Latest Tech News

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.

Hardkernel has released an updated version of the Odroid Go Advance, its portable games console. Called the Black Edition, the unit adds USB C charging, L2/R2 charging and Wi-Fi connectivity while retaining a 10-pin GPIO header.

The relatively inexpensive MSI Optix G27C4 has been replaced by a new model, albeit one that is arguably a downgrade. The Optix G27C5 is still a curved, 27-inch, 165 Hz and 1,080p monitor that has decent colour reproduction for a reasonable price.

Released via its Youpin platform, the Xiaomi EDON is an extendable floor fan that also serves as a humidifier and air purifier. The fan is wireless too and can be used set on the floor.

Almost reaching NVIDIA GeForce MX350 levels in 3DMark Time Spy, the RX Vega 8 and Ryzen 7 4800U make for an impressive combination. Benchmarked in a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 again, the results show that Renoir can easily take on Ice Lake-U laptops with dedicated graphics solutions.

An analyst with the ARK Investing group has reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) now has a market cap that exceeds that of Intel. Therefore, the former may now be more valuable than the latter. This is mainly attributed to the Company's smartphone SoC business.

Recent FCC documentation shows that Apple has what appears to be Powerbeats Pro 2 in the works. They have now picked up further certifications that probably put them close to an unveiling. Therefore, they may be launched in the US, Korea and Malaysia at the least.

It will soon be possible to charge appliances using your smartphone's NFC chip. The Global NFC Forum just approved a standard that allows for wireless charging at 1W via the medium. It is meant for devices such as smartwatches, wireless earbuds, and fitness trackers that require low power.

Launched alongside the Surface Earbuds, the Surface Headphones 2, Surface Go 2 and Surface Book 3 will all start shipping later this month. The Surface Book 3 makes the jump to Ice Lake-U processors and up to a Quadro RTX 3000 GPU too, but there is no AMD Ryzen version as there is with the Surface Laptop 3.

Xiaomi India is now accepting registrations for its MIUI 12 pilot testing program. At the moment, it is only available for Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro users. Xiaomi says that it will expand the program to more devices and regions in the coming weeks.

A roadmap detailing Lenovo's plans for 2020 and its ThinkPad line has leaked. Most models included in the roadmap have already been announced, but there are a few interesting details: Tiger Lake, Intel's third 10 nm CPU platform, will make it to ThinkPads around the end of 2020. And Lenovo is planning a new affordable workstation model called the ThinkPad T15p / ThinkPad P15v.

Apparently, Nvidia underestimated the impact of AMD's 7 nm GPUs and is now looking to phase out the upcoming Ampere GPUs faster, as the green team has already pre-booked an important part of TSMC's 5 nm production capacity for 2021, when the Hopper GPUs are expected to hit the market.

Xiaomi has extended the rollout of Android 10 for the Mi A3 to Europe. Sadly, the initial build has plagued some handsets with several bugs, just as early international builds did.

The new EVO15-S and NT-15 from Origin PC are essentially the same semi-customizable system that can be equipped with a Core i7-10875H CPU, up to 64 GB of RAM and up to 4 TB of NVMe SSD storage. Users can choose among display + GPU options like FHD IPS 144 Hz & RTX 2070 / FHD IPS 240 Hz & RTX 2080 Super / UHD OLED 60 Hz & RTX 2070 / UHD OLED 60 Hz & 2080 RTX Super

Details and marketing images of new Sonos speakers have leaked. Featuring a new soundbar, the trio of speakers will start at £499 and will launch on June 10.

Gole Technology has introduced the Gole11 all-in-one PC, which is also known as the HiGole F11APL. According to the company, the Gole11 is “the world’s cheapest all-in-one”, and it features an Intel Celeron N3450 processor and an 11.6-inch touchscreen with a 1920x1080 resolution. The device has been offered for as little as US$99 to early-bird crowdfunding backers.

Xiaomi India's RF exposure page has confirmed the existence of a new Poco device called the Poco M2 Pro. It will reportedly feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC. We can expect Poco to tell us more about it in the coming weeks as the company has been putting out several teasers on its official Twitter handle.

Xiaomi has been celebrating the sales of over 30 million smartphones from the Redmi Note 8 series, which was launched in August 2019. Redmi general manager Lu Weibing has been talking about the success of the Redmi Note 8 and also delivering news of temporary price cuts for certain models. Apparently, a focus on young users has contributed to the amazing sales record.

Due to be unveiled later today, the Surface Book 3 has been confirmed to be arriving with a choice of at least three GPUs. The Surface Book 3 will be an all Intel and NVIDIA affair though, with no AMD APUs or GPUs making their way into Microsoft's premier Surface hardware.

Asus has added a new pre-built gaming desktop PC to its lineup in the form of the ROG Strix GT35. The device can be fitted with a Comet Lake-S processor up to the Intel Core i9-10900KF and can be configured with one of numerous high-powered graphics cards from Nvidia, including the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB.

The new 10th-generation quad-core CPUs found in the new MacBook Pro 13-inch appear to be exclusive to Apple, at least at this point in time. A search of the Intel Ark does not reveal any Ice Lake parts that match up with the silicon Apple is offering in its latest laptop which are much more powerful.

A few weeks ago, new information surfaced claiming the Redmi Note 7 would receive the Android 10 update in the first half of May. We're already in May, however, and a new statement from a similar source has now indicated that Redmi Note 7 owners may have to while a while longer; perhaps till the MIUI 12 rollout.

The Xperia 10 II is now available for pre-order in Europe, and Sony has also confirmed its pricing in the UK. Camera samples from the phone have also surfaced, showing off the capabilities of the phone's versatile triple camera setup.

Google has released its latest security patches for Android, and as usual, the Pixel series of phones had first pick of them. However, Samsung has reportedly gotten ahead of all other OEMs by rolling these May 2020 upgrades to 3 of its phones. One is its latest foldable, whereas another is a 2019 mid-ranger.

A tech blog now touts the Snapdragon 865 SoC's next generation as the first of its line to launch with a 5 nanometer (nm) architecture. It also claims to be able to name several important components of its platform, its GPU, VPU and DPU. This 2021 premium mobile processor may also have new security features and (of course) 5G support.

Leaked images of the Surface Go 2 confirm that Microsoft has given its new baby 2-in-1 a more modern look. The Surface Go 2 uses the same chassis as its predecessor though, providing backwards-compatibility with existing accessories. However, there is no ARM model and a Core m3-8100Y model will retail for a disappointingly high €629.

The Mi Mix brand has been left to founder, with the last proper device, the Mi Mix 3, having been released over eighteen months ago. However, Xiaomi has registered a new Mi MIX Weibo account, hinting that it may not have long to wait until the announcement of a new Mi Mix. Could the Mi Mix 4 be almost upon us?

More and more Android OEMs are also releasing wearables these days; now, it seems that Vivo is about to join them. A Twitter leaker claims to have found images, apparently derived from a "patent", showing that this company has designed its first-gen smartwatch.

Xiaomi has reportedly filed a new patent for smartphone displays with under-display selfie cameras. This one depicts them as part of a triple-camera phone, which suggests this tech is closer to real-world use at this point. In addition, the new sensors in question appear better integrated into the rest of the device compared to the OEM's last known IP on this subject.

In an attempt to bolster Galaxy S20 sales in the subcontinent, Samsung India is now throwing in a voucher worth Rs 4,000($53) for everyone who pre-ordered a Galaxy S20 series phone. The offer is eligible for pre-ordered devices that are activated between May 4th and May 20th, and is only valid for purchases made via the Samsung India website.

Today (May 5, 2020), Realme unleashed its 6 Pro on the European market as promised. This event also saw the launch of the 5i, as advertised - as well as the X50 Pro 5G. This much less expected premium phone now sells for just under €600 (~US$652) in the region.

Even though Asus has not yet announced this, the slim Zephyrus M gaming laptops will get updated with Comet Lake-H CPUs as suggested by a product description spotted in the Icecat database. The upgraded models will most likely come equipped with the refreshed RTX 2070 GPUs, as well.

Information about socket support for Intel Alder Lake-S has surfaced online. Alder Lake-S will require a larger LGA 1700 socket that will be compatible for at least three succeeding generations of Core processors. The 10nm++ Alder Lake-S platform is expected to sport of a mix of high-performing Golden Cove and power-efficient Gracemont cores.

MSI is updating the high-end Trident X lineup of slim gaming desktops with CPU options like the i7-10700K(F) and i9-10900K. Users can also choose among RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2080 Ti GPUs, 32 and 64 GB of RAM and may opt for a 1 TB NVMe SSD or an 1 TB NVMe SSD + 1 TB HDD combo storage solution. Other noteworthy features include 2.5 GbE + Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 3.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 smartphone lineup recently got larger thanks to the release of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite variant. The new addition to the series shares the same decent-sized 5,260 mAh battery as the regular Mi Note 10, and Xiaomi has been busy bragging about the various runtimes users can expect from the Lite model.

An intrepid modder built a DirectX 12 port of Nintendo classic Super Mario 64 for the PC. Using ReShade and its ray-tracing plugin, they were even able to get ray-traced global illumination working.

The flagship Chromebook is essentially a retrofitted HP EliteBook convertible running on Google Chrome OS. It'll launch this August for a yet-to-be-announced price point, but it'll definitely cost more than your average Chromebook based on specifications alone.

Marketing videos from Lenovo have revealed a wealth of details about the upcoming Lenovo Legion gaming smartphone. The device features two USB Type-C ports for charging a 5,000 mAh dual-cell battery and the company claims 0-100% charge in 30 minutes. Unusually, the Lenovo Legion smartphone has a pop-up camera on its side.

A UserBenchmark record for an AMD Ryzen 7 4700G was discovered recently, and it sparked a flurry of excitement that AMD was finally preparing to unleash Renoir desktop APUs onto the market with surprisingly good specifications. However, it seems a mischievous user has been fiddling with regedit to cloak a Ryzen 7 3700X.

The upcoming Google Pixel 4a has surfaced on Geekbench confirming some of its specs such as the Snapdragon 730 and 6 GB RAM. While the Pixel 4a stands to offer an excellent camera and stock Android 10 experience, it has to compete with similarly specc'ed phones such as the Xiaomi Mi 9T that offer more raw performance and better value for money.

With the Intel 10th gen models on the way, now would be a great time to consider the Intel 9th gen models instead. Razer is cutting prices on last year's models if the marginally improved CPU and GPU upgrades don't interest you.

Two screens are better than one... in most cases, at least. Here are our biggest gripes about the dual-screen ZenBook Duo UX481 and what we would like to see improved on the next generation model.

The OEM Meizu has already confirmed that its upcoming premium smartphone 17-series will come with 30-watt (W) "mCharge" standard. Now, it has hinted at the prospect of a powerbank with the same technology. This would be handy in the absence of the gallium nitride (GaN) charger the phones are also rumored to ship with.

LG has announced that the soundbars designed to go with its 2020 OLED and NanoCell TVs will be available in the US soon. These products are rated to deliver between 380 and 770 watts (W) of audio power, and feature enhancements such as Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and Meridian tuning.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ celebrated their three-year birthdays a while ago, and Samsung has now relegated them to its quarterly update list, with support expected to end completely in a year. The S8 Active and Galaxy Note 8, however, remain on the monthly update list.

The HTC U12+ was launched back in 2018 just like the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Huawei P20 Pro. While the S9 and P20 Pro have received the Android 10 update, the HTC U12+ remains stuck on Android Pie, and its prospects of getting Android 10 remain virtually non-existent.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has released specifications for its new DisplayPort (DP) Alt Mode version 2.0 standard. This video output modality allows USB type C ports to drive even 16K/60Hz displays, as it can leverage USB 4's 4 lanes to transmit nearly 80 gigabits of data per second.

The Beanque is a bean-to-cup coffee maker advertised as being ultra-portable and delivering "superior coffee". With USB Type-C charging, a conical ceramic burr grinder, a double-wallled filter, a measuring jug and a travel mug, then Beanque should represent good value for money at US$49. Its ergonomics let it down, in our opinion.

Visually, the MSI GS66 Stealth offers a very subdued and tasteful impression. But as soon as you turn on the device, the fans quickly make themselves heard.

Xiaomi may have already unveiled MIUI 12, but the Redmi Note 8 remains one of the devices still awaiting Android 10. While Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be continuing the rollout of the OS upgrade to the Redmi Note 8 Pro this month, the Redmi Note 8 must wait until July before it starts receiving Android 10.