The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has an Adaptive mode that dynamically refreshes between 1 Hz and 120 Hz for better battery life.
The 120 Hz refresh rate option in the Galaxy A73 is fixed at 120 Hz. This guarantees you an ultra-smooth 120 Hz refresh rate all the time, at the expense of battery life.
In the next section, we will look at how the two refresh rate options affect the Galaxy A73 smartphone’s battery life.
The Samsung Galaxy A73 comes with a large 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s battery!
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Look at that! The Samsung Galaxy A73 has a long battery life of 10.75 hours with High refresh rate enabled, and lasts 13 hours with the Standard refresh rate!
That means it has the same battery life as the Galaxy S22 Ultra with the 120 Hz refresh rate, but one hour shorter battery life at 60 Hz.
That’s the advantage of the S22 Ultra’s more efficient 4nm processor, but then again – the S22 Ultra costs a lot more than the A73!
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy A73 delivers the best battery life with the Standard refresh rate of 60 Hz, offering just over 13 hours of non-stop use.
The Galaxy A73 consumed 13% less power than the S21 Ultra, but 9% more power than the S22 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
A73 (60 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Display Size
6.8-inch
6.7-inch
6.8-inch
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
14 hrs 15 mins
13 hrs 4 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.68 mAh
5.10 mAh
5.87 mAh
High Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
Switching on the High refresh rate of 120 Hz cut its battery life by 18% – almost 2.5 hours!
But Galaxy A73 has pretty much the same battery life as the S22 Ultra, and last year’s S21 Ultra.
Work 3.0
A73 (120 Hz)
S22 Ultra
(120 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(120 Hz)
Display Size
6.7-inch
6.8-inch
6.8-inch
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
10 hrs 42 mins
10 hrs 38 mins
10 hrs 26 mins
Utilisation
per min.
6.23 mAh
6.27 mAh
6.39 mAh
Samsung Galaxy A73 : Battery Recharging Speed!
The Samsung Galaxy A73 supports up to 25 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones and tablets – something we believe most users will end up doing.
Recharging Speed
S21 Ultra
S22 Ultra
A73
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
Charger Output
25 watts
15 watts
15 watts
Battery Life
64 minutes
64.5 minutes
85 minutes
Recharging Speed
(per minute)
62.5 mAh
62.0 mAh
47.0 mAh
Despite having the same capacity battery as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and using the same recycled 15 watt charger, the Galaxy A73 recharged about 25% slower.
That shows that even though their batteries have the same capacities, they are built differently, allowing for faster charging on the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
That said – the Galaxy A73 was no slouch, taking less than 1.5 hours to fully recharge from 20% to 100%.
Samsung Galaxy A73 Colour + Availability!
Here in Malaysia, the Galaxy A73 smartphone is available in three colour options :
Awesome White
Awesome Mint
Awesome Gray
It will be offered in only one variant, at this price point :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Unboxing Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : What’s Inside Its Box?
Samsung just combined their Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series into the Galaxy S22 Ultra – their latest flagship smartphone.
Not only does it adopt the blockier industrial design language of the Galaxy Note series, it also comes with the S Pen built-in!
Despite being the biggest model in the Galaxy S22 family, the S22 Ultra comes in a slim cardboard box. Here’s an interesting fact – the colour of the S on the box shows you the colour of the Galaxy S22 Ultra inside!
In this video, we take a quick look at the box, before showing you exactly what you will find inside!
Here is everything you will find inside the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s box :
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone
Set of Galaxy S22 series documents
USB data and power cable (Type C to Type C)
SIM card tray extraction pin
Sadly, the Galaxy S22 Ultra does not come with a 45 watt charger in-the-box. You can reuse your old 15 watt charger, but you would be losing out on a key S22 Ultra feature.
Now, let us go through its key features, and show you why the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is worthy of our Editor’s Choice Award!
6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a massive 6.8-inch display, with a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel.
Its wide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3, a peak brightness of 1750 nits, and a contrast ratio of 3 million:1 will guarantee the best possible image quality, whether indoors or outdoors.
Gamers will love its high dynamic refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, with a touch sampling rate of up to 240 Hz.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra offers two refresh rate options (Settings > Display > Motion smoothness) :
Adaptive : Get smoother animation and scrolling by automatically adjusting your screen refresh rate up to 120 Hz
Standard : Get longer battery life with a 60 Hz screen refresh rate
Last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra also has an Adaptive mode, which dynamically refreshes between 10 Hz and 120 Hz
The new Galaxy S22 Ultra improves on that, with an Adaptive mode that dynamically refreshes between 1 Hz and 120 Hz.
By default, the Galaxy S22 Ultra uses the Adaptive mode, for smoother graphics, but you can choose to switch to the Standard mode for longer battery.
4nm Flagship Mobile Platform
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is built around the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC, which is fabricated on the latest 4nm Samsung process technology.
Together with a powerful Adreno 730 GPU, it has eight processor cores in a triple-tier architecture :
a Cortex-X2 prime core running at up to 3 GHz,
three sustained-performance Cortex-A710 cores running at up to 2.5 GHz, and
four energy-efficient Cortex-A510 cores running at 1.8 GHz.
Memory + Storage Options
Samsung will be offering four memory and storage options, but not all of them are available globally :
8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage
12 GB RAM + 256 GB storage
12 GB RAM + 512 GB storage
12 GB RAM + 1 TB storage
Cameras Galore!
As the premiere Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a smorgasbord of cameras!
In the front, it has a 40 MP camera, with a wide f/2.2 aperture, and the ability to combine pixels for better low-light performance.
In the back, it has a quad-camera system that consists of :
a 108 MP Dual Pixel camera, f/1.8 aperture
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, f/2.2 aperture
a 10 MP telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom, f/2.4 aperture, and
a 10 MP periscope camera with 10X optical zoom, f/4.9
Ultra-Low Latency S Pen
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the only model in the Galaxy S22 family to come with the S Pen.
Just like the Galaxy Note series, it has a dedicated S Pen slot, so you will never have to worry about dropping the S Pen.
This is an improved S Pen, with ultra-low latency of just 2.8 ms – down from 9 ms in the previous generation. This gives it an instantaneous feel, just like writing an actual pen on paper.
Built To Last
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is protected in the back and front by the latest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+.
On top of that, it is IP68-rated against dust and water ingress. That means it can withstand immersion in up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes.
Battery + Charging
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh battery, which offers a very long battery life.
On top of that, it can support wired charging at up to 45 watts, with wireless charging supported at up to 15 watts.
It also supports Wireless PowerShare, allowing you to recharge other smartphones and wearables like the Galaxy Buds2.
The only downside – Samsung is not providing the 45 watt charger in-the-box.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Battery Life Comparison!
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a larger 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Will you look at that!
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a battery life of 10.5 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and a whopping 14.25 hours with the Standard refresh rate!
But let’s compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S21 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra really shines with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz.
The S22 Ultra used 20% less power per minute, which delivered 25% longer battery life than the S21 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(60 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
14 hrs
15 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.68 mAh
5.38 mAh
5.87 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
While the Galaxy S22 Ultra certainly used less power than the S21 Ultra, that advantage was greatly diminished with the Adaptive refresh rate enabled.
The S22 Ultra used just 2% less power per minute, which delivered 2% (12 minutes) longer battery life than the S21 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra supports up to 45 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing.
But we used the 25 watt charger for the S21 Ultra, because it came with that charger.
Work 3.0
S21 Ultra
S22 Ultra
Z Flip 3
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Charger Output
25 watts
15 watts
15 watts
Battery Life
64 minutes
64.5 minutes
88.5 minutes
Recharging Speed
(per minute)
62.5 mAh
62.0 mAh
29.8 mAh
Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra recharged as quickly with a standard 15 watt charger, as the S21 Ultra with its more powerful 25 watt charger!
In fact, the Galaxy S22 Ultra recharged itself twice as fast as the Galaxy Z Flip 3, even though they both used the same 15 watt charger!
This is really good news. It means that Galaxy S22 Ultra owners need not worry too much about its recharging speed with the older 15 watt chargers.
In fact, you don’t really need to splurge on a new 45 watt fast charger. The Galaxy S22 Ultra fully recharges from 20% to 100% in just over an hour with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger!
We first tested the Galaxy S22 Ultra using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 3.0
Galaxy
Z Flip 3
Galaxy
S22 Ultra
Galaxy
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Mobile Platform
SD 888
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD
750G
Performance Score
13317
12860
12535
10523
7874
Web Browsing
11637
10442
10185
8865
7021
Video Editing
7762
7444
6336
6232
5693
Writing
15316
15471
15247
11112
7454
Photo Editing
25357
30177
37847
30789
15812
Data Manipulation
11938
9691
8310
6825
6424
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Get 1 was surprisingly slightly slower than the Snapdragon 888 used by the Galaxy Z Flip 3, but the difference is just 5%, which means you won’t actually notice the difference.
For certainly, it will easily handle anything you throw at it, whether it’s just posting your latest Instagram pictures or editing a 4K video.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Gaming Performance
For gaming, we tested the Galaxy S22 Ultra using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
Galaxy
S22 Ultra
Galaxy
Z Flip 3
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Device
SD 8
Gen 1
SD 888
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
Sling Shot Unlimited
11094
9248
8026
3327
Wild Life Unlimited
9106
3952
4504
3288
Wild Life
Extreme
Unlimited
2220
1174
1387
528
Look at that! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was a head above the competition when it comes to gaming!
It was 20% to 130% faster than the Snapdragon 888, and 38% to 102% faster than the Exynos 990!
For certain, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will crush any game you throw at it.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Overall Performance
We then tested the Galaxy S22 Ultra using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
Galaxy
S22 Ultra
Galaxy
Z Flip 3
Galaxy
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Device
SD 8 Gen 1
SD
888
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD 750G
AnTuTu Score
889167
696767
624411
522735
341908
CPU
203090
206228
166290
146783
105098
GPU
402617
242573
258995
215205
88068
Memory
146002
133586
120805
89376
60642
UX
137458
114380
78321
71371
88100
The AnTuTu benchmark confirme that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a veritable beast of a performer, beating even the very fast Galaxy Z Flip 3 by 28%, and the last-generation Galaxy S21 Ultra by 42!
Its GPU performance was, in particular, spectacular, delivering 66% better performance than the Galaxy Z Flip 3, and 55% better performance than the Galaxy S21 Ultra!
But note that its temperature jumped by over 10°C! At peak performance, the Galaxy S22 Ultra can get quite toasty!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Performance Summary
The Galaxy S22 Ultra was meant to be the ultimate Samsung smartphone for 2022, and it does not disappoint.
Built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 – the fastest mobile SoC that exists for Android devices – it offers a tremendous boost in GPU performance, which should make gamers and mobile content creators happy.
The benchmark results amply demonstrates, you can count on the Galaxy S22 Ultra to easily handle anything and everything you throw at it.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Video Recording Performance
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s super-high resolution 108 MP main camera can take up to 8K videos, if you want to. But in reality – most people are not going to bother with 8K video recording, at least for now.
Very few televisions and devices support 8K video playback, and even the S22 Ultra will downsample the 8K video when playing back on its 3K display.
1080p and 4K videos are what the Galaxy S22 Ultra does best, thanks to its support for 60 fps recording and combination of optical image stabilisation and advanced electronic image stabilisation.
1080p Video Sample : Concubine Lane @ Ipoh
This video sample was taken at the famous Concubine Lane in Ipoh, which is crowded and really great to test the camera out.
In this video sample, you can see just how smooth and stable the video is at 60 fps, even with so much shaking and jostling.
4K Video Sample : Concubine Lane @ Ipoh
When we switched to 4K, the video was remarkably stable, even while we walk through the crowd, and pan around Concubine Lane.
You should also note the lack of wind noise, which is fantastic. You won’t need to use a third-party microphone with a dead cat with this phone!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Video Zoom Capability
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra also supports multiple zoom levels – up to 20X zoom at 1080p, and up to 10X zoom at 4K.
Its ultra-wide camera lets you record with a wider 0.6X zoom, while its 3X zoom and 10X zoom cameras allow for extended optical zoom capabilities.
1080p Zoom Demonstration
At 1080p, you can record videos from 0.6X zoom up to 20X zoom – which offers much wider range than competing smartphones.
The best image quality was seen at up to 10X zoom, while image stabilisation was best at up to 4X zoom, and still pretty good at 10X zoom.
While 20X zoom has pretty decent image quality, it is not as sharp as at 10X or lower zoom. Colours also appear more washed out at 20X.
4K Zoom Demonstration
You can record 4K videos from 0.6X zoom up to 10X zoom. – which is narrower than recording 1080p video.
For best image quality, limit your zoom up to 3X while recording 4K video. While image stabilisation was pretty good at 10X zoom, the image isn’t sharp and colours appear washed out.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Video Recording Performance Summary
If you ignore the 8K hype, you will realise that the Galaxy S22 Ultra offers truly excellent 4K and 1080p video recording capabilities.
You should buy the Galaxy S22 Ultra for its advanced optical and electronic image stabilisation for super-stable recording on-the-move.
You should also buy the Galaxy S22 Ultra for its wide zoom range of 0.6X to 10X when recording 1080p videos, or 0.6X to 3X when recording 4K videos.
These are the critical video recording features that will give you greater flexibility and super stable videos, without the need to use a gimbal.
While not showcased in our videos, the Galaxy S22 Ultra also supports Audio Zoom, focusing the audio recording as you zoom into a scene. That can be really helpful in isolating audio from the subject from background noise.
These features are not new – they have been part of the Samsung Galaxy S and Note series for a few years now. Samsung just keeps improving them, which is why we keep using Galaxy S smartphones as our primary video recording device.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra boasts a super-high resolution 108 MP main camera, built around the same ISOCELL HM3 sensor used in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
However, this camera features improved AI optimisations. Thanks to the improved performance of its GPU and NPU, it now runs approximately 60 new AI models through its Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to optimise the final output.
Here are six shots I took around Ipoh Old Town, using the 108 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera.
They are 4000 x 3000 pixels in size, with a JPEG file size of between 4 MB and 15 MB – it all depends on the amount of detail in the picture. To save space, I definitely recommend that you enable HEIF – the High Efficiency Image Format.
By default, the 108 MP camera takes 12 MP photos, combining nine pixels into one super-large 2.4 µm pixel. Coupled with the new AI models, the final photo is not only much brighter, but has significantly lower noise.
When you take shots at night, the Galaxy S22 Ultra combines images taken using both the 108 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide camera. The 12 MP camera provides the rough details, while the fine details are provided by the 108 MP camera.
Here are four shots to show you the incredible amount of detail you can capture at just 12 MP. If you need greater detail, you can always increase the resolution to the full 108 MP, but frankly – these pictures should show you that you don’t really need to.
Its digital zoom has also been improved by the new AI models and the faster processor. For images taken above 30X digital zoom, the camera actually takes 10-20 shots at once, and processes them to improve the details in the final photo.
Finally, the Galaxy S22 Ultra features a new AI portrait model that uses two cameras to accurately differentiate the depth between the person and the background.
This is critical because the 108 MP camera has a very wide f/1.8 aperture, which makes for very narrow depth-of-field (DOF). If you do not accurately focus on the subject, you could end up with a blurry photo even though it looks sharp on the phone.
In these four shots, you can see just how narrow of depth of field you have to work with. This makes for better photos – you just need to make sure the subject is really in focus.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Photography Summary
If you want the best cameras on a smartphone money can buy, you should definitely consider the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Ignore the 108 MP marketing hoohah. What you are really getting is an awesome 12 MP camera with super-large pixels for really great noise-free images, and better low-light photos.
You may be wary about Samsung reusing the ISOCELL HM3 sensor from last year, but it has better photographic capabilities, thanks mostly to software and AI improvements.
For one thing, I noticed that it is now much better at accurately focusing on the subject, resulting in far fewer wrongly-focused shots.
It also does a better job of correcting for disparate lighting conditions, although some of you may find the photos oversaturated.
But there is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has some of the best smartphone cameras I’ve tried this year.
It is really quite hard for flagship smartphones to really different themselves from last year’s flagships, but Samsung somehow pulled it off with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Most of the improvements may not be readily apparent to the user though.
Thanks to Samsung’s decision to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC, it has significantly better GPU and NPU performance.
Even its Dynamic AMOLED 2X display has been quietly improved. It is now 250 nits brighter and has a minimum refresh rate of just 1 Hz, allowing for better battery life.
If you don’t mind using the standard 60 Hz refresh rate, you will be pleasantly surprised by a 25% longer battery life than last year’s S21 Ultra!
Even its S Pen was upgraded. It may look like last year’s S Pen, but it has a much lower latency of just 2.8 ms – down from 9 ms in the previous generation.
Samsung reused the Galaxy S21 Ultra‘s excellent quad-camera system, but you may not know that it features improved AI optimisations. Powered by the much faster Snapdragon processor’s NPU, it now runs approximately 60 new AI models to optimise the final output.
This may not sound like much, but you will realise just how much has improved if you compare the videos and photos taken with the S22 Ultra against the S21 Ultra. Its AI optimisations have taken out most of the hard work of making sure that each picture comes out looking great, while its video stabilisation is truly best-in-class.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is not cheap, but if you want the best possible Android smartphone that is powerful and takes excellent photos and videos, this is as good as it gets!
On top of that, it boasts the best-in-class Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on both front and rear aspects, and is IP68 dust- and water-resistant.
For these reasons, we gladly award the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra our Editor’s Choice Award! Great work, Samsung!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s photography performance, and find out why it’s such an awesome smartphone for photographers!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Flagship Class Photography!
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is their flagship smartphone for the year 2022, and it boasts the best cameras money can buy.
Headlining its top-of-the-line quad-camera system is a Dual Pixel camera, which is built around the 108 MP ISOCELL HM3 sensor, and optically-stabilised lens with a large f/1.8 aperture.
You can seamlessly switch to its ultra-wide camera, with a 12 MP sensor and a f/2.2 aperture; or optically zoom up to 10X with its dual telephoto and periscope cameras.
In this review, we are going to take a look at the photography capability of Galaxy S22 Ultra, and show you just how well its cameras perform!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Photography Review
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra boasts a super-high resolution 108 MP main camera, built around the same ISOCELL HM3 sensor used in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
However, this camera features improved AI optimisations. Thanks to the improved performance of its GPU and NPU, it now runs approximately 60 new AI models through its Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to optimise the final output.
Here are six shots I took around Ipoh Old Town, using the 108 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera.
They are 4000 x 3000 pixels in size, with a JPEG file size of between 4 MB and 15 MB – it all depends on the amount of detail in the picture. To save space, I definitely recommend that you enable HEIF – the High Efficiency Image Format.
By default, the 108 MP camera takes 12 MP photos, combining nine pixels into one super-large 2.4 µm pixel. Coupled with the new AI models, the final photo is not only much brighter, but has significantly lower noise.
When you take shots at night, the Galaxy S22 Ultra combines images taken using both the 108 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide camera. The 12 MP camera provides the rough details, while the fine details are provided by the 108 MP camera.
Here are four shots to show you the incredible amount of detail you can capture at just 12 MP. If you need greater detail, you can always increase the resolution to the full 108 MP, but frankly – these pictures should show you that you don’t really need to.
Its digital zoom has also been improved by the new AI models and the faster processor. For images taken above 30X digital zoom, the camera actually takes 10-20 shots at once, and processes them to improve the details in the final photo.
Finally, the Galaxy S22 Ultra features a new AI portrait model that uses two cameras to accurately differentiate the depth between the person and the background.
This is critical because the 108 MP camera has a very wide f/1.8 aperture, which makes for very narrow depth-of-field (DOF). If you do not accurately focus on the subject, you could end up with a blurry photo even though it looks sharp on the phone.
In these four shots, you can see just how narrow of depth of field you have to work with. This makes for better photos – you just need to make sure the subject is really in focus.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Photography Summary
If you want the best cameras on a smartphone money can buy, you should definitely consider the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Ignore the 108 MP marketing hoohah. What you are really getting is an awesome 12 MP camera with super-large pixels for really great noise-free images, and better low-light photos.
You may be wary about Samsung reusing the ISOCELL HM3 sensor from last year, but it has better photographic capabilities, thanks mostly to software and AI improvements.
For one thing, I noticed that it is now much better at accurately focusing on the subject, resulting in far fewer wrongly-focused shots.
It also does a better job of correcting for disparate lighting conditions, although some of you may find the photos oversaturated.
But there is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has some of the best smartphone cameras I’ve tried this year.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Price + Availability
Samsung is offering the Galaxy S22 Ultra in four colour options – Burgundy, Green, Phantom Black and Phantom White.
I had the opportunity to attend an exclusive Samsung preview event, to check out all four colours for ourselves.
Note : Samsung only allowed us to use digital cameras, so the video is not stabilised as it would be with smartphones that I generally use.
Here in Malaysia, it is available starting 10 February 2022 in three variants, at these price points :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Battery Life Comparison!
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a larger 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Will you look at that!
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a battery life of 10.5 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and a whopping 14.25 hours with the Standard refresh rate!
But let’s compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S21 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra really shines with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz.
The S22 Ultra used 20% less power per minute, which delivered 25% longer battery life than the S21 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(60 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
14 hrs
15 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.68 mAh
5.38 mAh
5.87 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
While the Galaxy S22 Ultra certainly used less power than the S21 Ultra, that advantage was greatly diminished with the Adaptive refresh rate enabled.
The S22 Ultra used just 2% less power per minute, which delivered 2% (12 minutes) longer battery life than the S21 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra supports up to 45 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing.
But we used the 25 watt charger for the S21 Ultra, because it came with that charger.
Work 3.0
S21 Ultra
S22 Ultra
Z Flip 3
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Charger Output
25 watts
15 watts
15 watts
Battery Life
64 minutes
64.5 minutes
88.5 minutes
Recharging Speed
(per minute)
62.5 mAh
62.0 mAh
29.8 mAh
Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra recharged as quickly with a standard 15 watt charger, as the S21 Ultra with its more powerful 25 watt charger!
In fact, the Galaxy S22 Ultra recharged itself twice as fast as the Galaxy Z Flip 3, even though they both used the same 15 watt charger!
This is really good news. It means that Galaxy S22 Ultra owners need not worry too much about its recharging speed with the older 15 watt chargers.
In fact, you don’t really need to splurge on a new 45 watt fast charger. The Galaxy S22 Ultra fully recharges from 20% to 100% in just over an hour with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra : Price + Availability
Samsung is offering the Galaxy S22 Ultra in four colour options – Burgundy, Green, Phantom Black and Phantom White.
I had the opportunity to attend an exclusive Samsung preview event, to check out all four colours for ourselves.
Note : Samsung only allowed us to use digital cameras, so the video is not stabilised as it would be with smartphones that I generally use.
Here in Malaysia, it is available starting 10 February 2022 in three variants, at these price points :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Parents are looking for great but affordable laptops for their kids, and the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 may just hit the sweet spot!
Take a look at my review of this MIL-STD-rated convertible laptop, and find out why it’s great for students!
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 : Fast + Tough
The 2021 Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W) is the world’s first Intel Evo platform-verified Chromebook, guaranteeing snappy performance out-of-the-box.
As an Intel Evo-verified laptop, it comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core processor with Intel Iris Xe Graphics, built-in Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and is designed to wake up in less than a second!
Even though it is a convertible laptop, it is MIL-STD-810H rated for drops of up to 122 cm, and MIL-STD-810F rated against ingress of sand and dust!
So you now have a basic idea of why we think it’s great for students!
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 : Price + Availability
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is available in Malaysia with a retail price of RM3,799.
Here are some online purchase options in Malaysia :
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a convertible laptop, with a 13.5-inch display with a resolution of 2256 x 1504 pixels.
The display can flip completely around, letting you use it in the laptop mode, tent mode or the tablet mode – very useful for presentations and collaboration in school.
As this is a Chromebook, it runs on Google Chrome OS, but otherwise, appears and works like any other laptop.
It is quite thin at just under 17 mm at its thickest point, and weighs only 1.37 kg. It will have no problem fitting into schoolbags.
13.5-inch Touchscreen Display
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a 13.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2256 x 1504 pixels – much higher than most Chromebook laptops.
This is a touchscreen display, which is the main input method in tent and tablet modes. Even so, you will find it very useful in the laptop mode as well.
You will be glad to know that the display is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass, so it is resistant to scratches.
720p Webcam
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a 720p webcam at the top of its display, with two microphones to pick up your voice.
It would be be nice if Acer included a 1080p webcam, but hey, even the Dell XPS 13 (9300) came with a 720p webcam!
Available Ports
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a range of useful ports. On the left side, you will find :
two of the latest USB Type C / Thunderbolt 4 ports!
a full-size HDMI port
a 3.5 mm audio port
On the right side, you will find a physical Volume control button, with a microSD card reader, a USB 3.0 Type A port and the Power button.
Speakers
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 has two downward-firing speakers on the underside (in laptop mode).
They are pretty loud and bright, and seem optimised for voice – which may appear to be what they are targeting.
But they will sound hollow and lack dynamism and bass, so music and movies are less enjoyable.
Keyboard + Touchpad
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a full-size keyboard, with a large touchpad.
The keys are backlit, which is fantastic in low-light conditions, and have decent key travel.
Our Acer Chromebook Spin 713 laptop was powered by the Intel Core i5-1135G7, which is a 4-core, 8-thread processor that runs at up to 4.2 GHz.
It comes with integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and is paired with 8 GB of RAM and 256 of PCIe NVMe SSD storage.
Battery Life
The Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a 3-cell 56 Whr lithium-ion battery, that Acer says all last up to 10 hours.
To test its battery life, we set its display to 50% and ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test, until its battery capacity dropped to 20%, repeating several times.
Unfortunately, we could not get 10 hours – the best we could do was just under 7.5 hours. But please note that this is a stress test that involves non-stop running work applications.
In real life, you will likely see longer usage times. And it is certainly more than long enough for a full day at school!
Battery Recharging Speed
The Chromebook Spin 713 comes with a 45 watt fast charger, that Acer says will give you 4 hours of battery life in just under 30 minutes.
Look at that! It only took 1 hour 31.5 minutes to fully recharge the Chromebook Spin 713 from 20% to 100%!
That gives it a battery life : recharging ratio of almost 5:1. A general rule of thumb – for one hour of battery life, you will need to charge it for 12 minutes.
Work Performance : PCMark Work 3.0
As this laptop runs on Chrome OS, we can only compare it to mobile SoCs.
Its PCMark Work 3.0 score puts it firmly in between the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ and the Samsung Exynos 990.
As the Chromebook Spin 713 runs on Chrome OS, you can Android apps on it. Yes, that includes games that your kids are already playing on your Android phone. 😉
Its graphics performance is really good, coming in more than TWICE AS FAST as Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ and the Samsung Exynos 990.
In other words, you won’t have to worry about running any mobile games on this laptop. It will have no problem handling them.
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 : Verdict + Award
People often think of Chromebook laptops as cheap throwaway devices that you only resort to when you have “no other choice”.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 puts paid to that perception, offering a sleek convertible design with high-end features like :
Intel Evo and MIL-STD-810 certifications
2K touch display with Gorilla Glass protection
Powerful Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Xe Graphics
Two USB Type C / Thunderbolt 4 ports
What you get is a truly versatile laptop with snappy work and gaming performance, with an excellent high-resolution display.
If you are a parent looking for a good and sturdy laptop that your child will have a hard time breaking, you really can’t go wrong with the Acer Chromebook Spin 713.
That’s why we have no qualms giving it our Reviewer’s Choice Award! Great job, Acer!
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 : Where To Buy?
The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is available in Malaysia with a retail price of RM3,799.
Here are some online purchase options in Malaysia :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The Galaxy Buds 2 is the latest AKG-tuned TWS earbuds with active noise cancellation from Samsung!
Find out just how good it really is, and why it offers such great bang for your buck!
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 : What’s In The Box?
First, let’s take a quick look at what’s inside the box.
Samsung kindly provided us with a better unboxing video than we could have done ourselves.
Inside, you will find the following items :
A pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds 2
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 storage + charging case
Guide Start Guide
USB-A to USB-C charging cable
Extra ear tips (small and large)
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 : Key Features
The Galaxy Buds 2 is the latest AKG-tuned TWS earbuds from Samsung, and the lightest pair they ever made.
Despite its name, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 is not really a second-generation Buds, but a more affordable version of the ultra-premium Galaxy Buds Pro.
Comfort
These are really the lightest and smallest earbuds I ever tried. Each earbud weighs just 5 grams, and if you fit them right – you can hardly feel them.
They come with three sets of ear tips – small, medium and large, allowing you to fit them snugly.
But please note that the Galaxy Buds 2 are not IPX7 water-resistant like the Buds Pro. These earbuds are only IPX2 sweat-resistant, so you should avoid wearing them in the rain.
Active Noise Cancellation
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 has two microphones to constantly monitor ambient noise, 98% of which Samsung says will be cancelled by its Active Noise Cancellation technology.
Its noise cancelling performance is good, delivering much clearer audio while driving (haven’t been flying lately!) and in noisier surroundings. However, don’t expect the same level of noise cancellation as premium over-ear ANC headphones like Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose QuietComfort 45.
If you need to listen to someone speak, it has an Ambient mode (with 3 levels) that temporarily disable ANC and lets you listen to the outside world.
And when you take out one ear bud, the Buds 2 cleverly switches to Ambient mode so you don’t get disorientated, and switches back to ANC when you put the ear bud back on.
Audio Quality
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 has decidedly better audio quality than the original Galaxy Buds, but I suspect audiophiles will say that it lacks the refinement and richness of more premium earbuds like the Buds Pro or Sony’s WF-1000MX4.
That would not be a fair comparison, and it doesn’t really matter unless you are comparing them side-by-side. The Buds 2 sounds great, and you can further adjust it to suit your proclivities using its equaliser setting.
Instead of worrying about how it compares against its far more expensive competitors, it’s best to learn how to get the best fit possible for the best sound and active noise cancelling.
Connectivity
The Galaxy Buds 2 connects wirelessly to your devices using Bluetooth 5.2, with support for AAC, SBC and Samsung’s proprietary Scalable codecs, but not aptX.
The earbuds support automatic switching between Samsung Galaxy devices, but does not offer true Bluetooth multipoint connectivity – switching from your phone to your computer, for example.
Battery Life
There is a downside of the reduced weight though – a battery life of 5 hours with ANC enabled, and up to 7.5 hours with ANC disabled.
That may seem a little short for some, but it’s really not so bad because the ear buds support quick charging – popping them into the charging case for 5 minutes gets you another hour of use.
The charging case, incidentally, has enough juice for three full charges. That’s 20 hours of battery life in your pocket.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 : Our Verdict
The Galaxy Buds 2 is the cheapest and lightest pair of TWS earbuds from Samsung, and it boasts many of the best features from the far more expensive Galaxy Buds Pro.
Unless you have plenty of cash to splash, the decision is simple – just get the Galaxy Buds 2 and enjoy it!
Battery life is shorter and it’s not water-resistant, but the Buds 2 has a better fit and is both lighter in weight and on your wallet!
For those reasons, I think it deserves no less than our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
Frankly speaking, the Buds2 will kill a lot of budget TWS earbuds. Why settle for less when you can get an affordable pair of AKG-tuned ultra-light earbuds from Samsung?
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 : Where To Buy?
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 is priced at RM499 / S$248 / US$149.99 / £139 / A$219.
Here are some online purchase options (prices accurate as of 28 October 2021) :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The new Galaxy Tab S7 FE is Samsung’s tablet for the masses, offering a massive 12.4-inch display with a powerful mid-range processor and dual AKG speakers!
It comes in a white cardboard box, containing these items :
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE tablet
Quick Start Guide + Warranty Card
15 Watt Samsung Travel Fast Charger
USB Type A to Type C data and power cable
SIM tray ejection pin
Fortunately, Samsung included a fast charger in-the-box, albeit a standard 15 watt charger and not a 45 watt charger.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE : Hands-On + Key Features!
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a more affordable Fan Edition of the excellent but pricey Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ that we reviewed earlier.
12.4-inch Display
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE boasts a 12.4-inch TFT display, which looks massive especially if you are upgrading from smaller tablets like the Apple iPad.
This is not an AMOLED display, but it is bright and looks sharp thanks to the high resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
Performance + Storage
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G mobile platform, which offers :
a Kryo 670 Prime (A78-based) core running at 2.4 GHz,
three Kryo 670 Gold (A78-based) cores running at 2.2 GHz,
four Kryo 670 Silver (A55-based) cores running at 1.8 GHz
Adreno 642L GPU running at 490 MHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G is a new mid-range mobile SoC built on the 6 nm process, which should offer preppy performance without the higher power consumption of flagship mobile SoC.
RAM + Storage
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE comes with two memory and storage options :
4 GB of RAM + 64 GB of internal storage
6 GB of memory + 128 GB of internal storage
The good news is that it comes with a microSD card tray that supports up to 1 TB of additional storage.
Front + Rear Cameras
In the front, it has a 5 MP fixed focus camera, that is capable of taking photos with a 2576 x 1932 pixel resolution, and Full HD 1080p video at 30 fps.
This front camera is decent but unexceptional. Don’t expect to dazzle your clients on Zoom!
At the back, it has an 8 MP camera that is capable of taking photos with the resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels.
Despite the higher resolution, it is only capable of recording 1080p video at 30 fps. It does, however, supports electronic image stabilisation (EIS).
You should note that this camera lacks an LED light. The hole you see in the camera bump conceals a microphone.
Buttons
There are only two buttons on the Galaxy Tab S7 FE – the Volume control buttons and the Power button.
They are located on the upper right side when held vertically, and left side of the top when held horizontally.
As with Samsung smartphones, double-pressing the Power button activates the Camera app, allowing you to quickly take photos or videos.
Only One Port
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE comes with a USB Type C port, which supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectivity.
It does not come with a 3.5 mm audio jack, or a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter in the box.
Dual AKG Speakers
Like its premium brother – the Galaxy Tab S7+, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE has AKG-tuned speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
The only difference is the cheaper FE (Fan Edition) has just two speakers, while the Tab S7+ has four.
Battery + Charging
Powering all that is a massive 10,090 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging.
When used with a 45 watt charger, Samsung says it will fully recharge in just 90 minutes!
This is a pretty small battery, and rather slow charging speeds. I’m currently testing its battery life and will share with you the results shortly.
Unfortunately, Samsung only provided a standard 15 watt fast charger in the box. In the next page, I will show you just how long it takes to fully recharge its battery on just 15 watts…
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE has a massive 10,090 mAh battery, which promises to deliver up to 13 hours of video playback time.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the room brightness changed.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20%, repeating several times.
Will you look at that – 12.5 hours of battery life! A little shy of the rated 13 hours, but still much longer than the 8 hours we got with the Galaxy Tab S7+!
With such a long battery life, you can confidently take it on-the-go for a full day’s work without worrying about charging it.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE : Battery Recharging Speed
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE supports the phenomenally-fast 45 watt super fast charging. Unfortunately, Samsung only bundles an anaemic 15 watt fast charger in the box…
Take a look at how fast its bundled 15 watt fast charger topped up its massive 10,090 mAh battery…
Not bad. The bundled 15 watt charger took just 2 hours 36 minutes to fully recharge its battery from 20% to 100%.
That gives it a recharging speed of about 52 mAh per minute, which is as fast as some 25W or 27W fast chargers.
This gives it a battery life : recharging ratio of just 4.8:1. A general rule of thumb – for one of hour battery life, you will need to charge it for 12.5 minutes.
While that is TWICE as fast as the Galaxy Tab S7+, it cannot match the HUAWEI MatePad Pro, which has a battery life : recharging ratio of 8.5:1, and only needs 7 minutes of charging for each hour of battery life.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE : PCMark Results
PCMark
Tab S7+
Note20
Ultra
Tab S7 FE
Xiaomi
Mi 9
MatePad
Pro
Mobile Platform
SD 865+
Exynos 990
SD 778G
SD 855
Kirin 990
Performance Score
(Average)
12348
10523
9747
9471
8575
Web Browsing
11864
8865
7355
7792
6723
Video Editing
7664
6232
6028
6038
5656
Writing
12659
11112
10512
10919
10969
Photo Editing
26230
30789
22188
20161
15991
Data Manipulation
9511
6825
8505
7356
6952
Will you look at that? The Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G is slightly faster than Snapdragon 855 – the last-generation flagship mobile SoC from Qualcomm!
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE has good gaming performance too, coming in just slightly slower as the Xiaomi Mi 9, which is powered by the flagship-class Snapdragon 855.
Samsung originally introduced the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ as a cheaper but powerful Android alternative to the 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro. However, even its price tag put it out of reach of many users.
So Samsung came up with a Fan Edition of that tablet – the Galaxy Tab S7 FE, which sports the similarly large 12.4-inch display, at a much more affordable price point.
The large display really makes a lot of difference if you want a large workspace, or a more immersive gaming or movie experience. More so with its dual AKG speakers that off good bass and clarity.
Instead of the powerful but power-guzzling Snapdragon 865+, Samsung used the new Snapdragon 778G which is not only pretty darn fast, it is more power-efficient, giving it a much longer battery life.
It inevitably comes with less memory and storage, but even 4 GB of RAM is more than enough for most users. And if you run out of storage, you can always pop-in a microSD card for more storage.
Samsung also threw in a standard S Pen and a 15 watt charger in-the-box, but if you want faster charging – you will need to top up for a 45 watt fast charger.
Samsung sadly did not bundle the Galaxy Tab S7 FE with the Keyboard Cover, which is a critical accessory for this tablet.
I cannot emphasise the importance of the Keyboard Cover enough, as it not only protects the tablet and the stylus (in its own special compartment), it also gives you a keyboard and touchpad, turning your Tab S7 FE into a laptop!
If you do not need the keyboard, at least get the Book Cover. The Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a large and heavy tablet that you do NOT want to drop. Please remember that it lacks the Gorilla Glass Victus protection of its more expensive brother – the Galaxy Tab S7+.
Both the front 5 MP and rear 8 MP cameras can record 1080p videos at 30 fps, but the video quality from the front camera is rather poor. Fortunately, the rear 8 MP camera does a much better job.
Overall – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE offers much more value for your money than the Galaxy Tab S7+. If you don’t need the frills, you can literally buy TWO FE tablets for the price of one Tab S7+!
That’s why we have no qualms giving it our Editor’s Choice Award! Nice job, Samsung!
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE : Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE comes in four colour options (from left to right) : Mystic Green, Mystic Pink, Mystic Silver and Mystic Black.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE : Price + Availability
Here in Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE will be available at these launch prices :
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Made with bioplastics from trees, the Dell Latitude 5520 is not only more powerful, it promises a longer battery life and other improvements.
Join us for a close look at the new 2021 Dell Latitude 5520 business laptop!
Dell Latitude 5520 : 15.6-inch Business Laptop
The Dell Latitude 5520 is a 15.6-inch business laptop powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel Core processor, with a longer battery life.
The first Dell laptop to be made with bioplastics from trees, it offers environmentally-conscious businesses a way to minimise their ecological footprint.
Dell Latitude 5520 : Specifications + Options
The Dell Latitude 5520 can be configured to suit your requirements.
Here are the options available in Malaysia. You may get different options in other countries.
Specifications
2021 Dell Latitude 5520
Display Size
15.6-inch
Display Options
Full HD IPS (1920 x 1200, 250 nits)
HD TN (1366 x 768, 220 nits)
Realtek Waves MaxxAudio Pro audio
2 x 2 watt speakers
Dual array microphones
3.5 mm audio jack
Wireless
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2×2)
Bluetooth 5.1
External Ports
2 x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type C) ports
– with Power Delivery and DisplayPort
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port
1 x HDMI 2.0 port
1 x 3.5 mm audio port
1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port
1 x microSD card slot
1 x (optional) micro SIM tray
1 x (optional) smart card reader
Camera
720p webcam only
720p webcam + IR camera
1080p webcam + IR camera
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Dell Latitude 5520 : A Closer Look!
15.6-inch IPS Display
The Dell Latitude 5520 comes with a large 15.6-inch IPS display, with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It does not have touch capability, which is not needed by most business users.
It has a maximum brightness of 250 nits, which is good enough for indoor use. However, you may have issues using it outdoors in bright sunlight.
For companies on a budget, Dell also offers a HD display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, and a lower brightness of 220 nits.
Built-In Privacy Shutter
Our review unit came with a high-resolution 1080p webcam, with an IR emitter and camera for Windows Hello facial authentication.
Dell also offers a cheaper 720p webcam, with and without the IR camera.
Both options come with a built-in privacy shutter – a critical feature for security-conscious business users.
Performance
Our Dell Latitude 5520 is powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor – a 4-core, 8-thread processor with 12 MB of cache and Iris Xe graphics.
You can also opt for the Core i5-1145G7 or the Core i5-1135G7 – both 4-core, 8-thread processors with Iris Xe graphics.
The processor and its integrated graphics are kept cool by the Dual Opposite Outlet fans, with side venting for improved airflow and cooling performance.
Our unit came with 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory running at 3200 MHz, and a 512 GB Western Digital SN730 NVMe PCIe SSD.
Ports
Despite its large 15.6-inch form factor, the Latitude 5520 is slim at just under 20 mm.
Even so, its slightly thicker chassis lets Dell fit in more ports than slimmer designs like the XPS 13.
On the left side, you will find two Thunderbolt 4 (USB 3.2 Gen 2) Type C ports, both of which support PowerDelivery and DisplayPort output.
The Latitude 5520 is charged using a USB Type C cable, so it must be plugged into one of these two USB Type C ports.
There is a large row of cooling vents, and a slot for the optional Smart Card reader.
On the right side, you will find a microSD card reader, a 3.5 mm microphone and headphone combo port, with two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports.
And next to them are a full-sized HDMI 2.0 port, an RJ-45 LAN port, and a wedge security lock.
Keyboard + Touchpad
The Dell Latitude 5520 has a full-sized backlit keyboard, with a numeric keypad.
Business users will love the numeric keypad, but it may need some getting used to for those who are migrating from “regular laptops”.
The touchpad is reasonably sized, but offset to the left – something you may need to get used to.
Connectivity
Our Dell Latitude 5520 comes with the Intel AX201 module, which offers Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with 2×2 antennas and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity.
On top of that, it comes with an RJ-45 LAN port built-in, giving you access to the best and fastest possible network connectivity.
Audio
The Dell Latitude 5520 features two front-firing speakers with 2 watts power output, powered by Realtek Waves MaxxAudio Pro.
It also comes with a 3.5 mm microphone / headphone combo jack, and dual microphone array.
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Dell Latitude 5520 : Performance
Our Dell Latitude 5520 is powered by the 28 watt Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, with 4 cores and 8 threads, and Iris Xe Graphics with 96 Execution Units.
This processor has 12 MB of L3 cache, a 3.0 GHz base frequency that ramps up to 4.8 GHz during intensive tasks.
Our review sample came with 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory – in dual memory channels, of course, and a 512 GB Western Digital SN730 SSD.
Work Performance : PCMark 10
The Intel Core i7-1185G7 is a 28 watt processor that can be configured to run at a lower TDP of 12 watt – to improve battery life and reduce thermal output.
Dell left it at the full 28 watt TDP for maximum performance, so it delivered PCMark 10 scores in excess of 4800.
The Dell Latitude 5520 is not meant to be a gaming system, but it has surprisingly decent gaming chops.
The Intel Core i7-1185G7 comes with integrated Iris Xe Graphics, with 96 execution units and maximum clock speed of 1.35 GHz.
That gave it a 3DMark Time Spy score just shy of 1190. That makes it about as fast as the NVIDIA GeForce MX350, and a little faster than the Radeon RX Vega 5 integrated graphics used in Ryzen 4000 Mobile processors.
Battery Life : YouTube + Modern Office
Our Dell Latitude 5520 came with a 4-cell lithium-ion battery, that has a rated capacity of 63 Whr.
To test its battery life, we locked the brightness at 50% – higher than the average of 40% – to see how it performs in these worst-case scenarios :
YouTube Streaming
The Dell Latitude 5520 lasted 8 hours 18 minutes streaming YouTube videos in the theatre mode using Wi-Fi, before its battery dropped to 10%.
PCMark 10 : Modern Office
The Dell Latitude 5520 lasted a phenomenal 11 hours before it powered off while running the Modern Office benchmark!
Battery Recharging Speed
Its 45 watt compact fast charger supports ExpressCharge Boost, which lets it deliver up to 35% charge in about 20 minutes, or up to 80% charge in an hour.
In our test, its fast charger took 29 minutes to charge from 10% to 35%, and took about 82 minutes to hit 80%. For a full charge to 100%, it took 142 minutes.
Here are our recorded recharging time from 10% :
16% – 6 minutes 36 seconds
22% – 13 minutes 38 seconds
25% – 17 minutes 25 seconds
31% – 23 minutes 53 seconds
35% – 29 minutes 15 seconds
40% – 35 minutes 12 seconds
45% – 41 minutes 19 seconds
51% – 48 minutes 18 seconds
60% – 59 minutes 34 seconds
66% – 65 minutes 22 seconds
71% – 71 minutes 19 seconds
76% – 77 minutes 19 seconds
81% – 83 minutes 14 seconds
90% – 95 minutes 16 seconds
95% – 107 minutes 18 seconds
100% – 142 minutes 10 seconds
This gives it a battery life : recharging time ratio of 3.5 : 1 for video streaming, and 4.7 : 1 for office work.
As a general rule of thumb, you will need to recharge its battery about 17 minutes for every hour of battery life.
Dell Latitude 5520 : Verdict
The Dell Latitude 5520 is not a sleek ultralight laptop like the XPS 13, it is a large, powerful business laptop.
Its large 15.6-inch display makes it a great desktop replacement, and yet is surprisingly thin and light – it is less than 2 cm thick, and weighs only 1.6 kg.
We strongly recommend the Full HD IPS panel, over the low-resolution HD TN panel option, which would look blurry / blocky on such a large display.
Built around the latest 11th Gen Intel Core processor, with integrated Iris Xe Graphics, it offers more than enough processing power for business users for many years to come.
Business users will appreciate the availability of at least two USB-C and two USB-A ports, as well as an actual RJ-45 LAN port and a HDMI 2.0 port too!
If you input a lot of numbers, you will also appreciate the keyboard which comes with a numeric keypad, which is not available in most consumer laptops.
On top of that, the Latitude 5520 comes with a built-in physical shutter for the webcam – a must-have for security conscious users!
If you are a road warrior, we definitely recommend getting the 4-cell battery for extended battery life, which should last you about 11 hours!
All-in-all, this is a solid, no-nonsense business laptop that lets you get work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, no matter whether you are working from home, or on the road.
Finally, we should mention Dell’s truly excellent onsite warranty. With the Latitude 5520, you get 3 years of ProSupport and Next Business Day Onsite Service!
For people who count on their laptops to make a living, NBD onsite service is a MUST!
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If you want a cheap colour printer that can print great photos for mere pennies, we give you – the Epson EcoTank L3150, also known as the EcoTank ET-2710 in some markets.
Find out why we gave this affordable multifunction colour printer our Editor’s Choice Award!
Epson EcoTank Family : A Quick Primer!
Pearly Lee, Product Manage of Epson Malaysia explains the key features and benefits of the Epson EcoTank printer family. Note their vast advantages over their laser and ink cartridge printer rivals.
The EcoTank M-series has 24 times lower power consumption, and deliver 28 times lower overall cost per print compared to laser printers, with a single Epson EcoTank Monochrome bottle yielding 6,000 black and white pages!
The EcoTank L-series colour printers, on the other hand, delivers incredibly low cost per print of 0.52 sen (0.13 cent) per page for black, and 0.94 sen (0.24 cent) per page for colour.
How did they do that? A set of 4 Epson ink bottles yields 4,500 black and white pages and 7,500 colour pages!
In this review, we are going to take a look at the mainstay of the L series – the EcoTank L3150 (also known as EcoTank ET-2710 in some markets).
Epson EcoTank L3150 : Price + Availability
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is available for purchase with a recommended retail price of RM 599, which is about US$140 / £110 / A$199 / S$195. Here are some online purchase options :
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Epson EcoTank L3150 : Key Features
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is the mainstay of the EcoTank L-series of multifunction colour printers, offering the ability to scan, copy and print in colourwirelessly.
Colour Scanning + Copying
Flip open the top cover, and you will find a high-resolution colour scanner, with a resolution of 1200 x 2400 dpi, and a 24-bit colour depth.
This built-in scanner lets you make black and white or colour photocopies, albeit only at a lower resolution of 600 x 600 dpi.
Colour Printing
The Epson EcoTank L3150 uses Variable-Sized Droplet technology to deliver a maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi, at up to 33 pages per minute (black) and 15 pages per minute (colour).
But its call to fame is its EcoTank system, with CYMK colours – cyan, yellow, magenta and black – that delivers incredibly low cost per print.
A single set of four Epson 003 ink bottles (Epson 103 / 104 in some countries) will let you print up to 4,500 pages (black) and 7,500 pages (colour).
That works out to just 0.52 sen (0.13 cent) per page for black, and 0.94 sen (0.24 cent) per page for colour!
USB + Wireless Connectivity
Like other printers, it can be connected to your computer through a USB cable. However, it is not even necessary to use the cable.
The EcoTank L3150 has WiFi-N connectivity built-in, so you can just plug in the power cable and start printing wirelessly from your computer, or even your smartphone or tablet.
In fact, you can even print remotely from your devices through Google Cloud Print!
Paper Support
The Epson EcoTank L3150 supports printing on paper up to A4 or Letter, with a maximum weight of 80 g/m2 for plain paper.
But it supports photo paper, which are much thicker and heavier. Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, for example, has a paper weight of 225 g/m2.
It also supports 4R borderless printing – that’s 4 inch x 6 inch, preferably using the Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper.
The print quality on plain paper is acceptable for presentations, but not for photos – they appear dull as you can see in the video above.
For photo printing, you must use photo paper. The print quality on photo paper is worlds apart from what you can get on plain paper. The colours are deeper and a lot more vibrant, and your photos will actually look like photos!
The video may not show it, but the detail in the photo is amazing. As long as you print with high-resolution photos, the printer will deliver colour print resolution of up to 5760 x 1440 dots per inch!
The print-outs do come out a little darker than our display. But that’s easily corrected by adjusting the exposure in the photos before printing.
But without a doubt, the Epson L3150 offers a very cheap photo printing solution. The cost of printing a large A4 photo is only 75 sen (about 18 cents), including both photo paper and ink!
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Epson EcoTank L3150 : Our Verdict + Award
When Epson first revealed their EcoTank system, we were very impressed. Finally, we could now print to our heart’s content without breaking the bank.
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is not only highly affordable at just RM 599 (about US$140 / £110 / A$199 / S$195), it offers really low printing costs.
A single set of ink bottles, which costs less than RM 90 (US$21 / £16 / A$29 / S$29) will let you print up to 24 reams of paper – 12,000 pages. That’s A LOT of printing!
Of course, the ink usage and cost is higher if you print in high quality. But even if you get half the rated capacity, it’s so cheap you wouldn’t even bother with “compatible ink” options.
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is a great photo printer, just not on plain paper. You must print photos on photo paper. We cannot stress this enough.
The print quality on plain paper lacks the vividness and deep colours you can get from photo printers with 6-ink or 8-ink print systems, or if you use photo paper.
Photo paper not only delivers the vibrant colours and incredible print resolution, it is also thicker. The recommended Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, for example, has a paper weight of 225 gm.
While the L3150 is officially limited to 80 gm plain paper, it supports much heavier photo paper. So unofficially, it will support art card and heavier plain paper stocks.
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is, ultimately, an affordable multifunction printer for the family or SOHO.
It lets you freely print and make colour copieswithout worrying about the cost; with the ability to scan full A4 / Letter documents.
We cannot stress the very low cost of ownership enough, because many competing printers are cheaper, but kill you with their high printing costs.
On top of that, it offers fast and convenient wireless printing capability, not just on the same wireless network, but literally from anywhere in the world!
Because it offers a great combination of features, excellent print quality, and low cost of ownership, we believe the Epson EcoTank L3150 deserves no less than our Editor’s Choice Award! Great job, Epson!
Epson EcoTank L3150 : Where To Buy
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is available for purchase with a recommended retail price of RM 599, which is about US$140 / £110 / A$199 / S$195. Here are some online purchase options :
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If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Samsung Galaxy A52 : Key Features
6.5-inch Super AMOLED Display
The Samsung Galaxy A52 comes with a large 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display, with a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels.
You may be delighted to learn that it not only supports a higher 90 Hz refresh rate, it also has 800 nits of maximum brightness!
The display is also Eye Care-certified, and automatically adjusts its colour temperature to reduce eye fatigue – what Samsung calls Eye Comfort Shield.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
The Samsung Galaxy A52 is built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G (SM7225) mobile platform, which consists of :
2 x high-performance Kryo 570 Gold cores, running at up to 2.3 GHz
6 x low-power Kryo 570 Silver cores, running at up to 1.8 GHz
Qualcomm Adreno 619 GPU
Qualcomm Hexagon 694 NPU
Qualcomm Spectra 355L ISP
Fabricated on the 8 nm process technology, this mid-range mobile SoC promises to deliver 20% faster CPU, 20% faster AI and 10% faster graphics performance over its predecessor, the Snapdragon 730G.
RAM + Storage
The Samsung Galaxy A52 comes with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. This is way more than what most users can ever expect to use.
But if you actually need more storage, it comes with a hybrid SIM tray, which allows you to add a microSD card for more storage!
1 + 4 Cameras!
The Samsung Galaxy A52 boasts a 32 MP front camera, with a wide f/2.2 aperture. The ultra-high resolution is, frankly, overkill for a selfie camera.
So if you don’t need the high resolution, switch to the 8 MP resolution for better low-light photos and videos.
In the back, it has a quad camera system that consists of :
64 MP main camera, with f/1.8 aperture
12 MP ultra-wide camera, with f/2.2 aperture
5 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture
5 MP depth camera, with f/2.4 aperture
We should point out that the depth camera doesn’t take any photos.. It just obtains depth data to allow for more accurate software bokeh effects.
We really like how the matte colour scheme makes the slight camera bump appear even less conspicuous.
Connectivity
While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G is a 5G platform, 5G connectivity was turned off in our Galaxy A52. It may be offered as a 5G model in some countries, but not in Malaysia.
That’s just fine by us as we don’t see 5G connectivity becoming widespread for at least 3-4 more years! Turning off 5G will also help save power and extend battery life.
It also supports Wi-Fi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), as well as Bluetooth 5.0 and USB Type C connectivity.
Samsung Galaxy Ecosystem
The Samsung Galaxy A52 will allow you to be part of the Samsung ecosystem through these features :
SmartThings lets you connect to, and control, smart devices including wearables, tablets, PCs and TVs.
SmartThings Find lets you easily locate paired Galaxy devices, or using the Galaxy SmartTag.
Music Share lets you sync your phone with a friend’s device to share music, without speaker pairing.
Buds Together lets you pair your phone with two sets of Galaxy Buds, to listen together!
Quick Share lets you easily and quickly send pictures and videos of any size to nearby Galaxy devices.
Private Share lets you revoke photos and videos you shared with just a tap!
Security + Protection
The Samsung Galaxy A52 has Samsung Knox built-in, providing you with a defence-grade enclave to store your sensitive information and data.
is IP67-rated against dust- and water-resistance. This protects it against accidental water splashes, and immersion in up to 1 metre of fresh water, for up to 30 minutes.
We should point out that Samsung warns against immersing it in seawater, the swimming pool or in soapy water.
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Samsung Galaxy A52 : Camera Performance + Photo Samples
The Samsung Galaxy A52’s 64 MP main camera takes 16 MP photos by default, with a resolution of 4624 x 3468 pixels.
The 46 MP sensor basically combines four pixels into one large “virtual pixel”, for better image quality and low-light performance.
The Galaxy A52 produces very good photos with really incredible detail at 16 MP, so stick with that unless you are planning to print really large format photos.
While the wide f/1.8 aperture creates a narrow depth-of-field, so there is the risk of ending up with an out-of-focus photo.
It is easy to “fix” that problem by tapping on the screen to make sure the camera focuses exactly where you want it to.
While this works with all smartphones, the Galaxy A52 does a much better job focusing than say, the Redmi 9T.
Here are ten unedited photo samples for you to check out.
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Samsung Galaxy A52 : Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy A52 comes with a large 4,500 mAh battery.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 90 Hz refresh rates :
Very nice! Even though it only comes with a 15 watt fast charger, the Samsung Galaxy A52 recharged 62% faster than the Redmi 9T with its 18 watt fast charger!
Samsung Galaxy A52 : Work Performance
We tested the Galaxy A52 using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 2.0
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Galaxy
A52
Galaxy
S10+
Redmi 9T
Mobile Platform
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
SD 750G
Exynos
9820
SD 662
Performance Score
(Average)
10523
8981
7874
7846
5986
Web Browsing
8865
8293
7021
8583
5844
Video Editing
6232
9166
5693
5524
3423
Writing
11112
9579
7454
9076
6657
Photo Editing
30789
19376
15812
10710
12031
Data Manipulation
6825
6155
6424
6450
4799
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G is a powerful mid-range mobile SoC. It is actually as powerful as the flagship Samsung Exynos 9820 in work applications!
Samsung Galaxy A52 Gaming Performance : 3DMark
For gaming, we first tested the Galaxy A52 using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Galaxy
S10+
Galaxy
A52
Redmi 9T
Device
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
Exynos
9820
SD 750G
SD 662
Sling Shot Extreme (OpenGL)
6642
5037
4470
2565
1174
Sling Shot Extreme (Vulkan)
5722
4794
4314
2416
1098
Sling Shot
8128
4883
4343
3764
1844
The Samsung Galaxy A52 is definitely not as fast in games, as flagship mobile platforms. But it is just over twice as fast as mid-range smartphones like the Redmi 9T.
Samsung Galaxy A52 Overall Performance : AnTuTu
We then tested the Galaxy A52 using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Galaxy
A52
Galaxy
S10+
Redmi 9T
Device
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
SD 750G
Exynos
9820
SD
662
AnTuTu Score
522735
348397
341908
330549
173559
CPU
146783
101187
105098
100272
64505
GPU
215205
156700
88068
149930
31734
Memory
89376
72051
60642
68188
40377
UX
71371
18459
88100
12159
36943
Will you look at that? The Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G is right between the Exynos 9820 and Exynos 9825 – both flagship mobile SoCs from Samsung.
It is also notably twice as fast as the old Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 used in the Xiaomi Redmi 9T.
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Samsung Galaxy A52 : A Quick Wrap
The Galaxy A52 offers quite the awesome deal that Samsung promised. Let’s do a quick wrap of what we really liked about it.
Very Nice Display
The Samsung Galaxy A52 has a very nice 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate, and brightness of up to 800 nits!
Great Performance
We are very glad Samsung built the Galaxy A52 around the Snapdragon 750G, which proved to offer really good CPU and GPU performance. It feels like a flagship device, without the flagship price.
Nice Set Of Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy A52 comes with a very nice set of cameras – both in front and in the back.
The 64 MP main camera and 12 MP ultra-wide camera are the main stars. The 5 MP macro camera will not see much use, but at least it is better than the 2 MP macro camera that comes in some mid-range devices!
The image quality of the 64 MP main camera, in particular, is superb in its default 16 MP mode.
Long Battery Life, Fast Recharging
You will really like how long the Galaxy A52 lasts, and how fast it recharges.
Small Niceties
There are a couple of small features that could be very important, and yet are not available in other mid-range smartphones :
3.5 mm audio port
AKG-tuned speakers
Triple card tray with microSD card slot
Samsung Galaxy A52 : Our Verdict + Award
The Samsung Galaxy A52 offers a lot of great features and a very long battery life, at a great price point.
There are very few smartphones at this price point that would offer you a large 90 Hz Super AMOLED display, a powerful processor and a 64 MP camera system, with a large battery.
This is why we believe it deserves nothing less than our Editor’s Choice Award! Congratulations, Samsung!
Samsung Galaxy A52 : Where To Buy?
The Samsung Galaxy A52 has a launch price of RM1,499 (approx. US$362 / £262 / A$474 / S$487) with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage.
Here in Malaysia, it will come with a FREE clear standing cover worth RM109.
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The Dell XPS 13 (9300) features the first-ever InfinityEdge display with Gorilla Glass 6 protection.
Find out why we think it’s an incredible ultra-light laptop worthy of our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Featuring The InfinityEdge Display
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) continues the evolution of the XPS 13 line, with an ultra-light chassis built from machined aluminium and woven glass fibre, with Gorilla Glass 6 protection.
With the first-ever InfinityEdge display, the XPS 13 (9300) offers a 13.4-inch display in an 11-inch form factor, that fits neatly on an airplane’s seat tray.
Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Colour Options
Our unit comes in the Frost White colour with an Arctic White woven glass fibre palm rest.
Dell also offers the Platinum Silver colour option, with a Black carbon fiber palm rest.
Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Specifications + Options
Specifications
XPS 13 9300
Display Size
13.4-inch
Display Options
4K touch screen (3840 x 2400)
Full HD touch screen (1920 x 1200)
Full HD non-touch (1920 x 1200)
Display Features
WLED backlight
60 Hz refresh rate
500 nits max. brightness
35 ms response time
1200:1 contrast ratio
Realtek ALC3281-CG audio chip
2 x 2.5 watt speakers
Dual microphone array
3.5 mm audio jack
Wireless
Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2×2)
Bluetooth 5.1
External Ports
2 x Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type C) ports
– with Power Delivery and DisplayPort
1 x 3.5 mm audio port
1 x microSD card slot
Camera
HD webcam
Fingerprint Sensor
Yes, capacitive 500 dpi sensor
Keyboard
Backlit keyboard
19.05 x 18.05 mm key pitch
Touchpad
1300 x 722 pixel resolution
Battery
4-cell 52 Whr lithium-ion battery
Charger
45 watt USB Type C charger
Dimensions
296 mm wide
199 mm deep
14.8 mm thick
Weight
1.27 kg (touch screen)
1.20 kg (non-touch)
Unboxing The Dell XPS 13 (9300) Laptop
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) comes in a premium white cardboard box. Once you fully unbox it, you will find these items :
Dell XPS 13 (9300) laptop
Dell USB Type C to USB Type A dongle
45 watt charger with integrated USB Type C cable
Power cord with localised plug
XPS 13 9300 Quick Start Guide + Safety and Regulatory Information
Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Hands-On Experience!
This Dell XPS 13 (9300) is an eminently thin and light laptop. It offers a 13.4-inch display in an 11-inch form factor that weighs only 1.27 kg, and is less than 15 mm thick.
It easily fits into the smallest laptop bag, and even a large handbag. And when you can fly again, you will love how it fits onto the airplane’s seat tray!
Once you try it out, you will find it hard to go back to regular laptops – you will find them heavy and unwieldy!
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Dell XPS 13 (9300) : A Closer Look!
13.4-inch Display In 11-Inch Form Factor
This Dell XPS 13 (9300) model comes with a 4K UHD+ touch display, with a resolution of 3840 x 2400 pixel, a colour gamut of 90% DCI-P3 and DisplayHDR 400 certification.
The incredibly high resolution and wide colour gamut allow your high resolution photos and HDR content to really pop.
Dell also offers a Full HD+ display, with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and 100% sRGB colour gamut; in both touch and non-touch options.
All three display options are 25% brighter at 500 nits, and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 against scratches and impact.
Cameras + Security
The thin bezel at the top conceals two cameras – a regular 720p webcam, and an infra-red camera for facial recognition.
So you can either unlock the XPS 13 using the IR camera and Windows Hello, or the fingerprint sensor, which integrated into the power button.
While its 720p webcam may be rather low in resolution, it uses a new 4-element lens for sharper image quality. It also supports temporal noise reduction to improve video quality in low-light conditions.
We hope that Dell would look at upgrading it to a 1080p camera, with a physical or electronics privacy shutter.
Performance
Our Dell XPS 13 (9300) is powered by the Intel Core i7-1065G7 – a 4-core, 8-thread processor with 8 MB of cache and built-in Iris Plus Graphics.
You can opt for a Core i5-1035G1 or the Core i3-1005G1, both of which come with integrated UHD Graphics.
A redesigned cooler keeps things cool, using a single heat pipe and evaporator design with dual condensers and GORE thermal insulation. The hot air is exhausted through the hinge at the back.
It can get a little toasty from the hot exhaust when you use it on your lap, especially if you’re doing compute-intensive tasks like rendering videos.
It also comes with 16 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4X memory running at 3733 MHz. The memory is soldered onto the motherboard and cannot be upgraded.
Our unit came with a 1 TB SK hynix PC611 PCIe NVMe SSD, but you can opt for a smaller 512 GB SSD, or a larger 2 TB SSD.
Ports
Due to its ultra-slim profile – 14.8 mm at its thickest point, the XPS 13 has very limited ports.
On the left side, you will find a microSD card reader; as well as a single Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type C) port, which supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort output
On the right side, you will find a 3.5 mm microphone and headphone combo port, with a second Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type C) port, which also supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort output.
You can plug the USB Type C charging cable into either Thunderbolt 3 port. But unless you are using it on-the-go, you really only have one free port to use.
The good news is Dell actually bundles the XPS 13 (9300) with a free USB Type C to USB Type A dongle, so you can use your USB Type A drives and devices (including cables) with it.
Keyboard + Touchpad
The Dell XPS (9300) comes an edge-to-edge keyboard, and a 17% larger touchpad for maximum working comfort. The keyboard is backlit, and comes with larger key caps!
It definitely offers a far superior typing experience to the horrible butterfly switch keyboard used in Apple MacBook Pro laptops.
Connectivity
Our XPS 13 (9300) comes with the Killer AX1650 module, which offers Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with 2×2 antennas, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity.
It is much too thin to support a LAN port, but you can add LAN connectivity using a USB-C dongle.
Audio
The two long stripes on both sides of the XPS 13 are not cooling vents, but ports for its 2.5 watt stereo speakers, which are tuned with Waves MaxxAudio Pro.
Its 3.5 mm microphone / headphone combo jack is also optimised with the 360-degree Waves NX 3D virtual surround sound with head tracking.
Finally, its dual microphone array is powered by Waves MaxxVoice Pro, which supports VOIP and is Cortana Farfield-capable.
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Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Performance
Our Dell XPS 13 (9300) is powered by the 15-watt Intel Core i7-1065G7 (Ice Lake) with 4 cores and 8 threads, and Iris Plus Graphics with 64 Execution Units.
It comes with 8 MB of cache, and has a 1.3 GHz base frequency that ramps up to 3.5 GHz during intensive tasks.
Our review sample came with 16 GB LPDDR4X-3733 dual-channel memory, and a 1 TB SK hynix PC611 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Work Performance : PCMark 10
The Intel Core i7-1065G7 is a 25 watt processor that can be configured to run at a lower TDP of 15 watt – to improve battery life and reduce thermal output.
At the full 25 watt TDP, it should deliver PCMark 10 scores in excess of 4700. It is obvious now that Dell configured it for the cooler 15 watt TDP. This is why benchmarks are important.
The integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics sounds powerful on paper – with 64 Execution Units – but it is only about as fast as the NVIDIA GeForce MX130 / GeForce 940MX.
So this is most definitely NOT a gaming laptop, although you should have no problem playing older games and games that are not 3D graphics-intensive like DOTA 2.
Battery Life : YouTube + Modern Office
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) comes with a 4-cell smart lithium-ion battery that is rated for 52 Whr.
Dell claims a battery life of up to 18 hours and 49 minutes with the Full HD+ display, and up to 12 hours and 13 minutes with the 4K UHD+ display.
In our general use, we have no problem working a full day on it without recharging, which makes it really convenient when travelling.
That said, we locked the brightness at 50% – higher than the average of 40% – to see how it performs in these worst-case scenarios :
YouTube Streaming
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) lasted 8 hours 15 minutes streaming YouTube videos in theatre mode using WiFi, before its battery dropped to 10%.
PCMark 10 : Modern Office
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) lasted 6 hours 36 minutes before it powered off while running the Modern Office benchmark.
Battery : Recharging Speed
Its 65 watt fast charger took about 52.5 minutes to hit the mid-point (55%), but 2 hours 23.5 minutes to fully recharge its battery from 10%.
Here are the times it takes to recharge from 10% :
15% – 5 minutes 57 seconds
20% – 11 minutes 53 seconds
25% – 17 minutes 45 seconds
30% – 23 minutes 22 seconds
35% – 29 minutes 25 seconds
40% – 35 minutes 8 seconds
45% – 41 minutes 22 seconds
50% – 46 minutes 56 seconds
55% – 52 minutes 39 seconds
60% – 58 minutes 27 seconds
65% – 64 minutes 13 seconds
70% – 70 minutes 15 seconds
75% – 76 minutes
80% – 81 minutes 58 seconds
85% – 89 minutes 41 seconds
90% – 100 minutes 50 seconds
95% – 118 minutes 45 seconds
100% – 143 minutes 20 seconds
This gives it a battery life : recharging time ratio of 3.45 : 1 for video streaming, and 2.76 : 1 for office work.
As a rule of thumb, you will need to recharge its battery about 22 minutes for every hour of battery life.
Dell XPS 13 (9300) : Verdict + Award
The Dell XPS 13 (9300) is a really great ultra-light laptop for people who are always on-the-go.
It packs serious processing power, memory and a huge SSD with the latest wireless connectivity built-in, in a very thin and light package.
It is less than 15 mm at its thickest point, and weighs less than 1.3 kg. But this is something you have to hold in your hand to actually get a feel of how much engineering went into the XPS 13.
Even the latest 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro, powered by the new Apple M1 SoC, is larger, thicker at 15.6 mm and weighs more at 1.4 kg!
The extremely thin profile offers some challenges to first time users – limited physical ports. Yet the XPS 13 (9300) managed to squeeze in an extra microSD card reader over the new 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1).
Even so, you will have to live with just two USB Type C ports – one of which is not available when you recharge its battery. Fortunately, the XPS 13 (9300) comes with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless connectivity.
Thankfully, Dell threw in a free USB-C to USB-A dongle, so at least you have ready access to your USB Type A drives and devices out-of-the-box.
Security-conscious users will love the fingerprint sensor and IR camera, which allows for easy and secure logins. However, the webcam lacks a physical shutter, and the lid clearance is too tight to safely use a third-party shutter.
As far as battery life is concerned, the XPS 13 (9300) will last more than full day’s work without recharging. After a while, you will get used to leaving the office without the charger!
All-in-all, the Dell XPS 13 (9300) is an engineering marvel that must be experienced to truly understand. If you want the very best Windows 10 ultra-light laptop money can buy, this should be right at the top of the list.
That is why we wholeheartedly award it our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Dell for sending us this review unit, and making us part of the #DellInsideCircle
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If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Key Features
Here is a quick run-through of the Xiaomi Redmi 9T’s key features.
6.53-inch FHD+ Dot Drop Display
The Redmi 9T sports a large 6.53-inch Dot Drop display, with a FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels.
This display has a pixel density of 395 ppi, and a maximum brightness of 400 nits.
It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and is TUV Rheinland-certified for low blue light.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 662
The Redmi 9T is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 – a mid-range mobile SoC released in early 2020.
It has an 8-core processor, with four high-speed Qualcomm Kryo 260 Gold cores running at 2.0 GHz, and four low-power Qualcomm Kryo 260 Silver cores running at 1.8 GHz.
In addition to the Qualcomm Adreno 610 GPU, and 3rd Generation Qualcomm AI Engine, it offers 4G LTE and WiFi-AC connectivity.
Memory + Storage Options
Xiaomi is offering two memory and storage options – 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage, and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage.
It also comes with a microSD card slot, in a triple card tray that also supports two nano SIM cards.
This is a big advantage for those who need additional storage, as well as the ability to support two SIM cards.
Five Cameras
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T has an 8 MP selfie camera, with a f/2.05 aperture, hidden in a teardrop notch. A decent front camera at this price point.
At the back, it has a camera system that consists of :
a 48 MP main camera, with f/1.79 aperture and 4-in-1 Super Pixel capability
an 8 MP ultra-wide camera, with f/2.2 aperture
a 2 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture, and
a 2 MP depth sensor, with f/2.4 aperture
a single LED flash
This is really a triple camera system since the depth sensor does not capture any images, only provides depth data for better software bokeh effects.
Fingerprint Sensor
While many entry-level smartphones do not come with a fingerprint sensor, Redmi 9T has one on the side – an FPC102x sensor.
It is actually built into the Power button, which is more useful than a rear sensor if you attach it to your car’s dashboard.
Power + Charging
Powering all that is a massive 6,000 mAh battery, which supports 18 watt fast charging.
Oddly enough, it comes with a 22.5 watt Xiaomi MDY-11-EP charger in the box, so that’s a nice “freebie”.
Audio Port + IR Emitter
Those who are still hanging onto their wired earphones will be happy to learn that the Redmi 9T comes with a 3.5 mm port at the top.
In addition, it also comes with an IR emitter that lets you use the Redmi 9T as a remote control.
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Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Camera Performance + Photo Samples
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T’s 48 MP main camera takes 12 MP photos by default, with a resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixels.
The 48 MP sensor basically combines four pixels into one large “virtual pixel”, for better image quality and low-light performance.
The Redmi 9T produces pretty good photos with more than enough detail at 12 MP, unless you are planning to print large format photos.
There are three issues with this camera though, which we will go through below. In the meantime, take a look at three of the better photo samples we took.
Very Narrow Depth Of Field
First – its large f/1.79 aperture makes for better low-light performance, but has very narrow depth-of-field.
If you take a look at the these photos, you can see how only a small segment is in focus.
This is great for portraits, giving you a nice bokeh for the background. However, if you do not frame and focus properly, you will end up with an out-of-focus photo.
Long Minimum Focus
This camera has a rather long minimum focus, which makes for tricky close-up shots. It doesn’t help that the Redmi 9T won’t tell you when the camera cannot focus properly.
If you take pictures of close-up objects, you will more than likely end up with a bunch of out-of-focus photos.
Post Processing Issues
Finally – its AI post-processing sometimes can wipe out details.
If you look at this photo, you can’t really tell the yellow flower petals apart because the saturation boost just wiped out the detail and contrast.
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Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Battery Life
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T comes with a massive 6,000 mAh battery.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained :
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T may support 18 W charging, and even comes with a 22.5 watt fast charger, but it sure is slow at charging.
It takes over 3 hours to fully recharge its 6,000 mAh battery from 20% – almost twice as slow as the next slowest smartphone – the Black Shark 2 Pro!
Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Work Performance
We tested the Redmi 9T using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 2.0
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
BS 2 Pro
Galaxy
S10+
Redmi 9T
Mobile Platform
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
SD
855+
Exynos
9820
SD 662
Performance Score
10523
8981
8384
7846
5986
Web Browsing
8865
8293
6768
8583
5844
Video Editing
6232
9166
5948
5524
3423
Writing
11112
9579
9226
9076
6657
Photo Editing
30789
19376
17595
10710
12031
Data Manipulation
6825
6155
6339
6450
4799
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 is a mid-range mobile SoC released in early 2020. So it isn’t surprising to see that it’s only about half as fast as a flagship SoC like the Exynos 990.
Even so, it offers pretty good work performance at this price point. Unless you are comparing smartphones side-by-side, you probably won’t notice the difference.
Xiaomi Redmi 9T Gaming Performance : 3DMark
For gaming, we first tested the Redmi 9T using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
Note20
Ultra
B Shark
2 Pro
Galaxy
Note10+
Galaxy
S10+
Redmi 9T
Device
Exynos
990
SD
855+
Exynos
9825
Exynos
9820
SD 662
Sling Shot Extreme (OpenGL)
6642
6258
5037
4470
1174
Sling Shot Extreme (Vulkan)
5722
5386
4794
4314
1098
Sling Shot
8128
8127
4883
4343
1844
Needless to say, the Xiaomi Redmi 9T is no speedy Gonzales, when it comes to games.
On average, it only offers about 20% the gaming performance of a flagship chip like the Exynos 990, which powers the Galaxy Note20.
Xiaomi Redmi 9T Overall Performance : AnTuTu
We then tested the Redmi 9T using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
Note20
Ultra
B Shark
2 Pro
Galaxy
Note10+
Galaxy
S10+
Redmi 9T
Device
Exynos
990
SD
855+
Exynos
9825
Exynos
9820
SD 662
AnTuTu Score
522735
434168
348397
330549
173559
CPU
146783
126170
101187
100272
64505
GPU
215205
188158
156700
149930
31734
Memory
89376
65052
72051
68188
40377
UX
71371
54788
18459
12159
36943
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 has decent CPU and memory performance, but falls short in the graphics department.
It’s good enough for work and the average mobile game. But don’t count on it to push the envelope when it comes to gaming.
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Xiaomi Redmi 9T : A Quick Wrap
When we first received the Xiaomi Redmi 9T, we didn’t think much of it. But after a few weeks of trying it out, we came away pretty impressed with a few aspects.
But we also had some concerns, so let’s do a quick wrap…
Fantastic Battery Life
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T has seriously great battery life. This is a smartphone you can count on for a full day’s work without a power bank.
We have actually gone 2 days without recharging, so most users will probably never have battery anxiety with this phone!
Nice Large Display
The large 6.53-inch IPS display is pretty nice, especially at this price point. You would expect a 720p display without protection, but no, this is a Full HD+ panel with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
It is not particularly bright though, with 400 nits of maximum brightness. So don’t be disappointed if it appears a little washed out in bright sunlight.
Small Niceties
There are a couple of small features that could be very important, and yet are no longer available in other smartphones :
3.5 mm audio port
IR emitter
Triple card tray with microSD card slot
Pretty Decent Camera
Forget about the 48 MP marketing. It’s really a 12 MP camera. And it’s a nice camera at this price point.
Just watch out for the narrow depth-of-field, inability to take close-up photos and potential over-processing.
Not For Serious Gaming
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 is a pretty good processor at this price point, and offers decent work performance.
However, it has a rather weak GPU. Perfectly fine for those playing simple mobile games, but not for serious gamers.
Slow Charging
Xiaomi may quote a 18 watt charging capability, and even pack a 22.5 watt fast charger in the box. But this baby sure takes its time recharging.
Fortunately, its long battery life ensures that you really don’t need to keep it plugged more than once a day.
Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Our Verdict + Award
The Xiaomi Redmi 9T offers a lot of decent features and a very long battery life, at a great price point.
There are very few smartphones at this price point that would offer you a large Full HD display, a decent processor and camera system, with a large battery.
This is why we believe it deserves nothing less than our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
Xiaomi Redmi 9T : Where To Buy?
The Redmi 9T is available for purchase, in two variants :
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a 10 MP telephoto camera, with an f/2.4 aperture, and 3X optical zoom, and
a 10 MP periscope telephoto camera, with an f/4.9 aperture, and 10X optical zoom
For the first time, it has two 10 MP telephoto cameras – one with 3X optical zoom, and a periscope camera with 10X optical zoom.
The Dual Zoom capability refers to the ability to smoothly switch from the 3X telephoto camera, to the 10X periscope camera, with AI-enhanced Super Resolution to deliver sharper, stabilised video.
Its Audio Zoom capability isn’t new, having been first introduced in the Galaxy S10 series. It uses the triple microphones to change the range of sound captured as you “zoom” into the action. This lets you “focus” on the subject that you are recording, and reducing ambient noise.
Improved 8K Snap, that lets you capture clear images from your 8K video footage
Super Steady video now supports 60 fps video recording
Single Take lets you capture a variety of still and video formats with a single tap.
It is now enhanced with new pro-style settings like Highlight Video and Dynamic Slow-Mo
New Director’s View that lets you see, switch and select the best shot… LIVE!
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is also the first Samsung smartphone to allow you to shoot in 4K at 60 fps on all front and rear cameras!
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can zoom at up to 20X while recording 1080p video at up to 60 fps, and 4K video at up to 30 fps.
So we recorded a series of handheld video clips in both 1080p at 60 fps, and 4K at 30 fps, to test its Dual Zoom and Audio Zoom capabilities.
By default, the Samsung Camera app offers zoom presets of 0.6X, 1.0X, 3.0X and 10X.
You can use pinch-to-zoom further, or you can do a long press on any of the presets to get access to a wider range of zoom presets – 0.6X, 1.0X, 2.0X, 4.0X, 10X and 20X.
Dual Zoom + Audio Zoom @ 1080p (60 fps)
At 1080p, handheld image stabilisation was very good, except at 20X zoom where you can see some visible handshake.
That said, the handshake at 20X is really quite minimal, compared to older stabilised cameras and even worse, unstabilised cameras!
The best test of Audio Zoom can be heard in the Chinese New Year concourse clip. Notice how the music from the concourse gets louder as we zoom in, and fade out as we zoom out.
Dual Zoom + Audio Zoom @ 4K (30 fps)
At 4K, handheld image stabilisation was very good at up to 4X, and pretty good at 10X. At 20X zoom, there was visible handshake, but it was really quite acceptable.
Of course, for best image quality, you should stick to 10X zoom. 20X at 4K looks a little blur, so the extra resolution at 4K doesn’t help at all.
Another good example of Audio Zoom is at the playground. Even though it’s empty, the bird chirps get louder as we zoom in, and fade out as we zoom out.
Dual Zoom is just a fancy name for the ability to switch between the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s two telephoto lenses.
Naturally, you want to use the 3X telephoto camera with its much wider aperture, and only switch to the 10X periscope lens with its narrower aperture when you need the extra reach.
Its AI-enhanced Super Resolution feature enhances image quality in the zoom gap between 3X optical zoom and 10X optical zoom.
While most people are not aware of Audio Zoom, it can greatly enhance the overall audio quality of the video, by focusing on subject in focus.
Thanks to these two features, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra arguably delivers the best video recording capabilities for a smartphone today.
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DirectX 12 Ultimate – offering support for the next-generation games with DirectX Raytracing and Variable Rate Shading.
New Ray Accelerator – delivers real-time lighting, shadow and reflection realism through DirectX Raytracing.
Variable Rate Sharing (VRS) – dynamically reduces shading rate for better performance at little to no loss in image quality.
DirectStorage Support – delivers faster load times and high-quality textures in the future.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT : Price + Availability
The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT has a RRP of US$649, and will be available for sale starting 18 November 2020.
Custom boards will be available from brands like ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte starting in November 2020.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT : Specifications
This table summarises how the RX 6800 XT compares against the RX 6900 XT and the RX 6800.
Specifications
Radeon RX
6900 XT
Radeon RX 6800 XT
Radeon RX
6800
Transistors
26.8 billion
Fab Process
7 nm
Die Size
519 mm²
Total Graphics Power
300 W
250 W
Compute Units
80
72
60
Ray Accelerators
80
72
60
Stream Processors
5120
4608
3840
Game Clock
2015 MHz
2015 MHz
1815 MHz
Boost Clock
2250 MHz
2250 MHz
2105 MHz
TFLOPS
23.04
20.74
16.17
TMUs
320
288
240
Max. Texture Rate
720 GT/s
648 GT/s
505 GT/s
ROPs
128
96
Max. Pixel Rate
288 GP/s
202 GP/s
Infinity Cache
128 MB
Graphics Memory
16 GB GDDR6 (16 Gbps)
Bus Width
256-bit
Bandwidth
512 GB/s
PCIe Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16
Unboxing The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT!
The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT comes in a large and heavy cardboard box. Very heavy duty, with thick foam packaging.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT : Hands-On Experience!
Let’s take a closer look at the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT in our hands-on video, and pictures.
Be careful when you handle it, because it is a rather bulky and heavy card.
That’s partly because it comes with a large (and heavy) 2.5-slot cooler with triple axial fans.
The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is kept cool by a really thick heatsink, covered by a shroud with triple axial fans.
Part of the reason why it’s so heavy – it has a full-length die-cast aluminium backplate at the back.
Here you can see its thick heatsink, and how its cooler is designed to suck in air from the front of the card, and exhaust the hot air from the top and the bottom of the card.
It has four display connectors. From left to right : one USB Type C port, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and one HDMI 2.1 port.
The card uses up to 300 watts of power, and comes with two 8-pin PCI Express power connectors.
It should work with two 6-pin power cables though – both 8-pin and 6-pin cables deliver 150 watts.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT supports PCI Express 4.0, which offers double the bandwidth of PCI Express 3.0.
However, that requires you to use a PCI Express 4.0 motherboard, like the recommended AMD X570 motherboards.
But do not fret if you are on the Intel platform. It is backward-compatible with PCI Express 3.0, and will work just fine with PCIe 3.0 motherboards.
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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT : Benchmarking Notes
In this review, we will take a look at its gaming performance (with and without Smart Access Memory), and compare it to seven other graphics cards :
Our testbed pairs the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor with the ASUS CROSSHAIR VIII Hero (AMD X570) motherboard, with 32 GB of DDR4 memory.
Take a look at the Radeon RX 6800 XT in action, and listen to how quiet it sounds… even when it revs up during the strenuous part of the test!
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT : Peak Exhaust Temperature
We recorded the peak exhaust temperatures of those cards, to see how much heat they throw out. Take a look…
Note that these are not the recorded temperatures, but how much hotter the exhaust air is above ambient temperature.
Rated for 300 watts, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is definitely a hot card, blowing out really hot air like a hairdryer. The good news is – its triple axial fans are quiet even during the most strenuous tests.
But please make sure your case is well-ventilated, as the hot air is expelled from the top and bottom of the card, and will recirculate within the case.
It will get really, REALLY hot inside the chassis if you don’t ventilate well!
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Performance : 3DMark
We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which offers a great approximation of gaming performance in general.
The Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme benchmarks support DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.
Time Spy – 2560 x 1440
Look at that! The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was about 52% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 73% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER!
In the overall gaming score, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ends up about 42% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 58% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER. Very impressive!
Time Spy Extreme – 3840 x 2160
At the higher 4K resolution, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT did even better – it was about 56% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 77% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER!
In the overall score, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was about 48% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 65% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER!
Port Royal (Ray Tracing)
Nice! The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was about 29% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 49% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER in ray tracing!
DirectX Raytracing Test
We ran the standalone DirectX Raytracing test too, and it confirmed that the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was about 22% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 47% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER in ray tracing!
PCI Express Bandwidth
The AMD cards all support PCI Express 4.0, which gives them an edge over the NVIDIA cards.
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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Performance : F1 2019
F1 2019 is a racing game by Codemasters, released on 28 June 2019.
We tested it on three resolutions at the Ultra High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080
1440p : 2560 x 1440
2160p : 3840 x 2160
1080p Gaming Resolution
Very impressive! The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was about 48% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, and 53% faster than the RX 5700 XT!
At the higher 1440p resolution, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was 49% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, 75% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER, and 85% faster than the RX 5700 XT.
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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Performance : Dirt 5
Dirt 5 is a brand new off-road racing game by Codemasters, released on 6 November 2020.
We tested it on three resolutions using the Ultra High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080
1440p : 2560 x 1440
2160p : 3840 x 2160
Note : This game appears to be highly-optimised for AMD graphics cards.
At this higher resolution, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT was 64% faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER, 73% faster than the RX 5700 XT, and 87% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER.
