Samsung and Red Bull explore uncharted terrain; See the Unexpected

If you haven’t heard about it, “See the Unexpected” is a compilation of video series combining talents of Red Bull athletes with Samsung TVs. This is a collaboration between the two giant companies that will feature top extreme sports athletes showcasing their skills throughout Morocco.
With the “See the Unexpected” series, we wanted to showcase the unique talents of these athletes against some of the most beautiful backdrops and locations in the world. When watching the video series on Samsung QLED TVs, which are able to produce 100 percent color volume, viewers can witness the incredible detail, vibrant colors and every frame of the action in the best picture quality available. When watching the video series on Samsung QLED TVs, which are able to produce 100 percent color volume, viewers can witness the incredible detail, vibrant colors and every frame of the action in the best picture quality available.
See the Unexpected video series features Red Bull athletes including motorcyclist Robbie Maddison, parkour athlete Jason Paul and wakeboarder Felix Georgii.
In case you don’t know who these are, the first athlete, Robbie Maddison, Australia-born, holds the world record for the highest jump in motorcycling and has also won the Best Stunt with a Vehicle honour at the Taurus World Stunt Awards in 2013 for his work in the film “Skyfall.” So if you want to get familiarized, you should watch the movie and check out his stunts.

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Moving on to the next athlete, we have Jason Paul, born in Frankfurt, Germany who is a world-class free runner who pretty much spends most of his time travelling the world, parkouring around. He was even named as Red Bull’s Art of Motion champion from 2010 to 2012.
Then we have Felix Georgii, German hunk who is pushing the boundaries of wakeboarding by grinding and performing insane stunts on rails and ledges. You should totally check him out!
See the Unexpected is seeing Morocco as its home where the athletes take their stunts to “unexpected” places performing jaw-dropping and mind-blowing maneuvers at awesome locations like Chefchaouen, known as ‘Blue City’ for its vibrant colors, a swimming pool in Marrakech and a port city named Essaouira.
Checkout the short preview of the video:
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Pokdepinion: That video looked super awesome even on my current monitor, I wonder how it would look like in QLED. Seeing all these stunts make me wanna see them live too! Anyone wanna sponsor me a trip to Morocco?
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Samsung Showcases Their New 2021 Neo QLED, MICRO LED and Lifestyle TV Lineup

Samsung recently offered a first look at their new and upcoming 2021 line of Neo QLED, MICRO LED and Lifestyle TVs during a virtual event ahead of CES 2021. Apart from showcasing the new TVs, the new line highlights Samsung’s commitment to accessibility, sustainability, and innovation with new advancements that help redefine the role of television in consumer homes.
Samsung Neo QLED TV

During the event. Samsung unveiled flagship 8K (QN900A) and 4K (QN90A) models which features their brand new display technology called Neo QLED. The new Neo QLED technology features a combination of a new Quantum Mini LED light source controlled by Quantum Matrix Technology and Neo Quantum Processor, a powerful picture processor.

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Neo QLED uses LEDs that are smaller than conventional LEDs. Instead of using a lens to disperse light, and a package to fix the LED in place, the Quantum Mini LED has incredibly thin microlayers filled with many more LEDs. Neo QLED increases the luminance scale to 12-bit with 4096 steps; this helps make dark areas darker and bright areas brighter, resulting in a more precise and immersive HDR experience.
Neo QLED uses Samsung’s proprietary Neo Quantum Processor which uses up to 16 different neural network models, each trained in AI upscaling and deep learning technology to optimise picture quality to 4K and 8K picture output regardless of the input quality.
Samsung’s 2021 Neo QLED 8K features a nearly bezel-less screen and an all-new cable management system called the Slim One Connect box that can be attached to the TV’s back. Other features include several premium, room-filling audio features; Object Tracking Sound (OTS) Pro’s dynamic sound corresponds to the movement of objects on screen, and SpaceFit Sound analyzes the installed TV’s physical environment and outputs immersive sound tailored specifically to your space.
Furthermore, Samsung’s new Neo QLED TVs features such as:

Super Ultrawide GameView which gives gamers the option to play at either a wide 21:9 aspect ratio or at an ultrawide 32:9 ratio.
Game Bar which lets players quickly monitor and adjust critical aspects of play whether that’s switching aspect ratios, checking input lag, or connecting a headset.
FreeSync Premium Pro which minimises stuttering so players enjoy smooth picture quality throughout gameplay.
Google Duo where consumers can use their phone to initiate a high-quality, high-speed video call that up to 32 people can join no matter which operating system they’re using.
PC on TV on Samsung devices allows consumers to connect a PC to the TV, enabling working and learning from home through the TV screen with a connected mouse, keyboard, and PC.

Samsung MICRO LED TV

Next, is the Samsung MICRO LED TV line uses micrometer-sized LED lights to eliminate the backlight and colour filters utilised in conventional displays. It is self-illuminating, producing stunningly lifelike colours and brightness through its 24 million individually controlled LEDs. It also sports a Monolith Design defined by over 99% screen-to-body ratio and is available in 110 and 99-inches, as well as smaller sizes by the end of the year.
Samsung’s MICRO LED TVs also comes with an array of smart features. For example, consumers can use the 4Vue(Quad View) feature to comfortably watch up to four different content sources simultaneously on one screen. The new MICRO LED TVs features Majestic Sound which delivers breathtaking 5.1 channel sound with no external speaker.
Samsung Lifestyle TV

Samsung also revealed updated versions of their Lifestyle TV line. The 2021 version of The Frame offers a more customisable experience in a slimmer form. The Frame is about half thinner compared to previous iterations, mirroring the depth of a traditional picture frame. It also comes with new attachable bezel options with five colour options and two different customisable styles, Modern and Beveled, to match the aesthetic of whatever room The Frame is in.
Users can also choose to subscribe to The Frame’s all-new Art Store which features more than 1,400 carefully curated pieces of art. Samsung’s new AI-based auto-curation technology better analyses individual consumer preferences to recommend artwork.
With near-endless options for customisation, Samsung’s lifestyle TV portfolio including The Frame, The Serif, The Sero, The Terrace, and The Premiere immediately upgrade the décor of any home.
Samsung’s Commitment to Sustainable and Accessible Future
Over the next few years, Samsung will embark on a journey of “Going Green” in aligning TV business operations through the following long-term sustainability programs:

Reducing Carbon Footprint and Improving Energy Efficiency: Samsung will seek to systematically decrease its overall carbon footprint in TV manufacturing. The company will also seek to lower user power consumption and use more recycled materials across its entire TV line.
Sustainable Packaging Design: This sustainable solution can upcycle up to 200,000 tonnes of corrugated boxes each year. By minimising text and graphic imagery on the Eco packaging, the oil-based ink from colour printing that’s traditionally used on TV boxes is eliminated, helping to further reduce waste.
Solar Cell Remote Control: In 2021, Samsung TVs will come with a solar-powered remote control that can be recharged by indoor light, outdoor light or USB. This will help prevent waste from a projected 99 million AAA batteries over seven years. To construct the remote, Samsung innovated manufacturing process that upcycles plastics from recyclable bottles, including 24% recycled content.

For more information on Samsung’s 2021 TV lines, please visit their official website right here.
Pokdepinion: Samsung seems to be bringing some pretty good TVs with pretty smart innovative technology with them. Looking forward to how this can potentially change the game in the TV world.
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Axiata launches COVID-19 Assistance Program to help micro-SMEs affected by the pandemic

Axiata along with its subsidiaries, Celcom, edotco and Boost announced the launch of Axiata’s COVID-19 Assistance Program. The program consists of a RM150 million cash fund to provide assistance to micro-SMEs. The Ministry of Finance has contributed RM20 million to the program too.
Axiata’s COVID-19 Assistance Program will provide micro-loans for micro-SMEs via the Aspirasi digital platform. Loans ranging between RM1000 to RM10 000 and on favorable terms are expected to benefit an estimated 150 000 micro-SMEs within Boost, Aspirasi and Celcom ecosystem as well as within other ecosystems including its e-commerce, FMCG partners and potentially other telcos and e-wallets.
The COVID-19 Assistance Program will also offer suspendend repayment requirements and concessional interest rates to avoid burdening micro-SMEs during these trying times. The program will also bundle micro-insurance covering emergency income, accidental death and COVID-19 assistance too.

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All micro-SMEs have to do to obtain a loan via the COVID-19 Assistance Program is undergo a quick 3-minute online process powered by Aspirasi, and once approved, funding will be made available in 48 hours from their bank account. You can check out the program here.
The COVID-19 Assistance Program should be really helpful during the COVID-19 Restricted Movement Order (RMO) which has just been extended. Micro-SMEs generally have minimal savings and buffers to protect them from the impact of recent events, so having a micro-loan with favorable conditions will definitely be very helpful.
Pokdepinion: Nice to see some help from Axiata to protect small businesses from going bankrupt.
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FavePay Later Now Launched In Malaysia And Singapore

FavePay Later has been launched today in both Malaysia and Singapore where it is a “Buy Now, Pay Later” service that can be used at over 40,000 stores as a pilot.
FavePay Later

They’ve said that they’ve gathered over 6 million Fave users and with the launch of the FavePay Later app, it offers interest-free payments. Eligible Fave users will be able to split purchases over three equal, interest-free instalments.

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Repayments on the app will be automatically drawn each month, with no fees charged for on-time payments. In addition to that, you can get up to 10% cashback with every purchase. Currently the app is available for retail stores such as Pandora, Marks & Spencer, Best Denki, Puma, GNC and more.
Other than that, the company has said that they will extend their BNPL offering to some of the largest online commerce companies in Southeast Asia within the latter half of 2021. FavePay Later is now available on iOS and as for Android devices, it will be ready in July 2021.
Fave currently operates in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: Although a service like this isn’t common today, a cash rebate is certainly welcomed. Sometimes you just don’t want to pay a lump sum for an item, so why not pay it with instalments with no additional interest, right?
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realme 9i Lands In Malaysia At RM869

The folks at realme Malaysia has today officially launched the new realme 9i where it’s the first device in the country to be powered by the Snapdragon 680 chipset.
realme 9i launches in Malaysia

As mentioned earlier, the realme 9i is powered by a Snapdragon 680 SoC and it comes with a 33W Dart Charge fast charger. Coming in with Prism Blue and Prism Black colour variants, the phone features the Stereo Prism Design.

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It sports a 6.6-inch LCD display with 90Hz variable refresh rate. In terms of storage, there’s two RAM options, 6GB and 4GB where they are mated with 128GB of internal storage. If that’s not enough RAM for you, they have the Dynamic RAM Expansion technology where it gives 5GB and 3GB virtual RAM.
Under the hood is a big 5000mAh battery and over at the back there’s a triple camera configuration which consists of a 50MP main camera, 4MP Ultra Macro lens, and a 2MP B&W portrait lens. For selfies, there’s a 16MP camera at the front.
The realme 9i 6GB variant will be up for the first sale on the 22nd of January for the price of RM869 and it’s available for pre-orders today at 5pm where you can get a free realme Buds Air 2 Neo for the first 500 customers. If you want to get your hands on the 4GB variant, it will be available at RM799 at a later date.
For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: When they previously said that it was going to be priced under RM1000, honestly I thought it was going to be RM999. Glad that it’s less than that. What do you think of the pricing? Think it has a place in the market?
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Google Launches Datally – An App That Saves You Data!

Google has recently launch an app called Datally, which is an application that lets you save your mobile data, specifically for Android smartphone users.
Google Datally
With the introduction of Datally, Android smartphone users can now understand, control, and save mobile data easily. The app works on Android devices that runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher versions.
The app lists data consumption by your apps and enables users to close off data transmission of the apps of their own choosing, quite handy when your data is nearing its limit. Google tested the app out in the Philippines and found out that the people who tested Datally saved up to 30% of mobile data.

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If you want to monitor your data usage, the app comes with a convenient Data Saver bubble, where it shows your data consumption when it is enabled. In addition, users can choose to block one app’s data use if things get out of control, data wise.
In case you want things to be more personal, Datally can alert users when apps start to consume excessive amounts of data and it will also notify of how much data has been used on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. This makes it easier for you to keep track of things.
That’s not all, the app helps when you are indeed are in desperation for data. With its Find WiFi feature, it will reveal public networks nearby which are rated by the Datally community. You yourself can also the network themselves once connected.
Datally is available today for download at the Google Playstore globally. You can check the app directly by clicking right here.
Pokdepinion: This app could be a lifesaver to those who don’t own unlimited mobile data or a decent data package. Also the ability to observe your data consumption is very much welcomed, users will be able to figure out data plan that suits them even more.
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Intel Core i9-11900K leaks reveals gaming performance

The 11th Gen Intel Core processors are slated to be pretty powerful, having leaks showing what they are capable of in Geekbench and Cinebench. A more recent leak from Chinese outlet 二斤自制 reveal more benchmark scores, on top of its gaming benchmarks. Interestingly, the latter is where the flagship 11th Gen Intel Core processor falters.
Intel Core i9-11900K leaked benchmarks
Do note that these are leaked benchmarks, and these should not be considered final, but it seems like Intel has somehow turned the tables on AMD. While previously they lagged behind in productivity-oriented benchmarks, they are now winning in pretty much every CPU benchmark.

Intel Core i9-11900K
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G

Single-core
Multi-core
Single-core
Multi-core
Single-core
Multi-core

CPU-Z
 719.6
7035.5
657.0
6366
612.3
6374.9

Cinebench R15
256
2526
257
2354
230
2242

Cinebench R20
620
6140
609
5676
551
5404

Cinebench R23
1661
16 001
1569
14 634
1418
13 797

In CPU-Z, Cinebench R15, Cinebench R20 and Cinebench R23, the Intel Core i9-11900K posts higher single and multi-core scores than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, which sports a similar eight-core configuration. It was even pitted against the unreleased AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, which is even slower than the Ryzen 7 5800X.

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According to @harukaze5179, It is in gaming that we see the Intel Core i9-11900K fall behind the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. The largest gap is seen in League of Legends, with the AMD CPU pulling a significant 30% lead. The other games largely see the Rocket Lake and Zen 3 processor trade punches with minimal single-digit frame rate differences. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G doesn’t do nearly as well as the other two processors in the comparison, probably owing to power limit differences.
This is quite an interesting peek into the performance of the 11th Gen Intel Core processors. While Intel might no longer be able to claim to offer the “best gaming processor” this generation, the processors are still very powerful. And if the current availability of processors are anything to go by, it might be much easier to get a Rocket Lake processor than the AMD processors, especially if you don’t want to pay overinflated prices for one.
Pokdepinion: All I can hope for is to actually get my hands on one…
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Genshin Impact 1.7 Leak Unveils Artifact Conversion And Fishing in Inazuma

The latest Genshin Impact 1.7 leak reveals artifact conversion as well as a new fishing system in the upcoming Inazuma region. If you’re trying to plan out your party in advance, this would be important to take note of.
Genshin Impact 1.7 Leak: Artifact Conversion and New Fishing System

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Based on the latest Genshin Impact 1.7 leak, the new Artifact conversion feature will be called Mystic Offering. It’s said to allow you to change existing 5-star Artifacts for new ones. You can exchange from four Artifact sets; Gladiator’s Finale, Wanderer’s Troupe, Bloodstained Chivalry, and Noblesse Oblige.
Apart from that, another Genshin Impact 1.7 leak surfaced on the popular Wangsheng Funeral Parlor Discord server. Unfortunately, it’s tough to verify the credibility for this one as it’s not from the usual crop of leakers with at least a decent track record. In this, they mentioned about a new fishing system in the upcoming update:
According to sources, 1.7 will feature a fishing rod, which you can use to go fishing in water, especially the contaminated water areas in Inazuma, which may yield artifacts and materials (max 5*), but the chance is very low. Also mihoyo is very likely to make the game a bit more realistic, such as sitting and sleeping, adding momentum to gliders, and Millelith and Favonius knights will fight monsters in the wild.
For now, do take these information with a grain of salt. Genshin Impact is currently available for free on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Android, iOS, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version will be coming sometime soon.
Source
Pokdepinion: I’m already seeing friends try to plan out what to do in the game in advance to get ready for the next update. It’s great, but I don’t think I could ever be that dedicated. It’s okay to just take things as they go.
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Nokia 8 review; is the king back?

Introduction

I am sure most of you here are fans of Nokia. I mean, who doesn’t like a good underdog story? After a disappointing run under Microsoft, just like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Nokia is back, first with the Nokia 3, 5 and 6, and now with the Nokia 8. While the former devices were decidedly low to mid-range devices, the Nokia 8 definitely carries HMD Global’s loftier ambitions. With that said, let’s take a look at Nokia’s latest contender.
Unboxing

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The Nokia 8 is overlaid on an image of hands holding hands on the front of the packaging… Here comes the memories of Nokia’s Connecting People slogan flooding right back in. Right from the packaging, you can see that Nokia didn’t adopt edge-less displays yet, so those who want more minimal bezels will have to look elsewhere.

Here over on the back you will find a short list of specifications. Not too much, but just enough to let you know that Nokia means business here. We have some flagship-class specifications, as well as a peek at how the Polished Blue variant will look like. We got the Steel variant here.

Lifting off the lid gives you a view of the Nokia 8. The compartment beside it holds the charger and USB Type-C cable, with more stuff under the Nokia 8 itself.

You will get the Nokia 8, the aforementioned charger which delivers up to 18W of power, the USB 3.0 Type-C cable, SIM ejector pin, standard documentation and a pair of earphones. It’s really quite rare to find earphones in the box, and these aren’t the standard earbud type, but actual IEMs. It’s great to find a USB 3.0 cable in the box when many manufacturers actually support the feature on the smartphone, but decide to bundle a USB 2.0 cable with the device.
Appearance

I must say that the Nokia 8 doesn’t have the most interesting front panel. It has a Gorilla Glass 5 panel with 2.5D curved edges, but that’s about it. The display doesn’t spill over the edges, nor does it reach the far ends of the top and bottom bezels. At the top, we find the 13MP Zeiss selfie camera beside the rather generous cutout for the front facing speaker, and the nostalgic Nokia logo. Over at the kiwer bezel there’s the front-mounted solid state home button doubles as the fingerprint sensor, along with the two capacitive navigation keys. While I am a sucker for chamfered edges, I must say that the way the glass flows into the curved metal edge looks really good here, and it should be infinitely more durable than chamfered edges that just end up getting dinged by the silliest of things.

Over on the back, we have the horizontally-oriented Nokia logo. The oblong-shaped protrusion is a cover glass for all things camera on the Nokia 8, with the dual LED flash, laser autofocus system and dual ZEISS lenses here. Above the mild camera hump (or bump?) we find a tiny perforation for the microphone. Do note the Nokia 8 sports a whopping THREE microphones, so let’s go on a treasure hunt, shall we? The grey color is a little too dark for silver and a little too light for gunmetal, which is probably why Nokia decided to call it Steel. Come on Nokia, give us gunmetal on the next one?

The bottom is where we will find the next hole for the microphone, along with the USB Type-C port. The USB Type-C port features support for USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) speeds, so transferring your images will be a lot faster on this the usual USB 2.0 supported by most devices. The loudspeaker is also located here, with two perforations and a protective grille that looks almost sealed. This might be due to the IP54 rating that the Nokia 8 sports. Yeah, the Nokia 8 is rated IP54 for its resistance against the elements, promising resistance against water splashes. This means no dunking the phone in water, but you should be able to walk through the rain with it in your hands.

A 3.5mm jack takes up residence at the top edge, with no IR blaster to share its home with. It gets kind of lonely up there, so make sure to poke the 3.5mm hole with some wired earphones. As on the bottom, the top and bottom edges are plastic and house the antennae in the Nokia 8. I am surprised Nokia can’t color match properly though, as these looks kinda off actually. I am not sure if it was intentional, but I wish they featured a similar finish as the aluminium unibody.

Over on the right we have the buttons. They are positioned very well, with the power button being right where I put my thumb when I grip the device. They seem to be made of metal, have a nice feel to them and actually feature chamfered edges to add a touch of style to them. It’s the little things that matter, yes? Nokia didn’t use different textures for the buttons here though. You may have also realized that I have yet to mention the third microphone. I really have no idea where Nokia hid it. Do you see the third microphone? Say microphone if you see it! Yes! It’s actually in the cutout for the earpiece.
Specifications

CPU/Chipset:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (4 x Kryo 280 @ 2.5 GHz, 4 x Kryo 280 @ 1.8 GHz)

GPU:
Adreno 540 @ 710 MHz

RAM:
4GB LPDDR4X

Display:
5.3″, WQHD (1440p) IPS, Glance, Corning Gorilla Glass 5

Storage:
64GB UFS2.1 (expandable with microSD up to 256GB)

Camera:
Main Camera
13MP f/2.0 1/3.06″ IMX 258 (RGB) +  13MP f/2.0 1/3.06″ IMX 258 (Monochrome)
76.9° FOV, ZEISS optics, PDAF, OIS (only for RGB camera), IR range finder, dual tone LED flash
Front Camera
13MP f/2.0 1/3.06″ IMX 258 (RGB) , ZEISS optics, PDAF, screen flash, Beautify Mode

OS:
Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Connectivity:
Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.0
NFC
Cat.9 3CA 450 Mbps (DL) and 50 Mbps (UL) LTE

SIM:
Dual nanoSIM (one nanoSIM slot doubles as microSD slot)

Battery:
Li-ion 3090 mAh

Performance
The Snapdragon 835 is currently the top of the line SoC from Qualcomm, and it’s paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X for some fluid performance. 4GB is far from the most capacious RAM you can find in a smartphone, but its should still be sufficient for some standard multitasking. UFS 2.1 storage ensures quick loading times and a smooth user experience, and hopefully Nokia won’t get themselves into a fiasco like Huawei and Samsung did with their flagships. The Cat.9 LTE is a puzzling decision though. The X16 LTE modem in the Snapdragon 835 supports Cat.16 LTE for 1Gbps speeds, but here we have less than half of the full potential of the modem. Putting that aside, let’s run the Nokia 8 through our benchmark suite.

Antutu tests the overall performance of the device, and here the Nokia 8 ekes out a victory over the Samsung Galaxy S8 which sat at the top of our benchmark charts for all of 4 months. The stronger Adreno 540 is most probably one of the main contributing factors to this difference, considering that the Exynos 8895 and Snapdragon 835 are pretty close in terms of CPU performance.

So close, that the Nokia 8 actually falls behind the Samsung Galaxy S8 by a slight bit. The difference is small, and can probably be attributed to variances between runs. However we will call it when we see it, and here the Nokia 8 isn’t as fast as the Galaxy S8 in both single-core and multi-core runs.

Qualcomm still holds the upper hand in terms of graphics performance with the Adreno 540. Just look at the near 9000 point lead on the Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark! It also scores more than 10% better in Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) and a good 17% better in Sling Shot (ES 3.0). Needless to say, if you want a device that’s ready for games with extreme graphics and excellent fluidity, you should definitely opt for the Nokia 8 with the Snapdragon 835.

We finally have a device that dethrones the ASUS ZenFone 3 which has remained unbeaten since its launch last year! Here it has the Samsung Galaxy S8 totally beat, with the Korean device scoring way less. It can be noted as a difference obtained through optimization since the Exynos 8895 is no slouch either in other benchmarks.

Despite all the chart-topping scores earlier, the Nokia 8 made no compromises when it comes to battery life. In fact, we have the Nokia 8 actually coming out ahead of the ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro with its Snapdragon 625 which is renowned for efficiency! Here it just falls short of the Samsung Galaxy S8 by 6 minutes, a really trivial amount, to be honest.

Real world usage also sees the 3090 mAh battery in the Nokia 8 perform pretty well. Not as great as the ASUS ZenFone 3 with its mind-boggling 9 hours of screen on time, but this is plenty respectable for a flagship-class smartphone. Do note that I am using the Glance feature, swapping between WiFi and data, shooting random photos, with a decent amount of social networking and browsing the Internet with Chrome throughout this period. Being able to reach home after work with more than enough battery for a quick night out is all I ask for, and the Nokia 8 delivers it, no questions about it.
User Experience

While smartphones are growing ever bigger, the Nokia 8 actually comes with a smaller screen than its mid-range brethren, the Nokia 6. The 5.3″ display with minimal bezels on its sides makes the Nokia 8 very manageable in terms of width, and the curved sides on the back are just sheer perfection in ergonomics. The shape was perfect, but the finishing is quite slippery. The smooth finishing of the metal back of the Nokia 8 which was precision-machined out of a single block of 6000 series aluminium makes me worry it will just slip out of my grasp at any time. While I had not have any unfortunate meetings between the device and the floor, I worry every time I pull it out of my pocket. For my floor, that is. This is a Nokia we are talking about here. You can see here that the Nokia 8 features Glance despite using an IPS panel, a rather uncommon feature. To save power, it will only turn on once it detects motion, and shut itself off after a preset amount of time. While it only shows calls, emails and messages for notifications, messages in your instant messaging clients like Whatsapp and Telegram will also be grouped together as messages. Really nifty!

Reaching the fingerprint sensor on the lower bezel is quite easy with the slim design and ergonomic curves that make up the Nokia 8. A light tap is usually sufficient to unlock the device, but there is a slight delay from when you press your finger against the sensor to the moment the homescreen appears on the display. Not too bad, but I have used faster fingerprint scanners.

Aside from featuring Glance, the IPS panel on the Nokia 8 is still very noteworthy. For one, it goes really bright. Capable of 700 nits at full tilt, I can’t see anyone having issues using it under direct sunlight. That’s on one end of the spectrum. When you lower the brightness, it goes really really dim. I can see the very low minimum brightness as the enabling factor behind Glance on IPS, considering that IPS displays have backlights that span the entire panel and will consume substantial amounts of power in conventional displays. The pixel density is also off the charts, with 3686400 pixels crammed into a 5.3″ panel for an extraordinary 554 pixels per inch. That’s way beyond Apple’s Retina standard of 326 ppi for smartphones! Colors are punchy and vivid here, and with the high pixel density, sharpness is the least of your worries.
The display is great, but the audio, not so much. The speaker sounds way too tinny for any kind of music listening to happen. It’s loud enough for notifications, but that’s about it. Plugging in earphones allowed you to enjoy much better sound, with the Nokia 8 pumping some great tunes through my go-to Simgot EN700 Bass IEMs.

Now that we have gone through most of the hardware, let’s take a look at the dual camera system. The hardware is pretty decent, we have two 13MP sensors, one monochrome and one with a conventional RGB filter, phase detection autofocus, IR range finder, optical image stabilization for the standard one and of course, f/2.0 aperture ZEISS optics for both cameras. This is a setup similar to Huawei’s Leica dual camera system, but Huawei has already moved on to a higher resolution for the monochrome sensor. The front camera also features ZEISS optics, and is the exact same 13MP sensor with the exact same f/2.0 and a slightly wider field of view to fit more into your selfies. Or #Bothies, which we will get to in a second.

Good hardware must be paired with a intuitive user interface and appropriate processing algorithms to make it a great smartphone camera. Sadly, the software part of the Nokia 8’s camera is where it pales in comparison with more mature offerings. Despite the interesting hardware offered, there is no proper manual mode to play around with your settings. Nokia just got Lumia Camera UI back from Microsoft recently, so you should see the best manual mode in a smartphone with an update soon. You do however get to toggle between using both cameras or just the color camera and the monochrome camera individually. Snapping photos in Auto HDR mode or the Twin mode in low light can be a frustrating experience with instances of shutter lag and long saving times that really have no place in a flagship. The lack of OIS in the monochrome camera also makes it difficult to use in lower light conditions despite the increased sensitivity of the sensor without a Bayer color filter. Didn’t stop me from taking some great black and white photos though. The autofocus on the Nokia 8 is also quite annoying at the moment. Just when you thought you have gotten the perfect focus by tapping on your subject, the device decides to hunt for focus again microseconds before you tap the shutter button. The result? An out of focus image despite featuring phase detection and laser autofocus. These are all definitely software issues, especially the shutter lag problem which can be easily fixed by updates later on.

Time to talk about the camera output from the Nokia 8. The monochrome sensor does what it says on the can, with true black and white images with stunning levels of depth. I really liked the quality of the monochrome shots but the lack of OIS here can lead to some shaky images in lower light conditions. Color images turn out great too, with good details and accurate colors even in poorer lighting. HDR mode is quite slow on the Nokia 8, despite advancements made in live HDR modes, especially in low light. However when it works, it works great. The Live Bokeh mode is really quite accurate, blurring very selectively even when messy hair is involved, and you can tune the blurring effect after you take the shot. It doesn’t blur nearly as much as Huawei’s implementation though, but this is way more realistic. Selfie aficionados will be glad to know that the front camera shares all the features available with the rear color camera, except for the Live Bokeh mode. With powerful cameras front and back, Bothie is a fun thing to play around with, but framing and composing your shots can be quite confusing for a while.

Nokia touts the inclusion of OZO Audio technology for enhanced surround sound in your videos, but the video recording is limited to 30fps at 1080p and 4K in terms of visual content. Nokia, if you are reading, we want 60 fps at 1080p and 4K. Make it happen. We know there is no hardware limitation to speak of here. Oh and throw in monochrome video recording while you are at it, will ya? Bothie also works for videos, with the ability to do a livestream on Facebook or YouTube directly from the camera app. OZO Audio works really well, allowing you to pinpoint sound sources in your video recordings, with clarity that can compete with or best my Sony NEX-6’s audio quality recording. Of course, you will need headphones for that, as the mono loudspeaker is not up to the task of letting you enjoy the binaural sound recorded here.

Aside from the customized camera app, the rest of Nokia’s user interface is purely stock Android. You are getting the standard Nougat notification shade, Google Now with a swipe to right, the app drawer with a swipe up… you get the drill. Nokia promises faster updates and the latest security patches thanks to minimal customizations on Google’s source. What I am enjoying now is a very smooth user experience that is just unbeatable with clunky skins that certain manufacturers opt for, and the rather recent August 1st security update. If you have read my review of the Nexus 6P, you will know that I have a very strong preference for stock Android despite knowing the fact that I will lose out on some nifty vendor-specific features. Here, the Nokia 8 features a custom camera app slapped onto stock Android, which means I am not losing anything important after all.
Conclusion

Is the Nokia 8 the device to buy now? For RM2299, it definitely offers a lot for its money. The Snapdragon 835 itself seals the deal for me. The camera software could do with some polishing, the screen doesn’t fill up the entire front of the device and you may be getting faster LTE on other devices with the same chipset, but man. RM2299 for something from a brand everyone has memories with, ZEISS optics, OZO Audio, a spectacular showing in our benchmark suite, an excellent 1440p IPS display and a solid series 6000 aluminium body to pack it all in. I would actually pay for a blue Nokia 8, and that is just the highest degree of recommendation I can give this great device.

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Ubisoft Provides Refunds For Those Who Bought Assassin’s Creed Unity

Previously Ubisoft decided to give gamers Assassin’s Creed Unity for free in response to the Notre Dame cathedral incident. Now they are offering full refunds for those who bought the game before they were given out for free.
If you’ve purchased the game after 15th of April, you’ll be eligible for a full refund. Ubisoft’s website states that you wouldn’t need to take any action, where they will reach out to you on the matter through an email.
It’s worth noting that the offer is exclusively for the Ubisoft store (Uplay), so if you’ve made a purchase on any other platform, you’re out of luck.

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By making the game free, Ubisoft wanted to share the Notre Dame cathedral’s beauty in its original form, before disaster struck and it caught fire and damaged. They’ve also donated around $564,000 for the restoration of the cathedral.
If you haven’t gotten the game, you still can do so. Just be sure to claim it before the 25th of April 2019.
Pokdepinion: Great move from Ubisoft. At least they planned everything properly as they took count in the worst case scenario that people actually bought them when they were giving the game away free of charge.
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MSI Brings RTX 4060 Series In 8 Flavors Under GAMING & VENTUS Line

MSI has announced new models for the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, 16GB as well as the RTX 4060 8GB; as the latter two models are set for a further July launch, only the 8GB variant of RTX 4060 Ti has its models formally announced with accompanying specs. (Though the company said RTX 4060 Ti 16GB and RTX 4060 8GB will feature the same lineup as well.)
The GAMING series, with both the dual-fan GAMING and triple-fan GAMING TRIO variants (and their respective overclocked ‘X’ models) features the same TORX Fan 5.0 from previous RTX 40 models. The backplate features flow-through cutouts common in recent GPU designs; Mystic Light RGB is also exclusive to this lineup. So far no overclock figures has been published for all four GAMING models, however. The card measures 338 x 141 x 52 mm for triple fan models and 247 x 130 x 42 mm for dual-fan models – all using the same PCIe 8-pin connector for power.

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Meanwhile, the entry-level VENTUS series also sees triple-fan (VENTUS 3X) and dual-fan (VENTUS 2X BLACK) designs split up into four variants as well. The leading VENTUS 3X OC model features highest overclocks available with +45MHz pushing the boost clock to 2580MHz, though it will require enabling a separate “Extreme Performance” profile in the MSI Center app. All four variants can get an extra +15MHz this way even for non-OC models. The VENTUS 3X and VENTUS 2X BLACK measures at 308 x 120 x 43 mm and 199 x 120 x 42 mm respectively.
All eight RTX 4060 Ti 8GB variants will go on sale starting May 24th, 2023 – the company has yet to announce pricing information at this writing.
Pokdepinion: Triple-fan for a 160W card? Wow.
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GameSir G4s Advanced Edition Wireless Gaming Controller review

Have you heard of a gaming controller brand by the name of GameSir? Actually, we have just discovered it recently too. I found it on Lazada when I was window shopping (browser shopping?) around in the site for new gadgets. I’m not a person who play games using a controller, but the GameSir G3s did pique my interest. Without further ado, I checked GameSir’s official website, gamesir.hk and actually there is a newer version, the GameSir G4s Advanced Edition.
I discussed the brand with my editor and he started doing his magic, contacting the brand to obtain a review sample. 2 weeks later we received the GameSir G4s, and this is my review.
Unboxing

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GameSir G4s comes in an appealing plastic case. With a clear top cover, you can see the controller very clearly.

On the rear edge, you get a short list of features and the platforms it works with.

The front edge bears some extra information regarding the GameSir G4s

Inside the case we have the GameSir G4s itself, a USB charging cable and user manual. The user manual is important, do read it thoroughly. Platform wise, it supports both Windows and Android platform.

Appearance

The layout is akin to an Xbox controller as the GameSir G4s is a Xinput compatible controller.  The colour scheme with a combination of silver, grey and black make it look pretty premium. The generous rubber grips wrap around all the way to back, which is a nice touch. The XABY buttons are backlit, which not only looks good but also help gamers who like to game in the dark. The brightness is also adjustable, so you need not worry about them being too glaring.

At the top there are two analog triggers and two buttons. The microUSB serves to juice up the non-removable 800 mAh battery. Since it uses a microUSB connection, you can easily replace the cable with third-party cables like the iCable i10 Power Series microUSB cable even if you lose the one in the box.

The centerpiece can actually be flipped up to reveal two buttons and the centerpiece itself is a cradle for your smartphone. Since the GameSir G4s supports Android too, this is a great move. The two buttons under the centerpiece which are turbo and clear button.

Specification

Model
Gamesir-G4

Working Platforms
Android/Windows PC

Working Mode
Android Standard/GCM /X-input/Dinput

Connection Types
Bluetooth/2.4 GHz Wireless

Charging Time
2-3H

Working Distance
Approx. 8m

Bluetooth Version
Bluetooth 4.0

Battery Life
18H

Battery Capacity
800mAh

Charging Voltage
3.7V~5.2V

Charging Current
1A~2A

Working Current
Approx.66mAh

Working Temperature
—20℃ ~ 65℃

Working Humidity
20%~80%

Gift Box Size(mm.)
178*128*89

Product Size(mm.)
155*102*65.5

Net Weight(g.)
248

Gross Weight(g.)
526

User Experience

GameSir G4s is compatible with Android and Windows, but I don’t game on Android. It also supports Bluetooth connectivity, or the standard 2.4 GHz wireless connection. Connecting the controller to my PC is easy, I just had to plug in the 2.4 GHz wireless USB dongle to my PC, and Windows takes care of the rest. Once it connected, you have two option either to connect is as Mouse Simulation Mode or XInput mode. Sadly, it doesn’t work over a Bluetooth connection with my PC, nor does it function over a wired connection. Apparently, the USB connector is purely for charging purposes.
There are actually a few modes that the GameSire G4s can work in:
XInput Mode
Setup the controller for gaming is not difficult, simply just press “X+Home” and the Home LED will turn to blue indicating it’s ready for action. The home button glows blue here, which is the default mode for the controller. XInput has been pushed since the Xbox 360 controller, which means most recent games will support it.
DInput Mode
DirectInput is a legacy input mode. It has been deprecated by Microsoft. You can enter this mode by pressing “A+Home” until the home button glows green.
Mouse Simulation Mode
In order to use the controller as a mouse, you will need to be in the DInput mode first. Then, press “X+Select”, and the LED will turn to white indicated the controller already in mouse simulation mode.

I tried many games with this controller such as The Crew, The Witcher 3, Need for Speed: Rivals, Grid 2, Shiftlings and Battlefield 4. As it features XInput, any game that supports the Xbox 360 controller supports the GameSir G4s. And that means plenty of games. As expected, the all the analog triggers and joysticks are a dream to use. Coming from a keyboard, playing racing games took on a whole different level of realism when I can finally control how much I want to turn the steering and also how much throttle and brakes I am applying. FPS games are a bad idea with controllers, my head was literally spinning and I stopped using it.

While I am gushing over the joys of using analog controls, the buttons also deserve credit. Every button offers satisfying tactile feedback, allowing for better accuracy when using them. The soft rubber finishing on the dual analog sticks too, worthy of praise. See those 4 little LEDs on the lower right corner of this image? That’s the battery indicator.

The built in 800mAh battery should provide at least 30 hours’ of power. I do not play games every day, but the controller really does sip juice from its battery. In a week with several hours of gaming and leaving it to idle, it just dropped 2 bars. And when you have to juice it up, you can even connect a powerbank and mount that powerbank into the smartphone cradle. That should ensure that you can game for several days, continuously.
Conclusion
The GameSir G4s can easily stand toe-to-toe with Microsoft Xbox controllers or any other controller, for that matter. The multiplatform support is something that many brands forget to include in their products. That being said, the GameSir G4s isn’t perfect either. One of the issues I have noticed is the smartphone cradle’s design. The cradle is quite shallow and it cannot hold a thicker smartphone with a curved back like the ASUS Zenfone 2. Thinner and flatter designs like the ASUS Zenfone 3 is not a problem though. Also the clear and turbo button is recommended to be relocated for easier access. Overall the GameSir G4s is an impressive product and I recommend it.

GameSir G4s is not available yet on Lazada.my but you can check their other products here. If you are interested in getting the GameSir G4s right now, you can purchase it from Ebay or Amazon for USD50 (approximately RM210).
I would like to thank GameSir for giving us opportunity to review the GameSir G4s Advanced Edition.
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Overwatch Halloween Terror Making a Return in 2018

There’s a rumor among explorers
About a monolithic lair
Home to terrifying horrors
Heroes, how will you prepare? pic.twitter.com/XK7W7e0SKA
— Overwatch (@OverwatchEU) October 1, 2018

Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event will return and run from 9th October to 31 October 2018, bringing back the Halloween-themed loot boxes and the chance to earn special skins and other cosmetic items which are unique to this event.
This event will be a celebration of all things Halloween, allowing players to obtain new and returning holiday cosmetics and participate in the Junkenstein’s Revenge game mode. This seasonal arcade mode will have four players play cooperatively by controlling McCree, Soldier 76, Hanzo, and Ana to fight against waves of AI-controlled enemies including heroes such as Reaper, Roadhog, Junkrat, Symmetra, and Mercy in their Halloween skins.

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During the September developer update for Overwatch, game director Jeff Kaplan revealed Roadhog would be receiving a very special skin in the Halloween Terror update, and also outlined a modified Torbjorn who is currently in PTR and has not yet been released officially.
In case you didn’t know, the turret-building Torbjorn is slated for a rework that is said to make him a more all-around hero as opposed to someone who is only good in certain situations. This should make him a more viable pick moving forward.
Pokdepinion: Aside from Lucioball, I actually really enjoyed Junkenstein’s Revenge. Would not mind playing that again, though I hope they added new bosses or something to fight against.
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Acer Swift 3X Review – Value-Focused Practicality

Unboxing the Acer Swift 3X
Acer Swift 3X Review – Box

Let’s kick off our Acer Swift 3X review with the unboxing. Inside the box, you will find the following items:
Acer Swift 3X Review – Box content

65W power adapter
USB-C cable
User guide and warranty
The Acer Swift 3X laptop itself

Appearance
Acer Swift 3X Review – Lid
The Acer Swift 3X doesn’t stray far from the Swift series design. It follows a more simple, elegant design that is suited for this type of laptop. The lid has a rather solid, metallic build with the Acer logo in the center. For our Acer Swift 3X review unit, we have the Steamy Blue colour option, but you can also choose Safari Gold if that suits you more.
Acer Swift 3X Review – Open up the lid
Open up the lid and you’ll see the 14-inch Full HD IPS display with relatively slim bezels. The top and bottom bezels are thicker, with the top housing the built-in webcam and the bottom having the Acer logo. You also get a backlit chiclet keyboard, trackpad, fingerprint scanner, and product stickers.

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Acer Swift 3X Review – Ports
On the left side, you have the proprietary charging port, HDMI port, USB-A port, and USB-C port. As for the right side, you have a 3.5mm combo audio jack, another USB-A port, LED indicators, and a Kensington Lock. It’s worth noting that if open up the lid, the bottom part of the display will give the laptop a bit of a lift for improved airflow.
Acer Swift 3X Review – Bottom
Moving over to the bottom, you have two long air vents, four rubberized stands, speaker grilles, and product stickers. There are 11 exposed screws here, with one screw hidden behind a “Warranty Void” sticker.
Overall, the Acer Swift 3X has a more modern design that should easily fit in with office and study environments. I personally wished that it had more colour choices so more people can get a laptop that feels more personal to them.
Specifications

CPU
Intel Core i7-1165G7 @ 2.4 GHz (up to 4.7 GHz Boost), 4C/8T, 10nm SuperFin, 28W TDP

RAM
16GB LPDDR4X

GPU
Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics

Storage
512GB PCIe NVMe SSD

Software
Microsoft Windows 10 Home

Connectivity
Wireless 802.11ax Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 Wired 1 x RJ45 LAN 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A 1 x Thunderbolt 41 x HDMI 2.0

Display
14″ (1920 x 1080) 60Hz IPS Acer ComfyView display

Audio
2 x speakers 4 x digital microphones 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack

Power
65W power adapter 56 WHr Li-polymer battery

Dimensions
322.8 x 212.2 x 17.95 mm

Weight
1.37 kg

Performance

Starting off with CrystalDiskMark, the storage drive in the Acer Swift 3X performed more than adequately. It should be more than enough for most people so you can expect fast boot ups and minimal loading times, if any. In case you’re wondering, it is the 512GB SK Hynix BC511 SSD.

On Cinebench R15, the Acer Swift 3X performed well enough. The single core score of the Intel Core i7-1165G7 is very high but the multi-core score is clearly lagging behind the competition. This isn’t a surprise given that the CPU isn’t designed for high performance.

As for Cinebench R20, it seemed to perform noticeably better. Among ultraportable laptops, it had the best score in both single core and multi-core performance. It’s shaping up to be a powerful contender within this product segment.3

On Unigine SuperPosition’s 4K Optimized benchmark, the score is relatively low but typically, a laptop of this kind would score less than 1000 points. This shows that the Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics is a noticeable upgrade over the older Intel UHD Graphics. However, it will still be dwarfed by something like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which isn’t exactly a strong performer on its own.

The same can be said with 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark, with the Acer Swift 3X scoring low for the same reason. It’s still an admirable score given what’s powering the laptop but essentially, don’t expect too much from this laptop in terms of graphics processing.
While we would normally continue with PCMark, we couldn’t get it to run properly. It will start the first part of the test, and then fail soon after. Due to the limited time we had with this review unit, I couldn’t figure out an alternative in time. As such, we will have to skip it for this one.
Looking for a gaming laptop instead? Check out our review of the Acer Predator Triton 500 2020 by clicking right here.
User Experience
Acer Swift 3X Review
The Acer Swift 3X is an ultraportable laptop with some new technology which sets it apart from the usual. It is powered by the Intel Core i7-1165G7 with Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics. On the memory side, you get a speedy 512GB SSD storage, SK Hynix BC511, and 16GB DDR4 RAM with a clock speed of 4266MHz. It runs rather quietly and I didn’t get any thermal issues throughout. I have no complaints here as it has everything you need to get started and you won’t need to upgrade anything anytime soon.
Acer Swift 3X Review – Display
As for the display, the 14-inch display works well enough. You get good viewing angles and vibrant colours with it. Full HD resolution is a reasonable expectation with this, although it would be nice if it came with a 1440p resolution display. One downside here is that the display is rather dim, so you may find yourself using it close to 100% brightness for the most part.
Acer Swift 3X Review – Ports
The Acer Swift 3X has a decent array of ports. You get a Thunderbolt 4 port, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Similar laptops tend to have lesser ports, such as having multiple USB-C ports and no USB-A ports, so I’m fine with this. It also supports USB-C PD charging, which is incredibly handy. What would have been nice is if they included an SD card reader. Given that it includes a Thunderbolt 4 port, you have better expandability potential with this as you can transfer files faster, connect up to two 4K displays with it, more dock / hub options, and more.

Acer Swift 3X Review – Keyboard

As for the keyboard, we have a white backlit chiclet keyboard with no Numpad. It’s a decent enough experience with short travel distance and large key size so it’s easy to press. I would have personally liked it more if it has a more tactile feel. The trackpad works fine and is rather wide, but nothing much to say about it. You’re better off using your own mouse.
Acer Swift 3X Review – Fingerprint scanner
Not to forget, this laptop does come with a fingerprint scanner. It works reliably and fast, so I would recommend sticking to this for security and convenience. I’ve only had it fail to read my fingerprint once after using it for 2 weeks, so it should work great for everyone else as well.

Acer Swift 3X Review

In the sound department, you have the DTS Audio software where you can optimize your listening experience on speakers and with your headset. It has four presets that you can use; Music, Movies, Games, and Custom Audio. You can also tailor your experience further using the graphic equalizer. As for the speakers themselves, it’s rather soft even at max volume. Moreover, the sound produced here is a little hollow with bass essentially being non-existent. It’s best to use your favourite pair of headphones or external speakers for a more immersive audio experience.
If you’re looking for something more premium, check out our review of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus by clicking right here.
Acer Swift 3X Verdict
Acer Swift 3X Review
The Acer Swift 3X is a good ultraportable productivity laptop. It has good build quality, the CPU performs well, Thunderbolt 4 is great to have, it supports USB-C PD charging, the RAM and storage configuration is perfect to start off with, it’s easy to bring around, and the fingerprint scanner is both fast and reliable.
However, the display is a little dim, the speakers are subpar, there’s no touchscreen support, and it has no SD card reader built in. At RM4,599, it may be a little pricey but you do get what you pay for and the competition tends to be priced even higher. After all, you definitely have no need to upgrade the memory here and it’s good to go from the start. At the end of our Acer Swift 3X review, I award this with our Silver Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Acer Malaysia for letting us use this laptop for the purpose of this review.Spread the PokdeLoveClick to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

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Plextor M9PeY 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD review — satisfying your need for speed with flying colors!

Introduction

The race for faster storage has never been closer. While NAND flash is now scaling up vertically instead of just shrinking die process to make more room on each die. NAND flash and their controllers are now fast enough to saturate the 6 Gbps bandwidth SATA III can deliver, causing SSD manufacturers to turn to the 32 Gbps PCIe 3.0 x4 interface to enable even faster speeds. We were impressed by the Plextor M8PeY 256GB PCIe SSD in the past, and today we will give the latest Plextor M9PeY 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD, with up to 3200 MB/s sequential read speed, a whirl.
Unboxing

You may think, why is there such a huge box for something like an SSD. Well that’s because the Plextor M9PeY is a half-height, half-length (HHHL) card. There are variants like the M9PeG that fits in M.2 PCIe slots and the M9PeGN that comes without a heatsink. Enough about the size, size doesn’t matter. The colorful eye box art reminds me of Gigabyte’s GPU packaging. Plextor generously hints at the presence of RGB on the Plextor M9PeY, with clear text telling you what’s in the box.

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The back lists some basic specifications like the random and sequential performance, physical parameters of the drive and the package contents. The back is decidedly less decorated, with a boring font too.

The printed hard paper sleeve slides off to reveal a brown cardboard box with the Plextor logo printed smack dab in the center. Opening it reveals the SSD secured in hard plastic, with a quick installation guide in multiple languages to help you get started.

Huge injection moulded plastic trays are the reason why the package is this huge. Well, at least they do their job of keeping the Plextor M9PeY safe. You only get the SSD itself, a half-height bracket and screw to secure the drive to your case.
Appearance

Looking like any PCIe card, the main thing you can see is the huge passive heatsink. NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs can run hot, and this large a heatsink would really help to keep the Plextor M9PeY running at maximum performance.

The back of the card is naked, no backplate here. You can see the RGB strip running along the side of the heatsink here.

Holey is thy bracket. While it probably won’t help in actually cooling the Plextor M9PeY, the bracket will look cooler from the back of your rig. If you are running a really small case or probably a server, the half-height bracket features the same perforations to keep you happy.

One of the features of the Plextor M9PeY is the RGB lighting. The RGB lighting runs in two modes: color cycle when its idling which becomes a color wave when the drive is used.

Here’s it in color wave mode when I was benchmarking it. It gets kinda ridiculous when you are using it intermittently, as it will always start the color cycle again (it starts with blue) instead of continue where it was at before there were I/O operations. There doesn’t seem a way to lock the SSD in either mode, or even turn off the RGB lighting, so you are stuck with this effect.
Specifications

Capacity
512GB

Interface
NVMe PCIe 3.0 X4

NAND Type
Toshiba 64-layer 3D NAND TLC (toggle) flash

DRAM Cache
512MB LPDDR3

Controller
Marvell 88SS1093

Rated speed
Sequential:
Read: Up to 3200 MB/s Write: Up to 2000 MB/s
Random:
Read: Up to 340 000 IOPS Write: Up to 280 000 IOPS

Dimensions
176.33 mm X 121.04 mm X 22.39 mm

Weight
200 g

Included accessories
Half-height bracket, quick installation guide, bracket screw

Plextor decided to continue using the Marvell 88SS1093 that was used in the Plextor M8PeY 256GB NVMe PCIe SSD. It is a mature controller that is reported to heat up quite easily, but that will probably not be an issue with the Plextor M9PeY featuring such a massive heatsink. The upgrade to 64-layer 3D NAND flash will probably be making all the difference though. This year, you also do not need an additional power connector for the Plextor M9PeY, unlike the M8PeY which needed a SATA power connector.
Test Machine

Processor
Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.0 GHz

Cooler
Noctua NH-D15 (triple NF-A15 fans)

Motherboard
ASUS X99-Deluxe

Memory
4 x 4GB Kingston HyperX Predator 3000 MHz CL15

Storage
Seagate FireCuda 2TB SSHD

Power Supply
Cooler Master V850

Performance

Similar to when we reviewed the Plextor M8PeY, we were advised to turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing to get optimal scores in all benchmarks.
Synthetic

Starting off with CrystalDiskMark, we see that Plextor definitely delivered on their rated speeds. This is by far the fastest SSD that has hit our labs yet, and I was already very impressed by the 256GB Samsung PM961 M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 X4 SSD in the ASUS ROG GL503VS SCAR Edition, but this just takes the cake. Notably this isn’t the fairest of comparisons, but hey, we are really digging these huge numbers.

Meanwhile in AS SSD, it sees lower sequential speeds as this benchmark is meant to really test SSDs critically. The high random performance figures mean that this drive will help you boot up and load OS insanely fast.

Scoring a lofty 13 065 in Anvil’s Storage Utility, the Plextor M9PeY is still proving to be a massive upgrade over last year’s Plextor M8PeY. It has improved in every metric, from sequential to random performance. Just for comparison’s sake, the 250GB Samsung 850 EVO which is still one of the faster SATA III drives out there, scores a mere 4954 points here.
Real-world
To test the drive, we decided to load Battlefield 4 and Overwatch. The former because I have stared at the loading screen far too long when I was using a 5400RPM 2.5″ HDD, so I thought it would be nice to see how much faster does it load on a high end NVMe PCIe SSD. The latter, well, that’s just my favorite game.

For Battlefield 4, we loaded the Hainan Conquest Large multiplayer map. So even with our 1TB Seagate FireCuda 7200RPM 3.5″ SSHD, Battlefield 4 takes nearly 4x longer to reach the loading screen. The Plextor M9PeY tied with a cheap 120GB SATA III HDD we have lying around though. Overwatch we see the Plextor M9PeY pull ahead of everything else, reaching the hero selection page in a mere 7.85 seconds, while we had to wait for more than 9 seconds with the other two drives.

The cost-perGB is decent at less than RM2.20/GB. Considering that the slower and older 256GB Samsung 850 Evo costs a RM1.84/GB, the Plextor M9PeY seems relatively affordable. It also offers better value for money even when compared against its very own predecessor, the 256GB Plextor MP8eY. The 256GB Plextor M9PeY will come in at RM2.60/GB, while the larger 1TB variant clocks in at RM2.05/GB.
The massive heatsink does its job of keeping thermals well under control. It never exceed 40°C even after transferring multiple games and running all the benchmarks one after another to really heat up the drive. This is really good as NVMe PCIe SSDs can easily start throttling if the drive starts to overheat.
Conclusion
How much do you value speed? Well, actually you don’t really have to put too high a price to it since the price of the Plextor M9PeY isn’t that much pricier than your high end SATA III SSD. The 512GB Plextor M9PeY reviewed here will cost you $285 (~RM1120) for a lot of blazing fast storage. It’s fast, it runs cool with a great looking heatsink — I wish it didn’t have the rather annoying RGB effect though — and its pricing is well in line with the competition. All of this is covered by a lengthy 5-year warranty too for peace of mind. I will award it our Silver PokdeWard, because I am docking some points for the rather annoying lighting effects. I hope Plextor will release a firmware update to allow us to control the lighting in the future. Or, you can also opt for the Plextor M9PeG which comes as a M.2 PCIe SSD with a heatsink to keep things cool.

Our thanks to Plextor Taiwan for providing us with the 512GB Plextor M9PeY for our review.
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Microsoft Surface Duo 2 packs Snapdragon 888 and two larger displays for $1499

As the industry is gradually embracing foldable displays as the way forward, Microsoft seems to be believe that their approach is better, taking a second go with the Surface Duo 2. While it is technically a foldable device, it uses two flat displays with a hinge in between, just like its predecessor. I guess Microsoft really believes in the “two is better than one” saying.

Instead of the 5.6″ PixelSense AMOLED displays in the original Surface Duo, Microsoft has upped the game, with two 5.8″ PixelSense displays that combine for an approximation of an 8.3″ display. The displays are also capable of a 90Hz refresh rate, with support for adaptive refresh rate, which is a pretty nice upgrade for a more fluid user experience. For those who are pining to write on a large hard glass surface, you will also be glad to know that the Surface Duo 2 supports all current-gen Surface pens, including the Surface Slim Pen, Surface Pen and Surface Hub 2 Pen, with a magnetic attachment to hold the Surface Slim Pen to its body.

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As you would expect, the Surface Duo 2 comes with the whole complement of Microsoft apps from their Office suite and more. There’s also other Google pre-installed apps, as well as the Play Store, which Microsoft is oddly proud enough to mention in their marketing.

Powering that experience is the Snapdragon 888, which is paired with 8GB of LPDDR5 memory. This is a pretty huge upgrade, considering that the original Surface Duo launched with the Snapdragon 855 in 2020. Storage options can be configured all the way from 128GB to 512GB, giving you plenty of space to make use of… the space that the dual-display configuration provides. Microsoft also upgraded the battery significantly, now offering a 4449mAh dual-battery that charges at up to 23W.

Another area that sees a massive improvement is the imaging on the Surface Duo 2. You now get a total of four cameras, with a main 12MP f/1.7 shooter with OIS, 12MP f/2.4 2X telephoto camera with OIS, and an ultra-wide 16MP f/2.2 camera. There’s also a 12MP f/2.0 front-facing camera for your video calling needs. This is a stark upgrade from last year’s Surface Duo that only packed a single 11MP f/2.0 camera.

As a whole, it seems that Microsoft has also refined the overall design, with them even taking advantage of the unavoidable gap between its displays as a bonus, by turning it into a nifty notification bar. You can also get the Surface Duo 2 in two colors, which is perfect for those who wanted the Surface Duo in any color other than Glacier. It is still obscenely heavy though, and is actually heavier than its predecessor by a good 34g. The Surface Duo 2 weighs 284g, which puts it in competition against tablets, rather than your average smartphone.
Microsoft Surface Duo 2 Specs and Pricing

CPU
Snapdragon 888, 5nm FinFET
1 x Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) @ 2.84 GHz + 3 x Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) @ 2.42 GHz + 4 x Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) @ 1.80 GHz

GPU
Adreno 660

Memory
6GB LPDDR4X

Storage
128GB/256GB/512GB

Display
2 x 5.8″ 1344 x 1892 (13:9) 90Hz PixelSense AMOLED display
401PPI, 100% sRGB, DCI-P3, 800 nits max brightness
Gorilla Glass Victus

Audio
Stereo speakers
Dual mic AI-based noise suppression/acoustic echo cancellation

Camera
Main camera: 12MP f/1.7 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 27mm eqv. focal length
2X Telephoto: 12MP f/2.4, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 51mm eqv. focal length
Ultra-wide: 16MP f/2.2, 1.0µm, 13mm eqv. focal length (110° FoV)
4K60 video recording, 240FPS slow-mo

Selfie camera
12MP f/2.0, 1.0µm, 24mm eqv. focal length

Connectivity
eSIM + nano SIM
5G-NR NSA mmWave up to 6Gbps down, Sub-6 up to 3.2Gbps down
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, WiFi 6
Bluetooth 5.1
NFC
GPS
USB 3.2 Gen2

Software
Android 11

Battery
4449mAh
23W fast charging

Dimensions
Open: 145.2 x 184.5 x 5.5 mm
Closed: 145.2 x 92.1 x 11.0 mm

Weight
284g

Price
128GB: $1499 (~RM6285)
256GB: $1599 (~RM6704)
512GB: $1799 (~RM7542)

Obviously the Surface Duo 2 is not the most affordable device on the market, but if you are using a lot of Microsoft apps in your workday, you might be quite interested in it. Microsoft has been working extensively to optimize their apps to run better on the dual-display form factor of the Surface Duo, so we can only expect more to come from them.

The Surface Duo 2 is launching this 5th October along with Windows 11, although we aren’t sure whether we will see it being made available in Malaysia officially.
Pokdepinion: A foldable without the fragility involved with flexible, foldable displays definitely sounds pretty enticing… Especially if used with a pen.
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ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 Gaming Laptop Review – The Gaming Essentials

ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 Gaming Laptop Review
Unboxing the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505

Appearance

The first noticeable thing on the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop is the X-Design on its lid with the golden glow of the ASUS logo right at the center. It certainly makes it look like it’s made of reinforced materials which will make you believe that it is indeed a “TUF Gaming” machine. For this version, the lid is metallic and it has a sand-blasted finish which gives it a unique mixture of clean, classy appearance with an aura of power and toughness.

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On the left side of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop is where most of the ports are located. This is where you can find the charging port, RJ45 LAN port, HDMI port, three USB-A poorts, and the combo audio jack. The Kensington Lock is located on the right side, where it resides in solitude.

Upon lifting up the hood, you’ll be greeted with the desktop-inspired RGB-backlit chiclet keyboard (with WASD in a transparent key cap), a trackpad, and a 15.6-inch Full HD 144Hz Anti-Glare display. It is a NanoEdge display so the bezels are quite narrow, giving it a more attractive look and definitely helps with immersion.

There is quite a bit of air vents on the bottom of the laptop, with four rubber stands on each corner to give it a teeny bit of lift when placed on a surface for better cooling. Would have been interesting if they could integrate that ErgoLift hinge here. In case you’re wondering, it doesn’t have that single screw Easy Storage Access panel as seen in the FX503.

On the back, you can see what appears to be grills. This is for the sake of ventilation, and you can feel hot air blowing out of the laptop right here just by putting your hands there.
Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 is a gaming laptop that not only looks good, but feels good too. Clean, classy appearance with an aura of badassery, I can see a lot of gamers being proud owning one just by how good it looks.
It’s worth noting that the Red Matter colour option will have a plastic lid as opposed to the metallic one on this one. The one we’re using for this review is called Gold Steel.
Specifications

CPU
Intel Core i7-8750H (6C / 12T @ up to 4.1 GHz), 9M Cache, 45W TDP, 14nm

RAM
8GB DDR4

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5

Storage
128GB PCIe Gen3 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM HDD

Display
15.6″ FHD (1920 X 1080) 144Hz Anti-Glare IPS-level Panel with 72% NTSC

Keyboard
Desktop-inspired RGB-backlit Chiclet Keyboard with Overstroke technology

Connectivity
Wireless:
802.11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 5.0
I/O:
2 x Type-A USB 3.0
1 x Type-A USB 2.0
1 x RJ45 LAN
1 x HDMI (supports 2.0)

Audio
2W Stereo Speakers with Array Microphone
DTS Headphone: X
1 x Combo Audio Jack (Mic + Headphone)

Power
48Wh 4-cell Polymer Battery

Dimensions
360 x 262 x 25.8 mm (W x D x H)

Weight
2.2kg

Performance

On CrystalDiskMark, you’ll notice that the speed for the SSD (left) is faster than what you normally see in other reviews here on laptops with an SSD. This is because it is a PCIe Gen3 SSD, not your typical SATA or M.2 SSD. Realistically, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference in loading / booting from a normal SSD, but it’s a good thing to have either way. The HDD (right) is a 7200RPM HDD so the speeds are as expected. It would be nice if we had at least a 240 / 250GBs of SSD storage but this should suffice for most people.

On Cinebench R15, you can see that it pretty much ran through the test easily. The OpenGL test ran very smoothly overall and the CPU score shows that it’s no slouch. If you’re wondering why the CPU score is that high, you may be confusing it with the Intel Core i7-8550U, which is designed to be more power efficient. This is the i7-8750H, which is designed for high performance.

On Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 using the Extreme preset, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop performed admirably. It easily went over 60 FPS and certain points, went above 100 FPS. Simply put, you can easily run a lot of games on it with little to no sacrifice on quality easily.

For our gaming benchmark, I decided to use two of the most popular eSports titles around (DotA 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and one of the latest games you can get your hands on today, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. All games were running at the highest setting possible to see how well it fares in that area.
In DotA 2, gameplay is always smooth and there were a number of times when the FPS went above 100. It usually starts to drop during massive clashes involving multiple heroes but it’s worth noting that you will not be experiencing any sudden freezes or similar issues unless you’re facing network-related problems. Thermal throttling is not present here.
In CS:GO, you can have a wonderful gaming experience which will allow you to take advantage of the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop’s 144Hz display. Temperatures were running fine with no thermal throttling. The fan gets a little bit noisy but nothing overbearing.
In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, it ran the built-in benchmark tool pretty well. While the average FPS is at 39, it’s worth noting that this is one of the most resource-intensive games available today with the system requirements mentioning a targeted 30 FPS of gameplay. Keep in mind that for 60 FPS at 1440p, even the RTX 2080 is said to struggle to produce 60 FPS consistently. While this may just be running in Full HD, it is running on a 6GB GTX 1060 and I believe it ran pretty well. Surprisingly, no thermal throttling here as well.
For battery life, it is a performance-oriented gaming laptop after all so I wasn’t expecting anything grand here. With regular use consisting of internet browsing (Edge Browser) on a stable Wi-Fi connection, word processing, and listening to music, I experienced about 3 hours of battery life. Using a different browser as well as running more resource-intensive tasks will see those 3 hours dropped lower.
Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 is a powerful gaming laptop that is easily capable of running most games that are available today, though some of the newer, more resource-intensive games may require dialing down the settings just a little bit for a better overall experience. I’m personally surprised that temperatures were good and there was no thermal throttling, an issue that is said to plague the older FX gaming laptops.
User Experience

The ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 is a pretty solid gaming laptop with all the essentials checked out. You have a powerful CPU in the Intel Core i7-8750H paired to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. Just that alone will let you know that it is a purchase with longevity in mind unless you really need a portable 4K gaming machine, or one that is capable of running at 144Hz for all games.
There’s also 8GBs of RAM, which I feel is the acceptable minimum amount for any gaming laptop, along with a PCIe SSD and a 7200RPM HDD. While some may want to upgrade to 16GBs of RAM or a bigger capacity SSD, at least what you’re getting from the start is acceptable and you won’t direly need an upgrade. Unless you’re using this for video editing, AutoCAD, or other intensive tasks, you can expect speedy boot ups / loading times without feeling like it’s choking for more memory.

There is a decent array of ports on the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop but some may be questioning the lack of a Thunderbolt or USB-C port. I feel like this is still acceptable as there still exists a good number of people who don’t really use it but what I would have loved to see here is an SD card reader, which would make things more convenient for work. Sure, I could just get a USB card reader myself for cheap but with plenty of laptops out there having one built-in, it does feel ASUS missed out on a slight detail that would appeal to more people. I personally wouldn’t call it a dealbreaker but the lack of a Thunderbolt port does affect its futureproofing potential a bit.

For most parts, the keyboard on the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop is very comfortable to use. Right from the beginning, my typing speed is about 90% of that on my full-sized mechanical keyboard but I feel like it’s just a matter of time to get used to it for me to perform at my usual speed. One thing I don’t particularly fancy is how the arrow keys are fit into the numpad. It is a smart design choice to save space but it feels a bit awkward to use and I sometimes hit the CTRL key or the number 0 instead of the up key.
The trackpad hand is a bit weird to use. The clicks feel shallower than most other laptops, which requires a bit of getting used to. But like with most other trackpads out there, you’re better off using a mouse regardless of whether you’re just browsing the internet or playing games.

Going back to the keyboard for a bit, it is an RGB-backlit keyboard and you can customize the lighting. To do that, you have to use the TUF Aura Core software which comes pre-installed. It is rather limited though, as you can only adjust the effects, the speed of the effects (tempo), brightness, and when the general settings will be applied. At least you get to enjoy a colourful keyboard while you’re using it.

The display on the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop is a joy to look at. With its narrow bezels, it certainly makes viewing more immersive and you can easily tell how smooth the display is thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate. You can truly appreciate it when you play first-person games like CSGO or any fast-paced game really. Colours are rather lively but not overblown, just the way I like it. Given the size of the display, Full HD is definitely more than enough, and I don’t see a reason to hop on to the 4K train just yet, especially for laptops.
On the sound department, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop certainly feels surprisingly wholesome. Given that it’s a built-in speaker, you can’t expect heavy bass but it has good clarity and is certainly loud enough for people to enjoy. Of course, the best would still be to use a good headset / headphone but it’s still good to have nonetheless.

Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 is a great gaming laptop that will definitely satisfy the needs of many users today. They could easily slap the ROG branding here and I doubt people would be surprised by how good it is. I can see this pushing the TUF Gaming to even greater heights.
ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 Verdict

If you’re reading this, then I’m sure you know how much I like the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop. Sure, it’s no perfect gaming laptop but it’s a strong machine that ticks off the list for all the essentials you need in a gaming laptop. There’s plenty of power with no thermal throttling, it looks good, it feels good, has a great display with narrow bezels, and it even has an RGB keyboard to boot. What’s not to like?
Depending on how technology evolves moving forward, it may not be the best option for futureproofing especially given the lack of a Thunderbolt port, and a slight inconvenience due to the absence of an SD card reader, but this is clearly meant for someone who prioritizes on the basics rather than gunning for fancy features. With that being said, I award the ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 gaming laptop with our coveted Gold Pokdeward!

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FFXV’s Noctis Invades Tekken 7; It’s The 3rd DLC Character

Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis Lucis Caelum has been officially announced by Bandai Namco as the latest DLC character to join the Tekken 7 roster!

FFXV’s Noctis Invades Tekken 7

For fans of Bandai Namco’s Tekken 7, most of you knew that there will be DLC characters joining the game in the future. Eliza aside, we knew that DLC characters will most likely be someone from outside the Tekken Series since the 1st major one announced was Geese Howard from SNK’s Fatal Fury series.

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Now, we have Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, the protagonist of Final Fantasy XV, joining the roster for Tekken 7 as a DLC character. Together with his signature Engine Blade and Armiger, Noctis will be bringing a lot of interesting things to Tekken 7 for players across the globe to enjoy.
But wait, that’s not all. Together with Noctis, there will be a stage called “Hammerhead” coming along with the character. Yes, it is the very same Hammerhead that you are at from when you are finally able to take control of your character after the foreshadowing prologue in Final Fantasy XV.

If you have not played Tekken 7 or are thinking of getting it especially because of the DLC character announcement, click here to check out our review of the game.
So now, we have 3 characters outside of the Tekken series to appear in Tekken 7; Akuma from Street Fighter, Geese Howard from Fatal Fury, and now Noctis Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV. So far, we’re only aware that there will be 2 guest characters aside from Akuma that will be present in the series. If there are anymore DLC characters coming to the game, it’s most likely characters within the Tekken universe.
Noctis Lucis Caelum will be coming to Tekken 7 in Spring 2018, which means it will be coming sometime between March and June 2018. Geese Howard has still not been released yet so we can enjoy that first before expecting anything from the series.  Tekken 7 is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.
Tekken 7 Review

Pokdepinion: Oh my god, talk about a major surprise. Many people were expecting someone from the Yakuza series but not so much someone from Final Fantasy XV. I suppose this would help Square Enix immensely given that they’ve increased the support for the game to last beyond 2017.
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Acer Updates Aspire XC & TC Series With Latest Intel 13th Gen Processors

The lineup comes with 8L and 16L variants.

Acer Malaysia has unveiled its latest desktops, the Aspire XC and Aspire TC, equipped with 13th Gen Intel Core processors. The Aspire XC is an 8L space-saving desktop, designed to blend into existing home setups, while the Aspire TC comes in a black tower with featuring a built-in DVD-RW driver. Both desktops come with up to 512GB SSD storage and up to 8GB DDR4 RAM, which can be upgraded to 32GB based on customers’ needs.

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Both models features built-in Wi-Fi 6E and a variety of I/O ports; and are pre-installed with Windows 11 Home edition. Price starts from RM1,949 – they are available immediately at Acer eStore and Acer official stores on Shopee and Lazada.
Pokdepinion: Built-in DVD drives are still a thing these days? I’m surprised.
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Cooler Master Sentinel III available in Malaysia

The Cooler Master Sentinel III is an ergonomic mouse designed for palm grippers, and it now comes with 16.8 million colors (read: RGB) LED illumination. The ergonomic, contoured body of the Sentinel III is slightly larger than average and sports a thumb and pinky rest, giving the mouse a natural, comfortable shape and allowing your hand and arm muscles to relax.

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Inline with the Maker Spirit that Cooler Master is kindling, the Cooler Master Sentinel III also comes with a customizable OLED display which puts it a step above other RGB mice. You can configure it to display your team logo or the current mouse settings.

A great looking mouse without an excellent sensor to match is just a pretty paperweight, and Cooler Master knows better than that. The Cooler Master Sentinel III features the Avago S3988 optical sensor which offers pixel-perfect movements and sensitivity up to 6400 DPI. If you are not a fan of such high DPIs, you can also switch the DPI on-the-fly to any of the presets at 400, 1200, 4000 and 6400. If you desire a more hefty feel you can also customize the weight of the Cooler Master Sentinel III with 5 4.5g weights until it feels just right.

Since it will be used for gaming, Cooler Master covered nearly every inch of the Sentinel III body in a matte UV coating. This coating is highly durable and will not peel, wear off or tarnish. The main buttons are guaranteed for 20 million clicks. The 32-bit ARM processor and 512KB on-board memory allows you to save and playback complex macros. It also allows you to save settings for DPI, lift-off distance, and LED configurations for use on any computer without the need to install additional software.

If you do install the software though, you will find a lot more options to truly make the Cooler Master Sentinel III yours. You can customize every key and even double the effective button count by using the ‘Storm TactiX’ button. You can then assign secondary functions to your mouse, triggered swiftly in-game simply by holding the function aka ‘TX’ button, practically turning an 8-button mouse into a 15-button mouse.

The Cooler Master Sentinel III will be available at resellers nationwide for RM259 starting today.

Pokdepinion: The Cooler Master Sentinel III is an interesting mouse with loads of customizability and a rather unique ergonomic shape for palm grippers. The sensor performance has also been proven in several other mice. The Sentinel III should be quite a great mouse.
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Diablo 4 Will Require You To Be Online To Play, All The Time

Our inner kid (okay, maybe only me) jumped out of excitement when Blizzard confirmed and released their official game trailer for Diablo 4. Now it seems that they have said that the game will not be available to play in offline mode.

The news was revealed by Angela Del Priore, the lead designer of Diablo 4, where she was asked at BlizzCon 2019 on whether the game could be played solo as well as in offline.
She denied the idea where she said “We are not going to support an offline mode”. Despite that, you don’t need to worry about finding friends around to make a party where she adds “But as I said before, nothing in Diablo 4 is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campaign quest areas will remain private”.

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It’s not surprising seeing their decision as it gives control over game updates and prevent people from hacking and using bugs to gain an advantage from the previous Diablo titles.
Diablo 4 will be coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One where it is now under development. A release date is yet to be announced.
Pokdepinion: I’m not bummed out by the fact that you’ll need to be online to be able to play the game, that’s the case of most games nowadays anyway. I like the fact that they’re returning to the ‘dark’ theme again this time around. Can’t wait to play it.
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The Lord of The Rings: Gollum Announced – Game Takes Place Before the Books

The Lord of The Rings: Gollum Announced
Temporary cover art for the game, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

It feels like it’s been a long time since we last saw The Lord of the Rings movies, unless of course were to count The Hobbit. Despite that, we continue to see the franchise in a lot of places these days, with a TV series coming from Amazon among other things. Looks like we’re going to get another big one from the franchise, and it’s a brand new game.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daedalic Entertainment is currently working on a new video game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular fantasy series. It will be called The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. It is said to be in development for PC and has a release window of 2021. While no other specific platforms were mentioned, it was said that the game will be coming to “all relevant console platforms at that time.”
According to the report, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will take place prior to the events of The Lord of the Rings books, but during the time that Gollum came into possession of the One Ring. While details on the game itself are still vague, Daedalic Entertainment’s details show that the game will be a narrative-driven adventure game.

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While The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is still far away from release, it’s said that it’s not the only game based on the franchise coming from the development studio. Daedalic Entertainment, in partnership with Middle-Earth Enterprises, is said to be working on a number of games based on the franchise. Unfortunately, there are no further details on what those other games may be for now.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Pokdepinion: Another game for the popular series. I have high hopes for this one.
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Over on Twitter, Katsuhiro Harada has revealed some interesting statistics on Tekken 7, most notably the most played characters in the game.
Katsuhiro Harada Reveals Most Played Characters in Tekken 7

Kunimitsu usage?
From January 1st to January 31st, 2021,
9th place Online mode.
38th place Offline mode. https://t.co/doVheO4ubp
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) March 4, 2021

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Game Director Katsuhiro Harada recently chimed in on Twitter about certain statistics on Tekken 7. This goes in line with what he shared during the latest Japan Fighting Game Publisher Roundtable where he voiced out his wish to share more interesting data about his games with fans. For now, we’re starting with character usage statistics for specific characters for both online and offline play.
When asked about Kunimitsu, she is currently the 9th most played most character in Online play but much lower in Offline play at 38th. Lili Rochefort on the other hand is the 22nd most played character in both modes, something Harada noted as being very odd due to the similar placements. As for the most played characters in Tekken 7, it is a contest between King and Martial Law.

King usage data is…
From January 1st to January 31st, 2021,
4th place Online mode.
2nd place Offline mode.
Law and King have been competing for the top usage since TEKKEN6.
This is global stats, but country stats show more interesting results. https://t.co/pzbaHdEUdt
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) March 4, 2021

King is currently the 4th most played in Online play but 2nd most played for Offline play, and this applies globally. He noted that both Martial Law and King have competed for the top spot in terms of most played character since Tekken 6. It’s no surprise that Law is a popular pick, especially since he’s the game’s version of the iconic Bruce Lee, but to see more people choosing him over the likes of Kazuya, Jin, and Heihachi is surprising.
With that being said however, the statistics may differ quite a bit when you look at specific countries as all the data that has been shared by him is from the global statistics. It may not be as detailed as the breakdown for Street Fighter V, but it does give you a better idea of what’s been going on in the game since the beginning of Season 4.
Source
Pokdepinion: As a Kazuya main, I’m personally surprised. I figured any of the Mishima characters would take the top spot, but I guess I was wrong.
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