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I previously wrote an article comparing Zigbee vs Z-Wave and the pros and cons of each smart home technology. Thread is a new smart home communication protocol that builds upon the Zigbee specification and is available at no cost; however, this requires agreement and continued adherence to an End-User License Agreement (EULA). Albeit, you have …

Read More about What are the differences between Zigbee vs Thread – Pros & Cons of Each Standard

I have recently covered several smart home products, and many of these use the Zigbee communication protocol. There is also the Z-Wave which I have covered extensively in the past, and then you have Thread which is an up-and-coming protocol. It can get confusing what the difference is between these technologies and which is best, …

Read More about What are the differences between Z-Wave vs Zigbee – Pros & cons of each standard

Creative announced the Sound Blaster PLAY! 4 back in February, offering some useful improvements from the previous Sound Blaster PLAY! 3. With most of us working from home in the past year, Creative has added several features to the Sound Blaster Play! 4 that will significantly improve the quality of calls, including a clever auto-muting …

Read More about Creative Sound Blaster Play! 4 USB-C DAC Review – An affordable portable DAC with added mic features to improve your Zoom calls

OnePlus have arguably shifted their strategy from being the flagship killer to going right up against premium-priced flagship phones. As they introduced more features to keep critics happy, the prices went up, causing critics from a different direction. Similar to previous years, the OnePlus 9 Pro ups the spec with a new Hasselblad collaboration with …

Read More about OnePlus 9 Pro Review – A rollercoaster of emotions, but the sweet spot for price/performance so far in 2021

THX, the renowned audio company originally founded by George Lucas, has traditionally never developed hardware. THX itself is a quality assurance system guaranteeing that the sound produced by something meets its standards. Originally this was for movie theatres ensuring everything was perfectly set up to replicate the sound of movies perfectly. This certification then trickled …

Read More about THX Onyx USB-C DAC/Amplifier launched, offering high-fidelity music, movie and gaming audio when listening over headphones

Ring has been on one with product launches recently; with pressure increasing from competing brands, they will likely want to establish their dominance (in the doorbell market at least). Ring Video Doorbell 4 with colour pre-roll for £179 – No Plus model? I was provided with an embargoed announcement to write this up, which is …

Read More about Ring Video Doorbell 4 & Floodlight Cam Wired Pro Announced for £179 & £219 – New colour pre-roll

As usual Samsung are at the forefront of introducing the latest Wi-Fi to their consumer devices. They were one of the only companies to offer WiFi 6 back in 2019 when the Samsung Galaxy S10 launched. This trend has continued, this year the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra features WiFi 6E while other phones such as …

Read More about MediaTek & Samsung Introduce World’s First Wi-Fi 6E Enabled 8K TV – Samsung 8K QLED Y21

When the Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 was first announced, I expressed some criticism towards Qualcomm; rebranding an existing chipset seems lazy and a marketing gimmick. However, I am not opposed to the reusing of old chipsets, I thought it was a superb idea with the Realme X3 SuperZoom. It is likely Qualcomm saw the value in …

Read More about Snapdragon 860 vs 765G vs 732G vs 732G vs Dimensity 800 Benchmarks – The Poco X3 Pro reusing an old flagship chipset yields a huge performance advantage vs mid-range

TRENDnet (Trendnet for the rest of this review) recently launched two affordable unmanaged 2.5G switches, one 5-port and the other 8-port. Being an unmanaged switch, this will be a relatively short review, but I have been quite obsessed with multi-gig Ethernet in recent years and always on the quest for an affordable solution. Price per …

Read More about TRENDnet TEG-S350 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5G Switch Review – Helping drive the cost of multi-gig Ethernet down

Suunto is prolonging the life of their watches by giving them a bit of a refurb. Both the Suunto 7 and 9 now come with a Titanium option giving them a “new minimalistic design with high-grade five titanium bezels.” The Suunto 7 is by far the best looking WearOS watch in my opinion, so I …

Read More about Suunto 7 & 9 now come in a titanium trim. Suunto 5/7/9 all get turn by turn navigation via Komoot

When I reviewed the Xiaomi Mi 11 at the start of the year, I had some concerns over sustained performance with high loads and battery life. This issue was then reflected with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and its Exynos 2100 chipset. While both chipsets are incredibly powerful, it seemed like the introduction of the …

Read More about OnePlus 9 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 11 & Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Benchmarks & Performance – Does the Snapdragon 888 still have throttling & battery issues?