Xiaomi’s fast-charging technology used in the Mi 10 Ultra is a game changer

When it comes to fast-charging technology, no other manufacturer is currently ahead of Xiaomi. The Mi 10 Ultra has a 4,500 mAh battery – to be precise, the Chinese manufacturer installs a 2,250 mAh battery in a dual format, so that the aforementioned capacity is achieved by combining the two batteries.

Fast-charging technologies have been revolutionized in the smartphone segment over the past few years. Early breakthroughs were achieved in the Android segment with 20-watt chargers and later with the nowadays “common” 50-watt or 60-watt power adapters. Xiaomi has now advanced into the triple-digit range, and it looks like a limit is still a long way off.

Xiaomi’s flagship already comes with a 120-watt power adapter in the box, and it charges the two 2,250 mAh batteries in less than 25 minutes. We were also able to confirm this manufacturer’s claim in the test. Going from 0 to 70% only takes about 14 minutes, which should (theoretically) get most users through the day in view of the Mi 10 Ultra’s runtimes of over 12 hours in our WLAN test with an adjusted display brightness of 150 cd/m². For comparison purposes, an Apple iPhone 12 Pro charges at a maximum of 20 watts using a cable.

However, according to reports, Xiaomi’s 120-watt charger actually “only” delivers 80 watts to the Mi 10 Ultra, which again suggests that these incredibly fast charging times of the flagship smartphone might soon be significantly surpassed.

Wireless charging is also supported at 50 watts, so that a charge only takes about 45 minutes according to Xiaomi. And Reverse Wireless Charging is also on board, allowing peripheral devices to be charged at up to 10 watts.

Would you like to get a detailed impression of the Mi 10 Ultra? In that case, we recommend our review of the Xiaomi smartphone.

Next-gen Apple MacBook Pro could incorporate a base-covering touch input device, a wireless charger, and even fewer ports

Apple could be contemplating doing away with the keyboard, or at least incorporating a removable magnetic keyboard, with a future MacBook Pro. A patent spotted by PatentlyApple seems to be stuffed with intriguing ideas for a next-gen MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Entitled “Device having integrated interface system”, it’s clear to see in the numerous accompanying technical drawings that the keyboard could be replaced with the “integrated interface system”, which could be made from glass, plastic, or ceramic.

This would allow for multi-purpose functionality, as the touch surface could be just a typical keyboard for typing, or it could display different input systems, such as a “button array” or “rotatable dial”. A physical keyboard can be connected magnetically, but even this brings additional novel functions to the next-gen Apple MacBook Pro. Swiping across the keys will register movement on the display without actuating individual keys. It’s basically turning the whole base portion of the laptop into a touch input device or trackpad.

On top of that, the patent shows how a wireless charger could be fitted into the MacBook Pro that would allow the charging of compatible Apple devices and there’s also the presence of a fingerprint sensor and biometric sensors for checking the user’s palms. Peripheral input units, such as joysticks, can also be magnetically attached to this marvelous MacBook Pro and then used to interact with or drive what was happening on the display. Port lovers might not be too enamored with this potential Apple laptop though, as ports seem to be few and far between here.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook2 leaked ahead of likely January unveiling

Samsung has been expanding its range of Galaxy branded products to include the excellent Galaxy Book S Windows laptop and more recently, the Galaxy Chromebook. Although the ‘Galaxy’ name is well-known by consumers, the line is also meant to represent Samsung’s mobile devices family. The Galaxy Chromebook launched earlier this year priced at US$999, putting it squarely in the premium category when it comes to the Chromebook segment (although at the time of writing, this model is now down to US$549 (save $450) on the Samsung USA website). 

Respected leaker Evan Blass has leaked the first images of the sequel, expected to be called the Galaxy Chromebook2. The fundamental design is very similar, except the silver banding that went around the sides of the device has now been changed to include either the Fiesta Red all around, or similarly, the Mercury Gray. Samsung has also tweaked the port locations as well. The biggest criticism of the original was levelled at its poor battery life, which was only good for between 4 to 5 hours on a charge. 

Although we don’t yet know anything about the specs for the upcoming Galaxy Chromebook2, we would be shocked if Samsung didn’t target battery life as a priority. While we hope the stunning 4K display will carry over to the new model, it was unquestionably the primary culprit when it comes to the battery life challenges of the first gen model. Where the OG was fitted with an Intel Core i5-10210U chip, the new model could pick up an Intel Evo 11th gen Tiger Lake processor. This should also help with battery life.

Expect to learn more details about the Galaxy Chromebook2 in January, when it is likely to get an official unveiling.

Honor MagicBook 14: Ryzen 5 with top performance

Performance in laptops usually goes downhill after a short time when high loads have to be maintained for a prolonged period of time. This is also the case with the Honor MagicBook 14, although the drop is only very minor, and performance is still much higher than in other laptops with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U even after the small drop.

The rest of Honor’s laptop remains high-quality, as usual, and visually unchanged, which also affects the configuration, though. This means that there is still no memory card reader installed, and the webcam is still located in the inconvenient worm’s-eye perspective below the screen. The maintenance options are also mediocre, whereby the SSD and the WLAN module can still be replaced.

For buyers, this means that they have to pay attention to their RAM requirements before their purchase. However, since the Honor MagicBook 14 doesn’t cost more than 700 Euros (~$855) even with 16 GB of RAM, the slightly better configuration can be opted for directly in case of doubt.

Honor’s laptop earns a big plus point for its battery life. Our review sample lasted for over 14 hours in WLAN mode, whereby many optimization options were already disabled here. Therefore, even longer runtimes are possible with the various performance optimization and energy-saving features provided by Windows and AMD.

Thanks to the fast-charging USB power adapter, the battery is back to 100% after just under two hours. Our review shows the deeper impression that the Honor MagicBook 14 left on us.

New leaked Microsoft Surface Pro 8 details confirm memory configurations and LTE support

The Surface Pro 8 has already leaked plenty of times, but now Roland Quandt has revealed the memory configurations of Microsoft’s upcoming 2-in-1. So far, we know that the design of the Surface Pro 8 will remain unchanged from its predecessor, which featured an outdated design itself. The Redmond-based company will switch the Surface Pro to Intel’s Tiger Lake-U platform though, which should bring a healthy graphics boost for the Surface Pro 8 compared to the Surface Pro 7.

According to Quandt, LTE connectivity will return as of the Surface Pro 8, which is unsurprising. We suspect that Microsoft will restrict LTE connectivity to the Business version of the Surface Pro 8 though, as it does with many of its Surface products. Hence, there will be no 5G connectivity for the Surface Pro in 2021. The Core i5-1135G7 and Core i7-1165G7 should be available for business and regular customers, though.

Additionally, Quandt claims that the Surface Pro 8 will be configurable with up to 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. We imagine that the Surface Pro 8 will be just as improbable to upgrade as the Surface Pro 7 though, if it follows the same design. It would be good if the Surface Pro 8 features a replaceable SSD like the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro X do, but we doubt that will be the case.

The Surface Pro 8 should debut in early 2021 alongside the Surface Laptop 4. Microsoft will offer the Surface Pro 8 in the following configurations, according to Quandt:

Surface Pro 8 LTE i5 8 GB/128 GB

Surface Pro 8 LTE i5 8 GB/256 GB

Surface Pro 8 LTE i5 16 GB/256 GB

Surface Pro 8 i5 8 GB/128 GB

Surface Pro 8 i5 8 GB/256 GB

Surface Pro 8 i5 16 GB/256 GB

Surface Pro 8 i7 16 GB/256 GB

Surface Pro 8 i7 16 GB/512 GB

Surface Pro 8 i7 16 GB/1 TB

Surface Pro 8 i7 32 GB/1 TB

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U to star in upcoming Acer Swift laptop with gaming-capable iGPU boost of 1.80 GHz

Another Ryzen 5000-powered laptop has appeared online, this time in the form of an Acer Swift SF314-43 device. This will be good news for fans of the brand or of thin and light laptops that don’t scrimp on performance for design. The Acer Swift 3 SF314-42 laptop we reviewed earlier this year demonstrated how well the OEM combined necessary components with a Ryzen 7 4700 APU. The Renoir processor afforded the Acer device with high system performance, and its integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 GPU (max. 1.60 GHz) allowed for some decent gaming benchmarks: 77.1 FPS in GTA V at medium settings.

Keeping that latter device in mind, it’s fair to start dreaming about what the Acer Swift SF314-43 with AMD Ryzen 5 5500U could deliver. The Lucienne APU is not even the direct successor to the Ryzen 7 4700U: The Ryzen 5 5500U is a 6-core, 12-thread part with a 2.10 GHz to 4.00 GHz clock range whereas the older Renoir chip has 8 cores and 8 threads (no simultaneous multithreading support) and processes at 2 GHz to 4.1 GHz. Comparing the Ryzen 5000 processor with a Ryzen 5 4500U highlights the iGPU difference too, as the latter part relied on a Radeon RX Vega 6 with six compute units and 1.50 GHz clock.

The Acer Swift SF314-43’s Geekbench result reveals the Ryzen 5 5500U’s iGPU as having seven compute units and a maximum clock rate of 1.80 GHz. That’s a handy 20% clock rate increase over the Ryzen 5 4500U’s graphics-processing component, and it should mean that future owners of this Acer Swift laptop should be able to enjoy some light gaming sessions when not utilizing the CPU part of the Zen 2 chip for work or study-related multitasking. AMD’s Ryzen 5000 mobile APUs are starting to look like they could be as big of a hit as the Renoir Ryzen 4000 series chips were.

Apple Watch Series 7 with under-display camera and Touch ID button could become a reality if related patents come to fruition

The Apple Watch Series 6 has only been available for a short time, but like any tech company wanting to stay ahead or at least abreast of its rivals, Apple has been busy looking forward to the next iteration. A couple of patents in regard to the Apple Watch have surfaced that could point to some big changes for the Apple Watch Series 7 range that would certainly please fans of the brand. The patents, reported by PatentlyApple and AppleInsider, respectively, concern a Touch ID button for the Apple Watch and a two-stage display that would allow for an under-display camera.

Touch ID has been around for some time, with the technology first being introduced to the Apple iPhone 5S (2013). Although Touch ID usage has now spread over Apple’s range of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, it has not been implemented with the Apple Watch yet. But that could change according to a patent titled “electronic device having sealed button biometric sensing system”. Drawings in the patent are clearly of a smartwatch, so it is possible an Apple Watch Series 7 device could end up with an additional physical button underneath the present existing one specifically for this purpose. It would add an extra layer of security to the wearable and could be used for user authentication, approving purchases, and accessing or securing sensitive information.

But if Apple really wants to make an Apple Watch 7 spectacular, then a Touch ID button might not cut the mustard on its own. Also adding an under-display camera that utilized two-stage display technology would do the trick though. A separate patent, appropriately titled “electronic device with two-stage displays”, suggests that an under-display camera could be installed in an Apple Watch that only becomes visible when its usage is required. This kind of technology has already surfaced with concept smartphones such as the OnePlus Concept One. A transparent layer is enabled when the camera is used and disabled when not required. Of course, innovations in patents don’t always come to fruition, but at least Apple is not short of ideas for the successor to the Apple Watch Series 6.

Samsung tipped to release four foldable smartphones in 2021 including more affordable models

Samsung could have as many as four foldable devices in the pipeline for 2021 according to a report from Korea’s ETNews. If true, the report underscores rumors that Samsung is planning to phase out its iconic Galaxy Note series in favor of its folding smartphone line up. Indications are that Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra will offer S-Pen support and that at least one of the foldables will also pick up S-Pen support in the coming year too.

ETNews believes that there will be two Galaxy Z Fold3 models and two new Galaxy Z Flip models as well. With all expected to support 5G cellular connections, it appears that Samsung could be adopting a split strategy for its range with a high-end Fold3 and Flip joined by a more affordable, or ‘Lite’ alternative for each. The high-end Galaxy Z Fold3 is also expected to bring S-Pen support and will launch in a similar window to when the Galaxy Note would have otherwise launched. This will give traditional Note customers a truly powerful mobile computing alternative.

In terms of the differentiation between the high-end and Lite foldable models, lower specification processors and potentially displays are likely. This, however, could significantly increase the affordability of Samsung’s foldable range which have thus far been priced beyond the reach of most consumers. Samsung believes its foldable OLED technology is the future of smartphones and ETNews also reports that Samsung will launch a rollable smartphone to compete with LG’s forthcoming rollable. This model, however, may not reach the market until 2022.

Nvidia rumored to postpone the RTX 3080 Ti launch to February, pushing the RTX 3060 12 GB release to January 2021

Availability for the RTX 3000 cards is still up in the air, and AIB partners are jacking up prices whenever possible, yet Nvidia seems fine with releasing even more models that are designed to compete with AMD’s new RX 6000 cards. It is not like AMD is doing any better as far as availability is concerned, but Nvidia finally realized that the gap between RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 is a bit too wide, so an RTX 3080 Ti model sporting 20 GB VRAM is expected to launch early next year as a competitor for AMD’s RX 6900 XT. Previous rumors were suggesting that this model could be announced at CES 2021 in mid-January. According to new reports coming from Videocardz and Igor’s Lab, however, this does not seem to be the case anymore. Apparently, Nvidia is considering rescheduling the RTX 3080 Ti for a mid to late February launch, and instead rush the RTX 3060 (non-Ti) models for an early January launch.

These schedule changes are most likely caused by the production problems with the Samsung 8 nm nodes already acknowledged by Nvidia. The high-end SKUs seem to be more affected in this regard due to the die size, whereas the RTX 3070 and 3060 Ti models that integrate cut-down SKUs appear to get better yields as suggested by the slightly higher stocks.

When it comes to specs, the RTX 3080 Ti is rumored to feature the same number of CUDA cores as the RTX 3090 plus 20 GB of GDDRX6 memory for only $999 MSRP. It certainly looks like Nvidia could phase out the RTX 3090 with this move. Still, if the production problems still continue to be an issue well into 2021, those MSRPs could prove to be wishful thinking.

As for the non-TI versions of the RTX 3060 cards, Igor’s Labs and VIdeocardz are reporting that there will be 12 GB and 6 GB versions, each with different CUDA cores on top, to confuse the buyers even more. Nvidia did something similar a few years ago with the GTX 1060 cards that had 3 GB and 6 GB versions. We are not exactly sure why Nvidia is adding 12 GB of VRAM on the RTX 3060. Team green probably thinks that this could boost sales, but, of course, it all heavily relies on availability and pricing. The 12 GB version is supposed to launch first some time in mid-January, while the 6 GB version could possibly launch early February.

Igor’s Lab also reports that an RTX 3050 card based on an even more cut-down GA107 SKU with only 4 GB of RAM is to be expected at some point beyond February 2021. Additionally, word on the street is that Nvidia intended to launch an RTX 3050 Ti version, but rebranded it as the RTX 3060 6 GB meanwhile.

Intel Core i7-1160G7-powered OneGX1 Pro now available starting at US$1,360

At the end of September, a video showing the OneGX1 Pro in action surfaced online and the gaming performance revealed looked quite impressive considering the fact that we are talking about a 7-inch laptop with an integrated Intel Iris graphics processor that features 96 execution units and clock speeds of up to 1.1 GHz. However, we weren’t expecting the starting price to be much higher than the US$839 price tag of the OneGX1. Sadly, we were wrong.

For a whopping US$1,359 (this price seems to be available only on GeekBuying and for a limited time) or US$1,399, the OneGX1 Pro comes with the Intel Core i7-1160G7 processor, 16 GB of memory, and a 512 GB SSD. The hardware setup upgrade choices include the following:

16GB/512GB/WiFi + 4G LTE for US$1,439

16GB/1TB/WiFi for US$1,470

16GB/512GB/WiFi + 5G for US$1,729

In addition to the configurations above, the potential buyer should also consider a small budget bump for the controllers, which come for US$50. Quite a hefty sum for what is, after all, a mini laptop with integrated graphics that doesn’t have much to show when facing modern games. While the OneGX1 Pro can surely run Crysis, I wouldn’t throw Cyberpunk 2077 at it.