Author: batteryforpc

One of the most anticipated phones of early 2020 is the Xiaomi Mi 10, and new hands-on shots have given us the first ‘real’ pictures of it (other than leaked renders). Fans of Xiaomi phones might find these pictures eerily familiar though – they show a device that looks a lot like the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

These pictures come from TechDroider, who posted them on Instagram. It’s not clear where these pictures originated though, and the posting refers to them as a ‘concept device’.

But based on some contextual clues (a wire attached to the device, and a visible placard in the background), we’d guess it’s a media hands-on event where they got to test the phone.

The leaked pictures show a sleek device with a curved screen, a rear camera bump in the top left of the back of the phone, and a punch-hole cut-out front-facing camera. Save for this last point, it’s incredibly similar in terms of design to the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 from late 2019, even down to the color of the device, known as ‘Glacier White’.

While the Instagram post refers to this device as the Xiaomi Mi 10, we’d expect it’s actually the Mi 10 Pro, as we’ve heard the former will have a flat screen while the latter will have curved display edges.

We were pretty big fans of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10’s design, but it’s still surprising just how similar the Mi 10 seemingly looks to the older device. Perhaps Xiaomi has taken to heart the mantra ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

It’s worth emphasising that this image is referred to as a ‘concept based on leaks’, but it’s almost unprecedented for someone to make a physical device based on leaks. So while it’s possible that someone went to a lot of effort for this posting, it’s also possible that was just said to protect a source (or is a translation error of some kind).

Either way, we’ll find out for sure in the first few months of 2020 (likely at MWC 2020 in February) when we’re expecting the device to launch. Stay tuned to TechRadar for all the latest news.

Microsoft Edge, the web browser that replaced Internet Explorer with the release of Windows 10, has been given a dramatic overhaul in the last year or so to be rebuilt on the same Chromium source code that Google Chrome is based on. Today, the new version of Microsoft Edge, based on Google’s Chromium, has been officially launched on Windows and macOS.

Late in 2018, Microsoft confirmed rumors that the company was rebuilding its Edge browser on Chromium, the open source base for Google Chrome. At the time, the reason given was for Edge to be able to offer “improved compatibility” over the existing EdgeHTML browser engine. The announcement put Microsoft Edge in league with other Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi and Brave.

After over a year of development work and public beta tests, Microsoft, via The Verge, is formally launching the new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium. While Microsoft Edge, in its original form, was originally exclusive to Windows 10, rebuilding on Chromium has helped open the browser to more platforms. Today, you can download Microsoft Edge for macOS and all current versions of Windows.

Even a version for Windows 7 is available, despite the fact that Windows 7 reached End of Life earlier this week. No doubt, this is thanks to Google’s own commitment to support Google Chrome on Windows 7 until July 2021.

These additional desktop platforms follow the work already done to bring Microsoft Edge to Android and iOS. On those platforms, Edge uses the platform’s preferred/required browser engine with a layer of additional Microsoft features like sync.

If for whatever reason, you’re a fan of Chrome but not Google, Microsoft Edge may be the browser for you. The two browsers have a great deal in common including the ability to sync your browsing history and more between devices. One key difference is that you’re trusting Microsoft with that information instead of Google.

The similarities even run deeper than that, with the new Microsoft Edge being able to use nearly all of the same extensions that Google Chrome can use. Unfortunately, that also means that Microsoft Edge will be affected by the upcoming controversial changes to how Chrome extensions can and cannot work, collectively known as Manifest V3.

Where Edge sets itself apart from Chrome is in its built-in tracking protections that help you maintain privacy by default and handy features like Collections that let you handily organize images and pages from the web.

As of today, Edge is an optional program you can choose to download and install, just like any other alternative browser like Chrome or Firefox. What will give Microsoft’s new browser some stopping power is when the new Edge becomes the default built-in browser for Windows 10.

Verge notes that OEMs have already been given the new Edge, meaning new Windows 10 devices should begin appearing with Edge pre-installed. By giving users a competent cross-platform browser out of the box, there’s a chance people may no longer feel the need to immediately install Chrome, as the jokes go.

Additionally, over the next few months, Microsoft will slowly push this new version of Edge to Windows 10 users via Windows Update. This rollout will happen in gradual stages until a full, wider release happens in the summer.

In addition to its new notebook, Chromebook, and system announced during CES 2020, ASUS has unveiled a new gaming chassis designed for mini-ITX motherboards. The ASUS ROG Z11 features an 11-degree tilted interior design for improved heat dissipation and better cable management.

The ASUS ROG Z11 case is constructed with an aluminium outer frame, with steel interior, and comes with a specially designed motherboard try which is off to an 11-degree angle in comparison to standard motherboard tray implementations. This design is to allow for more airflow which is critical in high-performance systems that are using smaller form factors such as mini-ITX. Due to the implementation of the design, users can position the ROG Z11 upright which resembles a more conventional design, or on its side.

Hardware compatibility in generic mini-ITX systems can be a little lacklustre, but the ASUS ROG Z11 is designed to accommodate full-size power supplies and has good support for cooling. Supplied with the ROG Z11 is three 140 mm cooling fans, with support for a 240 mm radiator at the rear. Users can also install a 120 mm radiator in the bottom of the chassis.

On the front panel is a LiveDash 1.77″ OLED screen which is also featured on the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme rear panel cover, and allows users to upload and customize the panel with GIFs and animations. The front I/O panel includes a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports, with a button to control the addressable RGB lighting.

At present, ASUS hasn’t revealed any information about the pricing or availability, but it is expected to be launched sometime this year. 

MSI demonstrated a revamped version of its sleek and light GS-series Stealth gaming notebook at CES 2020 this week. The GS66 Stealth laptop continues to feature a low-profile design, but now comes in a ‘Core Black’ aluminum chassis and features the latest internal hardware. In addition, MSI has an all-new compact GE66 Raider gaming notebook with panaramic aurora lighting and new internals. However, the main advantage of the new models over predecessors is its optional display panel with a 300 Hz refresh rate.

Nowadays mobile gamers demand thinner and lighter notebooks, but are not ready to give up desktop-like performance. With the MSI GS66 Stealth and the MSI GE66 Raider, they will actually be getting something that they cannot have even with a desktop PC right now: a Full-HD panel featuring a 300 Hz maximum refresh rate, presumably with a variable refresh rate technology.

To ensure that the 300 Hz LCD can demonstrate itself in all of its glory, the MSI GS66 Stealth and the MSI GE66 Raider pack the latest and greatest hardware, which specifications are kept under wraps for now, but one can make a good educated guess about them. In case of the GS66, the CPU and the GPU are cooled down using MSI’s redesigned Cooler Boost Trinity cooling system that now uses three fans with blades that are only 0.1 mm thick to maximize airflow.

MSI showcased its GS66 Stealth and GE66 Raider laptops at CES, but said nothing about availability timeframe of the product. Considering the fact that Acer and ASUS already use overclocked 300 Hz panels with their gaming laptops, it should not be big a problem for MSI to get such panels too. Meanwhile, there might be other components that MSI needs to procure for its upcoming GS66 Stealth and GE66 Raider notebooks.

When the first OnePlus 7 Pro renders trickled out, showing off what appeared to be a pop-out camera mechanism, even I was critical of the concept. External moving parts on a device that suffers as much abuse as a phone seemed like a design that was destined to fail, even in just a mechanical sense.

Well, I’m not afraid to say that I was entirely wrong. OnePlus’ pop-up selfie camera has proven to be a fantastic idea, and I’m upset it looks like OnePlus’ next high-end “Pro” phone won’t get one.

The advantages of a pop-out camera are subjective, but pretty clear: Right now, it’s the only way to get an all-screen phone free of both bezels and cameras. Now, there’s no real objective benefit to that short of a bit of extra screen space, but I think it’s a much more attractive look, and clearly the ultimate goal of modern smartphone design given the sort of changes we’ve seen over the last couple years with under/in-screen camera designs and the move from 2018’s notch to “hole-punch” cameras. An all-screen design free of camera cutouts and notches is not necessarily “better,” but it is a whole lot cooler to look at.

Another curious detail is the fact that this sort of pop-up/out mechanism has been done plenty of times by a lot of Chinese companies, but outside the OnePlus 7 Pro and Motorola One Hyper, it hasn’t really materialized in the US. There’s the Oppo Reno, Realme X, Vivo Nex, Redmi K20 Pro (the base for the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro), and Honor 9X, all among an even longer list of phones with the feature, all of which have pop-up camera designs, and almost none of which have come to our shores.

While other companies like ASUS and Samsung have put their own spin on the idea by making the rear and front-facing camera the same camera, the OnePlus 7 Pro with its full-screen design and pop-out camera is a unique and much-loved device in the US. In fact, it only narrowly dodged both our readers’ choice award and our editors’ choice smartphone of the year award, though it handily snatched the title at other venues.

Looks don’t seem to be an issue, then. So why would OnePlus give up on the idea in its next phone, as it appears to be? Since it’s a moving part, one might think that durability ended up being a concern, and it might be, but not the way you think.

OnePlus rated the 7 Pro’s pop-up mechanism’s longevity for around 300,000 cycles, which is a pretty big number. Assuming that you substantially beat the average and unlock your phone 100 times a day (using the pop-up camera for face recognition) and take another 100 selfies every single day on top of that, then the mechanism will last you a mere four years — a little longer than most folks keep a phone. More realistic use (~90 actuations a day) brings that number closer to nine years.

Of course, variability and basic statistics will see some fail before (and after) these rated numbers, but even so, I had to go out of my way to find any reports of the mechanism failing. Durability doesn’t seem to be an issue. Hell, someone even used one as a bottle opener without any apparent ill effects — not that I’d recommend it.

While the mechanism clearly functions in the long term, there still might be one good reason to get rid of it: an IP rating.

So far as I can tell, precisely zero phones with pop-out camera mechanisms have been able to snag an IP rating. Of course, OnePlus has bent over backward to justify not having an IP rating for its phones in the past. Even if there’s some other undisclosed explanation for OnePlus’ prior lack of rated water resistance, that may not be the case now in 2020. This is speculative, but if OnePlus can make future phones water-resistant with a specified IP rating, that marketing point might be worth giving up on a full-screen design and the pop-out camera.

Whatever the explanation ends up being, I’m still sad that the all-screen, pop-up camera design looks to be replaced by a hole-punch selfie cam. But I hope that we get something good from OnePlus, like IP rating, for giving up that feature.