Freecom Tablet Mini SSD

Andy Shaw tests an external SSD drive that you can use with your PC, tablet and phone

It’s difficult to predict how much storage space you need on a mobile device – too little and you’re constantly having to shuffle apps and data around to make room for new things. But not everyone can justify spending hundreds of extra pounds to get their devices with the maximum amount of memory installed.

Some Android devices are built with memory-card slots that make adding extra storage much simpler but if your device doesn’t have this, the Freecom Tablet Mini SSD provides a convenient solution.

Why your high-speed internet is so slow

Your connection may offer you dozens of megabits per second, but it’s unlikely that you’ll ever touch that target. Robert Irvine explains why and how to fix it.

A recent ‘State of the internet’ report by content-delivery network Akamai (bit.ly/akamai392) ranked the UK thirteenth in the world for internetconnection speeds, with an average of 13Mbps. That sounds pretty respectable (hey, we beat Belgium!), but many of those surveyed pay for “up to” 17Mbps, 38Mbps and even 76Mbps, and rarely – if ever – come close to that figure. This discrepancy in the speed you pay for and the one you get is often blamed on your distance from the broadband exchange, but there are other factors involved, too. So you can either move your house closer to the exchange (not easy unless you live in a motorhome) or you can try our secret tricks to tackle the causes of your slow connection.

Secret tips for Google Photos

Preserve battery life when backing up

Google Photos has a useful ‘Backup & sync’ feature, which – once activated – automatically backs up your snaps when your phone or tablet has a Wi-Fi connection. If you notice your battery life suffering as a result of backups running in the background, you can easily fix the problem by setting Photos to only back up your pictures when your device is charging. To do this, open the main Photos menu, tap Settings and choose ‘Backup & Sync’. Scroll down and switch the option ‘While charging only’ to the On position.

Keep All Your Emails Private

Do you ever worry that strangers are reading your emails? Wayne Williams explains how to stop the contents of your messages being accessed by anyone other than the intended recipient

Following a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling, the press widely reported that “your boss can now read your personal emails” (bit.ly/bossemails). Although the court later denied this interpretation of its ruling, the decision could still set a precedent for cases of this kind and the panicked public response to the news suggests many of us worry about people intercepting our emails, texts and web chats.