Creative Outlier Air V2 launched: Up to 34 hours of battery life with Qualcomm aptX, Qualcomm cVc 8.0 and touch controls

Creative Technology has unleashed a new pair of true-wireless earbuds (TWS), the Outlier Air V2. Released initially in Japan, the earbuds have now reached the UK where they currently retail for £64.99. The earbuds will eventually retail for £74.99 though, and will be available in the US from November 5.

The Outlier Air V2 combines the best of the Outlier Air and Outlier Gold but with a fewer notable improvements. Firstly, the design of the earbuds and their charging case remains identical, with the earbuds sitting against your ears rather than just balancing in your ear canal as is the case with many earbuds. Creative Technology has finished the earbuds and charging case in what it has called Metallic Blue, which offers a balance between the gold of the Outlier Gold and the black of the Outlier Air.

The company claims that the earbuds should last up to 12 hours between charges, while the charging case should provide another two charges before it needs recharging. Overall, that should yield up to 34 hours use before you will need to recharge the Outlier Air V2.

While this is slightly worse than the battery life of the Outlier Gold, the Outlier Air V2 feature touch controls and Qualcomm cVc 8.0 technology for improved call quality. The inclusion of touch controls was one of our most-requested features when we reviewed the Outlier Gold earlier this year and should make the Outlier Air V2 much easier to use than its predecessors.

The Outlier Air V2 also supports Qualcomm aptX, AAC, Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-voice calls. Each earbud contains 5.6 mm graphene-coated drives – the same as the ones that Creative Technology includes in its other Outlier TWS earbuds. Naturally, Super X-Fi support is on board Outlier Air V2, too. 

Xiaomi outclasses the test competition again with the Redmi K30 Ultra

The Redmi K30 Ultra turned out to be an exciting mid-range smartphone in our review, and it hardly offers any real weaknesses considering its price range. The Redmi phone, which is so far only designed for the Chinese market, combines a bright 120 Hz OLED panel with an appealing configuration and a very nice look. In addition, there’s the very powerful MediaTek Dimensity 1000+, with which the K30 Ultra sets new standards in the mid-range.

The MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ is a 7 nm SoC that integrates four fast Cortex-A77 cores as well as four power-saving cores (Cortex-A55). The graphics unit consists of a Mali-G77 MP9. In addition, according to MediaTek, the APU 3.0 of the Dimensity 1000+ is supposed to achieve a theoretical peak performance of 4.5 TOPS through its six AI processors.

In our benchmark package, the K30 Ultra places itself at the front line. Especially in the graphics benchmarks, the K30 Ultra often offers twice as high frame rates as the comparison smartphones with the Snapdragon 765G. The latter also has a positive effect in our gaming test, as the FPS values are above average here too. But the Redmi phone also achieves a performance that is higher by a third in the multi-core score of the Geekbench test. All in all, the K30 Ultra is more at the level of a Snapdragon 855 Plus than on the one of its mid-range competition.

Would you like to take a closer look at the benchmark results or get a detailed impression of the Redmi K30 Ultra? We recommend then our review of the Xiaomi smartphone.

i7book: Alldocube is charging US$499.99 for a 14-inch laptop with an Intel Core i7-6600U processor

It has been a while since we reported on Alldocube, which sells an array of hardware, including tablets like the Alldocube X. Its latest laptop is intriguing, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

On the one hand, the i7Book has an aluminium build, 8 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and a 14.1-inch IPS display. The 1080p panel supposedly has a 90% screen-to-body ratio too and a matte finish, although it is unclear how bright it gets. There is also a 256 GB SSD, albeit a slow SATA III one.

Alldocube has included a rather strange choice of processor, though. The company has gone with a Core i7-6600U, a Skylake processor that Intel released over five years ago. The 15 W processor possesses two cores, supports Hyper-Threading and can reach 3.4 GHz. Unsurprisingly, the Core i7-6600U cannot match the performance of the Core i7-10510U or even the Core i7-8550U.

The i7book has plenty of I/O, including three USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a USB Type-C. However, that cannot overcome its high asking price of US$499.99, which is simply too much for a Core i7-6600U-powered machine in 2020. If you are interested in the Alldocube i7book, then it can be purchased on Banggood.

Apple may be planning to release a new MacBook Pro 16 before the year is out

It has been nearly a year since Apple announced the first 16-inch MacBook Pro, replacing the 15-inch model that the company had been selling for over a decade. Apple is yet to confirm any plans to release a new MacBook Pro 16, but it has seemingly provided a concrete reference to the launch date of a subsequent model.

Apparently, Boot Camp 6.1.13 ‘fixes a stability issue…on 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019 and 2020)’, as it also does for the most-recent MacBook Pro 13. Apple released a MacBook Pro 16 with a Radeon Pro 5600M earlier this year, but the company refers to this model as the 16-inch MacBook Pro 2019. So, Apple has either published the changelog for Boot Camp 6.1.13 in error, or it is an indication of the upcoming launch of a new 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Rumour has it that Apple will host a Mac event on November 17, with an announcement for the event due a week before. The company may just use this event to showcase ARM hardware, so we may see a new MacBook Pro 16 arrive via an Apple press release, instead.

Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite box with device image and key details revealed via FCC appearance

A listing by the Federal Communications Commission of the United States has revealed some information about the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite. The details come from an image of the box for the Mi Watch Lite, which also features a render of the smartwatch. The wearable has a somewhat generic look, containing its 1.4-inch HD screen inside a square-faced display unit that has a physical button on the right-hand side.

Some of the features of the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite have been revealed via the packaging, so it can be seen that the smartwatch comes with a handy built-in GPS, an abundance of fitness modes, auto-brightness for the display, and it’s waterproof (up to 50 m). The wearable, which will likely be priced at a very affordable level, also offers the practically obligatory heart-rate monitor.

The box also shows that the Mi Watch Lite sports a 230-mAh battery and that it is compatible with Android devices at operating system 4.4 and above and iOS hardware running at 10 or above. The multiple languages on the packaging imply that the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite is going to go global, although with the model number “REDMIWT02” printed on the box it certainly seems that there will be some countries that will greet this device as the Redmi Watch.

OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N100 released in Europe; North American launch to follow soon

Rumors about OnePlus working on two low-cost smartphones have been around for quite some time now. Both phones leaked in their entirety a few days ago. The leak also prophesized that OnePlus would make the OnePlus Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G on October 26. OnePlus has slyly released both phones on its website, without the usual fanfare that has always accompanied its product releases.

The OnePlus Nord N10 5G is, for all practical purposes, a scaled-down OnePlus Nord. As foretold by earlier reports, it is the world’s first smartphone to run Qualcomm’s 5G-ready Snapdragon 690 SoC. However, its rear camera array is a tad better than the OnePlus Nord, as it employs a 64MP wide-angle lens as its primary sensor (the Nord has a 48MP lens). The remaining lenses -8MP ultrawide, 5MP depth, 2MP macro- are identical across both smartphones. The Nord N10 5G ditches its sibling’s dual-selfie camera setup and settles for a single 16MP lens.

OnePlus is one of the few OEMs that is committed to bringing high-refresh-rate displays to the mid-range. The Nord N10 5G comes with a 6.4-inch FHD IPS LCD panel clocked at 90Hz. A layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the display that has no official IP rating. Its 4,300mAh battery supports fast charging at up to 30W. At €329 (US$388), the OnePlus Nord N10 5G is only marginally cheaper than its better-specced sibling. There appears to be only one variant of the device with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. OnePlus will announce its North American price and availability soon.

Unlike the OnePlus Nord N10 5G, the OnePlus Nord N100 is in no way comparable to the original Nord. Retailing at €179 (US$211), it is the first ‘budget’ OnePlus phone to hit the shelves since the company’s inception. It bears all the marking of an entry-level device, with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The marginally large 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel has an HD+ resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. One of the most significant differences between the Nord N10 5G and Nord N100 is in its cameras, with the latter using a triple camera array (13MP wide-angle, 2MP macro, 2MP depth) that is a lot less formidable than the former’s setup. Thankfully, the phone’s colossal 5,000mAh battery supports fast charging at 18W.

Apart from the obvious compromises in the type of panel used, camera setup, and hardware, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N100 also lack some minor features. The under-display fingerprint sensor is replaced with a rear-mounted capacitive model. Support for aptX HD is absent on both phones too. Interestingly enough, OnePlus has opted to ship these devices with stereo speakers, which the Nord lacks.

Xiaomi is slated to launch the Redmi K30S Extreme Commemorative Edition in China

The executive Lei Jun has reportedly announced that the Redmi K30S will debut in China tomorrow (October 27, 2020). As this brand’s parent company Xiaomi is still observing its 10-year anniversary, it is also to be known as the Commemorative Edition. However, it seems customers in other markets will not miss out on this phone.

Jun has also conceded that this ‘new’ phone is also known as the Xiaomi Mi 10T on the global market, thus confirming several leaks suggesting that is indeed the case. Therefore, it seems this K30S will make a departure from the round camera-hump motif of the rest of its series for the first time.

Mi Fans in China can also expect a 6.67-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate, even if it is also LCD. It may have 12GB RAM options paired with the Snapdragon 865 SoC. Despite these flagship specs, however, it is rumored to go for an attractive price.

Currently, it is thought to start at around 2499 yuan (~US$372). By contrast, the Mi 10T started at €499 (~$590). Xiaomi’s CEO has also noted that it will be released during China’s annual 11.11 sales event, which may indeed set the promise of a good price for this Commemorative Edition in stone.

A whole bunch of Asus ZenBook and VivoBook laptops are now shipping with 11th gen Intel Tiger Lake CPUs

Intel Tiger Lake laptops were set to debut before the end of this month and, as promised, most OEMs have already begun shipping. Asus has just announced at least ten different models with several SKUs each all equipped with 11th gen Core i5 and Core i7 parts.

The Asus-provided table below summarizes the new Tiger Lake models. Note that all of them are merely refreshes of existing 10th gen Ice Lake laptops and so none are sporting new chassis designs. The ZenBook Flip S UX371 is particularly noteworthy as it is Asus’ first laptop to be certified under the Intel Evo platform.

We’ve already complained about the confusing naming convention of the latest laptops, but we can at least attempt to summarize it here for users interested in a new Asus. The VivoBook series is aimed at budget-conscious users while ZenBook models are more luxurious. The ZenBook S is different from the ZenBook 13 is that the former sports a 3:2 display aspect ratio while the latter is a more traditional 16:9 offering. Prices range from $700 USD for a VivoBook up to $1700 USD for a ZenBook S.

iPhone 13: rumored portless shift to MagSafe, 120 Hz display, possibility of an in-display fingerprint sensor, and a confirmed Snapdragon X60 5G modem

The iPhone 12 series is still fresh from the oven, but rumor tidbits about next year’s iPhones have already started making their way online. This year’s iPhones sport great hardware no doubt, but they disappointed prospective buyers in one major aspect — lack of high-refresh rate displays, which has almost become a staple feature in the Android world today. The iPhone 13 (or whatever it will be called) may finally include high-refresh rate displays similar to the iPad Pro.

Replying to YouTuber Sam Sheffer on Twitter, known Apple leaker Jon Prosser seems to be confident that the iPhone 13 will indeed sport 120 Hz displays. Prosser also ruled out the possibility of USB-C and predicted a 50-50 chance for an in-display fingerprint sensor on the next wave of Apple iPhones.

While many expected Apple to move to a more universal USB-C charging solution, the iPhone 12 still uses the company’s proprietary Lightning connector. However, with Apple introducing the MagSafe ecosystem that enables easy wireless charging and hooking up compatible accessories, we may not see a USB-C port on the iPhone at all. In fact, Prosser even goes on to say that Apple may make upcoming iPhones completely portless. Of course, this also depends on how well the MagSafe ecosystem matures in the next year or so.

The other new feature that will surely make its way to the iPhone 13 (at least on the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models) is Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X60 5G modem. The iPhone 12 series uses the Snapdragon X55 5G modem since that was the latest available Qualcomm offering during the iPhone 12 development process. Now, an excerpt from the Apple-Qualcomm settlement filing unearthed first by Danny Walsh on Twitter and posted by MacRumors reads,

Apple intends to commercially launch (i) New Models of Apple Products during the time period between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021 (the “2020 Launch”), some of which use the SDX55 Qualcomm Chipset, (ii) New Models of Apple Products during the time period between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022 (the “2021 Launch”), some of which use the SDX60 Qualcomm Chipset, and (iii) New Models of Apple Products during the time period between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2024 (the “2022/23 Launch”), some of which use the SDX65 or SDX70 Qualcomm Chipsets (each a “Launch” and collectively the “Launches”).”

For those not in the know, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X60 5G modem in February this year. The Snapdragon X60 is fabbed on TSMC’s 5 nm process and can aggregate 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz bands while also supporting aggregation of sub-6 GHz TDD and FDD bands so that carriers can maximize spectrum usage and capacity by combining the high performance of mmWave with the wider range of sub-6 GHz. The Snapdragon X60 modem also supports Voice over New Radio, which alleviates the need to fallback on 4G for voice usage.

Galaxy S21 Ultra: Samsung’s upcoming flagship will allegedly come with two telephoto lenses, support for S Pen inputs, and more

The torrent of Galaxy S21 series leaks that we’ve seen in the past few weeks almost certainly confirm that Samsung plans on releasing it early (mid-January 2021, by some estimates) this time around. Several leakers have emphasized that the devices will come with a flat display, with the notable exception of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which will feature a ‘slightly’ curved screen, if a new leak is to be believed.

Twitter leaker @not_koh suggests that the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s display will be more or less identical to that of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with marginally better color accuracy and support for Dolby Vision. As foretold by several reports, the Galaxy S21 Ultra will be the first of its kind to support S Pen inputs. Whether or not it will ship with an S Pen out of the box remains to be seen. The screen might even be able to run at 1440p 120Hz, but that remains unconfirmed. Support for variable refresh rate operation is allegedly in the books, too. Another leaker weighs in stating that it will have a diagonal length of 6.8-inches. Both tipsters agree that the Galaxy S21 Ultra will cost around US$1,300.

Samsung appears to have taken a page or two from Huawei’s playbook while designing the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s cameras. The primary 108MP ISOCELL HM2 Bright sensor will be assisted by a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 10MP (2x optical zoom) telephoto lens, and a second 10MP (5x optical zoom) periscope telephoto lens. Unfortunately, we have to wait a bit longer for an under-display camera, as the Galaxy S21 will use the tried-and-tested hole-punch approach to house the 40MP selfie shooter. As is the case with new Samsung releases, the entire Galaxy S21 series will come with some new camera features such as the ability to capture 4K video at 60 FPS on all cameras, WDR support along with HDR, and more. The features will eventually make their way to older devices via the One UI 3.1 update.

Not much seems to have improved on the storage/memory front. The Galaxy S21 Ultra will come in three variants with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of storage coupled with 12/16GB of RAM. Much like its predecessor, the smartphone will come with a 5,000 mAh battery. The smartphone will come with a 25W charger out of the box and support fast charging up to 45W. Despite one report stating otherwise, Samsung doesn’t plan on bringing back the headphone jack with the Galaxy S21 series.

Prima facie, the Galaxy S21 Ultra seems like a marginal upgrade over its antecedent. Most of the specifications are identical across the board, with minimal improvements in the camera and battery department. However, the phone’s Exynos 2100 SoC promises to deliver a significant performance boost over last year’s Exynos 990. The leaker rounds things off by saying that that the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold series is where the real upgrades will be at.