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Huawei Mate 20 Pro review: An identity crisis done right

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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.

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Reviews Tech

Lenovo Legion Y920 review: It’s a dinosaur but not in a good way

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In tech, it feels like everything that was once big will eventually become small. Stuff like phones, desktop towers, laptops, and display bezels have all shrunk significantly over the past few years. It’s all about getting more into less and last year, gaming laptops got a massive leg up in this space.

NVIDIA’s Max-Q design GPUs were created for the sole purpose of cramming the best graphical performance in the smallest form-factor possible — even in bodies that are as slim as 2cm thick. And that gave way to a rise in the number of super slim gaming laptops that, as we found out, were all pretty darn good.

So, if the slim ones are so good, why would you ever buy something as massive as Lenovo’s Legion Y920 gaming laptop?

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Reviews Tech

Sony WH-1000XM2 review: OK Sony, you win

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I have a problem. It’s an incredibly first-world problem, because it’s one where no amount of gear is ever “enough”. Literally the week after I ordered my brand new Audio Technica ATH-M40X, I was already scouring the internet for a brand new pair of wireless headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC).

And it’s not like I’m some big audiophile. My ears are decidedly plebian in the sense that I know what I like and I know what I don’t — there isn’t really a super deep spectrum. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop me from wanting to get the best ones there are.

After weeks of reading, listening and researching, I managed to narrow down the list to a few prime candidates. Sony’s original MDR-1000X headphones were not at the top of the list. Then, everything changed when I got a hold of the WH-1000XM2.

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Reviews Tech

SanDisk iXpand Base review: iPhone backup those who fear the cloud

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SanDisk iXpand base

Most photos are taken with smartphones these days and the last thing you want is to lose your phone and all of your precious memories. The typical route is to store your everything in the cloud but there are those who are worried about the potential security risks when it comes to online storage.

If cloud storage isn’t your thing, the SanDisk iXpand Base could be an alternative to keep your captured moments safe. You’ve probably seen previous iXpand products before but this version will backup your photos, videos and contacts as you leave your phone to charge overnight.

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Reviews Tech

Acer Predator Triton 700 review: The best purebred gaming laptop

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You can’t have your cake and eat it too. For the most part, life is a barter trade where luxury demands hard work, perfection necessitates dedication, and power requires sacrifice. It’s a humbling principle that basically reminds you that you can’t have it both ways.

This is primarily the reason why purebred high-end gaming laptops never really interested me. Sure, they had all the power in the world but because of these high-powered components, the laptops needed to be enormous so those components could breathe.

There was no such thing as a no-compromise gaming laptop that was also super portable. Well, at least I didn’t think there was until I saw the Acer Predator Triton 700.

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News Reviews

Western Digital MyPassport portable SSD review: One tough cookie

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My problem with external storage devices is that I’m always worried that I’ll break them. Since I chuck them into backpacks and carry them around with me a lot, the chances of me dropping one are a lot higher than a hard disk that’s mounted in a desktop PC for example.

So, while I love the idea of being able to carry all my stuff around with me, I am not a fan of breaking that hard disk and losing all my data.

And this is where Western Digital’s My Passport external SSDs come into play. They come packed with one of my favourite features ever — shock resistance. Fingers of butter, meet your match.

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First Impressions Hands-on News

The ZenFone 4 will once again live or die based on one key aspect

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Oh, how heads turned when people saw the ZenFone 3. Shiny, glass, metal and with a price tag that shocked the world after the super bang-for-your-buck ZenFone 2 series. It was a bold move by the company but ultimately, at least in Malaysia, things didn’t go so well.

This year, they’re sticking to their guns and the ZenFone 4 plus its high-end brother — the ZenFone 4 Pro — share a lot in common with last year’s ZenFone 3 series. However, the question now is: Have they learned their lesson?

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Reviews Tech

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) review: It’s a good phone, but…

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170203-samsung-galaxy-a5-review-malaysia-3

These days, when you think of buying a budget smartphone, Samsung doesn’t really come to mind. For the most part, their more affordable handsets usually seem to provide far less value than an equivalent one from Xiaomi or honor — at least, on paper. And the same could probably be said of Samsung’s new Galaxy A5 (2017) too.

But, we wouldn’t want to just gush over printed specifications now do we? In fact, I think this year’s Galaxy A5 might be the South Korean tech giant’s most successful mid-range handset yet.

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