Category: Article

Huawei’s MatePad line of tablets is thought to get new, affordable members soon. According to the leaker Roland Quandt, they are called the T10 and T10s. The new series is thought to run on the Kirin 710A processor and distinctly low-end amounts of RAM for 2020. One of them may have inadvertently confirmed this by showing up on Geekbench.

At least, a device called the Huawei AGS3-AL09HN has appeared on this benchmark. It is most likely to be the T10, as another variant called the AGS3-W09 has reportedly been certified in Indonesia as the T10s. The AL09HN runs on an octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz, which has garnered it 1415 in single-core scores and 5190 in multi-core terms.

This candidate MatePad T10 does seem to be a far cry from the Pro 5G flagship indeed. However, it does have a (more or less) up-to-date Android 10-based OS. This slate is thought to have a 9.7-inch HD+ display, a 5MP main camera and a 5100mAh battery.

Then again, this Huawei AGS3-AL09HN on Geekbench 4 is listed as having 3.51GB of RAM, whereas its latest leak points to just 2. In other pre-launch MatePad news, the T10s has apparently been rebranded with the rather generic name of Honor Pad 6 in the market under the purview of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).

Logitech today announced the launch of the Logitech Folio Touch, a new keyboard case with trackpad designed for the 11-inch iPad Pro models released in 2018 and 2020.

The Logitech Folio Touch is Logitech’s first keyboard with trackpad designed for the ‌iPad Pro‌ and it serves as an alternative to Apple’s own Magic Keyboard. Logitech previously released the Combo Touch, a keyboard with trackpad that works with the 7th-generation iPad, the ‌iPad‌ Air, and the 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌.

Similar in design to the Combo Touch, the Folio Touch features a case that wraps around the ‌iPad‌ along with a laptop-like keyboard with a built-in trackpad that works with the ‌iPad Pro‌’s trackpad support. There’s also an adjustable kickstand to allow for greater positioning flexibility, an Apple Pencil holder, and four use modes that include typing, viewing, sketching, and reading.

The keyboard is powered by the Smart Connector on the ‌iPad Pro‌ so it doesn’t need to be charged and doesn’t need to connect over Bluetooth. When not needed for typing, the keyboard can be folded back behind the ‌iPad Pro‌, a feature not available with Apple’s own Magic Keyboard.

Logitech’s Folio Touch will be available starting in July 2020 for $160 from the Logitech website or from Apple’s online store.

They were two years behind schedule but the industry group overseeing memory technology development and standardization has finally announced the officials specs for the new DDR5 SDRAM standard.

The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association said I’m a report issued Tuesday the new memory specifications will provide developers with twice the performance power and lower power consumption.

Among the key improvements will be a quadrupling of maximum die density, up to 64 gigabytes from 16 gigabytes under the old standard. Each DIMM can handle two 32-bit memory channels instead of only a single 64-bit channel. Since each bank operates independently of each other, the burst length can be doubled and greater efficiency can be achieved. That means, for instance, DDR5 SDRAM can perform two 64-byte operations in the same time it takes DDR4 SDRAM to perform just one operation.

Also improving power consumption demands will be an integrated voltage regulator. Such regulators previously were situated on motherboards. The new spec allows manufacturers to incorporate as many regulators as necessary to accommodate the number of DIMMs on end systems. This should reduce the cost and simplify the design of motherboards. With each DIMM providing its own voltage regulation, JEDEC refers to this approach as “pay as you go.”

Yet to be determined is how much improvement in power efficiency will be achieved with the slightly lower power consumption, 1.1 volts, compared with 1.2 volts for DDR4. The DDR4 specs had improved upon earlier numbers by 0.3 volts, 1.2 volts compared with 1.5 volts for DDR3.

As far as maximum data rates, DDR5 will handle 6.4 Gbps, doubling the DDR4 standard, although the first modules to reach market will be capped at 4.8 Gbps.

“With the publication of JEDEC’s DDR5 standard, we are entering a new era of DDR performance and capabilities,” said Intel’s Carolyn Duran, a vice president of the Data Platforms Group. “DDR5 marks a great leap forward in memory capability, for the first time delivering a 50 percent bandwidth jump at the onset of a new technology to meet the demands of AI and high performance compute.”

The first consumer products with DDR5 specs are expected to roll off assembly lines some time in 2021.

JEDEC, composed of representatives from 300 member companies, said it recognizes the growing performance demands of intensive cloud and enterprise data center applications.

The efforts of the group “have resulted in a standard that addresses all aspects of the industry, including system requirements, manufacturing processes, circuit design, and simulation tools and test, greatly enhancing developers’ abilities to innovate and advance a wide range of technological applications,” said Desi Rhoden, chairman of the JC-42 Memory Committee and executive vice president of Montage Technology.

“With several new performance, reliability and power saving modes implemented in its design, DDR5 is ready to support and enable next-generation technologies,” he said.

Frank Ross, senior member of Technical Staff at Micron and a member of the JEDEC Board of Directors, said, “The DDR5 standard offers the industry a critical advancement in main memory performance to enable the next-generation of computing required to turn data into insight across cloud, enterprise, networking, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications.”

There is still no word on when AMD’s Ryzen 4000-series (codename Renoir) desktop APUs will launch, but the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G is here to delight us in the meanwhile. Someone has put the octa-core APU through its paces (via @TUM_APISAK) on Geekbench 5.

By now, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Renoir will come wielding the Zen 2 microarchitecture. The 7nm APUs will retain the Vega iGPU, but Zen 2 alone is enough to put AMD’s APUs on the radar again. While the previous generation of APUs maxed out at four cores, Renoir is pushing the limit to eight cores, and that’s with simultaneous multithreading (SMT). This dangerous maneuver effectively creates some conflict between certain Renoir APUs with AMD’s Ryzen 3000-series (codename Matisse) offerings.

The Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G checks in with eight cores and 16 threads, the same configuration that’s used inside the Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 7 3800X/XT. Naturally, the clock speeds vary between the four chips since they adhere to different thermal limits. The Ryzen 7 3700X, which has a 65W TDP (thermal design power) rating, would be the apples-to-apples comparison to the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G.

A few days earlier, the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G seemingly appeared to be on the same level as the Ryzen 7 3800XT. However, the APU’s performance was likely a fluke with that specific benchmark. Today’s Geekbench 5 benchmarks prove that the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G’s performance closer to that of the Ryzen 7 3700X. This is more credible since both processors share almost identical specifications.

AMD hasn’t launched desktop Renoir yet so the final specifications for the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G are still a bit blurry. Thus far, the octa-core APU has been rumored to operate with a 3.6 GHz base clock and 4.4 GHz boost clock, the same clock speeds as the Ryzen 7 3700X. Due to the two processors’ distinct compositions, the Ryzen 7 3700X has four times as much L3 cache as the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G. Of course, the latter comes with an iGPU and the first doesn’t. 

The Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G scored 1,239 points in the single-core test and 8,288 points in the multi-core test. The Ryzen 7 3700X scored 1,242 points and 8,276 points in the same tests. The difference between the results is less than 1% so it’s safe to assume that the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G and Ryzen 7 3700X perform the same, at least in Geekbench 5. By all means, only a thorough evaluation can really decide for us, and that won’t be possible until desktop Renoir is out.

Dutch retailer Centralpoint listed the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G for $370. As always, we should take the pricing with a bit of salt for various reasons. Hardware is more expensive outside the U.S. and retailers often use placeholders for pricing. The Ryzen 7 4700G is the non-Pro Variant of the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G and should arrive with similar performance albeit a cheaper price tag.

The Ryzen 7 3700X debuted with a $329 MSRP, but the processor is selling for as low as $273. We expect the Ryzen 7 4700G to launch with a bit higher price tag because of Vega iGPU. For now, the Ryzen 7 4700G appears to be a Ryzen 7 3700X with integrated graphics. Let’s not forget that the Ryzen 7 3700X has quadruple the L3 cache, which will ultimately help it beat the APU in workloads where cache matters.

The Pro model of the Lenovo Legion will have the most impressive audio system of any phone so far, says General Manager Chen Jin. He specifically called out the Xiaomi’s Mi 10 Pro and Black Shark 3 Pro, saying that the Legion’s speakers will have a nice symmetrical layout and will be tuned better.

The Legion will feature two forward-firing speakers with large cavities – 1.4 cc – and will have an all-metal construction. Check out the teaser video below for a demonstration of their power.

The two speakers will be able to produce spatial sound, which is vital in games as the direction of sounds can give away your opponent’s position. Normally, you need to wear headphones to get a good sense of direction from the game audio.

The two phones will also feature two X-axis linear motors, which will further enhance the experience with strong haptic feedback.

A previous leak mentioned that the vanilla Lenovo Legion will have powerful speakers as well, so it’s not clear if this system will be exclusive to the Pro or if both models will have it. Both will feature 144 Hz screens, S865+ chipsets and 90 W fast charging (enabled by two USB-C ports).

Samsung DeX might finally be getting a wireless mode soon. The company has been quiet about the potential changes it might have in store for DeX by the end of the year, but new evidence found by XDA-Developers indicates that Samsung hasn’t given up on the idea of a wireless mode for its desktop environment. On the contrary, the company appears be working on this feature as we speak, and with a bit of luck, it might debut on the Galaxy Note 20 series.

New evidence of a wireless mode for DeX can be found in the Samsung Tips app under the section named Become a power user. As you can see in the screenshots below, captured on one of our Galaxy Note 10 units, the first tip shown in this category is labeled DREAM_DEX_HEADER_USE_DEX_WIRELESSLY_M_TIPS. The odd formatting suggests that Samsung may have accidentally pushed this information to the Tips app ahead of time.

More importantly, the animation attached to the said tip shows a DeX quick toggle that, when tapped, reveals a list of devices available for a DeX wireless connection. The example offered by Samsung shows a wireless connection to a TV in the living room, indicating that DeX wireless mode won’t be limited to PC and/or Mac users. This is great news not only for the sake of usability but also because it seemingly confirms that Samsung’s ambitions for DeX haven’t diminished.

Wireless mode could be a game changer for Samsung DeX

As previously revealed by a SamMobile interview with Hyoungsik Kim, Principal Professional of Business Solution PM Group at Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Division, Samsung’s vision for DeX is to allow mobile device users to easily access apps and content on any screen, from TVs to personal computers and even the display of an autonomous vehicle.

Samsung first confirmed it was working on a wireless mode for DeX nearly two years ago. Since then, the company improved not only the platform itself with additions like window snapping and better multi-touch gestures, but the arrival of the Galaxy Note 10 series last year also marked the release of a DeX app for Windows and Mac. It gives users the ability to use DeX in conjunction with their flagships through a USB-C cable while eliminating the need for an HDMI dongle.

Samsung may want to push the boundaries of its DeX platform further with the release of the Galaxy Note 20 next month. The addition of a wireless mode could be the best way to bring DeX back into the public eye. Of course, Samsung’s recent slipup doesn’t outright confirm a 2020 release for wireless DeX, but there’s no denying that Samsung is working on this feature regardless of whether or not it will become available in the coming weeks. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we know more.

Mobvoi has announced its first-ever pair of over-ear headphones, the TicKasa ANC, which come with active noise cancellation and support for Hi-Res Audio.

The company, which is best known for its TicWatch smartwatches, has previously released true wireless earbuds like the TicPods ANC and the TicPods Pro, but this is the first time that it’s branched out into over-ear cans. 

According to Mobvoi, the new headphones come with “five built-in microphones and dual-microphone noise isolation” which allows the TicKasa ANC to “easily detect environmental noise, using ANC cancellation algorithms to analyze ambient noise and create the perfect soundwave to counteract it.”

They apparently also apply noise cancellation to your phone calls, like the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, “filtering background noise and adding vocal clarity” for crisp calls.

Cheaper than the XM3s

Mobvoi says that the new noise-cancelling headphones provide a “deep, powerful, and immersive sound at any volume”, and are powered by 40mm drivers. There’s also support for Hi-Res Audio thanks to Qualcomm’s aptX HD Bluetooth codec, as well as Bluetooth 5 for long wireless transmission distances.

Battery life comes in at 20 hours with ANC on, though Mobvoi claims you’ll get 30 hours of playback with this feature turned off – plenty of juice for a week’s worth of commuting or a long haul flight.

They should prove pretty comfortable too, as they’re made from a “breathable” mesh material and feature soft ear cushions. 

Available in grey and black, the TicKasa ANC Headphones will set you back $129.99 / GBP £109.99 / AU$189.99 – that’s significantly cheaper than the best noise-cancelling headphones of 2020, the Sony WH-1000XM3.

That means the new headphones could make a great cheaper alternative to the XM3s, though with the Sony WH-1000XM4 rumored to launch in August, the current Sony noise cancellers may not be so expensive for much longer.

Asus recently revealed its PN50 mini PC, and now the manufacturer has spilled some more details for the UK market on the supremely compact computer (which is just a 115mm square, and 49mm thick).

Asus notes that the PN50 will be capable of driving an 8K display (at 60Hz), or you could hook up four 4K monitors (at the same refresh rate). The manufacturer further boasted that the device offers around 35% more performance over similar current-gen Asus mini PC models (this is in Cinebench R20 testing, by the way).

In the UK, there will be four different models, with the top of the range being built around the AMD Ryzen 7 4800U mobile chip, and the others using the Ryzen 7 4700U, Ryzen 5 4500U and Ryzen 3 4300U (all with integrated Vega graphics). It also sports Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.

Barebones units

These are barebones mini PCs with no memory, storage or operating system provided, but they can be fitted with up to 64GB of 3200MHz system RAM across two slots, and the PN50 has room for an M.2 SSD (NVMe), plus it has a bay for another SSD or 2.5-inch hard drive.

UK pricing is £499.99 for the Ryzen 7 4800U model, and £369.99 for the 4700U device. The 4500U model will set you back £319.99, and the 4300U-powered mini PC is pitched at £274.99, and that includes a three-year warranty.

Asus says these PCs will go on sale at some point in September, and Amazon has listed a release date of September 7, so it should be earlier rather than later.

Kano has unveiled its second-generation Windows 10-based hybrid PC designed with education in mind. 

The new system is powered by Intel’s Celeron N4000 SoC, promising better performance than the previously used SoC, and continues to be shipped with custom educational tools. 

Ever since the inception of the OLPC project more than a decade ago, the vast majority of inexpensive PCs for education have run Linux and its derivatives, which to a large degree limited their popularity in developed countries. Kano, a maker of PCs for education, understood such limitations at some point and teamed up with Microsoft to offer a Windows-based machine designed primarily for children and learning. 

Windows 10 education

Unlike traditional laptops and tablets, Kano PC — which can be used as a tablet and as a laptop once attached to a special keyboard — does not work out-of-box and has to be assembled by the owner. 

Attaching a battery and a speaker is of course not really a hard task, but for a young child this is a big deal; the process somewhat attaches the owner to his/her PC and therefore makes it a tad more personal. Furthermore, Kano offers ‘modular and customizable’ accessories — webcam, headphones, and mouse. 

To add a ‘high-tech’ element to the design, Kano PC also has a transparent backside that reveals some of its internals. While the design of the system is modular, the developer says that it is sturdy and will survive bumps of life as well as its young owners. 

The 2nd Generation Kano PC features an 11.6-inch touchscreen display that withstands a steel ball dropped from six feet. The system is based on Intel’s Celeron N4000 ‘Gemini Lake’ SoC with a 6 W TDP that looks to be a decent upgrade from the previously used Intel Atom x5-z8350 SoC with a 2 W TDP which was released in early 2016. Other internals include 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB eMMC storage, and a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 module. Following the latest trends, the PC uses a USB-C connector for charging. According to Kano, the system lasts for up to 10 hours on one charge. 

The key element of the Kano PC is its software. The device runs Windows 10 Home with custom educational tools and comes with pre-installed Kano’s Software Studio that connects computing to practical projects, history, and the arts. 

“The Education sector is undergoing massive change enabled by technology, and our collaboration with Kano is truly advancing the vision of “technology for all,” said Jordan Chrysafidis, General Manager, Worldwide Education Device Sales, Microsoft. 

“Together we are delivering high quality, accessible and affordable Windows-based devices, combined with customized curriculum that teaches design, coding, 3D modeling and more, that enables Kano users to become digital creators.” 

Apple is making iOS 13.6 available to all users today. The update brings new features like improved support for downloading and installing system updates, the all-new Apple News+ Audio content, as well as the exciting Car Key feature.

We’ve seen a number of new features/changes over the last few months with iOS 13. Apple launched support for Exposure Notifications (contact tracing) in iOS 13.5 while 13.5.1 brought a patch for the vulnerability that the unc0ver jailbreak took advantage of.

After that, we got the iOS 13.5.5 beta (renamed to iOS 13.6) that brought along a peek at the Apple News+ Audio content. It brings professionally narrated audio stories curated from the Apple News team to your device. We went hands-on with the Apple News+ Audio feature after uncovering it early.

Apple detailed the new iOS 13.6 feature in a Newsroom post today. In addition to the Audio News+ audio stories (available in the US at launch), Apple is also debuting a new curated local news feature, CarPlay support for the News app, and more.

“Apple News showcases so much great journalism, and we’re excited to help bring it to life in new ways with Apple News+ audio stories and a new daily news show, Apple News Today,” said Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News. “We also greatly value our many local news partners — our new local news feature highlights their work for readers who live, and are interested, in those communities.”

Another highly anticipated feature coming with iOS 13.6 is the launch of Car Key. 9to5Mac first discovered this back in February with the iOS 13.4 beta. Apple announced at WWDC that the feature will first arrive with the new BMW 5 Series. This is a digital key that will work for locking, unlocking, and starting supported vehicles. Users will also be able to easily share their digital keys with iMessage and the feature will work for up to five hours after an iPhone runs out of battery.

There is a new option in the Software Update > Automatic Updates section in iOS 13.6. Instead of a single toggle to turn automatic updates on or off that installs the most recent iOS release overnight, iOS and iPadOS 13.6 has two toggles, one to choose if you want to automatically download iOS updates and one to install the updates overnight.

Another change with this release is the ability to track new symptoms in the Health app like headaches, chills, sore throat, and more. Finally, there are some minor tweaks to the News app privacy notices and links that can be found by heading to Settings > News.

iOS 13.6 will be rolling out shortly to all users, check the Software Update section of Settings on your device to see if it’s available.

Apple has also released macOS 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, watchOS 6.2.8, and audioOS 13.4.8 for HomePod to all users today.

Here are the full release notes for iOS 13.6:

iOS 13.6 adds support for digital car keys, introduces audio stories in Apple News+, and contains a new symptoms category in the Health app. This release also includes bug fixes and improvements.

Digital car keys

Unlock, lock, and start your compatible car with your iPhone

Securely remove digital keys from a lost device via iCloud

Share digital keys easily with iMessage

Driver-specific profiles so you can configure shared keys for full-access or restricted driving

Power reserve lets you unlock and start your car for up to five hours after iPhone runs out of battery

Apple News

Audio stories are professionally narrated versions of some of the best reads from Apple News+, selected and produced by the Apple News editors as part of your Apple News+ subscription

Apple News Today is a new, free audio briefing on the day’s top stories from the Apple News editors, also available in the Podcasts app

A new Audio tab makes it easy to find Apple News Today and Apple News+ audio stories

CarPlay allows you to listen to Apple News Today and Apple News+ audio stories while on the road

Local news in your Today feed provides extensive coverage of San Francisco, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City

More stories available from local news providers with a subscription to Apple News+

Your daily newsletter from Apple News can now be personalized with stories that reflect your interests

Health

New category for symptoms in the Health app, including symptoms logged from Cycle Tracking and ECG

Ability to log new symptoms, like fever, chills, sore throat or coughing, and share them with third-party apps

This update also includes bug fixes and other improvements.

Adds a new setting to choose if updates automatically download to your device when on Wi-Fi

Addresses an issue that could cause apps to become unresponsive when syncing data from iCloud Drive

Fixes an issue that could cause data roaming to appear to be disabled on eSIM even though it remained active

Fixes an issue thats causes some phone calls from Saskatchewan to appear as originating from the United States

Addresses an issue that could interrupt audio when making phone calls over Wi-Fi Calling

Fixes an issues that prevented some iPhone 6S and iPhone SE devices from registering for Wi-Fi Calling

Resolves an issue that could cause the software keyboard to appear unexpectedly when connected to certain third-party hardware keyboards

Fixes an issue that could cause Japanese hardware keyboards to be incorrectly mapped as a U.S. keyboard

Addresses stability issues when accessing Control Center when Assistive Touch was enabled

Provides a mechanism for administrators to specify domains to exclude from traffic carried by always-on VPN connections