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Xiaomi Launches RedmiBook 14 Laptop With Intel i7 Processor
At an event held in China on May 28, Xiaomi’s subsidiary Redmi launched the RedmiBook 14 laptop alongside the K20 and K20 Pro smartphones. It is the company’s first laptop as an individual subsidiary, and it includes a good set of specifications and carries an aggressive price tag. Going by the looks of the device, it is clear that some inspiration has been derived from Apple’s MacBook lineup.

RedmiBook 14 Specifications And Features

The RedmiBook 14 has a metallic finish which gives it an elegant look. The laptop is branded with the Redmi Logo and features a 14 inch display. The laptop has an 81.2% screen-to-body ratio. It has a similar keyboard design to Apple’s MacBooks i.e island style keys. The left side of the laptop accommodates two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port and the power input socket, whereas the right side houses one USB 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Under the hood, the top variant of the RedmiBook 14 features the 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor. On the other hand, the specced-down variant of the same incorporates the 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor. The CPU is paired with the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics chip, which has a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 25W. In terms of memory, the RedmiBook 14 is kitted with 8GB of RAM across all variants. Storage options vary from 256GB of SSD to 512GB.

The laptop weighs at 1.5kg, which is quite light and is 17.95mm thick. As exhibited by the company, the RedmiBook 14 has air vents at the bottom and they cover an area of 2530mm^2,allowing for improved airflow. The laptop features a Modern Standby mode, which reduces battery consumption on standby. It boasts of DTS audio technology which claims to provide bass-rich sound. In terms of battery, the laptop can last for 10 hours on a single charge.

RedmiBook 14 Availability And Price

Also Read: Xiaomi Launches The Flagship Grade K20 and K20 Pro, Pricing Of The Redmi 7A Also Announced

The RedmiBook 14 will be available for purchase June 1 onwards. The pricing of the different variants is listed below:
- 8GB+512GB (Core i7): CNY 4,999 (~INR 50,400)
- 8GB+512GB (Core i5): CNY 4,299 (~INR 43,300)
- 8GB+256GB (Core i5): CNY 3,999 (~INR 40,300)
May 28, 2019

Redmi K20 & K20 Pro Launched

After much hype and speculations, Xiaomi’s subsidiary Redmi has launched its latest smartphones, the Redmi K20 and the Redmi K20 Pro. While the former is a mid-range offering, the latter is a flagship-grade device from the company, featuring top tier specifications at a competitive price. The handsets have been launched in China alongside the company’s first laptop called RedmiBook 14. Furthermore, the pricing of the Redmi 7A budget smartphone which was announced a few days ago has also been revealed at the event.

Specifications

As mentioned above, the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are the latest smartphones from the company. The devices have a glass design on the front and back with a metal chassis for reinforcement. They have an attractive gradient coloured design on the back. The handsets have a 6.39 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px. To maximise the screen real estate, they both have a pop-up mechanism on top to house the front-facing camera. For biometric security and unlocking the smartphones, the Redmi K20 series has an in display fingerprint scanner along with support for face unlock technology.

Under the hood, the Redmi K20 is kitted with the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC. The chipset is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. The more premium Redmi K20 Pro runs on the flagship grade 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which has an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, both smartphones have a triple rear camera setup consisting of an f/1.75 aperture equipped 48MP sensor, an f/2.4 aperture equipped 13MP ultra wide angle sensor; and a tertiary f/2.4 aperture equipped 8MP telephoto sensor. For selfies, an f/2.0 aperture equipped 32MP sensor is housed in the pop-up mechanism on top of the handsets.
Both the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. However, the former supports 18 W fast charging while the latter supports 27 W fast charging. Both devices run on MIUI 10 which is based on top of the latest Android 9 Pie. The smartphone will be available in three colour variants namely, Blue, Red and Black.

Pricing & Availability

Also Read: Unreleased Moto Z4 Accidentally Sold On Amazon, Buyer Posts Video On YouTube

The pricing of the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro corresponding to the different storage variants is listed below.

Storage	Redmi K20 Price	Redmi K20 Pro Price
6GB RAM + 64GB ROM	CNY 1999 (INR 20,200)	CNY 2499 (INR 25,200)
6GB RAM + 128GB ROM	CNY 2099 (INR 21,200)	CNY 2599 (INR 26,200)
8GB RAM + 128GB ROM		CNY 2799 (INR 28,200)
8GB RAM + 256GB ROM		CNY 2999 (INR 30,300)

The price of the two variants of the previously announced Redmi 7A is as follows:

2 GB + 16 GB: CNY 549 (INR Rs 5,500)
2 GB + 32 GB: CNY 599 (INR Rs 6,000)

May 28, 2019

Hyper X Announces The Cloud Alpha S Gaming Headsets And Alloy Origins Keyboard With New Keyswitches

HyperX, the company that manufactures gaming accessories alongside computer components, has unveiled new products in Computex 2019 today. Introducing a gaming keyboard that was built on the company’s new keyswitch designs along with a fresh addition to their Cloud Alpha gaming headsets series.

Cloud Alpha S

HyperX announced a successor to its Cloud Alpha gaming headsets that is extremely popular in the gaming community. The new iteration is dubbed Cloud Alpha S, that has 7.1 surround sound that goes through a wired audio control box with volume controls for chat and video game audio.

Aesthetically, the headphones sport the same design philosophy alongside audio hardware that was present in the predecessor as well, i.e the dual chamber drivers. HyperX however, claims that the new headset is better tuned in comparison for an improved audio experience overall. The gaming headsets also feature a new bass slider function on the back that lets the user adjust the audio according to their preferences as they please. HyperX Cloud Alpha S goes on sale this September for $129.99 (approx. Rs.9050)

Alloy Origins

HyperX’s announced the Alloy Origins gaming keyboard that will feature the company’s new keyswitches. The company has been manufacturing keyboards for game enthusiasts for 17 years now (founded in 2002). Most other manufacturers just like HyperX use either the Cherry MX or Kailh keyswitches depending on the price of the product. As of today, the company will start employing its own keyswitch designs in certain designs and models of its gaming keyboard line up.

The gaming keyboards made by HyperX generally utilized the reds, the popular choice among gamers alike for its great responsiveness. However, the company has made changes to the established red design by reducing the travel distance of each individual key down by 0.2mm lower than a standard Cherry MX red switch. Now at 3.8mm and 1.8mm respectively.

Also Read: Asus Launches A Couple Of Laptops And Gaming Accessories At Computex 2019

The aluminium framed keyboard, the Alloy Origins will be released in the third quarter of this year for $109.99 ( approx. Rs.7655), priced similarly to the company’s Alloy FPS RGB model keyboard that features the Kailh switches.

May 28, 2019
Asus Launches A Couple Of Laptops And Gaming Accessories At Computex 2019
Computex 2019 is at its full swing and Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, Asus has unveiled a wide variety of products at the event which includes laptops and gaming accessories. One notable device that Asus has unveiled is the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo laptop which features dual displays. Other products launched by the company are as follows:

ROG Strix XG17 Portable Gaming Monitor

As the name suggests, the ROG Strix XG17 is a portable gaming monitor with an inbuilt battery. The device features a 17.3 inch display with Full HD resolution. Noteworthy the display panel has a refresh rate of 240 Hz which provides for an ultra smooth gaming experience. The Asus ROG Strix XG17 supports Adaptive sync technology which eliminates choppy frame rates and screen tearing. It supports video input via the built in Micro HDMI port and the USB Type C port. The display can be used for playing games from mobiles, computers and consoles like Nintendo Switch. The aforementioned inbuilt battery is claimed to provide a battery backup of three hours. To keep the display of the Asus ROG Strix XG17 secure against scratches, it features a flip style cover which also doubles up as a stand.

Asus ZenBook 13/14/15

Asus has updated the ZenBook lineup of laptops for the year 2019 with latest innards while retaining the established name. The screen size of the three laptop models corroborates with the suffix in their name. The device is available in three different screen size options which include 13 inch, 14 inch and 15 inch. One key highlighting features of the ZenBook trio is the trackpad which doubles up as a secondary 5.65 inch display. The said display which is similar to one present on modern smartphones can be enabled or disabled by pressing the F6 key. The notable features this display can be used for include playing music, watching videos or play games like candy crush.

Talking about the specifications, the Asus ZenBook trio can be configured with Intel Core i7 CPUs along with Nvidia GTX 1650 Max Q GPU. In terms of memory and storage, the laptops support upto 1 TB of SSD storage and 8 GB of RAM. Input/Output ports on the three laptops are as follows:
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C^™ (up to 10Gbps)

1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A (up to 10Gbps)

1 x USB 2.0

1 x Standard HDMI

1 x MicroSD card reader

1 x Audio combo jack

1 x DC-in

Asus ROG Theta Gaming Headsets

The company has unveiled two new pairs of flagship gaming headphones under the Theta sub brand which include the ROG Theta and ROG Theta Electret. The former has 8 Essence drivers with the largest being 30 mm in size. The headphone produces 7.1 surround sound output and supports AI powered noise cancelling microphones. On the other hand, the ROG Theta Electret is a pair of Analogue headphones with an impedance of 32 ohms and silver plated copper cables.

Asus VivoBooks

In addition to the ZenBook Pro Duo laptops and ZenBook laptops, Asus also unveiled updated VivoBooks. Like the ZenBooks, the new VivoBooks also have a ScreenPad 2.0 secondary display. Notably, the VivoBooks are economical than the ZenBooks, however, they still pack worthy features. They can be kitted with upto Intel Core i7 processors and Nvidia MX 250 GPU. The laptops feature Harman Kardon speakers that are claimed to have impressive sound output. They also have an ErgoLift hinge which raises the laptop from the surface for better airflow resulting in cooler temperatures while running heavy tasks.

Also Read: OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue Edition To Go On Sale For The First Time In India

Pricing and availability of the newly launched products are yet to be announced which will be made available in the near future.
May 28, 2019
Unreleased Moto Z4 Accidentally Sold On Amazon, Buyer Posts Video On YouTube

Motorola’s long-awaited smartphone, the Moto Z4 that was set to replace its predecessor, namely the Moto Z3 of 2018, has had a lot of rumours and hype surrounding its release and pricing. There had been numerous leaks going around and a render that seemed promising.

Motorola had yet to provide a specific release date for its current-gen smartphone but in a bizarre turn of events, had the Moto Z4 listed in Amazon under a price tag of $499. Adding to the absurdity was the fact that a customer had actually bought the handset and making matters weirder, it actually got delivered.

Amazon shortly afterwards took down the listing of Moto Z4 after a Reddit post, by the aforementioned customer, started gaining traction online. However, it is already confirmed through the Amazon listing, the specification that the phone will carry. Sporting a 6.39-inch FHD+ OLED FullVision display alongside a Snapdragon 675 and 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. Powered by a 3600 mAh battery with 15W charging and a headphone jack as well.

The Moto Z4 receives an upgrade with its 48MP primary back camera that utilizes pixel binning (Quad Pixel technology) for a 12MP photo and the front-facing camera that has a 25MP sensor. The smartphone also offers an in-display fingerprint sensor and MicroSD card slot that is compatible with storage upto 2TB. A P2i splash-proof nano-coating, for protection against accidental spillage. The phone is built out of 6000 series aluminium, and a 2.5D curved glass layer finish on top. Moto Z4s display is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3.

Also Read: OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue Edition To Go On Sale For The First Time In India

Leaks similar to the Z4 also point towards a Z4 Force variant of Motorola. A screen protector on Amazon that is said to ‘Only fit the Moto Z4’ has been found. No other finder details have been announced by the company on its exact specifications and features or release date. However, the Moto Z4 Force is speculated to have the Snapdragon 855 and 8GB of RAM, powered by a 3230mAh battery.

May 28, 2019
The Laptop With World’s Six Most Dangerous Malware Sold For US$ 1.3 Million

What would you want to pay for a laptop that is a decade old and runs Windows XP? Oh, and add the fact that it has six of the world’s most dangerous malware installed in it. If you are having trouble answering the question, let us do the work for you. The laptop in question, framed as an artwork called Persistence of Chaos by Guo O Dong has been sold at an online auction for a whopping price of US$ 1,345,000 (INR 93,694,852).

About The Laptop

The laptop in question here is a Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook which was introduced back in the year 2008. It was created by internet artist named Guo O Dong and was commissioned to do so by a cybersecurity firm known as Deep Instinct. The device as mentioned above runs 6 pieces of malware that are considered most dangerous in the world. All the malware installed in the laptop has been reported to have caused financial damages totalling US$ 95 Billion. The artwork has been kept isolated and is airgapped, which refers to it as it is kept away from the internet to prevent the spread of the malware.

Also read: OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue Edition To Go On Sale For The First Time In India

The artist claims the intention behind the laptop was to make physical the abstract threat the digital world poses. The malware(s) inside the device are the ILOVEYOU virus, which was distributed via email and caused US$15 Billion in damages; the MyDoom, spread by Russian spammers and causing US$ 38 Billion in damages. The third is the SoBig worm, which was reported to have caused US$ 37 Billion in damages. Other malware includes the WannaCry, DarkTequila and BlackEnergy viruses, which also have been notorious in causing financial damage to consumers. For those curious, you can visit this link to watch the live stream of the laptop kept in its enclosure because apparently, that is a thing now.

May 28, 2019
OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue Edition To Go On Sale For The First Time In India
Chinese smartphone OEM OnePlus launched its latest flagship device, the OnePlus 7 Pro at an event on the 14th of May. The handset boasts of top tier specifications at a comparatively affordable price tag than its competitors. While the smartphone was unveiled in three colour variants at the time of launch namely Mirror Black, Almond and Nebula Blue; the company only made available the former for the initial sales. Now, the much-awaited colour variant of the three, the Nebula Blue is all set to go on sale for the first time in India today. Noteworthy, it is the only variant at the moment available in the 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM configuration.

Pricing & Availability

The OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue as mentioned above, features 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM. The smartphone will be available at a price of Rs. 57,999 for the top tier variant. For people looking for a more affordable deal, the variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage is priced at Rs. 48,999 while the 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM version retails for Rs. 52,999. It will go on sale at 12 noon starting May 28th with the availability of the Almond variant to be announced soon.

OnePlus 7 Pro

To recall, the OnePlus 7 Pro is the latest flagship offering from the company and the specced-up variant of the OnePlus 7. The smartphone measures 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8mm and weighs 206 g. It has an all-glass design on the front and back with a metal chassis for reinforcement. The device has a 6.67 inch Fluid AMOLED display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 px which gives it a pixel density of 516 ppi.

The display on the OnePlus 7 Pro has a praiseworthy refresh rate of 90Hz which is also seen in handsets like the Asus ROG Phone and Nubia Red Magic 3. To maximise the screen real estate, the smartphone has minimal bezels on all sides of the display and utilises a pop-up mechanism to house the front-facing camera. For biometric security and rapidly unlocking the device, it features an in display fingerprint scanner with support for face unlock technology.

Under the hood, the OnePlus 7 Pro is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which consists of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, the smartphone has a triple rear camera setup comprised of an f/1.6 aperture equipped 48 MP primary sensor; and an f/2.4 aperture equipped 8 MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom; the third sensor used is an f/2.2 aperture equipped 16 MP ultra wide angle lens with a Field of View (FoV) of 117 degrees.

It can also capture 4K videos at 60fps and supports Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) for smoother footage. For selfies, an f/2.0 aperture equipped 16 MP camera is housed in the pop-up mechanism on top of the display. Video from the front camera is capped at 1080p resolution at 30fps. In terms of memory and storage, the handset will be available in the following variants.
- 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM
- 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM
- 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM
Also read: Asus ZenBook Pro Duo With A Secondary ScreenPad Takes MacBook’s Touch Bar A Step Further

The OnePlus 7 Pro is powered by a 4000mAh battery with support for 30W Warp Charging technology. The smartphone uses a new X-axis Haptic Vibration Motor which the company claims will provide it with better haptic feedback than the OnePlus 6T. In terms of connectivity, the device supports Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. The OnePlus 7 Pro also boasts of Dual Stereo Speakers and Audio tuned by the Dolby Atmos technology. It is the first globally available smartphone to feature the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.0 standard, which should result in fast read and write speeds.
May 28, 2019
Asus ZenBook Pro Duo With A Secondary ScreenPad Takes MacBook’s Touch Bar A Step Further
Taiwan based electronics manufacturer, Asus has unveiled yet another innovative lineup of laptops at the Computex 2019. The said event is held in Taipei, Taiwan and it is one of the world’s biggest PC convention. Taking the Touch Bar from Apple’s MacBooks a step further, Asus unveiled the ZenBook Pro Duo which features dual displays.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo Specs & Design

As previously mentioned the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo has a distinctive design accrediting to two display. Out of the two displays, one is the primary screen while the second display is placed above the keyboard. The company has unveiled two models of the laptop which carry the following model numbers:
- UX581
- UX481
The key differences between the two models are disparate CPU, GPU and screen size. The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX581 features a 15.6 inch touch screen main display along with the 14 inch ScreenPad Plus (secondary display). On the other hand, the more affordable Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX481 has a 14 inch main display along with 12.6 inch ScreenPad Plus display. Notably, the beefed up UX581 features 4K display while the UX481 has a display with FHD resolution.

In terms of processor, the Asus ZenBook UX581 is offered with two options a) i9-9980HK and b) i7-9750H. While the UX481 is offered only with the i7 option. The former features the Nvidia RTX 2060 GPU 6 GB of DDR6 RAM while the latter features Nvidia MX250 with 2 GB of RAM. The UX581 can be kitted with upto 32 GB of DD4 2666 MHz RAM while the former supports 2133 MHz DDR3 RAM upto 16GB.

Both the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo laptops can be configured with similar storage options which include 1 TB PCIE x4 SSD or 512GB / 256GB PCIe x2 SSD. The primary difference between the two storage options is dissimilar read and write speeds. The x4 SSD are upto twice as fast as the x2 variant. Features including connectivity, webcam and I/O port are identical on two variants of the Asus ZenBook. They support Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 along with an IR webcam with Windows Hello Support. I/O ports on the two laptops are as follows:
- 1 x Thunderbolt
- 3x USB-C
- 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A
- 1 x Standard HDMI
- 1 x Audio combo jack
- 1 x DC-in
Notably, the economical Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX481 also has a Micro SD card slot. The former is powered by a 70 Wh battery while the UX581 is powered by a 71 Wh battery.

Talking about the ScreenPad it is mainly targetted towards content creators who can use the secondary display to control or monitor additional controls in certain apps. One example of the ScreenPad would controlling additional features in video editing programs.

Also Read: Lenovo’s Project Limitless Features a 5G Laptop Running On Snapdragon 8cx CPU Processor

All in all, the newly launched Asus ZenBook Pro Duo ultrabooks laptop seem highly innovative. However, the price of the two devices is yet to be unveiled which can be expected in the near future.
May 27, 2019
Lenovo’s Project Limitless Features a 5G Laptop Running On Snapdragon 8cx CPU Processor

Lenovo along with other tech giants has made great strides in technological development that has been showcased at Computex 2019. Lenovo and Qualcomm have yet to divulge finer details regarding their Project Limitless other than the fact that the driving technology leading to this innovation is Qualcomm’s very own Snapdragon 8cx chipset that supports 5G connectivity.

Unveiled last December, the Snapdragon 8cx claims great performance with amazing battery life for Windows on ARM devices. Designed specifically to tackle issues and concerns surrounding Snapdragon’s previous iterations on PCs. The octa-core Kyro 495 CPU on the chipset features an increased 10MB cache, improving on Chromes performance than its previous versions. Built on a 7nm architecture the Snapdragon 8cx in the Lenovo laptop is reportedly a ‘lot more’ power efficient than the Snapdragon 855. A ‘lot more’ not in terms of hours but days.

The Units that were made available to the attendees of Computex were, however, demos, so no real benchmark on network speeds are available. According to the demo devices system settings, the Snapdragon 8cx CPU was reported to have been running at 2.8GHz clock speed along with 16GB of RAM, all in all, specs comfortable enough for multitasking processes.

Qualcomm, for comparison purposes, showcased its products capabilities by pitting it against its targetted rival, i.e Intel’s Core i5-8250U. Using the new PCMark 10 Application benchmark on systems of similar specs had the Qualcomm’s 8cx beat the Intel’s i5 on apps like Microsoft Edge and Word. Intel’s processor won on other apps like Excel and PowerPoint.

Also Read: Razer Adds Quadro RTX 5000 GPU To Blade Ultrabook Laptops

This may cement Qualcomm in the laptop grade CPU market and have their Snapdragon brand expand to laptops alongside Lenovo. The inclusion of 5G networking on sub-6GHz connection is a great plus point as well that goes along with the ‘Limitless’ nomenclature.

May 27, 2019
Apple iPhone XI To Have Full Screen Touch ID

Apple’s upcoming flagship smartphones have been a centrepiece of leaks and rumours for quite some time now. Going by previous leaks, the smartphones will feature triple rear camera sensors which may be set up in a triangular fashion. However, the latest revelations have nothing to do with the device’s camera. Instead, information regarding the biometric security has been leaked, and it divulges that the Apple iPhone XI may have a full screen Touch ID integration.

Apple iPhone XI Leaked Details

As per sources, Apple’s upcoming smartphones will resemble the design factor of their predecessors, with the major difference being the additional rear camera lens. Furthermore, 3D touch functionality will be removed from the 2019 iPhones, which indicates that the company may introduce a Haptic Touch feature in its handsets.

Reportedly, all the iPhones will be transitioned to OLED displays in the year 2020, with LG becoming the secondary supplier of the same, reports state. The company will reportedly step-up the production of the next-generation iPhones in the months of July and/or August. As mentioned previously, the iPhone XI series will incorporate support for 5G connectivity in addition to 3D sensing in the rear camera. The highlight of the leaks, however, is the acoustic fingerprint sensor, which will enable fullscreen Touch ID capability in the smartphone. If and when this happens, the Apple iPhone XI will be the first smartphone to exhibit the aforementioned feature.

Sources also indicate that Apple may also launch a budget iPhone SE 2, which will be based on the lines of the iPhone 8. The popular Apple iPhone XR is also expected to receive an upgrade, which will bump up the RAM capacity from 3GB to 4GB along with updated chipset and dual cameras.

Also Read: 2019 iPhone Models Will Get Support For Dual Audio Connection Over Bluetooth

In light of other leaks, the 2019 iPhones may sport a frosted glass casing and an improved battery capacity. Moreover, “bilateral charging” feature may make its way to the new devices, which will function similarly to the Reverse Wireless Charging feature in the Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup. Reportedly, the feature will allow users to charge their Apple AirPods and Apple Watch by simply placing them on the back of the iPhone. Going by the company’s launch patterns over the years, Apple will unveil its latest smartphones in the month of September 2019.

May 27, 2019
2019 iPhone Models Will Get Support For Dual Audio Connection Over Bluetooth

Apple is four months away from launching its latest iPhone models which will succeed the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR from 2018. Several details about the upcoming devices have already surged (1,2). A fresh report claims that the 2019 iPhone models will get a worthwhile feature for music aficionados. Reliable Japanese blog, Macotakara claims upcoming devices will support dual audio connections over Bluetooth.

Prominently, the feature will allow an iPhone to simultaneously connect with two Bluetooth devices. For example, while playing music on AirPods, the user can concurrently play the same audio stream on a Bluetooth speaker system in their house. Furthermore, two friends can listen to the same music from one smartphone on their individual totally wireless earphones (TWS).

Talking more about the 2019 iPhone models, the flagship level devices will allegedly be called iPhone XI and iPhone XI Max. While the name for iPhone XR successor is unknown as of now. The iPhone XI and XI Max are reported to have the same size screen as their predecessors which sport a 5.8 inch and a 6.5 inch Super Retina HD display respectively. The 2019 iPhone trio is reported to feature 12 MP selfie camera which is a significant bump in comparison to the 8 MP sensor found on current generation devices. Furthermore, the two flagship grade smartphones are reported to have triple rear facing cameras while the successor of iPhone XR will have dual rear cameras.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S10, the 2019 iPhone flagship models are also reported to support reverse wireless charging. In terms of chipset, the smartphones are will ship with updated Bionic chipsets which are assumedly called A13 bionic. The said chipset will be manufactured by TSMC via 5 nm fabrication process. Also, new for 2019, Apple will reportedly ship the iPhone’s with 18 W fast charger.

Also Read: Razer Adds Quadro RTX 5000 GPU To Blade Ultrabook Laptops

All in all, the 2019 iPhone seems to be a promising update. However, we will have to wait for the official announcement to verify all the leaks and claims.

May 27, 2019
Razer Adds Quadro RTX 5000 GPU To Blade Ultrabook Laptops

With the arrival of the Quadro RTX 5000 GPU for laptops, Razer soon followed suit and announced its Blade series laptop. Razer has updated their line of Blade 15 and Blade Pro 17 to support the new gear. The RTX 5000 is available on both the laptops alongside 32GB of RAM and 1TB NVMe SSD Storage all encased in a Mercury White finish.

The 15-inch Razer model laptop sports 4K OLED touchscreen and it will be kitted with the Intel Core i7-9750H CPU. The larger version (17-inch) will instead receive a 120Hz 4k panel to go along with the Intel Core i9-9880H CPU. Both laptops are also compatible with Razer Core X, an external GPU for users that require more power. Both Razer machines provide beefy specs to help visualization for creators.

Even though the company has not provided many details about the build of the two laptops. Going by the teasers, the Razer ultrabooks have an elegant design with negligible bezels around the display. They also feature a webcam which is housed in the said bezel above the display. Both feature a large multi-touch trackpad that claims to boost productivity.

The company has not given any formal date of when the laptops are expected to hit the stores online or offline. Razer is also quiet about the fine details such as price and other information which are expected to be released at a later date.

Also Read: NVIDIA Works With Bethesda For Ray Tracing Support on Wolfenstein And Quake II

Additionally, due to the fact that Razer’s targeted demographic is creators, both the laptops will support Nvidia’s new studio drivers optimized for creative applications. Assuring “uncompromising performance along with premium designs.” With these major upgrades, the laptops are more than capable of taking on desktop workstation PCs. Carrying the Company’s “#madewithblade” tag alongside artists and creators.

May 27, 2019
Black Shark 2 Launched In India, Features Snapdragon 855 And Up To 12GB RAM
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has launched the highly-anticipated Black Shark 2 gaming smartphone in India. The device was earlier introduced in China in the month of March 2019. Noteworthy, it features Ludicrous Mode that incorporates Xiaomi’s Liquid Cooling 3.0 technology. The company claims that it uses liquid-cooled plates and tubes that enable a temperature drop of up to 14°C in the device while gaming.

Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Specifications And Features

The Xiaomi Black Shark 2 has a modern design with a distinctive yet appealing design on the rear and a large display on the front. The smartphone measures 163.61 x 75.01 x 8.77 mm and weighs in at 205 grams. It sports a 6.39 inch AMOLED display which is surrounded by narrow bezels on all sides, giving it an elegant look. The display panel has a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px and a pixel density of 403 ppi. The display panel can reach brightness levels of upto 430 nits and has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9.

Another feature of the smartphone is the pressure sensitive controls incorporated in the AMOLED display, that can be programmed for gaming. For biometric security, it also features an in display fingerprint sensor. Talking further about the design of the Xiaomi Black Shark 2, its right side accommodates the power button and a “shark” slider which when toggled turns on gaming mode for optimized performance while the left side houses the volume rockers. The bottom of the device accommodates the USB Type-C port. To keep the temperature of the device under check during game-intensive sessions, it also has a vapour cooling chamber and liquid cooling 3.0 technology, which has been discussed previously.

As mentioned before, the rear of the Xiaomi Black Shark 2 has a unique design with green coloured decals that run along the sides of the smartphone. The rear panel also harbours the RGB Black Shark logo and the dual camera setup. The dual camera setup consists of a 48 MP Samsung GM1 (f/1.75) sensor, 12 MP (f/2.2) telephoto sensor and an LED Flash which can also capture 2160p videos at 30 fps. It also has a 20 MP (f/2.0) front-facing selfie camera which is placed in the bezel above the display. The front camera can also capture 1080p videos at 30 fps.

Under the hood, the Black Shark 2 runs on the Snapdragon 855 SoC which consists of an octa-Core Kryo 485 CPU with the Adreno 640 GPU. The smartphone is powered by a 4,000 mAh battery which supports fast charging upto 27 W. The company claims that 30 minutes of gaming is possible with just 5 minutes of charging. The device runs on Android 9.0 (Pie) out of the box. Connectivity options on the Black Shark 2 include 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, Dual 4G VoLTE and GPS.

Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Availability And Price

Also Read: NVIDIA Works With Bethesda For Ray Tracing Support on Wolfenstein And Quake II

The Black Shark 2 is available in two colour variants which includes Frozen Silver and Shadow Black. The prices for different variants of the smartphone are listed below:
- 6 GB + 128 GB – INR 39,999
- 12 GB + 256 GB – INR 49,999
Both the aforementioned variants are listed on popular e-commerce website Flipkart, and will be purchasable June 4 onwards.

Click Here To Buy The Xiaomi Black Shark 2 (6GB+128GB)

Click Here To Buy The Xiaomi Black Shark 2 (12GB+256GB)
May 27, 2019
NVIDIA Works With Bethesda For Ray Tracing Support on Wolfenstein And Quake II

NVIDIA in collaboration with Bethesda has announced the induction of real-time ray-tracing support in Bethesda’s latest instalment of Wolfenstein. The return of the Wolfenstein franchise with NVIDIA’s Adaptive shading and other advanced technology will give gamers a new depth in experience and graphical fidelity.

The ‘Born To Hunt’ bundle with NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card will have buyers receiving Wolfenstein: Newblood with purchases for a limited period of time. Youngblood is reported to be launched on the 26th of July. The offer is available with the purchase of RTX 2080Ti, 2080, 2070, 2060 or any PC desktop or laptops that ship with these graphics cards. The cost has yet to be announced by the company.

For those unfamiliar with the terminology, Ray tracing is an advanced graphics technique used to give movies their realistic visual effects. With the inclusion of specialized ‘RT’ cores in NVIDIA RTX GPUs, that are designed specifically to achieve ray tracing in real time in games. The announcement was dropped today in Computex 2019.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is set in an alternate history 19 years in the future after the events of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. Bethesda is advertising the Co-Op feature of the game that allows players to game with their friends or solo in a new first-person shooter with Wolfenstein experience. The game will have players as one of BJ Blazkowic’s twin daughters wielding a wide arsenal of destructive weaponry, gadgets and abilities to free Paris from the Regime.

Also Read: ARM Announces New Design For Upcoming CPU And GPU

The game includes NVIDIA VKRay which allows any developer to add ray-traced effects to their games using the Vulkan API, becoming the first game till date to ship with this tool. NVIDIA Adaptive Shading is an advanced new technique showcased by NVIDIA today that helps developers improve performance during ray-tracing in games to achieve higher real-time visual fidelity while reducing the load on GPUs that bear the taxing load of ray-tracing without losing out on image quality.

NVIDIA had taken a team to put the 1997 title Quake II through their ray-tracing system earlier on in the year. The YouTube Video received about half a million views and a slurry of ‘hype’ comments. The three-level version of the game, as in the demo, will be open to the public for free on NVIDIA website and Steam from June 6th.

May 27, 2019
Space Crafts May Survive Collisions Thanks To Origami Inspired Materials

Space collisions are a very common occurrence, considering that 128 million pieces of debris is floating around in space. A small marble-sized piece of debris can deal a significant amount of damage to a spacecraft. Furthermore, while landing, a lot of force is exerted by reusable rockets on both the ends i.e. the landing pad and the rocket itself. In order to make space vehicles more durable to withstand such collisions, scientists are taking design ideas from the Japanese paper-folding art, also popularly known as Origami.

Researchers from the University of Washington have derived inspiration from Origami techniques and have developed a solution that can serve to keep spacecrafts safe from collisions. They are designing materials that can withstand huge amounts of forces and pressure in space. The paper model of the “demo” material implements the incorporation of “folding creases” that forms a basis of Origami models, which in turn cushions the impact forces consequently reducing the chance of material rupture.

Also Read: ARM Announces New Design For Upcoming CPU And GPU

When two objects collide with force, a “push” is exerted by one object on the other. Instead, when the meta-material collides with another object, it exerts a form of “pull” by the time the energy dissipates through to you. This considerably nullifies the chance of such an object tearing through such a surface. Comparing the meta-material to Legos, a member of the research team stated that a number of different structures can be designed by repeatedly using the same type of building block over and over again. Using this technique, researchers can create never-seen-before material structures with unprecedented properties.

May 27, 2019