Review – Neffos N1: The Familiar-Looking Smartphone

About a month ago, we got the exclusive first look at the upcoming flagship smartphone from Neffos – the N1. There, we laid our hands on the Neffos N1 and has been using it ever since. What do we think about it? Find out in our full in-depth review of the Neffos N1 here.
Unboxing
First thing’s first. Neffos opted for a packaging design that’s flatter but wider. The packaging design language itself is alright. Rather simple.

At the back is where the specs are, as usual. Pretty bare in terms of the packaging design language, in my opinion.

Opening up the box reveals the Neffos N1 sitting on the left portion of the box. There’s another box sitting on the right side of the phone.

I guess we’ve already realized that the Neffos N1’s box is in a flatter square packaging design rather than having the conventional rectangular shape.
Underneath the Neffos N1 is another box, this time housing different accessories.

Digging out all of the accessories reveals a USB-C cable, a charger, SIM ejector tool, documentations, a piece of tempered glass screen protector, and a set of earbuds with a total of 3 sizes of eartips to choose from.

It’s weird to see that a smartphone would come with a piece of tempered glass screen protector but not a case. At least Neffos did include a proper screen protector, unlike Huawei P10 which came with a lousy matte film screen protector and no oleophobic coating, making it impossible to glide a finger across the screen. Still, I’m bummed that it doesn’t include a case in the box.
Speaking of that, let’s head on over to the design, where things get much more interesting.
You also get an earphone!
[nextpage title=”Design”]
When I first looked at the Neffos N1 from the front, it looks just like any other smartphone. Sure, the screen, an earpiece at the top flanked by sensors and cameras, and a row of capacitive keys at the bottom. One of the most common smartphone designs out there in the market.

Once I turned the Neffos N1 around, I realized that it looks familiar. Too familiar. It has a solid metal body with a fine matte finish that feels absolutely solid in the hands, though slippery. This is where I really wish Neffos would have included a case too.

That aside, Neffos decided to put the volume rocker and SIM tray at the right side while the power button and a slider on the left side.

Interestingly, the slider here functions exactly the same as you think it would. Remember that little slider thing on OnePlus smartphones? Yeah – that slider, and they function exactly the same, too. Slide it up to mute, and vice versa. Comes with a satisfying vibration to indicate the status change.

Unfortunately, Neffos didn’t quite get the memo regarding the whole 18:9 FullView display trend that’s going on, and hence they stuck with the 16:9 aspect ratio.
[nextpage title=”Connectivity & Speaker”]
Funny enough, when it comes to connectivity, the Neffos N1 does come 5GHz WiFi – but only supports up to 801.11n. That means there’s no AC WiFi.

You also get a combo SIM card tray, where there’s a dedicated nano SIM1 slot and a combo microSD/nano SIM2 slot. Pretty common in smartphones these days, actually.
I guess it’s worth pointing out too that the Neffos N1 comes with a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB-C port at the bottom of the phone, alongside with the loudspeaker. There’s absolutely nothing at the top except for a microphone.
Speaking of the loudspeaker, the Neffos N1’s loudspeaker is actually quite decent. I can enjoy videos and even some games on the Neffos N1’s loudspeaker without any complaints. Loud enough to get the job done, especially to notify you when there’s a call, too.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
Now, there aren’t any official specs of what’s the exact display that the Neffos N1 is using. From what I can deduce, the Neffos N1 is actually using a 1080p IPS LCD screen. I’m quite disappointed as Neffos didn’t use an 18:9 FullView display like any other smartphones of have. It’s pretty much the common standard nowadays.

As for the display quality, the screen’s white balance is a little off. What is supposed to be white appears to have a blue tint. Unfortunately, there is no option to fine-tune the screen’s colors for now. Perhaps Neffos will push an update to fix this issue?
I do realize that the screen on the Neffos N1 can go super bright to which it really hurts my eyes. And yes, you can use the Neffos N1 outdoors without any issues at all. It’s just really bright at the highest brightness.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
Time for the camera! During our exclusive hands-on time with the Neffos N1 about a month ago, the challenge that was given to us is to take pictures with the Neffos N1. Before we get into that, let’s take a look at the specs first.

Rear-camera

Stereoscopic dual-camera system (learn more about it here)

12MP RGB + 12MP monochrome camera; Sony IMX386 sensors

Selfie camera

8MP fixed focus

We know that it’s using the stereoscopic dual-camera system because the lenses of the two cameras at the back are with the same diameter. Take a look at the illustration below.

Let’s take a look at the photo samples now. We’ve also uploaded the complete full resolution of all pictures and more on our Flickr account.
Rear-camera photos
This is the main camera that I used during the small little photography session that we had. These pictures were took outdoors on a bright and sunny day with manual mode, and I have to say that the Neffos N1 can really create sharp images.
While in indoors, the white balance tips noticeably to the blue side. Again, this is something that can be fixed by software updates.

Since the dual-cameras on the Neffos N1 is a monochrome + RGB sensor like the Huawei P10 and the Nokia 8, it can create bokeh effect as it has additional depth data. The result? It’s okay. It can get most parts of a portrait right.
Neffos also implemented the ability to re-focus after a picture is taken, but the UI is a bit… messy, to be frank. When you tap somewhere on the image to refocus, it does a zoom effect like the Millennium Falcon is entering HyperSpace. I find it really annoying.

The rear-camera is somewhat lacking when it comes to indoor shots. Monochrome + RGB sensor isn’t my cup of tea too, as I prefer a telephoto lens instead.
Selfie camera photos
As for the selfie camera, for all I can say – the images come out okay. I’m not much of a selfie person, but the images do look a little too noisy. Furthermore, the images just aren’t sharp. In an even darker environment, the picture is just noisy.

Camera UI
When it comes to the camera’s UI, I think it’s pretty okay. It gets the job done, doesn’t have unnecessary clutter, but certain options are a little… bizarre. Needs some getting used to.

In manual mode, the shutter speed jumps from 1/500 to 1/1000 directly. The options to go for 1/640, 1/750, or 1/800 is nonexistent, which does make outdoor photos look either underexposed or overexposed.
Also, all pictures taken by the Neffos N1 has gibberish in their metadata, just like the other smartphone that looks like the N1.
If you think gibberish metadata isn’t bad, then get this – the Neffos N1 has the ability to add watermark to the photos like the phone it’s modeled after – but with a big caveat. If you’re using bokeh mode and you want to re-focus your image after you’ve taken it, then be prepared for a WTF moment. Apparently, you can even blur the watermark.
The watermark should be another layer above the picture taken…
These are small issues that can be fixed by an update. Until then, these are growing pains that the Neffos N1 users have to live with.
[nextpage title=”Software”]
The Neffos N1 comes with NFUI v7.0 – which I think is pretty close to stock Android. There aren’t many changes made to the original Android 7.1.1 Nougat, just a few Neffos/TP-Link apps and additional settings added to the settings menu. Also, the home screen is in a flat layout with no drawers.

One thing I do appreciate is the little notification prompt to change the navigation keys upon setting up the phone initially. It instantly prompts to ask if you want to swap the recents key and back key, because originally it’s the recents key at the left and back key at the right. To me, I prefer my back key on the left side instead, so I obviously swapped it.
The NFUI 7.0 also comes with bluelight filter mode. It has a slider to select how much blue light to filter out, which is obviously a good thing as I personally don’t like that much blue light to be filtered out.

Additionally, the NFUI 7.0 comes with App Cloner – the option where you can have a duplicate of the app so you can login two different accounts at once. NFUI 7.0 has enabled App Cloner for Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat, and potentially more.
The list grows on when more compatible apps are installed.
The list just grew by itself when compatible apps are installed. There is no list of apps that the NFUI 7.0’s App Cloner support. Also, App Cloner does not support 3rd party home screen launchers. No idea why, but this isn’t the case for other smartphones.
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
Of course, the performance. The Neffos N1 is equipped with this list of hardware:

5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD screen
MediaTek Helio P25 chipset (MT6757CD) fabricated with 16nm FinFET technology

Octa-core processor (4x Cortex-A53 processors @ 1.7GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 processors @ 2.4GHz)

Mali-T880 graphics
4GB RAM
64GB storage
3,200mAh battery

Looking at the specs alone, the Neffos N1 seems to have a good list of hardware built into it. Let’s take a look at the performance charts instead to tell the true performance against other smartphones in the market.

Overall, the Neffos N1 does get the basics done without a hitch. However, when it comes to gaming performance, the Neffos N1 is decent. I tested with Honkai Impact 3 on the highest graphical settings and there were inconsistent and noticeable frame rate dips throughout the game. Tuning the graphics down to medium is certainly recommended.
[nextpage title=”Battery & Charger”]
As stated earlier, the Neffos N1 comes with a 3,200mAh battery. Common battery capacity for smartphones these days. The battery did last a little over 8 hours from our test, which is where we expect for a phone with this battery capacity with FinFET technology in its core.

Charger
As for the charger, I’m actually surprised by what Neffos has included. The Neffos N1 comes with a 9V 2A charger – which is the true definition of fast charging. Our battery test is simple – drain all of the battery and charge it with the included charger and cable while logging its percentage and time.

To be honest, I’m really surprised that Neffos included a fast charger for the Neffos N1. It took less than 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from about 13% of battery all the way up to 100%!
From this charging curve, we can see that the linearity in charging speed drops somewhere near the 75% mark. It means it took less than 50 minutes for the Neffos N1 to reach 75% battery mark!
[nextpage title=”Wrapping up the Neffos N1 review”]
Let’s not beat around the bush here. It looks and feels like a clone of the Huawei P10+ – a flagship smartphone from the yesteryear. At this point of time, the design is already outdated – and Neffos could have jumped into the 18:9 FullView display bandwagon instead of taking up this design. At least with an 18:9 display, it will appeal to more users.
Some of the issues were actually replicated to the Neffos N1 as well, like the messed up metadata description for all pictures taken by the phone.

With that said, the Neffos N1 is a smartphone with decent specs. Other than that, it’s nothing that we’ve never seen before – and honestly, it’s nothing spectacular. Could have at least included a case in the box, still.
The Neffos N1 is priced at RM1,099. That will make a few pair of eyes widen and perhaps jaws drop. For what you’re getting, I think RM1,099 is quite worth it. Most of the issues that I’ve pointed out in this in-depth review is software-related. If Neffos pays attention to what were pointed out, then they can easily fix all of it with a software update.
This is indeed a test of their after-sales support.
Where to buy?
The Neffos N1 is available at Lazada!

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Review – Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: The best just got better

The phone is finally here – and I spent the last week with this phone and I have a lot of things to share with you. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is literally a Note but called an S series smartphone. So, without further ado, let’s begin.
This is going to be a very long review and I suggest you watch our video instead.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra that we have here in Malaysia comes in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. This is the first time that we Malaysians are getting the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S series of smartphones.

But I think it’s quite disappointing since the Exynos 2100 last year was much better than the Snapdragon 888 in terms of efficiency, and the Exynos 2200 this year comes with the AMD GPU which we don’t get to try out.

But enough of that – we’re reviewing the Galaxy S22 Ultra today and we’ll go across the usual 6 points when it comes to a smartphone. To streamline this review and not go off on a tangent, we’re going to focus mainly about the Galaxy S22 Ultra alone. We’ll have more future videos where we go in-depth in a few certain aspects.
Also – this entire review is scripted, edited, uploaded, and published by me alone. It is not paid or sponsored by anyone other than myself.
The box

Let’s start off with the box of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. I knew that the box was smaller than the Galaxy S21 Ultra from last year, as mentioned by Samsung. However, I didn’t expect it to be that much smaller.

Of course, a box that is this thin means that there’s no charger inside the box, just like last year. I mean, we’re accustomed to it already – check out our quick unboxing here.

Design
Then, we gotta talk about the design of this phone here. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s design is something that grew on me. Initially, I preferred the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s design. Samsung just embraced the camera bump instead of hiding and made it look pretty at the same time.

But when I looked at the Galaxy S22 Ultra with my own eyes, Samsung made that bump elegant. Just 5 circles, and that’s it.

Plus, because of how the camera circles are positioned, the phone doesn’t rock as much as the Galaxy S21 Ultra when caseless. That’s a nice plus point.
Also, the entire back of the phone is also covered by a very nice matte finish and it is available in a total of 4 different colors – the usual Phantom Black and Phantom White, then we have the new Burgundy and Green. I saw a lot of polls on Twitter to vote for which color is your favorite, and I saw a lot of people are going for Burgundy or Green.

Personally speaking, I’ll go for Green. While it has the name “green”, many people just said “oh, it’s blue” when they saw it for the first time. I get it – because this hue is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy S10 series with the Prism Green color.

And I love that Prism Green color. Now that color is in this matte finish, it looks and feels great.

Even the sides of the phone are elegant as it rounds off smoothly. Both the front and the back pieces of glass curved into the frame while creating a perfect semicircle and I find this craftsmanship to be just insanely good. Plus, the top and bottom of the phone are flat, which is reminiscent of the Galaxy Note series of smartphones.

The entire back and front of the phone are also covered by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+, by the way.
That screen
Since we’re here, let’s move on to the screen of this phone. It’s a massive 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with up to 120Hz refresh rate or down to 1Hz to save battery, and has a resolution of 3088×1440 pixels.

On paper, it doesn’t sound like much but in truth, this display got a big upgrade in terms of brightness and color accuracy. When we whipped out our colorimeter to test its color accuracy and had to adjust its brightness, I got about 368 nits at the maximum, which wasn’t that impressive.

Then, I realized there is another button in the settings menu called “extra brightness”. I turned that option on, then cranked the brightness to 100% and I was immediately blinded. The Galaxy S22 Ultra went beyond 750 nits of brightness.

Bruh
The Galaxy S21 Ultra doesn’t have this “extra brightness” option, by the way.

And yet, this phone manages to achieve every single brightness level with the perfect white point – that is to say, all the RGB output values are exactly the same while viewing white color.

Also, Samsung has this feature called “extra dim” where its brightness can go really low as well – perfect for viewing the screen in complete darkness.

Then, we dialed it back to 100 nits of brightness – which is what we typically use indoors – and continued with the color accuracy test. We got near 100% for both sRGB and DCI-P3 by default. Oh, I should have mentioned that I didn’t change any color profile in the settings menu. I just got the phone and did this test immediately.

Cameras
Of course, you can use the magnificent screen to view the magnificent photos and videos that you took on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This phone comes with a total of 5 different cameras – each serving its own purpose. The camera setup is similar to the Galaxy S21 Ultra too, but we’re leaving for the camera comparison between those two phones in another video.

I really do want to show you all the amazing pictures taken with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, but it’s better if you watch our video at the top of this review.
We also have video tests too – both in daylight and at night, shot in 4K 60fps.
Performance
Moving on to the performance. The Galaxy S22 Ultra that we have in Malaysia now comes with the Snapdragon chipset – namely the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Like what we’ve mentioned in our performance test, even though it is thermally-throttled and games are rendered at a lower resolution, the frame rate coming out of it is pretty good and it definitely didn’t overheat as the surface temperature is below 40°C all the time.

I mean, this phone isn’t even made for gaming so thermal throttling to maintain a comfortable user experience is understandable. I just wish there’s an unlock to go full blast.

Still, I wanted to know how the Exynos 2200 with the AMD GPU performs – but it seems to be only available in Europe now.
Battery
Moving on to the battery life of this phone, I’m impressed that Samsung actually managed to fit in a 5,000mAh battery despite having to sacrifice a bit of space for the S Pen to slot inside.

I can provide the usual battery life test result to you right now, but let’s make it interesting a little. I’ll spoil this comparison for you. I calibrated the Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Exynos 2100 and the Galaxy S22 Ultra with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 at 100 nits brightness, adaptive frame rate 1440p resolution, and connected to WiFi. Both phones ran the PCMark 10 battery life test, side by side. I even filmed a timelapse of it. Hint: watch our review video at the top.

The result is astonishing actually quite perplexing. The Galaxy S21 Ultra, which had gone through a lot of charge cycles as it was my daily driver for 8 months last year, had a SIM card in it while also having both Facebook Messenger and Telegram running in the background, and yet it still manages to outlast the brand new Galaxy S22 Ultra.

This could be caused by a few reasons – either the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is inefficient, or the optimizations for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and subsequently the Galaxy S22 Ultra is not that good yet. Either way, there is a noticeable gap but I don’t think it’s a big deal as that massive 5,000mAh battery can easily outlast my single day of usage.
Charging time
As for the charging time, we used our Ugreen 100W GaN charger to test out the charging times on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. While Samsung did claim this phone to support up to 45W of wired fast charging, our wattmeter reported only 28W – which is weird. We don’t know why this is happening so we’ll leave this mystery for another time.

Either way, I just left it there to charge and it charged up from 15% to 100% in about an hour – which is actually quite fast.

Software – One UI 4.1
Lastly, the software. Comes pre-installed with Android 12 and Samsung’s One UI 4.1, it just feels the same as the Galaxy Z Fold3.

I’ve got so accustomed to the features available on One UI that it is within my muscle memory to utilize those features – like Edge Panel with the screenshot snippet tool, or Samsung Pay for that matter.

To me, they’re not bloatware as I actually use these features. I’ve seen other smartphone brands try to mimic these features but in a sloppy manner so Samsung’s One UI is still my go-to skin for Android phones.

Oh – Samsung also bumped up their software update policy too. Samsung promised a total of 4 generations of Android OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches for the entire Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S22 series of smartphones. That’s even better than Google themselves!
S Pen
And we shouldn’t forget about the main star of the show – the S Pen. Since the Galaxy S22 Ultra is basically a Note, the S Pen is stored inside the phone. However, whatever color of the Galaxy S22 Ultra that you bought, only the tip of the pen will be corresponding to the phone’s color. The shaft of the S Pen will all be in this black color.

That’s not a big deal – but the thinness is a big deal to me. Yes, it’s much more convenient than the Galaxy S21 Ultra where we need to use a specific phone case just to carry the S Pen around and we don’t have to deal with deteriorating cases too.

But, comparing the sizes of the S Pen, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s S Pen is thicker and hence more comfortable to hold. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s S Pen is the same twig-like S Pen like the Galaxy Note20 series.

Still, if you just want to whip out the S Pen to take a quick note or to sketch something, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Else, you can get the LAMY Safari Twin Pen that has a ballpoint pen and an S Pen for a more comfortable grip.

Or get the S Pen Pro – our review here.

What I’m impressed though, is that the new S Pen feels really responsive. Samsung has a prediction algorithm to enhance the latency of the S Pen down to just 2.8ms. The numbers don’t put anything into perspective, but I really felt a difference while writing or drawing on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It’s really effective.

As a quick mention, the new Samsung Notes can convert more handwritten languages into texts. I only know how to write English and Malay, so that is something that I can’t really test. Even though I’m Chinese, I don’t actually know how to read or write Chinese.

Should you buy the Galaxy S22 Ultra?
So, finally – the question is – should you buy the Galaxy S22 Ultra? Well, if you’re already eyeing a new Galaxy Note smartphone, then this Galaxy S22 Ultra is your only option.
To me, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is like improving the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is already my personal perfect phone of the year 2021. Then, Samsung added the S Pen to the S22 Ultra to further sweeten up the deal.

What I’m concerned though, is the starting configuration available for the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
I suggest not to buy the base version of 128GB + 8GB RAM @ RM5,099. That 128GB is insufficient, especially since the cameras on the Galaxy S22 Ultra are so good that I think anyone holding this phone will become trigger-happy.

I suggest you get at least the 256GB + 12GB RAM RM5,499. Yes, the price is steeper but if you are willing to spend that much for a smartphone, then I can assure you that it’s worth your money.
Before I end this review – there is one question that I’ve been asked a lot – will I change my daily driver phone from the Galaxy Z Fold3 to the Galaxy S22 Ultra? It’s tempting for sure, but I don’t think I will. At least not yet. The Galaxy Z Fold3’s massive display when unfolded is something that no other phones can replace.
Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

Amazon US
Lazada
Shopee

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Review – Neffos X9

Neffos, the smartphone subsidiary of TP-Link, just had an event called the Summer Launch Party 2018 – which showcases all of the latest smartphones. One of it is the Neffos X9 – it’s a smartphone that has quite a familiar look and with budget-oriented specs.
Exactly how does it perform? We’ll find out in our review here.

Unboxing
A simple box but rather thick compared to other smartphones in the market. At the front you do get a full front view of what the phone will look like.

At the back, there’s nothing much other than a quick rundown of the specs and what’s included in the box.

Opening the box reveals the accessories box first. Again, it’s a good move to prevent damages on the phone itself as this box can dampen the force.

Under the box reveals the Neffos X9 itself. At the bottom we can see the charger, micro USB cable, and also the earphones. The earphones oddly resembles the Apple Earpods as well.

Digging out everything that’s included in the box, you get the Neffos X9 itself, a clear TPU case, a film screen protector that you’ll need to apply yourself, a micro USB cable, charger, earphones, and some documentation. Pretty good in terms of the accessories included.
[nextpage title=”Design”]
During the launch event, there was only one word that was thrown around the event venue – it looks like the Huawei Nova 2i. Within first glance of the Neffos X9’s back, yes it does look like the Nova 2i but with a different antenna line, which is shiny and reflective.

It’s quite comfortable to hold despite its 5.99-inch screen.

The included TPU case is of okay quality and has the little dots to prevent direct contact between the phone and the case as well. Good job.

Since the Neffos X9 does have a pretty big camera protrusion, the TPU case compensates that by having a lip around the camera. Same goes for the screen.

The TPU case does provide adequate protection and accentuates the buttons on the right side as well. Makes pressing them a lot easier.
It’s nearly out of alignment…
However, I worry about the openings on the case as it nearly covered the speaker and microphone grills at the bottom of the Neffos X9.
[nextpage title=”Connectivity & Ports”]
Being an entry-mid range smartphone, the Neffos X9 comes with the usual connectivity that you expect. It has a nano SIM 1 + hybrid card tray which is again, very common in smartphones these days.

The Neffos X9 comes 802.11n WiFi and has 5GHz support as well. Not spectacular but way better than some ASUS smartphones that only supports 2.4GHz network.
There’s no NFC or wireless charging here. Also, it doesn’t have gyroscope.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
Equipped with a 5.99-inch IPS LCD display, the Neffos X9 only has 1440×720 pixels in resolution. Not the best when it comes to display especially when compared to other smartphones in the market with around the same price like the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1).

Despite having only 720p in resolution, the colors are yellowish and washed out on the Neffos X9. There is a night mode (which is blue-light filter mode) and that’s about it.
Being a similarly-designed smartphone as the Huawei Nova 2i, the Neffos X9 doesn’t have a notch as well.
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
The Neffos X9 comes with a dual rear-facing camera. Again, the protrusion of the cameras are quite huge – so I do recommend using the included TPU case.
As for the specs of the cameras, the Neffos X9 has:

Dual rear-facing cameras (learn more here)

13MP main camera + 5MP depth sensor; PDAF

Selfie camera

8MP

As per stated before, the specs of a smartphone’s camera isn’t going to tell the whole story. Let’s take a look at some of the picture samples instead.
You can have a look at the full gallery of pictures with the EXIF data at our Flickr album here.
Rear-facing cameras
Okay, first of all – the white balance is surprisingly good on the Neffos X9. Color saturation and vibrancy is also pleasant to the eyes – even better than the Honor Play that we reviewed here. But the speed it takes pictures isn’t that great.

However, when it comes to night shots, it’s abysmal. I held the phone to take this image and it took a good 5 seconds or so to first focus (or attempt to) and to actually capture the image. The end result is a blurry image with zero details.

Speaking of details, you won’t see any of them in night shots. It appears to be a blur when taking this picture.

Selfie camera
The selfie camera is just… noisy. This selfie was taken with beauty mode turned off. If beauty mode is turned on, the image won’t have any details.

Camera UI
The UI didn’t actually change from the Neffos N1 that we reviewed here. The only thing that has changed is the addition of the menu to manually adjust the hue, saturation, contrast, and brightness of the camera.

By the way, it can take 120FPS slow-motion videos in 3GP format with 640×480 pixels.
[nextpage title=”Software”]
Here’s a big upgrade. The new Neffos X9 is running on NFUI 8.0. What has changed isn’t immediately apparent since the home screen and all the icons look pretty much the same as before.

The first thing that’s different is the app drawer. It now has the stock Android design where you’ll have to pull up from the bottom and the list scrolls vertically.

Secondly is the addition of gestures – especially screen-off and fingerprint sensor gestures. They’re quite useful and the screen-off gestures’ actions can be customized as well.
And it also take scrolling screenshots, by the way.
[nextpage title=”Performance & Gaming”]
When it comes to the performance of the new Neffos X9, we need to take at the specs first. It comes in two variants by the way – the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage, and also 4GB RAM with 64GB storage. The one we have here in particular has these specs:

5.99-inch IPS LCD display with 1440×720 resolution
MediaTek MTK MT6750 chipset manufactured with 28nm process technology

4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.0GHz
ARM Mali-T860 MP2 dual-core @ 520MHz

3GB RAM
32GB storage
3,060mAh battery
Android 8.1.0 Oreo

As we can see here, the MTK6750 is quite an old chip. With the 28nm process technology, one shouldn’t expect much out of it in terms of performance and efficiency. Let’s take a look at the benchmarks.

Gaming?
Can you actually game on this phone? We all play games on our phones at least once in a while. And keep in mind the screen is only 720p in resolution.
First of all, we’ll try with Honkai Impact 3. This is where I realized that the Neffos X9 doesn’t have gyroscope. For those who play Honkai Impact 3, moving your phone around the main menu will have the ship move as well. Not for this phone.
Going into the settings menu on Honkai Impact 3, I saw the recommended graphic settings was at level 1. That didn’t run well. I then changed it to run at the lowest settings with everything else disabled. Even with such settings, it didn’t run smoothly. So, the Neffos X9 just couldn’t run Honkai Impact 3.
Onward to the next game – Asphalt 9. It’s running in “default” graphical setting which I have no idea what it is – runs smooth most of the time with occasional dips in frame rates. However, the loading time is really, really slow.
[nextpage title=”Battery and charger”]
Comes with a 3,060mAh battery and paired with the MediaTek MT6750, the Neffos X9 can burn through the battery in a jiffy. Take a look at it in our usual battery life test.

It can only last a little over 7 hours – and that’s not reflecting well in our table of overall tests with different phones.
Charger

The Neffos X9 comes with a rather… squarish charger. The size of the charger is rather unusual, and the shape of it might interfere with other devices nearby as well. It can output a total of 5V 2A and it’s pretty standard these days.

It takes around 32 minutes to reach 50% of charge and around 53 minutes to reach 75% of battery charge.
[nextpage title=”Wrapping up the Neffos X9 review”]
So what do we really think of the Neffos X9? To be brutally honest and straightforward. Its uninspired design copied is from another smartphone in the market, yet comes with sub-par hardware and a high price tag.
It comes in two variants – and the prices are low in today’s standard, but upon inspection on the specs, it’s a difficult recommendation.

3GB RAM + 32GB storage @ RM599 (we reviewed this one)
4GB RAM + 64GB storage @ RM799

The only one phone I can recommend for around that price right now is the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) that we reviewed and love here. Why? a few reasons – the Max Pro (M1) has a larger battery with better specs and also higher resolution screen.

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OPPO F9 Starry Purple – Coming Soon To Malaysia

OPPO is bringing in the new F9 in Starry Purple color soon! After receiving many loves and support from O-fans in Malaysia, OPPO has decided to launch the Starry Purple color variant here.5k range in 3 largest telco stores in Malaysia during first sale weekends.
With a mid-range smartphone that actually supports VOOC Flash Charge – a 5V 4A fast charging technology, it’s no surprise that the OPPO F9 is selling like hot cakes. Let’s not forget that the OPPO F9 has a beautiful 6.3-inch screen with a tiny waterdrop notch at the top only.

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Digi’s [email protected] package offers great data deals focused on productivity at home

Digi has announced the [email protected] campaign to provide and support Malaysians that are being affected by the CMCO to continue their product works and stay connected even in their home with deals and promotions across Digi’s line of services that also include smartphones.

Starting today, Malaysians can sign up for any of the [email protected] offers listed below via Digi Store Online or at Digi Stores nationwide.

Get RM10 rebate per month for 1 year when signing up or switching to Digi Postpaid
With only RM68, get a 4G smartphone to go with the new Digi Postpaid plan or from as low as RM8 per month via PhoneFreedom 365 programme with 2 months of fees wavered
Purchase Digi Broadband 45, 65, or 105 and get a rebate up to RM240 to be used on devices such as laptops and tablets
The Digi Internet Freedom 130 and above owners can obtain a Digi Postpaid Unlimited line for only RM60 per month
Prepaid users can get an RM8 rebate when they buy the Digi Prepaid NEXT with the RM35 Internet plan via Digi Store Online. In addition, existing Digi Prepaid customers will get to enjoy special data passes via MyDigi’s Box of Surprise.
Subscribe to JomTuisyen at RM10/month or Office365 at RM24,99 via EasyAdd.my
Exciting deals for F&B brands such as Texas Chicken, Baskin Robbins, Kenny Rogers, Tealive, Inside Scoop, and more.

Find more deals on the [email protected] site by clicking here

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Cooler Master Announces the MasterPulse Over-ear Bass FX Headset

Not too long ago, Cooler Master announced their MasterPulse Bass FX earphones – an in-ear monitor. Now, Cooler Master is back with another MasterPulse over-ear Bass FX headset. It’s certainly clear that Cooler Master’s direction towards audio devices is towards their Bass FX technology.

Cooler Master touts that the MasterPulse over-ear Bass FX headset that has a 2.0 surround sound is made not just for gaming, but for music too. “How is that so?”, you might ask. The answer is simple – you can adjust your level of bass according to however you like.
If you need more than just 2.0 channel, Cooler Master will be announcing their MasterPulse Pro Over-ear Bass FX soon – which is a virtual 7.1 channel via USB, which has RGB LEDs. On the other hand, the another upcoming MasterPulse Maker Over-ear Bass FX will work wirelessly via 2.4GHz, and has virtual 7.1 surround sound together with RGB LEDs.

Anyway, the MasterPulse Over-ear Bass FX headset has a 44mm driver which is coated to specifically improve bass performance. It’s also lightweight thanks to its aluminium frame, and comfortable, as it has an extra added ear cups to provide an extra level of comfort and to isolate background noise.

The one thing I find interesting is that the MasterPulse Over-ear Bass FX headset’s earcups are magnetic. They can be detached, and that’s how the Bass FX functions.  Essentially, the lower frequency response changes when you remove to attach the magnetic ear cups.
The MasterPulse Over-ear Bass FX is now available for purchase locally at a suggested retail price of RM299.

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Nokia 8.1 Coming To Malaysia; Priced At RM1,699

Nokia has been pretty silent in the smartphone world for a while – other than the leaks to the imminent release of the Nokia 9 PureView, of course. Then we have HMD Global announcing the Nokia 8.1 here in Malaysia – a higher-end mid-range smartphone that sports a fantastic specs list with a capable camera with a very low price.
Let’s get the specs list out of the way first. Looking at the Nokia 8.1, it is indeed a mid-range smartphone but is actually one smartphone that is right against the OPPO R17 Pro. Here are the specs for the Nokia 8.1:

6.18-inch IPS LCD notched display with 2280×1080 pixels in resolution
Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset
4GB LPDDR4X RAM
64GB of internal memory (expandable with microSD)
Dual rear-facing cameras

12MP f/1.8 with OIS, EIS, ZEISS optics
13MP depth sensor

20MP f/2.0 fixed-focus selfie camera
3,500mAh battery with 18W fast charging
Android 9.0 Pie with Android One

From the looks of it, the Nokia 8.1 is indeed looking to be a great phone for the price – especially with that Snapdragon 710. We already have reviewed a Snapdragon 710 smartphone – and we have to say that the performance is indeed fantastic.

Furthermore, Nokia 8.1 offers the latest and greatest Android updates as fast as possible. That means your Nokia 8.1 will be secured by Google’s latest security patches.
Let’s not forget about the cameras here. The 12MP f/1.8 main camera with OIS, EIS, and also ZEISS optics really speaks volume by itself in terms of specs. We have high expectations of this camera, but we will really have to test it for ourselves to know how the camera performs.

Best news of all, the Nokia 8.1 is priced at only RM1,699. It is available in blue/silver color, and will be for sale starting 18th January 2019.
I mean, for the price, you get the iconic Nokia build quality, ZEISS optics camera, and the powerful Snapdragon 710 chipset.

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Bless your loved ones with a gift of technology and wellbeing from Garmin this Hari Raya

Garmin Malaysia has officially launched its Raya 2022 promotion campaign that offers a multi-hundred Ringgit slash for some of its hottest smartwatches.
With 4 types of models to select from including the women-tailored Lily and the all-around Venu SQ with optional music streaming extension variant, a gift of Garmin means a gift of appreciation plus the showing of care for fitness life for the loved ones while catering for needs of a digital lifestyle.

Model

Promo Price (RM)

Garmin Lily (Silicone Band)

RM 699

Garmin Lily (Leather Band)

RM 899

Garmin Venu SQ

RM 699

Garmin Venu SQ Music

RM 899

The offer is currently live until May 8 and is available on Garmin Malaysia’s Lazada, Shopee, and AECO e-store pages.

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After a false copyright strike, LoFi girl is back. Here’s the full saga

It’s been a sad day for everyone on the internet as our beloved, famous LoFi music live stream that had been ongoing for years (yes, years) was taken down all of a sudden, no thanks to a fraudulent copyright strike. And that fraudulent copyright strike was done in the name of FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia – which is obviously a music label that is based in Malaysia.
As a Malaysian, this is shameful. LoFi Girl only plays music from their own record label and does not infringe on anyone’s copyright.

However, YouTube’s copyright striking system is completely broken. You can strike someone and have it take effect first before the victim can do anything – which is what happened to LoFi Girl here. Moreover, YouTube isn’t exactly helpful when it comes to responding to these types of urgent issues – and LoFi Girl did what other YouTube creators will do – tweet at YouTube.

The lofi radios have been taken down because of false copyright strikes, hopefully @YouTubeCreators @YouTube will sort this quickly… pic.twitter.com/X01hL6jT2N
— Lofi Girl (@lofigirl) July 10, 2022

Luckily for LoFi Girl, YouTube did respond and said that this claim is indeed fraudulent but needs time for the strike to be reversed.

confirmed the takedown requests were abusive & terminated the claimants account 😔 we've resolved the strikes + reinstated your vids – it can sometimes take 24-48 hours for everything to be back to normal! so sorry this happened & thx for your patience as we sorted it out ❤🩹
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) July 11, 2022

The implications
LoFi Girl has a live stream where chill, lofi beats are played 24/7/365 for about 2 years already. Unfortunately, since this fraudulent strike took down that live stream, the live stream streak had been reset back to zero.
There’s a new stream now but it’s sad to see all that 2 years of history within that live stream just getting wiped by a fraudulent copyright strike.

The aftermath
The LoFi Girl channel is back and they also provided an update on Twitter regarding the issue. It’s a long thread that I really hope you read, particularly tweet 2/7.

Update on the copyright strike/livestreams takedown 🧵
Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word, your contribution has been invaluable, and I couldn't have asked for a more supportive community! 🧡 https://t.co/DoaCnC21V5
— Lofi Girl (@lofigirl) July 11, 2022

It highlights one big issue regarding YouTube’s copyright claim/strike system:
We’re shocked and disappointed to see that there’s still not any kind of protection or manual review of these false claims.
I mean, as a YouTube creator myself, I agree. There is no reason for the claim to take effect first even if it is fraudulent. The defendant needs to go through hoops and loops to get in contact with YouTube to resolve this issue effectively.
Even on LoFi Girl’s initial tweet regarding the copyright strike, there are many other people saying that their video also got claimed fraudulently as well but YouTube did nothing to help them.

i got copyright struck for rain in minecraft and you did nothing
it has been over a month since your automated email told me that you would “look into it” https://t.co/PyaNDLrBUL
— 🐾 Beta 🐾 (@Beta_Protogen) July 11, 2022

The only reason why LoFi Girl got immediate assistance from YouTube is because of the vocal majority that hounded YouTube to take action. And also the LoFi Girl channel is big enough for YouTube to care.
What happened to FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia?
From what I understand, every music label on YouTube has the tools to file a copyright strike or claim. As from personal experience, every video that we upload will have its waveform compared with all the music on YouTube and see if the waveform matches any of the copyrighted music. That is how an automated copyright claim or takedown is performed.
However, this seems to be a copyright strike done manually by FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia. I think it is because of this action, the copyright strike is inarguably fraudulent.
What happened next, is justice. Somewhat.
The YouTube account of FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia got terminated but it seems to be still up and running. Maybe it’s the record label rights that got terminated? I’m unsure – but I sure hope that the company can’t make any more false claims.

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Lazada offers Malaysian voters a plethora of branded vouchers on 19th November 2022

Lazada has announced that it will offer Malaysians who vote this coming Saturday with LazadaSapotUndi Voucher Pack, which can be collected via its app on 19th November and redeemed between 19th to 21st November 2022.
To acquire the LazadaSapotUndi Voucher Pack, all you have to do is follow these few steps:

Click on the “Sapot Lokal” icon on the Homepage of the Lazada Malaysia app
Click on the “LazadaSapotUndi” icon
Fill up the required details on the form and upload a photo of your inked finger

And the long list below shows the LazMall brands that are participating and will be giving out vouchers:

L’Oreal
Maybelline Kose
Shu Uemura
Biotherm
Kate Tokyo
Nivea
Garnier
Watsons
Guardian
Eucerin
Johnson & Johnson
GSK
FreePlus
Skintific
Heyup
Blackmores
Appeton
Himalaya
Bayer
Le Pro medic
eGreen
Lotus’s
Illy
JDE World of Coffee
Carraro Coffee
Oldtown White Coffee
Nutrigold Malaysia
RiceUP!
Guess Watches
Furla Watches
Asus, ViewSonic
Senheng
SenQ
Russel Taylors
Triumph
PerrySmith
Clarks
Bata
Camel Active
Polo Hill
XES Shoes
Kundal
Oxwhite
Big Care Mart

On top of that, Lazada will also be handing out an additional RM1.50 cash voucher with an RM15 minimum spend, so make sure to claim that as well!
Kindly refer to Lazada Malaysia’s official Facebook page and Instagram for further details and updates on the LazadaSapotUndi deals.

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Review – HyperX Cloud Alpha: Jack-of-All-Trades Gaming Headset

If you looked for gaming headsets for the past few years, you most definitely come across one brand – HyperX. They’re well-known for the Cloud series of gaming headsets, and there are actually a total of 4 main branches of in the Cloud family. The one we have here today is the HyperX Cloud Alpha.
In terms of difference, the HyperX Cloud Alpha is actually the most basic of the bunch when compared to other headsets in the Cloud family. It only uses audio jacks, and there are no DSP or USB DAC included. However, HyperX did not compromise when it comes to features, and the HyperX Cloud Alpha does come with a detachable microphone too.

Let’s take a deeper look at the HyperX Cloud Alpha and see what it has to offer compared to other headsets in the market.

Unboxing

The HyperX Cloud Alpha comes in its typical design language – red and black all over. It comes with a sleeve that has an image of the HyperX Cloud Alpha itself with the microphone and cable attached, alongside with some feature highlights like the custom-designed dual chamber drivers and their “signature HyperX comfort”. We’ll put this to the test, obviously.

I do realize that graphic on the packaging itself shows something that looks like fabric earcups. They are actually leatherette – also known as imitation leather. On the packaging itself, there is zero mention that the earcups are actually made out of leatherette.

Sliding off the sleeve reveals a big box with HyperX logo. Very high-quality box too, and has a tab up above if you ever want to hang the box somewhere.

Opening up the box reveals the usual HyperX slew of warm greeting that they send to their customers. A warranty card, a “welcome to the HyperX club” card, and the user manual.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha itself sits in this large plastic mold that holds everything nicely in place, and the detachable microphone is found seated on the same plastic mold as the Cloud Alpha. Underneath the plastic mold pedestal is where the accessories box is seated.

In the accessories box, you get the two included cables and also a drawstring pouch for you to store all of the cables and the microphone together with the HyperX Cloud Alpha to bring it out and about with you. I do wish for a hard shell case in the future for protection during transportation, but that’s just my opinion.
Design
The HyperX Cloud Alpha comes in their signature black and red design, and upon first glance, HyperX really knows what they’re doing. The understated black color with a combination of plastic, soft touch material and leatherette combined with a red lightweight aluminium frame with red stitching on the headband.

The HyperX logo is debossed onto the headband, and there are red HyperX logos on the earcups too. These logos look a little bit more orange compared to the striking red that the aluminium frame has.

Speaking of the frame, it’s really robust. The entire headset can be bent or twisted to some degree and will still work. Unfortunately, the earcups aren’t foldable or rotatable.

While on the subject of earcups, we inspected that the “signature HyperX comfort” too. These cushions has memory foam wrapped by a thick layer of high quality leatherette for both earpads. These foam ear pads are removable too – and perhaps HyperX will have those fabric ear pads for sale too.
          Without the microphone            With the microphone
On the left earcup of the HyperX Cloud Alpha, there are two holes for jacks – one for TRS jack for the removable boom mic, and another TRRS jack for you to hook the Cloud Alpha to your PC or console. Since this headset is connected by audio jacks only, it works with Nintendo Switch, PS4, and also the Xbox One. Also your phones too, if you have an audio jack.
To my surprise, without the cables, the HyperX Cloud Alpha weighs in at 297 grams. Pretty lightweight for the build quality that it has.

As for the cables, they’re of high quality and braided. The microphone boom arm is flexible and stays at the position where you left it. Very good build quality here.

Features
Without the need of any drivers or USB ports, the HyperX Cloud Alpha works by connecting the audio jacks only. Though, you’ll need the included cable to connect the HyperX Cloud Alpha as the audio jack is a little deeper than others since it has an additional grey part at the base of the tip.
Volume wheel and a mic switch
With that said, the included cable in-line controls with a wheel for volume and a slider to mute the microphone too. Since the HyperX Cloud Alpha has an extra grey part on the jack’s tip, our aftermarket TRRS audio jacks couldn’t fit in. Hence, you better not lose the cable that comes with this headset. Though, HyperX’s audio jacks are of great build quality and are braided.
See that extra grey part on the tip?
The detachable boom mic is certainly helpful in everyday uses as well. For me, I find the boom mic a little distracting when I’m not gaming – even when I moved it out of the way. So, I just detached it and put it somewhere else. In the pouch, actually. Removing the microphone is especially useful if you’re using the HyperX Cloud Alpha out and about  during commute with your smartphone.
Using the HyperX Cloud Alpha

Let’s just begin by saying this – this is the first time I’m actually trying out a HyperX headset. The first thing that impressed me was the build quality. I truly appreciate the materials chose for the HyperX Cloud Alpha here. Thick foam for the headband, and memory foam used for the ear pads. Both are covered in leatherette – presumably for easy cleaning after hours of use and sweat.

In terms of comfort, the memory foam and leatherette material does cover the ear comfortably. It can cover my entire ear pinna without an issue and create a rather decent seal around my ears. Noise isolation is not the best when compared to other gaming headsets that I’ve tried. However, HyperX opted for a very comfortable clamping force. We’ve actually used headsets like the Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum that sounds great and has great noise isolation, its clamping force caused a headache after 15 minutes of wearing.
Good job, HyperX. The Cloud Alpha is truly comfortable. Gets a little sweaty due to the leatherette after wearing it for some time.
Listening test
First thing to remember – the Cloud Alpha is HyperX’s first headset to come with dual chambers. This gives a much better separation between highs, mids, and lows. Better sound clarity means less distortion, and an overall more immersive experience.
We’ve tested with a few different scenarios for the HyperX Cloud Alpha. We started with games – Overwatch and CS:GO. I have to say, soundstage is surprisingly good on the HyperX Cloud Alpha. Combined with a great sound engine like what Blizzard has done with Overwatch, I was able to hear footsteps of my enemies and hook them. Got accused of using an aimbot, but it’s all the HyperX Cloud Alpha’s magic.
As for music, well, the HyperX Cloud Alpha is indeed a more bass-focused headset after all. It’s meant to produce better explosion sounds and this headset really surprised me. Electronic music like Delayed Friend Request by 7 Minutes Dead or just anything by Haywyre sounds fantastic. Bass is kept in check and not blown out of proportion. It hits hard but never too much and distortion is nowhere to be found.

Of course, that’s not all. Vocals are surprisingly great – songs like Cheri Cheri Lady by Modern Talking sounds good. Yes, I listen to these music. Lemaitre’s Closer sounds great too, with a mix of vocals and bass-dropping.
As for orchestral music, I find that the highs aren’t as sparkly as what I’d like. It’s acceptable. I did enjoy my time listening to the BBC Big Band Orchestra with the HyperX Cloud Alpha. Piano tracks like Fortune’s Delight from Dead Rising 2’s OST sounds like they’re playing right beside your ears.
Wrapping up the HyperX Cloud Alpha review
In the end, the HyperX Cloud Alpha is a gaming headset that is actually great for both music and gaming. With the inclusion of a detachable microphone and a drawstring pouch, you can actually use the Cloud Alpha as your everyday headphone when you’re out and about during commute while storing all of the accessories inside the pouch.

The only thing I do wish HyperX to include is a hard shell case. Seriously, the drawstring pouch doesn’t offer any sort of protection – and fitting everything inside the pouch and into my bag? It’s not going to be pretty.
As for comfort, the HyperX Cloud Alpha gets an approval from me. The ear pads are magnificently comfortable yet offers decent noise isolation.
For now, the price of the HyperX Cloud Alpha is USD $99.99 at Amazon. As for Malaysians, it’s about ~RM400 depending on what you find it. Honestly speaking, for the price, it’s actually worth buying.
Where to buy?
Amazon link here.
Lazada link here.

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Latest iMovie and Final Cut Pro revision brings quality of life improvements to fellow creators

Recently, Apple’s iMovie and Final Cut Pro has been updated to the latest version to accommodate the new Apple Silicon a.k.a M1 while amping the user experience by adding a couple of new features.

First up is iMovie’s official entrance to version 3.0 which is like a major update for the video editing software and Apple has added a couple of new functions, namely Storyboards and Magic Movie, aimed to help more people specifically newcomers to get started with video creation and editing.
With Storyboards, users can get a head start in their project by utilizing one of the 20 different storyboard templates that include a variety of genres including video games, cooking, news reports, Q&As, and more with each keyframe consisting of detailed shots for users to understand and refine upon through the use of different styles and color palettes.

Want to take the automation game to a higher level? You can do that with Magic Movie now where you can just pop in your desired video files and the algorithm will figure out what your content is about and identify which part should be the highlight and what shots are the best in addition to pairing them with the best transition, titles, and associated music. When you think the production time of #shorts is short enough, how about trying it with Magic Movie.

On the other hand, Final Cut Pro 10.6.2 now natively supports the detection of dupe footage to alleviate the problem of fat fingering the pasting shortcut. With the power of AI denoising, background noise levels can now be adjusted to improve the clarity of speeches which is super useful for editing live recordings about talks and discussions. Hardware optimization-wise, the software is now fully geared for M1 Max and M1 Ultra so enjoy the superior rendering speed and operation smoothness with the latest Mac Studio running up to 56 4K ProRes 422 streams or 18 of them at 8K.
Start exploring the new stuff in iMovie and Final Cut Pro by updating them to the latest version via the App Store today.

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Stand a chance to win a brand new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G by participating in the #MYCaptureLikeAPro contest

Samsung Malaysia has revealed the #MYCaptureLikeAPro videography contest – a new opportunity open for all Malaysians to show off their content creation skill.

In the competition that spans 3 weeks, a rotating theme will be featured each week that starts from ‘A Day in Life’, then ‘Love from a Distance’ and lastly ‘Dance of Freedom’. Samsung encourages all Galaxy smartphone users to participate and express creative juices like never before to elevate daily photography skills while telling everyone a story from the user’s perspective.
Follow the simple steps of 4 below to get started and join the fun.

Follow @SamsungMalaysia on Instagram while setting your account to Public
Record up to a maximum of 21 seconds of video clip based on the weekly theme using any Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Include the hashtags #MYCaptureLikeAPro #withGalaxy #SamsungPhoneModel ( Example #GalaxyS21+ if you are using the Galaxy S21+)
Tag @SamsungMalaysia and 2 friends on your post while making sure they are also Public profiles and have followed @SamsungMalaysia too

The contest ends on May 18 with 1 winner emerged from each of the 3 themes making up to a total of 3 winners netting the fabulous prize of the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone.

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Samsung launches the Galaxy S5, Gear Fit and Gear 2

The Galaxy S5 is a much anticipated device – and it’s now available in Malaysia! The Galaxy S5 had just been launched alongside with the Galaxy Gear Fit and also the Galaxy Gear 2. Aiming at the 5 main themes that the Galaxy S5 is focused on – Fit, Style, Design, Fun and Speed – Samsung really amazed us by what it did.

Without further ado, here’s the specs of the Galaxy S5 specs for the Malaysian version.

5.1-inch Super AMOLED 1080p screen
2.5GHz quad-core processor
16MP rear-facing camera (UHD video recording @ 30FPS), 2MP front-facing camera
WiFi 802.11ac support
USB 3.0 (same as the Note 3)
2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD expandable up to 128GB
Android 4.4.2 KitKat
2800mAh battery
LTE Cat.4 (150/50Mbps)

The retail price of the Galaxy S5 is RM2,399 – a little hefty for a new high-end smartphone, but it does come with a lot more extra stuff that you can’t get elsewhere, like the Download Booster where the S5 combines LTE and WiFi connection together to get your downloads finished in no time. The Galaxy S5 is only available in black and white for now, whereas the blue and gold colour is to be brought to the Malaysian shores a little later.
There are a few accessories too, like the IP67-approved original Samsung flip magnetic cover case.

Keep in mind – Samsung advises that you only get Samsung original accessories so that the water and dust resistance is maintained!
The back of the phone is using a perforated back, which is not even faux leather. It does however feel a lot better in the end with the grip that it gives. The fingerprint sensor also works exceptionally well for the phone with the minimalist interface of the S5 that they call it as the “Clean & Vibrant UX” – more like just a reworked TouchWiz UI to give it a more minimalist look to it. Oh – the icons are all also rounded instead of the conventional square or rectangle.
Lee Dong Yong, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics

Amazingly, Samsung included a small little heartbeat sensor below the camera, right beside the LED flash.

As for the Galaxy Gear 2 and Gear Fit, they’re both made with a heartbeat sensor built-in, with a bunch of other differences between the two.

Galaxy Gear 2

1.63-inch Super AMOLED display (320×320) square-shaped display
1.0GHz dual-core processor
Tizen OS
2MP camera with autofocus
Heart rate sensor
Pedometer
Running, walking, cycling and hiking modes
Infrared remote capability
Water and dust resistant
512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory (can be a music player)
Retail price at RM899

Galaxy Gear Fit

1.84-inch curved Super AMOLED display (432×128) oval-shaped screen
Heart rate sensor
Pedometer
Notifications alert
water and dust resistant
Retail price at RM599

Samsung also addressed an issue that was faced by the first ever Galaxy Gear – the strap. Samsung now made the strap to be exchangeable, with multiple colours to be chosen from and also with designer straps from some major fashion brands coming soon.

The Gear 2 is obviously more superior to the Gear Fit, but of course it doesn’t have the curved screen and comes with a lot of extra features. It is also a lot thinner than the first Galaxy Gear, and feels more comfortable to wear.

The Gear Fit however, I think is more stylish than the Gear 2, maybe it looks and shows time like the Black Dice GURU LED watch that I am always wearing. Due to the shape of the Gear Fit’s screen being shown in such an awkward orientation, it will most definitely take some getting used to.

As for now though, both the Gear 2 and Gear Fit is only compatible with a few devices.
The Gear 2 requires devices to have at least Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, 1.5GB RAM and also Bluetooth 4.0.
The Gear Fit hwoeer requires devices to be at least Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, 1GB RAM and also Bluetooth 4.0.
The compatibility list of both Gear 2 and Gear Fit can be checked here.
All the above-mentioned devices will be available in Malaysia starting from April 11th 2014. You can pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy S5 from DiGi, Celcom or Maxis for their and their exclusive plans, or you can also pre-order from the Samsung Mobile Brand shops starting now!

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The Galaxy Z Flip is now at RM3,999; comes with trade-in program too

The Galaxy Z Flip is one of the most critically-acclaimed smartphone last year. It’s reminiscent of the flip phones from a decade ago, but modernized. It is a well-made phone that can be recommended to everyone but it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.
And today, the Galaxy Z Flip is nearly a year old and it got a huge price cut. From RM5,888, it is now only at RM3,999. You can even participate in the trade-up promotion where you can obtain up to RM4,815 off of your brand new Galaxy Z Flip.

Additionally, you will get 1-month installment waiver worth RM333.25 and monthly installments from as low as RM305.48 through a 12-month Easy Payment Plan (EPP).
For more information regarding this promotion, click here.

The Galaxy Z Flip is a flip smartphone that is the first to use a piece of Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) to protect its flexible AMOLED screen. The Galaxy Z Flip comes with a lot of upgrades over the first Fold device, making it even more dirt-repellent for the hinge.
Because of its design and form factor, it enabled a huge variety of creative use case – like how we used it to take pictures from a variety of angles since it can become a self-standing tripod.

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Logitech launches ultrathin iPad Mini keyboard

Recently, Logitech launched an entirely new line of Ultimate Ears products in Malaysia and being one of the world’s leading brand in mobile accessories, Logitech launched the award-winning ultrathin keyboard that is made specifically for the iPad Mini.

It’s thin, isn’t it? Like how the Flip Cover for the iPad works, it has a magnetic latch that hooks to the edge of the iPad Mini, then another magnet on the other side to securely lock the iPad – also acts as a sleep/wake switch!

By the pictures above, you can see that it triples as a keyboard, flip cover, and a stand – all in one ultrathin design. The keyboard connects to your iPad Mini via Bluetooth and enables some keyboard shortcut, including copy-paste. For some size comparison, check this out.

Convinced and got your hand itchy? Stand still – the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Mini is expected to be in Malaysia during the beginning of May 2013 – that’s in about two weeks or so, for a recommended retail price at RM259.

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Review – ASUS VivoBook 14 A413: It’s powerful, but with two catches

The ASUS VivoBook series is split into a few different sub-series. The VivoBook S-series is more premium, and the A-series is definitely more affordable. Today, we have one with us – and we’re going to put it to the test.
My overall impression here is that VivoBook 14 A413 is a fantastic laptop – especially for kids who need a laptop to attend classes and do school work. But I suggest you watch our video review from the beginning until the end to know the full story. There is quite a lot to take in, to say the least.

We’ll try to keep it separated into just pros and cons of this laptop, but we’ll jump back and forth when the information is relevant.
The pros of this laptop
We should first start off with the specs. This laptop is very powerful as it comes with:

Intel Core i5-10210U
NVIDIA GeForce MX330 with 2GB VRAM
4GB RAM (soldered)
512GB Intel 660p NVMe SSD

By looking at the specs sheet, this is a generational upgrade from the VivoBook Ultra A512 that we reviewed in June last year. But this is only on paper. In reality, it’s quite a weird situation here. Opening up the laptop, we can see that the new VivoBook 14 A413 has soldered RAM and no expandable RAM slots, but its predecessor has one.

And instead of another 2.5-inch drive slot, the new VivoBook 14 A413 comes with another M.2 SSD slot, just like its higher-end S-series brethren. Still, it’s nice to see an upgrade path here although the included 512GB SSD is plentiful.

Just a quick note – we realized that the VivoBook 14 A413 is supremely well-built when we’re opening the laptop. It’s fully plastic, but it’s heavily reinforced and made out of thick plastic, which is in stark contrast to its predecessor’s soft plastic.

And I also like the design of the VivoBook 14 A413. It comes in 3 different colors – Bespoke Black, Dreamy White, and also this Cobalt Blue that we have here. I’m not sure what finish that ASUS has done on the lid – I just can’t resist caressing the lid. It’s too smooth.
Opening the lid, the keyboard is fantastic to type on. It has great travel distance with good tactility, and yet it’s not that stiff.

The trackpad is decent enough – and it also comes with a fingerprint scanner! That’s something that I didn’t expect at all.

The overall I/O ports are pretty good too. It’s more or less like a copy-paste situation here from the VivoBook S14 M433 and also the VivoBook S15 S533 that we reviewed here.
Battery life is okay, gets about 4-5 hours on our use case – that’s pretty good.
The cons
And then I looked at the screen. I don’t remember seeing a TN panel of this quality. I also reviewed the VivoBook Ultra A412 from last year, and the VivoBook the year before that. I just don’t remember seeing a TN panel that’s as bad as the VivoBook 14 A413.

The viewing angle is… atrocious. For me, I can’t find any sweet spot viewing angle without some parts of the screen’s color shifting. And if I turn the brightness to 100%, the entire screen just looks washed out. It’s quite okay when it’s at its lowest brightness, though.
And that soldered RAM. I mean, it’s alright to have soldered RAM but only 4GB of RAM though. ASUS Malaysia doesn’t offer this particular laptop in any other configurations – so we’re stuck with 4GB RAM only. If it comes with at least 8GB of RAM, then I wouldn’t complain as much.

Do I recommend the ASUS VivoBook 14 A413?
Okay, so what I want to say about this VivoBook 14 A413 is this – it’s a powerful laptop for sure, thanks to that Intel + NVIDIA combo. It offers very well-balanced performance and we can even play games like Overwatch and Fortnite – which is why I said that this laptop is good for parents who are looking to get a laptop for their kids. You don’t even need a PS4 or Xbox to play these games!

I also tried editing videos on this laptop – barring the horrendous color reproduction on the TN panel. Footages from our Sony camera at 1080p 60fps is actually quite smooth, thanks to the MX330 and that 2GB of dedicated VRAM.
What I’m concerned here though, is the price. At RM2,899, I’ll say that it’s rather expensive since we’re getting a TN panel and also the lack of RAM upgradability.
Personally, I’ll suggest you to add RM300 more and get the VivoBook S15 S533 instead at RM3,199. That laptop comes with an IPS LCD screen, better build quality, and 8GB RAM – but also soldered and also MX250 instead of MX330.

Still, at a tight budget, the VivoBook 14 A413 is a good choice.

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Instagram hates memes; bans meme accounts (even those with 30+ mil followers)

There’s a weird thing going on with Instagram now. For some reason, Facebook (the owner of Instagram) thinks that meme accounts shouldn’t exist on Instagram. With their newfound hatred, Instagram banned many meme accounts – even those with millions of followers.
That action in itself speaks volume. The victims have vented out their frustration on Twitter, with the first one being user yerdank. Having a total of 30+ million followers of Instagram, that meme account was deleted off of Instagram in a blink of an eye – no warnings and no U-turns as well.

@instagram you just deleted all of my accounts for absolutely no reason, no warning, and no context behind this. (30 million+ followers worth of accounts deleted in 24 hours) #fuckinstagram #reactivateyerdank #reactivateautist pic.twitter.com/nJY6CvkQkW
— yerdank (@umCaige) July 26, 2019

There are many more other meme accounts that have been banned outright, which Taylor Lorenz made a summary of the list.

HUGE meme page purge last night on insta. Accounts with millions of followers (one had more than 13M alone) got deleted. pic.twitter.com/Beugxh6bm4
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) July 26, 2019

It seems like there are absolutely no exceptions on who gets banned too – either big or small. A few meme accounts have grieved that their millions of followers actually enabled them to pay for college tuition as it can garner USD $30,000 a year. That’s a lot of money!
Facebook has quoted that these bans were because of multiple violations of their policy. Source has taken note that this ban is planned since Instagram updated its account removal policy a few months ago.
As the source has mentioned, this highlights the dangers of relying your livelihood on a single platform that you don’t own. In this case, these meme account owners have their livelihood relying on incomes generated by their meme accounts on Instagram. Once they’re banned, their income source is gone.
Which makes me wonder – will other social media platforms start to ban meme platforms as a whole too? Knowing that the EU has passed the bill to ban memes, it is understandable that large platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok will start banning meme accounts.
But then again – memes will still be around. You can host your own website and make a meme platform. Or, just use Reddit. At least they’re not banning memes for now.

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AMD Ryzen 5 Available Starting Today

AMD’s brand new AM4 chipset of processors are aptly named Ryzen, and that makes sense considering what a big comeback AMD made with their top-tier Ryzen 7 processors. Now, they’re announcing the Ryzen 5 family of processors, with prices starting from RM819 only.

There are already lots of reviews of the Ryzen 5 series of chips on the internet now, so you can check it out to get a feel of what the processors can do. From what I know, these chips are not to be joked around with.

Product Line
Model
Cores
Threads
Base Clock (GHz)
Boost Clock (GHz)
XFR Clock (GHz)
Included Cooler
TDP (Watts)
Price (MYR)

AMD Ryzen 5
1600X
6
12
3.6
4.0
4.1
N/A
95
1199

AMD Ryzen 5
1600
6
12
3.2
3.6
3.7
Wraith Spire
65
1039

AMD Ryzen 5
1500X
4
8
3.5
3.7
3.9
Wraith Spire
65
899

AMD Ryzen 5
1400
4
8
3.2
3.4
3.45
Wraith Stealth
65
819

Considering that the Ryzen 5 1600X is priced at only RM1,199, I can’t help but drool over the value we all can get if we’re heavy multitaskers. I mean seriously, 6 cores and 12 threads at these clock speeds and this price? AMD’s competitor doesn’t offer such a thing at all. In another note, RM819 for 4 cores 8 threads is much lower priced than Intel’s i5-7500 while having double the number of threads.
You do need to buy an aftermarket cooler since AMD doesn’t include any with the 1600X, but getting something like the Noctua NH-U12S or Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo will be plentiful for the chip’s wellbeing already.
Are you amped up for the AMD Ryzen 5 chips? Or have you pre-ordered one already? Let us know in the comments section below – I love to know what you think!

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[UPDATED] Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 is priced at RM7,999; pre-order starts 11th September

The new Galaxy Z Fold2 is personally my most anticipated device of the year 2020. Last year’s Galaxy Fold was surprisingly solid and I was already wholeheartedly ready to embrace the world of foldable devices despite it has obvious flaws.

Pre-order is live!
We can now finally pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 at the price of RM7,999 and get both the Galaxy Buds Live and also the Montblanc cardholder for free.

Click here to learn more. Honestly, I’m having way too much fun with the Galaxy Z Fold2 as of now.

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Official preorder prices for the HUAWEI MatePad 11 and MateBook 14/D14/D15 are out

The brand new HUAWEI MatePad 11 and the MateBook series are coming into Malaysia starting with the usual preorder phase.

To start off, the eye-catching thing about the MatePad 11 is its existence as the brand’s 1st tablet with a display running a 120Hz refresh rate for incredible fluidness when transiting between animations and contents while the underlying variable refresh rate technology helps save battery life by cutting the frame rate down to just a few when viewing static items. Debuted together with the MatePad 11 is the 2nd generation of HUAWEI M-Pencil now armed with lower latency and improved sensitivity for a greater handwriting experience with the internal Double Tap to Switch function let u swap functions at a moment’s notice.

Meanwhile, the HUAWEI MateBook laptops featuring the 14, D14, and D15 are less than a major redesign and more of a hardware refresh as the D series are now equipped with Intel’s Core i5 (10th Gen and 11th Gen to choose from) while the 14 uses AMD’s Ryzen 4000 H series CPU. No matter whether you need a slimmer and more power-efficient unit for extreme portability or beefy performance for heavy tasks, the HUAWEI FullView display fitted in a thin-bezel design will surely serve what you need to get things done.
Price and Freebies
Both devices are open for preorders right now and HUAWEI Malaysia encourages interested buyers in doing so by including complimentary gifts with quite a value which are the following.

MatePad 11: HUAWEI M-Pencil (2nd Gen), Smart Magnetic Keyboard, HUAWEI Cloud 50GB (1-Month), HUAWEI Video VIP (1-Month), HUAWEI Music (3-Months), USD1 HUAWEI Book Voucher
MateBook D15 (10th/11th Gen Intel Core i5): HUAWEI Backpack, Bluetooth Mouse, Microsoft 365 (1-Year)
MateBook D14: RM400 Instant Rebate, HUAWEI Backpack, Bluetooth Mouse
MateBook 14: RM100 Instant Rebate, HUAWEI Backpack, Bluetooth Mouse, Microsoft 365 (1-Year)

For the prices, the MatePad 11 stands at RM1,999 (6GB+128GB) and RM2,399 (6GB+256GB) while the MateBook 14/D14/D15 comes in a variety of configurations and CPU variants to meet your best use cases.

MateBook D15: RM2,999 (10th Gen Core i5) / RM3,699 (11th Gen Core i5)
MateBook D14: RM2,699 [Preorder @ RM2,299] (10th Gen Core i3)
MateBook 14: RM3,999 (Ryzen 4000 H Series)

All items are available for preorder via the HUAWEI Online Store, Lazada, Shopee, and authorized dealers.

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Review – New WD My Book (2016): Minimalistic Beauty

With Western Digital’s sudden announcement of its brand new redesigned My Book and My Passport, I knew that I definitely need to take a look at it. This is the review of WD’s brand new reimagined and redesigned WD My Book. I simply refer as the new WD My Book (2016) version.
We have an unboxing video of both the WD My Book and the My Passport (2016) (review here), for this once in a blue moon redesigned philosophy by WD, and we are definitely glad to be sharing it with you.

All in all, the brand new WD My Book (2016) comes with a rather simple set of accessories. That includes the AC power jack with interchangeable wall plugs, a 1.5 meter micro USB 3.0 cable, a quick start guide, and a user manual.

Pretty standard, if you ask me.
Design
This is where the main magic happens. The WD My Book (2016) comes with WD’s brand new design philosophy – and it rings the feeling of being refreshed. As a piece of storage device that isn’t meant to be carried around like an external hard disk, it can sit on a desk and look pretty.

The brand new design has two aspects – firstly there’s the highly glossy piano black top half of the enclosure, and secondly there’s the matte black lower half with what I can say is WD’s iconic line pattern.
This two-part design actually comes together very nicely – and the only real issue I have is the highly glossy top half of the enclosure. It’s literally a dust and fingerprint magnet!
Just have a look at those white specks everywhere!
Anyway, the bottom half is very resistant to dust and fingerprint, so you can at least grab its lower half if there’s any need to carry it around.

On a side note, it weighs in at nearly 1 kg. As I’ve mentioned in the unboxing video, it’s not meant to be carried around like an external hard disk. It needs its own external power source to function. Carrying it out means you’ll not only need the micro USB 3.0 cable, but its power jack too.

Though inconvenient to carry around, the true magnificence is in its speeds.
Performance
The WD My Book (2016) is again, not meant to be used as an external hard disk. Its weight will make it unpleasant to be carried around – and let’s not forgot the other part to make the My Book function – its power adapter.
Powering up the WD My Book (2016) however makes me realize one thing – there’s no activity LED. There’s absolutely zero way to know if it’s functioning or not, until you plug in the micro USB 3.0 cable to your computer.

As the WD My Book (2016) uses a 3.5-inch hard disk, it will need external power to function since USB 3.0 can’t power it up. As power delivery is not handled by USB interface, the WD My Book (2016)’s performance shines!

And that’s over USB 3.0. Comparing with the speeds over a SATA III-based WD Black that we’ve reviewed here, the WD My Book (2016) has commendable speeds.
Also, the WD My Book (2016) is considerably quieter than the WD Black too. Sure, it’s still a hard disk and it makes noise – but just mild humming though.
It has a fanless design, by the way.
Just a small side note – I think that WD did good by formatting the hard disk using exFAT by default. Through my past experience, this little gesture from WD saves us a lot of time troubleshooting for other users who can’t copy files beyond 4GB or unable to use the hard disk on a Mac!
Features
The WD My Book (2016) has a pretty dull set of features, per se. In the hard disk itself, it already has some of the WD’s utility installers in it – like the WD Backup, WD Drive Utilities, and WD Security.

I’ve used WD Backup the most, just because I want to keep copies of my folders in check, and WD Drive Utilities to make sure everything works correctly. WD Security is something that I did find useful for others, but not for me.

One thing I find weird is that both the WD Sync and WD Backup are two separate entities, although they both do pretty much the same thing. I’m still using the WD DL2100 NAS that we’ve reviewed here, and WD Sync detects only the NAS itself and not the My Book. Combining both of these software for a more streamlined experienced might be better in the future.
Wrap up
The WD My Book (2016) is a beautiful piece of storage device that blends nicely with your furniture. Its brand new design definitely catches eyes of many, and its performance is commendable too.

However, if you’re already using a WD My Book, then it’s up to your choice whether to upgrade or not. As far as I can find out, the speeds are definitely faster in the brand new WD My Book (2016), and it comes with a much better aesthetic too. Is it worth the upgrade or not? Maybe.

All I can say is, the WD My Book (2016) is perfect for those who seek something in between the performance of a NAS, and the convenience of an external hard disk. Adding a downward-facing hard disk activity LED would be better for troubleshooting purposes.
If it’s a USB-C-powered piece of gadget with backward-compatibility, that will be even better. That’ll surely get the attention of those who need high-speed external storage devices.
Below is the price for all variants of the WD My Book (2016). It’s available in retail stores nationwide too, so you can head on to your nearest store to pick one up right now!

3TB at RM519
4TB at RM639
6TB at RM 1,099
8TB at RM 1,319
10TB at RM 1,599

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New XBOX to be named XBOX Infinity

Rumours have been floating around since last year, saying that the next generation of XBOX gaming consoles is to be released soon, probably called the XBOX 720 (360×2, a little math here) but then a new, detailed leak says otherwise.

The new leak suggested that the new generation of XBOX console is to be named XBOX Infinity, with an entirely new, cleaner logo that and even rumoured to have a new PS4-esque controller where you have a trackpad on the controller itself.

If you saw the hashtag in the first image, fear not as we are already getting floods of tweets on the search result. Check it out for yourself here.
Source : Slash Gear

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Sony launches WiFi-only Xperia Z Ultra in Japan

If you’re looking for a second device to bring you everyday – say something like an iPod Touch that is running Android (the Galaxy Pods were a failure!), look no further because Sony Japan announced the WiFi-only variant of the Xperia Z Ultra!

What does it have and what does it do though? it is convenient and very handy to have a device to be carried around that only does everything except calls. Seriously, it Sony announced that the specs of this WiFi-only version has exactly the same hardware and software as the one with SIM connectivity. It still has the Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, the beautiful 6.
Still, only time will tell who this device is for.
Via : Android Advices

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ASUS Gallery features trash function

There’s one little feature that ASUS added to their Gallery app, and for that I’d say good job. ASUS made the trash feature to work just the way we expected to, but somehow a little complex since it’s on a phone instead. I think ASUS Gallery featuring Trash is the first one ever to be implemented on a smartphone?
Head on over to the Gallery on the latest updated version, and tap on that little sidebar button there. Then, there’s this thing that appeared.

Ooooh, a Trash! Tap on that and then some tips pop up.

You can select the Trash option here, yet this is quite confusing to begin with. It meant that you can select the Trash option to be viewing the stuff deleted from the internal storage or MicroSD card. That means there are actually two separate trashes on one phone.
Cool feature? Yupe, definitely is! If your ASUS smartphone doesn’t have the feature yet, you can head over to the Play Store and update the ASUS Gallery!

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Windows Blue leaked

It seems like only yesterday Windows 8 was released and still with a low adoption rate, yet the screenshots of the upcoming version of Windows can be found at Winforum, a Polish-based Windows-oriented forum, as Microsoft is restless to making things better.

Source said that Windows Blue “has made a lot of changes in the interface, security, and stability” and the screenshots indeed showed us many changes.
One of the most noticeable changes is the minimum tile size, as it can be a fourth of the smallest tile size available in Windows 8. Customization of the looks is also made easier with the Personalization control pane directly at the side of the Start menu.

More or less everything else remains quite the same in terms of looks (at least in the leaked screenshots) but the Snap View has a lot of improvements too. Snap View is by far one of the best feature in Windows 8 where you can put apps alongside with other apps, running together side by side on the same screen. The problem with it is the size available, as it can only be snapped to the left or right.
In Windows Blue, they removed this bottleneck and added a whole lot more options on where to snap the apps at.

Currently, there are no dates, prices or any other information made available. Stay tuned as we will cover all the upcoming news of Windows Blue!
Are you psyched yet? I am.
Via : The Verge

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How to convert your phone or tablet into a digital whiteboard for FREE

What I’m showing today is an underrated feature called Samsung Flow. I am showing this because when we published a video about how to live stream content from your phone via OBS, I was surprised. A lot of commenters on that video were actually teachers.

Recently, I discovered that you can skip all the dongles, capture cards, and cables. All you need is just one cable from the computer to your phone – or maybe no cables at all?
But what’s the catch? Yea, there’s a catch. Everything that we show today only works with Samsung devices and Windows 10 PCs. And it’s free – so I highly recommend you to check this out.

Before we begin – here’s a disclaimer. This might look like an ad for Samsung but I assure you that I am not paid by Samsung to make this content and they don’t even know that I am making this content. I am also not trying to sell you Samsung products – I am only letting you know that such a feature exists.
With that out of the way, let’s begin. I highly suggest you watch the video as many things cannot be told/shown via text.

How to stat using Samsung Flow
To use this, we will have to download Samsung Flow first. We’ll need the Samsung Flow app on the phone which we can get from the Google Play Store – and the Samsung Flow desktop app from the Microsoft Store.

Then, we’ll link both together. These setups instructions are easy to follow through and while it does look like there are a lot of prompts, these steps only require to be done once.
You can also use it in wired mode but I think for the sake of convenience, we’ll stick with wireless mode. Either wired or wireless mode, it’ll appear on Samsung Flow during the setup process so just pick and choose what you prefer.

Once we have Samsung Flow linked to the PC, all we gotta do is click on this button, enable the permission on the phone, and voila. 1:1 screen mirroring.
Using Samsung Flow to convert smartphones/tablets into a digital whiteboard
Now, how is the experience of using the whole thing?

I think it’s very good, actually. It allows another method of teaching while saving time, space, money on additional equipment, and mental health of trying to get everything hooked up.
Using Samsung Flow wirelessly actually is perfectly acceptable since that little bit of delay is not going to impact the class in any way. Just make sure you have strong WiFi on both the phone and your Windows PC, though.
1:1 screen mirroring with full audio support.
My immediate test was to use the Galaxy S21 Ultra – my daily driver phone – to try it out first. To my surprise, this works really well – and with the S Pen, I can literally use my phone as a digital whiteboard.
This is a very good use of the S Pen.
I also discovered one very useful tip – I can directly use the Samsung Notes app to conduct classes. Everything I draw on the phone will be shown mirrored exactly on my PC.
And let’s just say I’m done with my class for the day, I can save and export the note in a variety of different file types. I personally prefer PDF since it doesn’t lose its resolution or quality when shared across via WhatsApp or Telegram.

Even Samsung’s lowest-priced tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (review here) works with Samsung Flow and Samsung Notes too. Even that it is an entry-level tablet with less-than-stellar performance, it still works.

And if you have any physics simulation apps that you want to show off during the class, you can do it too. Audio can also be played on the PC – just click on that button and select the audio to be played on the PC.
If hands-on experiments are not feasible for students, then simulations are the next best thing.
And you can do all this wirelessly via Samsung Flow. There’s obviously about a second of delay – but I think it doesn’t matter since this doesn’t require perfect sync.
But what about using a drawing tablet instead?
Yeah – that’s perfectly fine. It works just about the same way as you can draw on the tablet and have everything show up on the screen directly. A drawing tablet is a substitute to the S Pen and honestly speaking – since it elevates your teaching experience, the students will always benefit from it.

Why did I spend time sharing this information?
If you already have a Samsung device, then just make use of it. You’ve already paid for that device so might as well use all the features that you already paid for.
We’re in the age that we are forced to teach and learn via the internet – and I believe that we can utilize what we have to provide a better teaching experience for the future generation.

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New mid range smartphone vivo Y77 5G prepares to land in Malaysia at RM1,299

vivo Malaysia have announced the availability of its upcoming mid-range smartphone, the Y77 5G a couple of days ago.

Taking from the design cue, they want it to be big inside but small outside because it comes in at just 8.25mm thin and weighs about 194g only so definitely cool for those who with a smaller than average hand. Coupled with star shine back (or the flat black for sleekness), the Y77 5G just wants to get everything done at a decent level at a decent price point.
Here’s how its spec sheet looks.

6.58-inch IPS LCD Display

1080p Resolution
Waterdrop Notch

MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G Chipset
8GB RAM
256GB Storage
Dual Rear Cameras

Main: 50MP f/1.8
Macro: 2MP f/2.4

16MP Selfie Camera
5,000mAh Battery

18W Fast Charge

Starlight Black, Glowing Galaxy Colors

Price and Availability
You may start preordering the new vivo Y77 5G starting today until July 15 over at the official E-store, Shopee, and Lazada page at the price of RM1,299. All preorders are entitled to free gifts containing vouchers from Hisense, Rever, and Gravastar plus a Foomee TWS on top of a 1-year extended warranty and screen protection coverage.

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Grammar Nazi kids on the rise; Twitter invaded

Being a Grammar Nazi myself does render me a increasingly hated person. However, English is important for all of us, as it is the international language of Earth, and widely spoken among the Netizens.

Red Balloon here is a Brazilian-based program for young students to correct their favourite celebrities’ English through their tweets.
By activating their Grammar Nazi senses while monitoring what their favourite celebrities tweet, what the students do is that they will reply the tweet with their grammar mistake(s) pointed out and corrected.

The reason they do this is because of how fast the incorrect English can affect their favourite celebrities’ few million followers’ English in an instant. By “forcing” some proper English onto them, maybe they’ll at least take some precautionary steps before they send out their tweets next time. Check out the video for the full details.

Via : Cheezburger

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New rewards app Z-City aims to help the society maximizes savings through cashless payment

A brand new rewards app called Z-City has been introduced to the market that focuses on collecting rebates and provides users the ability to rack up savings over the course of time.

As Malaysia moves into the smart cashless payment society through the help of digital transformation, the sudden changes in purchasing power, trends, and habits thanks to COVID-19 have made Malaysians think twice when making a purchase in order to get the max value of their purchase. This is where Z-City comes into play with its services and features.
The app basically is created to provide instant rebates and cashback when users use the service to make a cashless payment in 1 of the 2000+ participating merchant’s stores thanks to the shared integration of e-wallet services like Touch’n Go, Boost, GrabPay, FPX in addition to the standard credit/debit card format. Aside from paying for something, you may also use Z-City to make multiple bill payments at once and access e-vouchers at the moment with additional portals such as PTPTN loans, tax filing, and more coming in next year.
On top of everything else that relates to getting the best deals and saving a couple of bucks here and there, Z-City also provides the gateway for easy access to donation and charity drives starting with a collaboration with local activist Kuan Chee Heng or better known as Uncle Kentang where donations contributed to the cause run by the Kentang Charity NGO are to be directly credited with no additional fees. You give RM100, they get RM100. Simple and straightforward.
Download Link
The ZCITY mobile application can be downloaded through the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Huawei App Gallery. As the reviews are balanced with all sorts of good and bad comments, we’ll let you be the judge of whether the app is worth using.

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