Latest Tech News

Rumors claimed the Huawei P30 phones would feature OLED displays made by Samsung. Information disproving that idea has surfaced, though, and it looks like the P30 Pro actually opts for LG-made panels, with some units sporting BOE-made ones, just like the Mate 20 Pro did.

A new report has stated that Xiaomi is developing two new flagship smartphones that will feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoCs and pop-up cameras. The rumored devices apparently have the codenames “davinci” and “raphael”. Unfortunately, no other hardware information or specifications are currently known.

There is a new product listing on Acer’s website for its Predator laptop series: model name PH315-52-78VL. The Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop in question sports some impressive hardware, which apparently includes a mobile variant of Nvidia’s Turing-based GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. The device also comes with a Coffee Lake H Refresh mobile processor from Intel.

Dell has a couple of standout offers in its deals section at the moment. Shoppers can get a hefty discount on a brand-new Dell XPS 13 powered by an Intel Core i7-8565U processor, or if you fancy something much bigger the manufacturer has knocked US$860 off the price of an Alienware 17 gaming laptop, which comes with an 8th Gen Coffee Lake SoC and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 OC GPU.

As HP's first 15.6-inch Chromebook, the unit carries narrow bezels and many design influences from the smaller 14-inch Chromebook series including dual USB Type-C, Bang & Olufsen audio, 802.11ac, and a premium metal design.

The newly-introduced Helios lineup can easily replace a high-end desktop, as it comes with desktop-grade components like Intel's Core i5-9600K / i7-9700K / i9-9900K CPUs coupled with up to 64 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM and up to 12 TB of storage, plus RTX 2060 / RTX 2070 / RTX 2080 GPUs. The chassis is clearly bulkier and the laptops come with 330 W power adapters.

Some review units of the Samsung Galaxy Fold have developed worrying tendencies to exhibit display failures. However, consumers who have ordered the device themselves may rest easier in the knowledge that their new flexible phone is apparently well-constructed. The first Galaxy Fold dissembler has indicated that the main screen is easy to replace.

The 6 nm node is scheduled to enter risk production in Q1 2020, almost 1 year after the 5 nm risk production, so the first 6 nm chips will probably ship in mid-2020. The only major benefit brought by the new node is the 18% transistor density increase over the original (non-EUV) 7 nm node and performance will see negligible gains since this is not a full node shrink.

Honor's latest phone, the 20i, has been launched in China. This phone has a 32MP front-facing camera in its U-shaped notch. In addition, the new phone has a 6.21-inch IPS-LCD full-HD screen, triple rear cameras and the Kirin 710 processor. Its prices start at 1,599 RMB (about US$238) for a 4GB SKU.

The prolific Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's latest prediction concerning the 2019 iPhones indicate that at least one of them will have triple rear cameras, augmented by an improved wide-angle lens in one module. In addition, the new devices' selfie cameras may be upgraded. On the other hand, they are likely to retain a notch and glass rear panels.

Atari announced this week that the Atari VCS would switch to an AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 APU, officially ditching the Bristol Ridge A10 it had planned to use last year. While the R1000 will bring better performance and support for modern features (like 4K video playback), it brings a heavy negative to the effervescent console - delays.

OnePlus' chief executive, Pete Lau, posted a tweet with more details on a "new device", as promised. It mainly consisted of what could be a new tagline for 2019, in addition to a short video showing a device that could have curved sides and nothing along its top edge. This, then, may be the rumored 7 Pro.

A new leak has shown the upcoming Honor 20 Pro's rear camera setup and it looks like it will feature the same 5x optical zoom that debuted on the Huawei P30 Pro. Of course, the real win here is the fact that it will also be much cheaper than the US$1000 Huawei flagship.

A while ago, Samsung announced that its A series would be replacing the old Galaxy M line in the company's pecking order. That move appears to be paying off in style, as the new devices are selling very well.

The Lenovo Z6 Pro smartphone is expected to be officially unveiled to the world on April 23, and it is already making some impressive headlines. The flagship device will come with a quad camera setup on its rear and feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855. Apparently, its high-end hardware helped it post an incredible score on the AnTuTu benchmark.

An image of the retail box for the Huawei Mate 20X 5G phablet has been leaked online. The most recent Mate series originally consisted of the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, and the Mate 20X. It was announced at MWC19 that the latter device would get a 5G variant, which will apparently come with some important changes.

A record for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 GPU has been added on UserBenchmark’s database, and there is convincing evidence pointing to this being the mobile version of the upcoming graphics card. The average bench score of 45.6% put the hardware in 71st position in UserBenchmark’s ranking, sandwiched neatly between an old AMD R9 280X and an even older Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 (SLI disabled).

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is based on the TU117-300 GPU and will feature 896 CUDA cores with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost of up to 1665 MHz. The reference design is rated at 75 W and does not require a power connector. The 1650 is all set to launch on April 23 for an MSRP of US$149, but OEMs might offer it at slightly higher prices.

Samsung has issued a statement in response to Galaxy Fold review unit display failures. The Galaxy Fold is the first product from the company to ship with a foldable Super AMOLED Infinity display and is considered a halo product.

The new module promises up to 10 percent reduced CPU utilization when gaming and 40 percent faster transfer rates while consuming only 70 percent the power of an 802.11ac WLAN module.

Oh dear, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has got off to a rough start. There have already been multiple reports from prominent tech personalities of their Samsung Galaxy Fold review units breaking after a day's use. Bleak times indeed for Samsung's first foldable smartphone.

The latest leaked specs present the Vivo Y17 as a lower-end mid-range model powered by the new MediaTek Helio P35 Soc coupled with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage. It also comes with a big 6.35-inch IPS screen that has 1154 x 720 resolution and a teardrop notch with a 20 MP selfie cam. It does get a triple-cam setup on the back, but the MP count is modest, and it features a very generous 5,000 mAh battery, as well.

A new version of OxygenOS for the OnePlus 3 and 3T is finally here. However, there are a few slight caveats: it is still in beta (albeit an official Community Beta), and thus may still have some bugs. On the other hand, it has an up-to-date security patch - and is based on Android Pie (9.0).

Despite giving assurances to the contrary, Dell is still yet to fix the latency issues that have plagued the XPS 15 9570 since its launch. Get your act together, Dell.

The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has ordered Google and Apple to remove the app TikTok from their respective stores. This ban has followed allegations that the service increases the risk of child abuse. TikTok can now appeal this ruling on dates set for about a week from today (April 17, 2019).

An XDA contributor has noticed that Google Maps has gained the ability to scan a mobile device's clipboard for addresses. This enables it to suggest an address that has been copied from, say, Chrome, in its search bar without the need for a button or option to paste it. It is not clear when this new feature of Maps arose.

Surprisingly enough, Apple not only decided to drop all charges regarding Qualcomm's unfair patent licensing practices, but the Cupertino company agreed to pay Qualcomm an undisclosed sum, as well. The unexpected settlement comes with additional agreements that make Qualcomm the only 5G modem supplier for the 2020 iPhone models, which immediately prompted Intel to announce its exit from the mobile 5G modem business.

The V50 is LG's first 5G-enabled device, and was scheduled for release during an event on April 19, 2019. However, the OEM has issued a statement saying that this launch is now postponed. No reasons were given for this, although it is known that 5G services in South Korea are experiencing technical difficulties.

Samsung designed the Galaxy Buds as a wireless audio companion for devices such as the Galaxy S10s. However, they have recently improved in this capacity through a new software update. It allows the user to operate them using Bixby alone if they choose.

Alleged details of the OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone have been posted online. The incredible specifications claim that the OnePlus 7 Pro will have a QHD+ Super AMOLED display, 4,000 mAh battery, a pop-up selfie camera, dual speakers and more. The leak also mentions that the display will operate at a variable 90 Hz refresh rate for a smoother viewing experience than conventional 60 Hz panels offer.

Flickering be gone! Xiaomi has replaced PWM with DC brightness for the Mi 9 with latest MIUI Beta update. DC brightness does not cause OLED panels to flicker like PWM does, which can cause eye strain and headaches for those who are PWM sensitive.

AMD Ryzen 3000 for laptops has been announced a few months ago and the PC OEMs are starting to release more and more new laptops with these CPUs. Now, two new Lenovo ThinkPad laptops are listed on the website of the manufacturer. With the new Ryzen 3000 processors, the business laptops ThinkPad E495 and ThinkPad E595 are the direct successors of the E485 and E585.

Casio has unveiled a new addition to the MT-G line of G-SHOCKs. It has Bluetooth connectivity so as to maintain accurate time via a dedicated phone app. This new 'bright red' MT-G is rated for 200M water- and shock- resistance, as well as its maker's 'tough' solar technology to stay charged.

Parrot has unveiled its latest drone. The new ANAFI not only allows for 4K video in both live and recorded formats, but also has a high-end FLIR mode for thermal imaging. It can fly over potential dangerous hot-spots for up to 26 minutes on a single battery's charge for professional-grade safety and thermal gradient monitoring.

A video clip that has been uploaded to Nvidia, MSI, and Asus Twitter accounts has sparked furious speculation over what it is about and what the device that stars in it is. The clip is painfully brief at just five seconds long and simply shows an impressively slender laptop-like device opening up and displaying some Matrix-like green animation.

A short video clip of a Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone running AndroBench 5 ends with the device achieving some very impressive results. The sequential read rate was measured at 1478.85 MB/s, and a 4 kB random read performance measurement of 37,635.85 IOPS was also recorded. The Galaxy Fold utilizes Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.0.

Bundled with Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3 and Sea of Thieves, the new Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is already available for pre-order at US$249.99 — US$50 less than the Xbox One S. Just as previously rumored, the disc-free console will be available worldwide — both online and in stores — on May 7.

Asus has added the FX95DD laptop to its Chinese website as part of its FX/ZX series of computers. The device will feature a Zen+ Picasso AMD Ryzen 7 3750H APU in combination with the Pascal-based Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU. The notebook, which is known locally as the Flying Fortress, is currently being offered for presale orders.

AMD has introduced two embedded processors as part of the new Ryzen R1000 series. The models are the Ryzen Embedded R1606G and the slightly lower-specced Ryzen Embedded R1505G. Both chips come with two cores and four threads. Strangely enough, it seems the two embedded chips were compared against each other on 3DMark 11 back in October 2018.

An email that has supposedly come from MSI’s German-language tech support team has stated that the company will not be offering support for AMD’s upcoming line of Ryzen 3000 Matisse desktop processors on older motherboards (300-series). However, there has not been an official statement from the Taiwanese company in regard to this issue yet.
MSI has issued a press release stating there will be support for compatible 300-series motherboards.

Mark Cerny, lead architect behind the PlayStation 4, has confirmed several details about the specifications of Sony's next-generation console. The PlayStation 5, as it is rumored to be called, will run on an AMD APU consisting of a 7 nm Zen 2-based CPU and a Navi-based GPU that will support real-time ray tracing and 8K resolutions. The PS5 will also include a lightning-fast SSD that should drastically cut down on load time.

Google Pay has gained more functionality in a new update. It involves the ability to 'scan' Gmail for information on a user's financial perks and other info. This includes rewards from using loyalty cards or other similar systems.

Meizu software engineers are hard at work tweaking on the latest Flyme 7 Android-based OS in order to push the upcoming Meizu 16s performance to its limits. The latest batch of benchmark results revealed by Meizu system engineer Hong Hansheng are all above 370,000 points, and it looks like there is still room for improvement.

One-Notebook's unique pocket-size convertible lineup is getting updated with the OneMix 2S Platinum edition, which pack a faster Intel Core i7-8500Y CPU coupled with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM and 512 GB of NVMe SSD storage. The new device has a QWERTY keyboard with fingerprint scanner for increased proficiency, plus a rotating touchscreen that allows users to switch to tablet mode.

Samsung has announced that it is finally in a position to send samples of its new, ground-breaking 5nm processor technology to its customers. The OEM claims that this new architecture brings 25% improvements in logic-area efficiency compared to 7nm, with up to 10% potential performance enhancements.

The latest software update for the Nintendo Switch hybrid game console comes with Save Transfer, which allows players to transfer save data between Switch consoles without an online subscription, a Zoom feature, new game sorting options, and various minor tweaks and fixes. Alongside the console firmware, a controller update has been issued as well.

Exactly one year ago, we complained that some manufacturers were shipping laptops with "fake" RGBW 4K UHD displays without advertising them as such. It appears that the trend has stopped now that RGBW panels are nowhere to be found on the latest 4K laptops.

A new report released by Parks Associates has found that 36% of US households with broadband-level internet connections also owned at least 1 voice-controlled smart speaker in early 2019. This data suggests that these connected devices are becoming more popular, and that their use as automatic home controls may be getting more and more familiar.

The refreshed models are coming next month with a handful of internal updates to improve both performance and security including Sure Sense, Sure View Gen3, brighter displays, and 8th gen ULV Intel Core with vPro. The designs and sizes are otherwise exactly the same as last year's models.

While mostly just a minor refresh, security buffs and business users will appreciate the new camera slider and updated hardware-level anti-virus and recovery features.