Sony is announcing two new phones today, the Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 5 III. Both are the latest in Sony’s campaign to redefine the Xperia brand as a kind of sibling to its well-regarded Alpha digital cameras. As such, the camera system is once again the main focus, and Sony specifically is touting the “world’s first smartphone with a variable telephoto lens paired with a Dual PD sensor” and improvements to its already fast and accurate autofocus system.
Pricing was not announced, but they should both be available in the US “this summer.”
Each phone has the basic specs you’d expect on a top-flight Android phone: three cameras on the rear, a Snapdragon 888 processor, and support for 5G. Actually, the 5G support is worth noting because these Xperia phones will be able to work on 5G networks in the US, something weirdly lacking on the last models. However, they’ll only work on the regular sub-6 networks on Verizon and T-Mobile, without support for AT&T’s 5G network. As is fairly usual for Sony, these will be sold directly rather than via carriers.
The phone also keep the Xperia design language Sony landed on with the original Xperia 1. They’re tall and narrow, with lots of glossy black and small curves on all the angles, giving them the most monolithic look of a smartphone today. I think they look great, but I’m also aware that they’re likely to cost a lot of money when Sony gets around to announcing the price.
In order to establish the Xperia brand, Sony has also been pushing a lot of other nice specs that are relatively hard to come by on other Android phones. The Xperia 1 III has a 4K OLED screen that now supports a fast (though locked) 120Hz refresh rate. There are dual speakers that are 40 percent louder and will work with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format.
Sony is also enabling a special mode for the USB-C port that allows you to use a special cable to take an HD-resolution video signal from an SLR camera so you can use it as a monitor – much like the Xperia Pro can do with HDMI. That could also make them an interesting option for live streaming.
They’ll come in both dual-SIM and SIM+microSD variants. And there’s even a good ol’ headphone jack and a shutter button.
The Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 1 III
There’s also the more standard fare, like wireless charging and a 4,500mAh battery. When plugged in and gaming the phones can redirect power away from the battery to reduce heat. Both phones will ship with Android 11, but as of right now there’s no clear commitment to future software updates.
If you step down from the Xperia 1 III to the Xperia 5 III, you’ll get a very similar set of specs with a few exceptions. It’ll be smaller, of course. The larger phone has a 6.5-inch 21:9 display while the 5 has a 6.1-inch 21:9 display — at 1080p resolution instead of 4K. But it still has support for the periscope-style variable lens.
But again, the big push is on the cameras and here Sony has done quite a bit to improve the hardware. Sony is using three 12-megapixel sensors on the back, and both the main and telephoto lenses support OIS. (The Xperia 1 III also gets a time-of-flight sensor.)
Sony says it has lenses that are the equivalent to 16mm (f/2.2 ultrawide), 24mm (f/1.7 wide), and 70mm (f/2.3 telephoto), but that the telephoto can also reach to an f/2.8 105mm equivalent. That extra telephoto zoom comes thanks to a folded periscope lens design, and the Xperia is physically moving the lens elements to get different focal lengths.
The idea is that photographers will mostly stick to those focal lengths, but should they want to zoom further or use a zoom level in between the Xperia phones will utilize digital zoom.
Sony Xperia 5 III
Sony Xperia 5 III
Sony Xperia 5 III
Sony Xperia 5 III
Sony Xperia 5 III
Sony Xperia 5 III
Beyond the fancy hardware, Sony has iterated on its software. Unlike Google, Apple, and even Samsung, Sony is putting its emphasis on technical features rather than computational photography. It is claiming some improved low-light performance in some situations, but really the main emphasis is on features like autofocus and shooting speed.
These phones can take photos at up to 20fps with focus/exposure readings happening at 60fps. They also support 120FPS 4K in HDR. There’s still eye-tracking autofocus, but this year there’s real-time tracking for that autofocus. In a demo, Sony showed a subject turning around and when their eye was visible again, the camera adjusted.
Sony is finally integrating its pro camera app with the main camera app. There’s the “basic” mode like any smartphone, but it’s now quicker to get to the pro mode. Sony’s pro mode really is angled towards people who use Sony’s cameras, too: the interface is very similar.
On paper, all of this sounds really great. We’ll need to review them to see if these specs can translate to great experiences. Previous Sony Xperia phones have also had great camera hardware specs, but for taking quick shots they have often missed the mark. Treating a smartphone camera as a pro SLR-style camera could limit their appeal.
Sony’s tack with the Xperia line is to pack them to the gills with specs and features that will appeal to photographers and even videographers (there’s an excellent workflow-based video app included). In reality, however, Sony has struggled mightily to gain any measurable marketshare in the US. A lot of that has come down to higher prices than is the norm for even flagship Android phones, but some of it also comes down to availability. Without carrier partnerships or massive marketing budgets, these Xperia phones are more likely to appeal to camera enthusiasts than mainstream Android buyers.
I would like to thank Antec for supplying the review sample.
These days many brands have gone the route of buying OEM frames and adjusting the tooling slightly to accommodate their needs. This is actually not bad since OEMs have really stepped up their game in recent years, and many of the enclosures offered by well-known brands are actually quite solid as a result. Thus, seeing a unique chassis is getting rarer. The Antec Dark Cube is a unique chassis from the brand that tries to walk a line most other brands avoid for fear of doing wrong: an upside, custom-tooled ITX chassis, which is a challenging prospect in any case regardless of size because the potent air-cooling of GPUs usually isn’t purpose-built for it as their fans push air into the heatsink. On top of that, Antec made the Dark Cube spacious enough to even handle an M-ATX motherboard as well.
Specifications
Antec Dark Cube
Case Type:
Mid-Cube
Material:
Steel, plastic, aluminium alloy, and glass
Weight:
10.2 kg
Slots:
4
Drive Bays:
1x Internal 3.5″ 1x Internal 2.5″
Motherboard Form Factors:
Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX
Dimensions:
512 x 240 x 406 mm
Front Door/Cover:
Air cover or glass cover
Front Fans:
2x 120 or 140 mm (optional)
Rear Fans:
1x 120 mm (optional)
Top Fans:
N/A
Bottom Fans:
N/A
Side Fans:
N/A
Front Radiator:
240 mm
Rear Radiator:
120 mm
Top Radiator:
N/A
Bottom Radiator:
N/A
Side Radiator:
N/A
I/O:
1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C 2x USB 3.0 1x Headphone 1x Microphone
In its review of PowerColor’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate, French publication Overclocking.com discovered that the graphics card is based on a new variant of the Navi 21 (Big Navi) silicon. The review brought to light the possibility that other vendors may also be preparing faster custom Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards.
There are currently three variations of the Navi 21 die on the market. The XL version is used in the Radeon RX 6800, the XT in the Radeon RX 6800 XT and lastly, the XTX in the Radeon RX 6900 XT. As exposed in the review, the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate leverages the Navi 21 XTXH die, which is why even the latest version of GPU-Z doesn’t recognize the die. Through the help of PowerColor, Overclocking.com got its hands on the latest version of AMDVbFlash, a utility to flash firmware on Radeon graphics cards. The tool effectively confirms the existence of the Navi 21 XTXH silicon on the RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT already utilizes the full Navi 21 die, which brings 5,120 shading units and 80 ray tracing acceleration cores. Therefore, the XTXH variant in all likelihood is just a higher-binned die with improved clock speeds and a more generous power limit. Since AMD provides the dies to its partners, it’s reasonable to think that the XTXH is AMD’s idea rather than the partners doing their own binning.
Coming back to the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate, the RDNA 2 graphics card comes with two modes of operation. The silent profile limits the game and boost clocks to 2,135 MHz and 2,335 MHz, respectively, while the OC profile cranks them up to 2,235 MHz and 2,425 MHz, respectively. Basically, we’re looking at a 10.9% and 7.8% higher game and boost clock speeds, respectively, in comparison to the vanilla Radeon RX 6900 XT. Does the increase warrant a new die revision? Apparently AMD (or at least PowerColor) thinks so.
Overclocking.com noticed that with the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate the core and memory frequency sliders were unlocked in AMD’s Radeon software. It’s uncertain if the newly lifted limits are a product of the Navi 21 XTXH’s firmware. The power limit option is still locked though. But the Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate has a 330W power restriction, so there is enough thermal headroom for overclocking. Overclocking.com got its sample to 2,750 MHz on air and up to 2,850 MHz under liquid nitrogen.
The Radeon RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate is probably just one of many custom Radeon RX 6900 XT iterations that will leverage the Navi 21 XTXH silicon. Given the timing of the review, we wouldn’t be surprised if vendors announce these higher-binned Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards in the next couple of days. But with the current situation for graphics cards, we fear the announcements might as well be vaporware.
The first flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter was delayed again after running into a glitch in the rotorcraft’s flight control software during tests last week. The mini helicopter remains grounded on the surface of Mars’ Jezero Crater while it waits for engineers to tweak, test, and reinstall the software. NASA said it will come up with a new date next week for the inaugural flight test.
Ingenuity, the four-pound helicopter that arrived on Mars on February 18th with its parent rover, Perseverance, is nine days into a monthlong test window that began when its four little legs touched the Martian surface for the first time on April 4th. The helicopter has been going through a series of tests and checkouts before flying, which includes surviving its first frigid night on Mars, unlocking its twin carbon fiber blades, and doing a few stationary rotor spin tests.
The first slow-speed rotor spin at 50 rpm went well early last week, while NASA was working toward a debut flight on Sunday night. But engineers ran into a problem on Friday night when they went for the high-speed rotor test: Ingenuity’s “watchdog” software detected a bug and prevented the craft from performing the test. Ingenuity was healthy, it just couldn’t do the high-speed rotor spin.
Over the weekend, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory decided “that minor modification and reinstallation of Ingenuity’s flight control software is the most robust path forward,” NASA said in a Monday night blog post. Altering the software means independent engineers will have to review and test the changes before installing it back onto Ingenuity’s computer, a process that could take all week to complete.
Ingenuity is waiting on Mars for a software upgrade before it can fly.Photo: NASA / JPL
NASA said “our best estimate of a targeted flight date is fluid right now, but we are working toward achieving these milestones and will set a flight date next week.” Engineers will come up with a new date for the high-speed test and its first flight after they send the new software through Perseverance’s communications hub and boot it to Ingenuity.
In the meantime, NASA said Perseverance will continue doing science and prepare for a test of MOXIE, an onboard instrument that will try to produce oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere. The rover’s primary mission is to search for signs of ancient life and leave pods of soil samples on the surface for a future mission to retrieve and send back to Earth.
For Ingenuity’s flight test, Perseverance will watch from a football field’s distance away using two onboard cameras. The rover also serves as a communications hub; its onboard Mars Base Station will relay signals from Ingenuity to satellites orbiting Mars, which will beam those signals back to Earth.
Ingenuity is expected to carry out at least five flight tests within its 31-day test window (or 30 Mars days). For its debut flight test, the craft will ascend 10 feet above the surface and hover in place, pivot, then descend for a landing, lasting about 40 seconds altogether. Subsequent tests are expected to fly higher and travel short distances, but the exact flight details will be determined by how well the craft nails its first flight.
Ingenuity will need to exert immense power to achieve lift in Mars’ thin atmosphere. If it can do so, it’ll mark the first powered flight on another world, a historic achievement NASA is calling a “Wright brother’s moment” that could expand interplanetary mobility to where traditional wheeled rovers can’t travel.
Ingenuity’s carbon fiber rotor blades will spin roughly 2,400 rpm during flight. For the high-speed spin test beforehand, the blades will spin at 2,537 rpm (while tilted in a certain position so it doesn’t accidentally lift off). As engineers tweak the craft’s software, the clock is ticking. NASA officials have said Ingenuity’s monthlong flight test window can’t be extended if the helicopter runs into more issues before flying.
“The is primarily a science mission for the Perseverance rover, and it needs to get on with that primary mission,” Hårvard Grip, Ingenuity’s chief pilot, told The Verge on Saturday night. “So that’s why there’s a time limit for the helicopter.”
The firing of top Google AI ethics researchers has created a significant backlash
Google has worked for years to position itself as a responsible steward of AI. Its research lab hires respected academics, publishes groundbreaking papers, and steers the agenda at the field’s biggest conferences. But now its reputation has been badly, perhaps irreversibly damaged, just as the company is struggling to put a politically palatable face on its empire of data.
The company’s decision to fire Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell — two of its top AI ethics researchers, who happened to be examining the downsides of technology integral to Google’s search products — has triggered waves of protest. Academics have registered their discontent in various ways. Two backed out of a Google research workshop, a third turned down a $60,000 grant from the company, and a fourth pledged not to accept its funding in the future. Two engineers quit the company in protest of Gebru’s treatment and just last week, one of Google’s top AI employees, a research manager named Samy Bengio who oversaw hundreds of workers, resigned. (Bengio did not mention the firings in an email announcing his resignation but earlier said he was “stunned” by what happened to Gebru.)
“Not only does it make me deeply question the commitment to ethics and diversity inside the company,” Scott Niekum, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin who works on robotics and machine learning, told The Verge. “But it worries me that they’ve shown a willingness to suppress science that doesn’t align with their business interests.
“It definitely hurts their credibility in the fairness and AI ethics space,” says Deb Raji, a fellow at the Mozilla Foundation who works on AI accountability. “I don’t think the machine learning community has been very open about conflicts of interest due to industry participation in research.”
Niekum and Raji, along with many others inside and outside of Google, were shocked by what happened to Gebru and Mitchell, co-leads of the company’s Ethical AI team. Gebru was fired last December after arguments with managers over a research paper she co-authored with Mitchell and others. (Google disputes this account and says Gebru resigned.) Mitchell was fired in February after searching her email for evidence of discrimination against Gebru. The paper in question examined problems in large-scale AI language models — technology that now underpins Google’s lucrative search business — and the firings have led to protest as well as accusations that the company is suppressing research. After Gebru was ousted in December, a Medium post declaring solidarity with her and criticizing “unprecedented research censorship” by Google was signed by nearly 2,700 employees and more than 4,300 “academic, industry, and civil society supporters.”
It’s likely there will be more protest and more resignations, too. After Bengio left the company, Mitchell tweeted, “Resignations coming now bc people started interviewing soon after we were fired,” and that “job offers are just starting now; more resignations are likely.” When asked for comment on these and other issues highlighted in this piece, Google offered only boilerplate responses.
One of the employees who quit the company in protest earlier this year was David Baker. He started work at Google in 2004 and when he resigned in February, he was director of its Trust & Safety Engineering group. He tells The Verge that Google’s treatment of Gebru (he left before Mitchell was fired) has seriously shaken his confidence in the company.
“I was just blindsided to see and hear what happened to Timnit,” Baker told The Verge. “It broke my heart.” He adds that he didn’t take the decision to resign lightly: he loved his job and refers to his last couple of years at the company as “the happiest days of my life.” But quitting was the least he could do to stand in solidarity with Gebru, he says. “I spent a couple of weeks thinking and talking with my wife and ultimately decided I just couldn’t bring myself to go back to work.”
Baker is just one individual who feels let down by Google, but his response shows how the company has damaged its standing even with senior employees. The Trust & Safety team that Baker oversaw works on a range of important safety problems in Google, from tackling spam on Gmail to removing scams from the company’s advertising platform. “We’re behind the scenes on a whole bunch of applications,” as Baker puts it. He adds that although he didn’t work with Gebru or Mitchell personally, members of his team did, learning from them as part of what he calls the “emerging discipline” of AI safety.
AI safety will grow ever more important to Google as the company integrates machine learning methods ever deeper within its products. Probing the limitations of these systems — not just from a technical perspective but also a social one — was at the heart of Gebru and Mitchell’s work. And while it’s in Google’s interests to find weaknesses in its own technology, it seems the company didn’t want to hear everything its employees had to say.
Baker says that although he was always reassured by Google’s integrity within the Trust & Safety group (“We were very focused on what was right for the user, it was not about what was best for the brand”) the treatment of Gebru has made him doubt whether the company is always able to live up to its best intentions.
“I think it definitely calls into question whether Google can be trusted to honestly question the ethical applications of its technology,” says Baker. “And Google’s failure in diversity will lead to blindspots in its research. The reality is that Google is not a place where folks from all backgrounds can thrive.”
Researchers and academics The Verge spoke to for this story highlighted two distinct but connected concerns with Google’s behavior.
The first is the treatment of Gebru and Mitchell as individuals and what that says about the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion as an employer. Google has well-documented problems with hiring and retaining minority talent, and this is another example of its failures. The second touches on broader questions about the trustworthiness of the company’s AI research and whether the company can fairly examine the potential harms of its technology. In the case of Gebru and Mitchell’s work, that means the damage posed by large-scale language models.
All those interviewed for this story stressed that they didn’t doubt the integrity of individual Google researchers, but were worried that the company’s internal structures — including its review process of papers — were subtly warping their work.
“I trust that things they are publishing are correct but I don’t trust that they’re not censored,” Hadas Kress-Gazit, a professor of robotics at Cornell who boycotted a Google workshop along with Scott, told The Verge. “It’ll be the truth but not the whole truth.”
One of the ways Google’s research is shaped to fit corporate interests is through the company’s internal review process. Last December, Reuters reported that Google had created a new level of review for “sensitive topics” in 2020. If researchers are writing about topics like sentiment analysis, facial recognition, the categorization of gender, race, or politics, they have to consult with Google’s PR team and legal advisors who will look over their work and suggest changes.
Internal correspondence cited by Reuters includes feedback in which a senior Google manager told a paper’s author to “take great care to strike a positive tone.” Another paper was edited to remove all references to Google’s products, and another to remove mentions of legal risks associated with new research — including risks to users’ personal data.
In a statement to The Verge, Google said: “Our research review process engages a wide range of subject matter experts from across the Research org and Google overall, including social scientists, ethicists, policy and privacy advisors, and human rights specialists, and has helped improve many of our publications and research applications.”
But as Mitchell told Reuters last year (when she was still employed by Google): “If we are researching the appropriate thing given our expertise, and we are not permitted to publish that on grounds that are not in line with high-quality peer review, then we’re getting into a serious problem of censorship.”
Mitchell’s worries are substantiated by the nature of the paper that led to her and Gebru’s departure. Far from offering a controversial or unexpected appraisal, the research gave a comprehensive overview of existing critiques. One marker of this (and of the research’s thoroughness) is that the paper cited 128 previous publications in its original form — more than six times the average for papers published at AI conference NeurIPS.
The paper says that, like many algorithms, AI language models have a tendency to regurgitate “both subtle biases and overtly abusive language patterns” found in training data, and that because of the amount of computing power needed to create these models they come with environmental costs. These are not controversial observations, and even critiques of the paper have praised its general arguments. One widely shared evaluation of a finished version of the paper by computer scientist Yoav Goldberg notes that it “takes one-sided political views” and is overly focused on questions of scale, but adds: “I also agree with and endorse most of the content. This is important stuff, you should read it.”
This makes Google’s objections to the paper unusual. The company’s head of AI, Jeff Dean, said that the paper “didn’t meet our bar for publication” and “ignored too much relevant research” about how the problems it highlighted might be mitigated. But for many, including employees at Google, these objections rang false. As one researcher at Google Brain Montreal, Nicolas Le Roux, commented on Twitter: “My submissions were always checked for disclosure of sensitive material, never for the quality of the literature review.”
Connected to Google’s treatment of the paper itself is the treatment of Gebru as an individual, and what that says about the company’s attitude toward Black and women researchers. “In environments where these people are dismissed, devalued, or discriminated against, their work — these valid critiques of the field — is discredited and dismissed, too,” says Raji. “Minoritized voices have a harder time vocalizing these critiques even though they’re some of the most important contributions to the space.”
This dynamic is not new. Raji gives the example of a 2018 paper called Gender Shades by researcher Joy Buolamwini — a paper now recognized as a landmark critique of gender and racial bias in facial recognition. “Famously, the paper almost didn’t get presented at conference because it was dismissed as too simple,” says Raji. After it was published, Gender Shades had a huge effect on the industry and society at large. It sparked political debates about the utility of facial recognition, prompting companies like Microsoft to reevaluate the accuracy of their technology, and others, like IBM, to drop it altogether.
In other words: it significantly changed the political landscape and the priorities of big tech firms. This is the power and impact that the right paper at the right time can have, and for many people this explains why Google was so keen to shut down Gebru’s criticism.
As Raji notes, much of this important work is done by groups who are not treated well by tech firms. She says this dynamic — dismissal of the individual leading to dismissal of their work — was at play with Google’s treatment of Gebru. “It was really easy for them to fire her because they didn’t value the work she was doing,” she says.
Despite the anger and sadness articulated by many researchers The Verge spoke to, others were more ambivalent about recent incidents. They said it would not affect their willingness to work with Google in future, and noted that interference in research was the price of working in industry labs. Many said they thought the only lasting solution to this problem was better public funding.
One AI professor at an American university who’s previously received money from Google to fund research and wished to be anonymous, told The Verge that he could understand why people wanted to protest the company but said that finding funding in academia would always force researchers to turn to potentially compromising sources.
“I cannot really define a coherent moral or ethical position that says it is okay to accept money from the Department of Defense but not from Google,” said the professor by email. “Put another way: how can you accept (or avert your gaze from) the atrocities that the DoD commits (across the world and also in terms of HR matters involving its own people), but draw the line at the current case with Google?”
Another researcher, who also wished to be anonymous, noted that working in corporate labs would always come with trade-offs between academic freedom and other perks. They said that Google was not alone in treating research staff callously and pointed to Microsoft’s sudden decision in 2014 to shut down an entire Silicon Valley lab, firing more than 50 leading computer scientists with little warning.
By some measures, though, Google is a special case and wields outsize influence in the field of AI in a way that other companies have not in the past. Firstly, Google happens to have in abundance the two resources that have powered AI’s ascendance in recent years: abundant computing power and data. Secondly, the company has stated time and time again that AI is crucial to future profitability. This means it’s directly invested in the field in a way that doesn’t compare to its funding of, say, computational neuroscience. It’s this combination of self-interest and technological advantage that gives it the ability and motivation to direct, to some degree, the parameters of academic research.
“They have this massive influence because of the combination of money they’re putting into research, [the] media influence they wield, and their enormous presence in terms of papers published and reviewers in the system,” says Niekum. He adds, though, that this criticism could be applied to other big tech companies just easily.
Whatever the context of Google’s involvement in AI research, it’s clear that the company has hurt its reputation significantly with its treatment of Gebru and Mitchell. Calculating what effect incidents like these will have on a company in the long run is impossible, but in the short term Google has eroded trust in its AI work and its ability to support minority voices. Accusations of self-censorship will also undermine claims that it can regulate its own technology. If Google can’t be trusted to examine the shortcomings of its own AI tools, does the government need to take a closer look at their workings?
All the same, those boycotting Google workshops and refusing its money know that their actions are more symbolic than anything else. “Compared to the number of people who are collaborating with Google and the number of academics who have part time appointments at Google, it’s a drop in the ocean,” says Kress-Gazit. They’re still determined, though, to press the issue in the hope that Google will make amends. Since the firing of Gebru and Mitchell, the company has appointed a new employee, Marian Croak, to oversee its Responsible AI initiatives. It’s also tweaked its review process for papers (but offered no details about what has changed or why). For those angry with the firm, it needs to do much more, including offering real transparency for reviews and apologizing publicly to Gebru.
And for others, it’s too late altogether. Raji, who is close to Gebru, says that as a result of watching how Google treated her friend over last few months, she’s changed her mind about going to work in industry and decided to pursue a career in academia instead.
“Before this, I had a lot more faith in what could happen with industry research on these AI ethics issues,” she says. “This whole situation shows that within industry there’s a lot of cultural dynamics still at play and you’re still beholden to leadership caring about these issues. As a minority woman, you’re going to be disadvantaged and disrespected in certain ways. And I’m just not ready for that.”
That’s one talented researcher the tech industry has lost. It won’t be the last.
Adata’s XPG Gammix S70 is fast and features almost everything you could want from a high-end PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD, but the heatsink is a bit restrictive and not quite as refined as our current best picks.
For
+ Very fast sequential performance
+ High endurance
+ AES 256-bit hardware encryption
+ Black PCB + Heatsink
+ 5-year warranty
Against
– It may be physically incompatible with some motherboards
– High idle power consumption on the desktop
– Slow write speeds after the SLC cache fills
– Pricey
Features and Specifications
Dishing out blisteringly fast sequential speeds of up to 7.4 / 6.4 GBps, Gammix S70 touts some of the fastest performance ratings that we have seen from an NVMe SSD. Yet, it isn’t produced by Samsung or WD, and surprisingly, it isn’t even powered by a Phison controller. Instead, Adata’s XPG Gammix S70 uses a high-end NVMe SSD controller from InnoGrit, a much smaller fabless IC design company.
InnoGrit isn’t a big name when most think of flash controllers, at least not compared to Phison, Silicon Motion, and Marvell. However, the company is far from inexperienced in controller architecture design and engineering. In fact, its co-founders have years of experience in the industry and have created a compelling product line of SSD controllers since opening in 2016.
Thanks to InnoGrit’s IG5236, a robust PCIe 4.0 eight-channel NVMe SSD controller, the company secured a contract with Adata to create the XPG Gammix S70. With this beast of a controller at its core, the S70 could potentially be the fastest SSD on the market. But it faces tough competition from Samsung, WD, and other competitors that pack Phison’s competing E18 SSD controller, like the Corsair MP600 Pro and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, to name a few.
Specifications
Product
Gammix S70 1TB
Gammix S70 2TB
Pricing
$199.99
$399.99
Capacity (User / Raw)
1024GB / 1024GB
2048GB / 2048GB
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller
InnoGrit IG5236
InnoGrit IG5236
DRAM
DDR4
DDR4
Memory
Micron 96L TLC
Micron 96L TLC
Sequential Read
7,400 MBps
7,400 MBps
Sequential Write
5,500 MBps
6,400 MBps
Random Read
350,000 IOPS
650,000 IOPS
Random Write
720,000 IOPS
740,000 IOPS
Security
AES 256-bit encryption
AES 256-bit encryption
Endurance (TBW)
740 TB
1,480 TB
Part Number
AGAMMIXS70-1T-C
AGAMMIXS70-2T-C
Warranty
5-Years
5-Years
Adata’s XPG Gammix S70 is available in capacities of 1TB and 2TB, priced at $200 and $400, respectively. The S70 is rated to deliver sequential performance of up to 7.4 / 6.4 GBps and to sustain upwards of up to 650,000 / 740,000 random read/write IOPS with the 2TB model. Like most modern SSDs, the S70 uses SLC caching to absorb the majority of inbound write requests, and in this case, the cache measures one-third of the available capacity.
The controller implements InnoGrit’s proprietary 4K LDPC ECC, end-to-end data protection, and even a RAID engine to ensure reliability and data integrity. As a result, the S70 can endure up to 1,480 TB of data writes within its five-year warranty. Additionally, the S70 supports AES 256-bit hardware-accelerated encryption for those who need both speed and data security too.
Adata has also said this drive will feature a fixed build of materials, so the components, like the NAND and SSD controller, will remain the same throughout the life of the product.
A Closer Look
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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Adata’s XPG Gammix S70 comes in an M.2 2280 double-sided form factor and is equipped with a very large aluminum heatsink to keep “cool in the heat of battle,” as the company’s marketing department says. Adata claims that the heatsink reduces the SSD’s temperatures by up to 30%. While potentially effective, with the heatsink measuring 24.3 x 70 x 15 mm, its tall and wide footprint may lead to compatibility issues, as was the case with our Asus ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi).
The S70’s heatsink prevents the SSD from fitting into the motherboard’s secondary M.2 slot and also prevents the PCIe slot latch below it from locking to secure your add-in card (like a GPU) when placed in the first M.2 slot. Furthermore, if placed in an M.2 slot under a PCI slot, the S70’s thick heatsink may also prevent AICs from slotting completely into the PCIe slot.
Making matters worse, the base of the heatsink is held onto the PCB with a very strong adhesive. If you were planning to remove the heatsink for better compatibility, the adhesive might cause you to damage the PCB by cracking it in half. We don’t recommend doing so.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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Unlike Adata’s XPG Gammix S50 Lite, the S70 comes with a much faster NVMe SSD controller. The InnoGrit IG5236, dubbed Rainier, is a capable multi-core PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.4-compliant SSD controller that’s fabbed on TSMC’s 16/12nm FinFET process, which is important to help control power consumption when achieving multi-GB performance figures. It also features client-oriented power management schemes, and Adata claims it consumes as low as 2mW in the L1.2 sleep state.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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To achieve its fast performance, the S70 leverages a DRAM-based architecture. The controller interfaces with two SK hynix DDR4-3200 DRAM ICs for FTL table mapping and Micron’s 96-layer TLC flash at NV-DDR3 speeds of up to 1,200 MTps spread over eight flash channels. Our 2TB sample contains 32 dies in total — each die has a four-plane architecture that responds very fast to random requests.
Micon’s flash architecture places the periphery circuitry under the flash cell arrays, differing from Samsung’s V6 V-NAND and WD’s BiCS4 to enable high array efficiency and bit density. The CuA architecture also enables redundancies while splitting the page into multiple tiles and groups, enabling fast and efficient random read performance.
Dell has unveiled a new XPS 13 option with an OLED touchscreen that is available for purchase today. The feature will cost an extra $300 over FHD models. (Note: This isn’t a brand-new XPS. It’s just an OLED version of the 9310 that came out last year.)
XPS 13 models start at $999.99 and range as high as $2,199.99, though you can often find them discounted. They can be equipped with up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of PCIe SSD storage.
Image: Dell
The Dell XPS 13 is consistently one of the best 13-inch laptops you can buy. It’s currently number six on our best laptop list, and I had very few complaints in my most recent review of the device. It has an excellent, spacious 16:10 display; a solid keyboard and touchpad; great battery life; a compact chassis; and some of the best performance you can find in a 13-inch model.
Image: Dell
You can currently configure the XPS 13 with a 3840 x 2400 touch display, a 1920 x 1200 touch display, or a regular 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel. The new OLED touch model will have 3456 x 2160 resolution (3.5K). Dell says it will reach 400 nits of brightness and will cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
Here’s what Dell calls the “Inspiron Family”Image: Dell
Dell also announced a number of new additions to its lower-priced Inspiron line. These include an Inspiron 14 2-in-1 that will support both Intel 11th-Gen and AMD Ryzen 5000 mobile processors, and Inspiron 16 Plus workstation with a 3K 16:10 display. The Inpsiron 14 2-in-1 will be available in North America on May 4th starting at $729; the Inspiron 16 Plus hits shelves on June 3rd starting at $949.99.
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What makes a smartwatch “smart”? Is it the ability to show you notifications from your phone? What about the ability to track your physical activity and wellness, such as step counts, workouts, and sleep? How about providing you information about your day, such as the weather and upcoming calendar events? Or perhaps it’s the inclusion of a voice assistant on your wrist that you can ask to do things without having to use your phone?
Those are the questions I’ve been asking over the past week-plus as I’ve been testing the new OnePlus Watch, a $159 smartwatch and the first wearable from the smartphone company. The OnePlus Watch has all the looks of a modern smartwatch, but as I’ve learned wearing it on my wrist day and night, it doesn’t have all the smarts.
The OnePlus Watch is not like a Wear OS smartwatch, such as those made by Fossil, Motorola, or Mobvoi. Nor is it like a Samsung Galaxy Watch or an Apple Watch. All of those have software platforms that integrate with other apps and services, so you can download apps or watchfaces to the watch itself, just like you might with a phone. That makes them very extensible and customizable — you can easily make the watch look unique and do the things you need it to.
The OnePlus Watch, on the other hand (or wrist?), runs its own proprietary software, based on a real-time operating system. This software is very quick and power efficient, but it is not extensible — there’s no app store or third-party watchfaces to download on the OnePlus Watch. It’s similar to the software on the budget smartwatches you can get on Amazon; if you’ve ever used an Amazfit, Umidigi, or Wyze watch, you’ve used a real-time operating system. The OnePlus Watch is not very different from those in this respect.
This choice of platform affords the OnePlus Watch its greatest strength, long battery life, and also its greatest weakness: it just doesn’t do all that much compared to other smartwatches you can buy.
The OnePlus Watch looks like many other smartwatches, but most especially the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active.
OnePlus Watch software
The OnePlus Watch pairs with and is controlled by the OnePlus Health app for Android — there’s no iPhone compatibility at all. But you don’t need to own a OnePlus phone, it works with basically any modern Android device. I tested it on both OnePlus and Samsung smartphones and the experience was the same.
The app is where you can see what health and fitness metrics the watch has recorded, adjust which apps send notifications on your wrist, and view the available watchfaces. OnePlus has about 50 watchfaces so far, with some offering limited customizability in the form of selectable shortcuts or widgets, such as a weather widget, date, or shortcut to a built-in app like the timer. You can choose up to 14 faces to store on the watch and switch between them without using your phone. The company says it plans on adding more in the future, but as I mentioned earlier, there are no options for third-party watchfaces or third-party app widgets like you get with Samsung, Wear OS, or Apple smartwatches.
The watchfaces themselves are what you’d expect: there is the assortment of analog and digital styles to choose from, with some showing more information about your activity than others. I’m not a big fan of the analog options, so I settled on a digital face. Unfortunately, there’s a bug where digital watchfaces on the OnePlus Watch are stuck in 24-hour time and can’t show 12-hour time. The company tells me it is aware of this bug, and it is slated to be fixed “this month.”
The OnePlus Watch’s interface mimics Wear OS and is easy to navigate.
The watch interface has a familiar layout: swipe down for settings, swipe up to see notifications, press the side button to see your apps. You can swipe right from the watchface to access basic widgets for music control, weather, and activity tracking, similar to Wear OS or a Samsung watch. The design of the interface all looks mostly fine, and there thankfully aren’t any stutters or lags when navigating it.
I do have a few gripes with how notifications are handled. You can’t clear notifications by just swiping them away, like you can with every other smartwatch. Instead, you have to tap into each one and then press clear or scroll to the bottom to clear them all. It’s a clumsy and fiddly process. The OnePlus Watch doesn’t always sync with the notifications I’ve cleared on my phone, either, and occasionally notifications for the same messages would get duplicated, forcing me to see the same alerts more than once.
You can’t do much with those notifications, either. There are no actions you can take other than clearing them from your wrist. OnePlus supports canned message replies in just five apps: WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Discord, and Facebook Messenger. Notably and frustratingly, that list doesn’t include standard SMS messages. On top of that, there are only four basic replies to choose from: “OK”; “Be right there!”; “In a meeting, contact you later”; and “I’m driving, contact you later.” I frequently use a smartwatch to triage notifications, delete incoming emails, or reply to messages when I’m away from my desk, but I can’t do most of those things with the OnePlus Watch.
The OnePlus Watch comes with a basic set of apps: weather, timer, stopwatch, alarm, workout, sleep tracking, etc. Oddly, it doesn’t have a calculator or a calendar app, so I can’t easily see my next meeting or appointment, something I do a lot with other smartwatches. There’s no way to get your next appointment on your watchface, either. And since there isn’t an app store, I can’t add any apps to that list.
You can forget about streaming music from Spotify or playing podcasts through your favorite app — the only thing you can do with the OnePlus Watch is control what’s playing on your phone or transfer MP3 files from your phone to the watch’s 4GB of storage. Want to track your runs with Strava or MapMyFitness instead of OnePlus’ app? Sorry, no dice. If you want to control smart home devices from your wrist, the OnePlus Watch is entirely useless unless you have a OnePlus TV, where you can use it as a remote. The OnePlus TV is only available in India.
The OnePlus Watch also lacks a voice assistant. I can’t ask it to start a timer when I’m in the kitchen and my hands are dirty, I can’t ask it to turn the lights off or open my garage door, and I can’t dictate a reply to an incoming message. How well voice assistants work varies greatly between smartwatches (Siri on the Apple Watch, pretty good! Bixby on a Samsung watch, less so), but OnePlus isn’t even trying here and I’ve missed having one available.
Lastly, even though the OnePlus Watch has an NFC radio, it does not support mobile payments. You can’t tap your wrist to pay for something like you can with an Apple Watch, Samsung watch, or Wear OS smartwatch.
The OnePlus Watch’s fitness tracking features hit the standard beats.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
OnePlus Watch fitness tracking
The fitness tracking features are quite basic. It will track your steps throughout the day; the watch will nudge you to get up and move when you’ve been sitting for too long; you can choose between 14 different workouts for the watch to track; and if you wear the OnePlus Watch to bed, it will make an attempt to track your sleep.
I’m not a gym rat, but I did wear the OnePlus Watch on my left wrist with a Fitbit Inspire HR on my right wrist throughout this review and the OnePlus counted thousands fewer steps than the Fitbit every day. None of these devices are perfect with their step tracking, but that kind of discrepancy is going to make tracking a longer-distance run or other intense workout inaccurate or just plain hard to do. I asked a few other reviewers I know who are also testing the OnePlus Watch and each one has had the same issues with inaccurate step counting. OnePlus says a bug fix for GPS optimization and to add more workout modes will be available sometime in mid-April.
While the OnePlus Watch frequently undercounted my steps, it overestimated how much I slept each night.
Sleep tracking, oddly enough, has the opposite problem. The OnePlus Watch consistently overestimates how long I slept each night compared to the Fitbit and Google’s Nest Hub. A bug has also prevented the Watch from syncing its sleep data with the OnePlus Health app, even though other activity synced over fine. The company says this bug should also be fixed sometime this month.
As mentioned earlier, you can’t use other fitness apps on the OnePlus Watch. The OnePlus Health app provides syncing with the Google Fit platform, so it’s possible you could cobble together a syncing solution between other apps using Fit as glue, but I did not test this. In general, the OnePlus Watch’s fitness tracking is fine for basic activity trends, but any fitness enthusiasts will want something more capable and reliable.
The OnePlus Watch only comes in one size: a large 46mm face.
OnePlus Watch hardware and design
In terms of design, the OnePlus Watch is generic-looking — it reminds me a lot of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active line. It’s got a round face, there are two buttons on the side, and the body is made of polished stainless steel, which is nice to see at this price point. It comes in silver, black, or a gold-colored special edition — I’ve got the black model and it’s a little boring to look at. Either way, the hardware is solid and put together well — it’s not creaky or plasticky, and there are no rough edges to worry about.
OnePlus is only offering the watch in one size, 46mm, and frankly, it’s big. It’s bigger than I like watches to be on my wrist, and if you have smaller wrists than me you’re not going to have a fun time with this. On the plus side, it’s not the thickest smartwatch I’ve ever worn. Just one size band comes in the box — OnePlus says that customers who need a shorter band will be able to get one by contacting customer service.
The touchscreen is a 1.39-inch 454 x 454 OLED that’s easy to see both indoors and out. It’s colorful, like you’d expect an OLED to be, but there’s no always-on display option, which nearly every other smartwatch has now. That makes it that much more annoying to check the time, though the wrist turn gesture does work well to wake it up.
On the underside are the sensors for heart rate and blood oxygen. As usual, you should not use these sensors for medical purposes — and blood oxygen monitors on even the best smartwatches notoriously struggle with giving accurate readings. Inside the watch are the accelerometers and gyroscopes necessary to track your activity and workouts, plus GPS and Bluetooth radios. There’s no Wi-Fi or LTE here — if you leave your phone behind, you’re going to miss notifications and alerts until the watch is back in Bluetooth range of your phone.
Also missing from the OnePlus Watch are any rotating bezels or crowns — the only way to interact with it is to tap and swipe on the screen itself or push the buttons on the side.
Even though it doesn’t have a voice assistant, the OnePlus Watch does have a microphone and speaker, so you can answer calls from your wrist via Bluetooth. It worked fine in my tests; callers said I sounded clear to them, but the speaker on the watch is a bit crackly at full volume. It works in a pinch.
The OnePlus Watch has exceptional battery life and charges very quickly on its included charger.
The best thing about the OnePlus Watch is its battery life. OnePlus claims up to 14 days of usage between charges — it lasted about 10 days for me, wearing it day and night. Charging the watch is also quick and easy: just 20 minutes on the charger adds half a charge, which translates to literal days of usage. No Apple, Samsung, or Wear OS watch can last this long or charge this quickly.
But at the same time, the OnePlus Watch has such great battery life because, frankly, it just does less than those other smartwatches. The best comparison I can make is that the OnePlus Watch is a fitness tracker in a smartwatch body, which would be an acceptable premise if it were a better fitness tracker.
There are about 50 different watchfaces to choose from for the OnePlus Watch.
The OnePlus Watch may look like a lot of other smartwatches, but I can’t say it compares well to them. It’s limited in features, only comes in one size, and as I’ve gone over, there are several bugs with it that make it feel like an unfinished product. Aside from its long battery life, the OnePlus Watch’s bestselling point is its low price, which is half that of a Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and over $100 less than the comparably sized Galaxy Watch Active 2. But if you’re looking for a smartwatch for your Android phone, it’s not that hard to find Wear OS models on sale, often for less than the cost of the OnePlus Watch.
For me, a good smartwatch is a lot like a personal assistant on my wrist. It tells me the time, when my next calendar appointment is, what the weather is like, and how active I’ve been throughout the day. I can quickly ask it to set a timer when I’m making a cup of tea or use it to reply to a message from my spouse when I’m running an errand. It also lets me customize its appearance and capabilities through third-party apps, watchfaces, or both. For others, it’s a way to track workouts and keep on top of their personal health.
In that framing, the OnePlus Watch isn’t really a smartwatch and based on my experience, it isn’t a great fitness tracker either. Instead, it’s just a clever watch, and it can be useful if your expectations of it are low. But if a smartwatch is going to take up real estate on my wrist, it has to be more useful than the OnePlus Watch.
Between the excellent operating system and solid all-round performance, this is an impressively complete package at a reasonable price
For
Excellent upscaling
Bold, colourful picture
Superb Roku UI
Against
Sonically lightweight
Colours can be heavy-handed
There are reasons why wine is dated by year. The grapes might come from the same fields, the fermentation process may be identical and the barrels alike, but the taste and quality still vary from season to season. While TV panel production is unlikely to be quite so affected by the weather, the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK proves that just because you use the same materials and method as last year’s excellent vintage, it doesn’t mean the results will be the same.
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is likely to be the cheapest 50in TV we’ll see on sale in the UK this year from a major manufacturer. It promises a good-sized, punchy 4K HDR image and all the major apps and services you could need, without so much as an additional box or stick in sight.
It’s a pledge that Hisense delivered so well in 2020 with its R50B7120UK model that it has decided to leave the recipe pretty much as it was for its 2021 Roku TV. While there are many Roku TVs available in the US, for the UK this Hisense model stands alone.
Pricing
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is priced at £349, although if last year’s set is anything to go by, that could drop significantly later in the year. The Hisense Roku TV A7200GTUK is also available in 43in, 55in and 65in sizes, though our review sample here is the 50in version. On paper, these other panel variants are identical, apart from that the 43in size comes with a lower-powered, twin 7W speaker system and the top-end size benefits from a two 10W speaker set-up.
These Hisense Roku TVs are only available in the UK and are Argos exclusives.
Features
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is simple and unassuming in style and appearance and the chassis is almost the same as the previous model. It’s a little more even on the rear, though the overall thickness remains identical. The feet are matte plastic instead of gloss, but that’s about it.
The one key improvement is on the front, where the bezel has been reduced from a basic-looking 1cm band to something closer to 4mm, giving a more contemporary aesthetic. There’s no change to the usable and fully featured remote control. There are direct shortcuts buttons to Freeview Play, Netflix, Google Play Movies & TV, Spotify and Rakuten, plus some clear navigation and media controls too.
Around the rear of the set are three HDMI 2.0-rated ports which can manage frame rates of up to 60Hz at 4K level. There’s also a USB 2.0 socket, a wired headphones connection, and ARC support for easy connection to a soundbar.
Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK tech specs
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
HDR formats HDR10, HLG
Sound formats Dolby Audio, DTS Studio Sound
Inputs 3x HDMI 2.0 (inc ARC), USB 2.0, headphones out
Freeview Play Yes
Dimensions (hwd) 72 x 113 x 26cm (with stand)
Weight 9kg
The Roku TV smart platform is pretty close to flawless. It covers all the major streaming services as well as thousands of seriously niche ones. You want a channel dedicated to crossbow hunting? It’s there. Fancy gaining more knowledge about the cigar industry? You’ll find that here too, along with plenty of other topics.
The only gaps in its offering are Britbox, Apple Music, Amazon Music and VLC, although it does have its own Roku media app, and Airplay support means you can stream most missing content from Apple devices.
You’ll find 4K HDR content available on all the big players. Since last year’s model was launched, UHD support for Google Play has arrived as has the BT Sport app, which is good news for football fans.
It’s also well worth downloading the Roku Channel, which brings free access to over 10,000 films, TV episodes and documentaries from over 40 content partners. But it’s not just the apps that make Roku great, it’s the ease of use. The menu system is simple and clear and the universal search is excellent. Type in the name of an app, TV show, film, actor or director and it brings up all the information you need. Results pages show all the streaming services where each title is available, with the resolution and price information. That now includes the catch-up services, which is an upgrade on the platform compared to last year’s Roku TV.
To set up voice searching, you’ll need to download the handy Roku TV app allowing you to add new channels, cast content from your mobile or tablet to your TV, or just use it to control playback. We also love the Private Listening mode on the app interface; press that and the TV’s sound is routed through your device. Attach a pair of headphones to your mobile and you have a personal AV experience – perfect for late-night viewing.
For live TV, the Freeview tuner is at the helm, along with the Freeview Play homepage of curated catch-up content. At the heart of the experience is the exact same quad-core processor to do the leg work. It offers more than enough to drive the system with barely a hint of lag or frozen responses at any point. Once again, Roku TV is a pleasure to use from top to bottom, from app to screen.
Picture
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
Despite its low price, the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is still a direct-lit LED TV – and it shows. Compared with others at this end of the market, the light levels are fairly even across the panel and, even if there’s a little bit of bleed, the blacks are strong with no off-putting blotchiness. Unlike pcirier direct-lit LED sets, though, there appears not to have been enough left in the budget for any local dimming zones, and that’s probably the most telling absence on the spec sheet.
We watch the opening sequences of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 on 4K Blu-ray and the Missouri cloudscape is more heavy-handed than we’re used to. The dramatic overtones are still there, with plenty of contrast to handle that, but the lack of close control to individual areas of the backlighting means that it’s missing the subtlety of a more expensive TV set.
However, Hisense seems to know where this TV’s strengths lie. It’s not trying to offer finesse, it’s aiming to land a punch. And it does so successfully. The picture is bright and colourful, and even sharper and richer than its apparently identical predecessor.
This second run of Hisense Roku TVs for the UK really comes into its own once we leave the confines of Earth and head to the Sovereign planet for the Guardians’ battle with the Abilisk and a firework display of colour and fun.
The kaleidoscope of gases spewed by the multi-dimensional, tentacled monster look terrific, and the characters flying around it are bold and well-defined in all their HDR glory. There’s no adjustment for motion processing onboard, but while there’s some judder it isn’t hard to cope with. There’s no blurring and smearing of the action to distract either.
Switching down to standard-definition material with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray, we are reminded of last year’s Roku TV and its brilliance with upscaling from 1080p. Fortunately, that ability remains intact.
The opening scene in the hut is as revealing in terms of shadow detail as we could hope. It’s worth adjusting the brightness slider in the picture settings until you strike the right balance. In terms of starting points, the ‘Normal’ setting gets you closest to the best results, but make sure ‘TV Brightness’ is set to max.
Both the early scenes of Rey’s desert home on Jakku and the lush green forests of Maz’s home planet of Takodana are produced with enthralling colours and so much natural detail that it’s hard to find fault with the picture. Even watching BBC News in SD, the picture is remarkably sharp and stable for a panel this size, even if the colours are more simplistic.
Our only real criticism of the image is at higher resolutions. Occasionally that punchy approach can take things too far; it doesn’t have the same chromatic complexity as more expensive TVs. The result is that every now and then, the colour of a piece of clothing or skin tone misses the mark.
For example, Quill’s overcoat ends up a little too oxblood in the throne room scene in front of Princess Ayesha. There’s also a moment when Gamora’s green face is a little too lurid, but there are relatively few of these mishaps. What this TV does with its limited technical resources is impressive.
Sound
(Image credit: Future)
According to the spec sheet, there’s no difference between the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK and its 2020 predecessor, but their two sonic presentations are like chalk and cheese. One favours clarity, the other authority, but ultimately neither one produces particularly better TV sound than the other. It seems there’s only so much life that can be squeezed from this modest two 8W speaker system.
As with the picture adjustments, there are only a few settings to play with – only really the DTS processing mode and a dialogue enhancer. There’s also a TruVolume mode for night-time listening which will limit the peaks and troughs of loudness at any one volume level, so that you can hear the onscreen action without waking your neighbours.
Watching the battle sequence outside Maz’s tavern midway through Star Wars: The Force Awakens, gives an excellent sense of what this speaker system can manage. Given its limited resources, this TV copes pretty well. The sound effects of the laser blasts and the TIE fighters screaming past are crisp and detailed. The battle cries and dialogue of the rebels and troopers are clear and placed effectively in the soundscape. When the X-Wings come to the rescue and chase off the Empire, the rousing score still manages to excite.
Naturally, there’s room for improvement. There’s not enough under the hood here to produce the whole frequency range with quality. Hisense has opted to prize the midrange and upper-mid sounds, which is good for voices but means that there’s not a huge amount of impact to gunshots and explosions. Equally, the sound can feel a little strained and congested in the treble. If you find it borders on being difficult to listen to, switch off the DTS.
That said, to expect much more from a TV at this price would be unrealistic. It never fails to deliver the meaning of the source material, no matter the content. You might wish for a little more fun while watching big action movies, but you’ll be thanking your lucky stars every time you opt for more character driven dramas.
Does it spread the audio all the way round the room? Does it offer height-infused Dolby Atmos sound? No. It’s a TV with small speakers and just enough processing that means you can understand what everyone is saying. Not all soundbars can manage that.
Verdict
The vintage may be different, but this is another great year. We suspect that Hisense and Roku have made the best 50in TV you’ll find for under £350 in 2021. Neither the picture nor the sound are perfect but, combined with a brilliant feature set and an unbeatable content offering, the results are a lot more than the price infers.
It’s like uncorking a £4 bottle and discovering that it’s no cheap plonk. And that’s something we can all drink to.
The Apple HomePod could soon be back from the dead. Not as another standalone wireless speaker, but rather as a built-in audio system for the next Apple TV, Bloomberg reports.
The site’s sources say this new version of Apple’s TV box will combine video streaming with a built-in HomePod speaker, a camera for TV-based video calls, and other smart home features.
It’s part of the tech giant’s latest push into the smart home space, in order to better compete with its arch rival Amazon. Apple is also said to working on a premium smart speaker with a touchscreen.
Such a device would basically be a mashup between an iPad and a HomePod. It too would have a camera for video calls, and could pan to follow the user around the room, similar to the Amazon Echo Show and Facebook Portal.
Both devices are in the early stages of development at the moment, so Apple might choose to launch one, both or neither.
Apple has lagged behind its cut-price rival Amazon in the smart home space. And its HomePod speaker struggled for sales too. Last month, Apple killed the HomePod, leaving just the smaller, cheaper HomePod Mini as its sole smart speaker.
The Apple TV hasn’t been updated in over three years. Recently, we’ve seen a slew of rumours regarding the next model – it’s been tipped to get a 120Hz frame rate and smart new Siri remote control. The Apple TV+ streaming service is also looking to ramp up production to Netflix-like levels with a recent hiring.
Apple is said to be holding its next event next week. That could be too early for a new Apple TV, but you never know…
(Pocket-lint) – Hammerhead claims that the Karoo 2 is the closest you’ll get to a smartphone. That’s no surprise, because this is a Google Android-based bike computer – the operating system that so many phones run – which is cause for some excitement.
Hammerhead’s pitch with the Karoo 2 is that you’ll get regular updates. And that’s true – indeed, we’ve started to write this review on several occasions, only to find we wanted to explore something more following additional updates.
As a result of updates, the Karoo 2 has got better over the months we’ve been using it. But is it good enough to tempt you away from the likes of the Garmin Edge?
Design and build
Dimensions: 100.6 x 60.8 x 19.3mm / Weight: 131g
Handlebar and out-front mounts included
IP67 waterproofing
The Hammerhead Karoo 2 has a 3.2-inch display, meaning it sits between the Garmin Edge 530/830 and Edge 1030 sizes, but it’s bigger than the Wahoo bike computers. It’s on the larger size, yes, but that’s good for quick glancing.
The body itself is a glass-filled polycarbonate, with an elastomer bumper. The display is topped with Dragontrail Glass for scratch resistance, while the whole package gets an IP67 rating to keep the water and mud out.
Pocket-lint
On the rear there’s a sealed compartment you can open with a coin that will accept a SIM card, while a USB-C socket on the bottom of the device is used for charging. This has a rubber bung that inserts into it (with a spare in the box), but it’s not attached in any way. We’ve no qualms about losing it on a ride, but we might lose it when we have to take it out for charging.
We’ve used the Karoo 2 in rain and shine, through mud and sleet, and we’ve no worries about the waterproofing of this device. It feels solid, it looks good, and it’s kept on going with all we’ve put it through.
Best Fitbit fitness tracker 2021: Which Fitbit is right for you?
By Britta O’Boyle
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We’re not huge fans of the buttons being on opposite sides of the body, though, because we find it more difficult to press a button than ought to be. Press the bottom button too hard and the device might rotate on the mount – which is how you remove it. But with another button on the other side, gripping to press on one side is a little more difficult. Basically, we’d prefer them to be staggered.
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It’s something of a moot point, however, given that most cycling gloves these days work with touch displays (or one finger does at least) and there’s touch support for pretty much anything you might want to use a button for – although this is less reliable in the wet, when the buttons come into their own.
Turning to mounting, there’s an out-front mount in the box, which users Hammerhead’s connection system. This will let you slide it into place to lock in securely, with a twist to release and slide forward again to remove. This means you can mount it on busy handlebars without a twist as large as you’d need for a Garmin computer, for example.
The supplied mount is designed to sit out the front of your handlebars and to be aerodynamic. It’s designed for standard 31.8mm bars and there’s no shims supplied for anyone riding a vintage steed or anything smaller.
There is an adapter to switch the Karoo 2 to a Garmin quarter-turn mount, which was bundled with preorders, otherwise available as an accessory (it’s £14 in the UK). That’s a great option as you can switch between bikes using an old mount (which we did), without having to mess around with changing all the mounts on all your bikes.
The display is important, because in a world of data, that’s what you spend your time looking at. It’s a good resolution too, with 292 pixels per inch, and while that’s somewhat lower in count than the latest smartphones, it suits the content well enough – which is the important point.
As this is an Android-based system (Android 8, so generations behind current phones), some of the interface and interactions will be familiar. Trying to use the tiny keyboard, however, especially for setup, is a little tedious – and Hammerhead could well do with offloading some of these tasks to a companion app, in the way Garmin does.
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There is plentiful brightness, but it’s not automatic, so you might have to swipe to bump it up when the rain starts falling – or indeed when the sun comes out.
There’s a Qualcomm-supplied quad-core processor, 32GB of storage, and a whole world of connectivity. That includes all the essentials: Bluetooth and ANT+ for accessories; GPS for location tracking; Wi-Fi for syncing and updates; 3G/4G for mobile data connectivity; motion sensors to aid navigation, and so forth.
This being an Android device it’s important that there’s enough power to do what you want. Startup is a little slow, but we’ve got used to starting it on the way to getting changed for a ride. Loading routes and profiles is a little slower than we’d like too, but we’re sure that software updates could fix this.
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It’s easy to manage connected devices, perhaps a little simpler than some other bike computers, especially if you know your way around Android.
We tested the Hammerhead with Garmin ANT+ bike sensors, Scosche Rhythm+ 2.0, and the Polar Verity Sense via Bluetooth – and found no connectivity problems at all.
On to that smartphone-like experience. There’s no call support, because even with the SIM card this isn’t a phone, but the card slot in the back gives the option for a permanent data connection. Otherwise, you can just use a Wi-Fi hotspot from the phone – the one that’s probably in the back pocket of your jersey anyway – to save you needing another SIM.
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However, there’s no data connection between the Karoo 2 and your actual smartphone via Bluetooth – all the syncing that the Karoo 2 does is via its own Wi-Fi or data connection if you’ve given it a SIM card. That’s mostly fine – but does also present some limitations.
You could, of course, ditch your smartphone and just take the connected Karoo 2, knowing that it will give you map searching and other features. But on a display this small, it could end up being just a little too frustrating when you get properly lost.
How Hammerhead handles its data
Karoo Companion app
Browser-based dashboard
Third-party services
You need to make sure the Karoo 2 is connected to Wi-Fi if you want to sync a new route that you’ve made, or to push ride data to a third-party service, because Hammerhead isn’t trying to run its own platform.
This is the fundamental difference between the Karoo 2 and Garmin’s devices: Garmin wants you to be as connected as possible, to feed data into Garmin Connect and drive the data machine. Hammerhead doesn’t offer that, so presenting some services is limited or constricted, while third-party connectivity plays a bigger role.
We hinted before that setup is a little strange. There’s no real smartphone app for starters: there’s the Karoo Companion app, which only handles push notifications; or there’s the web dashboard. This is a weird position for a company developing on Android, as you’d think Hammerhead would focus on being mobile first – but it’s not.
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The notifications you get are a little basic too, missing a huge opportunity: Android quick replies. This is a gem that iPhone won’t know about, but quick replies on Android work really well on Garmin, letting you send a reply to an incoming message or call – really useful when you’re riding. Visually, the Hammerhead notifications are too basic too, so could certainly be presented better.
Instead you need to get yourself onto the browser and setup your Hammerhead account and then sign into your Karoo with that account when it arrives. There’s some downloading and updating that takes place – but syncing, you’ll remember, is via the device to third-party services and the dashboard, rather than within a smartphone app.
Really, your phone plays no part – and we think Hammerhead could make everything smoother with much closer pairing with phones. For example: if you want use the live tracking feature, that data can’t go via your Bluetooth-connected phone, you have to connect the Karoo 2 via Wi-Fi or a data connection and then share a URL to those you want to live track you.
It’s jumping through disconnected hoops and resulted in us using WhatsApp location tracking instead. Bear in mind that Garmin’s livetracking can be set to automatically notify a list of people as soon as you start a ride – and that’s really what Hammerhead needs to offer, rather than relying on people finding a link that was shared with them a few months prior.
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Some might say there aren’t enough partnerships to drive this platformless system. For many, the link with Strava will give them all the data analysis they want, with the reciprocal Strava Segments in place too – which does have some parity to Garmin’s offering, allowing you to have your starred Segments pop up when you get to them.
But there’s a lot that’s not on the list – and while more is likely to come, Hammerhead really needs to cover all cyclists’ needs.
Naturally, without a full platform for data analysis, most will be looking at this on Strava – which you can read about here – with Hammerhead’s dashboard only showing basic time, route, distance and elevation details.
Being Android-based also adds opportunity. Hammerhead mentions sideloading APKs onto the Karoo 2, which might be beyond your average user – but certainly there’s the opportunity for native apps rather than just data syncing. With a little thought, the Karoo 2 could be running its own Strava app or a Komoot app – but with the Karoo 2 running Android 8 (software originally released in 2017), some developers might baulk at the thought of working with that older version.
On the saddle and navigation
Profile customisation
Offline mapping
Rapid rerouting
With all that out of the way and accepted, riding with the Karoo 2 is actually great. The user interface presents a range of profiles, each offering up different data sets. The default selection is a little odd, but you can make a custom profile or edit any of the default profiles to your liking.
It’s worth having a play around with, because once you’ve entered one of these profiles you can’t back out and switch to something else if you find you can’t get to the data you want. But you can customise all the existing profiles, so if you want to add cadence instead of your average heart rate (or whatever) that’s easy enough to do.
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And there are loads of data fields, including shifting information for Shimano Di2, battery life, every variant on time, power, climb, etc., that you can think of. It makes everything super customisable so you’re looking at exactly what you want.
Navigation is good, with the option to create routes on the device, sync routes from other platforms, import GPX files and so forth. Despite the lack of a proper smartphone app, you can download a GPX route and upload it to the Dashboard in your phone browser, to then appear on your Karoo 2 when it syncs.
Hammerhead does have a habit of changing routes – especially offroad routes. Having found and saved a route in Komoot, Hammerhead then imported and reinterpreted it, switching some of the forest paths to roads. Attempting to edit that route created a lot of doglegs, again attempting to avoid some of the paths that are perfectly legitimate to ride on.
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Rerouting is rapid, however, but missing a waypoint can lead to lengthy rerouting instructions – especially if that missed point is the start of the route. You’ll spend the first 10 minutes being directed back to where you came from.
The GPS is accurate and fast to locate, with a good sense of direction. Thankfully it uses arrows on the route and a directional arrow for you, so on circuits or routes that cross themselves, there’s no confusion.
Navigating maps on a ride is easy too, because you can pinch and zoom, or drag around the map, which is far easier than Garmin’s system.
When you’ve planned a route and head out, you’ll be able to see route profile data so you can see how long those climbs are and when they’re coming up, so you can prepare yourself to open the hurt box.
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Once in a route you can browse the maps on the device to make an alteration. For example, if you need to get home, you can zoom out on screen, drop a pin on home, then follow the new route easily enough – which is great for last-minute changes.
There is support for workouts too, which can be imported from TrainingPeaks, so you can directly access them on the Karoo 2. Although as we said previously, there’s room to expand this offering to make it more encompassing.
A lot of what the Karoo 2 offers is about expanding the offering too. As we said in the introduction, the software is always changing. Mostly this adds functionality which is welcomed – but we’ve seen a few rearrangements of the on-screen controls that took us by surprise. You’ll get an email detailing the changes, but Hammerhead also has a changelog here.
Battery life
2500mAh battery
12 hour reliable life
If you’ve used a smartphone you might be concerned about battery life. Having moved to Hammerhead from the capable Garmin Edge 830, we were pleasantly surprised.
You’ll get a reliable 12 hours of battery life from this computer. There are measures you can take to reduce the battery drain – including turning off the display if you just don’t need all those functions – and charging is fairly fast too.
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You’ll get 30 per cent charge from 30 minutes plugged in – but you’ll need 3 hours to fully charge it again. And there’s no charger in the box, but as USB-C is common now you can simply charge it with any existing charger.
But put this in context: most phones will happily charge fully in half this time – with much larger batteries. So this isn’t really that fast in terms of charging speed, not when compared to the phone market. Certainly, we’d love to see faster charging in a future Karoo – just so you can avoid those last-minute delays.
Verdict
The biggest thing about the Karoo 2 is accepting that you might be stepping away from a huge ecosystem to do things a little differently. Unless you’re really committed to specific Garmin features, the mainstay of the Karoo 2’s offering is excellent – the visible and recorded data, the customisation, solid build and good battery life.
For those who live in Strava, rather than something like Garmin Connect, the Karoo 2 will potentially provide you with everything you need, rather than being drawn off into complete lifestyle tracking. But there are areas where the Karoo 2 can get more competitive – and it needs to, given the fairly steep price.
When all is said and done, the Karoo 2 is a great bike computer. It’s getting better all the time and fundamentally it gives everything you’ll need on a ride. Over time it has endeared itself to us.
Alternatives to consider
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Garmin Edge 830
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A natural rival to the Karoo 2, with a similar asking price. It’s equally ambitious, bettering the Karoo in terms of its smartphone interaction, while playing into a larger ecosystem where Garmin will help track your whole lifestyle – not just your rides.
(Pocket-lint) – After years of rumours, stop-and-start plans, and official teasers, OnePlus finally announced its first smartwatch. Unsurprisingly it’s called the OnePlus Watch.
The fact that it’s a round-screen device has surprised no one, but what perhaps came as unexpected is the fact that OnePlus opted not to use Google’s Wear OS platform.
Like other tech companies, namely Huawei and Samsung, OnePlus has opted to use its own software in order to improve battery life. That means up to 14 days between charges depending on usage. Check out our unboxing above for a more in-depth look.
Design
Measures: 46.4 × 46.4mm × 10.9mm
Weighs: 76g (including the strap)
IP68 water- and dust-resistant
Waterproof to 5ATM
The OnePlus Watch Classic editions are made from 316L stainless steel and finished with polished, rounded edges. It’s a simple and effective design and comes in two colours: Midnight Black (pictured) and Moonlight Silver.
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By Rik Henderson
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Midnight Black features a polished grey case with a black bezel around the watch’s completely round display. The glass on the front is mostly flat, but features shallow, subtle curves towards the edges.
As well as those two steel models, there’s also a limited edition Cobalt model which has a case made from a cobalt alloy and a gold metallic finish.
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Size-wise it’s quite a large watch, measuring 46mm across. That makes it similar in size to the Huawei Watch GT 2e and Watch GT 2 Pro.
For larger wrists the size isn’t a problem at all, especially if you’re used to wearing 44-47mm watches. However, those who need smaller sizes will likely be put off by how much it will dominate their wrist.
All of the OnePlus Watch options feature the same two-button design, where the top button features a raised OnePlus moniker. Both are slim buttons which don’t protrude too far from the side, meaning you’re unlikely to accidentally press them if your wrist is bent backward.
On the underside there’s the optical sensors required for measuring both heart-rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2). They’re all arranged neatly and sit just above the two contact points required for charging on its included cradle.
Unusually, this features a USB-A connector on the other side so you can’t plug it into the new Warp Charge adapter that ships with the OnePlus 9 phones.
The only other thing worth noting from a design perspective is the strap. It feels similar in material and design to Apple Watch’s basic Sport Band.
It’s a fluoroelastomer band, which is really flexible and features a metal pin that pokes through the holes to fix it in place, while the end inserts through a hole and underneath to tuck it out of the way.
We’ll have a full review in the near future, but on the features side OnePlus is promising a lot. It claims the Watch can last two weeks on a full charge and has the ability to track multiple sports and movements.
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It has GPS for location, gyroscope and accelerometer for movement, the aforementioned blood oxygen saturation and heart-rate tracking, plus a compass and barometric pressure. You can even use it for tracking swimming.
Add to that a Bluetooth speaker for receiving calls and storage for offline music playback and there’s a lot going for it. Especially given the price point.
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First Impressions
The OnePlus Watch is simple but effective. It’s a round, polished watch that will survive being taken for a swim and should keep up with all of your fitness activities – whether you’re getting sweaty on a really hot day or you’re out on a wet and windy hike.
There are two big attractions: the price and the battery life. It’s more affordable than most other similar alternatives. And the fact you only need to charge it once every two weeks means you needn’t get battery anxiety.
If you’re looking your first smartwatch and don’t want to spend too much then the OnePlus Watch is a clear contender.
Also consider
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Huawei Watch GT 2e
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Huawei’s Watch GT 2e is similar in a lot of ways. It offers similar tracking capabilites and design, plus it’s also affordable. Huawei has been in the fitness game longer than OnePlus too – and that experience will likely show.
Featuring a 2MP camera, a Pico and all the trimmings, this kit adds workable person and object detection to your Raspberry Pi Pico.
For
+ Simple instructions
+ Quick results
+ Compatible with many boards
Against
– Needs C/C++ knowledge
– Lens is unprotected
When we think of machine learning and artificial intelligence we instantly think of large data centers with massive computational power. But the Raspberry Pi Pico is capable of machine learning via TinyML, developed for microcontrollers. With the $40Uctronics TinyML Learning Kit, we can easily add computer vision to our projects.
Compatible with many different microcontrollers, such as those from Arduino, the Uctronics TinyML Learning Kitincludes an Arducam Mini 2MP Plus Camera which has been used for some time with other microcontrollers, but with the power of the Raspberry Pi Pico we see much better performance for machine learning, an almost 10x increase compared to an Arduino.
We put the Uctronics TinyML Learning Kit on the bench and learned more about what this kit can offer.
Design and Use of the Uctronics TinyML Learning Kit
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Measuring just 0.78 x 1.34 inches (20 x 34.1 mm) the focus of the kit is the Arducam 2MP Plus, a camera which is based on the OV2640, a 2MP camera which can be used with microcontrollers and computers via a SPI (data stream and commands) and I2C (sensor configuration) protocols.
This camera is not limited to just being used on the included Raspberry Pi Pico; it can also be used with Arduino and ESP32 based boards. A 2MP resolution may not sound like much, but for computer vision and machine learning it is plenty when we consider that our image will only be 320 x 320 pixels. The camera lens is contained in an M12 mount and the lens is interchangeable with other M12 lenses, available separately.
Connecting the camera to the Raspberry Pi Pico, or other RP2040 is a piece of cake thanks to the included jumper wires. The online resources clearly show the GPIO pins that we should use to connect the camera to the Pico and show the GPIO pins for the included CP2102 USB to TTL adaptor which is used to send video data from the Pico to an application, which in our review was a person detection script running Processing, a programming interface similar to the Arduino IDE but geared towards the visual arts.
After flashing a pre-made UF2 project, written in C/C++ to our Raspberry Pi Pico, we then installed the Processing IDE and the corresponding code to receive the image data and display on our desktop. If you are a MicroPython fan, then right now there are no MicroPython libraries for TensorFLow Lite for the Raspberry Pi Pico, but Arducam is working on supporting this. The Arducam Mini 2MP Plus Camera can also be used to take simple images and it has a community supported MicroPython library to simplify the process.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
A camera connected to a Raspberry Pi Pico is cool, but machine learning is much cooler. Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML), is a version of TensorFlow developed for use on microcontrollers that almost always have less computational power than a full computer. Microcontrollers such as those from Arduino, Espressif (ESP32) and now Raspberry Pi are capable of being trained to identify objects, patterns or respond to external inputs from microphones, sensors etc.
Arducam claims that using the OV2640 camera with the Raspberry Pi Pico we can process at 1 FPS, which may not sound like much but the equivalent project running on an Arduino is 1 frame every 18 seconds. So the Pico is clearly the better board for TinyML on a budget. Arducam provides a Github repository containing a series of TinyML demos available as raw C code for customization and compilation on your machine. Should you wish to jump straight into using the demos, there are pre-compiled versions saved as UF2 files ready for use on the Pico.
What Projects Can We Use The Uctronics TinyML Learning KitFor?
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Uctronics TinyML Learning Kit is designed for TinyML and so it is geared towards projects that require just enough processing power to add computer vision and artificial intelligence to a project. Using the camera as an input, we can give a robot “sight” and, using different models, we can train the robot to search for objects or persons.
Want to watch for intruders in a room and send alerts to your devices via the Internet? Well the Arducam camera and our guide to getting your Raspberry Pi Pico online will enable just this.
Bottom Line
The Uctronics TinyML Learning Kit is great fun, but to get the best from it, you really need to know your C/C++, until the MicroPython library is ready for release that is. If you are already familiar with machine learning then chances are that this is no stumbling block for you.
The Arducam Mini 2MP Plus Camera is incredibly easy to assemble, with clear instructions and a well documented GitHub repository and with a little time even a novice programmer could get great results.
Corsair is a US-based peripherals and hardware company founded in 1994. It is now one of the leading manufacturers for gaming gear, with a portfolio spanning nearly every component you need: DRAM memory modules, flash SSDs, keyboards, mice, cases, cooling, and much more.
The Corsair MP400 SSD is a value-optimized M.2 NVMe SSD based on the combination of a Phison E12 controller paired with QLC flash from Micron. A Nanya DRAM chip provides 1 GB of storage for the mapping tables of the SSD.
The Corsair MP400 comes in capacities of 1 TB ($110), 2 TB ($230), 4 TB ($600), and 8 TB ($1330). Endurance for these models is set to 200 TBW, 400 TBW, 800 TBW, and 1600 TBW respectively. Corsair includes a five-year warranty with the MP400.
Intel could start producing in-demand semiconductors for car companies within six to nine months, CEO Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with Reuters, commenting that the chipmaking is already being discussed with companies that design chips for cars.
“We’re hoping that some of these things can be alleviated, not requiring a three- or four-year factory build, but maybe six months of new products being certified on some of our existing processes,” Gelsinger told Reuters. “We’ve begun those engagements already with some of the key components suppliers.”
Even if Intel is unable to meet that six to nine month goal, the news highlights the importance that Intel is placing on its new business as a producer of chips for other companies.
Gelsinger unveiled the new business — called Intel Foundry Services — as a “standalone foundry business unit” last month at his “Engineering the Future” announcement, with promises that the company would put its fabs to work producing x86, Arm, and RISC-V core chips for external clients. As part of that announcement, Intel also planned to invest $20 billion into expanding its fabs in Arizona to help it better meet demand from external partners.
The automotive industry has been one of the areas that’s been hit hardest by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, with car companies like Ford and GM forced to shut down production or make changes to their trucks due to a lack of parts. If Intel is able to start producing automotive chips within the year, it could provide a much-needed new avenue of supply to alleviate those shortages.
The global shortage has reached the point that the Biden administration is looking to intervene: the president has called for a review of the semiconductor supply chain in an executive order and hosted the executives of companies including Intel, Google, Ford, GM, TSMC, and Dell at the White House for today’s “CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience.”
“We’ve been falling behind on research and development and manufacturing, and, to put it bluntly, we have to step up our game,” Biden said at the meeting.
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