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Android, Mobile, Reviews

OPPO A74 In-Depth Review: Missing that OPPO Magic

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OPPO has been making waves in the mobile industry with their approach to cameras and their augmentation of their smartphones with their own camera algorithms. They’ve also been one of the best options when it comes to getting affordable smartphones which pack impressive performance.

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The recently announced OPPO A74 is their latest iteration of the affordable OPPO A series which has, in our previous experience with it, performed commendably. The A74 (4G) is the lower specc’d version of the new device without 5G connectivity.

Does the smartphone keep OPPO’s legacy in the affordable space? Should you be investing your hard earned money in it? We’ll be breaking the whole experience down in our review.

Design

The OPPO A74 is a sleek, slim device with a pretty finish. It’s actually one of the better-looking smartphones in its category. OPPO has given it sleek curves on the back and a rather shiny finish. While it can be a fingerprint magnet, the finish of the A74 gives the smartphone a rather premium feel and look. In addition to that the curves make the phone a little more ergonomic; making it easier and more comfortable to hold and use.

The design cues of the OPPO A74, however, are very run-of-the-mill when it comes to the company’s design language. We’ve seen the same design cues from nearly all the phones that have been released from OPPO – and OnePlus – in the past few months. The lack of identity when it comes to the outlook of the many smartphone series that OPPO offers is a little bit of a let-down but they generally do make up for it with unique, cutting edge features.

Aside from that, the A74 is also one of the few smartphones that has opted to keep the pinhole design of the display. Thanks to this choice, users are in for a more immersive experience when it comes to the display and multimedia experience of the smartphone. That paired with the rather compact overall size also allows easy everyday usage and even a more comfortable experience when gaming.

Hardware

The hardware of the OPPO A74 isn’t that far off for an entry-level device. However, when it comes to processors, it comes with one that is slightly more powerful than others we’ve seen used in its competition. That said, specifications and the make up of any given smartphone is only one side of the coin, how they affect the overall user experience is another.

We’ve listed the complete specifications below and noted the configuration which we reviewed in the table. That said, we dive in deeper into the user experience in the following sections.

Specifications

ProcessorQualcomm SM6115 Snapdragon 662 (11nm)
Octa-Core @ 4×2.0GHz, 4×1.8GHz
RAM6GB (As Tested) 8GB
Memory128GB (As Tested) MicroSDXC
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)Adreno 610
DisplayAMOLED panel
6.43-inch (~409 ppi)
1080×2400 pixels FHD+ resolution 20:9 Aspect Ratio
Operating SystemAndroid 11 with Color OS 11.1
BatteryNon-Removable 5,000mAh Li-Po
Fast Charging (33W)
SuperVOOC 2.0 USB-PD 3.0
ConnectivityNano SIM
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
A2DP
Bluetooth 5.0 (aptX)
OTG Support
USB 2.0 Type-C
CameraREAR:
Triple Sensor:
48-Megapixel (f/1.7, 1/2.0″, 26mm (wide angle), 0.8µm Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS)   2-Megapixel (f/2.4, macro) 2-Megapixel (f/2.4, depth) Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF)   HDR
LED Flash
1080p Video recording (30fps)

FRONT:
16-Megapixel (f/2.4, 27mm (wide),1/3.06”, 1.0µm)
1080p video recording (30fps)
SensorAccelerometer
Proximity
Fingerprint (Optical, under display)
Gyroscope
Face Unlock
Compass
MiscellaneousDual SIM

Retail Price (Malaysia)MYR 899
Retail Price (US)USD$ 399.98

User Interface

OPPO’s ColorOS 11.1 comes baked in the OPPO A74. OPPO has made some good improvements in ColorOS 11.1 which enhance the user experience. The amount of customisability that OPPO brings into the software allows users to have a phone that is uniquely theirs. Things such as the lock screen, fonts and even the home screen is highly customisable and allow users to infuse their own personas into their smartphone.

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One of the highlights during our review is OPPO’s implementation of dark mode. Unlike a lot of other smartphones out there, OPPO has included three degrees of intensity for dark mode. This is particularly useful if, like me, your eyes are sensitive to the contrast that dark mode can give – particularly when it comes to viewing white on black. During my time with the A74, I found myself using the phone with dark mode set on medium. This was the setting that allowed my eyes to be comfortable while allowing me to save some battery.

OPPO’s ColorOS also brings an amazing selection of Wallpapers with their Artist+ Wallpaper project. However, how useful this feature is to you will depend on your appreciation of artists and the arts. While it was novel in the beginning, we eventually went back to our normal wallpapers after a few days.

That said, the OPPO A74 does benefit from some of the performance enhancing algorithms built into ColorOS 11. Navigation and swiping through screens were very smooth with little to no jitters even when swiping between open apps. Launching apps feels more prompt and it was a lot more seamless than other smartphones in its category. In addition, having a good selection of customisable quick toggles in the notification shade allowed for quick and easy access all the important settings.

Performance

When it comes to performance, the OPPO A74 isn’t a slouch. It was able to handle day to day tasks pretty easily. However, when it came to more demanding tasks, it did take a beating. The phone’s hardware doesn’t really show many bottle necks – but we expect you might get a better experience with 8GB of RAM.

When it came to using heavier gaming apps, there was a noticeable slow down in the system’s performance. This was also followed by the phone getting a little bit warmer to the touch. We suspect that the many AI algorithms that OPPO employs for its performance enhancement may not be too fond of resources (i.e. RAM) being taken up by other processes. However, while this did occur, it only happened when RAM usage was obscenely high. Beyond that, the phone rarely lagged or heated much.

Call Quality & Connectivity

Call quality on the A74 is commendable. Of course, since the switch to VoLTE, the clarity of voice calls has increased tremendously in general. However, OPPO seems to have enhanced the clarity further. Calls on the phone sounded crisp and clear. However, when it came to speaker phone, the phone left quite a bit to be desired. Even in quieter areas, it was hard to hear the audio coming from the speaker phone. Calls over the ear piece were crisp, voices were clear and there was little disturbance. Users on the other end of the call noted that my voice was loud and clear on their end.

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When it comes to connectivity, the OPPO A74 had more stable and stronger connectivity to 4G LTE that some of the other devices we’ve tested. During our testing it continually had either the same or one bar more than some of the other devices we had during the same period. On top of that it was able to keep a stable Bluetooth connection with our wireless headphones.

Gaming

Gaming on the OPPO A74 wasn’t too bad of an experience. It was able to keep up with some PUBG mobile. However, if you’re looking to play Genshin Impact with flawless graphics, you’ll be a little let down. That said, this isn’t unexpected for a phone of this calibre. Aside from some performance compromises, the phone can be a pretty good one for mobile gamers.

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The display is large with vibrant colours. OPPO’s decision to have the pin hole front camera really lends to the experience being more immersive. It’s responsive enough even for FPS games. The sound quality on the speakers isn’t too bad too. Of course, don’t go blasting it on 100% or you’ll have tearing and pitching on the speakers. You’ve got a 3.5mm jack so you can be even more immersed when gaming.

Battery Life

The battery on this smartphone is one of the best we’ve seen so far. That is, of course, expected for an OPPO smartphone. The company has been able to squeeze every ounce of battery life of its phones for a while now. On the A74, we were able to get about 2 days of battery life with normal use without much hassle. With heavier use like gaming and multimedia consumption, we got about 18 hours with about 5 to 6 hours of screen on time. On standby, the phone was able to last about a week easily.

Display

The display of the OPPO A74 comes with a Full HD+ resolution and, to be very honest, it’s just the right resolution for its 6.43-inch size. You’re not straining as pixelated artefacts on the screen and the pictures and video displayed are crisp and sharp. The high pixel density also allows for a better, more immersive visual experience on the smartphone.

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However, it’s not the best display out there. Even with 430 nits of brightness, the screen could get a tad bit dark when it comes to the outdoors. Under direct sunlight, it was a task to read messages and emails. If you’re looking to get into content, the display may not be the best in the market for it, colour accuracy isn’t the best but passable. You will need to do colour grading when it comes to having quality content.

Cameras

Ironically, the camera on the OPPO A74 felt like the biggest let down. While it’s not bad per se, the experience of the A74 feels like a serious step down from the A9 we reviewed previously. While using the camera has improved, OPPO seems to have sacrificed a lot when it comes to overall picture quality.

It was a little confounding when it came to the camera experience on the OPPO A74. The interface has improved and become more user friendly. Things are easier to access and it’s more feature rich than ever before, but the picture quality – particularly when it came to low light pictures seems to have taken a little bit of a dip between the A9 and A74. This, to be honest, wasn’t what we were expecting given the leaps and bounds that OPPO has progressed when it comes to their camera technology in their own Reno and Find X line up.

In good, bright lighting, the cameras were able to produce pictures with depth and detail. However, the minute lighting was dim, pictures became noisy and uninspiring. Detail was hardly present. You can see the amount of loss in detail even on the screen of the phone itself by simply pinching and zooming. This was the case with both the selfie and main sensors. Zooming was more of the same, even when using the optical zoom, pictures are noisy and lacked detail.

All in all, when it comes to the camera experience, it feels like OPPO didn’t really put too much effort into differentiating its entry level offering. We’ve seen the result of their efforts in their own Reno and Find X series, and it confounds us as to why some of that effort wasn’t present in the A74. It really feels like they were just ticking boxes in the features department.

A Near Complete Package for the Entry Level Missing that OPPO Magic

Overall, the OPPO A74 is an average package. It has a good display, a commendable processor but it’s let down by what feels like a lack of effort in the camera department. To be very frank, it’s let down by a standard that OPPO, itself, set. If the smartphone had the camera to back it, it would be a contender for one of the most affordable and best optimised phones in the market.

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However, with that said, for the budget, it isn’t a bad device. It ticks all the boxes when it comes to features and provides an overall experience that is enjoyable and, most importantly, customisable to the user. It does provide some value for money at its price and is able to keep up with demanding tasks.

Android, Mobile, News

Qualcomm Teams Up with ASUS For the First Ever Qualcomm Phone

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Qualcomm has made a name for themselves pushing the boundaries of mobile processing with their successful Snapdragon processors. However, the company has – until now – left commercial hardware to their many partners. The company is changing things up with their latest announcement: a Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders.

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Source: Qualcomm

The company seems to be taking a page out of Google’s book and is introducing a concept smartphone built from the ground up to highlight their processors. Designed by ASUS, the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders brings the full potential of the Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform. The smartphone comes with compatibility for the latest connectivity standards: WiFi 6E, 5G support for both mmWave and sub 6 bandwidths and Bluetooth 5.2. Together with the connectivity, Qualcomm is removing any bottlenecks in performance by equipping the smartphone with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard UFS 3.1 memory. The processor and top of the line storage promises some of the best read and write speeds.

Cameras Augmented by Qualcomm’s Triple ISP Technology & AI

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders comes with Qualcomm’s vision for the best camera experience on its platform. It comes with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor with quad bayer technology; an aperture of f/1.8 and a effective focal length of 26.6mm with a 78.3° field of view; and four axis optical image stabilization. The triple sensor setup comes complemented with a secondary 12-megapixel Sony IMX363 sensor. This sensor has a f/2.2 aperture and an effective focal length of 14.3mm with support for macro shots. An 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom and upto 12x hybrid zoom completes the triplet of cameras. On the front is a 24-megapixel sensor.

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Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm is touting the camera setup as a professional grade camera featuring AI augmentations that allow the camera to take good low light shots and intelligently focus and identify the best shot. Additionally, AI auto zoom allows your subject to be the focus of the shot while bringing you closer to the action. You can even shoot video in 4k and 8K resolutions. This is made possible by the Qualcomm Spectra 580 ISP which has gigapixel processing speeds.

Audiophile Experience Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound Technology

The new Qualcomm smartphone is also one of the first to feature Snapdragon Sound technology. The new optimizations allow users to wirelessly stream high quality, 24-bit audio with bitrates of up to 96KHz. Snapdragon Sound also enhances audio from end to end for a more robust sound with clear highs and boomy bass. It also enables super wideband voice for clear, true to life audio when making calls.

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Source: Qualcomm

Of course, since Snapdragon Sound is focused on wireless audio, Qualcomm is including a set of wireless earphones by Master & Dynamic in the box with the Smartphone. The MW08SI comes with active noise cancelling and is powered by Qualcomm’s QCC5141 low power Bluetooth Audio SoC. It is able to do ultra low latency bluetooth streaming with true high resolution audio quality. It even has augmentations for better connectivity in environments with dense RF interference.

Desktop Gaming Experience on the Go

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders comes with the Adreno 660 GPU which is touted to bring 35% faster graphics rendering. Variable Rate Shading brings an additional 30% boost in performance as well. This experience is augmented by the 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED display. It comes with a Full HD+ resolution of 2448×1080 pixels with a response rate of 1ms and 144Hz refresh rate. The display comes with HDR10+ certification and has a ΔE of less than 1. It also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection and support for always on display. Qualcomm is also touting up to 20% increased responsiveness thanks to Qualcomm Game Quick Touch.

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Source: Qualcomm

Dual stereo speaker augmented with Smart AMP up the ante when it comes to audio experience. Snapdragon Sound also works it magic in delivering high quality audio over these speakers. It also comes with multiple profiles optimized for content type. With the large, Quick Charge 5.0 enabled 4,000mAh battery, you should be gaming for hours on end.

Pricing & Availability

The Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders will be available starting on August. It will be available first in the U.S., China, Denmark, U.K., Japan, South Korea followed by India. No indication if the smartphone will be available outside these regions just yet.

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Source: Qualcomm

ASUS will be distributing the smartphone. It will be retailing for USD$1,499 (MYR 6,268.31*). It will be available only in Midnight Blue.

*exchange rate taken from xe.com on 9 July 2021 at USD$ 1 = MYR4.18

Official Specifications

Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders Specs
Android, Mobile, News

HONOR 50 Series Launches with Google Play in Tow

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The Honor namesake has been tied to HUAWEI for the longest time. That should not be a surprise though, Honor started out life as HUAWEI’s sister brand. For the longest time as well, they have lived under the shadows of the giant that is HUAWEI. When HUAWEI’s trade band with U.S. companies fell Honor, as a part of HUAWEI, was heavily impacted as well.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. Honor is no longer part of HUAWEI group as of 2021. In 2021 also, Honor confirms that their devices will run on Android with Google Play in tow.

A few weeks after they mentioned that they launched their first ever smartphone for 2021. They launched their new Honor 50 series smartphones. Instead of just one smartphone then, they released three – the Honor 50 SE, Honor 50, and Honor 50 Pro.

HONOR 50 SE

HONOR 50 Pro
Source: GSM Arena

The HONOR 50 SE was not technically highlighted too much in the launch. It is still a part of the HONOR 50 family, however. It is the most budget friendly of the bunch, but also a little different.

Instead of the usual Qualcomm Snapdragon System on A Chip (SoC) that you expect from the new HONOR line-up, you get a MediaTek Dimensity 900 SoC. Admit it, for a moment you were expecting the name HiSilicon to come up. Despite being made to fit smaller budgets, the Dimensity 900 chip is still no slouch with 5G connectivity. The octa-core SoC can clock at up to 2.4Ghz when you need the power for MagicUI 4.2 on Android 11 and its apps.

Because the Dimensity 900 can support UFS 2.1 memory, you get exactly that in 128GB flavour for storage on the Honor 50 SE. There is also 8GB in RAM to pair with the device. All of these are given life by the 4,000 mAh battery that should last you all day. If you run out of juice, 66W fast charging should have you covered.

The brand, like HUAWEI, has always been watched for its camera technology though. Out the back is a 108-Megapixel main camera alongside two more supporting cameras. One is an 8-Megapixel ultrawide sensor and the other is a 2-Megapixel macro sensor. Out the front you will find a single 16-Megapixel shooter perched in the middle of the forehead of the 6.78-inch 120Hz Full HD+ LCD display.

HONOR 50

HONOR 50
HONOR 50

The main stars of the show are naturally the vanilla variant and the overkill Pro variant of the HONOR 50. The two devices should also be the most popular devices in its range in terms of sales. At the same time, if you have seen the HONOR 50 SE, it is quite difficult to tell the devices apart if you do not pay attention. That is to say that they sport nearly similar designs, apart from camera placements and size.

The HONOR 50 is fronted by 6.57-inch Full HD+ display with 120Hz in refresh rate to give you a consistently smooth UI experience. For that snappy feel too, the panel supports 300Hz sampling rate for an almost immediate response from every single touch. Of course, these speeds do contribute to great gaming experience on the device too.

The HONOR 50 shares the same rear camera array and platform as the more premium and powerful HONOR 50 Pro. It does not share the selfie camera though. The HONOR 50 only has a single lens 32-Megapixel camera parked in a hole at the top of the display.

Like its more premium brother, the Honor 50’s MagicUI 4.2 on Android 11 is powered by a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC with 5G capabilities. It is supposedly less powerful than the outgoing Snapdragon 780G platform, but not by much. You get up to 8GB of RAM to go alongside up to 256GB of storage. Everything runs of the 4,300mAh battery that can fast-charge at 66W.

HONOR 50 Pro

HONOR 50 SE
Source: GSM Arena

The HONOR 50 Pro, as its name suggest, is the most premium device of the HONOR 50 range. It may not pack more power than the HONOR 50 with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC in tow. It does have more RAM with up to 12GB in RAM size alongside up to 256GB in storage.

It does not have the best rear camera set up too, the same as HONOR 50, as we mentioned. There is the 108-Megapixel main shooter. The 108-Megapixel shooter is supported by three other cameras that are parked in the other halo of cameras and flash collection. You get one 8-Megapixel ultrawide shooter, a 2-Megapixel Macro shooter, and another 2-Megapixel depth sensor out the back. Out the front though is a dual-lens combination of a 32-Megapixel sensor and a 12-Megapixel wide-angle lens. As expected from HONOR as well, the HONOR 50 Pro and HONOR 50 camera app comes with a bunch of multi-camera modes and all kinds of enhancements including Super Night Mode that is also available to the front camera.

It has the largest and best display among the three in the series too. The HONOR 50 Pro also has a 120Hz refresh rate display at Full HD+ resolution. The display expands to 6.72-inch though, instead of the 6.57-inch of the regular device. The display also boasts DCI-P3 100% colour gamut for the best and most accurate colour reproduction you can find on a smartphone display. Alongside 300Hz sampling rate, MagicUI 4.2 on Android 11 looks better than ever.

The only thing that is less in the HONOR 50 Pro compared to the vanilla HONOR 50 though is its battery. At 4,000mAh, you are not going to complain that it is too small, because it is still a significant size. Instead of 66W though, it charges even faster at 100W allowing the device to charge from flat to 100% in less than an hour, theoretically.

Price and Availability

The HONOR 50 series are coming to Malaysia, as confirmed by HONOR. Currently though, there are no confirmation on when that is going to happen just yet. We can also confirm that the HONOR 50 and HONOR 50 Pro will be part of the HONO 50 family that is available in Malaysia – no word on HONOR 50 SE’s availability.

The devices are already available for pre-order in China. The HONOR 50 series will be available in 4 colour options; you get to choose from Frost Crystal (special finish), Amber Red, Emerald Green, and Midnight Black colour options. The HONOR 50 and HONOR 50 Pro are selling for CN¥ 2,699 (MYR 1,736*) and CN¥ 3,699 (MYR 2,380*) respectively, while the HONOR 50 SE will be available for CN¥ 2,399 (MYR 1,543*). More information on the HONOR 50 series can be found on their website.

*Approximately based on exchange rate of CN¥ 10 = MYR 6.43 on xe.com as of 17/06/2021

Android, Mobile, News

OPPO Find X3 Pro Launches in Malaysia for MYR 4,299

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OPPO finally launches their flagship class OPPO Find X3 Pro in Malaysia. Thankfully, the OPPO Find X3 Pro did not take long to arrive to the Malaysian shores. The Find X3 Pro launched globally on the 11th of March 2021, which also means that it took exactly two weeks for the device to arrive Malaysia.

The OPPO Find X3 Pro is OPPO’s latest flagship smartphone to arrive in Malaysia. It packs the industry leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G platform for maximum attack. The powerful System on a Chip (SoC) is not for nothing though, other than the 5G connectivity of course. The powerful chip keeps two powerful 50-Megapixel sensors happy and taking great looking photos. The OPPO Find X3 Pro also features a unique microscopic lens that offers up to 60x magnification for the finer things in life. These cameras can take up to 10-bit photos too. That also means you get up to 1-billion colours in your photos.

The 10-bit photos can be viewed and appreciated via the 6.7-inch QHD+ (1440p) OLED display. The display also boasts 10-bit colours with OPPO’s Full-path 10-bit Colour Management System. With 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio for even more true to life colours and images. On top of that LTPO OLED that adapts between 5Hz to 120Hz also means that your OLED display saves battery power.

  • Source: OPPO
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On the subject of power-saving, the OPPO Find X3 Pro packs a 4,500mAh battery pack within its glass formed body. The 4,500mAh should last you longer than a day too, as per the Find X2 series. But when the battery goes flat, you get up to 65W charging via OPPO’s SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charge. You can charge wirelessly too at 30W via AirVOOC. If you have other wireless charging devices, you can share power via reverse charging at 10W too.

The new ColorOS 11.2 (Android 11) flagship form OPPO is available 9th April 2021 onward. The OPPO Find X3 Pro will be available in either Gloss Black or Blue. The OPPO flagship will retail at MYR 4,299. You can pre-order your OPPO Find X3 Pro today onward from. All pre-orders will also come with free gifts worth a total of MYR 1,935. For more information, you can visit OPPO’s website.

Android, Mobile, News

Xiaomi Just Announced the Mi 11 – The Most Affordable Snapdragon 888 Flagship in Malaysia & Singapore Yet!

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Xiaomi is no stranger to the smartphone scene. In recent years, the company has clawed its way to become one of the top 3 smartphone brands in the world. The same rings true in Malaysia and Singapore where the company has become one of the top 2 fastest growing smart devices companies. They have attributed their success to their highly innovative R&D process amazing products and what they call “honest prices.”  That said, Xiaomi’s biggest boon is the support of their Mi Fans Community. Today, the company announced their latest flagship – the Xiaomi Mi 11, the first device in both Singapore and Malaysia to come with MIUI 12.5 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor with support for 5G.  

Source: Xiaomi

The Mi 11 is being touted by Xiaomi as a ‘Movie Magic’ device as it allows users to enjoy shooting like a director and edit like a pro. The Mi 11 comes with a triple camera sensor setup and a single selfie camera. Its main sensor is a 108-megapixels sensor. The is complemented with a 13-megapixel ultrawide sensor with 123° field of view and the first M series Tele-macro lens. The front 20-megapixel, selfie camera is nestled in a punch hole up front.  

The camera setup comes with improved software including an improved night mode which is now available on the ultra-wide and front camera, giving users to the flexibility of shooting at night with different lenses. It is also equipped with AI features such as Magic Zoom, Parallel world, Freeze Frame, and Night Time-lapse, which brings even more variety to the shots that users can take with the smartphone. Apart from that, users can also take advantage of 8 cinematic video filters. The Mi 11 supports recording video in 8K resolution and supports HDR10+. It also has a 30% improvement in capture compared to previous devices. 

Source: Xiaomi

Even with all those features, the Mi 11 is thinner and lighter than before. It has a quad-curved edge design on the front and back of the device which make it more ergonomic. This device comes with a WQHD+ resolution AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120hz and 480Hz touch sampling.  

The Mi 11 has a dual speaker setup calibrated by Harman Kardon for a more premium audio experience. Keeping the device flagship worthy, the Mi 11 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor complemented by the Adreno 660 GPU promising an immersive, responsive experience. The new flagship is also the first device with MIUI 12.5, Xiaomi’s latest operating system which runs atop Android 11. To make sure that you have enough power to last, the Mi 11is supported by a 4600mAh battery fully equipped with 55W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. It also supports 10W reverse charging. The cherry on the package with the Mi11 in Malaysia and Singapore is the inclusion of a 55W GaN (Gallium Nitride) charger in the box.  

Pricing & Availability   

Xiaomi Mi11 will be available in three colors: Cloud White, Horizon Blue, and Midnight Gray. It will be priced starting at MYR2,799 (SGD999/USD$) for the 8GB version with 128GB internal storage. Full pricing is listed in the table below. 

Storage & Memory Sale Date Pricing  
128GB + 8GB RAM TBA MYR 2,999 (SGD$1099/742.53USD$) 
256GB + 8GB RAM March 13, 2021 MYR 2,799 (SGD$999/693.04USD$)  
  • Source: Xiaomi
  • Source: Xiaomi
  • Source: Xiaomi
  • Source: Xiaomi
  • Source: Xiaomi

Pre-orders are now open in Malaysia and Singapore. It will be running from 25 February to 10 March 2021 at Authorized Mi Stores and on Lazada, and Shopee. In Singapore, the Mi 11 is also available for pre-order with M1, Singtel, and StarHub.  

Pre-orders are will be up for several freebies. The first 100 pre-orders made will stand a chance to win Mi AloT Premium Pack worth up to MYR1,356 (SGD$ 461.90). The subsequent 600 pre-orders in Singapore and 1,500 in Malaysia will be in the running to win a Mi Air Purifier 3C worth MYR 569 (SGD$ 179). To be eligible, customers will need to register their pre-orders at the official Mi11 pre-order website. 

First sales will kick off on March 13, 2021 in Malaysia and 20 March 2021 in Singapore.

Android, Mobile, News

Xiaomi Unveils New Mi 11 Flagship with Focus on User Experience

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Xiaomi is one of the most popular Chinese manufacturers producing not only smartphones but also earphones, power banks, smart TVs and other products. In fact, according to IDC, in the smartphone category alone, the company has successfully become the third most popular brand by shipments in the world; beating the likes of Apple, OPPO, vivo and more. Looking to push the envelope further, the company has announced the Mi 11, their latest flagship smartphone equipped with 5G connectivity. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, they revealed only ONE flagship smartphone; something we haven’t seen from manufacturers in a while!

New Aspirations with a new Flagship

The Mi 11 isn’t just a new flagship from Xiaomi, it marks the company’s move to push boundaries and start taking on giant brands like Samsung and Apple. Most obviously, Xiaomi has its software aspirations fixed squarely on Apple. With the announcement of their new flagship, the company also announced a new update to their signature MIUI interface: MIUI 12.5. The updated MIUI interface continues to focus on user experience with new features focused on increasing performance, reducing load times, optimizing app compatibility, and improving security.

Xiaomi’s focus on creating a performance centric flagship doesn’t wane when it comes to the Mi 11. It’s the first commercially available smartphone equipped with Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor the Snapdragon 888. The processor is equipped with 5G connectivity on both mmWave and Sub5 spectra with a new 1+3+4 architecture which promises better performance and battery life. The Mi 11 is also equipped with faster UFS3.1 storage for and faster 4600MHz LPDDR5 RAM. In addition, the new Mi flagship also comes with a 4,600 mAh battery that supports 55W fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 has a 4-curve design with AG coating which the company claims to make it more ergonomic and easier to handle. The flagship has also been given a sleeker design coming in at only 8.06mm thick and weighing only 169g. In addition to this, the Mi 11 comes with a 2K AMOLED display with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 480Hz touch sampling. The panel comes with E4 OLED technology which allows Xiaomi to fine tune the colour accuracy with a ΔE value of about 0.4. The display employs the latest Gorilla Glass Victus when it comes to shatter- and scratch-proofing.

It’s All in the Details from Camera setup to Content Immersion

The Mi 11 comes with a brand-new triple camera setup which Xiaomi claims brings all the features you need to get great video and pictures. The setup comes with a large 1/1.3” 108-megapixel main sensor paired with a 13-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a 5-megapixel telemacro sensor. While it may seem like Xiaomi has opted to not have optical zoom on the Mi 11, their inclusion of a telemacro lens allows users to get some optical zoom while also enabling the camera to capture the finer details.

MIUI 12.5, which debuts on the Mi 11, focuses on immersion with features that help make the user experience more immersive than ever before. One of these features is a huge improvement to the haptic engine of the Mi 11. The enhancement allows users to experience more discerning features when it is utilized. Xiaomi touted the many different surfaces the engine can emulate during their presentation. In addition, the company has also added touch sensors which detect how the phone is being held to prevent unwanted screen rotations. Xiaomi is also upping the ante when it comes to sound with a partnership with Harman/Kardon. The Mi 11 comes with stereo speakers calibrated by Harman/Kardon for a more immersive sound experience.

Pricing & Availability

The Mi 11 is available in three colours: Blue, Black, and white. There are also two special Eco Leather editions available in Khaki and Mist Purple. It goes on sale in China starting on January 1, 2020 with prices starting at CN¥3,999 for the 8GB+128GB configuration. The Mi 11 doesn’t come with a wall wart in the box. However, Xiaomi is making a bundled deal available with a 55W GaN charger for the same price (for now). The bundle is originally valued at CN¥4,098.

ConfigurationPrice (CN¥)Price (USD$)Price (MYR)
8GB RAM + 128GB Storage3,999611.832,478.25
8GB RAM + 256GB Storage4,299657.322,664.17
12GB RAM + 256GB Storage4,699718.482,911.59

The Mi 11 is also available in an extremely limited edition made with Scodix Crystal and signed by CEO, Lei Jun which will be available during a special live stream on TikTok (known in China as DouYin).

Official Specifications

SpecificationsXiaomi Mi 11
Display6.81-inch AMOLED
1 billion colours
2K Resolution
1440×3200 pixels (515 ppi)
5000000:1 contrast ratio
500nit brightness
120Hz dynamic refresh rate
480 Hz touch sampling rate   
HDR10+
DCI-P3
MEMC
Gorilla Glass Victus
SoftwareMIUI 12.5 based on Android 11
CPUQualcomm Snapdragon 888 (5nm)
Octa-core:
1x Cortex X1 (2.4GHz)
3x Cortex A78 (2.4GHz)
4x Cortex A55 (1.8GHz)
Hexagon 780 AI Engine
GPUAdreno 660
MemoryRAM: 8GB, 12GB (LPDDR5)
Storage: 128GB, 256GB (UFS3.1)
Rear CameraMain:
108-megapixel
1/1.3” sensor size
f/1.9 aperture
0.8µm pixel size  

13-megapixel Super Wide Angle
123° viewing angle
f/2.4 aperture  

5-megapixel telemacro
f/2.4 aperture
Seflie Camera20-megapixel
1/3.4”
0.8µm
Connectivity5G (mmWave & Sub6)
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/b/ac/ax (WiFi 6)
Bluetooth 5.2
USB C (v2.0)
Battery4600mAh
55W Fast Charging
50W Wireless Fast Charging
10W Reverse Wireless Charging
USB-C PD 3.0
Quick Charge 4+
MiscUnder Display Fingerprint Sensor (optical)
AptX HD
AptX Adaptive
Accelerometer
Gyro
Proximity Sensor
Compass
ColorsBlack, White, Blue  

Eco Leather Edition:
Khaki, Mist Purple  

Limited Special Edition:
Scodix Crystal
Price[8GB+128GB] CN¥3,999 (USD$611.83/MYR2,478.25)
[8GB+256GB] CN¥4,299 (USD$657.32/MYR2,664.17)
[12GB+256GB] CN¥4,699 (USD$718.48/MYR2,911.59)
News, techENT Download, Video

[Video] techENT Download || Playstation 5 Unveiled! Nintendo Gets Hacked, Android 11 and more!

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The techENT Download is back for another exciting week in tech! This week’s tech news round up has everything from dramatic reveals, painful hacks to sad cancellations!

(00:28 – 01:50) Android 11 Beta is Released!

(01:51 – 02:13) Adobe Photoshop Camera brings interesting new possibilities to smartphone cameras

(02:14 – 03:51) Acer Refreshes their Nitro 5 & Predator Triton500 gaming laptops with the new 10th Generation Intel processors and beefier specs!

(03:52 – 05:07) Nintendo’s Security breach gets worse with 300,000 accounts now affected

(05:08 – 05:32) Google rolls out Google Current

(05:32 – 05:50) Computex is cancelled

(05:51 – 06:15) Fitbit announces Fitbit Flow to help with the need for respirators

(06:16 – 07:21) The Sony Playstation 5 is finally revealed!

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Android, Mobile, News

Android Stability Flaw May Be Causing Phones to Freeze Up

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It seems like Google may have a little bit of a problem when it comes to Android. There are an increasing number of reports coming in from users about random app freezes and UI lock ups. These reports were initially thought to be isolated to Google’s Pixel devices. However, OnePlus and Xiaomi users have begun reporting the issue too.

The bug appears to be initiated by an app freezing. This has been reported to cause the whole Android UI to freeze up; leaving the device unusable. So far, users have been able to alleviate the issue by simply turning off the display and locking the device. Unlocking the device thereafter solves the problem. The bug can also be dealt with by pulling the notification shade down by using the fingerprint sensor. However, this is not supported on all devices.

The issue was highlighted on Twitter by user @ArtemR and @CBuzle. However, it seems like the issue has been around for quite a while. Staff from Android Authority and Android Police have reported the issue as well. The issue doesn’t seem to be linked to any one OEM or company as it even occurs on devices with Nova Launcher and Action Launcher. Most commonly, the issue occurs when YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, YouTube Music and the Play Store are in use. However, reports of it occurring while using other apps are increasing.

It looks like the issue seems to be plaguing devices running on Android 10. However, Android Police notes that there has been a report of it occurring on a Pixel 3 running the Android 11 developer preview. They also note that the issue seems to be similar to a memory management bug that was seemingly fixed with the December 2019 patch from Google.

Computers, Health, Mobile, News

COVID-19 Hits Google Hard – Google Next Cloud Goes Completely Online and I/O is Cancelled

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At this point of time, COVID-19 has claimed over 3,000 lives globally. These are known deaths caused by COVID-19 and there may be more than that. To be honest too, this is a very difficult write-up. Not because there is very little information to work with. It is just the fact that COVID-19 news are not getting any better. There is a glimmer of hope though; WHO claims that COVID-19 containment and treatment is very viable.

Source: MS Poweruser

Still, COVID-19, or more commonly known as Coronavirus at this point has claimed more than just lives. It is affecting communities and commerce as well. Of course it would, people run these businesses and communities, people are getting infected and therefore sick; conducting business activities then is difficult.

We saw Apple getting affected earlier on with their China stores temporarily closing. Foxconn, their manufacturing plant had also stopped operating at some point. Mobile World Congress 2020 has been cancelled; Geneva Motorshow is also being torn down as we speak because they cancelled the event at the very last minute. Even Formula 1 is being heavily affected; they lost China GP this year and who knows which other GP is being cancelled due to the global emergency that is COVID-19.

Plenty are hopeful that the disease will be contained and cured by June or July. That is why some events has been postponed to then. Even Computex 2020 seems to be happening still. The situation now is not very encouraging though.

This week alone we see more victims to COVID-19. On top of new confirmed deaths around the world we see Microsoft’s MVP physical event going completely digital. Facebook is also cancelling the F8 summit. Even Adobe is not spared; Adobe is having their Summit announcements completely online too. The hardest of all is Google having to cancel both their big conferences.

Source: Google

Google has cancelled their Cloud Next event earlier on this week. They announced thought that the conference will be a completely online affair. There was also a sort of expectation that some of the things that would be covered on Cloud Next would appear in Google’s I/O which was still reported to be happening. This morning proved our optimism wrong though. Google is cancelling the Google I/O conference; their biggest developer conference of the year has been cancelled.

If we are right, we are seeing Google’s latest Android 11 on the big stage of Google I/O. It looks like we are going to have to see it on an online stage instead; they show must go on, as they say. There is no final confirmation yet on the online streaming of Google I/O yet though. We are expecting them to go online because Google is completely equipped to livestream all their conferences, which they have done before anyway. Of course, it helps that they own YouTube anyway.

Google is not the first to be hit strongly by COVID-19. We highly doubt that Google will be the last one. We are expecting the Olympics committee to make an announcement soon regarding the Summer Olympics 2020 in Japan. For all you know, Japan might be the one that makes the announcement of a border containment. Still, these are just speculations; take it with a pinch of salt. Not Google’s cancellations though, those are confirmed.

Source: Google, Tech Crunch, 9to5 Google