Should you upgrade to Windows 11?

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Windows 11 is now available in
Malaysia

and it brings with it an array of aesthetic and functional improvements – receiving the update however, isn’t as straightforward for some people. There have been reports of several gnarly bugs that sour the overall experience of using Microsoft’s new OS.

So, to those who’ve yet to decide whether they should go out of your way and get the new OS, this article is a going to be filled with my takes on why they probably shouldn’t.

What’s changed?

Windows 11 gets a
fresh coat of paint
 and the most drastic design overhaul can be seen in the task bar; I hate to say it, but Microsoft has gone the Apple route by relocating it smack-dab in the center.

Also taking a page from the fruit company’s playbook is the new control centre – although at first glance, the placement of all the familiar icons, such as WiFi, volume, and time, look unchanged; simply click on any one of the icons and you’ll be greeted with a pop-up that groups all of the aforementioned features, and more, into one neat space – which is something Apple does with the macOS.

On top of that, windows now have rounded corners – and I think is a nice change, albeit a small one. You also now have easier access to widgets, which is useful for getting all your info in one space.

Teams is now baked-in with the OS, and you get a nice bump in touchscreen, voice, and pen support – nifty features if you’re using a 2-in-1 device like the Microsoft Surface.

What’s wrong with it?

Not a lot, to be fair – it’s actually pretty great; but that’s down to how familiar it feels to use when compared to Windows 10. The new OS doesn’t break new ground or change anything too drastically.

This means that you’ll feel right at home after you’ve upgraded – once you’re done acclimating to the design changes, that is. This is fantastic news if you’re worried about needing time to adjust and how it may affect your productivity.

With that said, there are several known
bugs

and issues that make life more difficult if you’re unlucky enough to encounter them. One of the more egregious issues is that the update slows down AMD-powered systems to a painful crawl – reports have surfaced claiming that the new update can reduce the performance of Ryzen CPUs by a whopping 15%.

AMD has identified some of the causes being a bug that increase latency in the L3 cache by up to three times – which affects apps that rely on fast memory.
Ars Techina
 points out that certain e-sports games will also see dips in performance of anywhere between 10 and 15%.

Besides that, other reported issues caused by Windows 11 include File Explorer memory leaks, taskbars not properly being updated, lag when dragging windows around, and more.

So should you upgrade?

At the moment, I don’t see the OS offering enough to justify you rushing to update your system. At its current state, it functions very similarly to Windows 10 – which is all the more reason why you don’t need update, especially if that means – for you – forking out cash on a compatible device (you can read up on its system requirements
here
).

One of Windows 11’s more exciting features – the integration of Android apps – isn’t even available yet. When it is, maybe I’ll change my tone – until then, a fresh look, fancy widgets, and features like Snap aren’t enough to sway me over yet, and it shouldn’t sway you over too.

Once all the bugs are ironed out, and features made available – then go ahead and click that
update

button.

microsoft
windows 10
Windows 11


SID is an action camera that does 3D and live streaming

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https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2897850/video-774644-h264_high.mp4

With the rising trend of virtual reality and high resolution content, people have long forgotten the existence of 3D content. Sure, 3D is still pretty relevant when it comes to movies, but what if you want to create your own content in 3D while you are travelling or create a tutorial on some life hacks? Taiwanese startup Weeview thinks that there’s a demand for such a device and therefore created SID, an action camera that will let you tell your stories in 3D.

I happen to visit the company’s booth during my visit to the InnoVEX hall, which is part of the Computex exhibition area featuring startups from around the world. The company’s Chief Technology Officer mentioned to me that they were committed in promoting 3D as a new way of telling life’s stories, some content creators will want their audience to experience the scenes they are in, which is why SID is perfect to achieve such purposes. During my time at the booth, I was shown a demo shot by the camera in a pair of cardboard goggles, it was a video of a female gym instructor showing her moves, I was impressed with how crisp it looked and I don’t feel dizzy at all.

SID features two cameras that takes up to 32-megapixel stills and 3K (2880×1440) videos, there’s no display on the hardware, hence you will require to pair it with your iOS or Android device to use it as a live view, the hardware itself is also designed to fit with GoPro mounts, and the company recommends using a handheld stabilizer when shooting on it. Probably the most impressive part of the camera is the support of 3D Live Streaming, users can stream their surroundings in 3D to Facebook Live and YouTube, have their audiences put on a pair of 3D goggles to experience the stream in 3D.

At this point of time, the company’s Kickstarter project has exceeded more than 300% of its funding goal, pledges start from $159 and the camera will be shipped to backers by August this year. If you are interested, head on over to the company’s
Kickstarter
 page.

computex 2017
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Sign up to be a MIUI 9 Beta tester!

366

MIUI isn’t like any conventional Android software skin you see among modern smartphones. While Xiaomi has generally been getting flak for their software being similar to Apple’s iOS, MIUI does definitely have a fan base of its own as well. MIUI 9 is set for a July 26 release alongside the unveiling of the Mi 5X, and you can now sign up to become a beta tester.

Xiaomi has stated in a post on MIUI forums that it is currently looking for beta testers for its upcoming MIUI 9 software. To become a beta tester however, isn’t a simple walk in the park process for applicants. For starters, you’ll need to be running either of these Mi smartphones to be eligible for MIUI 9 beta:

Mi 6, Mi 5s Plus, Mi 5s, Mi 5c, Mi 5, Mi 4S, Mi 4c, Mi 4, Mi 3, Mi 2/2S, Mi MIX, Mi Max 2, Mi Max, Mi Note 2, Mi Note/Pro, Mi Pad 2, Mi Pad 1, Redmi Note 4X (MTK), Redmi Note 4X (SD), Redmi Note 4, Redmi Note 3 (MTK), Redmi Note 3 (SD), Redmi Note 2, Redmi Note, Redmi Pro, Redmi 4X, Redmi 4A, Redmi 4, Redmi 4 Prime, Redmi 3S/Prime, Redmi 3, Redmi 2A, Redmi 2/Prime, Redmi 1S, Redmi 1

You’ll also need to have the MIUI Global Forum app which can be downloaded via APK or through the Google Play Store. On the home page of the app, select “Recruitment” and fill in the form accordingly. In order to apply, you have to download the QQ messenger app for communication as well. Once you’re selected as a tester, join the QQ Beta Group on the app.

Looks like Xiaomi is being serious about selecting beta testers for its MIUI 9 software. Are you ready to be recruited as one? The full list of instructions are available at the source link below.


Signify Malaysia launches Philips Ultra Efficient LED lights

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In a bid to foster environmental sustainability and revolutionize the Malaysian lighting market, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), the world’s leader in lighting, unveiled an array of energy-efficient and sustainable lighting products, at an event called “Let’s Go Eco with Philips Sustainable Lighting.”

The launch presented several breakthroughs, including the Philips Ultra Efficient LED, Philips Solar Lighting, and WiZ Smart Lighting products. These cutting-edge technologies enable consumers to reduce energy consumption and cost significantly while contributing to environmental sustainability.

Signify’s Philips Ultra Efficient LED range, a technological innovation in LED design and optics, provides up to 50,000 hours of light. With an energy consumption rate that’s 60% less than standard LED products in the market, the Ultra Efficient LED range could dramatically decrease energy bills and help alleviate the ongoing global energy crisis. The range includes LED bulbs, LED tubes, and LED downlights.

The event also unveiled the Philips Solar Lighting range, comprising aesthetically pleasing and optimally functional solar flood lights, solar wall lights, and solar garden/landscape lighting products. These harness the sun’s energy, negating the need for electricity and bringing electricity bills down to zero.

Signify also showcased the Meson Interlaced Optics LED Downlight, a product specifically designed with an innovative 3D microstructure pattern that reduces glare by 40%. This eye comfort technology reduces eye discomfort, improving consumer wellbeing during prolonged periods under artificial lighting. In a similar vein, the Double Ended LEDtube, compliant with IEC standards, comes with a safety lock feature for safer installation.

The WiZ Smart Lighting range, which leverages home Wi-Fi signals for control, was extended with outdoor smart lighting products. One notable feature of this range is the SpaceSense technology, which uses Wi-Fi sensing to eliminate the need for additional sensors and batteries, enhancing home automation.

In addition, Signify introduced design and technology innovations such as the Philips HexaStyle Downlights and the Philips Magnetic Track Light range. These products provide consumers with the freedom to create their own design patterns at home. The scene switch and CCT select light fixtures allow consumers to alter the color of their lights with a simple switch toggle, adding versatility to their home lighting systems.

In a statement, Mr. Sukanto Aich, Chief Executive Officer of Signify Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., said, “At a time when the world is grappling with energy issues, this range of products will enable everyone to reduce their energy bills, combat climate change and practice sustainability. Our goal is to make these products accessible to all consumers in Malaysia.”

With these new Philips Ultra Efficient, Solar Lighting and other Signify’s Innovation products, everyone can now contribute towards sustainable living. The products will be available at Philips authorized retailers and online platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.

philips lighting
signify


Signify shows off the Philips Hue and the advancements that it has gone through

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Signify hosted an event today that showed us the Philips Hue smart light bulb and its wireless lighting system that allows users to remotely control their home lighting. It comes with a wide range of controllability and fun features that will cater to everyone.

Some of the features that were shown during the event is the ability to sync the lights to a timer or even reminders on your phone, change the lighting based on moods and there is even a feature that will adjust the lighting to match the lighting and hue of an image from your phone. The lights can also be grouped up together to have a one press control for all the lights or you can split them up and control them individually all from the app. Philips has done a lot of research on the way light affects our body and added those settings into the app as well, there is a lighting mood for when you want to relax, read, concentrate or be energized.

Other than that, there is the Philips Hue Sync that will sync the Philip Hue lightbulbs with games, videos and music that is playing on a computer and is available on both Windows and MacOS.

If you are interested in getting your self these smart lightbulbs you can pick up the starter pack which comes with three white and colour ambience bulbs that will work with any screw-in lamps and a bridge that plugs into your home router. The starter pack retails for RM849 and is available on Lazada, Philips authorised retailers, Apple resellers, Major IT stores and multi-brand gadget concept stores.

Hue+
lighting
philips
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SilentiumPC Releases Fortis 3 HE1425 CPU Cooler

380

SilentiumPC today announces the Fortis 3 HE1425 CPU cooler as the third generation of Fortis CPU coolers from SilentiumPC raises the bar for price and performance even higher. The cooler is designed from scratch Fortis 3 HE1425 is large single tower type cooler with top-tier performance at moderate price point to achieve optimal balance between heat dissipation and airflow it uses five 6 mm high performance heat pipes transferring heat efficiently to 38 aluminium fins.

Despite the overall size of the cooler, we managed to ensure ultimate compatibility with other components. Moreover, the cooler feature an asymmetric heatsink design allowing to accommodate tall high-end RAM modules by utilizing low-profile mounting screws and being only 158mm in height the Fortis 3 HE1425 as one of the most compact coolers equipped with 140mm fan.

The Fortis 3 comes bundled with SilentiumPC Sigma PRO 140 with a new fan designed specifically for this application it features new blade design and 500 ~ 1400 speed range perfectly matched with heatsink’s thermal capabilities. Inaudible in normal operation it provides sufficient airflow for cooling down demanding CPUs and users are also able to install an optional 120/140mm fan using an extra pair of mounting clips included in the package. Therefore, the CPU cooler will come with all modern AMD & Intel platforms as well as the latest Intel Skylake 1151 socket, and there will be manuals will guide you seamlessly through the quick installation process.

The Fortis 3 HE1425 CPU Cooler will be available on September 10, 2015 and price at USD 34.90 (approx. RM 145).

amd
cooler
cpucooler
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SilentiumPC Unveils the Vero L1 600W Power Supply

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Silentium PC has just introduced the Vero L1 600W PSU, offering great value and solid performance for system integrators and enthusiasts who keep an eye on their budget. It features continuous power of 600W aiming at single GPU gaming PC. It has a dedicated single +12V rail transporting up to 49.6A and two PCI-E 6-pin and 8-pin cables to power every modern graphics card available today.

The Vero’s compact housing is equipped with high-quality Taiwanese capacitors, providing clean and stable power for your system. There are five integrated safety features, OVP, SCP, OPP, SIP and UVP, to ensure safety for the PSU and the PC components. Intel Haswell C6/C7 modes full compatibility and ErP Lot 2013 directive allows is to be future-proof so you won’t be spending on a PSU anytime soon after you’ve gotten this, with 80PLUS Certified efficiency (up to 87%) allowing users to utilize an exceptionally quiet thermally controlled 120 mm fan, keeping the noise at minimum possible level even under load.

Specifications:

Standard: ATX12V 2.3

PFC: active (PF: 0.99)

ROHS certificate: yes

Cables: semi-modular

Cooling: 1 x 120mm thermally regulated fan

Safety features:

OVP (Over Voltage Protection)

SCP (Short Circuit Protection)

OPP (Over power protection

SIP (Surge & inrush protection)

UVP (Under voltage protection)

SOURCE:
TechPowerUp

components
hardware
pc
pcmasterrace
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silentiumpc


Silicon Power Release New M.2 and mSATA Solid State Drives

343

Due to the huge demand for super speed and cost-effective storage solution, Silicon Power, the world’s leading provider of memory solutions announces the latest powerful M10 M.2 2280 and M10 mSATA solid state drives. Silicon Power’s new flash drives will deliver superior performances and high reliability with its ultra-fast transfer interface of SATA III 6Gb/s, and supports Intel Smart Response Technology (IRST) to offer flexible upgrade solutions that saves consumers a lot of time and space.

Judging from its size, it will deliver high performance that portable devices require and the M10 M.2 2280 can be equipped for devices with an M.2 slot including next-gen desktops, Ultrabooks and motherboards with Intel 87/97 series chipsets. The M10 M.2 2280 delivers extremely fast transfer rates of up to Read/Write 520 MB/330 MB/sec while offering impressive 4K random Read/Write speeds of up to 40,000 IOPS in the CDM test. In addition to the family, the M10 mSATA SSD built in an original controller and premium flash chips, delivers blazing fast transfer speeds up to Read/Write 520 MB/330 MB/sec and up to 40,000 IOPS of 4K random Read/Write speeds in the CDM test.

Users can configure the computer with the M.2 or mSATA SSD acting as a cache drive between the hard disk drive and system memory, and this SSD can rapidly access frequently used programs and games. On top of that, the M.2 2280 and M10 mSATA support TRIM, NCQ, and S.M.A.R.T commands which allow the SSD’s real-time performance to be maintained at an optimum level at all times.


Silk Road creator's mentor arrested in Thailand

309

Earlier this year, Ross Ulbricht was charged and sentenced to life in prison for running the Silk Road website, a website on the Darknet that specializes in contraband and illicit materials. Last week, another person that is alleged to have worked on the website has been arrested in Thailand.

Roger Thomas Clark, who was arrested in Thailand on December 3rd, is the alleged mentor of Ross Ulbricht. During his tenor as Ulbricht’s senior advisor, the man has reportedly gave Ulbricht advice on how to maximise profits. He is also suspected of having used threats of violence to keep people from talking to the authorities.

Going by the pseudonyms “Variety Jones”, “VJ”, “Cimon”, and “Plural of Mongoose”, Clark is currently being held in Thailand and US Embassy has
officially sent a formal letter
 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Thai Government, with a request to have Clark extradited to the US.

Should the Thailand government agree to extradite Clark to the US, the 54-year will face charges of narcotics conspiracy, which has a mandatory jailtime of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison. He has also been charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy, which comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years.

SOURCE:
Engadget
,
Rimbit

rogerthomasclark
rossulbricht
silkroad
thailan
us


This is the Silver Edition Mi 6, and only 100 of them will be available

342

Xiaomi has made its name for being one of the most affordable smartphone makers today. The company launched the Mi 5X earlier today, which sports the dual camera setup of the Mi 6 in mid range form. The company has announced the availability of another handset on top of that, which appears to be the limited edition Silver colored Mi, and by limited edition, Xiaomi means business.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO has broke news at the launch event that the Silver color variant of the Mi 6 will be made available for sale. Just to quickly recap, the Mi 6 sports a 5.15-inch screen in 1080p resolution, a Snapdragon 835 processor underneath the hood, with 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. The phone also features a dual camera setup of 12MP sensors plus an 8MP selfie camera on the front.

The Silver variant of the Mi 6 will have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and only 100 of them will be available for sale when it releases. Lei Jun has announced that the Silver Mi 6 will go on sale this coming August 3rd, but it will come with a higher price tag than the regular Mi 6 models, at CNY 3,999 (RM 2536.52).

The Silver Edition Xiaomi Mi 6 will of course be sold exclusively in China. We can’t be certain as to whether or not the company will expand the sale worldwide. What do you think?

color
limited edition
mi 6
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Singapore and South Korea tops LTE charts

275

OpenSignal has released LTE statistics in their report titled “The State of LTE and it turns out that Singapore has the fastest average LTE speed and South Korea has the best coverage. The website collects data from millions of smartphone owners through its apps, hence crowd sourced data is part of OpenSignal’s
research methodology
.

As it turns out, the top two fastest networks with LTE are Singaporean telcos with the country’s average speed topping at 37Mbps and the network with the best coverage comes from a South Korean telco at 99.6%, with the country averaging at 97% LTE coverage on average. Countries like Japan and the US have massive LTE infrastructures. However, based on the report, their LTE networks can’t match the speed of most of the world’s 4G operators.

How about Malaysia then? The average LTE speed of Bolehland stands at roughly 12Mbps and the coverage averages at approximately 55%, which unfortunately lies within the lower half of the spectrum.

What do you think about Malaysia’s performance? Nevertheless we’ve just finished Season 1 of our Telco Challenge, comparing the speeds and real-life usage of local networks. All 12 episodes of the Telco Challenge can be accessed
here
 on our
YouTube channel
.

Source:
OpenSignal

challenge
korea
lte
singapore
south
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telco


Singapore to ban use of 2G devices

343

2G network technology has been here for a while now, and in the age where 4G connections are the standard, our first world neighbor Singapore is planning to put a stop to 2G only devices effective next year. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore has announced that it will start the de-registration of 2G only mobile devices for sale in the country beginning on the 1st of January 2017.

Singaporean retailers and dealers will not be permitted to sell 2G-only mobile phones to consumers within the country effective next year. They are however allowed to sell those devices for export purposes and overseas use. 2G mobile device users in Singapore have been encouraged to switch to either 3G or 4G capable handsets as local mobile carriers will begin shutting down their 2G networks to make space in the spectrum for higher speed networks.

IMDA claims that the country’s local carriers are providing options for 2G-only mobile phone users to upgrade their devices without additional costs, maintaining the current plan prices at the same time. Budget and affordable 3G mobile phones are available for sale as IMDA strongly advises users to upgrade their devices to avoid disruption of service. What do you think of Singapore’s decision to move on from 2G technology?

Source:
IMDA

2g
3g
4g
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connection
device
internet
mobile
network
operator
singapore
technology


Singapore to be the first country in Asia Pacific with flying taxi

280

In the year of 2018, movies and cartoons have portrayed that human kind would expand it’s technology and create super high technology products, one of it being flying cars. Flying cars may seem like a dream but now things are about to get real because Singapore have announce that they will be running a test trial of flying taxi which will begin in the second half of 2019.

Volocopter, which is also the company behind the Singapore project have said in a statement that the drone-based vehicles would take to the skies in a series of “inner-urban flight tests” with the support of local authorities. Besides Singapore, there are already countries that have already run the test trial, one of it being Dubai and another being Germany, which has successfully boarded individuals onto the flying taxi during the test trial.

According to Volocopter CEO, Florian Reuter, he has describe Singapore as a “logical partner” in its effort and have mentioned that “The city is a true pioneer in technology and city development”. He also added that by saying “We are confident this is another exciting step to make air taxi services a reality.”

According to local newspaper The Straits Times, in the year of 2016, Singapore was the first country to begin set trial for driverless taxis and by the year of 2017, Singapore has unveiled plans to introduce “robot buses and shuttles” to commuters starting in the year of 2020. The planned flying taxi trial aims to determine whether the electric powered aircraft, which was created with inner-city flight in mind, will live up to its design brief when operating in an urban environment.

Though the design of the flying taxi may look like your average helicopter, it’s drone like capabilities means it could be operated from the ground or by a pilot, carrying two passengers for about 30 kilometers.

drone taxi
flying car
flying taxi
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Singapore’s carpool app, Ryde launches in Malaysia and drivers get 100% fares

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We heard of e-hailing apps, but here’s one carpool app that has officially launched in Malaysia — Ryde.

The Singapore carpool app is now in Malaysia where the company aims to get 5,000 individuals to register as Ryde drivers by the end of this year. As reported by
Berita Harian
, CEO Terence Zou revealed that Ryde is more than just an application — it aims to create a carpooling community for the Malaysians.

The carpooling feature is called RydePOOL, where drivers and passengers and matched if they’re heading towards the same direction. This is unlike the popular e-hailing app Grab, where drivers specifically drives their passengers to their destination regardless of whether it is of convenience.

In addition, RydePOOL fares are currently commission-free for Malaysians — meaning they will get 100% of the fares paid by their passengers. The carpooling app also uses a “not-for-profit model”, and passengers can choose to adjust their price for a higher possibility of getting matched with drivers.

The carpooling service will begin on November 1 in Klang Valley and will roll out to Johor, Penang and Malacca. It is available for download on both App Store and Play Store.

Carpool
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Single cam Honor 8 Lite launches in Europe

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The Honor 8 is one of Honor’s most beautifully designed handsets to date. It is impressive in its own stride as well, sporting close to high end specs, including a dual rear camera configuration to top it all off. Speaking of which, we’re pretty sure not everyone wants a phone with two rear cameras. But what if a person wants the Honor 8’s design with more simple specs? Honor has the answer for you.

Huawei sub brand Honor has launched a more stripped down version of the Honor 8 – the Honor 8 Lite in Europe. Featuring a more affordable price tag, the Honor 8 Lite sports the same display as the Honor 8 – a 5.2-inch display at Full HD resolution. Underneath the hood is where we begin to spot some changes. Instead of a Kirin 950 processor, the Honor 8 Lite packs a Kirin 655 chipset with 1GB lesser RAM at 3GB. Internal storage has also been shrunk down to 16GB, thankfully, expandable via micro SD.

The Honor 8 Lite features only a sole 12MP shooter on the back with an f/2.2 aperture, rather than a dual cam setup on the Honor 8. Moving onto the front is the same 8MP selfie camera. Battery capacity also remains the same at 3,000mAh, like the original Honor 8. The price tag of the Honor 8 Lite is at a lesser €269 (RM1,283.65). Will you be expecting the Honor 8 Lite to make its way to Malaysia?

Source:
Euronics

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Siri has just gotten way cooler on tvOS, Single Sign-on, Live Tune-in and more

328

Apple introduces the new Apple TV remote app for the iPhone, and a couple of new goodies and improvements to tvOS at WWDC 2016 today. Eddy Cue took the stage as he brought up new features that were added to tvOS 9.2.2, which is currently in beta for developers.

Starting off, Cue showcased the remote app for the iPhone, which pretty much works the same way as the Siri Remote that comes with the Apple TV, with a bonus of being able to type on tvOS from the comfort of your iPhone keyboard. Siri has also seen better inclusion and integration with tvOS, and the assistant can now search YouTube on top of the 650,000 movies and TV shows under Siri’s search library.

Apart from that, tvOS now has Single Sign-On, which eliminates the hassle of logging into individual apps one by one, repeatedly. With Single Sign-On, users will only need to enter their login details once, providing access to a number of apps on the Apple TV. According to Cue, Single Sign-On will be heading over to iOS other than tvOS.

Live Tune-in, another brand new feature rolling out to tvOS, allowing you to catch live streams from major networks such as Disney, CBS and ESPN. Live streams from these networks will pop open just by calling upon Siri. Live Tune-in will also be arriving to the iPad. Last but not least, Apple has added “Dark Mode” to tvOS for your comfort viewing goodness. Apple has boasted over 1,300 video channels available on the Apple TV now, plus 6,000 native apps in a short seven months. What do you think? Stay tuned with us as we bring you more coverage from WWDC 2016!

Image credits:
The Verge

2016
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on
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Siri now reads your WhatsApp messages if you can’t

322

If you have been doing a lot of texting on WhatsApp than iMessage, but annoyed by the fact that Siri can’t read messages from WhatsApp when you can’t do so, you may want to check for an update in the App Store right now, as Siri can now read your WhatsApp messages should you ask it to do so. After updating WhatsApp to version 2.17.2, you will be able to look for the feature in Settings, where you can have the virtual assistant read your message with the “Hey Siri” command.

This feature will only be available for users who are running on iOS 10.3 and above, so you are out of luck if your iOS device happens to run on legacy versions of iOS, Siri should be able to read WhatsApp text messages according to your device’s native language, this also happens to be one of the more useful WhatsApp features ever after it has decided to bring certain features of Instagram and Facebook.

Let us know how it works for you!

SOURCE:
MacRumors

ios
iphone
siri
whatsapp


A Siri speaker might be in production based on reports

315

Bloomberg sources have claimed that Apple has started manufacturing the Siri-enabled speaker and might be announced at WWDC on June 5, according to insiders. The speakers will not be available until later next year, so don’t expect to get your hands on it anytime soon but reports indicate that a few features will help it stand out from the Amazon Echo and Google Home.

The speaker is said to sound louder and crisper than the other home assistants and would produce virtual surround sound, as Apple wants a room-filling effect. They also considered including sensors that will adjust the sound levels by detecting the room noise but it is unsure if this feature will be seen in the final product. The speaker will also integrate with Apple’s ecosystem, allowing you to control HomeKit-capable and there is a chance it will support third-party services.

If there is any sort of announcement on the Siri speaker at WWDC it would focus very much on the hardware part of the device, but there is still no guaranty that we will hear anything about the speaker during the conference, although there are some rumors that there will be a surprise shown.

amazon
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Siri will soon play podcasts when asked about the news

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Siri has just got an upgrade which comes in time for the release of Apple’s HomePod. The new update will allow Siri to playback a podcast when asking it for the news, similar to what Google Assistant and Alexa can already do.

In the latest beta version of iOS 11.2.5, there is an option to get the news from multiple sources like Fox News, NRP or CNN with more selections to come in future updates. With this update, we possibly could ask for the news on any device with Siri enabled devices like CarPlay and the upcoming HomePod. There is an issue where you can’t select the type of news to hear when using it with Siri which might be a deal breaker for a lot of people as they will still have to resort to using their phones or computers to select the type of news or podcast to listen.

There has been a major boost in smart speaker sales especially during Christmas 2017, with many more homes having smart speakers, there will be no doubt that companies are on the move improving their devices over time.

apple
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Sirius TV set to rival Astro with 12-month free subscription and RM20/month plan

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Looks like the competition is heating up for the once king of satellite TV providers Astro, as the new kids on the block Sirius will be offering a similar service when they launch this November 4.

Image credit: Sirius TV

According to SoyaCincau, the newbies will offer 12-months of free subscription to try and break into the now free market – Astro’s exclusive satellite TV provided license expired in 2017. You do have to pay a one-off fee of RM299 to pay for the satellite dish and TV decoder – installation fee is free according to Sirius.

What’s also interesting is that Sirius will offer 30 channels from the get go – Astro of course have more under their belt, including in-house channels. Sirius is, well…serious because they’re MCMC licensed and have partnered with Gernman giants SES, utilizing the company’s tech and equipment as well as content delivery system.

Image credit: Sirius TV

The channels that you can look forward to getting out of the box include TV 1, TV3, 8TV, CCTV 1,4,9; as well as LFCTV (sports) and more. It looks like your standard hotel TV offerings and we don’t expect these to whet anyone’s appetite; but here’s the catch – the monthly subscription fee starts from as low as RM20 per month, or RM200 per year. Plus, we reckon during the 12-month free subscription period, Sirius will add more channels to your list.

This is great for those who don’t want to pay an excess for Astro’s channel packages. Despite supposedly launching next month, the company’s
website
 look a little short on polish, so we’ll reserve judgement after the service is officially available.

astro
satellite tv
sirius tv


SK Hynix unveils GDDR6 graphics DRAM

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Still thinking that your GPU is already super fast with a GDDR5X memory? SK Hynix has just officially unveiled the fastest graphics memory DRAM ever, the GDDR6 memory is set to offer up to 16Gbps of bandwidth, twice the speed and has 10% lower voltage of GDDR5, it will also have 384-bit of I/Os and processes 768GB of graphics data per second, and SK Hynix says that the chip will be mass produced for a client that makes high end graphics card in early 2018, which we can easily assume to be NVIDIA’s upcoming Volta graphics card.

As SK Hynix puts it, the GDDR6 memory is a necessary memory solution for growing industries such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, self-driving cars and high definition dispays over 4K to support their virtualization. The previous GDDR5X memory has up to 548GB/s of memory bandwidth, hence GDDR6 sure introduces a significant performance boost over its predecessor, the efficiency of the RAM is attributed to the all new 2Znm process. SK Hynix expects GDDR6 to speedily substitute GDDR5 and GDDR5X when it gets released, and it has been collaborting with core graphics chipset client to timely mass produce the chip.

Well, if you can wait till 2018 to upgrade your GPU, its probably a good thing.

SOURCE:
Tweaktown

gddr6
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Sky Garden: Farm in Paradise extends Halloween Event to celebrate being featured on Google Play

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Sky Garden: Farm In Paradise, a game developed by the Vietnam-based VNG Game Studios, has been featured on the Google Play Store. In order to celebrate this occasion, the studio will be extending the game’s Halloween Event until the 7th of November 2016.

For those who are unaware as to what Sky Garden: Farm In Paradise is, Sky Garden is a casual farming game that puts players in the shoes of a fantasy gardener. The players are tasked with raising a garden of flowers, harvest seed of plants and grow amazing plants above the cloud.

With VGN Game Studios now extending its Halloween Event, new users who register while the event is running will receive 30,000 candies and 10,000 bullets. Additionally, new users who login everyday willl receive gems and gifts throughout the entire first two weeks. Finally, the game will continue to offer its in-game Disney themed items, such as a Mickey Pot and a Decor Set, to all SEA-based players.

If you’re looking for a new game for your Android device, now is a good time to jump into Sky Garden. Unfortunately, the game is unavailable for iOS at the moment.

android
event
halloween
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Skype for Android update will optimize the app for entry-level phones

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Microsoft is releasing an update for Skype on Android that will make it more optimized for older versions of Android and provides better audio and video quality for lower-end devices. The optimizations are made for phones running on Android 4.0.3 to 5.1 and Microsoft has added that it will be lighter on disk and memory consumption.

This is similar to what Google is doing with its Android Go program, offering a lite version of Android and Google Apps which are made for phones that have entry-level processors and lower capacity RAM and storage. They will also work well when the data connection is weak making it easier for those that purchase entry-level phones to join the Google ecosystem. Google and Microsoft are not the only ones that are releasing lightweight versions of their apps, as Facebook has released lite versions of Facebook and Messenger followed by Twitter that did the same with their app.

No changelog has been provided on the upcoming update, but Microsoft has mentioned that the update will be rolled out worldwide in the next couple of weeks.

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Skype for Android now allows you to schedule calls and open Office files

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Skype on Android has received a new update and with it, two new features were introduced into the app.

If you’re someone who uses Outlook to schedule Skype calls, Skype for Android now allows you to schedule calls in Outlook through the Skype App. All you have to do is tap on the person you want to plan a call with, the n tap the menu on the upper right to select ‘Schedule a call’.

The other improvement made to Skype for Android is that you can now open Word, Excel and PowerPoint files through Skype itself. If you have Office apps installed on your phone, tapping on a file sent by your contact would immediately open said file on the Office app in question. If you do not have any of the Office apps, tapping the files would bring you to a page with instructions on how to install them.

microsoftoffice
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Skype rolls out group video calling feature to Android and iOS

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It seems like we have reached a point where smartphone screens are larger than ever. With most handsets out there sporting screen sizes of around 5.5 inches, Skype finally thinks that the time has come for them to bring group video calling to mobile devices, since group calling on mobile devices isn’t something new.

Skype has begun rolling out this new feature to Android and iOS devices throughout North America and Western Europe, with further plans to make the capability available worldwide in March.

Skype will be able to support up to 25 participants for video calls. Not only that, group video calls will be in HD quality. In focus view, the active speaker in the video call will be displayed on the front and center of the screen and you have the option to pin a selected participant to the center of the screen, whereas in grid view, participants will be arranged in a grid style. Apart from that, Skype claims to provide crystal clear audio, courtesy of their collaboration with Intel to include a SILK Super Wide Band audio codec.

You will also be able to add new people into a group chat or call easily by sending them a unique link. Anyone with the link would be able to join in the conversation and they don’t have to be in your contact list.

Class reunions can now be conducted on the go, however limited to your favorite 25 classmates. What do you think about this new feature? Comment below!

Source:
Skype

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Skype Universal coming soon for Windows 10

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Previously, Skype has released separate apps for Windows 10 – one for messaging and the other for video calls. According to Skype’s official blog post, they have been listening to user experiences and feedbacks, hence they will be bringing a universal Skype app for Window 10.

Skype has learnt that people value more lightweight single-mode apps. However, one of the feedbacks they’ve received are regarding different forms of PC’s and tablets:

“
But what we also learned from this feedback is that as the screen size gets bigger—large tablets, 2 in 1s and PCs for example—and you begin to use the apps, expectations shift and people want to limit app clutter.”

The blog post continued with the statement that consumers want apps that can do anything they want within the comfort of a single window. Hence, the company will be introducing Skype Universal for Windows 10, which allows users to text and video call in the same app. Skype has also promised new features that will arrive with upcoming releases of the app:

Start a chat with anyone using Skype or not using Skype

Create a group and send group messages

Group voice and video calling

Share your screen, files and video messages

Manage notifications from individual chats

The app will be released first on Windows 10 PC’s before moving on to Windows 10 powered mobile devices. The Skype Universal Windows Platform Preview app is now available for Windows Insiders and anyone can sign up to be an Insider to get a taste of the preview app.

Source:
Skype Blog

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Skyscanner gets smarter in alerting flight rates with Google Now Integration

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There are times that we are just so busy with our work that we even forget to check our messages, what’s more you won’t be able to catch the cheapest flight rates to enjoy your next holiday, that is why you will soon be able to grab instant price alerts with Skyscanner’s new Google Now card integration, the universal flight ticketing service that has always allowed users to compare prices of various destinations from popular airlines.

Similar to stock quotes or forex changes, Skyscanner allows users to track a particular destination air fare’s price change and will show up on Google Now if users have the Skyscanner app installed on their Android devices, this feature is pretty cool if you have always been thinking of heading to your next holiday destination and always wanted to get the best bargain in air fares, no more queuing up in the line.

If you haven’t been checking this really cool app and service, you should really download the app from the Play Store in the source link down below and you will find how easy it is to find the lowest fares to your travel destination, not forgetting to mention we’ve noticed that a lot of organizations do use this tool to purchase the cheapest business trips.


SKYWORTH’s Q91 8K TV packs high performance 8K encoding for $6000

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On top of introducing its new
W81 series Wallpaper TV
, SKYWORTH has also introduced its very first 8K TV at its CES 2020 global launch today, while the company might be late to the 8K TV game, it simply wants their TVs to be ready at the right time where 8K content is readily available, as it has partnered with two content services back in China to offer 8K content to customers.

The 75-inch Q91 8K IPS LED screen features an powerful MediaTek S900C SoC coupled with 8.5GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, it is capable of doing hardware decoding up to 60fps  along with an 8K AI Image Processing Engine that performs digital signal processing to upscale videos in real-time to 120fp and 8K resolution. With support for Dolby Vision and 576 zone local dimming technology, it promises the highest visual quality that you can experience in a living room.

Complimenting the great visual experience is the Q91’s soundbar with SKYWORTH’s Wonder Audio Sky Echo acoustic channel, it has Dolby Atmos spatial sound technology that delivers a immersive sound experience through the 2.1.2 channel speakers. In addition, the Q91 features a pop-up camera that allows the user to do video conferencing.

The SKYWORTH Q91 series TV will ship on June in the US and followed by other markets, what really surprised the medias is its extremely accessible price point at US$6000, which is at least two times lower than outgoing 8K TV models in the market, the TV is also expected to ship with Android TV when it becomes available.

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5 reasons why the SKYWORTH SUC6500 series will elevate your home entertainment!

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If you are in the market for a brand new 4K Android TV, but don’t want to break the bank, then look no further than the SKYWORTH SUC6500 series. It is a great value TV that comes with all the essential features that you need to level up your home entertainment experience.

Thin bezel design and great connectivity options

The SKYWORTH SUC6500 series has a great narrow bezel design that makes its aesthetically appealing and gives a great minimalistic look that brings a nice modern design to any living room. The thin bezels on the TV also mean you get a more immersive experience while taking less space so you will be able to fit it onto most TV cabinets. Additionally, the stand raises the height of the TV to 4.5-inches, which allows room to fit other devices like a soundbar, console, or TV box at the bottom.

Speaking of consoles, the connectivity is great with this TV. So, if you want to connect different consoles or devices with the TV, you can with the three HDMI 2.0 ports available and two USB slots if you want to watch your own downloaded content. It also comes with
Bluetooth 5.0 that supports higher quality wireless streaming, which you can use on your smartphone to stream audio through your TV’s speakers.

Packed with intelligent features

This TV is packed with many great features such as the Google Assistant for easy navigation when you want to quickly open an app or search something on the web via voice control.  It also allows you to control all your smart home appliances that are connected under the same Wi-Fi.

Another great feature that the
SKYWORTH SUC6500 comes with, is a built-in eye protection panel that protects your eyes from harmful blue light that could cause retinal injuries. It even includes Flicker-Free Technology to prevent flickering on the screen so that you can maintain a comfortable viewing experience.

Best companion for your gaming PC and console

One of the standout features of the SUC6500 series is the gaming performance that it is able to offer.

With the gaming mode option turned on, it greatly reduces the response time and input lag so that you get a smooth gaming experience and is one thing that you will definitely notice when you pair it with your gaming PC or console, especially when you are playing racing games such as Need for Speed or some fast first-person shooters such as Apex Legends.

Good audio and picture quality for its price

The two 10W speakers that comes with this TV supports Dolby Audio and DTS StudioSound to give you an immersive experience, this means you can binge-watch your favorite blockbusters at home while enjoying cinematic surround audio as if you are watching it in a cinema.

With SKYWORTH’s Trochilus Extreme 2.0 engine, the SUC6500 Series TVs produces great image quality and natural colors as it works behind the scenes to intelligently optimize content for the best viewing experiences, streaming videos on YouTube and Netflix is also faster on the SUC6500 series all thanks to the efficient AV1 decoder.

Comes with Android TV

Finally, the SKYWORTH SUC6500 series comes with Android TV 10, which offers a great way to expand your TV’s capabilities with the huge selection of apps from the Google Play Store, apart from getting access to popular streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, iQIYI and more, you can even download some fun games such as Crossy Road to kill some time if you can’t find something to binge-watch.

Furthermore, get quick access to your favorite streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube and Google Play with their respective dedicated buttons on the remote control, simply press on one of them and the TV launches the relevant app without you needing to browse it.

All in all, you are guaranteed a great experience with the SKYWORTH SUC6500 series because of the great value it provides. Given all the added features that you get with it, alongside the satisfactory picture and audio quality, it’s not hard to see why this TV is an easy recommendation for anyone who wants to elevate their home entertainment experience.

The SKYWORTH SUC6500 is now available in 50”, 55”, 65”, and 70” screen sizes. To find out more about SKYWORTH TV, visit SKYWORTH Malaysia website at
www.skyworth.com.my
.

This article is sponsored by SKYWORTH Malaysia.


SKYWORTH’s new W81 Series 4K Wallpaper TV comes with an always-on display

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At CES 2020, SKYWORTH has introuduced its next generation wallpaper series TV for the living room, the W81 series TV are available in sizes of 65″ and 77″, featuring the SKYWORTH OBM (OLED basic module) panel that enables the company to build the TV with an extremely slim profile while realizing Always On Display technology.

Measuring a mere 4.6mm at its thinnest point, the W81 series TV is very much a direct competition to Samsung’s Frame TV and LG Wallpaper TV, it attaches to the wall of your living room with the help of a powerful magnetic fixture and an invisible wall mount for stability.

As for how the Always On Display works, SKYWORTH CEO Tony Wang shared on stage that users can have information such as time, weather, IoT device updates, memos and more displayed on the TV all the time when it is switched on, this also allows the built-in voice assistant to be used by the user to ask for information or control the company’s Swaiot compatible smart devices.

The W81 Pro in particular features a secondary 21-inch always-on-display that’s built directly into its Dolby Atmos capable sound bar, where it will show line information that’s similar on the TV display.

As SKYWORTH wants the TV to also be a communications device, the W81 series TV comes with an high quality 12MP f/1.8 lens that is hidden by the SKYWORTH branding, when activated it slides to the right electronically revealing the lens, the camera can be used to initiate conference calls and users can even take pictures of their own and save it to their phone by scanning a QR code, it even tracks human motions that you can play games on it.

SKYWORTH will ship the W81 series TV in the US by June 2020 followed by Europe and Southeast Asia markets, the W81 Pro 77-inch TV will retail for US$4599, while the W81 65-inch TV will retail at US$3599, the company is expected to ship the TV’s software with Android TV with support for both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistant, we have no details how the company will customize the software for the TV’s always on display feature for the international market at this point of time.

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Small or big smartphones: Why size matters!

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Besides giving me an excuse to use plenty of innuendos, this self-indulgent article serves as a platform for me – a long-time big phone-user – to tell you why you need to pay attention to the size of a phone matters when choosing your next one, and how it can affect the user experience.

Weight

You see smartphone brands put a lot of effort into making their products sleeker every year; and not just aesthetically, but practically as well by shaving off more weight with each iteration. Smartphones like the
iPhone 12 mini
,
 Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite
, and even the
Samsung Galaxy S21

are good examples of super light, modern-day devices.

Many applications call for one-handed usages, so a heavy device can put a lot of strain on your pinky finger and wrists. Trust this
 Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
 user when I say it isn’t just your hands that are at risk of injury, but your face as well when that hefty phone inevitably slips out of your hands during a bout of night-time Tik-Tok-binging.

Height

Image credit: Caleb Oquendo via Pexels

If you drive and rely on navigation apps, you probably know this problem all too well – for some folk, a tall phone won’t fit on that holder that you stick to your windshield.

Even if it does, the bumps and bobbles of driving on Malaysian roads make your device hit the windshield every time – which is less than ideal.

vivo NEX 3

Popular flagships are notoriously tall – think the
 vivo NEX 3

from 2019, and the more recent
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
, and
Xiaomi Mi 11
 are at least 164mm tall and these lanky smartphones won’t sit well on some phone holders in smaller cars.

On the other end of the spectrum are short-sized flagships like the
ASUS Zenfone 8
, iPhone 12 mini again, and even the
Samsung Galaxy S10e
 from 2019 – these are all compact devices that still offer big performance and features.

Thickness

ASUS Zenfone 2

The girth of a phone is worth taking into account as well – I’m going to mention the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro again, plus I’m even going to give a shoutout an old daily driver of mine in the
ASUS Zenfone 2

from 2015; because these phones are two of the thickest phones I’ve ever used.

Girthy phones are somewhat still a trend, and you know what else is? Tight jeans! These devices won’t fit in your pockets nicely – and it’s one pant bulge you don’t want showing.

vivo v21 5g

Instead, phones that measure less than 8.5mm are usually ideal – in my experience, the
 vivo V21
, Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite, Mi 9, even OPPO Find X3 to be the most comfortable to carry in my compartments.

Are big phones really that bad?

Not at all – big phones mean larger screens which are great for watching videos, multitasking, gaming and more. Some good examples of big phones that don’t feel bulky include the
OPPO Find X3 Pro
, iPhone 12/ 12 Pro,
OnePlus 9
 and more.

With that said, the phone you end up choosing should fit your lifestyle, and meet all your needs – I personally find large phones to be a hassle, but you may not. If it gets the job done for you, then more power to you.

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Could smart contact lenses be possible in the near future?

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Imagine wearing a contact lens that can actually enhance your world vision — that’s what Mojo Vision, a new startup is trying to achieve with its smart contact lens.

The startup has revealed an early prototype of the smart contact lens at CES in hopes that these smart contact lenses can help those with low vision by offering enhancements like sharpening, brightening and zooming in.

Mojo Vision also uses a hard scleral lens for smart contact lenses as it provides stability and isn’t disposable — unlike soft lenses. According to an email sent to Gizmodo, the startup also mentioned that the hard scleral lens was chosen as it’s more comfortable and touches fewer nerves.

There are many more factors that have to be considered. For example, the lenses will probably need their own kind of saline solution and may require extra effort in disinfecting the lenses. It is undeniable that there are many contact lens users who don’t follow the proper procedure of cleaning their lenses, so it might be even riskier for them to wear smart contact lenses if they’re not disciplined enough to disinfect them daily.

For now, let’s just stick with smart glasses.

Mojo Vision
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Smartphone by Android co-founder to be announced on May 30th

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We all do know that the co-founder of Android is making something extraordinary behind the scenes. Andy Rubin’s relatively new company Essential has been rumored to be working on a smartphone for a while now and Rubin has also teased the device not too long back. Rubin has finally revealed a possible date in which we might expect the announcement of his company’s first ever phone.

Essential’s Twitter account saw its first post stating:

Hi, welcome to our Twitter page. We’re here to let you know something big is coming May 30th! Stay tuned…

This particular Tweet was posted just 2 hours ago at the time of writing. It is pretty likely that we will witness the unveiling of Essential’s phone this coming May 30th. The recent image teaser of the phone by Rubin shows the handset with very minimal bezels surrounding a display with curved sides. The design seems very similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the LG G6. It has also been confirmed that the phone will run on Android as rumored.

Hopefully, the Essential handset will be just as exciting as Google’s Pixel/Nexus phones. The teasers and rumors seem promising thus far, so keep your eyes peeled.

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Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders: Qualcomm’s new smartphone powered by Snapdragon 888 chip

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Qualcomm
 has teamed up with ASUS recently to develop a smartphone for its fan community, Snapdragon Insiders. This is the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders, a phone that comes in a package with a bunch of other accessories and is priced at $1,500.

Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders – that’s literally its name

Since the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is powered by its own Snapdragon 888 chip, you already know it’ll support 5G. Apart from that, this phone has a 6.78-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It’s almost comparable to the ROG Phone 5, minus the gaming features.

You’ll also get a 4,000mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging, a 64MP triple rear camera setup and a 24MP front camera.

As for the accessories, the package includes a pair of wireless earbuds, a bumper case, a Qualcomm Quick Charge 5.0 charger and two charging cables — USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A.

Source

qualcomm
Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders
snapdragon 888


This smartphone is a mosquito repellent

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No matter how good of a smartphone you own, it won’t be as pleasant if you happen to be a mosquito magnet. But that will change as LG has just unveiled a smartphone that works as a mosquito repellent as well. The latest LG K7i might just be your life saver.

What makes the LG K7i stand out from the rest is that it emits ultrasound waves from the bottom, which is said to keep mosquitoes away. This is known as the Mosquito Away feature, which has previously been implemented on LG’s other appliances such as its air conditioners.

Looking at the LG K7i’s spec sheet though, it’s when things begin to make a turn. The handset sports a 5-inch display at 720p resolution. Underneath the hood lies an unknown quad core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage, expandable via the micro SD slot.

The cameras don’t sound too impressive, with the LG K7i featuring an 8MP rear camera, plus a 5MP selfie shooter. The phone packs a 2,500mAh and unfortunately, it runs on an aged Android Marshmallow software.

The LG K7i carries an affordable price tag of 7,999 INR. While the Mosquito Away feature might be worth a shot in a tropical country like Malaysia, the rest of the specs are a let down. What do you think?

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This smartphone is for the older folks

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The world of technology is advancing at a pretty extreme pace, and while most of us modern people have no problem catching up with the times, the elderly are often left behind when it comes to fast and instant communication. Majority of the elderly are unable to grasp the operation of smartphones, but Chinese smartphone brand VKWorld has released a smartphone with simplified UI made for this group of people.

The VKWorld F1 isn’t exactly a brand new phone. In fact, it is nearly two years old, having launched back in January 2016. It sports a rather small 4.5-inch display, but has font sizes 5 times larger than the standard font, which makes it easier on the eyes for the elderly. The Android powered smartphone also has a more simplified user interface, almost like that of a feature phone. The home screen also has SOS button alongside the user’s primary contacts, and they can also make use of Android features such as its apps and Internet.

The VKWorld F1 obviously comes with aged specs, such as a MediaTek MT6580 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP and 5MP rear and front camera combo. But for the elderly who are probably not heavy users, these specs are sufficient. It will be priced around the RM 200 mark in China.

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Smartphone photography: Hacks you can try alone at home

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Smartphone photography has advanced greatly over the years; there are even filmmakers shooting an entire movie with smartphones now. But some of you may think that having a smartphone is not enough for great photos; you may think that visiting beautiful places is a must to get good shots.

Well, that’s not true. Even if you’re stuck at home, you can get interesting, insta-worthy shots. You just need to think out of the box and make use of the things that are already in your house. So, here are some photography hacks you can try at home:

Light painting photography

You know those dark shots with interesting light trails? You don’t need a DSLR camera to do that — just use the Pro/Expert mode on your smartphone.

To do this, you’ll need your phone, a tripod for steadier shots, a dark environment and well, a light. Set up your phone and tripod in the dark environment — it can be dark room, or outdoors during night time. You can use a handheld firecracker, a candle, or even a smartphone to paint your canvas. If you’re using a smartphone, download any image of any colour you like and you’ll get to ‘paint’ in that colour.

Next, go to your phone’s manual camera mode — we’re using the Reno6 Z’s Expert mode. Set your shutter speed to a lower speed so you can capture the light as it moves. The longer your shutter speed, the more time you have to paint your light; ideally, we’d recommend to set the shutter speed between 3 to 8 seconds.

With a little bit of practice, we’re sure you can capture better and more creative shots than us!

Tip: You can have multiple colours by getting multiple light sources.

Reflection/Mirror photography

Beautiful landscapes that reflect in the lake — you’ve probably seen this a million times on Instagram, but how to you create the same effect at home? Don’t worry, you don’t need to dig yourself a lake to achieve the same effect, just use a reflective surface.

Sounds difficult? It isn’t! You can just use another smartphone or well, a mirror. Place it horizontally against your smartphone’s camera and tilt it around until you find the perfect angle to reflect your subject and take your shot.

This shot was taken using the Reno6 Z with AI scene enhancement and HDR turned on. You get vibrant colours and sharp details without even editing — that’s how easy to shoot with smartphones these days!

Double exposure photography

The double exposure technique is unique because it combines two different shots and gives an interesting twist to the image. But you don’t always need to capture different shots to get this effect; just make use of your windows/sliding doors.

Just set the phone on one side of the window/door and the subject on the other side. The phone will capture your subject and the reflection of the window/door, giving you that double exposure effect. In our case, we also turned on the Reno6 Z’s Extra HD mode to take clearer shots.

Tip: Have a clear background behind your subject so the image focuses on your subject and window reflection only — this avoids the picture from looking too ‘messy’.

We won’t lie; it’s not as professional as photos that are edited with Photoshop, but it’s sure to catch your friends’ attention when they browse through your Instagram profile!

Bokeh photography

This effect never gets old; we all love a good bokeh effect that make us feel like we’re living in a fairy tale. Many of us will opt for fairy lights — they’re pretty in real life and for pictures.

Decorate your room with fairy lights and use that as your background. Then, go to your phone’s Portrait mode and snap away. Portrait mode puts the human subject in focus, so your fairy lights will naturally be blurred out, resulting in a bokeh effect.

But what if you don’t have any fairy lights magically lying around at home? Well, then you should get a smartphone like the Reno6 Z as it has a filter just for bokeh effects. The Reno6 Z’s Bokeh Flare Portrait automatically converts your background into a bokeh effect, no matter day or night.

This mode is not just limited within the walls of your home; you can use the Bokeh Flare Portrait when you go out too. Taking photos at places like parks, restaurants, or even just an empty street with some lamp posts around can get you the same effect.

First, use the Reno6 Z’s Bokeh Flare Portrait mode. Then, go to the filter options and click Bokeh Flash Portrait. Finally, shoot away because that’s really all you need to do.

Smoke photography

This is my personal favourite — smoke photography. Again, these are hacks you can try at home, so you won’t be needing a smoke bomb for this shot. You only need two items for this — your phone and a humidifier.

Place your humidifier near the camera lens, but not too close that it’ll cover your whole face like the image above.

Once you’ve set it at an optimal spot, set your phone on a timer and prepare your poses!

We like using the Reno6 Z’s B&W filter when taking these shots — the monochrome colours enhance the smoke effect.

There’s no need to step out of the house; a smartphone is more than capable when it comes to taking creative shots that will garner attention on social media. You just have to make use of the filters and modes that are offered by your smartphone. If you’re looking for a smartphone that can offer you various features to capture different kinds of shots, well, the Reno6 Z is a great choice.

Start your smartphone photography journey with the Reno6 Z now!

The Reno6 Z can be purchased at RM1,699 and if you get it now during OPPO’s Merdeka Sales, you can also get the Enco Air wireless earbuds for RM150 instead of RM299. The Merdeka Sales starts from August 27 and ends on September 19, and it includes a one-to-one giveaway!

Purchasing the Reno6 Z or Reno6 will get you a Reno6 Gift Box (worth RM277), while purchasing the
Reno6 Pro
 will get you a free Marshall backpack and OPPO tumbler (worth RM398). You can also win prizes worth up to RM100,000 by joining the luck draw when you purchase any OPPO product.

Get the OPPO Reno
here
.

This article is sponsored by OPPO Malaysia.

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reno6 z
smartphone photography


Top 3 smartphone purchasing factors doesn’t include price, says a Google study

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Google and Ipsos has recently discovered Malaysians’ behaviour when it comes to smartphone purchases and the factors that affect their purchasing decisions.

According to the research, most Malaysians choose to purchase brand new phones independently compared to second hand phones or phones that are bundled with postpaid plans. One might assume that the price factor is the primary factor that affects Malaysians’ purchasing decision, but that is in fact untrue. 61% of the sample size (929 individuals) prioritises the price factor, but it was discovered that battery life, operating systems and internal specs have a higher percentage when it comes to purchasing factor.

Despite the pricing being less important to other factors, it is still fairly important — especially those who fall within the age range between 36 to 55 years old. With e-commerce platforms being used widely, the study also revealed that 1 in 4 smartphones are bought online instead of in-store. While previously there are more urban consumers who will purchase smartphones online, the current study has proven that 27% of rural consumers are now making online smartphone purchases while the number of urban consumers are less at 23%.

Image credit: Google

In addition, the study shows the top three profiles to be Avid Researchers,

Brand Loyalists and In-Store Deciders. These three profiles totalled up to 78% of the sample size, with Avid Researchers comprising of 48% of the research subjects. This means that almost half of Malaysian consumers will actually do extensive research before they purchase smartphones — an indication that Malaysians are now more technology-conscious. On the other hand, there are about 22% of Malaysians who stay loyal to their chosen brand and are less likely to switch from one brand to another.

Malaysian consumers are now relying on digital platforms to research about smartphones and some to even purchase the smartphones. Most of them will look for smartphone reviews — both written and video, though the former has a higher percentage of 59% compared to the 39% who watches review videos. Other research activities that are performed includes going to the physical stores and doing price comparison.

google
smartphone


Smartphone screens: How do you choose the right one?

386

A good

s
creen is
an
important
criteria
 when
choosing a new
smartphone. It’s what you stare at when you’re browsing through social media, watching videos, playing games and texting.
N
ot
 all smartphone screens are built the same
 however
, and you should
definitely
know what
type

suits

y
ou best
.

How are they different
, and why it
matters

Before we get to picking the right screen, you should first know the differences. There are a lot of different aspects
to what makes a good display
– the resolution
, refresh rate
,
 and even the type of panel
 used
.

Confused? Let us explain:

Resolution

In technical terms, resolution is the number of pixels per unit of area, which is also known as pixel density
 (measured in pixels per inch or
ppi
)
; the higher the
ppi

number, the “clearer” your display is
going
 to look.

Here are
 the most common
 display resolutions used on smartphones
:

HD (720p)

FHD (1080p)

QHD (1440p)

4K
 (
3840
p)

Simply put, the higher
your display
resolution
, the more details you’re getting, especially on larger screens. A
 HD screen will give you about 1 million pixels while a FHD screen will give you about 2 million pixels.
Each tiny pixel
combine
s
 to produce the images you see on your screen
.

Refresh rate

Refresh rate is the frequency in which your display
updates

its
 the image
; 60Hz means that
the image
refreshes 60 times each second
, while
120Hz means it refreshes 120 times per second.

When your phone has a higher refresh rate,

image motion

w
ill
appear
smoother and more responsive. For example, if you’re playing fast-paced games like Call of Duty or PUBG, a higher refresh rate
not only makes animations smoother, but will help with reaction times too.

High refresh rates are great
for scrolling social media as well, but
but

it
may not be necessary when it
comes to movies
.

T
hey are generally shot at 24fps, meaning
the standard
60Hz screen is already good enough for media consumption.

Type of panels

Image credit: Technolobe

The two most common panel
 types
 you’ll find on the market are known as LCD and AMOLED.
To put it simply,
LCD relies on backlight as their light source to light up all the pixels while AMOLED
 has diod
e
s

that emit their

own light
.

Because AMOLED
pixels
emit
 their own lig
ht
,
each one can also be turned off completely, allowing AMOLED screens to
deliver
deeper blac
ks and offer better
colour
contrast
.
This is s
omething an LCD panel
doesn’t do as well
because
image
production
 is dependent
 on
a

backlight

So, how do I choose the right smartphone screen?

Yes, higher resolution
s

offer
sharper
 display and higher refresh rates offer smoother visuals, but you’ll
need to consider other factors
 too
.

For example, if your smartphone processor isn’t powerful enough to support
high-frame rate gaming
, then you
won’t
enjoy that
 smooth
 gameplay anyway.

It’s also worth noting that there is a downside to higher refresh rates. When you have a 120Hz display, your battery will drain faster
since
 it is refreshing twice as
often
compared to a 60Hz display.

As for the screen resolution, some
people
may
 find it
hard to notice the difference in sharpness
between
a
FHD and QHD
screen; and if you’re one of these people, we say just stick to an FHD
screen smartphone
.

Image credit: wccftech

On top of that, if you really want to maximise a high-resolution display, you should consider a phone with a larger screen as well.

T
he added size
really lets you
appreciate all the extra pixels you’re getting.

Next, w
hen
 it comes to the type of panels
 many prefer AMOLED
screen
 due to
 it being able to offer more
 vibrant colours and deeper blacks
; the problem
:

it’s also more costly. If you’re on a budget,
a smartphone with

an
LCD
screen is
usually
more affordable
, and can
offer
 pretty decent images too.

Refresh rate, screen resolution, and type of panels – what’s more important?

The first question you should ask yourself is, “Do I often play games
that require
godlike
reactions?”. If your answer is yes, you’
ll
 want to get a phone with a high refresh rate
 display
 so your inputs are more instant, and animations are smoother.
 If you don’t game that often, a phone that supports 60/90Hz is good enough.

The second question to ask yourself is, “What’s my budget?” For those with lower budgets, you should know that a display that pushes high resolution, high refresh rate and/or uses an AMOLED panel will cost more. If you want to enjoy a 120Hz display, you can perhaps opt for a phone with an LCD panel; or if you’re not a gamer, you can just go for an AMOLED display with 60Hz refresh rate – this will also be a better choice if you want your phone to last longer throughout the day.

Image credit: PCWorld

With t
hat
 being said, some smartphone manufacturers have already started introducing variable/adaptive refresh rates. What this means is that the display will automatically switch between
high and low
refresh rates depending on what
application you’re on. Some of the phones that have this feature includes the
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
, the OnePlus 9 Pro and the
Samsung Galaxy S21
.

Simply put, there’s no one
–
size
–
fits
–
all
when it comes to your phone screen
. By finding out how you use your phone, you can determine what’s more important when it comes to picking the right phone screen!

display
Screen panel
Screen refresh rate
Screen resolution
Smartphone screen


Smartphones and battery compromises

383

Manufacturers contributing to the development of smartphones have been constantly upping the specs of smartphones every year. From Snapdragon 801’s to 810’s, 2GB to 4GB of RAM, even to the point of achieving a feat of having a 4K screen on a 5.5-inch screen form factor (yes I’m talking about you, Xperia Z5 Premium).

An ongoing, non-stop, year in year out development of those specs, but what about the battery? Has it been keeping up with the lighting pace of the rest of the specs? Don’t get me wrong. Developers have been working really hard to improve the power efficiency of chips and devices in order to bring out the best of each smartphone to us users with good battery life. In fact, many smartphone manufacturers are fitting batteries crowding around the 3000mAh mark in their smartphones. But somehow, I feel that battery and power efficiency are still a step behind the rest in development.

Some may question, how about fast charging and wireless charging technology? Yes, wireless charging, coupled with fast charging will get your smartphone juiced up in a jiffy. With the help of compatible chips, some smartphones will be up and running in less than an hour. Not forgetting the ease of just placing your smartphone on a surface for wireless charging without having to plug in cables and risk having anger management (cable management) issues again and again.

These technologies, they really do help in making up for the compromise of battery efficiency on smartphones. But my point is, is there a way to carry your device around, let’s say two days, without having to worry about your battery running out, being able to use your device to its fullest potential. All of these, of course, without charging them mid day and without the help of power banks.

Some may still say, “Definitely! There are many tips on how to save your smartphone’s battery!” Now that is why I mentioned “fullest potential”. There are tonnes of tips out there – reducing your screen brightness, turning off WiFi/mobile data/location services when not in use, stopping some apps from running in the background, and many more. Spare me those tips, I want to be able to use my smartphone in a carefree manner. I want to treat it like a device and not like a life partner, although no smartphone means no life for me. Am I asking for too much? Maybe I am, but do hear me out.

Sometimes I reminisce on the days of using my Nokia 3310 to my Sony Ericsson W910 (millennials barely know about these). I was and still is quite a heavy user but I didn’t have to worry about battery life as much as I have today. Correct me if I’m wrong, but phone manufacturers back then didn’t have to market about the capacity of their phone batteries. And I shall say it before you utter a word – “But those phones have much less features!” Indeed they do. But I’m pretty sure whatever technology development they were working on, they kept the battery development on par alongside the rest. Camera phones were introduced back then, but power banks weren’t. New features and technologies were slowly added into phones, but battery life wasn’t a major worry for both manufacturers and users. I’m betting on the fact that it will be possible again one day.

Will smartphones ever achieve battery life which can never be questioned again? For now, I shall sit here and await the day of beckoning. A day when battery life will become the least of our worries and till then I’ll be carrying my 16,000mAh paperweight of a power bank around with me, with charging cables and adapters in my bag. Fingers crossed, that day will come.

By the way, this is just an opinion. A rant, if that’s what you want to call it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!

battery
charging
powerbank
smartphone


‘Snake’ is now (temporarily) available on Google Maps

362

Remember Snakes, the classic mobile game that used to be pre-installed in your mobile phones? If you’re reminiscing old times, Google just did the best thing by adding Snakes into Google Maps app.

In conjunction of April Fools’ Day, Google added Snakes into its Maps app temporarily, and it will be there for the rest of the week. Both iOS and Android users will be able to play Snakes on Google Maps if they have the app, but if they don’t, Google also provided a
standalone site
.

Image credit: Google

Just go to your side menu, and you should see the option to
 “Play Snake”, and once you choose to start your game, Google gives you the option to pick your destination which includes London, Sydney, Tokyo and the whole world.

While on your smartphones you’ll be moving your train/bus using swipe gestures, you can always play with arrows if you are using your PCs.

google
google maps
Snakes


Snap allows you to design your own geofilters within the app

271

Do you feel frustrated that you can’t find the best geofilter for your snaps? Well as of today, Snapchat is allowing you to design your own filters to make your Snaps more relevant, rather than relying on the available ones provided by the app.

Prior to this, the only way to create custom geofilters is an image editing software or Snapchat’s web tool, with the new update, you just need to enter the settings and tap on On-Demand Geofilters to access the new mobile creative studio which offers themes that can be personalised with text, Bitmoji, and stickers. Once you are done with the editing, simply select the location where you would like the filter to appear and set how long will it be available, durations can be set from as short as one hour to as long as 90 days. Creating each filter cost $5.99 and will take one business day for Snap to approve it.

You have probably heard that platforms like Instagram seem to be taking over the market for these live stories, but Snap has been actively updating their app to keep it ahead of competitors like the Snap Map.

android
app
chat
custom
geofilter
ios
live
snap
stories


Snap Camera offers AR lenses to your video calls on PC and Mac

547

With the MCO extended up to April 14, it’s hard to deny that some of us are feeling more and more unsettled. The only way we should be communicating with our friends and long-distance relatives should be via virtual means and so Snapchat introduced Snap Camera so that video calls can be more fun for everyone.

Downloadable on Mac and PC, the Snap Camera is an app that will also work with other apps like Zoom, Skype, Twitch, Discord and more. You just have to download the app and make sure you choose Snap Camera as your webcam device when you make video calls. If you’re interested in creating a new lens, you can also download
Lens Studio
 and share them with your friends.

In addition, Snapchat also added a new lens called the Mythbuster Lens; basically it lets you play the AR game to answer several myths in which the right answered will be revealed. This will be useful in helping users detect fake information to prevent spreading inaccurate statements regarding coronavirus.

To download the app, you’ll need to submit your email
here
 and agree to the T&C.

mac
Mythbuster Lens
pc
Snap Camera
snapchat


Snap Partner Summit: Better navigation, new Snap Minis and Snap Originals

664

Snapchat introduced a bunch of new features and tools during its
Snap Partner Summit
, including the Snap Minis, new UI features and more.

Snap Partner Summit: Snap Minis

Snap Minis
 is a set of utilities built by third-party developers with HTML5 to be used in Snapchat itself. This allows you and your Snapchat friends to communicate faster while using these Minis.

According to The Verge, there are seven Minis including an app to coordinate your schedule to Coachella, a mini Headspace app to meditate and an app called Tembo that lets you study via flashcard decks. These apps work cross-platform on Android and iOS and don’t require installation. This makes it easier for developers because it requires more effort to create two versions of their apps.

Mental Health

Snapchat launched a feature called
Here For You
 back in March; now, the social media platform is adding more features including a partnership with Headspace to offer guided meditations and tools; a Snap Original that stars Kevin Hart and an in-app reporting tools for users to alert the platform if they suspect their friends are at risk of self-abuse.

Snap Originals

Speaking of Snap Originals, there will be 10 new titles that are debuting on Snapchat, including unscripted shows, scripted shows and docuseries. Snapchat will also be renewing several shows like Dead of Night, Face Forward and Nikita Unfiltered.

Snapchat Navigation

Snapchat is rolling out a new Action Bar for better navigation, Snap Map is also being enhanced to include popular spot, business listings and Place Profile (information of the business). In the future, users will be able to order food from Postmates, DoorDash and Uber Eats via Snapchat.

Headspace
snap
Snap Map
Snap Minis
Snap Originals
snapchat


Snap up a Realme 3 at their roadshows this weekend and stand a chance to win prizes!

322

Realme had recently launched the Realme 3 in Malaysia boasting impressive specs at a sub-RM700 price tag.

If you’re eager to get your hands of the phone, you’ll be glad to know that there will be roadshows happening this weekend at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall (April 6, 1-9pm) and Sunway Velocity Mall (April 7, 1-9pm) at their respective Realme Image Stores.

There, you’ll be able to purchase the phone which lets you get freebies such as Realme backpacks, bottles and Real buds. To sweeten the deal, you can also participate in lucky draws which could net you more prizes too.

To recap, the Realme 3 is a 6.2-inch device that sports a dew-drop display, a dual-camera setup (13MP main + 2MP depth sensor), the MediaTek Helio P60 chipset along with 3GB + 32GB storage or 4GB + 64GB storage memory configurations. The phone is also powered by a beefy 4,230 mAh battery.

The Realme 3 is available in three colours – Dynamic Black, Radiant Blue, Classic Black and is priced from RM599. Visit Realme’s
Facebook page
 for more information on the roadshows.

Realme 3
roadshow


Snapchat introduces 3D Camera Mode — new feature that offers spatial details

293

Snapchat is famous for its filters — particularly that one dog filter — and now the company takes it to a new level with its new camera mode called “3D Camera Mode”.

The new feature offers 3D effects, lenses and filters when Snapchat users capture selfies. It’s similar to Facebook’s 3D Photo, where you can move your phone around to experience the 3D effect.

Based on its official video focusing on the 3D Camera Mode, you can find the new feature at its drop-down menu on the right. For iOS users, only those with the iPhone X and the newer models can access to this mode. I can’t be entirely sure, but it’s currently not available on the iPhone XR at the time of writing — the feature is probably still rolling out so we’ll have to wait and see.

On that note, Snapchat is reported to extend this feature to more devices in the future. The 3D Camera Mode is still unavailable to Android devices so Android users will have to be patient — Snapchat does have the tendency to prioritise iOS users first.

3D Camera Mode
snapchat


Snapchat adds new feature the “Lens Challenge” that allow users to compete in challenges

294

The millennial’s of this generation is quick when it comes to picking up online challenges. Challenges that is showcased on social media such as Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram has dominate the way people participate in online trends, and now, Snapchat is jumping onto the bandwagon by releasing their own challenge known as the “Lens Challenge”.

The Lens Challenge works as a themed challenge that incorporates Snapchat Lens, which can then be featured for the app’s community. The first challenge that has been launched today is related to the festive season, where Snapchat users can select a specific Lens that allows them to sing to a version of “Jingle Bells” by Gwen Stefani.

To participate in the Snapchat Challenge, users are required to open the app’s Lens carousel, then followed by tapping onto the smiley icon to access the Lens Explorer, and choose the “Jingle Bell” Challenge option, take a video and once that’s done, send it to the Gwen Stefani Challenge story.

snapchat


Snapchat adds Shazam integration and Paintbrush tool in memories

328

As 2016 comes to a close, Snapchat has added a bunch of new features in conjunction with the year end holiday season. Having gotten ripped off by the likes of Instagram’s Stories feature, Snapchat aims to step up its game with the introduction of these new additions.

First off, you can now create group chats on the app. Snapchat allows users to communicate with up to 16 friends at one go. Group chats can be started via a Snap or when initiating a new conversation. Group chats can even be named, but bear in mind that all Snaps and messages in a group conversation will automatically be deleted afte 24 hours.

Snapchat has also added a couple of artsy features to inspire the creativity of its users, the Scissors and Paintbrush Creative Tools. These tools are only available when you edit saved snaps from your “Memories” tab. The Scissors tool allows you to cut out a part of the Snap to be turned into a sticker for future uses in the app. The Paintbrush tool on the other hand brings a whole load of paintbrush filters over the Snap, including a van Gogh inspired filter, similar to how Prisma works.

An added bonus by Snapchat is the integration of Shazam. In order to Shazam a tune, hold down on the camera screen in the app, and Snapchat will help you identify the tune with the help of Shazam. Upon identification, a Shazam card will pop up, with some info and links to listen or the stream the song further.

The update which includes the above mentioned features should be available for both iOS and Android platforms on their respective app stores. What do you think of these new updates for Snapchat?

Source:
Snapchat

creative
filter
integration
paintbrush
scissors
shazam
snapchat
song
tool
update


This Snapchat AR charity lens helps fight COVID-19

318

The current pandemic situation has caused distress to many, but it has also brought out the generosity in many individuals and organizations. In response to the outbreak, Snapchat has launched an AR charity lens in Malaysia and 32 other countries so that Snapchatters can quickly and easily donate to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Snapchatters will be able to access the AR lens via the lens carousel, Snapcode or by using Scan. When the lens is used, Snapchatters will get an AR experience that demonstrates how their donations will help WHO’s efforts in fighting the pandemic. You just need to point your Snapchat lens towards a RM10 banknote and the animation will begin.

This new donation lens is a collaborated effort between Snapchat and the United Nations Foundation who created the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Previously, Snapchat has also partnered with WHO to release a global COVID-19 filter and some health-related Bitmoji stickers so that users can get accurate information and also be reminded to practice good hygiene especially during trying times like this.

The new lens will be rolling out globally today, so you should be getting them within the next few days.

AR donation lens
AR lens
covid 19
snapchat


Snapchat Cameo uses Deepfake technology to customise own GIFs in app

382

Snapchat is trying to be one step ahead again with its new feature known as Snapchat Cameo that uses Deepfake technology.

Using users’ selfies and GIFs, the company goes through a simplified version of Deepfaking their face into GIFs, so they can better convey their messages instead of only depending on a cartoon-ish Bitmoji. Your selfie will be fitted into the pre-made GIFs where the animation will be included so it’ll seem more realistic too.

Here’s some images from the new Snapchat Cameo feature.
 Looks like it’s only available in France right now but it’s takes an AR version of your face and lets you apply it to a bunch of different activities.
 Sort of a loose deep fake for Snap. Kind of.
pic.twitter.com/LDReLqGCRV

— Jeff Higgins – Old Skate Dad (@ItsJeffHiggins)
December 8, 2019

Snapchat said, “Cameos aren’t ready to take the stage yet, but stay tuned for their global debut soon!” The company is currently testing this new feature in some international markets, but the only one we have confirmed so far is France.

However, we can’t really say that Snapchat is the first to come up with this Deepfake technology. Previously, the Chinese social app Zao has introduced this feature, allowing users to Deepfake their faces into movie scenes which in return caused privacy concerns due to the initial user agreements.

Deepfake
snapchat
Snapchat Cameo


Snapchat Cameos is officially rolling out on December 18 for iOS and Android devices

405

It was just yesterday when we found out about Snapchat’s new feature called Cameos that is only available in France, but Snapchat is quick as a fox and has announced that this feature will start rolling out globally from December 18.

When the new feature is out, Snapchat users will be able to find them in the Chat sticker bar that consists of 150 different memes and GIFs. Users can use their faces and integrate it into the memes and GIFs so it’s more fun to respond or make conversation with others.

Once the feature is launched, Snapchat users will only need to open their chat bar and click on the Cameos tile before taking a selfie. They can even enable two-person Cameos if they’d like to feature their friends in the memes or GIFs.

You can also choose to change your selfie, send your Cameos to your friends and save them to your Camera Roll. Snapchat Cameos will be available to both Android and iOS devices, and Snapchat will be adding more cameos each week to keep things fresh!

android
cameos
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snapchat


Snapchat can change your background and make you speak like a chipmunk in the latest update

243

In the race of getting the best live stories app out, Snap has rolled out another update to their app that will bring in backdrops, discrete voice-filter option and a way to add links to images and videos.

The backdrop option will allow you to add an image behind people, adding more flair to your Snaps. To try this feature out, after you have taken a photo, tap the scissors icon in the right toolkit and select the new Backdrop icon, then trace out what you want to be in the foreground and select your backdrop. The choices of backdrops will be rotated daily making it constantly unique.

Voice filters are not new, but now it’s not limited to the Lenses feature, after recording a Snap, press the speaker icon and select from a range of voices, from a chipmunk to a robot. Lastly, Paperclip allows users to attach a link to their snaps by tapping the paperclip icon on the toolkit. Viewers can then swipe up and the link will be displayed in the app itself.

If you want to take advantage of these features, then make sure your app is updated by checking the status in the Play Store or App Store depending on which device you are using.

backdrop
filter
links
snap
snapchat
update
voice


Snapchat filters is now available…for your cats

331

Snapchat was once a trendy app that many uses, but due to its rushed interface design, it has led to the app losing many of its users (3 million active users, to be exact). Snapchat however has been bringing in more updates to attract users to either stay and come back to the app.

Now thanks to Snapchat’s latest updates, the app can now detect your cat’s face, meaning that Snapchat’s AR Lenses will be applicable to your cat. Now the animal recognition is not new, as previously Snapchat had filters that work on certain breed of dogs, but finally cats are also welcomed on the app. Filters that would work on your cats will have a paw icon on the lens, so be warned that not all filters will work.

Snapchat users can now post silly filters with their cats wearing hats, glasses or flower headbands. This would be of interest and fun to the cat owners, though knowing the personality of cats, it is safe to say that they won’t be as amused.

Cats
filters
snapchat


Snapchat get a multi-snap feature allowing up to 60-second Snap

342

Snapchat has added a new feature to the app which will not limit you to a 10-second video anymore. Now you can record up to a full minute of video, however, there is a catch, even if you record the 60-second video, the app will still break up the video into six 10-second clips.

Snap is officially calling this feature Multi-Snap which is similar on the Spectacles. To use this new feature, all you need to do is just continue pressing the record button after it has reached the first 10-second mark to keep the video going. You can do this up to six times and are able to view and edit all six videos or remove individual videos if you do not like them. This really helps those of us that are trying to capture that split-second moment that we always seem to miss when the 10-second mark is reached.

Although some of you might not like the fact that the video is broken up into parts, it is still a start on how the app can improve capturing these quick moments. This new feature is currently out on iOS and will be coming to Android soon according to a Snapchat spokesperson.

android
feature
ios
multi
snap
snapchat
update


Snapchat is rolling out an in-app mental health support called Here For You

491

Snapchat may have started as a photo and video sharing platform, it has expanded over the years with more features such as games, Snap Map and most recently, Here For You — an in-app support for those with mental health issues.

According to its statement, Snapchat’s Here For You will be offering proactive in-app support to their users who may be having problems who are mentally/emotionally troubled. It will consists of mental health topics that can help other gain more knowledge on issues such as anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, bullying and more. Information released regarding these topics will come from local experts — preventing misinformation.

Snap chatters will also be getting Creative Tools and Lenses that revolves around safety and privacy in hopes that this can promote a healthier community. The company also said that there will be new Filters and a Snappable quiz — something Snapchat has never launch before.

This feature will be rolling out in the coming months, so be patient if your Snapchat is updated but you still haven’t gotten any access to the quiz, the in-app support or the filters yet.

Here For You
snap
snapchat


Snapchat introduces new lenses that is specially made for man’s best friend

344

Picture taking with dogs isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially if you’re on Snapchat and you want to have a matching filter with your dog. All that seemed impossible but now, with their latest update, Snapchat has finally implement dog lenses onto their platform so dog owners could finally take cute pictures of their dogs with Snapchat filters.

Back in October, Snapchat introduced their users with cat-friendly lenses. It was said that there were no filters or special lenses for dogs during that time, as dog owners had already found a way to apply filter onto their dogs with the app’s normal lenses. However, dog owners knew that successful lens application on a dog was based more on luck than a systematic platform feature.

The new dog lenses are now available on the latest version of Snapchat, where owners are able to give their pooch a set of reindeer antlers, a pizza face, and many more.

Dog lenses
snapchat