Huawei MateBook X and MateBook 14 come to Europe with 3:2 displays and compact designs

The Huawei MateBook X and new MateBook 14 are coming to Europe, following their launches in China last month. The MateBook X is the more premium of the two laptops, but the MateBook 14 has the performance edge. Both devices will be available to order from October 7.

The MateBook X has a 13-inch IPS screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 pixels. The touchscreen display also has a pixel density of 278 PPI, a contrast ratio of 1,500:1 and a screen-to-body ratio of 90%. According to Huawei, the display peaks at 400 nits.

A 42 Wh battery is onboard, which powers an Intel Core i5-10210U processor, 512 GB of PCIe storage and 16 GB of LPDDR3-2133 RAM. The MateBook X includes Huawei’s new pressure-sensitive trackpad, which extends to the edge of its compact chassis. Huawei has integrated an NFC reader for multi-screen collaboration, too.

Meanwhile, the MateBook 14 has either the Ryzen 5 4600H or Ryzen 7 4800H, two 45 W APUs from AMD’s Renoir architecture. The device can be configured with 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. The MateBook 14 also has the advantage of having DDR4-2666 RAM, although it only has a 3:2 screen with a 2,160 x 1,440 resolution.

The MateBook 14 also has a 56 Wh battery, along with a USB Type-C port for charging, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports and a 3.5 mm jack. A full-size HDMI port is onboard, too. The device is 15.9 mm thick and weighs 1.49 kg.

The MateBook 14 starts at €849 for the Ryzen 5, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB model. Huawei charges another €949 for the same processor with double the RAM and storage. If you want the Ryzen 7 4800H, then that will set you back €1,049. However, you get 16 GB of RAM, 512 B of storage and a touchscreen display.

Sony WH-1000XM4: First Impressions with an underwhelming upgrade

There was almost a two-year gap between Sony releasing the WH-1000XM3 and WH-1000XM4. The many retailer listings that surfaced earlier this year suggest that the worldwide pandemic probably delayed Sony somewhat, but we digress. We were itching to try the WH-1000XM4 following last month’s launch, so we purchased a pair of the Silver ones.

Sony continues to sell the WH-1000XM range in two colours, as it has for years now. Sadly, that consistency, or lack of imagination depending on how you look at it, sums up the WH-1000XM4. The headphones retail for US$349.99 and £349.99 in the UK, making the WH-1000XM4 just as expensive as the WH-1000XM3. However, the latter now cost around US$100/£100 less than Sony’s latest model, which is worth keeping in mind if you are upgrading from headphones other than the WH-1000XM3.

Essentially, Sony has made hardly any design changes with the WH-1000XM4. The headband is slightly thicker the one on the WH-1000XM3, for example, while Sony has re-named the NC/AMBIENT button “Custom”. Similarly, the hinge mechanism has been redesigned, but these changes are only noticeable with the WH-1000XM3 side-by-side for comparison.

So, if Sony has not made many external changes in two years, then it must have improved the WH-1000XM4 in other ways? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, the WH-1000XM4 can connect to two devices simultaneously, which is a welcome change from past WH-1000XM series headphones. Sony has also included an IR sensor, which allows the headphones to pause or play automatically if you remove the headphones from your head.

Additionally, the WH-1000XM4 has a “Speak-to-Chat” function that amplifies ambient sounds if you begin talking. In our experience, holding the right earcup to amplify ambient sounds is more intuitive, making Speak-to-Chat feel more like a gimmick than anything else. Likewise, Sony claims that the WH-1000XM4 will automatically power off when not in use. However, the WH-1000XM range has done this since at least the WH-1000XM2, so this is nothing new. Sony has implemented “Precise Voice Pickup” technology too, which uses five of the microphones inside the headphones to optimise call quality. Finally, the WH-1000XM4 supports Bluetooth 5.0, an upgrade from the Bluetooth 4.2 of the WH-1000XM3.

All that sounds promising, but it is poorly implemented. Firstly, the WH-1000XM4 cannot connect to two devices simultaneously over LDAC. Conversely, the equaliser within the Sony Headphones app now works with LDAC, which is handy. Theoretically, the IR sensor should work well, too. However, we encountered multiple issues on Android and Windows 10 where the headphones would do the opposite of what we wanted them to. For example, pausing the WH-1000XM4 when connected to a Windows 10 laptop and removing them for our head caused the headphones to resume whatever was playing. Putting the headphones on again resulted in the music stopping. However, pausing the music manually while the headphones were removed resolved the issue. We only experienced this on iTunes, but it is not something we would expect from US$350/£350 headphones.

Setting that niche gripe aside, Qualcomm aptX and aptX HD have been removed from the WH-1000XM line as Sony has switched to a MediaTek chipset. While this does not post any practical restrictions for Android smartphones or iPhones, macOS and Windows 10 do not support LDAC. Similarly, we could not get the WH-1000XM4 to stream in LDAC on the LG V60, so we had to make do with AAC. We had no issues with the Pixel 4 XL though.

Battery life remains unchanged from the WH-1000XM3, too. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the WH-1000XM3 has exemplary battery life. We would have expected at least some improvements in almost two years, though. Android Authority actually found that the WH-1000XM3 outlasted the WH-1000XM4 by around four hours.

We noticed no discernable improvement in call quality, either. It is a similar case with noise cancellation. Android Authority has demonstrated that the WH-1000XM4 has better noise cancellation at higher frequencies, but we have not been on public transport in the past month to notice a difference. Unquestionably, the WH-1000XM4 has excellent noise cancellation, though.

Verdict – Not worth the two year wait

Overall, the WH-1000XM4 feels somewhat of a sideways step for Sony. The company made some decent improvements from the WH-1000XM2 to the WH-1000XM3, but the same cannot be said for the WH-1000XM4. Perhaps we would feel differently if Sony had released the WH-1000XM4 a year after the WH-1000XM3, but its latest effort feels staid almost two years on from its predecessor.

The features that Sony has added feel half-baked too, like the inability to connect to multiple devices using LDAC. Worse still, Sony is yet to address call quality, one of the worse aspects of the WH-1000XM2 and WH-1000XM3. In our experience, even the Surface Headphones 2 has better call quality than the WH-1000XM4, which is unforgivable considering the gulf in price.

In short, if you already have a pair of the WH-1000XM3, then do not upgrade to the WH-1000XM4. And if you do not own the WH-1000XM3, pick these up instead and save yourself around US$100/£100.

LG Velvet durability test confirms the origin of the screen in its Dual Screen accessory

The LG Velvet comes in two flavours, although a third is on its way. At the time of writing, LG has released a 5G and Snapdragon 765G-powered edition, along with a cheaper 4G model that has a Snapdragon 845. By contrast, a T-Mobile version has the new MediaTek Dimensity 1000C, which also has a 5G modem. All models have that same 7.9 mm thick case though, which does not necessarily inspire confidence as to its structural rigidity, especially if you have watched JerryRigEverything’s recent OnePlus Nord video.

The LG Velvet does flex under severe pressure, but it did not crack or shatter. A small gap between the chassis and display did appear that probably reduces the device’s water resistance, but this test is way beyond what most people would do to their smartphones. Likewise, the LG Velvet did not succumb to burned, either.

Additionally, JerryRigEverything determined that the LG Velvet and its Dual Screen accessory share identical displays. A brief teardown revealed that the screen in the Dual Screen accessory even has a cut-out for an in-display fingerprint scanner, as you can view in the view below. JerryRigEverything opines that LG did this to reduce costs, which makes sense considering the relatively affordable price of the Velvet. We have already reviewed the LG Velvet too, should you wish to find out more about the device.

Update: Launched, leaks confirmed | The Motorola Razr 2020 5G has a full specs leak and an unboxing ahead of its official launch

Motorola has now made the Razr 2020 5G official via its various online channels. Its leaks are spot-on, as it happens, down to the 2800mAh battery – which the OEM describes as “all-day” (somehow). It will be made available in “fall 2020”, for US$1399. Interested consumers can register for pre-order updates on motorola-mall.com.

Original Article: Motorola is slated to launch a foldable Razr phone at 23:00 CET today (September 9, 2020). However, it is not a true second-gen product, but rather a refresh of the original 2020 device with the Snapdragon 765G and a potentially enhanced design. This is in accordance with its leaks thus far, at least.

The latest of these corroborates this detail, and purports to fill the rest of them in as well. WinFuture now asserts that it will be an 8GB RAM device with 256GB of non-expandable storage. As with its quasi-predecessor, it has a single camera that can be used for selfies in closed mode or main-sensor functions in its unfolded mode. However, it is to be 48MP this time.

The Motorola Razr 2020 5G is also now said to have a 6.2-inch 2142 x 876 POLED inner screen with a 21:9 aspect-ratio. Its external “Quick View” screen may be a 2.6-inch “gOLED” 600 x 800 panel. It will come with Motorola’s expanded software feature set for this aspect of the Razr 2020, as it will have its specialized build of Android 10 out of the box.

Roland Quandt also claims that the Motorola Razr 2020 5G will be IPX8-rated, and have a 2800mAh battery (this may be relatively meagre for its new connectivity). Its USB type C charging is also set at a relatively low 15 watt charging rate.

Thus far, Motorola has handed units of this phone to vloggers such as Unbox Therapy and MKBHD, who appear to confirm most of these specs, and also reveal the refreshed foldable’s colorways: Blush Gold, Polished Graphite or Liquid Mercury. The device’s fingerprint sensor has also migrated from its front chin into a logo on the lower half of the rear of the phone.

As to its price, well, it is yet again a good thing it is has a flexible display, or current projections of €1499 (or US$1399) for its decidedly mid-range properties would be completely unbelievable. Full reviews may help determine whether they can be rationalized this time or not.

AMD announces launch dates for Zen 3 CPUs and RDNA 2 “Big Navi” graphics cards

AMD’s Zen 3 and RDNA 2 are perhaps the most anticipated computing platforms for 2020. Now we have a firm date on when we will see them.

AMD posted a teaser video for its next generation of GPUs. The Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, which are built on the RDNA 2 architecture, will officially launch on October 28. Nicknamed “Big Navi,” these graphics cards will be AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s recently released GeForce RTX 3000 series cards.

AMD has a big task in front of it; Nvidia’s new Ampere cards seem to be a sizable upgrade over the RTX 2000 series. The RTX 2000 cards, built on Nvidia’s Turing architecture, beat AMD’s RDNA 1 (Navi) cards by a fair margin. AMD has a big gap to make up in order to outperform Nvidia. The veil will officially be lifted on RDNA 2 on October 28.

A curious note in the teaser video for the RDNA 2 launch is the mention of support for “PCs and consoles.” This should remove most of the doubt as to whether or not the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will use RDNA 2 GPUs. It seems that this will indeed be the case. 

AMD will also officially launch its next CPU architecture, Zen 3, on October 8. Stating that “it’s going to be an exciting fall for gamers,” AMD CEO Lisa Su posted a teaser video of Zen 3 on Twitter. There’s not a lot we know about Zen 3, but current speculation is that it will be built on the same (or similar) 7 nm process as Zen 2 but may reconfigure how the chip is arranged, most notably the L3 cache.

We reported yesterday that the upcoming Ryzen 4000 chips (codenamed Vermeer) will feature up to 10 multithreaded cores and may include improved overclocking features, something that will entice gamers. We’ll know more about Zen 3 when it officially launches next month.

Xiaomi announces the end of MIUI 12 Round 2 as the start of Round 3 seems likely

Android 11 may have just come out of beta, but Xiaomi operates on a different wavelength. The company does not tie its in-house MIUI OS to versions of Android, allowing it to release multiple distributions and support older handsets for longer than some of its competitors. Theoretically, that is the case anyway, as the opposite has been the case with some handsets like the Mi Mix 3 5G.

Nonetheless, Xiaomi has now proclaimed on Weibo that it has pushed MIUI 12 to all devices on Round 2 of its release schedule. This may well apply to only devices on the Chinese branch of MIUI, but Xiaomi has more or less kept pace with delivering MIUI 12 to other branches, too.

The culmination of the second round should mean that the third round is on the verge of starting. The third round includes devices like Redmi Note 5 and Mi 8 SE, as we reported last month. Xiaomi has a fourth round of the MIUI 12 release schedule too, which only features Redmi handsets.

HP and Lenovo have yet to offer a 17-inch workstation as compact as the Dell Precision 5750

Most 17.3-inch workstations are large and bulky since they generally aren’t chasing after the same narrow-bezel look and sleek designs that most consumer laptops like to boast. This idea has been changing over the past couple of years with the advent of Nvidia Studio, but even these newer ultra-thin workstations like the MSI WS75 or Asus ProArt are still not as portable as most Ultrabooks.

The Precision 5750 follows on the same footsteps as the 15.6-inch Precision 5550 but in a 17-inch form factor to be unlike every other 17-inch workstation out there. It trades away a lot of common auxiliary features like an integrated NumPad, Smart Card reader, mouse buttons, and even ports in favor of a much more portable design. Traditional workstation users who rely on such features may find the Precision 5750 off-putting as a result, but the system fills a niche for users who may need a more travel-friendly 17-inch workstation or are willing to give up some hardware options for the portable design. We’d rather lug around the Precision 5750 over the Precision 7750 even though the latter is the more feature-packed option.

Major competitors like Lenovo and HP do not yet offer competing 17-inch workstations that are as slim or small as the Precision 5750. The ThinkPad P73 and ZBook 17 are significantly bulkier and more traditional than the hybrid Ultrabook/workstation Dell machine.

See our review on the Precision 5750 for more details on its performance and hardware.

“Budget” Microsoft Surface Laptop billed for an October release with uninspiring specifications

Microsoft already has two sizes of the Surface Laptop, but Windows Central now claims that the company is working on a 12.5-inch model. However, this device is apparently an equivalent to the Surface Go, insofar as Microsoft will pitch it as a budget option to the regular versions of the Surface Laptop.

Windows Central alleges that the device, codenamed Sparti, will start at around US$500-US$600. According to the website, the entry-level model will have 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a 10th generation Core i5 processor. It remains to be seen whether this is from Intel’s Comet Lake or Ice Lake generations, or if the Sparti will be graced with a U-series chip.

The device will also come pre-loaded with Windows 10 S, or Windows 10 in S mode as Microsoft now calls it. Presumably, Microsoft will sell SKUs with 8 GB of RAM and more storage, although a Core i7 model may not be on the cards. Windows Central claims that Microsoft will announce the mini Surface Laptop in October, along with several accessories. If that is the case, then we would expect regulatory bodies like the FCC to certify the device in the coming weeks.

Nokia 2.4 and Nokia 3.4 renders and specifications leak

IFA 2020 proved a bust for HMD Global, seeing as it did not launch any Nokia smartphones, as was rumoured to be the case. The company has plenty of devices to announce though, as evidenced by past leaks.

Two of these are the Nokia 2.4 and Nokia 3.4, which are both entry-level devices for HMD Global. Evan Blass has revealed renders of both handsets, and they look rather different. On the one hand, both have rear-mounted fingerprint scanners and the same hardware button arrangement. However, the Nokia 3.4 has three rear-facing cameras to the two on the Nokia 2.4. Unsurprisingly, the Nokia 3.4 looks the more premium of the two handsets. Actually, the Nokia 2.4 resembles the Nokia 3.2 more than the Nokia 3.4 does. 

In terms of hardware, the Nokia 2.4 is rumoured to have a 4,800 mAh battery and will launch as single-SIM and dual-SIM models. Additionally, HMD Global is expected to equip the Nokia 2.4 with a MediaTek Helio P22 SoC, up to 3 GB of RAM and a 6.2-inch 720p display.

The Nokia 3.4 will also have a 6.52-inch and 720p display, along with 3 GB of RAM. However, Nokiapoweruser (NPU) claims that the device will have a Snapdragon 460 chipset and a 4,000 mAh battery. NPU believes that the Nokia 3.4 will arrive in three colours, too.

The OnePlus 8 series now has stable Android 11-based betas

Google has released Android 11 for most of the Pixel series today (September 8, 2020). Shortly after that event, OnePlus stated that it was ready to start pushing the same new OS version to its current premium smartphones, the 8 and 8 Pro.

Therefore, users with these devices can download the first OxygenOS Open Beta based on Android 11. Some of them may be very familiar with such a ROM already, however, as the OEM has also had access to its Developer Previews. It has released several versions of these for the same flagships.

OxygenOS Open Betas, on the other hand, are often virtually stable builds that are open to the general 8-series-owning public. Those who move to this OTA channel will encounter a version of Android with a new 11-style UI.

It also has a new Story mode in its native Gallery app, and an updated Zen Mode with new themes and functions. Then again, there is no Always-on Display as yet. Users wishing to upgrade to this latest version of Android can do so by following the instructions on the official OnePlus community website.