Category Archives: Mobile

Accessories, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Sony Launches the WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones

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When Sony introduced the world to the WF-1000XM3 last year, it was rated as one of the best truly wireless headphones that you can buy. There is little doubt to that claim and why it is so. The WF-1000XM3, the second-generation noise cancelling truly wireless earbuds from Sony packed arguably the best noise cancelling technologies in the world. It came with battery life longer than anything you can find in the market too at the same time without compromising on audio quality and fidelity. That is why we decided to own one.

To live up or replace the WF-1000XM3 then is no mean feat. It looks like Sony has done so though in their new WF-1000XM4. Except, the changes might not be too much around sound quality but more around additional features instead.

Integrated Processor V1 – Better Noise Cancelling

  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony

That is not to say that they have skimmed on trying to make it sound better. They developed a new processing chip for the WF-1000XM4, the Integrated Processor V1. It is supposed to be cleverer than the Mark III’s QN1e processor and more powerful, at least for this form factor. That also means better noise cancellation algorithms, supposedly. Alongside two noise sensors, noise cancelling is a lot more accurate too. The new chip is also a little more power efficient than the older chip, which explains the slightly more compact body.

Redesigned 6mm Drivers

To improve sound quality, a newly designed driver unit now boast 20% more magnet volume for increased low-end power for that much needed bass line. The driver is still the same size at 6mm though, that also means that it should be as power efficient as before. But this also means that noise cancellation can be even more precise with better low-end anti-noise reproduction from the drivers. They have also redesigned the Noise Isolation Tips to be more durable and more comfortable as well as reducing outside noise. The new processor even detects wind and automatically cancels it out.

Hi-Res and LDAC support with DSEE Extreme

  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony

Sony is known for their Hi-Res audio, so it was a little funny when Sony did not include the Hi-Res certification to the old WF-1000XM3. On the new Sony WF-1000XM4, that changes. It now supports High-Resolution Audio Wireless and all this is thanks to the now inclusion of Sony’s brilliant LDAC technology. With up to 990kbps of data transfer speed, high-resolution audio can easily be transmitted to the headphone with minimal loss. Latency might also be improved on the headphones.

DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) Extreme also finally makes it to the WF-1000XM4. The technology upscales music in real time on device to deliver even better sounding music than you are probably used to with Bluetooth Headphones. The technology fills gaps and restores any lost ranges and dynamics in music to deliver a richer and more complete audio experience.

Better Conversations with Speak-to Chat and Bone Conduction

Of course, the speak-to-chat function makes it to the WF-1000XM4. You can quickly start a conversation and the WF-1000XM4 automatically cuts music volume just so that you can easily order your favourite coffee or have a quick conversation with your friends. If you want to just quickly turn down the volume to hear announcements, simply place a finger over the left earbud. Of course, just like any older Sony headphone, Adaptive Sound Control is supported on this pair of headphones too.

Using the WF-1000XM3 for phone calls have not been its strongest suit. That is also about to change with the WF-1000XM4 though. Sony fitted the wireless headphones with Precise Voice Pickup technology and bone-conduction sensors to clearly and more accurately pick up your voice for calls. Additionally, beamforming microphones focuses on only picking up voices coming from your mouth and rejects unwanted noise from the background.

Compact, Comfort, Long-Lasting

  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony
  • Source: Sony

Besides being 40% smaller, the case is also a wireless charging unit. That also means you can lose your cables and just place your WF-1000XM4 on your existing wireless charger to get it up and running the next round you move out. Smaller case also means smaller earbuds at 10% reduction compared to it predecessor.

Speaking of size though, an earbud’s fitting in your ear is everything to get the best audio experience. Sony’s Headphone Connect App now helps you find the best fitting earbud tip size by measuring your ear size just with a simple photo. A perfect fitting earbud tip also helps with long term comfort, of course.

Finally, the Sony WF-1000XM4 truly wireless headphones are IPX4 certified. That also means that the headphones could be your perfect exercise buddy. Just do not take it swimming. On top of that, you can be sure that your earphones can continue playing your favourite tracks from the gym to the office and even to home with 8 hours of use. The case gives you an additional 16 hours of battery life to give you a total of 24 hours in battery life.

Simpler Than Ever

Connecting the Sony WF-1000XM3 was not exactly a difficult affair, but the WF-1000XM4 is easier than ever to connect to your devices. With Google’s Fast Pair features, you only need to open the case and you are one tap away from connecting your Android smartphone to the headphones. Even Microsoft’s Windows gets some love with Microsoft Swift Pair for the WF-1000XM4 to quickly pair with Windows 10 devices.

Availability and Price

The Sony WF-1000XM4 will be available in Malaysia mid-July 2021 onward. You can get your hands on for MYR 1,099. You can also pre-order yours now until 15th July 2021. Like the older WF-1000XM3, there are only two colour options – black or silver. Pre-orders can be made at Sony Store The Curve and KLCC, Sony Store Online, and Sony’s authorised stores across the nation. For more information on the Sony WF-1000XM4 truly wireless headphones with noise cancelling capabilities, you can visit Sony’s website.

Health, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[WWDC 2021] Apple Empowers Personalised Health With Improvements to Health App

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Healthcare is getting more personal and as a result, medical professionals require more data than ever to effectively treat diseases. That said, individuals are also becoming more health conscious and have been tracking and collecting data such as sleep times, heart rate, blood oxygenation and more through wearables like the Apple watch. Apple is taking the next step in enhancing their Health app to allow even better insights and secure data sharing.

With the latest update to the Apple Health app on iOS, the company is making proactive strides to putting more actionable data into the hands of its users. The new update to health allows users to gain more insights with trend analysis. The new feature allows users to track and visualise data trends for 20 types of data. This includes cardio fitness, sleep and even resting heart rate. These trends allow Health app users to track and visualise health and lifestyle metrics that are important to them. The Trends feature will also proactively highlight changes in the data that may be significant to users. The changes will be highlighted and surfaced in a way that is easily understood.

Apple is also bringing a new feature called Walking Steadiness. The feature comes in the wake of an increasing number of cases where serious conditions and loss of independence resulting from a fall. A staggering 37 million cases were reported in April 2021 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The new feature collects mobility data as users use their iPhones. The algorithms assess balance, stability and coordination using the motion sensors of the iPhone. Based on this data, it will return a classification OK, Low or Very Low. The app will then notify users if their steadiness drops below their preset levels and recommend curated, clinically validated visual exercises to increase strength and balance. Joining the steadiness feature is the respiratory rate measurement on the Apple Watch which will allow users to monitor their breathing even when asleep.

Apple’s greatest contribution to personalised health comes with its implementation of Health Sharing. The new feature allows users to share their data with others. While screen capping has always been an option on other platforms, Apple is allowing users to curate and allow visual access to the data to others. This means that users are able to keep an eye on their ageing parents or even share relevant data with their healthcare provider for better care and management of their conditions. It will also allow users to have better, more meaningful conversations with their doctors and allow more effective management. Apple is also including the ability to store vaccination records and tests in the app.

That said, Apple Health isn’t leaving privacy in the lurches. Apple is allowing granular control of the data collected in the Health app to the user. In fact, the company guarantees that the data collected remains private and secure. The data stored is encrypted securely even during sharing and is locked behind a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID on the phone itself. The company guarantees that it doesn’t have any access to the data even when the data is shared.

iOS, Mobile, News

[WWDC 2021] Apple iOS 15 is Coming – Even Bigger

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iOS 14.6 just arrived barely a two weeks ago and WWDC 2021 has already happened to excite iOS fans even more. On the big stage that is YouTube last night, Apple’s WWDC 2021 keynote introduces iOS 15, the next generation operating system to power your iPhone. If Apple said the 14.5 and 14.6 were big updates, you can consider 15 a complete change.

It is not much of a facelift though. You still get the same visuals, art styles, and even the same sort of interface to interact with. It is still very much an iOS that you are used to. At the same time, there are so much new features, this might as well be a new operating system.

FaceTime – Apple’s Best, Even Better

Source: Apple

FaceTime has been one of Apple’s best invention to the video conferencing and calling world. There are plenty of competitors to the platform out there, but if you and your friends have iPhones, FaceTime will be the best video calling experience you can get out there. Video calling is also important at this unprecedented time in the world.

How could Apple make FaceTime better? 4k Resolution? Maybe in 5 years’ time. Audio it is. You can now have a clear, uninterrupted conversation with your friends with FaceTime with Voice Isolation, a tool that cancels noise around you and transmit only your crisp voice. At the same time, you can also ensure that everyone can hear everything from your end with Wide Spectrum mode. In group calls, you even get a sort of spread-out voice just to give your group calls a little bit of spatial dynamic.

There is a new Grid View in FaceTime group calls now too. That means you get to see everyone in the call in equally sized windows. To take a group photo in FaceTime too, you get to have portrait mode that gives you Bokeh in your own tiny grid. But FaceTime is now more than just a video call.

SharePlay

  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple

You can now share contents across FaceTime calls. You can share music via Apple Music, watch a TV show or Movie together via Disney+, or even share an app screen with your friends. SharePlay works across iOS, iPadOS and MacOS too, so it is not like you are limited to iPhones only.

Everyone in the session gets control of SharePlay’s contents, including music and movies. If you are accessing other apps while watching the show with your friends, SharePlay can play on top of the app in Picture-in-Picture (PIP) mode. If you want to watch the shows on a bigger display, you can extend the experience on Apple TV Too. So even if you are separated from your friends, you can watch shows together too.

FaceTime Links with Other People Too

Source: Apple

No, that is not what I meant. FaceTime needs to be used with another person at least, we understand that. Now though, that other person does not need to own an iPhone, or iPad, or even a Mac. They could be on Android and Windows and they can jump into calls with you on FaceTime if you create a link for them.

You can use the links created to be shared through emails, calendars, or even messages to schedule a call with your friends, or even colleagues if you need to. The best part is that the end-to-end encryption remains a feature even if you are on a FaceTime calls with an Android user or a Windows user.

Focusing on the Right Things at the Right Time

  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple

They put a big emphasis on mindfulness and focus on iOS 15. Mental health and work life balance is becoming an increasingly big issue in the modern world we know today. It is especially true in the current pandemic situation.

Users on iOS 15 can create focus situations to limit notifications and allow notifications from certain apps and contacts surface in different times, your colleagues’ texts and emails at works hours, for example. You can get iOS 15 also to summarise your notification feed to see what surfaced when you were not looking at your smartphone in your chosen time of day. This setting will also sync across your Apple platforms just to ensure that all your devices know how they should behave in different times and situations.

Of course, you can just turn all your notification off with “Do Not Disturb” mode. Do Not Disturb mode will also trigger a notification your contacts who are trying to contact you though. They can see that you want complete silence from them and will create silent notifications for you for when you have the time to respond. You can also silent certain messaging apps for the next hour or the entire day if you want to.

On-Device Intelligence

Source: Apple

There are downsides to having intelligence built right into your device. For one, it is a little more taxing on your smartphone’s hardware. To ensure that it has enough data to run on your device natively too, it would take up more storage space in your device.

Thankfully the benefits outweigh the downsides though. Your on-device command is faster than ever now. It is also a lot more secure on your device.

Live text for example uses Apple’s clever neural processor to recognise texts in a photo or to something that you point to using your iPhone’s camera. You can easily take a photo of your lecture notes on the board for example and convert the photo into texts for you to copy in your own digital note for safe keeping and future reference.

They have also included something called Visual Look Up. From the camera app, users can point to certain objects or landmarks to get more information regarding the landmark, or an object, or even an animal. This feature kind of reminds us of Google Lens, to be honest.

Photos and Spotlights

Source: Apple

Apple introduced Memories in Photos in the last major iOS update. In iOS 15, Memories is made even better with on-board intelligence. Instead of just a photo collage slideshow and video playback, Photos can now include music to go along with your photo collage. You can even choose the song you want to go with your collage and Memories will cleverly alter your photos and tailor the slideshow according to the songs.

But the intelligence does not just stop there. You can now find photos and contents with the intelligence. They call this Spotlight and deservingly so. With Spotlight, your device can recognise texts or handwriting in your photos and pull them up for you. Spotlight also works as a web image search.

Everything You Need in the Wallet

  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple

Apple’s Wallet is one of the world’s best cashless payment platforms. It has also evolved to be something of a one-stop-shop for all your credit cards and your loyalty membership cards. Later this year though your iPhone can be your keys to everything from your home to your cars with Ultra-Wide-Band signal enabled. You can even use your iPhone to store your ID.

On top of that you can share all these information with your family members via Wallets. On the subject of sharing information on your ID across different spaces, you can now choose to disclose only the required information from your ID instead of showing a whole ID card to whoever that is requesting your ID.

New Weather App Design

They have also redesigned their Weather app to look even better than before. They have included more animations too to properly and accurately reflect the current weather situation outside of your window. The backgrounds also accurately shows you the sun’s position through the day.

Apple Maps with Even More Details

Source: Apple

Apple Maps gets a slight overhaul too, this is on top of being available in more regions now. 3D view on Apple Maps is also more detailed than ever on iOS 15. On top of that, you get elevation data with landmark highlights on Apple Maps.

Visually, Apple Maps looks better than ever with Night Mode and its photorealistic lighting effects on 3D objects. Getting lost with Apple Maps can also be a thing of the past with a more detailed view of the road, especially when you are navigating an expressway. When you are driving in town, newly added details like crosswalks, traffic lights, bike and bus lanes help you understand the road better and drive safer. The new Apple Maps will also be coming to Apple CarPlay.

If you prefer commuting on foot, Apple Maps now shows public transportation schedules. In that case, you can use Apple Maps to navigate your commute to anywhere with public transportations. Once you come out of the train station, you can use Apple Maps’ Augmented Reality (AR) function to find your way around and get a bearing of where you are. This function is now only available in select cities in the United States though.

AirPods – Better with iOS 15

Noise cancelling algorithms gets better with iOS 15 too. Apple’s AirPods now can enhance your conversations with the person in front directly in front of you by focusing on the person’s voice. You can be completely handsfree too with notifications read out to you via AirPods. If you misplaced your AirPods, you iPhone now can locate your earbuds.

Siri and Security

  • Source: Apple

Siri also benefit from on-device intelligence. You can now control your smartphone or smart home functions via Siri even without internet connection or data. At the same time, your voice data never leaves your device in this case.

On top of that, iOS 15 now gives you more control than ever on the sort of information and hardware access is being accessed by the apps you use and work with. You can also ensure that your emails do not track you with IP Address hiding on iOS 15. Security and privacy does not stop there too.

Your iCloud account can also now be recovered even if you forgot your recovery answers and password. All you need to do is add your trusted contact and retrieve a recovery pin from them to recover your iCloud account. They’ve also added Digital Legacy function, in case you need to pass your iCloud data forward.

iCloud+

  • Source: Apple
  • Source: Apple

For the same price you paid for iCloud, there is iCloud+ that adds a layer of security here. iCloud+ adds a layer of protection to Safari now. Safari is now encrypted with iOS 15. Browsing on Safari with iCloud+ also means that your IP address do not get tracked. Whatever data that you share on the websites are also encrypted on-device. At the same time, when you need to share email information on any websites too, your iPhone will spoof randomise a spoof email. Any emails sent to the spoof email will be forwarded to your actual email.

Computers, Mobile, News

Samsung’s Galaxy Book Go and Galaxy Book Go 5G Brings Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Compute Platform to Windows.

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Qualcomm has been teasing their Snapdragon platform to run on PC and Windows for a while now. To be fair, the possibility of having a Snapdragon SoC running Windows is not such a far-fetched idea. The processing chips that have been staple for Android, at least on the flagships, are already as powerful, if not more powerful than a regular CPU made by Intel and AMD. They are also a lot more power efficient, which also means that it runs cooler and benefits battery life.

While they have been teasing, there are no notable products to put the concept into practice. The closest we got to a modern Qualcomm Snapdragon compute platform on Windows is the JOI Book SK3000, an attempt at creating an affordable notebook by a Malaysian firm. To be fair, we see a lot of potential from that attempt, even if they are using a somewhat dated System on a Chip (SoC) that was not even made for Windows.

 Today though, all that is about to change with Samsung’s introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Book Go. The new Galaxy Book Go comes in three variants too, for good measure. The regular Galaxy Book Go can be fitted with LTE connectivity, but there is a 5G variant. Naturally, two variants also mean two different SoCs. The standard Galaxy Book Pro with or without LTE comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c  Gen 2 platform and the Galaxy Book Pro 5G comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform.

Source: Samsung

Again, because the power consumption requirements are lower than before, the notebook is touted to have an all-day battery life. Even if you need to plug it into a wall socket, your 25W charger should be larger than a smartphone charger. Thanks to USB Type-C too, you can charge your smartphone using the same charger. All of that also, while remaining constantly connected to the internet.

It features a 14-inch Full HD display with slim bezels to fit a body that is likened to an old 13-inch notebook. eUFS memory (up to 128GB) also means that you get instant boot and load speeds from the Galaxy Book Go. With up to 8GB of RAM, Windows 10 should be running nicely without too much strain. On top of all of that is Dolby Atmos certified speakers for all kinds of entertainment needs.

All of that power is packed into a body that is 14.9mm thick, or thin, depending on how you look at it. It could be thinner, but they do need a little bit of space to fit a full-sized USB Type-A port on the side of the Galaxy Book Go. Still, it only weighs 1.38kg and it does not need a fan to run a whole day.

Source: Samsung

It is very much a Samsung product though with Galaxy ecosystem a part of the Samsung Galaxy Book Go. The Galaxy Book Go works nicely with Link to Windows and Microsoft’s Your Phone app on your Android device. With Smart Switch also, you can easily transfer settings from your old PC to the Galaxy Book Go quickly and easily. There is even SmartThings built into the Galaxy Book Go for all kinds of IoT use at home.

The Samsung Galaxy Book Go Wi-Fi and LTE will be available in select market June 2021 onward. The selected markets does not include Malaysia at this time though. If you are in a market where the Samsung Galaxy Book Go with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 platform is available, it starts at US$ 349 (MYR 1,439*). The Samsung Galaxy Book Go 5G variant will be available sometime later in the year 2021. For more information on the Samsung Galaxy Book Go and other Samsung products, you can visit their website.

*Based on approximate exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.12 as of 03/06/2021 on xe.com

Mobile, News

Xiaomi Introduces 200W “HyperCharge” to Charge Your Smartphones in 8 minutes.

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Xiaomi just had their own tech demo on Twitter, and it is amazing. It was more like Xiaomi showing off their latest charging technology. In the video, Xiaomi charged a Mi 11 Pro with 4,0000mAh battery in 8 minutes. They also announced that they also have a new more powerful wireless charging technology that can charge the Mi 11 Pro in 15 minutes with 120W.

To be fair, fast charging technology has received plenty of attention in recent years. Modern flagships have to charge faster every year. The charging speed race technically was kicked off by most of the Chinese manufacturers like OPPO and Xiaomi. OPPO, of course relies on their own VOOC charge technology. Their commercially fastest charging products charge at 125W at the maximum.

In some sense, the charging speed race has been an exciting one to say the least. The wonders of fast charging technology have given us users the freedom of leaving your device on the charger for two hours or less and get going for the rest of the day. It has also freed us from sitting near a wall socket for long hours at a time. With Xiaomi’s demo, you probably can expect to charge a similar smartphone within a minute in a few years’ time.

Here is the thing though, that much displacement of electricity at one go is going to generate a lot of heat. While the speed at which the battery is being charged will cause more wear to the battery itself, the heat produced could also cause extra wear on the battery. More heat will also lead to less stability and in some cases, fire or explosion. In that case, there could be safety and durability problems that manufacturers will soon have to work with before they can push battery charging speeds to 200W and above.

Xiaomi’s tech demo is not an indication of when they will equip devices with 200W charging capabilities. 120W wireless charging mentioned does not also have an implementation date at this time. By the looks of it though, the charger technology is ready for prime time. That also means that we can expect Xiaomi to launch charger products that will charge faster than 120W and fast wireless charging at more than 80W.

Android, Mobile, News

ASUS Zenfone 8 & Zenfone 8 Flip Make Malaysian Debut

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It’s been quite a while since Malaysia saw a Zenfone. The last Zenfone officially launched in Malaysia was the Zenfone 5 – which, to be honest, was a stellar device. However, since then, ASUS hasn’t brought any of their smartphones – aside from the ROG Phone – to Malaysia. This year, it seems like ASUS will be kicking into gear bringing in not one but both of their Zenfone 8 offerings to Malaysia.

The Zenfone 8 series launched internationally earlier this month. The series brings two new Zenfones into ASUS’s portfolio – the Zenfone 8 and the Zenfone 8 Flip. The Zenfone 8 marks a new approach for ASUS when it comes to smartphones. The company is committing to creating smaller, palmable devices with killer specifications. Of course, to do this, they leave behind some of the defining features of the Zenfone including the flipping camera. That’s where the Zenfone 8 Flip comes in. With a larger body, it brings along the now signature flip camera of the Zenfone series.

Palmable Performance with the Zenfone 8

The Zenfone 8 still carries the honour of being the ASUS flagship. ASUS is packing a top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor into the smartphone with the Adreno 660 GPU. IT’s coming with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The Zenfone 8 also packs a 5.9-inch, Samsung AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120HZ refresh rate.

Of course, being equipped with a flagship processor, it comes with support for WiFi 6 connectivity and Tri-band WiFi support on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz. It also supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm’s aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and NFC. It is also 5G ready.

On the camera front, the smartphone comes with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor with 1/1.7-inch sensor size and 0.8μm pixel size equipped with Quad Bayer technology. The sensor has an f/1.8 aperture, with a 78.3° field of view and a 26.6mm focal length. This sensor is complemented by a Sony IMX363 12-megapixel ultra-wide, dual pixel sensor. It comes with 1/2.55-inch sensor size and 1.4 μm pixel size and f/2.2 aperture. This sensor supports dual phase detection autofocus and has real-time distortion correction. It also supports 4cm macro shots. On the front is a Sony IMX663 12-megapixel sensor with a 1/2.93-inch sensor with 1.22μm pixel size and 76.5° field of view. It supports Dual Phase Detection autofocus.

The smartphone also comes with an under-display fingerprint sensor. It runs on Android 11 with ZenUI 8. All of this runs on the Zenfone 8’s 4,000 mAh battery which is charged via a USB-C port. The hallmark is that all of these specifications and features are housed within a compact body measuring only 148mm x 68.5mm x8.9mm.

Zenfone 8 Flip – Flipping Bigger than its Flagship

The Zenfone 8 Flip shares most of the same specifications as its flagship brother. However, it comes with a larger 6.67-inch FHD+, AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It comes with only 8GB of RAM and only 256GB of internal storage. It’s also powered by a larger 5,000mAh battery.

The biggest difference comes in the form of the flipping camera. ASUS has imbued the Flip with a triple camera setup which functions as both the main and selfie cameras. The setup comes with the same sensors as the back camera on the Zenfone 8 but is further complemented by an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom and 12x hybrid zoom.

Pricing & Availability

The Zenfone 8 will be available starting from 28th May 2021 at all authorized dealers and ASUS Digital Stores. It will come in two configurations; one with 8GB RAM and 128GB onboard memory which retails for MYR2,699 and a 16GB RAM with 256GB onboard memory retailing for MYR3,299. The latter will be available exclusively on Shopee. It comes in Obsidian Black or Horizon Silver.

The Zenfone 8 Flip will retail for MYR2,999 for the 8GB and 256GB version in Malaysia. It will be available in Galactic Black and Glacier Silver.

Purchases made on ASUS’s Shopee Mall front will be entitled to early bird promos from 28 May to 11 June 2021. Purchases made within this period will be entitled to a SolidSuit Case. ASUS is also offering a trade-in deal where customers are able to trade in their old Zenfones for an MYR200 rebate on the Zenfone 8 series. However, this trade-in offer is only available at physical retail stores from 28 May until 25 June 2021.

Android, Editorial, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Podcast, Video

Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 13 – Our Google I/O 2021 Highlights!

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Google I/O happened last week and there was a lot to take in and dissect even from the two-hour long keynote to kick the Google’s 2021 developers conference off. We highlighted our favourite moments and things that we learned from Google I/O 2021. What caught our attention this year was their WearOS partnership with Samsung announcement. Android 12 is getting a huge visual revamp too this year. At the end of the show, something else caught our attention, and that was the Project Starline.

Google’s Wear OS is about to get a revamp and overhaul thanks to their new formed partnership with Samsung. This also means that Samsung will be ditching their Tizen OS development and focus on developing Wear OS with Google. Funnily enough Fitbit is not really getting involved. While they spent a very small amount of time making the announcement, there is more to Wear OS and Samsung’s involvement than Google made it out to be though. Fitbit is also not entirely out of the picture at this point.

We also saw the new Android 12 with Material You design language. The UI is cleaner, more intuitive, and even more customisable now. It is technically more YOU, more personal. You can change your theme colours to fit YOU. You can tune certain UI features to YOU. It is even more personal too with a Privacy Dashboard. You can even turn off your camera and mic completely if you want to; even your camera app will not be able to access both functions.

Project Starline was amazing. In brought to life a concept that we though will never see the light of day until way later. The whole pandemic situation has isolated us even more, and with conditions expected to take a turn for the worse in the coming year, physical connection to other human beings is sorely missed. Project Starline is as close as you can get to a physical touch and interaction to others at this point of time. To be fair, the technology is still in its early development stage and brings 3D and holographic telecommunications to life. It was encouraging and exciting to see, but we wonder how practical it would be if you want to bring that kind of technology to your homes or offices. 

Accessories, Computers, iOS, Mobile, News

Apple Releases iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, macOS Big Sur 11.4, watchOS 7.5, and tvOS 14.6

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Just about a month after Apple releases the biggest update to iOS in recent history, Apple releases yet another update to the platform alongside their other products like the iPad, mac OS, watch OS, and even tvOS. To be fair, tvOS 14.6 is a minor update that is supposed to improve the general stability and performance of the interface for Apple TV devices. That is at least according to their release notes for the tvOS 14.6. For everything else, the updates are more than just bug fixes despite what the numbers suggest.

iOS 14.6 & iPadOS

iOS 14.6 is not as big as 14.5 in terms of updates. It is also partly a bug fix that fixes issues found on iOS 14.5 such as issues with unlocking your iPhone via your Apple Watch. Some users were reporting that reminders show up as blank lines now even when they have keyed in their information. The new update on both iOS and iPadOS should also improve Bluetooth connections with Bluetooth enabled hardware. Users should also see improvements in device performance with the update.

There are some added features too on iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6. While fixing some early issues with AirTag, the UI now allows users to use their email address for tracking purposes instead of phone numbers. There are added support in Apple Podcast too allowing users on iOS and iPadOS to opt for subscriptions to shows and get extra exclusive contents. There is an added Apple Card support too in the sense that you can now share your Apple Card with up to five members of your family via Apple Card Family. The new function also allows you to keep track of expenses and manage limits. Users can also now unlock their iPhone or iPad for the first time after a restart via their voice.

iOS 14.6 is now available for Apple iPhone 6s and newer. iPadOS 14.6 is also now available for iPad Air 2 and later, 5th Generation Apple iPad and later, iPad Mini 4 and newer, and the 7th generation iPod Touch.

watchOS 7.5

Apple’s WatchOS 7.5 received a minor update when Apple released iOS 14.5 too. That minor update that updated WatchOS devices from Apple Watch Series 3 and later to WatchOS 7.4.1 was mostly a security update for the Watch. WatchOS 7.5, in contrast to the iOS and iPadOS updates is more of a feature update.

The Apple WatchOS 7.5 now allows access to subscribed content in the Podcast app for one. You can even manage and track your Apple Card expenses from your Apple Watch. Malaysia is getting some added love in the new WatchOS 7.5 too. Apple Watch Series 4 and later will get ECG app support now in Malaysia. Users of Apple Watch in Malaysia will also now get support for irregular heart rhythm notifications.

The Apple WatchOS 7.5 is now available for Apple Watch Series 3 and later.

macOS Big Sur 11.4

The new macOS Big Sur 11.4 update is also one of Apple’s largest since 11.3 just about a month ago. The update for macOS is more bug fixing than anything else. The new update fixes keyword exclusions when exporting photos from the Photos app. It also fixes certain website viewing issues with Mac devices. It also fixes certain stability issues with PDF documents on macOS 11.3.

On top of the bug fixes, macOS Big Sur 11.4 brings paid subscriptions to Apple Podcast app. You can now pay subscriptions for Podcasts within the ecosystem and get exclusive contents or early access to additional contents from creators. Apple Podcast also introduces channels to group shows from podcast creators. 

macOS Big Sur 11.4 is now available on devices running on mac OS Big Sur 11.

Android, Business, Mobile, News

Honor Devices Confirmed to Ship with Google Play Services

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It’s been quite a journey for Honor in its recent emancipation from Huawei. However, it looks like the emancipation is coming with significant benefits. If you need a little refresher, Honor started off as a subsidiary brand of Huawei to address the growing Millennial and Gen-Z segment who were looking for affordable, power-packed devices. Honor had a big European debut with one of their first ambassadors being Brooklyn Beckham, son of Football Star, David Beckham and Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham. However, with the sanctions from the U.S. on Huawei, the brand began to ship their devices without Google Play Services and with Huawei’s AppGallery.

Earlier this year, the brand was spun off into its own company and it looks like that has been a boon to it. In a tweet from the Official Honor Germany account the brand confirmed that their latest flagship, the Honor 50 will be coming with Google Play Services. (The tweets have since been deleted.) This is a big win for the brand as we’re beginning to see Huawei slip from the top of the list of smartphone vendors. Most recently, the company noted a 41% year on year decline in smartphone shipments.

Source: Android Authority
Source: Android Authority

That said, with the sale of Honor to a Chinese consortium of companies, Honor is seeing positive momentum. In fact, the company has confirmed that their upcoming Honor 50 will be coming with the recently announced, Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. The partnership wasn’t possible under Huawei due to the U.S. sanctions. In addition to this, the company has also revealed that an upcoming Honor Magic device will be coming with the “most premium Qualcomm chipset”. The current SoC which fits that description is the Snapdragon 888 unless Qualcomm has another chipset up its sleeves.

The last Honor Magic device was released way back in 2018. The line up is being reintroduced as part of the new portfolio. Previously, the Magic line up was Honor’s most premium line up with power-packed specifications and top of the line features. It looks like that isn’t changing with the company touting the upcoming device as a “premium flagship product featuring superb imaging quality”.

Android, Editorial, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[Google I/O 2021] Android 12 is a Big Visual Change for You

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Android is currently the most popular mobile operating system (OS) in the world. At least 72% of the entire smartphone market in 2021 runs on Android. That is also mostly because there are so many Android offerings out in the market that fits almost all sorts of budget.

There is also another good reason why Android becomes the OS of choice for plenty of enthusiasts. The fact that no two Android devices looks and feels the same is one of them. You could put a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra beside another similar device with similar colour option but when you pick them up, they could feel completely different in terms of its interactions and layout. If you are its owner, you know which one of the smartphones is which the moment you pick it up. Of course, there is the fact that you cannot unlock the other smartphone.

#Android12: Designed for you

Android 12 is not the largest update in terms of added feature on the user interface (UI), technically. It is the largest though in terms of visuals. The concept for the 12th major iteration of Android, as Google puts it, centers around You.

They call the new design language Material You. That also means that the design language is not entirely different from before. It is technically an evolution of the older Material design language. Thing is, it is not like the old Material design felt dated in 2021. Its simplistic and minimalistic language still does well enough in 2021, and we think beyond.

Still, Android 12 is coming and here are the major changes we think you might like; at least we like the changes.

More Personalisation

Source: Google

Colours turn out to be everything in our lives, and that includes our smartphones. We all wanted dark mode at some point in the past two years. Admittedly, Dark Mode looks sick and made our smartphones look extra sleek. But it does get a little boring when everyone starts doing the same things.

Adding some colours is a way to go to make your device even more unique to you other than having different home screen layouts. That is what Android 12 is, colours for your life. The UI can cleverly extract dominant colours and determine complementing colours from your wallpaper and turn your whole theme around that chosen colour. That extends even to the new widgets Material You is introducing. Of course, you can change those colours as well in the settings, if you want to have a different colour scheme for your theme. You technically can decide how thick you want your on-screen volume control knob to be too.

Better, Faster, More Sensible Animations

Source: Google

The UI is designed to be more intuitive and allow certain things to come up front and center for you. For example, picking up the device can turn your screen on, but the fluid animations can flash up according to how you pick up your device. The display might come to life from the bottom of the device up, or vice versa. It responds to touch and gestures too, apparently.

The most visible change on Android 12 in terms of animations though is on your lock screen. On Any Android device, you can view your notifications via your lock screen. You can close the notifications from your lock screen too. Once you cleared out your notifications though, Android 12 brings out your clock front and center to let you know that you are all caught up and tell you the time, obviously.

With Material You as well, Google have supposedly improved animation load times and speed by up to 22%. The development team somehow found a way to cut back on CPU loads for animations which both sped up the animations and extend battery life in the process. On top of that, the cut back in CPU reliance also means that older and lower-end devices can benefit the full animations of Android 12.

Bigger Means Better

Source: Google

A part of system designs in Material design is making things more compact, cleaner, simpler, and more minimalistic. A lof of quick access spaces and buttons are made smaller, more rounded, and take up so little space you could cram a million of them on your large 6-inch display. They sort of rolled back on that for the sack of intuitiveness and better-looking spaces though.

In Material You the notification is a much cleaner space to look at. Gone re the clutter that you might see in the current iteration of Material design. The notification page is much easier on the eyes to navigate and work with as well with a slightly larger interaction space.

You see the biggest change in Quick Settings though. Instead of little round balls that you are used to, they are now bigger buttons to work with. This not only prevents clutter, but also wrong presses when you use your device one-handed. The have added Google Pay and Home Controls button too for you to quickly access your ewallet payment gateway and even quickly control your Home IoT devices just through a couple of taps.

Privacy Dashboard

Source: Google

Transparency over data collection and sharing has been one of the most important features we look for in our smartphones today. Apple’s iOS now allows you to track each app and what they do with your data. For Android, it is a little different.

Instead of implementing app specific algorithm to identify what data is being used by each app and how, Android 12 gives you a one stop shop to understand what apps are using what and when. The dashboard allows to check also the kinds of permissions you give each app. You even can revoke access of the apps too from one Privacy Dashboard.

At the same time, Android 12 tells you when an app is using your camera or microphone. In some ways, Android 12 can help you track which apps use the two items when it does not need to as well. You can either revoke camera or mic privileges from apps via Privacy Dashboard in that sense.

There is more to that, however. You can revoke the entire systems access to both microphone and camera. All you have to do is pull down the notification bar, and then pull down again to quick access and turn off camera, or microphone access, or both. In that case, even if you launch your camera app, you are not going to see anything.

Regarding location, sometimes apps do not need to know where you are precisely. In that case, Android 12 allows you to set “approximate location” sharing with some of the apps that you feel might not need your precise location. An example of that kind of app is the weather app, to tell you what the weather is like in your general area.

And More…

Source: Google

There are more subtle changes in Android 12. To be really honest, we have not had our hands-on with the Android 12 Beta just yet, because we do not own devices that supports Android 12 Beta at this time. We are hoping that the list might expand a little more soon though. If you want to get your hands on Android 12 Beta, you can check if your devices are supported at the Android 12 Beta page.