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HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review: Worth spending Rs.11,000? Yes!

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I bet you are well aware of Kingston’s gaming accessories focused brand HyperX. If you ask hardcore games to suggest a brand to get high-end gaming accessories, the name HyperX will be there. It has a huge portfolio, apart from its parent company’s. The list contains gaming headsets, earphones, keyboards, mice, and so on.

From the gaming headset collection, I got the HyperX Cloud Alpha S Blackout Edition for review. It’s currently available on Amazon India at Rs.11,000. It is one of the most promising gaming headsets with premium features.

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 2_TechnoSports.co.in

Specifications :-

  • 50mm dual chamber audio driver
  • Custom-tuned HyperX 7.1 surround sound
  • Bass adjustment sliders
  • HyperX Dual Chamber Drivers
  • Game and chat balance
  • Signature HyperX comfort
  • Durable aluminum frame
  • Advanced audio control mixer
  • Detachable noise cancellation mike and braided cable
HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 6_TechnoSports.co.in

In the Box :-

  • 1x HyperX Cloud Alpha S Blackout Edition
  • 1x AUX Cable
  • 1x detachable noise-cancellation microphone
  • 1x USB game & chat audio balancer
  • 1x pouch
  • 2x cushions

Design & Build :-

The huge fan base makes HyperX more responsible and the company respects that, this product is not an exception. I have no complaint in this section, both in terms of design and build quality. The outer body is made up of plastic, however, it’s tough enough.

Among the visible parts, only the adjustable slider has a metal build and the aluminium frame. It’s obvious, use of metal in the outer body can make the headphone more durable, but, that will add more weight too and who will prefer a heavyweight gadget over his/her head for a long time span?

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 1_TechnoSports.co.in

In this part, I also have to mention about comfort. In the description, the company claims that it added the Signature HyperX comfort to the Cloud Alpha S. I would say, it’s 100% true. The large soft cushions cap the ears very easily and don’t let the hardware generated audio output go outside. The headband also has the same quality of cushions for additional pleasure.

The three attachments include detachable noise-cancellation microphone, USB game & chat audio balancer, and the AUX cable are made by great hands, not compromising anywhere.

The two ports for the microphone and AUX cable are placed under the left ear-cup. While assembling all these, my suggestion is to keep an eye on the microphone’s placement as for it, the side matters. Otherwise, the port or the mike can be damaged. Alongside these two ports, there are bass adjustable sliders in both the ear cups, which actually works.

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 8_TechnoSports.co.in

My only concern is the two wires coming out from the headband and goes into the earcups. A notable part of the two wires is open. In normal cases it’s fine, but while carrying it you need to be careful. I totally agreed that the connections are strong, however, a warning is needed.

Audio Quality :-

Here comes the main attraction as an audio product, isn’t it? HyperX has assigned 50mm dual-chamber audio drivers, on both sides. The games & chat audio balancer cum audio mixer is also there to support. And how I can forget to mention the 7.1 surround sound. These are not all, the bass adjustment sliders also contribute. Surprised? You should.

I’m splitting this section into two parts – for media like music, movies, etc, and games so that you can understand my experience easily.

To be honest, the HyperX Cloud Alpha S is not designed to use while consuming media, and you also know that. Despite that, I tested out this headphone for it, because there are so many people like me who prefer listening to tracks and watch web series equally as gaming. It’s natural the company didn’t tune the headset for music, even then, my experience is similar to my expectation. Thanks to the 7.1 Surround sound, the large audio drivers, and bass adjustments sliders. While testing I get the vocals a bit cracked sometimes, but that is ignorable as while gaming it’s not there.

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 9_TechnoSports.co.in

Here the main, gaming audio part begins. A special thanks to the 7.1 Surround sound that helps me to track the foot-steps around me efficiently in the gaming world. If you are worried about latency, then I ensure, you wouldn’t find any.

I tried out some of the well-known eSports, mainly Cyberpunk 2077 and The Medium with the Cloud Alpha 5. The whole experience can’t be described, how amazing and smooth it was.

Coming out from the two parts, the bass adjustable sliders works amazingly. The difference while keeping the shutter open and close is clearly identifiable. You need to open both the sliders to get the max bass, and close to reduce that. I already discussed the 7.1 Surround sound multiple times.

Microphone :-

In team games, you need to interact with your teammates continuously to maintain the strategy, get live updates of each one’s activity, and more. So, the microphone of your headset needs to be good, just like this Cloud Alpha S has. It also features noise cancellation, the utmost it can provide to improve your gameplay experience. You can bend the mike as per your needs, take it away from your mouth or let it be there, whatever and where ever you want, no problem.

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 7_TechnoSports.co.in

Suppose you are a solo king, so, no teammates, no talk, and the mike is annoying to you. Nothing to worry about as it’s completely detachable from the main body.

The game & chat audio balancer cum mixer :-

The HyperX Cloud Alpha S is made for PC gaming. That’s probably the reason the company ignores wireless connectivity. You need to connect the headset through the AUX cable or via the USB audio mixer cum controller. Believe me, you will miss the actual quality if you keep the mixer in the showcase.

To set it up, plug the USB in your PC, put one end of the AUX cable into the mixer. That’s all. The reason I’m insisting you is you can enable the 7.1 Surround sound through it only. Though, the HyperX NGENUITY software is there, for me, the button is handier.

HyperX Cloud Alpha S Review - 10_TechnoSports.co.in

Besides enabling the 7.1 Surround sound, the mixer has buttons to manage the volume, no matter its normal media sound, game sound, or chat sound. In addition, it allows to turn on or off the mike as well.

I would say, the mixer plays a vital role in this gaming headset. Not only because it allows you to enable or disable the Surround sound feature and can manage the audio output, but also it makes the management handier to me.

Pros & Cons :-

ProsCons
Good build qualityNot for media consumption
Comfortable to useWireless connectivity can be added
Premium audio quality
Adjustable bass
Noise cancelling microphone
7.1 Surround Sound

Verdict :-

To conclude, the HyperX Cloud Alpha S is still a heavyweight competitor to the gaming headsets coming to the market these days at around Rs.10,000 or even above. It’s well fit for gaming as well as streaming.

HyperX, as always, focused on its main moto i.e. to build an uncompromised PC gaming headset and for me, it achieves a high rank.

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3jm5xiN

Call of Duty has maintained a record of 100 million monthly players in 2020

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Call of Duty gained a new massive fan base of the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone. A strong number of active players of the series are going into 2021. Activision had as much to share in its recent earnings call. Till the last month of 2020, Call of Duty maintained a record of 100 million monthly players.

This number has been shared by all the CoD titles that still contain an online community (definitely includes console players along with PC). But this massive number belongs to only Warzone and Black Ops: Cold War. We came to know in December 2020 that 80 million players are playing Warzone since its launch, March 2020.

Rob Kostich, Activision Publishing president, said in the earnings call, “Warzone is going to be front-and-centre for us for a long time.”

It very clear after seeing the active player numbers of the other Activision games. In the same period of time, if you compare with the Call of Duty’s 100 million, all the Blizzard games (Hearthstone, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft) comes up with a total of 29 million players. There is a slight difference because two out of the three mentioned games are not free-to-play and not available on many platforms. But still, it’s a massive difference; the number says Blizzard’s audience is less than CoD’s one-third size.

This proves that people love free games, and if it contains good content, then nothing is better than that. Even though Warzone faces some issues like cheaters and game-breaking bugs, still a huge number of players are playing it and adapting the game.

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Will Barcelona be able to retain Messi?

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After Lionel Messi’s contract got leaked, which further underlined how non-sustainability of Barcelona’s finances, big questions are arising regarding the club captain Messi’s future at the club. 

Messi seemed to be extremely unhappy to see the details of his contract all over El Mundo on Sunday, but this won’t be affecting his chances of leaving the club because if the leak were done from inside the club, it would have definitely come from people who are no longer in charge, maybe anyone from the former board or who are only temporarily in charge. However, from 7th March, the club is going to have a new president.

Joan Laporta, who is the favourite and has also claimed that Messi would stay as Laporta spoke to Messi on Sunday and Messi made indications of him wanting to stay at the club. However, also, Barcelona still needs to offer him the right deal.

But this short-term debt of €720m has increased the concern if the club will be able to match his current deal as his current deal is never going to be matched and was never going to be an option anyway. But then with the pandemic has massively reduced the club’s revenue, and due to this, it was clear that he was going to have to take a pay cut for the obvious reasons.

As if the club gets back to 2019’s €840m annual revenue, it will be a real issue in maintaining his status, at least as the club’s top earner might not be impossible.

But if travel and attendance during the football match get back to normal by September 2021, Messi would be able to kick off his first season with the new contract, if done as that becomes more feasible. These calculations and decisions would be done by the new president as it’s highly unlikely that Messi will play another full season in Europe beyond the next World Cup so the next two seasons may be his last.

Read: Lionel Messi generates more than he earns as he generated €619m revenue for Barcelona since 2017

If Rakuten again chooses to sponsor it they will be willing to pay a more considerable amount if Messi continues to wear the No 10 and in his last ever games to huge global audiences and things will be different if it isn’t. Diario Sport’s front page said “Messi had been responsible for €237m (£209m) of revenue in the last three years. The numbers can always be contested but it’s clear the Barcelona brand is considerably more attractive with Messi than without him.”

Interestingly, most favourite presidential candidate, Laporta, has already spoken about the possibility of two types of bonds scheme that would raise immediate capital, including, targeting the Barca fans. For their investment, those who are interested in buying the bonds, and the second one, would be bonds in a more literal sense with members and non-members similarly those who will be able to buy bonds, will be repayable within the president’s five-year term, Including interest. 

This, however, will bring in private finance in the club, but without compromising the club’s member-ownership model, and the second idea would have to be first passed by the National Securities Market Commission before it could come to use.

Most important, Messi had already made it clear last summer that his family was delighted if they could stay where they were already residing, and if he decides to move in the summer it will be against their wishes. But of course, keeping in mind if Barca flats out and if they can’t afford him then Messi does have to take a decision.

West Ham unsuccessfully chased Sevilla’s En-Nesyri and Giovanni Simeone of Cagliari

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West Ham were trying to sign different strikers to replace Sebastian Haller, who joined Ajax in a rather surprising move from London to Amsterdam. One of the main targets for David Moyes was Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri. 

Speaking on the rumoured transfer on the Here We Go podcast on Patreon, Fabrizio Romano and Francesco Porzio asserted that Sevilla only sell in the summer, hence, there was little chance of the Moroccan moving to London in the first place. Moreover, the reigning Europa League winners only signed the 23-year-old a year ago.  

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 20: Thiago Silva of Chelsea and Youssef En-Nesyri of FC Sevilla during the UEFA Champions League Group E stage match between Chelsea FC and FC Sevilla at Stamford Bridge on October 20, 2020 in London, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Visionhaus)

Having a contract that runs till 2025, and completing a transfer worth €20 million a year ago, En-Nesyri is a part of the club’s core plans and was always more likely to stay at the club, especially given his goalscoring record this season. 

Giovanni Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone was one of the other names that West Ham were looking at. The Cagliari striker isn’t having a good season but they do need him since he is the starter. 

The Hammers proposed a loan with buy option, with €1 million as loan fee but he is a good player so they said no since they need him. The Hammers also wanted an obligation to buy the player after the loan spell, effectively giving the financial power to Cagliari. 

Arguably one of the most shocking transfers this year was of Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard, who had an impressive debut for his new club, finding the back of the net twice. However, West Ham will now finish the season a striker light given that the transfer window has shut. 

Redmi K40 series to have the smallest punch hole in the world

Xiaomi has launched a few smartphones in the previous two months which are gaining a lot of attraction. Its subsidiary, Redmi, is not willing to stand behind. Redmi is soon going to come out with its Redmi K40 and Redmi K40 Pro devices. Both of these smartphones are hotly awaited by the customers. 

Now, we have another latest update of these devices. Redmi General Manager, Lu Weibing, has come out publicly to issue out a piece of information about this device. This information has raised the excitement level of the people who are looking forward to the launch of these two smartphones. 

Also read: ZTE Axon 30 Pro to come with Snapdragon 888 SoC and improved under-display camera

Lu Weibing stated that he has been pondering on the idea to maximize the screen-to-body ratio of the device. This has led to the development of various ideas to make the smallest hole for the front camera. According to reports, Redmi is going to deploy centred punch hole in their upcoming devices. This is a shift from their traditional policy of having a pill-shaped hole punch. They are not only changing the shape but also the size of the punch hole. 

Redmi K40 series expected to have three models equipped with Snapdragon 800 series chips

The smallest punch hole comes in Vivo S5 handset whose punch hole measures 2.98 millimeters. So, if Redmi wants to beat its competitor, they have to build an even smaller punch hole. Thus, giving more space to the screen of the device which is admired by everyone. The reports suggest that if this is the case then Redmi K40 and Redmi K40 Pro devices might have a front punch hole of 2.8 millimeters. 

You can refer to the tweet below. Not only the camera but Redmi will upgrade its other features as well. The two upcoming devices might be powered by Snapdragon 888 chipset. Also, their charging levels are speculated to be better than the previous model. The Redmi K30 launched with 27W fast charging but its successor is expected to have the better facility of 33W fast charging. Redmi K30 Pro launched with 30W fast charging but both the new models are expected to house a 33W fast charging capability.

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India Vs England: Joe Roots hits a century on the first day of 1st Test

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England skipper Root won the crucial toss and without any hesitation opted to bat first. Joe Root registered up a classy century in his 100th Test match as England ended up against India on Day 1 of the first Test in Chennai at a charging 263/3. Along with Root, opener Dom Sibley also played a tremendous knock of 87 runs but was soon dismissed by lethal Jasprit Bumrah in the final over of day 1.

England had a decent start but then started losing wickets and eventually lost two wickets of Rory Burns and Dan Lawrence before lunch, giving India some relief. But Joe Root and Sibley’s partnership of 200-run again made some way for England and the third wicket and helped England end Day 1 being on the top. Root, in the process, also became the ninth batsman to score a century in his 100th Test.

Though for India, it was a tough day as their bowlers as they were forced to work their fingers to the bone to break the Root-Sibley duo as India got nine overs to bowl, especially with the second new ball where Bumrah took 2 off 40 and finally managed to send back Sibley. But unfortunately, Sibley fell 13 runs short of a hundred. 

India vs England, 1st Test: Virat Kohlis Gesture For Joe Root On Day 1 Wins Over Internet. Watch
Source-NDTVSports

Though the hosts managed to pick only two wickets in the first session, England dominated the rest of the day on the field and was quite a tough day for the Indian bowlers to send team England back to the pavilion. Though Bumrah’s removing of Sibley to end the day, was quite a positive note for the hosts.

Also, Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar’s inclusion in the squad instead of Kuldeep Yadav has been quite a speculative aspect, Rahul Chahar was also added to the splaying XI after all-rounder Axar was ruled out of the first Test of the four-match series against England. Kuldeep Yadav’s non-inclusion in the team has been a hot topic currently and also may be a thing to worry about for the bowling line-up.

[Exclusive] Motorola is soon going to launch Ibiza and Capri in India.

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We have seen several leaks and rumors surfacing on the internet about “Nio”, “Capri”, and “Ibiza” which are the code names of upcoming Motorola devices. Among these, few are 5G enabled also, apart from them another name we’ve come to know recently, which is “bathena”. Moreover, “Ibiza” and “Athena” have recently been spotted on the Geekbench certification website.

In a previous article, we have discussed the two smartphones which are “Ibiza” and “Athena”. Do check out that article, the link is here, so that you can get an idea of how the phone is going to be. Now the moving towards the main news where Mukul Sharma claimed that Motorola will launch a new budget 5g smartphone with a 90Hz IPS LCD panel in India, which could likely be the Ibiza. Motorola Ibiza is expected to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor which is the company’s cheapest 5G chipset.

Also read: Xiaomi introduced World’s first Quad-curved Waterfall Display Concept Smartphone

Talking about budget 5G smartphones in India we have already seen Moto G 5G disrupting the 5G market in India as the cheapest 5G smartphone in the market which supports almost all the necessary 5G bands. The phone was launched at just Rs.20,999 in India and was at that time the cheapest smartphone till the last month until Realme X7 5G launched yesterday and gained the title of cheapest 5G smartphone in India.

Mukul has also claimed that Motorola Capri is also coming to India, as it has already cleared the Indian BIS certification. This means that the India launch of Capri is imminent. This smartphone has also passed Geekbench revealing some of the specs. It is expected to feature Snapdragon 662 and is expected to feature a waterdrop notch panel having HD+ resolution and a faster refresh rate of 90Hz.

Copa del Rey semi-final draws in full: Everything you need to know

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After Real Madrid were knocked out of the Copa del Rey, everyone thought that the other Spanish giants Barcelona were also heading that way after the scoreline read 0-2 after 87 minutes against Granada.

But an inspired Barcelona team had other things on their mind and made one of the best comebacks in Copa del Rey history. They scored 2 late goals to take the match into extra time and eventually won the match by 5-2 after 120 minutes.

Barcelona joined Sevilla, Athletic Club and Levante as the last 4 clubs remaining in the Copa del Rey tournament.

The semi-final of the Copa del Rey has now been drawn, and the clubs have their route to glory planned out.

  • Sevilla vs Barcelona
  • Athletic Club v Levante

Barcelona are the current favourites for winning the Copa del Rey, considering their recent form. But interestingly, the final of the previous Copa del Rey tournament hasn’t been played yet as it was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

FreeHit Fantasy signs up Cricketer, Surya Kumar Yadav as Brand Ambassador!

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Hyderabad, 5th February 2021: FreeHit Fantasy, one of India’s fastest-growing fantasy apps, has onboarded popular cricketer, Surya Kumar Yadav as the brand ambassador. Surya Kumar Yadav will be the face of the app and promote the app on multiple platforms. The company believes that Surya Kumar Yadav is leading the pack of emerging cricketers in our country and perfectly complements the Freehit app, which is making rapid strides in the fantasy gaming industry. It is to be noted that Surya Kumar Yadav put up a stellar show at the recent Indian Premier League and contributed to title win of the Mumbai Indians.

FreeHit Fantasy is an intuitive fantasy gaming application that is available on iOS, Android & Web. The application launched prior to the IPL season has been growing at an exponential rate. The promoters of the company are confident that the company will close FY 21-22 with ₹50 Mn revenue and 2 Mn users.

ZTE Axon 30 Pro to come with Snapdragon 888 SoC and improved under-display camera

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ZTE Axon 20, launched in 2020, became the first smartphone in the world to come with an under-display front camera. It is always interesting to think about what can a company offer next after coming with a revolutionary feature. According to reports, ZTE is ready to launch a new flagship series, namely ZTE Axon 30. This flagship of 2021 from the Chinese’s tech-house has high expectations. It is believed that the ZTE Axon 30 Pro will even better than its previous model. 

It will become the first smartphone in the world to come with the combo of an under-display front camera along with Qualcomm’s latest chipset, Snapdragon 888. This SoC is one of the strongest mobile processor currently in the market. Thus, both of these features will contribute to attracting customers.

Also Read: ZTE Axon 30 is coming with an improved under-display camera

The smartphone is expected to feature a 6.92-inches display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels. In terms of optics, it will showcase a quad rear camera setup (not cleared yet). The specification is yet not confirmed by many reports say that it might come with a 200 MP primary camera. This lens might be supported by a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 5 MP camera, and a 5 MP depth camera. 

It will also exhibit a 4K HDR video recording and 10-bit colour support. The reports further suggest that this 200-megapixel ISOCELL image sensor will be manufactured by the South Korean Giant, Samsung. Their Exynos 1080 5nm mobile processor is already equipped to handle a 200-megapixel camera sensor.

The under-display selfie camera we are talking about will be supported by a 32 MP camera lens. It will be powered by a 4500mAh battery cell along with 50W fast-charging capability. ZTE is leaving no stone unturned to make 2021 a successful year. To promote their products and increase brand awareness, they have chosen the Chinese actress Liu Haocun as their new brand ambassador. 

ZTE Axon 30 Pro is thus all ready to serve powerful specs. If the stories floating in the market are believed, we are surely ready for a treat here. The expected price of the ZTE Axon 30 Pro is said to be Rs 49,990 which seems to be on par when compared to the features it looks to offer. What do you think about ZTE Axon 30 Pro?

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