TikTok is quickly becoming a go to platform for musicians. Just recently, the social media platform had an exclusive event with Korean band, BLACKPINK. Now, the ByteDance owned platform is going to become the exclusive debut partner for a KRU Music artist. DUKU & Tuju will be sharing their exclusive pre-release of their latest single, ‘Salawat 1442’ featuring Tyco on TikTok LIVE. The debut is happening on the 27th October at 8p.m. on the @KRU.Music account.
The collaboration between TikTok and KRU subisdiary, Imaan Music, looks to cultivate a younger audience aligned with the platform’s user demographic. The song being debuted adapts traditional dakwah and is a first in bringing together artistes from different genres for a momentous record.
The debut comes in conjunction with Maulidur Rasul, a Muslim celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. To know more about this collaboration and more on the subject, remember to tune live on 27 October at 8pm @KRU.Music on Tiktok.
The wait is finally over. All the main flagships of 2020 have launched. All you have to do is select the best one for you. You can either choose to get a Samsung Galaxy S20 or Note20 device, or an Apple iPhone 12 device, or now, you have a third option – the HUAWEI Mate40 device.
You could easily deviate and get a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 or a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, or even get a completely different flagship like an ROG Phone 3, or something like the new Lenovo Legion Duel gaming smartphone for that matter. But we will talk about that later. Today, we are focusing on the big three that every other person will think about. Well, technically one, because the Chinese tech giant just launched their flagship device and this article is actually dedicated to that.
Source: HUAWEI
There is plenty to talk about too, with the new HUAWEI Mate40 series. For one is the new design language that is not too different from last year’s Mate30 design language. They call it the Space Ring design, basically moving the camera arrangement from being contained in a circle to now being a ring that encircles, well, a circle with ‘Leica’ printed on it.
There is also the five lensed HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ and that gives it the ability to zoom up to 100x (digital zoom) in its camera app. Of course, there is an ultra-premium version they only know as the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS that could go with your Porsche Design Acer Book RS that was launched just a few days ago. And, there is a new Operating System (OS) based on Google’s latest Android 11. There is still no Google Play Store on the device though.
HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+
Source: HUAWEI
We start with HUAWEI’s most overkill of a device, the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+. There are multiple HUAWEI Mate40 devices, but this is the most powerful. It is just slightly less powerful that the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS, but the Mate40 Pro+ is technically just missing a small ingredient that might not change the experience that much anyway.
HiSilicon Kirin 9000 – The Most Powerful Ever
Source: HUAWEI
HUAWEI leapfrogged Samsung and Qualcomm in this department for now. They introduced the world to what seems to be the most advanced and their most powerful System on A chip with the HUAWEI Mate40 series. This is quite expected also, mind you.
What is unexpected is just how sophisticated this chip was going to be. You get 15.3 billion transistors packed into the octa-core unit, 3.5 billion more than Apple’s latest A14 Bionic. This goes without saying, the Kirin 9000 also has two more cores than the Apple chip. This is achieved with 5nm process, obviously. We are expecting the new Qualcomm and Samsung chips to be based on th 5nm platform as well though, so only time can tell whether or not this device stands the test of time. HUAWEI did promise a smooth Android performance even after 36 months though. That is 3 years of smooth Android with a speed drop off at only 2.5%.
Embedded within the chip is a larger, more powerful dual Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for even more complex compute power for more special and handy features like HUAWEI’s brilliant air gesture control. Then there is a bigger, more powerful 24-core Mali-G78 GPU that HUAWEI claims to surpass any other smartphones that comes before. That also means better looking games and better video and photo editing experience on the smartphone itself.
But that is not all the NPU offers though. Combined with a new, more powerful image processor chip, photos and videos are even better than before. AI Tracking of a subject is smoother and better, you do not even have to move your smartphone for that, and it looks like the camera is moving to the subject’s movements. The front camera now can shoot videos in 240fps slow motion mode now too, creating more creative possibilities. Of course, stabilisation is even more enhanced now with the combined power of the NPU and Image processor.
5G is not new anymore in these devices. The 5G chip that is on the Kirin 9000 though is a more advance chip that support 5G Super Uplink and 5G Downlink CA technology. That also means that 5G is even faster than before with up to triple data download speeds on supporting networks.
This powerful chip is the beating heart of HUAWEI’s most advanced and most expensive Mate flagship series to date. At least for the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000 should pack enough power to get the best out of the 5-camera set-up. Of course, there is the matter of powering the EMUI 11.
EMUI 11 – Better Than Ever, More Powerful Than ever
Source: HUAWEI
We have pointed out before that HUAWEI’s Android based EMUI has come a long way from the early days of being and ‘iOS copy’. EMUI has matured to become a unique ecosystem and OS in its own rights.
While Always-on Display (AoD) is not all that new, there is a new revamp anyway on EMUI that makes AoD even better than before. Rather than just having a static display with preset layouts and graphics, EMUI allows you a little bit more creative space with AoD. They call it Dynamic Graphic AoD, you can take a short video or even put up different photos to spice up your AoD or completely change the layout of the AoD just to get the right looks on your HUAWEI Mate 40 device.
Source: HUAWEI
It does not stop there though, they also developed something called Eyes-on Display (EoD). That means your display only turns on when you look at the device. We are guessing that the mechanism uses the front-facing camera to track your eye movement to turn on the display just for the moment you look at the display. It displays the same AoD graphics that you have set for your device too, but it only displays when you look at the display. That is a nifty way to cut back on battery consumption and allow your device to last even longer.
Of course, multi-window is still possible. With the right apps you can have up to three apps open at the same time on the device. Of course, you are going to struggle a little bit with screen real estate at that point, but if you need to multitask with three different apps, EMUI 11 can handle it. The mechanics are exactly the same as well on EMUI 10.1.
Source: HUAWEI
They have improved multi-screen collaboration on HUAWEI devices with the new Mate40 series though. You can have your PC, HUAWEI Share enabled of course, running at least three different instances of your HUAWEI Mate40 device all running different apps or instances of a single app. It looks amazing, and we are betting that they should be amazing to work with in terms of productivity. You have to be using a HUAWEI smartphone with a HUAWEI notebook PC though.
The native email app received a little bit of an overhaul. Now you can opt to make your emails look like a chat or a messenger style chat app. The layout is sort of an optimisation for mobile devices and make full use of the small display real estate. It makes your email app looks better too somehow.
Speaking of apps, EMUI also introduced a new navigation app they call Petal Maps. We have not tried it, but it is a HUAWEI developed app that looks like a cross between Google Maps and Waze. In addition to the navigation app, they have Petal Search as well; a Google alternative to search engines made for mobile devices. They say that Petal Search also does not collect your information, does not track your location, and does not expose your preferences or data. We look forward to trying those.
On top of those new features, they took away a few things too. No, that is not a bad thing. It is to protect your privacy from prying eyes.
For example, to prevent unknown eyes from looking at your notifications on your lock screen, HUAWEI automatically hides the notifications from eyes and faces it does not recognise. If you gaze on it, it opens up with more information on the notification. When you share your screen or cast your screen to a smart display too, notifications will only be contained on your own smartphone display instead of the smart display. You can now make plans with your friends on the side while watching a movie casted from your HUAWEI Mate40 device.
The Penta-Camera Combo – HUAWEI’s Most Advanced Camera Ever
Source: HUAWEI
Before we start, we have to clarify that HUAWEI’s penta-camera set-up is not actually the first in the market. That honour has to go to Nokia and their PureView smartphone that has not seen the light of the market just yet. This is the first HUAWEI device to feature five cameras pointing out of the back of the glass back though.
The HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ packs one 50-Megapixel Ultra Vision Camera with HUAWEI’s signature RYYB (Red Yellow Yellow Blue) sensor and built in Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) out of the ceramic back. That main camera is supported by three other lenses that can do ultra-wide photos (20-Megapixel Cine Camera, 100o angle), optically zoom up to 3x ( 12-Megapixel Telephoto Cameaa), and even super zoom up to 10x optically (8-Megapixel SuperZoom Camera). There is an extra ToF 3D sensor in the array for depth information, so you can get stunningly accurate depth-of-field information on your photos. With the zoom lenses too, the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ can digitally zoom images at up to 100x, technically. You might not use that on a gallery poster though.
The cameras are not just for high-resolution photos though. They are also made for breath-taking videos. With cleverer image stabilisation, your 4K videos should look like they are shot on gimbals and big stabilisation rigs. HUAWEI really pulled all the stops for this one as well with AI Active Tracking. We mentioned earlier too that you do not have to move your device to capture a moving subject zoomed in, the image cropping algorithm just follows the subject and keeps the subject in consistent scale on your frame.
You can shoot videos at up to 3,840fps too, for ultra-slow-motion videos, but that mode is restricted to 720p resolution. Speaking of slow-motion videos though, you can now shoot at 240fps with no limits on your HUAWEI Mate40 device. Of course, it stops when your device overheats or when storage runs out.
Out the front is a combination of two cameras so that you can create stunning contents as well. There is a 13-Megapixel Ultra Vision Selfie Camera that can go up to 100o for a wider shot and a ToF 3D sensor for more accurate Depth information. This also means that the front-facing camera can shoot videos at up to 4K and even shoot unlimited 240fps videos at 1080p. Again, the limit is when you overheat your camera, when your battery runs out, or storage is full.
On both ends though, HUAWEI’s AI eliminates lens distortions. That means that your ultra-wide angle photos or wide-angle selfies will look like they were taken with a regular lens. Your face will not be stretched out and your subject will not look extra funky. This is brilliant stuff.
Everything Else
Source: HUAWEI
You see all of the greatness projected out to you via a large 6.76-inch display. It is an OLED panel that projects more than Full HD at 2,772 by 1,344 pixels. Of course, a modern smartphones needs a fast refreshing display and this keeps up at 90hz together with 240Hz sampling rate.
The curve on the sides are sharper than ever at 88o angle. That also means that your palms are technically touching the sides of the display when you hold it. You can still control the volumes using the virtual volume slide on the sides though, but the display is not your main source of interaction with the device anymore, the volume rocker button is back.
That is not all though, thanks to Kirin 9000’s cleverer NPU, air gesture controls are now much more powerful and precise. You do not even have to touch your device to interact with the device. Useful when you get your hands dirty. You can pick up calls, you can change screens, you can control your volume, you can even pause and play videos or music just via your hands moving in front of the display, like magic.
Of course, the processor is just part of the recipe for a smooth running, powerful device. You need a large RAM too, and the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ has 12GB of it. To contain all the content that you will be making with the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+, there is a 256GB storage to boot.
Of course, HUAWEI is known for their super long-lasting battery. They are touting the Kirin 9000 to be more efficient than the current generation of SoCs out in the market. That also means that the 4,400mAh battery shoehorned into the device should last you a full day of use and maybe even more, depending on how you use your device. If you ever run out of battery and you need to get it going quick, the battery can take on 66W via HUAWEI SuperCharge (included in-the-box) through the USB Type-C port, and 50W wireless charging (Wireless HUAWEI SuperCharge sold separately).
Specifications
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 9000 5G w/ Dual NPU Octa-core 1 x Cortex-A77@3.13 GHz 3 x Cortex-A77@2.54 GHz 4 x Cortex-A55@2.05 GHz
Non-Removable Li-Po 4,400 mAh Fast Charging 60W (HUAWEI SuperCharge) Fast Wireless Charging 50W (Wireless HUAWEI SuperCharge)
Connectivity
Dual SIM Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS A2DP Bluetooth 5.2 OTG Support USB 3.1 Type-C NFC
Camera (s)
REAR: 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) 20 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/2.4 aperture) 12 MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, f/2.4 aperture, OIS) 8 MP SuperZoom Camera (10x Optical Zoom, f/4.4 aperture, OIS) 3D Depth Sensing Camera, support AF HDR LED Flash 4K Video recording 720p@3,840fps FRONT: 13 MP Ultra Vision Selfie Camera (Wide Angle, f/2.4) 3D Depth Sensing Camera 4K video recording 1080p@240fps
Sensors
Gesture Sensor 3D Face Recognition Gravity Sensor Infrared Sensor Fingerprint Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor Gyroscope Compass Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Laser Sensor Colour Temperature Sensor
Miscellaneous
Stereo Speakers IP68
HUAWEI Mate40 Pro
Source: HUAWEI
You do not need five cameras, you tell yourself. You do not need to spend as much money, you say. But you want that power, the same one as the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+. Then the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro is for you.
The HUAWEI Mate40 Pro is technically a twin sibling to the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+. It packs the same large 6.76-inch display with a very steep curve on the side. The body is made out of roughly the same materials too. Well, save for the ceramic back; the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro has a regular glass back.
Source: HUAWEI
It packs the Same HiSilicon Kirin 9000 though. That also means the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro’s EMUI 11 can work as well as the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+. You get the same air gesture controls, the same AoD or EoD, and probably around the same battery life with the 4,400 mAh battery.
The biggest visual difference, other than the variety of colour options, is the cameras. Up front, they are still the same sensors; a 13-Megapixel sensor with a ToF 3D depth sensor. It can still record 4K videos and 240fps 1080p videos as well.
The difference is at the back. There are two cameras less on the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro. You lose the ToF sensor and one telephoto lens. Instead you get a 50-Megapixel main sensor (same one as the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+), a 20-Megapixel Ultra-Wide Cine Camera (same on as the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+), and a 12-Megapixel Telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom capabilities.
Source: HUAWEI
You get the same camera modes too as the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+. In that case, if you are looking at a slightly tighter budget, the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro might seem like a good choice. While there is only an 8GB RAM for the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro, the differences in experience should be minute enough that you might not notice at all.
Specifications
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 9000 5G w/ Dual NPU Octa-core 1 x Cortex-A77@3.13 GHz 3 x Cortex-A77@2.54 GHz 4 x Cortex-A55@2.05 GHz
Non-Removable Li-Po 4,400 mAh Fast Charging 60W (HUAWEI SuperCharge) Fast Wireless Charging 50W (Wireless HUAWEI SuperCharge)
Connectivity
Dual SIM Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS A2DP Bluetooth 5.2 OTG Support USB 3.1 Type-C NFC
Camera (s)
REAR: 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) 20 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/2.4 aperture) 12 MP Telephoto Camera (5x Optical Zoom, f/3.4 aperture, OIS) HDR LED Flash 4K Video recording 720p@3,840fps FRONT: 13 MP Ultra Vision Selfie Camera (Wide Angle, f/2.4) 3D Depth Sensing Camera 4K video recording 1080p@240fps
Sensors
Gesture Sensor 3D Face Recognition Gravity Sensor Infrared Sensor Fingerprint Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor Gyroscope Compass Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Laser Sensor Colour Temperature Sensor
Miscellaneous
Stereo Speakers IP68
HUAWEI Mate40
Source: HUAWEI
Then there is the most regular and basic of the bunch. The HUAWEI Mate40 is the entry level to the series of high-end devices. It is also a smaller device with a 6.5-inch display. It is still an OLED panel with 90Hz refresh rate and 240hz response rate. But it is not as high-resolution as its other siblings at 2,376 by 1,080 pixels (Full HD+).
It is still virtually as powerful with the HiSilicon Kirin 9000E (one less NPU core, 22-core Mali G78) SoC though. Like the Mate40 Pro it packs an 8GB of RAM, though storage is a step smaller at 128GB. Unlike both the Mate40 Pro and Mate40 Pro+, it only has a single 13-Megapixel front-facing camera for selfies but still support the same 4K video recording and 1080p@240fps videos.
Source: HUAWEI
The back of the device shares more similarities with the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro though. It only has three cameras mounted at the back, like the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro. The 50-Megapixel camera stays but the Cine Camera is a 16-Megapixel unit rather than a 20-Megapixel shooter. The telephoto lens an 8-Megapixel shooter is capable of 3x optical zoom.
It even has a slightly smaller battery compared to the other devices in the series. It has a 4,200mAh battery compared to the 4,400mAh on the two bigger devices. We suspect that the battery size difference is also due to the size constraints of both devices. The battery charges at 40W with HUAWEI’s SuperCharge technology via USB Type-C, and the device features no wireless charger.
Specifications
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G w/ Dual NPU Octa-core 1 x Cortex-A77@3.13 GHz 3 x Cortex-A77@2.54 GHz 4 x Cortex-A55@2.05 GHz
Non-Removable Li-Po 4,200 mAh Fast Charging 40W (HUAWEI SuperCharge)
Connectivity
Dual SIM Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS A2DP Bluetooth 5.2 OTG Support USB 3.1 Type-C NFC
Camera (s)
REAR: 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) 26 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/2.4 aperture) 8 MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, f/2.4 aperture, OIS) LED Flash 4K Video recording 720p@3,840fps FRONT: 13 MP Ultra Vision Selfie Camera (Wide Angle, f/2.4) 4K video recording 1080p@240fps
Sensors
Gesture Sensor 3D Face Recognition Gravity Sensor Infrared Sensor Fingerprint Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor Gyroscope Compass Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Laser Sensor Colour Temperature Sensor
Miscellaneous
Stereo Speakers IP68
Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS
Then there is the one that HUAWEI has been saving for last. This is the most premium Mate series going to be in production. The Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS is here.
When I say more premium though, I am referring to its price point. Everything that is built into the device points to the fact that it is a HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ under the skin. It is a Porsche Design product, so it looks different with the Ceramic back and colour options too. Instead of a clean round shape of the Space Ring, the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS has an octagonal shape to it, more angular. The plain smooth back of the Mate40 Pro+ is now littered with powerlines that is inspired from the modern Porsche sports cars.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
The only big differentiator in performance is the extra temperature sensor that is encircled by the five-camera set up. Even the camera set-up is similar to the Mate40 Pro+, save for the extra temperature sensor. The differences, in this case, is only skin deep. Oh, of course the other difference is on the price tag.
Specifications
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 9000 5G w/ Dual NPU Octa-core 1 x Cortex-A77@3.13 GHz 3 x Cortex-A77@2.54 GHz 4 x Cortex-A55@2.05 GHz
Non-Removable Li-Po 4,400 mAh Fast Charging 60W (HUAWEI SuperCharge) Fast Wireless Charging 50W (Wireless HUAWEI SuperCharge)
Connectivity
Dual SIM Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS A2DP Bluetooth 5.2 OTG Support USB 3.1 Type-C NFC
Camera (s)
REAR: 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS) 20 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/2.4 aperture) 12 MP Telephoto Camera (3x Optical Zoom, f/2.4 aperture, OIS) 8 MP SuperZoom Camera (10x Optical Zoom, f/4.4 aperture, OIS) 3D Depth Sensing Camera, support AF Colour Temperature Sensor HDR LED Flash 4K Video recording 720p@3,840fps FRONT: 13 MP Ultra Vision Selfie Camera (Wide Angle, f/2.4) 3D Depth Sensing Camera 4K video recording 1080p@240fps
Sensors
Gesture Sensor 3D Face Recognition Gravity Sensor Infrared Sensor Fingerprint Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor Gyroscope Compass Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Laser Sensor Colour Temperature Sensor
Miscellaneous
Stereo Speakers IP68
Pricing and Availability
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
They did not mention when the devices will start shipping out to customers. The HUAWEI Mate40 and the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro will be available in Mystic Silver, White, Black, Green (Vegan leather), and Yellow (Vegan Leather) colour options. The HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ and Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS will be available exclusively in Ceramic White or Ceramic Black.
The HUAWEI Mate40 (8GB + 128GB) will be available for EUR€ 899 (MYR*). The HUAWEI Mate40 Pro (8GB + 256GB) will set you back EUR€ 1,199 (MYR*). The HUAWEI Mate40 Pro+ will be priced at EUR€ 1,399 (MYR*), while the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate40 RS will be available for EUR€2,295 (MYR*). We will be keeping a close ear to the ground for local pricing and availability.
*Based on approximate exchange rate of EUR€ 1 = MYR 4.91 as of 23/10/2020
If you watched the announcement that was made by Acer last night, you might have thought that you already have all the information you need from Acer about their upcoming products that will lead into 2021. They did launch plenty of products last night that might be very compelling for your work from home set-up as well. In fact, if we count our press releases correctly, they had eight separate launches launching more than 20 individual products (this is quite normal, trust me).
There is one product that missed an appearance in the show though. If you checked back into their YouTube page though, you might have seen it. They also launched a smart speaker.
They call it the Acer Halo Smart Speaker, and it is a looker. Its transparent, glass looking thing at the bottom for its base is also an RGB light right that makes the speakers look as if it is dancing with you as you play music to it. Even if it is just responding to you, it just looks funky and light-hearted.
The overall design is just as industrial and pretty as you can expect a Google Nest to be. Like the Google made speaker, the Acer Halo Smart Speaker has a fabric mesh overall body that is shaped into a boxy tower. Underneath the mesh fabric is an LED display that can tell you the time or weather at a glance. You can even customise messages that is displayed on the LED panel.
Source: Acer
It is not just all show and no go though. The Acer Halo Smart Speaker is made with DTS Sound certification. That also means that the speaker is made with sound quality and enjoyment as well. If you put it in the living room, you could easily play a relaxing music through the speaker and sweet music will fill the air with its 360o projection. Its dual far-field speakers ensure that you could communicate with the speaker or give it commands, if you like, from anywhere in the room.
Why do you need to communicate with the speaker? It is a Smart Speaker, why would you not communicate with it? You can tell it to start your slow cooker, turn the TV on, turn the air-conditioning on, turn the washer on, and more, if all these things are Google Home enabled. The Halo Smart Speaker works with Google Assistant, the same one you have on your Android device. That also means that this works as a Google Home controller as well.
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
There is a curious matter of why Acer has made this product though. While we do find it intriguing and finding ourselves wanting one, Acer has not made any other significant smart home items. They introduced the AcerPure Cool and AcerPure Pro air purifying systems at Next@Acer. The only one that seems to be available globally at this time is the AcerPure Cool air purifier and that is not exactly a smart home product. It still operates with a traditional remote.
There are no mentions on the availability and pricing of the Acer Halo Smart Speaker. We have high hopes for this product though and are praying for it to land in this part of the world. It would make a good alternative to Google Nest, that is not officially available in Malaysia as well. Here is our fingers crossed, our toes as well.
The Porsche Design Acer Book RS launches at Next@Acer. Underneath the light all-metal and carbon fibre construction is a powerful 11th Generation Intel Core i7 (up to) and an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU (up to). You get up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS will also come with its own Travelpack RS ECCO Palermo Leather sleeve and pouch and its own exclusive Porsche design Mouse RS.
The new Notebook is made to be lightweight, yet sturdy, and powerful. The design harks to Porsche’s sports car and racing heritage. Porsche Design employed their know how and expertise in lightweight materials and construction to keep the all-metal chassis with carbon fibre top body an anorexic 1.25kg. At 15.99mm thickness also, it is not exactly a bulky package.
Inside the body is a 14-inch Full HD IPS display with 99% sRGB coverage. That also means near accurate colours. DTS Audio ensures that its speakers are powerful enough still to entertain even the most demanding users. It even features the Unibody hinge design to make typing a more comfortable experience on the Porsche Design Acer Book RS.
The Porsche Design Acer Book RS will be available in the North American, EMEA, and China very soon. Prices for the Book RS start at US$ 1,399.99 (MYR 5,801), EU€ 1,799 (MYR 8,851), and RMB 14,999 (MYR 9,345) respectively. If you opt for the top specced Book RS, it will set you back US$ 1,999.99 (MYR 8,287), EU€ 2,399 (MYR 11,803), and RMB 19,999 (MYR 12,461) respectively. The Porsche Design Mouse RS can be bought separately of course, it will set you back US$ 109.99 (MYR 456), and EU€ 99 (487) respectively. The Travelpack RS can also be purchased separately at US$ 329.99 (MYR 1,367) and EU€ 299 (MYR 1,471) respectively. No word on availability and pricing for Malaysia just yet.
At Next@Acer 2020, Acer has also introduced new monitors for business and home users: the eye-friendly Acer B248Y, the HDR-capable Acer CBL272U and the Acer BL270 with virtually no side-bezels.
Acer B248Y – Work All Day, Every Day
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Acer claims that this B248Y is an ergonomic monitor that was designed with various pain points that is often faced by users at work in mind. The monitor is equipped with various features that aim to make your eyes more comfortable even in prolonged working environments, such as Acer LightSense and Acer ColorSense.
The two technologies combines in the display to automatically adjust the screen brightness and color temperature. The adjustments are made for a more comfortable experience with the display depending on the environment. The monitor’s Full HD (1980×1080) IPS display sits on something they call Ergostand. The Ergostand, as per Acer, is a flexible stand that allows for ever more flexibility in adjusting the display to your liking.
The B248Y’s built-in docking station turns the monitor into a workspace in its own right. The RJ45 and USB Type-C 100W PD ports allows you to clear up plenty of clutter on your desk. The ports also means that you can choose to work from home or the office at anytime without worrying too much about moving the items, or even clearing a new space for the monitor. You can also daisy chain multiple monitors for a larger screen real estate, if that is what you need. There is also an adjustable Full HD webcam to let the users find the perfect angle for camera feed. That, and you do not need to spend extra on a webcam.
Acer CBL272U – QHD Goodness
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
The Acer CBL272U is a 27-inch TUV/Eyesafe certified monitor with QHD 2,560 by 1,440 resolution, Delta E<1 color accuracy and 99% sRGB gamut coverage. It is an IPS panel which also means that you can look at it from nearly any angles with its 178o viewing angle. HDR10 means that any compatible video content looks superb on the display. All this means your eyes will just start to water at the sight of the display. Not because it hurts, just because it is so good. C
It is not just an eye-watering, colour attack for your eyes though. It is also built with a number of eye-friendly features. BlueLightShield Pro, for example prevents harmful bluelight especially for extended period of use. With Acer’s proven ComfyView anti-glare technology and low-dimming capability, enables the monitor’s brightness to be turned all the way down to 15% for night-time use. In that case, the monitor will not blind you even when you view it in total darkness.
Acer BL270 – Thin, Thin Bezels
Source: Acer
Dreaming of having a two-monitor set-up that looks like a single large monitor set-up? The Acer BL270 is a certified FHD 1920×1080 monitor with thin size bezels that taper off, this is what making the two monitor be placed virtually seamlessly side-by-side. This clean and powerful monitor is perfectly designed for any business environment. The flexible stand allows you the ability adjust the height, swivel and pivot perfectly according to your preferences. You can also use the display to mirror your smartphone’s content via Acer’s Smart Console App.
Price and Availability
Despite the monitors powerful features, the price is seem to be reasonable. Three of the monitors: B248Y, CBL272U and BL270 will be available in North America starting with price of US$ 329.99 (RM 1,369*), US$ 299.99 (RM 1,245*) and US$ 229.99 (RM954*.11) respectively. As usual, exact specifications, prices, and availability will vary by region. No word on availability or pricing in Malaysia just yet. These are perfect monitors for our work from home set up though, so we are hoping to hear something soon.
*Based on approximate exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as of 21/10/2020
Remember when Porsche, a German car manufacturer decided that designing cars is not enough anymore? Remember when they started designing things like a smoking pipe, and even smartphones? Remember when they introduced a new notebook PC called the Porsche Design Book One? Oh yes, that was quite special.
That Book One looked like something you could pull out of a spaceship. The detachable display gave it that illusion that you actually pulled it out of the USS Enterprise (Star Trek, does not matter which version and build). The brushed and polished aluminium look gives it that extra zest and drama that it stood out from regular notebooks. Of course, it has the price to match.
In reality, the Porsche Design Book One is already outdated. In the world of modern PCs, the Porsche Design Book One is an antique piece that belongs to the museum. We would not call it a modern art gallery material either. This reminds me of a quote I heard once that “art can have no purpose other than itself”.
Fast forward to 2020, and Porsche Design is back into designing notebook PCs. Of course, they cannot do it by themselves, they are not PC makers. They have to either rely on a third-party manufacturer, which could mean that they make cool looking notebooks that does not work properly, or they could go to a partner that has been making notebook PCs forever and make a really good notebook PC that fits the Stuttgart’s stature. They did the latter; just in case you forgot to read the title.
Welcome to the Porsche Design Acer Book RS, a combination of Porsche’s know-how in beautiful and functional industrial designs using the most exotic of materials, and Acer’s expertise in making reliable and powerful PCs. What you get is a notebook PC that is not just reliable and functional in any situation, but also a sight to behold.
We will save our opinions on the looks and design for our review (if they ever release it for review, that is). The Porsche Design Acer Book RS does not just have a name that is mouthful. It has the design to keep your mouth open too.
All-Metal & Carbon Fibre
It is constructed in metal in all completeness. The metal chassis not only gives it that super polished and high-quality look. It makes it a bit more sturdy than regular notebooks with plastic chassis. It is not just all-metal chassis though; the body is CNC milled to Porsche’s standards of precision. That also means that the single metal frame body is stronger than you think. It has that Unibody Hinge mechanism that lifts the keyboard a little bit too, to make typing a little more comfortable.
Then there is the top cover that is made of carbon fibre. This is not some plastic that is dipped in carbon fibre Plastidip or even a sticker on cheap plastic panel. It is not even Carbon Reinforced Plastic (CRP). It is actual carbon fibre that you see and feel on top of the Book RS.
What that means is that the notebook is not only strong, but light as well. It weighs just 1.25kg at 15.99mm thick. While that is not the lightest, not thinnest you have seen a notebook PC, it is not exactly heavy. You also need to consider that this is fully constructed in metal. For that reason alone, we consider the Porsche Design Acer Book RS is light. The Book RS’ weight department, no doubt, has received some clever know-how from Porsche Design’s lightweight metal construction earned from their car manufacturing sibling, Porsche.
Power Packed – Like a Porsche Sports Car
Did we ever mention that Porsche also makes some of the world’s most desirable sports cars? Must have escaped us. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is made with internals that matches its looks as well, just like a Porsche should.
The Porsche Design Acer Book RS packs Intel’s 11th generation Core i7-1165G7 (up to) paired to NVIDIA’s discreetly powerful GeForce MX350 GPU (up to). The combination of that not only allows the Porsche Design Acer Book RS to go through multiple documents, emails, and even excel sheets like a champ. It allows the device to edit videos even. It can even be your gaming rig if you really want it to be. Of course, we would refrain from running AAA titles at full chat.
Thanks to the 14-inch Full HD IPS display and DTS Audio, the Porsche Design Acer Book RS is as much an entertainer as it is a work partner. The IPS display is also a touch display with 100% sRGB. That also means that you can see colours accurately and whatever you might put on the display looks good. This is a true all-rounder, just like a Porsche.
Still Mightily Practical
Practicality is also a Porsche special. In that department, the Porsche Design Acer Book RS has a storage capacity of up to 1TB in PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD format. That comes with up to 16GB of RAM as well, to keep everything chugging along nicely. That and the WiFI 6 connectivity should make the current work from home situation a breeze. It could even last you through the day with a quoted 17-hours in battery life. It is practical, just like a Porsche should be.
Of course, we cannot forget that Porsche is still a premium brand. As true as the “poor man’s Supercar” moniker, Porsche still deals with premium cars attached to a deserving prestige. Their cars are in no way made cheaply. They are made to the most stringent of standards.
The Book RS embodies that with what you get in the box; the Travelpack RS. You get three premium ECCO Palermo Leather sleeve, pouch and attachments, alongside a matching wireless mouse that is the Mouse RS. The magnetic pouch cover doubles as a mousepad to protect your mouse from wear and tear. One pouch is even big enough for the mouse and two types of chargers that comes with the notebook.
Price and Availability
So far this is the only Porsche Design collaboration product that has been announced by Acer. As per Acer, there are no further plans just yet on other collaboration products with the premium Stuttgart based brand. At the same time, Acer could leverage on their partnership with their partnership with Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team as well, like when Acer had a very interesting Ferrari branded string of products. We were told as well that there are no plans yet in that department.
The Porsche Design Acer Book RS will be available in the North American, EMEA, and China very soon. Prices for the Book RS start at US$ 1,399.99 (MYR 5,801*), EU€ 1,799 (MYR 8,851**), and RMB 14,999 (MYR 9,345***) respectively. If you opt for the top specced Book RS, it will set you back US$ 1,999.99 (MYR 8,287*), EU€ 2,399 (MYR 11,803**), and RMB 19,999 (MYR 12,461***) respectively. The Porsche Design Mouse RS can be bought separately of course, it will set you back US$ 109.99 (MYR 456*), and EU€ 99 (487**) respectively. The Travelpack RS can also be purchased separately at US$ 329.99 (MYR 1,367*) and EU€ 299 (MYR 1,471**) respectively. No word on availability and pricing for Malaysia just yet.
*Based on approximate exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as of 21/10/2020
**Based on approximate exchange rate of EU€ 1 = MYR 4.92 as of 21/10/2020
***Based on approximate exchange rate of RMB 10 = MYR 6.23 as of 21/10/2020
Acer’s ConceptD laptops have carved out a unique niche for the company in addressing the unique needs of creators. In fact, Acer was one of the pioneers of the “made for creators” moniker when they announced their first ConceptD line up a little over a year ago. In their line up, they introduced the ConceptD 3, 5, 7 and 9 laptop lines, 300, 500 and 700 desktops and professionally calibrated displays. The line up was center stage at next@acer as the company announced updates and a new addition.
ConceptD 7 & 7 Pro Get Cool Updates
First up, the Acer ConceptD 7 and 7 Pro got a small bump in performance with an upgrade to the 10th Generation Intel Core i processors. The laptops were previously sporting the 9th generation Intel processors. Aside from that, the ConceptD 7 and 7 Pro retain the options for the NVIDIA RTX 20 series graphics or RTX QUADRO graphics.
In addition to the updated internals, the ConceptD 7 and 7 Pro are the first laptops to come to market with Acer’s new Vortex Flow cooling technology. The company has created its own fan design which is able to move 26% more air through the laptop allowing it to cool more efficiently. It is also quieter which sound levels reaching less than 40dBA.
ConceptD 300 Brings Big Performance in a Small Form
Acer also introduced their compact, 18L ConceptD 300 desktop. The small desktop packs a punch in a mid-tier form factor for those looking for a more compact solution. It continues to have ConceptD’s now signature design language which marries eye catching wood accents with a sleek white body. It’s small enough to fit on the table.
It comes with a 10th generation Intel Core i processors and is paired with up to 64GB of DDR4 266MHz RAM. This is complemented with up to quick 1TB M.2 SSD memory and up to 4TB of HDD memory. The ConceptD 300 will also be equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX3070 Graphics card.
Pricing & Availability
The ConceptD 7 and 7 Pro will be available starting October 2020 in Europe, the Middle East and Asia with prices starting at EUR2,899 (MYR14,265.44) for the ConceptD 7 and EUR3,699 (MYR18,202.09) for the Pro.
North America will be getting it in December 2020 with retail prices starting at USD$3,299.99 (MYR13,673.92) for the ConceptD 7 and USD$3,499.99 (MYR14,502.65) for the Pro.
The ConceptD 300 will be available in Europe, the Middle East and Asia in November 2020 with prices starting at EUR1,299 (MYR6,392.42). China will be getting the desktop slightly earlier in October with prices starting at RMB12,999 (MYR8,099.68).
The current pandemic has led to an increase of people working from home. With this increase, there has also been an increase in the awareness in the importance of having good air circulation and good quality air. Acer, realising this, has introduced a new subsidiary, AcerPure Inc, which will focus on creating products that will improve the quality of life of their users. Their first product is an air purifier and fan, or as they put it, air mobiliser.
The AcerPure Cool focuses on moving and purifying air within a room. Studies have shown that indoor air isn’t as clean as we think it is. Still or stale air can also be a contributing factor to falling sick. With this in mind, Acerpure has created the Cool to both purify and move air for better air quality. The product marries a air purifier with an air circulator and a fan.
It comes equipped with a 3-in-1 HEPA filter which helps filter fine particles and impurities in the air. The filter is combined with catalytic carbon, a special form of activated carbon, which allows it to filter PM1.0 particulate matter; that is to say particles of about 1.0μm in size. Some of the things that can be effectively removed are dust particles and large molecules like formaldehyde and other harmful hydrocarbons. The air purifier of the AcerPure Cool also comes with a Silver ion (Ag+) filter which has been proven to provide some antimicrobial protection. You also see this technology being used in air-conditioners.
The fan component of the AcerPure Cool helps circulate and project the purified air. It has enough power to project air up to 16m away and circulate the air in a 27m2 room in 3 minutes – something that will undoubtedly be appreciated in warmer climates.
Of course, the tech doesn’t just end there. The AcerPure Cool comes with a PM1.0 Air Quality sensor which enables it to detect the real-time indoor air quality. This reading is displayed via 3 LED indicator lights. With this data, the air purifier intelligently adjusts its operation mode to ensure better purification of the room. Apparently, the Cool also has a deodourising component which releases negative ions to help combat foul odours. It goes without saying, the deodourising of the AcerPure Cool will not deodourise if the source of the odour is still in the room.
Pricing & Availability
The AcerPure Cool will be available in Taiwan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. No pricing has been announced just yet and launch windows will be announced at a later date.
Acer’s Planet 9 was launched a year ago as the company’s comitment to the growing eSports scene. The platform allows aspiring professional gamers to hone their skills and collaborate. The vision for this next gen platform is to provide a “training arena” where pros, semipros and enthusiasts can improve their game.
“Planet 9 is a community-oriented platform designed to give gamers everywhere a chance to interact and learn from each other. It is intended to be a social platform that caters to multiple audiences: those looking to improve are introduced to similarly skilled teammates and opponents, likewise, those just looking to chat and enjoy themselves can meet other casual players…”
Andrew Chuang, AVP, Esports Services, IT Products Business, Acer Inc.
Source: Acer
Planet9 was designed to bring different eSports communities together in one place, and a major part of the platform is effectively managing and integrating these communities. The platform helps users to find teammates based on a variety of factors such as game type, skill level and time zone. It also gathers and records a wide variety of data such as score, pathing, kill-death ratio and death location. This provides coaches and managers information they can use to help guide their players.
This year, Acer is bringing cutting edge AI to Planet9, its next-generation eSports platform, in the form of the SigridWave In-Game Live AI Translator. SigridWave has been specially designed to handle gaming terminology and jargon. It leverages deep learning technologies to bridge language barriers allowing gamers to communicate no matter where they are from. This is an important step in enhancing the gaming experience.
When SigridWave is deplyed, it will utilise Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology to recognize speech from gamers. It then converts this into strings of text, similar to how smartphones do when you use virtual assistants. This string of text is then recognised using Neural Machine Translation (NMT) technology. The NMT deployed by SigridWave has so far been trained to recognise over 10 million bilingual sentence pairs. This allows it to recognise game specific language and jargon such as “ADS” or “camping”, giving it context awareness. In-game overlays will be supported for League of Legends on launch in late 2020 or early 2021, and support will be made available for additional titles in the future.
The new technology has the potential to take competitive and professional gaming to a whole new level. Together with SigridWave, Acer also unveiled Clubs and Tournaments; two new features that will help players collaborate and compete regularly to up their game. These join a slew of new features designed to enhance competitive play and facilitate communication between brands and players.
Don’t know the lyrics? No problem. You can now search for that song on Google by simply humming or whistling the tune or part of it. This new advancement comes as part of new improvements that the search giant is introducing into their service.
The new feature is now available now in the Google app on both Android and iOS and in Google Assistant. Just to “ask” Google about the “What is the song” or just simply by clicking the new added “Search a song” and it will be able to pull up results based on the tune that you hummed or whistled. The search results will be presented to you as a list.
Source: Google
After you have seen the song list you can even click it by seeing more details such as the artist name, official video and its lyrics via Google Search. The new feature is only limited to only English language on iOS but it supports over 20 languages on the Android.
Google is using Machine Learning to implement this feature. They explain that each melody is like a fingerprint and has unique identifiers that allow their search algorithm to identify it. Google is continually improving the feature by training the machine learning model with a variety of sources including whistling, humming, studio recordings and even humans singing.
