Sudio TOLV Wireless Earbuds Review + Discount Code: Premium Sound, Mid-range price

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Since Apple introduced the AirPods, wireless earbuds are now becoming a trend all thanks to its versatility. While we have seen numerous audio companies coming up with wireless earbuds at different price points, most of them are still not impressive when it comes to connection reliability and battery life.

Thankfully, the
Sudio TOLV
 isn’t one of those crappy wireless earbuds I’ve listened to, as the successor to last year’s
Niva
 earbuds, it is a fantastic improvement and one that I would recommend to anyone who wants to start off with wireless earbuds.

Sudio’s hardware has always been a joy to look at, the TOLV comes with a much smaller battery case that can easily fit into pockets without adding bulk, I like the matte finish and Sudio branding cutout on the front, the familiar rope lanyard from the Niva is also present, giving it a really nice premium touch and feels more expensive than the AirPods charging case.

Although the case lacks wireless charging like the Galaxy Buds and favors MicroUSB for charging, I am impressed that Sudio still managed to cram in 5 times of charges for the earbuds, the earbuds will last you up to 7 hours on a full charge, which Sudio claims to have up to 35 hours of listening time.

Once you take the TOLV out of its charging case, it turns on automatically and goes into pairing mode for the first time, you will need to pair the right side earbuds followed by the left side, pairing is fast and effortless, all thanks to the new Bluetooth 5.0 connection.

Like any other wireless earbuds, each side of the TOLV has a button for controlling music playback, the left one repeats or goes to the previous track, the right one skips to the next track, both sides’ button can trigger Siri and Google Assistant by long pressing, there’s no buttons for controlling volume so you’ll need to do that on your phone’s volume rocker.

Sudio doesn’t have a companion app for the TOLV, which isn’t a deal breaker but you do miss out the opportunity to adjust the earbuds’ equalizer and reconfigure the buttons on them, it also lacks integration with Alexa or Google Assistant, which is an upcoming feature on headphones that lets you interact with these voice assistants instantly with a button press.

I was at COMPUTEX in Taipei last week and have worn the Sudio TOLV in subways and while walking down the streets of the city, noise isolation is decent despite there isn’t any sort of noise cancellation tech, I can barely hear screeching train tyres and an old man coughing right in front of me, even when I was in a busy cafe, the sound of a woman laughing loudly next to me was reduced at least by 50%.

The Sudio TOLV uses a graphene driver to produce sound, which unlike the usual neodymium drivers on earphones, they are more expensive but have a lighter weight and better frequency response, which is why these earbuds are going to make you go WHOA once you start playing your favorite track.

I mainly listen to K-Pop music during my test, Blackpink’s ‘Kill This Love’ sounds bright and energetic with the trumpet intro, the drums and thumps are produced clearly with no distortion. ITZY’s ‘DALLA DALLA’ plays with an impressive bass on the chorus part and you can clearly hear the combination of instruments.

To sum it up, the Sudio TOLV doesn’t overkill the low and high frequencies and emphasizes slightly on mid-frequencies, it completely fixes the Niva’s muddy bass and uninspiring highs.

What the Sudio TOLV doesn’t impress is its microphones, which I really can’t blame for the size of the earbuds, my voice sounded messy and distorted, no callers are able to hear me properly once I am in the subway or at a crowded environment.

While I had mostly no issues with the earbuds’ connection reliability, there was just one time that the earbuds failed to sync with each other when I was making a WhatsApp call, as it kept switching my caller’s voice from left to right and vice versa.

At RM549, the Sudio TOLV is a no-brainer for the audio performance it delivers, no other wireless earbuds can also come close to its 7-hour battery life, it is ultimately a no gimmick practical earbuds that deliver great sound your ears deserve, the Sudio TOLV is going to stay in my everyday backpack for a very long time.

The Good

Excellent audio performance

Battery life

Portable and capable charging case

Decent noise isolation

The Not so Good

Microphones

No companion app and integration with voice assistants

MicroUSB on charging case

At this time of writing,
Sudio
 is having a Hari Raya promotion at its
online store
 where you will be able to score a 15% discount off the TOLV and any other purchases, a free gift wrap package, a Sudio tote bag and free delivery to anywhere in the world, all you need to do is to apply the discount code ‘
KLGadget
’ at the checkout page, the Sudio TOLV can then be yours for RM466.

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Sudio’s Elva wireless neckbuds comes with an unique accessory

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Sudio has unveiled Elva, a pair of stylish wireless neckbuds that looks just as stylish as other of its collections made for commuting and workouts, its been a while since the company had made a new wireless neckbuds due to the ongoing trend of true wireless earbuds, with their last model being the Sudio Tre.

The Sudio Elva comes in color options of black and white, it offers active noise cancellation, IPX5 splash resistance and up to 11 hours of play time. Although it merely supports the SBC codec over Bluetooth 5.0, Sudio is making that up by including a Bluetooth adapter inside the box that allows you to connect to any devices with a 3.5mm audio port, the adapter even supports the two-pin airplane seat headphone jack connector, which makes it pretty convenient if you still get to travel on a plane these days.

Sudio Elva Malaysia Price and Discount Code

Retailing at RM599, Sudio is offering free shipping to Malaysia and offers several freebies such as a green card holder, tote bag and a gift wrapping when you place your order over at their
online store
. On a side note, you will be able to receive a 15% discount when you enter code ‘KLGADGET’ at checkout, this will ultimately set you back at RM509.15.

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SUKE TV 24-hour entertainment and shop network unveiled

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SUKE TV is a new Malaysian broadcast network that runs 24-hour and offers both entertainment and shopping experiences.

Founded by celebrity and entrepreneur Dato AC Mizal, SUKE TV offers on-demand entertainment options, while on shopping front – brings in local celebrities, performers, SMEs, and influencers to advertise and sell their goods via SUKE Shop, the network’s e-commerce platform.

There is no word on what type of content SUKE TV will be airing, but the brand hopes that network’s 24-hour schedule and accessible e-commerce platform will help increase sales numbers for whoever chooses to join SUKE Shop.

Dato AC Mizal said during the press conference that SUKE TV intends to represent Malaysians, and provide us with a go-to happy place with its motto “We’re bringing happy back!” – which is all the better since happiness is something Malaysians are in dire need of, these days.

There is no confirmation on when the network will launch, but you can stay tuned for updates via their
website
,
Facebook
, or
Instagram

pages.

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Sulon Technologies announces Sulon Q VR Headset

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Yet another company has entered the VR Headset market and that company is Sulon Technologies. However, unlike the other VR headsets that have been announced, the Sulon Q as it is called, is a rather ambitious one.

Revealed at the AMD Radeon “Capsaicin” event, the Sulon Q is touted at the world’s first and only all-in-one, tether-free, “wear and play” headset for virtual reality, augmented reality and spatial computing. Powered by an AMD FX-8800P processor, a Radeon R7 series GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, the Sulon Q seems to be a standalone console/VR headset hybrid. As for the screen, the Sulon Q features a 1440p HD OLED display.

Perhaps the most ambitious part of the Sulon Q is the fact that the headset itself is tether-free, meaning that you have to deal with wires. As for the AR part of the headset, the Sulon Q is said to be able to rival what Microsoft has in the HoloLens.

Sulon has yet to reveal pricing or availability of the Sulon Q, but judging by its tech and the prices of various other VR headsets, we’re just going to assume that it isn’t going to be cheap.

Source:
Sulon Technologies

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Sunny Optical Technology responsible for Huawei P9 dual-camera setup

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Huawei didn’t fall short of this year’s flagship competition with the release of the Mate 8 and the P9. The P9 in particular, highlighted Huawei’s collaboration with Leica, which the company announced a couple of months back. The P9 features a dual-camera setup by Leica, and has proven to be pretty impressive for the camera optics standard of 2016. However, it turns out that the dual-camera isn’t exactly manufactured by the German camera company.

Information from Chinese site MyDrivers has have indicated that the two rear cameras on the Huawei P9 is made by China’s Sunny Optical Technology. But don’t worry, neither Huawei nor Leica is playing tricks on us consumers. Sunny Optical Technology turns out to be a manufacturer authorized by the German company. If you’re not familiar with Sunny Optical Technology, it has been playing quite the role in manufacturing camera lenses for a number of smartphones out there, mainly by Chinese OEM’s like Lenovo, Xiaomi and Huawei.

Nevertheless, Leica’s collaboration with Huawei and Sunny Optical Technology has turned out to be a successful venture with the release of the Huawei P9. Looks like we will be seeing more Leica camera setups in Huawei’s handsets to come. What do you think? Tell us your thoughts at the comments section below!

Source:
MyDrivers

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Sunway Pyramid introduced new Car Park License Plate Recognition System in mall

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Sunway Pyramid has recently announced on their Facebook page that they are currently testing on a new way of improving traffic flow in their mall by installing “Car Park License Plate Recognition System” into their mall’s parking. If proven successful, that means shoppers don’t need to take a car park ticket or use parking access card to enter the mall.

Followed by their announcement was a video that shows their followers how the license plate recognition system works. According to Sunway, the license plate recognition system is proven fast and convenient which helps in reducing entry and exit time, allowing shoppers to avoid traffic in the mall especially during the weekends.

Other than being fast, convenient, and require no tickets, Sunway did not mention further. It is only said that they will update more on their page once the pilot test has been completed. So for now, we shall wait patiently and wait for their next announcement.

Car park license plate recognition system
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Sunway Pyramid


Sunway Smart Parking lets you park without a ticket and pay using e-wallets

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If there are two things Malaysians love besides food and gossip, they are shopping and driving – as a result, the two favourite Malaysian past times create horrendous traffic and parking inconveniences.

There’s not much we can do about the former (maybe take a train people?); but Sunway thinks they can somewhat solve the latter. Gone are the days of paper tickets and the fear of crumpling it in your sweaty jeans pocket.

During a media preview today, we were given a glimpse of Sunway Smart Parking – an integrated license parking recognition system that recognizes your car number plate and offers you multiple cashless methods to pay for parking. This system is available across several Sunway properties including Sunway Pyramid Mall, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Sunway Pyramid Hotel, The Pinnacle Sunway and more.

As to how it works, customers simply enter the parking bay as usual, without needing to grab a parking ticket. The scanner then detects your car number plate and opens the boom gate. In order to leave, you can pay online via a list of e-wallet apps like Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Boost, GrabPay and more; or do the same via the Sunway Pyramid app. If you’d rather pay at the autopay machine, you can do so with your credit card too. Upon exiting, the scanner detects your number plate again and opens the boom gate – if you’ve paid of course.

Currently, the feature is only available for Season Pass holders while the service will roll out to the public in Q1 2020.  The traditional parking systems will be eradicated within a year after the mass implementation of Sunway Smart Parking. Currently however, the system isn’t 100% accurate yet, however Sunway said during the press conference that the accuracy rate of detection will reach the regions of the high-90s.

Remember to
register
 your vehicle online before using the service.

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Were you jealous of the fact that Nintendo and Mario will be coming to iOS later this year? If so, we have some good news for you. Nintendo has revealed that Super Mario Run will be made available for Android smartphones as well.

According to Nintendo, Super Mario Run will be making its way to Android as well, although it will come after it is first released on the Apple App Store. As for timeline, Nintendo mentions that the company will “release the game on Android devices at some point in the future,” which means that your guess is as good as ours as to when Super Mario Run will actually be available for download on the Android Play store.

Seeing as Super Mario Run is currently scheduled for a Holiday release, this means that the Android version of the game probably won’t be available until 2017 at the earliest. Of course, it could be possible that the game will launch shortly (if not simultaneously) after the iOS version goes live, but we wouldn’t bet on that possibility.

Source:
Kotaku

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The super minimalist Light Phone 2 now allows for more features

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It had one simple idea when the predecessor, Light Phone, was made; to strip away of all the extraneous and distracting pieces of the regular smartphone, like texting and the Internet, to say the least. There’s no denying that it has been an interesting idea to start with, and also the ultra-minimalist design that’s super pretty to look at.

But now the Light Phone 2 allows for texting, because they probably just can’t get away from stripping off its practicality as well. The phone also features the same matte design as its original, and now has a E-Ink touchscreen, moving from the illuminated number pad it once has.

Though it still doesn’t have other features like the basic maps, music or even Uber, it’s still a phone that’s well-suited for certain travelling occasions where you want to be connected but to a certain extent.

Do expect for the phone to be shipped around April 2019. Still a pretty long way to go though, but we’re optimistic about it.

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Support for Nextbit Robin will end July 31

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Time to say goodbye to one of the most rebellious phones in the modern age of smartphones, as Nextbit refers to its Nextbit Robin users. The company responsible behind the making of the unique handset from 2015 has announced that phone and chat support for the Nextbit Robin will end on the 31st of July.

This latest announcement comes nearly six months since Razer acquired Nextbit back in late January this year. The Nextbit Robin sported a design like no other, along with pretty decent specs even by today’s standards, and featured cloud storage space as well, which was the main focus of the phone.

Although phone and chat support will be ceased for the Nextbit Robin in about two weeks, whether or not software updates will continue remains a mystery. The phone received Android Nougat 7.1.1 a month ago, but will likely not go on board with Android O in the future.

The Nextbit Robin is also currently being sold for a price of an entry level phone by a trusted seller on eBay. The handset never really got into the mainstream market, but if it still peaks your interest, get it while you still can!

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Surface Laptop Studio: A 2-in-1 laptop with a hinge behind its screen

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Microsoft announced a list of
devices
 during its recent fall event, and one of them is the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio.

This 2-in-1 laptop has a foldable design with a hinge behind its screen, so you can use it like a tablet or a laptop.

A 180º hinge that lets the screen sit on top of the keyboard

While competitors usually introduce a 360º hinge for their 2-in-1 laptops, Microsoft has decided to make the Surface Laptop Studio stand on top of the keyboard.

With magnets attached in the laptop, you’ll only have three fixed positions to place the screen; you can position it like a normal laptop, lay it flat like a tablet or set it up in Stage Mode where the trackpad is visible.

Under the hood

Microsoft described this as their “most powerful Surface Laptop” as it’s equipped with an 11th Gen Intel Core H35 processor — you can choose between the i5-11300H or the i7-11370H.

If you purchase the Intel Core i5 variant, the laptop will come with an Iris Xe graphics, but if you get the i7 variant, it’ll be equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU.

You can get up to 32GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage with this laptop.

Small screen, big features

This 14.4-inch laptop also offers up to 120Hz refresh rate, pushes 2400 x 1600 resolution and has a 3:2 aspect ratio. It comes with Quad Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Atmos, has a large Precision Haptic touchpad, and can be used with the Surface Slim Pen 2 which can be kept underneath the keyboard.

It also has a 10080p front camera that can be used for Windows Hello, and dual far-field Studio Mics for crystal-clear calls during conference meetings.

On the sides, the laptop has two USB 4.0 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Surface Connect Port.

Surface Laptop Studio comes with a hefty price tag

Though the local price hasn’t been announced, the laptop starts at
$1,599.99
 in the U.S. market — that’s about RM6,701.56 in Malaysia.

microsoft
Surface Laptop Studio


The Surface Pro (2017) is the premium Windows laptop I can’t recommend

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I have always been in awe with Microsoft’s Surface Pro laptops back in the early days, where most Windows laptops were barely on par with its quality, I even commended its bold efforts in challenging Apple’s iPad and MacBook Air, the claim of replacing a laptop and tablet totally got into my mind. Until then, I have never owned a Surface Pro for a number of reasons, with its retail price being the top of my list, then it comes down to hardware features, where many other companies have easily caught up or exceeded the Surface Pro, let’s not forget the fact that the company’s direct competitor – Apple, has already future proofed its MacBook Pro’s with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C ports. Therefore, the refreshed Surface Pro isn’t something that I would recommend to an average user, but it doesn’t mean it is a bad machine as well.

First, the refreshed Surface Pro looks identical to the older Surface Pro 4, except the fact that you now have the option of choosing an Alcantara keyboard cover, which I actually find it to be very comfortable to rest my palm on as I’m typing, the keycaps are decently sized with good travel distance, the Windows Precision trackpad is great but can be small to people with large hands.

Apart from that, the refreshed Surface Pro offers exactly the same amount of ports – a full-sized USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort, headphone jack, a proprietary Surface Connector for charging and the expansion dock, and a MicroSD card slot that resides behind the kickstand, there’s no USB-C port or even additional standard USB ports, it is probably the most disappointing set of ports for a modern laptop.

Other than that, the refreshed Surface Pro has gotten a performance upgrade with an Intel Kaby Lake processor, which we have received the Core i5 model for review along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, this is a decent specs sheet for those looking to run some heavy productivity tasks on the go, but you won’t be able to upgrade them in the meanwhile, so either you buy the max out specs version, or you just have to ensure that you don’t use it for extremely heavy tasks in the long run. One thing I still have to commend on the Surface Pro is the 12.3-inch PixelSense display, it is still one of the highest resolution display for that screen size and a really bright one, which I can still see it properly when using outdoors, you can draw and scribble on the screen with the optional Surface Pen as if on a piece of paper with 4096 of pressure sensitivity. The dual front facing speakers also produce decent volume, though it still isn’t able to pump some punchy bass like you would hear from Apple’s MacBook Pro, but it is good enough for a tablet speaker.

In terms of battery life, the Surface Pro managed to last me around 7 hours on a single charge, with my usual stress tests of multiple Chrome browser tabs, Spotify and YouTube streaming, which is rather impressive as you don’t really get that much of juice from its competitors, hence I usually don’t find the need to bring the charger along if I’m out for meetings. The Surface Pro’s thermal control is decent, it does get a little warm when held on hand even when I’m not doing any processor heavy tasks, but it doesn’t get uncomfortable over time, that’s actually pretty good considering Microsoft didn’t include a fan.

If you are already looking to buy a Surface Pro in the very beginning, then you will be glad to know that this refreshed model is definitely a better performing model than the previous one, with better performance and battery life. However, what the Surface Pro offers isn’t compelling enough for me to recommend one, given the fact that the model we have here costs RM6,568, you already have many alternatives for a lightweight Windows machine, such as the HP Envy 13, Acer Switch 5, Lenovo Yoga 720 and more, all of which costs lesser than the Surface Pro, not unless you value the form factor and Surface ecosystem, I won’t recommend this as a great option for a premium Windows machine.

The Good

Improved system performance

Battery life improved over previous model

Keyboard cover has decent typing experience

Iris scanner works great for Windows Hello

Bright and high resolution display

The Not so Good

Expensive when compared to similar competitor machines

Lack of modern I/O

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Surface Pro 8 now available for pre-order in Malaysia

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Microsoft has announced that the new Surface Pro 8 is now available for pre-order in Malaysia via commercial authorized resellers and authorized retailers.

With prices starting at RM4,950, the Surface Pro 8 is equipped with 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors built on the Intel® Evo™ platform and equipped with two Thunderbolt 4 ports. It comes with Windows 11 and a battery life of up to 16 hours.

The device features a vibrant 13” PixelSense touchscreen that is virtually edge to edge, with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. In the era of virtual meetings, the 5MP front-facing camera, 10MP-4K rear-facing camera, Dolby® Atmos™ sound, and dual far-field Studio Mics ensure users look and sound their best at all times.

The Surface Pro 8 combines the power of a laptop with the flexibility of a tablet, with an iconic Kickstand and detachable Surface Pro Signature Keyboard that provides both storage and charging for the Surface Slim Pen 2.

On the topic of the Surface Slim Pen 2, it comes equipped with haptic feedback and replicates the experience of a real pen with a slim carpenter-inspired style, while a sharper pen tip offers exceptional accuracy.

It is also equipped with a zero force inking feature that allows instant ink flow the moment the Slim Pen 2 touches the screen. Users can also flip the Slim Pen 2 around to use the tail button and eraser function, much like a real pen. Best of all, it works across the entire portfolio of ink-enabled Surface devices, allowing more users to enjoy the power and precision of the new Slim Pen 2.

Surface Pro 7+

The Surface Pro 7+ has been available for Malaysian commercial and education customers since February 2021, but beginning from 8 February onwards, it is now available for general consumers as well.

With both USB-A and USB-C ports, Surface Pro 7+ offers the adaptability to dock into external displays and leverage the needed peripherals for a full workstation setup. The device integrates front and rear facing cameras with 1080p full HD video along with Dolby Atmos speakers and dual far-field Studio Microphones.

Availability

Both products will be available to consumers in the following configurations in Malaysia:

Model

Suggested Retail Price

Surface Pro 8

Intel Core i5, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Platinum

Intel® Evo™ Core i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Black

Intel® Evo™ Core i5, 16GB, 256GB SSD, Black
(Exclusive to Harvey Norman)

Intel® Evo™ Core i7, 16GB, 256GB SSD, Black

Intel® Evo™ Core i7, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Black

Surface Pro 7+

Intel Core i3, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Platinum

Intel Core i5, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Platinum

RM4,950

RM5,250

RM6,490

RM7,350

RM8,750

RM3,599

RM4,299

The Surface Pro 8 and Pro 7+ will be generally available from 15 February and 8 February respectively via commercial authorized reseller,

Maxis
; and

authorized retailers
 such as
All IT
,
Gloo by SNS Network
,
Harvey Norman
,
Lazada-Microsoft Authorised store
,
PC Image
,
Senheng
,
Shopee-Microsoft Authorised store
 and
TMT by Thundermatch
.

With every purchase of Surface Pro 8 during pre-order, authorized retailers will be giving away Surface Pro Signature Keyboard (worth RM699). Authorized retailers will also be giving away additional free gifts worth up to RM1,499 while stocks last.

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Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5 can now be preordered in Malaysia

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Microsoft has announced preorders of the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5 in Malaysia, these two computing devices are recently announced in the company’s Surface event and comes with decent upgrades over their predecessors despite looking the same.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 – from RM5,299 for Intel variant, RM7,206 for SQ3 variant

The Surface Pro 9 is available in 12th Gen Intel Core processor and Microsoft SQ3 variant, which the latter will have support for 5G connectivity and is only available for business customers, the 2-in-1 tablet offers a 13-inch PixelSense display that refreshes at 120Hz, the display now features better inking with tactile signals all thanks to a custom G6 chip, which will work out of the box with Microsoft OneNote and the new GoodNotes app for Windows 11.

With the Microsoft SQ3 processor variant, customers can expect up to 19 hours of battery life all thanks to the efficient ARM chip supplied by Qualcomm, its NPU also unlocks DALL∙E 2 integration in the Microsoft Designer app, which allows creators to better design social media posts, invitations and more at a faster pace, though on the hardware side you won’t get Thunderbolt 4 ports that’s exclusive to the Intel variant.

The Surface Pro 9 with 12th Gen Intel Core processors will start at RM5,299 for consumers, which you will get a Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. For a limited time till 28 November, customers who preorder the device will receive a complimentary Surface Pro Signature Keyboard and other free gifts worth up to RM1,288.

As for the Surface Pro 9 5G SQ3 variant, Surface for Business customers can purchase them from authorized resellers at a starting price of RM7,206, which offers 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD for the base configuration.

Surface Laptop 5 – from RM5,299

The Surface Laptop 5 will be available in two screen sizes of 13.5-inches and 15-inches, you no longer get to choose between AMD and Intel processor options like before, but they are no slouch in terms of performance and efficiency either, as the Surface Laptop 5 is an Intel EVO certified device powered by 12th Gen Intel Core processors, which will offer fast boot speeds and at least 8 hours of battery life.

Microsoft has given a slight upgrade to the Surface Laptop 5’s display with support for Dolby Vision IQ, which will offer better colors and contrast in any lighting conditions, its speakers have also been tuned to offer Dolby Atmos 3D spatial audio.

The Surface Laptop 5 will start at RM5,299 for the 13.5-inch model and RM6,899 for the 15-inch model. For the 13.5-inch model, you get a Core i5 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for the base configuration, and on the 15-inch model, you get a Core i7 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for the base configuration.

For a limited time till 28 November, customers who preorder the Surface Laptop 5 will receive a complimentary Microsoft Arc Mouse and other free gifts worth RM998.

Click
here
 to preorder the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5 from the Microsoft Authorised Shopee Store.

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SUUNTO 9 Peak launched: The newest and smallest addition to its series

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Joining the SUUNTO 9 family is the SUUNTO 9 Peak – the latest premium watch from the brand that is similar to the SUUNTO 9 Baro, but smaller.

SUUNTO 9 Peak – two styles, four colours

The new SUUNTO 9 Peak is available in four colours — Granite Blue Titanium, Birch White Titanium, All Black and Moss Gray. The first two models are priced at RM3,199 as they come with Titanium Grade 5 case while the other models uses stainless steel. This sport watch come with a 43mm case and is 37% thinner and 36% lighter than the SUUNTO 9 Baro.

In the display department, this watch has automatic backlight intensity adjustment and pushes 240 x 240 resolution. You can also navigate using the watch itself as it comes with built-in GPS — it can last up to 170 hours if you’re using GPS in Tour mode.

This sports watch has a complete set of health and fitness monitoring tools

SUUNTO also included over 80 workout modes including running, hiking, biking, skiing and more. For those who love hiking or diving, you can also get in-depth weather insights like the sunrise/sunset times, pressure resolution, and sea level pressure. Apart from that, the SUUNTO 9 Peak has the usual heart-rate tracking, blood oxygen level monitor, stress tracker and sleep analysis.

This sports watch can usually last you up to 14 days, but if you’re using it with 24/7 tracking and mobile notifications, the battery life is shorten by half. However, if you’re using the training mode with GPS, the battery can be fully drained in 25 hours — the good news is, you only need a full hour to fully charge the watch.

The SUUNTO 9 Peak can be purchased online from
Lazada
,
Shopee
 and more.

SUUNTO
SUUNTO 9 Peak


Suunto 9 Peak Pro launches in Malaysia from RM2,699

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If you are looking for a thin yet rugged GPS sports watch, the Suunto 9 Peak Pro might pique your interest over the competition as it has made its debut in Malaysia and starts at RM2,699 for the stainless-steel model and RM3,199 for the titanium model.

The Suunto 9 Peak Pro measures 10.8mm thin and weighs just 64g for the stainless-steel model and 55g for the titanium model, it features a 43mm case and a 1.2-inch matrix display that’s protected by sapphire crystal glass.

Suunto has equipped the watch with a new processor that improves its performance and users can expect a smooth user interface, it also offers up to 21 days of battery life with regular use, up to 40 hours when using the best GPS mode, and goes all the way to 300 hours in Tour mode.

The watch can fast charge from 0% in a mere hour and with just 10 minutes of charging, users can do up to 10 hours of training, which is very impressive.

According to Suunto, the Suunto 9 Peak Pro has passed rigorous US military standards and is handcrafted with 100% renewable energy in Finland, it has been engineered to withstand ice, sand, drops and shocks, pressure and salt, which sounds incredibly robust for such a thin form factor.

The Suunto 9 Peak Pro can be preordered now at
Lazada
,
Shopee
, SolarTime.com and all on-ground point of sales of a.d time, preorders till 21 November are eligible to receive a RM500 e-voucher to purchase Suunto accessories.

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SVP of Android hints at Nutella for Android N

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A month ago, Google has announced that it will be taking in user suggestions on naming Android N, encouraging fans to play their part in submitting names for the latest iteration of the Android OS. Android’s Senior Vice President, Hiroshi Lockheimer has taken to Twitter a couple of teaser images, dropping some big hints about the name of Android N, and the hinting isn’t subtle at all.

Lockheimer posted on Twitter a screenshot of his Chrome OS desktop, with a “Nutella” being Google Searched, with the caption “Just testing some stuff out…”. If it isn’t obvious enough, it seems like Nutella will likely be the official name for Android N, which is currently in Developer Preview 3. A little over a week ago, Lockheimer hinted on Twitter with an image of a dessert menu, with “Nutella Pizzetta” as one of the dessert names. On the flipside of things, this could just be a troll by the Android SVP. Last year, Dave Burke, Vice President of Android’s engineering department teased a possible Android Milkshake, before Android 6.0 was officially unveiled as Android Marhsmallow.

Based on what has happened before, this could go two ways, as a legit teaser or just another troll from Google. Will it be Android Nutella? What do you think?

Source:
Hiroshi Lockheimer (Twitter)

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Swiftech H240-X CPU Liquid Cooling Kit Review: The next-generation custom Water Cooling

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PC custom water cooling has traditionally been an expensive hobby reserved for the most adventurous of enthusiast. Putting together an open loop system involves a process requiring the purchase of several different components including a water block, pump, reservoir, radiator, fans, fittings, tubing, and coolant. Assembling and filling the system is also daunting compared to mounting a simple air-cooled heatsink. All this complexity creates a barrier to entry, making for a limited slot in market and high component prices.

We were lucky enough to get our hands on the H240-X (2×140 mm radiator), all of which feature the same “enthusiast grade components” including their MCP30 pump, Apogee XL water block, and a revised version of the MCR-X20 series of radiators. To make things simpler, the pump and reservoir are integrated into the radiator, so you don’t need any external bays to house them; the structure will be as simple as an AIO unit. Will this be the best AIO that you can find in the market at this moment? Let’s get deeper into the Swiftech H240-X CPU Liquid Cooling Kit.

Overview

The front of the box show off the basic details of Swiftech H240-X with a compatible list, and the variant color samples on the CPU Block.

The back of the box shows the full details for H240-X with the measurement on the fans and the radiator. There aren’t many extra details about the H240-X.

Included in the box is a manual book, 1g syringe thermal compound, AMD Socket mounting bracket, Intel Socket mounting bracket, three different plates for CPU block and 8-way PWM splitter.

A closer look on the PWM fan splitter, which shows the all the 8 fan slot that can be covered to prevent any of the pins from bending. Users can either mount it using the two screw holes or by using a double-sided tape.

This will be one of the advantages when you get this cooler because you can easily open the clamp to change it to barb, compression, angle fittings or any fittings that you wish to put. The gap between each fin on the radiator looks so perfect and has been placed compactly to ensure the best cooling for your processor.

The fans included with the radiator looks sexy with its white accent on the fans. I would have liked it better if they would have made it easier for users to take it out easily for cleaning.

The Swiftech H240-X are using the same CPU that can be bought separately at RM239. It might look slightly larger than the normal CPU block that you can find out in the market, but

The CPU Block will light up depends on which plate you are using, the stock will be in blue and it’s good enough to suit your PC theme build.

Test Rig Configuration

Benchmark

CPU Cooler are tested under heavy load at thirty minutes at least 3 times to ensure the data we collect is correct. First we run the test with a slight overclock on the processor with 4.4 GHz at 1.15 vcore and we got an impressive result compared to Cooler Master Nepton 280l, which score 53’c with 50% fan speed. Then, we continue to push it further by overclocking the processor to 4.8 GHz at 1.28 vcore, and it successfully achieve 73’c, which it’s pretty impressive because we are able to overclock pretty high from the stock clock at 4 GHz.

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SwiftKey temporarily suspends cloud syncing due to keyboard synchronization bug

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Over the past week or so, some SwiftKey users reported that their keyboards were suggesting random foreign words and even unfamiliar e-mail addresses. Over the weekend, SwiftKey has responded to these worrying reports, and have stated that they will be disabling its cloud sync service until the issue is resolved.

Knowledge of this problem first appeared in a
reddit thread
 where a user reported that SwiftKey has been suggesting German words when he has never typed in German before. Things get really troubling when SwiftKey suggested an e-mail address that the user has never seen before. Going through the thread, it appears that this issue isn’t limited to just one person as a handful of people in the thread commented that they’ve been receiving weird word predictions for a while.

According to SwiftKey, this issue is limited to only a small fraction of users. The source of the problem appears to be a bug in the keyboard’s synchronization program, a problem that the company states “does not pose a security issue for our customers.” However, SwiftKey has since disabled cloud sync and the company has said that it will be removing e-mail address predictions, meaning that should this happen again, email addresses won’t be suggested to a complete stranger.

Source:
SwiftKey
,
Reddit
,
Android Authority

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SwiftKey’s update allows web search within its keyboard

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Microsoft-owned SwiftKey releases a new search feature for its Android users, which allows them to do Internet-browsing directly from the keyboard.

The new feature is powered by Bing, Microsoft’s own search engine. Users can search the web through the keyboard without needing to quit their current app, and they do not need to go out of their way to open browser apps like Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and so on.

For example, if you’re talking to your friends on WeChat or Instagram and you’re discussing on where to eat later, or where to go for shopping, you can just use the search feature in the SwiftKey keyboard to search for places nearby, and send the results you want to your friends. You can also search for things like flight tickets, movie showtimes and so on.

Image credit: SwiftKey

When your SwiftKey keyboard is on display, just click on the + icon that will show the search feature. Then when you click on the search feature, it’ll show the search bar for you to do your searches and also your previous searches. When you’ve conducted your search, you are given an option to screenshot your web search so that it can be immediately shared to your friends. You can also choose to share the link instead of a screenshot if there are more information that you want to send to your friends.

This feature is similar to Google’s Gboard keyboard app, but if you’ve been a loyal SwiftKey user, then it’ll be a great update to you. While this feature is available for Android users, the company has not commented on whether iOS users will get it too.

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Switch offers RM500 off the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max

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The new iPhones will be out this year — if it’s not further delayed — but if you can’t wait to get a new iPhone for yourself, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are currently on sale for RM500 less.

The iPhone 11 Pro starts at RM4,899 while the bigger model starts at RM5,299. However, you can now get these flagship phones at discounted prices and also via instalment plans.

0% interest instalment plans

To get the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max via Switch’s Easy Payment Plan (EPP), you’ll need a credit card from the following banks:

CIMB

Citibank

Hong Leong Bank

HSBC

Maybank

Public Bank

RHB

Standard Chartered

UOB

Depending on the bank you choose, you’ll be able to pick instalment plans from six months to 36 months; some banks will also require PWP (Purchase with Purchase).

iPhone 11 Pro & iPhone 11 Pro Max (discounted price)

At the time of writing, all the storage configurations for both models are available. These are the discounted price for each model:

iPhone 11 Pro

64GB: RM4,399

256GB: RM5,099

512GB: RM5,999

iPhone 11 Pro Max

64GB: RM4,799

256GB: RM5,499

512GB: RM6,399

The iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max can be purchased at any Switch outlet or online. Check out Switch’s
Facebook page
 to find out more.

apple
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Switch to iPhone with iTworld and save up to RM350

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Are you switching to iPhone?

iTworld is running Apple Switcher program where you can save up to RM350 on iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 11 & enjoy instant rebate of RM58 on accessories of selected iPhone models.

In addition, you can trade in your device and enjoy even more savings off your new iPhone, and all of this can be done effortlessly at iTworld’s online and physical stores nationwide, and here’s all you need to know about it.

Flexible financing options with 0% installment

Click
here
 to learn more on purchasing iPhone with a crebit card.

With up to 36 months 0% installment on major Malaysian bank credit cards, you will be able to own a brand-new iPhone for as low as RM60/month, and even if you don’t own a credit card, iTworld offers up to 4 months installment on Debit card when you use PayLater by Grab, Atome, Split and PAYLATER.

Click
here
 to learn more on purchasing iPhone with a Debit card.

Alternatively, you can also do up to 36 months 0% installment with just your I/C, which you simply need to walk into an iTworld store as listed here, a sales representative will walk you through the process for doing so.

Click
here
 to learn more on purchasing iPhone without a credit card.

On top of that, customers can enjoy a complimentary Year 2 warranty when you sign up to 36 months 0% installment with credit card. Here’s a summary of how much you should pay over a 36 months 0% installment:

iPhone 13 mini 128GB from RM87/month (RM300 off from RRP)
iPhone 13 128GB from RM100/month (RM300 off from RRP)
iPhone 12 mini 64GB from RM71/month (RM350 off from RRP)
iPhone 12 64GB from RM85/month (RM350 off from RRP)
iPhone 11 64GB from RM60/month (RM250 off from RRP)

Trade in any old phone for new iPhone

Click
here
 to learn more on Trade in program.

Upgrading from your old smartphone and want the best trade in prices to knock off your iPhone purchase? You can do it over online with Instacash by CompAsia or head over to any iTworld outlets to have them evaluate your old device, make sure you have your device in working condition to get the highest trade in price and factory reset it before handing over to them.

Same-Day Delivery and Contactless Self Pickup

The excitement of owning an iPhone shouldn’t be ruined by delayed shipping, which is why iTworld offers same-day delivery for selected areas in Klang Valley with applicable shipping charges.

Click
here
 to learn more on Same Day Delivery service.

Otherwise, you can buy your iPhone at iTworld’s online store and pick-up at dedicated kiosks located in iTworld Mid Valley, iTworld Tropicana Gardens Mall, iTworld Pavilion and iTworld Ipoh Parade.

Don’t wait, switch to iPhone now!

There’s no better time to switch to iPhone and enjoy savings and flexible financial options with iTworld, click
here
 to learn more and find your nearest iTworld store. For faster enquiries, you may also call or send a
WhatsApp
 message to iTworld.

Also, you may purchase iPhone at iTworld’s
Shopee
 and
Lazada

store.

Join GLOO Rewards membership and enjoy member benefits here:
https://www.gloo.com.my/rewards/

This article is sponsored by iTworld

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Switch’s clearance sale is the one we’re most excited for this week

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Even if you’re not an Apple fan, Switch’s warehouse sale for Apple products would get you into purchasing them too because it’s going to be crazy cheap. It will be happening starting from this Friday for three days so if you’ve got nothing planned for the weekend, maybe it’s time you can stock up on your Apple collection.

And we’re not kidding about the crazy prices. Take a look at the list of products that will be on sale and their respective prices:

Better mark your calendars and expect a long queue since there’s going to be a huge crowd. And we’re pretty sure the Apple TV is going to be one of the bestsellers, because who wouldn’t want to get it at a price of RM100? It’s a mistake if we’re going to let this opportunity go.

Of course there’s the fine print though. There’s no warranty for all of these products, though customers are able to return them within 7 days if they fail to function. You can only purchase one unit at a time. The demo sets are products previously used for display, but rest assured, they can still be returned within a week after purchase.

Should you have more queries, do check out their official post
here
. They will be updating more on the list so do remember to watch the space.

Details:
 Switch Warehouse Clearance
 MyTown Shopping Mall, KL
 from 2-4 March 2018

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Swype has new Star Trek themes, emoji keyboard and more

332

Swyping is a really convenient way of one-handed typing, and Swype has been a household name when it comes to that gesture. The developers has just released a major update, allowing users to add new themes, enjoy a new emoji keyboard as well as upping the game when it comes to numbers and phrase prediction.

The one keyboard theme available for Swype that would make many geeky fans ecstatic would be the inclusion of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation themes. There are 19 Star Trek themes available and the price rages from $0.99 to $1.99 as in app purchases, or you can go for theme bundles that starts at about $2.99. Do take note however, that these themes are only available for the paid version of Swype going at $0.99, and not the free version.

One thing I find a little weird though, is the number prediction feature. Swype has removed the numbers row on your QWERTY keyboard and instead will predict the numbers as you type. For instance, if you type the numbers in words, it will let you convert them to numbers. I am not sure about you, but I find that more cumbersome really.

Like using emoji? Swype has also included an emoji keyboard so you can put your smiley or annoyed face, depending on how you are feeling. Another thing, if you type in Chinese, then be glad to know that Swype has also boost its Chinese language support by using cloud-based predictions to allow better predictions. Since I am not fluent in that language, do let me know how well that works for you.

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Swype is the first iOS 8 keyboard to launch at 99 cents

303

iOS 8 is releasing later in the day and if you’ve been longing for a custom keyboard, you’ll be glad that Swype is the first custom keyboard to be up in the App Store at a price of only 99 cents. Swype will work similarly to its Android counterpart, which will allow you swipe across the keys to get your words out and with the company’s next word prediction technology, texting on the iOS devices gets even better and we believe there will be lesser auto-correct issues once the app learns your typing habits. The only thing though is that Swype will not have Cloud dictionary synchronization at this time of launch and will be available in a later update.

How will you be able to switch to a a third party keyboard like Swype on iOS? You simply install the keyboard from the App Store, and it will appear as an app icon on your springboard, tap on it and do the necessary set ups, go into a text typing app, hold on to the globe button as if you switch languages and you’ll find Swype showing up, it’s that simple. We should be seeing more awesome keyboards coming up in iOS 8 such as Swiftkey, TouchPal and many other familiar Android keyboards so do hit on the update button on your iOS devices once iOS 8 becomes available if you want to switch over from Apple’s keyboard.

Source:
The Verge


Symantec introduces Backup Exec 2014, faster and more flexible backup solution for the enterprise

390

As businesses grow, the more data is being stored in the enterprise IT environment, those things can include databases, e-mails and backups of the most critical business applications, Symantec has obviously noticed the importance of data backup for every businesses today and introduces its latest Backup Exec 2014 backup solution, this all new backup solution will have 100% performance improvement over the previous version and supports a variety of interesting features.

Symantec has pointed out the top 5 pain points that customers have been facing in performing backup and recovery in their IT environment, many companies are virtualizing their IT environments and are constantly creating more copies of virtual machines as business grows in a fast pace, therefore resulting a higher cost and spending a lot of time in maintaining the backups and performing recovery tasks. Furthermore, most backup solutions today aren’t flexible in supporting a variety of platforms and backup media.

According on an internal survey, Symantec has also understood that consumers require the top 5 attributes for selecting a backup solution, which includes low maintenance, faster backup and restore performance, more simple to use software and a broader platform support.

To address all the pain points, Symantec’s Backup Exec 2014 introduces a granular backup methodology, which backs up files, applications and VMs on servers into granular objects and store them into a variety of storage options such as tape, NAS storage or even in the cloud, Symantec claims that this granular backup method has improved 100% performance from its previous Exec Backup 2010 software, and you can even perform recovery back to different hardware, provided if the server is using the same CPU as its previous source.

Exec Backup 2014 supports a variety of operating systems and applications, the new ones being the latest version of Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange and Sharepoint. Symantec has also partnered with Amazon to provide a cloud backup service for customer’s crucial data should they want to look for a compatible cloud service.

Symantec will offer its Backup Exec 2014 in the following licensing methods:

Symantec Backup Exec™ 2014 (per module – media server, agent and option)
Symantec Backup Exec™ 2014 V-Ray Edition (per occupied socket)
Symantec Backup Exec™ 2014 Capacity Edition (per front-end TB)
Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Series Appliance (per appliance)
Symantec Backup Exec™ 2014 Small Business Edition (per server/virtual machine)

Customers who are interested can also download a no feature limitation 60-day trial from
www.backupexec.com
 to try out the latest backup solution from Symantec.


Synaptics is bringing under-screen fingerprint sensors to phones

317

Looks like the time has finally come where we will be seeing phones with under screen fingerprints sensors as Synaptics has plans to mass produce an optical in-display fingerprint sensor and they added that a very big partner backing them.

They are calling this technology Clear ID, which will allow for bezeless phones to have biometrics on the phone other than facial recognition. We have seen a video of an unknown Vivo phone with this same technology so they are not the first company to achieve this, but they have claimed that they are dealing with an unnamed top five. Synaptics also boasted that Clear ID performs twice as fast as 3D facial recognition and will require one touch, which is an obvious reference to Apple’s Face ID. The company added that it will also work in a situation even when it’s sitting on the table, at any angle, or in a car mount.

This might be a sight of relieve for some users that would still prefer fingerprint sensors, compared to facial recgonition, we have seen that hackers have already found multiple ways to fool the Face ID, which is also relatively easy to do. Let’s hope with this, fingerprint sensors are here to stay.

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SyncMate simplifies Android file transfer on MacOS

416

When I need to make a file transfer between an Android phone and my MacBook Pro, I tend to get very frustrated at times when the old dated Android File Transfer app doesn’t work properly when performing bulk file transfers, and how I wished wireless solutions such as AirDroid could be used without a web browser. Last week, a company called Sync-Mac approached me with their multi-platform wireless file transfer app, SyncMate, which not only lets you transfer and sync files between your Mac and Android phone, it also supports managing files on your iOS devices and cloud storage with ease.

Installation is pretty straightforward, simply download the DMG file from the Sync-Mac website, drag the app into your Applications folder and launch the app. If you are familiar with smartphone sync apps, then you should have no problems using the app, you will first need to set up your device’s connection by pressing the Add New button on the left pane. For Android devices, you can connect to SyncMate via USB, Bluetooth and WiFi, you will be required to install the SyncMate app from Google Play to sync wirelessly.

After successfully connecting your Android device with SyncMate, you will be given a number of items to be synced with your Mac, which includes phone calls, SMS messages, photos, calendar and more. In addition, you can also configure sync folders between your Mac and Android device so that no files will be missed when these folders get updated.

The most interesting part of SyncMate, is that it let’s you manage files on your device and cloud storage such as Google Drive and OneNote via your Finder window, by simply Right Clicking on one of your connections on the left pane and select mount, you will then find your phone’s name or cloud storage account appear on your Finder window.

Sync-Mac is available as a free and paid version, the paid license starts from $39.95 (RM139) for 2 Macs, do head on over here to check it out.

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Synology announces DSM 7.0 with better monitoring and data management tools

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Synology has taken the wraps off DiskStation Manager (DSM) 7.0, the operating system that powers its NAS products, it sports a brand new modern user interface along with improved monitoring tools, data collaboration and management features, this update will be available starting June 29th onwards for all DSM powered NAS.

Device management has always been one of the largest challenges in a multi site  IT environment, DSM 7.0’s Active Insight feature resolves that by offering a cloud-based monitoring and diagnostic solution that allows administrators to constantly monitor the health of disks and NAS, the feature can potentially help resolve certain issues such as repairing a disk without having someone on the spot but at the same time offering actionable intelligence and troubleshooting advice.

With DSM 7.0, users will no longer need to worry about data availability when their NAS is distributed in different locations, the Hybrid Share feature allows the administrator to set up a collaborative folder on one NAS that’s accessible by multiple NAS and has data mirrored across all of them, should a NAS at one of the location goes down, the other online NAS takes over the data distribution and synchronizes changes back once the former comes back online.

Together with platform improvements such as supporting up to 1 PB volumes for super-large tasks, DSM 7.0 also introduces security improvements in the form of Secure SignIn, this brand-new authentication system makes two-factor effortless and straightforward to use. To improve and expand its cloud solutions, Synology has set up a new data center in Taiwan to serve Asia Pacific markets, which will help reduce data latency when users access their on-premise NAS.

The DSM 7.0 demo can be accessed
here
.

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Synology BeeDrive First Impressions: More than just a portable SSD

3.6K

When it comes to portable SSDs, most of us simply treat it as a faster and smaller storage device than the regular clunky external hard drives, but one company thought differently, and it is none other than Synology, a company that’s famous for its NAS servers and has unveiled its first portable SSD, the BeeDrive, it would also hate you to call it merely that, but rather, it is a personal backup hub that works very similar to its NAS servers.

Unlike its NAS servers, the BeeDrive is targeted at the consumer market, which Synology believes that not everyone has the need and budget to own a NAS server, but there’s still a need for a simple yet effective way of backing up files reliably, and that is unfortunately a gap that many portable SSDs have not filled, which ultimately led to the release of this product.

For starters, the BeeDrive looks just like any other portable drives you may find in the market, you basically plug it into your computer with the provided USB-C to USB-C cable, a new drive then pops up on your display and you can begin storing whatever you want.

However, this isn’t how you should start off with the BeeDrive, but rather by installing the BeeDrive app, which is currently only available for Windows computers and an online installer is already included inside the drive, so you won’t need to bother about checking the latest version of the app on Synology’s website.

The BeeDrive app gives you three options to start off – Computer Backup, File Sync and Mobile Transfer, which I highly recommend you spend a good 10 minutes setting them up, as it isn’t difficult to go through the steps and can be a really fun process.

While these options mainly involve backing up your files, one killer feature that the BeeDrive has is managing file versions on the File Sync feature, which helps you save up to five historical changes on a particular file and you can restore to that file if you accidentally changed it.

The file versioning feature also enables an archiving feature, which sends deleted files to a hidden Archive folder even if you press on the Shift+Delete combo, which can really save you from an uh-oh moment if you accidentally delete an important photo or file, this will never be possible if you use a regular portable SSD.

Backing up your smartphone’s photos is even easier with the BeeDrive, you simply need to download the BeeDrive app on your Android device or iPhone, scan the QR code generated by the BeeDrive app on your computer, choose the album folder you want backed up and voila, your phone’s photos are all transferred wirelessly over your WiFi network to BeeDrive, you don’t even need to fiddle with complex WiFi Direct settings, it just works when your computer and smartphone are connected to the same WiFi network, the backup and sync process starts in the background whenever BeeDrive is connected to your computer.

After going through these features for the first time, I’m left in awe with what the Synology BeeDrive is able to achieve in such a compact form factor, which only measures just like a piece of biscuit and fits into the palm of my hand, it is unbelievably simple to use and serves more than just a storage device, and mind you, this isn’t the full review of the BeeDrive.

BeeDrive keeps backups categorized and clean

The Synology BeeDrive will be sold in storage capacities of 1TB and 2TB in Malaysia, while there hasn’t been any official price at this time of writing, it has started selling the BeeDrive in the US with a starting price of US$119.99 for the 1TB model and US$199.99 for the 2TB model, which is a very reasonable asking price considering the sophisticated backup features it offers.

Stay tuned to our full review of the Synology BeeDrive.

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Synology BeeDrive Review: NAS in a Portable SSD

8K

Portable SSDs are basically boring gadgets that lets you store and access your files faster than a conventional portable hard drives, while they have the benefit of smaller form factors and are less prone to damages when you drop them, there’s hardly one that helps you get more organized with file management and backups, this is where Synology, a company that mainly produces NAS servers, sees a gap that it can fill with years of experience in hardware and software solutions, and the end product is the Synology BeeDrive.

Synology BeeDrive Video Review

The BeeDrive is a cute little device with a discrete matte black paint job, I’m glad that it doesn’t have any glossy or rubbery surfaces as I would hate to see it with smudges. the device measures just 65mm wide and weighs 42g, which is ideal for storing in pockets if you want to do that, the drive has a white LED activity indicator, and a USB-C port that offers up to 10Gbps transfer speeds.

The BeeDrive managed to achieve up to 832MB/s of sequential read and 881MB/s of sequential write speeds when I ran a speed test on AS SSD benchmark, which is considerably fast for such a compact device and makes it ideal for a video editing or game storage drive.

However, the BeeDrive isn’t all about storing files and fast storage speeds, but rather, it is more intended as a backup hub, and you will need to install the BeeDrive app on your computer to enjoy a suite of file backup features.

At this time of writing, the BeeDrive Desktop app is only available for Windows computers and Synology will release a macOS version at a later time.

Once you have installed the BeeDrive app, it will require you to register or sign into your Synology account, and you will be given three options to start backing up your files – Computer Backup, File Sync and Mobile Backup.

Computer Backup is pretty self explanatory, this feature lets you choose which folder or drive on your computer you want to back up to the BeeDrive, the backup runs as soon as you connect the BeeDrive to your computer, and when you add new files to the folder you chose to backup.

As for File Sync, it works similar to Computer Backup but lets you choose how you want your files to be synchronized between your computer and BeeDrive, you can have the BeeDrive’s files replaced by your computer’s version or vice versa, and this feature is very useful if you tend to work on different computers as you can setup different sync folders and direction.

On top of that, what makes both Computer Backup and File Sync really powerful as compared to regular backup solutions is the File version feature, which essentially stores up to 5 versions of the same file in a hidden folder on your BeeDrive and lets you restore them when you need it.

For instance, if you accidentally deleted a whole lot of presentation slides in a Powerpoint file stored on your computer’s local folder, you can quickly revert the file by Right clicking on it and click on Browse Previous Version, you will be shown up to 5 most recent version of the same file with timestamps and simply choose the one you want it restored.

Speaking of accidents, you can recover accidentally deleted files on you computer’s local storage from the BeeDrive if you have the Archive Deleted Files option enabled on the Computer Backup feature, which is a pretty neat feature if you tend to mess things up.

Mobile Backup is where things get really interesting, it allows you to backup your phone’s photo album over WiFi to your BeeDrive and works very similarly to DS Photo on Synology’s NAS servers, you will need to download the BeeDrive mobile app on Google Play Store or Apple App Store, then use the app to scan the QR code when prompted on your computer’s screen, and when connected to the same WiFi network, the BeeDrive mobile app backs up your phone’s photos effortlessly to the BeeDrive.

Aside from that, the BeeDrive mobile app is capable of converting HEIC files to JPG for iPhone users when you backup photos to the BeeDrive, which is very thoughtful of Synology to do that.

Probably the most powerful feature within the BeeDrive app is BeeDrop, which works essentially like AirDrop and lets you send files, photos and instant camera shots to the BeeDrive, I personally use this a lot when I don’t want to mess around with cables.

The Synology BeeDrive is available in storage capacities of 1TB and 2TB, it retails for RM829 and RM1429 respectively, it is rather pricey if you consider it as a mere storage device, but if you truly value the software features that the BeeDrive offers without needing to invest in a NAS server or monthly cloud storage subscriptions, let alone dealing with complex configurations, the BeeDrive is a compelling choice and I just wished Synology had offered higher storage capacities.

The Synology BeeDrive can be purchased at
Lazada
 and
Shopee
.

Synology BeeDrive Review: A NAS in a Portable SSD

The Synology BeeDrive offers fast storage speeds and powerful backup features at a reasonable asking price.

KLGadgetGuy

Synology BeeDrive

9

The Goods

Small and lightweight

Fast data transfer speeds

Powerful data backup features

The Bads

Doesn't support macOS computers yet

Price could be lower

 9.0

Average Score

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synology beedrive review


Synology @ COMPUTEX 2023 Interview: New NAS Servers, BeeDrive and more!

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During COMPUTEX 2023, Synology has as usual introduced a slew of NAS servers and enhancements to the company’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, it has also introduced the Synology BeeDrive, a Personal Backup Hub with NAS-grade backup features for consumers, and the Synology Plus Series hard drives, a new line up of consumer-grade NAS hard drives designed for home and small business users who want the most reliable and best possible performance on their Synology NAS servers.

We had the opportunity to visit Synology’s booth at COMPUTEX 2023 and talk to Jason Sin, Sales Manager of Synology Malaysia, to understand further what Synology has in mind for the Malaysian market, and what customers can expect to benefit from the Synology BeeDrive as compared to a conventional portable SSD.

What’s up with Synology in COMPUTEX 2023?

[Warren]

Hey Jason, it’s great to be here at Synology’s booth in COMPUTEX 2023, what do you have to show this time?

[Jason]

It’s great to meet you here, Warren. At the Synology Solution Exhibition, there are 6 demo areas (Collaboration, Storage, Data Protection, Surveillance, Cloud, Memories & Productivity, and New Products), as well as an experience center for BeeDrive.

In our collaboration suite, you will get an exclusive early preview of our upcoming generative AI integration for MailPlus and Office.

When it comes to storage, we are launching a range of new products catering to both enterprise and consumer needs. This includes high-density storage with an impressive raw capacity of up to 4.8 PB and the ability to support 300 drive bays.

Additionally, we have the HAT3300 consumer-grade HDD and the BeeDrive consumer product.

Each solution demo area is packed with even more exciting new features, waiting for you to explore.

Synology BeeDrive

[Warren]

Let’s talk about the Synology BeeDrive, what’s cool about it?

[Jason]

BeeDrive is an all-in-one personal data backup solution.
In comparison to a NAS, BeeDrive is lightweight, portable, and extremely user-friendly. It’s an ideal solution for anyone who needs the basic functionality of a NAS backups but hasn’t purchased one yet due to its perceived complexity or maintenance efforts. Here are the highlight features of BeeDrive:

– Back up Windows PCs (Coming soon to macOS)

– Back up photos/videos from iOS/Android devices

– Plug in to sync files between computers

– Transfer files effortlessly from mobile to PC with BeeDrop

[Warren]

What does the BeeDrive offer over other portable SSD?

[Jason]

BeeDrive is designed in a way that requires a computer for synchronization and backup, rather than being able to connect directly with mobile devices.

The synchronization and backup performance through direct connection with mobile devices can be highly unpredictable due to several factors.

These include issues with cables, USB/Lightning interfaces, power consumption of external drives, and compatibility with different OS versions on mobile devices.

Such factors can often lead to disconnections or data corruption.

However, it is worth noting that BeeDrive utilizes technology similar to Synology Photos, which has been field-proven by more than 583K monthly active users, further affirming its reliability and effectiveness.

[Warren]

What type of user do you think will benefit most from using the Synology BeeDrive?

[Jason]

BeeDrive is ideal for a wide range of users, including:

▪ People who manually move their photos to an external drive to free up phone storage or are considering doing so as they’re reaching their cloud storage limits

▪ Students or professionals who need to back up school or work projects and personal photos but do not wish to subscribe to cloud storage for various reasons

▪ Vloggers, photographers, designers, field staff, or anyone who regularly uses their phone to capture photos for work and often find themselves transferring photos to their computer

▪ SOHO workers or freelancers whose work involves important (and sometimes sensitive) data from clients, but don’t have an IT admin to provide them with a backup solution

▪ Privacy-minded professionals who just want a local solution to back up all their data

[Warren]

Is the BeeDrive coming to Malaysia?

[Jason]
BeeDrive is set to launch on 7th June, offering two different product options with varying storage capacities: 1TB and 2TB.

Synology 2023 NAS Servers and shift to AMD Ryzen processors

[Warren

Let’s talk about your new NAS servers, what is Synology offering to Prosumers this year?

[Jason]

In 2023, we introduced several new Synology NAS models, including the DS723+, DS423+, DS223, and DS423. We are also excited to announce that more new NAS models will be launched in the near future. Stay tuned for further updates!

Warren:

Why have you made the shift to AMD Ryzen processors from Intel? As our audiences have complained the lack of hardware video transcoding, what are your thoughts on this?

Jason:

Some products are using AMD Ryzen, but some we are still remain Intel as the CPU like DS423+.

We understand many consumers are concerned about transcoding. However, most high-resolution videos taken by mobile phones and DSLR/mirror-less cameras can now be natively played back on PC/mac systems, mobile phones, and smart TVs or STBs.

While the consumption of TV shows, movies, and other studio-produced content, the most common file types containing multi-channel audio tracks, has primarily migrated to streaming platforms.

Live transcoding of high-resolution videos is a very system-intensive process. On the prior generation of systems, transcoding of some video/audio codecs, file formats, and resolutions could be offloaded to the hardware media engine on the processor.

However, hardware-based transcoding has limitations with certain codecs, color depth, HDR content, and even subtitle support.

While transcoding still has its uses for media collectors, investing in a more modern and capable playback device that can play most files natively will provide the highest quality playback quality and consistency.

[Warren]
Thanks for explaining, I’m sure these AMD Ryzen powered NAS servers are still great performers despite this, so what new features have you introduced to your Packages this time?

[Jason]

With the launch of Synology DSM 7.2, there are several exciting updates to our Packages that further enhance the user experience, noteworthy ones include:

– Synology Drive: Block download, watermark

– MailPlus: Ai writer

– Active Backup for Business on Mac

– On-demand sync on Mac

[Warren]

This has been an exciting session getting to know your new NAS servers and Synology BeeDrive.

Before I conclude this interview, I want to ask one more question just for our readers, does Synology intend to release WiFI 6E or WiFI 7 routers in the future?

[Jason]

We do not have a confirmed plan to launch Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 routers at the moment, but Synology will certainly keep watching the market demand and adjusting our plan accordingly.

This concludes our interview session with Jason Sin, Sales Manager for Synology Malaysia, do stay tuned to more updates from Synology by following their official Facebook page.

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Synology debuts two new business-oriented NAS

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Today, Synology has announced two new network-access storage (NAS) devices, both of which are made for business.

First of the two new products is the DiskStation DS116. Powered by a 1.8GHz dual-core processor with encrypted data transmission capabilities, the DS116 is a budget friendly storage solution that comes with comprehensive add-on features like file sharing, collaboration software, and much more.

The device itself delivers high speed performance, with a read/write speeds that exceeds 111 MB/s and 112 MB/s respectively. The dedicated hardware encryption engine found in the DS116 also allows the device to read and write encrypted files quickly, clocking in at 112MB/s for encrypted reading and 93 MB/s for encrypted writing. Dual USB 3.0 ports provides fast data transmission to a wide range of external devices. Despite the high read-write speeds, the DS116 manages to be energy efficient as it consumes only 10.68 watts while accessing data and 6.28 watts during disk hibernation.

For those that want their NAS with a little more kick in it, Synology has the DiskStation DS916+, a 4-bay scalable NAS designed for professionals and growing businesses. Powered by a quad-core CPU, the DS916+ is able to handle rapidly growing storage capacity needs. The NAS itself comes equpped with DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.0 and versatile add-on packages, giving users the ability to perform seamless file syncing and sharing, productive collaboration, and smooth disaster recovery.

Much like the DS116, the DS916+ is also capable of delivering oustanding read/write speeds. With an encrypted read speed of 225 MB/s and an encrypted write speed of 209 MB/s, the DS916+ is able to handle a wide range of computing tasks in  a secured and robust working environment. The DS916+ comes in 2GB and 8GB variants for those who require more flexibility in concurrent connections and virtualization.

Both devices are available now with the DS116 retailing for RM799. The 2GB version of the DS916+ is priced at RM2,650, while the 8GB version is priced at RM2,899.

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Synology DiskStation DS1522+ Review: Scalable 5-Bay NAS for Home and Small Office

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If you are looking for a NAS server with more than 4 drive bays, the Synology DiskStation DS1522+ is a product to look out for, it is a compact 5-Bay NAS that sports a dual-core AMD Ryzen R1600 processor and can be configured with 10GbE networking with an optional network module, which is a great choice for those looking to have more than 4 drive bays while not wanting to pay that much for a 6-bay NAS, here’s what we think after using it for the past 6 months.

Design and Hardware

When I first took the DS1522+ out of the box, I am most impressed with the compact footprint it offers as it isn’t that much larger than the company’s 4-Bay NAS, Synology didn’t leave any wasted space on the NAS and has made the sides way slimmer than other NAS servers we have seen.

In fact, it merely measures 4cm wider than the current 4-Bay DS923+ at just 23cm, while having the same 16.6cm height and 22.3cm depth, I reckon Synology could have saved even more space if they had moved the LED indicators and power button to the top of the drive bays just like how it did with the DS1621+.

For that extra width, the DS1522+ offers four Gigabit Ethernet ports versus two on the DS923+, which you can do link aggregation to increase transfer speeds on your network, or even simpler, simply purchase the optional E10G22-T1-Mini 10GbE network upgrade module and install it into the PCIe Expansion slot located conveniently next to the RJ45 ports.

Despite that, most people including me have complained for a while that Synology should really have just included a 2.5GbE port, since not all business environments have 10GbE network switches and 2.5GbE port have become increasingly common on high end routers, the cost of spending over RM600 on the 10GbE network expansion card could have been better used at buying at extra storage.

Like other Synology NAS, the DS1522+ continues to use a tool-less drive cage that secures 3.5-inch hard drives really well, which all you need to do is to take off the latch on both sides and align them with your hard drive’s screw holes, snap them back and you are all set.

Inside the DS1522+, Synology has already pre-installed a piece of 8GB ECC DDR4-2400MHz SODIMM RAM, there is one empty RAM slot which you can easily upgrade to 32GB RAM, though it should be able to support more than that if you can find higher SODIMM modules for running multiple virtual machines.

Under the DS1522+, you get two NVMe slots that operates at PCIe Gen 3×4 speeds, which can be used to create a SSD cache storage pool for faster file transfer speeds, it is rather unfortunate that they still can’t be configured for regular RAID 0 storage, since NVMe drives have already gotten so affordable and Synology still doesn’t include a bracket inside the box for installing 2.5-inch SATA SSD.

Performance and Usability

As with all Synology NAS servers, the DS1522+ ships with the DiskStation Manager operating system, which has an excellent graphical user interface that even a newbie will find it no challenge to set it up for the first time.

The Package Center gets you started with all the apps you need to use, and you will most likely download things such as Audio Station, Video Station and Download Station, there’s even things like Synology Office that lets you do actual office work on the NAS, and a carbon copy of Google Photos known as Synology Photos for you to backup photos of your smartphone to the NAS, it is an operating system that you can almost totally depend on for work as long as you have an Internet connection and a web browser.

Like the
DS1621+
 that we reviewed previously, the AMD Ryzen R1600 processor sadly isn’t capable of hardware media transcoding due to the lack of an integrated GPU, but if you aren’t streaming extremely high bitrate off the DS1522+, it should perform fine once you have the necessary codecs installed, which I highly recommend the FFmpeg package that you can install
here
.

With 5 drive bays, the DS1522+ greatly benefits those who wants to do a RAID array of more than three drives, which can help increase data transfer speeds as data and parity can be striped across these drives, while the best use case for such kind of NAS servers is to have three identical hard drives configured as RAID 5, which the storage pool can be used for frequently accessed data, while the remaining two drive bays can be configured as Synology’s Hybrid RAID system for storing long-term data.

Previously, one of my 6TB drive failed on the Synology DS1621+ and it was configured with Synology’s Hybrid RAID (SHR), it continued to serve the office without any issues without any data loss and once I popped in a new hard drive, it took around 30 minutes to mirror 2TB of data from the backup drive, which got me so impressed with how well a Synology NAS works and I have no doubt that the DS1522+ will continue to deliver that great experience in a similar case.

Synology has kindly provided us two of its 8TB HAT5300 hard drive to be used with our DS1522+, saving us the need to migrate our existing data while we can test the NAS from a fresh installation, these are excellent drives that offers up to 281MB/s of sustained data transfer and 23% faster sequential read in a Synology NAS, the drive’s firmware can also be updated with DSM and Synology offers a 5-year warranty regardless the storage capacity you purchase, which is a recommended purchase should you decide to go with a Synology NAS.

As none of our computers in our office have a 2.5GbE RJ45 port, I created a Windows 11 virtual machine on the DS1522+ and ran a disk speed test to find out the maximum data transfer speed, and the results doesn’t disappoint.

Our CrystalDiskMark benchmark shows an impressive 580.37MB/s of sequential read and 375.86MB/s of sequential write speeds, which if we divide the read speed evenly, it is close to Synology’s advertised transfer speed, and that’s an impressive hard drive performance that’s only usually found on high performance desktop hard drives rather than NAS drives.

Verdict – Better Value Proposition than a 4-Bay NAS

Overall, the Synology DiskStation DS1522+ is a very capable NAS server and has the necessary performance to serve home and small office environments that requires constant access to storage, not to mention that it is a great device to start with if you have intentions of increasing your storage pool in future.

The Synology DiskStation DS1522+ officially retails for RM3900 in Malaysia without hard drives, which surprisingly costs slightly more than the recent 4-Bay Synology DiskStation DS923+ that retails at RM3,199, and by all means it is worth paying for since you are getting two more Gigabit Ethernet ports, one extra drive bay and preinstalled 8GB RAM, even if you just need 4 drive bays, there’s really no harm to top up cash for an extra drive bay, because you never know one day, that extra drive bay can be extremely useful, such as using it to install a 2.5-inch SATA SSD to run virtual machines specifically.

The Synology DS1522+ can be purchased at most PC retailers in Malaysia,
Shopee
 and
Lazada
.

Synology DiskStation DS1522+ Review

Price:
 RM3900

A powerful 5-Bay NAS with powerful software and management features, but you will need to top up cash for faster networking speed.

KLGadgetGuy

Synology DiskStation DS1522+

9

The Goods

Compact footprint

Responsive Performance

Costs slightly more than DS923+

Four Gigabit RJ45 ports

The Bads

NVMe SSD can only be used as cache

No 2.5GbE port

No hardware media transcoding

 9.0

Average Score

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Synology Diskstation DS216+II Review: A powerful yet simple NAS server

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It wasn’t too long ago that we performed a review on Synology’s entry level DS216j 2-bay NAS, while I have to admit it is the first time that I’ve came across Synology products during that time, I was actually quite impressed with what the entry-level NAS was capable of. In this round, Synology had sent us a more capable DS216+II 2-bay NAS server for review which was also announced in Computex this year, so what can we expect from the DS216+II? We are going to find that out.

Design and Hardware

I didn’t like the DS216j’s hardware design back then, you’ll need to remove the chassis to install hard drives and there was no front USB port for backup convenience. The DS216+II had all of those flaws eliminated, installing the hard drives is as easy as removing the front plastic faceplate and pulling out the trays by lifting up the the lever.

Although Synology provided screws in the box, you don’t need to use them at all as the drive tray comes with a plastic cover with blocks to secure the hard drive, which makes the installation really effortless without the need of having a screw driver on hand, however I do recommend that you keep those screws somewhere safe just in case.

The DS216+II comes with a metal chassis that gives it a pretty solid build, it comes with one Gigabit LAN port, two USB 2.0 ports and one e-SATA port at the back and one USB 3.0 port at the front, while I wished Synology could have given all USB 3.0 ports on the NAS, I do appreciate the convenience of the front USB port for connecting external hard drives and backup data with a press of a button, the USB ports will support peripherals such as a wireless adapter and printer.

Software and User Experience

Since the DS216+II is targeted at small businesses with simultaneous user access, it is powered by a 64-bit Intel Celeron N3060 1.6GHz dual-core CPU with a burst turbo frequency of up to 2.48GHz, the NAS’s built-in 1GB DDR3 RAM is not upgradeable and we shouldn’t expect this unless you have thousands of users accessing it. The CPU alone is capable of transcoding 4K videos on-the-fly to smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and computers via Synology’s Video Station app, which is very useful if you are thinking to stream videos remotely, for instance I usually store my video projects in the NAS and when I’m out and about, I will then connect remotely to stream our videos to show our clients, otherwise I would sometimes just my collection of movies on my tablet if I were at home while the NAS stays in the office.

Synology’s DiskStation Manager is still one of the best NAS operating system that I have ever come across, while the OS core is based on Linux, its app extension is proprietary and you can only install applications from the Synology Package Center, but all thanks to the DS216+II’s Intel processor that supports the x86 architecture, you will find a lot more applications in community repositories, which is definitely a great news for advanced users.

Furthermore, the DS216+II supports Windows AD, LDAP and Domain Trust integration which IT administrators can easily connect the NAS to be part of an enterprise domain network, there’s no need to create separate user credentials and home folders are created automatically for every user that is in the network directory, which saves a lot of effort in setting up privileges for storage access.

I personally like how the DS216+II manages my backups and synchronisation across my devices, I use Cloud Station Drive to ensure my important work files are synchronised between my iMac, MacBook and PC, while Cloud Station Backup and DS Cloud ensures that files on my computer and smartphone are frequently backed up to the NAS.
Performance

Our DS216+II is fitted with two WD Red 6TB drives configured with Synology’s Hybrid RAID with data protection, the DS216+II demonstrates a decent read speed which I managed to record 118MB/s of multi-threaded sequential read when tested over a 1Gbps network connection using CrystalDiskMark, write speeds are however significantly lesser than what Synology has claimed on its website, the 83MB/s multi-threaded sequential write wasn’t as good as what we have seen on the entry-level DS216j, it should still be fast enough for simultaneous writing tasks but I’ve hoped for a better reading. Despite of that, I’m glad that DSM performs really fast on the NAS, applications launch really fast and I have been using every single day in accessing my files, performing backups and downloading stuffs online with Download Station.

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Synology DiskStation DS216j Review: simple hardware with powerful capabilities

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I have been looking forward to review a Synology NAS after having seen their DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system back in COMPUTEX last year, the company has impressively grown its roots as a software company to one of the most renowned companies in making NAS enclosures, and I certainly can’t wait to check out its RT1900ac when it gets released in the market. But before that happens, Synology has decided to send me the DiskStation DS216j, a 2-bay NAS server and enclosure targeted at home and professionals which is perfect for our office use, in some ways the DS216j may look like a cheaply made hardware, but deep down under the hood it has exceeded my expectations of being a home product.

Design and Hardware

As an affordable and powerful NAS enclosure, it is obvious that Synology made sacrifices to the DS216j’s build quality, the chassis is made of glossy plastic but thankfully white in color so that you will not see those nasty fingerprints and scratches in the wear and tear period, it is also rather compact in width so you may not find it an issue to store it in congested environments.  There is no way that you can hot swap the drives as it doesn’t feature a pull out drive tray, however installation is effortless as you will only need to unscrew a couple of screws to remove the chassis, and in my case I installed two WD Red 6TB hard drives, Synology does sell an optional 2.5-inch disk holder if you want to install a smaller hard drive into the NAS.

Despite being an entry level product, Synology has installed a huge 9cm fan at the rear for cooling, the DS216j also has two USB 3.0 ports at the back for additional USB devices and a single Gigabit Ethernet port. In addition, there’s four green LED lights on the front that indicates network and hard drive activity, Synology will allow you to adjust its brightness via the operating system, which is a good feature if you intend to have the device in your room and not blinded by bright LEDs when you are asleep. The DS216j’s hardware is simple and straightforward which you can’t go wrong with it, a front USB 3.0 port would have been a bonus if Synology could make one for the next hardware revision, as some users may not have the convenience of plugging in devices from the back in the case of congested space.

Software and User Experience

The DS216j initially came installed with DSM 5.1 and I have updated the software to the latest DSM 6.0 operating system throughout the review period, the highlight features of Synology’s new operating system includes:

Virtual DSM and Docker DSM technologies allows businesses to use IT resources with efficiency and agility.

The all new MailPlus provides a secure, advanced, and intuitive on-premise e-mail solution.

A private cloud collaboration suite that includes the much more powerful Cloud Station, Note Station, and the newly released Spreadsheet.

Business-ready storage and backup: PetaSpace, Snapshot Replication, Hyper Backup, and more

A beautifully redesigned Video Station, as well as native apps on Apple TV 4, Apple Watch, and Windows 10

Strengthened security with the support for 802.1X protocol and Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate

Looking at the updates above it would seem more like a refinement for the already great NAS operating system and I have to say these features are far superior than many other NAS I have seen, which should give users the confidence that they are owning a future proof product.

To be honest, I am overwhelmed with Synology’s software in a good way, as a first time user I do appreciate Synology putting on a huge effort in creating a friendly and beautiful graphical interface based on Linux, in fact you can almost use DSM 6.0 as a full fledge productivity operating system if you want to as it comes with a suite of business applications. For instance, I wrote this review with Note Station, a note taking software that performs similarly to Evernote which I can also use as a collaboration note taking tool with users within or out of my network.

Enter the Package Center, you will be presented with a huge library of Synology apps and other familiar web applications such as WordPress, Joomla, SugarCRM and many more. The best thing about a Linux based software would be community support, there are a number of great third party repositories that you can find online, which you can technically convert the DS216j into a proper web or application server if you want to do so. Due to the newer and faster ARM architecture processor used on the DS216j, there are a few community apps which you will not be able to install on it, in my case I badly needed FFMpeg with DTS as Synology’s Video Station has dropped support for the DTS audio codec which I’m not able to play my MKV video files.

Synology has also made remote access to the DS216j very simple with QuickConnect ID, which I have frequently used to access the NAS outside the office, simply enter
http://quickconnect.to/YourQuickConnectID
 and you will be taken to the familiar NAS login page you’ve seen in your local network, most features are accessible in the remote environment and it is rather convenient if you want to get access to your stuff quick when you are on a public computer.

On mobile, Synology offers a suite of apps on iOS and Android for accessing its apps on DSM, while I would have personally prefer if Synology has just one single app that gives me access to the needed features, the individual apps work as intended and accesses the device by using the QuickConnect protocol as well.

In a nutshell, DSM 6.0 is hands down the most sophisticated yet simplest NAS operating system I have ever come across, I have spent weeks on exploring the software in and out, the features you are getting out of this entry level NAS is definitely a steal and its hard to believe that this is merely a device targeted for home use, overkill in a good way.

Oh, the DS216j also supports WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity if you are thinking of transporting the device outside for work and lack of an Ethernet connection, simply plug in a USB WiFi or Bluetooth dongle and you are set to go, but I certainly won’t recommend that setup.

Performance

The Synology DS216j demonstrates a decent sequential read speeds on both single and multi-threaded tests with CrystalDiskMark, while write speeds are significantly slower than the mid-range WD EX2100 that we’ve reviewed previously, which we can easily assume that the DS216j can easily handle simultaneous huge file access, the DS216j also does surprisingly well in multi-threaded 4K write speeds, not impressive but it certainly write smaller block files better than the rest of the products in our comparison chart.

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