Asus ROG Phone II Hands-On: A Serious Gaming Smartphone

As far as gaming smartphones are concerned, the Asus ROG Phone II is easily one of the most anticipated devices in this segment. After all, it is bigger, faster, and much better equipped than its predecessor; what more can you ask for?

Well, after spending a couple of days with the ROG Phone II, there are a few areas where it could be better. But as a gaming smartphone, it is very, very impressive, and I’ll explain why in this hands-on.

Since this is a gaming smartphone, let’s talk about the gaming experience of the ROG Phone II first. I’ve played a couple matches of PUBG Mobile to get a feel for the phone’s gaming performance, and the game ran
extremely
well. Even with maxed out graphics settings, I was still getting a stable frame rate.

Of course, the
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+
 chipset under the hood is one fast chipset. According to Qualcomm, the 855+ promises up to 15% increase in gaming performance, and it certainly shows in PUBG Mobile. In fact, Asus’ built-in game tool shows that the game was consistently running at 60fps.

Okay, while 60fps is a very good frame rate for PUBG Mobile, it doesn’t quite take advantage of the ROG Phone II’s 120Hz display. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of mobile games that can run at that frame rate, and PUBG Mobile isn’t one of them. Despite that, it’s still very enjoyable to game on this smartphone, and I can’t wait to test out games that can actually run at 120fps with this device.

Another feature that further improve the ROG Phone II’s gaming experience  are the AirTrigger buttons. Basically, the right side of the phone has two ultrasonic buttons that act as shoulder buttons when the phone is in landscape orientation. These buttons can be customised to “simulate screen touch in games.”

Again, let’s take PUBG Mobile as an example. I can set the left shoulder button to scope in (I can do this by just dragging the icon to the aim button), while the right button is set to fire. Once that’s done, I can quickly scope in, fire, and
still
 control my movement and camera with my thumbs. In my opinion, this makes shooters far more enjoyable to play.

The AirTriggers themselves are also very easy to activate. They never felt difficult or cumbersome to activate, and if you want them to be even more sensitive, you can lower the threshold for the buttons to recognise your input.

That’s the gaming experience of the ROG Phone II; what about other aspects of the device? Design wise, not much has changed from the first ROG Phone. It still retains the same design language, but it is far,
far
 bigger now, which affects the ergonomics of the phone.

See, its predecessor only had a 6-inch display, while the ROG Phone II has a much larger 6.59-inch 2340 x 1080 AMOLED HDR screen. On top of that, it’s also a lot heavier, tipping the scales at 240g. For context, the original ROG Phone weighed 200g.

Collectively, these make the ROG Phone II a large and heavy smartphone, so it is quite unwieldy to use as a daily driver. The glass back and matte frame of the phone are pretty slippery too, making it harder to get a good grip on the phone. Sure, there’s a bumper case bundled with the phone, but the plastic finish doesn’t exactly add any extra grip.

Beyond design, I do like the rest of the ROG Phone II. It has ample amount of storage – the Malaysian market will receive the 512GB and 1TB models – the 12GB RAM is plentiful, there’s a very generous 6,000mAh battery, and its in-screen fingerprint sensor is surprisingly fast.

Another hardware worth mentioning again is the ROG Phone II’s 6.59-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate. Thanks to the high refresh rate, everything looks extremely smooth, even in the simplest of actions like scrolling and swiping through the home screen. Mobile games that can run at 120Hz will definitely feel a lot more responsive and smooth too.

Quality of the AMOLED display itself is good as well. This being an AMOLED panel, it has deep blacks, vibrant colours, and great viewing angles. Even though the 1080p resolution isn’t particularly impressive – especially for a display this large – texts and images look sharp enough when viewed at a normal distance. You can definitely see pixelation if you view the display up-close though.

Camera performance of the ROG Phone II, on the other hand, is decidedly mediocre. It’s not a horrible shooter by any means, but it doesn’t appear to be a great performer either. The primary 48MP f/1.8 sensor can take relatively good-looking shots, but for some reason, the 13MP f/2.4 wide angle shooter feels a lot more sluggish with much more noticeable noise level.

In any case, I’ll need to spend more time photographing with the phone to really give the camera performance a fair assessment, especially in low light conditions.

After using the Asus ROG Phone II for a couple of days, there’s no denying its appeal as a gaming smartphone. It has a fast 120Hz display, excellent performance, a huge 6,000mAh battery, and the AirTrigger ultrasonic buttons’ functionality cannot be found on other smartphones. At least, not without the addition of other accessories.

Without a doubt the ROG Phone II is a serious, powerful gaming smartphone, but until its pricing for the Malaysian market is revealed, it remains to be seen just how compelling it would be. Yes, it’s a high-end, premium smartphone that can command equally premium pricing, but in a price-sensitive market like Malaysia, it will be tough to consider if it’s priced too high.

Nonetheless, we will find out for ourselves once Asus officially launch the ROG Phone II on our shores
next month on 16 October
.


Redmi Note 8 Appears in SIRIM; Malaysian Launch Imminent?

The
Redmi Note 8 series
 was launched in China about three weeks ago, and there’s a good chance the device will be arriving here in Malaysia in the near future. After all, the Redmi Note 8 has already been registered with SIRIM, which usually means it will be introduced in our market soon.

Registered under Xiaomi Malaysia with the model number M1908C3JG on 13 September, this should be the regular Redmi Note 8. The Pro variant, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be in SIRIM’s database just yet.

Given that both devices are part of the same series, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume that the Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro will be launched here together. Plus, it’s the Pro model that’s the more interesting device of the two; it would be quite odd to not bring in that particular device.

Interestingly, there are two other smartphones registered under Xiaomi Malaysia with the model numbers M1908C3IG and M1908C3KG. A quick Google search shows that these two devices could be the yet to be released Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A, which are slated to be launched in India on 25 September.

Chances are, now that they’ve been registered with SIRIM, the Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A should be coming to Malaysia as well. Of course, it remains to be seen exactly when this could happen, or if they’ll be introduced alongside the Redmi Note 8 series on our shores.

To recap, the Redmi Note 8 is a reasonably well-equipped mid-range smartphone. It features a 6.3-inch 1080p notched display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset paired with up to 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, a quad camera system (48MP primary + 8MP wide angle + 2MP macro + 2MP depth), a 13MP selfie shooter, and a 4,000mAh battery.

As for the higher-end Redmi Note 8 Pro, it has a larger 6.53-inch 1080p notched display, a MediaTek Helio G90T chipset – it’s the first device to debut with this SoC – paired with up to 8GB of RAM, two storage options (64GB or 128GB), a generous 4,500mAh battery, and a liquid cooling system.

In the camera department, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is also equipped with a quad camera system. The only difference is the primary shooter, which is a more sophisticated 64MP sensor. The selfie camera is also upgraded accordingly to a 20MP shooter.

There’s no word yet from Xiaomi Malaysia on the local launch of the Redmi Note 8 series, but we reckon it’s only a matter of time before we hear from the company. There’s a good chance the Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A will make their way here too; we’ll keep our eyes peeled on the local availability of these smartphones.


Huawei Mate 30 Series Unleashed: Kirin 990, 7680fps Slow-Mo Video, Android 10

The Huawei Mate 30 series is here, and instead of last year’s plethora of Mate 20 smartphones, Huawei is making it simpler this year with only two main devices: the standard Mate 30, and the Mate 30 Pro. Despite the Chinese company’s
ongoing debacle with the US government
 – blocking its access to Google’s suite of services – these phones are still shipping with EMUI 10 based on Android 10.

But make no mistake: even if the Mate 30 smartphones are still running on Android, they do not come with Google’s software and services. These include Google Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and even the all-important Google Play Store. It’s unfortunate, really, given just how impressive the Mate 30 series is.

Yes, as expected of Huawei, the Mate 30 smartphones are high-end flagship devices through and through. Both of them ship with the latest Kirin 990 chipset, which is Huawei’s first processor with a built-in 5G modem. Compared to the Kirin 980, the Kirin 990 should bring noticeable performance gain.

Processing power aside, the Mate 30 Pro also features an impressive quad camera system capable of recording
7680fps
 slow-motion videos. Of course, this incredibly high frame rate is only limited to 720p video recording. If you want to do 4K video recording instead, it can do so at 60fps.

Naturally, out of the two phones, the Mate 30 Pro has a more sophisticated quad camera configuration. It’s made up of a 40MP primary shooter, a 40MP wide angle “Cine Camera” sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 3D depth camera. It also has a very high ISO of up to 409,600.

The regular Mate 30, on the other hand, swaps out the 40MP Cine Camera and 3D depth sensors for 16MP wide angle and “laser focus” modules instead. Its ISO is also lowered to 204,800; half that of the Pro model’s camera system, but still a remarkable figure.

Interestingly, the Mate 30’s 24MP (32MP on the Pro model) front-facing camera can also recognise gestures, allowing users to perform certain actions to control the phone without actually touching it. Sounds familiar? Well, that’s exactly what the
LG G8 ThinQ
 can do with its Z Camera. Even the upcoming Google Pixel 4 will feature the same thing with
Project Soli
.

Another interesting feature – that’s only available on the Mate 30 Pro – are the touch-sensitive sides, which replace the physical volume buttons on the phone. What you need to do is just double tap on either sides of the phone to summon the volume controls, and just slide along the sides to do your adjustment.

So why is Huawei ditching the physical volume keys on the Mate 30 Pro? Well, that’s because the phone’s 6.53-inch 2400 x 1176 OLED notched display now wraps around the edges of the phone; even more so than the dual curved screens of the
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
 and
S10
 smartphones. As for the Mate 30, it makes do with a more conventional 6.62-inch 1080p OLED flat display with a smaller notch.

Battery capacities of Mate smartphones have always been pretty generous, and it’s no different with the new Mate 30 devices. The standard Mate 30 features a 4,200mAh battery, while the Mate 30 Pro comes with a bigger 4,500mAh cell. Both phones also support 40W wired fast charging, and they can do 27W fast wireless charging too.

Rounding out the specifications of the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro include 8GB of RAM, 128GB (Mate 30) or 256GB (Mate 30 Pro) of internal storage – only expandable with Huawei’s proprietary NM memory card – in-screen fingerprint sensors, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack…on the regular Mate 30. The Pro variant, unfortunately, does not have this port.

Not surprisingly, there’s also the Porsche Design Mate 30 RS, which has similar hardware as the Mate 30 Pro, but with more RAM and storage at 12GB and 512GB respectively. On top of that, it also has a different design on the back of the phone; it’s even finished in leather for that extra bit of premium touch.

In terms of pricing, the Huawei Mate 30 retails at 799 euro – that comes up to about RM3,700. As for the Mate 30 Pro, it goes for 1,099 euro (approximately RM5,090) and 1,199 euro (around RM5,555) for the 4G and 5G models respectively. And then there’s the luxurious Porsche Design Mate 30 RS that can be yours for a cool 2,095 euro (about RM9,705).

Do note that these prices include VAT for the European market, so expect them to be more affordable in other countries. At the moment, Malaysian availability of the Mate 30 smartphones are not known yet either, but given Huawei’s strong presence here, we reckon it’s only a matter of time before they’re launched locally.

However, considering that the Mate 30 smartphones do not have Google’s software and services, how attractive will these smartphones be? We’ll just have to wait to find out.


Relive Nostalgia with the Nokia 2720 Flip Phone; Now with 4G Connectivity for RM359

HMD Global just introduced the new Nokia 2720 flip phone in Malaysia. Initially unveiled at IFA 2019 earlier this month, the 2720 Flip feature phone is a part of HMD’s “Nokia Originals” line, which include the redesigned Nokia 3310 and Nokia 8110 “banana phone.”

What makes the 2720 Flip particularly interesting is the operating system it’s running on. Dubbed KaiOS, it allows features phones like the 2720 to have access to popular, vital apps like WhatsApp, Google Maps, YouTube, Facebook, and even Google Assistant.

That’s right, this flip phone has Google Assistant built-in. You can use it to dictate texts, open apps with voice command, or check the weather. Chances are, it won’t be quite as powerful as Google Assistant on Android smartphones, but it doesn’t seem awfully limited either.

Another nice modern upgrade the 2720 Flip gets is 4G connectivity, complete with dual SIM support. If you’re not too reliant on smartphone apps, this phone could very well be your daily driver. It can even serve you well as a secondary device, given that it can also be used as a WiFi hotspot.

Other specifications of the 2720 Flip include a Qualcomm 205 chipset paired with 512MB of RAM, a 2.8-inch 320 x 240 display, a 1.3-inch 240 x 240 screen on the outside of the phone, 4GB of storage – expandable with a microSD card up to 32GB – a 2MP camera, and a 1,500mAh battery that can provide up to 27 days of standby time.

Beyond its hardware, the 2720 Flip is just like the flip phone we all know and love. When you receive a call, you can see who’s the caller with the external display, and flipping the phone open would answer the call. To end the call, just flip the phone shut. Without a doubt, it feels very satisfying to flip the phone open and close.

Aside from the 2720 Flip, HMD also introduced the new Nokia 110 feature phone on our shores. It’s a slight upgrade over the Nokia 105, which adds some useful features like a QVGA camera, built-in radio, and the ability to use it as an MP3 player. You can keep your songs in the microSD card (up to 32GB) of the phone.

The Nokia 110 will be available in Malaysia early October next month for RM120 with three colour options: Ocean Blue, Black, and Pink. The Nokia 2720 Flip, on the other hand, can be purchased right now for RM359, but it is only available in Black for our market.


Asus ROG Phone II Launching in Malaysia 16 October

Asus’ latest gaming smartphone, the
Asus ROG Phone II
, finally got a release date for the Malaysian market. Set to be introduced on our shores on 16 October, the ROG Phone II is arguably the most exciting gaming smartphone yet; it’s a very complete gaming machine.

The launch date of the ROG Phone II for our market was revealed by Asus Malaysia itself on its Republic of Gamers Facebook page, so it doesn’t get more official than that. If you’re curious, even its predecessor were introduced here
in the same month
.

Given its status as a gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone II naturally has high-end hardware. This include Qualcomm’s best chipset yet, the Snapdragon 855+. Compared to the regular Snapdragon 855, the 855+ promises up to 15% increase in gaming performance, thanks to the overclocked CPU and GPU.

Another hardware that’s equally important for a gaming smartphone is the display, and the ROG Phone II has a fast panel. Unlike the first ROG Phone’s 90Hz display, the new gaming machine now comes with a faster 120Hz 6.59-inch 2340 x 1080 AMOLED HDR display. The touch sampling rate has been increased according too: it is now set at 240Hz, which lowers the touch latency down to only 49ms.

Input delay isn’t discussed much outside of gaming smartphones, but for competitive mobile gamers, the 49ms response rate is vital to perform at their very best.

One of the most impressive features of the original ROG Phone are the AirTriggers, which are ultrasonic buttons placed on the right side of the phone to act as shoulder buttons. If you’re into shooters like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite, the AirTriggers will definitely benefit you.

For example, you can set the left trigger to use your scope, and the right button to shoot. Not only would this feel more natural, it would be as if you’re playing the game with a dedicated controller too.

Other specifications of the ROG Phone II for the Malaysian market include 12GB of RAM, 512GB or 1TB of non-expandable storage, an extremely generous 6,000mAh battery, an in-screen fingerprint sensor, a dual camera system (48MP primary + 13MP wide angle), as well as a 24MP front-facing shooter. If you’re wondering, yes, this phone still has a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Asus ROG Phone II will be launched in Malaysia on 16 October next month. There’s no word yet on the local pricing of the phone, but expect it to be priced in the same price range as its predecessor. For context, the first ROG Phone
retailed at RM3,499 and RM3,999
 for the 128GB and 512GB models respectively.


Nokia 7.2 & Nokia 6.2 Debut in Malaysia; Prices Start from RM899

Aside from launching the
Nokia 2720 Flip and Nokia 110
 feature phones in Malaysia, HMD Global also introduced the Nokia 7.2 and Nokia 6.2 smartphones. Retailing from RM899, these two devices are reasonably good mid-range offerings, especially for those who value good software experience.

Like most Nokia smartphones, the Nokia 7.2 and 6.2 are Android One devices, so they run on a very stock version of Android with very little to no bloatware. On top of that, they will also receive the latest Android updates – as well as security patches – very quickly; two things HMD highlighted at the launch event of these two phones.

As its name suggests, the Nokia 7.2 is the higher-end smartphone of the two. It features a 6.3-inch 1080p IPS notched display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset paired with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, and a 3,500mAh battery. Pretty standard list of hardware for a mid-range smartphone.

In the camera department, the Nokia 7.2 has a triple camera system made up of a 48MP primary shooter, an 8MP wide angle lens, and a 5MP depth sensor. As for the front-facing shooter, it’s a 20MP camera. Also, it’s worth noting that all of these camera sensors are using Zeiss optics.

The Nokia 6.2

If you want something more affordable, there’s the Nokia 6.2. Instead of the 7.2’s Snapdragon 660 chipset, this model is powered by a Snapdragon 636 SoC instead. While it’s not quite as fast, it should be capable enough to offer a good level of performance for everyday use.

Other specifications of the Nokia 6.2 include a 6.3-inch 1080p IPS display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and a 3,500mAh battery. For photography, it also has a triple camera system like the 7.2, but it’s a simpler 16MP primary + 8MP wide angle + 5MP depth camera configuration.

The Nokia 6.2 will be available in Malaysia sometime in early October next month for RM899. Only the Ceramic Black model is offered here, and we were told it will be sold exclusively on
Nokia’s official Lazada store
. The higher-end Nokia 7.2, on the other hand, retails for RM1,299, and it can be purchased right now at all authorised Nokia retailers.

Interestingly, if you get the Nokia 7.2 from these retailers, you will receive a complimentary backpack along with a 16GB microSD card. Of course, this offer is only valid while stocks last. Three colour options of the Nokia 7.2 are offered in Malaysia: Charcoal, Cyan Green, and Ice.

Only the Charcoal model is available right now, while the latter two colour options can be purchased in the near future.


This Is (Possibly) the Pixel 4 XL, and We Got Our Hands on One

The Google Pixel 4 XL is arguably the most leaked smartphone in recent memory. Its features, design, and so much more have been leaked numerous times; there are even
hands-on videos
 of the yet to be released smartphone. In fact, we…actually got our hands on a unit too.

At least, we’re
almost certain
 this is the Pixel 4 XL. Given that the device hasn’t even been announced yet, we can’t say for sure this is indeed Google’s upcoming flagship phone, though it does match official images released by the company. Nonetheless, this is our hands-on of the (alleged) Pixel 4 XL.

Now, before we get to it, do note that this device is still running on pre-release software, so some features – especially the camera – do not work quite as well. This comes as no surprise, of course; the Pixel 4 XL hasn’t even been officially introduced by Google yet.

Then again, we’re likely looking at the final hardware of the Pixel 4 XL, so there’s a good chance this is how the phone would look and feel. While I’m not too crazy about the large bezel at the top of the display (possibly to fit the radar technology for
Project Soli
), it’s certainly a premium device. The matte frame feels great to the touch, and same goes for the glass back (also with a matte finish).
9to5Google
 believes that this colourway will be called “Clearly White.”

But I’ve got to be honest here: the back panel’s texture isn’t what I expected. Even though it
does
 have a matte texture, it’s a very light finish, to the point where it almost feels like regular glass. I was expecting something like the
Oppo Reno
‘s frosted glass-like finish, which is a lot smoother to the touch.

However, if that was the case, the Pixel 4 XL would be a lot more slippery too. I imagine this isn’t something most folks would want, so I’d consider the light matte finish a plus point. In retrospect, it’s the best of both worlds: the rear panel still feels like regular glass, but the matte texture is a lot more resistant to fingerprint marks.

So that’s the design of the Pixel 4 XL; let’s get to the other hardware parts now. One of the most interesting new hardware is the phone’s 90Hz display, which I can confirm is available on this particular unit under the Smooth Display option. Basically, the feature “dynamically adjusts the refresh rate between 60Hz and 90Hz.”

As far as I can tell, the display is locked at 90Hz at all times with Smooth Display enabled; I’m not entirely sure exactly when the panel would be set to 60Hz instead. Chances are, only apps that don’t support 90Hz would run at the lower refresh rate.

What about the display quality itself? Well, it’s really quite good. I believe the Pixel 4 XL has an AMOLED screen, given that it has deep blacks with vibrant colours. Diagnostics tool AIDA64 also shows that this phone has a 6.23-inch 3040 x 1440 display – definitely a flagship-tier panel.

Other specifications of the Pixel 4 XL shown on AIDA64 include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset – not the
newer and faster 855+ SoC
, unfortunately – paired with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a 12.2MP rear camera, an 8.1MP selfie shooter, and a relatively generous 3,700mAh battery. It’s not the biggest battery capacity we’ve seen, but it’s probably good enough to return a day’s worth of usage.

And then we have a pretty big new feature on the Pixel 4 XL: Face Unlock, which appears to be Google’s answer to Apple’s Face ID. For the most part, it works a lot like Apple’s implementation. Even the setup process for Face Unlock is very similar to Face ID, requiring me to move my head in a circular motion.

Once the feature is set up, a quick glance is enough to unlock the Pixel 4 XL, and it seems to work even in darker environments. On top of that, it can still recognise my face even when I’m holding the phone sideways or upside down. However, if the Pixel 4 XL is set flat on a table, it wouldn’t be able to recognise my face. I would have to be looking directly at the phone for the biometric security to do its thing.

Speaking of biometrics, Face Unlock is the
only
biometric security option available on the Pixel 4 XL. That’s right, this phone does not have a fingerprint reader. There isn’t any in-screen fingerprint sensor, or even a conventional capacitive one. Clearly, Google is putting a lot of trust on Face Unlock; perhaps as much as Apple is with Face ID.

Pixel smartphones have always been lauded for their amazing camera performance, so I was quite excited to put the Pixel 4 XL’s dual camera system through its paces. But after taking some shots with the phone, the camera performance…may not appeal to everyone. Judge for yourself with these sample shots comparing it against the Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Pixel 4 XL
Galaxy S10+
 Pixel 4 XL
 Galaxy S10+
 Pixel 4 XL
 Galaxy S10+

At a glance, it may seem like the Galaxy S10+ takes better-looking shots, but upon closer inspection, the Pixel 4 XL is actually superior. Not only does its shots have better detail preservation, the colour reproduction is more true to life too.

Of course, some (or most) folks would prefer the Galaxy S10+’s saturated shots – a typical trait of Samsung’s image processing, really – as they are more pleasing to the eye. But if you want more neutral colour reproduction, the Pixel 4 XL offers just that. That being said, the phone does have some difficulty focusing on closer subjects; this is evident in the last set of images above.

Again, do note that the Pixel 4 XL I’m testing is not running on final software, and the camera app still looks like a work in progress. As a matter of fact, there isn’t any quick shortcut to use the (supposed) 16MP telephoto sensor. In order to zoom in, I’d have to pinch to zoom on the camera interface; it seems to switch to the telephoto sensor around the 2x zoom mark.

Once the camera application and its image processing have been properly tweaked by Google, I reckon the Pixel 4 XL would have even better camera performance. Personally, I’m hoping the autofocus speeds and accuracy would be much better in the finalised software.

The Google Pixel 4 XL looks to be a meaningful upgrade over its predecessor, and this is only based on my time with an early pre-release unit. Without a doubt the true potential of the phone will be fully realised once it’s running on consumer-ready software.

Google’s
Project Soli
 on the Pixel 4 XL is especially intriguing, which allows for motion controls. Unfortunately, this feature isn’t enabled on my pre-release unit, so I couldn’t put it to the test. Regardless, Soli is similar in practice to the Z Camera on the
LG G8 ThinQ
, as well as the
Huawei Mate 30 series
‘ Gesture Sensor.

What’s left now is for Google to introduce the Pixel 4 XL and reveal exactly how much it will cost, which is happening next month on 15 October. Hopefully, Google’s flagship smartphone will make its way to Malaysia as well, even if the Pixel series never made it here officially.

Read more:

Closer Look at the Pixel 4 XL: Next Gen Google Assistant, Selfie Camera, Face Unlock Limitations


Closer Look at the Pixel 4 XL: Next Gen Google Assistant, Selfie Camera, Face Unlock Limitations

Since we posted our
hands-on of the Pixel 4 XL
, we received quite a number of questions regarding the device, so we’ll try to address some of them in this article. On top of that, we’re also taking a closer look at some of its features, including the next generation Google Assistant, Active Edge – yes, it’s retained on this phone – and the limitations of Face Unlock.

We’ve mentioned this a number of times in our previous article, but it’s worth repeating again. This unit of the Pixel 4 XL is running on pre-release software, so some of the features outlined here may be different on the final retail unit. With that out of the way, let’s get to it!

How Big Is It?

Featuring a 6.23-inch 3040 x 1440 display, the Pixel 4 XL is a reasonably big smartphone. It’s not quite as large as the
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
, but it’s about the same size as the
Galaxy S10+
 and
Pixel 3A XL
.

Interestingly, the top bezels of the Pixel 4 XL and Pixel 3A XL are about the same size, which…isn’t exactly a great thing. Of course, the former does (possibly) need to house the radar technology for
Project Soli
, which explains the thick bezel. Soli is essential for Motion Sense to work, though our unit does not have the feature enabled.

Next Generation Google Assistant Is Crazy Fast

Back at Google I/O 2019, the capabilities of the new Google Assistant were revealed, and we’re happy to report that it’s available on our pre-release unit of the Pixel 4 XL. Basically, the new Assistant now runs on-device, allowing it to work
a lot quicke
r than it used to.

And it really is fast: the next generation Assistant is noticeably quicker at processing our requests, which makes it a lot more seamless to use. Thanks to
Continued Conversation
, we can also issue new requests to the Assistant one after another without having to say “Hey Google” every time.

Oh, we also dig the Assistant’s new interface. Very eye-catching.

Face Unlock May Not Be Very Secure

While the Pixel 4 XL’s Face Unlock feature works pretty well in our testing, there is one big caveat: it may not be as secure as Apple’s Face ID. In the Face Unlock settings page, there’s a disclaimer below that warns your phone can be unlocked by someone “who looks a lot like you.”

Now, we don’t know any identical twins to really put this to the test, but it is interesting for Google to put that disclaimer there; whether or not Face Unlock can be fooled by your evil twin remains to be seen. At least, until the device is in the hands of consumers to try out more comprehensively.

Ambient EQ: Google’s Version of True Tone

If you’ve always wanted Apple’s True Tone technology on an Android smartphone, you can get just that with the Pixel 4 XL’s Ambient EQ feature. Once enabled, the phone would adjust the white balance of the display to match your ambient lighting.

On our pre-release unit, enabling the Ambient EQ feature does make the screen warmer or cooler, depending on the surrounding lighting.

Active Edge Is Retained

Yes, just as the leaks and rumours have suggested, Active Edge is still available on the Pixel 4 XL. You can adjust the sensitivity of the feature, summon the new Google Assistant with a quick squeeze, and even squeeze to silence alarms, notifications, and incoming calls.

No Expandable Storage, Single SIM Slot

Just like previous Pixel smartphones, the Pixel 4 XL does not have a microSD card slot. On top of that, our unit can only accommodate a single SIM card, and we can’t find any indication of eSIM support in the settings menu either.

But, again, this unit of the Pixel 4 XL is running on pre-release software, so it’s entirely possible eSIM support is still in the cards.

What About the Selfie Camera?

For the most part, the 8.1MP front-facing shooter can take good-looking selfies with more natural colour reproduction. We took a normal shot and another one in portrait mode with the Pixel 4 XL, and we did the same with the Galaxy S10+ as a point of comparison.

Pixel 4 XL (normal mode)
Galaxy S10+ (normal mode)
Pixel 4 XL (portrait mode)
Galaxy S10+ (Live Focus mode)

Just like shots taken with the
rear camera systems of both phones
, the Pixel 4 XL’s selfie shots look more true to life. Not surprisingly, its bokeh simulation is a lot better too, with more precise separation between the subject and the background. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s certainly better than the majority of phones we’ve tested in the past.

As mentioned before, these shots are taken with a Pixel 4 XL running on pre-release software; we expect the camera performance to be further improved on retail units with finalised software.

The Google Pixel 4 XL really has a number of features that are quite exciting. The new generation Google Assistant is a lot faster and more seamless to use, Project Soli could be very interesting (even if our pre-release unit doesn’t have it enabled), and Ambient EQ is a nice feature to have for those who are particular about white balance on their screens.

However, it remains to be seen exactly how secure Face Unlock would be. Considering that this is
the only
 biometric security option on the Pixel 4 XL, it’s very important for it to be as secure as possible. Nonetheless, we’ll just have to wait for Google to officially unveil the Pixel 4 series on 15 October to learn more.


Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha Has a Display That Wraps Around the Phone for 20,000 Yuan

Xiaomi’s Mi Mix smartphones has always been the company’s most unconventional series, and the new Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha pushes this idea even further. See, it has a display that basically
wraps around
 the phone – sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Well, as far-fetched as that may sound, it’s the reality: the Mi Mix Alpha has a 7.92-inch 2088 x 2250 flexible OLED “Surround Display,” which covers almost every inch of the phone, except for a ceramic strip on the back to house the triple camera system. According to Xiaomi, this gives the Alpha an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 180.6%.

Now, with that unique wraparound display, there’s no space for physical buttons on the side, so the sides of the Mi Mix Alpha are pressure-sensitive to make up for this. The phone also relies on a linear motor to “simulate the touch of real buttons.”

We imagine it won’t be quite as seamless to use the pressure-sensitive sides than traditional buttons, but it’s hard to say without actually trying it out for ourselves. Oh, the physical earpiece has been removed too, which is replaced by a new display acoustic technology.

Other specifications of the Mi Mix Alpha include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chipset paired with 12GB of RAM, 512GB of fast UFS 3.0 storage, a 4,050mAh battery, support for 40W fast charging, and an in-screen fingerprint sensor.

The triple camera system of the Mi Mix Alpha is also very impressive: it’s the first phone to feature Samsung’s
ISOCELL Bright HMX
 108MP camera sensor. Like most smartphone cameras with high megapixel count, the Alpha uses pixel binning to capture brighter, more detailed shots in 27MP.

Aside from the 108MP f/1.69 primary shooter, this phone also has a 20MP f/2.2 wide angle sensor and a 12MP f/2.0 telephoto lens that offers 2x optical zoom. Naturally, there’s no need for a selfie camera, since you can just snap a selfie by turning the phone around.

While the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha looks very sleek with its unique display, its form factor is not very practical. But that’s beside the point: Xiaomi wants to “make a truly disruptive product without considering the costs and return, and without considering mass production” with the Alpha.

And that really is the case. The Mi Mix Alpha will only be produced in limited quantities at the end of December 2019, and it costs a whopping 20,000 Chinese yuan, which comes up to about RM11,760.


The Last of Us Part II Coming on 21 February 2020; New Trailer Revealed

We finally have a release date for The Last of Us Part II. The exclusive title for the PlayStation 4 system will be dropping on 21 February 2020, and in conjunction with the announcement of the release date, there is also a new trailer.

Arguably the biggest reveal in the trailer is the appearance of Joel, who was the main character in the first instalment of the game. Given that previous trailers of The Last of Us Part II never featured him at all, it’s a pretty big deal to see that he’s a part of the new game. Then again, it remains to be seen just how prominent of a role he will play.

Announced alongside the new trailer and release date are also the many editions of The Last of Us Part II. There are four physical editions of the game: Standard Edition, Special Edition, Collector’s Edition, and…Ellie Edition. That’s right, there’s an Ellie Edition, which is naturally the most elaborate one.

Bundled inside the $230 (about RM965) Ellie Edition of the game are a number of interesting items, including a “full-sized, fully functional recreation of Ellie’s backpack” from the game. There’s also a 12-inch Ellie statue, a 7-inch vinyl record with music from the original soundtrack, a life-size replica of Ellie’s bracelet, and an embroidered patch.

The $170 Collector’s Edition (approximately RM710) of the game has mostly the same items as the Ellie Edition, but it doesn’t have Ellie’s backpack, the vinyl record, and the patch. You are, however, still getting the six enamel pins, a lithograph art print, a set of five stickers, a 48-page mini art book from Dark Horse, and of course, a custom Steelbook case.

If you want something more affordable, there’s the Special Edition, which contains the mini art book and Steelbook case. You’re also getting the digital content, which include a PS4 dynamic theme, and a set of six PSN Avatars. This edition goes for $80 (around RM335) in the US.

What about the regular Standard Edition? Well, pre-ordering it would get you two in-game items: the ammo capacity upgrade, and crafting training manual. It’s not much, but it’s the most affordable at only $60 (about RM250).

Currently, Malaysian pricing for the physical editions of The Last of Us Part II have not been revealed yet, but you can place your pre-order for the online copies now on the Malaysian PS Store. There’s the
Standard Edition (RM239)
 and
Digital Deluxe Edition (RM299)
.

Pre-ordering either one of these digital copies will get you a PSN Avatar with Ellie’s tattoo, along with the same items you get for pre-ordering the physical Standard Edition and Special Edition (for the Digital Deluxe), but in digital form instead.

The Last of Us Part II will be exclusively available on the PlayStation 4 on 21 February 2020. As we approach the release date of the game, Malaysian pricing of the physical editions should be revealed. Hopefully, the Ellie Edition will be coming to our shores too.


OnePlus 7T Receives 90Hz Display & Upgraded Camera System

OnePlus just announced an update to the OnePlus 7, which was released back in May this year. Aptly dubbed OnePlus 7T, it has a more sophisticated camera system now, along with a feature that’s been trickled down from the
OnePlus 7 Pro
: the Fluid AMOLED display.

That’s right, the OnePlus 7T is a much more attractive smartphone than its direct predecessor, thanks to the addition of the Fluid AMOLED display with a fast 90Hz refresh rate. Compared to conventional 60Hz panels, you’ll definitely notice the extra smoothness with the 90Hz display.

The OnePlus 7T also has a slightly bigger 6.55-inch 2400 x 1080 display than the OnePlus 7, though it’s not quite as impressive as the Pro model’s sharper and bigger 6.67-inch 1440p screen.

Unlike the OnePlus 7 Pro’s sleek all-screen design, the 7T still retains the notch at the top of the display. Fortunately, OnePlus says that the notch is exactly 31.6% smaller than the one on the OnePlus 7, so it’s not all bad. On top of that, it is also a HDR10+ panel.

As for the OnePlus 7T’s camera system, it is now a triple camera system housed in a circular module. It’s made up of a 48MP f/1.6 primary sensor, a 12MP f/2.2 telephoto lens, and a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle shooter. It can also shoot 4K videos at 60fps, not to mention 960fps slow-motion video recording.

However, the 970fps recording is only limited to 720p, and it will be made available through an OTA update at a later date.

Interestingly, the OnePlus 7T is a faster smartphone than its Pro counterpart. Instead of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, the 7T comes with the newer and more capable Snapdragon 855+ SoC. Compared to the regular Snapdragon 855, the 855+ promises up to 15% better performance, thanks to the overclocked CPU and GPU.

Other specifications of the OnePlus 7T include 8GB of RAM, 128GB of fast UFS 3.0 storage, an in-display fingerprint sensor, a 3,800mAh battery, and a 16MP f/2.0 front-facing camera. Naturally, it also ships with OxygenOS based on Android 10 out of the box.

The OnePlus 7T will be available for purchase in the US from 18 October onwards for $599, which comes up to about RM2,505. It remains to be seen exactly when the flagship phone will be coming to Malaysia, but we reckon it will arrive here eventually like the
OnePlus 7 Pro
.


MSI Opens New Concept Store in Low Yat Plaza; Offers Laptops, PC Hardware & More

MSI opened the doors to its new concept store in Low Yat Plaza earlier today, and it’s pretty unique. Unlike most MSI physical retail stores, this particular outlet offers a wide range of products from the Taiwanese company. These include gaming laptops (of course), graphics cards, motherboards, monitors, and even PC casings.

To celebrate the opening of the new store, MSI also showcased a new gaming laptop at the launch event: the MSI GL65. Powered by an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, it’s a decently powerful gaming laptop. In fact, with some tweaks to the graphics settings, you can definitely get playable frame rate on most AAA titles with this GPU.

Like most gaming laptops worth their salt in the market now, the GL65 also has a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS display with a high 120Hz refresh rate. Thanks to the 120Hz screen, everything will look extra smooth. Trust us: you’ll notice the higher refresh rate by just moving the mouse cursor around the desktop.

Aside from that, the GL65 also comes with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor paired with 8GB of RAM. That’s not an awfully generous RAM capacity, so thankfully, you can equip this gaming machine with up to 32GB of RAM. As for storage, you’ll get a 512GB NVMe SSD, with an extra slot for a HDD. The keyboard, as with most MSI gaming laptops, are by SteelSeries; complete with per key RGB lighting.

If you’re keen to get the MSI GL65 gaming laptop, it costs RM5,699 with a two-year warranty from MSI.

As mentioned, there are more than just gaming laptops offered at the new MSI concept store. If you’re thinking of building a PC, you can definitely get most – if not all – of your parts from the outlet. Besides MSI-branded motherboards, graphics cards, and gaming monitors, the store also carries processors from AMD and Intel. PSUs are sold there too, though we only spotted ones from Thermaltake.

PC peripherals are also available in the concept store, so whether you’re looking for a mouse, keyboard, or mouse pad, they’re all on the shelves. Hey, even MSI backpacks can be purchased there.

The new MSI concept store is now open in Low Yat Plaza. If you’d like to check it out, it is located on the ground floor.


Xiaomi Mi Band 4 Quick Review: Fitness Band for the Frugal

Fitness bands, thanks to Xiaomi, have gotten considerably more affordable over the years. Of course, the Chinese company’s wearables have also gotten better with every new iteration, and the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is easily its most impressive fitness band yet.

Retailing at only RM149, there’s no denying the value proposition of the Mi Band 4. But given its affordable price tag, does the fitness band fall short in any crucial area? Let’s find out.

What It Is

The Mi Band 4 is Xiaomi’s latest fitness band, and one of the biggest changes over its predecessor is the addition of a colour AMOLED display. It’s a 0.95-inch 240 x 120 AMOLED screen, so not only is it a bigger than the Mi Band 3’s display, it is also sharper.

Thanks to the new colour display, the Mi Band 4 is now more customisable than ever. The Mi Fit app itself already has quite a number of watchfaces to choose from, so chances are, you will find one that suits you. The Mi Band 4 housing itself can also be detached from the strap, making it easier to clean the device, or swap out the strap if you want to.

Another big selling point of the Mi Band 4 is its impressive battery life. Xiaomi claims that the fitness band’s 135mAh battery can return up to 20 days of use, which is a very lofty estimate. While I didn’t quite manage to get that level of battery life, it’s definitely a long-lasting wearable; more on that in the next section.

The Good Stuff

What took me by surprise as I started using the Mi Band 4 is its sheer longevity. As mentioned, I couldn’t achieve Xiaomi’s quoted battery life of up to 20 days, but the fitness band did manage to last through about two weeks of use before needing a charge.

See, I’m a heavy smartphone user, so I get a ton of notifications every day. Needless to say, getting so many notifications pushed to the Mi Band 4 will drain its battery quite a bit. On top of that, I set the wearable to take my heart rate every minute, compared to the default setting of only once every 30 minutes.

If you don’t get quite as many notifications as I do, and you set the Mi Band 4 to only measure your heart rate every 30 minutes, I reckon you can get close to Xiaomi’s claim of 20 days battery life.

Display quality of the Mi Band 4 is worth a mention too. It’s an AMOLED panel, so it has all the characteristics of that screen technology. These include deep, pitch blacks, vibrant colours, and good viewing angles. But if I were to nitpick, I’d say the display could be a tad sharper; you can definitely see the individual pixels if you look at it closer.

Then again, when viewed from a normal distance, it’s not an issue at all. Plus, the AMOLED screen can get really bright, so outdoor visibility is not a problem with this fitness band.

Naturally, the Mi Band 4 is also rated for 5 ATM, which allows it to be submerged up to 50m for 10 minutes. Given that this fitness band is able to track your swimming routine – and it’s meant to appeal to those with an active lifestyle – this feature is imperative.

Speaking of which, I love how the Mi Band 4 tracks my workouts. Even though it can only identity a handful of workouts, it presents the tracking data in a clean and easy to read interface. At a glance, I can see how much calories I’ve burnt, my heart rate, and what activity “zone” I’m in.

Overall, the Mi Band 4 works great as a fitness band, but it does have a couple of shortcomings in other areas, such as..

The Bad Stuff

One of the best reasons to invest in a wearable is to get notifications pushed to your wrist, but in this regard, the Mi Band 4 could do better. While notifications do get sent to the fitness band in a timely manner, it’s not arranged particularly well. The notifications themselves don’t look very flattering either.

To top it off, you cannot really interact with the notifications too. It’s as if the Mi Band 4 is only designed to show these notifications, and nothing more. Granted, this is a fitness band, and notifications are not exactly “vital” (per se) to its functionality. Still, having a better notification system would make it
that
 much more compelling.

Besides that, the user interface of the Mi Band 4 could also use some work. In order to access other features of the wearable, I need to swipe up or down from the watchface. If I want to go back to the previous screen, I can either swipe to the left (or right) or press the capacitive button at the bottom of the display.

These gestures make it a bit of a chore to navigate around the Mi Band 4’s interface, and it doesn’t help that there is no quick way to get back to the home screen; there’s no home button to use. Instead, I’ll have to repeatedly tap on the capacitive button until I’m back to the watchface. Not a very pleasant experience.

Is It Worth It?

Despite its shortcomings, the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is still very easy to recommend to folks who are looking for an affordable fitness band to track their daily activities. After all, it costs only RM149; not many wearables can offer the same feature set at this price point.

Yes, the Mi Band 4’s notification system and user interface could have been better, but these two factors may not matter to some users,
especially
if they’re buying it for the wearable’s fitness functionalities. And, again, this fitness band is only RM149 – what more can you ask for?


Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Review: Excellent in Most Areas but One

Just like how it was with the
Galaxy S10 series
, the new
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 smartphones
 bring quite a number of improvements over its predecessor. Both the Note 10 and Note 10+ sport sleeker designs, more versatile camera systems, and the S Pen now comes with gesture support too.

After spending a few weeks using the bigger Galaxy Note 10+ as my daily driver, there’s no doubt that these improvements make the flagship smartphone superior to its predecessor in almost every way. That being said, there is one crucial area where it could still use some innovation.

If that were to be addressed, the Galaxy Note 10+ would easily be one of the best flagship smartphones money can buy right now.

Specifications

Display
6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED (3040 x 1440)
Chipset
Samsung Exynos 9825 2.7GHz octa-core
GPU
Mali-G76 MP12
RAM
12GB
Storage
256/512GB, expandable
Camera (rear)
12MP f/1.5 – f/2.4, OIS, Super Speed Dual Pixel AF
16MP f/2.2 (ultra-wide angle)
12MP f/2.1 (telephoto), OIS, PDAF
VGA DepthVision (ToF)
Camera (front)
10MP f/2.2
Battery
4,300mAh
Dimensions
162.3 x 77.2 x 7.9 mm
Weight
196g
OS
One UI based on Android 9 Pie
Connectivity
LTE
NFC
Bluetooth 5.0
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4/5GHz)
USB Type-C
Price
RM4,199 (256GB), RM4,799 (512GB)

Hardware of the Galaxy Note 10+ are what you’d expect from a flagship smartphone. It has a fantastic (and large) 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, a fast 7nm Exynos 9825 chipset paired with 12GB of RAM, a generous 4,300mAh battery, and an IP68 rating – both for the phone and the S Pen.

However, it’s quite underwhelming to see that the Note 10+ has a similar camera system as the Galaxy S10. This is my biggest qualm with the phone, and in my opinion, the lack of innovation in this area is the Note 10+’s main shortcoming. I’ll elaborate more further down this review.

Design

We received the Galaxy Note 10+ in Aura Glow for this review, which I think is Samsung’s most eye-catching colour yet. Depending on the lighting condition, the colour shifts accordingly, giving it a unique aesthetic. Then again, I imagine some folks won’t be thrilled by the sheer reflectivity of this colourway.

Besides that, the Galaxy Note 10+ has solid build quality too. It has a nice heft to it, it feels premium, and I love how the back panel and screen virtually blend into the frame. Samsung’s flagship smartphones always had excellent build quality, and it goes without saying the same applies to the Note 10+.

And then there’s the new Infinity-O Display; Samsung’s own take on a hole-punch design. But instead of placing the cutout on either sides of the Galaxy Note 10+, the phone maker decided to put it right in the middle of the screen at the top. Honestly, I prefer this orientation: it gives the phone a symmetrical look.

What’s even more impressive are the lack of bezels surrounding the screen. Thanks to the curved nature of the display, the side bezels are virtually gone. The top and bottom bezels are very minimal too, further accentuating the all-screen design of the phone.

But if there’s any design aspect of the Galaxy Note 10+ that is a downgrade from its predecessor, it would be the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Samsung says this had to be done to increase the battery capacity of the phone, which the company certainly did. Still, I’m sure there will be consumers who will miss the headphone jack.

Regardless, the Galaxy Note 10+ is a well-designed, handsome device with an eye-catching finish. Compared to other smartphones in this segment, the Note 10+ easily stands out.

User Experience

Samsung improved by leaps and bounds when it comes to the software experience on its smartphones, and One UI on the Galaxy Note 10+ is no exception. It’s a polished, lightweight version of Android with an eye pleasing user interface. Throughout my time with the phone, never did I face any major bug or issue with One UI.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of another software feature: DeX. Previously, DeX only works when you connect your phone to a monitor, but with the Note 10+, there are now DeX apps for Windows and Mac machines. This, in turn, allows you to use DeX with your laptop.

So I installed the DeX app on my Windows PC to see how well it would run, and…it just wasn’t very pleasant to use. It feels sluggish, it’s difficult to transfer multiple files between my PC and the phone, and the interface looks blurry to boot. In the end, I just transferred files from the phone to my PC the old-fashioned way.

Let’s move on to something more positive: the new S Pen’s Air Actions feature. As its name suggests, you can use gestures to do certain actions. In the camera app, for example, you can flick the S Pen up or down to switch cameras, and change shooting modes with a left or right swipe.

Truth be told, Air Actions feel gimmicky in my opinion, and it’s not super intuitive to perform the gestures either. I’ll have to press on the S Pen’s button, perform the gesture, and release the button for Air Actions to work; that’s far from intuitive. Sure, there are instances where this feature would come in handy, but I really don’t see myself using it all too often.

As for the S Pen itself, it works as intended. It is still Bluetooth-enabled, so you can use it as a remote, and Screen Off Memo – which allows you to take notes by just taking out the S Pen without unlocking the device – is still here too. Basically, it’s the S Pen fans of the Note series know and love.

Next, we have the Galaxy Note 10+’s 6.8-inch 1440p Dynamic AMOLED display that looks
fantastic
. It can get searingly bright, colours are very vibrant, and the deep blacks make for a very enjoyable screen for content consumption. Samsung makes some of the best displays in the market, and the Note 10+ is a testament of this.

Underneath that excellent display is an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which works…reasonably well. It’s not the most accurate or fastest in-screen sensor I’ve ever tried – that honour goes to the
OnePlus 7 Pro
 – but it’s definitely functional and fast enough to not feel
too
 cumbersome to use.

Performance level of the Galaxy Note 10+ is also very good. I can switch between different apps seamlessly and quickly, there was absolutely no stuttering throughout my time with the phone, and gaming is (naturally) very enjoyable. Rest assured, you’re getting flagship-level performance with this phone.

Another thing worth noting is the fact that the Exynos 9825 is built on a 7nm process, making it more power-efficient than the Exynos 9820 SoC found in the Galaxy S10 smartphones. This, coupled with the Note 10+’s generous 4,300mAh battery, can return reasonably good battery life.

On average, I was getting between five to six hours of screen on time with the Galaxy Note 10+. It’s not an amazing figure, but it’s certainly far from bad. Charging rate of the phone, on the other hand, is quite impressive: the Note 10+ charged up to 65% from completely empty in only 30 minutes.

I genuinely enjoyed using the Galaxy Note 10+ as my daily driver. While I wish the DeX app was more robust, other aspects of the phone are great; some are even fantastic. Now, let’s talk about the area where the Note 10+ could use some…innovation.

Camera

On the back of the Galaxy Note 10+ are four different camera sensors: a 12MP main shooter with a variable aperture (f/1.5 or f/2.4), a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle sensor, a 12MP f/2.1 telephoto lens, and a VGA DepthVision sensor. If we were to exclude the depth sensor, the Note 10+’s quad camera system is actually very similar to the Galaxy S10+’s camera configuration.

Given the similarity between these two devices’ camera systems, I decided to take some comparison shots with them. Surprisingly enough, the results are not what I expected.

Galaxy Note 10+
 Galaxy S10+
 Galaxy Note 10+
 Galaxy S10+
 Galaxy Note 10+
Galaxy S10+

Even if the camera hardware of both phones are similar, the Note 10+ takes slightly brighter, more flattering-looking images; this is especially the case with the last set of images. On top of that, the Note 10+ also handles lens flare ever so slightly better.

Based on these images, it’s evident that the Galaxy Note 10+ can take good-looking shots in low light conditions. Of course, it can do the same under ideal lighting as well. Just take a look at these shots taken with the three different camera sensors.

12MP primary
12MP telephoto
16MP ultra-wide

However, as good as these images look, they’re not…outstanding. Don’t get me wrong, the Note 10+ has very respectable camera performance, but it doesn’t compare favourably to the likes of the
Huawei P30 Pro
 with its amazing zooming capability.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Samsung sorely needs to innovate in the camera department. After all, the camera performance of its flagship smartphones have not improved drastically in the last couple of years. If it had an even more capable camera system, the Note 10+ would be
that
 much more desirable.

Regardless, this phone is still very fun to photograph with, and it will almost certainly serve most consumers very well.

Competition

Retailing at RM4,199 and RM4,799 for the 256GB and 512GB models respectively, the Galaxy Note 10+ is costly, even for a flagship smartphone. At this price point, it has a number of noteworthy competition.

OnePlus 7 Pro

OnePlus is gradually going upmarket with its flagship smartphones, and the
OnePlus 7 Pro
 is the company’s most premium offering yet. Just like Note 10+, the 7 Pro with 256GB of storage and 12GB RAM retails at RM4,199 as well. For the same amount of money, the OnePlus 7 Pro offers a faster 90Hz display, a sleeker all-screen design, and a cleaner software experience.

On the flip side, the Note 10+ offers several features the OnePlus 7 Pro simply do not have: S Pen and DeX. The latter may not be quite as important, but the S Pen certainly is. It’s the signature hardware of Note smartphones, and many Note users swear by it.

Besides that, the Note 10+ also has superior camera performance, water and dust resistance, as well as support for expandable storage.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Naturally, the smaller
Galaxy Note 10
 is a great alternative to the Note 10+. Not only is it more affordable – it costs RM3,699 for the sole 256GB model – it also shares a number of features with its bigger sibling. The Note 10 has the same Exynos 9825 chipset, similar camera performance (it just doesn’t have the depth sensor), and most importantly, it sports the same S Pen.

That being said, there are a number of distinct differences between the two devices. The standard Note 10 comes with a smaller and lower resolution 6.3-inch 1080p Dynamic AMOLED display, a smaller 3,500mAh battery, no support for expandable storage, and only 8GB of RAM instead of 12GB.

Obviously, the Note 10+ is the better equipped phone in the series, but if you’ve always wanted a Note device in a smaller form factor, that’s exactly what the Note 10 offers.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is a premium flagship smartphone through and through, and as with most new iterations of Note devices, it is Samsung’s best Note yet. It has a fantastic display, respectable battery life, sleek-looking design, and a very capable camera system.

But other phone makers are rapidly catching up to the Note 10+, especially when it comes to camera performance. Next to these smartphones, the Note 10+…isn’t
quite
as desirable. Its high asking price doesn’t really help in this regard either.

That is not to say the Galaxy Note 10+ isn’t worth considering: it still has its own unique feature set, including the signature S Pen. Air Actions are gimmicky in my opinion, but I’m also certain some folks will find some use out of it. Same goes for DeX: it’s not a feature I see myself using too much, but the ability to project the phone to a display can be a powerful tool.

If you’ve always been a fan of Note devices, and you absolutely need the functionality of the S Pen, the Galaxy Note 10+ is a great option – just know that you’ll be paying a premium for it.


Huawei Mate 30 Series Launching in Malaysia This Week

Huawei will be introducing its latest flagship smartphones, the
Mate 30 series
, in Malaysia on 3 October this week. Evidently,
being in the US government’s “Entity List”
 – which bars the company from using Google’s suite of services on its smartphones – isn’t stopping the Chinese company from releasing the Mate 30 series in our market.

While Huawei Malaysia didn’t explicitly mention which of the Mate 30 smartphones are coming to our shores, it’s likely that the company will launch the regular Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro here. The extravagant Porsche Design Mate 30 RS, on the other hand, may only be made available at a later date, though there’s always a chance all three devices will be introduced simultaneously this week.

In the Mate 30 series, the Pro model is naturally the most premium offering. It features Huawei’s latest Kirin 990 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, along with a 6.53-inch 2400 x 1176 OLED notched display that wraps around the edges of the phone; even more so than the dual curved screens of the
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
 and
S10
 smartphones.

Camera capability of the Mate 30 Pro is very impressive too. It has a quad camera system made up of a 40MP primary shooter, a 40MP wide angle “Cine Camera” sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 3D depth camera. It also has a very high ISO of up to 409,600.

But what makes this camera system even more impressive is its slow-motion video recording: it can shoot at 7680fps in 720p, a feat that no other smartphone can offer right now.

Other specifications of the Mate 30 Pro include 256GB of internal storage, an in-screen fingerprint sensor, a generous 4,500mAh battery with support for 40W wired fast charging – 27W wirelessly – and touch-sensitive sides for volume adjustment. For the most part, the Mate 30 RS shares the same hardware as the Pro, but it sports a different design, as well as more RAM and storage at 12GB and 512GB respectively.

And then there’s the standard Mate 30, which comes with a 6.62-inch 1080p OLED flat display with a smaller notch, the same Kirin 990 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and a 4,200mAh battery. It has a similar camera system as the Pro too, but it swaps out the 40MP Cine Camera and 3D depth sensors for 16MP wide angle and laser focus sensors instead.

The Huawei Mate 30 series will be unveiled in Malaysia this Thursday on 3 October. We don’t know yet exactly how much they will cost in Malaysia, but for the sake of comparison, the standard Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro retail from 799 euro (about RM3,655) and 1,099 euro (approximately RM5,025) respectively in Europe.

These prices include VAT for the European market, so it’s likely the Mate 30 series will be more affordable here in Malaysia. We’ll find out for ourselves in the coming days.


Vivo V17 Pro with Dual Pop-Up Camera Now in Malaysia for RM1,699

The Vivo V17 Pro has just been launched in Malaysia, and if you love taking selfie shots, this phone is right up your alley. See, the V17 Pro has two pop-up selfie cameras: one is a regular 32MP primary sensor, while the other is an 8MP ultra-wide angle shooter.

Needless to say, the ultra-wide angle lens of the 8MP camera will definitely open up new shooting possibilities. Given that not many smartphones have this kind of hardware – especially at this price point – it’s certainly a big selling point for the V17 Pro. Of course, this is only the case if the selfie camera is important to you.

But what about the pop-up camera mechanism itself? Well, even though the module is much larger than your typical pop-up camera, it actually seems quite robust. It doesn’t feel too slow to activate when I switch to the selfie camera, it’s relatively quiet, and it even has a front-facing flash for taking selfie shots in low light conditions.

Beyond its selfie camera system, the V17 Pro also has a quad camera configuration on the back. For our market, it’s made up of a 48MP main shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. There’s also an option for 2x zoom in the camera interface, but this is merely digital zoom.

Powering the V17 Pro is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset, which is paired with a generous 8GB RAM. Storage wise, it offers 128GB of storage, which is unfortunately not expandable. Nonetheless, that amount of storage capacity should be good enough for most folks, though it would’ve been nice to have a microSD card slot.

If you’re concerned about battery life, you’ll be happy to know that the V17 Pro features a large 4,100mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging via USB-C. I haven’t had the opportunity to use it as my daily driver yet, but I’m quite positive it can deliver above average battery life. After all, the phone’s 6.44-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display wouldn’t take up too much power.

Speaking of which, the V17 Pro’s “Ultra FullView” display is said to deliver an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 91.65%. As there’s no need to make space for the front-facing cameras, the phone also has an eye pleasing, all-screen design. The small bezel at the bottom of the display doesn’t detract from the phone’s sleek appeal either.

As for the display quality itself, it appears to be a decent screen. AMOLED panels have vibrant colours and deep blacks, which are all present on the V17 Pro. Chances are, you won’t be disappointed with this panel’s quality.

Another hardware worth pointing out is the V17 Pro’s in-screen fingerprint sensor, which is
surprisingly
 quick. A quick tap is enough to unlock the device, and it can accurately recognise my fingerprints most of the time. While it’s still not as fast or accurate as a conventional capacitive fingerprint reader, it’s definitely one of the better in-screen sensors in the market.

Design wise, I really quite like how the V17 Pro looks, especially the Crystal White variant we have here. While the back panel doesn’t feel particularly premium, it does look good. In fact, it’s almost as if it has a pearlescent finish, which seems to shift colours depending on the lighting.

That being said, I’m not thrilled about the build quality and ergonomics of the V17 Pro. The plastic frame doesn’t feel particularly great, the back panel flexes a bit too easily with added pressure, and I can feel the camera bump whenever I’m holding the phone normally. At this price point, I definitely expected more solid build quality.

So how much does the V17 Pro cost? For the Malaysian market, it retails at RM1,699, which is quite a steep asking price for a mid-range smartphone. At this price point, it has to compete with a number of other devices that offer better value for money, build quality, and feature set. These include the excellent
Huawei Nova 5T
,
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
, and even the
Xiaomi Mi A3
.

Granted, none of them can quite offer the functionality of the V17 Pro’s dual pop-up selfie camera, especially the front-facing ultra-wide angle shooter. That particular feature really is one of the best reasons to get this smartphone. However, if you don’t care about selfie cameras, the V17 Pro isn’t made for you; a different phone in this price range will serve you better.

The Vivo V17 Pro is now available for purchase in Malaysia for RM1,699. It is available in two colour options: Crystal White, and the more subdued Knight Black.


Samsung Galaxy Fold Malaysian Pre-Order Begins 9 October for RM8,388

Update 4 October, 4PM:
 Samsung Malaysia just revealed pre-order details and pricing of the Galaxy Fold. The foldable phone retails at a whopping RM8,388, and you can place your pre-order from 9 October onwards
at these participating outlets
. You’ll need to pay a RM800 non-refundable deposit to secure your order.

Once you’ve placed your pre-order, you can collect your Galaxy Fold at your preferred outlet from 16 to 31 October. To learn more about this pre-order campaign, just click
here
.

The original article follows.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold had a
rocky launch earlier this year
, but that hasn’t stopped the Korean company from going ahead with the launch of its foldable smartphone in Malaysia this month. That’s right, the Galaxy Fold will be arriving on our shores very soon, and you can bet it will cost a small fortune.

If you haven’t been following news surrounding the Galaxy Fold, here’s a summary. The first iteration of the Fold was more fragile than expected, with reports of the display being damaged after regular use. Besides that, some folks tried to peel off what seemed like a screen protector, only to find out that it’s actually
a part
 of the display’s structure after the screen started malfunctioning.

These reports were widespread and worrying enough for Samsung to put a hold on the launch of the Galaxy Fold for a few months. Come September, the phone maker unveiled the redesigned Galaxy Fold at IFA 2019. For the most part, it’s the same device, but with some important changes here and there.

Now, there are plastic bits surrounding the display of the Fold to prevent dust and debris from getting underneath the screen. The top protective layer has also been extended to go under the bezels, so it won’t be possible – or at the very least, a lot more difficult – to peel off. The hinge supposedly feels more durable now too, and the gaps around the device have been reduced as well.

Beyond these changes, the fixed Galaxy Fold has the same hardware as the original model. These include a 7.3-inch 2152 x 1536 Dynamic AMOLED primary display, a smaller 4.6-inch screen on the outside of the device, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset – despite the fact that the
faster Snapdragon 855+
 is already available now – paired with 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of internal storage.

Rounding out the specifications of this foldable phone are a triple camera system (12MP primary + 16MP ultra-wide angle + 12MP telephoto), two front-facing shooters (10MP main + 8MP depth), a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a 4,380mAh battery.

Even though the Samsung Galaxy Fold is confirmed to be arriving in Malaysia this month, there is still no specific launch date for the foldable smartphone. Samsung did, however, mention that the pre-order campaign for the Fold is “coming soon.”

Rest assured, we will keep a close eye on the local availability of the Galaxy Fold, especially the Malaysian pricing of the device. As a point of comparison, the phone costs a whopping $1,980 in the US, which comes up to about RM8,305. Chances are, the Fold will be priced in the same region once it’s available here.


Huawei Mate 30 Pro Hands-On: Possibly the Best Smartphone You Won’t Buy

Even with the
current restriction placed on Huawei
, which blocks the Chinese company from using Google’s services on its smartphones, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro will be making its
Malaysian debut tomorrow
. We managed to spend some time with the flagship smartphone ahead of its local launch, and boy, this is one
impressive
device.

But given Huawei’s current predicament, the Mate 30 Pro does not ship with vital apps that practically define the Android experience. That’s unfortunate, because this device has the potential to be one of the best flagship smartphones in the market.

Design wise, the Mate 30 Pro is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it has a notched display, and it’s a pretty wide notch at that. But on the other hand, this phone feels very, very premium and comfortable to hold. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say that the Mate 30 Pro feels more robust than its main rivals.

Part of the reason lies in the ergonomics of the phone. Unlike most devices in the market with a similar display size, the Mate 30 Pro is a lot narrower, making it a lot easier (and comfortable) to hold with one hand. This is thanks to the 6.53-inch 2400 x 1176 OLED display, which has an unconventional 18.4:9 aspect ratio.

Besides that, the display’s unique “ultra curved” nature makes the Mate 30 Pro even narrower. Surprisingly enough, the palm rejection of the curved screen is very good too. In my brief time with the phone, never did the sides of the display accidentally activate.

Now, given the extremely curved screen of the Mate 30 Pro, Huawei decided to forego the volume rocker, though the power button is retained on the right side of the phone. To make up for this, you simply have to double tap on either sides of the screen to summon the volume controls. From there, you can simply slide up or down to adjust the volume.

It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to activate, and there are subtle haptic feedback when you’re adjusting the volume. However, only the top half of the sides are touch-sensitive; double tapping on the bottom half does nothing.

As for the display itself, it looks to be a decent quality panel. At a glance, it doesn’t look quite as vibrant as, say, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+’s display, but it’s not a “bad screen” by any stretch of the word. It still has vibrant enough colours with deep blacks and great viewing angles, which are inherent characteristics of OLED panels.

Underneath the display of the Mate 30 Pro is an in-screen fingerprint sensor, and it’s reasonably quick. While it’s not the most accurate sensor of its kind, it will suffice for most users.

In the performance department, the Mate 30 Pro is powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 990 chipset. As far as I can tell, it can deliver a good level of performance. The phone feels fast, zippy, and very responsive with no sluggishness at all. Chances are, the Kirin 990 should be able to offer flagship-level performance.

Other specifications of the Mate 30 Pro include a 32MP front-facing camera, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage (it’s expandable, but only with Huawei’s proprietary NM cards), as well as a generous 4,500mAh battery with support for 40W wired fast charging or 27W wirelessly.

Finally, there’s the quad camera system of the Mate 30 Pro. It’s made up of a 40MP primary shooter, a 40MP wide angle “Cine Camera” sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 3D depth camera. On top of that, this camera setup can also take 7680fps slow-motion video in 720p, though I didn’t manage to try it out for myself.

What I did manage to do is take some shots with the Mate 30 Pro, and they look very promising. The three focal lengths make it a versatile camera system, and the image quality of all three sensors look very good too. Judge for yourself with these sample shots.

40MP primary
40MP wide angle
8MP telephoto

Granted, most phones – especially flagships – can take good-looking images under great lighting. It’ll be interesting to see just how the quad camera system would perform in low light conditions, which we’ll definitely put to the test in a full review.

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro, based on my brief time with the phone, is easily one of the most impressive flagship smartphones released this year. It’s well-designed, it has a unique, ultra curved display, and the camera performance shows a lot of promise too. Under normal circumstances, this is a very attractive high-end device.

But not having access to Google’s range of services severely affects the Mate 30 Pro’s appeal, even if it is a fantastic product. Google’s services are too important to forego, even if Huawei’s own AppGallery can somewhat make up for the absence of the Google Play Store.

Nonetheless, there is a chance the Mate 30 Pro could have its access to Google’s services officially restored sometime in the future, though this will remain a pipe dream until the company’s
ongoing debacle with the US government
 blows over.

For now, we’ll just have to wait and see exactly what Huawei will announce at the Mate 30 Pro’s launch event tomorrow, including the Malaysian pricing of the flagship smartphone.


Huawei Mate 30 Series Arrives in Malaysia, Retailing from RM2,799

Huawei just launched the Huawei Mate 30 series in Malaysia, which is highlighted by the company to be the first country outside of China to receive the new flagship smartphones. On top of that, quite a number of other Huawei products will also be coming to Malaysia, including the Huawei Watch GT 2, Huawei Band 4, FreeBuds 3 wireless earbuds, and the Huawei x Gentle Monster smart glasses.

Let’s start with the most interesting device, the
Mate 30 Pro
. It features a 6.53-inch 2400 x 1176 OLED “ultra curved” notched display, a fast Kirin 990 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage – expandable with Huawei’s proprietary NM cards – and a generous 4,500mAh battery with support for 40W fast charging; 27W for wireless charging.

Camera capability of the Mate 30 Pro is also one of its best qualities. It comes with a quad camera system made up of a 40MP main shooter, a 40MP wide angle “Cine Camera” sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 3D depth camera. The three different focal lengths of the camera setup make it a versatile shooter, and paired with the ability to shoot 7680fps slow-motion videos in 720p, the Mate 30 Pro is a powerful smartphone for photography. Did we mention the ISO can go up to 409,600 as well?

Next is the more affordable Mate 30. It shares many of the Pro model’s hardware, but it has a more conventional 6.62-inch 1080p OLED flat display. While that’s not quite as impressive as the Pro’s ultra curved screen, it’s worth noting that the standard Mate 30’s display has a smaller notch. Besides that, it comes with half the storage at 128GB (still expandable only with Huawei’s NM cards), 8GB RAM, along with a slightly smaller 4,200mAh battery.

Not surprisingly, the regular Mate 30’s camera system isn’t quite as sophisticated as it’s higher-end sibling: it swaps out the Pro’s 40MP Cine Camera and 3D depth sensors for 16MP wide angle and laser focus sensors instead.

Besides these two smartphones, Huawei also announced the Malaysian availability (and pricing) of its other products. There’s the GT Watch 2, which retails from RM799 for both the 46mm and 42mm models. There are also the Huawei Band 4 (RM139), FreeBuds 3 wireless earbuds (RM729), and the unique Gentle Monster smart glasses (RM1,599).

All of these products mentioned above are set to arrive in Malaysia sometime in November 2019, except for the 46mm Watch GT 2 and Huawei Band 4. These two products are now available for pre-order on
Huawei’s online store
.

As for the Huawei Mate 30 series itself, the Pro model retails at RM3,899, while the standard model goes for RM2,799. So far, only the Mate 30 Pro is
available for pre-order
 until 22 October, and you’ll have to meet a number of requirements to do so. For one, you have to acknowledge that the phone is “operated by Huawei Mobile Services,” which is to say it doesn’t come with Google’s services.

Aside from that, you’ll also have to prove that you own two (yes,
two
) Huawei Mate series smartphones to place your pre-order; a very peculiar requirement. In order to do this, you’ll have to upload either two different images of your Mate devices, receipts of your purchases, or images with the Mate series watermark.

Once you’ve done all of that, you can finally place your pre-order by paying a RM300 non-refundable deposit.
 The Mate 30 Pro itself can then be picked up between 25 October to 7 November.

You’ll have to jump through a few hoops to secure a unit of the Mate 30 Pro, but those who managed to pre-order the device will get quite a number of freebies. These include a DJI Osmo Mobile 3, a Huawei in-car charger, a PU casing, as well as Huawei Care – it offers one-year extended warranty and six-month screen crack warranty. Collectively, all of these are worth RM1,155.

Want to get more freebies? Well, if you managed to refer five different people to pre-order the Mate 30 Pro, you will get a complimentary Huawei Watch GT worth RM799. No, that’s not a typo: according to the terms and conditions of the pre-order, it is the previous generation Watch GT. Those who have successfully refered five people will get the smartwatch delivered to them from 18 November onwards.

If you’d like to learn more about the Huawei Mate 30 Pro,
check out our hands-on
. Before you place your pre-order for the phone (if you do plan to get the flagship device), just be aware that it does not ship with Google’s services; it’s a very big omission, especially if you rely heavily on Google’s apps and services. You can place your pre-order of the Mate 30 Pro
right here
.


The Peculiar Acer Predator Helios 700 Gaming Laptop Lands in Malaysia for RM17,999

If you somehow always wanted a gaming laptop with a keyboard that can slide out, the Acer Predator Helios 700 offers just that, and then some. Featuring a unique HyperDrift keyboard that slides down, the Helios 700 is a high-end gaming laptop with some serious power under the hood.

Given that the HyperDrift keyboard is the laptop’s most unique hardware, let’s talk about that first. On the surface, it looks like a regular keyboard, but you can actually pull the keyboard and trackpad towards you to reveal the laptop’s cooling fans. Of course, the palm rest area would then act as a wrist rest, which is really quite interesting.

Exposing the cooling fans of the Helios 700 isn’t just for show either. According to Acer, this allows for better airflow that further improves the performance of the gaming laptop. On top of that, there’s also a satisfying click when you slide the keyboard in and out. Rest assured, the mechanism feels very robust.

Another benefit of sliding out the keyboard is the improved ergonomics when typing. With the trackpad acting as the wrist rest, it’s a lot more comfortable to type on the keyboard in this odd – but ergonomically-sound – position. The “MagForce” keys of the keyboard also offer a lot of travel, which makes for an even more pleasant typing experience.

The trackpad of the Helios 700 is really good too. My fingers can glide effortlessly on the surface, it has accurate tracking, and gestures work seamlessly too.

Besides the HyperDrift keyboard, other specifications of the Helios 700 are equally interesting. Powering this gaming laptop is an Intel Core i9-9980HK processor – overclockable, naturally – paired with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, so there is ample amount of processing power and RAM here.

Graphics card of the Helios 700 is equally powerful too: it features an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 GPU that is
specifically
 mentioned to not be the Max-Q variant. With such a powerful CPU and GPU combination, the extra airflow the HyperDrift keyboard affords will definitely come in handy to cool down these components.

To make full use of these high-end hardware, the Helios 700 also has a fast 144Hz 17.3-inch IPS display with G-Sync support. Given that the screen only has a Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, this gaming laptop should be able to deliver frame rate in excess of 60fps easily in modern AAA games with maxed out graphics. In fact, we reckon the 144Hz display can even be fully utilised in certain titles.

It’s great that the Helios 700 has a fast screen, but what’s not so great are the thick bezels surrounding the display. This gives the laptop a dated-looking design, which doesn’t really do justice to the machine’s cutting-edge hardware. Plus, the bezels are made out of plastic too; this cheapens the premium appeal of the Helios 700.

When it comes to connectivity options, this laptop offers quite a number of them. It has three USB-A 3.1 ports, two USB-C connections (one even supports Thunderbolt 3), a DisplayPort, an HDMI output, as well as an RJ45 port. Unfortunately, there is no card reader of any kind, despite the large chassis of the laptop.

Since we’re on the topic, the Helios 700 is a
heavy
 gaming laptop. It tips the scales at 4.8kg, so this is not a laptop you’d want to lug around too much. Then again, it’s not particularly portable either, given that the chassis measures 42mm thick. After all, this is a desktop replacement; it’s not exactly designed with portability in mind.

The Acer Predator Helios 700 is a powerful, high-end gaming laptop, so it goes without saying it will cost quite a bit of money. For the Malaysian market, only one variant of the machine is offered, which costs a cool RM17,999. For that kind of money, you’re getting 32GB of DDR4 RAM, as well as two 512GB PCIe NVMe SSDs in Raid 0 configuration.

That is a steep price tag, to be sure, but the Helios 700 is without a doubt a powerful gaming machine with a unique keyboard mechanism. If you’re keen to get it, it is now available for purchase in Malaysia on Acer’s official online store, as well as Acer authorised resellers nationwide.

Also announced at the Predator Helios 700’s launch event is the return of the PC maker’s Asia Pacific Predator League, which will be held in Manila, the Philippines on 22 and 23 February 2020. Participants from 17 countries will compete in Dota 2 and PUBG for a total prize pool of $400,000 – the Malaysian leg alone offers $25,000, which is about RM104,635.

Registration for the Predator League is now open in Malaysia. Those who are confident in their Dota 2 or PUBG skills can sign up
right here
.


Shopee 10.10 Brands Festival Celebrates Malaysian-Made Products

Shopee is partnering with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) for its 10.10 Brands Festival campaign to bolster the sales of Malaysian-made products on the e-commerce platform. According to Shopee, the Buy Malaysian campaign aims to help local entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

The company will carry out a number of initiatives to help these local businesses. One of them is to highlight Malaysian-made products on Shopee: a dedicated
“Buy Malaysia” category
 will be added to the e-commerce platform. This will boost visibility and make it easier for shoppers to find local products.

Of course, the Buy Malaysian campaign doesn’t just end with Shopee’s 10.10 Brands Festival. The company elaborated that the campaign will still be emphasised in the next two sale events, which are 11.11 and 12.12. The surge in traffic from these two campaigns will definitely benefit local businesses, Shopee added.

Interestingly, Shopee is also making it easier for Malaysian businesses to export their products internationally. This is dubbed Shopee International Platform (SIP), an initiative that offers “logistical, payments, and customer service arrangements” to local sellers free of charge.

The aim of SIP is to help those who want to expand to international market, but don’t have the means to do so because of operational difficulties. At the moment, SIP is only limited to Singapore, though Shopee did say it plans to add more countries to the list in the future.

As with all of Shopee’s sale campaigns, there are a number of interesting deals offered for the 10.10 Brands Festival. The minimum spend to be eligible for free shipping, for one, is reduced to only RM10 throughout the campaign period. If you’re a bargain hunter, keep your eyes peeled for the RM10 deals – these are posted on a daily basis.

Naturally, there are different “themes” for each day leading up to the 10.10 Brands Festival. For example, 8 October is the Home Brands Sale, which – as its name suggests – focuses on household items. Different vouchers will also be offered every day; you can get either get discounts or cashbacks in the form of Shopee Coins with these vouchers.

The Shopee 10.10 Brands Festival campaign is going on right now, and it will end on 11 October 2019. If you want to learn more about it, including the full breakdown of the calendar for the sale event, just click
right here
.


TCL Plex Enters Malaysian Market for RM1,199; Bundled with RM199 Headphones

Chance are, most folks know TCL for its range of televisions, but surprise surprise, the Chinese company released its very own smartphone back at IFA 2019. It is the TCL Plex, and you can now get this mid-range Android smartphone in Malaysia for RM1,199.

Now, TCL isn’t exactly new in the smartphone industry. After all, both the BlackBerry and Alcatel brand names are owned by the company. But the TCL Plex is the first smartphone to be released with its own branding, and it’s actually a pretty decent mid-ranger.

Its list of specifications comfortably place the Plex in the upper mid-range segment. It comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset paired with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot – it supports cards up to 256GB – as well as a reasonably big 3,820mAh battery.

Given TCL’s expertise in display technology, the company is very proud of the Plex’s 6.53-inch 1080p “Dotch” IPS display. The Dotch is basically what TCL dubs the hole-punch design (it’s even trademarked by the manufacturer), and it’s a reasonably small cutout.

On top of that, the Plex’s display, not surprisingly, is manufactured by TCL itself. It comes with a mode called NXTVISION, and once enabled, it improves the visual quality of the screen with a “six-axis colour enhancement.” This, in turn, allows it to play SDR videos with HDR-like colours; certainly a lofty claim.

In the camera department, the Plex features a triple camera system made up of a 48MP main shooter, a 16MP super-wide angle camera, and a 2MP “low-light” sensor. I haven’t had the chance to try out the camera performance extensively yet, but it’ll be interesting to see how the triple camera setup fares in low light conditions.

Another feature that’s highlighted by TCL is the Plex’s ability to connect to four different audio sources via Bluetooth simultaneously. It’s dubbed Super Bluetooth, and it certainly works as advertised. There is, however, one limitation: the feature only works with two audio sources if the phone is connected to a 2.4GHz WiFi network.

The TCL Plex is now available for purchase in Malaysia for RM1,199 in Opal White or Obsidian Black, and you can get your hands on it from the company’s
official store on Shopee
. To sweeten the deal, a pair of TCL MTRO wireless headphones worth RM199 is bundled with the smartphone too.


Garmin Venu Smartwatch Launches in Malaysia for RM1,799

Last month, Garmin launched the
Fenix 6 smartwatches on our shores
, which are made for the most dedicated of fitness folks, If you want something more…toned down, the Garmin Venu is just for you, and it has just been introduced in Malaysia.

Unlike other Garmin smartwatches, the Venu sports a vibrant 1.2-inch 390 x 390 AMOLED touch display, giving it the look and functionality of a conventional smartwatch. On top of that, it also has an always on display, so you can just glance at it to check the time.

Of course, the Venu is
still
 a Garmin smartwatch, so fitness-centric features remain a big part of the wearable. The Venu is able to track over a dozen different activities, including a wide range of cardio workouts, yoga, pilates, and even strength training.

Those who need help with some of the exercises will be happy to know that the Venu can also show animated workouts demonstrating the proper form of the movements step-by-step. In fact, under the strength section, it even has animations of core workouts like deadlift and bench press.

This attention to detail on the Venu’s fitness capabilities is really quite impressive; Garmin surely knows a thing or two in this particular aspect.

What is not so impressive, however, is the build quality of the device. While the bezel is made out of stainless steel – with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the display – the case itself is made out of “fibre-reinforced polymer with polymer rear cover.” Basically, that’s plastic, and it doesn’t exactly feel very premium.

Despite the plasticky feel of the Venu, I’m positive this is a durable smartwatch. Plus, the plastic case also makes it a lightweight wearable, so you wouldn’t particularly feel its presence on your wrist. Rated for 5 ATM, the Venu can be used while showering, swimming, or snorkeling as well.

Other specifications of the Venu include up to five days of battery life in GPS mode, the ability to stream music to an audio source – it can supposedly store “up to 500 songs” – a Pulse OX sensor to measure your blood oxygen level, GPS, and of course, a heart rate sensor.

The Garmin Venu will be available for purchase in Malaysia from 9 October onwards, and it is offered in four different variants: Black with Slate hardware, another Black model but with Gold hardware instead, Light Sand, and Granite Blue. As for pricing, the Venu retails at RM1,799.

It’s a steep price tag for a wearable, but given its feature set and fitness capabilities, the Venu may be worth the price premium for certain folks. After all, not many smartwatches can offer the same features.


Redmi Note 8 Series with 64MP Camera Arrives in Malaysia; Starts from RM599

The
Redmi Note 8 series
 has just been launched in Malaysia, and both the standard Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro are brought into our market. Packing respectable hardware and competitive price tags, these two products are ideal for those who are looking to get an affordable smartphone.

Out of the two phones, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is the most interesting one. After all, its quad camera system features a 64MP main shooter, which should be able to capture a lot of detail. Complementing that camera is an 8MP ultra-wide angle sensor, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. There’s no telephoto shooter here, but most consumers will probably find more use out of the wide angle camera.

Powering the Redmi Note 8 Pro is a
MediaTek Helio G90T processor
. While MediaTek chipsets are not quite as attractive as Qualcomm’s offerings, the G90T is a very respectable chip. According to MediaTek, this processor is up to 26% faster than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730 SoC.

While I’ve only spent a brief time with the Redmi Note 8 Pro – so I couldn’t really get a feel for the phone’s overall level of performance – it seems to be a zippy, responsive smartphone. Rest assured, I’ll put the phone through its paces (especially when it comes to gaming) once the device is in for a full review.

And then there’s the Redmi Note 8 Pro’s 6.53-inch 2340 x 1080 IPS display. Now, I’m not thrilled about the notch at the top of the screen, but at least it’s not a particularly wide one. As for the screen quality itself, it’s a reasonably bright display with vibrant colours and good viewing angles.

Other specifications of the Redmi Note 8 Pro include 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, a 20MP selfie camera, a capacitive fingerprint sensor right below the quad camera system on the back, and a generous 4,500mAh battery.

Next is the more affordable Redmi Note 8. Unlike the Pro model, this standard variant is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset. It’s not quite as powerful as the Pro’s G90T SoC, but if you prefer Qualcomm’s processor over MediaTek, you’ve got this regular model as an alternative.

Another noteworthy difference between the Pro and the Redmi Note 8 is the camera system. It is still a quad camera configuration, but instead of a 64MP sensor, the main shooter is a 48MP unit. The other three sensors, on the other hand, are similar to the Pro’s 8MP (ultra-wide angle) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) setup.

Rounding out the specifications of the Redmi Note 8 are a 6.3-inch 1080p display (still with a notch at the top), 3GB or 4GB of RAM, three choices of internal storage – 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB – a 13MP front-facing shooter, and a 4,000mAh battery.

So how much does the Redmi Note 8 series cost in Malaysia? Well, the higher-end Redmi Note 8 Pro retails at RM1,099 and RM1,199 for the 64GB and 128GB variants respectively. If you pre-order the 64GB model on Shopee or Lazada from today until 11 October, you can get for only RM999 instead.

What about the 128GB Redmi Note 8 Pro? Of course, it has its own promotion: those who placed their pre-orders for this particular variant until 11 October will receive a complimentary Black Shark gaming controller worth RM169.

As for the standard Redmi Note 8, as many as three different models are offered in Malaysia: the base model with 32GB of storage and 3GB goes for only RM599, while the 64GB and 128GB variants with 4GB of RAM are priced at RM799 and RM899 respectively. Do note that the 32GB and 128GB models will only be available in Malaysia from 18 October onwards.

Just like the Pro model, there is also a pre-order deal for the regular Redmi Note 8, although this is only offered for the 64GB variant. Pre-orders of the device on Shopee and Lazada will get a Mi True Wireless Earbuds Basic worth RM99 – that’s a pretty good deal.

Speaking of which, the Redmi Note 8 smartphones weren’t the only products launched today: Xiaomi also introduced three different audio products for the Malaysian market. The Mi True Wireless Earbuds Basic is one of them (RM99), while the other two products are the Mi True Wireless Earbuds (RM179) and Mi True Wireless Earphones (RM329).

That’s not all: now that the Redmi Note 8 series is available in Malaysia, it’s only a matter of time before the new Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A smartphones make their way here. I’ve reached out to Xiaomi regarding this, and the company confirmed that these two devices will in fact be available here in the near future.

The Redmi Note 8 smartphones are really the most refined devices in the series yet, bringing a number of improvements over the well-received
Redmi Note 7
. Those who are looking to get an affordable mid-range smartphone should definitely consider these two options.