Maybank2U app update brings Maybank QRPay cashless payment feature

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Maybank has updated their app to bring a new feature called Maybank QRPay. This feature is the bank’s platform for cashless transactions where users would just need to scan the QR code and the payment will go directly to the merchant.

The update will add a new tab at the bottom of the home screen and after users press on it, it will redirect you to the introduction page for the feature followed by assigning an account that you want to use this feature with. There is even the option to set a payment limit but any transaction higher than RM250 will require you to enter your biometrics or password in order to proceed. There is also a section for you to redeem promotions which are split into multiple catagories.

It’s nice to see banks are starting to adopt the cashless culture as it not only adds convience to the people, it also brings about a small level of safety as citizens would not need to carry around bundles of cash with them.

app
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Maybank2u online banking gets upgraded with a new user experience

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Having launched the new Maybank2u app last year, Maybank is back again to revamp the country’s most used online banking platform with a whole new look, the new website aims to ease the flow of performing transactions and offer users a better way to keep track of their finances. Last year, the total number of online banking monetary transactions via Maybank2u totaled around 360 million at its peak, the bank expects online banking transactions to increase to 6.4 billion in 2018.

Apart from getting a refreshed user interface that’s similar to the mobile app, the online banking site is now also optimized for mobile displays. The site has went through several weeks of pilot and it is built based on the feedback of customers, things such as making an overseas transaction has now been simplified, customers will be able to view the transaction fees and rates from various foreign exchange remittance and choose the one they prefer in one screen. A 360° dashboard is also available at the new platform to keep track of your spendings and savings, which users will be able to configure sub accounts to manage their savings to achieve their spending goal, customers can also set limit reminders on their credit and debit cards to prevent overspending.

The newly designed Maybank2u online banking service will go live officially on 19 April, it will also be rolled out to Maybank’s key markets overseas such as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

banking
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Mayorships are coming back to Swarm aka Foursquare

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The reason that most people have stuck themselves to using Foursquare’s check in app Swarm is for its useful tips for places and gaining achievements as they check in to their venues, unlike Facebook’s check in feature, Foursquare is a location-aware app that senses you near a particular venue. The company is now bringing back one feature that many users have been missing – Mayorships.

Yes folks, if you haven’t been realizing on the separate app, Swarm has left out Mayorships as part of its features, as a Mayor of a particular check-in venue, you will get more points and, increases your ranking in your friend’s list over time, making it a pretty fun achievements feature that everybody loves.

Apart from that, Foursquare today has announced 100 new stickers in its check in feature and you should probably hit the update button on your phone right now.


MBPJ authorities seizes oBike that causes obstruction

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oBike, the first bicycle sharing company in Malaysia has got into trouble with the city council of Petaling Jaya. The Star has reported that MBPJ has been on the move to remove any bicycles that were simply parked on unauthorized places, quoting that the parked bicycles were causing obstruction. Upon reaching a destination, oBike doesn’t require the user to park the bikes at any designated spots, and there isn’t a lot of dedicated parking spots for bicycles around the city, hence this will eventually happen.

oBike now has over 20,000 registered users and charges RM1 for every 15 minutes, out of 40% of that figure are tertiary students. The Mayor of Petaling Jaya, Datuk Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain, has also revealed that oBike hasn’t been registered with the city council and hence, it is an unlicensed business. On the other hand, oBike’s marketing manager Elaine Chan has mentioned to The Star that the company is aware of this situation and currently working out with MBPJ authorities, quoting that it is a misunderstanding and there were no regulations to bike sharing services at this point of time, the company has faced no problems with the Subang Jaya city council and they have received an approval by writing an official letter.

Datuk Mohd Azizi says that the city council is supportive of oBike as it provides an alternative transport mode of public transportation, however it needs to be regulated properly. If you have been enjoying the convenience of oBike, we do urge you to park the bicycles properly in areas that doesn’t obstruct pedestrian walkways and traffic.

mbpj
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McDonald's goes all Apple in milkshake straw promo video

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You probably have already known that Apple has its own way of introducing its new products at its own events. With the ever soothing voice of Jony Ive describing the finest details and process that makes an Apple device, along with cinematic close ups of them, it’s hard not to get addicted to Apple’s product promo’s. On another note, there are countless parodies of Apple’s presentations, with company’s such as IKEA having hopped onto the spoofing bandwagon as well. It looks like McDonald’s have been up to a similar sort of mischief too. Catch the promo video below:

Being narrated by a dude who closely imitates the British accent of the one and only Jon Ive, McDonald’s showcases the beauty and goodness behind its new Chocolate Shamrock Shake, which is claimed to be “expertly crafted”. On top of that, there’s also the revolutionary STRAW, which stands for “Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal”. This STRAW was conceived, designed and executed by a team of “actual super duper smart aerospace engineers”.

The “adjective inducing” STRAW, according to the video, will only be given to a handful of lucky customers. What do you think of McDonald’s excellent presentation of its new STRAW?

Source:
YouTube

ad
apple
ive
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McDonald’s now accepts payment via Touch ’n Go eWallet

5K

Touch ’n Go eWallet
 is now one of the many payment methods you can use when you buy meals at
McDonald’s
.

McDonald’s started contactless services back in 2017

Back in the days, we Malaysians used to order and pay for our McDonald’s meals at the counter; it wasn’t until a few years back that McDonald’s Malaysia introduced its self-service kiosks in its outlets. If you’ve tried ordering via its kiosk before, then you’ll know you can choose to pay at the counter or use your credit/debit card at the kiosk. You can even use Maybank’s QR Pay.

Get RM5 cashback when your use Touch ‘n Go eWallet

Now, you can also use Touch ’n Go eWallet to pay for your purchases. Whether it’s drive-thru, McDelivery, at the self-service kiosk or at the counter, McDonald’s is accepting the e-wallet payment. To promote this new cashless payment, Touch ’n Go is also giving a RM5 cashback to their users — just spend a minimum of RM25. Each user will only get one cashback during the campaign period which is from November 2 to December 31, 2020.

You can download both the Touch ‘n Go eWallet and McDonald’s app on Play Store and App Store.

mcdonalds
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MCMC blocks access to Medium

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WTF why did they block medium com?!
#Malaysia

#Medium

pic.twitter.com/ZAsDHxHedH

— Ikhwan (@mxwan)
January 22, 2016

It seems that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has added another website into their blocked list as Medium is no longer accessible on some internet service providers.

According to Medium, the MCMC has e-mailed Medium last Wednesday , requesting that they remove an article posted by the Sarawak Report regarding the scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Upon receiving the e-mail, Medium replied to the MCMC a day after, requesting for supporting documents that proves that the Sarawak Report has indeed posted an article that was blatantly untrue. MCMC did not respond to this e-mail.

On Friday, the 22nd of January, Medium received reports that users in Malaysia have been denied access to the website as some ISPs, such as Telekom Malaysia, has blocked users from accessing the site.

Medium has since stated that the website itself is in no position to evaluate the truth of the Sarawak Report’s post and has not received any evidence that the post violates any of the website’s rules or any laws. As such, they stand by investigative journalists who publish on their website until they receive an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

As of the time of writing, I am still able to access Medium, which I suspect is due to the fact that I’m currently on Google DNS, so it appears that standard circumvention methods can be used to overcome MCMC’s attempt to block Medium.

Source :
Medium

mcmc
medium
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MCMC blocks access to The Malaysian Insider on certain ISPs

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News portal The Malaysian Insider probably wasn’t expecting this surprise on its 8th anniversary as it appears that the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has decided to block access to the site this afternoon.

Judging from Twitter users, it seems that users who rely on TM or Celcom to connect to the internet are only able to see the MCMC error screen, saying that “the website has been blocked as it violates national laws”. Meanwhile, Maxis and Digi users are reporting that they are able to access The Malaysian Insider without problems.

In a statement released by MCMC not long ago, The Malaysian Insider was blocked for breaching Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Section 233 of the particular act involves the improper use of network facilities or network services.

Much like most of MCMC’s block attempts though, you can easily circumnavigate the block by modifying your DNS. That won’t be the only method to work around the block, as it appears that TMI is currently in the process of mirroring their site at
The Malaysian Outsider
.

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MCMC to conduct survey and collect data on mobile phone users in Malaysia

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The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has announced that they will be conducting a “Hand Phone Users Survey 2018” to collect data from mobile phone users.

Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) akan menjalankan Kajian Pengguna Telefon Bimbit 2018 untuk mengumpul maklumat berkaitan pengguna telefon bimbit di Malaysia.

Layari laman sesawang
https://t.co/CuJcmf7PFp
 untuk maklumat lanjut
pic.twitter.com/CVjUWE8wSl

— MCMC (Official) (@SKMM_MCMC)
November 16, 2018

According to MCMC’s official Twitter account, the survey will be conducted entirely via telephone from the MCMC CATI (Computer assisted telephone interviewing) centre that is located at Cyberjaya from now until December 12th, 2018. MCMC have also mentioned that the data collection will only be conducted daily from 9 AM to 6 PM, except for National and Selangor public holidays.

MCMC assures that the purpose of the survey is only for data collection. There won’t be money collecting or solicit sales when surveys are being conducted. In addition to that, respondents for the survey are randomly selected by computer based on registered telephone numbers. Worry not, as MCMC will not receive any personal information of mobile cellular subscribers from their service provider.

It is said that participation for the survey is voluntary but cooperation from the public is also very much appreciated by MCMC and all informations collected will be used only for the purpose of deriving statistics at the national level.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
MCMC Malaysia


MCMC urges the public to change their Facebook and Instagram passwords for better security

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You may have heard of news of Facebook’s lapse in securing user passwords – allowing them to appear in plain text and accessible to Facebook employees to read. The issue has since been fixed but the kerfuffle raised was a wakeup call to netizens of the vulnerabilities of their online presence.

In light of this, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has urged the public to change their Facebook and Instagram passwords if instructed to do so within the apps or websites.

Compromised accounts are, of course, in danger of impersonations, frauds and phishing.

By updating your passwords, you could prevent anyone with access to the existing list of details from taking advantage of your accounts. The MCMC are working closely with Facebook to monitor the issue further.

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MDEC and Education Ministry launches My Digital Maker initiative

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Shortly after
announcing
 that Malaysian students will be able to taking programming lessons in primary and secondary schools, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has launch the #mydigitalmaker movement, an initiative to create a nation of digital makers.

The launch of this new initiative will see MDEC work with the Ministry of Education (MoE), as well as private sectors and academia in order to expose the youth of Malaysia to the creative and innovative aspects of digital technology. The first step in this initiative is to integrate Computational Thinking and computer science into the formal school curriculum. Right now, both the MoE and MDEC plan to integrate Computational Thinking into the new Standard Based Curriculum for Primary (KSSR) and Standard Based Curriculum for Secondary (KSSM) by January 2017.

Alongside the implementation of the new ICT-based syllabus, MDEC would also be introducing Digital Maker Clubs in schools and Digital Maker Hubs in communities. These clubs and communities would see private sectors and academia assist MDEC in nuturing and grooming Malaysia’s future digital innovators outside of the classroom. Also see:
Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer Technology

“#mydigitalmaker movement is a public-, private- academia partnership to create a nation of Diital Makers. This movement will transform Malaysian youth from mere digital users to makers in the digital economy by infusing digital competencies into the formal school curriculum and complementing it with co-curricular digital maker activites,” says Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of MDEC.

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MDEC and Education Ministry to introduce coding into school syllabuses starting next year

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Your kids are about to get a headstart in computer programming as the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the Education Ministry will be implementing coding lessons to the syallabuses of national schools starting from next year.

According to MDEC CEO Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, computer coding will not only be taught as part of a computer science subject, it will also be incorporated into the pedagogy of teaching, especially in science and math classes. Currently, 22 schools in the country has been testing out the upcoming syllabus since last year. That said, come next year, this syllabus will be fully implemented across the Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) and Secondary School Standard Curriculum (KSSM).

“We will be launching this thing called the digital maker movement next month, where coding is embedded as an official curriculum in schools, starting from standard three onwards,” says Mahmood at a forum organised by Google Malaysia. “It’s very exciting because we will be one of the first few countries that will be doing this officially,” she added.

Source:
The Malay Mail Online

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MediaTek A-series processor brings features found on flagship phones to budget phones

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MediaTek has just announced the Helio A-series processor that will be targeted at the mid-range phone market. The A-series will join the P and X-series of processors, which completes their mobile processor lineup for the different market segments.

If this processor sounds familiar, that’s because this is the processor that is used in the Redmi 6A, the Helio A22 chip. Chip comes with 4 A53 2Ghz CPUs and a GE8320 GPU. Performance wise, it might not be as powerful as the P-series of chips, as it is targeted at the affordable premium market. The Chip can support up to 13MP+8MP sensors or a single 21MP sensor and display resolutions of up to 1600 x 720. On raw power, the chip might not show its true colours, but where it shines is in the smartphone trends that it supports. It supports, Bluetooth 5.0, Cat-7 4G LTE, dual-SIM, Google’s Neural Networks API and facial recognition, features that you would mostly see in flagship devices.

The A-series is definitely targeted at the lower mid-tier smartphones but offers all the latest features you will find in current-gen phones. Expect to see more of these MediaTek chips in future budget premium phones.

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Mediatek announces the Helio G90 gaming focused SoC

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MediaTek is now getting into the gaming smartphone scene with the new Helio G90 and G90T system-on-chip, these chips feature Cortex-A76 and A55 cores that is commonly found on Qualcomm’s higher end chipsets with up to 2.05GHz of clock speed, graphics is powered by a Mali G76 GPU with a 800MHz clock speed and have support for up to 10GB LPDDR4X RAM.

MediaTek is including a “HyperEngine” technology on the Helio G90 that is designed to boost performance of smartphone games, it will also support HDR10 and an intelligent network detection engine that switches over to LTE when WiFi signal is weak, there is also a ‘rapid response’ engine to make touchscreens more responsive.

By all means, it doesn’t look like the G90 is set to overtake the performance of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chip, since the latter has a significantly faster clock speed at 2.96GHz.

However, MediaTek has said that it is looking to offer the Helio G90 to companies that manufacture gaming phones like the ROG Phone or Razer Phone, to put it simply, it intends to rival Qualcomm’s powered gaming phones by offering a cheaper and decent performance chipset.

MediaTek chips haven’t always been well-received in the flagship level, they are still more commonly found in mid-tier Chinese devices due to their low cost, but let’s hope we are able to see the Helio G90 being a capable contender to the more expensive Snapdragon chips.

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MediaTek debuts deca-core Helio X30

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When it comes to smartphone processors, Qualcomm Snapdragon might be the more favorable one compared to MediaTek for major smartphone manufacturers, but the latter has been holding up very well against its main chipset rival. MediaTek has unveiled its new high end Helio X30 chipset, along with a couple of new P series processors.

First off, the MediaTek Helio X30 features a 10nm fabrication by TSMC. The processor retains its deca-core architecture, with upgrades in them in terms of clock speed. Each core has been clocked 2 GHz and above – four Cortex A35 cores at 2.0 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores at 2.3 GHz, plus the introduction of two new A73 cores, clocked at 2.8 GHz. The chipset is capable of supporting up to a whopping 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, eMMC 5.1 and a newer UFS 2.1 storage. The new Power VR 7XTP-MT4 graphics processor means that the Helio X30 supports 4K video encoding and decoding at 30 fps.

The mid range Helio P20 and P25 have also seen the light. Although not a lot has been revealed about them, we do know that they will be using a 16nm process, and both octa-core processors will be clocked higher as well, plus support of LPDDR4x RAM. The Helio P25 features dual-camera support with optical zoom, which means that we will be seeing a wave of mid range smartphones with dual-camera configurations some time in the future.

MediaTek is currently in fierce competition along with other processors, including Qualcomm, Exynos and Kirin chips. The latter two are homegrown processors, while Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets can be found many other devices of different manufacturers. What do you think of MediaTek’s new processors?

Source:
 Weibo

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Mediatek debuts Helio P20

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In June last year, MediaTek has announced the Helio P10, a true octa-core CPU which has all cores running at full speed. According to the company, the Helio P10 will be powering over a hundred smartphones this year. Its successor, the Helio P20 has just made its debut at MWC earlier today.

The Helio P20, like its predecessor, is made to be under the hood of mid-range smartphones. However this new SoC possesses a crazy spec sheet, suggesting that it took a lot of future proofing into consideration. The Helio P20 consists of eight Cortex A53’s clocked up to 2.3GHz. It is built on a 16nm process and MediaTek claims that it offers 25 percent more battery efficiency than the P10.

The P20 has three memory bays – 2 x LPDDR4X at 1600MHz and a LPDDR3 at 933Mhz. Running alongside the the CPU is a the Mali T-880 GPU at 900MHz. However, a somewhat letdown is the P20’s display support, which is only up to 1080p for two displays. On the camera side of things, it supports up to 24MP or a dual 13MP setup and 4K video shooting at 30fps. With the MediaTek Imagiq’s phase-dection autofocus and denoising engine, the capturing low light images and moving objects is said to be uncompromised. Apart from that, the SoC’s LTE modem will offer Cat.6 speeds.

To wrap it all up, the Helio P20 has a 20 percent higher performance than the P10, has a GPU that performs 25 percent better and as mentioned earlier, 25 percent more battery efficiency. What do you think about this new SoC that will be featured inside future mid range smartphones?

Source:
MediaTek

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MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chipset supports 144Hz display panel and up to 4.7Gbps 5G down speeds

357

MediaTek’s
Dimensity
 1000 chipsets are affordable 5G-ready processors that was made to be used in mid-ranged smartphones – they today announced an
improved
 version of the chip, called
Dimentsity
+, which could very well be aimed towards the premium segment.

Image credit: Cnbeta

Besides supporting 5G connectivity, the
Dimensity
 1000+ also lets a device put out a display refresh rate of 144Hz with
a
 FHD+ resolution. Up until now, we’ve only seen the likes to the Nubia Play, Redmi K30 5G and the upcoming Lenovo Legion phone having a 144Hz display, so perhaps this chip could make the display standard more mainstream.

MiraEngine
 which serves to enhance SDR videos and converting them to HDR10+ content which outputs a wider gamut of
colours
.

Image credit: Cnbeta

The
Dimentsity
 1000+ also has 5G
UltraSave
 to reduce power consumption when in 5G mode – battery life is still a major concern with the new network standard, so maybe this chip would pave a path for more chipsets built with better 5G power efficiency.

Expanding on the subject a bit more – the
Dimensity
 1000+ allows for up to 4.7Gbps down speeds and 2.5GGbps up speeds by aggregating between two sub-6GHz links. On dual sim phones, the second card can also switch between 5G and 4G and make use of Voice over New Radio, which succeeds Voice over LTE.

Image credit: Cnbeta

On the more technical side of its makeup – the chip is made with 4x Cortex-A77 cores and 4x A55 cores, and will pack a Mali-G77 MP9 GPU. There’s no word yet on when devices will start implementing the new CPU, but the first is touted to be from iQOO, a vivo sub-brand.

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Dimensity 720: MediaTek’s latest 5G chipset for midrange devices

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MediaTek has been creating
5G
 chipsets for different smartphone segments; their latest chipset is the
Dimensity 720
 made for midrange devices.

Dimensity 720: 7nm octa-core processor

The new chip uses a 7nm process that focuses on power-efficiency to provide “premium experiences for mid-range 5G smartphones”. It comes with eight cores featuring two Arm Cortex-A76 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores.

90Hz refresh rate, 64MP camera

Phones that use this chip will be able to support 1080p display with up to 90Hz refresh rate, in addition to a 64MP camera setup. The chipset also sports MediaTek 5G UltraSave technologies to help smartphones preserve battery life through efficient consumption. There’s also support for different voice assistants and dual-mic noise suppression to reduce external noise during phone calls.

The Dimensity 720 is a lower variant as compared to the Dimensity 820 or
1000
, but it is needed to cater to different midrange phones. We should also be expecting MediaTek to offer the Dimensity 600 series in the future.

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MediaTek Dimensity brings affordable 5G support for mid-range smartphones in 2020

353

MediaTek has unveiled their latest
Dimensity
 chipset lineup, all of which come with built-in 5G modems. We’ll be seeing them in the upcoming
OPPO Reno 3
 first.

The line-up includes the MediaTek
Dimensity
 1000 5G which is built on the 7nm process, and consists of 4x Cortex A77 @ 2.6
Ghz
 cores and 4x Cortex A55 @ 2.6Ghz cores. It is packed with an ARM Mali G77 GPU as well.

As mentioned, it supports 5G connectivity and is capable of up to 4.7 Gbps downloads and 2.5 Gbps uploads.
It connects
 to frequencies below 6GHz and has support for  Bluetooth 5.1 and
WiFi
 6.

Other features include 16GB LPDDR4 RAM support, QHD+ @ 90Hz display with video shooting at 4K @ 60fps. For imaging, it supports up to 80MP lenses too.

In terms of performance, it benchmarks at over 480,000 on
Antutu
 and 12,096 on
GeekBench
. According to GSM Arena, these scores are not far off from industry leader Snapdragon 855+, which scored over 490,000 and 11,000 on
respective
 benchmarks.
 Some reports suggest that the Dimensity actually scores over 500,000 on Antutu.

A smaller
Dimensity
 800 chipset makes up the other product in the line-up and it competes with the Kirin 800 series and Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series processors.

GSM Arena reports that it packs a
Helio
 M70 modem for 5G connectivity and has the same expected upload and download speeds as its bigger sibling. This is the chipset that we’ll be seeing in the new OPPO Reno 3.

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MediaTek Helio G70 to provide powerful performance to budget gaming smartphones this year

307

MediaTek has announced the Helio G70 chipset for budget-friendly gaming smartphones and we’re excited. It’s one step down from the more mid-ranged Helio G90 chip with 2x Cortex A75 @ 2.0GHz cores and 6x Cortex A55 @1.7GHz – the Helio G90 has six higher-clocked Cortex A55 cores instead. For graphics, the Helio G70 uses an ARM Mali G52 chip that’s paired with up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM.

When translating to gaming performance, MediaTek employs the HyperEngine feature that does a few things – monitor an predict Wi-Fi or LTE concurrency triggers to reduce lag; and manage resources as well as the CPU and GPU memory for better game optimization.

The chipset supports eMMC 5.1 storage, up to 48MP photography with 1080p video recording at 60fps. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0.

We can expect to see the Helio G70 used in upcoming budget phones this year, especially from the likes of vivo and OPPO.

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MediaTek Helio G80 chipset announced for mid-ranged gaming smartphones

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MediaTek is making the right moves in the mobile gaming scene with the introduction of the Helio G series chipsets. The G90 sits on the premium end of the spectrum, powering the likes of the Redmi Note 8 Pro; while the new Helio G70 is the more budget-friendly option, which will be equipped by the upcoming Realme C3.

Now, MediaTek is completing the line-up with the introduction of the Helio G80 – which sits snuggly in the middle. The new chip is built on the 12nm process boasting an octa-core CPU system (2x Cortex-A75 cores @ 2.0GHz alongside 6x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz. This chip is essentially a higher clocked version of the Helio G70.

For graphics, ARM Mali G52 GPU that has a max clock of 950MHz. It supports up to 8GB LPDDR4 memory, solidifying it as a mid-ranged gaming chip. Meanwhile the higher-end G90 supports up to 10GB of RAM.

Like the other Helio G-series chips, it employs the MediaTek’s HyperEngine feature that helps optimize performance and minimizing latency when gaming.

For imaging it supports 48MP cameras and video capture of up to 2K at 30FPS or 1080p at 60FPS.

With the Dimensity-series chipsets announced for the 5G market, MediaTek looks ready for 2020 and it’ll be an interesting year for smartphones, especially in the mid-range and budget segment.

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MediaTek introduces mid-range Helio P65 octa-core chipset with support for 48MP cameras

343

Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek has introduced a new Helio chipset aimed at mid-range smartphones. The latest chip, named
Helio P65
, is more of a minor upgrade when compared to the existing
Helio P60
. We can expect the first mobile devices featuring the Helio P65 to arrive before the end of the third quarter.

MediaTek’s latest mid-range mobile chipset uses two ARM Cortex-A75 cores and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores. In comparison, the current Helio P60 and P70 chipsets use four Cortex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. Thanks to the newer ARM CPU cores, the Helio P65 should be able to deliver slightly better benchmark performance compared to its predecessor.

When it comes to graphics, the Helio P65 features an ARM Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU instead of the ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU in the P60. AI performance is said to have gone up by two times compared to the previous generation and is now up to 30% faster when compared to direct competitor SoCs.

Another area where the new Helio P65 impresses is photography. The chipset supports dual-camera systems up to 16MP + 16MP or a single 48MP Quad Bayer sensor. There is also a new ISP design to enable faster as well as more secure facial recognition. Unfortunately, the chipset does not support 4K video recording. On the connectivity front, the major highlight is the upgrade to Bluetooth 5.0. Navigation is claimed to be improved as well, thanks to a new GNSS positioning engine.

12nm
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MediaTek is debuting its first gaming chipset called the Helio G90 on July 30

377

MediaTek’s new chipset called the Helio G90 will be making an appearance at the end of this month in Shanghai. The Helio G90 is not only the first of its series but also a gaming-centric processor.

Since the chipset is made for gaming purposes, it’s only logical to expect it to be equipped with a better GPU. According to reports, the Helio P90 will be a 12nm chipset integrated with a PowerVR GM9446 GPU. In addition, DroidShout mentioned that this chipset could be rather similar to the company’s current Helio P90 chipset.

MediaTek has four series of chipsets now, including the latest G series. Its X series are made for flagship products while its A series caters for midrange devices. As for its P series, we’ve been spotting them in Realme and also vivo’s phones. The G series is made for gaming phones and perhaps it could be seen in the near future.

On the other hand, MediaTek isn’t the only one who came up with a new chipset. Qualcomm also released a Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset, an even stronger chipset that will support heavy tasks with ease. We’re already expecting this chipset to be integrated into the ASUS ROG Phone 2, allegedly launching next month.

Helio G90
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MediaTek launched the premium mid-range P60 processor, comes with AI cores

355

MediaTek has officially launched the Helio P60 processor that is targeted at mid-range phones in China which comes with decent features an AI capabilities.

Based on the specs sheet, the P60 processor is built using 12nm chips, giving it more efficient than the 14nm chips that are in major mid-range processors and they said that they will move over to 7nm chips in 2019. When it came to comparing the P30 to the P60, MediaTek has claimed that it will reduce power consumption up to 25% when on heavy use, which should fair pretty well against the Snapdragon processor of the same range. The P60 consists of four Cortex A73 cores and four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2GHz. Other than that, it also has a dual-core AI Processing Unit (APU) which should handle features like AI, AR and VR easily.

The Oppo R15 is said to come with the MediaTek P60 and other companies like Meizu and Xiaomi will also use the new processor in their upper mid-range devices later this year.

mediatek
mid-range
p60
processor
smartphone


MediaTek M80 5G modem announced: Offers up to 7.67 Gbps downlink speeds

451

MediaTek just announced their new
M80 5G
 modem that supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz connectivity, and offer ultra-fast speeds in both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) architectures.

High-speed connectivity

The chip allows for peak downlink rates of 7.67 Gbps and uplink rates of 3.76Gbps. The M80 also supports a full range of radio technologies such as 3GPP Release 16 standard, 5G NR (FR1), Dynamic Spectrum sharing and more.

MediaTek’s power-saving tech

As the chip will be used in smartphones, it also packs MediaTek’s list of power-saving technologies such as
UltraSave
 Network Environment Detection and
UltraSave
 OTA Content Awareness tech – both of which dynamically adjusts power configurations and operating frequencies based on the network environment.

There’s no official word on when the company will roll-put the M80 chip to manufacturers, but we should be seeing it arrive by the end of this year, or early next year.

m80
m80 5g modem
mediatek
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sub-6 Ghz


MediaTek set to join the 5G race with new chipset with integrated 5G modem

362

With the inevitable progression to 5G connectivity in telecommunications and broadband worldwide, chip makers like Qualcomm and Samsung had flexed their muscles with their own versions of a 5G-ready chipset. Joining the race now, is none other than MediaTek — best known for making power-efficient chipsets like the Helo P series.

MediaTek makes their debut in the 5G market with an unnamed 7nm SoC chipset with integrated Helio M70 5G modem — which is a contrast from Qualcomm and Samsug’s offerings which have the modems placed externally, pulling out more power.

Image credit: MediaTek

MediaTek claims that the chipset supports up to 4.7Gbps download and 2.5Gbps upload speeds, while maintaining efficient power usage. The chipset also packs the latest Arm Cortex-A77 CPU as well as the Arm Mali-G77 GPU.

MediaTek also claims that it supports up to 80MP cameras as well as 4K video encoding/decode at 60fps. The chipset will be given toe manufacturers sometime around Q3 this year so we don’t know what devices will be sporting it yet, but the future looks bright with a new addition to the 5G market.

chipset
computex 2019
cpu
mediatek
processor


MediaTek smartphones de-listed from PCMark after being caught ‘cheating’

495

Benchmarking software creators UL Benchmarks have delisted several
MediaTek
-powered smartphones from their
PCMark
 list of devices. This comes after
MediaTek
 were allegedly found to have ‘cheated’ on benchmark tests to give its scores a boost.

According to a report by Forbes,
MediaTek
 did this by creating a ‘whitelist’ which entails a list of programs and apps that would run with ‘Sports Mode’ that would boost the performance of said application should a benchmark be run – this of course doesn’t reflect a proper day-to-day usage of the phone and the apps, which defeats the purpose of a benchmarking test.

Image credit: Anand Tech

According to the report, with the whitelist,
MediaTek
 phones such as the OPPO Reno 3 Pro,
realme
 6 and more would have up to a 75% boost in performance. This of course only happens during a
benchmark
 test, and doesn’t affect the apps when in normal usage, so the user doesn’t benefit from said performance boost anyway.

From there, UL Benchmarks have announced the selection of delisted
MediaTek
 chipsets:

MediaTek

Helio
 G90

MediaTek

Helio
 G70

MediaTek

Helio
 P95

MediaTek

Helio
 P90

MediaTek

Helio
 P65

MediaTek

Helio
 P60

MediaTek

Helio
 P20

MediaTek

Helio
 A22

A statement released by MediaTek looked to have thrown its OEMs under the bus by saying they were the ones who opted to include the whitelist, and what MediaTek was doing is an
accepeted
 industry practice. They also went on to imply that Qualcomm to employ whitelisting too, but they responded by saying they don’t whitelist and are against it. It’s a messy situation so we’re not going to go into too much detail.

It needs to be said that whitelisting has happened many times before with many phone makers caught doing it – since then, the act has been regarded as cheating and something brands shouldn’t do.
So
 the issue here is the stance that MediaTek is taking – that whitelisting is OK and they’re not in the wrong, while at the same time throwing shade at their partner OEMs to perhaps redirect angry stares for a bit.

All parties have issued their statements regarding the matter which you can read up here – including
Qualcomm
,
 MediaTek
 and
UL Benchmarks
. At the end of the day, the end user experience should be top priority, and if benchmark scores don’t reflect on regular usage, then whitelisting serves no purpose other than to deceive.

android
helio chipset
helop g90
mediatek
oppo
pcmark
qualcomm
Realme
redmi
ul benchmarks
whitelisting


MediaTek unveils the Helio X25 deca-core processor

361

Chip makers MediaTek has just unveiled their latest high-end processor for the year, and it is called the Helio X25.

Much like its predecessor, the Helio X20, the Helio X25 is a deca-core (10-core) chip. It features the same tri-cluster CPU configuration the X20 has, with two Cortex-A72 cores doing the heavy lifting while two seperate quad-core clusters of lower power Cortex-A53s handle the lightweight stuff. While the configurations are the same, the chips themselves have been given an upgrade. The A72 cores in the X25 have been boosted from 2.3GHz to 2.5GHz, while the Mali-T880MP4 GPU has been boosted up to 850MHz as well. Despite the performance upgrade, the Helio X25 is said to have an almost identical power draw of the Helio X20.

Besides raw horsepower, the Helio X25 will also be able to support up to 25MP camera sensors or dual 13MP cameras, 2k and 4k video support at 30FPS, fast charging via Pump Express 3.0+, the Vulkan graphiics API, Cat6 LTE support, and VoLTE.

MediaTek has announced that a custom Helio X25 will be debuting exclusively on the Meizu Pro 6, which means that the Meizu Pro 6 would either have two variants whereby one uses a Samsung chip while the other uses a MediaTek chip, or the Samsung chip leak was false. Meizu further states because the Helio X25 was co-developed between them and MediaTek, Meizu will have exclusive access to the Helio X25 for several months. Seeing as the Meizu Pro 6 hasn’t had a concrete release date yet, it’s probably safe to say that the Helio X25 won’t be a common sight on smartphones until late 2016.

Source:
Android Authority
,
GizChina

heliox25
mediatek
meizu
processor


Medium is now blocked in China

458

China is no stranger to blocking websites. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Chinese government has recently blocked access to the online publication site Medium in mainland China.

The news first broke when a user called “vfulco” reported on
Hacker News
 that Medium is no longer accessible in mainland China. A quick test on
Greafire.org
, a site that documents and reports on web censorship in China, shows that the website was first blocked on the 10th of April.

Medium isn’t the only website that has felt the wrath of the Great Firewall of China as The Economist and Time websites were also blocked days before the Medium was blocked. While there is no official statement as to why either websites were made inaccessible in China, many speculate that the blocks were attributed to the recent Panama Papers scandal. In the case of The Economist and Time, both websites has run stories surrounding Chinese President Xi Jinping and his alleged involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, so it is not surprising that both websites were blocked by the Chinese government. Medium doesn’t seem to host any articles that implicate any high-ranking Chinese officials in the Panama Papers scandal, so we assume that the website was blocked as a precautionary measure.

Source:
Mashable
,
The New York Times

censorship
china
medium


Medium plans to allow contributors to monetize their writing

345

Since its launch back in August of 2012, Medium has seem more than two million posts on the service. Now, Medium wants to give something back to its contributors. To that end, they intend to allow contributors to monetize their posts on the service.

In an interview with BBC, Evan Williams, CEO of Medium, confirms that the company plans to launch monetization by the end of this quarter, which includes advertising but won’t allow banner ads, instead focusing on ‘sponsored content.’ While ads aren’t exactly the most welcomed thing on the internet, Williams believe that “there’s ways to do it that are respectful to user experience and user privacy.”

Ads aren’t the only method on the table as Williams also hinted that the company is also looking into premium models, such as a paid monthly subscription to Medium blogs or a paywall.

“I think publishers who are experimenting with Medium are seeing a world where it’s not about having a website. If you’re a quality journalist or content creator, I think you can find an audience, I think you can find engagement, and I think you can find money,” says Williams.

Source:
BBC

ads
medium
monetization


Meet AQUA, the battery free headphone amplifier for your smartphones

394

Meet the most affordable
headphone
amplifier

for your smartphones – AQUA, the product is currently on Kickstarter and while all of its early bird packages are gone at the moment, you can still get it at a really affordable price tag at $59, which is $20 off the intended retail price and best of all, you do not need any batteries to power up the device.

The concept of AQUA is pretty simple, it has a built-in DAC and AMP that is capable of producing 24-bit 192KHz audio, it gets power from the iPhone’s lightning connector or an Android smartphone’s Micro USB port (requires OTG feature), and you will be able to plug in your heavily invested headphone  to enjoy tunes from your phone. With AQUA’s stylish and portable design, you will never have to bring along that heavy amplifier you have bought and you are actually saving at least two times the price on purchasing one.

Since AQUA takes power from your smartphones, you will be of course, subjected to a shorter battery life on your smartphone and while the company has not revealed details on how much power it will draw, you should always expect that great sound quality always come with a sacrifice.

amplifier
aqua
audiophile
headphones
kickster


Meet the Finger Lickin’ Good KFC Huawei phone

304

What if your favorite fast food chain had a smartphone made after it? That’s exactly what Huawei and KFC are doing in conjunction with the 30th year of both KFC China and Huawei’s birth. Huawei has made a new smartphone with the KFC branding on the back, marking the 30th year celebration of the fast food chain in the world’s most populated country.

The smartphone seen in the image above is the KFC Huawei 7 Plus, which actually looks attractive in its bold red color choice, probably inspired by the background of the KFC logo. It isn’t a slouch as well, sporting a 5-inch 720p display on the front, a Snapdragon 430 processor and 3GB of RAM underneath the hood, along with 32GB of expandable storage.

The rear panel sees a standard Colonel Sanders image printed on it with the year “1987”, followed by the Huawei logo at the bottom. The fingerprint sensor is located on the back as well. The rear camera is a standard 13 megapixel sensor, while a 5MP camera can be found on the front for selfies.

Only 5,000 units of the KFC Huawei 7 Plus have been made, and it carries an affordable price tag of CNY 1,099 (RM 695.18). How does a fast food branded smartphone sound like to you? How about a McDonald’s tablet or something?

china
huawei
huawei 7 plus
kfc
snapdragon


Meet Jibo, a cute and innovative family robot that makes you happy

498

Our impressions of Robots have always been a piece of metal that speaks and does things in a robotic manner, and most importantly you can’t really afford them or get them anywhere in a retail store. Enter Jibo, an Indiegogo project that will change your perspective about robots, which is available for preorder now at a price of USD$499 over at Indiegogo.

Jibo is marketed as a home robot, which basically stays at your home and helps you do lots of home related stuffs, what really makes Jibo so special is its really natural voice engine and its really nice animations on its face. Jibo is able to do home automation, remote video calls, take a picture by telling it to do so, retrieving text messages and voice mails, entertain your kids by telling them stories and even ordering your food online. The robot is a really interesting product that can really change our lives if the features live up to its expectations. Check out the video down below and you will be amazed.

Love it? We do! If you don’t mind waiting for a year to be shipped, head over to the source link down below.

Source:
Jibo


Meet Khai Bahar and Michiyo Ho, at HONOR Lenscape Party

335

After the big announcement of launching the HONOR 10 Lite on this coming 8th of January 2019, HONOR Malaysia will also be having an after party which will be open for all right after the official launch event.

For guests who are attending the event will have the exclusive opportunity to get the first look at the latest innovation from HONOR, and not only that, fellow guest will also have the opportunity to hang out with renowned celebrities such as Khai Bahar, who will be doing a special performance at the event, and Michiyo Ho.

The event is open to public and entrance is free.

HONOR fans and others who are keen to join the event can register
here
 or check for the full information of the event
here
.

In addition to that, guests who attends the event could stand a chance to win amazing gifts throughout the event such as a unit of yet-to-be-launched AI-Selfie camera, HONOR 10 Lite, and another yet-to-be-launched HONOR Band 4.

The HONOR 10 Lite is the latest addition to the HONOR Malaysia family, packed with a
 24MP front camera and featuring HONOR’s first dewdrop design, the device made for
 perfect selfies will start selling on 9 January 2018 with exclusive freebies on Hihonor.com
 and Lazada, along with the HONOR Band 4.

The after party event will start at 7pm onwards, at KL Life, Life Centre.

For more information on the launch of the HONOR 10 Lite, HONOR Band 4 Series and
 HONOR Malaysia, you can visit HONOR’s official e-commerce website and information portal

here
 or drop by their official Facebook
page
 for more exciting updates.

Honor 10 Lite


Meet Kissenger, a gadget lets you send kisses over the Internet

370

We have seen things like virtual reality, which already gives you an immersive feeling that you are in another world, however in today’s event, I was literally mind fucked by this mixed reality product called Kissenger. As the name suggests, it is technically a Kiss + Messenger device that allows you to send kisses over to another similar device, its inventor Professor Adrian David Cheok was present at Digi’s Digital Day to tell us what this device is actually for.

Kissenger is made for those who wants to be able to kiss their partners when they are away from each other, you slot your smartphone into the device like a dock, use the app and connect to the user that you want, start pushing your lips onto the rubber lips that’s on the device itself, it will then transmit a virtual kiss via its hi-fidelity physical interface, which is as real as a real kiss. While this gadget is kind of useful for those who have long distance relationships, it feels rather sad when you really need this to maintain your relationship goals.

Here’s a video on how it works, its an amazing yet sad product to have for couples, however would you want one if it becomes commercially available? Let us know in the comments.

digi
digitalday
kissenger
mixedreality


Meet Microsoft Sway, a creative and easy webpage builder

1.4K

Meet Microsoft’s Sway, a new Office app that will let you design beautiful web pages. If you remember the older days, Microsoft killed FrontPage, and now it’s realized that people needed a tool to design beautiful web pages and have brought back a similar but more beautiful web publishing application. Similar to FrontPage, Sway simply lets you design the web in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) method, it enables you to create beautiful and elegant web pages by offering a rich set of page templates and layouts. Best of all, it uses Azure cloud servers to suggest page layouts and renders content on the fly. You can also call Sway a combination of Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft FrontPage.

What Microsoft is trying to demonstrate here is that you don’t necessarily need to be a pro to create beautiful web pages, instead of meddling with CSS and HTML too much, Sway actually helps users by automatically formatting pictures and text with its smart web building algorithm and that is all done with its cloud servers. Instead of traditional one page webpages, Sway will let you create one page scrolling interfaces without a sweat, and that is extremely useful for startup businesses who wants to do web development in a more budget saving manner.

Sway will even let you grab content easily on the web so you don’t necessarily need to source them, which includes sourcing for online pictures, your YouTube videos, and integrated with OneDrive so whatever photos you’ve uploaded to the company’s cloud storage service, which will result in much lesser bandwidth on your web hosting server and rely on a reliable service – pretty much a free CDN (Content Distribution Network) service.

Microsoft is now accepting invitations for trying out Sway and is actively seeking feedback from users on creating the best web development tool. Sway will also be available for Android and iOS devices soon so you can build beautiful webpages on the go. Interested? Head on to the source link.

Source:
Microsoft


Meet Microsoft's studio-centric All-in-One: the Surface Studio

389

Leaks over the past few weeks have pretty much confirmed that Microsoft will be revealing a new All-in-One called Surface Studio. Today, we finally get to see the device in action, and we can safely say that it is a thing of beauty.

There are two key selling points when it comes to the Surface Studio – the screen, and the specifications. For the screen of the Surface Studio, Microsoft has pulled out all the stops. For starters, the Surface Studio’s screen is a 28″ Pixelsense display that has a thickness of just 12.5 mm. The hinges that are attached to the screen allows the user to slide the screen up and down, and it can be pushed down to such a degree that it is nearly laying flat on the surface it stands on.

The actual display itself is really impressive as well, as it comes with 13.5 million pixels. The amount of pixels this display has means that it is 63% denser than a standard 4K screen. The display comes with TrueColor technology for better colour reproduction, and users can toggle freely toggle between DCI-P3 mode or sRGB mode via Windows 10. The screen will also come with an integrated 2.1 speaker system, a 10MP rear facing camera, a Windows Hello-ready 5MP front facing camera, and a mic array for use with Cortana.

In terms of specifications, the Surface Studio will come packed with a quad-core Skylake CPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M. All of the components are housed in the white box located below the screen with only a single cable protruding outwards.

For peripherals, the Surface Studio will support the Surface Pen, Surface Mouse and Surface Keyboard. In addition to that, the Surface Studio will come with an additional peripheral in the form of the Surface Dial. By placing the Surface Dial on the screen, users can manipulate selections like colours and filters in graphics design apps. If the Surface Dial isn’t place on the screen, pushing down on the Surface Dial will bring up a wheel menu that gives the users various choices to manipulate what’s happening on screen.

If the Surface Studio interests you, be prepared to pay top dollar for it as the device will have an asking price of USD2,999 (USD12,463). Microsoft will begin accepting pre-orders for the Surface Studio tomorrow.

creator
designer
geforce
intel
microsoft
nvidia
pixelsense
skylake
surfacedial
surfacestudio


Meet the OnePlus 5T in stunning Lava Red

413

The OnePlus 5T is only available in the Midnight Black color option, but is the fastest selling OnePlus device despite of that. The OnePlus 5 was made available in both Slate Gray and Midnight Black, with OnePlus eventually unveiling a Soft Gold variant as well. OnePlus is gracing the stage today with a new color variant for the OnePlus 5T – in gorgeous Lava Red.

This is the first time OnePlus has experimented with a red variant for its smartphones. Midnight Black first debuted with the OnePlus 3T, while Slate Gray is just a lighter version of it. At one glance, the Lava Red OnePlus 5T looks similar to the red variant of the OPPO R11s, which the phone resembles in terms of general design.

According to the video, the Lava Red OnePlus 5T is a 4th Anniversary Special Edition model, and is said to be available exclusively in China. There has been no news of its availability outside the country but OnePlus might just make it available since the company does listen to its community.

The OnePlus 5T comes with a couple of upgrades from the OnePlus 5, including a larger full screen display at 6-inches and a regular sensor with a larger aperture replacing the previous telephoto lens. It also has a rear mounted fingerprint reader instead of a front facing one. Let us know your thoughts on this Lava Red OnePlus 5T!

lava red
midnight black
oneplus 3t
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oneplus 5t
slate gray
soft gold


Meet Origin’s new budget 15-inch gaming laptop

391

Origin seems to have nailed it this time, bringing the competition to household names such as MSI and ASUS within the gaming laptop spectrum. This is its latest 15-inch gaming laptop – the EON15-S. It doesn’t look very much attractive, but its price might make up for its looks.18

Most gaming laptops aren’t slim to begin with, neither should you expect the EON15-S to be. It sports an IPS matte display at 1080p resolution measuring at 15.6-inches, plus a customizable backlit keyboard. Most of internals can be said to be of the bare minimum standard for modern gaming – an Intel Core i3-7100H 3.00GHz chipset, 8GB Kingston HyperX Impact DDR4 2133MHz RAM, 120GB of SSD storage plus an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 graphics card.

While the specs might seem basic to some, the GTX 1050 Ti GPU definitely does pack a punch for today’s gaming titles. If you want more, most of the laptops internals are configurable for you to spec it out, such as a more powerful Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM with higher bus speed, a larger NVMe M.2 SSD storage if you so desire, but those will definitely cost you more.

Otherwise, the Origin EON-15 S can turn out to be sufficient enough for those who aren’t too crazy on gaming. It starts with a price tag of $999 (RM4,400.10), which is affordable but can certainly be matched by the more familiar brands out there. Nevertheless, we have to give credit to Origin for this one. What do you think?

affordable
budget
eon 15s
gaming
geforce 1050 ti
graphics card
gtx
laptop
origin


Meet Samsung's first 6GB RAM phone – the Galaxy C9 Pro

312

Details regarding this new Samsung handset have been leaked countless times over the last couple of months, even till as late as hours before its launch. The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro has finally been made official earlier today. While this phablet is certainly unfit to replace the Galaxy Note 7, it is impressive in its own stride as well.

In terms of its metal design, we see a mixed look from Samsung’s other handsets, plus design elements that seem to be inspired by Huawei’s Mate series. Diving into the Galaxy C9 Pro’s specs, it sports a 6-inch display at Full HD resolution, placing it in phablet territory. Underneath the hood lies a Snapdragon 653 processor, coupled with a whopping 6GB of onboard RAM. This makes the Galaxy C9 Pro Samsung’s first ever smartphone to pack this insane amount of RAM. The phone also has 64GB of internal storage which is expandable via a micro SD card.

Samsung did not skimp on the rest of its specs either. The camera department consists of 16MP cameras both on the rear and on the front. Both cameras feature a wide f/1.9 aperture which allows more light to be captured. Powering the massively sized phone is a 4,000mAh battery, which should translate to decent battery life given the C9 Pro’s 6-inch display. Other specs include a USB Type-C port, a Cirrus Hi-Fi audio codec, and Android 6.0.1 with Samsung’s Touchwiz on top.

The Galaxy C9 Pro is available in both Gold and Rose Gold, coming with a price tag equivalent to $470 (RM1,967.63). Such as the case with the rest of Samsung’s Galaxy C devices, the Galaxy C9 Pro is very likely to stay put as a China-exclusive device. What do you think of Samsung’s first phone with 6GB of RAM?

Source:
Phone Arena

16mp
6gb
c9
camera
galaxy
pro
ram
samsung


Meet the Aorus X7 PRO-SYNC and X5 Gaming Laptops, the first G-SYNC notebooks from AORUS by GIGABYTE

290

AORUS, the premium gaming brand by GIGABYTE has announced its first G-SYNC notebooks in COMPUTEX Taipei this year, the 17-inch AORUS X7 PRO-SYNC and 15-inch AORUS X5 are as reported a couple of days back, G-SYNC notebooks have a refresh rates of 75Hz and do not require a G-SYNC module to enable a tear free gaming experience.

The AORUS X5 is powered by the 5th Generation Intel Core i7 processor which offers more power efficiency and performance improvements out of the box. At a mere 22.9mm, the AORUS X5 is fitted with dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX965M in SLI mode and is able to achieve scores higher than a single GeForce GTX980M chip, its 15.6-inch display is a beautiful WQHD+ (3440 x 1440) IPS panel that produces vivid colours and great viewing angles, the X5 also features a built-in hardware live streaming engine to ensure no frame drops when performing live streams over to Twitch and XSplit GameCaster Premium is preinstalled in the machine. On the other hand, the updated AORUS X7 PRO-SYNC is now equipped with Dual SLI GeForce GTX 970M GPUs in its super slim 0.9-inch thin chassis, it features a 17.3-inch Full HD display and still maintains a 4th Generation Intel Core i7 CPU that works great in today’s standards, hence it is still one of the most powerful slim gaming laptops out there. If you are worried about the machine’s cooling system, GIGABYTE does offer four user modes in its updated Fan Control application to achieve the best cooling option for various applications. While the above laptops are still pretty huge in real world usage, GIGABYTE has also featured the 13-inch AORUS X3 Plus gaming laptop that weighs only at 1.89kg, packing a 4th Generation Intel Core i7 processor and a single GeForce GTX 970M GPU that powers the 13.3-inch QHD+ borderless display, this is one of the most powerful yet lightweight laptop made for road warriors. The new AORUS notebooks with G-SYNC – the AORUS X5 and X7 PRO-SYNC – are now available for sale starting from US$2299 and US$2599 respectively, while the powerful compact AORUS X3 Plus gaming laptop will retail at US$2199. Stay tuned as we will attempt grab a unit from GIGABYTE for our review pleasure.


Meet the bang for your buck Meizu M5

326

Meizu is just one of the many Chinese manufacturers who make affordable handsets for a living, and is also known to be one of the more thriving OEM’s alongside familar names such as Xiaomi and Huawei. The company hasn’t really been making headlines in 2016, but nevertheless, Meizu has unveiled yet another value for money smartphone to consumers, named the Meizu M5.

The Meizu M5 sits somewhere between the entry level and mid range spectrum. The phone sports a 720p resolution 5.2-inch screen with 2.5D glass. Underneath the hood lies an octa core MediaTek MT6570 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. The M5 is offered in two memory configurations – 2GB RAM with 16GB of storage and 3GB with 32GB of storage. Storage is further expandable via the hybrid dual SIM and micro SD card slot.

When it comes to camera, the Meizu M5 features a 13MP PDAF rear shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a dual LED flash. On the front is a 5MP selfie camera with an aperture of f/2.0. The M5 packs a 3,070mAh battery which should definitely be sufficient given the handset’s 720p resolution display. On top of that, there is a fingerprint reader on the front which Meizu claims to unlock in only 0.2 seconds. A drawback at this point of time might be Meizu’s decision to opt for the older micro USB port instead of USB Type-C.

The Meizu M5 comes at an affordable price point of 699 CNY (RM431.44) for the 2GB RAM/16GB storage model and 899 CNY (RM554.89) for the higher end 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant. Sounds like a pretty good price to performance ratio. What do you think?

Source:
 Meizu

13mp
affordable
budget
camera
m5
mediatek
meizu
pdaf


Meet the beautifully elegant Ceramic edition of the Xiaomi Mi 6

316

The Xiaomi Mi 6 was launched just earlier today at Beijing, China. The Chinese manufacturer is expected to take on the big boys of the smartphone market with its latest flagship, also its first in 2017. It seems that MWC 2017 was worth missing by Xiaomi as it has been gearing up for today’s event for quite some time now. The Mi 6 features a beautiful four-sided 3D curved glass design in Blue and Silver colors, both of which are beautiful, but there’s more to where that came from.

Just as many have thought that Xiaomi was wrapping up its near 2 hour Mi 6 launch event at Beijing, Xiaomi has surprised us yet again with a more premium edition of the Mi 6. This is the Ceramic edition of the Mi 6 and it looks stunning in design. The previous ceramic phone that Xiaomi came out with was the impressive Mi MIX concept smartphone. A ceramic finish means that the Mi 6 doesn’t come with four-sided curved glass design, but rather a four-sided curved ceramic design. On top of that, the Mi 6 Ceramic edition is claimed to be more wear and tear resistant than the normal Mi 6, being rated an 8 on Mohs hardness scale.

In addition to the premium taste of the Mi 6 Ceramic edition, the camera lens rims of the phone’s dual rear camera setup is being fitted with 18K gold. 18-karat gold camera rims definitely scream premium for any smartphone out there right now. Specs wise, its the same throughout, but the Mi 6 Ceramic Edition is only being offered in the 128GB storage variant, meaning there won’t be a 64GB variant for this Mi 6. Click
here
 to find out more about what the Mi 6 has to offer.

You would expect the Xiaomi Mi 6 Ceramic Edition to cost a ton more than the original Mi 6, but in typical Xiaomi fashion, the Mi 6 Ceramic Edition will only cost CNY 2,999 (RM1,917.96), only a fraction more than the 128GB storage variant of the original Mi 6 handset. Are you planning to get your hands on a Ceramic Mi 6 instead?

mi6 ceramic edition
xiaomi
xiaomi mi6


Meet the DJI Phantom 3, the drone that takes videography to the next level

361

Videography is an art, just like how we film our gadget review videos at KLGadgetGuy, every content creators dream of making the best videos that audiences will love, but there are times that content creators are limited just to one thing to reach that extra mile – equipment. Granted, there are many ways of creativity that could do without the use of proper equipment, but this company here is out there making one of the most innovative videography tools to take videography to the next level.

Meet DJI, a Shenzhen based company valued at USD$100 million

DJI is a company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, the company is famous for making camera drones and proudly supporting aerial photography with its innovative range of products. I’ve personally spoken with the kind marketing folk in DJI and got to know the company was in fact valued at USD$100 million in the US and since then, the company has expanded its presence to various Asian and European market, which explains the company’s market value.

The flagship Phantom 3 drone is the company’s best selling product to date, it comes in two models – Advanced and Professional, and the difference between the two is video recording resolution of Full HD (up to 60 fps) and UHD (up to 30 fps) respectively, the camera onboard the drone is an impressive
Sony
 Exmor 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor that takes images at 12.4-megapixels with a wide 94-degree 20mm FOV and f/2.0 aperture, such lens could actually mean that you will be able to take breathtaking mountain scenes from an aerial view, a birdeye view of a huge metropolitan city and probably a football game going on. The drone’s camera supports a maximum recording bitrate of 60mbps, and the Phantom 3.

Stunned with the sample video recording footage already? The Phantom 3 is reasonably priced for its capability, the Advanced and Professional model of the drone retails at USD$999 and USD$1259 respectively with free shipping worldwide – Malaysia included of course! If you are interested do visit
http://goo.gl/gD1QBy
 to purchase one for your video needs, how good will it be? We shall soon request a unit from DJI themselves and make some great stuffs with it. Stay tuned folks!


Meet the entry level camera-centric OPPO A37

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It sure seems like OPPO is trying to make every one of its handsets capable of taking at least fairly decent photos with their cameras, and this new entry level smartphone is no different. OPPO has unveiled the A37, with a budget price tag, entry level specs and a respectable camera setup.

For starters, the OPPO A37 sports a 5-inch display at 720p resolution, which is pretty much expected from an entry level smartphone. Under the hood is a Snapdragon 410 SoC, alongside 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage via micro SD. As for the A37’s camera department, its rear camera is an 8MP sensor with 1.4um sized pixels, theoretically allowing better light capturing, which results in better quality and less grainy images under low lighting conditions. OPPO has also revived its image enhancing feature on its camera app, which processes five images, stitching them together into a lovely high-res image equivalent to 24MP. On the front, the selfie camera stands at 5MP, with the same pixel size as the rear shooter.

As for battery, the OPPO A37 features 2,630mAh battery, which should be sufficient considering what the handset offers on paper. A letdown however, is the fact that the A37 still runs on the somewhat ancient Android 5.1 Lollipop, with OPPO’s own Color OS 3.0 UI on top of it. The phone comes with a reasonable price tag of $199 (RM806.72) for what it packs. What do you think about the OPPO A37 as a budget but camera focused handset?

Source:
Android Authority

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Meet the EYECAN+, Samsung’s eye-tracking mouse for the disabled

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Samsung
 isn’t a company about smartphones, remember back on the
GALAXY S4
 when Samsung shows off eye scrolling on webpages? They were so cool despite being gimmicky and that gives us an idea on how great the company can make great innovative products, the company has done a pretty cool product here called the EYECAN+, an eye-tracking mouse for the disabled that will only require your eyeballs to move.

The EYECAN+’s technicality isn’t mentioned, but it doesn’t require the user to wear anything on their body to make it work, instead it resides in a rectangular box under a monitor that will be able to track the user’s eye between 60cm to 70cm, my guess here is probably a super high resolution camera module built into it or some biometric sensor tracking the human eye like we use to see in security systems.

Of course, the EYECAN+ will require calibration for the first start as every users will have different eyes. The EYECAN+ could really transform the way disabled people use the computer, though I’d like to have a chance to give it a try, I’m imagining if the eye mouse will make my eyes tired after some time.
Samsung
 doesn’t have plans to commercialize the device but to sell to specific industries that can make good use of it. With the EYECAN+, we could probably see the disabled do miracles with technology really soon.


Meet the IP01, an iPhone case that functions as a walkie-talkie and a power bank

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If you’ve always wanted a good case for your iPhone that has unique features, here’s what you will like to consider. The IP01 is a 3-in-1 iPhone case that has anti-drop protection, is a walkie-talkie and also a power bank.

The iPhone case functions as a walkie-talkie with UHF (Ultra High Frequency) which supports 400MHz to 470MHz and can be manually adjusted. It can also save up to 16 channels and has two different antennas, whereby the short antenna allows communication up to 3km whereas the long antenna allows communication up to 5km.

The second function of this iPhone case is that it’s a anti-drop and anti-pressure protection case which is something many of us (especially clumsier ones) would want in a case. According to NO.1, the team handling this project, the case is a two-colour shell and uses the combination of soft and hard glue. Lastly, the case also has a 3500mAh built-in battery that can charge your iPhone. Users can now eliminate the need to bring a separate power bank when they travel.

Though the iPhone case is noticeably bulkier, it is understandable as the design needs to be able to complement the three functions of the case. The case will be compatible with iPhone models from iPhone 6 to iPhone X. Those who are interested in this project can contribute by funding them on Indiegogo and there is a super early bird price of $69 for the first 100 people. The estimated delivery time would be in November this year.

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Meet The Nipper, world’s smallest phone charger

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There are times when we find the most innovative gadgets on Kickstarter, and this is one of those times. Introducing The Nipper, this is the smallest phone
charger

in the world and can charge most major smartphone brands in the market. How small is it? Well, this little bugger measures at only 17 x 17 x 17mm in a shape of a cube when combined, and only weighs 10g.

If you are expecting this tiny thing to charge your entire phone, then let me burst that little bubble. The whole point to this nifty little
charger

is to give your phone an emergency boost in the event its battery is drained out and you did not bring a power bank or your wall plug
charger
. The Nipper can be attached to your keys, bag or even your belt loop, and it uses the world’s most universal battery to charge your phone – two pieces of AA-sized battery.

The Nipper uses two magnets to connect the AA batteries, and then connecting it to your phone via the micro USB port, and voila! Your smartphone gets that little charge for some phone calls, messages or even that Facebook post you just have to put online for everyone to see. Why AA batteries? Well, it is the most universal battery and can be bought almost anywhere easily.

If you would like to get one of these little phone chargers, you still have another 20 days before the Kickstarter project ends. So far, the project has 440 backers and has already reached £3,900 past its goal. Here’s the
link
 to the project for those who want some emergency juice.

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Meet the ZTE Quartz smartwatch

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After a rumor or two from last month in February, it is now safe to say that the ZTE Quartz smartwatch is a real thing. Rumors previously suggested that the smart wearable by ZTE will be operating Android Wear, and it turns out that they were spot on. Thanks to the folks at Android Police, we now roughly know how the ZTE Quartz looks like, at least in images, for now.

It turns out that the ZTE Quartz isn’t actually attractive to begin with. The first turn off to most people might be the tick marks on the bezel, which makes it stick out like a sore thumb. The lack of subtlety carries on when you look at its form factor – pretty chunky even when you compare it to the likes of the LG Watch which was launched earlier this year. The charging cradle that comes with the ZTE Quartz isn’t wireless as well, sporting a 4-pin connector like you’d see on some smartwatches of today.

Further images show that the ZTE Quartz runs on the new Android Wear 2.0 on top of Android Nougat 7.1.1, but surprisingly, the smartwatch does not feature a rotating crown on its side for navigation. Earlier document leaks suggest that the Quartz lacks a heart rate sensor, NFC and 4G LTE capabilites, which puts a stopper to its future proofing possibilities.

Pricing and availability of the ZTE Quartz have not been made known just yet, but we do expect it to be a budget Android Wear smartwatch. After all, what’s a new Android Wear smartwatch without Android Pay?

Source:
Android Police

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Meet the tiny NichePhone-S that runs Android

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As the name suggests, this phone is really meant for a very niche audience, especially in a world where screen sizes in 5.5-inches are becoming the norm for smartphones, a company called FutureModel has decided to release an extremely tiny smartphone called the NichePhone-S, and mind you, it isn’t some dumb phone that can only do phone calls and run Java apps, but it is powered by Android – to be exact, Android 4.2, though extremely dated, but it is probably sufficient for what it is capable of.

The NichePhone-S is assumed to be a Japan exclusive device, since it only supports NTT Docomo’s 3G network. Despite running Android, don’t expect to install any apps with that tiny 1-inch display as it really looks like a typical feature phone, apart from being able to send texts and make phone calls, there’s Bluetooth that let’s you pair with a Bluetooth headset for music listening and making phone calls. With that said, this is a pretty lightweight device at 38g and measuring 6.5mm of thickness, which makes it a great device for those who wants a simple device.

For $95 (RM401), you would probably be better off getting a Nokia 3310, but should you be looking for a small device that runs Android, there’s a phone by the name of
Jelly
, it has 4G and a 2.45-inch display that costs you $125, though expensive, but it is definitely more useful than the NichePhone-S.

nichephone
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MeezyCube is the case you will want to buy for your MagSafe Adapter

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If you are a MacBook user, you might actually realize that its power cord are pretty fragile and they break really easily if you do not take care of them. MeezyCube is a MacBook accessory on Kickstarter that wants to protect your MagSafe
charger
 from unnecessary bumps, twists, scratches or whatever torture method you name it by offering full protection to your charger just like a smartphone
case
.

Available to be backed as low as $9 and shipping in September this year, MeezyCube is made of abs plastic and sports 12 different colors to protect your MagSafe adapter, it protects the cord’s tip by including an enclosure that avoids the wires being stressed, the product also introduces a new way to wrap the cord around the adapter that saves space and extends the cord’s life, what’s even more cool is that MeezyCube offers you to customize paterns, logos and personalized armor for your beloved
charger
 if you want to be different from the rest of the pack.

We know some of you might be careful enough but accidents do happen, MeezyCube is pretty affordable in its Kickstarter funding stages and you should really back one if you can wait till September, head on to the source link to check it out.


Mega Man Legacy Collection hit Steam store now

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Capcom have announced the Mega Man Legacy Collection will be coming on this summer, and this collection series will contain the first six Mega Man games as well as a slither of bonus content, such as official artwork and production sketches.

One of the big reason why you should get this games is because these games will be rendered at 1080p, but still remain a question why the collection will only consist of the first six games but not 7 or 8. According to Forbes, Keiji Inafune left Capcom and will be releasing his latest creation Mighty Number 9.

The Mega Man Legacy will be coming on Steam on this summer and priced at USD 14.99 (approx. RM 75.00).


Meizu 16 will come with an in-display fingerprint sensor and no notch

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It’s rare to see a company CEO leak details of their upcoming product, this leak comes from the head of Meizu who showed their upcoming Meizu 16 flagship phone and whats interesting about this leak is that the phone seems to have an in-display fingerprint sensor and a near bezeless design.

The image was mainly to show the bezel thickness when comparing it to another phone. It shows the bottom sides of the phone where the chin is located, but whats more interesting about the image is that it seems to have a fingerprint sensor on the screen, indicated by a fingerprint mark. Wheather that is intentional or not, it’s really nice to see Meizu stepping up their game to bring next-generation technology to their phone. It is still unsure if they are going with Super AMOLED screens for this feature but from what we can see, the phone is looking really nice.

Shortly after that, a rendered image of the phone appeared online showing the minimal bezel design and to our surprise, there is no notch on the phone.

Specs-wise, the phone will come with a Snapdragon  845 processor, 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage, all of this will come with a price tag of 3300 Yuan (RM2015.68). Its really nice to see Meizu is pulling all the stops on this phone, which is sure to be their most impressive and powerful phone to date.

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Meizu 16s, a new SD 855 flagship that could give the Xiaomi Mi 9 a run for its money

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Meizu – a name we haven’t heard in a while – has recently launched what looks to be a capable flagship in the form of the Meizu 16s. It’s taken a while for them to release this phone, which is supposed to be a follow-up to the Meizu 16, which was released in August last year – that’s a long hiatus.

Meizu are typically the kind to make entry-level devices with cookie-cutter designs – and although the Meizu 16s doesn’t look any different from its competitors, the phone does pack impressive specs, which is a rarity from the Chinese brand.

Image credit: GSM Arena

Let’s start with its internals, because that’s where the phone shines. The brain of the device is a newest Snapdragon 855 chipset along with either 6GB or 8GB of DDR4X RAM that’s combined with either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. The closest competition the Meizu has is the Xiaomi Mi 9, which also comes with the same chipset along with the same memory configurations.

With the Snapdragon 855, you can expect snappy performances and smooth gaming experiences. Plus, its 3,600mAh battery capacity is respectable and should provide enough juice for moderate usage. It supports 24W mCharger which Meizu claims can power your device from 0% to 60% in just 30 minutes.

Image credit: GSM Arena

The Meizu 16s features a 6.2-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with no notches, but has a selfie camera positioned at the top right bezel. At the back is a dual-lens camera setup (48MP main + 20MP wide angle lens). With the 48MP shooter, this is definitely shaping up to be a proper flagship. According to Meizu, the phone’s Super Night View feature combines 8 snaps together to create one enhanced night photo – interesting. Meanwhile, the selfie camera isn’t too shabby either as the 20MP lens should take sharp enough pictures.

The phone ships with Flyme 7.3 OS based on Android 9 Pie and has a Hyper Gaming mode which supposedly provides better performance for less that power consumption. Looking elsewhere, the phone also has an in-screen fingerprint sensor – very classy.

Image credit: GSM Arena

The Meizu 16s is priced at 3,198 (RM1,965) for the 6GB + 128GB variant and 3,498 Yuan (RM2,149) for the 8GB + 256GB variant. So in breaking Meizu customs, this phone isn’t exactly cheap, but still decent considering what it packs. There’s isn’t any word on its official Malaysian price and availability yet, but you can always get the Chinese version.

16s
flagship
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Snapdragon 855
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The Meizu A5 is the first of its kind

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Meizu is still alien to the global market, but it is far from that on home soil. The company previously heavily promoted its devices to potential markets like Malaysia, but has since laid low on an international level, focusing on its local consumers instead. Meizu has now launched the A5, which is the first ever smartphone from its all new A series.

The Meizu A5 is a very affordable entry level device, in which you will find out later. The phone sports a 5-inch screen on the front, in 720p HD resolution, making it compact than most of today’s phones which typically surpass 5-inches. Underneath the hood lies a MediaTek MT6737 chipset, alongside 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

The handset features a rear camera of 8 megapixels, which sounds just about right for an entry level device, plus a 5MP selfie camera on the front, a standard megapixel count for front facing shots. Battery is one of the key selling points of the Meizu A5, packing a 3,060mAh battery, which is definitely more than enough considering the power it needs for the 720p display and all its other internals.

Price? A very low CNY 699 (RM 442.85), making it affordable for anyone out there. If that is all you require in a smartphone, without the extra bells and whistles, the Meizu A5 might just be the phone you’re looking for.

a5
battery
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Meizu hits 200,000 orders on the first day it releases the M6 Note

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The Meizu M6 Note is Meizu’s first official smartphone to run on a Qualcomm processor. The company’s CEO has been known for his criticism of Qualcomm chips being more expensive than MediaTek processors of the same standard. Perhaps he has succumbed to peer pressure and it looks like the Meizu M6 Note had a good start to its campaign.

According to PR Newswire, Meizu recorded a total of 200,000 orders for the M6 Note on its first day of sale in China. While that figure might sound little, it is definitely a milestone for a company of Meizu’s stature, which hasn’t exactly been thriving well lately in the tough competition of local Chinese smartphone makers. The company also had a whopping 6.3 million pre-orders for the Meizu M6 Note in two weeks since its debut late last month.

The Meizu M6 Note is one of the most affordable dual camera smartphones out in the market today. The setup is of 12MP + 5MP, plus the rest of the specs don’t disappoint as well – a Snapdragon 625 processor with up to 4GB of RAM, a Full HD 5.5-inch display and a large 4,000mAh battery.

The Qualcomm powered Meizu M6 Note will probably soldier on to boost Meizu’s overall image and sales. What do you think Meizu’s ironic decision to adopt a Qualcomm chip this time?

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Meizu hits record 22 million shipments of smartphones in 2016

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We may have heard a whole lot about Meizu last year like we have in 2015, but the company has been making its own strides back in its homeland, China. Having increased a healthy 10 percent in terms of shipments of smartphones from 20 million in 2015, Meizu has now made history for itself, having shipped out 22 million in 2016.

The 22 million figure definitely does sound like peanuts for elite giants like Apple and Samsung, but it is a record and a milestone set by Meizu. According to a tweet by the company’s Global Marketing Manager Ard Boudeling, 22 million units would mean that an average 60,000 people unboxing a Meizu handset each every single day. That definitely sounds like a lot if it is being put that way. However, like most Chinese manufacturers, Meizu’s performance when it comes to shipmets worldwide is far from impressive, only standing at 2 million, with over 90 percent being sold in China.

Meizu has also been known for fitting high end internals into its smartphones, while gaining inspiration from other manufacturers when designing their products. The company has been pretty critical of Qualcomm chips, having MediaTek processors pitted up against the former, claiming it to be on par while being more affordable at the same time, hence more affordable smartphones. But that might take a turn later this year as Meizu has been tipped to start adopting Snapdragon chipsets for at least one of its upcoming devices. Also in the rumor mill is that Meizu will be unveiling a MediaTek Helio X30 powered handset with a curved edge screen.

What do you think of Meizu’s achievement? Let’s hope we will see more Meizu handsets in the global market this year.

Source:
Ard Boudelling (Twitter)

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Meizu m3 launched in China

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Taking design cues and directly aiming at Apple, Meizu has announced the Meizu m3 note earlier this month. The budget device is housed in a all-metal build and packs a fingerprint sensor, an impressive package for a pretty low and affordable price tag. Meizu isn’t resting on their laurels, and now it has introduced the successor to the Meizu m2, the entry-level m3.

Surprisingly, the m3 is carrying the same price tag as its predecessor, but we’ll keep that for later. First off, the display of the m3 is a 5-inch 720p display of 2.5D glass, boasting slight curves to it. Underneath the hood is an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor, replacing the older quad-core MT6735 found in the m2. The Meizu m3 is available in two RAM and storage configurations respectively – 2GB of RAM with 16GB of internal storage and 3GB of RAM with 32GB of internal storage, both expandable via the handset’s micro SD card slot.

The m3 sports a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie shooter, powered by a larger 2,870mAh battery compared to the 2,500mAh in the m2. Since it’s an entry-level device, there isn’t any fingerprint sensor found on the m3, unlike the bigger m3 note. The Meizu m3 comes in an array of color options – black, white, grey, blue, pink and gold. The 2GB RAM variant comes at a price of 599 CNY (RM361) and the 3GB variant is priced at 799 CNY (RM481.53). As for now, we aren’t sure whether the Meizu m3 will be arriving to Malaysian shores soon, but it is China-exclusive for the time being. How about that for under the RM500 price point?

Source:
Meizu

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Meizu m3s debuts in India with minor upgrades

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The Meizu m3s finally goes official in India, after being made available in China a couple of months back in June. In April 2016, the Chinese manufacturer launched the Meizu m3 Note and the the m3. Then m3s is a minor upgrade from the latter, while sporting a very similar look compared to its predecessor.

For starters, the Meizu m3s features a 5-inch 2.5D curved glass display at 720p HD resolution. Moving on to its internals, the handset is powered by an octa core MT6570 chipset clocked at 1.5 GHz, coupled with a Mali T860 GPU. Along with that are two memory configurations – 2GB RAM with 16GB of internal storage and 3GB of RAM with 32GB of storage. Storage is expandable to a further maximum of 256GB on top of the native storage.

Specs happen to remain the same for the camera department of the Meizu m3s when compared to its predecessor. The m3s sports a 13MP PDAF rear camera with an aperture of f/2.2, alongside a 5MP front facing camera with f/2.0 aperture. The major differences between the m3 and the m3s are the battery capacity, plus the implementation of a fingerprint sensor. The battery of the m3s has a capacity of 3,020mAh, a near 10 percent increase from the 2,870mAh battery packed by the m3. Also, the m3s has a fingerprint sensor embedded underneath its home button on the front, a feature which did not exist on the m3.

The Meizu m3s starts at 7,299 INR (RM453.58) for the 2GB RAM/16GB storage variant, and the higher end 3GB RAM/32GB storage model carries a price tag of 9,299 INR (RM577.87). What do you think of Meizu’s affordable m3s handset. Let us know your thoughts at the comments section below!

Source:
Gadgets 360

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Meizu M5s announced with a battery downgrade

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Despite the Meizu M5 having launched only back in November, Meizu has announced its successor barely 3 months after, set for a launch on the 20th of February. The Chinese manufacturer has announced details regarding the Meizu M5s before its official launch 4 days away since Meizu isn’t good at keeping secret anyway.

The affordable Meizu M5s handset features tiny upgrades from the Meizu M5, with a surprising battery reduction. But first, the phone sports a 5.2-inch display on the front with 720p resolution. Powering the device underneath the hood is a MediaTek MT6573 processor with a clock speed of 1.3GHz alongside 3GB of RAM, making it the only memory configuration available unlike the Meizu M5’s 2GB model. However, the M5s has two storage variants at 16GB and 32GB.

Camera wise, the Meizu M5s features a typical 13MP/5MP pair of rear and front shooters respectively. The budget handset has a fingerprint reader embedded into the home button on the front panel. The surprising downgrade is in the phone’s battery, although just a little. The Meizu M5s packs a 3,000mAh battery, slightly lesser than the 3,070mAh battery of its predecessor.

Meizu has priced the M5s at CNY 799 (RM517.60) for the 16GB model and CNY 999 (RM647.17) for the 32GB model. The budget device will see an official launch on February 20.

Source:
Gadgets360

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The Meizu M6 gets the basics right with an budget price tag

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Meizu has launched another handset, with signs that the company is doing just fine back in homeland China. The Meizu M6 is an entry level smartphone that isn’t at all flashy or highly spec-ed, but comes with a price tag that justifies it all.

First things first, the Meizu M6 comes with a 5.2-inch display on the front, at 720p HD resolution, which is definitely something to expect from most entry level devices. Underneath the hood sits an octa core MediaTek MT6750 chipset clocked at 1.5 GHz, alongside with an option for 2GB or 3GB of RAM with 16GB or 32GB of storage space respectively.

The rear camera remains at 13 megapixels just like on its predecessor the Meizu M5, but with improved HDR capabilities and noise reduction, the rear shooter should provide a decent punch. The front camera has also been upgraded to 8 megapixels for more sharp and crisp selfie images. The handset comes with a fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button on the front, and packs a decent sized 3,070mAh battery that is charged via the micro USB port.

The Meizu M6 will be a China exclusive device for the time being, and carries a price tag starting from an extremely affordable 699 CNY (RM 445.23).

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The Meizu M6 Note is another Note device with dual cameras

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Maybe the Galaxy Note 8 is too flashy for your taste. Samsung’s latest offering will definitely come with a premium price as well, which has yet to be announced. A couple of years ago, Meizu has been known for blatantly copying designs of other flagship smartphones to its own devices. It still does, but not as outright anymore. The Meizu M6 Note is the Chinese manufacturer’s latest device which has a dual camera setup and a bigger battery than the Note 8’s.

First things first, the Meizu M6 Note is by no means a competitor to the Galaxy Note 8. It does not feature an Infinity Display, but rather an ordinary 5.5-inch Full HD screen on the front. Underneath the hood is a mid range Snapdragon 625 processor along with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM and 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. The 4GB RAM model is only available with 64GB of storage.

The main highlight of the Meizu M6 Note is its dual rear camera setup. It consists of 12MP + 5MP image sensors, the former of which will be the primary camera and the latter the secondary shooter. Meizu even took a jab at Huawei by ambitiously pitting the M6 Note up against the Huawei P10 with a side by side low light picture comparison. The front facing camera of 16 megapixels isn’t a slouch as well. The massive 4,000mAh battery packed by the M6 Note should help it last throughout a full day of moderate use or even more.

The Meizu M6 Note will be made available in Chinese markets, still with a big question mark on international availability. It will begin with a price tag of 1,099 CNY (RM 705.63).

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Meizu M6 Note might be running on a Snapdragon processor

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Meizu has released an official teaser posted hinting on the release of the Meizu M6 Note phone which is said to unveil on August 23. The company has been quite successful in keeping the phone under wraps with very vague hints on what the phone might be running. All that we know based on the poster is that it will be featuring dual rear cameras.

Ard Boudeling, Meizu’s head of global marketing mentioned to Android Authority that the phone may surprise people when he said that the processor on the phone will offer a vast improvement in performance and efficiency compared to the previous generation. Based on observation, Meizu uses MediaTek and Samsung processors in their phones, which this hints may point to the new phone using the Snapdragon processor, or according to rumours, it will be running the Helio P25 processor. The company has been keeping quiet about this so this is just assumptions on powerful processors that the phone might be equipped with.

Meizu M5 Note

A side from that, the M6 Note is also expected to feature a large battery display and a fingerprint sensor on the front. For more information stay tuned to the announcement happening at the launch event.

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Meizu M6s specs listed on Geekbench, comes with 3GB of RAM and 6-core processor

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Meizu will be releasing their first 18:9 aspect ratio phone on January 17. The Meizu M6s has been gaining traction and recently, its specs were found on Geekbench.

Based on the listing, the phone will come with Android 7.0, 3GB of RAM and comes equipped with a 1.59GHz hexacore processor. Previous reports indicate the processor will be Samsung’s Exynos 7872 processor with a Mali-G71 GPU, a processor that Samsung has yet to unveil. The M6s has managed to score 1312 on its single-core test and 3134 on the multi-core test making it perform better when comparing it to the Snapdragon 625 in the single core test but not in the multi-core scores. Other rumours indicate that there will be another variant of the phone equipped with a MediaTek Helio P25 processor. However, there has not been any sightings that indicate an Helio variant of the phone.

Other than being Meizu’s first 18:9 screen phone, it will also be removing the mBack button and will come with a side mounted fingerprint scanner.

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Meizu MX 6/Pro 6 prototype renders leaked

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With Xiaomi having launched the Mi 5 after the absence of a flagship last year, the spotlight for Chinese manufacturer’s has now shifted to Meizu, who’s tipped to launch its next flagship some time later this year. Leaked images of the handset, dubbed the Meizu MX 6/ Pro 6, have surfaced. Meizu’s M2 Note and MX 5 have certainly turned some heads, even in the western market and fans are looking forward to another impressive Meizu device this year.

Let’s begin with the leaked image of the prototype. Meizu, who has always been known for taking design cues from the likes of Apple and Samsung (not like Chinese OEM’s are any different), seemed to maintain its overall design elements. One of the key differences is the MX 6’s display, sporting a dual-edge screen similar to the one on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, suggesting that Samsung might have sold its dual-edge displays to Meizu, such is the case with Vivo’s XPlay5.

Also leaked is a screenshot showing the device’s Force Touch options, which gives us a slight confirmation of rumors about Meizu adopting Force Touch technology for its future phones. The MX 6 is rumored to run on either a powerful deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 or an Exynos 8890 processor like on Samsung’s S7 lineup. We’re not sure about the legitimacy of the renders, but the dual-edge display on a Meizu handset can be possible since the OEM has always been competitive in producing its flagships. Till then stay tuned!

Source:
GizmoChina

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Meizu MX4 First Look