What was shown as part of Computex-2018: a parade of premieres of interesting devices

The uniqueness of the Asus VivoWatch BP lies in the fact that it is by no means an ordinary model of smartwatches, of which a great many have bred, but an advanced health monitoring centre.

The main bet in hours is made to support the ability to determine the level of blood pressure. The corresponding sensor, combining ECG (electrocaridiographic) and FPG (photoplethysmographic) sensors in one bottle, is built directly into the front panel of the wearable gadget. To start the process of measuring blood pressure, it is necessary to attach a finger to it (for about 15 seconds).

Smartwatches also measure the number of contractions of the heart muscle, track the owner's activity (steps taken during the day, distance covered, calories burned, etc.), record the route track thanks to the built-in GPS module and monitor the quality of sleep. All collected indicators are analyzed by intelligent algorithms of ASUS HealthAI, on the basis of which the user is given personalized advice on a healthy lifestyle.

Since part of the front panel of the watch is occupied by special sensors, the display of the model is slightly shifted relative to the centre. It is built on the basis of a colour LCD matrix that does not fade in the sun and economically consumes battery power. It's no joke, the stated operating time of the model without recharging is 28 days. In addition, the smartwatch is protected from dust and moisture according to the IP67 standard, which allows you not to take them off your wrist while taking a shower. Asus VivoWatch BP is destined to be one of the first mobile assistants in health monitoring, which is seen as a huge potential for the near future.

The rapidly growing family of gaming devices, united under the wing of the Republic of Gaming line of the Taiwanese brand Asus, was replenished with an interesting headset compatible with both PCs and mobile gadgets as part of the annual Computex-2018 event.

The ROG Delta Type-C model is positioned as a solution for avid gamers. During prolonged battles, the headset practically does not remind of its presence on the head, while ensuring the audibility of the slightest rustles in gaming sessions. A high benefit in determining the exact distance to the enemy brings a good signal-to-noise ratio (127 dB). The key to a comfortable fit of headphones is a wide range of adjustment of the headband and breathable mesh fabric of the ear pads.

In the hardware part, the model is notable for the presence in the arsenal of a whole quartet of DACs, each operating in its own range: 20-150 Hz, 150-5000 Hz, 5000-20000 Hz and 20000-40000 Hz. As a result, the headset transmits rich and rich sound to the user's ears with detailed elaboration on all frequencies.

A distinctive feature of many products of the ROG series is a multi-colour RGB backlight embedded in the headset bowls. If it is not needed, it is forcibly turned off by a lever on the housing, in the immediate vicinity of which a volume control wheel can be found. Another glowing red element is built into the tip of the microphone — it lights up when the audio stream is turned off.

As you can guess from the full naming of the headset, it is equipped with a universal USB-C connector with support for two-way plug connection. And for the sake of maintaining compatibility with USB ports of previous generations, the manufacturer carefully packed an adapter for Type-A into the box with the model, which only adds positive impressions about the already wonderful headset.

Barely replenishing the ranks of a small regiment of gaming smartphones, Asus ROG Phone immediately climbed to the top of Olympus, reliably protecting itself from encroachments on the first step of the pedestal of the best mobile devices from the category of flagships.

In the era of identical smartphones, the device managed to stand out from the crowd due to its original appearance. He is absolutely unlike anyone else, and at the same time, in the general style of the model, there are obvious features of representatives of the line of gaming products of the Taiwanese brand — Republic of Gamers. What is the iridescent RGB-logo on the back panel, next to which the ventilation system grilles are adjacent, with multicoloured tones.

The outer shell of the gadget holds the bursting power of the top-end Snapdragon 845 chip overclocked to almost 3 GHz. For tossing games of any "gravity", the smartphone has 8 GB of "RAM". The volumes of the built-in memory are even more striking: 128 GB in the basic version and, attention, 512 GB in the top configuration of the "Hornphone". Such a powerful "iron" needs good cooling, so as not to lose all strength under the influence of heating.

The cooling system on board the device is represented by an evaporation chamber, a copper heat sink and a carbon fiber cooling plate. In the hottest and longest gaming sessions, an external AeroActive Cooler comes to the rescue (with a separate USB-C port and a 3.5 mm audio jack), which is connected via a proprietary connector on the left side of the case. On the opposite side from the accessory port, there are ultrasonic triggers built directly into the sidewall (they respond to clicks in the image and likeness of those of gamepads).

The next item in the list of advantages of the model is a 6—inch FullHD+ AMOLED screen (2160 x 1080 pixels) with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, a response time of 1 ms and support for displaying images in an extended dynamic range (HDR technology). There is simply no better and more beautiful display at the time of the announcement of the smartphone. The only controversial point in the design of the gadget is the location and narrow shape of the fingerprint scanner, which raises questions about the convenience of groping it blindly. But you can safely close your eyes to this flaw, because in terms of the combination of speed, colorfulness of the picture and battery life, along with the wide possibilities of expanding functionality due to additional accessories, the Asus ROG Phone is out of competition.

Not every gamer is ready to allocate a round sum to buy a computer. One of the inexpensive offers on the gaming laptop market is an MSI laptop announced as part of Computex-2018 — a model in aluminium laths with the index GF63.

The device is based on a platform based on Intel Core 8th generation processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 or 1050 Ti graphics. The maximum amount of "RAM" in the top configuration of the model can reach 32 GB. Powerful hardware shows decent performance results and easily handles with many modern games.

The display put into service with the laptop boasts thin side frames. Due to the fact that the screen occupies almost the entire width of the case, the laptop is very compact. Complementing the overall positive picture is the light weight of the model — less than 2 kg. For the sake of reducing the total cost, there is no talk of ultra-high screen resolution, in this case, the MSI GF63 uses a 15.6-inch FullHD format matrix (1920 x 1080 pixels).

The body of the model is dotted around the perimeter with a scattering of ports for connecting external devices, the number and variety of which will satisfy even the most demanding users. At the same time, the HDMI connector is displayed on the back side — when connecting a laptop through this interface, the wire will not get tangled under your hands. Of course, there was also a backlit keyboard shining red. Without connecting to external power sources, the user becomes one with a virtual game character for 7 hours. After the specified time, the laptop will require replenishing the energy reserves in the battery tanks.

The inexorable engine of technological progress forces manufacturers of modern technology to follow the path of continuous product improvement, introducing progressive developments in their industry to the masses. The first—born among laptops, who received an additional screen instead of a touchpad, was the "high-flying bird" from Asus — ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE.

The colour additional screen with touch control support has dimensions comparable to the average 5.5-inch diagonal smartphone. The resolution of the image displayed on it corresponds to the FullHD format (1920 x 1080 pixels). The operation of the ScreenPad (which is the name of the touchpad) is implemented in several modes: in the role of a traditional touchpad, as a means of quick access to selected applications, their settings and launching adapted programs directly on the mini-display, as well as as a second screen. A vivid example of the implementation of the latest feature is watching videos on the main screen in parallel with peeping with one eye behind an open messenger or mail window. Even more interesting is the function of duplicating notifications on the ScreenPad from a smartphone

The laptop's main screen, framed by minimal frames, uses an IPS matrix with a resolution of FullHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) or 4K (3840x2160 pixels), which supports touch control. Moreover, it claims coverage of 100% of the Adobe RGB colour space and over 130% sRGB, which will certainly appeal to photographers, videographers and other creative personalities whose work or hobbies are closely related to graphics.

Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE is based on the Intel platform, the main actor in which is one of the trinity of powerful processors: Core i7-8750HQ, Core i5-8300HQ or Core i9-8950HK. In the top configuration "under the hood", the model also has 16 GB of RAM, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics and an SSD disk with a volume of up to 1 TB. The price tag for all these "goodies" cannot be called humane, but it is excusable for a unique product. And in order to finish the story on a positive note, it would be useful to mention that the model is equipped with a built-in keyboard backlight and high-quality Harman/Kardon speakers.