Category Archives: News

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro 2020 Launched!

February 25, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

After a long hiatus HUAWEI has launched their flagship laptop, the Matebook X Pro. The Matebook X Pro is a 13.9-inch laptop with thin bezels that gives the laptop an amazing 91% screen to body coverage. The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro pushes 3,000 x 2,000 pixels creating a display with a pixel density of 260ppi. thanks to the super slim bezel you get a true border-less experience.

Processing power of the new Matebook X Pro is courtesy of Intel’s 10th gen Core i7-10510U. There is also a cheaper variant with Intel’s Core i5-10210U. Even the Core i5 version should give you a smooth and snappy experience on The HUAWEI Matebook X Pro.

To complement the power and take full advantage of multitasking, the laptop comes with 16GB of RAM across all variants. 16GB of RAM is copious for you and your laptop to work with. Ample RAM also gives you the ability to run multiple tasks at once without slowing down. The MateBook X Pro also comes with a minimum of 512GB and the top variant comes with a whopping 1TB storage. That also means you may not need to worry about storage needs for a while.

The MateBook X Pro comes with NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 2GB of GDDR5 to give you a smooth experience in all tasks at hand from video editing to gaming. That is good news for most power users. That is especially if you need to use your notebook PC as a remote video editing rig. You might not want to put Adobe’s After Effects through it though. Then again, After Effects is too heavy to run on plenty of PCs.

The new MateBook X Pro is designed with a metal unibody with a diamond cut edge giving it a sleeker and thinner look. Well, it is only 14.6mm thick. Anyway, the body comes finished with a premium sandblasted finish that feels smooth to the touch and it has three different colours to choose from. They come in Space Grey, Emerald Green and Mystic Silver.

Such Slim, Very Thin, Many Power, Wow. In that small package, HUAWEI still managed to fit a 56Wh battery that could last up to 12 hours of video playback. All these watts, and you still gotta charge them. The MateBook X Pro has a 65W Type-C portable adapter which can be used with a wide variety of charging outputs.

The time has come, for the pricing and its variations. There will be three variants, all of which comes with touch screens. The first two variants will be running on Intel’s 10th Generation Core i5 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That is where the similarities end, the only difference is that one comes with a MX250 graphics card and the other does not. The last and final variant gets the same 16GB RAM and MX250 graphics card but it comes with a more powerful Intel Core i7 processor and a bigger storage at 1TB. The prices for all three variants of the laptop are as follow, EU€ 1,499, EU€ 1,699, EU€ 1,999 which translates to about MYR 6,820 , MYR 7,730 and MYR 9,095.

Android, Mobile, News

HUAWEI MatePad Pro – Built To Unleash Your Creativity On-the-Go from EU€ 549!

February 24, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Mobile World Congress 2020 was cancelled, but that does not mean that you will miss all the big announcements. HUAWEI just had their announcement not more than an hour ago. In that announcement they announced the latest HUAWEI Mate Xs foldable smartphone. It is pretty much an evolution of last year’s HUAWEI Mate X foldable smartphone. That is not all they launched though.

This year they also introduced the HUAWEI MatePad Pro, a high-end tablet designed for the professionals. Why we say that? It has a DCI-P3 colour accurate display for the best sort of colour reproduction you can get on 10-inches of display. The 10.8-inch display pushes 2,500 by 1,600 pixels, effectively a QHD+ display. With a 90% screen to body coverage too it is small, really small. Thin too at 7.2mm, as thick as modern smartphones.

It is one of HUAWEI’s most advanced tablets to come out of the Chinese tech giant’s showrooms. It packs HUAWEI’s HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G processor. You get an option of getting the MatePad Pro with 5G connectivity too if you really must. Of course, the 5G versions will cost you a little bit more.

Audio cannot be neglected in a super powerhouse like the MatePad Pro too. You get not only four speakers at each corner of the device; you also get far-field mics for your voice commands from a distance away. That is all wrapped in ultra-light fiber glass body or stylish vegan leather body.

For maximum productivity, you can get the HUAWEI M-Pencil for EU€ 99. You can take advantage of the app multiplier, multiscreen collaboration, multi-window modes, and even HUAWEI share for even more optimised productivity and multitasking. Of course, it does have large battery to fill the space within the slim and compact body. 7,250mAh large, in fact. For that, you get all-day productivity. It even charges at 40W if you plug it in a wall charger. It can charge wirelessly at 37W too.

The HUAWEI will be available within this quarter of 2020. Malaysia? We do not have a set date yet, but it looks like we are also getting it soon enough. It comes in either Green or Orange Vegan Leather colour options, or White or Grey glass fiber colour options. Prices start at EU€ 549 (6GB + 128GB) [MYR 2,520], EU€ 649 (8GB + 256GB) [MYR 2,979], EU€ 749 (8GB + 256GB, M-Pencil, Vegan Leather) [MYR 3,438] for the WiFi version, EU€ 599 (6GB + 128GB) [MYR 2,749], EU€ 699 (8GB + 256GB) [MYR 3,208] for the LTE variant, and goes all the way up to EU€ 799 (8GB + 256GB) [MYR 3,666], EU€ 949 (8GB +512GB) [MYR 4,355] for the 5G variant. The HUAWEI MatePad Pro runs on HUAWEI’s EMUI 10.0.1 based on Android 10 Operating System (OS) though you can only get your apps through HUAWEI’s App Gallery.

Android, Mobile, News

The HUAWEI Mate Xs Getting in on The Fold!

February 24, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

HUAWEI showcased the interestingly complex and advanced HUAWEI Mate X, a foldable smartphone that is unlike anything that we could imagine a foldable smartphone would be. Instead of folding inward, the display of the Mate X folds outward. That also means that when the HUAWEI Mate X is folded, the display wraps around the side to the back.

We did not actually see the HUAWEI Mate X making it into the smartphone market mix in Malaysia. Which also means we did not even get to see it in person. Still, it made the foldable smartphone market a little bit more interesting than what it already is. It gives the foldable smartphone market something to think about, because it was an unconventional solution to a conventional problem.

This year is still about foldable smartphones apparently. Of course, there was the Samsung Galaxy Fold that came in with a large display that folds in. There is an external display of course when the display is folded in. Then there is the Motorola RAZR and most recently the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip that was just announced two weeks ago. Oh yes, the Z Flip is going to make it in Malaysia.

Of course, HUAWEI is not going to be the only one missing out. For this year they are launching their brand-new HUAWEI Mate Xs. Like the Mate X we saw in CES 2019 last year, the HUAWEI Mate Xs features the familiar Falcon Wing Hinge. The one found on the HUAWEI Mate Xs is supposed to be sturdier than the original Mate X though, at least that is what they are claiming.

Like the Mate X of 2020, it also features a display that folds out into a larger display instead of folding in. Which also means that the Mate Xs will have a wrap-around display as well. Folded in, the main display measures in at 6-inch. That extends to 8-inch once popped out. Yes, it is a spring loaded mechanism, only for the first part of the unfold though.

As one of the leaders in 5G infrastructures and technology, the HUAWEI Mate Xs comes with 5G capabilities too. While it does have dual SIM capability, the other SIM tray can only support up to 4G connectivity, understandably as well.

Of course, a new flashy flagship has to come with a flashy processor. For that, the HUAWEI Mate Xs gets a HiSilicon Kirin 990 System on a Chip (SoC). Of course, that also means that the HUAWEI Mate Xs is perfect for multitaskers with multi-window capabilities built-into the User Interface (UI). You can even open two instances of a single app if the app supports App Multiplier feature. Imagine having two instances of WhatsApp running at the same time.

Instead of having two or even three camera arrangements though, HUAWEI has gone quite conventional with a single camera array. The single camera array is still a system of HUAWEI’s proven SuperSensing 40-Megapixel quad camera set-up. Supporting the main camera is a 16-Megapixel ultra-wide shooter, 8-Megapixel telephoto lens, and a 3D depth sensor for better Bokeh photos.

A large screen, as usual, needs a large battery. The HUAWEI Mate Xs packs a 4,500mAh battery. While that may not sound that big compared to equivalent 8-inch tablets, you must remember that HUAWEI smartphones do come with some very impressive battery life, according to user testimonies anyway. If that is not enough for you in a day though it charges at 55w; that is as fast as some notebook PC these days. The notebook that typed out this release, for example, charges at minimum of 40W. With 55w charging, the HUAWEI Mate Xs charges from empty to full within 40 minutes.

teThe HUAWEI Mate Xs is said to be sold globally next month, March 2020. Earlier in the presentation Richard Yu did say that the new smartphone will be expensive. How expensive? EU€ 2,499 expensive. That is about MYR 11,500 and that is for the 8GB RAM and 512GB storage variant. Yes, it does come with 5G connectivity. The HUAWEI Mate Xs comes with their very own EMUI 10.0.1 and HUAWEI Mobile Services based on the Android operating system. It does not support Google’s Play Store though.

News

HUAWEI Mobile Services Teased For HONOR 9X Pro Global Launch

February 24, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

The HONOR 9X Pro has already been lauched in the Chinese domestic market and was expected to make its international debut at MWC2020; Wait didn’t MWC 2020 get cancelled? Unfortunately, yes it has been officially cancelled due to safety concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 virus outbreak.

In light of these developments, HUAWEI and HONOR are going to be launching their products via a live stream. HONOR’s launching will be on February 24 at 6:30PM CET (11pm IST) with not one but two products. The live stream of their launch can be found on their Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and even on their global website.

HONOR 9X Pro will be launched together with HONOR’s laptop, the MagicBook. Even though the HONOR 9X Pro is not a new phone, it is will be coming the latest HUAWEI Mobile Services (HMS). This phone is also the first phone for HONOR to launch with HMS.

The HUAWEI Mate 30 had a taste of HMS in countries such as Spain, Indonesia and Malaysia but the HONOR 9X Pro will feature a revamped version of the HMS. HUAWEI has been working tirelessly on the HMS ecosystem as it has to replace Google’s apps and services in hopes to keep existing users and hopefully attract new users too.

The phone itself was released in August of 2019. The 9X Pro runs on the Kirin 810 processor which is touted to offer the ultimate gaming experience, backed up powerful performance. Even though the processor launched back in August, it has only just made its debut in HUAWEI’s line up with the launch of the Nova 7i.

Other than the phone, let’s not forget that they will also be launching the HONOR MagicBook that will also play its role in the while HMS ecosystem. Even though it will be in the HMS ecosystem, the MagicBook will be the first device by HONOR to run Windows 10.

Computers, Gaming, News

ASUS heating things up with AMD as ROG Strix RX5700 overheats

February 24, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

When the ROG Strix RX 7500-series graphics was launched it was HAWT. It seems like they’re taking that pretty literally; the graphics cards have been reported to heat up, even when not overclocked. Imagine what damage it would have done if it was overclocked, you could likely cook an egg.

ASUS posted a statement a week ago stating that the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) is not getting its optimal thermal performance as more graphical performance is demanded from the GPU. According to ASUS, the GPU’s cooling fans are torqued between 30 to 40 PSI following AMD’s recommended guidelines. This was done as a precaution as the Radeon RX7500-series is the first GPU based on a new 7nm architecture. Thus, ASUS didn’t want to risk completely killing the GPU.

To solve the problem, ASUS said they have done extensive R&D testing to find out the best PSI range for the GPU to have the most efficient thermal performance. Form their test ASUS has determined that the optimal pressure for the GPU is almost double from the guidelines ranging from 50 to 60 PSI.

On that account, all ROG Strix Radeon RX-7500 shipped from January onwards will ship defaulted to the new settings for better performance and reliability. If you have bought a ROG Strix Radeon RX5700 series before January of 2020, don’t fret. ASUS has got you covered. Contact your nearest ASUS service centers starting March of 2020 and ASUS would happily perform the upgrade for you.

Even though the upgrade would be free, there is another set back to the the upgrading program. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, logistics has been affected and necessary shipment of the components would take quite some time. Again do contact your local ASUS service centers for future details.

Editorial, News, techENT Download, Video

techENT Download | Coronavirus hits Apple, Windows Gets a Makeover and more

Video February 24, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

We wrap up the third week of #February 2020 in this #techENT #techENTDownload #techenttv! Boy, hasn’t it been a little quiet in tech this wee?. No matter though, we still bring you the latest things you need to know for the week starting with #Google banning over 600 apps in their #PlayStore to #Cadillac launching their brand new and first even electric vehicle for the world to see; Malaysia might not get it though. Still, at least we are definitely getting into the #Samsung #GalaxyZFlip!

We’ve started a new #Podcast #techntonic #techntonicpodcast and its available on Spotify, Anchor, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Breaker, and other podcasting host channels! If we are not yet on your favourite channel yet, let us know in the comments so that we can work our way there!

Give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you like our videos! We have plenty more going on our site too at techent.tv! Do visit and check out some of our latest reviews and write ups! Follow us on all social media for the latest from us too;

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News

LG Unveils New K Series Smartphones

February 20, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

LG, mainly known for its home appliances in Malaysia, has unveiled three new phones. The three phones will be under the K series line-up consisting of K61, K51S and K41S. All three phones are expected to be available soon later in March 2020.

This is the first time the K series phones came without a thick bezel on the top to house the front-facing camera and earpiece. This time around LG has joined the trend of thin bezels with big screen to body ratio. LG has also opted for the punch-hole design for the selfie camera on all three of its new K series phones.

Other upgrades are to the camera. LG is finally integrating a multi-camera set up into their flagship devices. Specifically, the LG K61 will be coming with a quad camera set-up with a 48-Megapixel main camera with phase-detect auto focus (PDAF). The second camera is an 8-Megapixel ultra-wide lens, followed by a 2-Megapixel macro lens and lastly a 5-Megapixel depth sensor. As for the front facing camera LG packed a 16-Megapixel shooter in the punch hole housing.

Configuration for the LG K51S on the other hand is a little different from the K61. the main sensor is a 32-Megapixel with PDAF, followed by a 5-Megapixel ultra-wide, a 2-Megapixel macro lens, and lastly a 2-Megapixel depth sensor. The last smartphone, the LG K41S has the same camera configuration as the LG K51S except for the main PDAF lens. The main PDAF lens on the K41S is a lower 13-Megapixel sensor. For the selfie camera the K51S comes with a 13-Megapixel and the K41S comes with a 8-Megapixel sensor.

None of the phone pricing has been released, but LG says three new K series phones will be available starting in the Americas followed by markets in Europe then Asia in the second quarter of 2020. Malaysia specifically? We might not even see them, but one can dream.

Mobile, News

OPPO dipping their hands into the bag of microchips

February 20, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

OPPO is reportedly getting into the chip making game. This is not the first time a phone manufacturer creates its own chipsets to be used in their own smartphones. You know these brands too, they are Samsung and Huawei with Exynos and Kirin respectively. They call it the Mariana Plan. Not to be confused with the Mariana Trench, the plan will be led by Qualcomm’s former technical director in collaboration with engineers from Oppo’s sister companies, OnePlus and Realme.

In the past, OPPO mentioned of a big R&D push for an ecosystem of smart devices with an investment of RMB 50 billion which is just slightly over US$ 7 billion. Yes, that is what it takes to get into the game with the likes of Qualcomm and MediaTek.

There is no obvious reasons yet on why OPPO would make their own chipset. At the moment as OPPO has been great partners with Qualcomm and Mediatek. There is no indication as well on OPPO dropping the partners anytime soon. Possibly, OPPO sees a market that its missing out on or just a long term cost effective move to install its own chipsets into their phones. The chipsets could also be sold to other phone manufacturers to integrate them into their phones expanding the variety of chipset and value.

With the on going US trade ban, HUAWEI is unable to integrate Qualcomm’s chipset into their phones. Fortunately HUAWEI has their own chipset to lessen the blow of the ban. Based on this logic, OPPO could be developing this new project as their own safety net.

At this point, OPPO has developed one of the best and best known Android iteration in ColorOS. There is no telling yet on what they can do with their chips. If their Android UI development is any indication, they could develop great chips at a fraction of the price of other manufacturers.

Android, Mobile, News

Xiaomi Mi 10 Series Unveiled!

February 20, 2020 Jonathan Tay Leave a comment

Just nine months after the release of their flagship phone and four different products after that, the Chinese manufacturer known for their value-for-money smartphones, Xiaomi is already launching a new flagship phone for the year 2020. New year; new flagship, am I right? Just like all flagships, the device carries the latest top-of-the-line processor – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.

XIaomi’s Mi 10 Series are the first devices in the year 2020 to pack Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 processor with 5G capabilities. Overall clock speed has increased (obviously), but clock speed is so yesterday. 5G on the other hand is the latest buzz. The new Octa-core processor though has a maximum clock speed of 2.84GHz; a 25% increase of performance in both CPU and GPU compared to last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. It is also supposed to consume less power; specifically 35% less power than its predecessor.

With great power comes great ~~responsibility~~ picture quality. Xiaomi is stepping up its game with a quad camera system with a 108-Megapixel main camera in both the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. But that is all the similarities between the cameras of both devices in the series. On the Mi 10, you get a 13-Megapixel Ultra-Wide lens, a 2-Megapixel Macro lens, and another 2-Megapixel depth sensor.

The Mi 10 Pro on the other hand come with a better 8-Megapixel telephoto lens, a 12-Megapixel 50mm portrait lens (technically also a 2x optical zoom telephoto lens), a 20-Megapixel Ultra-Wide lens. Thanks to the insane 108-Megapixel camera and the new super powerful System on a Chip (SoC) both devices are able to capture 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) videos. Using the 8K video you are also able to capture clear 33MP (technically 8K resolution anyway) photos while recording.

While most of the fancy features are reserved for the main camera. The selfie camera is not neglected. It shoots at a decent 20-Megapixel. Still that is 12-Megapixel less than the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. The camera is nestled in the punch hole at the top left of the display, not the usual tear-drop style taht we are used to like in the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro.

Speaking of cameras, you need a display to view the photos that you take with the super powerful cameras. The Xiaomi Mi 10 comes with the usual curved Full HD+ AMOLED curved DotDisplay measuring in at 6.67-inch compared; bigger than the 6.47-inch of the Mi Note 10. While you lose out on ppi counts, the device makes up for it in its 90Hz refresh rate for a super smooth navigation experience. 60Hz feels sluggish when you put it next to the Xiaomi Mi 10 series devices. The AMOLED DotDisplay also boast some of the best colour accuracy in the market with ΔE<1.1.

Watching movies is a joy with the highly advanced and fast display. Dual stereo speakers on the Mi 10 series devices helps boost the immersive experience. Unfortunately though the Xiaomi Mi 10 will not ship with a 3.5mm jack. Rather, you get a 3.5mm jack dongle in the box. That kind of sucks.

For you to enjoy hours of mindless video content the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 4,500 mAh battery and the Xiaomi Mi 10 comes with 4,780 mAh battery. The Mi 10 Pro has 50W fast charging that is able to charge from 0% to 100% in just 65 minutes; Impressive.

There will be three variants of the Mi 10, an 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM with 512GB of storage. Prices starting from RMB 3,999 that translates to about RM 2,373.

The Mi 10 Pro also has three variants starting with, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and lastly 12GB RAM + 512GB storage. Where the Mi 10 Pro starts at RMB 4,999 with roughly translates to about RM 2,966.

Business, News

More COVID-19 Casualties: Apple’s Q2 Earnings Taking a Punch

February 18, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The development on the Novel Coronavirus of 2019, now more commonly known as COVID-19, is on every headline for the past month or so. If you have not heard, the Mobile World Congress 2020 (MWC2020) that is supposed to open its doors soon was shut down due to the large health concerns. They are not alone though. The F1 GP to be held in China in about two months time has been cancelled via the request of the local organisers. If you missed our news, Acer’s Predator League 2020 set to happen at the end of this month is also cancelled due to health concerns.

All these are quite expected, to be fair. What is even worse is that plenty of factories in China had to close down or stop operating for the time being thanks to the vicious spread of the virus. One of those affected manufacturing plants are Apple’s contractor, Foxconn. That also means there is currently a global shortage of Apple iPhones. Of course, that is going to hit the market and Apple’s earnings a little bit.

For good measure, for their investors anyway, Apple just predicted that their Q2 revenue will be lower than the expected US$ 63 to 67 billion. If you are thinking that it cannot be that much lower for Apple to make an announcement like this, it looks quite bad from Apple’s side. Their prediction also says that they will not even make the lowest mark of the revenue estimates for Q2 of 2020.

At this time Apple is predicting up to a 36% difference between the expected shipment for Q2 2020 and the actual shipment number. Optimistically they are expecting a 29% difference. Still, that big of a difference in shipments is going to be quite a big hit to their revenue numbers.

Apple did not mention how big of an impact the plunge in shipment will make though. At this time we cannot comment too much into their reduced shipments or even predict how much they will lose in revenue for Q2 2020. To be fair, even our attention is mostly fixed on the development on COVID-19.

Sources: 9to5 Mac, Mac Rumors, Mashable

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