New Netflix Ad-Supported Tier May Not Include All TV Shows and Movies

Netflix Ad-Supported Tier Limitations

The executives over at Netflix have shed some light on the upcoming ad-supported tier of their service during a recent Q2 earnings call. It appears that some TV shows and movies will not be available for those subscribed to that specific new plan.
According to co-CEO Ted Sarandos, they need to discuss and gain approval to include advertisements in TV shows and movies that are available on the platform, and they have been actively seeking to negotiate a deal with a wide variety of studios. Most of the content on Netflix should still be available for the new ad-supported tier.

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It was also mentioned by CFO Spencer Neumann that they could launch the new ad-supported tier prior to having any discussion with the relevant studios. However, it could land the company in hot water, most likely legal repercussions. It was never outright mentioned as to which specific content would not be available in the new plan, but depending on which one gets the cut, it might deter people from ever using the plan.
Source
Pokdepinion: One would think their own first party shows like Stranger Things would be safe but you never know sometimes in these kind of cases.
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Gamesir-X3 Controller Review – Comfortable and Cool

Unboxing the GameSir-X3 Controller
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Casing

The GameSir-X3 Controller comes in a thick, hardy case that houses the controller and its components in it.
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Box Content
With the packaging, you can find the following items:

GameSir-X3 Controller
Carry case
Power-only Type-C cable for the cooler
Faceted D-pad x1
Convex Thumbstick Cap x2
High-rise thumbstick x2
Concave thumbstick cap x2
User Manual
Certification

Specifications

Working Platform
Android 9 or above

Connection
Built-in wired Type-C to your phone
Wired Type-C to the phone cooler

Battery
No

Power Input For Phone Cooler
5V 2A

Dimensions
180 x 88 x 48 mm

Weight
270g

The Good
The GameSir-X3 looks slightly similar to its previous model, the GameSir-X2, with a thicker design and an additional fan on the back. The buttons, triggers, and joysticks are a delight to play on as the switches feel really responsive and smooth.

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GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Rubberized Clamps & Type-C Port
Furthermore, the build quality of the controller feels solid and is really comfortable for someone with small hands. The rubberized clamps firmly secure your phone in place and despite them being really tight, they do not damage your phone’s frame. I managed to play games while lying down without any fear of my phone dropping on my face.
Plugging the smartphone into the controller is rather quick and easy as the device features a 51° rotatable Type-C port, which allows me to tilt and slot my phone immediately with ease. Taking it out is also the same as all I have to do is extend the clamps and pop goes my phone.
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Top View
The GameSir-X3 comes with a new feature, a small cooling fan that is on the back and a large conductive backplate. When plugged into a power source, you can see the dynamic RGB backlight lighting up.
Having the cooler on does make a significant difference when I was playing Genshin Impact on medium settings. Without the cooler, my phone hits approximately 42°C whereas, with the cooler on, my smartphone’s temperature managed to dip to approximately 32°C. Additionally, I was able to charge my phone from the charging port on the bottom right of the controller when my battery is low, extending my game time.
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Stardew Valley
The GameSir-X3 functions really well with Android Controller Support games such as Stardew Valley, as there were no input delays while gaming. The controller does recreate the feeling like I am playing on my Nintendo Switch and it is very responsive during any gameplay that requires quick time responses.
The Bad
Unfortunately, by the time the GameSir-X3 arrived in our hands, the RB button of the controller has been damaged. Even though the controller comes with a carry case that was designed to protect it, it is not recommended to drop the case since the controller can still be damaged by the impact.
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Genshin Impact
Despite the cooler doing a great job regulating the temperature of my phone, it made the controller heavy and my hands got tired after playing on it for a long time. Not only that, it is impractical as it requires a separate USB-C power supply for it to function, gluing you down to one location if you really need the cooler to work.
Not only do you need a power cable for the cooler, but what if you need to charge your phone too? This would mean that you will need to plug into two power sources or choose either to power the cooler or your phone. Sadly, the cooler is non-detachable and the RGB backlight bothers me when playing games in the dark as it cannot be switched off.

GameSir-X3 Controller Review – Setting My Own Layout
With the controller working really well with games that have Android Controller Support, games that do not have this support are required to use the GameSir app. With this app, you can choose to remap the buttons to your own layout or import them from others who have previously made their own layouts. The software’s in-game UI did feel cluttered and overwhelming when I tried to create my own layout.
GameSir-X3 Controller Review – GameSir App
The app does need a bit of work as the localization in English was confusing the first time around and it did take me some time to understand the instructions.
GameSir-X3 Controller Verdict
The GameSir-X3 Controller, with a starting price of $99.99, is a solid controller with responsive and smooth buttons. If you’re looking for an affordable controller with a cooler but wouldn’t mind sacrificing portability, this might be the controller for you.
At the end of our review, I award this phone with a Bronze Pokdeaward.

Big thanks to GameSir for sending us this gamepad for the purposes of this review. If you’re interested to purchase one via international shipping, you can also use this link.
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Samsung Mirror Mirror Me Selfie Contest — Capture Your Best Mirror Selfie To Win A Trip To Korea

Samsung Malaysia is giving a chance for their fans to win a trip to Korea. All you need to do is enter their Mirror Mirror Me Selfie contest.
Samsung Mirror Mirror Me Selfie Contest
By following just a few simple steps, you could stand a chance to be a part of the “Get It Beauty Better Girls School” TV reality show with South Korean actor Jung Hye-In.

Capture a mirror selfie photo or video in your own unique way with any Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Upload your photo onto Instagram with your creative caption.
Include the hashtags: #BetterGirlsMalaysia #BetterYou #WithGalaxy #GalaxyFanWeeks and then tag @SamsungMalaysia
Lastly in your post, tag one friend that you would like to share the experience with.

The 50 top winners will be revealed at Samsung Malaysia’s official website and social media to attend an exclusive event in Kuala Lumpur together with one friend. They will enjoy the full K-beauty experience (make-up,hair do, and the likes). They will also have a small meet-and-greet session with a mysterious but well-known South Korean star.

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Last but not least, three from the 50 winners will win an all-expense paid trip to South Korea to be on TV as a “Better Girl” on Get it Beauty with Jung Hye-In and receive 4 days 3 nights of K-beauty traning from top celebrities and beauty experts of the program.
If that’s not enough to entice you to join, they will be giving 10,000 beauty kits to participants. So get your Galaxy phone up and start taking mirror selfies. Contest starts today (27 September) and will end on 21st October 2018.
To find out more on the contest, go to the link here.
Pokdepinion: I guess it’s for girls only.. Oh well. If you know of a someone who uses a Samsung Galaxy smartphone and loves to take mirror selfies, you might want to share this contest to them.
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Graphics cards prices are on the downward trend, drops as much as 32%

After the relatively good news from ASRock, reports are also pointing towards graphics card prices being on the downward trend, at least in the US. Redditor u/gregable has shared a chart where he plotted the price per hashrate over time for a number of GPUs, and the graph is visibly on the downward trend.
As hashrate is pretty much fixed on the GPUs, it essentially means that graphics cards are actually getting cheaper. According to his charts, the average cost per MH gone down by more than 20%, from $26.22 on 16th May, to just $20.88 two days ago.

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This is mainly a result of significant price drops in the high hashrate cards like the GeForce RTX 3090 that has gone down by a whopping 32%, while the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 has dropped by about 25%. The Reddit thread also sees commenters who mentioned that they are observing a similar trend on their end, with lower prices and improved availability.
This might be due to the lower demand from miners thanks to the massive drop in the value of Ethereum, improved supply from NVIDIA’s end, or possibly both. Tom’s Hardware aggregated data from eBay also indicates a downward trend, with the biggest drops seen in the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti that has went down by 12.6% on average.

But it is also worth mentioning that all the cards are still way above MSRP, so we are still some ways away from seeing affordable graphics cards. The only card in Tom’s Hardware’s table to see a price hike is the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which went up by 1.3%.
Better days for gamers might be coming soon, but there might be other factors that will keep the lofty prices afloat for some time, so don’t expect to be able to find graphics cards in stock on shelves that soon, especially not here in Malaysia.
Source
Pokdepinion: AMD and NVIDIA has committed to improving supply, so let’s see if we will see more GPUs at more reasonable prices in the near future.
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unifi Introduces New Travel Pass For Tourists From RM30

We were present today at the unifi Travel Pass launch, where the telco company had announced of their partnership with Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, KL Tower as well as sales partners; Klook and Fave.

Coming in with two options, there’s the 7 Days Travel Pass at RM30 and RM60 for the 15 Days Travel Pass. Both of them comes with unlimited data (4G or 3G speeds) and accessible to more than 8,000 WiFi hotspots in Malaysia through [email protected]

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The packages’ SIM also comes preloaded with RM5 worth of airtime, which you can make outgoing calls at RM0.20 per minute or send SMS at RM0.10 (each SMS).
The unifi Travel Pass can be collected at several places, including:
1. Tourism Malaysia’s Tourism Information Counters (all international airports in Malaysia)
2. KL Tower
3. Malaysia Healthcare Concierge and Lounge
Should you wish to purchase the unifi Travel Pass, you may do so at the link right here.
Pokdepinion: Well I can’t really say that I’ll be  using this since I’m no tourist of my own country but hey, if you’re visiting Malaysia, this would be a great convenience to you.
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Nearly a week since the re-implementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST), Shopee revealed that there were no notable changes in the prices of their 19 million products.
SST Hasn’t Cause Rise In Price For Shopee Yet
Ever since SST kicked in, Shopee did an observation regarding the effect of the tax to their platform and to shoppers. They’ve said that there’s no notable changes in the prices of the 19 million products that they offer and that their 12 million users are still shopping, in fact more than before over the last five days.
The folks from Shopee has even said that Shopee sees no real impact of SST in the online retail space yet. How is this possible you might ask? Well for one, products in stock were purchased during the tax holiday period.

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In addition to that, a large number of traders informed them that manufacturers have not passed on the cost of SST to them, thus the prices remain the same.
Brands and even SMEs shared that they are committed to invest on the growth of e-commerce and such, and will be absorbing the cost of SST (which is commendable to say the least).
Last but not least, Shopee has said that they’ve been recording solid day-on-day sales growth over the last six day despite the re-implementation of SST thanks to their 9.9 Super Shopping Day.
Although the prices are relatively low at the current moment, they are unsure of how long they will stay like that. So if you’re on the lookout for high ticket items such as mobile phones, laptops, computer accessories and home appliances, you might want to act fast before the real impact of SST kicks in.
Don’t forget to checkout Shopee’s 9.9 Super Shopping Day. It’s nearing the end of its promotion, but you still got some time. You can click here to read on how to maximize the promo event.
Pokdepinion: I’m already experiencing the effects of SST in my daily life. I wonder how long Shopee’s prices to be relatively low. Well they aren’t going to stay there forever. So you might want to hurry up if you’re planning on buying products.

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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing and First Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is unlike any of the Korean giant’s top-of-the-line flagship model as it’s essentially a spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note, inheriting the signature design and the S Pen. The review will still take some time so we’re going to give you a taste of it first with our unboxing and first impressions of the smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a packaging that’s very similar to last year’s top-of-the-line flagship by the Korean giant. It’s a slim black box with design patterns which clearly show the series that it belongs to. The reason it’s slim, as you might have expected by now, is because it lacks a charger. Inside the box, you can find the following items:

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USB-C to USB-C cable
SIM ejector pin
Quick Start Guide
Regional Lock Guide
Samsung Pay leaflet
Warranty card
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone itself

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra First Impressions

For our review unit, we received the Burgundy colour variant, which looks quite similar to the Mystic Bronze on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Personally, this is one of two colour choices that I feel is the most attractive, right next to Green. The White and Black certainly looks clean but it also makes this device look rather bland. With that being said, no harm in going for either of those colours if you like them.
The rear has a matte finish, which is great because it’s not a fingerprint magnet and it’s easier to grip. Unlike previous years, the rear camera setup does not have a housing, so they protrude outwards individually. Apparently, this is done to help shave some weight off the device. I still dig the contour cut design from its predecessor, especially in two-toned colours and this one makes it look rather bare.

Flip it over and you will see its glorious 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with adaptive refresh rate ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz. Unsurprisingly, it looks gorgeous, and brightness has seen improvement in this model. However, we will leave further commentary on it in the final review. Like its predecessors, it has a punch hole cutout which houses the selfie camera as well as the under display fingerprint scanner. The bezels are thin and its solid build quality makes it pleasing to hold.
For the first time, we are getting a mainline Samsung flagship entry with a Snapdragon SoC instead of Exynos. To be precise, it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which further builds upon the powerhouse that is the Snapdragon 888. As powerful as it is, there is a genuine worry that it might have inherited the predecessor’s thermal issues as well. This is something we will find out in the review.
Specifications

SoC
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 4nm
1 x Cortex-X2 @ 3 GHz + 3 x Cortex-A710 @ 2.5GHz + 4 x Cortex-A510 @ 1.8 GHz
Adreno 730 GPU

RAM
8GB

Storage
128GB UFS 3.1

Display
6.8″ QHD+ (3080 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+
HDR10+
1750 nits
1Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate

Rear Camera
108MP f/1.8 wide angle camera, PDAF, Laser AF, OIS
10MP f/4.9 telephoto camera, 10x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS
10MP f/2.4 telephoto camera, 3x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS
12MP f/2.2 120˚ ultra-wide, dual pixel PDAF, Super Steady video
LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama
[email protected], [email protected]/60fps, [email protected]/60/240fps, [email protected], HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS

Selfie Camera
40MP f/2.2 80˚ wide-angle selfie cam, PDAF
Dual video call, Auto HDR
[email protected]/60fps, [email protected]

Battery
5000mAh
45W fast charging
USB-PD 3.0 fast charging
15W wireless fast charging
4.5W reverse wireless charging

Dimensions
163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm
229g

Ingress Protection
IP68

Software
One UI 4.1 based on Android 12

Colours
Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Green, and Burgundy

If you want to learn more about all three phones in the Galaxy S22 series as well as the prices, click right here. If you want to know the pre-order offer for all 3 devices, click here instead.
For now, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is in the middle of benchmark tests. I’ll be publishing my review of the flagship smartphone soon so stay tuned for that.
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[CONFIRMED] Steam Summer Sale Dates Revealed! – Prepare your wallets!

It begins

Steam sales will be from June 22, 2017 to July 5, 2017.
It’s that time of the year again. The biggest period ever to hit the gaming community. Steam Summer Sale is upon us.
Last month we revealed that the dates of this summer’s Steam Sale had been leaked by some user on Reddit via a purported screenshot that was taken from a Steamworks group, which is only meant for developers. The leak revealed that this year’s Summer Steam Sale will start on June 22 to July 5.

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Turns out that the leak is indeed true as it has been announced that this year’s Steam Summer Sale will start on June 22 (June 23 our time) and will end on July 5. Which means that it’ll only be a two week affair. Steam Sales are probably the most anticipated periods ever to happen in the gaming world with the Steam Summer Sale being the biggest and most anticipated one. This is the time when you can get some of your favourite PC games at an extraordinarily cheap price. It’s also the time where gamers sometimes pick up obscure and unheard of games just because they’re, well, cheap.
So get your wallets out gamers and buy buy BUY.
Pokdepinion: I love Steam Sales. Not only is it THE time for you to splurge on your favourite games at heavily discounted prices but it’s also a great opportunity for you to discover some indie or old and obscure games (that you would otherwise pass over) just because it’s cheap.
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Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite is big and beautiful

Samsung launched three variants of the Samsung Galaxy S10, and it seems like they want to do the same for the Galaxy Note10 series as well. There’s apparently a Galaxy Note10 Lite in the making, but unlike the other “Lite” devices, the Galaxy Note10 Lite is going to be a big one.

How big? 6.7″ big. Rumors hint to a display size larger than the 6.3″ Galaxy Note10, although the display is going to be the flat kind instead of the curvy ones Samsung has used in all their recent flagships. I think the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite will actually be called the Galaxy Note10e, but I digress.

In addition to the larger display, the Galaxy Note10 Lite (or Note10e) is expected to have a massive 4500 mAh battery, complete with 25W fast charging. The camera will be borrowed from the Galaxy Note10 series, with a triple camera setup featuring a zoom, a telephoto and a “standard” angle one, all with 12MP sensors. The cameras will be packed into a rectangle in the upper left corner, similar to what we saw Samsung use with the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71.

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Over on the front will be the centered punch hole, packing a 32MP selfie camera. Less impressive would be the chipset, with the rumors pointing to an Exynos 9810, which is the chipset powering the Galaxy Note9.

Of course, it will come with a S Pen as we are talking about a Galaxy Note device. Pricing is slated to be a cool 609 euro (~RM2794), although it should be around the RM2500 mark once it comes into Malaysia. Expect to see more details about the device as we approach the rumored launch date of 10th January.
Pokdepinion: Seems like an interesting move to offer a more affordable way to experience the S Pen…
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We took the time to visit Asia Comic Con Malaysia 2018 at Sunway Pyramid. If you wanna what you can expect from 13th to 15th July, check this out.
Asia Comic Con Malaysia 2018 @ Sunway Pyramid Highlights

We were invited to check out Asia Comic Con Malaysia 2018, which is taking place at the Sunway Convention Centre in Sunway Pyramid. The convention will be happening from 13th to 15th July 2018.
In the past, we always talked at length about these types of conventions. This time around, we thought that video would do better so here’s our attempt at a simple highlight video of the happenings on the first day of the convention. There will be competitions and special performances held on the 2nd and 3rd day of the convention.

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Do keep in mind, the event isn’t free as you will need to purchase tickets. It’s RM30 for a 1-day ticket, and RM50 for a 3-day pass. You can purchase it at their ticketing booth near the convention centre as well as a special booth near the ice skating rink.
For more information on the convention, click right here to find out. Until next time, do check out the highlight video at the top of this post.
Pokdepinion: This is just something I’m trying to experiment to make geek convention posts more interesting. Will be trying something slightly different at Visual Arts Expo 2018 next week, perhaps an interview with Dave Ross. Stay tuned.
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Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 Gaming Headset Review: Great For Long Hours Use

Introduction

Our review of the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset. It sounds good, surprisingly comfortable, and is great for marathon gamers! Check it out.
Are you looking for a gaming headset? Not sure which one is worth your money? Well, there are plenty of options, with Razer being one of the more notable ones. But Razer headsets can be kind of a hit-or-miss thing. This one we have today is surprisingly good, and is a good fit for marathon gamers. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Razer Tiamat 2.2. V2 gaming headset.

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Unboxing the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2

As you can see, the box of the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 follows the same design as most other Razer gaming headsets, clad in their signature black and green colour scheme. It says “Dual Subwoofer Gaming Headset” on the box because that’s what the “.2” in 2.2 means. There’s a subwoofer on each cup basically.
On the bottom of the box is where the technical specifications, package content, and hardware requirements are listed. On the back of the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2’s box shows off some of the features of the headset; In-line volume control, 2 discrete subwoofer drivers, metal frame and suspended headband design, rotatable boom mic, and oversized interchangeable leatherette ear cushions.
Once you open the box, you’ll be greeted with complete darkness, as if you’re staring into the abyss of your soul. Oh wait, scratch that, the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 is in black so it kinda blends in with the inside of the box. It’s packaged in a way that will minimize any potential damage via impact while shipping so no worries there.
Inside the box, you are supposed to get some Razer stickers, user guide, extension cable / headphone and mic jack splitter, a letter from Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan to ensure that you’ve made a good purchase, and of course, the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset itself. It’s essentially a simple packaging concept that Razer has been using for all their gaming headset for years now, which should not cause any issues (or eyesores for that matter).
Appearance

Compared to a lot of headphones or headsets out there, the earcups on the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 is rather square-ish in nature. Not that it’s a bad thing of course. The plush leatherette ear cushions give it a rather premium look compared to a lot of gaming headsets in the market, but it’s not just for looks as the thing itself makes the headset a pretty comfortable wear.

If you look at it closely, you can see Razer’s triple-headed snake logo on the back of each side. It’s hard to make out as they toss in another colour to make it stand out. You can also the Razer branding on the top of the headband as well, which is also noticeably inconspicuous. It’s as if Razer is shy in putting their branding on this headset. Adding a touch of green would not only make it more visible, I believe it would make it look more lively.
Then you can see that there’s the foldable rotational microphone on the side there. It easily goes up and down whenever you want to use it or not. It’s rather smooth and I foresee no issues of it getting stuck or broken for long-term use unless you’re really clumsy and managed to break it off completely.

On the bottom of the right earcup (the side where the microphone is not on), there is a bass boost toggle switch. If you feel like you need more bass to enjoy your music or gaming experience, this be the switch you’re looking for.

Right on the cable of the headset itself (not the extension cable) is the in-line volume control. Here, you can adjust the volume directly via the wheel or mute the microphone. I initially thought it was to mute any incoming sounds but no, it’s just to mute the mic. Some may prefer having the volume rocker on the headset itself rather than having it in this style but I’d say it’s subjective to user preference.

Then you have the 3.5mm plug in L-shape, which supposedly makes it more convenient to plug in. If the length of the cable isn’t enough, Razer included an extension cable / splitter cable inside the box so no worries there.
While the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset isn’t a bad looking headset, it’s rather bland. It definitely need a little touch of Razer green to make it stand out a bit more.
Specifications

Drivers:
4 x 50mm Titanium-coated diaphragm with Neodymium magnets

Frequency response:
20 Hz – 20 KHz

Sensitivity:
109 dB

Impedance:
Front 32 Ω, Back 16 Ω

Microphone:
Foldable unidirectional microphone

Features:
In-line volume control
2 discrete subwoofer drivers
Metal frame and suspended headband design
Oversized interchangeable leatherette ear cushions
Bass boost

Cable:
1.3m / 4.27 ft plus 2 m / 6.6 ft audio / mic splitter adapter cable

User Experience

The Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset works out of the box since it uses a 3.5mm connection. No drivers or whatever necessary, so that’s a plus point there. And yes, even the bass boost is possible can be used without any software or drivers installed, meaning that you can use it with your smartphones, music players, PlayStation 4, or other game consoles even and still use the bass boost trigger.
Razer Tiamat 2.2. V2 gaming headset when plugged into the DualShock 4 for the PS4.
Speaking of using it on the PlayStation 4, all you have to do is simply plug in the 3.5mm plug into the DualShock 4 controller and it will work immediately. It’s easy and you don’t have to worry about cable length issues since the controller will always be on your hands, even if the console is situated a bit far from where you’re gaming. This also includes the use of the microphone, as seen in the screenshot above, so you don’t need a separate adapter for the microphone to work. You will however need that chat cable/adapter for the Xbox One.
When using the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset for the first time, I felt that it was lacking a bit in volume. This was weird to me until I realized 2 things; the in-line volume control needed to be adjusted and the bass boost function hasn’t been toggled yet. So first thing I did was increase the volume and it seemed okay at best. Listening to music and playing games on it feels rather dull.

Upon toggling the bass boost function however, everything changed. The volume got a bit louder than usual but the important thing to note here is that audio coming through the headset suddenly sounded more wholesome. It had more depth in it and the bass was never overwhelming that it starts making everything else sounded muddy. While it’s clear that it works better for gaming, listening to music on this is surprisingly pleasant.
I’d rather leave the bass boost on no matter what song I’m listening to just because of the instant boost in overall quality. It’s worth noting that you can also use it with your smartphone and the microphone will also be usable, effectively turning it into a handsfree kit in case you need it.

On the aspect of comfort, the plush leatherette ear cushions not only look good, but feels especially great. I put this on for a 4-hour Overwatch session and I didn’t feel the need to take it off of my head at any point in time. It didn’t feel as warm as I anticipated, my ears didn’t hurt, and I didn’t feel like there was pressure on the top of my head. The latter is definitely thanks to the headband construction, which ensures balanced weight distribution and reduced clamping force.

For those of you wondering how the microphone sounds like, refer to the YouTube video above. It’s not even close to studio quality and it’s mostly just enough to talk with people online or in-game chat, but nothing more.  The point here is that at least it does it’s job well enough and people will find it easy to understand what you’re saying. Just be sure the audio in the headset isn’t too loud as the microphone might pick up a bit of sound coming from there (as heard in 0:38 onwards in the video above).
Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 Verdict

The Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 is a gaming headset that indeed surprised me. I find it quite enjoyable to use and for most parts, it’s a good choice for gamers if you can afford its asking price of RM799. Some issues that may arise down the line would be the 3.5mm connectivity as well as the longevity of the microphone but that is something I can only comment on after using this for long term.
I don’t see using 3.5mm instead of USB as a bad thing. If anything, it makes the headset more versatile as you can use it on other devices as well. It’s comfortable, it sounds pretty good, and Razer even included an extension cable in case you need more length (that’s what she said).
A little change in design, better isolation in terms of not having the microphone pick up sound from the headset, and improvement on the microphone quality to something similar to the Steelseries Arctis 5 would’ve made this a must-buy and deserving of our gold award. But with we have now, I will be giving the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2 gaming headset our Silver Pokdeward.

Looking for another gaming headset to consider purchasing or compare with the Razer Tiamat 2.2 V2? Check out our review on the ASUS ROG Centurion 7.1 headset.

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Xiaomi Mi4S — Mi4c in a new shell

Xiaomi can’t seem to let go of the Mi4 name. After they launched a mid-range Mi4i, a China-only Mi4c was later released, packing immensely improved specifications. The Mi4c was packed in the same shell as the Mi4i, which was good, but a little drab in comparison to the original Mi4’s construction. Probably Xiaomi heard a lot of similar comments, and decided to come up with the Mi4S, which is essentially the Mi4c, with a more premium build.

Aside from the much more premium metal-and-glass build, the Mi4S is also a svelte smartphone, measuring only 7.8 mm thin. The Mi4S does share many of its specifications with the Mi4c, but Xiaomi did upgrade the Mi4S slightly. The most notable change is the addition of the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. As I have noted in my reviews of the Huawei Mate S and Nexus 6P, that is really the most logical place to put a fingerprint sensor. The specifications of the Mi4S are:

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Snapdragon 808
3GB RAM + 64GB memory storage (expandable via microSD)
3,260 mAh battery (Qualcomm QuickCharge 2.0 support)
13 MP f/2.0 camera with PDAF
5.0″ 1080p IPS display
Support 4G LTE and VoLTE ( Dual-4G LTE standby)
Comes in Gold, White & Black color (with special PINK color)

The Mi4S will be priced at CNY 1699 (RM 1101.51).

Pokdepinion: The Mi4S looks impressive for the specifications and rather affordable pricing, but whether it will ever reach our shores remains very questionable. It seems more likely than not that the device will ever be available to us officially, given the fact that the previous Mi4c never made it here either.
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These four realme smartphones might be launching soon in Malaysia

realme has already submitted their upcoming smartphones for SIRIM certification. As you might expect, that would be the realme 6 series and realme C3. Interestingly, the realme C3 and realme 6i has already been certified since last month, and got their approval just as realme Malaysia introduced the realme 5i here in Malaysia.

The realme C3 which bears the code RMX2020 has already been launched in India, but the other devices that received SIRIM’s blessing are the RMX2040, RMX2001 and RMX2061. A quick Google search hints at them being the realme 6i, realme 6 and realme 6 Pro, respectively.

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Out of these four devices, only the realme 6 and realme 6 Pro will feature support for 5 GHz WiFi, with the realme C3 and realme 6i are stuck with 2.4 GHz WiFi. All the upcoming realme devices offer dual SIM functionality, which is standard across realme’s lineup for now. There are no other details we could glean from the SIRIM listings, but we can expect that the realme 6 series to feature at least four cameras on the back.

While the realme 5i was just launched earlier this year, the realme 5 and realme 5 Pro were launched back in October 2019. Going by realme’s cadence, the realme 6 and 6 Pro are just about due as they appear to have a 6-month product cycle per generation.
What do you expect to see from the realme 6 series? More cameras? Faster chipsets? Bigger batteries?
Pokdepinion: I wonder if we will see a punch hole camera on the realme 6 series like realme X50 Pro’s.
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People Are Already Experiencing Stick Drift On Their DualSense Controllers

Well, that was quick. It seems that a few PS5 owners have reported facing a stick drift issue on their DualSense controllers just weeks after Sony’s newest console dropped. As you would expect, many gamers aren’t too happy about it.

Stick Drift not Tokyo Drift
A controller affected by a stick drift issue is one of the most annoying things a gamer can experience. Stick drift is when the controller’s analogue start registering movement without being touched by the player. This is usually down to dirt or grime getting stuck inside, messing up the analogue stick’s sensors, sending movement information to the game even when there is none. This is mostly due to extensive use of the controller.

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At times, it could also be some sort of component malfunction inside a controller. Which seems to be the most likely cause for the stick drift issues reported on the PS5’s new DualSense controllers. It is a common issue with game controllers and has plagued pretty much every console from the PS4 to the Nintendo Switch.
Take a look at the Reddit post below to see one of the more extreme drifting cases being reported.

 Dualsense Drift from PS5

As of right now, we can’t really say for sure if this will be a persistent issue for the PS5 and the DualSense controller just like it is with the Nintendo Switch as it is still too early to tell. It could just be a one-off manufacturing defect for all we know. Only time will tell.
Pokdepinion: Yeesh this doesn’t look very good for the DualSense. Hopefully, this is just a temporary hiccup with no other major stick drift issues in the long run.
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CES 2020: NVIDIA promises that you will do 37% better on the ROG Swift 360Hz than on a 60 Hz monitor

ASUS often names their monitors with a cryptic jumble of numbers and letters. The god of monitors, the ROG Swift PG27UQ, is the perfect example of that. The ROG Swift 360Hz makes sure that you know what you are getting from the name itself: a 360 Hz refresh rate.

Why such a ridiculous fast refresh rate? Well, partly because ASUS can. They worked with AU Optronics to obtain this ridiculously fast panel. Aside from the blazing quick refresh rate, the ROG Swift 360Hz is a standard esports monitor. It has a 1080p resolution and measures 24.5 inches diagnonally. It does seem to sport some startlingly narrow bezels all around though.

The other part, is because a faster refresh rate does improve the performance of pro esports players. NVIDIA has time and again marketed this idea, and the new 360 Hz monitor offers a pretty impressive 37% lower latency over a 60 Hz monitor. Diminishing gains are observed once you get above 120 Hz, but NVIDIA justifies this by saying that the 4% advantage over 240 Hz monitors is a lot when it comes to competitive play. Can’t say I disagree to that.

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But which games can you actually play at 360 Hz? NVIDIA says CS:GO, Rainbow Six: Siege, Overwatch and Fortnite are among the esports titles that the latest GeForce RTX can push at 360 fps. Having such a high refresh rate will mean that you will run into more instances where your system just can’t keep up, and that’s where NVIDIA’s G-SYNC comes in. The refresh rate will be in sync with your frame rate, delivering a smooth, tear-free experience.

The ROG Swift 360Hz will be showcased at CES 2020, at both the ASUS CES 2020 showcase as well as the NVIDIA suite.
Pokdepinion: I wonder how much this monitor will cost…
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Hogwarts Legacy Release Date Has Been Delayed – Here’s Why

There are many fans who are looking forward to Hogwarts Legacy. After all, the Harry Potter franchise is one of the most popular creations out there today. Unfortunately, we have some bad news as the game’s release will be delayed.
Hogwarts Legacy Release Date Has Been Delayed

pic.twitter.com/9zqii6DZLm
— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) January 13, 2021

After being quiet for a number of months now, WB Games has revealed through the game’s official Twitter account that Hogwarts Legacy will be delayed to some time in 2022. The official tweet stated via an attached picture that:

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We would like to thank fans from around the world on the tremendous reaction to the announcement of Hogwarts Legacy from our Portkey Games label. Creating the best possible experience for all of the Wizarding World and gaming fans is paramount to us so we are giving the game the time it needs. Hogwards Legacy will be released in 2022.
It’s no surprise that the game needs more time in development. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic is still going strong in many parts of the world, which would severely impact the games industry as well. We are uncertain at the moment whether it’s simply to refine the game or there’s still more things to be added, but it’s still better than releasing an unpolished game.
Despite the game’s delay, WB Games still has a packed lineup ready for 2021. For starters, we have Gotham Knights, which is a new yet separate entry in the Batman Arkham series. Then we have Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. And then arguably the most notable one yet, Back 4 Blood, which is the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead.
Source
Pokdepinion: I may not be a big fan of the series but I’m excited to play this game. I’m perfectly fine with them taking more time to work on the game as it should result in a better experience for us gamers.
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Blizzard Says They Still Have Big Plans for Overwatch

Overwatch is one of the recognizable games out there today. While it may not be seeing the popularity it once saw not long ago, Activision Blizzard is far from giving up on the title. It appears that there are still big plans for the game for the foreseeable future.
During an earnings call with investors, President of Blizzard J. Allen Brack mentioned that they have large ambitions for the Overwatch universe and how it can develop over time. They will continue to dedicate resources and attention to the game so that they can continue to grow the community and the franchise over time.

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More new heroes, maps and “experiences” (most likely game modes) will be added over the 2019 and 2020 financial period. To the least, we can expect the game to continue for that long. It was also mentioned that they are still working on the existing game while focusing on some “other work” they have.
Brack added that they will continue to add new heroes, maps, and experiences over the 2019 and 2020 financial period to continue to grow the game. He also added that they are still working on the existing game as well and focusing on some “other work” they have. No word on exactly what this other work could be pointing to.
Overwatch is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Battle.net.
Source: PC Gamer
Pokdepinion: I have tried getting back into the game but waiting for about 5 minutes or so for a game makes me more tired than playing the game itself. It’s still a pretty fun game to play to this day.
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Discovery Channel Partners with MSI bringing ESPORTS: THE RISE OF THE NEW KING

Discovery Channel is no new name in shaping our childhood, and this time around, they have announced a special program themed around the rising Esports scene, ESPORTS: THE RISE OF THE NEW KING. If you are familiar with Discovery’s documentaries, this one will not be any different as they dig into the insides of the Esports growth.
The almost 1 hour documentary shows how global Esports organizations, tournaments, game publishers, popular games, Esport teams, fans worldwide, design and manufacturing of gaming gears, all play a major role in the driving force of Esports.
For this, Discovery has picked MSI as their channel partner as they show how the company has played its role in making competitive hardware, while anchoring into the scene working closely with the complete demographics within the industry. Afterall, having participated in over 130 Esport events in over 50 countries is definitely a portfolio worth shouting about. In fact, as of the time of writing, MSI has already sponsored over 20 renowned pro-gaming teams including Fnatic, FlashWolves and Cloud9 just to name a few along with over 500 amateur and rising gaming teams worldwide.

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MSI is also the host of world-class MGA (MSI Gaming Arena) tournament where talented pro-gaming teams from all over the world compete against one another and fight for glory.
If you want to watch the documentary, refer to the official broadcasting schedule below.
Broadcasting Schedule

ESPORTS: THE RISE OF THE NEW KING

Local broadcast time @ Discovery
Country

4th August (Sat) 22:25
Australia

10th August (Sat) 22:50
Southeast Asia [Singapore]

10th August (Sat) 21:50
Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia

Local broadcast time @ Discovery Asia
Country

3rd August (Sat) 21:50
Southeast Asia [Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines]

Pokdepinion: I’m very sure MSI is proud of this affiliation as much as Discovery themselves are.
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ASUS ExpertBook B9 (B9450) Review — ultra-thin, ultra-light

The ASUS Expert Series is a pretty boring series for consumers. Design wise, they are probably a bit more plain, although you can say that ASUS put function over form. But apparently ASUS wants to change that with the ASUS ExpertBook B9 (B9450). It’s an opulent laptop that’s clad in cutting-edge materials and an equally advanced finishing. All of that isn’t just for a premium look though, as the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is the world’s lightest 14″ business laptop thanks to the use of magnesium lithium alloy in its construction. That premium aesthetic and ultralight chassis is also extremely durable, which makes the ASUS ExpertBook B9 an absolutely intriguing laptop to me. I hope it is to you too because we are going to take a closer look at the laptop.
Unboxing

ASUS ships the ASUS ExpertBook B9 in a brown cardboard box, but inside you get a more premium box, befitting of the ASUS ExpertBook B9’s status as the flagship ExpertBook for this generation. It even comes with a leather sleeve to protect the laptop when you are carrying it around, which I do believe will be something that users of the ASUS ExpertBook B9 will be doing a lot of.

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The package comes with a 65W USB-C power adapter, a pretty complicated LAN dongle and of course some of that basic documentation. That’s not all that interesting, so let’s get on to check out the ASUS ExpertBook B9.
Appearance

While the ultralight magnesium lithium alloy sounds cool enough, ASUS applied an even cooler micro-arc oxidation (MAO) finishing that electrocutes the metal to create a ceramic layer that imparts an awesome texture and protects the alloy from corrosion and also adding strength to the material. All you need to do is touch the ASUS ExpertBook B9, and you would immediately realize that this isn’t your run-of-the-mill laptop. If you have touched a HTC One S, this is a similar finish, albeit a lot finer.

The textured surface also sports a unique color ASUS calls Star Black. It shimmers beautifully, and this is truly a stark departure from the boring grey of the ASUS ExpertBook P5440 that I previously got to review. This truly is a premium laptop, matching, if not surpassing, ASUS’ very own premium ZenBook lineup. I am truly interested to see how will ASUS’ next ZenBooks look when this commercial-oriented device is so premium. The beautiful finish is paired with sleek, sharp angles to remind everyong of the ASUS ExpertBook B9’s no-frills nature.

I presumed that the ASUS ExpertBook P5440 had larger bezels for durability, but I guess that the stronger material used here is sufficient to protect the screen even with these minimal bezels. You can see that there’s barely any bezels around the display around all sides, making for a very minimal footprint. The ASUS ExpertBook B9 also sports the ErgoLift mechanism to raise the keyboard a few degrees for a more comfortable typing experience.

ASUS designed the ASUS ExpertBook B9 to be a sleek machine that you can carry with you everywhere. I would say they have largely succeeded, with the ASUS ExpertBook B9 being super-thin and uber-light. I mean, how much lighter can a laptop get?
ASUS ExpertBook B9 Specifications

CPU
Intel Core i7-10510U @ 1.8 GHz (up to 4.9 GHz Boost), 4C/8T, 15W TDP, 14nm

RAM
16GB LPDDR3-2133, dual-channel (on-board)

GPU
Intel UHD Graphics

Storage
2 x 1TB Samsung PM981 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD

Software
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Intel Graphics Commander
MyASUS
AudioWizard
McAfee Personal Security

Connectivity
Intel WiFi 6 AX201 (2×2 WiFi 6 up to 2.4 Gbps)
Bluetooth 5.0
Gigabit LAN (via micro HDMI dongle)
2 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort, USB-PD charging)
1 x USB 3.1 (10 Gbps)

Display
14″ FHD (1080p) IPS panel, AUO B140HAN06.2, 100% sRGB, 300-nit brightness
USB-C supports DisplayPort Alt Mode
HDMI 2.0 (up to [email protected] Hz)

Audio
Stereo speakers, certified by Harman-Kardon
Quad microphone
1 x 3.5mm combo jack

Power
65W power adapter, USB-PD support
33 WHr Li-Po battery

Dimensions
320 x 203 x 14.9 mm

Weight
0.870 kg

Performance
We have already established that the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is an ultra-light laptop, so let’s take a look at the performance and see whether it’s an ultra-light in terms of performance.

SSD performance is very good, thanks to the two Samsung PM981 SSDs for 2TB of storage without sacrificing on capacity. As you might expect from a professional-oriented laptop, the SSDs aren’t running in RAID 0 to net even higher storage performance. With this much SSD storage out of the box, you probably won’t have to upgrade the ASUS ExpertBook B9’s storage until the end of its service life.
Now as we get into the CPU and GPU benchmarks, it is worth noting that the ASUS ExpertBook B9 actually benefits a great deal from the Velocity fan mode that’s available in MyASUS. In these charts we will be using the Velocity fan mode instead of the default Dynamic mode.

In Cinebench R20, we see that the ASUS ExpertBook B9 outperforms the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro in the multi-core run, although it takes a step back for the single-core test. The slower fan profile actually drops the multi-core scores by 23%, which is pretty significant. Regardless, it seems that the last-gen Core i5-8265U found in the ExpertBook P5440 does a better job here. Part of the reason is that the memory clocks down to just 1066 MHz instead of the 2133 MHz that it is specced at, presumably to save power, even when we are connected to the wall.

GPU performance is also pretty lackluster on the ASUS ExpertBook B9, which isn’t all that surprising as it is still using the Gen9 iGPU that was found in the 8th Gen Intel Core processors too.

Battery life is only a touch worse than the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro, despite sporting a significantly smaller 33 WHr battery. 8 hours away from the plug is nothing to scoff at, and considering that there’s a larger 66 WHr variant in the market… The ASUS ExpertBook B9 does have a trick up its sleeve too: you can lower the refresh rate to 48 Hz to further improve battery life, although I only managed to get an extra 21 minutes by doing that instead of the usual 60 Hz.

Thermal performance is actually surprisingly good for a laptop of this size. Only when the CPU power draw gets close to the 40W mark does it exhibit a spike in excess of 90°C. The rest of the Cinebench run saw it hover around the 70s, which is a good showing. Clocks are quite abysmally low though, with it never achieving the full boost potential in Cinebench no thanks to a 10W power limit applied for most of the run. For spiky “real-world” workloads, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 won’t really heat up at all.
User Experience
The ASUS ExpertBook B9 is made of really fancy material, but it isn’t exactly the most solid laptop I have laid my hands on. The keyboard area feels pretty stiff, but the left side of the bottom cover does have a tiny bit of flex to it that is pretty disconcerting. The laptop is rated for MIL-STD 810G though, so while I am not exactly worried about whether it will survive my abuse, it was just surprising to see it flex when squeezed, as many more affordable laptops do not exhibit that kind of weakness.

Moving on, the screen of the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is slightly better than what we saw on the ASUS ExpertBook P5440. Not only are the bezels much slimmer this time around, it’s a much better panel too. And while the brightness is just average at around 282 cd/m2 when we measured it, it does cover 99.1% of the sRGB gamut and a respectable 73.1% of the DCI-P3 gamut. It’s a pretty good screen, and one that you can feel confident working on colors with.

The webcam is crammed into its usual position above the display, all while maintaining relatively slim bezels. The webcam also sports a physical shutter for privacy, which surely beats taping up the camera. There’s also an IR facial recognition system which works a lot better than ASUS’ previous implementations that we have tested. I think ROG engineers can definitely learn a bit from the ExpertBook engineers, seeing how the latter can cram this much into so little bezel, while ROG claims that their laptops can’t fit webcams anymore because of the slim bezels.
Audio is pretty good as well, with a nice representation of the mids and highs. Vocals are quite forward, which makes it perfect for watching talk shows or certain genres of music. The ASUS ExpertBook B9 cannot deliver bass that well, but I would say that it does a pretty decent job considering the size constraints that we are looking at here.

The keyboard looks pretty basic, but thanks to the ErgoLift mechanism, it offer a very comfortable experience. The keys each sport a little dish too, to help cradle your fingertips a bit better. I did enjoy the stiffer springs ASUS used here, as the keyboard feels more solid than most of ASUS’ other laptop keyboards. Last but not least, it’s spill-resistant, and while we didn’t try that out ourselves, we have seen it during the product briefing and the ASUS ExpertBook B9 was totally unfazed when a whole cup of water was poured onto its keyboard.

For those who need a numpad for quicker number entry, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 comes with a NumberPad 2.0 which gives you a numpad in the trackpad. It still works as a trackpad when the NumberPad 2.0 feature is active. The trackpad works great, even when I have my thumb on the clicker and another finger to navigate around, a usage scenario which actually cause quite a number of laptops to falter. The trackpad here is sandblasted glass, which feels great to swipe on.

For such a svelte little laptop, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 sure comes with a lot of ports. The two USB-C ports you see here are Thunderbolt 3 ports, and there’s a full-sized HDMI port along with a micro HDMI port. What’s interesting with the micro HDMI port is that it is a dedicated to work with the LAN dongle. Instead of putting the NIC in the dongle, the dongle just works to convert the micro HDMI port into a RJ45 LAN port.
The Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet controller connected to the micro HDMI port is baked onto the motherboard of the laptop itself. This allows the ASUS ExpertBook B9 to have a fixed MAC address, which is necessary for certain enterprise-class security measures. For most users, you probably won’t ever need a LAN port in the first place, as the ASUS ExpertBook B9 comes with WiFi 6 anyway.

Over on the left you get a headphone jack and a USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) Type-A port. This port will allow you to use your USB-A peripherals without having to resort to dongles, which is a nice touch, and the high speed is of course a major bonus.
          MyASUS            MyASUS (Splendid, Tru2Life)              MyASUS (Link to MyASUS)            ASUS Business Manager              ASUS Business Manager            AudioWizard
Now that we have taken a look at the hardware, let’s take a glance at the software. ASUS bundles the ASUS ExpertBook B9 with a number of different software that you can take advantage of. There’s AudioWizard, MyASUS and also ASUS Business Manager. The latter is more oriented towards businesses streamlining their IT management, but consumers can also take advantage of it to customize the boot logo for fun. Pretty cool feature to have, if you ask me. MyASUS is probably something that you are quite familiar with, but the iteration in the ASUS ExpertBook B9 adds quite a few more features.

In addition to the Fan Profiles, Splendid screen profiles and Tru2Life enhancements, MyASUS now offers Link to MyASUS which lets you use your smartphone on the ASUS ExpertBook B9’s screen, or even use it as a secondary screen for the ASUS ExpertBook B9. The screen mirroring feature on the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is a bit more sluggish than it is with HUAWEI’s Multi-Screen Collaboration feature, but the advantage is that it works with any phone, Android or iOS. It can also do remote file sharing, which is really nice to have.
Conclusion
Now, the moment of truth. Is the ASUS ExpertBook B9 worth the RM9299 asking price? All things considered, I do not think I will pay that much for this laptop. I would rather opt for the lesser options which offer half the storage and no Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for RM1000 less. Or, just opt for the Core i5 variants, since there’s not much reason to opt for the Core i7 variant here anyway. If you really want raw performance, you should look at AMD-powered laptops like the VivoBook S14, instead of Intel-powered ones.
With that said, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is no slouch, and while it doesn’t offer chart-topping performance, considering the sub-1 kilogram weight, it is still very enticing. If a stylish, ultra-light laptop that’s Athena-certified is something you are looking for, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 hits a lot of the right notes. It looks great, weighs close to nothing and sports an impressive set of features and specifications. So much so that I think it will definitely give ASUS’ ZenBooks a run for their money, and that’s not something you can say very often, especially when it comes to style. It is surely one of the best business laptops you can get right now.

Our thanks to ASUS Malaysia for sending us the ASUS ExpertBook B9 for review.
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Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 Will Have Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard

Recently, we reported about the launch of the new Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 gaming laptops. Apparently, there’s one other new thing for them that we weren’t made aware of at the time, and it’s the ability to upgrade to Cherry MX mechanical keyboards.
Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard

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Alienware and Cherry have collaborated to produce what they claim to be the “first true” mechanical keyboard into a gaming laptop. Now, you can get the Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 with a Cherry MX mechanical keyboard upgrade at the cost of USD $150. For the Malaysian market however, it will be a rather pricey upgrade as it results in an additional RM1,202.
For those of you who aren’t aware, the mechanical keyboard for both gaming laptops will make use of the new MX Ultra Low Profile switches, which are 3.5mm thick, which is a lot thinner compared to the 11.9mm-sized MX Low Profile switches. It’s built with stainless steel wings that can swing open and push down. Apart from that, it’s also made of thermoplastic polymer that should be able to withstand heat.
According to Alienware and  Cherry, the travel distance is 1.8mm and it’s said to give a satisfying feedback along with that signature “thock” sound. The way the switch was designed is to aid in typing accuracy and give it self-cleaning capabilities with each press.

From what we understand thus far, the keyboard design in both Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 did not require any major changes or tweaks to accommodate the new Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile switches. The lid can also be closed just fine, which should give consumers a better idea of how thin the switches are.
The optional Cherry MX keyboard upgrade will come with AlienFX per-key RGH backlighting and full N-key rollover with anti-ghosting, so you won’t be missing anything from the original keyboard. It’s worth noting that all keys except for the function row will be utilizing the new mechanical switches if you opt for the upgrade.
If you’re looking to get the Alienware m15 R4, m17 R4, or simply looking for a laptop that makes use of a mechanical keyboard, this will be your chance as it’s already available for purchase at the time of this writing.
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Pokdepinion: I definitely want to give that keyboard a try. I hope I get the chance to do so very soon.
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HONOR Reveals Partnership With Malaysian Filmmakers

HONOR Malaysia has announce today that they are collaborating with local filmmakers, Quek Shio Chuan and Ismail Kamarul to capture the directors’ lives off-camera with the HONOR View20. With the collaboration, the company aims to bridge local art and technology to tell compelling stores, capture vivid experiences and push the limits of their visual expressions.

The two filmmakers have been making waves in the local filmmaking and video directing scene with multiple festival-themed TVCs that have gone viral such as the heart-warming Malaysian Festive Raya Campaign with Petronas, and the Chinese New Year advertisement for TNB. Last year, Quek made headlines when his film Guang, bagged the Best New Director award at the 13th Chinese Youth Generation Film Forum in China, even before it hit cinemas.

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You can check out Quek’s and Kamarul’s Instagram to follow them on their journey with HONOR.
HONOR View20 was launched back in January 2019. The phone comes with the latest flagship Kirin 980 chipset and is equipped with a 48MP and 3D camera. To find out more on HONOR’s current flagship device, check out our full hands-on review here.
Pokdepinion: I’m quite interested on what both of them will produce with the HONOR View20. If you are interested as I am, be sure to follow their Instagram profiles!
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Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Finally Coming to PC

After a long wait of it being a PlayStation-exclusive game, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is finally coming to PC, and it’s happening soon. Surprisingly, it’s not even a Epic Games Store exclusive as it will be available on Steam.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered will be coming to PC this 12th August 2022 on Steam. While the price of the game has yet to be revealed, it is expected to be USD $49.99 / RM209 given their track record with the ports for God of War and Days Gone. And since it’s coming to PC, I’m sure it will come with proper support for 4K resolution and buttery-smooth 60FPS.

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For those of you who aren’t aware, Marvel’s Spider-Man was developed by Insomniac Games and was first launched in 2018 exclusively on the PlayStation 4. It’s an open world action-adventure game starring your friendly neighbourhood web-slinger with some RPG elements. Later, we even had a DLC expansion in the form of Miles Morales.
Check out our review of the game by clicking right here.
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Pokdepinion: It’s one of the best open world games I’ve ever played and it’s one of the few superhero games done right. When a proper sequel does come out, it’s gonna take a while before it reaches PC so if you can’t wait, make sure to have a PS5 ready at home for it.
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Moto P30 Introduced — Price Starts From RM1,251

Motorola has unveil their latest mid-range smartphone, the Moto P30 and will be available starting September 15, albeit in China.
Moto P30
Motorola, which is owned by Lenovo, has released the Moto P30 in China. The phone comes with a 18:8:9 ratio display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset. It comes with a glass back that features a gradient color scheme.
It is supposed to come in two variants; 6GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB storage variants respectively. Its 6.2-inch screen runs on Full HD and under the hood is its 3000mAh battery. In terms of cameras, it offers a dual 16MP+5MP rear camera that comes with PDAF, and a dual-tone LED flash. Over to the front, it sports a single 12MP shooter for your selfies.

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Good news is that they’ve also included a 3.5mm headphone jack and the phone comes with a USB Type-C port. It’s Moto logo at the back acts as a fingerprint sensor.
The Moto P30 runs on ZUI 4.0 (based on Android 8.0 Oreo) and comes in three colors; Aurora Blue, Black, and White. It is priced at CNY 2,099 (which is roughly RM1,251.92) for the 64GB storage and CNY 2499 (around RM1490.50) for the 128GB variant.
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Pokdepinion: Wait a minute… that design and color seems rather familiar……
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Sony Introduces My Playstation – An Easier Way To Access To Your PSN Profile!

News broke out on the Japanese Playstation Blog that Sony has introduce My Playstation, a browser-based version of PSN and it’s live right now.
My Playstation
Through My Playstation, it gives access to a browser-based version of your Playstation Network profile on desktop, smartphone, and tablet as well.
Instead of relying on the Playstation app or even your console itself, you can now access your friend list, checkout your trophies and accomplishments, search for friends and respond to friend requests, send messages, and the ability to update your profile. In addition, account management functions will be integrated into My Playstation in the near future.

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The site is live now and it isn’t restricted to accounts in Japan only. At the moment, there aren’t any functions besides the ones that was mentioned above, but this does in a sense be an option for those who don’t feel like installing the Playstation app on their device and still be able to control their account on the go.
You can go check the site now by clicking right here and sign in through your Playstation account.
Talking about Playstation, make sure that you have checked out this month’s Playstation Plus games before it goes away soon. You can click on the link right here to check out the game list for the free PS Plus games for February 2018 (and here for R1)
Pokdepinion: Being a PS4 gamer myself, I can see the reasoning behind the site. It gives a better option to players. Honestly speaking, I have the Playstation app on my smartphone but I RARELY use it. With the site, I guess I can clear up some space for my device. Might as well just use the site. Again, don’t forget to claim your free Playstation Plus games before it goes away (if you haven’t already!)
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PS Plus Asia February 2019 FREE GAMES Lineup – A Prosperous Array

PS Plus Asia February 2019 FREE GAMES Lineup

It’s that time of the month again where PS Plus members look forward to, the reveal of the PS Plus Asia February 2019 free games lineup. If you’ve been wondering what might be coming your way this time around, then look no further as here’s everything you need to know.
First up, we have For Honor, the melee action game from Ubisoft. Experience the chaos of war and choose between Viking, Knight, and Samurai factions to find your perfect fighting style. Featuring 18 different PvP maps, this game will be sure to entertain you.
Next up, we have Hitman: The Complete First Season. Take on the role of Agent 47, the world’s ultimate assassin. Travel the globe to eliminate your targets in traditional and less traditional ways. From sniper rifles to expired spaghetti sauce, use the weapons at your disposal to become the master assassin.

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Another game coming your way is the RPG / deck builder known as Hand of Fate. Beyond the thirteen gates at the end of the world, the game of life and death is played. Draw your cards, play your hand, and discover your fate. Players builds a set of cards into a deck, which is then used to deal out the dungeon floors through which they adventure.
For the full lineup of games coming to PS Plus Asia this February 2019, check it out right below here:
Full Lineup

For Honor (PS4)
Hitman: The Complete First Season (PS4)
Hand of Fate (PS4)
Shake That Controller (PS4)

The PS Plus Asia February 2019 free games lineup will be available from 7th February 2019 to 6th March 2019.
If you’re in the US or EU regions, click right here for your lineup of free games.
Pokdepinion: Personally, not a fan of For Honor but the PS Plus Asia February 2019 free games lineup is looking pretty solid. Guess we really won’t see anymore PS3 or PS Vita games being offered for free anymore judging by this lineup as well as last month’s one.
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ASUS Republic of Gamers Announces ROG Masters with a prize pool of $200 000!

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced ROG Masters, Asia’s largest eSports tournament with a prize pool of US$200,000. From September to October, 2016, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) teams will battle it out in a series of regional qualifiers for a spot in the Grand Finals, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 12th to 13th November, 2016.
ROG Masters strives to uncover future talent in the Asian Dota 2 and CS:GO scenes and bring them into the spotlight. Key matches of the regional qualifiers will be broadcast live online to a global audience. For team registration and additional information about ROG Masters, log on to www.rog-masters.com.

DOTA 2
August 4th to September 4th
September to October
East Asia, Southeast

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Asia, China, Rest of
Asia, Australia/New
Zealand
$150 000

CS:Go
$50 000

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PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 8GB review — VR Ready Devil

AMD RX 400 series is the first series of graphics cards based on the latest AMD Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 GPUs. Using the latest 14nm FinFET process, it offers three models. The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 470 I reviewed before is a pretty decent card for 1440p gaming, so let’s see what the higher end RX 480 can offer.
Unboxing

The box looks almost exactly alike with the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 470 but this time the VR ready capability is highlighted. The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 is an 8GB graphics card, which also supports AMD’s latest technologies such as DirectX 12® and Vulkan™, FreeSync™, and Liquid VR.

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On the back we have every detail of the card specifications and a brief explanation about the PowerColor cooling solution and the Double Blade III fan technology.

Inside the packaging we have the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 8GB, a CD driver installer, a quick user installation guide and an invitation card to the Devil Club.

Appearance

Instead of using a plastic shroud like the RX 470 model, the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 features a metal cooling shroud and three Double Blade III fans. The design of this card is pretty subtle but lacks RGB lighting.

The card comes with a metal back-plate with a soft sandblasted surface finish. It might look plain but it handles fingerprints very well. The Red Devil Radeon RX 480 features 8mm and 6mm nickel-plated heat pipes coursing through dense aluminum fins.

The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 8GB uses a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Theoretically it can consume up to 225W. Some of you might have noticed the issue of the AMD RX 480 reference card’s PCIe power limit violations. Capable of drawing up to an average of 90W from the PCIe slot, most AIB partners opt to include an 8-pin power connector to provide more power. It is nice to see the Red Devil Radeon RX 480 also feature this.

Beside the power connector, we have Devil emblem which will be inverted as you mount the card in the casing. I have no idea whether this is a design blunder or it was done on purpose, but we won’t know until PowerColor decides to let us in on it.

The Red Devil Radeon RX 480 features a single active DVI connector, a HDMI and three DisplayPort for VR headset compatibility.

Test Machine
For this review, the rig specifications are listed below. I’m using the Xeon E3 1230V3 for several reasons. Firstly, I don’t overclock and during the time I transitioned from AMD to Intel, I needed a processor with a good price-to-performance ratio. The Xeon E3 1230V3 is practically an Intel i7-4770 sans the iGPU. Who cares about any iGPU when we are building gaming rigs, right? Since the price is much cheaper than the i7-4770, the decision was very easy to make. For a guide on how I optimized my Xeon.
Hardware

Processor
Intel Xeon E3 1230V @ 0.86v

Motherboard
ASUS H87-PLUS

Memory
Corsair Vengence DDR3 16GB (4x4GB)

Storage
Corsair LS 120GB (System), Western Digital Blue 1TB (Game), Western Digital AVGP Green 2TB (Archive)

Power Supply
AcBel iPower 90m 600W 80+ Gold

Software

OS
Windows 10 64bit Annivesary

GPU Driver
Radeon Crimson 16.7.3 (WHQL)

Antivirus
Windows Defender

Utilities
Furmak, Fraps, MSI Afterburner 4.3 Beta 14, GPU-Z, OBS, Steam, Uniplay, Origin, GOG Galaxy

Game Tested
Witcher 3, Battlefield 4, DOTA 2 Reborn, CS: GO, Overwatch

Specification

GPU Architecture
Polaris

GPU
AMD RX 480

Memory
8GB GDDR5 @ 8Gbps

Memory Interfarce
256-bit

Base/Boost Clock
1330 MHz / N/A

Card Dimension
310 x 140 x 42 mm

Card Weight
N/A

Almost all the software used in this test are updated to the latest version. That includes the operating system, system drivers, BIOS and graphics driver. The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 8GB was not bundled with any software so I’m using the ASUS GPU Tweak II utility to overclock the card.

Performance
Power consumption wise, the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 recorded a peak power draw of 362W. Subtracting 110 W (± 10 W) for the CPU and others components, and we can roughly estimate that this card consumes up to 252W on peak. Although the power draw is higher than the 225W it is theoretically capable of, this is just a peak reading and no graphics issues occured during the review.

DOTA 2 is not a graphically taxing game by far, but it is indeed one of the most popular games among PC gamers. The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 easily handles this game, pushing high frame rates averaging above 120 frame rates at 1080p and 110 fps at 1440p. At the 4K resolution the Red Devil Radeon RX 480 still managed to tame the frame rates above 60 fps.

Playing CS:GO, the GPU doesn’t break a sweat either to pump out the frames. The GPU load only starts truly flexing its muscles when we got to 4K. For me, playing DOTA 2 and CS: GO regardless of the resolution on the Red Devil Radeon RX 480 is not an issue at all.

We’re still waiting to play Battlefield 1 but let’s stick with our time-tested Battlefield 4 benchmark first. Playing Battlefield 4 at 1080p and 1440p is not a problem at all for the Red Devil Radeon RX 480. The framerates drop drastically when we hit 4K, with screen lag and screen stuttering. This is where FreeSync technology might prove useful.

While the card suffered at 4K in Battlefield 4, it performed well in Overwatch. Something interesting occured when I was benchmarking this game. The average frame rates I got are quite baffling, with them higher at 4K than at 1440p.

The Red Devil Radeon RX 480 struggles in the Witcher 3 even at 1080p resolution. It misses the golden 60 fps mark but I am sure it can score an average of 60 fps after turning off the anti-aliasing.

Overclocking

As usually I test the overclocking capabilities of the card without increasing the voltage. I only managed to get extra 45 MHz on the core clock and 548 MHz on memory clock. Above that it starts to show signs of instability, such as artifacts or driver crashes. The overclock effectively gained me about 3.5% extra performance. Worth noting is the Red Devil Radeon RX 480 is factory overclocked from the reference 1120 MHz to 1330 MHz.

Conclusion
When comparing the benchmark results between the Red Devil RX 470 and RX 480, the difference is not very much in terms of frame rates. But on power consumption, I found that the RX 470 has better efficiency compared to the RX 480. By taking into account the performance and power draw, I would pick the Red Devil Radeon RX 470 over the RX 480. But if I’m looking for a taste of the VR experience, the Red Devil Radeon RX 480 is still the best option. Base on the performance, I award the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 480 with our Silver Pokdeward.

You can get the card at most online retailers for around RM 1459.
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Qualcomm announces the mid-range Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 chipsets

While the huge buzzword in 2020 is definitely going to be 5G, these are the practical ones you will most probably see in smartphones which you can afford. The Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 come with all the features that a mid-range smartphone should have in 2020.
Snapdragon 720G
First up, the Snapdragon 720G is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 710/712 chipsets with a focus on gaming capabilities. There will be eight Kryo 465 CPU cores running at up to 2.3 GHz and the Adreno 618 GPU which debuted in the Snapdragon 730. Quite an interesting combo, and should prove quite popular in mid-range devices that slot in below the price point the Snapdragon 730/730G smartphones commands. There will also be a new Qualcomm Spectra 350L ISP, which sports dual 14-bit ISPs capable of handling up to 192MP images and 4K30 video capture. Meanwhile for connectivity, you get a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem which enables up to 800 Mbps downloads.
Snapdragon 662

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Meanwhile for more budget oriented devices there will be the Snapdragon 662 which packs eight Kryo 260 cores. These are the same cores you get in the Snapdragon 665, and they are clocked to 2.0 GHz as well. The GPU is an Adreno 610, similar to the Snapdragon 665, albeit running at an unspecified clock speed. There’s also new Spectra 340T ISP that supports 48MP images and 1080p60 videos. Last but not least, the Snapdragon X11 LTE modem is a little weaker than the Snapdragon 665’s Snapdragon X12 LTE modem, and tops out at just 390 Mbps downloads.
Snapdragon 460
Slotting into the entry-level segment will be the Snapdragon 460. We haven’t seen a new Snapdragon 400 series chip since the Snapdragon 450 which was introduced way back in 2017. So I guess this was a long time coming. There will be eight Kryo 240 cores clocked at up to 1.8 GHz, an Adreno 610 GPU and also the Spectra 340 ISP which enables 48MP images and 1080p60 videos too. It also shares its modem with the Snapdragon 662, which is a nice touch.
All these chips offer support for WiFi 6 (802.11ax), dual-frequency GNSS and Bluetooth 5.1 via the FastConnect subsystems. Qualcomm also equipped them with support for Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), making these chips the first to support the navigation system. An interesting thing to note is that the Snapdragon 720G supports 1080p displays of up to 120 Hz, hinting at support for the next big thing in the smartphone industry.

realme and Xiaomi has already expressed their interest in the upcoming Snapdragon 720G, which is expected to be in devices in Q1 2020, while the Snapdragon 662 and 460 will appear in smartphones by the end of 2020.
Pokdepinion: More choice is always cool in the mid-range! I wonder how will the Snapdragon 720G stands against the Helio G70T though.
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Gran Turismo 7 Will Take A Big Chunk Of Your Storage Space On PS5

Games these days has been big in file size and if you’re planning on playing Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5, it also joins the list of games that take up big space.
Gran Turismo 7 file size

Twitter handle PlayStation Game Size has found on from PSN servers of the game file size for the title, where it is 89.445GB. It must be said that the figure doesn’t include a day-one patch, which is normal for games these days upon launch.

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While it is not the biggest game file that’s out there, it’s still a huge amount of space taken from your storage. The game will launch on the 4th of March 2022, where you can pre-load it starting from the 25th of February.
In case you plan on playing the game, you might want to prepare some space to make room for it. For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
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Pokdepinion: Never been much of a fan of racing games, but that’s a big size. Hopefully it’ll be worth it when the game launches.
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Enjoy Savings With Your Touch ‘n Go eWallet This Christmas

If you’re using Touch ‘n Go eWallet, well there’s some great news for you as they’ve partnered with both Lazada and Tealive for their “Your X’Mas Surprise” campaign.
Touch ‘n Go eWallet Your X’Mas Surprise

From now till Christmas, those shopping for Lazada items can enjoy RM3 off when you shop through the Lazada app or the integrated Lazada function on the Touch ‘n Go eWallet app. You will need to spend a minimum of RM15 in a single transaction to be eligible for the RM3-off voucher, which you can collect here.

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For those who likes bubble teas, Touch ‘n Go eWallet is providing RM3 cashback at participating Tealive outlets with a minimum spend of RM10 in a single receipt. This offer is also available until the end of the year.
In addition, for those in the Klang Valley area can have an easier time when it comes to cashless street parking coverage as Touch ‘n Go eWallet is now available in areas under the jurisdictions of Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA), on top of the already availability for Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).
Pokdepinion: It’s been awhile actually since I’ve used my Touch ‘n Go eWallet. It might be the time to grab some deals.
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Samsung Officially Launches The Galaxy Note10 Series With Style

Truly NOTE-worthy

Last week, Samsung Malaysia officially announced their latest Samsung Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ at the St Regis Kuala Lumpur and boy was it a very grand occasion. Huge LED screens erected across the already massive ballroom of the St Regis, blasting on loop various Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ advertisements as well as the launch itself. The awesome spectacle of the whole event can’t help but take your breath away.

The presentation included appearances by the President of Samsung Malaysia Yoonsoo Kim, local Samsung brand Ambassadors Jinnyboy, Jenn Chia and many others. As for the phones themselves, yeah we got to take them out for a spin.

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We’ve covered both the Samsung Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ quite extensively in our other articles here, here, and here.
Here are the specs of both the Samsung Galaxy Note10 and Note10+.
Samsung Galaxy Note10

CPU/Chipset:
Exynos 9825 Octa (2 x M4 @ 2.73GHz, 2 x Cortex-A75 @ 2.4GHz, 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 1.95GHz), 7nm

GPU:
Mali-G76 MP12

RAM:
8GB

Display:
6.3″ FHD+ (2280 x 1080) Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display, 401ppi
HDR10+

Storage:
256GB

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
Ultra Wide 16 MP, f/2.2, 123°
Wide-Angle 12 MP, f/1.5 – 2.4, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, 77°
Telephoto 12MP f/2.1 OIS, 45°

Front Camera
10MP f/2.2, Dual Pixel AF, 80°

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX
USB-C

SIM:
Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano)

Battery:
3500 mAh (25W Fast Charging)

Weight:
168g

Colours:
Aura Pink
Aura Black
Aura Glow

Samsung Galaxy Note10+

CPU/Chipset:
Exynos 9825 Octa (2 x M4 @ 2.73GHz, 2 x Cortex-A75 @ 2.4GHz, 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 1.95GHz), 7nm

GPU:
Mali-G76 MP12

RAM:
12GB

Display:
6.8″ QHD+ (3040 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display, 498ppi
HDR10+

Storage:
256GB / 512GB

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
Ultra Wide 16 MP, f/2.2, 123°
Wide-Angle 12 MP, f/1.5 – 2.4, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, 77°
Telephoto 12MP f/2.1 OIS, 45°
Depth Vision, VGA, f/1.4, 72°

Front Camera
10MP f/2.2, Dual Pixel AF, 80°

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX
USB-C

SIM:
Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano)

Battery:
4300 mAh (45W Fast Charging)

Weight:
196g

Colours:
Aura White
Aura Black
Aura Glow

In terms of pricing and availability, the Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+ (256GB) are priced at RM3,699 and RM4,199 respectively. Whereas the Galaxy Note10+ (512GB) retails at RM4,799. Both devices and its variants are available for purchase starting tomorrow.

Pokdepinion: I’ve always liked the Samsung Galaxy Note series particularly because of their S-Pen and it looks like the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series will strike a chord with fans as well.
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HUAWEI nova 7 SE Review — Affordable 5G Smartphone Anyone?

In this HUAWEI nova 7 SE review, we take a look at the latest mid-range offering from HUAWEI. Coming in with the newer Kirin 820 chipset, is it an improvement over the already impressive HUAWEI nova 7i? Let’s find out.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE Unboxing
HUAWEI Nova 7 SE review
The unit that we received is close to the full retail set, where it was missing the documentation. Aside from that, you’d get:
HUAWEI nova 7 SE smartphoneUSB Type-CCharging brickSIM ejector3.5mm earphonesTPU case
Appearance
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
When it comes to the design of the device, the Nova 7 SE shares several similarities with the Nova 7i as you’d get the same punch-hole camera on the front.

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HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
The side is also similar, where you can find a fingerprint scanner on the right along with the phone’s volume rocker. On the opposite side, the SIM tray rests in solitude.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
Moving to the bottom, you’ll find a 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, a USB Type-C port and the phone’s speaker.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
On the back is where you’ll see a visible difference between the two smartphones, with the most obvious one being the camera placement. While I love the look of the nova 7i, I can’t deny that the nova 7 SE caught my eyes with the reflective silver design. Of course, you got the nova logo embedded down there.
Specifications
CPUKirin 820 5G Octa-core (1 x 2.36 GHz Cortex-A76 & 3 x 2.22 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4 x 1.84 GHz Cortex-A55) 7nmGPUMali-G57RAM8GBDisplay6.5″ IPS (2400 x 1080), Punch FullView Display, HDR10Storage128GBCameraMain camera(s)64MP f/1.8 main camera, 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide camera, 2MP f/2.4 macro camera, 2MP f/2.4 depth cameraPDAF, HDR, Panorama, Super Night ModeFront camera16MP f/2.0 wideHDROSEMUI 10 based on Android 10ConnectivityWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)Bluetooth 5.1USB Type-C3.5mm portSIMDual SIM (slot for NM card up to 256GB)BatteryNon-removable Li-Po 4000mAh 40W fast charger5W reverse chargingDimensions162.3 x 75 x 8.6 mmWeight189gIngress protectionN/A
Performance

We see an improvement on the performance of the Kirin 820 5G chipset compared to Kirin 810. It falls a bit short to the infamous POCOPHONE F1, which says a lot.

Similar in Geekbench, it performs better in both single and multi core tests.

The Kirin 820 5G seems to be on a roll here, getting impressive scores in 3DMark’s tests as well.

In PCMark’s Work 2.0 benchmark, the HUAWEI nova 7 SE may not be at the top but it still has a notable improvement over its predecessor.

This is only the benchmark where the phone falls short of the HUAWEI nova 7i. Despite that, the difference is only by 10 minutes and considering that the nova 7 SE comes with a smaller battery capacity, we can say that the efficiency is rather similar.

In terms of real-life usage, the battery life is decent. I decided to spend my Sunday to relax, with 3 hours on Spotify, played an hour of Asphalt 9, as well as your usual Facebook and Messenger usage. At the end of the day, I ended up with 67% battery and I’m quite happy with that. For the device’s 40W fast charger, I managed to gain 56% battery in a 30-minute charge, which is pretty good.
User Experience
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
Although the device looks a bit bulky, it does offer a solid grip for my hands. The back of the phone is definitely a looker but it’s a fingerprint magnet. You’d definitely want to wear a case to keep it preserved in its best condition.
Similar to the original, the nova 7 SE’s side fingerprint scanner doesn’t come with sharp edges, which is something that I like. The punch-hole camera doesn’t feel disturbing for my experience in watching videos on the device, which is very important.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
The camera setup on the back differs a bit in terms of the placement and resolution of its main camera, with the primary 64MP camera. Some people prefer the arrangement like this, but I took a liking to the one on the nova 7i.

As is the case with most smartphones, the HUAWEI nova 7 SE doesn’t do too well in low light conditions, especially on its ultra-wide mode. However, the Super Night feature does help a bit in making images clearer. Auto focus is still lacking here for the macro mode, as it was on the nova 7i. HUAWEI has introduced the Dual-View mode, which captures from both front and back cameras. Unfortunately this mode only captures videos and not photos.
You can check out the full-sized photo samples here.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE Verdict
HUAWEI nova 7 SE review
Apart from the overall camera performance, it does its job rather well. It’s also pleasing on the eyes with its silver design. Overall the HUAWEI nova 7 SE is a solid mid-ranger.
Considering that it’s also the cheapest 5G smartphone in the market at the moment, priced at RM1,499, it’s definitely a worthy contender. Adding the fact that HUAWEI is throwing in a couple of freebies worth RM1,256 with purchase of the device, it’s pretty good value for your money. For that, I award the HUAWEI nova 7 SE with our Silver Pokdeward.

A big thanks to HUAWEI Malaysia for providing the HUAWEI nova 7 SE used in this review!
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