Articles - The Gadgeteer

Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G Survives Repeated Face-Down Concrete Drops Without Display Damage

ARTICLE – Most mid-range phones promise durability in the fine print. The Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G puts it in the headline. The phone is rated to survive drops from 2.5 meters, roughly 8 feet for U.S. readers. That claim alone is unusual at this price point. Flagship phones sometimes carry reinforced frames and Gorilla […]

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LinkBuds Clip is Sony’s Most Fashion Minded Earbud Move Yet

ARTICLE – Open ear earbuds are having a moment, but the design language still hasn’t caught up. Too many models still look like gym kit, and that’s a tough sell if you’re trying to wear them on a random Tuesday. Price: $229.99 Where to buy: Sony Sony’s LinkBuds Clip is the company’s attempt to make

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A Lucky Cat Collectible With Real Speaker Engineering Inside

By Rei Padla / January 24, 2026 / Articles / Bluetooth speaker, Speaker / Leave a Comment

You’ve seen the gold lucky cat in a shop window, paw waving like it’s running a tiny side hustle. MEDICOM TOY and RINARO ISODYNAMICS took that familiar charm and stuffed it with a serious looking Bluetooth speaker called the BE@RBRICK AUDIO Maneki-Neko Edition. It’s an odd collision, and it’s a fun one. Price: $499 Where

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An AI Recording Pen That Finally Looks Like it Belongs on the Table

By Rei Padla / January 23, 2026 / Articles / smart pen / Leave a Comment

Flowtica Scribe AI Recording Pen Where to Buy

Phones make terrible witnesses. A bright screen on the table throws a thin glow across coffee rings and legal pads, and the room can start to sound slightly rehearsed even when nobody means to change the tone. Price: $149.00 Where to buy: Flowtica AI You can feel the shift when someone glances at the timer,

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This Tiny Retro Mac Alarm Clock Makes Desk Time Feel Fun Again

By Rei Padla / January 23, 2026 / Articles / Clocks, USB accessory / Leave a Comment

ANTPO Maclock WB-8 Retro Pixel Alarm Clock Cute Retro

ARTICLE – You know that feeling when a little object on your desk makes the whole room feel warmer, even if it doesn’t do much. It’s a smart kind of nostalgia, the sort that lands fast when plastic, pixels, and a familiar silhouette line up just right. Price: $29.99 Where to buy: Amazon A lot

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Why the Sihoo Doro C300 Ergonomic Chair Is Built for Long Days at Your Desk

By Vincent Nguyen / January 23, 2026 / Featured, Articles / desk chair, office chair / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Your chair is either supporting your workday or quietly undermining it, one small ache at a time. It starts small. Maybe a twinge in the lower back after a long video call, or shoulders that feel like concrete by Friday afternoon. Traditional office chairs treat everyone the same way: pick a height, lock

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Acer Brings Kompanio 540 To Two New Education Chromebooks

By Rei Padla / January 23, 2026 / Articles / chromebook, Laptop / Leave a Comment

Acer Chromebook 311 Acer Chromebook 311 Spin

NEWS – School Chromebooks don’t fail gracefully. They fail in a cart. That’s the difference, and it shows up fast. Price: $499.99 to $579.99 Where to buy: ACER Lids get slammed, keycaps disappear, and charger cables get yanked sideways at the worst angle. If you’ve ever watched a cart turn into a pile of repair

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Marshall Heddon Turns your Bluetooth Speakers into a Multi-Room System

By Rei Padla / January 22, 2026 / Articles / Bluetooth speaker, Speaker / Leave a Comment

Marshall Heddon Bluetooth Speaker Where to Buy

ARTICLE – A good Bluetooth speaker can still make your home feel clumsy. The moment you’ve got two, the music stops moving with you, and the silence between rooms suddenly feels louder than it should. If you’re cooking, tidying up, or bouncing between spaces, the annoyance shows up fast. One speaker keeps going while the

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Valerion’s VisionMaster Max is Chasing Darker Blacks in the Living Room Projector World

By Rei Padla / January 22, 2026 / Articles / Projector / Leave a Comment

Valerion VisionMaster Max Projector Price

Most compact projectors look sharp on a media console, then get weirdly timid the second a scene turns dark. That gray lift is a quiet buzzkill, and you feel it right when a night shot should look velvety instead of washed out. Valerion’s now putting a name and a price on that frustration with the

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New SLAM Technology Powers the LCD-5s, Audeze’s Most Refined Flagship Headphones Yet

By Rei Padla / January 22, 2026 / Articles / Bluetooth headphones, Headphones / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Planar magnetic headphones have long chased the same goal: reproduce sound with the kind of clarity and speed that makes listeners forget they are wearing headphones at all. Audeze, the Santa Ana-based company that has become synonymous with high-end planar technology, is making its latest bid for that ideal with the LCD-5s, a

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CRKT Turned the M16 Into a Balisong and It’s Not a Gimmick

By Rei Padla / January 22, 2026 / Articles / folding knife / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Anything that flips is going to get written off as a “toy” by somebody. Knife culture can be especially allergic to anything that looks fun, like usefulness stops counting the moment it makes you smile. That reflex feels lazy. If you carry tools, you already know the truth: the stuff you reach for

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Diesel x Ultrahuman smart ring turns health tracking into a statement ring

By Rei Padla / January 21, 2026 / Articles / smart ring, wearables / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Most smart rings are designed to look minimal on your hand, with smooth finishes and little visible branding. That’s practical if you want something that blends in across work, workouts, and daily photos. So the real question is: does a statement-first ring still give you the same steady tracking experience you’d expect from

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Onkyo’s CES 2026 AV Lineup Feels Like Progress, But It’s Still a Tease

By Rei Padla / January 21, 2026 / Articles / Audio gear / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Receivers have felt weirdly samey lately, and that sameness shows up in the most annoying places. You look at a rack and see the same black slabs, the same tiny status lights, and the same menu logic that feels like it’s stuck in a decade that wouldn’t let go. That visual fatigue is

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Jabra Ditches the Boom Arm on Its New Evolve3 Professional Headsets

By Vincent Nguyen / January 21, 2026 / Articles / Bluetooth headset, Headset / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Jabra is launching two new headsets aimed at hybrid workers who want professional call quality without looking like they’re working a call center shift. The Evolve3 85 and Evolve3 75 drop the traditional boom microphone entirely, relying instead on what the company calls ClearVoice technology to isolate your voice from background noise. Both

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This Budget Dual Dashcam Punches Above Its Price

By Rei Padla / January 21, 2026 / Articles / Action Camera, dash cam / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Most dashcam shoppers fall into one of two camps: those who buy the cheapest thing on Amazon and hope for the best, or those who convince themselves that only a $300 unit will capture usable footage. The frustrating truth is that neither approach makes much sense anymore. Entry-level cameras have gotten dramatically better

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Pongbot’s AI Tennis and Table Tennis Robots Make CES 2026 Debut with Recovery Trigger Technology

By Rei Padla / January 20, 2026 / Articles / Sports / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Most tennis ball machines operate on the assumption that players exist to serve the machine’s rhythm. Set a timer, fire balls at fixed intervals, and hope the human on the other side of the net can keep up. The problem is obvious to anyone who has ever used one: real tennis doesn’t work

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The Multi-Tool That Wants to Live in Your Pocket, Not Your Drawer

By Rei Padla / January 20, 2026 / Articles / EDC, Knives / Leave a Comment

Blackhawk Mini EDC Pocket Tools Tactical Pens Karambit Knives

ARTICLE – Most multi-tools fail before they’re ever used. They’re too heavy, too bulky, or too awkward to carry daily, so they end up in a drawer or a glove box, waiting for an emergency that never comes at a convenient time. The tool you actually have on you beats the perfect one sitting at

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The Trackball That Wants to Live Where Your Thumbs Already Are

By Rei Padla / January 20, 2026 / Articles / Mouse, trackball / Leave a Comment

Keychron Nape Pro Wireless Trackball Mouse

ARTICLE – Most trackball users have accepted a compromise: you either reach to the side or you reach to the mouse. Keychron thinks the problem is the reaching itself. The company’s first trackball, the Nape Pro, is designed to sit directly in front of your keyboard, close enough that your thumbs can take over cursor

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ELAC Built a Portable Speaker for People Who Hate Portable Speakers

By Rei Padla / January 20, 2026 / Articles / Bluetooth speaker, Speaker / Leave a Comment

ELAC NAVA100 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Where to Buy

ARTICLE – Most portable speakers try to shout for attention with RGB lights or huge power numbers. What actually matters is whether one small box can disappear into your space and still make everything you play feel calmer, cleaner, and more intentional. That’s the gap ELAC’s NAVA100 tries to fill. It’s the first portable from

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The DuRobo Krono Wants to Replace Your Phone for Reading, But It Can’t Even Replace Your Kindle

By Vincent Nguyen / January 17, 2026 / Featured, Articles / eBook reader / Leave a Comment

ARTICLE – Somewhere between the Kindle and the smartphone sits a category of devices that promise the best of both worlds: e-ink readability without notification distractions, plus the flexibility of Android apps when you need them. The DuRobo Krono plants itself firmly in that space, packaging a 6.13-inch e-ink display with a full Android operating

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