CNBC: Samsung To Unveil Foldable Smartphone This Year

It’s not a surprise to hear that foldable phones are coming this year. This is not something new, as we’ve already seen bendable AMOLED displays back at CES 2013. Yes – it’s an old technology but it’s not easy to mass-manufacture and prime it for the consumer market. Fast forward 5 years, and DJ Koh, CEO of the Samsung mobile division, tells CNBC that the foldable smartphone will be in the market soon.

Samsung is set to unveil a foldable smartphone this year from CNBC.
Now, we don’t quite yet know the design or the specs or even the screen resolution of the foldable phone as of now. For all we know, it’s a phone that has a foldable screen and quoting what DJ Koh said, the development process is “complicated” and has only “nearly concluded” said process.
Koh also said that more details of the foldable smartphone could be revealed during Samsung Developer Conference in November this year. However there is no word on the availability or expected price.
Imagine folding the Note9 in half.
DJ Koh also said that “it’s time to deliver” the foldable smartphone to the market, to which Samsung says there is a demand according to their consumer survey. The question is, how much will a smartphone with a foldable screen cost? Moreover, how will the industry react to such radical change in smartphone interaction?
On a side note, Samsung is also expected to release another foldable device – but it’s a laptop. According to The Verge, Lee Min-cheol, the vice president at marketing for PCs at Samsung, was quoted saying this at a laptop event in South Korea:
Like foldable smartphones, Samsung is collaborating with display makers to develop laptops with foldable displays that will not just simply fold in and out but create new value and user experience, amid the changing market trends for laptops.

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Review – ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1): Large Screen, Large Battery

Since the release of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ (which we reviewed here), every other smartphone brands out there has been latching onto the latest trend – longer screen. Though, instead of following Samsung’s aspect ratio of 18.5:9, other smartphones opted for an 18:9 aspect ratio, which is empirically 2:1, also known as “FullView display” now. ASUS opted for more than just having a 2:1 screen for the ZenFone Max Plus (M1).
Let’s dive into what the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) offers differently compared to other smartphones out there.

Unboxing

For all I can say, the box of the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is pretty simple yet inviting enough for appear as friendly. Following the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro’s packaging design, the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) comes with a sleeve, too.

With everything laid out, we can see that the the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) comes with everything that you come to expect. Earphones, charger, cable, and even an OTG cable for reverse charging. Again, it’s in sync with the Max lineup of smartphones that ASUS have produced thus far.
[nextpage title=”Design”]
Here’s where the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) takes a departure from its usual design. Ever since the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ from March last year, every other smartphone manufacturer has been opting for the new, longer aspect ratio screen. To make this switch, a few things need to happen.

Firstly, the replacement of physical or capacitive buttons at the front with on-screen buttons. Secondly, sensors will have to be squished either to the top or bottom of the screen, Most probably, all sensors are squished at the top and the chin and the bottom of the screen is minimal. Thirdly, the fingerprint scanner has to be placed at the rear.

The ZenFone Max Plus (M1) ticks all these boxes and its design is looking pretty decent. The back of the phone is reminiscent of the ZenFone 4 Max Pro and the ZenFone 3 Zoom that we reviewed here previously, except for the rounded fingerprint sensor.

Without the included TPU case.

With the included TPU case.

All of the buttons are still placed at the same position – on the right side of the phone. The volume rocker is at the top, whereas the power button is below the said volume rocker.
The phone is pretty rounded at all sides, making it extremely comfortable to hold.
The included TPU case has this little grains that protrude outwards – this is to minimize the contact area between the case and the back of the device to minimize scratches.

[nextpage title=”Connectivity & Speaker”]
As for its connectivity, the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is pretty similar to what is offered by the ZenFone 4 Max Pro. It still supports up to 802.11n WiFi, does not have FM radio support, and no NFC.
However, I was pleasantly surprised that ASUS remade the SIM tray slot since the release of the ZenFone 4 Max Pro. It now has a much shorter but wider tray that still houses two nano SIM cards and a microSD card together.
I’m glad to see ASUS is improving its dual-SIM + microSD card tray!
I’ve praised the ZenFone 4 Max Pro for having dedicated card slots, and the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) now has dedicated card slots again – but without the awkward-looking long tray.
At the bottom of the phone is where the microUSB port is found. Flanking the microUSB port is where the microphone and loudspeaker are found.
One minor complaint here is the quality of the loudspeaker. It’s just… not as good as other smartphones – not even the ZenFone 4 Max Pro. Music played from Spotify just sound entirely different. It only has high-pitched sound and lacks any sort of lower frequency response. It also sounds like the equalizer is everchanging, making the sound produced unnatural. If it’s indeed an equalizer issue, an OTA update for the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) can mitigate this issue.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
Let’s talk about the ZenFone Max Plus (M1)’s FullView display. Once again it’s with an 18:9 aspect ratio (empirically 2:1), so there is quite a lot more screen area to play around with.

The ZenFone Max Plus (M1) has a 5.7-inch IPS LCD display with 720p resolution – that means 1440×720 pixels. It’s certainly acceptable for a smartphone of this price to have such a resolution, yet it’s already a bonus to have a 2:1 screen.

The phone feels comfortable to hold thanks to its rounded sides and edges and a much larger rounded fingerprint scanner at the back, making my hand grip much more comfortable. The chins are much smaller than before, and all capacitive buttons have been moved to on-screen.
It has rounded edges around the screen itself, too.
The screen on the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is surprisingly good, with great color reproduction. It can get really bright if you want it to, so there is no issues in using the Max Plus (M1) in bright daylight.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
Like what was stated earlier, the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) does indeed have a similar back as the ZenFone 4 Max Pro – that means they both have dual-cameras too.
The included TPU case has a rather thick lip around the camera.
The ZenFone Max Plus (M1) comes with a similar setup of dual-cameras as its cousin – sporting a hybrid lens dual-camera system. One lens is the usual lens, whereas the second one is a wide-angle lens. The type of dual-camera setup used can actually be physically seen and determined.

Learn more about dual-camera setups here

The left one is the prime lens, whereas the one on the right is the wide-angle lens.
The specs are listed as below:

Rear camera

16MP sensor with f/2.0 35mm lens, PDAF
8MP sensor with 17mm lens, fixed focus

Selfie camera

8MP sensor with f/2.0 25mm lens, fixed focus

As for the picture quality, take a look at them below.
The full resolution of all pictures taken can be seen at our Flickr album here.
Rear-camera
For all I can say, the camera is actually quite decent. The 16MP sensor does a fairly good job, and with a proper manual mode, it can capture some great shots. The ISO can go as low as 100, but it’s still rather noisy when viewed at full crop. The white balance tends to sway a little towards the warmer side, as everything is slightly tinted in soft peach hue – but it seems to only affect outdoor shots.
The 8MP wide-angle lens is indeed very wide – but that comes at a price. The wide-angle lens does not have autofocus. The perfect use case is when the taking photos of sceneries, as its focus will be at infinity. However, it appears that the wide-angle lens have a strong blue tint on all pictures taken. This blue tint also appears to only affect outdoor shots.

Pictures from manual mode seems okay, too.

ISO 100, 1/250 shutter speed at f/2.0.
Selfie camera
While I’m not a fan of selfie, the picture is certainly fairly noisy and washed out a little.

Camera UI
The camera UI is pretty much similar to the other ZenFone series of smartphones – but had some features removed. ASUS retained Super Resolution mode on the ZenFone Max Plus (M1), though.
Speaking of which, I can pretty disappointed as the manual mode is locked down to the prime lens alone. There is no manual mode for the wide-angle lens. While the shutter speed can go as low as 1/1000 and as fast as 10s. Decent amount of control offered to the user, I’d say.

[nextpage title=”Software”]
With the latest build of ZenUI installed on the ZenFone Max Plus (M1), it still has the familiar feel throughout the entire UI and user experience. However, as it now uses on-screen buttons, there are a few extras here and there.
There’s an option play around with the navigation bar keys now. You can swap the positions between the back and menu button to match what you’re already familiar with. Perhaps pre-Galaxy S8 era of Samsung users will find this useful, as they have the button order inverted.

Other than that, ASUS has also added the rolling screenshot feature, where you can take a a screenshot and hit the “expand” at the bottom left side to append the screenshot with more content. I’m really glad ASUS finally added this feature into ZenUI, as it is one of my highly requested feature of all time.
Speaking of which – just like any other smartphones with a non-16:9 aspect ratio display these days, there is another settings menu called “app scaling”, where it lets the user force the app to scale and fill up the extra vertical space. Just a word of notice – it won’t always be successful.

With that said, the overall experience on the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is close to what ZenUI always has been. Skinned stock Android with a few additions, and that’s pretty much it. No major change in the UI like what OPPO did with their latest F5 smartphone.
Also, having the Twin Apps feature combined with the ZenFone Max Plus (M1)’s true dual-SIM capability, this phone is a social maniac’s dream.
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
As for the ZenFone Max Plus (M1)’s performance, one should not expect to be playing high-end games or MOBAs on it. This list of specs will let you know why:

5.7-inch IPS LCD screen with 18:9 aspect ratio; 1440×720 pixels
MediaTek MT6750T chipset (28nm, not FinFET process)

1.5GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 processor
Mali-T860MP2 graphics

4GB RAM
32GB eMCP internal storage

I’m rather disappointed that ASUS opted for a non-FinFET chipset, which impacted its efficiency and battery life significantly. Learn more about FinFET here.
Take a look at the benchmarks below. For some reason, Chrome test on Vellamo always fails – and it’s always stuck at the CSS 3D animation part, where there are fishes swimming around the mermaid. Epic Citadel on the other hand, wouldn’t even start.

As mentioned, with these specs, don’t expect high-end gaming experience with the ZenFone Max Plus (M1). Though, it can do the basics pretty well. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. is alright. It’s not the snappiest experience, but at least you can get a smartphone like this for below RM900.
For that price, you get an extremely long battery life too. Speaking of battery life, this leads us into the next section.
[nextpage title=”Battery & Charger”]
The ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) comes packed with a massive 4,100mAh – just like its ZenFone 3 Max series predecessors. Though, I can understand that the battery compromise might be due to the screen’s aspect ratio, where ASUS engineers need to relocate other components elsewhere to make way for the screen.
Though, the 4,100mAh battery is not to be looked down upon. Such large batteries can only mean one thing – one-day-long battery life is to be expected, and most of the time, they deliver.
Through my test with PCMark’s battery test, it can surpass the impressive 10-hour mark – which is commendable for a smartphone priced below R(M1),000.

One thing to note here is that the extra vertical screen footprint on the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) does affect its battery life. It requires more power for the larger backlight and a larger LCD panel, and also more power for more processing power to render images on the extra screen area.
Also, without FinFET, the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is rather inefficient and drains battery rather quickly. Even the temperature raises pretty quickly. It’s a loop that loops on itself, and the only way to break the chain is to opt for FinFET process.
Charger

The charger that came with the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is a standard ASUS charger that we’ve come to see for more than a year now. We first saw it on the ASUS ZenFone 3 here, and ASUS has been using the same charger until now.
By today’s standard, I’d say that ASUS’s 5V 2A charger is on par with what the competitors are offering. For the price of the ZenFone Max Plus (M1), I wouldn’t blame ASUS for not including any sort of fast charging.

It will take nearly 3 hours to fully charge from 0% to a complete 100%, so make sure you have enough time to fully charge it before using it for long hours. I highly recommend overnight charging in this case.
ASUS once again bundled a white charger and white USB cable.
[nextpage title=”Wrapping up the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) review”]
To be honest, when I saw the specs and the price of the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1), I was surprised. For just RM899, you get a screen with 18:9 aspect ratio with decent specs and a most importantly – a large battery. Let’s not forget – the camera is quite okay too – for this price, at least. With a proper tripod and some knowledge with manual mode photography, the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) can whip out some good pictures.

Its performance is not the best – but that is to be expected as the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) is meant to be a a budget-oriented smartphone after all. It does stay true to the Max series of smartphones – and this time with a 18:9 display.
Again, for its price of RM899, it’s a fantastic smartphone. If you need a budget smartphone with the latest 18:9 form factor screen with a phat battery, then the ASUS ZenFone Max Plus is the one for you.
You can get it here over at Lazada from ASUS’s official store and get a free ZenPower Slim 5,000mAh power bank and a 16GB SanDisk microSD card for free!

Pros

Independent 2x SIM card slots + micro SD card slot
Great battery life
Affordable price
Decent performance for everyday use

Cons

Camera is mediocre
Screen color is a little washed out

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Intel cancels 5G phone modems as Apple & Qualcomm settles dispute

As the development of 5G matures over the literal weeks and is starting to start testing in many parts of the world – including Malaysia, there is a race to see whoever’s 5G modem will arrive to the market first. Apple and Qualcomm settled their dispute and suddenly, Intel announces that they are quitting the 5G phone modem industry entirely. According to Verge, All of a sudden, Apple agrees to settle the dispute by paying Qualcomm an undisclosed amount and then signing a 6-year global patent license agreement deal.
On top of that, Apple also agreed to use Qualcomm’s parts for “multiple years” and hence, we mightsee Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 modem in iPhones next year. It is a little too late for this year as we expect the next-generation iPhone is already in production.

Many Android phones are 5G-capable now.
This dispute settlement triggered Intel to announce their cancellation and exit from the 5G phone modem industry entirely. Intel’s CEO Bob Swan said this in a statement:

We are very excited about the opportunity in 5G and the ‘cloudification’ of the network, but in the smartphone modem business it has become apparent that there is no clear path to profitability and positive returns. 5G continues to be a strategic priority across Intel, and our team has developed a valuable portfolio of wireless products and intellectual property. We are assessing our options to realize the value we have created, including the opportunities in a wide variety of data-centric platforms and devices in a 5G world.

According to the report from Nikkei Asia, Apple’s decision to settle the dispute with Qualcomm is due to Intel not meeting its 5G schedule. It was said that Intel admitted that they had a “late start” in 5G.
Apple also expressed that even by settling this dispute, the upcoming iPhone will not have 5G because it is already too late.
Perhaps we’ll see iPhone with 5G connectivity next year as it just seems to be too late for them to make it for this year’s launch. It will be even better to launch next year since the 5G infrastructure is more matured and coverage is expanded.

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What’s Daraz Shop & How It Can Affect Us All

I discovered that Lazada – or Alibaba, since they’re parent company – is expanding their e-commerce dominance with a brand new platform called Daraz Shop. What is Daraz Shop? We’re here to investigate and dig out whatever information we can find.
Discovering Daraz Shop
It was 27th September – Lazada’s Shopathon day. I bought something and a day after that, I got an email to track my order, so I did. Then I was directed to LEL’s tracking page – whereby LEL stands for Lazada E-Logistics. The website looks rather bland as it shows my item’s delivery status only.

Then, a weird coincidence happened. I accidentally pressed the “back” button while viewing the delivery status on my phone, and that directly me to LEL’s main page. It’s just a simple page where there’s a box for you to enter your tracking number.
So what is Daraz Shop?
From what I can find, Daraz Shop is an e-commerce platform that was founded 6 years ago in Pakistan, by Rocket Internet, a German company. While Daraz Shop originates from Pakistan, it is also operating on other countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and also Myanmar.
Then, Daraz Shop was acquired by Alibaba at May 2018 for an undisclosed deal – similar to what happened to Lazada.
Truth be told, Daraz Shop is pretty much like any other e-commerce available today. But, I do know that Daraz will be using the exact same interface and perhaps the same infrastructure as Lazada. How do I know this? By doing a quick comparison, obviously.

The homepage and product page layouts are the same too.

However, Daraz Shop does not have anything equivalent to LazMall, but they do have “official stores” instead.

Even the mascots of both platforms are somewhat similar.
What does it mean to us Malaysians?
Before we begin, these are all speculations. We have no solid fact on what it means or how it affects us yet. However, we do have points to back up our speculations.
From what we think, we will soon have more products from overseas available in Lazada. All platforms – Daraz, Taobao, TMall, and Lazada itself, will have its products available across all platforms – but they’re all based in different countries and have different names. We’ve already seen this happening, by the way.
There are items shipped directly from China in Daraz as well.
As a quick refresher, Lazada was also founded 6 years ago and also founded by Rocket Internet. Alibaba bought controlling stake of Lazada in April 2016. Then, Alibaba integrated a lot of its other businesses – like TMall and Taobao – into Lazada to expand its market dominance.
Sites like BangGood and GestBest will be in deep trouble if Alibaba group continues its expansion and tightly integrating all platforms together.
Will Daraz Shop even have its products available in Lazada? Will Daraz Shop ship be even more tightly integrated with all of Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms?
Well, we don’t know, but we can speculate.

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The new Galaxy now introduced

On the 14th of March 2013, Samsung finally announced the new Galaxy S IV in Times Square, New York!

It definitely looks like the GT-i9502 we saw earlier, same exact design as the S III but with a metal meshed texture at the back.
Stay tuned for more!

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Dr. Fazril Razif, 34, Senior Lecturer and Fitness Instructor, taps into the Galaxy of possibilities

Real people, real stories. Here is yet another story from the prominent Dr. Fazril Razif, 34, Senior Lecturer and Fitness Instructor, who has embraced the Galaxy ecosystem and integrating the new products that were announced during the Unpacked event in August of 2021.
Dr. Fazril Razif has currently integrated the newly-announced Galaxy Z Fold3 and also the Galaxy Watch4 in his daily usage.

I’m not the most tech-savvy person, but I do love keeping up to date with the latest mobile releases, and honestly, they have come a long way. To me, Samsung has always been about practicality and innovation. They don’t hold back and continue to push the boundaries compared to other brands in the market.
Dr Fazril is a Ph.D in Synthetic Biology and is now a senior lecturer in a renowned public university. To be able to get all of his tasks done on the Galaxy Z Fold3 – such as going through emails, coordinate meetings, and holding discussions with his students and colleagues about ongoing research projects – can be hectic at times. But, the Galaxy Z Fold3 helped him to get everything organized.

I absolutely love the phone. The feel of the phone in my palms is just indescribable. It feels like I’m holding the future. The chassis is sturdy and solid. I love the fact that I can have three apps open at the same time with the App Split View, and it proves to be handy when I need to edit my documents on the phone than having to turn on my laptop, thanks to its large 7.6–inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Getting most of my work done on the phone feels like a walk in the park.
With such a massive display, multitasking and having a look at social media, messaging app, and gaming at the same time is something that cannot be done with any other phones in the past. Moreover, unfolding the Galaxy Z Fold3 means that he can unwind and watch videos on the go with a larger screen, be it alone or even in the presence of family and friends.

Of course – as Dr. Fazril is also a fitness instructor, he works part-time at Les Mills BODYPUMP and PWRHOUSE spin instructor. With the large display of the Galaxy Z Fold3 after unfolding, he stated that:
The large display on Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is amazing because I can comfortably practice my workout routines at home via on-demand videos without having to squint my eyes trying to watch and follow the choreography.
And fitness doesn’t just happen in the facility. He also wears the Galaxy Watch4 to help accompany him on his fitness journey, in and out of the gym – even while he’s sleeping thanks to the sleep quality tracker.

It’s a huge help when I need to instruct classes or go to the gym. I love tracking my workouts using the Galaxy Watch4, and I’m impressed by its array of features. Not only can it track my vitals across various exercises, but it can also provide me information on my heart health and Body Composition. It fits my active lifestyle perfectly. Tracking sleeping patterns through Galaxy Watch4 helps Dr. Fazril improve his sleep quality through enhanced Sleep Scores, Snoring Detection, and Blood Oxygen monitoring. Before he calls it a day, Dr. Fazril gets to see his fitness progress and unwind by listening to Spotify using the Galaxy Watch4. It is made possible through the Galaxy ecosystem and seamless integration with a multitude of popular third-party apps.
Other than just the shearing fast performance that the Galaxy Z Fold3 has to offer, it is also the most durable foldable device to date. Both the Galaxy Z Fold3 and the Galaxy Z Flip3 are the world’s first (or first two, both of them are released at the same time anyway) foldable devices that are IPX8 rated.

Coupled with the sturdy combo of Armor Aluminum frames and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, they’re made to handle just about any situation- at home, at work, or outside at the gym. Rain or shine, the Galaxy Z Fold3, Galaxy Z Flip3, and also Galaxy Watch4 series of smartwatches can withstand everything.

The Galaxy Z Series and the Galaxy Watch4 gives me everything I want and need every day in my daily drivers. The phones still fit comfortably in my pocket, and the Galaxy Watch4 looks beautiful, sleek, and classy on my wrist- it feels odd going through a day without them now. I look forward to everything that life has to offer now that I have the best Galaxy devices with me.
If you’re looking forward to get yourself the new devices that Samsung has to offer, then check out our reviews down below.

Galaxy Z Fold3

5 new upgrades
Device review
Gaming feels surreal
S Pen Fold Edition review
Using it as the best portable emulation device (my personal favorite)

Galaxy Z Flip3 review

5 new upgrades
Review

Galaxy Watch4 Classic review
Galaxy Watch4

Review
Upgrading from the Watch Active (first gen)

As for the promotions, from now until 31st October 2021, you can purchase the devices and receive:

Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

Receive a RM500 e-voucher and a one year plan of Samsung Care+ worth RM799

Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

Receive a RM350 e-voucher and a one year plan of Samsung Care+ worth RM699

And another promotion – until 30th November 2021, purchase either the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G or Galaxy Z Flip3 5G and be entitled to receive 30% OFF the recommended retail price of up to three selected accessories!

The Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Series can be purchased nationwide starting from 22 September 2021:

Product
Colour
Recommended Retail Price (RRP)

Galaxy Watch4 Classic Bluetooth (46mm)
Black, Silver
RM1,399

Galaxy Watch4 Classic Bluetooth (42mm)
Black, Silver
RM1,299

Galaxy Watch4 Bluetooth (44mm)
Green, Black, Silver
RM999

Galaxy Watch4 Bluetooth (40mm)
Pink Gold, Black, Silver
RM899

So, if you want to get yourself a new Galaxy Z Fold3, Galaxy Z Flip3, or the Galaxy Watch4 series, then check out the links below:

Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

Samsung.com
Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

Samsung.com
Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

Galaxy Watch4 Classic

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

Galaxy Watch4

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

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The new Lenovo Tab P11 and IdeaPad Duet 5i tablets are now in Malaysia

Lenovo Malaysia has announced a couple of new tablet products that you could get for improving your personal and work life.

First, we have the Tab P11 (2nd Gen) that comes with Android 12L packing a nice combination of the 11.5-inch LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate and quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos.
Powered by MediaTek G99 under the hood, it has up to 6GB RAM and the entire package comes with accessories such as a keyboard pack, the Precision Pen 2 (2023), and Folio Case with built-in kickstand and pen holder.
As part of the program, the tablet is guaranteed to get 2 major Android OS upgrades which are up until Android 14 alongside 3 years of security updates.

On the other hand, the IdeaPad Duet 5i combines the best of both worlds – tablet form factor and Windows 11 for all the laptop goodness in a smaller size.
Packed with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU for high performance plus nice battery life, it comes with WiFi 6 support and 2x USB-C with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Out for connecting external displays.
The screen itself is a 12-inch 2.5K IPS touchscreen with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 96% DCI-P3 color gamut on top of Dolby Vision. Speaking of Dolby, the speaker can do Dolby Atmos too.
It is also equipped with Lenovo Smart Login and a 5MP IR camera for secured login.
The flexibility of using the device in 4 different modes of laptop, tablet, doodle, and hands-free makes the IdeaPad one of the best “be all, do all” types of devices out there.
Price and Availability
The Lenovo Tab P11 starts from RM1,699 while the IdeaPad Duet 5i is at RM3,799 with both devices available right now on the official Lazada and Shopee stores alongside the official Lenovo online store.

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Review – Amazfit GTR Mini – The round and better version of the GTS 4 Mini

The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is a wonderful small package that showed the brand’s effort in fitting small products with wide features and I enjoyed using that. With 2023 coming in, Amazfit’s latest release in Malaysia comes in the form of the GTR Mini – the first Mini model debuted in the rounded smart band family and as usual, they sent over one for review, and let’s see if it can do the same thing as its square-sized brother.
The box it comes in is nice and compact and the color I have here is the Misty Pink edition which is more popular and suitable for the ladies but truth to be told, the GTR Mini is designed to be unisex and I’m personally okay with pink color stuff as long as it’s not too gaudy.

Taking the top box lid off and the watch sits nicely in there.
As with any other Amazfit product, the accompanying manual and charging cable are included.

Upon my first unboxing of the unit, the design is what caught my attention immediately because I’m a sucker for gold color bezels and it looks extra nice when it goes with a simple single crown placed diagonally rather than at fixed 90-degree angles, adding a few style points here.
The display is quite good as well as it is a 1.26-inch AMOLED panel that shows some nice colors and is very viewable at outdoors with max brightness.
One thing I would “complain about” is the rather thick bezels where I felt like the blocked area could be utilized more and looks nicer in general.

The rubber strap is decent and doesn’t cause any issues to my skin even during workouts where sweats are getting in between.
As for my wrist size, I have a dilemma picking between the 5th and 6th hole for the comfort spot yet none of them are truly the sweet spot so I would recommend you to try it in physical stores to see whether you can wear it as accordingly or not.

The magnetic pogo pin pad to USB-A charging cable works as intended but I would like a slightly longer cable not just for the GTR Mini but rather for all Amazfit smartwatches. Wouldn’t cost you guys much to make it like 10cm longer.

Interfacing through the unit and it is pretty much the same with no discerning difference when it comes to the ‘Swipe to Access’ panels. As I’m already familiar with it and I feel it is fine and usable, if it ain’t broken, then don’t fix them.

Top to Bottom – Quick Function
Bottom to Top – Notifications
Left to Right or Vice Versa – Fitness Tracking/Heart Rate/Weather/PAI Score/Music Control/Full Dashboard

The companion app Zepp is basically the same when it comes to recording your information and if you’re new to this, the usual physical welfare monitoring of the heart rate, SpO2, and sleep are the bread and butter.
Workout activities can also be tracked with okay accuracy but the usual pain point, discovered by me, is its inability to track distance moved if you’re using the Treadmill tracking while you’re holding onto something (Means if your arm doesn’t move, it won’t count as “moving”).

Customization-wise, here’s what I discovered. Depending on the watch model, you’ll also have access to a different set of watch faces but the interesting one is the “With GPT” selection after testing it out, it is just a hard-coded image that displays the usual tracked information. What a bait.
But yes, the range is wider than the GTS 4 Mini with colorful selections popping out more than I anticipated. So more fun for the playful person I guess.
Conclusion
To sum up the experience of using the Amazfit GTR Mini, I’d say that it managed to do its job well in terms of functionality and combining its “generic” design that goes well with all sorts of attire and settings on top of being “genderless”, no matter you’re young or old, this is one model that I will suggest to someone if all they are asking is for a ‘Be All Do All’ kind of smart band.
But here’s the catch – its price. At RM599, the GTR Mini wasn’t exactly the best value buy here because I think that the GTS 4 Mini at RM399 would win instead if we’re looking at a performance/features ratio.
But let’s not forget the bigger and nicer screen on the GTR Mini and the overall design with looks that are a tier better and more premium.
So if you are not short of RM200 anyway in your wallet and want something nicer for the ladies which are all about looks 99% of the time (I know), this certainly will be a great gift.
Where to Buy

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee
AliExpress

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Is the HONOR 20 Lite worth it?

When we first published the HONOR 20 Lite review about a week ago, we have a lot of comments saying that the phone itself is quite similar to the HONOR 10 Lite and is priced quite high for what it is offering. I do understand where you are coming from and why you are saying that – and I do agree with some of them.
Let’s put up an imaginary scale and balance out the pros and cons of the HONOR 20 Lite with the comments we read. Once again, this all revolves around the price tag of RM949. With this price tag in mind, it sets an expectation on getting what we paid for.

Some of the good points
This is HONOR’s first ever smartphone that comes with a triple camera setup for the rear. Of course, one of it is a depth sensor to assist in taking beautiful photos with bokeh. With that said, the new HONOR 20 Lite is also the company’s first smartphone with an ultrawide angle camera.

The HONOR 20 Lite does take some decent shots. We have a whole album here to testify that. Here is an example.

Then there’s the 32MP selfie camera too. While I do admit that I am definitely not a fan of selfies, it gets the job done decently fine under adequately-lit conditions. And hey – it has a tiny waterdrop notch only! Take a look down below.

Then comes the performance. The Kirin 710 performs somewhere between the Snapdragon 636 and Snapdragon 660, and is adequate enough for a smooth gaming experience on most games.

Some not so good points
One of the complaint is the 3,400mAh battery. While I do agree that HONOR could’ve included a larger battery, it can still last you a day’s use in most cases. Why? Because it is using the Kirin 710, a pretty power-efficient chip.
We did a post here saying why a 3,000mAh battery can last longer than what you think. To summarize, the design of a chipset plays an important role in power efficiency and battery consumption, hence that is why the Kirin 710 is able to last for a day’s use.

As for the micro USB port, I have to say that it doesn’t really matter much. Many of the products that we own are still using micro USB, while peripherals are only starting to make the switch to USB-C. Transition periods are tough, and unfortunately we will own products that are using micro USB and others that are using USB-C.

Is it still a worthy purchase?
Once again like what we have said – for the price of RM949, the HONOR 20 Lite offers something unique here. It’s definitely not the cheapest mid-range smartphone in the market, but offers the only one that has an ultrawide angle camera for this price range.
For ultrawide angle camera smartphones, it’s either this or shilling out a lot more to get higher-end devices.
It is available in both Phantom Blue and Phantom Red colors as well. Also, they did announce a collaboration with AAPE and brings forth two more funky designs.

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Samsung Malaysia to offer cleaning and inspection service for free in wake of recent flood

Samsung Malaysia has announced that they are aiding affected customers of the huge flood that has happened over last week. For those who need this, just contact Samsung via the phone number 1800-88-9999, online live chat via Samsung Members, or head to the official website as this service can be applied at any time, any day, 24/7 starting right now until Jan 31, 2022.

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Get freebies and reduced price when purchasing HONOR products during this Hari Raya

HONOR Malaysia is joining the spirit of Hari Raya, encouraging a season of peace forgiving, and giving exclusive deals to Malaysians through its Raya deals which run from 22 April to 8 May 2022.

With Raya right around the corner, there’s no better time than now to get a gift for your loved ones to show them your appreciation.
Check out the following list about the selected HONOR smartphones deals:

Products
Normal Price
Raya Special Price
Free Gifts

HONOR 50 (8GB+256GB)
RM1,999
RM1,799
HONOR Band 6

HONOR X9 5G
RM1,299
–
HONOR CHOICE Earbuds X and 1 Year Extended Warranty

HONOR X9 4G
RM1,099
–
1 Year Extended Warranty

HONOR X8
RM899
–
HONOR CHOICE Earbuds X and 1 Year Extended Warranty

HONOR X7
RM699
–
1 Year Extended Warranty

HONOR LITE
RM999
RM949
HONOR Thermal Flask

Smartphones aside, selected HONOR notebook models are also on promotion.

Products
Normal Price
Raya Special Price
Free Gifts

HONOR MagicBook 16 (AMD Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM + 512GB ROM)
RM4,299
–

HONOR Backpack
Wireless mouse
Microsoft 365 Personal
1 Year Battery Care

HONOR MagicBook X15 (Intel i3, 8GB RAM+ 256GB ROM)
RM2,099
RM1,999
HONOR Backpack

HONOR MagicBook X15 (Intel i5, 8GB RAM + 512GB ROM)
RM2,699
RM2,599
HONOR Backpack

HONOR MagicBook 14 (AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM + 512GB ROM)
RM2,999
RM2,749
HONOR Backpack

HONOR MagicBook 14 (AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM)
RM2,699
RM2,449
HONOR Backpack

Visit the following link for more information about the HONOR Raya deals.
https://www.hihonor.com/my/raya-ramadan/

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New AI-based Dell Optimizer software adapts to your uses and needs on the fly for greater productivity

Dell has announced a new software-based solution to help its clients to achieve greater productivity through smart user adaptation and optimization, the Dell Optimizer.

The Dell Optimizer enhances the user experience by automatically taking care of some of that nitty-gritty stuff so that users can fully focus on what they are doing. The Intelligent Audio eliminates background and non-human sound cues while amplifies your speech level to deliver a crisp and clear voice during conferences and ExpressConnect prioritizes bandwidths for conference and call applications and smartly switches to trusted Wi-Fi networks with better quality to serve an undisrupted and high-quality network conference session.

Performance-wise, the ExpressResponse developed in conjunction with Intel Adaptix Technology learns your way of using applications and improvise upon the power to performance curve by smartly adjusting the number of resources these targeted applications can access with the power sector in charge by ExpressCharge that manages screen brightness, CPU clocks, and other settings to make sure every tick of power counts.

Meanwhile, ExpressSign-In is essentially a properly packaged Windows Hello sign-in system that detects your presence even while sleeping so that it wakes itself up and immediately sign you in through the webcam or vice versa, locking up the system when you move away from the device.
If Dell makes the new Dell Optimizer working in tandem with the Dell power manager software, then those power profile settings will persist within machines across multiple versions or copies of OS.
Availability
The first 3 devices that support the Dell Optimizer will be the Latitude 9510 and Precision 5750 laptops as well as the OptiPlex 7080 desktop unit with a possibility of newer models down the line getting it natively integrated as well. However, the bad news is that some models are not getting any support right off the bat such as OptiPlex 3000s, 7070 Ultra, Latitude 3310, and Latitude Chromebook Enterprise. So, be sure to take note of the availability of this feature when purchasing your next work device.
Find out other features such as premium or additional functions and alike by clicking here.

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Showcase: OPPO R9s’s Rear-Camera

The OPPO R9s is a smartphone that we’ve talked about countlessly here at Nasi Lemak Tech. It’s no slouch when it comes out its camera – and today we’re going to show you why.
We’ve reviewed the OPPO R9s here not too long ago, and suffice to say – we actually love it. The camera is certainly something I can get by and use every day.

Without going much into the jargon, let’s have a quick camera spec rundown. It’s a 16MP camera with an aperture of f/1.7, PDAF for all that autofocusing magic, and uses a 1/2.8-inch sized sensor. OPPO even equipped a specially-designed Sony IMX398 sensor on the OPPO R9s! Pretty neat!
Just how exactly do those specs translate to pictures taken?
Take a look at some of the images we’ve taken here.
Powered by flickr embed.
Now, all of these pictures are taken in full auto mode, while some of them are taken in HDR mode. Only one of them is taken in the Ultra HD mode – which we’ll go more into detail later. Pun intended, by the way.
To me, a smartphone’s camera only needs to meet a few criteria before I personally deem it to be great.
Firstly, the focusing. Taking pictures with a smartphone needs to be quick and precise regardless if your subject is moving or not – just like playing Widowmaker in Overwatch. Else, it won’t be that useful. The specially-designed Sony IMX398 sensor has something called Dual-PDAF, which helps in terms of focusing speed and accuracy.

Secondly is the clarity. Its image quality should look great in terms of details and colors, so I can upload it to my social media without changing any settings. The speed of it to take a picture does affect my camera experience too. With the OPPO R9’s f/1.7 aperture, I don’t see this as an issue.

Thirdly, its additional features. The OPPO R9s comes with a feature that allows you to take Ultra HD pictures. It’s not the first time we are seeing this feature in a smartphone – oh no, but it’s a pretty rare feature. To see it appear in OPPO R9s – it’s actually quite surprising. It’ll take a few pictures and then stitch them up together into one bigger photo. In OPPO R9s’s case, it’s a 63.7MP photo.

Have you gotten yourself an OPPO R9s? Share your best picture with us down in the comments section below!
Disclaimer: This is an advertorial for OPPO.

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Flash 2 UI – Gone With the Era of Thorough Customization

The android system has been undergoing various reconstruction by various phone manufacturer since the birth of Android OS. Customized UI was developed on top of stock Android to give a unique experience across different model and brand of Android phones. However, this has gone out of control and develops into bloatwares, bugs and various end-user complications. Some even gone to the point of reflashing their phones to pure stock Android to get rid of the problems.

Nexus and Flash will fully embrace the stock Android. Flash 2 is hoping to initiate the new trend of stock Android OS into the mobile phone market. Not only stock Android OS improves performance, it also give users the freedom to choose their own customization as to their beneficial needs just like the Nexus phones.
Flash 2 is equipped with the stock Android L OS to provide simplified but not simple, fashionable but not superfluous user experience.
– Michael Chen, Deputy General Manager, Mobile Internet Group, TCL Communication

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Android – Wireless File Transfer

I know most Android users usually transfer files via those messy USB cables. This is a problem for me and maybe to some other tablet users. As you may know that tablet won’t charge via the computer’s USB port (unless USB 3.0). This can be troublesome if you are low on battery or simply you just want to charge your tablet while transferring stuff. Plus, it’s a hassle to keep unplugging the USB cable just for file transfer then plugging it back to the charger.
USB cable is a great hassle, Bluetooth is slow and considerably short in range, and pairing is also very frustrating! Why not pair once, and forget about it forever? That’s what this guide is for.

I’ll guide you on how to transfer photos, music and other data without using the USB cable.
The method I use to transfer files wirelessly is via file transfer protocol (FTP). There are other methods such as HTTP but I find that FTP is the fastest and most convenient way to transfer files using a graphical menu (of course).
Recommended Softwares:
For Computer[WINDOWS] :
FileZilla FTP Client
For Android :
FTP Server
The way this works is that the FTP server will, obviously, act as a server. You can connect to your Android device via FileZilla on your PC.
After installing both softwares on your PC and on your Android device, we can now proceed with the connection.
First, you might want to change the server settings.

The user and password are the details you are going to use to connect to your device from the PC.

After setting up the server, all you need to do is tap on the Power symbol. The IP address and port number will be displayed on the screen. We will use this details later on when connecting.

Now here comes the most important part, initiating the connection and transferring files.
Just open up FileZilla that you’ve installed previously.

From here, it’s straight forward.
Just enter all the details that you see on the app.(1)
Click the Quick connect button (2) and you are now connected! Note that this will only work if both your Android and PC are connected to the same network.
The rest are pretty simple and straight forward. Just drag and drop those files and they will transfer. In my experience, transferring this way is much faster than using the normal MTP USB protocol.
All those setup needed to be done only once. Next time when connecting, just press the Power Symbol on the tablet and connect by inserting the details in FileZilla on your PC! It’s as simple as grabbing your USB cable and opening file explorer!

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Review – Samsung Galaxy A72: The awesome phone to get

Samsung recently announced both the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 and they’re both similar, but different from each other. We did a quick unboxing of the Galaxy A72 to see what’s up and I just started using this phone.
And now, I’ve spent about 2 weeks with this phone – and here’s what we have to share with you.

Okay, so we’ll be going through our usual 6 aspects of a smartphone – and we’ll start off with the design.
Design
Oh boi, Samsung really did a fantastic job with the design of the new Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72. They both look the same and they all have this rough-ish matte finish at the back.

The one we have here is in the Awesome Blue color – and it’s my personal favorite. It looks great and the blue just gives me a very chill vibe and a major improvement over the previous generation.
Cameras
The camera cutout at the back of the Galaxy A72 is also rather flat. Not entirely flat but it’s flat enough to the point where it’s just a tiny bump – also wrapped in the same Awesome Blue color in matte finish.

While on the subject of the cameras – there are a total of 4 different cameras at the back of this phone – and all of them can be used to take pictures. Yes, no more depth sensor on the Galaxy A72, thank you.
To have a look at all the camera pictures taken with the Samsung Galaxy A72, watch our video at the top of this review.
Screen
Then comes the display. The Galaxy A72 comes with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with 1080p resolution and 90Hz refresh rate and from my eyes, it looks good. Do I want to do a color test on this phone? Hmmm… Okay, I’ll do it for the Galaxy A72.

It has 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and 98% of DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, with a pretty low Delta E number. This is an insanely color-accurate screen.

Performance
Now for the performance. We already did a gaming test of the Galaxy A72 in a separate video – so check that out instead. But, there was a software update after we did that gaming video, just as I have predicted.

That software update brought a massive improvement to its gaming performance – and we can get a smooth frame rate on Genshin Impact at low-ish graphical settings.
Battery
To power up the hardware inside the Galaxy A72, it is packed with a massive 5,000mAh battery. With the relatively power-efficient Snapdragon 720G chipset, we can get more than a day’s worth of usage while running at 60Hz.
Once we bumped up the refresh rate to 90Hz, the battery life takes quite a hit – just like any other smartphone.

Charger
But, for the Galaxy A72, Samsung still included a 25W charger inside. It’s the same charger as the Galaxy Note20. That is the exact same promise Samsung made for the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series of smartphones – and no other Android phone brands dare to make such promises.
Yet for the past year or two, Samsung has been delivering monthly updates to their phones – and I’m glad they’re giving the same attention to the Galaxy A series as well.
Misc. highlights
And a few things that I want to highlight about the Galaxy A72 – it is IP67-rated so there are no issues dunking it in the water or taking it to the pool.

It even has an audio jack – and the phone also has stereo speakers, if you’re wondering.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A72?
Absolutely – but the price is obviously at a premium here since you’re getting the best experience available on a mid-range smartphone. At RM1,899 – I think it’s a little steep and inching close to the Galaxy S20 FE 4G’s current price of RM2,099.
But if you prefer the aesthetics of the Galaxy A72, then go for it. it’s a fantastic phone.

Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

Amazon US
Lazada
Shopee

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7 Creative Ideas for Customizing Your Computer Setup

Are you looking for new and creative ways to customize your computer setup? Are you bored of the same monotonous monitor, keyboard, and mouse design you’ve had for years? With so many options out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We’re here to help relieve some of that stress by sharing seven ideas on how you can break away from the basics with unique styles and designs that make your workspace feel like an extension of yourself. Read on to find out our favorite tips and tricks for adding a personal touch to your desktop setup.
Customized Your Keyboard And Other Peripherals
Have you ever wished that your keyboard was just a little bit different? Perhaps you find yourself frequently making typos or struggling to find certain symbols. Well, the answer might be to get custom computer keycaps and other peripheral accessories! Whether you’re a budding programmer or just someone who spends a lot of time at their computer, making small adjustments to your input devices can make a big difference. You could remap keys, assign new functions, or even invest in a custom-designed keyboard.

Unique Icon Packs and Themes
Revamp the appearance of your computer with unique icon packs and themes that can fully transform your desktop. Be it for productivity or leisure, a personalized desktop setup with sleek graphics and vibrant colors is imperative in achieving a seamless experience. The plethora of options available caters to a wide range of preferences, from minimalist designs to whimsical illustrations. Not only do these icon packs and themes make your desktop aesthetic pleasing, but they also offer a fresh perspective and a new level of productivity. Give your desktop a personalized touch and breathe new life into your computer usage.
Ambient Lighting
Creating the perfect atmosphere for your computer workspace can make all the difference when it comes to productivity and overall comfort. That’s where ambient lighting comes in. With custom lighting effects, you can enhance the mood of your setup and create a more immersive experience. Whether you want a calming blue glow or a fiery red hue, ambient lighting can help set the tone for whatever you’re working on. Plus, it’s a great way to give your workspace a little personality and make it truly your own.
Cable Management Solutions
Cable management is an essential aspect of keeping your workspace organized and achieving a sleek, clutter-free look. Whether you are working from home or in a busy office, cables can be a hassle to deal with. Fortunately, there are several cable management solutions available that can help you keep cables tidy and organized. From cable ties and clips to cable sleeves and covers, there are many options to choose from. These solutions not only make your space look more clean and organized but can also prevent accidents or damage caused by tangled cords. Don’t let messy wires ruin your productivity or style, invest in cable management solutions today for a cleaner, more efficient workspace.
Adding Personal Touches to Your Workspace
Ready to take your creative juices up a notch? Consider making your accessories for a truly unique workspace. If you’re feeling crafty, there are many easy ways to make things like pen holders, paper organizers, and even custom mousepads. The possibilities are endless; all it takes is some creativity and the right tools! Not only do DIY projects add a personal touch to your workspace, but they can also save you money in the long run.
Customized Software and UI
In today’s world, technology is a part of our daily routine. We use computers, phones, and other devices to accomplish various tasks. However, every individual has different preferences regarding using these devices. That’s where customized software and user interfaces come in to give you the experience that you desire. By tailoring your computer experience, you can improve your productivity, have a more efficient workflow, and even reduce fatigue. Customized software gives you the ability to work with software that caters to your specific needs, allowing for a more personalized experience.

Custom PC Case Mods
Custom PC case mods are the perfect way to take your computer’s aesthetics to the next level and make it stand out from the crowd. Whether you’re looking to create a unique gaming rig or revamp your home office, a custom PC case is a great place to start. With a huge range of styles, materials, and finishes to choose from, you can create a truly one-of-a-kind look that reflects your personality and style. From sleek, minimalist designs to flamboyant, attention-grabbing cases, the world of custom PC case mods is full of endless possibilities.
No matter how you decide to customize your desktop space, the benefits are endless. Not only do you get to have a unique environment tailored to your preferences, but it can also be a great source of creativity and motivation as well! From colorful wallpapers and custom graphics to stylish mouse pads and matching cable ties, you can make sure that your setup stands out from the crowd while expressing your personality. Whether you prefer creating it yourself or looking for solutions on the market, customizing your digital space has never been more accessible or more affordable. And with all these different choices available at your fingertips, there is no limit to updating and personalizing your desktop experience!

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vivo Malaysia celebrates the big number 2 for its E-Store launch and packs several deals across the month of March

vivo Malaysia’s E-Store platform is officially 2 years old and they have prepared a few goodies for everyone to enjoy off the celebratory event.
Running exclusively on the E-Store platform obviously, several items are having their price slashed for a limited time from the flagship X series towards the mid-tier V family to the budget Y models and even the value-packed gaming-focused T series.

On top of that, just buy any vivo smartphone and you’ll stand a chance to enter an easy lucky draw session where prizes such as ASUS TUF Gaming laptops, TWS, smartphones, and more are ready to be taken home!
Here are some of the deals happening over there.

X70 5G (8GB+128GB) @ RM1,399 [FREE Hair Dryer / TWS]
V23e 5G (8GB+128GB) @ RM1,079 [FREE Hair Dryer / TWS]
V23e (8GB+128GB) @ RM969 [FREE Hair Dryer / TWS]
Y35 (8GB+256GB) @ RM999 [FREE Hair Dryer / TWS]
Y76 5G (8GB+128GB) @ RM1,099 [FREE Hair Dryer / Phone Stand / TWS]
Y55+ 5G (8GB+128GB) @ RM869 [FREE Hair Dryer / Phone Stand / TWS]
T1x (8GB+128GB) @ RM786 [FREE Hair Dryer / Phone Stand / TWS]
T1x (4GB+64GB) @ RM599 [FREE Hair Dryer / Phone Stand / TWS]
iQOO 11 5G @ RM3,399 [FREE iQOO Wireless Active earphones]

The campaign starts tomorrow and lasts across the entirety of March 2023.

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Review – Transcend 300S MicroSD (TS128GUSD300S-A) 128GB

While microSD cards are still dominating the market, the amount of choice can be quite jarring. Today, we have a special little microSD card in the labs – and that is the from the Transcend 300S series of microSD cards.
The full name of this microSD card is jokingly long. There are terms like microSDXC, UHS-I U3, V30, A1 – but what do they all mean? Well, you can click here and here to learn about some of them. But you just need to pay attention to the terms V30 and A1.

Unboxing

The box itself is rather simple for a microSD card. It is just a simple cardboard seal that requires you to break the packaging if you want to access the contents.

At the back of the packaging, we can see a bit more information here… but not really useful since there are no specs stating its sequential read/write speeds and the random read/write IOPS. Also, if you understand the terms used to specify the specs of microSD cards, then you already sort of know the speeds of the microSD card.

Opening up the packaging obviously reveals the adapter and also the Transcend 300S microSD only. Transcend does sell another variant of 300S without the adapter.
Performance
I did this performance test in two different perspective – one as a SSD-like portable storage device. Another one is with my phone. Essentially, the specification for the Transcend 300S microSD card has specified that it has a sequential read speed of up to 95MB/s and has the sequential write speed of at least 30MB/s (V30 rating).
Benchmarks using USB 3.0 card reader
Here we are using a USB 3.0 card reader with my desktop PC. We ran the standard test by using CrystalDiskMark first.

Here we can see that the sequential read/write speeds are pretty much in line with what the Transcend 300S microSD card has promised us. It has the sequential read speeds just shy of 95MB/s. According to the V30 specification, it needs to be at least 30MB/s of sequential write speed – and the Transcend 300S microSD crushes that speed. However, since it did not reach the 60MB/s mark, it can only be rated as V30.
As for random IOPS, the Transcend 300S microSD is exceptionally good and it hits around the 10MB/s mark for all random 4K tests. The high random 4K access speed is actually what the “A1” means on the Transcend 300S microSD’s packaging.
The A1 standard is created to certify that a microSD is fast enough for Android phones to use as it is meant for apps to be moved to the external storage, hence freeing some space for your internal storage. However, apps are broken into small chunks – hence the speedyt random 4K access speed is necessary.
Benchmark using a smartphone
The smartphone of my choice is the Samsung Galaxy S9. I’ve been using it for nearly a year now and my internal storage is pretty much filled to the brim. However, microSD card benchmarks on Android is pretty much CrystalDiskMark on a phone. My benchmark tool of choice is AndroBench, and it reveals this result:

It does appear to be slower on the phone too – and that might be because of how much crap I have running in the background already. Whichever the case may be, the microSD card still performs well. It is scoring around 75MB/s sequential read and around 45MB/s sequential write speed, and scoring in at 7MB/s for random 4K read and around 5MB/s for random 4K write speeds.
Wrapping up the Transcend 300S microSD card review
These results only tell us one thing – for power users of Android smartphones, the Transcend 300S microSD is obviously highly recommended in our books. It has fantastic sequential read and write speeds, making it really suitable for 4K @ 60FPS video recording with a smartphone. I personally use Filmic Pro on the Galaxy S9 to film all videos from events. Click here to watch those videos.

Then onward to the random 4K access times. It does affect our day to day user experience as it can take much longer to show all the picture thumbnails in the gallery – especially when there are thousands of pictures in your microSD card. The high random 4K read and write speeds means that you can move apps, pictures, and games to your microSD card without suffering from a long loading time.

Of course, with 128GB, you can even use your Android smartphone like a USB drive. Just transfer your data into your phone and bring it with you.
Transcend is currently offering the 300S microSD in both 128GB and 256GB variants too. However, I can only find the 128GB in the market – and it is priced at only RM99. That is much cheaper than Huawei’s NM cards.
Where to buy?

Lazada
Amazon

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Review – Machenike M830 wireless gaming mouse – Great option with a greater price

Machenike approached us about a month ago – and So this is a mouse that was sent to us a while ago – and we were intrigued. Machenike is a brand that I’ve heard and seen before – but no idea who they are.
Then after some digging, I found out that Machenike is a part of Haier, and Thunderobot is also a part of Haier. But, Machenike and Thunderobot seem to be competitors to each other.

But anyway, we’re only here to focus on the Machenike M830 wireless gaming mouse. Why I accepted this review request is because the representative said that they have taken notice of my complaints about the Thunderobot ML701 – which you can check out the review at the top right corner there – and added a few new flairs too.
So, let’s see what the new Machenike M830 has to offer.

Okay, so this review I’m just going to take it easy. The Machenike M830 comes in a stingray-like design as it two flanges protruding the base. Supposedly, that means my entire hand can rest on the mouse comfortably without touching the table – so flick shots should be easier.

The Machenike has an ambidextrous design but for some reason, the right side is just a decorative piece. I mean, since it’s an ambidextrous design, adding two extra side buttons on the right side of the mouse will be really nice for this mouse.

That is because – at the top of the mouse, we have the usual left and right clicks, scroll wheel and its click, and also the forward and back buttons on the left side. Typically, the DPI cycle button is at the top – but for this mouse, it’s at the bottom.

I mean, there’s no real reason to put the DPI cycle button at the bottom, right? Maybe there is – because one of my complaints about the Thunderobot ML701 is the lack of a dedicated space to store the USB dongle.

So, Machenike took it a step further. The palm part with all the mesh is removable and it reveals a slot for the USB dongle to sit snugly. And Machenike also included another piece inside the box if you don’t like the mesh. I mean, it doesn’t make that much of a difference in terms of cooling my sweaty palms or in terms of weight. It’s just aesthetics, mostly.

Speaking of aesthetics – the Machenike comes with two RGB light zones – one on the scroll wheel and another around the base. And they also addressed one of my complaints as the Machenike M830 can have its RGB configured via software.
It’s a pretty standard software overall and the Machenike M830 has on-board memory to store all of the settings configured via the software. But, the most confusing part to me, is that the Machike M830 has two on-board memories?

Okay, so let me explain. At the back of the Machenike M830, it has the ability to be turned on in 3 different modes – firstly is in wireless mode but with the extra lighting turned off to conserve battery life, secondly is in wireless mode with all the lights turned on, and lastly is “wired” mode, which also means “off” when the mouse is disconnected.

So when I configured the mouse via the software, I was using it in wireless mode.

One thing that I want to praise here – the USB-C port on the Machenike M830 juts out quite a lot – so even USB-C cables with a thick head can be plugged in and there will be no obstructions. That’s great!

Okay, so – do I recommend the Machenike M830 wireless gaming mouse? Yes. At the price of RM138 (as the time of this recording), of course, it’s more expensive when compared to the Thunderobot ML701, but it also fixed a lot of the small annoying things that drive me crazy over time.
And with all of those said, I’m switching from the Thunderobot ML701 to the Machenike M830 wireless mouse. I mean, I already did – I’m just telling you now.

Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

Lazada

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Neffos Cuts Prices For 8 Models; Brings Y5 & Y50

It seems like this year, 2018, is a year of price cuts. Obviously, I’m not complaining. Lower-priced smartphones is something that everyone wants – and Neffos knows that. That’s why they’ve slashed price for nearly all of their smartphones that are in the market today. Here is the brand new price list. The only smartphone that did not receive a price cut here is the Neffos X1 Lite, which is their best-selling model.

Smartphone model

Old Price

New Price

Neffos Y50
RM 349.00
RM 299.00

Neffos Y5
RM 449.00
RM 399.00

Neffos C5 Max
RM 599.00
RM 499.00

Neffos X1 Lite
RM 499.00
RM 499.00

Neffos X1 16GB
RM 699.00
RM 599.00

Neffos X1 32GB
RM 849.00
RM 699.00

Neffos X1 Max 32GB
RM 899.00
RM 799.00

Neffos X1 Max 64GB
RM 1199.00
RM 899.00

One interesting point to highlight here is that the entire product range of Neffos’s smartphones now covers only the sub-RM1k price range. Neffos has smartphones that start from only RM299, and goes all the way up to RM899.

Customers who go for X1 and X1 Max models can benefit from the Worry Free 1+2+3 Programme by enjoying 1 year screen crack protection, 2 years warranty and 3 months 1-to-1 exchange while X1 Lite and other models will be offered 2+3. We are delighted to share that the Neffos X1 Lite being newly launched yet the best seller as it has received positive feedback from dealers and customers in terms of low repair rates and stable functions.
If you’re interested in getting one of these Neffos smartpones, then click here to find out where you can get them.

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New vivo V23e series smartphones to arrive in Malaysia next Thursday

vivo Malaysia has announced that the V23e series smartphones are ready to debut next Thursday which is December 9.

Available in stylish colors of Moonlight Shadow and Sunshine Coast, both the V23e and V23e 5G has already passed SIRIM certification and are ready to be launched within the next 6 days. Aside from the SoC powering these 2 different devices, the overall design and most components are to be the same, presumably.
We will be back with another round of announcements once the official launch for them on December 9 wraps up.

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Review – Beyerdynamic Byron BT: Essential For Wireless Audio

Wireless earphones are on the rise in recent months. The main catalyst is thanks (or not) to the money-faced Apple with their brand new iPhone 7/Plus’s jackless design. Beyerdynamic is quick to jump in the respond with their Beyerdynamic Byron BT – a wireless pair of earbuds.
[alert type=”info” icon-size=”normal”]The one we’re reviewing here is the Beyerdynamic Byron BT. There’s another Beyerdynamic Byron BTA, which costs RM350 more, and it’s fundamentally different.[/alert]

Beyerdynamic’s packaging style has always been great. All the information is laid out on the box itself. It’s fairly a huge box too, actually.

This time around though, they didn’t include the “ENJOY” on the box’s flap – not sure why, but just thought I’d point that out.
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Opening the box reveals quite a lot of things, ranging from a protective leatherette pouch, a few eartips with different sizes to choose from, some documentation, a micro USB cable, and of course, the Beyerdynamic Byron BT itself.

One side note here – the micro USB cable that Beyerdynamic included is extremely stiff and thick! Even stiffer and thicker than those that come with high-end smartphones!

[nextpage title=”Design”]
The Beyerdynamic Byron BT takes on a gunmetal grey/black colour scheme here. Opting for a minimal footprint approach, the Beyerdynamic Byron BT is seriously tiny.

There are quite a lot of things to talk about the Beyerdynamic Byron BT before moving to its sound test. The first thing I’d like to move out of the way is its weight – or weightlessness. The entire pair of earphone itself weighs in only at 12 grams. Twelve grams only.

What’s funny is that the leatherette pouch weighs in at 13 grams – effectively doubling the weight. It’s not heavy by any means – and 25 grams is negligible.

I can see that Beyerdynamic did think of everything from top to bottom while designing the Byron BT. It comes with a total of 4 different set of eartips actually, not 3. For all I can see, you have S/M/L sizes, but the default pre-installed one is a spare pair of M-sized eartips.

Beyerdynamic included some semi-transparent loopy things as “eartips” too, but they’re actually a complimentary supports for the Beyerdynamic Byron BT to stay better in position.

Those little loops are easy to install – just take out the eartip, slot in the loopy things as shown below, and then put the eartip back in. The problem here is the eartip itself. They’re extremely difficult to remove!

Remember to get the eartips that best fit your ears!
After getting the eartips right, it’s time to position the loopy thing. It sits in at one position on the ear pinna. It locks itself into place, and it’s surprisingly well done. Better yet, it doesn’t feel like there’s something pressing against my ear too.
It’s basically a hook – but works like a counterweight anchor.
[nextpage title=”Features”]
Now, here is were I think the Beyerdynamic Byron BT truly excels. The Byron BT has a slew of features – and I think Beyerdynamic executed them all very well.

First off, there are the in-line controls. These buttons work with zero issue with Spotify, and I have to give Beyerdynamic credit for the fantastic engineering they’ve done towards these 3 buttons. They’re the usual volume up/down and the main function button, or MFB for short. I always call the MFB as play/pause button – just for easier understanding.

Holding volume up or down button for 1 second while songs are playing will seek to the next or previous track. Holding the volume up or down while nothing is playing however will ask the Beyerdynamic Byron BT to tell you the battery level. Really neat.
Let’s not forget that the Beyerdynamic Byron BT actually has its own independent volume controls too. This is indeed one of the major feature that I was hoping it to have – and they delivered. There are other things too like a little LED indicator at the back of the in-line control panel, though I would prefer to listen to its internal announcer.

While on the subject of its internal announcer, Beyerdynamic included a set of announcements made by the Byron BT itself, and it tells the user a series of information. I absolutely love the way all necessary information are announced within the earphone itself, except for the battery status. Telling me “battery is enough” isn’t really helpful, but at least it’s there. It will however repeat and annoy the living heck out of you when the battery is low. Also, there’s an internal ringtone which is triggered if you receive a call while your phone is paired to the Byron BT.

All of these little tiny features made the Beyerdynamic Byron BT extremely valuable to me. It might not sound exciting for relevant now, but I assure you – not needing to head over to your music app just to go to the previous/next track or change volume is extremely convenient.
As the Byron BT is a mobile-focused pair of wireless earphones, I was surprised by how well it works with iTunes on a Mac. Doesn’t work on Windows though.
[nextpage title=”Using the Beyerdynamic Byron BT”]
Comfort
The entire Beyerdynamic Byron BT – as mentioned before – isn’t heavy at all. Weighing in at just 12 grams, it’s one of the lightest pair of earphones I’ve ever tested.
Now, how good does it feel in the ears over extended period of time though?

I tested without the loopy thing at first. Just like any pair of earphones though, the earbuds drop by tiny ear muscle movements or walking. This is where the little transparent loopy things come in handy – and by handy, I mean that they really do lend a hand to grab onto ear ears.
As the loopy thing catches on slightly to the ear pinna, it acts as a very nice counterbalance to its own weight. Usually without the loopy thing, the earbuds fall out at an instant – and the counterbalance makes sure it doesn’t even budge. Fantastic idea as it doesn’t annoy the user, and works effectively.

Also, those loopy things does not affect the time or difficulty to put on the Beyerdynamic Byron BT. They just move itself into place whenever I wear the Byron BT!
Real A+ engineering here.
Listening test
In terms of its performance, I can say that the Beyerdynamic Byron BT is definitely high up on my recommendation list of earphones. Throughout the numerous number of wired earphones I’ve tested, the Beyerdynamic Byron BT excels in vocals, mids, and highs. To me personally, I find that the bass is a tad bit lacking, as there there isn’t enough of that unrealistic synthetic thumping bass on electronic music.
Oh yes, they have magnets and snap back-to-back.
For me, that’s fine. The Beyerdynamic Byron BT is by far the most enjoyable pair of earphones that I’ve used – and it comes second to the NAD VISO HP20 that we’ve reviewed here quite some time ago. Keep in mind that the NAD VISO HP20 is a wired pair of earphones too.
Breaking down the entire listening test result though, I’ve enjoyed listening to swing jazz or big band music he most with the Beyerdynamic Byron BT. Alice Francis’s Gangsterlove sounded fantastic in particular, mainly because it’s a vocal-focused genre of music. Listening to other types of music like Emoji VIP by Pegboard Nerds and Adventure Time by Rouge are still enjoyable – just lacks a little bit of that thumping bass.

Soundstage on the other hand is fantastic! I played Overwatch wearing this pair of earphones and holy moly. The directional audio on this pair of earphones is too good. Listening to some 3D audio files sounds magnificent too.
Of course, there’s the Qualcomm aptX support. Click here to read everything about the Qualcomm aptX technology from top to bottom. but all I can say is – don’t worry about it. The Beyerdynamic Byron BT sounds great even if your device doesn’t support aptX.
Battery life
Then comes the most dreaded question for all wireless gadgets – battery life. Beyerdynamic claims about 7.5 hours of battery life, and I agree. It does last about 7 hours of consistent music streaming to drain its battery.
Tiny little micro USB charging port!
Better yet, it took about half an hour at most to charge completely. I’m real surprised by how fast the Beyerdynamic Byron BT can get back into action!
Just look at how small the little controller is!
In case you’re wondering – you can listen to some music while it’s charging too – just a little awkward considering that there is one more cable poking out of your wireless earphone at a weird angle.
[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]
Considering the entire set of features and performance that the Beyerdynamic Byron BT offers, I think it’s a fantastic pair of wireless earphones. Sound quality is superb not only for music, but even for gaming actually. Battery life is fantastic too. Even the charging speed back to a full 100% battery capacity is really quick.

The only real complaint I have is the little leatherette pouch that it comes with. That pouch is difficult to open, and even more difficult to put the Beyerdynamic Byron BT back inside. A little rounded hard case with a zipper should be more suitable. It’s not a big deal, but I expected a better case for something of this price.

Beyerdynamic never highlighted the Qualcomm aptX feature much, that’s because you shouldn’t give it that much focus either. It’s nice to have, but unless you have an entire library of FLAC audio, then it’s not really worth pursuing.
All in all, I really do suggest you guys to get the Beyerdynamic Byron BT. With the removal of audio jack by veto power, it’s time to invest on a pair of wireless earphone.
To get yourself one unit of the Beyerdynamic Byron BT, click here to get more details on how to get yourself a special deal + bundle with your very own pair of the Beyerdynamic Byron BT/BTA!
Or just head on over to Jaben here and get yourself a pair. Priced at only RM549 – and you get another power bank too!

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BREAKING – Xiaomi smartphones adware & malicious apps running rampant; built into MIUI

Here’s the TL;DR version : Imported versions of Mi phones uses a modified version of MIUI firmware, and have been problematic for a few reasons. Firstly, it has adware built into the phone’s software itself. Two of the Mi smartphones, which I personally saw and tested, had this issue. One of them even had malicious codes (I presume) which automagically install apps on the phone itself, without the user even knowing.
How to avoid this problem – buy smartphones only from the main channel themselves, i.e. from Mi Malaysia.

How I fixed this problem – factory resetting the phone doesn’t solve anything. The entire process is too long, I can’t summarize. Read the entire story and process below.
Disclaimer
I am absolutely NOT accusing anything or anyone in particular, but I just want to point out that there is such an issue. I’ve encountered two of these issues first-hand, and I really wouldn’t want to see any of these issues again. It’s disgusting, a total invasion to anyone’s privacy, and even hurts the manufacturer’s reputation.
To Xiaomi – take note of this issue. MIUI is getting modified and installed into Xiaomi smartphones, and eventually shipped to Malaysia and sold to unknowing customers who expects the device that they buy are functioning without any of these random issues.
Also, I’m NOT the first to discover such issues, as The Hacker News posted this last year, with Xiaomi’s spokesperson claiming that they are only investigating on this matter, but the problem still persists. Even YouTuber AndroidAndyUK came across this issue with his Redmi Note 2 that he bought from AliExpress.
Story time
First case – Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek version) codenamed hennessy
A few months back, a friend of mine bought an imported Redmi Note 3 set a while ago. He furiously kept repeating that the phone is lagging, and eventually spilled the beans – there were random ads popping on his phone for no reason. Eventually, he even mentioned that there were random apps installed on his phone which he never even knew existed. He claimed that those apps were not there during his initial use. Then he said he wanted me to root the phone and give it a custom ROM.
I was skeptical. Listening to this I just said “okay, let me root it and give you a custom ROM”, because that device was really lagging beyond my imagination.
Firstly I downloaded the Developer ROM from MIUI’s official download page, and I followed their flashing guides to do so. At first I tried the easiest method to update the ROM, by using their System Update feature and point to the downloaded ROM instead. It gave errors, and I moved on to the next method – Recovery Update. Apparently with Xiaomi’s brand new policy means a locked recovery, rendering the entire second method unusable. This makes the Mi PC Suite method to be unusable too, if you’re wondering.
I had to resort to the most verbose method ever – the third one, Fastboot Update. The most tedious of all methods, requires multiple steps to just prepare for the flashing method, and once I got it to work, I flashed the Developer ROM on the Redmi Note 3. Since Xiaomi’s brand new policy needs like 10 days or so to get the permission to unlock the bootloader AFTER flashing the Developer ROM, I had no choice but to tell my friend to use the Developer ROM for the time being.
Days went by, and to my surprise, my friend didn’t complain anything about his Redmi Note 3 running a Developer ROM, other than Google services not working properly. Then one day I received an SMS telling me that my request to unlock the bootloader has been granted, and blah blah blah – I eventually flashed CM12.1 on it and everything went fine.
End of story 1, and I pretty much still don’t believe what happened.
Second story – Mi 5 codenamed gemini

This happened last afternoon. I got a distress call saying that the brand new (just got it last Saturday) Mi 5 that he bought had random app installations and random advertisements popping out of WhatsApp and other apps too. I then received a few screenshots that made my jaw drop.
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The Sime Darby Property app was caught red-handed while our victim was chatting with me, whereas the Rise Of The Dragon ad was taken some time ago. I thought “welp, this is familiar!” I requested for some more screenshots, and I found something particularly interesting.
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UPDATE: I got more screenshots from the victim, and it’s problematic to the max. Ads popping out on WhatsApp’s list of chats, and even while chatting!
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As of the last time I checked (which was yesterday) on MIUI’s website , the Mi 5 actually released a total of 3 more incremental versions since MIUI 7.2.4.0.0 Stable, and is currently at version 7.2.8.0. Tapping on the “Check for updates” button showed a message saying that there are no updates available, which told me what to do next.

“Click on Download Full ROM and follow the first method in the Flashing Guide and you’ll have a perfectly fine phone”, I told my friend. And it turned out horribly wrong. Just like the first case with the Redmi Note 3, it didn’t work. Same goes to the second method. Again I had resorted to the last method – using Fastboot Update.
This time I had to follow a completely different guide, thanks to EarlRagnar who posted a very detailed guide on how to do it. After fumbling with all the drivers and getting everything prepped, the Mi 5 booted up.
UPDATE: That link doesn’t work now. Here’s a brand new link for everyone to follow. It might differ a little, but it should work. http://en.miui.com/thread-298885-1-1.html
Apparently by just flashing MIUI’s official firmware back into the smartphone, everything was set straight again and have no issues thereon. Everything worked perfectly, but again it’s just like a Chinese Android smartphone – there’s no Google services on the phone. That’s a small matter however, as there are a slew of guides on how to get Google services back on a Xiaomi smartphone in a jiff.
Indicators of “infected phone”
I discovered there are potentially three main hints if the phone is funky or not.
First and foremost, in these two cases, both phones are solely from China. They are imported units, directly from China. Coincidentally, both of these are from DirectD too. I’m not accusing them of selling such devices, and it’s just a coincidence.
Secondly, both of these devices, although are from China and presumable uses some Chinese firmware, actually is preset to work in English in its initial boot. For me, I though it’s perfectly fine at first, but I realized that after I flashed any of MIUI’s official Chinese ROM on both the devices, it automatically displays everything in Chinese by default.
Thirdly, the MIUI version of both the Xiaomi smartphones that I came across wasn’t up to date at all, but the Updater showed that it is indeed up to date. Cross-check with MIUI’s website here to make sure. In the second case that I encountered this first-hand, it was quite obvious there’s a major mismatch in MIUI versions.
What does it mean and what should I do?
If your phone is funky, please get it fixed. I’m not sure if Xiaomi Malaysia actually handles imported units of their smartphone, and I really hope whoever that sold you that smartphone will take total responsibility and fix your issue.
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Deasha commented on this post saying that Mi Malaysia does not provide warranty for imported devices.
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Of course I don’t expect every smartphone dealer to know how to use Fastboot and the tools to fix every single smartphone out there, I guess that’s where you have to take matters in your own hands. Tough luck, I know.
You could try uninstalling all the China apps on your smartphone – that’s a start, but the firmware version will be stuck of course, which I don’t recommend to leave the issue like this and mark it as “solved”.
Apparently not only Xiaomi smartphones
A year ago, my friend kept telling me that her relative’s Lenovo smartphone starting acting on its own and doing things without even touching it. Again, it’s the same thing – popping up ads and downloading apps without the user ever knowing. Lenovo’s A850 had the same issue too, but that’s pretty much all I can find as of now.

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AotS Now Optimized For AMD Ryzen

For those who are focusing on the PC market a lot for the past few weeks – we all know that the all new AMD Ryzen is here. The hype train was certainly not disappointed, but there are obviously haters who claims that Ryzen is a failure just because it’s not “optimized for gaming”. Now, AMD proves the haters wrong. Let’s take a look at how AMD shows the haters they’re wrong.
First off, let’s talk about why there is a group of people that says “AMD Ryzen is not for gaming”. It has to do with the gaming benchmark scores that showed how AMD lacks in FPS where Intel shines – that’s pretty much it. There is obviously more to this.

AMD’s Ryzen platform is entirely new, and there will be some issues for sure. Take it as the “early adoption syndrome”. AM4 BIOS and its architecture aren’t particularly optimized yet, and the scores will obviously take a hit. All I can tell you is this – the future of Ryzen is bright, but it’ll take some time to optimize even further. It’s already great now, but it can obviously be better – as shown by Stardock and Oxide Games’s optimization on Ashes of the Singularity.

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[UPDATED] HTC’s website is down for more than a day; what happened?

While we haven’t heard from HTC for quite some time – someone discovered that HTC’s website does not work, citing an error of Http/1.1 Service Unavailable. From what we can deduce, HTC’s website has been down for more than a day. But it’s fixed now, so there’s nothing to worry about.
The original tweet that brought this issue to light was from Jason Dunn, who posted this tweet on 2nd January 2020 at 11.11am.

Trying to do my monthly log-in to #HTCelevate and https://t.co/yEiY41hZ7q isn’t loading for me at all across several browsers. Others seeing the same issue? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/CBuA68gvv8
— Jason Dunn (@jasondunn) January 2, 2020

Then, HTC only responded on 3rd January 2020 at 7.48am, stating that they’re looking into the issue. From what we have tested, the issue was just remedied a while ago.

We're addressing the issue, but you should be able to get to the site via https://t.co/JFTzcvpGHn and https://t.co/jVwFRkjWwv
— HTC (@htc) January 2, 2020

From what we can find out, HTC’s website was previously working on 31st December 2019 at 21:21:49, as shown by the Wayback Machine. Anything attempts to cache in the year 2020 are unsuccessful.
There were comments saying that this is the end of an era – HTC just proved that they’re still alive and kicking as the website is now fully functional. We discovered that typing in “htc.com” directly doesn’t work – but typing in “www.htc.com” works. But there’s a twist.

This is just a small issue where entering HTC’s website without the “www” part. However, what’s alarming is how long this issue persisted. This seems to be an issue with redirection configured on their website – but this issue persisted for more than a day now.
But then again, at least we know what’s going on. There’s nothing to be alarmed about yet.

UPDATE: We dug further into the rabbit hole.
We found out that “htc.com” goes to the IP address of 114.30.34.31, which is the webserver host’s IP address. We know that it doesn’t work already.
Then, we found out that “www.htc.com” is pointed towards a completely different server. It goes to “e12069.b.akamaiedge.net”. While that might look like a bunch of gibberish, it is actually an Akamai server. HTC is using Akamai’s CDN services.
In short, “www.htc.com” is showing a previously-saved website by Akamai. HTC’s main website is still down.

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Hurry up and get a free ROG Cetra II Headset when you buy a ROG Phone 5 now

ASUS ROG Malaysia is currently running a pretty sweet but timed deal for its gaming flagship smartphone ROG Phone 5.

Pretty straightforward as the title says, you’ll be able to get a complimentary ROG Cetra II Headset when you purchase a ROG Phone 5 (8GB+128GB) through the official ASUS store on Lazada and Shopee. Even though the promotion runs until July 9, it is based on a first come first served basis and I’m pretty it will run out of stock pretty fast so better make your decision as early as possible! The 8GB+128GB model is currently priced at RM2,999.
Check out the review to find out how can it pack that many features into a smartphone at the price range of RM3000.

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Print Straight From Your Hand-held Device

Technology has altered the way people worked. What was once typewriters and copy machines have today evolved into multi-function printers. Manufacturers have also created new, innovative and simpler ways for users to interact and utilize such cutting edge technology.
In a fast-paced working environment with quick turn-around time, the Samsung Mobile Print app enables increase in productivity through seamless mobility. Supporting a wide variety of    Samsung printers, it is compatible with all smartphone and tablet brands to allow people to wirelessly print, scan and transfer files with ease without complicated driver installations.

Simply install the app, connect your device via Wi-Fi-direct to the printer, and voila! You’re ready to print, scan and fax then and there. Printing photos, web pages, PDF files and even Microsoft Office documents such as Excel spread sheets and PowerPoint presentations is just a tap away. Best of all, the app is available cross-platform.

Through the app, users have a diversified range of print options from size, orientation, print quantity, mono and colour prints, and much more. Such flexibility offers consumers a printing experience similar to one from a desktop computer, and thus empowers users with access to content hardcopies from a smartphone like never before.
Converting physical copies to digital equivalents through the Samsung Mobile Print app is a snap. Just tap the scan button on any network connected Samsung Multifunction Printer and it automatically transforms your photos and documents into its JPG, PNG and PDF equivalents. Using the app, you can also tweak these files to your preference; making them compatible for whatever purpose you require them for.

After amending your documents and photos, users might encounter challenges transferring their files. Not to worry, because the Samsung Mobile Print app also allows multi-purpose file transfers to other devices as well as the web. Your content can be shared to emails, social networking sites and cloud storage services; letting you work and share on the go, minus the clutter.
Without a doubt, the Samsung Mobile Print app’s features and user-friendliness turns troublesome tasks into child’s play. Its delivery of convenience, functionality and productivity at a tap of the screen is second to none.

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