The Alto Collection Review: Two Beautiful Games, Now on PS4 and Xbox One

Alto’s Odyssey and Alto’s Adventure come together in The Alto Collection, a 4K HDR upgrade that brings both games to PS4 and Xbox One for the first time. It ships with a restricted “Photo Mode”, but the “Zen Mode” is where the two games really shine.

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Intel ‘Tiger Lake’ CPUs, Xe Graphics, 10nm ‘SuperFin’ Process, Software, and More Detailed on Architecture Day

Intel will soon launch its Tiger Lake 11th Gen CPUs based on the Willow Cove architecture, Xe integrated and discrete GPUs, and much more.

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Intel Architecture Day 2020 - Intel 10nm SuperFin, Intel Xe GPUs, Tiger Lake and OneAPI

Intel opened up about their technology roadmaps across all of their hardware and software verticals at Intel Architecture Day 2020. Like with the previous Architecture Day that was held in 2018, Intel focused on 6 key aspects which they call the “Six Technology Pillars” and they are: Process and Packaging, XPU Architecture, Memory, Interconnect, Security and Software. Intel unveiled plenty of information regarding their upcoming CPU cores, process technology improvements, all the different architecture variants for the Xe GPUs, memory advancements with Optane Persistent Memory and their efforts on the software front through the OneAPI program. Here’s a brief overview of everything that went down at Intel Architecture Day 2020.

Process and Packaging

It’s no secret that Intel took on a rather ambitious project with their 10nm and 7nm process nodes and in doing so, they’ve had to experiment a lot with the transistor process, lithography and material technology that went into each of their upcoming process nodes. Intel stated that they were moving away from the silliness of tacking on additional plusses (14nm++++) each time an improvement was made to the process technology. Instead, they will now be using more descriptive terms and letting the world know more about the improvements made. Superfin, is the first step in this new “descriptive” direction. Intel’s upcoming 10nm process will now be referred to as Intel 10nm Superfin.

Key improvements include improving the transistor gate pitch to allow higher drive current, enhanced epitaxial source/drain to reduce resistance and lower strain over time, lastly, the gate process has also been improved to help with channel mobility. At a macro level, they’ve introduced the Super MIM Capacitor which is basically a stacked lattice of thin layers of different Hi-K materials, each of which is just a few angstroms thick. An angstrom is one hundred-millionth of a centimeter. Simply by using different Hi-K materials they build a capacitor and the stacking helps increase the capacitance of the entire structure. Another improvement is with the reduced resistance of the vias within the stack.

All of the above improvements had to do with the individual chips. Zooming out to an even larger scale lies the challenge of interconnectors for bridging chips together. Intel makes use of several types of interconnects to enable this. The most recent of which is Foveros which helped make their latest Lakefield CPUs happen. Lakefield interconnects had a bump pitch of between 50-25 microns and their future interconnects are expected to have a bump pitch of less than 10 microns. They’ve also taped out chips using hybrid interconnects which make use of multiple interconnect technologies such as Co-EMIB and ODI(Omni-Directional Interconnect). Each of these interconnects are suitable for a different use case. Some work with enabling the stacking of a smaller package onto a large package whereas other interconnects help with the situation with a larger package being stacked onto a smaller one. All of these improvements will help Intel integrate more chiplets within a smaller footprint.

XPU Heterogeneous Architecture and Tiger Lake

The impact of a CPU microarchitecture is dependent on its generality i.e. how many different applications can you execute using a particular architecture. Intel has a diverse portfolio of silicon which is spread across CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators and FPGAs. Each of these adhere to a particular architecture domain. CPUs are scalar, GPUs are vector, AI accelerators are Matrix and FPGAs are spatial. These are all defined on the basis of their typical workloads. For example, CPUs are generic, GPUs are highly parallelised, AI accelerators have to handle a lot of matrix match and FPGAs are used for more cutting edge algorithms that the other domains aren’t as good at handling.

Intel then moved into stating their goals for Tiger Lake, their upcoming processor family. To summarise, Intel wanted a generational leap in performance with disruptive graphics, scalable AI, increased memory bandwidth and ensure data security. We’ve already covered the packaging and process aspect. Coming to the performance factor, Tiger Lake will be using Willow Cover which is built upon their Sunny Cove cores that have been redesigned to have a larger non-inclusive cache and with security improvements to protect against return or jump oriented attacks. Intel states that they have achieved large frequency gains while maintaining power efficiency. The net result being that they have a greater dynamic V-F curve to play with.

For graphics, Intel had already demonstrated the “Horseshoe Bend” concept earlier this year at CES 2020 which had Xe Graphics. Since Xe is a broad architecture, Intel has different architecture variants for each focus area. With CPUs, they’re using Xe-LP architecture and in Tiger Lake, we can expect up to 96 Execution Units with 3.8 MB of L3 cache.

Tiger Lake will support LP4x-4267 and DDR4-3200 memory and up to LP5-5400 memory for when we have commercial kits available. Overall, the total memory bandwidth would be about 86 GB/s and Tiger Lake will have two memory controllers on the package.

Since Willow Cove builds upon Sunny Cove, we have AI capabilities built in as well. Intel calls this the Gaussian and Neural Accelerator (GNA 2.0). The key improvement here is that it is optimised for low-power neural inference and also consumes less CPU compute resources.

 

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Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i launched in India: Price, specifications and availability

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i has launched in India as the company’s latest thin and light laptop. The Slim 7i is powered by 10th generation Intel processor with dedicated NVIDIA graphics and has been designed for the “modern worker”. The laptop has a robust aluminium built and comes pre-loaded with AI-powered attention sensing software along with support for different voice assistants. Lenovo recently announced the IdeaPad Slim 5 and is expected to launch the Legion 5 gaming laptop later this month.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i price and availability

The Slim 7i starts at Rs 79,990 for the base variant and comes in a single Slate Grey colour. It will be available to purchase from Amazon, Flipkart and Lenovo India store from August 20. The Yoga Slim 7i will be available in offline retail stores from August 14.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i specifications

The Yoga Slim 7i has an all-aluminium build and measures 14.9 millimetres in thickness and weighs 1.36 kilograms. The laptop features a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution IPS display with narrow bezels on four sides, a 90% screen-to-body ratio and Dolby Vision support. The Slim 7i comes with a 180-degree hinge design that lets the screen open a full 180-degrees. 

It is powered by upto 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor and is paired with upto 16GB DDR4X RAM and 512GB SSD storage. It comes with Intel Iris Plus graphics and can be configured with upto 2GB NVIDIA GeForce MX350 graphics. The laptop is equipped with a 4W Dolby Atmos speaker system that the company claims will offer a full surround sound experience. It also offers Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 3 support.

The Yoga Slim 7i comes with a 4-cell 60WHr battery with support for Rapid Charge Pro and Lenovo Q-Control intelligent cooling feature that can optimise the battery life by up to 20%. It also comes pre-loaded with Glance by Mirametrix which is an attention sensing software that makes use of the laptops IR cameras to secure confidential information displayed on the screen with features like Smart Display and Snap Window. The power button on the laptop also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor.

 

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Nokia 24 storage variants leak online with three colours: Specifications and expected pricing

The Nokia 2.4 is expected to launch sometime in September as the new budget phone in the company’s lineup, taking over the reins from Nokia 2.3. As per a new report, the HMD Global backed company is looking to announce the Nokia 2.3 in two storage variants and in three colours to choose from. Apart from this entry-level phone, Nokia 6.3, Nokia 7.3. and Nokia 9.3 PureView is also expected to be announced in the coming months. 

According to a report by NokiaPowerUser, HMD Global is planning to introduce two variants of the Nokia 2.4-- one with 2GB RAM and 32GB storage and the other with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. Notably, the only other phone in the Nokia 2 series that got a 3GB RAM variant was the Nokia 2.2 and all subsequent phones only came with 2GB RAM option. Moreover, the company will offer the Nokia 2.4 in three colours-- blue, purple and grey to choose from.

Nokia 2.4 leaked specifications

Nokia 2.4 has been leaked to feature a 6.5-inch HD+ (1520 x 720 pixels) resolution with a waterdrop notch on top, giving it a 19:9 aspect ratio. The phone has a plastic built with a textured back panel that offers more grip.

It is powered by MediaTek Helio P22 chipset with an octa-core CPU and is paired with upto 3GB RAM and 64GB storage to choose from. There’s an option to expand the storage further by adding a microSD card of upto 512GB. It runs on stock Android 10 out-of-the-box.

The Nokia 2.4 comes with a dual rear camera that consists of a primary 13MP camera along with a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there’s a 5MP camera tucked away in the waterdrop notch cutout.

It is rumoured to be equipped with a 4,500mAh battery and comes with the basic set of connectivity features.

Nokia 2.4 is expected to be priced around $129 which roughly translates to Rs 9,000 by direct conversion. Considering the Nokia 2.3 launched at Rs 8,199, we expect the company to price it aggressively as well.

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Call of Duty: Mobiles Season 9 Conquest update to roll out on August 16

Call of Duty: Mobile has confirmed that the Season 9 update for the game will be available from August 16. The new season will be called ‘Conquest’ and judging by the 5-second-long trailer, it will have a theme based around the Soviet Union. 

Conquest ⁣ The new season is approaching!⁣ ⁣ Season 9 is launching in #CODMobile later this week! pic.twitter.com/esUm6aZTMS

— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) August 13, 2020 Shipment multiplayer map

As before, the new update comes with a new classic multiplayer map. This time around, player will get to play on Shipment 1944, which is an updated version of the Shipment map that was first introduced in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Gunsmith

However, the biggest change to Call of Duty: Mobile has to be the new Gunsmith mode that completely overhauls the way weapons will work in the game. Instead of having multiple variants of the same gun, players will now have a single base weapon and will have to customise the weapons as per their liking. Not only that, but players will now have 10 loadouts in Multiplayer and players will also be able to choose loadouts in Battle Royale and then select them from airdrops. 

Shield Turret

As the name would suggest, the Shield Turret lets you drop a turret anywhere in the battlefield. However, unlike the Sentry Gun, the turret is not automated. As such, the weapon has to be manually fielded in order to be used. It should also be noted that the weapon has limited ammunition. In order to offset these cons, the Shield Turret only requires a score of 300 in order to be activated, which will make it one of the ‘cheapest’ scorestreaks in game.

The current season of Call of Duty: Mobile is almost at an end and while most of the seasonal events are coming to a close, players still have a chance to unlock the new Katana operator skill and partake in some very limited time events like Last Refuge and Now or Never. Last refuge gives you rewards for simply logging in every day, while Now or Never gives players the chance to complete missions to win various rewards. Both these events gives players the chance to win Weapon XP cards and new weapons.

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Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and Redmi K30 Ultra not launching in India anytime soon: Report

Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and Redmi K30 Ultra were announced earlier this week alongside the 55-inch Mi TV Lux transparent edition, as a part of the company’s 10th-anniversary celebrations. While all the three products will be available in China, there was no official word on the global launch of these devices, until now.

According to a Xiaomi representative who told this to GSMArena and Android Authority, the Mi 10 Ultra and Redmi K30 Ultra are exclusive to China for now and the company isn’t looking to bring either of these phones to regions outside of China. Moreover, Daniel D who is the global spokesperson and Senior Marketing Manager for Xiaomi tweeted that the company doesn’t currently plan to launch the Mi 10 Ultra and Redmi K30 Ultra in other regions but has asked fans to “stay tuned”. 

Lots of questions coming in about yesterday's @xiaomi launch, #1 being whether we'll be launching these incredible products across our global markets. For the moment, we don't have plans for official global channels, but stay tuned for future news! pic.twitter.com/mMtdanB7zf

— Daniel D (@Daniel_in_HD) August 12, 2020

Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 in India in May and that’s the only flagship phone from the company’s stable to make it to the country. Nevertheless, there are rumours that the Mi Note 10 Lite could launch as the Mi 10i for India but there’s no official word on that yet.

The Mi 10 Ultra is the company’s latest flagship phone to come with 120W fast charging support, 120Hz high refresh rate display and 120x hybrid zoom camera. The Redmi K30 Ultra, on the other hand, comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ processor with 120Hz refresh rate display and quad cameras on the back.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra specifications

The Mi 10 Ultra has an aluminium chassis that’s topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 6 on the back, measuring 9.5mm in thickness and weighing in at 221 grams. It features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution display and uses an AMOLED panel with a 120Hz high refresh rate. The screen has a punch-hole cutout on the top-left corner which gives it a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and is also HDR10+ certified.

The Mi 10 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with an octa-core CPU running at 2.84GHz and Adreno 650 GPU. This is paired with upto 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and upto 512GB UFS 3.1 storage options to choose from. The phone runs on MIUI 12 which is based on Android 10.

It features a quad-camera setup on the back consisting of a custom made primary 48MP camera with an f/1.85 aperture and 1/1.32” sensor. There is another 48MP periscope camera that uses Sony IMX586 sensor offering 5MP optical zoom and 120x hybrid zoom. Both these cameras support OIS and EIS which reduces blurring and jerks in photos and videos. They also support 8K UHD video recording at 24FPS, 4K UHD at upto 60FPS and slow-motion videos at upto 960FPS. Then, there’s a 20MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 128-degree field-of-view and a 12MP portrait camera with 2x optical zoom. On the front, there’s a 20MP selfie camera.

The Mi 10 Ultra comes with support for 120W fast charging, 50W fast wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. Xiaomi claims that the 4,500mAh battery of the Mi 10 Ultra can be fully charged to 41% in 5 minutes and fully charged in 23 minutes tops.

Xiaomi Redmi K30 Ultra specifications

The Redmi K30 Ultra features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) resolution AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate support and HDR10+ certification. 

The K30 Ultra is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ 5G chipset with an octa-core CPU running at 2.6GHz and Mali-G77 GPU. This is paired with upto 8GB RAM and 512GB storage options to choose from. It runs on MIUI 12 which is based on Android 10. 

The phone comes with the same set of sensors as the K30 Pro and that includes a 64MP primary camera with an f/1.9 aperture, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 119-degree field-of-view, a 5MP telephoto camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear cameras can do 4K at 30FPS and on the front, there’s a 20MP selfie camera housed within a pop-up mechanism. 

The K30 Ultra is fitted with a 4,500mAh battery and supports 33W fast charging out-of-the-box.

 

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