Table of contents for August 2022 in Tech Advisor

AMD’s Financial Analyst Day is when it reveals a peek at its upcoming line-up for all the people who really matter in the world of consumer electronics: insanely rich investors. But fortunately we lowly consumers get to see the same information, which included details on upcoming plans for the Zen CPU line and RDNA3 graphics processors. On the desktop side of things, we got more details on Zen 4 AKA Ryzen 7000, which is already known to be coming later this year and will provide a singlethread performance boost of 15 per cent over Zen 3. The new series of 5nm and 4nm chips will also feature higher clock speeds (which we’ve already seen hinted at in an earlier demo of a Ryzen 7000 chip hitting 5.5 GHz), plus boost…

Just the name alone should give you goosebumps: Microsoft has a free Top Gun: Maverick expansion for Flight Simulator, and it’s available now. Microsoft rhas eleased a trailer of the new expansion, which starts kicking in the 1980s nostalgia as soon as the opening bars of the original Top Gun theme begin to play. (Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t licenced Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone for the trailer, but Spotify is just a click or two away.) Microsoft doesn’t say anything about what you can or can’t do as far as the expansion is concerned, but we can assume the plane you’ll fly is an F-18 Super Hornet, based upon what we know about the movie itself. (Sorry, we can’t confirm whether or not the plane in the trailer is an F-18 or…

Price: £1,100 from fave.co/39t6oxB he Asus Zenbook 14 (UX3402) is the new-look version of Asus’s flagship Ultrabook series for 2022. Refining the theory rather than reinventing the wheel, the Zenbook 14 (UX3402) is slimmer than its 2021 counterpart, but it’s available in the same trademark Asus dark blue, and once again the trackpad doubles as a numeric keypad, a feature we’ve seen on Zenbooks for quite a while now. To see where the new Zenbook 14 goes one better than last year’s UX425 models, you need to look under the hood – they feature more up-to-date Intel processors, 12th-gen Alder Lake-P vs 11th gen Tiger Lake. The latest chips feature more cores, allowing you to run more things at once, as well as promising an overall boost in performance. The…

Price: £399 from fave.co/3zppyyY Samsung’s mid-range phone game is, historically, pretty weak. So is Apple’s, to be fair, leaving it to Google and the Chinese smartphone giants to fill in the gaps. When I first saw the Galaxy A53 I had my hopes that Samsung had turned a corner, offering a balance of specs, features, and stylish design that not only bests Apple’s latest iPhone SE, but could be a genuine rival to the best of Xiaomi, Oppo, and Honor. I don’t mind holding my hands up and admitting I was wrong. Well, in part. I think the Galaxy A53 is a better phone than Apple’s SE, and there’s an awful lot about it that I like: a great design, excellent software support, waterproofing, and capable cameras. But it’s let…

Many people still have weak security practices, especially when it comes to passwords. They’re reusing them, relying on easily cracked ones, or aren’t aware that recommended guidelines have changed. And the reasons they have for not using a password manager aren’t crazy or stupid – their feelings are entirely understandable. But they’re still wrong. Passwords are similar to the locks on the front door of a house. And when you live in a city (the Internet is definitely that crowded), everyone throws on at least one lock. But choose the doorknob’s lock, and it takes but a minute for an experienced burglar to get past it. You want a deadbolt at a minimum, and in higher traffic or rougher neighbourhoods, you might have a thicker door (or even an iron…

The continued use of AI to improve conversations in Microsoft Teams is delivering improvements across several areas, the company said recently. Here’s an important one: you might not need your computer headset any more. Microsoft began work in this area years ago, adding the capability to help filter out background noise from other conversations, dogs barking, and so on. The Teams team has outlined several other improvements in both voice and video that are being rolled out. For one, Microsoft said that it’s been able to achieve better performance during Teams calls where users aren’t using a headset. Mics and speakers are often placed close to one another on a laptop, and they could easily create a feedback loop as incoming audio from a speaker was received from a mic…

The Microsoft Store app suffers from two major flaws: it doesn’t have as many apps as users would like, and what apps there are suffer from a plague of infrequently updated lookalikes. Microsoft seems intent on solving the first problem by making the second potentially worse. Microsoft said at its recent Microsoft Build 2022 conference that the Microsoft Store is “open to all”, meaning that it has removed a wait-list programme for Win32 apps. The store is now open to all app developers. The tech giant also announced an ad program, Microsoft Store Ads, which will allow developers to create ad campaigns to promote their apps within the Store app. It will also begin testing a ‘restore’ feature that will automatically load apps that Windows users own when setting up…

Price: £999 from fave.co/3HocSKt Huawei is finally launching the biggest laptop in the MateBook range outside of China, with the AMD-flavoured MateBook 16 now available to buy in parts of Europe and the UK. Sporting a massive 16in FullView display, the latest AMD processor and a unique aspect ratio tailored to productivity, the MateBook 16 could be a hit for remote workers, but creatives might be a little disappointed – especially given the high-end asking price. Is the Huawei MateBook 16 worth the premium price tag? Keep reading to find out. DESIGN Huawei hasn’t rewritten the rulebook when it comes to the design of the MateBook 16, looking just like every other recent MateBook – just bigger. That’s not necessarily a problem though; just like the rest of the range,…

The best free PC software programs aren’t about the cost (or lack thereof), they’re about a fresh opportunity – collections of code that put the dumb hardware in your computer to smart use, tools that can accomplish anything from balancing your household budget to helping cure cancer. Stocking your PC is an intensely personal task. But some are so helpful that we heartily recommend them to everybody. These free PC programs – a mix of must-haves and delightful auxiliary apps – deserve a place on almost any computer. There are times when a paid alternative makes sense, however. We’ve pointed out the circumstances where an upgrade over the free offering is warranted, along with our recommendation for the category. 1. A BETTER BROWSER Before you roll up your sleeves and…

Quick. When is the last time you really, truly thought about your Android phone’s Quick Settings set-up? If you’re like most people I know, the answer probably ranges somewhere between ‘aeons ago’ and ‘never’. And it’s no surprise: Android’s Quick Settings area is one of those things that’s just sort of there. It’s convenient, sure, but it’s all too easy to forget that it’s completely customizable – and expandable, too. It can turn into an invaluable home for your own custom Android shortcuts, if you take the time to build it up accordingly. The challenge, aside from simply remembering that you can expand that area of your phone’s interface, is knowing where to begin. Google doesn’t exactly have any great way of tracking down and identifying apps that offer Quick…

Would you consider buying a new laptop or desktop today with a conventional platter hard drive? Microsoft seems to think that you shouldn’t. Such is the indication of a recent TrendFocus report, which claims that the Windows maker is pushing OEM system builders to install the software only on a solid-state boot drive. A soft deadline is reportedly set for 2023, after which Microsoft would no longer sell Windows licences to manufacturers that intend to sell laptops and desktops with only a standard hard drive. Windows 11 technically requires only 64GB of storage to install with no guidelines on the nature or speed of the storage device, according to the official recommended specifications. That’s unlikely to change as far as endusers go. Microsoft is pushing hard for people to upgrade…

Later this year, Microsoft will begin inviting third-party developers to create their own widgets for use in inviting third-party developers to create their own widgets for use in 2022 developer conference. “You’ll be able to start building Widgets as companion experiences for your Win32 and PWA apps on Windows 11, powered by the Adaptive Cards platform,” chief product officer of Windows and Devices Panos Panay wrote in a blog post accompanying the show. Widgets are part of Windows 11, though the content is pulled from the same sources Microsoft puts on the Edge browser’s new tab page, the older News Bar, and the ‘News & Interests’ feed that is part of Windows 10. Today, Widgets is a (user-configurable) collection of news, weather, stock prices, and photos pulled from the your…

Price: £369 from fave.co/3ttmfTI The OnePlus Nord 2T is very similar to 2021’s Nord 2, but that doesn’t stop the newer version from being one of the best mid-range phones you can buy. The 2T adds faster 80-watt charging and a newer processor for a lower starting price than before. It shows how far smartphone technology has come that the Nord 2T is so good I’d recommend most people should buy it over the £799 OnePlus 10 Pro. It costs half as much but does most things just as well. It’s not a sonic leap forward for OnePlus by any means but if you are looking to upgrade your phone and are on a budget, the Nord 2T should be close to the top of your list. DESIGN This is…

Google is far and away the most popular search engine, but sometimes it can feel more like Big Brother and less like a friendly assistant. Indeed, for those concerned about privacy, Google oversteps some boundaries by collecting your personal data, and serving you ads based on what it collects. Enter DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine with its own desktop extension and mobile browser app. DuckDuckGo touts itself as the anti-Google, promising not to track or collect your data. It offers a clean interface and familiar layout, and provides many of the features you’ve come to expect from a search engine, but without those invasive data trackers. (If privacy is a concern of yours, also consider switching from Google Chrome to Firefox.) On paper, DuckDuckGo seems like a worthy competitor. But…

If there’s one area where wasted moments are just begging to be reclaimed, it’s within the Chrome browser on your Android phone. Google’s Android Chrome app is an absolute gold mine when it comes to hidden shortcuts and underappreciated time-savers. Readontofindoutmore. 1. THE HIDDEN TAB ACTIONS First up, see that box showing the total number of tabs you have open in Chrome on Android – the rounded square shape in the upper-right corner of the screen (1a.)? Well, make a mental note of this: if you press and hold that box for about a second, you’ll reveal a useful menu of timesaving tab options (1b.). It’s hands-down the fastest way to close your current tab or open a new tab – be it regular or incognito. 2. THE FAST-NAV LAUNCHPAD…