Trust me, I love to disconnect from the world, especially times like when we went to the log cabin in Cornwall, but occasionally there’s time that having a keyboard, the internet and your iPad is incredibly convenient if you’re a blogger on the go! I don’t like having to lug around my not only expensive, but heavy 17″ MacBook Pro, just for typing.

I’m not usually one for these little fads, but I’ve got to say — I’m impressed. I’m currently on my way back from BrightonSEO, I’m on a train with my iPad catching up on some long overdue writing using my new wireless keyboard. I’ve managed to cross heaps off my writing to-do list, without bringing my whole office with me. 

I’d been meaning to invest in one of these for a while, but I kept putting it off because I kept thinking “Do I really need it?”, which was a silly attitude to have, because they are dirt cheap nowadays. Initially, I was looking at the wireless Apple keyboards, as I’m a bit of an Apple whore and I like keeping things consistent. However, I genuinely don’t think I’d switch now I’ve used the Logitech keyboard.

It’s incredibly responsive, lightweight, small (but large enough to use just as you would a normal keyboard), and the material is really satisfying. It seamlessly connects using bluetooth, without an issue and so far I’ve been typing since London (I’m now coming into Cornwall), and I’m yet to use battery. 

It’s even got some nifty little shortcut buttons to quickly access other tabs, search, your iPads camera and the keyboard onscreen to access suggestions, as well as the usual shortcuts for volume and skipping tracks if you’re listening to music.

Not to mention, it’s splash proof, perfect for when you’re drinking wine on a train

The post Logitech Wireless Keyboard-to-go Review appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

If you haven’t heard of it, all you need to know, it’s in 1990 movie “The Witches” based on Roald Dahl’s book. Having never seen the movie (don’t worry – it’s on my list of things to do..), and to read this blog post.

I packed up my stuff and O picked me up straight from work and we set off to Newquay for our mini break on the North Coast. Our package included a two night stay in a beautiful sea-view bedroom overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, a delicious Cornish breakfast each morning, unlimited access to the spa and leisure area, a three course restaurant dinner on our arrival night and a 60 minute Rejuvenating Facial.

Not to mention all the lovely little complimentary extras like the porterage on arrival and departure, a box of Cornish Fudge and the designer Elemis amenities in the bedroom, as well as the use of the luxurious Headland Spa robe, towels and slippers.

Stepping inside The Headland, you will appreciate our investment in comfort and luxury, whilst being struck by the timeless quality and many original features of this iconic Victorian hotel. The pictures truly do not do the bathroom or the bedroom justice.

We were lucky enough to be put in a room with panoramic views of Fistral beach in both the bedroom and the bathroom. I could definitely get used to underfloor heating, his and her skins and a double bath and separate double power shower.

Once we’d had a good snoop around the room and a quick wander around the hotel, we scrubbed up to go down for dinner in the restaurant over-looking Fistral. Both O and I ordered the medium rare venison, rocket and Parmesan warm salad to start, followed by a char-grilled 28 day aged Cornish fillet steak, hand cut chips and roasted vine tomatoes. Without a doubt, this was the best steak I’d ever had!

For dessert I order the chocolate delice with mango sorbet, and O ordered the fresh fruit and substituted the ice cream with sorbet.All this washed down with the Headland Hotel, Cépage Colombard Côtes de Gascogne. Sharp service, coupled with friendly staff and tasty food was a cracking start to our stay.

We woke up lost in a bed that was big enough for us to both starfish in. We had a cup of tea in bed (from one of the many teas that were hiding in the cupboard), and watched the waves crashing onto the beach – this is how mornings should be spent.

Surprisingly, after eating so much the night before, we managed to force ourselves to breakfast – when we arrived it didn’t seem like such a chore anymore. There was every option you can imagine from cured meats to a full fry up, to pasties and fruit. In addition to all of this, you could order breakfast fresh off the menu, and alas! they have gluten free options.

After breakfast we went for a stroll around the Headland to explore the area and walk off our food babies.

I popped back to the hotel to have my facial that was pre-booked, whilst O went for a surf. I’d never been to the Headland for a treatment before, so I was keen to see what the treatment room and spa was like.

My treatment was what I expected and more – just what I needed after the last couple of weeks. The rejuvenating facial is designed to refresh the skin, leaving it looking and feeling radiant. Incorporates a face-lift massage and acupressure point techniques to alleviate the signs of ageing combined with a deeply hydrating face mask to leave the skin visibly smoother. The facial also eliminates congestion, returns moisture to the skin and restores luminosity.

The Headland Spa has six treatment rooms with two double treatment rooms, comprehensive heat experiences, a mani and pedi room and the spa lounge which overlooks the Atlantic ocean. Freshly renovated, the treatment rooms ooze sophistication. I was offered a robe and flip flops after my treatment and waited for O to come and meet me downstairs so we could relax in the spa together.

The Headland Hotel and Spa is Cornwall’s only ‘Five Bubble’ rated spa hotel, complete with united pools with varying temperatures, aromatherapy showers, jacuzzi, Swedish sauna, Cornish sea salt steam room, hydrotherapy suite, gym, tanning suite, mani and pedi room, and seven treatment rooms, as well as a deep relaxation lounge and couples suite.

We headed to the pool, which at the time was quite busy, however they do have slots that you can visit the pool for adults only. The swimming pool is open every day from 7.30am – 10pm. Adult only swimming times (no under 16s) are between 11am – 3pm and after 6pm.

Unfortunately, we didn’t spend much time in the bar area, except to have a glass of water but we completely fell in love with the interior design. If anybody knows where I can buy these chairs, then please let me know – because I absolutely need them in my life!

We spent hours unwinding in the spa, before pulling ourselves together and heading to the Stable for dinner just a stone-throw away from the hotel. We had to keep our energy up after all, it’d been a hard day

Two very full stomaches later, we couldn’t resist popping back down to the spa. Just a couple more minute in the steam room was enough to ease us back into our calm state before we headed to the relaxation lounge. This, without a doubt, was the most precious, memorable and my favourite part of our trip away — and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

After the best night sleep, EVER! We then woke up and headed down for our last breakfast, and to our surprise, when O ordered some gluten-free bread, the waiter told us that he had already ordered it for him – impressive! It’s the little things that count, the personal touch was so lovely!

The weekend absolutely flew by, but now it was time to pack our bags and say goodbye.

Thanks to Headland Hotel and Spa for inviting us to come and stay!

The post Review: Headland Hotel & Spa, Newquay, Cornwall appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

I clambered back onto the horse and started dating again a couple months ago. Not one for meeting someone slurring in a club, coupled with being curious to see what all the fuss was about I downloaded Tinder and Plenty of Fish. I must confess, I don’t take it too seriously – does anyone? Here’s my experience thus far..

Tinder

The three types of men you commonly come across on Tinder:

1. The ‘clearly confused’ that don’t understand the concept of Tinder and don’t have a profile picture.
2. The ‘travelled’ that have a picture of them cuddling a tiger in somewhere like exotic Thailand.
3. The asshole who’s picture is of them and their partner (yes, I’ve even seen wedding shots).

Working in an office full of men, who fraped me given any opportunity. I’m familiar with users sex being changed on Facebook, vice versa, is a common attack. With Tinders algorithms using Facebook profile information, I’m somewhat surprised I don’t come across many fraped women in my search for men.

Typical messages received on Tinder so far (Yes, I’m serious):

1. “I guess this is where we swap numbers and I send you pictures of my junk?”
2. “Hey, what are you doing on here?” – Yes, I’ve matched with a bunch of my friends.

Plenty of Fish

The three types of men you commonly come across on Plenty of Fish:

1. The ‘serial messengers’ copy and paste the message so many times, you receive the same one 3-4 times.
2. The ‘long-haul’ players that you’ve seen on POF years ago from the last time you were single, just wow!
3. The asshole who you actually know. Notably, you know for a fact they have a wife or girlfriend.

The biggest problem with POF is unlike Tinder, anyone can message you unless you set up preferences. That means you attract all manner of Cretans.

Once ruling out the above, you’re then left with the the barely-single and desperate for comfort, the guy with with more kids than hours in the day, and the ‘men’ on a mission for just one thing. Or worse – all those things rolled into one. No, thanks!

The best messages received on Plenty of Fish so far (again, I’m deadly serious):

1. “I feel like I’d been walking around Tescos, until I saw you – now I feel like I’m in Harrods.”
2. “How much do you charge?”

So, What’s the verdict?

Embrace being single, switch off your phone, pour a glass of wine and run a steaming hot bath. Most of all, be thankful you don’t have to answer to anyone. However, if you decide to go ahead with these apps anyway, be warned – if something seems too good to be true, he probably is.

The post Review: Tinder Vs. Plenty Of Fish appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

On returning to British soil I was faced with a dilemma, pay good money for a proven winner – something like the Motorola Moto G or the HTC One M7 or take a gamble with a cheaper emerging force in the Chinese markets, the Cubot X6.

As you may or may not have guessed from the title of this post, the latter was triumphant, and I didn’t have to go into my overdraft for a third month in a row.

The Cubot bridges the expansive gap between budget smartphone and high end android and it does it incredibly well. It has a host of high specs that will make iPhone users wince that little bit more when their latest model is due for expensive upgrade (how much for that new 5″ iPhone 6+?!).

The screen

Firstly, it’s massive. 5″ is an excellent size for someone like me, I’m on my phone a lot and I have hands that resemble toilet seats. I expect a lesser sized human may struggle with this, in fact, I know that Strawberry Squeeze’s Sam jibbed out of writing this review partly because of the sheer size of it in her microscopic palms.

Second of all, the brightness and colours really are impressive for a phone in this price range. The screen is so bright that it’s often best to turn the brightness down to about 3/4 (I had the brightness at full on my S3). The colour range of the Cubot is noticeably limited compared to the high end smart phones and overall the screen is slightly duller than those I have become accustom to. It is still very usable and after a few days you will only notice the difference when you go back to use a high end phone.

Lastly, an area that I have found rather disappointing, and quite frankly annoying, is the screen accuracy. Whilst tapping a message or quickly clicking on an app to open it sometimes nothing will happen. My workaround for this over the last weeks has been to turn on ‘show touches’ in developer tools and start noticing the consistency in the inaccuracies – it’s starting to work for me but quite a peeve!

The camera

… Or should I say cameras. The Cubot punches 13 mega pixels of optical clout, 5 on the front mounted lense and 8 on the back. Don’t let that be enough to sell it to you though, as us techies are all too aware (and often reassure each other), it’s not the size, it’s what you do with it. The main camera has a lacklustre auto focus functionality which means you can kiss goodbye to easily getting those quick snaps or shots of moving targets.

Low and high light exposures is also a struggle for the Cubot but this is something that I haven’t seen done well by any phone apart from the iPhone 5S. The front camera on the other hand is a surprise victor for this Chinese beast.

The 5 pixel camera provides a perfect high quality picture for using services like Skype or recording a vlog or how-to video. I have added some pictures to this post that were all taken on the Cubot – you can take good photos… you just have to try harder… and use more Instagram filters…

The operating system

It should definitely be mentioned that this is a massive advantage over picking many other smartphones on the market – lack of bloatware. The Cubot overlay for Android 4.2.2 (KitKat is not yet supported and may never be) is excellent, apps launch quickly and there is no clunkiness.

I recommend adding a couple of things to make it even better. Google launcher works very well on the device and sorts out all the aesthetic niggles as well as adding the brilliant Google Cards and ‘OK Google’ feature which rivals Siri.

A quick install of Quickmessage was also a great solution for me as I didn’t like the stock SMS app. I would also get SwiftKey keyboard as it recently been made free by its developers and it’s a lot more powerful than Android basic keyboard. The operating system and moreover the hardware support dual SIMs meaning that you can make the most out of two phone packages or be able to seamlessly use the phone across two countries.

Battery life

The phone performs well against modern premium smartphones. Under light-medium use I have found that you can squeeze out 1.5 days of life which with such a big screen I thought was very reasonable. Medium-heavy use will see you charging it once a day, which is to be expected until the next generation of batteries of smartphone batteries is developed (not soon enough!)”

Gripes

The phone is not perfect, these are the main things that have grinded my gears:

• App Caching – there is a problem on the phone with caching of apps and there has been many occasions where I cannot update or download an app without clearing the cache of the device with an app such as CCleaner. A workaround that I have used is to buy a Micro SD card (about a tenner from Mymemory.com) and install as many apps as possible to it.

• No notification light – OK, so I have nostalgia for my Samsung, but I miss it and it should be mentioned!

• Headphone jack – bizarrely the headphone jack is extremely temperamental and doesn’t seem to be compatible with some headphones. It doesn’t work with my old Samsung ones but does work with my audio in on my stereo. It is also worth noting that the phone does not come with headphones.

Summary

I took a complete punt on this phone and I’m extremely glad I did. For a determined nerd like me (not determined to be a nerd, a nerd that is determined) I have really enjoyed getting used to the challenges and nuances of the device. The phone represents great value, and you get so much of it for your money, or more specifically, lack of.

A 5” responsive screen, modern Android, dual SIM, many megapixels for less than 20 foot long Subway sandwiches. Yes sometimes you can’t install an app, yes sometimes it will take you about 10 seconds to get a photo but yes it did cost you less than £100!

Jon writes this article as a favour to the lovely Sammy. As you may have guessed, he wasn’t troubled too much as he is a total geek. Jon owns his own blog, Jonzerblog, where he talks about his travels all over the world and occasionally writes about tech that helps him along the way. He also co-owns Bee Outdoors where he and his partner in crime Rozzy like to talk about their love of the great outdoors.

The post Cubot X6 Smartphone Review – Guest Post appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

I feel like I have searched far and wide for ear buds that will stay in my ears while jogging. It only takes a couple of kilometers before you give up listening to music completely when using in-ear headphones during a run, as they pop out every couple of minutes. Wasting time fiddling with wires and readjusting earbuds is not only infuriating but slows you down or disrupts your rhythm. And as for over the ear headphones, it feels like wearing earmuffs, which is the last thing I want on my head during a run. Listening to music has been proven to boost performance, so I persisted on finding the right headphones.

I’ve been using the Yurbuds in ear headphones from the Inspire for Women range. Founded in 2008 by Seth Burgett, President and CEO, an active triathlete and Richard Daniels, COO, a 24-time marathoner yurbuds were conceived as an exceptional audio products that integrate ergonomics, technology, and emotive design to allow people to both enjoy being active and exercise at the same time as listening to their favourite motivational tunes in comfort.

They have a Twist Lock Technology that is guaranteed to never fall out. The earphones are made from soft medical-grade silicone for a comfortable fit and are sweat, germ and water resistant. When iPhone had their new ergonomic shaped earpiece that worked better – but they eroded quickly working out by the beach and the sound quality and cords were damaged from sweat, twisting and getting caught up during my workouts.

The Inspire for Women range is designed specifically to fit smaller ears, the yurbuds employ trademarked FlexSoft and TwistLock technologies to ensure that the earphones will not become painful or fall out during movement, with the earphones twisting and locking into place in the ear to fit securely. They are also sweat and water-resistant and additionally allow for ambient noise awareness, perfect for anyone who runs or cycles on the road; being able to hear nearby traffic being important for safety.

I’ve been running with the headphones for about a month or so now and I’m very impressed! The Soft Silicone casing of the earphones makes them incredibly comfortable for my ears. They don’t hurt in the slightest. Sound quality of the headphones is great. Clear and Crisp sound.

They are designed from the founders own experiences, and developed by athletes. They are affordable, fun and great quality. Available in 6 colours, they are available at fitness store at The Running Outlet £22.49 online here.

The post Review: Yurbud Running Headphones appeared first on Strawberry Squeeze.

If you ever had a gel manicure done at a salon then you probably fell in love with it for all of these reasons. However one thing to not be in love with is the cost of a gel manicure. The average cost of a gel manicure is £40 and it can be even more expensive if you live in a big smoke. For a one time investment in a UV nail lamp and the occasional cost of the gel polish you can do your very own gel manicures at home.

I’ve been using Gelicious Hybrid Gel Nail Colour ,its similar to a nail lacquer but it lasts longer. Gelicious is cured on with an LED lamp and soaked off with Acetone. It comes in a black bottle, which protects it from the light. It has a thinner look than gel nails and paints on more like nail polish, but it has the high shine of a gel. Additionally, it’s soaked off with acetone based remover and does not require bonding, sculpting, infilling or filing to remove.

Results vary from person to person, how closely they follow the instructions and the condition of their nails. When applied properly we certainly have reports of gelicious lasting two weeks (and longer in some cases) with a week and a half being the average time. The result is certainly longer lasting than nail polish, dries instantly and a finish that has the shine and finish of a gel, without the thickness.

Best of all, Gelicious is soaked off with acetone based remover in 10 minutes and does not damage the nail. So, what are you waiting for? Summer is looming, what better excuse to have gorgeous nails?

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