Everyone knows the “handheld market” is hot right now. On top of the old crop of “open-source handhelds,” we’re drowning in “high-performance handhelds.” Plenty of people are chomping at the bit for these things, but most of them are “playing with the machine, not the games”—buying one after another, testing for a bit, then stopping cold. Some call this “electronic impotence.” I don’t buy it. I just think most of today’s “handhelds” don’t deserve the name. They’re more like a “giant desktop PC you can cradle in both hands.” Whether it’s Aya or GPD, each new machine is bigger than the last, and heavy too. I basically have no desire to take them out anymore—you need a dedicated shoulder bag just to carry one. And that’s not even the main issue. The most awkward part is that battery life on these handhelds tops out at two hours. Good luck getting enough playtime out of one on a trip. Aya even showed off a concept machine called the Next 2 that ditches the battery entirely and has you play plugged in. Which is basically an admission that this thing isn’t a “portable handheld” anymore—it’s just a mini desktop you can hold in your hands. If that’s the case, why not just use the TV at home?

As someone who loves portable devices, I was actually pretty interested in the Steam Deck. But earlier this year, the Steam Deck was terrifyingly expensive and basically impossible to buy. The few Chinese handheld makers that bothered to show up were all just drawing pies in the sky. Then Maxzhou, Brother Zhou, released a Windows handheld: the Anbernic Win600. Not only was it in stock, it was the cheapest thing from a legitimate manufacturer on the market… Most importantly, before launch they advertised it as: made in cooperation with Valve, supports Steam OS, and they even showed some demo videos. So I got carried away. Couldn’t afford the expensive one, bought the cheap one.

Buying this thing was really a follow-up thought after buying that Venture Electronics DAC earlier — the over-ear looked like it had decent specs, and it was pretty cheap too. This purchase didn’t seem to require joining the Discord group, even though I’d already joined it. Shipping was as slow as ever, and the packaging was as bare-bones as ever when it arrived, but the headphones themselves were fine. I plugged them straight into the stock DAC they came with and ran through a few songs of different styles, and the tuning direction became pretty clear right away: Wide soundstage Mids pulled way up — the legendary “vocal” sound Very weak bass Put simply, they suit classical and symphonic music, and the more acoustic the instruments the better. For modern electronic styles they’re a poor fit — all those effect units turn harsh through these.

My brain short-circuited again and I want to spend money. I thought I was over this hobby, but no, I still want an external sound card for my laptop. My requirements were pretty clear: Built-in battery USB Type-C power Support for 4.4 balanced and 3.5 Sound that’s passable Portable As cheap as possible So, bored, I got a recommendation and found this brand called “Weiyi,” created by the guy they call “Brother Dao.” There I saw a portable DAC selling for just 299, the “Megatron,” officially nicknamed “Dawei.”

Lately I’ve been feeling empty, lonely, and a little cold, so I started spending money on stuff. Nothing fancy—just junk. A while back I bought a really good-looking mechanical keyboard, but for some reason I suddenly felt unsatisfied. It was too heavy. And then a question hit me: Why do I have to buy a mechanical keyboard? Isn’t a membrane one good enough? Somewhere along the way, mechanical keyboards became the so-called optimal solution for people who write for a living—even though membrane keyboards were invented to solve the problems mechanical keyboards had. So I turned my attention to “finding a cheap, easy-to-use membrane keyboard that feels good and is lightweight.” I can’t find the old BenQ Sea Shell anymore, and eventually the “A4Tech FBK11” caught my eye. The moment I saw “FBK” in the name, I ordered it before I’d even finished reading the description.

I’m not really sure why I bought this keyboard. Probably because it looks good. I kept seeing it pop up in videos and it just looked so nice. Add in the durable PBT keycaps, the low-profile feel that’s completely different from the Keychron K3 series, and the 618 discount, and I couldn’t resist anymore—ended up buying it with interest-free installments. After less than half a day with it, I already felt this keyboard was way better than the Keychron K3 I’d been using. The feel, the overall build quality, and most importantly the connection stability—all much better. NuPhy keyboards also support firmware updates. The latest firmware on the official site claims to fix compatibility issues with Linux, but weirdly, mine worked fine with Linux even without updating. Maybe mine already shipped with the new version.

I actually got this thing back in December, having joined the whole pre-order process, and later got kicked out of the Discord group by GPD’s marketing guy “Old Zhu” (real name Zhu Kaihui, overseas ID: Kendyzhu). I was so pissed off at the time I thought about making a video to fire back, because this asshole is just that repulsive, and he’s even cultivated some asshole lackeys. But after half a year of learning about other manufacturers (AYN, AYA, Anbernic) and seeing the state of the whole industry, I figure Zhu Kaihui might not even be the biggest asshole out there. Thought about it and let it go. So here I’ll just briefly go over the pros and cons of this product, plus my personal views on GPD, including some thoughts and advice on the so-called “Win handheld” market as a whole. Around September 2021, GPD revealed design sketches of the next Pocket series product, the Pocket 3. Along with their constipation-like “leaks,” the product’s appearance became clearer and clearer — basically an enhanced GPD Micro PC with better performance, a bigger screen, a new manufacturing process, and a rotating screen.

This isn’t the Pixel Buds 2 that I broke by messing around with it, so I figured I’d find a replacement. The requirements were pretty simple: Supports wireless charging. I can’t stand plugging in a cable every time — it’s just not elegant. Long battery life, and sound quality that’s acceptable. Native Fast Pair support. The more native the better. So I set my sights on the very lifestyle-y Nothing Ear 1. It had just launched in black, so I found a Macau proxy buyer on eBay and got a brand new one. Not expensive, and it had everything I wanted.

After I switched to the Pixel 6 Pro a while back, I was surprised to find that my Pixel Buds 2 battery life had gotten absurdly short. The symptom: the left bud drains insanely fast. On my hour-and-a-half commute, by the time I got to work the left bud was down to 30% while the right was still at 97%. That’s not normal by any stretch. Then I had a brain fart and thought, well, I’ve been using these for over a year, and the similar cases I found online were all resolved by contacting Google for a replacement, so it’s gotta be the battery, right? I wasn’t counting on Google support — and even if I could reach them, this thing is out of warranty. So I went with the usual route: Taobao repair.

I decided to switch to the Pixel 6 Pro a long time ago, because the Pixel 4 XL was just too slow. But this phone somehow sold way better than expected. Normally you’d get a Nexus/Pixel within the first week, but this one was out of stock forever. In the end, a guy who runs a proxy-buying service, “Watermelon Daigou,” generously helped me out, barely charging me any fee, and I got the Pixel 6 Pro 256GB white version at retail price. It’s been a while since I got it, so let me talk about how it feels. I’ll skip the generic stuff and get straight to the real points.