ROG Phone 3 Review – When you just cant have enough

There is no doubt that the ROG Phone is one of the best gaming phones that have surfaced the planet. Whether we refer to its aesthetics, its performance, its efficiency, or its wide variety of accessories, the ROG Phone doesn’t fail to impress. The only problem, is that ASUS has set the benchmark extremely high even for themselves, that the margin for errors is reducing by the generation and improvisation will require out of the world thinking. Will the ROG Phone 3 able to live up to its legacy? Let’s find out.
For clarification purposes, there are three official SKUs of the ROG Phone 3 in Malaysia:

ROG Phone 3 Strix (Snapdragon 865 / 8GB RAM / 256GB Storage / 5G)
ROG Phone 3 (Snapdragon 865+ / 12GB RAM / 512GB Storage / 5G)
ROG Phone 3 (Snapdragon 865+ / 16GB Ram / 512GB Storage / 5G)

There will be no 1TB storage option for the ROG Phone 3 according to ASUS because apparently the problem lies in obtaining UFS3.1 storage chips which is not a deal breaker in my humble opinion.

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Unboxing the ROG Phone 3

While ASUS maintained the signature prism box design, there has been some significant differences in comparison to the previous generation. The outlook itself looks more funky with rainbow reflector strips running around the box. To unbox it, you will need to pull out the inner trapezium box with the ROG Phone 3 text facing upwards. This is extremely important because the device itself is actually stored on the outer shell and with the box facing upwards, the AeroActive Cooler 3 will be facing down so you might want to be extra careful during this process. I wont be surprised if someone might drop the device on its first day. UPDATE: I was right!

I don't even notice when I drop phones anymore pic.twitter.com/y8tckLIsHi
— Linus Tech Tips (@LinusTech) July 22, 2020

Out of the box, you will get the ROG Phone 3 itself, an AeroActive Cooler 3, Quick Charge 4.0 30W Hypercharge charger, a Type-C to Type-C cable, a 3.5mm to Type-C cable, Aero Case, two single rubber inserts and two twin rubber inserts for the side port, ROG sticker and ROG SIM ejector. Earphones are not bundled with the ROG Phone 3.
Appearance
The ROG Phone 3 shares almost the same dimensions as that of the ROG Phone 2, standing at 171mm tall and 78mm wide. The only difference is its thickness where the ROG Phone 3 is thicker by about 0.3mm, thanks to the bulging camera section. If you minus the camera bulge, the body thickness would be pretty much similar.

The display section of the ROG Phone 3 looks exactly similar to its predecessor too. ASUS reduced the copper color finishing around the front facing speaker grills in the ROG Phone 2 in comparison to the first generation ROG Phone. This time, ASUS removed copper scheme entirely, leaving only black shade on this face. I still prefer the copper color touch and it will be badly missed here. I’m getting sick of all black front façade of majority of the smartphones in the market. This was ROG Phone’s identity and it’s missing, but hey, let’s be glad the dual front-facing speakers are still here.

The display itself is 6.59” having a 19.5:9 ratio with a 2340 x 1080 resolution (391ppi) and HDR10+ certified AMOLED. The refresh rate has been bumped up to 144Hz while still retaining 1ms response rate with a 270Hz touch sampling rate and a mere 25ms touch latency. The brightness goes up to 650nits on High Brightness Mode (HBM) for better visibility under the sun and at its peak, can be bumped up to 1000 nits. The color gamut is at 113% DCI-P3 with ΔE < 1 accuracy. It is capable of flaunting 1.07 billion colors and a range of 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio which is double of that in the ROG Phone 2. The protection remains the same by Corning Gorilla 66 and for the comfort of your eyes and to protect it, there is hardware based TÜV Low Blue Light. It’s insane to think that the ROG Phone 3 display has a clear upgrade in just one year gap and it doesn’t only improve its vividness, it also responds quicker.

Top of this side right next to the front facing speaker is the front facing 24MP f/2.0 Quad Bayer camera with 0.9µm sensor underneath. Much like the ROG Phone 2, the fingerprint is at the same location, in front, under the display. There’s not so much else going on around in the front here, so lets move on to the sides.
The top side of the ROG Phone 3 houses one of the array microphone and you will notice two antenna lines running across.

The bottom section sees the USB 2.0 Type-C connector compatible with Quick Charge 3.0 and Power Delivery 3.0, along with similar antenna lines together with another microphone. Existing ROG Phone 2 owners will be disappointed to find out that this time around, the 3.5mm jack is missing from here. Indeed, it was a disappointment to me too. The ROG Phone 3 is a gaming phone, aiming at everything that does the job quickest and nothing beats 3.5mm jack latency when it comes to audio.

The right side of the ROG Phone 3 gets busier. Both ends call the AirTrigger 3 buttons home that are signified by the “ROG” cybertext instead of the older Mayan identification. Underneath these lies the ultrasonic buttons that functions as shoulder buttons imitating controllers. In between both of these are the power button now with a ring of red around it and a volume rocker. Next to the power button is another microphone.

The left side of the ROG Phone 3 shows the common sight of the side-mounted charging and connectivity port. The 48-pin custom connector separates the USB 3.1 gen2 that is capable of Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0 which is next to a custom port that is used by the accessories. Perhaps this is the only part of the ROG Phone 3 that is still adopting the copper color scheme as everywhere else has been replaced with black and red mix. The ROG Phone 3 comes with rubber seal with extra two units to entirely seal the port. This time around, there is also an option to only seal the accessories port by using a single rubber seal, which ASUS provided two of them. I really needed this badly because I was getting tired of taking it off every time I wanted to use the side port, so thank you ASUS!

Moving to the back of the ROG Phone 3, things get more different from the ROG Phone 2. The glass finishing is here to stay and still looks perfectly pleasant to the eye.The center of this phase projects the logo with a white background as opposed to silver in the past, making it more prominent and actually brighter when the RGB LED is lit behind it.

Top area holds a triple camera setup that sits inside a bulging home that actually looks uglier than the past model. Two LEDs are still present next to the camera and they still work the same way as before; main one used for dual flash while the other smaller one for RGB effects in case you use supported accessories. While the camera housing spoils the outlook of the ROG Phone 3 back, what is beneath it compensates. There are three cameras altogether.
The main camera uses Sony IMX686, a 64MP image sensor with 0.8µm pixel size. It uses Quad Bayer technology that stitches 4 images from the 16MP, 1.6µm effective pixel size sensor. The f/1.8 aperture is wide enough to let plenty of light in too. The second camera is a 13MP 125° FOV ultrawide camera much like in the previous generation. The third camera is a 5MP Macro f/2.0 and in all honesty, this was not really necessary in the first place. It’s a gaming phone and can keep the focus at it. The first two camera are more than sufficient to take pretty beautiful shots.

The air vent has been reduced in size, but it’s now closer to the AeroActive Cooler 3 when its mounted, that it actually serves better purpose now. It’s placed lose to a transparent peeled off design that on first sight, looks pretty bland. As you look at it closely, you will learn to appreciate the details underneath it that has a black and red scheme. I won’t sugarcoat things here, I still prefer the ROG Phone 2 design personally.

The AeroActive Cooler 3 has been improved too. It looks different and is not backwards compatible. This time, ASUS has also added a kickstand to it so you can stand the ROG Phone 3 in landscape mode. It also has a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack (thank goodness!). When mounted, the gap between the ROG Phone 3 and the cooler is a largely increased and now it even works with the ROG Lighting Armor Case that you can purchase separately.
Specifications

Processor
3.1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform with 7nm, 64-bit Octacore Processor

GPU
Qualcomm Adreno 650

UI
Android 10 with ROG UI

Display
6.59” 19.5:9 2340×1080 (391ppi) 144Hz/1ms AMOLED HDR10+ certified; 270Hz touch sampling rate, 25ms touch latency
650nits HBM brightness & 1000 nits peak brightness, 113% DCI-P3 Delta E average <1%
1.07 billion colors
1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
Front 2.5D Corning® Gorilla® 6 Glass
TÜV Low Blue Light (Hardware Solution) and Flicker Reduced certifications for eye comfort
Capacitive touch panel with 10 points multi-touch (supports Glove touch)

Memory
LPDDR5 16GB RAM

Storage
UFS3.1 512GB

Sensor
Accelerator, E-Compass, Proximity, Hall sensor*2, Ambient light sensor, in-display fingerprint sensor, Gyro, Ultrasonic sensors for AirTrigger 3 and grip press

Main Rear Camera
64MP SONY IMX686 sensor, 0.8 µm pixel size – Quad Bayer technology with 16MP
1.6 µm large effective pixel size
F1.8, 1/1.7” sensor
2×1 OCL PDAF
LED flash

Second Rear Camera
13MP, 125˚ ultra-wide, F2.4, Real-time distortion correction, 11mm equivalent focal length in 35mm film camera

Third Rear Camera
5MP Macro, F2.0

Front Camera
24MP, 0.9µm, Quad Bayer Technology, F2.0, 27mm equivalent focal length in 35mm film camera

Video Recording
8K (7680 by 4320) @ 30 fps (main rear camera)
4K (3840 by 2160) @ 30/60 fps (main rear camera), @ 30 fps (second rear camera) 1080p @ 30/60 fps; 720p @ 30 fps 3-axis electronic image stabilization for rear cameras Time Lapse (4K) Slow Motion video (4K @ 120 fps; 1080p @ 240/120 fps; 720p @ 480 fps) Take still photo while recording video

Speaker
Dual front-facing speakers with GameFX & Dirac HD Sound 7-magnet stereo speaker with dual NXP TFA9874 smart amplifier for louder, deeper and less distorted sound effect

Audio Output
Hi-Res audio 192kHz/24-bit standard (USB-C™ output) that is 4 times better than CD quality GameFX audio system for improved in-game audio experience New AudioWizard with multiple listening profiles tuned by Dirac

Microphone
Quad microphones with ASUS Noise Reduction Technology

Wireless Technology
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4 & 5GHz and Wi-Fi 6 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.1 Wi-Fi Direct support

Navigation
GNSS support GPS(L1/L5), Glonass(L1), Galileo(E1/E5a), BeiDou(B1/B2a), QZSS(L1/L5) and NavIC(L5)

SIM Cards
Dual SIM dual standby
Slot 1: 5G/4G/3G/2G Nano SIM card
Slot 2: 5G/4G/3G/2G Nano SIM card
5G+4G or 4G dual SIM dual standby support; 5G services are only supported in 5G network enabled locations in 5G-ready countries.

Data rate
Support EN-DC(6DL+FR1, 4DL+2FR1)
FR1: DL up to 4.4Gbps / UL 542Mbps
LTE 6CA DL Cat20 up to 2.0Gbps / UL Cat13 up to 150Mbps
DC-HSPA+: DL 42Mbps / UL 5.76Mbps
4×4 MIMO and CA with 4×4 MIMO support

Bands
5G (Bands N1, N2, N3, N5, N28, N41, N66, N71, N77, N78, N79)
FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)
TD-LTE (Bands 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48)
WCDMA (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19)
EDGE/GPRS/GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz)
CDMA (Bands BC0) (CN and HK only)
TD-SCDMA (Bands 34, 38) (CN and HK only)

Interface
Side-port: 48 pin Customized/Type C connector USB3.1 gen2/DP 1.4(4K)/Fast Charging (QC3.0+QC4.0/PD3.0) / Direct Charge
Bottom-port: Type C connector USB2.0/Fast Charging (QC3.0/PD3.0)/Direct Charge

NFC
Support (Card mode support in power off)

Battery
6,000mAh

Power Adapter
Output: 10V 3A, supports up to 30W QC4.0 / PD3.0 / Direct Charge adapter

Dimensions
171mm (6.73 inches), 78mm (3.07 inches), 9.85mm (0.39 inches)

Weight
240g

Performance
I’ll bring this up first. The ROG Phone 3 has X-mode which is a lot more different than the previous generation ROG Phones. Now, X-Mode allows setting up to three different levels (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3) in which Level 3 requires you to use the AeroActive Cooler 3 first or it wouldn’t even enable. X-Mode also allows tweaking of several parameters like CPU/GPU performance, touch sensitivity, and refresh rate for the respective levels. There is also an option for network Hyperfusion that lets you combine Wi-Fi and mobile data to get even better speeds for selected apps. That said, where we mentioned the results in X-Mode, it’s set to X-Mode Level 3 with maximum tweaks.

The plus in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ is no fancy addition. It’s capable of clocking up to 3.1GHz as opposed to 2.84GHz in the non-plus variant. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it took the throne as the top ranking smartphone in our Antutu v8 charts. And just to keep the title longer, the X-Mode Level 3 shoots its score even further – almost 70K points ahead from POCO F2 Pro which makes a very big difference. Antutu pretty much tests everything in combination; CPU, RAM, GPU and UX so it’s fair to say that the balance in specifications that the ROG Phone 3 has is justified.

Need more? Let’s put the CPU specifically to test. As you can see, even without the X-Mode turned on, the ROG Phone 3 without any shame shot all the way to the top in BOTH the single core and mult-core tests. With the X-Mode turned on? Need I elaborate? This is what you get when you pay for special speed-binned CPU, especially one with a 7nm lithography.

Next, the ES tests performed by 3DMark. I think by now you are used to it. The ROG Phone 3 takes the throne once again. The ROG Phone 3 does not only have a special speed-binned CPU, it also has an unlocked Adreno 650 GPU that ASUS claims, delivers up to 10% better performance. Coupling both, 3DMark benches them together and yields the results based on various OpenGL ES version tests. In fact, the ROG Phone 3 is the first ever device in our charts that made it into five figures for ES3.0 test.

We know that it’s a gaming phone, but something at this price point can’t be just blurting out its juices even when we only need to perform lightweight tests. So in this scenario, we need fast and efficient RAM and storage, which we do not really have to worry about because the ROG Phone 3 has up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM (ours is 16GB variant) and is almost twice as fast as LPDDR4X that has been common for quite some time now. Not just that, it also has UFS3.1 SSD storage so our read and write operations can catch up too. The results? Just like you expected. Whether its in standard form, or X-Mode, the ROG Phone beat the chart and took the top place again.
Sure, throw all the performance into the smartphone and let the battery suffer. You can have the best of all worlds in a real world. Or maybe that’s just what we think? But let’s put it this way, there is no way the ROG Phone 3 can win in this segment now with all that it has under its hood. Agreed?

We’re both wrong. The ROG Phone 3 took the first place yet again even in the battery test! 6000mAH battery is the perfect choice for the ROG Phone 3, much like its predecessor and it’s the first device ever to clock beyond 1000 minutes on our charts. I think we can all agree together that this is potentially, hands-down, the best smartphone of the year, gaming or not.
User Experience
While looks might be subjective, the performance of the ROG Phone 3 has done nothing but blow our minds. But we are practical users and there must be something to look out for in search of quirks. We’ll break things down into smaller segments.
Display

The ROG Phone 3 didn’t join the chase in reducing or removing bezels, because being a gaming phone, bezels do make sense to a certain extent. Primarily, the front speakers need their room and after using ROG Phone for 2 years, that’s the one thing that should not go. In fact, every gaming phone should follow this design language. Bezel-less phones are not even fun for playing games. You need area to grip the device and the bezels account for it. If this was not a gaming phone, I would have a different lingo.
The display itself is vivid. The colors are vibrant. The fluidity is..ermm..fluid..? In short, it’s everything you want on your gaming phone. Afterall, with 113% DCI-P3 gamut range, honing 1.07 billion colors, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, squeezed into a 6.59” size, you get the dream display of a flagship smartphone. Since the ROG Phone 3 is a gaming phone, it doesn’t stop here. The refresh rate is bumped up to 144Hz with a 1ms response rate, it has a 270Hz touch sampling rate and 25ms touch latency which means, it’s fast, snappy and responsive all at the same time. The AMOLED of our dreams!

Does it work? Well, I’m not a pro gamer, but I do spend on average 3 hours daily on mobile gaming. In fact, my ROG Phone 2 has been my dedicated gaming device, which means I do take gaming pretty seriously. The ROG Phone 3 display is indeed very responsive, and it totally aids in my reaction times, but there is this one little problem. Turning up the refresh rate somehow make the brightness higher and the colors look slightly dull and “washed out”, visible to the naked eye. You can see this happening at every step from 60Hz to 90Hz to 120Hz and finally to 144Hz, each step becoming worse. I tried capturing this on a different camera and while the results are not as clear as seeing it in real, you can see what I mean.

https://pokde.net/assets/uploads/2020/07/rog%20phone%203%20display%20refresh%20rate.mp4
AirTrigger 3
When I got my hands on the , combined with the vibration,ROG Phone 2, I was actually stunned by how awesome the AirTriggers 2 performed. The way the ultrasonic sensors reacts to your touch, combined with the vibration, makes it feel like there is a physical button that you’re pressing. In the ROG Phone 3, things get even more interesting.

Now, the AirTrigger 3 can be divided into two partitions for tapping, giving you a total of four shoulder buttons, two on each side. It also has this thing called “single shake” that controls input on the screen. Say you want to reload your weapon immediately, just jerk the device downwards and it will execute the trigger action on the screen.
Apart from that, AirTrigger 3 allows you to execute actions even outside of gaming. You can long-squeeze or short-squeeze the device while in portrait mode to perform some action like enabling and disabling X-Mode. AirTriggers are the primary reason for me to use the ROG Phone as my daily gaming device and any improvements to it is a plus. I do like the single shake feature honestly because there are times when your fingers are busy with the triggers and you just need that one extra gesture where this comes handy.
AeroActive Cooler 3

The AeroActive Cooler has been a signature to ROG Phone since its inception and it has made serious updates throughout its time. The best part? It comes with the ROG Phone 3 so you don’t have to purchase it separately. This time around, the AeroActive Cooler 3 has seen major updates.

First, the kickstand. Yes, in ROG Phone 2, the rubber feet that you could stick under the AeroActive Cooler 2 wasn’t practical, so this time, ASUS decided to add in a foldable kickstand instead which I really appreciate! The AeroActive Cooler 3 looks bulkier than the one used in ROG Phone 2, yet the fan vents are much smaller in opening. The ROG logo at the back and the “Republic of Gamers” on the chin of the AeroActive Cooler 3 lights up in RGB.

When mounted, the gap between the AeroActive Cooler 3 and the ROG Phone 3 is huge. This time, the Cooler also mounts close to the vent on the ROG Phone which is a good thing. With all that gap, finally the AeroActive Cooler 3 can be used with the new Lighting Armor Case which was a problem in the ROG Phone 2. Using the cooler, you can bump up the X-Mode to Level 3 which will not be possible if its not mounted.
Side Mounted Port

This is another feature that I really LOVE! I hope ROG Phone NEVER removes this from their ROG Phone series, EVER! Most of the time, we’re gaming in landscape mode and if we’re charging, we don’t want the cable to get in our way. That’s exactly why this port exists. In fact, the best features of the Type-C port exists here rather than the bottom port. The side port is a Type-C USB 3.1 Gen2 that supports DisplayPort 1.4 capable of outputting 4K, fast charging via QC3.0 and QC4.0 as well as PD3.0 while the bottom port is a Type-C USB2.0 with QC3.0 and PD3.0 charging only.
Connectivity

The ROG Phone 3 has four Wi-Fi antennas and the device can automatically switch between them to ensure you get the best connection quality, whether in portrait or landscape. Something new that ASUS has added here is the HyperFusion that lets you use Mobile Data when the Wi-Fi is slow or intelligently choose between either modes. Speaking of mobile data, the ROG Phone 3 has 5G connectivity, but at the time of writing, it’s not possible for us to test it out. The Wi-Fi is finally Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO.
Camera

I still am a firm believer that a camera phone does not really need a cutting edge camera. Instead, use that space to improve the overall gaming experience with better heat dissipation and features. In fact, I would trade 2 out of 3 cameras on the ROG Phone 3 for a 3.5mm jack if that was an option. If at all, most gamers would be using the front camera if they are streaming. But that didn’t stop ASUS from engineering one of the finest cameras on a gaming phone.
The ROG Phone 3 uses a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor that offers 16MP main mode using Quad Bayer color filter that allows up to 2x lossless magnification in daylight. In low light conditions, it switches to 2x digital zoom based on the 16MP mode to capture enough light and improve the image. These are not empty jargons being thrown out on the paper. You can see the results at the bottom to see a mix of every mode on the ROG Phone 3. All of these were point and shoot without any mounting (tripods, monopods, etc).

Conclusion
Initially, I thought the ROG Phone 3 would be a rushed job as the ROG Phone 2 was still relevant and I didn’t want just some itsy bitsy improvements on the update. But as you can see, the ROG Phone 3 has made its debut with a big bang, just like how the series has done in the past years. The performance broke our records took top position in every single test, making it the ultimate gaming smartphone that you can buy today.
The camera bump is a disappointment, along with the removal of the 3.5mm jack, both of which were perfectly fine already in the previous generation. Like as if it was so close to perfection and ASUS went and said “Naah, let’s just mess things up a little”. The only one thing that can mess this up further is the pricing. €1099 (RM5426) is a very hefty price to pay in comparison to its predecessor which is still very relevant. Take note that this is NOT Malaysian price, but rather the official launch price in Europe.
Here’s our guess on the local price. Last year, the ROG Phone 2 was priced at €1199 for the 1TB/12GB variant and the local price turned out to be RM4499 for the same variant.
Since the ROG Phone 3 has been announced at €1099 for the 512GB/16GB variant, I have a fair reason to exaggerate the price the same as that variant which is RM4499.
So, for the 512GB/12GB variant which is priced at €999, I believe the local price will be estimated around RM3799.
Do you still need a reason?

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ASUS Malaysia Hosts Special Promotion When You Purchase The ASUS ExpertBook B9

ASUS Malaysia is offering a special gift when you purchase their ASUS ExpertBook B9, where on top of the laptop, you’ll be also be getting a free ASUS ZenScreen MB16ACE that’s worth RM1,169.
ASUS ExpertBook B9 special promo
If you are interested in the promo, it runs from now till the 31st of March 2021, which is the final date of submission. You can simply follow the steps below:

Purchase the ASUS ExpertBook B9 from any of the authorized dealers
Submit your entry with valid invoice/receipt as well as your personal info here
Receive your ASUS ZenScreen MB16ACE Portable USB Monitor within 1 month after verification

Should you be interested in it, you might want to act quickly as ASUS Malaysia is offering it to the first 50 customers (registrants) only. You can also check out our full thoughts on the ASUS ExpertBook B9 right here.

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Pokdepinion: Sounds like a deal if you ask me. It’s quite the monitor that they’re giving out away.
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Xiaomi Mi A3 Review — First Android One Smartphone With Triple Cameras

Introduction

The Xiaomi Mi A series has been recognized as the company’s Android One lineup designed for those who want a stock Android experience. One of the biggest changes that we see with this year’s Mi A3 is the addition of an in-display fingerprint scanner as well as the triple AI camera setup. This makes the Xiaomi Mi A3 the first Android One smartphone to feature such a package. What else is there to the Xiaomi Mi A3? Let’s get started.
Unboxing

We got our hands on the ‘Not just Blue’ variant of the Xiaomi Mi A3. Straight out of the box, you’ll find:

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TPU case
SIM Eject tool
USB Type-C cable
10W charger
User Manual
The Xiaomi Mi A3 smartphone itself

Appearance

On the front, we can see that Xiaomi tried to offer as much screen real estate to users, with them opting for a Dot Drop notch. While they have upgraded from the IPS display of the Mi A2 to an AMOLED display, the Mi A3 offers only HD+ resolution (720p).

On the right, you’ve got your usual volume rocker as well as the power button.

Switching over to the left side, there’s only the SIM / microSD tray available.

On the bottom, you’ll find the USB Type-C port that sits just in between the two speaker grills.

On top, there’s the IR blaster, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microphone hole.

As you can see on the back, Xiaomi came up with an eye-catching design. Other than that, the triple camera fits at the top left horizontally while the Xiaomi branding is located on the bottom-left corner.
Xiaomi Mi A3 Specifications

CPU:
Snapdragon 665 Octa-core (4 x 2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4 x 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver) 11nm

GPU:
Adreno 610

RAM:
4GB

Display:
6.088″ HD+ Super AMOLED (720p) Dot Drop notch, NTSC 102.7%, 19:5:9 ratio

Storage:
64GB/128GB UFS 2.1

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
48MP f/1.8 (wide angle), 8MP f/2.2 (ultra-wide lens), 2MP f/2.4 (depth)
PDAF, HDR, panorama
Front Camera
32MP f/2.0
AI beautification, AI HDR, Portrait mode

OS:
Android 9.0 Pie, Android One

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz)
Dual-band GPS
Bluetooth 5.0
aptX HD

SIM:
Dual nanoSIM

Battery:
Li-Po 4030 mAh (non-removable)
18W Quick Charge 3

Dimensions:
153.5 x 71.9 x 8.5 mm

Weight:
173.8 g

Performance

In the Antutu benchmark, the Xiaomi Mi A3 scores pretty much what we expect from a mid-range device with its Snapdragon 665 chipset. Suprisingly, the Redmi Note 7 got better scores than it despite using an older Snapdragon 660.

As for Geekbench’s CPU performance, we can see that its SoC falls a bit short to the 660’s single core results but then again, it’s still pretty decent.

The Adreno 610 graphics tops MediaTek’s representative in the form of the OPPO F11 Pro and realme 3. Interestingly, it failed to beat its predecessor, the Mi A2.

Switching over to PCMark’s Work 2.0 benchmark, we can see that the Mi A3 does indeed perform better than the Redmi Note 7 and also the Xiaomi Mi A2.

Now this is where the Xiaomi Mi A3 really shines; battery life. It’s surprising that it even managed to beat the realme 3 Pro by a substantial amount, even though the latter is packing an efficient Snapdragon 710 chipset and a slightly bigger battery capacity. It could be due to the fact that the Xiaomi Mi A3 comes with a lower resolution (at 720p), thus saving more battery.
Now we all know that benchmarks are a way to get a glimpse of how well a device performs. In real life usage on the other hand, I was more than satisfied with the battery performance. Even though the device only packs 4GBs of RAM, the phone never failed in giving a fluid experience for my daily tasks. Furthermore, with the device being an Android One smartphone, it does help in that department.

In real life usage, I easily got past a day without charging, even with me using the phone like I’d normally do for both work and social life. At one point, I even got the smartphone to last me 40 hours (from last full charge), where I was using it for only my social media browsing and messaging.
It’s worth noting that although the Mi A3 supports 18W fast charging, they only provide a 10W charger inside the box. We took the liberty of testing of how much juice you can get from 30 minutes of charging for the both of them. With its available 10W, the device gets recharged to 23% while the 18W charger will reach 27% instead.
User Experience

Although the Mi A3 seems to have downgraded in display resolution, it does offer an upgrade from the previous Mi A2. It comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack as well as the option to expand the smartphone’s storage. The Mi A3 feels just nice on the hands, though the sides are covered with a plastic material. Despite offering an AMOLED panel, you can see pixelation when reading text on the display due to its lower resolution.
One thing that I was not satisfied with the device is its fingerprint sensor. I have to say that the in-display sensor isn’t the fastest that I’ve tested so far. I wish it was a bit faster on that end.

It’s nice to see that more and more mid-range smartphones are getting some love in terms of design and the Mi A3 is no exception. The unit that we got is the ‘Not just blue’ variant and it certainly looks beautiful with its iridescent colors. Though the sides of the phone are plastic, the back is made from glass.

The UI is what you’d expect from an Android One smartphone, where everything is neat and simple. A great option if you like it that way. Stock Android also helps to bring fluidity in the overall experience. As mentioned earlier, despite the phone packing only 4GB RAM, it is decent enough for the smartphone.

The Xiaomi Mi A3 is actually the first Android One smartphone to come with triple rear cameras, where it sports a 48MP Sony sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide angle, as well as a 2MP depth sensor.

If you’ve used a Xiaomi smartphone before, the software in the Xiaomi Mi A3’s camera will present itself as something similar, with barely any changes being made. It’s easy to to navigate through but I wished that they’ve made the 48MP mode to be visible at the front, instead of tapping to find it.

In outdoor environments, the Mi A3 is capable of producing decent photos, with shots showing sharpness and detail. The same can’t be said when taking pictures in low-light conditions (as expected), especially in indoor areas. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that the shutter speed for the camera (on Auto) is a bit slow, so you might find it difficult when shooting moving subjects. Still, the camera offers decent performance for your social media needs. You can check out the full sized shots here.
Conclusion
So is the Xiaomi Mi A3 worth getting? Well it depends. If you are looking for a mid-range Android One smartphone with a long-lasting battery life, it is definitely a worthy choice. If you’re the kind who wants the best display quality, then it might not be the best option for you. Personally I don’t mind the 720p resolution because I mainly find myself watching videos on my PC instead. It’s not a bad smartphone per se but I think that Xiaomi could have done more to make it a more attractive choice. For that, I award the Xiaomi Mi A3 with our Bronze Pokdeaward.
We would like to thank Mi Malaysia for providing the Xiaomi Mi A3 that was used in this review.
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25 Year Old Man Kills His Father For Not Letting Him Play PUBG Mobile

Now we all know that games can be addictive but it seems that it went too far for a 25-year old man from Belagav (India) where he shockingly killed his father over PUBG Mobile.

The man did the hideous act by using a chopping knife. The reasoning behind it? It seems that his father refused to give him money to topup his mobile internet data to play the game. Apparently he is a student who have a serious addiction to the game. His father, a retired police officer, is said to constantly advise his son to not focus on his smartphone the whole day.

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It seems that the whole incident had two moments, where first they two had an argument of the issue in the evening, where the man created havoc around the house and made damages around the house. Neighbours then notice the quarrel and reported to the police. He was then let off with a warning from authorities. The following day at 5am, he asks his dad for money to topup his data and that’s where it all happened.
The two of them got into a fight again and it turned serious as the man locked his mother inside the bedroom and dragged his dad to the kitchen. He then took the knife and chopped his dad’s body to pieces.
Neighours then informed the police as they heard screams from their house. As the police arrived, it is said that the man started screaming out loud after realizing what he had done. He was then taken to the Kakathi police station with further actions to be taken.
Pokdepinion: This is no laughing matter. No matter how addictive games are, please don’t hurt the people around you, especially the folks who raised you up.
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AMD made NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER cheaper for us

If not for AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 series, we might never have the NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER cards. And we would never have the much better price-to-performance ratios brought about by the GeForce RTX SUPER cards over the original GeForce RTX lineup. And it seems like the latter was the result of AMD’s clever tactics.
A preemptive strike against an imminent Radeon RX 5800 series?
The GeForce RTX SUPER lineup was clearly a response to the AMD Radeon RX 5700 series’ prices. Released at around the same price points as AMD’s Radeon Navi cards, the GeForce RTX SUPER cannibalized their own kind, all in a futile attempt to stem AMD’s bid for dominance in the bang-for-buck arena, as AMD announced a price reduction a day before the price launch.

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I thought it was a move which meant AMD bent to market pressure, but apparently AMD was planning this all along. It does seem to make sense though. NVIDIA was quite obviously playing their cards in response to AMD’s moves. Remember how NVIDIA published the SUPER teaser a day before the Dr. Lisa Su’s keynote at Computex 2019? They were probably expecting AMD to blow their load and announce the Radeon Navi cards, but AMD didn’t. So while NVIDIA had an event later that day, the announcement was extremely lackluster.
NVIDIA Studio, seriously? At Computex 2019, no less.
“[We] made the appropriate move not only to deposition their Super series, but also to log jam their 2060 and 2070. Because we knew that they’re having slower success, and we wanted to do a double Jebait.
We started modeling different competitive scenarios, their [Nvidia’s] die size is quite big, and we knew what they could probably afford in terms of margins and pricing and what they were currently pricing their products at.
We know that they have a tremendous burden on their gross margins. Because their die-size is big and so we just gameplayed SEPs.” – Scott Herkelman, CVP & GM AMD Radeon.

Now I am not saying that I am entirely buying AMD’s story. It could be AMD just wanting to twist the story in their favor. But, in any case, you can now thank AMD for offering great Radeon Navi cards at pretty competitive prices, and also for forcing NVIDIA to profit less from their GeForce RTX SUPER lineup.

Jebaited
— Scott Herkelman (@sherkelman) July 4, 2019

Pokdepinion: Well played, well played!
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NVIDIA’s AI-Conquering H100 Datacenter GPU Is Powerful, But It Probably Couldn’t Run Crysis

Getting one of the coveted H100 GPUs outside of datacenter environment is no small feat in itself, but Chinese YouTuber Geekerwan (极客湾) has got ahold of not one, but four of the NVIDIA H100 GPGPUs (general-purpose graphics processing units) to take it for a spin.
One interesting fact to note, NVIDIA has stopped selling H100 GPUs recently due to US’s export sanctions towards China, and to comply with regulations, Chinese datacenter customers are now only allowed to access the “nerfed” version of the GPU named H800, with less compute power available on tap. That said, some companies has already obtained H100 before the sanction came into effect, making the H100 potentially an even rarer piece in the Chinese tech circle.

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The GPU costs RMB300,000 each, or nearly RM200,000 for each card. Four of them and you’re looking at RM800,000 worth of hardware that occupies four PCIe slots, with each card drawing a relatively paltry 350W of power – half of the SXM variants of the same model. What happens when you put world’s most powerful GPU in games, then?

Turns out, not great. As mentioned earlier, the H100 is not GPU in the most traditional sense – but rather, it’s a compute-focused, general purpose card that excels in highly parallelized computing workloads, but the essential components for games to utilize its performance, such as ROPs and TMUs, are greatly cut down (it didn’t even contain video outputs for one). It’s also worth mentioning that H100 runs on an entirely different GPU architecture altogether, codenamed “Hopper”, hence not of the same lineage as consumer-focused Ada Lovelace-based RTX 40 GPUs.
Though, more surprisingly, gaming performance is practically abysmal considering the sheer raw power it contains. On 3DMark Time Spy it only matched the onboard graphics, specifically the AMD Radeon 680M that sits inside Ryzen mobile chips; and actual gaming workload sees it matching the mere Radeon 610M in performance. If you want to see the GPU in action, you can watch the video below (Chinese subtitles available, you can use YouTube’s auto-translate feature should you need to):

Source: Videocardz
Pokdepinion: Of course, this is just a fun experiment – but it’s always nice to see server-grade hardware thrown into “unconventional” use cases such as this one.
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Edifier TWS330 NB Review — ANC That’s Worth Your Money?

It’s been awhile since we’ve touched on Edifier’s offerings. This time, we’ll be looking at one of their TWS earbuds in this Edifier TWS330 NB review. What exactly does it have to offer? Let’s find out.
Unboxing

The packaging is straightforward, where you will be getting the charging case (earbuds inside), USB-C cable, documentation, as well as several different sizes of ear tips, which is always nice to have.

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Appearance

As you can see from here, the colour variant that we’ve received is white and it comes with a glossy finish. Just underneath the lid is the case’s LED notification indicator.

You’ll find the USB-C port at the bottom of the case to juice it up.

The earbuds themselves match the colour of the case, to no one’s surprise. As for the design, it follows the AirPods-esque design so we don’t fault you for having a sense of déjà vu here.
Edifier TWS330 NB Specifications

Drivers
8mm dynamic drivers

Frequency Response
20 Hz – 20,000 Hz

Sensitivity:
92dB ± 3dB

Impedance:
24Ω

Headphone Type
True wireless, in-ear

Connection
Bluetooth 5.0
AAC
SBC

Wireless Range
10m

Noise-cancelling
ANC available

Battery
Earphones
Up to 4 hours playback (ANC on)
Up to 5 hours playback (ANC off)
Charging Case
3x Full Charge (Up to 15 hours total)

Weight
Earphones
5.5g x 2
Charging Case
41g (without earpieces)

Colour
White

User Experience
Pairing

In recent time, Edifier’s offerings have been a pleasant experience when it comes to pairing with your device. All you need to do is simply take them out from the charging case and they’ll enter pairing mode. Just be sure that they are charged up in order to connect to your mobile device via Bluetooth.

You also have the option to connect through the Edifier Connect app, which gives you further customization to experience the earbuds to your liking. The app allows you to tweak several things such as tap gestures, noise reduction, ambient sound, as well as tap sensitivity. Those who are looking to make EQ adjustments would be disappointed however as it doesn’t come with the feature.
While we’re at it, the earbuds have the following tap gestures as a preset:

Play / pause: 2x tap on right earbud
Skip: 3x tap on right earbud
Mode selection: 2x tap on left earbud
Game Mode: 3x tap on left earbud

While I do find the options for the tap gestures to be sufficient enough, it would definitely be better if they had more than 4 tap slots. Adding two more to, let’s say put in volume controls and mute, would have been nice.
Comfort
As mentioned earlier, the earbuds (along with the casing) comes with a glossy finish. While it might look attractive to some, I simply dislike it because I have sweaty hands. As you would have imagined, that would mean that I’d stain the earbuds and…well, I don’t want to go deeper into that topic.
Another thing that annoys me is that the earbuds are quite tedious when you want to pull them out from the case. Let’s just say that it’s not a smooth experience most of the time.
On the other hand, they are compact and you’d definitely be able to fit them in your pockets. When it comes to the comfort of the earbuds themselves, I find that the size is just right for my ears. Of course, this is subjective but in case that they don’t fit yours, you should find an ear tip size in the box that can suit you better.
Sound
First off, let’s talk about the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) on the earbuds. While I would say that it’s not the best that I’ve experienced, it does the job decently. Most of the noises that you’d expect to be low are… low. That being said, I did notice that I can still hear people talking, but not to the point where it gets disruptive.
When it comes to the overall sound quality of the earbuds, it really reminds me of the audio from their previous Edifier X3, which isn’t a bad thing. As I said with the former, the TWS330 NB sounds balanced, just to my liking. If vocals and instruments are the sort of things that you’d want to listen and enjoy, you’ll definitely get that. The bad thing however is that it lacks a punchy bass, so you might feel a bit less satisfied when it comes to song genres such as EDM.
Battery
Edifier claims that the earbuds can last up to 4 hours, with ANC turned on. During a recent trip to Penang on train, I find that it was a bit short of that. In my experience, they lasted me around 3 and a half hours.
Of course, you’d be able to have the earbuds to last longer if you turn ANC off and set it at a lower volume. For me, the perfect battery life for earbuds would be around 5 hours. If they could’ve managed to last longer, that would’ve been perfect. The case would allow you to enjoy the earbuds for up to 20 hours, so you know what you’re getting.
Edifier TWS330 NB Verdict
With the original retail price of RM299, I find that it’s a bit higher than what I would pay. Don’t get me wrong, the earbuds is decent enough, at a lower price at least. I would’ve enjoyed it more if it came with a matte finish and a slightly better battery performance.
All things considered, I give the Edifier TWS330 NB our Bronze Pokdeward. In case you’re looking to get it, it is priced lower, at RM197 (at the time of writing).

We would like to thank Edifier Malaysia for providing the Edifier TWS330 NB that was used in this review.
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Touch ‘n Go bids goodbye to SmartTAG — set to be replaced by RFID soon

To those of you who have a SmartTAG device, do not throw it away. It is now a relic of the past, and might be an antique collector’s item soon. Touch ‘n Go will no longer be selling the SmartTAG devices, and they are encouraging users to adopt the newer RFID technology.
In case you haven’t been driving through a toll recently, RFID is the new technology that allows you to drive through a toll without stopping, and is set to replace SmartTAG. While RFID isn’t ready to fully roll out as there are still a number of tolls that lack RFID-enabled lanes, Touch ‘n Go has effectively ended all sales of SmartTAG.
Fret not however, as you will still be able to use your current SmartTAG, and Touch ‘n Go is still providing repair and warranty services. You can’t, however, trade in your SmartTAG for RFID, even if you just bought your SmartTAG.

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What this means is that if your SmartTAG device dies out of warranty, you won’t be able to replace it anytime soon. And if you frequently have to pass tolls that lack RFID-enabled lanes, you will be stuck with having to stop your vehicle to tap your Touch ‘n Go card, until RFID fully rolls out.
Seems rather hasty of Touch ‘n Go, no? If you want to sign up to use RFID, here’s the link.
Source: Lowyat.net, Wikipedia
Pokdepinion: I have always been stopping my car to tap the TnG card. Doesn’t seem too much of a hassle to me…
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NVIDIA preparing dual GPU card with Maxwell – GTX 990?

We have seen the NVIDIA GTX 590 and the NVIDIA GTX 690 in past years, both model featured two GPUs crammed onto a single PCB and both were powerful cards from NVIDIA at the time. We heard rumors about a NVIDIA GTX 790 in the pipeline but it did not come to fruition, most probably due to NVIDIA pushing the Titan brand. But recently it is said that NVIDIA is preparing a new dual GPU card that will feature two GM200 chips, the same chips used in the 980Ti and Titan X.

The card will be launching very soon according to certain sources, but if this really happens then we can expect that the new NVIDIA Pascal will not be coming so soon in 2016. The upcoming NVIDIA GTX 990 (we are making an assumption here) might be the new flagship in NVIDIA’s line-up.

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Not much to share but if you want to know what will be the specification, we would take a guess and say double the CUDA core, double the memory, double the bandwidth and perhaps triple the price?

Pokdepinion : How will the card sell since most people will be waiting for NVIDIA Pascal GPUs that will feature HBM2 memory which not only brings a new architecture but also a new memory interface, smaller node, more CUDA cores and more performance per watt?
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AMD releases five Zen-based 12nm Chromebook processors

Chromebooks are going to get massively upgraded performance, with AMD bringing the Zen architecture to Chromebooks. As part of the new AMD Ryzen and Athlon 3000C series, the new Zen-based mobile processors for Chromebooks promise up to 212% better performance than the previous generation of AMD-based Chromebooks.
AMD claims that the AMD Ryzen and Athlon 3000C series offer up to 251% better graphics, 104% faster office productivity and 152% better photo editing performance than previous generation of AMD Chromebooks. On top of that, the new processors will also support new capabilities like WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 while also offering longer battery life to improve the overall user experience of the new AMD-powered Chromebooks.
For those of you who are interested, there are five AMD Ryzen and Athlon 3000C processors announced, with the specifications as follows:

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AMD Ryzen and Athlon 3000C Processors

Cores / Threads
Base/Boost Clocks (GHz)
GPU Cores
Cache
TDP

AMD Ryzen 7 3700C
4C/8T
2.3 / 4.0
10
6MB
15W

AMD Ryzen 5 3500C
4C/8T
2.1 / 3.7
8
6MB
15W

AMD Ryzen 3 3250C
2C/4T
2.6 / 3.5
3
5MB
15W

AMD Athlon Gold 3150C
2C/4T
2.4 / 3.3
3
5MB
15W

AMD Athlon Silver 3050C
2C/4T
2.3 / 3.2
2
5MB
15W

Pokdepinion: I don’t exactly think Chromebooks need more performance…
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There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the upcoming Overwatch 2, especially how the PvE aspect works. At BlizzCon 2021, they revealed more about Hero Missions and here’s what we know thus far.
Here’s What We Know About Overwatch 2 Hero Missions Thus Far

Overwatch 2 is definitely one of the biggest highlights of BlizzCon 2021, and we got quite a bit of details on the game from the event. Head of Development for the game, Jeff Kaplan, shared more on Hero Missions, which is the PvE game mode where you and your friends team up against hordes of AI-controlled enemies.

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From what we know thus far, there will be hundreds of missions with a good amount of variety, with each one letting you explore the entirety of the map until you reach the end of the mission. You’re expected to have multiple objectives in each mission featuring different types of enemies. As existing maps will be included in the new Hero Missions, these areas will most likely see an extension so there will be new areas to explore. Apart from that, we will also see dynamic weather along with a day and night cycle.
Hero Modes will play a big role in letting you upgrade your favourite characters in Overwatch 2. By the sound of it, it may seem grindy so it will be interesting to see how the development team plans on combatting this aspect in order to keep players hooked to the game.
For now, Overwatch 2 will be coming to the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC, but no release date has been confirmed just yet.
Source
Pokdepinion: Quite excited to know more about it and to experience it myself. I hope it will be worth the wait.
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Samsung Reportedly Not Killing Off Exynos Chips

Amidst reports of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series going full Snapdragon, the Korean giant has denied plans of killing off their Exynos chips. This was mentioned in their Q2 earnings announcements last week.
Previously, there were reports of Samsung working on a brand new first party chip, with a team of over thousand people working on it, and it’s expected to launch sometime in 2025. This seems to go in line with earlier reports of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 exclusively powering their flagship smartphone in 2023.

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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review – Display
The Korean giant has reiterated that their are “reorganizing our system-on-chip (SoC) business model” in order to strengthen their offerings in the “mid-to-long term”. They are currently looking to maximize the market share of major customers by strengthening cooperation with leading IP companies and begin development of their new first party chips as soon as they can.
It does appear that the focus will not just be on smartphones but on a “multilateral cooperation model” as they will expand the chip’s usage to other than just smartphones, such as wearables.
Source
Pokdepinion: Can’t say I’m surprised given the collaboration efforts with AMD. It would be a waste to just drop it completely. They could rebrand it, which is still fine. The worst case scenario, they could keep the chips to specific products or specific segments of products, like a tablet-only chip for example.
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EMUI 11 Hands-On — Subtle Improvements

There are a lot of Android skins in the market but we’ve managed to get our hands on the latest EMUI 11 by HUAWEI, which is based on the new Android 11. In this review, we’ll be using the HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro to check out what’s new in the UI. Let’s find out, shall we?
Always-on Display

With EMUI 11, HUAWEI has updated their Always-on Display feature, where it now comes in a new ‘Mondrian Style’. There, you can choose the layout as well as the color scheme to fit your taste.
There is the option of taking a photo or choosing one from your Gallery, where the AI will then generate the best color palette for you, taken from colors of the shot that you just took.

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Of course, you get to choose more as the Mondrian Style isn’t the only option available. They got a handful of presets available, so that’s a nice thing to see. Aside from that, the AOD can be fitted with your still images, animated gifs as well as live photos, should you choose to do so.
‘Oner’ transition

In today’s market, high refresh rate displays are becoming more and more common and they bring out a better experience to the eyes. Aside from that, a smoother UI can also make a noticeable difference.
EMUI 11 has brought new transition animations to several parts of your device including Phone, Calendar, Gallery, as well as HUAWEI Health. It looks polished and is certainly an upgrade from EMUI 10.

Talking about animations, the icons on EMUI 11 also received an update. It’s not much, but it’s a nice touch that they’ve added.
Smart Multi-Window

Next, we have the Smart Multi-Window function. As you can guess by the name, it allows you to have two windows to display on your screen, allowing for multi-tasking. This means you can watch your favorite videos while not missing out on messaging your friends or family.
You can simply swipe inwards from either side and drag an app out to initiate the mode. The size of the newly opened window can be adjusted accordingly by dragging either bottom side corners. Not to forget, you can move the window’s position to fit you best.
Multi-screen Collaboration upgrade

I think by now, most people would know about HUAWEI’s Multi-screen Collaboration. If you haven’t, the feature allows you to control your HUAWEI smartphone from the comforts of your HUAWEI tablet or laptop. In the latest EMUI 11 update, it allows you to control up to three apps at once, offering you flexibility. In terms of updates, this is definitely welcomed as it allows you to control more of your smartphone from your laptop / tablet.
Notepad

Aside from that, EMUI 11 has updated the Notepad app, where it allows you to scan documents and convert it to text on your device. We had a go with it and it’s a nice thing to have but I feel that the feature still needs a bit more work so it can be of better use.
You’d do best to avoid capturing texts from displays such as from a monitor, where the result was rather confusing. For better results, you definitely would want to capture from paper with good lighting and big-sized texts.
Meetime

Another feature that’s already available previously is Meetime. This time around, EMUI 11 expands the availability of the feature even more. In short, the update offers a more rich cross-device experience where you can use it via third-party apps, as other devices besides the HUAWEI tablets or laptops.
If you were wondering, the video quality of Meetime is definitely smoother in terms of experience when compared to the video calls that I’ve tried such as WhatsApp. This is also impressive considering that I’ve tested it while using mobile data and there were no issues at all, so top marks for that.
Overall, I’d say EMUI 11 still maintains the looks of the previous iterations yet offers welcomed enhancements. You might not notice the changes that it brings but they are indeed there. I would have liked it more if they had taken the time to change the icons to something more refreshing, but maybe that’s just me.
In case you’re wondering on what smartphones will be getting the EMUI 11 beta update, you can head to our previous article right here.
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Get up to 95% off gadgets at the Grand Opening of GLOO Concept Store!

GLOO is hosting the grand opening of the GLOO Concept Store at Plaza Lowyat this Friday, and they are having some interesting promotions on all kinds of tech gadgets and accessories. Enjoy up to 95% off selected gadgets and accessories this 3rd May at the Grand Opening of the GLOO Concept Store at Plaza LowYat.
To be able to get the gadgets at these prices, you will have to be at the grand opening of the GLOO Concept Store, Plaza LowYat on 3rd May 2019. The queue will start from 2.30pm, so you will have to be there earlier if you want to enjoy these massive discounts, which will be offered on a first-come-first-serve basis.
You can check out the full list of items available promos below:

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Here are the details for the promotion:
GLOO Concept Store Grand Opening

Date and Time: 3pm @ 3rd May 2019 (Friday)
Venue: GLOO Concept Store @ 2nd Floor, Plaza LowYat
Queue starts at 2.30pm, sales commences at 3.30pm

At 3.00pm sharp, there will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony at the GLOO Concept Store, with a lion dance too to commemorate the auspicious event. As mentioned before, the sales will start at 3.30pm, so don’t be late!
GLOO will also be offering the latest Microsoft Surface devices from just RM4099, with an exclusive purchase-with-purchase promotion where you can get Microsoft Office 365 Personal at just RM99 with any Surface device purchased during the promotion. These discounted prices are valid from 3rd May to 5th May 2019.

Will you be there? You can find out more details about the event at their Facebook event page, or their landing site.
Pokdepinion: I wonder if I should get myself a Logitech G603…
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Instagram Could Hide Likes On Posts Soon

It seems that Instagram has created a design prototype, where it hides the Like counts on your posts according to sources. This news comes from Jane Wong, who spotted the change in the source code of Instagram’s Android app.
The reasoning behind it? Well it looks like Instagram wants “your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get”. Despite the news, an Instagram representative has said that they are no testing the change just yet but has mention that they are always “exploring ways to reduce pressure”, presumably for their users. Even though they might take away the likes count, you will still be able to see how much likes you’ve gathered on your posts.
While this new update may not seem like much, it definitely will have some effect when it comes to influencers on the social media platform, seeing how they mostly make money based on how many likes their posts gets as well as the number of followers that they have.

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Pokdepinion: I wouldn’t mind if it comes but then again, i wouldn’t care if it didn’t anyways. That’s not the case for influencers though…
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Sony is Gearing Up for “Next Chapter of Cinematic Storytelling” – Likely for PS5

Sony is Gearing Up for “Next Chapter of Cinematic Storytelling”

It appears that Sony has begun preparations for their next big AAA game as they are currently looking for talented individuals for a number of position in their brand new development team. This game is currently described as the “next chapter of cinematic storytelling”.
Previously, we’ve seen some great games including God of War, Spider-Man, and the Uncharted series. Many feel that this unannounced high profile third-person adventure game could be the next Uncharted game. Sony is currently looking to beef up the team behind that game:

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Sony PlayStation Visual Arts provides world-class content, development and services to Worldwide Studios. We offer a full-service production studio with an emphasis in art, animation, as well as previsualization, character creation, motion capture, software development, face/body scanning, tracking and solving.
We are looking for a highly talented, motivated and creative Lead Character Artist for the next chapter of cinematic story-telling. Here is your chance to be a part of the multi-award winning team responsible for the cinematic performances in premier Sony PlayStation franchises like Uncharted, The Last of Us, Killzone, and other iconic series.
Our team is always at the cutting edge of technology and partners with the industry’s best minds and companies: Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studios, Guerrilla Games, Japan Studios, and other Sony PlayStation first-party studios. This is your opportunity to work closely with game and film industry professionals from all over the world and under one roof!
One of the more notable positions open for applications is the Lead Character Artist, which suggests that the game is definitely in very early stages of development.
With that being said, we definitely won’t be hearing more about this until much later on. This may suggest that it will be bound for the upcoming PS5 console. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see as to what will come out of this.
Source: Greenhouse
Pokdepinion: With this, I wonder if the PS5 will be up for sale by the end of 2019, or will it only happen in 2020. Might still be a bit early to talk about the PS5 but it’s just a matter of time at this point.
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Samsung charges Apple with almost $1 billion penalty for not selling enough iPhones

I guess Apple was a bit too optimistic when predicting the sales of their iPhones? Recent reports point to Apple being charged a penalty for not purchasing enough OLED panels for their iPhones. The penalty was previously reported to be around $745 million (~RM3.2 billion). But today’s report estimates the figure to be much higher, to the tune of $950 million (~RM4 billion).
The huge penalty actually turned what would be an operating loss for Samsung Display into a operating profit. Samsung reported a 7% decline for their Q2 revenue guidance, and a 23% increase for the Q2 operating profit guidance, which is much higher than expected by analysts.

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Apple was also faced with a similar penalty back in Q2 2019 when Apple had to pay around $746 million for not achieving the minimum order quantity. They have to pay these hefty penalties because they negotiate with their suppliers to make a minimum purchase to achieve lower prices per unit. This is pretty common practice, but it seems that sales fell short of their expectations, and thus they will be forced to pay the price, literally.
Apple’s supply chain and demand were both affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which probably contributed to their inability to fulfill the agreed order quantity this year. Hopefully the iPhone 12 is impressive enough to entice iPhone users to upgrade this year!
Source
Pokdepinion: As Apple tried to avoid paying the full price of Samsung’s OLED panels… Now they are paying the price. Ironic, right?
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PS Plus October 2019 FREE Games Lineup for US and EU Regions

During the most recent PlayStation State of Play show, we learned about some of the new games coming to the PlayStation 4. We also learned about the PS Plus October 2019 free games lineup coming our way as well. If you’re curious to know more about that then we have all the details you need right below here.
MLB The Show 19
MLB The Show 19 brings you the best of baseball. Play America’s pastime your way, with new game modes, expanded team building and player customization, and an extensive personalized RPG experience. Create your own player and rise through the MLB ranks or play against others as baseball’s greatest stars and legends. Competitive online experience, exciting RPG action, lightning fast gameplay, The Show 19 has it all.
The Last of Us Remastered
20 years after a pandemic has radically changed known civilization, infected humans run wild and survivors are killing each other for food, weapons; whatever they can get their hands on. Joel, a violent survivor, is hired to smuggle a 14 year-old girl, Ellie, out of an oppressive military quarantine zone, but what starts as a small job soon transforms into a brutal journey across the U.S.The Last of Us Remastered includes the Abandoned Territories Map Pack, Reclaimed Territories Map Pack, and the critically acclaimed The Last of Us: Left Behind Single Player campaign that combines themes of survival, loyalty, and love with tense, survival-action gameplay.
Both games in the PS Plus October 2019 free games lineup for US and EU regions will be available to download starting 1st October 2019 until 4th November 2019. At the time of this writing, the September lineup us still active, but not for long.
Pokdepinion: It’s certainly a great way for people to get invested in the upcoming game, The Last of Us Part II. If you haven’t played the first game, you should. It’s pretty damn great.

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Cooler Master launches V650 & V750 PSU with exclusive 3D circuit design and Silencio FP technology

Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA – Cooler Master, a leading manufacturer of desktop components and peripherals, today announced two new additions of its V Series power supplies here in Malaysia, the V650 and V750. The V series is the most stable and efficient power supply unit in its class thanks to the exclusive 3D Circuit Design and Silencio FP technology. It has better build quality, fully modular flat cables with energy-saving 80PLUS Gold/Platinum ratings all delivered in a compact design smaller than most Power Supply Units (PSUs). The V series family is now available in V650, V750, V850, V1000 and V1200 watt variants perfect for gamers, enthusiasts and even system builders.
Cooler Master V series with 3D circuit designCooler Master V series with 3D circuit design

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Stable and efficient, most compact ATX form factor PSU in its class with exclusive 3D Circuit Design
The 3D Circuit Design does away with unnecessary cables and uses full module boards for cross connection resulting in lower crosstalk and signal noise. This ensures a better power output which also boosts efficiency whereas other PSUs lose efficiency due to cable signal loss. The 3D circuit design also improves heat dissipation in a compact design as there is little heat generated in comparison to cable signals. Excessive ripple or noise can damage components such as capacitors and cause system degradation. This exclusive design ensures the PSU performs at its best and has minimal interference without signal loss.

Cooler Master V series with 3D circuit designCooler Master V series with 3D circuit design
Cooler Master high-performance Silencio FP fans, fully modular flat cables, LLC + DC-DC topology, and energy-saving 80PLUS Gold/Platinum ratings in a compact design
With the implementation of the high-performance Silencio FP fan by Cooler Master, the PSU operates quietly yet efficiently lowering fan RPM by up to 35 per cent even under 100 per cent load. 100% Japanese 105C high quality capacitors ensure an extended lifetime delivering excellent performance. Clean, stable voltages lead to less stress on valuable components extending the computer system’s life and reducing instability while gaming or working. The V series come with fully modular flat ribbon cables for easy cable routing using only the cables one needs allowing users to have neater-looking installations.

LLC, DC to DC topology is a technology designed to provide flat, constant output voltage thereby stabilizing the varying voltage. The V series also have received the industry standard 80PLUS Gold and Platinum ratings, a test that compares the quality and efficiency of power supplies in the market.

Pricing & Availability:
The V650 and V750 Power Supply Units are now available for purchase at the suggested retail price of RM 549 and RM 619 respectively.

V1200 Platinum : RM 1,189
V1000 : RM 889
V850 : RM 759
V750 : RM 619
V650 : RM 549

* Price Listed are Inclusive of 6% GST
Pokdepinion: I am actually quite surprised by the price of the V650. An 80PLUS Gold PSU with a full modular design at RM549 is very affordable price compared to the competition.
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The Apacer AC731 is probably the most stylish shockproof portable HDD ever

The Apacer AC731 USB 3.1 Gen1 is a military-grade shockproof portable hard drive that earned recognition from 2019 Taiwan Excellence Award for its elegant design. We aren’t really accustomed to saying the words elegant and shockproof in the same line either, but this is one pretty external hard drive.

Instead of going for a military-inspired aesthetic, the Apacer AC731 features a sophisticated black casing and stylish champagne gold panels for a premium looking drive that’s tougher than it looks. As a finishing touch, rubber with a leather-like texture is used to up the ante here.

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In addition to the stylish design, the Apacer AC731 has been tested to withstand 10 000x plugging and unplugging of the USB 3.0 Type-A female connector on the body of the external hard drive. It has also passed U.S. MIL-STD-810G Method 516.6 Procedure IV drop test, ensuring data safety whether the device is dropped from a table.

It sports the IP68 rating as well, which promises complete dustproofing and water resistance at 1m for up to 1 hour. There’s also a unique suspension structure protecting the hard drive inside from damage, by isolating the hard disk from external forces. The Apacer AC731 is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities for capacious storage on the go.
Local pricing and availability information is unavailable, but we will update this post when we receive them!

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Acer Introduces 4 Chromebook Models For Education Markets

The company’s sustainability-focused Vero series now enters the education laptop segment.
Chromebook Vero 712. Image: Acer
Acer today reveals four new Chromebooks intended for educational institutions, including Chromebook Vero – with sustainability as part of its design. Among these models, two are in traditional clamshell form factor, while the other two are convertible Chromebook Spin series laptops. All four models meet the MIL-STD 810H durability standards with protections against knocks, drops, liquid spills and more.
On the subject of durability, the models all come with reinforced corner designs with shock-absorbing bumpers allowing drops up to 122cm and withstanding up to 60kg load. Internal display structure has been elongated and widened for improved resiliency against mishandling of the device, with metal-plated I/O for additional port reinforcement against frequent plug intrusions. Spill-resistant keyboard sustains up to 330ml of water spills; moisture-resistant OceanGlass touchpad, recycled from ocean-bound plastics, improve touch feeling with smooth surface.

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Serviceability has also been improved, with two-screw access to the entire keyboard assembly allowing easy replacement – the keys themselves are designed to be mechanically anchored to prevent students from pulling them off the keyboard. All four models are certified with ASTM and UL/IEC toy safety standards which allows for children use.
The Acer Chromebook Vero 712 features a recycled chassis with sustainable packaging and power-efficient design, with a 12-inch 3:2 HD+ display providing more vertical space for text reading. The processor is courtesy of Intel’s 12th Gen Core i3, though so far no detailed specs has been published. As the Vero model, it features 30% PCR (Post-consumer recycled) plastic in the chassis and 50% in the keycaps; with packaging entirely produced from recycled paper pulp.
Chromebook Spin 512. Image: Acer
Chromebook Spin 511. Image: Acer
The other three Chromebook models meanwhile, receives updated designs. The Chromebook Spin 512 (12-inch) and Chromebook Spin 511 (11.6-inch), alongside Chromebook 511, are all powered by the latest Intel Processor N-series (N100 and N200), with optional 4G LTE connectivity providing internet access; all three also contains partially recycled chassis and packaging materials to help reduce waste for schools over the device’s lifetime.
Chromebook 511. Image: Acer
Both convertible Chromebook Spin models features antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass touch panel, with their respective 11.6-inch 16:9 HD and 12-inch 3:2 HD+ sizes. Meanwhile, the Chromebook 511 can be optioned with touch panel or opt out based on their requirements.
All models get Wi-Fi 6E as standard, with 720p webcams powered by TNR (temporal noise reduction) for better low-light performance. Both convertible models can be optioned to include rear-facing cameras, privacy-wise, all webcams comes with included with physical shutters. Storage options are unspecified, but all are of eMMC variant and are available up to 8GB of RAM. Two USB-C ports come standard, with at least a single USB-A port, and microSD card slot (except the Vero model).
No availability information over here just yet – all models will be available starting April this year in US and EU market first, with pricing starting from $379.
Pokdepinion: Chromebook seems pretty rare here – has anyone seen them in the wild?
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Cooler Master MasterFan MF120R And MF140R ARGB Now Available In Malaysia

Cooler Master has today released their brand new 120mm and 140mm Addressable RGB (ARGB) fans, the MasterFan MF120R and MF140R.
Cooler Master MasterFan MF120R & MF140R
Cooler Master MasterFan MF120R ARGB 3-in-1
You can now upgrade your case and liquid coolers with the new yet affordable ARGB case fans from Cooler Master, the MF120R and MF140R ARGB fans, where each fan offers eight adjustable RGB LEDs.
The 3-in-1 pack version comes with an RGB controller that can cycle through 10 presets. Its input uses a 3-pin connection instead of your standard 4-pin RGB.

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Cooler Master MF120R ARGB
With the new fans, it gives you the option for a better visual experience. You can use the MasterPlus+ software to custom lighting, just as you want them to be. You can create a custom lighting show using the brand’s Light Maker feature, or individually light eight LEDs.
The fans are equipped with sound absorbing rubber pads for a more silent operation. The fan blade design is inspired by the combination of jet engine and helicopter, for good static pressure, without the need of sacrificing air flow.
Now available in Malaysia, you can get the MasterFan MF120R ARGB 3-in-1 for RM219, while the standard MF120R ARGB for RM65 and RM69 for the MF140R ARGB fan.
Pokdepinion: This looks like a good addition to my rig actually. Maybe I’ll get one myself.
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Infinix Note4 Pro Available For Pre-orders ; A Whopping 4500mAh Phablet!

Are you eyeing for a productivity phablet but your wallet just constricts you? Well here’s an alternative option. Introducing the Infinix Note4 Pro, which is now available for preorder.
Infinix Note4 Pro
The device offers a large 5.7-inch Full HD IPS display and comes with its own stylus, the XPen. The XPen is noted (no pun intended) to last 40 minutes with just 20 seconds of charging. The phablet is powered by MediaTek MT6753 1.3GHz Octa-Core processor, while pairing up with 3GB RAM. In the storage department, there’s 32GB of internal storage and expandable up to 128GB via microSD. It has a 13MP rear camera and a 8MP front camera for your selfie needs.Powering this device is its massive 4500mAh battery and has XCharge 4.0 for fast charging. With a 5V5A Power Brick, Infinix claims that it can last up to 250 minutes of talk time with just 5 minutes of charging, as you can see from the picture.
It runs on XOS 2.2, which is based of Android 7.0 Nougat. A finger print sensor is also available for usage.

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If you are interested in the device, they are holding a preorder period right now until the 9 October 2017, at the price of RM999 Also coming with your purchase (should you preorder it), is a free Infinix XE02 In Ear Noise Cancellation Headphone worth RM199. Seem interested? You can preorder by clicking here. Feel like you need more information on the device itself? Don’t worry. We’ll be coming up with our own review on the Infinix Note4 Pro. So stay tuned for more details!
Pokdepinion: I don’t mind the fact that it is a lesser known brand, as long as it can justify for its price. After all, why pay more if you can do with something less.

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unifi bait-and-switch fiasco now under investigation by MCMC

The recent complaints and reports about TM slashing the upload speeds on the new 500Mbps unifi package has gotten MCMC’s attention, and MCMC has launched an investigation into the matter. MCMC acknowledged the widespread media coverage of the issue, as it has blown up quite spectacularly.
The unifi 500Mbps plans offer only 100Mbps instead of the 200Mbps that was previously shown on TM’s website. This has been downplayed to be a mere mistake on TM’s side, although I do believe that unifi subscribers who didn’t get what they signed up for as well as MCMC won’t be accepting that as an excuse. Especially since the erroneous marketing material were allowed to be shown in full glory until 2nd September, more than a week after the plan was introduced on 24th August.
Details of the plans in the old document.
TM is currently allowing subscribers who are unhappy with what seems like a bait-and-switch tactic to unsubscribe without any penalty. Subscribers of the affected unifi 500Mbps plan are still within the 30-day “Try Me” period, as it was introduced since 24th August. TM will also be contacting all subscribers of the plan, in addition to committing to aiding MCMC in their investigation.

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What do you think of TM’s olive branch? Is it acceptable to you guys? In any case, we are most interested to see the outcome of MCMC’s investigation.
Pokdepinion: Nice to see that MCMC is going to take action against TM!
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More Apple Products Are Getting USB-C By 2024

With more signs pointing towards the inevitable move to USB-C from Lightning, more Apple products are getting USB-C by 2024.
Apple AirPods and Mac Accessories Getting USB-C

It appears that Apple will be transitioning to USB-C for the AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max, along with the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard for the Mac, by 2024. Of course, they could still launch the products with Lightning until the EU law kicks in, if it gets signed.

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Of course, this is merely a stopgap measure as Apple is apparently looking to completely transition to fully wireless devices similar to the Apple Watch. There is no exact timeframe on when this will happen but USB-C will likely not last long as Lightning or the previous iPod connector, which puts it to about 11 years.

Previously, renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made a prediction that Apple will be going completely portless for their iPhones, which was said to happen in 2021. As we know by now, that didn’t happen and analysts have predicted new iPhones to come with USB-C instead. It might not be entirely wrong as now it points to that happening in due time.
They won’t just go with any wireless charging standard as the company would rely on their popular MagSafe standard for added convenience.
Source
Pokdepinion: I love MagSafe but I feel like it needs more power before it can replace cables. I suppose that would make sense why they plan on doing this several years later instead.
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HUAWEI Watch GT 2 Officially Unveiled – Kirin A1 Chip and Improved Battery Life

HUAWEI Watch GT 2 Officially Unveiled

The folks over at HUAWEI have officially unveiled the HUAWEI Watch GT 2. It will come in 46mm and 42mm, and will be powered by the company’s Kirin A1 chip. The smartwatch is expected to be a great improvement in all areas over its predecessor.
The HUAWEI Watch GT 2 will be the company’s first smartwatch to have an all-in-one 3D glass screen which creates a wider, boundless display. Users can also enjoy an array of fitness modes with richer programs as well as Bluetooth calling and music playback functions. The 46mm series is equipped with a 1.39-inch AMOLED HD precision touch screen with display resolution of 454 x 454 pixels.

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With the Kirin A1’s ultra-low power consumption, users can expect battery life of up to 2 weeks. The company claims that the 46mm variant can last that long even with intelligent heart rate monitor and call notification functions enabled. It’s worth nothing that the 42mm variant is expected to operate continuously for up to one week instead.
The smartwatch is capable of Bluetooth calls at up to 150 meters and even supports phonebook functionality so you can save friends’ contact information on your watch and easily look them up. At the same time, the smartwatch comes with large storage capacity, capable of storing about 500 MP3 music files so you can easily manage and enjoy music while exercising.

The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 is compatible with 15 sports, including eight outdoor sports (running, walking, climbing, hiking, trail running, cycling, open water, triathlon) and seven indoor sports (walking, running, cycling, swimming pool, free training, elliptical machine, rowing machine). For these 15 sports modes, the watch provides full-scale monitoring of approximately 190 types of data. You can also keep track of your personal health and heart rate via the HUAWEI Sports and Health app.
Furthermore, it comes with the HUAWEI TruSleep 2.0 feature which monitors your sleep, and HUAWEI TruRelax which can help you relieve stress by recording heart rate variability values and provide feedback on your stress index.
Information on its price and availability in Malaysia isn’t available yet. We will be announcing it as soon as information becomes available.
Pokdepinion: I’ve been wanting the predecessor for a while so now, I’m just gonna hop on straight to the new version.
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Samsung Introduces The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G – An RM700 cheaper variant of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

Samsung has just announced a cheaper variant of their recent Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. The new Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G swaps the Snapdragon 865 SoC for an Exynos chip, specifically the Exynos 990 chip. In addition to that, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G features a smaller 128GB storage (with microSD support) and will come in a selection of three vibrant colours – Cloud Lavender, Cloud Orange and Cloud Red.

In terms of the phone’s other specs, it comes with specs that are present on the original, 5G version of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE such as a triple camera setup which includes a 12MP ultra-wide camera, 12MP wide camera, and also an 8MP telephoto lens as well as a 32MP selfie camera. It also features a 6.5-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Additional features include 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 4,500mAh battery.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G will release on 11 November with a retail price of RM2,699. Do check out Samsung’s official website for further updates. We also reviewed the original Samsung Galaxy S20 FE which you can check out right here.
Pokdepinion: I think it’s a good move for Samsung to release a cheaper variant of the S20 FE. Sure it’s not using the Snapdragon 865 chipset but it’s not like the replacement isn’t good. Besides, the other specs on this phone will definitely make it a worthwhile purchase.
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NVIDIA GeForce Malaysia Offering Freebies With Every GTX 1060 Purchase

While previously NVIDIA GeForce Malaysia has revealed that they are offering a mystery bag with every purchase of selected GTX 1060 graphics card, they have now revealed on what they are exactly.

The boxing day promo will last until the 28th of December 2018. Freebies include a CAP&T-shirt, MSI Neck Pillow, Umbrella & Landyard, as well as an 120GB ADATA SSD. The gifts will be given and included at random with every purchase of GTX 1060 that’s priced at RM999.

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So for more information, you can check out the official NVIDIA GeForce Malaysia store on Lazada by clicking on the link right here.
Pokdepinion: I wouldn’t mind getting that SSD for free though.
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