COMPUTEX 2021: NVIDIA announces RTX 3080 Ti for USD 1199 and RTX 3070 Ti for USD 599

NVIDIA has introduced the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards at COMPUTEX 2021. The RTX 3080 Ti is a high-end graphics card priced at USD 1199 and is positioned between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, whereas the RTX 3070 Ti is more of a mid-range to high-end graphics card that sits between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080. The RTX 3070 Ti will be available for USD 599. Indian prices are not yet available. The RTX 3080 Ti will go on sale starting June 3rd, 2021 and the RTX 3070 Ti will go on sale a week after that on June 10th, 2021. NVIDIA Founders Edition cards for both GPUs will be available alongside partner cards from the likes of ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galax, GIGABYTE, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Zotac and others.

“With RTX such a huge success, gamers and creators will be thrilled with performance and features the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti offers,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the GeForce business unit at NVIDIA. “As the new flagship to the RTX family, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the ultimate upgrade for GPU enthusiasts of any generation.”

NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti Specifications

Not a lot of details pertaning to the new graphics cards were announced during NVIDIA's COMPUTEX 2021 briefing. The exact details will be unveiled when the cards go on sale or when the review embargo ends. That isn't far for the RTX 3080 Ti. Thus far, we know that the RTX 3080 Ti will have 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and the GPU at the heart of the graphics card is capable of delivering 34 Shader TFLOPS, 67 Ray-Tracing TFLOPS and 273 Tensor TFLOPS. Similarly, the RTX 3070 Ti will come with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and when it comes to performance, it can push 22 Shader TFLOPS, 42 Ray-Tracing TFLOPS and 174 Tensor TFLOPS.

More RTX titles

NVIDIA also announced that they now have more than 130 video games that have adopted Hardware-Accelerated Ray-Tracing technologies that can be accelerated with NVIDIA RTX graphics cards. NVIDIA RTX is usually accompanied by DLSS which is one of NVIDIA's most innovative features and the COMPUTEX 2021 conference saw NVIDIA showcasing these new technologies in games such as The Ascent, DOOM Eternal, DYING : 1983, Icarus, LEGO® Builder’s Journey and The Persistence.

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Jio Partners With SEGA to Bring Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage 3 for JioFiber Users

Jio Games Store will list these two titles for Indian users to download and play. SEGA will customise Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Streets of Rage 3 for Jio platforms and even offer it in local languages. These will be the first games to be available in Hindi and Tamil on set-top-boxes. For those unaware, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is part of the SEGA Mega Drive series featuri...

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AMD Radeon Graphics Coming to New Samsung Flagship Exynos SoC, Next-Gen Tesla Cars: Computex 2021

AMD has licensed its Radeon RDNA 2 graphics IP to Samsung, and the next flagship Exynos SoC for mobile devices will be the first to benefit from this. Tesla has also adopted RDNA 2 for console-quality gaming in its upcoming Model S and Model X refresh

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AMD Ryzen 5000 Desktop APUs, Radeon RX 6000M Mobile GPUs, FidelityFX Upscaling Tech Announced at Computex 2021

AMD has unveiled a raft of new products including desktop Ryzen 5000 series APUs with integrated graphics, Radeon RX6000M GPUs for high-end mobile gaming, the new vendor-agnostic FidelityFX upscaling tech, and an AMD Advantage laptop design initiative.

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iQOO Z3 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G to launch soon in India

iQOO Z3 will launch soon in India and is slated to be the first phone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G under the hood. The iQOO Z3 officially launched in China earlier in March with features such as a 120Hz refresh rate display, triple cameras and more. iQOO is yet to reveal an official launch date for the iQOO Z3.

The Vivo-backed company has gone live with a microsite on its official website and a listing has also gone live on Amazon. It is confirmed that the iQOO Z3 will be launching with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G processor that is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 765G processor. iQOO will reveal the key features of the upcoming iQOO Z3 between May 31 and June 4 every day.

With the Fazzztest 5G, the future is coming to you. Are you ready for the roller coaster?​ Time to get #FullyLoaded, Stay tuned.​ ​#ComingSoon #iQOOZ3 #iQOO pic.twitter.com/gFVaHmTref

— iQOO India (@IqooInd) May 31, 2021

Here’s what we can expect from the iQOO Z3 that is launching soon in India powered by the Snapdragon 768G processor.

iQOO Z3 expected specifications

The iQOO Z3 that launched in China features a 6.58-inch display that offers Full HD+ (2408x1080 pixels) resolution. The screen has a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera and supports upto 120Hz refresh rate and is also HDR10 compliant. The phone measures 8.5 millimetres in thickness and weighs 185 grams.

Under the hood, the iQOO Z3 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G processor that has an octa-core CPU clocked at upto 2.8GHz and Adreno 620 GPU. This is paired with upto 8GB RAM and 256GB storage options to choose from.

The iQOO Z3 has triple cameras on the back with a 64MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field-of-view and a 2MP macro camera. There is a 16MP selfie camera on the front as well.

The power button on the iQOO Z3 doubles up as a fingerprint reader and the phone is equipped with a 4,400mAh battery that supports 55W fast charging out-of-the-box.

 

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ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Review: 2021s Eye-Candy Laptop

ASUS has a ton of gaming laptops to its name but every year, only a couple of them manage to shine through and land under the spotlight. After using the ROG Zephyrus G15 extensively for about 2-3 weeks now, I think ASUS has packed in pretty much everything I want from a solid gaming laptop in 2021. It's relatively lightweight, looks fantastic without any obnoxious RGB lighting, and it packs some impressive hardware inside that can keep you glued to it for long gaming sessions without breaking a sweat.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop wowed everyone with its good looks and powerful hardware. In our review last year, we mentioned that it's a pretty well-rounded laptop, one that performs admirably good and looks great doing so. I wasn't able to check out the G14's sibling, the ROG Zephyrus G15 due to, well, 2020 and all its madness.

But now, I have been using the new 2021 Zephyrus G15 and I must say that I've been enjoying it a lot. The Zephyrus G15 basically takes everything that's good about the ROG Zephyrus G14 and brings it in a larger form factor. The result is a very clean laptop tailored to deliver some really good performance.

Coming in hot at Rs 1,37,990, the real question is whether the ROG Zephyrus G15 has what it takes to go against the dozens of RTX 30-series laptops that are already soaring in the market? Let's find out in this detailed review.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Specifications

ASUS is bringing two variants of the ROG Zephyrus G15 to India. You get to choose between either the AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS or the Ryzen 9 5900HS. For GPU, you can get the Zephyrus G15 with either Nvidia RTX 3060 or an RTX 3070, both configured with 80W TDP. Besides that, you essentially get the same set of specs with both laptops.

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS or AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS 3.3 GHz (Turbo up to 4.8 GHz, 8 cores) Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, 8GB GDDR6 (80W TGP + 20W Dynamic Boost) or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 6GB GDDR6 (80W TGP + 20W Dynamic Boost) RAM: Up to 48GB DDR4 3200MHz (Dual channel) Storage: 2* PCIE SSD Slot M.2 512GB/1TB Display: QHD (2560x1440) IPS 165Hz, DCI-P3 100%, 300nits, 3ms Pantone validated, Adaptive sync

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Performance

The variant which I got for review comes with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS along with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. The Ryzen 9 5900HS is an absolute beast of a CPU with 8 cores, 16 threads, and 16MB L3 cache. The base clock speed of the 5900HS is 3.3Ghz and it can go up to 4.6Ghz under load via Turbo. This is the exact same CPU that was also on the ROG Flow x13 that we tested not too long ago.

In single-core scenarios, the 35W Ryzen 9 5900HS will sit anywhere between 3.5Ghz to 4.0Ghz. However, the clock rate will settle at around 4.0Ghz when all the cores are fired up. In Cinebench R20, Zephyrus G15 managed to score 563 pts in the single-core test and 5106 pts in the multi-core test. It turned out to be better than the laptops powered by Intel's Comet Lake CPU in this case.

In PCMark 10's modern office test, the Zephyrus G15 scored 6927 pts and outperformed the competition here as well. It's quite evident that the overall system performance is hugely benefited from the fast CPU. Below, I have compared the G15's PCMark 10 score with the Flow x13's score as well the Zephyrus G14's score from last year when we tested the Ryzen 9 4900HS variant.

I was able to get similar numbers on other benchmarks that I ran on the G15 for the internal scoring sheet. Overall, I think the Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU is a solid option for this laptop and it outperforms that competition by up to 10-percent at least on the CPU-centric tests.

Gaming Performance

Moving on to the gaming performance, my ROG Zephyrus G15 review unit comes with an RTX 3060 GPU configured for 80W TDP. You can also get the RTX 3070 variant of the laptop but ASUS is not selling any other models.

It's worth pointing out that the RTX 3060 on laptops can be configured with up to 115W TDP. ASUS has decided to go with a relatively weaker option with 80W TDP, so I was expecting a correspondingly negative impact on the performance. The 6GB VRAM may also fall short a little bit considering how modern AAA titles are chewing through memory.

The Zephyrus G15 managed to score 8028 pts in 3DMark's TimeSpy test and scored 18019 pts in 3DMark's FireStrike test at 1080p. Both scores, as you can see are indeed comparable to that of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 that packs the RTX 3080 GPU. These are pretty solid numbers on board and with that I can say that I saw a similar performance while playing games as well.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 can handle the games at the laptop's native resolution i.e. 1440p. Shadow of Tomb Raider was running at around 70FPS at 1440p resolution with the highest graphics preset. Apex Legends also maxed out at around 120FPS at 1440p & maximum settings. Modern AAA titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 are also playable at 1440p resolution with maximum graphics settings.

1440p gaming is definitely possible with this GPU but modern AAA titles will force you to bring down the graphics settings to get better frame rates. Here's an FPS graph to give you an idea of how games run at 1080p on the Zephyrus G15 laptop -

I noticed that even prolonged hours of gaming will not underpower the GPU due to thermal throttling, etc. On average, the RTX 3060 laptop GPU ran at around 1,500Mhz and it did not suffer from any thermal throttling or performance issues.

I also ran some tests on the 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD to see if it can keep up with the other hardware. CrystalDiskMark gave me a maximum read speed of 3580MB/s and 2843MB/s for writes. Those are the numbers I expected from a PCIe Gen 3.0 drive and it should be able to help with faster booting times and great loading times in games and applications.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Creative Workload Test

The ROG Zephyrus G15 sports one of the best laptops panels with high colour accuracy. And with solid specs onboard, I think this laptop can be a dream for content creators who are not willing to empty their pockets on a sophisticated setup. To test the creative workload performance of this laptop, I used Adobe Lightroom and Premiere to see if it can handle photo and video editing.

In Lightroom, I was able to export batches of 50, 100, and 500 RAW files shot on a Nikon D850 in just about 119, 237, and 1098 seconds respectively. It's more or less similar to the numbers I got on the ROG Flow x13 laptop since they have the same CPU. On Adobe Premiere, I was able to export a 5 minutes 4K project in 279 seconds, which is not too shabby. Clearly, the Ryzen 9 5900HS and the RTX 3060 GPU combo can help you get through even the most demanding render loads. 

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Thermals

The Zephyrus G14 suffered from some major heating issues, making it quite difficult to recommend the laptop last year. I was wondering if the G15 will suffer from the same issues, especially now since we are looking at the Ryzen 9 5900HS and the RTX 3060 GPU. Well, I must say the laptop handles thermals very well, so there's nothing to worry about.

I recorded a max CPU temperature of 95°C, but it was mostly hovering at around the 75°C to 80°C marks. These numbers were recorded while I was performing stress tests, so I'd say the CPU will mostly be sitting at around 70°C while even while performing some CPU-intensive tasks.

As for the GPU temperature, I was able to record a peak temperature of 84.6°C. While playing games, even at max settings, the GPU was constantly hovering between 50°C to 80°C, which is quite normal for gaming laptops. The best part is that both the CPU and GPU didn't suffer from thermal throttling. I didn't see any performance dips even as I was running the benchmarks back-to-back.

Even during the peak load, the laptop's case temperature will not go above 50°C - 55°C. The area around the WASD keys was at about 45°C whereas I recorded a peak temperature of about 35°C on the keyboard deck. This means you can comfortably use the laptop's keyboard for gaming.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Display

The time of 1440p gaming laptops is upon and ASUS has decided to jump on the bandwagon. Just like the ROG Strix Scar 15, the Zephyrus G15 also comes with a 15.6-inch 1440p panel with support for up to 165Hz and 3ms response time. 1440p looks noticeably more crip than 1080p panels and ASUS decided to take it up a notch by adding a higher refresh rate and a colour calibrated panel.

Calman Analysis for Peak Luminance

I recorded a peak brightness of 290cd/m² and it showed a black luminance level of just 0.3cd/m². The display also yielded a  contrast ratio of 966:1, which isn’t bad by any means for an IPS display. The display certainly shows some blue bias as I was able to record an average colour corrected temperature of 7133. It also covers 98.4-percent of DCI-P3 and 146.6-percent of sRGB colour space, which I'd say is pretty good. What I really liked about the display here is that it wasn't uncalibrated out of the box unlike the Strix Scar 15 or the Flow x13 that we reviewed earlier.

Calman Analysis for Colour Gamut

I noticed that the display showed an average DeltaE value of 3.2 and a maximum DeltaE value of 6.2 in our ColourChecker analysis. These numbers are significantly better than what we got earlier with both the Flow x13 and the ROG Strix Scar 15. I didn't see any particular colours on the gamut shift by a huge margin except for a few shades of Blue. A manual colour calibration might make it even better but I think the display is perfectly suitable for colour sensitive work out of the box. And with 16GB RAM and an RTX 3060 GPU, content creators can definitely get good usage out of this.

Calman Analysis for Colour Accuracy

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Battery Life

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 is packed with a 90Whr battery inside that charges via a typical barrel charger. Wanting to buy a gaming laptop with good battery life is considered to be wishful thinking but the Zephyrus G15 proves otherwise. In PCMark 10's battery life test that we run on basically all the laptops that come here for testing, the Zephyrus G15 managed to last for 6 hours and 20 minutes at peak brightness. That's about 370 minutes of usage, which is honestly not bad.

How does that translate to real-world usage? Well, I was able to use the G15 for an entire day for work without having to charge even once. You can set the brightness to about 200 nits instead of the peak brightness and use Windows's Battery performance mode in favour of the battery to achieve that. For day-to-day use-case scenarios in which you are not using the GPU, I also recommend swapping to the iGPU to yield better battery life.

That being said, the Zephyrus G15 can handle a typical workday which involves me writing and researching for my reviews, watching YouTube videos and Twitch streams, and listening to music over a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Besides that, you can also charge the laptop for around 30 minutes to get half the juice back. It goes without saying that you shouldn't run games or any 3D-related tasks on battery power as you will see a massive 3D performance drop without a power adapter. Overall, I really like the battery performance of the Zephyrus G15 gaming laptop.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Keyboard, Trackpad, & IO

The keyboard on the Zephyrus G15 took me a little while to get used to. I blame the layout for that because I had to adjust my wrist on the deck properly to hit the keys in the middle. It's is partly due to the oversized touchpad, however, this is not a deal-breaker. The keys themselves are pretty good and the typing experience is comfortable with 1.7mm of key travel and silent keys. The keys are a little mushy though, so you might not enjoy it if you are coming from a keyboard with crisp and clicky keys. I like the dedicated volume buttons on the top and the three-stage adjustable backlight. Also, don't forget that there's also a fingerprint scanner built into the power button.

The trackpad, as I mentioned earlier, is huge. I am glad that ASUS has used the bigger chassis here to accommodate a bigger trackpad. This was one of my main complaints with ROG Flow x13. Besides just the size, the trackpad also impressed me with a smooth and very gliding-friendly surface. This is, without a doubt, one of the best trackpads I have ever used on a Windows laptop.

Coming from the ROG Flow x13 laptop without its eGPU unit, I was very much satisfied with the number of ports on the Zephyrus G15 laptop. It has two USB Type-A ports and two USB Type-C ports (Gen 3.2 each) with 100-watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort support. In addition to that, you also get an RJ45 port, an audio jack, an HDMI 2.0 output, a Kensington lock slot, and a micro-SD card reader. 

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Design & Build Quality

The Zephyrus G15 is eye candy, especially the white variant of the laptop which I got to use for review. ASUS has been making some really good-looking laptops lately, and this is high up on the list of beautiful laptops for me. It's got a thin profile, coming in at just 19.9mm. It's not exactly a thin and light laptop but it only weighs 1.9Kgs, which still makes it lighter than most gaming laptops on the market with a similar set of specs.

The Zephyrus G15 body is made out of a blend of magnesium and aluminium, and the chassis is very rigid. It also has ASUS' Ergolift design with which the body of the laptop lifts ever so slightly when the lid is open all the way. The lid of the laptop comes with over eight thousand tiny perforations and it's got thin strips of prismatic film underneath that. I'd say it creates an interesting rainbow stripes pattern depending on how the light falls on it. Honestly, I like this better than the Dot Matrix display which they introduced on the Zephyrus G14 last year.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 also comes with 6 speakers - two front-firing tweeters and a set of force-cancelling woofers under the palm rest. Unsurprisingly, they sound great. The audio quality is clear with very strong bass and powerful percussion. You can also jump between multiple equalizers thanks to Dolby Access. I don't get to write this often, but the Zephyrus G15 offers one of the best laptop audio experiences.

Verdict

Alright, if you read through everything I had to say about the laptop, then you've probably already guessed my verdict here. ASUS has left no stones unturned to make the Zephyrus G15 one of the best gaming laptops, and there's honestly very little left to complain about. My experience of using this laptop was so satisfying that there's no reason for me to not recommend it. Yes, there's no webcam on the laptop and it doesn't have a faster display like the 240Hz options we have started seeing. But if you don't mind using an external webcam (bundled in the box) and the 165Hz display, then you should look no further.

The Ryzen 9 5900HS and the RTX 3060 GPU work well together to offer some impressive performance and the laptop is also superior when it comes to battery life and its stunning build quality. The ROG Zephyrus G15 is a fantastic gaming laptop and I already see this laptop making it to a lot of our top recommendation lists for this year. 

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Realme 43-inch 4K Smart TV Review: Good picture performance, bleak sound

The Realme 43-inch 4K TV is a good offering for what it brings to the table. For its asking price, it has a good panel for consuming content in HDR and SDR, and offers a smooth UI as well. It also comes with a sleek easy to use remote control. The addition of far-field mics is nice and they work well in letting you switch the TV on or off. On the flip side, the audio performance feels bleak at low volume and the ‘game mode’ seems to have little effect on the performance on the TV.  Overall, if you are looking for a 43-inch 4K tv in the 30K price bracket, the Realme TV can definitely be on your list. 

 

The 43-inch 4K HDR TV we have for review today isn't Realme’s first foray into the TV space. We have reviewed Realme’s 55-inch SLED TV (review) and also the Realme 43-inch FHD TV (review) that the company launched last year. Now, Realme has launched the 43-inch and 50-inch 4K HDR TV with support for HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. The 43 and 50-inch TVs are identical when it comes to features and specifications with the only difference being the screen size. Today, we have the 43-inch TV with us for review. It boasts of some impressive features and specifications such as support for Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR 10. Priced under Rs 30,000 the 43-inch Realme TV faces competition from the likes of the Hisense 43A71F, AmazonBasics 43-inch 4K HDR TV, TCL, and many more. Does it stand out from the crowd or is it lost in a sea of homogenous TVs? Let's find out. 

Realme 43-inch 4K Smart TV specs at a glance

Panel Size: 43-inch (available in 50-inch variant as well)  Panel Type: VA with D-LED backlighting Panel Resolution: 3840x2160 - 4K Panel Refresh Rate: 60Hz HDR 10 support: Yes HDR 10+ support: No Dolby Vision Support: Yes Weight: 6.5 kgs HDMI Ports: 3 USB Ports: 2 Bluetooth: Yes Wi-Fi: Yes Ethernet: Yes Speakers: 24W Built-in storage: 16GB Price: Rs 27,999 for the 43-inch variant, 39,999 for the 50-inch variant.

Realme 43-inch Smart TV 4K Display Panel and Picture Quality

Kicking things off with the display, the Realme Smart TV has a 4K panel with support for HDR 10, and Dolby Vision. Realme tells me that the TV has a peak brightness of 280 nits which is really low for HDR content. We will elaborate on this in the performance section. The TV has DLED backlighting with no dimming zones. It also claims to support 90% of the DCI-P3 colour space. 

4K and HDR performance

We played our usual slew of Dolby Vision and HDR 10 content on the TV and found the overall experience to be good despite the lower peak brightness of the TV. Let me explain. In the past, budget HDR TVs have had the issue of making content look too dark offering a lackluster experience. We have seen this on the FHD Realme TV and Xiaomi TV in the past. However, over the past year, we have seen a degree of homogenization, a new baseline if you will, for all budget 4K HDR TVs. The good news is that this baseline makes HDR content consumption a good experience even without hitting a peak brightness of around 400 nits. While this doesn't give you a true HDR experience, it is a decent enough experience to enjoy watching content. 

In the case of the 43-inch 4K Realme TV, HDR content was quite enjoyable, even though there is a loss of details in highlights, and the punchy HDR sequences aren’t as punchy as we’ve seen on some other TVs. So, when we watch a show like Our Planet or Altered Carbon on Netflix in HDR on this Realme TV, we aren't met with the “dark” experience we had earlier. We also aren't met with burning your eyes out brightness either. What we are met with is good enough colour reproduction and contrast that anyone on a budget watching this TV will enjoy. 

The same goes for Prime Video. The built-in Prime Video app is recognised as an HDR source and you can enjoy shows like Jack Ryan and The Grand Tour in HDR without any hiccups. While the brightest highlights of these shows get clipped way before they should, you won't notice it as the rest of the screen offers you the visuals you will focus on.  

However, all isn’t perfect with the HDR performance of this TV. We need to talk about some of the picture presets. For Dolby Vision content, we have Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, and Dolby Vision Vivid. We have seen the Dolby Vision Bright and Dolby Vision Dark modes in other TVs; their performance here is the same. However, all Dolby Vision Vivid seems to do is increase the sharpness of the content. For consuming Dolby Vision content, I suggest you leave it in Dolby Vision bright. While the blacks do have a hint of grey in them, considering the price of the TV, the performance is acceptable. 

With HDR 10 content, however, the Standard and Movie preset seems to have very similar settings and, in some cases, the content can look too warm. In this case, I suggest you leave the preset to Movie or Standard, based on your preference and toggle the colour temperature between Warm and Neutral. 

SDR playback

SDR playback of the TV is once again pretty good. We have seen our standard slew of movies and TV shows like Mission Impossible, Young Sheldon and more on this TV. While you will be inclined to use the Movie preset here, once again know that the movie preset makes the entire colour palette too Warm. You can switch the colour temperature to neutral. In movies like Mission Impossible and Shows like Young Sheldon, the Movie preset with the Neutral or “Standard” colour temperature offered the best results. 

The only downside to playing with the presets is there is no way to go back into the settings and return to the factory default, which is a bummer. You may want to take a picture of the default settings before tinkering in case you want to reset the presets back to factory default. 

Gaming

There is no default game mode in the picture presets. There is one in the settings of the TV. However, engaging it didn’t really have a noticeable effect on the TV. The game mode needs to switch off all forms of picture processing on the TV and reduce the input lag. While the game mode does something on the TV, it isn't clear what this is. To get the picture settings just right, I switched the picture preset to User and switched off all forms of picture processing. I kept the backlighting at 100 with other settings like Brightness, Contrast and Saturation between 50 and 55 based on the game being played. 

We played games like Dirt 5 (review), Spider-Man Miles Morales (review) and Returnal (review) on this TV using a PS5 (review) and the experience is acceptable. A game like Dirt 5 is a great example of HDR gaming and the overall brightness of the game was quite low. We had to manually increase the HDR brightness of the game from the settings of the game to get an acceptable experience. 

A game like Returnal has enemy projectiles that glow giving you a beautiful HDR experience, especially on a high-end TV. However, here the difference between the scene brightness and the enemy projectiles wasn't too wide.  

This doesn't mean games are unplayable or a bad experience. The games are very much playable and enjoyable. You must calibrate the HDR settings from the PS5 to let the console know the upper and lower limit of the brightness of the TV to ensure you can see all the relevant highlights and details on the TV.

Audio Performance

Audio is where the TV falters a bit. While it has 24W of sound output, it is at the lower volumes where you may be disappointed with the audio output of the TV, especially the vocals. Below 30 the audio from the TV is audible but the dialogues are not clear. So, if you will watch this TV late at night and don't want to disturb the family, I suggest a pair of headphones. It’s above the 45 mark that the volume becomes clear and it can get quite loud as well. There is no way to reduce the dynamic range for better clarity at lower volumes. 

Apart from that, the audio output of the TV works for everyday TV viewing. We saw a lot of movies, TV shows, news and played games on the TV, and acceptable is the best way to describe the speakers. 

There is a toggle in the settings to switch Dolby Atmos on and off and this essentially lets you toggle between a regular Sound Mode and a Dolby Sound Mode and I could only tell the difference between these two different modes in a handful of content pieces. Suffice to say, choose the one that sounds best to your ears.  

Realme 43-inch 4K TV UI

The UI here is stock Android through and through just like we’ve seen on the Hisense TV, for example. No added flavours like Xiaomi has with PatchWall or OnePlus has with OxygenPlay and whether that's a good thing or not depends on how much you enjoy these alternate UI’s. While I appreciate the features they offer, I’m more of a stock Android person, myself. Stock Android works well and you do have the option this time around to change the settings when consuming content from the built-in apps which is great. 

The unique thing about the Realme TV is that it comes with hands-free controls, something we saw on the TCL C715 (review) and the Mi QLED TV 75 (review). In this case, you can say, “Ok Google, Switch on the TV” and as long as the TV is in standby, it will obey your orders. The hands-free controls on this TV work about as well as it does on the Mi QLED TV. It responds to all my queries, although it still believes that Falcon and The Winter Soldier isn't available on Hotstar. 

You have a toggle to switch off the mic, but this leaves a yellow LED array on at the bottom of the display and that can get annoying. 

Remote control

Realme has gone with an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" policy with the remote control. It's the same one we saw on the SLED TV and the 43-inch FHD TV. It is one I really like. It has a teardrop design - extremely thin up-top and getting slightly thick at the bottom where you have the battery housing. This design gives the remote a good grip. It has dedicated hotkeys for Netflix and Prime Video, and also has a dedicated button to change the source, bring up the settings. There is also a dedicated Google Assistant button. 

Build and design

The Realme 43-inch 4K TV has slim bezels on three sides. Only the bottom bezel is slightly thick. The bottom also has the LED indicator for the Google Assistant. The back of the TV houses a toggle to switch the assistant mic on and off. The TV has a plastic frame and the feet have a metallic-like finish to them. The feet are quite wide apart, but that may be a good thing for those looking to house a soundbar or a gaming console like the PS4 and a set-top-box below the TV. 

The ports on the Realme 43-inch smart TV are facing out. For connectivity, the TV has an AV-in port, two USB ports, three HDMI ports, of which HDMI 1 is ARC enabled, antenna port, ethernet port and optical out. It does not have a 3.5mm port. The TV also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. 

Bottom Line

The Realme 43-inch 4K TV is a good offering for what it brings to the table. It has a good panel for consuming content in HDR and SDR for the price and has a smooth UI. It also comes with a sleek easy to use remote control. The addition of far-field mics is nice and they work well letting you switch off the TV and switch it on if it is in standby. The audio performance feels bleak at low volumes and the ‘game mode’ seems to have little effect on the performance on the TV.  Overall, if you are looking for a 43-inch 4K tv in the 30K price bracket, the Realme TV can definitely be on your list.

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Computex 2021: Intel announces 5G Solution 5000, new 11th-gen CPUs for portable laptops

At the ongoing virtual Computex 2021 trade show in Taiwan, Intel announced its new 5G module for laptops that it calls Intel 5G Solution 5000. It also presented two new 11th generation Core U series processors - intel Core i7-1195G7 and  i5-1155G7 - that we will see in thin and light laptop refreshes later this year. 

Intel 5G Solution 5000

Intel 5G Solutions 5000 is an M.2 module and will serve as an easy way for manufacturers to add 5G support to their products. Intel says that the module has been certified for 5G use with carriers across the globe, and is said to deliver five times faster speeds as compared to its Gigabit LTE technology for laptops (up to 4.7 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1.25 Gbps).

It will be available in more than 30 laptops by the end of next year, and in a few Acer, HP, and Asus laptops later this year itself. 

Since Intel already sold its modem business, the majority of it to Apple, the module has been designed in partnership with MediaTek and Fibocom. MediaTek developed the 5G modem for which Intel provided specifications, and Fibocom built the module and handled global certifications. 

Intel Core i7-1195G7 and i5-1155G7

Intel’s new 11th gen (Tiger Lake) CPUs for slim and light laptops are basically upgraded Core i7-1185G7 and i5-1135G7 from last year. These chips support Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and Intel claims 25 percent overall application performance over the competition. 

“We’ve taken the world’s best processor for thin-and-light Windows laptops and made the experience even better with the addition of our two new 11th Gen Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics,” said Chris Walker, corporate vice president and general manager of mobility client platforms at Intel.

The Core i7-1195G7 benefits from Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and its fastest core can go up to 5GHz, thus outperforming AMD’s top Ryzen 7 5800U processor. Comparing the performance between the two, Intel says, that its new Core i7-1195G7 is 93 percent faster for video editing,136 percent faster for Adobe Lightroom Photo Merge, 98 percent faster for Adobe Premiere Pro Scene Detect, 82 percent faster for DaVinci Resolve, and 156 percent faster for Cyberlink Power Director. 

The Core i5-1155G7 comes with a 2.5GHz base frequency and 4.5GHz Max single-core turbo frequency. It will be available in more than 60 laptops before year-end, including those from Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI. 

At Computex 2021, Intel also demoed its 12th gen Alder Lake for both Desktops and Laptops. Alder Lake will be a significant update for laptops, as Intel will bring 10nm processors, PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 RAM to mobile versions. 

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Realme X7 Max 5G with Dimensity 1200 launched in India: Price, specifications and availability

Realme X7 Max 5G has officially launched as the first phone to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor. Realme has been teasing the X7 Max 5G for quite some time now, with its key features out in the open. Realme has also launched the Realme smart TV 4K series alongside the X7 Max 5G.

The Realme X7 Max 5G is based on the Realme GT Neo that was launched in April. The phone offers a 120Hz refresh rate display, triple rear cameras and a fast-charging battery to boot. Let's take a look at the price, specifications and availability of the Realme X7 Max 5G in India.

Realme X7 Max 5G price and availability

Realme X7 Max 5G is priced starting at Rs 26,999 for the base variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and the maxed-out Realme X7 Max 5G with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage is priced at Rs 29,999.

Realme X7 Max 5G goes on sale from June 4 on Flipkart, Realme India store and soon in offline stores as well.

Also Read: Realme launches 43-inch and 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TVs in India

Realme X7 Max 5G specifications

The Realme X7 Max 5G features a 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display that supports a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen has a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera up front that gives it a 20:9 aspect ratio. The phone has a plastic build and a gradient design on the back panel. The Realme X7 Max 5G is being offered in three colourways: Asteroid Black, Mercury Silver and Milky Way. It measures 8.4 millimetres in thickness and 179 grams.

Realme X7 Max 5G is the first phone in India to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G processor that has an octa-core CPU. The prime core is clocked at 3.0GHz while the three performance cores run at 2.6GHz and four power-efficient cores at 2.0GHz clock speeds. This is paired with upto 12GB RAM and upto 256GB storage options to choose from. It runs on Android 11 based Realme UI 2.0 out-of-the-box.

There is a triple camera setup on the back of the Realme X7 Max 5G that consists of a primary 64MP camera with f/a.8 aperture, 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree-field-of-view and 2MP macro camera. The rear cameras can record in 4K at upto 60FPS and are backed by EIS and dual-LED flash. On the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera housed within the punch-hole notch cutout.

The Realme X7 Max 5G has stereo speaks with Hi-Res audio support and is fitted with the basic set of sensors and connectivity features like Bluetooth 5.1, WiFi 6 and more. There is an optical in-screen fingerprint sensor as well.

Realme X7 Max 5G is equipped with a 4,500mAh battery that supports 50W fast charging.

 

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Realme launches 43-inch and 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TVs in India

Alongside the Realme X7 Max 5G, the company also launched the Realme 43-inch and 50-inch 4K HDR Smart TVs. The TVs are priced at Rs 27,999 for the 43-inch variant and Rs 39,999 for the 50-inch variant and will be available starting June 4, 12 Noon. The TVs run on Android TV UI and bring with them far-field mics for hands-free controls. You can switch on and off the TV by simply using your voice without the remote control. 

Realme 43-inch and 50-inch smart TV features and specifications

The features on offer are identical for both the screen sizes with the difference being in the screen size and price. Both the TVs have D-LED backlighting and no dimming zones. Both are 4K TVs with a resolution of 3840 x 2160. The TV supports HDR 10, HLG and Dolby Vision. It also supports Dolby Atmos and has 24W of sound output. 

The Realme 43-inch and 50-inch TVs run on the Android TV UI and have access to the Google Play Store to download apps and popular streaming services. The TV supports all popular streaming services including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and more. 

The TV also comes with a Chromecast built-in and Google Assistant. An addition to the TV is far-field mics. Yes, you can control the TV by simply using your voice. If the TV is in standby, you can wake the TV by simply saying, “Ok Google, switch on the TV.”

Coming to connectivity options, the TV supports both 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, three HDMI ports with ARC support, two USB ports, Antenna port, AV port, LAN port and optical port. 

The TV also comes with the same remote control we saw on the 43-inch FHD TV (review) and Realme SLED TV (review) that launched last year. 

Realme 43-inch and 50-inch TV price and availability

The Realme 43-inch 4K Smart TV is priced at Rs 27,999 and the 50-inch is priced at Rs 39,999. Both will be available starting June 4, at 12 noon.   

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Xiaomi teases 200W HyperCharge that can fully charge a phone in just 8 minutes

Xiaomi has teased it's 200W fast wired charging technology that the company is calling HyperCharge. The new fast-charging solution can fully charge a phone’s battery to 100% in just 8 minutes. Moreover, Xiaomi has also unveiled a 120W fast wireless charging solution that can charge a phone’s battery to 100% in just 15 minutes.

Xiaomi posted a video online that depicted a modified Mi 11 Pro with a 4,000mAh battery that supports HyperCharge fast charging. In the video, the phone charges to 10 percent in 44 seconds, 50 percent in 3 minutes and takes 8 minutes to fully charge to 100 percent. 

200W Wired Charging 120W Wireless Charging We're about to redefine the charging experience with #XiaomiHyperCharge. #InnovationForEveryone pic.twitter.com/2rPrzw7BEu

— Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) May 31, 2021

Meanwhile, the new 120W HyperCharge wireless charging solution was also demoed in the same video using a modified Mi 11 Pro. With the HyperCharge wireless solution, the phone with a 4,000mAh battery charged to 10 percent in 1 minute, 50 percent in 7 minutes and 100 percent in just 15 minutes. 

There is no official word on when we would be able to see the HyperCharge charging technology on a smartphone. In 2019, Xiaomi showed off its 100W Super Charge Turbo fast charging technology which was followed by the Mi 10 Ultra launching with support for upto 120W fast charging.

Earlier this year, a report hinted that Xiaomi could be working on a 200W fast charging solution and could launch a smartphone in the second half of 2021. Now that the 200W HyperCharge fast charging solution has been unveiled officially, Xiaomi may launch a commercial phone that supports it too.

The new HyperCharge solution takes Xiaomi to the top of the charts when it comes to fast charging standards. Many companies including Xiaomi and Oppo are leading the race to develop new fast-charging technologies for smartphones and the breakthrough attempts to narrow the gap between fully charging a phone and makes it one of the quickest fast-charging solutions to date.

 

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How to earn heartbeat sensor in Call of Duty: Mobile

The heartbeat sensor is the newest tactical equipment that was added to Call of Duty: Mobile. Like pretty much all new devices added to the game, the new equipment will have to be earned via a season challenge. The new device takes the place of a tactical grenade. So players will have to consider all the pros and cons of the device. 

 

Pinpoint nearby enemy locations with the new tactical weapon, Heartbeat Sensor! Obtain through a seasonal challenge when Season 4 launches on 5/26 at 5PM PT! pic.twitter.com/Dy8ZDozqWE

— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) May 26, 2021

 

The heartbeat sensor locates any neary players around them. However, when activated, players will be unable to wield their weapons. So players will also have to consider that when using it. The new device can be earned via the Under Pressure season challenge. As with all season challenges, players stand to earn a bunch of other rewards as well. 

Here’s how you can earn the device. 

User UAV scorestreak three times in MP matches: 200 Credits and 1000 Battle Pass XP Throw 10 tactical grenades in MP matches: Pharao (Carrion) and 2000 Battle Pass XP Kill 10 enemies with the Dead Silence Perk Equipped: 15 Weapon XP cards and 2000 Battle Pass XP Use the Trophy System system five times in MP matches: Sickle avatar and 3000 Battle Pass XP Win three games with the High Alert Perk equipped: Heartbeat Sensor and 4000 Battle Pass XP Use the Heartbeat Sensor five times in MP matches: NA-45 (Iron Hunter) and 5000 Battle Pass XP

Besides the heartbeat sensor, Call of Duty: Mobile’s Season 4 Spurned & Burned update also added a bunch of other new features. This includes a new Dome map as well as two new weapons. Namely the MK2 marksman rifle and the Holger LMG. You can learn more about the update here. 

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Garena teases crossover between Free Fire and McLaren

Garena is teasing a collaboration between Free Fire and supercar manufacturer, McLaren. The crossover will be called Acer the Field and will include various in-game features that include McLaren cars and more.  Mark Waller, Chief Commercial Officer, McLaren Racing, said: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Free Fire for an in-game McLaren Racing integration. Our fans are always looking for ways to connect with our team and this integration gives this accessibility in a new and exciting way. It’s a brilliant collaboration in a time when gaming is only continuing to grow, and McLaren wants to be a part of that growth!”

Garena Free Fire x McLaren - Acer The Field: What to expect

The collaboration will see McLaren vehicles being added to Free Fire. This includes the MCLFF, which stands for McLaren-Free Fire. This is McLaren’s vision for Grand Prix racing and takes inspiration from the MCL35M, the current F1 used by McLaren this season. The crossover will also include the McLaren P1 supercar that was unveiled in 2013. 

Harold Teo, Producer for Free Fire, said: “Both the MCLFF and McLaren P1™ are signature cars and represent the innovation and leadership that McLaren stands for. To bring these elements into Free Fire is something that we are truly excited about.”

The new vehicles will be available in all three major maps in Free Fire, This includes Bermuda, Kalahari, and Purgatory. As with any other vehicle in the game, the vehicles should spawn randomly. So players will have to find vehicles for themselves. 

Garena has also teased the involvement of McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris. However, the developer has not yet revealed how this would happen. However, Garena did say that players will get the opportunity to win VIP McLaren Racing prizes and experience a McLaren x Free Fire activation. 

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Plea filed in Delhi High Court after Twitter fails to comply with new rules

A petition has been filed against Twitter over non-compliance with the new Information Technology rules that went into effect on May 26, 2021. These new rules require social media Intermediaries, that host content created and shared by regular consumers. It also required them to have mechanisms to address user complaints, appoint grievance officers, and publish monthly compliance reports detailing complaints received and actions taken.

Failing to do so makes social media intermediaries liable to punishment under Indian law, including criminal prosecution. The petition has been filled by Amit Acharya, a practising advocate at the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court, who says he came to know about non-compliance when he tried to file complaints against a few tweets. 

The new Internet Rules also require social media intermediaries with more than five million active users to trace ‘the first originator’ of problematic content. On May 25, Facebook-owned WhatsApp filed a case against the GoI, stating its inability to comply with traceability requirements without hampering user privacy. 

The petition filed by Acharya seeks Twitter to appoint a grievance officer without further delay and asks the Center to ensure compliance with the new rules. 

The tiff between the Indian government and Twitter has been going on for a while. Earlier this week, Indian Police visited the Twitter office to serve its Country Head a notice for a probe after it tagged a tweet by ruling party spokesman as “manipulated media”. 

“We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service, as well as with core elements of the new IT Rules,” Twitter said in a statement without directly referring to the incident. 

“We will strive to comply with applicable law in India. But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law.” the statement added. 

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OnePlus Nord CE 5G tipped to feature 64MP triple camera and Snapdragon 750G

OnePlus Nord CE 5G is set to launch on June 10 in India alongside the OnePus U1 series 4K LED TVs during the company's upcoimg Summer Launch Event. The OnePlus Nord CE (Core Edition) is a follow-up to the original Nord (review) that was launched in July last year. While OnePlus is yet to reveal more details about the Nord CE, a new report hints are some of the key specifications of the upcoming phone.

According to a report by Android Central that cites insider sources, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor, which we have seen on phones such as the Mi 10i, Motorola Moto G 5G, and more. It is also possible that the Nord CE could be priced a bit lower than the original Nord, which started at Rs 24,999.

Say hi to the #OnePlusNordCE5G – the newest addition to the Nord universe – at the OnePlus Summer Launch Event on Thursday, June 10, 7pm onwards Learn more - https://t.co/oQgVeK4uFW pic.twitter.com/KxeLczZBkw

— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) May 27, 2021

Further, the report states that the OnePlus Nord CE 5G features the same display as the original Nord. It is a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with support for a 90Hz refresh rate. As for the cameras, the phone will have a triple-camera stack that is headlined by a 64MP camera along with a 16MP selfie camera up front. The sources also suggest that the design of the phone will be refreshed to make it more in line with the OnePlus 9 series, especially that vertical camera housing.

"Like the name suggests, this is a product which really aims to deliver a fantastic essential experience. We distilled the original Nord down to its core elements, and added a couple of extra features to bring you a phone that's a little more than you’d expect, at an even more affordable price," OnePlus CEO Pete Lau said announcing the launch date for OnePlus Nord CE 5G.

It remains unclear whether the Nord CE 5G will be a direct successor to the OnePlus Nord or whether the OnePlus Nord 2 is a separate smartphone that we may see later in the year. As per another Android Central report from earlier this year, the OnePlus Nord 2 was rumoured to be the first smartphone by the company to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor. So its possible that the true successor to the OnePlus Nord is yet to arrive. 

There is still much that we do not know about the OnePlus Nord CE 5G, but the company may share more details as we get close to the launch which is on June 10.

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New OnePlus Nord update brings May Security Patch, bug fixes, improved Wi-Fi speeds, and more

OnePlus Nord (review) has started receiving the May 2021 Android security patch in India as part of the  OxygenOS 11.1.1.3 update. Apart from the security patch, the update brings in a number of bug fixes related to the camera, network, system, and file manager. 

As always, the update will be pushed in a phased manner and not all users will get it at the same time. Different builds for India, Europe, and Global regions have version number 11.1.1.3.AC01DA, 11.1.1.3.AC01BA, and 11.1.1.3.AC01AA​, respectively.

OxygenOS 11.1.1.3 Update: What has changed?

The new update fixes a lot of camera issues that Nord users have been complaining about. These include frame drops in captured videos, camera unresponsiveness when opened via contact app, and the abnormal preview display issue in Nightscape Tripod mode. 

The update also improves Wi-Fi speeds and fixes abnormal display issues while copying files to OTG storage. 

Here’s the detailed Changelog: 

System

Fixed the issue that the card coupon is not available as a widget Fixed the issue that missed calls are marked as call answered on another device in call logs Fixed known issues and improved system stability Updated Android security patch to 2021.05

Network

Improved the speed of Wi-Fi connection

Camera

Fixed the abnormal preview display issue in Nightscape Tripod mode Fixed the issue that Camera becomes unresponsive when setting profile photo in Contact Fixed the frame drops issue with videos taken by Camera Fixed the occasional issue that Flash effect may fail in some scenarios

File Manager

Fixed abnormal display issue while copying files to OTG storage

If you are a OnePlus Nord user, you can manually check for updates from Settings >> System >> System updates. 

Also Check: OnePlus Nord CE 5G to launch during OnePlus Summer Launch Event on June 10

OnePlus assures of at least two years of regular security updates, which is to say that Nord should keep getting these patches for at least another year or so. Apart from Nord, the OnePlus 9 series and OnePlus 8 series phones have already received the May Android Security patch on May 10 and May 26, respectively. Older OnePlus devices are yet to receive the update. 

Source

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