Review Snippet

DxOMark has shared its thoughts on what it considers to be the best smartphone cameras of 2019, grouped into specific sub-categories. There are a few iffy choices, but one major takeaway from the list is just how impressive the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro is.

The Galaxy A30s impressed in many areas during our recent review of Samsung's latest entry-level handset. However, while the A30s is well-built and looks the part, it cannot match its competitors on performance and battery life.

CineBench R20 results are about 10 percent slower than the Core i9-9900K despite costing $100 more. While our Eurocom Clevo sample shows good performance, the processor is ultimately held back by its high running temperatures of ~90 C even when at stock Turbo Boost speeds.

The XMG Neo 17 from Schenker Technologies is a 17-inch gaming notebook that can be configured individually and has an enticing mechanical keyboard.

The Samsung Galaxy M30s is a triumphant midrange smartphone. The phablet not only has a large, bright and colour accurate AMOLED panel but also class-leading battery, among other positives. If you need a smartphone to last over a day between charges, then the Galaxy M30s could be the device for you.

The LG G8X ThinQ could be a dream come true for some people. The handset comes with a second screen, following on from the V50 Dual Screen accessory that LG launched at the start of this year. The G8X ThinQ is more than just another gimmicky folding smartphone though, as we discovered during our tests.

Why is it that the GE75 can be configured with up the GeForce RTX 2080 while the WE75 is limited to the Quadro RTX 3000? MSI may be pushing ultra enthusiasts into purchasing the higher-end WT75 instead where users can find the RTX 4000 and 5000.

Google's Pixel 4 exhibited various flaws in our test while at the same time neglecting important smartphone core competences. What good is innovation if the phone cannot even last until the end of the day?

Meanwhile, the lesser-equipped Motile M141 with the Ryzen 3 3300U is only $280. These are some of the better laptop deals you can find if you can accept the weak hinges.

In our review of the Note 8 Pro, the mid-range phone achieves convincing results in many areas, although despite or perhaps due to the MediaTek Helio G90T, it is not a gaming smartphone.

Are you looking for your next graphics card for your small form factor PC? Well, the PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC could be the card for you. Setting aside its long-winded name, the XLR8 Gaming OC offers 1080p triple-A gaming at a pinch. It is not all plain sailing though, as we shall discuss in this review snippet.

We already liked the predecessor of the Motorola Moto G8 Plus due to its good camera performance. With the successor, the camera concept has been revised, but this hasn't only led to improvements. This is a summary of our test results.

If you happen to be looking for a simple gaming notebook with great price-performance ratio you may want to take a closer look at the 2019 iteration of Xiaomi’s Mi Gaming Laptop. For less than $1,500 you get a 15-inch gaming laptop with Core i7-9750H and GeForce RTX 2060.

CPU performance can be all over the place on the Surface Pro 7 Core i5. When at its best, multi-thread performance will be most similar to the Ryzen 5 3580U on the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3. But if at its worst, performance can be about 10 percent slower than the average Core i7-8565U.

Sony remains an active player in the camera sensor market, which makes the cameras that it has included in the Xperia 5 even more disappointing. Sony's latest flagship handset is not all bad by any means, but it is hard to see past its underwhelming camera hardware.

The Razer Blade Stealth has a premium, compact design and excellent GPU performance. On the other hand, the CPU performance and especially the optional 4K screen disappoint in our review.

All those Iris Plus-related bug fixes Intel have been releasing over the past three months have yet to arrive on the Surface Pro 7 despite the fact that this is supposed to be Microsoft's latest flagship Windows tablet. Though we don't know when the update will arrive, Microsoft says they are working on a solution.

At a measured brightness of 868 nits on the center of the screen, the UBook Pro is nearly 90 percent brighter than even the Surface Pro 6. It's not everyday that a cheaper Chinese clone offers something better than the "proper" authentic version.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 impressed us during our tests, not least because of its bright display. While the Redmi Note 8 does not have an OLED display, the IPS panel with which Xiaomi has equipped it is bright and contrast-rich. The device has five cameras including a 48 MP primary rear-facing sensor too. In short, Xiaomi has redefined what an entry-level smartphone can be.

Lenovo now offers better GPU options and for the first time, an OLED display in its 15-inch workstation. Nvidia's Quadro RTX 5000 offers a level of performance that is usually exclusive to 17-inch models.

As the first 15.6-inch MSI laptop with an Intel Core i7-10710U CPU, the Prestige 15 has some big shoes to fill. Performance and clock rate sustainability are good at the cost of high core temperatures stabilizing at ~95 C when under stressful processing loads.

Carrying around a hefty laptop can prove tiresome if you are often on the move. However, many lightweight laptops are underpowered and struggle in office tasks, which is where the Acer TravelMate X514 steps in. Acer has designed the laptop to be simultaneously lightweight and powerful while retaining features that many businesses may find attractive too. It is not all rosy, though.

The concept of expensive laptops with little performance is not new, but buyers have mostly received high-quality components and a special design in return so far. Although the latter is in Porsche Design's name, the manufacturer doesn't take it very seriously when it comes to the high-quality hardware.

Until now, value for money has been one of the main reasons to buy an Honor smartphone, even at launch. The latest generation changes that, and not for the better. While the Honor 9X is a good device, it pales in comparison with other smartphones that have been released this year.

With the ConceptD series, Acer has launched a completely new product lineup. The premium white multimedia system tries to appeal to creators of digital multimedia content. However, as our review shows, it comes with a few drawbacks.

The slim and light Acer Swift 7 SF714-52T scores with an IPS touchscreen display, 16 GB of working memory (dual-channel mode) and silent operation. This is accompanied by a good battery life and two Thunderbolt-3 ports. For the whole package, you have to put almost 2000 Euros (~$2226) on the table.

The slim and light Portégé X30-F scores points with long battery life, a bright, contrast-rich display and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. Our configuration variant lacks an LTE modem.

We often complain about smaller laptops failing to keep their processors cool enough to maintain peak clock speeds, so a 17-inch laptop should have a large enough footprint to do so, right? Well, the HP Envy 17-ce1002ng may be a 17-inch machine, but it cannot make use of the full potential of its Comet Lake processor, although it does a better job with its NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card. What is the fuss about Comet Lake, then?

You don't always have to pay 2,000 Euros (~$2,213) or more for laptops with a graphics card specialized in applications. With the ThinkPad P53s and Nvidia's Quadro P520 GPU, Lenovo shows that it can be cheaper.

The Acer Aspire 5 A515-43-R057 is an affordable AMD Ryzen laptop, which should offer great value for money on paper. However, the performance of its AMD Ryzen 5 3500U leaves a lot to be desired.

Dynabook's 13.3-inch business laptop pleases with a bright, contrast-rich IPS display, an NVMe SSD and long battery life.

Acer considers the Acer Predator Helios 300 one of its entry-level gaming laptops, except that it starts at US$1,199.99. While its Intel Core i7-9750H processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU can handle triple-A 1080p gaming, the new Helios 300 falls short of the performance that its competitors offer. Worse still, its battery life leaves plenty to be desired.

Our recent review of the Tecra X50 from Dynabook showed the sleek business Ultrabook to be quite the looker with little substance. Disappointing performance topped off with poor battery life leaves the Dynabook Tecra X50 wanting. There are much better options available.

Apple continues to dominate the smartwatch market, but is its latest iteration the best device of its kind? Part fashion accessory, part lifestyle smartwatch, but not a professional fitness tracker. We expected better battery life from a device that costs a minimum of US$399 too.

Apple heralds its latest AirPods as a "Pro" product that offers amazing audio quality and immersive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but do they live up to the hype? Our time with them would suggest otherwise, although they will likely impress those who already own a set of AirPods. Audiophiles will probably be less enamoured by the US$250 wireless earbuds, though.

Acer's stylish 14-inch subnotebook has a slim metal chassis, a Ryzen 5 APU and dual-channel RAM, which should all combine to deliver a decent device. The Swift 3 SF314-41 has an NVMe SSD and great battery life too, but two areas hold Acer's latest subnotebook back from being a real contender.

While we were impressed with the OnePlus 7T Pro in our extensive review, the heat development under strong load and the resulting app crashes are an issue.

The Moto E6 Plus is a relatively compact and affordable smartphone that should have a lot going for it. However, its dismal MediaTek Helio P22 SoC makes general tasks like switching between apps and scrolling through webpages a chore. The Moto E6 Plus represents an upgrade over its predecessor in some areas, though.

We were able to run numerous gaming benchmarks on the AMD Radeon RX 5500M as part of our exclusive hands-on with the MSI Alpha 15, an outline of which we shall provide in this review snippet. In short, the new Navi 14 chip comes closer to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q than the GTX 1650, while even reaching GTX 1660 Ti levels on occasion.

Does a hexa-core U-series processor under a 15 W power envelope make sense? As anticipated, Turbo Boost performance is excellent during the first few minutes before clock rates inevitably fall over time. The dip in performance comes out to be about 15 to 25 percent on the Dell XPS 13 7390 Core i7-10710U unit.

The Lenovo ThinkPad L590 is a solid business laptop at just under $1,000, but it is not without its problems. The 15.6-inch laptop appears to offer plenty on paper, with Lenovo including a quad-core Core i5 Whiskey Lake CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of NVMe storage. However, its cooling system holds the device back, hampering its CPU performance.

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.

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.

We have just released our review of the Lenovo ThinkPad X395, an AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 3300U powered 13.3-inch subnotebook. The Ryzen 3 PRO 3300U integrates a Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU too, which is known to have better graphics performance than its Intel counterparts. But how does the ThinkPad X395 compare against the ThinkPad X390, its Intel equivalent, and which is the better overall device?

Intel's Ice Lake platform performs convincing in the first reviews. With the Lenovo Yoga C940 convertible we recently reviewed another Ice Lake laptop, which directly competes with Dell's XPS 13 7390 2-in-1. In terms of battery life the Lenovo Yoga C940 is even better than the XPS.