Reviews - Page 10 of 119 - CNX Software

October 3, 2023October 3, 2023 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 20 Comments

Review of the first Matter device by SONOFF – MINI Extreme Wi-Fi Smart Switch (MINIR4M)

We have just received the first Matter product from SONOFF for review, which is the Mini Extreme Switch (MINIR4M) model. Its external appearance closely resembles the Mini Extreme Switch Wifi (MINIR4) which we reviewed previously. They have different colors to distinguish between WiFi (Orange) and Matter (Green). In this review, we have experimented with various Smart Home platforms that support Matter, such as Home Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and even their own eWeLink app. Let’s see how their operations and features differ to some extent. Quick intro for Matter. We have heard Matter/Thread together in the news. Matter is a control protocol, while Thread is a communication protocol. Both protocols can work together, or separately. Matter can operate on the top of various communication protocols, including WiFi, Ethernet, BLE, or Thread, with subtle differences such as energy efficiency, network, and resiliency. What’s crucial to note is that Matter acts […]

September 26, 2023October 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Review of Arylic BP50 Bluetooth 5.2 preamplifier with TIDAL Music

Arylic has sent us a sample of their low-cost BP50 Bluetooth 5.2 preamplifier for review. It features an ESS Saber ES9023P DAC chip and Qualcomm QCC3040 Bluetooth chip with support for aptX, aptX HD (High Definition), aptX LL (Low Latency), and aptX AD (Adaptive). It offers many input-output connections such as phono preamp MM/MC, optical, Line-in, subwoofer output, and HDMI ARC. You can find the full details about the specifications in the aforelinked announcement. Arylic BP50 unboxing Let’s start our review with an unboxing. Our package came with the following items: Arylic BP50 Bluetooth 5.2 preamplifier A 12V/1A power supply 2x Bluetooth antennas (3dBi) A remote Control A user manual As a reminder, here are the ports on the back of the preamplifier as shown in a stock image from the company. Test setup For this review, we’ve connected the Arylic BP50 Bluetooth preamplifier’s Line-Out port to the CD Audio […]

September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Review of Youyeetoo Rockchip RK3568 SBC with Lubuntu 20.04 and the RKNPU2 AI SDK

We’ve already reviewed the Rockchip RK3568-power Youyeetoo YY3568 SBC with Android 11 – and listed the specifications and checked out the hardware kit – in the first part of the review. We now had time to switch to Lubuntu 20.04, perform some basic tests, and also have a closer look at the RKNPU2 AI SDK for the built-in 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator found in the Rockchip RK3568 SoC. Installing Ubuntu or Debian on YY3568 SBC The company provides both Debian and Ubuntu images for the YY3568 SBC with different images depending on the boot device (SD card or eMMC flash) and video interface used (DSI, eDP, HDMI). Our YY3568 “Bundle 5” kit comes with an 11.6-inch eDP display so we’ll select the “Ubuntu 20” image with edp in the file name. The RKDevTool program is used to flash Linux images and it’s the same procedure as we used with Android […]

September 19, 2023September 22, 2023 by Sponsored Post - Comments Off

Review of ALLPCB PCB manufacturing services with an ESP8266 board (Sponsored)

ALLPCB, a PCB manufacturer based in China, has offered us to review their PCB manufacturing services. We’ve taken them up on their offer and will report our experience with the ordering process, shipping, and the board itself, in this review. We will be using the E66 Transmitter board based on an ESP8266 module, and designed to read values from an I2C sensor and send them over RS485 using the Modbus RTU protocol for a range of up to 1.2 km. Since the E66 Transmitter can also connect to WiFi thanks to the ESP8266 module, Modbus TCP is also supported. Since we have our PCB design ready, we can go to the ALLPCB website to start the ordering process. We just had to upload the Gerber files, and then select parameters such as the number of boards, the number of layers, thickness, material type, and whether to include a Stencil or […]

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Review of CM4 XGO Lite – A Raspberry Pi CM4 based smart robot dog with a robotic arm

The CM4 XGO Lite is a smart robot dog based on Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module and designed to learn to program using Blockly, Python, and ROS. This four-legged robot also happens to feature a 3-joint robot arm and a robot gripper installed on the back that can pick up light objects. The Raspberry Pi CM4 module drives the LCD screen and camera and performs AI and computer vision processing, while each joint is controlled with a servo motor, and a 6-axis tilt sensor ensures stable walking and movement. We’ve already discussed the capabilities of the CM4 XGO Lite, aka XGO Lite 2, when it was announced earlier this year, so we’re not going to go into details here, but some of the highlights include support for faster AI edge computing applications such as face detection and object classification, omnidirectional movement, six-dimensional posture control, posture stability, and multiple motion gaits. Robot […]

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Using SenseCAP T1000 LoRaWAN GPS Tracker for cattle tracking

SenseCAP T1000 Review Smart Agriculture Cattle Tracking

SenseCAP T1000 is a credit-size GPS tracker using LoRaWAN low-power long-range connectivity. Smart Agriculture is one specific application that can leverage IoT and LoRaWAN to analyze and manage soil, crops, and water, but also to track the location of livestock. This is an important aspect of farming, and we’ll use the SenseCAP T1000 LoRaWAN GPS tracker to track cattle in this article/review. SenseCAP T1000 unboxing The package contains the SenseCAP T1000 GPS Tracker device, which is about the size of a credit card, and a charging cable. Smart cattle tracking with SenseCAP T1000 LoRaWAN tracker Here are some of the benefits and features of Smart cattle tracking: Identify the location of the swarm in real-time Identify animals easily Increase efficiency and reduce human labor Secure your farm by using the tracker as an anti-theft device Weather change alerts Virtual fence to generate an alert when the animal leaves the designated […]

September 2, 2023September 19, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Review of CrowView 14-inch portable monitor with laptops and mini PCs

I received an early sample of the CrowView 14-inch laptop monitor for review a few weeks ago, and regular readers may have seen me already use it in some mini PC reviews, but I’ve yet to review the monitor itself, so I’ll report my experience using both laptops and mini PCs running Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04. CrowView laptop monitor unboxing The display ships in a retail package highlighting the main features of the display such as its Full HD resolution, compatibility with 13 to 16.5-inch laptop displays, 160° viewing angle, and its mechanical clamping mechanism. The CrowView display ships with a 12V/2A power supply, USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C cables, an HDMI to mini HDMI cable, a velcro tie, some stickers, and a user manual in English. The clamping mechanism can be found on the back of the display. There are also four buttons on the bottom […]

August 30, 2023December 28, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Blackview MP80 review – Part 2: An Intel Processor N95 mini PC tested with Windows 11

In the first part of our Blackview MP80 Mini PC review we’ve looked at the specifications of the Intel Alder Lake-N Processor N95 pocket-sized mini PC, gone through an unboxing, a (limited) teardown, and given it a quick try in Windows 11. We’ve now had time to test the mini PC with Windows 11 more thoroughly and the MP80 mini PC works quite well and smoothly for its size. So in the second part of the review, we’ll report our experience, run some benchmarks, test hardware features, and so on. Software overview and Blackview MP80’s features testing The System->About section in Windows settings confirms the Blackview MP80 mini PC is powered by an Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N CPU with 16 GB RAM, and comes with Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 OS build 22621.1702. HWiNFO64 provides more details about the Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor, the motherboard (Shenzhen […]