News
POCO X3 Pro launches with Snapdragon 860, quad camera setup
Redefining the midrange segment?
Alongside the POCO F3, POCO also launched the POCO X3 Pro today at its international event. The F-series is focused on performance and acts as an affordable flagship. On the other hand, the X-series is a balanced offering that’s ultra-light on the pocket.
The POCO X3 Pro has inherited a distinctive squircle camera setup that’ll instantly remind you of the POCO X3. But this one looks far more sophisticated and due to five lens and flash cavities. The rear has a huge POCO logo meant to stand out, just like realme’s branding.
On the front is a 6.7-inch LCD with Full HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 6 protection, and HDR 10. It’s available in Phantom Black, Frost Blue, and Metal Bronze color options.
Under the hood is a Snapdragon 860 processor with Adreno 640 GPU, up to 8GB DDR4 RAM, and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. It’s also backed by POCO’s LiquidCool Technology 1.0 Plus that claims to offer consistently high-performance for an extended period of time.
The back has a quad-camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 2-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front is a 20-megapixel camera for selfies.
The POCO X3 Pro is a midrange offering, and it skips 5G connectivity in favor of dual 4G standby. While many may find this shortcoming, the phone is also designed for markets like India, where there is no commercial 5G connectivity, and the pricing war is cut-throat.
Powering it is a 5160mAh battery with 33W fast charging, and the charging brick is included with the phone. Thankfully, POCO has retained the 3.5mm headphone jack, and it runs on MIUI 12 out-of-the-box.
Pricing and Availability
Philippines
- 6GB+128GB — PhP 12,990
- 8GB+256GB — PhP 15,990
It’ll be available exclusively via Shopee, and if purchased on March 24, a flat discount of PhP 2,000 will be applicable as an early bird discount.
Global
- 6GB+128GB — EUR 249 (early bird price EUR 199)
- 8GB+256GB — EUR 299 (early bird price EUR 249)
Availability starts on March 24, 2021.
Computers
AMD expands Ryzen AI Embedded P100 series lineup
Scalable, efficient AI compute for industrial, edge solutions
AMD has recently announced the expansion of its AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processor lineup.
This enables scalable and power-efficient AI compute tailor-built for industrial and AI edge systems. Scenarios include factory automation, physical AI in mobile robotics, and other AI-driven edge applications.
With eight to 12 high-performance Zen 5 cores, AMD ROCm support, and up to 80 total system TOPS, the new x86 embedded APUs deliver up to:
- 2x more CPU core counts
- 8x higher GPU compute
- 36% higher system TOPS
This way, developers and system designers get an expanded and scalable portfolio of power-efficient edge computing solutions. These processors support real-time AI from vision to control and reasoning, as well as offer advanced graphics capabilities.
On a single chip, clients get up to 80 TOPS physical AI acceleration, AMD RDNA 3.5 graphics for real-time visualization, and an NPU based on the AMD XDNA 2 architecture.
Moreover, the processors can withstand industrial temperature ranges (-40° C to 105° C) and can support continuous 24/7 operations for up to 10-year life cycles. That’s along with low-latency and power-efficient AI inference.
Real-life applications include intelligent factories, autonomous robots, and medical imaging devices. For instance, the processors can deliver CPU performance required for real-time inspection and process optimization.
For mobile robots, meanwhile, processors can manage navigation, motion, control, and route planning while the GPU processes multi-camera feeds for spatial awareness.
Furthermore, for 3D health imaging, the processors can enable the powering of 3D imaging for ultrasounds, endoscopes, tissue classification, and tumor detection at the edge. This is done with models like U-Net, nnU-Net, and MONAI.
The processors then accelerate image-to-report workflows with MedSigLIP and support clinical reasoning and Q&A with Med-PaLM 2.
Gaming
Valve is embroiled in a lawsuit with New York over loot boxes
Valve has been embroiled in an odd war as of late. A few weeks ago, the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the gaming company for allegedly encouraging children to gamble through loot boxes primarily found in Counter-Strike 2. Today, Valve is fighting back by declaring how little its loot boxes have to do with gambling.
For years, governments have had a problem with loot boxes. To them, the mechanic makes it too easy for gamers to fall into a gambling addiction. In essence, loot boxes are earnable packs that contain a single or a number of random items that the player can use for their game. Most of the time, these items are purely cosmetic and don’t give a gameplay advantage.
Like Blizzard before it, Valve is also defending its loot boxes as non-essential to how players engage with their games. “There is no disadvantage to a player not spending money,” their statement reads.
Additionally, Valve says that their loot boxes are no different from Pokémon cards and Labubu blind boxes. As such, the company is also defending their users’ right to transfer obtained items to other users, as with two players trading cards or Pop Mart figurines.
Now, these items have monetary value in the market. In the same way, a rare Counter-Strike 2 skin can fetch thousands of dollars. However, Valve says that they are already proactive in shutting down accounts made only to gamble and avoiding pro-gambling businesses.
Valve is capping off its statement by saying that the NYAG is forcing the company to collect more information from its users, especially those using VPNs to prevent being located in New York. The company says that it will continue to protect user data, despite the demand.
What is an Xbox? For the past year and a half, Microsoft will tell you that anything can be an Xbox. Now, with Project Helix on the horizon, Xbox wants to bring the idea of playing anywhere to the next level. Microsoft will start rolling out its new Xbox Mode to PCs in April.
Since the very first device out in the market, handheld consoles have changed how people play games. Naturally, a lot can already be said about the portability and the convenience of its hardware. But the software needs a special shoutout, too.
Though they are essentially PCs at heart, these consoles are built explicitly for gaming. Fiddling around with Windows isn’t ideal. Instead, they have special software that can collate all of a user’s games into one hub.
The new Xbox Mode, adapted from the ROG Xbox Ally X’s Xbox Full Screen Experience, will do just that but on an actual PC. As announced via an official blog post, Xbox will release the new mode to Windows 11 devices in April, starting with select markets. Like the software used in handheld consoles, Xbox Mode should include all the available games from the Game Pass, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
Right now, the feature will likely go up against Steam’s Big Picture Mode, which does the same thing but only for Steam titles. However, it should also transition neatly to Project Helix. Xbox is now ramping up the development of its next-generation console codenamed Project Helix. The upcoming machine will be a high-end PC and a gaming console rolled into one, making it perfect for Xbox Mode.
SEE ALSO: Project Helix is Xbox’s next console, and it plays PC games
-
News2 weeks agoXiaomi 17 Ultra is now available outside China
-
MWC 20262 weeks agoTECNO showcases cool concepts at MWC 2026
-
MWC 20261 week agoInfinix NOTE 60 Ultra makes a motorsport-inspired debut
-
MWC 20261 week agoTECNO launches the all-new CAMON 50 series
-
Reviews1 week agoTECNO CAMON 50 Ultra review: End of an era?
-
Reviews2 weeks agoXiaomi Pad 8 review: Slab that slaps!
-
Reviews2 weeks agoForget the Phone: Xiaomi 17 Ultra Is A CAMERA!
-
MWC 20261 week agoTECNO unleashes Tonino Lamborghini collection
