Month: July 2020

Countless companies have tried to dethrone Sony from its noise-cancelling headphone throne, but none have succeeded. Now Razer is taking a different approach with its first pair of headphones designed for a wider consumer audience – not just gamers – by paying homage to the Queen with a look that emulates Sony’s excellent and much-loved WH-1000XM3s. You can definitely hear the difference between the two, but with a price tag that’s £130 cheaper than Sony’s, the Razer Opus is a compelling alternative.

Aside from the midnight blue finish (which is the only colour option currently available, and, from my experience, just looks black most of the time) it’s actually not that easy to distinguish the Razer Opus from the Sony WH-1000XM3.

It’s a design that Sony has stuck with for a couple iterations of its flagship noise-cancelling headphones, and one that’s incredibly lightweight and comfortable, so it’s hard to fault Razer for taking notes and borrowing extensively from what is still our recommendation for anyone looking to mute the world around them.

For its first over-the-ear wireless headphones that don’t look like they came straight from a rave, it seems like Razer wasn’t interested in breaking any new ground or taking chances with the design of the Opus. Even the faux leather material used on the ear cups and the top of the headband feels identical to what you’ll find on Sony’s WH-1000XM3, but I don’t see any reason to complain, because it means that, like the Sony headphones, these are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn.

There are a few things Razer has done differently with the Opus, however, which may or may not mesh with your personal preferences. Like the Sony WH-1000XM3, the Razer Opus include a dedicated button for activating noise cancellation. On the Sony headphones, pressing that button transitions through three modes: noise cancelling on, noise cancelling off, and ambient sound boost, which allows you to better hear what’s going on around you (like someone talking) without actually having to take the headphones off. On the Opus, pressing that same button toggles noise cancelling on and off, but holding it temporarily activates the ambient sound boost until you release it. It works so much better than Sony’s approach and it makes quickly activating the “Quick Attention Mode” – as Razer calls it – much easier.

Razer also skips the touch controls that the WH-1000XM3 rely on for adjusting volume and controlling playback using swipe gestures. I actually hate Sony’s approach, and find it very unreliable compared to the simple set of three buttons found on the Razer Opus’ right ear cup. It works just like the inline remote control buttons found on almost any wired earbuds you can buy today, so you’ve probably already got the muscle memory for double clicking and triple clicking the middle button to skip or replay tracks.

So has Razer managed to actually release a pair of headphones that outperform the Sony WH-1000XM3 in every way for $150 less? Not quite. The Razer Opus do sound fantastic, as you’d expect from headphones with 40-millimetre drivers on each ear, but the sound just doesn’t quite pop and doesn’t feel as full as it does coming from the WH-1000XM3. Sony’s been churning out headphones for decades, and switching back and forth between the Opus and the WH-1000XM3, you can definitely hear the difference – but it’s a difference that a lot of consumers can probably happily live without if it means they’re saving £130.

As wonderful as Sony’s headphones sound, I would be just as happy wearing the Razers all day long, although improving the Opus’ mobile app would certainly help them better compete with the WH-1000XM3. In the Razer app, you can only select from five different equaliser presets, including a THX-tuned default which does sound the best, but letting users create their own presets and tune the headphones to their own preferences would certainly be a welcome upgrade.

The Razer Opus’ noise-cancelling capability also can’t quite match what Sony’s can do. It’s good, and definitely better than what you’ll get from noise-cancelling earbuds, given the ear cup design completely surrounds and blocks your ear, but it’s not as good as the WH-1000XM3 (which are almost two years old at this point). (Details about Sony’s next version have already been leaked, and they feature extra mics for improved noise cancelling.)

Like the Sony headphones, the Razers do a good job at effectively muting the low-end frequencies around you, like the sound of a running car or an aeroplane engine (were flying not so foolishly risky right now) but the Razers do allow in a little more of the mid to high-end frequencies, like human voices, than Sony’s version. But that’s with no music playing. When you crank your tunes, the world around you does effectively disappear – as far as your ears are concerned – with the Opus strapped to your head. Razer might not have bested Sony when it comes to how its new headphones sound and perform, but for £200 they make a strong case against paying $150 more than you really need to.

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Just as comfortable and ergonomic as Sony’s flagship noise-cancelling wireless headphones, because they feature nearly the exact same design.

At £200, they’re £130 cheaper than the Sony WH-1000XM3.

You’ll get at least 25 hours of battery life with noise cancellation turned on.

The built-in mic isn’t great for making calls, but it gets the job done.

Physical shortcut buttons for volume and playback work better than the touch gestures that Sony relies on.

Activating the “Quick Attention Mode” and temporarily boosting the ambient sound around you is much easier on the Razer Opus.

The accompanying Razer Opus mobile app is limited, letting users select from only five equaliser presets.

Dell’s XPS lineup has long included some of the best ultrabooks and premium laptops, but it’s been over a decade since we saw a 17-inch version. The XPS 17 (9700) is a triumphant return after a decade away, with a gorgeous display that almost floats in air on thin bezels, as well as solid CPU performance and the option for a gaming-grade GPU. If you were waiting for a bigger screen with this design, you’re finally getting one (and getting the performance to match).

Design of Dell XPS 17 (9700)

Dell has followed in Apple’s footsteps with the XPS lineup, making each laptop look largely the same. The XPS 17 follows in the footsteps of the Dell XPS 13 (9300) and Dell XPS 15 (9500), each of which launched earlier this year with slimmer profiles than ever before, as well as extending the InfinityEdge display to reduce the bottom bezel. The XPS 17 does that as well, just on a bigger scale.

That means its lid, just like the others, is made of silver aluminum with a Dell logo stamped on top. Like the other recent XPS notebooks, the XPS 17 has a 16:10 display, which provides slightly more vertical space on screen over typical 16:9 displays (this screen is 17-inches flat, rather than the more typical 17.3 inches). The hinge connecting the screen to the rest of the chassis feels extremely sturdy, even heavy.

Again, like its siblings, the XPS 17 has a carbon fiber palmrest that is smooth to the touch and comfortable against the wrists when typing. There’s plenty of room on the left and right sides of the keyboard for speaker grills, which are far larger than what the 15-incher offers.

There is a fingerprint reader in the power button, and the webcam, which is built into the thin top bezel of the display supports IR to unlock your PC with Windows Hello.

There are four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the XPS 17 — two on each side. The left side also has a lock slot, while the right side also has a full-sized SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Despite being ostensibly the most “Pro” of the XPS line, there’s still no USB Type-A, though Dell does include an adapter for USB Type-C to USB Type-A and HDMI out, for those who still use those standards.

At 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches and 4.7 pounds, the XPS 17 is larger than Apple’s biggest mobile offering, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches and 4.3 pounds. The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR is a bit larger at 15.6 x 10.6 x 0.8 inches and 5.5 pounds.

Productivity Performance of Dell XPS 17 (9700)

Our XPS 17 review unit came fully loaded with an Intel Core i7-10875H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. Nevermind excessive Chrome tabs, this is enough muscle for some intense productivity work, though it didn’t win in every benchmark.

On Geekbench 5.0, the XPS 17 notched a score of 7,740, beating out the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (Intel Core i7-10875H, 7,357), and the 16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9-9980HK, 7,201).

It took six seconds for the XPS 17 to copy 4.97GB of files, a rate of 848.2 MBps. That’s the same as the Aero, but the MacBook Pro was faster at 1,017.9 MBps.

The XPS 17 completed our Handbrake video editing test in 8 minutes in 41 seconds. In that test, the laptop transcodes a 4K video to 1080p. Both the MacBook Pro (8:00) and Aero 17 (7:58) completed the task more quickly.

Our stress test for performance involves running Cinebench R20 on a loop 15 times. The scores were, after the first run, largely in the 2900 – 3000 range, though there was a slight bump to the latter end, consistently in the back part of the loop.

The CPU ran at an average clock speed of 3 GHz and an average temperature of 80.6 degrees Celsius (177.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

Gaming and Graphics for Dell XPS 17 (9700)

The Dell XPS 17 isn’t exactly billed as a gaming machine, but with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q, it’s certainly possible to play some games. Don’t expect to take advantage of the 4K+ screen on our review unit, but you can get respectable frame rates at 1080p.

On Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, highest), the XPS ran the game at 48 fps. The Aero 17, with an RTX 2070 Super, ran the game at 61 fps.

Next, we ran Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, very high), which the XPS ran at 64 fps compared to the Aero’s 77 fps.

On Far Cry New Dawn (1080p, ultra), the game ran at 66 fps on the XPS and 76 fps on the Aero.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (1080p, medium) is punishing, but still playable. The XPS 17 ran it at 35 fps compared to the Aero’s 43 fps.

We also ran our gaming stress test, which runs Metro Exodus on the RTX preset 15 times. The game ran at an average frame rate of 37.4 frames per second. Most runs ran at 37 fps, while some ran as low as 34 or as high as 38 fps.

During this test, the CPU ran at an average of 3.1 GHz and measured 76.6 degrees Celsius (169.9 degrees Celsius). The GPU’s average clock speed was 1308 MHz and the average temperature was 71.2 degrees Celsius (160.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

Display

The 17-inch display on the XPS 17 uses a 16:10 aspect ratio. Most laptops go with 16:9, but 16:10 allows for slightly more vertical space to work, which is very welcome. We reviewed a version with a 3840 x 2400 touchscreen (slightly over 4K), though a non-touch version closer to FHD (1920 x 1200) is available. Our review unit was extremely bright and showed vivid colors when I watched the 4K short Tears of Steel. The film’s bright colors range from green and purple holograms to red cyborg eyes and a blue cityscape, and they all looked great.

Dell’s screen covers 121.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, easily surpassing the MacBook Pro (80.7%). It’s rivaled only by the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR at 115.1%, but even that falls behind.

The XPS 17’s panel is also the brightest of the bunch at an average 505 nits of brightness. That’s far more luminous than either the MacBook Pro (429 nits) or Aero 17 (466 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the XPS 17 is the right mixture of quiet and clicky. It isn’t terribly loud, but it’s not sacrificing much in the way of travel. It has a slightly bouncy feel; I never quite bottomed out on the keys, as they always popped back up. On the 10fast fingers.com typing test, I reached an average of 106 words per minute with a 2% error rate, all of which is pretty normal for me.

One might think that a 17-inch laptop could fit a full-sized numberpad, but Dell has opted not to add one. I prefer the centered keyboard while on the go, but I could see some professionals or data input experts missing the number keys.

The touchpad is extremely spacious at 5.8 x 3.5 inches. There’s plenty of room for navigating and gesturing, and, thanks to Windows precision drivers, everything seemed to work right on the first try.

Audio

The top-firing speakers on the XPS 17 are powerful and clear. They blasted out music directly at me while I used the computer and listened to Neon Trees’ “Sleeping With a Friend.” Sound output was a little quieter around the rest of my apartment, but it did ultimately fill my one-bedroom, so the laptop does the job. The song’s vocals, synths, drums and cymbals all came through well-balanced and clear, but like many laptops, the XPS 17 lacks bass, putting it behind the 16-inch MacBook Pro in this regard. I could pull out a hint of it in the Waves MaxxAudioPro software, but not enough to make a big difference.

Upgradeability

There are eight Torx screws on the bottom of the Dell XPS 17. A Torx 4 screwdriver got those out easily enough.

The base plate is held to the rest of the chassis with small clips. This is a design in which the cutouts for the I/O are attached, which I’ve always found the most annoying to remove. It took a bit of time with a spudger, but with some patience I was able to crack the XPS open.

The cooling in here is fairly impressive; the CPU and GPU are covered by copper and with extra room, Dell’s fans are much larger than what we usually see even in gaming laptops.

The RAM is immediately accessible should you want to add or upgrade SODIMMs. The dual m.2 SSDs appear to be easy to change out, but the screws holding in the battery also hold down the copper heat sinks over the storage. While taking the battery out is often good practice when working with electronics, this practice may irk some who are willing to risk a quick swap without doing so.

Battery Life

The 97 WHr battery in the Dell XPS 17 took it far on a charge in our battery test, which continuously browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests in the browser, all over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The laptop ran for 9 hours and 5 seconds.

It was beat by the MacBook Pro, which lasted an hour and 50 minutes longer at 10:55. It’s possible that the lower resolution screen option on the XPS 17 would put it ahead here, but we didn’t test that version.

The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR fell behind the competition with a run time of 6:28 that will require you to carry a charger around.

Heat

Dell made the XPS 17 incredibly thin, but it can get a touch warm under load. We took some skin temperatures while we ran our Cinebench stress test.

The keyboard between the G and H keys measured 45.7 degrees Celsius (114.3 degrees Fahrenheit), but the touchpad kept cool at 32.4 degrees Celsius (90.3 degrees Fahrenheit).

The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 44.1 degrees Celsius, (111.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Webcam

Dell keeps the top bezel very slim, which requires a custom 720p webcam to fit. It’s a far better solution than having the camera below the screen, which is the perfect angle to look at your chin, but the image quality isn’t amazing here. A photo I took in a well-lit area of my apartment was grainy and just a tad dark. The colors were largely accurate, including my bright yellow t-shirt.

Software and Warranty

Dell has been adding an increasing amount of preloaded software to its laptops the past few years. Many of these programs are helpful, though a few seem unnecessary.

Perhaps the best addition is Dell Mobile Connect, which lets you make calls, send texts, see notifications or transfer files (it works best with Android). For creatives, Dell Premier Color is a calibration app and lets you make adjustments to color spaces.

Dell Cinema Guide is a version of Reelgood, which lets you add your streaming service subscriptions to watch any movie or show from those programs. This one seems a bit extra. Additionally, Dell has added Netflix, which seems contradictory, as well as Dropbox and a trial of Dolby Access.

There’s also the usual bloat that comes with Windows 10, including Hotspot Shield Free VPN, Spotify, Hulu and Candy Crush Friends, among others.

Dell sells the XPS 17 (9700) with a 1-year warranty.

Configurations

We reviewed the Dell XPS 17 in a $2,999.99 configuration with an Intel Core i7-10875H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 3840 x 2400 touchscreen. That’s the top of the line.

The base model, starting at $1,399.99, uses an Intel Core i5-10300H with integrated graphics, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 256GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage and a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display.

For $1,899.99, you get the Intel Core i7-10875H paired with a GTX 1650 Ti, the 1920 x 1200 screen, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

You can get a slightly cheaper variant of our review model for $2,849.99 by moving down to 16GB of RAM.

Bottom Line

The Dell XPS 17 (9700) is a desktop-replacement with a massive 17-inch display. That screen is bright and gorgeous, with accurate color reproduction. It offers strong CPU performance, a GPU capable of gaming and solid battery life. It’s pricey, but not crazy considering its competitors’ price tags.

Creatives who need more GPU performance may want to opt for something like the Gigabyte Aero 17, which also has a nice screen and a slim build, but has a more powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (which can also deliver some 4K gaming).

Mac users will naturally gravitate to the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which has better sound and runs macOS, but the XPS 17 takes the fight to Apple here. Big screen laptop lovers, your time is now.

While it’s having none of that foldable action, at least so far, LG is apparently working on a rollable smartphone, that was pictured in 3D renders in August last year. Those renders are based on a patent LG filed for, and sometimes with patents nothing actually comes out of them in the form of a real product.

This time things seem to be different. According to a report from LG’s home of Korea, the company will launch the rollable smartphone currently codenamed Project B at some point in early 2021.

Interestingly enough, the display panel will be provided by BOE, and not LG Display, for whatever reason. Prototype production is already underway at LG’s factory in Pyeongtaek. Around 1,000 to 2,000 prototypes are produced, and it usually takes three to four rounds of prototypes before a final product stage is reached.

Project B is meant to reestablish LG as an innovative player in the smartphone space, where it’s been losing money for 20 straight quarters. This device should remake LG’s brand image, and it’s named after CEO Kwon Bong-seok.

Alongside Project B, LG is said to be launching a traditional-looking flagship phone in the first half of 2021, codenamed Rainbow, and a “horizontal” smartphone coming in the second half of this year, codenamed Wing. It’s unclear what exactly this entails.

Say hello to the Motorola Moto G Pro – the Europe-bound counterpart to the US Moto G Stylus. The pair is basically indistinguishable, specs-wise.

So let’s see what’s in the box. Motorola has provided all you need to get started – an 18W charger, a USB-C cable and a complimentary silicone case.

Unlike the Moto G Stylus, the G Pro’s name doesn’t tease the built-in accessory, but it’s there – tucked into the right bottom corner of the phone. You need to pry it out with a fingernail – there’s no push-to-pull-out mechanism like on the Galaxy Note10 series. Unlike the Note10’s S Pen, Motorola’s stylus also doesn’t insert back into the phone any which way – you need to put it in just the way you took it out.

The stylus is made of metal and feels sturdy and a bit heavy. You can draw and take notes, even when the phone is locked, like Samsung’s screen-off memo.

Camera setup includes a 48MP main unit, a macro snapper, as well as an ultrawide shooter that can record action-cam-style video in landscape, while you’re holding the phone vertically. We’ve seen this from the Moto One Action before – instead of a conventional ultrawide camera you get one that’s rotated 90 degrees.

We’ll test the action camera in detail in our full review.

The display of the Moto G Power is a 6.4-inch IPS LCD of 720x1560px resolution. The panel isn’t special in terms of brightness or sharpness, but it’s good overall and is big enough for multimedia enjoyment.

That multimedia enjoyment is augmented on the Moto G Power thanks to its Dolby Atmos-certified stereo speakers. They’re very loud indeed and offer deep bass. Our new loudspeaker test will be a better judge of the pair of speakers in detail, but for now we can say that they’re are more powerful than those of most flagships.

So, you have a good set of cameras with an unique action-cam ultrawide unit, a built-in stylus, good display and great speakers. And all of that for just under €300, which isn’t quite the same as the $180 Motorola charges for the indetical Moto G Stylus overseas, but good nonetheless.

And while Motorola’s clean take on Android might be an added benefit for some, we’re yet to see if the price is justified by the overall package. Stay tuned for our full review, coming soon.

WhatsApp could finally be given the green light to restore one of its most anticipated new features – after it was unceremoniously ditched last month. Last month, the Facebook-owned chat app kickstarted the rollout of its WhatsApp Payments feature after years of development.

As the name suggests, the new functionality is designed to allow WhatsApp users to send money to friends and small businesses wirelessly within the app. Following extensive testing in India, WhatsApp launched the Payments feature in Brazil – its second largest market – last month.

Days after the launch, the long-awaited feature had to be disabled in the chat app. The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) suspended the WhatsApp Payments feature in the country, a move which took the app by surprise.

The monetary authority said the decision was made to “preserve an adequate competitive environment, that ensures the functioning of a payment system that’s interchangeable, fast, secure, transparent, open and cheap”.

In the aftermath an insider told Bloomberg that the news came as a surprise to WhatsApp as the two parties had been in regular contact in the run-up to the launch. And as WhatsApp is still waiting for all the all clear from the BCB they have been given one major reprieve regarding the functionality.

It has been revealed that Brazil’s antitrust watchdog Cade has said they are revoking their decision to suspend the recently launched WhatsApp Payments feature. Cade said the decision was made after being provided with information by Facebook and card processor Cielo, who the new functionality was launched in partnership with.

Cade said the details provided showed the WhatsApp Payments feature does not reduce consumers choice nor does it limit new deals with rivals, The New York Times reported in a post online. These were some of the main sticking points highlighted by critics in Brazil.

The antitrust watchdog said they would still continue to investigate the partnership but WhatsApp welcomed the decision. A spokesperson said: “We are glad Cade acted quickly to lift its preventive restrictions on WhatsApp Payments.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Brazilian authorities to restore the service soon and allow all WhatsApp users in Brazil to send money to friends and family or purchase a product right on WhatsApp”.

While WhatsApp has moved past one hurdle, they still face other issues with the BCB who were the main force behind the Payments functionality being blocked. The monetary authority said the the suspension would allow them to assess if the WhatsApp features poses any possible risk to their system of payments and if it complies with the rules.

They added that starting WhatsApp Payments without regulatory approval could cause: “irreparable damage to the system, especially what concerns competition, efficiency and data privacy”.

It remains to be seen how much longer it will take for WhatsApp to iron out these issues with the BCB, and whether it will impact the rollout of Payments in other countries.