What's up, TechNavers? Of course, it was the MWC 2019 all week! We covered multiple MWC stuff that happened over the past few days, our boy, Jim managed to have a first impression + hands-on experience of the foldable Huawei Mate X smartphone, the untouchable (literally) Sony Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 series, the penta-camera Nokia 9 PureView, the 48MP Xiaomi Mi 9, an 18,000mAh Energizer smartphone, and many more MWC 2019 stuff (which you can find on our search engine). Also not forgetting the new vivo V15 Pro release in Malaysia on Super Brand Day, and of course - the Samsung Galaxy S10 series has officially launched in Malaysia!
Speaking of Samsung, the new flagship has exceeded our expectations! We have been playing around with it and so far, our favourite feature is the camera aspect and we recently wrote the Top 5 New Samsung Galaxy S10 camera features You Should Know About, as well as Top 5 Features the Samsung Galaxy S10 series got right. In my opinion, it's a worthy upgrade from the predecessor and that says a lot. So give it a read, y'all!
Anyway, onto other MWC 2019 and local news that also happened during this hectic week.
New Wiko View3 series
As always, Wiko made its presence in MWC 2019 and announced two new smartphones - View3 Pro and View3. These are two new mid-range tier devices and packing some respectable tech specs.
No price and availability were announced, though, and we aren't sure if Wiko plans to bring them into Malaysia. Below is the summary of what the two phones are featuring:
View3 Pro
- Mediatek Helio P60 Octa-Core
- 4GB and 6GB of RAM
- 64GB and 128GB ROM (expandable memory up to 256GB)
- 6.3-inch FHD+ display
- Triple rear camera: 12MP + 13MP + 5MP
- Front camera: 16MP
- Features face unlock, fingerprint sensor, Pump Express fast charging, NFC and USB type-C
- Android 9.0 Pie
- 4000 mAH battery
View3
- Mediatek Helio P22 Octa-Core
- 3GB of RAM
- 64GB ROM (expandable memory up to 256GB)
- 6.26-inch HD+ display
- Triple rear camera: 12MP + 13MP + 2MP
- Front camera: 8MP
- Features face unlock and fingerprint sensor
- Android 9.0 Pie
- 4000 mAH battery
Celcom teams up with Microsoft for 5G era
Speaking of MWC 2019, Celcom actually made a surprise appearance there and together with Microsoft Malaysia, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strategic collaboration between both parties to accelerate their shift to Cloud and re-imagine their work culture to better suit the digital needs for the upcoming 5G era.
With the new partnership, the MoU will see the joint deployment of Microsoft Teams and Yammer at @celcom for the design and building of a Celcom – Microsoft Innovation Centre, which will deliver customer-centric solutions that will improve Celcom’s customers’ IOT journey, as well as supporting Celcom with technology skills programs to develop new skills for Celcom’s workforce, focusing on Cloud and Security. To read the full story, you can check it out at Microsoft's Newsroom here.
Idham Nawawi (left), Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad and Alberto Granados (right), Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Operations at Microsoft Asia Pacific came together to mark the occasion
OPPO and Ericsson Signed Patent License Agreement
At another partnership signing, OPPO and Ericsson today announced the signing of a multi-year global patent license agreement between the two companies. The agreement covers patent licensing, and collaboration on a number of business projects.
Adler Feng, Head of OPPO Intellectual Property Department, said that the agreement will lay a solid foundation for further cooperation between the two companies in the 5G era. As of January 2019, the company has filed more than 33,000 patent applications worldwide and owns more than 8,000 granted patents. The deal with Ericsson is the latest in a series of patent license agreements by OPPO with key telecommunication industry partners including Qualcomm, Dolby and Nokia. OPPO will continue to work closely with leading industry partners to bring the best products and experiences to consumers globally.
TikTok Partners with Key Malaysian NGOs to Launch #BetterMeBetterInternet Campaign to Promote Online Safety
So apparently, there was a recent Safer Internet Day (SID) global movement in Malaysia. A campaign by TikTok, #BetterMeBetterInternet is aimed to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for young people. They are in partnership with key non-governmental organizations in Malaysia including P.S. The Children Malaysia, Yayasan Generasi Gemilang and the Malaysian Council For Child Welfare to promote online safety.
Campaigns like the #BetterMeBetterInternet campaign encourages the adoption of positive online habits through the application of customized stickers designed. With these stickers, users can embrace positive hashtags such as #likes, #Respect, #Positivity, #Creativity, #Security, and shove away negative hashtags such as #5badhabits #Cyber-bullying, #Negativity, #Trolls, #Anxiety, and #Haters.
TikTok has also launched an in-app quiz to equip users with online safety tips, and users who answer all the questions correctly stand a chance to win special prizes, with winners being contacted via in-app push notification for prize delivery. For more information about TikTok’s safety efforts, you can visit the Safety Centre here.
SlingApp partners with eRezeki
If you mix up Tinder and job seeking apps, what do you find? If your answer is SlingApp, you're right and it's currently the fastest growing job-seeking app in Malaysia. Targetted towards young job seekers between the age of 18-30 years old, SlingApp is in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, MDEC’s eRezeki.
SlingApp Founders, Teh Tian Ji (left) and Lucas Wong officially launched the app for jobseekers to look for jobs under one minute
Co-Founder of SlingApp, Teh Tian Ji (郑天吉) said, “After our official appointment as a partner for the eRezeki programme, a government initiative under the MDEC on 15 November 2018, we are launching various campaigns to reach out to the B40 group nationwide to encourage them to sign up and get job matches. We aim that by the end of 2019, there will be more than 1 million successful job matches through this initiative. This will ultimately create more digital income opportunities while filling up the existing void in various industries.”
Since its launch in 2017, SlingApp has successfully matched 40,000 job seekers to more than 2,000 companies including major global brands such as DiGi Communications, AEON, Mary Kay, Sushi King, Tony Roma’s and Public Mutual. These subscribing employers have posted more than 5,000 jobs. Interestingly, youngsters between the age of 21 and 26 contribute 58% of the growing database on SlingApp.
In the coming months, SlingApp targets to include job opportunities outside Klang Valley, including Penang and Johor. The Malaysian based startup is also keen to expand within the countries in the Southeast Asia region such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
To learn more about SlingApp, visit www.slingapp.my!
Razer Pay brings new features to Malaysia users
In addition to the new Razer HQ in Malaysia recently, they have introduced promo coupons and instant messaging to the Razer Pay e-wallet app in Malaysia. This includes features such as purchases and promotions at thousands of online and offline participating retailers that users can collect and store in their own “Pockets”, transferring and receiving money from friends, and topping up and withdrawing funds easily.
Also, Razer Pay has partnered with 7-Eleven to offer an exclusive launch promotion. Every Razer Pay user in Malaysia can get one RM5 coupon from within the app (subject to availability) from February 25th to March 3rd to use for any purchase in 7-Eleven, with no minimum purchase required. From March 4th onwards, a limited quantity of RM5 and RM3 7-Eleven coupons will be released daily at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm respectively. Users can get one of each coupon and use them until March 15th.
TNG Digital and KidZania Strikes 'Cashless'Partnership
Mr Syahrunizam Samsudin (left), CEO of TNG Digital Sdn Bhd and Mr Shahrul Nizar Ahmad (right), General Manager of KidZania Kuala Lumpur Mayor of Kid Zania Kuala Lumpur at the signing ceremony to mark its strategic partnership in educating kids and the future generation about going cashless
In another cashless news, KidZania Kuala Lumpur announced its partnership with TNG Digital Sdn. Bhd. The partnership will spearhead the adoption of cashless mobile payment with the Touch ‘n Go KidZania eWallet app to be applied as part of the payment system at KidZania Kuala Lumpur. The app, is the first of its kind among the KidZania franchise where it accepts kidzos, the KidZania currency, as part of its transaction and to be accessed in the award-winning edutainment centre.
In conjunction with the adoption of cashless transaction in KidZania Kuala Lumpur, both the edutainment centre and TNG Digital will also introduce the Touch ‘n Go eWallet Experiential Centre later in the year to further encourage the adoption of cashless payments among kids in KidZania Kuala Lumpur.
Alibaba unveiled its own Cloud system in MWC 2019
Meanwhile, the Alibaba Group launched seven new solutions and two new features for the international markets at the MWC 2019. It ranges from serverless computing, data analytics, global networking, high-performance storage, and database for enterprises.
One fine product example - the Realtime Compute can process millions of events/sec and support real-time decision makings, such as for fraud detection, social analytics, and QoS monitoring of Telco networks. For managing and analyzing large data, Alibaba Cloud introduced an improved DataWorks, MaxCompute 2.0 and Data Lake Analytics for handling petabytes of data. You can find out more about it at their newsroom here.
Lenovo Earns Highest Quarterly Revenue in Four Years
In the financial side, Lenovo recently announced the results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018. The company posted its highest group revenue in four years of US$14 billion, up 8.5% YOY (12.8% YOY excluding currency impact). The company reported strong pre-tax income of US$350 million (up 133% / +US$200 million over the previous year) - an all-time record for the company as all businesses continued to report profit improvements.
Other noted achievements for the quarter include –
- Recorded net income of US$233 million for the fiscal quarter, significantly improved from the net loss of US$289 million in the same quarter of last year
- Major milestones hit across all businesses:
- PC and Smart Devices business revenue record high at US$10.7 billion, up 11.6% YOY; continues as undisputed, global #1 in PCs with record 24.6% market share
- Mobile Business Group became profitable worldwide for the first time since the Motorola acquisition, with North American volume outgrowing the market by a staggering 40 points and China revenue quadrupling YOY
- Data Center Group enjoyed continued hyper-growth in Hyperscale and Software Defined Infrastructure and increased its lead as #1 in the world’s TOP500 supercomputer rankings
Welp, cool story bro. Congrats nonetheless.
Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Shares Current State of Cybersecurity in Malaysia
(L-R) David Rajoo, Chief Cybersecurity Architect and Sherif El-Nabawi, Vice President, Sales Engineering & service provider sales
Another cool story, bro, is about Internet Security Threat Report by Symantec. According to its Symantec Internet Security ThreatReport Shares Current State of Cybersecurity in Malaysia, there are details about the latest trends in cybersecurity, including cryptojacking, ransomware, cloud and the breakthrough threat of 2018: formjacking.
Formjacking is a threat that cybercriminals have been profiting from following the diminishing returns from ransomware and cryptojacking. The report found that more than 4,800 unique websites are compromised with formjacking code every month alone. You can read all about it here if you're into this kind of stuff and even join the webinar here.
AMD Releases First Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition Drivers Supporting Ryzen Mobile with Radeon Vega Graphics Processors
At the graphics corner, AMD is pleased to announce support for Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics processors in Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers. As promised by AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su during the CES Keynote, AMD is offering supplemental support for Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics processors via AMD.com driver postings which you can find it here.
With the link given, consumers will be able to get incredible drivers, designed to deliver stable and reliable experiences through extensive quality-assurance and third-party testing, and all notebooks and desktops powered by Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics processor will be supported with Radeon Settings in Radeon Software. Sounds pretty good to me!
Two new benchmarks coming to PCMark 10
Finally, PCMark 10 will have two new benchmark tests based on Microsoft Office applications. The two new benchmark tests which measure the battery life and Applications performance. The PCMark 10 Battery Life Profile will provide a broad view of battery life across four common scenarios: modern office work, video, gaming, and idle time. Comparing the battery life profiles of different models will give you a much better understanding of each device's relative strengths. It's scheduled to come at the end of March.
On the other hand, the PCMark 10 Applications benchmark is a new test that is based on Microsoft Office applications. Featuring tests that run in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Edge, the PCMark 10 Applications benchmark helps you measure practical, real-world performance and battery life for the modern office. You will also be able to benchmark the latest Snapdragon-powered Always Connected PCs running Windows 10 on ARM, with results that are comparable with scores from traditional x86-based devices. It's scheduled to be released in the first half of 2019.
That's all, folks. Have a great Sunday funday!
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