4 things smartphone brands need to stop doing

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You know what grinds my gears? Bad smartphone trends that are still prevalent today – the kind that you know could’ve been avoided or done better, but manufacturers stuck to anyways. So, in a fit of frustration, I’m writing this article to talk (read: whine) about the few smartphone trends that I think go away.

Phone covers with dust plugs/port covers

Image credit: DHgate

This little source of irritation is what inspired this entire article, and it should therefore take top spot in my list.

You’ll find these phone cases included in the box, and although I get the idea of preventing dust buildup, and it’s better not having a case – but I think it causes more hassle than it doing any good.

Every time you go to charge your phone, this little piece of silicone needs to be pried open; and you best be quick with plugging in your cable, because that dust cover is coming straight back down on your poor
ol
’ thumbs.

I just to charge my phone folks, not perform finger acrobatics every time my device runs low on juice.

Still using a
microUSB
 charging port

Image credit: Android Central

While we’re on the subject of charging ports, let’s talk about phones that use
microUSB
 ports – and I have but one question for brands that do this: Why?

Sure, the manufacturers include one cable in the box – as they should. But say you need a set of spares for your car, or office – chances are you don’t have enough. This means you’ll have to fork out a bit more money for decent ones.

USB Type-C cables, however, are the de facto standard for Android phones in 2021, and I’m willing to bet you have at least two more of these sitting around at home already.

On top of that, Type-C cables can be plugged in any direction – a
microUSB
 cable? Not so much. Nobody has time to flip the darn thing around three times before getting it right.

Self-cannibalism

To put into context about what I mean – let’s take Xiaomi for example (sorry Xiaomi); they launched the
Redmi Note 10 Pro
 and
Poco X3 Pro
 within the same month.

The problem is, the latter offers very similar specs overall, except it packed a more powerful chipset – and good performance is definitely one of the top criteria when
Malaysians
 shop for phones.

The
Redmi Note 10 Pro
 benefits from having an AMOLED panel and a 108MP camera system – the latter feature isn’t something people utilize enough anyways, in my opinion.
So,
 for the same price of RM999, I’d still pick the POCO X3 Pro any day of the week

What I’m trying to get at here is cut down on the number of models – we like options sure, but don’t oversaturate the market with products that aren’t all that different; instead, manufacturers should compete with rival brands to encourage proper innovation.

Every phone looks the same

Image credit: GizChina

They do – you can fight me on this. How many phones do we see today come with the same, iPhone 11-esque camera bump deign? The answer is: A lot!

With more phones now sporting the same aesthetics, you can’t help but feel a fatigued by seeing with how oversaturated the market is with the same cookie-cutter phones.

You may also remember the
OPPO-
ification
 of OnePlus phones last year when you could see quite a shift in strategy and design to almost literally mirror OPPO’s own. It doesn’t help that both brands are owned by BBK Electronics (who also owns vivo, and Realme).

Image credit: Business Insider

This was apparent with last year’s OnePlus 8 series that didn’t look all too different from any major flagships, especially the
Find X2 Pro
 (bar the position of the camera module).

I’m singling out OnePlus because they did things a little differently – from being a value flagship brand in its early days, to targeting the enthusiast crowd a just two years ago. Now, it pumps out phones that are like many modern-day options – forgettable.

So these are a few things I want to see smartphone brands stop doing in the future; but this is, of course, an ongoing article because I’m sure there will be more for me to complain about, so stay tuned!

microUSB
oneplus
oppo
phone cover
smartphone
smartphone trends


Over 400,000 pre-orders recorded for the Honor 9

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It has only been a little over a day since Honor launched its latest flagship, the Honor 9. This handset marks a refresh by Huawei’s sub brand Honor over the beautifully designed Honor 8 of last year. China’s popular local online store Jing Dong (JD) has since recorded nearly half a million pre-orders for the Honor 9.

At the time of writing, a total of 431,827 pre-orders have been recorded on JD’s website. JD has made the figure public as it has a counter on the main page of the Honor 9, which is increasing by tens of thousands in the matter of minutes. One thing to note is that consumers can also pre-order the phone through the official Huawei online store, known as Vmall and other Chinese online retailers such as Amazon China. This means that the total number of pre-orders could well surpass the 1 million mark as we speak, which is quite the feat in less than 36 hours.

The Honor 9 is basically a Huawei P10 in glass form, without the Leica branded cameras. The former and the latter feature nearly identical specs from their internals to their hardware. The Honor 9 also carries a significantly lower price tag than the more prestigious Huawei P10.

honor 9
huawei p10
jd
jing dong


4chan faces financial issues

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4chan, the internet’s most notorious imageboard, is currently facing some serious financial issues. The issue is so severe, 4chan’s owner Hiroyuki Nishimura has published a post that details what may happen to the imageboard in the coming months.

According to Nishimura’s post, 4chan’s financial woes means that the website is unable to afford infrastructure costs, network fees, server costs, CDN and various other miscellaneous costs. Furthermore, Nishimura has also revealed that the 4chan’s ads aren’t generating enough to keep the website afloat, and as such, he has temporary disabled middle ads and bottom ads from the imageboards.

In order to keep the website afloat, Nishimura has outlined three possible options. The first option is to halve 4chan’s traffic costs. This option would involve imposing size limits on user-uploaded images, the closure of some 4chan boards, and potentially moving 4chan to slower servers. The second option is to ramp up advertisments on the website, which would lead to the implementation of pop-up ads, pop-under ads, and even malicious ads. The third option is to push for more 4chan pass users by introducing more features to those who buy a 4chan pass.

I’m open to joining the Board of Directors of 4Chan.
@4chan

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli)
October 2, 2016

While cost-cutting measures are one way to save the troubled imageboard, it appears that outside help may also be an option that Nishimura is willing to entertain. Just yesterday, Martin Shkreli,
an individual just as infamous
 as 4chan itself, has tweeted his interest in joining 4chan’s Board of Directors. However, if none of the measures are able to be implemented successfully, and if no one is willing to inject funds into 4chan, it may very well be the beginning of the end of 4chan.

Source:
The Verge
,
4chan

4chan
financialissues
imageboard


4K live streaming now available on YouTube

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4K resolution content is more available right now then it ever was. 4K televisions have become increasingly common, along with 4K desktop monitors, and to some extent, 4K display smartphones. While YouTube has already made 4K video support available on its platform way back in 2010, the number of YouTube uploads in 4K resolution has only spiked since last year.

YouTube has something exciting for us once again, as it has announced 4K live streaming for its videos. The support isn’t only limited to normal videos, but to 360-degree videos as well. 1080p resolution videos are still pretty much the standard for today, but YouTube intends to push a step ahead with this revolutionary update to its own platform. Talk about a live VR experience in 4K resolution. There is probably nothing as immersive as that at this point of time.

In conjunction with the new update, YouTube has teamed up with the folks behind The Game Awards to stream the awards show live in clear and crispy 4K. With more hardware and devices capable of 4K recording, it is no surprise that YouTube will eventually bring 4K support to live streaming to videos including 360-degree ones as well. We hope for 4K to be the standard and recommended resolution in the days to come where media content will be more life-like than ever before.

Source:
YouTube

360
4k
degree
live
resolution
stream
videos
youtube


4K movies already available on Google Play Movies

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4K movies haven’t gotten the official kickstart on Google Play Movies, but there seems to be a number of movies in 4K available to be appreciated on Google’s movie streaming platform. The company has announced not too long ago during the launch of the Pixel series that 4K movies will be making their way to Google Play Movies, and it seems like these 4K movies have been silently launched, or will there not be an official rollout of 4K movies on Google Play Movies?

Several Reddit users have spotted 4K content on Google Play Movies, but only just a handful of them. According to a post on Reddit, movies like Zoolander, This is The End, Star Trek and the Fifth Element are available in crispy clear 4K resolution, although not all of them are able to be purchased. It appears that the rollout might seem more like a mistake than a silent rollout, since typical Google will make things official before they go official.

Having said that, a November launch of 4K movies on Google Play Movies have been expected, and we’re definitely not very far from the Christmas month. Users who have managed to view 4K content on Google Play Movies happen to be the handful of lucky ones, as a Redditor has contacted Google regarding the discovery and has been told that 4K movies aren’t official just yet. Guess we still have to be patient for now. What do you think?

Source:
Reddit

4k
content
google
movies
play
streaming
uhd
video


4th gen Moto G to be named Moto G4

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It seems like the Moto branding on Lenovo-Motorola’s phones will still be retained this year. However, we do see a tinge of change when it comes to the naming of the handsets. For instance, a rumored Moto X3 and most recently, a Moto G4. Not to be confused with the LG G4 from last year, the rumored Moto G4 isn’t a device which came out of the blue as a result of the Lenovo-Motorola merger. Instead, the Moto G4 is the name for the upcoming 4th gen Moto G.

While rumors seem to be all over the place on whether the handset will be carrying the “Moto G4” title or remain as the “Moto G”, we’ll be sticking with the Moto G4 for now. Specs wise, the G4 is said to be sporting a 5.5-inch display, 16GB of internal storage and a 13MP rear camera. There seems to be a Moto G4 Plus in the works as well, featuring the same 5.5-inch screen and internal storage with the difference being the 16MP rear shooter. So far, info on the Moto G4 and G4 Plus’ processor and RAM count have yet to be revealed, or rather, leaked.

Nevertheless, along with the leaked specs are a couple of images of the alleged handset, giving us a peek on the front and back panels of the Moto G4. On the back, the rear camera is housed underneath a layer of glass with a dual-tone LED flash below it. Above the camera sit two unknown sensors. The tiny hole beside the camera setup is most probably a microphone. The same “hole” is seen on the front of the device, beside a square-ish home button, which should house a fingerprint sensor underneath. One thing to note is, the Moto logo is still retained with no signs of a Lenovo branding based on the two images. What do you think about the Moto G4 and G4 Plus?

Source:
Nowhereelse
  Via:
Android Authority

g
g4
leak
lenovo
moto
plus


4th Generation Moto X photos leaked

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Late last year, rumours were going around that the next entry in the Moto X series of smartphones would be sporting a full metal unibody. Today, that rumour is confirmed as images of the upcoming Moto X has been leaked online.

Who woulda thunk it? Turns out this is 100% real.
#motox

https://t.co/xRNox3fYmF

pic.twitter.com/Eu7tGMSvOv

— Evan Blass (@evleaks)
May 7, 2016

According to a Tweet by Evan Blass, as well as pictures hosted on
hellomotoHK’s Google+ page
, the upcoming Moto X will indeed be sporting a full metal unibody. Aside from the metal body, the 4th Gen Moto X will also come with a redesigned camera housing which is protected by a large glass. Another interesting thing to note is that the phone might come with swappable metallic covers as the hellomotoHK page reveals the the phone will, at the very least, feature at least three different back cover variants.

As for the specifications of the Moto X, nothing really solid has been revealed yet. Judging from early benchmark scores that was found by
Phandroid
 though, it is highly likely that the phone will come with a Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM. With the launch date of the phone rumoured to be on the 9th of June, we expect more details about the Moto X to be leaked over the coming weeks.

Source:
Twitter
,
hellomotoHK
,
VentureBeat
,
Phandroid

lenovo
motorola
motox


5 affordable alternatives for the iPhone 7 below RM2,000

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Let’s face it. The iPhone 7 by Apple is without a doubt, one of 2016’s greatest phones. However, Apple’s flagship series as usual, comes with a pretty steep price point. Apart from Apple’s own base of diehard fans, we can agree that most of us aren’t too keen on investing that much of money on a smartphone that we will be abusing for a year or two at most. The fact of the matter is there is a sea of fairly impressive smartphones out there that bout you and I can get our hands on without having to break the bank or be bound by a carrier plan contract, so here are 5 affordable alternatives for you if you feel that the iPhone 7 is just a little too much for you to spend on.

Xiaomi Mi 5

Having become one of the familiar brands on Malaysian soil for its affordable line of devices, Xiaomi has its name pretty much established over the course of the last few years, beginning with the Mi 3 back in 2014. We have also seen a considerable amount of improvement and polish on the handsets that the Chinese company has made to this date. The Mi 5 is one of the notable handsets that has proven to the rest of the world that Chinese smartphones are worthy of competition as well.

The Mi 5 boasts specs which are very similar to what we see among the elite and more premium Android flagships of 2016. The phone sports a 5.15-inch screen at Full HD 1080p resolution. Its internals consist of the famous Snapdragon 820 processor, alongside 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage that is non-expandable. The Mi 5 features a rear camera of 16 megapixels with f/2.0 aperture, coupled with a 4MP selfie camera on the front, with larger 2-micron pixels and an aperture of f/2.0 as well. The home button on the front doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and it packs a 3,000mAh non-removable battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 support. On the software side, the Mi 5 runs on Android Marshmallow with its on MIUI on top.

Overall, a smartphone which is capable of getting the job done and shouldn’t falter over time. The Xiaomi Mi 5, originally priced at RM1,549 has received a price cut last month to RM1,359 according to its Lazada page
here
, making it an even more value for money smartphone for what it offers.

Honor 8

Huawei’s sub brand Honor has always been known for offering the more affordable set of smartphones compared to Huawei itself. This year, the subsidiary has continued its run of not disappointing by refreshing its annual flagship handset. The Honor 8 is an attractively designed phone with an all glass design, giving it a really premium touch. On the front sits a 5.2-inch display with Full HD resolution. The handset is powered by Huawei’s own HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor, the same chipset seen underneath the hood of the Huawei Mate 8, and aside from that are 4GB of RAM with storage options of 32GB or 64GB. Storage is further expandable via the micro SD card slot up to another 256GB.

In the camera department, the Honor 8 features a dual rear camera configuration, something which isn’t alien to the company anymore. The setup consists of two 12 megapixel cameras, and the results are pretty promising and on par with mid rangers and flagships of this year, despite not having any Leica contribution or collaboration like that of the Huawei P9. On the front, the Honor 8 sports an 8MP selfie shooter with a 1.4um pixel size. The rear fingerprint sensor has been improved upon as well, now being able to unlock in 0.4 seconds. The battery capacity is a standard 3,000mAh, and the Honor 8 supports 9V/2A fast charging with the included proprietary charging adapter. The phone comes with Android Marshmallow out of the box, topped with Huawei’s EMUI 4.1.

Huawei and Honor have proven that homegrown SoC’s can be just as impressive as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, and though the Honor 8 uses a 2015 flagship processor, it still packs the punch needed for daily tasks and even some software beating. The attractive Honor 8 begins with a price of RM1,699 and can be found on Huawei’s Vmall online store
here
.

ZTE Axon 7

ZTE is a relatively new player in the smartphone game, given the fact that it had just burst into the mainstream with its lineup of devices that shouldn’t be overlooked at any point. The Chinese manufacturer, like many others, has a flagship smartphone that is worthy of contention among the big boys up there, with an affordable price tag as well. The ZTE Axon 7 is the flagship in which the company has put in a ton of effort and attention to bring it up against the competition.

The Axon 7 is undoubtedly a beautifully designed smartphone. Although it comprises of the usual all metal build for its chassis, one of the first things you will notice is the dual front facing speakers that flank the display. Most of us do know that front facing speakers are more superior and provide a more immersive experience during media consumption, compared to bottom firing speakers. With that, the Axon 7 has Dolby Atmos technology built into it. On top of that, the Axon 7 happens to be the only QHD resolution display smartphone on this list, already giving it the edge over the rest in the same price range. Internally, the handset sports the standard flagship Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

The Axon 7 features a 20 megapixel rear facing camera with f/1.8 aperture, and a front facing shooter of 8 megapixels. Below the camera is a fingerprint reader which ZTE claims to unlock in a mere 0.25 seconds. Its battery also happens to be of the highest capacity in this list – 3,250mAh, plus the phone supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 via its USB Type-C port. The Axon 7 runs on Android Marshmallow with ZTE’s MiFavor UI, which can be seen as a drawback to same due to its lack of polish.

The ZTE Axon 7 is definitely a phone worth your money, coupled with the fact that you will get a 2K resolution display for under RM2,000. The flagship by ZTE will set you back RM 1,798 on the company’s
page
 on Lazada.

OnePlus 3

OnePlus began operating by launching its first ever flagship smartphone, the OnePlus One which was dubbed as the “Flagship Killer”. Two years down the road, we have seen a good form of maturity and growth of the Chinese startup, and the result and product of that is the OnePlus 3. The OnePlus 3 is the company’s best phone by far, and OnePlus is wise to strip off the “Flagship Killer” title, also having done away with the controversial invite-only system to purchase the device.

The OnePlus 3 makes up for the hit or miss aspects of the OnePlus One and the OnePlus 2, finally making it worthy to be called a true flagship. The phone features a different design this time, with a much sleeker and slimmer sand blasted aluminum unibody. The company has also chose to go with an AMOLED display this time instead of an LCD panel, retaining the same 5.5-inch size and 1080p resolution. The phone is the sole device in this list to sport a staggering 6GB of RAM, which assists the Snapdragon 820 chip. On top of that is 64GB of internal storage which is non-expandable.

The OnePlus 3’s camera setup consists of a 16MP/8MP pair of rear and front facing shooters respectively. It features a fingerprint sensor on the front below the display, which acts as a home button as well. OnePlus has boasted that the fingerprint sensor unlocks in only 0.2 seconds, even from a sleeping screen. Powering the whole processing package is a 3,000mAh battery, and the OnePlus 3 supports the company’s own Dash Charge technology, which is only possible by using its own proprietary charger and USB Type-C Cable. The handset has also seen the return of NFC, which was absent in its predecessor. Software is one of the OnePlus 3’s strong suits, and it will appeal to those who prefer vanilla Android. Oxygen OS, currently based on Android Marshmallow is probably the closest you can ever get to stock Android, with a couple of customization features slapped on top.

The OnePlus 3’s original pricing is at RM1,888, but we have found prices as low as RM1,599 on
Lazada
, possibly an import set, so be sure to double check on authenticity.

iPhone SE

Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without one of Apple’s own iPhones. The iPhone SE appears to have barely made the cut under the RM2,000 range. If you aren’t willing to go Android, then the iPhone SE is your best bet if you do not want to break the bank.

The iPhone SE brings back the memories of the previous iPhones before Apple went bigger with the iPhone 6 two years back. The phone sports a measly 4-inch screen with Apple’s Retina Display, giving it a 1366 x 640 resolution. Underneath the hood, the handset a 64 bit A9 chip which is slightly aged but still impressive in its own stride nonetheless. Alongside Apple’s own processor is 2GB of RAM and storage options of 16GB and 64GB. The internal storage is indeed non-expandable like the rest of Apple’s iPhones.

The rear camera is a 12 megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.2, equipped with True Tone Flash. The front facing camera, which Apple calls the FaceTime camera is slightly less impressive compared to Apple’s flagship iPhones at 1.2 megapixels. The iPhone’s fingerprint sensor of the front is of yester-year’s Touch ID, but still gets the job done, and not forgetting the fact that the SE has a conventional 3.5mm headphone jack. Software distincts the iPhone SE from the rest of the smartphones on this list, running on Apple’s own iOS 10. Apple has entire control over its hardware and software, hence a better optimization between both compared to the Android ecosystem. If you are a current iPhone user, or prefer a safe and simple operating system, then the iPhone SE might just be the phone for you under RM2,000. Speaking of which, the 16GB storage model of the iPhone SE carries a RM1,949 price tag, but if you do wish to opt for the 64GB model, that will cost a little more than the RM2,000 pricing roof.

So there you have it. 5 affordable alternatives if you’re not willing, or just can’t seem to afford the recently launched iPhone 7. Note that this list is equally helpful for those who do not wish to purchase a smartphone with a carrier plan. What do you think of these 5 devices? Any other smartphones that you think we’ve missed out on? Let us know your thoughts at the comments section below!


5 affordable mid range smartphones you should get in 2017

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Most of us tech enthusiasts tend to look for the best in the market when it comes to gadgets, and the same goes for smartphones as well. Our eyes are always on the prize(s), which are usually the top flagships of major smartphone brands. But those smartphones just aren’t for everyone, especially when you factor in their price tags. To get a smartphone worth around the lines from RM 2,500 to RM 3,000 isn’t the most ideal solution for our tech needs, hence the existence of mid range smartphones. While entry level devices are generally not suitable for the average consumer, mid range handsets mostly satisfy our basic needs and wants in a smartphone, plus a little more. A good thing about mid range smartphones is that most of them don’t break the bank, which translates to a smaller hole burnt in your pocket. Here are 5 affordable mid range smartphones that you should get in 2017.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

This is the fourth iteration phablet from Xiaomi’s Redmi lineup, although a 5.5-inch phone isn’t really considered as a phablet by 2017’s standards. The Redmi Note 4 doesn’t look very much different from its predecessor the Redmi Note 3, but is regardless a slightly more polished and refined model. It retains the metal unibody design for its chassis to top off the premium look. On the front is a 2.5D curved glass with a 5.5-inch display in Full HD resolution.

The Redmi Note 4 is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor which definitely screams mid range, with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded via the micro SD slot. Although the Redmi Note 4 has a lower camera megapixel count than its predecessor, the handset’s 13MP snapper should perform better, given its 1.12μm pixel size and the ultra fast 0.1s PDAF technology. Xiaomi also claims it to fare better in low light conditions. The front facing selfie camera is of a standard affair at 5MP.

Xiaomi has been focusing on battery life for its non-flagship models, and that includes the Redmi Note 4. The 4,100mAh battery packed by the phone should well last you throughout the day or more, as the battery capacity is significantly larger than the average 3,000mAh battery.

The Redmi Note 4 is currently available in Malaysia through the official Mi Store on Lazada. The variant that is being sold here is the higher end 4GB RAM/64GB storage model, and it only comes at RM 949, making it the cheapest of the bunch in this list.

Huawei P10 Lite

Huawei has been making some impressive strides lately. This is especially made known with the company’s recent Huawei Mate 9 and P10 handsets. Despite the two being affordable flagships, the P10 has a Lite variant which costs only a little more than half the price of the regular P10, making it an excellent choice to consider for a mid range smartphone.

The Huawei P10 Lite sports the same 1080p display resolution as the regular P10, but is a tad larger at 5.2-inches. Underneath the hood you’ll once again find Huawei’s own Kirin 658 processor, alongside 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

When it comes to the camera department, Huawei’s recent flagships are definitely comparable with the elite out there, hence we expect the P10 Lite’s rear camera to not slouch in performance as well. The handset features a 12MP camera with 1.25μm sized pixels for better light capture. The front facing 8MP camera will produce the sharp selfie images without complains and the 3,000mAh battery should be sufficient enough for the P10 Lite’s day to day usage, at standard capacity.

The Huawei P10 Lite is available for sale at Vmall and all Huawei outlets nationwide for RM 1,299, affordable by today’s standards.

Nokia 6

HMD Global has revived the once famous Nokia brand from the dead. Once the most popular among feature phones, Nokia joined forces with Microsoft for its Lumia lineup and everything went downhill from there, but HMD decided to revive the brand once again, this time adopting a more familiar operating system – Android. The Nokia 6 is currently the most expensive of HMD’s new Nokia series, but still remains below the RM 1,000 mark.

The Nokia 6 handset, like the other phones in this list features a display with Full HD resolution. It measures at 5.5-inches. The phone also sports a 6000 series aluminum chassis, and is powered by a decent Snapdragon 430 chipset with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

The Nokia 6 is equipped with an impressive camera package for a mid range smartphone. The rear camera is a 16MP PDAF sensor with a dual tone LED flash which is claimed to perform well under low light. The front camera on the other hand should meet the needs of the average selfie hobbyist, at 8 megapixels. The phone packs a 3,000mAh battery, which on paper is enough for a day’s use. A caveat that comes with the Nokia 6 is that it is equipped with a slightly out of date micro USB port instead of a USB Type-C port so that’s one thing to note.

The Nokia 6 was just made available in Malaysia not too long ago and is currently put out for sale in selected outlets. It comes with an attractive price tag of RM999.

Honor 6X

Apart from Huawei’s lineup of smartphones, the company has a subsidiary which makes cheaper handsets with similar specs. For instance, the Honor 9 is similarly spec-ed to the Huawei P10 at a significantly lower price point. Here is the only dual camera smartphone in the list – the Honor 6X.

The Honor 6X was unveiled at CES 2017 after launching exclusively in China late last year. It is currently the one of the most affordable dual camera phones in the market right now. The phone is enclosed in a premium metal body with a matte texture. The 1080p 5.5-inch screen is undoubtedly the standard for mid rangers in the market today.

Underneath the hood lies once again a Huawei made Kirin 655 processor, plus 3GB of onboard RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. The Honor 6X’s camera package is what makes it stand out from the rest in this list. The dual rear camera setup of the phone managed to gain some praises from professionals and consumers alike. It has 12MP + 2MP sensors to provide a depth of field or bokeh effect to captured images. On top of that, after capture focus selection gives users the liberty to adjust the depth of field and tweak focus points after capturing an image. The 8MP camera on the front is built to impress as well.

To top everything off, the Honor 6X packs a larger than usual 3,340mAh battery to accommodate the whole processing package plus the extra rear sensor. The affordable dual camera handset comes with a RM 1,199 price tag.

iPhone 6

This one might come as a surprise to most of you here. But the 2+ year old iPhone 6 definitely stands a chance among the more recent mid rangers, taking its recent price slash into account. Apple’s flagships are always known to last much longer than Android handsets due to its unparalleled software optimization, and the iPhone 6 has aged very well till today.

Specs don’t matter as much when it comes to Apple’s devices, but the iPhone 6 comes with a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, and is house in a metal unibody design. Underneath the hood sits an older Apple A8 chip with an M8 motion co-processor. The measly 1GB RAM does not matter with Apple’s iOS optimization. It comes with up to 128GB of storage.

The rear camera of the iPhone 6 is of 8 megapixels, but can still pack a punch even when compared to the low light performance of modern mid rangers as it is an flagship, though aged. The 1.2MP front facing camera might sound like a letdown but it definitely puts up a decent front as well, no pun intended. The phone packs a 2,915mAh battery, which will not disappoint as well.

Apple has just launched a 32GB storage variant of the iPhone 6 which never existed before, and it comes at a steal right now, by Apple standards. It is currently available for only RM 1,499 via local Apple authorized resellers such as Machines and Switch, hence why it has made it to this list.

Wrap Up

Any thoughts on this list? I hope this will be of help if you’re on the hunt for an affordable mid range smartphone that suits your needs. It is safe to say that these handsets will not disappoint for the price tags they have. Let me know if I happen to miss out any worthy candidates from this list at the comments section below!

affordable
honor 6x
huawei p10 lite
iphone 6
mid-range
nokia 6
redmi note 4
xiaomi


5 cool gadgets for geeky pet lovers

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I am sure, just as much as we humans love having all sorts of gadgets to play around with, our four-legged furries will also appreciate some fun time with techy stuff. Here are 5 of the coolest gadgets for pets we’ve discovered which your furry friends would appreciate too.

#1: iFetch Pet Toy |
goifetch.com
 | US$115

Playtime is always a favorite time for the furballs and with this automatic ball launcher, your dog can play and get its exercise time without you having to be the one throwing it. At least when you are at work, you don’t have to worry about your poor pooch getting bored and destructive at home. The only problem is that you have to train your dog to use the iFetch since it has to be dropping the balls back into the feeder to get it to “throw” it.

#2: PetBot |
Indiegogo
 | From US$149

If you have pet anxiety issues, you can check out this cool gadget that treats your pet, calls its name, and even allows your furry friend to send you a selfie… all done remotely. This treat dispenser comes with a camera that is connected to your home Wi-Fi, and paired with your smartphone. You can use an app to give your pet a treat, or even play a pre-recorded sound to keep your pet company, whether it is your voice calling its name, or some music and sounds. Since there is a live feed from the PetBot to your phone, you can check how things are at home with your four-legged friend, and should you be having a bad day, you can even get the PetBot to take and send a selfie of Fido!

#3: FitBark |
fitbark.com
 | From US$84.95

So, keeping tab on fitness levels and sleep activity is not limited to just humans only, but also extends to our four-footed furry buds. This little gadget fits on any collar and is fitted with a 3-axis accelerometer, rechargeable batteries, LEDs and is made from ABS material with an IPX7 water rating. So what does FitBark do? Well, it counts rest, active and play time, just like how Fitbit counts our steps. It keeps your dog healthy as you monitor its going ins and outs using an app. Got more than a dog? These guys also developed a Wi-Fi Base Station in a cute shape of a dog house to sync all FitBarks nearby.

#4: Kittyo |
kittyo.com
 | US$249

Cat lovers, there is something for you too. You know how crazy your cats get when they encounter “The Red Dot”? You can even make them go crazy playing with that even when you’re not home. The Kittyo lets you play with your cat, watch and speak to it, and even dispense treats all from another place just using your smartphone. Teasing your cat with that laser light is just going to be so fun as you adjust where you want to point it with just your fingers, and watch a live stream or video it as it goes running around chasing that elusive dot!

#5: CatFi |
catfi.com
 | From US$199

Impressed by Intel’s 3D Real Sense? Then you will be even more impressed with the CatFi, a smart cat feeder that feeds your cat, records its weight, and even has a built-in cat-facial recognition technology allows multiple cats to be fed with the same feeder, but with different amounts. When your cat goes towards the CatFi, the built-in camera will be activated and streams a video of the cat’s face to their server to distinguish which of your cat is at the feeder. Then the weighing scale on the feeder’s platform will record current weight and after feeding weight, as well as how much water and food it consumed. Every data is analysed and you can check on an app to see if your cats are on the way to become the next Garfield.

gadgets
lovers
pet


5 cool things to do on the Galaxy Z Flip5 Flex Window

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Joined the Flip side and got your Galaxy Z Flip5? I bet you are excited because it is undoubtedly the most hyped foldable flip phone in the market right now, all thanks to a larger cover display aka the ‘Flex Window’, there’s finally a lot more that you can do on it than before without unfolding the device, and here’s 5 cool things you need to do on your new Galaxy Z Flip5.

Explore Clock Styles

Once you get your Z Flip5 out of the box, the first thing you really need to do is to customize the clock style on the Flex Window, as it is the first thing you will see every time you press the power button.

In my case, I mainly use two clock styles for personal and work, the first one is a simple full-screen wallpaper clock style that rotates the selected photos in my phone’s photo gallery so that every time I turn on, I get to see beautiful pictures of my family. Second, an informative clock style where I can see essential information such as date and time, weather, notification icons, battery level, and a custom shortcut to turn on the flash light.

Of course, having two clock styles just isn’t enough, as I have two more clock styles saved just to flex my phone to friends, a memorable 15-second video of my family and a super cute basketball character clock style.

Customize Widgets

The Z Flip5’s Flex Window isn’t just for flexing around, but it can make things more convenient than a regular smartphone form factor, which is why the next fun thing to do is to choose the widgets you want on the Flex Window, and best of all,  there’s no need to unfold the phone to enable and rearrange the widgets you want as you can do that entirely on the Flex Window.

On my Z Flip5, I have the Direct Dial widget on the first screen so that I can call my favorite contacts with just a swipe and tap, then I have my recent call contact widget to access quickly call someone that I recently contacted, the third widget is the Calendar widget which I can quickly glance through my upcoming appointments and events, the fourth widget is the Alarm widget where I can easily enable my morning alarm before heading to bed, and finally, the Apps widget that lets me run Google Maps, WhatsApp and even binge watch Netflix on the Flex Window.

Run almost any app on Flex Window

Speaking of running apps on the Flex Window, the default app widget only lets you run a number of supported apps, but don’t let that stop you from running other apps, because the third fun thing you can do is to install a plugin called MultiStar, which can be downloaded on the Samsung Good Lock suite and adds on a new Launcher widget, it will let you enable almost any app to run on the Flex Window, and look at it, I can play games on it and check my Instagram feed without unfolding the phone.

Make Payments on Flex Window

With the Galaxy Z Flip5, you no longer need to carry all your credit cards and membership cards in your wallet all thanks to the Samsung Wallet app, and the Flex Window allows you to access them by just swiping up from the bottom, making payments at the cashier a real breeze.

Take Better Creative Photos and Videos with Flex Cam

Finally, we gotta take pictures on the Galaxy Z Flip5, especially with the Flex Window, because there’s just so many ways that you can frame your shots, be it putting on the floor to take a low angle ultrawide shot, clipping the phone on your shirt to capture a point of view shot, or even showing your friends how they look on the camera’s live view, the Flex Window really lets you take creative looking pictures that’s never possible on a regular smartphone.

Think you could do more cool stuff on the Galaxy Z Flip5? Tell us about it in the comments below.

flex window
galaxy z flip5
z flip5 flex window


5 coolest gaming accessories you (probably) haven’t heard of

1K

1. Peregrine Glove VR

Image credit: Peregrine

Imagine playing VR games but instead of holding a pair of controllers, your hands are covered by gloves. It’s not just any glove though; it’s the Peregrine VR Glove that lets you control your VR games via touch sensing.

There are finger-touch sensors at each finger with a 30 millisecond response time and you just need to tap your fingers against your thumb and palm for control. This will allow precision and faster response so you can have a better VR experience. This glove is compatible with OpenXR compatible software and you can either use the default settings or customize your controls to fit your preference.

The
Peregrine VR Glove
 is an upcoming product that’s supposed to be launch this year, so stay tuned if you’re interested in it.

2. Razer Tartarus Pro

Image credit: Razer

You don’t need a full-fledged keyboard to play your games, you just need the
Razer Tartarus Pro
 — Razer’s gaming keypad with 32 programmable keys. Using Razer’s Analog Optical Switch, the keys can register different levels of input to perform different functions. This means that one key has two functions — one is activated when it is pressed halfway and another is activated when it’s fully pressed. So, imagine half-pressing a key to make your character crouch while fully pressing to make him/her crawl on the ground.

But hey, it’s not like you only play one game on your PC right? Tartarus Pro also supports up to eight quick-toggle profiles and unlimited macro lengths so you can perform a sequence of actions using a single key. Plus, the Tartarus Pro also has a wrist rest that is adjustable so you can game extensively without sacrificing the comfort of your wrist.

The Razer Tartarus Pro can be purchased
here
 for RM474.

3. Enhance Pro Gaming Mouse Bungee

Image credit: Enhance Pro

Ever felt frustrated with your mouse when you’re dragging it back and forth and the cable just keeps interrupting your movements? Well, that’s why mouse bungees are made; the cable arm support holds your cable in place, allowing full freedom of mouse movement and preventing your cable from getting tangled.

With 7 LED color modes, this mouse bungee will also satisfy those who are just obsessed with RGB accessories. Not only is it a cool mouse bungee, but it’s also a functional USB Hub. Featuring four USB ports, you can easily connect your mouse, keyboard, headsets and external drives to the hub.

On its
official site
, the mouse bungee is $24.99 and on
Amazon
, it’ll set you back RM111.51.

4. Mad Catz The Authentic R.A.T 8+ Optical Gaming Mouse

Image credit: Mad Catz

We’ve got a cool mouse bungee, now let’s talk about a cool mouse. Mad Catz has been known for their quirky mouse designs, but not all of them are cool — some are just really weird. But the
Mad Catz The Authentic R.A.T 8+
 is one of the cool ones that give you a peek of its internals — metal knobs and screws. It’s an extreme design, but there’s a reason for it; more customization.

The R.A.T 8+ comes with many adjustable mouse parts. The palm rest, pinkie rest and thumb rest are all adjustable. The weight system is also removable — there are three removable 6g weights in total. Basically, if you want a mouse that can specifically cater to your hand preferences, this is the mouse to go for.

It’s also packed with buttons; you get your standard buttons, a DPI cycle button, another wheel that lets you scroll sideways, and four more additional buttons. You can even adjust your DPI up to 16000 if you’re looking for extreme accuracy.

The R.A.T 8+ ain’t cheap too; it’ll set you back RM354.47 on
Amazon
.

5. Astro A40 TR + MixAmp Pro TR

Image credit: Astro Gaming

The Astro A40 TR on its own might not be a super cool headset, but when you add in the MixAmp Pro TR? That’s something audiophiles will look forward to.

When the A40 TR is connected to the MixAmp Pro TR, you get various audio customization. Whether its game volume, voice volume, or even different EQ settings, they can all be adjusted using the MixAmp Pro TR. If you add the Astro Command Center software which can be downloaded on your PC, you can also adjust your mic’s gain and sidetone levels.

Simply put, this combo is great for gamers, streamers and even podcasters. You get to enjoy a wide range of audio customization, in addition to premium sound quality and durable design.

Astro A40 TR
Enhance Pro Gaming mouse bungee
Mad Catz R.A.T 8+
MixAmp Pro TR
Peregrine Glove VR
Razer Tartarus Pro


354

It is no surprise that smartphones are becoming increasingly expensive over time. Factors such as the rising cost of living, labor, raw materials and so forth directly and indirectly contribute to the price of smartphones these days. Specific to us Malaysians, the weakening Ringgit has taken quite the toll on our buying power as well.

Most flagship smartphones now typically go for around RM 3,000 at the very least, if not right below the price point. This makes it rather difficult for us to purchase a flagship device without burning holes in our pockets, with some reluctant to spend such a huge sum of money for a phone. But as we speak, numerous high end smartphones are having their prices slashed, currently costing significantly lesser than their original price tags. Here are 5 flagship smartphones that have gone cheap, and where to find them.

Samsung Galaxy S8

 The Samsung Galaxy S8 is probably the most popular handset on this list, not to mention that it is definitely one of the most sought after smartphones so far in 2017. The South Korean manufacturer continues to impress us with the phone’s beautiful display and impressive camera with this year’s flagship.
 The Galaxy S8 comes in a sleek glass chassis which supports wireless charging and has a water and dust resistant of IP68. On the front, you’ll find one of the best smartphone displays so far – a 5.8-inch QHD Infinity Display, minimizing the bezels surrounding the screen. The display is of an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, which makes it taller and allows for two perfectly squared windows when multi tasking on the phone. Samsung’s Super AMOLED technology too makes the Galaxy S8’s display the best of its class.
 Underneath the hood is a Snapdragon 835 processor alongside 4GB of RAM. The 64GB of internal storage should suffice for the average user but is expandable for a further 256GB via the micro SD card slot. It is said that the Galaxy S8 retains the same rear camera from the Galaxy S7, a 12MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. The camera has proven itself to trump most of the competition, especially under low light conditions. The front facing selfie camera carries the same aperture at 8 megapixels. Powering the phone is a 3,000mAh battery.
 The Samsung Galaxy S8 was originally priced at RM 3,299 when it first came out, but you can get it now for as low as RM 2,569 on 11street.

Price: From RM 2,569
 Where:
11street

LG G6

 The LG G6 has one of the most unique dual camera setups when compared to other smartphones. Its dual camera configuration features a wide angle mode instead of optical zoom, making it stand out from the rest. The phone also had its price significantly slashed, possibly due to the shortage in demand.
 The LG G6 now goes with a non-modular body, a very welcome revamp after the LG G5 failed miserably last year. The phone too sports an amazing display this time round – a 5.7-inch QHD screen in a more immersive 18:9 aspect ratio. LG’s FullVision Display on the front also means that you’ll be looking at extremely minimal bezels.
 Where the LG G6 falls short is its processor. Instead of the top notch Snapdragon 835 processor, the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 821 chipset from late last year, the same one seen in the likes of the Google Pixel series. It is assisted by 4GB of RAM and comes with up to 128GB of internal storage. The dual camera setup of the G6 features wide angle capabilities instead of optical zoom, which means that you won’t have to stand too far behind when attempting to capture an image. It features two 13MP sensors, one with an f/1.7 aperture and the other with f/2.4. The front facing camera is of a standard 5 megapixels.The phone packs a 3,300mAh battery for the power it uses.
 The LG G6 was first priced near to the RM 4,000 mark when it was not officially available in Malaysia. You can now get the flagship for as low as an attractive RM 2,059 on 11street.

Price: From RM 2,059
 Where:
11street

Huawei Mate 9

From now onwards, the list will only consist of Chinese smartphones. The Huawei Mate 9, although launched last year, is definitely still capable of putting up a fight against this year’s flagships. Where it shines the most is the never-really-die battery life, and is also one of the flagships that have gone cheap.
 The Huawei Mate 9 goes with a metal design body with a rear fingerprint sensor. The display measures at a huge 5.9-inches at 1080p which might be a drawback to some, but isn’t very much noticeable when compared with QHD displays. The 5.9-inch screen also translates to a more immersive experience when it comes to media consumption.
 Like most of Huawei’s handsets, the Mate 9 is powered by Huawei’s own processor – the powerful octa core Kirin 960 chipset, plus 4GB of onboard RAM. The phone also has 64GB of expandable storage. The Leica branded dual camera setup of the Huawei Mate 9 is definitely one of its top selling points. The setup consists of a 20MP monochrome sensor and a 12MP RGB sensor, and Huawei’s camera software allows users to tweak the depth of field and focus points of photos even after capturing it. The front facing camera of 8MP with an f/1.9 aperture does not disappoint either. The Mate 9 comes packing a massive 4,000mAh battery, which definitely eases past the standard full day usage of modern smartphones.
 The Huawei Mate 9 is already a good buy at RM 2,499, but you can now get it for even cheaper once again on 11street for as low as RM 2,008.

Price: From RM 2,008
 Where:
11street

Huawei P10

 Indeed, another Huawei smartphone has made it onto this list. Huawei’s P series of handsets are definitely the more camera centric ones compared to the company’s Mate lineup. The Huawei P10 is the company’s first ever full fledged Leica branded camera smartphone, which you will find out later. Not to mention that it is also on discount at the time of writing.
 The Huawei P10 retains the overall design language from the P9, but features more curved corners, ditching the square-ish look from its predecessor. On the front you’ll find a modest 5.1-inch display at 1080p resolution, which is sufficient for its size.
 Moving on, it will be very similar to the specs of the Huawei Mate 9. Huawei once again proudly places its own Kirin 960 processor underneath the hood, along with 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of expandable storage. The cameras of the P10 are similar to those on the Mate 9 as well. On the back is a Leica branded dual camera setup of 20MP and 12MP. The former is a monochrome sensor while the latter is an RGB sensor. The front camera is of the same affair as well compared to the Mate 9 – an 8MP sensor. The only difference is that the P10’s selfie shooter is Leica branded like it’s rear camera setup. The Huawei P10’s battery definitely pales in comparison to the Mate 9, but the 3,200mAh battery will still perform decently.
 Like the Mate 9, the Huawei P10 was also priced at RM 2,499 at launch. The Huawei flagship with Leica cameras can now be purchased for as low as RM 2,070.

Price: From RM 2,070
 Where:
11street

OnePlus 5

 This handset is the newest among the rest on this list. It is also the most powerful as well on paper. The OnePlus 5 is the fastest OnePlus device to be made available in Malaysia after its global launch, also the most expensive as well. But like the rest on the list, the OnePlus 5 has also gotten quite a chunk of its price out of the equation.
 First off, OnePlus has made its latest flagship to come with either Slate Gray or Midnight Black color options, the latter one more highly spec-ed. The phone retains the metal unibody design with more curved corners and a slimmer form factor compared to the OnePlus 3/3T. The screen however is of the same 1080p Optic AMOLED panel measuring at 5.5-inches, which might be behind compared to QHD displays, but won’t be an issue for the lot of us.
 Underneath the hood is where you’ll find a slightly overkill spec sheet. The Snapdragon 835 is pretty much standard already, but with up to 8GB of RAM, the OnePlus 5 definitely trumps the competition in multi tasking or having tons of apps running in the background. The phone also comes with up to 128GB of internal storage, but is the only one without expandable storage. The OnePlus 5 sports by far the highest resolution dual camera setup – a 16MP sensor with f1/.7 aperture and a 20MP sensor with f/2.6 aperture. The front facing camera will definitely impressive selfie enthusiasts, a 16MP f/2.0 sensor. OnePlus has also improved on the battery optimization although the OnePlus 5’s battery is smaller than the OnePlus 3T at 3,300mAh.
 The OnePlus 5 is undoubtedly the best OnePlus device ever made, but it also comes with a significantly higher price tag of up to RM 2,688, which is a big bump up from the price of the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. The good news is you can now obtain the flagship for as low as RM 2,049 for the lower end 6GB RAM/64GB storage model on 11street. Not a huge discount but quite a good deal for a less than two month old flagship device.

Price: From RM 2,049
 Where:
11street

So there you have it, 5 flagship smartphones that have now turned affordable. It’s just a matter of patience unless you intend to get these flagships the first day they go on sale. What do you think of this list? Did we miss out on any discounted flagships?

11street
affordable
cheap
discount
flagship
galaxy s8
huawei mate 9
huawei p10
lg g6
oneplus 5
samsung


5 free mobile games on Android and iOS to pass time

362

It’s New Year’s Eve and some of you might be partying all the way through the night, while some would rather not be part of the traffic jams and stay home instead. Regardless of your choice, there would probably be bound to have moments where you have to do something to pass time as you wait for your friend to get ready to head out or for your dinner to be ready. Here are some time wasters you can play on your mobile to some time.

#1: Waldo & Friends

Available on:
Android
 |
iOS

I’ve always known Waldo as “Wally” since those were the activity book I played whenever I had a chance to head to the bookstore. Anyway, if you know about Wally/Waldo, then this game should be familiar you. If you not familiar, basically this game is a hidden object game. You look for the skinny guy in red and white stripes for a bonus, and other items shown in the tray. The faster you find the items, the more ‘coins’ you will receive. By collecting ‘coins’, you can open more locations in the map. This game is fun and simple, and great exercise for your eyes, and great to kill time.

#2: Tap Tycoon

Available on:
Android
 |
iOS

This is a pretty adorable game and simple too. You just need to tap a lot, so this time waster is also a finger exerciser! It is quite amusing because in this game, you tap as fast as possible on the screen to make it rain money. Now, if only that can happen in real life. Anyway, the way the ‘tycoon’ grabs the money rain is quite hilarious since he looks really happy and excited as he stuffs his pockets with cold hard cash. There isn’t really any aim in this game. You just tap as fast as possible, upgrade your character so he gets more cash per tap, and then you can build an empire of businesses to reap more returns. It is fun, a no brainer and a great time waster.

#3: Nine Hearts

Available on:
Android

If you prefer something with a little more control, then you can try out this mobile RPG by Gamevil. Just like many of its games, there is an Auto mode if you are too lazy to do all the walking and battles manually. Personally, I am thankful for the Semi-Auto mode as my characters move and attack mobs on its own, but I still need to activate skills as I see fit. There is a story, and the womanizer main character can be droll, but the quests can be pretty repetitive with the usual kill some monster or fetch some item. But if you’re looking for something to keep you occupied without having to put too much effort into, then you might want to look into playing this. The art is beautiful and yet it doesn’t lag your device too much. It does drain battery though, so make sure you have your charger or power bank with you.

#4: Tale Seeker: Puzzle RPG

Available on:
Android

Out of all the games here, this is my personal favorite. Tales Seeker: Puzzle RPG is a match-3 game but with a slight twist. If you know poker, this is somewhat similar in a sense. Basically, each icon has different elements, and instead of just matching 3 or more of the same icon, you can match them like a poker game; flush, 2 pairs, 4 of a kind and so on. By doing this will ensure better attack prowess against different opponents of different elements. Just like a card-based RPG, you can collect character cards for better fighting abilities, even more so when you upgrade and evolve them. The artwork is really pretty with lots of familar storybook characters such as Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, Joan of Arc and more. The only downside about this game is the constant need of internet connection, and being a freemium game, some of you might find the shop prompts annoying. Other than that, it is quite a fun game that can be played casually or seriously. Oh, and try to put the volume down as the voiceovers for this game is rather annoying.

#5: Rayman Adventures

Available on:
Android
 |
iOS

The Rayman franchise is not unfamiliar to most of us and doesn’t really need much introduction. This particular adventure platformer is rather cute and can be played casually while waiting for time to pass. I don’t really know exactly what is the goal of the game other than rescuing Rayman’s cute monster friends from different types of dungeons. The little monsters are cute though, and you need to feed them and nurture them in order to use these little guys to find secret treasures. Graphics looks great although playing on a tablet feels more satisfying.


5 Fun Things the S Pen can do on the Galaxy S22 Ultra

3.3K

With the S Pen now built right into the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it becomes more convenient when you need to use it to take notes and draw art whenever you want to, but apart from that, the S Pen offers so much more than just taking notes on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and here are five fun things you can do with the S Pen on the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

A remote camera shutter

Are you recording your own video or taking selfies? Well, you don’t need a stranger or struggle to press that big white shutter button, because the S Pen is your remote camera shutter, which all you have to do is to hold and press on the S Pen’s side button to launch the camera, then short press the side button of the S Pen again to trigger the shutter button, it’s that simple!

Create an animated GIF from a YouTube Video

Found a funny moment from a YouTube video you just watched and want to turn that few seconds into a GIF?

The S Pen can easily achieve that with the Smart Select tool, which allows you to clip up to 15 seconds of the video clip and convert into a high quality animated GIF, you can then share instantly to your social media and have a good laugh with your friends.

Perform commands with Air Actions

The S Pen is more than just a stylus and it can perform commands on your Galaxy S22 Ultra with Air Actions, which you can literally wave your S Pen on the air while pressing the side button like a magic wand to do things such as scrolling web pages, skipping songs on Spotify, switch between the front and back camera, doing a quick screenshot and so much more, which makes it extremely convenient when you can’t reach your phone.

Air Actions can also be customized to launch apps or perform other commands on your Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Translate text on Camera

Don’t understand a language and need that translation instantly? Fret not, simply launch the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera, take out the S Pen and select ‘Translate’ from the list of Air Commands, point your phone camera to that text and hover your S Pen on it, this feature works even on images and web pages.

Unlock phone with S Pen

It’s annoying to unlock your phone every time the screen goes off but if you have the S Pen out of the phone, you can simply unlock your Galaxy S22 Ultra by just short pressing the S Pen’s side button, which is all thanks to Bluetooth Smart Lock, this feature is only available when the phone is locked with the S Pen removed.

Shop for the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
here
.

galaxy s22 ultra
s pen tips 2022
s pen tricks 2022
s22 ultra s pen tips


5 nifty tips to improve and maximize Android smartphone's battery life

677

Though many Android smartphones out there are sporting bigger and bigger batteries nowadays, the current standard being around 3,000mAh, it still seems like a miracle is needed for your device to last you more than a day. Gone were the days where your flip phones, candybar handsets and slider phones could withstand a couple of days’ usage before succumbing to power death. I certainly didn’t recall dragging along a 350g Xiaomi powerbank packing 16,000mAh of battery juice back then. While batteries are getting bigger and supposedly better, most of us here will fret upon our smartphone’s battery life, coupled with the necessity to plug that charger in every night to sustain your device and your social life. Instead of waiting for battery life to keep up with smartphone technology, here are 5 simple and nifty tips on how to save battery life to give your device the extra push.

1. Stop blinding yourselves with bright screens!

Most of us are spoilt with full HD resolutions on our smartphone screens – the standard 1080p displays, QHD ones on flagships and glorious 4K on the one and only Xperia Z5 Premium. AMOLED screens are even prettier, with deeper blacks and vibrant colors, but your smartphone’s display doesn’t have to remain at full brightness all day. Displays are the biggest hoggers of battery, so if you intend to save some, go easy on that screen brightness. Chances are you won’t be using your smartphone under blinding sunlight outdoors all the time, hence you’ll most likely need around half the amount of brightness for your beautiful display. Another advice is to turn your adaptive/auto brightness off. While they claim to be “smart”, constantly tweaking your screen brightness according to ambient lighting will eventually take a toll in device’s battery life, hence it’s better to have them off.

2. Reduce your screen timeout

We’re still in the topic of displays being the biggest battery robbers, hence the longer your screen stays on, the more battery it drains. Some of us prefer leaving the display on for 10 minutes or so to save the hassle of having to unlock your device again to access that ongoing Whatsapp conversation and let’s face it, we don’t usually take the trouble to manually lock or turn off our screens either, so save the battery instead of saving the hassle. A minute or less in screen timeout is ideal instead of letting your display run on for a full 30 minutes after you doze off in 10. So to save some battery, set a lower option for your screen timeout.

3. Cut off those connections

Unless you’re an addict, you don’t have to be connected the whole time. WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and Mobile Data are pretty much capable of draining a significant amount of your phone’s battery. Your GPS/Location Services can prove to be quite the culprit, hence it will be wise to choose the “Battery Saving” or “Device Only” option in “Location Mode” since “High Accuracy” is usually only required for navigation purposes. Although WiFi, Mobile Data, Bluetooth and NFC aren’t as guilty as GPS, turning them off when not in use can give your smartphone a slight bump in battery life. However, it isn’t advisable to turn your WiFi on and off multiple times if you’re mostly indoors since it eats up more battery juice that way.

4. Auto-sync isn’t necessary

With the auto-syncing option on, your apps will constantly refresh to bring you countless notifications. You don’t need Twitter to inform you on who has tweeted over the past hour, neither do you need Google’s apps to notify you every 15 minutes, especially Gmail. On top of that, if you can live with manually refreshing Facebook instead of using push notifications, that would be good but other than that, turning off auto-syncing won’t do you any harm.

5. Utilize your phone’s battery saving modes

All Android smartphones have battery saving features and battery savers, if not, you’re probably not using an Android device. From TouchWiz, HTC Sense, EMUI, MIUI, CyanogenMod, or even vanilla Android, they all have battery savers of some sort, and can prove to be the battery savior of your smartphone. Battery savers can be toggled to activate when your battery is down to a certain percentage. Some handsets like Xperia’s have a more extreme battery saving mode, “STAMINA” mode in Xperia’s case, which strips the features of your device to the bare necessities when you’re in dire need of having your phone last till the end of the day, disabling certain connections and lowering your screen brightness to the minimum in the process. If you’re on Android Marshmallow, you’re part of the lucky bunch since Google has introduced the Doze feature to further optimize your battery when your phone is idle.

Of course, there are many more ways to make your smartphone battery run an extra mile, I’m just highlighting the key tips to save you from boredom. If you’ve tried out the tips mentioned and are still whining about battery life, you’re probably a super power user, or just plain spoilt from the battery life of phones from yesteryear. Did I miss out anything significant? Let me know your thoughts at the comments section below! Till then, stay tuned with us at KL Gadget Guy!

Image credits:
XDA Developers

android
autosync
battery
bluetooth
brightness
gps
improve
life
nfc
saver
screen
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wifi


Top 5 classic online games: Malaysian favourites you can still play today

2.5K

During the CMCO, many of us have a lot of time to kill at home, so why not do it by playing online games with strangers across the globe? At the same time, why not revisit some of Malaysia’s
favourite
 classics that you can still play now. Here’s our pick of the best.

1. Super Dancer Online

This free-to-play rhythm dance game has been around since 2007, and was a staple time-killer for many Malaysians. Its status among the local crowd is as legendary as the likes of Maple Story and Mo Siang Online. It has become very much a Malaysian game with a localized song list which includes a good mix of tunes that mid-2000s us would bang our heads to.

Think a techno remix of the classics Canon In D and Pathetique Sonata , Toxic by Britney Spears,
BoA
 Moto and much more. In keeping with the times, today’s song list consists of more contemporary hits from the likes of
LiSA
 (that Demon Slayer intro song every loves), Dreamcatcher, ITZY, Jay Chou, Shawn Mendez and more. Some of these songs aren’t packing top-notch bit-rate quality, but that adds to the charm of the game and is
probably
 why it remains free-to-play until today.

You can hook up a dance mat to play the game, but the de facto method is with the keyboard, wither with the arrow keys or re-map them to any four keys in a straight line across. The community is still alive and well; just head into a server, deck out your character to the hilt with glittery clothes, and have fun!

Visit the official Facebook page
here
 for event updates, or
here
 to download the game.

2. APB Reloaded

If you didn’t manage to get Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V for free recently, perhaps you could turn to APB Reloaded on Steam for your fix of shooting, looting, driving, and general tomfoolery.

This game has been around for ten years and was created by non other than David Jones, creator of the original Grand Theft Auto series. The game’s premise is of cops-vs-criminals – you pick a side and complete missions while going up against the opposite faction.

Everything in this game is over-the-top – from the way cars handle, to the guns, to its many missions; you may run into some
unsavoury
 players and hackers, but the essence of the game is still a lot of fun and is more playable on older systems compared to GTA V. The game is still receiving steady updates and events which you can check out on Facebook. APB is free-to-play on Steam – visit their
page
 to download the game.

3. Mo Siang Online

Mo Siang Online was
the
game to play in its
heyday back
 in the mid-2000s – despite heavy competition from heavy-hitter CABAL Online, Mo Siang Online had a strong player base that populated the games servers for many years. Mo Siang Online eventually went out of
circulation
 until its revival in 2019.

Mo Siang Online is, of course, a point-and-click MMORPG with martial arts/kung fu elements – your character is free to utilize any weapon too. The story takes place in the warring states of ancient China and the goal is to essentially level up and fight bosses. But a big portion of the game is also PVP-centric – players battle it out
mano a mano
to basically decide whose skill/item builds are better.

Despite its action-heavy gameplay, Mo Siang also has a killer soundtrack – à la traditional Chinese melodies – that’ll hit you with a massive dose of nostalgia when you play. You can register for and download the game for
here
 for free.

4. Soldier Front 2

For an FPS entry into the list, this spot could’ve easily gone to Counter Strike: Global Offensive, but that game is the definition of ‘mainstream’, so I’ve gone ahead and picked one of my
favourite
 shooters ever, Soldier Front 2.

It’s currently still available to play on Steam and is a free-to-play COD rip-off; and that’s not a bad thing at all. The game’s mechanics are fast-paced and
arcade-y
 like that of COD, and that makes Solder Front 2 a whole lot of fun. The game was launched back in 2013, so its graphics hold up well today – but if you have a lower-end system, the game scales well too.

Like any F2P FPS game, you start off with a relatively weak assault rifle – but earning new guns in this game is easy; plus, you can pick up the weapons of your downed enemies, so if you’re good enough, you don’t actually need to buy new guns at all.

There are also in-game events that’ll change up the aesthetics of guns, maps and characters, which always keeps the game interesting. Download the game on Steam
here
.

5. Maple Story

Need I say more? This was the game to get Malaysians into MMORPGs – Maple Story is a bright 2D side-scrolling game that is undeniably addictive.

Its bubbly characters and satisfying combat will make you come back for more – it’s got a tried-and-tested grinding and leveling system that’s easy to get into. If you’ve never played Maple Story, the game is now better than ever with new content and better graphics which will make it more accessible for newcomers.

Even when you’re grinding to level up, the world is teeming with players you can talk to. There are active and friendly communities everywhere you look so rest easy knowing you’ve got help as long as you ask. You can download Maple Story
here
.

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5 phones to look out for in 2017

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A lot has happened last year. 2016 saw Huawei and its sub brand Honor release a slew of dual camera smartphones, ranging from the Huawei P9 to the Honor 8. Cupertino giant Apple controversially omitted the headphone jack when it launched its iPhone 7 series of handsets, and most significantly, if not the most unmemorable, Samsung was forced to call off its Galaxy Note 7 phablet due to repeated fire hazards surround the device even after replacement units were issued. Nonetheless, everyone will be looking to live this year afresh. Some enthusiasts would also be looking forward to give their devices a refresh as well, hence a list of phones for you to keep an eye out on before you make your precious decisions. Let’s begin!

LG G6

LG managed to turn heads with its G5 flagship of last year, but the device unfortunately wasn’t doing well when it come to sales figures. The LG G5 was in fact a pretty impressive phone, with a dual rear camera setup, plus its own modular features. LG sold its own modular accessories known as “Friends”, but failed the hype game, causing the whole modular concept of the G5 to fail.

LG has been long rumored to ditch the whole modular concept of the G5 when the G6 launches on February 26 at MWC 2017 Barcelona. The dual rear camera configuration is set to be retained with this year’s flagship. The South Korean company is also tipped to finally waterproof the LG G6, as water resistance is becoming a more required feature this year.

So far, the rumors mention make the next one pretty questionable – a removable battery. Removable batteries are now considered a rarity when it comes to flagship smartphones, with the exception of LG’s lineup. With modular no more plus added water resistance, it is pretty difficult to tell whether or not the device will still carry on the removable battery feasture. Another slight letdown is that the G6 will likely not sport the Snapdragon 835 processor, since Samsung is manufacturing the chipset. Samsung is expected to make the Galaxy S8 the first device to run the SD835. Hence, the LG G6 will probably be packing last year’s Snapdragon 821 instead.

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge handsets were undoubtedly its best selling ones in 2016. The Galaxy S7 has everything one could ever ask for in a smartphone – a sleek design, beautiful display, excellent performance, and one of the best cameras to date. On top of that, the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge were the phones to get when the Galaxy Note 7 failed the masses, despite being slightly aged.

Hopes and expectations for Samsung have always been on a high, so everyone will constantly be expecting more from the South Korean manufacturing giant. The Galaxy S8 will most likely be taking the cake as the first ever smartphone to sport Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor. The device is also rumored to feature a near bezel-less display on the front, with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio instead of the more conventional 16:9 ratio, if it happens to be true.

Samsung has also been said to ditch the flat screen variant of the S8, only to offer the dual curved edge screen model. Camera wise, the Galaxy S8 is tipped to stick with a 12MP rear camera, after Samsung has reportedly snubbed plans for a dual cam setup. Samsung will likely be improving the software side of the camera, increasing the pixel size of the camera sensor at the same time.

Other rumors include either an on screen fingerprint sensor or a rear fingerprint sensor, considering the rumor of the S8’s bezel-less front. Lastly, a deal breaker for Samsung and Android fans – the possible removal of the headphone jack.

Unfortunately, Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 will not be unveiled at MWC 2017, so we will be expecting a separate Samsung event some time in late March or early April this year.

Xiaomi Mi 6

The Xiaomi Mi 6 will also not make it to this year’s Mobile World Congress. In fact, the Chinese company will be in the list of absentees for the second major tech convention of the year, after its first ever appearance at CES a couple of weeks back. The Xiaomi Mi 5 passed nearly every test with decently impressive results as to what makes a flagship smartphone, at nearly half the price of elite flagships. Xiaomi has also managed to impress many with its concept phone, the bezel-less Mi MIX phablet. The company will definitely be expected to launch its next flagship while maintaining its low and affordable price tag.

There isn’t much talk going around about the Xiaomi Mi 6, but the handset is rumored to go with a QHD display, a bump up from the now mid range standard 1080p display. We won’t be expecting the Mi 6 to be “as bezel-less” as the Mi MIX concept phone, but the former will likely feature a higher screen to body ratio compared to the Mi 5, and it is tipped to sport a dual curved edge screen.

Underneath the hood, there are two processors rumored to be in tow for the Mi 6, splitting the handset to at least two different variants. The variants will either be featuring a Snapdragon 835 or a Helio X30 chip. The former will have the slight edge given its 10nm process by Samsung. Also rumored is a never seen before feature on Xiaomi’s Mi flagship lineup – expandable storage, so that’s one to look out for.

Huawei P10

Last year’s Huawei P9 sold pretty well in the consumer market. The phone most likely marked the beginning of a legitimate dual rear camera trend, with the P9 featuring a setup by Leica, or authorized by Leica following a controversy that Leica wasn’t making the cameras before a clarification by both Huawei and Leica. Regardless, with Huawei’s improvement in both hardware and software, the Huawei P9 turned out to be a very impressive phone at its price range.

For starters, leaked renders have shown that the Huawei P10 does not have a rear fingerprint sensor, leading to the rumor that the handset will have an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the front, which captures more details of your fingerprints, resulting in better phone security. Huawei is also expected to up the resolution of the P10’s display to a 2K resolution display, with an AMOLED panel.

The Huawei P10 is highly likely to pack Huawei’s own HiSilicon Kirin 960 processor underneath the hood with a 4GB and 6GB RAM version. As for the camera department, Huawei is slated to carry on its partnership with camera maker Leica to further improve the P10’s dual camera setup on the back, which the Chinese manufacturer won’t be dropping any time in the near future.

Google Pixel 2

Google managed to carry on the torch of its legacy Nexus series of devices that started in 2010 with last year’s Pixel lineup. The first ever line of Pixel phones proved to be unstoppable. Designed by HTC, the Pixel runs on vanilla Android like the previous Nexus devices. It sports the powerful Snapdragon 821 processor underneath the hood, and packs what seems to be the best camera on a smartphone to date, scoring a high of 89 on DxOMark, edging over the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S7.

It is tough to find a flaw with the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, so we’re guessing that the bar has been set pretty high for Google’s next Pixel series which is slated to be launched sometime in Q4 this year. Google is rumored to be retaining the megapixel count from last year’s Pixel, at the same time mastering low light photography with the Pixel 2. The Pixel 2 is also rumored to be running on a Snapdragon 83X processor.

Google won’t be skimping on anything with the Pixel 2, hence the suggestion that the company will be upping the price tag of the Pixel 2 from the Pixel, placing the upcoming handset(s) further up in the premium spectrum of smartphones. For those who won’t be able to afford the flagship Pixel 2, a budget variant of the Pixel 2 is said to be in the works, with a more affordable price tag for those who aren’t willing to sell their kidneys.

Conclusion

2017 will definitely be an exciting year for smartphones, and we have barely begun. Things will get interesting as we grace MWC 2017 in less than a month from now. Hopefully it won’t be another year of Chinese manufacturers aiming to outsell premium flagship devices, though that will pretty much be expected. Do bear in mind that the description for the aforementioned devices are no more than just rumors so do take them with a huge grain of salt.  Which of these phones will you be looking to get this year?

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Why the Acer Swift 1 is the perfect laptop for work and college

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Back in college, I remembered lugging around my cheap and heavy laptop around as if it were a travelling backpack, ultrabooks were also expensive back then, which easily costs around RM3,500 for one and I swear that I will never have to carry one when I got out of college. The situation now hasn’t changed much, ultrabooks are getting more expensive no thanks to the weakening Malaysian currency, if you are a student looking for an affordable lightweight laptop that you can survive in college, here are five reasons why the Acer Swift 1 is the best candidate.

It weighs merely 1.2kg

Most entry-level 14-inch laptops will weigh around 1.8kg for today’s laptop standards, and if you throw in the power brick, it is going to weigh down your bag. The Acer Swift 1 does away with its extremely light 1.2kg weight, which you will no longer dread carrying that backpack of yours when moving between classrooms and the campus, you also won’t look embarrassing with that sleek and premium design that the Acer Swift 1 has.

Reliability and Speed

Now, we won’t want our laptops dying on us when we are about to do work on it, the Acer Swift 1 is in fact a reliable laptop in our tests, you get a speedy SSD up to 256GB that lets you blaze through app launches and tasks, smoking those laptops with mechanical hard drives, we had no issues opening a couple of browser tabs with that 4GB of RAM as well. If you want to do some casual gaming, the Acer Swift 1’s processing power is sufficient for unlimited rounds of Hearthstone, which we can definitely vouch for that.

Build Quality and Premium Features that Surprises

In most cases, we find sub RM2,000 laptops to have crappy keyboard and trackpads, the Acer Swift 1’s keyboard is on par with the ones you found on more expensive laptops, it provides a great typing experience with its decently spaced keys and has a great feedback, perfect for typing that long thesis. Furthermore, you really don’t want to connect a mouse when space is limited, the Acer Swift 1’s trackpad is the best in class that I’ve ever used with great tracking performance.

By the way, this is also the only laptop that has a fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello support within the same price range, it definitely helps save time entering your password while having better security. Lastly, you also get extremely fast WiFi 802.11ac for faster data transfers.

Beautiful Full HD IPS display

Try looking for a laptop that offers a Full HD IPS panel within the RM2,500 price tag, you won’t find one that is as vibrant with good viewing angles on the Acer Swift 1, it also uses an anti-glare panel that doesn’t reflect like glossy panels, which is useful if you happen to be in an extremely bright environment.

Battery Life that Doesn’t Suck

Acer claims that the Swift 1 could last up to 10 hours with a single charge, in our review we find that to be pretty close, as we could easily get up to 8 hours with heavy web browsing and video streaming, which technically lasts a full working day. With the Acer Swift 1, you can finally forget about packing the power adapter, and no longer required to look for power outlets in a cafe. However, do make sure you have it fully charged before you get out of home!

The Acer Swift 1 is a no-brainer if you want a lightweight laptop with good battery life that doesn’t break the bank. Now, who says good ultrabooks need to be expensive? Head on over to
Acer’s Lazada Store
 to place your order of the Acer Swift 1. If you haven’t checked out our review, you can also watch our video above.

Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by Acer Malaysia

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5 Reasons Why You Need TIME’s Kabel Besar with WiFi 6

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Ever wonder why your high speed Internet at home is giving you problems when it comes to speed and connectivity? It’s because there are device limitation problems. What this means is that by using an old router such as a WiFi 5, there’s a possibility that it may not be able to support heavy Internet usage, especially when you have a few devices connected to your WiFi. Thanks to the advancement of technology, WiFi 6 lets users enjoy exceptional Internet performance on up to 8 devices!

So, what can you do to end those painful video calls where your voice breaks and your colleagues keep asking if you hear them, or when your dad complains about his lagging live sports match or even when your mum feels upset that she missed her FB Live aerobic session while your brother throws a tantrum because he couldn’t access his online game? Install
TIME’s Kabel Besar
 with WiFi 6 at home lah!

TIME’s Kabel Besar is now BIGGER and BETTER with WiFi 6 for 1Gbps plan which gives you faster Internet speed, stable connections like no other, and the best value for money with lower price per Mbps offering. No matter if you are a hardcore gamer, movie junkie, or WFH workaholic, TIME’s WiFi 6 is here to enhance your productivity and lifestyle with its one-of-a-kind stability and speed!

Experience Top-notch Network Stability At Home!

Backed by Ookla with 100% fibre optic cables, you will be treated to a stable and better Internet performance with WiFi 6, especially in households congested with smart home devices and numerous mobile devices. Unlike WiFi 5, the superior WiFi 6 directs a stronger signal towards connected devices rather than broadcasting at the same level in all directions. If there is a need to extend the Internet coverage at home, you can easily broaden the connection by adding the same router as a mesh for your bedroom, study room, kitchen, and more. Network steady, happy family!

Fast & Furious Internet Speed of Up to 1Gbps!

Believe it or not, TIME has the fastest Internet speed of up to 1Gbps in Malaysia! You will experience a whole new world of rapidity with your webpage loading faster than you can even blink! With a 40% upgraded speed compared to WiFi 5, TIME’s 1Gbps WiFi 6 is made perfect for constant hour-long video calls, high-speed gaming, live streaming, and other online activities that require a high bandwidth usage. WiFi 6 routers operate with new technologies and systems that were created to boost overall performance by offering increased speeds of almost 10Gbps compared to WiFi 5’s 3.5Gbps. This latest generation of WiFi also allows you to enjoy low latency and zero lag throughout your sessions while providing an impressive Internet speed on every device.

You can also optimise your WiFi connection and strength or run self-diagnostics on your spotty connections, via the Control Hub in the TIME Internet App! As Malaysia’s cities and urban areas get busier by the second,
TIME’s Kabel Besar
 will give you super high-speed Internet that reduces waiting time and increases efficiency.

WiFi 6 Gives You More Than Just Stable Connection & Fast Speed!

TIME’s WiFi 6 is able to extend the battery life of mobile and smart home devices such as security cameras and video doorbells, by determining when and how to receive and send data with a feature known as Target Wake Time, a function that is not available to its predecessor, WiFi 5. This feature reduces the time needed to turn devices on, hence conserving battery life of all devices.

Enjoy The Best Value For Faster & Stable Internet!

It doesn’t matter if you are a big family of 10 or just a duo running an online business at home, TIME has the right package for you that is cost-effective without jeopardising network stability and speed.

Now, TIME is having a LIMITED TIME OFFER where you get to own a mesh WiFi for FREE (RRP: RM169). That means you can eliminate dead zones in your home now! Check out these awesome online exclusive promotions:

5. You Are TIME’s Very Important Person!

You might not have made it to Time Magazine’s Top 10 Influential Asians of the Year but you are definitely TIME Internet’s VVIP. With every Kabel Besar package, you can expect 24/7 customer service to attend to all your queries via Live Chat and handy digital tools that you can find on the TIME Internet app.

While TIME takes pride in their Kabel Besar and WiFi 6, they too are immensely proud of their customer service department that attends to all your queries and doubts 24/7 via hotline or Live Chat available on the
website
 and TIME mobile app:

iOS App Store

Google Play Store

Huawei App Gallery

So if you have any questions, feel free to talk to their friendly customer service personnel as they are more than happy to assist you!

The quickest way to stay connected and get your message across is to have a stable network with immense speed to do the work. With
TIME’s 100% Fibre, 1000% Kabel Besar
, having WiFi 6 in your life will always put you ahead of your peers even though it’s just a difference of mere seconds, especially when you get to purchase festival tickets first, buy that last unit of limited edition sneakers, book that popular masterclass before it sold out, or acquire hot selling movie tickets on its released date!

Learn more about TIME’s Kabel Besar WiFi 6 1Gbps and subscribe to TIME’s awesome broadband services
 HERE
 for smoother connections and ultrafast speeds!

This article is sponsored by TIME Internet

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5 Reasons why you should get the NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti

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NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti just released on 1st June, 2015 and this trigger interest among a lot of people. We figure out there is some reason why you need to purchase this graphic card so badly. Please don’t hesitate to purchase this beast if you feel to own the card so badly.

It’s one of the most powerful graphic card in the world that can power 4K games especially GTA V. No problemo!

You are able to obtain one of the most elegant and beautiful graphic card in the world!

Batman Arkham Knight game coupon will be included!

Same performance-per-ringgit as the GTX 980 at 4K.

Almost matches Titan X performance.


5 Recommended games you should take a look during the Steam Summer Sale

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Every two weeks in a year, the Steam Summer Sales will come about and provide very attractive prices that you would think, is possible to buy every game on sale. Games can be seen with prices ranging from RM5 – RM30 and that’s just the start, some triple A games might go for less than RM100, which sounds attractive if you are a gamer like me. So, in conjunction with the Summer Sale and probably the Raya money that you plan to put to good use, let’s look at the games that is worth the price and the quality its offering.

DOOM

DOOM is an action packed first person shooter that has brought the game back to its roots, where you are always on the edge at any gun fight, whether it’s against the small minions of hell or fighting the Cyberdemon in an arena.

Standing still means death. This game not only is the best shooter experience, it is also accompanied by an awesome sound track that sets the mood perfectly, blending in eerie horror sounding instruments with heavy metal guitar and drums, giving you the drive to tear apart demons (literally) and shoot them back to hell. Currently, the game is going for RM60 with the original price being RM118.50

Hyper Light Drifter

I am a sucker for pixel art games because of the amount of detail that needs to go in to make a pixel art game standout, and Hyper Light Drifter has taken this to the next level where the art, is simply put, gorgeous, giving it an atmosphere that really immerses you, but don’t get fooled by the art because this can be considered the pixel version of Dark Souls where every hit taken really hurts.

The game will test your wits and then your skill because every encounter will require you to carefully plan your movements and position, arming you with only one melee and range weapon. The story is very abstract and takes careful attention to understand what is happening, but if you are willing to give this game a try and fight through the frustration, then this game is very worth it. Currently, Hyper Light Drifter retails for only RM19 where the full price is RM38.

Oxenfree

If you are looking for a game that has an amazing story which you can finish in just under 6 hours, then Oxenfree will do you good. This game is about a group of teenagers that takes a vacation on an island which has a cave that emits a strange sound which can only be heard on a radio if you tune into the correct frequency. The game does not have combat and is mainly based on your decision making, where choosing certain dialogue will alter the story later. A warning to those of you that want to try this game, it is very physiological game and you might have to read forum posts that discuss the game, but when you reach the end of the game, it will stick to you for a few days.

The experience you get from this game is different and I really recommend you play this in your life time. If you like the TV series Stranger Things, then get this game, as it retails for only RM9.50 where the original price is RM38.

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Witcher 3, probably the best RPG game ever created, this might be a bold statement but up till now, I have not found a game that I have stuck to and what I mean by that is, I have been playing this game for 2 years now and I am still not done with it. You play as a Witcher, whose job is cleaning up the world of monsters but there is a bigger evil in the horizon and who else better to slay this evil but you. This game is gem that will shine far into the future and would be a waste if you have not at lease tried the game.

It is required for you to play the first and second game to fully understand the third game, which I really recommend you try the previous games, but if the aged graphics of the previous games does not tickle your fancy, then just head over to YouTube and watch videos explaining the story of the previous games. The DLC is also the best value I have ever seen in games adding more than 30 hours of extra gameplay, heck, releasing the DLC as a full game is justifiable. I suggest getting the Game of the Year edition  as it comes with all the paid DLC, it will retail for RM64.50 with the original price being RM129.

Transistor

If you are looking for twist on tactics games, then Transistor is the game for you. Set in the future, you play as a singer who has lost her voice and only companion comes as a sword that can speak to you. The game is focused on positioning yourself well and attacking enemies at the right moments. Words are hard to describe this game but be prepared to go through a roller coaster of emotions from being in awe to heart breaking and this is made more impactful with the gorgeous art and the beautiful sounding music that was composed specially to fit the game’s setting.

I urge you, do not miss out on this experience because regret is far worse than burning the RM5.70 price tag that comes with this game.

The sale will end on the 5
th
 of July, although this is not the best summer sale I have seen, with previous years offering a much better selection of games and events to take part, it is still offering a decent amount of games that you can sink your time (and Raya money) into. What do you think of these games, have a list of your own? Let’s discuss below.

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5 Steam games to look forward to for HTC Vive

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Everyone has been talking about VR gaming, especially since the HTC Vive will be available for preorders on February 29, 2016, according to HTC CEO Cher Wang. So, since the HTC Vive headset would be easily available, the next step is to find out which games can be played using the headset. We’ve compiled some of the games you can look forward to this year, all available on Steam.

#1: Elite Dangerous: Horizons

This is the second season of Elite Dangerous and is currently sold as an Early Access game. However, you don’t need Elite Dangerous to play this version, however, you do get a 25% discount should you have it in your library. If you’re into space exploration and combat, then this simulator would be perfect, especially when you are using virtual reality. Everything will feel more natural as a simulation since instead of reaching out for the control panel, you just need to look in that direction to access it. I can only imagine how real space exploration will feel like as we roam the universe surrounded by 1:1 scale planet and stars.

#2: Windlands

When it comes to VR, nothing beats the excitement of an exploration game. It is as if VR was made for games like these. Having said that, Windlands is one of those games you can enjoy using HTC Vive as you comb through the ruins of an ancient civilization to explore and discover hidden secrets. With a myriad of features such as multiple routes, skill based, speed runs, and time trial challenges, and rewards for completed missions. Despite having all these features, Windlands can cater for two types of gamers whether you like a challenging game, or take your time exploring and enjoying your surroundings.

#3: Detached

Another game that focuses on space exploration, Detached is a First Person Experience game specially designed for VR headsets. Since it was made to experience virtual reality, everything you encounter in the game should be immersive. In this game, you are taken to the future where the human race is able to travel freely around space. However, in the fight for survival and exploration, you have to beat your rivals to gain alien technology and use them in this somewhat sandbox environment.

#4: The Gallery: Call of the Starseed

An indie adventure game, this is an episodic game that is specially build for VR gaming. You are transported into an 80s-styled fantasy setting, with lots of looking and finding through every nook and cranny. Since there is quite a bit of exploration to do, using VR gaming for a 360 view would prove to be pretty immersive especially since this game allows 360 hand tracking as well. The story revolves around you, seeking out your twin sister using a cosmic machine with the help of a dodgy professor.

#5: A Legend of Luca

This adventure room-scale indie game would either bring you closer to where the action is, or make you sick from all the veering around. As you explore the dungeon, which are basically rooms all linked together, you do the usual RPG stuff such as defeat mobs, score some treasure, and kill some dungeon bosses to gain weapons. You move using Room Scale VR via HTC Vive, and the gameplay is pretty much like Zelda with its side scrolling style. In A Legend of Luca, you need to collect Weapons of Virtue that has its own strengths, weaknesses, stories, lore, and flavor, and level up as much as possible.

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5 Things about the Xiaomi Redmi 2 you should know

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We are almost done with the review of the Xiaomi Redmi 2 (we know we still have a lot more devices that we haven’t covered!) and before that, we would like to tell you 5 things you should know about the Redmi 2 to avoid exceeding expectations or disappointments about the phone. The Redmi 2 is Xiaomi’s latest entry level smartphone that is set to go on sale at 17 March at the price of RM449, it introduces a slightly improved form factor and hardware internals compared to its predecessor. To find out our verdict of the phone, stay tuned while we continue to work hard on bringing you the full review of the Redmi 2 in the coming days and comparisons with the other devices in the same class. Meanwhile, enjoy our video and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.