Review: Russell Hobbs Mix & Go

The whole world appears to be going smoothie-mad at the moment, and it seems that it's infectious. Working in London, it's impossible to walk 3 metres down the street without passing a sleek and slender individual who happens to be carrying a brightly coloured and almost impossibly fresh concoction of fruit and vegetables that would cause Del Monte to go green with envy.

The Backstory

[You could probably skip this if you have no interest in my life and just want to know how the product fares.]

As someone who often has to start work at 0730am [no, I can't quite fathom how I do it either], breakfast can be a bit of a chore. In days of old, I would have skipped it altogether, and just allowed my stomach to provide what sounded like a loud and intrusive percussion solo until lunch, when I'd finally settle down for something to eat. However, after a few years of "growing up", and with the occasional nag from my mother, I've come to realise that breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. Over the past months, I've been continuously buying Nature Valley granola bars, and would scoff these, albeit hurriedly, on the way to work.

Sadly, while these bars taste rather nice, I'm sure one of them could potentially soak up the entire Atlantic Ocean if it was left there long enough. Sick to death of breakfast-induced cotton-mouth, and desperately searching for some way to get my 5 a day, one of my colleagues came to the rescue. Long story short, after seeing them whipping up some heavenly and hunger-killing concoctions with the company blender [yes, I do have a blender where I work, and yes, you should be jealous], I've been bitten by the smoothie bug, hence why I've purchased the Russell Hobbs Mix and Go.

What does it do?

The Russell Hobbs Mix and Go truly is one of those "does what it says on the tin" types of products. It allows you to blend smoothies, juices, and even cocktails quickly. The product's USP [which isn't so unique - but we'll get on to that later] is that you blend drinks directly in the bottles you'll drink them out of. This means no faffing about with extra attachments, no more using giant jugs, and it also means (thank the Lord) less washing up! 

In the box, you receive two blending/drinking bottles with two drinking lids, one 'blending' lid [with blades to blend the fruit] and the actual blending unit itself, which plugs into a wall socket and does the actual blending.

In order to make a smoothie [or juice, or cocktail], you just put your ingredients in the bottle, put the 'blending' lid on the bottle, turn it upside down and align it with the arrow on the blending unit, and push down to activate the spinning motor. For a hands-free blending experience, you can twist the bottle clockwise to ensure the motor spins without you pushing down. 

Once you take a look at the unit, it doesn't take an engineering graduate to understand that the little plastic nubs on the outside of the blending lid lock with the grooves on the blending unit to spin the blades inside the bottle. And before you know it, your smoothie's made in front of your eyes.

As soon as you feel your drink is smooth enough, take the bottle off of the blending unit, unscrew the 'blending' lid off the bottle, replace it with the drinking lid, and sip to your heart's content.

So how does it do?

This blender is quite a specialist machine... and that's a polite way of saying that it's a one trick pony. This machine is purely for liquid, and is about as useful as a chocolate ashtray for blending mostly solid items. This means that most of your smoothies will have to be quite watery, and finding the right liquid-to-solid ratio is incredibly infuriating over the first few uses.

Since this is mostly a trial-and-error process, expect to be screwing and unscrewing the 'blending' lid several times while you make your smoothie - be careful, though. Sometimes it can become cross threaded and attempt to unscrew itself when you next blend with it, spraying copious amounts of bright, fruity liquid absolutely everywhere. [Fun fact, I once got a smoothie splash on my forehead and managed to go the entire day without noticing. Wait, I probably shouldn't have told you that...].

Be afraid... be BERRY afraid... of your
frozen stuff sticking to the bottle!

At the same time, frozen ingredients [such as frozen berries - which take the hassle out of getting an ice cold yet healthy drink] tend to stick to the sides of the bottle quite well, so a long spoon to prod these free always comes in handy if you're in a pinch and don't want a tonne of solids at the bottom of your bottle. On that note, it's worth mentioning that your smoothies will never truly be 100% solid free - I've found that seeds in berries tend to survive the blending process, and you'll probably want to carry a personal supply of toothpicks if these become your fruits of choice.

Despite the scientific trials and tribulations in what state you'd like your smoothie to finally become, the portability of the bottles means that you will forgive any shortcomings during the blending process. Other than the blades in the 'blending' lid, there's nothing to wash up until you've finished your beverage, which is definitely music to my ears. But a word of warning: when you do go to clean the bottle, you'll need to invest in a bottle brush, as unless you're the child of a Borrower and a Hobbit, you'll struggle to get your hand into the long, narrow bottle. The crevices in the 'drinking' lid can become a bit annoying when it comes to tiny pieces of fruit residue, so a scourer might come in handy, too.

The lid itself is leak proof, and hasn't let me down over the past month - no awkward moments on the tube where I have bright pink liquid seeping out of my bag... which is... handy.

"Ravi, I made a pact never to buy a Russell Hobbs product ever again, but I like the sound of this product."

Fear not. The Breville Blend-Active does pretty much exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. However, some online reviews have stated that the blending unit can develop some issues in some cases - so be vigilant!

Summary

All in all, the Russell Hobbs Mix & Go is a nifty little product for those who are already smoothie-fanatics, or those who want to start getting their fruit in a more convenient way. While it's a bit of a one-trick-pony, it does what it does reasonably well, with the occasional hiccup.

Rating: 7/10

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TechTalk: Minix Neo X7 Part 1: Unboxing/Intro

For a few years, I've been highly critical of the programming that's available on TV. It appears that every channel appears to be completely full of poorly-written and shoddily-acted crap that people would only want to watch if they had scraped the bottom of the barrel in terms of boredom or procrastination. Given that I'm now in a new job with unpredictable hours, I'm hardly home to watch shows that I would actually want to see.

In order to get over these problems, most people have taken to buying smart TVs. These have shot down in price tremendously since first bursting onto the scene and are often ram-packed with apps to grant people access to Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and other on-demand services. Our Samsung TV, however, appears to be the most reliable item that my family has ever owned, and so we're not in the market for a shiny, bright, and exciting new television.

So, I've decided to solve these problems in my own inimitable style. Readers of my blog will know that I'm a big fan of gadgets from China [with purchases including the Xiaomi Mi2 smartphone, and a recent Ohsen 'dual-display' watch], and it appears that the new hit devices to head this way are Android TV boxes, which, essentially, make any TV 'smart', and also allow endless customisation. After months of browsing specs and checking out endless Chinese wholesale stores, I finally settled on the Minix Neo X7.

Why the Neo X7?

The Minix Neo X7 runs Android, the same Google-developed operating system that powers millions of smartphones and tablets around the globe. Having owned other Android devices in the past, I'm familiar with the system and interface, and know what I'd be up against. Android, in my mind, is quite a lot less 'restrictive' than Apple TV, and allows for a bit more tinkering.

What's on the outside?

The box is quite easy on the eye and has an aesthetic similar to Apple TV - though the platypus-tail shaped [and optional] WiFi antenna does turn it into a slight eyesore. 

Ports on the device include an HDMI [duh, how else would anyone connect it to their TVs?], an optical audio out port, three USB ports for connecting hard-drives or pen drives, an ethernet port to connect the device to your network using a network cable [or use the device as a router], a 3.5mm headphone jack, a 3.5mm mic jack, and an SD card slot. Phew! 

What's on the inside?

The Neo X7 sports a quad-core GPU, a quad-core processor, two gigabytes of RAM, 16GB of NAND Flash.

What else do you get in the box?

Packaged with the TV box comes an adaptor to power the device, an HDMI cable to connect the box to your HD TV, and a tiny remote to control the device.

Installation

All in all, installation is pretty simple. All you have to do is plug the HDMI cable into TV box and your TV, plug the adaptor into a power socket and into the socket on the box, turn the box on, and follow the instructions and prompts on your TV.

Stay tuned for my full review, where I'll explore the functions of the device and how well it actually works.

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TechTalk: Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight - FullReview

A bit of background...

[If you've read my unboxing post, you can probably skip this bit]

Because I've got a new [actually, it's not so new anymore] job in the city*, I've got to take the tube to work. I've decided that I want to get back into reading, and because most of my commutes look a lot

like this - with people violating your human rights on several counts, whilst also kneeing and elbowing you in body parts that you never knew you had - I thought it would be best to get an e-reader. Until now, I made do with reading "real" books [you know... those things with that stuff in them... what's it called again? YES! That's it! Paper!], and my trusty old Asus Transformer TF101 tablet [which is currently about as slow as an old goat, and about as attractive as one, too].

Given that reading with two hands is definitely not an option on the tube [because you don't want to let go of the rail and accidentally touch someone as you fall flat on your face, because you'd then have to verbally apologise to them, and that could cause a whole host of other complications], normal books and my tablet had to go, unfortunately, and have been replaced by this, my new Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight:

I covered most of the specs and start-up process of the device in my unboxing post, so I'll just go straight ahead and dive right into the review.

The review

The Outside

In terms of aesthetics, the nook is quite pleasing. Its rounded corners and rubberised, 'soft-touch' finish make it a pleasure to hold. The device is quite sleek and can be slipped neatly into a bag or backpack, and the four 'clipholes' [for want of a better word] around the device mean that it can be customised with a whole host of covers and accessories. These are accessories that you may wish to invest in - while the unit does feel solid and doesn't feel like it'd need too much protection, the back of it is a finger-print magnet, and requires a lot of wiping down.

The power button on the back of the unit, whilst being quite firm to start with, does loosen up after a while - but sadly, this means that it develops quite a bad rattle, which could potentially be quite annoying if you plan on travelling with the Nook Simple Touch a lot. The multi-functional 'n' button on the front works well [no rattles here], as do the page turn buttons, which function well on both sides, but take a little time to get used to. Other than these buttons, the device is quite minimalist - no funky d-pads or QWERTY keyboards that can be seen on other readers - just 6 buttons, a touch screen, and a micro USB port.

Having travelled with the device to work for around a month, I've sadly come to the conclusion that I must be the only person in the city of London to own any variant of the Nook Simple Touch. Anywhere you go, you realised that you've just backed the underdog in the e-reader world. Every single book-reading Londoner appears to own a variant of the Amazon Kindle. Don't let this put you off, though - throughout my time with the Nook, I've not had a single pang of jealousy for those who are Kindled up to the nines, no siree.

What does it do?

Well, it allows you to read.

That's it?

Yes, that's it. Unlike other e-readers on the market [namely, ironically, the un-named ones from China], this e-reader does not come with the full shebang, the full monty, or all the bells and whistles. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack for you to play music and listen to your books being read back to you. There is no secret button for you to enjoy a game of pac-man. There is no stock web-browser. 

This device is just an e-reader. I, personally, am more than happy with that. I've got an iPod and a Xiaomi Mi2 mobile phone, so I don't need yet another device that does absolutely everything - I'd rather have a device that allows me to read books, magazines, and the occasional PDF file, and be able to read well.

How do I get books onto it?

There are two ways. Firstly, and arguably the easiest, is to just hook up the Nook to your PC with the provided micro-USB cable and drag and drop books [in ePub or PDF format] to the 'books' folder. Simples. 

Secondly, if you sign up for a Nook account [which you'll be asked to do when you first boot up the device], you can browse the Nook bookstore, either on your PC or the Simple Touch itself, and choose any book you'd like to read and have it delivered to your device over your WiFi connection. Pretty snazzy, huh?

ePub books work incredibly well on the device, though the way it handles PDF files leaves a lot to be desired, with pages rendering slower than a narcoleptic snail. If you tend to use PDFs more than ePubs, I would recommend using a tablet or netbook device.

Battery life

Having never owned an e-reader before, I'm not really sure how to feel about the battery life on the device I've used. People have remarked that e-readers have incredibly long battery lives, and given that they only use power when refreshing the screen, using/searching for WiFi, or having the GlowLight on, one charge is meant to last over two months.

Sadly, in my personal experience, I've not seen evidence of this gargantuan battery life. One charge, for me, would last around a week and a half with the WiFi off, the GlowLight only being used for about an hour in total, and reading for about 2 and a half hours each day. 

Thankfully, though, I've found that if you give the Nook an extended period of rest [and by that I'm admitting that I got tired of reading for a while and I didn't touch the device for two whole weeks], it automatically powers down. This is quite pleasant - until you boot it up again and realise that it's deleted all of the bookmarks and saved passages that you had in your books, meaning that you might as well start reading your current novel from the beginning because you can't remember exactly where you were. 

The screen

The 6 inch screen on the Nook Simple Touch is a pleasure to read off. One of the reasons I decided to say goodbye to my tablet as an e-reader was that I couldn't handle the eyestrain of reading books on its backlit LED screen for hours and hours on end. The Nook's e-ink screen is easy on the eyes, and the adjustable GlowLight is fantastic for reading at night.

While text is crisp and clear to start with, this gets tarnished somewhat by 'ghosting' that occurs when you turn the page. The Nook, by default, is set so it only refreshes the entire screen after you turn six pages, meaning that you avoid the black-and-white flash of a full-page refresh occurring every page whilst also saving battery power. This means that in some cases, words from previous pages are left behind on the screen faintly - this doesn't cause much of a distraction, and can always be reduced by adjusting the number of pages between a full-page refresh.

The device has a touch screen [hence the name Simple Touch]. This makes use of a bunch of infrared beams being shot across the surface of the screen to pinpoint where your finger actually is. While the screen is incredibly responsive - typing on the keyboard screens that come up is actually a joy on this device - it can sometimes be a bit too sensitive - brush up against the device with a different part of your body as you hold it and you'll end up being accidentally moved 200 pages further in your book.

As I mentioned briefly in the unboxing post, the screen itself feels a bit like the textured paper in a book, in a weird way. If you decide to move pages on the device by swiping left and right instead of using the buttons, you can almost trick yourself into believing that you're reading a proper book.

The big change that differentiates the Nook Simple Touch from the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight is the fact that the user can power on a strip of LEDs on the device that will spread light across the screen. While this is a great feature for those who enjoy reading at night or in dark environments, the execution could be improved somewhat - tilt the device away from you, and you can clearly see the strip of LEDs and the green tinge of the circuit board they're attached to. This hasn't been much of an annoyance to me, but if you're one to nit-pick, the Amazon Kindle may be a better device for you as "all the small things" have been executed to a slightly higher standard.

The system

The operating system that the Nook Simple Touch runs is... [wait for it]... Android. Even though, out of the box, it has limited functionality when compared to smartphones and tablets running the same type of OS, it can be rooted and modded to your satisfaction - so if just reading isn't enough for you, you can tinker to your heart's content. [I use the device as an e-reader only and have not done this, though you can find tutorials online. Of course, do this at your own risk!]

The stock system and software on the Simple Touch is responsive and functions surprisingly well for something running on an e-ink screen. Customisation features allow you to change the font, font size, line spacing, and margins within any particular book, which ensures that this device could be perfect for both young 'uns and more mature people in your life. 

By hooking the device up to a PC and dragging a few images over to the ___ folder, you can change the screensaver images that appear whenever you hit the lock button on the device. If you upload more than one image, these will cycle through in order. 

To sum up

All in all, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is a nifty little device. Stylish, light, and compact, it's the perfect device for reading books on the move. However, with prices in the UK starting at around £30, it may be a bit pricey for a device that, essentially, is a bit of a one-trick-pony. That being said, if you're a hardcore reader, I wholeheartedly recommend this device. It's simple to use, portable, and tech-lovers can have fun rooting and modding away.

Pros:

- Customisation options mean that the device can be used by anyone

- The device is small and light, perfect for reading on the move.

- The GlowLight is a handy addition and is great for reading at night without glare or eyestrain.

- The touchscreen is a joy to use and the system is incredibly responsive.

Cons:

- Books lose all bookmarks and reset to the first page when the battery dies or goes to 'sleep' after an extended period of non-use [though this may just be a problem with my particular device!]

- PDFs are about as useful as a chocolate ashtray on the Simple Touch

- Build quality could be improved, but I didn't find this to be too much of an issue. If you are concerned about your device, a whole host of covers and accessories are available.

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