Electronics and technology blog    /    Reviews    /    Page 44

In this review, I’ll try to compare and test a range of batteries. As it turned out, the review includes not only lithium batteries, but mostly the familiar “18650” cells. There’s also one rather unusual battery. If you’re interested, read on. Warning: this is a very long review and may be a problem for users on metered connections.

Today I'm reviewing something radically different from my previous subjects. Not only because of its modest size, but also because the item I'm reviewing is completely outside my usual area. But I liked this kitten—and so did others—and I wanted to tell you about it.

I think some readers still remember my review of a kit for building a linear bench power supply. Despite a few shortcomings, the board turned out to be quite interesting. When a friend sent me a link to the kit reviewed here, my first thought was, “That’s the same board.” But in reality, things turned out a little differently. Anyway, if you’re interested in this kind of thing and want to find out how to build a small bench power supply, read on.

I got my hands on a somewhat unusual instrument—or, more precisely, one with an unusual feature. This multimeter can wirelessly transmit measurement results to remote devices via Bluetooth. There’s already a review of this instrument here, so mine will be more of a brief supplement, where I’ll talk about its strengths and weaknesses.

Continuing the saga of moving to a new computer, which began back in May, I ran into a fairly significant problem. The thing is, although the new computer has a couple of SATA ports, its case is too small to fit a pair of 3.5-inch hard drives. I also wanted to make my workspace completely silent, so I decided to move all the drives elsewhere.

Today I'm reviewing a small Android tablet. Somehow, I've usually reviewed tablets running either Windows or Windows + Android, but this time I decided to see what a relatively inexpensive Android-only tablet is like.

As it happened, I got another memory module. A friend of mine ordered it for himself, and I didn't pass up the chance to put together a quick review in case it might be useful to someone. This time it's a relatively old DDR2 module, the kind most often bought to upgrade older computers.

Comments on reviews of memory bought in China often say it's cheaper to buy it locally. And, to be fair, I've said that myself. But then I was offered the chance to review one of the products on AliExpress, and I chose a SO-DIMM DDR3 memory module, the so-called “laptop format,” for this computer. Since I'd already bought exactly the same memory module locally, I decided to do a comparison review—and got some very interesting results.

Computers based on the Atom Z8x00 have been on the market for almost a year. Somehow, though, most of the devices I’ve had for review were based on the Atom Z8300, with one based on the Atom Z8500. I still hadn’t tested a device with the top-of-the-line (if you can call it that) Atom X7-Z8700. Today, I’m going to fill that gap in my testing: on my operating table is the Beelink BT7, one of the very few computers equipped with the Atom X7-Z8700. A look around, some tests, and the usual teardown and modifications.

Back in May, I reviewed a small computer that I’m planning to use to replace my old one. To increase the available storage, I decided to buy a 240 GB SSD. So, here’s a brief review of a small SSD.

This review continues my experiments with step-down voltage converters. Along the way, I’ll also explain a little about what a synchronous rectifier converter is.

As part of the “move” project, which I started in these two reviews — 1, 2 — I bought a small computer. The computer itself is basic, but it has a few rather nice features. They won’t be useful to many people, but I’m sure some will appreciate them.

A friend asked me to buy him an inexpensive TV box. It was no trouble, and I was also interested in tinkering with one for the sake of the stats. So here’s another short review, this time of a TV box built around the already familiar S905 SoC.

I use a soldering station with a hot air gun quite often. But since the station is rather bulky, and lately I’ve only been using its hot air gun, I decided to replace it with a standalone hot air gun, so to speak. Inspection, teardown, comparison—as usual.

After buying an expensive multimeter, I thought I might move on from reviewing this kind of measuring instrument. But apparently, my fascination with tools got the better of me, and when I saw an instrument from the well-known Fluke brand, I decided to get it for a review.

Last time, most of the information about using the phone came from someone else’s perspective. This time, all my impressions of the new DOOGEE X5 MAX will be entirely my own. I’m not exactly spoiled by modern phones—in fact, this is the first smartphone I’ve carried around as my main phone. So, I’ll show it, take it apart, and share my impressions.

About a year ago, I reviewed a small rotary tool. Though why small? If anything, it was actually a large one :) It served me perfectly well for almost a year, but while working with it I found that it wasn't always convenient to use in certain situations. I mentioned the problem to an acquaintance, and he suggested a couple of accessories that fit my rotary tool. So today I'll be showing you both of them in my review.

It all started about six months ago, when my daughter's Samsung Galaxy battery started dying again. Since the phone was outdated both in terms of hardware and software, we started looking for a replacement. Around April, I spotted the Vernee Thor among the new releases, and it really caught my eye. I asked if I could get one to review, and they sent it over. As always, I'll take a look, take it apart, run some tests, and share my impressions after a month of use.