Full hands-on reviews of gear I bought or was sent, with the pros, cons, and whether it is worth your money.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Google Wifi launched in Singapore on 31st August 2017 via a StarHub partnership, the first in Southeast Asia. You can get a three-pack bundle at S$15 a month over 24 months on selected StarHub plans, with no upfront cost.
The Aztech AIR-706P is Aztech's first mesh router, launched July 2017 at S$269. This budget router extends range by adding a second AIR-706P rather than an extender, though it's not a true mesh.
AXTRO Smart is the exclusive Singapore distributor for TrackR, a Santa Barbara startup specialising in personal item management. The TrackR Pixel is its latest, a small, lightweight Bluetooth tracker you attach to items and ring via the app.
uHoo is an indoor air toxin sensor launched in April 2017, shipping first to corporate customers, its primary audience, then to general consumers from June. Backed by an East Ventures seed round, it had earlier crowdfunded pre-orders on Indiegogo.
Few will have heard of Freecam, an unfortunately named consumer security camera brand, a Google search turns up plenty of NSFW results instead. It's made by LSVT, or Leshi Shenzhen Video Technology, a Chinese company. This reviews the C330A.
Three years after the original launched on Kickstarter in 2014, Ambi Climate returns with the 2nd Edition, again crowdfunded. The smart AI device learns your comfort preferences to control your air conditioner. This reviews the new version.
The Linksys Velop is Linksys's first Wi-Fi mesh system, launched in Singapore on 12th April 2017, the second after Netgear Orbi. Like the eero I've used since January, mesh lets your whole home share a single SSID.
The HTC U Ultra launched in Singapore on 25th February 2017 at S$898, in blue, black, and pink, with 64GB the only capacity here. It's HTC's first-half 2017 flagship, despite running a 2016-era Snapdragon 821 processor.
The D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD (DSH-C310) launched in Singapore at S$319, sold in stores and the Apple Online Store. Its standout feature is Apple HomeKit integration. There's no cloud recording; instead, video clips save to a microSD card.
Sensibo Sky retails for US$119 plus shipping to Singapore, with free shipping when buying two or more. This smart device adds app and voice control to almost any air conditioner via infrared.
The Igloohome Smart Deadbolt Lock 02, or igloobolt 02, is the second generation of the Igloohome Smart Lock. The product was renamed for clarity as the range grew to include the Smart Keybox and upcoming Smart Mortise Lock.
Beseye is a Taiwanese company making home cameras and cloud services. Its first product, the Beseye Pro Wi-Fi monitoring camera, won a Red Dot Award in 2015 for its smooth design and magnetic mounting. It retails for S$299.
The Synology Router RT2600ac launched in Singapore on 12th January 2017 at S$365, Synology's second router after the RT1900ac. It upgrades to a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, 512MB RAM, and 4x4 802.11ac wave 2 Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO and beamforming.
Blink began as a Kickstarter, raising over US$1 million from 6,879 backers and shipping in May 2015. It's available in Singapore through Aztech, a partnership where Blink designed the software and app while Aztech manufactured the battery-powered hardware.
eero is a home Wi-Fi system built on a wireless mesh network. It isn't cheap: a single unit costs US$199, a 2-pack US$349, and a 3-pack US$499, but it promises uninterrupted whole-home coverage.
The Linksys EA9500 Max-Stream AC5400 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router has been available in Singapore since August 2016 at S$539. It's the flagship of the Max-Stream family, above the mid-range EA8500 I reviewed, featuring 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO.
I've been using my Huawei Mate 9 over my Nexus 6P, finding its UI snappy. It scored 120,794 on AnTuTu versus the Nexus 6P's 71,576. My iPhone 7 Plus remains my primary phone.