review

Netgear Nighthawk EX7000 review

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A photo of the Netgear Nighthawk EX7000

Since we moved into our new house, we’ve had a few wifi issues, so I was pleased to be contacted by Netgear to review their Nighthawk EX7000 wifi range extender.

Our house was built over 100 years ago, with thick stone and brick walls. Whilst our router (a BT Home Hub 4) is in the centre of the house, the signal is very weak in places – especially the kitchen at the far end of the house. So a repeater, like this one, will allow us to extend the range of the Wi-Fi signal.

Setting up

In the box, there’s the extender itself, a stand (so that the router stands up vertically), three detachable aerials, an AC adaptor and a quick-start guide.

The Nighthawk EX7000 supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). Fortunately, so does my router, so I just had to press a button on each device to configure the connection. Once set up, two new Wi-Fi networks appeared – a 2.4 GHz one, and a 5 GHz one – each following the same naming convention as my existing router. They even used the same Wi-Fi password.

Improved signal

Once I’d configured my iPhone to connect to the extender, rather than directly to the router, I found the signal much improved. At the extremities of the house, it dropped to two out of three bars, but this is significantly better than before where it’d lose connection altogether. It now means that everywhere in the house has a reasonable signal, which is a big improvement.

Extra features

The Nighthawk EX7000 isn’t just a Wi-Fi extender, however. On the back of the extender are five gigabit Ethernet sockets, so you can attach any devices without their own wireless connection using a cable. This will be great for my Raspberry Pi, for which I haven’t bought a wifi adaptor, but I’ve also plugged my Mac in as well. So far, the connection seems more stable than before although I’ve yet to play World of Warcraft on it – that will be its biggest test.

At the front, there’s a USB 3.0 port (type A). This can be used for sharing either a printer, or a USB storage device. As my printer is a multi-function device, I’ve kept it connected to my computer (although it is shared with Christine’s laptop using Bonjour anyway). Instead, I’ve plugged in a USB hard drive, and its contents are shared across the network using DLNA so that smart TVs and similar devices can access it.

FastLane

By default, the EX7000 uses both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously, but you can enable ‘FastLane’ mode to increase speed. I turned this on, so that it uses a 5 GHz connection to the router but a 2.4 GHz to my connected devices. As only my iPad and iPhone support 5 GHz, I decided that it would be best to use 2.4 GHz.

All in all, the Netgear Nighthawk EX7000 is a very powerful device that fills several roles. It can extend your wireless signal, but it can also share a printer, files on an external device, and connect devices without a wireless capability of their own. This explains the £130 recommended retail price, as it’s a premium product, although Amazon sell it for around £100 at present. There are cheaper devices out there that can do one or two of these things, but if you want a powerful, fast Wi-Fi extender that combines several features in one box, then I can recommend the Nighthawk EX7000.

Update (January 2025): This model is no longer on sale.

Camkix Selfie Stick Review

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A photo of an iPhone on the end of a Camkix Selfie Stick

Hello. My name is Neil, and I bought a selfie stick.

No, I haven’t lost my mind. I saw genuine instances when I would want to use one – especially when the little one arrives – and so I went onto Amazon to find a reasonably good one. Of those, the Camkix Extendable Selfie Stick (sponsored link) seemed to have the best overall reviews and wasn’t too expensive, so I bought it.

A photo of the Camkix selfie stick and accompanying Bluetooth shutter controller

The term ‘selfie stick’ is a relatively recent invention. Technically, this is a ‘handheld telescopic universal smartphone monopod’. It comes in three parts – the handheld monopod itself, a smartphone grip, and a separate Bluetooth remote. The monopod hand-grip is available in a variety of colours – I went for green, but you can also get pink, black and other colours. On the model I bought, the grip wasn’t very well-glued to the body, but otherwise I’m reasonably happy with the build quality, considering the price.

Retracted, the selfie stick is about 30 centimetres (11 inches) but it can extend to around a metre (40 inches).

The smartphone mount allows you to clip in a smartphone. My iPhone 5 fitted comfortably, and I’m sure the larger iPhone 6 would fit too. I’m not sure about phablet-sized smartphones like the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy Note but theoretically anything that 8 centimetres wide or less should fit. It won’t take a tablet computer like an iPad or iPad Mini, but if you are using a tablet to take photos on a selfie stick, then you are truly a horrible person and should reconsider your life choices.

A Canon EOS 600D mounting on a selfie stick

The smartphone mount is detachable, leaving a standard screw-in tripod mount on the monopod, so you should be able to use it with any regular camera. I was able to mount my Canon EOS 600D onto it, although the extra weight meant that it was hard to control it when fully extended. If you are planning to use a regular camera, remember that you’ll either need to buy a separate remote for it, or use your camera’s timer function. And unless you have a screen that flips around, you won’t be able to see the picture until you’ve taken it (the EOS 600D has a flip-out screen).

Finally, there’s the remote. Some selfie sticks come with a button on the handle, which connects to the smartphone either using an audio cable to plug into the phone’s headphone socket, or wirelessly via Bluetooth. This selfie stick has a separate Bluetooth remote. There are two buttons – the larger one is designed for Apple devices running iOS 6.0 or above, but should work on many Android phones as well. The second button is for some fussy Android phones that need a different command. Whilst iOS users can use the built-in camera app, Android users may or may not need to install a third-party camera app to use the remote.

A photo of me taking using a selfie stick

The remote also has an on/off switch so that you don’t inadvertently take photos of the inside of your pocket. Pairing it with your phone is straightforward.

On the whole I like the selfie stick. It’s small enough to fit in my camera bag, albeit with the smartphone mount folded downwards, and both the monopod and remote have decent wriststraps. And I promise that I won’t be one of those horrible people who ends up taking people’s eyes out in the pursuit of a selfie in a busy place.

2009 in review

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Around this time last year I wrote a somewhat optimistic post about what had happened in 2008 and what I expected to happen in 2009. While I was right about there being a lot of change, 2009 proved to be a very eventful year and not always in the good sense.

January and February

January started well, despite my unemployment – I went to Edinburgh for a job interview and took a few photos while I was there. The interview sadly didn’t lead to a job, but upon my return to Bradford we ended up with a houseful of people – Hari’s little sister and her then boyfriend, and one of our friends from World of Warcraft. As it happens, World of Warcraft would be the thing that would keep me sane for the first few months of the year.

February was when things started going downhill. I was still unemployed, and was struggling to find work, despite being registered with two temping agencies. Then I heard that my grandmother, who had been ill since September 2008, had passed away. While it was somewhat expected, as she has been very ill, the funeral was a big shock. I didn’t write about it publicly at the time but even 9 months on I still miss her. She was 86, and is survived by my grandfather. Also during February, Hari went to Scotland for 2 weeks.

March and April

In March I went on a weekend trip to Dovedale and Sherwood Forest with the University Hiking Club – despite no longer being a student or member of staff there I was still involved, and my parents offered to pay for my place on the trip. As I was still unemployed, the Bank of Mum and Dad came very much into play at this time. To pass the time while unemployed, I started walking more often on my own, and did a couple of canals and disused railway lines near Bradford. Hari was still in Scotland, and eventually came back after 4 weeks. It was then that we agreed that things weren’t working and that the time we had spent apart only came to prove this. On Saturday 21st March, after 3 years and 5 months together, we split up.

April, May and June

During April I tied up the loose ends at the flat Hari and I rented in Bradford, and I moved back in with my parents over the Easter weekend. The loss of independence took a lot of getting used to and I can’t say I enjoyed it a lot, especially as most of my friends were still back in Bradford.

Come May, and things started brightening up. I managed to get a new short-term employment contract back at the University in Bradford, so spent a couple of months staying in people’s spare rooms. I also reached the grand old age of 25, and spent my birthday up a mountain in Wales.

At the end of June I moved to where I live now, in the Undercliffe area of Bradford. While it’s a bit further away from the University, I have good housemates and the house is very nice (and cheap!).

July, August, September and October

The first 2 weeks of July were spent on my first foreign holiday in 6 years, which was in France, around La Rochelle. I really enjoyed the break, which after the ups and downs of the preceding few months was very welcome. There were some really memorable moments, such as riding on a tandem and seeing Fort Boyard.
While my employment contract was initially quite short, it was extended a few times (and now runs until the end of February). August and September proved to be very busy at work, although the latter month resulted in a 23″ screen which I posted about quite a bit.

In October, I visited a friend who had recently moved to Blackpool (she was my travelling partner in France and had been a shoulder to cry on over the preceding months) who introduced me to one of her new friends, Christine. A week later, and Christine and I became an item. We went to see Ash play in Bradford, which was awesome, and have since tried to spend every weekend together.

November and December

A sign that the job market was improving was that I started getting interviews again – one in September and another in November. Despite getting very positive feedback, neither resulted in a job, unfortunately. Also in November I visited Halifax town centre for the first time – not a very interesting event but it’s somewhere I’ve passed through a lot but never really visited.

And finally in December I was diagnosed with an arselump. December was also the first month for several years where I wasn’t overdrawn on my bank account – just in time for my bank to raise the overdraft charges to £1 per day. While I’m not rolling in cash at present, I’m much better off financially than I was in 2008. Christine and I are planning to spend New Year together in Blackpool.

And as for 2010? Well, I’ll be starting it on better footing than last year, with more money and a job. I also have 2 interviews lined up for January, and a weekend break in central Scotland. If all goes to plan, I’ll be getting myself a new computer (probably a Mac Mini again but still not fully decided), and a new mobile phone (probably not an iPhone as they’re expensive, but maybe an Android phone). And hopefully Christine and I may be able to afford a weekend trip somewhere outside the UK, such as Paris, later in the year.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year and that 2010 brings you everything you could ask for.

LG Flatron W2353V review

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LG Flatron W2353V

This is the second of 3 entries about the LG Flatron W2353V (sponsored link), a 23″ flat screen TFT monitor that LG have asked me to review. In my previous post, I went over the basics. Meanwhile, in this entry, I’ll go into a little more detail about the screen and what it is like to use.

Compared to my previous monitor, a 17″ ViewSonic VX715 which I bought in 2005, the Flatron comes in a relatively small box. This is partly due to the detachable base and less polystyrene, so there’s less waste. In the box is the monitor (obviously…), the base, power lead, DVI cable, VGA cable, quick start guide and a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM disc presumably contains the manual and drivers but oddly my MacBook couldn’t read it.

1920x1080 desktop

In any case, the screen works fine on Mac OS X without any extra drivers. Despite me having a first generation MacBook with Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics, it can still manage the screen’s native resolution of 1920×1080. This provides a huge amount of screen space. The screenshot above should give some indication of just how much window space you get. It’s enough to show a 2 megapixel image at actual size.

Instead of using buttons, you simply touch labels on the bottom of the screen. The ‘Smart’ button is used to activate features such as auto-contrast, and the ‘Fun’ button lets you apply a sepia or black and white filter to the screen. There’s also the standard menu and a button to switch between multiple input sources.

If I had any complaints it would be the plastic-y feel of the construction. It feels a little cheap – especially the thin transparent strip at the bottom of the screen. This does, however, make the screen very light and easy to carry as there’s very little metal in the construction. The touch areas aren’t very sensitive so sometimes you have to touch more than once for it to register the action.

Overall I’m really happy with it. The size means it’s fantastic for watching films and television programmes on BBC iPlayer, even from a distance. I don’t have any Blu-Ray discs but I’m sure they would look good too thanks to its full HD support.

If this all sounds convincing, watch out for a competition that I’ll be holding in the coming days to win your very own model!