OPPO Find N2 Flip: Here Comes The Brand’s First Clamshell Phone

OPPO recently continues its foldable adventure by unveiling the Find N2 which is the follow-up to the brand’s first-ever foldable phone that was released last year. Interestingly, the company decided to add another foldable this year in the form of Find N2 Flip.

The new model is indeed the company’s first attempt at a foldable clamshell form factor. While the Find N2 Flip’s general shape may not look that different from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, you can easily tell it apart by the phone’s massive 3.62-inch AMOLED cover display that has a native resolution of 720 x 382 and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Inside the phone, OPPO has provided the new model with a 6.8-inch AMOLED Full HD+ screen with variable refresh rate capability that can go as high as 120Hz. Also equipped with the display is a 32MP f/2.4 auto-focus selfie camera.

As for the phone’s Hasselblad-branded main camera, it features a Sony IMX890 50MP f/1.8 autofocus camera which is accompanied by a Sony IMX355 8MP ultra-wide f/2.2 camera. Being a foldable clamshell phone with a poseable hinge, users can utilize the Find N2 Flip’s main camera and its huge cover display to capture selfies too.

 Unlike the Find N2 which is a Qualcomm Snapdragon-based device, its Flip counterpart is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor instead alongside LPDDR5 RAM and UFS3.1-based storage. The clamshell phone does not support a memory card though but it still carries the MariSilicon X image processing chip which was developed in-house by OPPO and has been previously used in Find X5 Pro as well as Reno8 Pro.

Completing the device’s general specifications, OPPO has opted to implement a split battery design into the Find N2 Flip which together delivered a total battery capacity of 4300mAh. 44W SuperVOOC fast charge tech is also a standard on the device but both its charging speed and battery life were not revealed by OPPO.

While the status of the oversea release for Find N2 is still murky at the moment, OPPO has generally confirmed that the Find N2 Flip will be making its way outside of China next year. That being said, the clamshell model was not shown at the OPPO Malaysia INNO Day Experience Event earlier this week which made us wonder whether it will actually be released in Malaysia or otherwise.

Then again, OPPO Malaysia was also not even able to confirm if Find N2 will make its way to this market even though it was the main star of the event. So, we have to wait until next year to see whether these new OPPO foldable devices will be made available in Malaysia.

Still, if you need an indication of its price tag, the Find N2 Flip with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage can be obtained in China for CNY5,999 (~RM3,806). The device is also available with 12GB/256GB and 16GB/512GB setups which are priced at CNY6,399 (~RM4,061) and CNY6,999 (~RM4,441), respectively.

Movement Control Order 3.0 Goes Nationwide From Now Until 7 June: Here Are The SOPs

 

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that Malaysia is now placed under the Movement Control Order (MCO). These also include locations that were previously designated as Conditional MCO and Recovery MCO which include states such as Penang, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and others. 

In the announcement, he pointed out that the country is now facing the third wave of COVID-19 infections which could potentially cause a national crisis. This wave is also discovered to include newer strains of the coronavirus that also has a high rate of infection.

PM Muhyiddin stressed that the country has exceeded 4,000 cases as of 10 May 2021, with a total of 37,396 active cases and 1,700 reported deaths related to COVID-19. He noted that the major cause of the increased number of cases is attributed to various public gathering activities which have caused difficulties in maintaining social distancing practices.

In light of this, the National Security Council (MKN) have decided to take drastic measures by implementing MCO nationwide, with hopes to curb the further spreading of COVID-19 in the country.

For clarity, here are all the SOPs as stipulated by PM Muhyiddin in his announcement:  

• Interstate and interdistrict travel are not allowed. The exceptions being for emergency cases, or for health, work and economic related affairs, married couples who are located in different areas, or for vaccine appointments.

• Public social gatherings such as weddings, tahlil, dinner receptions, birthdays, and events are not allowed. This also applies to official events, face-to-face meetings, seminars and study courses.

• Marriage ceremonies are permitted but are required to adhere to the attendance restrictions and SOPs determined by JAIS for Muslims, and by the National Registration Department for non-Muslims. 
• All sports and recreational activities involving multiple individuals are prohibited. However, personal activities such as jogging, cycling and regular exercises in public areas are allowed – provided that social distancing is maintained.

• Educational institutions are required to close during MCO, but exceptions are given to students who will be sitting for international examinations. Meanwhile, daycare centres and kindergartens are allowed to operate with proper SOPs in place. 
• Personal transportation, taxis and e-hailing services are only allowed to carry three individuals, including the driver. Meanwhile, the individual capacity for freight vehicles, as well as those used for economical and industrial purposes, are determined by the limit described on their respective business licences. 
• As for public transportation, operators are required to maintain social distancing restrictions on their vehicles (LRT, MRT, buses) and also adhere to the SOPs that have been determined by the government.

• The economic sector is allowed to operate throughout the duration of MCO. 
• Dine-in at eateries is no longer allowed. Instead, the public is encouraged to rely on drive-thru, takeaways, and delivery approaches. 
• Workplaces are required to instruct employees to Work From Home (WFH), and to also maintain not more than 30% of management staff to be in the office at all times. 
• Open houses, house visits, and cemetery visits during Hari Raya Aidilfitri are not permitted. 
• Mosques and suraus with a capacity of supporting more than 1,000 individuals are only allowed to host 50 attendees for Aidilfitri prayers, whereas those that could only support less than 1,000 may only allow a total of 20 attendees. 
• Non-muslim places of worship will also see revised restrictions. These will be determined by the National Unity and Integration Department at a later date. 
• Specific measures that are implemented in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the Federal Territory of Labuan, will resume accordingly.

The restrictions on inter-district and interstate movements as well as on social, sports, and education activities are already in place starting from today until 6 June, following the announcement made by the Senior Minister for Defense, Ismail Sabri Yaakob on 8 May.

As for other restrictions, they will be enforced on 12 May instead and will last until 7 June. Please keep in mind that the ones listed above are just a small number from a larger list of SOPs that is likely going to be revised by MKN.

Currently, other possible changes such as operating hours for premises and services such as food delivery and so on are still not known. It is quite likely that the complete list of updated SOPs from MKN will be issued to the public by tomorrow morning or so.

On that note, we’ll definitely keep you posted for any updates.

Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S Desktops CPUs Are Finally Here

Intel has lifted the veil from its 11th generation Rocket Lake-S desktop CPU series, thus finally making the lineup official. As we have come to expect of such a launch, the chipmaker’s new processor range is abundant with features, both new and long-awaited.

As per initial reports, Intel’s 11th generation Core S series CPUs not only come with per-core IPC improvements but the entire lineup finally supports the latest PCIe 4.0 interface. On top of that, it’s top-of-the-line CPU will support up to 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes. And before you ask: yes, the new CPUs will be the last of Intel 14nm process node, but as we’ve mentioned many times before, the architecture has been backported from Intel’s 10nm process node.

Also, as promised, the new CPU lineup also supports resizable BAR, meaning that these processors will be able to draw upon a GPU’s entire memory capacity, in order to squeeze out a little more performance from the system, be it for gaming or slightly more professional workloads. Other features include support for DDR4-3200 RAM support, Intel Deep Learning Boost and VNNI Support, plus new integrated graphics based on the brand’s new Xe graphics architecture.

Of course, no CPU is complete with a motherboard and as with all new CPU lineup, the new 11th generation lineup is also accompanied by a new 500 series chipset that also comes with new and improved features on the platform. Off the bat, new 500 series motherboards – the high-end models especially – will support USB 3.2 Gen2x2 for transfer speeds of up to 20Gbps, support for up to 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes with all Rocket Lake-S CPUs, Discrete Wi-Fi 6e and support for Intel Thunderbolt 4.

Perhaps the most important feature to be added by Intel to the 500 series chipset, however, is the ability to overclock memory on both the mid-range H570 and entry-level B560 chipsets. Speaking of overclocking, Intel says that it is also bringing new overclocking improvements to 11th gen.

Besides memory overclocking on non-Z500 series motherboards, the chipmaker is also introducing real-time memory overclocking, as well as AVX2 and AVX-512 Offset and Voltage Guard-Band Override. The last one being of increased interest as the feature would undoubtedly increase the overall performance of a system built around the new 11th generation CPU and 500 series chipset.

As for CPU models, the new 11th generation Core series follows the same Intel hierarchy and nomenclature. To name a few and sitting on the pedestal is the Core i9-11900K, Intel’s high-performing 8-cores, 16-threads processor, with a base clock of 3.5GHz and an all-core boost clock of 5.3GHz.

Thanks to Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) technology. Moving down a notch is the Core i7-11700K, which has the same number of cores as the 11900K, and a base clock of 3.6GHz. Unfortunately and as you can see from the SKU list, Intel is being coy about the 11700K’s boost clock with TVB enabled.

On a related note, Intel announced a list of refreshed 10th generation Intel Core series CPUs that will work with its 500 series chipset, although we should point out that this is only applicable to the lower-tier Core i3 CPUs and Pentium Gold G Series CPUs. It’s a bit of an odd decision and frankly, we’ve been wondering why Intel didn’t just refresh some of its beefier 10th generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors while they were at it.

The only thing missing from Intel’s announcement, though, is availability. At the time of writing, the chipmaker didn’t say when its new processors and 500 series motherboards will be hitting the store shelves of PC stores, but at this stage, it’s very likely to be sooner than later. That is, assuming Intel itself hasn’t found itself a victim of the ongoing chip shortage too.

Here Comes The World’s Smallest Nintendo 64

For people who are interested in video games, they’d usually spend their time playing them. But someone in the state of Massachusetts took to modifying them instead. And in the process, his work got registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest modified Nintendo 64 console.

And indeed, the modified N64 is so small, it can actually pass as a handheld. While quite thick, the 3D-printed main unit is barely larger than a game cartridge for the original console. It even comes with a 3.5-inch screen, allowing you to play it without plugging it to a TV.

You don’t need to plug in a controller either, as this custom N64 comes with analogue sticks from the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons. The one on the left replaces the dpad entirely, while the one on the right emulates the C buttons. Clicking down on the left stick presses the L button, while clicking down on the right stick toggles between analogue and dpad inputs for the left stick. The shoulder buttons are the R and Z buttons.

This tiny N64 may not need to be plugged in, but you won’t be able to play it for long without plugging it in. It has a battery life of only 1.5 hours, thanks to running a single 18650 rechargeable battery.

This modified console is made by Gunnar Turnquist. And his work is now officially the smallest modified N64, measuring 8.4 x 11.8 x 4.5 cm.