Electronics and technology blog    /    Stores    /    AliExpress    /    Page 16

A new Xiaomi Xiaowa robot vacuum cleaner has recently hit the market, and it is quite feature-packed for its price. A few days ago, the new Roidmi F8 handheld vacuum cleaner became available for pre-order. I wonder if it can compete with the big manufacturers? I've been using Xiaomi products for several years, and I'm sure this handheld vacuum will be powerful enough to handle, for example, pet hair.

I've already had a camera from Reolink in for testing. It performed quite well, at least in my opinion, but was essentially an advanced version of a "baby monitor." Today, we'll be looking at another product from this manufacturer, but in a somewhat different form factor, better suited to setting up a home video surveillance system. As always, the review includes an inspection, a teardown, and a brief comparison with a camera from the same brand with comparable claimed specifications.

Not long ago, I saw someone mention that there aren't enough reviews of unusual products, so today I'm reviewing just such a product. Though I wouldn't call the product unusual myself, I haven't come across reviews like this, which is why I decided to write one. I've often seen people ask what is used to weld battery packs. Obviously, a special strip is used, but what types are there, how do they differ, and which one is best? That's what I'll try to explain today.

I needed a small-capacity drive to run a Linux server. After comparing the prices of HDDs and solid-state drives, I chose a budget 32 GB Goldenfir SSD and would like to offer you a brief review of it.

A year ago, I reviewed a Chinese soldering station with T12 tips and an STC controller. I planned to buy a hot air gun to go with it, but as often happens, my plans changed while I was comparing options and looking around. Browsing the selection at the KSGER T12 Store, where I was shopping for a hot air gun, I came across a versatile 2-in-1 soldering station built around an STM32 controller. Today, I’m pleased to bring you a review of it. Shipping and packaging

Not long ago, I reviewed a USB tester with a certain “feature.” The comments on both the review and the video sparked quite a heated discussion, and today I’ll try to explain what was going on. So, scandals, intrigue, investigations.

I was gradually running out of free disk space, so I decided to expand my “living space.” I also remembered that I had an M.2 SSD lying around since spring, along with an adapter that, as it turned out, I’d bought by mistake. After browsing AliExpress, I found a suitable option—or, more precisely, the cheapest suitable one—and ordered it. So today, here’s a mini-review of a simple little thing: an mSATA-to-M.2 adapter.

At first, I wanted to title this review something like “yet another smartwatch,” but that doesn’t quite fit what I’m reviewing here. “Fitness tracker” doesn’t seem quite right either. That’s because this watch isn’t really “smart” yet, but it’s clearly more than just a fitness tracker. So today’s review is about a fitness watch from WeLoop.

A few power banks for 8 18650 cells crossed my path. I ended up bringing one home to my workbench “for testing,” which is what I’ll be talking about in today’s mini-review. I should probably warn you right away that this power bank has basically just one notable feature: it can hold a large number of batteries. Otherwise, it’s pretty basic and doesn’t really do much.

A little over a year ago, I bought PIPO's new mini PC, the PIPO X10. I liked almost everything about it: a large screen, a built-in battery, and an external antenna. But almost immediately, a problem became apparent: it wouldn't work properly. And it wasn't just me—this was a widespread issue. I played around with it for a while, then eventually put it on the shelf. One of my readers has now suggested a way to bring this computer back to life, so today I'll explain how to revive the PIPO.

Some time ago, I posted a review of the inexpensive Escam pan-and-tilt camera. Today, I'm reviewing another pan-and-tilt camera, but one in a higher class. To get straight to the point, I think there are at least two main differences: resolution and build quality, though in fact there are more. For those who want the details, this review includes an inspection, a description of the software, some tests, and, of course, a complete teardown “down to the last screw.”

This is already my fourth review of LED panels for building displays. This review wasn’t originally part of my plans, and neither was buying these panels. In my previous review, I wrote that a seller’s mistake had left me with a controller, so I ordered another batch of LED panels for it. Since I had a specific display size in mind, I had to order panels with a resolution of 64×32 pixels. So, this is a brief review, a little theory, and answers to some of the questions I was asked after publishing the previous installments.

Phones, tablets, smartwatches and fitness trackers, sports watches, e-readers, headsets and speakers, power banks, and plenty more all need a free USB port from time to time. At home, and especially at the office, there often aren't enough outlets to plug in all the chargers you need. I'd been planning to buy a charger with several USB ports for a long time, but never got around to looking through the options. What finally prompted me to buy one was a colleague asking me to help choose a model. Writing this review took quite a while—you'll see why later—and in the meantime, my opinion of the Aukey brand changed dramatically.

Not long ago, I posted a review of an almost no-name charger (power supply) rated for 5 V and a claimed current of 7.2 A. As it turned out, the actual power was considerably lower. Today I have a model from the better-known (or perhaps simply known) brand BlitzWolf on my desk, with a claimed combined output current of up to 10 A. Inspection, teardown, tests—as usual.

Not long ago, I was asked to review a USB charger. Since I enjoy tinkering with all kinds of power supplies, I agreed. So I’ll take it apart, examine it, and test it.

In the first part of the review, I talked about LED panels and controllers. In this second part, I’ll focus more on the software, testing, and demonstrations. I’ll also talk about the problems I ran into—because of course there were some.

They say that appetite comes with eating, and that’s certainly true. I can confirm it 100%. I’ve already posted two reviews of LED panels—though, more accurately, one review and one follow-up. Today I’ll tell you about higher-resolution LED panels, controllers, and my dealings with the sellers. So brew yourself some coffee or tea, get comfortable, and settle in for a long read. Warning: this review is very long and may be a problem for users on metered connections.

I’ve already reviewed quite a few smartphones, but I’d like to start this review by saying that this phone isn’t built around the much-maligned MTK SoC from MediaTek. I don’t mean to say anything bad about it; it’s just that the seemingly bottomless supply of processors from this manufacturer, used in almost every budget phone (and plenty of others), has been mentioned many times already. This time, the “heart” of the phone under review is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617—not exactly new, but still a pretty decent chip.