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tcl-c81-4k-qled-tv-review:-too-good-to-be-true?

TCL C81 4K QLED TV review: Too good to be true?

(Pocket-lint) – Despite being TCL’s current flagship 4K TV, the C81 costs under a grand in its 65-inch format. A price which becomes all the more eye-catching when a scan of its features uncovers such high-end attractions as QLED Quantum Dot colour technology, support for both of the premium Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range formats, and even a built-in soundbar designed by Japanese audio brand Onkyo.

The TCL C81 therefore has all the ingredients it should need to be just the sort of hit with consumers that might put it on the TV map. But what are the compromises to keep that cost down?

Design

  • 3x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB ports
  • LAN & Wi-Fi Multimedia

The C81 looks unusually premium for an affordable 65-inch TV. Its metal frame delivers robust build quality for starters, and it’s remarkably slender across much of its rear panel. Almost OLED-thin, in fact. Even the inevitable ‘chunky bit’ housing the processors, image drivers, connections and a bass speaker is pretty elegantly integrated.

The most striking thing about the C81’s design, though, hangs unusually boldly from the screen’s bottom edge: a built-in soundbar. As well as benefiting aesthetically from a mild blue tint and adding too rather than detracting from the TV’s aesthetic appeal, this forward-facing speaker enclosure looks big enough to potentially do some serious audio damage. 

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Unusually the TCL C81 sits on three feet rather than two. Two of these sit under the left and right corners facing forwards, while the third faces backwards from the middle of the bottom edge, counterbalancing the other two.

While the C81’s key connectivity of three HDMIs and two USBs falls short of the most high-end TVs, it’s good enough for its money. Gamers should note, though, that none of the HDMI ports can handle the 4K at 120Hz or variable refresh rate (VRR) features now being served up by the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and latest generation of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. However, a provided game preset does get input lag down to a very respectable sub-17ms. 

  • What is ALLM and VRR? TV gaming tech explained

Picture Features

  • HDR Support: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, HDR10+
  • Processing engine: Clear Motion and IPQ 2.0 Engine

Affordable 65-inch TVs tend to struggle with high dynamic range (HDR) sources, thanks to a lack of brightness colour range. The C81, however, is having none of that.

For starters, it can produce a peak brightness of 540 nits – that’s substantially higher than the figures possible with most LCD TVs in its price range. It also boasts Quantum Dot colour technology, which can produce wider and more accurate colour gamuts, but is still typically associated with more expensive TVs than this TCL.

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It further bolsters its HDR credentials by supporting both of the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats. These improve on the industry standard HDR10 system by providing extra scene-by-scene picture information, usually resulting in more dynamic-looking pictures. Most TVs only support one or other of these (or sometimes neither). Given that there’s plenty of content out there that’s only available in one or other of these formats, the C81’s format-neutral stance is very welcome. 

The TCL C81 uses a VA rather than IPS LCD panel type. This bodes well, since experience shows that VA panels typically produce significantly better contrast than IPS ones, even though it means less wide viewing angles are plausible.

Less promising, however, is the C81’s use of edge-based lighting. Direct lighting – i.e. where LEDs are placed directly behind the screen – typically provides better contrast, especially on screens as large as 65 inches.

However, a Micro Dimming feature raises hopes of some localised light control that might help enhance contrast. In fact, though, this feature merely refers to a system that breaks the image down into small sections for more accurate analysis.

Smart Features

  • Smart System: Android TV 9.0

TCL has turned to Google’s Android TV platform for the C81’s smart features. It’s version 9.0, meaning it benefits from improved stability and responsiveness, as well as enjoying the Android platform’s huge app support (backed up by Freeview Play to provide all the UK’s main terrestrial broadcaster catch up services).

As usual, using Android TV brings with it built-in Google Chromecast support, as well as the Google Assistant voice recognition system. There’s even a mic built into the TV’s main bodywork. 

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The full-screen Android TV interface, though, continues to feel a bit old-school and cluttered – especially given how few customisation options it offers. Android still doesn’t feel as clever as some rival platforms, especially when it comes to providing intelligent viewing recommendations based on viewing habit analysis.

At the time of writing there’s no support on the C81 for Apple TV app or Apple AirPlay. 

The 65C815K handily ships with two remote controls: a long, thin but still comfortable to hold ‘regular’ one; and a smaller, stripped back ‘smart’ one. Either works perfectly well, though most people will likely gravitate towards the smart remote after initial setup.

Picture Quality

The TCL C81 certainly stands out from the crowd. Out of the box its HDR pictures blaze off the screen with a level of brightness and, especially, colour intensity that just isn’t supposed to happen in this price bracket.

In fact, the richness of its colours leaves many way more expensive TVs looking flat and muted by comparison. Here for once, it seems, is an affordable TV that really can unlock the joys of the wide colour gamuts and volumes associated with HDR sources.

TCL

It doesn’t take long, though, before something starts to feel a bit off about the C81’s full-on colours: it starts to look overly aggressive rather than delivering a genuinely helpful, measured application of all the colour horsepower QLED technology has clearly put at the C81’s disposal. 

The boldest tones regularly look over-saturated, for instance, standing out unnaturally from the rest of the image. The QLED colours push brightness and saturation so hard that subtle shading gets lost in all the histrionics. Some shades – including skin tones – look pretty unnatural as well.

Fortunately, you can tame the C81’s most gaudy out-of-the-box HDR instincts. The best fix is to try and feed the set as much Dolby Vision or HDR10+ content as possible. The extra picture information supplied by these two HDR formats has a dramatic effect, reining in the TV’s excesses and balancing the tonal range to create a far more immersive, even-looking image. Colours don’t hit the same blistering extremes that they do with HDR10, but they’re still unusually vibrant for such an affordable LCD TV. With bright Dolby Vision and HDR10+ scenes, at least, the C81 can look really very good.

This suggests that the C81’s HDR10 problems are down to issues with its tone mapping engine – the processing it uses to map HDR to its screen capabilities. There are, though, settings that can at least calm the crazy default HDR10 images down. 

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Using the Movie or Low Power presets rather than the default one is a good start. But even with the relatively restrained settings of these presets it’s a good idea to also turn off the Dynamic Contrast and Black Stretch options, since whenever anything’s left in play that might enhance the dynamic range things tend to go off the rails again.

Brightness, too, plays a big part in how well the C81 holds up with HDR10 content. Only with the brightness level reduced by around a quarter from the default 540 nit level do the picture’s excesses really melt away. Which is a pity, of course, since with that much light removed from the picture, colours look less punchy, and the images start to look more typical of the ‘normal’ affordable TV market. 

There’s another issue with C81’s pictures that proves a more stubborn one to address: backlight clouding.

It’s always difficult for edge-lit TVs to control their light evenly across large screens – and the 65C815K proves this point. A number of pronounced areas of light inconsistency are routinely visible during dark scenes – a situation not helped by how they’re not restricted to the image’s edges. 

The extent to which the backlight clouding distracts depends to some extent on ambient light levels. In bright rooms it’s much less likely to be a major distraction than it is in dark rooms. But even the most casual users will likely want to dim the lights for a movie night from time to time, and when they do, as noted previously, there isn’t any setting in the TV’s menus that really fixes the clouding issue really satisfactorily.

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Despite these highlighted issues, with the right content and preset selection, the TCL C81 can deliver good images. As noted, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ images look vibrant and dynamic, plus baseline black levels can actually look pretty respectable for an edge-lit TV too – though ironically this fact arguably exaggerates the impact of the clouding problems.

While motion can cause a little softness to creep into the image, the TV’s native sharpness with relatively static 4K images is also very good. And finally, even though the C81’s processing engine is rather hit and miss, it scores a solid hit when it comes to upscaling HD sources to the screen’s native 4K resolution. 

Sound Quality

Working with Onkyo on the C81’s audio has paid off handsomely. The distinctive integrated soundbar proves to be powerful and expressive, casting sound a surprising distance left, right and forward of the screen. 

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The directness and scale of the sound is backed up by good dynamic range, too, so that punchy, tight bass is able to sit in effective opposition to crisp, clean treble details. High frequency sounds appear largely free of harshness, too, even at high volumes.

There is a limit to the available bass though, so don’t expect the rear-mounted subwoofer to deliver the same sort of rumble depths you’d expect from a good external soundbar. Heavy basslines can cause a little unwanted humming on occasion too, and voices sometimes sound slightly detached from the onscreen action. Overall, though, the C81’s sound is way above the affordable TV norm.

Verdict

At first glance the TCL C81 looks like it might rewrite the affordable LCD TV rulebook. Its QLED colours are explosively rich and dynamic for its price point, and it’s bright enough to give HDR real impact. It pushes the boat out sonically, too, with its impressive Onkyo-designed speaker system.

Unfortunately, closer examination uncovers some clouding issues from the edge-illumination, while many presets are overly punchy when it comes to colour and finesse. It’s a common issue at this price, really, and that’s the compromise.

Still, there are times when – with the right content and/or presets selected – that pictures can look pretty good. Find Dolby Vison or HDR10+ content and this is where the TCL finds its groove. But otherwise the C81 is a bit too out of control and high maintenance to deserve a whole-hearted recommendation.

Also consider

LG 65NANO906

A new power management system that counteracts most of the contrast issues associated with the 65NANO906’s IPS panel type, together with LG’s excellent Nanocell colour technology, results in LG’s most effective LCD TV to date. Though as with the 65C815K, it’s better suited to bright than dark rooms. score

  • Read our review

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Writing by John Archer. Editing by Mike Lowe.

kyocera-duraforce-ultra-5g-uw-review:-extreme-durability-for-an-extreme-price

Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G UW review: extreme durability for an extreme price

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The Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G is a rugged phone that doesn’t require you to give up too many modern conveniences to gain the benefits of extreme durability. It’s common for rugged phones to feature older processors and lack modern features — these phones often have specialized uses, like barcode scanning or taking payments, and more or less just need to keep working in harsh environments.

The DuraForce Ultra 5G includes both the durability of a rugged phone and modern features like 5G, wireless charging, a high-quality processor, and dual rear cameras. At $899, it’s an expensive phone — you can buy a very nice non-rugged phone for that much — but if durability is a must and you don’t want to sacrifice performance or convenient features, the DuraForce 5G is (quite literally) a solid choice.

Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G rugged features

Pick up the DuraForce Ultra 5G and you’ll know right away that you have a rugged device in your hands. The top and bottom of the phone are wrapped in thick plastic bumpers, the sides feature a texturized finish, and at 278g (9.8oz) it’s much heavier than your standard smartphone. The screen itself isn’t very big — just a 5.45-inch 1080p LCD panel — but the sizable bezels and thick chin make it a chunky device overall.

Despite its dimensions it’s actually easy to use one-handed, since the screen itself is relatively small. The phone will fit in a jacket pocket, but it’s too bulky for any of my jeans pockets. Haptics are aggressive, even at the “medium” default setting, which is a good thing in a phone you might be using with gloves. Otherwise, you can turn touch vibrations down to low or off.

The phone is both IP65 and IP68 rated, meaning there’s generous protection against water intrusion both from jets and immersion (up to 6.5 feet for up to 30 minutes). The DuraForce Ultra 5G meets the Military Standard 810H specifications and includes protection against vibration, blowing dust and sand, extreme temperatures, drops from five feet onto concrete, high altitudes, and plenty of other hostile conditions.

I couldn’t test it against all of those conditions, but I did subject the phone to plenty of abuse including an hourlong stay in the freezer, water immersion for 30 minutes in the kitchen sink, exposure to sand, and a drop from about five feet onto driveway asphalt. Aside from some minor scuffs acquired in the driveway test, the DuraForce Ultra 5G merely shrugged at my efforts and kept on working just fine. Kyocera does include a two-year warranty with purchase, so as long as you use the phone within the conditions it’s rated to withstand, you shouldn’t be putting your purchase at risk.

In addition to rugged features, the DuraForce Ultra 5G is just loaded with buttons. There’s a power button with embedded fingerprint sensor, three programmable keys, and a large volume rocker that’s easy to press with gloves on. I frequently pressed one of the programmable buttons accidentally when I grabbed the phone — they’re in easy reach when you’re using the phone, but that unfortunately means a lot of unintentional presses, too. These buttons do require a long press to bring up whatever shortcut function you’ve assigned to them, so a brief press won’t do anything. You can also assign any of them to “do nothing” when pressed if you’d rather not use them.

Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G screen, performance, and battery

Aside from the obvious difference in appearance and ergonomics, the DuraForce Ultra 5G handles pretty much the way any other Android device does. The screen looks a little low on contrast in comparison to your standard display — likely because the panel is optimized for viewability in bright sunlight. That’s probably more important to the phone’s target user than a rich multimedia viewing experience, and the panel is indeed usable even in very bright direct light.

The screen’s protective “Sapphire Shield” remained free of scratches during my testing, but it does pick up reflections easily outside, more so than other phones with Gorilla Glass. It wasn’t enough to bother me, but someone planning to use the phone outside in bright light often might find it distracting.

The DuraForce Ultra 5G ships with Android 10; Kyocera says it will provide an update to 11, but that the timeframe is still being determined. Android 10 is fine for now, but given that Google is readying Android 12 for the public, it’s definitely a step behind. Kyocera says it will provide a minimum of two years of security updates, which is a common if not terribly generous policy.

The DuraForce Ultra 5G uses a Snapdragon 765G processor with 6GB RAM, which puts overall performance on par with a midrange phone. There’s some slight stuttering when scrolling quickly through screens with lots of images and video, and a noticeable pause after taking a photo in the camera app, but other than that it keeps up well — especially considering the lower performance bar in the rugged class.

There’s a 4,500mAh battery built into the DuraForce Ultra 5G. It’s a comparatively large battery for the class, and it got me through a full day of moderate to heavy use. The phone supports Qi wireless charging, which is uncommon among rugged phones. The phone was a little finicky on my stand-style Belkin wireless charger, but it eventually worked when set on the charger in landscape orientation.

And of course, there’s one of the DuraForce Ultra 5G’s namesake features: 5G. This model works with both widely available sub-6GHz frequencies and hard-to-find but much faster mmWave spectrum (also called Ultra Wideband by Verizon, hence the UW in the phone’s name). It’s only sold through Verizon in the US, which makes sense: the company has been pushing mmWave much harder than the other major carriers and does offer more coverage, though it’s still relatively scarce. Verizon’s 5G network is kind of lackluster overall at this point, though it will improve over the next couple of years. It’s a good feature to have on a phone you’re going to hang onto for a while, but definitely don’t buy this (or any phone, really) just for mmWave since you’ll probably have a hard time finding a signal anyway.

Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G camera

The DuraForce Ultra’s rear camera array consists of a 24-megapixel f/1.8 standard wide and a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, plus a time-of-flight sensor. Around front, there’s an 8-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera. That’s a cut above what’s offered on many rugged phones. Picture-taking likely isn’t a high priority for prospective DuraForce Ultra owners, and image quality is certainly not up to what you’d find on conventional $900 phones, but it does the job.








  • Taken with ultrawide camera.




  • Taken with ultrawide camera.


Photos in good light look fine, if a bit on the low-contrast, washed-out side. Exposure and color can shift noticeably between two images taken with the same camera at slightly different angles, and I noticed some odd misses here and there, like a blurry shot of a static subject where it looked like the camera had tried to apply too much HDR. But most of the time in bright light, photos are perfectly fine, and a cut above what I’d expect from a rugged phone.

There’s also a mode that will overlay live information on your still image or video about whatever extreme situation you happen to be in, including location, altitude, speed, and G-force. Extreme activities are generally not recommended in your second trimester of pregnancy, so I didn’t really test this out. I imagine if you’re into something like mountain biking or climbing and you want to record that kind of information with your activity, you probably have a better way of doing so already. In any case, it’s there, and it’s definitely more of a casual, fun feature than it is practical.

If you’re merely curious about living a rugged phone lifestyle, the DuraForce Ultra 5G isn’t for you. The phone’s extremely hardy specifications would be appealing to anyone who’s nervous about dropping their phone or occasionally brings their phone to rough environments like beaches or backcountry camping. If that’s you, spend your $900 on a good standard phone (many are IP68 rated) and a rugged case. You’ll get better performance, a better camera, timelier software updates — basically, a lot more for the money.

If you need a rugged phone on the job as a frontline worker, first responder, or construction worker, for example, then the DuraForce Ultra 5G makes a lot more sense — especially if it’s going to be your primary phone off the job and you’d really like some extra bells and whistles. The inclusion of 5G, wireless charging, and processing power that’s a cut above the rest of the class makes it a good tool on and off the job site.

However, $900 is an awful lot to spend on a phone, and I think that very specific kind of customer for this phone is a pretty small group. You could buy a less expensive rugged phone with more limited functionality like Kyocera’s own DuraForce model from last year and a darn good midrange phone for around the same price. You probably can’t get mmWave 5G that way, but that’s no great loss.

Still, the DuraForce Ultra 5G represents a convenient option for a particular type of person if two phones feels like too much fuss. It certainly handled everything I threw it at, and functioned well as a daily companion for more pedestrian tasks like scrolling social media and navigating trips across town. If extreme durability is a must and you don’t want to give up too much to get it, then the DuraForce Ultra 5G is a good choice.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

tim-cook’s-fortnite-trial-testimony-was-unexpectedly-revealing

Tim Cook’s Fortnite trial testimony was unexpectedly revealing

The Epic v. Apple trial was bookended by Tims. Epic Games called its CEO Tim Sweeney as the first witness nearly three weeks ago. Yesterday, Apple called Tim Cook as the last to take the stand, before both sides make their final case to a judge on Monday. Cook was supposed to bring home Apple’s defense of its ecosystem. He did it by laying out Apple’s most high-minded principles — but also its hard financial calculations.

Epic v. Apple covers two separate issues: whether the market for in-app purchases within the App Store is unfairly monopolistic, and whether iOS itself is a monopoly that should be opened up to third-party stores and side-loaded apps. Cook addressed both with an appeal to user safety and privacy. “Privacy from our point of view is one of the most important issues of the century, and safety and security are the foundation that privacy is built upon,” he explained to an Apple attorney, echoing countless iPhone ad campaigns. “Technology has the ability to vacuum up all kinds of data from people, and we like to provide people tools to circumvent that.”

Supporting side-loaded apps would remake iOS, and it’s much easier for Cook and Apple to outline the potential downsides. Giving users control creates risk, and Cook argued that people choose iOS specifically so they won’t have to make risky decisions with sensitive data. “We’re trying to give the customer an integrated solution of hardware, software, and services,” he said. “I just don’t think you replicate that in a third party.”

Epic mustered its own arguments: people can still choose to keep their phones locked down, and they might want to access stores with even more carefully curated apps or even better privacy controls. It’s previously accused Apple of hypocrisy, pointing out anecdotal failures to catch specific apps (like a game called Ganja Farmer: Weed Empire) that violate App Store guidelines. “It’s not 100 percent. It’s not perfect. You will find mistakes being made,” Cook said when Apple’s counsel asked about those incidents. “But if you back up and look at it in the scheme of things, with 1.8 million or so apps on the store, we do a really good job.”

Luckily for Apple, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hasn’t demonstrated much interest in completely opening up iOS. She’s asked a steady trickle of questions about in-app purchases, anti-steering provisions, and the structure of individual apps like Roblox, but rarely about third-party app distribution or sideloading. (One of those rare incidents seemed critical of Epic, too.) While Rogers’ questions don’t necessarily indicate how she’ll rule, there’s a fairly conspicuous lack of requests for more detail or clarification.

But losing mandatory in-app purchase commissions would still be a big blow for Apple. Cook used more privacy and safety claims to defend that system, saying it would be both insecure and inconvenient to let apps process payments separately. He was also, however, a little blunter about Apple’s own interests. “IAP helps Apple efficiently collect a commission” — for payment processing, but also customer service and the use of Apple’s intellectual property. Without in-app purchases, “we would have to come up with another system to invoice developers, which I think would be a mess.” If Apple let developers tell users about other payment methods, Cook said later, “we would in essence give up our total return on our IP.”

Apple called an expert yesterday to describe how its multibillion-dollar research and development costs help developers, including through APIs like Metal and CoreML. It’s not necessarily sinister for Apple to profit from these investments. But unlike better privacy and safety features, higher profit margins don’t directly improve consumer welfare, the key standard in antitrust trials. Judge Rogers ended Cook’s testimony with some of her most interesting questions yet, grilling Cook on whether in-app game purchases — like Fortnite V-Bucks and Candy Crush gold — were effectively subsidizing the rest of the App Store.

Rogers doesn’t seem to personally like video game microtransactions; she’s mused multiple times about potentially predatory impulse buys. But it matters that she singled out games. Epic has pushed to make this suit cover all App Store purchases, while Apple has been trying to limit it to digital video game sales. (That’s why witnesses spent so much time trying to define a game.) Cook’s interrogation suggested that even if iOS stays intact and “gamers” are the only audience in question, Apple still has battles left to fight.

lg-tone-free-hbs-fn7-true-wireless-review:-comfortable-and-clean

LG Tone Free HBS-FN7 true wireless review: Comfortable and clean

(Pocket-lint) – Make a list of things the world is crying out for. How far up your list does ‘another pair of true wireless in-ear headphones’ come? The answer may well be ‘not very’.

However, at least LG’s Tone Free HBS-FN7 aren’t just another ‘me-too!’ by-the-numbers attempt to steal market share from the likes of Apple’s AirPods Pro.

The HBS-FN7 have a feature or two that sets them apart from the majority, including ultraviolet (UV) cleaning. So while the world is all too familiar with products like this, might it find room in its heart for these LGs?

Design

  • Black or white finish
  • Weigh: 5.6g per earbud
  • Included charging/self-cleaning case

The wireless earbud arrangement pioneered by Apple, whereby a stem drops from the wearer’s ear like some hi-tec jewellery, is a bit of a ‘Marmite’ proposition, isn’t it? So whether you dig it or despise it, that’s the route LG has gone down with the HBS-FN7. The stem is pretty short here, mind you, though that’s counterbalanced (literally) by the fairly bulbous in-ear area of the FN7 design.

  • Best true wireless earbuds: Wire-free Bluetooth audio bests

At less than 6g per earbud, though, the LG are undeniably easy to get comfortable and to wear – even for hours on end. They’re provided with a selection of hypoallergenic eartips, too, so even the uncommonly sized ear should have no trouble finding a decent fit.

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The options for earbud finish – it’s shiny white or shiny black – look good until they’re dulled by fingerprints. And that happens pretty much immediately.

The brilliantly compact charging case – which is less than 3cm deep, less than 6cm in diameter, and a mere 39g – is in a much more successful (and slightly grippy) matte finish. Fingerprints, therefore, are less of a bother here.



Best USB-C headphones for Android phones 2021


By Dan Grabham
·

You won’t be staggered to learn, given that it’s LG we’re discussing here, that build quality is beyond criticism. Keep them safely in their case when you’re not using them and the HBS-FN7 will last a long time. 

Features

  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • IPX4 splash resistance
  • Ultraviolet (UV) cleaning
  • Sound tuned by Meridian
  • Active noise-cancellation (ANC)
  • Battery capacity: 390mAh (case), 55mAh (per ‘bud)

Having promised an unusual feature or two, that may as well be where we start – with LG’s UVnano technology. Pop the earbuds into their charging case, close the lid and wait for the little blue LED to illuminate – this indicates the case is scrubbing the earbuds free of bacteria using UV light. And in these ‘hand-sanitiser everywhere you turn’ times, that can only be a good thing, right?

Pocket-lint

Elsewhere, it’s business slightly more as usual. The FN7 use Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connectivity, and are compatible with SBC and AAC codecs. That’s more than good enough to access some hi-res audio from a top-tier streaming service subscription, but it would have been nice to see aptX Low Latency too – after all, we all like to consume a bit of video content on the move, don’t we? 

The sound, once it’s on board, is delivered by a couple of 6mm neodymium full-range drivers. And as another differentiator, LG has opted to give the FN7 a bit of hardcore hi-fi credibility by continuing its partnership with UK specialist Meridian. So there are some Meridian-derived equalisation (EQ) settings to be investigated. 

There’s active noise-cancellation (ANC) included here too, and while that’s hardly a revolutionary feature it’s not especially common down in lower price brackets. There are a couple of intensities to choose from – ‘high’ and ‘low’, naturally – as well as an ‘ambient sound’ setting that boosts external noise to keep you orientated. Noise-cancelling can be switched off, too.

Pocket-lint

Battery life is an OK-we-suppose 5 hours from the earbuds (with noise-cancelling switched on), with another three full charges available from the charging case. So 20 hours, all in, is plenty long enough to go between charges, but there are plenty of alternative earbuds that will go for longer. For recharging there’s USB-C or wireless Qi charging is available.

Interface

  • Raised touch-surface
  • Control app

There’s the tiniest little bump at the top of each FN7 stem – it’s a capacitive surface, and it proves extremely responsive. So you can instruct the earbuds to ‘play/pause’, ‘volume up/down’, ‘skip forwards/backwards’, ‘cycle through noise-cancelling options’ and ‘answer/end/reject call’ really easily and with confidence.

Pocket-lint

Alternatively, you can always avail yourself of LG’s impressive Tone Free control app. It’s very nicely rendered, is unswervingly stable and reliable, and has quite a breadth of functionality. Rearrange the way the touch-controls respond, explore Meridian’s EQ presets (‘natural’, ‘treble boost’, ‘bass boost’ and ‘immersive’ are pretty self-explanatory), control noise-cancelling intensity, or save a couple of EQ presets you’ve defined yourself.

It’s here where you can update software too, and where you can provoke the earbuds into emitting a piercing chirrup. ‘Find my earbuds’, that last feature is called – and they’d have to be quite a long way away for you to fail to hear them calling to you.  

Sound quality

As far as sound quality is concerned, what the HBS-FN7 do well they do very well indeed. Where they’re found wanting, though, they fall down quite heavily.

Pocket-lint

On the plus side, set the EQ to ‘natural’ and the balance of the sound is very nicely judged. The low frequencies have weight but plenty of momentum too – so a chunky tune like The Bug’s Poison Dart hits more than hard enough, but doesn’t get bogged down by its own heft.

The feverish vocal in the midrange of the same tune is detailed, packed with character and enjoys a lot of breathing space too, and as a consequence there are real powers of communication on display here.

And the top of the frequency range has ample crunch but doesn’t get particularly hard, even if you like to listen at oppressive volumes. 

The integration of the whole frequency range is smoothly achieved, too, so there’s convincing unity to the sound – nothing is overstated or underplayed. (Of course, mess with the EQs and you can undermine all of this good work. The choice, as always, is yours.)

The soundstage upon which all this happens is properly laid out and coherent. There’s more than enough space available for each individual strand of the recording to be identified, but that’s not at the expense of unity or integration – there’s proper confidence to the way the FN7 stage a song.

Pocket-lint

What there isn’t much of, though, is dynamism or attack. The LG just can’t summon the reserve to put much distance between the quietest and the loudest parts of a recording, and neither can these ‘buds shine much of a spotlight on the little harmonic variations that are so important to giving the listener the complete picture. Attack, of which in normal circumstances The Bug is far from short of, is of the mildest, politest type. And anyone who knows this recording knows ‘polite’ isn’t really what it’s aiming for.

The active noise-cancelling is only a qualified success, too. Set to ‘high’ it undoubtedly takes quite a lot of external noise out of the equation – but it introduces a slight-but-definite hiss at the bottom of the noise-floor as it does so. Set it to ‘low’ and it may as well be set to ‘off’.  

Verdict

We go out as we came in: by pointing out that you’re spoiled for choice where products of this type are concerned.

The LG HBS-FN7 have some real strengths, no doubt about it – the balance of their audio reproduction, the quality of their construction and the excellence of their control app, for instance, as well as the reassurance of their self-cleaning technology.

But if the reason you’re buying earbuds is to get as complete an account of the music you like as your budget will allow, they come up fractionally short. Still, the UV cleaning technology is undoubtedly a special attraction.

Also consider

Pocket-lint

Sony WF-1000XM3

For a little less than the cost of the LG, Sony will sell you equally adept (and more attacking) sound, much better noise-cancelling and a different, but equally odd, physical form. You’ll have to clean the bacteria off them manually, mind you…

  • Read our review

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Writing by Simon Lucas. Editing by Mike Lowe.

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AMD patent details how FidelityFX Super Resolution may work

AMD’s latest patent gives yet another update on FidelityFX Super Resolution technology. The last official word about the release of this technology comes from AMD’s Scott Herkelman, who claimed it would come before year’s end. However, rumours are much more specific and optimistic, pointing to a release in June. 

The patent (via Beyond3D forum) is dated from 2019, but it was only now made public. As for its content, the patent describes how AMD’s upscaling technology will work and the problems of current upscaling solutions. For example, one such problem is the blurry and corrupted images generated by these solutions. It also mentions how upscaling technologies using neural networks are programmed “to operate without significant knowledge of an immediate problem.”

Upscaling technologies using deep learning also have their problems, including the loss of colour and detail due to not taking the original image into account when processing the new image.

AMD’s Gaming Super Resolution (GSR) solves these issues by condensing and combining linear and nonlinear operations to process the image. First, GSR renders the image at a low resolution, then scales up to create multiple high-quality images to achieve higher framerates. The high-quality image results from applying a specific configuration of “convolutional layers and activation functions” to the low-quality image.

The patent further tells us this technology could work in both CPUs and GPUs. Moreover, it also mentions it would be compatible with multiple devices, including computers, gaming devices, handheld devices, set-top boxes, TVs, phones, and tablets.

KitGuru says: Compared to DLSS, FSR seems to have an advantage in one key area – device and hardware compatibility. If AMD can implement FSR in all devices, AMD’s DLSS alternative could well be the killer app needed to fight Nvidia in the GPU segment.

Become a Patron!

how-to-create-an-instagram-carousel

How to create an Instagram carousel

Whenever we use an app continuously, any change to the UI of that app can cause stress — and during these stressful times, who needs more? For example, in a recent update, Instagram tweaked the way it asks its users to create carousels (groups of up to 10 photos or videos that rotate through a single post), and this is apparently causing a bit of confusion.

This new method was pointed out in the Instagram account Digital Mums, where you can find some great tips on how to use various features of Instagram.

If you’d prefer some text instructions on how to navigate the change, here you go:

  • In your Instagram app (iOS or Android), select the “Add Post” icon (the plus icon on the top line)
  • You’ll see a selection of your photos. You can change the source of your photos if you wish by clicking on the source name (Recents, Videos, etc.) and then choosing a different one.
  • Press and hold the first photo or video you want to include in your carousel until the number 1 appears in the corner of the photo.
  • If you’re using Android, there will be a “Select Multiple” icon above your photo gallery. If you want, you can perform the same task by tapping on the first image you want to include, and then tapping on the “Select Multiple” icon. (The iOS version doesn’t include that icon, so you’re stuck with “press and hold.”)

Press and hold the first image you want to include, and then select the rest

In the Android version, there is also a “Select Multiple” icon you can use

  • Continue to select the images you want to include. They will be numbered in the order in which you select them. In order to change the order, you’ll have to tap on the numbers on the images you want to re-order, and then add them back in their correct order.
  • Once you’ve got all your photos selected and in the correct order, choose the “Next” arrow in the top right
  • Now you can edit or apply a filter to one or all of your photos. You can then go on to the final “New Post” screen that lets you write a caption, tag people, post to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

Easy-peasy — until, of course, the next time Instagram decides to alter its interface…

citizen,-the-vigilante-justice-app,-has-a-plan-to-deploy-private-security-forces,-too

Citizen, the vigilante justice app, has a plan to deploy private security forces, too

This morning, The Verge published a story about how Citizen — an app that appears to encourage vigilante justice — encouraged its users to hunt down the wrong person and presumably bring them to justice, in the mistaken assumption that person had started the 1,158-acre Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles last week. The company offered a $30,000 bounty.

Now, we’re learning the same company is apparently planning to offer its own private security forces to users, according to a new report from Motherboard.

In fact, one Citizen-branded patrol car has already been spotted in the wild:

Motherboard’s report goes further than that, though, digging through internal documents and speaking to former employees who describe a “privatized secondary emergency response network” that would respond to an app user’s request. So far, Citizen appears to have been contracting that work out, both to well-known private security provider Securitas and — in the picture above — Los Angeles Professional Security.

Citizen confirmed to Motherboard that it was at least internally testing a “personal rapid response service,” suggesting it might be as simple as an escort service users would summon if they’re afraid to walk home late at night.

But the app’s history — originally launched as Vigilante in 2016 — not to mention the idea that this company is apparently willing to encourage its users to hunt down suspects for money, suggest that this move could be… a little problematic?

Social networks and apps like Nextdoor and Amazon’s Ring Neighbors have already been roundly criticized for preying on people’s fears, encouraging them to report on suspicious activity in their neighborhood, normalizing surveillance, and unfairly targeting their neighbors based on racial bias. Combine that with a company that might encourage users to take justice into their own hands, and that seems not great.

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Here are the features I actually want from my pregnancy tracking app

A great scholar once noted that “there’s an app for that.” Pregnancy is no exception. I use my phone to manage just about everything else in my life, so when I found out I was pregnant, it was a natural next step to go looking for an app to hold my hand through the experience. I’ve been using a couple of popular apps interchangeably — Ovia and What to Expect — and generally, they’re pretty good. But I have notes.

So without further ado, here’s a list of demands from me, a pregnant lady with no app development experience, to the pregnancy app creators of the world. It’s the impractical pregnancy tracking app of my dreams. And believe it or not, you can use these ideas for free in your next update. You’re welcome.

  • A nap alarm that sends a push notification to the other inhabitants of my house to not disturb me when I set it.
  • A shortcut to order a Popeyes chicken sandwich on DoorDash with priority delivery.
  • A hotline to call when I know I’m being unreasonably emotional but need to cry about something trivial that happened, like “The pharmacist was a little short with me,” or “I just really need to eat a Frosty right now and I’m miles away from the nearest Wendy’s.” My spouse does not need this kind of added stress in his life right now, and I just need a virtual shoulder to cry on.
  • Fetal size comparisons to fast-food menu items. Speak my language, please! I do not know how large a mille-feuille is (and I’ve even seen Bake Off!), but I know exactly how large a McDonald’s chicken nugget is.
  • Zero mentions of healthy snack recipes, excessive weight gain warnings, or, god forbid, the phrase “You’re not eating for two!” The fuck I’m not. My body is literally creating a whole-ass human from scratch. Sometimes I’m just exhausted, sick of eating baby carrots with hummus, and my soul needs the kind of soothing only a bowl of peanut M&Ms can provide.
  • Push notifications for useful things, like when I actually need to start shopping for a crib or a stroller. In fact, just pick one for me and schedule a Target pickup.
  • A “good vibes only” community forum. I like being able to connect with other pregnant people who are due around the same time, but reading about complications in other people’s pregnancies sends me into a worry spiral that I just don’t need right now.
  • Daily affirmations that I’m doing fine and whatever food or beverage item I’m worried about putting in my body is probably fine.

Fellow armchair app developers: did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments — just, you know, good vibes only.

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Citizen CEO offered to personally fund LA arson manhunt — for the wrong person

Photo by Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Image

‘We make this sort of heinous crime impossible to escape from’

As wildfires raged through Southern California last weekend, an app called Citizen offered an unorthodox bounty over livestream and in push alerts to local residents: “hunt down” the alleged arsonist, and we’ll give you $30,000 cash.

In the hours that followed, it became clear the app was mistaken. The man pictured had no connection to the fires, and once he was located by law enforcement, he was quickly released for lack of evidence.

“We are actively working to improve our internal processes to ensure this does not occur again,” the company said in a statement after the release. “This was a mistake we are taking very seriously.”

But according to internal communications obtained by The Verge, the bounty was personally mandated by Citizen founder and CEO Andrew Frame, who saw it as an opportunity to exercise the app’s policing powers and even offered to fund it with his own money.

On Saturday afternoon, before the livestream was broadcast, Frame wrote in a company Slack thread that he would pay a $10,000 reward personally to catch an arsonist still in the area “as a test.”

“Let’s find this guy, activate safety network completely,” Frame wrote, according to screenshots of internal Slack messages obtained by The Verge. “This is a great transition of Citizen back to active safety. We are not a news company. We are safety and we make this sort of heinous crime impossible to escape from. That needs to be our mindset.” The bounty was later raised to $30,000.

First released under the name Vigilante in 2016, Citizen had a rocky rollout. The app was pulled from Apple’s App Store over concerns that it encouraged users to directly take on crime themselves. It was relaunched as Citizen in 2017, providing information transcribed from police and fire dispatch audio. Users also have the option to livestream incidents on the app with guidance to “never approach a crime scene, interfere with an incident, or get in the way of police.”

The app now provides alerts about crime in more than 30 cities. Citizen’s website boasts that it has sent more than 4 billion alerts and has more than 7 million users. Critics have said the app creates false perceptions about the level of danger to its users and allows users to spread racism in chat replies. More recently, the company raised alarm for operating an SUV labeled as “private patrol” in downtown Los Angeles, although company representatives insist the vehicle is not engaged in security work.

The Saturday broadcast came through Citizen’s recently launched OnAir feature, which is intended as a means to broadcast public safety notices. It’s only the 16th time the feature has been activated, although it’s the first time a cash bounty has been put forward so aggressively.

OnAir has “strict validation protocols to limit the spread of misinformation,” a Citizen spokesperson said in a statement. “In the 15 instances it has been used before, those protocols were followed, unfortunately, in this instance, on-the-ground tips were used in place of the proper verification with public safety agencies.”

“We deeply regret our mistake and are working to improve our internal processes to prevent this from happening again,” the spokesperson continued. They did not address why the service chose to offer a bounty for the suspect in the case specifically.

Frame may have had a personal stake in the fire; property records indicate he is the current owner of a Bel Air mansion within 10 miles of the blaze, with little development in between. In the days following the alert, the fire has grown to 1,158 acres and is still expanding.

A Citizen spokesperson denied any personal motivation and said Frame’s current residence was not threatened by the fire.

The Palisades Fire was set by an arsonist in a steep canyon west of Los Angeles just after 10PM on May 14th, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The county ordered evacuations of the surrounding area the following evening.

It is not clear where Citizen first obtained information indicating an arsonist was responsible for the fire. On Saturday, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jay Balgemino told the Pacific Palisades Residents Association that police were searching for an arson suspect. “It appears as though a homeless man living in our hillsides with a criminal past has planned out a wild rampage,” read a post on the association’s Facebook page just after 6PM. “We cannot take the risk of allowing more homeless in a neighborhood with such a fragile environmental landscape.” The association took the post down after an inquiry from Recode.

However Frame first saw the false identification, the Slack messages show he saw it as an “opportunity” for Citizen to fulfill its “true mission.”

“Those people all live there and their homes/families are being threatened,” he wrote in Slack. “There is a huge cohort of engaged users who want to help.”

Around 10PM that day, Citizen broadcast a livestream where it displayed a photo of the man and offered the reward for his capture, according to journalist Cerise Castle, who reported the event on Twitter. The hosts did not elaborate on the source of the information but encouraged users to “hunt this guy down.” Twitter users identified one of the hosts as Prince Mapp, Citizen’s head of community and culture, although Citizen declined to confirm the identities of the hosts.

“We know the guy is out there,” said one host, according to Castle. “We need our users to get out there and bring this guy to justice.”

But the man they identified was detained a short time later and released, sheriff’s Lt. Jim Braden told Kate Cagle, a reporter for Spectrum News. Braden said the deputies did not have evidence to charge the man with a crime. He called the actions by Citizen potentially “disastrous” and would only lead to someone getting hurt.

Citizen promoted the livestream on its Twitter account but later deleted the tweet. On Sunday morning, deputies arrested a different man on suspicion of arson.

And while Citizen said it plans to get it right next time, Frame suggested in a Slack message that it won’t be the last time Citizen offers a cash reward. “We need to build this into the product and we will,” he wrote.

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Twitter previews Ticketed Spaces, says it’ll take a 20 percent cut of sales

Twitter’s getting ready for the launch of its Ticketed Spaces feature, and today, it’s previewing what users can expect when they go to host their first one. US users will be able to apply to host paid live audio rooms starting in the next couple weeks. Anyone who wants to charge has to have 1,000 followers, have hosted three spaces in the past 30 days, and be at least 18 years old.

The company is partnering with Stripe to handle payments, and it says users will receive 80 percent of revenue after Apple and Google’s in-app purchase fees are taken. So if you sell a $10 ticket, Apple would presumably take a 30 percent cut, leaving you and Twitter to split the remaining $7. Eighty percent would go to you, and 20 percent would go to Twitter. The company says it’ll cover the cost of Stripe’s transaction fees. (Hosts will also need a Stripe account.)

You can see the full product flow below:



  • Twitter



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A Twitter spokesperson says initial applications, when they open, will be processed within a few weeks, and the team plans to start with a small test group. Although only US users will be able to host these ticketed spaces for now, anyone around the globe can purchase access. Spaces just began allowing anyone with more than 600 followers to host and added the ability to schedule an event, and the company says it’s working on co-hosted spaces as well.

This live audio function is among the multiple ways Twitter has announced that it will help its users monetize. It’s planning Super Follows, too, which will let people pay for bonus content, like a newsletter subscription and more tweets, and it’s launching a communities feature. The company hasn’t said whether the 80 / 20 split will also apply to Super Follows.

Twitter also might offer a bigger subscription product called Twitter Blue, which could let people pay for additional features, like the ability to undo tweets. Although Twitter’s product has remained mostly stagnant for years, it’s issued a rapid-fire succession of consumer-facing product announcements this past year, seemingly all in an effort to diversify its revenue and build a more fully rounded place where people can consume a variety of content across text, audio, and video.

garmin-enduro-review:-marathon-runner

Garmin Enduro review: marathon runner

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Battery life has been the Achilles’ heel of smartwatches and fitness watches. While solid state storage and processing power have been evolving at a rapid clip, battery life has remained stagnant. This goes quintuple for watches that track your activity using GPS, which is a particularly power-hungry thing to do. And yet, somehow, the Garmin Enduro now exists. If you’re the type of person who likes to run until their kneecaps have been ground into a fine powder, this is the watch for you.

The $800 Enduro is a multisport fitness watch. And by multi, I mean pretty much all the sports. Built-in activities include: Run, Ultra Run, Trail Run, Treadmill, Virtual Run, Track Run, Indoor Track Run, Bike, Mountain Bike, Indoor Bike, Pool Swim, Open Water Swim, Triathlon, SwimRun, Hike, Expedition, Climb, Indoor Climb, Bouldering, Ski, Snowboard, Cross Country Ski, Cross Country Skate Ski, Backcountry Ski, Surf, SUP, Kayak, Row, Indoor Row, Navigate, Track Me, Pilates, Yoga, Breathwork, Cardio, Strength, Golf, and others (including downloadable options made by third parties) but honestly I’m tired of typing. Basically, it has all of the same activity modes as Garmin’s current multisport flagship, the Fenix 6 (starting at $550, up to $1,100), but there are some significant tradeoffs, which I’ll get to in a sec.

Let’s start with the body. Physically, the Enduro is a perfect twin of the larger Fenix 6X. (You can see a more in-depth comparison between the two on Garmin’s site.) It has a 1.4-inch transflective (sunlight visible) color LCD screen. It’s extremely easy to read, particularly outdoors (at night it lights up with the push of a button). The screen also doubles as a low-key solar panel, giving you extra juice when you wear it outside.

The body is just over two inches by two inches and 0.6 inches thick. In other words, it’s a bit chunky, and people with smaller wrists probably will not like it. I have weirdly big wrist bones, so I didn’t mind the way it felt, and it didn’t look like I was wearing a tablet on my arm. Despite its size it’s quite light, coming in at 71 grams for the steel version or 61 grams for the more expensive titanium version. That weight is partly due to the new, slightly stretchy nylon strap, which is comfortable and dries quickly. There are a lot of other strap options to choose from, should you so desire.

Like the Fenix and most other Garmin watches, the Enduro has five physical buttons which you use for navigating in lieu of a touchscreen. This is the most intuitive of any of the fitness watches I’ve used, and the UI has only gotten better with age.

The Enduro lacks a touchscreen but has five physical buttons.

In addition to being a training watch, it has basic smartwatch features, including displaying notifications from your phone. Android users (like me, I tested it with a Pixel 5) can quick reply to messages from the watch (unfortunately Apple has blocked this feature on the iPhone for any device except the Apple Watch, which seems pretty anti-competitive if you ask me).

From the main screen, pressing the bottom left button (the down button) gets you to a bunch of widgets that provide a lot of data at a glance. It’s just the right amount of information density. If you want more granular info, you can dive into the Garmin Connect app (iOS and Android), which has a lot of detail, but its design is very dated and it can be tricky to find what you’re looking for in it. It’s not bad, but it could benefit from a refresh.

In addition to daily tracking of things like steps, floors climbed, heart rate, sleep quality, and even respiration rate, the Enduro also has a pulse oximeter which uses a special red LED. In my testing, it was roughly as accurate as the finger-based (medical grade) one I bought toward the beginning of lockdown last year. You can choose to have it track your pulse ox 24/7, but that will take a big bite out of your battery life. You can also choose to just track pulse ox as you sleep, which might be good for someone who suffers from sleep apnea. If you don’t have any underlying health concerns, though, I’d just leave it off and check it on demand whenever you want.

The Enduro is primarily a training watch, and it has all of the excellent tools that the Fenix line has, including Body Battery (which surprisingly mapped quite closely to how well rested or depleted I felt), Stress, VO2 Max over time, as well as Training Status. There are some new features debuting on this watch as well. One of the most useful I found was Trail Run VO2 Max. It takes terrain into account, so if you’re running slower because of rocks, it won’t give you an artificially low V02 Max score. Garmin has also upgraded its ClimbPro features, which take ascend and descend into consideration in both your stats and your pace recommendations. The watch can even alert you before you get to a hill (you have to preload a route into the watch) so you can prepare yourself for a climb. There are also new Ultrarunning specific features which I was unable to test because I prefer other ways of injuring myself. It’s worth noting that these new features are also making their way to the Fenix line.

So, why might you want the Enduro over the Fenix? Capital B Battery life. That is really the one and only reason. The battery lasts more than twice as long as the Fenix, and the Fenix is one of the longest-lasting training watches I’ve tested. If you currently use an Apple Watch, you may weep when you read this, but here are the numbers the company claims:

  • Smartwatch mode: up to 50 days / 65 days with solar
  • Battery Saver Watch mode: up to 130 days / one year with solar
  • GPS: up to 70 hours / 80 hours with solar
  • Max Battery GPS mode: up to 200 hours / 300 hours with solar
  • Expedition GPS Activity: up to 65 days / 95 days with solar

That is absolutely unparalleled. It’s also conservative in my estimation. I wore this watch for a solid month, constantly using it as a smartwatch (checking notifications, checking my vitals, etc). That included 12 hours and 51 minutes of surfing (GPS tracked), four hours and three minutes of running (GPS tracked), and three hours and 16 minutes of strength training (non-GPS). I did not have to take the watch off to charge it at all. Not one single time. It is easily the longest-lasting training / smartwatch I have ever tested, and by a gigantic margin. Garmin claims that it didn’t do this by stuffing in a larger physical battery but by optimizing the underlying platform. I tried to get more details, but they were understandably tight-lipped about the secret recipe.

So, you may see that and think “well then, obviously this is an easy choice over the Fenix 6, right?” Well, not quite. There are some things the Enduro doesn’t have, and they aren’t insignificant.

Garmin’s app is functional but in need of a refresh.

The biggest thing the Enduro lacks is maps. The Fenix 6 has topographic maps of the entire US built right into it, and that’s been incredibly useful to me. It’s actually kept me from taking wrong turns while hiking on a number of occasions. You can still track back with the Enduro, bread-crumb style, but it will appear as a disembodied trail without any context or landmarks to help guide you. This also means the Enduro doesn’t have some specific cycling training and other navigational features.

The other big thing the Enduro is missing is music. The Fenix allows you to store songs on it and play them via Bluetooth earbuds, so you can leave your phone at home. The Enduro doesn’t. If you want tunes to go with your workout, you’re going to need to carry a second device. This brings up a somewhat frustrating point.

With those things missing, you might assume that it’s because the Enduro has less storage compared to the Fenix. It doesn’t. In fact, it has double the storage of the Fenix at 64GB vs. 32GB. As far as I can tell, the only reason the Enduro doesn’t have maps and music is because Garmin didn’t want to cannibalize sales of the Fenix 6, which is frustrating. If you compare the Enduro to the Fenix 6 Pro Solar edition (which has the same hidden solar-panel display as the Enduro), both watches are a wince-inducing $800. The Fenix is a bit more svelte and has a very slightly smaller screen, but otherwise they’re the same. You just have to choose, do you want maps and all the features they come with, or do you want double the battery life? Garmin could have easily given you both — and perhaps the Fenix 7 or Enduro 2 will have both, or a firmware update could bring maps and music to the Enduro — but for now it’s an either / or between two fantastic features.

The Enduro is the watch to get if you never want to worry about charging it.

It’s a strange dilemma. Ultimately, I think the Fenix 6 is the better, more complete watch, and so that’s the one I would lean toward recommending. You just have to remember to charge it three times as often. That being said, the Enduro is still an excellent watch, and being able to go on a very long trip and leave the (proprietary) charger at home is a real boon, and if you do any ultra-length activities, then this is absolutely the watch you want. For now, I’ll stick with the Fenix 6 in case I get lost, again.

Photography by Brent Rose for The Verge

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Spotify finally adds offline music downloads on Apple Watch

Spotify is adding the ability to download playlists, albums, and podcasts on Apple Watch to play offline, the company announced Friday. Users will be able to stream audio in 96kbps, add and delete Spotify content on their phones, and sync with the Watch.

“Being able to download music and podcasts complements the existing feature of being able to stream your favorites from the watch, and now you don’t even have to take your phone with you,” the company said in its news release.

Spotify added the ability to stream music using an Apple Watch in November; until that point, the Apple Watch only worked as a remote for Spotify music playing on an iPhone or other Spotify Connect-compatible device. Spotify first launched its Apple Watch app in 2018.

The offline feature will be available starting Friday on Apple Watch Series 3 or later running WatchOS 6.0 or later, with WatchOS 7.1 and up recommended. A Spotify Premium subscription is also required. Spotify Premium memberships range from $9.99 per month for a single account, up to $15.99 per month for a family plan. There’s also a $4.99-per-month student account option available.

Another streaming music service, Deezer, beat Spotify to the punch, adding the ability to download music from its Apple Watch app earlier this week.

Also this week, Spotify said it was launching a new feature to allow Google’s Wear devices to download music and listen offline, without needing an accompanying phone. It hasn’t been released yet, but it’s in the works, the company’s product lead for wearables said during Google’s developer keynote on Tuesday.

apple-tv-siri-remote-review:-pushing-all-the-right-buttons

Apple TV Siri Remote review: pushing all the right buttons

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

It’s so, so, so much better. But the moment Apple showed off the second-generation Siri Remote, it was obvious that this would be a huge improvement over its detested predecessor. It’s easy to tell which way is right side up when you reach for it. The clickable touchpad area that dominated the upper third of the prior remote has been replaced by a more intuitive D-pad. The Siri button has been pushed to the remote’s right side, almost guaranteeing that you’ll never unintentionally trigger Apple’s voice assistant. And now there’s a proper power button for your TV.

Listing all of these “upgrades” on the new $59 Siri Remote really illustrates just how disappointing the old one that somehow lasted six years on the market was. Before this big redesign, the most Apple did in that time was to try to cure the “which side is up?” confusion by adding a white rim around one of the buttons. “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass.”

But this? This new Siri Remote is a very good remote. There’s nothing exceptional about it, but it’s functional, accessible, and painless to use. If you used those words to describe the original Siri Remote, you’d be in the minority.

It feels really nice, too. Apple makes the remote from a unibody aluminum shell that’s taller, heavier, and considerably thicker than the old Siri clicker. It’s slightly narrower than the black remote but still feels larger on the whole — and that’s a positive. The previous Siri remote was so thin that it was easily lost to the deepest reaches of the couch. I don’t see that being as much of a problem with the new, chunkier hardware.

The Siri Remote is in keeping with Apple’s renewed fondness for hard edges. With the remote gripped in hand, you never really feel the edges on the front, but you do at the back. The back metal is curved, but there’s still a hard edge at both sides. As long as you don’t squeeze the remote too tight, it should prove reasonably comfortable.

Apple has added power and mute buttons to the new Siri Remote.

Instead of putting what basically amounted to a trackpad on the top section of the remote, Apple has switched to a much more traditional directional pad. Within that circular D-pad is a touch-sensitive center button that still lets you swipe around content or move in any direction just like you could before. (And yes, you can still play with the subtle movement of app icons on the home screen by gently nudging your thumb around.) But some streaming apps didn’t work perfectly with that input method, so Apple is now including the far more precise D-pad.

This choose-your-preferred-navigation method — Apple calls it the “clickpad with touch surface” — has a very short learning curve. Initially, I would inadvertently activate the touchpad when I just meant to move my finger from down to up or vice versa on the D-pad. That didn’t last long, but if it winds up a bigger hassle for you, there’s an option in the remote’s settings menu to assign the center button to “click only,” which gives the D-pad all navigation duties.

Apple has also come up with a clever jogwheel function that lets you circle a finger around the outer ring to scrub through videos at faster or slower speeds depending on how quickly you’re thumbing around the circle. It’s a direct callback to the days of the iPod clickwheel and does a great job helping you land on an exact moment in a video.

But I must confess something: I had an embarrassing few hours where I couldn’t figure out how to make this work. Eventually, I learned the trick: after pausing a video, you’ve got to rest your finger on the D-pad momentarily before you start circling around it. An animation will pop up in the progress bar (with a little dot that indicates where your finger is) to let you know you’re in jogwheel mode. If you just pause the video and immediately start the circular movement, it doesn’t do the right thing. Don’t be like me and unnecessarily factory reset your Apple TV 4K because of this.

The buttons themselves all have a satisfying click and don’t feel the least bit mushy. The clickpad is quieter when pressed than the buttons below it, which are each significantly noisier than any other remotes I had to compare against, be it for a Roku, Chromecast, or otherwise. Again, it’s not a problem unless you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, but you’ll absolutely hear the volume rocker when you’re turning up a certain scene in a movie or show. The Siri button on the side is whisper quiet; you still have to press and hold it down whenever you’re doing a voice command.

You might also have to overcome some muscle memory challenges since the mute button is now where play / pause was situated on the old remote. The “menu” button has been rebadged as “back” but does the same functions as before, which means, in most cases, the new icon makes a ton more sense. The buttons aren’t backlit, but it’s easy enough to memorize them by feel once you’ve used the remote for a while.

There’s a circular D-pad with a touchpad in the center.

But as good as the new Siri Remote is, it feels like Apple missed some opportunities that frankly seem like low-hanging fruit. The most glaring is that there’s no way to locate the remote if you’re unable to find it. As I said earlier, the bigger dimensions should make for fewer instances where the remote gets misplaced, but some way of having it alert you to its location would’ve been nice. “Hey Siri, where’s my remote?” seems like such an easy thing to make happen, but that voice query won’t do you any good or make the remote beep. And unlike Apple’s recently introduced AirTags, there’s no ultra-wideband chip in the remote to help pinpoint its position in a room. If you’re finding that the remote goes MIA constantly, you might just have to settle for a case that combines an AirTag with the Siri Remote. But having a simple, straightforward remote locator feature is one area where Roku objectively beats out Apple.

A less impactful gripe is the lack of an input button for switching between HDMI sources; the Apple TV automatically becomes the active input when you power it on or wake it from sleep. But an input button would’ve at least made life easier for people switching between an Apple TV and an Xbox or PlayStation. As a result, I just can’t quit my LG TV’s remote, much as I wish I could. Most of my devices automatically grab the TV’s attention when they’re switched on, but a button is foolproof.

I can complain about buttons being absent, but I can also praise Apple for the same reason: there are no branded shortcut buttons whatsoever on the Siri Remote. Not even Netflix can lock down its own button, whereas you’d be hard-pressed to find another streaming box remote without that logo somewhere.

The Siri Remote still charges with Apple’s Lightning connector — despite now being thick enough to house a USB-C jack. USB seems more natural for this type of scenario, but what do I know? I’m just one man who’s elated to have a reliable, sensibly designed remote control again. Apple is going to keep doing Apple things. I was not able to test the new remote with third-party charging stands designed for the old one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that industry catches up with the new design in the near future.

The right choice is clear.

The gyroscope and accelerometer from the previous Siri Remote are history, so you won’t be able to use this one for Apple Arcade games that rely on those sensors. But it’s unlikely many people were gaming with it to begin with; tvOS now supports many third-party gamepads, including the latest Xbox and PlayStation controllers, if you hadn’t heard.

Any way you slice it, the new Siri Remote is a win on every level. It’s inconceivable that we put up with the last one for so many years, but its time has come. And the remote control taking its place is extremely good at doing remote control things. Much as how Apple’s M1 MacBooks would have earned perfect scores if they’d had competent webcams, the Siri Remote would be flirting with perfection if it just had some way of letting you easily find the thing. Or if the buttons were backlit. My review of the new Apple TV 4K is coming soon, but if you’ve already got the last model, this is the only real must-have upgrade to go for.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

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Rocket Lake Rumble: Three Mini-ITX Z590 Motherboards Battle for Compact Supremacy

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX-TB4

For those looking for the best motherboard for a compact Rocket Lake build, we’ll be diving deep here to examine and test three Mini-ITX motherboards based on Intel’s latest mainstream chipset, Z590. We’ll take a close look at the ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4 (~$350), Asus ROG Strix Z590-I Gaming WiFi ($369.99), and the Gigabyte Z590I Aorus Ultra ($321.49). We couldn’t get our hands on the MSI Z590I Unify Gaming ($369.99) in time for this article, but we expect that board to arrive in the coming weeks and post a review when we can.

When you’re shopping for a Mini-ITX motherboard (see more on motherboard form factors here), chances are the case you use is going to be compact as well. This means limited CPU cooling options and, due to the size of the board, fewer Memory and PCIe slots and M.2 sockets. That said, these tiny builds can be portable powerhouses when done right. But you need to have solid power delivery and cooling and pick the right ITX board for your needs, as using an add-in card (beyond the GPU) to supplement any missing ports isn’t possible. We’ll take a detailed look at the three boards we have and see which is the best option overall.

In our testing, all boards performed well, easily mixing in with our other test results, including full-size and more-expensive options. Out of the box, the ASRock board is the most hamstrung by Intel’s power limits, while the other boards tend to run a bit more free in comparison. But all you need to do to get the ASRock up to par with the other boards is to raise its power limits. The performance difference was negligible outside of the long-running tests, where the turbo time/limits come into play. Gaming performance was similar among all the boards, as was memory bandwidth and latency testing. Outside of a couple of outliers, all boards performed similarly, especially when the playing field was leveled by removing the stock limits.

All three of our Mini-ITX boards include two DRAM slots, a single PCIe slot, two M.2 sockets, 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi. The difference between these boards boils down to appearance, Wi-Fi speeds, audio codec, SATA port count, power delivery capability, rear IO port type/count and price. We’ll dig into the features and other details on each board below, starting with the ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4. Below are the specifications from ASRock.

Specifications – ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4

Socket LGA 1200
Chipset Z590
Form Factor Mini-ITX
Voltage Regulator 8 Phase (8+2, 90A MOSFETs)
Video Ports (1) HDMI
(1) DisplayPort (v1.4)
USB Ports (1) Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (40 Gbps)
(5) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-A (10 Gbps)
Network Jacks (1) 2.5 GbE
Audio Jacks (5) Analog + SPDIF
Legacy Ports/Jacks ✗
Other Ports/Jack ✗
PCIe x16 (1) v4.0 x16
PCIe x8 ✗
PCIe x4 ✗
PCIe x1 ✗
CrossFire/SLI ✗
DIMM slots (2) DDR4 4266+(OC), 64GB Capacity
M.2 slots (1) PCIe 4.0 x4 / 64 Gbps, PCIe (up to 80mm)
(1) PCIe 3.0 x4 / 32 Gbps, PCIe/SATA (up to 80mm) *Supports RAID 0 and 1
U.2 Ports ✗
SATA Ports (3) SATA3 6 Gbps *Supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
USB Headers (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2 (Front Panel Type-C)
(1) USB v3.2 Gen 1
(1) USB v2.0
*All support ESD protection
Fan/Pump Headers (3) 4-Pin
RGB Headers (1) ARGB (3-pin)
(1) RGB (4-pin)
Legacy Interfaces ✗
Other Interfaces FP-Audio, TPM
Diagnostics Panel 4 LED debug
Internal Button/Switch ✗
SATA Controllers ✗
Ethernet Controller(s) (1) Killer E3100G (2.5 GbE)
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth (1) Killer AX1675x (WiFi-6E, 2×2 160 Hz/6 GHz, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, BT 5.2)
USB Controllers ✗
HD Audio Codec Realtek ALC1220
DDL/DTS Connect ✗ / ✗
Warranty 3 Years

Along with the motherboard, the ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4 box includes a slim collection of accessories, though there’s enough to get you started. Below is a complete list of all included extras.

  • Support CD / Quick installation Guide
  • Wi-Fi Antenna
  • (2) SATA cables
  • (2) Screw package for M.2 sockets

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After we took this little guy out of the box, we see a densely packed Mini-ITX board that comes with almost all of the features typically found on a full-size motherboard. The ITX/TB4 sports a matte-black PCB, along with a heatpipe-connected heatsink for the VRM. You can spot the Phantom Gaming theme easily, with branding located above vent holes on the rear IO as well as the chipset/M.2 heatsink, just above the PCIe slot. On the RGB LED front, the Z590 PG-ITX/TB4 has three LEDs on the underside of the board, behind the PCIe slot. ASRock’s Polychrome Sync application controls the lighting. Overall, I like the board’s appearance. It’s is improved over the last generation and won’t have any issues fitting in with most build themes.

(Image credit: ASRock)

Typically when discussing motherboards, they’re split into the top half and bottom half. But since these boards are so small, we’ll work in a clockwise motion starting on the left with the IO cover. Here we see the metal cover hiding all of the rear IO bits, as well as a small fan designed to dissipate heat. The top and the rear IO plate have holes in them to circulate the air from the fan.

Across the top of the motherboard is the 8-pin EPS connector (required) to power the CPU. Just to the right is a 3-pin ARGB header and three 4-pin fan headers. The CPU and Chassis fan headers support 1A/12W, while the CPU_Opt/Water pump connector doubles that to 2A/24W. ASRock states the CPU_OPT/W_Pump header auto-detects if a 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use. I would like to see all of the fan/pump headers auto-detect what’s attached.

Moving past the VRMs to the right side of the board, there are several headers, ports and slots. Starting with the two unreinforced DRAM slots, support is listed to 64GB with speeds up to 4266+(OC). Surprisingly this is lower than many ATX size boards (typically, these smaller boards offer better RAM clocking capabilities) and lower than the other two boards in this roundup. That said, the ASRock board ran our DDR4 4000 sticks with minimal adjustments (that same VccIO Memory +0.10 for the ASRock board we looked at previously), so for the majority of users, the limit (on paper) won’t be an issue.

On the right edge, from top to bottom, is the 24-pin ATX connector for board power, front panel header and 4-pin RGB header, USB 3.2 Gen 1 header, three SATA ports (supports RAID0, 1, 5 and 10), and a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C header. Above the 24-pin ATX are the debug LEDs that tell you where the board got hung up in the POST process. Since there isn’t any room for the 2-character LED that provides you more detailed information, this is a good value-add for troubleshooting.

On the bottom of the board is the single reinforced (ASRock Steel Slot) PCIe slot with extra anchors, a better latch, and signal stability improvements (according to the company). The slot runs the full PCIe 4.0 x16 bandwidth when using an 11th generation CPU. Located above the slot is a USB 2.0 header and the front-panel audio header.

The bottom-left corner holds the audio bits. Visible are a couple of audio capacitors (in yellow) while the Realtek ALC1220 hides the IO cover. While this is a premium audio chip, it’s last generation’s flagship; I would like to have seen the newest codec used as we see on the Asus. That said, this solution will still be sufficient for most users.

Just above this slot is a dual-purpose heatsink designed to keep the southbridge chip and an M.2 module cool. Simply unscrew the two visible screws and it exposes the PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) M.2 socket. The second M.2 socket sits on the back of the board, supports both PCIe and SATA-based modules, and does not have a heatsink on it. Both sockets support 80mm drives. The M.2 sockets support RAID0 and 1. The manual doesn’t list any lane sharing, which makes sense considering the three SATA ports here, when the chipset provides six natively.

(Image credit: ASRock)

ASRock chose an 8-phase configuration for Vcore on this little board. You won’t find any VRM doublers as in this direct setup. Power flows from the 8-pin EPS to a Renesas ISL69269 12-channel (X+Y+Z=12) controller, then on to the 90A ISL99390 Smart Power Stages. The 720A available for the CPU is enough for stock operation and even overclocking our Core i9-11900K processor (with ambient cooling).

Typically we list all of the buttons and headers along the bottom of the board, but due to the Mini-ITX design, we covered this already during the motherboard tour above.

(Image credit: ASRock)

Taking a look at the integrated rear IO plate, we see it sports the same styling found on the Z490 version: primarily a grey-and-black background with some red highlights matching the Phantom Gaming theme. From left to right are the DisplayPort (v1.4) and HDMI (v2.0) ports for use when working off the integrated GRAPHICS in your CPU. Next are four USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port and one ultra-fast Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) Type-C port. In blue is the Killer E3100G LAN port and a small Clear CMOS button. In the middle, we see holes for venting air from the hidden fan (which is inaudible, by the way), the Wi-Fi 6E antenna mounts and the 5-plug + SPDIF audio stack.       

Firmware

The BIOS theme in the Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4 matches the Z590 PG Velocita we recently reviewed, sporting a black/red theme. As usual, we capture a majority of the BIOS screens to share with you. ASRock includes an Easy Mode for high-level monitoring and adjustments, along with an Advanced section. The BIOS is organized well, with many of the more commonly used functions accessible without drilling down multiple levels to find them. Here you adjust the Memory, Voltage, and CPU details in separate sections, but it’s all on the first page of each section. In the end, the BIOS worked well and was easy to navigate and read.

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Software

On the software side, ASRock includes a few utilities that cover overclocking and monitoring (PG-Tuning), audio (Nahimic 3), software for updating drivers and downloading applications (App Shop), and of course, RGB control (Polychrome RGB). We did not run into any issues in our limited use of the applications.

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Before we get to the performance for this board and its competitors, we’ll detail the other two models as well. Next up is the Asus ROG Strix Z590-I Gaming WiFi.

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

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