Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

If you were trying to stop smoking, would you turn to Nintendo for help? No? Well now, if you wanted to, you could.

It’s goodbye NHS, hello NDS as Nintendo DS will soon have up to 15 games to keep those nicotine cravings at bay. The games will be based on the battling addiction books by Allen Carr and will be set in environments where smokers find it hardest to resist the tab temptation, like pubs and clubs.

By entering details about your habit, your ‘personal coach’ will guide you through the quitting process. It will suggest treats to reward yourself with when you’ve had a good day and when you are finally free, you can even find out how much better life can be by measuring elements from your smoke-free lifestyle, such as walking up a flight of stairs without a lung collapsing.

It all sounds a bit strange to me and we’ll all have to wait until November for it to be released…and to find out whether it actually works.

More funny friday reviews for you to giggle at…

"I’d love to one day buy a wire that makes me breakfast in bed - you know, show’s a little appreciation that I bought it, saved it from the shelf…" Logik HDWTH FR EADAP

"It takes a long time to hoover the living room, but ideal for the office desk" USB Retro Vacuum

"so overpacked it would survive an earthquake" Advent 9117 Laptop

"in all honesty the cooker is decent value for money, i think i just got given a faulty one" Beko DVG695S

"I rocked back a a bit too far and fell off it" Ozone Inflatable Rocker  with Built In Speakers

Has anyone else noticed that money’s getting a little tight? If you have a car and/or an appetite, chances are you’ve been affected by price hikes lately. If you’ve got kids, it can be even harder to keep tabs on the purse strings, especially as it’s half term. If you’re in need of some entertainment for the little ones, that won’t cost a fortune, Reevoo have come up with the top toys around at the moment for under £25.

Here’s the list:

1.    VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket - £15
2.    Dora Skittles - £13
3.    Speed Stacks - £14
4.    Duplo Large Brick Box - £20
5.    Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train - £20

What’s great is that most of these toys have an educational edge, as well as being fun.

The VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket has been the top toy on Reevoo for ages so they must be doing something right.  It’s aimed at children from 18-36 months. Claire from Stonehaven says "my One year old loves it …no dangerous parts which is excellent" and Julie from Derby writes, it’s "Great for teaching hand eye co-ordination, teaching colours, numbers and sounds".

Dora Skittles are only £13. There are two great things about these: they can be enjoyed by both younger and older children, so you can save a few bob by getting one thing for all of your children and you can use them inside or outside, so if the weather stays as it has been, you don’t have to start pulling your hair out…I have to say that these are quite fun for adults too - combine with a nice glass of wine and that’s your evening’s entertainment sorted too. Bargain.

In at three are the Speed Stacks. People go crazy for these and there are loads of leagues and championships set up all over the country. The good thing is that they’re addictive - without added chemicals - so they can keep older children amused for hours. Parents love the fact that these get kids away from computer screens and one reviewer also comments that they’re "excellent for eye- hand coordination and gross motor skills".

We were talking about the victory of classic board games last week so I’m glad to see that another classic is in the top five here - Duplo. Although the Duplo Large Brick Box is aimed at younger children, Lauren from Northumberland says "this is a toy that appeals to all children of all ages with an endless range of possibilities for play". Another happy shopper is Sarah from Chester who writes "plenty of different bricks, easy for little hands to connect them, bright colours and great storage". An all-round good’un then.

The Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train from Fisher Price was also a big hit with shoppers. The only half-negative comment was that it’s a little noisy. Probably something to think about if you were hoping for a bit of peace and quiet this half term. Although, this product is aimed at children aged 12 to 18 months so if you’ve got a little one around that age, I think peace and quiet may be out of the question anyway…

So there we go, some top toys to pick from. If none of those take your fancy, there are plenty more toy reviews to look though.

Has anyone else noticed that money’s getting a little tight? If you have a car and/or an appetite, chances are you’ve been affected by price hikes lately. If you’ve got kids, it can be even harder to keep tabs on the purse strings, especially as it’s half term. If you’re in need of some entertainment for the little ones, that won’t cost a fortune, Reevoo have come up with the top toys around at the moment for under £25.

Here’s the list:

1.    VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket - £15
2.    Dora Skittles - £13
3.    Speed Stacks - £14
4.    Duplo Large Brick Box - £20
5.    Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train - £20

What’s great is that most of these toys have an educational edge, as well as being fun.

The VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket has been the top toy on Reevoo for ages so they must be doing something right.  It’s aimed at children from 18-36 months. Claire from Stonehaven says "my One year old loves it …no dangerous parts which is excellent" and Julie from Derby writes, it’s "Great for teaching hand eye co-ordination, teaching colours, numbers and sounds".

Dora Skittles are only £13. There are two great things about these: they can be enjoyed by both younger and older children, so you can save a few bob by getting one thing for all of your children and you can use them inside or outside, so if the weather stays as it has been, you don’t have to start pulling your hair out…I have to say that these are quite fun for adults too - combine with a nice glass of wine and that’s your evening’s entertainment sorted too. Bargain.

In at three are the Speed Stacks. People go crazy for these and there are loads of leagues and championships set up all over the country. The good thing is that they’re addictive - without added chemicals - so they can keep older children amused for hours. Parents love the fact that these get kids away from computer screens and one reviewer also comments that they’re "excellent for eye- hand coordination and gross motor skills".

We were talking about the victory of classic board games last week so I’m glad to see that another classic is in the top five here - Duplo. Although the Duplo Large Brick Box is aimed at younger children, Lauren from Northumberland says "this is a toy that appeals to all children of all ages with an endless range of possibilities for play". Another happy shopper is Sarah from Chester who writes "plenty of different bricks, easy for little hands to connect them, bright colours and great storage". An all-round good’un then.

The Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train from Fisher Price was also a big hit with shoppers. The only half-negative comment was that it’s a little noisy. Probably something to think about if you were hoping for a bit of peace and quiet this half term. Although, this product is aimed at children aged 12 to 18 months so if you’ve got a little one around that age, I think peace and quiet may be out of the question anyway…

So there we go, some top toys to pick from. If none of those take your fancy, there are plenty more toy reviews to look though.

Remember our post about Nokia’s amazing nanotechnology phone of tomorrow? Well, our friends at Omio have been sharing some more secrets about Nokia’s plans for world domination so I thought I should let you all in on them too. They’re packed pull of swivelling, scrolling and bending excitement.

If any of you have a Nokia 7373, you’ll be quite used to the look of this first handset. It has the same swivelling action but depending on which way you swivel, different layers are revealed. On one layer, is the normal keypad with numbers a plenty but the other layer reveals a much more exciting touch pad which you can doodle on with a stylus.

Think that sounds good? Oh there’s so much more! Along the same lines as an iPod circular touch pad for scrolling, but halved, so it takes up less room, the next handset design brings back the clean simplicity of the touch pads of yesteryear but with increased functionality. This allows more room for the screen, the most important part.

Last of the secrets is all about the bending. If you’ve ever tried to watch a film on your phone without holding it, you might appreciate this next bit. This handy design allows you to rest your trusty handset on a surface so you can enjoy your films without the wrist cramp. Great stuff.

Always on the lookout for things that will make your lives a little simpler, I was looking through the products on Reevoo and I came across what looked like the perfect summer accessory – The wireless outdoor iPod speaker.

The speaker comes with a small transmitter that you plug your iPod into. You can then apparently wander up to 240 feet away from the speaker and still enjoy your favourite tunes.

Luckily for those of us in the UK, the gadget is splash proof so there’s no need to worry if you get caught out by a passing spot of rain…although, going by the weekend, it may be an idea to invest in a plastic cover or just practice sprinting.

You can either place the speaker on its flat base or you can use the handy garden spike. It runs on batteries and claims to have 6 hours of life in it. The detachable base also acts as a charging unit.

It sounds great on paper but I have to say that when you read the speaker reviews, they are pretty mixed. Andrew from Birmingham says that the device runs down after 3 minutes, whereas another reviewer says that it “Enables ipod etc to be used all over the house and in the garden - regardless of where its base/charger is”. The outdoor iPod speaker gets 7.2/10 and is recommended by 72% of people. It’s currently £49.99 so check out the reviews for yourself first, before you buy.

The best days at school were the last days before the holidays when you could all bring your favourite games in to play all day. Mine was Hungry Hippos. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the top five games in this new piece of research by Reevoo but a couple of other favourites did.

Since this weekend’s going to be a shocker – which bank holidays aren’t? – Reevoo decided to have  a gander at which were the best games around so that we could all switch of the telly and share the love with some family favourites.

Top of the fun pile was Pictionary, with some top reviews and a cracking score of 9.1/10.

Probably one of the best board games ever invented came in at number two – Monopoly. Even though it came in second, it did get the top score across all the games in the ‘entertainment value’ category. This version is the ‘Nostalgia’ edition. I’m not entirely sure what makes if different to the one I used to play but I’ll be happy to accept Jax from Penicuik’s word who says “this has been a very good game for many years, but this version is outstanding.”

Third place went to Taboo. 100% of people recommended it but one reviewer did comment that it didn’t have enough cards which made it “very difficult to continue playing with a surprise factor”.

Not sure how this got on the list but somehow the Simpsons Chess Set beat some of the greats, like Scrabble to take fourth place. Being a girl all for the classics, I can’t say I’m too impressed but a lot of other people were. Selina from Aylesbury thought it was “nicely presented and very good value. The chess pieces themselves were solidly made” – ahh but you can’t make words out them now, can you, Selina?

Fifth went to a true childhood favourite – Uno. You can’t beat its simplicity and its ability to cheer up even the most tedious of car journeys. It was beaten by the Simpsons in the value for money and design/build categories. Frankly, it should wipe the floor with the aforementioned spin-off chess set but the masses let me down.

Oh well. Whatever your preference, make sure you bring back the board game fun over the bank holiday. You can find all the board game reviews at Reevoo.

Full results below:
1. Pictionary
2. Monopoly Nostalgia
3. Taboo
4. Simpsons Chess Set
5. Uno Extreme

What do you
do to make your handset stand out in the crowd when cameras are old-hat, 3G is
expected and touch-screens are no-longer exciting? A number of brands now think
think they have the answer. LG is now securing itself as a premier brand-name
with its high-end Black Label series. These include the vastly popular LG Prada, which so far has sold
nearly 800,000 worldwide, and the Chocolate
and Shine selling a combined 25m so
far. Given the numbers, let’s just say it’s not a bad idea getting a fancy
designer or two onboard. Samsung, for instance, has recently launched the
Samsung Giorgio Armini and
it’s no surprise that LG is in talks with Prada again and are also preparing to
launch the carbon fibre and tempered glass Secret LG

So who’s
next on the designer phone market? According to Reuters, none other than
Christian Dior have teamed up with Modelabs to launch their own luxury handset (pictured above).
Not to appear elitist, the mobile has been priced at a cool $5,000. Not much
else is known about it other than the standard touch-screen, perfect for
manicured fingers and camera, ideal for taking photos of your miniature dog-in-a-bag.

But woah
there, all this talk of flashy designer handsets and style over substance isn’t
very Reevoo is it? Because we pride ourselves in cutting away from the
marketing spin we’re going to tell you what actually happens when you own a
designer phone.

Virtually the only positive comments we’ve received about designer phones are
about how stylish they look and nothing about functionality or ease of use. I
fact, everything else seems to be about how short-lived the battery is and how
overly sensitive and complicated the touch-screens can be.

Nick from Coventry says of the LG Prada:

“If you someone sends you a message
while you are replying to another, it changes the reply number to who just sent
you the new message. Can be quite embarrassing!!!!”

Of the Samsung Armani, one reviewer comments:

“Guide book is terrible. The
screen is very difficult to get used to and i have had two touch screen
phones.”

In summary, if you’re looking for a new fashion accessory, try a handbag,
of which you can find Gucci, Prada and D&G customer reviews. If you’re
looking for a new phone, you’re probably better off going for something that
suits that need! Manufacturers may be trying to win you over with smooth
corners and designer labels but they don’t seem to have realized that you want to
be able to use the things!

Top 5 Designer Phones:

Samsung Ted Baker Button – 7.9 out of 10

LG Chocolate – 7.5 out of 10

Samsung Armani – 7.5 out of 10

Levis – 7.2 out of 10

Another bank holiday to look forward to! Here’s some more reviews that have made us chuckle.

"Definitely need two people to fit it and keep the children out of the way as the language can get a bit colourful." Zanussi ZDT6053

"They suit my life style and wants. (But I am very boring)" Rod Glasses

"Sometimes my clothes are quite creased when I take them out after a wash dry cycle- I think that is probably more down to me being a mong though." Hotpoint WD640P

"Henry is sometimes a little clumsy. He likes to hide around doors, when you are pulling him along." Henry Numatic

"Impossible to assemble…we had to ask our friend who has a PhD in mechanical engineering to come round and have a go, it took him over 3 hours…" Alphason ABR1100-B

Thank goodness, a sensible invention after yesterday’s online lock post. I have to say that I’m even going to invest in this one. Some clever people have come up with the ultimate accessory for snorkelers – the world’s first digital camera swim mask. Anyone else who’s felt the pain of finally finding a lionfish and then trying to take a photo of it while the current is dragging both of you in opposite directions, will want to grab one too.

The handy 5MP camera has integrated crosshairs so that you can line up your nemos perfectly and it can cope with up to 15" of water. A shutter button allows you to swap between photo and video mode and downloading is even simpler - just plug the thing into a USB port. You can hold up to 30 hi-res shots if you just rely on the in-built 16MB memory but the microSD slot means that you can pile on some extra MBs.

Until they make one for divers who like to venture into deeper waters, I think this is a pretty good start. You can get your hands on one at Hammacher Schlemmer. Those of you looking to invest in a camera for solid ground should check out the digital camera reviews at Reevoo.

The only thing I’m dubious about is the quality of the mask itself. I guess there’s only one way to find out…

[Gizmodo]