Steve Litchfield

We're so used to 'sealed' devices in our lives these days. From phones to vacuum cleaners to washing machines, they either work or they don't, and repairs are often prohibitive. So your six year old washing machine breaks down and it's time for a new one. Your two year old iPhone fills up and it's time to give it to your offspring and buy yourself a new one. And so on. But, in the context of thinking how to approach my 13 year old Renault Scenic - "Do I keep getting it repaired or replace it?" - I contend that these days a car is almost a 'platform'. What I mean by this is that, twenty years ago (so 1999, thinking about a 1986 model) cars tended to be on their last legs after 13 years, i.e. the structure itself was rusting and clearly about to fall apart. With my 2006 Scenic, the body, chassis, electrics, even the engine are all fine. It rolls along happily giving me 48mpg on long drives with its 1.4 Petrol unit. Which is amazing, really...

Yes, it's true. Steve Litchfield is now reviewing vacuum cleaners! Well, not generally. But this is something special - a tech/gadget company has branched out to create a flexible rechargeable handheld vacuum. And, spoiler alert, it works extremely well, with just a few caveats along the way. First up, the price - currently £68 plus a fiver shipping to the EU . I do like to play the price guessing game when kit comes in for review, i.e. I guess the price before looking it up and then see how far 'off' I was. In the case of the Blitzwolf BW-AR182 I guessed £90 and the actual price shows the value for money. Arriving partially disassembled to get it all in the box, the AR182 is a doddle to snap together. Essentially you either use it with or without the aluminium tube extension, depending on whether you're working at floor level or not. Either way, you get to choose between a powered rotating-brush cleaner head, a simple brushed upholstery tool or a crevice tool...

As usual for my case roundups, I'll cover a variety of styles, with all samples supplied by MobileFun , kind people that they are. See their complete range of Galaxy S10+ cases and covers . The Samsung Galaxy S10+ is possibly the most powerful smartphone in the world right now. Full review coming soon on The Phones Show. Hand-picked by me, in no particular order: Olixar Attache, £10 Super value at a tenner, this isn't leather, it isn't even faux-leather, it's cleverly moulded TPU. But don't let that put you off, since when on the phone it's very solid and feels terrific. As Huawei found when partnering with Porsche Design, adding leather (or fake thereof!) to the back of a phone makes a big difference in perceived luxury. And this is a very cheap way into the same world. There's some protection on the top and bottom of the case, against face-down drops, plus top notch fit and finish - all that's missing is the leather smell! 9...

As usual for my case roundups, I'll cover a variety of styles, with all samples supplied by MobileFun , kind people that they are. See their complete range of Galaxy S10 cases and covers . The S10 is the pick of Samsung's line-up this Spring, in my opinion, since the 'smaller' model gets the full range of cameras. Full review coming soon on The Phones Show. Hand-picked by me, in no particular order: Olixar Attache, £10 Super value at a tenner, this isn't leather, it isn't even faux-leather, it's cleverly moulded TPU. But don't let that put you off, since when on the phone it's very solid and feels terrific. As Huawei found when partnering with Porsche Design, adding leather (or fake thereof!) to the back of a phone makes a big difference in perceived luxury. And this is a very cheap way into the same world. There's some protection on the top and bottom of the case, against face-down drops, plus top notch fit and finish -...

It's an annual thing for me now - I wander into the Apple Store in Reading, UK, poke away at the various Macbooks, and sigh. Not, as you might expect, from the sky-high prices, but from the ever-decreasing functionality. One of the sales reps came over to me yesterday and we chatted. "The problem is", I started, "that none of your laptops can do a fraction of what my old 2010 Macbook can do. Nine years old and it still does more for me, day after day, than these new units can, at least not without more expense and more complexity." He was confused. "These will be a lot faster", he said. I reminded him of the white polycarbonate Macbook of the era, hugely popular. "Mine has been (self) upgraded with 6GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, a new battery, and a new optical drive, and it's pretty fast. Not as quick as these, but still speedy," I said. You see, the 2010 Macbook had: Ethernet port (used by me once a week) Mag-safe power con...