BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Polar Just Made Its First Affordable, Stylish Smartwatch
Polar smartwatches aren’t exactly chic. Like many fitness-first wearable companies, Polar’s strength has always been its in-depth metrics and platform. When it comes to style, Polar usually relies on that plain, sporty aesthetic, as it did with the M400, M600, A300, and the A360 fitness tracker. But today it’s launching a new smartwatch, the Polar Unite, and it doesn’t make my eyes bleed! It’s als ... Read more
2020-07-01 01:20:59
Huawei: Ministers signal switch in policy over 5G policy
The government has signalled it is set to take a tougher line against Chinese telecoms equipment-maker Huawei. A review is under way into how forthcoming US sanctions would affect the UK's continued use of its products. "Given that these sanctions... are extensive, it is likely to have an impact on the viability of Huawei as a provider for the 5G network," said Digital Secretary Oliver ... Read more
2020-06-30 21:17:11
India bans TikTok, WeChat and dozens more Chinese apps
In a statement, it said the apps were "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". In total, 59 apps were banned - among them popular messaging app WeChat. It follows escalating tensions along the disputed border between the two powers. Both India and China deployed more troops to the Ladakh region in June. Clashes have lef ... Read more
2020-06-29 21:15:40
Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 GX550 Review: Two-Screen Cool
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this impressed with a laptop’s design. As I unpacked the Asus Zephyrus Duo 15 GX550 and booted it up for the first time, I thought I knew what to expect, having tested both the ZenBook Pro Duo and the smaller ZenBook Duo. But the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 takes things to another level —literally —and delivers some serious cooling innovation in the process. It’s one ... Read more
2020-06-24 03:05:38
Ampere Preps 7nm 128-Core Server CPU to Take on AMD and Intel
Today, Ampere announced plans to expand its Altra family of server processors with the Altra Max chip, which arriving by the end of the year with a whopping 128 CPU cores. Similar to the Amazon Graviton2, the Ampere Altra is based on Arm's Neoverse N1 (codename Ares) microarchitecture. TSMC carves the Altra for Ampere with its 7nm FinFET manufacturing process. The Altra family currently features ... Read more
2020-06-24 03:05:38
Mobvoi's new smartwatch doesn't change much, but does bring two useful new tools
It seems 2020 is the year of incremental upgrades for Mobvoi smarwatches - the new TicWatch Pro (2020) didn't change up much but upgraded the specs, and the newly-announced TicWatch C2+ tells much the same story. The TicWatch C2+ is mostly the same as the TicWatch C2 smartwatch from 2018, but with two significant adjustments, and they might make this a more interesting smartwatch than the largely ... Read more
2020-06-24 03:00:22
Samsung's radical Galaxy Fold 2 design change revealed
Samsung is working on a follow up to last year's Galaxy Fold that's expected to launch this August , and while the Korean manufacturer was almost certainly going to shake things up with the design, given the issues it had with its first attempt at the Fold, the latest leak suggests quite the turnaround. A new collection of renders have surfaced, reportedly based on a patent filed by Samsung this ... Read more
2020-06-24 03:00:22
Acer's new Predator gaming chair will soothe you in ways others don't
So you've got one of the best gaming chairs, have you? Does it play soothing music and massage you while you game? Thought not. Though it probably also doesn't cost $999 either… Still, Acer's got you covered if you deem relieving your aching shoulders priceless, as from July you'll be able to pick up the new Predator Gaming Chair x OSIM. At the moment, however, it's looking like it's a North Ameri ... Read more
2020-06-24 02:57:03
This new Dell XPS 13 build is ditching Windows 10 for Ubuntu
A new build of the Dell XPS 13 has gone on sale with one major difference - it has dropped Windows 10 in favour of Ubuntu. The new Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition ditches Microsoft's software in favour of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS preinstalled to work straight out of the box, giving developers a new ultra-portable and powerful laptop option. The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is now available in North Ameri ... Read more
2020-06-24 02:57:03
AMD is going to make it easier to submit bug reports when your GPU crashes
Back in March, AMD had said that while posting about graphics issues related to its Radeon hardware on Reddit is helpful, submitting an actual bug report directly to the company is the better course of action. Pretty soon, that will be easier to do right from within AMD's Radeon Software utility. As spotted by a user on Reddit (Ceremony64), there is a new bug reporting tool in the latest Radeon S ... Read more
2020-06-23 02:41:33