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Sony Walkman NW-A306 In-Depth Review – Hi-Res Audio for the Budget Audiophile

April 11, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The Sony Walkman brand started in 1979 with personal battery powered cassette players. That was genesis for the portable audio industry, one of the first personal audio player small enough to fit in your pockets. The boom in the stereoscopic headphone industry can also be attributed to that.

In 2001, Apple brought their famous iPod to market. When that launched, the iPod became the household name for portable audio. All the other brands, including Sony’s Walkman, had to take a backseat.

Today, something like an iPod is ‘old-fashioned’. You can store lossless audio files and even play them on a modern smartphone. There are many streaming platforms today as well offering you music and even podcasts at the same time.

For all of these, you trade audio quality for convenience. Proper audio processors will make your smartphones bigger. Your streaming platforms use highly compressed audio for better economy, latency, and efficient storage.

For audiophiles and purists though, convenience is a hindrance to purity and greatness. A dedicated media player is always the way to go. Sony’s Walkman is still one of the biggest brands in this space. In the Walkman stables, there are also options to fit different budgets.

One of their latest additions to the Walkman family is the NW-A306, a mid-range media player for enthusiasts. It packs Android 12, like a smartphone. It is an extra device in your gear bag that will set you back MYR 1,599. In that case, is this relevant? Is it even worth the asking price?

Design

It looks like a rather compact and thick smartphone. Thanks to Android 12, it feels like an actual smartphone. Unlike a smartphone though, this has more buttons than the usual on/off an volume rocker buttons.

The front of the device is a glass plane protecting a 3.6-inch LCD panel and Sony branding at the bottom. The camera-less ridged back plate with a Walkman badge carved into it is aluminium. The ridge is meant to improve grip, we think. We reckon that a cheap silicon case would do a better job.

The sides are also aluminium like the back plate. On the right side of the device is where all your media and volume control buttons are. There is also a ‘hold’ toggle to prevent accidental presses. The entire device speaks quality and feels rigid, durable.

You can only get the NW-A306 in boring ol’ black. It is not meant to attract attention though. We would go so far to say that the Sony NW-A306 is meant to be subtle and stealthy.

Hardware

Sony does not mention the sort of processor inside the device. It is made with audio in mind though. For that, Sony has several effects processors inside for better audio reproduction and immersive effects.

Specifications

Sony NW-A306
Audio Playback	MP3 32-320kbps/32, 44.1, 48kHz WMA 32-320kbps/44.1kHz, 32-48kbps/44.1kHz FLAC 16, 24bit/8-384kHz WAV 16, 24, 32bit/8-384kHz AAC 16-320kbps/8-48kHz HE-AAC 32-144kbps/8-48kHz Apple Lossless 16, 24bit/8-384kHz AIFF 16, 24, 32bit/8-384kHz DSD 1bit/2.8224, 5.6448, 11.2896 MHz APE 8, 16, 24bit/8-192kHz MQA
Headphone Out Jack	20-40,000 Hz 35mW+35mW Max Power Output
Display	3.6-inch 720p (1280 x 720) TFT LCD with LED backlight
Memory	32GB Internal Storage Expandable via MicroSD
Interface	Android 12
Battery	Unspecified capacity Max. 36 hours (MP3), Min. 14 hours (DSD 1bit/11.2896 MHz)
Miscellaneous	USB Type-C (USB3.2 Gen1) Bluetooth 5.0 (A2DP, AVRCP, SPP, OPP, DID) LDAC AptX AptX HD DSEE Ultimate Vinyl Processor ClearAudio+ 360 Reality Audio Hi-Res Audio Hi-Res Audio Wireless 10-band equaliser

Features

You can upload MP3 files in the thousands, which would be a waste. You want FLAC or WAV format in the NW-A306 to get the best out of it. If you can, you want DSD format audio for it.

Android 12 Interface

Android is a familiar interface. Everything is intuitive and where you expect to find them. Even if it is not the most updated Android 13, it is familiar and simple to work with.

You still get Bluetooth and WiFi, but that is about it for connectivity. You will not be able to customize too much in terms of your back, recent apps, and home button too. But they are there, like a regular Android.

You can access Google Play Store. You can install Netflix and Prime Video, but you watch movies at HD resolution and on a miniscule screen, we do not recommend it. You can install other media players for it if you want alongside Spotify and Tidal.

DSD Audio Playback

All the NW-A306’s hardware goes into supporting one of the best lossless audio formats you can get. While technically you do not lose too much audio artifact through 32-bit FLAC and WAV formats, you still lose some artifact thanks to limited sampling rate at up to 384 KHz. That is not the case for DSD format.

The specific DSD format the NW-A306 plays is up to DSD 256, or DSD 11.2 Mhz. Whichever way you look at it, 11,289,600 Hz is plenty more than 384,000 Hz, meaning you get a lot more detail in your audio. FLAC and WAV formats offer better depth though. At up to 32-bit, you technically have much higher volume floors offering more powerful and full low-end sounds. Even then, 1-bit DSD 256 format audio contains somewhat more detail and with the right headphones, you might prefer it.

The difference is marginal and might not sound too different over untrained ears. You also need quality headphones with neutral and balanced drivers to tell the difference. Sony does not include any earphones with the NW-A306.

Direct, or Processed

The amount of customization and upscaling you can get from Sony’s media player is nothing short of astonishing. If you thought that Sony’s wireless headphones do well in upscaling audio, you might want to try one of these with a decent pair of headphones.

You get DSEE Ultimate, DC Phase Linearizer, Dynamic Normaliser, Vinyl Processor, and if you are too lazy to find out what you like; you get ClearAudio+ to cleverly transform your music listening experience via a single toggle. If you do not like any of those upscaling artifacts, you can even get to bypass all of Sony’s filters and effects via Direct Source mode or tune it to your personal preference with a 10-band equalizer.

We are not going to go into the technical bits of each effect that Sony offers. All you need to know is that each effect offers a different enhancement to your audio and some of them are pretty self-explanatory. Vinyl processor for example, offers a vinyl like listening experience which adds some warmth and reverb into your audio. We simply turned on ClearAudio+, which will turn off access to every other individual effect.

ClearAudio+ offers Sony’s DSEE Extreme, and other clever AI based effects to enhance your audio from a single toggle. You get more details in your music and the algorithm boosts your volumes a little too. Without ClearAudio+, we set the media player at more than 80% volume. With ClearAudio+, we only need to turn it up to 75% at the maximum.

Sony’s clever DSEE and ClearAudio+ does not just work for the regular DSD or FLAC audio you put into your media player. It also works for the music streaming apps like Spotify and Tidal. You can turn on Hi-Res streaming and the NW-A306 will cleverly upscale your output to 192kHz/32-bit quality.

Your Portable DAC

If you plug it into your PC via a USB cable, you might see a DAC mode on offer. It is not the straightforward plug-and-play solution we expected though. You want to have Sony’s Music Center app for your PC, or Hi-Res Audio Player for Mac. On PC, you are limited to 32-bit 48kHz input/output, which is not quite Hi-Res. Once you have your app installed, and you plug in your device to the PC or Mac via USB, and then select USB DAC mode, you must go into the Walkman app and find “USB DAC” button on the main library screen. Only once you activate DAC mode from there then only you can start enjoying it as your DAC.

With the NW-A306 as your DAC your music listening experience is transformed and you really feel like you are listening to a completely different device even with Tidal and Spotify. You get a much wider sound stage and improved dynamics. Your highs and lows are more distinct and plenty more detailed. You even get deeper lows and better volumes out of your PC.

There is a small matter of delay though. Pressing play on your Tidal or Spotify player takes about a second for the action to turn into audio. It is negligible for music, but it may not be ideal for Gaming or Movies.

Bluetooth Audio + LDAC + Qualcomm aptX HD

Unlike plenty of traditional media players, the Walkman can be used with Bluetooth enabled headphones. It is not just Sony’s headphones though. You can use it with any Bluetooth headphones. We tested it with the Sony WH-1000XM4.

The WH-1000XM4 is not a Qualcomm device with aptX HD chip. Instead, it works with Sony’s proprietary LDAC for the best possible Bluetooth audio experience. If you do have any other headphones that supports aptX HD though, you can work with the media player.

While it is Bluetooth enabled, the sound quality is only as good as Bluetooth 5.0 allows it to be. It also highly depends on the version and calibration of the Bluetooth gear. We think that using a wireless set-up with the NW-A306 is not the best. It is convenient though.

360 Reality Audio

The NW-A306 is marketed to be capable of 360 Reality Audio. The effects of the surround sound are highly dependent on your listening gear too. You want to have a compatible set-up for this. The WH-1000XM4, for example, is sufficiently capable.

We can also only get 360 Reality Audio music and audio from Tidal at this time. That also means that you have to rely on using Tidal to take advantage of 360 Reality Audio. The Walkman app refuses to play 5-channel FLAC and DSD audio files.

We spoke about 360-Reality Audio at length when we reviewed the WH-1000XM4. In that case, we are not going to elaborate on the 360 Reality Audio experience here. In short, we like it.

Performance – There is a Difference

The NW-A306 is not a gimmick. Even at this price range, there is an actual difference between listening to audio with this media player over your modern smartphones. That does not only come from us.

We pitted the NW-A306 against a modern smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and used Tidal as the benchmark. We used a Shure SE535 in-ear monitor earphones on both devices with custom cable from KZ. For the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, we used a USB Type-C to 3.5mm DAC adapter from UGreen.

Smartphone Versus NW-A306

Even with Tidal, there are differences. You get slightly more dynamic range from the NW-A306 than you get on the smartphone. Volumes do not necessarily differ all that much between the two devices, but you get more granular control over volume with the media player. There are also slightly more details in the music on the NW-A306.

Just so that we eliminate any fanboy bias, we let others test the NW-A306 against the smartphone. Most are not able to define the difference, but they preferred the listening experience from the Sony media player. While there are differences, they are so marginal that most might consider it negligible.

Going Hi-Res

Once we get to FLAC and DSD files though, the media player makes more sense. Those who have tested the media player with FLAC and DSD audio reports that you get a significant boost in sound quality. Most of them also prefers DSD audio formats than FLAC. To be fair, we could only get our hands on 24-bit/192kHz FLAC files at the maximum while the DSD files go up to 11.2MHz at 1-bit.

With FLAC, WAV, and DSD format audio, you are getting a tremendous amount of detail pumped into your ears. You get a full sense of width and depth of the dynamic range with these files. You are technically getting CD quality sounds and better. Audio is not just accurate; it also sounds great and clean.

Some Electronic Interference

It is not perfect though. There is still some electronic hiss that goes through to the headphones. You are likely going to put your audio levels at about 70 – 75% volume and the hiss is noticeable at those volume ranges. Once you start playing your music though, the hiss disappears behind the music.

Only 10-Band?

You can switch off ClearAudio+ to select the effects you want and tune your audio via the 10-band equalizer. We think that Sony could give us more than 10-band in their equalizer option for even more control. This is still better than what you get with your Sony Music app on your smartphone though.

Battery Life

Sony says you can get 36 hours of non-stop music playing time with MP3 music. If you play DSD 11.2MHz files exclusively, you only get 14 hours of playback time. This is also considering that you are using a wired 3.5mm jack headphone. That easily covers an entire flight from Kuala Lumpur to London for example.

In our tests, we have not been able to extend the battery life to 14 hours while playing FLAC and DSD files. We estimated that the battery can last up to 10-12 hours in a single full charge at least in our test with music played through the Walkman app. We do recon that you can get about 14 hours of playback time out of it though if you keep your screen turned off while playing music.

The Sony NW-A306 – You Do Not Need it, But You Kind of Want It

At MYR 1,599, it is not what we will call a budget or even sensible buy. While it does sound better than the regular ol’ smartphone, it is marginal if you are only relying on music streaming platforms like Spotify and Tidal. To most, the difference is not enough to justify spending MYR 1,599 for an extra piece of kit to carry. The tiny HD resolution display is not exactly the best to enjoy Netflix and Video Prime on. To source for FLAC or DSD files is an effort too.

When you make the extra effort though, the NW-A306 makes sense. You get an elevated music experience over smartphones. It is no larger than a modern smartphone, making it rather portable. You have the convenience of wireless headphones but spending extra money on a great pair of wired headphones gets you an uncompromised listening experience. You can even use it as a DAC for your PC. If you can appreciate all of that, MYR 1,599 now seems more reasonable.

Is it relevant? We think it is. It is made for those who do not want to compromise too much on sound quality – audiophiles. It is for those who want to keep their devices separate from each other by function. It is for those who want no distraction from their music, a sort of separation between work and enjoyment.

At MYR 1,599, this NW-A306 is reasonably accessible. There are going to be other costs that is attached to buying this music player. You are going to have to spend more on a decent pair of wired headphones. You are also going to be spending a little bit of money on your music collection. Thing is, if audio quality is everything to you, it is worth it.

Android, Mobile, Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S23+ In-Depth Review: Refinement at Its Best For A Price

March 28, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Samsung’s back at it again with the new Galaxy S23 series. A new flagship experience which sees the S23 Ultra outshine the S23 and S23+. The plus variant of the Galaxy S series has always been that perfect bowl of porridge that packs the right updates, has the right features and is priced to win. That’s the legacy of the plus variant when it comes to Galaxy S.

That said, with Samsung’s immense emphasis on the S23 Ultra, why are we looking at the S23+? The simple answer is that we’re interested to see whether Samsung’s iterative approach to their flagship series has paid off. Is the S23+ THE PHONE to get when it comes to that fine balance between features and budget? Or has it left the S23+ with a case of middle child syndrome; being left to fend for itself?

Design

Samsung’s new Galaxy S23+ continues the company’s iterative formula when it comes to smartphones. As such, when it comes to design, the company has done little to change the overall look and feel of the smartphone. The big difference you’ll notice off the bat is the lack of the sleek, iconic camera cut-out we saw on the S22+. Instead, Samsung has decided to streamline the design by removing it. The S23+ comes with a completely flush and flat back. Even the camera modules are only just raised to protect the lenses. Aside from the camera modules, the only other thing of note on the back of the smartphone is the Samsung brand emblazoned on the lower portion of it.

On the front, the AMOLED 2X display covers nearly the whole face of the smartphone. It’s near edge to edge with little to no interruptions. The S23+ continues to have rounded corners but, this year, Samsung has opted to do away with the rounded edges on the phone itself. While the display does melt into the sides, the frame itself is angular. It may seem a little less ergonomic at first, but the sharp edges do provide a more sturdy grip. But be careful when you’re using it lying down, it can be painful when it comes for a close-up with your face. (Yes, the phone did meet my face a few times during the review period).

Hardware

Samsung’s approach to the new Galaxy S23+ brings most of the same specifications to the S22+. There are some notable changes, however, it looks like the company believes that a focus on the user experience will benefit them more than bumping the actual specifications of the smartphone – and truth be told, they may be one step closer to getting a solid user experience with their approach, but we’ll expand more on that in User Experience section.

Specifications

Processor	Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm) [Octa-Core: 1×3.36GHz Cortex X3, 2×2.8GHz Cortex A715, 2×2.8 GHz Cortex A710, 2×2.0 GHz Cortex A510]
RAM	*8GB (As Tested)*
Memory	*256GB (As Tested)* 512GB
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)	Adreno 740
Display	Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel 6.6-inch (~393 ppi) 1080×2340 pixels FHD+ resolution 19.5:9 Aspect Ratio 120Hz Refresh rate HDR10+ 1200 nits peak brightness
Operating System	Android 13 with One UI 5.1
Battery	4,700mAh Fast Charging (45W) Fast Wireless Charging (15W) Reverse Wireless Charging (4.5W) USB-PD 3.0
Connectivity	Nano SIM 5G/4G LTE/EVDO/HSPA/CDMA/GSM Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e TriBand WiFi GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS A2DP Bluetooth 5.3 OTG Support USB 3.2 (Type-C)
Camera	REAR: Triple Sensor: 50-Megapixel (Wide) f/1.8, 1/1.56″, 24mm, 1.0µm Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) 10-Megapixel (Telephoto) f/2.4, 1/3.94″, 70mm, 1.0µm Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) 3x Optical Zoom 12-Megapixel (Ultrawide) f/2.2, 1/2.55”, 13mm, 120˚FOV, 1.4µm Super Steady Video LED Flash Auto-HDR Panorama 8K Video recording (24/30fps) 4K Video recording (30/60fps) 1080p Video recording (30/60/240fps) 1080p Video recording (960fps) Gyro-electronic image stabilization (EIS) Stereo Sound Recording HDR10+ FRONT: 12-Megapixel (Wide) f/2.2, 26mm, 1.22µm Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) 4K video recording (30/60fps) 1080p (30fps)
Sensor	Accelerometer Proximity Fingerprint (Ultrasonic, under display) Gyroscope Compass Barometer
Miscellaneous	Dual SIM/eSIM
Retail Price (Malaysia)	MYR 4,699 (256GB) MYR 5,199 (512GB)
Retail Price (US)	USD$ 999.99 (128GB) USD$ 1,199.99 (256GB)

User Experience

You will realise that we’ll be talking a lot about the user experience when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S23+. That’s simply because when it comes down to it, the smartphone remains nearly identical to the S22+ when it comes to hardware. However, the lack of an improvement in the hardware itself has translated into one of the best experiences we’ve had with a Samsung flagship since the Galaxy Note5; and we don’t say that lightly.

Samsung’s focus on optimising One UI 5.1 for the Galaxy S23 series pays off in droves when it comes to the vanilla S23 and the S23+. While it comes with the same interface and overall experience we expect from a Samsung device, the S23+ feels better thought out from a software perspective than even the S22+. The software brings features that complement the overall experience.

The first place you will notice this improvement is with the booting up of the smartphone. It takes less time for the Galaxy S23+ to boot than the S22+ and even the Fold 4. After the initial setup, a reboot took less than 2 minutes. In addition, Samsung has found a way to make loading up widgets on your home screen more seamless and fluid. You don’t have the flickering and stuttering of widgets like before, instead, they load one after the other.

Aside from this, Samsung has made Android 13’s their own. Their personalization interface is more streamlined and easier to use. Everything is accessible on just one screen and you have more control over colours and accents that will appear on your Galaxy smartphone. However, when it comes to customisations, you’ll need Samsung’s Good Lock app to unlock more possibilities.

Personalisation & Good Lock

Personalisation is getting a huge upgrade with the rollout of Samsung’s Good Lock app. The app brings modules that supercharge personalization options beyond some of the most customizable experiences on Android. The app brings features like an even more customisable One UI Home Screen, Lock screen and even notifications.

Samsung’s level of customization in the Good Lock app is impressive. We were able to create home screens with widgets that looked like seamless wallpapers. You could even create more actionable notifications on your lock screen. Every detail from the notification shade, the sidebar activation and even the grid layout of your home and app screens can be customized with Good Lock.

That said, the extensive customisation is only available after navigating what can be a daunting list of modules to enable it. What’s more, once you’ve downloaded the modules, you’ll have to navigate another extensive menu of options. This will more than likely put off regular users. Power users, on the other hand, will welcome these menus and appreciate the level of personalisation that they offer. In our honest opinion, the overall experience can be streamlined with more streamlined menus and a more graphical interface within the Good Lock modules.

Performance

It goes without saying that we are expecting best-in-class performance when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S23+. The processor alone comes with a near 30% performance bump from last year’s on paper. However, as we all already know, improvements on paper don’t necessarily translate to user experience but that isn’t really the case with this particular smartphone. Samsung has instead only upgraded the phone’s processor to the more capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and also the selfie camera with a larger 12-megapixel sensor. Somehow, just the bump in the processor has led to an exponentially improved battery life and also smoother performance overall.

Multitasking, Productivity & Day-to-Day Use

Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones have more or less become synonymous with productivity machines thanks to features like DeX and Link to Windows becoming more natively integrated into One UI. It’s no different when it comes to Samsung’s new Galaxy S flagship. The S23+ continues this legacy with more of a focus on remaining productive for longer stretches of time. All the features including DeX are still part of the package.

However, the S23+, when it comes to performance, the smartphone has a leg up on its predecessor. It can handle more apps at one go and has more capacity to multitask than ever before. The new TMSC-based Snapdragon 8 gen 2 brings a whole new level of power and power efficiency. We were able to handle apps like Microsoft Excel and Acrobat running in split-screen without much issue. Using other apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and even Chrome in the background or in split-screen wasn’t much of an issue. In fact, it was uninterrupted and fluid. Even with the split screen and pop-up window working in tandem, the experience continued to be top-notch.

The DeX experience on the S23+ is much improved with better stability and transfer speeds over wireless connections. Typically, we use DeX to copy large files like videos to our computers for editing. The wireless connectivity for DeX has long been an issue for us which made us default to using a USB connection. However, on the S23+, this wasn’t the case. We were able to transfer files that were between 2GB and 4GB quickly. It only took us about 10 minutes! Transferring smaller files like photos was nearly instantaneous.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy S23+ became a go-to phone for a daily driver not just cause of the multitasking ability. It was also a sold performer in day-to-day usage. We were able to use the smartphone reliably for work and communication for over 24 hours consistently. This puts Samsung’s flagship on par with, if not ahead of their competition simply for the productivity feature set which is bolstered by the impressive battery life on the Galaxy S23+.

In addition, Samsung’s Bixby Rouines adds another level of productivity to the smartphone. Creating “If this… then that…” operator sets allows you to automate a whole lot of features including turning on and off features like WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth and more according to location or even network. This allowed for even more power efficiency and also customization of your device behaviour to fit your routines. It also works when you use devices that you can control via Smart Things which now includes any device compatible with the Matter network. If you’re like us, this made for some of the most fun with optimising and automating of tech on our networks to fit our daily routines.

Call Quality & Connectivity

Samsung’s Galaxy S23+ comes with the usual connectivity features including WiFi 6, GPS, GLONASS and 5G. Of course, these features are expected in any 2023 flagship. Samsung has included a slew of software features which allow for better connectivity features including smart WiFi and smart detection of 5G connectivity. These features allowed us to have better battery optimisations and also better, more stable connectivity overall.

The WiFi connectivity on the S23+ is a marked improvement of Galaxy devices of the past including the recent Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Z series. We credit the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for this. It seems like Qualcomm’s new antennae and processor is able to create a more stable connection with a larger bandwidth. This resulted in faster, more stable connections over things like DeX and Link to Windows.

In addition, the cellular connectivity was also more stable compared to the S22+. We tested this over the Maxis 4G network and DNB 5G network via Yes 5G. In places where the S22+ saw limited connectivity of 1-2 bars, the S23+ was able to squeeze another bar or two. This also translated to the data stability of the device as well. The S23+ was able to load videos on YouTube, website content on techent.tv and content on Instagram more consistently than the S22+. Even when the S22+ was having issues loading content, the S23+ was able to load content albeit a little slower. We’re not sure if this is a software limitation on the S22+ but it’s worth noting that both devices were running One UI 5.1 with the February 2023 security patch.

Call quality on the S23+ was what we expected from a Samsung device. The voice quality on Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) were crisp and clear. It was also warmer than similar smartphones in the category. Over normal network voice (i.e. without VoWiFi or VoLTE), it was more of the same. The voice quality was consistent and didn’t drop without cause.

Gaming

Samsung has upped the ante when it comes to talking about its flagship as a gaming phone when it comes to the S23 series. This comes as no surprise given the chipset inside the smartphone. The increased power and power efficiency of the chipset allow for more gaming to be done at higher frame rates and with some ray tracing.

During our time with the S23+, we tested the smartphone with Diablo Immortal, Pokemon Unite, Pokemon GO, and Power Rangers Legacy Wars. Yes. It’s an eclectic selection of games but each was chosen for a reason which we will go into. That said, we don’t benchmark with synthetic benchmarks when we do the reviews on the smartphone. Instead, we’re looking at practical aspects of whether it was comfortable to do so, whether there was noticeable lag or frame rate drops and the like.

Diablo Immortal is one of the more complex games when it comes to on-screen events. At any given time, there can be over 20 events in a single occurrence. Enemies can swarm in packs and overwhelm players. Sometimes these enemies can be just off-screen but still land an attack. It’s precisely because of that that we’re using it to test out the S23+’s gaming performance. The Galaxy S23+ performed rather commendably when put to the Diablo Immortal task. The smartphone was able to render enemies, players, attacks, and events in the surroundings without much hassle on default settings. Pushing it up to maximum settings, the Galaxy S23+ still was able to perform quite well. However, the phone did get a little warm. That said, it didn’t heat up to the point where you couldn’t play the game. It never got to the point where the screen, back or frame of the phone got too hot to hold. This was actually the case when playing for more than 40 minutes on the S22+. On the S23+, we could game for about 5 hours on a full charge.

For games like Pokemon Unite and Power Rangers Legacy Wars, we were looking at the responsiveness of the on-screen controls and also performance when there were combos or multiple players on screen attacking at the same time. Similar to the performance on Diablo Immortal, the Galaxy S23+ was able to handle the games rather well. Given that Power Rangers Legacy Wars has been out for six years while Pokemon Unite has been available for two, the games still provide two different experiences for gameplay. One is a simple tap to battle game while the other is a full-on MOBA. Both provide different challenges for the smartphone when playing. Power Rangers Legacy War is a game which depends heavily on network performance in addition to graphical rendering. The S23+ was able to pull this off without much problem. In fact, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that it might have given us the upper hand when battling others on lower specced smartphones. Gameplay was responsive and had little lag when battling. The smartphone also remained cool and didn’t really heat up throughout our hour-long session. On Pokemon Unite, however, we have enemy NPCs and player enemies. The more current development of the game means that the game required more power to render graphics which the S23+ did without a problem. It was also able to handle rendering instances where team battles occurred. There was little stuttering or lag even on mobile connectivity. The phone also remained cool throughout the two hours of gameplay.

Pokemon GO is a unique game which needs both rendering and location services. This usually leads to immense battery drain and heating up on smartphones. This was the case for most smartphones even in 2022 including the S22+. However, with the S23+ the phone remained rather cool but did eventually get a little bit warm as we progressed into our hour long session. Aside from that, there wasn’t much of a hiccup.

Overall, the Galaxy S23+ was able to handle top-of-the-line games that are currently on mobile without much hassle. While it doesn’t come with gimmicks and features that make it more of a “gaming phone”, Samsung’s focus on performance does pay off when it comes to generational improvements from the S22. The optimizations for the phone’s cooling system and also processing and graphics have paid off in droves when it comes to gaming.

Battery Life

If you’ve not picked it up from the previous sections just yet, let’s just put it out there – the Galaxy S23+ has the best battery life we’ve seen in a Samsung flagship to date. We’re not saying this lightly either. Typically, we expect that a Samsung flagship smartphone will last anywhere between 5 to 9 hours. In recent years, this went up to about 10 hours maximum. However, with the Galaxy S23+, we were able to get up to 3 days of battery life. We typically measure this as the time taken to get to 5% of battery.

In our time with the smartphone, we saw a range of between 5 to 72 hours of battery life from the smartphone. Even with a mix of gaming and regular use, we were able to get about 2 days of battery. This, of course, depended on a few factors particularly processor and display usage. When we used the smartphone for gaming the maximum we go was about 5 hours on a single charge. With mixed usage and always on display (AOD) turned off, this capped out at about 3 days. However, when we turned on AOD, we saw a marked reduction in battery life to about 2 days.

When it comes down to it, this was the most significant improvement to the overall package of the Samsung Galaxy S23+. Comparatively, the S22+ capped out at slightly over 1 day of battery life even with low usage.

Display

Samsung continues to have Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels in its flagships. These panels have impressive colour reproduction and brightness peaking at 1,200 nits in the Galaxy S23+. That said, the S23+ is also equipped with a lower-resolution FHD+ panel, unlike the S23 Ultra which comes with a QHD+ display. However, the S23+ doesn’t miss out on much when it comes to the resolution. It still manages to produce crisp images with high contrast and even HDR content.

Samsung has done some minor improvements when it comes to display performance – possibly on the software end as videos and games on the S23+ seem to have better quality. The images are more crisp and have better contrast and saturation.

When we tested the display we used content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. HDR content was one of the main content we were looking at. On the S23+, HDR content was of marked better quality. There was more detail in the dark areas of the images while blacks appeared deeper and closer to true black while the whites were more pure. The colours on HDR content were vibrant and punchy.

Cameras

Samsung’s big push continues to be camera performance – particularly when it comes to the Galaxy S23 and S23+. Their approach of sticking to the same camera setup with a triple sensor setup complemented with by a 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel telephoto sensor gives them the opportunity to further improve the software implementation for the camera. Improve they did.

The Samsung Galaxy S23+’s camera comes with a better implementation of Samsung’s Galaxy AI when it comes to the camera. It would seem – like many other things – Samsung is also following Google’s lead when it comes to smartphone photography. This year’s focus on the post-processing of shots taken with the camera setup integrates a new level of AI that results in sharper, more detailed images. Of course, you’d be hard-pressed to realise that this has been done as the pictures are taken near instantaneously with little time between touching the shutter button and the picture being saved.

The pictures taken with cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S23+ are crisp, detailed and sharp. The photos have little blur even when taken by someone like me with rather shaky hands. The photos also have pretty accurate colour reproduction albeit on the slightly more saturated side of things. However, with the implementation of the High-Efficiency Image Code (HEIC), you’ll be able to touch up and adjust the images with all the sensor information with programs like Adobe Lightroom. This is one of the best improvements year-on-year. The implementation and widespread usage of the HEIC standard allows a new level of customization and post-processing which brings the smartphone one step closer to being “pro-grade”.

In addition to the improvements on the photo side of things, Samsung’s new flagship also comes with improvements on the video side of things. The S23+ is able to shoot in higher resolution for longer and also supports higher resolutions with super steady mode. The higher resolutions allow for more detailed content to be captured with the smartphone. However, the most important thing – at least to us – is the ability to shoot video at a moment’s notice. Samsung has made it easy to kick into video with the long press of the shutter button. They’ve also made it so that your settings are saved into the camera app and are set until you change it. The resulting video, on the other hand, is pretty high quality. Thanks to the gyro EIS, it’s also more stable than before.

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Of course, these experiences are all done with the camera set in auto. If you want more control, you’ll be able to use Pro and Pro video modes. These modes give more control to things like ISO, aperture and shutter speed which allows you to capture your pictures and video with settings that are the most natural looking for you. It also allows you to play director and cameraman when you shoot content. This was really useful when we were looking for places for a personal project. The granular settings allowed us to replicate settings that would have been similar to our camera for better shot visualisation.

When it comes to Samsung’s big push for Nightography, the S23+ is a marked improvement from its predecessor. Shots are better in low light with a little bit more detail. Even with extremely limited light, the camera was able to capture video and pictures which were detailed enough to see what was happening. That said, the resultant photos and videos aren’t the best. Then again, we don’t expect the same quality as the pictures under amazing lighting but as a hallmark feature, it left a little bit to be desired.

Overall, while the hardware remained the same, Samsung has bolstered camera performance with minor tweaks to the features and a heavy hand with Galaxy AI. That said, they’re able to produce more natural-looking photos and videos and also give more granular camera control to users to capture their vision. However, it feels like the S23+ still has some work to do to be on par with the S23 Ultra when it comes to its hallmark Nightography feature. While it is much improved on the S23+, it still lacks the crispness and detail they tout in their ads.

Samsung’s Best User Experience Yet but With Drawbacks that Affect its Value Proposition

Overall, the Galaxy S23+ is proof that software and optimizations can revamp a device’s performance and user experience. It launched with a user experience that’s both refined and comes with extensive personalization options. However, these options are behind an additional app and its extensions requiring more memory and RAM to run. This weighs on the already limited 8GB of RAM which comes on the S23+.

That said, when it comes to performance, the S23+ is a marked improvement to its predecessor. This is mainly thanks to the improved architecture of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which comes with a more power-efficient configuration. While Samsung’s new One UI does bring its own optimisations of Android 13, the extensive features it brings eat away at valuable storage.

The plus variant of the Galaxy S series has always been that Goldilocks device when it comes to Samsung’s Galaxy S series. However, Samsung’s decision to be iterative in their design and approach to the S23+ proves that the approach is a double-edged sword. The S23+ comes with a winning formula when it comes to hardware – we even praised it in our review of the S22+ – but therein lies the problem. They’ve made meaningful improvements including design choices that make the device feel more premium, but it’s overshadowed by a price point that makes their mid-range and competition look more appealing.

Editorial, Gaming, Reviews

Diablo IV Is Going to Turn Sanctuary Inside Out

March 24, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Diablo IV’s release moves ever closer like the summoning of Lilith to Sanctuary. The game has been in the news for a while now with previews and announcements happening regularly. However, this past week was the early access beta for the game.

Here’s how the beta left us after a 10 hour playthrough.

The World of Sanctuary Like You’ve Never Seen Before

“Hello, my friend, stay a while and listen” those are some of the most nostalgic words for any veteran Diablo player. The words that ring every time you come to Tristram to identify items and progress the story as you listen to the exposition from Deckard Cain. But that’s all dead and gone now, the world of Sanctuary in Diablo IV is larger, more dynamic and more steeped in the corruption of Prime Evils than ever before. In a lot of ways, it feels like a natural progression for the series.

Even with just the first act in the Early Access Beta, there was so much to do that even 12 hours of gameplay didn’t feel like enough. While it was just a fraction of the world map, the dynamically generated events brought side quests to the table organically and with little repetition. Unlike Diablo III and Immortal, there is a sense of progress in finishing map quests although it didn’t further the story much.

Blizzard has also found a unique balance when it comes to the massively multiplayer aspect of Diablo IV. While you adventure alone, you aren’t bombarded continuously by players running around the map. Instead, players appear and disappear as you play. They are free to join a map quest or event and provide assistance but they don’t disrupt your gameplay. You see players in towns and strongholds as well, but that’s about it. If you’re like me and miss the feel of the original Diablo game, Diablo IV has brought that feeling back and then some.

More Organic Interactions with More Fleshed-Out NPCs

Speaking of towns, one thing that has made a big difference is the NPCs. The world feels a lot more fleshed out thanks to the NPCs that populate it. They aren’t just one-dimensional sprites, interacting with them is fun, sometimes enraging and for key NPCs – eye-opening.

We’ve also go multiple artisan NPCs that populate the tons. These NPCs don’t only have quest-related dialogues when applicable, they have unique offerings that refresh at preset time intervals. There’s a dynamism to the interactions with them thanks to this.

One Character Multiple Builds

In my short 10-hour gameplay during the early access beta, my rogue went through about 4 different character builds. I found myself constantly tweaking my skills to complement the equipment loadout my character was using. Peaking at level 16, I was a few levels short of completing a full build of my liking.

However, unlike Diablo 3, the skills, both passive and active, can be upgraded and reset to maximise the damage your character can do. In addition, you also unlock specializations later on in the game. These will also change your characters’ play style and load out as the game progresses.

Open World Done Right for the Prime Evils

The doors to Sanctuary are literally flung open in Diablo IV. The world has been fleshed out immensely. However, the one thing that stood out during our time with the beta was how the team at Blizzard incorporated the open-world aspect into the game. Unlike Diablo II and Diablo III, waypoints and checkpoints in the game are not linear. You will undoubtedly be running around the massive maps of the various regions of Sanctuary and stumbling on enemies that punch well above your level. This happened more than once in my playthrough but it was a welcomed surprise which also led to hilarious running away and cussing – only adding more spice to the gameplay.

The open world is peppered with dynamic map events including cursed chests and even side quests and even dynamic dungeons. Blizzard’s implementation of the cursed chest side quest was one that kept me on the edge of my seat. Literally opening a random chest can get you surrounded and battered by monsters in an instant. It’s invigorating to have these surprises jump out at you willy-nilly.

Diablo IV Pandemonium is All But Expected Come June

After this open beta, it’s hard not to pull the trigger on pre-ordering Diablo IV. Blizzard has truly upped the ante with Diablo IV’s gameplay. While we only got a taste of the story, it’s compelling enough to keep us on the edge of our seats until June. In fact, I want my Diablo IV fix NOW! Give me the keys to Sanctuary!!

D4 Misc Social Assets Lilith Wallpaper 1920x1080 png jpgcopy — Source: Blizzard Entertainment

We’re optimistic that Diablo IV could be in the running for game of the year if it has all its pieces in place. It’s a given that Blizzard’s team has a compelling story with the daughter of a Prime Evil – Lilith – being the centre of the conflict in Sanctuary this time round. We’ve also got loose ends from Diablo II being picked up in the first act.

That said, Diablo IV can’t come soon enough.

Accessories, Editorial, Lifestyle, Mobile, Reviews, Writer's Choice

The Sony WH-CH720N In-Depth Review – The Budget WH-1000X

March 22, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

When we reviewed the WH-1000XM4 and later its successor, the WH-1000XM5, we hailed them to be the best Sony offers in terms of premium sound and noise cancelling. The WH-1000XM5 offers the best all-round noise cancelling performance while we think that the WH-1000XM4 offers a slightly better experience in terms of audio quality. Whichever headphone you choose to buy, you are getting some of the best wireless headphones money can buy.

Those high-end headphones will set you back north of MYR 1,500 though. Whichever way you look at it, they are expensive. What if you only have half that money to spend on a new headphone?

You must settle for Sony’s less premium offerings. The new Sony WH-CH720N they just released not too long ago will set you back MYR 649. On paper, it looks like a decent pair of headphones to work with since it has the same noise cancelling chip in the flagship WH-1000XM5.

At less than half the price of its premium brother, the Sony WH-CH720N might look like a compromised product. If you pick it up at the shop, the packaging makes the product feel plenty light, almost weightless. The box is extremely light as well, which does not inspire any form of confidence in its quality.

In that case, is the WH-CH720N even worth MYR 649? Does it sound good? Is it worthy of the premium noise cancelling chip? Is this the headphone for you? The answer to all that (spoiler alert), for us, is a resounding yes. Let us explain.

Design

We think that the WH-CH720N looks like traditional over-ear headphones. There is nothing too outrageous about its shape. We see a lot of sharp finishing and plenty of flat surfaces on the headphone, which we think look a tad boring.

That is not a bad thing though. The headphone hardly stands out, mostly thanks to its matte colour scheme. It comes with a few colour options, but the black is the one we will have. The stealth look will earn you less attention and therefore, less bother.

The headphone’s construction is mostly plastic, quality plastic. There is a metal strut that runs along the headband for added durability. The visible painted mic grilles on each side are also metal. All this results in a high-quality, yet super light headphone construction you would not mind hauling around.

The padding are where they matter. The padding on the ear cups feels supple yet comfortable for extended use cases. There is some padding on the headband too for the inevitable ‘headphone hair’, but nothing else. The materials used for the padding feels like the more premium faux leather material you find on the older WH-1000X headphones.

Instead of touch sensitive pads, you get large physical buttons on the headphone. The tactility, to us at least, is a huge welcome. We think that buttons are more intuitive than gesture controls.

Annoyingly, the WH-CH720N does not fold. The ear cups can swivel to the point that the headphone sits flat on the table, that is the most compact it gets. We prefer it collapsing and folding like the WH-1000XM4. This one does not even come with its own carrying case.

Hardware

On paper also, the WH-CH720N share more similarities with the WH-1000XM5 than we can see. The driver, for example, is sized at 30mm, like the one you find on its high-end brother. We cannot confirm that they are the same drivers though.

Specifications

Sony WF-1000XM4
Driver Unit	30mm Closed Dynamic w/ Integrated Processor V1
Frequency Response	20Hz – 20,000Hz(44.1kHz sampling)
Headphone type	Wireless Earbuds
Battery (Continuous Music Playback)	Unspecified capacity Max. 35 hrs(NC On) / Max. 50 hrs(NC Off)
Miscellaneous	Bluetooth 5.2 Active Noise Cancelling DSEE 360 Reality Audio 360 Spatial Sound Beamforming Mics Dolby Atmos

Features

For MYR 649, the WH-CH720N is also rather feature packed. You get noise cancelling, DSEE, a high-end mic technology, and modern connectivity. If you put this beside the WH-1000XM5, you might start to think that maybe the WH-1000XM5 is overpriced.

High-End Noise Cancelling

While most noise cancelling implementations on headphones at this price point are not great, this one is different. Thanks to the clever V1 Integrated Processor, the noise cancelling experience you get from this pair of headphones is like headphones twice its price. The anti-noise can still be heard if you do not have music playing, but it is not annoying nor discomforting.

With noise cancelling on and music playing at 70% volume, you completely tune the world out. The algorithm is great in cancelling loud noises and even sudden noise. Of course, the noise cancelling algorithm is not perfect and there will be noise that escapes the noise cancellation process. That noise has to be very loud and very near you though for it to be noticeable.

Sony Headphones App

If you are a long-time user of Sony headphones, you will be familiar with the app. The app’s interface has not changed too much, a little aged if we have to say. On the other hand, it is familiar and simple to operate once you know where to find everything.

You can control its ambient noise levels, turn on noise cancelling mode, or turn it off completely to save on battery life. There is an equalizer that offers limited customization to the headphone tuning. Of course, it also offers 360 Reality Audio with supported apps. For us, we have Tidal to work with and we are happy to report that the experience is still like what you get on higher-end headphones.

You can get 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos working with a compatible Bravia XR TV too, we do not have a compatible TV to work with. You can also connect the WH-CH720N to two devices simultaneously. You lose LDAC over that too.

You do not get “speak-to-chat” function. You get only DSEE, not DSEE Extreme from the WH-1000XM5. At the same time, because there are no proximity sensors, the headphone does not pause your media when you take your headphone off. The headphone also does not turn off by itself unless you disconnect the headphone from your smartphone.

DSEE

Sony’s DSEE technology is a clever one. In theory, you can get a CD quality audio even from the likes of streaming platforms like Spotify. There are a lot of technicalities behind this that we will not get into in the interest of time and sanity. If you want to know more about how DSEE or any audio upscaling technology works, do let us know and we might feature an editorial about that.

Still, the result is more prominently heard on Spofity music than Tidal. Without getting too much into the sound quality (spoiler alert), DSEE enhances your Spofity music experience to something you might get from Tidal. The differences are there, you hear extra little details from your music that you do not normally get with DSEE off or regular headphones. The differences still can be very subtle for most ears though, so you do want to pay attention.

Beamforming Mic

This is also another feature that is trickled down from the higher end headphones. With the WH-1000XM5, we find that the beamforming mic improved the call quality tremendously over its predecessor. As expected, the dual mic pick-up on the WH-CH720N performed admirably on calls as well.

The other party on the receiving line reported that audio comes through loud and clear. The mic system cleverly cancels out even some of the louder drones in the call environment and reduces the smaller noise. If there are sudden noise coming through, the headphone can still cancel it out a little. The most important aspect of the call, your voice, is picked up beautifully thanks to some clever algorithm built into the headphone. It is a similar technology to the speak-to-chat function where the headphone can recognize your voice, or that you are talking, and picks up only your voice.

Performance

Of course, the most important part of any audio gear is in how it sounds. For a headphone you want to work with and carry around for your travels, comfort is important too. Of course, it also needs to last at least an entire flight duration.

Taking a Call

Because it is a mobile-first device, it is made with video conferencing and even phone calls in mind. We have spoken about the mic performance a little bit in the previous section. In this case, we want to talk about the sound quality you get in the calls.

There is not too much to complain about if you get a stable connection with your smartphone or even laptop. As mentioned, you can even connect to both your smartphone and your laptop simultaneously. The device will cleverly switch to prioritize phone calls and video calls as soon as they come in.

With a stable connection, you get crystal clear calls if the other party uses a decent enough mic to work with. Everything is loud and clear without any muddling. The weight of the headphones alongside enough padding on the ear cups and headband also helps in extra-long calls. The only issue is that in less ideal weather, your ears might sweat a little since you are working with a leather-like material that might get warm.

All-day Comfort

That said, the material is not actually leather. It feels like supple leather, but thanks to Sony’s clever know-how, it also feels somewhat breathable. While it still gets warm, it is not too uncomfortable.

In the case where you use it indoors with controlled temperature, you can have the headphones on for even longer periods at a time. Thanks to its lightweight construction as well, you are not going to feel too much fatigue in your neck. The clamping force is just enough to keep the headphones on your head as well without giving you a headache and stays on even with vigorous head movements.

Sound Quality

We were pleasantly surprised by the WH-CH720N. It is not a looker; it does not look all that premium. It does not even feel all that premium. It does sound good though.

As mentioned, audio is driven by a 30mm unit on each end. We do not think that it is the same carbon fiber driver as the WH-1000XM5. It does not mean that it is an inferior driver though. While it is a smaller driver on average, it still packs a lot of punch.

The low-end frequency is punchy without being overwhelming. It feels even more powerful than the expensive WH-1000XM5, somehow. It also manages to be that punchy but detailed. We listened to some Fusion Jazz from Casiopea and Hard to Say Goodbye by Johnny Stimson on Spotify with good effects and details on the bass without losing higher-end notes. The WH-CH720N delivers mid and high frequencies brilliantly too, giving some needed life to Casiopea’s pieces. We also thoroughly enjoyed songs like Ghost by Alan Walker featuring Au/Ra.

It is a highly enjoyable headphone to use for movies too, especially when you just want to enjoy a good movie during a long flight. Drive to Survive on Netflix sound surreal and we felt like the cars were right next to us. Unfortunately, we do not have a Bravia XR TV to work with, so we cannot fully experience Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio with the TV.

Still, we used it to game as well, wirelessly of course. With Bluetooth 5.2, latency is kept to a minimum. We hardly hear a delay in response times. Because it is noise cancelling, we get a lot more immersion as well without getting distracted by other noise around you, you cannot even hear your mouse clicks.

Battery Life

Sony quoted 35 hours of continuous music playback on a full charge. That is 5 hours longer than the WH-1000XM5. That battery life is also quoted with noise cancelling feature on. Within the two weeks of our test, we only charged the device once – when it first reached our hands, and that is about it. We never really had to charge the device in the two weeks of our typical use. We used it one to two hours at a time but not daily in the two weeks we tested the headphones.

In that case, we can only take Sony’s word for its long battery life. We believe them though, since we have not been able to drain the headphone’s battery within our test period. The charging cable that comes with the headphone is short, which means you might end up using your other existing USB Type-C cables to charge your headphone. You cannot use the headphones while it is being charged too, so you want to keep that in mind. Still, if you run out of battery and you need your headphones still, it comes with an AUX jack and an included AUX cable for you to directly plug your headphones into your smartphone or laptop. Noise cancelling does work in that mode, but you still need to turn it on.

The Sony WH-720N – The Better Value

This pair of headphones will set you back MYR 649, which is not a small amount of money if you are thinking of a budget set-up. Obviously, if you compare it to its more premium brother, it seems like a more budget conscious choice. You can get other wireless headphones in the market for way less than MYR 500 even.

What you do not get from other cheaper headphones in the market though is top-notch noise cancelling technology. Sony is one of the best in the business, if not the best. They fitted their best noise cancelling processor into this pair of headphones, which should be an indication of the kind of experience you can expect from the WH-CH720N.

You also get one of the longest lasting wireless headphones in terms of battery life. The quoted 35-hour battery life is with noise cancelling mode on. Turning noise cancelling off extends its battery life, but why would you first place?

Above all, you get great sound quality that we think is beyond its asking price. The sound stage offered by the headphones is wide and detailed. This pair of headphones offer punchy bass and details everywhere on the headphone’s range.

The WH-CH720N does not look like much for MYR 649. We appreciate that its packaging is simple and made from recycled materials, but it is not packaging is worth MYR 649, we think. We would have appreciated a soft case you might be able to use as a carrying pouch. Instead, it is wrapped in a rather large piece of what feels like cheese cloth, which will end up in the trash as well unfortunately.

The thing is this is a headphone we would recommend. It is not the cheapest headphone out there, but it is good value, given its capabilities. The cheap-ish packaging is hardly a deal breaker. You want a pair of headphones that sound great, this fits that bill. It is a comfortable pair of headphone that is excellent at cancelling noise, as good as headphones twice its price. Because of all of that, we like this pair of headphones a lot. If it is our money, we would buy it.

Accessories, Computers, Editorial, Reviews

The Acer Nitro VG270 E In-Depth Review – Gaming on a Budget? Yes Please!

March 13, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Gaming is not cheap, that is a known fact. To own a decent smartphone that games well will cost you at least MYR 1,500 onward and up to MYR 7,000. Modern gaming consoles will set you back around MYR 2,500 these days too. Then you have gaming PCs; a decent gaming PC that can run games nicely at Full HD resolution will still set you back MYR 2,500 onward if you do not mind working with older hardware. You have not even factored in the price of games today.

You want to spend the bulk of your money on the hardware. You can save money on the games you play if you are patient. You can save up on peripherals too. Still, you want to make sure you get a decent gaming display, because they might make or break your gaming experience.

For gaming, you need a low response time, preferably anything below 5ms. You also want a fast refresh rate so that you can take advantage of the processing power of newer gaming set ups; you want at least 75Hz. But you also want excellent colours for that immersive quality; you want an IPS panel on the display at least. The reality is that displays that fit all the bill will usually set you back North of MYR 1,000.

What if we tell you that you do not need to spend that much for a gaming display that offers you everything we listed above? For MYR 549, you can get an Acer Nitro VG270 E gaming display.

It fits the bill for a basic gaming monitor. You get 1ms response time and it offers 100Hz refresh rate, fast enough. You also get an IPS panel pushing more than 16 million colours to you.

At that price though, what are you giving up? What is the caveat? Is this worth your hard-earned money? We dive in and find out.

Design

The Acer Nitro VG270 E looks like those generic displays you can find in the stores. It is slightly thicker than most displays of its size but not unreasonably thick. The thickness is necessary for some cooling solutions, we think.

It also features ultra-thin bezels. There is also a 75 x 75 VESA mounting out the back. That means you can ditch the small monitor stand that comes with the display. Oh yes, the tiny monitor stand that it comes with can be assembled and disassembled without tools. The small stand has some red and gloss black highlights that indicates “gaming”.

There are no RGB modules or attachments here. It does not come with an RGB outlet too. It is a basic gaming monitor after all, a cost-efficient one at that. Even the stand it comes with is a standard monitor stand without height adjustments, and limited tilt adjustment. There is a hole that we think could be used for some cable management on the stand, but only if you do not mind sticking the base out the back of your desk.

There is a large Acer logo on the top left right of the monitor’s backplate just above the cooling vents. There is another Acer logo on the bottom lip of the display up front to let you know that it is not a Predator product. Out the back, in the middle of the backplate framed by the VESA mounting points is a kind of logo in the shape of a ‘V’. We presume that it is a sort of ‘V’ for VG0 series or something like that. That logo gets covered if you use a VESA mounting, yes.

Hardware

As mentioned, you get an IPS panel for this display. The IPS panel only offers Full HD resolution. Full HD is quite enough for most games and means you do not need top-of-the-line hardware to get it running.

Specifications

Acer Nitro VG270 E	As Tested
*Display Size*	27.0 inches
*Resolution*	1,920 x 1,080 Full HD (16:9 aspect ratio)
*Panel Type* (Refresh Rate)	IPS (100Hz) 1ms VRB
*Colour Accuracy*	72% NTSC 8-bit (16.7 million) colours 1,000,000:1 Contrast Ratio 250 nits
*Speaker and Mic*	N/A
*Eye Protection*	TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Acer Eyecare (blue light filter)
*Miscellaneous*	1x HDMI 1.4 1x DP 1.2 AMD Freesync VESA compatible

Features

At MYR 549, you may want to also adjust your expectations with the monitor. If you read through the spec sheet too, the monitor is pretty bare. Still, that does not mean that there are no good qualities to the Acer VG270 E.

AUX Out? Nope. Speakers then? Nope. No Problem

One of the sacrifices comes in the form of your audio. The monitor does not feature built-in speakers. There is no audio passthrough as well to get your audio out from the monitor. That means that you do not get an AUX output port on the monitor.

That is not such a bad thing though. You might as well spend the extra money you saved on the monitor on better quality headphones or Bluetooth speakers. An external speaker or headphones will always produce better sound than most built-in speakers even on modern displays.

HDMI in, DP in

HDMI input should always be expected on modern displays. It is not an HDMI 2.1 port, but it does not matter. HDMI 2.1 ports are usualy required for resolutions above 4K or even to drive higher framerates on 4K displays. In this case, you are only getting Full HD resolution at 100Hz. An HDMI 1.4 port is way more than enough to handle the demands of the display panel.

What could be more significant is the fact that the Nitro VG270 E packs a DisplayPort 1.2 (DP1.2) inlet. Most modern GPUs come with one HDMI port and multiple DP out ports. That is because DP chords allow for a higher data transmission between two hardware. On this display, it is really made just so that newer GPUs with less HDMI ports can take advantage of the Nitro monitor.

AMD FreeSync

AMD’s FreeSync is like NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology in preventing screen tearing in high fps situations. While NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology has some exclusive technologies behind it, you may not notice too much difference in its final implementation. You are still getting a sort of tear-free gaming experience with AMD’s FreeSync.

For us, we tested the display with F1 2022 to really push the frame rates of the display. We hardly notice any tearing on the display with V-Sync off. At the same time, screen-tearing on Full HD is mostly an issue of the past. Most hardware made in the last five years or so can easily handle gaming at Full HD resolution at 144Hz without too much of a tearing issue.

Look at Those Colours on This IPS Panel

A 27-inch IPS panel at this price point is quite unheard of. In fact, we thought it would be impossible to fit an IPS display on displays at less than MYR 800 price point. Acer has proved us wrong this time with the VG270 E.

This means that the VG270 E offers a much better experience compared to any displays in its price range. IPS panel also means that you get a fast, smooth display with excellent contrasts and colour depth. It is not the most premium IPS display, since you can only push about 300nits out of it. When you game though, the 300 nits brightness should not matter much. The sRGB colour calibrated display offers vivid and rich colours on your images.

This feature alone makes the display feel more expensive than it is. At the same time, when you look at the display, you know that your money is spent in all the right places. You really are better off spending the money you saved on much better audio gear.

Performance

Like we said, your MYR 549 is spent on features that matter. The bulk of it goes to the panel itself. Better panel means you get better gaming and display experience.

100Hz + 1ms – Fast Enough

To be fair, the sweet spot for refresh rates on gaming displays these days is in the region of 144Hz. You see high-end eSports displays too going at up to 360Hz. 240Hz displays are also becoming more popular these days.

In most cases, 100Hz is more than enough for casual gamers. You still get a smooth gaming experience if your hardware can drive it. If you are playing AAA titles you might not even be getting anything beyond 90fps unless you push the graphics settings down.

There are faster responding displays too. You can get a Predator gaming monitor that responds at 0.1ms (grey-to-grey), if you really want. 1ms is still plenty fast enough for even competitive titles like Counterstrike: Global Offensive (CS: GO), F1 2022, and even Assetto Corsa. There is a small caveat here, you only get 1ms response time if you activate the display’s Visual Response Boost. For that, you want to access the monitor’s OSD settings and put the display in extreme overdrive. It makes the display dimmer, but the display is not that bright in the first place at 300nits.

Gaming with IPS at Full HD

Gaming in Full HD at 27-inch is not as bad as it sounds. We tested the monitor with games like F1 2022, Hot Wheels Unleashed, and Red Dead Redemption. Only Hot Wheels Unleashed hit 100 fps in our test with a 2022 Predator Helios 300 packing an Intel Core i7-12700H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. F1 2022 averages about 35-40fps while Red Dead Redemption was nicely running at 60fps. All in all, all the titles play well with the monitor and are within the monitor’s capabilities. All the games look excellent on the display, the images look sharp and immersive enough to work with. Most of them are also running High to Ultra graphics settings, which is good news to those who has budget set-ups with entry-level GPUs.

The colours reproduction from the Nitro monitor is better than we expected. F1 2022 looks vibrant and alive with the IPS panel. Hot Wheels Unleached looks colourful and rich even when you get racy. Red Dead Redemption, at 60fps, Red Dead Redemption feels immersive and beautiful.

We chose these games instead of the usual CS:GO and DOTA 2 because we also wanted to show that even budget set-ups can run AAA games at Ultra or High graphics smoothly. It is one of the biggest benefits of choosing Full HD resolution over 2K. Of course, Full HD resolution only works up to a certain size, anything bigger than 27-inch might warrant 2K resolution to fully enjoy.

If you prefer console gaming owning a PlayStation 4 or the PlayStation 4 Pro is more than enough with the Nitro monitor. You will be able to enjoy all your games at Full HD at up to 60fps in this case without a fuss.

For the Movie Buffs

Thanks to the richness and accuracy of the IPS panel, videos look great too. Netflix and Amazon Prime app will natively support the Full HD resolution and stream at Full HD. Full HD videos require less data to stream. That also means that you get a smoother stream even at lower internet speeds. Drive to Survive on Netflix still looks detailed, immersive, and rich on the Nitro display.

There is a small trade off with the price tag though. The Nitro VG270 E does not with speakers. While your PC might recognize the HDMI device and try to push audio through the monitor, you might want to get into your audio settings and push the audio back through your laptop’s speakers, your external speakers, or even headphones.

For Your Work

We must stress that the display is not meant for colour grading. Even with the IPS panel, the Nitro is not calibrated enough for colour grading work. You can spend your own money and time to get it closer to sRGB standards though. Still, 27-inch is great for video workflows. While you may not be able to get colour grading works done, there is still plenty of real estate to scrub through your videos and work with other tools on your video editing app.

We work with a lot of Microsoft Word documents since we do a lot of write ups. In that sense, the monitor can offer some good eye protection, since you might be staring at the display a lot. The display itself offers a hardware coded blue-light filter that you can access from the OSD settings. In some sense, it is a better blue-light filter than what Windows can offer you natively, but that also means that your display turns more yellow. It works though, we feel like we can effectively look at the display for hours without feeling strained.

The Nitro VG270 E – That All-in-One, All-You-Want Monitor at a Budget

It does not have 144Hz refresh rate. It does not even come in the ideal 2K QHD resolution at that. It does not even have built-in speakers. There is no audio processor or passthrough as well on the monitor, you only get three old format ports on the monitor – a power inlet, HDMI 1.4 inlet, and a DisplayPort 1.2 inlet.

100Hz is better than 60Hz and 75Hz and is enough for competitive gaming. At Full HD, you require less power from your hardware. That also means you can save even more money on your gaming set-up. The money you saved buying this monitor can also be better spent for a better audio solution for more immersive gaming or even entertainment purposes. You do not need DP 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 as well, you are only projecting at Full HD and up to 100Hz. A DP cable is also included with the purchase, so your modern GPUs still can work with the monitor.

At its price point of MYR 549, you get everything you need. You get an IPS panel too at that. In that sense, there is almost no competition to the gaming monitor that is the Nitro VG270 E at this price point.

It is not a perfect gaming monitor. For that, you want to look at Acer’s own Predator gaming monitor line-up. If you have even more money to spend, you also might look at what other brands like ASUS ROG, Samsung, and even LG is offering in that space. At the same time, if budget is not an issue and you have a set-up with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at the very least, this should not even land in your radar. It will still make a rather nifty and cheap secondary monitor for your chats and other windows.

For a budget set-up, with a mid-range gaming PC set-up with something like an older NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, and Intel’s 8^th Generation Processors, this is a perfect set-up. Even for more modern set-up with at least the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series GPU and Intel’s 19^th Generation processor, this is right up your field in terms of modern gaming. Like we said, the money you saved on your monitor can be spent on a decent headphones. You can buy something like a Sony WH-CH720N headphones that we are reviewing for your set-up, for example. Trust us, you are going to be more than happy with this kind of set-up.

Camera, Reviews

The Sony ZV-1F In-Depth Review – Just Like the ZV-1, But Not Really

March 2, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

We are fans of Sony’s products. There is hardly a product in their stables we do not like or would not recommend. This one, we find a little difficult to recommend. It is not that we do not like it; we do. We think that it is a product targeted toward a rather niche group of people.

Welcome to the Sony ZV-1F, a compact camera from Sony that comes with a fixed lens. It is based on Sony’s rather brilliant and highly popular ZV-1. The most interesting thing about the ZV-1F, we think, is that it features a 20mm fixed lens.

It will set you back MYR 2,599, about MYR 800 less than the ZV-1, making it more accessible. It is still a premium product though. While the ZV-1F lacks a few features, it is lighter than the camera it is based on too, which is always welcome even for compact cameras.

Other than having a fixed lens with large aperture, it seems like there is little else that is special about this ZV-1F. In that case, why bother with the Sony ZV-1F? Should you pay attention to it? We dive in to find out.

Design

The ZV-1F looks strikingly similar to Sony’s ZV-1, which should not come as a surprise at all. The only difference is that the Sony ZV-1F packs a fixed lens that does not tuck in or unpack when you turn it on.

It is a compact camera, there is not much to say in terms of design here. It is a rectangular aluminum box with a bump in front for a grip mound, and a short tube that houses the lens. For the money you pay, you get a tiny light package. While it is a little on the lighter end, it still feels like a quality product.

We appreciate the swiveling display. It is useful if you plan to use the camera for vlogs, replace your webcam, and even take self-portraits. Since it is based on the ZV-1, it takes on all the accessories that the ZV-1 works with as well, that includes the remote grip. While the test unit you see here is black in colour, there is also a white colour option if you want.

Hardware

Internally, you get mostly the same components from the Sony ZV-1. You get the same image processor, the same 1-inch sensor, and even the same battery and memory card slot configuration. You can charge the camera with USB Type-C cable too. There is more to the USB Type-C port to just charging too.

Specifications

Sony ZV-1F	As tested
Sensor	1.0-type Exmor RS CMOS 3:2 aspect ratio Approx. 20.1-Megapixel
Lens	Fixed ZEISS Tessar T* Lens 20mm F2.0
Display	3-inch TFT LCD Swivelling (176-degree opening, 270-degree rotation) Touch Panel 4:3 aspect ratio 921,600 dots
Viewfinder	N/A
Image Processor	BIONZ X
Camera	Electronic Shutter (1/4″ – 1/32000) Contrast-detection AutoFocus ISO125-ISO6400 (up to ISO12800) up to 16fps continuous shooting
Video Recording	XAVC S 4K: 30p 100M/60M, 24p 100M/60M XAVC S HD (Full HD): 60p 50M/25M, 30p 50M/16M, 24p 50M, 120p 100M/60M
Miscellaneous	USB Type-C charging/data transfer Battery Pack NP-BX1 Bluetooth 4.1 WiFi 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz Band

Features

Everything on the ZV-1F is simplified to ensure that you get access to its most important features. There is still a zoom toggle on the camera. It is not optical zoom though, just digital zoom.

4K 30p Video Recording

The Sony ZV-1F is made for vloggers. The sensor captures videos at up to 4K 30p, just not at 10-bit 4:2:2 colours, though that is nothing to complain about. Having 4K capability also means that you are getting more details in your videos for great looking vlogs.

One Less Frame to Think About with Fixed Lens

While most consensus would say that having a fixed lens on a compact camera is a bad thing, we think there are some benefits. Having a fixed 20mm lens means you know how your frame looks every time you turn on your camera. In that case, you just know where to stand to get the right image through.

At its native zoom length, your frame is perfect for selfies at an arm’s length. If you find that the frame is too tight, you can invest in a cheap selfie stick, or get the remote grip attachment from Sony. Your vlogs are even more instantaneous than ever before since there is no zoom to mess with.

The Might of Sony’s Accessories

Sony has various mic attachments that work with the proprietary hot shoe mount on top of the camera. The hot shoe mount is a blessing in modern compact cameras. It allows you to play with all sorts of attachments that may not even be from Sony.

Of course, if you do not want your set-up to be a cable mess, you go with Sony’s various clever accessories. We mentioned that you can work with Sony’s remote grip that is connected via Bluetooth. You can have a shotgun mic too for better directionality. You can even work with Sony’s XLR expansions too if you want.

The Webcam Replacement You Want

The ZV-1F’s USB Type-C port is your charger and data outlet. Here is where the ZV-1F becomes one of the best tools for content creators too. You can turn the Sony ZV-1F into a 4K webcam without a capture card.

It is also rather simple to work with. You only need to connect the ZV-1F to your PC via USB cable. On the camera itself you select streaming mode. You do not even need to have Sony’s proprietary software for this to work. You can even turn the camera into your designated microphone for clearer audio.

Obviously, using the ZV-1F as a streaming camera or webcam offers better image quality over regular webcams. It is also significantly more expensive than regular webcams. It is an investment to get better quality images and streams.

Sony Imaging Edge

Using the Sony Imaging Edge suite on PC allows you to control your camera remotely and transfer photos and videos off your camera without ever pulling the SD card from your camera. If all you want from the ZV-1F is a webcam replacement, you can go ahead and skip the software for your PC. For your smartphone though, Sony’s Imaging Edge can be quite useful.

On the smartphone, you can use the app to control your camera and use it as a remote display, a rather nifty and useful feature when you just want to place your camera on a tripod and record away from the camera. Using the Imaging Edge app as well, you can take photos using the camera directly saved to your smartphone device. Same goes for 4K videos.

Made for Social Media

Within the camera itself, you can technically shoot videos that are optimized for social media. Well, there is shooting vertically, which is nothing special technically. There is something else you can do on the camera.

Before you transfer your video clips into your smartphone, you can choose and cut out 15-, 30-, and 60-seconds clips within the camera itself. You not only save storage space on your SD card, but you also cut out all editing nuances from your smartphone itself. It allows you to easily pick out clips and put them together before posting them on TikTok, Instagram, or even Facebook.

Performance

You get a 1-inch sensor that shoots at 20.1 Megapixels. You can also record videos in 4K resolution. The lens shoots at 20mm wide angle. The image quality from the ZV-1F is very similar to what you get from Sony’s ZV-1. This should not come as a surprise though; they share the same imaging sensor and even the same image processor. The only difference between the two is the lens on the ZV-1F.

Imaging

Without the zoom lens, you lose the flexibility of adjusting your frame from where you stand. In that sense, some might struggle with it when you need a larger or smaller frame for their photos. For self-portraits, the frame is tight enough to properly frame your face within that arm-length. if you do want to capture a self-portrait with a larger group, you might want to space your friends out a bit behind you.

Still, once familiar with your frame, you can get the ZV-1F to work very nicely for you. The images you get from the compact camera are detailed enough that it will look good on any social media platform. If you dig deeper and zoom in on the photos, you can see that the photos are much sharper in the central region, where Autofocus works. At the edges, the focus seems to be a little softer. With portraits, you get a natural looking depth-of-field (bokeh) effect, which is always nice.

In terms of colours, in auto mode, photos produce rich colours. There is a very slight orange tinge to the photos though. It adds to the vividness of the images and colours, but it does take away some neutrality to the photos. While it means that your photos are ready for social media almost immediately taken by the camera, you might have a slightly harder time if you are looking to colour grade your photos. You can still take RAW photos though.

Small Camera, Big Videos

One of the biggest attractions to this camera is its 4K video capabilities, though only at up to 30p. You can also get those crisp slow-motion videos in Full HD at 120p. That also means that you get an extra layer of flexibility in terms of your creative shots for your vlogs.

While you are not getting 4:2:2 10-bit colours from the ZV-1F, you are not missing out on too much especially if you share your contents on social media. Most of the time, shooting vlogs is a run and gun thing. In that sense, the colours look good and accurate enough without colour grading.

At the same time, recording 4K videos with the ZV-1F gives you a clean crisp image with plenty of details. You even get a nice depth-of-field effect that you get from more expensive lens. It is a fast lens though at f/2.0 allowing that cinematic bokeh in your background and putting the focus on the subject.

AF, but no Eye-AF

We find this a little disappointing. Not because the AutoFocus function is not great. It is a fast autofocus system they have here that easily keeps up with you in a shoot. It lacks the eye-AF system that is so useful on the ZV-1.

Without eye-AF, you only get a regular autofocus system that can reasonably keep up with you. In most vlogging situations, the AF system is clever enough to detect your face and follow it. It is fast enough though for you to work with once it gets a lock-on.

It is not perfect. We had some trouble getting it to focus on our test subject, a toy car. Since the focal distance is at a minimum of 7.6mm, we thought we could get the toy car to be in focus even when we close the distance between the camera and the subject. We had to pull away from the subject most of the time to get the subject in proper focus. We also had to tap on the screen to get it to focus on our subject when it is off center.

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The Sony ZV-1F – A Small Compromise for Big Gains

At MYR 2,599, the ZV-1F compact camera is not exactly a budget option. While it is more accessible than the ZV-1, it is still a lot of money for what some might describe as nothing more than a glorified 4K webcam. It does not pack Eye-AF, it does not have a zoom lens, and the lack of weight might not inspire plenty of confidence.

The thing is, there is still plenty to like about the ZV-1F. The ZV-1F is ridiculously light. It is not much more compact than the camera it is derived from, it is about the same size and therefore just as compact.

Because it is lighter than the camera it is based on, it feels quicker to work with. You do not need to spend on heavy duty tripods too. Since there are no zoom lenses to unpack, you are quicker to get to your photos or videos. It is an excellent webcam and mic combo replacement too.

At the same time, you are getting everything that is also great about the ZV-1. The ZV-1F can record videos at 40K 30p. It takes photos at the same 20.1 Megapixel as the ZV-1. If you think the ZV-1 takes great photos, you will be pleased with this one too.

In the right hands, the ZV-1F is a powerful entry-level and compact content creation tool. As a webcam replacement, the ZV-1F offers a much higher quality feed over regular webcams, even if you stick with 720p streaming over USB. It is also your mic replacement, on a budget. At the same time, taking the camera out for a vlog or taking a quick photo is easy. Since it connects to your smartphone wirelessly too, you can make quick work of any photos or videos you take on the ZV-1F before posting it on social media. You even cut an entire editing process out of your workflow with the built-in modes made specially for social media format contents. It is content creation made super easy.

Android, Mobile, Reviews

Honor X9A 5G In Depth Review – An all-rounder with a flagship-like display

February 24, 2023 Thina Hareesh Leave a comment

IMG 20230224 WA0006 — The Honor X9a 5G is a mid-range offering with a more than mid-range display.

Any new smartphone owner has had nightmares of their shiny new screens cracking on day one from the slightest of drops. Well, Honor has gone to great lengths to allay those fears with their new midrange entry, the Honor X9A 5G. You probably have already seen ads for the toughest 120Hz display on the market and videos of people smashing the display into various surfaces or nuts. But is that all it has to offer? We spent 30 days putting the device through its paces and the results may surprise you.

Display

Let’s start off with the main selling point of the device; its nigh-indestructible display. The idea Honor had here was clear; bring a flagship grade display to a more accessible and affordable device. And I believe they have achieved that. The Honor X9a 5G sports a 6.67-inch OLED curved display with a 120Hz screen refresh rate. The refresh rate makes the visuals snappy, be it the MagicUI 6.1 interface, a video on YouTube and especially when gaming. It has good brightness too with a rating of 800 nits. Walking under the hot afternoon sun, I was still able to see what’s on the screen, though admittedly I had to turn up the brightness to near maximum. Videos were crisp and colours were vibrant whether from YouTube or Netflix. I found it both comfortable and enjoyable watching videos at long length on this device.

IMG 20230224 WA0002 — Is an incredibly tough 120Hz display all it has to offer? Or is there more to reveal?

Protecting this display is Honor’s own answer to Corning’s Gorilla Glass and Huawei’s Kunlun glass. Though it remains nameless, Honor’s protecting glass does a fantastic job of securing the display. After more than a month of using the phone without any kind of protection, I have not seen a single scratch on this display, even from the keys in my pocket. There are probably hundreds of videos online of people dropping or hitting the phone with a variety of items and I could not resist doing so myself. From walnuts to groundnuts to M&M’s, nothing seems to damage this screen. I did accidentally drop the device face down on a tiled floor from waist height and no visible damage either. Without venturing into more dangerous stress tests, I did feel that the display glass is definitely sturdier than expected of a mid-range device.

Design

The signature design feature of the Honor X9a 5G is the raised circular rear camera housing, dubbed the star ring matrix design by Honor. Personally, I was not a fan of this particular design and the height is apparent enough to make it wobble very slightly on the table if used without a case. However, those are the only two complaints I have design wise and there is a lot to like.

IMG 20230224 WA0008 — The polarizing design of the star ring matrix rear camera housing.

The build quality of the phone is great. The tough display on the front is only punctuated by the small camera hole cutout, which does not distract you from what’s on the display. The back of the phone had a textured material that feels great to hold. The material feels premium and the Titanium Silver colour was pleasing to the eye, which is one of the main reasons why I did not use a case. It is also very lightweight, which coupled with the textured back, feels good to hold for a long time.

IMG 20230224 WA0013 — Volume rocker and lock button wrapped with metal trimming on the edges.

Despite being a curved display device that I used without a case, I did not experience any accidental touches along the edges. This is probably thanks to the AI Anti Mistouch feature. Lining the edges of the phone is metal trimming painted with a metallic sky blue colour that was also very appealing. On the right-hand side is the volume rocker and lock button. The buttons feels great to the touch, is tactile and does not wobble in place.

Overall, the device feels very premium with a robust build quality and apart from the star ring matrix design, has nice aesthetics.

Camera

The camera experience for the Honor X9A 5G did not receive as much emphasis as the display nor its build quality. It sports a triple sensor set up of a 64MP main shooter, 5MP ultrawide and 2MP macro camera. The main shooter does a decent job of snapping photos in daylight and good lighting conditions. Images were sharp and colours leaned towards a more subdued, natural palette. However, performance takes a dip in low light conditions, with images appearing a little grainy and colours appear a little washed out. To compensate for this, there is a Night mode that seemingly is able to address both these issues. The only catch is that there is a long 3 to 4 second timer before image capture and you need to have steady hands in this time for a clear image. That being said, the Night mode images do have good clarity, colors and no obvious noise.

While the main shooter performs well enough for daily use, the other shooting modes did miss the mark. The 2MP macro shooter suffered from a lack of sharpness due to the low resolution and had some fuzziness to it even in daylight. The 5MP ultrawide shooter also suffered from the low resolution and had rather obvious graininess that got worse with low lighting conditions. The saving grace is the Portrait mode, which showed good performance in both daylight and lighted indoor situations. There was good level of detail captured and bokeh was well done. Performance was similarly good when using the 16MP selfie camera, with Portrait shots appearing clear and well detailed. There is also a beauty filter to help iron out facial imperfections which helped make the photos social media ready.

The camera experience for the Honor X9A 5G is rather average; a serviceable main shooter with no true standout features and lackluster alternative shooting modes.

Performance

Key Specifications

The Honor X9A 5G is powered by a Snapdragon 695 SoC, which is not the latest in chipsets but it does pack a punch. For its price point, it comes with a rather healthy memory capacity of 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery is also a plus point with 5100mAh capacity and 40W wired charging with the included charger. The hardware on board is good value for money and I found the performance takes full advantage of them.

User Interface

Out of the box, it runs MagicUI 6.1 that is based on Android 12. Long-time Honor users will be very familiar with the design and aesthetics of MagicUI but for first time users, the user interface appears rather dated.

With large blocky icons with designs reminiscent of iOS and Android from the mid 2010’s, the dated design feels out of place in such a premium display in 2023. There is a dedicated Themes app preinstalled on the device that can help alleviate this to some degree. But functionally, the user interface works fine, with no obvious flaws. There is also both the Google Play Store and Honor App market preinstalled for all your app needs.

Productivity and multitasking

Multitasking was a breeze on this device as I was able to run Google Chrome, the Gallery app in Multi Window mode and Netflix in mini player mode without a hitch. I did not experience any significant lag or stutters and no overheating after about an hour with this set up. Granted that is not a realistic scenario but it shows that there is a lot of headroom for productivity in this device. For the 30-day review period, I very frequently used messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger while simultaneously using Chrome or YouTube and did not experience any significant lag or stuttering. Productivity is helped by the large RAM capacity of 8GB and additional 5GB virtual RAM for handling multiple running apps. The 256GB of storage is also handy to help store large amounts of photos and files on the go.

Call Quality and Connectivity

PXL 20230224 113853552 — Connectivity was good on all fronts including a stable Bluetooth audio connection.

I used the device primarily over 4G LTE networks and did not experience any major disruptions to the connection, be it in Kuala Lumpur city or the smaller towns of Johor. Call quality was clear, had sufficient volume and no issues hearing the person on the other end. Similarly, the call recipients had no complaints on call quality when receiving calls from this device. While capable of 5G connectivity, testing was restricted by the limited connectivity of 5G in Malaysia. Support for WiFi is up to WiFi 5 mainly due to the older chipset but I did not experience any connection dropouts for the review period. Streaming on YouTube and Netflix was seamless and online gaming connections were good too. I tested out the Bluetooth by pairing with my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds. In both cases, I did not experience any unexpected disconnects while the pairing was quick and trouble-free. I found that the transferring of files to the Galaxy Watch 4 was smooth and there were no audio cutouts for the Sony earbuds during long sessions of music. Even pairing with my Honda car’s Bluetooth Audio went smoothly with no issues. All-in-all connectivity was stable on all fronts.

Gaming

I found the device very pleasant to use for long periods of watching videos on YouTube and Netflix. But I also found it very pleasant to use for gaming as well. I primarily tested on Mobile Legends oh High settings and PUBG Mobile with HD graphics and High frame rate. I found both games ran smoothly and surprisingly, even after about 2 consecutive hours of gaming, I did not feel overheating. Granted, I used the device predominantly without a case which helps ventilation slightly, and I was not pushing the games to their maximum settings. For a mid-range device the performance was really good.

PXL 20230224 113126331.NIGHT — Gaming performance was great with the Honor X9a 5G.

When pushing the graphics to the maximum settings (Ultra for Mobile Legends and Ultra HD for PUBG Mobile), the performance was still surprisingly good, with only slight choppiness observed for PUBG Mobile with some overheating past the 1-hour mark. The fantastic display adds to the gaming immersion; everything was snappy due to the 120Hz refresh rate and colours were vibrant. One minor complaint for the gaming immersion would be the mono speakers on board instead of stereo speakers. This of course was not a dealbreaker as the use of earbuds quickly solved this problem.

The gaming performance of the Honor X9a 5G is a definite happy surprise. The GPU performance, ergonomics of the design and decent thermals helps make gaming a pleasant experience.

Battery life

Battery life is another strong point, with the device being powered by a large 5100 mAh battery. Throughout the review period, I found myself charging the device once every two days with regular use. Most of the screen on time was spent using YouTube or Netflix, Google Chrome, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger. It was only with heavy use of gaming and photography that I found myself needing to charge the phone on a daily basis. Charging is a breeze too with the included 40W charger juicing up from 20% to 100% in about 90 minutes.

The Verdict: A solid all-rounder headlined by a flagship display

IMG 20230224 WA0004 — The Honor X9a 5G is a solid, well-rounded mid-range device.

After an in-depth hands-on experience, the Honor X9a 5G was a pleasant surprise in how it performed. Its strengths lie in its flagship-quality display, premium build quality and excellent battery life. For weaknesses, there is no particular department that is truly a deal breaker. Even the camera which has a weak macro and ultrawide performance, does a more than serviceable job in the main shooter and selfie cameras. Conversely, apart from the display, there is no other truly standout feature of the device when compared to the other devices in its price range. Retailing for RM1499, the Honor X9a 5G is up against the likes of Samsung’s A53 5G, which we reviewed not too long ago, and the recently released Poco X5 series. While these other devices have their own clear strengths and weaknesses, the Honor X9a 5G is good across the board, making it an all-rounder device. If you want a mid-range device that is value for money, can do the essentials and has a robust build quality, then this is the device for you.

You can get the Honor X9a 5G, available now from the HiHonor website, retailing for RM1499. Honor is also bundling a free pair of noise-cancelling Honor CHOICE Earbuds X3 and 180 Days of Screen Crack Protection if you purchase now.

And here is the obligatory video of nut crushing with the Honor X9a 5G.

Computers, Editorial, Reviews

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X (14-inch Gen7) In-Depth Review – Some Kind of Heavyweight

February 7, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

It is not that hard to see why so many regard Lenovo’s mobile computing products to be some of the highest rated laptops in the industry. Lenovo’s laptops are famous for their exceptional build quality. They are also some of the most reliable you can find in the industry at this point. At the same time, we think they are some of the most creative innovators in the mobile computing industry.

In that sense, we are usually quite excited to see new Lenovo products. We are also always looking forward to getting our hands on any Lenovo’s notebooks. We have had stelar experiences with their products and we expect just as much with this AMD powered Yoga Slim 7 Pro X (14-inch Gen7) thin-and-light laptop.

This laptop is quite special too. It comes with two types of GPU, an integrated one and a discrete one. If you look closely too, one of the stickers tells you also that the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X is mostly made with content creators in mind. It is powered by one of the most powerful CPUs you can find in a modern notebook.

At retail price, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X starts at MYR 5,139. For that money, you are getting AMD’s Ryzen 6600 CPU with integrated Radeon graphics. For a price, you can opt for NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series GPU. The configuration we have here will set you back MYR 7,559 at full retail price.

Is the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X worth that kind of asking price? Does it live up to the Lenovo Yoga name? Should you get one? Let us dive in.

Design

The new 7^th generation 14-inch Yoga Slim 7 Pro X is not a convertible as the ‘Yoga’ name traditionally suggests. It is a regular clamshell type notebook. The Onyx Grey shell is plain simple with a Lenovo logo engraved on the top right corner. The offset logo makes the laptop look even cleaner than anything you can find in the market.

The size of the laptop allows for two up-firing speakers to be placed a either side of the keyboard of the Yoga Slim 7 Pro X. The keyboard is also accompanied by a huge trackpad. We appreciate the large trackpad, especially when tabletop space is a premium.

Unlike most laptops, this power button is placed at the right side of the laptop. It does not offer fingerprint recognition, unfortunately. The right side of the laptop also houses the webcam toggle keeping the display area of the laptop clean and simple.

The all-metal construction makes the laptop heavier than most thin-and-light laptops. The construction adds some rigidity in the laptop’s body; its chassis hardly flexes. Even the hinge feels tight and reassuring resulting in minimised display wobble.

Hardware

As we mentioned, this Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X packs both AMD’s and NVIDIA’s GPU. You are getting the Radeon integrated graphics with the Yoga Slim 7 Pro X thanks to the Ryzen 6900 within the all-metal body. For heavier graphic workloads, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 is there to pick up the slack.

Specifications

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X	As tested
Processor (clock)	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS Creator Edition 3.30 GHz octa-core with Turbo Boost (up to 4.90GHz) 16MB L3 cache
GPU	Integrated AMD Radeon 680M NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB GDDR6 VRAM
Display	14.5” 3K PureSight IPS (3072 x 1920) 16:10 aspect ratio 120Hz 100% sRGB, Δ<1 400 nits NVIDIA G-SYNC Dolby Vision Touch Sensitive
Memory	32GB LPDDR5 1TB PCIe® NVMe™ 4.0 M.2 SSD
Networking and Connections	Intel WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.1 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB-C® 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 2x Type-A 1x 3.5mm AUX Jack
Battery	70W with up to 15 hours life (quoted) 100W Type-C power adapter Rapid Charge
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Miscellaneous	FHD camera with IR Blaster Backlit Keyboard Dolby Atmos Stereo Speakers Far Field Microphone DisplayPort 1.4a over USB-C Windows Hello with Facial Recognition

Features

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X does not feature a fingerprint sensor. It does pack a Full HD webcam with infrared (IR) blaster though. That means that Windows Hello is handled exclusively with facial recognition.

Full HD Webcam with Facial Recognition and Smart Appearance

You can hardly tell that it is a Full HD when you turn it on. The image lacks colour detail. It feels like you are looking at a black-and-white image. Skin tones are washed out, and some areas in your image might look overexposed.

Lenovo’s Smart Appearance is Lenovo’s camera app that is supposed to replace the basic Windows camera app. You can change your background, enhance the image, and even correct ‘Eye Contact’ with the app. In our test though, we never got some of the functions to work properly. We only saw the image enhancer working to reduce some of the exposure issues. It also does not play well with video conferencing apps, oddly enough.

The webcam works for Windows Hello though. Unfortunately, the laptop does not go to sleep or log off once you move away from the device. In that case, if you are moving away from your laptop, you need to log off manually.

Touch Sensitive Display

Touch inputs and gestures are currently some the most intuitive ways to exploit Windows 11 and its apps. For example, scrolling through websites is much better with a flick. Scrolling through word documents is also a breeze via touch input. We also find that touch input works well with creative apps like Adobe Lightroom and even Premiere Pro for both photo and video editing. If you need if for drawing, you might want to think of getting a proper stylus for it.

Dolby Atmos Harman Speakers

Most times, you want to brush off the ‘professionally tuned speakers’ gimmick. That is because that is technically what they are – gimmicks. Not this one. When they say that their Harman speakers are Dolby Atmos tuned, we believe them.

Low-end frequencies are detailed despite its lack of subwoofer. Of course, the lack of subwoofer means you are lacking some bass punch. There is no bass compensation in the tuning either. Your high-end and mid-range tones are detailed and clear. For music and even movies, the speakers are detailed and powerful enough for an elevated level of immersion.

We can even trust the speakers on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X when it comes to video or audio production. While you still want to use headphones when you get the chance, the Dolby Atmos speakers offers enough detail and clarity for production work.

Two USB Type-C + USB Type-A

We find that having an extra USB port on your laptop can be useful when it comes to expandability. Most wireless mice today still rely on a 2.4Ghz receiver for the best latency and performance. The 2.4Ghz will take up a USB type-A port. With the Lenovo, you still have an extra USB port for other things like your external drive.

They sacrificed an HDMI port in favour of the USB ports. While a USB Type-C hubs exist for a reason, it is an extra attachment to carry. An HDMI output will be extra useful for better calibrated, high-resolution, large factor desktop displays. Still, both USB Type-C ports are DisplayPort 1.4 compatible.

That Keyboard Though

The tactility on the Yoga Slim 7 Pro X is satisfying and reassuring. It is one of those keyboards that lets you know that you have done something intentionally without making too much noise about it. Key travel feels plenty enough, which adds to the tactility and type feel. The rigidity of the chassis also plays a part to the great keyboard feel.

Performance – AMD’s Best with NVIDIA’s Entry-Level

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X we have here packs a Ryzen 9 6900HS. This is also a Creator Edition processor that clocks in at 3.30GHz. You also get NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 within the Yoga laptop. In any case, 100W does not seem enough to keep the CPU and GPU going at full chat.

Multitasking & Productivity

For regular Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and even Excel use cases, the Yoga laptop works as well as any laptop can. Thanks to the fast and ample 32GB DDR5 RAM, multiple instances of Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint can work at the same time without significant lags. Even an extensive Excel spreadsheet could be worked on with little issues.

The discrete GPU is most useful for Adobe’s Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, and even Lightroom. We use Adobe’s Premiere Pro to edit and render a two minute and 50 second 4K video. Scrubbing through the video is smooth and quick. It renders the 4K video (H.264) in about 16 minutes, which is rather commendable. The cooling fan can be heard in these conditions but it is nowhere near annoying. The heat does get a little uncomfortable, but thankfully it is concentrated at a small area above the keyboard array.

Entertainment & Gaming

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X can be used for gaming thanks to its discrete GPU. You want to adjust your expectations on its gaming performance since the GPU is an entry-level NVIDIA GeForce. You also want to keep in mind that you have a 3K resolution, 120Hz display.

We ran games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Two Point Hospital, and F1 2022 on the laptop. On the Lenovo’s 3K resolution PureSight display, F1 2022 looks great. Gameplay for F1 2022 is a little on the choppy side though even at ‘low’ settings. You get nearly 50fps in the game, but there are some noticeable lags. In CS:GO you get up to about 90fps, which does not sound like a bad thing. It jumps from anywhere between 40 to 90fps though, which makes the game feel a little choppy. Two Point Hospital on ‘high’ graphics settings runs at up to 35fps on the Yoga Slim 7 Pro X, even at its lowest 20fps the game is still playable and looks good on the display. In this case, we do not recommend competitive titles on the notebook.

The 3K display is not just useful for your colour grading purposes. The IPS panel can be easily enjoyed via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and even YouTube. Though Netflix and Prime Video will not show movies at 4K, they still look good on what Lenovo calls their PureSight IPS display. Dolby Vision ensures that compatible movies from Netflix look as they are intended on the big screens making movies more enjoyable and immersive. While 16:10 aspect ratio is great for productivity, we find the wasted space on the top and bottom of the display while watching videos quite annoying.

Battery Life

To our surprise, the included 100W USB type-C charger is more than capable to keep the powerful CPU and GPU alive while charging the battery. In ‘rapid charge’ mode that you can turn on via Vantage, you can charge the laptop in less than two hours. Both the GPU and CPU demands up to 70W in total, which explains its ability for fast charging.

Our 65W GaN charger does not charge the laptop as fast as its original charger, but it still charges the laptop. We typically use the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X for Word processing, a lot of web browsing, some music listening, some YouTube, and Netflix. In our typical use, we got nearly 9 hours of use out of it before scrambling for our chargers. For something that can pull 70W for gaming and production purposes at this size, it is impressive. Of course, with our GaN charger, charging becomes a lot slower in high-performance situations.

Display – Delightful Touch

The display on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X is one of the best in its class. The one we have here is a 14.5-inch PureSight IPS panel offering 3,072 by 1,920 pixels. As mentioned, the display outputs at 100% sRGB colour gamut and is calibrated to Δ<1 for the most accurate colour reproduction possible.

The Yoga Slim 7 Pro is a mobile powerhouse meant for content creators. The display is a direct reflection of that. With the display, we could do all our colour calibration and editing anywhere and at any time as long as the battery capacity allows. Of course, in the case of content production, keeping the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro is always preferable.

The 3K display is also highly colour accurate. It offers 100% sRGB colour gamut and ΔE<1 for the most accurate colour reproduction you can find on a laptop in its class. That allows us to do a complete colour grading for our videos and photos on this laptop directly too.

Above the display, is also a colour ambient light sensor and a time-of-flight sensor. The color ambient light sensor detects light temperature around the room and changes the colour profile of the display based on that information. That function protects your eyes and at the same time optimises your viewing experience on the notebook.

With Doby Vision calibration as well, certified shows on Netflix really come to life on the display. Images look sharp and clear even if they are not projected as 4K images on the 3K display. While there is no clever upscaling technology, the 3K display manages to ensure that all images look good and immersive.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X – Near Perfect

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro X retails at MYR 7,559 (as tested). However you look at it, the asking price is steep for a laptop of its class. To most, this notebook is an overkill. We also think that price should pay for an OLED display that is becoming more standard for modern laptops though. It also lacks a fingerprint sensor which could be useful especially in situations where facial recognition fails. We also think that an HDMI port could be an important feature in laptop with this calibre, especially for content creators.

We love this thing though. Everything about it suits our use case. It fits the bill for any sort of content creator. While the display can only go up to 180^o, we think that it is worthy of the Yoga namesake.

At its size, it is one of the heaviest laptops you can find in the industry. It is not the thinnest laptop you can find too, but you can hardly find a laptop this size packing this much power under the hood. With that in mind, we think that the weight is a direct effect to the cooling requirements of the internals.

That power is exactly what we need for our daily use case. We can edit videos and render them remotely. You can game casually without a fuss. The excellent keyboard allows us to work with the laptop for extended periods without too much fatigue. The speakers are also excellent enough for both production work and entertainment.

Because it is not a 4K display, the Netflix app can only display at Full HD resolution. The expansive 14.5-inch display is still a great display for entertainment. It is also excellent for video and photo workflows thanks to its 3K richness and colour accuracy.

You can opt out from the discrete GPU. You can go for an AMD Ryzen 5 6600HS CPU instead of the ranger topping Ryzen 9. It that configuration the price drops to MYR 5,000, which is still a lot of money for a mid-ranger. You can also opt for the slightly more powerful AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS either with integrated Radeon graphics or NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1650 instead at MYR 5,469 (starting from). You can check them out yourself at their website.

Computers, Editorial, Reviews

The Acer Swift 3 OLED In-Depth Review – Brilliant Display Update

January 27, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

We have reviewed Acer’s Swift 3 before. It is, in many ways quite a regular recipe for a budget thin-and-light laptop. It is really everything you can ask for in a very regular laptop you want to bring around for productivity.

To begin with, it is not that thin in the first place. Still, it is well built. It is also not the most powerful thing you can find in the market since there is no discrete GPU.

Now, the Acer Swift 3 OLED then. It is a slightly outdated product. Yet, it is still relevant since it is technically an updated version of the Acer Swift 3. It was released a few months ago, technically a 2023 product. While Acer released a few products in CES 2023, the Acer Swift 3 OLED will still be the latest Acer Swift laptop available at the time of writing.

It shares the same chassis with the 2022 Swift 3 and Swift 3X. You get mostly the same materials, which is not a bad thing. There is very little in terms of exposed plastic, save for the keyboard and the display’s bezel.

In this case, is the Acer Swift 3 OLED worth looking at? Is it for you? Is it worth its asking price? Should you wait for Acer’s latest laptops released in CES 2023?

Design

If you have come across our Acer Swift 3X and read through our Acer Swift 3 reviews before, they pretty much look the same. There are a few key differences though. Instead of 13-inch on your display, you have 14-inch on the display this time. With that, you get a larger 16:10 aspect ratio display with smaller bezels at the top, the sides, and the bottom. Thanks to that, the Acer logo now sits just above the keyboard, in-line with the DTS etching you see above the power button.

No, it is not a facial recognition capable webcam, but it is a Full HD webcam this time. Somehow, the punch hole for the camera looks smaller than before.

Everything else remains the same. The keyboard layout is familiar. The trackpad is the same exact size and build. Even the thermal vents are placed at the same top right corner of the bottom chassis. The only noticeable difference is the shell design. The Acer logo is smaller now and sits at the top of the shell. It is now a very plain grey, which we find rather boring.

Hardware

Within the familiar all-metal chassis is a very familiar 12^th generation Intel Core processor as well. 13^th Generation Intel processors are reserved for the next generation Swift laptops. Still, the Swift 3 OLED is an Intel EVO platform laptop.

Specifications

Acer Swift 3 OLED SF314-71-7980	As tested
Processor (clock)	Intel® Core™ i7-12700H 2.30 GHz tetradeca-core with Turbo Boost (up to 4.70GHz) 24MB cache
GPU	Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
Display	14” OLED WQXGA (2880 x 1800) 16:10 aspect ratio
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 1TB PCIe® NVMe™ 3.0 M.2 SSD
Networking and Connections	Intel WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB-C® 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 2x Type-A 1x HDMI 2.1 1x 3.5mm AUX Jack
Battery	57W with up to 8 hours life (quoted) 100W Type-C power adapter
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Miscellaneous	FHD camera Backlit Keyboard Stereo Speakers Far Field Microphone DisplayPort over USB-C Thunderbolt 4 Windows Hello with Fingerprint Sensor

Features

The Acer Swift 3 OLED starts at MYR 400 premium (MYR 4,399 as tested) over the regular outgoing Acer Swift 3. Most of that extra money goes to the brilliant OLED display you get on the OLED variant of the laptop. You are also not really losing out in terms of features over the regular ol’ Swift 3.

Full HD Webcam

On top of the OLED display is a better webcam than before. Instead of the standard 720p webcam, it is a Full HD 1080p one. In theory, this should be an improvement.

The image you get from it is not the best. The edges are quite soft and dynamic range still. Colours look fine in favourable lighting conditions.

For most cases, in video calls specifically, it works. There is not much to complain about if you are just looking for a simple workaround in your remote working situation. If you want something better, or to use your webcam for streaming purposes, you are better off getting a separate webcam.

Fingerprint Sensor with Windows Hello

Like the older Swift 3, the fingerprint sensor is built into the power button. We think that the fingerprint sensor placement is the most sensible in this configuration. The distinct tactility on the power button is highly appreciated though. It at least prevents us from accidentally turning off our laptop.

USB type-C Charging, Thunderbolt 4, and HDMI 2.1

Thunderbolt 4 should not come as a surprise. It is technically an existing feature of the Acer Swift 3 and any modern laptop that comes with Intel’s latest CPUs. The capabilities of Thunderbolt 4 should also be known by now. You can strap a 4K monitor alongside any USB hubs with Thunderbolt 4.

The HDMI 2.1 port is also found on the 2022 variant of the regular Swift 3. It allows your Swift 4 to get up to 8K resolution of output. You might want to tamper your expectations in terms of performance though since there is no dedicated GPU on the Swift 3 OLED. Still, with HDMI 2.1 you can get your laptop to take advantage of 4K 120hz displays, which should be in the Swift 3 OLED’s range of capabilities even in gaming; just not AAA titles.

The Acer Swift 3 OLED now exclusively charges via USB Type-C. There is no proprietary charging port on the hardware. That also means you have an extra USB Type-C port to work with especially when the other is used as a charging port.

Both USB Type-C ports are Thunderbolt 4 capable ports, allowing you to strap up to two 4K monitors to the Acer Swift 3. You might want to make sure that the monitor can at least charge the Acer Swift 3 at 65W at least.

Same Keys as Before

It is not a perfect keyboard. We think that it could use a little more travel. The bottom out feels a little cushioned. We think that the keyboard feels a little mushy. While it is not hugely uncomfortable to type with the keyboard for long periods, we do think that a little more tactility would make it better.

Performance – The Power of Intel’s 12^th Generation Core

The Acer Swift 3 OLED is technically a minor update of a 2022 product. You will not find Intel’s latest 13^th generation Core processor lodged in the laptop. Instead, you get a 12^th generation Core processor. Specifically, in our test unit, you get the Intel Core i7-12700H processor.

Multitasking & Productivity

The Intel Core i7-12700H is a proven processor in its own rights. While it is not the most powerful mobile processor you can find currently, it is powerful enough for the Swift 3 OLED. The laptop does not come packing a discrete GPU though.

It comes with Intel’s Iris Xe, which should be enough for 4K video editing purposes even. It should make short work of Photoshop and Lightroom. As of writing though, we could not get Adobe’s Lightroom to work on the laptop, which is a shame. That also means we could not fully take advantage of the brilliant OLED display with 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut. They also claim DisplayHDR 500 certification with up to 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, which should really reward content creators. At 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800 pixels) as well, it is not what you call an average display.

Still, if your aim is to get other things like emails and word processing done on the laptop, it will do the job just as well. The 16GB of RAM should be plenty enough for a ridiculous amount of open tab on your Google Chrome and to game with.

Entertainment & Gaming

This is where the OLED display also comes into a class of its own. The Swift 3 OLED, in terms of internal hardware, should allow for very smooth and painless streaming experience on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Via the app, Netflix can technically scale up to 4K in streams, but it will remain at 1080p Full HD in this case. Amazon Prime only does Full HD on any PC hardware.

From time to time, you might want to play some games. This is no gaming laptop, so you do want to adjust your expectations a little in terms of gaming performance. Keep in mind also that there will be a lot of heat when you play games, on top of plenty of noise. We tried playing games like Two Point Campus, CS:GO, and Undertale on the laptop.

With Two Point Campus, you want to keep your graphics settings at the lowest (very low) for a smooth experience. On very high settings you barely get 20fps out of the game, but everything looks just that much better.

Undertale is that game that you can play on any PC, no matter the performance. You get 30fps, which is sort of the maximum the game goes to anyway. The OLED display does make the graphics pop a little more and makes the game just a little more enjoyable though, which is nice.

CS:GO on the other hand can hit up to 40fps at times. Most of the time, you are only getting up to 30fps though. It is playable, but you will not be competitive without a GPU. You want to expect some input delays on the Swift 3 OLED too. To get more performance, you can just push the resolution down a little.

Battery Life

Acer quotes about 8 hours of battery life on the Acer Swift 3 OLED on their website. Inside, you can find a 57Wh Lithium-Ion battery. The charging adapter it comes with is rated at 100W, which is more than sufficient to charge the laptop. It is possible to use a 65W GaN charger with the Acer Swift 3 OLED.

In our use case, we have several Firefox and Microsoft Edge windows open with not more than 20 tabs open at the same time. At least two Microsoft Word windows are open most of the time. Screen brightness is usually at about 50% most of the time or less, it can get overly bright at 100%.

In our typical use case, we get nearly eight hours of battery life out of the Acer Swift 3 OLED. We are impressed enough with the battery life, though we think that it could use a slightly bigger battery to accommodate a full workday and a little more just in case you have extra work at the office and you forgot your charger at home.

Display & Audio

This is really the part where the Swift 3 OLED shines. When you put the Swift 3 beside any other laptop in its class without OLED displays, you can immediately tell that this laptop is special.

Acer quotes 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification. It refreshes at 90hz and it supposed to respond at 0.2ms, which is really near instant. You get 2.8K resolution on the 14-inch OLED panel, which is a lot of pixel for a laptop this size. It is even enough pixel for content creators to work with, especially if they specialize in working with photos.

Colours really pop on the Acer Swift 3 OLED, thanks to the capabilities of OLED displays. Any images you can put on the display are super vivid and lifelike thanks to the highly accurate colour reproduction. Watching shows on Netflix, Prime Video, and even Disney+ is a joy on the Acer Swift 3 OLED. You hardly get colour fringing or ghosting on the OLED display. Thanks to the HDR capabilities, darker scenes on shows like ‘The Witcher’ still packs plenty of detail. ‘Our Universe’ looks immersive and impressive at the same time with superbly rich colours. In that sense, you can also enjoy YouTube videos with no issues.

The DTS certified speakers are a little on the less powerful end of the spectrum. You do not get a lot of low-end frequencies, which is quite expected since there is no proper subwoofer installed here. On the mid and high frequencies, there is some clarity but not a lot of details. It is not the most powerful nor detailed set of speakers in the world, but it works. It is good enough if you are just looking to watch movies or listen to music while you browse the internet or work. For production purposes, you are better off with a decent pair of earphones.

The Acer Swift 3 OLED – That OLED Though

The Acer Swift 3 OLED starts at MYR 3,999. The one we have here will set you back MYR 1,000 more at retail (MYR 5,399 retail). You can get it at a massive discount via their online stores, but it is still a lot of money for a thin-and-light laptop without discrete GPU. The original Acer Swift 3 starts at MYR 3,599, which means you are paying the MYR 400 premium for a much better display.

The original Acer Swift 3 is not a bad laptop to begin with. There is no discrete GPU, but for a laptop that is supposed to do everything, everywhere, it is decent. The OLED upgrade highlights the high-resolution display aspect even more and made the laptop that much better to work with.

The OLED display with 16:10 aspect ratio helps with productivity. It is not a gamer product, but if you have enough for an eGPU, it might work. If not, watching movies on the OLED display is rather enjoyable. Provided, the speakers are not the best; it is and easy fix with a decent pair of headphones or Bluetooth enabled speakers. Even webpages with any form of designed visuals look really sharp on the display. The experience on the Swift 3 OLED might spoil you and your experience with other laptop displays in the future.

Is it worth the MYR 400 extra over the original Swift 3? We can safely say that the display experience is worth a little more than that. At MYR 3,999 though, we cannot call it budget friendly. If you go for the top-of-the-line option with a more capable Core i7 and 16GB of RAM, you are paying a premium of MYR 1,300 (MYR 5,399) over the Core i5 variant.

In that sense, we think you might be better off waiting for Acer’s latest Swift laptops that were launched during their CES 2023 keynote. At the same time, if you cannot wait for a few more months, we think that the Core i5 with 8GB RAM variant should be the better buy. You still get the gorgeous high-resolution OLED display, but with slightly less power. It is still enough power for you to get your photos edited, browse the internet, and watch movies comfortably.

Accessories, Lifestyle, Mobile, Reviews, Writer's Choice

The Sony WH-1000XM5 In-Depth Review – Just… Different

November 11, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

When Sony announced and released the WH-1000XM4, or the fourth generation of their most premium noise-cancelling headphones, we were excited about it. It featured the same design as before, nothing wrong with the folding design, it is perfect for travelling. It is a more comfortable headphone to work with. Thanks to the improved processor, noise cancellation is better than ever, and sound quality improved. We liked the WH-1000XM4.

Then there is their fifth-generation premium noise cancelling headphones. The architecture of the headphone has changed alongside new materials. There is a new driver, which is lighter and smaller than before. There are now two processors within the headset, one more than before. All this should make Sony WH-1000XM5 the best noise cancelling headphones money can buy today.

Is it though? Is it worth MYR 1,799? Should you buy the older one instead? We find out.

Design

The new WH-1000X flagship headphone looks different from before. There is no more folding the headphone to fit a more pocketable case or shape. The adjustable headband is now smooth and quiet. It is slimmer now than before, which is good. They also made it longer to relief some clamping pressure.

The ear cups are also larger than before. They say there are eight mics on the headphone, four on each ear cup. We could identify six of them by a quick visual inspection. We suspect the other mics are inside the ear cups.

The WH-1000XM5 feels like a much larger headphone compared to its predecessor. The larger ear cups wrap your ears and seals them better. Strangely, it is lighter than before.

The carrying case is also larger now. Inspired by Japanese origami, it can be folded flat for storage. It is oddly shaped, like a flattened bell. We think that the older headphone package is easier to pack since it takes up less space in your bag compared to the new one.

Because there is more space in the case, packing the cables and airplane adapter is rather simple. You can simply put everything in the magnetically sealed compartment within the case.

The Most Comfortable WH-1000X Headphone Ever

There is a benefit to its size. Since it weighs no more than the older headphone, and with less clamping force, you can wear it for longer periods of time. They say that they used more composite materials to make it even lighter than before.

The cushions on the ear cups are a little thicker than before, but somehow airier too. The larger ear cups also mean better passive noise cancelling. Of course, you might want to think about using it indoors where there is active cooling.

Hardware

While the overall size of the headphones is larger, the drivers are smaller than before. The driver in each cup is now 30mm, 10mm smaller than before. It is made with carbon fiber composite to ensure they still offer powerful bass.

Specifications

Sony WH-1000XM5
Driver Unit	30mm Closed Neodymium Dynamic w/ Integrated Processor V1 & Noise Cancelling Processor QN1
Frequency Response	20Hz – 20,000Hz(44.1kHz sampling) 20Hz – 40,000Hz(LDAC 96kHz sampling, 990kbps)
Headphone type	Wireless Over-Ear
Battery (Continuous Music)	Unspecified capacity Max. 30 hrs(NC On) / Max. 40hrs(NC Off)
Miscellaneous	Bluetooth 5.2 Active Noise Cancelling DSEE Extreme Beamforming Mic Adaptive Sound 360 Reality Audio 360 Spatial Sound Dolby Atmos Multipoint Connection Speak-to-chat

Features

Sony spares no expense at equipping their flagship noise cancelling headphones with even more features this time. These features can prove useful in a lot of situations too.

Two Devices, One Headphone

There is a caveat, as per warned by the Sony Headphones app when turn on multipoint Bluetooth connection. Choosing to connect your headphone to two devices at once voids LDAC support, but you can still prioritize sound quality. You also might not be able to tell the difference unless you concentrate hard

Speak-to-Chat

On the WH-1000XM5, activation delay is much better than before. You get a little ping to tell you that it has detected your voice and cut the music. The headphone goes into ambient mode almost immediately when you start a conversation. Once it activates, it will stay on for 15 seconds by default.

Via the app as well you can change how sensitive the algorithm works according to how it works for you. You can extend it to 30 seconds, indefinitely, or reduce it to 5 seconds. We find that 15 seconds and normal sensitivity on the function is good enough for our use case in most cases.

Touch Control and Quick Control

Like before, the right side is where all the touch sensitive controls are. Your music controls start with a double tap to pause or play music, then swiping left (forward) or right (backward) to go back and forth between your favourite songs. To control volumes, you swipe up and down. A double finger tap-and-hold switches the Speak-to-Chat function on or off. A single button tap-and-hold brings you to voice assistant of your choice via the Headphones App. Every input comes with a ping so you know the headphone registers them. There is an additional Noise Cancelling Ambient button that can also be programmed to respond to double or triple taps that you can set up yourself via the app.

To quickly get into Ambient Noise mode temporarily without speaking, you simply place your palm over the right ear cup for a quick conversation. If not, just take off your headphone to pause the music. Once you put it back on, your music starts again.

Sony Headphone App

We always maintained that the Sony Headphone App is one of the best control apps for wireless headphones. The interface is still familiar to any users of Sony Headphones. For the WH-1000XM5, there is now a “Services” tab that allows the headphone to connect to a variety of apps and add certain functionality for the app. For now, that service is limited to quickly launch Spotify.

The app is also how you update your headphone. Once the headphone gets connected and app launches, the firmware gets updated. You can also choose not to update your headphone immediately.

Geotagging

Through your smartphone, the headphone detects your location and sets its Noise Cancelling/Ambient Noise levels to your preference, turns speak-to-chat on or off, and even changes its equalizer to your liking in different geotagged areas. Via the app you can add locations and set up your headphone however you like in all your saved locations.

Fast Pair but No NFC – Wait What? Why?

We love that new Bluetooth devices now come with Fast Pair and Quick Connect. We only need to turn the headphone on and our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra picks it up immediately and prompts the pairing sequence. Everything was done within a few seconds, and we can use it immediately after. To tailor our experience, we took a few extra minutes fiddling through the Headphones app. No NFC to be found on the headphone though, bummer.

You Might Want to Keep it Dry

The WH-1000XM5 does not come with any IP rating or any assurance from Sony that it is water resistant. In that case, you might want to refrain from getting it too wet in any situations. We think that the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphone is mostly made to be used in the likes of airports and malls or even at home.

Performance

While improvements are made everywhere else, the most important part of a headphone is how it sounds.

Picking up the Phone

The WH-1000XM5 offers crisp and clean voice in calls. At the same time, because there are more mics than ever now and thanks to Sony’s clever voice pick up technology, we are reported to sound better than ever in calls.

Sound Quality

As expected from Sony, the maker of some of the best audio gears in the industry, the WH-1000XM5 is still one of the best sounding headphones in its class. The bass response is deep on the WH-1000XM5. The low-frequencies pack a lot of details and punch, but it also feels like the mid-range and high-end frequencies are slightly muddled compared to its predecessor. You still get clean high-end frequencies and detailed mid-range tones, albeit a little on the warm side.

Thing is, we still prefer the audio reproduction on the WH-1000XM4 over this pair. The WH-1000XM4 somehow sounds a little more balanced and just a tad cleaner. Again, this is something you’d only pick up if you pay enough attention.

Noise Cancelling with Two Processors

Instead of just using one QN1 processor to handle both audio and noise cancelling work, the new headphone features two processors. You get the QN1, and you also get a V1 integrated processor from the WF-1000XM4 earbuds.

The WH-1000XM5 has something they call Auto NC optimizer that is supposed to adapt the noise cancelling algorithm to suite your environments better. They also say that the new algorithm and added microphones are supposed to cancel mid and high-frequency sounds better than ever.

With eight mics for working together with the processors, you get arguably the best noise cancelling experience from a Sony headphone. The WH-1000XM5 seems to filter noise a little better than before all-around. Even in a crowded café, putting on the headphone is like transporting yourself into a different place. You still hear some noise, but it is a lot less. Even the coffee machine is less intrusive.

Ambient Noise mode

One of the biggest improvements on the WH-1000XM5, we think, is its ambient noise mode. We find that extremely useful even on the previous headphones when someone is trying to get your attention to have a quick conversation with you. It responds much faster and accurately now.

You can turn it on by pressing the NC mode button also on the right earcup or cover it with your palm. That button can also turn of your Noise Cancelling/Ambient Noise functions completely. If you turned your Speak-to-Chat function on, it turns on the moment it detects your voice.

Ambient noise mode on the WH-1000XM5 does not sound natural. But it is closer than ever, we think. Having conversations with the headphone on feels more natural than before and voices are picked up a little better, if you prioritize voice.

Out and about, having the ambient noise mode on is important to at ensure spatial awareness. We recommend having ambient noise mode on in the public for your own safety. Of course, in the airports or train stations, you want to be able to hear announcements with ambient noise mode.

DSEE Extreme

DSEE Extreme is simply audio upscaling technology that upscales regular audio from the likes of Spotify. It turns your regular Spotify quality to CD quality by filling details due to compressions.

The result, if you pay attention, is quite a significant boost in details in your music. There are plenty of added details in music you listen to, very comparable to what you are get from CDs if you can remember. You get a better result if you are working with Spotify, though Tidal and Deezer offers better audio experiences.

360 Reality Audio

The only way to really experience 360 Reality Audio without spending a fortune on a Sony Bravia XR TV is to get a subscription to Tidal. We do not own a Bravia XR TV. In that case, we have to put a disclaimer here that our 360 Reality Audio experience will not be representative to what you get from a Sony Bravia XR TV.

On Tidal, 360 Reality Audio works only on songs that are produced specifically with 360 Reality Audio in mind. You want to keep in mind that 360 Reality Audio is not Spatial Audio. It is a music-first proprietary technology that supports up to 64 audio channels aimed to put you in the middle of a concert hall or recording studio.

Listening to audio with 360 Reality Audio changes your music listening experience. Most of the time, you really feel like you are listening to music being recorded right in the middle of the studio with instruments and singers all around you. We recommend you listening to Alicia Keys’ “3 Hour Drive” featuring Sampha and compare it to the regular “Master” version.

Battery Life Champ

To be fair, there is nothing to shout about here. It still features the same battery life as before at 30 hours of music playback time despite working with two processors. If you want to use it for calls, it can for up to 24 hours, and you are not going to be on the phone for 24 hours at a time.

We have never used it beyond 20 hours without charging the headphones, so we will not be able to fully confirm its 30 hours battery life. But it does about 20 to 24 hours with little to no issue, and we take Sony’s word for it. We used the headphone mainly for music and connected to a single source, our smartphone with about 70% volume and Noise Cancelling all at all times.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 – Something is Missing

The WH-1000XM5 looks like a completely different product compared to its predecessors. We assure you that it is not though. It is still very much a Sony product; it feels like a quality product built to last. Instead of poorer build quality, the weight savings are obtained through new material sciences and innovative technologies.

There are a few things we feel that makes the WH-1000XM5 a small step back compared to the Sony-WH-1000XM4. The audio quality took a slight hit due to the smaller drivers. The WH-1000XM5 cannot be folded to be as compact as before, which is rather annoying since the package is rather bulky. It is also MYR 200 more than the previous headphones at MYR 1,799.

There are still a lot of positives on the WH-1000XM5. The headphone is more comfortable than before with a near perfect clamping force, allowing extended use cases. The lightweight construction also means that there is less strain to your neck too. The noise cancelling is better, and voice is picked up better, especially when you need to make calls. Functions like Speak-to-Chat also respond more accurately than before, which makes it a lot more intuitive.

It is hard to justify a purchase decision for this one. In terms of noise-cancelling capabilities, this is the best you can get your hands on currently, only marginally. With ANC, its predecessor sounds slightly more balanced too, albeit with a slightly less punchy bass. If sound quality is your focus, there are better sounding headphones too.

We think that the MYR 1,799 price tag is steep for the entire package. You are paying for some new interesting innovations on the headphone though. In our opinions, the slightly better sounding WH-1000XM4 is now a bargain. Sony’s headphones go on sale all the time too, so you can get your hands on Sony’s headphones for less than its retail price tag.

Is it worth replacing your WH-1000XM4 with this one? We do not think so. Although it is an upgrade everywhere, you also take minor hits in key areas. The trade-off is not enough to justify an upgrade from the already stellar WH-1000XM4. If you come from even older platforms, it is worth the upgrade.