Update: The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip’s pre-order is officially open to everyone. You don’t need to have a code anymore. You can now pre-order the Galaxy Z Flip at their official website. The new foldable will be on pre-order until 22 March, 2020.
The Galaxy Z Flip makes it official Malaysian debut today. The new foldable device which made its international debut back during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in February. It’s also Samsung’s second official foldable with a new form factor to take on the other flip devices which will undoubtedly make its way into the market.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip will be LTE only and will come with a hybrid SIM. It comes with a Snapdragon 855+ processor with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal memory and lacks support for a microSD card. It has a Dual cameras on the back which consisting of dual 12-megapixel sensors and a single 10-megapixel sensor in the front (when unfolded). It also has a side mounted fingerprint sensor and is powered by a 3,300mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging and wireless charging.
Pre-orders are now ongoing with a special one day only offer. Buyers will need to use the code “ZFLIPVIP” at checkout to place a pre-order on their official pre-order website. Keep in mind that pre-orders are a 12 hour only affair.
Using the code, pre-order customers will receive Samsung’s Galaxy Z Premier service which entitles you to 24/7 Premium Careline, free on-site pickup and delivery service support for 12 months from the date of purchase and access to the priority/express lane at Samsung Service Centers and a one (1) time screen replacement.
The new Galaxy Z Flip will be available for MYR5,888. That’s a steep discount from the Galaxy Fold. The new foldable will be available in Mirror Purple, Mirror Black and Mirror Gold. Pre-orders can also opt for 0% interest free installments when pre-ordering the new smartphone.
It was only a few months ago in September that Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 8 Pro. Now the all-new replacement has already been announced. New year, new phone am I right? So how much did it improved in just ten months?
Xiaomi has announced its latest Redmi note 9 pro series consisting of two smartphones: the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. The phone has officially been announced in India. The Note 9 Pro and Pro Max is expected to be released on March 17 and March 25 respectively.
For starters, it has dropped the Helio G90T processor from MediaTek and now has adopted the new Snapdragon 720G from Qualcomm. The new Snapdragon 720G unfortunately does not support 5G connectivity, that said, 5G is a premium feature at this point. However, that doesn’t mean that Xiaomi is falling behind, in fact, there are already six phones at the market from Xiaomi and two more on the way that support 5G connectivity.
In the memory department, there will be two variants for the Note 9 Pro and three variants for the Note 9 Pro Max. For the Redmi Note 9 Pro, it starts with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, and caps out with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, on the other hand, has three variants with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and 8GB with 128GB of internal storage. If that isn’t enough, users are able to add up to 1TB of additional memory through the microSD card slot.
Next up, the camera. The Note 9 Pro and Note 9 Pro Max are equipped with a quad-camera system. The Redmi Note 9 Pro comes with a 48-megapixel main camera a slight bump down compared to the 64-megapixel camera that was on the Note 8 Pro. This is paired with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The Note 9 Pro Max, comes with a similar set up to the Note 8 Pro with a 64-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, a better 5-megapixel instead of the 2 megapixels used on the Note 8 Pro and the same 2-megapixel depth sensor.
The selfie camera of the Note 9 Pro is a 16-megapixel camera while the Note 9 Pro Max gets a huge jump to a 32 megapixel instead.
With the cameras out of the way, we move on to the display. The Note 9 Pro and Note 9 Pro Max come with the same size display at 6.67 inches with a screen-to-body ratio of 84.5%. It has a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection and a pixel density of 395 ppi. One disappointment, though, is that the display is still uses LCD technology.
Other goodies the phone includes such as a 3.5mm jack, an infrared sensor, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Apparently, the side-mounted fingerprint sensor is now a new trend. Both phones come with a 5020 mAh battery with an 18W fast charging on the Note 9 Pro while the Note 9 Pro Max comes with an impressive 33W fast charging. There are three colour option of the phone, Aurora Blue, Glacier White, and Interstellar Black.
Pricing and Availability
The Redmi Note 9 Pro will be available starting on March 17, 2020. As mentioned it will have 2 variants: 4GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage and 6GB RAM with 128GB internal storage. The former will retail for INR12,999 (MYR753.13) while the latter will retail at INR15,999 (MYR926.94).
The Redmi Note 9 Pro will be available starting March 25, 2020. It will have 3 variants. The 6GB RAM and 64GB storage variant will be retailing for INR14,999 (MYR869.37); the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage version will be retailing for INR16,999 (MYR985.13); while the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage version will retrail for INR18,999 (MYR1101.04).
Samsung has always been a big player in the smartphone market. In fact, they’ve risen to be one of the top players when the world moved into the smartphone era. With the launch of the new S20 line up, the S10 series celebrates one year in the market. However, in a move very unlike Samsung, the company has announced a new addition to their S10 series; a scaled-down version of its flagship S10 – the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite.
I wonder how the new naming scheme will turn out cause it’s getting a little confusing. You’d think that with the launch of the S20 Series, we would see a successor to the S10e Series instead.
Design
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes with the same design frame as the S10 series but with a chunkier camera on the top left corner instead of the cameras going across horizontally. The back of the body is made of plastic but it comes with a really nice colour similar to the other S10s.
In Prism White, it gives out a very colorful gradient of colours when light refracts off it; mimicking the characteristics of the mother of pearl. Also available in the market are two more colours to choose from which are Prism Black and Prism Blue. That said, the black and blue do not seem to have the same refractive patterns in their design.
The size is about the same as a Galaxy Note 10+ which is a little too big for my liking. This is primarily because it is difficult to reach across the screen with just one hand. Holding it with two hands is just nice as both thumbs can easily reach all essential usage areas.
The phone seems to lack stereo speakers; it has one really loudspeaker at the bottom of the phone. This compromise isn’t too bad, as the speaker is able to get the job done just fine. It is loud and clear but lacks the immersive experience that stereo speakers provide.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite also lacks a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It is too much of a disappointment at this point. Rather, it is very unexpected as the rest of the S10 Series still had the headphone jack. The same goes for the newly launched Galaxy M31 and Galaxy A71.
Hardware
Specifications
Just like the other S10 Series, the S10 Lite runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor which is last year’s top of the line processor. Even though it is not using the latest processor, it is not an issue as it still performs relatively well.
The Snapdragon 855 is paired with with 8GB of RAM, which is plentiful. This is complemented by 128GB of internal storage. Of course, just like most of Samsung’s phones it boasts its expandable storage via micro SD card. You can add up to 1TB of additional memory. There are also two other variations holding a smaller 6GB RAM and the same 128GB storage and another with 8GB RAM with a bigger 512GB storage. However, these variants are not officially available in Malaysia.
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Operating System (OS)
Android 10 One UI 2
Display
Super AMOLED+ capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours 6.7 inches 87.8% screen to body ratio
One UI is a whole new world yet it retains that familiarity that makes a Samsung device a Samsung device. The interface is easy to use. In fact, you can get used to it within a few hours of using the phone. With the launch of One UI 2, Samsung has really up its optimization for user convenience and improving the user experience.
One of the many conveniences that come with the S10 Lite’s software is its pop up when you kick Bluetooth on. This came in pretty handy when I got into my car.
I personally like to use the personal assistant that pops up as a ball that you can move around. Some find it annoying as it takes up space and disrupts your viewing experience. However, for me it was really convenient. It’s convenience is increased that to the customisations that it allows. The controls range from locking your screen, taking screenshots, volume control, Bixby and even an emergency SOS button.
The Gallery app has a suggestion feature that will suggest optimisations or layouts for pictures that you have taken using the phone. These suggestions include a picture collage or even GIFs by combining pictures that were taken in succession.
Samsung’s optimisations for user convenience don’t just end with home screen and gallery app, it extends even to the camera interface of the device. By default, there are already presets camera modes such as photo, video, panorama, time lapse etc. in the camera mode tray. You get the idea. But, when you open the menu for more camera options, you can actually drag and drop the camera mode that you use most frequently into the camera mode tray.
Performance
The performance of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is commendable. There was little to no lags, it was mostly smooth running. Even with two different apps running at the same time in a split-screen view or pop up view, the smartphone still worked smoothly without much issue.
Benchmarks
Call quality and connectivity
Calls were loud and clear. In fact, it could be a little too loud when the volume is maxed. This is impressive considering the size of the earpiece. However, this could be a boon to older people who are hard of hearing.
When it comes to using the loud speaker during calls, however, it’s another story. The sound quality wasn’t really good. The speaker wasn’t loud enough and the mic could not catch my voice. This was partially due to the distance from the phone. In my particular case, I was driving with music in the background. However, you’d think that it would at least be able to be audible enough.
Gaming
Gaming performance is excellent, when playing games such as PUBG. The gaming experience is immersive and smooth. The large screen lends itself to a much more immersive visual experience; It gives you a good view of your game with enough space to allow the on screen controls to not get in the way of game play. This was particularly pronounced with games such as first-person shooters and racing games.
That said, the audio experience of the S10 Lite wasn’t as alluring. The sole speaker on the phone tends to be blocked by your palm when gaming in landscape mode. This was particularly annoying as it would rip you out of your game. In my opinion, users will need to invest in a pair of Bluetooth earphones for the best gaming experience on the Galaxy S10 Lite.
The Galaxy S10 Lite doesn’t really heat up easily. However, after heavy gaming, the device did get noticeably warm. In fact, I could feel the heat and it was getting my hands sweaty, but, then again, I sweat easily anyway.
Security and Privacy
Samsung’s S10 Lite comes with Knox. If you’ve been using Samsung phones, you should already be familiar with this feature. In fact, any Android user using Android 8.0 (Oreo) devices or later, you’ve had a taste of Samsung’s Knox. In Samsung devices, Knox has two roles; it stores your biometric and Samsung Pay data and it also allows you to safely store away your work in a separate, secured profile. For the S10 Lite, the most basic application for Knox is the many options it has for biometrics to unlock the device.
The fingerprint sensor on the S10 Lite is now under the display. It uses an optical sensor which scans an image of your fingerprint to unlock the phone. The fingerprint sensor works fine but it is not perfect. It took a few tries to read my fingerprint. This flaw was especially pronounced when my palms were sweaty or when there was water on the screen.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is also able to use face unlock. It seems to work a lot better than the fingerprint sensor. The initial setup requires you to scan your face with and without your spectacles. Holy moly is it a lot faster! The S10 Lite was even able to recognise my face before I could even lift it to the front of my face.
Battery life
The battery on the Galaxy S10 Lite was pretty good. I still had some charge to spare after about 9 hours of use. The phone was able to last from 100% to 20% in about 9 hours with my usage. However, with just that 20% of juice, I could easily last an additional 6 hours with moderate usage. Fast charging on the S10 Lite is a lifesaver; the phone could be charged from 5% to about 20% in just 10 minutes.
The S10 Lite has a larger battery capacity of 4,500 mAh which lasted me about two days during my review. However, the phone itself lacks wireless charging capabilities. The lack of which is a little disappointing as some other brands are able to include the feature while keeping their prices even lower.
Display
The Super AMOLED+ screen of the S10 Lite is pretty crisp and clear. In fact, it has one of the best blacks on the market when it comes to devices in the price range. During my review, I was amazed by how the room went pitch black during the loading screen of LEGO Star Wars in the dark. I also like how Samsung tweaked the One UI to have the punch hole disappear into a black bar when apps kick into full screen. This was especially appreciated while gaming. It doesn’t work on all games though, the punch hole was still visible when I was playing PUBG.
The phone also has really thin bezels. It’s a good thing considering you’re getting more screen real estate. The S10 Lite has a screen to body ration of about 87.8% which essentially means you see more screen on the front of the device. However, the thin bezels can get annoying at times. Since I was not using a case, I was constantly touching the edge of the screen which interrupted my scrolling, video watching, and gaming. It happened way too often that it became really annoying.
Adaptive brightness adjust the brightness great even in sudden changes and retains the same comfort brightness even in different lighting settings. The most noticeable moment you can experience the change is the change from indoors to outdoors and vice versa. It takes a second to adjust itself but it gets it right every time.
Camera(s)
Finally the time has come for the cameras. The Galaxy S10 Lite has really stepped up its game in the camera specifications of the S10 line-up. Instead of the 12-megapixel main camera that has been on the S10+ and Note 10+ but a higher resolution 48-megapixel camera. Surprisingly, the new Galaxy S20 and S20+ still retained the lower resolution 12-megapixel as the main camera. However, they do come with a 64 megapixel telephoto lens which should perform better when taking zoomed pictures. So, technically the S10 Lite will take better pictures up close.
The S10 Lite also comes with a triple camera system. The main camera such as mentioned above is a wide angle lens followed by a 12-megapixel ultrawide and lastly a 5-megapixel macro lens. The S10 Lite can record 4K UHD resolution at either 60 frames per second or 30 frames per second. The phone also can record 1080p at 30, 60 or 240 frames per second.
The selfie camera is also a higher resolution sensor compared to the other devices in the S10 series. Instead of the 10-megapixel sensor, the S10 Lite comes with a 32-megapixel sensor. The only drawback it has compared to the other S10 Series is that the S10 Lite only can record at 1080p at 30 frames per second while the other S10+ and Note10+ can record on 4K UHD at 30 frames per second.
Affordability
Last but not least, the price of the phone makes it the most affordable device in the S10 line up. The retail price of MYR 2,699 is almost half of what the other devices in the S10 series used to be. However, the smartphone retains most of the performance that the S10 series is known for. Well, you do miss out on some goodies such as the headphone jack, stereo speakers, AKG tuned audio, wireless charging, and a more dated USB 2.0 (Type-C) instead of 3.1 Type-C connector. But for what you are paying, I personally think it is really comparable to flagship phones made by some Chinese manufacturers.
The phone is mostly targeted to young adults who just made it into the working world. Realistically, it is not achievable for someone who is getting an average pay of MYR 2,800 to make a hefty purchase for just a phone which takes up almost their entire paycheck. Even if you do an installment for a year, it is still MYR 225 a month. The monthly seems small but after deducting expenses including the phone monthly installment, you are going to be left with nothing.
It goes without saying that there are more affordable options out there. For that, the S10 lite is scoring a little lower on the affordability scale.
An Entry Level Flagship that Doesn’t Bring Enough Value to Stand Out
Is this the ultimate “entry-level” flagship smartphone? Yes and No.
Yes; if you are trying to get into the Samsung flagship family. It has all the performance that you need. Gaming smoothly without any issues and a battery that lasts an entire day. A better camera with better software optimizations to give you breathtaking picture quality. It even comes in a similar size to the other Galaxy S Series and a newer aesthetics to the new Galaxy S20 Series line up.
No; if you are considering other manufacturer phones as well. If you are not picky about the brand, paranoid on used phones and do not want to spend a fortune on a new flagship. At a slightly lower priced than the S10 Lite, you can get a used S10+ or Note10+ and get all the luxury goodies such as the wireless charger, stereo speakers and etc that are absent on the S10 Lite. I would call it a Luxury goodie as you do not actually need it, but it is really nice and convenient to have it.
At the end of the day, the most important question is, “Would I get it?”. Frankly, I would not. I find that the phone is too expensive for what it has to offer. Other phone manufacturers are able to provide extremely similar specifications for a lower price. As for the premium features that I will be missing out on, well I can live without it and it is not a huge deal that it would inconvenience my life.
Would I recommend it? Maybe. You should definitely consider it as it still does give great performance with some of Samsung’s optimisations. If you have the dough to get yourself a new phone, then why not? New phones do give you an oddly satisfying box opening experience and giving you peace of mind that the phone has not tampered with.
If you ask us last week about what was the most anticipated smartphone was to us this week, we would all in agreement say the OPPO Find X2. We will tell you why.
The OPPO Find X is now about two years old, if you have not noticed. The OPPO Find X was also OPPO’s first device to hit the MYR 3,000 price range. At the time, it was an expensive device. You get a thoroughbred device for that money though. It was a smartphone that is worthy of its ‘flagship’ moniker in every way. Its clever motorised pop-up mechanism is also one that captures plenty of eyes. Of course, there were some fundamental flaws with the design that is eventually solved in other iterations of similar implementations of the mechanism.
Source: OPPO Malaysia
In short; we liked the OPPO Find X. Its pretty looks, large display, capable camera, and long battery life being the main reasons of it winning our hearts. Still, that was two years ago and there was no follow up model until now.
We have covered the global launch so we will not go on and on about its hardware. We did not see the device in our hands too, blame COVID-19 concerns for that. But still, the device has come to Malaysia just a few days after its global launch. That is a good indication of how much OPPO is betting on the local market at this time.
Source: OPPO Malaysia
To jog your memory a little bit. The OPPO Find X2 and Find X2 Pro, replacing the OPPO Find X, has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC shoehorned into a 6.78-inch 2K AMOLED display body that refreshes at 120Hz and samples touch at 240Hz. Through the fast display you are looking through a 48-Megapixel main shooter. There are some differences in the paired cameras in the array between the two variants. All the powerful hardware is given life by a 4,260mAh battery that SuperVOOC fast charges at 65W. As the live demonstration in Barcelona shows, it charges from flat to full in 38-minutes.
The OPPO Find X2 Pro will be available in Black and Orange colour options. The Black will come with a ceramic finish while the Orange is a vegan leather finish. The OPPO Find X2 on the other hand will receive Black and Ocean colour treatments. The Ocean option would be a glass finish. Both models are 5G ready.
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
The OPPO Find X2 and Find X2 Pro will be available in Malaysia 14th of March 2020 onward for MYR 3,999 and MYR 4,599 respectively. If you want to be some of the first people to own one of these flagship goodness, you might want to get on the pre-order boat. The offer lasts until 13th of March 2020, so you still have time. No official word on their Lamborghini limited edition ones though.
Source: OPPO Malaysia
Source: OPPO Malaysia
Source: OPPO Malaysia
Source: OPPO Malaysia
Source: OPPO Malaysia
Source: OPPO Malaysia
If you do pre-order the OPPO Find X2 series, you get a VOOC Flash charge powerbank and an extended 1-year warranty programme with 3-months screen protection. If you are one of the first 300 customers to pick up their OPPO Find X device on the 14th March 2020, or the OPPO Find X2 Pro on the 21st March 2020, you get a set of OPPO Enco Free TWS earphones. Of course, terms and conditions apply. For more information, do visit their website.
*This article is contributed by Myles Hosford, Head of Security Architecture, ASEAN, AWS*
Cybersecurity professionals see some threat
actors or outside-parties as the enemy. However, challenging this mindset is
important; you can better protect your organization against outside-parties if
you understand how they think and operate. With this in mind, businesses around
the globe have turned to hackers to test security infrastructure and develop
stronger, more robust security practices.
Before integrating penetration testing
into your security policy, it is important to understand the different types of
hackers that exist. Each group has differing motivations, and you must be clear
on which of their skills can be used to your organization’s advantage.
Black hat
Photo by Luca Nardone from Pexels
Black hat hackers are cybercriminals
motivated by personal or financial gain. They range from teenage amateurs to
experienced individuals or teams with a specific remit. However, over recent
years, several high profile blackhat hackers have refocused on using their
cyber skills to protect organizations. An example is Kevin Mitnick aka Condor,
who was just sixteen years old when he gained access to a Department of Defense
computer. Following this and numerous
other hacks, Mitnick spent five and a half years in prison. Upon his release
set up his own company, Mitnick Security Consulting, which now runs penetration
tests for clients.
The issue of whether to work
with a previous black hat hacker is a contentious one. Some, including David Warburton, senior threat evangelist at F5 Networks,
believe that hiring ex-hackers is critical in staying ahead of the threat
landscape. However, others are concerned about allowing this group access to
corporate systems and customer data. The latter group should, however, consider
other approaches to working with hackers.
White hat
Photo by Reza Rostampisheh on Unsplash
Often referred to as ethical hackers,
white hat hackers are employed by organizations to look for vulnerabilities in
security defences. Despite using the same tactics as black hat hackers, this
group has permission from the organization making what they do entirely legal.
While they use their knowledge to find ways to break the defences, they then
work alongside security teams to fix issues before others discover them.
Many of the biggest organizations in
the world, including General Motors and Starbucks, are turning to white hat
hackers to help identify fault lines and proactively enhance security posture.
White hat hacking can offer an interesting and lucrative career path for people
with technical skills. Drawing attention to the important role white hat
hackers play can encourage more talented individuals to take a positive path
instead of becoming black hat hackers.
Nurturing
talent
There are many programmes in place to
find, encourage and support the next generation of white hat hackers. An
example, supported by AWS, is r00tz Asylum, a conference dedicated to teaching
young people how to become white-hats. Attendees learn how hackers operate and
how cybersecurity experts defend against hackers. The aim is to encourage
people with technical expertise to use it for good in their career. By equipping aspiring cybersecurity
professionals with knowledge and skills, they can bake security into
infrastructure, from the ground up. AWS’s support for r00tz is our chance to
give back to the next generation, providing young people who are interested in
security with a safe learning environment and access to mentors.
Building on
solid foundations
Photo by Ramin Khatibi on Unsplash
For those responsible for maintaining
customer trust and protecting data, an end to end approach to security is
critical. As we have seen, working with ethical hackers is a powerful way to
view security posture from a cyber-criminal’s perspective to identify and
tackle vulnerabilities. However, it’s also important to remember that security
needs to be baked in throughout an organization’s infrastructure. This is where
partnering with a cloud platform can be beneficial; the best of these are
developed to satisfy the needs of the most risk-sensitive organizations. Cloud
platforms also offer automated security services, which can proactively manage
security assessments, threat detection, and policy management. In so doing,
these platforms take on a lot of the heavy lifting for security professionals,
including ethical hackers.
OPPO’s Find X was something else from OPPO. It was something
quite extraordinary to come out from OPPO’s stables. It was OPPO’s game changer
also their first device to hit the premium market segment. It sold for MYR
3,699 when it was launched; more expensive than any OPPO devices that came before
it.
It was not like any other OPPO devices that came before as
well. Instead of a familiar Apple-esque design they employed with their best-selling
models, the OPPO Find X was a device they could proudly call their own. It was
a device they could really identify as an OPPO device. It was also OPPO’s first
European ready device.
In all fairness it was also the first smartphone in the
world that was truly bezel-less. While whatever premium devices came with ‘bezel-less’
devices, you still get the notch to house the camera. OPPO’s implementation
made sure that your bezel-less experience is truly bezel-less. How? Quite ingenious,
a motorised pop-up mechanism that slides a whole part of the device to reveal a
front facing camera.
It did not sell for MYR 3,699 merely for that feature though.
It was a world beater with a high-end System on a Chip (SoC). It had other
flagship class specs as well, large RAM and storage. It had a larger than life
battery too at the time. Even its camera array is flagship class. Was it worth
MYR 3,699? It surely looked like it.
Source: OPPO
Now, there is the brand new OPPO Find X2; the evolution of
the iconic flagship from 2018. Instead of just a single device though, the Find
X2 is a series of devices. They are all 5G ready too. The 5G capabilities are
thanks to the most powerful processor available to them in the world today. They
are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.
The OPPO Find X2
There is not that much difference between the two devices that was launched by OPPO today. Even the price (in Euro anyway). The difference in price is only about EU€ 200 (*MYR 946); which is not that much.
Source: OPPO
There are still some differences to justify the higher price point
of the OPPO Find X2 Pro though. Starting with the storage, the OPPO Find X2 tops
out at 256GB. Mind you, that is not expandable; kind of a bummer, but 256GB is
plenty anyway.
One of the cameras, the ultra-wide lens; you only get 12-Megapixel
out of it. While that is not bad, it will not be the most powerful sensor you
can find on the OPPO Find X2. Then there is the battery which tops out at
4,200mAh for the OPPO Find X2. It still charges as fast as the Find X2 Pro
though.
This is where the differences end though.
OPPO Find X2 Pro
We start with the storage at 512GB of storage, double of the OPPO
Find X2. The OPPO Find X2 Pro also packs a very slightly bigger battery at
4,260mAh. This is no where near as big as we think it would be. Still, it
charges very quickly at 65W (SuperVOOC). It fully charges the device from an
empty battery to full within 38 minutes.
Source: OPPO
The biggest difference between the device is within the camera
array. The OPPO Find X2 Pro packs a 48-Megapixel ultra-wide sensor instead of
12-megapixel. It is supported by the same 13-Megapixel telephoto lens and 48-Megapixel
main shooter as the OPPO Find X2. The difference? 48-Megapixels obviously
captures more details in its ultra-wide shots and its macro shots from at least
3cm away from subject. This camera array is the one that puts OPPO at the top
steps of DX0Mark.
The Find X2 Series Powerhouse
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 paired to 12GB of RAM is not just
keeping the OPPO Find X2’s 5G kicking though. It is also a powerhouse to keep
the Android 10 based ColorOS 7.1 running as smoothly as possible. You can see
that smooth and snappy performance from the large 6.7-inch display that pushed
QHD+ resolution at 120Hz. If you are into gaming, you will benefit from the
240Hz sampling rate; or mor commonly known as touch response these days.
It does not stop there for its display though. The display is in a
class of its own with a 100% DCI-P3 certification. This is also the first OPPO
device to pack a 10-bit display. That also means that you get one billion
colours on the display. The O1 Ultra Vision Vision Engine on the Ultra
Vision display is also the world’s first
engine in the world of its kind on a mobile device. The engine is a hardware
based upscale mechanism that scales 30fps videos to up to 120fps videos with
minimal motion blurring and tearing. With HDR10+, the OPPO Find X2 series’
display is easily the most advanced and most accurate out there in the market.
Immersive too with Dolby ATMOS certified dual stereo speakers.
Source: OPPO
While we have spoken about the camera’s hardware capabilities, there is more to the camera than meets the eye. The 10x hybrid zoom is nothing new technically. What is new though is OPPO’s All Pixel Omni-Directional PDAF that is supposed to increase the Auto-Focus speeds with even better accuracy than regular PDAF systems. The camera also shoots at 12-bit, meaning you get even more details in your shots. Out the front is a 32-Megapixel shooter housed in a small punch-hole on the display.
You get to shoot even better in low-light conditions too
with their new Ultra-night mode 3.0 across all lenses. Your main camera though
gets Ultra Dark Mode treatment to help the camera see even better in near blackness.
While regular Optical Image Stabiliser functions would be enough for photos, videos require a little bit more than that. That is why OPPO has the Ultra Steady Mode 2.0 that combines OIS and EIS on the OPPO Find X2 series. Plus, the Live HDR mode helps you visual your videos without having to take a picture or video first. It samples HDR on top of your display once you fire up the camera. For videos also the OPPO Find X2 devices are equipped with three mics for even better and more advanced noise cancelling functions. Once you shoot, you can edit all of the footage in SoLoop app included within the device.
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
The OPPO Find X2 Pro will be available in Black (ceramic material) and Vegan Leather for EU€ 1199 (*MYR 5,671). The OPPO Find X2 will be available Black (ceramic) and Ocean (glass) for EU€ 999 (*MYR4,725). As expected there is a Lamborghini edition for the OPPo Find X2 series too. Both devices is expected to be available globally in May 2020. Malaysia’s launch is just in a few days away next week though. We should get more information regarding the OPPO Find X2 series’ availability and prices in the coming week. Meanwhile, stay tuned!
*Based on current exchange rate of EU€ 1 = MYR 4.73 as of 6/3/2020
App designs have come a long way. Heck, interface designs
have come a long way. Your smartphones are now more interactive and intuitive
than it could ever be. In the progression of the mobile interface, obviously there
were some not-so-good stuff along the way from time to time. Still, the
interface that we have today is so intuitive and simple that operating a
smartphone can be done by babies even.
We remembered interface designs with bright colours, plenty
of whites, with a screen busier than Tokyo’s famous intersection. Those days
are quite far gone though. Users prefer simpler designs. They prefer cleaner
looking screens, despite having a larger than life physical display. They want
as little things as possible on the display but still communicate as much
information as before.
Just about a year ago too, there has been another design
element that has gotten plenty more popular. It was just a simple colour scheme
change that changes the contrast and feel of the interface. That is what people
call the Dark Mode.
Dark mode is mainly designed with the thought of using your
device in dark conditions. The white colours of your super-bright smartphone displays
will really hurt your eyes when you look at in dark conditions. That is simple
biology really, so we are not going into that.
The idea of a dark mode stems from the use of e-books. The black
backgrounds hurt your eyes less while the whites of the words stand out enough that
you can clearly read it. This works when you are the type that reads at night,
in your bedroom, before you sleep.
Everything from your Operating System (OS) to Facebook
Messenger has a dark theme. Of course, every single person out there is begging
for a dark theme for everything else too. One app that have not gone on dark
theme yet was WhatsApp. That has changed with the latest WhatsApp app update
from your Google Play Store and Apple App Store today.
Once you update the app, either the app just follows your OS
theme settings and go on dark mode, if you are in dark mode already. If not,
you might want to switch that to dark mode. Or, you can manually switch WhatsApp
to dark mode in the app settings. All you need to do is open the app, get into
the settings, got to ‘Chats’, and then click on ‘Theme’ to select ‘Dark’, and
voila; your WhatsApp is now in ‘night reading’ mode.
What that does is change the white and light grey backdrop of WhatsApp to a near black and dark grey backdrop. That also completely changes the look and feel of WhatsApp. It looks even simpler than before. Mind you, there is no significant interface change except for the colour scheme. We also concur that the ‘Dark’ theme may not be for everyone. But at least this hurts my eyes less when I first open WhatsApp in the morning or at night. Keep in mind though that the ‘Dark’ theme only applies to the mobile app at this time.
At this point of time, COVID-19 has claimed over 3,000 lives
globally. These are known deaths caused by COVID-19 and there may be more than
that. To be honest too, this is a very difficult write-up. Not because there is
very little information to work with. It is just the fact that COVID-19 news
are not getting any better. There is a glimmer of hope though; WHO claims that
COVID-19 containment and treatment is very viable.
Source: MS Poweruser
Still, COVID-19, or more commonly known as Coronavirus at
this point has claimed more than just lives. It is affecting communities and commerce
as well. Of course it would, people run these businesses and communities,
people are getting infected and therefore sick; conducting business activities
then is difficult.
We saw Apple getting affected earlier on with their China
stores temporarily closing. Foxconn, their manufacturing plant had also stopped
operating at some point. Mobile World Congress 2020 has been cancelled; Geneva
Motorshow is also being torn down as we speak because they cancelled the event
at the very last minute. Even Formula 1 is being heavily affected; they lost China
GP this year and who knows which other GP is being cancelled due to the global
emergency that is COVID-19.
Plenty are hopeful that the disease will be contained and cured
by June or July. That is why some events has been postponed to then. Even Computex
2020 seems to be happening still. The situation now is not very encouraging
though.
This week alone we see more victims to COVID-19. On top of new confirmed deaths around the world we see Microsoft’s MVP physical event going completely digital. Facebook is also cancelling the F8 summit. Even Adobe is not spared; Adobe is having their Summit announcements completely online too. The hardest of all is Google having to cancel both their big conferences.
Source: Google
Google has cancelled their Cloud Next event earlier on this
week. They announced thought that the conference will be a completely online
affair. There was also a sort of expectation that some of the things that would
be covered on Cloud Next would appear in Google’s I/O which was still reported
to be happening. This morning proved our optimism wrong though. Google is cancelling
the Google I/O conference; their biggest developer conference of the year has
been cancelled.
If we are right, we are seeing Google’s latest Android 11 on
the big stage of Google I/O. It looks like we are going to have to see it on an
online stage instead; they show must go on, as they say. There is no final
confirmation yet on the online streaming of Google I/O yet though. We are expecting
them to go online because Google is completely equipped to livestream all their
conferences, which they have done before anyway. Of course, it helps that they
own YouTube anyway.
Google is not the first to be hit strongly by COVID-19. We
highly doubt that Google will be the last one. We are expecting the Olympics committee
to make an announcement soon regarding the Summer Olympics 2020 in Japan. For
all you know, Japan might be the one that makes the announcement of a border
containment. Still, these are just speculations; take it with a pinch of salt.
Not Google’s cancellations though, those are confirmed.
realme has made a name for itself when it comes to budget
friendly smartphones. While they mostly play at the budget, entry-level
smartphone range, it does not mean that their products are in any way bad
products though. Their C series has proven to the market that cheap products
does not mean cheap quality and cheap experience. They have a proven track record
in the segment is what we are trying to say.
Their latest addition to their C family has just landed in
Malaysia today. What a follow up though. As expected, it is sold at less than
MYR 1,000; way lower. It will set you back MYR 499. Who says you cannot own a
smartphone below MYR 500?
Source: realme
You are not paying
for less features too. It is powered by MediaTek’s latest Helio G70 System on a
Chip (SoC). While some may perceive MediaTek’s processors to be slower or inferior
to the Qualcomm’s that is just not the case. They may not perform as well as
the Qualcomm chipsets, but that does not mean that they do not pack a punch.
The MediaTek Helio G70 SoC is effectively an Octa-core processor
with two high powered ARM Cortex-A75 cores and six low powered Cortex A-55
cores. It clocks at a maximum of 2.0GHz, which is powerful enough to plenty of
today’s flagships, technically. The only thing it might lack at this point is a
5G modem. While that seems like a bad thing, trust me, it is not as bad as you
think.
While you do not get 5G, you still get dual 4G LTE connection
on the realme C3. Yes, a you get to push in two SIM cards into this device.
Then again, dual-SIM standby is quite expected these days. Nothing to shout about
then.
Having the MediaTek Helio G70 however, is something that
they can shout about a little bit. The realme C3 is currently the only device
that packs the MediaTek SoC in Malaysia.
Source: realme
The big power from the MediaTek SoC is matched to three
cameras at the back. Yes, it is effectively a triple camera set-up. We did say
that it packs quite a lot for MYR 499.
Its main camera is a 12-Megapixel shooter paired to 12-Megapixel
telephoto lens with 4x zoom, and a 2-Megapixel macro lens for that extra close,
extra detailed photo. At the front is a 5-Megapixel shooter with the expected AI
beauty function, HDR, and what not. That front-facing camera is housed in a
small notch on top of the 6.5-inch 720p HD+ LCD display.
Small compromise on the display, a Full HD+ display on a
small budget smartphone at this price is quite impossible, you know. You still
can record at Full HD 1080p on your rear camera though, no problem with that.
Source: realme
No, you do not get in-display fingerprint sensor on this
device too. Again, expecting those kinds of things in a smartphone less than
MYR 500 is a little unrealistic. Still, it has a fingerprint sensor recess at
the back of the device. The back is not really glass but has a nice beaming texture
and pattern to it.
What it lacks in those features though, it makes up in
battery size. It packs a 5,000mAh battery within its small body. That should be
good for a whole day of battery and even more. You can even use this device as
your friend’s power banks so they owe you their lives. The Android 10 with
realme UI overlay device is charged at a maximum of 10W via a MicroUSB port; a
little old school, but hey it works. Also you may reuse all the old MicroUSB
cables you might already have.
Source: realme
Source: realme
Source: realme
Source: realme
Source: realme
Source: realme
Source: realme
The realme C3 is now available via Shopee for MYR499. If you
get the device today itself, you will get a 6-month extended warranty for free.
You can get your hands on one to feel and touch from the 7th of
March 2020 though if you really want to. If you missed the extended warranty
promotion on Shopee, you can also get the same promotion when you get your
device in realme stores on the 7th of March 2020. The realme C3 is
available in Blazing Red and Frozen Blue colour options.
Facebook has internally started this thing they call Project
LightSpeed. It is exactly what it sounds like. Its aim is to simply make everything
move faster. Faster for the users that is. Then again, the world today revolves
plenty on user experience.
While the world in 2019 and 2020 has been putting plenty of emphasis on user security and privacy (Facebook just had a Data Privacy brief with us two weeks ago), it does not mean that user experience in terms of the User Interface (UI) design, speed, and intuitiveness can be ignored. They are supposed to be developed hand-in-hand; they are supposed to move forward together.
Source: Facebook
Facebook understands that completely, and that is why they
are introducing a new faster, lighter Facebook Messenger specifically for iOS.
Before we go on, we did ask on the reason for the exclusivity. If you go on Google’s
Play Store on your Android smartphone now and search for Facebook Messenger,
you will notice two types of Facebook Messenger apps on the device. One of them
is the normal blue pop-up coloured Facebook Messenger, and the other one is a white-faced
pop-up called Facebook Messenger Lite. We can explain the differences in that
further in the future (comment if you want that!). For now though, that also
means that Android users get to choose between using the full beans and might
of the regular Facebook Messenger app or choose to keep their devices running
nice and quick with Facebook Messenger Lite app.
Let us get back to Facebook Messenger app for iOS. It will
be available as an app update in the App Store, so if you already have the Facebook
Messenger app there is no reason you need to download another one. It should be
an update anyway, who are we kidding.
In layman terms, Facebook says that the new Messenger is
supposed to load up or start up faster. While you may not notice too big of a
difference at first, Facebook says that the benefit is plenty more visible over
time. Thanks to simplified mechanics of the app, it is also a smaller app than before.
That also means it consumes less storage space in your smartphone, which also
means you get to take more photos. It is not just simplified mechanics though. Apparently,
the engineers in Facebook has also simplified the experience within the app to not
only ensure a lighter load on the device, but for its users too.
Now for the technical bits. It is actually simpler than you think, not as scary or overly complex. The headline figures are 1.7 million to 360,000. That is the amount of codes that were in the previous iteration of the Facebook Messenger for iOS app, and the amount that it is reduced to with the current iteration. That also means that they managed to shrink the amount of codes contained within the app by 84%. Less codes means less processing needed, and so you get faster load times. It also means reduced complexities and less maintenance needed from Facebook’s side.
Source: Facebook
What happened to the other codes that was not used in the current
iteration? Cloud happened. To be specific, SQLite happened. What they did with
SQLite, like plenty of modern mobile apps is to simplify processes and start putting
plenty of the database on SQL’s database instead of storing every command on
the device. That also means that instead of loading everything on your
smartphone, whatever interaction you have with the app is happening on SQLite
instantly. That also means that everything on the database is stored and worked
on in a server farm somewhere. Again, less load on the device.
You are not losing the experience of a feature packed app
like the Messenger with the new update though. In fact, you might be getting
more. With the changes, you are not completely using a completely redesigned UI.
It is just a small improved UI with better response time. The key here is to
not make any major UI changes to the new Messenger build. Instead, Facebook
still wanted that familiarity with their users. Like previously mentioned though,
instead of storing each interaction as a unique interaction within the device,
they moved that to a server with SQLite.
There is more to that though. Instead of storing or
processing each interaction as unique interactions, they group them together,
combine them and make them mere reactions from the database instead of completely
recoating the app whenever something changes. That also means that instead of
storing multiple different screens as unique screens, you are now only getting elements
of screens popping up as you go along your Facebook Messenger app. Yes, you never
noticed the transition. But imagine having to keep loading new screens whenever
you scroll through the app and layering them over the previous screen.
The new Facebook Messenger app for iOS with LightSpeed is available
for free on Apple’s ever-growing Apple App Store platform. For existing Facebook
Messenger app for iOS users, the fourth major iteration is available to users
as a simple app update via the Apple App Store as well. LightSpeed is also
coming to Android’s Facebook apps in time. For more information on Facebook
Messenger’s update and Project LightSpeed, you can visit Facebook’s news
release and their engineering
blog.
