My Oneplus 3 reached the age of 2 in my ownership, with no complaints - a record for me!  But I had itchy fingers to get more up to date, and looked around at all the new smartphones available.  I quickly realised the prices have risen dramatically since I got my OP3, so I decided to get a used phone.

My choice was a newer version of my existing phone, the Oneplus 5T.  Initial observations are very good - nicely made, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which I was worried about is mostly in the right place when I need it, the battery life is dramatically better than the OP3, due I presume to the improved CPU technology (low power cores), as well as the fact the battery is newer and slightly larger capacity.  It also has a HEADPHONE JACK and performs very well indeed.  The speaker, which I use often, is louder too.

I paid £330 for a phone from eBay that was a few months old, and expect to get around £120 for my OP3, making my upgrade cost about £210.

I own a nice VW Golf mk 6 (Volkswagen Golf mkVI) which had a rather rubbish in car entertainment system in it. The Bluetooth played up, and the single-line monochrome screen really wasn't cutting it.   So I went researching - surely someone has a neat solution for this very popular car?

After much searching, I found that Alpine make a bespoke kit just for this car.  The G6/G7 bit of the product name indicates which mark of Golf it is for, although the electronic components are very similar. 

It supports Android Auto and Apple Car Play, has DAB built in (more on that below), can play USB music with album artwork displayed, the steering wheel controls still work, as does the dash display.  The car's built in microphone works (although it was very difficult to work out how - had to get Alpine tech support to assist).  Installation is fiddly and you need to cut small parts of the fascia away (reversible by replacing a couple of parts) so I'd recommend getting it professionally fitted if you don't know what you're doing.

I also purchased the KAE-DAB1G6  DAB Radio Signal Splitter  - this thing is ingenious.  Its invisibly installed into the rear spoiler, and uses the car's original amplified antenna, to provide a very high quality DAB signal to the head unit (my original stereo in the car did not have DAB).

Its been tricky to learn to use, it was very expensive but 2 months on I've got the hang of it and am very happy with it, and think it was a worthwhile addition to the car.​

I got this because my existing Virgin Superhub 3.0 struggled to give me a strong signal throughout my house, and also was a bit of a closed-box in terms of helping me investigate when it didn't seem to be working correctly.

First I switched the Virgin Superhub into Modem only mode.  Then I connected the first Google Wifi unit and turned it on.  I installed the app on my Android phone, and followed the really clear instructions.  I copied the wifi username and password from my Virgin Superhub, which saved all the hassle of having to re-configure my wifi-connected devices.  I moved my existing network Switch over to the Google Wifi unit, which means the Google Wifi unit controls all routing and IP addresses etc.  At this point, I already had strong wifi, a great internet speed, and all my devices showed up in the software.  I was able to, for the first time, easily prove what speed my Virgin internet connection was giving me (normally 106 down and 6 up).  I then added the second Google Wifi unit downstairs to create a wifi "Mesh" throughout the house.  A few different locations were tried before I settled on the best.  The software allows you to test the Mesh strength easily.

All in all - its a bit expensive, but it JUST WORKS.

If you're the sort of person that is interested in networking and wants to dive straight into advanced settings, maybe don't get this.
If you're the sort of person who knows a bit about how networking works, but don't want to make a hobby of it or waste time on it OR you know absolutely nothing but can follow instructions, I'd say get it.
My top tip - don't try and combine with an existing setup.  Ditch your existing setup and move completely to Google Wifi, letting it do all routing etc.

Pros

• Lovely small, sleek units
• Easy to setup
• Powerful Wifi.
• Great software to "lift the lid" on whether its all working or not.

Cons

• Its a bit pricey.
• Maybe not for advanced users who like a million settings to play with
  

Verdict - 5 out of 5 - LOVE IT!

I bought this wee camera to complement my larger camera, that I seem to never have with me because its so heavy...   Key points about this camera are that its small, but its got a whopping 30x optical zoom and a very clever OLED electronic viewfinder - which is a Godsend if you're using the camera in bright sunlight.

What I would say is DO NOT buy this UNLESS you want the combination of small camera/big zoom.  It has a very small sensor, so ultimately the photo quality can be a bit disappointing despite the lenses.  In fact I've reduced the photos it takes to 10 megapixels (instead of the 18MP default) as it seems pointless to have such a large image from such a small sensor.

Pros

• Well Made
• Brilliant Zoom
• Optical viewfinder is very clever and useful.
• Good battery life and easy charging via Micro-USB
• The ability connect to a smartphone via wifi is brilliant, and easy once you've done it once.

Cons

• Very small sensor (although thats the only way they can make it so small) with the resultant limit to what can be achieved with the photos.
• Fiddly menu system with too many options.

Verdict - 4 out of 5

I bought this new in October 2016 for £329, which is around the maximum I'll pay for a phone.   I've used the phone constantly for 8 months before writing this review.  In that time the 3T has come out (slightly bigger battery, slightly more powerful, otherwise identical) and then the 5 (almost identical, but faster again with better camera).  These subsequent revisions though have pushed the price up above my budget.

The good :- battery life surprisingly good.  I can enjoy a stock Android experience by resetting it to the Google Now Launcher.  It is powerful and fast, light and thin, and I've not really had any problem with it.  The Dash rapid-charging is great being able to fully charge the phone in 40 minutes.

The bad :- Its impossible to hold if its  not in its case, its like a slippery eel.  It shoots off seats, and even slips out of your hand if you're not careful.  I invested in Oneplus's genuine case and also the glass screen protector - both were disastrous and I don't recommend either.  The case didn't fully protect the screen, and the glass protector was impossible to put on.  I got a cheap spigen case and it lives in that all the time.  It is not waterproof.

Overall : 5 out of 5, recommended!

I bought this a while ago to fit into my 2004 Volkswagen Bora (Golf Mk4).  In 2015, I figured I no longer needed a cassette deck in my car (can't believe they fitted that in 2004 either!).

Installation was fairly straightforward, except the VW's non-standard wiring meant a wire had to be swapped to give it a permanent power feed (instructions online) and the aerial plug needs power supplied to it via an adaptor.

Why did I buy this model?  Because it looks and works like a factory stereo.  Big, clear buttons so you're not distracted from driving, and once you've used it a while you can operate it by touch without looking away from the road at all (try that with a modern touch-screen system!!).

FM reception - fairly poor, despite the powered aerial adaptor (its even worse without it)
AM reception - fine
CD - haven't used it!
Bluetooth functions - superb - both for phonecalls and music.
Sound qualty - really great - especially through the upgraded 8 speakers my car already has.
Usability - superb

Overall - 5 out of 5.

I got a Google Chromecast when it was launched in the UK in March 2014.  At the time I was using both a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 7 - both 'Pure Google' products, so I thought there would be no problems.

It worked within minutes of unboxing, even with my 2007 TV.  A lovely crisp full-HD picture, and BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Netflix all seemed to work fine.  

The problems started when you actually just wanted to relax, and use it to watch a movie or TV show.  If you need to pause it quickly - e.g. if there's a knock at the door, or the phone rings, it invariably would be unstoppable!  The smartphone or tablet App would have forgotten it was casting a show, and there would be no way to stop it.  So you'd have to unplug it from the TV!  At this point you'd discover that it was burning hot to touch...   so I gave up, I couldn't be bothered with the hassle.  I have 3 ways to put online shows on my TV anyway (laptop via hdmi, xbox 360 or YouView box) so it wasn't worth the hassle.

Its now a year later, and I believe it can work with some sort of remote now, so I may revisit it again.

1 Mark out of 5