Google’s Pixel Watch will reportedly pack an older chipset

The long-awaited Google Pixel Watch was finally unveiled at this year’s Google I/O, though the company was particularly cagey about its specifications. We didn’t actually get to hear a whole lot, aside from the fact that it was also going to be launching alongside the Pixel 7 series. Now, though, a new report from 9to5Google suggests that it’s going to pack the Exynos 9110, a chipset that launched four years ago.

While obviously it’s frustrating that Google isn’t packing the latest Exynos W920 chipset in its first smartwatch, there are likely reasons as to why. The most likely reason is that the Pixel Watch has been in development for a long, long, time. The company has been planning it since the very first Google Pixel smartphone, and rumors again picked up steam in 2018 ahead of the Pixel 3 series launch.

Given all of that, it’s very possible that this is being developed on older hardware because it’s technically an older device. As 9to5Google reports, the Pixel Watch began development on Android 9 Pie. If Google eventually switched to the Exynos W920, it could have delayed development even further.

It’s not all bad, though. The Exynos 9110 is built on a 10nm process, packing two Cortex-A53 cores. That means it’s more efficient than Qualcomm’s latest offering, and will hopefully pair nicely with the reported 300 mAh battery. For reference, Qualcomm’s latest wearable chip is the Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus, produced on a 12nm process and packing four Cortex-A53 cores.

Really, the only issue in the case of the Pixel Watch is that it likely won’t be able to compete with the best of Samsung, with a Galaxy Watch 5 series expected to launch sometime before the Pixel Watch will. The Galaxy Watch 5 will likely pack, at minimum, an Exynos W920 which means that it’ll still beat the Exynos 9110, though probably not by a huge amount in real-world usage.

While it would be nice to have the latest and greatest chipset in Google’s first premiere smartwatch outing, processors aren’t everything. We learned as much with the Google Pixel 6 series and how Google Tensor remained competitive against the current generation of chipsets thanks to Google’s optimisations, despite being based on a theoretically weaker Exynos chipset. We’ll be waiting to see if the rumors are true, and if so, what Google can pull off with an older chip.

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Source: 9to5Google

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OnePlus 8 series and OnePlus 9R’s latest OxygenOS 12 update brings messaging optimization

Less than three weeks after resuming the OxygenOS 12 rollout for the OnePlus 8 series and the OnePlus 9R, OnePlus has started seeding yet another Android 12-based update for these devices through the stable channel. The latest OxygenOS build for the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, 8T, and 9R adds to the previous update with a few more optimizations and bug fixes.

Screenshot credit: OnePlus Community member Antique19

The version number of the new build is C.17, and it addresses the anomaly where the device bugs out while sending and receiving messages. Curiously, though, there is no change in the Android security patchset, hence the phones are still on the two-month old March 2022 SPL.

As with all OxygenOS updates, OnePlus is rolling out the latest OxygenOS 12 build for the OnePlus 9R and the OnePlus 8 lineup in waves. This means that the new release will initially be delivered to a limited number of users, with a broader rollout to follow in the next few days. Once the company confirms that there aren’t any major issues with the update, it will be pushed to more users.

XDA Forums: OnePlus 8 || OnePlus 8 Pro || OnePlus 8T || OnePlus 9R

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Download: OxygenOS 12 C.17 for the OnePlus 8 series and OnePlus 9R

According to the official announcement threads, only the Indian variants of the OnePlus 8 lineup are eligible for this update. We still don’t know when the European and the global editions will get the fixed build of OxygenOS 12. The OnePlus 9R is an India-only model, hence it gets the update anyway.

You can either wait for your device to get picked up on the staged rollout, or you can manually sideload the update using the download links provided below. We’ll continue to update this article as we get more download links.

• OnePlus 8
  • India (IN2011_11.C.17):
    • Full OTA
    • Incremental from C.15
• OnePlus 8 Pro
  • India (IN2021_11.C.17):
    • Full OTA
    • Incremental from C.15
• OnePlus 8T
  • India (KB2001_11.C.17):
    • Full OTA
    • Incremental from C.15
• OnePlus 9R
  • India (LE2101_11.C.17):
    • Full OTA
    • Incremental from C.15

Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer mlgmxyysd and XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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Source: OnePlus Community Forums (1, 2, 3)

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Latest Steam Deck update adds per-game performance profiles at last

Valve is keeping its foot firmly on the gas with Steam Deck updates and the latest is a good one. Many players, myself included, have been wanting a per-game profile feature and Valve has delivered. The update is pushing out now and adds the new feature to the quick access menu.

Since launch, Steam Deck owners have had control over TDP, frame rates, and clock speed, with a recent appearance from a refresh rate switcher for the display. This latest feature makes it easier than ever to get your game performance just right and never have to touch it again.

Once inside a game, opening the performance menu will now show a new toggle. When enabled, the Steam Deck will create a profile for that game so you can tweak the settings as you wish. Then when you play again, those settings will automatically load. If you turn off the toggle you will revert back to whatever global settings are in place. This will be a really important quality of life improvement for Steam Deck owners, as it does feel sometimes like more time is spent in the performance menu than enjoying games.

This isn’t the only new feature to be found in the update, with the usual smorgasbord of fixes and improvements. Valve has improved the performance when switching between online and offline modes, as well as fixing a bug relating to friends appearing online when you are not. There are also improvements for connecting to external displays, where the Deck will now show a scaled virtual 1280×800 resolution. More work is apparently underway on this, too.

The Steam Deck updates continue to come thick and fast as more units start to get into gamers’ hands around the world. We’re not even three months post-launch yet and the platform has seen a series of significant upgrades. Check out the full patch notes to see everything that’s new.

Steam Deck

Valve's first portable gaming PC, the Steam Deck is one of the hottest devices of 2022 with a huge library of games to play on it

See at Steam

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OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 3 based on Android 12 rolls out to the OnePlus Nord

While OnePlus is busy shaping up Android 13 through its Developer Preview program, the company is also reminding users that it hasn’t forgotten about the OnePlus Nord by releasing an update through its Open Beta program. It may take several more rounds of Open Beta releases before we see the final stable OxygenOS 12 build lands on this device, but the OEM is making steady progress in that direction. The third OxygenOS Open Beta based on Android 12 is now available for the OnePlus Nord.

As expected, Open Beta 3 is mostly a bug-fixing update, and we’re not seeing any major shuffle in terms of new features or UI changes. Fixes have been deployed for the boot animation and Google Assistant voice activation, for instance. The build also addresses the issue of the glitchy touch sounds. Finally, the Android security patch level has been bumped to April 2022.

The full update changelog for the OnePlus Nord’s Open Beta 3 release can be found below:

• Security
  • [Updated] Android security patch to 2022.04
• System
  • [Fixed] the issue of abnormal Touch sounds
  • [Fixed] the issue of abnormal boot animation
• Voice
  • [Fixed] the occasional issue that unable to start “OK Google” with voice

OnePlus Nord XDA Forums

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Download OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 3 for the OnePlus Nord

Users already on the OxygenOS beta path will receive this update as an incremental OTA if they are stock unrooted, and as a complete update if they are rooted. On the other hand, people who are not enrolled to the beta program need to download and manually flash the ROM.

• OnePlus Nord
  • India
    • Open Beta 4 (AC2001_11.F.11)
      • Full OTA
      • Incremental from OB2

Although installing the Open Beta on top of a stable channel build won’t erase your data, it’s advised that you still take a full backup of your important data before switching the update track. You can flash the rollback package if you wish to revert to the stable channel.

Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer mlgmxyysd for the download link!

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Source: OnePlus Community Forums

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HP focuses on creators with new ZBook mobile workstations

Today, HP is announcing all new products from its Z lineup, including some ZBooks, some monitors, and even the HP Thunderbolt Dock G4. Specifically, the two new laptops are the ZBook Studio G9 and the ZBook Fury G9.

“Creative professionals want personalized hardware and software experiences that provide them the freedom to pursue their passions and create without their technology or location holding them back,” said Jim Nottingham, general manager and global head, Advanced Compute and Solutions, HP Inc. “Today’s Z by HP announcement blends cutting-edge technology with the versatility of a combined ecosystem to make every creative idea a reality.”

HP ZBook Studio G9 and ZBook Fury G9

HP’s ZBook mobile workstations are meant to be able to handle the most complex workloads. Both the ZBook Studio and ZBook Fury G9 come with Intel’s new 12th-gen processors. The ZBook Studio comes with up to a Core i9 vPro CPU and an NVIDIA RTX A5500 or a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti depending on your needs.

HP ZBook Fury G9

The ZBook Fury G9 is even more powerful. It has Intel new 55W HX-series processors, and either an NVIDIA RTX A5500 GPU ot AMD Radeon Pro GPUs. With these new processors, HP is promising desktop-class performance, as they come closer to a standard S-series CPU from Intel.

Both the ZBook Fury and ZBook Studio will be available in June, with pricing to be announced later.

Monitors and a new dock

HP has two new monitors to announce today, the Z24m G3 QHD Conferencing Display and the Z24q G3 QHD Display.

HP Z24 monitors

If you’re looking for a 23.8-inch monitor with QHD resolution, HP has you covered here, especially since these come with a 90Hz refresh rate. They’re factory calibrated for sRGB and P3, and they have VESA DisplayHDR 400. The big difference between the two is that the Z24m G2 QHD Conferencing Display has a tiltable 5MP webcam.

The HP Z24m G3 QHD Conferencing Display is coming in July, with pricing to be announced later. The Z24q is coming in May, starting at $374.

HP Thunderbolt Dock G4

HP’s new Thunderbolt Dock G4 adds an array of ports like dual DisplayPort, HDMI, several USB Type-A, and more. What makes it really interesting is that it comes in 120W and 280W variants, so it can charge your laptop faster if you need it. The Thunderbolt Dock G4 is coming in May, at $329 for the 120W model and $439 for the 280W model.

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XDA Basics: How to run an app as an administrator on Windows 11

In Windows 11, just like previous versions of Windows before it, you can have different user accounts on the same PC. Some of these accounts can be administrator accounts, and others might just be regular accounts. That’s because some apps – particularly ones that can change important system files – sometimes require administrator permission to run or to make specific changes. Even if you have an administrator account, many times Windows 11 apps won’t run with administrator permissions by default, so as to prevent apps from making potentially harmful changes to your PC without your consent.

For example, the Windows Terminal can run without administrator permissions, and some features can be used that way, but many of the things you can do with it do require you to run it as an administrator. Otherwise, they just won’t work. If you want to run an app as an administrator, here’s how you can do it.

Running an app as an administrator once

If you just want to run a specific app as an administrator occasionally, you can specifically ask it to run as an administrator whenever you need to. Doing this is very simple:

• On the Start menu, desktop, or File Explorer, right-click the app you want to run. Then, click Run as administrator (in the All apps list on the Start menu, this option is hidden behind the More dropdown menu).
  

  On the desktop and File Explorer, you can also press Ctrl + Shift while clicking an app to run it as an administrator.

• Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt. If you’re not using an administrator account, you’ll need to provide a password for one of the administrator accounts on the PC.

Do note, however, that not every app will give you the option to run as an administrator. Particularly, apps built on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) or WinRT don’t offer this option. These apps are designed to work in a more limited scope for security reasons, so they don’t even have the option. These are mostly apps you’ll find in the Microsoft Store, so if you downloaded something using your web browser, you should be able to run it as an administrator just fine.

Always run an app in administrator mode

For some apps, you may want to always run them as administrator, so it can get tedious to do the process above every time. If you want a specific app to always run as an administrator, you can make that happen, at least, for some apps. Here’s how:

• Find the app you want on the desktop or using File Explorer. If the app you want is on the Start menu, right-click it and choose Open file location. If you can’t see the option, you may not be able to run the app as an administrator.
  
  • For some apps that don’t show the Open file location option on the Start menu, another option is to use the Task Manager. While the app is running, open the Task Manager and locate the app there. You can then right-click the process and choose Open file location there to find where the app is. This won’t work for every app, however.
    
• Right-click the app and choose Properties in the context menu.
  
• In the Properties window, switch to the Compatibility tab at the top.
• Here, toggle the option that says Run this program as an administrator.
  
• Click OK to save your changes and close the Properties window.
• If the app is currently running, you’ll need to close it and re-launch it for it to run with administrator permissions.

From now on, that program will always run as an administrator. You’ll have to accept the User Account Control prompt every time you run the app, you can’t work around that.

Certain apps, such as the Windows Terminal we mentioned above, can’t be located in the File Explorer normally, but you can still set them to run as administrator from within the app itself. Many apps offer this option in their settings, but that will look different for each app.

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And that’s all you need to know about running Windows 11 apps as an administrator. As we’ve mentioned, this can enable certain features in some apps. but you’ll need an administrator account to do so. Speaking of things that require an administrator account, why not check out how to enable God Mode on Windows 11 to gain quick access to various system settings?

And while we’re on the topic of accounts, we also have a guide on how to set up a child account on Windows 11. This can be very helpful if you have a PC you share with the rest of your family.

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Best replacement chargers for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 is one of the best business laptops you can buy in 2022. It’s packing the latest hardware from Intel, it has a nice display with a new 4K ultra HD+ OLED configuration option, and the webcam has been upgraded to a 1080p sensor across the board, giving you much better quality for video calls and meetings. To keep the whole thing running, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga has a 57Whr battery, and that battery is charged with the included 65W charger.

But what happens if you lose that charger or if it stops working for some reason? Thankfully, there’s no shortage of options if you need a new charger for your laptop, and we’ve rounded up some of the best ones you can buy right now. Some of them are fairly basic chargers, but others have some more interesting capabilities that you might also appreciate. Let’s get into it.

Lenovo 65W GaN Charger

Official compact charger

There's no better way to charge a Lenovo laptop than a Lenovo charger, right? Lenovo sells this compact 65W charger that uses gallium nitride to stay cool, and thus it's much smaller than a typical laptop charger.

See at Amazon

Baseus 65W 3-Port Charger

Multiple ports

Want something that can charge your phone, too? This 65W Baseus charger has three ports so you can plug in more devices. However, your laptop will charge slower if other devices are plugged in at the same time.

See at Amazon

Spigen Arcstation Pro

Lots of power

If you want to get the fastest charging speeds possible, the Spigen Arcstation Pro is hard to beat delivering up. It does have two ports, each one giving you 45W of power if you use both at once.

See at Amazon

PDUSBSZ 65W Charger

Built-in cable

If you happen to lose your charging cables easily, this charger is a good option. It's a very cheap and compact charger, but since it delivers 65W of power, it's still a good match for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

See at Amazon

Emaks 65W Charger

Classic-style charger

Many of the chargers we see today have all their guts built right into the plug, but for some people. having the power adapter separated from the plug may be better. This is a cheap 65W charger that does exactly that.

See at Amazon

Belkin 108W 4-Port Charger

For all your devices

Want to charge all your devices from the same brick? This 108W charger from Belkin can provide up to 96W to your laptop, and even when the other ports are being used, the main port still delivers 65W.

See at Amazon

Omni 20c+

Portable charging

Need to keep your laptop juiced up during a trip? The Omni 20c+ is a large power bank that supports 60W power delivery over USB-C. However, you can get faster charging using the wall outlet plug that's also built into the power bank.

See at Amazon

Kensington SD7000T

Charger and dock

Charging your laptop is useful enough, but what about something that adds capabilities to your laptop? This Kensington dock adds more USB Type-A ports and three Thunderbolt downstream ports for things like monitors.

See at Amazon

Jackery Explorer 300

For camping

If you're planning to be away from an outlet for a few days, a big portable power station like this might be what you need. It has two wall outlets and a USB-C port that can deliver 60W of power. Plus, it's big enough to keep you going for a couple of days.

See at Amazon

And those are all the charger options we’d recommend for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7. We got a little crazy with more out-there options towards the end, but they might be useful for people with specific needs. Of course, the basic options will do just as well if all you need is a charger to replace the one that comes in the box. But we also don’t expect most users to need to replace their existing charger already considering the laptop is still very recent.

If you haven’t yet, you can buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 below. This is one of the best laptops of the year, especially if you want a reliable and classic-looking laptop for work. It has high-end performance, a versatile convertible design, and the iconic elements that make ThinkPads stand out, like the red TrackPoint and the duplicate mouse buttons above the touchpad.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 is a powerful convertible with 12th-gen Intel processors and up to an Ultra HD+ OLED display. Plus, you can get it with a Full HD webcam.

See at Lenovo

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