Asus Zenbook Pro Duo Review

Image Source: www.asus.com

Highlights

  • Brilliant Aesthetics
  • High-Quality Design
  • Upto core i9 8-core CPU
  • Multi-purpose extra screen
  • Reverse Wireless Charging
  • 6.47 inches OLED display

Introduction

These days, everyone wants to get their hands on a prosumer laptop, whether it’s a MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS 15. However, Asus has taken a different route here, more specifically with its new Asus Zenbook Pro Duo has taken laptops to a whole new level with a second “Screenpad Plus” display above the keyboard. With Intel i9 and Nvidia RTX 2060, this laptop is a beast with a unique design.

Price

As of now, no price information is available about this laptop, However according to reports, it will start shipping in July itself. Though it is pretty obvious that with the kind of specs it’s packed with, it will be a pretty expensive piece of technology.

Display

A first glance at the Zenbook pro duo , you’ll be immediately struck by a stylish finish and a premium design construction. The body is all aluminium to make more sturdy and increase its durability. Though what makes it unique is the second screen that stands out the most. This screen is a 14-inch 4k panel. This screen has a lot of uses, For example, the photoshop users can use this screen as a control centre to access various tools and improve productivity. For gamers, this screen can be used to display stream chat or a view of there ongoing recording. Moreover, this screen also has the support for the stylus which designers may find interesting. Apart from that the whole structure of this laptop also has ergonomic improvement to ensure a comfortable position while you are using it.

Performance

The Zenbook pro duo has up to an 8-core Intel Core i9 processor paired with RTX 2060 GPU and 32 GB of RAM. Furthermore, it also has 4 microphones and an echo style blue light that activates on voice command. Besides this, it has one thunderbolt 3 port, 2 USB- A ports, a full-sized HDMI port and a headphone jack. Given the amount of internals it has, it’s fairly a heavy laptop at 2.5 kg. Overall it’s certainly going to be a fairly expensive laptop whenever it launches. However, with this kind of hardware internals, it does make it pretty reasonable. Furthermore its also exciting to see another company apart from apple to move forward with a new approach towards a secondary panel for increased productivity.

Key Specifications –

  • Screen
 – 15.6 inch 3840×2160 resolution display
  • Processor
 – intel i9, 8-core processor
  • RAM
 – 32 GB
  • Internal Storage
 – 1 TB SSD
  • Weight
 – 2.5 Kg
  • Graphics – 6 GB Nvidia RTX 2060
  • OS
 – Windows 10



Amazon Echo Show (Gen 2)

Image Credits: www.techadvisor.co.uk

Highlights

  • Big responsive touch screen
  • Powerful Audio
  • Friendly and Attractive design
  • Compact Size
  • Entry-Level Price

Introduction

Amazon launched its 2nd Generation of echo show which feels like a more sleeker, louder, and features loads of new touch-screen features, all for the same price of its 1st generation echo show. Moreover, it also addresses nearly all of the issues with its original model, with the promise of even more useful features in the future. Let’s find more about this Amazon’s latest echo product.

Price

The 2nd generation of Echo show is priced at same $229 tag or ₹ 22,999 in India. This also makes it the most expensive echo product by Amazon. Though the best time to buy this will be the frequent Amazon’s sale events where you can easily get a nice discount for the echo show.

Design

In terms of design, the 1st generation echo show was nothing flashy. It was all sharp edges surrounded by black plastic which was easily prone to fingerprints smudges and generally boasted an uninspired look. Though the 2nd generation of Echo Show has an all-screen front with thick black bezels and speakers have been shifted to the back. This has made the Echo Show 17mm thicker than its predecessor, this way it gets more real estate for the display and speakers. Overall it looks like a futuristic mini television, that rests on your desk with that hump on its back.

Display

Since Amazon has moved the placement of its speaker, the new echo show with 1280 x 800 resolution looks much more like a miniature flat-screen TV. Moreover, the colours are now more bright and vivid which also makes the overall viewing experience nice. Furthermore, I think we can expect a sharper display in the future since technology is rapidly getting better.

Sound

Amazon Echo Show features upgraded side-firing speakers which can fill a room with sound quite easily. The music is louder and clearer than any Amazon speaker so far. The echo show also displays the song lyrics while playing the music which is a pretty handy feature. Moreover, since Amazon has partnered with Dolby, therefore you can be sure that the sound will be quite good with its 10.1 inch HD screen.

Features

Aside from the new display and audio, the Intel Atom-based Echo Show has a few other new specs and software enhancements of note. You can also access those smart home devices directly with a swipe on the display. Furthermore, there also and 5 MP camera for HD video calling. You can also use Skype aside from directly using Amazon’s built-in video calling interface for echo devices. Apart from that there total eight microphones on the Echo Show which makes it more responsive to your voice commands. The 2nd generation echo show also comes with the browser so browsing google and YouTube is now possible. Besides this, the Amazon prime video content is also available at your fingertips which is quite useful. Overall the new Echo Show now comes with beefier sound and a larger display than the original. Though I think there is still a room for improvement in terms of its sound quality and its software part too. But nonetheless, the new Echo Show is well-poised to be the essential kitchen device if you’re an Amazon and Alexa devotee.

Key Specifications –

  • Screen
 – 10 inch, 1280 x 800 resolution
  • Processor
 – Intel Atom x5-Z8350
  • Memory
 – 64/128 GB, 6 GB RAM
  • Camera – 5 MP
  • Microphone
 – 8 Microphones in-total
  • Sound
 – Dual 2” neodymium drivers & passive bass radiator



Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV

Image Source: news.samsung.com

Highlights

  • 8K Videos Support
  • Massive 85-inch display
  • Incredible brightness and colour
  • Wide Viewing Angle
  • Great local dimming and dark room performance

The Samsung Q900R is a high-end TV. It is the first 8k TV to enter the market and is currently just above Samsung’s 4k flagship, the Samsung Q90R. Though in the era where people are just starting to get the grip of 4K, we already have the world’s first 8K TV. In the US, it’s available in an 85-inch variant and soon will also be available in a new 98-inch variant.

Price

Samsung’s new range of QLED 8K TVs will be priced at ₹ 10,99,900 and ₹ 16,99,900 for 75-inch (189 cm), and 82-inch (207 cm) variants respectively. Moreover, according to Samsung, it will also be soon available in 2 more sizes (65 and 98 inches) as well. This new 8K TV will also have approximately 4x the current resolution of 4K TV and 16 times the resolution of Full HD TV.

Design

As far as its design, for all its astonishing, cutting-edge features, this TV isn’t much to look at in design terms, It’s just a thin dark frame wrapped around an 85-inch screen with a pair of king-sized feet tucked under each bottom corner. Furthermore, I am impressed as of how Samsung kept its design minimalistic by putting all its connection in a ‘One Connect’ Box that jacks into the TV via a single, surprisingly slender cable.

Display

With more than 33 million pixels, Samsung QLED 8K Q950R gives you amazing pixel-less viewing experience. This also makes the picture performance so much sharper and looks much more detailed with sub-8K content. A big part of this achievement goes to its upscaling being even better than that of the Q900Rs. The upgraded 4K chip in the upscaling chain delivers a marked boost in sharpness and detail with all sub-8K sources. In other words, its upscaling abilities allows SD, FHD and 4K videos, bring closer to its near 8K resolution but also improve contrast and image quality at the same time. This all was made possible due to Samsung’s machine learning approach with an intelligent algorithm to learn the difference between edges and lines as well as handle movement and remove potential blur.

Sound Quality

The sound quality of the Samsung Q900 is decent. It can get fairly loud, which is good for most use cases and will deliver well-balanced dialogues. However, the TV lacks bass, so it won’t be able to produce any thump or punch. Though it delivers a wide soundstage, at least, and positions effects quite accurately within that soundstage. Notwithstanding the way, those effects always sound like they’re slightly behind the on-screen action. Therefore additional sound-bars will be highly recommended.

Overall at this point, this is the future of Television industry and perhaps at this point, there is still a long way to go for the people to afford this expensive technological product. However being optimistic, TVs do get cheaper over time so therefore we can see more competitors entering this market niche soon, which will be a win-win situation for all.




AirPods (Generation 2) Review

Image Credits (Apple.com)

What’s New

  • Wireless Charging
  • All-new Apple’s H1 Chip
  • Voice Activated “Hey Siri”
  • Improved talk time
  • Faster Connectivity with Bluetooth 5.0

Introduction

After 2 years since the introduction of AirPods, apple’s new AirPods have arrived this year. Though from a design perspective, nothing much has changed but apple has packed it with some pretty powerful features. Let’s take a closer look at its specifications.

Price

The 2nd Generation of AirPods is priced at ₹18,900. This time the AirPods come with the wireless charging case instead of the standard AirPods case. With this move, Apple is shifting towards a complete wireless lifestyle, thus no longer you have to struggle to find those strangled wires.

Design

Coming to its design, apart from some minor changes in the AirPod case, nothing much has changed since its predecessor. AirPods look pretty much identical to its first generation.

Performance

However in terms of performance, AirPods now comes with apple’s all-new H1 chipset, which according to apple allows a faster connection, lower latency and up to 50 percent more talk time compared to the 1st generation AirPods and even enables hands-free “Hey Siri” feature which I find pretty handy during the workout. Additionally, the chip allows faster switching between your iPhone and Apple Watch. You can also connect these AirPods to apple tv, iPad or even MacBook. Apart from that even if you are an android user, you can still connect them with your smartphone thus making AirPods compatible with almost all the smartphones out there.

Sound Quality

Considering how loud these can get, I’m impressed with the highs. Just like the regular wired EarPods, the mids are given a huge boost in these. Overall the AirPods have a very consumer-friendly sound, making it a perfect companion for the workout.

Verdict

Overall the AirPods are very easy to use, easy to carry and even easy to charge. Apart from that the charging case is amazingly built and easy to carry (removing one bud to pause or play music works perfectly) and the connection rarely drops. Plus, the 2nd generation of AirPods gives even more battery life and you can charge the case wirelessly which is a nice little addition.

Key Specifications –

  • Battery life (talk)
 – 3 hours
  • Weight – 4g
  • Battery life (music)
 – 5 hours
  • Chipset
 – Apple H1
  • Bluetooth version
 5.0
  • Siri connection
 Voice-activated or double-tap
  • Wireless charging
  • For iOS 12.2 or later
  • Apple TV support
 – Yes