Poco F5 Pro Review

2024/05/19 - Tech

These are my thoughts about the 2023 Xiaomi Poco F5 Pro.

Poco F5 Pro Review

On this page:

What’s in the box

  • Poco F5 Pro, white, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
  • 67W charger (USB-A).
  • USB-A to USB-C cable.
  • Clear plastic case.
  • SIM remover tool.
  • Quick guide and warranty papers.

I bought the phone a few months after it was released and paid £409/€467/$508 directly on Xiaomi’s UK website (prices have since dropped).

A mini review of the mini fridge Subcold Classic4

2023/09/10 - Tech

With my sister going to university, we both agreed that it would nice to have a small fridge in the room she’ll stay in. Something small and low noise with enough space to keep a drink (or something like that) cold.

Subcold Classic4

There are many options out there, from proper refrigerators with a lot of space, to very small ones where we can only fit a 33ml can. We ended up getting a Subcold Classic4, which has enough space to store 6 cans inside or “4 litres” of space and should be enough for what she’ll use it for.

I should mention that there are other very similar mini fridges and that this isn’t the cheapest one available. I paid £39 GBP on Amazon UK, (same price on eBay UK, but refurbished costs £30 on the brand’s store) there’s also the AstroAI Mini Fridge 4 Litre that currently costs £34. I didn’t have time to wait for the delivery, but on Aliexpress we can find alternatives like the VEVOR 10L Mini Fridge which looks nice and costs £40 (also a little bit larger) or a very similar copy of the Subcold Classic4 for just £34, although I don’t know if it works as well. Anyway, my point is, there are many similar products to choose from.

Among the reasons we picked the Subcold was its ability to cool and heat up. Another thing that caught my attention was the ability to run from a USB port. I wasn’t sure about how well it would do on that mode, but it’s nice to be able to run it with a powerbank. I think some of the others can also do this as long we have the cable, but they don’t promote it or include the cable. They’re usually sold as something that needs to be plugged into the wall or a car’s 12v socket.

The fridge:

This thing is so simple that there isn’t much to say about it, but a few points:

  • It’s small. A quick, not very accurate measurement: 25cm long, 26cm tall, and 18cm wide.
  • Everything is made of plastic. Probably one of the reasons why it’s so light.
  • The door is kept in place with magnets, so that bit that looks like a handle doesn’t really do anything. To open the door, pull the side towards you.
  • The power cable is plugged at the back. There we’ll also find a switch with 3 positions: cold, off, and hot. There are 3 “openings” for air flow (there’s a fan inside).
  • At the top there’s a handle to pick it up and 4 rubber feet in the bottom. That’s it.
  • Inside there are two shelves. One on the door and one almost at the top of the fridge. Both are small (so is the fridge) and removable.
  • It doesn’t seem to be very well insulated, but it works.
  • The fan is very quiet, but we can definitely hear it, especially when running at higher power/connected to the wall socket. USB mode is much quieter.
  • It runs continuously. No pauses after reaching a certain temperature (that I noticed).
  • This model comes with a USB-A cable and the wall adapter (UK in my case).

Regarding the noise, how audible it is will depend on what’s around the fridge, how close we are to it, and if we’re easily annoyed by these low noises or not. It’s probably not something I’d want to have next to my bed, but it’s probably fine a few meters away.

I’ll just say that they probably could have done better. The fan seems to be similar to what we can find on a computer tower and those can be pretty quiet. I’m not going to upgrade it, but yeah, it could be better.

Macbook Pro 16″ 2021 (M1 Max)

2021/11/14 - Tech

I’ve replaced my laptop with the new Macbook Pro from Apple and this is my opinion about it. A mini review about the 2021 16″ model with the M1 Max SoC and how well it works for me.

Macbook Pro 16 2021

OnePlus Nord, my Review

2020/08/09 - Tech

I use two phones. The main one is the 2019 Asus Zenfone 6, a mid-higher range device with fairly good specs sold at a lower cost, and an old OnePlus One as a backup/secondary device. The OnePlus One reached end-of-life a long time ago, but I kept it running with LineageOS (Android 9), root, and some tweaks to make the battery last longer.

While it still works, it’s becoming slower, the battery doesn’t last as long, and custom ROMs are becoming buggier with each major Android update, so I decided to replace it with something that can handle messaging, phone calls, navigation, the occasional photo, etc. I don’t play games or do anything special with it, so there’s no need to spend a lot of money.

I could just get a Nokia or Samsung from a local phone store, but I want to be able to root and use custom ROMs, so these two brands were automatically excluded (they are not “dev friendly”). Brands like Realme and Xiaomi (Redmi, Poco, etc) have attractive hardware and good prices, but software updates are bad on Realme phones and Xiaomi makes money by showing ads and selling their services. After some thinking, I reduced my list to two phones: OnePlus Nord and Google Pixel 4a.

The Pixel 4a might seem an odd pick here as the Nord has better hardware, but software updates, features, and official Google Camera support makes it an attractive phone to me. Sadly, the 4a won’t be available right away, leaving the Nord as my only option.

This is my opinion about it, with focus on the camera and other areas I think are important.

Content:

OnePlus Nord Review