Gadget

The entry-level model in the Sony Bravia A9 Master series is now orderable. Called the Bravia KD-48A9, the 48-inch TV has a 4K OLED panel and supports HDR content. The Bravia KD-48A9 runs Android TV and supports X-Motion Clarity for OLED for optimum image quality when gaming or watching sports.

The Rock Pi E is the latest single-board computer by Radxa. Based on the Rockchip RK3328, the Rock Pi E is available with up to 2 GB of RAM and features dual Ethernet ports. The Rock Pi E starts at US$24.00.

Sony may finally be ready to unleash the WH-1000XM4, its successor to the almost two-year-old WH-1000XM3. While hopes of a June release fell flat, Sony Brazil has seemingly teased the WH-1000XM4 on its Instagram channel.

Xiaomi could be contemplating producing a smartphone, possibly as part of the innovative Mi Mix line, which actually integrates wireless earbuds into the top edge. It’s an intriguing concept along the lines of how Samsung Galaxy Note devices house the S Pen stylus. However, whether Xiaomi will take the wireless headset-holding smartphone into production remains to be seen.

Xiaomi is preparing another flash sale for the giant 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max while also celebrating the news that the company shipped more TVs in China in the first half of 2020 than any other company. The Xiaomi Mi TV range is immensely popular, and with a price tag of 19,999 yuan (US$2,856), the Redmi Max 98 has also been selling well.

A new Xiaomi product has appeared on the OEM’s crowdfunding site Youpin in the form of the Bcase ring light, which is an all-in-one photography accessory with an adjustable stand. The portable Xiaomi ring light comes with LED lighting that offers three shade levels and 10 levels of brightness. The Bcase ring light is priced at 159 yuan (US$23).

A Xiaomi product labeled as the Mi EBook Reader has been spotted on Bluetooth certification leading to speculation that the Chinese OEM could be preparing its current MiReader device for a wider market. If the Xiaomi Mi EBook Reader and the MiReader are the same, then global users can expect an e-reader with 16 GB storage and a 24-level reading light.

Some new images of the Huawei TalkBand B6 have been leaked, with the upcoming wearable shown off in four different color variants. The fitness tracker/Bluetooth headset looks particularly elegant in stainless steel. The TalkBand B6 is expected to feature a Kirin A1 chipset for smart operations and a blood oxygen monitor.

The hissing or static issue with the latest Pixel Buds remains, despite the release of a firmware update that supposedly addressed the problem. In fact, the hissing issue is noticeable even on units released after Google claimed to have fixed it.

Razer has refreshed its Cynosa series RGB gaming keyboard. Built for those on a budget, the Cynosa V2 has individually backlit keys, supports macros and has media controls.

The Huawei TalkBand B6 wearable fitness tracker and Bluetooth headset combination has leaked in some live images and short video clips. The dual-function accessory looks to be a step up from the previous generation, with the TalkBand B6 bearing a larger display and utilizing a Kirin A1 processor.

The launch of the new OnePlus Buds means Xiaomi has to up its game in the TWS segment and it's done so spectacularly with the Haylou T16 TWS earbuds that offer active noise cancellation, 6 hours of playback, and wireless charging just for US$40.

Xiaomi has slashed the price of its Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 in India to counter the upcoming threat from the recently launched OnePlus Buds. The Xiaomi earphones are now priced at ₹3,999 (US$53), which should help the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 take on the OnePlus Buds that have an advertised price of ₹4,990 (US$67).

The Surface Headphones 2 offers more features than its predecessor at a lower price. Since Microsoft's latest over-ear headphones support high-resolution Bluetooth connectivity, we decided to purchase a pair to see how they fare.

The Zephyr Gaming Mouse is a wired gaming mouse with a difference. While it features Pixart PMW3389 optical sensor, RGB lighting and OMRON switches, it also features a fan to minimise sweat when gaming. The Zephyr Gaming Mouse is available to order from today on Kickstarter for US$79.00. Zephyr Gaming is selling the mouse in three colours and expects to ship to backers in October 2020.

Xiaomi has revealed that the giant 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max is now in a pre-sale phase again as clearly stocks had dwindled after the amazing sales successes the Chinese OEM had with the huge device. The Redmi Max 98 is currently priced at 19,999 yuan (US$2,855), which is very reasonable for a 98-inch 4K smart TV with MEMC technology.

AOC has launched its latest monitor, the U32U1. A Red Dot Design Award winner, the 31.5-inch and 4K monitor has been designed in collaboration with Porsche Design.

The front of what may well be the GoPro Hero 9 has leaked, and it could point towards the company's first action camera with a built-in secondary display. The next GoPro will likely launch in early Q4 2020 at between US$399.99 and US$499.99.

Xiaomi has announced two new curved gaming monitors. Available in 29-inch and 34-inch screen sizes, both have a curvature of 1500R and support picture in picture. The larger of the two is a 1440p and 100 Hz panel. Xiaomi has announced a new electric standing desk for gamers, too.

Honor has announced its first Wi-Fi 6 Plus router, the Honor Router 3. The Router 3 features one WAN port, three Gigabit LAN ports and measures 245 x 159.2 x 39.7 mm. The Honor Router 3 is available for €79.90 in the Eurozone and £79.99 in the UK.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 4C has been spotted appearing on Amazon Spain, where the budget fitness tracker can be bought for a very reasonable €19.99 (US$23/£18). While the Chinese OEM is busy releasing wearables in Europe, it looks like Xiaomi might be also planning on adding some new Mi TVs to its range in India.

Xiaomi has announced the new Mijia Projector 2 Pro device, which is priced at 4,599 yuan (US$658). The projector is able to cast a screen of up to a maximum of 200 inches, and it features a brightness level of up to 1,300 ANSI Lumens. HDR10+ support is onboard and the Xiaomi Mijia Projector 2 Pro also implements ToF technology.

Insomniac says that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales will have a 4K 60 fps mode. However, it will not run in this mode by default, and the additional performance could come at the price of visual fidelity. The game will likely run at 4K 30 fps out of the box.

OnePlus' official Instagram handle has put out a teaser that hints the OnePlus Buds' price. The TWS earbuds will be released alongside the OnePlus Nord on July 21, and promise to deliver up to seven hours of battery life and support charging at 30W.

Xiaomi has announced the new Redmi AirDots 2 earphones, which will be officially launched on July 22. The TWS earphones are currently priced at 79 yuan (US$11) during the crowdfunding stage. The budget earphones offer Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, virtual assistant functionality, and they weigh in at just 4.1 g per earbud.

The 5G era has just about begun; however, Samsung's research division is also looking into the next generation of this kind of connectivity already. The OEM is also projecting the technology that this level of bandwidth could bring to fruition. They include new levels of extended reality and "AI nativity".

The new Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 fitness tracker is now available on Amazon US and at a reasonable price, too. US shoppers can pick up the Mi Smart Band 5 from US$49.98, which is similar to the price of the wearable in Europe. However, buyers should be aware that this is the non-NFC variant of the smart band.

The PS5 hype train has shown no signs of slowing down as the console and its accessories have taken up seven spots out of the top 15 for the Amazon Most Wished For chart (UK site). Incredibly for Sony, four more places are occupied by PS4 games. PlayStation 5 price predictions appear to be settling at US$499/£449/€499 for the Blu-ray edition.

Multi-functional USB hubs have become a solid trend on crowdfunding websites, particularly those that bake additional functions into these ultrabook accessories. The Fophie is one such hub that adds wireless charging and phone-holding options to its ingredients list. It has now attracted just over 2000% of its original Kickstarter goal.

The URSA Mini Pro packs what is often regarded as best-in-class digital film recording into a body measuring just 9.2 inches across. Its OEM, Blackmagic Design, claims to have stuffed its latest generation with all-new internals that allows it to output in up to 12K natively. It also has new accessories that allow it to work with a Thunderbolt 3-enabled PC.

Acer has announced some new affordable curved gaming monitors to its lineup in the form of the Nitro XZ2 Series models. Gamers can choose from three different panel sizes and enjoy FreeSync technology, quick response times, decent refresh rates, and best of all, price tags that won’t break the bank.

Hardkernel has released its latest single-board computer (SBC), the ODROID-N2 Plus. Equipped with a new Amlogic S922X processor and up to 4 GB of RAM, Hardkernel claims that the ODROID-N2 Plus can offer twice the performance of a Raspberry Pi 4. The SBC is overclockable, too.

FriendlyARM has now made the NanoPi NEO3 available to purchase. Starting at US$20.00, the NanoPi NEO3 comes with up to 2 GB of DDR4 RAM and is based on the Rockchip's RK3328 quad-core ARM chipset. The tiny SBC is smaller than the Raspberry Pi Zero W but offers Raspberry Pi Model 3 levels of performance.

Samsung's 970 QVO internal SATA-based SSD and Samsung Portable SSD T7 are now available for purchase in India. The former is compatible with the SATA 6 Gbps interface, while the latter is optimized for USB Gen 3.2 ports. Prices start at INR 9,999 (US$133) for the 1TB variant of the 970 QVO. A 500GB version of the Portable SSD T7 also retails for the same amount.

A press release has revealed that Philips (TP Vision) and Bowers & Wilkins have decided to extend their partnership and continue to offer their respective expertise in future Philips OLED and LCD TVs. The duo previously collaborated on the well-received 65OLED+984 and OLED+934 models, and new televisions are expected to be released soon.

The Redmi X50 smart TV has finally gone on sale and has been priced at just 1,899 yuan (US$272). The TV, which is framed in metal and features a 4K display, offers users the chance to enjoy MEMC picture-smoothing technology on a device with a 97% screen-to-body ratio. The Redmi X50 is the smallest member of the new Redmi Smart TV X Series.
The Redmi X50 has been reduced to 1,799 yuan (US$257).

The MINISFORUM S40 keeps the dream of the Intel Compute Stick alive. Featuring a Gemini Lake processor, active cooling and 64 GB of storage, the S40 is available for under US$150. Its manufacturer claims that it can output to two 4K monitors simultaneously at 60 Hz too.

Following a directive issued by the Indian Trade Ministry, Amazon has made it mandatory for all sellers to mention its 'country of origin' on every product listing. Sellers have until August 10 to comply. Other platforms, such as Flipkart, are expected to follow suit in the coming days.

A project has shown how to utilise the Raspberry Pi as an NFC-powered music player. Bringing a degree of tactility to digital music, the project combines an NFC reader with NFC tags to play specific albums, playlists or radio stations on Spotify.

An Amazfit Band 6 device has been spotted getting its FCC certification, which is something of a surprise considering the Amazfit Band 5 from Huami only recently went by the same agency too. It could be possible that "Amazfit Band 6" might be the US market name for the widely rumored Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 Pro wearable.

Some consumers might be forgiven for mistaking the TheoryBoard as a particularly extensive gaming keyboard. However, it has been designed by its OEM, the start-up Irijule, as a new technology that helps the user reproduce whatever tunes they imagine, and from scratch too if necessary. It is also a MIDI controller that works with both PC and mobile devices.

Xiaomi has unveiled its first TV dongle, the Mi TV Stick. The device retails for €39.99 and comes bundled with a smart remote. The Mi TV Stick is one of several devices that Xiaomi has launched today.

The Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 Basic is Xiaomi's latest pair of budget TWS earbuds. Featuring 14.2 mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and up to 20 hours of battery life, the Earphones 2 Basic retails for €39.99 in the EU and £39.99 in the UK. The earbuds also include touch controls, dual microphones and IR sensors for in-ear detection.

Xiaomi has announced two new electric scooters, along with a Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 special edition of its flagship model. Called the Mi Electric Scooter 1S and Mi Electric Scooter Pro 2, the scooters will go on sale for €399 and €499, respectively.

Xiaomi's 34-inch Curved Gaming Monitor is now available for purchase in Europe. It is clocked at 144Hz, comes with a resolution of 3440 x 1440, a curvature of 1500R, and covers 121% of the sRGB spectrum. The monitor is priced at €399 (US$455).

The first review of sorts for the Mi Smart Band 5 is up and it confirms a heap of information about Xiaomi's upcoming fitness tracker. As feared, the device will not support Amazon Alexa integration, NFC or a SpO2 sensor. Xiaomi has teased that it will be launching a pair of TWS earbuds, the Mi TV Stick and a new Mi Scooter at tomorrow' Ecosystem Product Launch event on July 15 too.

The Xiaomi Vertical Wireless Charging Socket will soon be appearing on the Chinese OEM’s crowdfunding site at an introductory price of just 109 yuan (US$16). The charging accessory can offer 10 W wireless charging and comes with three USB ports. The Vertical Wireless Charging Socket is only available in white though.

Realme has launched the Realme C11 and Realme 30W 10,000mAh Dart Charge Power Bank in India. The phone features a MediaTek Helio G35 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. Prices start at INR INR 7,499 (US$100) for the Realme C11 and INR 1,999 (US$28) for the Realme 30W Dart Charge Power Bank.

The Huawei Watch GT 2 and Honor MagicWatch 2 have received new updates. A 20 MB download, the new update adds automatic workout detection and menstrual cycle tracking, along with general system stability improvements. The update is available to download now.

Foxconn has reportedly begun to test out the fabrication of lenses for Apple's rumored first-gen smart glasses. Apparently, these components are to be semi-transparent, and to be capable of displaying projected images to the user. They would be superimposed on "real-world" objects in this wearer's field of view.