Expert reviews and news on laptops, smartphones and tech innovations

Your iPhone could slow down due to an ageing battery. (Source: User TeckFire on Reddit)

Apple allegedly throttling older iPhones with degraded batteries

A user on Reddit has posted potential evidence that Apple could be throttling older iPhones relative to the output battery voltage to prevent them from drawing too much power. Although this is not the first instance of throttling on iPhones, it surely has been a subject of much debate.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 11 Dec 2017 17:55

Intel 'Gemini Lake' Pentium Silver and Celeron are now official. (Source: Intel)

Intel 'Gemini Lake' Pentium Silver and Celeron CPUs now official, come with support for Gigabit WiFi

Intel has officially announced the launch of 'Gemini Lake' CPUs in Pentium Silver and Celeron variants. 'Gemini Lake' succeeds 'Apollo Lake' and comes with support for Gigabit WiFi, Adaptive Contrast Enhancement, and improved graphics capabilities.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 11 Dec 2017 16:22

Microsoft will rely on the 365 cloud platform and the Azure Stack solution to reach a US$1 trillion market cap by 2020. (Source: Microsoft)

Microsoft to reach US$1 trillion market cap by 2020

Microsoft's share price is expected to reach US$109 by 2020, leading to a market cap of over US$1 trillion. Surprisingly enough, Windows and Xbox will not be the main revenue generators, Microsoft relying instead on the 365 cloud computing platform and the Azure Stack solution.

Bogdan Solca, 11 Dec 2017 13:30

Deal | Motorola is offering great deals on its smartphones that give you even more bang for your buck

In the spirit of the holiday season, Motorola is currently offering a number of great deals on its smartphones. Devices like the Moto X4, Moto G5 Plus, Moto Z2 Play and others currently benefit from this, which means you can nab any of them on the cheap right now.

Ricci Rox, 11 Dec 2017 11:52

The Honor 9i also sported a quad camera setup. (Source: Honor)

New Honor device with quad cameras to be launched on December 13

There's another Honor device on the cards, as the company has announced its intentions to hold another launch event on December 13. Nothing is known about this device except for the fact that it will feature quad cameras.

Ricci Rox, 11 Dec 2017 11:37

Is demand for the iPhone X weaker than forecast? (Source: Apple)

Demand for iPhone X components could be softening

Demand for the iPhone X could be below expectations according to a report coming out of the Taiwanese supply chain. With shipping times improving dramatically in recently, the report could be accurate.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 11 Dec 2017 10:26

Android Wear based on Oreo is starting to roll out for compatible devices. (Source: Google)

Google lists Android Wear devices in line for Oreo update

Google has revealed the list of Android Wear devices that will be getting an update to Android Oreo. The upgrade looks more about bringing the Wear base OS inline with the Android smartphone OS, rather than bringing major new features.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 11 Dec 2017 09:50

Pre-installed keylogger found in 460 HP laptop models in December 2017 (Source: Dash Force News)

More than 460 HP laptop models come with a pre-installed keylogger

Although this is not the first time it happens this year, HP has been caught red-handed once again. This time, the keylogger has been found in the Synaptics touchpad driver that ships with more than 460 HP notebook models.

Codrut Nistor, 11 Dec 2017 09:45

Zotac shows off its MEK1 mini PC at a Hong Kong event (Source: Zotac)

Zotac launches gaming MEK1 mini PC with GTX 1070 Ti graphics

Measuring just 414 x 118 x 394 mm in volume, the system manages to integrate a 450 W PSU and GTX 1070 Ti GPU to be a powerhouse of a HTPC.

Allen Ngo, 11 Dec 2017 06:32

Alleged leaked slide showing the core count, clock speed, and pricing of three upcoming 2nd generation Ryzen processors. (Source: Tech Spot)

(Update: likely fake) | Leaked slide shows Ryzen 7 2800X coming in February 2018 with +82% performance over 1800X

Leaked slides, which are claimed to be genuine AMD material, show core and thread count for the upcoming 2700, 2800, and 2800X, as well as the frequencies that they run at. You can expect these new Ryzen processors to start shipping from 1st February 2018.

Craig Ward, 11 Dec 2017 01:20

Huawei is Honor's parent company. (Source: Gizbot)

Honor announces plans to take over Indian smartphone market by 2020

Honor President George Zhao has declared the company's intentions to rule the Indian smartphone market by 2020, a goal it hopes to achieve by releasing bang-for-buck devices under the Rs 10,000 price point.

Ricci Rox, 11 Dec 2017 00:16

First rumors of the Nokia 6 (2018) surface

The Nokia 6 was released way back in January, which means we're about set for the launch of its successor, the Nokia 6 (2018), possibly at MWC in February. Details of the device have surfaced online, painting the picture of a rather enticing device.

Ricci Rox, 10 Dec 2017 20:06

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 scored an impressive 90 points on DxOMark

The Mi Note 3, Xiaomi's new mid-ranger, made the journey over to DxOMark, with the device recording a score of 90, which places it in the same bracket as devices like the first-gen Google Pixel and the iPhone 7 Plus. Not bad for a two-month-old device that currently goes for as low as US$300.

Ricci Rox, 10 Dec 2017 20:04

Andy Rubin returns to Essential after absence over misconduct case

Andy Rubin, founder of Essential and creator of the Android OS, went on a leave of absence at the tail end of November over a case of perceived misconduct during his time as an executive at Google.

Ricci Rox, 10 Dec 2017 20:03

Samsung patent describes a double-display smartphone

Samsung has multiple patents for various styles of foldable smartphones. It is unknown if the manufacturer will utilize bendable displays for the rumored Galaxy X.

Allen Ngo, 10 Dec 2017 02:57

Applications that misuse the accessibility service to add beneficial features for their users get a short pause from Google. (Source: JuralMin/Pixabay)

Google decides to re-evaluate whether they remove apps that misuse accessibility services, such as LastPass and Tasker

Google has asked developers whose apps use the accessibility permission to email them with how their app uses this permission to enhance user experience so that they can assess "responsible and innovative" use of the permission. While doing this they have put a pause on the 30 day 'modify or remove' notification they had previously given developers.

Craig Ward, 09 Dec 2017 23:54

The Asus NovaGo SD835-powered covertible. (Source: Ultrabookreview)

First benchmarks of the Asus NovaGo TP370QL — the Snapdragon-powered Windows notebook

The Asus NovaGo is one of the first notebooks to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. Initial impressions of the notebook seem to be positive but performance numbers seem to be behind even low-end x86 CPUs.

Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 09 Dec 2017 16:15

The Sony PlayStation 4 Pro. (Source: Sony)

Sony PlayStation 4 continues to dominate this generation's consoles sales with over 70 million units sold

Sony announced yesterday that the PlayStation 4 has now passed 70 million lifetime sales, along with almost 618 million games sold.

Craig Ward, 09 Dec 2017 01:05

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8. (Source: CNET)

Oreo for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 leaked

The Samsung Galaxy S8 received its Oreo beta weeks ago, so it's a bit surprising that Note 8 users have been left in the lurch. Only until now, though, as what looks like a stable internal Oreo build for the flagship has finally surfaced, with users testing it out and confirming its validity.

Ricci Rox, 08 Dec 2017 23:22

The Onyx Boox Max 2 Pro is a quad-core E-Ink tablet coming this month for $800

The Onyx Boox Max 2 Pro is a powerful (if expensive) eReader tablet with a huge 13.3-inch hi-res E-Ink display. The reader boasts a quad-core processor, a full version of Android 6.0, and a highly responsive E-Ink display, but there are a few drawbacks.

Sam Medley, 08 Dec 2017 21:48

The Titan V GPU is marketed as an entry-level compute card, but it can also be considered an extreme gaming solution. (Source: Nvidia)

Nvidia unveils US$3,000 Titan V GPU based on Volta core

The Titan V AI compute card may seem too expensive for an extreme gaming solution, but it is US$7,000 cheaper than the Tesla V100 card that served as basis. Considering the notable price difference, the Titan V actually offers almost the same performance as the Tesla V100, with slightly inferior specs, and essentially the same Tensor, single and double precision speeds.

Bogdan Solca, 08 Dec 2017 21:39

The Huawei P10 Plus. (Source: AndroidPIT)

The Huawei P11 will adopt the iPhone X's notch

Firmware files of an unnamed Huawei flagship device, which we expect to be the Huawei P11, has revealed details pointing towards the presence of a notch at the top of the display, much like what we've seen on the Essential PH-1 and iPhone X.

Ricci Rox, 08 Dec 2017 20:14

Images of a full-screen Sony phone spotted in the wild

Live images of an unknown Sony Xperia device, which may be the Xperia XZ1 Premium, have surfaced, with the device featuring a unique design form that is sure to keep fans of the Japanese electronics giants on the edge of their seats.

Ricci Rox, 08 Dec 2017 20:05

The Portal by Razer uses the same design as the original Portal router. (Source: Razer)

Razer announces 'Portal by Razer,' a gaming-orientated router

Razer's partnership with Ignition Design Labs has led to the 'Portal by Razer,' a version of the Portal router with optimizations for gamers.

Craig Ward, 08 Dec 2017 16:01

ADATA announces i-Memory AI720 USB drive storage expansion for iOS devices

The i-Memory AI720 includes a Lightning connector at one end and a USB 3.1 connector at the other end. It comes in 32/64/128 GB capacities and can easily handle UHD 4K video playback thanks to the 90 MB/s transfer speeds. The OTG functionality allows users to save videos and pictures directly on the stick, in order to save up space on their devices.

Bogdan Solca, 08 Dec 2017 14:23

They all settle at the end. (Source: XDA-Developers)

Update: OnePlus Replies | OnePlus users petition company for Treble support

Users of OnePlus devices have created an online petition asking the company to implement Treble support on its devices. This comes days after the company staff, in an AMA, vehemently expressed its refusal to provide Treble support on any OnePlus device, even on the newly released OnePlus 5T. Update: 07/12/17

Ricci Rox, 07 Dec 2017 23:18

LG V30+ set for December 13 Indian debut

The LG V30 looks to be the first device in LG's V series to move away from the content creator-cum-enthusiast demographic. While the device looks incredibly good, issues with its display have marred its success commercially.

Ricci Rox, 07 Dec 2017 23:10

Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro set for stable Oreo release

The Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro had their Oreo beta testing programs opened a few months ago, so it comes as no surprise that both devices are finally getting stable Oreo rollouts, with the P10 and V9 to follow soon.

Ricci Rox, 07 Dec 2017 23:00

Windows PCs gaining market share worldwide thanks to the education sector

According to Microsoft, "more and more schools are choosing Windows over competitive offerings" in the US while Futuresource's latest quarterly report also revealed a 15 percent growth year-over-year for the global education market.

Codrut Nistor, 07 Dec 2017 22:55

Samsung Headquarters. (Source: Social Barrel)

Samsung has no place in the Chinese smartphone market, data shows

A report by Kanta World Panel has shown the state of the Chinese smartphone market, with figures indicating Huawei's lead, Apple's growth, and Samsung's almost palpable irrelevance.

Ricci Rox, 07 Dec 2017 22:51

HMD executive confirms that current Nokia devices will not get Treble

There was word a while ago that the Nokia 8 would have Treble implemented on the final build of its Oreo update but that is not to be, as company CPO Juho Sarvikas has confirmed the lack of Treble on any Nokia device, much like we saw from OnePlus a while ago.

Ricci Rox, 07 Dec 2017 22:43

Rambus could launch the HBM3 modules as early as 2019. (Source: Rambus)

HBM3 memory expected to feature 4 Gbps transfer rates and GDDR6-like bandwidth

Rambus released some preliminary details about the HBM3 graphics memory modules that are expected to hit the market in 2019, at the earliest. With a transfer rate of around 4 Gbps, the HBM3 modules could double the memory bandwidth, making them faster than the GDDR6 modules included in Nvidia's GTX 2000 GPUs.

Bogdan Solca, 07 Dec 2017 19:12

You can no longer use Bitcoin to buy games on Steam (and with good reason)

Due to the high volatility and growing transaction fees associated with Bitcoin, Valve is no longer accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment method for purchases made on Steam. This decision sheds some light on the economic ramifications of the rapid growth of a currency.

Sam Medley, 07 Dec 2017 16:16

The front panel can be customized with RGB LEDs. (Source: Shuttle)

Shuttle SZ270R9 mini PC enclosure gets push-button overclocking

The XPC SZ270R9 mini PC enclosure from Shuttle offers versatile customization options combined with easy overclocking functions for gamers who want compact, efficient and silent systems.

Bogdan Solca, 07 Dec 2017 13:14

Microsoft OneDrive 5.1 for Android updated early December 2017

Microsoft OneDrive for Android updated with new looks

Microsoft OneDrive 5.1 for Android comes without the hamburger menu and features tabs at the bottom. A "Free space" option now shows up when the storage is full, advising you to remove those files you no longer need.

Codrut Nistor, 07 Dec 2017 12:20

Qualcomm may not have been Microsoft's only choice for Windows ARM

Microsoft is apparently trying its best to convince the makers of Tegra and Exynos SoCs to invest in Windows ARM. So far, only Qualcomm has heeded the call.

Allen Ngo, 07 Dec 2017 07:53

Huawei Nova 2S coming soon to China

Huawei Nova 2S is expected to debut tomorrow as an improved version of the Nova 2. Its list of unconfirmed specs and features includes the octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 960 processor, dual cameras on both sides, as well as Android Oreo with EMUI 8.0 on top.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Dec 2017 23:59

The camera has been a major advertising focus for Huawei since their partnership with German camera maker, Leica. (Source: Huawei)

Leaked advertising material indicates Huawei P11 might have triple 40 MP rear lens and 5x Hybrid zoom

Huawei has been steadily improving their phone cameras to compete with the best available from the competition. Now four advertising posters have leaked via the portfolio of a creative agency that works with Huawei showing that the PCE series will have a triple rear-lens setup with 40 MP sensors.

Craig Ward, 06 Dec 2017 23:58

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC is now official. (Source: Qualcomm)

UPDATE (specifications) | The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 has arrived

Qualcomm's second annual Snapdragon Technology Summit is underway, with the presentations of the first day including the announcement of the Snapdragon 845 and confirmation of Samsung Foundry as the manufacturing partner.

Craig Ward, 06 Dec 2017 21:41

Spyware issues in late 2017 - Ethiopia spying on journalists

Commercial spyware is out of control

A fresh report published by The Citizen Lab revealed that Ethiopia, a country where less than 5 percent of the population has access to the internet, conducted a complex global cyber espionage campaign.

Codrut Nistor, 06 Dec 2017 21:10

UPDATE: Sale over | Grab an Alienware 15 R3 with a GTX 1070 for USD $1450

The Nvidia GTX 1070-equipped Alienware 15 R3 is currently on sale at Best Buy for USD $1450, or $350 less than its retail price.

Sam Medley, 06 Dec 2017 20:38

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