EleksTube IPS Desktop Clock

Last year I posted a preview of my rather interesting clock, and at the time I also wrote that I planned to buy one.
It turned out that they took quite a while to reach me, and then I didn't have a chance to write a review. But I finally got around to it and decided to show you what this clock is all about.

First, the price. I bought the clock on Taobao. At the time, it cost about $83, plus $6 for shipping. I could have paid extra for expedited shipping, of course, but since the price was already fairly steep, I decided to save a little. In the end, the total came to around $90.
The same clock is also available on AliExpress. It keeps appearing for sale from one seller, then disappearing and popping up with another. Anyway, I think anyone who wants one will find it, but I'll include a few links just in case.
It's $159, but there are coupons and promo codes, so you can get the price down to $148. Lots of buyers — link.
Same price, but no promo codes. Also lots of buyers — link
It's $123, but this is a brand-new listing — link 1, link 2.

When I received it, I was a little surprised by the packaging—not just because it has a “luxury” look, but also because of its size. It's about as big as a shoebox.

The clock is sold in a form that requires the buyer to do the final assembly. “Assembly” is putting it a bit strongly, of course, but you can't just take it out of the box and turn it on.
Unboxing is split into several stages. First you see the manual and a layer of foam. Under that is the clock module itself, then protective caps, and everything else is deeper inside.

All in all, you could definitely call the packaging gift-ready. Everything is genuinely attractive and neatly arranged.


The full kit looks quite substantial. It includes:
1. Main clock module.
2. Six IPS displays
3. Six protective caps
4. Power supply
5. USB cable
6. Hex key
7. Double-sided tape
8. Manual



The manual is in Chinese and English, but it's hard to call it a complete manual. The full version is here, and there's also a link to download the software.


1. Nine rings of double-sided tape for attaching the caps, and a hex key.
2. USB-A to USB-C cable with right-angle plugs, which is very convenient.
3, 4. LG 5 V, 0.85 A power supply, but with flat pins—clearly intended for the Chinese market.


Six small IPS displays on small circuit boards, with a resolution of 135 × 240 pixels and a visible area measuring 15 × 25 mm.


Each display is mounted on its own small board. The same board also has an RGB backlight LED soldered to it—and not very straight, either.


There are six protective caps as well. They have plastic inserts at the bottom, shaped to fit the connectors on the main module. As far as I can tell, the caps are made of glass; they ring distinctly when tapped with something metal.


The main module. I wouldn't say it's particularly large, but it's fairly hefty, weighing around 400 g. The base measures 205 × 82 × 32 mm, excluding the connector and screws; the overall dimensions, including the connector, indicators, and caps, are 218 × 82 × 80 mm.


On top are six connectors for installing the displays and four control buttons. The bottom just has a picture styled to look like a clock.
There are no feet, so the clock can slide on a smooth surface, although its weight means it doesn't do so easily.


There's an acrylic insert on top to protect the circuit board from dust.


A USB Type-C power socket is on one side. The front and back of the case are aluminum, while the side covers are plastic.


It's very easy to take apart: just undo the six screws with the included hex key, and you get this.


The main module is a “sandwich” consisting of the circuit board itself and an acrylic base, i.e. the bottom of the case. There are no components on the underside of the circuit board, so I didn't take it apart.


The manufacturer wanted to decorate the product somehow, or perhaps make it look more substantial, so they put the model name and logo on the left.


There are four control buttons: one switches to control mode, two select the mode, and a separate button turns the display on.


Component overview.
1. As far as I can tell, everything is controlled by an ESP32-WROOM-32D module. The top is marked Antenna Eleks, and a 74HC595 chip is visible on the underside.
2. A CH340C converter handles the USB connection to the computer. Next to it is an IRFLR120 transistor, which most likely switches the power circuit.
3. The real-time clock is based on a DS3231, with a battery next to it to power the clock. The battery was already installed.
4. Power goes through an AMS1085 regulator, which provides 3.3 V.



It wasn't until I took the clock apart that I understood why they included a little key. It turns out there are two power connectors, one on the left and one on the right.
By default, the left connector is exposed. If you'd rather have it on the right, just swap the side covers.


The displays are very easy to install, but there's no mechanical protection against installing them the wrong way, so take care: the control buttons should end up behind the displays.


I haven't fitted the protective caps yet, since the flash could cause glare.
When switched on, the system initializes first, with the process shown on the displays.


Once initialization is complete, the clock switches to time display mode.


The displays have a good viewing angle, though the contrast can still change a little. In this case, it may simply be due to the flash.


The image is readable even at steep angles. With the caps installed, visibility will of course be worse, but without them the displays can easily be damaged.


Speaking of the flash, you may notice some strange vertical stripes further on. They're not a display defect; they aren't there in real life, but they look like a defect when I take photos with the flash.


There's an RGB LED on the back of each display. They're all addressable, so their brightness and color can be changed according to the selected effects program.


Overall, it looks pretty nice in its own way, but I'm not a big fan of this “light show.” Fortunately, you can turn it off if you want.


Power consumption is moderate: about 100 mA with the display off, and 320–330 mA with it on. At 10% brightness, consumption is about the same as with the backlight off, or even a little lower, though that may just be due to fluctuations in power consumption. Maximum current draw with the RGB LEDs at 100% brightness is about 370 mA.



Settings. Apologies in advance for the clock being sideways in the photos. If I set it more upright, the flash reflects off the displays and washes them out.
The clock's functionality is very basic, so there aren't many settings.
1. When you open the menu, it shows the available settings:
Set the time and choose 12- or 24-hour format
Display style—in practice, a choice of fonts or images
Turn the backlight on or off and adjust its brightness.
RGB backlight mode.
2. You can set not only the current time, but the full date as well.
3. Interestingly, you can either turn the backlight off or set its brightness to zero; these are two separate settings.
4. There are five backlight modes, plus an adjustment for the effect speed.


I could describe every menu, but I think it's easier to watch the manufacturer's video, which demonstrates all of this.


The menu offers three display options:
1. A simulation of gas-discharge displays. This gets a solid five from me—the simulation is excellent.
2. Some kind of Punk mode
3. DIY mode, where you can install a different display style using the software.


As I mentioned, the clock has four buttons. In normal mode, the left and right buttons change the display mode.
1. If you press the left button, the date and time are displayed. If VFD emulation is enabled, the grids of the two middle digits light up slightly, but no numbers appear on them, so the emulation works here too.
2. Pressing the right button displays the digits 1 through 6 in the display style loaded as DIY.


The clock has its own software, which you can use to load other display styles. It connects via USB, and loading takes just 10–15 seconds.


More styles included with the software


For the experiment, I loaded a few of the styles offered by the manufacturer.
1, 2. VFD emulation. I have to say, these are nowhere near as good as the default one—not even close.
3. Matrix-style. Actually, pretty good.
4. Flip-clock style. It would look nice, but there’s no animation, so it’s immediately obvious that something’s off.
5. This is some kind of abstraction, but why not?
6. Standard seven-segment displays. I actually liked this one, although seven-segment displays on IPS screens feel pretty weird :)


Of course, the option of using your own images is more interesting. For that, you need 12 images at 135 × 240 resolution: 10 for the digits 0–9 and 2 for the date and month. I couldn’t think of anything original, so I took a look at what other people had made and quickly found a few examples.

For example, someone made this kid-friendly version:


And the well-known tech blogger Techmoan made a display using photos, which really does look original.


If you’re interested, you can watch his review of this clock.



There’s also a page with a little information about the firmware.
I also found a page where people share “fonts.” Here’s one example:


There’s an even more original option.


But I was interested in emulating the rather rare VFDs. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to buy one, but it’s quite possible to see what one would look like.


I saved 12 ready-made images from the page linked above, imported them into the program, and compiled this version.
The result looks pretty good, in my opinion. It’s just a shame that the protective covers reflect the flash.
This version looks good with the green backlight set to 10–20% brightness. In fact, it switched to that setting by itself.


Conclusions.
The clock turned out to be a little odd, although, on the other hand, I knew exactly what it could do when I bought it. The only thing that came as a surprise was the two power sockets. I’ve seen this on other clocks, but both connectors were exposed there.

Now, about the clock itself.
Overall, it’s an original design, and you have to give the manufacturer credit for trying to make something interesting and unusual, at least for now.

But when you look at the details, it turns out to be just a clock, really. It can show the time and date, and you can load your own images to make it unique.
Yet in this age of “smart” devices, this clock has no:
Thermometer
Humidity sensor
Alarm
NTP synchronization
Wi-Fi access, even though it has Wi-Fi hardware.
Automatic daylight saving time adjustment
Display brightness control—manual, timer-based, or based on ambient light
It doesn’t even suppress the leading zero in the hour display

But the biggest drawback, in my opinion, is the lack of separators between hours, minutes, and seconds, which turns 12:34:56 into the incomprehensible 123456.

Would I recommend it? Hard to say. As a practical item, it’s a bit expensive; as something unusual, it’s quite appealing. I’ll also point out that the packaging is clearly designed for gifting, and the clock really would make an unusual interior accent. Will I keep using it? I don’t know. I might keep it, or I might sell it. The latter is probably more likely, since I have other ideas.

That’s all from me. I hope you found this useful.