Latest Tech News

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.

Google had promised the ability to control its cloud gaming platform Stadia using the Assistant on more platforms. This has started to come to fruition with the ability to tell this AI to launch titles via the service. It reportedly works through text or voice on Android or Chrome OS devices.

Phones with dedicated keyboards are more or less a thing of the past at this point. However, OPPO has patented a new product that may bring them back, albeit on an optional basis. The resulting "keyboard case" has a layout probably chosen for its relatively small footprint.

The new MacBook Pro is here, but it may not quite be what you had expected. Starting at US$1,299, Apple has included its new Magic Keyboard, up to 32 GB of RAM and 4 TB of SSD storage and a choice of four processors. There is no 14.1-inch display though or any Ryzen 4000 Renoir processor options. Surprisingly, there are two quad-core 8th-generation Coffee Lake processors and two new 28 W Ice Lake processors from which to choose. An Ice Lake MacBook Pro 13 will set you back at least US$1,799, though.

Huawei will be re-launching the P30 Pro as a P30 Pro New Edition in Germany (and perhaps in other Western markets) with Google Mobile Services (GMS) enabled. This move is being seen as an attempt by the Chinese smartphone major to regain lost ground due to the absence of GMS in the P40 series.

Samsung has officially confirmed that it will be launching a sequel to the Galaxy Fold. The news was buried in its financial report last week as it sought to assure investors that it is going to continue to try innovating itself out of a general decline in smartphone dominance.

A new PlayStation 5 concept design video has been uploaded by VR4Player and the striking console features a novel idea for the cooling solution, which appears to consist of a fan hidden under a removable lid. Screenshots taken from an unknown platform of the future PS5 game Lord of the Rings: Gollum have been shared online.

Say goodbye to the creepy tribal mask VoodooPC logo as the Omen series will be moving forward with an updated minimalist logo that's easier on the eyes.

HP’s refresh of their OMEN gaming brand includes new desktop PCs with all-AMD combinations sold alongside the regular Intel/Nvidia or AMD/Nvidia setups. This makes HP one of the few major OEMs producing full AMD systems.

Designer Joseph Dumary hasn’t been wasting his COVID-19 lockdown time twiddling his thumbs. Instead, the designer has put his extra time and energy into developing an impressive design concept for an all-in-one Xbox Series X system that has a lot of interesting features and tech packed into it.

A UserBenchmark record featuring an “AMD Pulsar M200502” processor has recently been discovered, curiously as a part of a Dell G3 laptop. There was some speculation that this could possibly be a new Ryzen 4000 engineering sample going through preliminary testing, but the truth is much more prosaic. All the evidence points to an Intel chip in disguise.

The sale date for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 ultrabook featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 4800U APU has been announced. Apparently, public sales will begin on May 16 with a pre-sale starting on May 11. The AMD-based Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 was originally expected to be released in April but was delayed, possibly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Benchmark comparisons between the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and Intel Core i3-10100 desktop processors have been dug up that show the two budget rivals offering up a fair contest against each other. The chips were tested on 3DMark’s Fire Strike and Time Spy benchmarks, with the AMD part edging the former and the Intel CPU stronger in the latter.

A trademark entry for an NVIDIA deep learning workstation called the DGX A100 has surfaced. The DGX A100 could feature anywhere from eight to 16 of the upcoming GA100 Ampere GPUs with 8,192 CUDA cores. NVIDIA is expected to talk more about Ampere during its rescheduled GTC 2020 keynote on May 14.

The Exynos 990 on the Samsung Galaxy S20 has failed just about every test it's been presented with and that trend continues. In a gaming comparison video versus the MediaTek Helio G90T-powered Redmi Note 8 Pro, the Exynos 990-powered Galaxy S20 proves yet again that it shouldn't be an option for smartphone gamers.

The latest releases from the smartphone OEM OnePlus, the 8 and 8 Pro, have been issued new versions of their Android skin, OxygenOS. These updates are intended to fix the "green tint" defect reported by some users. They have also been released to enhance some aspects of the phones' cameras.

The Cuban vlogger TecnoLike Plus has already purported to have reviewed the Google Pixel 4a's cameras well ahead of its launch. Now, the same source has leaked this phone's relevant specs in more detail. It seems the phone has the same Sony IMX shooters as some older Pixels on its front and back.

It seems LG has dropped all pretense of keeping its upcoming premium mid-ranger, the Velvet, under wraps until its May 2020 launch. It has been spotted in one of this OEM's physical stores in South Korea. This new leak may confirm a build quality to match its looks, and also how it looks with its Dual Screen cover.

According to a report published in a medical journal, a patient's Apple Watch successfully detected a serious anomaly missed by diagnostic hospital equipment. However, when the individual pointed out ECGs matching the health issue in question generated by her wearable to doctors, it was apparent treatment was in order.

The Haylou GT1 Plus was one of the first cheap TWS earbuds to be powered by Qualcomm's QC3020 aptX HD-compatible chip. How good exactly is it, though, especially considering its meager US$25 MSRP?

An AMD Ryzen 7 4800U inside a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 device has managed a remarkable Physics Score in 3DMark’s Fire Strike test. The Renoir APU notched up 17,578 points, which puts it far out of reach of the similarly energy efficient Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7 and within shouting distance of the more power-hungry Comet Lake Intel Core i7-10750H.

Intel's Raja Koduri recently tweeted that the company's main focus is on integrated graphics, quashing hopes that high-performance Intel Xe GPUs will compete with the RTX 2080 Ti and second-gen Navi cards this year.

Mindfactory’s sales data for March 2019 to April 2020 has been released and the CPU charts make for extremely grim viewing for Intel. In March of last year, Intel had a reasonable 31% of the sales share but that has now plummeted to just 9% by April this year. Clearly, the Zen 2-based Matisse range has been a runaway hit for AMD.

An AMD Ryzen 5 4600HS APU sample has been spotted on UserBenchmark as part of an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop. The new Ryzen 4000 chip racked up some excellent scores on the benchmark that offered a higher overall score than the average overall score of all the Intel Core i7-10750H samples that had been tested…but the Renoir APU received a lower bench result.

A couple of rare Xiaomi smartphones are currently being offered for sale: a Xiaomi Mi 6 Mercury Silver Edition and a Xiaomi Mi 7 prototype sample. The special variant of the Mi 6 can be purchased for 19,999 yuan (US$2,831) but you will need to have very deep pockets if you want to get your hands on the extremely rare Xiaomi Mi 7 device.
Update: Xiaomishka believes the so-called Mi 7 is a disguised Mi 8.

A blog post on the Steam website has announced the sudden cancellation with immediate effect for SteamVR support on macOS. Instead, Mac users have been directed to use what are now legacy builds of the platform as Steam now switches its full support focus to both Windows and Linux.

Featuring a Core i7-1065G7 and 32 GB of RAM, the Surface Book 3 SKUs that have flown through Energy Star are sizeable upgrades over their predecessors. It looks increasingly unlikely that there will be any Ryzen 4000 Renoir options, though. Energy Star has confirmed the existence of a third Surface Go 2 SKU, too.

The PowerVision Robot Corporation has launched a new drone. This one sets itself apart with what its maker describes as weatherproof attachments, one of which even allows the PowerEgg X to land on water. It is also rated for 4K/60 frames per second (fps) recording in flight.

The market for mobile devices contracted by 13% in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020), compared to 1Q2019. All of its top brands, with the exception of Realme and Xiaomi, also saw declines in terms of shipments and share. However, they may all see even more adversity in 2Q2020.

The brand Schenker is well known for its Schenker XMG laptops. Office and business laptops are not necessarily associated with it, which Schenker wants to change with the VIA 14 – a pretty successful endeavor.

The Galaxy Z Flip is Samsung's contemporary attempt at a clamshell-style foldable phone. The phone starts at just under US$1400, and has now made the trip over to DxOMark where it posted scores akin to two-year-old flagship phones from the competition.

Some OnePlus 8 Pro units suffer from well-documented green tint and black crush display issues. OnePlus is now acknowledging the latter to be a hardware defect, and is offering to repair, refund, or replace affected units.

Samsung is said to have a true Galaxy Fold 2 in the works - now, it also seems there is a 2nd-gen Galaxy Z Flip as well. This clamshell-style foldable, despite its novelty, may be underwhelming in terms of its dual rear cameras. New patents allegedly filed by its maker shows how it might look with 1 lens more.

AMD's earnings per share grew by a mammoth 1300 percent since Q1 2019. The growth in share value is largely due to consistently high sales of Ryzen 3000 processors, together with growth in the enterprise segment with EPYC and the recent launch of Ryzen 4000 Renoir APUs.

Three supposed images of the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 wearable fitness tracker have been leaked. The images originate from a popular Chinese social networking site and feature the wearable in switched-on and turned-off states. There is a distinctly visible capacitive button taking up a good portion of the narrow-bezel display.
Noted Xiaomi tipster believes the images are fake.

The Apple iPhone X is currently selling on Amazon for just US$445. This makes Apple's erstwhile flagship cheaper than the OnePlus 7T and even the midrange Xiaomi Mi Note 10. Budget users put off by the iPhone SE's compromises might find this an excellent alternative.

E-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart will now be allowed to resume operations in orange and green zones in the Indian subcontinent. People residing in red zones will have to wait till their region is upgraded to green/yellow or until the nationwide lockdown measures are lifted on May 17th.

Lenovo’s Chrome OS-based IdeaPad Duet captured a lot of interest when it was first unveiled in early January. It has very similar form and functionality to Google’s much more expensive Pixel Slate, but it is priced a lot more attractively – just US$299 including keyboard. If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on it, the wait will soon be over as it is looks set to ship by May 11.

Xiaomi has apparently started testing the Android 10-based MIUI 12 ROM for the Redmi Note 8 in China implying a global rollout soon. However, the company has not defined any timeline and whether the rollout will eventually happen or not depends on satisfactory performance of the update during testing

Ubisoft is giving three games away for free until May 5: Assassin’s Creed II, Rayman Legends, and Child of Light. The company’s store also has a number of titles that are free to try as demos, including Tom Clancy’s The Division. Four versions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can be pre-ordered for the PC, with the Collector’s Edition priced at US$199.99.

The latest hot PS5 rumor suggests that AMD may have given Sony special access to graphics technologies further up the pipeline than it has offered Microsoft. If true, this could result in more efficient graphics performance and rendering than its 10.28 teraflops of rated performance might suggest.

Expected to drop before WWDC 2020, the next smaller MacBook Pro has been said to be making the switch to 14-inch displays. Apple's new Magic Keyboard also seems a likely upgrade, and now 3DMark has confirmed that Apple will offer up to 32 GB of RAM and a 4 TB SSD. The MacBook Pro 2020 will have a powerful CPU option too, but not one of those Ryzen 4000 Renoir processors.

Sony has reportedly filed a patent for a pair of truly wireless (or TWS) earphones. However, successors to the well-received WF-1000XM3s they are most likely not: they have a more original design that incorporates a large attachment on which physical controls are found.

Meizu has already confirmed that it will launch a flagship smartphone called the 17 in May 2020. Now, the e-tail site JD.com has posted a relevant listing in advance of this event. However, it is not for the 17, but an unheard-of T-variant.

Successors to the Precision 7540 and Precision 7740 are on their way, and a leaked advert has confirmed that Dell has given them a complete redesign. Predictably called the Precision 7550 and Precision 7750, the two laptops are expected to arrive later this month, but there may be some surprises in store, including no PointStick and possible DGFF incompatibilities with older models.

The upcoming OnePlus Z will allegedly ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 SoC. Previous leaks hinted that the phone would feature MediaTek's Dimensity 1000 chip. OnePlus may have planned on using a MediaTek chip initially but switched to Qualcomm at the last moment.

Apple has published a consolidated report of its financial performance in the second quarter of 2020 (2Q2020). It shows an overall increase in revenue of about 1% compared to the same quarter of 2019; however, when these figures are divided into the categories of products and services, one has made a loss.

Samsung has been rumored to have a Galaxy A21s ready for release this year. A new leak confirms this, referring to the phone by its name for the first time. Interestingly, the new device is now associated with 5 slightly different model numbers, suggesting that it will be available in multiple regions.

Huawei may have filed a new patent for a tablet that is now on the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) database. Given its form-factor, it may be easy to assume that it is the upcoming T8 model rumored to launch soon. However, this new design and the budget slate as leaked thus far show slightly confusing variation.

Samsung users running Android 9.0 Pie will have to wait a bit longer for the One UI 2.0 update. According to a notification on the Samsung Members app, the rollout will be 'slightly delayed.' This only applies to users based in India, and it is unclear if other regions will also be affected.