Tag Archives: Tech & Tonic Podcast

Editorial, Lifestyle, News, Podcast

Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 22 Streaming vs Blockbuster Releases

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This week in Tech & Tonic Podcast we covered a few things. That was also because there was major launch that went a little under the radar last week. HUAWEI launched their new HUAWEI P50 flagship and surprisingly it comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip within its newly designed body.

It was also such a quiet launch that plenty of news outlet did not really pick up the event or talk about the device in-depth. On that note though, the device looks to be a subtle update from the HUAWEI P40 series too and is set to be only available in China for now, maybe that is why no one picked it up. If it is just a minor update to the P40 series with Harmony OS 2.0 in tow though, what took them so long to release the highly anticipated device?

At the same time, AMD launched a new GPU at the lower end of the power spectrum. They released the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU. They will not be making the card on their own though, rather the GPU will only be available from its board partners. It is not exactly cheap either, despite its more budget friendly pricing over its higher-end siblings. So why would they do that?

Scarlett Johansson got Disney into a pickle last week. She filed a lawsuit against the entertainment giant for breach of contract over the launch and release of Black Widow in theatres and Disney+ Premiere a week or so ago. According to the lawsuit, the actress’ contract was not renegotiated for release on Disney’s own streaming platform.

This brings us back to the question we had when Disney+ was coming to Malaysia; are we paying too much for streaming services? With Disney+ Premiere, we could easily be paying even more for the latest movies and blockbusters. But the lawsuit also puts a lot of things into perspective for us enjoying these services because it also happened to platforms like Spotify.

We started thinking about how are the actor’s pay managed by the streaming services. At the same time, we are already paying for multiple streaming services at this time because they all offer different exclusives. How much is too much for these exclusive contents though? Would it make sense for us to go back to cable TV in this case? Maybe, maybe not, but we discuss all this in today’s episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast.

Editorial, News, Podcast

Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 19 – Another Reference Smartphone? Really Qualcomm?

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Qualcomm releases a Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider. Designed by ASUS and powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G SoC, it is also one of the most powerful Android device you can get in the market. It is definitely the most powerful Vanilla Android device to date. 

The package that comes with the smartphone is a pair of wireless earbuds made in collaboration with Master & Dynamics. You also get a charger and USB Type-C cable bundled in. Obviously the charger is the fastest charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology available for the Qualcomm smartphone. 

Alongside the super power that is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G SoC is also an ample 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. With those kind of specs, the device has more common with a gaming laptop than any other smartphone. This also makes it one of the most powerful Snapdragon powered smartphone in the current market.

The ASUS designed device is fronted by a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLLED display. While that sounds underwhelming, the display responses at 1ms and refreshes at 144Hz. Okay, that still does not make it sound all that impressive, especially if you consider that the Sony Xperia 1 III packs a 4K display at 120Hz.

Out the back is a 64-Megapixel camera that is also flanked by an 8-Megapixel telephoto camera, and a 12-Megapixel ultra-wide camera. The camera is capable of shooting videos at 8K resolution. Out the front is a 24-Megapixel camera that is capable of Full HD videos too.

The price? It is US$ 1,499. At that price, it is easily one of the most expensive Android smartphones you can find in the current market. It rivals the price of an Apple iPhone even. Even with all the things you get with the package, it is still and expensive device. It is definitely a reference smartphone though.

While we do not thing “Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider” counts as a name, it is what it is. We also do not think we need another reference smartphone, especially one that is priced this high. Still, the exclusive device has not hit the market at this time. Until we get a hands-on with the device, we cannot comment on its full capabilities and features. Qualcomm thinks it is necessary though. Do you think it is necessary?

Editorial, eSports, Gaming, News, Podcast

Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 16 – E3 2021… Was a Little Underwhelming

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Tech & Tonic So2 Ep 16 E3 2021... Was a Little Underwhelming

E3 2021 happened last week and that was the biggest thing that happened in the week. We love gaming, of course we are going to talk about it. While we were excited about the event, it went a little underwhelming and a little under the radar for some reason.

E3 is back in the 2021 after the 2020 hiatus thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In 2021 though the largest gaming conference in the world has gone completely digital and the announcements from various brands were made over live streams on YouTube. Sadly though, while it was more accessible, it was also a little on the underwhelming side. 

Sure, there were a few notable game launches and announcements made in the conference itself. Halo: Infinite was Xbox’s big highlight, Razer launched a new gaming laptop that is also their first AMD powered rig alongside a 27-inch gaming display, Nintendo teased Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild 2 a little bit more, and the upcoming Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was quite notable. But other than those, everything else seems a little underwhelming.

Razer took this chance and stole some E3 limelight with their E3 launch too. They are not launching any games though. They launched their latest gaming laptop, the Razer Blade 14 with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series CPU for the first time ever. They also launched a nice looking 27-inch gaming display with QHD resolution and 165Hz in refresh rate in the same show.

We would like to see more from E3 0221 though. We wanted to see Nintendo showing us some gameplay from Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, for example. We wanted to see more exciting AAA games teased from E3, something that makes us go “wow, that looks goo” like Battlefield 2042, for example. We did not get a lot of those moments.

To put it plainly, we expected more from E3. We wanted more in E3 2021, because 2020 and 2021 are the years where hunger for new games becomes bigger and a little more insatiable. So, what else do we expect from E3? Listen in, find out. 

Android, Editorial, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Podcast, Video

Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 13 – Our Google I/O 2021 Highlights!

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Google I/O happened last week and there was a lot to take in and dissect even from the two-hour long keynote to kick the Google’s 2021 developers conference off. We highlighted our favourite moments and things that we learned from Google I/O 2021. What caught our attention this year was their WearOS partnership with Samsung announcement. Android 12 is getting a huge visual revamp too this year. At the end of the show, something else caught our attention, and that was the Project Starline.

Google’s Wear OS is about to get a revamp and overhaul thanks to their new formed partnership with Samsung. This also means that Samsung will be ditching their Tizen OS development and focus on developing Wear OS with Google. Funnily enough Fitbit is not really getting involved. While they spent a very small amount of time making the announcement, there is more to Wear OS and Samsung’s involvement than Google made it out to be though. Fitbit is also not entirely out of the picture at this point.

We also saw the new Android 12 with Material You design language. The UI is cleaner, more intuitive, and even more customisable now. It is technically more YOU, more personal. You can change your theme colours to fit YOU. You can tune certain UI features to YOU. It is even more personal too with a Privacy Dashboard. You can even turn off your camera and mic completely if you want to; even your camera app will not be able to access both functions.

Project Starline was amazing. In brought to life a concept that we though will never see the light of day until way later. The whole pandemic situation has isolated us even more, and with conditions expected to take a turn for the worse in the coming year, physical connection to other human beings is sorely missed. Project Starline is as close as you can get to a physical touch and interaction to others at this point of time. To be fair, the technology is still in its early development stage and brings 3D and holographic telecommunications to life. It was encouraging and exciting to see, but we wonder how practical it would be if you want to bring that kind of technology to your homes or offices. 

Lifestyle, Podcast

Tech & Tonic Podcast S02E11 – More Streaming, More Better

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This episode is brought to you by Acer. Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU from Acer from the 10th May 2021 onward!

In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we discuss the growing number of streaming services. Disney+ Hotstar is finally making its way into Malaysia after a long wait. Disney+ Hotstar joins Malaysia’s long list of streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, Astro Go, iflix, and a few others.

Is having more streaming services a good thing though? Does it still make sense for you to pay for Cable TV services like Astro in Malaysia, especially with certain channels being removed with the introduction of Disney+ Hotstar? Do we need more streaming platforms at this time? Would Disney+ be better than the rest of the platforms?

We discuss this and more in the Tech & Tonic Podcast.

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Tech & Tonic S02E09 – The Apple iPad Pro and the Problem with Android Tablets

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Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU from Acer from the 27th to 29th April 2021!

Show Notes:

Apple’s iPad Pro launched last week and to everyone’s surprise, comes with Apple’s highly acclaimed M1 chip. The Apple M1 processor is the same M1 processor you can find on the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. This also makes Apple’s iPad Pro one of the most powerful tablets in the world sporting iPadOS. The true potential of a computing class processor in a mobile device is still yet unknown. We are suspecting that Apple will reveal the benefits and unlock the iPad Pro’s ultimate potential in the times to come. 

This brings us to the issue that is the current state of Android tablets though. There were only two tablets that could technically compete alongside the iPad Pro in its previous form. The two tablets are from Samsung, in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, and HUAWEI in the form of the HUAWEI MatePad Pro. With the new generation iPad Pro with M1 chip though, those two tablets now look like regular tablets that compete with the regular iPad. So what is the problem with Android tablets? We discuss this on the new episode of Tech & Tonic.

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Tech & Tonic Podcast S02E08 – Do Foldable Smartphones and Tablets Make More Sense in 2021?

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Oops, we mentioned Episode 6 in the podcast!

In truth, there has been plenty happening in the past two weeks, and that is why there was an extra week gap between Episode 7 and Episode 8. Still, we open the week with a leak and rumours from Samsung’s camp. There is a certain foldable tablet that is in the works in their labs. At the same time, the prices of their foldable devices have dropped quite significantly. In that case, does it make sense for you to consider getting a foldable smartphone for 2021? Does the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 make more sense now that it is priced at only MYR 6,999, a whole MYR 1,000 less than before? What about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip that is now MYR 3,999? Should you bet your money on other folding devices even (save for laptops)?

We discuss this and more on this episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast.

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Editorial, News, Podcast

[Podcast] Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 6 – Disney+ is Coming! Is it Going to Be Worth it?

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Disney+ is coming to Malaysia! Finally, we can watch all the series legally. Here is the question though, is it worth subscribing to? Especially with all the services we have already subscribed to. Should we fork out extra money for more contents that we might not even watch?

This is we are talking about though, they are one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, if not the largest. They are going to have more compelling shows in their catalogue. Is this going to be the case of iflix vs. Netflix again though? Who will emerge the victor in the long run? We don’t know yet. Still we discuss about it and more in Tech & Tonic Podcast Season 2 Episode 6.

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Tech & Tonic Podcast – A Peek Into Our Pandemic Driven Lives

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[Podcast] Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 3 - A Peek Into Our Pandemic Driven Lives

In this episode of the Tech & Tonic Podcast, our editors, Darwin and Jeevan get a little personal as they speak on their current realities with working from home thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past weeks, Malaysia has returned to a state of Movement Control under the new MCO. The pandemic has forced them to look into alternative ways to get work done and, most of all, it has made all their work online.

Listen in as they share their experiences in week’s Tech & Tonic Podcast.

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Tech & Tonic Podcast: Apple Car & Google Stadia – Vision or Fiction?

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[Podcast] Tech & Tonic S02 Episode 2 - Apple Car and Google Stadio, Vision or Fiction?

We are back for another episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast. In this episode of the Tech & Tonic show, we look deeper into Apple’s Car project and whether or not Apple is reaching too far out from their own industry and expertise. While we are on that subject, Google is also shutting down one of their most hyped project, the Stadia Studios.

On Apple’s end, Hyundai and Kia have severed any ties they had with Apple on their autonomous vehicle projects. On Google’s end, Stadia’s closure also means that Stadia may not be competitive at all. What is happening here? Are they taking bigger bites than they should have? What will become of autonomous cars and cloud gaming?

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