Physical and Mental Health of Employees is Top Priority

Thierry Nicault, the Regional VP for Enterprise Business Unit (EBU) for MEA and Central Europe, Salesforce, speaks about the measures his company has undertaken to minimize the business and financial impact

During this COVID-19 crisis, what measures have you undertaken to continue your own business without disruption?

We remain committed to flattening the curve. Aligned with various local and national government guidelines, we have extended our office closures in North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM to early May. Our top priority remains the physical and mental health of our employees and their families. We’re offering virtual workouts and meditations. We are hosting guest speakers to discuss how to manage anxiety and help our children and fami- lies through this difficult time. Supporting our employees, we’re providing technology and content for WideOpenSchool.org, a new free online resource from Common Sense Media to support families and educa- tors transitioning to remote learning as a result of COVID-19. These times remind us we’re more connected than ever. We continue to look forward, to find ways to help, to look for hope and are humbled by those who have committed to doing the same. We continue to support our local communities at the local, national and global levels. To date, we’ve donated $3 million to UCSF’s COVID-19 Response Fund, the CDC Foundation's Emergency Response Fund and San Francisco’s Give2SF Fund, and matching employee donations. We announced we’re ex- panding our support for those affected by donating $1.5 million to organiza- tions like the Italian Red Cross, Madrid Food Bank and New York COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The funds will support mitigation and direct relief for vulnerable populations.

What measures and initiatives have been taken to provide uninterrupted service to customers?

We remain laser focused on helping our customers in the Middle East and around the globe navigate through this crisis. For example, we are making some of our technology available for free for a period of time to help our customers and partners navigate through the crisis. As coronavirus deepens, more than 3,500 organizations worldwide are using Salesforce Care solutions across customer contact centers, emergency response, small business support, and work from home. Salesforce and AWS are giving Salesforce Care customers free access to Amazon Connect for de- ploying virtual contact centers in min- utes. We’re also supporting re-skilling with a surge in our Trailhead content. Supporting Middle East organizations in their move to online shopping and deliver, we’re launching 3 Quick start packages from our Commerce Cloud portfolio to accelerate e-commerce transformation, and delivering service continuity from physical to digital commerce with Quick Start packs.

Which top industry verticals and markets have you seen the maximum traction?

Organizations need to adopt a cri- sis response strategy upfront called “from breakdown to breakthrough” to become stronger 18 months later than if the crisis had not happened. CEOs should adopt 5 points: • Collaborate with the community and turn them into allies • Exceed customer expectations in unexpected ways • Listen for the customer-driven single source of truth and share data-driven insights • Plan for the new normal – and start the transformation now with a team that works solely on post-crisis projects • Brand values should guide your daily problem-solving and serve communities and the world as human beings

How has COVID-19 impacted business with existing customers in those verticals and markets?

Business priorities have shifted from playing offense to defense. It is a critical time to focus on helping new and existing customers to extract value from products and services. To address their concerns, organizations should consider creating a resource center or FAQ page. Businesses can empower customers with self-service apps that have knowledge articles and FAQs. Now is the time to optimize the mobile experience through either responsive web pages or native mobile apps.

What should companies do to weather the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 situation?

Top ten points for sellers include: • Whether what you’re selling will put your customer in a stronger personal or professional position right now • Add value to customers at each touch point and let customers set the pace • Play the long term with customers • Consider emotional intelligence and err on the side of caution • Listen to customers and prospects, and infuse messaging with empathy and value-based selling • Embrace inside sales • With sales reps spending only one-third of their time selling, ask your sellers how to set them up for success following coronavirus • The future of work is going to be a lot more reliant on video and CRM, and a little more forgiving of those working from home • Video is truly bridging the gap between people during this crisis • Spend your time brushing up on sales skills with online resources

Experiencing Surge in the Uptake of Infrastructure and Security Solutions

Ranjith Kaippada, the Director of Cloud Box Technologies, speaks about measures and initiatives his company has taken to provide uninterrupted service to customers

During this COVID-19 crisis, what measures have you undertaken to continue your own business without disruption?

We have shifted our work from on premise into a virtual environment. Although we are in remote locations we are well connected with the right technology. We have implemented some of the most advanced CRM systems as well as communication applications and technology for our sales and post sales activities to be connected via virtual meeting platforms. For our customers we have specially designed an online service ticket facility which allows us to take care of their data centre problems remotely. However, we are also looking at this as a time when we are truly understanding the sustainability angle where we are experiencing a drastic decrease in paper printouts and the increased use of digital signatures and stamps. Similarly, our technical presentations have now gone online and is similar to a virtual class room.

What measures and initiatives have been taken to provide uninterrupted service to customers?

Given so many operational changes at this time, one of the primary things we are undertaking is to provide our customers with the necessary uptime to their networks. We have put in a strong action plan to provide trouble shooting for their network data centres with effective remote assistance. It is also crucial that we are look into their security needs and supporting them with the necessary security software implementations. We are also engaging the services of professional couriers and thus changing our logistics patterns to ensure that our deliveries are made on time. It goes without saying that we are now using online platforms and conducting virtual meetings.

Which top industry verticals and markets have you seen the maximum traction? How has COVID-19 impacted business with existing customers in those verticals and markets?

We are definitely experiencing a surge in our infrastructure and security solutions. Work from home solutions are also being implemented in much higher volumes across the board. In fact, we have been up to speed with the healthcare sector needs by providing and implementing passive and active solution be it cabling or routers, etc for COVID testing centres which are in high demand. We have also been quick to develop and provide a new application to ease cloud telephony that offers a seamless use of office telephones by redirecting calls to mobile or home phones and ensuring that employees do not miss any important calls. One of the most important recommendations we make to our customers is to enter and strengthen their cloud space which helps them to adapt to this unexpected crisis. Cloud Box Technologies is offering regional customers our Cloud space which also eases the customers perils of venturing into the private Cloud which have their own budget constraints. We are also helping some customers navigate their IT needs in terms of their hardware as well as software solution requirements to tackle their immediate requirements for the current crisis situation. We are also deploying software agents on laptops which helps employees connect remotely and access the necessary office tools. This is also supported with firewalls that will help set up VPN connectivity for secure access.

Have you put in place any contingency plans if this crisis persists or gets escalated?

If the situation continues for a longer period it will be a difficult situation since the IT solutions we provide requires the setting of the data centres and that will be a challenge. We are discussing the possibility of trying extend our own Cloud facility at a nominal rate and provide hassle free access to customers with utmost security.

Have you kick-started any initiatives for your employees to better handle this crisis?

We are seriously working towards providing our employees with higher responsibilities and the liberty to make their team decisions. All our team members are continuously updated with all the information that will help them direct the crisis response team of our customers. We are aware that if we appoint temporary leaders among the teams during this unpredicted emergency, it will help generate confidence amongst out employees and promote a calmer approach that will entail ongoing operations irrespective of the location. What is important is open and regular communication and updates. It helps speed up decision making.

DCG Responds to its Members’ Concerns About the Impact of COVID-19

Dubai Computer Group (DCG) has announced that it is working closely with its members and key stakeholders to safeguard the business interest of its members against any detrimental impact faced due to the global lockdown post the outbreak of COVID-19. DCG has thus formed a “COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM” which is represented by Dharmendra Sawlani, Ashish Panjabi and Suchit Kumar. The response team has been formed to address the concerns and action plans to support the DCG members. Speaking to the press, through a virtual conference, Dharmendra Sawlani, the President of DCG who is also the owner of Smile Computers LLC, said, “Sales channels have changed since restrictions on movement in the UAE came into place. Many of our members have had to improve their online presence and work more closely with the various e-com- merce channels. This has meant adapting their logistical capabilities and finding innovative ways to continue serving corporate clients.” Ashish Panjabi, the Chief Operating Officer of Jacky’s Retail and Board Member of DCG, said, the month of March saw a sudden surge in the demand for computers and other ICT products as e-learning and work-fromhome practices were adopted at a short notice. “Many of our members reported stronger sales during that period as virtually everyone has undergone a major largest digital transformation in the last few weeks,” he added. Sawlani further added, “The pressure on SMEs has been immense because cash flow cycles have slowed down. As DCG, we’ve been trying to support our members where we can, be it in providing trainings for better managing finances, banking relationships, HR aspects or VAT. We’ve engaged with major IT distributors to listen to their concerns and highlight areas where we can arrive at a mutual understanding to ensure business continuity. We’ve also written to over 150 landlords to seek some sort of reprieve for our members during this period. At the end of the day, we realise, we are all in this together.” DCG has been closely working with Dubai Chamber to highlight the concern of the industry and seek support. Commenting on the government level initiatives Ashish Panjabi, explained, “The support of the government bodies has been extraordinary. We’ve engaged closely with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and they have helped us co-ordinate with other government departments where necessary or find us resolutions to challenges we faced. It encourages us to know that we can reach out to them any time of day or week.” Suchit Kumar, the Vice President of DCG said, “DCG has been closely monitoring and assessing the impact on the IT business, post the lockdown and closure of borders due to the pandemic. DCG will remain committed to doing its utmost to support members during this rapidly evolving situation. All our webinars have been well appreciated by the members with full participation.”

Emergency Board and General Meet- ing with members

DCG organised an emergency board meeting for the discussion of plausible solutions and actualised the same with a Virtual General Meet with members understanding the various areas of concerns and the support desired. DCG assured its members of its relentless commitment to support and stand by with solidarity during the entire period of crisis with resolute measures.

Letter to the Landlords of Member Companies for Rental Reduction, Deferral and Rent Holiday

A letter was issued to the landlords with a CC copy marked to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry of over 150 companies seeking support on rental reduction, a rent holiday and even deferrals. There has been a positive response and some of the members have already been granted their desired benefit.

Ongoing Discussions with Dubai Chamber and DED

DCG has been having regular discussions with Dubai Chamber and where needed DED’s support was sought on various points that concern our industry. We have highlighted cash flow concerns and to check on the possibility of a deferment of VAT payments. The issue of banking has also been raised and our concerns have been presented. The lack of access to shops or retail premises for retrieval of stocks for e-commerce deliveries was also highlighted and support is being sought to aid in this matter, however, this is also subject to approval from the NECMS who have the final authority.

Coronavirus Business Continuity Meeting (DCG ~ Distributor)

DCG organised a meeting with major IT distributors. The virtual meet was attended by Asbis Middle East, Trigon Gulf, Ingram Micro, Logicom, and FDC. DCG requested the distributors for their continued support and to keep discussions active for achieving a work- able middle ground during these times when members’ cash flow is under pressure.

Decoding Business in the Time of COVID-19

DCG conducted a Webinar for its members on the above subject with the CEO of UHY James, James Mathew as a speaker, to provide an in-depth understanding of the UAE business community’s challenges in the light of Covid 19. It highlighted aspects that every business owner needs to engage and embrace in theory and practicality to move forward. There were some key takeaways shared by James on how to better manage finances during these trying times.

Flexibility and Perspective is Key

Joumana Karam, the Marketing and Product BU Head for the Middle East at Acer, speaks about why she chose IT as a career choice, the next breakthroughs in the world of technology, and her advice for women looking to break into the field of technology

Tell us about your philosophy, when it comes to your domain

of expertise. Listen and read carefully. Gath- er all available data and check its validity. A solution to any problem or obstacle can always be found, which is why flexibility and perspective is key. Finally, always prioritize helping col- leagues/teammates to complete their tasks.

Why did you choose IT to ad- vance your career?

At school, I developed a fas- cination for Maths and the Sciences and performed well in these subjects. Also, my aunt and uncle were my role models who were both engineers in the telecommunications and civil engineering industries, which led to me studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering at university. It was in my last year when I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in IT and be a part of the new innovations that would change our everyday lives.

Have you witnessed any transformation in the tech- nology industry?

Throughout the course of my career, I have witnessed the growth of the Internet and the boom of cloud computing which has become ubiquitous today and has led to a new way of living and communicating. The growth of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on social media platforms, digital advertising and the creation of new prod- ucts has also been a significant transformation. From a hard- ware perspective, I have seen an evolution from bulky desktops with limited specs to light and stylish laptops with high capaci- ty, such as the Acer Swift 7.

Where, according to you, is the next technology transfor- mation going to come from?

Cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence will continue to revolutionise technology. In ad- dition, any new technology that will deal with the vast amounts of data that people are creating every second of their lives, will also revolutionize the industry as we know it.

What is your advice to women looking to break into the field of technology?

IT is a very interesting and creative field. Take the risk and explore the world that technol- ogy will uncover. Who knows, you might just be the next great inventor. I would also encourage your daughters to study and work in IT if they ever express interest.

Are you involved in any sort of charity work?

I do help the community when- ever possible, through the CSR initiatives that we support at Acer Middle East, as well as helping St Mary’s Catholic Church and St Francis Catholic Church, in my spare time. On the other hand, as a member of Dubai Chamber Choir, we do raise funds every year for mul- tiple charity foundations during our annual concerts.

What is next for you in terms of your career in the tech industry?

My goals are to be able to lead diverse teams in this ever-changing industry, be at the forefront of the promotion of new technologies and be an inspiration for the next genera- tion, including my daughter.

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4/5 ROG Zephyrus G14

AED 6999

So ROG has redefined how gaming laptops should look like yet again. The company announced the launch of the new ROG Zephyrus G14 a couple of weeks ago and we received the device for an unboxing and review. Inside the box, you get the laptop and the battery charger along with some paperwork which includes the quick start guide and the warranty information. The ROG Zephyrus G14 is the first laptop to feature the 7 nanometer AMD Ryzen CPU which offers good performance and power efficiency settings. It is also the company’s smallest gaming laptop featuring a 14- inch display with a 60Hz refresh rate. The display also offers WQHD resolution at 2560-by-1440 pixels and it is also PANTONE validated for content creators. The overall design and build quality is excellent – something we can expect from a brand like Asus. The G14 is made of magnesium alloy with a honeycomb structure, which gives you a premium look and feel. It measures just 17.9 mm thin and weighs around 1.6kgs. In terms of connectivity options you do get a bunch of I/O ports. On the right edge, you get the USB3.2 Gen2 Type-C and two USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 2 port, along with the Kensington lock. On the left edge, you get the power port, an HDMI port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C with Displayport 1.4 and the 3.5mm audio/mic combo jack. Under the hood, the laptop is powered by the AMD Renoir Ryzen 9 4000 Series CPU. The graphics on the Zephryus G14 is handled by Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 with Max-Q Design. You also get 16GB of DDR4 memory on the device along with 1TB of storage space. The laptop comes with Windows 10 preinstalled and is powered by a 76Whr battery. You get a 65W battery charger inside the box, which allows you to charge the laptop to 100% in about 2.5 hours. You also get around 10 hours of battery life on the Zephyrus G14. The Zephyrus G14 is being touted to be the first gaming laptop to integrate a fingerprint sensor. It is also the first gaming laptop to use a Single Sign On power button. The laptop also supports wireless networking with Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) technology, which is also known as 802.11ax. On the top edge of the keyboard, you get dedicated volume and mic buttons along with another hot key to invoke Armoury Crate. This is a one-stop app that lets you connect and configure a range of ROG products. You can also customize features on your laptop, check out game deals, register products, read ROG news and so on. During our review period, the ROG Zephyrus G14 performed consistently. There were no ghosting, lags, or stutters during our gaming sessions. Since the laptop featured the ErgoLift hinge design, the cooling of the internals is not an issue. The ROG Zephyrus G14 is priced at AED 6999. If you are on the lookout for a powerful, yet compact and light gaming laptop that can also be used for content creation on the go, the ROG Zephyrus G14 could be the one for you.

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e AED 599

4/5

The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e is the newest installment in the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Series, targeting urban consumers and youngsters in the region. Unlike its predecessor, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e features an integrated strap for a more streamlined, modern look. The integrated design not only makes for better comfort and durability, but also helps with getting more accurate data when the watch is being swung. The concealed crown is also made into a flat square for better blending in with the case and mistouch prevention, further highlighting its sports-oriented design. The HUAWEI WATCH 2e is equipped with a 1.39-inch AMOLED high precision touch display supporting a Retina-grade high resolution. The WATCH GT 2e features 100 workout tracking modes ranging from traditional sports to more trendy forms of home workouts. The WATCH GT 2e has been certified to 5ATM standards. This means that the smartwatch is water resistant to up to 50 metres in depth for 10 minutes. Hence, the WATCH GT 2e is suitable for low-velocity and shallow-water activities, including swimming. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e is equipped with a positioning chip for lower power consumption. With GPS and GLONASS dual-satellite system, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e is able to search more satellites to provide not only more location information, but also more accurate and reliable route tracking. For the first time, Huawei has also introduced a blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring feature to the WATCH GT 2e, whereby consumers in the UAE can set their fitness and sporting goals even when indoors. The smartwatch is supported by a two-week long battery life and it has been engineered to bring a scientific, yet sporty concept to UAE consumers’ everyday life. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e is equipped with Huawei’s proprietary Kirin A1 chip to provide a two-week battery life, assisting users to perform fitness and health management actively and comprehensively. As such, the new smartwatch also supports precise heart rate monitoring, abnormal heart rate reminders, pressure level and sleep monitoring features that allow users to understand their health status in real time. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e also comes packed with a large storage capacity, which can store around 500 mp3 songs. With Huawei Music and Bluetooth headphones, users can enjoy their custom exercise playlist during their training. On the music playback screen of your watch, you can switch between songs, adjust the volume, and select a playback mode, such as Play in order, Shuffle, Repeat the current song, and Repeat list. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e is available in Graphite Black, Lava Red, and Mint Green for a price of AED 599. The WATCH GT 2e will suit those who are looking for a sporty smartwatch that offers the perfect balance of performance and power consumption.

4/5 Acer Swift 5

AED 3999

Acer has gone for the lightest design as possible for the new Swift 5. The laptop weighs just 990 grams, even though it packs in performance-aimed specs. It is so light that if you put it into your backpack, you might even forget it’s still there. Since it is light weight, it is quite easy to carry it around the house, when you are working from home. The laptop is built using of a combination of magnesium-lithium and magnesium-aluminum metal chassis. The overall design, build quality and the finish is very good. The one we received for review, was clad in white colour with golden accents around the hinges and its edges. The laptop is quite slim, measuring just 14.95 mm thin. As soon as you open the lid, you come face to face with a 14-inch FHD touchscreen IPS display. You get a brilliant 86.4% screen-to-body ratio and 300 nits of brightness. The quality of the display is very good. Blacks are very black, even at maximum brightness, and the colours are vibrant. Under the hood, the Acer Swift 5 is powered by a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 processor running at 1.00GHz. You also get NVIDIA GeForce MX350 graphics, that offers up to 2.5 times faster performance than integrated graphics. In addition, the Swift 5 comes with 8GB of RAM. The laptop comes packed with a 56Wh battery that offers up to 12.5 hours of battery life. And the battery supports fast charge – which means you can get around 4.5 hours of usage from just a 30-minute charge. In terms of connectivity, you do get a full range of options. On the left edge, you get the power port, HDMI port, one USB port, and one USB Type C Thunderbolt 3 port. On the right edge, you get the Kensington lock, the power and battery indicators, one USB port, and the 3.5mm audio and mic combo jack. You also get a fingerprint reader for added security. Due to its robust specs, the overall performance of the Acer Swift 5 was pretty good. Multi-tasking between multiple open software windows was a walk in the park. The overall responsiveness was very good and we did not encounter any lags or stutters. For someone working from home during the pandemic, the Acer Swift 5 offers lots of flexibility in terms of working from wherever you want to. The Acer Swift 5 is a unique proposition since it is very lightweight, offers good design and build quality, solid specs, and very good overall performance. The Acer Swift 5 is available for AED 3999 for the Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD variant. There is also another variant that comes with Intel Core i7, 16GB, and 512GB SSD, which is available for AED 4999. The Acer Swift 5 will suit well for those looking for a feather-light laptop that does not compromise on the performance.

ROG Theta 7.1 and ROG Throne Qi 4/5 AED 1300 AND AED 650

When it comes to gaming, headsets matter a lot. Especially when playing multi-player co-op games, communicating with your teammates can be a matter of on-screen life and death. Asus ROG’s Theta 7.1 is one of the company’s gaming headsets. The awesomeness starts as soon as you start unboxing the device from its packaging, which comes clad in Red and Black. The packaging includes the outer cover and the main box. As you slide the outer cover, you reveal the main box, which opens on the both the edges to reveal the ROG Theta 7.1. Inside the box, you get a removable microphone, an extension adapter from USB-C to USB-A, an additional pair of ROG Hybrid interchangeable ear pads and some paperwork which includes the user manual and a warranty card. The extension cord adapter is an unbraided variety and is 1-meter in length. The Type-A plug and Type-C connector on the extension cord adapter are all gold-plated, including the 3.5 mm microphone plug. The microphone also comes with an LED indicator. In terms of design and build quality, the ROG Theta 7.1 screams coolness. And as you wear the headset, you cannot help but feel how snugly it fits. The headset does not get heated up on your ears during extended gaming sessions. And the foam cushioning makes for a brilliant and comfortable experience. The headband comes with a plush fabric cushion along the plastic plates, indi- cating the left and right orientation. The volume rocker itself doubles up as a microphone mute switch. Simply roll it up and down to adjust volume, and press it to mute or unmute the microphone. Since the ROG Theta 7.1 uses a USB-C connector, you need to make sure your laptop, PC or your device has this port. Once the headset is connected to your PC, you can use the ROG Armoury Crate to customise the RGB lighting via the AURA Sync section. The ROG Theta 7.1 comes packed with eight Essence speakers with a neodymium magnet, four in each bowl. The first, frontal, has a diameter of 40 mm, and the remaining three (central, rear and side) has a diameter of 30 mm. There is no dedicated subwoofer – instead, it is virtual. The audio quality offered by the ROG Theta 7.1 is quite good. It’s got deeper bass, and very good mids and highs. This makes for better sounding voices in both games and in videos. Once you switch over to surround sound using the sound mode switcher, you can clearly feel the change in the audio detail- ing. The overall gaming experience gets a bit better, especially first-person shooters and co-ops. The ROG Throne Qi, is a gaming headset stand with integrated 10W wireless Qi charging. It also offers additional connectivity with a 3.5mm headphone and dual USB 3.1 Type a (1.5a) ports to charge and connect your devices. You also get an integrated ESS 9118 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and amplifier, which provides an instant upgrade to 7.1 surround sound for any 3.5mm headset. The ROG Throne Qi is priced at $175 (AED 650 approx.), which might seem to be on the higher side. But remember, it is a headset stand with a Qi wireless charger, comes with a built in DAC, and offers RGB LED effects through Asus Aura Sync. And that makes it ;possibly worthwhile for those who appreciate innovative and quality products. For a price of $350 (AED 1300 approx.), the ROG Theta 7.1 isn’t a cheap headset. But, as they say, quality comes at a price. The ASUS ROG Theta 7.1 is a headset made exclusively for games. And if you are a gamer and appreciate quality gaming products, then the Asus ROG Theta 7.1 is definitely for you.

3/5 AED 3299 HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15

The Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 from HP is the company’s first-ever gaming laptops running AMD processors. Available at a very affordable price point starting at AED 3,299 for a gaming laptop, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 pairs the goodness of AMD’s Ryzen processors with the power of NVidia’s GeForce GTX graphics. The overall design is quite minimalistic and the build quality is sturdy. The laptop weighs around 2.3 kgs. HP has gone for a matte, black plastic chassis on the Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15. You will also find green elements on the keyboard backlight, the power LED, and the HP logo on the lid. As you open the lid of the laptop, you come face to face with a 15.6-inch screen that offers a resolution of 1920-by-1080 pixels. You get a screen to body ration of 79%, along with an excellent refresh rate of 144Hz. The display quality is excellent – the images look bright and vibrant with vivid colours, and the viewing angles are quite wide, too. The anti-glare coating on the display, helps to cut off the reflections which is a blessing, when working outdoors. Just above the display sits the integrated web camera. Just below the display, before the area where the keyboard is laid out is where you will find the B&O speakers. The speaker grille mesh carries on hexagonal patterns, something seen on the company’s OMEN series of gaming laptops. The keyboard itself is quite comfortable to type on, while the trackpad is large enough. In terms of connectivity, you get good amount of I/O ports. On the right edge, you get the HDMI port, a USB port, a USB Type-C Thunderbolt port, the LAN port with LED indicators, the 3.5mm combo audio jack, an SD card reader, and the storage activity LED indicator. On the left edge, you will find a USB port, and the power port with the power LED indicator. Under the hood, the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor with Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics, NVidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics with Max-Q Design, 16GB RAM, and 512GB of storage. In order to test our the real world performance, we played Watch Dogs and MotoGP 20 on the laptop. The quality of the graphics was outstanding and the gameplay was butter smooth. We did not encounter any lags or stutters even when switching between multiple open software windows. Online gaming sessions on Fortnite was also an excellent affair. Whether you are a gamer or a content creator, the Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 can handle everything you throw at it. For a starting price of AED 3,299 the HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop 15 is a good buy.

WD Black P10 Game Drive AED 405

4/5

Remember when you thought a 128GB hard disk drive was more than enough for your storage requirements? Well, guess what? There’s never going to be “enough” storage space for all the data we produce each day, every minute. That especially is the case with gaming consoles. With every game developer opting to digitally deliver games through online marketplaces, the demand for external storage devices has been ever increasing. For years, WD Black has had a strong legacy when it came to storage devices specifically designed for gaming purposes. The WD Black P10 Game Drive is no different. If you are familiar with the colour coding used by Western Digital on its drives, you know that green is economical, blue is for everyday use, red is for storage arrays, and black is for performance.The WD Black P10 comes in two variants – the standard Game Drive, and the Game Drive for Xbox, made specifically for the Xbox One. While the standard Game Drive offers storage capacities of 2TB, 4TB and 5TB, the Game Drive for Xbox One offers storage capacities of 1TB, 3TB and 5TB. We received the 3TB version for test drive a couple of days ago. Since the drive comes with 3TB of storage, you really do not need to delete old gaming titles in order to install and run newer titles. Inside the box, you get the WD Black P10 Game Drive, along with the warranty information and manual, and a USB Type-A to Micro-B cable. You also get a voucher that offers two months worth of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free. On paper, the WD Black P10 Game Drive boasts up to 130MB/s read time. Well, it’s not as fast as an SSD, but pretty fast for a conventional USB 3.0 drive. The drive uses a 5,400 rpm spinning mechanical drive and the overall design and build quality is very good. For gauging the real world performance of the WD Black P10 Game Drive for Xbox One, we ran it through the ATTO Disk Benchmark. The WD Black P10 clocked 127 MB/s in read speeds and and 112 MB/s in write speeds. We also performed random access performance test, which included copying a folder with 3.5GB worth of data inside it. The 3.5GB data dump test folder included Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, images, movie files, MP3 files, WAV files, zipped files, text files and so on. It took about 43 seconds to transfer the files from the a MacBook Pro to the WD Black P10 Game Drive. And when transferring the same data from the WD Black P10 to the MacBook Pro, we clocked a little more than 32 seconds for the transfer to complete. As you can see, performance is not an issue, especially since it is the WD Black breed of storage device. WD also offers 3 years of warranty, when compared with 1 year of warranty by competing storage devices. For a price of $110, the WD Black P10 Game Drive for Xbox One offers good bang for your buck.

3/5 Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S

AED 899

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S is a mid-range smartphone which was launched recently in the UAE. It comes packed with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset, with an octa-core CPU running at a 2.3GHz maximum clock speed, and Adreno 618 GPU. The Note 9S is the first smartphone in the Redmi Note lineup to feature a Z-axis linear vibration motor that enables faster acceleration resulting in better haptic feedback compared to traditional motors that most other smartphones in this segment come with. The device is powered by a massive 5020mAh high-capacity battery that keeps users going throughout the day even with heavy usage. When it’s time to recharge, the device offers 18W fast charging and comes with a 22.5W in-box charger which means it can charge fully in less than an hour. The Redmi Note 9S supports 18W fast charging which means it can fully charge fully in about an hour. On the front, you get a 6.67-inch FHD+ DotDisplay with Redmi Note’s first-ever in-display front camera. You get a 91% screen-to-body ratio, which is fantastic. The body has a gloss finish to it and is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. But the overall design is very good and the build quality feels sturdy. You also get splash-proof nano-coating and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and the back. You will find the quad-camera setup on the rear that includes a 48MP main lens. It also rocks a large 1/2” sensor, which means you get ultra-high-resolution images. The quad-camera setup also includes an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. You also get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space. The phone is powered by Android 10 operating system with MIUI11 running on top of it. The UI is very smooth to use and we did not find any lags or stutters when switching between multiple open app windows. Xiaomi’s MIUI 11 offers a no-frills experience, keeping layout simple and easy to see. Colour options for the Redmi Note 9S include Glacier White, Aurora Blue, and Interstellar Gray. On the left edge, you will find the dual SIM slot. There’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that also doubles as the power button on the right edge. The fingerprint scanner is reliable and snappy. You also get the volume rockers just above the power button. On the front of the Redmi Note 9S, you will find the 16MP lens for its in-display selfie camera. On the bottom edge, you will find the charging port, the 3.5mm audio jack, a noise-canceling microphone, and the speaker grille. On the top edge, you get the second noise-canceling microphone along with the IR blaster. I had the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S for almost a week now and I have had a good experience using the device. For a price of AED 899, you get a smartphone that’s reliable and has the battery and hardware to see you through the day without any problems.