MSI unveils CPU Guard 1151 : Protecting bending of Skylake processors

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The recent fiasco regarding the possible bending of Intel 6th Generation Processors when using heavy-weight cooling solutions has made MSI come up with a solution. Although this possible bending might not happen right away, it could result in unwanted effects. MSI unveils their CPU GUARD 1151 to protect your Socket 1151 Intel Xeon E3 V5 / Core / Pentium processor which strengthens the corners of the processor socket to withstand the vertical pressure from the coolers.

The CPU GUARD 1151 is also a good tool for those looking to ‘delid’ their 6th Generation Intel processor. It is designed to tightly lock the HIS when re-applying the IHS, making it stay in its place without worrying about optimal thermal performance or movement. The CPU GUARD 1151 was proven effective when it was used during an overclocking event recently, helping top overclockers to push their Skylake CPU to the max and breaking world records.

Source:
TechPowerUp

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MSI unveils four Z170 motherboards

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Previously, we show off the upcoming EVGA Z170 chipset motherboard and today we have the latest MSI Z170 chipset motherboard. MSI has four new motherboards: the Z170A Gaming M5, the Z170A Gaming M7, the Z170A Gaming M9 ACK and the Z170 Krait. We get to know some of the details about the boards, but we still cannot get into the specifics of the Intel chipset that they pack.

Some of the motherboards features a dual USB 3.1 connectors, one will be a Type-A connector and another one will be a Type-C connector. Besides that, there will be MSI’s Gaming LAN which is a dedicated port equipped with so-called “LAN Protect that capable withstand a 15 KV blast. For the storage, MSI’s decided to remove the SATA Express because it doesn’t have much of a purpose at this point. Therefore, they included the PCI-Express lanes that would otherwise be used for the SATA Express ports to make a second Turbo M.2 slot.

Subsequently, MSI also includes a top-tier motherboard on their new line-up – the M9 ACK which pack with Reactive Amor that makes the motherboard more rigid, and it looks similar with the ASUS Sabertooth motherboard. This top tier motherboard also comes with the ACK connectivity that has a Killer 1535 Wireless AC networking adapter that can work in tandem with a Killer Gigabit Ethernet adapter. Moreover, the motherboard also comes with MSI’s “Game Boost” technology, which on this board comes in the form of a dial, which you simply need to turn in order to overclock your processor.

We still await the official announcement from MSI themselves for the final spec list that will unveil the potential of the motherboard.

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MSI unveils the GE63 and GE73 VR Ready laptops to the Malaysian Market

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MSI has introduced two new gaming laptops that are mainly focused on VR gaming. The GE63 and GE73 are equipped with the latest 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7700HQ processors and 8GB of RAM to ensure that users have the speed and performances and both the systems are VR Ready systems. The laptops also come with customizable multi colour backlit keyboards that allow users to change the lighting of each individual keys according to the user’s preference.

The GE73 VR Raider has a 120Hz wide view 94% NTSC colour anti-glare 17.3-inch screen coupled with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of VRAM and for storage, it comes with a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD to give you enough space to install your games and VR content.

The smaller GE63 VR Raider is a 15.6-inch screen that has a similar 120Hz wide view with 94% NTSC laptop that the GE73 has but is also equipped wit ha NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB VRAM. For storage, it has a smaller 128GB SSD with a 1TB HDD. This laptop was made for gamers that are always on the move, making it easier for them to carry their gaming station around allowing them to be game ready all the time.

Both the laptop are currently available for preorder starting on 10 August to 24 August 2017 from the MSI Authorized Online Store, 11street Authorized Online Store, all MSI Offline Store dealers, and from their exclusive retail partner, Harvey Norman.

The laptops are retailing for RM7,499 and RM7,199 for the GE73 and GE63 respectively. Visit the links above to get more information on the laptops and other MSI products they have on offer.

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MSI Unveils GeForce GTX 980 Ti Armor2X Graphics Card

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MSI always release “beautiful” hardware that will attract most of PC builder and new color accent. Therefore, MSI silently introduced their GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 980 Ti Armor 2X Graphics Card and it’s designed to match the Krait series motherboard in black and white color accent. Surprisingly, the Armor 2X series graphic card will be more cost saving compared to other series.

The MSI NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti Armor 2X will be clocked at an 1178 MHz base clock with a 1279 MHz  boost clock. Then, the GTX 980 Armor 2X will be running with 1102 MHz base clock with an 1190 MHz boost clock. Both of the graphics cards has the increment more than 5 – 10 % from the reference card.

Apart from that, the 6GB memory will remain reference based at 7010 MHz. However, the graphic card comes with an 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors that will give enough power for users to overclock or long usage. The connectivity for the graphic card will be DVI, HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 connectors.

This new graphics card pricing and availability will be announced soon, but this graphics card has one of the best looking out in the market.

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MSI unveils GT75VR Titan and GE63VR/73VR Raider gaming laptop

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Its that time of the year for MSI again, as the company continues to focus its efforts on manufacturing high performance gaming laptops, it has unveiled its best flagship laptop ever in Computex 2017, the GT75VR is an entirely new model build from the ground up with a new industrial design, it is also the first gaming laptop that features a mechanical keyboard by SteelSeries with Per-Key RGB lighting, it uses a rapid trigger switch that offers stronger feedback and higher durability.

As usual with most GT series laptops, the GT75VR Titan is powered by the overclockable Intel Core i7 7820HK processor, it comes with GPU options of GeForce GTX 1080, GTX 1070 SLI and GTX 1070, RAM is supported up to 64GB DDR4. The laptop features a 17.3-inch display with up to 4K resolution, a Full HD panel with 120Hz refresh rate with 5ms response time is also available. The GT75VR Titan features Cooler Boost Titan, an exclusive cooling solution from MSI that enables the machine to perform with temperatures lower than 40℃ compared to the competition.

On the other hand, MSI has also updated its GE63VR and GE73VR notebooks with the Raider series, which features a slimmer body profile compared to previous models. The new GE Raider series laptops continues to offer great performance for both the amateur and enthusiast, powered by 7th Gen Intel Core i7 processors and up to GeForce GTX 1070 graphics, these machines also come with a new sporty aluminum alloy chassis design.

Apart from this, the GE Raider series laptops are the first to come with a 3ms 120Hz panel with a 94% NTSC Color Gamut, gamers can experience an improved visual experience, while games with high frame rates will look silky smooth on the laptop’s display. MSI has also installed the all new Cooler Boost 5 cooling system, which consist of 2 fans with 31 blades, 7 heat-pipes and 4 ventilations for the most efficient cooling. Coming to the audio department, MSI has also installed four extremely loud speakers with a huge sound chamber, which the company calls it Giant Speaker.

The new MSI GT75VR Titan and GE63VR/GE73VR Raider will reach the Malaysian shores somewhere around the month of July this year. In addition, MSI is also introducing the 3ms 120Hz display to the ultra slim GS series gaming laptops.

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MSI Unveils more Z170 Gaming Motherboards

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MSI once again enters the next level of gaming with all new MSI Z170 Gaming motherboards and it will be available in three series; Performance Gaming, Enthusiasts Gaming, and Arsenal Gaming.  The Enthusiasts Gaming motherboards will be the best-in-class Gaming motherboards for skilled and competitive gamers. In another hand, Performance Gaming motherboards with customizable design through unique RGB LEDs and blazing fast performance. Then, Arsenal Gaming motherboards will be suitable for endless gaming fun, both on and offline.

All three series is packed with loads of Gaming features to optimize speed, sound and stability through Gaming LAN, Audio Boost, USB 3.1 and includes unique items specifically dedicated to gamers. Other than that, MSI Z170 Gaming motherboards feature the unique DDR4 Boost technology that brings optimized traces and a fully isolated memory circuitry.

The MSI Z170 Arsenal Gaming series are designed to provide a non-stop gaming experience with an arsenal of crucial gaming features included. Users are also able to enjoy the sparkling sound quality of Audio Boost and set the mood with Ambient light. In other hand, the Z170A Tomahawk is a full ATX board with CrossFire support for amazing graphics setups, extremely rapid loading times with Turbo M.2 and 3.1 Gen2 connectors offering twice the speed of regular USB 3.0.

The MSI Z170 Enthusiast Gaming series motherboards are designed to provide gamers the finest gaming experience through genuine Gaming design, best-in-class gaming features, and the latest cutting-edge technology. Enthusiasts range will start from Z170A XPOWER Gaming Titanium that designed for expert gaming and overclocking, the Z170A Gaming M9 ACK as the leading pro gaming motherboard to the Z170A Gaming M7 and M5 for the most popular gaming enthusiast’s motherboards.

The MSI Z170 Performance Gaming is engineered to provide both a stunning gaming and visual experience, the MSI Z170 performance Gaming series will give you a lot of reasons to show off. Besides that, the MSI Z170A Gaming Pro is an extremely customizable platform that allows you to display your unique style with Mystic Light while placing a vast array of powerful gaming features.

The availability and price for these motherboards are currently unknown, but we will update you when we got the first-hand news.

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MSI unveils new powerful gaming laptops with Intel Coffee Lake processors

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It’s an exciting time to be a gamer again, as the 8th Generation Intel processors for laptops are now official, and MSI is one of the first companies to jump on the bandwagon by introducing two new powerful gaming laptops – the GS65 Stealth Thin and GT75 with i9 Hexacore Processor, while also refreshing the popular GE Raider RGB Edition launched earlier this year.

The GS65 Stealth Thin is the slimmest gaming laptop feature a 144Hz 7ms IPS display, with an ultra thin 4.9mm bezel, the 15-inch display offers a 82% screen-to-body ratio with a proper webcam located at the top bezel, the laptop also measures 17.7mm thin and weighs 1.8kg. Performance wise, the GS65 Stealth comes with an Intel Core i7-8700H processor and GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, it will support up to 32GB DDR4-RAM running at 2666MHz, MSI claims that the laptop can also last up to 8 hours on a single charge due to it’s 82Whr battery, one of the largest batteries available for a laptop of this size.

The GS65 Stealth is also a rather stylish gaming laptop too, as MSI has introduced a new golden accent and trim on the laptop’s chassis, while gamers can also customize the Per key RGB keyboard, and take advantage of an exclusive gaming mode in the new Dragon Center Version 2.0. On top of that, MSI is also upgrading the entire Stealth Pro line up with Intel Coffee Lake processors.

For gamers looking for extreme performance on the go, the flagship GT75 can now be opted with an overclockable Intel Core i9-8950HK hexa-core processor, available in graphics configurations of GTX 1070, GTX 1070 SLI and GTX 1080, the GT75 comes with a low profile mechanical keyboard with Per key RGB lighting, combined with MSI’s Cooler Boost Titan cooling system, the GT75 can run at cooler temperatures and offer the best gaming performance.

Lastly, the popular GE Raider RGB edition is refreshed with the Intel Core i7-8700H processor, while graphics configuration remains unchanged with either a GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 GPU. MSI has yet to announce the price and availability of these new gaming laptops, but we should probably see them when we make our visit to COMPUTEX this year.

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MSI Unveils Z170A XPOWER Gaming Titanium Edition Motherboard

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MSI once again surprise us with the new upcoming Z170 chipset motherboard – MSI Z170A XPOWER Gaming Titanium Edition. This upcoming motherboard will feature the upcoming Skylake series desktop processors. The Taiwanese company take a big step to stepping away from the traditional design and offers a unique white, silver and black color scheme.

The Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition is the new flagship motherboard in the XPower OC Range. Moreover, it has a unique silver PCB with heavy plated silver heatsinks. The motherboard will get an 8-pin plus 4-pin power configuration and the CPU will be surrounded by a 16 Phase PWM with new Titanium chokes. There will be four PCI-Express x16 slots, three x1 slots and two M.2 slots. For storage, the motherboard offers 8x SATA 3 and 2x SATA Express combined and OC Dashboard is been included to help CPU tuning for several OC essential parameters.

In addition, it’s still an MSI motherboard and absolutely it will be built with Military Class 5 with high-quality components. Therefore, all new Titanium choke are capable of withstanding even higher temperatures and better efficiency. Besides that, there will be also four DDR4 slots to give you the maximum RAM capacities.

The price and availability of this beast motherboard haven’t been unveiled yet, so stay tuned and get the latest updates.


The MSI Vortex G25 to retail for RM11,299 in Malaysia

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If you fancy owning a console sized gaming PC soon, you are in luck as MSI is about to sell the Vortex G25, a console sized gaming PC that comes with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor in conjunction with its Low Yat Plaza flagship store launch in Malaysia. The Vortex G25 takes on a 2.5-liter high chassis build instead of the cylindrical form factor we have seen on the first generation Vortex.

With such a compact size, the Vortex G25 can be installed up to a GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GPU, which we presume to be a mini-sized card, it will also support up to 64GB of DDR4-2400 RAM with four RAM slots, it is also VR ready with an HDMI port located at the front of the chassis. MSI is also making this an extremely fast machine with a 256GB PCIe Gen3 x4 solid state storage coupled with a 1TB SATA HDD for secondary storage, the Vortex G25 will also have built-in 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2.

MSI’s Lowyat Plaza flagship store has already started operations at this point of time and will have a grand opening on 16th October, the Vortex G25 is expect to make appearance at the scene as well and will carry a price tag of RM11,299.

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MSI wants to reward you if you do reviews, unboxings and help their customers

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To sign up for this program simply head on to
gaming
.
msi
.
com
/
rewards

and register a user name, you will then be able to post reviews and tips of MSI products, game plays and even provide solutions to users of the community who are facing problems with their MSI products, the more you contribute the closer you are to redeem a MSI GE62 Notebook, GTX 960 Gaming 100 Million Edition graphics card and 50 downloadable copies of Far Cry 4 and Elder Scrolls: Online respectively.

Now this is what we really call true rewards from a tech manufacturer, sign up now and start collecting those points, remember don’t spam!

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MSI work together with Corsair to release GeForce GTX 980 Ti SEA HAWK

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MSI is one of the world’s leading manufacturer of gaming and overclocking hardware, is proud to announce the result of a unique partnership with Corsair at the Tokyo Game Show 2015. Combining MSI’s expertise in graphics cards and Corsair’s closed loop liquid cooling solution, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti SEA HAWK was born. The latest addition to the legendary MSI Hawk graphics cards family provides outstanding gaming performance at low temperatures and low noise levels.

The MSI GTX 980 Ti SEA HAWK utilizes the popular Corsair H55 closed loop liquid cooling solution. The micro-fin copper base takes care of an efficient heat transfer to the high-speed circulation pump. The low-profile aluminum radiator is easy to install and equipped with a super silent 120 mm fan with variable speeds based on the GPU temperature to achieve the best performance, the memory and VRM need top-notch cooling as well. Therefore, the GTX 980 Ti SEA HAWK is armed with a ball-bearing radial fan and a custom shroud design ensure the best cooling performance for all components.

The graphics core can reach up to 1291 MHz with GPU Boost 2.0 technology. The graphics card is also provided with 6GB GDDR5 memory at 7096 MHz. These specifications and the presence of NVIDIA G-Sync technology guarantee a smooth gaming experience, even when using a surround setup with multiple high-resolution monitors.

The MSI GTX 980 Ti SEA HAWK is available now for USD 739.99 (approx. RM 3,130).

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MSI introduces new AMD AM 4 X570 motherboards with Ryzen 3000 support

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MSI and motherboards go hand-in-hand; and today, the Taiwanese giants have announced new additions to their lineup. With the introduction of the new AMD Ryzen 3000 series CPUs recently, MSI’s new X570 motherboard line-ups with support for AMD AM4.

Image credit: MSI

The top-of-the-line variant is the MEG X570 GODLIKE – and with a name like that, you’d expect it to be beastly, and it is. It features a Dynamic Dashboard with OLED display that shows hardware conditions, while also being equipped with Killer xTend for Wi-Fi 6 support.

The mobo also features a new Frozr heatsink design, extended head pipe designs and double-sided M.2 shields for better thermal performances. It’s also fitted with RGB lighting as well as expanded M.2 Gen4 slots, and even a 10G Super LAN Card. This motherboard is priced at RM3,490.

The MPG GAMING PRO CARBON WIFI mobo does what its name suggests – it supports Wi-Fi 6 AX with up to 3 times the bandwidth while delivering up to 2400Mbps of speed. You can buy this at RM1,250.

Next up is the PRESTIGE X570 Creation – an upper mid-tier affair with a heatsink that’s equipped with double ball braing fabs and Zero Frozr as well as AI Tuning Technology for better performance optimization. This mobo is geared towards content creators so emphasis on cooling is the essence here with M.2 Shield Frozr and more. It comes pre-loaded with the Creator Center software for creators to optimize modes for specific scenarios. This mobo is priced at RM2,222.

Image credit: MSI

If you’re on a budget, the MPG X570 Gaming Plus is your pick. Again, you get Frozr Heatsink with extended pipe designs, M.2 Shield Frozr as well as reimagined PCB designs for more efficient SATA and USB port placements. You can this motherboard for RM790.

Visit MSI’s website
here
 for additional entries to the line-up as well as more information.

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MSI Z170A Gaming M7 pictures unveils

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After EVGA, ASUS, GIGABYTE and ASRock unveil their Z170 motherboards, MSI wouldn’t want to miss out to show off the upcoming MSI Z170A Gaming M7 motherboard. This product features performance and aesthetics that might hit your interest much. The MSI Z170A Gaming M7 has a matte black PCB with red shielding and heatsink accents with triple PCI-Express 3.0 ports, Audio Boost 3 audio solution.

In addition, the motherboards have the usual quality components and a Killer NIC E2400 gigabits jack, together with connectivity like USB 3.1 and dual M.2 slots. Definitely, the board will support 6th Gen Intel Core Processor (Skylake), together with DDR4 support that will give you extra bandwidth and storage capacity that will blow your mind away; M.2 x4, SATA Express x2 and SATA ports x6.

With the shielding on top of the I/O ports, the motherboard looks rather impressive good looking because the minimalistic look. We spotted there will be a power button, reset button and a red button that seem use for overclocking purpose. Similarly together with another gaming motherboard by MSI, the audio capacitors and components will be separated with the main board to output the best audio that they ever make.

The official release date and pricing will be announced soon, so stay tuned for further updates.

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MSI Z97 and H97 Motherboard will support 5th Generation Intel Processor

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MSI, a motherboard brand company that you hear often in the market with their superb gaming motherboard design, is proud to announce that their H97 & Z97 motherboards fully support the 5th Generation Intel Core processors with the latest BIOS update.

The Taiwanese company have an R&D team to ensure compatibility and performance, so you will not ever feel worry about your MSI Z97 & H97 motherboard supporting the latest generation of Intel Core processors. They also included MSI Click BIOS 4 which is optimized for the 5th generation Intel Core processors, besides that it has been awarded as one of the most reliable design, easy to use, and are able to unleash your system’s performance.

We still looking forward to the 5th generation Intel Core processors to be released in Malaysia to test its limit to the max!


MSI's MGA Pacific Championship 2016 to be held at Berjaya Times Square next week

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After a year packed with various eSports events, MSI is doing yet another one as the MSI Master Gaming Arena Pacific Championship 2016 tournament is scheduled to be held at Berjaya Times Square on the 9th of December until the 11th of December.

Within these three days, top gamers from Malaysian, Australia and Singapore will compete to be the champion in five different games: League of Legends (LoL), Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2), Street FIghter V, Guilty Gear XRD and Naruto Ninja Storm 4. Winners of their respective games will stand to win cash prizes, trips to an upcoming gaming event, and event gaming peripherals.

Besides the main competition, MSI will also be setting up a dedicated gaming arena for the crowd, allowing attendees to try out the latest virtual reality games and technology. MSI has also partnered up with U Mobile to host the “U Mobile Game-Onx: U Dominate” event which will play host to a series of exciting tournaments at the location. If you’re looking for something to do next weekend, or you’re just a huge fan of eSports in general, you should head on down to Times Square for some excitement.

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MULA ride-hailing service now supports Touch ‘n Go eWallet

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Cashless payment is growing in Malaysia and Touch ’n Go eWallet is no doubt one of the popular ones. Now, the company is partnering with MULA, the ride-hailing service to offer cashless payment method.

For first time MULA users, they’ll be getting RM4 off when they book a MULA ride with TnG eWallet. MULA users who complete the TnG eWallet registration will also get RM3 off in vouchers for two rides, and new and existing users can get another RM4 off for two rides when they use the promo code “TNGEWALLET”.

MULA first begun in 2016 and since then has introduced a few features such as SOS in-app button, MULA Pre-Book function and MULA Pink. Female passengers get to pick female drivers when they use MULA Pink and the company believes that this is not only safer for them, but also creates more job opportunities for women.

MULA can be downloaded on both App Store and Play Store. For more information, visit
Touch ’n Go eWallet
 and
MULA
’s Facebook pages.

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Multiplayer-only version of Black Ops 3 available on Steam

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If you’re a fan of the multiplayer aspects of Black Ops III but couldn’t really give a damn about the single player campaign, you might be interested to know that there is a multiplayer-only edition of Black Ops III on the Steam right now.

The Call Of Duty Black Ops III – Multiplayer Starter Pack is, as the name implies, a multiplayer-only version of Activision’s latest entry into the CoD Black Ops franchise. Priced at RM50, the game grants you access to the some of the multiplayer modes of Black Ops III as well as most of its features such as the Weapon Paint Shop, Gunsmith, Arena, Freerun, Theater and the Black Market.

As this is a multiplayer-only option, you will not have access to the single player campaign, and the Zombies game mode. You also will not be able to access custom Multiplayer games, acquire Prestige ranks and get access to modded content and the unranked server browser when it is released sometime down the line.

Should you wish to access all the other features left out of the game, you can choose to upgrade your Multiplayer Starter Pack to the full Black Ops III game for RM114 the standard game or RM192 for the Digital Deluxe edition.

This offer will only last until the 29th of February, so if you’re interested, you better act fast.

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Multiple photos feature currently under testing in selected Android devices

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Instagram has probably added more features than any other social app under a short amount of time, to the Instagram app we see today. The Facebook owned app has added Snapchat like features to what we know as Instagram Stories last year. Live video streaming has also been made available to selected regions in 2016, with a global rollout earlier this year. According to a Twitter user, it seems like Instagram is currently testing a new feature which allows uploads of multiple photos in a single post.

Philip Chang, a Twitter user has announced to the interwebs that Instagram is currently testing a multiple photos feature on its own app. Instead of being able to post a single photo on Instagram, users will be able to upload multiple photos to be posted into a photo album, up to 10 photos to be exact. Instagram users will then be able to browse through the posted album, going through all the photos in the album. Chang is currently using Instagram version 10.7.0 on Android, which should only be available to a handful of lucky Instagram users. The updated version of Instagram on the Google Play Store is of 10.6.0, so we suppose that the feature is only in its testing phase before Instagram decides to roll it out to everyone.

Do you happen to be one of the lucky few users to enjoy Instagram’s multiple photos feature? If the feature turns out to be a success, Instagram will soon turn out to be like Facebook, where users are able to upload photo albums on their feed. What do you think?

Source:
Philip Chang (Twitter)

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Multiple tech companies group up to form A.I. partnership

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Like it or not, many tech companies these days are looking at artificial intelligence as more than a novelty. To that end, a number of tech companies who have been dabbling in A.I. are teaming up to help the public understand more about this technology.

Called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, this partnership is made out of Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft. According to the Partnership’s statement, these five companies will “conduct research, recommend best practices, and publish research under an open license in areas such as ethics, fairness and inclusivity; transparency, privacy and interoperability; collaboration between people and A.I. systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability and robustness of the technology.”

All five companies currently have their own A.I. projects of course, with IBM and Google being the most notable thanks to Watson and DeepMind respectively. Amazon and Microsoft has smaller AI projects in the form of Alexa and Cortana, while Facebook relies on A.I. for features such as face recognition and the News Feed. The Partnership’s interim co-chairmans have spoken to The Guardian, saying that they hare currently trying to rope in Apple into the partnership. Another potential partner is Elon Musk thanks to the man’s work on OpenAI, a non-profit A.I. research project that promises to make its results available to all.

Source:
Engadget
,
The Guardian

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Multiple tech companies may be interested in buying Twitter

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Twitter hasn’t exactly had the best of times as the company continues to struggle with flat growth and falling profits. However, all this may be changing as news sources are reporting that multiple tech companies are looking to acquire the social media company.

According to CNBC, it appears that Google and Salesforce.com are currently “engaged in conversations” with Twitter over a possible sale. While Google’s interest in Twitter is understandable, Salesforce.com taking an interest in the social media company is slightly more curious, as the company offers cloud-based enterprise services, which isn’t exactly Twitter’s forte.

These two companies aren’t the only ones interested as TechCrunch has also reported that both Microsoft and Verizon are looking at acquiring Twitter as well. Verizon is known to have been interested in Twitter for a while now, while Microsoft’s interest in Twitter appears to be one that is tied to Salesforce’s interest in Twitter. If TechCrunch is to be believed, Microsoft is looking to drive up the price of Twitter in an attempt to prevent Salesforce from acquiring it. Microsoft has yet to release a statement about their interest in Twitter at the moment, so all of this is speculation for now.

In any case, reports of multiple companies looking to acquire Twitter have been beneficial to the social media company, as its stocks have risen by 20% and is still climbing steadily.

Source:
CNBC
,
TechCrunch

acquisition
google
microsoft
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verizon


Multiple viruses detected in Ethereum mining hashrate unlock tool

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While we don’t actively cover crypto related topics here, but for those who’s looking to fully unlock their LHR NVIDIA GPUs Ethereum mining hashrate using a recent tool called “NVIDIA RTX LHR v2 Unlocker”, you better avoid using it or stop using it at all costs as the tool contains multiple viruses.

NVIDIA’s RTX 30 series graphics card are currently sold in Limited Hash Rate (LHR) versions to nerf mining hashrates on Ethash based cryptocurrencies as a means to deter crypto miners from snapping up their cards, although mining software such as NBMiner has already managed to unlocked 70% of the card’s mining performance without any modifications to system drivers and files.

Tom’s Hardware
 has reported that the NVIDIA RTX LHR v2 Unlocker not only didn’t performed as claimed, but infects your system and causes other unusual behavior such as high CPU usage and injecting unwanted files, which you can refer to
Joe’s Sandbox Cloud
 to view the illustration of how the tool infects your computer.

While no thanks to chip shortage as well, prices of GPU has skyrocketed at least two times of its actual retail price, hence most miners would eagerly want to recover their investment with such kind of tools, but sometimes, things can be too good to be true.

Source:
Toms Hardware
, via
The Verge

crypto
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Music labels target Youtube-to-MP3 ripping site over piracy

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There are many ways that people pirate music. Some rely on traditional methods such as piracy websites such as The Pirate Bay to get their music, while some prefer ripping the songs from Youtube via Youtube-to-MP3 conversion websites. Music labels have fought a long, hard war with piracy sites, but it appears that they are now targeting Youtube ripping sites as well.

In a report by the BBC, it appears that Universal, Sony and Warner Bros have taken legal action against the German operator of YouTube-mp3.org in Los Angeles. According to the legal documents, the record labels mentioned above claim that “tens, or even hundreds, of millions of tracks are illegally copied and distributed by stream-ripping services each month. The documents also claim that YouTube-mp3.org is the “chief offender,” with more than 60 million users per month.

All three parties are seeking damages from the website and its owner, with the fine being USD150,000 for every alleged instance of piracy. As of the time of writing, YouTube-mp3.org and its founder have yet to respond. “This site is raking in millions on the backs of artists, songwriters and labels,” says Cary Sherman, President of the Recording Industry Association of America. “It should not be so easy to engage in this activity in the first place, and no stream ripping site should appear at the top of any search result or app chart.”

Source:
BBC

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Music streaming is my life and it stopped me from downloading illegally

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Recently,
Taylor Swift
 removed all her music from Spotify, I was really disappointed as I’ve always loved to stream ‘Shake it Off’ for my cardio workouts. Spotify has changed the way I listen to music, it syncs beautifully across my devices, it plays high bitrate 320kbps music that I’m contended with, and best of all I’m subscribed to Maxis’ Spotify plan at just RM9.90/month.

Prior to subscribing Spotify, my downloading activities were crazy, I could download an average of 3 albums per week from torrents or 10 singles from Chinese music platforms such as Kuwo and Baidu, it was fun back then, but I feel sorry for the artist that produced the music. I personally experienced it when I create my own gadget review videos, it was so difficult to produce one creative content that you hate it when people don’t appreciate or started copying what you are doing.

While
Taylor Swift
 claims that Spotify isn’t paying artists fairly, I kind of have to second that, Spotify pays artist between $0.006 to $0.008 per track streamed, that’s pretty stingy for sure and you need to have millions of playback until you can get a pretty good income from it. Coming from a customer’s point of view, I do appreciate and love music a lot, that’s why I choose to pay for Spotify’s service because it is affordable and yet I’m able to support the artist in some way instead of buying CDs that takes up space in my cabinet or from iTunes where I’m only limited to sync across my Apple devices.

Spotify themselves have claimed that they are paying almost 70% of their revenue back to artists, they have changed the music industry and the way I’ve listen to music, but having artists like Swift walking away with a reason that they are not paying fairly isn’t fair to me as well. Put it this way, I’m a paying customer for the music service and yet the artist is trying to say I need to pay more for her music, is this even fair to a consumer when the artist mentioned that?

Music streaming
 service is changing the entire music industry and it’s the way to go for people who carries smartphones and tablets, if Spotify wants to change that perspective, they could have offered lossless streaming quality subscriptions and that could probably do some justice for artists like
Taylor Swift
. While Swift has still remained her presence back in other services such as Rdio and Beats Music, I really can’t see why she only chose to walk away from the largest
music streaming
 service but not others.

Of course, this entire article isn’t really about Taylor Swift, I’m talking about the future of artists and music streaming services, I have to agree that art isn’t cheap and we must pay for it, all I want is the convenience of a music streaming service and I don’t really mind paying something more if they are paying fairly to the artist, because artists deserve the credit that they’ve worked their asses off. Simply put, if artists continue to complain that companies aren’t paying them fairly, we the consumers are the ultimate losers. So Spotify, please do something and save the music industry again, stop me from downloading illegally and make me continue to support artists while you pay them fairly with the money I’ve paid.


Must-have 8 apps if you don't want to leave your home

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Granted that we really should be getting out more often, but sometimes having to deal with bad weather, horrendous traffic jams, limited parking spaces, and unholy workloads just makes us want to do everything from the comfort of the sofa. Or bed. Since there are many like-minded people out there, I’ve compiled a list of apps if you don’t want to leave you home.

#1: GoGet.my

You got something you need to mail out? Or need to buy something from the shop downtown but dread getting stuck in traffic? Well, you don’t ever need to leave your house again for these odd jobs if you can hire someone to do it for you at anytime. This app allows you to post a job, and a verified GoGetter will get it done for you. You can pay for the service with cash on delivery, and the cost will depend on the distance travelled. They can even buy you a meal from your favorite cafe; all you need to do is give precise instructions and the next thing you know, it gets delivered to your doorstep.

#2: Happy Fresh

Grocery shopping for fresh produce can be a pain sometimes, especially when you need just a handful of ingredients. So here comes Happy Fresh, an app that delivers fresh produce from stores around your area right to your doorstep. You can use your current location and the app will find the stores near you, or you can manually input a location, to choose which stores you want to shop from. Not only can you choose fresh produce but wine and organic products as well, depending on which stores are nearby.

#3: Lazada

All your shopping cravings can be satiated with this app, as Lazada offers a wide range of products from electronics to household items, and even some apparels; all at a decent price. On top of that, Lazada sells not just products that are available locally but overseas as well, as some take some time to reach your doorstep since they have to ship it from elsewhere. However, you can be sure it will reach you, so you don’t need to head to the store to do some shopping, or window shopping if you like.

#4: Carousell

If you are budget conscious, then you can head to Carousell to score some great second hand items or discounted products. Not only can you buy stuff from the marketplace, you can even sell things you hoarded sometime in your life. How it works is when you see a product you like, you can offer the seller a price and then discussion goes from there using the in-app chat system. You can find all manner of goods whether it is fashion, hobbies and even furniture, and you can arrange to have them all delivered to you.

#5: Food Panda

Lazy to cook? There is more than just fast food joints you can get your meals from. Food Panda offers delivery service from many different restaurants, so all you need to do is choose what you feel like having for the day. The only thing you need to hope for is that the food gets delivered to you fast enough, so that you don’t start eating your shoes in hunger.

#6: Tesco

For all the other household items like detergents, your toilet paper and such, you can just order them from Tesco to get it delivered to your doorstep. You can purchase foodstuff as well; basically anything that is in Tesco, you can get it delivered. This is fast and convenient and sure helps a lot when you don’t have to lug all the heavy stuff all the way up to your condo.

#7: Kaodim

Drippy taps? Aircond blowing hot air? House in desperate need of cleanup? You can hire all sorts of professionals using this app. In fact, you don’t even need to be worried about being overcharged since you can just post up a job, then you will get up to 5 quotations to compare against before choosing who you want to work with. This is great since you don’t need to be Googling for services and waiting for each and every one of them to get back to you after numerous phonecalls.

#8: MRuncit

Own a prepaid of sorts? Then you can just use MRuncit to get them top-up. Not only that, this app also offers other prepaid payments such as game credits and IDD credits, as well as products for sale like K-pop and anime merchandise. Some stuff seems rather random though, but it doesn’t really matter since you can buy everything just by using your phone and get it delivered to you easily.

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MWC 2017: 3 phones tell us why revolutionary refreshes aren't necessary

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Some of us are still living in the hype that has lingered on from Mobile World Congress 2017 at Barcelona last week. This round of MWC welcomed a slew of newly launched smartphones plus some refreshes as well, for instance the Huawei P10, LG G6, Blackberry KEYone, Sony Xperia XZ and so on. However, most of the smartphones announced during the event aren’t completely mind blowing, given the fact that they don’t possess features which are entirely new to the mobile world. Why is that so? These 3 phone launches suggest why we need not expect something new every now and then:

Huawei P10

The Huawei P10 is basically a more polished version of the P9 along with a couple of minor tweaks. Now famous for its dual camera smartphones, the latter was surprisingly not the first ever dual cam device that Huawei has made, and certainly not the first dual cam phone that has existed. More than two years ago back in 2014, the Chinese manufacturer decided to implement the concept of dual cameras on a handset via its subsidiary company Honor, hence the Honor 6 Plus.

The 2014 experimentation with the Honor 6 Plus allowed Huawei to gauge and settle at what we see as the Huawei P9 that was launched last year. What made the P9 unique was Huawei’s partnership with German camera maker Leica, making the camera setup of the phone both Huawei and Leica’s efforts. Huawei managed to sell more than 10 million units of the P9 as of 2016, despite the initial controversy about its cameras not actually being made by Leica but only designed and “authorized”.

Huawei stuck with the design of the P9 when it came to the P10. The only significant difference is that the fingerprint sensor has now moved from the back to the front. The phone now sports a OnePlus 3/3T front panel plus a rear panel with very subtle antenna lines that largely reminds us of the iPhone 7. The Leica branding carried on with the P10’s rear camera setup, a bump up from the 12MP+12MP setup to an improved 20MP+12MP configuration, maintaining the mix of monochrome and color sensors. Huawei decided to go Leica with the P10’s 8MP selfie camera as well, now two times brighter.

The Huawei P10, though looking more like phones from fellow manufacturers, is a good example on why companies don’t have to improve its products by leaps and bounds to please consumers.

Nokia 3310 (2017)

You have to be grateful that despite the vast difference between the new and old Nokia 3310 handset, HMD did not go all out into totally wrecking the legacy led by the original phone. Most of us reminisce the days of the original Nokia 3310, launched approximately 17 years ago. Simple were those days, as the Nokia 3310 sported a monochrome display, featured the basic stuff offered in phone such as calling, texting with predictive text input, calculator, 3 games including the famous Snake II.

Known for its nearly “indestructible” form factor and very long lasting battery life, HMD was smart enough not to conform the Nokia 3310 into a smartphone to be launched last week. The Chinese company, responsible behind the revival of the Nokia branding, decided to bring back the nearly 2 decade old phone as a feature phone instead. This is a fairly good combination of bringing back the nostalgia and making the phone somewhat current at the same time.

The Nokia 3310 (2017) is roughly the same size as its predecessor of the same name. It was definitely the most anticipated feature phone over the last couple of months prior to its launch at MWC. Its features are the same as the original model on more than a decade’s worth of steroids. It has the usual calling and texting functionalities, a 2.4-inch color screen this time, FM radio, basic web browsing via the bundled Opera Mini app and a 2MP rear camera thrown into the package.

While the phone might seem like a total different device compared to the original and that it won’t appeal to the geeks of today, HMD certainly succeeded in bringing back this classic handset into the modern world. It might not feature the beefiness of the original, but its battery life of up to 744 hours in standby time, coupled with the nostalgia game are certainly the Nokia 3310’s top selling points in the world of smartphones.

LG G6

Last year’s Mobile World Congress saw the announcement of the LG G5. The company then released its 2016 flagship handset to the general public in April. The LG G5 was no doubt a manufacturer’s first ever attempt on making a modular phone, apart from Google’s Project Ara which never pulled off before eventually being suspended last September. Not only was the LG G5 the first ever official modular phone, but the handset properly sparked a wave of dual camera smartphones which were launched in the following part of 2016.

The sales performance of the G5 was what led to its “downfall”. Not exactly, but that was the result of a product which wasn’t successful enough. Modular phones are a very attractive concept, and the South Korean manufacturer was definitely proud of its own take on a modular handset. The LG G5 was sold alongside optional modular accessories known as LG Friends for its users to make full user of the phone’s modularity. However, LG’s way of a modular phone did not turn out to be practical. For example, LG G5 users had to reboot the phone every single time they decide to swap out modular accessories, which range from a camera module to a DAC audio module. Moreover, the LG Friends weren’t reasonably affordable to begin with, after factoring in the amount of money invested in the G5 itself.

Fast forward to the summer of 2016, LG finally broke news on its near half a year old flagship, conceding that the LG G5 is a failed device. The company went through a process of job cuts and restructuring. Not long after that, we started getting rumors of LG reverting back to old ways, entirely ditching the modular concept of the G5 in its upcoming flagship device, a.k.a. the newly launched LG G6.

The LG G6 ticks all boxes, if not most, of what makes an excellent smartphone, and with that, the phone turned out to be a really solid flagship device. The phone reverted back to a non modular body, and the only “revolutionary” feature that we see on the G6 is its 18:9 aspect ratio screen on the front, flanked by very minimal bezels. Perhaps the company concluded that it failed at making a modular smartphone (FYI, Lenovo did it much better with the Moto Z and Moto Mods), and decided to “take a step back”, re-gather their thoughts into making what consumers look for in a smartphone in 2017.

Conclusion

Those were 3 classic examples on why manufacturers do not have to introduce mind blowing concepts and features via phones every single year. Take LG for example, who failed in the sale of the G5 last year, despite the concept of a modular phone being revolutionary, leading to the non-modular G6. The Nokia 3310 on the other hand, might not apply to the internet age that is today, but it is certainly not totally alien to the original Nokia 3310 launched 17 years ago, and yet the phone managed to make some waves in the mobile industry. The Huawei P10, a perfect example of refinement from its predecessor. Instead of going with something new, Huawei stood back to improve and polish upon the P9 which was already impressive to begin with. Sometimes it’s better to play safe rather than to wow consumers at every turn and failing thereafter. What do you think? Are you happy with the devices mentioned above?

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MWC 2017: Huawei introduces the Huawei Watch 2

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Smartphones aren’t the only thing that Huawei showcased at MWC of course as the company also brought with its some smartwatches. More specifically, the Huawei Watch 2 line of smartwatches.

Much like many of Huawei’s other offerings, the Huawei Watch 2 will come in two variations: the regular Huawei Watch 2, and the fancier Huawei Watch 2 Classic. Design differences aside, both smartwatches sport identical features and specifications. The Huawei Watch 2 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor and runs on the Android Wear 2.0 platform.

Interestingly enough, Huawei has shrunk down the screen of the Huawei Watch 2 as it now measures just 1.2″. For comparison, the original Huawei Watch had a 1.4″ screen. Screen aside, the Huawei Watch 2 comes with built-in support for Nano SIM and eSIM. The Huawei Watch 2 will also come with LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and perhaps even VoLTE support as well.

Huawei is also pushing the Huawei Watch 2 as a fitness equipment of course as the company claims that the watch has an IP68 rating, as well as a heart rate monitor, an activity tracker, GPS, and a Fit feature that acts as a personal trainer. As for battery life, the Huawei Watch 2 comes with a 420mAh battery that the company claims could last for up to 11 hours when the heart rate monitor and GPS are on. If the Huawei Watch 2 is used solely as a watch with its activity tracker on, Huawei claims that the watch could last up to 26 days.

Finally, Huawei also announced that the Huawei Watch 2 will be getting a Porsche Design edition much like the Mate 9. Unfortunately, little else is known about this particular Huawei Watch 2 variant.

The Huawei Watch 2 will be making its way into markets around the world beginning from next month with a pricetag of EUR329 (RM1,544). Meanwhile, the Huawei Watch 2 Classic will retail for EUR399 (RM1,872).

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MWC 2017: Huawei launches the P10 and the P10 Pro

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As expected from Huawei, the Chinese company announced the P10 and P10 Pro at MWC 2017 earlier today. With the P10, Huawei is doubling down on its collaboration with Leica as the cameras are very much the main selling point of the device.

Starting off with the specifications, the P10 sports a 5.1″ Full HD screen and is powered by a Kirin 960 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and a 3,200mAh battery. As for the P10 Pro, the phone comes with a 5.5″ 1440p screen and is powered by the same Kirin 960 processor, up to 6GB of RAM, up to 128GB of internal storage, and a 3,750mAh battery. Both phones sport a front-facing fingerprint sensor and runs on an EMUI 5.1-skinned version of Android Nougat.

Now, we come to the camera. Continuing with its partnership with Leica, the P10 sports what Huawei is referring to as the “Leica Dual-Camera 2.0 Pro Edition”. This setup consists of a F1.9 SUMMILUX-H lens which is accompanied by a 20MP monochrome sensor and a 12MP regular sensor. Both cameras are supported by a four-in-one hybrid autofocus system as well as Optical Image Stabilization technology. While the camera on the P10 Pro is largely the same, the P10 Pro’s camera gets a f/1.8 aperture instead of the P10’s f/2.2 aperture.

Moving on to the front, the P10 and P10 Pro shares the same Leica-branded front-facing camera. While the company did not explicitly mention the specifications of the front camera, Huawei states that the camera comes with features such as “studio-like re-lighting” and “3D facial detection technology”.

The Huawei P10 and P10 Pro will be arriving in the Asia region in April 2017. The regular P10 will be priced at EUR649 (RM3,049), the 64GB+4GB P10 Pro will retail for EUR699 (RM3,282), while the 128GB+6GB P10 Pro will go for EUR799 (RM3,751).

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MWC 2017: Lenovo reveals the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus

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Between Nokia, Huawei and LG, you could be forgiven that Lenovo did announce their own phones today. Targeted towards the affordable crowd, Lenovo announced two new entries into the Moto G-line of smartphones, the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus.

As the name implies, the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus have different configurations, so lets begin with the Moto G5. Being the more affordable of the two, the Moto G5 comes with a 5″ Full HD screen. The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 430 processor, up to 3GB of RAM, up to 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded via microSD card, and a 2,800mAh battery. For the camera, the Moto G5 comes with a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera with phase detect autofocus. As for the front, the Moto G5 sports a rather standard 5MP snapper.

Moving on, we have the higher-spec Moto G5 Plus. This particular variant comes with a 5.2″ Full HD screen and is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal storage that much like the G5, could be expanded via microSD card, as well as a meatier 3,000mAh battery. On the camera side of things, the Moto G5 Plus comes with a 12MP f/1.7 rear camera with dual-focus pixels, while the front camera is the identical 5MP snapper that can be found on the Moto G5. In a highly curious note, the Moto G5 Plus will come with NFC capabilities, but only on non-U.S. models of the smartphone. Meanwhile, the Moto G5 will not have any NFC capabilities whatsoever.

Both smartphones will run on Android Nougat 7.0, complete with Google Assistant. On top of that, both phones will also come with a fingerprint scanner. THe Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus will be making its way into the market in March. The Moto G5 will have a starting price of EUR199 (RM935) for the 2GB RAM-16GB Storage configuration, while prices for the Moto G5 Plus starts at EUR229 (RM1,076) for the 2GB RAM-32GB storage configuration.

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MWC 2017: Lenovo's Tab 4 Series is made for everyone in the family

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Apart from the Moto G5 and G5 Plus, Lenovo has even more in store for us in this year’s Mobile World Congress at Barcelona. It’s day 1 of MWC 2017 and the company has unveiled a series of four tablets built for everyone in the family, and it is probably no coincidence that the series of tablets are known as the Tab 4 Series, coming in two variants with two sizes each.

Starting off with the Lenovo Tab 4 8 and Tab 4 10, their names speak for their respective display sizes at 8-inches and 10-inches, with a resolution of 1,280×800. The rest of the specs are the same throughout with the exception of their batteries – a Snapdragon 425 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage with micro SD expansion, 5MP rear camera and 2MP front facing camera. The Tab 4 8 packs a 4,850mAh battery while the larger Tab 4 10 packs a 7,000mAh battery. Lenovo promises up to 12 hours of battery life with the Tab 4. The manufacturer highlights the tablet’s Dolby moving audio technology via its front facing dual stereo speakers for an immersive media consumption experience.

If you’re looking to do more than just consuming media, you can up the ante by opting for the Tab 4 Plus variants, which also come in two sizes – Lenovo Tab 4 8 Plus and Tab 4 10 Plus. The Plus models feature a more premium and attractive design profile, offering more horsepower underneath the hood as well. The Tab 4 Plus sports dual glass panels on the front and rear, making it slimmer than the Tab 4. The display on the front is in sharper Full HD resolution The tablet is powered by a more powerful Snapdragon 625 processor, 3 or 4GB of RAM with up to 64GB of internal storage (beginning at 16GB) with micro SD expansion as well. The camera department sees a bump up to 8MP on the rear and 5MP on the front. Battery sizes are the same as the non Plus models but the Tab 4 Plus comes with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 support.

The “made for everyone in the family” part comes into play as these tablets are offered with optional accessories – a Kid’s Pack and a Productivity Pack. The Kid’s Pack is specific to the non Plus Tab 4’s, with a bumper case, bluelight filter and colorful 3M stickers to spice up the design. In terms of software, there will be a dedicated Kid’s Account for curated kid friendly content, plus parental controls.

The Productivity Pack on the other hand is made for both the non Plus and Plus models of the Tab 4. It consists of a Bluetooth keyboard that also works as a sleeve and a stand for the tablet. It also goes well with the tablet’s handy features such as the taskbar, instant app switching and multi-window support.

The Lenovo Tab 4 8 and Tab 4 10 come with price tags of 169 Euros (RM795.90) and 179 Euros (RM843.00) respectively. Lenovo has only listed out the price tags for the 4GB RAM/32GB model for the Tab 4 8 Plus and Tab 4 10 Plus at 259 Euros (RM1,219.75) and 299 Euros (RM1,408.13) respectively. The Lenovo Tab 4 Series will be available globally beginning in May.

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MWC 2017: LG launches the LG G6 smartphone

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It’s probably safe to say that LG’s gamble with a modular phone did not pay off as well as the company expected. With the launch of the G6 at MWC 2017, LG is aiming to drop the modular gimmick for something that’s a bit more traditional.

With the LG G6, LG has stuffed the phone with a 5.7″ QHD screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio into a 5.2″ sized phone. For specifications, the G6 comes with a Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB of UFS 2.0 storage and a 3,300mAh battery. For the camera, LG is opting for a dual-camera setup on for the rear of the phone. This setup will utilise a 13MP wide angle lens, as well as a standard 13MP camera with OIS 2.0 technology. The phone will run on Android Nougat with LG’s own “UX 6.0” skin on it. Additionally, the phone will get Google Assistant as well.

Features is where things get a little more complicated when it comes to the LG G6. If the report by Engadget is to be believed, it appears that the G6 will come with features that can only be found on models made for specific markets around the world. For example, only the U.S. models of the G6 will come with wireless charging capabilities. Meanwhile, Asian models of the G6 will get the Quad DAC that was first found on the V20, as well as a dual-SIM 64GB variant of the phone. If you’re the kind of person who likes uniformity when it comes to smartphone features, LG’s approach to the G6 would be something you’re not a fan of.

The LG G6 will come in Ice Platinum, Astral White, and Mystic Black colours. No release date or pricing has been given just yet, but seeing as this LG, we can’t help but be pessimistic about the chances of the G6 being made available locally.

Source:
Engadget

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MWC 2017: MediaTek's Helio X30 processor will be making its way to the market in Q2 2017

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After the reveal that MediaTek’s 10-core Helio X30 processor will be available first on the
Vernee Apollo 2
 smartphone, MediaTek has finally announced that the Helio X30 will be coming to more smartphones by the second quarter of 2017.

Following the original announcement of the processor back in September, MediaTek has formally announced that the Helio X30 processor has entered the mass production stages. Assuming that everything goes well, this deca-core processor can soon be found on devices that will be launched during the second quarter of the year.

The MediaTek Helio X30 processor is MediaTek’s first deca-core processor that is manufacturered using the 10nm manufacturing process. The processor itself sports three seperate clusters of cores with the first cluster comprising of two Cortex A73 cores, the second cluster comprising four Cortex A53 cores, and the third cluster consists of four Cortex A35 cores. Alongside the 10-cores, the Helio X30 also comes with a PowerVR 7XT GPU.

Source:
MediaTek

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MWC 2017: Nokia launches the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 smartphones, Nokia 6 to be available worldwide

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Nokia is making its first step back into the smartphone market at Barcelona as the company has announced the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 smartphones at the Mobile World Congress today.

We begin with the Nokia 3, Nokia’s entry level option for the masses. Sporting a 5″ HD display, the Nokia 3 will be powered by a Snapdragon 425 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage space. For the cameras, the Nokia 3 will come with a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. The Nokia 3 will retail for EUR139 (RM651).

Moving on, we have the Nokia 5, the mid-range offering in Nokia’s catalogue. Available in four different colours, this smartphone comes with a 5.2″ display and is powered by a Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. The Nokia 5 will come with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. This particular phone will be priced at EUR189 (RM886).

Rounding up the Nokia smartphone launches, Nokia has also announced that the Nokia 6 will be making its way to the global market as well. Besides the
standard Nokia 6
, HMD will also be preparing a special edition Arte Black version of the Nokia 6. This Arte Black Nokia 6 will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, beating out the standard edition’s 3GB RAM and 32GB storage options. The standard Nokia 6 will retail for EUR229 (RM1,073), while the Arte Black Nokia 6 will retail for EUR299 (RM1,401).

All of the Nokia smartphones mentioned above will run on a pure version of Android Nougat. All phones will also gain access to Google Assistant right out of the box.

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MWC 2017: Nokia refreshes the Nokia 3310 with a bigger, coloured screen

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Nokia’s MWC 2017 announcement ain’t limited to just smartphones as the company has indeed resurrected the iconic Nokia 3310 for the modern day user.

With the new Nokia 3310, Nokia has made some updates to the overall design as a whole. For starters, the screen of the new Nokia 3310 is bigger and is now coloured, which is a huge upgrade from the green and black screen found on the first iteration of the device. Aside from that, buttons as a whole has been redesigned to better reflect the 3310’s updated looks.

For performance, Nokia is boasting that the new Nokia 3310 will have around 22 hours of talk time and has a standby time of an entire month. The new Nokia 3310 will also retain most if not all of the features that can be found in the original 3310. And for those of you who are curious, the new 3310 does come with Snake, albeit an updated version of the game.

The new Nokia 3310 will retail for EUR49 (RM230).

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MWC 2017: Samsung introduces the S Pen equipped Galaxy Book 10 & 12

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The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is definitely an impressive tablet for us to keep an eye on, but if you are looking for a work horse type tablet, Samsung has just the tablet for you, and the fact that it runs on Microsoft Windows 10 might make this device a possible laptop replacement. Introducing the Galaxy Book, which consists of a slew of improvements from Samsung’s previous Galaxy TabPro S Windows tablet.

The Galaxy Book comes in two sizes – the Galaxy Book 10 sports a 10.6-inch display, while the Galaxy Book 12’s display measures at 12-inches. The 10-inch model comes with an LCD panel at 1080p resolution. The 12-incher features a more beautiful and vivid AMOLED display at a higher QHD resolution. As far as specs goes, the Galaxy Book 12 is clearly the more powerful one, sporting a 7th gen Intel Core i5 processor. The Galaxy Book 10 on the other hand features a more tame Intel core m3 processor. Both models come with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of SSD storage. As far as I/O goes, both models have two USB Type-C ports.

Like the Galaxy Tab S3, the Galaxy Book too comes with an S Pen out of the box, with a 0.7mm tip and and 4,096 pressure levels. An added bonus for photography enthusiasts is that the S Pen for the Galaxy Book comes with exclusive Adobe Photoshop integration, which is definitely a plus. On top of that, to make the Galaxy Book an official 2-in-1 productivity tablet, it comes with a keyboard case as well, tailored for both sizes of the Galaxy Book. The keyboard now has back lighting and island style key caps with improved key travel. Both Galaxy Book models are claimed to last approximately 10 hours, which sounds like good news for those who are constantly on the go. With the addition of quick charge, the Galaxy Book should juice up pretty quickly as well.

Samsung has spoken none about the Galaxy Book’s release date or pricing, so those will have to wait. But besides that fact, the Samsung Galaxy Book definitely seems like a promising Windows tablet in 2017.

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MWC 2017: Sony rounds up its phone launch with the XZs, XA1 and XA1 Ultra

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The Xperia XZ Premium isn’t the only phone that Sony has launch at MWC of course. Alongside Sony’s latest flagship, the company has also launched three other phones at Barcelona today: the XZs, the XA1, and the XA1 Ultra.

We begin with the Xperia XZs, which is very much a step-down XZ Premium. Where the XZ Premium comes with a 4K HDR display, the XZs comes with a much more conservative 5.2″ Full HD display instead. Powering the Xperia XZs is the Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal storage, and a 2,900mAh battery. As for the camera, the Xperia XZs borrows the same Motion Eye camera that the XZ Premium has, meaning that the phone is capable of doing 960FPS 720p slow motion shots as well.

Moving on to the mid-range side of things, we have the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra. While both phones are powered by the MediaTek Helio P20 processor, the XA1 Ultra is obviously the meatier of the two smartphones. For the Xperia XA1, the phone packs 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 5″ 720p screen, and a 2,300mAh battery. For imaging, the XA1 comes with a 23MP rear camera, and an 8MP front camera.

For the Xperia XA1 Ultra, this phone comes with 4GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal stoage, a 6″ Full HD screen, and a 2,700mAh battery. While the XA1 Ultra comes with the identical 23MP rear camera that the XA1 has, the Ultra comes with a better 16MP front camera.

Much like the Xperia XZ Premium, no prices have been given for the XZs, the XA1, and the XA1 Ultra just yet. The XZs will be made available sometme in April, while the XA1 and XA1 Ultra will be available in Spring.

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MWC 2017: Sony unveils the flagship Xperia XZ Premium

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The smartphone announcement train continues on as Sony has just announced a new flagship smartphone at MWC today: the Xperia XZ Premium.

There are two main draws when it comes to the Xperia XZ Premium: the display and the camera. We begin with the display as the Xperia XZ Premium comes with a 5.5″ 4K HDR display, which is a first for any smartphone in the market. To make use of that gorgeous screen, Sony has decided to partner up with Amazon that will provide the phone with 4K HDR content.

As for the camera, Sony is opting to go with something called Motion Eye. This technology involves Sony embedding fast memory right into the phone’s camera stack. This technology gives the Xperia XZ Premium the ability to shoot slow motion videos at 960 frames per second at 720p resolution, which is another first for the smartphone. Slow motion aside, the rear camera of the Xperia XZ Premium uses a 19MP IMX300 sensor and comes with the triple-sensor system that can be found on the Xperia XZ smartphone.

Specifications-wise, the Xperia XZ Premium is equipped with the Snapdragon 835 processor, which is surprising because this particular processor was rumoured to be Samsung-only until the Galaxy S8 launches. Other than the, the Xperia XZ Premium is powered by 4GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal storage, and a 3,230mAh battery. On top of that, the smartphone has an IP68 rating and will run on Android Nougat.

Unfortunately, no price tag nor release date was given just yet.

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MWC 2017: Sony Xperia XZ Premium crowned best new handset

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As Mobile World Congress 2017 draws to a close, we have came across many new devices, but only a few of them will be remembered after the event, for instance the LG G6, Huawei P10, Blackberry KEYone, plus the likes of the Nokia 3310 which has reincarnated into a different form in the name of nostalgia. The Global Mobile Awards by GSM Association has officially named the best new handset of MWC 2017 – the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

Sony managed to shock the rest of the manufacturers, announcing the first ever commercial smartphone to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 835 processor. By comparison, the LG G6 sports an older Snapdragon 821 chip, the same one seen in the Google Pixel handsets. The display of the Xperia XZ Premium is top notch as well – a sharp 4K Triluminos display, with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The screen to body ratio remains unimpressive as Sony kept the huge top bezel and the bottom chin rather than to go with the flow of minimal bezels.

The attractive camera package is also part of the contribution to the Xperia XZ Premium receiving the best new handset award. Sony retained the single camera setup instead of going duo on the rear – a 19MP shooter with laser autofocus, predictive phase detection and EIS. The selfie camera is of 13 megapixels with an f/2.0 aperture.

The coveted award that Sony managed to snatch means that its flagship handset triumphed over the LG G6 and the Huawei P10, both of which happen to be impressive in their own strides as well. Do you think the Xperia XZ Premium deserves this award?

Source:
GSMA

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MWC 2017: The Blackberry KEYOne announced with a great camera and mid-range specs

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The very first Mobile World Congress announcment is here, as Blackberry has held a press conference in the wee hours of the Malaysian time zone, announcing its new smartphone that was previously teased as the Mercury back in CES 2017, the official name for its new smartphone is now called the KEYOne. As you may recall, Blackberry no longer makes its own hardware and China’s TCL Communications has been tasked to build this device. The KEYOne sure looks attractive with its stylish metallic build, it comes with a QWERTY keyboard on the front while being touch sensitive like the Priv’s, it now has a fingerprint scanner embedded on to the space bar. The keyboard alone takes up a certain amount of space on the front, which is why you get a rather small 4.5-inch display to view with a 1620×1080 resolution.

If you are thinking the KEYOne comes with flagship specs, you may be slightly disappointed with Blackberry’s decision to use the Snapdragon 625 CPU, however this is by far one of the most efficient chips that has been used on many premium mid-range flagships, and it still delivers a very decent speed in running applications, hence this should be more than sufficient if Blackberry is intending to target enterprise users. Otherwise, the KEYOne comes with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage, a 12-megapixel main f/2.0 camera and 8-megapixel front camera, and a 3505mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support. The KEYOne will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat and as usual, comes preloaded with Blackberry’s DTEK security software preinstalled.

As attractive as the KEYOne’s hardware is, one can be easily turned off by its price tag at US$549 when it gets released in April at the US market, it is no doubt chepaer than the Priv back then, but if you don’t require the physical keyboard and seriously need the secure Blackberry software with flagship specs, the current DTEK60 is already available for around the same price. In terms of local availability, the KEYOne shouldn’t take too long after its US release given the track record of the DTEK60, let’s just pray that the Malaysian currency doesn’t fall against the US currency further by then.

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MWC 2017: The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is the iPad Pro's direct competitor

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Mobile World Congress 2017 hasn’t officially kicked off just yet but most major manufacturers have already held launch events prior to the second major tech trade show of the year, and Samsung is obviously no exception. Although the Galaxy S8 has been confirmed not to make an appearance at MWC this round, the South Korean manufacturer has an almost equally impressive device launched in the tablet category. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is now official so let’s take a look at what comes with it.

At first glance, the Galaxy Tab S3 features pretty much the same design elements from its predecessor the Galaxy Tab S2. with the exception of its rear glass panel, which is most likely inspired by the current Galaxy flagship handsets. That also means that the tablet will turn out to be very much of a fingerprint magnet. As usual, there’s no doubting in Samsung’s own displays, with the Tab S3 sporting a beautiful 9.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536.

Carrying the torch of being a flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab S3 continues to shine underneath the hood, packing a serious amount of power. It features a Snapdragon 820 processor, the same processor found in most of 2016’s flagship smartphones, and remains powerful even till today. Alongside the chipset, Samsung has equipped a total of 4GB of RAM which should be sufficient, plus 32GB of internal storage, which is of course further expandable up to a further 256GB of your media consumption needs.

As for the Galaxy Tab S3’s camera, it’s as good as cameras get on tablets – a 13MP rear camera coupled with a 5MP front facing camera for selfies and video calls. The device sports a decently sized 6,000mAh battery, and supports fast charging via its USB Type-C port. Samsung claims the Tab S3 to provide up to 12 hours of video playback, which is pretty impressive.

A welcome addition for the Galaxy Tab S3 is a new S Pen. The main difference is that the Tab S3 does not have a slot for the S Pen, unlike its Galaxy Note handsets of the past. This new S Pen has 4,096 levels of pressure, making it as accurate as you’d expect it to be. It works and functions just like how an S Pen would work on a Note device – doodling, taking screenshots, notes and so on.

You can definitely conclude that the Galaxy Tab S3 is Samsung’s champion to compete against the fellow 9.7-inch iPad Pro from Apple, as the latter also comes with an option keyboard case, further enhancing the tablet’s ability to perform productivity tasks. The keyboard differs from most conventional Bluetooth tablet keyboards as it doesn’t require charging at all. The keyboard case is attached to the Tab S3 via a pogo pin connector, hence dismissing the need for charging.

Samsung wants to ensure its consumers that the Galaxy Tab S3 isn’t made only for productivity purposes. The tablet packs quad stereo speakers tuned by Austrian sound manufacturer AKG. Media consumption will definitely be a pleasing experience with the stereo speakers and the beautiful Super AMOLED display.

The downside of the Galaxy Tab S3 however, is its version of Android – the dreadfully aging Marshmallow. This is rather disappointing considering most launched devices of today run on the newer Android Nougat. Having said that, the Tab S3 should still be able to perform well given its powerful internals.

Samsung has yet to announced the pricing of the Galaxy Tab S3 just yet, so do keep an eye out for that. Specs wise, the Tab S3 does seem like the tablet version of the unlucky Galaxy Note 7 from last year. Regardless, it is definitely an Android competitor to Apple’s iPad Pro. What do you think?

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MWC 2017: Wiko goes premium with the UPulse smartphone

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While big names like Nokia are getting the most attention in Mobile World Congress this week, French smartphone maker Wiko has been on the MWC spotlight with the announcement of the UPulse smartphone, the UPulse isn’t just a total redesign of what we see from its previous offerings, but it is also the most premium looking smartphone ever produced by the French. As we have come to familiarize with Wiko smartphones, the UPulse’s metallic back should be a removable and is the highlight of the phone itself, which features three attractive colors with a brushed aluminium finishing, it also has a rear fingerprint scanner like the rest and uses on screen buttons.

Apart from design, the Wiko UPulse also has new imaging tricks with its 13-megapixel main camera, it lets you create a ultra resolution photo at 52-megapixel while having automatic scene detection to produce ideal photos, the front facing 8-megapixel camera will be able to real time artistic blur portraits and live filters. In terms of specs, the UPulse features a rather modest Mediatek 1.3GHz quad-core processor mated to 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage, users can be entertained with its super bright 500 nits 5.5-inch HD IPS display and Wiko claims the phone to offer a premium and immersive sound experience, however having a 3000mAh battery isn’t something that attractive.

The Wiko UPulse will come with Android Nougat out of the box and the company has plans to bring this device to the Malaysian market, the phone costs 199 Euros (RM932), however expect prices to be lower when it reaches here.

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MWC 2017: ZTE launches two budget dual camera phones, the Blade V8 Mini & V8 Lite

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Dual cameras is indeed an ongoing trend from last year, and with that we see more and more smartphones sporting dual rear camera configurations, most notably Huawei and its sub brand Honor. Fellow Chinese manufacturer ZTE on the other hand has been busy making dual camera handsets that are affordable at the same time, and the company has announced yet another two devices that fit into that category – the Blade V8 Mini and V8 Lite.

For starters, the Blade V8 Mini, shown on the left in the image above, happens to be the more premium and powerful phone compared to the Blade V8 Lite. The Blade V8 Mini sports a 5-inch display on the front, an entry level Snapdragon 435 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, along with storage expansion via micro SD. The handset features dual 13MP rear cameras, ideal for taking beautiful bokeh shots and 3D photos. The selfie camera sounds rather mediocre on paper at 2 megapixels. The Blade V8 Mini packs a 2,800mAh battery.

The Blade V8 Lite isn’t any larger than the Blade V8 Mini, sporting very similar design elements as the latter. Form factor is nearly identical as well, with a 5-inch display. However, the Blade V8 Lite goes with a MediaTek MT6750 processor instead of a Qualcomm chip. Memory and storage remain the same at 2GB RAM and 16GB. The dual rear camera configuration has been slightly stripped down to 8MP sensors instead of the 13MP shooters on the V8 Mini. The selfie camera should fare better at 5 megapixels. The whole package will probably require lesser power as the Blade V8 Lite is fitted with a smaller 2,500mAh battery.

ZTE hasn’t revealed the prices and release dates for both devices but the company has indicated that Blade V8 Mini will be available across Asia Pacific and Europe while the Blade V8 Lite will be sold in Italy, Germany and Spain.

Source:
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MWC 2017: ZTE's Nubia introduces the N1 Lite

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While all eyes are on the premium smartphones at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the small time players shouldn’t be overlooked as well. ZTE’s subsidiary company Nubia has launched an entry level handset for those who just needs the basics of a mobile phone. Don’t worry, it is a smartphone. The Nubia N1 Lite is a lesser variant of the previously launched Nubia N1.

The Nubia N1 Lite sports a 5.5-inch display on the front with 2.5D glass. It is however not a Full HD display but rather just a HD display in 720p resolution. Underneath the hood, the phone is powered by an unspecified processor, but it is likely to be a MediaTek chip given the fact that the Nubia N1 carries one in it. Alongside the processor are 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

The Nubia N1 Lite features a “unipanel” on the back where the rear camera and the fingerprint sensor is located. The rear camera is of 8 megapixels with an f/2.0 aperture. The 5MP selfie camera on the front is surprisingly equipped with a dedicated flash, like the rear camera. Being an entry level device, the rear mounted fingerprint sensor is definitely an added bonus, with an unlock time of 0.3s.

The Nubia N1 Lite unfortunately will still be operating Android Marshmallow when it releases in March 2017. The phone will only head to a handful of countries – Germany, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Source:
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MWC 2018: Alcatel launches an Android Go phone

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While most of us are looking forward to new and powerful flagships in Mobile World Congress, Alcatel has launched its first Android Go phone and is simply called the 1X. The 1X is an entry-level phone that runs on Google’s optimized Android Oreo (Go Edition) for entry-level devices, and specs include a quad-core MediaTek processor paired to 1GB RAM, 16GB of storage and surprisingly, an 18:9 5.3-inch 960 x 480 display, which is definitely something new for its class. In addition, The Verge also reports that some models of the 1X will reportedly come with Alcatel’s “Face Key” facial recognition technology instead of a fingerprint sensor, which you shouldn’t expect it to work as sophisticated as Apple’s Face ID.

Phones on the Android Go program are supposedly optimized by Google for entry-level performance and similar to Android One devices, such phones will get software updates and security patches directly from Google. Such kind of devices are usually favored in countries such as India and certain European countries, therefore the Alcatel 1X will be available in both single and dual SIM variants, which will carry a price tag of €100 (RM482) and €110 (RM530) respectively. We’ll check out the phone when we get the chance, as we’ll be live over at MWC 2018 in the next few days.

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MWC 2018: Nokia 8110 to make its modernized classic return with 4G connectivity

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Last year, HMD Global surprised folks with the release of a modern classic Nokia 3310, and later in the afternoon here over at Barcelona, the company is reported to unveil the new Nokia 8110, also known as the ‘banana phone’ back in the old days, which comes with a curved candy bar form factor and a physical slider that hides away the keypad. More interestingly, the Nokia 8110 will also sport 4G connectivity and will retail for €79 (RM384) from May onwards, and like the Nokia 3310 4G variant, it runs YunOS with preinstalled social and chat apps.

Since the phone is released in MWC 2018, there is a high chance that the phone will actually make its way to the Malaysian market, if we were to assume HMD Global’s device release fashion. Last year, the Nokia 6 and Nokia 3310 made its official debut here after its release in MWC 2018, and if the Nokia 3310 4G is also unveiled here, we can probably expect two 4G feature phones to be sold in the Malaysian market in the near future.

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MWC 2019: Huawei’s Mate X delivers a foldable screen and 5G for almost RM10,000

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After Xiaomi, Huawei is the next company to unveil its 5G smartphone, and it isn’t just a mere upgrade of its existing handset, but an entirely new foldable device known as the Mate X, with a couple of firsts to boast and boo competitors.

Sporting a Falcon Wing Mechanical hinge design, the Mate X has a 6.6-inch dual display that can transform into an 8-inch tablet when unfolded, powered by the Kirin 980 SoC mated to 8GB RAM and 512GB of storage, it is the first device to feature the 7nm Balong 5000 multi-mode 5G modem chipset that is capable of delivering 4.6Gbps download speeds.

The Mate X also has a respectable 4500mAh powering all that hungry juice and it is the first Huawei device to sport Huawei’s 55W SuperCharge, which can charge the phone from 0% to 85% in a mere 30 minutes. In terms of cameras, the Mate X carries over the Mate 20 Pro’s Leica triple camera setup, the cameras are also used as the phone’s selfie camera, which is pretty convenient.

This is definitely way more impressive than the
Royole Flexpai
 that we have seen in CES this year, and unlike the former, it looks like Huawei is prepared to sell this in its official stores in mid-2019 for the price of €2290 (RM10,584), matching its closest rival, the Samsung Galaxy Fold.

Whether you are ready to splurge that money on a foldable phone, there is bound to be some compatibility issues with apps when it goes on sale, so let’s hope app developers are ready to embrace it.

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MWC 2019 Roundup – We look at best techs to surface this year

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The world’s largest mobile tech convention Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 had come and go; with it, the convention brought a slew of innovations – from design, experience, and hardware, several big names from across the world were there to bring forth their creations to the masses. Here, we gather the best products and announcements to surface during MWC 2019 that turned our heads.

Bending the rules

Image credit: Android Authority

Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room – foldable phones. Who says phones need to be straight and rigid? Huawei emerged the clear winner during MWC 2019 with the introduction of their Mate X foldable smartphone to rival Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. For the Mate X, Huawei won 31 awards at the convention.

The clear differences between the two devices are in the placement of the screens – The Samsung Galaxy Fold features screens that fold onto one another while the Huawei Mate X’s screen fold away. In other areas, the Galaxy Fold comes with a 7.3-inch screen and a 4.6-inch cover display; while the Huawei Mate X comes with one 8-inch screen that wraps around the outside of the phone.

One notable mention is the LG V50 ThinQ and its dual display which is a case that’s equipped with a second screen link to the smartphone. Although it’s not technically a foldable phone, it still offers the extra screen real estate you’d get with one. Chinese electronics makers TCL also showed off prototypes of their foldable devices – although not complete products yet, TCL could provide a more affordable alternative to the Mate X and Galaxy Fold in the future.

Mambo number 5

Image credit: Cnet

We all like it fast, especially when it comes to cellular connectivity. At MWC 2019, we got a glimpse of how mobile technology can get even faster than ever before – and that’s by way of 5G-enabled devices.

Qualcomm’s booth was all about 5G – they’ve announced their Snapdragon 855 chipset that’s combined with the Snapdragon X55 modem that allows devices to support multi-gigabit 5G.

Xiaomi also chimed in by introducing a refreshed version of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G. Its $700 (RM2,861) making it one of the affordable 5G-enabled smartphones to date. The LG V50 ThinQ also supports 5G connectivity but could be pricier than the Mi Mix 3 5G.

Meanwhile, Alcatel and OnePlus had also revealed prototypes of their very own 5G projects. OnePlus’ rendition takes an unfamiliarly elongated form factor, but was locked in a display so now one could actually hold the device.

Lasting longer

Image credit: TechRadar

They’ve only gone and done it – Energizer, the battery manufacturer, decided that it was okay to make a phone so large it could function as a brick, just to fit an 18,000mAh battery. Just, why?

Besides its massive build, the phone has a ridiculously absurd name too – the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop. Take your time to digest that information. This 6.2-inch phone comes equipped with a MediaTek Helio P70, 6GB RAM, 128GB ROM and comes with a triple-camera setup. Not too shabby specs wise.

With that mammoth battery, you’re supposedly able to get 90 hours of calls, 100 hours of music and standby. Besides that, the phone also doubles as a power bank.

TRYPOPHOBIA ALERT!

People who have an irrational fear of holes and clumped-up dots, look away now. While we’re on the topic of unnecessarily fitting too much of something into a smartphone, lets talks about one of the oddest products to come out of MWC 2019 – the Nokia 9 PureView.

The phone has five cameras – six if you count the ToF camera – and all lenses are 12MP f/1.8 Zeiss sensors. This means that the phone should perform well under low light situations.

With five cameras, the Nokia 9 PureView captures photographs in a different way – two lenses capture RGB while the other three captures monochrome. The technique along with the way each camera is positioned was co-engineered by Light, the company who produced the 16-lens Light L16 camera.

One can see where the Nokia 9 PureView camera takes inspiration from.

Size matters

Image credit: Geek.com

As the saying goes: “Big things come in small packages” – and that is particularly true here. SanDisk and Micron took the saying to heart during MWC 2019 by announcing two of the world’s first 1TB microSD cards.

SanDisk and Micron took to the stage to reveal their own take on a 1TB microSD card with the former producing the faster and more expensive version. SanDisk’s card is reportedly capable of 16MB/s read and 90MB/s write speeds. It’ll set you back $499 (RM2,033).

Meanwhile, Micron’s more humble offering is capable of 100MB/s read and 95MB/s write speeds. This card will cost you significantly less at $199.99 (RM813).

Both cards are A2 certified meaning they meet the required speeds for app installs, while the Micron’s chip design uses a quad-level cell NAND in 96 layers. Mobile devices are only able to support microSD cards of up to 512GB, so although a 1TB card wouldn’t be as useful now, it is still an important leap forward in storage innovation.

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MWC 2019: The Nokia 9 PureView reimagines photography with 5 cameras

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While HMD Global hasn’t jumped on the 5G bandwagon in MWC 2019, the company has finally claimed the crown of having the most cameras on a smartphone with the Nokia 9 PureView.

Well, it is technically 6 cameras if you include the ToF camera for depth information, all five cameras on the back are 12MP f/1.8 Zeiss sensors, two of them captures RGB, the other three captures monochrome, this is a technique co-developed with a company called Light, which you may remember the company for producing a point and shoot with lots of lenses to match the photography capabilities of a DSLR.

In terms of specs, a Snapdragon 845 SoC powers the phone’s performance and it is paired to 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, that can be disappointing for some but in typical fashion, the company isn’t really one that uses the latest chips in its phones. Furthermore, the phone’s 3320mAh battery is also rather questionable in modern times but it should technically last for a working day due to the phone’s clean software experience.

Having these five cameras onboard doesn’t mean you can switch between them, because once you press on the shutter button, all of them are activated, each of them capture different exposures and are combined into one single photo, hence aiming to deliver superb dynamic range and superior performance in low light.

Since the Nokia 9 PureView’s camera uses a different way of taking photos, the company has partnered with Google to ensure that the Google Photos app understands how the camera captures depth information, as the phone uses the Android One system and doesn’t use a third party gallery app. Sadly, the phone’s video recording resolution is limited to 4K 30fps, making its intention to the customer very clear that this is a photography centric device.

Five cameras and last year’s performance internals will cost you $699 (RM2848), it is a pretty reasonable asking price if you ask me for what it is capable of, but ultimately it depends on how badly you need a camera phone like this, and I’m pretty sure that this is going to be a niche device that won’t appeal to the average user.

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MWC 2019: Xiaomi refreshes Mi MIX 3 with Snapdragon 855 and 5G Connectivity

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As we are about to brace a flood of new smartphone releases, Xiaomi has taken the stage at MWC 2019 to refresh its Mi MIX 3 with a more powerful 7nm Snapdragon 855 chipset and support for 5G connectivity.

Xiaomi claims that the Mi MIX 3 5G is at least 45% faster than its pre-5G model, gaming performance is also improved by 20% all thanks to the new Adreno 640 GPU, the Snapdragon 855 also features Qualcomm’s 4th generation AI engine that is three times faster than the Snapdragon 845 AIE.
To ensure consistent performance on the Mi MIX 3 5G, Xiaomi has also added a highly advanced cooling system with the Rogers HeatSORB thermal material and a passive heatpipe that comprises six layers of graphite.

Apart from that, the Mi MIX 3 still has the same 12MP AI dual camera on the back and a 24MP+2MP selfie camera setup, alongside with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The Mi MIX 3 5G will be available in Onyx Black and Sapphire Blue color options, it will retail for €599 (RM2,768) in European markets and will be available for purchase starting May this year.

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MWC 2021: Lenovo launches Yoga Tab 13, Yoga Tab 11, and Yoga Tab P11 Plus

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Lenovo has just launched a series of Yoga Tab devices including the Yoga Tab 13, Tab 11, and Tab P11 Plus.

Yoga Tab 13 and Tab 11

The Tab 13 packs a 13-inch LTPS panel that pushes a 2160×1350 resolution; there’s also Dolby Vision supports and 400nits of peak brightness. The display is pared with four JBL-tuned speakers that’s built into an attached soundbar.

Under the hood is a powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset along with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. There’s a 10,000mAh battery that Lenovo claims can offer up to 12 hours of media playback. To charge the device is support for 30W of quickcharging.

The device comes with a kickstand that doubles as a hanger that affords you more hands-free options to view your content. The Yoga Tab 13 also supports the Lenovo Precision Pen 2, which is useful for artists and content creators.

The Tab 11 is a smaller 11-inch device that packs an LCD panel that pushes a 2000x1200p resolution. It also has the same set of JBL-tuned speakers as the Yoga Tab 13 too. Under the hood is a MediaTek Helio G90T chipset along with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. Like the Yoga Tab 13, this device also comes with the same kickstand and support for Lenovo’s Precision Pen 2.

The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 will be available in global markets this month and is priced at 799 Euros (about RM3,951) while the Yoga Tab 11 will be available this July, and is priced from 349 Euro (about RM1,725). The local availability and pricing has yet to be announced.

Lenovo Tab P11 Plus

If you’re looking to get something of a laptop experience, the Lenovo Tab P11 Plus supports the Lenovo Keyboard Pack, which is an optional addition if that’s what you’re gunning for.

The display is an 11-inch IPS 2000x1200p panel that supports NTSC 70% colour gamut. Under the hood is a MediaTek Helio G90T chipset and up to 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

The Tab P11 Plus is priced at RM1,799 and will be available in Malaysia this September. Visit Lenovo’s website
here
 to learn more about the products we’ve talked about in the article.