Latest Tech News

The first details about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 775G have leaked, courtesy of Roland Quandt. Apparently, the Snapdragon 775G will be a huge upgrade for the Snapdragon 7xx series and will support a host of flagship components, including 120 Hz displays and LPDDR5 RAM.

Huawei has issued a new round of updates for the Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, P20 and P20 Pro. The new build, called EMUI 10.0.0.180, seeks to deliver system improvements for the four devices as they near the end of software support.

Konami has brought Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance to the GOG store. The two classic games are available for US$9.50 each and will work on Windows 7 through 10. The original Metal Gear and Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra can be downloaded for US$6.33, too.

The Envy offers a Ryzen 5-4500U APU, 16 GB of working memory (dual-channel mode), and an NVMe SSD. In addition, there is a very good battery life. Not only can the touchscreen be operated with finger input, but also with an input pen that is available separately.

The Galaxy A71 sports four cameras at the back and new information indicates that the upcoming Galaxy A72 will do one better, by adding a 3x optical zoom lens to the mix, bringing it in line with more premium offerings. At the front of the phone will be a 32 MP shooter for a total of six cameras.

The Radeon RX 6000 series will be made up of at least three GPUs called Sienna Cichlid, Navy Flounder and Dimgrey Cavefish. Dimgrey Cavefish will be the baby of the series and will be based on AMD's GFX103X graphics architecture. The Radeon RX 6000 series will go live on October 28.

The latest member of the Geniatech XPI family packs a Rockchip RK3128 chipset, along with up to 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. A Wi-Fi module can be added to go with the board's four USB Type-A ports, HDMI port and 40-pin GPIO header. The Geniatech XPI-3128 starts at US$25 and can currently be configured up to US$35.

A leaked Pixel 4a (5G) prototype has shown that Google may have been experimenting with glass and aluminium versions of the device. As it stands, Google is expected to release the Pixel 4a (5G) with a plastic back, as it has with the Pixel 4a.

Nvidia's RTX 3000-series launch was not that successful due to the extremely limited card stocks. The situation should be improved towards the end of October, right around the same time AMD is planning to release the Navi 2x GPU series. Will team red pull a paper launch a la Nvidia, as well? Frank Azor is confident that this will not be the case.

Rumour has it that Apple will soon start selling a new generation of iPad Pros with mini LED screens. The fifth-generation devices may arrive as early as Q4 2020 too, contrary to past rumours. These may be the first iPads to the feature Apple's A14X Bionic chipset, too.

The EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 KINGPIN is currently the world's fastest graphics card, having achieved a score of 16,673 points in 3DMark Port Royal. The card managed the lofty score at 2.58 GHz, or over 50% higher than stock NVIDIA speeds.

The pricing of the 12.5-inch Surface Laptop has leaked ahead of the device's expected announcement next month. Apparently Microsoft's budget answer to the regular Surface Laptop series, the 12.5-inch will start at US$699.99 with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a Core i5-1035G1 processor Prices will rise to US$1,199.99, but that Ice Lake CPU will be equipped across all SKUs.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was released earlier in the week and is already listed for pre-order on stores like Amazon and B&H with a US$599 price tag. Comparatively, the OnePlus 8T and Pixel 5 have been touted to be prices higher than that while also offering worse hardware.

Xiaomi has a special launch coming up in a few days, with the unveiling of the 82-inch Mi TV Master Ultra Edition 8K mini-LED TV with 5G connectivity. It’s claimed this will be the world’s first mass-produced 5G/8K mini-LED TV, and it is very likely the price will reflect the innovative technology utilized.

Amazon-owned connected home security brand Ring has raised eyebrows with the launch of the Ring Always Home Cam. The device combines a charging base with an in-door camera drone that will activate on the detection of movement and will send the drone out to fly around a house transmitting a live video feed to the homeowner.

The German OEM ran into incompatibility issues caused by the Vega iGPUs and was unable to fix these problems because Samsung no longer offers engineering support for those particular OLED panels. Schenker/XMG states that the demand for an OLED option is there and we will most likely see AMD-powered laptops with OLED panels in 2021.

Xiaomi announced MIUI for TV 3.0 back in July and now it seems some users in China have started receiving the update. MIUI for TV 3.0 offers a new refined layout for the user interface, a selection of viewing modes, and dynamic animation effects that may be limited only to Xiaomi Master Series devices.

With the Pixel 4a, Google has created a real success. The price is right, performance too, and minor defects can be ignored. Let's just hope that there will also be enough units available.

Asus' integrated clickpad/touchscreen hybrid works well at smaller resolutions or for dragging windows back and forth between the main display. If you don't have an external mouse, however, it might be more trouble than its worth.

Several leaks have painted the OnePlus 8T as a flat-screen refresh of the existing 8 flagship series. Now, it has released a new preview post to its community website revealing that it will get the next generation of this OEM's in-house Warp Charge USB type C charging standard. This system will use dual cells to allow the battery in question to attain full capacity in an estimated 39 minutes.

OPPO has unveiled an electrocardiography (ECG) -enabled version of its first-gen smartwatch in the course of its 2020 Developer's Conference. The wearable is essentially the same as the 46mm variant of this Watch, just with the new in-depth heart rate-tracking feature. The Watch also now also has a new League of Legends Limited Edition.

After releasing the Redmi Note 9 back in April, Xiaomi is set to launch the Redmi Note 10 series soon. The latest report claims that the Redmi Note 10 or Redmi Note 10 Pro will be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 750G and could, in fact, be a rebadged Mi 10T Lite in China and/or India.

Renders of the Nokia 7.3 5G have leaked, and they show a device that resembles the Nokia 8.3 5G. The device is rumoured to be launching in Q4 2020 with a Snapdragon 690 and up to 8 GB of RAM. The Nokia 7.3 5G will have five cameras too, along with a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a possible starting price of €399.

Leaked images of the Pixel 5 have confirmed that Google has a green edition in the works. The muted colour scheme wraps around the back and frame of the device, unlike the Pixel 4 series. The device will be available with a Snapdragon 765G, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, along with two rear-facing cameras.

GeForce RTX 3080 cards are finally getting into the hands of consumers, but some units are proving unstable at factory overclock speeds. 2.0-2.1 GHz seems to be the threshold for causing issues, with many cards crashing to desktop when they reach these frequencies.

John Lewis has, perhaps mistakenly, revealed the design of the Pixel 4a (5G) before its release next week. Google's mid-tier smartphone for this year will share many of its components with the Pixel 5, except for its rather larger bottom bezel and 3.5 mm headphone jack. The Pixel 4a (5G) is not expected to support wireless charging either, but it will have three cameras and a capacitive fingerprint scanner.

While the CPU performance increase seems negligible on the new Ryzen 7 5700U models, the results mustered by the iGPU side certainly suggest that the Lucienne APUs could integrate Vega 11 chips, at least for the top-of-the-line models. These Lucienne APUs may turn out to be AMD's rushed response to Intel's Tiger Lake models that are just a bit faster than the previous AMD Renoir processors.

Mobvoi's latest smartwatch is here, the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS. The new smartwatch features a 1.4-inch AMOLED screen, a heart rate monitor and a 577 mAh battery that can last up to 45 days. The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS retails for US$299 and is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform.

The upcoming Tiger Canyon NUCs come in tall and slim variants with i3, i5, and i7 CPU options, and highlights include support for up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, PCIe 4 NVMe SSDs, dual Thunderbolt 4 connectors and one HDMI 2.1 video out.

WinFuture's Roland Quandt recently claimed on Twitter that the Snapdragon 875 (codenamed Lahaina) would be joined by a high-performance variant, presumably the 875 Plus. This could lead to another generation of performance segmentation at the high end, as we've seen with the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865 Plus.

Tipster Dusk Golem recently spoke about the upcoming Nintendo Switch Pro, claiming that unlocked framerates on a number of recently released Nintendo Switch titles are to allow for an "easy performance boost" on more capable Switch Pro hardware.

Galax seems to think that the RTX 3070 is slower than the RTX 2080 Ti, despite NVIDIA's claims when launching the RTX 30 series earlier this month. A leaked company slide has effectively also confirmed that the RTX 3070 SUPER/RTX 3070 Ti is on its way, along with the RTX 3060 and a 20 GB version of the RTX 3080.

The PlayStation 5 console will be offered up to some fortunate Japanese vloggers as part of the YouTube Gaming Week that is coming up soon, with the PS5 hands-on giving the potential for a full UI reveal among other things. SIE boss Jim Ryan has stated that there is some “really cool stuff” to be shown off in regard to the user experience.

LG has added three new smartphones to its K-series mid-range line up for 2020. The new LG K62, K52, and K42 will arrive in October in Europe followed by key markets in Asia, Latin America and the Middle ast.

With the Nvidia RTX 3090 launch a mere few hours away, Nvidia has advised potential buyers to expect a shortage of cards much as was experienced with the recent launch of the RTX 3080 cards. The company has issued a statement already apologizing in advance for shortage.

Comment Smartphone manufacturers have spent the last few years shouting ever bigger numbers at their customers: 108 megapixel camera sensors, 100x zoom functions and slow motion at 960 frames per second are just the beginning; the battle for the number of objective lenses has just begun. But do more lenses equal better?

Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8T owners are not going to be too happy with the latest news about Android 10-based MIUI 12 for their devices. Delays are already expected anyway and now the general manager of Xiaomi Indonesia has claimed that the company is “still testing” the firmware for the Redmi Note 8/8T.

The Huawei MatePad T8 is a solid entry-level tablet, which sells for less than 100 Euros (~$118). The hardware of the T8 proves to be very competitive in our review. However, this is not enough, due to the Google situation.

Asus launched the ROG Phone 3, its latest gaming flagship Android phone, in July 2020. However, it never materialized on the US or Canadian markets. The device has just appeared on the FCC database, suggesting that it is finally approved for sale in the region.

The Google Pixel 5 will have a plastic back, according to YouTuber Dave Lee. The Pixel 4a (5G) will be the larger of the two models and will be the only one to feature a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Google will announce both the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) on September 30.
Update: WinFuture contradicts Dave Lee's assertion with claims of an aluminium chassis.

After sending out an update to the Redmi Note 8 last week, Xiaomi is now sending an update to the Redmi Note 8 Pro. This new update delivers the September patch to the Indian model of the Xiaomi best-seller, with the Android One Mi A3 also getting its September update.

The DeskMini X35G is a Mini PC with an Intel Ice Lake processor, a stylish design and a host of connectivity. MINISFORUM has not scrimped on storage either, as it has included two drive bays and a microSD card slot. The 15 W Mini PC even has a Thunderbolt 3 port.

The MaaXBoard Mini is an affordable single-board computer that is about the size of a Raspberry Pi. The board also includes a 40 pin header, a 14 nm quad-core ARM chipset, Gigabit Ethernet and five USB ports. The MaaXBoard Mini sells for US$72.50.

Details about the Google Pixel 4a (5G) have leaked, confirming almost every aspect about the upcoming mid-range smartphone. A 6.2-inch and 60 Hz OLED screen is headed to the Pixel 4a (5G), as is 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage and a 3,885 mAh battery.

A new update to the Radeon Open Compute (ROCm) firmware details some key specs for Big Navi, codenamed Sienna Cichlid, and Navy Flounder. These include the number of Compute Units (CUs) and the memory bandwidth of the two new GPUs from AMD.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 users in the United States can soon use their smartwatches to take ECG readings. The functionality will be available via an update to the Samsung Health Monitor app. The app can also be configured to send an ECG report to a physician automatically.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro have received their first MIUI 12 update in India. The OS upgrade should precede equivalents for the global, European, Russian and Turkish branches of MIUI, which are yet to receive Xiaomi's latest OS. The Mi Mix 3 5G has received MIUI 12 globally, too.
Update: MIUI 12 is now being rolled out to more Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro devices.

NVIDIA's new range of RTX Quadro cards is almost here, and the RTX (A)6000 may well be at the top of the pack. The 300 W card is expected to launch on October 5 with a GA102 GPU, 48 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a new 8-pin power connector.

Intel has emphasised that its latest Pentium, Celeron and Atom processors are ideal for the Internet of Things (IoT) use-cases of the near future. They are ultra-low-power CPUs that can still drive multiple 4K displays and are rated for twice the 3D graphics performance compared to their predecessors. They will start to become available in the first quarter of 2021.

Intel's Industrial Summit 2020 revealed that the OEM now believes that data and its processing will migrate to the edge in the future. To that end, it has announced 11th-gen Core processor versions aimed at Internet of Things (IoT) applications. They are extra-low-power variants of Tiger Lake CPUs with features such as Deep Learning Boost, although they retain Thunderbolt 4 and PCIe 4.0 support.