Huawei MatePad T8 reveals itself in our review: Without Google, it is not worth a lot

The T8 proved to be what claims to be in our review: A cheap Android tablet. The MatePad T8 rounds off Huawei’s low-priced MatePad series.

When it comes to performance, build quality and battery life, the entry-level Huawei tablet is very competitive. Whether or not any device should ship with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of eMMC memory in the year 2020 is still open to debate. However, in our opinion, no device with a 5100-mAh battery should come with a 5-watt charger. A microUSB port is also inappropriate in the year 2020, even for a budget tablet.

In addition to these minor points of criticism, Huawei also failed to provide its entry-level tablet with any unique features such as Huawei M Pencil support. Moreover, the hardware is also not special and is on the level of a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 from the year 2019. The MatePad T8 does not offer any major advantages when it comes to the screen or the SoC, either. Additionally, because Huawei is barred from using Google Play services or Google applications, the tablet only supports Huawei Mobile Services. 

If you are interested in the MatePad T8 and want to learn more about it, then you should check out our extensive review of the Huawei MatePad T8. 

LG K71 unveiled with a 6.8-inch display and stylus support

LG has released another smartphone with stylus support, the K71. The device has gone live in Central America and the Caribbean but is unclear how the device will cost or whether it will receive a wider release. Nonetheless, the K71 has a 6.8-inch ‘U-Notch’ display that LG describes as having an FHD+ resolution. 

Underpinning the device is a 4,000 mAh battery, 4 GB of RAM and a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset. 128 GB of storage is also onboard, as is a slot for the device’s stylus. LG has situated three cameras on the back of the K71 too, along with a capacitive fingerprint scanner. The primary camera of these is a 48 MP sensor, which LG has complemented with 5 MP ultra-wide and depth sensors. Additionally, there is a 32 MP selfie camera.

LG has included a USB Type C port and a 3.5 mm jack, underlining that the K71 is a mid-range handset. The device measures 171.4 x 77.7 x 8.7 mm and weighs 220 g, making it slightly larger than the gargantuan LG V60. 

The Apple AirPods Studio may have a U1 chip for seamless wearing as supposed video leaks

Just a few days ago, @choco_bit revealed the supposed design of the Apple AirPods Studio, much to the chagrin of other leakers like Jon Prosser. Since we reported on it, @choco_bit also published a video showing the AirPods Studio in white. Again, the publication of this video caused a lot of bother on Twitter. It seems fairly nondescript to the untrained eye, but you can make up your mind after having watched it below. 

Now, @L0vetodream has shared more information about Apple’s first AirPods-branded over-ear headphones. Specifically, it concerns the inclusion of Apple’s U1 chip, which the company uses in the iPhone 11 series and the Watch Series 6. The U1 is an ultra-broadband chip that Apple uses to determine the precise location of another U1-equipped device. The iPhone 11 can, for example, find another U1 device via AirDrop by just pointing them at each other. The advent of AirTags is expected to bring greater versatility to the U1 chip as it will make it much easier to find devices like a missing pair of AirPods.

Apple will utilise the U1 in the AirPods Studio to automatically assign the correct audio channel regardless of orientation, according to @L0vetodream. This had been rumoured before, but it had been unknown how Apple would implement the feature. Apple is expected to announce the AirPods Studio for US$349 in multiple colours and styles.

Samsung launches the 980 PRO SSD globally

Samsung now officially pitches its state-of-the-art 980 PRO solid-state drive (SSD) at “professionals and consumers who want cutting-edge performance in their high-end PCs, workstations and game consoles”. On that note, it is slated to be the storage associated with the PlayStation 5. The OEM made no mention of this in its launch announcement, however, although it did confirm its PCIe 4.0-readiness.

Samsung notes that it has developed its own Elpis controller, DRAM and triple-figure-layered V-NAND so as to best harness this updated interface. Therefore, it may support the 980 PRO’s rated 7GB/s and 5GB/s sequential read and write speeds. The NVMe memory may also get up to 1 million IOPS in random read and write speeds, if only in its 1TB SKU.

On that note, the new SSD comes in 250GB, 500GB or 1TB SKUs. Each of them will feature the 980 PRO’s new heat-spreader sticker and nickel controller coating for “efficient thermal management”. Samsung has set approximate pricing guidelines that start at about US$89.99 for the 980 PRO’s base model.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro receive MIUI 12 update as OS upgrade goes global for the Mi Mix 3 5G

Xiaomi has released MIUI 12 to the Redmi Note 9S, Redmi Note 9 Pro and Mi Mix 3 5G. The latter had already received the OS upgrade on the European branch of MIUI, but the new update is the first for global handsets. The update may bring MIUI 12 to more owners of the Mi Mix 3 5G, but Xiaomi continues to palm the device off with Android 9.0 Pie. In fact, the Mi Mix 3 5G is one of the few smartphones to receive Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 12.

It is worth bearing in mind that the update, called V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM, is currently a Beta Stable build. This means that Xiaomi is pushing V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM to select devices to rule out any last bugs before it issues it to all handsets. However, you should be able to install it manually via the link below through recovery mode.

Similarly, a Beta Stable build of MIUI 12 is available for the Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro. V12.0.1.0.QJWINXM can be downloaded manually but only for devices that been enrolled on the Indian branch of MIUI. V12.0.1.0.QJWINXM is based on Android 10 for reference, unlike V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM for the Mi Mix 3 5G. The inaugural MIUI 12 update for the Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro should denote the beginning of MIUI 12 upgrades for other branches of MIUI. These should include the global, European, Russian and Turkish branches, although it has been months since Xiaomi upgraded the Redmi Note 9S in the latter region.

Xiaomi suspends MIUI 12 beta development between September 30 to October 12

Xiaomi will suspend MIUI 12 beta development between September 30 and October 12, according to Piunikaweb. The news follows the announcement that the company has begun testing Android 11 on a bunch of new devices. These include the likes of the Redmi K20 and Redmi K30, which have already received MIUI 12.

Apparently, the reason for the suspension lies with the timing of China’s National Day holiday period this year. According to a post on the Xiaomi & MIUI News Telegram channel, Xiaomi will release test builds over September 28 and September 29, but these will then be ceased until October 12. Additionally, the company will not release any beta builds from September 30 until October 9.

Piunikaweb claims that this suspension of development builds will ‘highly impact the pace’ of the third round of MIUI 12 updates. Albeit only a restriction on the Chinese branch of MIUI, all test and beta builds of MIUI 12 start in China, so a pause on development in China effectively halts Xiaomi’s progress elsewhere.

HP EliteBook 830 G7 impresses in almost every aspect except one

HP EliteBook laptops are consistently some of the best business laptops you can find when it comes to serviceability, brightness, and portability. In contrast to competitors who like to dabble in proximity sensors or carbon fiber designs, EliteBook systems focus more on the core basics that users actually want like upgradeable RAM and WLAN and an outdoor viewable display. One particular aspect, however, continues to be well below average.

We recently tested the EliteBook 830 G7 equipped with the latest 10th gen Core i7-10810U CPU and we found multi-thread performance to be slower than every Core i7-10710U laptop in our database. The difference isn’t marginal either as we’re talking about a deficit of around 40 percent. Even the Dell Latitude 9510 2-in-1, which comes with the exact same Core i7-10810U CPU as our HP, is able to outperform the EliteBook by over 55 percent in CineBench benchmarks.

So, what’s going on here?

The key difference lies in the poorer Turbo Boost sustainability of the CPU in the EliteBook 830 G7 when compared to most other subnotebooks running on Core U-series CPUs. When running Prime95 on the HP, for example, its CPU would boost to 3.5 GHz for only a few seconds before falling to 1.9 GHz whereas the Latitude 9510 2-in-1 would stabilize at 3.2 GHz for well over a minute when under the same testing conditions. In other words, the Dell system is able to maintain higher clock rates for longer for faster performance during “bursty” workloads.

Running CineBench R15 xT in a loop as shown below illustrates the poor Turbo Boost of the HP system. Whereas every other hexa-core Core i7 Comet Lake-U laptop in our database is able to return excellent scores during the start of the loop test, the EliteBook 830 G7 is already the lowest right from the beginning.

The HP is by no means a slow system and it still excels in most other areas like its optional 1000-nit display, but it probably shouldn’t be your first option if maximizing CPU performance is of utmost importance.

Xperia Play 2: Prototype shows what Sony could do with a PlayStation-inspired smartphone

An Xperia Play 2 prototype has surfaced on Alibaba’s second-hand marketplace, Idle Fish. Sony Ericsson released the Xperia Play in 2011 to good reviews, but the company never announced a follow-up. The main selling point of the Xperia Play was its slide-out gamepad, which was considered a vast improvement over the Nokia N-Gage that came out eight years prior.

The prototype looks more refined than its predecessor. The listing shows that the device has shoulder buttons, along with a 3D button. We doubt it will ever become clear what the latter would have been used for, but it may have been similar to the stereoscopic effect that the 3DS achieved. Little else is known about the Xperia Play 2 prototype. However, the Sony Ericsson label is a giveaway that the device dates from 2011, prior to when Sony absorbed the Ericsson brand.

In our opinion, a device like the Xperia Play 2 could sell well today, particularly if it could tap into PlayStation Now or Xbox Game Streaming. Likewise, a PlayStation-inspired smartphone could prove successful, although the inclusion of capacitive analog sticks may make the device tough to use in some games. In some ways, the Xperia Play was ahead of its time, especially considering the rise of dual-screen and foldable smartphones. Sadly, it seems that Sony has no plans to release another smartphone like the Xperia Play, but we would not put it past LG to do so with its Explorer Project, which has already born fruit with the Wing.

Xperia 1 II: Sony focuses on its strengths

Even though Sony sells a lot of image sensors, which are used in many premium smartphones, the photo quality of Xperia smartphones has always been lagging behind the competition. Last year, Sony released the Xperia 5 and Xperia 1 with the Cinema Pro application, which can be used to create professional videos. This year, Sony released Xperia 1 II with the Photo Pro app for professional photographers. 

The Photo Pro app brings features found in Sony’s Alpha cameras to the Xperia 1 II. It produces better photographs than the standard camera app in auto mode and offers a great deal of adjustments.

In additional to professional camera software, the Sony Xperia 1 II offers good hardware. However, other smartphones with identical hardware manage to achieve a higher level of performance. There is also an IP65/68 certification. All in all, Sony delivers a solid overall package, but not a remarkable one.

The SD card reader is also very slower and the battery life of the Sony Xperia 1 II is very disappointing, even though it has a 4000 battery. In our Wi-Fi test the Sony smartphone lasts less than 8 hours. However, it achieves a battery runtime of more than 13 hours in our video test, in which the Wi-Fi module is disabled.

Those who decide to buy the 1200-Euro Xperia 1 II should do so, because of its professional camera software. Read our full review to learn what else the Sony smartphone has to offer.

The HP Omen 15 convinces with a good display and long battery life

The HP Omen 15 is a gaming laptop with a great 15.6-inch display, which is delivered to the customer with good calibration out of the box. We were even able to get a bit more out of it in the test through our own calibration, so that the color-space deviations could be reduced even further. The gaming aspect also includes the 144 Hz option, which further underlines the device’s application scope. Plastic is the predominant material in the case, which doesn’t feel very high quality in our opinion. In addition, the matte surfaces provide for clearly visible fingerprints.

Being a gaming device, the performance of the CPU and GPU is naturally of extreme importance. However, considering the purchase price, HP has found a good middle ground here. An Intel Core i5-10300H runs in our test configuration along with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. Even the newest titles can be played with them. The RAM is large enough at 16 GB, but with 512 GB of storage space, the SSD is only enough for the entry level, because it’s not possible to store many games on this SSD next to the operating system. Installing a second storage drive can aid with this, and the HP Omen 15 offers two M.2 slots.

The big advantage of the HP Omen 15 is its large battery with a capacity of almost 71 Wh; it convinced in the WLAN test with long battery life. Had HP optimized the energy management in idle usage, even a longer runtime would have been possible here. The Omen 15 scored further plus points with its connectivity. The variety of connections leaves almost nothing to be desired, and Thunderbolt 3 is also on board. In regard to wireless communication, there’s even the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard.

The cooling unit, which was always audible even in idle usage, is worthy of improvement. In addition, the two fans turned up quite a bit under load, and due to the high-frequency fan noise, the measured noise level seemed even louder from a subjective standpoint.

If you choose the Omen 15 with the Core i5-10300H and the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, you’ll get a fast system that is completely sufficient for the most common games. But if your focus is more on CPU performance, you should take a closer look at the Omen 15 with the stronger SoCs. The manufacturer also has native hexa-core devices in its portfolio here. The same applies to the built-in graphics card.