Founder of lesterchan.net, a Singapore tech and gadgets blog running since 2002. An engineering leader by day and a WordPress plugin developer since 2003, with a soft spot for gadgets, smart home, and a good deal.
Passport is Zendure's world-first fail-safe global travel adapter. Its Kickstarter, launched in June 2017, raised US$217,053 from 4,887 backers. It shipped to me that November. The standout feature is an auto-resetting fuse to protect your devices.
My Synology DS415play was showing its age, often failing to stream video via Plex to my Apple TV 4K and forcing a VLC workaround. This post looks at the DS418play, the natural upgrade to address those streaming bottlenecks.
Zero Latency, a free-roam multiplayer virtual reality gaming experience, has landed in Singapore as its 14th branch worldwide, after cities in Japan, the US, Spain, and Australia. It's brought in by Tomorrow Entertainment, who also own Bounce Singapore.
Following my unboxing post, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro scored 173,824 on AnTuTu, about 44% faster than last year's Mate 9, largely on 3D and UX gains. I'm glad Huawei shrank the top and bottom bezels.
As I planned to upgrade my Synology DS216+ to the DS918+, which supports two M.2 NVMe SSDs for fast cache, Synology connected me with Samsung, which sponsored two Samsung 960 Evo NVMe M.2 1TB SSDs for the build.
The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is officially available in Singapore today for S$1,098, from Huawei Concept Stores, telcos, Lazada, and electronics retailers like Courts and Harvey Norman. Two colours are offered, Mocha Brown and Midnight Blue.
Not many realise Synology makes its own brand of RAM, which it recommends for full compatibility and reliability. Made in Taiwan with a three-year warranty, it comes in SO-DIMM for prosumers and ECC modules for enterprise users.
The Cafflano Klassic failed its first 2014 Kickstarter but succeeded on a 2015 relaunch, raising £31,524 from 658 backers. Made in South Korea, it's a portable all-in-one coffee maker, packing a grinder, dripper, and tumbler into one unit.
The BenQ EW2770QZ 27-inch QHD Monitor retails for S$599 on BenQ's Lazada store. This QHD IPS panel has built-in 2W stereo speakers, two HDMI 1.4 ports, and DisplayPort, and is part of BenQ's TUV Rheinland-certified Eye-Care series.
This year Apple offers three official iPhone X cases: Silicone, Leather, and the new Folio. After a good experience with the iPhone 7 Plus Silicone Case, I stuck with the Silicone in black. It retails for S$58.
I'd wanted the Nomad Universal Cable, the only rugged 3-in-1 supporting Lightning, USB-C, and Micro-USB. Its core USB-A to Micro-USB cable adds MFi Lightning and USB-C tips, wrapped in braided 500D ballistic nylon.
For the first time, Singapore gets three Huawei Mate 10 models: the Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, and Porsche Design Mate 10. Singapore is the first market for the Mate 10 Pro. The Mate 10 retails for S$888.
On my first visit to South Korea, unsure what to buy, I followed my friend's lifehack of browsing Airfrov, a platform where travellers bring back requested overseas products. That's how I discovered the Onan Korea Lumena N9 portable fan.
I bought the Apple TV 4K at iStudio in Changi Airport Terminal 2 on my way to South Korea. Buying in the departure area saved the 7% GST, so the 32GB cost me S$250.47, below the S$268 retail price.
With semitseasia now the official V-MODA distributor in Singapore, the first product I tried is the Forza Metallo Wireless Earphones, retailing for S$289. It's V-MODA's third earphone, following the wired Forza and the Forza Metallo.
Vornado air circulators had been on my list, recommended by a colleague. Pricier than ordinary fans but cheaper than a Dyson, an air circulator moves all the air in a room rather than blowing in one direction.
In the second part of my Homey review, I focus on the desktop app. In my opinion, it has the best UI/UX of any smart home hub. Built in Node.js and packaged with Electron, it's split into several sections.
Google Pixel 2 XL arrives in Singapore from 15th November 2017, exclusive to Singtel; the smaller Pixel 2 won't be sold here. Two colours are offered, Just Black and Black & White, both in 64GB.
Homey is a smart home hub from Athom supporting a wide range of wireless technologies. It began as a Kickstarter in May 2014, raising €203,918 from 996 backers, but shipped well past its targeted June 2015 date.
The Linksys EA9300 Max-Stream AC4000 Tri-Band Router launched in August 2017 at S$399. Not Linksys's flagship, that's still the EA9500, it succeeds the EA9200 from two years prior. Yet its 1.8GHz quad-core CPU makes it the most powerful.
I've used the original KeySmart since March 2017, impressed enough to buy Li Xiang one after a month. So when KeySmart announced the Pro with Tile location tracking in June 2017, I pre-ordered as an early bird without hesitation.
The X-mini KAI X1 is the smallest speaker in X-mini's flagship KAI X series, launched June 2017 for immersive yet portable sound. It retails for S$69.90, with the larger X2 at S$99.99 and the largest X3 at S$129.90.