Reviews - Page 56 of 119 - CNX Software

March 18, 2018March 28, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

WeLoop Hey 3S Sports Smartwatch Review – Part 1: Specifications, Unboxing, First Try with Android App(s)

It’s been a while since I have reviewed a smartwatch or fitness tracker, simply because I found most devices to be lacking, and break easily after a few weeks or months. It’s also difficult to find a device that combines long battery life, waterproofness, a decent screen, and all that at a reasonable price. But I decided to give it another try when Geekbuying asked me whether I was interested in reviewing WeLoop Hey 3S sports smartwatch with 5 ATM waterproofness, a standby time of 30 days, a color display, an optical HRM, and built-in GPS. I’ve just received it , so I’ll start by posting specifications about the watch, and checkout what’s inside the package. Weloop Hey 3S Specifications Display – 1.28″ color memory LCD display with 176×176 resolution, touchscreen Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE, built-in GPS Sensors – Heart rate monitor Battery – 270 mAh LiPo battery good […]

March 14, 2018 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 26 Comments

Intel NUC7CJYSAL “June Canyon” Gemini Lake NUC Mini PC Review with Windows 10 and Ubuntu

The hardware specification for mini PCs has recently evolved past the traditional fixed amount of memory and storage. Now mini PCs are shipping with SODIMM slots allowing RAM expansion and a variety of M.2 or SSD combos providing flexible storage options. Recent mini PCs are also coming to market with desktop processors rather than mobile processors because there has been a gradual acceptance of the necessary inclusion of a small internal fan. In doing so not only is this addressing the key limiting factors for mini PCs but it is also redefines the very definition of a mini PC. Until recently Intel NUCs (Next Unit of Computing) were seen as small-form-factor personal computers primarily because they consisted of the traditional motherboard with a processor, included removable RAM and storage and were enclosed in a case with an external power supply. They were also sold as kits meaning they were essentially […]

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 14 Comments

Sonoff S31 Smart Socket Review – Power Consumption Monitoring with eWelink Android App

Today we are looking at the Sonoff S31. It is another device in the Sonoff line by ITEAD Studio. Similar to the Sonoff POW, you can see power usage but on the S31 you can keep historical data up to 100 days. This time around I am using it with the standard firmware, and will not be flashing the popular MQTT Tasmota firmware. Specifications per ITEAD website: Max. Current: 16A Voltage Input: 90~264V AC, 50/60HZ Wireless Standard: 2.4GHz, 802.11 b/g/n Receive Sensitivity: 802.11b: <-84dBm(11Mbps); 802.11g: <-68dBm(54Mbps) Output Power: 802.11b:16±2dBm; 802.11g:13±2dBm Security Mechanism: WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Encryption: AES/TKIP Working Temp: -20 °C ~ 75 °C Working Humidity: 10%-80% Product Dimensions: 75.7×39.7x32mm Gang: 1 Weight: 135g Certification: FCC (Download) Sonoff S31 Unboxing & Teardown Taking the S31 apart is rather easy but I did not take it fully apart for fear of breaking it. Just pop the power button off the left side. Then […]

March 3, 2018March 3, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 9 Comments

Raiscube A8R 3D Printer Review

Hello Karl here with a look at the Raiscube A8R. If you recall I reviewed the R2 3D printer quite a while ago. I really liked the R2, so when I heard that this newer version came out I reached out to Raiscube directly and asked for a review sample. Raiscube kindly obliged, and I am so glad that they did. The A8R is the upgraded version to the R2. The most prominent differences is the acrylic frame is gone, being replaced with an aluminum frame, and the build time is slashed considerably. Build Volume: 210 x 210 x 225mm Material diameter: 1.75mm Direct Drive Extruder Dual Z 12V/25A power supply Up to 95°C on the bed Up to 250°C on the nozzle Ramps Plus2 Board v1.8.26 Educational Opportunity This review has been in the works since last November. I liked it a lot so wanted to put it through […]

February 26, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Onda V18 Pro Tablet Review – Part 2: Android 7.1 Firmware

Onda V18 Pro is one of the first tablet powered by Allwinner A63 processor allowing for low-cost tablets with high resolution 2K displays (2560×1600). I received a sample from GearBest, and I already checked out the hardware and run Antutu 7 benchmark in the first part of the review entitled “Onda V18 Pro (Allwinner A63) 2K Tablet Review – Part 1: Unboxing, First Boot, and Antutu 7 Benchmark“. I’ve now spent more time with the tablet browsing the web, watching YouTube videos, reading books, playing games, and running some more benchmarks, so I’ll report my findings in this second part of the review. General Impressions I’ve found the tablet’s high resolution 10.1″ display to be very good for reading books or browsing the web, albeit the latter feels a bit slower than on Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone (my main phone). As we’ll see later on, 3D graphics is not that […]

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

A First Look at ESP32-LyraTD-MSC Audio Mic HDK with Baidu DuerOS Assistant

Earlier this year, Espressif Systems had unveiled their ESP32-LyraTD-MSC Audio MiC HDK (Hardware Development Kit) which features an ESP32-WROOM module, a 4-mic array DSP, 3 microphones, an audio jack, and various I/Os. I received the board a couple of weeks ago, and while there’s no public information released yet, the company provided me with ESP32-LyraTD-MSC User Guide in English. Eventually, I’d expect Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to be supported, but in the meantime I had to leverage my (lowly) Chinese language skills to get started since the kit is pre-loaded with firmware connecting to Baidu DuerOS voice assistant. ESP32-LyraTD-MSC Unboxing The kit came in a bland Espressif Systems carton box. Inside the package, I could only find one kit comprised of two boards. The bottom board read ESP32_MicrosemiDSP_Mainboard-V1, and does not show much apart from marking for connectors, headers and the power switch. While the top comes with eight […]

February 15, 2018February 26, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Onda V18 Pro (Allwinner A63) 2K Tablet Review – Part 1: Unboxing, First Boot, and Antutu 7 Benchmark

Announced last June, Allwinner A63 is the latest tablet SoC from the company, with a quad core Cortex A53 processor and a Mali-T760MP2 GPU capable of driving 2K displays. One of the first tablet to feature the SoC is Onda V18 Pro with a 10.1″ 2560×1600 high resolution display, 3GB RAM, 32 or 64GB internal storage, and the capability to play 4K H.265/H.264/VP9 videos (obviously downscale to the display resolution). I was interested in checking it out, and GearBest sent me a sample of the 32GB flash version. I’ll do a two part review, starting with unboxing, and first boot where I’ll run CPU-Z and Antutu, before publishing the rest of the review in a few weeks once I got to use it more and performed more tests. Onda V18 Pro Unboxing The tablet comes is a white “V-series” box, Onda likely uses for all their VXX tablets.They just differentiate […]

February 15, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 16 Comments

JGAURORA A5 Review – A Large Build 3D Printer That Works (Mostly) Out of the Box

Karl here and today we are going to look at the JGAURORA A5. I specifically asked Gearbest for this printer. Features and specs looks good. Not to mention that you can go from opening the box to printing in 20 min. Nice large build volume of 305 x 305 x 320mm. Color touch screen. Filament runout sensor. Power Fail feature. Power Fail is so nice. I have lost some long prints due to power going out. I have not lost any for filament because I have always been conscious of it but it’s nice to have peace of mind. The A5 has an assisted leveling feature that is nice. When using this feature there are 5 point that it will go to. One in each corner and one in the center and you adjust the bed. It saves a little time and I believe is standard feature in Marlin now. […]