TC Staff Writer, Author at Thumb Culture

SoundPeats RunFree Sports Headphones Review

15Aug

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

SoundPeats RunFree Sports Headphones Review

Wireless headphones have become a daily necessity for most of us. Whether for work calls, motivation at the gym, or just to make a daily commute a little less miserable, the right headphones can vastly improve our day to day lives. Advertised as wireless open-ear headphones, the SoundPeats RunFree Headphones are available for around £25.00 - £30.00. Let's take a look at what your money buys you. Design and Control To start with, let me just say that the SoundPeats RunFree Headphones are simplistic, yet surprisingly comfortable. Made from food-grade silicone, the open-ear design connects wirelessly to your favourite devices via Bluetooth. While the nickel-titanium memory alloy neckband holds the headphones in place through the most rigorous of workout routines. Having the neckband ...

16May

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Features

Streamplify Streamer Kit Review

Streamplify is a well-known name in the streaming hardware industry providing budding streamers with an array of affordable and accessible hardware to improve the quality of their streams ten-fold. Their hardware ranges from high-spec webcams, lights, mounts, and microphones to name a few. We had the chance to put some of their gear through a series of tests, and revisit a few we have previously checked out. Hard time growing as a streamer? Streamplify it! We want to hear from all of the streamers out there like myself. What's your setup? Do you think you could benefit from any of these pieces of hardware? Design The Webcam we tested is the only one on offer via their website. It's a cylinder webcam and the matte thick casing of it also doubles as an anti-spy cover. This is easily adj...

13Jan

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

MAONO DM30 USB Microphone Review

The market for computer peripherals, especially video conferencing hardware is large, especially after the pandemic with many realising they would need good gear to enhance their online presence. This market was already big amongst streamers like me where we are always looking for good hardware to evolve our online content. I took the time to get a hands-on review of the MAONO DM30 USB Microphone, one which shows promise in the market at the moment, and share my thoughts. Taking your vocals to another level The chance came up to test this microphone from a brand I was unfamiliar with, but I see them being a common name in the market given time and recognition. Let us know what you look for in your PC setup in the comments. Design On unpackaging the microphone it is obvious that it's ve...

14Dec

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

RIG 500 Pro HA Headset

We reviewed quite a few items from Nacon over the years, so when they got in touch about a brand new headset we jumped at the chance. What turned up was the brand new RIG 500 Pro HA Gen 2 headset with a price point bang in the mid-range at around £80, would these stand up to the very competitive mid-market? If you are in the market for anything hardware related be sure to check out some of our other hardware reviews right here! Mid-range price, Bold Claims With a price of around £80 the Rig 500 Pro makes some big claims with this headset, the main one being "Competition Grade Gaming Headset" and it is up against tough competition from the likes of Razer, Hyper X, Arctis and others. Unboxing and Design The unboxing of the RIG 500 Pro is not really an event in itself, just a grey ...

Edifier W820NB Wireless Headphones Review

6Nov

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Edifier W820NB Wireless Headphones Review

Do not let the simplistic and subtle design fool you. In a world where earbuds are more commonplace, do these very affordable Edifier W820NB Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Stereo Headphones offer a lot of bang for the buck? Now, Edifier claims that these headphones last up to 49 hours on a single charge. So, we extensively put them through their paces. Take a look at what we thought below. Design and Control Let's get straight to the point on design. The Edifier W820NB doesn't do anything fancy with its design, and it doesn't need to. They are available in 4 colours; black, grey, white, and icy blue. The Headset is simple, clean, and weighs in at about 215 grams making them fairly lightweight and very comfortable. The cups swivel at 90 degrees making them flat, ideal ...

5Sep

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Edifier NeoBuds S Review

The Edifier NeoBuds S are wireless earbuds with advanced noise cancellation, high quality streaming and Snapdragon Sound, with a price tag of $179.99 (£179.99). Now that's a pretty hefty price tag for a set of earbuds, so lets take a look at what that buys you. NeoBuds S vs NeoBuds Pro The Edifier NeoBuds S brings us a whole range of improvements over the previous NeoBuds Pro, along with a considerable price difference. Let's take a look at how these earbuds compare to their predecessor in terms of comfort, performance and quality. The Unboxing First of all it has to be said that the Edifier NeoBuds S are well packaged. I enjoyed the unboxing experience, which is something I don't usually care about. I feel as though Edifier have taken extra care to ensure these earbuds arrive safely. ...

14Aug

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Soundpeats Air 3 Review

The Soundpeats Air 3 come at a good price and with one eye-catching promise in particular—low latency video game Bluetooth earbuds that will give your games lag-free wireless audio without breaking the bank. How did they do? My feelings after two weeks of testing them can be summed up with the sentence: finally, I have Bluetooth earbuds that work flawlessly with my Switch. UNBREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER– LAG-FREE GAMING AT A LOW PRICE USER EXPERIENCE—GAMING AND MOBILE If these buds are in your budget—and they are priced well—then you have access to a Bluetooth audio experience with very few drawbacks and plenty of upsides. As this is a gaming website, let’s begin with the juiciest of details: the Soundpeats Air 3s have a dedicated game mode. Three taps of the left bud—part of a huge ar...

27Jul

By TC Staff Writer1 Comment

PlayStation Reviews

NASCAR Heat 5 – Refuse To Lose

Hello! today I am here to review NASCAR Heat 5, published by Motorsports Games and developed by 704Games. Currently, NASCAR Heat 5 is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC (DVD and via Steam). 704Games have a sole purpose of rebuilding the NASCAR video game franchise and bringing you the lifestyle and excitement that comes with NASCAR. I will be reviewing the Playstation 4 Pro version using a joypad and also a racing cockpit setup. Gameplay NASCAR Heat 5 has a lot of improvements over past versions. Better AI, player DNFs, more player cameras, an all-new Test Session Mode and an Online Challenge mode. You begin your career on NASCAR Heat 5 as a rookie in the Xtreme Dirt Series and moving through the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series ...

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom – Re-hydrated Review – Fun Sponge

25Jun

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom – Re-hydrated Review – Fun Sponge

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, originally released way back in 2003, was that rare beast; a licensed title which delivered both in terms of quality and adherence to the source material. The colourful 3D platformer brought over everything which was great about the first three seasons of SpongeBob, including the various exotic undersea locales and the crazy characters which inhabit them. In spite of mixed reviews from the critics, fans were besotted, and it sold so well that it was added to the classic ranges for Gamecube, Xbox and PS2. Publisher THQ Nordic is in the business of fishing up quality properties from yesteryear, and they are now ready to unleash Purple Lamp Studios port (hoho), SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom - Re-hydrated upon the world. Is...

Project Warlock Review – Welcome to your Doom

12Jun

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Gaming

Project Warlock Review – Welcome to your Doom

Games offer the chances to explore vast worlds, get lost in story and adventure, and create lasting emotional bonds to digitised characters. Or they just let you go wild with rocket launchers and tear through waves of monsters, zombies, and all kinds of things pulled right from your worst nightmares. Make no mistake, Project Warlock doesn't want to do anything but the latter. Wearing it's Doom shirt, and Quake undies, it aims to bring all the joys of classic first-person shooters back to consoles. Developed by Buckshot Software, and published by Crushing Koalas, Project Warlock is available now on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Gameplay Looking at screens of Project Warlock, it's bound to get those nostalgia heartstrings pulled. Memories of sprinting through hordes of enemies with...