Latest Tech News

As indicated by a number of leaks, the iQOO Neo's late-2019 refresh has launched. The new version is much the same as the old, except for its updated chipset. In addition, this phone has 33 watt (W) fast charging, whereas that of thee 'old' Neo was set at 22.5W.

Tolino has released three new eReaders. Strictly speaking, they are not new, though. Instead, they are rebranded Kobo devices but pre-loaded with Android rather than Kobo's in-house software.

In our opinion, keypads should complement keyboards while gaming or be able to replace them completely. The Tartarus series of compact gaming keypads have a long tradition at Razer, and now the company has released one with analog optical switches. The Tartarus Pro is available to purchase now for US$129.99 and comes with free shipping.

Intel CEO Bob Swan presented the Q3 2019 earnings report on Thursday. Intel's performance in enterprise ensured good earnings despite its consumer CPUs taking a backseat due to competition from AMD. Swan also confirmed that Intel's first dGPU, the Xe DG1, has achieved the important milestone of "power on exit".

OnePlus originally introduced the 7T Pro McLaren Edition in the absence of US availability or pricing. However, T-Mobile has just announced that it is to stock this phone in the country. Moreover, this carrier’s version will support 5G.

Microsoft may have more plans than just running Windows 10X on dual-screen and foldable devices. In an official Microsoft webpage, since taken down, the company indicates that Windows 10X will also appear on laptops when it is released in 2020, or beyond.

Huawei finally has something to be happy about after months of bad news following its placement on a US government entity list. Although it still isn’t able to include a version of Android using Google services, ARM has now been cleared by its lawyers to continue supplying its ARM-based chip technology to the Chinese company.

Asus had included the Zenfone 4 in its plans to update older phones to Android Pie (9.0). However, this device has just been excluded from this schedule. The OEM claims that this will conserve the 4's system integrity and general function, however.

Paper Phone is an app that allows users to select certain features or information from their smartphones and print it on a piece of paper to carry around. Users can select contact information, maps, simple games, guides, and a list of appointments or tasks, among other things.

Wandera, a security research firm, has found malware in 17 apps on the Apple App Store. The apps use a clicker trojan module to generate fraudulent web traffic in the background, likely to pump up ad revenue for specific websites. The apps passed through Apple's stringent review process because they connected to a remote server to execute the fraudulent activity rather than having malware embedded directly in their code.

The OnePlus 3 and 3T may have launched with Android Marshmallow in 2016 and received Android 9.0 Pie earlier this year, but both can now be upgraded to Android 10. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 6 GB of RAM, or Snapdragon 821 in the case of the OnePlus 3T, should be well suited to run Google's latest version of Android too.

iPhone owners could be due a hefty slice of compensation following a Court of Appeal judgment against Google. The complainant, Google You Owe Us, is seeking up to £3.2 billion (~US$4.1 billion) to compensate over 4 million iPhone owners for the misuse of their data. There are a few caveats to be eligible for making a claim, though.

Samsung announced a brand new SoC, the Exynos 990, yesterday. The chipset's support for 120 Hz displays and 108 MP cameras may have led the public to believe it would be the SoC powering the Galaxy S11 phones but that will apparently not be the case.

The Pixel 4 phones have caught a lot of flak for being unable to record 4K video at 60 fps. According to a discovery, however, it would seem that the devices were originally able to do that but the feature ended up not making it to release software.

Huawei's 2019 Enjoy series is marked by its Kirin 710F SoC. Now, a new variant with this same processor has joined its siblings on sale. The Enjoy 10s has a 6.3-inch waterdrop-notched display, and comes in 1 RAM/storage configuration.

Intel might think it can get away with an optimistic Q3 2019 earnings report, but AMD's rising market shares paint a different picture. Intel's ongoing CPU shortages and the difficulties encountered with the 10 nm jump are allowing AMD to relentlessly accrue market shares in the desktop, laptop and server markets.

The latest pico-ITX motherboard from Gigabyte comes with an embedded Celeron N3350 dual-core SoC that is powerful enough for video decoding loads. Users have the possibility to add up to 8 GB of LPDDR3-1866 RAM, a SATA HDD and an mSATA PCIe SSD, plus an m.2 Wi-Fi module. The diminutive motherboard is smaller than a high-end smartphone.

Xiaomi has released a stable build of MIUI 11 for the Redmi 7, but perhaps not the version for which people had hoped. While other devices in the first phase of the MIUI 11 rollout are receiving Android 10-based builds, the Redmi 7 is getting Android 9.0 Pie instead. The same goes for the Redmi 7a and Redmi K20 too.

No sooner had news arrived that the GTX 1650 SUPER would be arriving next month, has a host of specifications been confirmed too. Surprisingly, it seems that NVIDIA has pulled the same trick for the GTX 1650 SUPER that it did with the RTX 2070 SUPER, essentially creating a GTX 1660 Lite rather than a SUPER version of the GTX 1650.

Did you buy into the RED HYDROGEN project? Well, founder Jim Jannard has announced that the company is being wound up, effectively canning the HYDROGEN Two. However, there could be some positive news on the horizon for HYDROGEN One owners, with the release a much-anticipated camera accessory imminent, apparently.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 now has an upgrade to MIUI 11, the Chinese company's version of Android 10. The update brings plenty of new features including improved screen casting, a system-wide dark mode and a new gesture mode. Mi Mix 3 owners can download the build now.

Xiaomi could be preparing to unleash a Mi Note 10 on a practically unsuspecting market soon. An image of alleged packaging material has been shared online, which of course could be fake. However, if it is genuine, then the crafty Chinese manufacturer has seemingly decided to skip the Mi Notes 4 to 9.

The Google Pixel 4's 90 Hz Smooth Display feature seems to be dependent on the display brightness setting and not on the 'content' as was originally claimed by Google. This was first discovered by a Redditor and subsequently confirmed by other reviewers as well. Although there is a way to force 90 Hz in the Developer settings, by default, the Pixel 4's screen can refresh at 90 Hz only if the brightness slider is set above the 75% mark.

Phoronix found some more evidence of upcoming multi-GPU features for Intel's upcoming Xe GPUs. However, unlike Nvidia's and AMD's implementations, Intel may be looking to support a hybrid version that allows Xe discrete cards to be paired with the iGPUs coming with the gen 12 CPUs scheduled to release next year.

As a current flagship tablet, the Samsung Galaxy S6 gets only the best hardware. This includes the Snapdragon 855 high-end SoC as well as at least 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage space. As the first tablet from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab S6 also offers a dual camera with a 13 MP resolution.

Intel has released its new low-power solution in full today (October 24, 2019). It is an x86 microarchitecture associated with "significant" IPC enhancements compared to its predecessor. Tremont can also support an L2 cache of up to 4.5MB, as well as crypto acceleration that includes dual 128-bit AES units. It is pitched at IoT, server, client and connectivity applications.

Qualcomm's Venture division has announced the implementation of the 5G Ecosystem Fund, a source of investment worth up to US$200 million. As the name suggests, it will help support start-ups involved in new, innovative and potentially lucrative applications of the new mobile-data standard. The company also intends the new fund to help get 5G in devices besides smartphones.

Motorola has launched 3 new Moto-series phones today (October 24, 2019). They include the already well-leaked G8 Plus and G8 Play. The Lenovo-owned brand also unveiled the E6 Play, another variant of the pre-existing E6. It also expanded the availability of the One Macro to various regions including Latin America and Australia.

Recently, Amazon may have accidentally spoiled the launch of the NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro, an upcoming update to the 2017 streaming machine. A new leak indicates that the OEM has indeed prepared a 4K HDR streaming stick as well as the usual full-scale box. It apparently has 8GB in internal storage, whereas the SHIELD TV Pro has 16.

Remember the rumors about the GeForce GTX 1650 Ti? Well, apparently it has now morphed into the GTX 1650 SUPER, or potentially been scrapped in favour of the latter. Pricing remains unknown, but expect a sub-US$200 retail price for this GDDR6 and late-November bound GPU.

NVIDIA is slated to launch the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER before the end of the month, and @TUM_APISAK is on hand to deliver an insight into how the GPU compares with its peers. The card nearly reaches GTX 1660 Ti levels while breezing past the GTX 1660. It even has the AMD Radeon RX 5700 and GeForce GTX 1070 in its sights too, apparently.

Fancy a Huawei Mate 30 or Mate 30 Pro? Well, it looks like you will need to join the back of the queue, as the Chinese company is running an invite-only sale for both devices. You can register your interest now, although this does not guarantee entry into the "exclusive group" that will be offered to purchase a device.

While the Asian market has been producing a series of successful smartphone brands in the past few years, we have also come across some manufacturers who prefer to look good rather than do good. Our review of the BV9700 Pro showed that Blackview is one of those manufacturers.

Previously thought to be launched in early-2020, the Gemini Lake Refresh CPUs are now expected to release in late-2020 with higher clocks and possibly upgraded iGPUs. New leaks unveil the specs for three new 10 W TDP J-series and three new 6 W TDP N-series processors designed for mini PCs and budget laptops.

iFixit has now published its Pixel 4 XL teardown, with the new Google phone earning a 4/10 repairability score. The report also reveals some previously unknown details of the phone's hardware, most notable being that of the 90 Hz QHD+ AMOLED display.

Asus has now joined the list of OEMs to send out an Android 10 build to their smartphones. The Taiwanese OEM is currently rolling out the Android 10-based ZenUI 6 beta build to users of last year's flagship, the Zenfone 5Z. The Zenfone 6's rollout is expected to follow soon.

Canon announced the EOS-1D X Mark III, the latest and greatest flagship DSLR from the Japanese camera colossus. The 1D X Mark III is the best of Canon's crop, boasting 16 fps bursts for five times longer than the 1D X Mark II, 4K video at 60 fps, and support for the new HEIF image format. No word yet on pricing or availability.

The best part about Ice Lake is that some older Whiskey Lake models have become great deals. Not only is the MX150 model cheaper and graphically superior, it's also thinner. Ice Lake CPU performance is only marginally faster than the i7-8565U in the last generation model while being 30 to 35 percent slower or more than the GeForce MX150. The Core i7-1065G7 CPU advantage doesn't outweigh the GPU disadvantage by a long shot.

Does the Amazfit GTS look familiar to you? Well, while it may look like the spitting image of the Apple Watch, it is actually the latest smartwatch by Huami, Xiaomi's sister company. The device is a snip at around ~US$140 in most markets and packs plenty of features, but its software failed to impress us out of the box.

The LG K50 offers plenty of attractive features for just under €200 (~US$223), including an appealing design and a large display. Its cameras and system performance are on par with its competitors too, but two issues prevent it from being a smartphone that we could recommend.

A firmware update pushed out to Google Home and Google Home Mini smart speakers earlier this month has been bricking devices, leaving them completely unresponsive. Google has acknowledged the problem and promised a resolution in the near future. Unfortunately, the tech giant is apparently not replacing out-of-warranty devices.

Huawei has faced more than its fair share of troubles this year but the company's sales figures are completely unaffected and have even grown. The Chinese company has now confirmed that it has sold 200 million devices this year, over two months earlier than when it hit that same milestone last year.

Realme makes good value for money hardware but are usually panned by enthusiasts for their software. The company has identified that flaw, however, and is set to shake things up by adopting a new skin said to be similar to stock Android.

Night Sight 2.0 with a new astrophotography mode, Live Caption and offline Google Assistant are just three examples of features debuting on the Pixel 4 series. However, these will not remain Pixel 4 exclusives, with Google planning to bring them to older generations too. We have laid out Google's plans in a brief overview, underlining that you need not buy the latest tech to get the latest software.

The new 12 GB low-power double data rate 4X UFS-based multichip package by Samsung combines four 24 Gb LPDDR4X chips and ultra-fast eUFS 3.0 NAND storage into a single package. This new mobile memory solution can hit a transfer rate of 4,266 Mbps, allowing mid-end handsets to shoot smooth 4K videos and run AI/machine learning applications.

Samsung has officially launched the Exynos 990 SoC along with a new 5G Exynos Modem 5123. Both are expected to find their way into the Samsung Galaxy S11 and other high-end devices from the company in 2020.

Lenovo's gaming notebook displays all current games smoothly on its matte 17.3-inch screen (144 Hz, G-Sync, FHD, IPS) and also offers great connectivity: a combination of SSD + HDD, 16 GB of RAM (Dual-Channel mode) & a Thunderbolt 3 port.

A new report has claimed that Intel could be preparing to heavily discount its 9th Gen Skylake-X series of high-end desktop (HEDT) CPUs. The 8-core i7-9800X could end up being priced at around €360 (~US$400) while the top-end SKU, the 18-core i9-9980XE, has been predicted to be discounted to around €950 (~US$1,058).

ARM has revealed four new processors that should help enrich consumer tech products aimed at the mainstream market. The new additions to the company’s lineup are the Ethos-N57 and Ethos-N37 Neural Processing Units (NPU), the Mali-G57 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and the Mali-D37 Display Processor Unit (DPU).

A Linux user has discovered that Disney+, Disney's new streaming service, doesn't work on his Fedora machine. The problem lies with the DRM used by Disney, which implements the highest possible security level. However, Disney has stated that the streaming service will work with Android devices and Chromebooks, both of which are built upon Linux.