Jamie’s Italian – My wife’s rather delayed 2013 review (unedited!)

The first time I walked into Guildford and saw that it had a Jamie’s Italian I was excited to go. I had heard such great things about the food, plus being a Naked Chef fan it was definitely on the ‘to do’ list.

I spoke to Tim about going there one evening and sadly he didn’t share my enthusiasm. His opinion is that it is over priced and pretentious. A little disappointed I didn’t bring it up again. Until one Tuesday afternoon as it was my turn to pay for dinner I decided I would twist his arm and force him against all his will to go.

We looked at the menu at home before we went, and as someone who is incredibly fussy with her food I have to admit there was only a couple of things that tickled my fancy, but I wasn’t going to be talked out of going.

Reading the menu it sounded impressive, using combinations of ingredients that I wouldn’t have thought of putting together, but that’s one of the reasons going out it so appealing, to eat food we wouldn’t normally cook ourselves.

Walking into the restaurant we were greeted really warmly by the staff and I instantly loved the atmosphere. We were surrounded by decorative produce as well as  pots, boards and wine ready to be bought. We were taken to our table and I had a proper look around the building, the exposed brick and pipe work gave it a real industrial feel but it wasn’t overdone, I could have been in a NY studio apartment.

The chunky wooden table, vintage metal lamp and napkins styled as tea towels made it feel like I was sitting in Jamie’s kitchen.  The waitress seemed nice and took the time to go through bits on the menu that we needed. She took our orders and prepared our bread bowl starter in front of us (although I did wonder how long it had all been out on the side).  This went down a treat though dunking away in oil with extra vinegar.

I also ordered some polenta chips mainly because I’ve never heard of them before. When they arrived I have to admit they weren’t what I expected, they looked like little misshapen  roast potatoes. I’m also not a fan of food that either disguises itself as other food or can’t decide what food it is itself. It was the texture of a potato but almost slightly doughy, I also couldn’t quite work out the flavour. They were nice, I think? Just not as flavoursome as I had expected. I’ve since found out that polenta is cornmeal boiled with either water or stock. Doesn’t sound that exciting really!

My wine was going down nicely, though, I don’t think Tim’s beer was. When I asked if it was nice he gave a shrug and said that it was alright, I was desperate for him to have a better experience this time because what if I wanted to come back?

Mains came along and sadly disappointments came with them. I had the Free-Range Chicken, it was a leg/thigh piece sitting on a tomato, chilli, olive and caper sauce with a neat pile of rocket sitting alongside. The chicken was really flavorous and juicy but I would have preferred a breast, I didn’t get enough good meat as I would have liked. The sauce again was nice but far to thick and chunky for my liking not so much a sauce. Though my garlic and herb chips were yummy, maybe a bit dry but otherwise not too many complaints there.

Tim had the burger and posh chips. It did look impressive when it was first brought over and the meat looked lovely, he was about halfway through when I asked him how it was and he still was  not impressed, I wasn’t winning at this but to be honest I hadn’t been completely blown away.

I also had chips and they weren’t very nice, but maybe I’m just not posh enough to appreciate them, Parmesan I don’t think was the best cheese to go with the truffle oil something a bit lighter would have been better.

We ate as much as we could but had definitely over ordered on the chips. I obviously still had room for pudding though. I have given up chocolate for lent so went for a toffee ice-cream with honeycomb and butterscotch sauce. It fulfilled my need for something sweet but still wasn’t as satisfying as chocolate, though that’s not Jamie’s fault.

I know that it’s impossible to like every restaurant that you go to but I really wanted to love this one. The atmosphere cannot be faulted, it’s a beautiful building and really has that rustic kitchen feel. With the food I can see what is trying to be achieved, exciting, unusual Italian inspired food being brought to the table that isn’t being served in every other ‘high street’ Italian Restaurant.

The waitress brought us our bill and commented on how it was nice to see us again, she was left slightly speechless when I said it was my first time.

It was the most expensive glass of wine and bread bowl I’ve ever had! And sadly I won’t be going back in a hurry, give me ASK or Prezzo any day. For me I think that simple is better! And Tim is probably secretly happy that he was right and I won’t be bugging him to go back.

Sorry Jamie.

Samsung Galaxy Camera: First Look

So I’ve been wanting to tell you about this marvellous little toy for a little while, but between one thing and another I’ve not been able to.

I’m going to assume you know a bit about this thing to begin with, as you’ve probably stumbled across some facts and stats on one of the techie websites. In case you haven’t, a few important things you should know.

The Galaxy Camera is an extension of Samsung’s drive to make the technology we use regularly ‘Smart’. They have given us the Smart Phone and Smart TV, as well as some (slightly less but still impressively) Smart Appliances. The camera is the next to get an upgrade.

Cameras already do certain things well, but what they don’t do is make life easy when it comes to putting pictures on your PC and ultimately, as so many of us do now, sharing them online. The other thing which is so limited on the majority of ‘dumb’ cameras is editing. Editing of pictures is not an area I’m going to touch on heavily, but simply put, imagine having the image editing capabilities you have on your phone (the ready made packages like instagram through to more bespoke tools) but being able to apply those things to pictures of the quality from a higher end digital camera. It’s strikingly obvious and a mouthwatering proposition. I’d also say Samsung are one of the best placed tech companies to deliver this well as one of the emerging players in the camera world and the biggest player in the Android ecosystem (and the mobile phone world as a whole at the moment). The likes of Sony probably have what it takes to compete, but the simple fact is that as of today, every other digital camera manufacturer is playing catch-up.

So that’s the basics and how this thing is a bit different..

The Galaxy Camera has been out for a couple of weeks now and when I got my hands on one the first thing I did was take it out of the box. Now we’ve been through this exciting process before. I tend to be in a situation where a couple of things are happening. The first is that I am opening a box, which has limited excitement unless you are actually doing it yourself the second thing is I tend to be drinking beer. This occasion is no different…

Unopened, beer on the go. Let’s be sensible a man has to have his priorities in order…

Samsung Galaxy Camera dans la boîte. (That’s ‘in the box’, foreign language fans!)

The expected collection of wires and plugs and cords. Except they are white! SHINY… kind of.

Samsung Galaxy Camera, no longer in the box. Things are hotting up.

 

So, some pictures and ting. (Threw that in for the more ‘street’ among us, blogging 101 that, connect with your audience!) If you click on them you can see the pictures in mega-big-o-vision. Same goes for any picture actually, I guess that’s probably more beneficial when you want to check out some of my test shots below.

What’s In The Box?

You get a Galaxy Camera and as far as I’m aware it’s only available in White. (I have to admit, it’s striking and I’d recognise it in anyone’s hands if I saw one, but I wouldn’t be sad if a black version were to hit the shops).

You also get a charging lead which like the vast majority of phones is micro USB, which makes life easy when it comes to having chargers strategically placed around the house/office (unless you have an iPhone). It also comes with a useful wrist cord and perhaps most strikingly a ‘3’ sim card, which comes pre-loaded with 1GB of internet access which you can use over the first 30 days before the sim reverts to the standard pay as you go approach.

Using The Galaxy Camera

Perhaps first of all, you should know that until now, I’ve never owned a digital camera except one which is attached to a mobile phone. I’ve never been hugely into photography because I am far to vain and in reality I prefer to be in pictures than taking them…

Exhibit A

Yes, that is a picture of me chasing my nephew around the living room. It was taken on the Galaxy Camera, by my sister (his mum), with very little regard for image quality and on the ‘Auto’ setting. In case you’re wondering, he’s ridiculously cute and I am a very proud uncle who would post pictures of him all over the interwebs. But I’m not sure his mum would approve…

Sod it, she will probably never read this (my family are so supportive) and if this doesn’t melt your heart then you are made of rocks.

Shortly after I told a hilarious joke… Or made a fart noise… Probably.

So, anyway, on to the matter in hand.

If you own, or have owned an Android phone the Galaxy Camera will feel very familiar. The interface is exactly the same as that on the Galaxy S3, assuming you have upgraded to Jelly Bean that is. Apart from looks, the devices are so similar, it is actually easier to point out the differences. Which are as follows: –

• The Galaxy Camera has 21x optical zoom (better than the majority of digital cameras available today)
• Although the Galaxy Camera can send text messages (and of course multimedia messages) there is no phone function. Skype may be a possible solution if you are in a fix though.
• Some Android software isn’t available for the Galaxy Camera, primarily due to how new it is.
• The Galaxy Camera is a camera and is sized as such.
• That’s pretty much it!

There are some other little things, but finding them out is all part of the joy of playing with it!

As it’s just a first look and I’ve rambled on like a nutter, I’ll save boring you with pictures and comparisons for another day. So I will finish off by saying that this thing is pretty amazing, it really can offer so much and the following are just a few of the test shots I have taken.

Sunset. Taken from the IKEA restaurant in Southampton. Using ‘Sunset Mode’.

Fireworks… It’s that time of year! At Alresford Bonfire Night. Using ‘Fireworks Mode’.

Pool Balls @ University of Winchester. ‘Auto Mode’

Ted. ‘Auto Mode’.

Charlie with a Galaxy Camera. ‘Auto Mode’.

I am a Samsung Mob!ler. Details of what this means can be found on the ‘Mob!ler’ website.

Mr Kipling French Fancies

Exceedingly good…

3 flavours of fancy, 8 fancies in a box. Maths tells me that 3 into 8 doesn’t go… well it does, but only if two fancies are some kind of weird mish mash flavour.

Anyway. The best one is the Lemon one.

If you disagree you are wrong. Here is the incontrovertible truth…

5 fancies remain.

I ate one of each. The Lemon one was nicest.

CASE CLOSED.

Although the Orange Hallowe’en ones aren’t bad either.

Cadbury Dairy Miarrrghhlllarrrggghhhhh

That is basically the noise I make each time I try and say the words Dairy Milk out loud… especially when there is one in my hand. Even more so when it’s unwrapped and melting into my sweaty palm as I try to imagine what it must have been like the first time I held one of these wonderous solid brown bars of amazing in my hand. On a pound for pound basis, if Cadbury’s chocolate isn’t more expensive than gold then to be honest, I don’t know why any of us bother.

Cadbury’s chocolate and Dairy Milk in particular doesn’t change much. It is a sacrosanct part of British life and that purple wrapper draws me in every time I see it. Despite the fact Cadbury has been taken over by Kraft, the giant American confectionery and general crap food manufacturer, our cherished bar has until now remained untouched. (Thank god; have you tried that Hershey’s crap they try and pass off as chocolate?)

BUT SOMETHING HAS CHANGED!

The wrapper still looks the same… There’s still a glass and a half of milk pouring in (even though the European Union disagrees with it). But a cursory glance at the front of the bar will provide you with 2 clues. The first is a big pink banner in the corner advertising a new shape. The second is the picture of the beloved chocolate…

THEY HAVE ROUNDED OFF THE CORNERS!

Yup. Remember when Galaxy tried to pretend that when the chocolate is a bit rounder it tastes better, well Cadbury are in on the act. They have butchered my lovely bar of chocolate and they are pretending it is prettier.

TAKE A LOOK…

What in blue moses is going on here?

Yes, see, look…DIFFERENT!

Ok, so it’s not that bad.

…

So why am I shouting so much?

THEY HAVE F**KING STOLEN SOME OF MY VALUABLE CHOCOLATE!

Cadbury, in these days of austerity, have decided that they are going to reduce the size of my chocolate bar from 49g to 45g. Then, instead of admitting it and saying they are very sorry but stuffs are more expensive now, they have decided to try and dress it up as a good thing by making the chocolate more round. Well we all know when you cut the corners off something there is less of it. Now as we know Cadbury chocolate is clearly more valuable than gold and as of this second Gold is trading at a spot price of $1708.70/oz. And using some mathematical wizardry (thank me later) this means that today, when I bought the chocolate bar above Cadbury stole at least £151.26 from me. And each and every time I buy a Dairy Milk bar from now on they will be stealing a similar amount. I am not happy. And possibly the only way I can get over this is if someone out there decides to send me more Dairy Milk bars (one a week will be about right) to replace the chocolate I will inevitably be losing each and every time I buy chocolate in future.

Summary

Come on Cadbury/Kraft, man up and explain yourselves… or give me back my damn chocolate!

Old Dairy Milk Rating: 5/5

New Dairy Milk Rating: GIVE ME BACK MY CHOCOLATE!

The Copthorne Hotel – Plymouth

The Copthorne Hotel. Don’t be fooled by the palm tree, it’s definitely in Plymouth.

So, I was down in Plymouth this weekend and a lack of available bed space at my other half’s mum’s house (I think that’s the right grammar), meant that we would be staying at a hotel in the centre of Plymouth. Nic comes from Plymouth and it was an opportunity for her to see all of her friends and family for a birthday night out.

I am going to do away with the normal structure I stick to for this sort of thing because I can’t be bothered, this place doesn’t really deserve it. I also began writing a story of my weekend, well forget that too. The key points are as follows: –

• Plymouth is a pain to drive around. The road network makes little sense, the speed limits are 30/40mph regardless of where you are and the level of danger to pedestrians and speed cameras are liberally dotted around the city.
• The Copthorne hotel is not attractive from the outside, although the location is excellent.
• Inside the hotel it is pretty typical of a place decorated in the 90s and it has the usual amenities. Certain rooms have a minibar, but they only contain soft drinks and there’s no price list.
• The room was pretty spacious and the bed was large and quite nice.

That’s pretty much all the relevant facts. At £50 per night it’s not bad value. However, some of my own experiences, which may or may or may not be repeated should you visit were not great.

• Customer service at the hotel is pretty poor. One lady on reception looked after us quite well, but other than that the service and attention to detail is atrocious.
• Cheryl, a receptionist, is possibly in the least suited job imaginable for her skill set. I say this because receptionists almost exclusively deal with the public. Cheryl is not a people person.
• Parking is a movable feast. The likelihood of obtaining one of the hotel’s parking spaces appears to depend on a number of factors none of which relate to whether the hotel is willing to take your money for a parking space.
• Your room may, or may not have the used dishes of the previous occupants left right in front of the door for a period of no less than 24 hours.
• Room Service will typically arrive in the mid afternoon and when finding that your partner has had to get out of the shower to answer the door, will subsequently stand there, having a good look, before eventually being told that ‘no, now isn’t a good time, I am wearing a towel’. They will then offer to come back later and ultimately fail to do-so.

I was eventually lucky enough to get a parking space. Although this was after I had to pay to park at Sainsbury’s (getting up at 9:30am to do so). I then sought a refund for my parking only to find that Cheryl had already added my refund to the computer without having actually given me the cash, so the poor girl the next day had to sort that one out. Finally I learned later on Saturday that 3 car parking spaces had appeared and I eventually managed to park before seeing Spurs’ pretty poor result against Chelsea.

I will give a score, but to be honest if all you care about is a place to put your head overnight, this hotel is fine. If you want to park your car or deal with people who have any interest in looking after you or your room maybe pay a few extra quid and stay somewhere else.

Star Rating ***

Location 4.5/5

First Impressions 2/5

Amenities 3.5/5

The Room 3.5/5

Costs 4.5/5

Customer Service 0.5/5

Overall 2/5

The rather impressive lovechild of the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy SIII

Samsung Galaxy Note II

So I am doing something a little unusual for this blog, not so much a review, as a preview! Although the fact I had a rare night out on Saturday means I haven’t managed to post this before the Note II made it into the shops. When I got to play with this thing there were apparently only 6 in the country and they were being guarded for secrecy. I would venture to guess that there are rather more of them now!

Anyway, this must be a pretty special phone given that they asked me and a handful of other bloggers to come up to London and have a poke around with it. Samsung also sent one of their trainers to talk us through all of the different aspects of the phone, which puts me in the unusual position of actually being relatively well qualified to write about something!

First of all, looks. Well it’s big like a Galaxy Note, but has the styling of the Galaxy SIII. That pretty much covers it and in case you want to know how all that pans out, I have a picture… This is the grey version and the phone is also available in white: –

Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Note II, side by side. As I was using my own SIII to take the picture you’ll have to excuse the phone with the cracked screen! Not my doing!

Now if you want to be bored with facts and figures about the Note 2 I am sure there are a million techie websites, phone shops and the like which will provide you with all the minutiae regarding the exact size of the camera aperture the manufacturing process used to create the sim card holder. However, I can offer a few little comparisons, I will use the Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note and iPhone 5 for this purpose…

	Galaxy Note II	Galaxy SIII	Galaxy Note	iPhone 5
Size	80.5 x 151.1 x 9.4mm	70.6 x 136.6 x 8.6mm	82.95 x 146.85 x 9.65mm	58.6 x 123.8 x 7.6 mm
Weight	182.5g	133g	178g	112g
OS	Android 4.1 (Jellybean)	Android 4.0 (ICS)	Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)	iOS 6
Processor	1.6GHz Quad	1.4GHz Quad	1.4GHz Dual	1.2GHz Dual
Display	140.9mm (5.56”) HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720)	127mm (4.8”) HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720)	132mm (5.29″) HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 800)	102mm (4”) Retina Display (1,136 x 640)
Network	3G HSPA+ 4G LTE	3G HSPA+	3G HSPA+	3G HSPA+ 4G LTE
Camera	8MP rear 1.9MP front	8MP rear 1.9MP front	8MP rear 2MP front	8MP rear 1.2MP front

As you can see, at first glance other than the difference in Operating System and any preferences there, the Galaxy Note II roundly trounces the competition in almost every area.

But stepping quickly away from the boring facts which I promised I wouldn’t dwell on, it’s probably better to focus on the Note II’s unique selling points or ‘usp’s.

The main distinguishing feature about the Galaxy Note range (whether it’s the Note II or the other recent addition to the range the Note 10.1 Tablet) is that it comes with a stylus (called the S Pen by Samsung). The stylus is nothing new, with palm-tops of old sporting a the exact same, but in today’s world where the touchscreen is common and on-screen keyboards are second nature, the stylus has disappeared.

Using the ‘S Pen’.

Samsung think that this is a bad thing and that productivity can be increased with the inclusion of a little electronic pen. It’s actually no bad thing.

First of all, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. Secondly, it’s pretty intuitive. For example, the phone/stylus can recognise when they are in close proximity even if they don’t touch. This opens up features such as the ability to scroll simply by hovering the stylus at the top or bottom of a page.

The real function of the pen has never changed though and that is to write notes and such like using your own writing rather than having to fiddle around with an on-screen keyboard.

There is an obvious downside to the Note II for some. Its size. It’s a big phone, or a very small tablet depending on how you look at it. Samsung are desperate to bridge the phone/tablet divide with this device and its massive screen is fantastic for everyday tasks. The downside is that it is a pocket/handbag filler. In reality I see this device as a great tool as a business/business-person’s phone. It will increase productivity and make life very easy. It will also do a fantastic job of whiling away the time on the train, with its big screen allowing you to watch films in HD quality.

Samsung are also very into Gesture controls lately and have been pretty innovative. The new top end TVs allow you to use voice and gestures, while the Galaxy SIII has a range of these which help out. A personal favourite is the ability to put a phone to your head when looking at a text and automatically calling that person. It gently eases the process between reading a text saying ‘I slept with your best friend’ and phoning your mum and asking what the hell she’s playing at! (My mum didn’t do that by the way, in case you’re wondering). There’s all the things you’re used to from the Galaxy SIII, but in terms of features unique to the Note II there are the following gesture controls and the like which make using this phone a more enjoyable experience: –

• Air View – Hovering the stylus over a video will give you a ‘pop out’ enlarged version of the video which will play allowing you to decide if it’s really the one you want to click on. The same feature allows you to see the content in a text or e-mail before opening or scroll to the right place in a video.
• Popup Note – Taking the S Pen out during a call will allow you to make a quick note.
• Quick Command – A cross between S voice and writing! Just write @dave to send Dave an e-mail. There are a number of little commands like this for those who feel like a bit of a pleb talking to their phone!
• Alarm control – Hover your hand over your phone when the alarm goes off and it will beep at you and snooze.
• You can also do all the normal handwriting of notes and creative bits like drawing which a stylus makes possible.

The Note II is a powerful piece of kit and a phone I’d love to get my hands on. I don’t know if I’d replace my SIII with it, purely because of size, but for work and on the go, or if I am feeling more creative it’s a great solution, particularly if you don’t want to be carrying around a phone and a tablet.

I am a Samsung Mob!ler. Details of what this means can be found on the ‘Mob!ler’ website.

A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. (Pizza Hut – Bournemouth)

The ‘Hut’

I’ve just been on holiday to Spain, it was lovely, so obviously the first thing on my mind to get done on my return was to get writing and sharing my experiences. What could be more exciting that an entire review about Pizza Hut in Bournemouth? Obviously beaches full of topless women and watching my 18 month old nephew learn to dance pale into insignificance against the culinary delights of the nation’s favourite* eat-in pizza diner.

*probably.

First Impressions

It’s a (relatively small) Pizza Hut.

4/5

Service

Our waiter was a very friendly young man, who was attentive and helpful. He got extra bonus points for allowing us 2 salad bars despite only ordering one (regular) pizza to share. The only let down was when we were waiting for the starter another waitress turned up with someone else’s pizza, but better that than no-one turning up at all.

6/5

(It was going to be a 5/5, but I promised bonus points. Don’t judge.)

Food

My first ever review on here was of an Italian restaurant and it included 2 of my 3 ‘if I was on Come Dine With Me’ dishes. The starter, Brushetta, is a familiar dish in most Italian restaurants and Pizza Hut has gotten in on the act.

Now I will preface this by informing you that I cook the best Brushetta available in England today. It’s not a difficult dish and I am well aware that it’s a pretty big claim to make, but I’m also not big headed, incredibly modest (and good looking) so when I tell you it’s good, it’s good. (At least my mum thinks so…)

Anyway, I can’t stop myself from ordering Bruschetta when it’s on the menu, partly because I love it and partly because I want to see if someone has beaten my own recipe. The picture in the menu looks pretty appetizing, with some toasted bread and chopped cherry tomatoes topped with pesto and some salad leaves. When it came the pesto had been forgotten and the salad leaves had just been dumped on. In the end I was largely eating tomato bread.

Pretty gash and not worth ordering. Although I am willing to accept the person who made it was bored/hung-over/feckless/incompetent and you might have a better experience.

The salad bar does exactly what it says on the tin. I’m not a big fan of peppers and in the absence of labels I have never been entirely sure what the little pot of brown crumbs is all about, but I do likes me a bit of salad.

Then the Pizza. Somehow, Pizza Hut are able to provide pretty nice looking cheesy yummy cheese and tomato pizzas, yet make them have only 170 calories! (Or so the menu says). Now I’m not 100% certain if that’s 170 calories per person or 170 calories per bite, but either way, it’s pretty good pizza. If you’ve ever been to pizza hut before (which is everyone) you know what to expect.

Didn’t order dessert because after all that and a McDonald’s at the airport before leaving Spain I was pretty stuffed. Soft drinks have free re-fills which is always a bonus.

4/5

Price

Well, I didn’t pay, so obviously that’s a total winner (and to be recommended whenever you go to a restaurant). But if memory serves the bill didn’t come to more than about £15 for the two of us. Obviously that was helped by sharing a pizza, but what an absolute bargain meal out.

5/5

Overall

Apart from the one small black mark against Bournemouth Pizza Hut for the pathetic attempt at Brushetta, this was a really good meal out. You don’t expect much when you go somewhere like Pizza Hut; it’s an image thing I guess, but on Friday evening in Bournemouth that place is a surprisingly good choice. Exactly the opposite of my review of Jamie’s Italian back in August of last year in that it’s a prime example of substance over style.

5/5

Samsung Galaxy SIII… I got one, took it out of the box and took pictures of it.

So, boys and girls. I’M BACK! I have logged back in to find a couple of ancient drafted posts too. Might publish them at some point. In the meantime there is the pressing issue of my new phone.

I have been using my HTC Desire HD for the best part of 2 years and it’s been a trusty companion. But… times have changed, phones have gotten bigger, better, prettier, faster and altogether much more better than they were back in the olden days. I needed to update and now I need to update you! Buckle in for the thrill ride that is looking at the pictures of someone who isn’t you opening up their new phone. If your contract is up any time soon perhaps you might find this useful…

Key Facts about your next mobile phone: –

• The Galaxy S3 has outsold the iPhone since it was released.
• It is available in blue and white, a black version will be released later this year.
• On a scale from one to pretty it looks gorgeous.
• It’s quite big, but that’s ok.
• It doesn’t infringe any Apple patents.

Unboxing

The phone comes in a tidy little box and obviously I wanted to open it as soon as I got it; I couldn’t because I was at work, so I had to open it at the pub. It looked like this…

Still in the box.

Then it looked like this…

Not in the box any more.

Then I found this…

Some stuff in the box.

In case you can’t tell, that’s a charger, earphones, and an instruction manual, which you can’t see.

Then I made the phone be in more than one piece…

The guts.

And discovered it takes a micro-sim. DAMN!

Since I haven’t changed phone in ages, I have a normal mini-sim, like most of you lot. If you speak to your phone provider they’ll probably send you a micro-sim, some will charge you for the privilege. If you’re very careful, you can cut your sim-card down to the correct size. You can also buy a punch on Amazon for about £3. Obviously I wouldn’t do something like that, because it might be very naughty. (I’ve not checked my contract). I really couldn’t wait, but this definitely isn’t a picture of me ‘adjusting’ my sim…

You probably shouldn’t try this at home.

So then, as if by magic, my phone was working!

Using the SIII

I’ll do a proper review in the next few days, but if you’ve got this far, you probably want to know a few things about it?!

The Galaxy SII was the biggest selling phone of 2011, outstripping the iPhone and all of its Android competitors. I have to admit, I didn’t love it. My Desire HD was made of solid aluminium (something I was thankful for, having dropped it a fair few times). The SII is primarily made of plastic and while the screen was large and bright ( the super modern AMOLED), I didn’t really love the styling either of the phone or the interface.

The SIII completely changes the game. The phone is obviously gorgeous and although it still has a plastic back, it feels like a proper premium phone, with it’s beautiful glass front and brushed back. One of the other plus points is, if you do scratch or crack the back, it is easily replaced, unlike models with a uni-body construction.

The interface is also slick and easy to use, with some great features. You may already have read that there are some great touches; for example, when you’re looking at it, the phone can sense that you are and will keep the screen lit up, which is ideal when you’re reading a long text or a web page. Got a text and need to call someone back? Just lift the phone up to your face and you’ll hear the phone ringing after a couple of seconds.

Features like this always make me a bit dubious as to whether they will really work, but although there have been one or two occasions where the liting has been poor and the phone can’t see that I’m still looking they have worked great. It does take a second to get used to the change in how you interact with your phone, but it’s all pretty intuitive, but it doesn’t take long.

Everything else you expect is in there too, from a variety of widgets to Near Field Communication. I remember when I got a Nokia N95 years ago and I thought for the first time I had a phone which did everything I asked of it, but this phone has an uncanny knack of knowing what you’re going to want before you do and making you wonder how you lived without it.

I appreciate that many of you Apple aficionados will scoff at the suggestion that an Android phone is a step up from what you have in your pocket, but trust me, this is and if you have even the vaguest inclination to switch, this is the phone to try. If you are already an Android user then, believe me, this phone is at the top of the pile.

In terms of what did surprise me, given that I was moving from one Android device to another, I thought that the differences would be tiny. But between the move from HTC and their Sense UI to Samsung’s Touchwiz and the step up from Android 2.3 to 4.1, the changes are quite significant. It’s definitely a change for the better, although the one area I think HTC do trump Samsung is their widgets and the social integration offered by Sense, although  the SIII is certainly no slouch in this area.

First Impression Rating

5/5

 

I am a Samsung Mob!ler. Details of what this means can be found on the ‘Mob!ler’ website.

Ellen & The Escapades – The Railway, Winchester 09-11-11

Support: Matt Isaac, Vikram Singh and Stuart Blakeledge

Reading back through this, it turns out I’ve written a good 2 or three paragraphs of crap before getting to the important bit. Probably best if you skip that and start just somewhere around paragraph 6.

The fact I am writing again after a bit of a hiatus will probably tell you that I have something particularly worth writing about. You won’t have noticed that I’ve been on hiatus, which I why I’ve just said it, and you probably don’t care, but the point is, something either amazing or awful has crossed my path in recent times.

This was not the band I was planning to see on Wednesday night. In fact, I didn’t really know who I was seeing, or even if I’d be in Winchester.

I came down to see a friend of my girlfriend’s house-mate (When these connections bring you to places you wouldn’t otherwise have been they seem to become that much more significant) play at The Railway, a venue which has changed quite a bit since my friends used to play there during my college days.

Ellen & the Escapades hail from Leeds and a little bit of the research I have done since suggests they aren’t as obscure as I had previously believed (purely on the basis that none of us had heard of them, I will eventually stop inflating the worth of my own opinion/knowledge… one day!). In fact they have played at the Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds festivals and have been spotted by BBC Radio 1 , so there has certainly been some exposure and they are currently on a tour of the UK.

Anyway, that stuff is pretty irrelevant to the actual gig…

I don’t know if you have ever been to a gig or concert where you haven’t heard of the artists playing, or without even knowing the style of music? The bands playing were all generally folk biased and although the quality was there, it’s not normally my scene, so it was one of those evenings where I was appreciating what I was hearing without ever finding myself particularly involved. I didn’t really expect much to change when Ellen and some Escapades took to the stage, with some vague suggestion of wondering back home being floated amongst the group of us. Then…

The music started and Ellen simultaneously opened her mouth; my jaw dropped and I felt myself suddenly transfixed. She has one of those ridiculously amazing voices that just completely doesn’t belong on a mortal human. The kind of voice that made the likes Sinaed O’Connor or Stevie Nicks so special and so incredibly timeless, not that they offer a perfect comparison. When you read posters and reviews, the reviewers cleverly manage to throw in a few words and phrases to allow a snipped to be added to subsequent publicity. I’m not capable of that and my reviews would not look particularly impressive on publicity anyway, but I do kindof have one of those sentences for you, because for once, it’s appropriate… ‘Ellen and The Escapades offer a welcome change of pace from today’s pop music. Ellen, with a beautiful, haunting, effortless and almost visceral voice is enough to melt the coldest of hearts is ably supported by the rest of the band.’

The opening song, if memory serves (I don’t know many of them!) Was ‘Yours To Keep’ and of the 4 on their EP is my personal favourite. Musically there is a hint of Damien Rice and vocally, well, what else can I say really, it was this song that had me immediately hooked. It’s a more mellow number, which was followed up by a well mixed set of more bouncy and upbeat numbers, together with some of the slower numbers that burrow into you, tear out your emotions and smear them all over your face for the whole world to see.

With clear pop, folk and rock influences, Ellen & the Escapades are the type of band you would assume could easily slip into the public consciousness and help to bring music back from a dubstep induced implosion.

I have just learned that they will be playing in Guildford (my home-town) on 23rd November, right in the middle of my trip to Vegas. I am genuinely upset I won’t get to see them. But you can be pretty certain that the next time they are down south, you’ll find me there, probably stood in a mesmerized stupor (maybe even leaning against someone and dribbling) until they leave me, once again, pining.

5/5

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Find them here and listen, lots: –

www.ellenandtheescapades.com
www.myspace.com/ellenandtheescapades
www.facebook.com/ellenandtheescapades
www.twitter.com/ellenescapades

You Me At Six – Brixton Academy 15-10-11

Support: Lower Than Atlantis and Deaf Havana

I don’t really know how to review a gig, because I tend to come out with a strong emotion but very little in the way of coherent thought. For example, when I stepped out of Camden Roundhouse this year having seen Taking Back Sunday (one of the few bands on my ‘I need to see them immediately-right-now-yesterday-thank-you-please’  list) I had a strong feeling of disappointment over what was ultimately a very average show in a largely unsuitable venue. Conversely, when I stepped out of Incubus (a band I have seen more than any other, by some margin) at Kentish Town Forum more recently this year, I stepped out with a sense of absolute happiness, with them having played plenty of my old favourites at an unusually small venue.

I rather like Brixton Academy. With The Astoria gone, it’s one of the few traditional mid-sized venues left and it’s got a big sloping floor, so no matter where you stand you can usually find a good view.

So, precursor done, perhaps the most honest thing I can say about this is that when I left this concert I was as happy as I’ve been in a long time (that’s not to say I’m a sad person, far from it) and I was absolutely gagging for more.

You Me At Six are one of those bands I just want to do well, probably because I love their music, but they seem so genuine, hard working and talented that they just deserve any success that comes their way. They are also from Weybridge, a town I lived in for a while and not the sort of place you’d immediately expect a rock band to come from! The support from Deaf Havana was also really good although I don’t know their music really, it was obviously ideal for You Me At Six, I didn’t really hear Lower Than Atlantis because I was queuing and buying a t-shirt! (Support your favourite rock bands by buying their shit!)

Set List

• The Consequence
• Jaws On The Floor
• Safer To Hate Her
• Save It For The Bedroom
• Liquid Confidence
• Trophy Eyes
• Contagious Chemistry
• Bite My Tongue
• Playing The Blame Game
• Fireworks
• Little Death
• Tigers And Sharks

Encore

• Loverboy
• Stay With Me
• Underdog

All in all a good set with some bouncy tunes, a great performance and a good atmosphere. Despite having one foot in the commercial music side of things (You’ll notice how their music has changed if you find ‘Noises’ on You Tube, a cracking song which could happily be given some more live outings) You Me At Six put on a proper rock music show. Which is a testament to their general appeal really, because the crowd is largely Female (and probably teenaged, justifying previous comments thrown at me that I listen to teenage girl music). But that really isn’t true. There was a hint of screamo during the show and you’ll find some more on the new album.

So yeah, you can probably see that there is a decent mix and not too many songs from the new album, although that was a bit of a shame for me because I’ve been listening to it almost non-stop since it came out. They also played Tigers & Sharks, which is a personal favourite, so that kept me happy!

What else can I tell you? Well, I can tell you that although you’ve missed out, because this was the last show of the tour before they fly out to America, You Me At Six, have today announced a new tour next year, the dates being as follows: –

March

17th  Leicester, O2 Academy
18th  Nottingham, Rock City
20th  Bournemouth, O2 Academy
21st  Yeovil, Westland Centre
23rd  Cardiff, The Great Hall
24th  Liverpool, University
25th  Newcastle, Academy
27th  Glasgow, SECC Hall 3
28th  Manchester, O2 Apollo 3

April

1st  Birmingham, Ballroom
2nd  London, O2 Brixton Academy

Josh mentioned last night that they’d be doing 2 shows at Brixton, so expect a second date to be announced when sales for the first go well. This tour is a full tour in support of the new album Sinners Never Sleep, so you can probably expect a few more songs of that album in the set, which also means you need to buy it and listen to it immediately!

4.5/5

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