Latest Tech News

These affordable Precision laptops will carry a very wide range of processor options from a U-class Core i5-8265U up to an H-class Core i9-9880H. GPU options, however, will be limited to the Quadro P620 and the older Radeon Pro WX 2100. Wi-Fi 6, fingerprint reader, smart card reader, and IR camera are optional extras.

Dell is jumping from the Latitude 7390 and 7490 to the Latitude 7300 and 7400, respectively, for the 2019 refresh. These new models will be slightly thinner than before with Whiskey Lake-U CPUs and vPro in contrast to the Kaby Lake-R SKUs on last year's models.

The updated mid-range business laptops all get Whiskey Lake-U CPUs with H-class Core options on select SKUs. The new chassis designs are lighter and smaller than the last generation Latitude 7390, 7490, and 7590.

The new 13.3-inch Latitude 5300 series will offer a larger screen size than the 12.5-inch Latitude 5290 series while being thinner, lighter, and smaller due to having narrower bezels. It's likely that Dell will put the 5290 series on hold or even discontinue it altogether because of this reason.

The business-centric Vostro laptops offer single-sign on fingerprint reader, TPM 2.0, and a wide range of Dell Pro Support protection options. The new laptops themselves borrow the narrow-bezel design features of the XPS 13 and 15 lineup to better appeal to on-the-go business users.

The Latitude 3301 will succeed the Latitude 3000 designed for educational use and undemanding office tasks. The 13.3-inch laptop is joined by larger 14-inch and 15.6-inch models all launching this May.

The Game Case has proven a hit with professional footballers, F1 drivers and MotoGP riders who like to game when staying away in hotels. The JZ Design Game Case ships worldwide and is available for €699 (~ US$783).

Meizu's next major phone release after the 16s may be the 17. A Chinese blog claims to have gotten hold of promotional images that point to 5G for this device. It also now claims that Meizu may apply the design for the failed Zero concept phone to the 17.

The Verge has reported on access it was allowed to a near-production unit of the upcoming OnePlus 7 Pro. The outlet is in a position to state that one of the phone's main cameras has 3X optical zoom as a result. In other news, IceUniverse has claimed to be able to affirm the notchless, curved nature of the 7 Pro's screen.

The Pigs have flown, Hell hath frozen over. Dell has finally released a new BIOS for the XPS 15 9570 specifically to address the device's DPC latency issues. It would not be an XPS 15 fix without some unintended problems though, right?

Anki, the startup which attempted to make robotics mainstream through tiny, but relatively expensive, toys has folded. Based in San Francisco, CEO Boris Sofman broke the news to emotional staff that all 200 have been laid off with just one week of severance pay.

Two Radeon Vega logos have been unearthed on the trademarks section of the Justia website. Surprisingly, there is no red present in the two trademark images: One of them is colored blue and the other is monochrome. It’s not known what product AMD might be planning on using the images with, if any.
An image sample from the USPTO and an AMD promo video show the 3D logo connected with the Radeon Pro WX 9100.

Google has admitted its Pixel 3 line of flagship smartphones isn’t selling well. Although failing to break out unit sales numbers at its Q1 conference call, the company cited unspecified pressures in the premium smartphone market for its poorer than expected sales.

Asus has posted a statement detailing which of its motherboards will be compatible with the upcoming next-generation Ryzen 3000 series of processors from AMD. The list covers models from the 300 and 400 series of products, and Asus has added that further motherboards will be included on the list soon.

A new purported leak about the PlayStation 5 has offered up some more detailed information about the key components. Sony already announced that the next-generation console will feature an AMD APU with a 7nm Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU. But a new leaker claims to have specific clock rates that were apparently obtained from a more recent Sony meeting.

An image of a mock-up of a GPD Win Max handheld gaming PC has been shared on Reddit, drawing out a mixed response from redditors. The picture shows a printed cut-out that has been placed on top of a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop to give an idea of the Win Max’s dimensions. A list of rumored specifications has also been posted online.

Interesting renders of a new handheld console have been posted by its manufacturer, Evercade. The device is still in the development phase, although apparently it’s in the later stages as the company has announced it will be available in 2019. The console offers straightforward cartridge-based gaming with retro games and publishers being targeted for inclusion.

AOSP-based Android 9 Pie ROMs are now available for the eight-year old HP TouchPad thanks to the efforts of the custom ROM community. The HP TouchPad, abandoned soon after release, originally ran webOS but was quickly adopted by enthusiasts who managed to successfully port several Android OS versions to the tablet. While certain functionality such as Bluetooth and Camera are still being worked upon, testers claim that the tablet is able to run the latest Android update just as new.

In addition to the anniversary packaging, the Gold Editions of the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor and Radeon VII graphics come with coupon codes for free copies of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Gold Edition and World War Z. The AMD50 promotional period also brings various special deals — depending on the retailer — and is set to last until early June.

Both teams will collaborate in trade shows, tournaments, and other events in the near future. The partnership allows MSI to interact with eSports fans directly and to gain a stronger foothold in the lucrative eSports market.

Apple already announced its Apple Arcade gaming service, and Samsung clearly does not want to miss on this big opportunity, as the gaming industry is enticed by streaming services like the Google Stadia. Samsung's upcoming PlayGalaxy Link service should be announced soon, and rumor has it that the Korean giant could also launch a gaming smartphone along with it.

An alleged Dell roadmap showing XPS laptops in shipping, development, and concept stages has been acquired by the Dutch technology website Tweakers. The roadmap is dated from February 2018 and includes concept ideas for computers such as the XPS 15 7500 “Fiorano”, the XPS 17 7700 “Stradale”, and a dual-screen machine with the codename “Maximus”.

NVMe SSD and mobile storage prices are at an all-time low due to NAND memory oversupplies, and, even though this greatly benefits end users, chip makers are concerned about a possible market crash. In order to avoid such complications, Intel, Micron, SK Hynix, and possibly even Samsung are looking to reduce legacy node production and overall wafer output.

Massdrop has become increasingly well-known among the tech community as a company that makes or sources products based on the feedback given by its customers. This has released in novel electronics such as the Massdrop x Sennheiser audio range. It has announced a re-brand: it will simply be called Drop in the future.

Lenovo will be offering its IdeaPad S540 laptop with a new discrete graphics card option in the form of Nvidia’s recently released mobile GeForce GTX 1650. It was previously expected that the S540-15IWL model would come with discrete GPU choices of either a GeForce GTX 1050 or MX250 graphics solution.

The Royole FlexPai had been available in China in December 2018, but only in pre-order form. No new units have been offered in subsequent events - until now. The company had reportedly put the flexible phone back on the retail site Tmall in April 2019.

The Pro variant is OnePlus' newest marketing tag, and will be used for the first time to differentiate one variant of the upcoming 7 flagship from another. DisplayMate has announced that it has given this phone its "highest A+" rating. Therefore, the OnePlus 7 Pro now goes into its May 2019 launch under this additional expectation.

Intel's new chief executive officer (CEO), Bob Swan, has conceded that the company's "supply constraints" may still impact on the diversity of the chipsets it offers as this year goes on. Swan has admitted that this will be a "challenge", even in the 3rd quarter of 2019. Then again, he has also committed to never allowing this to affect customers again.

Nintendo is currently looking for people to apply to the beta-testing phase of the upcoming mobile game Mario Kart Tour. At the moment, the company is only accepting applications from Android users (although the game is planned for iOS too). The application schedule window is already open, but it is only available to potential testers living in either the US or Japan.

Nubia has officially announced the Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone in China. The Red Magic 3 offers a very impressive spec sheet and is also one of the first phones to feature a controllable fan for active cooling of the SoC. Other highlights include a 90 Hz AMOLED screen, programmable trigger buttons on the body, and an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance.

The Atomic Pi is an affordable Raspberry Pi alternative equipped with an Intel Atom Cherry Trail processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of eMMC flash storage. The developer board has numerous expansion connectors, ports and sensors too. The Atomic Pi costs just US$35.
Update: Shipping information clarified.

Redmi has finally revealed the selfie camera solution for the upcoming Redmi 855 flagship smartphone. The company has opted to go for a pop-up camera, regardless of the general manager’s insistence that the brand would not be utilizing this method. Apparently the phone will also come with a 4000 mAh battery and support for 18 W fast charging.

An eagle-eyed Redditor spotted GPD's latest upcoming mini-laptop at the ICEE in Moscow, called the Pocket 2 Max. The 8.9-inch laptop will arrive in Q2-Q3 and will come with a Core m3-8100Y processor along with up to 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD. It even has a trackpad and a fingerprint scanner too.

Today (28 April 2019), Nikon opens its "Capture the Savings" event. It offers "instant savings" on products such as the award-winning Z Series full-frame camera bodies, as well as the D-series DLSRs and many types of Nikkor lenses. Most of these deals are available until 1 June 2019.

Some users of Android smartwatches have complained that Google Maps fails to show any information following its newest updates. This issue was originally thought to affect Ticwatch devices only, but has also been reported on watches from other OEMs. To date, it appears that uninstalling updates is the only valid fix.

In a recent FY19 Q3 earnings call, Microsoft expressed optimism about growth of Windows sales in the enterprise and has also eased up on worries about sales in the consumer segment, which the company said in January was affected due to Intel's 14 nm supply woes. The increased growth of AMD CPUs in mainstream desktops and laptops, and the ability of Windows 10 to run on ARM hardware means that Microsoft does not have to rely on Intel to push Windows sales.

The X570 chipset is compatible with AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3000 series. So far, we have been led to believe that it will support PCIe 4.0 and will, obviously, next-gen performance and speed. A new leak appears to confirm its all-4.0 nature, as well as the number of USB ports an X570 motherboard may have.

A handful of official-looking press renders for the upcoming Motorola Razr 2019 foldable smartphone have found their way online. The leaked images show the Razr leaning casually against its magnificent packaging, the supposed full contents of the box, and the Razr in a partially folded state but with its main display facing away from the camera.

It’s been reported that Dell’s powerful Alienware Area-51m gaming laptops will not be receiving panel upgrades to 240 Hz in 2019. More and more OEMs are turning to this particular refresh rate as a major selling point for updated notebooks, but it seems the Alienware Area-51m will be stuck at a maximum of 144 Hz for the time being.

At least one of the four expected variants of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 10 phablets will come with a 4500 mAh battery, according to an image of a battery found on a consumer website for South Korean KC certification. At almost the same time, it has been reported that the same device will also support fast 25 W charging.

Firefox for Android will begin to fizzle out later this year. Mozilla is moving their ailing mobile browser into an extended-support update scheme in order to focus on a new mobile browser: Fenix. Firefox for Android will continue to receive minor updates until Fenix is ready to launch, at which point Firefox will move into end-of-life.

With the third generation of Ryzen processors looming over the horizon, now seems like a good time to pick up a second-generation processor for a bargain price. At the moment, you can purchase an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X desktop CPU for US$184.99 at Newegg. Amazon US is offering the same chip for even less, at a low price of US$179.99.

Motorola has just released the kernel source code for Android 9 Pie for the Moto G6 Play. This release should make it much easier for modders and developers to create Android Pie-based custom ROMs for the handset, extending its life a bit. Motorola is one of the few companies left that still routinely releases source code for its handsets.

A law firm has filed a suit against Epic Games on behalf of its client, a musician who believes his trademark appearance and moves have been stolen in order to build one of the Emotes found in the game Fortnite. These Emotes are Battle Royale features that often require micro-transactions in order to be enabled.

The OnePlus 5 and 5T have been updated to OxygenOS 9.0.5, a software update that raises the 2017 flagships' security patch level to April 2019. It also addresses some problems with calls in third-party apps reported by users. This update also makes the first-party phone app more stable.

The latest OPPO smartphones use OZO, a form of audio capture developed by Nokia. This claim can reportedly be found in the latter's first-quarter financial report for 2019. The rest of this report apparently makes for less intriguing reading.

Nintendo's latest earnings report covers the years ending March 2018 and 2019. They show generally positive results, including a 13.7% year-on-year increase in net sales. The text of this report also states that the release of Pokemon Shield, Pokemon Sword and the Link's Awakening remake are indeed set for this year.

The company has revealed that it has no plans to introduce a GTX 1660 Ti with its XPS 15 refresh, nor will it release a white version either as it has with recent XPS 13 models. The new XPS 15 will come with a GTX 1650 though, Frank Azor confirms.

Biostar and ASRock have teased their respective X570 motherboard launches for the upcoming AMD Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 lineup. Biostar's teaser image seems to indicate an improved motherboard layout with three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, and three M.2 slots along with an actively cooled PCH. ASRock's tease is not too detailed but does indicate aggressive styling and an emphasis on RGB lighting.

Paradox Interactive has released a video on YouTube that shows an animated clan introduction to the upcoming game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. After watching the clip, viewers are treated to a very short (and small) look at pre-alpha gameplay, giving gamers a vague idea of what to expect from the eagerly awaited title.