No comments

Pure Redux: The Evoke Play DAB Radio

  By

Britain has pioneered many new technologies, created new markets, but—in the last century and this—has typically failed to follow through. The brand name “Pure” tells this whole story in miniature. At the end of the last century a high tech company appropriately called Imagination Technologies emerged from a pioneering UK manufacturer of graphics and audio systems previously known as Videologic. The new name was inspired by its strategic decision to pull out of loss-making physical… Now read on…

No comments

More Adventures with Water: MySoda Woody

  By

Our recent piece about distilled and filtered water seems to have triggered some interest in the subject in general. As we’ve hinted before, there’s a vast amount of dangerous misinformation about water washing around the Internet. Much of this propaganda is designed to sell you various kinds of special (and expensive) bottled waters or devices to remove alleged evil substances from the stuff coming out of your tap. With some non-trivial exceptions, in the main… Now read on…

No comments

ZeroWater Meets the WassenDalek

  By

The “interesting times” we’re hoping shortly to emerge from have given us cause to think earnestly about our life-styles. Devices to help us live cleaner, healthier lives are currently enjoying particularly—well—healthy sales. The pandemic has given us cause to question everything: about how we interact socially, how we travel, how we prepare our food. It has even cast doubt on the quality of water we drink. Do you drink your water straight from the tap?… Now read on…

No comments

The GT2 Pro: The One to Watch (part 2)

  By

Tested Technology has never rushed to publish its reviews. We regard it as fundamental that before we go to press we’ve not only tested out the product’s features but have also kicked it around long enough to relay to readers a good idea of what it will be like to live with. One corollary of this is that we expect other publications to beat us to the punch with many of the products we write… Now read on…

No comments

The RedMi Note 10 Pro—A Budget Flagship? Part 2

  By

The big question arising here, I suppose, is: does qualification as a “flagship” smartphone mandate a first-class camera array? Or is good-enough good enough? As I hinted in part 1, there’s not a lot of point spending extra money on a wizard camera array that you won’t be competent to deploy. If it’s ok at its day job and perhaps rather less competent in low light but night shots aren’t in your repertoire anyway, nothing… Now read on…

No comments

The RedMi Note 10 Pro—A Budget Flagship? Part 1

  By

Smartphones are getting smarter. And some of the smartest are also getting cheaper. Phones with features that would have put them in the flagship class three years ago are now hitting the market at mid-range prices. Which raises a question about today’s flagship phones. Are they really offering that much extra value for their asking prices of £900 and above? Tested Technology has a perspective on this that you may not share, so it would… Now read on…

No comments

The BeHear Proxy Nearfield Soundscape

  By ,

A decent stereo pair of loudspeakers can set you back hundreds of pounds. Or, if you’re a serious hi-fi aficionado, (and rich) tens of thousands of pounds. This is one reason why, back in those old bed-sitter student days of the ’60s, I developed a preference for headphones. You could get decent quality sound from them for an affordable price. These days we have a couple of respectable loudspeaker sound systems here at Tested Technology… Now read on…

No comments

The GT2 Pro: The One to Watch (part 1)

  By

In the mid 1970s, Japan—or more specifically, the Japanese watch company Seiko—tore the mechanical wristwatch industry apart. Switzerland was in turmoil. Equipped with the new battery-driven quartz technology, watches far more accurate than the most carefully designed and manufactured mechanical chronographs known to watchmaking were being churned out by the millions and sold for relative peanuts. Quartz Roolz. And for a while, it did. But Switzerland rallied, steering the market steeply upwards, emphasising craftsmanship and… Now read on…

No comments

Let your rooms bloom with Plume (part 2)

  By

In part 1 of this double review of Plume’s WiFi pods I exposed my ignorance of “how the magic works”. I hoped that in writing about the product I’d learn more. And I have. What I’ve been calling “the disaster” taught me some useful lessons about what’s going on in and around these things. Technology that’s designed to be ignored, unobstrusive technology that’s physically small and “just works” is perhaps the hardest to get to… Now read on…

No comments

Home Automation and the Meross Dual Outdoor Smart Plug

  By

Tested Technology is proactive on your behalf. We go out into the consumer marketplace actively seeking devices (mostly, software sometimes) that are going to be of interest to you. Occasionally, manufacturers seek us out. This has started to happen more often, now that the publication is gaining momentum. But we’re not a manufacturer’s showcase and our time is yours, not theirs. However, when the Chinese manufacturer, Meross, contacted us we paid attention. They make good… Now read on…