Beyerdynamic DX 120 iE Review

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Beyerdynamic needs no introduction as a audio company. They provide conference, stage, and recording gear, as well as famous flagship
headphones
 such as the DT 880 and T1.

The DX120 represents Beyer’s foray into the mainstream earphone segment, with a price tag of USD99, or MYR369. It still is a big premium over the typical MYR50 to MYR100 (or free!) earphone most consumers have, so we’re here to find out whether it’s worth the price tag.

Beyerdynamic DX 120 iE Specifications

Transducer Type
: Dynamic
Speaker Size
: 10 mm
Frequency Range
: 12–23,000 Hz
Normal impedance
: 47 Ohm
Sensitivity
: 107 dB
Cable length
: 1.2 m (0.3 m without extension)
Connector
: 3.5 mm jack plug.

Beyerdynamic DX 120 iE Packaging and Accessories

Beyerdynamic has put the DX120 into a nice little retail package. It comes in a sleek grey box that shows off the earphones in a front flap.

The inside of the packaging is spartan and functional, with black foam that holds and absorbs any shock the earphones might experience in transit. The accessories come in a plain white box.

The tactile and visual contrast of the dense black foam and smooth white box is definitely one that seems to say, “Hey these are professional earphones — well-packaged and no-nonsense.”

Seriously, it even comes with a manual to teach you how to change eartips. When’s the last time you’ve seen a manual for earphones?

What’s included:

Beyerdynamic DX 120 iE Earphones

Extension Cable

Cable clip

5 pairs of variously sized single-flanged silicon tip (1 attached to the earphone)

1 pair bi-flanged silicon tip

1 pair tri-flanged silicon tip

3.5mm male to 2 female audio splitter

Soft
carry bag

Earphone manual

Build Quality

The full-metal DX120 are adorned with shiny aluminium rings and matte black plastic to give off a really classy appearance. Despite being made of metal, the earphones are really light and helps a lot with comfort.

The main earphone port is covered with a metal mesh, which will keep out dirt with ease.

The different sides of the earphones are marked on the inside of the strain relief, and the right side has a small bump to help you find the right side in the dark.

The earphones are followed by a strain relief into the cables. The cables are flat and rubbery, which helps with microphonics and tangling. They do seem relatively thin at 2.5 mm, and as much as I trust Beyer’s quality, they do seem less assuring than say the Philips S2’s 4.5 mm flat cable.

The first part of the cables end at 0.3 m in a gold-plated
3.5mm connector
, which you can plug into the extension cable. If you wish to share music with someone else, you can plug the audio splitter first, then the extension cable beneath it as such:

Note: Using audio adapters to share music seems convenient. However, (1) your
music player
 or amplifier will have to drive two earphones instead of one; (2) if you are using 2 earphones which are different, they might have different volume levels due to sensitivity and impedance differences.

The extension cable is similarly flat and rubbery, and ends with a 45 degree gold plated 3.5mm plug.

Wearing the DX120 is really comfortable due to the light weight, small bullet-sized shape, and great silicon tips. There’s no soreness even after hours of listening and you simply forget they’re there.

Depending on the size and shape of your ears, they’re small enough to wear while sleeping without it pushing into your ears. So you can listen to Bach and sleep faster!

Overall the build quality is great as expected of Beyerdynamics. Though, as a earphone in the RM300–400 range, it’s build quality is pretty much on par with others like the Philips Fidelio S2, Hifiman RE-400, Shure SE-215.

The only thing missing is an
inline mic
 + control, which is kind of odd considering the lower end earphones from Beyerdynamics do have inline mics.

Isolation & Microphonics

In terms of isolating sound the DX120 does a fairly good job with the stock silicon eartips.

Without music, you can hear some speech and low frequency sounds. Most high frequency sounds are attenuated.

With music, chances are you won’t hear anyone speaking to you, and it will drown out that annoying train/bus noise.

Microphonics — sound due to bumping and rubbing the cable — is a minor issue, and the cable clip helps if you walk around while wearing the DX120. It would be amazing, and I can dream, that Beyer includes cloth/Kevlar cables like the Hifiman RE400/600 which absorbs microphonics superbly.

Sound Quality

One thing great about the Beyerdynamic DX120 is that they have a relatively high impedance at 47 Ohms, which improves
damping factor
 and reduces hiss. Yet, it can be played by any player out there, because it has a high sensitivity of 107dB/mW.

I listened to the Beyerdynamic DX120 through 3 different sources — Desktop to Fiio E17,
iPhone 6
, and Macbook Pro. As a whole, there isn’t much difference when playing the DX120 through 3 different sources, except for the limitations of the sources themselves. The Fiio E17 naturally sounds the best with plenty of power, separation, detail, and a clean background. The iPhone and Macbook Pro both seem to sound a tiny bit more congested and narrow due to their higher levels of distortion and crosstalk.

Thus, my impressions will be based off listening sessions on the Fiio E17.

My test playlist contains a mix of modern orchestral pieces, ballads, pop, jazz, house, power metal, rock, and acoustic pieces:

Sound Signature & Analysis

The overall sound signature is bassy and warm. It reminds me of the
Sony
 MH1C, but with lots more refinement.

The DX120’s bass extends audibly to about 16 Hz and peaks at about 43hz. It is full bodied and visceral. In orchestral pieces (Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy: Main Theme, Dvorak No. 9), you can feel the overtones and texture of bass strings and brass instruments. In pop, R&B, acoustic pieces (Why Don’t We Just Dance, Boyfriend, Her Morning Elegance, Sing), drums and percussive instruments bring about a groove that you’ll bop your head to. In electronic, powermetal, and house (Strobe, Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff, Three Hammers), the DX120 truly shines and I can get lost for hours in euphoric beats. A minor issue is that there’s a slight mid-bass bloat, which can blur out extremely fast percussion (Heroes of Our Time).

The DX120’s midrange is smooth and lush, with an emphasis on the lower midrange due to the enhanced bass. As a result, some male vocals will sound louder than female vocals, which tend to be highlighted in male-female duets (Prayer, Just Give Me a Reason). In songs where there are multiple instruments (Bean Fields), it sometimes also presents itself as slight congestion.

The DX120’s treble is clear and extends relatively well. It’s detailed for a warm and bassy earphone. It has a resonant peak at about 7.6khz and 12khz, which is pretty normal for earphones. There’s no sibilance to speak off, and decay for instruments such as cymbals, piano, strings seems slightly short, but I’m definitely nitpicking here.

In terms of presentation, the DX120 is coherent and well-imaged. You can pick out instruments if you listen intently, but it’s not particularly easy to do so. Listening to orchestras and acoustic performances (Hotel California) sound engaging and immersive, with a coherent center image. Very good, but not amazing.

In terms of overall balance, the DX120’s bass is the highlight of the show. While the midrange and treble are good, the balance of the DX120 is such that the bass and lower midrange are particularly emphasized, and also that’s where it’s strength lies.

Despite these minor issues, what’s great is that the DX120 sounds accurate and natural despite being bassy and warm. It’s common to have slight nasalness in vocals, twanging string instruments, or subdued clashes from cymbals in similarly sounding earphones (Fischer Eterna comes to mind), but it’s all well controlled in the DX120.

Gaming & Movies

The DX120 are good for general gaming and movies predominantly due to the amazing bass response.

I would recommend watching movies and playing games with 5.1 channel audio and using Razer’s Surround Pro to synthesize it to a 2.0 signal. It makes a huge difference in terms of soundstaging and the overall immersion of movies.

For games in particular the FPS genre, the DX120 has good enough imaging for you to point out the direction of footsteps and sounds. However, it’s not particularly accurate in terms of distance.

That said, enjoyment from the bass response will probably lead you to discovering simple pleasures such as shooting large caliber sniper rifles and tank shells into the air. Soon you’ll forget all the minor stuff like less-than-pinpoint-accurate imaging.

Overall, the Beyerdynamic DX120 iE is an enjoyable and musical earphone, while retaining detail and accuracy as much as possible. It’s well-built and sleek-looking. The accessories provided will fulfill needs of most people, except for the omitted
inline mic
 and controls.

If you have a budget of RM300–400, and if you are looking for a general all-use earphones, the DX 120 comes highly recommended.

This review is contributed to
KLGadgetGuy.com
 by Chia Wei, follow him at
https://medium.com/@chiawei


Beyond: Two Souls Releases on PS4 Next Week

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Story-driven gameplay has been one of the favorites lately and a few game developers are quite ambitious in producing really good ones such as Quantic Dream. Its PS3 titles, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, was already known to be released on PS4 too but as of now, we have a confirmed release date. The digital copy of Beyond will be released on PS4 on the 24th of November next week, coming out in the US first followed by Europe two days after. It will be priced at $29.99/€29.99/£24.99. Purchasing digitally also gives you access to a discounted version of Heavy Rain, which will be released on March 1st in the US, not being clear whether it will be available digitally elsewhere.

Quantic Dream has confirmed a physical bundle titled, The Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls Collection, arriving March 4th in the UK followed by rest of the Europe two days earlier. Pricing has not been announced yet.

You must be wondering what has been changed from the PS3 version? Sony has revealed an array of improvements for Beyond, having enhanced visuals with improved motion blur, bloom and depth of field. There will be even better lighting and shadows, also allowing players to replay the entire storyline in chronological order once they’ve finished the game. Those who have played the PS3 game will definitely look forward to this. Gameplay wise, Sony has promised improved controls, increased difficulty in combat sequences, even audio cues from the DualShock 4 controller’s speaker while you’re playing as the paranormal entity.

Though it might be minor additions for a game that was critically divisive when it was launched in 2013, but true fans or those who have missed it on the PS3 but own the PS4 would definitely look forward to this game. Heavy Rain has been staying tight-lipped about Heavy Rain but Beyond could definitely be the game you could occupy your time on while waiting.

SOURCE:
Engadget

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BFGoodrich now offers Malaysian driving enthusiasts with on-road and off-road tyres

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Ask any motoring enthusiasts and they can tell you that other than engine parts, tyres are just as important when it comes to performance. Knowing this, BFGoodrich, a well-known American brand of tyres, brings its range of on-road and off-road tyres to Malaysian drivers.

The new on-road BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Drive and T/A SUV tyres and the new off-road BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tyres, was made to offer vehicles the ability to drive through any number of different driving conditions to ensure you get to experience an exciting drive regardless of destination. What is the difference between all these new tyres? Well, for one, the new on-road BFGoodrich Advantage T/A range gives you a pleasant everyday ride with an equally reasonable price. These are developed with sedan and SUV drivers in mind as it is well-suited for city and urban driving.

If you’re into performance, BFGoodrich also offers something for you. The BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Drive and T/A SUV are tyres with proven performance, value and control in any weather or demanding road conditions.

According to Chandan Thakur, Managing Director of Michelin Malaysia, distributor of the BFGoodrich tyres in Malaysia, he mentioned that these tyres are dedicated to make your daily commute and weekend getaways an unconditional pleasure, especially with BFGoodrich demonstrating the innovative cutting edge that makes the company a well-recognised brand in the tyre industry.

How are the tyres different from the usual? The tyres respond to your every command thanks to enhanced symmetric tread design with rigid tread blocks and shoulder, as well as “jagged” grooves for an excellent handling and control, leading to an exciting and pleasurable drive. On top of that, the BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Drive and T/A SUV features large tread block with deep wide longitudinal, latitudinal grooves and sipes to ensure great braking in both wet and dry road conditions.

If you’re into off-roading, BFGoodrich has something for you. The BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 is designed to deliver exceptional toughness, tread life and traction for traversing the harshest conditions, including gravel, dirt, rock and mud. It is also durable, lasting twice as long on gravel roads and 15 percent longer on asphalt, allowing off-road enthusiasts to extend their adventures and working professionals to get more use out of the tyre.

BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Drive and T/A SUV tyres are available in Malaysia in popular sizes from 13 to 18 inches starting from March 2016. While the BFGoodrich All -Terrain T/A KO2 tyre are already available since January 2016 in sizes 15 to 18 inches.


Big battery Huawei Y7 Prime set to make Malaysian debut on July 7

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Huawei’s phones have been never less than impressive lately. The company’s Huawei Mate 9, Huawei P10 and Nova series of smartphones have shown us that Huawei isn’t toying around by any means. The Chinese manufacturer is now bringing one of its latest mid range offerings to Malaysian shores – the Huawei Y7 Prime.

The Huawei Y7 Prime features a sand blasted metal design body. Like most Huawei handsets, materials weren’t compromised. The display however, is a sub par 720p display measuring at 5.5-inches, falling short of the standard 1080p Full HD resolution. Underneath the hood, the Huawei Y7 Prime is powered by a Snapdragon 435 processor and 3GB of RAM. Storage comes in at 32GB, expandable up to another 128GB via the micro SD slot.

The camera department of the Huawei Y7 Prime features a 12MP rear shooter, sporting 1.25µm pixels. The selfie camera is of 8 megapixels, more than sufficient for standard selfie shots, equipped with an f/2.0 aperture. The phone packs a large 4,000mAh battery, which is claimed to offer up to a full day of use. It will run Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 out of the box.

The Huawei Y7 Prime will launch in Malaysia on July 7, with a price tag of RM999. The phone will be available in Gold and Black color options. What are your thoughts on the Huawei Y7 Prime’s battery size?

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Bike-hailing services, Gojek and Dego Ride to operate in small scale from January 2020 within Klang Valley

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It was just two months back when we’ve heard news of bike-hailing app Gojek coming to Malaysia. Now, Malaysia’ transport minister has announced that bike-hailing services such as Gojek and Dego Ride will be allowed to start their operations next year.

Both companies will be able to operate from January 2020 onwards in a small-scale limited to Klang Valley, where the service will be evaluated over six months to determine its demand in the market.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook also

said that the government will be drafting legislation to regulate bike-hailing in the nation and that it should be similar to the regulations that are made for e-hailing services.

Of all the e-hailing services, Gojek’s greatest competitor should be Grab which has been growing rapidly within the recent years. However, Grab has recently faced a declination in ride-hailing drivers due to the implementation of the new PSV policy that requires its drivers to apply for certain licenses, permits and insurance.

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Bike-sharing company Mobike, has arrived in Malaysia

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The world’s largest smart bike-sharing company has just announced that it will be launching its dockless bike-sharing service in Shah Alam to provide a more affordable and convenient mobility solution to the residents. Mobike started their services in Thailand last month and has been growing rapidly in Singapore since March of this year.

The bikes are equipped with high-tech features that benefit both users and partner cities. All the bikes are equipped with a unique smart-lock and built-in GPS connected to the Mobike IoT network. This allows the company to track the location and monitor the health of the bikes, the data collected is also analyzed by Mobike’s Magic Cube AI platform which can help city planners and managers leverage the insight for a smarter and more optimized operations and infrastructure, something no other bike sharing company provides.

To use the service, riders will have to register with a one-time fully-refundable deposit of RM9 as a promotional rate, after the end of the promotion, the price will return back to its original price of RM99. In addition to that, they are also offering free rides through out the month of September and will charge only RM1.50 for 30 minutes after September. The Mobike app is now available for download in the
Play Store
 and
App Store
 with a localized Bahasa Malaysia version coming out at the end of the year.

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Bill Gates currently uses an Android smartphone

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Bill Gates isn’t only the richest person on planet Earth right now, but is also the founder and CEO of Microsoft, whose operating system Windows is the most popular and widely used operating system on PC’s. Windows Phone seems likely to be a lost cause, and Bill Gates has also switched to using an Android smartphone according to a recent interview with Fox News.

https://www.facebook.com/FoxNewsSunday/videos/vb.10674237167/10154239536227168/?type=2&theater

Gates has highlighted that he currently uses and Android handset that has a ton of Microsoft apps in it, which is likely the Microsoft Edition Galaxy S8. Yes, Microsoft is selling its own version of the Galaxy S8 that comes bundled with the essential Microsoft apps such as Skype and OneNote, but still runs on Android.

In the interview, Gates has also opened up about his relationship with the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. He mentioned that they were good friends and also labeled Jobs as a genius, but will still not be switching over to the iPhone or use any other Apple products for the foreseeable future.

Looks like it’s all Microsoft Windows PC’s for Bill Gates, with the exception of a Microsoft Edition Android smartphone. What do you think Gates has against Apple?

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Bioshock: The Collection announced; will include remastered versions of Bioshock and Bioshock 2

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If you’ve missed out on playing Bioshock the first time around, you’ll be getting another chance to do so as 2K has just announced that a complete bundle of the Bioshock series will be available on the 13th of September.

Titled Bioshock: The Collection, this bundle will feature the original Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite, and all of the DLCs that comes with it. While Bioshock Infinite will be bundled as is, both the original Bioshock and Bioshock 2 will be remastered. The one thing that won’t be returning with the bundle, is the multiplayer section for Bioshock 2.

The bundle will be priced at USD 59.99 and will be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. For PC users, should you already own Bioshock, Bioshock 2 and/or Minerva’s Den, you’ll be able to get the remastered edition for free. Meanwhile, the console versions of the game will be running in 1080p at 60FPS.

Source:
Polygon

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BIOSTAR announces its own Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

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Eyeing Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card but you don’t know which model to get? Well, BIOSTAR now has its offering as its GeForce GTX 1050 Ti comes with dual-cooling.

Officially called the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, this graphics card features 4GB of GDDR5 memory with a core clock rate of 1290MHz and a boost clock rate of 1392MHz on a 128-bit but. The graphics card itself is based on Nvidia’s 16nm FinFET Pascal architecture and comes with 768 CUDA cores.

Besides the standard specifications of the 1050 Ti, BIOSTAR has equipped this card with its own Tank Dual Fan Cooler to keep the card running at optimal temperatures while keeping noise levels to a minimum. Continuing with the tank motif, those who purchase the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1050 Ti will receive an bonus in-game code for World of Tanks that can be redeemed for special in-game items.

The BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1050 Ti has a MSRP of USD159 (RM712).

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BIOSTAR announces its own variant of the GeForce GTX 1070 at $449

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BIOSTAR has announced the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070. Designed to offer an excellent balance of performance and price, consumers can now experience the latest generation of PC game titles and virtual reality experiences with the GeForce GTX 1070. BIOSTAR takes gaming to the next level once again with price, performance and efficiency that is significantly superior than the previous generation graphics cards with the all-new Pascal GPU architecture fabricated on the new 16nm FinFET process technology.

The BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070 features the Pascal-based, high-efficiency GP104 GPU with a total of 1920 CUDA cores capable of running with a Boost core clock of 1683Mhz and base core clock of 1506Mhz. With GPU Boost 3.0, the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070 can run up to and above 1683Mhz and features 8GB of GDDR5 video memory wired to a wide 256-bit bus interface.

In addition, the GPU offers the best balance of performance in price for high-end gaming applications. It allows gamers to enjoy this year’s best gaming title as well as incoming ones with stunning details together smooth performance and visual fidelity. Virtual reality applications are now more accessible with the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070 and its capability to support virtual reality experiences with compatible headset with over three times the performance its last-generation counter-part and an overall 1.4x performance increase over last-gen in games performance.

The card features NVIDIA’s gamer-inspired cooler that keeps the BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card running at optimal temperatures while keeping it whisper quiet for maximum immersion in your games. The GTX 1070 has a rated TDP of only 150W while still delivering three times the performance of last-generation graphics cards.

The BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 1070 will have an MSRP of
USD449.99

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BIOSTAR B150S1 D4 Review: motherboard for the starters

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Building a Skylake rig isn’t really affordable when it comes to choosing a motherboard, the Z170 chipset motherboards have great features however they cost almost four thirds of a Skylake processor price, so the question here we need to ask ourselves is, do we really need all of those features? If the answer is no and compromises can be made, take a look at mainstream motherboards like the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B150S1 D4 we have here in the labs, it runs on Intel’s B150 chipset and it is one that provides the most essential features you will require for a good computing experience without paying more for the bells and whistles you may not need.

Packaging

This motherboard has a rather attractive box despite being a mainstream product, even without opening the box, you can already see the features of the motherboard at the back.

BIOSTAR has provided two SATA cables, an I/O shield, a DVD that contains the motherboard’s drivers and software, and a quick installation guide, very standard set of stuffs you would expect from a PC motherboard

The Motherboard

I’m probably a person that have seen way too many high end motherboards, hence I’m glad that BIOSTAR has opted for a black-copper color PCB that doesn’t make it look cheap. The B150S1 D4 has some nice features here, such as a Super LAN Surge Protection that protects the LAN port from frying should there be lightning strikes. Even though this is a Hi-Fi series product, the motherboard doesn’t feature solid audio capacitors as described in the product page, but thankfully the Realtek ALC887 is a rather decent audio chip that produces 192KHz/24-bit audio.

BIOSTAR has provided separate PS/2 inputs for a keyboard and mouse, an unnecessary but still useful set of ports if you are still onto peripherals that uses them. There’s four USB 3.0 ports which should be sufficient for you to connect a couple of high speed storage,  I’m actually rather disappointed at the absence of a HDMI port, although it is still nice to have  a DVI and VGA port, BIOSTAR could have easily just replace one of the display outputs with a HDMI port. Since this is a Intel B150 motherboard, don’t expect a USB-C port on it.

The B150S1 D4 supports up to 4 SATA 6GB/s storage devices, they are fortunately not mixed up together and positioned at different locations of the motherboard, which makes cable arrangements easier.

Two DDR4 RAM slots are available and it supports up to maximum 32GB of RAM that makes up of two pieces of 16GB RAM. Due to the Intel B150 chipset, DDR4 RAM frequency is limited at 2133MHz.

I was able to install the GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition onto the motherboard without any issues, while it blocks away one PCI-E 1x slot, the second slot is still available for installing a PCI-E SSD if you ever want to.

BIOS

The B150S1 D4 runs on AMI BIOS, it takes a while to boot up and takes around 7 seconds or so to reach the Windows loading screen. The BIOS interface looks pretty simple, sporting a blue and red theme that represents BIOSTAR’s color scheme, the motherboard’s features can be easily found and takes very little effort to learn if you are familiar with AMI BIOS.

Most Intel B150 motherboards do not feature CPU overclocking features but surprisingly, the B150S1 D4’s BIOS has BIOSTAR’s O.N.E  overclocking feature, it sure looks promising on picture but I can’t even increase the CPU’s multiplier and clock speed despite having installed a K unlocked processor, so I’ll just assume that the feature is just there for the sake of being there.

Test Bench Setup

Motherboard: BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B150S1 D4 6.0

Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K

CPUCooler: Arctic Freezer i32

RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB x 2

Storage: Apacer AS720 240GB SSD, Western Digital Blue 1TB

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition

Power Supply: Cooler Master G750M

Chassis: Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro with Anniversary Update

Benchmarks

In this section, we perform our motherboard benchmarks with AIDA64, 7-Zip, PCMark 8, Geekbench 3 and CineBench R15.0, which we think is sufficient to justify the performance of a motherboard.

AIDA 64

7-Zip x64 15.14

PCMark 8

GeekBench 3

CineBench R15.0

System Temperature

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BIOSTAR introduces a motherboard with a built-in processor

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If you find that looking for the right components for your setup is tedious and hard work, well BIOSTAR has just solved half of your problem by introducing a chip-on-board solution that provides you a motherboard with a pre-installed processor for your convenience, providing you a home-entertainment or office PC that is low-powered and has a small footprint while keeping the excellent performance with the introduction of the BIOSTAR A68N-5600.

The motherboard features a built-in AMD A10-4655M quad-core processor capable of clocks speed up to 2.8GHz and a base clock of 2GHz. The motherboard also supports DDR3-1333MHz memory for up to 32GB of RAM and comes in a compact mini-ITX form factor. The company has also made the effort to fit the motherboard with the latest needs by support HD Audio for music and movie consumption and supports DirectX11.1 for 3D applications.

 On the back, there is a PS/2 connector for legacy support, two USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, 1Gbps LAN port, HDMI, and VGA ports supporting up to 1920×1200 resolution and multichannel audio that supports 7.1 channels for surround sound entertainment

The BIOSTAR A68N-5600 will retail for $64.99. For more information on this product and other BIOSTAR products, visit the official product page
here
.

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BIOSTAR introduces the first and only Mini-ITX motherboards for Ryzen

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Biostar has announced the latest addition to their line of mini-ITX family of motherboards, with the introduction of the world’s first mini-ITX motherboards for AMD AM4 platform and the first mini-ITX RGB LED-capable motherboards with AMD X370 and AMD B350 chipsets. Giving a good balance of form and function, the company welcomes the BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN mini-ITX motherboards into the RACING Series family. Both motherboards comes with BIOSTAR 2nd-gen RACING and features like 5050 LED Fun Zone with dual 505 LED header for DIY customization as well as BIOSTAR exclusive VIVID LED DJ with full RGB LED control which allows enthusiast to design their own lighting with precise control.

Both BIOSTAR RACING line motherboards come equipped with Realtek Dragon LAN ethernet solution, with built-in BIOSTAR LAN surge protection. Together with FLY.NET, which can automatically detect the best settings for your bandwidth by prioritizing applications that need it, increase performance and experience when it comes to gaming. BIOSTAR has also partnered with World of Tanks giving you exclusive invite codes for premium gift packs for World of Tanks Asia server players when purchasing these motherboards.

Both motherboards feature four USB3.0 ports, two USB3.1 Gen2 ports with traditional Type-A and Type-C ports. It also comes with legacy support by adding a PS2 port, supporting older devices and multimedia output including HDMI and DVI as well as SPDIF and 5 audio output ports for multi-channel speakers. On the board itself, it has two DDR4 DIMM memory slots supporting up to 32GB of memory, with speeds of 3200MHz to 1866MHz and four SATA3 connector.

The BIOSTAR RACING x370GTN and the RACING B350GTN comes with a MSRP of $129 (RM566.57) and $109 (RM478.73) respectively. A full breakdown of the specifications for both the motherboards can be found at BIOSTAR official website:

BIOSTAR RACING x370GTN:
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=879

BIOSTAR RACING B350GTN:
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=878

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BIOSTAR introduces the Hi-Fi Z97Z7 mainboard, powerful yet affordable

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BIOSTAR’s mainboard isn’t just about ITX mainboards, while missing quite a while already in Malaysia, the Taiwanese mainboard company announced one of its most powerful yet affordable gaming mainboard. The Hi-Fi Z97Z7 ATX mainboard is based on the Intel Z97 chipset and comes with features such as a PCI-Express 3.0×16 slot, , PCIe M.2 support, and BIOSTAR exclusive Super Hi-Fi Audio technology.

The Hi-Fi Z97Z7 supports socket 1150 Intel processors, featuring 100% full solid capacitors onboard, 4 memory slots for accepting up to 32GB of DDR3-2800 (OC) RAMs, onboard HDMI port supporting 4K2K displays, SATA Express Connector which supports both SATA and PCIe storage solutions giving maximum data transfer speed of up to 10Gb/s.

Being a gaming motherboard, the Hi-Fi Z97Z7 obviously comes with great overclocking capabilities with its 8-phase power design and great audio quality with its gold plated Super Hi-Fi Audio Connectors delivering optimum signal and less oxidation. It also features feature the new Super Durable Ferrite Choke which brings the benefits of higher current capacity, lower energy loss and better power stability to the electric current running on the board. In addition to that is the Super Conductive Heatsink Design which is a massive heatsink which provides super fast heat dissipation, high stability and reliability for extreme performance.

The BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z97Z7 will retail at a MSRP of USD$119 (around RM384), which is pretty affordable for such a fully featured and powerful gaming mainboard.


BIOSTAR introduces the New G330 Series SSD for power users and modders

350

BIOSTAR is back yet again with the release of their new G330 series SSD, which BIOSTAR claims to perform 10% faster than its predecessor the G300. the G330 will utilise Micron 3D TLC DRAM cache and will come with storage space up to 512GB. The company is targeting modders and power users looking to upgrade their system for better response time and increased battery life on their mobile systems.

With having gamers in mind, BIOSTAR has developed this SSD to stand temperatures of up to 70 degrees celsius giving less worry to users that run hot gaming systems. The SSD comes with a patented non-screw housing design which can prevent damages from ESD and protect your data during maintenance, it also comes with a 3-year warranty to ensure full all-round protection. The SSD comes with a slim and premium design, measuring at only 6.8mm which will fit most PC or laptops maintaining your systems’ small form factor. In addition, the G330 comes with laser-precision, metallic, curved case with premium aluminium surface offering good cooling and great design to your system, BIOSTAR also boast read speeds up to 565MB/s and write speeds up to 515MB/s and thanks to the new generation SMI SM2258 controller and Micron 3D TLC, the G330 is capable of this performance at an affordable price.

The G330 will come in 3 variants in a form of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB with a slight difference in read and write speeds shown below:

G330-128
 Price – $59 (RM255.28)
 Read speed – 560MB/s
 Write speed – 500Mb/s

G330-256
 Price – $99 (RM428.35)
 Read speed – 565MB/s
 Write speed – 515Mb/s

G330-512
 Price – $169 (RM731.23)
 Read speed – 565MB/s
 Write speed – 515Mb/s

For more information on the SSD and any other BIOSTAR products, check out their website
here

biostar
g330
ssd


BIOSTAR released GeForce GTX 950

318

BIOSTAR announces its latest graphics card designed to tackle the needs of gamers with competitive performance – BIOSTAR GeForce GTX 950. The new graphics card features 2GB of GDDR5 memory, with 768 CUDA cores, and support for NVIDIA PhysX and DSR Technology. Now you can game in silence with the Low noise output via its heat pipe cooling design, and be prepared for the latest titles with its complete DirectX 12 support.

The company features NVIDIA’s 2nd-generation Maxwell GPU which boasts highly-improved performance-per-watt versus other cards. With performance intended for 1080p gamers, the GTX 950 is the perfect lightweight card for MOBA games featuring various optimizations to improve your gaming experience while delivering the best performance-per-watt that only the latest-generation Maxwell GPU can offer. This card brings stunning visuals with support for up four monitors; dual-DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI supported.

Its features are complimented by a full-array of NVIDIA-exclusive features like GeForce Experience, Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), Multi-Frame SuperSampling, native PhysX acceleration and other visual improvements is supported for DirectX 12.

biostar
geforce
gpu
graphicscard
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nvidia
pcmasterrace
physx


BIOSTAR releases Hi-Fi H170S3H

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BIOSTAR has recently released its latest motherboard designed for Intel 6th Generation processor, which offers a packed array of features perfect for gaming and entertainment. The BIOSTAR Hi-Fi H1703H features Hi-Fi Audio, Hi-Fi Power, and 3D Hi-Fi to fully maximize your listening experience. The company includes native support for PCI-E M.2 that allows you to arm yourself with high-speed M.2 storage and choosing H170 gets you more USB3.0 ports along with native PCI-E RAID0 and RAID1 support. The board also supports DDR3 memory so users no need change DIMMs when you upgrade your PC.

The motherboard comes with an optional power design with MOSFET cooling for sturdier power delivery to the CPU to enhance performance, coupled with Crossfire support with 2x PCI-E x16 slots gives you more flexibility in upgrading later on with another GPU. The board also supports onboard dual-HDMI, with both being 4K-ready. Besides that, the company includes a Charger Booster II which will power up your smartphones and tablets quickly.

The new BIOSTAR Hi-Fi H170S3H will be the price at approximately USD 84.90, which will be catered for new system builders and budget gamers who want to jump in the Skylake platform without spending for a complete system overhaul. One of the benefits from this new motherboard is that you are able to use your older DDR3 modules and plug in another graphics card for more gaming horsepower.

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BIOSTAR Releases Hi-Fi H170Z3 Mobo with both DDR4 and DDR3

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Biostar release a new motherboard that support both DDR3 and DDR4 to show its commitment to innovation and development that based on Intel’s H170 chipset which is a single chip design that supports Intel 6th generation socket 1151 Intel core processors. With the Intel H170 chipset, the Hi-Fi H170Z3 also has the iGPU function enabled, letting users enjoy the latest Intel integrated graphics performance.

The Biostar motherboard offers a built-in Puro Hi-Fi technology with an integrated independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier. The technology utilizes audio components with an independent power delivery design for a significant reduction in electronic noise producing superb sound quality.

For connectivity, the Hi-Fi H170Z3 supports USB 3.0, PCIe M.2 (32Gb/s), SATA Express (16Gb/s) and 4K monitors for triple display configurations. Besides that, Biostar include Smart Speed LAN which is a free software application that monitors and manages your PC’s network behaviour with user-friendly GUI to allows you to select and prioritize different types of networking traffic including gaming, media streaming, communications, or web surfing.

The board also adopts X.D.C (eXtreme Durable Capacitors) which are quality solid capacitors to help make sure the board remains rock solid and stable. These are low ESR and high ripple conductive solid state capacitors that provide a stable power supply to the CPU to extend the life span more 6.25 times than ordinary liquid caps.

The Biostar Hi-Fi H170Z3 will be priced at USD 104.99 (approx. RM 455).

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h170
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BIOSTAR releases more Z170 Motherboards

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BIOSTAR is one of the leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards is proud to announce the release of its top-end Gaming Z170 series, the Gaming Z170X. Based on Intel’s next-gen Skylake processors, this ATX form factor sports a 2Gbe LAN capability and features on-board USB 3.0 with dual front and back connectors for convenient use. Besides that, it has backward compatible USB 3.1 doubles the data transfer rate from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps, making transferring your favorite games, music and movies even faster.

Apparently, the Gaming Z170 X/W also features the Touch OC and it’s exclusively developed by BIOSTAR allowing overclockers to enjoy the best performance from their system with a touch of a finger. Moreover, the board also features Super Hi-Fi Audio with 30 uF ‘Golden’ plated audio connectors providing excellent signal conductivity and less oxidation for a crisp and clear sound and it’s perfect for those looking for a studio-grade music experience.

For connectivity, the Gaming Z170 X/W comes with SATA Express 16 Gb/s with speeds up to 16 Gb/s meeting SATA specifications that have ultra-speed data transfer ability. The Gaming Z170 X/W also has PCIe M.2 32 Gb/s which is 3 times faster compared to PCIe M.2 10 Gb/s. The BIOSTAR Gaming Z170 is a refinement in motherboard technology created for the gamer and is an example of BIOSTAR’s continuous effort in developing new features to take the gaming experience to the next level.

The BIOSTAR Gaming Z170X pricing and availability will unveils soon, stay tuned for further updates.

biostar
intel
pcmasterrace
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BIOSTAR releases the RACING B150GT5 motherboard

272

Custom PC builders take note, BIOSTAR has released its newest entry into the company’s RACING series of motherboards, the B150GT5.

Sporting the Vivid LED DJ feature, the RACING B150GT5 features customizable lighting on its heatsinks and PCB via the included Vivid LED DJ software. This software works with both onboard and external LEDs connected directly on the board via the 5050 LED Fun feature.

LIghting aside, the B150GT5 is a motherboard that supports LGA 1151 processors, It features a PS/2 port as well as USB 2.0 ports for gaming peripherals. For display, the B150GT5 comes with VGA, DVI and HDMI output. Four USB 3.0 ports are available at the rear I/O together with a LAN port powered by an Intel i219V LAN for superiod stability. The motherboard features Hi-Fi 7.1 channel audio is provided by six audio jacks.

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BIOSTAR TA970 Plus: AMD Socket AM3+ Motherboard

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The TA970 Plus is a full-sized ATX motherboard that was revealed by BIOSTAR today, enhanced with AMD OverDrive and Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC). This board supports AM3+ processors from AMD such as the AMD FX, AMD Phenom II, AMD Athlon II and the AMD Sempron (Maximum TDP going up to 140 Watts). With it’s ability to support Dual Channel DDR3 2133MHz when overclocked and can support up to 64GB of memory 4-DIMM configuration.

Taking a look at what expansions slots we have on the BIOSTAR TA970 Plus; It comes with 2 PCI-E x16 slots (PEX16_1, PEX16_2) in x16-mode on the first slot and x4-mode on the second slot for AMD CrossfireX compatibility — however at those modes, I would not recommend CrossfireX –, 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots and 2 PCI slots. For Storage solutions we see 5 SATA3 (6Gb/s) connections (1 in the middle and 4 at the bottom. Weirdly, facing different directions) and 1 mSATA connector. The SATA3 configuration supports RAID0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID10. We also see what looks like a piano keys-styled heat sink over the MOSFETS and the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi badge and module below the CPU socket.

On the rear I/O, we have our P/S2 connectors, 6 USB2.0 ports, 2 USB3.0 ports, the RJ-45 port for LAN and the 6-input audio connectors. The codec used on this motherboard is the Realtek ALC892 which supports BIOSTAR Hi-Fi for audio and the Realtek RTL8111GR for LAN. Some extra features include the ACC which allows power users and enthusiasts to precisely calibrate clock timing between the processor and the RAM Chips. The board also comes with BIOSTAR’s exclusive BIO-Remote II, Smart Speed Lan and PURO Hi-Fi (192KHz/24-bit) — which is designed with a built-in amplifier for your multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones.

This looks like a promising entry-level AMD board for anyone thinking about picking up overclocking with AMD chips which also supports some insane DDR3 memory speeds but may be a little dated, given that DDR4 memory sticks are available (at pretty steep prices). If you’re looking for a cheap solution for building a gaming rig, this may be it. But, for future proofing, it’ll be better to look at motherboards that have DDR4 support.

For more information, visit the manufacturer’s page
here
.


BIOSTAR's A320 PRO Series motherboards costs $59 in a Ryzen PC setup

349

As AMD unveils its
Ryzen 5 processors
, BIOSTAR has also unveiled two A320 PRO Series motherboards that is based on the AMD A320 chipset, the PRO series motherboards has always been focused on reliability and stability while offering top of the line performance without breaking the bank. The 2nd Generation PRO Series motherboard now packs improved performance, an enhanced power design that ensures durability in the long term, the board’s integrity has also improved with a reinformced CPU backplate that avoids deformation caused by large coolers, the A320 PRO series motherboards also comes with a Nano Carbon Coating Heatsink that improves overall cooling effect compared to traditional aluminium-extruded heatsink.

In other features, the A320 PRO Series motherboards have two DDR4 RAM slots that supports up to 32GB of RAM running at 2667MHz for Ryzen CPUs, you also get to have display outputs on the motherboard for current AMD APUs. As for the PCI-Ex16 slot, it is good to note that it will only run at 8X when it is paired with a AMD APU and NPU, and there’s two PCI-Ex1 slots and four SATA3 connectors. Both the A320MH PRO and A320MD PRO comes in a Micro ATX form factor, with only differences in display output ports, they are priced affordably at US$59 (MYR260), which makes it a rather affordable option if you don’t intend to do features like overclocking and merely want a high performance computing solution.

For more details, head over to
Biostar’s
 page.

a320
amd
biostar
ryzen5


Bitcoin value drops as hackers manage to steal USD77 million worth of Bitcoins

353

Bitcoin, the highly volatile cryptocurrency, has lost roughly 20% of its value as almost 120,000 Bitcoins were stolen by hackers from Bitfinex, one of the bigger Bitcoin exchanges in the world.

According to the Hong Kong-based exchange, the hack/heist was first discovered late Tuesday and the exchange has since suspended all transactions. Zane Tackett, director of community at Bitfinex, has mentioned that a total of 119,756 bitcoins were stolen. With Bitcoins having an average value of USD650 per coin at the time of the theft, this would mean that the hackers have managed to get away with USD77 million in Bitcoins.

Immediately after Bitfinex went public with the announcement that Bitcoins were stolen from their exchange, the value of Bitcoins sharply declined. While the Bitcoin is slowly regaining its value, sitting at USD600 at the time of writing, the initial announcement did led to the Bitcoin dropping from USD650 per coin, to roughly USD480 per coin.

Bitfinex has since stated that they are working with law enforcement to investigate the theft and will be resuming operations shortly. “We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their Bitcoins stolen. We are undertaking a revieew to determine which users have been affected by the breach,” says the company on its
website
.

Source:
Bitfinex
,
Ars Technica

bitcoin
bitfinex
hackers
hacking


BitCoin value plummets to a record low since 2019 due to the COVID-19 outbreak

379

If things aren’t bad enough as it is,
BitCoin
 – the most widely-used cryptocurrency to date – has taken a massive tumble in value in just a single day due to the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

BitCoin
 currently sits at RM19,853 per coin – a far cry from its peak this year of RM43,000. According to a report by The Independent, investors are selling out their shares in
BitCoin
 to take back liquidity in an attempt to brace for the worse, should the virus continue to spread rapidly.

Image credit: Coin Desk

Currently, these investors feel like it’s more worth their money to buy gold and just have cash in hand, rather than cryptocurrencies.

This comes after the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health
Organisation
 – signifying the increasing threat of the virus outbreak.

It also isn’t helping the economy that the oil price war is still raging on as Saudi Arabia plans to increase the maximum output of oil produce by state-owned Saudi Aramco, which will crash oil prices.

These are devastating times; but there is hope in a speedy recovery as more patients are reportedly cured from the virus, and vaccine development reaching its testing phases.

bitcoin
covid 19
cryptocurrency
economy
eretheum
oil price war
pandemic
recession
vaccine
who


BitFenix Announces Alchemy 2.0 LED Strips

334

The alchemy 2.0 LED strips now make it easier than ever to illuminate your system thanks to the powerful magnets embedded directly into the LED strip substrate. It just requires a minute to open your
case
, connect the alchemy strip to your PSU and attach it to your
case
. Besides that, the alchemy 2.0 magnetic LED strips are based on the same TriBright 5050 SMD LED modules used in the original alchemy LED strip lineup.

BitFenix claims that they found out there are a lot of demand for the green LED strips to match the NEON yellow-green on the high – end VGAs. Apart from that, BitFenix provides the easiest cable routing the 4pin component power cable that features a pass-through connector and is daisy-chain cable that capable reach a length of 50 cm. Thanks to the flexible PCB carrier Alchemy 2.0 magnetic LED strips attach to uneven or round steel parts and can be installed around 90 degree angle reaching from the front of the
case
, to the bottom and then rear.

The BitFenix Alchemy 2.0 LED Strips will come in colors of red, blue, green, and purple. Now with the help of high transparency Polyurethane substrate will allow you to attach Alchemy 2.0 magnetic LED strips to any steel part of your
case
, radiator shrouds, power supply cover and etc.

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led
modding
pcmasterrace


BitFenix Releases Pandora ATX Chassis

382

The BitFenix case family is expanding with the launch of the new Pandora ATX. As the name suggests, it is an ATX version of the already launched Pandora. The team combines high-class aesthetics with supreme functionality in a compact form factor and the same much-loved unique styling, but combines it with housing capabilities for full-sized ATX motherboards and one 360mm radiator, to form a versatile base for any DIY projects.

Pandora ATX initially launches exclusively in black, with two versions available – Pandora ATX and Pandora ATX Core. The former is equipped with the 2.8-inch ICON LCD display in the front, allowing for an added personalized touch of the front fascia and it’s achieved by an easy-to-use drag-and-drop software solution, with the display itself connected by a USB header to the motherboard.

The casing has a separate bottom chamber for the PSU and HDDs at the bottom. This allows users to have more space for exposure of hardware for modding projects, improves case rigidity and shields HDD and PSU noise. In cooling performance, the case features a built-in 1x140mm (front) and 1x120mm (rear) fans. But when it comes to water cooling builds, it supports up to 360mm radiator on top or front, and with dedicated brackets and supports for pump and reservoirs, it makes for a truly dexterous base for any water cooling project.

Besides that, the Pandora ATX comes with support for up to 440mm long graphics cards, 4x 2.5-inch SDDs and 4x 3.5-inch HDDs. Maximum PSU length is 220 mm while CPU cooler height is a maximum of 160 mm.

atx
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watercooling


BitTorrent introduces BitTorrent Live video streaming platform

303

BitTorrent is bringing its peer-to-peer technology to the video streaming market as the folks responsible for one of the biggest torrent client in the world is debuting their own video streaming platform called BitTorrent Live.

Available as a TV, mobile or desktop app, BitTorrent Live is a video streaming service that utilises peer-to-peer technology to deliver livestreams of sports matches, news and other types of programming. As the service relies on peer-to-peer, the video quality of BitTorrent Live will improve as more people tune in. If a large enough audience is viewing a single live video, the crowd will be able to enjoy said video with a sub 10-second latency without the need for an expensive CDN or pre-provisioning.

Once the service goes live, BitTorrent Live will be free to download and will come with free programming that anyone can access. The few channels that will be available on the service will broadcast electro festivals, MMA and boxing, various ball games, current affairs and tech news. For those who would like to broadcast their own material though, you may be disappoint as the service will not be a social streaming app during its release.

BitTorrent Live will be availble for Apple TV on iTunes within the week with iOS, Android and Mac OS X versions coming in June. While it will be free during launch, BitTorrent has stated that a they will be working on either a subscription or a pay-per-view model for the service.

bittorrent
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Bixby will work on all Galaxy smartphones running Android Nougat

687

If Bixby is one of the features that you are looking forward to try out on the Galaxy S8, then you’ll be glad to know that you can install Bix by on any Galaxy smartphones that is running on Android Nougat, XDA-developer user taberhbk has released a hack that you can get Samsung’s assistant installed into your Galaxy smartphone by installing the S8 launcher, once done activate it and proceed to install Bixby, and you’ll get Bixby on your phone way before the Galaxy S8 launches, this hack doesn’t even require rooting the device hence its really worth trying.

One thing to commend about this is that Samsung isn’t limiting anyone to access its virtual assistant, unlike when Apple launched Siri back on the iPhone 4s, users are required to jailbreak older device and connect to a non-official server to get Siri running on older iPhones. Bixby is Samsung’s answer to the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which can do pretty much anything like these assistants like answering questions and manage your device, but most importantly it uses augmented reality to identify objects in the real world and feed the user shopping information about the item.

With this hack, we can also assume that Samsung might bring Bixby to its older devices in time to come via a software update, as long as these devices are running on Android Nougat. If you have a Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, try out the steps in the source link and let us know about it.

SOURCE:
XDA-Developers

bixby
galaxy
s8
samsung


Black Friday Weekend Deals from Lazada Malaysia

424

Lazada does give pretty good deals at times, for instance our very own
 iPhone 6 128GB Imported unit
 is purchased from them and it’s even cheaper than our official retail price. While Black Friday isn’t a thing in Malaysia, the folks over at Lazada Malaysia are offering Black Friday deals, but that’s not all, the deals are extended throughout the weekend till December 1st so you’ll have lots of time to shop for products with great discounts.

Throughout the campaign, users will be able to buy products with discounts up to 94% and once you purchase a product, you’ll receive gift cards to shop on December 12, in which the company will once again conduct a great discount campaign for everyone. Of course, the discount not only applies to gadgets but also lifestyle products that you might want to consider buying. Don’t wait, click on the banner down below to head on to Lazada’s Black Friday Weekend landing page.


Black Pearl Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge goes official as the seventh color

366

After countless rumors over the recent weeks, Samsung has finally broken news on its newly colored Galaxy S7 Edge, a new Black Pearl paint job to be exact. The glossy black color option is probably, if not obvious enough, an answer to Apple’s new Jet Black iPhone 7 handsets. The Black Pearl color isn’t the same as the existing Black Onyx model of the Galaxy S7 Edge, only a tad darker.

The Black Pearl Galaxy S7 Edge comes after recent launches of new color variants by the South Korean manufacturer. Samsung has unveiled the Blue Coral and Pink Gold variants of the Galaxy S7 Edge, which is said to feature more calm and natural hues. The company also launched a Pink model exclusively for its South Korean consumers. The Black Pearl variant on the other hand was designed to be “modern and striking”. It does sound like it’s a little too late to add a new color option to the 2016 flagship, but some might still take interest in this sleek new color.

One thing to note is the Black Pearl Galaxy S7 Edge will only be exclusive to 128GB storage variants of the handset. The new color model is set to debut in selected markets worldwide later today. Would you be willing to hop onto the glossy black phone bandwagon?

Source:
Samsung

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blue
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Black Shark 2 Gaming Smartphone Goes Official With Snapdragon 855 SoC and 12GB RAM

354

Xiaomi-backed gaming brand Black Shark today launched its newest gaming smartphone at an event held in China. The new Black Shark 2 packs top-shelf specs and is claimed to be capable of delivering the best gaming experience on a smartphone.

Since it is a flagship-grade gaming smartphone, the Black Shark 2 runs on Qualcomm’s 7nm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor. To help deliver class-leading performance, the smartphone uses the new Liquid Cool 3.0 technology, which is described by the company as a direct touch multilayer liquid cooling system. If Black Shark is to be believed, the technology helps lower the core CPU temperature by up to 14° C. The smartphone packs up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 internal memory.

Moving on to the display, Black Shark 2 sports a 6.39-inch AMOLED TrueView display with 1080 x 2340 Full HD+ resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and an In-display fingerprint sensor. For an enhanced gaming experience, it features Magic Press pressure-sensitive technology, allowing users to customize the display pressure sensitivity. The display also comes with HDR support and covers an impressive 108.9% of the DCI P3 color space.

On the imaging front, Black Shark’s latest gaming smartphone has a dual-camera setup on the back with a 48MP primary sensor and a 12MP secondary sensor. While the primary 48MP sensor is clubbed with an f/1.75 aperture lens for superior low-light performance, the secondary sensor has been paired with an f/2.2 aperture. The smartphone also offers 2x optical zoom and has a 20MP selfie camera on the front. Some of the other key highlights of the Black Shark 2 include a 4000mAh battery with 27W fast charging, an RGB illuminated logo on the back, X-shaped antenna design, dual-frequency GPS, and stereo audio with AI noise reduction.

Black Shark 2 is now available for pre-order in China. The smartphone comes in two colors – Shadow Black, and Frozen Silver. Prices start at CNY 3,199 (RM1,941) for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model and go up to CNY 4,199 (RM2,549) for the top-end model with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. The gaming smartphone also comes in 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variants.

black shark
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Black Shark 2 Pro officially arrives in Malaysia boasting Snapdragon 855+ chipset

751

If you’ve been eyeing a Snapdragon 855+ smartphone, you’ll be glad to know that the Black Shark 2 Pro is officially launched in the country.

It sports a 6.39-inch AMOLED display that pushes 60Hz refresh rate along with a notchless display – albeit with a sizeable chin bezel. The back remains the same rugged aluminium finish.

What’s different here is that you now have the latest Snapdragon 855+ that has a higher clock that the regular Black Shark 2. There are two variants available – 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage, and 12GB RAM + 256GB internal storage.

Elsewhere remains the same – 48MP + 13MP camera setup at the back, while a 20MP selfie shooter are your imaging tools. The phone also gets a 4,000mAh battery that charges via USB C and supports up to 27W fast charging.

In terms of features, it’s same all around – it has the same multilayer liquid cooling module, that’s layered with a coper plate, a TP cooling module, a liquid cooling pipe.

The phone ships with Black Shark’s Ludicrous Mode – a game optimization tool that boosts performance.

As it’s a gaming phone, control layouts are important – and Black Shark 2 Pro utilizes the Master Touch pressure-sensitive display technology that lets you customize, get this, “touch zones to trigger multiple (we’re not going there) one-screen actions with just two thumbs”. I’ll let you make your own jokes there.

For audio, there are two front-firing speakers as well as two noise cancelling microphones that offer clearer voice chats. For added immersion, the phone is equipped with haptic feedback tech that vibrates in certain patterns depending on the game you play. Plus there are also 5 RGB lights on the back panel and sides, because why not.

The Black Shark 2 Pro is priced at RM2,499 for the 8+128GB variant, and RM2,999 for the 12+256GB variant. The phones can be purchased online on
Shopee
 which will snag you a free powerbank too. The three colours available include Shadow Black, Iceberg Grey and Gulf Blue.

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Black Shark 2 Pro only has a 60Hz display – Black Shark representatives explain why

459

As you know, we saw the introduction of the Black Shark 2 Pro in Malaysia yesterday – not much as changed from the original, except for an upgrade in the chipset to the Snapdragon 855+. Everything else, bar a few added features, remained unchanged.

One of the things left unchanged was the use of a 60Hz Samsung AMOLED display panel – which pales in comparison to its competitors, the Asus ROG Phone 2 and upcoming Nubia Red Magic 3S with their 120Hz and 90Hz panels respectively.

So naturally during the press conference, the media poked and prodded Black Shark representatives at the chance that they’d spill the beans. They say that the Black Shark 2 Pro only has a 60Hz panel because mobile games today don’t run higher than 60 FPS anyway.

That’s true in a way, suggesting that 90Hz and 120Hz panels on gaming smartphones are a hoax- but wait up, Razer Phone 2’s UltraMotion display lets you play games at 120 FPS, granted these games are optimized to run at that rate. Plus, recent
reports
 suggest that a PUBG Mobile beta is being tested out in China that uncaps framerates to 90 and 120.

So perhaps ROG and Nubia are doing the right thing by using higher refresh rate panels – in the sense that it encourages developers to create games that run at that rate. Because it would be in these brands’ best interest to make gaming smartphone catch on as a viable purchase, so Black Shark 2 Pro’s reluctance to push forward in this area could hamper any progress to change the landscape of mobile gaming.

Maybe we’re reading too much into it, maybe Black Shark just wanted to save a few bucks with the 60Hz panels; maybe anything more really is just a gimmick. But hey, because these phones are so expensive, users should be using them for a few years down the line – by then, when games do get uncapped frame rates, Black Shark might have just lost a slice of the pie.

android
Black Shark 2 Pro
frame rate
mobile gaming
nubia red magic
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Black Shark 2 Pro will launch with a Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset on July 30

333

Xiaomi has two gaming phones — Black Shark and Black Shark 2. The latter was just launched in Malaysia on April with a Snapdragon 855 chipset, and now the company plans to launch the Black Shark 2 Pro in China by the end of this month.

With only four months gap, we’re not expecting a major redesign when it comes to the Black Shark 2 Pro. However, one thing we’re definitely expecting is the for the new gaming device to equip the new Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset.

The new chipset is reported to receive improvements over AI, 5G connectivity, VR support and also gaming performance. With phones like the ROG Phone 2 and Nubia Red Magic 3 confirmed to come with the new chipset, it’s only logical that the Black Shark 2 Pro jumps on the bandwagon.

The current Black Shark 2 has up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage paired with a 4,000mAh battery so we’re expecting the Black Shark 2 Pro to either be equally good or even better. All information regarding the phone will be confirmed when it launches on July 30.

Black Shark 2 Pro
xiaomi


Upcoming Black Shark 3 5G to be overkill with 16GB RAM

331

The first piece of news regarding the phone is that it will come with a 5G variant – a standard many big-name brands will be adopting this year. But interestingly also is that the new entry is said to sport 16GB of RAM!

At a time where 8GB is ample, and 12GB is overkill – 16GB looks to be overkill and then some. But hey, I’m all for breaking boundaries when it comes to tech, so this is a welcome addition to the Black Shark 3.

Sure, no game in the market really needs that much memory, so we see this as the beginning of what could be the not-so-distant future. We could very well see 16GB flagship smartphones arrive late this year too.

android
black shark 3
gaming phone 16GB ram
xiaomi


Black Shark 3 available on Shopee at midnight today with Shocking Sale and gift pack worth RM800

392

The Black Shark 3 gaming phone will be available to purchase starting midnight tonight – the variant that will be released first is the base 8GB+128GB model and it’ll be exclusively available on
Shopee
.

The phone is priced at RM2,799, but a flash sale tonight will bump it down to RM2,649 for the first 400 people to put in their orders.  On top of that, the first 150 customers will also get a gift pack containing items worth over RM800, including the new Black Shark
FunCooler
 Pro.

The Black Shark 3 Pro will be making its way to the country a little later in May according to a report by
LowYat.net
.

In conjunction with the launch, there will be a livestream on Black Shark’s official
Shopee
 page where you stand a chance to win Black Shark merchandise as well. Since you’re there,
you
 might as well get yourself a new phone!

black shark 3
Black Shark 3 pro
black shark shopee
shopee


Black Shark 3 series officially launched – Snapdragon 865, 90Hz display, shoulder buttons for less than RM3,000

348

The Black Shark 3 gaming smartphone has been officially launched in China and we’ll be getting two variants right off the bat – the Black Shark 3 and the Black Shark 3 Pro.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Contrary to previous reports (and hopes), both variants will come with a 90Hz display, not the 120Hz panel people were expecting. Despite that, the phones are still pretty beastly – the regular variant packs a large 6.67-inch FHD+ display, while the Black Shark 3 Pro comes with an even larger 7.1-inch QHD+ OLED panel. It has a bezel at the top to house the selfie lens – so no punch-hole shenanigans here. Plus, the panel supports a touch sampling rate of 270Hz – which is ludicrous.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Under the hood, both devices come equipped with a Snapdragon 865 chipset with 5G connectivity, along with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage – this is no less than what’s expected of a gaming smartphone. The 12GB variant will come with LPDDR5 RAM, while the 8GB versions will stick with LPDDR4.

Image credit: Black Shark China

What’s different this time is that the Pro variant employs a pair of mechanical, physical shoulder triggers that pop up when engaged. This should provide FPS players with more control thanks to the tactile response they’re getting. The regular variant doesn’t have any shoulder buttons, but does have the same Master Touch feature as seen in its predecessor.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Powering the Black Shark 3 is 4,720mAh battery; while the larger model gets a bigger 5,000mAh pack. The latter also supports up to 65W fast charge which they claim can charge the phone in 38 minutes. This is via USB C of course – there’s also a magnetic port at the back of the phone that’s supposed to be unobtrusive when you’re gaming; this one charges at a decent 18W.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Despite being a gaming smartphone, the camera setup doesn’t slouch either – a triple lens setup is present here comprising of a 64MP main, a 13MP ultrawide angle shooter and a 5MP depth sensor. The front shooter is a simple 20MP lens.

The Black Shark 3 Pro is available in these colours – Phantom Black and Armor Gray; while the regular Black Shark 3 gets Lighting Black, Armor Gray and Star Silver. The phones are available in China only for now and is priced from 3,499 Yuan (RM2,104) for the Black Shark 3; the Black Shark 3 Pro starts at 4,699 Yuan (RM2,826).


Black Shark 3 Pro Review: Physical pop-up triggers for the win

358

As you may know from our previous review of the vanilla
Black Shark 3
, I was impressed by the phone’s value offerings – on top of
obviously
 great gaming performance, the phone also offers excellent photography capabilities, good media consumption and audio too; all this for a reasonable RM3,399 at the time of writing.

So,
 one has to assume that its bigger sibling, the Black Shark 3 Pro, would also be very good – but is it worth the extra RM800 it’s asking for? Well, that depends on how seriously you take mobile games.

Display

If all you play are Esports titles like Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Call of Duty Mobile, then the Black Shark 3 Pro is a good investment. It’s gargantuan 7.1-inch AMOLED display is great for gaming and media consumption – but a word of caution, should your game lack remappable controls, certain buttons may be hard to reach because of how large the display is.

It sports the same 90Hz refresh rate as its sibling, but pushes a higher 1440p resolution that makes a noticeable enough difference when viewing videos and playing games – will it make you a better gamer? Not really – you’d be better off downsizing to 1080p to prolong your battery life. But hey, the massive display with its HDR10+ support makes binge-watching Netflix a joy.

Audio

Like its smaller brother, the Black Shark 3 Pro has an impressive pair of stereo speakers that blast audio from the bottom and top of the phone. It has impressive bass, but the highs are a little blanketed. What matters is that it’s loud without sounding harsh, making it great for gaming. It has also helped me with discerning footsteps in PUBG without needing a pair of headphones – I still died, but at least I heard it coming.

Let’s quickly talk about its design – like with the regular Black Shark 3, I still think the camera module placement forces you to touch them when you’re gaming; that in turn always creates smudges on the camera’s glass housing. In terms of aesthetics, we got the Star Silver variant this time with blue accents around the two hexagonal modules – because the panel is glass, the Black Shark 3 Pro is an absolute fingerprint
magnet
 – ready your
microfiber
 cloths.

Cameras

Now let’s pivot to photography performance – its 64MP camera module does a great job at snapping crisp images. As with any Xiaomi smartphone, the Black Shark 3 Pro camera software gets you over-saturated day time images.

There’s also nothing special about 64MP mode anymore – we’ve
established
 the fact that, yes, you get a lot more detail in your shots, but they’re essentially pointless for posting on social media.

The 13MP wide-angle camera gets quite a fair bit in the frame but with some edge distortion, so use it sparingly; then there’s portrait mode which works great on objects with good subject-background separation. On people however, the blur effect does eat but parts of the edges of the subject.

[sciba leftsrc=”https://klgadgetguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Normal-human-scaled.jpg” leftlabel=”Normal shot” rightsrc=”https://klgadgetguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Portrait-human-scaled.jpg” rightlabel=”Portrait shot” mode=”horizontal” width=””]

At night, images turn out decent even without night mode on; but with the feature turned on, images are obviously much brighter with minimal noise. I’m also glad to report that there isn’t any yellowish tint with night mode on even when surrounded by street lights.

Night mode OFF
Night mode ON
Night mode OFF
Night mode ON

When it comes to
selfies
, the 20MP shooter is quite capable and puts out crisp and bright images. Portrait mode was decent too albeit with bokeh that chips away at the
subject’s
 hair slightly.

[sciba leftsrc=”https://klgadgetguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Selfie-normal-scaled.jpg” leftlabel=”Normal selfie” rightsrc=”https://klgadgetguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Selfie-portrait-scaled.jpg” rightlabel=”Portrait selfie” mode=”horizontal” width=””]

Performance

Moving on to what really matters – performance. The phone comes packed with a Snapdragon 865 chipset with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 internal storage. It goes without saying that games run perfectly even at max graphics settings. On top of that, multi-tasking is also a breeze as I’ve yet to experience slow down with the phone.

What really sets the Black Shark 3 Pro apart from its competitors and its own sibling are its physical shoulder triggers – they pop up when you launch a game and close automatically when you’re out of a game. The buttons raise slightly above the phone’s chassis and have a tactile click when pressed – I’ve found that it helped me a lot with FPS games, however the triggers can be used in other titles too as it can be re-mapped to different controls.

There’s Shark Space, which is a game optimizer of sorts that also packs all your gaming-centric settings like switching performance modes, clearing memory, remapping the triggers as well as Black Shark’s Master Touch and more.

When it comes to thermals, like the regular Black Shark 3, it gets uncomfortably warm even after just an hour of gaming; this is despite it having what Black Shark calls their “sandwich” liquid cooling system. The only ways to mitigate this is to put on the case that comes in the box, and bump the performance level down to low in Shark Space. If you get the phone with the accessories bundle, you should also have the Black Shark
FunCooler
 Pro which helps a bunch.

3DMark
GeekBench

In terms of benchmarks, the phone scores an impressive 2882 on multicore performance on
GeekBench
, sitting well within the top 10 most powerful phones, just below the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (SD865) and OnePlus 8 Pro. On 3DMark’s
SlingShot
 Extreme, it scored at impressive 7100, but it still sits below the OnePlus 8 Pro.

Battery

When it comes to battery life, the phone’s 5,000mAh pack offers enough juice on a single charge to last two days with frequent gaming, regular browsing and light navigation. The phone also comes with a 65W fast charger that will power the phone in a little over an hour from 10% to full.

Also a cool feature is that it supports magnetic charging via a proprietary charger that’s sold separately. It attaches to the back panel and keeps cables away from your hands while you game.

Software

JoyUI is basically an edgier version of Xiaomi’s MIUI, except it actually comes with an app tray, a feature I wish came with more systems. It’s also more aesthetically aggressive, so it’s hit or miss depending on what you like.

Verdict

The Black Shark 3 Pro is a flagship – a gaming flagship; for RM4,100, this phone is a good buy for people who take mobile gaming seriously – it’s physical pop-up triggers alone is a big selling point; you couple that with its awesome performance, and you’ve got yourself a very capable gaming smartphone.

However, if you who aren’t that into mobile gaming (I don’t know why you’ve read this far at this point) I’d say your money is better spent on the
OnePlus 8 series
 or the
OPPO Find X2
 series, which offers a generally more premium experience.

At the time of writing, the phone is currently out of stock, but we’ve been told that more will be available this mid-July through Black Shark’s
Shopee
 store.

The Good

Awesome performance

Long-lasting batteries

Crisp display

Decent audio

Useful physical triggers

Fast charging

The Not So Good

Odd camera housing placement

Poor thermal performance

Over-saturated photos

64MP camera phone
65w fast charging
90hz AMOLED display
black shark 3 malaysia
Black Shark 3 pro
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gaming smartphone
Snapdragon 865


Black Shark 3 starts from RM2,799 according to local retailers

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The highly-anticipated Black Shark 3 gaming smartphone series will be making its way to the country this April 30 – meaning we won’t have to wait long now to know how much the phones will cost.

But, trusty local retailers
DirectD
 and
Satu Gadget have disclosed what looks to be the official pricing for the Black Shark 3 series – and the base model of the phone will
starts
 at a cool RM2,799 (8GB+128GB), while the 12GB+128GB model will go for RM3,199. The Black Shark 3 Pro will set you back RM3,999 for the 8GB+256GB model and RM4,199 for the 12GB+256GB option.

View this post on Instagram

‼ PRE-ORDER NOW ‼ 🆕 Black Shark 3 💾 8GB + 128GB – RM 2,799 💾 12GB + 128GB – RM 3,199 Color: Midnight Black, Knight Gray 🆕 Black Shark 3 Pro 💾 8GB + 256GB – RM 3,999 💾 12GB + 512GB – RM 4,199 Color: Blasting Black ⚙ Key Spec: Black Shark 3 • 5G Connectivity • 6.67 inches, FHD+ 90Hz AMOLED Display • Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 | Adreno 650 • Triple Camera: 64MP + 13MP + 5MP • Selfie Camera: 20MP • Battery 4720mAh (Up to 65W Hyper Charge) ⚙ Key Spec: Black Shark 3 • 5G Connectivity • 7.1 inches, FHD+ 90Hz AMOLED Display • Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 | Adreno 650 • Triple Camera 64MP + 13MP + 5MP • Selfie Camera 20MP • Battery 5000 mAh (65W Hyper Charge) 💳 Get 0% Interest-Free up to 12 months Maybank, CIMB, HongLeong Bank, Public Bank, RHB Bank, OCBC Bank, HSBC, Standart Charted Bank Satu Gadget Hotline: ☎ PGRM Cheras: 017- 3888 388 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60173888388 ☎ SUBANG @ SS15: 013-3888 246 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60133888246 ☎ SUNWAY PYRAMID: 013-3888 653 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60133888653 WhatsApp: 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60175958216 (Joel) 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60126300747 (Ronald) 💚 Whatsapp: wasap.my/60146483688 (Kei) #blackshark3 #blackshark #1G #satugadget #satugadgetsubang

A post shared by
 Satu Gadget
 (@satugadget_my) on
Apr 24, 2020 at 9:16pm PDT

Satu Gadget will also throw in a host of pre-order gifts which include an action camera, a 10,000mAh
power bank
, a fitness tracker (possibly a Xiaomi Mi Band 4), a pair of headphones and a travel mug.

DirectD’s
 pre-order pricing is the same – however, no pre-order goodies are expected; but the company does offer a one-year official Xiaomi warranty for the phone.

Both companies cite an arrival ETA of May 5 for the regular Black Shark 3, while the Black Shark 3 Pro should be available for sale this 18-31 May, according to DirectD.

Image credit: Black Shark China

As a quick refresher, the Black Shark 3 series comes with a Snapdragon 865 chipset with 5G support. The regular Black Shark 3 measures at 6.67-inches and has
a
 FHD+ screen, while the Black Shark 3 Pro has a 7.1-inch QHD+ panel instead. Both phones do come with a 90Hz refresh rate display.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Both devices will also sport a pair of physical pop-up shoulder triggers that are best suited for FPS games like PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty Mobile. The regular Black Shark 3 has a 4,700mAh battery while the Black Shark 3 Pro has a 5,000mAh pack – the latter supports up to 65W of fast charging.

Image credit: Black Shark China

For imaging, both phones get a respectable 64MP main les alongside a 13MP ultrawide shooter and a 5MP depth sensor. For selfies, you get a 20MP front camera as well. We’ll get you more
deets
 when the phones are launched this April 30. If you’d like to pre-order the phones from these retailers, visit their websites here –
DirectD
 /
Satu Gadget

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Snapdragon 865


Black Shark 3 to come with physical shoulder triggers, ‘dual’ batteries, and 120Hz display

307

We know the Black Shark 3 is real hanks to chipset manufacturers Qualcomm, who’ve confirmed the phone’s usage of the Snapdragon 865 processor during their keynote presentation last week.

Image credit: Black Shark

To add to that, Black Shark officially confirms the existence of the device on their Weibo page by divulging its charging specifications. Black Shark says that it has two batteries packed in the smartphone, but with a capacity of 4,720mAh, we think it’s really just one battery split into two.

Image credit: Black Shark

The reason for this design is to allow what seems to be a magnetic charging mechanism that allows both battery packs to be charged simultaneously – Black Shark claims that with 65W fast charging, you can power 2,780mAh worth of battery in just 15 minutes. There’s also a pro variant that has a larger 5,000mAh pack.

Another nifty feature coming to the Black Shark 3 is the inclusion of physical shoulder buttons – this is something many FPS mobile gamers have been asking for – these ones are mechanical and sit flush with the device when not in use – call upon it and it springs up. Very cool.

We can see mechanical buttons fairing better than capacitive ones thanks to the tactile feedback it provides – which should give more control to players.

Elsewhere, the Black Shark 3 is set to have a 120Hz QHD display, a triple-camera setup, and up to 16GB RAM. With the Snapdragon 865 chipset, it’ll come with 5G support too. The Black Shark 3 is shaping up to be an interesting gaming smartphone – and could also be affordable going by Black Shark’s typical pricing strategies.

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Snapdragon 865


Black Shark 3 will be Malaysia’s first gaming phone of 2020

505

We’re finally hearing something from Black Shark Malaysia regarding one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2020 – they’ve announced that the Black Shark 3, and possibly Black Shark 3 Pro is, at last, arriving to the country this April 30.

Both phones will sport a 90Hz display panel which is a bummer – even if not for gaming, a 120Hz screen would’ve been great for general scrolling. The regular Black Shark 3 rocks a 6.67-inch FHD+ display panel, while the larger Black Shark 3 Pro comes with a 7.1-inch QHD+ OLED screen. Both displays come equipped with a 270Hz touch sampling rate for a more responsive usage experience.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Under the hood, both
variants
 will sport the latest
Snapdragon
 865 chipset with 5G connectivity with up to 12GB RAM and up to 256GB internal storage. This is the sort of configuration we’re seeing on regular flagships in 2020, so this is the least a gaming phone should pack.

Image credit: Black Shark

What’s cool about the new devices is that they come with a pair of mechanical, physical shoulder triggers that pop up when you need to use them. This is especially useful when playing FPS titles and you get a tactile feedback when shooting, which allows for better control. When not in use, the triggers
descend
 into the frame of the phone,
flush
 with the sides.

Image credit: Black Shark

The Black Shark 3 will have a 4,720mAh battery while the Black Shark 3 Pro will come with a 5,000mAh pack. The latter supports up to 65W of fast charging, which the company claims can power the phone in just 38 minutes. Besides the regular USB C charging port, there’s another magnetic charger at the back that’s supposed to get the wires out of the way when you game. Using this alternate port gets you a decent 18W charging speed.

Image credit: Black Shark China

Cameras have never been the Black Shark’s strong suit, but this time around, the Black Shark 3 looks to have quite an impressive array of lenses – both variants pack a 64MP main lens, a 13MP ultrawide shooter and a 5MP depth sensor. On the front is a 20MP selfie lens too.

Image credit: NDTV Gadgets

The Black Shark 3 Pro should be available in Phantom Black and Armor Gray when it arrives in Malaysia, while the regular Black Shark 3 will come in Lightning Black, Armor Gray, and Star Silver. In China, the phones a priced at
3,499 Yuan (RM2,104) for the Black Shark 3; the Black Shark 3 Pro starts at 4,699 Yuan (RM2,826). As its Malaysian launch draws nearer, we won’t have to wait long now to find out how much they’ll cost here.

90hz display 270hz touch sampling rate
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Black Shark 3. Black Shark 3 pro
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xiaomi


Black Shark 4 Magnetic Pop-Up Triggers Redefines Mobile Gaming

2.2K

Gaming on the
go
 has become quite the fashion among our friends, you are probably one of those that wished your smartphone
has
 dedicated buttons for gam
ing
 instead of tapping on the screen
, hence the reason you need to check out the Black Shark 4 gaming phone that comes with a pair of magnetic pop
–
up triggers
built into the device.

Unlike certain gaming phones that uses a capacitive surface as their trigger buttons, Black Shark understands that most gamers would prefer
physical buttons just like a game controller as it
helps them game better,
 the triggers stay hidden when you don’t need them and you will only need to slide their switches to reveal them, hence you no longer ne
ed to purchase a separate Bluetooth trigger accessory for your games.

Apart from gaming, the Black Shark 4’s magnetic pop-up triggers do so much more than
what it is intended for, as you are able to customize them to perform differently in respective apps.
For instance, you can configure it to capture a screenshot
 with just a tap, serve as a shutter button for your selfies, a scroll up or down button for your Facebook feed when you can’t touch the screen, or even activate one handed operation for easier operation
.

Th
e magnetic pop-up triggers can also be configured to quickly launch your camera when you take it out of your pocket,
which
 you can choose to be either in photo or video mode depending on the key you press, this is extremely convenient as other smartphones will only let you
activate
th
eir
 camera
s
 by
double pressing the power button
 which
usually
 leave
s
 you in a shooting mode that you don’t want.

The Black Shark 4 is a gaming phone that promotes practical features that mobile gamers would love on top of its powerful performance
,
this is one thing that many gaming phones fail
 to deliver and with the extremely customizable JOYUI 12.5 software based on Android 11, it is a gaming phone that you will never get bored with.

The Black Shark 4
 phone can
now
be p
urchased
 at the
official Black Shark Malaysia Shopee store
 and it
is available in
two storage variants, the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage
 model
, with retail prices of RM2,299 and RM2,799 respectively
, this makes it the most amazing value for money yet practical gaming smartphone ever produced by Black Shark.

Malaysia’s Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Season 7 gathers the best 10 teams in the country to compete for a prize pool of USD 100,000.

Join us on the 28th, 29th & 30th of May 2021 and witness who will be crowned champions live on MPL Malaysia Facebook page. Top 2 from MPL Malaysia will represent Malaysia to a Southeast Asia championship, the MSC 2021 which will be happening early June.

This is the first standalone MPL tournament where Singaporean teams will not be competing against their Malaysian rivals, and a new format change for the competition.

The league hopes to bring Malaysian stories and player highlights to a greater spotlight, and celebrates their successes.

This article is sponsored by Black Shark Malaysia

black shark 4
black shark 4 malaysia
gaming triggers


Black Shark 4 preorders start April 28th in Malaysia from RM2299

584

As we have teased a few weeks back, the Black Shark 4 gaming phone is about to launch in Malaysia soon and preorders will start from 28th April through 8th May, just in time for your pay day spending and there’s a whole lot of freebies when you preorder the device.

What’s so great about the Black Shark 4?

The Black Shark 4 is a great value gaming smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC with several notable improvements to its predecessor, which includes a newly improved ‘Sandwich’ Liquid Cooling 2.0 that keeps the phone running at optimal performance with lower temperatures, a beautiful 6.67″ 20:9 E4 AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate.

With an optional 120W Hyper Charge charger, the Black Shark 4’s 4500mAh dual-cell battery can be fully juiced in a mere 15 minutes, which is currently the fastest charging speed on a gaming phone.

The cameras of the phone aren’t compromised like some other gaming phones as it comes with a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 8MP f/2.2 ultra wide and 5MP f/2.4 telephoto camera, gamers who does streaming and selfies are offered a 20MP f/1.8 front camera, overall its a really good imaging package.

Black Shark 4 Malaysia Preorder Details

The Black Shark 4 in Malaysia will be available in two storage variants, the 8GB RAM + 128GB Storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB Storage model, priced at RM2299 and RM2799 respectively, Black Shark is giving away freebies up to RM500, which includes a Black Shark Carry Case, Black Shark gaming mousepad, Black Shark 4 tempered glass screen protector, two Black Shark face masks, 1-year screen protection warranty and a Mobile Legends Ultimate esports box worth RM38.

The Black Shark 4 can be preordered exclusively at
Black Shark Malaysia Shopee Official Store
, so mark your calendars and stay tuned for any exciting updates on their official Facebook page.

Meanwhile, read
here
 on why you shouldn’t buy imported units of the Black Shark 4.

black shark 4
blackshark malaysia
gaming phone


Black Shark 4 Pro launches in Malaysia from RM2,599

723

Black Shark is kick starting the year with the Black Shark 4 Pro gaming phone, which is a little overdue considering it is almost a year that the Black Shark 4 has launched, but nonetheless, this is still one powerful gaming phone that has a few things to satisfy mobile gamers.

Powered by a Snapdragon 888 SoC, the phone comes with the same sandwich liquid cooling system found on its non-Pro sibling that offers improved and sustained gaming performance, it is available in storage configurations of 8GB RAM+128GB Storage and 12GB RAM+256GB storage.

Similar to the regular Black Shark 4, the Black Shark 4 Pro comes with a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED display that features 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate, there’s also a pair of pop-up magnetic gaming triggers that can be used to map shortcuts to apps and function in games.

The Black Shark 4 Pro features a triple camera array that looks similar to the non-Pro, but the main lens captures photos at a higher 64MP resolution, while the ultrawide and macro lens remain the same at 8MP and 5MP respectively, the main camera will also capture 4K videos at 60 fps, which will suffice for most gamers.

With a 4500mAh battery, the Black Shark 4 Pro should deliver a full day of juice when used moderately and can charge up in no-time with the included 120W Hyper Charging charger, which Black Shark claims will only take 5 minutes to reach 50% battery level.

The Black Shark 4 is available in color options of Shadow Black, Misty Grey and Cosmos Black, preorders will start 25th January 2022 onwards and the phone retails at RM2,599 for the 8GB RAM+128GB storage model and RM2,999 for the 12GB RAM+256GB storage model, it can be purchased at Black Shark’s Official Shopee Store.

black shark
black shark 4 pro
black shark 4 pro malaysia


Black Shark 4 Pro to launch in Malaysia on 17 January

1.2K

After launching in China last year, the Black Shark 4 Pro will finally be arriving in Malaysia on 17 January as per the
announcement

made on Black Shark Malaysia’s Facebook
page
.

The Black Shark 4 Pro features a 6.67-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display that pushes a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate.

Under the hood, we have Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 SoC, 8/12/16GB of RAM, and 256/512GB of internal storage. We’re not sure if it’ll come with Android 12 out of the box but even if it doesn’t, it was
listed

as one of the phones that will get the update.

In terms of imaging, the triple-camera setup consists of a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 5MP macro lens. For the selfies, we get a 20MP camera housed in a punch-hole cutout.

Other than that, the phone packs a 4,500mAh battery that supports 120W Hyper Charge which the company claims can fully charge the phone in a little under 15 minutes.

As previously mentioned, the Black Shark 4 Pro will be launching next Monday so stay tuned as we update you with its local pricing then.

black shark
black shark 4
black shark 4 pro


Non-authorized Imported Black Shark 4 units have a software lock that you won’t want to own

741

The Black Shark 4 Series gaming phones have recently made their global debut and they sure are attractive gaming smartphones that sports improved features over their predecessors.

While they make their way to the Malaysian market, unofficial listings have surfaced on e-commerce platforms and are priced rather closely to the expected launch price, which is very enticing for those who can’t wait to get their hands, but there’s a catch for getting such handsets, since they are directly imported from China and therefore don’t come with official software for the local market, which means you could end up getting a Google-less smartphone.

Wait, can’t I just sideload Google apps just like previously non-authorized imported Black Shark phones? Well, that is unfortunately not possible this time as the Black Shark 4 Series sold in China is launched in collaboration with Tencent, which in this case the ROM is built according to Tencent’s security compliances and doesn’t allow any third-party frameworks to be preloaded, hence the Google Mobile Services (GMS) framework is being omitted.

Does this message look familiar?

In short, you will not be able to use Google services on the phone and some apps and games that require GMS will also fail to perform properly, even if you are willing to search a workaround or custom ROM, the device ultimately isn’t certified by Google and is susceptible to security hacks, which is something that you don’t want to face during the ownership.

Furthermore, non-authorized imported Black Shark 4 Series phones cannot be repaired at authorized Black Shark service centers in Malaysia, grey importers will usually either attempt to service such devices themselves or perform a swap even if they are able to provide a 1-year warranty, this can potentially cause long wait times and parts availability issues, as they usually need more time than usual to get your device fixed or replaced, there’s also no guarantee if they will use genuine spare parts if they managed to fix your device.

Official Black Shark Malaysia Benefits

Buying an official Black Shark 4 Series from Black Shark Malaysia isn’t just about owning a proper working smartphone optimized for the local market, you also get to enjoy benefits such as 0% Interest installment payment plan from 6 months, 15 days return policy, professional and trusted after sales service in 7 locations across Malaysia. Customers also enjoy a worry-free after sales experience as Black Shark Malaysia is offering a free pickup and delivery service if you need to send in your phone for repair.

As an official Black Shark 4 Series customer, you are also entitled to be part of the CUBA community, which allows you to connect with other Black Shark phone owners to learn more about your device, join exclusive activities and events held by Black Shark Malaysia, and provide feedback directly to Black Shark Malaysia representatives on any issues you may be facing.

Black Shark Malaysia will be launching the Black Shark 4 series gaming phones in Malaysia soon, and all you need is a little bit of patience in order to get your hands on a local official unit, as it saves you the hassle of software issues on imported units and who knows, you might even get a better deal than paying for an imported set.

Stay tuned for more details on
Black Shark Malaysia Facebook
 and
Shopee Official Store
.

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