Latest Tech News

Today (March 11, 2021) is a Thursday, which means it's time for new games in. the GeForce NOW library. This week, the streaming service has added 4 The Witcher-series games, which are, moreover, those of the GOG variety. Pascal's Wager (Definitive Edition) is another new entry on the cloud-gaming platform.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be pleased to know that they will soon be able to play Bethesda classics such as Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Doom on the platform starting on March 12. A total of 20 games have been added to the platform, some of which will be available on PC, console and cloud.

Mobvoi has introduced a successor to last year's TicWatch Pro 2020. Unfortunately, the company continues to use the Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, which should have long been retired. The TicWatch Pro S features 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of storage and retails for US$259.99.

Another reference to an AMD Nashira Summit GPU has appeared online. This time, Nashira Summit has been joined by five Nashira Point codenames and one for Nashira Creek. At least two of the codenames imply Radeon Pro models, while Nashira Creek could be a new AMD mobile GPU. Nashira Point may be Navi 21 GPUs, though.

Xiaomi has packed the POCO X3 Pro full of high-end components, if a new leak is to be believed. Apparently, the POCO X3 Pro will have a Snapdragon 860 SoC, a 120 Hz AMOLED display and a 5,160 mAh battery. The POCO X3 Pro is thought to have four cameras too, although none will support OIS.

Today, (March 11, 2021) OPPO has unveiled its Find X3 Pro, X3 Neo and X3 Lite, complete with European pricing. This might leave some consumers wondering where the vanilla X3 went during all this. Well, it does exist, and has the same high-end display and cameras as the Pro, but is only available to pre-order in China.

Benchmark data for the Radeon RX 6700 XT has been published online ahead of the card's launch next week. It seems that AMD still plans to release the RX 6700 though and with 12 GB of VRAM instead of 6 GB.

Oppo's newly-launched Find X3 Neo and Find X3 Lite are low-cost alternatives to the costlier Pro model. They come with FHD+ OLED screens clocked at 90Hz, quad rear cameras, support for 65W fast charging, and more. Both phones will be up for pre-order starting March 18, with sales starting on April 1.

Oppo's first flagship smartphone of 2021 is finally here in the form of the Oppo Find X3 Pro. Some of its specifications include a 6.7-inch QHD+ AMOLED screen clocked at 120Hz, four rear cameras, a 4,500mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging, and more. It will be available for pre-order on March 18 for EUR 1,149 (US$1,275)

The Nokia 5.4 is a rather unusual update of the Nokia 5.3. Usually, new smartphones are faster and bigger than the predecessor, but the latest mid-range smartphone from HMD Global is not…

OnePlus has unveiled yet more camera specifications about the OnePlus 9 series. However, leaked marketing renders suggest that OnePlus has used a plastic frame on the OnePlus 9. The OnePlus 9 will have a flat display though, unlike the curved OnePlus 9 Pro.

Russian PhD student Ildar Rakhmatulin devised a terrifying mosquito-killing solution that pairs a Raspberry Pi, a 1W laser, and an AI neural network capable of identifying and eliminating mosquitos.

An AMD Radeon RX 6600M has been spotted as part of the hardware configuration for a device apparently being tested on a well-known gaming benchmark. Not only does this seemingly confirm the RX 6600M should be coming soon, but the GPU also appears alongside a surprising Ryzen 5000 CPU that hints at a Zen 3/RDNA 2 laptop in the works for 2021.

The Schenker XMG Core 15 brings all modern computer games smoothly onto the responsive screen (WQHD, IPS, 165 Hz). This is complemented by an NVMe SSD, 16 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), and decent battery life. The new Control Center provides extensive options to adjust the performance of the APU and GPU.

Samsung has never conducted an "Awesome" Unpacked Event before - however, it now seems that is going to change in 2021. The inaugural edition of this kind of launch will take place via YouTube on March 17. It is thought to introduce at least 1 new member of the Galaxy A series to the world.

Some new Huawei P50 Pro renders have emerged online, thanks to @OnLeaks. It shows two ultra-large camera cutouts, one of which could likely be the 50MP Sony IMX 800 sensor. The leak also tells us that the smartphone will come with a 6.7-inch screen, two speakers, and an IR blaster.

Insta360's freshly-debuted GO 2 miniature camera is a considerable upgrade over its first generation, not the least in its design and function. Its case still doubles as a battery-pack, but can now also act as a remote control and a tripod. It also has more field-of-view options and storage, as well as a new FlowState stabilization clip mode.

Xbox insider Shpeshal Ed says that several Bethesda games will be available on Xbox Game Pass. We're probably looking at UPlay+ integration with Microsoft's subscription services, which is expected to cost US$5 extra. This is expected to happen by the end of 2021.

The performance gap is definitely there, but it's nothing that we haven't seen before from previous generation Max-Q and non Max-Q designs. Gamers will see about 15 to 20 percent slower performance if jumping from a 130 W GeForce RTX 3060 GPU to the 75 W version.

POCO's first 'Pro' smartphone of 2021 is set to arrive on March 30, the company has teased. The device is expected to launch in three colours and two configurations for up to €300.

Xiaomi has started recruiting another batch of pilot testers for MIUI 12.5. The program is open for 21 recent smartphones, including the Mi 11, Mi 10, Mi 9, Mi 9 SE, the Redmi K20 Pro, Redmi Note 8 Pro and the Redmi Note 9T, among others.

LG has published another Android 11 roadmap, this time for Germany. Only two devices, the Velvet 5G and G8X will receive the OS upgrade before Q3 2021. Additionally, the LG Wing must wait until Q4 2021 at the earliest for Android 11, which will be long after Google releases Android 12.

Xiaomi has a good record for updating its smartphones, but that record does not stretch to the Mi Mix 3. Unfortunately, it seems that the device has been bypassed for an Android 11 upgrade too, despite being released on Android 9.0 Pie.

The Galaxy Note 9 can now be upgraded to One UI 3.1 and Android 11 thanks to a new custom ROM. Called Noble ROM, the ROM is available for Exynos versions of the Galaxy Note 9, including the dual-SIM edition. The ROM is the first opportunity to run One UI 3.1 on the former flagship smartphone.

Motorola has launched the G10 Power, a 6,000mAh Android 11 smartphone, in India. Its 6.5-inch HD+ Max Vision display is driven by a Snapdragon 460 SoC, paired to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It will be available via Flipkart from March 16, 2021, and will start at INR 9,999 (~US$137) on that date.

Recent leaks have raised the possibility that Samsung is preparing a successor to its unusual flip-camera phone, the Galaxy A80. Now, a new addition to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) database provides proof that this device exists. It is thus almost certain to launch soon, with 5G and other forms of high-end wireless connectivity to boot.

Apple has rescheduled mass production of its next ARM-powered MacBooks, according to a new report. Initially due to begin in May or June, Nikkei Asia reports that this production window has now slipped to sometime during the second half of 2021.

NateDrake on the ResetEra forums claims that the DLSS-compatible Switch may differ from the upcoming Switch Pro with OLED screen and 4K support, and, due to the ongoing chip shortages, the DLSS version could end up pushed back to 2022. We should be seeing a new Nvidia SoC, though, and the DLSS hardware features will be supported on the handheld SoC rather than the dock SoC.

Denuvo announced that its popular Denuvo Anti-Cheat program is now on the PlayStation 5. Several PS5 launch titles already use it, added the company, although it didn't specify which ones. Denuvo also adds that Anti-Cheat will not affect the performance of any games that use it.

E Ink announced a new version of their Kaleido color displays. Named Kaleido Plus, the new screens have the same color reproduction as the first generation but bring improvements in screen assembly and the front light that improve the overall picture and color saturation.

An intrepid MSI employee tried to mine cryptocurrency on the MSI GE76 Raider gaming laptop. It can apparently mine at 52.8MH/s, a smidgen slower than the desktop Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070's 52.9MH/s hash rate. MSI says that it will continue its 'experiment' for a month before posting results.

The latest update to War Thunder, labeled 2.5 "Ixwa Strike" and unleashed earlier today, brings more than 20 new ground vehicles (including a South African separate branch in the British tech tree), first sweep-wing aircraft (Su-17M), 5 new ships, new locations, a pilot HUD, new graphical effects, and more.

The latest version of Google's camera app contains clues about two of its upcoming Pixel smartphones. Next up for Google is the Pixel 5a, which is supposedly due for release this summer. However, the app also contains information on the Pixel 6 about its cameras and display.

More details have emerged about the next Galaxy Z Fold, presumably called the Galaxy Z Fold3 or the Galaxy Z Fold 3. According to a new report, the third-generation foldable smartphone will be thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold2, in part because of a redesigned hinge and a new display. There may even be a Galaxy Z Pro model this year, too.

Ambitious miners have successfully managed to best the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060's hash rate limiter less than a month after it was launched. The graphics card can now mine crypto at 45MH/s. With the restriction in place, its mining rate was restricted to 20MH/s.

When the screen on your smartphone proves too small for productivity tasks, you can just use the new Beelink Expand X dock to hook your mobile device to a PC monitor and a keyboard / mouse setup. You can also watch movies from the phone or even play handheld console games on a big 4K TV through the included HDMI connector.

The new Dell XPS 13 9310 with Tiger Lake i5-1135G7 is currently priced at £999 (US$1,388) on the company’s UK site at the moment. This is an incredible price for the high-end laptop, and it also happens to be the same price tag as the even newer Dell XPS 13 9305 with the same Intel chip but worse display and smaller-capacity SSD.

PlayStation 5 devkit images seemingly sourced from the National Communications Commission (NCC) of Taiwan have offered up an interesting reminder of what could have been. A PlayStation Store mailshot has reaffirmed that the expanded and enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto V for the PS5 appears to be still on schedule.

Rumors of an upcoming Sony Xperia Compact surface every year without fail and nothing ever really comes to fruition. It appears Sony does have a new compact device on the cards, though. It's not a flagship, however, and you're unlikely to be able to buy it, sadly.

Oppo has released a promo video detailing the process it has used to create the unique camera bump on the rear of the new Oppo Find X3 Pro. The camera housing has polarized the Android fan base but it is the result of a highly complex 40-hour process that is impressive in its technical complexity.

The lowest price for the Core i7, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD SKU is $699 USD, but users can double the RAM and storage for about $200 more. If the faster graphics performance or 16:10 aspect ratio of the newer XPS 13 9300 models are unexciting, then the older XPS 13 7390 may be worthwhile.

Carl Pei asserts that his new Nothing brand can disrupt the consumer tech space with innovative, unique products. The company has just given the world the first hint of their design in its new Concept 1 TWS earbuds. However, they are also what they say on the tin, and apparently won't actually resemble Nothing's actual inaugural buds.

The Google Pixel smartphone has apparently been scheduled to launch on June 11. Unsurprisingly, the device will be a new mid-range model, which Google is thought to have called the Pixel 5a.

AMD has revealed that its third-gen line of processors for data-centers and similar professional use-cases, also commonly known as EPYC Milan, will launch on March 15, 2021. It is thought to offer multiple variants that go up to 64 cores, some of which have been seen on benchmarks tearing through their Intel competition and closest Threadripper analogs.

A new leak suggests that Qualcomm is planning to ditch the age-old efficiency plus performance core configuration on its upcoming Snapdragon 8cx successor codenamed the SC8280. It will instead use 'Gold' and 'Gold+' cores for better performance, at the expense of battery life.

OnePlus has now confirmed that its 9 series will launch in conjunction with Hasselblad. It has just posted a new YouTube clip starring a representative of this brand with new hints as to what their co-developed cameras can do. Meanwhile, the 9 Pro's rumored new Stellar Black option has been snapped itself and is now on Instagram.

iQOO has confirmed that it will launch its Snapdragon 870-powered Neo5 on March 16, 2021. However, new leaks suggest that it will have a second Android device to debut in the same month. The Z3 is thought to be the successor to the Z1, and, thus, to run on the new MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC.

Microsoft has purchased ZeniMax Media for US$7.5 billion, bringing popular game development studios like Bethesda and id Software under the Xbox umbrella. This may mark the beginning of Xbox exclusivity for series like The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, and more.

Apple has scheduled its next hardware event for March 23, according to a new report. The event would be set to clash with the OnePlus 9 series launch event, the date of which OnePlus has already confirmed. Apparently, new AirPods, iPad Pros and AirTags are ready for release, as is a new Apple TV. Only the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will have a mini LED display this year, though.

Production of the NVIDIA Tegra X1 'Mariko' is coming to an end, according to a new rumour. The Tegra X1 'Mariko' powers the Nintendo Switch and the Switch Lite, so we may be set to see a new Switch Pro or Super Switch this year, after all.