Android’s Google Photos app is being updated with the improved video editing tools that were previously exclusive to iOS. Android Police spotted the rollout, and reports that it appears to be available for both Google Pixel devices and other Android phones. The tools appear to have arrived with a server-side update, though you can try updating to the latest version of Google Photos if they’re not yet live in your app.
As Google explained back in February, the new video editing tools include over 30 controls, covering everything from cropping, filters, and color grading options like adjusting contrast, saturation, and brightness.
The video editing tools are arriving on Android as Google’s Photos service is going through some big changes. As part of its February announcement, the company said it would be bringing some machine-learning powered editing tools previously exclusive to Pixel devices to other Android phones, but only for Google One subscribers. Next, in June, Google Photos will end its unlimited free photo storage, and will ask users to pay for storage beyond 15GB. The app is getting more powerful, but increasingly you’re having to pay for more advanced features.
As well as announcing that the iOS video editing tools would be coming to Android, in February Google also said Android’s new photo editing tools would be making their way to iOS. Google announced they’d be arriving “in the coming months,” but as of this writing they don’t appear to be live.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
What makes a smartwatch “smart”? Is it the ability to show you notifications from your phone? What about the ability to track your physical activity and wellness, such as step counts, workouts, and sleep? How about providing you information about your day, such as the weather and upcoming calendar events? Or perhaps it’s the inclusion of a voice assistant on your wrist that you can ask to do things without having to use your phone?
Those are the questions I’ve been asking over the past week-plus as I’ve been testing the new OnePlus Watch, a $159 smartwatch and the first wearable from the smartphone company. The OnePlus Watch has all the looks of a modern smartwatch, but as I’ve learned wearing it on my wrist day and night, it doesn’t have all the smarts.
The OnePlus Watch is not like a Wear OS smartwatch, such as those made by Fossil, Motorola, or Mobvoi. Nor is it like a Samsung Galaxy Watch or an Apple Watch. All of those have software platforms that integrate with other apps and services, so you can download apps or watchfaces to the watch itself, just like you might with a phone. That makes them very extensible and customizable — you can easily make the watch look unique and do the things you need it to.
The OnePlus Watch, on the other hand (or wrist?), runs its own proprietary software, based on a real-time operating system. This software is very quick and power efficient, but it is not extensible — there’s no app store or third-party watchfaces to download on the OnePlus Watch. It’s similar to the software on the budget smartwatches you can get on Amazon; if you’ve ever used an Amazfit, Umidigi, or Wyze watch, you’ve used a real-time operating system. The OnePlus Watch is not very different from those in this respect.
This choice of platform affords the OnePlus Watch its greatest strength, long battery life, and also its greatest weakness: it just doesn’t do all that much compared to other smartwatches you can buy.
The OnePlus Watch looks like many other smartwatches, but most especially the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active.
OnePlus Watch software
The OnePlus Watch pairs with and is controlled by the OnePlus Health app for Android — there’s no iPhone compatibility at all. But you don’t need to own a OnePlus phone, it works with basically any modern Android device. I tested it on both OnePlus and Samsung smartphones and the experience was the same.
The app is where you can see what health and fitness metrics the watch has recorded, adjust which apps send notifications on your wrist, and view the available watchfaces. OnePlus has about 50 watchfaces so far, with some offering limited customizability in the form of selectable shortcuts or widgets, such as a weather widget, date, or shortcut to a built-in app like the timer. You can choose up to 14 faces to store on the watch and switch between them without using your phone. The company says it plans on adding more in the future, but as I mentioned earlier, there are no options for third-party watchfaces or third-party app widgets like you get with Samsung, Wear OS, or Apple smartwatches.
The watchfaces themselves are what you’d expect: there is the assortment of analog and digital styles to choose from, with some showing more information about your activity than others. I’m not a big fan of the analog options, so I settled on a digital face. Unfortunately, there’s a bug where digital watchfaces on the OnePlus Watch are stuck in 24-hour time and can’t show 12-hour time. The company tells me it is aware of this bug, and it is slated to be fixed “this month.”
The OnePlus Watch’s interface mimics Wear OS and is easy to navigate.
The watch interface has a familiar layout: swipe down for settings, swipe up to see notifications, press the side button to see your apps. You can swipe right from the watchface to access basic widgets for music control, weather, and activity tracking, similar to Wear OS or a Samsung watch. The design of the interface all looks mostly fine, and there thankfully aren’t any stutters or lags when navigating it.
I do have a few gripes with how notifications are handled. You can’t clear notifications by just swiping them away, like you can with every other smartwatch. Instead, you have to tap into each one and then press clear or scroll to the bottom to clear them all. It’s a clumsy and fiddly process. The OnePlus Watch doesn’t always sync with the notifications I’ve cleared on my phone, either, and occasionally notifications for the same messages would get duplicated, forcing me to see the same alerts more than once.
You can’t do much with those notifications, either. There are no actions you can take other than clearing them from your wrist. OnePlus supports canned message replies in just five apps: WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Discord, and Facebook Messenger. Notably and frustratingly, that list doesn’t include standard SMS messages. On top of that, there are only four basic replies to choose from: “OK”; “Be right there!”; “In a meeting, contact you later”; and “I’m driving, contact you later.” I frequently use a smartwatch to triage notifications, delete incoming emails, or reply to messages when I’m away from my desk, but I can’t do most of those things with the OnePlus Watch.
The OnePlus Watch comes with a basic set of apps: weather, timer, stopwatch, alarm, workout, sleep tracking, etc. Oddly, it doesn’t have a calculator or a calendar app, so I can’t easily see my next meeting or appointment, something I do a lot with other smartwatches. There’s no way to get your next appointment on your watchface, either. And since there isn’t an app store, I can’t add any apps to that list.
You can forget about streaming music from Spotify or playing podcasts through your favorite app — the only thing you can do with the OnePlus Watch is control what’s playing on your phone or transfer MP3 files from your phone to the watch’s 4GB of storage. Want to track your runs with Strava or MapMyFitness instead of OnePlus’ app? Sorry, no dice. If you want to control smart home devices from your wrist, the OnePlus Watch is entirely useless unless you have a OnePlus TV, where you can use it as a remote. The OnePlus TV is only available in India.
The OnePlus Watch also lacks a voice assistant. I can’t ask it to start a timer when I’m in the kitchen and my hands are dirty, I can’t ask it to turn the lights off or open my garage door, and I can’t dictate a reply to an incoming message. How well voice assistants work varies greatly between smartwatches (Siri on the Apple Watch, pretty good! Bixby on a Samsung watch, less so), but OnePlus isn’t even trying here and I’ve missed having one available.
Lastly, even though the OnePlus Watch has an NFC radio, it does not support mobile payments. You can’t tap your wrist to pay for something like you can with an Apple Watch, Samsung watch, or Wear OS smartwatch.
The OnePlus Watch’s fitness tracking features hit the standard beats.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
OnePlus Watch fitness tracking
The fitness tracking features are quite basic. It will track your steps throughout the day; the watch will nudge you to get up and move when you’ve been sitting for too long; you can choose between 14 different workouts for the watch to track; and if you wear the OnePlus Watch to bed, it will make an attempt to track your sleep.
I’m not a gym rat, but I did wear the OnePlus Watch on my left wrist with a Fitbit Inspire HR on my right wrist throughout this review and the OnePlus counted thousands fewer steps than the Fitbit every day. None of these devices are perfect with their step tracking, but that kind of discrepancy is going to make tracking a longer-distance run or other intense workout inaccurate or just plain hard to do. I asked a few other reviewers I know who are also testing the OnePlus Watch and each one has had the same issues with inaccurate step counting. OnePlus says a bug fix for GPS optimization and to add more workout modes will be available sometime in mid-April.
While the OnePlus Watch frequently undercounted my steps, it overestimated how much I slept each night.
Sleep tracking, oddly enough, has the opposite problem. The OnePlus Watch consistently overestimates how long I slept each night compared to the Fitbit and Google’s Nest Hub. A bug has also prevented the Watch from syncing its sleep data with the OnePlus Health app, even though other activity synced over fine. The company says this bug should also be fixed sometime this month.
As mentioned earlier, you can’t use other fitness apps on the OnePlus Watch. The OnePlus Health app provides syncing with the Google Fit platform, so it’s possible you could cobble together a syncing solution between other apps using Fit as glue, but I did not test this. In general, the OnePlus Watch’s fitness tracking is fine for basic activity trends, but any fitness enthusiasts will want something more capable and reliable.
The OnePlus Watch only comes in one size: a large 46mm face.
OnePlus Watch hardware and design
In terms of design, the OnePlus Watch is generic-looking — it reminds me a lot of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active line. It’s got a round face, there are two buttons on the side, and the body is made of polished stainless steel, which is nice to see at this price point. It comes in silver, black, or a gold-colored special edition — I’ve got the black model and it’s a little boring to look at. Either way, the hardware is solid and put together well — it’s not creaky or plasticky, and there are no rough edges to worry about.
OnePlus is only offering the watch in one size, 46mm, and frankly, it’s big. It’s bigger than I like watches to be on my wrist, and if you have smaller wrists than me you’re not going to have a fun time with this. On the plus side, it’s not the thickest smartwatch I’ve ever worn. Just one size band comes in the box — OnePlus says that customers who need a shorter band will be able to get one by contacting customer service.
The touchscreen is a 1.39-inch 454 x 454 OLED that’s easy to see both indoors and out. It’s colorful, like you’d expect an OLED to be, but there’s no always-on display option, which nearly every other smartwatch has now. That makes it that much more annoying to check the time, though the wrist turn gesture does work well to wake it up.
On the underside are the sensors for heart rate and blood oxygen. As usual, you should not use these sensors for medical purposes — and blood oxygen monitors on even the best smartwatches notoriously struggle with giving accurate readings. Inside the watch are the accelerometers and gyroscopes necessary to track your activity and workouts, plus GPS and Bluetooth radios. There’s no Wi-Fi or LTE here — if you leave your phone behind, you’re going to miss notifications and alerts until the watch is back in Bluetooth range of your phone.
Also missing from the OnePlus Watch are any rotating bezels or crowns — the only way to interact with it is to tap and swipe on the screen itself or push the buttons on the side.
Even though it doesn’t have a voice assistant, the OnePlus Watch does have a microphone and speaker, so you can answer calls from your wrist via Bluetooth. It worked fine in my tests; callers said I sounded clear to them, but the speaker on the watch is a bit crackly at full volume. It works in a pinch.
The OnePlus Watch has exceptional battery life and charges very quickly on its included charger.
The best thing about the OnePlus Watch is its battery life. OnePlus claims up to 14 days of usage between charges — it lasted about 10 days for me, wearing it day and night. Charging the watch is also quick and easy: just 20 minutes on the charger adds half a charge, which translates to literal days of usage. No Apple, Samsung, or Wear OS watch can last this long or charge this quickly.
But at the same time, the OnePlus Watch has such great battery life because, frankly, it just does less than those other smartwatches. The best comparison I can make is that the OnePlus Watch is a fitness tracker in a smartwatch body, which would be an acceptable premise if it were a better fitness tracker.
There are about 50 different watchfaces to choose from for the OnePlus Watch.
The OnePlus Watch may look like a lot of other smartwatches, but I can’t say it compares well to them. It’s limited in features, only comes in one size, and as I’ve gone over, there are several bugs with it that make it feel like an unfinished product. Aside from its long battery life, the OnePlus Watch’s bestselling point is its low price, which is half that of a Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and over $100 less than the comparably sized Galaxy Watch Active 2. But if you’re looking for a smartwatch for your Android phone, it’s not that hard to find Wear OS models on sale, often for less than the cost of the OnePlus Watch.
For me, a good smartwatch is a lot like a personal assistant on my wrist. It tells me the time, when my next calendar appointment is, what the weather is like, and how active I’ve been throughout the day. I can quickly ask it to set a timer when I’m making a cup of tea or use it to reply to a message from my spouse when I’m running an errand. It also lets me customize its appearance and capabilities through third-party apps, watchfaces, or both. For others, it’s a way to track workouts and keep on top of their personal health.
In that framing, the OnePlus Watch isn’t really a smartwatch and based on my experience, it isn’t a great fitness tracker either. Instead, it’s just a clever watch, and it can be useful if your expectations of it are low. But if a smartwatch is going to take up real estate on my wrist, it has to be more useful than the OnePlus Watch.
Between the excellent operating system and solid all-round performance, this is an impressively complete package at a reasonable price
For
Excellent upscaling
Bold, colourful picture
Superb Roku UI
Against
Sonically lightweight
Colours can be heavy-handed
There are reasons why wine is dated by year. The grapes might come from the same fields, the fermentation process may be identical and the barrels alike, but the taste and quality still vary from season to season. While TV panel production is unlikely to be quite so affected by the weather, the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK proves that just because you use the same materials and method as last year’s excellent vintage, it doesn’t mean the results will be the same.
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is likely to be the cheapest 50in TV we’ll see on sale in the UK this year from a major manufacturer. It promises a good-sized, punchy 4K HDR image and all the major apps and services you could need, without so much as an additional box or stick in sight.
It’s a pledge that Hisense delivered so well in 2020 with its R50B7120UK model that it has decided to leave the recipe pretty much as it was for its 2021 Roku TV. While there are many Roku TVs available in the US, for the UK this Hisense model stands alone.
Pricing
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is priced at £349, although if last year’s set is anything to go by, that could drop significantly later in the year. The Hisense Roku TV A7200GTUK is also available in 43in, 55in and 65in sizes, though our review sample here is the 50in version. On paper, these other panel variants are identical, apart from that the 43in size comes with a lower-powered, twin 7W speaker system and the top-end size benefits from a two 10W speaker set-up.
These Hisense Roku TVs are only available in the UK and are Argos exclusives.
Features
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
The Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is simple and unassuming in style and appearance and the chassis is almost the same as the previous model. It’s a little more even on the rear, though the overall thickness remains identical. The feet are matte plastic instead of gloss, but that’s about it.
The one key improvement is on the front, where the bezel has been reduced from a basic-looking 1cm band to something closer to 4mm, giving a more contemporary aesthetic. There’s no change to the usable and fully featured remote control. There are direct shortcuts buttons to Freeview Play, Netflix, Google Play Movies & TV, Spotify and Rakuten, plus some clear navigation and media controls too.
Around the rear of the set are three HDMI 2.0-rated ports which can manage frame rates of up to 60Hz at 4K level. There’s also a USB 2.0 socket, a wired headphones connection, and ARC support for easy connection to a soundbar.
Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK tech specs
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
HDR formats HDR10, HLG
Sound formats Dolby Audio, DTS Studio Sound
Inputs 3x HDMI 2.0 (inc ARC), USB 2.0, headphones out
Freeview Play Yes
Dimensions (hwd) 72 x 113 x 26cm (with stand)
Weight 9kg
The Roku TV smart platform is pretty close to flawless. It covers all the major streaming services as well as thousands of seriously niche ones. You want a channel dedicated to crossbow hunting? It’s there. Fancy gaining more knowledge about the cigar industry? You’ll find that here too, along with plenty of other topics.
The only gaps in its offering are Britbox, Apple Music, Amazon Music and VLC, although it does have its own Roku media app, and Airplay support means you can stream most missing content from Apple devices.
You’ll find 4K HDR content available on all the big players. Since last year’s model was launched, UHD support for Google Play has arrived as has the BT Sport app, which is good news for football fans.
It’s also well worth downloading the Roku Channel, which brings free access to over 10,000 films, TV episodes and documentaries from over 40 content partners. But it’s not just the apps that make Roku great, it’s the ease of use. The menu system is simple and clear and the universal search is excellent. Type in the name of an app, TV show, film, actor or director and it brings up all the information you need. Results pages show all the streaming services where each title is available, with the resolution and price information. That now includes the catch-up services, which is an upgrade on the platform compared to last year’s Roku TV.
To set up voice searching, you’ll need to download the handy Roku TV app allowing you to add new channels, cast content from your mobile or tablet to your TV, or just use it to control playback. We also love the Private Listening mode on the app interface; press that and the TV’s sound is routed through your device. Attach a pair of headphones to your mobile and you have a personal AV experience – perfect for late-night viewing.
For live TV, the Freeview tuner is at the helm, along with the Freeview Play homepage of curated catch-up content. At the heart of the experience is the exact same quad-core processor to do the leg work. It offers more than enough to drive the system with barely a hint of lag or frozen responses at any point. Once again, Roku TV is a pleasure to use from top to bottom, from app to screen.
Picture
(Image credit: Future / The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, Amazon Prime)
Despite its low price, the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK is still a direct-lit LED TV – and it shows. Compared with others at this end of the market, the light levels are fairly even across the panel and, even if there’s a little bit of bleed, the blacks are strong with no off-putting blotchiness. Unlike pcirier direct-lit LED sets, though, there appears not to have been enough left in the budget for any local dimming zones, and that’s probably the most telling absence on the spec sheet.
We watch the opening sequences of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 on 4K Blu-ray and the Missouri cloudscape is more heavy-handed than we’re used to. The dramatic overtones are still there, with plenty of contrast to handle that, but the lack of close control to individual areas of the backlighting means that it’s missing the subtlety of a more expensive TV set.
However, Hisense seems to know where this TV’s strengths lie. It’s not trying to offer finesse, it’s aiming to land a punch. And it does so successfully. The picture is bright and colourful, and even sharper and richer than its apparently identical predecessor.
This second run of Hisense Roku TVs for the UK really comes into its own once we leave the confines of Earth and head to the Sovereign planet for the Guardians’ battle with the Abilisk and a firework display of colour and fun.
The kaleidoscope of gases spewed by the multi-dimensional, tentacled monster look terrific, and the characters flying around it are bold and well-defined in all their HDR glory. There’s no adjustment for motion processing onboard, but while there’s some judder it isn’t hard to cope with. There’s no blurring and smearing of the action to distract either.
Switching down to standard-definition material with Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray, we are reminded of last year’s Roku TV and its brilliance with upscaling from 1080p. Fortunately, that ability remains intact.
The opening scene in the hut is as revealing in terms of shadow detail as we could hope. It’s worth adjusting the brightness slider in the picture settings until you strike the right balance. In terms of starting points, the ‘Normal’ setting gets you closest to the best results, but make sure ‘TV Brightness’ is set to max.
Both the early scenes of Rey’s desert home on Jakku and the lush green forests of Maz’s home planet of Takodana are produced with enthralling colours and so much natural detail that it’s hard to find fault with the picture. Even watching BBC News in SD, the picture is remarkably sharp and stable for a panel this size, even if the colours are more simplistic.
Our only real criticism of the image is at higher resolutions. Occasionally that punchy approach can take things too far; it doesn’t have the same chromatic complexity as more expensive TVs. The result is that every now and then, the colour of a piece of clothing or skin tone misses the mark.
For example, Quill’s overcoat ends up a little too oxblood in the throne room scene in front of Princess Ayesha. There’s also a moment when Gamora’s green face is a little too lurid, but there are relatively few of these mishaps. What this TV does with its limited technical resources is impressive.
Sound
(Image credit: Future)
According to the spec sheet, there’s no difference between the Hisense Roku R50A7200GTUK and its 2020 predecessor, but their two sonic presentations are like chalk and cheese. One favours clarity, the other authority, but ultimately neither one produces particularly better TV sound than the other. It seems there’s only so much life that can be squeezed from this modest two 8W speaker system.
As with the picture adjustments, there are only a few settings to play with – only really the DTS processing mode and a dialogue enhancer. There’s also a TruVolume mode for night-time listening which will limit the peaks and troughs of loudness at any one volume level, so that you can hear the onscreen action without waking your neighbours.
Watching the battle sequence outside Maz’s tavern midway through Star Wars: The Force Awakens, gives an excellent sense of what this speaker system can manage. Given its limited resources, this TV copes pretty well. The sound effects of the laser blasts and the TIE fighters screaming past are crisp and detailed. The battle cries and dialogue of the rebels and troopers are clear and placed effectively in the soundscape. When the X-Wings come to the rescue and chase off the Empire, the rousing score still manages to excite.
Naturally, there’s room for improvement. There’s not enough under the hood here to produce the whole frequency range with quality. Hisense has opted to prize the midrange and upper-mid sounds, which is good for voices but means that there’s not a huge amount of impact to gunshots and explosions. Equally, the sound can feel a little strained and congested in the treble. If you find it borders on being difficult to listen to, switch off the DTS.
That said, to expect much more from a TV at this price would be unrealistic. It never fails to deliver the meaning of the source material, no matter the content. You might wish for a little more fun while watching big action movies, but you’ll be thanking your lucky stars every time you opt for more character driven dramas.
Does it spread the audio all the way round the room? Does it offer height-infused Dolby Atmos sound? No. It’s a TV with small speakers and just enough processing that means you can understand what everyone is saying. Not all soundbars can manage that.
Verdict
The vintage may be different, but this is another great year. We suspect that Hisense and Roku have made the best 50in TV you’ll find for under £350 in 2021. Neither the picture nor the sound are perfect but, combined with a brilliant feature set and an unbeatable content offering, the results are a lot more than the price infers.
It’s like uncorking a £4 bottle and discovering that it’s no cheap plonk. And that’s something we can all drink to.
TCL is continuing its charge for the top spots in global TV sales. Currently ranked third, according to its statistics, TCL is expanding this year by bringing its Mini-LED TVs to the UK for the first time. It has also promised to produce its own OLED panels by 2023.
TCL has invested over $30bn in its CSOT panel fabrication business. Currently no. 2 in world LCD sales, it has already built its self-emissive panel plant with which it plans to take on LG.
At today’s press conference TCL outlined updates to its lower and mid-range P and C Series TVs, all of which will come with Google TV. Those in UK, France and Germany will also get a TikTok app from March onwards. Details of the premium 8K TCL X Series TV have been left until June but the company has confirmed that the 2000nit TCL X12 Mini LED TV will be among them.
As for the TVs from today’s event, the top model announced was the Mini-LED backed TCL C82 Series which comes in 55in and 65in sizes. It’s a 100Hz, 4K HDR screen fitted with an Onkyo tuned 3.1.2 soundbar which is Dolby Atmos enabled and has upward firing audio.
It supports both AirPlay and Chromecast, and comes with HDMI 2.1 features including ALLM, VRR and eARC. It will also work with Nvidia G-sync anti-tearing tech.
A step down is the TCL C72+ which looks also to be a full array Mini LED range. Like the C82s, it’s ready for gamers with the same HDMI 2.1 features included but this time without the Onkyo soundbar. It has three size variants: 55, 65 and 75in.
Below that is the straight TCL C72 Series which replaces the C71 Series currently available in UK stores. These are QLED TVs which, as with the models above, can handle HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, including Dolby Vision IQ. There are no plans for HDR10+ yet. The biggest of the ranges announced, the C72 will be available in 43, 50, 55, 65 and 75in panels.
The bottom of the pile are the TCL P72 LCD TVs which come in the same sizes as the C72 but without the 75in model.
While prices and dates are currently unavailable, the company has stated that the TCL C82 TVs will arrive in the UK in Q2 of 2021.
MORE:
Mini-LED TV: everything you need to know about the OLED rival
(Pocket-lint) – Hammerhead claims that the Karoo 2 is the closest you’ll get to a smartphone. That’s no surprise, because this is a Google Android-based bike computer – the operating system that so many phones run – which is cause for some excitement.
Hammerhead’s pitch with the Karoo 2 is that you’ll get regular updates. And that’s true – indeed, we’ve started to write this review on several occasions, only to find we wanted to explore something more following additional updates.
As a result of updates, the Karoo 2 has got better over the months we’ve been using it. But is it good enough to tempt you away from the likes of the Garmin Edge?
Design and build
Dimensions: 100.6 x 60.8 x 19.3mm / Weight: 131g
Handlebar and out-front mounts included
IP67 waterproofing
The Hammerhead Karoo 2 has a 3.2-inch display, meaning it sits between the Garmin Edge 530/830 and Edge 1030 sizes, but it’s bigger than the Wahoo bike computers. It’s on the larger size, yes, but that’s good for quick glancing.
The body itself is a glass-filled polycarbonate, with an elastomer bumper. The display is topped with Dragontrail Glass for scratch resistance, while the whole package gets an IP67 rating to keep the water and mud out.
Pocket-lint
On the rear there’s a sealed compartment you can open with a coin that will accept a SIM card, while a USB-C socket on the bottom of the device is used for charging. This has a rubber bung that inserts into it (with a spare in the box), but it’s not attached in any way. We’ve no qualms about losing it on a ride, but we might lose it when we have to take it out for charging.
We’ve used the Karoo 2 in rain and shine, through mud and sleet, and we’ve no worries about the waterproofing of this device. It feels solid, it looks good, and it’s kept on going with all we’ve put it through.
Best Fitbit fitness tracker 2021: Which Fitbit is right for you?
By Britta O’Boyle
·
We’re not huge fans of the buttons being on opposite sides of the body, though, because we find it more difficult to press a button than ought to be. Press the bottom button too hard and the device might rotate on the mount – which is how you remove it. But with another button on the other side, gripping to press on one side is a little more difficult. Basically, we’d prefer them to be staggered.
Pocket-lint
It’s something of a moot point, however, given that most cycling gloves these days work with touch displays (or one finger does at least) and there’s touch support for pretty much anything you might want to use a button for – although this is less reliable in the wet, when the buttons come into their own.
Turning to mounting, there’s an out-front mount in the box, which users Hammerhead’s connection system. This will let you slide it into place to lock in securely, with a twist to release and slide forward again to remove. This means you can mount it on busy handlebars without a twist as large as you’d need for a Garmin computer, for example.
The supplied mount is designed to sit out the front of your handlebars and to be aerodynamic. It’s designed for standard 31.8mm bars and there’s no shims supplied for anyone riding a vintage steed or anything smaller.
There is an adapter to switch the Karoo 2 to a Garmin quarter-turn mount, which was bundled with preorders, otherwise available as an accessory (it’s £14 in the UK). That’s a great option as you can switch between bikes using an old mount (which we did), without having to mess around with changing all the mounts on all your bikes.
The display is important, because in a world of data, that’s what you spend your time looking at. It’s a good resolution too, with 292 pixels per inch, and while that’s somewhat lower in count than the latest smartphones, it suits the content well enough – which is the important point.
As this is an Android-based system (Android 8, so generations behind current phones), some of the interface and interactions will be familiar. Trying to use the tiny keyboard, however, especially for setup, is a little tedious – and Hammerhead could well do with offloading some of these tasks to a companion app, in the way Garmin does.
Pocket-lint
There is plentiful brightness, but it’s not automatic, so you might have to swipe to bump it up when the rain starts falling – or indeed when the sun comes out.
There’s a Qualcomm-supplied quad-core processor, 32GB of storage, and a whole world of connectivity. That includes all the essentials: Bluetooth and ANT+ for accessories; GPS for location tracking; Wi-Fi for syncing and updates; 3G/4G for mobile data connectivity; motion sensors to aid navigation, and so forth.
This being an Android device it’s important that there’s enough power to do what you want. Startup is a little slow, but we’ve got used to starting it on the way to getting changed for a ride. Loading routes and profiles is a little slower than we’d like too, but we’re sure that software updates could fix this.
Pocket-lint
It’s easy to manage connected devices, perhaps a little simpler than some other bike computers, especially if you know your way around Android.
We tested the Hammerhead with Garmin ANT+ bike sensors, Scosche Rhythm+ 2.0, and the Polar Verity Sense via Bluetooth – and found no connectivity problems at all.
On to that smartphone-like experience. There’s no call support, because even with the SIM card this isn’t a phone, but the card slot in the back gives the option for a permanent data connection. Otherwise, you can just use a Wi-Fi hotspot from the phone – the one that’s probably in the back pocket of your jersey anyway – to save you needing another SIM.
Pocket-lint
However, there’s no data connection between the Karoo 2 and your actual smartphone via Bluetooth – all the syncing that the Karoo 2 does is via its own Wi-Fi or data connection if you’ve given it a SIM card. That’s mostly fine – but does also present some limitations.
You could, of course, ditch your smartphone and just take the connected Karoo 2, knowing that it will give you map searching and other features. But on a display this small, it could end up being just a little too frustrating when you get properly lost.
How Hammerhead handles its data
Karoo Companion app
Browser-based dashboard
Third-party services
You need to make sure the Karoo 2 is connected to Wi-Fi if you want to sync a new route that you’ve made, or to push ride data to a third-party service, because Hammerhead isn’t trying to run its own platform.
This is the fundamental difference between the Karoo 2 and Garmin’s devices: Garmin wants you to be as connected as possible, to feed data into Garmin Connect and drive the data machine. Hammerhead doesn’t offer that, so presenting some services is limited or constricted, while third-party connectivity plays a bigger role.
We hinted before that setup is a little strange. There’s no real smartphone app for starters: there’s the Karoo Companion app, which only handles push notifications; or there’s the web dashboard. This is a weird position for a company developing on Android, as you’d think Hammerhead would focus on being mobile first – but it’s not.
Pocket-lint
The notifications you get are a little basic too, missing a huge opportunity: Android quick replies. This is a gem that iPhone won’t know about, but quick replies on Android work really well on Garmin, letting you send a reply to an incoming message or call – really useful when you’re riding. Visually, the Hammerhead notifications are too basic too, so could certainly be presented better.
Instead you need to get yourself onto the browser and setup your Hammerhead account and then sign into your Karoo with that account when it arrives. There’s some downloading and updating that takes place – but syncing, you’ll remember, is via the device to third-party services and the dashboard, rather than within a smartphone app.
Really, your phone plays no part – and we think Hammerhead could make everything smoother with much closer pairing with phones. For example: if you want use the live tracking feature, that data can’t go via your Bluetooth-connected phone, you have to connect the Karoo 2 via Wi-Fi or a data connection and then share a URL to those you want to live track you.
It’s jumping through disconnected hoops and resulted in us using WhatsApp location tracking instead. Bear in mind that Garmin’s livetracking can be set to automatically notify a list of people as soon as you start a ride – and that’s really what Hammerhead needs to offer, rather than relying on people finding a link that was shared with them a few months prior.
Pocket-lint
Some might say there aren’t enough partnerships to drive this platformless system. For many, the link with Strava will give them all the data analysis they want, with the reciprocal Strava Segments in place too – which does have some parity to Garmin’s offering, allowing you to have your starred Segments pop up when you get to them.
But there’s a lot that’s not on the list – and while more is likely to come, Hammerhead really needs to cover all cyclists’ needs.
Naturally, without a full platform for data analysis, most will be looking at this on Strava – which you can read about here – with Hammerhead’s dashboard only showing basic time, route, distance and elevation details.
Being Android-based also adds opportunity. Hammerhead mentions sideloading APKs onto the Karoo 2, which might be beyond your average user – but certainly there’s the opportunity for native apps rather than just data syncing. With a little thought, the Karoo 2 could be running its own Strava app or a Komoot app – but with the Karoo 2 running Android 8 (software originally released in 2017), some developers might baulk at the thought of working with that older version.
On the saddle and navigation
Profile customisation
Offline mapping
Rapid rerouting
With all that out of the way and accepted, riding with the Karoo 2 is actually great. The user interface presents a range of profiles, each offering up different data sets. The default selection is a little odd, but you can make a custom profile or edit any of the default profiles to your liking.
It’s worth having a play around with, because once you’ve entered one of these profiles you can’t back out and switch to something else if you find you can’t get to the data you want. But you can customise all the existing profiles, so if you want to add cadence instead of your average heart rate (or whatever) that’s easy enough to do.
Pocket-lint
And there are loads of data fields, including shifting information for Shimano Di2, battery life, every variant on time, power, climb, etc., that you can think of. It makes everything super customisable so you’re looking at exactly what you want.
Navigation is good, with the option to create routes on the device, sync routes from other platforms, import GPX files and so forth. Despite the lack of a proper smartphone app, you can download a GPX route and upload it to the Dashboard in your phone browser, to then appear on your Karoo 2 when it syncs.
Hammerhead does have a habit of changing routes – especially offroad routes. Having found and saved a route in Komoot, Hammerhead then imported and reinterpreted it, switching some of the forest paths to roads. Attempting to edit that route created a lot of doglegs, again attempting to avoid some of the paths that are perfectly legitimate to ride on.
Pocket-lint
Rerouting is rapid, however, but missing a waypoint can lead to lengthy rerouting instructions – especially if that missed point is the start of the route. You’ll spend the first 10 minutes being directed back to where you came from.
The GPS is accurate and fast to locate, with a good sense of direction. Thankfully it uses arrows on the route and a directional arrow for you, so on circuits or routes that cross themselves, there’s no confusion.
Navigating maps on a ride is easy too, because you can pinch and zoom, or drag around the map, which is far easier than Garmin’s system.
When you’ve planned a route and head out, you’ll be able to see route profile data so you can see how long those climbs are and when they’re coming up, so you can prepare yourself to open the hurt box.
Pocket-lint
Once in a route you can browse the maps on the device to make an alteration. For example, if you need to get home, you can zoom out on screen, drop a pin on home, then follow the new route easily enough – which is great for last-minute changes.
There is support for workouts too, which can be imported from TrainingPeaks, so you can directly access them on the Karoo 2. Although as we said previously, there’s room to expand this offering to make it more encompassing.
A lot of what the Karoo 2 offers is about expanding the offering too. As we said in the introduction, the software is always changing. Mostly this adds functionality which is welcomed – but we’ve seen a few rearrangements of the on-screen controls that took us by surprise. You’ll get an email detailing the changes, but Hammerhead also has a changelog here.
Battery life
2500mAh battery
12 hour reliable life
If you’ve used a smartphone you might be concerned about battery life. Having moved to Hammerhead from the capable Garmin Edge 830, we were pleasantly surprised.
You’ll get a reliable 12 hours of battery life from this computer. There are measures you can take to reduce the battery drain – including turning off the display if you just don’t need all those functions – and charging is fairly fast too.
Pocket-lint
You’ll get 30 per cent charge from 30 minutes plugged in – but you’ll need 3 hours to fully charge it again. And there’s no charger in the box, but as USB-C is common now you can simply charge it with any existing charger.
But put this in context: most phones will happily charge fully in half this time – with much larger batteries. So this isn’t really that fast in terms of charging speed, not when compared to the phone market. Certainly, we’d love to see faster charging in a future Karoo – just so you can avoid those last-minute delays.
Verdict
The biggest thing about the Karoo 2 is accepting that you might be stepping away from a huge ecosystem to do things a little differently. Unless you’re really committed to specific Garmin features, the mainstay of the Karoo 2’s offering is excellent – the visible and recorded data, the customisation, solid build and good battery life.
For those who live in Strava, rather than something like Garmin Connect, the Karoo 2 will potentially provide you with everything you need, rather than being drawn off into complete lifestyle tracking. But there are areas where the Karoo 2 can get more competitive – and it needs to, given the fairly steep price.
When all is said and done, the Karoo 2 is a great bike computer. It’s getting better all the time and fundamentally it gives everything you’ll need on a ride. Over time it has endeared itself to us.
Alternatives to consider
Pocket-lint
Garmin Edge 830
squirrel_widget_3662313
A natural rival to the Karoo 2, with a similar asking price. It’s equally ambitious, bettering the Karoo in terms of its smartphone interaction, while playing into a larger ecosystem where Garmin will help track your whole lifestyle – not just your rides.
The Google Play Movies and TV app will no longer be available on any Roku set-top box or any Samsung, LG, Vizio or Roku smart TV starting July 15th, Google has announced (via 9to5Google). If you have movies or TV shows purchased or rented through the service, you’ll still be able to access them through the “Your movies and shows” section of the YouTube app on those devices.
This change will also affect you if if you used the Movies and TV app to access Movies Anywhere, the service that allows you to redeem codes from DVDs and Blu-rays so you can access your media digitally. Google has confirmed to The Verge that users who relied on Play Movies and TV to access that content will be able to do so through YouTube.
There are a few other caveats to note in the transition to YouTube. Your Watchlist will no longer be viewable in the app (though it can still be seen on the web by Googling “my watchlist”), and while your family can still share the content you bought from the Movie and TV store, any purchases made in the YouTube app won’t be shared with your family.
If you have movies or TV content purchased through the Play Store, here’s how you’ll be able to access them after July 15th:
On Android phones/tablets: using the Google TV app or the YouTube app
On iPhones/iPads: using the Google Play Movies and TV app, or the YouTube App
On Roku devices: using the YouTube app
On Samsung, LG, Vizio, and Roku smart TVs: using the YouTube app
On Chromecast: using the Google TV app
On the web: using the Google Play Movies and TV website or YouTube website
On Android TV: using the Google Play Movies and TVapp (according to Google’s documentation)
To view your content on YouTube, log in, go to Library, then tap “Your movies and shows.” There, you’ll see your Google Play Store movie and TV purchases, your Movies Anywhere content, and any content purchased from within the YouTube app itself (with the family sharing caveat noted above).
Transitioning from one app to another can be tough, but Google is hoping to take some of the sting away for users by offering them a gift code that can be applied to their next movie or TV purchase — though you’ll have to redeem it on YouTube.
Google is shutting down the Google Play Movies & TV apps for Roku, Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs on June 15, but past purchases should be available in the YouTube apps for those platforms, and you can use Play credits with YouTube. Watchlists won’t transfer though. pic.twitter.com/WJh0qAYTPg
The desktop Google Photos website seems to be getting the ability to scan for text in an image and turn it into copy-and-pasteable text, thanks to Google’s Lens technology (via 9to5Google). Lens has been available in many places on Android for a while, but its optical character recognition (OCR) feature coming to the desktop could make Google Photos an easy and free way to get real-life text onto your computer.
According to 9to5Google, the feature seems to be rolling out widely, but a writer at XDA-Developers didn’t have it show up for them. I was able to use it, though. To use it (or to check if you have it yet), load up the Google Photos site and go to a photo where you’ve captured some text (such as a page of a book, a sign, a receipt, etc). If Google detects words, a “Copy text from image” button should pop up, and clicking that will open a pane that lets you read the text that Google found.
The Copy text from image button will show up on images that Google finds text in.
One practical application of having Lens on desktop could be scanning written text documents and pasting that into something you’re writing on a desktop computer. To test this, I took this picture of an open book, and the results were nearly flawless:
You can select the text directly on the photo or use the sidebar.
Lens even managed to interpret an “æ” correctly.
Google Lens has many more abilities on Android (and in the iOS Google Photos app), but it seems that text-copying is the only one that’s made it to the desktop so far. The browser version of Google Photos didn’t offer to translate a picture with Spanish text (though it did let me copy the text), and it doesn’t look like it can identify things like animals or plants.
Still, it’s nice to see one of Lens’ most useful features coming to the desktop version of Google Photos, and hopefully it’s an indication that more are on the way.
(Pocket-lint) – The smart speaker space has really taken off this past few years, and having only given us one size speaker for a good portion of that time, Apple finally launched the little round HomePod mini in 2020. But should you buy it over an Echo Dot?
In the video below we go over some of the key differences between them, or you can read on if you’d rather:
Design
HomePod mini: 84.3 x 97.9mm
Echo Dot: 89 x 100mm
HomePod: Space Grey and White
Echo Dot: Charcoal, Glacier White and Twilight Blue
Both: Fabric coated
Both devices are small, fabric coated mini globes, and are practically the same size. Do not a lot of difference in the appearance stakes. What makes a bigger difference are other elements of the design.
For instance, the Echo Dot has four physical buttons, each different shapes. So if you’re fumbling around in the dark you can feel which button is which before you press it.
Having four distinct buttons also means you know what they do pretty much instinctively. Volume up and down is self explanatory, while the mute button is pretty easy to figure out too.
Apple has gone with a simple all touch-sensitive surface and for basic functions it works well enough. If you have music playing, you can just tap to pause and tap again to play again, or tap on the left ‘-‘ or right ‘+’ icons to adjust the volume.
In truth, when it comes to controlling music, it’s often easier just to use a voice command – which they can both do, whether you want to tell it to skip to the next track, or turn the volume up or down.
Both light up to let you know when they’re listing for a command too. So if you say “Hey Siri”, you get that nebulous glow on the top panel letting you know Siri is listening. Alexa gives you that simpler and – arguably – visually clearer blue LED ring around the base that reflects off the surface it’s sat on.
The other design choice that makes a difference is Amazon opted to put a 3.5mm port in the back. That means if you want to add Alexa smarts to an existing – but better sounding – sound system, you can plug it into a speaker or amp port you already have. HomePod doesn’t give you that functionality.
Music
HomePod: Apple Music voice control support
Echo Dot: Supports Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer + Amazon Music
HomePod: AirPlay support
Echo Dot: Supports Spotify Connect and Bluetooth
If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, it just makes sense to go with HomePod. In our experience, it’s been more reliable when it comes to responding to requests to play the music in the way that we like.
The thing that stands out in our testing is when you ask it to shuffle one of your playlists. Alexa just doesn’t do it with Apple Music, it just plays through the playlist in the order you added tracks to it, no matter if you ask it to shuffle and it says ‘ok’.
Similarly, Echo often misunderstands the request. One particular instance was when asked for ‘Space’ Orchestral Version by Biffy Clyro, HomePod played the song. Echo heard ‘Orchestral’ and decided just to play some random orchestral music.
If you have an iPhone, it’s also really easy to control music on the HomePod. You can either open up the Home app and select the speaker and control the music from there, or put your phone near the speaker and tap the popup widget that appears.
Plus, once it’s playing, a control appears on your Lock Screen automatically allowing you to control it without even opening your phone.
With Amazon Echo, the strength is in its compatibility. It does let you use your Apple Music account, but also supports more providers.
For Spotify subscribers not only does it let you use voice actions to play your Spotify playlists and albums, but also works with the Spotify Connect service, so you can control it from within the Spotify app once that music is playing. You can also control it from the Alexa app.
squirrel_widget_4324599
If soud quality is the most important thing to you, the HomePod has it here.
In comparison we found the Echo Dot sounded noticeably more distorted, and bass wasn’t as tightly controlled as the HomePod. But then, given the price difference, that’s not surprising. They’ll both fill a small room with sound quite comfortably, but in the Alexa app you can also adjust the EQ if you want to adjust the highs, mids and bass frequencies to your liking.
Still, HomePod was the clearer and crisper sounding of the two, and coped better with lower bass notes. They didn’t seem to fall off a cliff as much as they might with the little Echo.
Smart home
HomePod: HomeKit integration
Echo Dot: Alexa Skills support
Both: Support timers, reminders, alarms and to-do lists
If you’re buying a speaker primarily as a smart home control, there’s no competition here. Apple’s is still quite limited, because you can only really control HomeKit compatible devices easily with it at the moment, and there aren’t as many of those as there are Alexa-compatible services.
In the home where both were tested side-by-side we had various smarthome products ranging from lighting to heating and robot vacuums. We had bulbs from LiFX, Wiz and Nanoleaf, a Roborock vacuum, Tado thermostat and Ring Video Doorbell 2.
In this setup, only the Nanoleaf and Tado systems were supported by HomeKit natively without any complex workarounds. Alexa could control all of it.
As for other features, both will let you set reminders, or broadcast to other Echo or HomePod devices in the house, or use them as intercom. Plus, you can set timers, alarms, or ask them the weather or make use of their various funny Easter eggs.
One thing to watch out for in future is Thread. It’s a smarthome system that makes devices interoperable without needing HomeKit or Alexa skills support. The idea being that devices can talk to eachother without that account in the middle acting as the go-between.
HomePod Mini supports Thread, potentially making it more future proof. Echo devices don’t currently support Thread.
Conclusion
When choosing between these two, it will likely come down to one of two things. If you’re want to save money, you get the Echo. If you want smart home control, you get the Echo. If you want cross platform music support, you get the Echo.
squirrel_widget_2744714
But if the most important thing is better sounding music, or your an Apple Music subscriber with an iPhone, the HomePod mini will give you the better experience. But for most people, we think the Echo Dot is the more practical speaker.
The Federal Communications Commission has released a new speed test app to help measure internet speeds across the country, available on both Android and iOS.
The FCC Speed Test App works similarly to existing speed-testing apps like Ookla’s and Fast by Netflix, automatically collecting and displaying data once users press the “start testing” button. According to the FCC, the data collected through the app will inform the agency’s efforts to collect more accurate broadband speed information and aid its broadband deployment efforts.
The FCC’s Speed Test app allows users to test their speeds and share the data.
“To close the gap between digital haves and have nots, we are working to build a comprehensive, user-friendly dataset on broadband availability,” Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Monday. “Expanding the base of consumers who use the FCC Speed Test app will enable us to provide improved coverage information to the public and add to the measurement tools we’re developing to show where broadband is truly available throughout the United States.”
The app is part of the agency’s broader efforts to collect more accurate broadband speed data across the country. The FCC’s current coverage maps are built from self-reported data from internet service providers like AT&T and Verizon. In doing so, the process has allowed ISPs to exaggerate their current coverage, drawing heated criticism from broadband access advocates.
Earlier this year, the FCC asked the public to fact-check ISP data by entering in their address here and submitting a form here if the information described is incorrect.
As all adults across the US become eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Facebook is making it easier for its users to find information based on where they live. The company has started rolling out a feature that pins a box with state-specific information about where to get a COVID-19 vaccine at the top of the News Feed for every US user living in a state where the general public is eligible to receive the shot.
The box, once available, will appear at the top of your News Feed and show you state-specific information, confirming that you are now eligible to receive the vaccine, including a link on where to find the vaccine in your province, as seen in the image below:
The new feature is a box that is pinned to your News Feed.Image: Facebook
Most US states have now made vaccination appointments available to all adults, although some states are still lagging. With more availability, it has become a challenge for some people in certain parts of the US to book an appointment, leading some volunteers to build dedicated websites to help people in their search.
The feature is also available in “nearly 20 countries,” according to Facebook, with the ultimate goal to release it in more areas as countries begin opening COVID-19 vaccinations to the general public.
Facebook rolled out a similar feature to its mobile app last year, which helped fight misinformation about COVID-19 appearing on its platform as the site saw a surge in users. Facebook says more than 3 million US users clicked through those promotions between January and March, suggesting the new vaccine links may reach a significant number of Facebook users in the months to come.
Google is recruiting people to give feedback for a new consumer-facing medical records tool, Stat News reported on Friday. The company wants to know how people want to interact with information pulled from their medical records.
Right now, the company is recruiting around 300 people who use Android devices in Northern California, Atlanta, and Chicago.
This is Google’s second attempt at creating a way for people to access their medical records. In 2008, it launched Google Health, which aimed to give people a way to see their health information online. It didn’t take off, and Google shut it down in 2012. “We haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people,” Google wrote in a 2011 blog post.
In the aftermath, experts had a number of different theories for the failure: some thought it was because consumers at the time weren’t actually interested in taking direct control of their health records. Others said Google didn’t do enough to integrate with the health IT landscape or that the company didn’t do enough to show people that it could be trusted with their health data.
A decade later, we’re in a very different digital health landscape. Apple launched a health records section in its Health app in 2018, which lets people pull their records from hospitals and clinics directly onto their iPhone. Health apps have proliferated, wearables are adopting wellness features, and people are more and more accustomed to handling their health information through smartphones and other devices.
Google is also working on the doctor-facing side of health records; its Care Studio program gives clinicians a way to search through patient records more easily. Other health efforts include a research app that lets Android users participate in medical studies and a Nest Hub feature that tracks sleep.
Google is “making progress” on the consumer health record initiative, Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Stat News. He advises Google on its health records projects. “It didn’t knock my socks off,” he said, but “I think they’re doing it in a thoughtful, measured, and mature way.”
Bringing home a used face mask can harbor unseen and unwanted bacteria. But we’ve noticed something over the years—where there’s a problem, there’s a Raspberry Pi solution! Today’s project tackles this issue and is known as the Box of Hope, developed by Jan-Hendrik Ewers, Sarah Swinton, and Martin Karel.
The best Raspberry Pi projects help make life easier, and this project takes a lot of guesswork out of mask sanitization. The Box of Hope has a sanitizing chamber that utilizes UV LEDs to sterilize fabric face masks. It also relies on wireless technology to issue daily usage reminders.
According to the dev team, the project was designed to be a box kept at the user’s home. It’s connected to the internet, which is necessary to send sanitization reminders to a given mobile device.
There are three major components in the project design: an API, a web app, and an I/O server. The RESTful API manages HTTP requests between the client and server. The I/O server runs on the Pi while the web app manages notifications.
If you want to read more about this project, visit the official Box of Hope website and project GitHub page.
In a new video, a developer has shown off a playable version of viral hit Flappy Bird running inside a macOS push notification. It’s the work of Neil Sardesai, who previously made headlines with a clip of Pong running inside a macOS app icon. The hack has yet to receive a public release, but it’s still a neat proof of concept.
According to Sardesai, the feature works by loading a web version of the game into the notification. This playable version is technically a browser-based clone of the original app made by Will Eastcott of PlayCanvas. Sardesai notes that the feature relies on the UserNotificationsUI framework, introduced by Apple with macOS Big Sur, though he says it should also work on iOS.
Distracting notifications are bad enough when you’re trying to get some work done, but combining them with a playable version of an infamously addictive game is the final straw. Sardesai doesn’t appear to have released his work publicly for anyone to try out, which is probably a good thing for the sake of our sanity. After all, the last thing humanity needs right now is for our devices to be able to compel us to play several rounds of Flappy Bird with just a simple notification.
Flappy Bird’s addictive nature was cited by its developer as one of the reasons he removed it from the App Store after it became a hit in 2014. “It happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem,” Dong Nguyen said in an interview at the time. Although the original game is gone from the App Store, numerous clones have surfaced in its wake, including an excellent battle royale version.
Android’s Digital Wellbeing service is getting a new “Heads Up” feature, which will prompt users to stop staring at their phones while walking, XDA Developers reports. The feature appears to be rolling out to the beta version of the Digital Wellbeing app, and one Twitter user reports receiving the feature on their Pixel 4A device.
“If you’re walking while using your phone, get a reminder to focus on what’s around you,” says the Heads Up setup page. The reminders include brief notifications with instructions like “Watch your step,” “Stay alert,” and “Look up,” judging by an app teardown last year by 9to5Google.
“Use with caution. Heads Up doesn’t replace paying attention,” says Google despite the obviousness of such advice. Nevertheless, the feature seems necessary with distracted walking becoming increasingly dangerous.
Digital Wellbeing is a service built into some Android phones to help manage your usage. It can be used to set limits on the amount of time you spend in specific apps, or set up a “Bedtime mode” to make a phone less distracting late at night, for example.
XDA Developers reports that Heads Up seems to be coming to Pixel phones first. We’ve contacted Google for more information on the rollout.
(Pocket-lint) – With some LCD TV makers – including LG! – making a big song and dance about the introduction of Mini LED backlight technology for 2021, the pressure on mainstream OLED TVs to deliver their own substantial hardware leap that’s been rumbling along for years now has become particularly intense.
Just as well, then, that LG’s OLED G1 is stepping up to the plate with a new ‘Evo’ panel design that promises both more brightness and better colour than any LG OLED TV has managed before. Besides that, it’s got all the bells and whistles that cinephiles, gamers and designers will crave in a wall-mount TV. So just how good is it?
Design
4x HDMI 2.1 inputs, 3x USB ports
LAN & Wi-Fi multimedia options
As with LG’s debut Gallery OLED TVs in 2020, the OLED G1 – reviewed here in 65-inch, there’s also 55- and 77-inch versions – is designed very much with wall-mounting in mind. So much so that it only ships with a wall bracket. If you want to place it on desktop legs you’ll have to pay extra for them. And even then they won’t really do the G1’s thin, elegant profile justice.
Pocket-lint
The G1 wall-mount is designed to sit within a recess on the TV’s rear, allowing the screen to hang perfectly flush to a wall. Its impact on your living space is minimised even further, too, by the extreme narrowness of the screen’s frame. You can even choose to play artworks on the screen in a low power mode when you’re not watching it, further justifying the Gallery name.
The only issue with the design, perhaps, is that most people actually don’t wall-mount their TV, but may well still want to get their hands on the G1 series’ unique high brightness panel. If that sounds like you, be prepared to pay the extra for those optional support feet – or a new tripod-style Gallery floorstand LG has introduced for 2021.
The OLED G1’s connections put those of most rivals to shame. Especially when it comes to its four HDMIs, which all meet the latest HDMI 2.1 specification and so can support all the latest features of 4K HDR playback at 120Hz, automatic low latency mode (ALLM) switching for faster gaming response times, and variable refresh rates (VRR). Even in 2021 most rival premium TVs are only offering one or two full-spec HDMIs.
What is ALLM and VRR? TV gaming tech explained
Picture Features
HDR Support: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision
Processing engine: Alpha 9 Gen 4
The advances of the OLED G1’s new Evo panel (which is exclusive to the G1 series) come in two main areas.
First, a new ‘luminous element’ is included to enhance brightness without using lots more power or, so LG claims, increasing the likelihood of the OLED G1 suffering with the permanent image retention issue that can affect OLED technology.
Second, LG has introduced a new green layer into the OLED G1’s panel construction that should, in conjunction with new narrower wavelengths for the red and green colour elements, lead to more dynamic and precise colours across the spectrum.
With Panasonic and Sony also using brightness-enhancing panels on their premium OLED ranges for 2021, though, LG has one other bit of the OLED G1’s picture story it’s keen to talk about: its new Alpha 9 Generation 4 processor. Without this, LG argues, the OLED G1 would not be able to unlock the new panel’s full potential.
The Alpha 9 Gen 4 processor also boasts a few potentially important new more general image tweaks. These include new Natural and Cinema Movement motion processing modes, and enhancements to both LG’s AI Picture Pro and AI Sound Pro automatic picture and sound optimisation options.
On the AI Picture Pro front, the latest processor can now use AI learning to identify when an image may be showing a city scene, a landscape or a night shot, and apply specific rules to the image accordingly. It can even apply ‘rules’ to specific objects or areas of specific content within any overall image, creating a more three-dimensional and natural effect than would be possible by just applying the processing rules equally across the whole image.
The OLED G1’s use of an OLED rather than LCD panel – no surprise given the name, eh? – brings with it innate picture quality advantages too. For instance, it can be watched from almost any angle without its colour saturations or contrast deteriorating significantly. It can also deliver light control down to individual pixel level, so that the darkest blacks the panel is capable of can appear literally right next to the brightest whites, without any dimming/greyness/backlight clouding trade-offs. This sort of local light control just isn’t possible with LCD TVs – not even those that use Mini LED technology.
As usual with a premium LG TV, the OLED G1 supports the Dolby Vision and HLG formats of high dynamic range (HDR) technology, alongside the industry standard HDR10 format. There is no support for the rarer (in source terms) HDR10+ format.
The OLED G1 picks up where the company’s popular 2020 X series OLEDs left off when it comes to gaming, continuing to offer 4K resolution, HDR, 120Hz refresh, plus variable refresh rates (VRR) across all four HDMIs.
Pocket-lint
It introduces a roster of new gaming options via a Game Optimiser ‘dashboard’ too. These options include a series of selectable game genre-based picture presets, an AI Game Sound mode, separate tweaks for the bright and dark extremes of gaming graphics, a Reduce Blue Light option for shifting game graphics to a warmer, less fatiguing colour tone, and separate Standard and Boost input lag reduction options that deliver exceptionally fast response times of just 12.4ms and 9.4ms respectively.
There’s also a new Fine Tune Dark Areas option for VRR gaming that provides a counter-measure to the tendency of OLED TVs to exhibit raised black levels when playing VRR images. So LG is clearly hell bent on retaining the legion of gaming fans it picked up with its forward-thinking 2019 and 2020 LG OLED series.
Smart Features
Smart system: WebOS 6.0
After years of merely refining its much-loved webOS platform, LG has finally introduced some really significant changes on the OLED G1.
A new full-screen interface takes over from the old and familiar strip of app icons along the bottom of the screen. This interface focuses for the most part on recommending content based on household viewing habits and currently popular shows from across the wide range of apps the TV supports. There’s a substantial box to top right, too, that takes you to a well-presented and wide-ranging content search page.
LG
While it makes sense these days to shift the webOS focus to providing recommended content curated from across supported apps rather than making users explore content on a per-app basis, the layout and ‘weighting’ of the new home screen doesn’t feel quite right. The three link options along the top of the screen in particular feel like they’re been given more weight than they really warrant.
The signature webOS source icon strip does still continue along the bottom of the new full-screen home page, and you can scroll down from there to a small selection of further shelves containing a list of all your connected devices, and direct content links to some of the most popular streaming apps. Strangely there’s no Netflix shelf at the time of writing, though, and you can’t change the order the shelves appear in.
LG’s voice control and recognition features – Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and LG’s own ThinQ options are all available – continue to be excellent. As does the system’s level of app support, with all the key streaming services covered. This includes the UK’s terrestrial broadcaster catch-up services via Freeview Play.
Picture Quality
The OLED G1 undoubtedly delivers overall better picture quality than any of LG’s 2020 OLED TVs. Whether it delivers as much of an improvement as some quarters might have been hoping for, though, is another question.
The new Evo panel makes an impact in two ways. First, where an HDR image, such as a shot of sun-drenched blue sky, features almost full-screen brightness, there’s a slightly higher level of overall intensity to the picture than 2020’s LG models can provide. Second, the very brightest parts of HDR images – naked bulbs and lights, reflections on glass or metal, sun-drenched clouds and the like – look punchier and, as a result, more natural.
LG
It’s noticeable, too, that since the Evo panel is designed to handle slightly lighter peaks of brightness, it typically delivers more subtle detailing and shading in the brightest HDR areas.
These differences, along with a slightly richer, more refined HDR-content colour palette, are more consistently noticeable when playing HDR console and PC games than they are with typical video.
Even with the punchiest games, though, the OLED G1 step up from 2020’s LG OLEDs don’t elevate the brand’s OLED performance into a whole new ball park. It’s more refinement than revolution. While this initially feels slightly disappointing, it doesn’t take long living with the OLED G1 to start feeling as if this initial assessment is a bit foolish.
After all, the OLED G1 is providing a 10-20 per cent HDR performance boost to 2020 LG OLED TVs – which were themselves sensational performers. And that’s actually a pretty remarkable achievement in a premium TV world now so good that even the tiniest improvements should be embraced like long lost relatives.
What’s more, the G1’s picture improvements aren’t just down to its new Evo panel. The new Alpha 9 Gen 4 processor has its part to play too, on two levels.
First, the new AI Picture Pro option is a substantial advance over its predecessor. Its ability to apply more effective enhancements on a more local basis yields pictures which look both more eye-catching and more natural. This eye-catching/natural combination is key, since while LG AI processing has previously delivered enhancements to colour, sharpness and contrast, those enhancements have always been accompanied by distracting side effects. On the OLED G1 the improvements are not only more pronounced, but come at the expense of practically no downsides.
There are, of course, people who won’t use the AI Picture Pro mode because they don’t like the idea of a TV’s processor taking over the way a picture looks. And for those people the OLED G1 still supports all the calibration tools and accuracy of other recent LG generations. The much improved AI Picture Pro is very much worth trying for most users, though.
The other key processing improvement comes from LG’s new motion options. The new Natural motion processing mode used by default with most of the OLED G1’s picture presets is a little too smooth and can cause unwanted processing side effects. The new Cinematic Movement mode, though, does a superbly well-balanced job of gently reducing the rather ‘hard’ judder with 24p movie sources that OLED TVs can exhibit without creating really any distracting side effects. It’s outstanding.
LG
The OLED G1’s improvements have not, thankfully, compromised any of LG’s traditional OLED strengths. Black levels still look inky, actually exhibiting slightly less noise in areas of near-black detail, despite also showing more shadow detail in most picture presets.
Colours hardly ever look forced or over the top despite the slight brightness increase and marginally purer presentation, and sharpness is slightly improved without making the image look brittle or harsh. With HD sources, in particular, the new Alpha 9 Gen 4 upscaling really earns its corn by delivering a markedly crisper finish than seen with previous LG OLED generations without exaggerating noise.
The OLED G1’s pictures are not completely perfect though. There’s noticeable flickering in dark scenes when gaming in VRR, for starters. All Dolby Vision presets (bar Vivid) can cause some crushing of detail in dark areas. There’s a new hint of magenta over pictures if you watch from a wide angle, too, although contrast and colour intensity still benefit from OLED’s viewing angle advantage over LCD in this area.
The OLED G1 can also still exaggerate compression noise in dark (usually SDR) streamed scenes, and even with the G1 it’s still important to stress that while OLED is untouchable when it comes to local (as in, pixel by pixel) contrast, premium LCD TVs can still get significantly brighter with both peak and full-screen HDR content.
Sound Quality
Since LG doesn’t join Sony in using the screen surfaces of its premium OLED TVs to produce sound, there isn’t much space in the OLED G1’s super-skinny design for a big old set of speakers. With that in mind, though, in many ways the OLED G1 sounds pretty good.
For starters, a new Virtual 5.1.2 upconversion system introduced by the Alpha 9 Gen 4 processor does a surprisingly convincing job of adding a mild sense of height to soundtracks that don’t have height channels built-in. At least the sound expands nicely from all of the TV’s edges, even if there isn’t any sense of actual overhead sounds. Voices tend to sound clear and believable, and detail levels are quite high for a sound system that doesn’t have any forward-facing drivers.
LG
There are two fairly significant issues, though. First, while it’s cool that the OLED G1 decodes Dolby Atmos soundtracks (though there’s no DTS support), it doesn’t do so very well. The speakers just can’t deliver anywhere near as much impact as they should with very loud, dense Atmos moments. In fact, the speakers tend to become more subdued just when they’re supposed to be ratcheting up.
This makes LG’s own AI Sound Pro setting a much better option for most content. This does amp up to take on loud moments, as well as somehow make the sound fill the room more.
However, whenever a film soundtrack features low rumbles – especially in AI Sound Pro mode – the TV’s low frequency drivers start to fall prey to significant amounts of break up and distortion. So much so that it can become quite hard to listen to, and a clear distraction from the onscreen action.
Best go buy a separate soundbar/surround system then.
Verdict
At the time of writing there’s a question mark over whether the OLED G1 is sufficiently superior to the upcoming C1 mid-range OLEDs – which don’t get the Evo panel – to justify its extra cost. Based on the type of enhancements it brings over last gen’s CX models, though, it most likely is a worthy step up from the C1 – if you’re looking to wall-mount anyway.
So while it doesn’t quite shatter the OLED rule book in the way some had hoped, the OLED G1’s new Evo panel in conjunction with LG’s latest processing engine delivers comfortably the best OLED TV LG has ever made. That’s what makes this TV special. A fact which should rightly have both AV and gaming fans drooling, given how good LG’s previous OLEDs have been.
Also consider
LG
LG OLED GX
squirrel_widget_236839
If you can live without the Evo panel’s enhanced HDR performance and Game Optimiser functionality but like the Gallery design, 2020’s OLED GX is still available for a chunk of cash less.
Read our review
Panasonic
Panasonic HZ2000
squirrel_widget_177354
Panasonic was the first brand to introduce new high brightness OLED technology, and 2020’s version of this technology is still available at a slightly lower price than the LG. Stocks are apparently starting to run low, though, so get a move on!
Read our review
Writing by John Archer. Editing by Mike Lowe.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
