I’ve seen some pretty ridiculous things in my time. From phones that cost as much as laptops, to laptops that cost as much as cars. But, none of those prepared me for this. Honestly, if you thought Acer’s Predator 21 X was a nutty gaming product, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Today, I got to check out the Acer Predator Thronos, and it’s the single, most ridiculous gaming rig I’ve ever seen.

Naturally, I completely love it.

	First Impressions, Tech
	Acer, Acer Predator Thronos, gaming

I’m a total sucker for cool-looking smartphones — I can’t help it, I’m just naturally drawn to the device with the impractical motorised cameras, or the coolest new sliding mechanism. Or, in the case of the brand new Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro, the one with the most transparent back.

But the problem with a lot of these fancy smartphones is: There’s a high chance that you’re giving something crucial up just so you can own that cool new design or mechanism. And unfortunately for the Mi 8 Pro, it looks like you’re giving up something pretty significant — something I don’t think Xiaomi really needed to do with this line of smartphone.

	First Impressions, Hands-on, Tech
	Xiaomi, Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro

There are very few brands that have become so ubiquitous with what they make that a large majority of the public have begun simply replacing the product’s noun with the company’s brand. Companies like GoPro, Jacuzzi, Maggi and Google, are good examples.

Then, you’ve got Fitbit, who — perhaps to a lesser extent — once dominated the smart fitness tracker market in a similar manner. They’re probably the most well-known fitness tracker maker in the world, and today I’ve got their latest product with me. It’s called the Charge 3 and here are my first impressions.

	First Impressions, Hands-on, Reviews, Tech
	FitBit, fitbit charge 3

In the years I’ve covered Huawei’s smartphone launches, their devices were always split between the photography-centric P series smartphones (P9, P10, P20) and the business-centric Mate series (Mate 8, Mate 9, Mate 10). But, this year, it looks like Huawei had a bit of an identity crisis when they unveiled the brand new Mate 20 series.

Gone were the monochrome colourways,” business” apps and “professional” marketing push. It was almost as if the Mate traded in its ornate cufflinks for a pair of SpongeBob socks. But, if what you’re looking for is a solid flagship smartphone to spend your year-end bonus on, does it matter?

Well, if my time with the Mate 20 Pro is any indication, that answer is no.

	Reviews, Tech
	Huawei, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Review

Since I started work at SoyaCincau, only two smartphones have really, truly blown me away. One of them was the OPPO Find X — with all of its motorised camera madness — while the other was the original Mi MIX. Yes, that jaw-dropping near bezel-less smartphone that was made almost entirely out of ceramic. It was horribly impractical, ridiculously fragile and had a really dumb selfie camera placement, but I loved that phone to bits because it pretty much spat in the face of convention.

That’s why I was so disappointed when I saw the Mi MIX 2 — because it felt like Xiaomi wanted to push sales numbers more than they wanted to push the envelop — and why I was also so worried that this philosophy would carry over to its successor, the Mi MIX 3. Today, I got to spend some time with the MIX 3 and I’m relieved to report that this isn’t the case…not entirely, anyway. In fact, it looks like Xiaomi found a neat way to balance the two philosophies.

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	First Impressions, Hands-on, Reviews, Tech
	Mobile, Xiaomi, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

When the iPhone XS was announced, it retained a similar dual 12MP main camera configuration as last year’s iPhone X. On paper, it looks like nothing has changed, however, if you look deeper, Apple has actually made a couple of notable upgrades. This include larger pixels at 1.4-micron (iPhone X: 1.22 micron), a new Smart HDR feature and it uses a lot more machine learning thanks to its newer Apple A12 Bionic chip.

A couple of weeks ago, we took the iPhone XS for a camera shootout in Batu Caves together with the iPhone X, Galaxy Note9 and the P20 Pro. Is the iPhone XS’s camera significantly better than the rest? Read on to find out.

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	Comparisons, Reviews, Tech
	Apple, Comparison, Huawei, Huawei P20 Pro, iPhone X, iPhone XS, Mobile, Samsung Galaxy Note9

Since the very first model, the Huawei Mate series is always about having a large screen and a huge battery on a smartphone. In Huawei’s smartphone lineup, the Mate is positioned as a business phone while the P series is focused on photography.

When Huawei announced the P20 Pro with a large 6.2” FullView display and a massive 4,000mAh battery, the line that separates the two series is becoming less clear. Here’s what I think so far of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

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	First Impressions, Hands-on, Reviews, Tech
	Huawei, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Mobile

Some things, on the surface of it, do not go well together. Like Maggi and Milo, ice cream and fries, Apple and affordable. And like Maggi and Milo, my 24-hours with Apple’s “cheapest” new phone – the iPhone XR (pronounced “ten R” NOT “XR” by the way) – left me feeling, amazed, annoyed, happy, frustrated and above all else, confused.

Why?

Because there’s a lot to like about the iPhone XR and that’s saying a lot considering I don’t really like iPhones that much. In fact, I don’t really like a lot of things that Apple make (except for the iPad and the Apple Watch). I so want to like the iPhone XR, the phone that Apple hopes will get more people on board the iPhone bandwagon. But there are also several things that I feel Apple could have done better, better with very little effort, but they chose not to not because it is difficult but because…they’re Apple.

I’m going to get into detail about what I mean by this but for now, let’s get to know more about the iPhone XR.

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	First Impressions, Hands-on, Reviews, Tech
	Apple, iPhone, iPhone Xr, Mobile

Apple is finally releasing its iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR in Malaysia this coming Friday. If you’re thinking of getting one on a contract, we have compared the plans from Malaysia’s big four telcos – Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile, for your easy reference.

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	Buyer's Guide, Comparisons, Tech, Telco
	Apple, Celcom, DiGi, iOS, iPhone, iPhone Xr, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, Maxis, Mobile, U Mobile

It wasn’t that long ago when we had a conversation in the office about how smartphone makers always forced us to choose between having a large battery, or having really quick fast-charging. Even at the flagship-level, this choice was almost always being forced on us. And that wasn’t cool because if you’re going to be paying top dollar for a smartphone, it should have everything, right?

Well, it looks like Huawei thinks so too, because their latest flagship smartphone is the most convincing case in point I’ve seen, of a world where we don’t have to make that tough choice. A world where you can finally have your cake and eat it too.

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	Reviews, Tech
	Huawei, Huawei Mate, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Mobile, SuperCharge 2.0