iFi has been bold in its ambition and the Zen Phono encourages the listener to have the same level of aspiration
For
Clean, detailed performance
Well balanced
Lots of features
Against
Not class-leading timing
At What HI-Fi?, we often recommend investing in a decent entry-level phono stage to complement the growing market of budget record players, or as an upgrade to the phono stage built into the main amplifier. However, in doing so, we might be guilty of making it appear there are more out there than is actually true.
The arrival of the iFi Zen Phono has swollen the ranks of decent entry-level phono stages. You certainly won’t find one with a better spec sheet, or that is better built, but most importantly you’ll also struggle to find anything at this price that’ll make your records sound cleaner.
Build and Features
(Image credit: iFi)
iFi is a company known for its ambition, determined to create entry-level products able to stack up against the best many times the price, and it almost encourages the listener to be as ambitious with them.
The Zen Phono not only caters for moving magnet cartridges, as you’d expect from a product such as this, but it can handle moving coil too, offering a range of gain in steps from 36dB up to 72dB. It also features a balanced circuit design to reduce noise and crosstalk, a feature even less common at this end of the market.
iFi Zen Phono tech specs
(Image credit: iFi)
Gain settings 48dB (MC high), 36dB (MM)
Output impedance 200 ohms
Input impedance 47k ohms (MM), 47K ohms (MC high)
Dimensions (hwd) 3.5 x 15.8 x 11.7cm
Weight 515g
The company has even dedicated considerable attention to creating its own low-noise power supply, as you might find in a flagship phono stage. Everything used, from the Panasonic and TDK capacitors to the Texas Instruments ICs, is geared towards low distortion and crystal clarity.
We often mention hi-fi components offering headroom for upgrades, so they continue to perform when the components around them step up a level. But rarely do we come across those that stop just shy of begging you to explore a world of opportunity, firmly nudging to try new things.
A good-sounding MC cartridge alone costs around double the price of the Zen Phono, so an entry-level do-all phono stage won’t keep up for long – but if iFi gets you to imagine a system beyond your own, then it has served a purpose.
Sound
(Image credit: iFi)
In the meantime, the iFi Zen Phono sounds good. There is no mistaking where the company’s focus has been – the presentation is immaculately clean. There will be components costing two or maybe even three times the price that will struggle to dig out this amount of information and deliver it with this level of clarity.
That isn’t to say the Zen Phono is overly clinical – it will embrace the warmth and character it is offered from your turntable – but it isn’t adding anything to the sound, merely polishing each note to the best of its ability.
Unsurprisingly, the balance is spot on, too. The iFi is willing to reach as high or low as your turntable asks it to, and treat each frequency with that same sympathy to tone and texture.
There is a compromise here, though. With all this focus on clarity and detail, the iFi loses a little of the rhythmic and dynamic sense we’d expect from a five-star product. While the texture and timbre of an instrument is interesting in itself, it needs timing and expression to be music.
The Zen Phono is not bereft entirely of these talents, but it doesn’t snap in time or throw lines at us with the energy some deserve. We’re not exactly bored or left confused by the iFi’s performance, but we’d certainly trade some of that cleanliness for a little more feeling.
It’s the kind of thing at which Rega excels, and it offers products that sandwich the Zen Phono in price. The Fono Mini A2D isn’t in the same league when it comes to features or build quality and doesn’t match the Zen Phono for detail, but its sound is overall more musical and engaging for two-thirds of the price.
And if you are willing to spend a little more, the What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Rega Fono MM MK3 matches that kind of hi-fi nous with a knack for finding a groove and contouring low-level dynamic shifts.
They are basic affairs, though, so while we might question just how necessary it is to have a budget phono stage that can handle MC cartridges and has a balanced output, the iFi stands head and shoulders above its rivals in terms of features before even getting started.
Verdict
The iFi Zen Phono’s clarity is bound to give it plenty of suitors. Its slight lack of enthusiasm means we can’t quite give it the full five stars, but it should certainly be on your shortlist for a test drive nonetheless.
Electrostatic headphones have their own group of convinced supporters who have no problems paying a little more for a high-end product But there does not seem to be much evolution in the technology, especially when you compare it with the regularity with which new planarmagnetic headphones are launched Warwick Acoustics known of the Sonoma One, however, wants to take the electrostatic driver to a new level. Want to hear it? – Read more
In Cyberpunk 2077 insanely many people are constantly “playing”. Many also do not avoid mods, which appear more and more. This time the modders have prepared something absolutely unique for players who miss the comic book Borderlands. I’m talking about the CyberLands fashion 2077 replacing the graphics from CD Projekt RED production with the one known from the Gearbox Software studio series. The cyberpunk world is now drawn with a thick, black line, to which the contrast has been additionally increased. So that you do not have to install the modifications yourself, to see what it looks like, in the news we include as many as 30 – a minute-long material from the creator of the mod, showing a gameplay that uses modifications.
CyberLands 2077 is a fantastic mod that replaces the classic Cyberpunk graphics 2077 to the one known from the Borderlands series. At first glance, it sounds like a profanation, but in the end it looks great.
Cyberpunk 2077 – Insightful review. We look at the Samurai under the kimono, and there … a sinusoid of ups and downs. Which more?
The last Borderlands (Borderlands 3) appeared in September 2019 and Cyberpunk 2077 had one thing in common – bugs. Lots of bugs. Well, maybe our domestic production had more, but in Borderlands glitche and other problems noticeably boycotted the game, even though the game turned out to be very successful in the end. You can read our review of the game HERE, and now let’s get back to the title mod. You can download it HERE, and the latest Reshade version is required prior to installation. The downloaded file is called Borderlandfy 2077. Fx is then pasted to the … Cyberpunk 2077 bin x 64 reshade-shaders Shaders.
Borderlands 3 review: making up for bugs with toilet humor
What may first come to mind when you learn about such a modification is its impact on performance. It seems that such a change of graphics with ray tracing and DLSS turned off (because it will not be needed) can bring a significant improvement in the number of frames per second. Unfortunately, the author has not yet provided information as to whether this is actually the case. CyberLands mod 2077 has already received the first update, so the current version of the mod is 1.0.1. When browsing the forum about mods, it seems that it does not cause major problems.
Dozens of iOS apps promise to have fun learning and practicing math. We looked at five interesting examples with clever concepts.
(Image: Shutterstock / MNStudio)
Help with homeschooling: Five iOS apps for elementary school maths tested One-to-one meetings Conclusion Test table Apple’s App Store houses numerous little programs with which children can learn math in a playful way. Especially in times of homeschooling, parallel home office and lockdown, these apps are worth a closer look. However, the offer is confusing and ranges from free to dozens of paid offers. The choice depends primarily on the child’s preferences: some apps are closely related to math lessons, others take a more playful approach.
This test is devoted to five examples, the pursue a different approach to play and learning. The test device was an iPad Pro 09. 5 with iPadOS 14. 3. and we got some help from a second grader every now and then. While Fiete Math and King of Mathematics 2 rely on a playful approach, Klett’s soberly designed MiniMax math App strongly on the tasks from school lessons and books. Math Master and Elementary school math grades 1-4 conceptually move between the former apps. They season their range of tasks with animations, but make sure that the focus is not on the playful, but on the maths. Instead, the two apps do without too much potentially distracting chi-chi: For example, there is no background music for Math Masters and elementary school math grades 1-4 offer no additional functions such as a game center connection or the management of different player profiles.
Elementary school math classes 1-4 is the only completely free app in the test, the other candidates offer additional content for a single purchase. All of them do without subscription models and separate registrations. The free scope of all apps is sufficient to be able to make an informed purchase decision. King of Mathematics 2 and math game apps from Fiete are also available for Android devices, but they can differ in terms of functionality. We have focused on the iOS versions for this article.
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Register and read Register now and read the article immediately More information about heise + Help with homeschooling: Five iOS apps for elementary school maths tested One-to-one meetings Conclusion Test table
Hoera! We are invited to the 25 e anniversary of the 600 series of To celebrate B&W. In our minds, we put on our party hats and sing along to Stevie Wonder as we unpack. We have some work on that, because the 603 is the floorstander in this series. So big and heavy “presents”, which seem a lot less massive once out of the box, even though we have the all-black version for our snuffers.
Depending on your taste and interior, you can also opt for a completely white cabinet finish or the combination of white and oak. The speaker grill / front covers the entire front and is available in black with a black cabinet finish and gray for the white or oak variant. Personally, I have never really been a fan of a white speaker, but with such a chic gray cloth all over the front I think they actually have something secret and a bit stubborn. They make me curious, happy and even a bit greedy.
Once the speakers are in place and the packaging is bonjoured out of the room, it is striking that these pieces of furniture do something with the atmosphere. A straightforward cupboard on the same straightforward plinth that feels like a solid and solid base. The grid is held in place with magnets and they could have been a bit stronger in my opinion. They only need a little push to loosen up and that feels a bit casual. Not super exciting or outspoken in design and styling, but a simple confident presence with a look that they have something to say. But do they have that too?
To find out, we plug them in and give some time to play in. The importer has included the Rotel RA – 1572 as an amplifier and everything comes out of the box brand new so let’s not go too fast with a judgment .
We hear a tight low, a small raw edge in the high and the middle has yet to come loose, but just as easily present in the room are the B&W 603 ‘s easy going too. With these friends we can build parties, turn things upside down, relax on a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea and just as easily fill in the daily background music at an even lower volume. After a few days of acclimatization, it is as if they have always been there. The first impression is good and we eagerly start a number of listening sessions to hear whether serious interaction is possible with these party boys.
The difference in the source is very clearly noticeable. With the smartphone directly connected to the RA via the USB port – 1572 the Spotify stream (audio quality set to very high of course) does not make it compared with the old-fashioned CD. That is of course logical, but after the necessary CD changes (after all, not all music recordings are of the same quality) I also hear the differences in various types of recordings / productions that can be reflected in the more exclusive and more expensive sets.
For the time being it is nice to listen and time flies. I have a pleasant stereo experience and I hear where the instruments are spatially arranged. With live recordings this gives an extra dimension, but I can also find the roaring of the audience extremely annoying (that is me, not the speakers).
Detailed, neutral, tight low and not tiring to listen to. Response in terms of speed and power are well balanced. I don’t feel the need to mute the bass port with the included foam plugs. That of course also depends on the setup (no side walls in this room) so I also want to take a test to listen to them in another room (with side walls) and also with a different amplifier. Sometimes I keep looking a bit and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Ripping guitars remain pure and sound just as raw or heavy as intended. But sometimes there is also a small sharpness or I just miss a clear fresh sparkle and that is emotionally not due to the potential of the speakers.
Very coincidentally, the next set arrived for review in the same room and we borrow the Rotel Michi X3 from it. That is of course not fair at all in terms of price range coordination, but still … Just because it is possible, because we have noticed that these 603 ‘ s being a bit cheeky and because you are allowed more than usual on your birthday.
Connected, switched on and the big mouth is gone. Big eyes of astonishment, arms flapping, feet kicking and a smile from ear to ear. Those little bits that I was still looking for come out with an ease and conviction that can make you completely silent.
We leave the fun moment with the Michi X3 for what it is. We had given ourselves an extra assignment and that says a lot about this Bowers & Wilkins 603 S2 Anniversary Edition. They know how to get you moving in such a way that you want to get to know them all over the place.
Also the “own” NAD M3 in the room with side walls gets along well with these guys. It is immediately noticeable that the bass manifests itself slightly differently, but that was to be expected and is still not disturbing at normal volume. If we go loose and the setup would be permanent, it is worth paying more attention to the placement and we may still need the foam plugs.
In this price category, but also if you have a little more budget, the Bowers & Wilkins 603 S2 Anniversary Edition are certainly worth considering . The set will give you a long listening pleasure, you will want to discover more and more and this is also a nice purchase in terms of amplification-on-the-growth. You don’t have to make a lot of compromises with regard to space and furnishings, they seem to do well everywhere. As mentioned before, they are easy to handle and heavy enough that you don’t tip them over during the big spring cleaning, as long as you take a little care with the front cover. All in all an excellent birthday celebration. We clean up very slowly and also do the dishes before the music turns off!
Thanks to the recent introduction of the high performing and a lot less expensive Goldmund Telos 7 integrated amplifier and the further developments of the Swiss, it is now even possible to use the Telos 590 NextGen even further. In this review we will go into that in more detail, because the ‘590 MkII ‘is an amplifier that you must have heard at work. | Â This review in English? Click here
Enchanting View That impressions can change quickly is proven by the legendary brand name Goldmund. Just a few years ago I only knew the illustrious products of this Swiss manufacturer from hearsay. A situation that fortunately changed during a demo of the fully active Goldmund Satya reproducers in 2018 at PUURavd in Oostzaan. Because what technological know-how, design and inspiring musical reproduction! After the Satyas not much later the top model Telos is 590 NextGen integrated amplifier turn. Not just any amplifier, but one that, to my surprise, was able to convey many of the beautiful, typical Goldmund properties when using other speaker brands. With the recent introduction of the remarkably good performing and a lot less expensive Telos 7 integrated amplifier, it even turned out to be possible to use the Telos 590 NextGen to further improve.
The deviating thinking and working method of the Swiss top brand is well reflected when Robert Brijde from PUURavd on a beautiful summer day the brand new Telos 590 will bring NextGen II. After its honestly minimalist little brother, it is immediately noticeable that the manufacturer is aiming a few steps higher on the audio ladder with this larger top model. That already starts with the beautifully finished housing with 64 cm wide, 44 cm deep and 16, 3 cm high is not only a lot bigger, but with 20 kg also exactly twice as heavy.
However, it should also be noted that this Mk II version is visually very similar to the previous model. Is that bad? Not really, and especially when it concerns such a purposeful manufacturer as Goldmund. In fact, mainly performance-enhancing matters are implemented and meaningless cosmetic finery is preferably omitted. As a result, the only two external features that show that this is the second version are the now integrated mains switch in the mains entrance and two pairs of loudspeaker connections designed by themselves. As far as the latter is concerned, this concerns connectors that are not only considerably larger, but are also made of better materials and can handle more types of cables and connectors upon customer request.
Completely individual approach Before going into the subcutaneous changes, it is important to first consider the design parameters that make this precious integrated amplifier so special and distinctive. A first hint is given when I remove the solid top panel. There I see two 300 VA toroidal transformers surrounded by a series of smaller printed circuit boards with many components in SMD technology. Yet the power at 4 ohms turns out not to be doubled this time, which is also from the specified wattage of 2 x 215 watts at 8 ohms 2x 280 watts at 4 ohms. The reason for this unorthodox mindset is that Goldmund has been aiming for high-speed designs since its inception in 1978. This makes the 590 NextGen II very conscious with only four Mosfets placed close together power transistors equipped per channel. Parts that, together with the rest of the chosen circuit, ensure lower smearing, smaller phase and time errors and the intended very high speed. An important design parameter can be discovered in the sonic enhancements that the latest generation of the Telos NextGen circuit brings. Not only does it express itself in a greatly increased control over the loudspeaker units, but also offers a much higher quality in the micro-dynamic contrasts.
New for the Mk II is the extremely robust â ???? reinforcement bridgeâ ???? positioned in the middle of the housing. A curiosity-stimulating construction, which is so beautiful, solid and including a large polished gold-colored Goldmund logo, that it is almost a shame that it is normally hidden from view.
Although the high finish this invisible place is of course not necessary, there is a very clear idea behind this addition. For example, the power transistors on the previous Telos 590 were not up to Nextgen due to the technical concept in the usual way against the left and right heat sinks but mounted on the bottom plate. The newly chosen construction ensures that the thermal conductivity of the transistors could be improved even further. This robustness also makes a positive contribution to the even better mechanical decoupling. The next and last change relates to the fully integrated mains switch at the rear. This is now also equipped with a specific mains filter which should have a positive contribution to the display quality.
Minimalist but complete Completely in line with the prevailing trend is also the Telos 590 II equipped with a built-in DAC. And although Goldmund unfortunately does not want to disclose any data, this DAC does contain the latest Goldmund Alize D / A converter. A technological tour de force which enables it to transfer data up to 384 kHz / 32 bit in PCM and DSD 64 and 128 to process. When I then go to the deep black rear, I see that in addition to a USB, optical and coaxial connection, the DAC part also has five unbalanced (RCA) inputs for analog sources.
Ten compared to the simpler Telos 7, this top model makes the most visual difference due to its beautifully styled front. It is not only a lot thicker and has various facets and â ???? goldenâ ???? Goldmund logo, but also includes a beautiful amber-colored display. This shows the volume level, source selection and locking of the selected digital source. The whole is finished by a very solid, solid aluminum remote control, with which all functions can be operated. Only two rotary controls are visible on the amplifier itself, with which source selection and volume level can be set. Finally, the four remarkable device feet deserve special mention. This time not the normally commonly used damping rubber specimens, but a wide metal ring with a huge, fortunately not too sharp spike. This consciously creates a hard link with the subsurface and is therefore part of the total design concept. It is therefore advisable to use spike washers to protect softer surfaces.
Preparation As usual with me, the beautiful Telos 590 Deployed NextGen II in all daily high-end testing for a period of several weeks. In practice, this means that the Goldmund regularly replaced the Zanden 6000 tube amplifier and Accuphase E – 800. Besides the Master Contemporary C, the loudspeakers also include the impressively good Estelon YB and Kudos Titan 707 deployed. Sources used are a Grimm MU1 streamer with Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC and the unsurpassed North Star Design T 192 mk II CD transport with the accompanying Extremo DAC. A quartet that has been reinforced for this test by the surprisingly good Aqua Audio La Diva CD transport, LinQ streamer and the La Scala tube DAC. Beyond the trusted cables from AudioQuest (Fire interlink, Dragon Source power cable and Diamond ethernet), Siltech (Royal Signature Empress Crown interlink), Crystal Cable (Dreamline interlink), Nirvana Audio (PC + power cable), Kemp (Reference power cable) and Essential Audio Tools (Current Conductor power cable) is an extra addition this time thanks to the new top cables from Furutech (NanoFlux power cord and AES / EBU) and Siltech (Ruby Mountain II power cord).
Listening Due to the experience gained with the previous Goldmund Telos 590 NextGen and the Telos 7 NextGen, expectations are special from the first moment high tense. Mainly because I now know that Goldmund as a brand has quite a number of unique properties that most competitors are biting their teeth on. That already starts with that typical â ???? played inâ ???? and smooth playback the moment the device is switched even cold out of the box. So here no half hour to an hour waiting time for a device to really start to sound good, but very quickly top. But this time too the real bonus turns out to be that very recognizable Goldmund sound signature. A representation that uniquely blends many positive properties of principles such as class A, electron tubes and fast designs (which are often not class A) into one organic whole in an extremely clever way.
A Goldmund therefore sounds fluent, supple, colorful and musically also beautifully controlled, defined, detailed, transparent and accurate in a natural way. Although the changes between the new Telos 590 and its predecessor are not very big are and I don’t have both versions standing side by side in the listening room, I do think that this last generation has grown further in a number of aspects. Gains have been made especially in aspects such as tonal saturation, refinement and musical grandeur. As a result, a quality and naturalness is achieved that usually only characterizes the really expensive pre and power amplifiers.
Built-in DAC more then simple addition Just like the Telos 7 Nextgen, the 590 NextGen Mk II on a special DAC. These additions usually make amplifiers more versatile and more widely usable, but the quality of a good separate DAC is actually almost always higher. At Goldmund this works slightly differently. It is indeed possible to go even further on points using the (more expensive) top DACs present with me. But in terms of mutual cohesion and musical eloquence, the built-in copy scores remarkably well. For example, timbres are reproduced even more saturated (without fortunately ever turning to dark), there is a very attractive subcutaneous glow over all the music and as a listener you can escape the damned hi-fi feeling in an impressive way. By this I understand that this amp, along with a handful of other designs, is able to disconnect the listener from the reproduction feeling.
So it really comes close to the â ???? real thingâ ???? and that is one of the greatest compliments you can give a product. The stereo image is nicely wide to well beyond the speakers, is capable of reproducing height distinctions and this amplifier is also convincing in terms of depth. Also the fact that the positioning of the stereo image does not move forward or backward when increasing or decreasing the volume Men level says a lot about the balanced concept qualities. In terms of tonal balance, this Telos 590 NextGen II belongs to the slightly warmer and more saturated tuned amps. Call it a light golden glow or the warm white 2700 Kelvin color temperature of a light source. Fortunately, it is anything but a rendering that appears smeared, slow and dark, because this pleasant balance is accompanied â ???? Â and that is quite unique â ???? Â because of an above average high definition, speed, power and musical insight.
Music Although you seldom hear me discuss classical music by the famous masters (I have heard these melodies so often in many performances that I usually find them less challenging), I would like to make an exception this time. The reason for this turnaround is the latest TRPTK album by (solo) pianist Yukiko Hasegawa. A Japanese beauty who, with her enchanting piano playing and a recording that belongs to the best on piano, will certainly be (very) highly rated with her album Eternal Longing.
Within this 14 numbers containing collage that work of composers such as Beethoven, Franck and Schumann, there are two real peculiarities to report. The first is that a special grand piano by designer Chris Maene is used. The grand piano consists of a design in which all strings are tensioned parallel instead of crosswise (like all modern grand pianos) in the frame. This gives this instrument a different and beautifully full and rich tonal balance, combining softness and maximum feeling while retaining tightness and transparency.
Second, recording & mastering engineer Brendon Heinst of TRPTK this album again in real 32 (!) bit resolution registered in the highest DXD format, with a truly spectacular end result. Because the Goldmund DAC is also able to reproduce this very high format at the same quality, the Chris Maene grand piano is truly lifelike in the listening room. The low registers offer a transparency, sonority and deepening of timbre that I have never heard before on a grand piano. After all, the magic of Yukiko, who lives in the Netherlands, does the rest and that is wonderful in every way. The input of the Goldmund amplifier in this is to pass on the enormous headroom, the finest gradations in intonation and to maintain the enchantment.
Swing blown Of a completely different order is the album Reference Recordings I by the Dutch guitarist Emiel Scholsberg. This live production from 2017 contains wonderfully spontaneous wailing jazz rock in a small line-up. When I start with the super swinging Help The Poor I hear the other side of this Goldmund design very nicely. Sharp guitar riffs, repetitive bass lines, a sultry singing voice and fantastic drums. Together with the audience present, that typically brooding live atmosphere is created that the Telos 707 NextGen Mk II in all its grandeur, power and finesse. The sultry version of My Funny Valentine is the undisputed highlight of this album, in which the slow groove and enormous pulses of the bass drum are synonymous with the almost infinite headroom of this potent amplifier. But the most important of all is that this top Goldmund knows how to bring the right atmosphere to every song in the spotlight from the first second. That seems obvious, but it is not. Versatility is therefore an asset and also unabatedly good with the five analogue inputs. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Conclusion A very special and pleasantly sober integrated amplifier, where most of the attention has clearly been given to wherever it is should lie. Namely with the unparalleled sound quality. Of course, the device is also super solidly constructed and has no problems in operation. But that typical Goldmund rendering has been raised to the maximum here. Add to that the ability to control just about any speaker without any problem, without any preference for a particular type of music, and it becomes increasingly clear what makes this top high-end amplifier so unique. The only caveat I can make to the end of this test is that people who like a more bare and, for example, highly accented rendering, might experience this Goldmund as too organic and tonally too saturated. But even then, the wonderful cohesion can be experienced as so enchanting and magical that everything else will be instantly forgotten. A future classic in the making.
Goldmund Telos 590 NextGen II
â ?? ¬ 28. 750 | www.puravd.com
Build aerosol traffic light: ESP 8266 warns of aerosols, fine dust and smells Aerosols in the fine dust sensor Olfactory burden Housing made of wood Firmware Measured values interpret Article in c’t 3 / 2021 read Aerosols are on everyone’s lips. Unfortunately. The tiny droplets also transport coronaviruses and are therefore for most infections with Covid – 19 indoors. Frequent ventilation will help keep the concentration of the droplets down. Unfortunately, you quickly forget to open the window and the potentially contagious droplets accumulate. A sensor that measures and warns could remind you of this.
Unfortunately, there are no sensors that measure aerosol concentrations directly . This is why aerosol experts often recommend CO 2 – Sensors to monitor the indoor air. In a room with few plants, the CO 2 – Concentrations increase when aerosols accumulate through breathing air. The Make has built a very cheap CO2 sensor that starts from 1000 ppm warns. This is the current limit value recommendation of the Federal Environment Agency.
Even if CO 2 and aerosols in most cases strongly correlated there is still no evidence that just 1000 ppm CO 2 represent the magical limit below which there is no corona – there are contagions. The results of a joint research paper by aerosol experts show that a critical amount of droplets can accumulate within minutes. Knowing whether there are more aerosols floating in the room than usual would help despite all the ignorance of the exact limit values.
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Welcome to another week’s recap. The major development from the past seven days was the official debut of the Galaxy S21 family, which immediately went on pre-order. You can browse the list below for our detailed coverage.
Another premium phone launched this week with the iQOO 7, but being limited to China it didn’t get nearly as much of the spotlight. Meanwhile OnePlus launched its first smartband and we even got a chance to review it.
Xiaomi ended up on the US blacklist and will be hoping the new administration under Joe Biden takes steps towards ending the trade war with China or it may face further difficulties down the road. In more positive developments it shared a list of 27 phones eligible for MIUI 12.5 update.
Motorola teased its next flagship, dubbed Edge S, confirming that the Edges from last year weren’t a one off. Meanwhile Oppo’s Find X3 top-dog appeared in images, giving us a much better idea of its design.
You can read the details on the these, as well as our other top stories by following the links below.
We’ve covered the Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III in previous Flashback articles, but now it’s time for the original – the one that started it all. Well, ther was the I7500 Galaxy after which almost all of Samsung’s Android phones are named, but we mean the original S-series phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S (I9000 if you want to compare model numbers) was announced in March 2010. Yes, the S series are over a decade old now. The phone became available in June of that year and would reach a total of 10 million units sold by January 2011. 4 million of those were sold in North America (more on that later) and 2.5 million went to Europe.
Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
The S-phone popularized Samsung’s Super AMOLED panel, though it was not the first to use them. That honor goes to the Wave, a Bada-powered phone. Samsung hoped that the Wave series would sell millions of units too, the company was used to juggling multiple OSes. But Androids explosive growth quickly put an end to Bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile and other lines.
Back to the screen – it was a 4.0” panel with 480 x 800 px resolution, using the PenTile arrangement (two sub-pixels per pixel, not three). It was arguably the most impressive screen we had seen until then.
The Samsung I9000 Galaxy S compared with the iPhone and the LG BL40 Chocolate
The panel was laminated to the Gorilla Glass protective layer, so the image almost appeared to float on the top of the glass – most phones back then had an air gap between the screen and glass (sometimes plastic). Also, the contrast of AMOLED made the image pop, it had a clear advantage over the LCDs of the day.
At 9.9 mm thick, the Galaxy S was marketed as the thinnest Android smartphone in the world, a title that would be claimed by its successor, the S II, the following year.
The phone was powered by the Hummingbird S5PC110 chipset, later renamed Exynos 3 Single 3110. This was the first-ever Exynos chip and it was co-developed with Intrinsity, a company that specialized in high performance CPU design (Intrinsity was snatched up by Apple in 2010, shortly after the phone was announced).
The chipset featured a single-core Cortex-A8 CPU running at 1.0GHz (up to 1.4GHz in some variants). It was paired with 512MB of RAM and 8GB storage (with a 16GB option). Also, microSD cards up to 32GB were supported.
This was important as the Galaxy S was one of the best multimedia devices of its day. It was the first Android to be certified for DivX HD viewing (remember the DivX video codec?). Of course, the AMOLED display made for an awesome experience with its high contrast and saturated colors.
The phone also had a 3.5mm headphone jack with a Wolfson WM8994 DAC and, as we noted in our review, the audio quality was excellent.
The Galaxy S launched with Android 2.1 Eclair, which was skinned with TouchWiz 3.0. That’s right, version 3.0. Samsung started the TouchWiz project several years prior in an attempt to unify the touch interfaces of its phones that ran Windows Mobile, Symbian and even featurephone OSes (including the Jet and others). Like we said, at the time Samsung preferred not to be tied down to a single operating system.
The TouchWiz 3.0 user interface comes preinstalled on top of the Android OS
Anyway, the phone was officially updated to 2.3 Gingerbread. It never got 4.0 and later Androids with the official explanation being “not enough RAM”. However, with millions of units sold, this was a popular target for custom ROMs. If you take a peek at the XDA forums you’ll see some surprisingly recent posts. It seems that the latest version that you can get running on the I9000 is 7.1 Nougat.
The phone was equipped with 5MP camera on the back, which was pretty bare-bones. There was no LED flash, never mind a hardware shutter key. The photos it produced weren’t the best either (noisy and underexposed). On the plus side, the phone did record 720p video at 30 fps, which was no small feat back then. For comparison, the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD only got up to 24fps.
Samsung I9000 Galaxy S camera samples
We promised more detail on the Galaxy S in the North American market and, oh boy, there’s a lot to cover. The I9000 served as a basis for all kinds of variations, it seems that every carrier wanted its own version of the phone. Some of these only switched up the supported 3G band bands to fit the carrier’s network.
Then there were the likes of i897 Captivate for AT&T and later the i927 Captivate Glide, which packed a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Or the I997 Infuse 4G also for AT&T. Note: it’s a 3G phone, never mind the deceptive marketing. The same goes for the Galaxy S 4G T959 for T-Mobile (aka Vibrant). It was a weird period in time when carriers started calling HSPA+ “4G” (they did much the same with LTE-A and “5G”).
The Epic 4G for Sprint was also a 3G phone, though the CDMA kind of 3G this time (this version had a keyboard). Verizon and US Cellular received CDMA versions as well, e.g. the Fascinate and Mesmerize i500. Samsung did create some honest to goodness 4G (LTE) models in 2011, ones like the Droid Charge I510 and I405 Stratosphere for Verizon – the former out a keyboard, the latter with.
It’s not just LTE, the Droid Charge also borrowed the larger 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display of the Galaxy S II (which had a full RGB stripe instead of a PenTile matrix). Also, the camera was upgraded to 8MP, though the phone kept the original Exynos chip so no 1080p video recording.
We’ll quickly go over a few other notable variations of the Galaxy S. On one end of the spectrum was the I9003 Galaxy SL. The goal with this one was to create a low-cost version of the highly popular device. This led Samsung to switch the display to an SC-LCD panel and the chipset to a TI OMAP 3630. Also, RAM and storage capacities were reduced.
Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL
On another end was the I9001 Galaxy S Plus, a fancier version of the phone (though not as good as the Charge). This one kept the Super AMOLED display and got an upgraded chipset – a Snapdragon S2 with a 1.4 GHz Scorpion core and Adreno 205 graphics (replacing the PowerVR SGX540 GPU). Performance was a mixed bag (check out the benchmarks in our review) with Snapdragon’s CPU being much faster, while its GPU lagged significantly behind.
Samsung I9001 Galaxy S Plus
Earlier this week Samsung launched the Galaxy S21 series, the 12th generation of S-phones. They still use Super AMOLED displays and (some of them) are powered by Exynos chipsets, though both are much improved from what was back then. No more TouchWiz, though, that was supplanted by One UI (and for the better, many would say).
Though priced at the premium level, the Alienware AW2521H delivers something almost no other monitor can: 360 Hz with a 3 ms screen draw time. That means there’s no motion blur, period. If you have an equally premium gaming PC to go with it, you can’t get better performance from any other display that doesn’t run at 360 Hz.
For
Fastest refresh rate you can get
Nvidia Reflex performance analyzer
Excellent HDR
AlienFX RGB
Low input lag
Usable ULMB
Against
Average SDR contrast
No FreeSync
Expensive
Features and Specifications
Is the best gaming monitor about resolution, color saturation, contrast or speed? If you picked speed, then a 360 Hz monitor is for you. The 360 Hz refresh rate is the current pinnacle of smooth response and the lowest available input lag.
LCD technology has spent its entire life working to overcome one major flaw, motion blur. Because each frame remains on the screen while the next one is drawn, it has been termed “sample and hold.” Self-illuminant panels, like plasma and OLED, redraw the image hundreds of times per refresh cycle, which means there is no blur, even at frame rates as low as 60 fps.
LCD has two ways to combat this, higher refresh rates and backlight strobing. Better known as ULMB (ultra low motion blur), backlight strobing inserts black frames in order to mimic the action of OLED and plasma. It is effective but it reduces brightness and, in most cases, prevents the use of FreeSync or G-Sync. The better option is to raise the refresh rate and that’s exactly what the Alienware AW2521H does. Running at 360 Hz, it not only eliminates motion blur, it delivers super low input lag.
(Image credit: Dell)
Alienware AW2521H Specs
Panel Type / Backlight
IPS / W-LED, edge array
Screen Size / Aspect Ratio
25 inches / 16:9
Max Resolution & Refresh Rate
1920 x 1080 @ 360 Hz
G-Sync: 48-360 Hz
Native Color Depth & Gamut
8-bit / sRGB
HDR10
DisplayHDR 400
Response Time (GTG)
1 ms
Brightness (mfr)
400 nits
Contrast (mfr)
1,000:1
Speakers
None
Video Inputs
1x DisplayPort 1.4
2x HDMI 2.0
Audio
3.5mm headphone output
3.5mm line output
USB 3.2
1x up, 4x down
Power Consumption
21w, brightness @ 200 nits
Panel Dimensions (WxHxD w/base)
21.9 x 15.5-20.5 x 9.9 inches (556 x 394-521 x 251mm)
Panel Thickness
2.9 inches (73.7mm)
Bezel Width
Top/sides: 0.3 inch (7mm)
Bottom: 0.6 inch (15mm)
Bottom: 0.6 inch (15mm)
10 pounds (4.6kg)
Warranty
3 years
Fast flat panels used to rely on TN technology for their speed, but that is no more. Now, we have fast IPS, which brings back good viewing angles and better color saturation. The AW2521H uses one of these, along with a white LED edge-array backlight. HDR10 signals are supported with an effective dynamic contrast feature that broadens dynamic range to almost 8000:1 for HDR using a variable backlight option.
Video processing is cutting edge, of course, with 360 Hz and G-Sync. There is no FreeSync support, which is a bit unusual in today’s market. The AW2521H also includes ULMB up to 240 Hz. It won’t work in concert with G-Sync but does make a visible difference in motion resolution. Alienware makes a 240 Hz FreeSync version of this monitor, the AW2521HF.
Assembly and Accessories of Alienware AW2521H
You’ll notice the gold-plated contacts in the stand when snapping it onto the panel. That enables the lighting. You can still use an aftermarket arm with the included 100mm VESA mount if you wish. The cable bundle includes two DisplayPorts, one with a mini connector, and a USB 3.0 wire. The power supply is internal and fed by an IEC power cord. You also get a snap on cover to tidy up the input panel.
Alienware AW2521H: Product 360
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(Image credit: Dell)
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(Image credit: Dell)
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(Image credit: Dell)
Because it is a premium monitor, we expect top-level build quality and a long feature list. The Alienware AW2521H has both. Not only is the AW2521H well-made, it has a glowing Alienware logo on the back and a long LED bar on the stand that mimics the shape seen on Alienware’s gaming PCs.
The AW2521H features the same small bezel look as most of today’s gaming monitors. The bezel is visible when the power’s on, but is only 7mm wide at the top and sides. The bottom trim is 15mm wide and features the Alienware logo and a label proudly announcing “360 Hz.” A tiny LED at the lower right glows white and doubles as the power button. Behind the right edge are four more keys and an on-screen display (OSD) joystick. They click like a high-end monitor should and make short work of menu navigation and control. On the panel’s top edge is an ambient light sensor. Turning it on allows the image to vary in brightness with your room’s lighting.
Styling is minimalist but distinctly Alienware. The long oval shape is a theme that appears on the back of the upright, ringed by LEDs. You’ll see the same element on an Alienware gaming PC which we currently have in the lab. The RGB is coordinated once you make a USB connection and is controllable in the OSD and by the Alienware Command Center app using AlienFX. You can set different colors and effects for particular games or just to your liking.
The stand is of high quality and offers a 5 inch height adjustment along with 20 degree swivel left and right, 5/21 degrees of tilt and a 90 degree portrait mode. Inside the upright, visible from the front, is a convenient graduated number scale so you can remember your height setting when moving the AW2521H from place to place.
The input panel is recessed deeply underneath, so much so that cables with large connectors will be difficult to use. Luckily, two of the USB ports and the headphone jack are under the panel edge in a more accessible position. Video inputs include two HDMI 2.0, limited to 240 Hz, and a DisplayPort 1.4, which is the one to use for G-Sync and 360 Hz (see our DisplayPort vs HDMI article for more). You also get two more USB 3.2 downstream ports and an upstream, for a total of one up and four down.
There’s a second 3.5mm jack for external audio but no internal speakers in the AW2521H.
OSD Features of Alienware AW2521H
The AW2521H’s OSD is extensive and features everything needed for performance-oriented gaming.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
There are nine picture presets, mostly game-type specific, three gaming modes and Custom Color if you want to calibrate grayscale. The gaming modes allow changes to color saturation only and let you set different overdrive speeds depending on game type. Performance Tip: use the Fast overdrive setting for everything; it works the best.
Game Enhance mode includes a frame counter, countdown timers and multi-screen alignment marks but no aiming points. Response time is the overdrive control. Again, we suggest you use Fast for best results. Dark Stabilizer raises the black level to make shadow detail more visible. And Variable Backlight is an effective dynamic contrast feature. It has three modes, and Mode 0 is the most responsive. Each higher level delivers the same dynamic range but at a slower rate of change.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The AlienFX Lighting menu lets you change color, brightness and effect for the upright and panel’s LEDs. You can also create custom scenarios linked to specific games in the Alienware Command Center app.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The G-Sync Processor menu accesses the Nvidia Reflex Latency Analyzer, which shows control lag in real time in an on-screen window. It requires a USB connection and that you plug your mouse into the special USB port on the panel’s bottom edge.
ULMB is the backlight strobe feature that reduces motion blur. You’ll have to turn off G-Sync and reduce the refresh rate to 240 Hz to use it. It automatically sets the brightness to 100% to compensate for the loss in light output. Equalizing the brightness setting showed us a 12% reduction when starting at 200 nits. But if you max the backlight with G-Sync, it’s 48% dimmer with ULMB, so the change isn’t constant. With independent brightness settings though, it’s easy to equalize the output level, as long as you don’t want more than 238 nits.
Alienware AW2521H Calibration Settings
There are two ways to calibrate the AW2521H. In the three Game modes, color saturation controls are available, but there are no gamma or grayscale adjustments. The better choice is Custom color, where there are RGB sliders but no gamma options. We achieved accurate color with this option for both SDR and HDR content. Our recommended settings are below.
Picture Mode
Custom Color
Brightness 200 nits
73
Brightness 120 nits
37
Brightness 100 nits
29
Brightness 80 nits
20
Brightness 50 nits
7 (min. 39 nits)
Contrast
75
Color Temp User
Red 100, Green 99, Blue 90
When an HDR10 signal is detected, the AW2521H switches over automatically. You can still adjust the RGB sliders in Custom Color mode, but we were able to use our SDR settings for HDR.
Gaming & Hands-on with Alienware AW2521H
The AW2521H also includes Nvidia’s Reflex performance analyzer that shows real time information on screen with input lag and frame rates and is said to help reduce input latency (for more see Nvidia Reflex tested).
Though its focus is premium gaming, the AW2521H is a decent all-around monitor for everyday use. At 25 inches, its 1080p resolution provides enough pixel density to render small fonts and fine details well. An extra bit of sRGB gamut volume means bright and vibrant color for photo editing or video watching. The IPS screen provides decent viewing angles with little color shift or light reduction when viewed up to 45 degrees off center.
We engaged the variable backlight feature on Mode 0 for a little extra SDR contrast. Black levels aren’t all that deep, so shadow areas looked more like dark gray. It’s not that different than typical IPS screens in this regard.
Quickly we noticed how smooth any kind of motion looked. 360 Hz is seriously fast, and even just moving dialog boxes around the desktop looked almost other-worldly. Indeed, the difference between 240 Hz and 360 Hz can be seen with casual observation.
ULMB reduces brightness by around 12% if you start at 200 nits. Brightness can be raised to compensate. It only works up to 240 Hz, but it really makes a visible improvement to motion resolution. We thought there was no blur when watching BlurBusters test patterns at 360 Hz, but engaging ULMB at 240 Hz made it look even smoother. That means that if you don’t care about G-Sync, it’s actually better to do 240 Hz with ULMB than 360 Hz. It’s a shame ULMB can’t be used with G-Sync. But at 240 fps, tearing is barely noticeable, so some users might prefer to use ULMB.
For SDR gaming, we played a few hours of Tomb Raider. We left the variable backlight on Mode 0, which upped contrast slightly. Color was rich and saturated with natural hues, but shadows were still more gray than black. The AW2521H is reasonably accurate without calibration but our adjustments (see our calibration settings on page 1) are well worth doing, since they make a visible improvement.
Motion processing is simply the best there around. However, we saw no advantage to the AW2521H over the Asus ROG Swift PG259QN 360Hz monitor. Overall, response is on another level, and motion clarity is superior to any 240 Hz screen we’ve encountered. G-Sync worked perfectly as we often hit the 360 Hz maximum, thanks to the GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card in our Alienware gaming PC.
We enjoyed the same experience in Call of Duty WWII, which definitely looked better with HDR engaged. There was more pop and sharper detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the image. HDR processing cost us about 20 fps, but the game still hit 360 fps on occasion. Playing at 300 fps most of the time was no burden. Gameplay this responsive and smooth is truly addictive.
Pre-orders for Samsung’s Galaxy S21 trio went live this Friday. You can check this article for the prices of the three flagships in the US, Europe and India. Keep in mind that pre-orders get freebies and if you don’t want a TWS headset and a smart tag, you can wait a bit after sales start for the prices to drop. Or maybe you’re no going to buy an S21 at all, that’s what we want to ask you today.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G feels is definitely the one that got the most upgrades. It has an improved 108MP sensor, a longer 10x periscope and a 3x telephoto lens for mid-range zoom, plus Samsung enabled 4K 60fps recording on all cameras.
Advanced quad camera on the S21 Ultra • New chipsets promise faster CPU and GPU performance
Some will love the new S Pen support, others won’t care – it’s completely optional, anyway. But everyone will get a bright 6.8” display to enjoy with 1440p+ resolution and an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (which can go down to 10Hz).
Galaxy S21 Ultra: S Pen support • Brighter 6.8″ 1440p+ display with 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate
There’s no battery upgrade, it stays at 5,000 mAh capacity and even drops the 45W charging support. Samsung dropped the charger too as well as the microSD slot, which will probably irritate many.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G fared the worst of the three – its display is down to 1080p+ resolution, its back is made of “glasstic”, which is mostly a fancy marketing terms for plastic, while the battery capacity remains the same. That said, we have a feeling that it will be more popular than the Plus.
For one, it’s smaller – at 6.2” it’s not exactly compact, but most flagships these days have at least 6.5” displays, some go to 6.7” and higher. And it’s the cheapest of the three, those $100/€100 saved can make a big difference. Also, it’s not like the Plus has better cameras or more storage.
Indeed, the larger Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G has the same triple camera as the S21. The same as the S20, actually, though the new sensors and image processing may improve image quality over the 2020 generation. And this phone does get a battery upgrade, gaining 300 mAh for a total of 4,800 mAh.
You can have only 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB storage on the S21 and S21+. The Ultra is better on both fronts as it starts with 12GB of RAM and the top configuration is 16/512GB.
Galaxy S21 and S21+: different size • same cameras
As for chipsets, there are two versions of each model, one powered by the Snapdragon 888 and one by the Exynos 2100, divided geographically as usual. This year the two chips are pretty close, but we may see a difference in power efficiency and GPU performance.
We’ll naturally review the phones in detail soon, including testing the chipsets, but until then we have only leaked benchmarks to look at. By the way, there are no 4G models this year, only 5G.
You can check out our coverage wrap-up for more details on the phones. We’ve also prepared Pros and Cons lists for the S21 trio and for the S21 vs. S20 models, which can serve as quick reminders about the best (and not that great) features. There’s also a video that covers the key features.
Facebook has updated its Inauguration Day preparations to include a temporary ban on ads that promote weapon accessories and protective equipment at least through January 22nd “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said in a new blog post Saturday. “We already prohibit ads for weapons, ammunition and weapon enhancements like silencers. But we will now also prohibit ads for accessories such as gun safes, vests and gun holsters in the US,” the statement reads.
The ban comes after Facebook was criticized for allowing posts across its platforms that promoted and organized the deadly January 6th attack on the Capitol building. The ads for military gear such as body armor and gun holsters ran next to Facebook and Instagram posts about the insurrection at the Capitol that included calls for violence, as first reported by BuzzFeed News,
A group of US senators wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, urging the company to “develop and execute a Facebook policy permanently prohibiting advertisements of products… primarily designed for use in lethal tactical operations and armed combat.”
Facebook has tightened its policies amid concerns that there may be more violence in the nation’s capital ahead of the January 20th inauguration. The company says it won’t allow users to create events taking place “in close proximity” to the White House, the Capitol, or state capital buildings through Inauguration Day. Facebook also said it was doing a “secondary review” of any inauguration-related events created on its platform and will remove any that violate its rules.
The Poco M3 introduced last November will debut in Indonesia on January 21. The event will begin at 7:30PM local time and will be streamed live on YouTube.
The New Entry Level Killer bakal hadir! #POCOM3 akan memberikan sesuatu yang berbeda di kelas entry-level dan siap untuk menggebrak pasar! Pastiin lo tonton peluncurannya tgl 21 Januari 2021 pukul 19.30 WIB #EntryLevelKiller
Bookmark link peluncurannya : https://t.co/VsjQxMcddw pic.twitter.com/JMW05FFiam
— POCO Indonesia (@POCO_ID) January 16, 2021
The Poco M3 is powered by the Snapdragon 662 SoC, boots Android 10-based MIUI 12, and has 4GB RAM onboard. The smartphone has two storage options – 64GB and 128GB. But it also comes with a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion.
The Poco M3 sports a 6.53″ FullHD+ LCD that has a waterdrop notch for the 8MP selfie camera. The rear panel of the phone has an interesting design and is home to a triple camera setup comprising a 48MP primary, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth sensor units.
The Snapdragon 662-powered smartphone features a side-mounted fingerprint reader and packs a 6,000 mAh battery with 18W charging.
You can head this way to read our detailed written review of the Poco M3, or watch our video review linked below.
Samsung’s bracelet doesn’t cost much more than the Mi Band and has everything you need on a product of the category, including an autonomy of over a week in common use. We have tried it and we will tell you how it is
by Nino Grasso published 16 January 2021 , at 16: 31 in the Wearables channel Samsung Galaxy
That of wearable is a huge world, ranging from basic bracelets to the most advanced, passing from watches that can have a list price starting from a few tens of euros, up to literally thousands of euros for the most exclusive versions.
It is clear that the stra the vast majority of people prefer to spend as little as possible for several reasons: technology is not eternal, as a luxury watch can be handed down from father to son, and a watch to use every day (in the end, wearables are made for this ) tends to deteriorate a lot over time. And it is precisely in the economic market segment that the Samsung Galaxy Fit2 fits .
Samsung’s smart bracelet, or smartband, is one of the cheapest proposals from the South Korean manufacturer in terms of wearables. Light, thin and extremely comfortable, it is designed to be worn anytime, day and especially night, and to retrieve a large amount of data in every circumstance, or almost, to be exploited to check the state of well-being of your body. All at a list price of 39 ??, a factor that puts it in direct competition with one of the cornerstones of the category in terms of sales volumes: Xiaomi’s Mi Band 5.
It costs a little more than the latter even if in fact, in terms of functionality they are practically overlapping. While the purchase is certainly recommended for all users of Samsung devices who want to take advantage of a single ecosystem, on the other hand Galaxy Fit2 is an excellent alternative for everyone to the different Xiaomi Mi Bands. We tried the new bracelet from Samsung and we tell you how it is.
Samsung Galaxy Fit2 in try, our mini review
Samsung Galaxy Fit2 has a decidedly minimalist, almost anonymous, appearance, with the classic cup that can be extracted from the strap for a very quick replacement (or for cleaning). It weighs very little and does not even feel on the wrist, but inside it can boast a series of sensors that make it “smart”, together with the integrated hardware platform.
In 21 grams of weight, in size of 32. 6 x 15. 6 x 11. 1 mm, Samsung managed to implement an integrated mini-system with connectivity Bluetooth 5.1 , 1.1 “color AMOLED display (27, 8mm) with resolution of 126 x 294 pixels, and various sensors such as: accelerometer , gyroscope and optical heart rate sensor . For the more “nerds” we also mention the 2MB of RAM and the storage of 32 MB. The Samsung bracelet is offered with an operating system called FreeRTOS that offers the typical functions of the category.
Galaxy Fit2 uses a 3D curved glass to protect the display which gives a sporty look to the device. As is also the case on many other products of the same type, the display does not occupy the entire front surface of the box, but only a part of it: the dividing line between the frames and the display is visible even when turned off, but only in direct sunlight. , and does not bother in normal use.
As we have already said, the smartband from Samsung is meant to be worn all day and even night, and the particular lightweight and compact design helps in this regard. The strap also allows you to lock your wrist securely without squeezing it, to the benefit of the accuracy of the readings with the heartbeat sensor, placed in the compass along the side opposite the display. The strap also boasts a particular groove that prevents the accumulation of sweat or liquids.
Galaxy Fit2 can also be “cool”, despite its sober appearance. This is because the user can customize it as they see fit, with a total of 70 dials that show various information on the screen. The operation can be performed by pairing with a smartphone (including iPhone), through Bluetooth 5.1 technology (backwards compatible), and downloading the preferred watch face and, once paired with the smartphone (it is necessary to install some apps, to unless it is a proprietary Samsung device) opens up a world of possibilities.
The bracelet can of course receive notifications from any application and, with some apps, respond to them with pre-established sentences . It is also possible to control the musical reproduction of the smartphone, in addition to managing all the functions related to the fitness and general well-being of your body.
Through the integrated sensors, in fact, Galaxy Fit2 can collect data on the wearer’s training sessions, even automatically: the bracelet recognizes five different workouts, detecting time, pulse, calories burned and various other parameters at the start of the mode. Among the automatically identifiable modes we have running, walking, free movement, elliptical, and rowing activity. Curious, but now trendy, the option to remember to wash your hands: once the mode is activated, a timer will tell us when we can stop doing it.
Galaxy Fit2 is also water resistant up to 50 meters deep and offers a range declared by the manufacturer of 15 days (21 days with mild use). After our test we can say that, by also enabling sleep and stress monitoring (both present and verifiable through the Samsung Health app), it is certainly possible to reach 008 days, with company estimates being enough reliable. In short, autonomy is certainly not a problem with this device.
Samsung Galaxy Fit2, passed or failed?
The Samsung bracelet convinced us after our test. It is not as reliable as professional gadgets, of course, but for those who do not have extreme needs it proves to be a useful tool to keep track of their progress in the most basic activities. Not only does it help to keep fit, but it implements several functions that we have already seen on other products, such as stress or sleep analysis, which can actually help improve individual days. )
He also convinced us with regard to the fit, excellent and firm on the wrist thanks to the strap, and above all for the quality ratio- price. As for the price list, Xiaomi manages to do even better, however Galaxy Fit2 does not cost much more and in our opinion it is a more sensible purchase for those who are already immersed in the Samsung ecosystem. The build quality is also of an excellent level, for a product that knows how to be beautiful and functional in its extreme simplicity .
AMD’s Threadripper Pro models offer multiple entry points to eight-channel memory and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 support, setting a new bar for professional-class performance in the process.
For
Excellent rendering performance
Competitive performance in GPU-accelerated applications
Eight-Channel memory interface
128 Lanes of PCIe 4.0
Fully-validated ECC memory support
Against
Pricing isn’t available yet
Some workloads don’t benefit from 128 threads
AMD’s Threadripper 3000 processors are best known for wreaking complete devastation on Intel’s HEDT lineup, easily outclassing the incumbent Cascade Lake-X processors in key areas, and upsetting our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy and Best CPUs for Workstations rankings in one fell swoop. While we certainly weren’t accustomed to seeing Intel so utterly trounced in a segment it has traditionally ruled with pricing impunity, the Threadripper 3000 processors did fall short in one area – they didn’t enable all eight memory channels or the full complement of PCIe lanes. AMD’s Threadripper Pro fixes that, and the chips are coming to retail outlets soon.
The ludicrously-appointed 64-core 128-thread 3995WX serves as the head of AMD’s new four-pronged Threadripper Pro lineup, which extends down to 12-core models. At launch, all of the chips were exclusive to Lenovo’s ThinkStation P620 workstations. However, AMD recently announced that it was bringing the top three models to retail outlets, and the company’s partners announced several new motherboards, like the ASUS Pro WS Sage SE and the Gigabyte WRX80-SU8. Unfortunately, AMD hasn’t shared retail pricing details yet.
The consumer Threadripper models also weren’t designed to fully address the needs of the high-volume and high-margin OEM workstation market, which is key as AMD looks to expand its market share-stealing streak. AMD never specifically designed or marketed its Threadripper lineup for the workstation market, but the new Threadripper Pro chips are designed to allow the company to penetrate the lucrative OEM workstation segment for the first time in 15 years, opening a new front in AMDs battle against Intel’s highest-end chips.
AMD Threadripper Pro Series
Cores / Threads
Base / Boost (GHz)
L3 Cache (MB)
PCIe
DRAM
TDP
Threadripper Pro 3995WX
64 / 128
2.7 / 4.2
256 MB
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper Pro 3975WX
32 / 64
3.5 / 4.2
128
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper Pro 3955WX
16 / 32
3.9 / 4.3
64
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper Pro 3945WX
12 / 24
4.0 / 4.3
62
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Given that AMD’s Threadripper 3990X has already entirely redefined the high end desktop (HEDT) on the consumer side of the equation, it’s natural to expect AMD to eventually bring the advantages of its Zen 2 microarchitecture and the 7nm process to the workstation market – but that hasn’t been a quick and easy path. Fielding OEM-class systems requires passage through strict validation procedures. In the past, AMD’s customers with a strict need for OEM systems either went with the Ryzen Pro or EPYC server models instead, or chose a consumer-focused Threaddripper system from smaller custom system makers. That’s a gap that the new Threadripper Pro series aims to fill, and it certainly also helps AMD build OEM relationships and readies them for AMD’s future chips, like the Zen 3 Threadripper models that will undoubtedly come in due course.
The Threadripper Pro 3995WX comes with plenty of additives to earn the distinction of the most powerful workstation chip on the market – it’s 64 cores easily outweigh Intel’s maximum of 28 cores in a single-socket workstation. In threaded workloads, the 3995WX can even outperform dual-socket Intel systems that come with up to 56 cores.
Aside from the class-leading core counts, AMD’s Threadripper Pro also comes with other features that give it a leg up over competing chips. In many respects, the 3995WX is akin to AMD’s consumer-focused Threadripper 3990X – but on steroids. While both chips feature the same overall design with 64 cores and 128 threads, the Pro series brings eight DDR4-3200 memory channels to bear, thus providing increased memory throughput over AMD’s quad-channel Threadripper models, not to mention Intel’s six-channel Xeon W models that top out at DDR4-2933. You’ll have to step up to a dual-socket Intel-powered workstation to find more available memory channels.
The expanded memory throughput also addresses a key weakness that limits AMD’s consumer Threadripper processors in some applications – memory throughput per core – while also handily serving up more total memory bandwidth than a single Intel Xeon W chip.
AMD also bumped maximum memory capacity up to 2TB in systems that support two DIMMs per channel, a big jump over the 256GB supported with the company’s own consumer models, not to mention Intel’s competing Xeon W chips that have a 1TB limit. You’ll have to step up to Intel’s Xeon Scalable lineup, which is largely meant for servers instead of workstations, to match Threadripper Pro’s 2TB of memory capacity.
AMD also increased PCIe 4.0 support from 72 lanes with the standard Threadripper models to 128 with every chip in the Pro series, all while Intel’s Xeon W remains mired on the PCIe 3.0 interface with 64 lanes. The doubled throughput of each PCIe 4.0 lane, not to mention that the 3995WX has 2.5X more lanes, is a boon for professional users that want to use the fastest high-performance storage and networking additives, or have the ability to connect four Quadro GPUs in a single-socket chassis.
AMD positions the Threadripper Pro chips for professional studios, designers, engineers, and data scientists, all of which can benefit from increased connectivity. We put the chips to the test in professional-class applications and our standard desktop PC test suite. And yes, we took the chip for a spin through our gaming suite to see how the extra four memory channels impact gaming performance.
AMD Threadripper Pro Specifications
The Threadripper Pro chips come with the ‘WX’ suffix to denote they are designed specifically for the professional workstation market and drop into specialized single-socket WRX80 motherboards featuring the sWRX8 socket. The LGA4094 socket is physically identical to the Threadripper consumer and EPYC data center platforms. Still, it features different pin assignments: AMD enabled some pins to support more memory channels and PCIe lanes than are available on the Threadripper consumer chips, and disabled certain pins used to support multiple sockets on EPYC platforms. The chips feature the same internal chiplet-based architecture as the desktop variants, albeit with a fully-enabled I/O Die (IOD) that activates the extra PCIe lanes and two additional dual-channel memory controllers.
Cores / Threads
Base / Boost (GHz)
L3 Cache (MB)
PCIe
DRAM
TDP
MSRP/RCP
Threadripper Pro 3995WX
64 / 128
2.7 / 4.2
256
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
N/A
Threadripper 3990X
64 / 128
2.9 / 4.3
256
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
$3,990
EPYC 7442
64 / 128
2.25 / 3.4
256
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
225W
$6,950
EPYC 7542
32 / 64
3.9 / 3.4
128
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
225W
$3,400
Threadripper Pro 3975WX
32 / 64
3.5 / 4.2
128
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
N/A
Xeon 8280
28 / 56
2.7 / 4.0
38.5
48 Gen 3
Six-Channel DDR4-2933
205W
$10,009
Intel W-3175X
28 / 56
3.1 / 4.8
38.5
48 Gen 3
Six-Channel DDR4-2666
255W
$2999
Threadripper 3970X
32 / 64
3.7 / 4.5
*128
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
$1999
Xeon W-3275
28 / 56
2.5 / 4.6
38.5
64 Gen3
Six-Channel DDR4-2933
205W
$4,449
Threadripper 3960X
24 / 48
3.8 / 4.5
*128
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
$1,399
Xeon W-3265
24 / 48
2.7 / 4.6
33
64 Gen 3
Six-Channel DDR4-2933
205W
$3,349
Threadripper Pro 3955WX
16 / 32
3.9 / 4.3
64
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
N/A
Ryzen 9 3950X
16 / 32
3.5 / 4.7
64
64
Dual DDR4-3200
105W
$749
Threadripper Pro 3945WX
12 / 24
4.0 / 4.3
62
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
N/A
All Threadripper Pro models also support 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity. The chips also feature a 280W TDP rating that matches the consumer models but stretches beyond the maximum 250W TDP found with the EPYC frequency-optimized series of processors.
All of the Threadripper Pro processors feature a maximum frequency over 4.0 GHz, which is important not only for lightly-threaded workloads but also for applications that are licensed on a per-core basis, meaning you pay higher licensing fees based on the number of cores present in the system. Naturally, faster cores equate to more value for your software licensing dollar.
The 280W Threadripper Pro 3995WX is AMD’s first 64-core workstation processor and, like it’s comparable EPYC and Threadripper models, comes with 256MB of L3 cache. Base frequencies weigh in at 2.7 GHz, which is much higher than EPYC’s maximum of 2.25 GHz for a 64-core processor, and 4.2 GHz for the single-core boost, which also outstrips EPYC’s 3.4 GHz boost. However, the 3995WX’s boost is 100 MHz lower than the consumer-focused Threadripper 3990X.
The 280W Threadripper Pro 3975WX weighs in at 32 cores and 64 threads that run at a 3.5 GHz base and 4.2 GHz boost, which is significantly lower than the Threadripper 3970X’s 3.7/4.5 GHz base/boost. The chip has a significantly higher boost frequency than its 32-core EPYC 7542 comparable (+800MHZ) but a lower base frequency.
Meanwhile, the 16-core 32-thread Threadripper 3955WX offers the same core counts as the Zen 2-powered Ryzen 9 3950X that drops into mainstream desktop platforms but has quadruple the memory throughput with eight memory channels along with 128 lanes of the PCIe 4.0 interface. The chip features much lower peak frequencies of 4.3 GHz than the 3950X’s 4.7 GHz, but a 400 MHz higher base clock of 3.9 GHz.
Finally, the Threadripper Pro 3945WX slots in as AMD’s first 12-core processor that surpasses a 4.0 GHz boost speed, weighing in with 4.0/4.3 GHz base/boost frequencies. This processor also comes with the full complement of eight memory channels and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0, with high clock rates positioning the chip for applications that prize per-core performance.
AMD says its four Threadripper Pro chips compete with Intel’s entire confusing stack of workstation chips, which includes three families (W-3200, W-2200, and Xeon Scalable) that have varying features, sockets, and memory support. Even with a huge product stack that spans 85 chips, Intel’s systems top out at six channels of DDR4-2933, meaning that AMD has the memory throughput advantage that is key for large-scale simulations and models.
AMD stepped up Threadripper Pro’s ECC memory support to include UDIMMs, RDIMMs, LRDIMMs, and 3DS RDIMMs (3D stacked memory). AMD’s consumer-focused Threadripper platforms ‘unofficially’ support ECC memory, meaning true full support is spotty. As you can imagine, all Threadripper Pro workstations will come fully-validated for ECC memory. The processors also support AMD’s Memory Guard memory encryption. AMD says that comes with a slight performance penalty (a few percent) that is offset by the security advantages.
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