Samsung’s Galaxy S9 And Galaxy S9+ Bring New Innovative Features And Great Refinement

David Altavilla is just starting to kick the tires at HotHardware, on Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 and S9+ Android flagships but already he likes what he sees and Samsung managed to impress yet again. Part of what Samsung brings to the table in the GS9/9+ are continued refinements to the design with one of it not the best OLED smartphone displays in the business. Then there’s Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor, a marked upgrade in performance and hopefully efficiency and battery life as well, over the previous generation Galaxy S8’s Snapdragon 835. But perhaps what’s most impressive is the fact that Samsung has delivered true innovation in the area of camera technologies, from it’s new dual aperture f1.5  and f2.4 combination lens, to its multi-shot noise reduction and new Super Slo-Mo mode, that can shoot some really fun and interesting footage at 960 frames per second.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Preview - David Altavilla

Samsung Galaxy S9 Preview – David Altavilla

Check out our preview here at HotHardware and then scroll down for a little video roll action, in Super Slow-Mo Mode…

Always-Connected Qualcomm Snapdragon Windows 10 Devices Take On Intel’s Bread And Butter In Mobile

Earlier this year, Qualcomm announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to deliver thin and light laptop and 2-in-1 convertible devices to market, powered by the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform. Microsoft extolled the virtues of full native Windows 10 functionality, as well as backwards compatibility to all legacy Windows apps (Win32) through emulation. Qualcomm made claims of all day battery life and always-connected LTE wireless networking as well. These devices are just now arriving to market and could prove to be a significant, credible threat to Intel’s mobile CPU business.

HotHardware was on-hand at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit in scenic Maui in early December, to witness the official launch of these devices. Check out our coverage here.

HP Envy x2 Windows 10 Snapdragon 835 Hybrid

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-powered HP Envy x2 With Windows 10

Google Pixel 2 And Pixel 2 XL Impress With Android Oreo Superpowers

Google recently launched the second coming of their Pixel line, dubbed unsurprisingly the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. These are next generation handsets from Google directly and designed to showcase the best that Android has to offer currently. With killer camera setups, powerful processors and cutting-edge designs, you’d think the hardware setup might be their best asset. However, under the hood is an operating system that that is a model of efficiency and a real speedster to boot. Check out my full review here with benchmarks for all the details…

Google Pixel 2 And Google Pixel 2 XL Review By David Altavilla

Google Pixel 2 And Google Pixel 2 XL

“Designed by Google but manufactured by HTC (Pixel 2) and LG (Pixel 2 XL), these two new handsets also boast Google’s latest Android 8.0 operating system, aka Oreo, an exclusive to Google Pixel and certain Nexus devices, at least for now. In some ways, this is also a big advantage as you’ll note on the pages ahead.”

 

Motorola Launches The Moto Z2 Play: HotHardware Claims The Battery Life King Never Looked So Good

Smartphones are a funny beast of conflicting requirements, the insatiable need for more power and capability, hamstrung by the insatiable need for longer and longer battery life. The two are opposite, yet mutual complements, if executed well. Motorola has historically hit the mark in this regard, with the Moto Z Play series,  an Android smartphone with enough horsepower for the mainstream user but battery life that most handsets jones for.

Motorola Moto Z2 Play Smartphone - David Altavilla

Motorola Moto Z2 Play Smartphone

HotHardware’s Chris Goetting took the new Moto Z2 Play for a few loops around the test track and determined it was more of the same from Moto, only better. Check out his full review here and I reserve the right to ask for it back, if I’m feeling selfish. 🙂

AMD’s Radeon RX Vega Graphics Put To The Test

It’s been a long time coming for AMD but the day is finally here when we get to look at the performance profile of the company’s next generation Radeon RX Vega GPU technology for gamers. The Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon RX Vega 56 are on the test bench at HotHardware and put through their paces in a myriad of game tests and benchmarks. Here’s a taste from the review

“Radeon RX Vega is an all-new GPU architecture for AMD, built from the ground-up to be optimized for DirectX 12 and asynchronous compute, with a revised pixel engine and higher clock speeds that the previous generation Fiji architecture could not achieve. Vega also offers a new mixed-precision support AMD is calling Rapid Packed Math. “

AMD Radeon RX Vega Review - David Altavilla

AMD Radeon RX Vega Review – David Altavilla

Taking Samsung’s Galaxy Book 12 For A Spin

Convertible notebook-tablet hybrid devices are big business these days. Microsoft drove the product segment forward nicely with the introduction of their Surface series of 2-in-1s a few years back and since then major PC OEMs have been looking to capture some of that lime light as well. Samsung recently stepped out with an Intel 7th gen Kaby Lake Core i5 powered 12-inch machine that is wafer thin and sports a gorgeous OLED display. Of course I just had to take a look. From the review:

Samsung's Galaxy Book 12

Samsung’s Galaxy Book 12

With Intel’s Kaby Lake 7th gen series processors hitting full stride, competitive solutions, like the Samsung Galaxy Book 12 we’ll show you here, are boasting serious horsepower in a hybrid tablet convertible form factor. The good news is, you know Samsung brings that bright, punchy OLED goodness with tablet displays, and this time we’ve got 12-inches of premium screen real estate to work with.

It’s impressive that Samsung was able to drop a full 15-watt Core i5 chip into this 1.5 tablet-hybrid device. Check out my full review here for all the details and my final evaluation.

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti – This One Goes To 11

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti]

NVIDIA finally lifted the veil on its latest monster graphics card for gamers — the long-rumored GeForce GTX 1080 Ti — at an event this evening in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference (GDC). The card will sit at the top of NVIDIA’s Pascal-powered GeForce product stack alongside the mighty Titan X and GeForce GTX 1080, promising significant performance gains over the GTX 1080 and faster than Titan X-class performance, for a much lower price with MSRP set at $699 (versus the $1200 Titan X). I unbox the card here and HotHardware’s full review is here.

My Review At HotHardware Of Dell’s XPS 27 All-In-One PC With A Killer Sound System

The last time we looked at the Dell XPS 27 was all the way back in 2013. Then, we were working with Windows 8, multitouch support was a little on the pokey side still, there was a bit more plastic going on and everything was bulkier. The all new Dell XPS 27 7760 has a radically new look that draws at least one design cue from its XPS notebook siblings, specifically with respect to display bezel, or the lack thereof.

Though Dell isn’t officially branding the touch-enabled version of XPS 27 with an “InfinityEdge” display, as you can see here, side and top bezel is cut to a minimum, accentuating a beautiful 4K IPS panel. However, it’s new svelte window on the world might not be the most standout feature of the 2017 Dell XPS 27

small_Dell-XPS-27-7760-HH-Pandora

Read on for my full review at HotHardware.com.

Maingear’s RUSH SuperStock X99 Is Pretty And A Crazy-Fast Killer Gaming Rig

I recently took a Maingear RUSH custom gaming PC for a spin, and needless to say it really kicked some backside…

The Maingear RUSH system we received is an absolutely one of a kind gaming PC that is built with a zero-compromise component configuration. The system is built on an InWin 909 chassis platform with removable tempered glass sides. We received a stock black matte finish model, though highly customized automotive grade paint jobs are always an option for many Maingear systems.

small_Maingear-Rush-SS-X99-6

Let’s first take you on the video tour of this beast. Then we’ll run down its component load-out, design, build quality and of course let it rip down our benchmark drag strip.

Read more at http://hothardware.com/reviews/maingear-rush-superstock-x99-review