New Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is now official; available in different 7 colors!

The Galaxy Z Flip last year was an extraordinary device. Many people loved it for its form factory – and perhaps because of nostalgia. It’s a modern take on flip phones as we can flip the phone to reveal a large screen.

This year, Samsung took the Galaxy Z Flip, improved it by a lot, and had to skip a number and call it the Galaxy Z Flip 3. Jokes aside, here are the specs of the new Galaxy Z Flip 3:

6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex main display

2640×1080 pixels
120Hz refresh rate
425 ppi

1.9-inch Super AMOLED Cover Display

260×512 pixels
303 ppi

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset
8GB RAM
Up to 256GB Storage
Triple Rear Camera

Ultra-Wide: 12MP f/2.2
Wide: 12MP f/1.8 with OIS

10MP Selfie Camera
3,300mAh Battery

The new Galaxy Z Flip 3 addresses one of the biggest complaints that everyone has – the tiny display on the cover. Now, Samsung expanded the cover display and take up a little more space than before. It reminds me of the Google Pixel 2 design – and I’m sure many people think the same.

It’s weird to see that there is still a large portion of the cover that is left unused – but that is perhaps to let the color of your Galaxy Z Flip 3 shine through – because it is available in a total of 7 different colors – 4 are available in retail stores and 3 of them are exclusively in the Samsung.com exclusives.
          Cream, Green, Lavender, Phantom Black            Gray, White, and Pink. Only available in Samsung.com.
And just like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, this new Galaxy Z Flip 3 also has IPX8 rating.

The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 also comes with a lot of different types of accessories too.

Pricing
The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 will be retailing at the recommended retail price of USD $999.99. A considerable price drop from the Galaxy Z Flip from a year ago.
We still do not have the local pricing for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 here in Malaysia yet, but we will keep you updated when the time comes.

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Nokia’s EOS with PureView camera smartphone leaks [with video]

Sure, camera these days touts its abundance in megapixels – 13MP is the norm now. HTC took a different approach by tweaking the sensor.

Though no one went as crazy as Nokia did with the 808 PureView – a 41MP sensor. That camera itself got the best ever quality for photos on a phone! The photos were amazing in low-light conditions, noise are suppressed and the photos still is amazing in 100% crop.
Well, being a phone with an amazing camera, it didn’t last long, because of the software it’s using. Everyone got baffled, the phone wasn’t exactly selling well at all.
Now comes the saviour – the Nokia Lumia EOS PureView with a 40MP sensor.
It’s reported that the new Lumia EOS uses Windows Phone 8, but only by judging the name. Here’s a video of that super large camera in action!

As for now, there are nothing else confirmed – be it the price or availability, even the launch date.
With the previous fascination by the 808 PureView, what more can I predict?
Source : TweakTown, Engadget

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The OPPO A93 is priced at RM1,299

OPPO is going to launch the new OPPO A93 smartphone in a live stream set on October 6, 3 p.m. together with local famous singer Ayda Jebat. While there is little information about the device except for the main highlights which are the AI camera processing to all 6 lenses, the spec list is all over the Internet anyway so here is one for reference.

 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display

1080p resolution
Top left punch hole notch

MediaTek Helio P95 chipset
8GB RAM
128GB storage
Quadruple rear-facing cameras

Main: 48MP f/1.8
Ultra-wide angle: 8MP f/2.2; PDAF
Macro: 2MP f/2.4
Depth sensor

Dual selfie cameras

Main: 16MP f/2.4
Depth sensor

4,015mAh battery

30W VOOC Fast Charge

Magic Blue, Matte Black

The device is also reported to have AI-powered photography and the software technology to power the 6 AI Portrait Cameras, designed especially for portrait photography. The pricing for it is assumed to be revealed during the live stream too so mark it on your calendar and stay tuned for it on OPPO’s Facebook page.
We’ll update this page when we have more information regarding its local pricing and availability.
UPDATE: pricing and availability are here!
The OPPO A93 will be available for pre-orders starting today until 9th October 2020, in both Matte Black and Metallic White colors. You’ll also get an umbrella and OPPO Bluetooth speaker worth RM199 for free.
The OPPO A93 is priced at RM1,299 and pre-can be purchased at any OPPO Brand
Stores, OPPO Official Online Stores, and selected OPPO Official Dealer Stores from 10th October 2020 onwards.
OPPO TikTok Challenge
To celebrate the arrival of the OPPO A93, there’s an Acer Your Style TikTok challenge. From 10th October to 9th November 2020, stand a chance to win prizes worth more than
RM10,000 and get an opportunity to be in Ayda Jebat’s upcoming music video! More
details can be found on OPPO Malaysia’s Official Facebook page.
My OPPO App Treats
My OPPO App users can also redeem RM100 discount voucher for purchasing the OPPO A93 with just 1 point. The voucher will be redeemable only from 6th – 18th October 2020.
You’ll also get a complimentary 10% OFF IoT voucher redeemable from My OPPO App with
purchase only on OPPO A93. This voucher can only be redeemed during the campaign
period from 10th – 31st October 2020. New A93 users are required to download and
register My OPPO App to redeem the exclusive free gift using OPPO A93.

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Malaysia gets both variants of Galaxy S IV [UPDATED]

A week ago we posted about the new Galaxy S IV specs and we mentioned under the specs section that there are two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S IV that has different processors – one variant with the Exynos octa-core and the other with a quad-core Snapdragon Krait processors.
For a short summary, the octa-core version is a Exynos 5 Octa-Core running at 1.6GHz whereas the other version runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 600 running at 1.9GHz.

As stated by Sam Mobile’s full list of variants and countries, Malaysia is said to get both variants with the below information.
GT-I**** = Not decided yet.
GT-I9500 = Exynos
GT-I9505 = Snapdragon
GT-I9500 / GT-I9505 = Samsung to bring both versions
And Malaysia was stated with this :
GT-I9500 / GT-I9505 – Malaysia
To have both variants in the market… I think that it will only confuse the market. The most agonizing part is that Singapore, our neighbouring country, gets the quad-core Snapdragon version. It will most definitely cause demand rise for the octa-core version from the Singaporeans! Prices are still unknown for the time being.
Check out the entire list of countries and its variants below on the source!
UPDATE : The Exynos variant (GT-i9500) will not get LTE capabilities but the Snapdragon (GT-i9505) will be LTE capable. So it’s a trade of power with the price of LTE functionality.
Source : Sam Mobile

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TikTok’s #ForClimate partners with IFRC to inspire acts against climate change

TikTok is now doubling down on their CSR movements as they just announced their #SaveOurOcean movement a few weeks ago, and now they’re back again to announce another movement to inspired acts against climate change. Together with the  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), TikTok now has the #ForClimate campaign.
To start something like this, we believe education is important. Have everyone know why they should care and what they can do before asking them to do something. For us Malaysians, that’s too simple, unfortunately. Open your windows and you can see and smell the haze. And that’s why we should protect our climate.

But the haze is only a small part of this initiative. From 16th to 30th September, TikTok users can raise awareness of climate change by using three specially designed stickers depicting extreme weather conditions: Rainstorm, Snowstorm, and Global Warming.
To further educate millions of TikTok users on why our climate matters, there is also an interactive quiz where they can test their knowledge on environmental protection and share actions they have done to help end the climate crisis. The quiz consists of 15 questions that asks something along the lines of if plastic bags should be banned or if you will buy second-hand items.
TikTok’s social platform is perfect for getting a serious message across in a way that’s thrilling, inspiring, and energetic. We’re looking forward to seeing young people bring their stories to a global audience.
– Dr Jemilah Mahmood, IFRC’s Under Secretary General for Partnerships

The IFRC official account on TikTok has also released a series of official videos of global volunteers and staff.
#ForClimate is a global campaign and users from 100+ countries and regions, including United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and more can participate.
By the way, the #ForClimate movement is a part of a series called “TikTok for Good” and I honestly applaud them for using a big social media platform like this, make the learning process fun and sociable, and spread the awareness effectively. We’ve seen that happen with #SaveOurOceans, now it’s time #ForClimate.

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Why the HTC One has a 4MP camera? HTC’s Imaging Head explains.

HTC debuted its ‘Ultrapixel’ Camera at its past event which was held simultaneously at New York and London on the 19th February 2013.

It does perform well in low-lighted condition but many are skeptical about its performance in well-lighted conditions. HTC expects its users to upload the photos on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. and the resolution of 4 Mega Pixels is sufficient for a small print-out.
An interview by Computerworld with Symon Whitehorn (HTC’s Director of Special Projects, former Kodak Executive) shares on why did HTC went on with such a bold move.
On the question about the decision of using a 4MP sensor, Symon said the following:
It’s really [a matter of] becoming very rational about the megapixel count rather than using it as a marketing metric, which people have been doing before. Lots of megapixels have their place — usually in a bigger device. The price the industry is starting to pay by cramming more and more megapixels into a smaller and smaller sensor is loads of added noise and all-over performance.
I for one have to agree here, looking at the comparisons out in the internet has sort of ‘proven’ that even 13MP cameras does not necessary bring great imaging quality.
HTC’s move on increasing the size of the pixels has proven that in low-lighted conditions you’d still be able to capture usable photos and videos.
I myself never really printed photos I take with my Galaxy Nexus (has a 5MP camera) and only share them on Facebook. I bet most of us does the same. As optimistic consumers we would expect HTC to come up with a higher resolution camera in the near future. Personally, I think 8MP is the sweet spot.
Source: Computerworld

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Unboxing & first look: ASUS ROG ZPHYRS G14 ACRNM Edition

A few months ago, ASUS started off an ARG, teasing the arrival of the special edition ASUS ROG ZPHYRS G14, which is made in collaboration with ACRNM, or ACRONYM. As a tech guy with zero fashion sense (or knowledge), I unboxed this ASUS ROG ZPHYRS G14 ACRNM to see what’s so special about it.

Acronym also custom-designed the packaging of the laptop and the power brick, including the box and also the air cushion that the laptop and power brick comes protected by. It’s a weird decision as I prefer a custom-designed laptop sleeve more than a custom air pack.

To my surprise, there are lots of little details here and there that makes it different from the original version of the ROG Zephyrus G14 that we reviewed earlier this year. With it comes a completely different laptop lid, which has holes milled throughout the entire panel, which the original G14 did not have.

The AniMe Matrix is still here, but the LED panel is still only half of the entire front panel instead of utilizing all of the holes milled. I guess that’s a good idea as it adds flair to the design and also saves on power, heat, and weight.
Also, the LEDs on the AniMe Matrix found on the ASUS ROG ZPHYRS G14 ACRNM has a pink hue instead of white like the original G14. That’s… an interesting choice.

The back panel also got a redesign with many different… things printed on it. One of them that caught my eyes was “BLACK HOLES IN THE NOW” which I have absolutely no idea what it means.

Opening up the lid shows…. a rather polarizing design, to say the least. Looking from afar, the color scheme looks stylish and intriguing. Up close, well, it feels messy, to say the least.
Also, the power brick got a redesign too.

Still, the ASUS ROG ZPHYRS G14 ACRNM Edition laptop comes with the highest-end configuration of specs and also a custom design, which warrants a high price of RM11,299.

AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS
16GB (soldered) + 16GB RAM (SO-DIMM slot)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q
2560×1440 resolution

60Hz
Pantone validation
Adaptive sync for variable refresh rate

1TB SSD

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HUAWEI’s MatePad Pro 11 is the brand’s latest, thinnest, and lightest 11-inch tablet from RM2,999

HUAWEI Malaysia’s latest release isn’t a smartphone or smart wearable, but rather a small tablet focused on delivering productivity in an easy-to-carry size – the MatePad Pro 11.

While almost all people will take any performance they can get for the same amount of money, not all wants a big screen to accompany that because sometimes, small is better and lighter thus the MatePad Pro 11 is definitely made to realize and fill this niche market.
Despite being this small, it weighs just 449g and is 5.9mm thin which makes it extremely easy to carry around – an aspect prioritized by mobile workers that need to move from place to place. The good points don’t stop here because the panel is a 120Hz OLED display capable of displaying 1 billion colors, ensuring you get as many visual details as possible.
Albeit using an SoC that came out a couple of years ago, they are still competent to be used for daily driving productivity tasks.

11-inch OLED Display

120Hz Refresh Rate
1 Billion Colors

Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 (Wi-Fi) / 888 5G (Wi-Fi / LTE) Chipset
8GB RAM
Up to 256GB Storage
Dual Rear Cameras

Main: 13MP f/1.8 with PDAF
Ultra-Wide: 8MP f/2.2

16MP Selfie Camera
8,300mAh Battery

40W (Wi-Fi) Fast Charge
66W (Wi-Fi / LTE) Fast Charge

Golden Black, Galaxy Blue, Crystal White, Brocade White Colors

Price and Availability
The HUAWEI MatePad Pro 11 will become available for purchase in Malaysia starting tomorrow at the price of RM2,999 for the 8GB+128GB Wi-Fi model while the 8GB+256GB with LTE is going for RM3,699.
As a bonus, you’ll get a free M Pencil and Smart Magnetic Keyboard on top of several freebies related to HUAWEI Mobile Services which all total up to RM1,400 of value so move fast!
Head over to the official store for more information.

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Trade your old Vivo smartphone for a RM200 rebate towards the Vivo X50 in this Merdeka Flash Sale

Get ready fellow Malaysians! Vivo Malaysia is joining the celebrative season of Merdeka to bring you an exciting promotion to the customers starting from 28 August till 6 September. With the Merdeka Flash Sale, treat yourself with some of the great deals while winning amazing prizes with total worth up to RM18,888.
From now till 31 August, customers can trade in their old Vivo smartphones for a cash rebate of RM200 toward the newly launched Vivo X50 (RM2,399). Not only that, but buyers are also entitled to a complimentary fashionable Vivo backpack upon purchasing any item above the price of RM 999 starting from 29 August till 6 September.

On the other hand, those looking for getting the Vivo V17 will be delighted as it will go down to RM 1099 until 31 August.

To spice up the Merdeka campaign, Vivo Malaysia will be organizing a Facebook Share and Win Contest until 6 September for all smartphone fanatics. All you need to do is just to Like, Share and Tag 3 friends at the Facebook post and let the dice roll it out as prizes such as DJI Mavic Mini drones, Osmo Mobile 4 smartphone stabilizers, Vivo TWS NEO earbuds, NEX 3 travel cases and many more are up for grabs.
The Vivo Official Facebook Page and Official Website hosts all the information you need about this campaign.

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HONOR Experience Store opened at Queensbay Mall

While online shopping is a great convenience for many of us, I still suggest consumers to go out and have a look, feel, and test certain items before purchasing them – particularly with smartphones and just electronics in general. HONOR, being an online-only smartphone brand for quite some time, has just opened their HONOR Experience Store (HES) at Queensbay Mall.
The brand new HONOR Experience Store is located at Level 2, Center Zone, of Queensbay Mall, Penang.

Perhaps if you can find a better deal online, then head on over to the store and test the phone first, then go http://hihonor.com/my and purchase the phone instead. It sounds weird, but I’ve done that many times. 😂

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Review – Dell Precision 3540

When this laptop arrived at our labs, we wondered one thing – it’s a Dell Precision 3540. Under Dell’s Precision lineup of laptops, it’s all about doing heavy work like 3D graphics and video editing. We have to reevaluate and come up with a new testing method since all of its hardware is not meant for consumers.
With that, here comes our review of the Dell Precision 3540, with an entirely different review format.

A bit of an introduction
The Precision lineup is meant for professional applications. We’ll go more into detail since this laptop does come with a few other software to enhance your user experience. The full name of this family of laptops is “Dell Precision Workstations” as they are meant to be portable workstations, with thinness and weightlessness to match.
Of course, the price of these laptops is not meant to be compared with any consumer laptops since Dell Precision laptops are mostly meant for businesses. You will have to pay a premium, but that premium comes reliability and real quick customer service with their technicians arriving at your doorstep to fix your laptop in front of you.
Classic aesthetics
It’s a classically designed laptop with a sleek matte blackish grey color. It retains the professional look since this is indeed a machine made for professionals. It’s rather thick though not that heavy, which again is alright since its thickness does help in cooling performance.

In terms of I/O ports, it’s decent. On the left side, you have the power jack, Thunderbolt 3, and a USB 3 port. At the right side, you get a Noble lock slot, Ethernet, full-sized HDMI, double USB 3 ports, a headphone/microphone combo jack and a microSD card reader.

The last one is my only gripe with this laptop. I much rather have a full-sized SD card reader than a micro. Why? Because there are adapters to change from a microSD to a full-sized SD card. It’s not possible to do the other way around.

The 15.6-inch screen
Opening up the laptop reveals a big 15.6-inch screen. It’s a rather standard IPS LCD screen with thin bezels on both sides and a somewhat small chin. The forehead is jarringly huge and it accommodates all of the sensors there.

Unfortunately, even with such a huge forehead, there is no Windows Hello face unlock feature. However, you do get a physical slider to cover up the webcam.

The screen itself isn’t bright enough to be used outdoors – which is fine by me since these laptops are designed to be used as a portable workstation to be carried around, not as much as battery-powered workstations.
In terms of the screen quality itself, I instantly realize that it is a little on the warmer hue with an emphasis on the green color.
Decent keyboard & trackpad
The keyboard in itself is pretty good. It’s a little too stiff for my liking but the keys bounce back real quick. The keys themselves are a little too small, though. I like how Dell made a clear divider for the number pad.

As for the trackpad, it is not the best in the market. The tracking isn’t particularly responsive and the palm rejection could use some improvement as well. There is a pointing stick as on this laptop if you prefer that.

One nice addition here is that the power button is also a fingerprint scanner. However, there is no way of telling if the button is pressed while turning on the laptop. There is no tactile feedback and you just have to guess.

Performance?
Okay, let’s just talk about the specs first. For our configuration, we have this list of hardware:

Intel Core i5-8365U
AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 with 2GB VRAM
A single stick of 16GB DDR4 RAM with 2666MHz
256GB SATA III SSD

It’s a SATA III SSD.
The first thing that struck me as weird is the CPU itself. Why does it come with an ultra-low voltage processor? This CPU has a base clock of 1.6GHz, although it boosts to 4.1GHz. On our Blender classroom render test, the Dell Precision 3540 struggles, and drops to below the clock speed of 2.1GHz within 10 minutes of rendering. Yet the temperature of the CPU is below 75°C. Perhaps this is how Dell controls throttles performance for the sake of hardware longevity, though I can’t help but think that there is some unutilized thermal headroom here.
It’s not meant to be strained for performance, yet the heat pipes are visible from below.
Then comes the GPU itself. We don’t have any baseline for these workstation GPUs but we can tell you that 2GB of VRAM means that it’s mostly meant to be an entry-level workstation that is meant to handle simpler 3D models.
Out of curiosity, I ran some conventional benchmarks to see how it performs.

Secondly, the issue is the storage medium. I am not sure if Dell intends to do this, but there is only one M.2 slot here for the SATA III SSD. 256GB is insufficient and we can see that there is another 2.5-inch mounting bay which is blocked by the M.2 slot. Since Dell didn’t include any mounting hardware inside the box (like ASUS VivoBook Ultra A512), users can’t upgrade it themselves.

About Dell Precision Optimizer
This is an AI-based optimization software that needs a better explanation of what it does. On the surface, it is a hivemind type of service that learns an application’s hardware demand and tries to allocate the appropriate resources for it.

Launching the optimizer application shows you a bunch of other applications that the Dell Precision Optimizer has already learned. There are many applications by Autodesk and Adobe found on this page – but there is one oddball here. Blender isn’t in this list. And I have no idea why.

According to Dell Precision Optimizer’s website, the license differs accordingly. The standard license will have its optimizations limited to only the applications that have been learned, whereas the Premium license can learn any application’s need through AI. But then again, how much does DPO actually help?
Not much. We tried DPO on Adobe’s Media Encoder CC to render a 4K 30fps video that is downscaled to 1080p in mp4 codec. Firstly, the DPO app itself gave me a tonne of issues as it kept asking me to reboot over and over again. Eventually, it stopped prompting me, and I did my test.
When the test results came, I had to redo my test again. Why? Because of sanity checks. I can’t find any consistency in the time taken to complete the render. With or without optimizations, it takes around 910 minutes on average. Generally, turning off the optimizer is slightly faster, though it did result in one render that went above 1000 minutes to complete.
This is the limitation.
Honestly, I’m not even surprised since the Dell Precision Optimizer is still limited by whatever hardware is inside the laptop. The real benefit here could be optimizing the power scheme to squeeze out longer battery life while maintaining a better quality of life – like eliminating screen tearing. From our experience using the Dell Precision 3540 as a video editing machine, it performs just like any other devices we’ve used so far – barring the lack of CPU horsepower when performing warp stabilizer in Premiere Pro.
Wrapping up
In terms of the overall user experience and the I/O ports, it’s actually quite solid. That extra Thunderbolt 3 port at the left side is a huge plus.
For the hardware, I really recommend getting a configuration with a better CPU. This Intel Core i5-8365U processor is just not sufficient for rendering work.
The laptop surely seems to be able to handle more than that Core i5-8365U.
Maybe Dell should explore AMD’s Ryzen processors as an alternative? They offer better base clocks with similar boost clock speeds. Looking at the market now, AMD-powered laptops are much lower in price, yet still with 4 cores and 8 threads.

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Leaked footage of newest Star Wars takes on FPS games.

I’m pretty sure that most of us are familiar with the Star Wars Battlefront series be it from playing the game itself or through the words, pictures or videos of others. Well, over the past few days, multiple sources have been talking about Star Wars: First Assault. Well, we’ve gotten our hands on some leaked footage from the game and have decided to show it to you lot!

According to Kotaku, this game was meant to be the “predecessor” to Battlefront. But unfortunately, it’s been put on hold since Disney has bought over the Star Wars franchise as executives try to figure out what to do with the Star Wars property.

It’s still unclear exactly what will wind up happening with Star Wars: First Assault in the coming weeks and months. One thing for certain though, most of us here are really hoping for the game to be released soon!
Source: Kotaku

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Review – POCO X3 Pro: What you need to know about this phone

When the POCO X3 Pro was announced and showed to the world, there were lots of people saying that it’s the best phone ever as they were already offering a phone with the very powerful Snapdragon 860 chipset at such a low price point. That is indeed an impressive feat… but it sounds too good to be true, right?
In a way, yes. So, let’s talk about the POCO X3 Pro and discover the truth behind this new “flagship killer”.

Performance
Okay, we’ll start off by talking about the performance of the POCO X3 Pro first. Many people are talking about the chipset – the Snapdragon 860 – because it’s the first phone to be using this chipset, and it is a very powerful chipset that can run heavy games like Genshin Impact at the highest settings.
Where to buy? (Affiliate link)

Lazada
Shopee

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Samsung Gear S3 Announced; Available in December

Samsung just updated their line of wearables with the brand new Samsung Gear S3, and it looks fantastic! The Samsung Gear S3 aims to be smarter, and even more stylish than before.
There are two versions of the Gear S3 now – the Frontier and Classic version. Both of them focuses on being a multi-purpose timepiece, and it’s made out of premium metal. Stainless steel 316L with a circular watchface. Another outer dial to make it look like a traditional wristwatch. Of course, it has a lot of smarts in its guts – the circular UX.

The circular UX is Samsung’s brand new direction in wearable UX, and I think it ties in with its hardware design really nicely.

The brand new Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and Gear S3 Classic will be available in Malaysia in December 2016.

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Review – ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom: My Personal Favorite Smartphone!

ASUS has been on a roll this year. They made the ASUS ZenFone 3 which we have reviewed here – one of my all-time favorite smartphones as of writing this review. When I heard and saw the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Here’s my full review of the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom, also known as the ZE553KL.
Unboxing
The ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom takes the same box design and aesthetic as the original ZenFone 3. Same matte dark grey box, but this time with the words “ZenFone 3 Zoom” debossed in gold. Nice touch by having that infinity sign too!

Opening to box reveals quite a different set of included accessories too. Compared to the original ZenFone 3’s box, there’s a brand new compartment on the lid itself – right above where the ZenFone 3 Zoom sits.
Subtle yet classy.
Right in here is where you’ll find the warranty information, user guide, an excellently-designed TPU case, and the SIM ejector tool. Finally, ASUS has included a TPU case with the phone itself – and it’s clear that ASUS has been listening to our feedback and improving throughout the months.
Sneaky little compartment to stash things in!
At the compartment below the ZenFone 3 Zoom is where all of the other usual items are found – the charger, USB-A to USB-C cable, and surprisingly – a pair of in-ear earphones! That’s certainly not something to be found in all smartphones these days.

[nextpage title=”Design”]
The ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom takes on the same general geometry of the original ASUS ZenFone 3. However, instead of having a glass sandwich like its predecessor, the ZenFone 3 Zoom now has a more commonly-found metal back instead.
And there’s a small little camera bump.
Other than that, its overall design didn’t vary much. The navigation keys are still below the screen, which I find to be too low. Both volume rocker and power button are still situated at the right side.
Shiny textured buttons on the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom!
One thing that they did change is the shape of the fingerprint sensor. Instead of having a long rectangular shape like its predecessor, ASUS opted for a rounded square shape for the ZenFone 3 Zoom. Honestly speaking, I like this new square better, just because of how comfortable it is when I lay my fingertip on it.
You might have seen it, but the aesthetics around ZenFone 3 Zoom’s rear-facing cameras have been revamped. Both the lenses are placed together at the corner, whereas the slew of sensors and LED flash are placed right below it, separated by a gap. It does look a little like a little jarring, but whichever works – since I don’t stare at the back of my phone anyway.
That included TPU case deserves the spotlight too
Nice little touch to the included free TPU case!
The reason why I want to put that case in the spotlight because of how well made that soft shell case is. I mean, you can’t really tell what’s so great about it without feeling it. ASUS specifically crafted a comfortable slope around the fingerprint sensor, so you can have a smooth gliding motion. That’s something special indeed.
Really smooth slope leading towards the fingerprint sensor.
My only complaint about the TPU case here is the power button and volume rocker that’s sunken a little too deep. It’s a little too difficult to press, in my opinion. However, ASUS’s ZenUI has this thing called ZenMotion – and that solves the need for the power button entirely.
[nextpage title=”Connectivity”]
ASUS took a rather interesting turn when it comes to the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s connectivity. Perhaps a little puzzling – as it does not support 5GHz WiFi bands since they removed support for the less-popular 802.11ac standards and 5GHz signal.
I personally don’t really care or bother much, as there are still many routers out there that do not support AC-WiFi standards. Also, 5GHz signals cannot travel as far as 2.4GHz signals, so that’s a plus. But then again, still a tad disappointed by this. Having a choice to choose between 2.4GHz and 5GHz would be a lot better than just being locked at 802.11N at 2.4GHz.

Other than that, the ZenFone 3 Zoom does not have NFC either, which is seemingly becoming the new standard nowadays – at least until mobile payments start to become more mainstream again.
Moving on to the SIM card slots – the ZenFone 3 Zoom takes on the similar engineering choice like its predecessor – dedicated nano SIM slot 1 and a combo microSD/nano SIM 2 slot. Pretty basic stuff here.
The tray is clearly labelled too, unlike other smartphones.
[nextpage title=”Display”]
Surprisingly, ZenFone 3 Zoom has a different screen than its predecessor. I mean, given its design choice of not having on-screen navigation keys, why not use OLED, am I right? This is exactly what ASUS did for the ZenFone 3 Zoom – swapping in an AMOLED display.
That AMOLED display is looking sharp on the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom!
It still has 5.5-inch 1920px x 1080px resolution, resulting to 401ppi. Nothing spectacular when it comes to the specs, but the color on the AMOLED display really do shine and pop. ASUS even provided a simple tool to adjust the colors too. I just leave mine in Super Color mode because Standard is way too dull for me.
Colors on the AMOLED display really do shine and pop
Now, AMOLED displays will only enhance the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s battery life even further, as pixels that are not in use will be turned off completely. More on this later when we talk about the Zoom’s battery life. 😉
[nextpage title=”Camera”]
Firstly, I have to clear off one big misconception. The dual-camera setup here that the ZenFone 3 Zoom has is totally different from Huawei’s, but similar to what LG G6 has. For the sake of relevancy, I’ll give you a brief summary – the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s camera is like a fine sir wearing a monocle. Instead of being a vision-correction monocle lens, it’s a zoom lens.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom has two Sony IMX362 12MP sensors – one coupled with a 25mm f/1.7 lens with 4-axis OIS, and the other coupled with a 59mm f/2.8 lens. It uses an improved version of ASUS’s signature TriTech+ auto-focusing technology – now with 2nd generation laser AF, subject-tracking AF, and dual-pixel PDAF just like the OPPO R9s.
The dual-camera setup here that the ZenFone 3 Zoom has is totally different from Huawei’s, but similar to what LG G6 has
I’ve taken quite a lot of shots with the ZenFone 3 Zoom – and I have to say, the camera is fun to mess around with. It has a shortcut button to toggle between zoom levels of 1.0x, 2.3x, and 5.0x at an instant. I find it pretty useful if I’m ever lazy to reposition myself before taking a shot. Just hit that button and find a better angle instead.
The camera interface on the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom is clean and intuitive.
Pictures taken by the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom
Here is the full album of pictures I’ve taken with the ZenFone 3 Zoom. All of them are unedited and come straight out from the phone’s camera themselves. Yeah, it’s plural for “camera” since it has two cameras after all. ?
Powered by flickr embed.
Overall, the picture quality is quite okay – however, image quality quickly degrades when in low-light conditions. While it is much more sensitive than any other smartphones in this condition, it lacks dynamic range – and hence producing a mushy-looking image with poor colors. It’s significant too, especially through that AMOLED screen that the ZenFone 3 Zoom has.
As for the selfie camera, the ZenFone 3 Zoom is using a Sony IMX214 13MP sensor coupled with a f/2.0 aperture lens. Unfortunately, it’s a fixed-focus lens. Selfie image quality isn’t the best, especially in low-light conditions. This is something that I think ASUS can improve on.
By the way, RAW format is already supported. It’s under Manual mode as of now.
[nextpage title=”Software”]
To be honest, the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s software is a little better than before. In the unit that I have, there is way less bloatware than before, although there are still a few of them. There is also a slew of included ASUS apps but most of them can be uninstalled, actually.
The fingerprint sensor serves more than just a single purpose.
ASUS’s ZenUI 3.0 provides a few useful features here and there – like double tapping on the fingerprint sensor to launch the camera app, and tapping the finger sensor within the Camera app to take a photo. I mean, at least they make good use of the fingerprint sensor, unlike what Huawei did to the P10’s fingerprint sensor.
One thing I do like is their Gallery app, which sorts things in a rather functional way – categorized by album or sort all images chronologically.
There is also a slew of included ASUS apps but most of them can be uninstalled
There is already RAW format support in Manual mode. However, there are still some glitches and bugs with the camera. So far, ASUS had already released two updates for the ZenFone 3 Zoom. One of the updates is to fix the small little lag and to improve seamlessness in switching between the wide angle lens to the telephoto lens. I’m looking forward to an even smoother Zoom camera experience in the future! 😉
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
The ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset that is manufactured with a 14nm process as its predecessor, the ZenFone 3. We talked about why the manufacturing process matters right here. Both are sporting the same Cortex-A53 octa-core processor, same Adreno 506 GPU, still 4GB of RAM – but the ZenFone 3 Zoom has 64GB of storage.
I don’t expect the performance to be any different, either. And I was right, as the ZenFone 3 Zoom scores a 47.1FPS on our usual Epic Citadel. Again, pretty much the same as its predecessor. Temperatures are always below 50℃ too.
47.1FPS is decent, actually.
Moving on to Vellamo, the scores are pretty much the same as its predecessor too. Nothing out of the ordinary here, actually.
It doesn’t lag during everyday usage.
[nextpage title=”Battery”]
Oh boy, this is the most interesting part of this review. While the ZenFone 3 Zoom touts its camera’s zoom ability in its name, I think I should give more emphasis on its battery. The ZenFone 3 Zoom has a massive 5,000mAh battery. That’s right – just let that sink in for a moment.
We did praise the original ZenFone 3’s battery life for being out of the ordinary, and the ZenFone 3 Zoom just pushes it to the limit. This massive 5,000mAh battery is so humongous that I can’t complete even a single run of PC Mark for Android’s battery life test. That’s because the app constantly crashes itself – and the reason is because that it ran for too long.
The ZenFone 3 Zoom has a massive 5,000mAh battery
And by the way – I got 12 hours, 34 minutes and 10 seconds of screen-on time before it hit 20% battery.
The closest I got to completion is at about 14 hours before the app crashed. Even on that test run, I still had about 20% of battery remaining.
Putting the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s battery to the test
Since ASUS pushed the limit of the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s battery life, I thought that ASUS deserves a complete battery benchmark from us here at Nasi Lemak Tech.
I took a deep breath and accepted the challenge. I was very impressed by how the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s battery performed! It totaled up to more than 34 hours of usage before needing a recharge on my daily usage! Just check out the graph below!
Superior battery life!
I unplugged it in the morning and went about my day. Played a lot of Hyper Heroes too, since I was a little addicted to that game at the time of this review. I went to sleep the first day and I realized there as still about 61% of battery left. So I went to sleep without charging it. I continued on to the next day with more Hyper Heroes – and by the time I went to sleep, there’s still about 8% of battery left!

It totaled up to more than 34 hours of usage before needing a recharge

With great battery comes greater charging times…
It’s a little difficult to read, but it says outputs 5V at 2A.
Alright – what about that charger? Honestly speaking, I think ASUS skimped out on the charger part by including a 5V 2A. It takes nearly 2.5 hours to charge it from about 5% to 100% – but it’s not a big deal. Here’s why.

As the battery on the ZenFone 3 Zoom can last for such a long time, I never found myself looking for a charger at all. That means I have to freedom to choose when I want to charge the ZenFone 3 Zoom. For me, it’s been a habit for me to plug it in before I go to sleep and wake up to a 100% charged up battery.
[nextpage title=”Wrapping up the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom review”]
Final words from me – the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom is an instant personal favorite. For me, I don’t need the speediest smartphone out there. If it can do what I need it to do without lagging, it’s fine with me. What I do need is an extensive battery – and that’s what the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom can provide. The dual-camera setup that the ZenFone 3 Zoom has is certainly worth highlighting too, as there are not many smartphones out there with a wide angle and telephoto lens combo while having a low price tag.
This phone is absolutely fantastic!
Speaking of price tags, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom is currently only available in Black color and 64GB storage option while priced at only RM 2,099. Lazada link here. I seriously can’t recommend any other smartphones that have a superior battery life like no other smartphones in the market today.
Great job ASUS, please make your future smartphones revolving around this hunger for super long battery life.

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Review – ASUS VivoBook A510U

ASUS is bringing in some of their more affordable choices of laptops to the market with the VivoBook A510U. In some ways, it’s similar to the S15 that we reviewed here, so let’s begin.
The Vivobook A510U is meant to be an even cheaper version of the existing VivoBook S15 series of laptops and yet maintains some performance and build quality for the laptop. It’s certainly interesting to see what ASUS has done for the VivoBook series.

Unboxing

The Vivobook A510U comes in a rather simple and compact cardboard box with just the VivoBook branding at the front. I know the box is pretty water resistant since I was carrying the entire box with the handle while it was raining heavily that day.

Opening up the box reveals the VivoBook A510U itself, and another compartment at the side that holds the power plug. Underneath the laptop holds some documentation. Pretty simple packaging design.

Design

Honestly speaking, the VivoBook A510U still looks generally the same as the VivoBook S15 – but it has a full plastic body instead. Since it’s plastic, the concentric circles on the lid isn’t as dense or as fine as its more premium cousin.
With a plastic build, the entire VivoBook A510U feels lighter too. With a full plastic build like this, just be careful not to drop it or anything or the corners can chip off easily compared to a dent on laptops made out of metal.
Connectivity and ports
The ports on the VivoBook A510U is pretty good in my opinion. It has two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports and a full-sized SD card reader on the left side. On the right side, there’s a headphone/microphone combo jack, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C, another USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, and the charging port.

Honestly, quite a good selection of ports but for the student demographic that this laptop is aiming for, I think including a VGA port would make sense. Yes, lots of universities still use VGA ports.
As for the cooling part of this laptop, it’s not something to be worried about. There is a heatsink with a fan at the hinge. Given the specs of the VivoBook A510U, it’s adequate enough to cool the system down.
Screen
Opening up the lid for the first time and booting it up. the only thing I saw is how thin those side bezels are for this 15.6-inch 1080p display. This design was first introduced in ASUS’s laptops last year during Computex 2017 and dubbed as the “NanoEdge display”. Honestly, I liked how thin the side bezels are compared to other laptops. Thinner bezels means the entire laptop can be shrunken down in its overall footprint too.

The microphones and webcam are still situated at the top. I personally would love to have the top and bottom bezels a little thinner than what we have now. I mean, the microphones and webcam modules aren’t that big anyway.

The screen’s quality is surprisingly vivid and bright. It’s a little washed out in its brightest setting, but I doubt anyone would use that in normal conditions anyway.
Trackpad and keyboard

Let’s begin with the trackpad, It’s not bad – usable to navigate around and get simple stuff done without frustration. Of course, if rapid movement and precision clicking is needed, I still prefer to go back to a regular mouse.
There’s a fingerprint sensor too.
The VivoBook A510U uses Windows Precision Touchpad drivers and all of the gestures are working out of the box. Good enough.
As for the keyboard though, it has a short travel distance which some people might like and keeps the laptop thin, too. The force needed to press the key isn’t that much, but tires out the fingers easily because every key press is essentially bottoming it out instantly.

It’s an okay keyboard. Not a huge fan of it but at least it’s pretty silent.
Performance
Oh god. The specs on the VivoBook S15U isn’t bad, actually. It has an Intel Core i5-8250U with NVIDIA GeForce MX130 GPU with 2GB of VRAM, running at 1080p resolution. Performance overall isn’t that bad, given that the GPU is severely underpowered to play the latest games. Still, it’s good to have a dedicated GPU especially for video editing.
Here are some benchmark scores.

For those who are curious about gaming performance, I tested Overwatch at its lowest settings with 1080p resolution, and it hovers at about 55FPS most of the time. Occasionally, it drops to about 30FPS and stutters.
The problem that this laptop has is the fact that it still comes with 4GB of RAM and a hard disk. Yes – a hard disk. The hard disk included in the VivoBook A510U that we’re reviewing is a 1TB Seagate ST1000LM035, by the way. It’s slow.

Look, I get it that ASUS might be trying to save cost and just include a hard disk. Let the customer get an SSD themselves with higher quality too, right? In my opinion, that’s true for a small percentage of the market. Many users prefer everything to be included and ready to go right after purchase. 8GB RAM and at least 128GB SSD would be great.
I mean, if users can get their own M.2 2280 SSD, then the user can choose high quality ones themselves. We’ve seen low-quality M.2 SSDs that came with laptops in the past which has terrible sequential write speeds. To save you some trouble, may I interest you in getting a budget M.2 2280 SSD like the PenDrive M.2 SSD here?
Let’s not forget that the VivoBook A510U comes with an insane amount of bloatware too.
Not all are bloatware, but some are.
Which leads us nicely to the next segment – upgrading the storage yourself.
Maintaining & upgradability

It’s fairly easy to open up the VivoBook A510U. A few screws around the sides and you’re in – right? Not so simple. ASUS hid two screws underneath two of the rubber feet nearest to the hinge. I don’t see any advantage of hiding screws there other than to cause inconvenience. Not like the warranty sticker is there anyway.
Careful not to damage the rubber feet or the adhesive.
Opening the backplate reveals everything at one go. Thank you ASUS for making everything easily accessible.

We can first see the M.2 2280 slot beside the 2.5-inch HDD slot. A rather awkward position to install, to be honest – but it gets the job done.
          For our configuration, the M.2 2280 is empty.            This is how you can install your own M.2 2280 SSD in that slot.
Then the SODIMM RAM slots. One of them is already occupied with the 4GB module whereas the other one is empty. Get another 4GB module and pop it in there and you’ll be good to go.

As for the cleaning process, there’s one heatpipe shared between the CPU and GPU, leading to the heatsink and fan. It’s easy to clean if you ever need to.

Fun fact: there is quite a lot of unused space beside the fan.

Battery
The battery on the VivoBook A510U. It’s prety good. It can last for about 6-7 hours of browsing and typing and stuff like that with a comfortable indoor brightness level. Yes, the battery is really that good.
Charging however, is another story. It takes quite a long time to actually charge it up to 100% when it’s dried up – about 2-3 hours. Just remember to plug it in and let it charge while you’re not on the go.
The charger is tiny!
Wrapping up the ASUS VivoBook A510U review
Let’s be honest here – the VivoBook A510U is quite a bland laptop. There is no extra feature or extremely powerful hardware to differentiate itself from the market. The VivoBook A510U is aimed towards two categories of users – students and those who are on the go. These two target audiences need something in common – low price.

For the configuration that we have, i5-8250U, does not have a M.2 SSD and only has 4GB RAM inside. The price for this configuration is RM2,545. To be honest, kind of expensive for what they’re asking. RM2,545 with 4GB RAM is fine… but I’d rather pay slightly higher and to have ASUS includ a 128GB M.2 SSD.

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HP Malaysia launches new mentorship program to nurture rising stars in the creative industry

HP has unveiled its latest 2021 Mentorship Project for Malaysia to lift the country’s creative talent to new heights.

The program also saw the collaboration with 3 local famous talented personalities comprising of acclaimed singer and songwriter Zee Avi, prolific composer and producer Daniel Veerapen, and award-winning TV show/MV direction Edwin Raj who will be taking the lead in watching, guiding, and nurturing participants of various creative background as the mentorship program welcomes everyone with or without expertise.
Potential mentees can submit for application through the website while attaching a portfolio of personal information, background, and original work to have a higher chance of being accepted. Yes, the event runs on a per-approval basis and only 11 people will be shortlisted and participate under the guidance of these 3 ambassadors with each mentee receiving either an HP Spectre x360 14 or HP Envy 15 to help them power through their tasks to create something new while gaining experience of how to innovate and express creative ideas like a pro would.
The registration phase is currently live and ends on November 15.

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Learn about something new about Roborock and its APAC debut with Overseas SEA Director Joan Hu

Needless to say, the smart robot vacuum cleaner brand Roborock hailing from China has seen numerous successes in the expansion of its market outside the mainland within a relatively short period of time. Thanks to its aggressive pricing, steady flow of stock within the distribution pipeline, and an easy-to-approach design, it is fair to say its exponential growth is well credited.

To find out some interesting stories, an interview session was conducted with the brand’s Overseas South East Asia Director, Joan Hu, who answered several questions regarding Roborock’s past achievements, ongoing mission, and future vision.
So here it goes.
Overseas South East Asia Director, Joan Hu
Q: Roborock recorded strong growth in China since its introduction. What do you think contributed to this?
A: In the robot vacuum market back in 2014, most available products only focused on the basic needs that come with a vacuum – cleaning. We saw an opportunity to fulfill needs and wants that consumers don’t know they have yet. Hence, we grew our R&D department with a team of engineers, scientists, manufacturing experts, and designers – all vital to creating products that truly fit our users’ lifestyles.
Q: Any new vacuum launches this year?

We have just launched the Roborock S7 MaxV in early 2022. This is an upgrade of our popular Roborock S7, with ReactiveAI 2.0 Obstacle Avoidance System, the S7 MaxV recognizes objects in its path more accurately and adapts quickly to clean around them, regardless of lighting conditions. Also, features Roborock’s acclaimed VibraRise® technology, a combination of sonic mopping with an automatic mop lift designed to transition smoothly over contrasting surfaces, while delivering effective high-intensity scrubs to tackle surface dirt.

That’s not all, we also launched the Q7 Max – the latest lineup to our premium Q-series,  a range of robot vacuums that combines proven features of our flagship S-Series, including LiDAR navigation, multi-level mapping, and customizable app controls, making automated cleaning now an affordable luxury.
We also took a step further this year with multiple dock launches – the Auto Empty Dock and Auto Cleaning Dock. With these, we aim to elevate the smart home cleaning experience for our consumers by minimizing the usual manual operations needed to use a robot vacuum.
Q: How does a company based in China keep up with that many varieties across so many markets at the same time?

Roborock is currently available in over 40 markets.  Expansion requires a very large amount of localization. When we bring technology developed in another region to a different one, we have to make changes or localize the technology to suit the needs of the particular market. We need to listen to every market’s needs – in terms of customers and partners – in order to be able to add value to them.
Q: What are Roborock’s aspirations and goals for the local market and how do you plan to achieve this?
While we continue to grow our online presence, we hope to be able to provide a service center to better serve our existing customers. We also aim to bring in more of Roborock’s latest products as our APAC markets are key to us.
Q: Other than markets you have already entered, what is Roborock’s plan and next steps?

Our investment is not just in channels, brand building, or positioning of our Roborock products, but we are focused on our customers. Our rapid business growth in each market is contributed by quality products with major high innovation features at reasonable price points, continuous innovation, and user engagement. In the future, we aim to go further via collaborations with strategic partners ignited through marketing efforts.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is priced competitively at RM1,299

It seems like Xiaomi is now the Thanos of smartphones. Whatever smartphones they announce, it must be unbelievably affordable. Xiaomi has a track record for offering great great performance for the price that it asks for, and the newly-announced Mi 9 SE is no different.
We recently gave the Mi 9 our gold award our in-depth review here. That Mi 9 is Xiaomi’s flagship smartphone and without a doubt, that smartphone offers lots of performance and to spare. The Mi 9 SE still has most of the features from the Mi 9, but with a few changes.

Here is the specs list of the Mi 9 SE:

5.97-inch Super AMOLED display with waterdrop notch

2340×1080 pixels in resolution

Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 chipset

2x Kryo 360 Gold @ 2.3GHz + 6x Kryo 360 Silver @ 1.7GHz
Adreno 616 GPU with 128 ALUs

6GB LPDDR4X RAM
Up to 128GB storage
Triple rear-facing cameras

Telephoto: 8MP f/2.4 with PDAF
Main: 48MP f/1.8 with PDAF
Ultrawide: 13MP f/2.4 fixed focus

20MP f/2.0 selfie camera
3,070mAh battery with up to 18W fast charging

From what we can see here, with the arrival of Mi 9 SE, it is definitely going neck-to-neck against other smartphones like the OPPO F11 Pro (review) and also the Vivo V15. However, with the specs that Xiaomi is offering, it certainly is more compelling.
The Mi 9 SE is also using the UFS 2.1 chips for storage and LPDDR4X RAM for better performance yet lower power consumption. With that said, the Mi 9 SE is also available at 6GB RAM minimum.
Furthermore, it also comes with the triple rear-facing camera setup just like the Mi 9, but with lower megapixel counts and the lack of autofocus on the ultrawide angle camera.
Xiaomi’s Mi 9 SE will be available for sale starting from 4th May 2019, and will be available in two different configurations:

6GB RAM + 64GB internal storage @ RM1,299
6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage @ RM1,499

It will also be available in Piano Black and Ocean Blue color options, with Lavender Violet coming at a later date. These colors are the same as the Mi 9.
The new Mi 9 SE will be avaialble at Mi Stores, Lazada Xiaomi Flagship Stores and Shopee Mi Official Store. In addition to the release of Mi 9 SE, Xiaomi Malaysia is also offering a special gift in conjunction with Mother’s Day
With every purchase of Mi 9 SE from 4th May to 12th May 2019, you will get also get a 10,000mAh Mi Powerbank 2S for free, while stocks last.

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Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions 2018 Concluded; Uniting Esports Players From Asia

Let’s begin by first clarifying that the Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions isn’t exactly an esports tournament per se, it’s more like a friendly competitive match between esports team from a total of 5 countries – Malaysia, Singapore, India, Thailand, and Indonesia. A total of 18 teams joined the Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions, and the grand finals happened last Saturday, 21st July 2018.
We’re honored to be the official media of Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions Grand Final and we’re here to report and summarize everything that we saw and experienced.

The Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions Grand Finals happened at Battle Arena, which is on the 5th floor of Jaya Shopping Center. It’s definitely a unique venue as that place is made specifically as an esports arena with top-of-the-line equipment as shown by our partner site. There were teams that entered the Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions Grand Finals through qualifier rounds in their respective countries, where as some teams were invited directly by Cooler Master themselves.

During the event, we saw many things happening during the event. Since we arrived earlier, we got to see the demo area that showcases Cooler Master’s latest peripherals. Some of them were just shown in Computex and it made its Malaysia debut here.

The demo area actually featured these new Cooler Master products:

Cooler Master CK550 mechanical keyboard that uses Gateron switches
Cooler Master MasterMouse MM530
Cooler Master RGB Hard Gaming Mousepad
Cooler Master MasterCase H500M
Cooler Master MasterPulse MH752 that features a USB input that supports virtual 7.1 surround sound.
Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360R RGB

The new Cooler Master MasterPulse MH752 worn by Team Female Fighters. Will be in the market soon.
Then, onward to the main event. There were a total of 18 teams and 6 games in total. It’s a full day event that starts somewhere around 1pm, and ended at around 8.30pm. The 6 games were slotted with giveaways and challenges in between – making it a really engaging yet fun-filled event.
The casters were hard at work to commentate on all the 6 games as well. These teams do get really competitive against each other when there are only about 40 survivors and the circle gets smaller. Of course, the audience were already screaming in excitement as the game draws near to the end.
Ivan “Jinn” See and Kiran “ShaDeSLaYer” Noojibail
We posted a bunch of pictures over at Instagram and our Facebook Page which you can have a look to know what’s happening chronologically.
After all 6 games were done, we finally got to know who are the winners:

Purple Mood from Thailand – 1st place
Silver Wolves from Malaysia – 2nd place
The Face Gaming from Malaysia – 3rd place
Lapar Esports from Malaysia – 4th place
Gaventure from Malaysia – 5th place

Once again, the Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions is meant to unite gamers together – and hence there is no prize pool. But still, the winners isn’t going back empty handed.
Purple Mood from Thailand. It’s actually their first time participating in a tournament in other countries.

1st place

4x MasterKeys MK750
4x MasterLiquid ML240R RGB
4x RGB Hard Gaming Mousepad

Silver Wolves from Malaysia.

2nd place

4x MasterKeys Pro L RRGB
4x MasterLiquid ML120L RGB
4x RGB Hard Gaming Mousepad

The Face Gaming from Malaysia.

3rd place

4x MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition
4x MasterLiquid 120
4x Swift-RX XL

There was also a random pick at the end where the winner got to win a Cooler Master Stryker SE. What a lucky dude!
Congratulations! Have fun transporting it back home! 😂
And finally after the whole event wrapped up – we got to enjoy chicken dinner together. Why chicken dinner? Because it’s a PUBG event, of course.

Congratulations to Cooler Master for hosting an event that brought esports gamers from other countries to experience Malaysia and get to know each other as one big family.
Special thanks to Nimo TV for making this event possible and also as the broadcasting partner for everyone else to enjoy the Cooler Master Regional Circle Of Champions Grand Finals in their homes. Also thanks to Mineski Event Team and Battle Arena for sponsoring this event.
Perhaps there will be another similar event coming soon? 😉

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Review – JOI AIO 5350: A very upgradable AIO PC

This is the JOI AIO 5350. From only the looks and its spec sheet, this seems like a pretty standard AIO PC. But, it does have a few surprises. So in today’s video, let’s talk about this AIO PC.
I also highly recommend you watch the video of this review since many things aren’t exactly easy to describe with words.

Starting off with the display, this is a 23.8-inch IPS LCD screen with 1080p resolution and at 60Hz refresh rate. When we tested it with our colorimeter, it covers about 84% of the sRGB color gamut – which is actually quite okay since our eyes didn’t detect anything glaringly wrong since we can watch YouTube or Netflix without issues.

By the way, there’s no OSD menu here but there’s a button to turn on or off the monitor, and also a plus and another minus button to change the brightness.

As for the other hardware packed inside the AIO PC, we have:

Core i5-9400
8GB DDR4 RAM
512GB SATA III SSD

Not gonna talk much about performance since it’s gonna be more than enough for office work but definitely not enough for gaming since there’s no graphics card.

But with that said, JOI AIO 5350 is actually very well-built. There are lots of ports on this AIO PC.

There are also ports that are easily accessible, placed at the bottom left side of the monitor! And all of these ports are USB 3 speeds!

There’s also a built-in webcam and microphone – and we have a sample of the webcam and mic in the video version of this review.

But now, we get to the dismantling part of this JOI AIO 5350. This is where things become the most interesting.

Firstly, the JOI AIO 5350 can be mounted with another monitor arm or something since it has a standard VESA mount.
Yeah… that stand is very sharp.
That’s something that I recommend you to do – because the stand of this monitor can definitely be used as a weapon since it’s very sharp on both points here.
But, the neck of the monitor can’t be removed easily. For that, we’ll have to open up the back of the monitor by opening these two locks at the back, and the entire back panel can be slid off.

After that, there’s a huge metal plate that acts as support. This plate is held onto the AIO PC by 4 screws, but one of the screws was rotating the screw post below it, so I had to get a needlenose plier inside to do what I must.
Anyway, back to the neck of the monitor – since it’s screwed onto this metal plate, it can be removed – by removing a few more screws. Long story, and this is not a tutorial.

Okay, after removing that metal sheet – we have access to the entire motherboard. Here, we can make a lot of upgrades. There are two SODIMM RAMs and only one of them is occupied, so you can just buy some other laptop RAM and slot it in.

Also, only one SATA port is used for the included 2.5-inch SATA III SSD that is connected at the side of the monitor. I presume the other SATA port isn’t usable since there’s no other place to put the 2.5-inch SATA III SSD.

But that’s not an issue since this motherboard also has another M.2 SSD slot. Brilliant!

And let’s not forget – that Intel Core i5-9400 can also be swapped with some other desktop CPU since there is some thermal headroom available. Stressing only the CPU, it reaches about 75 but stressing both CPU and the internal GPU, we get to about 85.

But the major roadblock here is the power supply. We only have a 120W power supply here for the entire setup – all the hardware, including the monitor.

Realistically speaking though, there’s no reason to swap out the CPU anyway since it’s plenty powerful for office work and school.
Should you buy the JOI AIO 5350?
Overall, for the price of RM2,999, the JOI AIO 5350 is an interesting AIO PC that has a very practical design and offers lots of upgradability. And you’ll also get a wired keyboard and mouse set for free, too.

Who should buy this AIO PC? Well, there are many people who buy laptops but never even take them out of the house or even move them away from the same table.
For those users, an AIO PC like this JOI AIO 5350 is the most suitable. Or even at offices – since this JOI AIO 5350 has a Kensington lock and also an intrusion alarm too.

Where to buy? (Affiliate link)

Lazada
Shopee

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Kingston Demonstrates Family of Storage Solutions

Kingston shares its latest and upcoming products during Computex 2018. The demonstration highlights the capabilities of the fastest NVMe SSD, embedded and encrypted solutions, mobile lifestyle products, including the brand new Canvas series for SD and microSD cards.
From enterprise SSDs, encrypted USBs, consumer mobile products to embedded solutions, Kingston continues to offer customers rock-solid reliability, ultimate security and maximum performance. The demonstration shows Kingston’s commitment to offering the most complete family of storage solutions. The demonstration includes:

DCP1000 PCIe NVMe SSD: With four times the data rate of HD, Kingston’s PCIe NVMe solutions provide the end-to-end data acceleration required for modern media workflows as demonstrated on the Wall of Video with hundreds of individual, high-resolution videos.

Data Security: Kingston Encrypted Solutions

Both Kingston and IronKey encrypted USB drives are designed to protect data and maintain a productive and efficient mobile workforce, and are key component of GDPR compliance. Learn more about it here.
Kingston UV500 SSD protects sensitive data with 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption and supports TCG Opal 2.0. It is available in three different form factors (2.5″, M.2 2280, mSATA) to accommodate any client system.

Embedded Solutions: Kingston’s embedded solutions include eMMC, eMCP, ePOP and DRAM components. The embedded solutions can be widely used for any other consuming electronic existed in people’s daily lives.
Mobile Lifestyle and The New Canvas Series of Flash Cards

The all-new “Canvas” series SD and microSD memory cards allows users and creators to record precious moments and bring out the imagination. With the Canvas cards, people can paint with colorful memories and create their own masterpiece. It offers three different variations in both SD and microSD cards: Select, Go, and React to suit consumers’ needs.
DataTraveler Bolt Duo is designed specifically to free up space on Apple iPhone and iPad with limited memory. Users simply plug it in, download the Bolt app and then back up to their camera roll.

Nucleum USB 3.1 Type-C ─ With Nucleum, users can connect up to 7 devices at once and keep your creativity flowing. Besides, it can power up your Apple MacBook while also connecting to a USB Flash drive and charging an iPhone. The compact size and built-in cable also make the Nucleum a perfect travel companion to take with on location.

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Review – ROG Flow X13: An impressive high-performance convertible laptop

This laptop is a rather different laptop by the ROG. It’s the company’s first-ever laptop ultra-thin, ultra-portable, convertible laptop. And yet this isn’t the first time I’m using the ROG Flow X13 as well – because a few months ago, we did a video with ROG Malaysia and we showcased the Flow X13 alongside the XG Mobile.
But we weren’t able to review that unit of the Flow X13 for multiple different reasons – mostly because of time constraints – and now, we have much more time to soak in the experience and share it with you guys.

So, the ROG Flow X13. This is a rather weird laptop by the company – and I’m not complaining because it can really compete with many other ultraportable laptops as well.
We’ll start off with the physical build. This ROG Flow X13 is covered by sandblasted magnesium alloy which contributes to its rigidity even though this laptop is pretty thin at 15.8mm, and it is also rather lightweight too – weighing at just 1.3kg.

As for the aesthetics, the laptop has a rather… nostalgic??? Okay, remember when we talked about the ROG Zephyrus G14 ACRNM edition in December of last year?

Anyway, in that video, I said it’s… like a fever dream. And that design philosophy seems to have inspired the Flow X13. According to ROG, this is called the “gravity waves” design. Okay? I guess?

And the default wallpaper of this laptop is also something along this line of gravity waves and truly, it reminds me of the Zephyrus G14 ACRNM Edition’s design.
Oh – while we’re here, let’s talk about the display. This is a 13-inch laptop with a 16:10 aspect ratio, so its resolution is at 1920×1200 pixels and supports 120Hz refresh rate too. It is using a glossy finish because this is a touchscreen.

The hinge on this laptop is decent enough but it does wobble when I’m using the touchscreen. And of course, this is a convertible laptop after all so it can be used in the 4 typical modes – laptop, tent, stand, and tablet mode.

Now – back to the design of this laptop. The deck of this laptop is also using the same “gravity waves” design. The lines run across the entire wrist rest area and ROG also took some creative liberty to “bend” the gravity waves to create the ROG logo. Pretty sure gravity waves don’t bend at a 90° angle though.

And since we’re here, let’s talk about the trackpad. Yes, the “gravity waves” also cover the trackpad but they’re under the glass surface. And the trackpad works fine most of the time. It caught me off-guard at first because there is acceleration – but not a big deal for me. So overall, no complaints about the trackpad.

And now the keyboard. This keyboard is one that I thought I wouldn’t like as much but turned out to love it a lot. The layout is fantastic and the keys have a long travel distance. I had fun typing on this laptop, honestly.

Also, I should add that after typing for many hours on this laptop, I realized the “gravity waves” on the wrist rest actually helps to wick sweat away while providing some breathing room for my palms. I don’t know if this “feature” is intentional or not – but it’s surely a functional design.
What I love even more is the fact that ROG made use of the extra space above the keyboard and placed some quick shortcut buttons there.
“But where’s the power button?” That’s a good question. It’s placed at the right side, along the ports. And this is where I think the Flow X13 could’ve been better.

At the right side of this laptop, we have a USB 3 Type-A 10Gb/s, and another USB 3 Type-C 10Gb/s too. The placement for both these ports though… directly interferes with the typical mouse placement area.

Also, the USB Type-A port is placed beside the power button. They both have more or less the same size and I tried stabbing a USB cable into the power button way too many times, honestly.
On the left side of the laptop, we have a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and an HDMI 2.0b port, and a rubber flap that reveals another USB 3 Type-C 10Gb/s and a proprietary port.

Both the USB-C and the proprietary ports are used for the XG Mobile’s connection but to me, this is just very reminiscent of the ROG Phone situation. There’s a typical USB-C that is perfectly usable on its own, placed beside a proprietary port for functionality expansion. But for some reason, ROG decided to also make a rubber plug that covers both the USB-C and the proprietary port.
For me, I ended up leaving that rubber plug because I don’t want that USB-C port to be covered. I mean, I can charge the laptops by plugging them to either USB-C ports and why would I ever want to make myself suffer by suffocating myself from one high-speed USB-C port?
By the way, the Flow X13 charges using a 100W USB-C charger.

And now, for the performance. Our specific unit of the ROG Flow X13 that we got here.

Obviously, this laptop can do some gaming since the GTX 1650 is rather powerful. Just don’t expect smooth gaming experience with newer AAA titles at high graphical settings, though.
Nonetheless, I still played the entirety of Portal Reloaded – yes, the new Portal 2 mod with time portals – and it plays without issues – as expected.

This laptop also automatically switches between iGPU and dGPU mode on what seems to be a hardware level as the NVIDIA GPU disappears from the task manager while in iGPU mode.
As for the battery life, we got about 5 hours while in iGPU mode and at 60Hz refresh rate because the Armoury Crate automatically switches to 60Hz to save battery.
I also edited a bunch of videos on this laptop while connected to the Dell U4021QW monitor via its USB-C port. It’s 40-inch 5K2K monitor and the review will be at Tech Critter’s channel, so check it out here.

And speaking of Tech Critter, we’ll have to end our review here because we don’t have the XG Mobile with us. This review is only about the laptop alone and so far, I’m impressed and amazed by what ROG made.
Of course, there are a lot more improvements that can be made – for example, the USB port placement.

So finally, the price. The one that we have here is RM6,499. Honestly speaking, it’s a good price to pay for a laptop like this because at this price point, the competition either isn’t a convertible or doesn’t offer the same level of performance. And that makes the ROG Flow X13 a unique convertible laptop on its own.
You can maybe even get the RM5,999 version if you don’t need that much CPU power or storage – but know this – the ROG Flow X13 is not upgradable. Everything is soldered onto the motherboard.

So, it’s nice to see competition in the high-performance ultrabook segment – and I think the ROG Flow X13 is a laptop that other companies cannot ignore.

Where to buy?

Lazada
Shopee

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Ana – latest hero on Overwatch

Hey – guess what? New heroes are now coming to Overwatch – starting with Ana. Check out the video on her backstory yourself here.
Done watching that? Look at what she can do in Overwatch. Seems like she’s another one of those highly-hated heroes in the game. Maybe among Hanzo and Junkrat in the list.

Let’s see… Ana is currently available on Overwatch PTR, and many gamers have already gotten footage on her abilities too. Check out this video by Realm Games, where they explain Ana in depth. Also, new status effect to finally kill Roadhog easier!

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Vivo Introduces NEX Dual Display Editon

Vivo’s NEX series of smartphones is here to stay as their flagship series – and there’s this brand new phone into that series that raised many eyebrows. I’m talking about the new NEX Dual Display Edition, which is quite clunky for a smartphone name.
What’s so special about this Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition, you might ask. Well, it’s a smartphone with two displays – as the name suggests. It comes with a screen at the front (obviously), and another screen at the back of the phone. It’s quite similar to the recently-released Nubia X.

As Vivo’s premium line-up, the NEX series offers not only an extraordinary user experience to consumers, it also unleashes our imagination towards the future of design and development of smartphones. Combining a futuristic dual-display design and innovative technologies, NEX Dual Display Edition demonstrates Vivo’s continuous exploration and pursuit of exceptional innovations for consumers.
Spark Ni, Senior Vice President of Vivo

The Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition features a 6.39-inch Ultra FullView Display at the front – which now boasts an insanely high 91.63%. It’s using a Super AMOLED panel as well – and it does not have a notch since there is no selfie cameras to begin with.
Similar to the Nubia X, there is now another 5.49-inch Super AMOLED display at the back of the phone. This back screen acts like a mirror for you to take selfies – hence you can ditch the selfie cameras entirely.  Around the cameras, there is something Lunar Ring where you can show off glowing band of colors which can signify notifications and even pulse with music.
Once again drawing similarities to the Nubia X, the rear screen can also be used as a touchpad for gaming as well. The screen can be divided into two halves and function as trigger buttons.

Vivo is confident that you can take even more beautiful selfies using the rear-facing camera since the Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition has a triple camera setup. It consists of a 12MP Dual-Pixel main camera that uses a Sony IMX363 sensor and a lens with 4-axis OIS, a specialized Night Video Camera, and a Time of Flight (TOF) 3D Camera.
We here at Nasi Lemak Tech are avid fans of mobile videography, and we’re quite interested to learn more about what the Night Video Camera really is. Vivo claims that it “helps users film clear and stable footage in motion and low-light environments” which does sound good. If it can capture beautiful, stable footage at 4K @ 60FPS under low-light conditions, then I’ll be impressed.
Other than the dual display and the cameras, the new Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition is also one of the first smartphone to come with a humongous amount of RAM – 10GB to be exact. Coupled with the Snapdragon 845 chipset and 128GB of storage, the Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition will be multitasking like nobody’s business.
As of now, the Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition has just been launched in China. We do not know when it will arrive to Malaysia. Stay tuned for more information about it!

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ASUS launches new VivoBook Ultra A412, A512, K403

We’re here at Genting right now to report that yes – ASUS is collaborating with a local fashion brand, Kittie Yiyi, to present the new VivoBook Ultra A412 and A512 alongside with the VivoBook Ultra K403 to the world.
These laptops have their own unique points hence differentiating them from each other and from the competition as well. Let’s take a brief look at what they each have to offer.

ASUS VivoBook Ultra A412 & A512
These two laptops are from the same series and they both are packed with a massive screen in a tiny laptop body. They both have more or less the same core specs too – an Intel Core i5-8265U processor with an NVIDIA GeForce MX250. Surprisingly, it’s quite powerful and able to play some games too. It is also able to handle esports title nicely.

These two laptops are thin and lightweight yet packs a punch. Essentially, they are ultrabooks-like laptops without the ultrabook tax. They also come in 4 different colors which are bright and shining with brilliance – Transparent Silver, Slate Grey, Peacock Blue, and also Coral Crush.
We have also reviewed the VivoBook Ultra A512 which can be found here.

Honestly, I’m looking forward to the Coral Crush color. Its displays are huge for its footprint, thanks to the NanoEdge bezels. Not only that, ASUS has built the ErgoLift hinge into these laptops as well. They are really comfortable to type on and definitely bliss for long usage times.
For the full list of specs, they are as below. The prices for both these laptops are RM2,899.

VivoBook Ultra A412
VivoBook Ultra A512

CPU
Intel Core i5-8265U
Intel Core i5-8265U

Display size
14″
FHD (1920 x 1080)
15.6″
FHD (1920 x 1080)

Graphics
Discrete: NVIDIA GeForce MX 250
Discrete: NVIDIA GeForce MX 250

Memory
Up to 16GB DDR4 2400MHz
Up to 16GB DDR4 2400MHz

Storage options
Dual-Storage Design
512GB PCIe SSD
Dual-Storage Design
512GB PCIe SSD

Interface
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
1 x USB 2.0 Type-A
1 x 3.5mm audio combo jack
1x HDMI1.4
1x SD card reader
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
2 x USB 2.0 Type-A
1 x 3.5mm audio combo jack
1 x HDMI1.4
1 x SD card reader

Battery
37Whr 2-cell lithium-polymer battery
37Whr 2-cell lithium-polymer battery

Weight
1.5kg
1.6kg

ASUS VivoBook Ultra K403
In another addition to the VivoBook Ultra series is the K403. Instead of boosting an insane level of performance for its footprint, ASUS opted to do some fine-tuning. By removing some hardware that many people won’t even use while on the go (e.g. dedicated GPU), ASUS doubled the battery capacity.

With this adjustment made, ASUS claims that the VivoBook Ultra K403 can run for up to 24 hours straight. That’s 24 hours of non-stop usage – and I really want to know how in the world ASUS achieve this.
As for the specs, here they are:

ASUS VivoBook Ultra 14 K403

CPU
8th Gen Intel Core i3-8145U
8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U

Display size
14″
FHD (1920 x 1080)

Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 620

Memory
Up to 8GB LPDDR3 2133MHz

Storage
512GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x2

Interface
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
1 x USB 2.0 Type-A
1 x Audio combo jack
1 x HDMI 1.4
1 x SD card reader

Battery
72Wh lithium-polymer battery
Up to 24 hours usage

Weight
1.3kg

The VivoBook Ultra is available in both Silver Blue and Petal Pink color options and at the price of RM2,699 for the Intel Core i3-8145U variant and RM3,399 for the Intel Core i5-8265U variant.

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Selfie & Win A ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro – Signed By Gong Yoo!

Alright – who doesn’t want a free smartphone, make some noise! That’s what I thought. Everyone wants to win a free smartphone – especially when it’s a smartphone signed by Gong Yoo. Yes – you can win one ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro signed by him – for free!
All you have to do is just selfie with Gong Yoo when you see him hanging out and about ASUS Authorized Mobile Dealers around Malaysia. Any display materials with Gong Yoo is fine, actually. Just selfie with him.

Here are the details for this contest:

Duration: 5 Oct 2017 (Thurs) – 22 Oct 2017 (Sun)
Prizes:

1 x ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro signed by Gong Yoo!
20 x ZenFone 4 Gong Yoo Merchandises

To Participate:-

Follow ASUS Malaysia Facebook and Instagram page
Proceed to any ASUS Authorized Mobile Dealers located around Malaysia (Click here)
Selfie with any ZenFone 4 Gong Yoo display material at the outlets
Tell us what is your favorite feature about ZenFone 4 Selfie / Selfie Pro and why?
Upload it on FB and/or Instagram with these hashtags – #SelfiewithGongYoo and #ZenFone4SelfieMY

Winner Announcement: 25 Oct 2017 (Wednesday)

So you might be thinking – how should I know what favorite feature I like on the ZenFone 4 Selfie and Selfie Pro? Well, we got you covered. Check out our review of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro right here. Better yet, learn more about the Selfie Pro through the reviews of our friends over from Tech Critter, My Everyday Tech, and Pokde.net!

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Review – S Pen Fold Edition for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 + flip case with S Pen holder

When Samsung announced the first Galaxy Fold back in the year 2018, we joked around saying that it would be an amazing device if it has Samsung’s S Pen support and even mentioned that the S Pen could be hidden inside the device like the Nintendo DS. Perhaps for the Fold, the S Pen can be hidden inside the hinge area – that’ll be great.
Fast forward to today, and here we have it. The Galaxy Z Fold3 with S Pen support. It’s a dream come true for many people like me who just can’t live without a pen nowadays since having a pen is just so much more convenient to draw stuff with. Certain things are best conveyed through illustrations and diagrams compared to just plain words.

I bought this piece of accessory. It’s Samsung’s official Galaxy Z Fold3 Flip Cover with S Pen Fold Edition. Since this accessory is a two-in-one, we’ll be breaking this review into two parts – starting with the unboxing.

Ripping the packaging apart, we get a few things in total:

The flip case
The S Pen Fold Edition
Some extra nibs and a tool to change the nibs
Documentation

S Pen Fold Edition
As we mentioned at the beginning, this is a dream come true. This foldable device makes sense since it’s that bigger screen makes it so much better to draw on a bigger screen.
3 S Pens. From top to bottom: Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Tab S7 FE, S Pen Fold Edition
And the S Pen’s design plays a big role in terms of the experience while drawing, too. The S Pen Fold Edition is more similar to the Galaxy Tab’s S Pen as compared to the Galaxy Note’s series of S Pen. It’s for the better since the thicker body feels more like a real pen rather than using a twig to write on the screen.
I can also hold it with a tougher grip since this S Pen Fold Edition is sturdier, too.

It also has a single button on the side here – which is the same as any other S Pens in the past. But, this is a passive S Pen so there is no Bluetooth LE connectivity to wave it like a magic wand a la the Galaxy Note9, Note10, and Note20 series of smartphones.

With that said, all of the features found on previous generations of Samsung devices are also found in the Galaxy Z Fold3. Air Command – my favorite utility when it comes to stylus shortcuts – is also present, and writing on it feels a little surreal.

You see, Samsung published a video detailing how they developed the S Pen Fold Edition, starting with the screen’s digitizer, all the way to the S Pen’s rubber nip, and also an inclusion of an internal spring to automatically retract when writing on the screen.

These are all technicalities that… while it really made the engineer in me go wild, it’s also impressive that these changes to the S Pen aren’t felt by the typical consumers while writing.
I mean, let’s do a quick comparison here. I have the Galaxy Tab S7 FE with me here. It comes with an S Pen and we’re writing on a hard piece of the glass screen, like any other Samsung device in the past. It feels good to write on – and we all know what.

Then for the Galaxy Z Fold3, because the inner display is not a hard piece of glass – since it needs to fold after all – but it feels… exactly the same. In some ways, I think the PET screen protector on the Galaxy Z Fold3 makes the S Pen glide on the screen with less friction compared to glass.

That internal spring that Samsung mentioned? I really don’t feel the S Pen retracting. Perhaps the spring did absorb the force just enough to make sure it doesn’t exert too much pressure on the screen and not hindering the writing experience. Either way, the S Pen writing experience feels the same.
But the digitizer of the S Pen. Since this is a foldable display, the digitizer was ultimately split into two parts but controlled by the same brain. The gap in the middle is filled in using software – and to be honest, if I didn’t know about this technical aspect of the Galaxy Z Fold3, I wouldn’t even have the slightest idea that this is how the S Pen functionality is implemented.

I do admit, writing across the Galaxy Z Fold3’s crease is a bit weird and it does take some time to get used to. Sometimes if I write across the crease too quickly, I’ll get some liftoff distance due to that crease and that broke my line. It definitely takes some time to get used to.

Like what we mentioned when we talked about game emulation on the Galaxy Z Fold3, using the S Pen makes it feel like a Nintendo DS Pro or something like that. I enjoyed playing Cooking Mama on it and that game requires some intense tapping and scrubbing with the S Pen.

With that said, the S Pen Fold Edition looks and feels like any other S Pens while writing. Its internals, however, is different. The Galaxy Z Fold3 and this S Pen Fold Edition are made for each other and living in their own bubble. No other existing device or S Pens are cross-compatible.

While I can understand why that is the case, it still feels like a slippery slope down to “one new variation of S Pen per device” territory. Hopefully, that’s not the case. Also – as a quick mention, the cover display is not compatible with the S Pen. It’s not a big deal, but I just instinctively used the S Pen on the cover display when I had the pen in my hand just to realize that it doesn’t work.
If you’re looking to just buy the S Pen alone, then you can! The price is RM199.

That Galaxy Z Fold3 Flip Cover…
This is a funny story. When the Galaxy Z Fold3 was launched in August, I saw this flip case and I knew I won’t like this case because of that front flap. One of the images shown was the protruding front flap while the device is unfolded.

I mean, Reddit seems to agree as they have resulted in more… extreme solutions by chopping off the front flap. But that’ll leave the S Pen part dangling.
Oh – speaking of that, opening up the flip cover will wake the device up. But, since the front flap is so dangly, the screen can keep waking up while it’s in the pocket, thus wasting precious battery life.
A magnet to hold it in place could’ve remedied this issue.
There is a new software update for the Galaxy Z Fold3 that gives us the option to disable this feature.

This case is also an abomination for left-handed phone users like me. The cover display is going to be difficult to reach thanks to the extra thickness. Reaching the power button is also a problem since there’s a lip that juts out and obstructs my finger.

But, I do have a love-hate relationship with it now. Once unfolded, the protruding flap is… somewhat fine with me since I can grab on the S Pen holder for some grip. And the S Pen holder also provided me somewhere to grab and hold the device while unfolded.
          Holding onto the protruding flap…            … and gripping on the S Pen holder.
Still, I find myself kind of liking this case eventually. If I want to check something real quick, just flick the case and face unlocked the phone, then I can proceed to use the device.
I bought this knowing that I probably won’t be using the flip case, but still need something to hold the S Pen while other third-party case manufacturers come up with their own case designs.

By the way, the entire S Pen holder is slid into the flip case via a track on the hinge area. You can essentially ditch the flip case and stick this S Pen holder into another case. Or just carry it in your bag or pocket.

However, this flip case cannot be bought a la carte as it is only available via the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G Flip Cover with Pen bundle.

Where to buy? (Affiliate links)

S Pen Fold Edition

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G Flip Cover with Pen

Amazon
Lazada
Shopee

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ASUS redefines "budget"

Each time when someone asks me “what is the best laptop”, usually they’ll be a follow-up question that goes by “within this budget”. This question applies to tablets, laptops, and smartphones, but most of the time they are really unrealistic, and then cause disappointment as they have to fork out some more cash just to get a machine that does what they intend to do properly.

Thirdly, but definitely the most exciting one ever, is the new EeeBook X205. We’ve seen the Eee PC had been with us for a very long time, and it defind the netbook market for years. ASUS thinks it’s time to move on, and created the new EeeBook X205.
This new X205 laptop is an 11.6-inch laptop that weight less than 1kg, and yes I can lift this up with one hand without problems. Come to think of it, it’s heavier than my camera. ASUS boasts that it lasts for 12 hours on battery in a single charge.

That might be true as the X205 is using the new Intel Bay Trail-T quad-core Z3735 processor, with 2GB of RAM that goes along with a 1366×768 pixel screen. The secret behind the thinness is the storage. They’re using eMMC, or a sub-SSD in this equivalent, is soldered on board, so the EeeBook X205 can be as thin as possible.
Better yet, the X205 is available in 32GB version for RM699, and the 64GB version for RM799. It’s only available on early March, unfortunately.

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The new Samsung Galaxy A13 5G is the most affordable 5G device to date for the Korean brand

Samsung Malaysia has once again lowered the entry barrier for a 5G-compatible smartphone by announcing the new Galaxy A13 5G.

It is quite interesting to see that Samsung is still expanding the scope of its second-tier A series products that is all about the good value per buck paid supported by a series of good software experience. Although the Galaxy A13 5G could not compare itself to other brands in terms of 5G accessibility, at least you know you’ll get something that can be used for quite some time and the same old rule still applies – you get what you paid for.
Here’s a quick rundown of its spec although there’s not much to look at anyway.

6.5-inch IPS LCD Display

1080p Resolution
Waterdrop Notch
90Hz Refresh Rate

MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G Chipset
4GB RAM
64GB Storage
Triple Rear Camera

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

5MP Selfie Camera
5,000mAh Battery

15W Fast Charge

Light Blue, Black, Orange Colors

Pricing and Availability
You can grab the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G at the price of RM1,099 starting right now over at Samsung Malaysia’s official website and other online platforms as well as offline retailers.

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