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Qualcomm Smartphone

Qualcomm and Asus Partner to Launch ‘Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders’

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After months of speculation, Qualcomm finally launched its first smartphone, the “Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders,” in collaboration with Asus. This phone is literally for Snapdragon Insiders, a community of Snapdragon fans and enthusiasts who are the first to learn about new developments involving Qualcomm’s mobile processors. This new gaming phone is essentially a token of appreciation for the community. The Qualcomm phone boasts impressive specifications such as the Snapdragon 888 chip, 144Hz AMOLED display, and up to 16GB of RAM, earning it the title of a gaming phone.

The Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is a completely customized phone for people who know exactly what they want from their phone. This indicates the company’s top-tier processor, but it is surprising that Qualcomm did not opt for the Snapdragon 888 Plus processor, which is recently launched. According to Qualcomm, development on this phone began last year, while the Snapdragon 888 Plus was released earlier this year. The Snapdragon 888 Plus is supposed to be slightly better at handling graphics, but that’s about it. There isn’t much of a distinction between the vanilla and Plus variants. Nonetheless, the company has a processor tier higher than what this phone has.

Specifications of the Qualcomm Smartphone

The Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is a flagship phone that also happens to be the chipmaker’s first phone. Qualcomm has worked with Asus to make this phone a reality. This is due to the fact that Asus is one of the most well-known manufacturers of gaming phones. It’s ROG Phone series is the best-selling gaming phone on the market. It is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chipset with an Adreno 660 GPU. The phone supports both the mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G bands. The gaming phone has a 6.78-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and a peak brightness of 1,200 nits. There is HDR and HDR10+ support, and the display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. There is 512GB of internal storage and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM.

Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders
Image Source: fdn.gsmarena.com

Qualcomm has used a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor on the primary camera, as well as a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera, for photography. The AI Zoom feature on Qualcomm’s Spectra 580 image signal processor promises better photos and up to 8K-resolution videos. The phone has a 24-megapixel camera on the front for selfies and video calls. The phone has dual stereo speakers powered by Snapdragon Sound technology, as well as four microphones. The Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders has a 4000mAh battery that can be charged in 52 minutes thanks to Quick Charge 5.0 technology.

Pricing of the Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders

The Qualcomm Snapdragon Insiders Smartphone costs $1,499 (approximately Rs 1,12,200). There is only one model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The phone will first be available in China, Germany, Japan, Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom in August. The first wave will be followed by an India release. The India price is currently unavailable. Despite the fact that the phone appears to be exclusive to the Snapdragon Insiders community, it will be available for purchase to the general public. The gaming phone will be available in a single color: Midnight Blue.

Other Features

Qualcomm Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders
Image Source: qualcomm.com

Qualcomm’s Smartphone comes with a pair of truly wireless earphones with active noise cancellation, dubbed Master & Dynamic Earphones. Master & Dynamic is an audio brand based in New York. A custom rubber bumper, which is essentially a rubber frame for the phone, is also included in the box. In the box, you’ll find a Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 power adapter as well as two USB-C to USB-C braided cables.

Asus ROG Academy Programme

Asus to recruit six gaming candidates in India for ROG Academy Program.

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Who would have thought a decade earlier that gaming would become a profession in our country? There are many gaming enthusiasts out there who are working hard to make their passion turn into professions. And, gamers are certainly one of them. To help the potential professional gamers of India, Asus has publicly announced the recruitment of six gamers in India to join the ROG Academy Programme.

Asus through their ROG Academy Programme will train these gamers at a professional level so that they can represent the brand both locally and globally. This program will help the best gamers in India to showcase their talent and pursue gaming as e-sports players professionally. Asus will arrange this program with the support from AFK Gaming to provide adequate and proper tutelage to these budding gamers of India.

Asus ROG Academy Program

ROG Academy Programme is a one-year long program divided into four quarterly sessions. This program focuses on the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, one of the most popular games in esports. Registration for this program will go on from 1st February to 10th February 2021. After rigorous selection procedures, six final candidates will be selected. These final candidates will get Rs 1,00,000 after completing three-month training and a monthly stipend of Rs 15,000 with a bonus during these three months.

Asus ROG Academy Program
Image Source: asus.in/ROG-academy

Gadgets 360 spoke to Arnold Su, Asus India’s Business Head, and Siddharth Nayyar, Co-founder, and Director of AFK Gaming to get detailed insight about this initiative in India and about the selection process. Based on the questions Gadgets 360 asked them, here is more information about the ROG Academy Programme and the future of esports in India.

Growth potential in terms of the overall gaming market in India

According to Arnold Su (AS), computer gaming can be divided into two sections, hardware, and software. In India, PC gaming has been booming since 2016 increasing the sale of PC gaming units to almost 9 folds in 2020. And, when it comes to e-sports, there are around 17 million active spectators in our country. ROG is mainly focussing on investing in the youths of India. The gaming culture has improved as the data plans have become affordable but still, infrastructure for e-sports has huge rooms for improvements.

Siddharth Nayyar (SN) says that the gaming market, in general, is growing a lot and that people are switching from mobiles to PC gaming for a better experience. More engagement can be expected in the competitive gaming space as companies like Riot and Valve are investing in the e-sports space.

What does the program plan on achieving?

Asus has been conducting ROG tournaments in India since 2017 so there is a scope to find more talents. During the pandemic, the ROG Showdown tournaments attracted a lot of gamers. Due to limitations to choices of entertainment during the pandemic, many people switched to mobile gaming and the mobile gamers witched to PC. The gaming industry boomed during the lockdown which is expected to continue even after the end of the pandemic. This is the reason Asus decided to launch this academy program to train more games and make them skillful. This is a unique program in the e-sports space first started by Asus.

Asus ROG Academy Program
Image Source: asus.in/ROG-academy

The selection process for the program

Applicants from 16-years old and above can enroll through participants between 16-18 years need parent’s consent to participate. 50 candidates will be selected in the first phase after an online assessment based on the knowledge of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In the second phase, the selected candidates will play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in teams which will be hosted by a server called SoStronk. 20 candidates will be shortlisted for the third phase from where six top candidates will be selected for the program. The applicants will need a basic gaming setup for participation. Currently, the program is only focusing on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and other games will be added later. The gaming perspective is slowly changing for parents as well. E-sports will be added in the Olympics of 2024 which will motivate more and more gamers to pursue it as a professional training sport.

E-sports challenges in India

Though the overall e-gaming scenario is improving in India, infrastructure and broadband are the two major challenges. The company is trying to reach out to tier-3 and tier-2 markets in India for broadening the gaming base. Siddharth Nayyar also mentioned that gaming culture will skyrocket in India if these markets are exposed to ASUS gaming laptops and good internet.

Qualcomm

Qualcomm is developing its gaming smartphone in partnership with Asus

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Many companies have launched excellent gaming phones in the last few years. Some of the best gaming phones to date are launched by Apple, Asus, Samsung, Sony, Black Shark, Nubia, etc. But, now it seems the leading company in the sphere of telecommunication and wireless networks is also entering the realm of a gaming smartphone. So, sit tight as Qualcomm in collaboration with Asus is going to launch a gaming smartphone as early as the end of this year.

The source of this news is Digitimes, a Taiwanese tech outlet. Though we still don’t have a name yet, the outlet has also mentioned that these gaming phones will be Qualcomm-branded. Both the companies are planning on designing more than one gaming smartphone and at least one of them will run by the Snapdragon 875 processor. The details about both the system integration and the outlook design are quite vague till now. But, Qualcomm has announced an event on 1st December 2020 to introduce the Snapdragon 875 SoC. It is expected that the company might mention further details about these gaming smartphones at the event.

Qualcomm and Asus Work distribution 

Till now Qualcomm and Asus have only made the collaboration public but nothing about these smartphones. But, it is expected that Qualcomm-branded gaming phones will also bear the mark of the Republic of Gamers as the company is partnering with Asus. These gaming smartphones are also expected to run in the latest Snapdragon processor, have a better display, and a comparatively larger battery. The model might also have a shoulder button but all these are just predictions and nothing can be certain until 1st December. We also know that Qualcomm traditionally rolls out its new flagship product in December. So, there are high chances that these gaming gadgets will be in our hands by the Q1 of 2021.

In terms of which company will be looking after which field of product development, Asus is going with the hardware part thus responsible for both designing and developing while Qualcomm has the responsibility of industrial design and “software integration optimizing its Snapdragon 875 platform”. The Snapdragon 875 SoC is most likely to have an Ardeno series GPU. Now, the question is which one will be better, the upgraded Ardeno GPU or GeForce mobile GPU.

Qualcomm
Image Source: pocketnow.com

A joint partnership of Qualcomm and Asus

Not only the company is building the product together but also buying the components together as well. Sources have informed Digitimes that the agreements between Qualcomm and Asus also clearly mention the joint purchasing of components required for making these gaming smartphones (both Asus ROG gaming phones and Qualcomm gaming phones). The electronic devices that are mentioned in the agreement are screens, memory, camera modules, cooling solutions, and batteries.

Buying the components together is a very smart tactic to reduce the production cost and thus maximize the profit. Moreover, it is Asus that has created the entire series of ROG mobile gaming phones that have kept on impressing the users consistently. So, through the joint cost of purchasing Asus might have better bargaining power on this agreement later to boost its line of production. Also, we might find some analogous relationship between the core design of Qualcomm gaming smartphones and ROG as well as the later is monitoring the entire hardware development.

Production

After the joint partnership, both Qualcomm and Asus expect to produce a million units of the gaming smartphones annually. Out of the expected one million smartphones, half of the gaming phones will be launched from Asus as ROG gaming phones and the other half will be Qualcomm branded gaming smartphones. If you are planning to buy a gaming phone you might just want to wait for this one. Because with Asus’s designing which sells one of the best gaming smartphones and laptops, the technology of this new Qualcomm’s gaming phone is going to be exciting as well.

Apart from the upcoming Qualcomm’s smartphones designed for gaming, some of the best gaming phones of this year are Honor 9X Pro, Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, OnePlus 8 Pro, etc. So, after the launch of this product, you can compare the phones and make the choice yourself.

Asus: A Provider of Wide-Range Electronics and One of the Top IT Companies from Asia

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Asus, a Taiwan-based multinational company, is known worldwide for manufacturing computer hardware and electronics. It has launched a vast range of smartphones, desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, networking equipment, and even, GPs devices. The company has reached apex for manufacturing ‘the best’ motherboard in the entire world, and also especially, by launching the Republic of Gamers, in 2006.

Asus was founded in 2nd April 1989 by Ted Hsu, M.T. Liao, Wayne Tsiah and T.H. Tung. The company has its headquarters in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. In these 30 years of trade, the company has created a revolution in the IT industry with its impeccable designs and quality products.

History of the company

Before Asus was formed, the four founders worked together in Acer as hardware engineers. The company started with just the conversation over a coffee, and a strong passion to create something of their own. Right after the company was founded, they created their own motherboard using an Intel 486. It worked completely fine, despite even Intel faced issues with their own 486 motherboards. The first success of creating a motherboard was really an achievement, and starting from then, Asus received Intel’s prototypes before it reached any other competitors. Asus also launched Cache 386/33 motherboards in the same year.

Asus
Image Source: taiwantoday.tw

In 1990, the company launched the most popular and widely used motherboard in the world, EISA 486. These motherboards were used in IBM and ALR products. The launch of these high-quality tech products helped Asus secure an admirable position in the world of IT companies. In 1992, Asus unveiled the 32-bit SCSI interface that incorporated IC software and in the very year, the company established a formal partnership with Intel. The company developed advanced Intel Pentium (586) motherboard, in the year 1993, and by 1995, Asus became the leading producer of motherboards throughout the world. In the same year, the company launched the first Asus dual socket Intel Pentium motherboard.

By this time, the company was expanding rapidly, and especially, under the supervision of Jonney Shih, the Chairperson of Asus, the company started focusing mainly on more advanced designing. He made a noteworthy investment in R&D to develop new technologies and take the company much ahead of its competitors. In 1996, Asus launched motherboards that have supported both single and dual Pentium CPUs and became a public company on Taiwan Stock Exchange. In 1997, Asus launched its first notebook which was followed by the invention of Intel Pentium II motherboards, in 1998. Since, Asus expanded the business beyond Taiwan, in the year 2000, it established various service centres in the Netherlands, United States, Czech Republic, Australia and Japan.

In 2001, The Asus Royal Club Association was formed to provide 24/7 customer care and technical support. In the same year, the company launched Asus CUSL2-C Black Pearl (all-black PCB motherboard). In 2002, Asus launched Asus MyPal A600A, a PDA that supports Intel 400MHz PXA250 CPU.

In the next year, the company launched its first 3G flip phone followed by Asus W1, world’s first notebook with an in-built TV tuner and many other extravagant facilities in 2004. In 2004, the company also became the world’s leading VGA display maker. Asus also launched three-RAID dual-LAN and fist multi-GPU motherboards in the same year. In 2005, the company launched its first environment-friendly motherboard and first laptop with an in-built webcam.

In 2006, apart from focusing on various electronic product lines, the company developed a sub-brand known as the Republic of Gamers (ROG). A separate committee was built to look into ROG to bring a revolution in the gaming world and provide gamers with cutting-edge products and the best experience of gaming. So, the new motherboard was launched exclusively for the gaming enthusiasts, and since then, a series of products has been built under ROG.

In January 2006, Asus came in partnership with Lamborghini to built VX laptop series. On the same year, Asus also announced a collaboration with Gigabyte Technology. The launch of Eee PC, in 2007, brought immense success to the company, including many international awards. The company also released its first camera, gaming notebooks, external graphics card dock, and many modified motherboards under the sub-brand ROG. In 2008, Eee PC was named product of the year by Forbes India. In this year, Asus launched its cloud service and more power efficient motherboards. In 2010, the company released the world’s first halogen-free LCD monitor and many other products under the Eee PC and ROG.

Position of the Company Today

Currently, Asus sells a wide range of smartphones (ZenFone), tablets, laptops, GPS devices etc. In 2016, the company set a record of winning 4,385 awards, and it was also named World’s most admired companies by Fortune magazine. The company earned approximately US$13.3 billion in revenue in the same year. The company also changed its taglines quite a few times and is now settled with ‘In Search of Incredible’. The success of Asus had made Taiwan one of the predominant IT hubs in the entire world. And, with a current asset of more than $333.6 billion and 1,500 employees, the company maintains its uniqueness and marches forward to achieve perfection.

Asus to Ship its New ZenBook Series Laptops with a Secondary Screen

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Asus is still celebrating its 30th anniversary and taking the advantage of its hometown trade show, Computex, it launched its new ZenBook Duo, ZenBook Pro Duo and ZenBook Edition 30, along with the refresh of ZenBook 13, ZenBook 14, and ZenBook 15, at the event.

zenbook
Image Source: pcworld.idg.com

The dual screen on the laptops is the biggest highlight of the ZenBook series. The company has always amazed its customers with the edgy design of its products, and now, it has brought an extra screen on every ZenBook series laptop. No, it is not a separate screen, but the second screen is placed alongside the keyboard, above its Function keys, sliding the ScreenPad to the right of the keyboard.

All the new ZenBooks will be shipped with ScreenXpert ScreenPad 2.0, having a 5.65-inch touchscreen located on the right of the keyboard. The main screen of the ZenBook Pro Duo is a 15” 16:9 OLED 4K panel, whereas the second screen is a 32:9 ScreenPad with a height half of the main screen. The ZenBook Pro Duo is powered by Intel Core i9 eight-core processor. It provides up to 32 GB DDR4 RAM and 1 TB PCIe x4 SSD storage. Another fancy feature that the laptop has is the support for Amazon Alexa voice assistant.

For all the ZenBooks, the main screen is also a touch screen. For the ZenBook Duo, Asus has rendered a main FHD screen size of 14-inch, and the secondary screen is 12.6-inch FHD screen. It is powered by up to Intel Core i7 processor and is shipped with a 16GB Ram as well as 1 TB PCIe x4 SSD storage.

On the other hand, the three refresh laptops will be available in three different variants, having 13.3-inch, 14-inch, 15.6-inch screens, respectively, and the second screen for all of them will go half in height like the ZenBook Pro Duo. All the three ZenBooks are powered by 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor and will also be available in an Intel Core i5 variant.

The two screens, though, are interconnected through the ScreenXpert software, the user can do multitasking with the two. For example, a user can watch a video on the main screen, and at the same time, edit documents on the secondary. There is a stylus along with every laptop, using which the user can operate the secondary screen. According to the company, ‘ZenBook Pro Duo is made for creators and professionals’.

Asus has nor given any details on the pricing of any of the laptops, but the company will start shipping them by the third quarter of the year.

ASUS Released the Fix for ShadowHammer Malware Pushed on Thousands of Computers

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According to a recent report from Kaspersky, more than a million Asus computers running on Windows operating systems are under a malware threat. A malware named ShadowHammer has been injected to a pre-installed Asus utility software by some unknown hackers, making the software vulnerable to hack attacks.

asus malware

According to the Kaspersky, over 57000 Asus laptop and desktop users reported the issue, and the attack took place between the month of July and November, last year. However, Asus denied the number of reported issues saying that the number of affected laptops is lesser and now, it has finally developed the fix for the malware.

As per the reports, the hacker planted the malware through a back door to the Asus Live Update Utility software, such that whenever there is a new update for the system, the malware is pushed into the system as a new update itself. The size of the malware has also made equal to the utility software.

The company has released a patch in the form of an actual security update, which the users can download through a Live Update software tool. The Live Update software tool has also been updated to the V3.6.8 version. Also, the company has rolled out an online security diagnostic tool that can be used to scan the system for any malicious software.

“We have also updated and strengthened our server-to-end-user software architecture to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future,” stated Asus in a statement.

Though the Taiwanese laptop maker Asus unknowingly pushed the malware to the systems of its customers, it was expected from the company to be apologetic about the matter. The company stated in the news post, “Asus customer service has been reaching out to affected users and providing assistance to ensure that the security risks are removed.”

Asus has also asked the ones with the infected Asus systems to take the backup of their data on the computer. They can fix their systems by simply resetting the system or reinstalling the Window to their computers, as it’s a software-level malware attack.