Blyss Dehumidifier by B&Q

There is one room in our house which really never gets sunshine during the day and with the ensuite bathroom it gets a damp and mouldy smell. To address this problem I decided on a humidifier would be the answer but which one? There is quite a large range to choose from, cheap to expensive however after some research I selected a 10 litre size would suit the problem. Not wanting to spend a lot of money I settled for a unit branded Blyss sold by B&Q at £99.

The unit has simple controls on the top panel, select the relative humidity you want from four options 40, 50, 60%, or continuous. On reaching the desired humidity it should switch off. My unit is still running after a week of daytime running but a damp room can take up to a week or more to dry out. I must have emptied out around a good 10 litres. The improvement in the room conditions is very noticeable , much reduced mouldy smell and minimal condensation on the window.

For value for money I think this is a winner and providing it does switch off eventually I will know I am sleeping in a much more healthy environment.

Nokia Lumia 930

I have now had a new Nokia Lumia 930 for 3 weeks and can already confirm I have made a very good decision. I have waited for some time for this phone to be released. I got it on contract from Vodafone. It is very interesting to see how much Nokia, once the only phone to have has dropped out of people's consciousness. I had to tell the store staff that they were selling it, and yes after a quick check they confirmed 3 were in stock. I am pleased to say though, this hassle has been well worth it, the phone for me is excellent.

The build quality from Nokia is as good as it was in their market leading days, good solid feel and a smooth comfortable in the hand finish. The only possible weak spot maybe the lock screen / power button of the right hand side. It is used a lot to wake the screen up as well as put it to sleep. I expect it will be okay, however Nokia have included an alternative method of opening the lock screen, with a double tap on screen, should it fail. The only  removable part of the case is the nano sim drawer, the battery is not removable. This make sense as the case is much more robust without a battery door and has less places to harbour dirt. The new cordless charging system is a real bonus, just place your phone on the charging plate at night and in the morning a fully charged phone is at your disposal. I have only used about 60 % charge for a days usage and still have to go into battery saver territory, not bad.

What about the operating system? The windows phone mobile 8.1 is very good, and leaps and bounds ahead of the versions of a couple of years ago. I tried a windows phone about two and half years ago and had to send it back. I could not adjust the size of text in the contacts fields or in the text messaging, it was so small I could not read it. Vibrate was added to the back button but it could not be disabled. All of this I am pleased to say has been resolved. 

I have always resisted going to Apple, and now Microsoft have given me a good reason not to. I love the tile design, it is now even more customisable, so your home screen can be changed on a whim. With the addition of live tiles it really comes alive. The best feature of all is the response of the unit to commands, screen refresh is impressive and smooth flowing. The connectivity with other systems is good. When I started the phone up and added one or two email accounts and calendars within 30 minutes I had synchronised with my contacts, calendars from my Ipad and now redundant Blackberry Bold.

In summary I think Microsoft / Nokia are well on the way to a phone that will get significant amounts of market share back from Apple and Samsung, especially in the business community. This will increase as more of the popular apps are made available.