Gadget

A new alternative to the Raspberry Pi has been presented. Called the Kimχ Micro, the Raspberry Pi Zero-sized micro SBC has a quad-core processor and a mPCIe slot for adding PCIe cards.

Dell Canada has launched the WH-1000XM4, confirming a June 23 release date. The retailer has confirmed that Sony's next-generation headphones will not support the aptX or aptX HD Bluetooth codecs. Additionally, Sony has made no battery life improvements from the WH-1000XM3 and continues to use its last-generation QN1 noise-cancelling processor.

The new Xiaomi Redmi Smart TV X sets have gone on sale, with customers currently able to choose between the Redmi Smart TV X55 and the Redmi Smart TV X65. The 4K smart televisions, which have a screen ratio of up to 97% and utilize MEMC technology, are priced at 1,699 yuan (US$240) and 2,999 yuan (US$424), respectively.

A new expansion board promises to make it easier to utilise the Raspberry Pi for STEM learning. Called the Micro:bit STEM for Lab kit, the expansion board provides a simple way to connect multiple sensors and an OLED display to the Raspberry Pi.

Apple's recent investment of US$330 million in a Taiwanese microLED factory in Taiwan prompted rumours that an Apple Watch using this advanced display technology would be arriving later this year. This will not be the case, according to one leaker.

Gearbest has confirmed that the global edition of the Mi Band 5 will cost US$42.99, with the Chinese model costing a few dollars less at US$39.99. Both models will support multiple upgrades from the Mi Band 4, including NFC support. Xiaomi will unveil the Mi Band 5 on June 11.

The Honor Magic Earbuds are a good set of TWS earbuds, but ones that are let down by short battery life and limited controls. If you can look past these faults, then the Magic Earbuds offer good value for money at under €100/£100.

A leak has confirmed that Samsung is planning to release its next smartwatch as the Galaxy Watch 3. The smartwatch will come in two sizes and will be joined by the Galaxy Buds X, which may be called the Galaxy Buds Live.

Xiaomi continues to tease the Mi Band 5 ahead of the release of the fitness tracker on June 11. The company has promised that the Mi Band 5 will feature at least seven major upgrades over the Mi Band 4, including magnetic charging and the ability to use the device to take pictures remotely.

The Xiaomi Mijia Laser Projector 1S 4K has been unveiled, bringing 4K resolution and high brightness to up to 150-inch screens. The Mijia Laser Projector 1S 4K has a normal listed price of 14,999 yuan (US$2,121) but is on offer during the 618 shopping festival at a price of 12,999 yuan (US$1,838).

Xiaomi has confirmed the design of the Mi Band 5 ahead of the release of its next fitness tracker on June 11. Available in up to seven colours, the Mi Band 5 will feature a larger display than its predecessor, along with a Spo2 sensor. Even the global model will support NFC for making contactless payments, too.

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau took to Twitter to announce that the company would be releasing a new line of affordable smart TVs in India. Sources familiar with the matter state that prices could start at $200, making it an attractive buy for those on a budget.

The Raspberry Pi 4 is the most powerful single-board computer (SBC) released by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to date, and it got even more powerful recently with the introduction of the new 8 GB variant. We’ve got our hands on the new Pi and paired it with one of the most popular cases custom built for it, the Argon ONE, to find out if it could make for a reasonable desktop computing solution.

Timex has announced two new smartwatches, the Metropolitan R and Metropolitan S. Created in partnership with Amazfit, one model looks strikingly similar to the Apple Watch. Both the Metropolitan R and Metropolitan S will retail for US$179 and will be available to order from June 10.

Realme has been celebrating some impressive sales figures over the last few days. First the Chinese OEM announced it had sold 15,000 smart televisions in barely 10 minutes and then shortly after 15,000 units of the Realme Watch were sold in just two minutes. Realme could be picking up where Xiaomi has seemingly left off.

Huami, the OEM behind the Amazfit brand of wearables, found its way into the top 5 names in the smartwatch market during the first quarter of this year (1Q2020). It was also in the US top 5 in the same terms, and was #1 in some countries, including Spain, Indonesia and India.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 name has been revealed in a new round of technical certification. It was previously unknown if the smartwatch would be called the Galaxy Watch 2 or Galaxy Watch Active 3, so it looks like Samsung has plumped for an understandable compromise with the moniker Galaxy Watch 3.

With the NanoSound One, you can transform the Raspberry Pi into a versatile audio system with an integrated Hi-Fi DAC. The NanoSound One supports multiroom, Spotify and Tidal among other music streaming services.

Nokia has announced a new Smart TV, complementing the 55-inch model that it released some time ago. The new 43-inch model features Android TV, integrated JBL speakers and supports 4K HDR10 content.

The Mobvoi TicPods have offered a compelling alternative to Apple's AirPods for a while now. However, Mobvoi has now added active noise cancellation (ANC), a feature that is rarely available on TWS earbuds at under US$100.

OPPO is taking on the smartband market thanks to the introduction of the OPPO Band, OPPO Band Fashion, and OPPO Band EVA. The cheapest of the three, the OPPO Band, is priced at 199 yuan (US$28) and was launched today. The OPPO Band series will be taking on competitors like the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 and the Redmi Band.

A new leak has confirmed that Xiaomi will be bringing NFC to all versions of the Mi Band 5. The fitness tracker, which is expected to be launched on June 11, will also feature a larger display than its predecessor among other changes.

A new project has demonstrated that it is possible to build a VR headset on the cheap. Utilising an Arduino Micro and a Google Cardboard-compatible headset, the project can bring VR to a PC for under US$80.

NexDock has announced its next laptop dock, the NexDock Touch. As its name implies, the NexDock Touch has a touchscreen, which is contained within a 1080p and 14-inch IPS display. The NexDock Touch features a 60 Wh battery, a host of ports and four speakers. The laptop dock is available to order for US$249 will ship at the end of August.

Walmart has confirmed several specifications and the pricing of the Sony WH-1000XM4. Priced at US$348 on Walmart, the over-ear headphones are likely to cost US$349 at other retailers. LDAC returns, but there is no mention of aptX or aptX HD support. Walmart has confirmed that Sony will be bringing DSEE Extreme, Precise Voice Pickup and Multipoint connection technologies to the WH-1000XM4 too.

Timex and Xiaomi subsidiary Huami have seemingly teamed up to create the Timex Metropolitan R and Timex Metropolitan S smartwatches. The Timex Metropolitan smartwatches, which are clearly inspired by Huami Amazfit devices, are priced at US$179 each and are expected to be released around mid-June.

The Seeed Studio BeagleBone platform has received an upgrade. Released as the Green Gateway, the small single-board computer now supports Bluetooth, Ethernet and Wi-Fi. The improved connectivity comes at the cost of two USB ports, though. The BeagleBone Green Gateway is available to order now for US$59.90.

Xiaomi has started offering the Mi Band 4 NFC version outside of its domestic market. The wearable is currently listed on the Mi store for Russia and is priced at 3,990 Russian rubles (US$58). The Chinese company is expected to roll-out the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 NFC in other parts of Europe soon.

The FCC has confirmed that Google will be shortly releasing an Android TV dongle. Apparently codenamed Sabrina, the device will be available in three colours and will support Dolby Vision. The Google Android TV dongle will retail for under US$80, too.

The Sony Xperia 10 II is here after months of waiting. The device, which features a 6.0-inch display and a Snapdragon 665 SoC, has been shown to have more modular and repairable parts than many of its peers.

Vivo has unveiled its latest wireless audio product for the Chinese market. The Vivo TWS Neo supports Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive codec, Bluetooth 5.2, and even has a low-latency mode for gaming. The earphones retail at CNY 499($70) and are available for purchase on Vivo's official website. There is no word about its international release.

A new project transforms the humble Raspberry Pi into a simple and affordable surveillance camera system. Using just a Raspberry Pi, Python, a motion detector and a Raspberry Pi camera, the project can email you photos if you are away from your home whenever it detects motion.

Xiaomi has released a new USB Type-C 65 W PD fast charger that can be used with a diverse range of products from the Dell XPS 15 through the Nintendo Switch to the Redmi K20 Pro. Xiaomi claims the 99 yuan (US$14) product can fully charge an Apple MacBook Pro 13 in 1 h 50 m and a MacBook Pro 15 in 2 h 25 m.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is definitely coming soon thanks to details revealed by Xiaomi on the Chinese social media site Weibo. The company will be officially announcing the Mi Band 5 on June 11, and it will later be released for sale on June 18. New renders of the wearable show the device without any sign of a punch hole.

The Lenovo Smart Clock is currently on offer at Best Buy. The useful smart home device is usually priced at US$79.99, but it has been reduced by US$40 at the moment, bringing the price down to a very tempting US$39.99. The Lenovo Smart Clock with Google Assistant is an ideal entry product or addition to a smart home.

A new Samsung Galaxy Watch has been discovered in recent FCC files, with a total of four different model numbers being spotted. It is believed that there will be two variants with LTE connectivity, while two other Samsung Galaxy Watch models will be Wi-Fi only versions. This potential Galaxy Watch Active 3 could be announced very soon.

The well-known manufacturer Akasa has released several new cases for the Raspberry Pi. These should offer particularly good cooling and ensure stable performance without resorting to using active cooling solutions.

The Redmi Smart TV X55 from Xiaomi has had its price considerably slashed ahead of going on sale. The new price tag for the television is 1,699 yuan (US$237). This puts the Redmi Smart TV X55, which features a 4K screen and 32 GB storage, at the same price as the just launched 55-inch rival Honor Vision X1 Smart TV.

Qualcomm has announced a range of XR viewers, a novel product category possible due to 5G speeds and bandwidth. They are intended to deliver high-quality content to be supported by the smartphones they connect to via USB type C, and will be made by companies such as Panasonic and OPPO.

The Redmi Display 1A monitor from Xiaomi is now official and has been put up for pre-sale. Customers in China can reserve one of the external monitors for 100 yuan (US$14) deposit while the full price for the Redmi Display 1A is 599 yuan (US$84). The thinnest part of the display measures a tiny 7.3 mm.

Xiaomi has confirmed the Mi TV Stick during an online event. Expected to run Android TV and support 4K HDR along with DTS-HD audio, the Mi TV Stick may cost upwards of US$100.

Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Smart X TV series. Available in three sizes, the X50, X55 and X65 are all 4K TVs with MEMC motion compensation. Xiaomi has equipped all models with 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage. The Redmi Smart X series incorporates four 12.5 W speakers too and includes subwoofer sound effects.

The expected battery capacity for a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 device has been discovered, and it seems that a potential Galaxy Tab S7+ model will end up with a battery capacity of over 10,000 mAh. This is a huge step-up from the 7,040-mAh capacity of the predecessor Galaxy Tab S6.

Redmi has launched a new pair of TWS earphones in India called the Redmi Earbuds S. It boasts of up to four hours of continuous playback on a single charge, splash resistance, and a 122ms low-latency mode for gaming. It is available on Xiaomi's website for Rs 1,799 (~$24.)

Fujifilm has introduced the flagship X-T4 mirrorless camera in India. The X-T4 comes with faster autofocus, in-body image stabilization (IBIS), an Eterna Bleach Bypass film simulation mode, a new shutter mechanism that allows for 15 fps bursts, and a larger battery. Pricing of the Fujifilm X-T4 starts from ₹154,999 (US$2,048) for the body only. Optional Fujinon lens kits and accessories are also available.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 fitness tracker will reportedly feature a smartphone camera controller among its array of functions. On top of that, five new fitness categories have been added to the included list of workout activities, and the Mi Band 5 will also be able to display an analog watch face if the user so desires.

Powkiddy has launched a new, handheld games console. The Powkiddy X2 costs US$80 and looks unmistakably like the Nintendo Switch.

The Udoo X86 II is a new alternative to the popular Raspberry Pi. The single-board computer (SBC) has been designed using an Arduino Leonardo-compatible platform and has a quad-core X86 processor.

Rumour has it that the AirPods Studio may have already entered mass production. Slated to be announced at WWDC 2020 next month, the US$349 over-ear headphones will compete with the likes of the Bose 700, the upcoming Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Surface Headphones 2.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 wearable fitness tracker has supposedly been leaked once again in some live photos. The alleged Mi Band 5 is shown being plugged into its charging station in the latest images. Few additional details are offered with the leaked photos, although a price of 200 yuan (US$28) has been speculated.