TCL has made some really impressive phones that punch well above their category. They’re budget devices loaded with eye-popping screens and excellent cameras. Now TCL is adding a new angle to what makes their phones great by combining it with a different area of screen expertise — NXTPAPER’s paper-like screens on the TLC 40 NXTPAPER Series!
Where did the summer go? Hopefully, yours was full of good times with the kids and grands, and you were able to fit in a getaway with family and friends, but now it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming school year. Whether that means the kids in your life are attending elementary, middle, or high school or heading to college, our 2023 Back to School Gift Guide has got you covered. We’ve also got a great back to school giveaway running, so be sure to enter at the end!
It’s time for something a little different, a first-person shooting game set in the subway of Moscow post armageddon. Metro 2033 Redux is the new and improved version of the original Metro 2033 game, which is also based on a novel of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky. This series of games is well-renowned as an immersive first-person shooting experience that combines atmospheric dread, a decent storyline, and solid gunplay. I plan to play all games in this series and write about my experience, so stay tuned. I beat this game in 12 hours; here are my thoughts.
Control Ultimate Edition is a bit of a strange one; I’ll come right out of the gates with that notion. Numerous people in my life applaud Control, and others have gotten very frustrated with it. As I played it for my review, I could absolutely see both camps’ merits. It’s a detailed narrative/world that didn’t engage with me; it’s intricate yet simultaneously straightforward in terms of progression, and it has a few satisfying gameplay elements that failed to hook me for more than a few hours at a time. I beat this game in 25.1 hours; here are my thoughts.
Another Mobile World Congress is in the books, and it was great to be able to attend in person for the first time since 2019! Seriously great. MWC is always heavy on new smartphone releases, and this year was no exception. Even so, there were plenty of other remarkable devices touting worthy upgrades or making their debuts. So with that, I give you Gear Diary’s Best of MWC 2022.
Sure, your home is smart, but it can always be a little bit smarter. It’s the little things that make smart objects more useful, and Lenovo understands that smarter items need great design as well as intelligence to become integral to your everyday life. That’s why they’re rolling out the new Lenovo Smart Clock Essential with Amazon Alexa alongside some new ambient light docks for it.
Have you noticed that Black Friday seems to start a bit earlier each year? Well, this year, the sales are starting even earlier. Better still, the 2021 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Savings are pretty impressive. Here are some of the products we love that are currently available at steep, sometimes incredibly steep, savings.
Roku is America’s number one TV streaming platform and a favorite brand among Gear Diary staff because of its easy-to-navigate UI that’s found on multiple manufacturer’s smart TVs as well as Roku’s affordable smart speakers and stand-alone streaming hardware. With Labor Day coming up soon as well, along with the fall football season, we wanted to point out some of the ways you can upgrade your TV enjoyment without necessarily replacing your television — although there are excellent Roku deals to be had on smart TVs right now, too!
It’s that time of year again! As students of all ages head back to their schools and universities, whether they are attending down the block or across the country, we’ve prepared a list of back to school items that will help make the transition go more smoothly.
Amazon Prime Day 2021 is about to start, so if you’ve held off buying a new phone, TV, tablet, headphones — or pretty much anything and everything that Amazon sells — you might be in for a surprise when you check prices June 21 and June 22.
Infinix Hot 10S sounds like a chicken wing special from a punk bar in a sci-fi movie. Still, it’s actually a surprisingly compact and powerful Android phone that boasts an incredible battery life, a very impressive camera, and a processor and software set focused on giving you a truly kickass gaming experience on the go!
With Father’s Day quickly approaching, there’s no greater time than now to show the dad in your life that you appreciate them. Here is an assortment of our favorite products and gifts for your consideration.
After watching a video tour of The One mega-mansion, a soon-to-be complete 105,000+ square foot “home” reportedly valued at $500 million located in Bel Air, I was literally blown away by the sheer size and total excess of it all. If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to live in a home that could double as a high-end hotel — complete with a full-size nightclub, insane LA views, and enough space to easily host a couple thousand (or more) of your closest friends post-pandemic, you’ll enjoy this insanity.
I had one of the first Roku streaming devices when they first came on the scene but, over time, had moved to Apple TV. Last fall, I bought one of Roku’s current streaming devices, and was impressed by how much the platform has evolved; it’s fantastic! Never one to rest on their laurels, Roku has just announced Roku OS 10 as well as their latest hardware, the Roku Voice Remote Pro, Roku Express 4K+, and Roku Streambar Pro.
I’ve watched many TVs in my day, and I can tell you that one of the best viewing experiences I’ve ever had is with our Roku TV from TCL. Roku has partnered with several TV manufacturers, and there are some killer Roku TV deals for you to grab ahead of the NFL’s Big Game. There are deals on TVs from Hisense, TCL, Element, Onn., RCA, and Philips starting at $89.99!
This year’s CES may have been completely virtual and quite different from what we are used to, but it still served as an excellent introduction to the new tech that we can all look forward to in the coming year as we carry on with pandemic life. After going through the avalanche of the products that were introduced at CES, we have culled out the ones that we found most innovative and intriguing. So in alphabetical order, we present you with Gear Diary’s Best of CES 2021 Awards!
As we recently posted, Roku is expanding its reach by obtaining exclusive rights to all of the failed streaming platform Quibi’s content. That is just one small reason Roku announced that, according to NPD’s Weekly Retail Tracking Service, they are the #1 selling smart TV OS sold in the U.S. and Canada. I can totally appreciate why.
Between the pandemic and the election, it’s been an insane year. Now that we have several vaccines on the way and the election results have been declared, we can all look forward to seeing what Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are coming. We’ve put together a few of our favorite deals from some brands you know — and a few you should consider — that you can shop, all from the safety of your home!
The Zvox SB380 is a solidly built soundbar that delivers decent sound and makes dialogue sound even better. The SB380 can be wall-mounted, placed upright on a credenza, or placed “flat” with the speakers facing upward. The SB380 provides room-filling 3D sound from its 35.5” frame, and it is fairly priced.
It seems like we’ve been talking about it forever, but 5G is finally picking up steam and being rolled out on a massive scale. The true test of any new connectivity feature, whether it is wifi, Bluetooth, NFC, or 5G, is when it leaps from flagship feature to everyday option, and Qualcomm is taking 5G much closer with their new Snapdragon 690.
The global pandemic has presented nearly all of us with unique challenges and hardships in every phase of life, but there are many people whose chosen profession requires them to live from day to day without a safety net or health care resources. Musicians fall squarely in that camp, with fewer than 5% able to make more than the poverty level based on their music alone.