ASUS ZenBook Flip S Review (UX370UA); It really is Lightweight & Limitless!

Introduction

In June earlier this year, ASUS announced the availability of their fresh line-up of ZenBook which included the ASUS ZenBook Flip S as one of the devices. This machine attracted enough attention for us because we have been closely monitoring the complete converters since our last review of the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX360UA which we did last year.
Please take note that the unit that we have in our hands is an engineering unit by ASUS HQ in Taiwan, so there is no unboxing included and the data might not be as accurate as the final version in the market.

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Appearance
I really love convertible notebooks that gives me more than just, well, notebooks. Be it detachable tablets or 360° flipping device like the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. What interests me is that these machines have to undergo very sturdy manufacturing process to be able to deliver their functionalities at their best. For flipping devices like the ASUS ZenBook Flip S, the challenge is always on the hinge. If it’s too loose, retaining its position becomes a nightmare. If it’s too tight, the connecting strip gets crushed too soon and the display might get spoilt due to excessive pressure. Finding the perfect balance is the key in having the ultimate convertible notebook.

Let’s begin with the outlook of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. ASUS has retained the iconic concentric circles design on the cover of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S, which is no longer alien to us since the UX303 ultrabook days. This does not need to change, if you ask me as it definitely graces the ASUS ZenBook Flip S, making it look premium. The concentric circle design is achieved using 40 painstaking sanding and polishing process, proving ASUS’ commitment in delivering without cutting corners. Take note though, that the concentric circle design is only available on the royal blue version. The gold ASUS emblem adds a beautiful finishing. Simplicity at its best! The back is much simpler with only the ErgoLift hinges. No heat dissipation vents, no buttons, no ports.

The 15-holes heat vent has been shifted to the left of the unit. This is seated right in the middle of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. There is also a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm aux jack for plugging your headphones along with power notification LED that shows you the charging or battery low notification.

On the right side of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S, we another USB Type-C port. This is followed by Microsoft Windows Hello supported fingerprint sensor. Next to it is the operation LED, volume rocker and power button. ASUS has put these on the side for pretty obvious reasons, which I’ll share later on.

At the bottom, you can see four extended rubber feet that serves both as the grip, as well as anti-scratch protection when the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is flipped into tablet mode. ASUS has thrown in 2 Harman Kardon-certified speakers that shyly hid underneath the netting.

Lift open the ASUS ZenBook Flip S and you will be awed with some very beautiful details that ASUS has put into the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. Much like the ASUS ZenBook 3, the blue and gold color combination has been adopted by the new ASUS ZenBook series too, and the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is no outcast. The sides of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S has been diamond-cut with precision and polished with gold to give its stunning looks. These are achieved by using dual-phase anodizing process. The full-size chiclet keyboard has gold letters etched to it and are backlit. The keyboard has an impressive 1.0mm key travel with 19.85mm key pitch that makes you wonder, how did ASUS actually cramp it in this super slim machine in the first place. The touchpad incorporates precision touchpad (PTP) technology and ASUS Smart Gesture support that allows up to four-finger gestures in Windows 10. It has a glass covering for smooth control, and has palm-rejection and handwriting support for maximum flexibility and usability.

Now let me mention this. While having a multi-farious-fund of features densely packed into the machine, ASUS has exquisitely crafted this masterpiece using a single block aluminium to preserve the 10.9mm thin profile with about 1.1kg weight. It also uses aerospace-grade aluminium to keep the weight lighter than standard laptop alloy, but at the same time it’s about 50% stronger. The display itself is covered with Corning Gorilla glass, which is much more resistant to drop-damage than normal glass.
Specifications

CPU
Intel Core i7-7500U
2.7GHz 2C/4T with Turbo Boost (up to 3.5GHz) and 4MB cache

RAM
16GB 2133MHz LPDDR3

GPU
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 620

Storage
512GB PCIe Gen3 x4 (NVMe)

Display
13.3″ LED-backlit FHD (1920×1080) / 60Hz / wide 100% sRGB color gamut / 178° wide-view / Corning Gorilla Glass / 80% screen-to-body ratio

Audio
2-speaker ASUS SonicMaster Premium stereo audio system with surround-sound effects
surround-sound effects
Harman Kardon-certified
Smart amplifier for maximum audio performance
Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support
3.5mm headphone jack

Connectivity & Interfaces
802.11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.1
2 x USB3.1 Gen1 USB Type-C

Camera
VGA Web Camera

Power
Up to 11.5 hours battery life
39Wh 2-cell lithium-polymer battery
Fast-charge technology: 60% in 49 mins
45W USB-C™ power adapter
(Output: 19V DC, A, 45W)
(Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal)

Dimensions
Height: 1.09 cm (0.43 inches)
Width: 31.3 cm (12.32 inches)
Depth: 21.8 cm (8.58 inches)

Weight
1.1kg (2.42 lbs)

Performance
The specifications looks very interesting indeed. But does the ASUS ZenBook Flip S has what it takes to deliver the performance adequately? Our first test begins with CrystalDiskMark where we run sequential and random blocks read/write tests. The results are pretty interesting.

Compared to its predecessor, the UX360UA, the ASUS ZenBook Flip S has a much better storage speed. In fact, our results clocked 3 times faster than the previous generation ZenBook Flip! Why wouldn’t it? Under the hood, we have a 512GB PCIe Gen3 x4 type SSD with NVMe interface made by Samsung. Your storage is definitely not going to be a bottleneck on the ASUS ZenBook Flip S.

Moving on, we run the Cinebench R15 benchmark test to push the OpenGL and CPU. We managed to clock 38.97fps on the OpenGL and 311 on the CPU. It seems like the Dual Core processor manages to live up to deliver a punch while retaining solid temperatures under load even in confined space!

Finally, we run our Unigine Heaven Benchmark test. I’ve set the test at Extreme settings using DirectX 11 at 1600 x 900 resolution – a standard that we have been using for convertible notebooks. Tesselation and Stereo 3D has been disabled, while anti-aliasing has been set to 8X. Take it this way, this is a rather tough test for such a timid machine, but if you’re going to be spending the amount ASUS is asking for it, it better be able to at least run some fun time notebook gaming.
User Experience
The first experience that you would have with the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is the fingerprint sensor which is located on the right side. At first I thought it would be awkward to use it, given the fact that you will have to fiddle your fingers around or extend your neck to locate the sensor just to unlock the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. However, to my surprise, it took very little effort to realize and memorize the location of the sensor, and after a while using it, it just, works! Windows Hello is pretty snappy already, making unlocking the ASUS ZenBook Flip S a breeze!

Let’s move on to the keyboard. Despite being such a slim machine, the ASUS ZenBook Flip S has a full-size backlit keyboard. The letters have been etched in gold to complete the outlook. What is rather interesting is the fact that ASUS has managed to cramp in the keyboard that has 1.0mm key travel, making typing still fun. The touchpad itself is very intuitive. Because it has palm rejection, you don’t really have to worry about accidental clicks when typing on the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. Of course, if typing is not what you desire today, turn the ASUS ZenBook Flip S all the way around and you have a fully portable Windows 10 based tablet in your hands.

Which will make you wonder, how frequently can you really turn the ASUS ZenBook Flip S into notebook and tablet, back and forth? Well, ASUS has done extensive tests of over 20,000 cycles to ensure this hinge can last. The ErgoLift hinge does it’s job perfectly too! It performs stepless action and holds the ASUS ZenBook Flip S in any position that you desire, pretty seamlessly even if you have to set it as low as the image below.

Yup, the ErgoLift is definitely a huge improvement from its predecessor! Thanks to its aerograde aluminium body, flipping it will not hurt the display either. Although the display is insanely thin, it’s sturdy! So sturdy, you can just push one side of the display and the other side will not bend! Flimsy is definitely NOT the word to describe the build quality that ASUS has poured into the ASUS ZenBook Flip S!
ASUS has located two USB Type-C ports on the ASUS ZenBook Flip S which is really convenient for charging purposes. When using this convertible machine, you never know which side of the device are you holding at a given time, so having one port on each side definitely has its perks! But that’s the only reason why ASUS has incorporated these two ports. The ASUS ZenBook Flip S is capable of churning out its display to TWO 4K monitors via this port. While Type-C capable monitors are still not a common sight in the tech scene, this will eventually change anyway, making the ASUS ZenBook Flip S rather future proof. Just bear in mind, it’s a USB 3.1 Type-C and not Thunderbolt certified, so your max speeds are going to be capped at 5Gbps.

Which leads me to the next part, the volume rocker. Now, there is an awkward situation with the volume rocker. When the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is converted into tablet mode, it’s all perfect and fine. However, when using it in notebook mode, the volume rocker becomes inverted where the top button becomes Vol Down and the bottom one becomes Vol Up. Maybe ASUS assumes that you should rather use the keyboard to alter the volume levels since you have the keyboard in the notebook mode, but I think if these buttons could be automatically inverted when switched to notebook mode, it would definitely improve the user experience.
Notice the position of the heat vent
When using the ASUS ZenBook Flip S as a notebook, you will feel that it’s rather cool. However, things change when using it in tablet mode as the vents blow heat directly onto your palm. This is prominent if you hold the tablet with your left hand. If you are a leftie, I suppose this doesn’t affect you. A workaround to this is to use the tablet upside down with the hinges pointing upwards.
This solves the heat problem
The ASUS ZenBook Flip S is a powerful machine in its class. It’s definite that heat is something that needs to be sorted out. However, surprisingly enough, the fan is highly capable of pushing out all the heat, leaving the machine pretty cool even on continuous high loads. The fan itself is not noticeably noisy unless you are sitting in a pitch silent room.
Conclusion
The ASUS ZenBook Flip S is a powerful beast packaged in a very beautiful enclosure. The build quality is remarkable, the performance is adequate and the looks definitely makes a fashion statement. Gone are the days of bland simple black notebooks. Say goodbye to bulky and heavy laptops and embrace one of these. You will never know how awesome these are, until you own one! My only hesitation to give it any higher score was the fact that this is definitely not a machine that I could afford – as much as I badly want it!

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Nintendo Switch YouTube App May Be Coming This Week

❓Rumeur – L’application YouTube devrait arriver prochainement sur Nintendo Switch, plus précisément le 8 novembre si on en croit le site de Nintendo America. pic.twitter.com/NgvBhDJu1G
— NintendHOME (@NintendHOME) November 3, 2018

The Nintendo Switch is a very handy device. At its core, it’s a portable gaming device with network capabilities that can easily be docked to play at home. One of the major drawbacks on it is the lack of YouTube support, which is commonly supported for smartphones and similar devices as a standalone app that can be downloaded.
However, that may no longer be an issue soon as the Nintendo Switch YouTube app is said to be in the works. While many people have heard about its impending arrival, sources have claimed that the Nintendo Switch YouTube app may be coming as soon as this week, on 8th November 2018. That date may differ slightly depending on time zones.

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It’s being said that users have found suggestions for a Nintendo Switch YouTube app which will be available on 8th November 2018. While you can’t visit the product page for it, the listing itself lends huge credibility towards its impending release. No longer will people be stuck with just Hulu or Niconico for their video fix on the platform.
It’s no secret that Google wants YouTube to be synonymous with video / video streaming so such a move can’t be entirely ruled out. Whether it’s coming this week or perhaps sometime later, the Nintendo Switch YouTube app will certainly make the console more attractive for a wider audience who may not be serious gamers themselves.
Source: Engadget
Pokdepinion: I personally feel like the Nintendo Switch YouTube app is the only thing missing for the system itself to be a true multimedia powerhouse. Sure, I can use my phone but I’d honestly rather use the Switch for that if I could.
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Google enforces 2 years of security patches for Android smartphones — no more worries about outdated OS?

Google releases security patches every month, but few manufacturers actually push them out to devices. Google will be enforcing that OEMs deliver updates to their popular devices at least once every three months.
According to confidential documents procured by The Verge, OEMs are now required to deliver security patches within 90 days to devices to every device that has more than 100 000 users. That gives manufacturers some leeway, as in they won’t have to spend extra resources supporting unpopular devices and can focus on the more popular ones.
Any device which was launched after 31st January is covered by these terms. Failure to comply will see Google witholding approval of future devices, preventing them from ever being launched at all.

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What this means is that the more popular (and usually more affordable) devices would be getting more attention. Affordable devices traditionally do not really see much support, so this requirement from Google might actually see more support for them. However we must reiterate that this appears to be only valid in the EU, and might not apply to all regions.
What do you think of this new requirement? I know of people who usually do not like to install updates, and we understand them. But keeping your device updated is very important for security reasons.
Pokdepinion: If this applies worldwide, OPPO and vivo have a lot of work to do, as their devices are popular in India, but rarely see updates.
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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – The Complete Package

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Box

Let’s kick off the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review with the unboxing. Just like base model, the box is thinner than its predecessors, which is interesting given how large the device is. As you might have guessed, it’s like this as it no longer comes with a charger. With every purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone, you are expected to get the following items:
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Box content

USB-C cable
Quick Start Guide
Regional Lock Guide
Samsung Pay leaflet
Warranty card
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone itself

Appearance
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Display
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the biggest one among the three in the series, but it has seen a slight decrease in screen size over its predecessor. Starting from the front, you have a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a punch hole selfie camera. Once again, there are minimal bezels on all four sides and it curves slightly towards the edge of the screen for the left and right sides. This smartphone uses an under-display fingerprint scanner.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Sides
Moving to the top, you have two microphone holes. As for the bottom, you have the SIM tray slot, another microphone hole, a USB-C port, and a speaker grille. There’s nothing on the left side but on the right side, you have the power button and volume rocker. You get some glossy metallic silver accents on all four sides here.

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Rear
Lastly on the back, you get the contour-cut quad-camera setup on the top-left corner, a Phantom Silver surface with a matte finish, metal body. The placement of the camera makes it easier to service it. The Samsung logo can be seen towards the bottom, and it’s not particularly prominent, which I feel is great. After all, you can easily tell that it’s by Samsung just by looking at it.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra brings some great changes for the better which gives the series its own distinct look without it being a severe departure from its predecessors. The IP68 rating takes it up a notch as you don’t have to worry about water and dust damaging the smartphone. The matte finish is what I like most as it makes it less susceptible to fingerprints, which is a problem the Galaxy S20 series had with its glossy surface.
If you want to compare it to the base model, click right here for our review of it.
Specifications

Processor
Exynos 2100, 5nm
1 x Cortex-X1 @ 2.9GHz + 3 x Cortex-A78 @2.8GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 2.2GHz

RAM
12GB

Storage
256GB UFS 3.1

Display
6.8″ WQHD+ (3200 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
HDR10+
1500 nits
11Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate

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

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

Battery
5000mAh
25W fast charging
USB-PD 3.0 fast charging
15W wireless fast charging
4.5W reverse wireless charging

Dimensions
165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
227g

Ingress Protection
IP68

Performance
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Antutu v8
Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v8, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra shows off some great performance as it has the highest score for non-gaming phones in our list, even beating out the base model which previously held this same record. The Exynos 2100 is showing to be a great improvement over the previous generation Exynos 990 SoC.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Geekbench 5
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – 3DMark
A similar pattern can be seen in Geekbench 5 as well, with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra showing excellent performance in both single core and multi-core areas. It’s interesting to see that the base model scored higher in both areas but given that the difference is minimal, it’s negligible.
Moving on the 3DMark, it garnered excellent scores in Ice Storm Unlimited, Sling Shot, and Sling Shot Extreme. This shows that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is more than capable when it comes to playing mobile games as it has more than enough strength for it. After all, the only thing coming above it are gaming-focused smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – PCMark Work 2.0
On PCMark’s Work 2.0 benchmark which tests out for real world use, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra had the highest score of any smartphone, technically speaking. I say that because the only one that managed to beat it is the ASUS ROG Phone 3 in X-Mode, which is essentially a special overclocking mode for added performance. Without these boosts, the Ultra reigns supreme.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Battery life
After the review of the base model, I’m sure many are wondering whether the Exynos 2100 is still efficient with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and the results are rather interesting. With the adaptive refresh rate setting enabled, it lasted 9 hours and 10 minutes (550 minutes) in Full HD+ resolution, and 8 hours 52 minutes (532 minutes) in WQHD+ resolution. This would indicate that the resolution affects the battery life only by a small margin.
While this may not seem as high as previously thought given the massive 5,000mAh battery capacity, I found it to be better in real-life use cases. After a day of social media use, short calls, and messages, I find myself with 55% before I sleep. This means for my own regular use, I could easily go two days from a full charge.
The AI technology inside the device is still optimizing based on my typical usage, and towards the end of writing this review, I’ve found myself with anywhere between 60 to 65% battery remaining consistently.
Looking to get one of the most convenient pair of TWS earbuds with ANC? Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live by clicking right here.
User Experience
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Display
As mentioned earlier, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a slightly smaller display compared to its predecessor. It’s a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display at WQHD+ resolution, but you can turn it down to FHD+ or HD+. Apart from that, you can enjoy superb colours with good contrast and super bright screen with green outdoor visibility.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Adaptive refresh rate
The most notable upgrade here is the adaptive refresh rate, where it will adjust the refresh rate from anywhere between 11Hz to 120Hz, letting you enjoy that ultra-smooth scrolling / animations with better battery efficiency. Like the base model, it now uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus which gives better protection against drops and scratches compared to Gorilla Glass 6. Besides that, the display features Eye Comfort Shield which is said to reduce strain and fatigue as well.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review
One good change this smartphone had compared to its predecessor is the change from the glossy back to a matte finish. This means its a lot less susceptible to fingerprints and, in my opinion, makes it look better on its own. Moreover, it’s easier to hold, which is a plus if you don’t plan on using a protective case. I just wished that it had the same Phantom Violet option that the base model has as it’s the best looking colour scheme in my opinion.
In case you’re wondering, this smartphone has a dual speaker setup consisting of the earpiece and the bottom-firing speaker. There’s a little more volume here compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it appears that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra produces slightly more detail as well. Quite frankly, it’s very minor that I would consider the improvement negligible, but at least you get to enjoy good speaker quality whether it’s for music, movies, or mobile gaming.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – One UI 3.1
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the first to use One UI 3.1 based on Android 11. It does look slightly different from One UI 2.5 based on Android 10 but for the most part, navigating around is about the same. Some of the most notable changes is how notifications are displayed as they are grouped together, like Conversations for messages across multiple apps, so it can show all of them to you in a more simplified manner.
One thing worth noting is the new Samsung Free, a new aggregator that differs from Samsung Daily and Bixby Home. In this iteration, it focuses more on news and app suggestions that cater to you. There a number of categories for you to choose from for the news section, and I personally see it as a more streamlined interface for accessing the latest news and apps.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Fingerprint scanner
With its predecessors, one thing I disliked is the under-display fingerprint scanner as it works rather slow. I expected it to be the same this time around but to my surprise, it worked faster and it’s still pretty reliable. To give you a comparison, I dare say it takes slightly over one-third of the time my Galaxy S20 Ultra needs to detect, which is great. I’ve also yet to have it fail on me in the past week I’ve used it so I hope it stays that way. The same can be said with the base model, which we have already reviewed earlier.
While using the smartphone, I’ve only had it heat up on me during the initial setup and when I play mobile games on it. For the most part, it works pretty cool and even when it does heat up, it’s just lukewarm at best so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – New S Pen
Unfortunately, I could not get an S Pen in time for me to test this as the protective case bundled with it was up for pre-order until 28th January 2021. To my understanding, the functionality is a little limited compared to the Galaxy Note series as you won’t have access to Bluetooth-related features like Air Gestures until the S Pen Pro is launched later this year. It’s still a good tool to have for added precision, such as when jotting down notes, sketching, and picture editing. I will write a follow up article on S Pen use with this smartphone when I get my hands on it so stay tuned for that.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review – Camera UI
The camera UI on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra looks essentially similar to the one from the we’ve seen in the Galaxy Note20 series. Unlike the base model, you now have 4 camera shortcuts above the mode changer, one for each camera; wide, ultra-wide, telephoto, and periscope telephoto. It’s user-friendly so most consumers won’t have trouble with it, and it’s more viable for mobile photographers and videographers who want more control of what they capture.
The Single Take feature is here and it has improved. For those of you who aren’t aware, you simply move the device around and it will take take photos, record a short video, and even edit the footage for you. This time, you can adjust the duration of Single Take from anywhere between 5 seconds to 15 seconds, which makes it even more handy. Just like before however, the results can vary so for a more consistent experience, it’s still best to capture it yourself. At least you have a quick and hassle-free tool if you ever need it.

As you can see above here, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can take some pretty good photos both at night and with light. I’m sure many underestimated it given that it’s the most affordable one in the new flagship series but it’s excellent so far with good details, vivid colours and Auto HDR being rather reliable. The periscope telephoto camera’s photos are so-so but every other camera aside from that works great. I’m also pleased with the quality of selfies using the front camera as it’s surprisingly well defined, no issues with focus, and the colours don’t look washed out. With that being said, the front camera is more dependent on lighting, so do keep that in mind when you’re using it.
With the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, you have a 3x optical zoom, 10x optical zoom, and up to 100x zoom total. While you’re most likely not going to use the 100x zoom most of the time, I’m genuinely surprised that it’s a lot easier to take shots at 30x zoom. The quality is far from the best but it’s not as bad as I would have expected. It’s a good improvement, but you’re most likely gonna be sticking to 10x zoom at most unless you plan on shooting the moon or a bright subject faraway.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Verdict
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the best smartphones you can get today, and it’s definitely a great way to kickstart the new year. The new Exynos 2100 shows some solid performance here, it’s noticeably more efficient than the Exynos 990 SoC, the large screen is fantastic, camera works great, it’s a lot easier to take zoomed in photos, the adaptive refresh rate is a touch better than the other Samsung Galaxy devices, it has S Pen support, battery life is good, it’s an attractive device, the matte finish is a good change, and the under-display fingerprint scanner works better.
However, the efficiency is still not up there with the flagship Snapdragon chips, there’s still no headphone jack here, and it’s pricey. While I kinda wished they bumped up the battery capacity a little bit, 5,000mAh is still a monstrous size so no complaints there. At RM5,299, if you have the money for it, you’d have pretty much everything you need in a smartphone today but if you’d rather save some money, going for the the base model or Plus variant is not a bad idea.
At the end of our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review, I award this smartphone with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Samsung Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purposes of this review.
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HUAWEI nova 7 SE 5G Users Can Claim This Exclusive Free Fire Gift

You might’ve remembered that the HUAWEI nova 7 SE 5G was recently launched. To spice things up a bit, HUAWEI has announced that they are offering users of the device some exclusives from Garena Free Fire.
HUAWEI nova 7 SE users can claim this reward
What’s on offer? Well HUAWEI nova 7 SE users can get their hands on some exclusive HUAWEI AppGallery offers that includes Garena Free Fire gift vouchers. You can redeem the Diamond Royalee voucher when you download the game app on the AppGallery from now till the 31st of December 2020.
For those of you who are wondering, the Diamond Royale is the first of five components of Luck Royale and with it, it allows you to get cosmetic items such as change of character skins or appearance.

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Interested in getting it for your HUAWEI nova 7 SE device? Just follow these steps:
Open the HUAWEI AppGallery > Select ‘Gift’ tab > Claim Free Fire ‘Diamond Royale’ gift > Copy codeGo to the link here > login to your Free Fire account > enter your redeem code > click ‘Confirm’
Once you’ve done the steps, you can see it in your inventory. We’ve previously reviewed the HUAWEI 7 SE, the most affordable 5G smartphone that you can buy in the market right now. Do check out the review to find out what’s it all about.
Pokdepinion: Well if you’ve got your hands on one, why not claim the reward itself?
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ID-COOLING introduces ICEKIMO 240W AIO liquid cooler

ID-COOLING which has brought liquid cooling AIO loops to very affordable prices, with products like the ID-COOLING FrostFlow 120, has just announced their latest product, the ICEKIMO 240W.

Following the world’s first pure white water cooler, the ICEKIMO 120W, the latest ICEKIMO 240W is designed to cool beefier processors. With a square white water block, white tubing, white painted radiator and a pair of SF-12025 fans with white LED lighting, it will definitely be the perfect match for your white-themed build. The water block is also illuminated with a white LED, for added bling.

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The full specifications are as follows:

The MSRP for the ICEKIMO 240W is $99.99.

Pokdepinion: If you have an all-white build, this is definitely the cooler to go for.
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Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 review — sliding the bezels away

Introduction

Xiaomi made waves when they launched the very first Mi MIX. A true all-ceramic design with no screws at all. A testament to their design and engineering capabilities. The Mi MIX 2 used aluminium for the frame instead of ceramic, and it is still the most beautiful phone I have ever owned to date. The premium variant even takes it a step further and uses a full ceramic unibody. Those shimmery glass backs are cool, but nothing matches the sheer premium appeal of that beautiful ceramic finish, and that 24K gold camera ring just oozes premiumness. But hey, it had its drawbacks and I decided I couldn’t really use it as my daily driver.
We didn’t get to play around with the Mi MIX 2S which came with a slew of upgrades, including an upgraded camera and the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset. Now we see the Mi MIX 3, which builds upon the Mi MIX 2S’ innards with a new design. A slider. Xiaomi’s goal with the Mi MIX series has always been to achieve a full bezel-less design, so Xiaomi has finally done it with the Mi MIX 3. But how does a slider fare in daily usage? Lets find out.
Unboxing

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Xiaomi has applied a mild texture to the packaging here, but it’s still full black with the Xiaomi logo finished in gold. Just by looking at the box, you would know that this is a premium device.

Just like the previous Mi MIX devices, there’s a love letter from Lei Jun. Cool stuff. Gold ink on black paper looks awesome.

This is probably the first smartphone to come with a wireless charger, so kudos to Xiaomi for adding this to the package. If you want to rely on traditional wired charging, there is also the 18W Quick Charge 3.0 power brick. The USB-C cable here features a slight cut out to allow the Mi MIX 3 to slide open even when you are charging.

And here’s the full set of accessories that come with the Mi MIX 3. The case doesn’t say “MIX designed by Xiaomi” anymore, but then again the phone doesn’t either. Xiaomi definitely outdid themselves with the inclusion of a wireless charging pad.
Appearance

One of the highlights of the Mi MIX series has always been the near-bezel-less design. The Mi MIX 3 goes all the way with that, removing the lower bezel which was somewhat of signature since the first Mi MIX until the Mi MIX 2S.

Just like its predecessors, Xiaomi continues to confound unassuming girls by placing the camera in an unusual position. Instead of placing it at the bottom edge, this time it’s under the screen on a slider. It skips all the issues of having to deal with the limited lifespan of motors with a manual, magnetic and hugely satisfying slider mechanism.

On the back is another trademark of the Mi MIX series. Ceramic. The whole back here is made from ceramic. However unlike the first two Mi MIX, the Mi MIX 3 follows in the footsteps of the Mi MIX 2S and skips the 24K gold-plated ring around the camera lens. It’s just painted metal here, which is somewhat of a downgrade for me.

On the right side, there’s the common volume rocker and power button. Here we find the not-so-common AI button as well as the SIM tray. Interestingly Xiaomi went with a glossy polished finish here instead of the matte finishing the Mi MIX 2 and Mi MIX 2S featured.

The bottom edge is where you will find the single loudspeaker and the accompanying microphone grille. The USB-C port handles all the wired connections, as there is no 3.5mm jack. Speaking of connections, you can see the antenna lines here set flush into the metal frame.
As a whole, the Mi MIX 3’s design is pretty sleek, but the lack of the chin somewhat takes away from the whole allure of the Mi MIX design. I know, sounds ridiculous, but I missed the iconic chin, even if it meant the screen-to-body ratio with one isn’t nearly as high as what we can achieve without one.
Specifications

CPU/Chipset:
Snapdragon 845 (4 x Kryo 385 @ 2.8 GHz + 4 x Kryo 385 @ 1.8 GHz), 10nm FinFET

GPU:
Adreno 630 @ 710 MHz

RAM:
6GB LPDDR4x

Display:
6.39″ FHD+ (1080p) AMOLED display, 103.8% NTSC gamut, 600-nit max brightness, 93.4% screen-to-body ratio

Storage:
128GB UFS 2.1

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
12MP f/1.8, Sony IMX363, 1.4μm pixels, OIS
12MP f/2.4 2x telephoto lens
AI scene recognition, OIS, auto HDR, 960fps slow-mo, 4K60 video, Night mode, AI dynamic bokeh, AI studio lighting, LED flash
Front Camera
24MP f/2.2 + 2MP depth sensor
AI Beauty, AI Portrait, auto HDR, AI studio lighting, AI dynamic bokeh

OS:
MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), 2×2 MIMO
Bluetooth 5.0
NFC
FDD-LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/66
TDD-LTE: Band 30/34/38/39/40/41

SIM:
Dual nanoSIM

Battery:
Li-Po 3200 mAh (non-removable)
18W Quick Charge 3.0 (supports QC 4+)
10W wireless charging
Supports reverse charging over USB-C port

Dimensions:
157.89 x 74.69 x 8.46 mm

Weight:
218 g

Xiaomi packed the Mi MIX with almost everything under the sun, except maybe a 3D ToF sensor. The only real omission is probably water resistance which is increasingly popular in flagships, but then again it would be ridiculous to even expect that from a device which packs a sliding mechanism. Not to say it won’t be cool…
Performance

In Antutu, the Mi MIX 3 distances itself from the older Snapdragon 845-based devices from Xiaomi. The MIUI 10 update was chockful of improvements, but we didn’t expect a 3000-ish points uplift in Antutu.

The CPU performance of the Mi MIX 3 sits right in between the POCOPHONE F1 and the Mi 8…

…before handily besting both devices in the 3DMark benchmarks. In fact, it’s faster than even the ROG Phone in Sling Shot (ES 3.0) and Ice Storm Unlimited (ES 2.0).

Here it scores top marks. While this is a benchmark involving productivity workloads, the most professional of the devices here actually sits right at the bottom of the list. Definitely one of the most inconclusive benchmarks in our suite.

The Mi MIX 3 is surprisingly long-lasting, outliving two devices with much larger 4000 mAh batteries. Xiaomi is known to optimize their devices quite aggressively for battery performance, so perhaps this is the result of their hardwork.

In daily usage, the Mi MIX 3 actually surprised me with its longevity despite its small battery. As long as you don’t turn on the Always On Display (AOD) feature, that is. AOD saps the battery quite ridiculously, slashing the screen-on-time down to just 4 hours.
Charging speeds are pretty good, with 51% of juice regained in 30 minutes with the supplied 18W QC 3.0 charger. 22% in 30 minutes is what we saw when we opted for the wireless charger instead of a good ol’ USB-C cable. Still good, but you know which to use if you need a quick rejuice before a night out.

In terms of general usage, the Mi MIX 3 performs just as expected. Quick in day-to-day usage, and if you are looking for some fun, any game available on the Play Store now is handled with aplomb. The device does get quite toasty in extended PUBG Mobile sessions, getting quite uncomfortable to hold especially around the upper half of the metal frame area. Xiaomi didn’t use any heatpipes in the Mi MIX 3, instead transferring the heat to the frame. It probably isn’t really designed to be great for gaming though as the missing 3.5mm jack is pretty much all the evidence we need anyway.
User Experience

Holding the device in the hand, the 210g weight definitely lends itself to a premium feel. Xiaomi has worked on improving the ergonomics too, as the back is now a lot more curvy than the Mi MIX 2’s. The display does wobble slightly though, detracting from the whole exquisite experience of holding an all-screen device. The display is excellent, with great colors and brightness. The fact that it occupies nearly the whole front facade is just the icing on the cake.
Xiaomi took a step backwards when it comes to audio, whereby the Mi MIX 3’s bottom loudspeaker is the only thing pumping out sound. It actually sounds great for a mono speaker, but the fact that you don’t get stereo sound is somewhat limiting. Xiaomi also didn’t get Widevine L1 certification despite this being a flagship, so you won’t get to enjoy Netflix in HD on that bespoke display. A shame, really.

Having an included wireless charger in the box is pretty cool, but the material Xiaomi coated the pad with gets sticky. Despite our unit being rather new, it has already attracted quite a bit of dust and lint. That doesn’t really bode well for the durability of the wireless charging pad.
One issue I had with my unit of the Mi MIX 3 was the GPS navigation. Despite sporting a dual-band GPS system, the Mi MIX 3 was absolutely horrible to use for GPS navigation. It often placed me in the smaller roads adjacent to the road I am on, and randomly deciding that I have taken turns which I didn’t. I never encountered it during my experience with the Mi 8, so perhaps Xiaomi needs to release an update for the Mi MIX 3 to fix the issue.

MIUI 10 is a great upgrade for Xiaomi, and they have actually delivered it to most of their recent devices. It looks great and modern, and while it’s probably the furthest from stock Android, it definitely ranks as one of my favorite UIs. To take advantage of the slider, the Mi MIX 3 allows you to slide to open any app of your liking, or even fire up the camera in selfie mode immediately when you slide it open.

Speaking of the camera, the rear camera hardware on the Mi MIX 3 is exactly the same as the one you will find in a Mi 8 or Mi MIX 2S. It’s plenty good, and Xiaomi has been hard at work optimizing it until it scored a 103 on DxOMark.

In terms of the UI, Xiaomi hasn’t changed it much since MIUI 9. Xiaomi makes it very simple to just shoot a photo. If you want to play with the different modes it gets rather annoying though as you will have to swipe between the modes. Getting to the full-featured manual mode is quite a chore, but you will be feted to the best manual mode we have seen. There’s even peaking for those of you who want to use manual focus on a smartphone for whatever reason.
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Images in good lighting generally look amazing. Colors are vivid, and sharpness is excellent. Plenty of detail. Selfies look pretty good too, but you might have to make sure everyone is sharp as even without the bokeh mode, the depth of field is somewhat shallower than on some smartphones I have used.
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Going into low light the Mi MIX 3 stumbles, despite the presence of a dedicated Night mode. Night mode is pretty inconsistent, and more often than not produces images which look very unnatural. With the AI scene recognition active, the Mi MIX 3 seems to be able to trigger the Night mode automatically, and while it doesn’t seem to offer the same level of quality improvement, it definitely takes just as long to get ready for your next shot. The shot-to-shot delay is pretty appalling for a flagship with a Snapdragon 845. Zooming in low light will just result in a zoomed-in image taken with the primary sensor. Smart move, as the 2x zoom lens is just inadequate with its 1.0µm pixels and f/2.4 aperture. You can check out the full-sized images on Flickr here.
Conclusion
With Xiaomi’s dedication to updating MIUI, I forsee my issues with the camera to be solved pretty soon. Both the delays and also the image quality. Looking at the hardware, the Mi MIX 3 packs a great AMOLED display from Samsung and the best camera sensor Sony had to offer. The slider is cool, and the ceramic back is of course the bee’s knees. And let’s not forget the included wireless charging pad, something which even market leaders like Samsung conveniently exclude from the package to sell it as a separate accessory.
The Mi MIX 3 is indeed a spectacular device. Xiaomi delivers not only an impressive design, but one which you can afford. And to me, that’s probably the most important factor. You can be as innovative as you want, but if no one can afford it, it will all be moot anyways. There are a number of flaws, for example the wonky GPS, the camera and also the heat dissipation. But for just RM2199, Xiaomi is giving you the chance to enjoy a notchless, bezel-less experience, and a tactile sliding experience which reminds you of your younger days. Definitely worth the price of admission. Given its late entry into the market, it will definitely be compared against the Snapdragon 855 devices just around the corner. But, do they slide?

Our thanks to Mi Malaysia for provisioning the Mi MIX 3 for our review purposes. You can check out the Flickr gallery below (only visible when viewed on browsers)

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Alleged Sony PlayStation 5 Loading Speed Video Surfaces Online

Sony’s official video comparing performance of PS4 Pro vs next-gen PlayStation pic.twitter.com/2eUROxKFLq
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 21, 2019

Sometime ago, we reported about the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5, or more accurately the next-gen PlayStation console, as well as its capabilities. Now, we have a clearer glimpse of what to expect as a video has surfaced online showing the platform’s loading speeds on Marvel’s Spider-Man. The video was posted courtesy of Takashi Mochizuki from The Wall Street Journal.
If you’re not familiar with the power of SSDs, what you’re seeing above is a powerful SSD hard at work in rendering the world of Spider-Man at an astronomically quicker pace than the PS4 Pro’s internals. Loading times will be improved and with a stronger SSD, developers will be able to build more seamless worlds with greater rendering capabilities.

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Back in April, Sony revealed the first details on their next-gen hardware. The console will emphasize SSD advantages, offer backward compatibility with PS4, and support all current and future PS VR models. Not much else is known about the next PlayStation, but it seems that Sony is definitely getting ready to show something in the near future. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Mark Cerny did hint at Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding being on both PS4 and the new hardware.
As of right now, Sony is skipping out on E3 this summer and has made no announcement about any sort of PSX event. However, they have been keeping up with State of Play, a relatively new livestream event that’s similar to Nintendo Direct. Their most recent showing contained new footage of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.
Pokdepinion: I doubt we will hear too much about it so soon as I’m sure there’s plenty of work that needs to be done. We just gotta be patient for it.
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Ghostwire: Tokyo Confirmed To Launch This 25th March On PS5 And PC

The release date of the upcoming Ghostwire: Tokyo has just been revealed to be on 25th March. The new action-adventure game is developed by Tango Gameworks and is published by Bethesda. It is set to release on both the PS5 and PC.
Ghostwire: Tokyo coming this March

Ghostwire: Tokyo requires players to master the mystical arts of Ethereal Weaving while attempting to defeat Hannya and his followers, the Visitors, who have invaded Tokyo. These supernatural beings roam the breathtaking world of Ghostwire, creating a dazzling atmosphere that is a love letter to Tokyo, its curiosities, and secrets.

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immerses players in an enthralling world populated by characters from Japanese legends, folklore, and tales. Many of the unusual creatures you will encounter are inspired by these stories, giving the game a true-to-Tokyo feel. Tango Gameworks’ inventive minds have created a game in which players will traverse Tokyo’s ultra-modern cityscape, discover iconic landmarks, and uncover secrets hidden throughout.
Check out the gameplay video down below:

Those who preordered the Deluxe Edition on the PS5 will be able to access the game early on 22nd March. Not only that, but they will also receive costume sets with the Streetwear Outfit Pack and Shinobi Outfit as well as a Kunai Weapon.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is set to release on the PS5 and PC this 25th March.
Pokdepinion: Sad it’s not coming to the PS4 but at least I’ll be able to get this on PC when it comes out.
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HUAWEI Nova 3 & Nova 3i To Launch Soon — Comes With GPU Turbo And 3D Facial Scanning

HUAWEI has introduced at its home market the latest Nova series in the form of the Nova 3 and Nova 3i .
HUAWEI Nova 3 & Nova 3i Coming Soon

Coming as a headline feature for the new phone is that they will come with GPU Turbo, or as its namesake, a graphics processing accelerator. With it, it should offer an experience that’s immersive, especially towards those who game on their smartphones.

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It was reported that HUAWEI has said that this feature will boost graphic performance on the phone by 60% while also reduce the energy consumption of the device by 30%. That is quite a stat to say the least.
Specification wise, the Nova 3 will run on a Kirin 970 chipset and will be having a 3750mAh battery under the hood. As a part of the selfie superstar family, its front shooter comes with a dual 24MP+2MP for selfies. For the main camera, it offers also a dual arrangement which sees a combo of 16MP+24MP camera setup.
Running on EMUI 8.2, it offers 6GB RAM (Nova 3) which is paired with 64GB/128GB of internal memory. The device will also feature  3D Face Scanning, which you can use ‘animoji’ which they call it 3D Qmoji.
There will be three available color variants; Twilight Green, Coral Blue, and Yellow Gold. Pricing and release date in Malaysia has not been confirmed but we will update you once we’ve got the details.
Pokdepinion: Seems all iPhone-ish with the whole 3D face scanning and animoji, but then suddenly that GPU Turbo pops out. This could be an interesting phone. Well we’ll know more when it is released here in our shores. Until then, stay tuned for more information.
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The cost of making an iPhone XS Max 256GB is just $443 — so that’s how they maintain their status as a trillion dollar company

The latest iPhone XS Max is Apple’s largest smartphone yet, and it features some of the most advanced technologies Apple has ever developed too. The cutting-edge 7nm A12 Bionic and also larger Super Retina OLED display should justify the mild price hike from the iPhone X to the iPhone XS Max, right?

Well, it actually does cost $50 more. However, with a cost price of just $443 (~RM1834) and a retail price $1249 (~RM5172), Apple is making RM3338 of profit (~64.5% profit margin / 182% profit percentage) each time they sell an iPhone XS Max 256GB. Of course, this is excluding logistics, marketing and other miscellaneous costs.

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In comparison, Xiaomi has openly proclaimed that they only profit 5% from each Xiaomi device they sell. I guess that’s how you become the first trillion dollar company in the world.
Source: TechInsights
Pokdepinion: Oh well, Apple fans are into the experience and brand image, not the value of the product, so I guess this doesn’t affect them in the slightest.
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Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85 – Should You Go All Out or Save Some Money?

Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85

If you’re in the market for a Micro Four Thirds camera, there’s a chance that you are considering between the Panasonic LUMIX G95 and LUMIX G85 cameras. The former is the successor of the latter, coming in with additional features but it costs more money. Is it worth to go all out for the newer camera or should save some money and go for the older model? Let’s compare and find out.
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
Design
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
For the most part, both the Panasonic LUMIX G95 and LUMIX G85 look identical to each other. They’re both relatively compact, have dust and splash protection builds, large grips, flip out screens, and more. The LUMIX G95 does have some additions, such as the new WB, ISO, and exposure compensation buttons on the top plate, a rear thumb wheel, change in microphone positioning, and the addition of a headphone jack. The only thing that the LUMIX G85 has the upper hand in is the slightly lighter weight, about 30g difference.
Sensor
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
While both are using a Micro Four Thirds sensor, the Panasonic LUMIX G95 uses the improved 20.3 MP sensor, which is the same one found in the LUMIX G9. The LUMIX G85 on the other hand uses the older 16MP sensor. You should be able to get more in the newer camera, but it’s worth noting that the ISO sensitivity range is the same, going from 200 to 25,600.

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V-LOG L
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85 – V-LOG L
The Panasonic LUMIX G95 has the new V-LOG L profile, which offers a wider dynamic range, better colours, and more flexibility in post-production. It was said to be designed with a similar curve of film digitalisation to Cineon. It’s worth noting that Panasonic GH4 and GH5 users need to pay for this feature but it’s included in the G95 for free. The LUMIX G85 doesn’t have this so you will have to rely on Cine-Like profiles if you plan on doing colour grading, which may not be as good or easy as V-LOG L.
Video Recording

If you need a camera to shoot videos, the Panasonic LUMIX G95 is an ideal choice. For starters, you can record videos up to 4K at 24p / 25p / 30p with no time limit whatsoever. From my own experience, the camera doesn’t overheat either after recording a lengthy interview, so that limit being removed can make a big difference. In some regions, the LUMIX G85 has a 30 minute time limit for 4K recording.
Furthermore, the LUMIX G95 is the better camera if you plan on recording slow-motion videos as it can record in Full HD up to 120FPS whereas the G85 can only do Full HD up to 60FPS. It’s worth noting that the G95 has the higher crop, at 1.26x, when recording in 4K compared to the G85, at 1.18x. This is something to keep in mind if you’re very particular about the field of view.
Live View Composite Mode

If you’ve never heard of Live View Composite mode, it’s a mode for long exposure photography that takes images made up of only new light information as it hits the sensor. This means that it will capture objects as they move, like fireworks or light paintings for example. This feature is available on the LUMIX G95 but not the G85. The latter does have a similar mode called Light Composition, but it’s not as robust as Live View Composite mode.
Charging
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
The Panasonic LUMIX G95 has the ability to charge via USB. You can also choose to use a separate battery charger instead if you want. This gives the camera versatility as you can juice it up with a powerbank while on the go and even keep it hooked to a wall charger for “infinite” energy. The LUMIX G85 can only be charged via the separate battery charger.
Wireless
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
While both cameras do have wireless connectivity, the Panasonic LUMIX G95 has the upper hand as it has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The older LUMIX G85 only has Wi-Fi connectivity. What this means is that with the LUMIX G95, you can use your smartphone for an easier time to transfer photos / videos and for remote shooting.
Price
Given that the Panasonic LUMIX G95 is the newer of the two, it’s no surprise that it will be pricier one as well. There’s nothing wrong with spending more for a camera that can offer more but if you’re very particular about a budget, you have to really consider whether the extra expense is worth it for you or not. For an easier time to compare, I’ve included the prices right below here:

Panasonic LUMIX G95 with 14 – 42mm kit lens = RM4,899
Panasonic LUMIX G95 body only = RM4,499
Panasonic LUMIX G85 with 14 – 42mm kit lens = RM4,349
Panasonic LUMIX G85 body only = RM3,799

Conclusion
Panasonic LUMIX G95 VS LUMIX G85
It’s clear that the Panasonic LUMIX G95 is the overall better camera here. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should pick that up over the LUMIX G85 either. If you know that you won’t make use of the extras that come with the newer camera, you might as well save money and get the older instead. However, if you want a more futureproofed purchase and added versatility but you don’t mind the extra expenditure, the Panasonic LUMIX G95 will serve you well.
If you want to check out our review of the Panasonic LUMIX G95 camera, click right here.
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honor 8X Is Back By Popular Demand — Last Chance To Get Freebies Including honor Band 3

honor Malaysia has announced that they are bringing the honor 8X back to sale tomorrow, 19 October 2018, where you can get the device along with the freebies that was announced during the phone’s launch recently.
honor 8X Back In Sale
Last chance to get honor 8X freebies
The sale which starts tomorrow, will begin 9AM onwards on both hihonor and Shopee. It will be only available for one day only and only the first 500 customers will receive the free gift that includes the honor Band 3, and RM50 hihonor voucher or RM50 Shopee coins (depending on where you purchase).
honor 8X comes with a 6.5-inch display that offers a 91% screen-to-body ratio view. It comes with a Kirin 710 SoC and packs a 3750mAh battery under the hood.

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For cameras, it comes with a dual rear 20MP+2MP camera that boasts AI technology. To learn more on the device, you can read on our previous post to learn more on the honor 8X.
Previously we’ve reported that the honor 8X is the company’s best selling smartphone ever in the country.
Pokdepinion: There you have it folks. This is your last chance in getting the additional honor Band 3 for free. Be quick if you are aiming for the device!
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[E3 2021] Razer Blade 14 Powered by AMD Ryzen Unveiled

[E3 2021] Razer Blade 14 Powered by AMD Ryzen

At E3 2021, Razer has officially unveiled the Razer Blade 14 powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX. This laptop will also have the NVIDIA GeForce GTX RTX 3080 GPU so you can have some serious gaming performance in this ultraportable gaming laptop.
For the screen, gamers have the choice of either a 14-inch QHD 165Hz display or a 14-inch Full HD 144Hz display. Razer claims that this is the smallest 14-inch gaming laptop in the market, and it’s only 16.8mm thin. Despite the focus on minimizing the footprint, it still does include a built-in 720p webcam.

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Apart from that, you have the per-key Razer Chroma RGB keyboard, THX Spatial Audio, battery life of up to 12 hours, Microsoft Precision Glass Touchpad, Windows IR camera, TPM 2.0, and Vapor Chamber Cooling for improved heat dissipation without excessive noise. Interestingly, it still does have a good array of connectivity options, coming in with the following:

2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Charging, DisplayPort 1.4 support)
2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack
Wi-Fi 6

It’s worth noting that there is also the new 130W Razer GaN (Gallium Nitride) charger. It has two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports with enough power to charge the laptop, other laptops, tablets, and smartphones at once despite being very compact
The Razer Blade 14 powered by AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX will be retailing for RM9,999 / USD $1,799.99.
Source
Pokdepinion: With laptops this powerful within such a thin chassis, my biggest worry is always the thermal performance. I really want to see how well the vapor chamber cooling system performs, especially how close the temperatures are to thermal throttling.
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Over 40% of the Mi 10’s buyers jumped ship from other brands

After an impressive first sale which generated over 200 million CNY (~RM118 547 033) in under a minute, Xiaomi has stepped up to announce another tidbit about the Xiaomi Mi 10’s debut sales. Over 40% of the buyers were users of other smartphone brands.

Xu Jieyun, general manager of Xiaomi’s PR department shared this information on Weibo. He then hinted that a certain brand’s users contributed the highest amount of sales, expressing surprise that there are so many new Xiaomi fans. He also apologized to Xiaomi fans who didn’t manage to snag a Mi 10 for themselves and that the Mi 10 will be available again on 18th February.

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The Xiaomi Mi 10 treads into a new price bracket for Xiaomi flagships but given the prices of recent flagships, they are still relatively affordable. It does come with a much more sumptuous feature set than many smartphones in its price range though, which may have contributed to its popularity.
Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro Specs

Xiaomi Mi 10
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro

CPU
Snapdragon 865
1 x Kryo 585 Gold @ 2.84 GHz + 3 x Kryo 585 Gold @ 2.42 GHz + 4 x Kryo 585 Silver @ 1.80 GHz

GPU
Adreno 650 @ 587 GHz

Memory
Up to 12GB LPDDR5

Storage
Up to 256GB UFS 3.0
Up to 512GB UFS 3.0

Display
6.67″ FHD+ AMOLED display, 90 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch response
100% DCI-P3 & sRGB gamut

Camera
108MP f/1.69, OIS, 7P lens
13MP f/2.4 ultra-wide angle
2MP f/2.4 macro camera
2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
8K video capture
108MP f/1.69, OIS, 8P
20MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle
12MP f/2.0 portrait lens (2x zoom)
8MP f/2.0 telephoto camera, OIS, 10x hybrid optical zoom
8K video capture

Selfie camera
20MP selfie camera

Battery
4780 mAh
30W fast charging
30W wireless charging
10W reverse wireless charging
(bundled 30W charger)
4500 mAh Li-Po battery
50W fast charging
30W wireless charging
10W wireless charging
(bundled 65W charger)

Price
8GB+128GB: 3999 CNY (~RM2371)
8GB+256GB: 4299 CNY (~RM2549)
12GB+256GB: 4699 CNY (~RM2786)
8GB+256GB: 4999 CNY (~RM2964)
12GB+256GB: 5499 CNY (~RM3261)
12GB+512GB: 5999 CNY (~RM3557)

Which brand do you think was Xu Jieyun referring to when he mentioned that their users were the largest group that jumped ship over to Xiaomi? Regardless, it shows that the smartphone industry is still very much active, and consumers are still always on the lookout for the next big thing, even if it doesn’t come from the biggest players.
Pokdepinion: The Xiaomi Mi 10 looks like a pretty sweet device, but I am still waiting on its international launch…
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Digi Raya Osem makes your Raya even better

Raya is the period where we all get excited about meeting our friends and family in our hometowns. Balik Kampung by the late Sudirman is one of the top Raya songs for a reason, right? While we balik kampung, there are bound to be some who we can’t get to spend Raya with. With Digi’s new “Raya Osem” plan, you can get in touch with your loved ones and talk all night long with unlimited calls to all networks.
Photo by Mwabonje from Pexels
While we may think that in this age of connectivity, everyone would be reachable via social networks or instant messages, but that’s not entirely true. Our atok and nenek would probably own a smartphone, but do you really want to force them to squint at your Raya greetings? A call lets your grandparents hear your voice and also gives them a chance to tell you how much they miss you.
Image source: freepik
Even when it comes to our friends, whom we may text all the time, it may be better to just give them a call. Texting is convenient and fun, but honestly, hearing the warm (or quirky) laughter of our friends is much better than just reading “lol” in a text. Also after not meeting for so long, there are probably a lot more to tell each other, which will definitely be easier said than typed.

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Let’s not forget the emotions that you can convey in a call rather than text. That alone is priceless. Digi is now offering the Raya Osem plan as a limited time promotion, to allow you to experience all that for just RM28/month. As an added bonus, Digi also threw in the Digi Prepaid LiVE package offering 10GB of video and music, in addition to the 32GB total internet quota available.

To find out more about the Raya Osem limited time promo, head over to this link here!
Find out more about Digi Raya Osem!
This is an exclusive article for Digi.
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U Mobile’s New ‘RM0 Phones For Everyone’ Offers Free Phones With No Upfront Fees

With the Giler Unlimited GX68 postpaid plan and U Mobile’s current promotion, RM0 Phones for Everyone, all new and existing U Mobile customers will be able to acquire a brand new smartphone for free.
U Mobile’s RM0 Phones for Everyone

The GX68 comes with a complimentary smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A02, which retails for RM399. As the campaign name implies, everyone will be able to take advantage of this current promotion because it is the only postpaid phone bundle in the market that requires no upfront payment. Other advantages include no clearances and a contract duration of only 12 months rather than the typical 24 months.

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During the RM0 Phones for Everyone campaign, if a GX68 client wants to buy a smartphone with greater specifications than the Samsung A02, they may purchase the Samsung Galaxy A03s and OPPO A16 for only RM199, representing a savings of up to 69%.
The campaign is available from 15th October 2021. Customers may sign up at participating U Mobile stores nationwide or online at U Mobile’s website. For more information on the RM0 Phones for Everyone campaign, check out their website here.
Pokdepinion: This looks pretty interesting and the Samsung Galaxy A02 is a pretty solid phone. I just bought one for my house cleaner the other day.
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Cooler Master MasterBox Q500L Review — holes, holes everywhere

Cooler Master have a history of designing some awesome cases, but they don’t really venture into making compact cases. Their mid-tower cases placed them on the map, and some of their best cases are on the larger side of things. With that said, the MasterBox Q500L is an exercise of ingenuity for Cooler Master, as they reworked the Cooler Master Q300L, which was already pretty compact for a mATX case, to fit ATX boards. Is it a hit, or will it be a miss?
Unboxing

The MasterBox Q500L comes in a standard cardboard box. It sports distinct text and an image of the case lying within.

Cooler Master has packaged the case in a plastic bag before suspending it in polystyrene blocks. The screws and other mounting hardware are tied in the case to the mass of cables. For some reason, one of the dust filters come in a plastic wrapper, while the other one is just left attached to the case via its magnets.

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There is a nice assortment of screws and zipties that come with the MasterBox Q500L, as well as some rubber anti-vibration pads.
Appearance

Out of the packaging, the MasterBox Q500L is quite a beautiful looking case. The two magnetic dust filters (one on top, one in front) included with the case sport a cool polygonal pattern consisting of trapezoids and rhombuses in various orientations, but it’s worth noting that the mesh is rather tight, and would limit airflow through them.

Here we see the first issue. Cooler Master used an acrylic side panel with the case, and we all know acrylic is far from the ideal material in a case. You get dust-attracting static and also it scratches a lot easier than tempered glass too. It’s held in by screws in all corners.

Over on the other side is a conventional metal panel with not so conventional screws. Cooler Master designed the Q300L, and subsequently the MasterBox Q500L to let it be used in a horizontal position, like the good ol’ desktops of yore. It’s a lot thicker than the desktop PCs of the days gone by though, so I am not sure how many would actually use it in such an orientation.

You can definitely use the MasterBox Q500L in a vertical orientation too, with a dust filter underneath to allow for you to install some fans along the bottom of the case. You would want to too, but more on that later.

The rear of the case is where we find another interesting little detail: the power supply connector. As the power supply is going to be mounted to the front of the case, the passthrough is needed.
Specifications

Model Number
MCB-Q500L-KANN-S00

Available Color
Black

Materials
Steel, plastic, acrylic

Dimensions (LxWxH)
All
386(L) x 230(W) x 381(H) mm

Motherboard Support
Up to ATX

Expansion Slots
7

Drive Bays
5.25″
N/A

Combo 3.5″ / 2.5″
2 (each bay supports 2 2.5″ drives)

2.5″
0

Front panel
USB 3.0 x 2

3.5mm mic-in3.5mm out

Pre-installed Fan(s)
Front
None

Rear
1 x 120mm

Fan Support
Front
None

Rear
120mm x 1

Top
120mm x 2

Bottom
2 x 120mm

Liquid Cooling Support
Front
No

Top
Up to 240mm radiators

Rear
120mm radiators

Bottom
Up to 240mm radiators

Clearances
CPU Cooler
160mm

PSU
180mm

GPU
360mm (270mm with PSU > 160mm)

Dust Filters
Top, bottom, front

Power Supply Support
Top front mount, ATX PS2

User Experience

For a mATX case that has been adapted to fit ATX boards, you can expect a relatively cramped interior. The main difference that Cooler Master did to make the MasterBox Q500L fit an ATX board was to move the PSU from the bottom rear of the case to the front, with a cable running from the rear of the case to the front.

Holes, holes everywhere. If you needed to describe the MasterBox Q500L in just three words, this would be it. Under all those beautiful polygons are a matrix of perforations that cover the top, front and bottom sides. There’s not a single surface without holes. Among those holes, some of them are perfectly aligned for mounting fans and other hardware. Those special holes are marked on the metal.

This is where the PSU is mounted, behind the front panel, and that’s where our problems begin. If you mount a longer PSU, you will run into compatibility issues with longer triple fan GPUs. In addition to that, the PSU dumps its heat output into the case, with no option to make it dump its load out of the case, unless you decide to reverse the fan in the PSU, which would cause it to draw in hot air from the case to push out of the front. Not recommended at all as the PSU components can run hot when loaded. I can feel the heat radiating from the PSU area above the case, even at idle. Can’t imagine how much heat will be pumped out when we are running full tilt.
With that in mind, you really don’t want to add more hot air to the insides of the MasterBox Q500L with its limited airflow, despite its heavily perforated design. Even at idle, I could feel the heat radiating from the PSU, with nowhere to go but up, but still it has to make its way through the perforated top panel and the rather tight mesh of the dust filters.
The issue could be mitigated by maxing out the fan capacity in the MasterBox Q500L and maybe looking for some less restrictive dust filters with two 120mm fans taking in air from the bottom and two more exhausting it out the back and the top, but you still won’t get as nice thermals as you would from a case that was properly designed with the PSU having its own proper compartment.

Our PSU also found itself squeezed up against the “front panel” of sorts. Yes, you could move it to either the top or the bottom too, but that would mean placing it in where you don’t have nearly as many cable management cutouts.

After the completing the build, I do realize it was probably not a good idea to try to put a 240mm AIO into the MasterBox Q500L, as it was indeed quite difficult to even get it in, not to mention it was now nearly impossible to get any proper cable management going around the long ROG Strix GPU. But yes, if you are willing to live with a not-so-beautiful cable management setup, it can definitely fit all the hardware in.

And here’s a closer (and more colorful) look at the mass of cables snaking around near the power supply…

As you can see, it can also get quite messy back here but there’s actually plenty of space for all the cables to go around. There are a number of points to tie down the cables with the included zip ties too, if you want that. I don’t use zip ties in my builds because I don’t want to have to cut them when taking them apart.

While it may look quite messy up close, I do believe that a build with the MasterBox Q500L can still look pretty good, especially with our hardware packing a strong dose of RGB. Also the side-facing I/O panel definitely makes it all the more easier for you to marvel at your build, with all the ports and power button facing your direction.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an affordable and compact case, the MasterBox Q500L might just be right up your alley. It costs just RM189 and it’s literally the size of a case meant for mATX boards. You will have to deal with several shortcomings, including a slightly messier than usual internal layout and relatively poor thermals as all the heat from every component will be dumped into the case with nowhere to go thanks to really restrictive dust filters. I would probably just recommend you to just pony up the extra cash and go get the MasterBox NR600, which offers a much better layout for airflow and neatness, but you will miss out on the pretty polygonal design. Decisions, decisions…

Our thanks for Cooler Master Malaysia for sending us the Cooler Master Q500L for review.
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Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Not Just A Pretty Face

Samsung Galaxy A54 Unboxing
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Box

The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes in your standard white box that looks pretty much the same as previous Galaxy A devices. Just like last year, the box is thin so I’m sure you know why. If not, you will find out in just a bit.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Box content
Inside the box, you can find the following items:

Quick start guide
Warranty card
Samsung Pay leaflet
USB-C to USB-C cable
SIM ejector tool
The Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone itself

Specifications

Processor
Exynos 1380
4 x Cortex-A78 @ 2.4GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 2GHz
5nm

GPU
Mali-G68 MP5

RAM
8GB

Connectivity
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4GHz and 5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.3
USB Type-C
GPS, Glonass, BDS, Galileo
NFC
5G

Storage
256GB
Up to 1TB expandable storage (MicroSD)

Display
6.4″ FHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-O Display
Up to 120Hz Refresh Rate
1000nits (HBM)
Corning Gorilla Glass 5

Rear Camera
50MP f/1.8 wide angle camera, OIS, PDAF
12MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, 123°
5MP f/2.4 macro, fixed focus

Selfie Camera
32MP f/2.2 wide-angle selfie cam, HDR

Battery
5000mAh
25W Fast Charging

OS
One UI 5.1
Android 13

Ingress Protection
IP67

Dimensions
158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2 mm, 202g

Colours
Awesome White, Awesome Violet, Awesome Graphite, Awesome Lime

Performance
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Antutu v9
Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu V9, the Samsung Galaxy A54 had a decent showing but nothing extraordinary. The Exynos 1380 chip powering it sits quite comfortably within the midrange space, but it’s certainly nowhere close to bad.

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Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Geekbench 6
In Geekbench 6 however, it may seem quite low but that’s because we have yet to populate it with the latest devices for now. Realistically, it’s about the same level as the vivo V27 and definitely a notable step up from the Nord CE 3 Lite, which explains why the price is almost double of the latter device. The flagships are definitely leaps and bounds ahead of it, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – 3DMark
Then on 3DMark, the Samsung Galaxy A54 isn’t exactly up to par with recent midrange devices in both Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited and Wild Life Unlimited. This would suggest that the Exynos 1380’s weakness is its GPU power, not the CPU. It should still be fine to play mobile games on it as long as the graphics aren’t particularly demanding.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – PCMark
Lastly on PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy A54 scored much higher than I anticipated as it comfortably broke through the 10,000 mark at 12,431 points. In comparison, the flagship Galaxy S23 Ultra is 15,894 points, and most flagships from two years ago would be where the A54 is at now. This supports my theory that the Exynos 1380 has its GPU bogging down its overall performance while its CPU is still fine, and it’s certainly an adequate daily driver.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Battery life
For those of you who are wondering about its battery life, the Samsung Galaxy A54 has a decent battery life given its large 5,000mAh capacity. It lasted 10 hours and 42 minutes (642 minutes) in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test. While it can be better, I’d say it’s more than enough for most people as it should easily get you through a full day’s of use. As for charging speed, this is what I got with its maximum 25W supported output starting at 2% battery level:

15 minutes = 32%
30 minutes = 54%
45 minutes = 77%
60 minutes = 93%
69 minutes = 100%

Camera

For the most part, the camera performance of the Samsung Galaxy A54 is pleasing. The main camera can capture photos with punchy colour saturation, relatively fast focusing, and good details, even in low light. With that being said, it does have trouble focusing on faces in low light scenarios, either resulting in faces being heavily digitized or just out of focus.
The ultrawide camera isn’t as good but its pretty close, with it being weaker in low light scenarios, but it certainly is more than usable. The macro camera is rather disappointing as the quality looks like something from nearly a decade ago, grainy and dark, so I would generally avoid it altogether. Selfies come out with a surprising amount of detail, making me think I captured it with the main camera when I was looking through the pictures again, but it is definitely more reliant on lighting for a good shot.
The Good
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – Display
There are a number of good reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A54. For starters, it has a premium look that you would typically expect from a flagship-level device. Sure, it does remind one of an iPhone but it doesn’t take away from the fact that it looks and feels good. Keep in mind that it’s IP67-certified so it has a good level of protection against water and dust as well, further adding value to it.
It also has a pretty great display, but dial down your expectations a little bit. It’s a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. The Infinity-O display refers to the dot notch for the selfie camera, taking up very little space from the screen. The brightness is also more than adequate so you shouldn’t have trouble seeing even under sunlight. It will not be able to match up with most flagships today but it’s a pretty good one for the price. Not to forget, it also has Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review – One UI 5.1
Another good point is that you don’t miss out with the latest software as it comes with One UI 5.1 based on Android 13 right out of the box. Furthermore, they are also ensuring support for the device as well with guaranteed 4 major OS upgrades over and 5 years of security updates. This means that you don’t need to force yourself to go for a flagship to have better, long-term support, which is great.
Lastly, you get a dual speaker setup with the Samsung Galaxy A54. It’s not the best but it sure beats having a mono speaker setup regardless. While bass is rather hollow, it’s surprisingly clear with a good amount of details being produced. There are a number of its competitors within the same price range that only comes with a single speaker, so it’s at least worth mentioning.
Looking for something better? Check out our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review by clicking right here.
The Bad
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review
Of course, the Samsung Galaxy A54 is not immune to drawbacks. For starters, it doesn’t come with a charger inside. Some people were not sure if this practice will only be limited to flagships but this should solidify the answer that it’s not the case. Getting a charger that can have it charge this as fast as possible shouldn’t be difficult since it only supports up to 25W.
Speaking of which, the 25W fast charging speed is quite outdated by today’s standards. While I don’t expect it to go as high as 100W, something like 50-70W sound reasonable enough, especially since a number of its competitors can support the aforementioned speeds. Hopefully we’ll see that improve to at least double next year.
Lastly, while I did praise it for having a dual speaker setup, the Samsung Galaxy A54 suffers from imbalanced audio. The bottom-firing speaker is much louder than the one coming from the earpiece. Furthermore, having one fire on the bottom while the other is towards you, it makes for a rather odd experience. While the speaker position might be something that can’t be helped given the use of the earpiece, they should definitely normalize the volume here for an overall better audio experience.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Verdict
Samsung Galaxy A54 Review
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a good phone for the price. Whether it’s suitable for you or not depends on your needs in a smartphone. It’s hard to fault some of its drawbacks given its relatively affordable price of RM1,899.Looking at the bigger picture, it’s a capable daily driver that would be suitable for many consumers out there.
As such, as the end of our Samsung Galaxy A54 review, I award this smartphone with our Silver Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Samsung Malaysia for sending us this smartphone of the purpose of this review.
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NVIDIA Pascal and AMD Polaris GPUs readying for Computex 2016

With more and more “leaks” and “rumors” spreading through the interwebs as we approach Computex 2016, we try our best to compile what we found out about the two upcoming GPU architectures. We are getting onto the hype train right now as we go through as many rumors as we can. We will go alphabetically so let’s start with AMD first.

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AMD
We know about the two AMD parts, the AMD Polaris 10 and 11 and the fact that no Polaris part will pack HBM. More recent news from videocardz.com connects the marketable name of the GPUs and also offers some insight into the targeted TDPs for the two Polaris parts. AMD Radeon R9 470 would be based on Baffin GPU aka Polaris 11, with a TDP below 50W, while Radeon R9 480/490 is supposedly equipped with Polaris 10 aka Ellesmere with TDP slightly above 100W (110-135W).. A leak involving a certain Polaris 10 GPU with the code name “67DF:C4” is also found on VR-World. Some key specifications of the “67DF:C4” Polaris engineering sample are as follows:
Polaris 10 GPU “67DF:C4” Specifications (according to VR-World)

14nm FinFET, GlobalFoundries
Diffused in USA (New York state)
Assembled in Taiwan
2304 Cores (silicon: 2560)
36 Enabled Core Clusters (silicon: 40)
New GPU Architecture (not GCN “1.5”)
256-bit Memory Controller
8GB GDDR5/GDDR5X (when available)

This GPU is supposedly not in its final form yet and may see both the core and memory clocked much higher than the engineering sample’s. The core is expected to be clocked somewhere in the range of 1150 MHz while the memory may see speeds in the range of 1750 to 2000 MHz when it enters production.

The takeaway from these rumors are an interestingly low TDP for both Polaris GPUs. The claims are pretty well backed-up by the promise of improved efficiency thanks to the leap from 28nm planar to 14nm FinFET manufacturing process. If these rumors are to be believed, both GPUs may see themselves in gaming notebooks soon. Afterall, we have seen the desktop NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 with up to 150W TDP crammed into high-end gaming notebooks. True enthusiasts may decide to sit on their hands until the Vega 10 parts come out with HBM2 technology.

NVIDIA
Pascal is a much anticipated architecture over in the green camp, as it also involves both a new architecture and process shrink. Things are looking pretty similar over here with the GP104 also reportedly not coming with HBM memory. However GP100 “big Pascal” has already made an appearance in the form of the Tesla P100 and it does pack HBM2 memory. The Tesla P100 is reportedly not using the full GP100 silicon and has a whopping TDP of 300W. TDP figures of the GP104 are yet to be leaked/released though but should be much lower than the Tesla P100’s TDP.

The super-sleuths at videocardz.com referred to an image of the GP104 chip and noticed the VRAM modules looked distorted, meaning that the GPU silicon’s size was also distorted. They then fixed it to obtain a die area of 310mm2, with an estimated transistor count of 8 million, based on the announced transistor count in the GP100 chip used in the Tesla P100. The Samsung memory used is the 8Gb  8Gbps chips, which should mean 8GB of VRAM and more bandwidth than the current 7Gbps chips used.

Three cards are rumored to be based on the GP104 silicon, namely the GTX 1070, GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti. While the GTX 1080 Ti seems unlikely to be baed on the GP104, the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 comes as no surprise as the GTX 970 and GTX 980 are both based on the GM204 silicon. While we await the actual announcement of these cards, enjoy the above image of the reference GPU shrouds.

A smaller Pascal part is also spotted in the form of the Drive PX 2 module. The guys at videocardz.com once again got to work with the images to bring us a comparison of the GP106 chip against the older GM206 silicon. The GP106 chip powers the Drive PX 2 module. They reasoned that it will measure somewhere between 170mm2 to 200mm2. Based on the rectangular shape they also came to a conclusion that it contains two Graphics Processing Clusters side by side. Based on tradition, the GP106 should be in the GTX 1060 graphics cards. Looking at the VRAM modules, it appears that it will be yet another GDDR5/GDDR5X part.
So what do you think of the upcoming GPUs? Both teams will have similarly powerful GPUs, but with AMD releasing their lower TDP parts and NVIDIA already firing their big guns, are you more attracted to the low TDPs and the promise of great perf/Watt of the AMD Polaris parts or the higher end NVIDIA parts now?
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Digital Service Tax set at 6% — set to start 1st January 2020

The government will be levying a 6% Digital Service Tax on foreign digital service providers starting 1st January 2020. According to a statement by Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah, this will involve services such as online music and video subscriptions, e-books, e-marketplaces, cloud storage and also online purchases of software.
One of the many online services to be taxed starting next year.
What this means is basically everything from overseas we can spend money on online is taxable. Netflix, Spotify, Google Drive, Dropbox subscriptions. Purchases on Steam. Since e-marketplaces were mentioned, it would probably involve our online purchases from Taobao or eBay as well.
They (digital service providers) should have no problem to pay…because it’s only six per cent. If they can comply with Russia (18%), Norway (25%) and New Zealand (15%), I don’t see any reason why they should refuse to comply with the rate in Malaysia. – Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah, Deputy Finance Minister Malaysia
According to him, this “levels the playing field” as local companies are already paying taxes but foreign service providers aren’t. Malaysian users will be identified by their IP address or mobile number used when the transaction is performed.

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Source: Malaymail
Pokdepinion: Well, this literally sucks…the money out of my wallet.
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Here’s why the Xiaomi Mi 9T should be your next smartphone!

I am a real sucker for devices that offer impressive bang for buck, and the Xiaomi Mi 9T was just that. We have already done a full review for it, so you can check it out. Here’s a summary of why you should definitely consider the Xiaomi Mi 9T if you are looking for a new smartphone without spending too much.
1. Powered by the beefy Snapdragon 730
The Snapdragon 730 is Qualcomm’s premium mid-range chipset, and it does live up to its title. The Snapdragon 730 outperforms the Snapdragon 835 and Kirin 970 in benchmarks, both of which were flagship processors back in their day.

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In addition to that, Qualcomm harnessed a new 8nm FinFET process for the Snapdragon 730, which promises better efficiency and performance. The best part is that you get a premium mid-range chipset without having to pay a premium price for the Xiaomi Mi 9T.
What does this translate to in real world applications? Smooth daily usage experience and a fluid gaming experience. In PUBG Mobile, you would be looking at Smooth-Ultra graphics settings which translates to around 40 fps. That’s more a limitation from the game though, as the Adreno 618 is indeed powerful enough for some serious gaming, even in the graphically-intensive Honkai Impact where we saw the frame rate hovering around 54 fps with maxed out settings.
2. Most advanced triple camera setup in its price range

Instead of cheaping out and throwing in a depth sensor in there just to give you an illusion of more cameras, the Xiaomi Mi 9T gives you a 48MP Sony camera, an ultra-wide camera and a telephoto one. The three cameras perform quite admirably, as  you can see in the image gallery below. Some of the images are taken by Billy Cane, Xiaomi’s photographer.
48MP of Gloriousness
                                                                  Primary camera (Night Mode)            48MP Mode            Primary camera            Primary camera
The new 48MP camera sensors are probably one of the best innovations to have arrived on smartphones, and the Xiaomi Mi 9T makes full use of it. It takes amazing shots with its 48MP f/1.75 primary camera, matching and even exceeding what some flagships can deliver.
Ultra-Wide Angle Camera
          Ultra-wide angle (indoors)            Ultra-wide angle            Ultra-wide angle            Ultra-wide angle            Ultra-wide angle              Ultra-wide angle (Low light)            Ultra-wide angle (Low light)
Since I first got my hands on a smartphone with an ultra-wide angle camera, it was one of my favorite features on a smartphone. The Xiaomi Mi 9T offers a 13MP f/2.4 ultra-wide angle camera, sufficient for some awesome shots with a wider perspective.
2x Telephoto Camera
          2x Telephoto                     2x Telephoto            2x Telephoto
Having a telephoto camera might be somewhat redundant with the powerful 48MP camera, but a dedicated lens to handle zooming can reveal better results than using digital zooming, especially when it comes to the field of view when taking portraits. Regardless, it is just nice to see the option on a smartphone as affordable as the Mi 9T when some “flagship” smartphones that are priced at RM2500 and above lack a proper telephoto camera.
Most other smartphones in the sub-RM1500 range offer a dual camera or less. If you are in the market for an affordable smartphone that can take some awesome photos, look no further, this is it.
3. No bezels, no notches, no cutouts!

While some flagships are still touting cutouts and notches — even Xiaomi’s own Xiaomi Mi 9 flagship has a notch — the more affordable Mi 9T offers a full bezel-less display with a popup camera. There are many mid-range devices with popup camera, but the Xiaomi Mi 9T is the most affordable one of them all.

RM1199 is still unprecedented pricing for a smartphone with no bezels, so if you are after a edge-to-edge viewing experience, the Xiaomi Mi 9T is your best option. Whether it’s gaming or videos, no notches will improve your viewing experience.
4. Watch movies and videos in HDR
In addition to not having the selfie camera in the way, the Mi 9T’s display also supports HDR. It offers 103.8% NTSC gamut, which is a fair bit above the 100% sRGB standard. For comparison, the sRGB gamut is approximately 72% NTSC gamut, so you will be seeing much more color on the Xiaomi Mi 9T. You can now enjoy HDR in YouTube too and Netflix as well, letting you take in a more vibrant experience than on any other mid-range smartphone in the market now.
This might have been a feature that you might expect on a flagship, but now you can also enjoy it on the very affordable Xiaomi Mi 9T. And oh, there’s Widevine L1 support too, so you can enjoy Netflix HD too.
5. Hi-Res Audio and a headphone jack
With such a great display, you would be silly not to connect a pair of good headphones to be able to enjoy excellent audio as well. Few phones in the market retain an audio jack, but the Xiaomi Mi 9T is one of them. And the best part is that it is Hi-Res Audio certified too. It should be one of the most affordable devices to get Hi-Res Audio certification.
No dongles needed.
The Xiaomi Mi 9T also supports LDAC, aptX, aptX-HD and aptX-adaptive for high quality audio over Bluetooth, if you decide to cut the cords down the road. There’s also support for Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo Plus for improved performance with true wireless earphones, although few headsets actually support the feature. But hey, if it does take off one day, at least you know the Xiaomi Mi 9T is ready for that.
For a smartphone that is priced from RM1199, the Xiaomi Mi 9T is one fine device that just doles out the goodies. There are probably more impressive smartphones out there, but you would have to pay a lot more for a few additional features here and there. The Xiaomi Mi 9T is definitely our choice for a sub-RM1500 smartphone.
This is an exclusive article for Xiaomi Malaysia.
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