Avita is one of those Chinese laptop manufacturers that bring unique, thin and light laptops at affordable prices. This makes the brand much more engaging in a “value for money-oriented” country like India.
Its latest laptop dubbed as Avita Essential NE14A2INC433-CR is indeed one of the cheapest laptops from the company available on Amazon India at just Rs. 17,990. Yes, it’s that cheap, at the price of a smartphone, Avita is offering you a laptop.
Obviously, quality and performance is a thing that needs to be figured out, however, on paper, the specs look amazing.
Specifications
Processor: Celeron N4000 processor, 1.10 GHz base processor speed, 2.60 GHz Max speed
Operating System: Pre-loaded Windows 10 Home in S Mode| In the box Laptop, AC Adapter, User Guide, Manuals
Display: 14-inch screen (1920X1080) FHD display with Backlit Keyboard| Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
Design and battery: Thin and light Laptop| Laptop weight 1.37kg| Aluminum Body| Battery Life: Upto 6 Hours as per MobileMark
Ports and Optical Drive: USB 3.0 Type-A x 2, Full-Size HDMI x 1, Micro SD Card Reader| No Optical Drive
Like most other Avita laptop, the Avita Essential 14-inch laptop also features a 14-inch Full-HD display which is rare at this price. Then you have 4GB DDR4 RAM and a much needed 128 GB SSD, powered by an entry-level Intel Celeron N4000 processor.
The performance at this price should be decent enough also because the Windows here is Windows 10 Home in S Mode that should help to make the experience snappier. It also features a backlit keyboard, another rare feature at the price.
For connectivity, you have 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 along with all the adequate ports. It’s a thin and light laptop, weighing just 1.37kg and looks modern as well, promising up to 6 hours of battery life. With a webcam at the front, this laptop is an ideal for students and hose looking for one without having to spend much.
Apple is the world’s largest tech company, with its GDP crossing more than 80% of the world’s countries. The company is majorly known for its iPhones and the famous App Store. However, the company is also known for one more thing: its App Store policies and pricing.
Termed as draconian by many, the App Store policies have been a hot topic this year. Many developers even formed a so-called “Collaboration for App Fairness,” and the company setting up unnecessary terms for cloud game streaming services.
This time Apple has updated its app store policies and exchange rates for many countries, including India. The company stated that foreign exchange rates had changed drastically during the pandemic. Hence, the Cupertino giant has increased its apps and in-app purchases for Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa.
Some additional changes in tax have also been added:
India: New equalization levy of 2% (in addition to the existing goods and services tax of 18%)
Indonesia: New value-added tax of 10% for developers based outside of Indonesia
The iPhone maker also stated that the changes in the pricing of apps and in-app purchases would also be adjusted in countries like Iceland and Albania. The value-added tax will align the prices in U.S dollars.
After the new updated policy takes effect, my Apps’ pricing and availability section will be updated in the App Store. The total pricing will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price and will be adjusted and calculated accordingly.
The new iPhone pricing and tax details suggest that the company is changing its App Store regulations based on the changing times. Both the developers and app owners will have to adjust to the App Store policies.
The Cupertino giant recently launched the 8th generation of its highly acclaimed iPad lineup and it was an instant hit because of its much-needed performance upgrade. As soon as Apple announced the upgrade to their faster A12 Bionic and 3GB RAM, people just got crazy.
This grants the budget iPad starting at $329 or ₹29,900 in India, to excel in performance even coming at entry-level pricing. There have been availability concerns of the iPad; however, somehow, I did manage to get the 32GB version or the entry-level variant.
People are pouncing on buying the new Apple product and having used it for 4 days now, and I can genuinely tell why it is so good. However, all of this goodness is packed in the same old design that needs upgrade maybe next time.
Specifications
Gorgeous 10.2-inch Retina display
A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine
Support for Apple Pencil (1st generation) and Smart Keyboard
8MP back camera, 1.2MP FaceTime HD front camera
Stereo speakers
802.11ac Wi-Fi
Up to 10 hours of battery life
Lightning connector for charging and accessories
Touch ID for secure authentication and Apple Pay
iPadOS brings new capabilities designed specifically for iPad
In the Box
iPad, Lightning to USB-C Cable and 20W USB-C Power Adapter
Design & Display
The overall design of the iPad remains the same, and the 10.2-inch retina display remains the same from the last generation as well. So, in this section, you do not expect anything or exciting as such.
The touch screen experience is fluid, and there are no lag or stutter while using it during drawings or stuff. You can use an Apple Pencil or other third-party stylus pencils which we will be giving a list of in our coming articles.
Performance
The key improvement here is the inclusion of the new 7nm based A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine, which is a total beast. The two years old flagship chip is now on a budget iPad, making it the ideal performer for any task.
Also, the RAM of the device has been upgraded to 3GB, and this does help when you have a habit of opening quite a lot of apps in the background. I used the iPad heavily opening multiple apps, and I faced no lags whatsoever, the experience was buttery smooth.
In AnTuTu, the iPad 8th Gen with 32GB memory scored healthy 395,976 points, making it one of the fastest budget tablets. Be it a blogger like me, or a school student or even a casual user, the new iPad can be a real companion for your daily use.
iPadOS
The new iPadOS 14 comes installed out-of-the-box on the new iPad, so you have features like widgets with various options to customize it. The Photos app also gets updated with new sidebar feature. Also, there are drop-down menus that easily lets you sort things and do a lot of management stuff in apps like Calendar.
The Music app has been re-designed to take benefit of the huge screen of the iPad, now featuring rich album art, song details and a huge part of it showing the lyrics. Siri has been implemented in a new way, the Siri bubble overlay makes things easier for you.
The new Universal Search feature is beneficial as you can directly search for anything in the home screen or over any app, write a few letters and the app that you searched for opens. The overall of the iPadOS is amazing, and with a keyboard & a mouse, this is almost a mini-computer at your hands.
Cameras
The iPad cameras remain the same as last-gen, still decent rear camera, however, with some noise while taking photos. Videos are much better, with up to 1080p recording and slow-mo option as well does the job for any camera requirement.
The front camera is a pretty basic one, the 1.2MP FaceTime HD front camera works well for taking video calls but it could better as in 2020 the need for a good front camera has increased considerably.
Connectivity & Ports
For connectivity, you just have the 802.11ac Wi-Fi as this is the base Wi-Fi model and the Lightning connector, which is a downside as well. Apple could have gone for a USB-Type C, and the old Touch ID does, however, it works well and fast.
Audio
The bottom stereo speakers are not the loudest but are clear and sweet, and as they are at the bottom, you do not get the surrounding audio effect. It is good enough for listening to movies, music and stuff.
Battery Life
The battery life on the iPad 8th Gen is amazing; the device takes some time to charge even though a 20W USB-C Power Adapter charges it. It almost took 3 hours to charge the iPad from 0-100% totally. However, once you charge it whole, it takes a lot of time to discharge as it promises an amazing 10 hours of battery life.
Pros & Cons
Lets get into some of the pros and cons of the device:
Pros
Fast, smooth & functional
iPadOS is bliss for work or play
Performance is exceptional for the price
The display is still crisp and great for long hours of work or entertainment
Ideal secondary device for productivity users and creative people
Cons
Old aspect ratio and chassis
The front camera is not that great
32GB of storage is too low
Verdict
Opting for an iPad is a huge step because it’s way more costly than an Android tablet, but this makes sense for a certain category of people. People who need a reliable tablet which is fast and will work for a long period of time or even use as a secondary device, the iPad 8th Gen makes sense.
However, if you are a person who needs a basic tablet for study or even for watching videos, you could be better off buying a cheaper Android tablet. The Apple iPadOS experience is for productivity centric people and those Apple fans out there as well.
Also, the use of Apple Pencil makes the iPad even more special, but people like me need it because of its battery life and horsepower, usage might be different. Still, the reliability this device provides is exceptional. However, a bit modernization of the iPad is needed, maybe, Apple has reserved it for the next generation.
We already from various reports that Microsoft is working on a lighter and more modular Windows 10. The new operating system in development is reportedly dubbed Windows 10X. The company started working on the latest OS after several complaints from the OS being heavier for older systems.
Microsoft earlier stated that Windows 10X started developing an OS for dual-screen and foldable devices. However, the windows maker has now shifted its focus to single-screen devices. As the development of its dual-screen OS seems to have been delayed.
Sources claim that the new Windows 10X will be available sooner for single-screen devices than anticipated. As per the reports, Microsoft will be done with its new operating system by December this year.
However, the new Windows 10X will not have support for Win32 Apps.
Microsoft earlier had promised that its new Windows 10X would run Windows32 Apps using Virtualization. However, the company seems to have taken a U-turn and has released a statement reporting that Windows 10X will not support VAIL technology. It means that users will have to use only UWP and PWA applications with the new OS.
Many developers hope that VAIL is unsupported only for the operating system’s initial release. Microsoft should work on adding support for VAIL and Win32 apps for its Windows 10X operating system.
According to reports, Microsoft was supposed to launch its Surface Neo dual-screen device, which was supposed to run its new Windows 10X Operating System. However, the launch of the device is now delayed until 2022. But the company will supposedly launch its Windows 10X OS in December of this year. Yet, the operating system will be found on third-party devices instead of Microsoft’s machine.
Microsoft aims its Windows 10X towards low-cost devices and is reportedly trying to compete with Chrome OS in the market.
PlayStation 5 is Sony’s latest entry in its consoles. Fueled with high performing tech and sporting exclusive gaming titles, the PlayStation 5 is on every gamer list.
The console is already going through pre-order sales and will be available for retail in November. We will have to wait to get our hands on the console to evaluate its performance, but till then, we can at least get a detailed review of the new DualSense controller that will come along with PS5.
YouTuber Austin Evans posted an unboxing and teardown of the PS5’s DualSense controller on his official handle. He also showed that the controller could work with PCs and Android devices; this is news to us because sony didn’t mention anything regarding this in its official reveal of the controller.
The YouTuber shows off the D-pad, the standard face buttons, the new dedicated PlayStation button along with a button for muting the headset/mic, the controller touchpad, two analog thumbsticks, four trigger buttons, and the USB-C port.
Since demoing the PS5 was out of option, the YouTuber connected the DualSense controller to other devices such as the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 (PS4) Pro, a Surface Laptop GO, and a Google Pixel 5.
The DualSense, however, didn’t work with an Xbox Series X obviously, though the YouTuber claims that the device charged itself. The PlayStation 4 was only able to pick up the microphone sounds when connected to the DualSense.
The DualSense, however, paired quickly with the Surface Laptop Go in wired mode, and most functions worked pretty well, as reported by the sources. The controller was also able to connect to the Google Pixel 5 using the wireless method. The YouTuber was able to play Forza Horizon 4 via Microsoft’s xCloud on the Pixel using the PS5 controller. Functions such as vibration and haptic feedback did not work with these devices.
Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for, the YouTuber proceeded to do a teardown of the DualSense controller. Evans noted huge rumble motors, impulse triggers, dual microphones, speaker, and the mega 1,560 mAh battery.
The conclusion by the YouTuber was that Sony had packed a lot of heat in its DualSense controller for $70. It will be interesting to see the functionality of the controllers with the PS5.
Finally today, Redmi has launched its K30S in China. There are a number of smartphones in this Redmi K30S series. Those are Redmi K30 4G, Redmi K30 5G, Redmi K30 Pro 5G, Redmi K30 Pro 5G Zoom Edition, Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition, Redmi K30i 5G, and Redmi K30 Ultra.
This is a powerful smartphone, which possesses a 144Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, and many more. So, without wasting any time, let’s just get into the specification section of this phone.
The Redmi K30S runs the latest MIUI 12 based on Android 10 OS and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. Regarding the display, this phone offers a 6.67-inch Full HD+ display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a refresh rate of up to 144Hz as well (HDR10+, MEMC, 650nits brightness). This phone comes in two different colour variants: Cosmic Black and Lunar Silver.
The SD865 SoC of this phone is paired with 8GB of LPPDR5 RAM and 128GB/256GB of UFS 3.1 storage (non-expandable). Coming to the camera section, this phone offers a triple rear camera setup which includes a 64-megapixel Sony IMX682 main camera with f/1.89 aperture, a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens with a 123-degree field-of-view, and a 5-megapixel macro shooter. For the selfies, this phone sports a selfie snapper at the front. This phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Now coming to the battery section, the Redmi K30S is fueled up by a massive 5,000mAH battery with the support of 33W fast charging. Regarding the connectivity, this phone has everything except the 3.5mm headphone jack. Those are dual SIM, 5G / 4G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC for contactless payments, dual-frequency GPS, and dual linear stereo speakers. In terms of weight and dimension, the Redmi K30S measures 165.1 x 76.4 x 9.3mm and weighs 216 grams. Looking at the specifications of this phone, the Redmi K30S looks like a rebranded version of the Xiaomi Mi 10T.
Coming to the pricing and availability, the 8GB/128GB variant carries a price tag of 2,599 Yuan (~$388), and the 8GB/256GB variant is priced at 2,799 Yuan (~$418). This phone will be available on the Singles’ Day sales in China on November 11, and the price tag will be 2,299 Yuan (~$343) and 2,499 Yuan (~$373) for 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB variant respectively.
The trade war between the US and China has been going on since the beginning of this year. And the company that has been hit most by this is the Chinese tech giant Huawei. The companies 5G technology have been put on hold due to the US administration’s various company restrictions.
But the most impact has been on the tech giants smartphone business. The restriction on Semiconductor manufacturing industries from selling the US tech to Chinese tech companies has caused Huawei to lose big time in the smartphone market.
The Chinese tech giant is regularly releasing smartphones despite being restricted by the united states from using American technology.
However, the company seems to be slowly moving forwards, with many of its suppliers being granted a license to continue doing business with the Chinese tech giant.
According to sources, Intel and AMD have already been given licenses from the US administration to continue business with Huawei. The South Korean tech giant Samsung electronics also received a green signal to do business with the Chinese tech giant.
Samsung Display, a Samsung Electronics division that develops display technologies, has received a license to continue supplying certain display panel products to Huawei.
Though being received a license for business continuation, Samsung Display still won’t be able to supply OLED displays to Huawei. Its rival, LG Display, however, is yet to receive any license as of now. Some other companies that work as a supply chain for the display companies also need US license to supply their products to aid Huawei.
All the major companies doing business with Huawei before have applied for licenses to continue doing business with the Chinese tech giant.
Intel has been granted a license to supply chips to Huawei, used in the laptop products. Companies like Qualcomm, MediaTek, Sony, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Kioxia, among others, have also applied for a license. It seems that Huawei is slowly but surely making a comeback in the tech market.
After the launch of the iPhone 12 series from Apple, the company is in the works to launch its next device, which is the Apple Glass. It is a long-rumoured AR-powered smart glasses. Apple has not confirmed anything about the launch of this device as they are currently working on it.
Last week, the founder of Display Search Ross Young had posted on its Twitter handle: “We have heard from multiple sources that Apple is pursuing AR/VR glasses using Sony micro-LEDs. 0.5″, 1280×960 resolution, 1H’22 intro. Thoughts?”. He also added, “It will use projection optics inside the glasses.” by these words, we come to know what kind of technologies Apple is going to use in this device.
Another news has just come out that Apple is going to use Sony microLED panels in the smart AR glasses. Before this, Sony has also produced small displays for headsets such as the PlayStation VR and the personal 3D viewer. As per some of the tipsters, there are several leaks already came out regarding the Apple smart glasses earlier this year, denoting that the device will have a LiDAR sensor on the right temple. With this technology, the user can experience more accurate AR capabilities by those glasses.
Moreover, Apple will not use any additional cameras to the Glass. The company will only use the LiDAR sensor. In this type of device, using a camera is always risky as the camera can take photos without the subject, even knowing that he/she was being targeted for a snapshot. The Google Glass owners have been criticized for it.
As of now, Apple hasn’t confirmed anything when the company will launch the AR-powered smart glasses. But it is expected that the launch will take place during the first half of 2022. Coming to the pricing, it is unknown as well. We have got a leaked price at around $499; however, we don’t know whether it is the official one or not.
Everyone knows about the current undisputed champion of smartphone processors. For the unknown, till this month, Apple’s A13 Bionic was the supreme ruler among the mobile SoC market. But everything changed with the launch of the iPhone 12.
Currently, Apple’s A14 Bionic is the reigning and undisputed champion among the mobile processors. It has crossed everyone, including A13 Bionic, in terms of single and multi-threaded performance.
What’s next in Apple’s Bionic Line-up?
Apple has already announced that it has started its development work of the next processor in its Bionic line-up. The supposed processor will make its debut next year and will be dubbed the Apple A15 Bionic. The next-generation chipset will power the iPhone 13 models.
Sources claim that the A15 Bionic will be manufactured using the N5P node of TSMC. It is not a surprise because the N5P is a 5nm node developed by the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
According to sources, the mass production of the N5P will start in the fourth quarter of 2021. The Cupertino giant does not want to delay it’s iPhone 13 like the iPhone 12 due to the pandemic.
TSMC’s fab facility is completed booked by Apple for the production of 5nm chips. This unique treatment is because TSMC’s one-fifth of the total revenue comes from its business with Apple.
On the other hand, Qualcomm is looking to get back its dominant status in the mobile processor market. The Snapdragon manufacturer is also using the 5nm node for its upcoming Snapdragon 875, but Samsung is manufacturing the node.
Apple will be using the 5nm chips for its upcoming A15 Bionic. Still, the South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is already developing its next-generation 2nm and 3nm process nodes.
Advanced Media Devices, or only AMD, is one of the largest producers of CPUs and GPUs. The company is the biggest rival of Intel and Nvidia, and it seems that AMD is slowly taking over the competition with its latest next-gen models.
We already know that AMD will soon release it’s custom “Big Navi” graphics cards in the market. Now, however, we have more details regarding the clock speeds of the new entry from AMD. The leaker, Patrick Schur, has revealed the clock speed details about the AMD Radeon graphics card, reportedly the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, which powers ASUS ROG STRIX device and comes with a boost clock which is beyond 2.5 GHz.
Here are some results with a TGP of 255 W. Don't ask me what's the difference between 255 W and 289 W models. Probably more OC headroom and more stable boost clocks? 🤔
The difference between the 255W & 290W TGPs performance is not much, but the higher TGP cards may deliver more overclocking and a stable clock speed.
According to sources, the Radeon RX 6000 series will have two RDNA 2 based graphics cards; the Navi 21 “Big Navi” based Radeon RX 6800 XT and the Radeon RX 6800. The former sport the Navi 21 GPU featuring 72 compute units or 4608 SPs and features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 256-unit bus interface. The card comes with 512 GB/s of total bandwidth and 2015 MHz of the base clock, and 2250 MHz of boost clock.
On the other hand, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 GPU will feature 64 compute units or 4096 stream processors. The card will feature 16 GB of GDDR6 memory along with a 256-bit bus interface, the same as Radeon RX 6800 XT. The GPU will feature clock speeds of 1815 MHz for the base and 2105 MHz of boost clock speeds.
