ITV Player Review

What a useless pile of Tripe!

I have been hearing horror stories regarding the ITV Player (Android) for over two years now. Friends and others have often ranted about how slow or how pixelated the streaming had been. Seems that over the past couple of years ITV had been trying to sort these problems out but to no avail it seems.

I myself had always steered clear of this App not just because this App was pants but because I don't normally watch much ITV telly.
That was until yesterday when I realised The World Series of Darts was been covered on ITV 4.  I love watching Darts so in an act of desperation I downloaded the software from the Playstore.

Honestly! What the hell is wrong with ITV and its App developers? The streaming was crap at best.
Every few seconds I was treated to horrific frame jumping which was amusing at first but slowly turned absolutely horrendous to watch even on non-action Darts games. I dread to think how this would look with a fast paced feature film. It is simply diabolical.

On closer inspection it seems that ITV Player pretty much eats all your available memory, slows down your device and consumes more data than perhaps it should. I don't really understand why? The BBC and SKY Go media player rivals don't seem to have these issues at all? It's not really rocket science lads!

Take a quick look at the good and bad reviews on the Google Store:

There are more bad reviews than good.. Surprise, surprise

Rating: 2/10
✅✅
And that's being generous
Its sad really how a highly respected company like ITV can leave this heap of cack to roam free on the Playstore unrepaired. It's staggering that they seem oblivious to the negative reviews and fail to address the issues.
Personally speaking this App will be deleted from my device as soon as the Darts Tournament is over and good riddence!
I would say don't bother downloading this unless you were absolutely desperate to watch something like I was.

Tesco Announce the death of Hudl

Hudl Project Shelved Indefinitely

It has been a fortnight since Tesco announced to the world that it was no longer selling the critically acclaimed Hudl 2.  (I only posted a review on it the other week!) This came as a shock to Hudl owners but was not entirely surprising considering the financial problems Tesco has been having recently. The rise in discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl has badly eaten into Tescos market dominance. Combine that with the revelation that they had cooked their books when the auditors came round made Tesco rethink their strategy and focus more on their core business of flogging good old Groceries. This means that most of their non related lines have been axed including Blinkbox and the Hudl Tablet project. Early indications that something was wrong was when one of the chief bods on the project was relieved of his duties. The next indicator was the price slashing of Hudl accessories. The third was the empty Tablet spaces on the Hudl aisle displays....
So the Hudl 2 only lasted a year....

Tesco said they were not replenishing stocks but would still offer technical support and honour warranties. That's nice of them.

Quite honesty I find it staggering that they would pull the Hudl now and not after the Christmas period. Simply because they could easily sell all their remaining stock and accessories in one go. Plenty of people are still asking for them. The demand is huge. 

It's a shame

Duracell USB Charger Review

The Duracell Plug With A Small Charge!

Vendor:  Sainsburys
Price:  £20 reduced to £5 when purchased
Description: Universal Tablet/Phone Charger
What's in the Box?: Charger Plug and Cable (fixed) 2.4A output.

My weekly trot around the local Sainsburys almost always turns up a diamond or two and this week was no exception.
Set out on the clearance rack was this little number just begging to be picked up.
On closer inspection this looks like your standard spare generic Micro USB Charger complete with fixed meter lomg Canle but its not that mundane. The main selling point in my opinion is its high power output. At 2.4A this has been the most powerful I have come across so far.
My standard Tablet Charger is 2.0A Max and charges it up in around 2.5 hours or so. Hopefully this seemingly small increase would boost my Charging routine and bring that charge time down.
Why be that bothered? Well unfortunately as well as being a fantastic device, my Tablet has a shocking Battery life and as a consequence never far away from a wall socket.
Not being tied to sitting near the wall every time I want to play an Amdroid game would make this purchase seem a no-brainer!

Extreme Landings Pro Review

Extraordinarily good Flight sim on Play Store!
How often would you hear that statement? Not much I wager. That's because Google Play Store is full of so-called Flight sims. Not really but trying hard to be flight sims. With the exception of the equally excellent Infinite Flight there is absolutely nothing of any substance on offer. 

One Engine gone and chaos ensues

Being a fan of Flight Simulators (especially good quality Android offerings) I decided to download Extreme Landings Pro. Rather than taking the free version, I chose the full Pro package instead...

Android 6.0 Marshmallow Preview

Another massive treat or a little dusting of Sugar?

Now steady on Google! Only recently have I managed to obtain a working stable copy of 5.1 Lollipop.....and you're knocking this out? ? No sooner do I get my hands on something I could call working and up to date the big announcement came from Google Towers to say at all new Nexus Tablets will be getting this 'Marshmallow'. I hate Marshmallows. 
So not to waste too much of my valuable time on this I decided I would highlight the 'changes' and point out exactly what benefits an upgrade would bring.

New Paranormal Group in Town

News

Born from the ashes of the disbanded Paranormal Group NPG (Northwich Paranormal Group), new Ghost hunting group Searching For Casper promise to take Paranormal investigation to the next level with new locations and a new working ethic. They already have few successful investigations behind them and the group is growing from strength to strength according it its co-founder Frankie. A large investment in technical equipment and confirmed venue bookings have kept the guys busy recently. Some exciting locations have been promised in the near future.
Recent encounters have included Frodsham Hall and Stanley Palace in Chester. Next on the agenda sees the team track down some pesky spooks that reside at a Nuclear fallout Shelter in Nantwich. A throw back from the cold war, the Shelter now serves as a tourist attraction which has a number of reported phenomena within its rooms.
Searching for Casper are based in Northwich, Cheshire

Searching for Casper Website

Tesco Hudl 2 Review

The Best Budget Tablet Ever!?

Vendor: Tesco Stores
Price:  £99 (less if you use Club Card Vouchers)
What's in the Box?:  Hudl2 Tablet, Charging Cable and Plug, dedicated helpline support from Tesco Tech

Often spoken about as the best budget Tablet of 2015 the Tesco Hudl2 has a reputation to live up to.
Following the sad death of my regular Tablet recently I decided to have a hunt around to find a great spec Tablet for as little money as I could.
This is not as easy a task as you may have thought. Although the cheap Android Tablet market is more and more saturated with offerings, they are all pretty much similar in spec and finding a stand out choice was difficult.

Poundland DIY 8 Wood Drill Bits

Save Me The Best Bits

Price: £1

Vendor: Poundland

Description: 8 pack of Wood Drill Bits in a handy box

Ah! Today we see celebrity Bricklayer Tommy Walsh present something fantastic for only £1 and as usual he doesn't fail to accomplish his mission.

Not content with offering the standard 6 bits in a box Tommy dishes out 8 of the little beggars to us in this offering.

Sizes: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10
Currently I have only had the need to use the size 6 for a little mundane changing of a Window Blind job so as yet unsure of the full pack potential.
The Bit I used looked fine and seemed good quality. There were no problems during drilling what-so-ever. The bit held together well and cut a straight true hole. Job done!

You can't moan at the price and they work really well.  I dont see the point in having to search around a big store like B&Q and pay over the odds when you can get these. Cheers Tommy!