Author: batteryforpc

HP at CES 2019: HP Chromebook 14 Combines AMD and Chrome OS

When the first Chromebooks were released in 2011, they were aimed at the lower end of the market and carried matching price tags. After Google launched its Pixel laptop in 2013 and proved that it was possible to address the premium segment, other makers of PCs followed on with more advanced Chromebooks that were more expensive. Eventually, Chromebooks somewhat moved away from being exclusively in the low end of the market, and towards a broader market covering multiple price ranges. With the low end market diminished by not forgotten, HP has announced that it’s going to take another shot at this segment with its new Chromebook 14. Coincidentally, the Chromebook 14 is also the first ChromeOS-powered PC featuring an AMD processor.

As the name suggests, the HP Chromebook 14 features a 14-inch SVA display panel with a 1366×768 resolution and anti-glare coating. The notebook comes in a fine-looking chassis with a textured finish and a 1.8 cm (0.92-inch) z-height, though HP hasn’t specified what kind of material it is made of. Given the thickness, it is reasonable to guess that some sort of a plastic was used (I would assume polycarbonate).

Moving on to the guts of the system. The HP Chromebook 14 is based on AMD’s A4-9120C processor, a relatively unknown SoC featuring two Excavator cores running at 1.8 GHz and the GCN 1.2-based Radeon R4 iGPU with 128 SPs operating at 720 MHz (more information about the SoC is available in Ian’s AMD at CES 2019 coverage). Being fabbed on a 28 nm process and a low-end chip overall, this SoC is cheap enough to that AMD and HP can still turn a profit even with the low-end pricing of the system. All told, do not expect too much from this APU (and therefore the Chromebook 14 as a whole): it can handle productivity apps, VP9/H.264/H.265 decode, play some games, but that is about it.

The Chromebook 14 is equipped 4 GB of DDR4 RAM and 32 GB of local eMMC storage, just like early Chromebooks. As for I/O, it has a Qualcomm 802.11ac Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 4.2 controller, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a microSD card reader, a dual microphone array, B&O-badged speakers, a webcam, and so on. Overall, hardware wise the laptop looks pretty much okay.

As for battery life, HP says that its Chromebook 14 lasts for nine hours and 15 minutes on a single charge in their mixed use case workload. The company is using a fairly hefty 47.36 Wh battery here, driven in good part by the need to light up the relatively large 14-inch display.

Finally, while HP is announcing the laptop today, they aren’t announcing pricing or an ETA for the device. We may find out more on AMD’s Wednesday keynote; competing AMD-powered Chromebooks are due in February, so AMD is just about ready themselves.

AMD 2nd Gen Ryzen Mobile processors aim to take over the laptop scene

While all eyes were trained for AMD to announced 7nm Ryzen 3rd Generationprocessors and Vega II graphics cards, the company has surprised us all with its new 2nd Gen Ryzen Mobile CPUs.

Whereas in years past AMD would only introduce a handful of CPUs, the chipmaker now has a full product stack to power everything from gaming laptops, Ultrabooks, budget notebooks and even Chromebooks – more on this last one soon.

AMD Ryzen 7 3750H: 4-cores, 8-threads, 10 GPU cores, clocked at 2.3GHz to 4.0GHz

AMD Ryzen 7 3700U: 4-cores, 8-threads, 10 GPU cores, clocked at 2.3GHz to 4.0GHz

AMD Ryzen 5 3550H: 4-cores, 8-threads, 8 GPU cores, clocked at 2.3GHz to 3.7GHz

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U: 4-cores, 8-threads, 8 GPU cores, clocked at 2.1GHz to 3.7GHz

AMD Ryzen 3 3300U: 4-cores, 4-threads, 6 GPU cores, clocked at 2.1GHz to 3.5GHz

AMD Ryzen 3 3200U: 2-cores, 4-threads, 3 GPU cores, clocked at 2.6GHz to 3.5GHz

AMD Athlon 300U: 2-cores, 4-threads, 3 GPU cores, clocked at 2.4GHz to 3.3GHz

Looking at AMD’s product stack from the bottom up, you’ll find it offers quad-core chips more quickly and regularly than even Intel’s latest Whisky Lake and Amber Lake processor families. The Ryzen 3 3300U is AMD’s second lowest-tier entry-level CPU, but if you were to buy an Intel-powered laptop with the same number of cores you would have to find a machine with at least an Intel Core i5-8265U – or i5-8259U from the Coffee Lake U-series family.

Unfortunately, AMD’s top-tier mobile processor only features four-cores, whereas the Intel Coffee Lake H-series chips have moved up to being hexa-core. However, it’s worth noting that the company has only announced two H-series CPUs, so this could just be the beginnings of the brand’s gaming laptop ambitions.

Performance gains

According to AMD, the Ryzen 5 3500U will deliver 14% faster web browsing, 27% greater media editing performance and tie in productivity than an Intel Core i5-8250U (Kaby Lake R). In terms of battery life, Team Red promised users can expect up to 12 hours of general usage and 10 hours of video playback.

Of course, AMD’s greatest strength is it integrated, discrete-class Vega graphics and company. The Ryzen 7 3700U pitted against an Intel Core i7-8565U (Whisky Lake) can play most games 10 or more frames per second faster at a 720p resolution and low settings.

AMD also plans to keep its mobile chips in top game playing shape by delivering Radeon Software updates to all its Ryzen Mobile processors both past and present.

Meet the first AMD-powered Chromebooks

On top of introducing its 2nd Gen Ryzen Mobile Processors, AMD also introduced new A-series chips designed specifically for Chromebooks.

AMD A6-9220C: 2-cores, 2-threads, R5 Series Radeon Graphics, clocked at 1.8GHz to 2.7GHz

AMD A4-9120C: 2-cores, 2-threads, R4 Series Radeon Graphics, clocked at 1.6GHz to 2.4GHz

In a fight between the AMD A6-9220C and the Intel Pentium N4200, Team Red promises users can expect 23% faster web browsing, 2.5x faster email, 33% faster photo editing and 34% gaming. That last bit seems crucial as Chrome OS and Android seem to be inseparable at this point and gaming on Chromebooks becomes bigger.

Want more CES 2019 highlights? TechRadar is hands-on with 8K TVs and foldable, rollable displays, along with new laptops and Alexa-enabled smart gadgets.

Jack to the future for Huawei? P30 leak hints at the return of the headphone port

Huawei, currently the world’s second-largest smartphone company by sales, has won over users partly by loading its devices with a ton of new features, from wireless charging to top-class cameras and catchy cosmetic features like the colorful gradients on their shiny backsides. Now, a leaked image of its next flagship Android phone appears to reveal a surprising reverse course. According to Indian blog 91phones (and via Engadget) its next premium device, dubbed the P30, will feature a HEADPHONE JACK.

What’s that, you say? Aren’t headphone jacks so yesterday?

Well, it turns out that sometimes progress isn’t universally loved. (Pour one out for the futurists here.)

Over the past couple of years, Apple and others have gradually removed the jack from their devices.

Yes, it’s been done in the name of thinner handsets and more features like waterproofing. But — let’s be honest — also most likely also to up-sell people to those very pricey, sometimes pretentious-looking wireless earphones.

But you know what? People — say, those who have a favorite set of corded headphones, or who hate the idea of losing the ability to charge using said headphones — are still missing those inky black holes.

Huawei has been no different, removing its jack in the P30’s P20 predecessor.

But the leaked image reveals that it seems to be making a return in the familiar lower edge of the handset, to the left of the USB-C charging port.

Other features revealed in this and previous leaks of the phone include a six-inch screen, more of that gradient backing, a 24MP selfie camera in a streamlined notch on the front, with a Sony triple camera at 38MP with 5x optical zoom on the back, and no fingerprint sensor port, with the device likely to be shipping in 128GB and 256GB versions.

Huawei overtook Apple as the world’s second largest smartphone vendor in Q2 of 2018, and the last two quarters have only cemented that position. In Q3, only Samsung (the leader) and Huawei saw shipment growth among all the top players; and as for Q4, well, Apple’s given us a little preview of what we will expect there.

Interestingly, Apple specifically has singled out China as a disappointing market when it comes to iPhone sales: Huawei happens to be the market leader there.

So — if this leak is accurate — it’s interesting to think that as Huawei grows often by aggressively following the playbook of other brands, it may be making a bold move by bringing something back that appeared to have gotten discarded in the tech march forward.

If its pace of handset sales continues to stay strong, this could be coming at a key time for Huawei. The company remains in hot water with governments in Europe, the US and elsewhere over questionable and potentially illegal business practices, and that appears to be potentially impacting its massive telecoms equipment business and its lucrative deals with carriers.

As for when this supposed phone might launch, we’re just about to kick off CES in Vegas, but it’s unlikely to appear here. The P20 launched in March last year, a few weeks after the big MWC mobile event in Barcelona, and that could potentially be the same timescale the company follows again.

We’re contacting Huawei for comment and will update this post as we learn more.

Cheap Lenovo BL207 Li-ion Cell Phone battery, Brand New BL207 replacement battery for Lenovo K100 K900

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3). It is better to defragmentation regularly for your Other battery life. 
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5). Please keep your laptop in sleep or standby model without long time using, which both save the Replacement Kenwood PB-40 Other Battery power and extend battery using life. 
6). Leave your battery in a dry and cool condition when without using.
7). When you rarely or generally plugged in fixed power using, Please take down your battery to avoid hurting battery life.

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1). Please recharge or change your Other battery when battery power low.
2). Using Li-Ion Replacement Yaesu FNB-80LI Other Battery for your notebook which can work longer time than Non Li-ion one.
3). It is better to defragmentation regularly for your Other battery life. 
4). In order to reduce the laptop power consumpition, you can use some optical drive spin-down and hard drive in your Other .
5). Please keep your laptop in sleep or standby model without long time using, which both save the Replacement Yaesu FNB-80LI Other Battery power and extend battery using life. 
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A new Google Chrome attack can freeze your Windows 10 device

A new exploit has been discovered in Google Chrome that can potentially freeze Windows 10 devices completely. The new bug is being used in a tech support scam that freezes Windows 10 and then tells the user that their device is infected by a virus.
The newly discovered bug uses Javascript code to create a loop and which makes it impossible to close the tab or the browser. The pop-up also claims to from the official Microsoft support website and claims that the computer is infected with a virus, which could compromise your passwords, browser history, credit card information and other data. Since it’s a loop, every time you try to close it, it will open again almost instantly and will push your resource usage to 100% which will eventually freeze the computer.
While this looks like a legit issue, it’s just a scam and you can fix your computer easily by following the steps below.
Open Task Manager from the Taskbar
Go to the Processes tab
Click on Google Chrome (or GoogleChrome.exe)
Click End Task button at the bottom right corner
Also, make sure you have not set Google Chrome to restore back the old tabs as this will open the website again. A good way to avoid tech support scams it to verify the information before paying anyone money to fix your device. This is not the first time, a tech support scam has been identified that targetted Google Chrome. Earlier this year, we reported how a Download Bomb exploit has targetted major web browsers and only Microsoft Edge was imune to the attack. A good thumb of rule to prevent from getting scammed is to remember that companies don’t usually ask users to pay money unless they have thoroughly checked the device and identified the problem.

How to Schedule Text Messages on Android

Whether you have friends or family members who work and live different schedules than you, or you find yourself sending more “happy belated birthday” messages than you’d like, having the ability to schedule text messages ahead of time is an incredibly useful feature.
Unfortunately, only certain Android smartphones let you do this out of the box. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re using, say, a Google Pixel phone. There are multiple ways to schedule texts on Android—provided you have the right app for the job.
Schedule Texts on Samsung Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones users have it the easiest since they can schedule texts messages using the default Samsung SMS app that comes pre-installed on these smartphones:
Open the Samsung SMS app
Draft your text message
Tap the “+” button near the text field, or the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the calendar
Select the date and time
Tap “Send” to schedule.
While this is great news for Samsung Galaxy and Note owners, the stock SMS app on non-Samsung Android phones—like Google Pixel phones— lacks an equivalent feature. Scheduling texts is still possible, but you’ll have to use a third-party app messaging instead.
Use Pulse SMS to Schedule Texts
In order to schedule texts on non-Samsung Android phones, you’ll need to replace the basic Android SMS app—that’s where Pulse SMS comes in.
Pulse SMS is not only one of the best looking alternative text messaging apps for available on all Android devices, it also includes features that make it better than the stock texting app. While some of these features are only available when you upgrade to the premium version (which costs $10 for lifetime access), the free version includes a text scheduler.
You’ll need to download Pulse SMS from Google Play and then set it to your default texting app, but once you’ve done that you can begin scheduling messages immediately. Here’s how:
Tap the orange “+” button and then select the contact you wish to text.
In the conversation window, tap the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, then tap “Schedule a message.”
Set the date and time using the calendar interface
Draft your message. When you’re finished, tap “add” to schedule.
How to find, edit, or delete a scheduled message in Pulse SMS:
Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner to open the sidebar.
Tap “Scheduled Messages”
Tap the conversation, then tap and hold the message you wish to modify. Select “Edit” to edit the text, or “Delete” to delete the scheduled message.
Use IFTTT to Schedule Texts
This method of scheduling texts is a little more complicated than directly scheduling a text via Pulse SMS, but if you don’t want to swap to a whole new SMS app, it’ll get the job done.
This IFTTT applet can be used to schedule a text message when a Google Calendar event is triggered. The only requirements are an IFTTT account linked to the necessary apps (IFTTT will request permission if you haven’t linked to proper accounts/apps yet). Simply use the links above and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the message.
Use Alarms or Calendar Reminders
This last suggestion is only a half measure since it requires you to follow through and send the text yourself, but having a reminder loaded with a pre-written message is better than nothing.
While you can’t directly schedule and send a text message through Google Calendar, you can still use it to set up event reminders to send a text for special occasions. You can even write up a draft of the text you’re thinking of sending in the “Notes” section when setting up the reminder; that way you can copy and paste the text when the time comes to finally send it.

This Right Here Is an Incredibly Annoying Thing About Android

Everything to love about Android, there is still one deeply annoying problem. One that can be so annoying it could make you swear off the OS altogether. It takes forever for the Google’s OS updates to trickle down to products manufactured by companies like Samsung, OnePlus, and Huawei. So while Samsung S9 and OnePlus 5 owners can now rejoice in the fact that they could have Android 9 Pie by the end of the year (depending on where they live), other Android users, including owners of year-old Samsung devices, get to wait until well into next year. And that’s really stupid!
Android 9 Pie has had slow to rollout thus far. When Google released the latest numbers of Android version adoption back in October Pie was entirely absent despite being out for nearly two months. Which means either Pie was purposely excluded or it has had a miserable adoption rate of 0.1-percent (the minimum required for Google to include a version in the chart).
So it’s not surprising it has taken Samsung this long. As many in America settled down to enjoy a couple of days off work this week, Samsung began rolling out the update from Android 8 Oreo to Android 9 Pie to a select number of Samsung Galaxy S9 handsets. So far, the update is only rolling out in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, and Turkey. Tech Radar notes that the rest of the S9 family should have the update next month, but that’s still five months after Pie first became available in August 2018. Note 9 owners will have to wait until February 2019, while Note 8 and S8 owners will have to wait until March 2019 at the earliest.
That’s right, the older the handset, the longer the wait. Android 9 Pie, known as Android P before its launch, isn’t exactly the biggest update to come to the operating system, but it does include cool features like a Digital Wellbeing app to help you manage how much you stare at your phone, as well as more refined control over myriad notifications. These are great features that anyone with a Pixel can already enjoy, and have been able to since Google released the update in August.
The giant gap between Android Pie’s release and anticipated global availability for the Samsung S9, which launched back in March, feels excruciatingly obnoxious at this point. But this has also been the curse of Android from the get-go. The vanilla operating system might have been available in August, but Samsung runs a custom skin over it, and it takes time to update and test that customized version of the operating system. There’s no clear and easy way to speed up that timeline—apart from Samsung going vanilla, or hiring more software engineers.
Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer plagued with this problem. Nvidia has suffered its own update woes this year. Its 4K set-top box, the Shield, was finally updated to Android 8 Oreo back in June, months late and nearly a year after Google released Oreo. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T are both getting Pie by the end of this month (the 5 launched June 2017, the 5T launched November 2017). Their successor, the OnePlus 6, got Pie a few months ago.
It’s hard to produce these updates, but one can’t deny that these companies also look like absolute clowns when compared to Google or Apple. Google is going with a vanilla version of Android that can be updated very quickly after a new release because nothing really major needs to be tweaked, while Apple’s closed ecosystem allows it to build its operating system to work perfectly with a handful of devices designed in-house. Thus Google and Apple can roll out updates quickly.
Sure, companies like Samsung tweak and modify Android to add their own innovative features, but dang, it’s annoying that it comes at the cost of being six months to a year behind Pixel devices on the core OS.

Galaxy S10 might include one of the iPhone’s most advanced features

New code found in Samsung’s Android Pie update suggests that the company’s upcoming Galaxy S10 may include support for 3D facial recognition. While current Galaxy models already boast facial recognition, Samsung’s offering is far less secure than what Apple uses with Face ID, for example. The reason, quite simply, is that Samsung’s implementation relies upon a 2D map of a user’s face and, as a result, the devices can easily be fooled with photos and video.
As to the newly discovered code, XDA Developers found data strings that make reference to Time of Flight cameras, technology which is commonly used with 3D mapping and can help differentiate between a 2D photo and an actual 3D face.
“Now, as was previously rumored, there’s evidence that at least one upcoming Samsung Galaxy smartphone will use a ToF sensor,” the report notes. “Hidden within the code for Samsung’s system application responsible for handling facial biometric authentication are new fields and methods explicitly mentioning a ToF camera.”
The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that rumors regarding Samsung’s plan to significantly boost the reliability and security of its face recognition feature have been making the rounds for months now. Assuming the rumors pan out, it will be interesting to see how close Samsung’s implementation comes to keeping up with Face ID on Apple’s current iPhone XR and XS.
What remains unclear, though, is if the improved facial recognition feature will be implemented on all Galaxy S10 models. As you may recall, it’s widely believed that Samsung at Mobile World Congress is planning to introduce four S10 models, including a flagship device with 5G support. While it’s entirely possible that Samsung may save its improved facial recognition feature for the higher-end S10 device, it would be nice to see it available even on the entry-level model.