The package is nice enough. Not terribly exciting. But of course, it’s a fraeking iPhone case. It’s hardly going to look the world – and we don’t care all that much at any rate, seeing as it’s the product we’re really interested in.

The initial verdict:

Boo-hoo: An absolute pain up the doo-dah to apply (though not as bad as other “invisible film” competitors, admittedly).

Woo-hoo: Two full sets of “skin” are provided in each BodyGuardz pack. They realise what a pain applying the film can be.

Woo-hoo: The scratch-resistant properties of the skin are incredible. It’s also super-efficient at defending against fingerprints.

Meh-heh: It’s reasonably priced at around £15 ($25)… probably in line with the protection capacity it offers (super effective at what it does, mind), although it seems a little on the steep side of the hedge.

Applying it was fun. I screwed up the first skin royally, managing to twist it around two of my fingers (sticky stuff!) and attach myself to a desk (hyperbole… it wasn’t quite that bad).

The second skin went on quick-enough, but it was apparent that huge air bubbles had formed underneath the skin’s surface.

After 24 hours, I was pretty worried that I wouldn’t be able to review the product at all. The screen, now coated in hip-hop-opotamously-gargantuan-sized air bubbles (again… hyperbole… they weren’t that terribly huge, but enough to seriously disrupt casual iPhone usage), and despite my best efforts with the squeegee-type-device, I couldn’t for the life of me persuade the damn air pockets to expel themselves.

However, over the following week – they gradually disappated (to the point of being non-noticable), and now, after several more weeks of usage, none are visible at all (even under intense scrutiny)

Impressed as I was with the scratch-proof technology (and the impressiveness of the tough-as-hell film as doubling up as an anti-fingerprint protector), the total lack of any physical protection against shocks, drops, or spur-of-the-moment everyday-occuring tsunamis means that the BodyGuardz protector film is best used in combination with a case.

I personally use it with an Incase Slider case, a stylized, functional, rubberized case, and because of the BodyGuardz film’s virtually non-existant profile, it causes no problems when used in tandem with third party cases, always a boon. Remember however, that the 3rd party cases my cause problems when docking devices (for this reason, I also use a 3rd party dock – the “made2dock Slanted iPhone Dock”, designed to be used with designs with cases).

The product does exactly what it claims to. Having used an “InvisibleShield” skin-protector before (very similar concept to BodyGuardz – as in, it is a completely transparent film), I personally prefer the BodyGuardz skin, finding it both better at keeping “one’s oily mugs” (fingerprints) off expensive gadgets and at protecting against scratches and other superficial damage to the device.

Wilki.me has partnered with Costello & Sons Technology Insurance to make bringing this post to you possible. Feel free to leave comments below and ask any questions you may have!

I’ve always been slightly biased against in-ear headphones, preferring their bulkier (generally much higher sound quality) cousins, the over-ear headphones.

Despite being no audiophile, I never found in-ear buds to be all that comfortable, and the sound quality generally disappointing. Granted, I’d only ever used the free ones that Apple ship with iPods, but I was pretty much certain that my opinion wasn’t going to change on the basis of just one review.

When Logitech sent over their Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220 ear-buds however, I was eager to try them out and see how they performed. On the basis of several real-world tests, the simple conclusion was drawn that frankly, “awesome” doesn’t do these babies justice. Having used them for more than two months now, I feel I’m in a fairly solid position to make such outlandish claims.

Marketing hype aside, in short, here’s what the MetroFi 220 *DELIVER* (and deliver well at that):

– Great noise isolation (as in… so effective, you might just not hear the car backing out the drive as it hits you, effective)
– Superb quality sound all round.
– Absolutely killer bass.
– The 220vi version includes an impresive, inline microphone & button for quick-answering calls.

The only slight concern I harbour having used them for so long, were (that at least initially), issues with comfortabilityarose when using the buds for long periods of time.

That said, the earbuds shipped with a pack of different “heads”, allowing people with small, medium, large, and apparently elephantine ears to each have a comfy fit.

Supposedly so, at any rate. None seemed particularly comfy at first – however once “worn in” to a certain degree, things became a lot more bearable.

Considering their price (£35, equivelant to what you’d pay for a substantially crappier pair of supposed “top of the low-end” earphones), the UltimateEars MetroFi 220 offer suprisngly good quality at a thankfully not-wholly unholy pricetag.

Whilst I’d still maintain over-ear headphones are comfier, there was no discernable difference in sound quality from these versus my £100 Sennheiser pair of (incredibly bulky) headphones. Stereotype-smashing complete, I’m proud to bestow my personal recommendation upon the product which, admittedly, proved me wrong.

Wilki.me has partnered with Costello & Sons Technology Insurance to make bringing this post to you possible. Feel free to leave comments below and ask any questions you may have!

10 – PayPal App – It’s really startling how often this app is used… I’ve paid friends for coffees using it. Bought products at conferences without leaving my seat.  Heckbabble. Great app. Free.

9 – SimpleMindX - A really quite awesome & incredibly simple to use mindmapping tool. Tap, double tap, type, bam. Very intuitive interface. Free & Paid.

8 – LinkedIn – For keeping in touch with business contacts. I’m not the world’s biggest user of LinkedIn, but it has it’s uses – and recruiters/employment agencies will appreciate it’s mention. Free.

7 – Skype – Text chat, voice chat. You know the drill. Call quality is surprisingly good on 3G and fantastic on WiFi. Edge, not so much. It’s to be expected though. Free.

6 – Evernote – Syncing your notes (photo, text & audio) across all your devices. Ever-w00t. Free.

5 – Wordpress – For frequently updating blogs. *cough* Not us, then. Free.

4 – NetNewsWire – Caching your Google Reader feeds locally. Catch up on the 10,000 articles you-know-you-should-have-already-read whilst on your next ever-so-fun-it’s-hard-not-to-want-to-scream transatlantic flight. We know you look forward to them as much as we do. Free & Paid.

Let it be known we went to the effort of doing fancy graphics for our top 3 chosen apps.

3 – Twittelator

2 – Dropbox.com

1 – PushGmail

That’s our top ten. What about yours? Post ‘em in the comments, and if you can be at all arsed, why they make the list.

Note: No affiliate links were used in the making of this post. We feel saintly, not raking in app-store commissions ‘n’ all. Also kinda stupid.

Quality (80%):
Features (100%):
Value (100%):
Overall (93%):

Unsurprised (albeit immensely pleased) to see the product arrive within 48 hours (delivery times consistently brilliant is always nice), we eagerly unwrapped and unboxed the stand.

For those who weren’t aware, we recently reviewed the excellent Ergotron LX Dual-Monitor arm which scored a rather whopping 93% on our tests and left us wanting to see more of what Ergotron offer.

Enter, the Ergotron Neo-Flex Notebook Stand. Having already looked at their top-of-the-range desktop lineup, we were skeptical that Ergotron could produce an “as-good” notebook stand, based on a completely different design, but were more than happy to give the shiz a whizz.

Helpfully shipping with a pair of velcro cable ties and two 15-centimeter strips of sticky-sided velcro (for what, I’m not totally sure – cable management perhaps?), the model we received was finished in a glossy black.

I rarely have the patience to read through manuals and although one was provided, in the case of the Neo-Flex there’s really no need (at least for setting up the gizmo). It comes pre-assembled, you see.

Innovative Product Features

1) Support for projectors as well as notebooks. It’s not actually all that easy to get a projector positioned at the right angle and in certain “professional” situations, it can seem a bit lame and cheap to be propping up a machine with a stack of books.

2) Rollers on the front two legs allow the stand to pivot on the back leg, meaning if you’re sat at a desk across from a client, you can quickly flip the laptop-screen round to show a prospect how awesome whatever it is you’ve been working on has been going.

Nicely enough, the roller-wheels aren’t succeptible to being accidently knocked but are reactive enough to make repositioning the device (even if just a silght nudge as is so often necessary when using a projector) easy and painless.

Real Life Usage

The only real downside was that using the keyboard & trackpad on a laptop mounted on the stand became tricky, not just because the whole machine was raised to a wrist-defyingly uncomfy position, but because when significant pressure (i.e. furiously fast typing) was put on the laptop whilst mounted, the stand would shake.

This is easy enough to solve, using a separate keyboard (giving you the benefit of allowing fullsize goodness once again, just like a desktop), but only really works well when not on the move. In all honesty however, the Neo-Flex stand, whilst not heavy at all, certainly doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing one would want to lug about with them.

The stand comes into it’s own in office use. I rarely move my MacBook from my desk (using netbooks on the go a lot more), and the stand raises the screen up to the same height as the rest of my monitors.

As already mentioned, this gives me an excuse (and the desk space) to use a full size keyboard in addition to the lappy, as well as a more ergonomically awesome mouse.

Which brings us onto the next point.

Ergonomics, baby.

Using laptops at a desk (hell, using laptops at all, to be perfectly honest) isn’t particularly good for one’s body-posture as the smallish form factor (you seen those 17″ MacBooks? Sheesh – aside from them) generally leads to a hunched position over the laptop, leading to lower back pain and problems both at and away from the office. Not good.

By raising the screen and using a separate set of input devices, this issue is sidestepped altogether, allowing you to both position the screen in such a manner that your head isn’t bent over and your hands in such a way that they’re not scrunched up to your body.

Essentially useless on the move. Absolutely awesome on a desk. The Ergotron Neo-Flex Notebook stand comes Wilki.me Recommended, given it’s comparatively low price-point of £45 (in the UK – $60 in the US).

Congratulations Ergotron. We officially luffle your products.

Wilki.me has partnered with Costello & Sons Technology Insurance to make bringing this post to you possible. Feel free to leave comments below and ask any questions you may have!

Hit the jump for the full review.

Quality (100%):
Features (100%):
Value (80%):
Overall (93%):

We review this whopper-of-a-beast-of-a-dual-monitor-arm… and are mighty impressed indeed.

A monitor arm such as the Ergotron LX lets you adjust a monitor, up to 24-inches (or a pair of them, in this case) with your fingertips alone. Pushing forward, pulling towards you, moving up or down, even angling the screen. No problem.

Desk space is freed up, too – and if you’re like me, that finally means you can put the center speaker of a 5.1 setup in the frigging middle, underneath your monitor – leaving enough room for a keyboard, a mouse and goodness knows what other crap you insist on putting on your desk.

Sandwiches, laser-pens, popcorn and the like.

But without further adieu, incessant rambling and un-needed extended rhetorical commentary (that comes later)… let me introduce to you the Ergotron LX Side-By-Side Desk Mounted Dual-Monitor Arm.

The name couldn’t be any longer, let’s face it.

Part 01: Packaging & Delivery

First contact with the alien species (sod it – I’m rubbish at the theatrics… first contact with Ergotron): July 8th

Product shipped after finalizing arrangements with the friendly aliens from Ergotron (If you’re joining us for the first time as a new reader – please don’t be alarmed – we’re almost always this bonkers): July 10th

Product arrived on the doorstep in the biggest most badass cardboard box the postman had apparently ever had the displeasure of lugging from his van to the door (our glee at his displeasure must have been off-putting): July 13th

And given that the beautifully constructed SOB was shipped all the way from the Netherlands, I was and remain pretty frigging impressed, if not a little worried at the extreme efficiency of the company.

A few short days later, a company brochure arrived separately via courier, too.

Initial thoughts…

Part 02: The Unboxing & Making

I wouldn’t usually write about the taking of a product out of it’s box, which I know a lot of my tech-community-review peers seem to find the highlight of their days, as I tend to find it rather pathetic and frivolous, but the sheer weight of the Ergotron LX Dual-Arm whatever-the-mabob-we-decided-to-refer-to-it-as warrants a writeup.

The parts individually don’t seem to be too weighty (the stand constructs by slotting into place – super easy and no help from strong persons was required… See: Parental Figure).

Once constructed though (I did this on the floor, before realizing how heavy the completed structure was) I had quite a job lugging it onto the desk.

After making and weighing 6.9 kilograms of awkwardly shaped metal, I proceeded to try and lift it onto the desk. After poking myself in the eye rather forcefully with the blunt-end of a rather sexy looking spike (the other end would have had no qualms with blinding me), I successfully managed to haul the load onto the desk.

Part 03: Mounting The Gizmo

Mounting however, couldn’t be easier. For such a sturdy beast, the Ergotron LX Dual-Arm mounts like an eloquent Russian dancer – not that I’d know of such a thing, being an Mancunian boy.

Two options. Grommet mount, or desk clamp. To avoid mutilating a perfectly brilliant and at least temporarily unscathed brand new IKEA desk, the latter option was chosen.

We, for one appreciate £38 pigmented epoxy/polyester powder coated particle-board, made to look like expensive real wood. Then again, we’re cheap-ass businessmen.

Or more precisely, one teen in a pseudo-bedroom-office which fails to be either very well – despite the plethora of expensive gadgets and lack of bedtime story books. Back to the Ergotron anyhow.

You grab the desk mount base, you twist it. You keep twisting.

You keep twisting until it’s really tight and you have red marks on your fingers and you’re screaming that the damn thing won’t work, then you realise you already mounted it five minutes ago.

To make sure, we unmounted, then didn’t overdo it. Turned out it fixed into place in about thirty seconds. Our bad. Super-easy installation of the heaviest damn thing to grace my desk since the Antec P193 chassis nearly buckled the old one.

Part 04: Mounting The Monitor & Adjusting The Viewing Angle

The new Samsung monitors we intended to use for testing were delayed in delivery initially, but when arrived a week-or-two after expected, were in tip-top condition. Mounting was surprisingly easy. By unscrewing the screws with a standard cross-head screw driver, which held the mount to the monitors as they came pre-assembled, the screens were left with their VESA mounting area exposed.

All that was left was to simply screw the Ergotron LX  arm into the monitor (not as scary as it seems – you’re not having to drill through your LCD or anything nutty… pretty much 99% of monitors come with VESA-holes as standard. This was hella easy, and then lifting up the monitor + arm and then slotting it onto the base unit’s sticky-outty prongs proved no trouble at all, even for an athletically challenged geeklete such as myself.

The arm itself swings left-to-right (pretty much all the way around…), a secondary-joint (a bit like one’s elbow, really) can then tilt the viewing-prong up and down. Attached to this is a horizontal-angler which lets monitors be tilted and a final vertical-angler allows for people of different heights to get the monitor adjusted to their… uh… stature as the need may arise.

Part 05.1: Worth Mentioning – Price

The retail price of the product is almost £189 in the UK – yet only $215 in the US. If you’re in a business environment or you take your gaming really very seriously, the price is a premium worth paying. If you’re just a casual net browser, the price really isn’t justifiable. Unless you’re casual web-browsing lasts… say… all day. It’s been known to happen.

Then again, if you fall into any of them categories, yet aren’t a gamer, business-person or need to showcase your screen in such a way, then the Ergotron LX arm isn’t really aimed at you, anyhow.

Part 05.2: Worth Mentioning – Colour

The product also comes in a variety of colours. Precisely speaking, just two, actually. A mini-variety. Black and silver. The silver one arrived on our door – though I have to say the black looks mighty sleek, too.

Part 05.3: Worth Mentioning – Ergotron Vs. Wannabe Competition

To address the biggest concern re: the Ergotron LX-series arm… “But they’re so expensive – the cheaper alternatives are just as good.”

I call “HEFTY BS” on that one. Having used the Ergotron Side-By-Side for a serious amount of time, in a seriously competitive business and seriously outrageous gaming environment (okay, so no serious Arma II or serious Forex trading – but serious teeth-gnashing & n00b-pwning on COD4 and super-serious internet marketing certainly qualifies) has proven that… cliché alert… the price is worth paying.

The sturdiness of the arm is incomprehensible. If you get chance to meet one of these arms in a real-life environment before buying, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

If you get to lift one up and get poked in the eye, you’ll also get my gist.

The fact that the arm supports up to two 24″ monitors, neither exactly featherweight, and the fact they remain responsive to fingertip control alone is mightily impressive.

Part 05.4: Worth Mentioning – The Ergonomic Advantages

A huge number of computer users suffer from back and neck pain, and sadly… I’m not exempt.

After trying various chairs, ranging from big beefy leather ones to tiny-weeny office ones (which actually proved better), I came to the conclusion a few weeks back that the only way to save myself the pain would be to splurge a few hundred pounds on a Herman Miller Aeron chair.

However, I thought it’d be worth giving the Ergotron arm a go in the meantime.

WOAH boy. The monitor stand didn’t allow for much moving of the screen at all, but the Ergotron arm changed that completely. On their site, they have a useful ergonomic calculator. You plug in your height… they tell you exactly what height to position your monitor. Frgging ingenius, to say the very least.

Another tip in the hat for Ergotron. My posture isn’t slouched any longer, but I’m finding it comfy to sit upright, having adjusted my workspace to my needs in line with their helpful advice.

Part 6: Conclusion

The Ergotron LX Dual Side-By-Side Arm receives the Wilki.me Extreme Performer award, along with a resounding five out of five Overall Score (human translation scoring: LIFE-SAVER as opposed to BACK-BREAKER). The company just won themselves a lifetime fan.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Check out the Ergotron website for a full view of their product lineup.

Wilki.me has partnered with Costello & Sons Technology Insurance to make bringing this post to you possible. Feel free to leave comments below and ask any questions you may have!

Some people say one can’t possibly justify spending £50 on a mouse. I disagree. As already mentioned, a mouse is a tool. If it aint the most easy to use – the most responsive, then in terms of productivity you’re losing out.

Advantages of the Logitech G9:

• Macro-assignable side-buttons (the forward button is set to show my desktop, the backward button to alt-tab – reminiscent of my Mighty Mouse Mac setup).
• Normal & Hyper-Scrolling modes (plus a fully functional middle-mouse button, which was what bugged me with the MX Revolution.)
• Easily distinguishable program profiles (all thanks to user-specified colour-changing LEDs on the front of the mouse.)
• One-touch DPI swapping (great for people who do alot of sensitive Photoshop work)

Let me expand on a few of these points…

Why The Hyper-Scrolling Is Such A Big w00t!

The macro capabilities, I think, should be obvious enough. The hyper-scrolling however, is a huge improvement over the Logitech MX Revolution for a few reasons.

1. One flick of the scrollwheel can keep it going for over 30 seconds (to be precise, we got 31).
2. When pressed down, the scrollwheel acts like it should. It doesn’t flip from clicky-clicky mode to hyper-scrolly mode, like the MX so unfortunately does (good concept as it was).
3. Mode switching is on the bottom of the mouse, so again, no accidentally pressing the middle button – and no not getting the button you want, when you want it.

Program-Profiling, Über DPI & Funky LEDs

The DPI is pretty insane on the beast. A centimeter movement at the mouse’s highest setting (3600DPI), combined with my MicrOptic NovaKiller mousemat (specifically designed for laser mice to optimize performance, possibly contributing to the insaneness of the DPI), would move the mouse right the way across a 24″ monitor.  Conversely, set at just 200DPI, I’d have to literally move the mouse a meter and a half to get from one side to the other. The sweet-spot in terms of desktop usage and gaming both seemed to be around 1,110DPI, but of course this will vary on both user-preferences and the surface you’re using the mouse on. A high-sensitivty one like the NovaKiller will change things majorly.

The most decisive feature contributing to the Logitech G9 winning my heart though, was the application profile-switching. When the mouse sees PhotoShop open, as per my settings, the LEDs go blue (from their standard red) and the DPI halves.

When I’m playing Call Of Duty (damn – there I go again, blowing my cover), the LEDs turn green and the macros assigned to the mouse change. The “show desktop” and “alt+tab” buttons become weapon switchers, the DPI-changing buttons become nightvision and reload. And of course, the hyper-scrolling wheel means I can fire off druganov-rounds at a gazillion-per-second (same goes for pistols, non-bolt action rifles and non-fully automatic weapons).

Misc Rockin’-ness Features

The Logitech MX Revolution was a wireless, rechargable mouse, with fancy stand. It’s battery life was epic. It’s response times as good as any wired mouse. But the fact it still did need recharging managed to pee me off (96-hour CallOfDuty… I mean, uh, serious work marathons… were interupted by blinking red battery warnings).

The reason I’d switched to wireless in the first place, brings me onto why the G9 is so utterly superior to anything else, pretty much ever.

The braided cord. Rather than have a plastic wire-casing (see: any wired mouse, bar the Razer Mamba, when one chooses not to use it wirelessly) – the Logitech G9’s cabling is coated in a smooth, friction-reducing lightweight fabric, which makes using it a joy – sliding it over surfaces, the wire not sticking to split fanta, and such.

The swappable mouse covers. Interesting feature… you eject the top of the mouse off, a bit like a jetpack, only it doesn’t fly at all, and then slot a new one on. Included with the mouse are two near-identical ones. One is more slimline however and has practically no thumb-rest, whilst the other is slightly chunkier, still practically has no thumb rest, but at least has a little bit of one.

Unsurprisingly, I use the larger of the two for everything, and it still feels like I’m clawing the mouse (although since I purchased the mouse a few weeks back – I’ve definitely got more used to this and started to appreciate just why Logitech designed the mouse this way. Precision, baby.)

The larger of the two-included mouse covers (the one I’m using) feels alot sturdier and “controlable” than the other, which even for someone with small hands like myself, seems to constantly feel like it’s “slipping away”. Again, I guess one could get used to it.

The weights. These are included in a sexy-lookin’ tin (can’t believe I just said that) with the mouse on purchase. They come in two different weights. You get four 4-gram weights, and four 7-gram weights. The mouse itself holds four, so given you have four of each, you can make any combination you wish (or not at all, leaving the mouse incredibly light to the touch).

I’ve got a reasonably heavy weight-combination in my mouse. Two 7-grammers and two foursies. The slot-loading for the weights is rather swish, but inconvenient, requiring one to pop the mouse cover off their mouse in order to access it. Pain up the bum, really – and not worth it. I’ve not, and certainly can’t see anyone popping their cover off on a regular basis to change their weight configuration, but perhaps some sad soul could enlighten me.

All-in-all, the Logitech G9 comes…

Wilki.me has partnered with Costello & Sons Technology Insurance to make bringing this post to you possible. Feel free to leave comments below and ask any questions you may have!