Latest Tech News

The Mate 10 Pro, P20 Pro, and Mate 20 Pro all delivered sub-par selfie cameras, and it seemed Huawei was working on that with its recent flagship phones. The Honor V30 Pro appears to be a deviation from that path, as the phone only recorded scores on par with two-year-old flagships when tested by DxOMark.

It seems Huawei could be planning on refreshing its laptops with Ryzen 4000 mobile APUs. The impressive AMD Ryzen 7 4800H has been specifically mentioned in connection with the Chinese OEM, which is known for offering decent AMD-powered devices with its Honor MagicBook line. An Honor MagicBook Pro powered by the Ryzen 7 4800H would be an attractive prospect.

The developers of the Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator recently announced the launch of the Prometheus update. Prometheus delivers proper multi-core support, enabling massive performance gains in titles like Super Mario Odyssey.

New information pertaining to NVIDIA's upcoming Ampere architecture was revealed by Tom from the YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead claiming to have access to insider sources associated with the launch. As per the sources, Turing is just a guinea pig experiment with Ampere expected to offer a 10-20% IPC increase, 4x the ray tracing performance, and clocks that can be easily pushed to 2 GHz. NVIDIA is also working on an overhauled software stack to counter AMD's Radeon Adrenalin Software.

Over 50 classic Square Enix titles are now on sale at 95% off on Steam. The 'Stay at home and play' bundle consists of a plethora of classics such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Thief, and more. Square Enix says that all the proceeds from the sales will go to charities across Europe and North America.

Unearthed by Linus Tech Tips, this B150 motherboard has not only an LGA 1151 socket but also an embedded NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. The sort of micro ATX board also has I/O on all four sides and more SATA connections than you could shake a stick at.

AnTuTu has reportedly tested a device with the Snapdragon 865 SoC and a novel Realme model number. This has led to speculations that a true X2 Pro successor is in the works. If so, it might join the X3 and X3 Super Zoom variants on its launch.

Chinese manufacturer Meizu has now launched its flagship phones for the year: the Meizu 17 and Meizu 17 Pro. The phones pack in an assortment of current-gen technology including 90 Hz AMOLED displays, LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, 30 W fast wired charge, and 27 W wireless charge in a bid to compete against the Mi 10 and OnePlus 8 series.

The 12.6-inch Reform modular laptop runs Debian Linux and comes with a programmable firmware. Hardware-wise, components like the NXP i.MX8MQ quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, Vivante GC700 Lite GPU and 4GB of RAM do not exactly scream performance, but they get the job done, plus they can be replaced later via module upgrades.

Redmi is all set to unveil yet another member of the K30 family in the form of the Redmi K30 Speed Edition. It will also be the world's first phone to run Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon 768G chip. The smartphone will be unveiled on May 11th at an event in China.

Priced comparably cheaply, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet is a 2-in-1 tablet that also comes with a detachable keyboard. The Chrome OS device is now purchasable for US$299.

The official Doom Twitter handle just Tweeted what it claims to be screenshots from the upcoming single-player DLC for Doom Eternal. Each screenshot showcases a different environment, indicating that the DLC will span across multiple regions. Bethesda is tight-lipped about the release date of said DLC, unfortunately.

Sony has started updating the Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus with Android 10 in some regions. The software is bundled with the March 2020 security patch along with all the standard Android 10 features. It will make its way to eligible devices OTA in the coming weeks.

The highly-anticipated MIUI 12 update will make its way to Xiaomi and Redmi devices starting May 19th. A total of 32 devices will be eligible for the MIUI 12 open beta before the final release hits the airwaves. Users on the beta version of MIUI 11 will get the software via an OTA while those on a stable version will have to sideload it.

Canalys has tweeted a graph showing the global top 10 smartphones in Q1 2020 and all of the positions are taken up by devices from just three OEMs: Apple, Xiaomi, and Samsung. The big winner for the quarter was the iPhone 11 with over 18 million units shipped. There were strong figures for the Redmi Note 8 & 8T and the Galaxy A51 too.

Today, (May 8, 2020) Xiaomi's gaming brand Black Shark has announced the beginning of open sales for its latest generation of flagship phones, the 3 and 3 Pro. These devices pack the Snapdragon 865 SoC, along with some genre-specific hardware tweaks. However, only some SKUs are actually available to order at present.

The prices for Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphones for the Indian market have been revealed and have shocked fans expecting something more affordable. For example, the Xiaomi Mi 10 with 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage will cost ₹49,999 (US$662). This has led to many comments that smartphone users will be considering a OnePlus 8 Pro purchase instead.

An AMD Renoir desktop APU engineering sample has been discovered being tested on UserBenchmark. The entry reveals it is an 8-core, 16-thread part that has been benchmarked in combination with an ASRock B550 Taichi motherboard. The Ryzen 4000 desktop APU managed to perform as well as an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H mobile APU.

Honor is looking good in the latest AnTuTu chart for midrange smartphones, with the Honor 30S powering into a strong second position with the help of its Kirin 820 chipset. Its score of 364,077 points sets it apart from those behind it, but it is still a long way off the 405,159 points managed by the OPPO Reno3 5G with its impressive Dimensity 1000L SoC.

The arrival of the iQOO Neo3 and OPPO Ace2 into AnTuTu’s latest flagship chart have shaken things up a little bit, but the leaderboard is still headed by the OPPO Find X2 Pro. All of the top 10 smartphones feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoCs, and the iQOO Neo3 is only the third device so far to manage an average score over 600,000 points.

A new ASUS ZenBook 14 model sports the Ryzen 7 4700U APU, together with an Nvidia GeForce MX350 discrete graphics card. However, considering the narrow performance difference between the MX350 and the 4700U's iGPU, why does ASUS bother with a discrete GPU?

The passively-cooled 10.1-inch Windows tablet is better fit for indoor use with an external mouse despite its sturdy build and form factor.

After months of waiting, the Mi Note 10 is finally receiving its first taste of Android 10. The update carries the version number "MIUI 11.1.1.0.QFDMIXM" and weighs a typical 2.6 GB. It's the global stable beta build, so we expect a full rollout in the near future.

LG has now unveiled its newest device. The LG Velvet is a replacement for the company's long-running G-series, and seeks to move downmarket, keeping the V line as LG's only premium series. Sadly, though, the Velvet is looking more like a miss than a hit.

Mini-LED production issues may have put paid to Apple releasing a MacBook Pro 14 before 2021. The Q4 2020-bound MacBook Pro 16 refresh is apparently affected too.

A new and ultra-compact mini PC combines two Ethernet connections, four DisplayPorts, eight USB ports and a quad-core AMD Ryzen Embedded V16505B processor. The mini-PC can be configured with up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512 GB M.2 SSD.

Is it a coincidence that multiple OEMs are now activating the Sp02 sensors in their smartwatches via an update? After Huawei did so with the Watch GT 2, Honor has now rolled out an equivalent firmware update for the MagicWatch 2 that enables blood oxygen saturation monitoring.

Google has released three colour variants of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL so far, but a fourth has appeared on a Chinese auction site. Adorned in a matte grey finish, the device can be had for CNY 2,699, equivalent to around US$380.

Sony has introduced new completely wireless in-ears, which have strong features and one of the largest batteries of all TWS. The waterproof, durable earphones are perfect for athletes, but the feature set also makes them interesting for everyone else.

The successor to the Nokia 6.2 remains on track, according to latest rumours. Called the Nokia 6.3, the mid-range smartphone will feature a PureDisplay with a teardrop notch, along with four Zeiss-branded rear-facing cameras and a Snapdragon 675 chipset.

With the new Ryzen 4000 ThinkPads edging closer to availability, Lenovo adds two new models to the roster: The affordable ThinkPad E14 and ThinkPad E15 have been available with Intel CPUs for a few months already.

MediaTek has unveiled a new 5G platform for premium phones - well, sort of. This Dimensity 1000+ (or 1000 Plus) has the same make-up as the current 1000 SoC. However, this refreshed version boasts a number of features intended to further enhance its potential flagship game.

The TUV Rheinland body has reportedly certified a new power supply unit (PSU) from the OEM OnePlus. This apparent next-gen Warp Charger is rated for a maximal rate of 10 volts (V)/6.5 amps (A) - or 65 watts (W). Therefore, it could boost charging speeds using this company's in-house system considerably.

Microsoft just dropped the first Assassin's Creed Valhalla gameplay footage along with 12 other game title trailers, giving us a taste of what to expect from the next gen Xbox Series X console in terms of visual fidelity. There are some returning fan-favorite IPs including Dirt 5, Madden NFL 21, Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 and Yakuza - Like a Dragon. The next gameplay showcase scheduled for July will focus on the titles currently under development at the Xbox Game Studios, including Halo Infinite.

The One UI 2.1 update is now available for Samsung Galaxy A51 owners. It comes with the April 2020 security patch but is missing a lot of features such as Single Take Mode, Pro Video Mode, Selfie Tone, and more. The firmware is available for download globally OTA and via Samsung Smart Switch.

The AMD Ryzen 7 4800U and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 have been flexing their muscles again, this time outscoring 45 W Intel processors in Geekbench. The Ryzen 7 4800U blows away recent Intel U series processors too, including the Core i7-10710U and Core i7-1065G7.

Business laptops sporting AMD Ryzen Pro CPUs have always been hard to come by and even when they appear, most are of the budget variety. The new Zen 2 Ryzen PRO 4000U series is looking to change that by offering much faster performance than before on higher-end laptop models.

AMD may have upped its game with recent Ryzen and Threadripper processors, but the Core i9-10900K shows that Intel still has something left to offer. Seemingly able to push 5.4 GHz and 1.35 V while scoring over 3,000 in Cinebench R15 multi-core, the Core i9-10900K is a massive improvement over the Core i9-9900K. The Core i9-10900K has the measure of the Ryzen 9 3900X too, but do not mention the Ryzen 9 3950X, though.

Looking at the CPU and GPU specs, the Helio G85 mobile gaming SoC brings only small improvements over the G80 model. However, MediaTek also improved the connectivity and resource management sectors, plus the SoC now supports 48 MP image sensors with advanced AI features.

The latest hardware and software survey from Steam has detailed a good month for AMD in terms of overall processor usage and % change. It seems some gamers have been busy selecting devices with fast CPUs from Team Red, while it also appears likely that many users are relying on older and slower Intel-based computers during the coronavirus lockdown.

Steam has released its hardware and software survey for April 2020. Taking a look at the chart for PC video card usage by % change this month clearly shows that it’s not just sales or new releases affecting positions. AMD has two products in the top four movers alone, with the Radeon R7 M445 and Radeon RX 5700 XT gaining strong % changes.

The third-party Apple charger blends in well with all your Apple products and it gets the charging job done almost as fast as a cable despite some minor design setbacks.

The popular PC/Mac accessory-maker Cable Matters now sells a dock that combines USB type C and Thunderbolt 3 speeds. Therefore, it can drive dual 4K monitors at up to 40 gigabits per second (Gb/s). It also has 3 type A ports to accommodate peripherals or storage media.

Geekbench has confirmed the new MacBook Pro is running "N" Ice Lake-U processors, just like the MacBook Air. At least one identifier for the new generation has been detailed, too.

Microsoft still refuses to equip its Surface devices with Thunderbolt 3 ports, precluding many compatible third-party docks from being compatible with the likes of the Surface Book 3 or Surface Go 2. The Surface Dock 2, on the other hand, uses the proprietary Surface Connect port, allowing Microsoft to outperform the competition. Microsoft has released a new USB-C Travel Hub too, which is compatible with non-Surface devices.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra features a 40 MP sensor as its selfie camera. Bigger is supposedly better and one would expect it to be the best on the market, yes? Well, no. The S20 Ultra only finishes joint second on DxOMark's selfie chart, and more interestingly, with just one more point than the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G and its meager 10 MP sensor.

A device listed as the Mi 10e has surfaced on Geekbench. While that's already surprising enough, the phone is shown to be powered by an Exynos 990, and actually posts scores typical of the disappointing Samsung SoC.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S21 Ultra will come with a penta-lens setup, according to a Korean tech forum. The primary 150MP sensor will be assisted by a 64MP telephoto lens, a 16MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP macro lens, and a ToF sensor. It will also come with Laser Autofocus, and OIS on two of the lenses.

The Meizu 17 is an upcoming Snapdragon 865-powered smartphone. According to a new benchmarking leak, it will also have 8GB of RAM, whereas its possible Pro variant may have 12. However, this does not explain why the former got better scores than the latter.

With the E1, OKdo has introduced a new developer board that is as small as it is affordable. Based on the NXP LPC55S69JBD100 microcontroller, the board has a host of other features, making it ideal for industrial IoT or automation projects.