Dimplex Portable Air Conditioner

Dimplex Portable Air Conditioner

Model    GDC18RWA 

Power    5.3KW

I bought this unit in the hope that it might be able to take the edge off the temperature in our family room on hot summer days.  The room is a family room/kitchen which is about 30 m2.  As the advertising claims, it is true that no matter how hot the ambient temperature of the room is, it does pour out cold air.  The only problem is that the amount of heat it generates radiates out of the lower portion of the unit and also from the pipe that exhausts out of the window (yes I do have the window blocked off except for the exhaust pipe).  The exhaust pipe gets very hot, almost too hot to touch.   It could be that the room is too big but I do find that overall the temperature does rise rather than cool when I fire it up even if it is very pleasant when you stand in front of it.  Stand being the operative word as it blows the cool air out of the top of the unit.  In hindsight it might have been better to get a unit that blows the air our horizontally so that you can sit on the couch with cool air blowing at you.  The unit is on wheels so it is not too difficult to move it around on a level surface but you had better get help if you want to get it upstairs.  

Android App of the Month : Navfree

Navfree


Link to Navfree page on the Android Market
Well for my first Android App review I have found a really great one.  If you drive a car or have to find your way around this is one app that you won't want to uninstall once you have tried it.  It is a SatNav application that does not require connection to a network to function once you have chosen your destination and what it more it is free. It is ad supported however but this is a small price to pay for an app of this quality.


When you first start it up it asks you to choose a country.  It then downloads the maps for that country.  The Australian map is about 179MB.  After that the only reason you need connectivity is to find a location.  I am guessing that it uses Google Maps to get a longitude and latitude position to pin point where you want to go on map.  Once you have chosen this route your can untether yourself from the network and the GPS will work out how to get you there.  If you take a wrong turn it will recalculate and set you back on track.  Obviously your phone or tablet must have a GPS receiver. The software will ask if you want to enable the GPS each time you start the program.  The Maps cover most of Europe, India, parts of South America and Canada.  It also covers South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  You only need to load the map that you need so you can save memory space ignore the other countries maps.  There is now a version for the USA.

Subaru Forester

Subaru Forester

Year:             2003

Model:           XS Luxury

Engine:          2.5L unleaded

Transmission: Manual Dual Range

I owned one of these from 2006 to 2011.  I bought it when it has 89,000 km on the clock and sold it when it had just ticked over to 148,000 kms.  During the 5 years I owned the car I did nothing to it except get it serviced regularly.  I did not even change the tyres.  When I got the car it had a set of coopers on which had only a few thousand clicks.  When I traded it in there was still a fair amount of tread left. 

Well what did an eight year old Subaru Forester look like when I sold it, pretty good actually.  The paintwork (silver) was in good condition and polished up nicely, the interior had stood the test of time, nothing worn or broken and the leather seats were still supple.  The first owner told me that he had always put leather protector on the seat about 4 times a year.  I continued with this at least twice a year.  The engine bay also looked great after giving it the once over with the pressure spray at the car wash.

Asus Transformer TF101 Android Tablet

Asus Transformer TF101 Android Tablet

Click here to read an update to the review, added on 27 Feb about the upgrade to Android V4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

My first encounter with the Transformer was on the Asus website in the form of a promotional video. My initial thoughts were, "holy cow, this is a game changer! It leaves the iPad for dead, it can't be that good." I am pleased to say that I was wrong.  It is not perfect but I can live with its' imperfections.  

What sets it apart from the rest you may ask, there are lots of tablets on the market these days and why should I pay a premium? Obviously the first reason is the detachable keyboard, it turns the unit from a casual note taking device into a full blown notebook capable of editing documents and spreadsheets.  That coupled with the extra battery life are reasons alone  The keyboard has saved me many times when I have forgotten to charge the tablet and have had to rely on the keyboard to get me through meetings (the keyboard contains a battery that extends the tables battery life). The battery life is phenomenal, you really do feel liberated from working indoors close to a plug in case you run out of juice.  The other nice thing about the keyboard is that you can plug in a USB mouse and use it just like a laptop.  I use the word laptop with reason, contrary to a normal netbook that has to share the keyboard space with on/off switches, indicators and function keys, the keyboard and touchpad are free to use all the available surface of the dock.  I therefore find the keyboard big enough to type on easily

Also note that the top row of keys duplicates a number of soft functions such as direct access to the settings menu and switching Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on an off.  You can even disable the touchpad which is very useful.  We have all had the problem with a laptop where you are typing and your input suddenly jumps to another part of the page because you have inadvertently brushed the pad.  I plug in a mouse to the USB port but you can also still use the touch screen.  One more button worth mentioning is the screen shot button.  When you push the button it will take a .jpg image of what ever is on the screen.  This is going to be useful for my app of the month blog. 

Some people do find fitting the tablet to the keyboard can be hard but I have not had this problem.  Just put the keyboard down on a hard surface, ensure that the dock portion is facing upwards, line the tablet up with the edges of the keyboard and gently push down until you hear a click. 

The other selling point that often gets neglected is the bundled software.  It comes with Polaris Office which contains a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation viewing and editing applications.  Also bundled is a package that will stream your desktop computer screen to the pad over you home network.  While none of these two applications suites are stunning it means that you are instantly productive.  There are a few other applications loaded but these are the important ones for me. 

Performance wise I have no issues, it runs smoothly even with high definition video, the display is bright when needed and the screen is very responsive to any inputs.  Asus have also been very good with the updates.  I have had the tablet around 6 months and during that time I have received a number of over the air updates, including one for the keyboard dock.  I am hoping that the Android V4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will not be far away.  Asus has announced the update will go ahead after the release of the new Transformer Prime.

The one downside for me is that it does not have 3G connectivity like some of the iPads do.  However it is something I can live with as it tethers nicely to my phone.  There is a version of this unit, the TF101G, which does have a 3G connection.  Check your local specifications to see if this option is available.  That is the downside of being an early adopter!! If I was going to be doing a lot of travelling I would invest in a little portable hotspot. 

Because of the versatility of the system it replaces most of the functionality of my desktop computer which only gets switched on a couple of times a week for archiving email and processor intensive applications where speed is an issue.  

Would I travel with this rather than a laptop or netbook, definitely.  It would do everything I need it to.

Likes

Keyboard

Battery life

Bundled apps

16:9 format display and speed

Weight

Micro SD and SD slots plus 2 USB ports

Flash support

Dislikes

No 3G (this model TF101)

Conclusion

Bottom line would I buy one, definitely, I have one and am looking forward to the release of the Prime.  Not sure if the quad core is enough to tempt me though if it does not have 3G.  Is it better than the iPad?  Yes and no.  The iPad interface is definitely cuter and slightly more polished, however the Asus Transformer and Android is so much more flexible.  The iPad is fine if you want to live in the Apple ecosystem but personally I find that too limiting.  I like the fact that I can access my home network and download or upload any file I need without having to go through iTunes.  Final words, a truly great product and game changer.