Apple will try to fix battery drain and reduced performance issues that have affected some iPhone 11 devices by recalibrating their batteries in an upcoming update (via MacRumors). According to an Apple support document, the process will happen when you update an iPhone 11, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max to the upcoming iOS 14.5.
It might take a few weeks for the battery health system to figure out how much capacity your battery has left, and how much performance it can provide, according to the document. It doesn’t seem like users should notice too much of a difference during the process, though there will be a message in the battery health section of the settings menu explaining what’s going on.
The process is currently being tested in the latest release of the developer beta, but given that Apple has a support page already up for it, there’s a good chance it’ll make it into the final release. If the recalibration fails, for some reason, Apple says it or an authorized service provider will replace the battery for free. Hopefully, if you were experiencing battery issues with your iPhone 11, this process will help alleviate them when 14.5 is finally released.
It’s not unusual that Apple would release a document about a battery change before it starts happening. The company has been a lot more transparent when it makes changes to the iPhone’s power delivery system ever since it was caught throttling the performance of older iPhones to protect the battery.
Apple will remove the female voice as the default for its Siri assistant, according to TechCrunch. The change is effective as of today’s release of the sixth iOS 14.5 beta. Once this latest update is publicly released to all customers, iPhone and iPad users will be prompted to choose their preferred Siri voice during device setup. Previously, Siri defaulted to a female voice, and users could pick between other voices in settings after the fact.
Alongside this change, Apple is also introducing two completely new voices for Siri that, according to TechCrunch, “use source talent recordings that are then run through Apple’s Neural text to speech engine, making the voices flow more organically through phrases that are actually being generated on the fly.” Those new voices are available to English speakers globally.
The news is the latest example of big tech companies trying to remove any gender associations from their digital voice assistants. Studies have found that when assistants use a female-sounding voice by default, it can reinforce bias and negative stereotypes. Some embarrassing mistakes have been made along the way as these technologies develop, but Apple’s latest step is one of the most significant yet.
“We’re excited to introduce two new Siri voices for English speakers and the option for Siri users to select the voice they want when they set up their device,” Apple told TechCrunch in a statement. “This is a continuation of Apple’s long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and products and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in.” Siri takes on over 25 billion requests monthly across 500 million devices, according to TechCrunch.
Belkin has a new iPhone stand that’s useful enough to be interesting but annoyingly limited.
The company’s “Magnetic Phone Mount with Face Tracking” works with the iPhone 12’s MagSafe feature, clipping your phone into place using the device’s built-in magnets. It then uses face tracking to follow you around the room, rotating so it’s always facing you.
The catch is that this feature doesn’t work with video calls on Zoom, FaceTime, or any other similar service — surely one of the biggest potential use cases in a pandemic. In fact, judging by the product description, the tracking feature only works when recording video through Belkin’s own iOS app. That would mean you can’t even use the stand to make sure your phone is always facing you as you follow along with an exercise video or recipe. We’ve reached out to Belkin to double check this and will update this article when we know more.
You can track yourself recording video but not watching it. Image: Belkin
Being able to record video that tracks you will definitely be useful to some people, and Belkin says its iOS app can connect directly to social media accounts (including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and others) to make posting easy. But it still means the mount is more of a specialist tool than a device that could help more consumers.
Other relevant specs: the mount works in landscape and portrait orientations, can be tilted vertically from -15 to 30 degrees, rotates horizontally through 360 degrees, and is powered by three AA batteries. And of course, because it uses MagSafe to attach to your phone, it only works with the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. The mount will sell for $65, but it’s only listed as “coming soon” on Belkin’s website.
To help make travel during the pandemic a little less stressful, Apple Maps will now display travel guidance information provided by the Airports Council International (ACI) so you know what to expect before you take off or land at your destination.
The travel guidances — like mask requirements, health screenings, and quarantine guidelines — will be displayed on an individual airport’s place card in Apple Maps, with links to official airport guidance websites as well. The information should be viewable on iPhones, iPads, and Macs — though, currently, only airports that are participating in the ACI’s Health Measures Portal will feature the new information.
Travel guidances in Apple Maps on iPhone.Image: MacStories
Apple Maps has been updated to display other useful COVID-19 information over the last year, like the location of testing sites and available vaccine providers. You can check Apple Maps to see if the airport you’re traveling to has guidance, or use the ACI’s Check & Fly tool to find participating airports.
DigiTimes today reported that TSMC is set to begin volume production for its 4nm process in the fourth quarter of 2021, rather than early 2022 as originally planned. The report also indicated that Apple has contracted initial production using this node for use in future versions of the custom silicon found in some of its Mac products.
TSMC announced in January that it planned to spend up to $28 billion in 2021 to increase production for its N5 and N7 processes while it started risk testing its N3 process. China Renaissance Securities then said in February that N5 capacity was at roughly 55,000~60,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM); that’s expected to double this year.
N5 doesn’t necessarily refer to a single process—it actually covers the N5, N5P, and N4 processes. The first two are 5nm processes and the last is the upcoming 4nm process. It gets bundled with its predecessors because it’s expected to have a smaller impact than the 3nm process (N3) expected to debut in late 2022.
It seems the increased capital expenditure for 2021 is pushing N4 along faster than TSMC expected. The company said in August 2020 that its 4nm process was supposed to enter risk production in 4Q21 and volume production in 2022. According to DigiTimes sources, however, volume production should begin this year.
The first Apple chips based on that 4nm process shouldn’t be too far behind. Apple is TSMC’s largest customer by far, and its shift to custom silicon in the Mac lineup is expected to make it an even bigger part of TSMC’s business. So it’s no surprise that Apple has, per DigiTimes, already contracted initial production for the 4nm process.
DigiTimes reported that TSMC will begin production of the N5P-based A15 chip, which is expected to debut in the iPhone 13 later this year, sometime in May. An upgraded version of that SoC will likely be added to future iPad models later, but Apple is said to be jumping straight to N4 for the next SoC designed for Mac.
This accelerated timeline could allow Apple to switch every Mac over to its custom silicon earlier than anticipated. The company said in November 2020 that it wanted to have its own SoCs across the Mac lineup by 2022. TSMC’s ability to begin volume production of the N4 process should make it that much easier to beat that goal.
In somewhat related news, Intel today released the latest CPUs based on its 14nm process, with plans to introduce the first desktop 10nm processors later this year and 7nm CPUs following in 2023. That should give it plenty of time to put out a commercial claiming that, when it comes to process nodes, bigger is better. Right?
Adobe has launched a new bundle for iPad creators. The Design Mobile Bundle is available for $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, and it includes access to iOS Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Fresco, and Spark, as well as services like Adobe Fonts and 100GB of cloud storage. Unlike Adobe’s other bundles, this won’t get you access to its desktop apps. Adobe says the bundle saves you 50 percent compared to paying for each app separately and that “they all work with touch and Apple Pencil.”
Adobe’s mobile apps have come on a lot in the last couple of years. Photoshop only arrived on the iPad back in 2019, lacking many of the features of its desktop counterpart. But over time, Adobe has continued to add features, including a new rotate canvas tool that’s soon making its way to desktop Photoshop.
Adobe also says that support for Photoshop’s desktop brushes is coming soon to iPad. “Soon, you’ll be able to load your brushes onto Photoshop on the iPad, meaning that all the great brushes you’ve discovered or created on Photoshop on the desktop will be close at hand on the iPad as well,” the company writes.
A monthly cost of $14.99 makes this one of the less expensive bundles Adobe offers, though you are limited to only accessing it via an iPad (and iPhone in the case of Fresco). Currently, you can subscribe to all of its apps for $52.99 a month. Meanwhile, if you only need Photoshop and Lightroom, there’s a bundle with 20GB of storage for $9.99 a month that works on both desktop and tablet. (A bundle with 1TB of storage costs $19.99 a month.)
The wait for the new Apple TV goes on, but a new leak suggests the next-gen video streamer will come with an all-new remote control with improved Siri voice functionality.
Details are thin as the ground, but 9to5Mac claims to have “learned that Apple is developing a new Remote for Apple TV”. The source says the new zapper is being developed under the codename ‘B519’, whereas the current Siri Remote goes by the much catchier name ‘B439’. So in other words, something is afoot.
Today’s leak ties in with last week’s report by MacRumours, which noted that Apple had erased all mentions of “Siri Remote” from its tvOS14.5 beta, replacing it with the name “Apple TV Remote”. Again, it appears to point to a new wand.
While some love the simplicity of the current Siri Remote, which features a
minimalistic touchpad (we called it “skittish” in our Apple TV 4K review), others have bemoaned the lack of physical buttons and called for a replacement – which it seems like they’re going to get.
As for the box itself, talk of a new Apple TV has been swirling around for some time now. It’s rumoured to boast a faster processor, with a new focus on the Apple Arcade cloud-based video gaming service.
Well-known Twitter tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) even suggested that if Apple drops its super-speedy A14 Bionic chip into the next Apple TV, it could give dedicated games consoles a run for their money.
With any luck, we’ll find out soon. Apple is rumoured to be holding a launch event in April that could see it unveil the new video streamer alongside the iPad Pro 2021 and AirPods 3. The iPhone 13, however, isn’t slated to arrive until September.
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Xiaomi unveiled a new wireless charging pad during its Mi Mix event this morning. The pad is capable of simultaneously charging three devices without precise placement, similar to the canceled Apple AirPower charger.
According to Xiaomi, this wireless charging pad features up to 20W of wireless power per device and includes 19 coils, allowing users to place any three devices that support Qi wireless charging, according to Xiaomi.
Unlike most other clones out there, Xiamoi’s wireless charging pad is more affordable, selling for about $90. However, it is unknown if the charging pad will see a release outside of China.
Xiaomi is not the first company to make its own clone of the Apple AirPower. In 2019, Nomad released the Base Station Pro, an 18-coil wireless charger that can charge any three devices with no specific placement, but as noted by my colleague Chaim Gartenberg, one of the downsides was that aside from the iPhone, the pad only provided 5W of charging.
Alongside a new wireless charging pad, Xiamoi also unveiled the Mi 11 Pro, which includes 67W wireless charging as opposed to the Mi 10 Ultra and Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro, which have previously had the fastest wireless charging with 50W. Additionally, Xiaomi also announced a new 80W wireless charger.
“I suppose you can’t have true respect for something unless you’re willing to challenge it,” we posit to Nils Frahm. “Exactly,” he replies. “Exactly.”
It feels good to have Frahm agree with you. Not only because his music is as much part of our homes – and the What Hi-Fi? test rooms – as the light fixtures and soft furnishings. It feels good to have Frahm agree with you because he comes across as an expert on whichever topic he is speaking about in that moment.
He even makes his own soap. Because that devilish streak of tinkering with his instrument, which we celebrate today on Piano Day, is just symptom of a wider curiosity this exquisite composer applies to every part of his life. Whether or not he is an expert is almost moot, as that infectious interest in everything travels down the phone line to us.
Even Piano Day cannot be taken at face value when Frahm, the very man who appointed it as the 88th day of the year, discusses the instrument’s more menacing symbolism.
Nonetheless, it is clear that there is a lot of love in this relationship. To celebrate this year Frahm has today released Graz, the first album he ever recorded for Erased Tapes.
This grand piano recording has taken 12 years to surface – though certain pieces you might recognise from his live performances – and captures a more youthful musician nearer the start of a career, and nearer the beginning of this mischievously respectful relationship with his instrument that we hope is nowhere near its end.
Over half an hour, we managed to talk with Frahm about Graz, recording the piano and a heavily customised hi-fi set-up. Not that we’d have put him through it, but we could have spoken for hours upon hours longer.
Lisen to Graz by Nils Frahm, released to celebrate Piano Day 2021, on Tidal or Spotify.
An emotional reaction
(Image credit: Sebastian Rieck)
What Hi-Fi?: We should probably start by congratulating you on getting Erased Tapes to release your debut album, at last. We’ve listened to it a few times and it’s got that real sort of transformational quality that your music has; it goes through that metamorphosis depending on what time of day or when in the year you hear it. Is the album as recorded in 2009?
Nils Frahm: It was recorded in a place where there was a special setup. It was basically a big studio that has variable acoustics, realised through microphones in the room and speakers where there’s a custom-made reverb algorithm, which basically takes the sound from various points – I think it has about 16 microphones and 64 speakers – and you can change the the parameters of the ambience through this.
So the shortest reverb is maybe 1.8 seconds, then you can turn on the engine and it will generate a reverb which you would like to hear in that room. It can be quite impressive; when you close your eyes and you play, and somebody tweaks with the parameters of the settings, you basically travel through space. Basically, while I was improvising, my colleague was turning some knobs and dials from this reverb engine, and that was inspiring me to play in a different way maybe.
WHF?: Reverb, and natural reverb especially, has been a huge part of your playing; it was in All Melody you used a dry well that you had found on holiday. How important for a piano recording is it to hear the space that it’s been recorded in?
NF: I think the room for acoustic instruments plays a big role, because essentially the room makes stuff louder and sound more immersive. With reflections and some sort of ambience an acoustic instrument sounds like it’s floating around you. Coming from various points, it becomes more three-dimensional and big sounding.
This is why a piano or a symphony orchestra sounds much better in a room over being played outside; I still don’t understand why some festivals curate classical concerts outside, because strings or the whole classical ensemble without the natural reverb for me doesn’t blend. You can’t blend the elements together without ambience. So I think the same for the piano: you have a lot of different sounds and notes and things on a piano. With the acoustics you put all of this together in one concept, almost as if you would dress a person from tip to toe.
WHF?: The performance is obviously key, and a recording lives or dies by it, but what other things are important to get right when recording the piano?
NF: The performance. Because when the performance is well put and the balance between the notes and the balance in the voicing, the loudness of each finger, is put right then basically the recording is quite stable. And if you have an unstable performance you have to really work much more with the mixing, or focusing on the microphone position, or choice of reverbs and processing to get the performance organised. Basically that’s the case for every musical performance. When the performance has some integrity and is put well, then as a recording engineer or as a person listening back at home, it’s an easy task to transport that wonderful moment.
Because sound in the end is decoded in our brains into an emotional reaction somehow – I don’t know how that works – but I would say that if you hear something that doesn’t really get you emotionally, you will analyse more technically. And if something just haunts you or something strikes you, and you don’t know why, you will not really ask so many questions.
It’s like a phenomenon. When I listen to Chet Baker records and I hear the voice then hear the piano, the piano sounds kind of bad, honestly. But together with the voice, the quality of the piano and the quality of the voice becomes something that’s hard to explain why it works. I think it’s because Chet really just sings so beautifully, and the piano just really plays wonderfully, and that gives you so much freedom as a producer to put these elements wherever you want. When you play really good you can make that element 6dB louder or 6dB quieter: it will still be amazing. If you have a bad arrangement or a bad take, you will fiddle with the volume to fit it in, because it will never be right.
A rebellious angle
(Image credit: Leiter Verlag)
WHF?: You have what we would describe as an almost two-way relationship with the piano, in that it feels like it’s rewarding you for the care you put into its tone and its timbre. What makes it such a special instrument?
NF: I think all instruments are pretty special. The piano is so special because I think it has had such a big success in the history of music. Ever since it was invented it played a huge role in the creation of music, especially in the Western world. Not so much in other places in the world. The piano is also testimonial to an industrialised society, a Western capitalist industrialised society, because it’s very difficult to make unique heavy machinery; you need vast skill sets and machines to make a piano. And you need a lot of money!
And so the piano is a symbol for power as well. These are all components I am also aware of. I try to have the awareness to treat the piano with a certain respect, but also show a sense of humour. Because when you take the piano too seriously, you also take the society we live in too seriously. You might get more interesting results from the piano if you treat it with respect but also with a rebellious angle, because there are many things I don’t agree with. I don’t think the West created a fair world, or a better place for everybody. So if the piano is a statue or symbol for all of this, then whatever the critique is towards a society or towards our philosophy, or our culture, the critique also addresses the piano.
So that’s why I respect it but I also disrespect it, in terms of changing its sounds or putting things inside, or doing wrong things maybe with it. Because I think the piano shouldn’t rule us, we should rule the piano; in as much as the values of a capitalist society or a white supremacist society shouldn’t rule us, we should rule the society. So it’s very philosophically put, but the piano is a symbol also for all the things I don’t agree with, and it creates an interesting angle for me to approach this special instrument.
WHF?: You can’t have true respect for something unless you’re willing to challenge it.
NF: Exactly, exactly.
WHF?: As well as experimenting with your instrument, on Spaces in particular you have a lot of different ways of recording; it’s almost a collection of field recordings. Is using things such as reel-to-reel an experiment, or is there a particular sound to each medium that you really like and want to capture?
NF: For me it’s a little bit like with photography: the best camera is always the one you have with you. You can say the best recorder is always the one you can just work with in the moment, and is reliable and records the music. And true, they sound all a little bit different, but when I choose to record something on a cassette tape it probably reflects the approach of that session. I probably just don’t have real good equipment available and I take maybe just a really cheap USB junk sound card rather than my really high quality converter that I only have in one place.
I like to record on really interesting broadcasting master recorders. I like quality from all eras, and when I buy a cassette deck on eBay for 200 bucks, it’s maybe the Marantz PMD master recorder that was built for broadcasting documentaries. It has a certain quality: it will always turn on, it’s made out of metal, you can listen to the record head and you can definitely check what you’re recording. I really go with whatever sound comes out of it, if the machine is so well designed.
I’m a big fan of the Nagra tape recorder as well, or I record a lot on portable to track field recorders, made for film sounds. For me – tape, digital, analogue – whatever gets the job done and I feel happy with is my colour of choice. Because I know that whatever I do there is so much flexibility to treat material further in the mixing processes, and have more decisions. Of course, when I put something on tape I will never make it sound like a really good modern recording, but there’s still so many places that I could go with it that I just trust what will come out.
WHF?: It comes back to the performance being key; but if you set a certain recorder up do you think that affects the way you play?
NF: I don’t try to make the recorder a big inspiration or compositional element. I would rather record in a way that I can play loud notes without distortion, and if I play very quiet I will record in a way that I don’t just hear noise. But obviously the piano is a very dynamic instrument: if you want to get a good recording done, before you start playing you should think ‘is this a loud piece or a quiet piece?’.
I always turn the gain on the mic preamps to an according position, because the piano has over 90dB of usable dynamics. If I play super quiet and I have to crank the preamps up otherwise I will record almost nothing, and if I know I’ll play a loud piece or dynamic piece I have to turn the amps down knowing the quietest elements will not otherwise sound as good. So obviously I take this into account [but it doesn’t change the way I play].
WHF?: Do you have a list of favourite piano recordings that you go back to again and again?
NF: I think my favourite piano record, that I have gone back to for years, is one that doesn’t really sound like my style of recording. It’s actually the opposite: it’s a very far, distant sound. It’s a recording called Bagatellen und Serenaden by Valentin Silvestrov. He is a Ukrainian composer living in Kiev; I think it’s like nobody recorded the grand piano in such a loving way as ECM has done. Another mind-blowing recording from ECM is Der Bote by Alexei Lubimov. And there’s one piece [on that record], In the Landscape by John Cage, and that piece is just sounding unreal.
But again most of that is how the piano was treated and prepared by the piano technicians prior to the session. They really make the sound of the piano, these people, the piano tuners. They don’t tune the piano, they touch it in every possible spot; they put oil here, they sand down the hammers, they put needles inside the hammers to see whether the density should be different. So each note gets basically custom tuned, and so the whole piano becomes one thing that sounds like an instrument, which inspires the player. Because a piano that doesn’t inspire the player will not lead to a good take.
So all becomes like one beautiful thing: the room, the acoustics, how the piano is set up, who is the piano builder and the player, the performance. All that composition. And out of a thousand piano recordings, there are some that are just reaching far beyond what I thought was possible. That always sets imagined horizons, for me to remember: ‘wait, maybe we’ll get something else out of that wooden box, something more engaging than what we’ve heard.’
Principles and physics
(Image credit: Leiter Verlag)
WHF?: We want to talk to you about not just what you listen to, but how you listen at home. Do you have a mix of sources, amplifiers and things?
NF: At home I listen strictly to vinyl at the moment, just because I don’t need flexibility. I have the studio where I can listen to digital files. At home I just play records. I have a good pick up on a customised [Technics SL-1200] MK2. I just love that record player; I actually like how it looks also, people hate the Technics now but I still have mine and I’m very happy with it.
And that goes through a phono stage. I forgot the name: it’s a custom box from Sweden by a guy who put all the equaliser curves of all the different pressing plants – the Philips and Columbia and whatever – because I have a lot of original Columbia records for my US tours. I collect some original jazz records. And so I can just set the equaliser settings, because I realise that some of the records sound really much different when I change the EQ – and that makes sense when you know the history of that.
Then out of the phone stage I go into a… Jesus Christ, I’m so bad at names; I just bought this thing.. it’s an Air Tight, used 34-watt tube amp. I go straight into that and I need the boost to drive my 15 Ohm Klangfilm speakers. I made some custom wood panels for it so it’s not a closed chassis, it’s an open-baffle speaker. They have a coaxial driver with a tweeter in the centre, which is similar to the system I use in the studio, but it’s from the 1940s or something. And I made my own frequency divider for this with just an old British condenser, which sounds fantastic and takes the low out of the tweeter.
It’s very rough but it gives me such a good overall sound and tone. It isn’t very good with very low bass, and it’s not a fast speaker, but when you play resonant, atmospheric music like piano or jazz or old records especially, it sounds almost like people are in your room playing. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. Obviously it’s not a reference system, but it’s a very good sound system.
WHF?: It sounds a lot like the way you approach the piano, tinkering and tailoring to make it fit your own taste. Is that something you’ve always been interested in, on the listening side?
NF: Yes, every aspect in life for me is similar. I don’t want to buy brands, I think it’s boring when you just go ‘I like this brand and I like that brand’. I want to go beyond and when I like something I want to know why; I want to understand the principle, and often it’s not the magic of some brand. I mean, people think they should buy Bose speakers – I don’t want to bash Bose, they just don’t do the equipment I like – but if people trust the name, they think whatever they do will work.
Even if you listen to people with the everyday stuff, they say ‘oh, I have to buy the soap from this brand’ and ‘you have to buy the soap from that brand’. And I am always like, well let’s take that soap let’s look at the back: so it’s this, it’s this, it’s this… and then I go back and try to find the basic components. Usually it gets much easier without the additives and the weird colouring stuff, and it’s for the same for me with instruments or speakers.
I want to know, why do I like this? For example, why do I like coaxial speakers? The principal for me is much more important than the brand. All the forums that try to figure out how to make stuff sound good, they discuss brands and models; but people don’t really discuss physics, and they don’t really discuss principles, and types of signal flow. So there’s little knowledge about Class A, B, C, D – and so people try to remember what they should buy, and they think, ‘so I heard Class A sounds the best, so I need class A’. But often you don’t need class A. For me it’s always about looking under the bonnet.
WHF?: It’s testament to your creative mind that everything is an interaction rather than a consumable for you. Is it a similar tweaked set-up when you’re touring and on the move?
NF: No, my life is simple: when I don’t have a sound system that I like, I don’t really listen to music. I also need time away from sounds and away from music, nobody wants to listen to music 24/7. So if I’m not in the studio or not at home, I just stop listening to music. And if I’m in the car, I go with whatever sound system is in there. I would never spend money on that: it’s just a car. Maybe I listen to NPR or something like that, and it helps me also to listen to music on just a very average sound system, just for double-checking mixes.
So yeah, I’m not a picky type. Like I said, I value good-sounding records over a good-sounding sound system. Because I learnt a lot of people who are crazy about good speakers, they start buying CDs that are only made for good speakers, where the music was recorded through golden cables or whatever. And the musicians are not so good, but their sound recording is really good, and so they listen to reference where the music is not so interesting. For me, that is the point where I’m just getting lost, because the sound system is just there to play music from talented people with a message. Sometimes these moments are recorded great, and then if they’re recorded great I can also listen to that on a shitty sound system where it will cut through.
My first Radiohead experience was like that. I listened to a €100 or whatever, portable, shit CD player back in the day in the late 90s, designed for a children’s room. And I sat and I played Amnesiac, and it sounded huge. It sounded absolutely insane, it sounded completely different to all the other records I had, and I could never really get sound out of that box. I was at that point more interested in bypassing the quality of what people have as a hi-fi, and try to make music which transforms the speaker, whatever quality it is, into to what the composer or the artist wants from it.
I know examples of records that will sound good on every sound system I know, and that’s not 100 per cent what is important but it’s very interesting to learn about this. Especially when people don’t make music and they just buy equipment to play back, and they’re not so familiar with how music is made. They need to know that when something doesn’t really sound right in that room ,or something doesn’t really sound right in that moment, it’s mostly a problem with the producer. It should not be the problem of the consumer to help whatever didn’t work in the recording or production stage. So whenever we want to listen to good music, we just have to find the good music. It’s very easy and you don’t need to spend too much money on on anything
WHF?: Those recordings you know will sound good on any system, what are they for you?
NF: Basically anything Miles Davis recorded In the 50s and 60s, especially Kind of Blue and the soundtrack he did for the French film, Ascenseur pour l’échafaud. That will transform your iPhone into to a huge soundstage. And obviously the Chet Baker example is is the most convincing for me, because when you put Chet Baker on your iPhone and you put your iPhone into a Pringles box, it will also almost sound as good as if you listened on thousand euro speakers. Maybe just 90 as opposed to 100 per cent. It’s a rough statement to make, but people probably get the point.
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Caviar releases three luxury Limited Edition smartphones of the iPhone 12 Pro (Max) in the spirit of the cult game and upcoming action movie Mortal Kombat.
Caviar regularly releases exclusive Limited Edition smartphones, which are often based on the top models from Apple and Samsung. This time the Russian Caviar has designed three special iPhone 12 Pro (Max) models, made for fans of the game Mortal Kombat. The introduction of these exclusive smartphones does not stand on itself, as the film adaptation of this popular fantasy / action video game will be released next month.
The 2021 Mortal Collection from Caviar includes three iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max models, each dedicated to a different character within the legendary game: the protagonist Scorpion, the Emperor Shao Kahn and the wizard Shang Tsung.
iPhone 12 Pro Scorpion edition
The first design of the iPhone 12 Pro Scorpion is inspired by the protagonist of Mortal Kombat; Scorpion and his weapon, which is wrapped around the smartphone cover. The smartphone is encased in ultra-strong titanium with a gold-colored extra strong PVD coating, used to cover luxury Swiss watches..
It is decorated with inserts made of multilayer material based on epoxy resin and fiberglass, used in the manufacture of edged weapons. This Limited Edition smartphone looks brutal and luxurious at the same time.
Caviar will produce only 99 copies of the Scorpion Edition. The starting price is set at $ 6,140 USD, for which you will receive the model with 128GB of memory. Prices for the iPhone 12 Pro Max start at $ 6,680 USD. Naturally, these devices offer exactly the same functions as a regular iPhone 12 Pro (Max).
Limited Edition smartphone in the spirit of Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn’s impressive image inspired Caviar designers to create an austere model for the Caviar iPhone 12 Pro Shao Kahn. A titanium throne is put on a black base made of resistant composite material. There is no one in it, but the throne is not empty – an outlandish war hammer lays in it. The war hammer is formed from the phrase “I Win”.
The weapon is covered with wear-resistant premium material – titanium heated to super-temperatures, applied according to PVD technique. The composition is completed with a gold-colored skull, symbolizing enemies defeated by the hammer’s owner.
99 copies will be produced of this model. A unique number is engraved on the side of the device. The starting price is set at $ 6,910 USD, for which you will receive the model with 128GB of memory. Prices for the iPhone 12 Pro Max Shao Kahn start at $ 7,450 USD.
iPhone 12 Pro Mortal Komat Collection: Shang Tsung
The mighty wizard in Mortal Kombat became the inspiration for the Shang Tsung edition. There we see the soul of a sorcerer extracting another soul of a defeated enemy. The letters that make up the phrase «You Soul is Mine» are lined with material that glows in the dark.
The exclusive smartphone combines titanium with a black, ultra-durable PVD coating with a 3D skull and two snake patterns. The case is adorned with 4 high saturation emeralds that add luxury and mystery to the accessory.
The price of the iPhone 12 Pro Shang Tsung starts at $ 6,600 USD for the 128GB model. In addition, there is a choice of 256GB and 512GB memory. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is available at a starting price of $ 7,140 USD.
Putting off iOS updates for a week or two is generally fine, but it’s probably a good idea to download the latest one, iOS 14.4.2, as soon as you can. It fixes a security flaw that Apple says may have been exploited out in the wild (via MacRumors). The update also applies to iPadOS, so take a couple of minutes out of your day to go to Settings > General > Software Update.
According to Apple’s update notes, the security flaw allowed for universal cross-site scripting. In other words, a malicious website or script could gain access to information from other webpages you have open, which isn’t great, especially since Apple says that some sites may be doing this.
As I said back in January when Apple released a similar update, this doesn’t mean it’s time to completely lock down your phone and treat it like it’s radioactive until you can get it updated. Just stay clear of sketchy websites (which is good advice in general), and update your phone sooner rather than later.
Locations for H&M clothing stores in China were not showing up on Apple Maps searches in China on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported, amid growing anger among Chinese consumers at the company’s decision to stop sourcing from the Xinjiang region. The company has more than 400 stores in China, but all H&M locations are now missing from maps, ride-hailing, and e-commerce applications, the Journal found.
It was the latest of several Western brands, which also includes Nike and Adidas, that are facing calls for boycotts in China. The US announced last year it would stop imports of cotton and other goods from Xinjiang, over allegations the Chinese government uses forced labor in its production. Earlier this week, the Biden administration announced it was imposing sanctions against two Chinese officials over what it says are ongoing human rights abuses against China’s Uyghur Muslim population.
In response, the Chinese government and state-run media have urged boycotts of Western brands. On Wednesday, The Communist Party’s Youth League in China pointed to H&M’s statement from last year, in which the company said it was “deeply concerned by reports from civil society organizations and media that include accusations of forced labor and discrimination of ethnoreligious minorities in Xinjiang.” H&M said it would not source cotton from the Xinjiang region as a result.
In a statement posted to its Weibo page earlier this week, H&M China said the company did not “represent any political position” and that the company “continues to respect the Chinese consumer.”
The Journal reported that searches for H&M in Apple Maps on an iPhone, or China-based Baidu Maps, did not return any results, while other retailers appeared as normal. H&M was removed from the Alibaba e-commerce platform this week, according to the Journal.
Apple did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge on Friday.
(Pocket-lint) – The iPhone SE (second generation) is essentially an iPhone 8 externally but with the innards from the iPhone 11. It’s the natural successor to the long-discontinued but very popular iPhone SE from 2016.
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That means you’re getting some flagship features for a mid-range price. Wireless charging and waterproofing stick around, plus the single-camera from the iPhone 8, but with most of the software smarts from the iPhone 11.
We’ve now got the iPhone 12, of course, and you can see how that stacks up against the iPhone 11 here: Apple iPhone 12 vs 11 vs iPhone XR comparison: What’s the difference?
So should you order the new iPhone SE or opt for the more expensive but more advanced iPhone XR or iPhone 11? Here’s the lowdown.
Which is the best iPhone for you?
Design
iPhone SE (2020): 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm, 148g
iPhone XR: 150.9 x 75.7 x 8.3mm, 194g
iPhone 11: 150.9 x 75.7 x 8.3mm, 194g
The iPhone SE (2020) is based on the iPhone 8 shell and that phone is at the bottom end of Apple’s smartphone range. Therefore it’ll slot in underneath the iPhone XR even though it has even more advanced innards.
iPhone SE is a Touch ID-based handset as opposed to the Face ID used on iPhone 11 and iPhone XR, so the screen doesn’t have a notch.
Surprisingly, it is water-resistant like the other two devices (it’s IP67-rated like the iPhone XR but not like the 11’s and IP68 rating). A glass back means it can also use Qi wireless charging.
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The iPhone SE comes in a single 4.7-inch size – there isn’t an equivalent of the iPhone 8 Plus in the SE range (that spot has now been taken by the iPhone XR, if you like).
The iPhone 8 has now been discontinued. It came in gold, silver and space grey and the SE is available in red (ProductRED), black and white. In comparison, the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 have a wider range of colours in their ranges.
iPhone 11 colours
iPhone 12 colours
Display
iPhone SE (2020): 4.7-inch, LCD, 1,334 x 750 pixel resolution
iPhone XR: 6.1-inch, LCD, 1,792 x 828 pixel resolution
iPhone 11: 6.1-inch, LCD, 1,792 x 828 pixel resolution
None of these models have OLED displays unlike the iPhone 11/12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone XS and iPhone X. Both the iPhone 11 and the iPhone XR have a 6.1-inch, Liquid Retina LCD display that has a 1,792 x 828 pixel resolution, giving a pixel density of 326ppi.
The iPhone SE (2020) has a 4.7-inch 1,334 x 750 pixel display, again giving 326ppi. It has True Tone tech like the other two models and yes, it’s the same as the iPhone 8 display.
The displays support Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback.
Cameras
iPhone SE (2020): Single rear camera (12MP), 7MP front camera
iPhone XR: Single rear camera (12MP), 7MP TrueDepth front camera
iPhone 11: Dual rear camera (12MP wide angle and ultra wide angle), 12MP TrueDepth front camera
The iPhone 11 is by far the better camera phone here, with a dual-camera on the rear and 12-megapixel TrueDepth camera on the front.
The iPhone 11 has a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle f/2.4 camera and a wide-angle f/1.8 sensor. There’s optical image stabilisation (OIS), a brighter True Tone flash and Portrait Lighting with six effects, as well as second-generation Smart HDR for photos. You also get a new night mode, a major improvement.
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The iPhone XR has a single 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, OIS and 5x zoom. It also only offers three effect Portrait Lighting and first-gen Smart HDR for photos.
The iPhone SE (2020) has the same single camera as the iPhone 8 and iPhone XR but betters the XR by having many of the camera software features from the iPhone 11. So there are all six Portrait Lighting effects and Depth Control in addition to the second-generation Smart HDR. There is no night mode however. The front camera can do portrait mode, just like the iPhone 11, but it can’t do Animoji or Memoji. Like the XR you can’t use Portrait Mode unless you have a human face in the shot. Those portraits of your cat or dog using Portrait Mode are a no-no.
All three phones are capable of 4K video recording up to 60fps and Slo-mo up to 240fps at 1080p resolution.
Hardware
iPhone SE (2020): A13 Bionic platform, 64/128/256GB storage, single SIM with eSIM
iPhone XR: A12 Bionic platform, 64/256/512GB storage, single SIM with eSIM
iPhone 11: A13 Bionic platform, 64/256/512GB storage, single SIM with eSIM
The new iPhone SE uses the A13 Bionic chipset like the iPhone 11, bettering the A12 inside the iPhone XR.
The iPhone XR and 11 come in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage sizes and there’s the same 64GB entry-level on the iPhone SE, with 128GB and 256GB as the other options.
As we mentioned, the new SE will use Touch ID and have a Home button unlike the Face ID-toting iPhone XR and iPhone 11. Wi-Fi 6 is also supported, as it is in iPhone 11 although the iPhone 11 wireless antennas are better. All three handsets have support for a second SIM in the form of an eSIM.
All three phones also support wireless charging via a Qi charger and Apple’s Quick Charging feature although you will have to upgrade from the charger in the box. If you use a fairly new MacBook (one with a USB-C cable) you can use that charger, although you will have to buy A new USB-C to Lightning cable for it to work. But by doing so you’ll be able to get around 50 per cent charge in around 30 minutes.
All three handsets are 4G only. If you want a 5G iPhone, you need to get an iPhone 12.
Conclusion
There’s little doubt that the iPhone 11 is the best phone here. The main advantage it has over the XR is its second camera, and it’s smaller form factor making it easier to fit in your pocket. Otherwise, the experience will be very similar.
The new iPhone SE will slot in at the bottom of the range, but while it’ll be cheaper the main thing you compromise on compared to the XR will be the Touch ID-based design. The camera on the iPhone SE (2020) in our tests is better, thanks to the additional software improvements.
Many users upgrading from older iPhones will actually find this design reassuring rather than off-putting and may prefer it as an option, especially if you aren’t ready to move to a buttonless iPhone just yet. Plus, the smaller screen size will cater for those who don’t want a large-display phone.
Gaming platform Rec Room is now a unicorn, valued at $1.25 billion during a recent funding round of $100 million. It appears to be one of the first, if not the first, virtual reality-focused startup to achieve unicorn status, a notable feat since Facebook’s landmark acquisition of Oculus VR for $2.4 billion in 2014 helped established the modern VR business.
Founded in 2016, Rec Room is a free app that lets players build custom virtual spaces and games that can be played across various platforms. The Seattle-based company launched on Steam as a VR-focused platform, and in 2018, expanded to non-VR platforms. It’s now available on Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, and PC. CEO Nick Fajt said in an interview with The Verge that VR usage on the platform climbed over the holiday season due in part to sales of the Oculus Quest 2 headset.
In 2020, Rec Room saw a 566 percent increase in revenue — most of that comes from in-game purchases — and it now has more than 15 million lifetime users. Fajt says the company now has 1 million monthly active VR users, a number that tripled during the pandemic, TheWall Street Journal reported.
The platform’s primary users are teenagers between ages 13 and 16, Fajt said, so Rec Room benefited from students being online longer during the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020. But it was also growing in popularity before people were confined to their homes.
“The pandemic accelerated trends we’d been seeing for several years,” Fajt said. “A lot of people are looking for a digital third place that’s distinct from home and school or work where they can meet up with friends, hang out, explore, and be creative. I think that’s been true whether teenagers were going to school physically or on Zoom. People need a space like this.”
He added that while it’s possible the platform may see a decrease in users once teenagers can gather in person, he sees Rec Room as more than just a replacement for real-life socializing. “It’s helping a lot of people maintain connections with friends that are hundreds or thousands of miles away,” Fajt said. “These are friends separated by physical distance not just social distance. So if Rec Room has become part of your routine, I suspect it will stay that way even beyond the pandemic.”
Rec Room is preparing for an IPO in the coming years. In the meantime, other gaming platforms are continuing to grow thanks to a boost from pandemic audiences. Roblox, an online gaming platform for slightly younger users than Rec Room’s, also has seen a sharp uptick in use during the pandemic. Roblox went public via direct listing earlier this month and said in its prospectus that it has 31.1 million daily users, who spent an average of 2.6 hours daily on the platform in the past year.
Roblox told The Verge last summer that over half of US kids and teenagers under the age of 16 play the game. During the pandemic there has been much hand-wringing about kids’ increased screentime, but games like Roblox and Epic Games’ Fortnite provide socialization, just not the in-person kind we may be used to.
Before the pandemic, some of the appetite to develop new AR and VR hardware had started to wane — Sony PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan suggested in October that an update to Sony’s PlayStation VR headset was still a few years away. (Sony has since teased more details about its next iteration of PlayStation VR with a formal product announcement, followed by images of its new controllers.)
But other companies have for years been ramping up their efforts in AR and VR hardware. The Information reported earlier this month that Facebook has some 10,000 employees — roughly a fifth of its workforce — focused on new devices in both fields, and the company has already shown off prototypes of experimental research products and plans to release a pair of Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses later this year. Apple has long been rumored to be working on AR and VR hardware, too, and recent reports suggest the iPhone maker will debut a VR device sometime in 2022.
“The market has shown an increased appetite for gaming companies,” Fajt said. “I think that will only grow as more data becomes available about the strength and durability of these businesses.”
(Pocket-lint) – Motorola’s Moto G100 marks a big occasion for the brand. Why? Because it’s a G series phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor inside. That, on the face of it, contradicts what a G series is supposed to be all about: affordability. Which, in turn, would typically mean entry-level specification – not a high-end processor such as this.
But, no, the G100 is all about change. It’s the phone to say, “hey, you don’t need that big, expensive flagship when you can have this for half the price”. Which might sound like an echo of, say, what OnePlus has been shouting from the rooftops with its Nord model, as one example.
Yet the Moto G100 feels genuinely different. Having recently reviewed a glut of Chinese-borne phones – such as the Poco X3 Pro, the Redmi Note 10 Pro – where sub-flagship affordability is the key selling point, the lighter touch of the Motorola software feels simply refreshing.
So what gives? Well, the G100 can’t pretend to have the biggest, fanciest cameras. Because it doesn’t. It’s not got a Hasselblad partnership like OnePlus. It’s not got a Zeiss partnership like Vivo. But, you know what, we don’t care – because the Moto G100 is a half-price flagship that adds up to oh so much more.
Curiously the G100 has already been released elsewhere in the world: it’s called the Edge S in China. Which, um, makes absolutely no sense to us – as we thought the ‘Edge’ series was all about having a curved screen edge.
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The G100 does not have a curved screen, it’s flat, so there’s nothing ‘edge’ about it. It’s also an IPS LCD panel, not an AMOLED one, so you might not call it ‘cutting edge’ either.
That said, it sits perfectly well in a device like this a you don’t really lose out on brightness or resolution at this level. Plus the IPS part of the tech means viewing angles are good without causing colours to skew. Speaking of which: the colours – available in natural, boosted and saturated configurations within the settings – hold up really well, delivering realistic rather than ridiculous hues.
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The only thing that we’re a little less keen about with this panel is the surface’s coating, which is a little more reflective than some. Oh, and the double punch-hole camera is, well, exactly that: two holes burning into the corner of the screen that are more distracting than just the one (but at least it’s not a giant pill-shaped hole).
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Flip the G100 over and, what’s this, a finish that’s actually fun? Hurrah. After the dodgy palette of the Moto G30, it’s good to see that the colour palette people at Motorola have got their mojo back. This model pictured is called ‘Iridescent Sky’, because it looks like one of those pink/blue spring-time sunsets we suppose.
That finish is good at hiding how fingerprints catch on the surface, too, because they are there aplenty – we’ve just been cautious when photographing the handset. It’s easy to wipe clean, though, as the surface is nice and smooth – even the ‘batwing’ Motorola symbol on the rear is holographic-like in appearance, not debossed or textured onto the surface.
That the Moto logo lives on the rear and doesn’t serve a function hints at the fingerprint scanner’s location too: it’s found within the power button on the side of the phone, foregoing the in-display option. Much as we like the display-based sign-in, this fingerprint scanner is a decent operator. And there’s face unlock available too.
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Keeping with being a G series handset, the G100 also features a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card expansion slot. Good to see it’s not forgotten its roots.
While the G100 supports such legacy features as card expansion and wired headphones, in other departments it’s very much all about embracing the future. There’s no sloppy Wi-Fi connection, as you’ll suffer in the lower-down-the-ranks G10. The 128GB storage is reasonably generous, but it’s UFS 3.1 to ensure fast read/write access for best performance.
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But above all else, the big sell of this phone is the Qualcomm platform at its heart. Here it’s the Snapdragon 870 – which, while part of the 800 series, isn’t the very, very top-end processor, it’s only a whisker away. Which is to say: it’s mighty fast, a step up from many of those using 700 series processors, and if you want to dabble in a bit (or a lot) of gaming then it’s a really good choice.
That’s one of the things about the Moto G100: it’s kind-of like a budget gaming phone. Things will run super smooth thanks to the processor, the fast RAM, but also the smooth 90Hz refresh rate of the display. No, you won’t see that bump in refresh affecting everything all of the time – plus you’ll need to activate it within the settings, as it’s off by default – but it’s a good place for a phone such as this to exist.
Even plugging away at games for hours at a time doesn’t cause too much trouble where battery is concerned. The 5,000mAh cell is a big part of the reason for the G100’s above average weight, but it’s a great capacity to have at your fingertips. We’ve seen its drain be very linear – around 30 per cent every 8 hours – even with an hour of gaming thrown in during such a time-frame.
Given the capability of the processor, the screen refresh rate, and the presence of 5G (we’ve been outside of such networks for this review though), that’s really solid performance.
As we’d alluded to before, the software in the Moto G100 is lovely to use. It’s close to stock Google Android, with a single Moto app to control gestures, themes/styles, display notifications, and gaming controls (such as do not disturb). You don’t have to dabble in the Moto app, indeed you could entirely ignore it. But what’s particularly great about the software is that it doesn’t need lots of tinkering, it just works – and without glitches, such as the notification delays issue with our Xiaomi Mi 11.
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There’s another sideline part of the G100 puzzle too: it’s the first Motorola phone to be compatible with the company’s Ready For system. Which is a bit like ‘Moto DeX’ if you’re familiar with Samsung’s desktop-based DeX system. We’re not going to dig deep into the system for this review as, frankly, we don’t think it’s the core appeal of why people will buy a G100. It’s a niche extension option, complete with a camera dock that may have its uses instead of a Facebook Portal, but that’s as much as we can say right now.
Whereas many flagships make a big song and dance about their camera arrangements, the G100 doesn’t really earn the right to do so. That’s the thing about top-end devices these days – so much of the cost comes from additional lenses, co-engineering partnerships, and so forth. The G100, on the other hand, keeps things fairly simple.
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: Main cameraMain camera
Well, kind-of simple. The claim of “quad camera” on the rear is nonsense as that apparently includes both a depth sensor and time-of-flight sensor, which would more or less do the same thing – both are there to ultimately make up the numbers as if “quad” is better than “triple”, even if it isn’t due to lack of core, usable lenses.
Anyway, let’s focus on what is here: a usable main camera and less commendable wide-angle one. There’s a gallery above showing how the two compare, and the quality drop-off from the wide-angle option is quite significant.
The main lens is 64-megapixels, using a four-in-one processing method to output at 16-megapixels total – although the processing is often heavy handed, oversharpens and can’t discern detail in all situations (the daylight country scene below being one such example – the trees are all blocky and indistinguishable, if you look at the 100 per cent crop).
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: Main cameraMain camera
Where subjects are a little closer to camera – but not too close as it struggles to focus and the macro mode is poor (avoid this when prompted) – there’s more ability to resolve detail from a scene. Whether a dim-lit puzzle board or the fur of a toy bear, there’s enough detail to tick the main camera’s “usable” box.
But we touched upon this at the very beginning: if you don’t want the biggest and fanciest of cameras then the G100 does the job. Not the best job, but it gets by. And with features such as HDR (high dynamic range) to balance out shadows and highlights, various shooting modes, and the hardware to capture without delay, there’s enough to keep this camera setup from being the very baseline of entry-level kit for 2021.
Verdict
The Moto G100 is a shake-up for the G series, bringing performance levels not before seen in this line-up. While that might be a little perplexing on the face of it – especially as it’s not a G series device in China, it’s the Edge S, muddying the naming convention further – it’s a rather refreshing take in a section of the market where there’s not a tonne of great options.
If you’re willing to forego the usual camera hype and pizzazz that top-end flagships tend to promise – as there’s really very little of that here – and having a high-end processor and performance potential is high up your roster, then the Moto G100 is a strong sell. It’s got the software right – which, in our opinion, can’t be said of the Xiaomi MIUI and Oppo ColorOS competition – the visuals tight, and performance is at peak height.
That’s the Moto G100 in a nutshell: a budget gaming-capable phone that foregoes the AMOLED screen hype and camera cost implications to deliver a half-price near-flagship that, in use, adds up to oh so much more.
Also consider
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OnePlus Nord
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Also 5G capable, with a 90Hz refresh screen, but a little less power and, therefore, a little lower asking price. If every penny counts then it’s a savvy alternative.
Read our review
Writing by Mike Lowe.
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