Review – ASUS ZenFone 3 Max: Lackluster Sequel

This is the ASUS ZenFone 3 Max. Earlier this year, we reviewed the original ASUS ZenFone Max that we’ve reviewed here. While that’s a great smartphone, that was released just a few months ago, there’s a big change this time around. The ZenFone 3 Max brought in some fundamental changes to its hardware and design. This ZenFone 3 Max we’re reviewing here is the ZC520TL – the 5.2-inch version.

The packaging is pretty simple compared to its more premium sibling that I fell in love with, the ASUS ZenFone 3 – which we also reviewed here. There’s nothing really outstanding about the packaging other than it’s kept really simple and has only the necessary information displayed.
PixelMaster camera, Bluetooth 4.0, 720p IPS display, supports 4G LTE and 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and has a curved 2.5D glass too.
All you need to do to unbox the ASUS ZenFone 3 Max is just slide off sleeve off and voila!

The contents on the brand new ZenFone 3 Max is the same as its previous ZenFone Max – which I think is very sufficient for users.
Micro USB cable, micro USB OTG cable, a charger, and SIM ejector tool.
I find it really funny that ASUS has to dedicate one special slot for the SIM ejector tool. So funny that even the SIM ejector tool looks like smiley face! There’s absolutely nothing beneath that compartment though.

[nextpage title=”Design”]
Its design is something to be noted of. Compared to its predecessor, the ZenFone 3 Max is a lot thinner than before, but not to the point where it’s difficult to grab. Its rounded edges make it very pleasant to hold too. The design overall is pretty clean and sleek, and that for me is good enough.
I think it’s pretty interesting to have a fingerprint reader at the back – and it’s one feature that many smartphones around this price point should have.

Right above the fingerprint reader is where the camera is found. One good thing is that the camera does sink in a little instead of being flushed flat with the back metal piece. That’s one way to reduce scratches, but it does gather some dirt around its edges.
I’d say that the ZenFone 3 Max has a pretty typical design overall, with the volume rocker and power button at the right side, and only the SIM/microSD card tray on the left.

At the top is where the 3.5mm audio jack is found. Hey – at least we all don’t have to pay a premium price for a smartphone that doesn’t have an audio jack, and fork out more money for a dongle.

[nextpage title=”Connectivity”]
It has the standard smartphone connectivity – but there’s a little more that we should all know.
Apart from the usual 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and etc., the ZenFone 3 Max comes with a dual-micro SIM card slot. However, just like any other smartphones which I’ve complained before, the ZenFone 3 Max’s second SIM card slot is a microSD combo slot.

I mean, sure – it’s very common for dual-SIM smartphones to share its secondary SIM card slot with the microSD card. You can only choose a second SIM card, or a microSD card. However – given that the ZenFone 3 Max has such a humongous battery capacity, I really wished that ASUS didn’t skimp out on dedicated SIM1, SIM2, and microSD card slot.
It’s meant to provide hours and hours of communication and media consumption without the need of a power bank or a charger. They got it right for the first ever ZenFone Max here, but I have no idea why they opted for the combo slot for the ZenFone 3 Max.
However on other aspects of its connectivity, the ZenFone 3 Max’s fingerprint sensor is pretty quick, sensing and unlocking at about a second or so. In terms of sensing accuracy, I give it an A+ as it’s pretty much on par with the more premium ZenFone 3.
Also, kudos to ASUS for using on-screen buttons instead of capactive buttons.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
The display is pretty decent and extremely bright. The ZenFone 3 Max has a 5.2-inch 720p IPS display. It does look like the display tends to be a little colder in temperature though.

Also, did you notice the edges? That’s the curved 2.5D edges. I’m rather surprised to see 2.5D displays at this price point.
2.5D glasses as we’ve said before, makes the phone look beautiful and feels exceptionally good while using it. I’m not too sure about others though, as the community seems to be divided when it comes to 2.5D displays.
I for one am fine with it, until I apply a tempered glass screen protector on it.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
The ZenFone 3 Max features a standard 13MP sensor with f/2.2 lens with only continuous autofocus. This is not far off from the previous ZenFone Max’s 13MP sensor with f/2.0 lens, but obviously the larger aperture number on the ZenFone 3 Max will impact its low-light performance.

To be honest, the camera is quite sub-par. Under low-lit conditions, the camera produces really under-exposed and noisy photos. I can only say that this image is barely acceptable even for social media usage.

Is it worse than the Neffos C5’s camera that we’ve reviewed few months ago? Not really. The Neffos C5’s camera is noisy even when it’s brightly lit, and has a very noticeable cold temperature to its pictures taken. The Zenfone 3 Max has good white balance and less noise, albeit still noisy when compared to other smartphones.
[nextpage title=”Software”]
The ZenFone 3 Max is using the latest ASUS ZenUI 3.0 – which is the same as the ASUS ZenFone 3. I personally think that ZenUI 3.0 is really decent.
I spoke of the dynamic widgets and motion wallpaper on my ZenFone 3 review – and those little features really add value to the user experience. However, some of these features are unavailable on the ZenFone 3 Max because of what I presume to be hardware limitations.

With that said, I think that these little missing features will affect the overall value of the ZenFone 3 Max by a lot, when its price point is taken into account.
Also, bloatware is considerably less compared to the ZenFone 3 – and they’re all removable. Better yet, some of the other ASUS’s own apps can be completely removed too, and later downloaded again from the Play Store. It’s always granularity like this that makes a power user like me satisfied.
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
The ASUS ZenFone 3 Max is powered by a Mediatek MT6737T chipset instead of a Snapdragon as compared to its predecessor – but still powered by the same a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, running at 1.25GHz. Complimented by a Mali-T720MP2 graphics and 3GB RAM, it can score pretty high in our benchmarks.

Surprise, surprise! 46.6FPS on Epic Citadel with the highest graphic settings. It’s definitely shocking to see this much improvement compared to its previous generation. However, heat-wise it’s not really pleasant as it can go up to nearly 60℃ on the CPU. It did feel slightly uncomfortable to hold at that temperature too.

Upon further testing with Vellamo, all of the 3 tests – Chrome, Metal, and Multicore – was shown to perform better on the ZenFone 3 Max compared to the previous ZenFone Max. I did not expect that changing from Snapdragon 410 chipset to Mediatek MT6737T and bumping up 0.5GHz will yield this much difference. Sure, the scores might not look far off, but the ZenFone 3 Max just feels a lot more snappier than its predecessor.

Of course, with these performance improvements, how does the battery fare?
[nextpage title=”Battery”]
Based on what ASUS told me, because that the ZenFone 3 Max is much smaller than its predecessor – currently a 5.2-inch device versus the previous 5.5-inch footprint – the battery size has to be decreased a little. That is from a 5,000mAh to a 4,100mAh battery. It’s quite a big drop  in battery capacity too – but is that an issue?
For me, the battery life is great – and it’s shown here on PCMark for Android. With nearly 12 hours of continuous benchmark,it’s no surprise that many people will love the ZenFone 3 Max. No wonder there’s so much love for this device!
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Then comes the charger. This is another aspect that ASUS has improved for the ZenFone 3 Max. Finally, they included a 5V 2A charger for a budget-oriented smartphone with humongous battery! I remember when I was testing the the original ZenFone Max, it took forever to charge. For the ZenFone 3 Max however, it’s actually a lot quicker.

[nextpage title=”Wrap up”]
I personally consider the ASUS ZenFone 3 Max quite a big upgrade over the its predecessor. I’ve also seen many people saying that Mediatek chipsets aren’t good, and I disagree. I’m actually surprised Mediatek’s performance and efficiency on the ZenFone 3 Max. I think with the reduced battery size, it can still last for an extensive period of time with no problems.
Now, you might have wondered why I said it’s a lackluster sequel. The ASUS ZenFone 3 Max is a great phone – that I agree. However if you’re coming from the previous 5.5-inch ZenFone Max, then there’s nothing to see here actually. Compared to the previous version, this one has a smaller battery too. Performance-wise, it isn’t much different from the previous version too.
Based on what I know, it seems like the ASUS ZenFone 3 Max’s 5.5-inch version will come to Malaysia anyway. That might worth the upgrade – as it uses a brand new Snapdragon 430 chipset.

I also said “this price point” as the justification for many trade-offs made on the ZenFone 3 Max. That’s because the ZenFone 3 Max only costs RM799 – and you can get some pretty fantastic promotions over here at Lazada.
Click here to check out all the deals on Lazada! One of them even offer free tempered glass, TPU case, a selfie ststick, and ring stand for RM729 only.

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Dell Announces New Inspiron 5000 & Inspiron 7000

Dell Malaysia has just announced the arrival of the new Dell Inspiron 5000 and Inspiron 7000 laptops, and there are a total of 4 variants coming to the market. We have the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 and also the Inspiron 14 5000, and both of them will be available in a clamshell and convertible design.

Dell Inspiron 5000
Inspiron 14 5000 (5480)
For the Dell Inspiron 13 5000, it is build with a 1080p IPS LCD display, 8th generation Intel Core U series of processors, and it has an optional NVIDIA Geforce MX130 discrete graphics card as well. It will be offered up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and has the options to include SSD or SSD+HDD.

It also has a USB-C port that supports power delivery and also DisplayPort.
Price for the Inspiron 14 5000 (5480) starts from RM2,869.
Inspiron 14 5000 (5482)
The same as Inspiron 14 5000 (5482), but the Inspiron 14 5000 (5480) has a convertible hinge that folds 360 degrees and comes with a GeForce MX150 GPU and has a touch screen instead. Comes with an optional backlit keyboard too.

It is available in Platinum Silver color only. It also supports a stylus.

The price for the Inspiron 14 5000 (5482) starts from RM2,919.
Dell Inspiron 7000
Inspiron 13 7000 (7380)

The new Inspiron 13 7000 (7380) comes with the 8th generation Intel Core U series of processors, optional 4K IPS LCD display and up to 16GB of RAM. Though, it only comes with integrated Intel HD graphics and can only support one SSD.

As for the ports, they’re quite generous. Even comes with a USB-C that supports power delivery and also DisplayPort.
This new laptop also comes with an ultra-thin bezel. To achieve this, Dell developed an ultra-tiny webcam that is 2.7mm only, and has “temporal noise reduction”. Not only that, it is also Alexa-ready.

The new Inspiron 13 7000 (7380) also comes with Dell’s new technologies to enhance your multimedia experience – CinemaColor, CinemaStream, and also CinemaSound.
The price for the Inspiron 13 7000 (7380) starts from RM3,759.
Inspiron 13 7000 (7382)
Similar to the Inspiron 13 7000 (7380), it comes with a touchscreen and a 360-degree rotating hinge.
The price of the Inspiron 13 7000 (7382) starts from RM4,699.

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Review + Discount code – Sudio Femtio: Eye-catching yet minimalist

This is the Sudio Femtio – the company’s Bluetooth speaker. Now I know, there are a lot of Bluetooth speakers in the market right now but hey – this Femtio here is something special and I’m here to tell you why.
Oh, by the way, the Sudio Fem TWS earbuds – the word “fem” is “five” in Swedish. Femtio here means “fifty” in Swedish.

Design
Let’s first go ahead and say this – the Sudio Femtio is a gorgeous-looking Bluetooth speaker. The one we have here is in the Anthracite color and I just gotta say – it looks so eye-catching yet minimalist at the same time. Yes, it sounds oxymoronic but hey, I can’t get my eyes off this Bluetooth speaker.

It’s wrapped in grey-colored fabric and has copper-colored accents and on the diaphragm covers as well. I mean, it just looks stunning.

When I first saw the image of this speaker, I thought that the speaker was just a cylinder and the bottom base part here is detachable. But that’s not the case – everything is in one piece and the back of this base is where all the connectors are found.

The flap covers the USB-C charging port and also a 3.5mm audio jack if you want to use this speaker in wired mode – which to me, it’s weird since Sudio didn’t even include an audio jack cable in the box. But that’s okay since all of our phones and laptops have Bluetooth anyway.

By the way, the Sudio Femtio is also rated for IPX6, so that means this speaker isn’t afraid of water splashes. Just remember to cover up the flap behind before doing so.
Sound quality
Okay, how about sound quality then? Not gonna lie, the Sudio Femtio sounds mind-blowingly good. It’s definitely a little more bass-heavy, but hey – it doesn’t distort even when I’m listening to bassy music at high volume. My big band jazz and also Transistor’s soundtrack sounds fantastic too – especially with Ashley Barrett’s vocals.
To listen to the audio sample of the Sudio Femtio, watch the video at the top of this review.
Features
But, one of the Sudio Femtio’s special feature is its ability to use two Femtio speakers as a single speaker system. Which is why we have yet another Sudio Femtio Bluetooth speaker here!

This one, instead of being Anthracite in color, it’s black. It looks even more understated with its darker shade of fabric and really dark grey accents.

So, to pair up both speakers together, it’s easy. Just double-tap the pairing button on the top of the Sudio Femtio, and it’ll do all the magic for you.
Once they’re connected, they really do work as a single system. Both speakers will now be working as dedicated left and right channels – whereby the speaker with the green LED the indicator that it’s the right side.

At the top, there are a total of 5 buttons. There are the pairing button, the volume controls, and play/pause button, and also the power button. The volume controls are obviously going to increase or decrease the volume on both speakers simultaneously, or hitting play/pause on either speaker will play or pause the music – pretty common stuff so far.
But what’s interesting here is its ability to turn off both speakers at once if one of them is turned off. That’s just a great quality of life feature to have in a stereo mode Bluetooth speaker system like this!

By the way, if you want to use one of the speakers elsewhere, you can just don’t turn on the second speaker and bring one out with you. It’s that simple.
The Sudio Femtio also has a microphone. By holding the play/pause button, it’ll trigger the voice assistant on your phone, and you can give commands to it via the Femtio. The microphone quality on the Femtio is… passable. Our microphone recording sample is in the video at the top of this review.
Battery life
But what about battery life? Well, the Sudio Femtio can last for a really long time. I listened to music for two whole afternoons from about 12pm to 5pm in stereo mode – and there are still some battery left. It’s safe to say that if you want to really use the Femtio for a full day – you can!

Wrapping up the Sudio Femtio review
And that’s all we want to share about the Sudio Femtio. This is a fantastic Bluetooth speaker that looks absolutely stunning and sounds exceptionally good too. The price is at a premium as well – at RM539 for just one Sudio Femtio. Yes, we have more than RM1k worth of Bluetooth speaker in front of us here.

Discount code!
But Sudio also told us that you can use the discount code “NLT” to get up to 35% off all products sitewide – starting from 5th to 11th November because of Single’s Day, and also from 24th to 30th November because of Black Friday.
If you’re using the discount code “NLT” outside of these two promotional periods, you can also get 15% discount sitewide.
Also, all purchases will receive:

Free gift wrapping
Free delivery (and returns if applicable)
3 years warranty when you sign up for Sudio Sphere

Click here to check out everything that Sudio has to offer!

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Pre-order the new Instax Mini 11 on Shopee and get a DIY kit for free

The latest Instax Mini 11 has been announced for pre-order exclusively on Shopee by Fujifilm Malaysia from March 15 until March 22. All preorders will be honored with a FREE Instax Mini DIY Kit worth RM60 that contains photo album, pens, decorative sticker, and masking tape.
The Instax camera is a type of instant camera where u can get your shots instantly printed on the spot by the unit itself, thus saving you time and space instead of developing them through traditional film or digitally printed. It’s a great camera to have – especially while meeting friends who we rarely meet. Taking a picture on the spot and giving it to them for keepsake is definitely much more memorable than upload it to Facebook.

Instax Mini 11

The Instax Mini 11 is the first entry model to house the Automatic Exposure function that helps to photograph in the dark by adjusting flash output and shutter speed by sensing ambient light levels while exposing proper subjects and their distance accordingly.
The Selfie Mode is still retained as usual, with the selfie mirror for adjusting positions while the camera primarily focuses on the front subjects. It is also known to be usable for taking close-up shots effectively as well.
For aesthetics, accessories for the shutter button will be included within the package where one of them is a glow-in-the-dark luminous knob for dark surroundings while another is just colored knobs for matching the camera color. Though not a functional feature, female consumers would definitely call this a necessity.
Alongside the new model, 2 mini-format Instax films will join the lineup as well, which is Blue Marble and White Marble.

The Instax Mini 11 is priced at RM388 only at their official store on Shopee and use the voucher code 50076044 to enjoy 10% Shopee coins cashback with a minimum spend of RM350.
By the way, score some nice discounts on other products as well, since they are one of the participating brands for the Shopee 4.4 Brands Festival as well.

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Transcend has USB-C for all categories of products

USB-C has been around the market for quite some years already. While the world is still in the transitional phase (trust me, it’s difficult to get everyone on on board), Transcend is now using USB-C across their category of products. They are ready for the future.
Now, they have lots of USB-C products which ranges from SSDs, external hard disks, card readers, and flash drives. They do have enclosures that convert M.2 SSDs into USB-C connectors as well. From the fastest storage technology to a few terabytes on the palm of your hands, Transcend has it all in USB-C connector,

USB-C in a nutshell is superior to its previous generations by a few milestones, albeit confusing. Thunderbolt 3 is using the same connector type as well – which means it has 40Gb/s theoretical maximum bandwidth. It can carry video output and also up to 100W of power.
Since USB-C is getting more and more ubiquitous by the day, we expect that all devices will eventually be using the almighty USB-C. One connector to rule them all.

Transcend now has a range of portable SSDs in the market. These offer the fastest speeds with USB 3.1 Gen 2 compatibility and also has UASP (USB attached SCSI protocol) which allows bidirectional transfers of up to 520MB/s. These portable SSDs – which are powered by USB-C connector – are the Transcend ESD230C, ESD240C, and ESD250C.
There are also other tougher-grade external storage devices as well like the StoreJet 25MC which meets the U.S. military drop-test standards. Equipped with the USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface, you can get faster transfer speeds out of the storage device.
Then comes the USB-C memory card readers. I admit, for someone like me who works in DSLR cameras constantly, having a laptop with USB-C ports only does not help. Instead of carrying dongles around, Transcend’s RDC8 card reader is equipped with USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C interface for fast and convenient transfers. There are also card reader for Android phones as well – like the RDC2 that supports OTG.
You can find out more about USB Type-C in general by clicking here.

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[UPDATE] Pokemon GO SEA launch date rumours DEBUNKED

Malaysian Pokemon GO players might not be able to enjoy the game anytime soon after all. That is, if the news source is to be trusted completely. Pokemon GO SEA launch date might be fake after all.
As pointed here by Niantic Labs’s agency, fortyseven.com, responded to an email inquiring by IGN about its release date in SEA countries. What we know is this – Niantic Labs still have no plans to expand beyond Germany, US, Australia, and New Zealand. However, IGN also stated that the UK actually got to play Pokemon GO officially too. If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s mostly disappointment. Deep inside, I still hope that Niantic Labs will somehow make it official in SEA countries in a few more hours. That’s the best way to spice up the coming weekend too.

In the mean time, get the APK and prepare for what’s about to come. Based on what we can tell, more devices are now working with Pokemon GO, including the Intel-based ZenFone 2. I got my gear ready for what’s to come. It might be disappointing, but maybe I can play Ingress at the time. Seriously who actually remembers Ingress at this point?
UPDATE: Up until today, there’s no further word on SEA countries having Pokemon GO. However, Italy, Spain, and Portugal can now go out and be the very best. Like no one ever was! Check out the official updates here.
UPDATE 2: Pokemon GO is now available in 26 more countries. Guess what – all of them are in Europe. Asia gets no love at all! Below is the official announcement by Pokemon GO.

As of tonight, Trainers living in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland are able to download Pokémon GO from the Play Store or App Store.
Guess we’ll have to wait longer.
UPDATE 3: Pokemon GO is now available in Canada too.  Asia – still no news at all.

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ASUS Shows Zenbo Junior

The ASUS Zenbo has been released for quite some years now – and originally it’s a family companion robot. When the industry started to use Zenbo, ASUS saw another demand where a more accessible version is needed – hence the Zenbo Junior.
Zenbo Junior is a new AI-enabled robotics platform that allows developers, system integrators and business partners to create flexible and easily manageable robotics solutions to improve business operations and customer experiences. The new Zenbo Junior also has a remote management service where the administrator can push updates, apps, and everything else through the main control panel that is connected through the cloud.

Zenbo Junior provides comprehensive development tools, including the Zenbo SDK and Dialogue Development Editor, that offer APIs for multiple sensors and allows developers and system integrators to create specialized robotic applications faster and easier.
For educational use, Zenbo Junior provides multiple programmable sensors and tools that enable students to develop a solid foundation of understanding of robotics and AI concepts while creating fun, interactive projects. From the quick demo we’ve seen, there’s block programming as well. When asked what programming language does Zenbo Junior use, we got the answer Python.

Built-in capabilities include the ability to navigate independently and follow lines – which in our demo, they used black lines – avoid objects with programmable sonar and respond to touch interaction with different types of responses. For teachers, Zenbo Junior comes with Classroom Management Console, a tool that enables distribution and submission of teaching materials and assignments, as well as the ability to provide student and teacher evaluations.
For businesses, Zenbo Junior offers the Zenbo Management Console and App Builder Pro tools to make it easier to create and deploy robotic business solutions. Zenbo Management Console enables easy and efficient remote management of multiple robot devices, and App Builder Pro lets business users create menu-driven interfaces for interaction with customers.
Quite a lot of differences between the Zenbo and Zenbo Junior.
Currently, we’ve seen the original Zenbo walking about in shops around Taipei, and we’re expecting Taipei to be the utilizing Zenbo Junior in its true potential.

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[Mega List] The one tech item listing you need for the 11.11 Big Sale of 2021 for both Lazada and Shopee

Ready to shell out the year-end bonus during Thursday to grab some really sweet deals on tons of smart gadgets? Yes, we heard that loud and clear so here’s the list of offerings curated by tech brands for both Lazada and Shopee!

As the list grows, we’ll be back updating the mega thread when we receive more info from other brands so take your time grazing through the long list.
vivo @ Lazada and Shopee

Product

Promo Price

X60 Pro 5G (12GB+256GB)

RM 2,699

X60 5G (12GB+256GB)

RM 2,299

X50 Pro 5G (8GB+256GB)

RM 1,899

X50 5G (8GB+256GB)

RM 1,499

V21e (8GB+128GB)

RM 1,199

Y20s (8GB+128GB)

RM 849

Y31 (8GB+128GB)

RM 799

Y12s (3GB+32GB) [12AM-2AM Exclusive]

RM 479

Y1s (2GB+32GB) [12AM-2AM Exclusive]

RM 359

Xiaomi @ Lazada and Shopee

Product

Promo Price / Gifts

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (6GB+128GB)

Free Redmi Buds 3

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (8GB+128GB)

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (6GB+256GB)

Redmi Note 10 Pro (8GB+128GB)

RM 1,198 + Free Redmi Buds 3

Redmi 9T (4GB+64GB)

RM 399

Redmi 9T (6GB+128GB)

RM 499

Redmi 9C (2GB+32GB)

RM 299

Redmi 9C (3GB+64GB)

RM 399

Redmi 9A (2GB+32GB)

RM 299

Mi TV P1 32″

RM 899

Mi TV P1 43″

RM 1,499

Mi TV P1 55″

RM 1,999

Mi TV Q1 75″

RM 7,799

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop Pro

RM 1,199

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop

RM 799

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop Essential

RM 579

Mi Vacuum Cleaner Light

RM 339

Mi Vacuum Cleaner Mini

RM 139

Mi Smart Band 5

RM 79

Mi Smart Band 6

RM 169

Mi Watch Lite

RM 189

Mi Watch

RM 399

Mi In-Ear Headphones

RM 9.90

Mi True Wireless Earbuds Basic 2

RM 59

Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 Basic

RM 79

Mi Compact Bluetooth Speaker 2

RM 39

Mi Smart Speaker

RM 169

Mi Wi-Fi Range Extender Pro

RM 45

Mi Home Security Camera 360° 1080p

RM 99

Mi 360° Home Security Camera 2K

RM 169

Mi Box S

RM 239

TV stick

RM 139

Mi Body Composition Scale 2

RM 69

Mi Smart Scale

RM 59

Mi Portable Electric Air Compressor

RM 139

Mi Ionic Hair Dryer

RM 129

Mi Smart Electric Toothbrush T500

RM 119

Mi High-capacity Gel Pen (10-Pack)

RM 9.90

Mi Casual Daypack

RM 9.90

*Shopee Exclusive

Product

Promo Price

Mi Air Purifier Pro H

RM 999

Mi Air Purifier 3H

RM 519

Mi Air Purifier 3C

RM 399

HONOR @ Lazada and Shopee

Product

Promo Price

Free Gifts

MagicBook X 15 (Intel i5)

RM 2,899

Laptop Backpack and Wireless Mouse

MagicBook X 15 (Intel i3)

RM 2,299

Laptop Backpack

MagicBook Pro

RM 3,399

Laptop Backpack and Wireless Mouse

MagicBook 15

RM 3,699

Laptop Backpack and Wireless Mouse

MagicBook 15 AMD

RM 2,699

N/A

MagicBook 14 AMD (8GB + 256GB)

RM 2,699

Backpack and Wireless Mouse

MagicBook 14 AMD (8GB + 512GB)

RM 2,999

Laptop Backpack and Wireless Mouse

HONOR 50 (6GB +128GB)

RM1,539

N/A

MagicWatch 2 42mm Black

RM 449

Umbrella

MagicWatch 2 46mm Brown

RM 549

Umbrella

MagicWatch 2 46mm Black

RM 499

Umbrella

Earbuds 2 Lite

RM 259

3-month JOOX VIP Voucher

Band 6

RM165

N/A

OPPO @ Lazada and Shopee

Product

Promo Price

Free Gift (My OPPO App Redeem)

Find X3 Pro

RM 4,289

Touch N Go RM200

Reno6 Pro

RM 2,989

Touch N Go RM200

Reno6

RM 2,389

Touch N Go RM200

Reno6 ZC

RM 1,689

Touch N Go RM100

* Platform Exclusive

Product

Promo Price

Platform

A74 5G

RM 829

Lazada

Reno5

RM 1,299

Shopee and OPPO Store

Lenovo @ Lazada and Shopee

Product

Price + Promotion

Yoga Slim 7i Carbon

From RM5,499

Ideapad Slim 3i

RM2,349 + Free Gift worth RM742 + Free Microsoft Office + Free laptop backpack

Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus 2nd Gen with Google Assistant

RM959

ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

From RM7,899 + 40% discount with code X1G3

Samsung @ Shopee

Products

Price + Promotion

55″ Q60AB QLED 4K Smart TV (2021) [12AM-2AM Flash Sale]

RM3,499 + Free Slim Fit Wall Bracket

58″ AU7000 4K UHD Smart TV (2021)

RM2,999

Front Load Washer Dryer with Hygiene Steam

RM2,059

Q600A Soundbar

RM1,599

Side by Side with Large Capacity Fridge (SpaceMax), 680L

RM3,699

realme @ Lazada and Shopee

GT Neo2 (12GB+256GB) @ RM1,999
Type-C SuperDart Game Cable @ RM39

* Lazada Exclusive

TechLife Robot Vacuum @ RM1,699 + Free Vacuum Mopkit
Hair Dryer @ RM149

* Global Store Shopee Exclusive

C25Y (4GB+64GB) @ RM499
narzo 50i (4GB+64GB) @ RM399

Official Store Shopee Exclusive

Pad WiFi (3GB+32GB) @ RM799
Pad LTE (3GB+32GB) @ RM849
Pad LTE (4GB+64GB) @ RM999
Pad LTE (6GB+128GB) @ RM1,199

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AMD Naples Shows Promising Performance

Know what’s AMD Naples? Well, I’m quite sure that most of us here have at least heard of the name. It’s AMD’s codename for their new server processor. AMD promises two things with their Naples lineup – the first one is innovation, and the second one is choice.
Just like its Ryzen cousin, AMD Naples is built to “disrupt the status-quo and scale across the cloud datacenter and traditional on-premise server configurations”. The new AMD server processor exceeds today’s top competitive offering on critical parameters, with 45% more cores, 60% more input/output capacity (I/O), and 122% more memory bandwidth.

AMD’s new Naples datacenter processor has a few new features here too:

A highly scalable, 32-core System on Chip (SoC) design, with support for two high-performance threads per core
Industry-leading memory bandwidth, with 8-channels of memory per “Naples” device. In a 2-socket server, support for up to 32 DIMMS of DDR4 on 16 memory channels, delivering up to 4 terabytes of total memory capacity.
The processor is a complete SoC with fully integrated, high-speed I/O supporting 128 lanes of PCIe 3, negating the need for a separate chip-set
A highly-optimized cache structure for high-performance, energy efficient compute
AMD Infinity Fabric coherent interconnect for two “Naples” CPUs in a 2-socket system
Dedicated security hardware

Now, the most important thing here is the performance. AMD claims that they’ve improved the architecture so much, that it outperforms what Intel has to offer now. This is their setup for the test.

As for the test they’re doing, it involves a lot of heavy computational power and iterations of 3D wave equations (trust me, I’ve done simple 2D wave equations by hand and it’s already a nightmare), with a large sample grid. They’ve done a total of 3 different tests, which can be compared in the graphs below.

Then there’s also another additional feature  for using AMD Naples-based datacenter processor and AMD Radeon graphics – and they’re calling it Radeon Instinct.

As for its availability, AMD promises it to be at Q2 2017 – which might coincide with AMD’s Ryzen 5 consumer desktop processors too. Price? No one knows.

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Huawei Offers 6% Cashback In Lieu Of Zero GST

In case you haven’t been following the slew of Malaysian soap opera that has been brewing over the course of the week, let me summarize it for you. There was a general election and there was a change in government. In lieu of all that, the new government’s promise is to abolish GST – and they’ve decided that GST will be canceled on 1st June. Huawei can’t wait for that long and that’s why they’re already offering the 6% cashback now.

From today until 31st May 2018, you are eligible for the 6% cashback. Many people can’t wait for 1st June – and that’s why Huawei is offering a 6% cashback right now. The 6% cashback is obviously to counter the GST.
With that said, there are only a few phones offered within the Huawei lineup that is eligible for the 6% cashback.

Device
Price (RM)
Cash back (RM)

HUAWEI Mate 10 Porsche Design
RM6,999
RM396 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate RS
RM6,999
RM396 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate 9 Porsche Design
RM6,999
RM396 Cash Back

HUAWEI P20 Pro
RM3,299
RM187 Cash Back

HUAWEI P20
RM2,599
RM147 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate 10 Pro
RM3,099
RM175 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate 10
RM2,299
RM130 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova 3e
RM1,399
RM79 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova 2i
RM999
RM57 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova 2 lite
RM799
RM45 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova 2 Plus
RM1,699
RM96 Cash Back

HUAWEI P10 Plus
RM2,399
RM136 Cash Back

HUAWEI P10
RM2,499
RM141 Cash Back

HUAWEI P10 lite
RM1,299
RM74 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova Lite (Black & Gold)
RM699
RM40 Cash Back

HUAWEI Nova Lite (Blue)
RM749
RM42 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate 9 Pro
RM3,299
RM187 Cash Back

HUAWEI Mate 9
RM2,499
RM141 Cash Back

HUAWEI Y7 Prime
RM899
RM51 Cash Back

HUAWEI Y6 (2018)
RM619
RM35 Cash Back

HUAWEI Y5 Prime (2018)
RM519
RM29 Cash Back

HUAWEI T3 7“
RM499
RM28 Cash Back

HUAWEI M3 lite
RM999
RM57 Cash Back

HUAWEI Watch 2
RM1,999
RM113 Cash Back

HUAWEI Watch eSim
RM1,999
RM113 Cash Back

In the spirit of Hari Raya, HUAWEI is also running “Gaya Raya Bersama HUAWEI” Campaign from 18th May – 17th June 2018. Consumers are able to own a HUAWEI device at a lower price with additional freebies and stand a chance to win family trip to Tokyo Disneyland. HUAWEI consumers are in for a treat as they stand a chance to jet-set on a 4 days 3 nights get-away for four (4) to Tokyo Disneyland, Japan and to Club Med Bali, Indonesia. HUAWEI Malaysia will be giving away exciting trips, cash vouchers and exclusive merchandises worth up to RM100,000.

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Synology Surveillance Station 8.0 Beta Now Available

If you’ve ever wanted to try the latest and greatest software but couldn’t wait for it to be released, then beta software is always there for you. Synology’s brand new Surveillance Station 8.0 Beta is currently available for beta testing, and Synology deeply appreciates any  sort of feedback for now.
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According to Synology, there are a few things brand new significant features on the Surveillance Station 8.0 Beta. Particularly I’m most interested in H.265 video format.

Surveillance Station Client: In addition to checking live views and managing channels within browsers, users can now install Surveillance Station Client and enjoy two times faster live view and timeline launching, smoother live view experience, and be free from browser limitations.
Multiple Streaming: Supporting automatic and manual resolution adjustment based on the size of the monitoring window or event, saving users bandwidth consumption1 when prospecting multiple channels.
Advanced action rule: More advanced action rules and events are supported to further automate the surveillance system. By flexibly utilizing the logical operators and multiple events, actions can be triggered when one or all of the pre-defined criteria is met.
Automatic failover: Users can enable flexible failover on CMS in Surveillance Station 8.0 Beta. It allows users to enjoy intact surveillance structure with minimized downtime, less required servers, and lower threshold on cost and management.
New Codecs: Surveillance Station 8.0 Beta now supports new H.265 codec, enabling more supported cameras for users to choose from while providing both live view and recording by consuming at least 25% less bandwidth2 with faster streaming experience. Optimized H.264+ by Hikvision® and Smart Stream by ZAVIO® are also supported.
VS360HD firmware upgrade: The firmware of VS360HD has been upgraded for users to connect freely to the NAS, and manage almost every feature of Surveillance Station on it. QuickConnect ID and HTTPs connections are also supported to let user easily access your Surveillance Station from anywhere in the world.

1 Can save up to 85% of bandwidth by scaling 1080p streams down to 480p. Tested under H.264 10FPS environment.
2 Performance might vary depending on the testing environment. More details on H.265 official website.
So whats’ the benefit other than getting to try the latest software? Synology’s Beta Program does offer its beta testers a chance to win a free Synology product. So make sure you offer them the most outstanding feedback and suggestions!
Synology Surveillance Station 8.0 beta packages are available to download on DSM. For more information on DSM compatibility, package installation, and applied models, please visit www.synology.com/beta/2017_SurveillanceStation_80 now!

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Review – TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS: A true smartwatch powered by Android Wear OS!

I recently got the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS to test out and I gotta say, this is an eye-opening experience since it is so different from what I’ve used before.
When it comes to the real smartwatches with real smart features, I’ve only been using Samsung’s offerings back from Tizen all the way to the new Galaxy Watch 4 with Samsung’s weird hybrid of Google’s Wear OS and their own One UI Watch.

Technically, that means the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS is quite “AOSP”, in a sense. So, let’s talk about the watch.

We’ll start off with the hardware. This is where the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS shines the brightest. There are a few design elements that I truly love like the minimalist design while retaining a very thin, raised bezel around the watch, yet stylized to look like the texture of a helical gear.

Plus, TicWatch also calibrated the circle. Combined with those minimalist analog watchfaces or this custom watchface that I got from Timeflik, it looks absolutely stunning.

Speaking of the display, when I first unboxed the watch – the screen looked a little hazy. Then I continued using it for a while and I realized there are two screens stacked on top of each other!

Okay, let me explain how this works. This is a 1.4-inch rounded AMOLED screen with a resolution of 454*454 at the bottom, and there is another FSTN display on top. This is a very interesting implementation to both increase battery life and also the readability outdoors on a sunny day.

That is because the FSTN display is literally an LCD screen that we’ve been accustomed to the likes of Casio. It’s effective in terms of battery life as it doesn’t require much power, and it acts like an AOD at the same time.

The AMOLED screen underneath it though, is pretty similar to what we’ve seen in other watches. One thing I really want to highlight is the brightness levels. We only have 5 levels of manual brightness levels to choose from, and if we turned on auto-brightness – then we only have 3 offsets to choose from. The brightness level is… either too bright or too dim. I leave it on auto-brightness at “high” offset and it’s just… too bright indoors but too dim outdoors.

That aside, the watch also has two buttons – the top button to go to the home menu, and also the button to skip directly to the list of workout modes available. Pretty standard here.

We also have a speaker and a microphone on the watch – so we can listen to calls on the watch directly. It might sound stupid but it’s a feature that I pretty much use daily now.

Then – my favorite thing about the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS is the strap. This is a fluoro-rubber material – kinda like silicone – and it’s a comfortable strap. It doesn’t stick to itself so it’s easy to wear and take out, and the strap doesn’t stick to my skin too! It’s very comfortable to wear.

If you still want to change the strap away, then you can unlatch the strap and replace it with any other 22mm straps of your liking.

How is it like to actually use the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS?
So, how’s it like to actually use the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS then? Well… it’s quite decent, just that the software part is a little messy. Lemme show you why.
To use the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS, we need to install the Wear OS app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store – and you can see that from both platforms, there are a lot of 1-star rating for the app.

After pairing the TicWatch to the Wear OS app, we… don’t have much options to choose from. There are a few watchfaces to choose from but I end up downloading Timeflik and Facer anyway.

Then, the tiles. They’re pretty good here, honestly. TicWatch has its own tiles with a clean aesthetic and it’s quite okay. Then, we have notifications. We really don’t have that much control here other than these two.

I really want something like Do Not Disturb syncing between the phone and the watch. For example, if I set DND on my watch, then the phone should go into DND too. And if my phone has scheduled DND, then the watch should enter DND mode together with the phone. But, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS doesn’t do that.

I also want to highlight the vibration of this TicWatch. You see, if I set the watch to vibrate when a notification arrives, I expect to FEEL the vibration on my wrist. However, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS has a vibration that I can hear instead of feel. The vibration is so loud that my colleague can hear it from across the room.

Then, we have Google Assistant. If you use Google Assistant on your phone a lot, then this is great. But, it doesn’t run routines from Google Home, so I can’t use the watch to fully control my room lights.

Then lastly, we have the “advanced settings” menu which isn’t that advanced, honestly. However, we still have one more app to pair with this watch, and that is the Mobvoi app – formerly known as TicWatch.

The app is… I’m sorry to say this – it’s optional. We have a dashboard of all the health activities logged by the watch and then another menu to show some status of the watch – but it’s quite superficial. For example, tapping on Settings here reveals… nothing. Yep – absolutely nothing. So, I consider the Mobvoi app to be completely optional.

Other than that, downloading apps like Timeflik, Facer, and Spotify onto the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS is identical to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 that I was using. The TicWatch offers a bit more flexibility as I can browse the Play Store directly on the watch itself – that is not possible on the Samsung.

Even the battery life on the TicWatch is pretty good too – I got about 1.5 days of battery out of a single charge and that is with all the fancy health tracking turned on while using this fancy watchface from Timeflik too. Yes, I still charge it daily – but at least I know it’ll get it through the day without any issues.

However, the charger is disappointing. You see, the TicWatch doesn’t use Qi wireless charging, but it uses a proprietary charging puck with two pogo pins. This is a major letdown since I’ll definitely need to bring this charger with me if I want to be away from home for more than a day. And since it’s using a proprietary charger, I can’t just go about and borrow someone’s charger to charge the watch.

Should you buy the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS?
At the end, at the price of RM1,399, this is definitely a pretty good premium smartwatch that can be used across Android and Apple devices. It’s beautiful and high-quality in terms of build quality, and it’s up to Google to improve the user experience of Wear OS.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

Amazon US
Lazada
Shopee

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Enjoy up to RM200 discounts on selected Samsung Galaxy products starting today!

Samsung Malaysia has announced 2 budget devices are having their price tags refreshed with lower numbers.

The items in question are the Galaxy A12 smartphone which has its price reduced down to RM699 while the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite’s new numbers are RM1,499 for the Wi-Fi model and RM1,799 for the LTE model.

With these 3 variants of 2 items now becoming cheaper than ever, it might be a good time to start planning for them now especially since the month of Ramadhan is starting tomorrow or if you’re someone that likes to strike for a bigger fish, more deals may start coming in next month when Hari Raya is just around the corner.
Anyways, here are a couple of reviews from us talking about the 2 devices.

You may purchase the devices through the links below.

Samsung Galaxy A12
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

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Save up to 60% when purchasing realme’s products during its 7.7 Big Sale on Shopee and Lazada

realme Malaysia has announced its 7.7 Big Sale that will be available on both its official stores on Shopee and Lazada. Let’s find out what are cheaper.
Shoppers can look forward to attractive discounts on realme’s products ranging from earbuds to various smartphones such as the realme 9 PRO+ Free Fire Limited Edition and more.

Here’s the list of the highlighted products during the promotional period:

Product
Promo Price

Shopee

realme Buds Q2S
RM109

realme Pad Mini
RM709

realme 9 Pro+ Free Fire Limited Edition (8+128GB)
RM1,429 (Free pair of Buds Air2 Neo upon purchase)

Lazada

realme Buds Q2S
RM109

realme Buds Air 3 Limited Edition
RM239

realme C35 (4+128GB)
RM719

What’s more, there’s also a giveaway event that runs until July 10th, where customers can enter to win the realme Narzo 50i.
Keep an eye on realme Malaysia’s official Facebook page for more information on its 7.7 Big Sale and the giveaway event.

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Review – ASUS ROG Pugio: Not-So-Large Ambidextrous Mouse

When it comes to gaming mice these days, there are a few main concerns that pop out. Does it have RGB? Does it have extra buttons for that unfair advantage? What about the sensor? Well, let’s take a look at the brand new ASUS ROG Pugio – a gaming mouse that’s announced earlier this year.
But first, here’s a video of the entire unboxing and dismantling of the ASUS ROG Pugio!

Unboxing
In the year 2017, there are a few things that need to be shown off at the front of the packaging right away. Firstly is obviously RGB – which the ASUS ROG Pugio is showing it off proudly.

Secondly, showing off the mouse itself. This is a pretty standard practice among peripheral manufacturers nowadays as there will be a flap that opens up a window for you to look and grab the shape of the mouse. Still, I have no idea why ASUS didn’t go for the ROG Buzzard’s packaging style where there’s a cutout on the box itself. That way, you can actually grab the mouse as if you’re actually using the mouse!

At the back of the ASUS ROG Pugio’s packaging is where the major feature highlights are present. Again, RGB lighting with a rather interesting choice of feature – modular side buttons. Also, just like the ASUS ROG Gladius II that we reviewed here, it has a hot-swappable switch for both left and right click. I think this is the first time we’ve seen this feature present outside of the ASUS ROG Gladius lineup of gaming mice.

Digging everything out of the box, it actually looks familiar if you’ve seen our Gladius and Gladius II reviews. You still get a deck of paperwork, an adhesive ROG badge, and a carrying pouch – but this time you also get a little case that holds the extra switch and swappable side buttons. Unfortunately, there’s no second USB cable as the ASUS ROG Pugio’s cable is “permanently” attached.
Why the quotation marks? More on this later 😉

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Design
Honestly speaking, the ASUS ROG Pugio looks absolutely stunning with those 3 separated lighting zones. Seriously, it looks absolutely gorgeous with those geometric lines.

With its separated left and right clickers, the ASUS ROG Pugio is definitely satisfying to click with.

As you might have known by looking at the top-down pictures of the mouse, the ASUS ROG Pugio is indeed symmetrical. By symmetrical, ASUS also made it an ambidextrous mouse.
Of course, ASUS didn’t just make a symmetrical mouse and call it an ambidextrous mouse. They’ve even mirrored the side buttons too, and these 4 side buttons can be customized! No – not only that they’re software-customizable, but hardware-customizable too!
The ASUS ROG Pugio is a gorgeously RGB-fied ambidextrous mouse
If you’re a right-handed user (like a majority of users) and never want to strain your hand and use the right-sided buttons, then swap those two buttons on the right side with the one large piece. That’ll disable both right-sided clickers.

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Come to think of it, it does seem like the ASUS ROG Pugio’s idea and concept is inspired by the Logitech G900 – another ambidextrous mouse with swappable buttons.
With all of these said… how does the ASUS ROG Pugio actually fare out in day-to-day use?
Using the ASUS ROG Gladius II
At first glance, the ASUS ROG Pugio is a tiny mouse – and it is! The Pugio is indeed made for those with a smaller hand but it’s not as simple as that.
That is after an initial look from top to bottom with a 2-dimensional view. Once I laid my hands on it, the ASUS ROG Pugio is actually pretty huge at the rear – which pretty much disables claw grip right away.

That said, these side buttons are pretty trigger-happy. It’s very light and very tactile in both sound and feel. As the ASUS ROG Pugio is indeed a symmetrical mouse with two buttons on both sides, it’s actually pretty easy to accidentally press the wrong side of those side buttons.
The ASUS ROG Pugio’s modularity and ambidexterity is quite similar with the Logitech G900.
Of course, these buttons are swappable. Just swap it with the included piece and that’ll disable the trigger-happy side buttons – which I highly recommend.
The Logitech G900 has a smaller butt (area around the palm) and that didn’t cause any strain on my hand when I tried to use it whatever grip while utilizing all of the 4 side buttons. However, because of the Pugio’s big butt, it’s pretty much impossible to utilize all 4 of the side buttons without accidentally hammering them.

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Fingertip grip

Claw grip

Palm grip

Oh – the ASUS ROG Pugio doesn’t have swappable USB cable. Or I should say, not easily accessible – which leads us to the next segment.
Hot-swapping switches & USB cable?
Yes! Just like the Gladius II that we took a look here, the ASUS ROG Pugio does indeed have interchangeable left and right click switches. So how do we actually access it? To my surprise, pretty similar to the Gladius II. Remove 4 of those screw plugs and unscrew those 4 Philips screws.
After that, lift the butt a little and push it inwards from the front of the scroll wheel area. It’ll separate into two pieces – but be careful not to damage the dangling wire!

What switch is included with the Pugio? The same as what we found in the Gladius II, actually. You can also rip off the switch insert the new one into the socket effortlessly like the Gladius II.

By looking at the internals, I can say that the ASUS ROG Pugio is highly serviceable even if you don’t have the expertise. I’m not just referring to how easy it is to swap the left and right click switch as we’ve seen on the Gladius II, but other components as well.
The DPI switch is connected via this cable.
For example, the DPI switch is connected to the main board through a 4-pin connector. You can customize that. Don’t like those trigger-happy side buttons? Well, they’re just soldered on the board itself at a very specific height. With the right expertise, it can be desoldered and replaced easily.

The one piece of modularity where the ASUS ROG Pugio redeems itself is that USB cable. It’s plugged into the board inside the Pugio through a 5-pin cable.
You technically can replace the USB cable!
Technically that means the USB cable is replaceable – but finding the appropriate parts to fit in as nicely or tidily as the original will definitely be a challenge.
Oh hi there, ROG logo!
Software
Surprise, surprise (or not) – the ASUS ROG Pugio works under the exact same software as the ROG Gladius II too. It’s called the ROG Armoury. Right here you have all of these options ranging from the RGB LED controls (still waiting for the lighting effect speed, by the way), macros, reprogramming each individual buttons, and a lot more bells and whistles.
Settings were consistent across all of the ASUS gaming mice so far too – ranging from the original Gladius to the Gladius II and now, the Pugio.

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By the way, remember those trigger-happy side buttons that I mentioned? You can disable one of the buttons via software too. That way you have a total of 3 side buttons instead of disabling these side buttons in pairs of 2 outright.
As of now, ASUS did not disclose what is the exact sensor brand and model that is used in the Pugio – but that’s not really the main focus. If the sensor is fantastic but the ergonomics, build quality, or features are crap, then there’s no point either.
Wrapping up the ASUS ROG Pugio
All I can say here is this – the ASUS ROG Pugio offers something unique. It’s symmetrical and made for ambidextrous people. It has modular side buttons to maximize your user experience. Equipped with gorgeous RGB LED light zones, the Pugio is indeed beautiful.
Look at that gorgeous rear lighting!
However, due to the nature of its design, it’s meant for someone who has smaller hands and uses palm or fingertip grip. And with those trigger-happy side buttons – better make sure to adapt to them if you’re going to use all 4 of them. Else, disable one side entirely or render one of the button useless.
It’s priced at USD $10 lower than the ASUS ROG Gladius II that we’ve taken a look here, which is understandable since the Pugio is quite similar in terms of features. However, as a personal advice from me, never judge a mouse on its features.
You’ll have to grab it with your own hands to get a feel of it.
Where to buy?
To be honest, it’s not available in Malaysia yet.
But it is available at Amazon US for $89.90 right now!

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Samsung Galaxy Tab Year-End Promo Offers Up To 128GB MicroSD For Free

Samsung tablets have been a staple in the market for what they can do. We recently reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 (2018) and it is actually quite a decent tablet – especially for media consumption. And media consumption is what Samsung wants you to do as their year-end promotion offers up to 128GB of microSD card for free!
From now until 31st December 2018, Samsung is giving away up to 128GB MicroSD card with purchases of selected tablets from the Galaxy Tab S and Tab A series. Be sure to head over to your nearest Samsung authorized outlet for visit Samsung’s online store to purchase your tablet now! You can make it in time for Christmas, too.

The new Galaxy Tab A 10.5 (2018) has a fantastic quad-speaker array setup that really enhances the media consumption experience on it. It is decent enough to be streaming high-resolution videos off Netflix and YouTube as well, and enjoying content on a 10.5-inch display is a bliss.
The highly-praised Galaxy Tab S4 10.5 is also in the list for Samsung’s year-end promotion. Our friends over at Hitech Century reviewed it and had a great time with this tablet.

Product
RRP
MicroSD Card

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 10.5” (inclusive of S Pen)
RM3,099
128GB

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7” (inclusive of S Pen)
RM2,499

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5”
RM1,699

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1” (inclusive of S Pen)
RM1,499

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0”
RM1,129

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7.0”
RM659
64GB

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy Tab Year-End Promotion Campaign, visit: https://www.samsung.com/my/offer/mobile/galaxy-tab-promo/

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TikTok [REC]reate 2019 marks company’s first SEA creator & content marketing conference

Since the inception of Snapchat and then the eventual arrival of Vine, short-form videos have been on the rise and there is no stopping them. When TikTok joined the fray and nyannyancosplay posted her beautiful video on 11th April 2018, TikTok shot to fame and has now become one of the largest social media platform in the world.
I have no idea why that particular video is so mesmerizing. Perhaps because of its well-timed actions that are in sync with the song. Maybe it is because of how homemade it is to show that we all can do it in our homes as well. This particular video got so famous that even TikTok themselves acknowledged the anniversary of its upload.

on this day last year, @nyannyancosplay broke the internet. 👏 cheers to you on your memeaversary @knowyourmeme pic.twitter.com/8HdTuTpT8m
— TikTok US (@tiktok_us) April 10, 2019

Fast forward to today and TikTok just hosted their first ever South East Asia Creators and Content Marketing Conference at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Titled as [REC]reate, it brought over 300 creators and marketers from Malaysia and other neighboring regions to connect and collaborate while exploring the creative possibilities with TikTok.
The [REC]reate also serves as a center stage for both creators and marketers to collaborate and work together while taking advantage of the unique platform of TikTok. As the general attention span is getting shorter and shorter, it is no surprise that TikTok’s short-form video doing so well globally.
Def-G Talent Showcase
A few keynotes that were held during the [REC]reate was TikTok 101, Unlocking the TikTok Content Generation Factory, and TikTok Monetization Deep-Dive. These keynotes highlight the untapped potential of short-form videos in brand-building and businesses.
buy ventolin online https://www.parkviewortho.com/wp-content/languages/new/over/ventolin.html over the counter
There is an entirely new generation of youngsters that are on TikTok now. According to TikTok, South East Asia is also among the most active on mobile, clocking in at almost 4 hours across devices.
For Malaysians on TikTok, we have a few engaging contents and campaigns that are trackable through hashtags in the app itself. Among many of them, we have the #BetterMeBetterInternet (74M views), #myearthhour201 9 (5M views), and #experiencepenan g (22M views).
While you might dismiss TikTok as a meme platform, there is no denying that this platform is among the top social media platforms in the world.

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Transcend Releases JetDrive 820 PCIe SSD for Macs

Believe me when I say this – Macs can be upgraded too. Well, not by much actually. And its upgradeability differs from generation to generation. But that doesn’t stop Transcend from announcing their PCIe SSD for Macs – the JetDrive 820, a PCIe Gen. 3.0 SSD for Macs.
First, let’s talk specs. The Transcend JetDrive 820 is made with the latest 3D NAND flash technology and is offered in capacities of up to 960GB.

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ASUS ROG Avalon is a product I want to buy now

This is the Avalon. It’s a PC case. It looks like a testbench, and for some reason I think they’re actually trying to achieve a compact form factor without sacrificing the looks.
Thus begins the first ever modular PC case. It’s a result between the collaboration of In Win and ASUS, and they actually manage to create a very interesting concept here. The Avalon has a big piece of see-through panel at the top, and then two little “ears” at the side that can be popped out with the press of a single button on each side. The left side reveals the GPU, and the right side reveals the reservoir and pump for liquid cooling.

What’s interesting here is that all parts are connected to each other like any other computer would, but instead of using wires and connecting them directly to the motherboard, the case itself has little ports and cables built inside of it. For example – there is a PCIE riser board to reroute the GPU to the left side of the Avalon.

With that said, there are little to no visible cables on the case itself, even with the covers stripped off. The only cable I can see is the 6 pin power cable for the GPU, and nothing else.
Linus explains it best, so check out his video here.

Are you interested to see this product in the market? I certainly am. I hope ASUS doesn’t make it an ASUS-exclusive hardware where I have to buy an entire set of ASUS things just for the Avalon. That would be crappy, and makes me sad.

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Huawei Nova 7 SE 5G & FreeBuds 3i are now official, priced at RM1,499 & RM399 respectively

I think currently, the Huawei Nova 7 SE is the cheapest smartphone in the market right now that has 5G capability. At the price of only RM1,499, I’m surprised about its price. And Huawei is also bringing in the new Huawei FreeBuds 3i into the market for the price of RM399.
Let’s split it into two parts – one for the Nova 7 SE, and another for the FreeBuds 3i.

Huawei Nova 7 SE
Let’s first start off with the specs of the Huawei Nova 7 SE:

6.5-inch IPS LCD

2400×1080 pixels in resolution
Punch hole notch at the top left corner

HiSilicon Kirin 820 5G chipset
8GB RAM
128GB internal storage

Expandable via NM card (learn more here)

Quadruple camera setup

Main: 64MP f/1.8 with PDAF
Ultra-wide angle: 8MP f/2.4
Macro: 2MP f/2.4
Depth sensor

16MP f/2.0 selfie camera
4,000mAh battery

In terms of specs, it looks quite good. We do have a unit of the Huawei Nova 7 SE reviewing right now, and we’ll publish it soon. So far, it is looking to be a rather interesting smartphone.

Of course, the Huawei Nova 7 SE is using the Huawei Mobile Services, so there’s no Google Play Store. For us power users, it’s quite okay, as we’ve said here. Also, Huawei just implemented a method to backup WhatsApp messages to the Huawei Cloud service.

Despite all of that, I still think it’s still premature to jump into the 5G bandwagon right now since the deployment and coverage of 5G in Malaysia are still rather constrained.
For the price of RM1,499, it’s good – but I don’t think it should be bought because of 5G. At least Huawei is sweetening the deal by offering some rewards.

Freebies of up to RM1,256 on the Huawei Nova 7 SE

HUAWEI Band 4
Vova casing
HUAWEI Video (dimsum) 3 months access
HUAWEI Book 6 months access
HUAWEI Cloud storage of 15GB (valid for 12 months)
Member Center Rewards worth up to RM1,000

Free gifts from HUAWEI AppGallery Carnival for every purchase
A chance to win 1 of the 3 Proton X70 as the grand prize for lucky draw in HUAWEI AppGallery Carnival

Of course, terms and conditions apply.
Huawei FreeBuds 3i
From the looks of it, it just looks like the Huawei FreeBuds 3i is the exact same of the HONOR Magic Earbuds. It’s just a black colored HONOR Magic Earbuds which we have reviewed here.
I have to say, I love the pair of earbuds a lot – but the bass boost is a little too excessive for me. Like I mentioned in my review of the HONOR Magic Earbuds, I do wish that there’s an EQ in the app to tune the bass away.

Huawei is further sweetening the deal by including a few more gifts. For the price of RM399, we also get:

FreeBuds 3i case
AppGallery Carnival 2020 free gifts
1 x lucky draw (from 3 units of Proton X70 to be won, applicable for purchases at AppGallery Carnival’s nationwide roadshow)

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Here's HP's luxury smartwatch

This is what we know – HP is making a smartwatch that is cross-compatible between Android and iOS devices.

HP had partnered with retailer called Gilt to build this smartwatch, and this watch’s render image looks absolutely captivating. The designer, Michael Bastian, made the watch to have a circular watch face, 44mm stainless steel case, and also a swappable wristband for your liking – be it rubber, leather, nylon, or a limited edition black.

The inspiration behind this design is no surprise, as Bastian said that cues from luxury automobile designs are present in this watch, especially its interior.
HP claims that they will have basic smartwatch features present in this particularly luxuriously looking watch, and they will provide their own software – meaning that Android Wear will most probably not be on this sexy watch.
Engadget said it has also been reportedly to be announced this fall, but no further details about this watch are provided. Stay tuned for more on this luxurious smartwatch!
Source : Engadget

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How technology changed the way we communicate

Since the dawn of mobile phones, SMS (short messaging service) has been with us and it may be going away any time soon. Why would I bring up about SMS?
People fail to realize that virtual communication cannot emulate intimacy, personal connection and the tangibility between each other.

Apps you will find in almost every smartphone
You might think that this situation is introverted in nature; the silent, shy and lonely lifestyle. The first thing I learned from reading Susan Cain’s The Power Of Introverts is that introverts only speak whenever necessary and is never shy, but still sociable, though prefers to be in a quieter environment. What technology did is – it made us shy; unable to speak in whatever situations and always wanting to hide one’s face.
So take this as a PSA and please, stop using your gadgets to replace the way you communicate.
Let me tell you one thing that will be your single greatest motivation – communicating face to face has no lag or internet disconnection issues.

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ASUS Launch New PadFone S

Remember the Asus PadFone S that we introduced earlier? If you haven’t read that post before, click me!
Before Asus PadFone S, there was a Asus PadFone Infinity which was launched in the last quarter of 2013. Asus PadFone S is the successor and hence inherits the overall design from the PadFone Infinity.

Asus PadFone S is a 5-inch Full HD smartphone with 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC) support and a 13-megapixel camera with PixelMaster technology exclusively in Asus Product. Featuring a 5-inch Full HD Android 4.4 KitKat, Asus Padfone S has a thin and light design. With In-Plane Switching (IPS) 1920 x 1200 display, made of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 that is durable and scratch-resistant as well as the anti-fingerprint coating, perfect for daily usage. Anti-fingerprint coating is definitely useful, how annoying is the screen full with fingerprint? Argh, keep wiping~
PadFone S has also meet the international requirement operator requirement by passing numerous drop and water resistance tests. Need not to worry about your PadFone S if dropping from a low height or accidental spill or even rain shower!
What’s a PadFone is without the its iconic dock station? PadFone S has a dock – the PadFone S Station. Note that this 9-inch station is sold separately from the phone. By docking the phone into the station, the screen size is resized to fit the tablet’s large display, enable you to do anything you want with the large display, be it working or watching movie or playing game! Equipping with dual front speakers, playing games or watching video would be an incredible entertainment experience.

Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3GHz processor and 2GB RAM, I would say that the performance of PadFone S will not be awesome but sufficiently to do daily task or even some intense gaming. When docked in the PadFone S Station, the phone gets charge by the tablet providing up to 2X longer battery life. Wow, it’s like having a tablet with power bank function!
PadFone S has a 13-megapixel rear PixelMaster camera with f/2.0 aperture. This PixelMaster camera has an external image signal processing (ISP) that functions to reduce noise for smoother and prettier photos. No more blur image! The nighttime performance has been greatly improved by enhancing the Low-light Mode. It works by merging adjacent pixels that increases the light sensitivity by up to 400% and contrast by up to 200%, allowing more light to be captured and hence producing a clear and bright low-light photo, we don’t need flash!
Running on Android 4.4 KitKat with ASUS ZenUI, PadFone S comes with the latest ZenUI which includes the two features “What’s Next” and “Do It Later” which we have introduced in earlier post.
The price of PadFone S definitely surprise me. It’s only RM 899! But do take note, this is the price for PadFone S, the smartphone alone. For the PadFone S Station, it’s RM 499.
Adding up, PadFone S with station is just RM 1398, still a worthy bundle to get on! Come on, it’s a phone and a tablet at the same time! PadFone S is available now in black and white at local IT stores and ASUS authorized resellers.
Has been reading a lot of text? Watch this video to know more about the design of PadFone S!

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Review – ASUS ZenBook 14 UX425EA: Now with 11th Gen Intel Core SoC

A few months ago, we reviewed the ASUS ZenBook 14 UX425. That was the 10th Gen Intel Core chip. But just about 2 months after that, we now have the new refreshed version of the ZenBook 14 UX425, now equipped with the new 11th Gen Intel chip, dubbed Tiger Lake.
Everything else remains the same, but we’ll do something different this time.

So, as a quick recap – let’s go through all of the aspects of the ASUS ZenBook 14 UX425 first. This laptop is claimed to the world’s thinnest 13- or 14-inch laptop respectively that has a full set of I/O ports. The ports are still the same, and still does not come with an audio jack.

The overall design is the same – an all-metal build with a supremely beautiful lid and still has the concentric circles rippling out from the ASUS logo on the lid. Just like its 10th Gen counterpart, the concentric circles are very visible to the eyes, but very shallow and can’t exactly be felt with our fingers. And it still catches fingerprints like a stray magnet.

The screen is still beautiful as heck – no complaints here. 1080p in resolution with great colors and decent enough brightness to be used outdoors under sunlight.

Both the keyboard and trackpad are as great as the earlier version. The keyboard is still one of the best that I’ve used on a laptop thus far – it’s clicky and still very surprised by the fact that this keyboard has great travel distance despite this laptop is so thin.

The trackpad – still wide, and still has the NumberPad feature too if you want to do some quick maths. It’s a great trackpad and so far, I have nothing to complain about the trackpad at all.

The biggest and only difference between this and the earlier version of the ZenBook 14 UX425 is the chip. The new Intel Core i7-1165G7 is plenty more powerful compared to the Intel Core i7-1065G7.
I mean, the latest 11th Gen Intel chips are a lot more powerful in both CPU and GPU compared to the 10th Gen chips. It’s just a huge leap! Watch the video at the top of this review because we did try both Genshin Impact and GTA V on the latest Intel GPU driver – which improved the performance by a lot.

Also, a quick note – the ZenBook 14 UX425 runs at about 19W or 20W most of the time – which is still not the maximum 28W of the Core i7-1165G7. And since this laptop can’t run the chip at its maximum wattage anyway – I recommend getting the Intel Core i5-1135G7.
Seriously though, we’re not going to do any serious gaming on this laptop anyway – so save some money because the price gap between the Core i5 and Core i7 models is a whopping RM700. Other aspects of the laptop seem to remain the same and that’s why I think the RM700 premium to get the Core i7 model is unjustified.
The same prices apply for the 13-inch version too, by the way.

ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325
ASUS ZenBook 14 UX425

Intel Core i5-1135G7
RM3,999
RM3,999

Intel Core i7-1165G7
RM4,699
RM4,699

Either way, it’s still a fantastic laptop if you can get over the fact that this ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 does not have an audio jack.

Where to buy?

Amazon US (Look for the UX425EA)
Lazada
Shopee

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Direct Interface/Communication Between Brains!

Scientist has successfully able to connect two brains directly via electronics and communicate.

The wires are implanted directly to a rat’s brain, allowing brain signals to be transferred across cables. The is history’s first brain-to-brain link. The experiment consist of two rats(obviously), one being the transmitter and one being the receiver. The receiving rat will react by one of the two levers corresponding to the light visible only by the transmitting rat.
Duke University has now proven that an artificial link between mammal brains is possible. Duke’s neuroscientist, Miguel Nicolelis is the man leading the research team says that other sensory information could be transferred as well such as touch, smell, taste and even vision!
“You could think about taste, vision — I don’t see any problem doing this,” he told NBC News.
They also suggest that more than two mammals could be linked forming a complex “Hive Mind” which immediately reminds me of The Borg from the Star Trek series. Soon, internet would be obsolete and we will be living like a single computer with million of cores.
Here is a video for you 🙂

Via – NBC

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[Innovation Tech Flash Computex Special 2021] Simon Segars delivers 4 key points during Arm’s 1st keynote at COMPUTEX 2021

Arm’s keynote at COMPUTEX 2021 is not purely about product announcement or updates to the company, it was about sending a message delivered in 4 major points.
With all said but things yet to be done and NVIDIA poking their heads into the business every now and then, only time will tell what Arm and Armv9 will achieve in the coming years.

Here’s the full keynote if you are interested.

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The HONOR MagicBook 15 releases tomorrow at RM3,699 alongside the HONOR Band 6

HONOR Malaysia has announced the availability of the hardware-refreshed MagicBook 15 and the latest Band 6 of its smart wearables offerings.

The 2021 version of the MagicBook 15 essentially looks the same but the latest hardware from Intel. The display, however, has been upgraded to feature a 100% sRGB color range alongside eye-comforting Low Blue Light mode in a standard 1080p panel. Otherwise, it is as standard as it can be and the usual ol’ reliable.

CPU

Intel Core i5-1135G7

GPU

Intel Iris Xe

Display

15.6-inch IPS FHD 100% sRGB

RAM

16GB

Storage

512GB PCIe NVMe

I/O

1x USB-A 3.2
1x USB-A 2.0
1x USB-C (Power In, Data)
1x HDMI
1x Universal Audio Jack

Battery

65Whr

Followed together with the MagicBook 15 is the HONOR Band 6 – a smartwatch with a 1.47-inch AMOLED screen that is bigger than the Band 5 and packs upgraded sensors to track movements and activities that includes 10 kinds of workout modes. Your run-of-the-mill SpO2, sleep monitoring, heart-rate tracking, and female cycle tracker are also found in this little device.
Pricing + Preorder Bonus

The HONOR MagicBook 15 is priced at RM3,699 while the HONOR Band 6 is at RM189 and both of these are going on sale tomorrow for the first time. As today is the last day for preorder, by placing your purchase for the laptop, you’ll get a free HONOR laptop backpack, Bluetooth mouse, and gift box while a vacuum mug will be bundled with all HONOR Band 6 orders.

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Bridging the gap between Consumer & Enterprise

Lenovo has been on a roll of late. IDC reports that Lenovo has achieved a 16.7% global PC market share in 2Q 2013. This makes them the No.1 PC supplier in the world. That’s really tough to imagine considering Lenovo had to go through the likes of Acer, Toshiba, Sony, HP and Dell to attain this new position. The main concern is of course – security.

Just how secure, reliable, manageable and cohesive are consumer technology with enterprise-class functionality? From our recent encounter with Lenovo product evangelist, Kevin Beck, also Senior Worldwide Competitive Analyst – apparently, not much.

“We’re going to be continually good at what we have been traditionally good but you’re going to see a significantly improved approach to design, features and usability in our traditional products,” said Kevin Beck.

This can be seen from the many innovative form factors from Lenovo, and there are no indications of them pulling the breaks on this one. Instead, it feels like a dominant step into a market that has its lines so blurred that it’s possible some of these form factors might emerge to be the next trendsetter amongst consumers and enterprise alike.

With this new lineup of products, Lenovo hopes to tackle the concerns of IT managers, while creating better (and more desirable) products that also appeals to the mass market.
For a deeper look at Lenovo products, head on to www.lenovo.com/my

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State of TVs: LG sticks to OLED as Samsung branches to multiple TV display technologies

It’s always interesting to discover new unexpected things during our usual routine of researches and read-ups. Both Samsung and LG are major players in the display technology segment and they are both from South Korea. However, these two companies have a very different path for the future. As Samsung continues to innovate and expand into multiple different display technologies, LG is adamant and continues on with OLED only.
The backstory of this predicament is actually far deeper than what we consumers usually see or care about. Let’s take display technologies for example. We know that there are OLED and LCD display panels which are commonly found these days. Same goes to TVs as well but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Both Samsung and LG are spearheading in the display technologies segment and has some overlaps in categories of products as well – prominently in LCD and OLED. Currently, LG is continuously developing and pushing on OLED panels while Samsung is expanding its horizons to 4 more display technologies – QLED, microLED, QD-OLED, and even QD-microLED
Samsung introduced the world’s first commercial 8K TV powered by its QLED technology.
Without going much into details on each display technology, we know that Samsung is moving away from OLED for TVs specifically because of its larger screen and manufacturing challenges, the longer product life cycles, and most important – the lack of any stagnant elements on the TV. Hence, Samsung is only including OLED display panels on their smartphones.
LG, on the other hand, continues to push the OLED display technology despite that the “blue pixel problem” still looms over their OLED panels. The “blue pixel problem” here is an inherent issue which causes pixels on to have a shorter lifespan, eventually resulting in the infamous burn-in.

LG tried to solve this problem by introducing white OLED sub-pixel to the usual RGB group. Whiteness here means that the colors can look washed out but was able to circumvent the “blue pixel problem” for a while. It is definitely a trade-off to prolong the OLED lifespan.
As Samsung continues to march onward with its display technology, they scored big when Apple ordered 100 million OLED panels for the iPhones. By choosing Samsung it shows that there is more confidence in Samsung rather than LG – and there is other data to back that up too.

Remember the Huawei Mate 20 Pro with its green screen problem? Huawei used OLED panels from two manufacturers for that smartphone – LG and BOE. Reportedly, those units with green screen issues are using OLED panels from LG whereby the BOE panels do not have any issues. We experienced this first hand, by the way.
Speaking of BOE, the rise of Chinese display manufacturer is driving the prices of OLED panels down through ubiquity while spends a hefty amount in research and development as well. LG now only faces competition from themselves to push the OLED panels while facing threat from BOE as well.
The Huawei P30 now exclusively using OLED screens from BOE.
Samsung, as of now, is looking at other new display technologies instead of focusing on existing ones. With a few different technologies at hand, Samsung has backup plans in case anything goes awry.

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Review – OPPO A95 4G: That price though…

The OPPO A95 is the company’s latest entry-level smartphone. The OPPO A95 is available in two versions – either the 4G or 5G version. We got the 4G version here and I can call it an entry-level smartphone because part of its hardware is rather… dated, to put it lightly. So, let’s go through what the OPPO A95 has to offer.

Design
Okay, the design of the OPPO A95 is a rathe simple one. It is kinda reminiscent of the OPPO Reno 6Z that we reviewed before as it also has that matte finish with sparkly glitter look. It’s not as rough as the Reno 6Z, though.

Screen
The phone comes with a rather compact 6.43-inch AMOLED screen with the typical resolution of 2400×1080 with 60Hz refresh rate. Very standard, honestly.

The colors though, it does seem a little flat to me, especially with the default wallpaper. Then I realized – it’s a feature in ColorOS that flattens the color of the wallpaper.

Also, that under display fingerprint scanner is waaaaaaaaaaay too low.
Cameras
The cameras on the OPPO A95 is actually quite ridiculous. We have a total of 3 cameras in this cutout here, but I’ll say that only one camera is usable. The depth sensor is useless and that 2MP macro camera can’t take decent pictures anyway.

To have a look a tall the pictures we took with the OPPO A95 4G, watch our video at the top of this review.
Performance
Okay, so the performance side of things. I have to say, it’s still using a Snapdragon 662 chipset in the year 2021, nearing 2022. That means the Snapdragon 662 chipset is nearly 2 years old at this point. Don’t get me wrong, the chipset is actually still pretty good for day-to-day use, but it’ll struggle with games like Genshin Impact even when it is at the lowest graphical settings.
Instead of us telling you how it performs, have a watch here.

Battery
That humongous 5,000mAh battery also lasts for about 13 hours in our battery life test to which I’ll say it’s actually not that good. I was expecting more but I think it just shows how technologically outdated the Snapdragon 662 really is.
Charger

As for the charger, that 33W proprietary charger takes about 70 minutes to charge from 15% to 100% battery and I think that’s expected for a phone with 5,000mAh battery. Pretty typical, I’ll say.

Software
For the software side of things – the OPPO A95 is still running on ColorOS 11 version 11.1, and I think that ColorOS in general is pretty okay to use. The software is quite clean and there is no bloatware.

We’ve also talked about ColorOS 12 in one of our videos – so check that out too. I presume the A95 will get the ColorOS 12 update but I think we’ll have to wait for a long time.

Misc. stuff
A few things to mention – the OPPO A95 4G comes with a triple card slot, and despite it being a thin phone, it still comes with a 3.5mm audio jack.

Should you buy the OPPO A95 4G?
For the price of RM1099 – I think OPPO is asking too much for a phone like this. Yes, the software is actually quite okay – though there is nothing worth shouting about. I’ll just say this – there are many other choices around this price.

Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

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Review – HONOR 9X: The in-betweener

The HONOR 9X was just announced not too long ago, and we now have the full details regarding this smartphone. It’s been more than a year since the announcement of the HONOR 8X in Malaysia, and I know that many Malaysians have already been asking about the HONOR 9X for a few months.
Before the comments start rolling in, we have two big questions to address – the Google apps situation and also the chipset. Here, we have the confirmation that the HONOR 9X is using Kirin 710F chipset and it has Google apps. HONOR has two options – it’s either Kirin 710F with Google apps, or Kirin 810 without Google apps. HONOR chose the former, and I think they made the right choice.

To summarize everything we have to say about the HONOR 9X, here is our review video.

Unboxing
The HONOR 9X comes with a pretty basic set of contents. Inside the box, we’ll find the barebones – the HONOR 9X itself, a TPU case, and also a charger alongside with the cable.

One thing I realize is the included TPU case is slightly harder than other typical TPU cases, and it also has an unnecessarily large cutout at the top for the popup selfie camera.

Design
The overall phone design is quite simple this time around. HONOR did it right by having curved edges so that we can hold it comfortably.

Continuing HONOR’s unique trend in having beautiful-looking backs, the HONOR 9X has this grid design for the blue color variant. Unfortunately, we only have the black one for review, which does not have the aforementioned design.

If we are to slap on the included TPU case however, the back design will get disrupted or blocked off entirely.
Connectivity & Ports
I think this is limbo number 1. Since the HONOR 9X that we have is using the Kirin 710F, it is still stuck with last year’s WiFi tech only. That means you can only get N-WiFi, which I think is outdated in today’s standard as many other smartphones also support AC-WiFi these days.

Comparing with last year’s smartphone, the HONOR 9X also got a downgrade as it now only supports either dual nano SIM cards or a single nano SIM + microSD card slot. The HONOR 8X can support all 3 without an issue – so why is there a downgrade?

Other aspects of the phone are pretty much the same as last year’s – 3.5mm audio jack and USB-C alongside the speaker at the bottom, and both volume and power buttons at the right side.
Display
The HONOR 9X is still using an IPS LCD display – just like last year’s HONOR 8X. However, the main difference here is the bigger notchless display. At 6.59-inch, the HONOR 9X is a humongous phone and not having a notch really makes a big difference in the user experience.

Since it is using an IPS LCD, that means the HONOR 9X has placed the fingerprint scanner at the back. I personally prefer a physical fingerprint scanner rather than having an optical one under the display, though.
Cameras
To achieve this full view, notchless display, HONOR employed a popup selfie camera. The HONOR 9X also has some upgrades to the cameras compared to the predecessor. It now has:

Main: 48MP f/1.8
Ultrawide angle: 8MP f/2.4
Depth sensor

Honestly speaking, the only additional camera compared to its predecessor is the upgrade to a 48MP sensor an also the addition of an ultrawide angle camera.
As for the picture quality that comes out of the HONOR 9X, here they are. You can also click here to visit our Shutterfly album to view the images in full size with its metadata.

Honestly speaking, the pictures taken by this phone is just sub-par. For the main camera, just don’t capture pictures in 48MP mode. The image will be blurry and it just looks like someone smeared the picture.
Capture in 48MP mode.
Captured in 12MP mode, AI turned off.
Captured in 12MP mode, AI turned on.
For this scene in particular, the flowers are completely overexposed and became a white blotch of color. I tried all permutations to take the picture – I swapped between 48MP, 12MP and also tried toggling AI. Nothing works. Then, I changed to night mode and take the picture – yes, it’s broad daylight and I’m using night mode – and the picture turned out to be pretty okay.
Captured using night mode.
The flowers aren’t just a white blotch – they’re a tad bit yellow, and I can see the individual petals. However, the contrast had been boosted way too high and the background looks unnatural.

At night, the picture turned out quite okay – could’ve been better for sure since the pictures look oversharpened while the sensor can’t pick up the details.
The ultrawide angle camera still does not have night mode yet, which means it is impossible to take ultrawide angle night shots. The small f/2.4 aperture isn’t helping either, as ultrawide angle shots in broad daylight look disappointingly dark.

Software – Android 9.0 with EMUI 10
Honestly, nothing much has changed compared to any other smartphones with EMUI 10. The only major complaint that I have is about the camera UI. Even after so long, HONOR has not fix the camera UI at all. The zoom slider is still at the bottom center of the screen – unreachable when using with one hand.

Also, the camera UI is somewhat confusing now. You can select to take 48MP pictures when AI is turned off and the zoom slider disappears. Turning on AI will automatically switch to 12MP mode and the zoom slider automagically appears by itself.
This means if I am using 48MP, I cannot disable AI and take an ultrawide angle camera picture. I will have to remember that I am using 48MP, go into the settings and swap it back to 12MP. That’s annoying!
Performance & Gaming
Alright, so how does the the Kirin 710F performs? Does the extra “F” in the Kirin 710 actually make a difference? Before we get too hasty – here are the specs of the HONOR 9X:

6.59-inch IPS LCD; notchless
HiSilicon Kirin 710F
6GB RAM
128GB internal storage (expandable with microSD)
4,000mAh battery
Android 9 with EMUI 10

Here, look at the benchmarks.

Honestly the Kirin 710F has absolutely zero difference in performance with the Kirin 710 from last year. Seriously, the performance has zero difference btween the HONOR 8X (review) and the HONOR 20 Lite (review). So… what does the F in Kirin 710F stands for? 🤷♂
Gaming?
It’s the same as the other Kirin 710-powered smartphones too. I suggest you to play PUBG Mobile at the “smooth” graphical quality with “high” frame rates. That’s the most playable, in my opinion.

As for COD Mobile, these are the only settings you can have. Utter disappointment.
Battery & Charger
The HONOR 9X comes with a 4,000mAh battery – and that’s pretty common with mid-range smartphones these days. So we thought – maybe the Kirin 710F has better efficiency? So we put it to the test.

And no, there is not efficiency improvement. The longer battery life compared to other Kirin 710-powered smartphones is from the fact that it is using a 4,000mAh battery. That means the Kirin 710F has zero tangible improvement over the Kirin 710F.
Charger
While many mid-range smartphones start to include fast charging, the HONOR 9X is still stuck with the standard 10W power. At least compared to last year’s smartphone, the HONOR 9X is now using USB-C.

The HONOR 9X takes nearly 2 hours to fully charge from 15% to 100%. Definitely not the fastest, and I recommend to charge overnight instead.
Wrapping up the HONOR 9X review
I think overall, as a smartphone, the HONOR 9X is quite okay. When compared with other smartphones, the HONOR 9X doesn’t really have a strong unique aspect to differentiate itself from any other mid-range smartphones – even from the company’s own catalog. There are numerous smartphones with Kirin 710 chipset in the market right now, too.
For the price of RM999, the HONOR 9X is just way too expensive for everything it offers. I’ll have to say that the HONOR 9X is difficult to recommend. There are better alternatives in the market too – like the Redmi Note 7 (review) and also the realme 3 Pro (review). And yet those are considered last-gen for those two respective brands.
If you’re already using the HONOR 8X, then don’t upgrade. Maybe shell out a couple hundred more for the HONOR View20 (review)? That is a much better smartphone overall.
But hey – at least the HONOR 9X that Malaysians are getting have fully functional Google apps out of the box! No unnecessary fiddling around after you bought the phone! 😏

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