Tag Archives: premium

Android, Computers, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Kaspersky Redefines End-Point Protection – Go Standard, Plus, or Premium 

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Cybersecurity is a big talking point today. It is not a new thing; it really has been a concern since the digital age. There are always going to be perpetrators out in the wild who try to cheat, game systems, and even do harm to others for their own benefit. The most recent security threat, and still is one of the biggest threats to cybersecurity, is ransomware.  

The thing is, while there are numerous talks about how cyber security should be implemented in corporations and company devices, we often forget that the cyber-first world encourages users to also use their own personal devices for work and at work – your smartphones for example. Where your organization’s issued devices are locked down and secured, your own devices are not. Where Your organization implements security measures on their own back-end digital infrastructure, your own devices are often left untouched. Where your company protects itself, you are left unprotected. So, what do you do?  

You get yourself a protection plan of yourself of course. You get yourself Kaspersky’s latest and most comprehensive protection program. For 2023 Kaspersky introduces products that are more streamlined than ever and more comprehensive for all kinds of budget. With updated UI, the Kaspersky protection suites are also made to be more intuitive than ever while offering the most comprehensive protection and control back to users. Their latest suites also offer protection for Windows, Mac, Android, and even iOS. 

Kaspersky Standard, or Plus, or Premium 

The product naming scheme has become even more simplified than before too. Now you pick between the Standard, Plus, and Premium protection plans that offer different coverage and protection layers. Of course, they come with different price points too.  

With the Standard package starting at MYR 70/year (1 device), you get the full might of Kaspersky’s antivirus program that will also detect and remove viruses or malware even before you get your Kaspersky security suite. On top of that, you get real-time protection against the latest known threats to your devices. Kaspersky standard also comes with Safe Browsing and Anti-Phishing suites alongside Firewall and Network Monitor to further protect yourself from malicious websites, downloads, extensions, and even applications. Unlike older cybersecurity suites that tend to slow your PC down, the new Kaspersky security suite offers Quick Startup, PC Speed-up, and Disk Cleanup Tools to ensure that your PC is always working optimally. If you game on your devices too, Kaspersky offers a Game and Do Not Disturb modes to ensure that your devices work to offer the best performance for your games while ensuring that you are not disturbed in an intense battle.  

The Plus suite from MYR 96/year (1 device) onward adds an unlimited VPN subscription and Premium Password Manager to the mix. You also have access to Data Leak Checker that monitors the internet and dark web for compromised personal data while offering steps to ensure that your data is always protected. The plan also offers users the ability to monitor their home network and the devices that are connected to the network. 

The Premium plan offers the full might of what Kaspersky can offer you for MYR 139/year (1 device) onward. On top of everything you get from the Standard and Plus plans, you also get Kaspersky’s identity protection suite and premium technical support that can even help you install your Kaspersky application for you, if it is too much of a hassle for yourself to do. They also offer the occasional PC health checks done by a professional if you need. In terms of identity protection, they offer something they call an Identity Protection Wallet that stores copies of your sensitive data including identification documents and even licenses in an encrypted format. There is also a one-year free subscription of Kaspsersky Safe Kids suite to further protect your family.  

Price and Availability 

Kaspersky’s Standard, Plus, and Premium protection plan is now available for MYR 70/year onward (Standard, 1 device) all the way to MYR 195/year (Premium, 5 devices). You can get them from Kaspersky’s website or authorized retailers across the nation. If you choose to get your Kaspersky protection suite now from their website, you are entitled to a 17% introductory discount for your 1-year subscription.  

Lifestyle, News

YouTube in Combat of Ad Blockers – Three Strikes and You’re Out

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We love YouTube, and we love using YouTube for all kinds of things. The amount of content you get from YouTube is so vast that you could technically learn everything you need to learn in the modern world on the video sharing platform. With everything we love about YouTube, there is something we also despise about YouTube – ads. While it started out as a simple played out ad at the beginning of whatever videos you want to watch, ads on YouTube have grown to become an irritation.

There is the argument that the number of ads that are being served to us on YouTube is necessary. The ads pay for the platform and help YouTube not just profit, but also pay its various creators for their contents. The ads also help keep the platform free to use for the billions of the world. As much as we hate ads being served to us, it is a necessary evil and quite inevitable to keep the platform from charging us for contents. Except, they sort of do.

There is such a thing called YouTube Premium, a paid membership to YouTube. What that offers you is things like picture-in-picture mode, and open access to YouTube Music, regarded to be one of the biggest official music libraries you can find anywhere. You also pay for the omission of ads when you consume your contents on the platform.

If you still want the free experience on YouTube but without the ads, the only way around them is through using ad blockers. There are several tools and third-party programs that skips and blocks ads on YouTube unless they are baked into the video itself. That means that you are getting a YouTube Premium-esque experience, but without paying for it, which is frowned upon by YouTube, obviously.

youtube cracking down on if youre not paying them to block v0 m8q0ljxlyl8b1
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In the most recent attempt to battle ad blockers, YouTube is giving users three strikes before completely blocking a user from using YouTube. There are no mentions on whether blocked users will be blocked indefinitely, but the wording leads us to believe that you can be unblocked just by disabling your ad blocker app or algorithm. Obviously if you choose to pay for YouTube Premium, you will immediately be unblocked and given fuss free experience with YouTube amongst other things.

The new measure was spotted by a user on Reddit, interestingly enough. YouTube has not commented on their new measure, but the new measure does make a lot of sense for a company that relies mostly on ads to survive. While it is somewhat aggressive, it could be a necessary step for Google to protect their platform and ensure that it is still profitable.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

Telegram Goes Premium for MYR 22.99/month

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There were rumours that Telegram will start offering a “premium” plan that allows users to have access to a more powerful Telegram than regular users. That rumour is not a rumour anymore though. As of today, Telegram has made that rumour a reality for about US$ 5 a month (MYR 22.99*).  

Now is the time to ask; “why do you need to pay for Telegram Premium?” 

As paying users, you get access to upload files with up to 4GB in size. That means you can technically send out an entire Full HD movie out to your friends via Telegram. Regular users can upload files up to 2GB. Paying users also get to download their files faster than before, as fast as your internet connection can go, which means that a 4GB file might not be too big of an issue when you have high-speed internet. 

You get your limits doubled too with Telegram Premium. You can follow up to 1000 channels and groups. You can pin up to 10 chats instead of five. Instead of two accounts in a single app, premium users get to work with up to four accounts. At the same time, you can now write a longer bio on your Telegram profile with links in it. At the same time, with up to 400 saved GIFs, responding to texts with witty images is faster than ever. 

Paying users can also convert voice to text within the chat now. Instead of listening to a voice note, you can just get Telegram to convert voice messages to texts. It also improves over time with your rating and input.  

At the same time, paying users get to have unique reactions to texts. You have exclusive stickers that is only available to paying users and over 10 new exclusive emoji to react to messages. Even your profile pictures can be animated now, alongside a premium badge on your profile so that others know you are paying for Telegram. If you want, you can even change your app icon on your smartphone. Of course, the other improvement to Telegram with Premium is that you do not get served ads in public channels. 

To get Telegram Premium, you must update your app to version 8.8 which is currently only available on iOS for now. The 8.8 update is coming to Android devices very soon, so we should see some paying users from both the iOS and Android realms. More information and improvements on Telegram version 8,8 can be found on their blog.  

*Official Malaysia Pricing 

Business, Health, Lifestyle, News

Is Fitbit Working on a New Premium Plan?

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Fitbit’s health-centric devices have been some of the best fitness devices on the market to date. The company has successfully developed sensors and an intuitive interface that allows users to not only collect data but view them in a way that is easy to understand. However, in 2019, Fitbit saw the opportunity to bring even more insights to their users at a premium.

Fitbit Premium has been up and running since late 2019. It provides deeper insights into the data that is already collected by your Fitbit device – some of which could even be used to detect COVID-19 without the PCR test. Just recently, the company extended the availability of a limited version of Fitbit Premium available to users of the Versa 3 and Inspire 2. Now, it seems like that may be more behind that.

Source: Fitbit

Fitbit has recently sent out a customer survey which asks users to consider an cheaper tier of their Fitbit Premium service. According to Android Central, the theoretical new tier would be priced at USD$2.99 (MYR12.09); less than half the price of the current plan at USD$9.99 (MYR40.38). However, it seems like the offerings would be significantly less than the current Premium plan which offers not only user data but also guided workouts and more. The new plan would allow users to “see your activity, sleep, stress, and health metrics for the last month, year, forever with unlimited historical data.”

It seems like this may be Google gauging users’ valuation of the data and insights they get from Fitbit devices. This comes as no surprise as the sale of Fitbit to Google essentially limited what Google could do with the data collected from Fitbit devices. Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, Rick Osterloh, mentions the issue of data privacy and Google’s acquisition of Fitbit stating that the acquisition was about hardware and never the data.

PR asset of Fitbit Premium on Android, showing Today screen with insights. For placement into renders or lifestyle imagery only.

This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear since the beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy. We worked with global regulators on an approach which safeguards consumers’ privacy expectations, including a series of binding commitments that confirm Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be separated from other Google ads data.

Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services at Google

However, Google being a data company understands that there is an inherent value to all the data being collected. Hence, this straw poll to see if users are willing to spend to get access to their data and insights is just an exercise of how much value users place in the data collected by their Fitbits.

That said, we have always been in the camp where users should be given access to their data regardless of a “Premium” fee – the other goodies in the premium subscription are definitely worth the investment, if you see the need or want to make better sense of the data that’s being collected.

Accessories, Consumer Electronics, Lifestyle, News

Fulfilling Your Spatial Desire with Sony’s new SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 Premium Wireless Speakers

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When we say ‘Premium’ today it is a little different from before. ‘Premium’ products have been flooding the market at prices that are not ridiculous. Some might even say that ‘Premium’ is affordable these days. This is also largely thanks to the higher disposable incomes from this generation, and the increasing number of middle-class income households. The combination of both fuels the increasing demands of these affordable premium products.

Sony has announced that SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 premium wireless speakers to fill that ‘Premium’ space. Both new wireless speakers come packing with Sony’s unique spatial sound technology alongside other smart features and technologies Sony employs to make their speakers sound like no other. 

New Premium Speakers, New Premium Features

Source: Sony

The SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 wireless speakers features a unique ambient room-filling sound experience. They call it spatial sound, and it is a unique feature to Sony speakers. It works pretty much like Sony’s 360 Reality Audio technology. In fact, the SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 works best with 360 Reality Audio contents. Time to prepare your credit cards for a Tidal subscription people.

While most conventional speakers spread audio waves horizontally, the new wireless speakers fill the room with vertical and horizontal signals to really create a roomy aural experience. Of course, Sony has their own Immersive Audio Enhancement technology within the speakers to transform regular 2-channel stereo tracks into something truly breath-taking. Maybe you do not need to cancel your Spotify subscription after all in that case.

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Every room is different though. Sony knows this. That is why the SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 features automatic sound calibration tools to optimise itself in whatever room you may leave it in the house. Simply hold the Immersive Audio Enhancement button on the SRS-RA5000 for a quick calibration of your room. Kind of like how your Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones adjusts to your ears to give you even better experiences.

The SRS-RA3000 is made to be even more portable though. It auto calibrates itself in any room when you turn it on and play your favourite tracks. Every single time you move it to a new room or a different room in your house, or even hotel rooms, the SRS-RA3000 auto-calibrates itself to suit its containing room. Both speakers are also clever speakers that adjusts its own volume so that you have a consistent listening experience without having to adjust your volume at every track.

SRS-RA5000 vs SRS-RA3000 – Which Should You Get?

Source: Sony

The Hi-Res Audio certified SRS-RA5000 is set up with a trio of vertical-firing speakers and 3 middle sited speakers for an even and well spread out vertical and horizontal audio distribution. High-magnetism neodymium magnets and mica reinforced cellular diaphragm keeps it compact to ensure that it tucks in any room seamlessly and unobtrusively. The neodymium and mica constructions also allow the SRS-RA5000 to produce clean, crisp, clear, and powerful audio to the room while remaining subtle in the room.

On the other hand, RA3000 offers a unique omnidirectional sound that you can take with you anywhere in your house. Technically because it is more compact as well, it can travel with you. Thanks to its humidity resistant construction, you can put it anywhere within the confines of your house without worrying that it will break due to water damage. Of course, refrain from dumping it into the water, it is not water resistant. It is built-in with an omni-diffuser that allows the deep audio to travel upward too, allowing the compact premium speakers to fill an entire room, in any room at your house.

Function and Set up

Source: Sony

Both speakers can connect to devices with Bluetooth and stream over Wi-Fi, but RA5000 has an additional connectivity option which is one-touch NFC ™. The SRS-RA5000 and SES-RA3000 can also be connected to your Spotify and Chromecast for convenience and flexibility in real life. Moreover, users can control music played on the speaker via voice command. Also, it comes with multi-room features with Google Home/Assistant or Amazon Alexa compatibility. Besides, users may connect the Bluetooth speaker with their television to enhance audio experience. Of course, you can control the Sony SRS-RA5000 and SRS-3000 speakers via the Sony Music app available for free on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

Price and Availability

The Sony SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 will be available in Malaysia February 2021 onward. There are no price announcements just yet, Sony promises for the prices to be revealed closer to launch date. For more information you can visit Sony’s website.

Accessories, Consumer Electronics, Lifestyle, News

Ruark Audio Makes its Way into Malaysia With the R3!

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Never heard of RuarkAudio? We cannot blame you. It is practically a brand that technically does not exist in Malaysia before today. If you are not an audiophile, you might not have heard of the brand before. If you are, there is also a slight chance you may not be too familiar with the brand.

RuarkAudio is a British company that makes speakers. Unlike Senheiser or Bose though, they have less than half the resources these company boasts. That said, their offerings are not half as bad. In fact, their offerings can be highly competitive in terms of audio performance compared to the likes of Senheiser.

For some context, the company was founded in 1985 by Alan O’Rourke. It started in an industrial estate in Raleigh, Essex as a small workshop to make their own loudspeakers. Over the years they have been making high-end speakers, studio monitor speakers and even DAB radio receivers. They receive high praises in making all these products.

Fast forward to 16th July 2020 and they are launching their brand-new compact speaker system for the discerning millennials. They introduced the Ruark R3. It sits in between their R2 and R4 wireless speakers, effectively making the R3 a mid-range product in Ruark Audio’s highly acclaimed product range. Yes, they have quite an extensive range in their workshop.

Their flagship Ruark Audio R7 is something of a furniture. It looks more like a very thick table you put in your living room rather than play your audio. With that solid wood finish too, you can easily mistaken it to be decorative coffee table. It is a powerful speaker with a class A-B amplifier built into the wooden chassis though. You can plug any audio source like a turntable, your media player, or even your smartphone to it and it will work. You can also tune into the local radio channels, if you really want. Or, if you still carry CDs, you can put that into the R7 and it will play too. This one will set you back a cool MYR 15,999.

The R7 too rich for your taste? The R5 then, a shrunk down tabletop version of the R7. Smaller body does not mean smaller power though. It still packs the same amplifier from the Ruark Audio R7. That makes the Ruark Audio R5 the perfect audio furniture to own in a smaller condominium unit.

The class A-B amplifier combined with a downward firing subwoofer, the Ruark R5 produces excellent low frequencies while maintaining powerful mid and high frequencies. You can even put a CD into it like the R7. This has a specific RIAA turntable input though, this would be the one you want if you have a turntable. This will set you back MYR 6,999.

The Ruark Audio R3 is their latest product to grace the audiophile market. It is even smaller than the R5, which makes it quite perfect for your bedroom technically. Then again, your home is your home, so you decide where this goes. Being the latest product from Ruark Audio, this is also one of Ruark Audio’s most cutting edge product to date. You can easily stream music via Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Amazon Music, and Deezer over WiFi, or Bluetooth with aptX (not aptX HD, sadly). Its Smart Radio can tune into internet based radios, or DAB or DAB+, or local FM Stations, making this the most flexible radio set you have in your room. You can even play CD through it. The R3 is also compatible with your smart TVs, or Amazon Echo Dot, or Google Home Mini to make it even cleverer. This sets you back MYR 3,999.

No need audio for the room? Need a stereo set up for your desk instead? The MR1 is the perfect desktop speakers for that. Be it your work station, or even your media player centre, the Ruark Audio MR1 will sit on the desk like it belongs. It still packs the class A-B that the R3, R5, and R7 has. That also means that this is a powerful little speaker that produce clean, crisp audio. Unlike most desktop set ups, you only need two of these little boxes to get a full aural experience. You do not need a secondary subwoofer for this. This one is MYR 2,099.

If ease of use is your thing, then there is the MRx instead. The single speaker unit has more in likeness to the MR1 than the other products in Ruark Audio’s product range. It does not have a player unit or a large display unit. It plays audio via Bluetooth, or USB stick, or the internet, or even an AUX input. You can only control the speaker via the UNDOK app available for Android and iOS. This will set you back MYR 2,399.

The Ruark Audio R7, R5, MR1, and MRx will be available in Malaysia at the end of August. You can get them either online or Ruark Audio’s retail partners in Malaysia, Atlas Sound and Vision at the Gardens Mall, Mac Studio at BB Plaza KL and Bangsar Shopping centre, and Flash Gadgets at Sunway Pyramid. You do need to experience the products first before justifying the investment though. To do that, you can head to Atlas Sound and Vision at The Gardens Mall for a Ruark experience. For more information, you can head over to their website.

Computers, News

Update Your Life with HUAWEI’s New MateBook Line-Up

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The Intel 10th Generation Core platforms have been out for a while now. Plenty of manufacturers have already taken advantage toward updating their line-up with the newer processors. Of course, newer is better and faster. One of the notebook PCs that we wanted to see updated though, was HUAWEI’s MateBook line-up. Until now, that is.

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro was one of the best value-for-money notebook PCs you can find in the market at its launch. The MateBook X Pro is exactly what it sounds like. It is a modern top class thin and light PC to haul all your work in one place. While thin, it was no slouch too.

Source: HUAWEI

The new 2020 version is a continuation of all those qualities from 2018. It gets the new Intel 10th Generation Core platform in the from of a Core i7-10510U processor (up to). Not top-of-the-line, but still a vastly powerful CPU for a body no thicker than 2 cm. That is thinner than most keyboard you can find the market even. You have up to an NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU if you have the urge to take it gaming. No, you may not run today’s AAA titles that well, but it is designed to be a workhorse, not a gaming PC this HUAWEI MateBook X Pro.

Still, up to 16GB of RAM does not hurt especially if you need to have multiple windows and browsers open at the same time. The MX250 would help you too if you ever need to quickly edit a video. Where it shines though is when you want to just wind down and watch a movie on HUAWEI’s beautiful 3K resolution display. It is also touch optimised just in case you are wondering. It even has four speakers for you to enjoy more than just music.

Of course, being a HUAWEI notebook PC, you still get the benefit of using HUAWEI Share. just tap and share a photo between your HUAWEI smartphone and your PC. We especially love this function when used with a HUAWEI smartphone.

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The HUAWEI MateBook PC will be available in Malaysia 16th May 2020 onward. It is available in Space Grey and Emerald Green colour options when it is available. The new HUAWEI MateBook X Pro will start from MYR 7,999. If you are looking for something more budget friendly, you might want to look at something else. If you go for this though, you are entitled to a free HUAWEI Sound X Bluetooth speaker, a HUAWEI Bluetooth Mouse, a backpack, and HUAWEI’s Band 4 fitness tracker. For more information on the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro, you can visit their website.

HUAWEI MateBook 13

By far one of our favourite Notebook PCs from HUAWEI, the MateBook 13 was an embodiment of what would be a perfect working laptop for us. It is small, light, powerful, and durable. Sure, it had an odd shape thanks to the odd display ratio. But its 13-inch display was beautiful at 2K resolution.

Source: HUAWEI

They kept that 2K resolution on the 13-incher though. There is a new 10th Generation Core processor now. You still get up to 16GB of RAM to work with too, so it is still no slouch. You still get a discrete GPU in the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 for not just your entertainment. It is good enough to work with for light video editing.

One of our favourite things on the MateBook 13 was its very thoughtful fingerprint sensor embedded with the power button. It is not the first time we see this design anywhere, but we appreciate that subtlety and functional form. The other thing was that it was light. The new one, is a mere 1.3kg. It is not as light as some of the thin and light that we see out in the market, but the GPU is worth some cooling, trust me. Plus, it is an all-aluminium body. Of course, HUAWEI Share is that other thing we liked about it.

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The MateBook 13 will be available at the same time as the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro. It is only available in one colour option though. It is only available in Space Grey, which is actually not a bad colour to go with. You can get your hands on one for MYR 4,999. You get all the same free gift as the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro offer excluding the HUAWEI Sound X Bluetooth speaker. For more information on the HUAWEI MateBook 13, you can check out their website, or webstore.

MateBook D 14 & 15

Meant to be the more budget choice and targeted toward the student segment, the MateBook D 14 and 15 are the ones to go for if you are just looking to get work done on the go without much fuss. They are not the smallest or lightest things you can carry around, but they get the job done.

Source: HUAWEI

They are still no slouch too though. You get up to an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U CPU on the 15-incher and up to an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U for the 14-incher. Both get Full HD displays still. Both also gets Radeon Vega GPUs to work with and game with. The 14-inch MateBook D 14 gets Radeon Vega 8 while the MateBook D 15 gets the Radeon RX Vega 10.

You still get up to 16GB of RAM for both devices though. You also get a 512GB SSD to work with, so these MateBook D notebooks are not what you would call slow as well. You also get a fingerprint sensor embedded to the power button, so it is not less premium than the more expensive MateBook 13 or MateBook X Pro. Of course, the HUAWEI MateBook D 14 and D 15 gets HUAWEI Share out-out-of-the box. If you already own a HUAWEI device, that is a bonus that you will want to have.

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The HUAWEI MateBook D 14 and D 15 will be available at the same time with the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro and HUAWEI MateBook 13. It is only available in Mystic Silver. At least you do not get a headache of choosing what colour suits your lifestyle. It will set you back MYR 2,899. You are entitled, while stocks last, for the same free gifts as the HUAWEI MateBook 13 offer. For more information, you can check out their website, or webstore.

Android, Mobile, News

HUAWEI Mate Xs is Out to Play Today for MYR 11,111!

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No, please do not get the title wrong. The HUAWEI Mate Xs still does not have Google Play Store out of the box. Now that we got that out of the way, let us get right to it; HUAWEI’s very anticipated foldable smartphone is available for purchase in Malaysia today onward.

For the price of MYR 11,111, you are getting a piece of engineering marvel that is the HUAWEI Mate Xs starting from today. There is a problem, however. We are not technically allowed out of our homes to buy a smartphone. Even if do get outside, the shops are not even open. So, what is HUAWEI on about? How are they selling their new smartphones?

Source: HUAWEI

Online is the word. Of course, selling smartphones online is nothing new to HUAWEI. They have been doing it for years with their sister brand HONOR. Of course, they have their own curated web store as well.

Obviously at this state, where no one can be out and about doing their regular shopping, HUAWEI can only put the HUAWEI Mate Xs on sale on the web store. So here it is, no launch gambit, no fancy roadshows; just a simple product put online. A little underwhelming for the Mate Xs? Yes. Necessary? Yes as well.

The HUAWEI Mate Xs – As Weird as Interstellar

The HUAWEI Mate Xs comes only in one colour option; that is Interstellar Blue. As you can see in our hands-on video, with poor lighting, the device does actually look quite good. If you must ask as well (of course, you would) it really feels like a quality product like no other. The folding mechanism gives you a load of confidence with the device, it has a solid resistance that gives you a sense that this thing is meant to be folded in and out for a lifetime. Even the crease is barely noticeable on the HUAWEI Mate Xs, less pronounced than, let us say a Samsung Galaxy Fold.

Still, it is quite a different interpretation of what a foldable smartphone should look like. We like that about the HUAWEI Mate Xs. We also like the fact that it has a tonne of power and 5G connectivity thanks to the ultra-powerful HiSilicon Kirin 990 System on a Chip (SoC) with 8G of RAM and 512GB of storage. We like that the EMUI 10 (based on Android 10, by the way) that is on the device is optimised for multiwindow functionality.

HUAWEI Mate Xs Hands On

We also like the fact that the device only features one display (8-inch to 6-inch), which is technically cheaper and simpler to maintain. Although, at this point, it is difficult to say thanks to the more ‘robust’ folding mechanism. Also, not too sure about the battery life because it only has 4,500 mAh squeezed into its tight body. We are not saying that this is not impressive; it is an impressive feat still.

As we mentioned before in our launch article as well, you only get a single array of cameras that you use for both main camera shots and selfies. That is, in our books, great as well; less things to worry about and you get a single camera quality instead of two different results on two different fronts. The HUAWEI Mate Xs has a main 40-Megapixel camera, a 16-Megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, an 8-Megapixel telephoto lens, and a Time of Flight sensor for even more stellar portraits and better auto focusing.

So, you can get your hands on the HUAWEI Mate Xs today for MYR 11,111 from HUAWEI’s one and only web store. With that purchase you get a free HUAWEI Freebuds 3 worth MYR 679. You also get an Envelope Leather Case for the device worth MYR 299. In the box itself you get a sort of shell to cover the sides of your new smartphone and a pair of USB Type-C earphones. Oh right, this thing does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. You also get HUAWEI’s three months warranty on your display, just in case. That warranty covers everything from drops to whatever sort of accidental collisions the device might face within the three months. It does not cover water damage though, and this is not an IP rated device, so keep it away from coffee, or even rain.

HUAWEI VIP Home Delivery Service

Beyond that, you get to choose on the method of your receipt of the device. Yes, you get to choose. You can be optimistic and tell the web store that you will collect your HUAWEI Mate Xs at your preferred HUAWEI Store. That is if you can find one that is open, or if you can wait until April for the device. If not, you can choose for the HUAWEI Mate Xs to be delivered right to your doorstep. They call it the HUAWEI VIP Home Delivery Service.

You can expect a man in tuxedos to arrive at your doorstep, mask ready of course (health and safety requirement), and gloves. They would ring your doorbell, and you answer the door greeted by an English accent and your smartphone on a silver tray. They will sanitise the device in front of you as well, just to add to the drama and show. Then you pick it up and feel like the most important man in the world.

Source: HUAWEI

No, we are kidding. The face mask and sanitation procedures are true though. Still, I would imagine that if you bought your smartphone you would not be able to wait for it to get a first glimpse and hands-on with it. I suggest you go for the delivery service, all you have to do is provide them with your contact and delivery details anyway.

The HUAWEI Mate Xs is now on sale at HUAWEI’s online web store. The highly anticipated smartphone will set you back MYR 11,111. The free gifts mentioned are available for all purchases of the HUAWEI Mate Xs until further noticed by HUAWEI. More information on their device can be found on HUAWEI’s Website.