The LG Optimus One Trial Part two.

Hello Everyone! :)

It's been a while and many a problem to sort out behind the scenes so for that I apologise.
But, as promised. Part two of the optimus one review is here.

The LG Optimus One's is a darned sturdy feeling device. with power/lock button and headphone jack on the top, volume rocker on the top right and four buttons on the front of the device and last but not least the capacitive touchscreen.
On the back of the device is the 3.15mp Camera which comes with autofocus and without flash

It's Rocking Android 2.2 with flash support, and as previously mentioned LG have been quite good not to customise without making a hash of it. Looking at the home screen it's tidy and scrolling between the 5 or 7 home screens (you choose) brings a fluid scrolling experience .

The menus still confuse the daylights out of me, as basic things i would expect in a menu are buried in other parts of applications and settings. That said I've only JUST got used to using the text input on the device.

As were here lets move to inputting text on the device.
The device has three keypads installed, the LG Keyboard and Alphanumeric and the Android default one, the image on the right shows the android default at the top and the LG one below.

I admit the text input is an enormous learning curve, as I'm used to belting it out on a slide out keyboard has proven to be one of the largest learning curves I have to overcome, and the experience nearly killed the whole feel of the phone for me, but this in fairness is due to my learning experience with the handset, not the phones fault. And last night I spent a good few hours playing with the keypad to master it.

Now, lets move to browsing.

The browsing experience is a pleasure. An experience compatible to the iPod touch, We did have he occasional wobble with flash content, although this was due to Adobe and it's partners delay in sending the update. But this does not kill the experience, in fairness it works well, Google really have done a good job with the browser.

The device has shown me that a lower end device can trump the competition and do it spectacularly well too even with a few quirks like the lack of interactive flash content and youtube content, though the latest flash update is on the way.

Using this for social networking is a dream. Youtube, Twitter and Facebook work out of the box. slap your details in and you're good to go, with all applications feeling quite complete, and no feelings of slowness or instability, well. Until I play games then we see an issue.

For instance Angry Birds by Rovio. This can work perfectly, then suddenly grind so a crawl. in a way it's reminiscent of playing Doom on my first pc. Slow and painful at times but still fun.
in fairness I feel the advertising in the app are the problem there. (if LG want me to keep the device I may be able to try more paid apps)
It's a good performer there, but there are newer devices that will outperform it in more demanding tasks, but for the price it's good!

One thing that amazes me is the Wifi connectivity. it's rarely failed me at all. even connecting to free providers with ease. The configuration is confusing but works well.

The camera is a good performer. I would say it's in par with the Nokia E71 without the purple hue. (images will be on flickr soon, I'm still tagging things now)

Music and video quality is spot on with this device, coming from the LG headphones or my Sony high end set both bring crisp audio with the right amount of bass.

Call quality has been strange. Now I use a Vodafone Sure Signal inside the flat, giving a HSDPA signal inside the house, as n extra mast. Now at times it dislikes the witchcraft of a home mast leaving call quality as useless, but the rest of the time it's sharp and crisp. they have done an excellent job on the voice quality on this device.

Now for the important bit. Would I buy this?

I would say Yes, yes I really would. It works flawlessly. any problems are mainly my learning curve, and it does show from my use it has to be doing something right to sell over a million devices. so Top Work LG.

I have to say the Keyboards Image is not mine and is from the following blog. Please go and say hello to Miss Tin A Pie as a way to say thanks
http://misstinapie.blogspot.com/2010/12/urban-adventures-switching-to.html

For now Part three is coming. the final chapter of the LG optimus one. My final thoughts on this device.

For now - PEACE!

Paul :)

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre Big Review - Part three.

To see the other parts of this four part review please click the images below!

We made it to part Four! WooHoo :)

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre Big Review - Part three.
This post will be updated with more pricing information soon!

Would this be a good present for your kids?

Yes, yes it would!

Now usually when I have something which I would recommend it would have been something many would have deemed superfluous.

However. The Junior Quest activity centre is such an incredibly thought out product it would be a sure fire hit with many children at many ages.

I would also not feel guilty giving this set to family or friends for there children mainly because of the high build quality, and safely features incorporated into parts of the centre mean to me that the activity centre would be perfect gift to give to any little person wanting to walk there favourite soft toys to the 'shops' with changing bag in tow, bounce there baby or snuggle old ted into his cot at bed time.

Then there's the colour schemes available for the activity set.

The colour schemes available are 'Dandelion' and 'By Land, By air, By sea' and both colour schemes are again, well thought out and look stunning in comparison to some other competitors products looks a lot prettier to me!

And now, the price

(the deal breaker)

The Junior Quest Activity centre varies in price from £24.99 to £27.99 now this is on-line stores at present. (Update - store price research is still ongoing. - Sorry!)

Now, I think this is an absolute bargain for the build quality and overall appearance it's an absolute steal!. Until I looked on-line I was convinced it was to be a more expensive product.

This is the winner for me in comparison to other brands which would cost twice as much.

In my honest opinion this is a fantastic gift for the kids. And the fact they'll keep coming back as the playtime can change every time.

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre is available direct from Maclaren. but if this is too far to travel they have provided a lovely store locator so you can find your local authorised Maclaren reseller.

Come back on the first Monday after Christmas (27Th December) for the final part of this epic four part special.

Paul, Jess, Lissy and V

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre Big Review - Part two.

To see the other parts of this four part review please click the images below!

We made it to part Four! WooHoo :)

This is part two of the Maclaren junior quest activity centre. Click here for part one!

Well hello everyone! I hope you're sitting comfortably.

This post is mainly observations of the kids playing with the set, with a small amount of my thoughts.

The kids have been playing with the activity centre, pretty much non stop, even getting wound up when we put it away in the evening.

I also believe the way this set is made has encouraged the girls to share a lot more than previously, the girls seem to have serious "it's mine" attitudes to there toys, as all children do. But here as there is four things to play with, not including there favourite soft toys which will stay in here while there playing during they play sessions, they seem to have realised that sharing is more fun! I really like that!

Meet Old Ted, Tot , Tig and Lulu

V loves to take old Ted in the cot to bed with her, but still sleeps with her soft toys, as in V's words they 'get too cold' and 'there bad and with chocolate zombies' (thanks Eddsworld) But old Ted can sleep for hours inside the cot!

Both girls seem to have taken a shining to the buggy, and in fairness I could see us using the adult version in the future too! Both Lissy and V they take it to the 'shops' which is the kids messy bedroom while they see the shoe cupboard as the lift to go back to there cars!

Lissy does clutch onto the bag a lot, as they both call it the 'mummy bag' with V asking for a juicy and nappy to put in there for her babies

Update on durability, everything is very tough for such lightweight items. The girls were playing one of them slipped and fell onto the buggy. it went down with them but not harming anyone or becoming damaged. In this house it has to be durable and hard wearing as the girls are very bashful at times. Again, like many children.

Ignore the duff carpet. Can't wait to move!

OH NOES! YOU BROKE IT! (Not really *phew*)

I think I've noticed a minor issue where the seat fabric pulls away from the bottom really easily, This is probably meant to be like this, luckily the girls have not noticed otherwise there toys will be hanging uncomfortably.

An easy solution here would be a small piece of velcro on the metal framework. But not essentially something a toddler may notice. I should also mention here, that since the children showed this to us they haven't done it again, so I assume it was removed as pot luck!

The main upside of this design means that if the girls share there chocolate, dinner or juicy cups with there toy's it can be removed, cleaned and dried safely without worry.
This feature I like a lot, as the other buggy the girls have here is not very easy to remove and clean parts when needed.
Showing that much practical thought from a parents point of view has gone into this design!

So far so good. :o)

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre is available direct from Maclaren. but if this is too far to travel they have provided a lovely store locator so you can find your local authorised Maclaren reseller.

Come back on Friday for part three of this four part special.

Paul, Jess, Lissy and V

I apologise in advance for lack of photos on the Flickr stream recently. I need to have a tidyup, which could be troublesome! (Hence picture sizes are all over the place in Picasa and Flickr ! This will be fixed over the course of this week I promise!)

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre Big Review - Part One

To see the other parts of this four part review please click the images below!

We made it to part Four! WooHoo :)

Wowsers, what a great day Thursday was!

As I was leaving to go out we had a knock at the door, with a parcel of mahoosive proprtions.

Sadly i had to rush out on the school run, leaving Jessie to open it up.

Upon opening the box revealed the Maclaren Dandelion Jr. Quest Activity Centre. (pictured below)

From here Jessie will review it from un-boxing to the children's initial thoughts.

The box arrived yesterday during a massive paddy by Lissy, we decided to open the box, the box itself was easily opened, another plus point is the package as a whole is not over-packaged, we like that, lots!

Setting it all up. One word - WOW!

Putting it up was a breeze, without even looking at the instructions, although this may sound obvious to many, I've never owned a buggy like this easy to set-up. This was an immediate plus point.

Another was how sturdy it locked together tightly, as a result little hands couldn't collapse it and accidentally and hurt themselves.

The little bouncer is adorable, and with V and Lissy being of different heights seemed to love how adjustable it was for each toy.

And now for the crib. Now if only travel cribs went together as easily in real life. Again, it was a so easy to put together and is very rigid once together and able to take the weight of a Lissy, who thought it was for her to sleep in.

More photos will be on my Flickr stream soon!

Initial reactions from the kids we're amazing, It was if Christmas had come early!

Straight away Lissy's favourite soft toy. Roo, went in the buggy and off they went to the 'shops' with the

'mummy' changing bag as they've labelled it.

Then Roo needed to have a sit down and experienced the bouncer. here Lissy needed help as she could not do the straps on the bouncer or buggy. But our older daughter, V could with ease.

Before long, he was back in the buggy to go wake the V up.

For once, V woke up without a moan as she realised we had some new toys for them to play with. Within moments worked out the straps on the buggy and bouncer and how to adjust the bouncer for her 'tig and lulu'.

What amazed us too was how the set enabled them to play together, where they would argue over the other toy pram we have, always resulting in a strop from one of them.

Myself.

I found the design of the set lovely, the different shades of pink and the Dandelion looks really impressive, also the build quality of the toys is wonderful. and setting up/installation was a breeze.

Although it says from 36months + on the box, both girls have had so much fun with he set already. and it's been less than 24 hours! So its suitable for a wide range of ages, although the younger ones will need help with the straps but even then the way the straps are designed mean that there's not alot of risk of little fingers being caught.

Also as I previously mentioned the crib itself can hold quite a bit of weight, but this is not advisable.

Our daughters aren't the most gentle of players in the world when it comes to toys. But so far this set has held up well to the knocks they have given it so far with no dings or scrapes, also appears to be easily cleanable.

Daddy's point of view

On this note there is not much more to say really bar the set seems to have engaged the girls attentions, and they are more than willing to ignore other toys.

Again, the build quality is top notch on the initial look over of everything. And as Jessie noted it looks of a high build quality I expect it will stand up to a fair few knocks from our monsters!

The Maclaren Junior quest activity centre is available direct from Maclaren. but if this is too far to travel they have provided a lovely store locator so you can find your local authorised Maclaren reseller.

Come back on Monday for the next Instalment of this four part special.

Paul, Jess, Lissy and V