Author: batteryforpc

If your apps are sucking up too much of your time, you can outsource some self-discipline. Focus Mode is a new feature, announced in May, that brushes aside distracting apps — maybe for you it’s Facebook, YouTube or Instagram — while you mentally dive into what you need to do, by applying a timer that keeps you from accessing certain apps for a set amount of time. When the time’s up, Google will unpause the app.

Focus Mode is Google’s latest feature intended to promote something it calls digital health. It builds off Wind Down mode, a part of Android’s Digital Wellbeing feature set that turns the screen to grayscale if you schedule it to each night or manually turn it on. The idea is to make the screen less compelling to look at while also counteracting the blue light that’s believed to disrupt sleep patterns and keep you awake longer.

Google believes that app timers, like those in Focus Mode, help people keep from overusing apps more than 90% of the time. You can choose which apps you’d like to pause, like Facebook and Instagram, which tend to interrupt you with notifications. But you can also keep some messaging apps open for emergencies.

It’s available for the Android 10 (formerly Android Q) beta, but if you don’t see it yet, you may need to update to the latest version.

How to use Focus Mode for Android

1.Open your Digital Wellbeing app.

2. On the dashboard, select Focus Mode.

3. Tap on the box to the right of each app that you want to disable. You may have to select Show all apps if they’re not visible.

4. Tap Turn on now.

5. You’ll notice that all of your paused apps are grayed out. If you try to open the app, a box will open that says Focus Mode is on. You can either select Settings to make changes or tap OK to leave the app disabled.

6. When you’re ready to stop pausing your apps, go back into the Focus Mode settings and tap Turn off now.

Use Quick Settings to turn Focus Mode on

1.If you’re looking for a quicker way to turn Focus Mode on, open your Quick Settings menu.

2. Tap on Focus Mode. This will pause any apps you’ve got selected in your settings.

3. To make changes to the apps you have paused, you’ll have to go into the Digital Wellbeing app.

4. That’s it! Now you can concentrate on the task at hand, rather than looking down at your phone each time you get a notification.

AMD and Nvidia are (still) fighting it out for gaming dominance, with new products like the Nvidia RTX Super line and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 series. Right now, the landscape can be confusing, but generally the best gaming laptops are running Nvidia’s RTX graphics, which first came to desktop PCs in late 2018, and to laptops in January 2019.

For this roundup, we’ve taken all the laptops with discrete graphics hardware we’ve tested over the past year and a half and ranked them based on 3D performance. Below are those with top performance from that group, and you can also scroll through the full list of game benchmark results here.

If you’re building a desktop gaming rig, then start with our guide to desktop graphics, but if you’re in the market for a gaming laptop, these are the very best ones we’ve tested. All of these gaming laptops, from just under $1,000 to $5,000 or more, can easily support high-end virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and many new designs fit top-tier graphics hardware into wafer-thin laptop bodies.

When reviewing a gaming laptop or desktop, we run preset performance tests using several games, including Far Cry 5, Metro: Exodus and others, along with standard benchmarks like 3DMark, which is designed to test a computer’s 3D graphic rendering capabilities.

For this list, we’re ranking the best gaming laptops in descending order of 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra scores, but the real-world game scores (presented as the number of frames of animation per second the laptop can render) match very closely. Note that these scores are specifically for the exact configurations of each laptop we tested, and almost all can be configured with a wide range of options.

At the very top are two high-end gaming laptops that use desktop-class processors and full-power Nvidia RTX 2080 graphics: the Alienware Area-51m and the Origin PC Eon-17X. Those are both at the top end of the price scale, but gaming laptops at more reasonable prices, including systems from Asus, Dell, Origin PC, Lenovo, HP, MSI and Razer, among others, are all represented.

New and notable for this summer update of the best gaming laptops are the Acer Triton 900, a unique laptop with strong performance, a pivoting hinge, the Razer Blade Pro, and a new Origin PC Evo-16S, which has a still-rare 16-inch display.

The exact scores and graphics hardware specs for all tested gaming laptops are located here.

Alienware Area-51m

On top of the satisfying visual refresh rate of Alienware’s highest-end laptop, the Area-51m offers an impressive 17.3-inch display, an excellent keyboard, and plenty of processing overhead from PC gaming CPUs and the latest RTX GPUs. Plus, a modular processor and GPU design lets you get inside the case and replace both the processor and graphics card for terrific gaming performance.

Origin PC Eon-17X (2019)

Like the Alienware Area-51m, the Origin PC Eon-17X features the desktop-class Intel Core i9-9900K processor and the new Nvidia RTX 2080 graphics card. This combination made these our two top-performing laptops so far from all of 2018-2019.

Acer Predator Triton 900

The Acer Predator Triton 900’s rotating display is a great idea that’s also well executed. The keyboard incorporates mechanical switches that feel very good, and its performance is fast — though as a laptop, the keyboard and short battery life may be a drawback for some.

Origin PC Eon-17X (2018)

The 2018 version of this laptop, with a desktop CPU and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, was right behind the updated version. It’s pricey and has a modest battery life, but it delivers top-notch performance.

Asus ROG Zephyrus GX701

This updated Asus ROG Zephyrus combines both a slim, professional-looking design with the expanded power of Nvidia’s new RTX graphics card for an excellent gaming experience, though at the cost of battery life.

Dive into the exact scores and configurations for all the top performers in the full buyer’s guide list of 30-plus gaming laptops. 

The LineageOS custom ROM is best known for its wide range of device support. In the past month alone, the project has added the Razer Phone, Zenfone 6, and other phones to the official roster. It seems a bit strange that they weren’t already available, but ports for the OnePlus 6T and 7 Pro are now live.

LineageOS has now added support for the OnePlus 6T (code-named fajita) and 7 Pro (guacamole), thanks to the work of maintainers LuK1337, PeterCxy, and Tortel. Both devices are receiving daily builds based on LineageOS 16 (Android 9 Pie). Since these are officially-sanctioned releases, there shouldn’t be any breaking bugs.

It’s always great to see Lineage add more flagship phones to its roster, as the current selection is somewhat lacking if you don’t have access to Xiaomi devices. The more the merrier!

The design of the PlayStation 5 reportedly leaked through patent drawings, featuring a much different look compared to the console’s predecessors.

The patent, spotted by Dutch blog Let’s Go Digital, was submitted in Brazil in May and published on August 13 at the World Intellectual Property Office, where it falls under the category of electronic devices. It appears that Sony’s technical director, Yushiro Ootori, is the man behind the concept.

Let’s Go Digital later created renders for the drawings found in the patents, potentially showing the first look at the PlayStation 5.

There is little doubt that the render is a potential PlayStation 5 design, due to the classification of the patent which is also where the PlayStation 4 is categorized. However, without official confirmation from Sony, the leak looked too good to be true.

Matthew Stott, a game developer since 1992 and currently working as a senior artist in Codemasters, then confirmed that the leaked design was indeed for the PlayStation 5 — but not yet for the console that will ship to customers. In a tweet, Stott said that the device was the PlayStation 5 development kit, though there is a chance that it ends up as the final design for the console.

The post gained traction online, but Stott’s tweet has since been blocked from public view. It is unclear what happened, but it is plausible that Sony reached out to him to take down the post.

If Stott is indeed telling the truth, the PlayStation 5 development kit looks very different compared to the PlayStation 4. The cutout at the top stands out, possibly to provide additional ventilation, and the console also features five USB ports and several buttons at the front, plus two USB ports at the back.

It remains unclear if the final PlayStation 5 design will look like the development kit, but as with any rumor, everything is up in the air until official confirmation.

The PlayStation 5, which is expected to launch in 2020, will be powered by AMD chips that will be able to support 3D audio, 8K graphics, and ray tracing. A leaked benchmark test on the PlayStation 5 claimed that it will be four times more powerful than the PlayStation 4.

As we move closer and closer to the end of the year, Qualcomm will hold an announcement possibly announcing the Snapdragon 865, which we’re definitely excited for. However, it looks like before the latter is officially unveiled, a potential name of its successor, the Snapdragon 875 Mobile Platform has come forth and is expected to be made in partnership with TSMC.

TSMC Already Commenced Risk Production This Year, With Its 5nm+ Manufacturing Process Slated for Mass Production in 2021

According to a fresh report published on Sina, a few details surrounding the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform have come forth. As most of you know, the company’s latest Exynos 9825 is made on the Korean giant’s significantly improved 7nm EUV process, and it looks like for the Snapdragon 865, Qualcomm has partnered with Samsung to use the same technology to mass production the upcoming chipset. For 2021, the report states that Qualcomm might return to TSMC for its 5nm node when it’s gearing to release the Snapdragon 875.

That is rather strange as Samsung announced back in April that it has successfully developed 5nm EUV nodes, resulting in a 20 percent reduced power draw. Whether or not the manufacturer continues to run into yield problems, we’ll find out in the future. A separate source claims that TSMC’s 5nm+ process will be ready for mass production in 2021, which could give Qualcomm additional confidence in re-collaborating with the chip manufacturing giant.

Additionally, TSMC’s 5nm design infrastructure is reportedly completed, giving lucrative clients such as Apple to experience the node’s benefits when rolling out its advanced A14 silicon, and it’s possible Qualcomm would have carried out some test runs too behind closed doors. Sadly, there were no other details shared regarding the Snapdragon 875, but the report does mention a few tidbits for the upcoming Snapdragon 865. Firstly, the latter will reportedly arrive in two variants, codenamed ‘Kona’ and ‘Huracan’, providing support for both LPDDR5x memory and UFS 3.0 storage.

It can be assumed for now that one version of the Snapdragon 865 will feature an integrated 5G baseband modem, while the other one won’t. This little detail was talked about earlier as well, meaning that manufacturers will have a choice whether to give their devices 5G connectivity support or not, depending on which markets that model will release in. The first of many Snapdragon 865 benchmarks look promising, revealing the SoC to have made modest gains over the Snapdragon 855.

Then again, it’s too early to draw up conclusions, and like always, we’ll recommend that you treat this info with a pinch of salt. Qualcomm is expected to announce new products in December later this year. Hopefully, we’ll get some clue as to what the company plans on doing for the Snapdragon 875.

Nvidia recently announced that their beta game streaming service, GeForce Now, would get the upgrade from Pascal to Turing and with it, ray tracing – only it didn’t. Not only were users reporting that ray tracing options were absent, but the performance was up to 50% worse, leading the more inquisitive to investigate and discover their games were running on a new GeForce RTX T10-8 GPU — along with a variety of new and inadequate CPU and memory configurations.

Ten days ago we wouldn’t have been able to say what the T10-8 is, but last week’s AIDA64 update included a reference to it as a variant of Nvidia’s flagship TU102 die, the powerhouse behind the RTX 2080 Ti. Ears were perked and the conclusion that a 2080 Ti Super was coming was reached, yet it now appears that the T10-8 will exclusively power GeForce Now RTX.

However, it took Nvidia less than a day to pull the plug and return users to the older Tesla P40 GPUs, with no ray tracing capabilities. Quite the whirlwind indeed. So, what could have happened?

Shortly after Nvidia’s announcement users noticed the switch to the T10-8, either via playing games that list the hardware, noticing severe performance drops, or both. One user had Ghost Recon Wildlands detect a dual-core system with 7 GB of system memory and an RTX T10-8 GPU with 8 GB of memory, all running on Windows Server 2012. That last part may explain the issues with ray tracing: Windows 2012 doesn’t support Microsoft’s DXR ray tracing implementation, and Nvidia’s initial fix might’ve not been as good as it needed to be.

A few other things didn’t add up, like the GPU’s average usage during the Ghost Recon Wildlands 1080p benchmark at 81% on a dual core CPU and just 8 GB of memory, so it’s possible (and this is just speculation) each user was given half a T10-8 to game on. There’s some evidence for this: one user found a 48% reduction in Fire Strike score between the P40 (equivalent to the GTX 1080) with a regular CPU and RAM configuration, and their T10-8 system with slightly worse CPU and RAM numbers. A few users who apparently didn’t witness any performance drop report their T10-8 systems as having 16 GB of memory.

What may have occurred is that Nvidia’s marketing team outdid their engineering team, building up enough hype about ray tracing on GeForce Now that every user decided to log on and test it out simultaneously, exceeding the number of supported systems. As an automatic fix, the software could have divided each system into two virtual ones, doubling the number of possible players but halving the performance.

Since the initial release several days ago, however, the reports of poor performance and broken ray tracing have ceased, so it seems likely things are working as they should for most players.

The bottom line is there’s no RTX 2080 Ti Super coming to the mass market for now. This isn’t a huge surprise considering Nvidia can’t squeeze another configuration between the 2080 Ti (4352 cores) and the Titan RTX (4608 cores) without drastically sabotaging one. On the flip side, GeForce Now users should get a nice performance boost with the T10-8 once the bugs are ironed out.

Google’s gotten a lot of grief for its messaging strategy, and rightly so. While Facebook and Apple have seen their messaging platforms become indispensable to users and businesses alike, Google has launched a litany of apps whose pithy names (Buzz, Wave, Allo, Hangouts, and the list goes on) couldn’t save them from the dustbin of chat history.

But lately it seems like the search giant has got its messaging groove back.

Getting to RC-yes

By now you’re probably familiar with RCS, the new telecom standard that’s supposed to rescue old fashioned text messaging from the flip-phone era. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and it comes with modern messaging features like read receipts, typing indicators, and verified business profiles. In other words, it looks and feels like iMessage or WhatsApp, but works over your cell phone network instead of the internet, à la SMS.

For the last year or two, Google has been spearheading a campaign to get global telcos and device carriers to support RCS and stymie its messaging competitors in the process. Now it’s finally taking matters into its own hands.

Android users in France and the UK (and soon elsewhere) are now able to opt in to RCS services provided directly by Google instead of waiting for their telco to flip the switch. While this may sound like a minor development in the decade-old RCS saga, it’s actually a “huge shift in strategy,” explains The Verge: it’s not quite the Google equivalent of an iMessage service for Android users, but it’s close.

Paranoid Android

Google’s gambit solves one of the major hurdles for RCS success, which is that up until now it depended on global carriers and device makers to play nicely with each other. The other hurdle is even bigger. Unlike WhatsApp, iMessage, and other internet-based (OTT) chat apps like Telegram and Signal, RCS does not boast end-to-end encryption — a fact Amnesty International raked Google over the coals for last year.

For privacy-conscious users, end-to-end encryption has become table stakes, as Mary Meeker showed in her latest internet trends report. The good news is that Google finally seems to get it. Sanaz Ahari, the product director responsible for Android Messages assured The Verge it’s committed to finding a solution.

Place your (Alpha)bets

As I’ve argued before, here on TNW, RCS is only half of Google’s two-pronged strategy to dominate B2C messaging. The other is Google business messaging, which the company is quietly integrating into Maps and search — two areas where it’s no laggard.

Meanwhile, as VentureBeat’s Khari Johnson observes, the company’s voice messaging strategy is “ubiquitous and comprehensive,” boasting both AI (Google Assistant, Google Duplex) and hardware (Google Home) that puts it at the top of the conversational class.

In Johnson’s view: All of this adds up to one fact: By some measure, Google may have already won the chat wars.