Notebook, Smartphone, and Tablet News

A supposed mystery smartphone has appeared in new photos taken on a subway train in China. There has been some speculation about what make and model the phone in the pictures is, with many plumping for either the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi K30 or K30 Pro. However, it is probable this could be a case of mistaken identity.

The Redmi 4 - or 4X in some markets - is a 2017 phone thought to have been all but abandoned by its maker Xiaomi in software-update terms. Despite this, some users of the device in India have reported being able to install a new upgrade conferring the OEM's latest Android skin, MIUI 11. However, it seems this version is not based on Android 10, and has other drawbacks besides.

The Samsung Galaxy A80 is a phone containing one of the most innovative notch- or pop-up alternatives in recent times. It is available in a number of regional markets, including China. It must be popular in the latter, as TENAA has certified a new variant with double the normal fixed storage.

Sony started selling its first consumer-grade robot puppy, aibo, quite some time ago. Therefore, you'd think the OEM would have also released advanced development tools so that the more tech-savvy of this product's owners could have really made it their own by now. However, this has only happened with the latest app update for this device.

Sony remains an active player in the camera sensor market, which makes the cameras that it has included in the Xperia 5 even more disappointing. Sony's latest flagship handset is not all bad by any means, but it is hard to see past its underwhelming camera hardware.

Earlier, a Motorola Razr 2019 leak suggested that it would be priced at up to €1500 on its European launch. Now, a new rumor indicates that it will in fact cost the equivalent of €1680 when it is released to the Swedish market in January 2020. For context, the Galaxy Fold costs about €2160 in this country.

The Samsung Camera app's latest update reportedly contains references to what next-generation premium phones from this OEM may be capable of. Its APK allegedly contains strings indicating the potential for 8K recording and a 20:9 aspect ratio. As others also mention 108M pixel counts, this may pertain to a Galaxy S10 or Note 10 successor.

The Razer Blade Stealth has a premium, compact design and excellent GPU performance. On the other hand, the CPU performance and especially the optional 4K screen disappoint in our review.

Xiaomi launched the Mi Note 10 a few weeks ago and the phone's impressive camera hardware has suddenly put it close to the top of many prospective buyers' shopping lists. Most are unsure about the purchase decision, however, so why not clarify things a bit for them? Is the Mi Note 10 really a good buy right now?

A few weeks ago, in spite of its SoC disadvantage, the Google Pixel 4 XL destroyed the OnePlus 7T in a resource-intensive transcoding test designed to reflect real-world performance. In a longer, more brutal test, the Pixel 4 XL is pitted against the LG V50, Asus ROG Phone 2, and OnePlus 7T. The results are...well, interesting.

Huawei has now beaten Samsung to the punch, as the Chinese OEM is currently sending out the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update to its flagships around the world. The list of devices to have received the update include the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X, P30, P30 Pro, and a few others.

The first Geekbench Metal listing of the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M is now available, and it looks like it offers a good upgrade over the Radeon Pro 560X found in the mid-2018 MacBook Pro 15. However, those who already have the end-2018 MacBook Pro 15 with a Radeon Pro Vega 20 might have less of an incentive to upgrade from a GPU standpoint.

A huge Call of Duty: Modern Warfare leak has detailed plans for a battle royale mode for the smash-hit title. The leaked information includes an image of a map and its zones as well as thorough details of the perks, loot, missions, and game options. Modern Warfare was released on October 25 of this year and raked in US$600 million in sales in just three days.

All those Iris Plus-related bug fixes Intel have been releasing over the past three months have yet to arrive on the Surface Pro 7 despite the fact that this is supposed to be Microsoft's latest flagship Windows tablet. Though we don't know when the update will arrive, Microsoft says they are working on a solution.

Despite the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, Huawei received a small reprieve in the way of a general license allowing U.S. firms to transact with the Chinese telecom giant. That license is set to expire on Monday, but sources familiar with the matter claim the U.S. Department of Commerce will extend the license by six months.

NUVIA, a new company founded by three former executives with experience in designing and manufacturing Apple CPUs and SoCs, has officially been announced. NUVIA will manufacture hardware for use in data centers with a focus on delivering more powerful silicon that runs significantly more efficiently than existing chips from AMD and Intel. The venture has currently raised $53 million from companies like Dell.

Microsoft unveiled the first gameplay trailer for Age of Empires IV today at the X019 event. The trailer offered a snapshot of two in-game civilizations: The English and the Mongols. At only a minute long, though, it raises more questions than it answers.

ThinkPads have historically been known for their great keyboards. Recently, certain models have been having issues with registering keystrokes or even just scrambling letters around. On the affected AMD ThinkPads, the keyboards are hardly usable until an update has been applied.

Fujitsu has announced the latest 3 additions to its FUTRO line of thin clients. They also have freshly-launched Intel chipsets: Gemini Lake Refresh processors named as the Pentium Silver J5040, Celeron J4125 and Celeron J4025. The highest-end of these new clients also has PalmSecure authentication.

A new patent allegedly submitted by Huawei to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has been posted online. It is for a phone with a flexible display - however, for one that folds vertically (like the new Motorola Razr) as opposed to the Mate X's hinge orientation. Should this document be valid, it is a triple-camera, edge-to-edge screened device.

Lenovo has launched the Smart Display 7, which, like its predecessors, is a smart speaker with an in-built touchscreen. This new version has its display above its speakers this time, although they are still 10-watt (W) drivers. It also has Google Assistant, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and an ambient color sensor.

The Mi Surface is a recently-released gaming-focused monitor from Xiaomi. Now, a new leak has pointed toward an additional variant of this display line. It is to measure 29 inches rather than 34 as in the original, yet retain this device's 1500R curvature and 144 hertz (Hz) refresh rate.

BOE has made an announcement on Weibo claiming that it supplied Motorola with flexible displays for the new Razr. Furthermore, it now asserts that it has done the same for the Huawei Mate X - and for the foldable Lenovo ThinkPad X1. Therefore, those interested in this upcoming notebook could look to the Razr for advance indications of its screen quality.

B&H Photo Video is offering a US$100 "holiday" discount off the first MacBook Pro 16" units it has in stock. However, they all have 16GB of RAM, whereas this new Apple product also has 32GB and 64GB options. Some do have a core i9 processor, albeit the one with a base clock of 2.3GHz.
Intel Core i7-9750H | AMD Radeon Pro 5500M | 16" | 2 kg

Some users have been unable to register their fingerprints after installing the latest software update for the Galaxy A50. Ironically, the update promised enhanced fingerprint scanner functionality, among other things.

Some renders and the specifications of the upcoming Ricoh Theta SC2 360-degree camera have appeared online. The pictures show the device in a range of pastel colors and it sports a similar design language to the Theta SC. According to the leaked specifications, the Theta SC2 has the ability to record 4K video at 30 fps.

The two-year old Surface Pro 5 offers essentially the same display experience as the latest Surface Pro 7 down to colors, contrast, brightness, response times, and more.

The Sony PlayStation 5 might be on the horizon, but the company just put fans of game designer Hideo Kojima in a very difficult position. Sony has partnered with Kojima on a PS4 Pro Death Stranding Limited Edition console that makes for an extremely tempting proposition that is even more striking in person than in press renders.

The first user reviews for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield have started being posted on Metacritic and it’s not looking good for the latest installments in the beloved franchise. At the time of writing, the user score stood at 3.5 for Sword and 3.4 for Shield. Discontent has already been visible on Twitter thanks to the trending hashtag #GameFreakLied.

At a measured brightness of 868 nits on the center of the screen, the UBook Pro is nearly 90 percent brighter than even the Surface Pro 6. It's not everyday that a cheaper Chinese clone offers something better than the "proper" authentic version.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 impressed us during our tests, not least because of its bright display. While the Redmi Note 8 does not have an OLED display, the IPS panel with which Xiaomi has equipped it is bright and contrast-rich. The device has five cameras including a 48 MP primary rear-facing sensor too. In short, Xiaomi has redefined what an entry-level smartphone can be.

AMD may have new depths of Raven Ridge to share with us soon. The evidence for this has just surfaced on Geekbench 4 for Windows, in the form of a laptop listed as powered by a chipset called the "Athlon Gold 3150U". This 2-core, 4-thread apparent APU has posted indifferent scores.

Xiaomi has just certified a new mobile device with the Chinese 3C authority. The most obvious explanation is that it is of the K30 series - however, a report alleges that it has already been registered under a different model number. Furthermore, this identifier is linked to this line's confirmed 5G status, whereas the strange new one is not.

Google search will now help you pronounce difficult words in English. The feature even lets you practice your pronunciation by speaking into the mic and tells you how you did almost instantaneously.

Huawei's Consumer Business head Yu Chengdong has posted the date of a new launch event on Weibo. This message also contains references to the Mate line of devices, indicating that it is to get new additions at this show. They may include the rumored MatePad Pro tablet.

The hand-sized Cubi 5 mini PCs from MSI now come with Intel's 10th gen Comet Lake CPUs up to a Core i7 U-series. This can be coupled with up to 64 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM and a storage solution that combines an M.2 NVMe SSD with a 2.5-inch SATA SSD/HDD.

Sony has now released its official Android 10 update roadmap. The Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 will receive the OS update before the year runs out, while other phones will follow next year. Sadly, the Xperia XZ1 phones are missing from the list, which means they've been abandoned after getting just one OS update, and that's a shame.

Google Stadia is launching in just a few days, but it looks like a fair number of its features will not be available at launch. Most of these features are related to multiplayer gaming and include State Share, Crowd Play, Stream Connect and Buddy Pass. Additionally, there will be limited functionality for PC, Chromecast Ultra and the wireless controller.

Current rumours are that NVIDIA has delayed the release of its Ampere GPUs, the next-generation successors of the company's current RTX 20 series product stack. Initially expected in the first half of next year, the 7 nm chips may make an appearance as early as March, but will not hit shelves until several months later.

Xiaomi's newly released Mi CC9 Pro and Mi Note 10 phones have received plenty of praise for their impressive camera performance. According to a new leak, however, that isn't as good as it gets, with the Chinese company touted to be working on an even more impressive camera phone.

Black Friday deals typically bring more value to the table, and Motorola's offerings this time will likely be enticing to most, with discounts of up to US$320 being on offer, starting November 24.

Huawei is expanding the launch of its FreeBuds 3 beyond China within the next few days. The wireless earbuds will undercut the Apple AirPods Pro on price while featuring active noise cancellation (ANC) and a Kirin A1 SoC. Some preorders will include a complimentary 15 W wireless charger too.

Lenovo now offers better GPU options and for the first time, an OLED display in its 15-inch workstation. Nvidia's Quadro RTX 5000 offers a level of performance that is usually exclusive to 17-inch models.
Intel Core i7-9850H | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (Laptop) | 15.6" | 2.7 kg

MSI has brought its updated Content Creator lineup to the Indian market. This includes the flagship P series followed by the Creator, Prestige, and Modern series. The Modern and Prestige series offer Intel Comet Lake-U and NVIDIA MX250 and GTX 1650 Max-Q options while the P and Creator series sport Intel Coffee Lake-Refresh 9th gen CPUs and graphics options ranging from the NVIDIA 1660 Ti to the RTX 2070 Max-Q.

A concept video for the Xiaomi Mi 10 has been posted on YouTube along with a set of optimistic specifications. Whether the Chinese manufacturer will fit the successor of the Mi 9 with a 108 MP sensor and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC remains to be seen, but the “waterfall” display gives the concept Mi 10 an enviable screen-to-body ratio.

The 15.6-inch MSI GL65 is one of the lighter gaming laptops in its size category due to its narrow bezel design and no-frills approach. Its GeForce GTX 1650 GPU can play the latest games at native 1080p and decent graphical settings without much of a hassle.

As the first 15.6-inch MSI laptop with an Intel Core i7-10710U CPU, the Prestige 15 has some big shoes to fill. Performance and clock rate sustainability are good at the cost of high core temperatures stabilizing at ~95 C when under stressful processing loads.

Ten of the mainline Final Fantasy games are coming to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Every main Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy VII, save for the two MMORPGs (Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV), will be released for Xbox Game Pass throughout 2020.

The blog TigerMobiles claims to have dug up a couple of patents that may show the directions in which Xiaomi intends to take the foldable trend. One shows a clamshell design like that of the new Motorola Razr, whereas the other is more like the Huawei Mate X, but with an impressively extensive pop-up camera.

Google will begin rolling out RCS support to all Android devices today. The rollout will happen in stages. Additionally, RCS will only be available through Google's Messages app. However, the rollout will eventually come to all Android devices, replacing the outdated SMS system currently employed.