Room Tour Part 2

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Electronics

I've been slowly building up my parts in my room for the past year that I've had it, gradually adding things, and in this post I thought I'd show them off and write about them a little.

I won't go into detail about my PC because it's mostly redundant. It's a mid-range PC built in June 2015, so it's nothing extraordinary. It's getting a little old and slow and I want to upgrade to something newer and more powerful. It lags when I have too many Chrome tabs open!

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, Amazon Paperwhite 3rd Generation, Microsoft All-in-One Media Keyboard, all on an Ikea tablet stand.

The tablet is great for browsing from the lounge, but I also use an wifi mouse and keyboard app that lets me control my pc remotely. I would say a tablet is more useful than a phone for general browsing and reading because the keyboard is easier to type on and the screen is simply larger. I usually always have my phone plugged in and charging in case i need it topped up and ready to go.

The Kindle is one of my better purchases that lets me read loads of books on the go. It weighs nothing and has as decent backlight, negating two of the major drawbacks of paperback reading (especially the lighting one). I bought mine secondhand and it came full of books.

I bought this stand out of impulse and it ended up being a great purchase. I use it to store all my smaller devices

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Phone charging options

I have two methods of charging my phone. One is the standard usb cable and the wireless charging pad option.

The wired charging method is USB type C and I have that cable plugged into an Anker USB power hub, which has 6 ports. I was surprised how many usb-powered devices I had and these that strictly only require power no longer clog up the data ports needed for peripheral devices (of which I use quite a few). I highly recommend a hub like this if you need some extra ports strictly for powering things, but be aware that this is not a data USB-hub, so it does not interface with a pc.

I have a small magnet attached to the cable near the plug that gives me instant access to the cable. I never have to look for it and it keeps the cable off the floor and nicely within arm's reach. The magnet isn't strong and can be pulled off with ease.

The Anker Powerport Wireless 10 is the best charging pad I've used. It is minimalist and discreet, and has a nice, simple design. It was also quite cheap! (40 dollars USD off eBay). I was pretty skeptical about many charging pads because alot of them had drawbacks that outweighed their positives. Wireless charging is still in its infancy and devices still have some flaws that probably won't be overcome for a couple more years yet.

Nonetheless, I'm very happy with my Anker charger (I love Anker products), and whilst this does charge slower than a wired charge, it offers me the versatility to simply put the phone down and pick it up on the go. I surprised myself with how often I used the pad, despite the cabled charger being nearby.