HONOR is a brand that is very well known for their value-for-money devices. They launched their HONOR MagicBook earlier this year and challenged nearly every other PC maker in the segment by halving or undercutting their prices with their own offering. In that sense, HONOR is one of those brands that makes us wonder whether or not we should spend that much on a device.
Recently, HONOR just launched their MagicBook Pro and Watch GS Pro in Malaysia. The two devices lining up with HONOR’s direction of pushing the digital lifestyle boundaries this year. These are probably the most exciting devices that is coming out of HONOR this year.
Honor MagicBook Pro
Source: HONOR
The Honor MagicBook Pro was designed to help professionals to enhance their productivity with an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor alongside an integrated Radeon Graphics for a snappy and smooth performance even when handling complex tasks. The notebook PC is designed to allow for 20% more airflow than traditional cooling fans with minimal noise. With a 56Wh battery that is quoted to last up to 11 hours on a single charge, you can also use the notebook with peace of mind, knowing it will last you a whole work day.
The Honor MagicBook Pro weighs only 1.7kg and is only 16.9mm thick. Thanks to the lightweight construction and petite packaging, lugging it around is a breeze in your backpacks. The best part of the HONOR MagicBook Pro, if you are using an HONOR device, is that you can reply texts, answer calls and even watch videos with your smartphone, on the notebook. To keep everything secure and safely locked in the notebook, the HONOR MagicBook has a 2-in-1 power button with a fingerprint scanner.
Source: HONOR
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Source: HONOR
HONOR Watch GS Pro
Source: HONOR
The HONOR Watch GS Pro is a guide for all sorts of adventures. Its high-precision built in dual satellite positioning systems is built to ensure that you know where you are going at all times. It is also stress tested in all kinds of environments so that you can bring it out for all your outdoor activities. Of course, this being an all around activity tracker, it has multiple activity modes for you to easily access specific data for specific work outs and exercises.
The HONOR Watch GS Pro comes with a quoted 25-day battery life. That is theoretically the longest battery life that any smartwatch can have in the current market, beating even the Garmins. This also means that even in harsh environments, the HONOR Watch GS Pro will keep you company for as long as you need it to. This actually gives you a whole new world with endless possibilities and probably some new experiences.
Source: HONOR
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Source: HONOR
Pricing and Availability
The HONOR MagicBook Pro is now available via HONOR’s official online store, their online retail partners, and all HONOR official stores nationwide. The HONOR MagicBook Pro will set you back MYR 3,599 and will be bundled with HONOR’s Magic Earbuds, a Bluetooth mouse, and a Backpack. If you purchase them through Shopee or Lazada, your purchase comes with a free Microsoft Office 365 Personal subscription, a Bluetooth mouse, and a Backpack.
The HONOR Watch GS Pro is also available now via HONOR’s official online store and all its retail partners including Shopee and Lazada. Keep in mind you can only purchase the Charcoal Black variant as of now. The Marl White variant will be available 15 October onward, but pre-orders start now. The Watch GS Pro will set you back MYR 999. Currently, every purchase of the Watch GS Pro entitles you to a free HONOR Sport Pro wireless earphones.
Garmin has always been known for their very premium smartwatches. Some do not even consider their stuff ‘smartwatches’. They argue that the Garmin watches are more fitness trackers than anything. Whichever camp you come from though, we still like the brand and the devices they make.
As smartwatches and fitness trackers go, you cannot go wrong with a Garmin watch. Whichever your choice is, you are getting a smartwatch cum fitness tracker that will last you days at a time, while being reliable and durable enough to be in the harshest of weathers. There is an issue however; they are not exactly affordable. Garmin has an answer to that.
Source: Garmin
Welcome to the Garmin Venu SQ, SQ for ‘Square’. Garmin launched the Venu smartwatch last year and it became one of our favourite smartwatches very quickly. Its pretty interface and good looks are big contributors to our preference, of course. But round is not the only format people want in their smartwatch. Some people still prefer going for a square watch face on their smartwatch thanks to the larger perceived display real estate. That is the Garmin Venu SQ, for the ones that wants a square-faced smartwatch from Garmin.
The Garmin Venu SQ’s square-ish display measures at 1.3-inch and is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layer. The square LCD display pushes 240 by 240 pixels , which is not Full HD per se, but is still quite a pretty looking crystal display. You can use always-on mode on the Garmin Venu SQ as well, if you want to. Of course, always-on display will consume a little bit more battery life.
Source: Garmin
To be fair, not much else is known about the Garmin Venu SQ’s internals. We do know that the Venu SQ is just as capable as its more premium round-faced sibling though. It is also made with the same durable fiber-reinforced polymer material that the rounded Garmin Venu is built with. Inside is also all the same sensors that makes the Garmin Venu SQ as capable as any of its siblings.
You still have GPS capability within the watch with compass capabilities so that you can never get lost with the Garmin Venu SQ, in your adventures. In your adventures as well, you would appreciate the 5 ATM water resistant rating, just in case you need to get a little wet. A battery life that would last you up to 6 days at a time could also prove essential when you need it (14 hours on GPS mode without music). As a bonus, you do not need to keep it charged daily.
Source: Garmin
Source: Garmin
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Of course, the Garmin Venu SQ still has all the right sensors at the back of the watch as well. The sensors can monitor your heart rate, your blood oxygen levels, and more. It can even detect your swim stroke types, and even understand your sleep cycles.
The Venu SQ is now available in Malaysia in two variants. You can get a regular Venu SQ and a Venu SQ Music with Spotify and music storing capabilities built-into the device. The Venu SQ starts at MYR 999 and is available in Shadow Gray/Slate, White/Light Gold, and Orchid/Metallic Orchid colour options. The Venu SQ Music Edition will go for MYR 1,250 and is available in Black/Slate, Light Sand/Rose Gold, Navy/Light Gold, and Moss/Slate colour combinations.
Screen time, eye fatigue and eye strain are phrases that are becoming increasingly common nowadays; more-so since the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to work remotely. The increased screen time has cause many of us to feel the effects of eye fatigue and eye strain more intensely as we try to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Our eyes are something we commonly take for granted. However, they are one of our more important organs; particularly when it comes to navigating and contributing in the world we live in. You may be thinking, why is a tech website talking about our eye health? Well, the truth is, we should be talking about it more as we are, inevitably, interacting with technology on a daily basis.
So, let’s get down to it. Growing up, many of our parents and grandparents used to tell us to not sit too close to the TV. Back then, this was because the resolution of the idiot boxes were so low that going too close would cause eye strain. Nowadays, we’re interacting with screens at every corner from smartphones to laptops, to desktops, to televisions, and even billboards. These high-resolution screens aren’t as bad as the old televisions, but they pose an even challenge for our eyes; they are sharp, highly contrasted and bright. This combination produces an even more strenuous environment for our eyes. What’s more, we subject our eyes to these conditions for prolonged hours on a daily basis.
Dealing with Blue Light and Protecting Your Circadian Rhythm
Our eyes perceive light on a wide spectrum of light. That said, some portions of these spectra can influence other bodily functions; for example, the “blue light” spectrum which ranges from 410 – 430nm. This portion of the spectrum not only allows screens to be brighter but it also affects our circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle.
You may have read or heard a lot of people talking about the “harmful” affects of blue light; this is what they’re talking about. However, as Dr. Mike Varshavski points out in his YouTube video, the amount of blue light needed to adversely affect our circadian rhythm is huge. That said, we have to take into consideration the prolonged duration of exposure, especially if you’re working a desk job. So, what exactly happens? Well, as Dr Mike, aptly points out, blue light affects the production of melatonin, a hormone needed for sleep regulation. In fact, blue light down regulates or suppresses the production of melatonin which will make us feel more awake. To deal with this, a Harvard Medical study actually recommends reducing blue light exposure particularly before bed.
One way we can reduce blue light exposure is through the use of screens that are certified to have reduced emission of this spectrum – more commonly known as “eye comfort”. You can identify these screens by keeping a look out for certification by TÜV Rheinland. However, you give your eyes even more protection by using protective eye wear. You may think, “But… I don’t need spectacles.” . However, lenses like Essilor’s Crizal® line-up of lenses provide blue light protection for your eyes reducing eye strain. Essilor goes a step further to ensure that while they filter out harmful ultraviolet and blue light, their lenses with Crizal® technology still allow beneficial blue light to pass through. This helps minimise the effect on your sleep-wake cycle and also helps elevate mood.
That said, the best practice, in addition to using protective eye wear, would still be to reduce the time you expose yourself to screens all together. The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends the 20/20/20 rule. The rule is pretty simple, for every 20 minutes you spend in front of a screen, you should look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This should not only reduce eye strain but help reduce your blue light exposure.
Reducing Eye Fatigue & Eye Strain
While it may seem like blue light is the one and only demon when it comes to protecting your eyes, the truth is that it’s not. We subject our eyes to a lot of strain over the course of our day. Think about it, your eyes are essentially muscles that are constantly contracting and relaxing on a constant basis to adapt to the ocular conditions so you can see. Even when you go to the gym, the repetitive movement of lifting weights causes fatigue, that is essentially what’s happening in your eyes.
This contraction and relaxation of your irises and ocular muscles is not something you can control. So, how can you be causing the strain? Well, for one, we’re constantly looking at things that are relatively close to our faces; monitors, smartphones and televisions are within 20 feet of our faces at any given time. In addition to proximity, these screens can have videos or pictures that have varying focal lengths or have items in them that require your eyes to refocus over and over and over again. This causes eye strain and fatigue. What’s more, when you go from looking at pictures or videos to reading, your eyes will need to readjust again. The same holds true when you’re driving.
Once again, the 20/20/20 rule is helpful here too. However, despite using these techniques, our eyes are still subject to quite a lot of strain. The best way to reduce the strain is to actually minimise our time doing activities that cause eye strain. However, in our modern world, we would be hard pressed to do so.
The question remains, how do we take better care? One way we can do it is to use eye wear with optimised lenses. While not all of us need to do so medically, wearing purpose-built eye wear is becoming increasingly common. Brands like MVMT and GUNNAR are some examples of these. Most of them use lenses like Essilor’s Eyezen™ or Crizal® which help reduce glare from bright screens and sources of light as well as reduce the need for your eyes to constantly correct its focus. The former is especially effective as it helps correct farsightedness and nearsightedness in a single lens. Transitions lenses help with glare particularly when moving between indoor and outdoor environments.
Generally, there is not much we can do to take better care of our eyes. But in the long run, small steps help preserve our ocular function and eyesight. Don’t wait until you need a pair of prescription glasses to take care of your eyes, take small steps including turning off screens 2 hours before sleep and following the 20/20/20 rule to help with ocular health. It’s something we need to start looking at everyday.
In a time when values have changed and our tastes have changed, the way we decorate and design our homes and rooms has also changed. Gone are the days when we design rooms around large pieces of electronics, instead, we are now able to fit our electronics seamlessly into our rooms without needing to compromise. Noticing this trend in how we are designing our spaces, Samsung has introduced a line up of what they call “lifestyle TVs” which are intended to be more than just screens for entertainment.
The new The Serif, The Frame and The Sero QLED TVs are designed to be artistic accents in your rooms instead of cornerstone displays. These TVs aren’t just designed to be screens, they are meant to be functional additions to your room with a focus on the aesthetics and bring the added advantage of a screen that you can consume your media on. The Sero even adapts to your content going from portrait to landscape to fit your content.
Samsung’s The Frame
Having a large, blank, black screen in the middle of your living room is just a big no, no. Samsung’s “The Frame” turns the blank, black surface we’re used to into centerpieces of any given room. The new edition of The Frame comes with Samsung’s QLED 4K technology which includes Samsung’s 4K Quantum processor which intelligently upscales the content your viewing to take advantage of all the pixels of the 4K screen.
However, that’s not the je nais se quois that sets The Frame apart from other TVs. Samsung’s The Frame is designed to look like a frame containing a masterpiece; allowing it become the centerpiece on your art wall when you’re not watching that new episode of “The Witcher” on Netflix. The bold design is also personalisable with different designs for the bezels that allow you to customize the TV to fit your design style. Samsung has also built in a special gallery called “The Art Store” which allows you to get digital copies of masterpieces stored in museums for a monthly fee. However, if you’re not one to splurge, the Art Store also houses a selection of regularly updated free artwork.
The Frame is also designed with a zero gap design allowing it to lay flush against the wall. Unruly cables are also not a problem as it also uses the same invisible cable design from Samsung’s flagship 8K QLED TVs. This allows you to connect all your inputs to a single hub which can be placed further away from the TV leaving your display and wall blemish free.
Samsung’s The Serif
For The Serif , Samsung partnered up with the Bourellec Brothers to create a screen experience that is both chic and distinctive. The Serif will undoubtedly catch anyone’s eyes in any room it’s placed in. Looking at the overall design of the QLED TV, the inspiration for the name should be as bright as day. However, it’s unique design isn’t just its namesake; The Serif‘s design allows the screen to sit independently without the need to hide any cables. If you need a stand for the uniquely designed screen, it also comes with removable legs.
The Serif comes with Samsung’s 4K QLED panels and is available in 43-, 55- and 75-inch in white or black internationally. It also has the company’s 4K Quantum processor which allows you to get the most out of the pixels on your screen even from lower resolution content. It also comes with built-in stereo speakers for immersive sound and a removable back panel and built-in cable management for a seamless facade. The Serif is also able to take advantage of Ambient mode to blend seamlessly into its settings while display pertinent information such as the time and weather in an elegant way befitting the screen. It is also able to take advantage of “tap and connect” which will allow your phone to connect without the hassle of manually plugging in the connection via the settings. However, this only works with Bluetooth Audio on The Serif.
Samsung’s The Sero
The Sero is one of the most unique lifestyle TV offerings that Samsung has in its arsenal right now. The new approach to a TV allows the screen to seamlessly adapt to your content. It has a rotating 43-inch screen which is able to change from portrait to landscape according to the orientation of the content you’re looking at. If you’re on Instagram or TikTok, the screen will be in portrait mode, switch to Netflix and it’ll go into landscape. In apps like YouTube, the screen is able to adapt seamlessly between orientations according to the screen. If you’re minimised, it’ll stay in portrait mode and it’ll kick into landscape when you go full screen. The rotation is made possible thanks to Samsung’s new rotating hinge which allows it to rotate unrestricted.
The Sero comes equipped with its own easel stand which also has detachable wheels for added portability. In addition to portability, The Sero is the only TV in Samsung’s line up which comes with a built-in 4.1 channel speaker system that is integrated into the easel stand. It also comes with Tap to Connect which is compatible with any Samsung smartphone. A simple tap on the top or right border of the TV will trigger quick connect which allows you to connect to your phone for wireless screen sharing and audio connectivity with the TV.
Pricing & Availability
Samsung’s lifestyle TVs are rolling out to selected markets worldwide. In Malaysia the pricing is as below:
The Malaysian creative industry is climbing up the ladder! Since it’s nascent years, the industry has been working to create innovative content and share Malaysian stories. The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has been hard at work promoting and upskilling the industry’s key players since 2009 and it has been endeavouring to create an international platform to grow and progress the ASEAN region’s animation and emerging media industries. Kre8tif! was their chosen platform to marry regional talent with international players.
Kre8tif! 2020 is happening on the 7th to 10th of September 2020! This is an interesting conference that highlights the Malaysian Digital Content industry. It is happening virtually now, with over 700 participants from all over the world. You can even attend it for free. Participants will be able to gain insights from companies like Netflix, Epic Games, Pixar and Disney!
In this podcast, we spoke to Hasnul about this year’s Kre8tif! conference and how they are pivoting themselves around the current pandemic. We got a little insight too on what we can expect from this year’s virtual conference! You can find more information on Kre8tif on https://kre8tif.com.my/!
Hasnul Hadi is currently the Vice President of the Digital Creative Content Division over at MDEC. He has spent nearly a decade advocating and championing the game development and creative industry in Malaysia. He and his team have been tirelessly working away behind the scenes pushing policies and connecting companies to build the creative industry. Aside from his dedication in making Malaysia a creative powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region, he’s also an avid gamer. He’s spent many hours honing his gaming skills behind a keyboard, on a controller and on-the-go!
In 2008, a certain public figure announces something that would change the world. It changed a landscape of more than one industry. It changed the automotive industry certainly, a billion-dollar industry. But more than that, people seldom realise that they have also changed the tech industry.
That person is Elon Musk and his tenure in Tesla (you would have guessed by now). He and the modern pioneering company took a massive lead in the electric future with a certain Tesla Roadster. When the Model S arrives not very long after that, the automotive industry changed massively. Again, it was not just the automotive industry that changed, the tech industry changed too.
With the advancement of Tesla and its largely connected ecosystem that makes autonomous driving possible, the entire automotive industry starts realising that they are not integrating themselves with enough tech to keep up. Even until today, experts still consider Tesla’s technology and understanding of electric cars, and assimilating tech in cars years ahead of its closest competition.
But that is just what Tesla has been doing with the automotive industry, revolutionising it to the point that buying a car now is like buying a smartphone. Most automotive brands are already selling battery powered vehicles. Every other car manufacturer has some sort of all-electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid vehicle in the works. Every other manufacturer is looking into smart assistance inside and outside the car. All of them are trying to integrate the car controls into a smartphone, something Tesla has been doing out of the box since the Model S.
An All-Electric Future in Malaysia
In Malaysia though you have to take a step back because Tesla is not available her. Big shame really, since Malaysia seems like a prime market with enough expertise and readiness to jump right into an all-electric transportation future. Some of the public transportation you see on the road are technically all-electric already. Sadly, they have their own charging system built into their own hubs kept away from the world.
It may not seem that bleak though with BMW Group moving in the country with an all-electric future in their minds. Prove that they are one of the only people that really strives toward that all-electric future? They have introduced two all-electric vehicles in Malaysia.
The All-Electric MINI
If you have not known yet, MINI is a subsidiary owned by BMW Group. Now that you know, MINI has just introduced a brand-new all-electric car that was launched globally and now in Malaysia. They have launched the All-Electric MINI for the Malaysian market. Technically this is not the very first All-Electric vehicle from MINI, it is their second. In our opinion, it is their best looking to date.
It is the size and proportion of a Mini Cooper, perfect. It has got the funky wheel design from the older All-Electric Countryman, nice. It packs about 184 horses under its meek bonnet, great. It weighs about 1.7 tonnes. Wait a minute, it is heavier than a regular Mini Cooper.
That added weight means a 0-100hm/h time of 7.3-seconds, modest in the automotive world that the MINI lives in. In NEDC tests, the car can go up to 270km as well before needing a full charge from its revolutionary 12-module batteries and efficient electric motors powering the front wheels.
Of course, MINI is not going to compromise on handling and will tune the All-Electric MINI to be like the go-kart that is the regular MINI Cooper. With that you also get four driving modes in the car. If you want to keep your MINI going as long as possible on a single charge though you want to put it on Green+ mode. In that mode, it is possible to drive the car with just a single paddle.
The All-Electric Mini is available in Malaysia is now available in Malaysia in three colour options – White Silver with Energetic Yellow pairing, British Racing Green, and Chilli Red. You can book one online via their website with a booking fee of MYR 1,000 if you really like. Its full price (OTR w/o insurance), after Sales Tax Exemption is MYR 218,380.78, which is quite a lot of money for a small car.
The Car in Your Pocket
Source: BMW
When BMW introduced the 330e and 530e into the market as well, they were one of the first and only cars in the market that we could integrate with our smartphones. You could control its air-conditioning unit to the right temperature just before you went into the car. You can unlock your car at a touch of your smartphones, you could monitor the car’s battery health and charge status from your smartphone. Of course, you could even get an appointment at the service centre set from your smartphones, if you are more comfortable with that.
The in-car infotainment system across any vehicles today received a major overhaul. While it was not something very new, they made connecting your smartphone to the car much simpler and better. Well, back then, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay did not come as standard in any car, but it is now. Better late than never, they say.
More than that though, the in-car infotainment system of the current modern world looks cleaner than before, more streamlined. That helps it to be a bit more intuitive than before, and requires less buttons and input than before, which is great. Cars like the All-Electric MINI packs Apple CarPlay out of the box. The only thing missing now from these cars is the wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay ability in that sense.
In certain reports and rumours, we even hear that BMW and even Mercedes-Benz is looking to do away with keys and keyfobs completely. You only need your smartphones to unlock and access your car. In our opinions, that is really cool, but really dangerous as well. Nevertheless, it is a future that we are looking forward to.
Smartphone Technology in Cars, or is it the Other Way Round?
Source: BMW
There is a common ground between an all-electric car and a smartphone other than sharing an infotainment system. Technically they are still two different things anyway. Both these things are reliant on batteries and needs to be constantly charged.
Smartphones usually require us to constantly charge them on a daily basis. Our daily drivers, for example receives a nightly charge most of the time, or is constantly charging in the office, just so that we do not get battery life anxiety. Most electric cars today that is available promises more than 200km from a single charge. If you are driving in town plenty, that is probably two or three days-worth of charge, could be more.
Most of the time, you are going to charge it at home too, if there is an available 3-pin wall outlet. If there is a charging facility, you can leave it charging for about two to four hours for a full charge. For the All-Electric MINI, if you do find a DC charging station, you can charge the car within an hour. If you charging out of a normal outlet at home, you can get it charged in 12 hours, an overnight charge. You are not going to leave the battery flat though in most cases.
Most all-electric vehicles also come with a smart planner to help you plan your drive around these days. The car helps you plan your drive around town and find the best charging spots and how long of a stop you need to get you around your day. It might seem tedious at first, but with more available charging ports, it could just be more convenient for you to drive an electric car. Imagine wireless charging for your car too. It is just like bringing your smartphone and plugging it into the nearest plug source or your power bank or notebooks for an extra charge for the day.
But there are still differences between the two technologies. For one, you can bring your smartphone around and charge it via a power bank, but you cannot charge your car with a power bank. Of course, the other being the price of investment for a smartphone is greatly smaller compared to a vehicle, especially the current generation electric vehicles.
Being flexible and able to work from anywhere in the world is more important than ever before. It is important also that you need to be able to set up and get going within 5 seconds of you sitting at a table. This flexibility is paramount in the world today.
This kind of flexibility sometimes comes with a big price tag. But what if you have MYR 3,000 to spend on that flexibility? You can buy an Acer Aspire 5 or the Acer Aspire 3 and more to get you up to speed with your work from home requirements.
Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire 5, as you have read from the title is MYR 2,599. In the sea of notebooks today, that might sound like a good price. That is because it is a good price for a general-purpose notebook.
For that money though you are not paying for discounted or inferior hardware. You still get a powerful enough 10th Generation Intel Core i5 processors. It does not have a dedicated discreet GPU for its 14-inch Full HD IPS display on board, but the Intel HD graphics is still good enough to run some low-level video editing and rendering with little issues.
Of course, you are not looking at this as a main video or production level rig. In that sense, you only get 4GB of RAM in the device which is still expandable if you need more. Within the sleek and pretty Magic Purple coloured body is a 512GB SSD to make quick work of your documents and file keeping purposes. Of course, if you need more space, there is an extra HDD slot too.
To make sure that you have everything you need to stay productive, the Acer Aspire 5 comes with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 pre-installed. But that is not all that you can do if you are already planning to spend MYR 3,000 on a rig. You can get a pretty good mouse with that, probably a nice pair of earphones to keep you stay productive and focused with the Aspire 5.
Acer Aspire 3
Need something bigger? 14-inch is a little puny? 15.6-inch should work fine then. That is the Acer Aspire 3 with 15.6-inch Full HD display.
You get Intel’s 10th Generation Core i5 still, the same as the one you find in the Acer Aspire 5. It also comes with 4GB in RAM (expandable), and a 512GB SSD storage. You get 32GB of Intel Optane Memory in place as well with the Acer Aspire 3.
Price and Availability
The Acer Aspire 5 is now available in Acer authorised stores across the nation. It will be also be available in all Acer’s official online store. As mentioned earlier, the Acer Aspire 5 is available in Magic Purple colour option at the price of MYR 2,599. The Acer Aspire 3 comes in Obsidian Black fro the same price. For more information on the Acer Aspire 5 and the Acer Aspire 3, you can head to Acer’s website.
We reviewed the Acer Nitro 5 a few weeks ago and we thought that the gaming notebook is one of the best value-for-money devices of the year. It was worth MYR 4,899 and packs quite a lot of punch for that money.
You get a powerful Intel Core i7 (up to) and a not-so-entry-level NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti for your money. You now get 8GB of RAM and 512GB in SSD too in the entry-level gaming notebook. To sweeten the deal, the display is an IPS panel with 144Hz in response rate.
We did not think that it could be better in value, the Nitro 5. Acer proved us wrong with AMD though. The new Acer Nitro 5 now comes in AMD flavour for those looking for some distinction.
You are still getting the same 8GB RAM and 512GB in SSD storage. You also still get a 15.6-icnh IPS panel at Full HD resolution and refreshes at 144Hz. There is still the always reliable Killer Ethernet E2600 ethernet port. Even the keyboard is still the same 4-zone RGB type.
The differences are a little more than skin deep in this case. It comes packing AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800 8-core CPU power paired to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 instead of the GTX 1660Ti. While it might sound like a small downgrade, the differences are more minute than you know with the Intel pairing.
But the differences do not end at the hardware though. It is also differently priced at the same time. The Acer Nitro 5 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is now available across the nation via authorised retailers and official online stores at MYR 4,099. That is MYR 800 in difference to the top specced Intel variant of the Acer Nitro 5. With the current Acer Day promotion, the AMD variant of the Acer Nitro 5 is available for MYR 3,999. For more information on the Acer Nitro 5, do check out their website.
They say that a way to a man’s hear is their bellies. We respectfully disagree. The way to any person’s heart is their bellies these days. Eating, in Malaysia at least, is a big part of our lives. Anywhere we go in Malaysia, the discussion of food never stops and is always something that anyone can chime in on.
But food is not just an important part of Malaysians, it is so for any families. Most of your family meeting or gathering happens in the kitchen or the dining room, which is right next to, or connected to your kitchen. There is one big thing in the kitchen too, to make it a kitchen; a fridge, which is what Family Hub is.
Regardless of the name, a fridge is truly a hub for the family. It is the one furniture that is shared within a household and used from day to night by every single person in the family. The Samsung Family Hub fridge lives up to that name and turns itself into a smart hub and assistant for your family. But it is more than just a fridge that is connected to your other electronics, it is a little more than just a fridge with a display too.
The Samsung Family Hub refrigerator is not technically a new product name. The product has existed for a while now. It was also one of the most interesting concept fridges when it launched. Especially, when they managed to fit a Harman Kardon speaker to the unit in 2019.
For 2020, The Samsung Family Hub got smarter in terms of software. Of course, it is a better fridge as well. But if you already have the older Family Hub, there is no need for you to go out to buy a new fridge. Still, new things are always nice; we know.
So Clever
Samsung says that this is the cleverest refrigerator that you will see. Then again, it might be the only fridge you see in your house. Why you need two large fridges in your home is beyond me.
Still, this is a very clever refrigerator with an intelligent screen and more within the screen. You can plan out your week’s worth of meals if you want to. It even helps you prepare meals with easy access to recipes that you can work with, according to what you have in the fridge.
Because it sort of knows what is in your fridge, you can even plan out what to buy in the groceries to ‘stock up’. If you forgot what to buy, you can always ‘View Inside’ the fridge to know what you have or not have inside the fridge, I know how many times I forgot to bring out my shopping list. Even when I do bring them out, I will have some missing things.
Family Center
As its name suggests, the Family Hub is meant to be the centrepiece of your family. Okay, maybe not a centrepiece sculpture, it is just a big storage box after all; how good can it look? It is where your family gathers.
We stick everything on the fridge too. You might stick your kid’s drawing, your shopping lists, your notes for your mother, your notes for your father, your notes for your kids, your husband, your wife, you name it. That will kind of clutter your fridge though. What if your fridge magnet decided not to be a fridge magnet anymore? You lose your notes.
With Family Board though on the display of the Family Hub fridge though, you will not lose your notes to the bottom of the fridge. It even has a built-in calendar to put on the screen for good measure. This means that you only need to pin whatever notes you need to put on the Family Board and it still stay there until you take it down or whoever it was intended has seen it. You can even take a family photo on your smartphone and load it to the fridge to pin it on Family Board.
Fun for the Whole Family
There is still a speaker on this new Family Hub though. With Connected Living, the Family Hub with its speakers is even better. It is a Tizen device after all.
The Family Hub can access your favourite music apps still. You can access Spotify, or Deezer, or Joox, or whatever your favourite music streaming app is and start playing music when you are preparing your meals. If you prefer to keep yourself updated with the latest trends in Malaysia, you can access the radio stations too, or open your favourite news aggregator to do more reading while preparing breakfast.
What if you want to catch up on your daily shows on Netflix? Oh yes, you can do that too, thanks to the brilliant display. You can even go on YouTube to get your short video fix if you really want.
SmartThings with Bixby
The Samsung Family Hub is a Samsung device with Tizen OS anyway, which also means that it has built-in assistant. Well, it is Bixby.
But thanks to Samsung’s SmartThings, the Samsung Family Hub is even cleverer. You can control the rest of your home with the fridge now. You can turn on your TV, your air conditioning, air purifier, your washing machine, and your vacuum cleaner too; all from your fridge. Provided, they are all Samsung devices too. You can even answer your calls from your fridge too if you need to.
Price and Availability
The Samsung Family Hub starts from MYR 8,999. It is quite a large refrigerator though for that price. Do make sure that the fridge can fit your kitchen or design your kitchen around your fridge. It is now available from Samsung’s authorised retailers from across Malaysia.
The Sony WH-1000XM3 was regarded, at its time, one of the best Active Noise Cancelling headphones if not the best. While it is not cheap, it is a great piece of listening kit to have. It was plenty more comfortable compared to the WH-1000XM2 and it had a much better performing noise cancelling performance. Coupled with Sony’s know how in music production and reproduction, the headphone is quite special.
The WH-1000XM3 also came with DSEE HX that upscales mp3 music to something that is closer to Hi-Res or lossless music. That also means you are getting superb sound quality even from cheap music format. With long battery life, you really should not be looking elsewhere for a headphone if you love music. It was priced at MYR 1,699 though, not cheap.
Still, from the brilliance of the WH-1000XM3, the WF-1000X skipped a generation and goes into the WF-1000XM3. The QN1 Noise Cancelling processor is one big reason for that jump though. The QN1 Noise Cancelling processor is undoubtedly one of the most advanced sound and noise cancelling processor ever made by Sony.
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Why did we say that? The Sony QN1 processor is still being used by Sony in the product they just launched not more than a few hours ago. The Sony QN1 powers the WH-1000XM4. Now we are hearing questions by you asking; “how is this different of better than the WH-1000XM3 then? Shouldn’t we just buy the Sony WH-1000XM3 after this officially lands then?”
You are not wrong in thinking that, until you look deeper into what the WH-1000XM4 can do.
Cleverer Personal 360-Reality Audio
Source: Sony
First up is what they call Hear AI, or, as they put it, brain assisted noise cancelling. That is not to say that it uses our brains to assist it. Rather, the WH-1000XM4 is now cleverer in its noise cancelling. That also means a more complex algorithm for noise cancelling which in turn results in better noise cancelling for each individual listener.
Yes, personalisation returns in the form of a personalised earphone and audio setting when you get the app to work with the headphone to analyse how your ear responds to sounds. But because the QN1 processor now can now handle more complex maths, it understands your ears better and adjusts noise cancelling and other forms of audio to your ears better for the best listening experience possible on your headphones. This also means that your earphones are yours alone and tuned exactly for you. Keep in mind though that your friends might not be that impressed with the earphones because they are set to you and you alone.
But thanks to that cleverer hearing experience, Sony has also improved its 3D audio. They call it the 360-reality audio algorithm. In most cases the headphones will give you a sense of virtual surround sound. But in some cases, with new music from the likes of Dua Lipa, you are getting a completely different aural experience. We do not know how that will be just yet, we are looking forward.
Speak-to-Chat
Source: Sony
Other cleverer things on the WH-1000XM4 is just making it a better hands-free kit. You now do not need to cover any one of the earcups to turn on ambient noise. It now does that when you start talking. They call it Speak-to-Chat, which may sound like a no-brainer. But even with the WF-1000XM3, you still had to have a finger on one of the earphones to turn on ambient noise to talk to your friends. Not anymore with the WH-1000XM4.
Wearing Detection
Source: Sony
To preserve its battery life (that is still up to 30 hours, by the way), there is now wearing detection too. You do not need to manually turn the headphones off or on. Like plenty of the wireless earbuds these days, it is just a matter of putting the headphones on or take it off to turn it on or off.
DSEE Extreme
Source: Sony
If you think that DSEE HX was brilliant, this thing will amaze you with an improved DSEE upscaler. They call it DSEE Extreme to put music even closer or even on par with Hi-Res or lossless quality. That is considering that you have an MP3 format. The WH-1000XM4 will obviously sound good if you put a FLAC file through it.
Of course, plenty of things that I may have put out may sound like just a minor software update. That could be true. Which also means that the WH-1000XM3 could receive the same updates and sound just as good. But what the WH-1000XM3 cannot update is in the comfort department.
More Comfortable
Source: Sony
The WH-1000XM3 is in no way an uncomfortable headphone. It is, in its day, one of the most comfortable headphones in the market if not the most comfortable wireless item you put over your head. We actually wondered if they could make it anymore comfortable without losing grip over our heads and ears.
Turns out they allegedly can with the WH-1000XM4. The new materials that is a mix of plastics, aluminium, memory foams, and faux leather is supposed to make it feel better in the ears. How? It is now softer on your ears; meaning, less pressure toward your head – which helps with long hours of use. The top of the headband is better padded too apparently. We will not know how they perform until we actually get our hands on them though.
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: SonSource: Sonyy
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Price and Availability
The Sony WH-1000XM4 will be available on the 31st of August 2020 onward – Malaysia’s national day, so you should gift yourself one. If you want one, you can find it at any Sony authorised retailers across Malaysia or online. It will set you back MYR 1,599, which is MYR 100 cheaper than the WH-1000XM3 when it was new. Early bird buyers will get a limited-edition exclusive headphone stand for the 1000X and a starbucks card worth MYR 50. To know more about the amazing thing that is the Sony WH-1000XM4, you can head to their website.
