JOURNEY NEXA LIFT Laptop Sleeve With Charging Stand Review

The JOURNEY NEXA LIFT is a protective everyday carry item that pulls a lot more duty when traditional sleeves are idle.

“When people who need to work on their laptops have less to pack, carry, and unpack, their transition to work mode is much easier.”– JOURNEY

NEXA LIFT’s adjustable phone stand equips laptop carriers with vital additional screen space for video calls and more.

Laptop carriers who protect their device inside the sleeve can also wirelessly fast charge their earbuds (up to 5W) and iPhone (up to 15W) on NEXA LIFT’s wireless charging panel.

This means for those like me you will need less cables to carry with you when travelling locally or away which is ideal and thie thing here is it already acts as a laptop protector too on the go with premium materials making the whole product a compact work machine and the sleeve can be used as a mouse mat also.

If you have wireless earbuds this is an extra treat along with your smartphone that when placed on this it can be used as a second screen to do other tasks whilst working on your laptop and overall a great idea executed well like their other poducts we have tested recently.

 

JOURNEY said it is designed to support laptop carriers to quickly set up high-functioning places of work with minimal carry equipment.

“When people who need to work on their laptops have less to pack, carry, and unpack, their transition to work mode is much easier,” said JOURNEY’s spokesperson. “They’re better equipped for efficient device activity too.”

NEXA LIFT is a mousepad and mini desk mat too.

NEXA LIFT heralds JOURNEY’s latest expansion into multi-purpose lifestyle accessories for busy device users.

 

For me this is a great product and simple to use making life much easier on the go or even at home offering two more built in charging options meaning less cable to carry which is often lost or fogotten and with this you are sure not to run out of charge if you do so and very practical piece of kit to have at your disposal

Features

  • Expandable edges for secure laptop storage and retrieval
  • Stylish split-material aesthetic
  • Exterior surface doubles as a mousepad and desk mat
  • Available in midnight (very dark blue) and light grey
  • Slim and lightweight
  • Magnetic closure lid for secure closure
  • Quilted interior protection
  • Mousepad and mini desk mat function
  • Fast charging
  • Magnetic (MagSafe-compatible) charging
  • Wireless charging
  • Inbuilt adjustable phone stand

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Twelve South Curve Mini Review

Universally compatible with iPad, tablets and e-readers, the Twelve South Curve Mini raises devices up to 6 inches for optimal viewing comfort and usability, whether streaming a show at home, working in a cafe, or having a second screen at hnad at your desk, conference calling or sketching, the precision hinges ensure a smooth transition to any desired angle. The hinges are strong and will not move to where you set them at.

Easily adjustable in both portrait and landscape modes, the stable slip-resistant base and silicone padding ensure sturdiness and prevent scratches.

The Curve Mini is made of anodised aluminium weighs just 0.24kg and folds completely flat so it can slip into the included travel sleeve for easy portability which can be tough to remove at first but will loosen up over time. It’s the perfect travel companion for creatives, remote workers or those who use their tablet for gaming and entertainment. Also this can hold laptops which I actually tested it with or you could use a foldable phone too and will have no issues with either.

In addition to its functionality, it also makes a stylish accessory. Available in three different matte colours: dune, slate and coastal blue to complement Twelve South’s Curve Nano Qi2-compatible smartphone stand.

Available now for £49.99 from Twelve South UK.

See our Twelve South Reviews

Video Review

NEXA Lift Doubles as Protective Sleeve, Phone Stand, Dual Wireless Charger, and Mousepad.

JOURNEY’s latest lifestyle essential, NEXA LIFT Laptop Sleeve, is now on sale. NEXA LIFT, the third NEXA laptop sleeve in the NEXA series, is a 5-in-1 laptop sleeve that simplifies laptop work for people who hot desk, commute, travel, and work remotely.

It is JOURNEY’s first laptop sleeve to feature a phone stand.

NEXA LIFT is a protective everyday carry item that pulls a lot more duty when traditional sleeves are idle.

“When people who need to work on their laptops have less to pack, carry, and unpack, their transition to work mode is much easier.”– JOURNEY

NEXA LIFT’s adjustable phone stand equips laptop carriers with vital additional screen space for video calls and more.

Laptop carriers who protect their device inside the sleeve can also wirelessly fast charge their earbuds (up to 5W) and iPhone (up to 15W) on NEXA LIFT’s wireless charging panel.

Like predecessors, NEXA LIFT pulls extra duty as a mousepad and mini desk mat.

JOURNEY said it is designed to support laptop carriers to quickly set up high-functioning places of work with minimal carry equipment.

“When people who need to work on their laptops have less to pack, carry, and unpack, their transition to work mode is much easier,” said JOURNEY’s spokesperson. “They’re better equipped for efficient device activity too.”

NEXA LIFT is a mousepad and mini desk mat too.

NEXA LIFT heralds JOURNEY’s latest expansion into multi-purpose lifestyle accessories for busy device users.

The split-material sleeve (vegan performance leather and microfibre), which is available in midnight black and light grey, features an envelope-style magnetic closure lid that opens up to reveal a wireless charging panel.

The wireless charging panel subsequently avails an adjustable magnetic phone stand that displays a phone screen at two viewing angles.

“It offers all the protection of a traditional laptop sleeve, but laptop carriers can also work comfortably where they set up, keep their devices charged, and stay productive with additional screen real estate.”

NEXA LIFT is now on sale.

Twelve South launches Curve Mini

Twelve South, a leading designer of stylish and innovative tech accessories, launched the Curve Mini, a sleek, portable stand that elevates tablets and e-readers to the perfect angle at home, work or on-the-go.

Universally compatible with iPad, tablets and e-readers, the Twelve South Curve Mini raises devices up to 6 inches for optimal viewing comfort and usability, whether streaming a show at home, working in a cafe, conference calling or sketching, the precision hinges ensure a smooth transition to any desired angle.

Easily adjustable in both portrait and landscape modes, the stable slip-resistant base and silicone padding ensure sturdiness and prevent scratches.

Curve Mini is made of strong stuff – anodised aluminium – weighs just 0.24kg and folds completely flat so it can slip into the included travel sleeve for easy portability. It’s the perfect travel companion for creatives, remote workers or those who use their tablet for gaming and entertainment.

In addition to its functionality, it also makes a stylish accessory. Available in three different matte colours: dune, slate and coastal blue to complement Twelve South’s Curve Nano Qi2-compatible smartphone stand.

Available now for £49.99 from Twelve South UK.

See our Twelve South Reviews

New Square tech to transform Irish retail and hospitality

Square has announced the launch of Square Handheld, its most powerful, portable point-of-sale device ever. Combining a sleek, durable design with comprehensive, versatile software, Square Handheld enables sellers to manage everything from payments to back-of-house operations right from their pocket.

Power Meets Portability

Built for fast-moving and operationally complex businesses, Square Handheld is ergonomic and pocketable, at just 315 grams and 15.7mm thick. It’s IP54-rated and durable, standing up to water splashes and dust. With a large 6.2″ Corning® Gorilla® Glass touchscreen and a battery that powers a whole day, Square Handheld is packed with advanced features, including:

  • Full payments functionality to capture tap and chip and pin transactions, and seamless integration with Square’s ecosystem of software, making managing a business easier than ever

  • Barcode scanning for speedy checkouts, gift card scanning, and inventory management

  • A 16 MP camera for capturing photos of newly stocked merchandise and updating item libraries

It’s portable, reliable, and powerful. With Square Handheld, sellers and their staff gain the mobility, speed, and efficiency essential to keep operations steady and deliver high-quality customer experiences — whether they’re restaurateurs that need to take tableside orders and manage their floorplan from the palm of their hand, or retailers managing large inventories and letting shoppers check out anywhere on the store floor.

Adaptable Software for Every Type of Business

Square Handheld is powered by the new unified Square Point of Sale app, bringing years of commerce innovation and technology leadership into a single, powerful hub for running any size or type of business. The redesigned software provides sellers with seven different modes that lets them customise their experience with industry-specific features — such as Full Service mode, Quick Service mode and Retail mode — and the ability to easily add or switch between modes when their operations require different or expanded capabilities. Device-specific features like quick settings for easy adjustments and push alerts for timely notifications mean Square Handheld can fit into and improve any in-store workflow, especially for food and beverage sellers, and retailers, which drove 78% of Square’s gross payment volume (GPV) in 2024 in the EU. From bustling full service restaurants, to multi-location quick service restaurants and coffee shops and sprawling garden centres, Square Handheld gives sellers of all sizes a powerful solution to keep commerce moving.

Designed to Drive Commerce

Square Handheld builds on the company’s legacy of hardware design excellence that began over a decade ago with the iconic ‘little white reader’ and permeates throughout Square’s entire portfolio of devices – from two generations of Square Stand, to Square Register and Square Terminal. Representing the company’s unique ability to elegantly marry form and function, Square Handheld is one of the thinnest and lightest handheld point-of-sale devices on the market, offering a purposefully engineered solution that’s not only built for today’s business needs, but designed to evolve and grow with sellers as commerce transforms in years to come.

“Running a business, especially a restaurant or retail store, has never been more demanding: every second counts, every team member must find ways to be more productive, and every customer has increasingly higher expectations for when and how they’re serviced,” said Thomas Templeton, Block’s Head of Hardware. “Square Handheld fuses Square’s industry-leading design with powerful commerce software to deliver a dynamic device that empowers sellers to keep pace with the breakneck speed of modern business — whether they’re a full-service restaurant looking to provide seamless tableside service across multiple dining areas, or a boutique looking to give its clients a refined checkout experience anywhere in-store.”

Square Handheld starts at 199€ + VAT and to help sellers get the most out of it, Square has partnered with industry-leading accessories manufacturer Belkin to offer premium protective cases. The Belkin SheerForce cases, which come in grey and black, complement Square Handheld’s sleek design, and add further defense against accidental drops and scratches. Thoughtfully designed to improve device grip while maintaining Square Handheld’s pocketable profile, the Belkin SheerForce case starts at 39€ + VAT.

New Software Launches to Make Operations Even More Smooth

Square has made a number of new tools available to help sellers simplify ordering and the guest experience:

  • Combos – sellers can create pre-defined flexible bundles of items sold together at a fixed price

  • Modifier set ordering – sellers can reorder their modifier sets directly from their Dashboard, creating customisable menus and a smoother ordering flow

A number of software launches will be introduced in the coming weeks to create smarter table service and staff operations for sellers:

  • House accounts – allows sellers to enable buyers to aggregate purchases into an account and settle the bill later.

  • Seat management – allows servers to track and organise guest movements across the restaurant, streamlining service operations and improving bill management.

  • ResDiary integration – syncs the seller’s booking platform with Square for Restaurants POS. Table spend and order details automatically flow back into ResDiary, helping operators better manage service and track performance. Deposits taken via ResDiary are also applied to orders in Square when a guest is seated.

To learn more about Square Handheld and the Square ecosystem of business solutions, visit squareup.com/ie/hardware/handheld.

Twelve South Curve Nano Review

The Twelve South Curve Nano is a new simple accessory which is ideal for those who want to keep their hands free and their smartphone at hand at any angle or in portrait or landscape mode.

This is a premium built product which looks well and comes in several colour and portable and being portable in this case is perfect for those that travel like myself and can be used at home or in the office, it is also ideal for your bedside locker or even your kitchen to watch cooking classes and so on without the need to hold your phone keeping your hands free.

For me it is ideal for travel and home use and can be placed beside my laptop where i can look at social media or emails not disrupting my work flow on the laptop I also can use on my bedside locker to watch media which I have a bad habit of and also easy access to interact with social media videos and podcasts etc without the need to pick the phone up.

This as mentioned works in portrait and landscape but also works at angles and with the hinge being solid it can go to any angle and almost 90 degrees depending on how heavy the phone is.

The base has a rubber footing which also keeps it in place and wont mark your desk or locker, overall this is a nice looking simple effective product that is small and light yet robust and not intrusive to your set up in the office or at home. I tested several devices and MagSafe compatible and Qi2 devices all work fine even with cases on and devices not compatible but have cases with MagSafe will also work.

Check the video below for a closer look.

 

Features

  • Holds MagSafe/Qi2 phones securely
  • Adjusts smoothly to any angle
  • Stays stable with anti-slip base
  • Ultra-light and compact

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Twelve South launches the Curve Nano smartphone stand

Twelve South, a leading designer of premium tech accessories, today launches the Curve Nano, a magnetic, adjustable and portable stand for smartphones.

Compatible with Qi2 and MagSafe-enabled devices, the Curve Nano is the ultimate companion for streaming, chatting, or working on a smartphone, at home or on-the-go. Easy to use, a hidden magnet holds a smartphone securely, while the silicone top ring prevents slipping and movement. Once the device is in place, users can smoothly tilt the smartphone to their preferred viewing angle, in either portrait or landscape orientation.

The weighted base always ensures stability, whether users are watching a movie during a flight, following a workout or yoga routine on YouTube, or keeping their phone propped up for recipes while cooking in the kitchen. The Curve Nano is perfect for those who want to watch shows, view content, make hands-free video calls and more from their smartphone. It can even make working from a device easy when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Lightweight, compact, and made from durable, high-quality aluminium, the Curve Nano is ideal for anyone who is travelling around, working remotely, or going on holiday. Designed to be folded down completely flat, it fits comfortably in a bag or pocket and comes with a protective sleeve to keep it safe from scratches as well as protect other items within reach.

The Curve Nano is available now for £29.99 from Twelve South UK in three different colours, slate, dune and coastal.

See our Twelve South Reviews

Digital Photography Tools That Will Make Your Photos Stand Out

Digital photography harmoniously combines art, science, and magic to create extraordinary imagery. As the competition intensifies in visual content creation, upgrading digital photography tools and understanding how to maximize these tools can set your work apart. This guide explores various resources that can significantly enhance your photographic practice, from powerful editing apps to smart accessories.

Editing Software: Bring Your Photos to Life

The magic of digital photography isn’t a stop-and-go process; it’s a continuous undertaking that starts with a well-thought-out selection of the photography subject up to the pinnacle — post-processing. It’s in the post-processing stage where the height of photography exists through the use of photo editing tools, where Adobe Lightroom is among the top options. This photo editing tool from Adobe is acclaimed for being user-friendly, incredibly powerful, and perfect for everything from color correction to detailed retouching. Seasoned photographers know that a little editing using Lightroom presets can revolutionize digital photography outputs. Presets are pre-configured editing settings that help you apply a certain style or mood to your photos with just one click. This innovation saves you tons of time while ensuring your work looks polished and cohesive. In turn, it can speed up your workflow and achieve consistent, professional-quality edits, bringing your digital photography prowess to a whole new level.     

External Lenses for Smartphones: Expand Your Vision

Smartphones are making a noticeable entrance in digital photography, gaining recognition from various competition-winning entries from smartphone photographers. If you’re among the many whose inner photographer has been awakened by the smartphone, you’d be glad to know that external lenses can seriously up your game. Clip-on lenses can give you wide-angle views, extreme close-ups, or dramatic fisheye effects. With brands like Moment and Olloclip offering high-quality lenses that attach easily to your phone, your mobile photography gains a professional edge. Whether you’re traveling, exploring nature, or doing a casual photoshoot, these tiny, portable tools offer big possibilities and ensure you don’t miss opportunities for taking exhibit-worthy snaps.

Tripods and Stabilizers: Capture Crisp, Clear Shots

Blurry images and awkward angles due to last-second shaking can ruin an otherwise perfect shot. Preventing these photography mishaps necessitates using a good tripod or stabilizer. For DSLRs, lightweight carbon fiber tripods are ideal for portability and durability. If you’re more of a smartphone photographer, handheld gimbals like the DJI Osmo Mobile keep your videos buttery smooth and your stills razor-sharp. A stable setup not only improves image quality but also opens up creative possibilities like long-exposure photography or time-lapse videos.

Lighting Tools: Following the Light

Like moths drawn to a lamp’s light, strategic lighting can have the same mesmerizing effect when taking a photograph. While natural light is fantastic, its availability is limited when you have so much photo inspiration going. This is where you need a little help from lighting tools. Ring lights, softboxes, and portable LED panels give you more control over brightness, softness, and direction of light, which is especially useful for portraits and product photography. Some lighting setups even sync with your camera to adjust settings automatically, ensuring perfect illumination every time. Don’t underestimate the power of good lighting; it can turn a decent photo into an awe-inspiring one.

 

The camera is only one of the key tools behind a fascinating photograph. Great photography stems from the collective contributions of the photographer, camera, tools, and accessories to tell a story and showcase a unique vision. Investing in even a few of these tools can significantly elevate your work, helping your photos not just look good but truly stand out. Start experimenting, keep learning, and capture amazing moments with the proper tools to take pictures that are worth a novel instead of a thousand words.

CASEKOO Clear Magic Stand Basic Case For iPhone 16 Review

The CASEKOO Clear Magic Stand Basic Case For iPhone 16 and their latest case on offer in their big range of cases which you should check out.

With the strongest magnets on cases I have tested to date these are perfect for Qi compatible /Magsafe accessories in your home office or care which I am well custom to now at this stage and is a must in my opinion if you have not adopted it by now.

This case is transparent allowing you to see your devices OG which many folks like these days and also offers additional grip with the camera lens protected on the rear and the screen protected on front with raised corners that have bumpers build in which is excellent.

The buttons are all tactile here and the camera button easily accessible by sliding your thumb into the groove and even with my big thumbs it was no issue as you will see in the video review below.

Features

MagicStand – An innovative invisible stand. The ring stand is made of lightweight and durable aerospace aluminum alloy, with an adjustable angle of 40 °~120 ° and 30000+ repeatedly folded.

Magnetic Magic – Compatible with all MagSafe accessories and third-party Qi-certified wireless chargers.

Military Grade Drop Protection – Shockproof polycarbonate back and a 2.5 mm offset border over the camera

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