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techENT Tech & Tonic is a weekly podcast for tech lovers and enthusiats. You don't have to be an expert to love tech. We bring you the latest and greatest of tech every week.
It is our last show of the year. On that note, thank you for listening through 2021 and this episode as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022 to all, we had a great time with all of you.
Still, it is nearing Christmas time, the season of giving. That means it is time for you to do all your last minute shopping. What to buy though? We came up with a list of things you might want to buy your loved ones. All this and more in our Tech & Tonic Podcast show!
Acer's Aspire Vero recently launched and they claim that it is the most environmentally conscious laptop available in their offering. They are not the first company to claim that they have made environmentally conscious products though. Dell has done it by including some of the same materials Acer uses on their Vero line-up too. Samsung and Apple has sort of done it too, with their latest smartphones. Are these things cool now? Should you buy into this hype?
P.S. Sorry for the choppy audio.
2021 was a bad year for gaming. No, not because there are no new games. There are mighty interesting titles that has come out of 2021. It is bad because buying a gaming rig was impossible. To be fair, it was a follow up effect of the shortages in 2020. While there has been signs of recovery, things has not exactly been normal just yet. In that sense, we do not recommend that you get your new gaming rigs though. That does not mean that you should not get your rigs, you still can, you might need to compromise a little bit though.
Intel has launched their latest 12th Generation Core processors, are they any good though? Should we be excited? We talk about the new Alder Lake architecture in this show!
Android 12L has been announced and is launching soon. Google says it is a game changer for Android tablets. Is it what we want though? Or are you still better off with a Chromebook?
The computing market is getting hot right now. Google introduced their own silicon in the form of the Google Tensor with their new Google Pixel 6 series flagship. Apple has also completely cut off Intel and AMD in their latest, most powerful MacBook Pro line-up. These new laptops are powered by Apple's latest M1 Pro and M1 Max integrated processors. Why though? How is it more powerful than what Intel and AMD has to offer? In the case of the Google Pixel 6 series, how is a Google Tensor better than a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+? We discuss this and more in this episode of the #TechNTonicPodcast.
Last week a bunch of news things are launched. To be fair, the PC launch season was kickstarted by Microsoft themselves with their new Surface devices. Last week sees Acer launching their new products. At the same time, things have started to slow down a little bit on the smartphone end after the launch of Apple's iPhone 13 series. But is it a good time to upgrade your devices?
Facebook had a six hour outage last week and there were plenty of speculations about the incident. While some of them have been debunked many are still questioning Facebook's cyber security integrity because of the outage. Speaking of cyber security though, Twitch had a massive breach. The breach has resulted in leaks in information pertaining to its many users, including the earnings of its top streamers. What do we do then when security failed us?
The lockdown restrictions due to the pandemic looks like it is coming to a close in Malaysia. Soon, things are going to operate as per normal again. Nothing will be the same ever again though with the pandemic looming just above our heads. Many things has changed during the lockdown period as well. What have we been doing to stay sane and alive in the pandemic? We discuss all that and more in this episode of #TechNTonicPodcast!
Microsoft just launched their new Surface line-up of devices. HP also launched a bunch of new PCs to go with Windows 11. Which do we think is the most exciting though? Which do you think is the most exciting?
Apple's event just happened last week and they launched a couple of new things. They launched the Apple iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, the 9th generation iPad, the 5th generation iPad Mini, and the Apple Watch Series 7. With the logical flow of the Apple event, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro was meant to be the stars of the show.
The Apple iPad Mini stole the show though. The new Apple iPad Mini packs Apple's latest A15 Bionic processor. You have an 8-inch Super Retina display on the iPad Mini and support for the 2nd generation Apple Pencil. It is also finally sporting the USB Type-C port, following the Apple iPad Air. For the first time as well, the Apple iPad packs a powerful 12-Megapixel front-facing camera with Center Stage feature for video calls.
The Apple iPad Mini is really a smaller and more powerful version of the Apple iPad Air that was launched last year. It is also one of the most powerful regular iPad devices to date. In a sense, it becomes a more appealing device compared to the Apple iPhone 13 devices in the launch. What do you think though?
ThevVivo X70 Pro+ launched globally last week. We haven't heard of its official pricing just yet, but we got a taste of what it would be capable off, at least on paper. The powerful flagship will come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888+ SoC platform. It will also come with a 50MP sensor under a Zeiss lens. At the same time, the vivo X70 Pro+ comes with a 48MP shooter with an on-board gimbal for an ultra-steady, ultra-wide shots. Photos are all processed through vivo's own Imaging Chip V1, which is vivo's standalone image processor, relieving the stresses of image processing from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ for improved performance on the end of photo taking and even everyday operations.
The thing is, as good as it sounds, the vivo X70 Pro+ does not sound like much in terms of innovation. Its predecessor was the first in its class to offer a gimbal stabilised camera within the smartphone housing. They were the first manufacturer to introduce technologies like in-display fingerprint sensor and even pop-up selfie cameras. The new flagship, compared to its predecessors, feels a little half-baked.
That got us thinking, has innovations n smartphones stagnated? Are there more innovations to come other than folding displays and stabilised cameras? All this and more in this episode of #TechnTonicPodcast.
In the past few weeks ASUS has launched a new collaboration product with Alan Walker. They launched a new gaming laptop with Alan Walker that is also designed together with Alan Walker. They also launched a new ROG Gaming Phone 5s that they sort of announced a few weeks ago.
In that sense, ASUS ROG has gone from a gaming PC brand that turns out to be a lifestyle brand now more than ever. They are not just selling notebooks and PCs anymore. They are now selling T-Shirts, jackets, sweaters, hoodies, and even bags. They are a fashion brand now too. But this is not a unique thing that is started by ASUS. Acer has started doing similar things with their Predator brand. This whole thing can be tracked back to Razer and their pursuit in the larger global gaming market too.
Still, the transformation of tech brands becoming lifestyle brands is becoming even more widespread now. Samsung is taking a more lifestyle approach for their flagship devices. Other smartphone brands like Xiaomi is also following suit with approaching the market as a lifestyle brand instead of a tech brand. How far is too far though? Is it a good thing? We explore this and more in this episode of #TechNTonicPodcast!
Last week TSMC announced that they are going to have to increase prices of the chips that are coming out from their production line. That announcement basically tells us that chips that we want to buy will be more expensive. But it does not just impact the PC and other electronics business.
So many things today are relying on micro chips on a circuit board. TSMC is one of the largest foundries in the world and they are barely keeping up with demands, hence the price increase. The thing is, it is not just PC and smartphones that will be impacted. Cars will be more expensive too with the price hike on chips. At the same time, there are not enough products to go around because production plants are being halted due to the larger problem that is the chips that are supposed to get into the cars.
Is there a solution to this? What do we think of this whole situation? When will we see the end of this? We discuss this and more on the #TechNTonicPodcast!
OnlyFans is a very popular platform. It gained notoriety as a sort of platform where users get to subscribe for all sorts of NSFW contents. A paid subscription on the platform gives users access to various exclusive contents from its vast content creators. Majority of the most popular content creators focuses on nude and sexual contents, and the vast majority of its users are on the platform for these sort of contents.
Last week OnlyFans made a huge U-Turn for its content creators on their platform. OnlyFans' announcement is a big shock to the world. They are going to start banning sexually explicit contents from their platform starting in October 2021 onward.
Sexually explicit contents, from what we understand from their statement, consists of contents with genitals, or showing genitals in offensive matter. It also consists of sexual intercourse or act of self pleasure. That also means partial nudity will still be allowed on the platform in the future.
We think this is going to really backfire for OnlyFans though. But this move has been a demand from OnlyFans' investors and bankers. What do we think will happen? Find out on our Tech & Tonic Podcast Season 2 Episode 25.
Samsung's August Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event happened just last week and we were graced with a few devices. We were graced with two smartphone devices as well. There is a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 and a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. The announced and launched devices should have come as a surprise though. Samsung has been aligning themselves to prioritize development for foldable devices and betting their future on it.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 are big step ups from their predecessors though. It seems like they made the devices a little thinner, every so slightly thinner. They designed them to look a little more seamless too. If we have to describe how they look, they look great.
For the Z Flip 3, Samsung has also increased the size of the external display which should add more to its functionality. Everything that was great about the first Z Flip is retained in the device too though, except for the overall design. At the same time, the Z Flip 3 can truly be a modern flagship with modern internals in 2021.
The Z Fold 3 is supposed to address plenty of the UI inconsistencies with the older devices. It is also the first Samsung Galaxy device with an under-display camera. The under-display camera is a mere 4-Megapixel, but you will not use it most of the time with the presence of three 12-Megapixel cameras out the back.
The biggest step up they made though is in the pricing. Well, it may sound more like a step down with big price cuts compared to its predecessors. The Z Flip 3 starts at below MYR 4,000 and the Z Fold 3 starts at below MYR 7,000. This should make the devices a lot more accessible to people. Keep in mind though you do not get an S Pen for that price.
In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we spend some time discussing an age old question when it comes to buying a new PC. Should you buy a laptop, because it is versatile, powerful, and convenient? Or a desktop PC, because you get more bang for your buck that way? Even when you decide on a desktop, should you buy a pre-built from a big brand, or build a custom one?
This is a multifaceted question of course. The laptop PC is the most versatile option. It is the most portable option of the three. It is also the most versatile, because it is an all-in-one device. You can work with it conveniently anywhere without needing to build a full set up. At the same time, at home it is the least space consuming option.
Pre-builds can be amazing too, in terms of its footprint and size. With big brands, you are also buying into their whole support system. You may not need to approach individual vendors for each part that is broken or malfunctioning, you just need to send it back to the brand, and they sort everything out for you. You are buying a peace of mind, a sort of convenience.
Then there is custom builds where you get to choose what you want, from who you want. It can be expensive, but it can also be a lot more budget friendly that the other option. You pay for what you need and what you can afford, instead of paying silly for an expensive pre-built PC or even a laptop. In that sense, for the budget conscious, this should be the one you go for, right? But is it the right choice at this time though? We discuss that and more on the Tech & Tonic Podcast show.
Scarlett Johansson got Disney into a pickle last week. She filed a lawsuit against the entertainment giant for breach of contract over the launch and release of Black Widow in theaters and Disney+ Premiere a week or so ago. According to the lawsuit, the actress' contract was not renegotiated for release on Disney's own streaming platform.
This brings us back to the question we had when Disney+ was coming to Malaysia; are we paying too much for streaming services? With Disney+ Premiere, we could easily be paying even more for the latest movies and blockbusters. But the lawsuit also puts a lot of things into perspective for us enjoying these services because it also happened to platforms like Spotify. We started thinking about how are the actor's pay managed by the streaming services.
At the same time, we are already paying for multiple streaming services at this time because they all offer different exclusives. How much is too much for these exclusive contents though? Would it make sense for us to go back to cable TV in this case? Maybe, maybe not, but we discuss all this in today's episode of #TechNTonicPodcast.
There are a few things coming our way in August 2021. Before the eventful month though, it is a little on the quiet side, understandably. At least Tokyo 2020 Olympics games are finally under way at this time. We focus on things we can look forward to in August though.
HUAWEI is finally launching their HUAWEI P50 series at the end of July 2021. While there are no word on global availability on the new HUAWEI flagship series yet, we are expecting big things from the Chinese electronics giant. We are also excited for what is next for Mobile Photography by HUAWEI, especially since there has been renders and teasers from HUAWEI.
Samsung is also having their big event in August. Unfortunately it is no more a Samsung Galaxy Note event. Instead, we are most definitely getting the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip devices for the year 2021/2022. The new Z Fold device is also touted to come with S Pen compatibility. We are expecting more improvements obviously with the foldable display technology.
Obviously, it will not be Samsung's August Galaxy Unpacked event if they do not announce the next generation Samsung Galaxy Watch series. The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is supposed to be one of the first, if not the first smartwatch to come with Google's new Wear OS 3. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is supposed to also come with their own One UI touch up done on top of Google Wear OS 3. This will also be the first time Samsung packs their smartwatch with Google's Wearable platform.
The Google Wear OS 3 a huge departure from both Samsung's Tizen and Google's own Wear OS 2 though. It is such a huge departure that most current generation Wear OS devices and all of Samsung's older Galaxy Watch platform will not be updated to the platform. So is it still the right time to buy a smartwatch as an Android user?
Valve announced a handheld gaming device they are calling the Steam Deck. It is an all-AMD piece of kit powered by Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architecture chip. The specs makes the Steam Deck sounds more like the next generation consoles from Microsoft's Xbox camp and Sony's PlayStation camp too.
The Steam Deck though, as mentioned, is a handheld device with a 1,280 by 800 resolution 7-inch LCD display. While Steam Deck runs on a custom overlay for Steam, it is a Linux based device too. That also means it can run as a PC with a proper dock or any USB Type-C dock. In that mode, you can run third party apps on Steam Deck.
While not the first kind of device of its kind, Steam Deck is a one of a kind handheld gaming device that plays PC games. While it might not sound like much, the gaming device should have no problems running PC games at HD resolution. Most of handheld gaming devices running on Windows feature processors without discreet GPUs too, but none of them are made to be as thin and small as the Steam Deck at the same time.
Prices start from US$ 399 for the Steam Deck with 64GB memory module. It tops out at 512GB in SSD storage at US$ 649. While it is not going to be advisable for you to remove the back plate to swap out the SSD, the memory is expandable via Micro SD. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, the controllers are not detachable.
While it is more expensive than the Nintendo Switch, it is a little more functional than the Nintendo Switch itself. It is also still cheaper than a gaming PC. Is it worth buying then?
Qualcomm releases a Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider. At US$ 1,499, it is one of the most expensive Android smartphones available in Malaysia. Designed by ASUS and powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 5G SoC, it is also one of the most powerful Android device you can get in the market. It is definitely the most powerful Vanilla Android device to date.
With that kind of money, you are not just getting a smartphone in the package though. You are paying for the smartphone, a pair of wireless earbuds made in collaboration with Master & Dynamics. You also get a charger and USB Type-C cable bundled in. Obviously the charger is the fastest charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology available for the Qualcomm smartphone.
While we do not thing "Smartphone for Snapdragon Insider" counts as a name, it is what it is. We also do not think we need another reference smartphone, especially one that is priced this high. Still, the exclusive device has not hit the market at this time. Until we get a hands-on with the device, we cannot comment on its full capabilities and features. Qualcomm thinks it is necessary though. Do you think it is necessary?
We got our hands on the latest preview build (at the time of recording) of Windows 11. It was not an easy journey though, not every device plays well with Windows 11 apparently. Still, we got Windows 11 installed on a Windows convertible tablet device and a gaming PC. While we have not tried gaming extensively on the platform, it looks promising.
The preview, while not a full build of Windows 11, gives us great insights to what we can expect from the upcoming Windows 11. For one, you can expect the platform to look and feel a lot cleaner, and less cluttered. Everything is more touch optimised with quick settings launching with a single press and touch. The settings menu has been updated too, to be a little more intuitive than before and tidier. Even the 'start' menu is completely different.
Still, we are excited about Windows 11. Before Windows 11 fully releases though, here is what Windows 11 offers you. We talk about that and more on this episode of Tech & Tonic show!
Without realising it, we have been doing our podcast for more than a year now. At the same time, we have been recording our podcasts from home for most of it as well. We could not have done it without our supporting listeners and audiences. We also could not have done it without the things we used to do the podcasts.
For the podcasts we have recorded in the past year or so, we have been relying on a lot of equipment. One of the most important things to work with in a podcast is our mics. While we have a more elaborate set-up in the office, we work with a more plug-and-play set-up at home, a certain Razer Seiren Mini. At MYR 249 retail, these are not exactly the most expensive or even the best set-up for both streaming and podcasting. Thing is, it is good enough to work with and it sounds stellar enough for our podcasts.
Of course, we could not have done it without our workhorses of PCs we both use at home. On that note, Windows 11 is coming and we are going to be taking a deeper dive on Windows 11 in a week's time. More on how we record and started our podcasts in this episode of Tech & Tonic.
E3 2021 happened last week and that was the biggest thing that happened in the week. We love gaming, of course we are going to talk about it. While we were excited about the event, it went a little underwhelming and a little under the radar for some reason.
E3 is back in the 2021 after the 2020 hiatus thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In 2021 though the largest gaming conference in the world has gone completely digital and the announcements from various brands were made over live streams on YouTube. Sadly though, while it was more accessible, it was also a little on the underwhelming side.
Sure, there were a few notable game launches and announcements made in the conference itself. Halo: Infinite was Xbox's big highlight, Razer launched a new gaming laptop that is also their first AMD powered rig alongside a 27-inch gaming display, Nintendo teased Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild 2 a little bit more, and the upcoming Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was quite notable. But other than those, everything else seems a little underwhelming.
To put it plainly, we expected more from E3. We wanted more in E3 2021, because 2020 and 2021 are the years where hunger for new games becomes bigger and a little more insatiable. So what else do we expect from E3? Listen in, find out.
AMD has been on a roll with a multitude of releases and powerful innovations that are changing the landscape of the semiconductor industry. AMD is a company that has made its bets 5 years ago in high-performance computing and is now starting to see them come to fruition. With the announcement of their RDNA 2 platform and Zen architecture, they are delivering more performance to consumers for less power. These innovations continue to create waves in the industry with the company seeing its technologies adopted in gaming consoles to cars.
AMD's recent announcements have proven that the company is making strides; not only in the consumer and gaming space but also in high-performance computing. The company has even announced their take on graphic supersampling with the FidelityFX Super Resolution. So, what's next for AMD?
We're sitting down with Paige Shi, Consumer Lead for Asia Pacific over at AMD to find out what's happening at AMD and how the company is adapting to the new normal, how it has affected consumer behaviour and also what we can expect from the company in the future!
WWDC 2021 happened last week and it was huge. Taking the stage was not just one thing. The hour plus long keynote turned out to highlight the many improvements Apple is bringing to all their devices. They started with the Apple iPhone's iOS 15, iPad's iPadOS 15, and the WatchOS 8. They also announced MacOS Monterey in the keynote.
These are not small updates to your Apple devices though, mind you. They come with a whole bunch of feature updates and security updates to make their platforms the most user friendly ever in terms of privacy control. There were plenty to be excited about too with the new updates.
What is our highlights? Listen through to the podcast!
Navigating your business in today's digital world is not only difficult, but also very scary for first timers. At this unprecedented time though, having a digital presence is more important than ever. But where do you start?
This is where Revenue Monster comes in. Revenue Monster is the one-stop-shop when it comes to digitalising your business. You can start with payment solutions for example and scale all the way up to having a completely curated digital shopping experience with Revenue Monster.
We spoke to Amanda Chin, Revenue Monster's CEO about Revenue Monster about what Revenue Monster is, and how it can help you to transform your business and take it to the next level.
E3 is coming and we saw a few studios reveal some trailers and gameplay to their upcoming games. One of the most exciting games for us is Horizon Forbidden West, a follow up to one of our favourite PS4 titles of all time, Horizon Zero Dawn. Dying Light 2 was announced too, but with no gameplay reveal just yet.
Still, the biggest thing that happened last week was Next@Acer. At the global press conference Acer introduced the Aspire Vero, a notebook PC that features a shell made with reclaimed plastics. It is the first of Acer's unique product line-up to feature sustainable and reclaimed materials.
That brings up some questions for us though. Is the current trend and actions toward sustainable production and manufacturing heading to the right direction? Can we do better? Can the manufacturers do better? Are they doing it right currently?
Google I/O happened last week and there was a lot to take in and dissect even from the two-hour long keynote to kick the Google's 2021 developers conference off. We highlighted our favourite moments and things that we learned from Google I/O 2021.
Google's Wear OS is about to get a revamp and overhaul thanks to their new formed partnership with Samsung. This also means that Samsung will be ditching their Tizen OS development and focus on developing Wear OS with Google. Funnily enough Fitbit is not really getting involved.
We also saw the new Android 12 with Material You design language. The UI is cleaner, more intuitive, and even more customisable now. It is technically more YOU, more personal. It is even more personal too with a Privacy Dashboard. You can even turn off your camera and mic completely if you want to.
Project Starline was amazing. In brought to life a concept that we though will never see the light of day until way later. To be fair, the technology is still in its early development stage and brings 3D and holographic telecommunications to life. It was encouraging and exciting to see, but we wonder how practical it would be if you want to bring that kind of technology to your homes or offices.
There was a cyber security flaw found in Qualcomm's modems last week that allows hackers to access smartphones with those particular modems and chips and extract the user's call history, and even listen in to their conversations. Google took note of that and would be patching it soon though. Last week also revealed that Apple kept quiet about a security breach that happened in 2015 where as much as 128 million iPhones were affected. The malware attack happened via the App Store and affected about 4,000 apps at the time. Over 200,000 user's information has been extracted from the attack. While Apple had an action plan, they did not follow through, or execute their action plan.
All of these things brings us to question our own cyber security concerns. Are we really safe from any cyber attack? Do you need an anti-virus program on your PC, Mac, Android, or even iPhone? Just because there are more cyber security concerns on an Android device, are you actually much safer on an Apple iPhone? What do we do then?
In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we discuss streaming services. Disney+ Hotstar is finally making its way into Malaysia after a long wait. Disney+ Hotstar joins Malaysia's long list of streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, Astro Go, iflix, and a few others. Is more streaming services a good thing though? Does it still make sense for you to pay for Cable TV services like Astro in Malaysia, especially with certain channels being removed with the introduction of Disney+ Hotstar? Do we need more streaming platforms at this time? Would Disney+ be better than the rest of the platforms? We discuss this and more in the Tech & Tonic Podcast.
Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU from Acer from the 10th May 2021 onward! https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/series/nitro5amd
Smartphone cameras have been on a roll in the past two years. OnePlus launches their OnePlus 9 flagship series in partnership with Hasselblad, OPPO's Find X3 Pro comes with a microscopic lens, Samsung pushing technology with 108-Megapixel sensors, Sony even pushing the limits of their 12-Megapixel sensors with their Alpha camera knowhow. These are nothing new, to be fair. Co-branding smartphone cameras with big camera brand names started with Nokia and Zeiss. The phenomenon hit the main stage with HUAWEI and Leica's big partnership since the HUAWEI P9.
With the advancement in camera technology on smartphones though, has these brands made proper cameras obsolete? While nothing bigger sensor still has their own advantages in terms of low-light performance and detail, smartphone cameras have progressed so much with the software that they are paired with that even low-light photography is a breeze with a smartphone. The advancement of smartphone technology also made it easier for you to get the shots you want in less time and less work than a DSLR or MIrrorless.
What does this mean for dedicated cameras though? Does this mean we can replace these stuffs with the small slate in our pockets? Or, should you still spend your hard earned money in a proper camera that could set you back anywhere between half the price of a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to multiple flagship smartphones. We discuss in this episode of Tech & Tonic.
Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU from Acer from the 10th May 2021 onward! https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/series/nitro5amd
Apple's iPad Pro launched last week and to everyone's surprise, comes with Apple's highly acclaimed M1 chip. The Apple M1 processor is the same M1 processor you can find on the latest MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. This also makes Apple's iPad Pro one of the most powerful tablets in the world sporting iPadOS. The true potential of a computing class processor in a mobile device is still yet unknown. We are suspecting that Apple will reveal the benefits and unlock the iPad Pro's ultimate potential in the times to come.
This brings us to the issue that is the current state of Android tablets though. There were only two tablets that could technically compete alongside the iPad Pro in its previous form. The two tablets are from Samsung, in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, and HUAWEI in the form of the HUAWEI MatePad Pro. With the new generation iPad Pro with M1 chip though, those two tablets now look like regular tablets that competes with the regular iPad. So what is the problem with Android tablets? We discuss on this episode of Tech & Tonic.
Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD's Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU from Acer from the 27th to 29th April 2021!
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/series/nitro5amd
Oops, we mentioned Episode 6 in the podcast. In truth, there has been plenty happening in the past two weeks, and that is why there was an extra week gap between Episode 7 and Episode 8. Still, we open the week with a leak and rumour from Samsung's camp. There is a certain foldable tablet that is in the works in their labs. At the same time, the prices of their foldable devices have dropped quite significantly. In that case, does it make sense for you to consider getting a foldable smartphone for 2021? Does the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 make more sense now that it is priced at only MYR 6,999, a whole MYR 1,000 less than before? What about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip that is now MYR 3,999? Should you bet your money on other folding devices even (save for laptops)? We discuss this and more on this episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast
Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD's Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU from Acer from the 27th to 29th April 2021!
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/series/nitro5amd
Facebook's ghost of its own past from 2019 came back to haunt it. In 2019 the Social Media giant got hacked and about 533 million accounts were compromised. Two years later, the data has surfaced and leaked for via Telegram. Anyone can have free access to it. The 533 million compromised accounts contain Facebook IDs, phone numbers, locations, and even email addresses of users. 11 million of them were Malaysian based accounts. Should you be careful of what you put online now?
LG also announced this morning that they will be pulling out from the smartphone market. They will be closing their Mobile Business Unit by July 31, 2021. They say that they are going to be supporting current smartphones and continue to sell remaining devices as long as stocks lasts. They are one of the largest electronics manufacturer known to the modern world though, how will this impact the smartphone industry and even their own ecosystem of products in the future?
You join us to discuss these two big news that just broke earlier in the morning on the Tech & Tonic Podcast show.
Disney+ is coming to Malaysia! Finally, we can watch all the Marvel series legally. Here is the question though, is it worth subscribing to? Especially with all the services we have already subscribed to. Should we fork out extra money for more contents that we might not even watch?
This is Disney we are talking about though, they are one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, if not the largest. They are going to have more compelling shows in their catalogue. Is this going to be the case of iflix vs. Netflix again though? Who will emerge the victor in the long run? We don't know yet.
Still we discuss about it and more in Tech & Tonic Podcast Season 2 Episode 6.
We are back with episode 5 of our podcast. Today we tackle a topic that is still hot and fresh in everyone's minds, the exclusion of charger's from your smartphone purchase. Apple just got hit with a fine of US$ 2 million in Brazil for not including chargers in their new Apple iPhone purchases. Samsung is also not shipping their Samsung Galaxy S21 device with chargers out-of-the-box. They are shipping their new Galaxy A series with chargers though. Does it make sense then for manufacturers to not include chargers in their boxes. What about other type of chargers like GaN charger and wireless chargers. Should manufacturers give up making chargers or include other types of chargers instead? We think so, find out why on Tech & Tonic.
What is Clubhouse? What is it for? Why download the app? Why use the app? Should you even think about it? Why is it so exclusive?
In this episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast, we explore the app that exploded overnight thanks to Elon Musk and gang. There is a disclaimer here though, both of us are not iPhone or iOS users. Therefore we have not experienced the app so far. We did extensive research on the app and its uses and features though. So this is Clubhouse?
In this episode, our editors, Darwin and Jeevan get a little personal as they speak on their current realities with working from home thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past weeks, Malaysia has returned to a state of Movement Control under the new MCO. The pandemic has forced them to look into alternative ways to get work done and, most of all, it has made all their work online.
Listen in as they share their experiences in week's Tech & Tonic Podcast.
We are back for another episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast. In this episode of the Tech & Tonic show, we look deeper into Apple's Car project and whether or not Apple is reaching too far out from their own industry and expertise. While we are on that subject, Google is also shutting down one of their most hyped project, the Stadia Studios.
On Apple's end, Hyundai and Kia has severed any ties they had with Apple on their autonomous vehicle projects. On Google's end Stadia's closure also means that Stadia may not be competitive at all. What is happening here? Are they taking bigger bites than they should have? What will become of autonomous cars and cloud gaming?
We left a big piece news out of our first Tech & Tonic Podcast of the year. We left it out for a good reason. We left out the whole Facebook and WhatsApp terms update situation. That is because we are going into a discussion on it with a former guest of the show, Kevin Reed.
Kevin Reed is the Chief Information Security Officer in #Acronis, one of the global leaders in cybersecurity today. In short, Kevin is their security guy, the cyber security expert. Obviously, he is the perfect person to talk to when it comes to the whole situation with WhatsApp and Facebook.
Over the past month or so, Telegram and Signal has gotten over 15 million downloads as more people are porting out of WhatsApp. But is this a good idea for you? Should you start relying on alternative messaging apps like Telegram and Signal? Can you still use WhatsApp and feel safe? What risks are you putting yourselves in when you switch, or stay? All that, answered in our Tech & Tonic Podcast Special.
It is January 2021 and we are back for another episode of Tech & Tonic podcast, the very first one for 2021 and it came from our own houses because Malaysia is under a second lock down (Movement Control Order). The global pandemic did not stop CES 2021 from happening though. Although everything is happening online.
The year kicked off with a bang though because Xiaomi now joins HUAWEI and DJI in the United States banned entities. Xiaomi does not have an official presence in U.S. though. They only stateside link they have is the Operating System they use (Google's Android), their processors (Qualcomm), and few other components.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 series just launched last week too. The renders look exactly the same as the actual device except that the device looks even more impressive. The Samsung Galaxy S21 flagship series packs Samsung's latest Exynos with 5G capabilities. The Galaxy S21 Ultra even sports S Pen compatibility and up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. All of these comes with a price though. The Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at MYR 3,699 and tops out at MYR 5,899.
2020 is a year full of surprises and new beginnings. For us, it is the mark of our entry into the world of Podcasts with Tech & tonic. We want to first thank all of you listeners who have stayed with us and listened to our sometimes meaningless rambles about tech. We want to thank our supporters, new and old, that has been the kindle in our fires and the motivations we needed when we were wondering if podcasting was the right area to pursue. We have learnt plenty too from our first year and season in podcasting. Of course, we have enjoyed it alongside all our guest too. For that, we also want to thank all of our guests that has appeared on our show and has shown continuous support to our show. We are looking forward to 2021 and a bigger year ahead of us with new contents and expansion to new platforms.
Back to today's very special and final episode of the year 2020 though. We explored some shopping ideas for Christmas to prepare us for 2021 and even beyond. We pick some things that we could easily buy online right now to gift, and even keep for yourselves this Christmas and New Year. Here are our top 5 list of things that you can buy for yourself or to gift your loved ones for the year ending celebrations of 2021!
In this week of Tech & Tonic Podcast, you are joining me, Darwin, and Jeevan again with another week in tech. Last week is still a quiet week in tech, but Acer launched a few things in Malaysia. We delve a little deeper into what we can expect next year. We are expecting the successor of the HUAWEI P40 series, the P50 series to be launched. The new device is rumoured to pack HUAWEI HiSilicon's latest 5nm processing chipsets. That, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 4G chipset. There are a couple of more interesting things to come with the HUAWEI P50 series from the rumours as well. Join us as we take the rumours of the HUAWEI P50 series apart.
In today's episode of the Tech & Tonic Podcast, we explore the world rumours around the Samsung Galaxy family in 2021. The Samsung Galaxy S21, or 30 will kick off the 2021 flagship race for Samsung. We explored the possible specs of the Samsung Galaxy S for 2021. There are also news surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S line-up will get the S Pen as well. Speaking of the S Pen, it looks like Samsung will wrap 2021 up with the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Flip line-up instead of the Galaxy Note line-up. This could be the end of the Galaxy Note series as we know it too. Rumours also say that the Samsung S Pen will also live on with the Samsung Galaxy Fold line-up too.
Whatever it is, it sounds like a sad occasion for Samsung Galaxy Note fans out there. If you have gotten your hands on the Samsung Galaxy Note20 this year, you might want to hold on to it. All these emotions, in this week's Tech & Tonic.
The past two weeks has been a little quiet in the tech industry except for AMD's very bold launch of the AMD Radeon 6000 GPU platform. A week later, last week AMD's latets Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs went out and land in the hands of reviewers around the world. Their tests and reviews show power from the CPU like never before. The new Ryzen is a vastly powerful CPU that devastated even its competition. What does this mean for AMD? What does this mean for PC builders? What does this mean for you? All that in Tech & Tonic Episode 25
In this come back of Tech & Tonic, we talk about the HUAWEI Mate 40 series that just launched last week. Somehow, we really like the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ and what it can do. Unfortunately, it still does not come with Google's Play Store. There is still the brilliant EMUI 11 and ever growing AppGallery though. Are those enough to sway us into the ecosystem? We also had people reporting that someone has been using a name very close to the name of our show, Tech & Tonic. Some see it as a direct copying of our name with the name "Tech Tonic". Are we even offended? Should we even be? Even if we are, is it justified? All this, on #TechnTonicPodcast episode 24.
Trend Micro is one of the biggest cyber security firms in the world. They have over 30 years experience in creating security systems for both corporate and individual use. Recently, they announced a new approach to securing pertinent information in organisations called XDR or cross layered detection which allows organisations to better prevent and detect threats to their data security.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of data breaches has drastically increased. This hold true even for medical and scientific organisations. In fact, signifcant breaches have occurred in organisations such as the University Hospital of BRNO and even research organisations tasked with developing the vaccine.
We sit down with Mr Goh Chee Hoh, Managing Director of Trend Micro Malaysia and Law Chee Wan, Technology Director at Trend Micro Malaysia to find out how our data may be at risk with all the contact tracing and how individuals and organisations can be more secure in the midst of the worsening global pandemic.
42 Kuala Lumpur (42KL) is one of the most interesting start ups that we have come across in this 2020. The program is initiated in Malaysia by Sunway iLabs and Sunway Education Group. Their goal? To fill a gap that has existed in Malaysia for a while now. It is the gap between digital workforce capabilities and the number of people available for the job.
42KL is technically an educational institute that focuses on building programming skills and other digital skills needed in the market today. With us in this podcast is one of the people behind 42KL, Jeff Sandhu.
Jeff Sandhu started out in BFM about 10 years ago when there was only about 15 people in the team. With his background in video productions, he had to take on a new challenge and learnt the ways of the radio broadcasting. Throughout the years he has pioneered some of the talk shows and podcasts that are featured on the radio channel.
He recently joined 42KL as the head of media and communications. We had an evening with Jeff to talk about his roles with 42KL and about 42KL itself. We spoke about the program itself, what it entails, and what kinds of potential it can unlock within you.
42KL is an initiative by Sunway iLabs and Sunway Education Group. The initiative is a completely free educational platform for those interested in learning to program and develop skills for the current digital economy. The duration of the program, for selected candidates, will take about 12 intensive months. To find out more about 42KL, you can check out their website at https://42kl.edu.my/
In this episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast, we managed to get Jeff Sandhu into our studio. Jeff Sandhu was formerly from BFM and had been there for about 10 years. He has been pioneering some of the shows that BFM currently features. He is now attached to 42KL, an educational initiative by Sunway iLabs and Sunway Education Group. We are not here to talk about education though, we are here to talk tech. The most interesting thing that came out of last week was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 and a whole slew of teases of other foldable devices like the Microsoft Surface Duo. We pick his brains a little bit on the topic of foldable smartphones, its role in the industry, and what it means for the future of our smartphones.
Kre8tif! 2020 is happening on the 7th to 10th of September 2020! This is an interesting conference that highlights the Malaysian Digital Content industry. It is happening virtually now, with over 700 participants from all over the world. You can even attend it for free. In this podcast, we spoke to Hasnul about this year's Kre8tif! conference and how they are pivoting themselves around the current Pandemic situation. We got a little insight too on what we can expect from this year's virtual conference! You can find more information on Kre8tif on https://kre8tif.com.my/!
We are back for Tech & Tonic Episode 22! It has been so hectic that we have skipped two weeks of podcast production too! We are back though, in one of the quietest month we ever had in tech. Still, there is the issue of the United States Government executing an executive order to completely Ban Tik Tok in the United States. Still, there are a few interested parties that could save the ever growing social media platform from being banned. This whole thing also brings us to the topic of having regulations against or for tech. How much of it helps? Or does it help at all? Where does it even begin or end? At the same time, this whole thing is a little political and we do not do politics. You will hear us trying very hard to skirt around political or politically charged topics and comments. Hence, Skirting Around the Issue.
In this week's Episode of Tech n Tonic, we saw the big launch of Sony's next generation Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM4. The new headphones come with the same QN1 noise cancelling processor, but with improved functions. It now has better sound upscaler too, with enhanced personalised noise cancelling and audio processing. This goodness is packaged at MYR 1,599. Is it worth it? We think so, as we discuss.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2020 just happened! What do we get? The Samsung Galaxy Note20, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2, the Samsung Galaxy Watch3, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live. In today's episode of Tech & Tonic, we dive a little deeper into the Samsung Galaxy Note20 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2. Since Jeevan had an experience with the devices, we spoke in depth about what he liked about it and what I think I saw in the launch. The Samsung Galaxy Note20 starts at MYR 3,899 and tops out at MYR 5,199. There are no confirmed prices for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 just yet, but then again, there are no confirmed launch date on that device too.
In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we have Vernon Chan a.k.a. Vernieman. We had him on episode two - that was in February earlier this year. We visit the subject of security and social media over a blunder that happened last week. Last week Twitter got hacked and several high-profile accounts was abused for a scam involving bitcoins. The hacker walked away with more than a few hundred thousand US$ according to reports. We delve into the topic of the "Nigerian Prince' Scam that has evolved over the years and talk about how we can protect ourselves too.
We had a chance to sit down with Mr. Eric Quah, regional head of Red Hat. If you do not know what Red Hat is yet, you would by the end of the podcast. They are the leaders when it comes to open source solutions for enterprises. We explored the world of open source with affects to COVID-19 and how your company can bounce back too at this less-than-ideal climate.
In this week's Tech & Tonic, we explore the rumour mills for the Samsung Galaxy Note20. There are so many rumours and expectations on the Samsung Galaxy Note20. Here is our expectations on the Samsung Galaxy Note20 - better interface, better camera, better display, and the beloved S Pen. What more? Listen on and find out!
We are back after a two week hiatus. We are finally repopulating the office after a few months under quarantine. This week's show is quite big though. We are taking a deeper stab and discussion about what happened between HUAWEI, ZTE, and FCC last week. FCC has finally banned HUAWEI and ZTE from being used by any American contractors using the federal subsidy for all communication devices. This is a huge problem for us who are quite big fans of their smartphones with Google Play Services. This announcement sets them back on the progress toward having Google Play Services in their newer devices too. So, should you still get a HUAWEI device? Listen on and see what we think!
Back at Computex 2019, we had the honour of sitting down with Eddie Goyanes, Alienware's product marketing manager. We took the chance to get a dive into the brand, their ethos and also their big redesign which has made Alienware one of the best looking laptops and desktops in the market right now. He lets us in on some of the most compelling behind the scenes stories that inspired and influenced the brand's design and also where the brand is headed.
In this week's Tech & Tonic Podcast we talk about Star Wars: Squadron and get over-excited about it. That is before we go deeper into what we can expect for Apple's upcoming WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2020 and talk about what you can expect from Acer's biggest announcement of the year at Next@Acer 2020!
In this week's episode of the Tech & Tonic podcast, we're sitting down with Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President of Digital Creative Content Division at the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). We talk about the Sony Playstation 5 and the growing Gaming and Creative industry in Malaysia. Hasnul shares with us his insights into the industry and shares how much the industry has grown over the years as well as some of the plans his team has for Malaysia's LEVEL UP Gaming Conference which is still slated to happen this year!
In this week's episode of Tech & Tonic, we delve deeper into the AMD Ryzen 4000 series of Mobile processors. These are not for mobile smartphones though, they are made for notebook PCs. This is also the very first 7nm processor to fit into notebook PCs. There are plenty of numbers out there to say that this is one powerful CPU. What does the number mean though? We try to delve deeper into what the numbers could mean in experience. We also heard that Lenovo is definitely launching their Lenovo Legion gaming smartphone sometime this year. We try to guess what it might come with.
In this episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast, we discussed new developments on AMD's side. They say that the new platform for 4000 series Ryzen CPU for desktops are not going to support the AM4 socket and chipsets anymore. That angered a lot of fans though, and they have turned around from there. There are some new things from Xiaomi as well. They showcased their brand-new MIUI 12 UI. Since there are no new Android versions just yet, MIUI 12 is technically just a visual update. There is a few new things on the UI itself though, including an app drawer. At the same time HONOR launched their new HONOR Life ecosystem of home appliances and electronics. They also launched their new line of MagicBook notebook line up and they look tantalizing.
We come back after skipping a week of no podcast. We were a little under the weather last week and was a little bit swamped, so we do apologise. Still, it has been about two months since the state sanctioned quarantine took over. We nearly lost count of the days. Still, we caught up with one of Malaysia's first ever eSports caster, Flava! He gave a little bit of insights into how the eSports scenes have evolved for him through the years and how he is coping with the current stay-at-home situation. Still, one of the biggest things happened last week from Epic Games. They released their new Unreal Engine 5 and demo-ed it on the Sony PlayStation 5. They also did one of the biggest giveaways last week in the GTA 5: Premium Edition. Of course, we have to talk about those! More in this week's Tech & Tonic!
We were able to sit down with Mr. Alex Tan, the Director of Sales in ASEAN for HID Global, to talk about security and biometrics. With the increasing ubiquity of fingerprint sensors, face unlock and even voice recognition, we were interested in finding out if these technologies are as secure as they claim to be. Mr Alex shared some of HID's new technologies and also some of the industry's trends when it came to biometric security, the new tech that would be coming out as well as some of the things we can do to ensure that we are secure when using biometrics and also when it comes to personal data protection.
We delayed the Tech & Tonic Podcast recording today to watch a new smartphone being launched by OPPO. The new OPPO A92 breaths fresh life into the mid-range smartphone market. That brings us to a very interesting topic of mid-range smartphones though. Should you now buy these smartphones instead of the more expensive flagships? DJI also launched a new product, the DJI Mavic Air 2, a successor to the very interesting DJI Mavic Air of last year. It is slightly bigger with plenty of upgrades. It is quite a bit more expensive though. Still, it is the best time to fly a drone right now, so should you spend on one? All this and more in Tech & Tonic Podcast!
Music
Bossa Antigua by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3454-bossa-antigua
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This episode we're talking to prolific Tech YouTuber, Joshua Vergara, and returning guest: Tech Fashionista, Isa Rodriguez. We spoke about what we thought about Motorola's first flagship in three years, the Motorola Edge+ and whether the company is still relevant in a market which is saturated with companies like OPPO, Samsung, Apple, HUAWEI, vivo and more. Talking about the new flagship also brought us to a very important topic: Affordability and Flagships. The big question for us: will the new iPhone SE reshape what the world thinks? Being tech content creators, we also talked about how we're dealing with working from home and even some of our must have tech during the lockdown.
In another week of Tech & Tonic and state sanctioned quarantine, we find ourselves without a guest again. Still, we have plenty of things that we were excited about. One of them is the new Apple iPhone SE. That is Apple's new, less premium, more affordable smartphone that still packs a lot of power with their own A13 Bionic Processor for MYR 2,999. Last week also we saw the new OnePlus 8 flagship that packs nearly the same things that an OPPO FInd X2 Pro packs int their hardware. The only difference? a 30W wireless charger and design language. We finally unboxed the HUAWEI MatePad Pro too, which we actually like quite a lot - that is unexpected. Still, it does not come with Google's essential apps and framework which hurts it a little bit.
Music:
Cool Vibes by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3553-cool-vibes
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
On this week's Tech & Tonic show, we are going a little basic. It is the first time in our show's channel that we did not invite any guest to sit down with us and discuss about what happened last week. It is the first time as well that we did not have prepared a script on the order of the show. So we talked about everything under the sun last week. We touched on Sony's DualSense controller and what that means for PS5. We teased the HUAWEI P40 Pro and the unboxing of the MatePad Pro too. There was news all week on Zoom as a platform being vulnerable to cyber attacks. So we touched on the tools that we used at home for video conference and recording.
We sat down in our homes and have had a chat with Kevin Reed from Acronis. Kevin is the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of Acronis with over 20 years of experience in the field. We thought we might catch up with him a little bit on the state of cyber security in the current climate. With many taking advantage of COVID-19 situation as well, we thought it might be a good idea to get some well needed advise on how to protect ourselves from losing data.
In this week's episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast, we have Keegan Perez Tan, a former eSports athlete active in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Blizzards Overwatch. He is now a content producer in TechNave, one of the biggest tech media sites in Malaysia currently. We caught up with Keegan on the 20th day of Malaysia's state sanctioned Movement Control Order. We also talked about games a lot today, since Keegan is in the guest seat. We touched on Sony's Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox that is coming end of this year, supposedly. That led to a small discussion of the eSports scene in Malaysia. We could not include the full conversation in the podcast, unfortunately. We did, however livestream the show on YouTube at 11.00 a.m. You can catch the archived show at www.youtube.com/techenttv!
In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we sat down with one of the founders and the person running a very interesting start-up; MyGroser.com, Stephen P. Francis. Stephen has vast experiences starting up and running multiple businesses and MyGroser, while being his latest project is one of them. We sat down with him to discuss his love for tech devices, since the new HUAWEI P40 series just launched globally. We tickled his brains a little bit on what he might want in a smartphone. We also discussed about the whole Movement Control Order situation with him. We asked about MyGroser, and how they have been keeping up with the surge of orders that comes in out of nowhere because of the restrictions. All-in-all, in this overtime show, we had a slightly different perspective in the seat of our guest this week.
In today's episode of the techENT Tech & Tonic, we have a returning guest; Jeremy Teo, and new one, Natasha Hashim! Natasha Hashim, or TashBunny, as more commonly known to her stream fans, is a streamer and also content creator for IGN SEA! If you cannot recognise her, you should be watching more local eSports events, because she is one of the more bubbly host in the events. We only have three mics in the office, but we are not in the office or studio at all today. We did a livestream in the morning, because all of us was stuck at home. So we talked a little bit about that. Since we were on the topic of catching up with stuff, we spoke plenty about games, and of course, the Sony PS5 "road to PS5" press conference. We shared what we were looking forward to with the new PS5, and what we were looking forward to with the games! Check it out.
P.S. because it was recorded on a live stream software (OBS), we did not have the freedom to work with multi-track recording. Therefore, we had some audio issues in the beginning and did not notice it until someone in the stream mentioned it. We fixed in the later half of the show. Please do not turn your volume all the way up first.
In this week's episode of Tech & Tonic we have Jason Goh of @smashpop! Jason Goh has been in the creative and content creation industry for a while now and is the founder of smashpop, his online social media contents platform. He also runs a social media firm dedicated to creating social media contents for clients and such. Jason Goh also shares his expertise in creating digital contents in his workshops; so you can find out more, and join his workshops sometimes to improve your own social media contents. In this episode we spoke at length about the OPPO Find X2, OPPO's new world beating flagship series that is now available in Malaysia. It is OPPO's most powerful and expensive device to date, but is it worth the MYR 3,999 and MYR 4,599 asking price? Speaking of the OPPO Find X2, the Pro variant that is to arrive in Malaysia very soon is also the chart topper in DX0Mark camera benchmark, beating out the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G as well. Is this the smartphone to beat the traditional camera?
In the fourth episode of Tech & Tonic, we got a rockstar in our studio! Adam Lobo (@adamlob0) is the lead singer of Dragon Red band. While he is not performing on stage, he is a tech reviewer on YouTube on Adam Lobo TV! We discussed about some of the biggest impact of the very recent, and very fierce COVID-19. It cancelled significant events like MWC 2020, Google I/O 2020, Microsoft MVP conference, Adobe Summit, and Facebook F8 summit. The impact is deeper than we thought though. Apple is also facing a bigger crisis than shutting down their factories for COVID-19. They are being sued and now preparing to pay US$ 500 Million in settlements because of #batterygate! What is that? listen on to find out!
In the third episode of Tech & Tonic, we had a video conference with Isa Rodriguez (@sisasaid) of Isa Does Tech (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram). We discussed about the many smartphones that launched last week. We had our eyes set to the Sony Xperia 1 while Isa had her sights on the HUAWEI Mate Xs. We released an editorial about smartphone cameras versus proper cameras and why smartphone cameras may not catch up to proper cameras. At the same time we spoke about what we prefer to use for our work and on a daily basis. Should you buy a proper camera, or just get a really good smartphone?
In this second episode of Tech & Tonic we have Vernon Chan of vernonchan.com with us! We spoke at length about whether or not you should buy your smartphone on pre-orders, with cash, or on an installment plan with the telcos. Data privacy is a topic quite dear to our hearts and since Vernon deactivated his Facebook nearly a year ago, he has not gone back since. We explore a little deeper on why he quit Facebook, what we give up with Social Media platforms or even emails. We tickled his brains on how he protects himself online too; something to learn!
In this first episode of Tech & Tonic we have Jeremy Teo of www.iHeart.com (iHeartRadio). We come together to discuss all things tech in the past week or weekend. Last week we saw Samsung Galaxy S20 series launched in San Francisco. We also saw the largest mobile convention in the world, Mobile World Congress 2020 (MWC2020) being cancelled thanks to COVID-19. Is this a start of something even bigger? Will Olympics 2020 be delayed too?