techENT Tech & Tonic

Qualcomm releases a Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider. At US$ 1,499, it is one of the most expensive Android smartphones available in Malaysia. Designed by ASUS and powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 5G SoC, it is also one of the most powerful Android device you can get in the market. It is definitely the most powerful Vanilla Android device to date. 

With that kind of money, you are not just getting a smartphone in the package though. You are paying for the smartphone, a pair of wireless earbuds made in collaboration with Master & Dynamics. You also get a charger and USB Type-C cable bundled in. Obviously the charger is the fastest charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology available for the Qualcomm smartphone. 

While we do not thing "Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider" counts as a name, it is what it is. We also do not think we need another reference smartphone, especially one that is priced this high. Still, the exclusive device has not hit the market at this time. Until we get a hands-on with the device, we cannot comment on its full capabilities and features. Qualcomm thinks it is necessary though. Do you think it is necessary?

We got our hands on the latest preview build (at the time of recording) of Windows 11. It was not an easy journey though, not every device plays well with Windows 11 apparently. Still, we got Windows 11 installed on a Windows convertible tablet device and a gaming PC. While we have not tried gaming extensively on the platform, it looks promising.

The preview, while not a full build of Windows 11, gives us great insights to what we can expect from the upcoming Windows 11. For one, you can expect the platform to look and feel a lot cleaner, and less cluttered. Everything is more touch optimised with quick settings launching with a single press and touch. The settings menu has been updated too, to be a little more intuitive than before and tidier. Even the 'start' menu is completely different. 

Still, we are excited about Windows 11. Before Windows 11 fully releases though, here is what Windows 11 offers you. We talk about that and more on this episode of Tech & Tonic show!

Without realising it, we have been doing our podcast for more than a year now. At the same time, we have been recording our podcasts from home for most of it as well. We could not have done it without our supporting listeners and audiences. We also could not have done it without the things we used to do the podcasts. 

For the podcasts we have recorded in the past year or so, we have been relying on a lot of equipment. One of the most important things to work with in a podcast is our mics. While we have a more elaborate set-up in the office, we work with a more plug-and-play set-up at home, a certain Razer Seiren Mini. At MYR 249 retail, these are not exactly the most expensive or even the best set-up for both streaming and podcasting. Thing is, it is good enough to work with and it sounds stellar enough for our podcasts.

Of course, we could not have done it without our workhorses of PCs we both use at home. On that note, Windows 11 is coming and we are going to be taking a deeper dive on Windows 11 in a week's time. More on how we record and started our podcasts in this episode of Tech & Tonic.

E3 2021 happened last week and that was the biggest thing that happened in the week. We love gaming, of course we are going to talk about it. While we were excited about the event, it went a little underwhelming and a little under the radar for some reason.

E3 is back in the 2021 after the 2020 hiatus thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In 2021 though the largest gaming conference in the world has gone completely digital and the announcements from various brands were made over live streams on YouTube. Sadly though, while it was more accessible, it was also a little on the underwhelming side. 

Sure, there were a few notable game launches and announcements made in the conference itself. Halo: Infinite was Xbox's big highlight, Razer launched a new gaming laptop that is also their first AMD powered rig alongside a 27-inch gaming display, Nintendo teased Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild 2 a little bit more, and the upcoming Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was quite notable. But other than those, everything else seems a little underwhelming.

To put it plainly, we expected more from E3. We wanted more in E3 2021, because 2020 and 2021 are the years where hunger for new games becomes bigger and a little more insatiable. So what else do we expect from E3? Listen in, find out. 

AMD has been on a roll with a multitude of releases and powerful innovations that are changing the landscape of the semiconductor industry. AMD is a company that has made its bets 5 years ago in high-performance computing and is now starting to see them come to fruition. With the announcement of their RDNA 2 platform and Zen architecture, they are delivering more performance to consumers for less power. These innovations continue to create waves in the industry with the company seeing its technologies adopted in gaming consoles to cars. 

AMD's recent announcements have proven that the company is making strides; not only in the consumer and gaming space but also in high-performance computing. The company has even announced their take on graphic supersampling with the FidelityFX Super Resolution. So, what's next for AMD? 

We're sitting down with Paige Shi, Consumer Lead for Asia Pacific over at AMD to find out what's happening at AMD and how the company is adapting to the new normal, how it has affected consumer behaviour and also what we can expect from the company in the future!

WWDC 2021 happened last week and it was huge. Taking the stage was not just one thing. The hour plus long keynote turned out to highlight the many improvements Apple is bringing to all their devices. They started with the Apple iPhone's iOS 15, iPad's iPadOS 15, and the WatchOS 8. They also announced MacOS Monterey in the keynote. 

These are not small updates to your Apple devices though, mind you. They come with a whole bunch of feature updates and security updates to make their platforms the most user friendly ever in terms of privacy control. There were plenty to be excited about too with the new updates.

What is our highlights? Listen through to the podcast! 

Navigating your business in today's digital world is not only difficult, but also very scary for first timers. At this unprecedented time though, having a digital presence is more important than ever. But where do you start?

This is where Revenue Monster comes in. Revenue Monster is the one-stop-shop when it comes to digitalising your business. You can start with payment solutions for example and scale all the way up to having a completely curated digital shopping experience with Revenue Monster. 

We spoke to Amanda Chin, Revenue Monster's CEO about Revenue Monster about what Revenue Monster is, and how it can help you to transform your business and take it to the next level. 

E3 is coming and we saw a few studios reveal some trailers and gameplay to their upcoming games. One of the most exciting games for us is Horizon Forbidden West, a follow up to one of our favourite PS4 titles of all time, Horizon Zero Dawn. Dying Light 2 was announced too, but with no gameplay reveal just yet. 

Still, the biggest thing that happened last week was Next@Acer. At the global press conference Acer introduced the Aspire Vero, a notebook PC that features a shell made with reclaimed plastics. It is the first of Acer's unique product line-up to feature sustainable and reclaimed materials.

That brings up some questions for us though. Is the current trend and actions toward sustainable production and manufacturing heading to the right direction? Can we do better? Can the manufacturers do better? Are they doing it right currently? 

Google I/O happened last week and there was a lot to take in and dissect even from the two-hour long keynote to kick the Google's 2021 developers conference off. We highlighted our favourite moments and things that we learned from Google I/O 2021.

Google's Wear OS is about to get a revamp and overhaul thanks to their new formed partnership with Samsung. This also means that Samsung will be ditching their Tizen OS development and focus on developing Wear OS with Google. Funnily enough Fitbit is not really getting involved.

We also saw the new Android 12 with Material You design language. The UI is cleaner, more intuitive, and even more customisable now. It is technically more YOU, more personal. It is even more personal too with a Privacy Dashboard. You can even turn off your camera and mic completely if you want to.

Project Starline was amazing. In brought to life a concept that we though will never see the light of day until way later. To be fair, the technology is still in its early development stage and brings 3D and holographic telecommunications to life. It was encouraging and exciting to see, but we wonder how practical it would be if you want to bring that kind of technology to your homes or offices. 

There was a cyber security flaw found in Qualcomm's modems last week that allows hackers to access smartphones with those particular modems and chips and extract the user's call history, and even listen in to their conversations. Google took note of that and would be patching it soon though. Last week also revealed that Apple kept quiet about a security breach that happened in 2015 where as much as 128 million iPhones were affected. The malware attack happened via the App Store and affected about 4,000 apps at the time. Over 200,000 user's information has been extracted from the attack. While Apple had an action plan, they did not follow through, or execute their action plan. 

All of these things brings us to question our own cyber security concerns. Are we really safe from any cyber attack? Do you need an anti-virus program on your PC, Mac, Android, or even iPhone? Just because there are more cyber security concerns on an Android device, are you actually much safer on an Apple iPhone? What do we do then?