace a battery in a Dualshock 3, which isn't mentioned in a PS3 manual, funny that ???. 
• A warranty card/booklet. 
• Some notices on small sticker type labels

Now this is a nice amount, when you open the Box, the console is the first thing you see, which you have to take out before you can get to the other items. So i'm going to show you whats in the box:

The left side of the Console itself

The right side of the console, with the PSVita Logo on the slot where the games are inserted

The back of the console: with a power button, slot for PSVita Memory Cards, USB 2.0 Port, HDMI port, 10/100 Ethernet port and the power jack, supporting DC 5V

The bottom of the console, with the Sony logo and some of the detailed information

The front of the console, with the Sony logo and a tiny LED

The top of the comsole, with the PS logo, in a nice silver finish.

The bottom half of the rear of the manual, it even mentions how to replace a battery on a dualshock 3. Thats impressive

The top half of the rear of the manual, More safety notices

The bottom half of the front of the manual, which shows the UI, the dualshock 3 and how to use the sticks as the either the front or reach touchscreen

The back of the Warranty booklet

The inside of the Warranty booklet

The Front of the Warranty Booklet

The Figure 8 AC cable to plug into Japanese sockets

The actual AC adapter itself, which allows for 100 - 240V and steps it down to 5V

A bog standard HDMI V1.4 cable, Looks good for a added extra and helps you get started. 

So the unboxing was quite nice, with everything to get you started if you already own a PS3. After getting everything plugged in, turned on, i started to set the console up, it was quite simple, although i did forget that O is enter and X is back, unlike the Western settings, which is X for enter, O for back. But it was easy to navigate, even getting "Trial access to Playstation Network" was a unique idea, but it technically is on PS3 but i never used it.

After you set it up, or when its normally turned on, you see this. The home screen

Once it was set up, it was like a normal vita but there was a popup on how to use the home screen, well with the d-pad and analog sticks. there was 2 parts, since there was more features then what could of been fitted on one screen. You can even make folders by pressing /\ (That i didn't mention in the video). Afterwards, i went to the settings to get the wifi setup, this is quite simple, although my router always has to fuck me over, i'm going to cut to the chase, but after a few attempts, it worked fine. Then i checked the PS store after updating to 3.00 OFW. There were some good apps as you saw, some of the standard vita apps had been ported over, Torne, Livetweet, NicoNico, Youtube and others, all free too.

The testing. 

At this point, the video ends and i continues to do some extra tests. I did decide to start playing the one game i've always wanted to play on the Vita, which is of course Ridge Racer. I inserted it in the slot, which is tricky to comprehend if you have badly bitten fingernails, i even tried using the cable ties for the hdmi, which worked the first time, but not the second time, it exposed the wire inside lol. But once i got the cartridge in, i found it needs an update, it said ver 1.02, which i hoped would of allowed it for Vita TV compatibility, but alas it was an update in April 2012. Alas it didn't make the game compatible :(

The latest update for Ridge Racer on the Vita TV. 

Afterwards, i downloaded the games i have on my JAP PSN account, which were some free ones, very interesting that the PSP demos don't work, but the full games do. So i had the chance to play some LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, i didn't play much but it felt like it should be, as well as being able to download other conent while playing, which was nice, even the PS3 doesn't let that happen for some games. The upscaled quality is not too bad (Patapon 2 cutscenes are quite bad, but the tv was at 1080i) and also it allows you to add functionality to the right stick, which might be useful for some games.

Playing LocoRoco midnight Carnival and a notification that mentions i've download a PS1 game, in this case its a demo of Devil's Dice, which i still don't understand.

The Verdict:

Well with some things covered, its time to give you my opinions. I'm sort of glad i did get the console, the concept for what i've wanted to do for a while is there, yes i've been able to do it with my CFW PS3 but the emulator for the PSP remasters isn't as good as the vita's. But since there is no UK or even Western release planned, for now at least...The console is restricted if i wanted to buy a ramdom vita game from CEX, Game et, there is a chance that i might of not bought one of the 304 compatible games that is compatible with the Vita TV, i'm surprised Ridge Racer isn't compatible . But the UI is fluent and really easy to use, even if the X and O are swapped

omracer' Rating: 7/10

Pros:

• Looks beautiful and small
• Easy To use
• Has alot of potential, as a mini console and as a Smart TV box (Well for Japan currently anyway)

Cons:

• Linked to Japan only, so you need a JAP PSN to get around
• Not compatible with many vita games, especially EU and US games, PSP and PS1 games are mostly fine. 
• 1GB of storage is basic but a 4GB card is recommended. 

Well that sums this review up. This won't be the last time i mention about the Vita TV, but for now, expect some more reviews, maybe Christmas Present ones. 

omracer :)

.