DigiTech Geeks

Cheaper than an iPad, and with eyes on Amazon: meet Huawei's new low-cost tablet Just when you thought manufacturers may be over trying to make tablets to rival Apple, 2022 turns up with a volley of new slates, the latest of which is the new Huawei MatePad, unveiled at MWC 2022 . Announced on stage by Huawei CEO, Richard Yu, the low-cost MatePad undercuts the cheapest iPad with its base configuration of 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage setting you back €279 (around $315, £235, AU$435). This makes Huawei's latest cheap tablet just a shade more expensive than Amazon's highly-affordable line of Fire Tablets - however for those in Western markets, Amazon's offering has the support of a stronger app store and ecosystem. That's because Huawei devices are still banned from using the Google Play Store, so have to rely on the company's own App Gallery instead. The app offering is growing, but it's still not as strong as the Google, Amazon and Apple equivalents.  ...

Huawei's MatePad Paper might be the first serious Amazon Kindle rival While Amazon's Kindle devices are by far the biggest names in ereaders, with E-Ink devices from Onyx and Xiaomi only getting limited attention, a big new device has just been announced which could be a serious rival. This comes from tech giant Huawei, unveiled as part of its conference at MWC 2022 , and it's called the Huawei MatePad Paper. There are some seriously impressive specs here for an ereader, which is why we think it could rival Amazon's slates, particularly the Kindle Oasis. The Paper comes with a 10.3-inch screen, which is pretty big for an ereader, has support for a stylus and there's a fingerprint scanner built into the power button.  It uses a USB-C port which will allow for quick charging, has an Oasis-like spine to be easily holdable, and has a four-week battery life. Software-wise, this runs Huawei's HarmonyOS , and includes the Huawei Books app providing you access to...

Audi wants your next car to be both a 5G mobile device and a vehicle Good old 3G is at the top of the news cycle these days, as it finally fades into the sunset . Automakers sounded the alarm that the move would break all sorts of important-sounding functions in their vehicles, but so far few have proposed solutions. Audi and Verizon, however, are well down that path, as the two announced a partnership to integrate 5G tech into upcoming models from the German automaker.  It's unclear when the services will make their way into a vehicle, but Verizon says it more than doubled its 5G deployment in 2021and notes that it plans to continue expanding aggressively going forward.  “Audi drivers will be among the first in the world to experience a new generation of automobiles, one in which their car is both a 5G mobile device and a vehicle,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, in a press statement. Mobile phones and connected devices got a huge speed boost when 4G debuted ...

Oppo's first Android tablet looks like a tempting iPad Air rival Rumors point to Oppo launching its first Android tablet very soon - people think it'll come alongside the Find X5 series on February 24, though we don't know that for sure - and the biggest leak yet has provided us some imagery of the tablet. This comes from a leaker posting on Chinese social media platform Weibo , who shared hands-on imagery of the slate. They also mentioned that it'll be called the Oppo Pad, and will be compatible with a stylus and keyboard folio, with one of the images showing the latter in use. The pictures don't show us too much, but tablets don't exactly vary wildly in appearance. It looks like an iPad Air 4 , with thin bezels, one rear camera and a sleek design. Some could call the appearance divisive though, as part of the rear is filled up with the word Oppo repeated in large, oddly positioned letters, and it all looks a bit weird. Analysis: a true iPad Air rival ...

Apple’s future MacBook could be one big (foldable) screen Apple could be preparing to develop a very different MacBook in the future, in the guise of a foldable device, if the latest chatter from the grapevine is correct. Obviously all MacBooks fold in half, but when we say a foldable, we do, of course, refer to a laptop which is simply one big display that folds in the middle, and this is what analyst Ross Young (of Display Supply Chain Consultants, or DSCC) believes that Apple is now researching. In a newly released report flagged by MacRumors , Young claims that Apple may have delayed a rumored foldable ‌iPhone‌ until 2025 , and that the company is also currently exploring the potential of said foldable MacBook. However, the latter wouldn’t be expected to arrive until perhaps 2026 or 2027 even, so we’re looking way down the line here. The overall suggestion is that Apple is keen not to rush into foldables – previously its foldable iPhone was thought to perhaps be a prospect ...

HP Presidents' Day sale: more laptops deals added from only $149.99 Following last week's reductions, a new selection of laptop deals are now live for the Presidents' Day sale at HP. Once again you can find massive discounts of up to 70% on laptops, desktops, monitors, and accessories - plus free shipping is available on all orders. View all laptops, desktops, monitors and accessories in the HP sale After taking a look at what's new, we've picked out this HP 14t for $379.99 (was $549.99) as the best laptop deal in this new range of Presidents' Day sales . It comes with a 14-inch HD display, Intel i3 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. While we would have liked to have seen an i5 for this price, these are still all excellent components for the price. Altogether, they will ensure strong performance during your everyday tasks such as general browsing, multitasking at work or media streaming. There are a couple of more affordable options, too. The first is ...

The best laptops of 2022 in New Zealand: we compare the top notebooks on offer Whether you're making the switch from a desktop machine to something more portable, looking at an all-in-one gaming beast, or just after an upgrade on your existing laptop, now’s a great time to compare the best laptops around. Here at TechRadar, we review all the latest and greatest notebooks, ultrabooks and 2-in-1s, so we have the benefit of being able to thoroughly weigh up their pros and cons. Apple has really come out swinging with its own M1 chipset and, for the first time in quite a while, their MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have beaten out many of the powerful Windows competition (including the almighty Dell XPS 13). There's also some excellent ultra-affordable options in the Chromebook category if you're just after a machine for some casual browsing and document editing to take on the go. If you're unsure where to start, at the foot of the page we've put together a quick buyi...

Colorful launches X15 XS gaming laptop with GeForce RTX 3050Ti graphics Colorful Technology Company Limited today announced the second generation of its gaming laptop , equipped with the latest Intel processors and an RTX 3050Ti GPU.  The Colorful X15 XS gaming laptop can be configured with either a 12th generation Intel Core  i5-12500H 12-core (4P+ 8E Cores), 16-thread processor or an Intel Core i7-12700H 14-core (6P+ 8E Cores), 20-thread processor – both offering excellent performance for gaming and content creation. Both models are powered by Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti graphics with support for NVIDIA G-SYNC Ultimate on the laptop’s 15.6” 144Hz FHD display. The laptop will be available in two colors – Pine Blue and Mist Grey. These are the best thin and light gaming laptops you can buy today Colorful has equipped the gaming laptop with new cooling technologies, such as dual turbo fans with superfins, and a high-performance heatsink with four heat pipes. Four cooling v...

AMD’s Linux tweaks pave the way for USB 4 in Ryzen 6000 laptops AMD has made tweaks to USB 4 handling in Linux , which come on top of recent patches to ensure that USB 4 works with laptops powered by Ryzen 6000 mobile silicon. As you may recall, laptops with Ryzen 6000 APUs inside – otherwise known as ‘Rembrandt’ chips – are the first to support USB 4 ( and therefore Thunderbolt 3, optionally ) on the AMD front, with Team Red now pushing to get the software side ready for when these devices launch, and they should arrive imminently (the company has previously said Ryzen 6000 notebooks will be out at some point in February, or the first models should be, anyway). Hence the Linux patches which work on USB 4 handling improvements, as spotted by Phoronix.com . As you may be aware, USB 4 is based on Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 tech, with the main difference being that it offers blazing-fast 40Gbps speeds without having to work directly with Intel to implement it (and pay royalties, of cour...

Three new M2-powered Macs could make an appearance at Apple's March event Three new Mac SKUs have been registered in the Eurasian Economic Database ahead of a rumored 'Spring' event, adding additional weight to existing rumors that the next generation of Apple silicon will be launched in the coming weeks – potentially at an event on or around March 8. The filing was spotted by Consomac , which notes that the registration doesn't give us much information about the products, though a few speculations can be made. The numbers being registered are A2615, A2686 and A2681 respectively, with the latter being described as a laptop.  We don't have any official confirmation that these new devices will be powered by the anticipated M2 chipset , but all of the M1 -powered devices have been registered with numbers starting with A24. As these new Macs break the trend, it's likely we will at least see some new variation of the existing M1 even if the M2 silicon isn't i...

Xiaomi hasn't ruled out releasing its Amazon Kindle-rivaling ereaders globally Xiaomi has become a big player in mobile technology in the last few years. The devices it launches globally are just a fraction of its portfolio though, because in its home country of China, Xiaomi puts out loads of other products we haven't seen in the west. One such example is the brand's ereaders, handheld devices with E Ink screens designed for reading books - think Kindles but not from Amazon. Xiaomi has a similar cadence to Amazon, releasing a new ereader every year or so, like the 7-inch Moaan Mix 7 in January 2022 or the 5.2-inch InkPalm 5 Mini in 2021. Since Xiaomi keeps a fair portion of its devices to its homeland, we hadn't expected the company to launch an ereader in the west. However it turns out it's not out of the question. When we asked about global availability of these products, a Xiaomi spokesperson told TechRadar "Xiaomi is always evaluating the possibility ...