Honor V30 renders leak with dual selfie hole-punch and no headphone jack

Honor is going to announce its next flagship smartphone. The Honor V20 (“View 20” in Western markets) was the first Honor phone with a hole-punch selfie camera and among the first smartphones to have one.

We’ve seen an alleged case render of the V30 just last week and today’s leak from 91Mobiles shows the Honor V30 in official-looking renders. They also corroborate Honor’s recent teasers of the V30.

The V30 will bring dual-selfie cameras through a cutout in the display (presumably LCD). As seen in the renders, which offer the V30 from all angles, there is no longer a headphone jack – something rare for devices with the Honor brand.

There is a triple camera around the back which appears to protrude from the back of the phone quite a bit and the main module is rumored to be a 60MP camera. A rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is seemingly replaced by one mounted on the right side of the phone and the phone is said to launch with 5G support for the Chinese market. We can expect to see the Kirin 990 power the Honor flagship.

Honor is going to officially announce the V30 in China on November 26. Availability for Western markets is not yet known, but the handset may be called “Vera 30” outside of China.

Fujifilm X-Pro 3: A Personal Review of a Personal Camera

There is no getting away from it: Fujifilm’s decision to implement a “hidden LCD” on their brand new Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera was always going make this a divisive camera. The question is: has Fujifilm created such a niche camera as to make it unusable? After using the camera extensively for the past couple of weeks, here is my purely personal take on this very personal camera.

The Same, but Different

As the naming convention would suggest, the X-Pro3 is the third iteration of Fujifilm’s rangefinder style camera. It builds not only on the success of previous versions of the same model, but also upon other models from their X Series line of cameras.

It uses exactly the same 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans 4 sensor found on the Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujifilm X-T30. So much has been written about this sensor that there is no need to repeat it all again here. Suffice to say, the X-Trans sensor has so matured over the years; you just know it will produce simply fabulous photographs.

The hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder found in the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and Fujifilm X100F is back, this time with a few incremental improvements. The X-Pro3 also uses the same menu system as the other cameras in the X-Series range, meaning existing users will immediately feel at home. Even the NP-W126S batteries are exactly the same as used on the X-T3, X-T30, X100F, and so on.

So far, the same. Where this camera really starts to get interesting is where the X-Pro3 differs from its sibling cameras.

That “Hidden” LCD

So, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room, the hidden LCD screen. Instead of the forward-facing, fixed screen of previous versions, the X-Pro3 features a 180-degree, flip-down LCD monitor, which hides away behind the back panel when not in use.

In its place, Fujifilm has implemented a small, forward-facing, sub monitor reminiscent of the top display of the Fujifilm X-H1. By default, the sub monitor displays the current film simulation, a clear nod to the old practice of slipping a piece 35mm film packaging into the back of the camera as a reminder of which film had been loaded. it’s a nice touch, but personally, I quickly changed this to display common camera and exposure information, which I found more useful.

I must admit, I had some initial reservations about the hidden LCD. With this camera, Fujifilm clearly want to take away as many distractions as possible, allowing photographers to really engage in the moment. How many photographers this will appeal to remains to be seen, but I have to say that after using the camera for a while, I have really enjoyed the shooting experience it brings.

That experience hasn’t been without a few hiccups though. It definitely took me a while to get used to having to open up the LCD, especially when using the menu system. I am so used to pressing the menu button and looking at the screen that I often did the same with the X-Pro3, only to find myself staring at the little sub monitor instead of a menu system. I did this enough that I kind of wish Fujifilm would just allow the menu to be displayed on the sub monitor. Maybe this is something for a future firmware update.

In use, I actually prefer prefer the way the screen opens on the X-Pro3 compared to the X-T3, especially for shooting down low or from the hip. This is mainly due to the physical design of the two cameras. The viewfinder of the X-T3 sticks out quite a way, partially obscuring the LCD, especially at 90 degrees. The viewfinder of the X-Pro3, on the other hand, is much more flush to the body, allowing the entire screen to be seen.

Where I found the design of the LCD did get in the way was when I mounted the camera onto a tripod. With the flip down nature of the articulation, the tripod restricted the range motion of the screen was able to achieve, limiting it to not much more than 90 degrees, which was a bit annoying.

Truth be told, though: I didn’t find the lack of a forward-facing LCD to be an issue, and within a day or two, I wasn’t missing the screen at all.

Design

There is no doubt about it: the X-Pro3 is a beautiful camera. Reminiscent of the rangefinder cameras of old, its minimalist design lends itself to the nostalgic experience of shooting with an X-Series camera.

In the hand, the X-Pro3 feels very well balanced, helped by a slightly redesigned grip to improve the overall handling. This is very much enhanced by the tactile nature of the exposure dials, which I love, although I recognize many other photographers dislike.

Beauty aside, this is a really tough camera. With a body made of magnesium and top and bottom plates made of titanium, this camera will likely laugh in the face of any amount of abuse you care to throw at it. Anyone wanting absolute maximum protection can opt for the optional Duratect coating, which comes with a slight price bump but makes the X-Pro3 practically impossible to scratch. Add to that the obligatory weather-sealing you would expect of any 2019 camera, and you have a camera that nobody is going to worry much about being thrown in and out of a camera bag on a rainy day.

The X-Pro3 brings with it quite a few changes to the button layout of previous versions. Most noticeably, the D-pad has been removed. It’s a decision which seems to have annoyed quite a few users. Realistically though, this is the direction Fujifilm has been moving in for a while in their pursuit of the cleanest possible design. Given that every button on the camera can now be customized to suit individual user preference — even the Q menu button is no longer locked to the Q menu — I didn’t find the loss of the D-pad to be an issue.

Talking of the Q menu, this has now been updated to not only allow the ability to customize what each menu tile does, but also how many tiles to display. I really like this. I always found the fixed 12 tile Q menu layout to be a little too crowded and usually set most of the tiles to be empty. Now, I can chose to display as few as four and as many as 16 items on the Q menu. The Q Menu can also be set against either the standard black background or a new transparent background, which allows adjustments to be viewed in real-time. In use, I found these tweaks to make the menu much more useful.

Shooting Experience

The X-Pro3 introduces a number of new or improved processing options. In-camera HDR, the ability to tweak clarity, and to adjust highlights and shadows using a single tone curve setting are all welcome additions. A new “Classic Neg” color profile joins the existing lineup of film simulations that are so popular with Fujifilm shooters. I’m sure it won’t take long for Classic Neg to make its way to other X Series cameras via a firmware update, but for now, the X-Pro3 is the only camera to feature this new simulation.

Autofocusing has always been excellent with Fujifilm cameras, and the X-Pro3 is no different. Face and eye detection work well, and improved phase detection allows focusing in light conditions as low as -6 EV. That’s crazy dark. I wasn’t able to fully test the veracity of that claim, but certainly, I was able to autofocus in conditions that the X-Pro2 couldn’t have handled. Overall though, I found autofocus ability of X-Pro3 wasn’t quite up to that of the X-T3, but in practice, the difference between the two was marginal.

When it comes to video, it’s probably fair to say this is an area where the performance of the X-Pro3 is less than stellar. Sure, the X-Pro3 can shoot around 15 minutes worth of 4K, 30p, 200 Mbps video, but let’s be honest, nobody is going to want to shoot anything but b-roll with this camera, and even thenn only at a push. No, this is a stills camera through and through, and it is shooting stills photography where this camera comes alive.

As cliché as it sounds, some cameras just make you want to go out and shoot more, and the X-Pro3 is exactly one of those cameras. While I absolutely love my X-T3, the shooting experience with the X-Pro3 just seemed to feel that much more connected.

Conclusions

So, where does that leave us? We know the X-Pro3 was always going to be a fabulous camera. The X-Series ecosystem has matured so much over the years, and Fujifilm knows how to build a camera, so the quality of this camera was never in doubt. The real question is: who it is being aimed at?

Fujifilm claims their design intention with the hidden LCD was to encourage a more traditional style of shooting, allowing photographers to stay in the moment rather than constantly chimping their images after each shot. Personally, I am not sure how much I buy that explanation. Experienced photographers, especially the street and documentary photographers this camera is largely aimed at, will likely not be in the habit of excessively chimping. And less experienced photographers will probably not be buying this camera in the first place. So, it seems to be a solution to a problem that didn’t really exist.

Rather, I believe the choice to implement the hidden LCD was made to achieve one clear objective: to differentiate the X-Pro3 from all the other cameras on the market. It should be remembered that when the X-Pro range first launched back in 2012, the mirrorless market was decidedly sparse. Today, that market has become very crowded indeed, with every manufacturer offering at least one serious mirrorless system.

With three flagship products within their own lineup, not to mention all the other cameras on offer from other manufacturers, Fujifilm had to take some bold steps if they want the X-Pro range to establish (and maintain) its own personality. With this update, they have done exactly that, squarely positioning this as the camera for the photography purists.

Personally, I love the design choices Fujifilm has made with this X-Pro3. As a travel and documentary photographer, I fall exactly within the target audience of this camera. I almost never use a touchscreen, I rarely frame my photographs using an LCD, and I much prefer the discrete look and feel of this camera over some of the flashier alternatives. So, for me, the minimalist design and the backward-facing LCD are very attractive features. I totally understand that many other photographers will totally disagree with me, and that’s ok.

The X-Pro3 isn’t a camera for everyone; it is now very much a niche camera. Those it appeals to will absolutely love it, and for those who want a different experience, Fujifilm (and all the other camera manufacturers) has plenty of other options. As photographers, we should all welcome having so much choice.

What I Like:

Beautifully designed, well-constructed body.

Hybrid OVF/EVF allowing flexibility of both systems.

The hidden LCD.

High level of button customization.

What I Didn’t Like:

Limited articulation of the LCD when used with a tripod.

Battery life could be improved.

Lack of menu display on the sub monitor.

Tip: Download the Windows 10 Version 1909 ISO

In the wake of the release of Windows 10 version 1909, Microsoft has made the Setup ISO available for download.

You get it as you did with past releases: Visit the Download Windows 10 website, select the “Download tool now” button under Create Windows 10 installation media, and then download and run the Windows 10 Setup tool. Then, following the steps in the wizard, choose “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC,” the correct language, edition, and architecture, and then “ISO file.”

I’ve verified that the ISO you download this way is for version 1909 (as opposed to the previous version, 1903), but if you’re worried about it, you can ensure you get a 1909 ISO by using a bizarre method I’ve seen publicized on Bleeping Computer and elsewhere: Basically, you use the Chrome or new Edge developer tools to fake the site into thinking you’re using an iPhone so that it will skip the wizard download and just deliver you the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Windows 10 version 1909 ISO.

Either way, you should be good to go.

AMD might unveil a new GPU with ray tracing support at CES

It’s only a matter of time before AMD rolls out a GPU architecture with hardware-based real-time ray tracing support (though not in time for any Black Friday deals), to take on Nvidia’s growing army of GeForce RTX graphics cards. But might we see something in that regard at CES in January, 2020? According to the latest rumor mill chatter, the answer is yes.

Take this with a dose of skepticism, but according to Chiphell forum member Wjm47196, AMD will be previewing a second-generation Radeon DNA (RDNA) Navi GPU architecture at the annual convention in Las Vegas, as spotted by WCCFTech.

I can see your eyes rolling in the back of the head, but there are couple of things that make this rumor at least plausible. One is Wjm47196’s track record. The same user had posted accurate information about AMD’s first generation Navi architecture before it launched. Same goes for some other GPU launches.

Secondly, we know AMD will implement ray tracing support into a future Navi GPU architecture, because both Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s next Xbox (Project Scarlett) will feature one, based on custom silicon.

A CES announcement also doesn’t mean the GPU would launch soon after. The past several years, AMD has announced products and disclosed roadmaps in December in January for products that eventually launched in June or July. So an initial preview even in January, six months before availability, would be perfectly in line with AMD’s previous GPUs.

Assuming nothing in AMD’s roadmap has changed, the next high-end version of Navi (Navi 20) will be built on an enhanced 7nm manufacturing process (7nm+). As these things go, we can assume it will have faster clocks and better power efficiency, probably more GPU cores, and of course ray tracing.

Beyond that, there is not much in the way of official information. There are also plenty of questions to go around, though. For example, will Navi 20 be competitive with Nvidia’s top cards, or slot in a peg or two below whatever Nvidia’s fastest cards will be at the time? How much will they cost? And will Intel have a discrete GPU for gaming when Navi 20 actually launches?

Strap in, 2020 could be a wild ride.

Two new Canon EOS M mirrorless cameras could be announced in 2020

Canon has been busy this year, what with the launch of the EOS 90D and EOS M6 Mark II. And going by the latest rumors, 2020 will be even busier for the Japanese camera maker.

We already know that the pro-sports EOS 1D X Mark III DSLR will be announced early next year, but Canon Rumors is reporting that two more crop sensor mirrorless cameras will be added to the company’s growing line-up in 2020.

One of them is rumored to be a 24MP APS-C snapper that will come with eye-detect autofocus and Canon’s tried-and-tested superb Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus technology (which increases AF speed and accuracy in live view mode) available on a 3-inch vari-angle rear touchscreen. 

Canon Rumors goes even further to put a price tag of $849 for a kit with a lens for this rumored EOS M camera, which will reportedly be announced in “before July 2020”.

A new mirrorless marvel?

The EOS M50 was the first Canon camera to debut the Digic 8 processor, giving this entry-level mirrorless snapper plenty of power. No wonder it soon became one of our favorite affordable mirrorless cameras.

Although it was launched only in 2018, Canon Rumors reports that the second EOS M camera to launch in 2020 will likely be a refresh of the M50. With the EOS M6 Mark II already boasting a 32.5MP APS-C CMOS sensor, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the same make its way into the EOS M50 Mark II.

While Canon Rumors lists the Digic 8 imaging engine as accompanying the higher resolution sensor, we’d love to see the Digic 9 (which could be debuted in the EOS 1D X Mark III) make its way to the newer version of the M50, giving the rumored CSC (compact system camera) a massive boost in performance.

If the other rumored specs of the M50 Mark II have any element of truth to them, then we’re likely going to see the upcoming camera capable of 4K video recording at both 24fps and 30fps, with Full HD (1080p) capture at up to 120fps. The rear touchscreen will reportedly be a 3-inch vari-angle panel with 1,040K-dot resolution.

If a refresh of the EOS M50 is truly in the cards, Canon Rumors says it will be announced some time in September 2020. So don’t get too excited just yet, as these are still rumors and things can change between now and then.

In the meantime, we’ve rounded up the best mirrorless cameras you can buy in 2019

Related product: Canon EOS M

FOR 18MP APS-C sensor

DIGIC 5 processor

Small size

High-build quality

Excellent touchscreen

AGAINST AF system a bit slow

No optional EVF

No built-in flash

High price

MIREADER, FIRST-EVER XIAOMI E-BOOK READER, NOW OFFICIAL

A few days back, Xiaomi teased the launch of their first-ever eBook Reader launch for today. As per the schedule, the new product called MiReader is now official for the initial crowdfunding price of 579 Yuan(~$82) with better specifications than the competition. It will retail for 599 Yuan(~$85) after the termination of the crowdfunding period.

The all-new Xiaomi eBook reader surprisingly runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with support for a number of contents including books, comics, documents and other readable materials. It supports almost all kind of extensions such as EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT and plenty others. Talking about the elephant in the room, the MiReader comes equipped with a 6-inch HD E-ink display with 212 PPI at the front. Also, it features LED light to provide 24 levels of brightness covering 90% of the screen.

Under the hood, the device is powered by Allwinner B300 quad-core processor coupled with 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM which we feel is more than enough for an eBook Reader. Interestingly, it features a USB Type-C port to charge the non-removable 1,800mAh battery at the rate of 5V / 1.5A. The Reader measures 159.2 x 116 x 8.3mm in size and weighs 178 grams with a textured back for a better grip.

Philips Launches Momentum 392M7C: An Entry-Level Curved 38.5-Inch Gaming Monitor

Philips has quietly unveiled its new Momentum 392M7C curved monitor, which is aimed at gamers who are after an entry-level large screen display with high refresh rates and variable refresh support. The huge display with a 3000R curvature promises to provide a cinema-like immersion, though its Full-HD resolution and a relatively low pixel density will have an impact on the experience.

Under the hood, the Philips Momentum 392M7C is built from a 38.5-inch VA with a 1920×1080 resolution. The display features a maximum brightness of 250 nits, a 5000:1 contrast ratio, a 3000R curvature, a 1 ms MPRT response time, and a 144 Hz maximum refresh rate with VESA’s Adaptive-Sync variable refresh rate technology on top (e.g. FreeSync). The monitor can display 16.7 million colors and covers 105.48% of the sRGB and 94.11% of the NTSC color gamuts, which is in line with other inexpensive mainstream LCDs.

Besides its size and a high refresh rate, the main peculiarity of the Momentum 392M7C is its Full-HD resolution and a pixel density of 57 PPI, the latter of which is quite low by today’s standards. For gaming and video playback, pixel density is not often crucial – especially when many video sources are 1080p – but for typical productivity applications a 38.5-inch Full-HD screen with a 57 PPI pixel density does not seem like an optimal combination. Meanwhile, the LCD supports Philips’ SmartImage presets for various game genres (FPS, RTS, Racing, custom) to provide optimal experience.

As for connectivity, the Momentum 392M7C has one DisplayPort input, two HDMI inputs, and one D-Sub input to maintain compatibility both with new and legacy PCs. Furthermore, the monitor has a headphone output. As for the stand, only the tilt is adjustable, which is typical for large entry-level monitors.

The Philips Momentum 392M7C is set to hit the market shortly. Though as we sometimes see with other entry-level monitors, it probably won’t be available worldwide.

FOUR MORE 8-CORE MEDIATEK CHROMEBOOKS ON THE WAY

I’m not saying that we’ve given up on the hopes of seeing a Qualcomm-powered Chromebook arrive by CES but at this point, I’m not holding my breath. The inexplicable delay of Snapdragon devices could very well help secure MediaTek’s market share of the Chrome OS space as development moves forward on a number of octa-core MT8183 devices.

To date, we have been tracking four baseboards being built on MediaTek’s unannounced chipset but this week, that number has literally doubled. Over the past two weeks, four devices built off of the ‘Kukui’ baseboard have been added to the Chromium repositories and are actively being developed. ‘Damu’, ‘Kappa’, ‘Kakadu’ and ‘Juniper’ are the four machines to join the lineup that already includes ‘Kukui‘, ‘Flapjack‘, ‘Krane‘ and ‘Jacuzzi‘.

Now, eight new Chromebooks may not seem that impressive in the grand scheme of things but we’re expecting the latest MediaTek chipset to be a major improvement over the previous model that powered the Acer Chromebook R13 and a number of Lenovo devices. With the relatively lower cost of ARM processors, these improvements could result in a large number of cost-effective consumer and EDU Chromebooks, tablets and detachables that actually offer decent performance when compared to the older MediaTek chip and even the OP1 RockChip processor found in the Samsung Chromebook Plus V1.

We don’t have a lot of details on the four new MediaTek devices but we’ll be digging into the commits to find out more as it arrives. Two of the Chromebooks are being produced by Bitland which has historically manufactured MediaTek devices for Lenovo. I suspect we’ll see a number of Chromebooks in varying form-factors from Lenovo and hopefully other OEMs as time passes. The Chrome OS universe is expanding rapidly and it is exciting.

Demand for HDD Storage Booming: 240 EB Shipped in Q3 2019

Demand for storage is stronger than ever as, in addition to growing user-generated data, machine-generated data now requires a formidable amount of storage space and will need even more in the future as the number of connected devices increases. Since the bulk of data continues to be stored on hard drives, it is not surprising that the third quarter was particularly successful for HDD makers, which despite the dent that flash sales are making, still set a record in terms of total shipped capacity.

Record 240 EB Shipped

The combined capacity of all of the hard drives sold by Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital in the third quarter totaled a whopping 240 exabytes (EB), of which 140 EB were nearline HDDs, according to TrendFocus. To put the number into perspective: the combined capacity of all HDDs and SSDs shipped last year was 912 EB and, today we are talking only about hard drives in one quarter. In fact, even when compared to Q2’s 207.5 EB, this is still 15% growth.

Market observers are attributing the significant rise in shipping HDD capacity to increasing shipments of enterprise-class nearline 14 TB, 15 TB, and 16 TB hard drives, which by now have been qualified by a substantial number of companies. For example, the average capacity of Seagate’s enterprise HDD (mission critical + nearline drives) was 6.3 TB in Q3 2019, up from 5.2 TB in the same period last year. By contrast, the average capacity of Seagate’s client hard drives was at 1.2 TB (unchanged from Q3 2018), as the bulk of such drives are intended for notebooks and their capacities range from 500 GB to 1 TB. In terms of units shipped, client and consumer electronics HDDs by far outsell enterprise and nearline drives, so, the average capacity of a Seagate HDD is 2.9 TB, up from 2.5 TB a year ago.

Unit Shipments Down

When it comes to total unit shipments however, not everything is quite as rosy, based on data from TrendFocus. The three manufacturers sold 83 million HDDs in the third quarter, up from 78.6 million in Q2 and 78 million in Q1, but down from around 88 million in the same quarter of 2018. In fact HDD sales have been in decline for a long time. Nidec, a Japanese motor manufacturer who is responsible for around 85% of all HDD spindle motors, said earlier this year that unit sales of hard drives had declined by around 43% from 2010 to 2018, going from around 650 million units in 2010 to 375 million units in 2018. Based on Nidec’s forecast, HDD shipments will drop to 309 million drives in 2019, which will further drop to 290 million units in 2020.

Market Shares

When it comes to market shares in Q3 2019, Seagate was leading the pack with a 40.2% share, Western Digital followed with 35.4%, whereas Toshiba trailed with 24.4% of HDD unit shipments.

For readers interested to learn more about Seagate’s and Western Digital’s HDD businesses today, we included some supplementary information below.

iFixit’s full 16-inch MacBook Pro teardown highlights new thermal system, improved speakers, Magic Keyboard, more

iFixit did an initial teardown of the scissor switch Magic Keyboard that comes with the 16-inch MacBook Pro last weekend and now they’ve given Apple’s latest notebook a full inspection. Follow along for a look at the new and improved thermal system, six-speaker system, Magic Keyboard details, and more.

iFixit noted in its initial peek inside the 16-inch MacBook Pro that the Magic Keyboard looked like it should solve the woes that the butterfly keyboard brought to users over the last several years. We also got a sneak peek at the inside of the rest of the machine.

Now that iFixit has completed its full teardown, we know how Apple evolved its thermal system for improved venting and the ability to push 28% more air to dissipate heat more effectively.

Pardon us while we vent for a minute. Stacked atop its slightly-older sibling (the 15-inch 2019 model), the new MacBook Pro has some noticeably larger exhaust holes.

That combined with these new fans, which feature bigger impeller blades, pushes 28% more air through the new Pro.

As iFixit previously shared, the Magic Keyboard is almost exactly the same as the stand-alone Magic Keyboard, except for the components being slightly thinner. Another positive sign for long-term reliability and ease of cleaning, the Magic Keyboard doesn’t have a silicone membrane like the more recent butterfly keyboard was revised to include.

There’s slightly less space surrounding these new keys, and pundits will celebrate those reconfigured arrow keys—but everything else looks nigh identical.

News flash: there’s not even a dust-proofing membrane on these new switches. We’re inclined to take this as a very good sign. (It means we can finally eat Doritos during teardowns again.)

However, a disappointing find for repairability is the fact that the keyboard frame is riveted in place.

Nooooo! Once again, the keyboard assembly is riveted down. Though the switches are likely less vulnerable to crumbly assailants, the keyboard itself isn’t any more repairable than the Butterfly boards.

iFixit also shared a look at the new speaker system and three-mic setup found in the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

While the 16-inch MacBook Pro brings a variety of solid improvements, to no surprise it continues to fail iFixit’s repairability standards earning a 1 out of 10 for that metric.

On the bright side, it does still feature an easily replaceable trackpad and hey, we’ve got a reliable keyboard again!