Realme Pad Mini 8.7 inch Android tablet heads to Europe for €180 and up

The Realme Pad Mini is a budget Android tablet with an 8.7 inch, 1340 x 800 pixel display, a Unisoc T616 octa-core processor, and optional support for 4G LTE. First launched in select markets in April, the Realme Pad Mini is heading to Europe. According to Realme, it will be available soon for €180 and […]

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The Realme Pad Mini is a budget Android tablet with an 8.7 inch, 1340 x 800 pixel display, a Unisoc T616 octa-core processor, and optional support for 4G LTE.

First launched in select markets in April, the Realme Pad Mini is heading to Europe. According to Realme, it will be available soon for €180 and up for customers in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Portugal.

The starting price is for an entry-level model, but there are three pricing/configuration options available:

  • 3GB RAM / 32GB storage (WiFi-only) for €180
  • 4GB RAM / 64GB storage (WiFi-only) for €200
  • 4GB RAM / 64GB Storage (WiFi + 4G LTE) for €230

WiFi-only models are available in a choice of grey or blue, while the 4G LTE version is only available in grey.

Realme is a Chinese company that’s best known for making budget smartphones, but which has recently extended its business to include budget tablets. And the timing seems good, given Google’s recent push to actually start caring about tablets again.

Here’s an overview of key specs for the Realme Pad Mini:

Display 8.7 inches
1340 x 800 pixels
LCD
Processor Unisoc T616
2 x Cortex-A75 CPU cores @ 2 GHz
6 x Cortex-A55 CPU cores @ 1.8 GHz
Mali-G57 2-core graphics
RAM / Storage 3GB RAM / 32GB UFS 2.1
4GB RAM / 64GB UFS 2.1
microSD card reader (up to 1TB)
Cameras 8MP (rear)
5MP (front)
Battery 6,400 mAh
Charging 18W (USB-C)
Reverse charging support
Audio Stereo speakers
3.5mm headset jack
Wireless WiFi (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz
Bluetooth 5.0
4G LTE
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
WCDMA: Bands 1/5/8
FDD-LTE: B1/3/5/7/8/20/28
TD-LTE: B38/40/41(2496MHz-2690MHz)
Software Android 11
Realme UI
Dimensions 211.8 x 124.5 x 7.6mm
8.3″ x 4.9″ x 0.3″
Weight 372 grams
13 oz

 

via NotebookCheck

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How Microsoft could bring disc-based Xbox games to disc-free Xbox Series S

Patent application shows secondary device authenticating discs for digital download.

Xbox Series S, as placed next to an Xbox Series X.

Enlarge / Xbox Series S, as placed next to an Xbox Series X. (credit: h0x0d)

While Microsoft's Xbox Series S gives a lot of gaming horsepower for its price, one thing it doesn't provide is a disc drive to access any of the physical Xbox games you might own. Microsoft seems interested in working around this problem, though, as the company has applied for a patent that can provide "software ownership validation of optical discs using [a] secondary device."

That mouthful of a title describes a patent application Microsoft first filed back in November of 2000 but which was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office just last week (as noticed by Game Rant). And while it doesn't appear that the patent has been granted yet, the application provides more evidence that Microsoft is trying to find a way to bring games trapped on legacy discs into gaming's increasingly disc-free future.

A number of technical options

When it comes to the technical details of how this validation process would work, the patent application is so vague as to be practically useless. The only constant across its examples is that there are two separate devices, at least one of which has a disc drive that can read "an optical disc comprising the electronic content" and "validate the user's ownership of the electronic content" (e.g., an Xbox 360, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X).

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Anzeige: Bildbearbeitung mit Adobe Photoshop

Das Standardprogramm für digitale Bildbearbeitung: Adobe Photoshop. Kurse der Golem Karrierewelt ebnen die Hürden im Umgang mit der komplexen Software. (Golem Akademie, Adobe)

Das Standardprogramm für digitale Bildbearbeitung: Adobe Photoshop. Kurse der Golem Karrierewelt ebnen die Hürden im Umgang mit der komplexen Software. (Golem Akademie, Adobe)

Plants will grow in lunar regolith, but they don’t like it

Even the healthiest-looking plants faced stress from unusual minerals present.

Image of plants grown in a plastic sample dish

Enlarge / The plants grown in lunar soil (right) aren't nearly as happy as those grown in a soil meant to simulate it (left). (credit: Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS)

As anyone who has read or watched The Expanse or The Martian knows, growing plants in space has some big advantages. Plants can contribute to the maintenance of a healthy atmosphere, as they recycle water and provide some variety to diets. While they can be grown hydroponically, the process requires a significant amount of water, which might be in short supply. So for missions that will land on a body like the Moon or Mars, growing plants in the local soil might be a better solution.

But local soils on these bodies don't look like the ones we find on Earth, which have a complicated mix of minerals, organic compounds, and microbial life. Can plants adjust to these differences? A group of researchers at the University of Florida—Anna-Lisa Paul, Stephen Elardo, and Robert Ferl—decided to find out, and they used some incredibly rare material: lunar soil returned by the Apollo missions.

In the mix

The lunar soil exists in a form called regolith, which is basically loose, dusty material created by the constant bombardment of lunar rocks by micrometeorites. When the first samples were returned during the Apollo era, studies of the interactions of this regolith with living things focused on the fear of pathogens that could pose a danger to life on Earth. As a result, plants and seeds were briefly exposed to lunar soil and then tested to see if this exposure altered their growth. There were no attempts to grow anything in the soil.

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HP ZBook Studio and ZBook Fury G9 mobile workstations pack desktop-class power into compact designs

HP’s latest mobile workstations have the power you’d expect from a desktop replacement, with the new HP ZBook Fury G9 sporting a 55-watt Intel Alder Lake-HX processor, support for NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics, and up to 128GB of DDR5 memory. Measuring 1.1 inches thick and weighing 5.4 pounds or more, it’s not the most portable […]

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HP’s latest mobile workstations have the power you’d expect from a desktop replacement, with the new HP ZBook Fury G9 sporting a 55-watt Intel Alder Lake-HX processor, support for NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics, and up to 128GB of DDR5 memory. Measuring 1.1 inches thick and weighing 5.4 pounds or more, it’s not the most portable notebook around, but with a 95 Wh battery the 16 inch notebook is a lot easier to take on the go than a true desktop.

If you’re willing to sacrifice a little horsepower for improved portability, the new ZBook Studio G9 also has a 16 inch display, but this model starts at 3.8 pounds and features a 45-watt Intel Alder Lake-H processor and support for up to 64GB of RAM and NVIDIA RTX A5500 or GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics.

HP ZBook Studio G9

Both laptops are expected to hit the streets in June, 2020. Here’s an overview of some key specs for the latest members of the HP ZBook Studio family:

ZBook Studio G9 ZBook Fury G9
Display 16 inches
3840 x 2400 120 Hz IPS
3840 x 2400 OLED touchscreen
1920 x 1200 pixel IPS		 16 inches
3840 x 2400 pixel 120 Hz IPS LCD touchscreen
3840 x 2400 pixel IPS non-touch
1920 x 1200 pixel IPS LCD
Processor Intel Core i9-12900HK
Intel Core i7-12700H		 Intel Alder Lake-HX
Core i5, Core i7, or Core i9 options
Graphics NVIDIA RTX A5500
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Intel Iris Xe		 NVIDIA RTX A5500
AMD Radeon Pro
Intel UHD
RAM Up to 64GB DDR5-4800 Up to 128GB DDR5-4800
4 SODIMM slots
Storage Up to 4TB PCIe Gen 4 Up to 4TB PCIe Gen 4
Ports 2 x Thunderbolt 4
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1 x3.5mm audio
1 x power		 2 x Thunderbolt 4
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x Mini DisplayPort 2.0
1 x 3.5mm audio
Wireless WiFi 6E
Bluetooth 5.2		 WiFi 6E
Bluetooth 5.2
4G LTE & 5G options
Camera 5MP
IR		 720P
IR
Audio Quad speakers
2 microphones
3.5mm audio jack		 Stereo speakers
2 microphones
3.5mm audio jack
Battery 86 Wh 95 Wh
Dimensions 356 x 242 x 19mm
14″ x 9.5″ x 0.75″		 363 x 251 x 29mm
14.3″ x 9.9″ x 1.1″
Starting Weight 1.73 kg
3.81 pounds		 2.44 kg
5.4 pounds

HP says pricing information for the new laptops will be revealed closer to availability.

press release

via The Verge and Windows Central (1)(2)

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