DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1 review: A dock with a screen

Until recently, I didn’t really find myself in need of a docking station all that frequently, but even some of the best laptops today a very limited selection of ports, and even if you don’t have a ton of accessories, having a compact dock with some ports can be extremely helpful. That’s the market DockCase seems to be focused on with the USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1, and it does a good job at what it sets out to do.

DockCase makes a few of these docks that have a screen and while there isn’t necessarily a ton of uses for that screen, it does make it easy to see more information about the peripherals connected to your PC. There are cheaper options out there, but the display is what helps this one stand out, plus it has really solid build quality. With a solid mix of ports and support for up to 100W of power delivery (technically maxing out at 95W), this is a great option if you need to connect some peripherals to your laptop, whether that’s at your office or during a trip.

The DockCase Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1 comes in two versions, one with a detachable cable and one with an integrated cable. They’re functionally the same, so it’s up to your preference. The detachable model means you can try to get your own cable if you want a longer one, which is a plus. That’s the only version available on Amazon right now, and it’s much cheaper there. Buying directly from DockCase’s website is more expensive.

DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub 7-in-1

The DockCase SUB-C Smart Visual Hub gives you a handful of ports for peripherals, and it has a screen so you can keep tabs on it all.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

Navigate this review:

• DockCase USB Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1: Pricing and availability
• DockCase USB Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1: Specs
• Design and ports: It has 7 ports, including HDMI
• Display: It can show some useful information
• Who should buy the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub 7-in-1?

DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1: Pricing and availability

• The DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub 7-in-1 costs $64.99 on Amazon, but only the version with a detachable cable is available
• The model with an integrated cable is available directly from DockCase’s website

The DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub is available to buy right now, but while it comes in two versions, only one is available on Amazon. That’s the model with a detachable cable, and if you buy from Amazon, it costs just $64.99.

Both versions are available to buy on DockCase’s website, but they cost $99.99 there, at least officially. If you’re outside the US, though, this might be your best option, since Amazon won’t ship it everywhere.

DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1: Specs

Size (WxDxH)	121 x 39 x 15 mm (4.76 x 1.54 x 0.59 in) excluding cable
Weight	Detachable (excluding cable): 132 grams (0.29 lbs) Integrated: 140 grams (0.31 lbs)
Speed and Power	Speed (to host): USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Power delivery (host passthrough charging): 100W (95W maximum effective charging)
Ports	Front 1 x USB Type-A (5Gbps) Full-size SD card reader microSD card reader Rear 2 x USB Type-A (5Gbps) 1 x HDMI 2.0 (up to 4K @ 60Hz) USB-C charging port (100W) Right (detachable model): USB Type-C port (connection to host PC)
Display	1.3-inch display, 261 PPI
Material	Zinc alloy (casing) and tempered glass (top)
What’s in the box	DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1 USB-C to USB-C cable (detachable model)
Price	$64.99

Design and ports: It has 7 ports, including HDMI

• The DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub has three USB Type-A ports, HDMI, and both full-size and microSD card readers
• It can also deliver up to 95W of power to your laptop to keep it charged

There’s only so much you can say about a dock like this, and we’ll get right to what’s important – the ports. Regardless of whether you choose the version with a detachable or an integrated cable, the dock has three ports on the front and four on the back. Up front, we get one USB Type-A port, along with full-size SD and microSD card readers.

On the back, there are two more USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port for AC input, and an HDMI port, allowing you to connect to an external display. When you have only seven ports in total, there’s only so much you can do, but this is probably the most ideal setup for this size. Having an HDMI 2.0 port means you can connect a 4K display at 60Hz, which is pretty nice. My monitor is a Full HD 144Hz panel, and the hub can drive it just fine, too.

One thing I like is that all the USB ports are USB 3.0, so you can get 5Gbps speeds out of any of them. Of course, the hub itself only supports 10Gbps, so you can’t use the full bandwidth of all three ports at the same time, but that’s going to be the case with any hub like this.

If you get the version with a detachable cable, there is another USB Type-C port on the side, which is used to connect to the host computer. It supports 10Gbps of bandwidth and 100W of power, or at least that’s the advertising claim. In reality, the dock can only deliver up to 95W of power, and truth be told, that’s such a minute difference that it will work just as well. This is also the case for any other USB-C dock like this, so this doesn’t mean you need to look for another option. It’s worth noting that this isn’t a docking station, so it doesn’t have its own power adapter, it just supports passthrough charging.

I feel the need to bring this up, though, because I have an Asus laptop (a 2021 ROG Flow X13), and it supports 100W charging. But there’s also a feature in Asus’ Armoury Crate software that lets you disable the discrete GPU when on battery power, and if the laptop is receiving less than 100W of power, that still disables the GPU. That’s relatively easy to work around, but it’s something to keep in mind.

I’ve found the port selection overall to be nearly perfect for my usual needs. There have been times when the USB ports weren’t enough for all my peripherals, but I’d argue most people buying a small dock like this don’t need as many peripherals as I do. You also only get one HDMI port, which might not be enough for users with more complex setups, though I was fine with it since I only have one monitor anyway. Another thing that’s missing is a headphone jack, though to be fair, most laptops still have one of those.

One problem I’ve sometimes had is that the dock fails to detect the connected display, and you might either have to reconnect the display or the dock itself. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed with a firmware update, which the dock does support.

Aside from that, the dock is built to feel solid. It has quite a bit of heft to it, and most of the unit is a solid piece of metal, with the exception of the top where the display is. There’s a small hole on the back (below one of the USB ports) that hides a button, and you need a SIM ejection tool to use it. We’ll get into that in a bit.

Display: It can show some useful information

• The display on the hub can show various information about connected peripherals
• It can also be used to change certain settings for the dock, such as how much power is reserved for peripherals

What really helps the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub stand out is the display that’s built into the dock. This is a fairly basic display specs-wise, but t’s actually pretty sharp and it works perfectly for displaying the information you need to see on it. In its idle state, it’ll display general information about all your connected devices, including how much power is being delivered to your laptop, the resolution and refresh rate of your screen, and the supported USB speeds of your peripherals. The screen actually allowed me to learn that one of the laptops I have lying around can only receive 60W of power over USB-C, which was an interesting find. The screen also shows the internal temperature of the hub, so you can keep an eye on it.

The dock also responds whenever you plug in a display or power adapter. When you plug in a power adapter, you’ll briefly see how much power the dock is receiving and how much is being delivered to the laptop. When you plug in a monitor, you can see all sorts of information including resolution, size, manufacturer, and refresh rate. It’s really neat. One problem I’ve noticed is that the dock won’t update the refresh rate information when you change it in Windows. You need to unplug the display and plug it back in to see the updated value.

You can change the orientation of the display by inserting a SIM ejection tool into the small hole on back. Pressing the hidden button once will rotate the display 90 degrees, and you can choose whatever orientation is most convenient to you.

But the most interesting thing is the ability to change certain dock settings directly on the dock thanks to that display. When you press and hold the hidden button, you start seeing various options appear, including the control panel, where you can see various settings for the dock. These let you change things like the minimum temperature at which the internal fan should start cooling the dock, ow how much power the dock itself can use.

That last one can be important if you’re using high-speed data transfers via USB, as you might need to reserve more power for the USB ports, but that comes at the cost of slower charging for your laptop. It’s great that you can choose what your priorities are, though. Other settings include the screen time-out threshold, and a handful of other options that aren’t meant for most users to mess with. Navigating this UI can be a little clunky, but you basically press once to move to the next option on the page, and press and hold to select. The screen shows an indicator of how long you need to press to confirm a choice, so you can get the hang of it fairly quickly.

Who should buy the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub?

All things considered, the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub offers a solid range of connectivity, and for the $65 price tag on Amazon, it’s actually very nice and versatile. The display can also be useful to learn more information about the peripherals and power adapter you’re using.

You should buy the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub if:

• You have a laptop with very few ports, like a Dell XPS 13 or MacBook Air
• You want to connect a few peripherals to your laptop
• You find the display useful for monitoring your peripherals

You shouldn’t buy the DockCase USB-C Smart Visual Hub if:

• Your laptop requires more than 100W of power
• You have a complex setup with multiple displays or lots of USB peripherals
• You need a headphone jack

I’d say the biggest thing to look out for with this dock is that issue where the connected display may not detect a signal when the host PC wakes up from sleep, but it doesn’t happen all the time and it’s relatively easy to fix. You should also know that this dock isn’t meant for very complex professional setups with multiple displays, so you might want to look at more high-end options if that’s what you need.

The post DockCase USB-C Visual Smart Hub 7-in-1 review: A dock with a screen appeared first on XDA.

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Why I spent $350 on an Amazon Kindle e-reader twice, and would do so a third time

“I love the smell of a book.”

“You just can’t beat the feel of a real book.”

“I really enjoy digging through a physical bookstore and finding what I want to read.”

“I guess I’m just old-fashioned.”

These are all things that I’ve heard from people about why they prefer to read physical books instead of digital ones. They’re also people that have never tried the Amazon Kindle Oasis.

And why should they have? It’s an e-reader that starts at $249.99. When I told my friends that I bought the first one for $359 (the 3G model – it started at $289), they asked me what else it does. Unless you really enjoy reading books, and those books tend to be electronic, it’s hard to justify buying an e-reader with an E Ink display for more money than a base model iPad.

A lot of the people I talk to that still prefer physical books haven’t gone beyond the small screen on their phones to try digital books. Beyond that, some people have tried tablets. But very few of these book lovers have tried an e-reader, or more specifically, one of the Kindles that are popular on Amazon.

When I first decided to get a Kindle, I decided to get a Paperwhite. It was one step up from the base model, but I didn’t think I needed the bells and whistles of the Kindle Voyage, which was the top-tier product at the time.

I absolutely hated the Kindle Paperwhite. Unlike the first and only other Kindle that I had ever purchased – which was the Kindle 4 that was released in 2011 – the Paperwhite didn’t have physical buttons on the sides to turn pages. Remember, that old Kindle didn’t even have a touchscreen (or a frontlight), so buttons were necessary to turn the page. I found this to be a real pain point for the Paperwhite. Without those buttons and having to touch the screen to turn pages, it was nearly impossible to use the device one-handed.

I returned the Kindle Paperwhite. It wasn’t doing anything for me that I really wanted from an e-reader.

Interlude: The pros of using an e-reader

I’ve always used Kindle for my e-books because I use all platforms, and Amazon is the most open among the big ones. I’ve tried Apple, Google, Barnes and Noble Nook, and even Microsoft’s short stint in e-book sales. Amazon also has the best hardware. But ultimately, the services I use tend to be the ones that are most accessible in the most places, and for e-books, that’s Kindle.

There are lots of benefits to digital books, and I want to outline that before talking about the Kindle Oasis.

1. They don’t take up space: I don’t have to carry an extra item in my bag, nor do I have to keep books on a shelf. All of my books are stored on devices.
2. There’s no more need for bookmarks: Amazon’s Kindle books sync to your account, so no matter if you’re picking up your Kindle device, the Kindle app on your iPad, the web reader online, or the Kindle app on your phone, or anything else, it picks up where you left off. Amazon also owns Audible, which is for audiobooks, and assuming that the title is WhisperSync for Voice-ready, it will even sync your place between the Kindle book and the Audible audiobook.
3. You don’t have to think about lighting: With e-books, you can read in bed and not have to worry about getting the right lighting that preserves your ambiance and is still bright enough to not hurt your eyes. Kindles have their own lighting, as do tablets and phones.
4. All of the content is at your fingertips: Just like we can do today with music, movies, and TV shows, you can instantly access any book you want thanks to the Kindle store. This sometimes includes that out-of-print book that you’ve always wanted to get your hands on.

There are also specific benefits to an e-ink e-reader:

1. Battery life goes from days to weeks: With an E Ink e-reader, battery life simply isn’t something that you think about anymore.
2. There’s no more glare: If you’re in direct sunlight, an E Ink screen is super-easy to use. You don’t have to worry about adjusting brightness.
3. Cellular connectivity changes the game: I wasn’t sure which section to include this in, but I mentioned it specifically in reference to e-ink e-readers because Amazon actually offers free cellular service on Kindles, as long as you pay the premium when you buy the device. And why shouldn’t it? You’re using the service to buy its products. Of course, this also means that if you’re reading on a train or somewhere else that doesn’t have Wi-Fi, it’s going to sync your place in the book you’re reading, and you can buy new books on the go.

Introducing the Amazon Kindle Oasis

After I returned my $119 Kindle Paperwhite, I just used a tablet for my reading. The $199 Kindle Voyage didn’t seem like something that would solve my pain points, and if it did, I didn’t think it was worth trying.

Soon after, Amazon announced a new device that I had previously covered in leaks: the Kindle Oasis. I had seen the leaked design, and it seemed like a radical, weird, and frankly dumb idea. But when it was formally announced, it all made sense, and I wanted one.

The Kindle Oasis (from the eighth-gen Kindle family) was designed for one-handed use. In fact, it didn’t appear symmetrical, one of the things that made the design seem too radical. One side, referred to as the spine, was thicker, making it easier to grip with one hand. On top of that side were two buttons for turning pages. Moreover, the Oasis was the first Kindle to have an accelerometer, so if one hand got tired, you could move it to the other hand and the screen would know to flip over. Immediately, the right-handed device could become a left-handed device.

That’s not all though, because it weighed just 4.6oz (4.7oz for the 3G model). Since the guts of the device were in the thicker spine, the rest of it – the part that included the 300ppi display – was ultra-thin. It was 0.07-0.18 inches thick, and it was amazing.

Considering that this was the thinnest and lightest Kindle ever, Amazon made battery compromises to get there. It came with a battery cover, which would keep it charged for months, according to Amazon.

It was also the most expensive Kindle ever, starting at $289.99. It wasn’t enough for me though. I spent $359.99 on the 3G model. Like I said above, spending the extra for cellular on a Kindle is a no-brainer. Why would I shell out so much money for an e-reader, only to not solve the pain point of connectivity on-the-go?

I absolutely loved this product. It’s the perfect e-reader when I’m out and about, and when I’m lying on my back in bed. This thing was designed mostly without flaws, and I use it to this day.

The one flaw came in the way of the battery case. I always had issues connecting it, and I even had mine replaced at one point. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one.

Along came the second Kindle Oasis…and the compromises

When Amazon announced its second-generation Kindle Oasis, from the ninth generation of Kindle products, I was instantly on board. The first-gen model was what I’d referred to as game-changing tech. It was something that I wasn’t sure I actually needed, and then fit into my life as something that I couldn’t live without. At the time, I’d have been willing to upgrade every year if the improvements were good enough; after all, I belong to the group of people who already have regular upgrade cycles for phones, tablets, and smartwatches.

Still 300ppi, the new Kindle Oasis boasted a bigger screen at seven inches. That sounded nice. Unfortunately, it was also heavier at 6.8oz, and thicker at 0.13-.33 inches. At that point, it wasn’t that much lighter than my 7.6oz Kindle Paperwhite that I had returned. Still, I figured the weight distribution would be mostly in the spine. I bought the 4G LTE model for $349.99.

The big change that made it thicker and heavier wasn’t just the bigger screen; it had a bigger battery, no longer using pins to connect to a battery case. I kept the product, and I enjoyed it, but eventually, I just gravitated back to the first-gen model.

Amazon stuck with this design for the third iteration of the Kindle Oasis (10th-gen), which is the current one. It’s still the best e-reader you can buy. It now has USB Type-C and has light temperature adjustments. If you buy one, you’ll absolutely love it. However, that’s also because you probably haven’t experienced the first-gen model.

How Amazon could get me to spend $350 on another Kindle Oasis

All I really want is a Kindle Oasis with the design of the first one and the upgrades that the other models have received. I’d love USB Type-C and for it to be waterproof, maybe with a spec bump for better responsiveness.

I’d also love to see 4G LTE. My original Kindle Oasis came with 3G, and as of 2021 when carriers started shutting down 3G, it doesn’t work anymore. The only way it can access the internet is via Wi-Fi.

One thing that I really don’t care about is battery life, and Amazon needs to stop fighting that battle as well. One of the big selling points of the E Ink e-reader is weeks of battery life, and I’m more than happy to sacrifice the four weeks that I’d get with a regular Kindle and turn it into one or two weeks with something that’s as thin and light as the first one. I think most would feel the same way.

When it comes to battery life, your usage and your thought process adjusts to what the capabilities of the device are. As I write this, I’m on a train and my phone’s battery is somewhat low, and there’s a low level of anxiety that comes with that. Even with just a week of battery life, charging is still something that’s not a concern on an e-reader. If you get down to charging it once every day or two, that’s when it really becomes a concern. But as long as charging remains an afterthought, it’s fine. There’s no need to push it to months of battery life.

I could be wrong. Everyone I know that has purchased the larger second- or third-gen models absolutely loves it. That’s fine too. Amazon could call this wishlist Kindle as the Kindle Oasis Mini, and I’d buy it in a heartbeat. After all, I spent $349 on the bigger and supposedly better second-gen Kindle Oasis, and the first-gen one is still the one I use.

Amazon Kindle Oasis

The Amazon Kindle Oasis has a seven-inch 300ppi display, it's waterproof, and it comes with a unique design that's made for one-handed use.

See at Amazon

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These are the best chargers for the Apple MacBook Pro 13 M2 (2022)

Apple’s Mac lineup keeps on evolving with every passing year. Last year, the company revealed the MacBook Pro (2021) models — featuring a notch, a wide variety of ports, and the return of the MagSafe. You can even grab one of these refurbished MacBook Pro models if you find their regular prices too high. Following the chassis redesign, Apple introduced the MacBook Pro 13 (2022). It packs the all-new M2 chip in the classic Pro notebook body that includes a Touch Bar. While it might not appeal to the fan of the notched Macs, it still is a solid choice for plenty customers. The MacBook Pro M2 (2022) comes with one of the best chargers — a 67W one. However, you might find yourself needing a different unit. Whether you have lost it, would rather use another brand, or just have your own reasons, we have plenty of excellent options for you.

Amazon Basics 65W Charger

Affordable

If you don't want to spend a fortunate on a MacBook Pro charger, then the Amazon Basics option is quite decent. It offers a maximum of 65W through one port.

View on Amazon

Belkin 68W Charger

2 Ports

This Belkin dual charger is my personal favorite. It offers two ports and maxes out at 68W (combined). It's ideal for those who want to charge their MacBooks and iPhones simultaneously.

View on Amazon

Anker PowerPort III 120W

4 Ports

This station from Anker offers up to 120W output at a time, with the main port supporting up to 100W. It's ideal for those with plenty of devices or accessories.

View on Amazon

Anker PowerPort III 100W

2 Ports

If 4 ports are too much, Anker also has a 2-port 100W charger. You can split the 100W between the two ports or utilize it all through one port.

View on Amazon

UGREEN Nexode 100W Charger

2 Ports

This 100W dual charger is similar to the previous one from Anker. It comes with a cheaper price tag, though. It's ideal for those on a relatively limited budget.

View on Amazon

Baseus 100W Charging Station

4 Ports

This Baseus 4-port charging station also has a 100W output. You can utilize it through a single port or distribute it between several of them.

View on Amazon

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It’s not a bad idea to buy two chargers if you use your MacBook Pro (2022) in two different locations — like home and office — frequently. This way you can just leave a charger in each place and avoid carrying the accessories on a daily basis. It’s also a good idea to keep one as a spare unit in case the included one suddenly dies or breaks for whatever reason. You wouldn’t want your workflow to suddenly stop one day — when you least expect it.

If I had to pick one of these chargers for my MacBook Pro (2022), I would surely go for the Belkin 68W Charger. It is simple, comes from a reputable company, and offers a second port in case I want to charge another device simultaneously. Ultimately, all of these MacBook Pro (2022) chargers are excellent and should last you for a long time.

Which of these MacBook Pro (2022) chargers are you buying, and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post These are the best chargers for the Apple MacBook Pro 13 M2 (2022) appeared first on XDA.

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Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED review: OLED never looked this good

The Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED is among the first on the market to have a 120Hz OLED display, which is pretty sweet. After all, OLED laptops are delightful to begin with, and Asus absolutely invests in using the technology in its screens. Adding the high refresh rate on top of that is a chef’s kiss.

Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks in the product. It still uses a 720p webcam, and the 45W Intel 12th-gen processor isn’t paired with any dedicated graphics. In fact, performance wasn’t even on par with units I’ve tested with less powerful processors.

Overall, however, the Asus Vivobook 14X OLED has the best display that you’ll find on a laptop right now, so it offers a pretty great experience.

Asus Vivobook S 14X S5402

The Asus Vivobook S 14X S5402 packs some premium features at a reasonable price, with a 120Hz OLED display, a powerful CPU, and more.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Costco

Navigate this review:

• Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED pricing and availability
• Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED: Specs
• Design: It’s made of aluminum with a subtle design
• Display: The Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED has a best-in-class display
• Keyboard: It’s average, which is fine
• Performance: H-series processors without dedicated graphics isn’t too impressive
• Should you buy the Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED?

Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED pricing and availability

• The Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED costs $1,099.99
• The model that Asus sent for review is a Costco exclusive, and it’s a better deal than the other configuration

The Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED S5402 model is available now, and the model that the company sent me for review is exclusive to Costco. It includes an Intel Core i7-12700H, 12GB DDR4 memory, a 512GB SSD, and of course, a 14.5-inch 2.8K 120Hz OLED display.

There are other configurations, of course. In fact, while the model that Asus sent me comes in Midnight Black, it also comes in colors like Solar Silver and Sandy Grey. However, if you’re not a Costco member, there’s some bad news. There’s a Core i5 SKU, which will be available from vendors like Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H, it’s actually the same price as the Core i7 SKU that comes from Costco at $1,099.99.

Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED: Specs

Processor	Intel Core i7-12700H Processor 2.3 GHz (24M Cache, up to 4.7 GHz, 6P+8E cores)
Graphics	Intel Iris Xe
Body	32.23 x 23.09 x 1.79 ~ 1.79 cm (12.69″ x 9.09″ x 0.70″ ~ 0.70″), 1.63 kg (3.59 lbs)
Display	Screen-to-body ratio: 87 ％ 14.5-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 16:10 aspect ratio, LED Backlit, 0.2ms response time, 120Hz refresh rate, 550nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 1,000,000:1, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 500, 1.07 billion colors, Anti-glare display, 70% less harmful blue light, SGS Eye Care Display, Screen-to-body ratio: 87 ％
Memory	12GB DDR4
Storage	512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
Ports	1x USB 2.0 Type-A 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 2x Thunderbolt 4 supports display / power delivery 1x HDMI 2.0a 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Keyboard	Backlit Chiclet Keyboard, 1.4mm Key-travel
Camera	720p HD camera With privacy shutter
Audio	Smart Amp Technology Built-in speaker Built-in array microphone harman/kardon (Mainstream) with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery	70WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion
Power supply	TYPE-C, 90W AC Adapter, Output 20V DC, 4.5A, 90W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal
Colors	Midnight Black Solar Silver Sandy Grey
OS	Windows 11 Home
Price	$1,099.99

Design: It’s made of aluminum with a subtle design

• It comes in Midnight Black, Solar Silver, and Sandy Grey
• There are two USB Type-A ports, but one of them is USB 2.0

The model that Asus sent me for review is Midnight Black, but it also comes in Solar Silver and Sandy Grey. You can really just think of it as a black laptop. Unlike other OEMs, Asus didn’t use any shiny branding on the exterior design. Indeed, there’s Asus Vivobook branding that’s embossed on the lid with black text.

It’s made out of aluminum, weighing in at 3.59 pounds. This is lighter than laptops that have dedicated graphics, but heavier than ultrabooks. After all, the Asus Vivobook S 14X does sort of sit in its own class between being an ultrabook and being a powerful creator laptop. It’s got the 45W H-series CPU, but it doesn’t have dedicated graphics.

As far as ports go, Asus makes a critical mistake in my opinion. On the left side, there’s a USB 2.0 Type-A port. Personally, I think USB 2.0 should have died a fiery death by now, but unfortunately, it hasn’t. The right side has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, so that means that as an end user, you have to know the difference between the two USB Type-A ports on the device.

For example, if you go to plug in a 4K webcam, you’ll absolutely need to use the one on the right side, but if you don’t know the difference between the two, it’s going to take a little while to figure out what’s wrong. You might even think that one port is broken before realizing the difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 1.

Also on the right side is an HDMI 2.0 port and dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, both of which can be used for charging. Obviously, Thunderbolt 4 also gets you goodies like 40Gbps data transfer speed, the ability to connect an external GPU, and the ability to connect two 4K monitors or one 8K monitor on a single port. What’s neat about the ability to connect an external GPU is that since this has an H-series processor already, it can be a work laptop on the go, but when you get home, you can use that single-cable solution to connect a powerful graphics card and turn this into a gaming laptop.

Display: The Asus Vivobook S 14X has a best-in-class display

• The 14.5-inch screen is 2,880×1,800 OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate
• The webcam is unfortunately 720p

One of the really cool things that we’re starting to see on the PC market is high refresh rate displays. As tends to be the case with anything that’s actually useful and new in PC hardware, it originated with the mobile market. Prior to that, high refresh rates were targeted exclusively at gamers, and the problem with gaming displays is that they’re usually not actually good for anything but gaming. Now, we’re actually seeing some really nice consumer displays that have high refresh rates and are also pleasant to look at.

We’ve seen 120Hz displays, and we’ve seen 90Hz OLED displays, but Asus is giving us a 2.8K 120Hz OLED display, which is the best display I’ve seen on a laptop so far. When you turn on the high refresh rate in Settings, it’s a delightful experience.

The only problem with these high refresh rate displays on Windows laptops is that they absolutely drain battery life. Intel’s processors just can’t do the same things on laptops that Qualcomm’s processors can do in phones. And on top of that, this laptop has a power-hungry processor.

From my testing, the Asus Vivobook S 14X supports 100% sRGB, 95% NTSC, 97% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3, which is really impressive. The point is, you don’t even need to turn it up to 120Hz for this to be one of the best displays on a laptop. It’s just great.

The display test above shows what you’d expect from an OLED display, with the black level staying the same from 0% brightness to 100%, and a high contrast ratio at 13,240:1.

The webcam has a physical privacy guard, but the bad news is that the camera is still 720p. FHD webcams are becoming more and more popular, and if you take a lot of video calls and meetings, you’ll probably want a higher quality webcam.

Keyboard: It’s average, which is fine

• The Chiclet-style keyboard is fine, but that’s it

One thing that I’ll say about the keyboard is that it’s accurate, which is probably the most important thing. There weren’t any missed keystrokes or double keystrokes. Other than that though, it feels pretty average. In general, the keyboard is pretty loud, and it doesn’t have the same solid feel that you’d get from a Lenovo ThinkPad or an HP EliteBook.

As you can see, it has standard Chiclet-style keys, and of course, it is backlit. It has some unique bits, such as an orange Esc key and markings on the Enter key, which might be helpful visual enhancements for some.

The touchpad is fairly large, which is nice. I’d love to see it get even larger in a future iteration of the product, but that’s fine for now.

The power button doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and since there’s no IR camera, that’s your only method of biometric authentication on this device. It works well, scanning your fingerprint when you press it rather than after it boots up.

Performance: H-series processors without dedicated graphics isn’t too impressive

• The Intel 12th-gen processor is 45W, but it doesn’t benchmark well

The Vivobook S 14X S5402 unit that Asus sent me includes a Core i7-12700H, 12GB RAM, and no dedicated graphics. Unfortunately, that’s not very good. I feel like it’s becoming more common for certain brands to use H-series processors without a dGPU, and I don’t like it. I’ve spoken with major OEMs like HP that have done it in the past, and they always end up rolling it back in the next generation of the product.

The 45W CPUs that I’m talking about are traditionally found in gaming laptops and mobile workstations. They’re for people that need all of the power that they can get, and they tend to be paired with powerful dedicated graphics. Laptops that are made for productivity usually have U-series processors, which are 15W, although some of them are now coming with 28W chips.

The additional CPU power obviously comes with a cost to the battery, but it’s without a significant gain in performance. If you’re doing creative work, you probably want to look for something with dedicated graphics, and that can be a lower-tier dGPU like an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 for things like Photoshop and Lightroom. For productivity, you won’t see any meaningful gains from a 45W CPU.

The integrated Iris Xe graphics are exactly the same as the ones found in a Core i7-1260P, with 96 execution units and clocked at 1.4GHz. The clock speed is a bit higher than what’s found in the graphics in the Core i7-1255U.

The Core i7-12700H in the Asus Vivobook S 14X S5402 also doesn’t benchmark well. Shockingly, the scores were lower than what I got on a laptop with a Core i7-1255U, a 15W processor with integrated graphics. To be clear, these units were plugged in with the power slider set to best performance. I even did a factory reset on the Vivobook and ran the tests again, trying to find a way for it to do better. It didn’t.

	Asus Vivobook S 14X Core i7-12700H	Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 Core i7-1255U	Dell XPS 15 9520 Core i7-12700H, RTX 3050 Ti	Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Core i7-1260P
PCMark 10	5,233	5,305	6,640	5,616
3DMark: Time Spy	1,202	1,507	4,535	1,678
Geekbench	1,510 / 6,014	1,711 / 6,700	1,774 / 11,580	1,736 / 9,525
Cinebench	1,629 / 9,015	1,724 / 6,797	1,797 / 11,695	1,638 / 7,757
CrossMark (overall / productivity / creativity / response time)	1,356 / 1,389 / 1,342 / 1,300	1,428 / 1,450 / 1,464 / 1,265	1,855 / 1,735 / 2,052 / 1,671

You can see how it compares to the rest of Intel’s lineup, with the latest U-series Core i7 and the new P-series Core i7, but I also wanted to show the difference in scores when compared with a laptop that has the same processor and some lower-tier dedicated graphics. However, please note that both Geekbench and Cinebench are exclusively CPU tests, so the Vivobook should, in theory, match up with the Dell XPS 15 9520 on those two tests. I was unable to get it to do so.

Battery life was around three hours with the screen set to 120Hz, and around five hours with the screen set to 60Hz, which is about what I’d expect. Lots of companies quote big battery life numbers, but this is what it usually ends up being when you actually plug in a realistic use case.

I also have to say that I did less battery testing with this laptop than I do with others. The method is always to set the power slider to balanced and the screen brightness to a comfortable level, but performance really ended up being such a pain point here that I just got frustrated with not having it plugged in.

Should you buy the Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED?

The big feature with the Asus Vivobook S 14X is the display, of course, and it’s not for everyone.

Who should buy the Asus Vivobook S 14X S5402:

• People that want the absolute best in display quality
• Gamers that want productivity on the go and have an external GPU to connect when at home
• Customers that want a lot of value for the price

Who should NOT buy the Asus Vivobook S 14X S5402:

• Creators that need dedicated graphics
• People that want a general productivity laptop
• People that attend a lot of virtual meetings

The problem with the Asus Vivobook S 14X is that I have a hard time figuring out exactly what category this fits in. I wouldn’t call it a creator laptop; after all, I edited all of these photos on it and frankly, it was lacking when it was on battery life. And at the same time, people that want a productivity laptop would be better served with a U- or P-series processor. Still, you do get a 2.8K 120Hz screen for $1,100, so there’s a lot of value there.

The post Asus Vivobook S 14X OLED review: OLED never looked this good appeared first on XDA.

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How to change the Wi-Fi network on an Amazon Echo and Echo Show

A working Wi-Fi connection is an essential part of owning an Amazon Echo. Without it you can’t really do, well, anything. So when it comes to the time you get a new wireless router, for example, it’s important to get moved over as quickly as possible. Especially if your Echo and Alexa are central to your smart home setup.

Fortunately, changing to a new Wi-Fi network is straightforward and all you need is your phone and the Alexa app. Detailed below are the steps that apply to all Amazon Echo smart speakers as well as the Echo Show and Echo Spot devices with displays.

How to change the Wi-Fi network on an Amazon Echo

• Enable Bluetooth on your phone and open the Alexa App.

Amazon Alexa (Free, Google Play) →

‎Amazon Alexa (Free, App Store) →

• Trigger in the settings under Wi-Fi Network and follow on-screen prompts.
• For Echo Show and Echo Spot, use the built-in display to access the Settings menu.

For this, you’ll want to make sure that you’re in the same room as the Echo and that Bluetooth is enabled on your phone. Then, open up the Alexa app and follow these steps.

1. Select Devices.
2. Select Echo & Alexa.
3. Select your device.
4. Select Settings.
5. Select Wi-Fi Network and follow the on-screen instructions.

These may vary from device to device, but the basic steps involve holding down the action button on the speaker for around 15 seconds. From here you’re going to be waiting for the light to go orange before continuing.

The Alexa app puts your Amazon Echo into its setup mode and then pairs it to your new Wi-Fi network. Once complete, you’ll hear a message from your Amazon Echo and the orange light will have been replaced by a blue one.

How to change the Wi-Fi network on an Amazon Echo Show or Echo Spot

If you’re using an Amazon Echo device with a display then the process is a whole lot simpler. All you will need to do is to open the settings, usually by swiping down from the top and tapping the cog on the display.

Next, find the Network menu, open it and then simply select the Wi-Fi network you want to connect to. Since you have an on-screen keyboard, you’ll enter passwords here, too.

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The Amazon Echo is the best all-around smart speaker for most people with a nice design, great sound and the immense power of the Alexa ecosystem at its disposal.

See at Amazon

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Black Shark 5 Pro Review: Pushing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to its hot limits

Black Shark is a gaming smartphone brand that’s been around for a while. It’s backed by Xiaomi (not owned by, as the company fervently reminds the tech community) and typically packs high-end hardware in a more affordable package. Now the Black Shark 5 Pro is here, and it’s more of the same with physical triggers that can be mapped to touch inputs to help your game.

If you’re looking for a powerful smartphone that looks decent, then the Black Shark 5 Pro might well be up your alley. However, it might also be worth waiting for what’s to come after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 before taking the plunge on a gaming smartphone, as the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 promises to fix a lot of the shortcomings of the preceding flagship chipset.

With the Black Shark 5 Pro, there are a lot of problems that you mightn’t be able to get over, and that includes poor battery life, intense heat, and the lack of a headphone jack. If you’re interested to learn more, then read on.

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Black Shark 5 Pro is the latest gaming phone from the Xiaomi-backed company, but there are a lot of problems with it that may not necessarily command the price tag.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy at Black Shark

Navigate this review:

• Specs
• Design
• Gaming Experience
• Camera
• Miscellaneous
• Should you buy the Black Shark 5 Pro?

Black Shark Pro 5: Specs

Specification	Black Shark 5 Pro
Dimensions & Weight	163.83mm x 76.25mm x 9.5mm 220g
Display	6.67-inch AMOLED 1080 x 2400 (full HD+) 144Hz refresh rate Up to 720Hz touch sampling rate 1300nits peak brightness HDR10+
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Adreno GPU
RAM & Storage	8GB LPDDR5 +128GB UFS 3.1 6400MHz RAM 12GB+256GB 16GB+256GB
Battery & Charging	4,650 mAh battery 120W fast charging support Supports QC/PD
Security	Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 108MP, f/1.75 Ultra-wide: 13MP, f/2.4 Macro: 5MP
Front Camera(s)	16MP, f/2.45
Port(s)	USB Type-C No headphone jack
Audio	Stereo speakers
Connectivity	5G NR (SA/NSA) 4G 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax dual-band Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.2 NFC
Software	JoyUI 13 based on MIUI
Other Features	Shoulder triggers

About this review: Black Shark sent us the Black Shark 5 Pro for review. The company did not have any input into the contents of this review.

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Black Shark 5 Pro: Design

• Not an overly “gamer” look
• Camera barely protrudes
• Comfortable to hold

The Black Shark 5 Pro’s design can simply be described as “gamer” — though it’s not over-the-top like I’ve seen from some other gaming brands. It has a soft-touch glass on the back, with a small icon that lights up on the back. I expected that this would be usable as a notification LED (makes sense, right?) but that’s not the case. It doesn’t do a whole lot, though there are some settings in the software that you can modify to make it react to things like phone calls.

It’s a pretty thick phone, but it’s still comfortable to hold thanks to the rounded back edges. The camera doesn’t take up a huge amount of space either, nor does it protrude much, even though it packs a pretty large 108MP sensor. The display is also completely flat, with a single-centered punch-hole selfie camera.

The shoulder triggers on the Black Shark 5 Pro are pretty cool

Where this phone is unique in its design is the implementation of two trigger buttons on the right-hand side. They’re not always active, and you need to swipe a release mechanism to allow them out to be pressed. When they’re not released, they are flush with the rest of the chassis of the phone.

Those shoulder triggers have to be mapped to touch inputs to be used in games, as games won’t recognize them as an official controller input. Nevertheless, they’re pretty cool, and it’s not too big of a deal to map them to your favorite games. It takes a bit of setup, but I’ve noticed in games like COD Mobile that it does make a difference, as in my case, I no longer need to claw my hands over the display to aim and shoot effectively. When not gaming, they can also be assigned other functions — for example, they will also take photos in the camera app by default.

For a gamer phone, the Black Shark 5 Pro doesn’t have a lot of unique gamer design, and that’s not really a bad thing. Companies like RedMagic have been known to go a bit overboard in that department, whereas the Black Shark 5 Pro can go unnoticed as just a normal smartphone.

For the display, the Black Shark 5 Pro packs a 1080p flat AMOLED screen that goes up to 144Hz. At first glance, it sounds like a bad thing that it’s full HD 1080p and not 1440p, but there’s a reason for that. Higher resolutions require more computational power, so gaming phones often pack 1080p displays to push as high of a frame rate as possible.

The speakers are really loud and sound very good

There are two speakers, both a top and bottom-firing one. The top speaker I’ve noticed sounds a little tinnier, even though it’s a separate speaker to the earpiece. I’m not sure why that is as I would have expected them to be the same, given that they’re located in the same place on each side and separate from the earpiece. Nevertheless, the speakers are really loud and sound very good, so it’s not a big complaint that I have anyway. There’s no headphone jack either, which is a little strange for a gaming phone.

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Black Shark 5 Pro: Gaming experience

• Good performance
• No thermal throttling makes for a very hot phone
• Should have waited for the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1

The “latest and greatest” chipset is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and that’s thanks to all of the problems that consumers have been facing with it. It runs quite hot, drains a lot of battery, and doesn’t offer a huge amount by way of performance improvements over the Snapdragon 888. The Black Shark 5 Pro makes the most of it though and does the best that it can, sometimes to its own detriment.

We ran a gamut of tests on the Black Shark 5 Pro, and while the results were impressive, they were also alarming. CPU Throttling Test raised the temperature of the device to dangerous levels, with heat dissipating through the shoulder triggers at much higher rates than the rest of the phone. The shoulder triggers began to hurt my fingers from the heat. CPU Throttling Test is an unrealistic CPU load to be put on a smartphone, but I ran into similar heating issues when playing The Simpsons: Hit & Run through AetherSX2.

The Black Shark 5 Pro packs top specifications though, and it gives the results to match. We also ran Geekbench 5 and 3DMark’s Wild Life test, and those results lined up with what we expected too. The phone heats up a lot, but that’s par for the course: both with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and with this being a gaming phone. We’d place more of the responsibility for that on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 than on Black Shark, although Black Shark did choose performance over throttling despite the heat.

Playing The Simpsons: Hit & Run was a pleasant experience, and the game runs near flawlessly. I played with a 2x internal resolution, and the game ran at more or less 60 FPS at all times. The phone heated up a lot, but the reduced thermal throttling was noticeable here as the game continued to run well despite the phone feeling like it was going to burn my fingers off. We measured the game’s performance with GameBench, and the results were as good as you’d expect.

To be honest, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been a smarter choice to dial up the thermal throttling just a little bit. An 83% thermal throttle is impressive, but it’s clear that the trade-offs are nigh-on dangerous. You can’t game on this phone intensively for a long time because it starts to hurt. Those temperatures probably aren’t safe for the phone’s battery, either.

This is one of the most powerful phones that I've tested with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

This is a powerful smartphone (and one of the most powerful that I’ve tested with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1), but that’s only because it takes risks. With Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 devices around the corner, it’s a shame that Black Shark didn’t wait it out. From our testing, it’s already a much more efficient chipset, and I think that gaming phones will stand to benefit a lot from it.

The best part of the Black Shark 5 Pro when it comes to power and battery life is the fact that it supports bypass charging. Bypass charging means that your phone will run off of the charger, not using any battery, and not charging up your phone either. It generates less heat (something that is sorely needed with this phone, to be fair), and in theory, safeguards your battery as a result.

We would like to give special thanks to the team at GameBench for the tool they provided us. Their tool makes it possible for any person, whether it be a regular user,  journalist, or engineer, to test a mobile game’s performance on an Android device. 

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Black Shark 5 Pro: Camera

Look, nobody is buying a gaming phone for its camera. If you want a phone that takes good photos and has all of the over-the-top gaming features you may have heard of, there’s practically nothing on the market. Having said that, the Black Shark 5 Pro’s camera gets the job done as a decently usable smartphone camera that you can use in a pinch. Though if you care about picture quality that much, it’s not beating any top camera phones by any stretch of the imagination.

For context, the Black Shark 5 Pro has a single 108MP primary camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5MP telephoto macro lens. That telephoto lens allows for actually useable macro shots, which is a plus over the 2MP macro cameras that manufacturers still to this day throw into phones.

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Black Shark 5 Pro: JoyUI

The Black Shark 5 Pro runs JoyUI, the company’s own modification of MIUI. It looks the same and performs the same, with the same launcher, multi-tasking menu, and even the same control center when pulling down from the top right-hand side. It’s basically just a rebrand of MIUI with some green accents and a couple of hardware-specific features. That’s not a bad thing because I like MIUI, but it’s not a huge deviation from it whatsoever.

With JoyUI, you get all of the features that you’ve come to expect from MIUI. You get a fancy always-on display (with a ton of customization options), you get second space, and you get the quick ball if you’re into that. JoyUI is pretty heavy-handed in changes when compared to other Android variants, but to some, that’s a large part of its charm.

There are features here that integrate with the shoulder triggers though, and do it a whole lot better than I expected them to. For example, popping out a shoulder trigger and pressing it when the camera is open will take a photo, and you can enable them to do other things throughout the system, too. They’re not just for gaming, which I appreciated as I was worried that this was essentially just a gaming phone with no thought to the cohesiveness around the rest of the device.

I'm impressed by the level of thought that's been put into making the shoulder triggers a valuable part of the user interface

Overall, it’s more of Xiaomi’s MIUI, with some additional features. I’m impressed by the level of thought that’s been put into making the shoulder triggers a valuable part of the user interface, though, rather than making them an afterthought.

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Miscellaneous

Security

To unlock your smartphone, the Black Shark 5 Pro supports both face unlock and a capacitive fingerprint sensor that’s inside of the power button. It’s almost certainly a bit of a cost-saving measure that there isn’t one in the display, but it’s no big deal really. It works well.

Audio

I know I already mentioned how good the speakers are, but it’s worth another moment to get across just how good they are. They’re loud — really loud — and are great for gaming. Black Shark did a great job here. I do need to point out the lack of a headphone jack though, as it’s an essential feature in a gaming phone. Bluetooth audio has latency, and it’s noticeable when gaming.

Battery life and charging

We touched on this already in the gaming experience section, but battery life really isn’t good. Bypass charging helps in the gaming area when you need to keep your phone powered, but the battery life you get out of the box isn’t great. Expect to get, maximum, five hours of screen on time, and it’s very likely you’ll get a lot less — especially when gaming. 120W charging is amazing when you need it and can charge this phone from 0% to 100% in 15 minutes, but it’s not always worth having super fast charging and then having terrible battery life. I’d personally rather have slower charging and a longer battery, especially because there are massively diminishing returns between 65W charging and 120W charging.

Bootloader unlocking, kernel sources, and software updates

You can unlock the bootloader of a Black Shark phone using Xiaomi’s MIUI unlock tool. It’s a bit of an involved process, though.

As for kernel sources, Black Shark basically never releases them. If you want to use custom ROMs or anything like that on your smartphone, this probably isn’t the phone to get. Software updates are also a bit hit or miss in that regard.

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Should you buy the Black Shark 5 Pro?

The Black Shark 5 Pro offers a lot of good, but there are a lot of reasons to look elsewhere, too. The kernel source and update situation is particularly alarming, as companies are obligated under the GPL to release timely kernel sources. Some companies, such as OnePlus, have published kernel sources late but still typically always get to them at some point. Black Shark, however, just hasn’t released any kernel sources from the Black Shark 2 or newer.

Even aside from that, the phone itself heats up incredibly when gaming, to the point that I worry it can cause harm and injury. Between that, the lack of a headphone jack, and the battery life concerns, there’s just not a lot that Black Shark gets right for a gaming phone. The shoulder triggers are cool and work well, but that’s the only genuinely unique feature about this phone that you can’t really get anything like anywhere else.

As a result, if what you want is a gaming phone, it’s probably worth waiting to see what’s around the corner — particularly anything that may be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. There are too many trade-offs here, and for €799, there’s probably much better on offer. I love the speakers, I love the shoulder triggers, but I’m really not a fan of anything else with this phone.

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Black Shark 5 Pro is the latest gaming phone from the Xiaomi-backed company, but there are a lot of problems with it that may not necessarily command the price tag.

Buy at Black Shark

The post Black Shark 5 Pro Review: Pushing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to its hot limits appeared first on XDA.

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