Category: News

Xiaomi Redmi 10X Pro vs 10X 5G vs Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition – Dimensity 820 vs Snapdragon 768G – Too many mid-range choices

by James Smythe | May 27, 2020 | News, Phones & Mobile | 0

With Realme and Xiaomi battling it out on the affordable end of the market, it has started to become increasingly difficult to single out a phone as being the highlight of a particular range. Xiaomi is particularly bad as they have been releasing a lot of minor iterations to their phones at slightly different price points, the Redmi K30i is essentially the K30 5G but with one change to the main camera. The Redmi K30 5G Racing is the same as the K30 but a switch to the new faster Snapdragon 768G chipset. Realme have followed suit, the Realme...

Zyxel XS1930 series is a (semi) affordable multi-gig/10Gbe cloud managed switch undercutting Ubiquiti’s limited 10G offerings

by James Smythe | May 27, 2020 | Networking, News | 0

Yesterday Zyxel launched two new switches that offer multi-gig copper ethernet designed to help small and medium businesses achieve greater network flexibility and take full advantage of the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology. While 10G ethernet has been out for a long time it has had glacially slow adoption rates thanks to the exorbitantly expensive hardware. That is still true, but we are starting to see more options, prices are not dropping much but we seem to be getting more for our money. Currently the unmanaged Netgear XS508M is about the cheapest 8-port multi-gig switch you will get. There have...

Realme X3 SuperZoom vs Poco F2 Pro / Redmi K30 Pro – Do you want a better camera or better chipset & display?

by James Smythe | May 26, 2020 | News | 0

The Realme X3 SuperZoom is the first phone to launch with a 5x optical periscope zoom at an affordable price point. It is the best Realme camera specification to date, and I found the phone easily outperformed last years Realme X2 Pro with the overall camera performance being better than the flagship X50 Pro. However, the SuperZoom camera means the phone costs more, with initial rumours suggesting that this will be 499-Euros, the same price as the just-launched Poco F2 Pro. So this gives you an interesting choice of opting for improved camera performance over a superior 5G chipset....

Realme X3 Superzoom Review – An impressive zoom camera for the price but faces stiff competition vs the Poco F2 Pro & Realme X50 Pro

by James Smythe | May 26, 2020 | News, Phones & Mobile, Reviews | 0

Realme have quickly become a significant player in the mobile market, and they are aggressively expanding with a quick succession phone launches at multiple prices points which are all extremely affordable for their segment. The Realme X3 Superzoom is the latest launch which I have been using for the past week. At the time of writing, I am only aware of this model and the standard X3. I would expect sometime in the future a Pro model will get launched, perhaps combining the super zoom features of this with an AMOLED panel and an SD865 chipset. Most of my...

Realme X3 SuperZoom vs Realme X2 Pro vs Realme X50 Pro 5G – Does the periscope zoom justify the price?

by James Smythe | May 26, 2020 | News, Phones & Mobile | 0

With the launch of the Realme X3 SuperZoom, Realme have some amazing phone options all with a reasonable small price difference. While the SuperZoom is not a flagship phone, it offers the best camera specification Realme has ever offered but is that zoom lens worth the extra over the incredible affordable X2 Pro? Chipset, RAM, Storage Both the X3 SuperZoom and X2 Pro have the same Snapdragon 855+ chipset. At the time of writing, I am only aware of a 12GB/256GB model for the X3 Superzoom. The X2 Pro came in models from 6GB/64GB up to 12GB/256GB. The lowest...

Realme Watch vs Honor Band 5 vs Huawei Watch Gt2e – A new affordable fitness tracking smartwatch (feature watch, really)

by James Smythe | May 26, 2020 | Fitness, News | 0

Yesterday, Realme announced their new Realme Watch, and incredibly affordable fitness tracker/feature watch. Yesterday's announcement was for the Indian market with the watch being priced at INR3,999 (£43/$53/€48). However, Realme will also be announcing several AIoT products today as part of the Realme X3 SuperZoom launch, this will include: Realme Watch, Realme Band, Realme Powerbank 2 and Realme Buds Air Neo. It is unknown what the UK/EE price will be but expect it to be more than the converted Indian price. The watch itself is essentially a fitness tracker cum feature watch. It is not strictly what you would...

Netgear Orbi WiFi6 AX6000 Review – Is a mesh Wi-Fi 6 system worth £700? (RBK852)

by James Smythe | May 25, 2020 | Networking, News, Reviews | 0

With most flagship phones and new laptops using Wi-Fi 6, there is a growing demand for routers and mesh systems that can serve them. As seen on my router reviews, Wi-Fi 6 comes with a high early adopter tax, so then when you double up and get a mesh system, you end with the crazy-expensive Netgear Orbi WiFi6 RBK852. The two-pack system will set you back £700, and if you need three devices to cover a large property, you will be forking out just shy of £1000! Sale NETGEAR Orbi, RBK852-100EUS Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System –...

XIAOMI REDMI K30I 5G IS IDENTICAL VS REDMI K30 5G BUT WITH A DOWNGRADED CAMERA BUT NO REAL SAVING ON PRICE

by James Smythe | May 25, 2020 | News, Phones & Mobile | 0

Redmi has officially launched the Redmi K30i 5G in China without much fanfare. This is likely because there is not much to say or get excited about. The phone is essentially identical to the Redmi K30 5G which was announced in December 2019 with one minor spec change. The main camera has been swapped from a 64MP lens with a 1/1.72” sensor size to a lower grade 48MP sensor that is 1/2.0″. Price Reduction? Not really The main selling point of this would have been a lower price point, and that is technically true when comparing the RRP. The...

Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 1020 still on schedule with TSMC

by James Smythe | May 24, 2020 | News, Phones & Mobile | 0

Huawei's woes seem to be never-ending at the moment, and this probably won't ease up while President Trump remains in power. It was recently confirmed that the current trade ban against Huawei would be extended for at least one more year. However, things have escalated a bit further than that with the US blocking Huawei's ability to trade with the Taiwanese based TSMC. While a Taiwanese company may not seem like it should get embroiled with this dispute, the technology they use US technology or equipment, which is then not allowed to be used with Huawei. TSMC also has plants...

AMD Ryzen 7 4700G vs AMD Ryzen 7 3700X – New CPUs with integrated GPU will offer high-end CPU performance without the need of a discrete GPU

by James Smythe | May 23, 2020 | CPUs, News | 0

Several leaks have been coming out regarding the next generation of AMD's Ryzen 4000 ‘Renoir' APUs, which is the line-up of CPUs with an integrated GPU on the chip. While Intel has offered this functionality as default on many of their CPUs, AMD has traditional only used it on their affordable G-series chips. The current generation includes the 4-core 4-thread Ryzen 3 3200G which costs just £80 and tops out with the 4-core 8-thread Ryzen 5 3400G Processor which costs less than £140. Sale AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor (4C/8T, 6 MB cache, 4.2 GHz Max Boost) with Radeon...

AMD X570 vs B550 vs B450 Chipset Comparison – Is PCIe 4.0 worth the additional cost?

by James Smythe | May 22, 2020 | Motherboards, News | 0

The latest AMD Ryzen 3000 series has been out for a while now. However, the latest generation chipset available has only been the premium X570. Finally, this is set to change with the launch of the affordable gaming orientated B550 motherboards. The X570 chipset launched with a massive price increase compared to the previous generation, while prices have come down a little, there is still a big premium to pay. While it is possible to use the older X470 and B450 motherboard with the latest Ryzen CPUs, you would not get the benefit of PCIe 4.0 support. It is...

What is the best portable air conditioning unit in the UK? Portable Air Conditioner Buying Guide 2020

by James Smythe | May 22, 2020 | Fitness, Gift Guides & Shopping, Home Automation, News | 0

Weather-wise we have had an amazing Spring, shame about everything else. Hopefully, as the lockdown eases the weather will continue to be amazing through summer which will may make the current situation marginally easier. However, with warm weather comes warm nights and uncomfortable sleeping, and there is nothing worse than a bad nights sleep. For me it has a significant impact on my mental health, not what I need right now. Personally I use a fan to help with sleep, if you buy one with a large number of speed settings you can normally get it running silently and...