FiiO’s KB3 adds DAC and headphone amplifier to RGB 75% Keyboard

Whether you’re a gamer struggling with desktop space or work from home and need better audio, FiiO’s KB3 mechanical keyboard may be what you are looking for.

Sporting a gamer-friendly 75% layout, this tenkeyless (TKL) mechanical keyboard, the FiiO KB3 adds a shock-absorbent gasket mount design on an aluminium-magnesium alloy base and Gateron G Pro 3.0 yellow switches with semi-transparent swappable keycaps that expose the RGB lighting beneath into the mix. The keys and switches are also hot-swappable, enabling you to find the perfect set-up. So far, this sounds like the basics of any gaming board.

Even the 3.5mm headphone port in the keyboard isn’t new territory; I remember Razer at least doing so. However, where the KB3 comes into its own is that headphone output is not just at the end of an analogue passthrough; audio, in fact, is treated to a DAC and headphone amplifier built into the FiiO keyboard.

Crunching the numbers are dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 DACs supporting up to 32-bit / 384kHz and DSD256 audio, helped along by a pair of low-noise SGM8262 op-amps producing a claimed 550mW. Alongside the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, you also get a 4.4mm balanced output. Not too shabby, then.

Finally, two USB A and a USB C port around the rear of the board round things off.

Available in Midnight Black / Morning Silver, the FiiO KB3 Hi-Fi Keyboard with built-in DAC/Amp is available now, priced at £139 / $149 / €169.

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Razer has today announced its Razer Productivity Suite that promises to usher in the next generation of office working. 

While most of us continue to work from home, now is the perfect time to upgrade the most-used tools at our desk. Razer has unveiled its new Pro Click mouse, designed in collaboration with Humanscale, the Pro Type keyboard and Pro Glide surface. Together these are said to form a suite of exceptionally comfortable, durable and high-performance peripherals perfectly styled for any work environment.

Naturally, Razer has years of experience through creating high-performance gaming peripherals. However, this know-how has now been transferred to the workplace with a collaboration with ergonomic experts, Humanscale. With a chic white finish and subtle grey highlights, the Razer Productivity Suite enhances the look of any workspace as well as promising to deliver speed, precision and durability demanded by the modern worker.

While they might look sleek and businesslike, the new Razer Productivity Suite is built to be durable as well as good-looking. For instance, the buttons on the Pro Click mouse rated for up to 50 million cycles, and the switches on the Pro Type keyboard rated for up to 80 million cycles.

Razer Pro Click

Designed in partnership with Humanscale, the Razer Pro Click mouse has been specifically designed to minimise the health risks associated with long-term mousing, including Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The mouse is ergonomically contoured to position the user’s wrist at a neutral 30-degree angle, therefore preventing discomfort and injuries associated with wrist pronation. 

Furthermore, it is said to meet the ideal comfort zones for both small and large hands, incorporating extended palm, thumb, and little finger support. The result is an extremely comfortable mouse that reduces fatigue and the number of errors, ultimately delivering on Razer’s high precision and performance promise. 

Sporting Razer’s Advanced 5G Optical Sensor, multi-host Bluetooth connectivity and battery life of 400+ hours, the Pro Click mouse is the ideal pointing device for the desk worker needing accuracy and reliability all the time.

Razer Pro Type

The Pro Type keyboard features a soft-touch coating for all-day typing comfort.

Using Razer’s proprietary Orange Mechanical Switches, the keyboard will deliver a quiet, yet tactile keystroke for fast, accurate typing. It also boasts wireless and Bluetooth connectivity for up to 4 devices and backlit keys.

Razer Pro Glide

Completing the Razer Productivity Suite set-up, the Pro Glide surface not only matches the suite’s modern, professional colour scheme but also perfectly complements the features of the Pro Click mouse. The durable, textured micro-weave surface is the ideal tracking layer for quick, accurate pointing and smooth, jitter-free movements.

Alvin Cheung, Senior Vice President of Razer’s Peripherals Business Unit, told GadgetyNews: 

The vast majority of office peripherals are based on one-size-fits-all designs and technology, becoming a source of frustration to the user and hindrance in the working day. I am incredibly proud of the Razer Productivity Suite that we are unveiling today alongside our partner, Humanscale, to address these issues. We firmly believe that our combined expertise and innovation will take workplace productivity to the next level.

Price and availability

The Razer Productivity Suite is available online from today at Razer.com and from August 27th from authorised resellers.

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As well as covering the latest news and releases, including Huawei’s Mate 20 Series and the return of Palm, Gareth chats with Michelle about her tech loves and woes. Expect comparisons with the lunar landing and WiFi in Edinburgh. Also, we almost get to hear Gareth impersonate Gavin and I. A close call that one.

Tech Addicts Podcast 17 October 2018

In today’s show

• Huawei Mate 20 Pro thoughts and reactions
• Huawei Watch GT
• Razer Phone 2
• LG and Lenovo Folding Display
• Samsung Galaxy X and F thoughts
• Palm is back in town

Get involved

• Main Show URL: http://www.techaddicts.uk
• Contact:: contact@techaddicts.uk | @techaddictsuk 
  
• Gareth – @garethmyles
• Michelle – @MichelleStandup
• Jay – @GadgetyNewsCom | @JayGarrett | @StereoNETUK
  
• Web: http://GadgetyNews.com | https://StereoNET.co.uk | https://www.michellechristine.com/
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Razer has just announced the availability of its Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop.

The 2018 edition claims it’s title as the “world’s smallest” 15-inch gaming laptop. Under the hood you’ll find a six-core Intel Core i7-8750H processor and your choice of a GeForce GTX 1070 or GTX 1060 (6GB) discrete graphics chip. The latter are based on Nvidia’s Max-Q design, meaning they’re tweaked for ultra-thin laptops. That means they’ll draw less power and produce less heat. However, on the other side of the coin, you can expect a slight performance decrease compared to the non-Max-Q chips.

Razer Blade 15 2018

The new Razer Blade certainly does look like it has earned the skinny bragging rights. Thanks to those Max-Q GPUs Nvidia has been able to build a high-performance 15.6-inch gaming laptop at just 0.66 inches thin for the GTX 1060 configuration. That said, the GTX 1070 models are nearly as thin at 0.68-inches.

That is quite impressive when you look at Razer’s 13.3-inch Blade Stealth that measures just 0.54-inches while Razer’s high-end desktop replacement, the 17.3-inch Blade Pro, is 0.88-inches thick.

Configurations

Here are the three existing configurations Razer offers starting at £1,699:

They will also be adding a 4K touchscreen version later.

As you can see, all models ship with 16GB of system memory clocked at 2,667MHz. However, you can upgrade the sticks to 32GB.

The GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 models have two storage configurations each – either 256GB or 512GB on a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD – but they support storage of up to 2TB. There are no dual-storage options.

Connections

All configurations ship with one Mini DisplayPort 1.4 connector, one HDMI 2.0b port, one Thunderbolt 3 port, three USB-A ports (5Gbps), and one audio combo jack.

Further shared features include Wireless AC and Bluetooth 5 connectivity, a 1MP (720p) webcam with an array microphone, two front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos technology, and an 80WHr battery.

Colours

The Razer Chroma-powered anti-ghosting keyboard offers 16.8 million colours per key. This is all customisable through Razer Synapse 3 software. There are also new power management options available. Those include modes to boost graphics performance or maximise the battery’s runtime.

Cooling

Keeping everything cool is a large vapor chamber with direct contact to the heat sources. Additionally, there are high-performance thermal blockers and interface materials. What you don’t see here are bulky, noisy fans ruining your gaming experience.

Razer Blade Core X enclosure 2018

Complementing the new Razer Blade is the company’s new Core X external graphics enclosure. It connects to your desktop or laptop via a Thunderbolt 3 port that must support the external graphics card standard.

The Core X allows you to game on the go with the latest Razer Blade, and then come home and hook your laptop up to the Core X for increased desktop-like performance.

Razer’s enclosure supports Windows 10 and MacOS, and fits up to a three-slot wide, full-length add-in desktop graphics card from Nvidia or AMD.

The included 650-watt ATX power supply allocates 500 watts for the installed graphics card and 100 watts for charging your laptop through the Thunderbolt 3 port (if supported).

Compatible Razer laptops include the Blade Stealth, Blade 14, Blade 15, and Blade Pro.

The Razer Core X costs £250 (without GPU).

The post Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop – world’s smallest appeared first on GadgetyNews.

It’s that time again. In this week’s episode of the Tech Addicts Podcast, you have the fortune to spend time with Gareth and Ricky.

You may have missed the news, but Apple recently delivered its most expensive flagship phone, the iPhone X. I know, they kept that quiet didn’t they?

There was also the small matter of a few of us gathering at the Razer Phone launch last week.

Additionally, there’s this week’s bargains and reviews.

Hit play. Enjoy.

In this week’s show

News

• iPhone X Launched
• Razer Phone

Reviews

• Xbox One X Scorpio Edition
• D-Link AC5300 Ultra WiFi Router Unboxing
• Philips 272P7VPTKEB 27? Brilliance 4k Screen review

Bargain Basement

• LG G6 32GB £379.30
• HTC 10 32GB 4G LTE SIM FREE/ UNLOCKED – Gold £269.99
• PRIV by BlackBerry £199.99
• Huawei P8 lite 2017 £149.99

Get involved

• Main Show URL: http://www.techaddicts.uk
• Email: contact@techaddicts.uk
• Twitter: @techaddictsuk ; @garethmyles ; @gavinfabiani  ; @GadgetyNewsCom ; @JayGarrett ; @swanny ; @girlsngadgets ; @wildlime ; @TechTalkUK1
• Web: http://gavinsgadgets.com ; http://GadgetyNews.com ; http://swanny.me/
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Last night I was at the Science Museum, London for the launch of the highly anticipated Razer Phone. Unfortunately, we’re no closer to getting a Chroma Razer Toaster.

We all knew what was coming when Razer bought phone-cobbler Nextbit. What we weren’t sure about is how it would end up in practise.

It appears that the challenge of building a full-blown gaming machine the size of a smartphone was too good to pass up.

Razer officially unveiled their Android phone at a huge bash last night. The thing is, should you do something just because you can?

Razer Phone specifications

The phone, as you would imagine, boasts an impressive spec sheet.

Let’s start with the propriety 5.7-inch 1440p screen. This packs variable refresh rate as well as something akin to NVIDIA’s GSync.

You also get the flagship-standard Snapdragon 835 processor mated to a massive 8GB of RAM. There is also 64GB of expandable storage.

On the face of the device there are stereo front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos support, each powered by their own amp.

Keeping things going is a generous 4,000mAh battery.

Optics are taken care of by a dual 12-megapixel camera system on the back. One camera has an f/1.8 lens for wide shots and the other is a telephoto f/2.6 shooter.

It was good to see that the user interface (UI) was kept basically as stock Android Nougat 7.1.1 with Google Assistant. However, they have worked with Nova to include a premium version of the Nova Launcher.

[youtube id=”S65ZEd0wta8″]

Android 8 Oreo will follow early next year. This was a surprising compromise for me. Furthermore, the handy cloud backup feature that was core to the Robin experience has been dropped. That is a shame.

Another thing that would’ve been great to see is some kind of IP rating for water- and dust-proofing. Gamers love their Red Bull, looking at what was being offered by way of refreshment last night.

If you were shopping for a phone using the same method as Top Trumps, the Razer certainly ticks boxes aplenty.

Razer Phone design

I have a feeling that this is where the Marmite effect comes in to play. Yes, the CNC aluminium body will take the knocks but there isn’t really much in the way of design happening here.

If you took a Nextbit Robin, made it bigger and ditched the plastic in favour of dark anodized aluminium, you’d basically have the Razer Phone.

Razer said they wanted to break the mould of all the other curved-edged slabs out there, which they’ve acheived. However, even with my love for brutalism, this phone left me a little meh.

I do like the round buttons, and placing the fingerprint scanner in the powerbutton has been done before.

It is also a brave move to slap those chunky bezels on a new phone when everyone else are trying to ditch them.

Of course, Razer needed somewhere to shove those gloriously loud speakers though.

Audio

On the subject of audio I was a little confused. They boasted about their THX and Dolby Atmos certification and the fact that the Razer Phone is equipped with a 24-bit DAC. Perfect for audiophiles, they said. However, the phone iteself is lacking a headphone jack. From what I can see, the phone has plenty of space for one, too.

Upon closer investigation, in the box, you’ll find a THX-certified audio dongle that lets you hook up headphones. This is how they honour their promise of 24-bit “audiophile-quality” sound. I still find this another odd compromise for an uncompromising phone.

For gamers by gamers

This is Razer’s mantra but I cannot help but feel they missed out on some more gamer-y touches. The company’s Chroma kit is much loved by their community of gamers. Having the rear logo RGB-equipped would have been an awesome touch.

[youtube id=”EXDCAr72yMI”]

Instead, you get access to a bunch of game themes and wallpapers.

Display

It was great to see that they went with a Sharp IGZO panel for their screen. This is capable of adjustable frame rates maxing out at 120Hz.

That means you get ultra smooth animations during games and extra slow (and thus efficient) speeds for when the phone is just idling on the home screen. You don’t really need 120Hz when updating Facebook or Twitter, do you?

[youtube id=”YqjgSvspLGE”]

The higher frame rate does make the experience of using the phone feel more fluid. This is obvious even when just running through some demos on a tethered unit.

I really hope that this is one of the areas where other manufacturers take note. It would be great to see this is the sort of tech becoming standard on all mobile devices.

Razer Phone – initial thoughts

As the details were being revealed there were many jaw-dropping moments. Tekken, Final Fantasy XV, Ultra Hunt and Arena of Valour all looked great. The specs were just getting more and more “insane” as they were announced. However, was I excited when I finally got hands-on? Well, no. Not really.

I was more disappointed by my disappointment, if I am totally honest. I really wanted this to be the complete package.

Don’t get me wrong, this is an impressive machine. They have obviously put in a lot of work to get everything to fit and perform how it does.

The thing is, there are many phones out there running the same Snapdragon 835 that Razer uses. Brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, amongst others, have already been selling 8GB phones for a while.

Game Booster is neat and having the best “thermals” (i.e., heat dissipation) out there is a rather handy thing to have.

Are these enough to entice gamers? We can only wait and see. Razer is new to this particular arena and, for that reason alone, I hope it does well.

Perhaps it was the dimly-lit area where the non-VIPs, such as myself, were introduced to the Razer Phone. I have seen photos and hands-on videos taken by the more elite level of journalists, and that does seem to help with everything.

So, I reckon I need some more quality time with the device before making my mind up.

It is a great device but not quite perfect. Yet.

Price and availability

The device is priced at £594 + 10 top up with Three on Pay As You Go! That is an excellent price for such a high-specced phone.

You can get it in the UK through Three and in the states in Microsoft Stores. Naturally, you’ll be able to grab them directly from Razer’s online store too..

You can reserve yours now and expect shipping on November 17th.

The post Razer Phone spec, price, hands on, first impressions appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Razer has revealed that it will soon be serving up a Chroma-branded hardware developer kit (HDK) for adding RGB LED illumination to desktops.

The HDK is based on the company’s Chroma technology as seen in its peripherals. This dishes out up to 16.8 million colours and different lighting effects to give your desk a personal light show.

The kit will be powered by a beta version of Razer Synapse 3.0 that will launch alongside the Razer Chroma HDK in the third quarter of 2017.

The Razer Chroma HDK will consist of a module sporting four lighting channels (strip connections), and two strips containing 16 LEDs each.

The kit can be installed inside a desktop PC or externally for back lighting. All it needs is a USB connection for data and power.

The kit includes a USB-to-DC power cable for additional power and brightness for external setups, and a Molex-to-DC power adapter if the kit is installed inside a PC.

[youtube id=”MGPiG-FadtM”]

Razer Synapse 3.0

Razer Synapse 3 will include a new tool called Chroma Studio.

Not only will this enable you to configure the kit with custom colours and lighting effects. Furthermore, you’ll be able to synchronise all the lighting effects across your Razer Chroma devices.

According to Razer, this tool is even capable of providing specific effects across all Chroma-enhanced peripherals based on their physical location with each other.

That sounds awesome to me. I can see being able to programme a wave effect. A very cool wave effect. Let’s say one starting on the left side of your keyboard, flowing across the keys to the right side. Not only that, it would then continue on to a connected mouse physically located to the right of the keyboard… and then in to your PC case. Neat, huh?

Acer says:

Users can shape and bend the LED strips to fit virtually any surface to light up an entire room, home or office for total game immersion. The individually controllable lights are integrated into Razer Synapse 3. The HDK supports 4-channel output with a total capacity of 64 RGB LEDs.”

Price

• Razer Chroma HDK: U.S. $79.99 / EU € 99.99
• Razer Lightpack Extension Kit for Chroma HDK: U.S. $28.99 / EU € 34.99

More details can be found over at the Razer Zone website.

Specs at a glance

The post Razer Chroma hardware development kit announced appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Things have been quiet since we published news of gaming company Razer’s plans for a smartphone back in January. However, it seems like this is still going forward.

Razer is said to still be planning its own mobile phone aimed at “hardcore gamers”, according to sources talking to Bloomberg.

According to “people familiar with the matter” Razer will target a stock market launch in Hong Kong looking for a valuation of $3-5 billion.

This would give the company the kind of coin needed to develop its own smartphone offering.

The path to a Razer gaming phone

The company recently acquired Nextbit. This smartphone startup put an emphasis on unlimited storage by using integrated cloud backup and syncing.

Although Nextbit confirmed it would continue to develop in the mobile sphere, it’s likely that this will have some influence on the direction that a Razer phone will take.

With Razor grabbing up the Android gaming device, this could also play a part into the device’s final positioning.

What’s needed

Let’s face it, there are already some pretty powerful phones out there. But, is that enough?

Those “hardcore gamers” aren’t going to be easy to please.

Eye-popping graphics will need a great screen. Furthermore, a large-enough great screen.

Cooling will also be an important factor, as will battery life. The latter is going to be one of the most difficult balancing acts. You’ve felt the weight of full-on gaming laptops, right?

What would you expect from a proper gaming phone? Are we on the right track, even?

Thinking about the Ouya link, could this turn out to be more like the Nintendo Switch?

The post Razer gaming phone – more details appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Have you been waiting for a real gaming phone? Well, it looks like gaming hardware company, Razer, might be squaring up to produce such a thing. Well, they’ve just gone and bought Nextbit, the makers of the cloud-centric Robin phone.

If you’re not familiar with the Robin phone here’s a bit of background.

Nextbit Robin

The Robin started life off as a Kickstarter project. It was a popular idea and managed to raise over $1.3 million.

It’s main selling point was that it promised to “never run out of storage.”

That, combined with a unique design and affordable price tag, made it a solid first effort for Nextbit.

Nextbit is joining the @Razer family! Now we’ll have more resources for more exciting (rebellious) projects. https://t.co/rC6Oww7TMO pic.twitter.com/HJScaIlVfS

— Nextbit (@nextbitsys) January 30, 2017

Razer phone

Now that Razer has slipped in to the driving seat, the company has much bigger financial backing for future projects.

This will also make it Razer’s first steps into the mobile market.

This doesn’t mean that this is the end for Nexbit though. According to a blog post:

Nextbit will operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences. To put it simply, we’ll be doing exactly what we’ve been doing all along, only bigger and better.

The next step

Even though Nextbit has said it will be business as usual, it looks like its focus has already changed.

Nextbit says it has stopped selling the Robin and accessories, and that it will continue to fulfill warranties for six more months.

As the phone was released in July 2016, that pretty much means that only the very first adopters will enjoy a full year-long warranty.

Software-wise, Nextbit will provide updates and patches through to February 2018.

It’s easy to get carried away but Razer’s purchase of Nextbit doesn’t mean that there’ll be a Razer phone anytime soon.

All I can say that their emphasis on “mobile design and experiences,” strongly suggests that there could be.

Nextbit was founded by former HTC and Android employees – so their smartphone mojo is strong.

The post Razer phone on way – gamers buy Nextbit appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Maingear are continuing with their big name buddy-ups. The latest exciting partnership is with Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers.

The fruits of this new get together is the MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition.

The new MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition, which is available now features Razer’s iconic design on the outside and Maingear’s award-winning build quality on the inside.

So, if you’re looking for something mean and green, this will be right up your street.

Naturally, the R1 | RAZER Edition features the level of customisation you’ve come to expect from Maingear.

Wallace Santos, CEO, Maingear says:

Razer has established itself as the #1 gaming lifestyle brand and this collaboration shows their commitment to delivering the best in PC gaming,”

Each MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition is hand-assembled by a single Maingear master craftsman in New Jersey. As with all Maingear desktops, the systems include Origami Wiring. You also get the option of handcrafted hardline liquid cooling.

Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO states:

The feature-set and craftsmanship of the R1 RAZER Edition leave it in a class of its own today, and the customisable design leaves the door wide open for untold enhancements well into the future. With a starting price under a thousand dollars, and with full RAZER product and software integration provided out-of-the-box, we trust that every gamer will be able to enjoy this incredible machine and the experiences it promises.”

The new system is 4K and VR ready and can be fitted with NVIDIA or AMD components. The latest Core i7, NVME SSDs and 10TB HDDs can also be chosen. Memory options allow for up to 32GB of premium HYPERX DDR4 memory.

MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER price and availability

The MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER is available now direct from Maingear with a starting price of $999.

The post MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition – mean and green appeared first on GadgetyNews.