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Some weeks back, Google added a dedicated set of release notes that are easily seen on any Chromebook after the latest software update. I’ve been asking for this feature for over two years, back when I worked with the Chrome team at Google, so I was thrilled to see this. You just click the “See what’s new” option in the About Chrome OS settings menu. Or you can view the dedicated webpage, which shows the same info.

Now that Chrome OS 78 landed last week, I went to see the release notes just to verify that I didn’t miss any big, new features.

Here’s what I saw on both a Pixelbook Go and Acer Chromebook Spin 13 after the Chrome OS 78 update:

The problem I see may not be obvious to you since I track Chrome OS functionality on a daily basis, so I’ll explain: These are the same features that arrived with Chrome OS 77, a full six-weeks ago.

I double-checked the dedicated, on-board release notes with the linked notes and sure enough, they too still show the features added in last release, not the most current version.

Where is the news about Virtual Desks being generally available, making it easier to group tabs and apps for improved multitasking productivity? What about the ability to tap a hyperlinked phone-number on your Chromebook and have the call placed on your connected Android phone? These are just two examples, but you get the point.

Frankly, for Google to want the public to see Chrome OS as a “first-class citizen” platform as compared to macOS and Windows, it has to see Chrome OS that way too. And something as simple but useful as the new release notes should be part of that perspective.

Sure, Google outlined a few key features in the blog post about Chrome OS 78, but outside of full-time Chromebook users like myself and some of the About Chromebook readers, what mainstream Chromebook user is following Google’s blog posts?

I’d wager those people are few and far between, which means there’s a failed messaging strategy here. And even worse, it fell apart right after trying to improve that messaging strategy.

There’s simply no excuse for this.

It’s not as if Google doesn’t know what’s changing in the platform since it’s the entity actually building, testing and implementing the changes. My hope is that this is a one-off occurrence because publishing outdated Chrome OS release notes is about as useful as not publishing release notes at all.

Razer has taken its Basilisk gaming mouse from last year, cut the cord, and spun the resulting rodent into two separate models at two very different price points. The Basilisk Ultimate (shown above) is the pricier of the two at $149.99 (€169.99), while the Basilisk X Hyperspeed is comparatively affordable at $59.99 (€69.99). So, what’s the difference?

At a glance, they look very similar, though there are some key differences (as you might expect, given the wide price disparity). Starting with the higher-end Basilisk Ultimate, Razer dipped into its bag of bells and whistles and outfitted the mouse with a 20,000 dpi optical sensor (same as found on the Viper Ultimate), a generous assortment of 11 programmable buttons, a scroll wheel with tension adjustment (just like the wired version), slick PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) feet, RGB lighting, and support for 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connectivity.

A replaceable multi-function paddle is part of the package as well, and so is the ability to fine tune the lift-off and landing distance. You can store up to five customized profiles on the rodent itself.

Those are high-end specs, with a price tag representative of the premium features the Basilisk Ultimate offers. Some of them carry offer to the cheaper to Basilisk X Hyperspeed, though not all of them.

The Basilisk X Hyperspeed downgrades the optical sensor to 16,000 dpi, though really, that’s still way higher than is needed for competitive gameplay. It has less buttons—six instead of 11, each one programmable—and lacks LED lighting.

This one also connects via 2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth, but lacks amenities like tension adjustment on the scroll wheel, lift-off/landing distance tuning, and PTFE feet.

As for battery life, Razer says the Basilisk Ultimate can last up to 100 hours per charge (without lighting), versus up to 285 hours for the Basilisk X Hyperspeed (or 450 hours if using Bluetooth).

We have not tested either of these rodents so we can’t say how they compare to one another in actual usage, or to the competition, some of which will undoubtedly be marked down soon as Black Friday deals arrive. If you simply can’t wait, though, both the Basilisk Ultimate and Basilisk X Hyperspeed are available now.

Intel confirmed that they had powered on their Xe GPU in their labs for the first time and we now have independent confirmation of the fact as well. The Intel Xe GPU DG1 prototype was run through GFXBench using a driver that basically did nothing except validate power on. While this doesn’t have any further information it does show us that the clock down to a discrete Intel Xe GPU has finally started. We thought it would be a good idea to do a round-up of all the information we have so far regarding Intel’s upcoming Xe GPU.

Intel Xe GPU launch date

The GFXBench detection was, well, detected first by the venerable twitter account Komachi_Ensaka. The actual listing had the “Graphics gfx-driver-user-feature_dg1_poweron-27723 DCH ReleaseInternal” designation which makes it clear that this is essentially only a power-on test.

While there is no official word on the Intel Xe GPU launch date so far, rumors by DigiTimes indicate that the card (or at least one variant) is going to be intro-ed sometime in summer 2020. Whether this variant is going to be the data center variant or the gaming variant is up in the air at this point although it’s likely going to be the former. Many people are also quoting Raja Koduri’s license plate tweet here but from what I managed to glean out of a source close to this info (amidst some derisive laughter) they hinted that this has probably very little to do with the actual launch date and simply his registration.

Intel Xe GPU specifications

We have heard of at least three different Intel XE GPU variants pop in benchmarks. A 128 EU one, a 256 EU one and even a 512 EU one. The first one is likely going to be just a testing prototype for Intel to get its training wheels on and get the ball rolling – a trial and error platform so to speak, but the latter two are probably going to appear as discrete GPUs sooner or later. The 512 EU Intel Xe GPU is the only one we can say for sure should be landing eventually and based on current forecasts the 512 EU part is going to have performance that is just under an RTX 2080.

This means that you are looking at a solid performer that can churn out some decent performance capable of driving 1440p to 4k resolution. The only thing we don’t know for sure is the launch window for the 512 EU variant. Considering Intel has hinted multiple times that it’s going to be following a bottom-up approach, we are likely going to see a less powerful variant land first before the ramp up all the way to 512 EUs.

Intel Xe GPU pricing

The final factor is going to be the pricing and considering the Intel Xe department is being run in spirit by a team that was formerly at AMD, I am fairly confident that we are going to see some incredibly generous pricing. I am sure the company will be able to take advantage of the huge margins that Intel has thanks to owning their own foundry and utilize that to take a very AMD-esque approach to pricing their graphics cards.

Increasing the TAM (Total Available Market) by raising the performance per dollar of their GPU offerings is a good way to break into the market. In fact, considering this is a brand new GPU vendor, I expect Intel to undertake some decent promotional launches with pricing that is going to account for the risk that a buyer is going to take – considering this is Intel’s first time with a discrete GPU launch for the market.

The one thing we can say for sure, however, is that it is absolutely great to see the PC GPU duopoly become a triopoly and more vendors on the market is a win for consumers with the average cost for graphics going down substantially as more suppliers enter the market. 2020 is going to be a great year to be a PC gamer considering all of the PC-related hardware that will be debuting.

The flood of affordable, well-designed, well-specced phones from the east continues, with Oppo joining the likes of Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, OnePlus, Vivo and others in sending high-quality Android handsets in our direction. In this case, we’ve got the Oppo Reno 2.

You can think of the Oppo Reno 2 as a less powerful, more affordable variation on the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom – that’s the phone to get if you want the best that Oppo can offer right now, but if you want to save yourself some money, then this might suit you better.

Besides the less powerful processor running everything though, you wouldn’t really know this was a mid-ranger – it’s got a stylish design, an excellent screen, and a quad-lens camera on the rear. It’s even got a gimmick, in the ‘shark fin’ style pop-up selfie camera.

The widgets on this page will show you the latest deals and pricing for the Oppo Reno 2, but officially it retails for £449 in the UK – that’s a sub-flagship price, but it’s not exactly what you’d call budget either. Does it do enough to provide good value for money?

OPPO RENO 2 REVIEW: DESIGN AND SCREEN

The Oppo Reno 2 is a stylish enough smartphone, if a bit on the bland side – there’s nothing really to make it stand out in terms of its looks, unless you’re counting that ‘shark fin’ style selfie camera pop-up – and we think that’s just a bit odd-looking (the OnePlus design is better). Your mileage may vary.

At least the pop-up selfie camera means a notch-free screen, and what a screen – the 6.5-inch, 1,080 x 2,400 pixel resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, AMOLED display is a real eye-catcher. Fire up something like Netflix on the Oppo Reno 2, and high-resolution movies and shows look gorgeous. It’s probably the high point of the phone, design-wise.

At 9.5 mm or a little over a third of an inch thick, the phone is a little thicker than the best flagships out there, and it feels a little bulkier in the hand than smartphones from the likes of Google, Apple and Samsung. There’s absolutely no problem in terms of the build quality or the finish though.

The four lenses that make up the rear camera are vertically arranged on the back, together with a little bump underneath: apparently it’s there to protect the lenses when the phone is laid flat, but to us it seems a bit unnecessary. Black, blue and pink are your colour choices, though we’ve only seen black and blue on sale in the UK so far.

OPPO RENO 2 REVIEW: CAMERA AND BATTERY

With its four lenses (though one is just a depth sensor), the rear camera on the Oppo Reno 2 packs in plenty of optics – from the 0.5x ultra-wide lens to the 2x telephoto (you can get up to 5x of what Oppo calls “hybrid zoom”, which we found to get mostly good results). Dedicated night and portrait modes are included on the software side as well.

The lenses top out at 48 megapixels, impressive for a camera at this price point, but we found the snaps the phone produced were decent rather than spectacular. It’s not going to trouble the best camera phones on the market – and that’s fine. You do get plenty of detail and accurate colours in good lighting, as well as some respectable results in night mode, if you can hold the phone steady for a second or two.

At least the software is straightforward, which isn’t always the case on phones from Chinese manufacturers. Overall, it’s a camera that’s going to give you good results, most of the time – the results are on a par with the other phones we’ve tested around this price, though we think the likes of the Motorola One Zoom and Google Pixel 3a have the edge here (though the Pixels all lack an ultra-wide lens).

In terms of battery life, that bright, sharp screen does seem to suck up battery juice quite quickly – we still had battery life left at the end of an average day, but it was less than 20 percent usually, so you’re not going to get more than a day out of the Oppo Reno 2. That said, the hour-of-Netflix-streaming test we always run on phones only dropped the battery by 7 percent – from 100 percent to 93 percent – which is among the best results we’ve seen. It may depend on what exactly you’re doing with your handset.

OPPO RENO 2 REVIEW: SPECS AND FEATURES

It’s in the specs rather than the design where the Oppo Reno 2 shows its mid-range credentials. There’s a Snapdragon 730G chipset, 8GB of RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB of on-board storage under the hood, and you can expand that storage with a microSD card – an option we always like to see.

There’s also a 3.5 mm headphone jack here, so the Oppo Reno 2 is one of a dwindling number of options you’ve got left if you want to keep on using wired headphones without the aid of a dongle. The phone isn’t waterproof or dustproof though, and you don’t have the option of wireless charging.

In terms of software, you’re already a version behind, because the Oppo Reno 2 comes with Android 9. Oppo’s own rather forgettable Android skin is put on top of that – it’s fine, but it’s not quite the pure Android experience you get with the Pixel or Nokia phones, and doesn’t match the quality of the best variations on Android on the market (which include Samsung and OnePlus in our opinion).

In use, we didn’t notice much in the way of lag or delays, though occasionally longer loading times and unresponsiveness meant that we were always aware that we weren’t using a blazing fast phone right at the top end of the market. It’s a phone that’ll do everything you need it to, though not at the fastest possible speeds.

OPPO RENO 2 REVIEW: PRICE AND VERDICT

As you may have noticed from recent phone reviews on T3, this is a part of the phone market that’s getting very, very competitive – that space between budget phones and top-end flagships. Perhaps the biggest problem for the Oppo Reno 2 is that there’s so much strong competition at this price, from the likes of Honor and Xiaomi.

There’s lots that we like about this phone. In terms of streaming Netflix movies for example, the Oppo Reno 2 is one of the best handsets we’ve used lately – crisp, bright colours, punchy audio, thin bezels, the whole package. For day-to-day mobile tasks, you’re not really going to notice the less powerful Snapdragon 730G fitted inside this phone.

Despite all those lenses, we’ve seen better camera performance at this price (though there’s not a huge amount in it), and the software on board Oppo phones can be a bit fiddly. There’s no waterproofing or wireless charging, and the Reno 2 is carrying a touch more bulk than some of its competitors too.

Those are minor drawbacks really though, and if £400-500 is your budget for a new smartphone, then the Oppo Reno 2 deserves some consideration. It hits a nice balance between price, performance and features, though if you do like the Oppo approach to smartphones, you might want to save up and get the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom instead.

According to recent official reports, Lenovo is working on a new system that will merge Windows and Android systems. According to a Lenovo official, the “Lenovo One” will merge the smartphone-friendly Android with laptop-friendly Windows. Unfortunately, he did not say how the company hopes to achieve this plan. In fact, we do not exactly know what “Lenovo One” refers to but it appears to be a new system for smartphones in the 5G era.

The Weibo post says “PCs large-screen productivity, meet, 5G era smartphones. What kind of world will be #Lenovo One#…Windows and Android will merge into one”

In the recent Lenovo Yoga conference, Lenovo claimed that “Lenovo One” can break restrictions and achieve cross-device connectivity. It can also achieve mobile screen projection, one-button fast transmission and other functions, similar to Apple Airdrop and Huawei Share. However, the company did not say when this system will arrive.

According to the officially released screenshots, Lenovo One supports Bluetooth quick links, and the computer reversely controls the mobile phone to transfer files at a high speed. The screenshot shows the Lenovo Z6 Pro 5G connected to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. As of now, the available information on Lenovo One is still sketchy. We will have to wait and see what the company does in the coming weeks.

As leaked by VideoCardz, it appears that AMD has revamped the packaging for its upcoming Ryzen Threadripper 3000-series (codenamed Castle Peak) processors.

The purported packaging looks like a normal cardboard box that’s decked out with fancy graphics, and the concept is similar to AMD’s packaging for the previous-gen of Ryzen Threadrippers. There’s a huge cutout in the middle where you can see the Ryzen Threadripper logo and a preview of the chip. VideoCardz noted that the packaging is numbered, so this would be a limited edition packaging.

The processor itself seems to come inside a translucent black box that allows you to faintly see the chip that’s housed inside. The box is likely made of plastic, although it would be cool if AMD had used tempered glass as it would certainly add a more premium feel to the product. However, tempered glass would unnecessarily jack up the final price, so we’ll settle on plastic. There’s also a button on the bottom that probably opens the box.

In comparison to the current design for Ryzen Threadripper 2000-series, the new packaging looks more compact. Some might argue that the last-gen’s packaging resembles a lunchbox, but the sheer size does make the processor inside look rather imposing, just as we’d expect from the rumored 64-core 128-thread models. 

Google has added virtual desktops to its Chrome OS, used in Chromebooks, enabling users to create multiple workspaces and switch between them.

The virtual desktop feature is the biggest of several updates. Once the update is installed, a New Desk icon appears in the top right corner of the desktop. You can display virtual desktops full screen or side by side, and drag windows between desktops. These operations can be done with touch, mouse, trackpad or using keyboard shortcuts.

Virtual desktops have been available in Windows 10, macOS and Linux for some time so Google is catching up with these established operating systems.

Another new feature is the ability to right-click a phone number in Chrome and send it to an Android phone. This requires enabling sync between the Chrome browser on both devices.

A printer auto-detect feature means that compatible printers will automatically appear in a printer list without needing setup.

Google’s Chrome OS has moved some distance from its original concept of a browser-based operating system when launched in 2011. The biggest changes were in 2016 when Android app support was added, and in 2018, when Linux application support appeared.

Chrome OS uses container technology to run Android and Linux in order to keep the operating system isolated and protected. With Microsoft taking a similar approach to running Win32 applications in Windows 10X, the gap between traditional PCs and Chromebooks is narrowing. You can even run some Windows applications on a Chromebook via the Wine compatibility layer.

Chromebooks have a small market versus traditional PCs. Chrome OS accounts for around 1.6 per cent of active operating systems, according to Statcounter, up from 1.2 per cent a year ago.

That said, Chromebook sales increased by double digits in the first quarter of 2019, according to Gartner, and the devices are particularly strong in education, where the combination of low price and a locked-down operating system is appealing. In early 2018 Google reported over 60 per cent market share in North America and over 30 per cent in the UK.

Less attractive is that a Chromebook is tightly bound to a Google login, raising concerns about privacy and data collection, and devices lose support automatically after a pre-defined period.

Still, with both Apple and Microsoft also increasingly insistent that you sign into their cloud accounts in order to use macOS or Windows 10, Google’s approach is more absolute but, regrettably, no longer so distinctive. 

The Pavilion Gaming 15 series includes 15.6-inch gaming laptops with midrange graphics chips. The series sits below the HP Omen series. Nvidia’s GeForce RTX GPUs are exclusive to the latter, however. Our test device is powered by a Ryzen 7 3750H APU and a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q GPU.

The performance of the hardware matches our expectations: All of the games in our database run smoothly. Usually, Full-HD resolution and medium to high settings can be chosen.

Surprisingly, the battery life is very good. The Pavilion lasts much longer than most office laptops. However, the gaming laptop lacks a Thunderbolt 3 port. HP also only grants users a warranty period of one-year.

More information and measurements can be found in our review of the HP Pavilion Gaming 15-ec0017ng.

After testing the feature on beta users for a little while, WhatsApp is now rolling out fingerprint unlock to all Android users. It brings biometric security to Android some 8 months after similar options landed on iPhone.

The Fingerprint Lock security feature is available in version 2.19.222 of the Android WhatsApp app, and it gives Android users a security option that is more in line with what is available in the iOS version of the app. iPhone users already have Touch ID and Face ID support, and now WhatsApp says: “today we’re introducing similar authentication, allowing you to unlock the app with your fingerprint, on supported Android phones”.

For now, at least, fingerprints are the only security options available. WhatsApp has not enabled face unlocking for Android users, nor suggested that it will in the future.

Once enabled, the feature prevents other people from accessing WhatsApp and reading your messages. The only way to get into the app is to scan a registered finger. The description of the setting within the app explains: “When enabled, you’ll need to use fingerprint to open WhatsApp. You’ll still be able to answer calls if WhatsApp is locked.”

Touch to unlock

To enable Fingerprint lock, just head to Settings > Account > Privacy > Fingerprint lock. Turn on Unlock with fingerprint, and confirm your fingerprint.

You can also choose how long WhatsApp should wait before it locks – either immediately, after a minute,or after 30 minutes.

Following version 78’s release on Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, the next beta release of Google’s browser is rolling out. The Chrome 79 beta features tab freezing on desktops to conserve resources, shared clipboard, and a trial of DNS-over-HTTPS.

A new “tab freezing” feature in Chrome 79 works to save memory, CPU, and battery life. This feature is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux browsers, as well as Chrome OS. Tabs that have been in the background for over five minutes will be frozen and not able to perform tasks. There is an exception for audio and video, while sites can experimentally opt out.

Google is working on a shared clipboard between computers and Android that’s available from the right-click menu. Copied text can be shared on devices that are logged into the same Google Account and have Chrome Sync enabled. Text is end-to-end encrypted and Google notes how it can’t see the contents. It began rolling out earlier this month for a “limited number of users” and will be “released to all users in a future version of Chrome.”

Originally planned for the previous release, Chrome 79 will feature an experiment for 1% of users that enables secure DNS connections with DNS-over-HTTPS. This prevents user tracking and malicious redirects. A new flag allows you to opt out of the DoH test: chrome://flags/#dns-over-https.

Chrome will check if the user’s DNS provider is among a list of participating DoH-compatible providers and if so, it will enable DoH. If the DNS provider is not on the list, Chrome won’t enable DoH and will continue to operate as it does today.

Chrome will begin marking sites that use TLS 1.0 or 1.1 as “Not Secure” and remove the lock symbol. This measures starts in January 2019 as Google encourages sites to move away from legacy TLS.

The WebXR Device API is now shipping in Chrome, and allows developers to create web-based virtual reality experiences for smartphones and head-mounted displays. This spec will soon be supported by Firefox Reality, Oculus Browser, Edge, and the Magic Leap Helio browser for a consistent experience. Moving forward, the API will allow for augmented reality and other rich interactive experiences.

Progressive Web Apps help online experiences feel like any native client. A part of this is appearing in the launcher and getting a homescreen icon. On Android, Chrome 79 allows adaptive icons to “automatically mask irregularly shaped icons to fit properly” and not just be circular.