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Amazon Echo Buds review: very hard to beat for the price

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Amazon’s new second-generation Echo Buds are the company’s second crack at true wireless earbuds. They’re smaller, lighter, and more comfortable than before, and now have more effective noise cancellation. The first time around, Amazon borrowed some of Bose’s tech to help the original Echo Buds block outside noise, but version two was built completely in-house. Hands-free Alexa voice commands still get top billing, but the most compelling thing about the Echo Buds is still their aggressive price — and the solid mix of features you get in exchange.

The Echo Buds cost $99.99 or $119.99 (with wireless charging case) for a limited time, after which the prices will rise to $119 and $139.99, respectively. Not only is Amazon undercutting premium noise-canceling buds from Apple, Bose, Sony, and others, but it’s also seemingly trying to obliterate mid-range options like the Anker Liberty Air 2 Pros.

The revamped Echo Buds are 20 percent smaller in footprint and have a shortened nozzle, so they protrude from the ears a bit less. They ditch the glossy outer touchpad for a matte design (though the side facing your ear is glossy) The Amazon “smile” logo is present on both earbuds, but it’s not as obnoxious as I assumed it’d be. It’s matte and printed onto the buds instead of being embossed or given a different texture to stand out, so the logo doesn’t really call attention. Still, I’d have preferred it not to be there at all. The charging case is far more understated; there, the smile logo is on the underside — where most people are never even going to see it.

Amazon’s blatant logo is unfortunate, but doesn’t call much attention.

That case has also been downsized and is roughly 40 percent smaller than the last gen, but still carries enough juice to provide the earbuds with two full recharges. The Echo Buds last for five hours with ANC enabled, which is extremely par for the course in 2021. This stretches to 6.5 hours if you disable noise canceling and hands-free Alexa. Oh, and the case does charging LEDs right: you get separate indicators for the case’s charge and both earbuds also have their own.

Amazon includes a plethora of ear tips and wing tips to help you get a perfect fit.

Amazon has included everything but the kitchen sink to help guarantee a good seal and snug fit. There are four sizes of silicone tips in the box — S, M, L, XL — and three different pairs of optional wing tips. The ear tips are color coded, which makes it much easier to tell the different sizes apart without having to squint at them. The wing tips might prove useful if you’re going to use the Echo Buds for intense workouts, but they weren’t necessary for everyday use or outdoor runs in my ears; the reduced size of the earbuds was enough to keep them locked in place for me.

The new Echo Buds now feature a vented design to cut down on ear pressure, similar to Apple’s AirPods Pro and recent Samsung Galaxy Buds models. But the flipside of this change means if you turn off ANC in the Alexa app (or with a voice command), you’re going to hear a fair mix of ambient noise. If you want to hear more, Amazon gets credit for its passthrough mode, which nearly matches the AirPods Pro and Bose in how natural sound it sounds. If you crank it up all the way, it almost feels like superpower hearing — but there’s a very noticeable hiss at max passthrough.

Amazon claims that the second-gen Echo Buds cancel out “twice as much noise” as the original pair, and the improvements are most concentrated in lower sound frequencies — exactly what you’d want for flights or bothersome hums around the house or office. But remember that the original Echo Buds utilized Bose’s noise reduction technology, which isn’t the same as full-blown active noise cancellation. (Even at the time, Bose said it could do better.) So while Amazon is advertising significant gains over the prior model, you won’t hear any claims that it’s outperforming earbuds from Apple, Bose, Jabra, or other companies. Those are different goalposts.

And the Echo Buds objectively aren’t as effective as the AirPods Pro or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds at turning down the volume knob on the outside world. You might assume that it’s because of the vented design — but the AirPods Pro have that design trait too — so it’s really just that Amazon’s proprietary noise cancellation tech doesn’t yet measure up to the best out there. Occasionally when holding the Echo Buds in my hands, I’d hear a high-pitched whine or squeal coming out of them. This has happened with other earbuds, and Amazon tells me it’s due to an ANC-related feedback loop. Amusingly, I’m also told there’s a “squeal detection algorithm” that’s meant to suppress this. The noise is never really a bother when they’re in your ears, thankfully, but it does pop up from time to time.

The new Echo Buds are 20 percent smaller than Amazon’s first-gen earbuds.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Passable ANC aside, the Echo Buds do sound good. They handily beat out the AirPods Pro at bass, which is becoming a regular occurrence at this point. Amazon says the 5.7mm drivers are “optimized for increased fidelity in bass and treble,” and they make for easy listening when you’re playing spoken word content like podcasts, audiobooks, or watching videos. All of this proves out as true when using them. The bass has ample kick and the treble is well contained and never gets earsplitting. Tracks like Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” or Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” are perfect demonstration of what the Echo Buds are good at. I get the impression that Amazon has tuned these with modern hits in mind.

But they do lack a layer of depth and texture that you’ll find in the higher price tiers of true wireless earbuds. Acoustic-heavy tunes aren’t as warm as they could be, and tracks like Phoebe Bridgers’ “Graceland Too” don’t have as wide of a soundstage. The powerful bottom end can make up for that somewhat on songs like “Chinatown” by Bleachers, where the bassline never gets lost to the synths, vocals, and guitars.

The earbuds have a vented design to reduce ear pressure.

So even before you get to the Alexa part of the equation, the Echo Buds establish themselves as worthy contenders at a hard-to-resist price. They also offer IPX4 water and sweat resistance, and voice call quality has improved some over the first-gen buds. Audio automatically pauses when either bud is removed, and each side can be used independently. Like most earbuds (save for those from Jabra), the Echo Buds lack multipoint Bluetooth pairing. Both AAC and SBC codecs are supported. Connection stability has been rock solid in my review period so far with only the rarest blip or dropout.

But how does Amazon’s voice assistant fare? Alexa can aptly handle music requests (“play my Release Radar on Spotify”), weather checks, smart home commands, and other activities that are normally smooth sailing on Echo speakers. Amazon says “later this year” the Echo Buds will get the same VIP Filter as its Echo Frames, which lets you pick which notifications you want to hear.

But on the whole, Alexa noticeably lags behind Siri and Google Assistant at more on-the-go requests. If you ask for directions, Alexa responds that you must tap a notification on your iPhone for those directions to actually open up in Apple Maps. It’s not a huge inconvenience, and some of this — like SMS messaging being limited to Android — boils down to platform restrictions, but there are often middle steps that don’t exist if you’re making the same ask of Siri or Google Assistant. (You also must grant the Alexa app full-time location access for directions to work.) It’s nice that I can ask these earbuds where the nearest COVID-19 vaccine site is or inquire about the status of a given subway line, but these are the kind of things that I’m always going to use my phone for. Getting people to change that default behavior is no small hurdle.

There were also bugs where I didn’t expect them. When I would say, “Alexa, turn on noise canceling,” it would often respond “sorry, what device?” Apparently “noise cancellation” is the term you’ve got to use, but it seems obvious that both should get you there. This was never an issue with voice commands asking to enable or switch off passthrough mode, which worked every time.

Amazon says it has built in a number of privacy-minded features to limit how often the microphones are listening for the “Alexa” wake word. At least one of the earbuds needs to actually be in your ear for the mics to function — they’re automatically muted when both are removed — and there must be an active Bluetooth connection to your phone. You can also manually mute the mics with the Alexa app or by customizing a long-press to do that.

The Echo Buds package together a lot of good for less.

Though Amazon promotes hands-free Alexa as a flagship feature of the Echo Buds, I think it’ll be a negligible value add for some buyers: the price, comfort, and sound are still enough to make these earbuds quite enticing. You’ve also got the choice of using your phone’s native assistant instead of Alexa, which is another option for the long-press command on the outside of a bud. So at least Amazon isn’t forcing anything on you.

If you don’t have an inherent resistance towards Amazon products (and some people certainly do), the 2021 Echo Buds strike a balance of features that’s downright impressive at their selling price. They’re a considerable upgrade from the first-gen earbuds in comfort with improved noise cancellation to boot — even if it’s not close to best in class. You can do better if you’re willing to spend upwards of $50 to $70 more. If you don’t want to go that high, the Echo Buds won’t disappoint.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

Asus Zenfone 8 vs Sony Xperia 5 III: What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – When it comes to compact phones with plenty of power, there aren’t a huge number of choices in the Android space. Sony has long operated in this area, offering a compact version, with the Xperia 5 III being the latest model in this range.

Asus has joined the fray with the Zenfone 8, taking its phones in a different direction and wanting to offer a compact powerhouse of its own. Here’s how the two phones compare.

Design

Zenfone 8: 148 x 68.5 x 8.9mm, 169g
Xperia 5 III: 157 x 68 x 8.2mm, 168g

Sony’s Xperia 5 III will look familiar, because it follows similiar design lines as previous models, most notably defined by the 21:9 display, meaning it’s a tall handset. Well, tall for something that’s compact.

It’s almost 1cm taller than the Zenfone 8, while these phones are otherwise a similar width, so theyt are equally easy to grip. Asus has the advantage in that you’re more likely to be able to reach the top of the phone, but Sony Mobile’s counter argument would be that it’s offering you more screen space without increasing the width, an argument that has merits.

Sony has a flatter design, with Asus using curves to the rear of the phone; we think Sony’s device looks more interesting, but that comes down to personal preference. Both have IP65/68 water protection which is a real benefit, but Asus uses Gorilla Glass Victus while Sony has Gorilla Glass 6 – so Asus’ device might have greater scratch resistance.

Both come in at the same weight, but Sony’s phone is a little slimmer.

Display

Zenfone 8: 5.9-inch, AMOLED, 2400 x 1080, HDR, 120Hz
Xperia 5 III: 6.1-inch, OLED, 2520 x 1080, HDR, 120Hz

Both these phones feature and AMOLED display, both have Full HD+ resolutions, but the Sony phone is taller, so it offers 6.1-inches of screen space compared to 5.9-inches on the Zenfone.

The aspect is the big difference with a 21:9 aspect on the Sony deivce making it a little more distinct. Reletively Sony packs in a few more pixels with a pixel density of 449ppi compared to the Zenfone’s 446ppi which is essentially the same.

Both phones support HDR, both also claim really accurate displays and both offer 120Hz refresh rates. There’s not going to be much to pick technically between these displays – again, it’s whether you want that taller Sony screen.

Hardware and specs

Zenfone 8: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 8-16GB RAM, 128-256GB strorage, 4000mAh
Xperia 5 III: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 8GB RAM, 128-256GB storage, 4500mAh

Both these phones offer the same core hardare, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G delivering the latest power. Both start at 8GB RAM, but Asus offers up to 16GB (depending on the region). That means both will offer 5G – and the performance of these phones should be similar. In our testing, we’ve noted that the Zenfone 8 gets pretty hot when gaming – we’ve not been able to test the Xperia 5 III yet, but this wasn’t a problem we encountered on the Xperia 5 II.

Both also come with 128 or 256GB options, but the Xperia 5 III offers microSD expansion up to 1TB, so might be the better device for those who crave physical storage.

Sony has the advantage when it comes to battery capacity, with a 4500mAh battery and 30W charging. The Asus comes in with a 4000mAh battery and 30W charging, so it’s likely that Sony will offer slightly longer endurance – but Sony also offers wireless charging which Asus doesn’t.

Both phones have a 3.5mm headphone socket and stereo speakers.

Camera

Zenfone 8: Douple rear camera
- Main: 64MP, 1/1.7in, f/1.8, 0.8μm
- Ultra-wide: 12MP, 1/2.55in, f/2.2, 1.4μm
- Selfie: 12MP, 1/2.93in, f/2.2, 1.22μm
Xperia 5 III: Triple rear camera
- Main: 12MP, 1/2.6in, f/2.2
- Ultra wide: 12MP, 1/1.7in, f/1.7
- Telephoto: 12MP, 1/2.9in, f/2.3-f/2.8
- Selfie: 8MP , 1/4in, f/2.0

Wading through the mass of camera specs, the big difference is that Asus offers 8K video recording on the Zenfone 8, thanks to that 64-megapixel main sensor, while Sony manages to offer a whole additional camera – and it’s a periscope-type telephoto, offering lossless zoom at 3x and 4.4x thanks to the variable focal length in the lense.

That gives Sony an immediate advantage here: it’s offering a wider range of cameras and lenses – and although we’ve not seen the performance from that camera, just offering an optical telephoto will deliver images that Asus won’t be able to match on quality.

Asus’ play comes from video, promising 8K video which Sony can’t match. Both offer 4K at up to 120fps for slow motion, while Sony also offers HDR video capture at 4K.

From the spec sheet it’s impossible to judge the performance of the cameras, with Asus putting in a good showing from what we’ve seen from it so far. But Sony is likely to emerge as the favoured model because of the additional zoom.

Price and availability

Zenfone 8: from £599/€599
Xperia 5 III: TBC

The prices aren’t known for all models, but the Zenfone 8 will start from 3/€599, which is likely to be cheaper than Sony – who hasn’t confirmed the pricing of the Xperia 5 III. The 16/256GB version will cost £699.

The Sony phone will be available in summer 2021, and the Zenfone 8 will be available in May 2021.

Conclusion

Both these phones sit in the compact phone space and share a lot in common: both have similiar core hardware, and the same power and both are likely to offer a similar experinece from Android 11 so in normal day-to-day use, there’s probably little between them.

Both come well packaged, with the Sony the more interesting phone to look at (although you may disagree), but the Zenfone 8 is shorter, so some might prefer it from a usability point of view. Technically the displays are closely matched, the only real difference being the aspect – with Sony’s 21:9 being more unique, but leading to a taller phone.

Sony is expected to have the longer battery life thanks the physically larger cell, while it also packs in a variable focal length periscope zoom on the rear, so will offer a range of photography choices that the Zenfone 8 can’t match – and that’s likely to come at a cost, with Sony expected to have a higher price.

As a daily driver, the Zenfone 8 looks like a great choice for those wanting something compact and not too expensive – but Sony’s display might be preferred by those who want to watch more movies or play more games.

Writing by Chris Hall.

Asus ZenFone 8 review: an Android iPhone mini

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After a couple of generations making phones with flip-out cameras and increasingly large displays, Asus has taken the ZenFone 8 in a totally different direction: small.

The flipping camera concept lives on in the also-new ZenFone 8 Flip, but it’s no longer a standard feature across this year’s ZenFone lineup. Instead, priced at €599 (about $730), the ZenFone 8 lands in the upper-midrange class with a conventional rear camera bump and a much smaller 5.9-inch display. As a side note, final US pricing is TBD — Asus says somewhere between $599 and $799 — but it will be coming to North America, unlike last year’s model.

Rather than an attention-grabbing camera feature, the focus of this design has been to create a smaller phone that’s comfortable to use in one hand, which Asus has done without skimping on processing power or higher-end features.

It’s an Android iPhone mini, and it’s fantastic.

Asus designed the ZenFone 8 with one-handed operation in mind.

Asus ZenFone 8 screen and design

The ZenFone 8 may be small, but that hasn’t kept it from offering the latest flagship processor: a Snapdragon 888 chipset, coupled with 6, 8, or 16GB of RAM (my review unit has 16GB). I can’t find fault with this phone’s performance. It feels responsive, animations and interactions are smooth, and it keeps up with demanding use and rapid app switching. This is performance fitting of a flagship device.

The display is a 5.9-inch 1080p OLED panel with a fast 120Hz refresh rate that makes routine interactions with the phone — swiping, scrolling, animations — look much more smooth and polished than a standard 60Hz screen or even a 90Hz panel. By default, the phone will automatically switch between 120 / 90 / 60Hz depending on the application to save battery life, but you can manually select any of those three refresh rates if you prefer.

The display’s 20:9 aspect ratio was carefully considered by Asus. The company says it settled on this slightly narrower format so the phone would fit more easily into a pocket, and it does. I can’t get it all the way into a back jeans pocket, but it mostly fits. More importantly, it fits well inside a jacket pocket and doesn’t feel like it’s going to flop out if I sit down on the floor to tie my shoes. The ZenFone 8 is rated IP68 for dust protection and some water submersion.

The front panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus and houses an in-display fingerprint sensor, while the back uses Gorilla Glass 3 with a frosted finish that’s on the matte side of the matte / glossy spectrum. The front panel is flat, but the rear features a slight curve on the long edges for an easier fit in the hand. At 169 grams (5.9 ounces), it’s heavy for its size, and it feels surprisingly dense when you first pick it up. The phone’s frame is aluminum, giving the whole package a high-end look and feel. There’s even a headphone jack on the top edge as a treat.

The power button (an exciting shade of blue!) is well-positioned so my right thumb falls on it naturally with the phone in my hand. Same for the in-screen fingerprint sensor: the target appears to be positioned higher on the screen than usual, but that actually puts it within a comfortable reach of my thumb.

I’ll admit up front that I have a personal bias toward smaller phones, but the ZenFone 8 just feels great in my hand. I’ve spent a lot of time using big devices over the last six months, and I’ve gotten used to it. But the ZenFone 8 is the first device that feels like it was adapted to me, not something I’ve had to adapt to using.

A smaller phone means a smaller battery.

Asus ZenFone 8 battery and software

The phone’s small size makes a smaller battery a necessity — 4,000mAh in this case, much smaller than the ZenFone 6 and 7’s 5,000mAh. I felt the difference in using this phone versus a battery-for-days budget or midrange phone, but I had no problem getting through a full day of moderate use. I even left Strava running for 20 hours by accident, and the battery still had some life in it the next morning. The ZenFone 8 supports 30W wired charging with the included power adapter, which takes an empty battery to 100 percent in a bit more than an hour. Wireless charging isn’t supported, which makes the ZenFone 8 a bit of an outlier in the flagship class.

Asus offers a ton of options to help stretch day-to-day battery life as well as the overall lifespan of your battery. There are no fewer than five battery modes to optimize phone performance or battery longevity on a daily basis, and different charging modes let you set a custom charging limit or stagger charging overnight so it reaches 100 percent around the time of your alarm for better battery health. You won’t find class-leading battery capacity here, but rest assured if you need to stretch the ZenFone 8’s battery, there are plenty of options.

The ZenFone 8 ships with Android 11, and Asus says it will provide “at least” two major OS with security updates for the same timeframe. That’s on the low side of what we’d expect for a flagship phone, especially compared to Apple’s typical four- or five-year support schedule. An important note for US shoppers is that the ZenFone 8 will only work with AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE and Sub-6GHz 5G networks; you can’t use this phone on Verizon, and there’s no support for the fast, but extremely limited, millimeter-wave 5G networks.

The ZenFone 8 offers standard wide and ultrawide rear cameras.

Asus ZenFone 8 camera

There are just two cameras on the ZenFone 8’s rear camera bump, and they are both worth your time. Rather than cram in a depth sensor, macro, or some monochrome nonsense, Asus just went with a 64-megapixel main camera with OIS and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. They’re borrowed from last year’s model, minus a telephoto camera and the flipping mechanism.

As in the ZenFone 7 Pro, the 8’s main camera produces 16-megapixel images with vibrant color and plenty of detail in good light. Images can lean a little too far into unnatural-looking territory, and some high-contrast scenes look a little too HDR-y for my liking. But overall, this camera does fine: it handles moderately low-light conditions like a dim store interior well, and Night Mode does an okay job in very low light, provided you can hold the phone still for a few seconds and your subject isn’t moving.

Ultrawide camera
Ultrawide camera
Ultrawide camera

A skin-smoothing beauty mode is on by default when you use portrait mode, and it is not good. Skin looks over-smoothed, unnaturally flat, and brightened, like your subject is wearing a couple of layers of stage makeup. Turning this off improves things significantly.

The ultrawide camera also turns in good performance. Asus calls it a “flagship” grade sensor, and while that might have been true in 2018, it’s at least a step up from the smaller, cheaper sensors often found in ultrawide cameras. Likewise, the front-facing 12-megapixel camera does fine. Beauty mode is turned off by default when you switch to the selfie camera, and thank goodness for that.

There’s no telephoto camera here, just digital zoom. On the camera shooting screen, there’s an icon to jump to a 2x 16-megapixel “lossless” digital zoom to crop in quickly, which works okay, but it isn’t much reach, and it just makes the limitations of the small sensor and lens more obvious.

On the whole, the camera system is good but not great. The lack of true optical zoom or a telephoto camera is a disappointment, but you can’t have everything on such a small device, and I’d personally take an ultrawide before a telephoto any day.

The ZenFone 8 doesn’t sacrifice a flagship experience to achieve its small form factor.

The ZenFone 8 fills a void in the Android market for a full-specced, small-sized device. The Google Pixel 4A is around the same size, but it’s decidedly a budget device with a step-down processor, plastic chassis, and fewer niceties like an IP rating or a fast-refresh screen. Aside from battery life, which is manageable, you give up very little in the way of flagship features to get the ZenFone 8’s small form factor.

You have to look to iOS for this phone’s most direct competition: the iPhone 12 mini, which it matches almost spec-for-spec from the IP rating down to the camera configuration. The 12 mini is actually a little smaller than the ZenFone 8, and when you factor in storage capacity, it’s likely to be the more expensive choice at $829 for 256GB. However, when you consider that the 12 mini will probably get a couple more years of OS and security support, it may be the better buy in the long run, if you’re flexible in your choice of operating system.

I like the ZenFone 8 a lot, but I’m not sure it’ll find a big audience, at least in the US. Apple is having trouble selling the iPhone 12 mini, and if there’s one thing Apple is good at, it’s selling phones to US customers. As much as I hate to entertain the idea, maybe we’ve gotten used to giant phones. I love how the ZenFone 8 feels in my hand and in my pocket, but I do notice how much smaller the screen and everything on it seems compared to the bigger phones I’ve used recently.

There are also a few important considerations, like the lack of compatibility with Verizon and the comparatively short support lifespan of the phone. If you need the absolute best in battery life the ZenFone 8 can’t offer that, and if you want a class-leading camera, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

All that said, the ZenFone 8 will be the right fit for a specific type of person, and I can heartily recommend it to my fellow small phone fans. You’ll get flagship-level build quality and performance quite literally in the palm of your hand.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Asus introduces the ZenFone 8 Flip and mini flagship ZenFone 8

Asus is taking a slightly different turn with this year’s ZenFone series. While the ZenFone 8 Flip looks a lot like previous years’ phones, with its large screen and flip-out camera mechanism, the company went back to the drawing board for the flagship ZenFone 8 and redesigned it as a smaller one-hand-friendly device: kind of an Android iPhone mini. The two phones make their global debut today, priced at €599 for the ZenFone 8 and €799 for the ZenFone 8 Flip. Asus says that only the ZenFone 8 will come to North America; it is expected this summer. The US price is still being finalized, but the company says it will cost somewhere between $599 and $799.

The ZenFone 8 and 8 Flip both use a Snapdragon 888 chipset, but that’s about as far as the similarities go. The ZenFone 8 features a 5.9-inch 1080p OLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate. It will be sold in configurations of up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and includes an IP68 waterproof rating. Both the 8 and 8 Flip support 5G — but when the ZenFone 8 arrives in the US, it will only work on AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE and sub-6GHz 5G networks.

The ZenFone 8 offers just two fixed rear-facing cameras.

Photo: Asus

The ZenFone 8’s two rear cameras are borrowed from the ZenFone 7 series: a 64-megapixel standard wide with OIS that kicks out 16-megapixel images and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. Since the camera array doesn’t flip forward to play the role of a selfie camera, there’s now a 12-megapixel camera under an off-center hole punch on the front panel.

The phone’s compact size is reflected in its 4,000mAh battery, which is much smaller than previous years’ 5,000mAh cells. It supports 30W wired charging with the included charger, but it doesn’t offer wireless charging. There are dedicated dual stereo speakers and even a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The ZenFone 8 Flip’s rotating camera housing features a stronger, more durable motor this year.

Photo: Asus

The ZenFone 8 Flip is, by necessity, a much larger device with a 6.67-inch screen — a 1080p OLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. It offers a bigger 5,000mAh battery with 30W wired charging, includes up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it lacks an IP rating.

The main attraction, of course, is its flip-out camera array. The triple-camera hardware is borrowed from the ZenFone 7, including a 64-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and an 8-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. Asus says the module itself has a stronger motor with better endurance; users can expect to get up to 300,000 “flips” out of it. A custom RhinoShield case will be sold separately in some markets with a sliding cover to protect the housing and a sensor that automatically activates the camera when the cover is opened.

Fitbit Inspire 2 vs Inspire HR vs Charge 4: What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – There was a time when Fitbit had nine activity trackers in its portfolio, though the company retired the Flex, Alta and Zip lines when it launched the Inspire family in 2019.

The Charge 4 sits at the top of the trackers, with the Inspire 2 below, succeeding the older Inspire and Inspire HR. There’s also the Fitbit Luxe to consider too, which sits inbetween. You can read how the Fitbit Luxe, Charge 4 and Inspire 2 compare in our separate feature.

If you’re wondering whether the Fitbit Charge 4 or the Inspire 2 are right for you though, or whether to upgrade from Inspire or Inspire HR, here is how the trackers compare.

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Fitbit Inspire 2 vs Charge 4: Price

Inspire:£69.99 / $79.95 / €79.95
Inspire HR: £89.99 / $99.95 / €99.95
Inspire 2: £89.99 / $99.95 / €99.95
Charge 4: £129.99 / $139.95 / €139.95

The Fitbit Inspire 2 normally costs £89.99 in the UK and $99.95 in the US, which is the same as what the Fitbit Inspire HR cost when it first launched. The standard Inspire model without heart rate normally costs £69.99 in the UK and $79.95 in the US.

The Fitbit Charge 4 usually starts from £129.99 in the UK or $139.95 in the US, with the Special Edition models jumping up to £149.99 in the UK and $159.95 in the US. Accessories are available for all models.

Design

Inspire 2/Inspire HR/Inspire: Waterproof, slim, plastic body, touchscreen display
Charge 3/Charge 4: Waterproof, premium in design, large touchscreen display
All models have interchangeable straps

The Inspire 2, Inspire HR and Inspire all feature a similar design, which is smaller than the Charge 3 and Charge 4. They also all opt for a plastic body over stainless steel, making for light, small and discreet devices with the Inspire 2 a little softer and rounder than the Inspire and Inspire HR overall.

The Inspire 2, Inspire HR and Inspire have a smooth silicone strap as standard, which is interchangeable and fastened with a buckle.

An OLED touchscreen display is present on the top of all the Inspire devices and there is also a singular button on the left for returning to main menu and quick access to settings. This button is physical on the Inspire and Inspire HR and inductive on the Inspire 2.

A heart rate monitor and charging pins sit beneath the Inspire HR and Inspire 2, with only the charging pins on the Inspire, and all Inspire models are water resistant up to 50-metres.

The Fitbit Charge 3 and Charge 4 are a little larger than the Inspire devices, making them more obvious when worn, though the Charge 3 and 4 have a more premium finish thanks to their aluminium bodies. They also have a slimmer profile than all the Inspire models.

A textured elastomer band is present as standard for the Charge 3 and Charge 4 and they have larger OLED touchscreen displays than the Inspire models, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. They also have an inductive button to the left of their display like the Inspire 2, rather than a physical button like the Inspire and Inspire HR.

Interchangeable straps are present again and the PurePulse heart rate monitor sits in the same position on the underneath of the casing, but the Charge 3 and Charge 4 add an SpO2 monitor too. Like the Inspire models, they are also water resistant to 50-metres.

Features

Inspire: Steps, distance, calories, active minutes, basic sleep
Inspire HR: Steps, distance, calories, HR, active minutes, advanced sleep, VO2 Max, Connected GPS, swim tracking
Inspire 2: Steps, distance, calories, HR, active minutes, advanced sleep, VO2 Max, Connected GPS, swim tracking, Active Zone Minutes
Charge 3: Steps, distance, calories, HR, elevation, active minutes, advanced sleep, VO2 Max, Connected GPS, swim tracking, NFC
Charge 4: Steps, distance, calories, HR, elevation, active minutes, advanced sleep, VO2 Max, Built-in GPS, swim tracking, Active Zone Minutes, NFC

The Fitbit Inspire models and the Fitbit Charge 3 and Charge 4 all measure steps taken, distance travelled, calories burned, active minutes and continuous heart rate, though the latter is not present on the standard Inspire, only on Inspire HR and Inspire 2. Automatic sleep tracking, silent alarms, Reminders to Move and hourly activity are all also on board all models though, along with smartphone notifications.

All models, except the standard Inspire, also offer advanced sleep stages and Sleep Score, while the Charge 4 also offers Smart Wake, which uses machine learning to wake you up at an optimal time.

All models also have Fitbit’s SmartTrack, which is a feature that allows trackers to recognise certain activities and record them in the exercise section of the Fitbit app in order for users to categorise them and see a more detailed account of what they have done.

The standard Inspire’s features stop there, while the Inspire 2, Inspire HR, Charge 3 and Charge 4 add several more, marking the biggest differences between these trackers aside from their size and appearance.

The Inspire 2, Inspire HR, Charge 3 and Charge 4 also offer Guided Breathing, Cardio Fitness Level (VO2 Max measurement), Fitbit’s Multi-Sport Mode, Goal-Based Exercise and swim tracking. The standard Inspire is waterproof but doesn’t offer swim tracking.

Smartphone notifications are also more advanced on the Inspire 2, Charge 3 and Charge 4 compared to the Inspire and Inspire HR, with the newer devices offering Quick Replies for Android users and the ability to answer and reject calls.

The Charge 3 and Charge 4’s displays will also show all of the metrics found in the app on the display, including hydration and female health tracking, while the Inspire models offer some but not all.

Fitbit Charge 3 review

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The Charge 3 and Charge 4 also measure elevation. None of the Inspire models have an altimeter so they won’t measure floors climbed. In terms of GPS, the Inspire 2, Inspire HR and Charge 3 have Connected GPS, meaning they will use your phone to record a map of your running or walking route, while the Charge 4 has built-in GPS and Spotify control support, marking the biggest difference between it and the other Fitbit trackers being compared here.

The Charge 4 and Inspire 2 also have a feature called Active Zone Minutes which uses your personalised heart rate zones to track your effort for any energising activity, allowing you to earn credit towards the recommended 150-minute weekly goal for each minute of moderate activity in the fat burning zone and double the credit for vigorous activity in cardio and peak zones.

Last but not least on the feature front, the two Special Edition models of the Charge 3 don’t just offer different strap options, they also feature an NFC chip, meaning these models are both Fitbit Pay enabled, which the Charge 4 is as standard. None of the Inspire models have NFC.

The Inspire 2 claims to have a 10-day battery life. The Charge 3 and Charge 4 claim to have a 7-day battery life. The Inspire and Inspire HR models claim to offer a 5-day battery life.

Fitbit Inspire HR review

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Fitbit Inspire 2 vs Inspire HR vs Charge 4: Conclusion

The Inspire models aren’t as premium in their design as the Charge models, but they are quite a bit cheaper. The older standard Inspire model does the basics, but the extra money for the Inspire 2 is certainly worth it for all the extra features you get – heart rate, VO2 Max, connected GPS, swim tracking, double the battery life and a more refined design, to name but a few.

The Charge 4 is the most feature-rich device on this list and its built-in GPS will make it the clear winner for some. The Charge 3 only offers a few extras over the Inspire 2 with some extra function for smartphone notifications, more on-screen data, elevation data and NFC (standard in Charge 4, option in Charge 3), but it has a more premium design too.

The decision will likely come down to your budget and which features are really important to you. The Inspire 2 is the model we’d recommend over the standard Inspire and the Inspire HR, unless you can find the Inspire HR much cheaper. It’s double battery life also makes it a good contender for upgrading.

The Charge 4 is the model we’d recommend for those after a slightly larger device and a more premium look with all the features of the Inspire 2 (except the few extra days battery life), along with a couple of extras including built-in GPS and Fitbit Pay as standard. The Charge 3 is worth considering if you aren’t bothered about built-in GPS however and you can find it quite a bit cheaper than the Charge 4.

Which Fitbit is right for me?

Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

Asus ROG Phone 5 review: A gaming phone with little compromise

(Pocket-lint) – Gaming phones have become something of a fixture in the Android space; while many flagship devices push their gaming prowess, for a select few, gaming is their raison d’être, their everything.

The ROG Phone is one such device, pushing Asus’ Republic of Gamers brand and weaving into that the experience Asus has gained from its regular phones. And in the fourth-generation of this phone Asus is more ambitious than ever.

Here’s why the Asus ROG Phone 5 is not only a great gaming phone, it’s a great phone outside of that too.

Design & Build

Dimensions: 173 x 77 x 9.9mm / Weight: 239g
Under-display optical fingerprint scanner
3.5mm headphone jack
ROG Vision rear display

Gaming phones often show their colours when it comes to the design. Aside from being large – which the ROG Phone 5 definitely is – you’ll often find more overt graphics and emotive finishes rather than just being a safe black or grey.

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The ROG Phone 5 doesn’t go to an extreme though: from the front it just looks like a normal phone. Flip it over and you’re treated to subtle design touches etched into the rear glass, which also gives some indicator of where the touch points are for the AirTriggers (which Asus describes as “ultrasonic sensor zones that can be customised to perform different functions, such as reproducing actions in specific games and launching specific apps”. We touch upon these in more detail in the last section of this review).

The thing that gives the game away is the ROG Vision display on the rear of the phone. There are two different versions of the display, with a dot display on the regular ROG Phone models and a slightly smaller but more sophisticated display panel on the Pro and Ultimate models – the Pro is shown in this review.

ROG Phone 5 comes in regular, Pro and Ultimate editions

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That blows the subtlety out of the water, allowing you to have RBG illumination on the back of the phone – with the Pro and Ultimate models offering a wider range of graphics and animations – all of which can be controlled through the Armoury Crate app on the phone, just like Asus PC components.

That control includes turning the Vision display off if you don’t want it – but you’ll soon forget it’s there until people mention it. It’s on the back of the phone and it’s rare to be looking at the back of the phone when you’re doing something, so let’s not dwell on it.

There are a couple of other quirks around the body: The USB-C on the base of the phone is offset to one side rather than central (and we don’t know exactly why), while there’s a secondary USB-C on the side of the phone. This secondary USB sits alongside the contact point to power the AeroActive Cooler 5 – the clip-on fan – and both have a rubber seal that presses into the side to keep out dust.

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This cover is probably the worst piece of design implementation on the ROG Phone 5. The fact that there are a couple of spares in the box tell you everything you need to know: you’re going to lose this cover, because it’s a separate piece of rubber.

Motorola’s new Moto G9 Plus is a stunner of a phone – find out why, right here

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We’ve found it flapping off when pulling the phone from a pocket, and just when handling the device. We’re constantly pushing it back into place and a couple of times we’ve found it missing and then located it in the bottom of a pocket.

An out of box experience all phones can learn from

One of the great things about gaming phones is what you get for your money. There are a whole range of phones on offer and none are really expensive compared to flagships from brands like Samsung and Apple. The ROG Phone 5 starts at £799 in the UK – and that’s for a 12GB RAM model with 256GB storage, not the bottom of the range loadout.

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But it’s not just about the core device, it’s about the rest of the experience. Lavishly packaged, opening the ROG Phone 5 is an event. From the cool comic book graphics of inside of the box, that flow through into the startup process for the phone, there’s a sense of theatre. It’s a reward for your custom and it’s so much better than just sliding a phone out of a box.

You also get more in the box: the 65W charger that will deliver a fast charge; the case that brings some grip to what is, admittedly, a slippery phone given its massive size; and the clip-on AeroActive Cooler 5 fan, which integrates a kickstand, two physical buttons, and another RGB logo.

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Some might baulk at this as more landfill, but some companies will make you pay for the charger – and here you’re getting a powerful charger you can use with your other devices too.

Display

6.78-inch AMOLED panel
Up to 144Hz refresh rate
2448 x 1080 resolution

There’s a 6.78-inch display in the ROG Phone 5. It’s big by any standard, with Asus hanging onto the bezels top and bottom. The top bezel integrates the front-facing camera, so there’s no need for a notch or punch-hole.

It’s also a flat display, all practical design decisions made to give you the best gaming experience, ensuring that you get as much visual space as possible. Given how problematic we found the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s display, we’re just fine with the ROG Phone 5 going flat.

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The ROG Phone 5 models all stick to a Full HD resolution and while devices like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can technically produce finer detail, generally speaking that makes little difference. We can’t fault the ROG Phone’s display for detail.

It also offers refresh rates up to 144Hz (if you have any games that support that, there’s a full list on the ROG website), with options to select 60 or 120Hz – or Auto, which will pick the refresh rate based on the content.

HDR 10+ is supported to bring pop to the visuals for high dynamic range content, while that AMOLED panel provides rich colour visuals, with the option to tune that to your preferences.

It’s a great display and about the only thing that separates it from the best displays on the market is the peak brightness. It offers 800 nits, which is still bright enough for most, but Samsung’s top-end offerings will outshine this model – most notable when outside in sunny conditions.

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Flanking the display top and bottom are dual stereo speakers, while there’s also a 3.5mm headphone socket for those wanting to go wired. The speaker performance is stellar, amongst the best you’ll find on a smartphone. It’s rich and immersive, with substantial bass and volume that means you don’t need headphones to get the most from your content.

Hardware & Performance

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform
8GB-18GB RAM, 128GB-512GB storage
6000mAh battery, dual USB-C 65W wired charging

The fact the ROG Phone 5 houses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 platform makes it especially good value for money – as you’re getting the latest flagship hardware that will embarrass some other phones.

Of course it comes in at different price points, with RAM and storage leveraging the price, although not all models will be available in all regions. We actually tested the 16GB/512GB model (the ROG Phone 5 Pro – a model that isn’t planned for the UK; although there’s a 16GB/512GB version of the standard ROG Phone 5, the only difference being the type of display you get on the back of the phone).

The performance is also exemplary. There are a number of elements to this. It’s got that great hardware and, as a result, we’ve found the gaming performance to be outstanding.

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This is a phone that eats hours of Call of Duty Mobile or PUBG Mobile, giving solid gameplay, combined with those design elements and some software enhancements that feel like they give you edge, or at least give you the opportunity to establish new preferences thanks to the bespoke gaming options offered.

We also didn’t find the ROG Phone 5 to get excessively hot under load, despite the option of the clip-on fan.

But the important point about performance is that the ROG Phone 5 also runs fast and smooth outside of gaming. We’ve seen gaming phones that drop the ball when it comes to simple tasks, because of poor software. The ROG Phone 5 is stable, which makes for a great experience.

There’s a huge 6000mAh battery, which is fitting for a phone of this size, again with Asus splitting the battery and enabling 65W wired charging. That makes for really fast charging, with the option to bypass charging – and just have the power used for the system rather than recharging the battery.

Again, this is an option for gamers, so you’re not charging (which produces heat) and loading the system (which produces heat) and could potentially lead to a drop in performance.

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A big battery means big battery life. In regular use the ROG Phone 5 will easily see you through the day and into the next. It’s not a charge every night type of phone. Even with a couple of hours of gaming thrown in – at top brightness and max settings – battery life isn’t a worry. That’s a great position not just for a gaming phone, but any smartphone.

There are power modes available, with X Mode firing up full power to let things rip, and a Dynamic Mode to keep things balanced. You can customise the power modes to suit your preferences with things like network, display, performance, and other controls all selectable.

There’s an under-display fingerprint scanner that’s fast to unlock, while calls comes through loud and clear too – with no detected problems with Wi-Fi or 5G connectivity.

Cameras

Triple rear camera system:
- Main: 64-megapixels, f/1.8 aperture, 0.8μm pixel size
- Ultra-wide: 13MP, f/2.4
- Macro: 5MP, f/2.0
Front-facing selfie camera:
- 24-megapixels, f/2.5 aperture

The camera on any gaming phone is often something of an afterthought. The focus is on the experience of gaming – so the camera is seen as less of a focus. Despite that, Asus is pushing the ROG Phone 5 as having a triple camera system.

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The main camera is a 64-megapixel sensor, using pixel combining to produce a 16-megapixel image as standard. You can shoot in full resolution, but you have to dig into the menu to find that option, which no one is ever going to do.

There’s an ultra-wide lens, giving the equivalent of 0.6x, although the quality isn’t great, with visible blurring around the edges if there’s any detail there – but fine for open shots of expansive landscapes.

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1.0X MAIN CAMERA

The final camera is a macro camera, which we’re generally non-plussed about. As on other devices, macro cameras seem to be thrown in to make up the numbers – and that’s what it feels like here too.

So back the main camera and the performance is reasonable, producing naturally balanced pictures, although perhaps not getting the most out of scenes and not showing as much pop as other cameras we’ve seen can offer.

Low-light shooting offers that slow exposure so you can watch the image get lighter, which we like – and it will take those shots automatically in low light, which means people will actually use it.

There’s a portrait mode for blurring the background that works well enough, although it seems to soften the background with over-exposure which makes results look a little clumsy.

Portrait works on the front and back cameras and we generally prefer the results without portrait mode – and you can’t adjust the levels of blur after the fact, so it’s worth taking a few photos and figuring out what gives you pleasing results so you can change the settings before you take the picture. The selfie camera is generally good, although images quickly get softer in lower light conditions and aren’t good when it gets dark.

There’s no optical zoom on offer here, although you can pinch-to-zoom from the main camera out to 8x. It’s not an especially elegant system and the results are typical of digital zoom, with quality dropping as you increase the “magnification”.

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One of the reasons for the high-resolution sensor – apart from for the benefit of the spec sheet – is to allow 8K video capture, on top of the 4K 60fps option.

The important thing about the camera is that it gets the job done: while other phones will sell themselves on camera features above all else, that’s not really the ethos behind the ROG Phone 5. This phone is all about the power and the gaming experience. So, yes, there are more engaging cameras elsewhere, but at the same time, this Asus will give you perfectly good results in most situations.

Software and custom gaming options

Android 11
Armoury Crate
Custom gaming controls

As we’ve said previously, the software on the ROG Phone 5 runs smooth and fast. We’ve experienced no problems with the tweaks and changes that Asus has made over Google’s Android operating system, and it’s easy to swing in with Google versions of apps rather than supplied alternatives.

It’s running Android 11 too, so the latest version of Google’s OS – although Asus doesn’t quite have the update record that a company like Samsung now offers, so there’s no telling how long it would be before it moves to Android 12 once that’s released later down the line.

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What’s more relevant here is the gaming software and the options that controls. We’ve mentioned Armoury Crate, which will let you control things like the ROG Vision display on the back of the phone, and act as a launch pad for your games.

Within each game you can see how long you’ve spent playing that game, but more usefully you have a record of profiles for that game. You can, for example, restrict background CPU usage when playing a particular game, change the touch performance, turn off background network syncing – all designed to ensure you have the optimal gaming experience.

That you can customise this to each game is great. For something like a shooter where connection and touch matters more, you might want to restrict everything else. For something casual like Pokemon Go, you might be happy to have everything else on your phone happening. It’s freedom to choose, rather than one gaming mode fits all.

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Within games you have access to the Game Genie dashboard too, allowing you to perform essential things, like tweak the brightness, turn off alerts or calls, speed up your phone – and block navigation gestures so you don’t accidentally exit the game.

There’s the option to have stats always showing – CPU and GPU usage, battery, temperature, fps – and you can drag these to anywhere on the screen so they are out of the way.

But it’s the AirTriggers that are the biggest differentiator from other phones, giving you a range of touch zones around the body of the phone that you can customise. That also includes two physical buttons on the AeroActive Cooler accessory too – which might convince some people to use it, as those buttons feel more positive than the touch areas of the phone’s casing.

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The Cooler buttons are great for things like dropshotting in shooters, because you can hit the deck while still firing, and get back to your feet, all without having to touch anything on the screen – which is a real advantage during games.

There are two ultrasonic buttons on the top of the phone, like shoulder buttons, with haptic feedback. These can offer a full range of programmable options – taps, swipes, slides – and they can be divided into two buttons each side, or you can programme and assign a macro to that button for a sequence you might use in a game.

Then there’s motion support, which you can assign to controls in the game – like forward tilt to reload, or whatever you like.

There’s also (on the Pro and Ultimate models only) rear touch zones you can use for slide input for your fingers on the rear of the phone.

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The challenge is how you incorporate all these tools to make things easier for you during games – although setting them up is easy enough and each setup is unique to each game.

Even if you just find one thing that’s useful, then you’re a step ahead. That might be using an additional AirTrigger for an on-screen control you find hard to hit – or that you can then remove from the display so you have less UI in the way of the game.

Verdict

The thing that really hits home about the Asus ROG Phone 5 is that it’s not just a great gaming phone: it’s a great phone full stop.

Yes, you can’t avoid the fact that the majority of phones are now based around the camera experience – and that’s one area that the ROG Phone 5 doesn’t really go to town on. But with huge battery and display, this is a great media phone in addition to a gaming delight.

For keen gamers, there’s a market of phone choices out there – and the ROG Phone 5 should definitely be high up your shortlist. For everyone else, if you can accept that this Asus is designed for gamers first, it’s still an awful lot of phone for the money.

Also consider

Pocket-lint

Nubia Red Magic 6

This gaming phone attempts to steal the show with a 165Hz display. Despite being a powerful device that’s good value for money, it does oversell the cameras and also brings with it some software quirks you’ll need to work around.

Read our full review

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Writing by Chris Hall. Editing by Mike Lowe.

New HTC Vive Pro 2 VR Headset Taps AMD, Nvidia for Display Stream Compression

(Image credit: HTC)

HTC kicked off its Vivecon 2021 virtual event with a big announcement. During the opening keynote today, the company revealed a pair of near-5K resolution VR headsets, the HTC Vive Pro 2, which connects to a PC, and a standalone product called the HTC Vive Focus 3. HTC said these upcoming devices are primarily for businesses, but the specs and features, including a data compression technique not yet seen among the best VR headsets, will also interest gamers with a penchant for a high-end headset upgrade.

HTC Vive Pro 2

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HTC new PC VR headset, the Vive Pro 2 is, more of an evolutionary change than a revolutionary change from the original HTC Vive Pro. HTC poured its attention into improving the visual experience you get from the new headset rather than redesigning the entire structure of the product.

The HMD maker worked with AMD and Nvidia to implement Display Stream Compression (DSC) on the Vive Pro 2 – a first for a VR headset – enabling lossless transmission of high-resolution data. The Vive Pro 2 includes dual fast-switching RGB subpixel displays, giving the headset a total resolution of 4898 x 2448. These displays also operate at a speeder 120 Hz refresh rate to reduce motion blur. Faster refresh rates also improve user comfort, as we learned with Valve’s Index.

DSC, which is standardized by VESA, helps the high-bandwidth display signal stay within the constraints of DisplayPort 1.2. It even allows HTC’s Vive Wireless Adapter accessory to carry the Vive Pro 2’s high-bandwidth signal, which upon release will make it the highest resolution wireless PC VR solution.

The Vive Pro 2 shares the same shape and design as the original Vive Pro, including a rigid, mechanical headstrap and built-in adjustable headphones. This time, however, the headphones feature 3D spatial audio and Hi-res-certified speakers. The new headset also retains compatibility with all SteamVR and Vive Pro accessories, such as the Vive Trackers, Vive Facial Tracker and Valve Index controllers. The screens and the lenses are the significant changes.

HTC said you would need an Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card or an AMD Radeon 5000-series or better to get the full potential out of the Vive Pro 2. However, you can set the screens to run at 90 Hz if necessary, which should allow you to use the new headset on lower-end graphics cards while you wait out the GPU shortage.

Beyond increasing the resolution and refresh rate, HTC also expanded the field of view (FOV) by a slight margin compared to the original Vive Pro from 110 degrees to 120 degrees. The improvement closes the FOV gap between the Vive Pro and the Valve Index (adjustable up to 130 degrees), but it’s still a far cry from ultrawide Pimax headsets.

HTC developed new dual-element lenses to achieve the FOV improvements within the existing Vive Pro form factor by enabling the displays to sit closer to the lenses and retain focus.

HTC is approaching the market with the Vive Pro 2 the same way it did with the original Vive Pro headset. The headset will initially hit the market as an upgrade kit for people with an existing SteamVR-based VR system. It works with both the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of Valve’s base stations.

The headset alone will sell for $749 (£659 / €739), with pre-orders open today and hardware shipping before the end of the month. A complete Vive Pro 2 kit, with base stations and controllers, will be available on June 4 for $1,399 (£1,299 / €1,399).

HTC Vive Focus 3: A Standalone Vive

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The Vive Pro 2 is HTC’s top PC VR offering, but that’s not the only incoming Vive headset. The Vive Focus 3, which doesn’t require tethering to a system, shares a handful of the new features introduced on the Vive Pro 2.

HTC’s new standalone includes the same dual-element lenses found in the Vive Pro 2, giving it the same 120-degree FOV as the PC VR headset. The Vive Focus 3 also has dual 2448 x 2448 RGB panels, but they’re limited to 90Hz. HTC’s new headset also features adjustable IPD (interpupillary distance, the amount of space between your pupils), with a granular range of 57-72mm.

Unlike the Vive Pro 2, which borrows its exterior design from its predecessor, the Vive Focus 3 features an entirely new industrial design. HTC reduced the weight by 20% compared by building it from magnesium alloy instead of plastic. HTC said the metal housing is also 500% stronger than plastic.

To help balance the weight evenly, HTC installed the battery pack under the rear cushion of the headstrap. The battery gives the headset roughly 2 hours of run time, with a charge time of approximately 30 minutes. The battery is also removable, so you can always keep a spare ready to go. The headset doesn’t have a backup power source, so you can’t hot-swap the batteries while it’s running.

The Vive Focus 3 has a pair of speakers embedded in the rigid head strap, plus a headphone jack so that you can use your favorite headphones with it. Four onboard cameras embedded in the front of the visor handle inside-out tracking and provide tracking for the two wand controllers that ship with the headset.

In this era of working in a pandemic, no one wants to share something like a VR headset. That’s why HTC looked to make the Vive Focus 3 simple to keep hygienic. The front and rear cushions are easy to remove for cleaning, thanks to a magnetic mounting mechanism.

A Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 SoC does all the heavy lifting to power the Vive Focus 3. HTC installed a copper heatpipe and an active cooling fan to extract the most performance possible out of the XR2 platform. By contrast, Facebook throttled the XR2 in the Oculus Quest 2 standalone headset to keep it within certain temperature constraints.

Not Really for Gamers

On paper, the Vive Focus 3 looks like a worthy competitor to the Oculus Quest 2. Unfortunately, it’s not priced for consumers and doesn’t include a game library to back it up. However, HTC said the new headset will support streaming PC VR content wirelessly over WiF, so maybe we’ll see support for PC VR gaming.

The Vive Focus 3 will be available on June 27. Buying one will set you back $1,300 (£1,060 / / €1,180). For this price, you get the headset with controllers and a business warranty.

A Business Ecosystem

HTC is offering more than just a pair of new VR headsets. The company has put together an entire ecosystem for using VR in business announced today. Vive Business provides a handful of business-focused VR solutions, such as the Vive Business Device Management System, which gives IT departments the tools necessary for keeping track of a fleet of devices.

The Vive Business platform also includes an Android-based progress monitoring system for instructors called Vive Business Training and a VR meeting place called Vive Sync.

Meanwhile, the Vive Business AppStore offers a curated collection of off-the-shelf business-related VR software for the Focus 3 headset. HTC said it would launch with roughly 20 titles, with more content in development from various ISV partners.

With all of these tools, HTC hopes to accelerate the adoption of VR in the workplace. The company believes that as more people encounter VR for the first time at work, it will drive more adoption in the home. So don’t think we’ve seen the last gaming-centric Vive headset quite yet.

Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition

Our Verdict

The new Atom’s headline ability is headphone playback, but don’t underestimate its value as a preamplifier. It’s a classy and versatile addition to Naim’s Uniti range.

For

Top-notch streaming
Great headphone stage
Also a great smart preamp

Against

No HDMI ARC input

Sound+Image mag review

(Image credit: Future)

This review originally appeared in Sound+Image magazine, one of What Hi-Fi?’s Australian sister publications. Click here for more information on Sound+Image, including digital editions and details on how you can subscribe.

UK-based Naim Audio became first renowned for its amplification, proving the importance of power quality from the early 1970s. Three decades later Naim was also quick to recognise the future of file-based and streaming music, and today enjoys great success with its Mu-so wireless speakers, while the Uniti range of all-in-one streaming systems deliver simple but definitely hi-fi ‘just-add-speakers’ solutions.

In a way the Uniti players brought together everything Naim has learned – the wireless, multiroom and control elements of the Mu-sos, with the solid hi-fi amplification developed over decades, including more recent trickle-down tech from the developmental fillip of investment made in the company’s no-holds-barred Statement amplifier project.

Now here comes the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition (£2399/$3290/AU$4299), which takes the smallest of the existing Uniti all-in-ones and does something rather unexpected for Naim – it throws out the part on which the company built its reputation, the amplification.

10 of the best British amplifiers of all time

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

Features

Well, that’s not entirely true. There are no amplifiers for loudspeakers, as provided on the other Uniti units (excepting only the Uniti Core, which adds networked hard-drive storage to the range).

But as the ‘HE’ of the new name suggests, it caters instead to headphones. On the front there are headphone outputs for jacks of full-size quarter-inch (6.5mm in new money) and 4.4mm Penteconn balanced connections, while round the back there’s a second balanced connection on 4-pin XLR.

We’re told that for this product Naim has used an all-new amp implementation designed especially so it delivers the best headphone amplifier experience, including a new transformer design to provide power tailored to the needs of the headphone amplification.

But this is not only a headphone amp. It’s also a preamplifier, and Naim has optimised its preamplifier performance also, “including elements originally used in our flagship Statement Amplifier” it says.

As a preamplifier it offers one analogue input pair on RCA sockets, and then digital inputs: two optical and one coaxial, plus USB-A slots both front and rear. There’s also Bluetooth available, which includes the aptX codec.

What doesn’t it have? It loses from the original Atom the HDMI ARC connection which was handy to play audio from your TV, and there’s still no USB-B connection to play direct from computer.

But its outputs are expanded, its variable preamplifier output available on both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR outputs to feed your downstream amplification. This could play straight to power amps, since there is full volume control in the Atom HE – either from the remote, from its app, or from the heavenly Naim knob which sits on top, the only disadvantage of this positioning being that it is hidden when the unit goes on a good rack shelf, though its minimal height of 9cm means you should still be able to squeeze your hand in there for a knob spin when the urge presents itself.

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

Streaming

And in addition to physical inputs, this Naim has all the streaming prowess of other Uniti members, and that’s to say as complete a set of protocols as you’ll find anywhere – so many, indeed, that when the range originally launched, it was significantly delayed by the paper trail for all the licensing involved.

So this includes being easily addressed from any Spotify app, free or paid, or using Apple’s AirPlay 2 to stream the output of a Mac or any app on an iOS app, and Chromecast too, for point-to-point streaming from Android devices. Those with music libraries on a PC can use its UPnP ‘server’ function. It’s also Roon Ready, and although the Roon-direct licensing was still going through when it arrived for review, it was nevertheless available in Roon via its Chromecast and AirPlay abilities.

Then there are the services available within the Naim app itself. These include internet radio and podcasts, Tidal, and Qobuz (the latter newly available to Australia). You may note these are services which offer higher-quality subscriptions; Naim emphasises this quality also in its internet radio app, with a section devoted to higher-rate streams than the often grungy desk-compressed pop stations.

And one last batch of capabilities – the Atom HE is multiroom-capable with other Naim equipment including the Mu-so wireless speakers, so you can have music playing in unison (and Uniti) throughout your home. Chromecast and AirPlay 2 offer other paths to multiroom and multi-device playback.

Best music streamers 2021

Setting up

Having previously reviewed the standard Uniti Atom, we found set-up here to be a breeze. You have to pair the remote control by holding it to the full-colour five-inch front-panel panel display while you push ‘Home’ for three seconds. Our Naim app, already installed on an iPad Pro, needed a reinstall before it saw the Atom HE on the network and delivered it a firmware update, losing contact until the update was complete.

Beyond that, we had absolutely zero operational issues, and indeed throughout our testing we were able to generate no criticisms at all – not one – because Naim has honed its highly versatile and potentially complex operation to something near perfection.

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

The Naim app presents all its streaming services on one screen, the inputs on a scrolling second screen; if that doesn’t appeal you can use the settings to reorder the inputs to your preference, banishing unused ones to the second screen.

We had connected a Thorens turntable via a phono stage into the analogue input. We connected our computer to an optical input, using a DAC between them as a USB-to-SPDIF converter.

To kick off, we ran the Atom HE’s unbalanced pre-outputs to our resident power amps, always a slightly nervous connection to make when the preamp is digitally controlled and might flick the output to max accidentally. (Once we had Roon connected, we specified a safety level beyond which the volume slider then can’t go.)

We addressed it first from Tidal on the Naim app, then from the Tidal app itself, then from Roon.

Indeed during the Atom’s visit it may have be physically located in one room, but it seemed omnipresent. Wherever we accessed music – on the music room computer, on our Chromebook, the iPhone, a tablet – there was the Naim Atom as a playback device waving at us as if saying ‘Play to me! Play to me!’ There are so many ways to play that surely any current preferred path to playback will fit right in.

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

Listening

We can fully believe Naim’s claim that the preamp of the Atom HE is actually superior to those of the current Uniti range. Even in our initial set-up without the benefit of the balanced connections, all the cues from our favourite tunes poured from power amp and speaker references, dynamically delivered, cleanly resolving the good and the bad.

The effect on Alex the Astronaut’s main vocal for Split the Sky can sound curiously excessive on systems lacking resolution, degenerating into a mush. Here it could be discerned separately, part delay, part reverb. More to the point, the music and the emotion were entirely unchecked. The quite awful subject matter of her remarkable I Like To Dance is chilling; her Triple J cover of Mr Blue Sky – The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison on drums – is sheer joy.

The Tidal stream through the Atom HE easily outperformed Spotify’s relatively softened sound. Naim’s Uniti platform does not support the MQA encoding which Tidal uses to ‘unfold’ its high-res Masters to their high definition – Naim could change this by firmware update, it has said, but is being led by demand.

Whatever you might think of MQA, it may be that uncompressed FLAC high-res streaming as offered by Qobuz and Deezer represents a purer future – after all, with today’s bandwidths defined by streaming 4K video, what need for data compression of high-res music any more?

So with Qobuz newly launched in Australia, we took the opportunity to connect our Roon to Qobuz, and our Roon to the Uniti. Roon’s excellent quality check pop-up box reminded us that Roon via Chromecast dropping the high-res to 48kHz, so we switched to Qobuz direct inside the Naim app. And what a joy that was. Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way was almost alarmingly crisp; details on Toto’s Africa (the left-channel chuckle on the intro) astoundingly apparent, especially as our usual playback preference for this slice of soft rock is the vinyl 45.

Best music streaming services

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

On Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, the continuous rolling drums’n’bass were entirely segregated from the other parts, and the emotional lift of multitracked Kates as we reached the first ‘Come on baby, come on darlin’ was thrilling at an almost tactile level. We began regretting our agreement to return the Atom HE to distributor BusiSoft AV within an unusually brief two weeks; we were barely getting started and we were missing it already.

Headphone playback

Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition specs

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

Inputs: 1 x analogue RCA, 2 x optical digital, 1 x coaxial digital, 2x USB-A

Streaming: Apple AirPlay 2, Chromecast, UPnPT, Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Qobuz, Roon Ready, Bluetooth, Internet radio

Headphones outputs: 6.35mm, 4.4mm Pentaconn, 4 pin XLR

Audio outputs: preamp unbalanced (RCA); preamp balanced (XLR)

Also visiting from Naim’s Australian distributor were the Final Audio D8000 Pro headphones, themselves a mere AU$4999 (£3995, US$4299) with their silver-coated cables trailing away to the Atom HE’s full-size headphone jack like weighty twisted tinsel.

The Naim had not the slightest trouble driving these esoteric 60-ohm planar magnetic headphones to their maximum ability, whether delivering a tight and punchy kick drum under the guitar and synthscape of The Triffids’ Wide Open Road, or highlighting the curiously lo-fi elements opening Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know.

The Naim and Finals delivered a mind-meltingly zingy portrayal of The Go-Betweens’ Streets of your Town, currently resurrected for advertising purposes by Ampol but here crisply separated to the point where our attention was constantly darting around the soundstage to small sonic elements like the cunning combination of panned rhythm guitars, the tight block hits in the left, each element easily individually selectable by the mind’s ear, yet held together in a finely musical whole.

We also ran more affordable headphone references – open AKGs, closed Sennheisers – and there wasn’t a pair which didn’t display their full abilities or receive more than enough power on tap from the Atom HE – enough, indeed, to achieve quite worrying levels without any hint of congestion or distortion.

The relevant figures are 1.5 watt-per-channel output into 16 ohms (from all headphone outputs), and output impedance of 4.7 ohms. The headphone amp remains in pure Class-A except for lower impedance headphones pushed to the extremes of volume, when a Class-AB circuit is “seamlessly” invoked.

If you like it loud (bearing in mind the dangers of so listening), the Atom HE will at least ensure you get your music with a minimum of damaging distortion.

After a head-pumping serve of Wolfmother’s The Joker and the Thief we wondered if we should take a rest, but Qobuz continued serving such delights that we didn’t, instead diverting to some high-res classical. This confirmed the dynamic reserve of the headphone output and a remarkable ability to stay tonally accurate across different impedance headphones. All this was from the standard unbalanced quarter-inch headphone socket; the balanced outputs could potentially lift the Atom HE’s game still higher.

Best headphones 2021

(Image credit: Naim Audio)

Having an assortment of active stereo speakers in residence for our group test this issue, it occurred to us that the Atom HE’s abilities as a preamp perfectly complemented just such devices. The ELAC Navis, for example, has balanced XLR inputs, to which we connected the Atom HE’s balanced outputs.

The result was wildly successful – a brilliant pair of speakers provided with a perfectly-pitched preamp output backed by physical inputs, streams galore, an app, a physical remote control and Naim’s big knob. Adding good active speakers to the Atom HE makes for a wonderfully compact yet versatile system, boosted by its particular powers to make your headphones sing when privacy is required.

Verdict

The Atom HE is an excellent addition to the Naim Uniti range – something genuinely different in offering a streaming preamplifier with a top-quality headphone amplifier. Use it alone with headphones, with power amps, or with active speakers, and you have a system just as versatile in its streaming abilities as the Mu-so, more versatile in its connections, and far higher in its hi-fi quality. And it comes with the best knob in hi-fi. It’s a big thumbs up from us.

Walmart could undercut Roku and Amazon with $30 4K Android TV streamer

(Image credit: Walmart)

Earlier this year we reported that Walmart was prepping a new streaming stick under its affordable ‘Onn’ brand. The big-box retailer is yet to release details of that product, but now another Onn media streamer has shown up on Walmart’s website.

First reported by 9to5Google, the official listing for the ‘onn. Android TV UHD Streaming Device’ promises 4K and Dolby Audio support, as well as Chromecast built-in and Google voice controls for the princely sum of $29.88.

As you can see, this version is a streaming ‘box’ rather than a ‘stick’ and has a slightly different remote with dedicated buttons for YouTube Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max. (The leaked photo of the streaming ‘stick’ showed it with an Amazon Prime Video shortcut.)

Spec-wise, the new box is just what you’d expect from a budget-friendly streamer that runs Google’s Android TV. There’s support for WiFi 5, an HDMI port (for video output) and a micro USB connection (for charging).

There are plenty of 4K streaming sticks already on sale around the $50 mark, with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and Roku Streaming + both proving popular choices at the moment. But at less than $30, Walmart’s onn. Android TV UHD Streaming Device could give consumers another tempting proposition (and rival brands a sleepless night or two).

The device isn’t available to purchase yet – Walmart shows it as “Out of stock” – but the fact that the listing is public points to a launch in the near future. Perhaps we’ll see this model joined by the rumoured Onn streaming stick? Over to you, Walmart.

MORE:

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Check out our Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review

And our Google Chromecast with Google TV review

Bose gets into hearing aid business with new FDA-cleared SoundControl hearing aids

Bose announced today that it will begin selling direct-to-consumer SoundControl hearing aids for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss on May 18th. They’ll cost $849.95 and will be sold directly by Bose in five states — Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas — before they’re available nationally.

The hearing aids are meant to be fit and controlled by the wearer without needing to see an audiologist for a hearing test and professional fitting. They use standard hearing aid batteries that Bose says will last up to four days if used 14 hours a day. Volume, treble and bass, and modes for different listening environments can be adjusted and preset in the Bose Hear app on iOS or Android. There’s a “Focus” feature with different settings, including a “Front” setting for filtering noise in busy rooms and an “Everywhere” setting that allows all sounds during walks outside or around the house.

Volume and bass / treble adjustment in the Bose Hear app.

Image: Bose

“In the United States alone, approximately 48 million people suffer from some degree of hearing loss that interferes with their life. But the cost and complexity of treatment have become major barriers to getting help,” said Brian Maguire, category director of Bose Hear, in the press release.

Prescription hearing aids can cost several thousand dollars and are rarely fully covered by insurance. Less costly personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) are sold in stores, but they aren’t as effective or adjustable as hearing aids and aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The SoundControl hearing aids are the first to be authorized by the FDA for use without assistance from a health care provider.

An older design for Bose hearing aids with “self-fitting technology” was cleared by the FDA through De Novo classification in 2018, meaning it’s a low-risk product, and there are no direct-to-consumer devices like it on the market. That design had a neckband and a rechargeable battery like Bose’s Hearphones, a hearing amplifier that was discontinued last year. The new design looks more like traditional hearing aids, with a receiver behind the ear and a small tip that sits in the ear canal, and was cleared by the FDA last week based on substantial equivalence to the 2018 De Novo authorization.

Samsung could launch three phones alongside the Galaxy Buds 2 in August

(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung is never exactly a quiet company when it comes to launching smartphones, but even by its standards, August is looking like a particularly busy month. The firm is plotting three major phone launches that month, according to sources, possibly alongside the Galaxy Buds 2 true wireless earbuds.

The phones in question are the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, Yonhap News Agency reports.

The last two are folding phones, as the names suggest, while the S21 FE is a tweaked version of Samsung’s current range topper, the Galaxy S21. FE stands for Fan Edition – last year’s S20 FE was a more affordable take on the Galaxy S20, but still retained many of the S20’s key features, including a 6.5-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, a triple-lens rear camera and the same chipset.

The Z Fold 3 is said to be Samsung’s first folding phone with a front-facing camera built under the screen. This design would negate the need for a notch, meaning more screen and an uninterrupted view of whatever you’re watching. It’s also thought to support the S Pen stylus for writing and drawing on screen.

The Z Flip 3 will be a clamshell design, with bigger screens and a lower price than its predecessor.

An August launch would be sooner than expected. Last year, the S20 FE launched in October, and the Z Flip (Samsung is thought to be skipping the Z Flip 2) and Z Fold 2 in September. It’s thought an August launch is to plug the gap left by the lack of a new Galaxy Note handset this year.

Samsung also has a new pair of true wireless earbuds in the works, the Galaxy Buds 2. These are said to be launching in July or August, possibly alongside these phones. So August could be a very busy month for Samsung.

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