HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro review — best flagship of 2018?

Introduction
The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is probably one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year. After so much hype, there is literally no way to live up to the hype. Or could HUAWEI really deliver on all accounts and make a device that will truly be capable of annihilating all the competition? Well we will just have to see if the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro can actually deliver on the hype.
Unboxing

Packaged with the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is the new 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge power adapter, a USB Type-C cable, a case, the basic documentation and a pair of earphones which look pretty much like EarPods. Since the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack, the earphones connect to the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro via USB Type-C as well.

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Appearance

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro looks good. The curved sides of the display does seem rather derivative, but HUAWEI has been using it since the Mate 10 Pro too. The wide notch may looks quite off when compared to even its own brethren which sport smaller notches, but it’s there for a good cause. We will look into it later.

We got our hands on the Twilight variant, so we are looking at a pretty cool gradient on the back of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro. For those who loved the subtler blue hues of the HUAWEI P20 Pro, you will be somewhat left out as the blue here is a lot more vibrant. The new camera arrangement is quite unique, and it seems to be the preferred arrangement, at least according to our readers.

The sides also feature the twilight gradient effect, with the power button done in red. Previous HUAWEI devices opted to have a contrasting texture, but here HUAWEI decided to change the color of the button. A somewhat weird choice considering that you don’t see color by touching them, and no one looks at the sides of their smartphones. The other side is bare, as HUAWEI decided to put the SIM slot on the bottom.

And over at the bottom we have two microphones, the USB Type-C port and the aforementioned SIM tray. If you are still looking for the speaker grille, quit now, as HUAWEI now pumps the speaker output into the USB Type-C port, cutting down on the number of holes they have to cut into the frame of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro. It looks pretty cool, but there will definitely be drawbacks.

Interestingly, HUAWEI still maintains an IR blaster here at the top of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro. This takes up the top space along with a microphone. There is no 3.5mm jack on this device, which is not all that surprising in a 2018 flagship.
Specifications

CPU/Chipset:
Kirin 980 (2 x Cortex-A76 @ 2.6 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz)

GPU:
Mali-G76MP10 @ 720 MHz

RAM:
6GB LPDDR4X

Display:
6.39″ QHD+ (1440p) OLED display

Storage:
128GB UFS 2.1 (expandable via NM card up to 256GB)

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
Leica Triple Camera
40MP f/1.8 (27mm (35mm eqv.)) + 8MP f/2.4 3x Telephoto (80mm (35mm eqv.)) + 20MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle (16mm (35mm eqv.))
Dual tone LED flash, laser AF, phase detection AF, CDAF, HUAWEI AI Image Stabilization (AIS), HDR, AI scene recognition, Portrait mode, Aperture mode, Pro mode, Night mode, [email protected] video, Underwater mode. Filters
Front Camera
24MP f/2.0
AR lens, Filters

OS:
EMUI 9.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Wave 2) (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz)
Bluetooth 5.0
USB Type-C (USB 3.0)
LTE Cat. 21 download (1.4 Gbps), LTE Cat. 18 upload (200 Mbps)
LTE-FDD: Band 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/12/17/18/19/20/26/28/32
LTE-TDD: Band 34/38/39/40

SIM:
Hybrid dual nanoSIM (second SIM slot shared with NM card)

Battery:
Li-ion 4200 mAh (non-removable)
40W HUAWEI SuperCharge
15W HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge

Dimensions:
157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6 mm

Weight:
189 g

True to the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro’s ambitions of being a business-oriented flagship is clearly seen with the wide support for LTE bands around the world. For business people who have to fly around the world and swap SIMs to be connected all the time, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro’s support for LTE bands would be a Godsent.

Speaking of SIMs, the new NM card supported by HUAWEI is proprietary, so it remains to be seen how many industry players will hop on the bandwagon. As it stands, HUAWEI is the only one making them, and they are a lot costlier than the ubiquitous microSD cards. It is a good thing that the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro comes with 128GB of internal storage so you don’t really need any additional storage.
The WiFi 802.11ac Wave 2 support gives the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro faster WiFi speeds of up to 1733 Mbps, with support for the 160 MHz channel width. The WiFi 802.11ac standard supports up to 867 Mbps with 80 MHz channel width, and the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro supports double that. You will need 802.11ax routers to enjoy the faster speeds, but at least you know that you are ready for the future.
Performance
The Kirin 980 chipset is HUAWEI’s latest flagship chipset manufactured on TSMC’s 7nm process. Featuring all the latest architectures like the Cortex-A76 performance cores, the Kirin 980 was hyped up to be more powerful than the Snapdragon 845. Aside from the CPU and GPU, HUAWEI also crammed in a dual NPU and dual ISP into the Kirin 980.
For this section we will be testing without Performance mode, as we are comparing it against devices without Performance mode. Devices which have been caught cheating in benchmarks are also not added to the comparison. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro does have a lot to gain from its Performance mode, and you can check out the difference with it enabled here.

In Antutu the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro does not really impress. It comes up ahead of a few Snapdragon 845 devices, but definitely doesn’t completely annihilate the current crop of flagships.

While the overall performance as gauged by Antutu does not put the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro in the best light, it does perform very well in Geekbench. It is in fact currently the most powerful in terms of multi-core performance.

The Kirin 980 delivers a lower score in the Sling Shot run than the Sling Shot Unlimited run. It is repeatable, so it wasn’t a one-off thing. While HUAWEI made some huge claims about their new GPU’s performance, in reality it is just trading punches with the Exynos 9810’s Mali-G72MP18. The Adreno 540 GPUs are a lot more powerful than the Mali-G76MP10 here.

PCMark performance is middling. Nothing spectacular here, but it scores a fair bit higher than Samsung’s idea of a business smartphone. Considering that PCMark gauges devices with productivity workloads, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro might just be the better choice if you are going to use your smartphone for work-related tasks.

The battery life of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is stellar, probably thanks to the new 7nm manufacturing process as well as a larger battery than most of the recent crop of flagships.

In real-world usage, the device lasted days on a single charge, and I managed to clock more than 6 hours of SOT. And that was with a lot of GPS navigation as I was running around town recently. Navigation wise, the dual GPS is a fair bit more accurate than standard single-band GPS systems.
Plugging it to the 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge power adapter gave me an even more impressive experience. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro regained 66% of its juice in just 30 minutes, which is truly unprecedented!

One curious issue I had with the device was that I was unable to run higher settings for PUBG Mobile. Devices with poorer 3DMark scores have been able to run higher settings in PUBG Mobile, so this is probably an issue on PUBG Mobile’s end. A 22 minute long game of PUBG Mobile burnt off just 6% of the battery, which is good, but not entirely impressive considering the low frame rate and graphics quality it ran at on the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro.
User Experience

Ergonomics is one of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro’s strong suit, as the curved edges fit well into my hands without me fearing it would slip out any second. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is also the only device in the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro to feature IP68 ingress protection, so you can safely dunk it in water. The display is nice and sharp, with vivid colors that are the signature of a good OLED display.
The audio on the other hand is a little lacking. Sound quality isn’t exceptional, but it will suffice for the random music video you want to share with your mates. The USB Type-C port also serves as the primary speaker output, and as you might guess, gets blocked whenever you plug in anything. I usually charge my phone at night, and with the speaker port blocked, I can’t rely on it to wake me up.

The 3D IR facial recognition system in the wide notch is accurate, but it does take a moment if the phone is not directly in front of your face. The same system is supposed to enable 3D scanning of objects to turn them into AR objects, but that feature has yet to be enabled. The under-display fingerprint scanner is also more accurate than we have seen in the vivo NEX, but is still a tad slower than traditional fingerprint scanners.

EMUI 9 looks very familiar, coming from EMUI 5.0. There are no major changes here, aside from the white background for the quick settings and new gestures which are very similar to MIUI’s implementation to navigate around. As previous HUAWEI flagships all had a home button, the gestures were all based around the button. Now you can swipe around.
The HiVision feature which uses the Leica Triple Camera on the back to identify objects you see and help you shop for them needs to be optimized for our local landscape. It currently links to pages like Walmart, which isn’t available here in Malaysia. Perhaps if HUAWEI works with Lazada and Shopee, it could stand to be more useful.

Speaking of the camera, the HUAWEI Leica Triple Camera here is probably one of the biggest highlights of this device. HUAWEI has upped the ante this year, by ditching the monochrome camera which was a mainstay of the Leica camera system ever since HUAWEI entered a partnership with Leica back in 2016. They now have an ultra-wide angle camera which does super macro as well, so you get a cool set of cameras covering 16mm (0.6x), 27mm (1x) and 80mm (3x) focal lengths.

In terms of the software, HUAWEI has done a pretty good job to keep everything accessible. You don’t have to manually switch modes or cameras in most cases. It will suggest switching to ultra-wide when it detects that you are taking photos of buildings or landscapes, or automatically switch to the ultra-wide angle lens for Super Macro capabilities, or enable Night mode when taking photos in low light.
For some odd reason however, HUAWEI separated the Aperture mode from the Portrait mode. I know that they have different purposes, but they can jolly well use their advanced scene recognition technology to identify faces in the viewfinder and immediately apply portrait enhancements to the shot. So why it can’t do it for the background blurring mode is somewhat weird. Portrait mode also removes the ability to adjust the background defocus after the fact, unlike the Aperture mode.

Image quality out of the primary camera is amazing, thanks to the fact that it supersamples a 40MP image into a 10MP image which is saved in your device. Even in poor lighting conditions, it is really impressive, as it automatically activates Night Mode which lets you take a 4 sec exposure, handheld. No idea how did they manage to stabilize my shaky hands over 4 seconds, but it did. The wide angle camera also does a great job regardless of lighting conditions, which  but the zoom camera is where the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro falters. Images feature excessive smoothing even in bright daylight, and it gets worse if you try the 5x hybrid zoom mode. Still an amazing camera setup for a smartphone, but the zoom camera’s performance is lagging behind the other two. You can check out the full-sized image samples on Flickr. 1080p videos look great, and the AI Color feature is cool, but the lack of 4K 60fps recording is a serious omission versus other flagships.
Conclusion
Is the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro the best flagship of the year? Performance wise, HUAWEI is still not entirely capable of competing with the Snapdragon 845-packing flagships. The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro does stand out with its camera setup, as with other HUAWEI devices. And then there is the in-display fingerprint scanner which works better than the competition’s, the 3D IR facial recognition, IP68 ingress protection, wireless charging and a sharp 1440p curved display. But then there is the lack of clear product differentiation within the HUAWEI Mate 20 series.
The HUAWEI Mate 20 is quite clearly inferior to the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, but the HUAWEI Mate 20 X makes a pretty compelling case. It’s slightly more affordable, offers a larger screen, smaller notch larger battery, and comes with support for HUAWEI’s M Pen. While I am sure there will be some who disagree, a stylus is definitely a feature that a “Pro” should have.
Priced at RM3599, you will probably never need to carry a compact camera with you anymore if you get the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, but as mentioned above, there seems to be no reason to pick the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro over the HUAWEI Mate 20 X. Trying my utmost best, I found just two. You must have the Twilight finish, or your hands are just unable to accommodate the HUAWEI Mate 20 X. Make no mistake, the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro is a great device, but so are the other HUAWEI Mate 20 devices.

Our thanks to HUAWEI Malaysia for provisioning the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro used in this review. To support us, do check out the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro on Lazada via the following link:

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BLU enters Malaysia, expanding footprint with Lazada Malaysia

Before you make assumptions, let me introduce to you. BLU is not really a new name in the tech scene. Founded in 2009, it’s headquarters is in Miami, FL and they have sold well over 45 million BLU devices in their time. They have a warehouse facility of over 80,000 sqft and over 300 employees worldwide. That’s a pretty solid profile to begin with. BLU designs and manufacturers affordable, attractive and innovative mobile devices to suit a wide variety of consumer needs. How good and how affordable? Follow along~
All in all, there are 10 mobiles that will be entering the market from flagship to low-end being; BLU Pure XR, BLU Vivo 6, BLU Vivo 5R, BLU Vivo XL 2, BLU Life MAX, BLU Studio G HD LTE, BLU Energy Diamond, BLU Grand M, BLU Vivo 5 Mini and BLU Diamond M of which their specs and prices are specified below.
The top of the highlight was the BLU Pure XR which is their flagship model. Using Mediatek’s Helio P10 CPU clocked at 2.0GHz, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage with expandable Micro SD slots, the BLU Pure XR did capture some attention. It’s enclosure is numerically guided CNC machined out of aerospace grade Aluminium which means this device is durable as good as it looks. It also features a 5.5″ FHD Super MOLED display with 400ppi, ensuring vivid display. Also embedded is a 16MP f/1.8 camera with 6P lens, laser focus and PDAF which is rather interesting indeed.

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We will be taking the BLU Pure XR for a spin very soon. Just watch this space.
BLU Pure XR

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.5″ FHD Super AMOLED (1080×1920) ~400ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Cameras:
Main Camera
16MP PDAF w/LED Flash
Front Camera
8MPVideo Capture:
1080p [email protected]

Memory/Storage:
4GB RAM
64GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6755 2.0GHz 64-bit Octa-Core Processor
Mali-T860 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 a/b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
Non-removable 3000mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
154.3 x 74.9 x 7 mm
153.5g

Misc:
Fingerprint Sensor

Price:
 RM1,799

BLU Vivo 6

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.5″ FHD Curved Display (1080×1920) ~400ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Cameras:
Main Camera
16MP PDAF w/LED Flash
Front Camera
8MPVideo Capture:
1080p [email protected]

Memory/Storage:
4GB RAM
64GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6755 1.8GHz 64-bit Octa-Core Processor
Mali-T860 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 a/b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
Non-removable 3130mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
153 x 75.2 x 7.6 mm
153.5g

Misc:
Fingerprint Sensor

Price:
RM1,399

BLU Vivo 5R

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.5″ FHD Curved Display (1080×1920) ~400ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
13MP PDAF w/LED Flash
Front Camera
8MPVideo Capture:
1080p [email protected]

Memory/Storage:
3GB RAM
32GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6753 1.3GHz 64-bit Octa-Core Processor
Mali-T720 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 a/b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
Non-removable 3150mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
154.3 x 75.4 x 8.1 mm
158.9g

Misc:
Fingerprint Sensor

Price:
RM1,059

BLU Vivo XL 2

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.5″ HD Curved Display (720×1280) ~267ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
13MP PDAF w/LED Flash
Front Camera
8MPVideo Capture:
1080p [email protected]

Memory/Storage:
3GB RAM
32GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6737 1.5GHz 64-bit Quad-Core Processor
Mali-T720 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 a/b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
Non-removable 3150mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
154.4 x 76.6 x 9.2 mm
177g

Price:
RM899

BLU Life MAX

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.5″ HD LCD Curved Display (720×1280) ~267ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
8MP w/LED Flash
Front Camera
5MP w/FlashVideo Capture:
1080p @30fps

Memory/Storage:
2GB RAM
16GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6737 1.3GHz 64-bit Quad-Core Processor
Mali-T720 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
3700mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
154.5 x 77.1 x 8.7 mm
153g

Misc:
Fingerprint Sensor

Price:
RM599

BLU Studio G HD LTE

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 42Mbps / LTE

Display:
5.0″ HD Capacitive Display (720×1280) ~294ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
5MP Autofocus w/Flash
Front Camera
2MPVideo Capture:
1080p @30fps

Memory/Storage:
1GB RAM
8GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6735 1.0GHz 64-bit Quad-Core Processor
Mali-T720 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
2200mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
144.4 x 72.59 x 9.4 mm
150g

Price:
RM459

BLU Energy Diamond

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 21Mbps

Display:
5.0″ IPS Touchscreen (480×854) ~195ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
5MP Autofocus w/BLU Bright+
Front Camera
2MP w/LED flashVideo Capture:
1080p [email protected]

Memory/Storage:
1GB RAM
8GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6580 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
Mali-400 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
4000mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
147.5 x 71.5 x 12.7 mm
184g

Price:
RM439

BLU Grand M

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 21Mbps

Display:
5.0″ IPS Curved Glass (480×854) ~195ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
5MP w/Flash
Front Camera
3.2MP w/FlashVideo Capture:
[email protected]

Memory/Storage:
512MB RAM
8GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6580 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
Mali-400 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
2200mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
144.7 x 71.8 x 8.9 mm
156g

Price:
RM369

BLU Vivo 5 Mini

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 21Mbps

Display:
4.0″ Curved Glass (480×800) ~233ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
5MP w/Flash
Front Camera
2MP w/FlashVideo Capture:
[email protected]

Memory/Storage:
512MB RAM
8GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6580 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
Mali-400 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
Non-removable 1500mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
125.28 x 62 x 8.5 mm
119g

Price:
RM299

BLU Diamond M

Networks:
GSM / HSPA+ 21Mbps

Display:
5.0″ (480×854) ~195ppi

Cameras:
Main Camera
5MP w/BLU Bright+
Front Camera
2MPVideo Capture:
[email protected]

Memory/Storage:
512MB RAM
4GB Storage
Micro SD slot (up to 64GB)

Processor:
Mediatek 6580 1.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
Mali-400 GPU

Operating System:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Wi-Fi:
802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot

Battery:
2200mAh

Dimensions/Weight:
144.5 x 71.5 x 12 mm
162g

Price:
RM299

BLU is brought into Malaysia by Hot Gadgets Distribution Sdn Bhd, the sole distributor for AKG, JBL, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson, Revel, E-Blue and BLU. They will be offering some pretty sweet combo on Lazada, bundling the BLU devices with JBL gadgets. You should check them out at Lazada.
Pokdepinion: We’ve seen too many devices entering Malaysia lately with plenty claiming themselves affordable too, but this one is indeed different. BLU did take care of the aesthetics and finishing of the devices, even with their entry level phones. With proper marketing, I suppose they can be a game changer. Also, honestly, the Pure XR would have been a sweet spot at RM1,199 in which they could really sell like hotcakes!

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vivo X Lazada Super Brand Offers Up To 64% Discount This 27 August

vivo Malaysia has recently announced of their partnership with Lazada with the vivo x Lazada Super Brand Spotlight campaign, where they are offering up to 64% storewide discounts at their official flagship store on the platform.
vivo x Lazada Super Brand Spotlight

The campaign runs from this 27th of August 2021 until the following day, the 28th. Those who purchase using Lazada Wallet will receive a rebate of up to RM8 as well in that period.

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Customers who purchase at the vivo official flagship store on Lazada will be receiving complimentary gifts worth up to RM307 such as a 3-in-1 Bluetooth speaker, notebook, M5 smart watch, Khind hair dryer, mask clip, V21e U shape pillow, backpack with badge, wireless sport earphones, power bank, and more.
In addition to that, those who purchase the vivo X60 or V21 series are entitled to enjoy a 1-year Extended Warranty and 1-year Screen Crack Protection that’s worth RM399.
If you’re looking for that 64% discount, you’d need to spend a minimum of RM100, capped at RM19 for every purchase and up to RM12 discount with no minimum spend by using Lazada Wallet. With a limited time offer, customers who spend a minimum of RM499 will get to enjoy up to RM90 worth of discounts.
You may check out their offers at their official store on Lazada. For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: Certainly looks like the time to shop if you’ve been looking to get a vivo smartphone and usually shop on Lazada. Will you be getting a new vivo phone?
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What to expect from MWC 2017

Mobile World Congress is where all the best smartphone manufacturers try to outdo one another with their latest creations. This year, we will be looking at some very interesting devices from OPPO, Huawei and LG, but we will probably not see anything from HTC and Samsung launched there, as the former has already blown their load with the U Ultra and U Play launched earlier this year, and the Korean company looking at a later release date for the Galaxy S8.
OPPO bringing you 5x closer

Not content with being the only smartphone manufacturer to make use of the exclusive IMX 398 which was used in the OPPO R9s‘ main camera, OPPO is looking to a smartphone that can zoom 5x at MWC 2017. Currently, the iPhone 7 Plus features 2 lens to zoom 2x, with the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom featuring a similar arrangement to zoom 2.3x. The older ASUS ZenFone Zoom features a very interesting 3x optical zoom which actually features moving lenses for consistent optical zooming through the entire range, instead of just switching between two lenses and filling up the gap in between with digital zooming. If you are willing to carry some added bulk, the Moto Z can zoom 10x with the Hasselblad camera attachment. We have yet to see how will OPPO bring 5x zoom to us, whether it will feature true optical zooming or some fancy dual lens magic, but we are are sure looking forward to true optical zoom. OPPO has enjoyed a lot of success here in Malaysia with their selfie-centric devices last year, taking second place in terms of shipment volume in 2016, and seeing a growth of 66.8% year-over-year, and we see this device further improving their presence in our market.

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Watch out for the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus

Huawei P10. pic.twitter.com/7UNx2w5blW
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 22, 2017

I think by now there shouldn’t be any doubt of the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus featuring a dual camera system. Introduced in the Huawei P9, it has been featured on every flagship from the Chinese company, and has even recently trickled down to the mid-range Honor 6X. The Kirin 960 has also been confirmed to be the processor in the P10 on a GFX Bench listing, paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Will we be seeing a higher clocked variant of the processor, like the Kirin 955 in the P9? Rumors have been circulating of a higher end variant of the P10 with 6GB of RAM too, so heavy multitaskers may look forward to that variant. According to the listing, the P10 will feature a 5.1″ display (smaller than last year’s P9), while the P10 Plus will understandably feature a bigger display, and probably a curved one at that. The P10 will also have the fingerprint sensor on the front, with the P10 Plus said to feature it over on the back. Hopefully, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor will feature an integrated Smart Key like the Honor 8, as that feature is really convenient.

Huawei is also hinting that new hardware won’t be the only thing coming from them at MWC 2017, as they have hinted that they will be announcing EMUI 5.1 there too. EMUI 5.0 was launched just a few months back on the Mate 9, with the updates to older devices rolling out gradually as we speak. EMUI 5.1 coming so soon really shows Huawei trying to step out of the stereotype of Chinese manufacturers not updating their devices. Naturally, the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus will be the first devices to feature the latest update, but given Huawei’s track record, older devices will get a taste pretty quickly too.

Huawei’s first (and aptly named) Watch appeared in 2015, and Huawei has been relatively silent on the smartwatch front. Well they will be back this year with the Watch 2 set to be announced at MWC 2017, along with a sportier look too. The Watch 2 will feature cellular connectivity via a nanoSIM. Will we also see a Kirin processor designed for smartwatches here? We don’t know for sure, but we will pretty soon.
LG G6 loses Friends, gains ability to play with water?

LG G6 in (left to right) mystic white, astro black, and ice platinum. pic.twitter.com/y0A4aeyvL6
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 25, 2017

We have previously shared a leak of the LG G6 and it’s 18:9 display with rounded corners dubbed “Full Vision”, as well as LG abandoning their LG Friends modular attachments, possibly in exchange for water resistance. The LG G6 will also sport a Snapdragon 821, with the company claiming that the newer SoC doesn’t have a big impact on the user experience. 6GB of RAM should come standard in all upcoming flagships, so we can expect to see it here too. Audiophiles will be thrilled by the Quad DAC by ESS, promising an insanely low distortion of 0.0002%. The new display should be quite interesting, and I look forward to see how LG optimizes every app to the curved corners.
That’s what we are looking forward to at MWC 2017. Are you looking forward to getting a device that will be launched at MWC 2017? Let us know in the comments!
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HUAWEI nova 5T Coming to Malaysia in Late August 2019

If you’re looking to get yourself a new smartphone, perhaps wait just a little bit longer. Why? Because the HUAWEI nova 5T is expected to land in Malaysia very soon, according to recent media invites that were sent out at least.
There will be a HUAWEI nova 5T launch event happening on 27th August 2019 at precisely 2PM. More details about the smartphone including prices, special promos, and more is expected to be revealed at the event. From what we understand, the new smartphone will be similar to the HONOR 20 with some minor differences.

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As such, we are expected to see a 6.26-inch Full HD+ punch-hole display with a 32MP front-facing camera, and it will be powered the company’s Kirin 980 SoC. The battery will be a healthy 3,750 mAh capacity. Some websites have listed it to have a 5.5-inch display instead but we will know for sure when it has officially arrived here in Malaysia
Apart from that, it’s expected to share the same camera combination as well. It will consist of a 48MP main camera, 16MP ultra-wide angle camera, 2MP depth sensor camera, and 2MP macro camera. It is also expected to have 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.
We’re uncertain yet as to the price of the HUAWEI nova 5T. However, given that then HONOR 20 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is retailing for RM1,699, we don’t expect the price to stray far from this point. As we’ve reported a few days ago, the company will be showcasing the new device at the KL Fashion Week 2019 happening this Sunday on 25th August 2019. You can drop by there if you want to catch an early glimpse of the smartphone.
Pokdepinion: Seems like an interesting smartphone but I’m more curious about the price. Can’t wait to learn more about the new device.
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Internet Explorer, The Internet’s Living Fossil, Is Finally Dead For Good

Microsoft says the browser finally, officially, actually dies for good. Death date: February 14, 2023.
This prompt appears when the new update for Edge is applied, which permanently kills IE. Image: Microsoft
If at this day and age you’re somehow still using Internet Explorer – which, mind you, Microsoft has preemptively announced for years they’re going to kill it for good – bad news: it’s finally dead. Web devs rejoice.
Since Internet Explorer was outright disabled in Windows 11, that leaves Windows 10 (as far as actively supported OSes go) as the only place left still with the ancient web browser. The company decided they don’t want to wait anymore and has in fact pushed the death date ahead from June down to Valentine’s Day. At this date, a new update through Edge (not linked to Windows Update) will actively disable IE and shut it down for good.

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Beyond this point, anything that has to do with IE’s functionality (legacy features such as ActiveX) will be automatically switched over to Edge – the browser already has an ‘IE mode’ built in years ago for this purpose. Microsoft is not even letting its guts lying around – future security updates for Windows is set to wipe off any references to IE11 – including icons, links and more.
There will be a single exception, though: government or organizations that rely on Windows 10 LTSC (Long-term Service Channel) or Windows 7 ESU (Extended Security Updates) will get to use IE as it is – as many of the proprietary software for these purposes are limited to legacy systems. For everyone else: pay farewell to the long-lived browser that many people lived with, but perhaps not liked.
Source: PCMag
Pokdepinion: Internet Explorer is probably the hardest-to-kill software ever there is…
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Radeon RX 5600 XT cards are now available in Malaysia

The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is supposed to be somewhat of a value buy for 1080p gamers, but it seems like it won’t be such a nice deal here in Malaysia. With the recently announced vBIOS with higher clocks, it might justify itself, but here are the pricing for the cards in Malaysia.
Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT
For now the most affordable one seems to be from Sapphire, with the  Pulse RX 5600 XT 6GB priced at RM1350. Meanwhile over on the other end of the spectrum is the ROG Strix Radeon RX 5600 XT at a whopping RM1599. Some of these are prices we caught online, so they prices we list here might not be their official SRPs.
          GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming OC            ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 5600 XT OC Edition          PowerColor Red Devil RX 5600 XT              Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT

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Here are their specifications, put side by side for easier comparison:
Radeon RX 5600 XT Specs

ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 5600 XT OC Edition
GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming OC
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT
PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 5600 XT

Boost Clock:
Up to 1770 MHz
Up to 1750 MHz
Up to 1750 MHz
Up to 1750 MHz

Game Clock:
Up to 1670 MHz
Up to 1670 MHz
Up to 1615 MHz
Up to 1660 MHz

VRAM:
6 GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
6GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
6GB GDDR6 14 Gbps
6GB GDDR6 14 Gbps

Memory bandwidth:
192-bit interface, 336GB/s bandwidth
192-bit interface, 336GB/s bandwidth
192-bit interface, 336GB/s bandwidth
192-bit interface, 336GB/s bandwidth

Price:
RM1599
RM1539
RM1350
RM1499

PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 5600 XT
The whole Radeon RX 5600 XT series’ pricing is rather unappealing at this point in time. Hopefully we will see some adjustments from AMD Malaysia in the near future because the cheaper GeForce RTX 2060 cards in Malaysia seem to be a better choice than the cards for now.
Pokdepinion: Not the most interesting of product launches, I guess?
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Malaysians Might Enjoy Better Internet Speeds Soon – Looking at Doubling the Speed

With the recent changes in government, Malaysia may soon be enjoying better internet speeds. At the moment, we may be looking at speeds double than what we have right now, according to Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo.
Malaysians Might Enjoy Better Internet Speeds Soon
Gobind Singh DeoImage source: MalaysiaInternet.my
Malaysia has seen quite an interesting spectacle in recent times and now, we might be seeing something positive come off from that. The newly appointed Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo, mentioned about how the ministry will be focusing on improving Malaysia’s internet speed in the days to come.
To be precise, he mentioned about doubling the country’s speed, which is a huge increase. Here’s what he said at the press conference on his first day of work as the new minister:

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Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh, said:
We are looking into doubling the speed of internet broadband services, if possible. There were many complaints last year, and we are hoping to improve in that area.
For others (area of improvements), we will relook the necessity of continuing them. I will be calling separate press conferences for those in the next few weeks.
Aside from that, Gobind Singh did mention about other matters in the press conference, such as reviewing the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018, as well as updating some “outdated” laws in order to be more suitable for today’s technologically-advanced world.
While there was no mention of exactly when we can expect the improved speeds to pop up, or how the upgrades will be rolling out for everyone in Malaysia. Any form of changes to pricing were also not mentioned but this is most likely something that the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be dealing with.
Source: Free Malaysia Today (FMT)
Pokdepinion: Hey, who’s gonna say no to faster internet speeds, am I right? Maybe we’ll get proper gigabit internet speeds soon. Imagine downloading games on Steam or streaming 4K content on Netflix or YouTube that will only take seconds to load. That would be the dream… if it’s doesn’t kill our wallets.
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HTC Desire 650 Dual SIM sports a Pixel-esque design for just RM619!

Found yourself coveting the dual-texture back of the Google Pixel but not ready to splurge that much on a smartphone? With HTC’s latest Desire 650 Dual SIM, you can get pretty much the same look for a lot less. The back features a 50% smooth and 50% grooved design, satisfying those who aren’t content with just one kind of finishing on the back of their smartphones.

The cool new back design isn’t solely for looks though. The grooved texture allows you to get a better grip on the device, while also easily knowing which way is up simply by holding the device. Round the front is a 5″ 720p display which is really quite outdated now in 2017, protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass for toughness. The display promises vibrant colors and also sports HTC Night Mode, which is probably HTC’s fancy name for a blue light filter.

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A 13MP rear camera with a f/2.0 aperture gives the HTC Desire 650 Dual SIM its photography chops, with the BSI sensor set to deliver good images even in dim lighting. The 5MP front camera features HDR and a slew of features to improve your selfie-taking experience. With Google Photos, you won’t ever have to worry about storage, as you get free unlimited cloud storage for all your shots.
Performance is courtesy of a quad core Mediatek MT6735T mated to 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. HTC promises a responsive user experience, and an enduring one at that, with the 3000 mAh battery keeping things running. With the HTC Boost+ feature, battery life will be further extended with dynamic memory cleaning, reducing the power used by background apps.
The HTC Desire 650 Dual SIM comes in at just RM619, yet offers the best of HTC, the customizable HTC Sense platform, which is arguably still the king when it comes to Android skins. With HTC Themes, you get access to thousands of professional looking themes with individualized icon packs, backgrounds, sounds and more. You can even create your own themes to show off your own unique style. It will be available in two colors, Dark Blue and White.
Pokdepinion: The HTC Desire 650 Dual SIM is a great value-for-money entry ticket into the HTC Sense experience. And trust me, once you try HTC Sense, no other Android skin will compare.
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Mi MIX 3 coming in January 2019 at an attractive price!

Mi Malaysia has published a teaser, hinting the arrival of their latest sliding flagship, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 in January 2019. The flagship is quite a stunner with a full-screen design that skips notches. Instead of opting for ridiculous dual-screen designs or motorized assemblies, it comes with a mechanical slider to reveal the front facing cameras and sensors.

The teaser also reveals that the Mi MIX 3 will be priced at less than RM2500. While it may seem rather steep for a Snapdragon 845 device, but the uniqueness of the Mi MIX 3 is definitely worth the premium. The Mi MIX 3 is the only Snapdragon 845 device with a ceramic back, and it definitely looks unique.

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Key specifications of the Mi MIX 3 include:

Snapdragon 845
Up to 10GB RAM
Up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage
6.39″ FHD+ Super AMOLED display
12MP f/1.8 + 12MP f/2.4 telephoto
24MP + 2MP depth sensor selfie camera
Qi Wireless Charging

With Snapdragon 855 devices just around the corner, the Mi MIX 3 might just be a little too late to the party. What do you think? Is it worth paying a premium for an exclusive design? Or would you rather opt for a similarly priced Snapdragon 855 device with a generic design? Let us know!
Pokdepinion: Can’t wait to check it out!
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As we reported before, the Trump Administration is looking to ban TikTok in the US. Now, more details have been made public, including one that suggests that Facebook’s own Mark Zuckerberg may have pushed for the move as well.
Mark Zuckerberg May Have Pushed for TikTok Ban in the US

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According to the Wall Street Journal, there were public and private meetings between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and US Prresident Donald Trump. It was also apparent that senators raised concerns about the company behind TikTok, ByteDance, after one of the meetings in October 2019.
Originally, Facebook told Wall Street Journal that “Zuckerberg has no recollection of discussing TikTok at the dinner.” Later on, they gave CNBC the following statement:
Mark has never advocated for a ban on TikTok. He has repeatedly said publicly that the biggest competitors to US tech companies are Chinese companies, with values that don’t align with democratic ideals like free speech. It’s ludicrous to suggest that long-standing national security concerns, raised by policymakers on both sides of the aisle, have been shaped by Mark’s statements alone.
While no names were outright mentioned, it does seem as if Mark Zuckerberg took a shot at them under the guise of patriotism. With that being said however, the social video sharing platform has caused issues with the Trump Administration before, most notably inflating the number of signups for the president’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Facebook has been called out before for their attempts at creating what is essentially a clone of the platform in the form of Lasso and Reels. TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer made an open letter, which says:
Let’s focus our energies on fair and open competition in service of our consumers, rather than maligning attacks by our competitor, namely Facebook, disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the US.
Source
Pokdepinion: It’s hard to say what their true intentions are. One thing’s for sure, things are getting surprisingly interesting in the social media world, and not in the way I expected it to be.
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Genshin Impact Is Making Its Debut On PS5 This Spring

Genshin Impact, the popular action-adventure roleplaying game is making its way to the PS5 very soon. According to a tweet by PlayStation’s official Twitter account, the game will be available on the new console this coming Spring. The tweet also mentioned that the game will feature enhanced visuals, faster loading times as well as including support for the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Genshin Impact comes to PlayStation 5 with enhanced visuals, fast loading, and DualSense controller support.
Face (and wield) the elements of Teyvat this Spring. pic.twitter.com/y9QQGID8Js
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 31, 2021

Will Genshin Impact be free on PS5?

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Seeing that miHoYo’s popular game is free on all supported platforms, it’s pretty likely that Genshin Impact will also be free on the PS5. The only thing that won’t be free is some of the in-game currencies which is something that is to be expected for a gacha game like this.
Genshin Impact will release on PS5 sometime this Spring.
Pokdepinion: I haven’t really played the game for a while now. I don’t really have the time to do so nor do I intend to spend a lot to get a lot of the characters offered. Not really knocking on the game though as I think it is still a fantastic and beautiful game even if you choose not to invest in any of its characters.
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Malaysia Ready For 5G Says DNB

Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) has stated that Malaysia’s 5G network is going online this 15th of December 2021, which isn’t far away from now and will mark the commercial availability of the connectivity.
5G in Malaysia
They’ve revealed that coverage will be rolled out starting with Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, and parts of Kuala Lumpur in December 2021. Afterwards, 5G coverage will extend to 80% of populated areas by end 2024.
DNB will be offering wholesale 5G services at no cost at all MNOs that are integrated into the DNB network. This offer is valid for all 5G live sites that will be ready throughout the mentioned areas by 31st December 2021 and the offer lasts until the 31st of March 2022.

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Those MNOs that enter the Wholesale Agreement before 31st March 2022 will receive further free access at all additional 5G capacity as sites go live in the period.
End users with 5G-capable devices will be able to enjoy speeds of 100Mbps and above. With 5G, the connection will be able to support use cases around the streaming and downloading of 8K quality video, cloud-based gaming, as well as AR/VR content.
For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: We finally can say that we’re buying a smartphone for 5G!
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[E3 2019] AMD Ryzen 9 3950X official from RM3118 — highest performing 16-core CPU in the world!

The highest performing 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen is now here, with 16 cores and 32 threads of muscle. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X was previously leaked, and we now finally have official confirmation that the processor does exist, and it is coming September 2019.
The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X offers more cores, more cache and the higher clock speeds than any of the previously launched 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen processors. For overclocking enthusiasts, the AMD Ryzen Overclocking Team managed to push it to 5.375 GHz under LN2 to deliver a record-setting performance in Cinebench R20 with a multi-threaded score of 12 167.

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With that, it now holds the crown as the highest performing 16-core processor and also as the highest performing CPU in a mainstream socket. The price? $749 (~RM3118).
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Specs

16C/32T @ up to 4.7 GHz, 7nm FinFET
72MB cache (L2 + L3)
20 PCIe 4.0 lanes
105W TDP
$749 (~RM3118)

Would you be picking one up this September 2019?
Pokdepinion: I think I know what I am upgrading to this Christmas…
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[UPDATE: Confirmed!] GTA 5 free to download on the Epic Games Store tomorrow

If you haven’t played Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) like yours truly, there’s a possibility you can snag the game for free tomorrow. The game which has aged surprisingly well over the 7 years since its debut, will reportedly be offered on the Epic Games Store for free. A mystery game is currently listed on the Epic Games Store as the next free game, so fingers crossed that we can get GTA 5 free from now until 21st May.

The rumor also hints that Rockstar will be giving away free copies of GTA 5 Premium Edition, which will give new players a headstart. This might be a move to get more PC gamers addicted to GTA Online, just in time for Grand Theft Auto VI.

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GTA Online is currently quite a happening scene with various mods and community-based game modes mushrooming. Well, perhaps we can check it out soon!
UPDATE: Confirmed!

Lowyat.NET has managed to capture a screengrab of a now-deleted tweet by @EpicGames, confirming that the mystery game is going to be GTA 5. The free game will be available from 11 pm tonight until 21st May, so get ready to get one of the most popular games ever offered on the Epic Games Store for free!
Claim GTA 5 for free via the following link!
GTA 5 free on Epic Games Store!
Pokdepinion: Well, I have never played any of the GTA games… Maybe it’s a good time to start.
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HUAWEI P30 Pro crowned EISA Best Smart of the Year

The HUAWEI P30 Pro is one formidable smartphone. The Leica Quad Camera is definitely industry-leading with a 40MP HUAWEI SuperSpectrum sensor, a 5x periscope telephoto lens, a 20MP ultra-wide camera and a HUAWEI ToF camera. Which is probably why the European Image and Sound Association (EISA) crowned it the EISA Best Smartphone.
This marks the second year in a row HUAWEI has bagged the award, with the previous year’s award snagged by the HUAWEI P20 Pro. EISA noted the HUAWEI P30 Pro’s low-light photography as being “by far the best you can currently get from a smartphone” and praised the multiple camera setup as one that “surpasses any of its competitors.”

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HUAWEI definitely did a great job designing the HUAWEI P30 Pro, with a great set of features that extend beyond its camera. The curved 6.47″ OLED Dewdrop display seamlessly blends into the double 3D curved glass body, all while managing to cram a large 4200 mAh battery sits underneath the sleek design of the device.

Other smartphones to have bagged EISA’s awards this year include the HONOR 20 Pro, Redmi Note 7 and also the OnePlus 7 Pro. The HONOR 20 Pro takes home the EISA Lifestyle Smartphone 2019-2020 award, while the Redmi Note 7 scores the EISA Best Buy Smartphone 2019-2020. The OnePlus 7 Pro is EISA’s Advanced Smartphone 2019-2020.

The HONOR 20 Pro is a very interesting device, as HONOR managed to cram a camera that delivers better results than much pricier flagships, a large battery, and a flagship Kirin 980 into a design that people with smaller hands would appreciate. Meanwhile if you are talking about bang-for-buck, the Redmi Note 7 is an excellent offering for the price.
What other smartphones do you think that EISA might have missed out in their awards? Let us know!
Pokdepinion: The HUAWEI P30 Pro is definitely one of the most intriguing devices to be launched this year.
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Mi 10 Series Globally Launched From ~RM1,663

The Mi 10 series was set to be unveiled at this year’s MWC 2020. However due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the event was cancelled. Just moments ago, Xiaomi did a global launch on the series however, just a couple of weeks after their China launch.

Mi 10 Series Global Launch

The all-new Mi 10 series, Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro is powered by the latest Snapdragon 865 chipset, where they also offer up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM. There’s up to 512GB UFS 3.0 storage option (for the Mi 10 Pro) and they both come with a 6.67″ FHD+ AMOLED display.
For the cameras, the Mi 10 Pro comes with a better configuration of 108MP main camera, 20MP ultra-wide lens, 12MP zoom shooter, and a 8MP camera. On the Mi 10 side however, aside from the same main camera, it comes with a 13MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP macro lens, and 2MP depth sensor.

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The battery for the Mi 10 is slightly larger at 4780mAh battery under the hood compared to the 4500mAh on the Mi 10 Pro. The latter does have the advantage of a 50W fast charge however. They both also comes with reverse wireless charging capability.

The price? Well globally the Mi 10 starts from the price of EUR 799 (~RM3,808) and the Mi 10 Pro from EUR 999 (~RM4762).

If you think that’s all, well think again. Aside from the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, they’ve also introduced the new Mi 10 Lite 5G, making 5G technology accessible to consumers.
The Mi 10 Lite 5G comes with a Snapdragon 765G chipset and offers a 6.57″ AMOLED display. As for the cameras, it comes with a 48MP quad camera setup as well as a 16MP selfie shooter.
Under the hood there’s a 4160mAh battery that you can charge with 20W fast charger.
The Mi 10 Lite 5G is priced at EUR 349 (~RM1,663) and it is schedule to be rolled out in May 2020.
Previously we’ve covered on how the Mi 10 series has already gotten SIRIM certification so we can expect the smartphones to arrive here in Malaysia. For more details on the Mi 10 series, you can check the link right here.
Pokdepinion: Well, I’m sold. Hopefully the Mi 10 Lite 5G will make it’s way here to Malaysia too!
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AMD Phoenix Hybrid APU Frequency Chart Plotted, Up To 4.7GHz On Engineering Sample

The leaks keep on coming – this time even a frequency graph has been publicized.

Twitter user @xinoassassin1 has dropped a frequency chart for a CPU that they claim belongs to AMD’s upcoming Phoenix Hybrid APU – an engineering sample (ES) chip at that. We now know based on leaks so far this chip will be powered by 2 Performance Cores and 4 Efficiency Cores (using standard Zen 4 and Zen 4c core, respectively).

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The chart below represents a Cinebench R23 benchmark run – two Performance Cores (Core 0 and Core 5) is seen running at around 4.1GHz for the most part, with peaks reaching 4.7GHz or so. The remaining four Efficiency Cores however hovers around 2.7GHz while Core 4 peaked at 3.6GHz. Do keep in mind that clockspeeds in engineering sample chips are not final – as they’re subject for further optimizations.

Interestingly, the user also mentions no hardware scheduler is used – contrary to Intel chips which utilizes a feature called Thread Director to help allocating tasks to suitable cores. Though, OSes can still manage these on the system level. Power draw is said to be 15-20W, with Performance and Efficiency core clusters using 7-8W and 5W respectively. As for single core workloads, the CPU will automatically picks the Performance Core, so the performance between this and the standard Phoenix core should not differ beyond clockspeed differences.
Source: Wccftech
Pokdepinion: Rumor mill at full speed for this chip in this last week.
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10-core 10th Gen Intel desktop CPUs to be priced from $409?

What appears to be a slide detailing all of the 10th Generation Intel Core processor has been floating around the interwebs. The leak is somewhat inconsistent with Intel’s marketing, but it does give a pretty nice peek at what’s to come. Also, it might be just how Intel has decided to respond to the AMD Ryzen 3000 threat.
For starters, the slide point to a “maximum all core Turbo frequency”, something which Intel has refrained from disclosing publicly for quite some time now. But since the Intel Core i9 9900KS’ only selling point over the regular i9 9900K is its all-core 5.0 GHz Turbo, maybe this is a good turning point for Intel to better inform consumers. The fastest all-core Turbo is found on the i7 10700K, which offers a 4.8 GHz all-core Turbo.

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It also seems like Intel finally realized that there is no point in having iGPUs in the high-end Intel Core i9 series. All of the three processors 10th Generation Intel Core i9 do not feature integrated graphics, but will offer 10 cores and 20 threads of processing grunt. We also see pretty low TDPs, although how Intel calculates TDP is very different from AMD so they aren’t directly comparable. The $409 starting price is pretty attractive though.
Here’s the full leaked table for your perusal:
10th Generation Intel Core processors

Cores/Threads
Base Clock (GHz)
Max. Turbo Clock (GHz)
Max. All-Core Turbo Clock (GHz)
Intel Smart Cache
Memory support
Integrated Graphics
TDP
Price

Core i3 10100
4/8
3.7
4.4
4.2
7MB
Dual channel DDR4-2933
UHD 730
65W
$129 (~RM534)

Core i3 10300
4/8
3.8
4.5
4.3
9MB
Dual channel DDR4-2933
UHD 730
62W
$149 (~RM617)

Core i3 10320
4/8
4.0
4.7
4.5
9MB
Dual channel DDR4-2933
UHD 730
91W
$159 (~RM658)

Core i3 10350K
4/8
4.1
4.8
4.6
9MB
Dual channel DDR4-2933
UHD 730
91W
$179 (~RM741)

Core i5 10400
6/12
3.0
4.4
4.2
12MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
65W
$179 (~RM741)

Core i5 10500
6/12
3.1
4.6
4.4
12MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
65W
$199 (~RM824)

Core i5 10600
6/12
3.2
4.8
4.6
12MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
65W
$229 (~RM948)

Core i5 10600K
6/12
3.7
4.9
4.7
12MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
95W
$269 (~RM1114)

Core i7 10700
8/16
3.1
4.9
4.6
16MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
65W
$339 (~RM1404)

Core i7 10700K
8/16
3.6
5.1
4.8
16MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
UHD 730
95W
$389 (~RM1611)

i9 10800F
10/20
2.7
5.0
4.2
20MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
No
65W
$409 (~RM1693)

i9 10900F
10/20
3.2
5.1
4.4
20MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
No
95W
$449 (~RM1859)

i9 10900KF
10/20
3.4
5.2
4.6
20MB
Dual channel DDR4-3200
No
105W
$499 (~RM2066)

The clock speeds and TDP does not seem to tally for some SKUs, as does the amount of cache, evident in the i3 series where there are 7MB and 9MB caches. The prices also seem to be on the low side for the Intel Core i3 processors, before ramping up rapidly with the Core i7 lineup. Maybe Intel is really targeting the low to mid-range market that AMD has a strong grip on, and decided to compete on price? That would be great for consumers.

Aside from the CPU specifications, the slide also lists the LGA1159 socket. It probably isn’t all that surprising given the new Sunny Cover microarchitecture and also new 10-core processors with an unprecedented 105W TDP. We can expect new Intel Z490 boards to appear with more features soon. Hopefully it will still work with the LGA115x coolers and not require a new mounting mechanism.

AMD might be facing some interesting competition from Intel very soon!
Pokdepinion: I am looking forward to something new from Intel too. Competition is always cool!
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MSI announces Intel B660, H670 and H610 motherboard lineup for value-seekers!

MSI unveiled a strong lineup of Intel Z690 motherboards, and now it is time for their more value-oriented offerings. The Intel H670, B660 and H610 mainstream options are now available, ready to be the perfect match ups for the newly announced 12th Gen Intel Core processors. MSI’s main focus is the Intel B660 chipset, which offers a balanced feature set at more wallet-friendly prices.
MSI B660 motherboards — spoilt for choice!

MSI has unveiled a wide selection of MSI B660 motherboards, with all of them featuring support for PCIe 4.0. PCIe 4.0 doubles the bandwidth available to your graphics and PCIe NVMe SSD storage devices. Some boards like the MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 and MSI supports up to three M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which takes full advantage of the PCIe 4.0 lanes available from the 12th Gen Intel Core processors as well as the Intel B660 chipset.

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Aside from that, MSI also worked to equip the MSI B660 motherboards with great memory overclocking capabilities, with the MSI B660 DDR5 motherboards supporting up to DDR5-6200. Stable power delivery is ensured, with up to 12 DrMOS with Duet Rail Power System to be ready to handle any 12th Gen Intel Core processor out there.

There are also plenty of premium features like fast USB-C ports, 2.5GbE LAN and up to WiFi 6E options, which are ideal for any next-gen gaming build. Speaking of building, MSI streamlines the process with pre-installed I/O shields and EZ M.2 Clips, the latter which makes installing M.2 SSDs a breeze without having to fiddle with tiny easy-to-lose screws. Last but not least, all of the new MSI B660 motherboards support TPM 2.0 for full compatibility with Windows 11.

If you want a few more features, there’s also the MSI MAG H670 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4. For an even more cost-effective solution, there’s the MSI PRO H610 motherboards. There’s no memory overclocking with Intel H610 motherboards, but it is still sufficient to satisfy your computing needs.
Pokdepinion: I really quite like the MSI B660 options, especially the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi that packs DDR5 support, as well as built-in WiFi 6E!
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Pioneer Releases New USB Type-C Lineup – Offering Better Performance!

Pioneer has unveiled that they have released their all-new USB Type-C Series products which includes a docking station, multiport adapter, and an external pocket-sized portable SSD.
Pioneer Brand New USB Type-C Series Products
First up is the new docking station which allows users to build for a powerful workstation.
Pioneer Docking Station
The Docking Station offers a simple design, intuitive use, and is compatible with MacBook and also computers that uses Thunderbolt. For connection, it only requires the USB-C terminal to connect all devices, giving convenience and working efficiency. It supports Windows dual-screen output, while having the capability for the A/V output. The dock is easy to use and charges devices to enhance your working efficiency.

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Pioneer Multiport Adapter
With Pioneer’s new multiport adapter, it provides multiple uses. Compatible with MacBooks and a variety of notebooks with a Type-C port, it can support output of 4K videos using HDMI for a larger image, charge your device, read an SD card, and support several USB expanders as well. The adapter’s casing is made out of composite material with a sleek black design.
Pioner External Portable SSD
The SSD has a USB-C Gen2 high-speed interface that comes with a transmission speed of up to 480MB/s. It’s capacity is 120GB/240GB. Vibration-resistant, it supports Mac and Windows OS. Being a slim and compact device, it allows you to easily take it anywhere.
Following the trend of USB Type-C products, it isn’t of a surprise when Pioneer has said that they will launching more storage devices, cable, and more in the near future. For those interested in purchasing the brand new Type-C products from Pioneer, you can do so by going to Lazada, just click here.
More information can be found on Pioneer’s official website.
Pokdepinion: It’s not a surprise that Pioneer are entering to the USB Type-C market, seeing the trend of today.
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Cooler Master ‘Case Mod World Series 2017’ with 25th Anniversary Celebration Bonus announced

Cooler Master announced the 8th installment of the annual Case Mod World Series. Anyone from first-time tinkerers to seasoned veterans are invited to submit their creations from February 3rd to May 3rd. Participants can publish worklogs of their mods using visual aids to entice the viewers. In conjunction with Cooler Master’s 25th Anniversary, a bonus category has been added to this years’ contest to encourage participants to commemorate the iconic products of the last 25 years and honor the classics with new pieces of modding beauty.

“We have created countless product innovations and design break-throughs which paved the way to the standard cases and cooling technology seen today. With this being the 25th year of our company, we wanted to pay tribute by inviting modders to participate in the biggest modding event in the community with a bonus category” said Raymen Wu, Marketing Director.

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Cooler Master encourages newcomers to the contest with their #MASTERBUILD platform. This modding dedicated website is filled with inspiring stories, tutorials, galleries and events aimed at continuously growing and expanding the modding community. Visit mod.coolermaster.com to find out more.
This year, Cooler Master’s World Series includes regional modding workshops and local meet & greet events in many countries around the world. Modders can share their creative design techniques and passion about all things PC building and PC modding. This will encourage socialising between World Series participants, PC building enthusiasts and Cooler Master fans in general to meet and greet directly with Cooler master and world class modders. For this, special edition #MASTERBUILD t-shirts will be available to win in limited supply.
The event is being co-sponsored by Intel, ASUS, Nvidia, HyperX and Dremel. Awesome prizes totalling over $40,000 USD are in store for this year’s winners. But that’s not all, modders can share their fantastic creations with a worldwide audience and fire up their creative juices with other local modders through regional events. The registration deadline for this year’s competition is March 31st. To get involved and follow updates as the competition unfolds, visit http://makerhub.coolermaster.com/cmws-2017.
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Malaysian Ecommerce Site Contest Turns Into a Nightmare for One Winner
Picture credits: CARI

Recently, a Malaysian ecommerce site ran a contest that was exclusive to Boost e-wallet users as part of the 8.8 Boost Online Day celebration. This was none other than PrestoMall, the entity that used to be known as 11street, with a couple of Apple iPhone 7 devices and three Guess Watches up for grabs. However, things didn’t go well for one of the Apple iPhone 7 winners.
One of the winners of the contest who walked away with an Apple iPhone 7 with 256GB storage. Unfortunately, the smartphone could not be powered on. After sending it to an Apple Service Centre at KLCC, he discovered that his newly won device has no warranty. This was due to the fact that it’s an old product, most likely referring to it being a phased out product, and that the warranty is no longer applicable.
As such, the man contacted PrestoMall again, with the ecommerce site asking him to return the device for inspection. After a week, they promised that they will replace the prize some other device, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with 64GB storage. As a precaution due to his initial experience, he asked if the device will be a brand new, sealed unit with warranty still intact.

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Unfortunately for him, there will be no warranty for the device as the sponsor for the contest isn’t providing it. But wait, there’s more.
Picture credits: CARI
After his post on Facebook garnered massive attention, it seemed like PrestoMall had a change in tone. They suddenly offered an Apple iPhone X with 12-months warranty to replace the faulty prizes. The catch here is that the social media post will have to be taken down to avoid further negative comments and damage to their reputation.
At the time of this writing, we are uncertain if the matter has been resolved amicably. We will update more on this matter as soon as information becomes available.
Source: CARI
Pokdepinion: And here I thought iPhones had the least problem. I wonder if he got an old, used / refurbished unit or something.
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Take note if you have a ROG Maximus Z690 Hero with these serial numbers!

If you own a ROG Maximus Z690 Hero, it’s quite likely that you have stumbled across the issues that some owners are facing. There’s apparently a few batches out in the wild that have a reversed memory capacitor, which will lead to some catastrophic hardware failure if left unchecked. Thankfully, ASUS North America has already announced a recall, as it seems that the issues are mainly focused in the region.
ROG Maximus Z690 Hero recall announced over reversed capacitor

It seems that the issue affects a few batches, where the capacitors are installed wrongly. You can watch the following video by Buildzoid to get a better understanding as to why the reversed capacitor will blow up the memory MOSFETs, but the gist of it is that the reversed capacitor isn’t doing what it is supposed to do, and lets too much power through to the MOSFETs and blows them up.

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The manufacturing issue affects ROG Maximus Z690 Hero boards with the part number 90MB18E0-MVAAY0 and serial numbers starting with MA, MB or MC. The ROG Maximus Z690 Hero I have on hand has an entirely different part number, and it does have the capacitor the right way around, so I guess I will be safe.

Here’s the full announcement by ASUS:

ASUS Announcement Regarding Maximus Z690 Hero Issue
To our valued ASUS Customers,
ASUS is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. We have recently received incident reports regarding the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard. In our ongoing investigation, we have preliminarily identified a potential reversed memory capacitor issue in the production process from one of the production lines that may cause debug error code 53, no post, or motherboard components damage. The issue potentially affects units manufactured in 2021 with the part number 90MB18E0-MVAAY0 and serial number starting with MA, MB, or MC.
As of December 28, 2021, there have been a few incidents reported in North America. Going forward, we are continuing our thorough inspection with our suppliers and customers to identify all possible affected ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards in the market and will be working with relevant government agencies on a replacement program.
Thank you so much to everyone for your patience and support while we are working through the replacement program.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact ASUS customer service.
UPDATE: Malaysian units are unaffected
Local units are apparently not affected, as they bear the part number 90MB18E0-MUAY. Stay safe and happy overclocking!
Pokdepinion: I bet it must come as quite a surprise to those affected by the exploding memory power delivery, considering that DDR5 has most of the power management offloaded to the DIMMs themselves.
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Samsung Odyssey G9 2021 to get new Quantum Mini LED panel and DisplayHDR 2000 certification?

The Samsung Odyssey G9 is definitely the dream gaming monitor for quite a few gamers out there. Priced at an eye-watering RM6199, it offers an expansive 49″ 32:9 DQHD curved panel for the ultimate immersive gaming experience. But it seems that Samsung has a few more technologies up their sleeves to deliver an even better experience with the Samsung Odyssey G9 2021.

Samsung’s upcoming monitor is slated to come with an upgraded Mini LED backlight that sports 2048 local dimming zones. This is a huge upgrade over the 10 zones that the current-gen Samsung Odyssey G9 touts. On top of having finer backlight control, the Samsung Odyssey G9 2021’s backlight is also reportedly capable of going up to a retina-searing 2000 nits.

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The Taobao listing also boasts that the Samsung Odyssey G9 2021 will  boast of the DisplayHDR 2000 certification. No such certification exists yet, so do take it with a pinch of salt. Aside from that, the increased brightness and improved local dimming also allows for a higher contrast ratio of 4000:1.

Samsung’s upcoming flagship gaming monitor will reportedly retain the key specifications from the current-gen Odyssey G9, which include its 5120×1440 DQHD resolution, 1000R curvature, 240Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certification. The Taobao seller seems to prefer to highlight the NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible feature over the FreeSync standard, but that’s a sentiment that’s Samsung shares.
For some reason, Samsung decides to use NVIDIA G-SYNC branding in their marketing for the current-gen Samsung Odyssey G9, despite only being NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible. Well, at least it has been tested by NVIDIA to actually support the standard properly. I would think that AMD FreeSync Premium Pro is a much more premium certification to brag about, but I guess Samsung doesn’t feel the same way.

There isn’t any official pricing yet, but the monitor is expected to ship in June 2021, so we should be seeing more details about the monitor.
Source
Pokdepinion: I don’t think that monitors larger than 27″ are practical, but then again, you know what they say… Once you go big…
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[UNBOXING] Razer Kraken Tournament Edition Gaming Headset

Unboxing the Razer Kraken Tournament Edition Gaming Headset

We recently got our hands on the Razer Kraken Tournament Edition, a gaming headset with THX Spatial Audio and comes with its own audio controller which also functions as a USB adapter. You can still connect it to devices using a 3.5mm cable, which makes it compatible with a number of devices, including console, PC, and smartphone.
We are in the midst of reviewing this gaming headset so for now, do check out our unboxing of it at the top of this post. If you want to know more about it, check out its specifications right below here:
Specifications

Drivers:
Custom-tuned 50mm with Neodymium magnets

Frequency response:
12 Hz – 28 KHz

Sensitivity:
109 dB

Impedance:
32 Ω @ 1 kHz

Microphone:
Unidirectional microphone

Features:
In-line volume control
Microphone quick mute toggle
USB Adapter / Audio Controller
Cooling gel-infused ear cushions
THX Spatial Audio

Cable:
1.3 m / 4.27 ft Kevlar reinforced cable. 2 m with USB Audio Controller

The review for the Razer Kraken Tournament Edition gaming headset will be coming soon so stay tuned to Pokde.net :)

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Explaining The Recent ‘Hack’ Of Linus Tech Tips YouTube Channel

For 15 million people at least, they probably are aware of the channel Linus Tech Tips – one of the biggest tech YouTube channel out there. But as big as they are, they’re not immune to breaches – as the events unfolded last week has proven so. Since then, everything has been recovered and back to usual order, but what can we learn from this incident, and protect against attacks like these in the future for you, as a creator or just a regular user?
Rundown: It all started from a “PDF” File
Before that, you can read here on what happened that day, and details of the incident across multiple Linus Media Group (LMG) channels. The simplest explanation: someone in the company (Linus says it’s from marketing team) accidentally opened a file containing malware disguising as a PDF file.
The “PDF” file – which is 770MB in size (filled with junk data for the most part) to circumvent against antivirus scans. Image: The PC Security Channel (YouTube)
This is what we commonly refer as ‘phishing’ or ‘social engineering attacks’. As computer systems themselves are quite secure by itself given many modern safety checks across the system, but it won’t stop a user from unknowingly disable or bypass a security check if they are directed to do so, especially to those who don’t have as much knowledge relating to cybersecurity.

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The file in question is referred as ‘info stealer’, and as the name implies, when executed through social engineering attacks (meaning, user opening the file) – the file will not open as a PDF, and will simply do nothing in plain sight. At this point, the user may be confused by this odd file that can’t be opened, but by the time they figured out something is off, the malware has already done its job and proceed to begin the next phase of attacks. Linus says all of these can be done as little as 30 seconds – most users wouldn’t notice a thing happening in this short time period.
‘Info Stealer’? What does it steal?
LTT was hacked last week. Image: YouTube
You’d expect the info stealer would be looking for something like email addresses and password, since that is, in theory, all that matters to login websites. Well, that’s what Linus himself thought too, and he was scrambling for hours trying to reset passwords and 2FA (two-factor authentication), but to no avail. This kind of attacks do not require passwords or email to be known, attackers only need one thing – Session Tokens.
Session Tokens is a type of cookies stored in your device, which acts like a quick access keycard. Ever used the “keep myself logged in” feature on websites? When enabled, the website will save a session token to the device it’s logged into, so next time when you come back to the website, it’ll look for the cookie and skips the login process for you. Like a quick access keycard vulnerable to RFID cloning – Session Tokens are also vulnerable in this way, as malware can simply copy the cookie itself and grants attackers access to the account as if they’re physically there.
Am I Safe? What Can I Do?
We all have seen YouTube channels, big or small, get hijacked before – and the patterns are more or less the same, with crypto scams livestreaming on the compromised channel. If you’re just a regular user, this kinds of attacks are less likely to target you, the average Joe. Content creators however must pay extra attention to the file coming from emails. This video from The PC Security Channel has summarized on how such attacks work (including circumventing antivirus protections):

There’s a few security practices that you, regardless of who you are, are advised to do. First line of defense: knowledge. Pay attention to file types, NOT the icons. File icons can easily be forged, but filetype extensions are not: whenever you see something that ends with anything other than *.pdf, then it is NOT a PDF file. Example:

Marketing.pdf (this file is in PDF format, safe to open)
Marketing.pdf.exe (this file is in EXE format, hence this is a program, thus dangerous to open)
Marketing.scr (this file is a screensaver, while not an EXE, can still infect systems through different methods)

More importantly – Windows by default hides the file extension letters to avoid people from renaming it by accident. However this is also another design flaw that allows users to be tricked into opening the wrong file. To reveal file extensions, click on File > Options (Windows 10) or select ‘Options’ from the three dots (Windows 11), select View tab, and uncheck this option (highlighted):

Now all your files should reveal their file extensions in their formats (such as .jpg, .mp4 and so on) – usually when renaming the file Windows will avoid it for you and will explicitly ask you in order to change the file extension format should you actually need to do so.
Second line of defense: Security. Should the social engineering attacks managed to bypass the human element, this is where antivirus can come in and block the malware from running before it delivers its payload. Microsoft’s own Defender antivirus contains some degree of behavioral detection, which will attempted to block any file performing suspicious activities such as bypassing security checks, generating new files, injects code into memory and any kind of common behavior seen in malwares. Other antivirus solutions should work in similar ways.
However, if all else fails, this is your final line of defense: Backup. While ransomware attacks aren’t as common as it used to be a few years ago, backing up data is still a very effective way of recovering from a badly compromised system, or if you’re unsure if the system has been totally clean of any bad actors. Having a multi-layer approach in security is important, and they make sure that if one were to be compromised, the other layers can still operate and protect the user in some ways.
Info Source: Linus Tech Tips (YouTube) | LMG Clips (YouTube) | TPSC (YouTube) | Microsoft | MalwareBytes
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AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT may be the next go-to mining GPU

While the Ampere GPUs are probably preferred by cryptominers recently, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is apparently a pretty good option for miners. The performance isn’t anything spectacular, but apparently its sheer efficiency makes it a valid option for Ethereum miners.
In Tom’s Hardware’s testing, their ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT Phantom Gaming OC managed 28MH/s in Ethash stock, or 32MH/s after some tuning of its GDDR6 memory. This level of performance is pretty similar to AMD’s Polaris cards, which are still quite popular among miners. However the Radeon RX 6600 XT shines by only drawing about 75W, or about half the amount of power needed by the older Polaris cards.
While the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT’s hashrate is nothing to shout about, it is making a case for itself by offering excellent efficiency. As of now, it is one of the most efficient cards at cryptomining tested by Tom’s Hardware. Higher efficiency does translate to higher profitability, but it remains to be seen if cryptominers will be tossing out their older cards in favor of the Radeon RX 6600 XT.

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AMD’s latest RDNA 2 cards aren’t all that impressive for cryptomining, owing to a narrow memory bus which leads to lower memory bandwidth. Gaming applications enjoy a nice boost from Infinity Cache, but apparently cryptomining workloads still prefer regular ol’ memory bandwidth.
It is exactly for this reason that NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series are so desirable by miners: wide memory buses up to 384-bit and uber-fast GDDR6X memory provides for massive memory bandwidth, which is correlated with the hashrate the cards are able to deliver. Of course, the use of GDDR6X and a wide memory bus also contributed to the flagship GeForce RTX 30 series cards being relatively power hungry.

If you are interested in the Radeon RX 6600 XT for gaming, you can read our review of the ROG Strix Radeon RX 6600 XT here, and check out the prices of the cards available here in Malaysia.
Source
Pokdepinion: Are miners going to enter the “grab whatever they can” phase that gamers are already enduring?
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Star Wars The Bad Batch Gets 2nd Season, Will Premiere On Disney+ Hotstar In 2022

The second season of the critically praised animated series “Star Wars The Bad Batch,” which will premiere in 2022, has been confirmed by Disney+ Hotstar.
Star Wars The Bad Batch returning for season 2

“Fans have enthusiastically embraced the action and drama of “Star Wars The Bad Batch,” and we are excited to see the Star Wars animated universe continue to expand on Disney+,” said Michael Paull, President of Disney+ and ESPN+. “As the dedicated streaming home for the Star Wars franchise, we can’t wait for the second season of this fan-favourite animated series.”

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Dave Filoni
Star Wars The Bad Batch executive producer also chimed in on the series getting a second season, “The entire Lucasfilm Animation team and I would like to thank Disney+ and our fans for the opportunity to continue telling the story of the Bad Batch.”
The animated series follows the elite and experimental troopers of Clone Force 99 (first introduced in Star Wars The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch, as they prefer to be called — who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew.

“Star Wars The Bad Batch” is executive produced by Dave Filoni (“The Mandalorian,” “Star Wars The Clone Wars”), Athena Portillo (“Star Wars The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars Rebels”), Brad Rau (“Star Wars Rebels,” “Star Wars Resistance”), Jennifer Corbett (“Star Wars Resistance,” “NCIS”) and Carrie Beck (“The Mandalorian,” “Star Wars Rebels”) with Josh Rimes (“Star Wars Resistance”) and Alex Spotswood (“Star Wars The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars Rebels”) as producers. Rau is also serving as supervising director with Corbett as head writer.
Pokdepinion: This is great news! Star Wars The Bad Batch is an amazing show and I’m surprised that I liked the series more than I expected to like it.
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