Category Archives: News

PRISM+ Officially Launches Their New Q Series Pro TVs – 86-inch 4K UHD TV for Less Than MYR 10,000? Yes, Please!

May 12, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

They say that your Television (TV) is the modern-day centerpiece of your living room. It becomes one of the first few furnitures that you get for a living room. It is your entertainment hub, and in the age of IoT (Internet of Things), your TV becomes your smart home’s central hub and control panel. It is no wonder that large format 4K UHD TVs is one of the first and biggest consideration when designing a home. In some cases, a modern living room is designed around your TV choices.

Choosing the right TV set for your home is not easy though. There are plenty of choices for a TV today, anywhere from the budget option to the premium option. In the world of TVs though, you get what you pay for. What if we tell you that you can get more than what you pay for?

If you have not heard of PRISM+, we cannot really blame you for it. It is, technically, a new player in the display industry. They made their mark in Malaysia back in 2021 by first releasing their 34-inch ultra-wide gaming monitor.

They have since grown strength to strength, launching new models catering to a larger variety of needs. Their growth can also be associated with the fact that their displays are some of the best valued displays you can find in the market. This is also translated when they started launching their Q series TV sets.

To be fair, they have launched their 86-inch Q Series Pro (Q86 PRO QE) TV before today. The 4K UHD TV packs Quantum IPS technology with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technology for a rather surprising price. At retail, the Prism+ TV will set you back MYR 8,999. An equivalent Quantum Dot TV from Samsung will set you back at least twice the price.

What if you need something smaller though? What about a 65-inch? Smaller? 55-inch perhaps?

PRISM+ now have a solution for you in the Q65 PRO QE, and Q55 PRO QE. They are practically the same products as the larger Q86 PRO QE that came before, but in smaller form factor’s to fit tighter spaces. They are perfect for smaller households and if you are just looking to add some flavour in your own rooms.

The QE in their naming refers to Quantum Edition, which also refers to the Quantum technology that you will get in the TVs. No, unfortunately it is not an OLED display that you are getting. Instead, you get the next best thing to OLED, IPS LCD display. You are still getting highly vivid colours while eliminating the risk of OLED burn-ins.

All of them are good for 4K UHD resolution at 60Hz, not 120Hz. 4K UHD 120Hz contents are reserved for the latest generation gaming consoles though, so you might not be missing out on much. At least you still get to experience 4K gaming in this case.

Still, what it lacks for in refresh rate, it makes up in image quality. The panel is rated for HDR10 with 1.07 billion colours, which also means you get excellent colour contrast. With the addition of Dolby Vision tuning, movies on the screen comes to life with even darker blacks, and brighter whites. You can even see those details in the dark in this case.

To ensure that your immersion stays true, you get Dolby Atmos tuned speakers to ensure you hear every little thing in all the right directions. Of course, if you can pair it to Dolby Atmos speakers, you get even better surround effects. You can plug your external speakers, soundbars, or sound system via Bluetooth 5.0, optical cable, or HDMI ARC connection.

It runs Android TV OS 10,0 too, the latest and greatest from Google currently. With Android TV 10.0, Google Chromecast is also built-in, allowing you to stream your smartphone contents to your TV whenever you want or need. Of course, with Android TV 10.0, you get Google Assistant built in as well. Instead of speaking into your remote though, the Prism+ Q Series PRO TVs come with far-field microphones so that you can command the TV to do whatever you need to it do from the comforts of your couch just via a “Hey Google”, or “Okay Google” command.

The PRISM+ Q55 PRO QE and Q65 PRO QE is now available on PRISM+ online store and all their online retail partners. Every purchase of the Q Series PRO TV will entitle you to exclusive free gifts, while stocks last. The 55-inch Q55 PRO QE will set you back MYR 2,399, while the 65-inch Q65 PRO QE retails at MYR 3,299. For more information on the Prism+ Q Series PRO TVs you can head over to their website.

Lifestyle, News

The SONOS Ray Redefines Compact Home Cinema

May 12, 2022 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

SONOS is no stranger to cinematic sound. The company has already released two soundbars – the SONOS Beam and the SONOS Arc. It’s now adding a new, more affordable option to its lineup with the SONOS Ray.

The new SONOS Ray is the company’s most compact soundbar to date. It’s also the most feature rich 3.0.0 soundbar in the lineup. The sound bar is only 55.9cm long and 95mm wide which allows it to blend in seamlessly into any room. In fact, it’s only 7.1 cm tall so you can even slot it into the small shelves in your living room or room centre console. Aesthetically, the SONOS Ray comes with SONOS’s signature, minimalist design with a perforated grill in two colours: Black and White.

The SONOS Ray inherits a lot of design cues from previous SONOS soundbars. It has LEDs embedded in its minimalist design for power and connectivity indication. Also along for the ride is the capacitive touch buttons we have grown used to in SONOS soundbars.

Aesthetics aside, the crux of the Ray lies in the audio innovations that allow it to immerse users into the content they’re consuming. It comes with SONOS’s proprietary bass reflex system which complements the professionally tuned sound that SONOS is known for. The Ray comes with two tweeters and two mid-woofers which complement the bass reflex system. It also has four Class-D digital amplifiers that have been tuned for the soundbar’s unique acoustic design. The hardware itself has been expertly tuned by SONOS’s soundboard – a collective of some of the audio industry’s top experts.

SONOS isn’t just letting the hardware do all the work. It’s also complementing the hardware with software features in the SONOS S2 application. Using the app, users can customise the sound profile of the SONOS Ray to fit their unique tastes. In fact, for the best audio experience with the Ray, users can use TruePlay in the app to calibrate the sound stage. This feature is only available on iOS for now. That said, both Android and iOS users are able to take advantage of features like Night Sound which dampens the sound stage so you don’t wake your sleeping child and Speech enhancement which lifts vocal audio and dialogue in your movies and series so you don’t miss out on anything said.

You get a lot of the same connectivity when it comes to the SONOS Ray. IT is able to connect to WiFi networks on the 2.4GHz band with support for 802.11a/b/g/n standards. It also is able to connect via Ethernet. However, unlike the Arc and the Beam, the Ray only connects through optical connectivity. There is no HDMI, USB or Aux support. According to SONOS, this allows the sound bar to be compatible with televisions released over the past 15 years. That said, it is more than likely that we’ll be seeing accessories to allow you to connect to the soundbar via HDMI etc in the near future.

Pricing & Availability

The SONOS Ray will be retailing for MYR1,799 in Malaysia. Internationally it will be priced at USD$279 in the US, CAD$329 in Canada, GBP£279 in the UK and EUR€299 in Europe.

It goes on pre-order in Malaysia starting at 4.05 am on May 12, 2022, in Malaysia and will be gl;obally available starting 24th June 2022.

Accessories, Computers, Gaming, News

AMD Announces the New Radeon RX 6950 XT – Same-Same, But Better in Every Way

May 11, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The GPU market today looks like a completely different one compared to the one we saw in the past two years. Stocks are normalising and gone are the ridiculous prices. To be fair, prices are still quite high for existing stocks, and the entire market is still in its recovery mode. We may have also suggested that it is a good time to build a new gaming PC, since prices are steadily on the fall and items are readily available.

It is a good time for chip makers to launch new products too, to recapture the market and to start normalising the prices of their items that are floating in the market now, albeit a little odd. It is a good time then for AMD to launch additions to their Radeon RX 6000 series. They launched the new Radeon RX 6650 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6950 XT. Guess which one we are interested in.

The Radeon RX 6650 XT and RX 6750 XT

They are still RDNA 2 GPUs, hence the RX 6000 series naming scheme. On paper, they are also just slight improvements to the RX 6600 XT and RX 6700 XT cards. As AMD puts it, they are more “enhancements” than anything else. You are supposed to get better Full HD 1080p (RX 6650 XT) and QHD 1440p (RX 6750 XT) performances out of both cards. Like their biggest brother, the RX 6950 XT, the new GPUS are also enhanced with the same sized but faster memory module than before. The speed boost could be quite significant in gaming performance though.

The Radeon RX 6950 XT

You guessed right; we are more interested in AMD’s most premium offering in the GPU market. The Radeon RX 6950 XT will set you back US$ 1,099, which is about the retail price of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, so you can sort of see where this is going now. The Radeon RX 6950 XT is a curious GPU though.

Despite its naming, AMD did not bother adding more compute cores to the Radeon RX 6950 XT GPU. It remains at 80 compute units, the same as the outgoing RX 6900 XT. There is no additional VRAM on the GPU either at 16GB. Despite those, the GPU demands a little bit more power at a typical 335W. In some early tests, the GPU can pull more than 400W at any given time. That could be result of a higher clock speed of 2,100 MHz (boost up to 2,310 MHz) on the compute units and a higher RAM speed at 18GBps.

You still get RDNA 2, AMD’s Infinity Cache technology, and Smart Access Memory from the GPU. Those has not changed much. You also get AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 support with the new GPU too. In supporting games, upscaling should look even better than before. DirectX 12 Ultimate is also supported, but unfortunately ray tracing performance will still pale in comparison to the NVIDIA GPUs with their dedicated ray tracing cores.

All of these should mean that you get quite a bit in boost in gaming performance. In some earlyu tests, performance numbers shows that the Radeon RX 6750 XT blew away its competition. Of course, you want to take those results with a pinch of salt. At the same time, you are also getting a boost in overall productivity performance if you are working with Adobe Creative Suite and other 3D software.

Price and Availability

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6950 XT is now available globally. Board partners are also expected to announce the availability of their cards soon. The GPUs are priced at US$ 399 (MYR 1,749)*, US$ 549 (MYR 2,407*), and US$ 1,099 (MYR 4,818*) respectively. MSI Malaysia has announced their AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6950 XT cards in Malaysia with no specific mentions of date and pricing as of now. More information on AMD’s new Radeon RX 6000 series cards can be found on their website.

*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.38 as of 11/05/2022 on xe.com

Business, Computers, News

Intel Launches Their Most Powerful Mobile Processors in the 12th Generation Core HX Processors

May 11, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Intel Vision 2022 is here! Their keynote was two hours long, but it was not for nothing. They touched on plenty of things that they are working on in the background. Most of it has to do with their corporate businesses and corporate initiatives. One of it though has to do with mobile workstations and that is one we were interested in. They announced the new 12^th Generation Core HX processors for workstations. In other words, they have released their most powerful mobile CPUs yet.

Intel already has their 12^th generation Intel Core processors on the mobile platform before this. While they are largely of similar build and architecture, they are different products, this Core HX one and the ones before. As Intel puts it, the Core HX is made for professionals and creators.

At the top, the 12^th generation Intel Core i9 with Core HX still packs up to 16 cores. Eight of the cores are efficiency cores while the rest are performance cores. In their forms, they are still the same 10nm processors with the new big-small architecture. The new Core HX processors also still support the same DDR5 at 4800MHz speeds where available.

12th Gen Intel Core HX Mobile Workstation Processors | Talking Tech | Intel Technology

Where the new Core HX differs to the outgoing 12^th generation Intel Core processors is in its multi-threaded performance. Intel claims that the Core HX delivers 65% more multi-threaded performance compared to the regular Core processors. 65% is a significant amount and important when it comes to creative use. It means less rendering and processing time in video production, 3D rendering, and even animation purposes. The 12^th generation Core HX processors, in this case, will see the most benefit in CAD, animation, and visual effect applications. How it will compare to team red is yet to be seen though.

Still, just because the Core HX processors are optimised to be workhorses in creative and professional applications, does not mean that Intel has forgotten their core strength. The Core HX processors are still powerful gaming processors at their hearts. Of course, if you are building a gaming rig, there are other Intel products that might suit you better, this one should be more of an all-rounder for those who needs the versatility.

With Core HX, Intel has introduced seven new processors in their 12^th generation Core line-up. The seven new processors are spread out between the Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 offerings. Because they are mobile processors, we will have to wait and see what Intel’s manufacturing partners can come up with later in the year with the Core HX solutions. For more information on Intel’s Core HX processors, you can visit their website.

Lifestyle, News, Social Media

Instagram is Embracing NFTs, You Can Show Your NFTs on Instagram Soon!

May 10, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Love it or hate it, NFT is here to stay for a while. If you are not familiar yet, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) really took off in the past year. It started out as something of a trading alternative for artists in the digital space. It also stems from cryptocurrency, which is another completely different and large topic on its own.

The rise of NFTs does pave plenty of ways for artists and content creators to make millions in a matter of minutes, faster than ever before. There are always two sides of the coin though. Some may like the idea of NFT, some opposed it and thinks that NFT is just a fad. Then again, cryptocurrency is not everyone’s cup of tea either.

Instagram seems to be one that hopes that the NFT trend could boost their own popularity though. To be fair, this should not be something new. Instagram has been contemplating on allowing the sharing of NFTs on their platform for a while now. Recently, the thoughts have been put to action as announced by Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri via Twitter and Instagram Reels.

This does not mean that Instagram is going to be a marketplace for NFTs though. It is a mere platform to showcase owned NFTs. According to Adam, there will be additional information provided with NFT postings. Information like who owns the NFT, for example, will be essential and shared with the posts. He also added that NFTs can be posted and shared across the platform without additional fees or costs.

NFTs on Instagram 🎉

This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG.

See you next week! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/VuJbMVSBDr

Still, you do want to take Instagram’s stance on NFTs with a pinch of salt though. Adam Mosseri’s post says that they are just beginning the tests with a handful of creators and NFT owners. That also means that not all users might get to share their NFT contents just yet. It could pave a way for Instagram to become one of the NFT marketplaces in the future, depending on how its users receive the feature. For now, it will act like a gallery for NFT placements. If you wish to buy NFTs, you still should head to the appropriate marketplaces to make your purchases or bids.

What do you think about NFTs? Is this the right move for Instagram? Would you share your digital collectible on Instagram? Would you even buy NFTs off Instagram? Comment below!

Android, Mobile, News

TECNO Enters the Malaysian Smartphone Market with Their Phantom X Flagship Smartphone at MYR 1,499

May 9, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Before we go on, no we haven’t heard too much of TECNO. Yes, technically TECNO is new to the smartphone industry. Yes, it is TECNO’s first smartphone to enter Malaysia. No, we do not know why any new players would want to compete in the current smartphone market landscape.

Now we got that out of the way, let us look at what they just came up with, the Phantom X. Well, when we said they just came up with it, the device was technically launched by TECNO in the middle of 2021. The said device launched first in India and the later to the rest of the world, now Malaysia. While it is a new device in Malaysia, it is technically an outdated device by the time we get our hands on one. No matter though, modern outdated devices are still full of features and are still good enough to at least last a few software updates, so it is not like you are missing out on that much.

It is priced at MYR 1,499, which is relatively little ask for a modern smartphone by any standards. While the price range puts it squarely in the entry-level mid-range smartphone segment, TECNO claims that this device is, in fact, a flagship smartphone. At least on paper, the device looks the part.

Flagship Performance

RM 1,499 buys you a MediaTek Helio G95 System on A Chip (SoC). While it does not sound like much, the MediaTek 12nmm SoC is still powerful enough to perform like modern flagships (not necessarily in gaming terms). Sadly, it does not support 5G. Then again, how many smartphones in the sub-MYR 1,500 category does?

Alongside the SoC, there is 8GB of RAM that can be expanded to up to 13GB. The extra 5GB is borrowed from 256GB of on-board storage that is offered on the device. If 256GB of storage feels a little constrictive, you can also expand via the dedicated MicroSD card slot that is more of feature now than anything else.

Immersive Display

Wrapping the internals are 3D curved glass panels that is held together an aluminium frame, an industry standard today. Out the front is a Corning Gorilla Glass that encases 6.7-inch of AMOLED goodness. The AMOLED panel offers Full HD+ in resolution and up to 90Hz in refresh rate. In theory, the combination should give you a smooth and immersive experience with Android 11 with HIOS 7.6 overlay.

5 Cameras

Parked on the top left side of the display is a punch hole that houses two cameras. It is one high-resolution 48-Megapixel main selfie camera for those extra crisp and detailed self-portraits. For a group photo, you get an 8-Megapixel ultrawide shooter beside it.

Out the first-in-industry etched textured glass back are three cameras. The main shooter is an impressive 50-Megapixel camera with a large 1/1.3-inch sensor for the best-in-class image clarity and detail. It should perform better in low-light conditions too, with a larger sensor to capture more light naturally. The main camera is flanked with a 120^o ultra-wide camera with 8-Megapixel sensor behind the glass. There is also a 13-Megapixel telephoto sensor at 50mm, which we can safely say is a more of a portrait lens than anything else.

Long Battery Life

To keep everything running all day long and more is a large 4,700mAh built-in battery. The battery is rated to last up to 30 days in standby conditions, up to 16 hours in video streaming, and even 9 hours in continuous video conferencing. When your battery is running low, you get up to 33W in charging speeds as well to charge your device from nothing to full within an hour.

Price and Availability

The TECNO Phantom X is now available at all their authorised stores and retailers across Malaysia. As mentioned, the device is priced at MYR 1,499. You can get your hands on one in two colour options – Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Monet’s Summer. To celebrate TECNO’s entry into Malaysia and its launch of the Phantom X, the first 2,000 buyers of the device are entitled to a complementary TECNO buds wireless earphones. For more information on the TECNO Phantom X, you can visit their website.

Computers, Lifestyle, News

Lenovo Launches the Yoga Slim 9i– Carbon Neutrality is Really a Thing

May 6, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Being environmentally friendly and creating products that fits the bill should not be something new. It is, however, now cool to do it. Take the recently launched Acer Aspire Vero National Geographic Edition for example, even a world renown organisation dedicated to global preservation recognises Acer’s effort in reducing their carbon footprint.

Acer is not the only company that is jumping on the ecologically friendly product bandwagon though. Dell has quietly been on that bandwagon for a while now, not the extremes of Acer, but they have been cutting down wherever they can. Now, we can add Lenovo to that list.

They have launched the new Yoga Slim 9i, a flagship that is created with carbon neutrality in mind. In fact, Lenovo’s new flagship thing-and-light has been certified as a carbon neutral product by TÜV Rheinland. They have also launched the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 series built for creators who are constantly on the move.

Carbon Neutral is Cool

Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
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Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo

It is the first laptop device in the world to be certified by TÜV Rheinland as a carbon neutral product. How? Lenovo never specified how. We speculate that Lenovo must have somehow offset the carbon footprint of the product in one way or another since they did not claim that the laptop has been made with recycled or recyclable materials.

While eco-friendliness can often be associated with lower build qualities and lack of durability, this is not the case with the Yoga Slim 9i. As its name suggests, the flagship laptop device is 14.9mm thick, or thin, depending on how you see it. The slim and svelte body is encased in durable 3D glass with smooth contours just to make sure that the laptop is comfortable in your hands.

The high-end device packs a 14-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and boasts up to 4K in resolution. It is an OLED PureSight display too so colours are sure to be as vibrant and true as they can be on the laptop. The OLED panel is also a Vesa Certified Display HDR True Black 500 and 10-bit colour depth to get a good 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. The vibrant and immersive display is supported also by a powerful Bowers and Wilkins speakers for a great audio experience.

Inside the premium chassis, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i packs a lot of punch with Intel’s 12^th Generation Core processors with Intel EVO certification. It also packs something called Lenovo A.I. Core 2.0 to automatically optimise performances and secure the laptop. It also ensures that the fans are always spinning adequately enough to ensure that your laptop always stays cool.

Prices and Availability

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i will be available in a few configurations. You can get it with an Intel Core i7 or an Intel Core i5. Both devices pack Intel’s Iris Xe graphics technology. You can also get spec it with either a 2.8K or 4K OLED display. It also only comes in one colour option, not black, they call it Oatmeal. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i will be available in the United States (U.S.) starting June 2022 onward for US$ 1,799 (MYR 7,865*). There are no confirmations on its local availability or prices so far.

*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.37 as of 06/05/2022 on xe.com

Camera, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

[Snap Summit 2022] The US$ 229.99 Pixy is Prove that Selfie Drones are Not a Fad

April 29, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

A few years ago, on Kickstarter and a few other crowdsourcing platforms, we saw something quite intriguing. We saw a small drone that is supposed to be sold to consumers. It is made to eliminate the need for selfie sticks, allowing self-portrait subjects a free range of movements in their own photos. It allows them to have a more flexible control on the frame of the photos. We thought that it was brilliant and odd at the same time. The idea never really took off anywhere though, at least until now. Snap, the people behind Snapchat (obviously), introduces a new hardware for Snapchat users, the Pixy.

The idea of Pixy is nothing new. Ever since DJI started selling consumer grade drones that is smaller than smartphones, the idea of using a drone to capture selfies has been born. It makes a lot of sense too since with a drone, you have a larger creative canvas anyway. You can push it further than you physically can with a selfie stick and bring it closer when you need it to. Like what DJI does with their drones, a flying camera can also be a personal vlogging camera that gives you the full motion of both your hands.

That is basically what Pixy is. It is a pocket-sized, free-flying personal camera that you can take with you anywhere you go. Unlike DJI drones, it does not come with a comprehensive remote. It is made to be used quickly and seamlessly, so we assume that you can control it with your smartphone. We suspect also that the controls on the smartphone could be limited since Snap has mentioned in their release that the Pixy can fly in four preset flight paths. Once you set the flight path, you should not need to look at your smartphone until you are done with it.

Unlike DJI’s devices as well, the Pixy is made with less powerful motors, because it is a simpler and lighter compact drone anyway. Because of that, they designed the Pixy to take off and land on your hands instead of the ground.

We also assume that the Pixy is going to be fully controlled via the Snapchat app. Snap says that the Pixy will be a companion device to the app in the future. All videos and photos from the drone can be transferred to a smartphone device wirelessly to be saved into Snapchat Memories. Everything captured via the Pixy can also be edited on the Snapchat app itself.

The Pixy is now available in the United States and France only. There are no mentions on its availability elsewhere, but we expect that the Pixy will at least make a few more markets in the North American and European regions. It will set you back US$ 229.99 (MYR 1,001*). If you are planning to get one somehow, do check with the local laws to ensure you do not get into trouble taking a selfie. More information on the Pixy can be found on their website.

*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.35 as of 28/04/2022 on xe.com

Camera, Lifestyle, News

Sony Introduces the Most Compact and Lightest F2.8 Standard Zoom Lens, The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master II (SEL2470GM2) is Here

April 28, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Before we go on; yes, Sony already had a 24-70mm lens with a G Master branding on it. Yes, it was also rather expensive. Yes, it shoots rather pretty photos. Also yes, it shoots nicer than the standard Sony 24-70 F4 G lens. So why do we need another 24-70 F2.8?

Because it is a better one than before.

More Compact, More Portable

They call the new one the FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II, or code named SEL2470GM2. It is much lighter than before with about 20% of weight shaved off from the previous lens. It now sits pretty in your bag, or hand, at less than 700 grams.

If you put it beside the first iteration of Sony’s highly acclaimed 24-70mm G Master, you can see how much effort Sony puts into the Mk. II in terms of weight saving too. It is a much smaller lens overall. It is shorter by 16mm and much slimmer than before too, about 18% slimmer than before. With all the weight shavings, Sony can claim that this is the lightest and most compact lens of its kind, at least for the time being.

More Speed, More Performance

Smaller size does not mean that Sony has compromised on its performance though. They have managed to first improve its autofocusing (AF) ability. It is still the same Extreme Dynamic (XD) Linear motors working on the AF mechanism, but iis now much faster than before. It can support up to 30fps in continuous still shooting and up to 4K 120fps in video recording mode. That might not sound like a lot, but it is mighty impressive to work with in this sort of lens. Sony also claims that the AF tracker is about twice as precise than before.

For the videographers, Sony is making the 24-70mm G Master an even better lens to work with. Thanks to a newly developed aperture unit (now with 11 aperture blades instead of 9), AF operations is quieter than before. The improved motors have also reduced focus breathing, focus shift, and axial shift when zooming to ensure that you get a nice, smooth, immersive video footages when it matters. Of course, you still can work with manual zoom if you want.

Better Elements, Better Images

They managed to fit better glasses in this compact form too. Sony first treated the lens with a Nano AR Coating II. This is to reduce reflections on the glass that in turn reduces lens flares. The new glasses within the lens also allows the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master II to produce photos with beautiful depth effect in all sorts of zoom range. At the same time. The new lens also allows a shorter focusing distance at 0.21 and 0.30 meters at its minimum (@24mm and 70mm respectively) with up to .32x magnification.

All this is achieved through the five aspherical elements found in the lens. There are two high-precision extreme aspherical glass elements paired with two extra-low dispersion glass elements and one floating focus mechanism. The combination of elements also allows the lens to capture photos with high-resolution even at the edges of the photos.

More Precise, More Control

To top it all off, Sony has made improvements on the lens body itself to give users more control over the lens. There is a zoom smoothness switch on the zoom ring to adjust its smoothness now. There are two customisable focus hold buttons in the lens as well. At the same time, some work has been done on the focus ring to make it just a touch more responsive for better manual focus controls. They have also managed to shift the weight balance further back, toward the camera flange end to allow for better ergonomic and camera control in free-handed shooting conditions.

Price and Availability

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master II lens will be available in Malaysia from 5^th of June 2022 onward. There are no mentions on prices just yet. We are guessing that the price should not be too far off the current FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master though. There could also be a price drop for the original standard zoom lens, so you might want to look out for a bargain for something that is still quite stellar. More information on the FE 24-70mm F2.8 G Master II can be found on their website.

Android, Gaming, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

POCO Launches Their Latest Flagship, the F4 GT at MYR 2,299

April 27, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

These days, when you talk flagship, you think about devices that cost at least MYR 3,000 and above. Anything below that price range is usually categorised as mid-range smartphones. They are usually specced as such too, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 700 series, 6-8GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. Not this one though. It is priced as a mid-range smartphone, but on paper, it is a flagship.

First, the POCO F4 GT packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the most powerful system on a chip (SoC) you can find in an Android smartphone currently. Sure, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is rumoured to come some time soon. Until then, the Gen 1 is still the most powerful SoC you can find on an Android. The powerful SoC is supported by up to 12GB of speedy LPDDR5 RAM with up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage for snappy operations.

They say that it is made for mobile gaming. To ensure that the SoC stays cool for extended gaming sessions then, they have something they call LiquidCool Technology 3.0. The technology large dual vapor chambers to ensure that heat from the SoC can be quickly and efficiently transferred and dissipated elsewhere on the device.

Out the front is an expansive and immersive 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 10-bit colours. With up to 120Hz, your interface should feel smoother than running a hot knife through butter. At up to 480Hz of touch sampling rate, every touch should feel more instant and more responsive than ever before. Of course, with DisplayMate’s A+ rating, this display should be great with movies too.

Out the back is a 64-Megapixel main shooter which should be enough in most cases. Of course, most of the time, you are really taking 12-Megapixel photos unless you tell your camera that you want to shoot in 64-Megapixel mode. The powerful camera is supported by an 8-Megapixel ultra-wide shooter and a 2-Megapixel macro camera. Out the front is a 20-Megapixel selfie shooter for when you need to stream or when you just want to capture a clear selfie.

To keep everything running nicely an entire day and more is a 4,700mAh battery inside the device. It is also the first battery in POCO’s device range to offer 120W HyperCharge charging speed. The device can be fully charged in just 27 minutes. Charging your device at 120W at all times can destroy the battery pretty quickly though, so POCO’s AdaptiveCharge feature cleverly keeps your battery from overcharging to prolong its shelf life.

Alongside the POCO F4 GT, POCO also launched their new Buds Pro Genshin Impact Edition with a rather special design throwing homage to the ever so popular mobile game. They also launched the POCO Watch, their first ever smartwatch cum fitness tracker. It does not run on the Wear OS.

The POCO F4 GT is available in three colour options from 28^th of April 2022 onward. You can choose between Stealth Black, Knight Silver, and Cyber Yellow colour options. You can also choose between an 8GB + 128GB variant and a 12GB + 256GB variant for MYR 2,299 and MYR 2,499 respectively. If you purchase your device on the 28^th of April 2022 on either Shopee or Lazada, you can get your device for MYR 1,999 and MYR 2,199 respectively. The POCO Buds Pro Genshin Impact Edition and POCO Watch will be available for MYR 299 and MYR 249 respectively on the same date. More information on the new POCO devices can be found on their website.

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