Review by Chris Towland, Gadget Editor

Well, where do I start with the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean?

First things first … this is easily the best toothbrush I’ve ever used!

I don’t say that though from the point of view of someone who has always used a manual brush and has suddenly discovered the extra cleanness you get from an electric brush. For several years I have used an electric brush and actually one of the Philips Sonicare range… but a £30 brush as opposed to the DiamondClean that currently retails around the £250 mark.

So where does the DiamondClean beat my normal electric brush?

Build Quality

The overall quality of the brush and case are very good. No cheap plastic unit here but a good solid feel to it.

Travel Case

The travel case again has a great build quality that will cope with the knocks it may get on your travels. Also, when the brush is in the case, a charging cable can be plugged into the outside of the case to recharge the brush either by wall socket or by the USB port of a computer.

Battery Life

Whilst I never quite managed to get the 3 weeks of battery life that was mentioned in the advertising for the DiamondClean I always get well over two weeks before I need to recharge.

Cleaning Modes

The DiamondClean has 5 different cleaning modes:

Clean – The standard two minute clean your teeth and plaque removal mode with a short pause every 30 seconds so you know to move to another ‘quadrant’ of your mouth.

White – The same as above but with a further 30 seconds specifically designed to whiten your front teeth.

Polish – A quick 1 minute mode to brighten and polish your front teeth.

Gum Care – The 2 minute Clean mode as above with an additional minute to massage your gums to improve gum health.
Sensitive – An extra gentle mode for people with sensitive teeth.

Without doubt, my favourite mode is the Gum Care mode. As someone who has regularly suffered with painful gums I can very happily report that I have not had a single gum problem for well over a month now (and I have been using the DiamondClean for just over five weeks). I have done nothing else different except change to the DiamondCare and use the Gum Care mode once a day but my gums have certainly noticed the difference!

Charging Cup

I’m really not sure whether most people would see this as a unique feature of this brush or maybe just a bit of a gimmick but to charge your DiamondCare at home, you simply drop it into the charging charging cup that you then plug into your wall socket.

Clean Teeth

The most important difference for me with the DiamondClean is how clean my teeth feel compared to my normal electric brush. Now this is not something I can quantify, but my teeth and my whole mouth just feel cleaner and fresher after using this brush.

So, what negatives did I find with the Philips Sonicare Diamondclean?

The Price

At around £250 this is certainly not a cheap electric brush and so will be out of reach for many people. For anyone who is happy with the cost though who is looking for the very best electric toothbrush available, this has to be a serious contender.

Switching Between Modes

Each time you start the brush it starts in the same mode that you last used it. This is great if, for example, you always use the Gum Care mode as one touch of the start button will always start you in this mode. However, if like me you want to use the Clean mode in the morning and the Gum Care mode at night, it’s not quite so simple!

Picture the scene – You hold your brush under the tap, then load it up with toothpaste. You put it in your mouth and hit the start button. As you know you’re not in the mode you want, you take the brush out of your mouth to look at the display and cycle through the modes but the toothpaste and water now sprays over your face and your shirt. This is hardly ideal so what you end up doing is starting the brush in your mouth, pressing the button to cycle through the modes until it stops the brush, when you hit the start button again it now starts at Clean mode and cycles through the others in order for each press of the button, so you need to remember the order and press the right number of times for the mode you want (twice for White mode, four times for Gum Care etc). All in all not a major inconvenience but something I would have thought would have been considered on a top end brush.

No Spare Brush Heads

The DiamondClean came with a normal sized brush head and a smaller sized head (there was no explanation of these either – was one a child’s brush or people with very small mouths maybe?) I would have expected at least one spare head in a brush of this quality.

My final verdict:

Without doubt this is not a cheap electric brush but you certainly get what you pay for. If you want the very best electric toothbrush available then the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean gets my highest recommendation.

Here is the official info from Philips:

Taking care of your oral health is easy with the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Toothbrush. This rechargeable power toothbrush offers Sonicare’s best plaque removal and whitening system, featuring Sonic technology and brush heads with diamond-shaped bristles that gently brush away plaque. Five cleaning modes provide a custom cleaning experience, and the Smartimer and Quadpacer ensure you brush adequately and evenly. For your convenience, DiamondClean includes a sleek charging glass and a USB charging travel case.

Unlike a manual toothbrush, Philips Sonicare DiamondClean uses powerful Sonic technology to clean teeth with up to 31,000 brush strokes per minute. Sweeping motions drive fluids deep into the tight spaces between your teeth and along your gum line, resulting in a cleaner, healthier mouth.

Achieve better results with DiamondClean: naturally whiter teeth, improved gum health, and better plaque removal than a manual toothbrush. DiamondClean is clinically proven to improve gum health in just two weeks. The gentle brushing action of DiamondClean helps prevent gum recession and removes up to 100 percent more plaque in hard-to-reach areas compared to a manual toothbrush. Proven to brighten your smile in just one week, DiamondClean will also gently remove coffee, tea and tobacco, and red wine stains.

The Philips Sonicare DiamonClean is available from many High Street and internet retailers including Amazon.

Full disclosure: I received a free product to keep, for the purposes of this review but as ever, all reviews on Gadgets and Technology News are totally impartial and without bias.

Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) today announced the global release of IntelliVue MX40, a wearable patient monitor that can be used for the monitoring of ambulatory patients and during patient transport. The MX40 combines the benefits of the acclaimed IntelliVue X2 and Philips telemetry into a single, compact wearable monitor. Driven by Philips’ commitment to developing innovative patient care solutions, MX40 helps clinicians to better manage patient alerts and is designed with infection control in mind.

Many patients can benefit from mobile monitoring in the hospital, including those who can be monitored in a progressive care area or during supervised recovery from an acute event or surgical procedure. Mobile monitors also help clinicians spend more time with patients: one hospital estimates that its nursing staff saves an average of 40 minutes every day by using the MX40 display to check patients’ ECG rhythms, instead of calling a technician at the central station monitor.

IntelliVue MX40 offers a comprehensive package of benefits including continuous monitoring over a greater range in the hospital, access to the industry-leading IntelliVue Smart-hopping Network and a color touch screen display that presents the patient’s name as well as easily accessible vital information such as ECG, SpO2 and non-invasive blood pressure. MX40 is also interoperable with the IntelliVue family of products.

MX40 can help clinicians to better and more systematically manage patient alerts both at the patient and at the hospital’s central monitoring station. The solution supports the monitoring of ambulatory patients, meaning those capable of walking and not bedridden, and improves clinician workflow by providing local alarms to alert clinicians of patient condition changes no matter the patient’s location in the hospital The IntelliVue Information Center is an integral part of the MX40 solution, providing real-time surveillance, reporting, data storage and interfacing with the hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR) system.

“The MX40 is helpful in streamlining patient monitoring at the bedside. The mobile monitoring function helps us ensure patient safety during transfers and while infusing medication drips,” Alycia Kielty, RN, Surgical Cardiovascular unit, Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota said. “For us, these added product benefits have increased communication efficiency, and decreased the need for extra bulky equipment.”

The MX40 is designed with cleaning and infection prevention in mind, featuring a unique patient cable connector that resists the collection of soil and liquids. The solution itself is smooth, allowing easy wiping, while the case material supports cleaning by many common low- to high-level disinfectants. These multiple cleaning options allow the MX40 to easily fit into programs to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), preventable infections often resulting from patients’ exposure to various microorganisms in the hospital environment.

“MX40 is a game-changing device, saving clinicians time by allowing them to view vital patient data on the MX40 display, rather than repeatedly walking away from the patient to check the central station monitor,” Dale Wiggins, chief technology officer, Patient Care and Clinical Informatics, for Philips Healthcare said. “It’s a forward-thinking piece of technology that brings clinicians and patients closer together.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.healthcare.philips.com/us_en/products/patient_monitoring/products/intellivue_mx40/index.wpd.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Ian Race
Philips Healthcare
Tel:             +1 (978) 659 4624
E-mail: ian(dot)race(at)philips(dot)com

The world’s first LED replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb is now also the first to earn ENERGY STAR qualification.  Philips Lighting announced today that the Philips AmbientLED 12.5 watt (also sold professionally under the Philips EnduraLED brand) has met or exceeded the quality and energy efficiency requirements for a 60-watt LED equivalent set forth by ENERGY STAR, proving that it is a highly-efficient, cost-effective lighting option for consumers. The bulb lasts 25 times longer and uses 80 percent less energy than the 60-watt incandescent bulb it was designed to replace.

“Philips’ new LED light bulb is an exciting new addition to the suite of high quality energy efficient lighting products carrying the ENERGY STAR label,” said Alex Baker, Lighting Program Manager for ENERGY STAR. “The innovation embodied in this new product demonstrates Philips’ commitment to helping American consumers and businesses save energy and save money while protecting the environment.”

Products that earn the ENERGY STAR label by meeting the quality and energy efficiency requirements set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency are often eligible for utility rebate programs which lower the cost of the product, making it easier for consumers to begin saving energy at home. To earn an ENERGY STAR label, a 60-watt LED equivalent must have a minimum light output of 800 lumens, a color temperature of 2700K (for soft white light), color rendering index (CRI) of 80 and a minimum three year warranty, among other requirements.   The Philips AmbientLED meets or exceeds these requirements with 806 lumens, 2700K, a CRI of 80 and a six year warranty.

“Philips has been at the forefront of LED innovation and sustainability as evidenced by our L Prize submission and our broad portfolio of lighting solutions for the home, office, school or retail,” said Ed Crawford, General Manager of Lamps for Philips Lighting North America. “We build all of our lighting products with quality and standards in mind and our ENERGY STAR label is validation of that approach. This LED bulb represents an important milestone for the lighting industry and for LED adoption, as it will give utilities the confidence to support proven energy saving products like the Philips AmbientLED and help encourage consumer adoption.”

Part of an innovative, commercially available LED product family, the Philips AmbientLED line includes 25, 40 and 60-watt LED A-shape equivalents that are high-efficiency, soft white light alternatives to incandescent lighting.  These bulbs deliver superb color consistency and have a rated average life ?,? of 17 years. LUXEON LEDs, combined with their unique shapes and remote phosphor technology, allow the bulbs to mimic an incandescent and cast light in all directions, with the same familiar soft-white glow.  Available at The Home Depot, the Philips AmbientLED line is one of the broadest portfolios of LED retrofits on the market, which also includes decorative candle lights, PAR 38s, PAR 30s and MR 16s.

Philips is also the first – and only – company that has submitted an A19 replacement bulb for the U.S. Department of Energy’s L Prize contest, which calls for an LED equivalent to the 60-watt bulb that can produce 900 lumens using less than ten watts of electricity. The L Prize is the government-sponsored competition to encourage innovation in the lighting industry.  Since the L Prize submission in the fall of 2009, the Philips bulb has been undergoing field, lab and lifetime testing with the DOE.

The Philips AmbientLED 12.5 watt is just the latest in the Philips portfolio of energy-saving retrofit bulbs that are ENERGY STAR qualified and comply with EISA (Energy Independence and Security Act) standards.  With the Philips EcoVantange and Halogena lines, consumers have affordable, energy-efficient incandescent technologies as well.

The Philips 6FF3FPW 5.6″ LCD 4:3 frame ratio PhotoFrame is a digital photoframe that provides top quality display for photos. Getting pictures on the photoframe is easy – It’s either as easy as putting your camera’s SD card into the photoframe, or simply dragging and dropping the photos via a usb connection to your usb. Best of all, the Philips photoframe has a usb connection so you can plug in your USB stick or external harddrive and view all the photos from those sources as well!

How many digital pictures are hidden on your PC? See, share, organise and relive your memories with Philips PhotoFrame™, the easiest way to share your memories by displaying your digital photos in stunning quality – without a PC.