Intel Core i9-11900K Review — an unenviable position

The 11th Gen Intel Core processors arrive with a rather awkward proposition. It comes with the newer Cypress Cove core architecture, but loses two cores when you compare the Intel Core i9-11900K versus its predecessor, the Core i9-10900K. Will the improved IPC make up for the two missing cores, or will they be sorely missed? I guess that’s what we aim to find out today.

The 11th Gen Intel Core processors work with the same LGA1200 motherboards as its predecessor, so anyone considering an upgrade will most probably choose not to get a new motherboard. However we did receive the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero along with the processors to fully take advantage of everything Intel has to offer, so let’s see how it does.

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Intel Core i9-11900K Specifications

Cores / Threads
8C/16T

Base Clock / Max Boost
3.5 / 5.3 GHz

Cache
16MB L3 cache

Memory
Up to 128GB, 2-channel, DDR4-3200

Integrated Graphics
Yes, Intel UHD Graphics 750 @ up to 1.3GHz

PCIe
16+4 lanes, PCIe 4.0
DMI 3.0 x8 to Intel Z590 chipset (x4 to Z490)

TDP
125W

Process
Intel 14nm

Socket
LGA 1200

Intel has made some significant upgrades to the PCIe interface, finally supporting PCIe 4.0. You have 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes, with 16 for the dedicated graphics and 4 more for a PCIe 4.0 SSD. They also upgraded the DMI link to the chipset, now with double the bandwidth. It is now essentially as fast as AMD’s PCIe 4.0 x4 interface to the AMD X570, although the Intel Z590 chipset still doesn’t support the PCIe 4.0 interface.
Test System

CPU
Intel Core i9-11900K

Cooler
Cooler Master ML240R

Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero (BIOS ver.0610)

GPU
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition

Memory
2 x 8GB T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB DDR4-3600 CL14

Storage
Kingston UV400 120GB
Kingston UV500 1TB
Seagate FireCuda SSHD 1TB
Kingston KC2500 1TB

Power Supply
Cooler Master V1200 Platinum

For the stock settings, we set the BIOS to enforce all of Intel’s limits, and all the voltages are auto. Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT) is enabled via a simple toggle in the BIOS, with no other changes. The overclocked results are obtained by setting the core multiplier to 51x and the cache multiplier to 46x and manually entering 1.475V for Vcore. Now, let’s take a look at the performance data. The memory is running in Gear 1 (1:1) at 3600MHz CL14.
Performance

Cinebench R20 shows that the Intel Core i9-11900K’s single-core performance is vastly improved from its predecessor. The +21% single-core improvement allowed the Intel Core i9-11900K to only lose 3% multi-core performance here, which is a really impressive result. While ABT is supposed to improve multi-core performance, somehow all we saw is marginally lower performance.
Of course, the manual OC lowers the single-core performance because of the 200MHz lower clocks, but multi-core scores improve as a result and it actually outperforms the Core i9-10900K by close to 5%. Compared to the competition, we see a slight advantage in single-core performance, although I have to note that it boosts to around 250MHz faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X does in single-core loads, so IPC is still not in Intel’s favor here.
          Single-threaded            Multi-threaded
Single-threaded sees the Intel Core i9-11900K beat pretty much everything except the Ryzen 9 5950X. The multi-threaded test also sees the Intel Core i9-11900K still being able to nip at the heels of its predecessor, while having two cores less in the Compressing section, while lagging behind in the Decompressing part of it. Here the massively higher core count of the Ryzen 9 5950X leaves the Intel Core i9-11900K in the dust.

Realbench sees the Intel Core i9-11900K offer a mixed bag of performance. Somehow enabling ABT causes it to lose performance in the multi-threaded H.264 Video Encoding section, but the more lightly-threaded Image Editing benchmark sees ABT improve performance slightly, although the manual overclock posts the best performance here, even pulling ahead of the Ryzen 9 5950X.

3DMark also sees the Intel Core i9-11900K pull quite nicely ahead of the Core i9-10900K, while also beating the Ryzen 9 5950X once ABT is enabled. Overall, the performance in the synthetic benchmarks thus far look pretty exciting, despite the lower core count as compared to its predecessor.
Gaming

While Intel did brag about the gaming performance of the Intel Core i9-11900K, it appears that it isn’t exactly winning in every title. The only game that we saw an improvement when comparing stock vs stock performance was Far Cry 5, with all the other games seeing a regression in frame rate. Of course once we enable the ABT feature, we also see the Intel Core i9-11900K pull ahead in AC Odyssey and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Meanwhile the manual OC sees it pull ahead, or be on par with the Core i9-10900K running at stock. It appears that Intel’s higher core count on the Intel Core i9-10900K still offers an advantage in games. On average, we are seeing 1% slower performance across 10 games with the Core i9-11900K running at stock and with ABT enabled, and a small 1% win after the manual overclock is applied. I definitely can’t recommend the manual overclock if you are just a gamer.
Clocks, Thermals, Power

Average Clocks [GHz]
Average voltage [V]
Average CPU [W]
Average Temps [°C]

Stock
3.95
1.24V
128.35W
65

Adaptive Boost Technology
4.38
1.07V
128.88W
57

Manual OC
5.1
1.32V
235.20W
89

The Intel Core i9-11900K appears to be very conservative at stock, with the average clocks being a meagre 3.95GHz in Realbench’s stress test. The average power draw is also limited by the PL1 limit which is set at 125W, although it is worth mentioning that it doesn’t hit the PL2 limit of 250W, with a peak power draw of just 177W.
Adaptive Boost Technology is rather interesting, seeing the CPU draw about the same power, but somehow it is tuned to allow for a lower voltage to deliver higher clocks at the same power draw. That in turn allowed for lower average temps in the same workload. You should definitely enable it if you aren’t planning on manually overclocking it. Do note that you will need a sufficiently beefy cooler though, as it will opportunistically boost higher than TVB, with the initial burst seeing it draw up to 241.77W.
The manual overclock simply throws efficiency out the window, with an average power draw of 235W and a peak of 250W, which drove the CPU temperatures up quite significantly. If you are using anything less than a good 240mm radiator, it is very likely that the Intel Core i9-11900K will overwhelm your cooler when you try an overclock like this. The voltage applied in the BIOS was 1.475V but HWiNFO reported the average Vcore to be just 1.32V.
Overclocking

Not much has changed in the way of CPU overclocking. You essentially key in your desired multiplier, enter a voltage, save the setting and pray for the best. That’s how we got to the 5.1GHz all-core overclock, and that’s without an AVX offset. It appears that our Intel Core i9-11900K’s cache cannot hit the same 4.8GHz that our Core i9-10900K managed, but I guess there’s also silicon lottery at play here, so your mileage may vary.
The main new addition to the 11th Gen Intel Core processors to improve overclocking is the Gear 1 and Gear 2 modes, which allow the IMC to run at half the speed to allow for higher RAM overclocks without being tied to the limits of the IMC. While the official support for Gear 1 ends at DDR4-3200 for the Intel Core i9-11900K, our bench rig’s DDR4-3600 ran at Gear 1 by default.

As Gear 2 doesn’t support DDR4-3600, we had to drop the speeds to DDR4-3200 to get a more direct comparison. Read and copy speeds dropped slightly, but the latency increased quite significantly, going from 45.2ns to 56.4ns. Of course, with Gear 2 you will be able to hit higher frequencies, so the latency difference should narrow, while the gains you get in memory bandwidth will be huge as well.
It is worth noting that while we haven’t managed to do much memory overclocking on the Intel Core i9-11900K, we managed to get a DDR4-4800MHz kit to boot with its XMP profile in Gear 2 right off the bat, something which we couldn’t get our Core i9-10900K to do. So memory overclockers would definitely find quite the Intel Core i9-11900K quite a bit more fun to play with than its predecessor.
Conclusion

The Intel Core i9-11900K is a rather interesting product. It brings improved performance in several of our benchmarks, despite packing fewer cores. However it does not impress in our gaming benchmarks, despite gaming being a core target market for the 11th Gen Intel Core processors, with it losing in more titles than it wins.
Not to mention that its $539 (~RM2233) SRP is higher than the launch price of the Core i9-10900K. The older chip is often available below SRP nowadays, and there’s also the slightly cheaper Core i9-10850K (and also the KF variants of either chip) that will offer comparable performance, especially if you manually overclock it. If you are a gamer, Intel’s 10th Gen processors might be a better pick for you.
Of course, going with the latest flagship rarely ever makes sense for gaming-focused builds. Maybe the Intel Core i5-11600K might be more enticing for gamers though, with a much more affordable price tag and only two cores less. Do stay tuned for our review of the mid-range 6-core chip from Intel.
When compared against the competition, you will get similar single-core performance and also more cores at around the same SRP. I have to emphasize SRP, as it is difficult enough to get the competitor’s chips, and nigh impossible to get them at their respective SRP now. It will probably be easier to get the Intel Core i9-11900K than the AMD chips, judging by the availability of Intel’s 14nm parts in the market now.
Our thanks to Intel for sending us the Intel Core i9-11900K for review.
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MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition by Cooler Master Mechanical Keyboard Review — a keyboard for the die-hard NVIDIA fans

Introduction
We often see brands partner together to bring more impressive features by combining the respective parties’ expertise into a single product. Whether it’s Razer and Ducky partnering to bring Chroma and Razer Green Switches to Ducky, or HUAWEI and Leica coming together to make some of the best camera smartphones in the market, the end result is usually something that pleases their fans. Today we will take a look at the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition, which, as its name suggests, is birthed from a partnership between Cooler Master and NVIDIA.
Unboxing

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Unlike Cooler Master’s usual packaging which are predominantly grey with large images of the product within, this one is a pretty nondescript black box with just a few stickers and the Cooler Master logo shiny and chrome in the center.

The box is devoid of any other details, so we opened it up to check out the keyboard, wrapped in a fabric pouch that can be reused if you need to bring it anywhere.

Going deeper into the rather shallow box reveals the rest of the contents. We get a user manual which curiously mentions white LEDs when we know damn well the LEDs here aren’t going to be white, a keycap puller and the detachable microUSB cable.
Appearance

This part is where the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition differentiates itself from the other MasterKeys Pro L in the market. The keycaps feature triangular pattern on the Space and Enter keys. The Esc key also features the NVIDIA logo, making this perfect for the NVIDIA fans out there.

The rest of the design, like the very tall profile of this keyboard, is exactly like the standard MasterKeys Pro L that has been on the market for years by now. It’s a far cry from Cooler Master’s latest flagship MasterKeys MK850 which has an exposed backplate design, which actually raises the question as to why didn’t Cooler Master just use one of their newer designs for this partnership.

Over on the bottom, we find cable routing channels which are very frequently missing from lesser keyboards. If you want to route your cable anywhere other than straight out the top edge, you can do so, and I love the freedom.
Specifications

Body material
Plastic, with metal backplate

Keycap
Laser-etched ABS keycaps

USB report rate
1000 Hz

Switch type
Cherry MX Red

KRO
NKRO

Anti-ghosting
Yes

Microprocessor
32bit ARM Cortex M3

Cable
1.5m, detachable, sleeved, microUSB connector, gold-plated

Weight
1130 g

Included accessories
Quick start guide, wire keycap puller,  reusable fabric sleeve

User Experience

Well the experience didn’t change much from the original MasterKeys Pro L, with the exception that there isn’t any RGBae here. I get that green is NVIDIA’s choice of color on their Founders Edition cards, but all their AIBs have RGB on the higher end cards. The exclusion of RGB — which for the record, can also be configured to glow in green if you want — feels especially jarring when even much cheaper keyboards feature it. Without RGB, there really is nothing to control via software, which explains its omission from the Cooler Master Portal software. Configuring the LEDs are done on the keyboard itself, with just as many effects as the MasterKeys Pro L with RGB, except that it’s all green here.
While there is no software control for anything, you still get everything you would expect from a top-tier gaming keyboard. That means customizable macros, four programmable profiles and even Win key lock. Everything would have been so much better with a GUI to manage the features, which was an issue that we raised when we reviewed the MasterKeys Pro series. Sadly it wasn’t addressed to make the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition better.

Despite getting the chance to do things differently, Cooler Master are still using laser-etched ABS keycaps here. Cooler Master does understand the benefits of premium keycaps, even going as far as to release the MasterKeys L and MasterKeys S PBT so it greatly disappoints me that they did not give use PBT, or at least doubleshot ABS for this special edition here. The keycaps collect fingerprints easily even if your fingers are just slightly greasy or wet. Worth noting is that while the MasterKeys Pro L I reviewed had some issues with the clearances between the frame and the keycaps, this keyboard had none of those issues.

On the bright side, the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition here feature the classic Cherry MX switches with black enclosures. Some users do note that the feel of the keys are different between the RGB and original Cherry MX switches, so those who want the original can get them here. One thing that I really liked about the MasterKeys Pro L when I reviewed it was the solid feeling I get when typing on it. I am glad to report that its still here on the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition. The Cherry MX Red switches are just nice to me, without being overly smooth like some of the other mechanical switches out there.

To be worthy of being a gaming keyboard, NKRO and anti-ghosting are must-have features. The MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition definitely has no ghosting and you can press any key you want, without any unwanted keys getting actuated. There’s also NKRO, so there aren’t any issues with pressing on too many keys and having some of them not registering because you have hit the key rollover limit.
Conclusion

The MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition is a special edition that really did too little to make it truly special. It’s not to say that the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition is a bad keyboard — it isn’t — but it’s just underwhelming for me to see Cooler Master not actually improve on the original for a special edition that is released 2 years later. With an SRP of RM389, it’s actually pricier than the MasterKeys PBT keyboards which in my opinion are the better keyboards. If you absolutely love green, and need to have the GeForce GTX branding even on your keyboard, this is the keyboard for you. You can get the MasterKeys Pro L GeForce GTX Edition from Lazada at the link below for RM354 if you want a GeForce-branded mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Red switches.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 Leaked — 16GB RAM Sounds Sufficient Enough For You?

It is rumored that Qualcomm is working on their latest chipset, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 that is allegedly to be much bigger than the standard smartphone and will have staggering performance.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000
The Snapdragon 1000, a new chip built by Qualcomm for Windows 10 laptop, is reportedly to be able to go head-to-head with Intel’s Y and U-Series Core processors. It is said to have a 6.5W power draw for the CPU itself, coming with a 12W for the entire SoC.
Currently being tested, Snapdragon 1000 can support up to 16GB of LPDDR4X memory, 2 x 128GB UFS 2.1 memory, and also support for Gigabit WLAN.

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Inside of the chipset, it’s expected to use ARM’s Cortex-A76 architecture and will be using TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process.
This is still in the rumor stage, but we should learn more as we come near to CES 2019.
Source: TweakTown
Pokdepinion: Although nothing is confirmed yet, this is sure a progress from the company if it turns out to be true!
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vivo announces their NEX big thing for RM2799 — no notch for maximum screen!

The much anticipated vivo NEX is finally here in Malaysia. While OPPO took the approach of raising the entire top edge, hiding both the rear and front camera, vivo just hides the selfie camera. Rather surprising for a device coming from a selfie-centric brand, but we will get to that later.

The front is filled entirely by the 6.59″ Super AMOLED screen, which also doubles as the call speaker via Screen Sound Casting technology. This is not a new technology, as Xiaomi has already done it with the very first Mi MIX. vivo does cite differences in the implementation to give better sound, but we will have to see if it lives up to more conventional ways of conveying sound to eardrums. The screen also functions as a fingerprint scanner, with the fingerprint sensor located under the lower quarter of the display.

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The essential sensors like ambient brightness has also been moved to the back, while the proximity sensor is so tiny it is essentially invisible. The unsightly notches found on phones launched earlier this year is entirely eliminated, with the 8MP front camera popping up on demand. The rest of the hardware is a lot more conventional though.

We get a flagship-class Snapdragon 845 mated to 8GB of RAM, and also a rear 12MP Sony IMX 363 sensor, with 4-axis OIS and also a bright f/1.8 aperture. A secondary 5MP sensor ensures that you get good depth detection for more accurate bokeh enhancements. Last but not least, a large 4000 mAh battery keeps the vivo NEX going long after its peers with lesser batteries die out.

Priced at RM2799, the vivo NEX comes as somewhat of a surprise. At this price, it actually matches the OnePlus 6 which is actually pretty good value for money. Given the choice, which would you pick?
Pokdepinion: I think the vivo NEX definitely deserves a second look at this price. It’s like the Mi MIX 2 all over again for me. A cutting-edge design with flagship hardware, and a price that is perfectly reasonable…
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HONOR 9X Review — falling short

The HONOR X series were reasonable mid-range devices, until the HONOR 8X which brought mid-range specifications in a premium design to take the series to the next level. Today we will be looking at the HONOR 9X. Can it top the class act that was the HONOR 8X, or will it be a flop in the face of increasingly competitive mid-range smartphones?
Unboxing

The packaging is typical of HONOR’s lineup. The product image is featured prominently, with the HONOR 9X branding in HONOR’s signature purple-blue color scheme.

In the box are everything you would expect from a recent mid-range device. The charger is quite a letdown though. It only puts out 10W, which is a bit slower than what we have seen recent mid-range devices support.

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What’s new

New to the HONOR 9X is the 6.59″ HONOR FullView display. Gone is the notch from the HONOR 8X. Gone is the punch hole in HONOR’s flagships. The front of the HONOR 9X is just made up of screen, with the selfie camera hidden away on a motorized popup mechanism.

The popup camera is a 16MP f/2.2 unit, which is pretty similar to the HONOR 8X’s 16MP f/2.0. The aperture on the older device may be slightly wider, but it really isn’t that significant when you consider the way front-facing cameras are used: with a lot of filters. Definitely something I am willing to give up to enjoy that more expansive display.

Meanwhile over on the back, they have upgraded the main camera significantly to a 48MP f/1.8 one and also threw in an 8MP f/2.4 Super-Wide-Angle camera to get in on the ultra-wide angle trend. It also received some huge upgrades in the software front, which we will talk about more in the later section. Overall, the HONOR 9X is a huge upgrade over the HONOR 8X in this area.

Not all change is good, however. Instead of the rather premium aluminium frame and glass back panel found on the HONOR 8X, the HONOR 9X regressed to offer a full plastic build. A plastic frame is sandwiched between the plastic back and glass front. HONOR has upped the ante when it comes to a flashy design too. While the HONOR 8X looked elegantly stylish, the HONOR 9X throws on a much more flashy pixelated X design on the back. Cool, although it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Oh and there’s USB-C instead of microUSB. There’s still no fast charging, but at least you don’t have to look before you put it in.
Now that we have gone over most of the new stuff, let’s take a look at the specifications of the HONOR 9X.
Specifications
CPU:Kirin 710F (4 x Cortex-A73 @ 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.7 GHz), 12nm FinFET GPU: Mali-G51 MP4 @ 650 MHz RAM: 6GBDisplay: 6.59″ FHD+ (2340 x 1080), IPS LCD, 91% screen-to-body ratioStorage:128GB UFS 2.1 (expandable via microSD up to 512GB)Camera: Main Camera(s)48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX582 + 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide angle camera + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensorAIS Super Night Mode, 3D Portrait Lighting, AI PortraitFront Camera16MP f/2.2AI Beauty, 3D Portrait LightingOS: EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 Pie  Connectivity:  LTE Band 1/3/7/8/20/38/40/41Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz)Bluetooth 4.2SIM:Dual SIM (hybrid dual SIM)Battery: Li-Po 4000 mAh (non-removable)10W charging (USB-C)Dimensions: 163.5 x 77.3 x 8.8 mm Weight:196.8gIngress protection:N/A
In terms of the hardware under the hood, the HONOR 9X offers a few minor upgrades over the HONOR 8X. The processor has been swapped out for a Kirin 710F which is the same chip, but with a different packaging method. The RAM has also been bumped up to 6GB, and the battery is now a 4000 mAh one. Overall, nothing too major. There’s still no 5 GHz WiFi, which is quite unacceptable for a late-2019 mid-range device.
Performance
The Kirin 710 is definitely getting long in tooth, with more than a year’s worth of smartphones powered by the chipset. With that said, let’s see whether it has what it takes to fend off more recent chipsets found in mid-range devices launched in 2019.
A bit of a foreword here though. Before you compare the HONOR 9X directly against the other HONOR/HUAWEI smartphones in the following charts, do note that the scores on the older devices are inflated due to an erroneous implementation of Performance Mode before EMUI 9 which result. We didn’t have access to the devices to re-run benchmarks after the EMUI 9 updates were released.

In Antutu the HONOR 9X comes in below the Snapdragon 665 devices, which is something you would expect when comparing against the latest chipsets with one that’s more than a year old by now.

3DMark is where the HONOR 9X’s main weakness is revealed. With the Kirin 710F packing the Mali-G51MP4, it’s definitely coming in at an disadvantage against the newer mid-range devices when it comes to GPU performance.

On the other hand, CPU performance of the HONOR 9X is actually pretty good, with sufficient performance to keep up with the Snapdragon 665-packing devices.

Meanwhile in PCMark we see the HONOR 9X come up a bit short again.

Battery life in PCMark’s benchmark was just so-so, with it coming close to the realme 5 Pro, although it’s worth noting that the latter offers an entirely different level of performance. Still, 10 hours of battery life isn’t something to scoff at.

In my usual usage, it lasted more than 8 hours, which I must say is really impressive. It’s worth noting however that the background task management on the HONOR 9X is very aggressive, typical of EMUI. Switching to another task will quickly kill the background task, which is good for battery preservation but not so much for multitasking. Charging it up from 14%, the HONOR 9X battery gauge went up by 22% in 30 minutes, which is slow by today’s standards.
PUBG Mobile on the HONOR 9XCOD Mobile on the HONOR 9X
You might want to look away if you plan on a lot of gaming on your next smartphone purchase. Gaming is a less than satisfying experience on the HONOR 9X. Due to the weak GPU performance, you can’t even enable the higher settings that COD Mobile and PUBG Mobile has to offer. 30 fps is not what I consider an acceptable experience for both games, although I would note that it was a rather consistent one, without any dropped frames or lag throughout my 30 minutes of playing. Thermals were also well-controlled during my short gaming session, so there’s nothing to worry about here.
User Experience
The whole device feels pretty good in hand. There’s a decent amount of heft to it, and the clean, all-screen view up front is definitely a refreshing sight, even when coming from the flagships I have been using recently. The curved back fits well into my hands, belying it’s somewhat larger-than-usual 6.59″ screen size.

Speaking of the screen, you won’t be blown away by the quality you are seeing here. It’s an IPS panel, so you don’t get those beautiful vibrant colors and deep blacks you might have seen on OLED devices. The notch-free design ensures that you get the most out of your viewing area, and I must say that the narrow notification bar at the top of the screen is very welcome indeed.

Audio is handled by the lone speaker down below. It’s decent enough for notifications and the random Facebook video, but for listening pleasure it’s still better to resort to the 3.5mm headphone jack, which HONOR has thankfully left in place. Just to keep things a bit more interesting, there’s HUAWEI Histen sound effects offering several modes. You get a 10-band equalizer and virtual 3D sound too, if you are into that kind of thing.

For the rest of the UI, it’s the rather familiar EMUI skin, for better or worse. EMUI 9.1 is more reminiscent of the older Android skins, and definitely looks less modern than more recent renditions from OEMs. Still, it has pretty much everything from navigation gestures to video ringtones, so I wouldn’t be complaining too much.

With most of the UI the same as previous iterations of EMUI, the camera interface is rather similar too to previous HONOR devices. It gains a few more features like Super Night Mode too which should gives it an advantage over some of the mid-range devices in the market.

Results, however, are an entire different story altogether. Images taken in good and poor lighting are equally lackluster, despite the awesome results we have seen from HONOR’s recent 48MP flagship devices. The Super Night Mode which takes up to 8 seconds exposures on the flagships doesn’t seem to be working, resulting in normal exposures in the regular AI mode, despite the AI detecting a “Night” situation correctly. Switching to the standalone Night mode gives us 4-second exposures, with decent results. Colors with Night mode enabled are slightly more accurate than some of the mid-range devices we have tested, it takes 8MP shots when Night mode is enabled, which is 33% less than what most other devices offer with a 48MP sensor in Night mode.
The ultra-wide angle camera is a disappointment altogether. A general lack of detail regardless of lighting situation is observed and there’s no way to enable Night mode with the ultra-wide angle camera. You just get mush at night-time. You can check out the full-sized camera samples here.
Conclusion
The HONOR 9X is just a little short of being an amazing mid-range device. The chipset is relatively outdated at this point, the camera setup is far from the best, and the lack of features like fast charging, AC WiFi as well as the antiquated EMUI 9.1 skin just piles on the hurt, holding the HONOR 9X back from being the bang-for-buck mid-ranger the HONOR 8X was in its time.

With that said, the HONOR 9X’s large notch-free screen does give it somewhat of a selling point. For RM999, you can quite easily score better stuff for both the chipset and also the cameras though. Would you pay a premium for that sweet notchless screen? Well, that’s entirely up to you to decide.
Our thanks to HONOR Malaysia for providing us the HONOR 9X for review.
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Fortnite Pac-Man Crossover Event Set for June 2022

A new official blog post has popped up on the official Japanese Pac-Man website, which details a crossover event with Fortnite and that’s happening on 2nd June 2022.
With this, gamers can buy Pac-Man cosmetics in the popular battle royale game when it goes live. It’s odd that Epic Games have yet to comment on the crossover but they are expected to announce it on their end either on the day it goes live or close to it. With that being said, there is a chance that the launch date might change so we will report more on that if any details come to light.

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Fortnite is currently available for free with in-game purchases on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS , and PC.
Source
Pokdepinion: I’m hoping it would be worth the money at least. Would be funny to see any of the Pac-Man characters going around in an open field with guns out. It’s like a Robot Chicken skit coming to life.
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OPPO A9 2020 Review — All Day, All Night And More

Introduction

The OPPO A-series has been known to be more of an entry-level lineup. With the OPPO A9 2020 however, they’ve added several upgrades that makes it seem more than just another entry-level smartphone. Will it impress? Let’s find out.
What’s in the box?

From the box, you’ll get the phone itself, documents of the device, a SIM ejector, charging brick, a USB Type-C cable and a clear protective case for it. It’s nice to see that they’ve also included earphones / handsfree in the package.
Appearance

On the front the OPPO A9 2020, you have a waterdrop notch at the top, which fits in the front camera. There a little bit of a chin going on down below.

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Interestingly, only the power button is present on the right side. The volume rockers have been pushed to the left side of the smartphone, accompanied by the SIM / microSD tray.

Here at the bottom, we have the 3.5mm jack, the microphone, the phone’s USB Type-C port, as well as the speaker. As for the top side of the A9 2020, it’s completely empty.

Over at the back, we have the quad camera setup with an LED flash that sits right beside it. There’s also a fingerprint scanner found just below the cameras. Of course, you’ve got the OPPO branding at the lower part of the smartphone.
OPPO A9 2020 Specifications
CPU:Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Octa-core (4 x 2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold + 4 x 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver) 11nmGPU:Adreno 610RAM:8GB LPDDR4xDisplay:6.5″ HD+ (1600 x 720), IPS LCD, 480-nit max brightness, 89% screen-to-body ratioStorage:128GB UFS 2.1Camera:Main camera(s)48MP f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.3 ultra-wide angle camera + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensorPDAF, HDR, Panorama, Ultra Night Mode 2.0, Slow mo, PortraitFront camera16MP f/2.0OS:ColorOS 6.1 based on Android 9 PieConnectivity:LTE Band 1/3/5/7/8/38/40/41Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz, 5GHz)Bluetooth 5.0SIM:Dual SIM (microSD with dedicated slot)Battery:Li-Po 5000 mAh (non-removable)Reverse ChargingDimensions:163.6 x 75.6 x 9.1 mmWeight:195gIngress protection:–
Performance

This is the second device that we’ve tested that uses a Snapdragon 665 under the hood and it seems that it scored lower than the other smartphone.

Despite that, it comes out stronger over here in the 3DMark test with an admirable score.

Compared to devices that’s around or lower than the OPPO A9 2020’s price point, you can see that it does fall a bit short in terms of CPU performance.

On PCMark’s Work 2.0 benchmark, we see that the scores are actually not bad for productivity, with it edging out the Mi A3 by a slight margin.

Finally, we get down to the battery scores, where it managed to last for 14 hours and 49 minutes in PCMark’s battery test. This is likely thanks to the efficiency of the Snapdragon 665 and the lower screen resolution. Moreover, it does have a sizable 5,000 mAh battery capacity.
Unfortunately, OPPO smartphones doesn’t come with the battery usage chart at the settings, which we normally show to showcase our real life usage. Despite that, I can say that after 24 hours of usage (from 100% battery), I still have 54% left on the device. It’s quite impressive since I’ve gamed for quite some time on it, aside from the usual social media browsing and what not.
Sadly, the OPPO A9 2020 doesn’t come with the brand’s proprietary VOOC fast charge. While the battery life is pretty lengthy, it would’ve been nice if they had offer that. This is especially since I was able to get only 14% of charge after a 30 minute charging period.
User Experience

Although the OPPO A9 2020 comes with thin side bezels, it is actually thicker at the bottom part. At first I thought that it might bother me but actually it feels comfortable to hold. As for the display, well let’s just say that it wasn’t the best experience that I’ve had. You can clearly see the pixels on the display.
For gaming, I tested the device by playing Call of Duty Mobile. It does get warm after an hour or two of gaming but there’s nothing to be concerned about. Although the device allows the game to be played in max settings, I find that lowering the graphics is a lot more acceptable to the eyes. Putting the game on max settings won’t let you enjoy higher refresh rates.

The OPPO A9 2020 runs on ColorOS 6.1, and there’s actually a lot that you can customize here. Despite that, I feel that the user experience was kind of sluggish as you can certainly feel the delay when you’re trying to move around.

Moving on to the camera UI, it’s pretty much straightforward with everything visible. I like how OPPO put the mode conveniently on the left side. It makes it easier to switch between shooting modes.

As far as picture quality is concerned, it was a hit or miss situation. You’ll probably like the OPPO A9 2020 if you enjoy the beauty features for selfies. The Super Night mode is one feature that I think did a good job in low-light conditions.
The Dazzle Color mode didn’t really help in photos as shots taken with it make them look rather unnatural. I think the standard camera does a decent job and still viable enough for your social media posts.
You can check out the link here to see the full resolution gallery of the pictures.
OPPO A9 2020 Verdict

Based on the specifications, the OPPO A9 2020 would be considered as a mid-range smartphone. Despite that, I don’t think its asking price of RM1,199 justifies its offerings. Furthermore, I feel that they could’ve fitted in with a smaller RAM configuration and make it more affordable.
Don’t get me wrong, the battery life is an absolute beast but that’s the thing, it’s probably the only reason I can see people being interested in this. It’s also worth noting that the 720p resolution ruined the experience for me. With that being said, we will not be giving an award to the OPPO A9 2020 smartphone.
We would like to thank OPPO Malaysia for providing the OPPO A9 2020 used in this review.
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Sony Introduces SRS-XV900, Most Powerful Wireless Party Speaker in Its Lineup

Sony today announces the launch of new SRS-XV900, the most powerful and loudest Bluetooth party speaker in its X-series wireless speaker range.

The speaker features X-Balanced Speaker Unit which provides omnidirectional sound to fill the entire room with less distortions, by maximizing the area of the speakers; Jet Bass Booster provides deep, powerful bass. Midrange drivers provide clear vocals while 6 tweeters on all directions spread high frequency sound all around.

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The speaker features 25 hours of battery life, with 3 hours of playtime from just 10 minutes of charge. Battery Care Mode extends the lifespan of the battery by protecting against overcharging. The speaker features a built-in carry handle and castors, allowing users to move the speaker with ease.
Sony’s TV Sound Booster allows any TV to enjoy enhanced listening experience with deep base and realistic sound – just simply connect it using the included S/PDIF Optical cable. Two microphone inputs allow microphones or guitars to connect to it (which acts as an amp). The top touch panel allows you to control the speaker intuitively, with functions, settings and lighting controls all in one place.

The MEGA BASS mode cranks the bass up to the max – providing you with deep and punchy bass. LIVE SOUND mode recreates the unique atmosphere and re-live your favorite music experiences. Party Connect via Bluetooth allows you to connect up to 100 compatible Sony Bluetooth speakers, syncing the audio and lighting across all connected speakers for even larger party experiences. You can also plug-and-play using USB, as well as charging your smartphone directly from the speaker. Google Fast Pair is supported for instant connection.
The SRS-XV900 will also be compatible with both Sony | Music Center and Fiestable apps – with features such as selecting playlists, song queue, lighting modes, and sound modes all from the dance floor. Fiestable offers features such as party playlist, karaoke functions including Voice Changer and Echo, plus DJ controls.
The SRS-XV900 will be available in Malaysia starting November. More details here.
Pokdepinion: This does look like a great option for party enjoyers, with many bells and whistles too.
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HUAWEI Watch 2 – More Than A Smartwatch

In today’s world, when we pick out what gadgets and what not to buy, we also look at the aspect of how good does it look with us. Does it match our style? Talking about style, HUAWEI really did a good job with their HUAWEI Watch 2. Typically, most of the smart watches that are out now style a square-shaped face but in this case HUAWEI stick to the traditional round-faced shape which is neat.

Admit it, a circle-shaped face in a watch makes you look classy, stylish, sophisticated, you name it. It certainly beats the square and rectangular-shaped watches. The best thing about the smart watch is, you can choose the digital face of the watch with a wide variety of styles to fit your liking. Traditional looks aside, here’s where the HUAWEI Watch 2 kicks in with its modern feature. You can get things done with its AI (artificial intelligence) by using simple verbal instructions and hand gestures. Both of which is pretty cool when you think about it, heck even seeing a person doing it is.

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If you’re a workout junky, then the smart watch has its functions too. It includes a heartbeat monitor as well as being water and dust resistant. There is also a variety of applications such as weather forecast, Facebook chats, Uber and many more to use at your disposal. That covers up the side features of the HUAWEI Watch 2, here comes the main functions of it. It is armed with 4G connectivity and a hidden SIM card slot for you to keep your hands free from your smartphones.
Pokdepinion: The HUAWEI Watch 2 in itself looks stylish. It isn’t a square or rectangular-shaped face like other smart watches out there, so it’s a plus. I wouldn’t mind having one for myself even though I’m not really a person who does much workouts. Looks plus functionality. A good combo I would say.
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[E3 2021] Rainbow Six Extraction Will Have You Face Against Aliens

While this wouldn’t technically be the first time we’re hearing of it, Rainbow Six Extraction was officially unveiled at the Ubisoft Forward Show on E3 2021. Here’s what you need to know.
[E3 2021] Rainbow Six Extraction

Rainbow Six Extraction, previously going under the name of Rainbow Six Quarantine, was officially unveiled at Ubisoft Forward during E3 2021. The game is said to be set in the same Rainbow Six universe with certain Siege operators supposedly missing in action.

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Players will be forming a team with other operators under the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis and Containent Team (REACT) for a rescue mission. As you might have seen from the trailer, you will be facing against an alien threat known as the Archean.

Moving on to the gameplay trailer, there will be a PvE co-op experience with a squad consisting of up to 3 players. You can choose from 18 Rainbow Dix Operators, each with their own set of gadgets, weaponry and abilities.
There will be about 12 maps with procedurally-generated challenges for a more unique experience. The enemies you face can evolve into more dangerous threats as you continue through the game.
Rainbow Six Extraction will be coming to the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia on 16th September 2021.
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Pokdepinion: Not sure how I feel about fighting aliens in this franchise but I suppose never say never. Would definitely give it a try before I pass judgment but I’m certainly on the fence at the moment.
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Bandai Namco Teases More Elden Ring Potentially Coming Your Way

It looks like we’ll be getting more Elden Ring somewhere down the road based on what Bandai Namco appears to be teasing, and it might not be limited to just games. Here’s what we know thus far.
Bandai Namco Teases More Elden Ring

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Bandai Namco recently mentioned about the sales of their newest blockbuster hit, Elden Ring. They also mentioned about expanding the franchise, not just as a game, but using all parts of the IP in “various ways”.
It seemed too vague at first until Bandai Namco president Yasuo Miyakawa talked about wanting to develop Elden Ring so it reach a multitude of fields rather than just games. Still on the surface but at least it gives us a clearer idea of what they might do with the franchise.
So how could it possibly be adapted or expanded upon aside from games? We might see a movie, live-action TV series (perhaps a Netflix adaptation), manga, novels, and more. Of course, a sequel would also be possible given how successful it has become. For now, we will report more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
Elden Ring is currently available on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.
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Pokdepinion: I really would not be surprised to see a Netflix adaptation of some kind for the franchise. If anything were to happen, I expect an announcement sometime at the end of this year.
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Android Oreo Update Coming To Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge? – Well, maybe

Will they or won’t they?

A Turkish website called Güncel Miyiz (which literally means “are we up to date?”) has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will be getting Android Oreo updates this coming May. This Turkish website is run by Samsung themselves so these kinds of announcements are usually very much legit but are not necessarily set in stone. Previously the planned date for the Android Oreo update was to be somewhere in April but now they’ve pushed it to the current date. At least we know the update is coming, just not entirely sure when.

The website states that the planned Android Oreo update will come to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge this coming May 18. I am aware that this Android Oreo update announcement is referring to Turkey and not our country or the rest of the world. We’re hoping that once the update is out, everywhere else in the world will follow suit.

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The website also mentions a few other Samsung smartphones will be getting the Android Oreo update as well. These Samsung smartphones include the 2017 versions of the Samsung Galaxy A3, Samsung Galaxy A5 as well as Samsung Galaxy A7. All three phones are to tentatively receive the Android Oreo updates by next month, specifically June 1.

Now that the Android Oreo update for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge is might be coming soon, now might be the best time to get your hands on these Samsung flagship devices, Sure, S7 and S7 edge might be a couple of years old and might look a little bit outdated compared to some of the flagships out today but they still boast some pretty good specs.
The biggest reason to get either the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge now (apart from its specs) is that both devices are rated IP68. In other words, they’re waterproof and they’re probably one of the cheapest devices now to have that rating. Also, there’s wireless charging on both devices which isn’t such a bad thing to have.
Pokdepinion: I still really like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. I remember falling absolutely in love with the camera when I used the device when it first came out. I might actually pick this up now that I know an Oreo update is coming. Eventually.
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Razer Strider Chroma and Goliathus Chroma 3XL Gaming Mouse Mats Now Available

Razer has released two new ultra-large gaming mouse mats today: the Razer Strider Chroma and the Razer Goliathus Chroma 3XL.
Razer Strider Chroma

As a hybrid soft and hard mat, the Strider Chroma provides the smooth, consistent glide of a hard surface while allowing for agile, precise movement.

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The huge extended mat is 900mm x 370mm and has a thickness of 4mm, giving you plenty of room for your keyboard and mouse. The gripping bottom is enhanced with a grooved design to securely hold it to a desk and has an anti-slip base.

The mouse mat is also warp- and water-resistant for increased longevity, allowing it to keep a level surface for constant control while being shielded from any accidental spills. Not only that, the Strider Chroma is the world’s first hybrid gaming mouse mat with multiple lighting zones, with 19 adjustable lighting zones for customization.
This enables for maximum RGB illumination with over 16.8 million colours and endless lighting effects, as well as the ability to dynamically respond with over 200 Chroma-integrated games, thanks to Razer Chroma RGB.
The Strider Chroma is now available on Razer’s official website and in-store priced at RM649 (SGD209).
For more information about the Strider Chroma, feel free to click the link here.
Razer Goliathus Chroma 3XL

For those looking for an even bigger mat, the Goliathus Chroma 3XL is 1200mm x 550mm and has a thickness of 3.5mm. The company’s best-selling soft gaming mouse mat series is now available in this ultra-large version, allowing the Goliathus Chroma 3XL to cover whole workstations, ideal for people who utilise lower DPI or like larger mouse mat regions to navigate.
Every mouse action is converted into accurate cursor movement using a micro-textured fabric surface for optimum accuracy, allowing players to reach that lethal combination of speed and control. The Goliathus Chroma 3XL is optimised for all sensitivity levels and sensors, delivering 100% tracking responsiveness for accurate in-game control whether you use a laser or optical sensor.
The mat’s non-slip rubber base ensures that it remains firmly in place even during the most furious games. With 16.8 million colours, numerous patterns, and dynamic in-game lighting effects powered by Razer Chroma RGB, gamers can enjoy complete RGB personalization and greater immersion with the world’s biggest lighting ecosystem for gaming devices.

The Goliathus Chroma 3XL is now available on Razer’s official website and in-store priced at RM509 (SGD209).
More information about the Goliathus Chroma 3XL can be found here.
Pokdepinion: A huge mat with customizable RGB for gamers that requires more working space.
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Apex Legends hacked by hackers angry about Titanfall hackers

If you were facing issues in Apex Legends, well, you aren’t alone. Apparently hackers took down Apex Legends because they were disgruntled about the rampant hacking in Titanfall 1. All platforms were affected, with an “important message” popping up saying “Visit and repost savetitanfall.com” when players finished a game.
The savetitanfall.com website was created to draw attention to Titanfall which is a multiplayer-only game that is unfortunately plagued by hackers. It has gotten so bad that gamers are generally unable to play except for a few weeks every once in a while. Respawn has reportedly turned a blind eye to the community even as the game continues to be sold on various platforms.

Players are being given this “Important Message” after finishing a match. pic.twitter.com/SGKvduO95p
— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) July 4, 2021

One thing worth noting is that the website currently mentions that it and the Discord servers listed aren’t related to the hacks. This might have been the result of people blaming the leading Titanfall Discord server, TF Remnant Fleet, for the hacks. Even the hacked message was changed to indicate that they aren’t directly affiliated to the website, so it might be an independent group who was really pissed with the Titanfall situation.

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It will be interesting to see if EA and Respawn have a plan to address hackers. As far as I know, Apex Legends are also plagued by hackers as it is, without the disgruntled players from Titanfall. I wonder if Apex Legends players will then launch an attack on the already broken Titanfall? Or is it not worth their time?

We’ve confirmed that matchmaking has been restored. We’re keeping an eye on things but believe the issue to be resolved.
Thanks for your patience, Legends.
— Respawn (@Respawn) July 5, 2021

Respawn has announced that they have released a server update to solve the issues in Apex Legends, and matchmaking was restored about two hours ago. I wonder if they managed to weed out all the aimbots and wallhackers running around in the game though.
Pokdepinion: “I can’t have fun, so you can’t too!”
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Kaspersky Launch Promo Campaign For The Predator Movie

Kaspersky is opening up a special promo for the upcoming movie The Predator where 7 winners will get a chance to go on a Hollywood FOX Tour worth more than $8000.
Kaspersky The Predator Promo
The promo, which saw the company collaborate with 20th Century Fox, is open for 11 countries in the APAC region that includes Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and also Vietnam.
A total of 7 winners from the mentioned countries will get an experience of a lifetime to go on a Hollywood FOX Tour which worth more than $8000 (around RM33,084).

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Well that’s not all. 1000 others will also walk away with Limited Edition Predator Gift sets worth $25 each. So all you’ve got to do is validate your Kaspersky License to join in on the lucky draw.
For more details, you can click on the link here to go to the promo page.
Pokdepinion: If you’re using Kaspersky, don’t forget to validate your product. Who knows, you might just win that trip to Hollywood.
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Kirin 980 Set For IFA 2018 Unveiling

It seems that HUAWEI’s upcoming chipset, the Kirin 980 is set for an unveiling at this year’s IFA 2018 awards. The announcement will take place tomorrow, 31st August 2018.
Kirin 980 To Be Unveiled At IFA 2018
The Chinese smartphone company will be attending this year’s IFA which begins tomorrow on 31st of August 2018 and runs until the 3rd of September. They are set to lift up the lids on their latest flagship processor, the Kirin 980.
Kirin 980 will be making its debut in the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro which is set for an October 2018 launch. Not to forget, upcoming flagship devices from HUAWEI’s sister company, honor, is sure to feature the upcoming SoC.

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With the new chipset, it will be HUAWEI’s first 7nm chipset and will be made up of four Cortex A76 cores as well as four Cortex A55 cores. It is set to come with a Mali GPU and a newer version of its NPU. Reportedly, the clock speed is said to be about 2.8GHz.
Pokdepinion: It will be interesting to see how HUAWEI new Kirin 970 chip will fare against Apple and Qualcomm on 7nm. Additionally, I’m quite curious on how much of an upgrade we shall see from it compared to the previous Kirin 970.
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Steam Summer Sale 2021 Dates Apparently Leaked

For PC gamers, we absolutely love it when there’s a sale on Steam. Well it seems that the upcoming Steam Summer Sale’s dates has been leaked in its entirety and it’s coming sooner than you’d expect.
Steam Summer Sale 2021
As is the case for every year, Steam doesn’t announce the sales date before it actually takes place. We all know how games can be gotten for dirt cheap during the Summer Sale and for those of you who are planning to purchase games, you may want to hold out for a little while longer as the release date is closer than you think.

Valve sent out an email to partners announcing the @Steam Summer Sale 2021 dates, confidentially of course.
Since the partners already leaked it, the sale will run from June 24th until July 8th.
⏰ https://t.co/FINTCW7BV2
— Steam Database (@SteamDB) April 27, 2021

According to a leak, it appears that the sale will begin on the 24th of June and ends at 8th of July. Referring to the tweet, it seems that the sale was supposed to start later but got pushed forward due to Steam partners reportedly leaking on the matter.

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As for now, do take the news with a pinch of salt as it is still not official. Should the leak be true however, we wouldn’t have to wait long now to enjoy massive discounts on the platform’s store.
For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
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Pokdepinion: Though it’s not concrete just yet, Steam Database has reportedly correctly on the date for this year’s Steam Lunar New Year Sale. Let’s hope that it is indeed true, I wouldn’t mind getting some new games to play now!
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AMD’s Raja Koduri: Vega not optimized for consumers; more consumer-oriented versions coming

There has been quite a lot of chatter on the interwebs as reviews of the AMD RX Vega cards are popping up left, right and center. AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group‘s leader, Raja Koduri, has taken to Twitter to set the record straight on the AMD Vega architecture.

One of the first things that he addressed was the Vega shortage which has led to retailers raising the prices of the cards and causing consumer dissatisfaction. We can see Raja telling everyone that these prike hikes are not AMD’s fault, and they are working on improving supply.

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Also, he touched on how initial reviews weren’t highlighting the wide performance/watt dynamic range of AMD RX Vega, instead opting to run them full throttle where they consume the most power, giving inherently poor performance/watt figures. Vega cards can be really frugal or a real power sucker depending on what you seek from it. Throwing it in Power save mode, you can effectively cut power consumption by 35% and yet only lose 4% of performance, as seen in TechReport’s benchmarks. In max performance mode, the performance-per-dollar ratio is better, but the performance/watt suffers as the cards are pushed to their limits. Any overclocker knows that the last bit of performance is very costly to extract out of any chip, needing huge increases in voltage and thus a big jump in power consumption, and it seems that AMD has decided to do it to make the AMD RX Vega cards look better in terms of performance.

Raja also mentioned that the Vega architecture’s Infinity Fabric is server optimized, very scalable and that there will be consumer optimized versions of it in the future. What this means is pretty much anyone’s guess, but at the moment it could be that the upcoming Vega Mobile GPUs could be the more consumer oriented applications of the Vega architecture.

infinity fabric and many of the new features some of which still need software enablement explain most of the delta
— Raja Koduri (@GFXChipTweeter) August 30, 2017

But wait, there’s more. Raja Koduri is hinting at the fact that aside from more optimized GPUs coming in the future, there are still features that are currently inaccessible on the AMD Vega GPUs, and will need to be enabled via software in the near future. Fine wine, anybody?
Pokdepinion: What do you think? Did reviewers not do a good job with the AMD RX Vega cards, or is Raja Koduri trying to talk his way out of something that just isn’t up to snuff? Let us know in the comments section!
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Maybank Shopee Credit Card Launched; Here’s What You Should Know

Today marks the launch of the new Maybank Shopee Credit Card, where it comes with several features as well as benefits to card owners.
Maybank Shopee Credit Card launch
Maybank Shopee Credit Card
The card was unveiled in a virtual launch today and as you might’ve guessed the launch is all thanks to the partnership between Shopee and Maybank.
With the Maybank Shopee Credit Card, you can ear Shopee Coins both online and offline usage. Cardholders will earn more rewards during Shopee’s selected campaigns and on the 28th of every month where they’ll receive 5x Shopee Coins for purchases on Shopee and 4x Shopee Coins for their dining, entertainment, and contactless payments when they use this card.

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Those who sign up for the card from the 1st to 7th of July will get Shopee vouchers worth RM500 when you spend RM300 within 45 days. To apply, you will need to be between the age of 21 and 65 and you can apply for the card starting from the 1st of July. You’ll also be required to have an annual income of RM36,000 to be eligible for the card.
As you’d expect, there’ll be plenty of deals and offers in this 7.7 Mid Year Sales, offering all Shopee users a 50% Coin Cashback as well as deals from as low as RM0.77 during upsized Shocking Sale on the 7th of July.
Not to forget, in conjunction with the partnership between Shopee and Maybank, they will be hosting the Shopee 7.7 Maybank Concert on the 6th of July from 9pm till midnight. You can catch the show at Shopee’s social media page as well as their YouTube channel.
For more details on the Maybank Shopee Credit Card, you can head to the link right here.
Pokdepinion: I mean if you’re already a Maybank user and an avid Shopee shopper, why not right?
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HUAWEI Y9s Review — The Full Experience?

The HUAWEI Y9 family is HUAWEI’s answer to the many budget mid-range offerings from almost every other brand in the market. The HUAWEI Y9 (2019) was okay, the HUAWEI Y9 Prime was a bit lackluster, but today we will be looking at the latest addition to the family, the HUAWEI Y9s which comes with a heavily upgraded camera. There are now 48 million pixels to play with. Interested?
Unboxing

The unit that we’ve received is the China version, so it’s a bit different to the ones that you will get here in Malaysia. Here are the things that are inside:
ChargerUSB Type-C cableSIM Ejector pinHandsfree / Earphone (3.5mm connector)The phone itself
It’s rather uncommon to find free earphones included with smartphones. These might not be the best you have seen, but at least HUAWEI included them in the box.

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Appearance

On the front, the HUAWEI Y9s sports a big 6.59″ FullView display and takes away the need for a notch by implementing a pop up camera.

You’ll find the power button/fingerprint sensor located at the right hand side as well as the phone’s volume rockers. A side-mounted fingerprint scanner is rather uncommon in this price range, so this is nice to see.

At the bottom, we find a USB-C port which makes charging a bit more convenient. There’s also a much-missed 3.5mm jack.

Over at the back, we see that HUAWEI has gone with plastic instead of glass. Unfortunately, we received the Midnight Black color variant instead of the decidedly prettier Breathing Crystal. There’s some frosting effect which improves the aesthetics here just so that it doesn’t look too bland.
HUAWEI Y9s Specifications
CPU:Kirin 710F (4 x Cortex-A73 @ 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.7 GHz), 12nm FinFETGPU:Mali-G51 MP4 @ 650 MHzRAM:6GBDisplay:6.59″ FHD+ (2340 x 1080), IPS LCD, 91% screen-to-body ratioStorage:128GB UFS 2.1 (expandable via microSD up to 512GB)Camera:Main Camera(s)48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX582 + 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide angle camera + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensorAIS Super Night Mode, 3D Portrait Lighting, AI PortraitFront Camera16MP f/2.2AI Beauty, 3D Portrait LightingOS:EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 PieConnectivity:LTE Band 1/3/7/8/20/38/40/41Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz)Bluetooth 4.2SIM:Dual SIM (hybrid dual SIM)Battery:Li-Po 4000 mAh (non-removable)10W charging (USB-C)Dimensions:163.1 x 77.2 x 8.8 mmWeight:206gIngress protection:N/A
Performance

The Kirin 710F is definitely showing its age in Antutu v8, with the more recent chipsets serving up a much more impressive showing. With that said, it’s still a decent chipset in the lower mid-range market.

3DMark tests the GPU performance, and this is where we see most Kirin chipsets falter. The HUAWEI Y9s is no different.

CPU performance is notably more impressive, keeping up well with the more recent chipsets too.

The combination of a weak CPU and GPU put the HUAWEI Y9s in the bottom rung, with it coming in below the HONOR 9X too.

Battery life is another area where the HUAWEI Y9s comes behind the HONOR 9X for no reason. With everything similar, the difference in results is pretty weird.

As for my real life usage, the battery actually performed a lot better than the benchmark. You can see that I started from 1am till 9pm that I still had 61% of juice left on the device. Usage includes your usual social media apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. In a 30 minute charging period, I was able to charge from 32% to 41%, which I think is definitely something that could be improved upon.

As for gaming, there’s not much that you can tweak on Call of Duty Mobile in terms of graphics, due to the HUAWEI Y9s’ limited GPU performance. Despite that, you can rest assured that the temperature of the phone isn’t anything to worry about as it barely warmed up over 30 minutes of gameplay.
User Experience

I’m not going to lie, I felt refreshed when I looked at the phone? The reason? Well it’s been quite some time since I’ve handled one that doesn’t come with a notch (even waterdrop counts!).
The HUAWEI Y9s feels good in my hands. Though some may find a side fingerprint scanner uncomfortable, the one here feels natural within my finger’s reach, allowing me to unlock the phone without performing any finger gymnastics. This is probably the main reason to pick the HUAWEI Y9s over offerings from the other brands.
Thanks to the big 6.59″ viewing area and no notch getting in the way, you’ll definitely enjoy your content even more. Colors aren’t as vivid as what you would get from an OLED display, but it’s serviceable.

With the phone’s EMUI 9.1, you won’t be missing out any of today’s features such as navigation gestures and video ringtones, to name a few.

The camera UI is also similar to other HUAWEI and HONOR smartphones. There’s updates as well such as the Super Night Mode, where the camera will detect low light background and enable Night Mode itself. All you need to do is turn on the AI feature.

The HUAWEI Y9s’ low light shots can look soft with an overly aggressive noise reduction algorithm. However you can slightly improve the quality with its Night Mode, bringing it closer to the competition. Even in good lighting, there’s not much to shout about here but hey, the results are still more than acceptable for these social media postings. Details are decent but we can see it fall behind with its rather limited dynamic range.
Full-sized camera samples can be viewed here.
Conclusion

HUAWEI is asking for RM999 for the HUAWEI Y9s. That may seem slightly on the higher side of things but they are offering a free HUAWEI Band 4 to go along with the device to sweeten the deal. It’s battery life is surprisingly good too, which will make for a great secondary device. Having a notch-less display is cool, as is the side-mounted fingerprint scanner, both being somewhat of a rarity in this price segment. The only downer is its chipset and its camera performance, which are quite weak compared to the current crop of mid-range devices.
Shout out to HUAWEI Malaysia for providing us the HUAWEI Y9s for review.
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TP-Link announces the TP-Link Archer C5400X – TP-Link’s fastest and most powerful Wi-Fi router to date

TP-Link today introduced the AC5400 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router TP-Link Archer C5400X, the world’s first 1.8GHz 64-bit quad-core router. The TP-Link Archer C5400X is powered by a low-powered 28nm Broadcom Cortex-A53 chip, which coordinates every process to reduce transmission delay, supporting even more devices and high-speed applications simultaneously for a smooth, stable Wi-Fi network for everyone, all at once.
With the gold standard of wireless connectivity, AC5400 Tri-Band, it transmits three separate wireless bands for combined speeds of up to 5334Mbps: 1000Mbps 2.4GHz band for web browsing and two 2167Mbps 5GHz bands for more demanding content such as 4K streaming and gaming.

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For security, TP-Link Archer C5400X includes a separate Security Processing Unit to handle all encryption and decryption of your VPN packets. This dedicated SPU improves decryption and encryption speeds, while keeping the main SoC free to handle other tasks. Benefit from all the security you could ever need with no sacrifice on network performance.
Aside from robust Wi-Fi, the TP-Link Archer C5400X comes with 16GB of internal storage,  perfect to hold a backup of your most important files, protected within your network’s firewall.
The TP-Link Archer C5400X allows you to setup the router on your smartphone through a Bluetooth connection without the need for an initial Wi-Fi connection and password that will get disconnected. All this can be done with TP-Link’s free Tether app. This is the first TP_Link router capable of this.

The TP-Link Archer C5400X was unveiled at MWC 2017, Barcelona and will be available for retail by this summer. Pricing for the TP-Link Archer C5400X is still unknown.
Pokdepinion: The price is definitely not going cheap but the design of the TP-Link Archer C5400X looks very aggressive!
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MultiVersus To Shut Down Online Servers, But Not Completely

MultiVersus, the well-received free-to-play platform fighter, will be shutting down its online servers in 90 days to improve the game and create new content. Read on for more details on the shutdown and what to expect from the game’s full launch in early 2024.
MultiVersus to Shut Down Online Servers, Game Director Confirms

MultiVersus, the free-to-play platform fighter, will be shutting down its online servers on 25th June 2023, marking the end of its open beta phase. In an update video, Game Director Tony Huynh confirmed that the development team will be putting all of their focus on improving the game and creating new content to gear up for a strong full launch in early 2024. While the online servers will be offline, players will still have access to training mode as well as offline matches. All unlocked cosmetics and items will remain available when the game returns for its full launch.
During its open beta phase, MultiVersus amassed over 150,000 concurrent players on Steam, but the game’s player count has drastically decreased over time, suffering a 99% drop over the course of eight months. The reason behind the decline is unknown, with speculation ranging from the output of new characters slowing down over time to the game’s overcentralizing combo-heavy metagame.

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In the update video, Huynh promised that the game’s full launch will bring improvements in netcode, progression, and matchmaking, as well as new characters, maps, and modes. With this move, the development team aims to place MultiVersus in its most appealing state possible for its full launch in 2024.
Although the exact cause behind the decline of MultiVersus’ player count remains unclear, the development team’s decision to shut down the online servers for a period to focus on improving the game is a promising move. Fans of the game will have to wait until early 2024 for its full launch, but the improvements and new content being promised should make the wait worthwhile.
Source
Pokdepinion: It was fun to play at first but it got stale relatively fast since there’s a hard limit of 4 players per game, and there’s nothing much else you can do. Hopefully they will add a bunch of new game modes and an 8-player option for more chaos.
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HUAWEI nova 8i Review – The phone with youthful vigour

The HUAWEI nova series is a line that prides itself as being a line made for young people and has been their “mantra” since day one. For the most part, the HUAWEI nova series has been pretty great at that. Does the new HUAWEI nova 8i have what it takes to carry on that legacy? Read on to find out.
Appearance

The massive rear camera at the back is the first thing you’ll notice about the HUAWEI nova 8i. The rear circular camera module houses four different types of camera lenses that includes a 64MP wide camera lens, an 8MP ultra-wide camera lens, a 2MP macro camera lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The back of the device features a nice and glossy plastic back that curves at the edges. Say what you want about the back being plastic but it sure looks good.

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Turning the HUAWEI nova 8i over you will see the large 6.67-inch LCD screen as well as a pill-shaped selfie camera placed at the top left of the screen. The screen also comes with minimal bezels all around apart from the substantial sized chin situated at the bottom.

At the top of the device, you will find the glorious 3.5mm headphone jack, the phone receiver and a lone microphone. At the bottom, you can see the Type-C port with the SIM tray as well as a speaker grille on either side. The side of the HUAWEI nova 8i sits the volume rocker as well as the power button that also doubles as a physical fingerprint sensor.
HUAWEI nova 8i Specifications

CPU
Qualcomm SM6115 Snapdragon 662 Octa-core (4×2.0GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4×1.8GHz Kryo 260 Silver) 11nm

GPU
Adreno 610

Memory
8GB

Storage
128GB (expandable via microSD)

Display
6.67-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2376) LCD display

Rear Camera
64MP f/1.9 wide, PDAF
8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide
2MP f/2.4 macro
2MP f/2.4 depth
LED flash, Panorama, HDR

Selfie camera
16MP f/2.0 wide
HDR

Connectivity
LTE FDD: Bands 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 20 / 28 / 38 / 40 / 41
WCDMA: Bands 1 / 5 / 8
GSM: Bands 2 / 3 / 5 / 8 (850 / 900 / 1,800 / 1,900 MHz)
Dual SIM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz & 5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.0
USB Type-C

Battery
4300mAh
66W HUAWEI SuperCharge

Dimensions
161.85 x 74.7 x 8.58mm

Weight
190g

Ingress protection
N/A

Performance
We put the HUAWEI nova 8i through its paces with benchmarking software like as 3DMark, PCMark, Geekbench, and Antutu. Here’s how the tests turned out.

As you can see from the Antutu V9 scores, the HUAWEI nova 8i has a lower score when compared to the OPPO A74 which uses the same Snapdragon 662 chipset. The Snapdragon 662 is not a hugely powerful SoC so the lower score is to be expected here.

Moving on to the Geekbench test, you can see that the HUAWEI nova 8i does not score that high either overall although the device did edge out the other Snapdragon 662 device’s multi core score.

The 3DMark score tells a similar story here. The HUAWEI nova 8i scores for Sling Shot, Sling Shot Extreme and Wild Life Unlimited are pretty low across the board when compared with the other smartphones on the list.

In our PCMark Work 2.0 performance test, the HUAWEI nova 8i came in last once more. I’m starting to notice a pattern here.

Not everything is bad though as the HUAWEI nova 8i scored pretty well with our battery test. Despite having the smallest battery capacity compared to the other phones on the list, the nova 8i managed to last longer than some devices with larger batteries. The phone managed to last a cool 12 hours and 25 minutes during our test.
As for real-time usage, the phone managed to last me around two days of normal to heavy use which is pretty decent. I mostly used the phone to play games like Asphalt 9 and PPSSPP, as well as watch a little YouTube and a lot of Netflix, as well as check Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram.
User Experience

The HUAWEI nova 8i is quite the looker in terms of the design of the smartphone particularly the rear cameras. It feels quite comfortable in the hand though because of the sheer size of it, the HUAWEI nova 8i is not the best for one-handed uses. Then again, that’s a problem faced by many other smartphones in the market today.
The placement of the buttons is also very good and ergonomic. I experienced no issues or discomfort when pressing the buttons despite using a relatively large device like this. Though, I have to say I am not a fan of the integration of the fingerprint sensor with the power button. I can’t tell you how many times I unlock the phone when my thumb accidentally brushes against the sensor. It got so annoying that I turned biometric unlock off and just relied on a screen pattern.

The 6.67-inch display on the HUAWEI nova 8i is actually pretty great even though it’s only an LCD screen. Colours are quite vibrant and punchy. Sure, the blacks can never get as deep as AMOLED screens but for general use like on YouTube or Netflix, the HUAWEI nova 8i works just fine. That is unless you’re a huge stickler for the blackest black colours. The speakers are adequate. They can get pretty loud but as with many other phone speakers, sounds get distorted and break when you turn the volume up all the way.

I do notice that the selfie camera on the HUAWEI nova 8i tends to give off a slight ‘shadow effect’ around the cutout. It’s especially noticeable when the phone has something white or bright playing on-screen but for normal day-to-day use, you wouldn’t really notice it.

The advertisements are a little excessive
On the software front, the HUAWEI nova 8i uses EMUI 11.0 that is based on Android 11 and is virtually identical to pretty every other HUAWEI smartphone bar those that are on HarmonyOS. The design is colourful and fairly simple to navigate. If I have one complaint about EMUI, it’s that it is ridiculously full of advertisements and bloatware. The ads are not just in certain apps but they’re also in app folders and some app folders are nothing but advertisements of ads that HUAWEI recommends that you download.

The camera software’s user interface is simple and easy to use. You can find many different modes included with the camera that ranges from a Normal photo mode, a Beauty mode, an Aperture mode, a Pro mode, a Night mode and a Panoramic mode. There is also a Time-lapse mode, a High-res mode as well as a Super Macro mode. It’s also worth noting that the camera app doesn’t let you apply custom watermarks to your photographs.

The camera performance of the HUAWEI nova 8i won’t win you any awards but for all intents and purposes, it’s perfectly fine. The colours can be a bit of a hit-and-miss at times with some pictures looking weirdly washed out and completely flat while at other times, pictures taken look vibrant and beautiful. Though generally, you can capture really good photos with the nova 8i especially when you’re in well-lit environments.

The phone does not do well under low-light situations with pictures looking quite muddy with not a lot of detail. Turning on Night mode doesn’t really help as it just ramps up the photo’s exposure which in turn make photos look brighter at the expense of details in the taken photo.
          Super Macro mode            Normal mode
          Beauty mode turned on            beauty mode turned off
Super Macro mode doesn’t do all that well either. Pictures become desaturated and weirdly enough, less detailed. You’re better off taking normal photos and cropping that. Selfies look pretty great on the nova 8i’s 16MP camera with good details and colours. Should definitely be good enough to use for social media or video calls.

Gaming on the HUAWEI nova 8i is a decent experience provided that you lower your expectations. You can definitely play something like Genshin Impact on the nova 8i but you’ll have to toggle the graphics options to the lowest settings seeing that you’re playing on a Snapdragon 662 device.
You can check out the full resolution pictures taken on the HUAWEI nova 8i right here.
HUAWEI nova 8i Verdict

Back to the question of whether the HUAWEI nova 8i is capable of carrying the legacy set by the devices that came before it. I would say, yes. The HUAWEI nova 8i is a pretty great device with the highlights being its attractive design, its great screen, its decent set of cameras and its massive battery life. All great features for any young person to use for their day-to-day needs. The device retails for RM1,299 and is available on the HUAWEI Online Store as well as the official HUAWEI stores on Shopee and Lazada.
A huge thank you to HUAWEI Malaysia for providing us with this HUAWEI nova 8i unit for our review.
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Pokemon GO Malaysia not coming today

With rumors of Pokemon GO Malaysia coming today spread all over Facebook like this:

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Wannabe trainers in Malaysia are so excited to get their hands on the game officially. Sorry to burst your bubbles but the official statement from representatives of Niantic Labs said that there aren’t any announced plans for the game to be available officially in countries beyond New Zealand, Australia, US and Germany at the moment.
The full statement, as a reply to IGN SEA‘s enquiry, is as follows:
“The team is currently heads down working on the game. We do not have any announced plans for countries beyond New Zealand, Australia, US and Germany at the moment.”
Chris Kramer, Vice President
fortyseven communications
The statement is over 10 hours old now, so there may be a glimmer of hope. But being realistic, it seems that Malaysian trainers will just have to wait a bit longer to catch’em all then. You can download the APK to install it on your phone, but do beware of unscrupulous third-party sources including malware in the package.
Meanwhile, Digi has put out a teaser for Pokemon GO for you to sharpen your skills.

Via: NasiLemakTech

Pokdepinion: Just be careful when you are out there hunting Pokemon, either officially or with the unofficial APK.
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Sony Xperia 5 Coming Soon To Malaysia At RM3,399 — Early Birds Get Free Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Worth RM1,159

Sony welcomes the Xperia 5 smartphone, the mini version of the Xperia 1 and it will be coming to Malaysia this 1 November 2019.
As mentioned, the Xperia 5 comes in a smaller form but offers the same 21:9 CinemaWide display that its sibling offers.
It’s protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 6, both front and back and comes with an IP65/IP68 dust/water resistant rating for protection.

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In terms of the cameras, the phone features BIONZ X for mobile and triple rear cameras, consisting of a 12MP main camera, 12MP telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultrawide shooter. Adding to that, it seems that they’ve improved on the Eye AF2 from the Xperia 1 and now you are able to take continuous burst shots at up to 10 fps AF/AE tracking.

Other specifications include a 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED display, a Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB RAM that’s paired with 128GB of internal storage, and a 3140mAh battery that comes with an 18W fast charger.
Coming in Blue, Red, Black, and Grey color variants, you can get the Sony Xperia 5 at the price of RM3,399 at authorized Sony Stores. They’ve also included a special early bird promotion for the phone where you can get a free WH-H900N h.ear on 2 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones, which is worth RM1,159 (while stocks last). To get them, you can make your purchase starting from the 1st of November 2019.
Pokdepinion: Not really an attractive price but that free wireless headphone deal though…
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64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – The Cutest Storage Solution

Unboxing the Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – Box

The Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive comes in a rather unique packaging. It resembles a vitamin bottle with the rabbit being display prominently. You don’t open it from the cap at the top but by pulling the bottle apart instead, which reveals that it separates into two halves. Apart from the sponge and plastic bits holding up the flash drive, all you can find inside is:
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – The flash drive itself

The Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive itself

Specifications

Capacity
64GB

Interface
USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A

NAND Type
MLC

Rated speed
Sequential:
Read: Up to 200MB/s Write: Up to 20MB/s

Dimensions
42.6 mm x 25.01 mm x 35.42 mm

Weight
5g

Included accessories
None

Warranty
5 years

Performance
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – CrystalDiskMark
Starting off our benchmark suite with CrystalDiskMark, you can see that the speeds on the Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive isn’t anything spectacular. The speeds would remind you of a standard 7200RPM HDD, although it’s slightly faster and slower in certain areas. It’s worth noting that speeds can get abysmally slow if you’re transferring a lot of small files, though read speeds are generally fine.
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – Anvil’s Storage Utilities
A similar pattern can be seen in Anvil’s Storage Utilities, where the read speeds are generally good but write speeds can get very sluggish. If you plan on storing a lot of photos in this flash drive, it will take a while to fully transfer depending on how many pictures you’re moving.

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64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – ATTO Disk Benchmark
Since AS SSD takes way too long to finish given it’s just a USB 3.2 Gen 1 flash drive, I decided to give the ATTO Disk Benchmark a try so you guys get a clearer idea of its performance. Here, it looks pretty good but the higher speeds occur as it’s easier to larger files that are fewer in number rather than small files in larger numbers.
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – Cost per GB
Lastly, the cost per GB of the Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive shows that it’s not exactly cheap. However, it’s a novelty item so you’re paying for the design more than anything else. Furthermore, keep in mind that this is a flash drive so you can’t exactly compare it to an internal SSD or HDD directly. With that being said, we’re just doing this to give you a clearer idea in case it really matters to you.
Looking for a colourful RAM to spice up your desktop PC? Check out our Kingston FURY RENEGADER DDR5 RGB review by clicking right here.
Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Verdict
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review
If you’re looking to buy the Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive, chances are that you’re not looking for a super speedy storage solution. Likely, you’re looking for a storage solution that can be effortlessly carried around with you in case a sudden need arises, like small backups, media sharing or Windows installation / recovery media. This can do just that and look cute while doing it, which is always a plus. It definitely makes for a good gift if you know someone who likes cute stuff but enjoy a touch of practicality as well.
64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive Review – Takes up a bit more space
Something you should keep note is that given the design of the flash drive, it might end up blocking the USB port next to it if there’s no spacing between ports. This shouldn’t be a problem if you’re plugging it in the front I/O on desktops and a good number of laptops. At the end of our 64GB Kingston Mini Rabbit USB Flash Drive review, I award this flash drive with our Silver Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Kingston for sending us this flash drive in celebration of Lunar New Year.
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Highlight: PSVR Exclusive “The Inpatient”; Malaysian Retail Price and Release Date Confirmed

Not enough games to play on the PlayStation VR? Look forward to this upcoming PSVR exclusive title “The Inpatient”. Malaysia retail price & release inside.
Are you one of the many people that adopted the PlayStation VR? Are you looking for another game aside from Farpoint VR with its gun controller? Perhaps this game might pique your interest. It’s a PSVR exclusive game.
Highlight: PSVR Exclusive “The Inpatient”

The folks over at Sony Interactive Entertainment Singapore has announced that the The Inpatient will be available in Blu-ray Disc and Digital Download format. The game will include English, Traditional Chinese, and Korean language options and will be available starting 22nd November 2017.

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The retail price in Malaysia for The Inpatient will be set at RM159 for the Blu-Ray version while the digital copy will be available for the price of RM149. The pre-order for the Digital version starts today and users who pre-order this game will get 4 avatars.

The Inpatient Synopsis
The Inpatient is a brand new horror VR game from Supermassive Games. The game is set in the Blackwood Sanatorium, over 60 years prior to Until Dawn. With deep immersion that places YOU in the game, you take on the role of an amnesiac inpatient. Over the course of the game you must find out who you are and why you are in the Sanatorium. With a branching narrative, and different endings; every choice you make can drastically affect the way the game plays out.
Are you excited yet? If you’re looking forward to the game, be sure to mark 22nd November 2017 on your calendars as that’s when the game will be released. If you’re interested to pre-order the digital copy from the PS Store, click here or click the button just below:
Pre-Order The Inpatient Here!

Pokdepinion: Well, if you’re looking for a reason to stop your PSVR headsets from collecting dust, you might just have a reason soon. The game looks promising, and we might just review the game ourselves. Stay tuned :)
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No, the POCO F3 GT is not available in Malaysia yet

Earlier this week, POCO published a teaser regarding the POCO F3, which will be announced during the POCO M4 Pro 5G‘s online launch event. Many of us were hoping that we would be seeing the POCO F3 GT making its way to our shores. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Instead, POCO announced a new color option for the POCO F3, Moonlight Silver.
POCO F3 Moonlight Silver now available

The POCO F3 in Moonlight Silver marks the fourth color option for the POCO flagship. POCO claims that the new color option is to celebrate their last launch of the year, as well as their success throughout 2021. Aside from the new color, there’s no other difference. POCO will be offering the POCO F3 Moonlight Silver across multiple platforms, starting from €299 (~RM1440) for the 6GB variant.

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Our local pricing should be more affordable, and you can refer to the following table for the specs and pricing of the POCO F3 in Malaysia.
POCO F3 Specs and Price in Malaysia

Chipset
Snapdragon 870, octa-core @ up to 3.2GHz
7nm FinFET

RAM
Up to 8GB LPDDR5

Storage
Up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage

Display
6.67″ FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED DotDisplay
1300 nit peak brightness, True Tone, 8-bit, HDR10+, MEMC

Rear Camera
48MP f/1.79, Sony IMX582
8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide
5MP telephoto macro
Up to 4K30 video recording

Selfie Camera
20MP selfie camera

Battery
4520mAh Li-ion battery
33W fast charging
USB-PD 3.0 / QuickCharge 3+

Dimensions
163.7 x 76.4 x 7.8 mm

Weight
196g

Price
6GB+128GB: RM1399
8GB+256GB: RM1699

POCO F3 11.11 Sale

This 11.11, you can get the POCO F3 from just RM1299 for the 6GB+128GB option, while the 8GB+256GB version will be available for just RM1499. The higher-specced version of the POCO F3 already has the Moonlight Silver option listed, although it is currently unavailable for purchase. It is not clear whether the POCO F3 Moonlight Silver will be available this 11.11. You can check it out via the links below:
POCO F3 (6GB+128GB), Shopee
POCO F3 (8GB+256GB), Shopee
Pokdepinion: Oh well, let’s wait for the POCO F4 GT, if it ever happens.
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