Last week, Apple Arcade received its biggest update since launching back in 2019. More than 30 titles were added to the subscription service, including much-anticipated games like Hironobu Sakaguchi’s roleplaying epic Fantasian. But while the quantity and quality of titles added were impressive, the most important part of the announcement was a change in direction. Among those big-name exclusives were a number of classics, ranging from Monument Valley to chess to Threes, that help round out the service. Apple Arcade has finally matured into something close to a Netflix for mobile games.
Since the beginning, the pitch for Apple Arcade has been entirely centered on quality. While the App Store continues to devolve into a space dominated by free-to-play games, Arcade provided an alternative where some of the most talented developers in the world could create great mobile games without having to worry about monetization. It launched alongside new games from the likes of Zach Gage and Ustwo, and it has continued to add titles on a near-weekly basis. Subscribers get all of those games for a flat monthly fee. It’s been a solid service — but it’s always felt like something was missing.
When you sign up for something like Netflix, it might be because of one of the service’s big exclusive titles like The Witcher or Bridgerton. But that won’t necessarily keep you hooked. Part of what makes Netflix so compelling is everything else, from reality shows to classic sitcoms, that give you something to watch after you’re done with the big tent poles. Frequently, these aren’t traditional exclusives: think of how important Friends and The Office have become in the age of streaming TV.
Those kinds of experiences are something Apple Arcade didn’t really have before this shift. Now, though, when you’re done playing a short narrative game like, say, Creaks or Assemble With Care, there’s a lot more to keep you invested with recent additions like Good Sudoku or Threes.
Wonderbox.
Even better, while many of these games are available on other platforms or through the App Store, the Arcade versions are generally improved because they feature no form of in-app purchases or monetization. You won’t find puzzle or card games saddled with ads or have to open loot boxes in NBA 2K21. There’s even Star Trek: Legends — essentially a character-collecting gacha game — which almost feels strange to play without being prodded to spend money. (This lack of microtransactions makes Arcade a very family-friendly service.)
It’s also important to note that this change in strategy is additive. Apple has introduced two new categories to Arcade — one for older App Store hits, another for classic games like chess or solitaire — but it’s still releasing those big exclusive titles. In addition to Fantasian, last week’s update included Wonderbox (think Minecraft meets Zelda for younger players), World of Demons (the latest action game from PlatinumGames, the team behind Nier: Automata and Bayonetta), and Taiko no Tatsujin: Pop Tap Beat (a new entry in an excellent long-running rhythm game series). It’s a great and diverse lineup of experiences; sometimes scrolling through games on Arcade can feel like heading into an alternate reality version of what mobile gaming could have been if the race to free-to-play never happened.
Obviously, none of this is a guarantee of success. And if previous reports are to be believed, the shift appears to be a result of Arcade’s inability to keep subscribers hooked. While the subscription model is now dominant for the music, film, and television industries, it’s still relatively nascent for games. Outside of Xbox Game Pass, there hasn’t been a major success to date. Apple Arcade arguably faces a greater challenge being on mobile, where users have long been conditioned to expect games for free. The Netflix of games still feels inevitable, even if we’re not there yet — but Arcade feels closer than ever.
Ring has announced a new floodlight with an integrated camera called the Floodlight Cam Wired Pro. As its name suggests, the Floodlight Cam Wired Pro borrows several features from the recently released Video Doorbell Pro 2, including 3D Motion Detection with radar and a top-down view of someone’s movements in front of the camera, which the company calls Bird’s Eye View. The Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, which I will refer to as the Floodlight Pro from here on out, is available for preorder in either white or black starting today, April 7th, for $249.99, with shipments starting on May 6th, 2021. Ring is also keeping the original Floodlight Cam in the lineup at a new $199.99 price.
Like the first Floodlight Cam, the Floodlight Pro is a motion-activated, 2,000-lumen LED floodlight with a camera mounted between its two articulating lights. It has a 110dB siren, supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, records 1080p HDR video with color night vision, and has improved microphones and a speaker for better two-way audio communication. The new 3D Motion Detection uses a radar sensor to track movement across a certain threshold that you define in Ring’s app, which is then presented as an aerial map in the recorded video clip. The Floodlight Pro is hardwired and can be mounted on a standard round outdoor junction box. Given its name, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ring has a wireless version in the works, but the company isn’t announcing anything on that front right now.
The Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is available in either white or black color optionsImage: Ring
In addition, Ring is announcing the new $199.99 Video Doorbell 4, which is the latest in its mainstream line of video doorbells that can be used in a standard wired installation or run off a battery. The new model upgrades the black and white pre-roll video that debuted on last year’s Video Doorbell 3 to full color, allowing you to see four seconds of motion in color before the doorbell is pressed. It also has a new Quick Replies feature that lets you have the doorbell automatically respond to visitors when you aren’t home or otherwise don’t want to be disturbed. You can use the Doorbell 4 with either 2.4GHz or 5GHz networks.
The Ring Video Doorbell 4.Image: Ring
The Video Doorbell 4 records up to 1080p video, but it lacks the square aspect ratio that I found so useful in my review of the Video Doorbell Pro 2, instead sticking with the traditional wide 16:9 field of view. The 4 also doesn’t have the Pro 2’s more advanced Alexa integration to answer the door — though, based on my testing, I don’t think you’ll miss much there.
Ring says the Video Doorbell 3 and Video Doorbell 3 Plus will remain available, though I’m not sure why you’d buy those when the 4 is out and costs either the same or less. The Video Doorbell 4 is available for preorder starting today and will be shipping starting on April 28th.
DJI’s unannounced Air 2S drone has leaked in a series of images posted by TechnikNewsand WinFuture’s Roland Quandt. The images come after the drone was listed in an FCC filing last month, suggesting that a launch can’t be far away. The DJI Air 2S is expected to be an upgraded version of last year’s Mavic Air 2, with an improved camera and compatibility with new DJI accessories like its V2 Goggles and Motion Controller.
Let’s start with the camera sensor. The new renders, as well as a teaser trailer shared earlier in the week by reliable leaker OsitaLV, show a drone with a 1-inch, 20-megapixel sensor. Although that’s lower resolution than the 48-megapixel 1/2-inch sensor found in the Mavic Air 2, its larger physical size should have big performance benefits, especially in low light. The sensor has similar specs to what we saw in the Mavic 2 Pro, which offered excellent image quality.
If reports from DroneDJ are accurate, the Air 2S should also work with DJI’s new V2 Goggles and motion controller, which released alongside its FPV drone last month. Compatibility with the goggles would allow the drone to be piloted from a first-person perspective, in addition to regular flight using the app. The Air 2S isn’t expected to be capable of the kind of acrobatic flight you can get out of the DJI FPV, but the goggles should provide a more immersive flying experience for those who want it.
Other more minor changes include the loss of the “Mavic” branding in its name, and an upgrade to version 4 of DJI’s ActiveTrack standard, TechnikNews notes, which should make it better at tracking subjects during filming. There’s also support for DJI’s newer, lower-latency OcuSync 3.0 standard. Although it’s battery is the same capacity at 3,500mAh, the Air 2S appears to be slightly heavier than the Mavic Air 2 by 30 grams.
The team at Gurgle Apps is always getting creative with microelectronics but their latest project has us seriously excited! This time the family developed a Pong replica just for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.
Some of the best Raspberry Pi projects are compatible with different boards, and this one proved to have notable flexibility in the RP2040 environment. This game was tested and ran successfully on both a Raspberry Pi Pico and Pimoroni Tiny RP2040. It has knobs for controls and an OLED screen housed inside a small, 3D-printed cabinet.
(Image credit: Gurgle Apps)
To recreate the project, you’ll need a Pico or a Tiny 2040, two potentiometers, a resistor, and an SSD1306 OLED display. There’s also an optional speaker component but it isn’t 100% necessary—though it does add a nice touch!
You can check out a video demo of the project on the official Gurgle Apps YouTube channel. The team provides everything you need to get started from a complete parts list to the Pico Pong app itself. Visit the Pico Pong project page on GitHub for a closer look at the code and maybe even build one of your own.
eBay has announced a new addition coming to its mobile app: soon, you’ll be able to scan trading cards from popular games like Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh! to more easily sell them on the online auction site.
The new card scanning feature is set to arrive at the end of April, but it’ll only support Magic: The Gathering when it launches. Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! are planned to be added in May, with sports cards and “other collectible card games” on the docket for later in the year.
Using the new scanning option, sellers will be able to just scan a card, at which point eBay will use the card’s details to help automatically build the listing. Sellers will still have to add additional information, like photos of the actual card, its condition, the price they wish to sell it for, and any other details. But the automatic identification process should make it easier for sellers to create their listings.
In addition to the new scanning feature, eBay is adding a few other improvements to the trading card purchasing process for both sellers and buyers. Sellers will no longer have to offer the option to return purchases in order to qualify for eBay’s Top Rated seller program. And the company is working on “reviewing its buyer protection policy for trading cards” to better both sellers and buyers in the current market.
Trading cards — specifically, Pokémon cards — are in high demand these days. And the number of people looking to cash in is skyrocketing — to the point where appraisal company Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) has been forced to suspend submissions while it works through its backlog. And given that popularity, it’s not a surprise that eBay is looking to make it easier for sellers to use the platform to list their cards.
Signal announced on Tuesday it’s now testing a new peer-to-peer payments system in the beta version of its apps. Appropriately called Signal Payments, the new feature right now supports only one protocol: the MobileCoin wallet and its companion cryptocurrency MOB. MobileCoin has a close relationship with Signal co-founder and CEO Moxie Marlinspike, who advised the company prior to its most recent round of funding announced last month.
“The first payments protocol we’ve added support for is a privacy focused payments network called MobileCoin, which has its own currency, MOB,” wrote Jun Harada, Signal’s head of growth and communication, in a blog post. “As always, our goal is to keep your data in your hands rather than ours; MobileCoin’s design means Signal does not have access to your balance, full transaction history, or funds. You can also transfer your funds at any time if you want to switch to another app or service.”
Image: Signal
The company says those interested in trying out the feature must live in the UK for now, and those who qualify can sign up for MobileCoin and access the feature through the Signal beta. “This is a beta feature in a beta build, but for those in the United Kingdom living life on the edge, please help us test and give feedback,” Harada writes.
Sony has officially launched Bravia CORE, its 4K lossless video streaming service. The bad news? It’s currently exclusive to those with a Bravia XR TV and a very fast internet connection.
As we reported in January, Bravia CORE uses Pure Stream technology to serve up the latest box office films at bitrates of between 30 Mbps – 80 Mbps, along with immersive DTS sound. In other words, similar or higher quality than that of most 4K Blu-ray discs.
Now, Sony has revealed that the Bravia CORE app will come pre-loaded on all new Bravia XR models including the A90J, Z9J, A80J, X95J and X90J. Lucky owners will get access to over 300 4K lossless titles such as Venom, Ghostbusters, Blade Runner 2049 and Jumanji: The Next Level.
Just how much ‘access’ depends on how much you splurge. Buy a range-topping A90J or Z9J and you’ll get free access to the service for 24 months and 10 credits to spend on lossless CORE titles that are otherwise available on pay-per-view basis. Buy any other Bravia XR model and you’ll get five credits and 12 months free access.
You’ll need a nippy broadband connection, too. While Netflix recommends a 25 Mbps connection for streaming 4K movies, Sony says Bravia CORE “requires a minimum internet speed of 43 Mbps.” In fact, streaming the highest quality lossless movies requires a minimum internet speed of – drumroll, please – 115Mbps. Holy smokes.
The service also claims “the largest IMAX Enhanced movie collection” – over 50 films remastered by IMAX and Sony Pictures to boost the image and sound on Bravia XR TVs. The selection appears to be pretty decent, and includes the likes of Baby Driver, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Little Women. Sony has also revealed that CORE will provide users access to a “separate library of movies to stream any time and as many times as they like, in up to 4K HDR quality.”
At this point, you might be wondering what happens when the free 24/12 month subscription expires? Will Bravia CORE continue to be free? That’s yet to be confirmed but according to Sony, “you may watch the movies you have redeemed via Bravia CORE until February 23, 2026”.
MORE:
Take a look at the best streaming services for TV and movies 2020
Our guide to the best TVs you can buy
Here are the best Apple TV+ shows and movies to watch right now
The technology and social media we use every day constantly bombard us with things we’ve shared in the past or advertise to us based on who they think we are. Those past posts can be fun to relive, and every once in a while, those targeted ads do actually work. But Wired senior writer (and former Verge staffer) Lauren Goode published a powerful and personal story about how these technologies can also haunt us with memories of times we may want to forget.
In the essay, Goode describes how she called off her wedding in May 2019, and ever since, she has grappled with technology reminding her of her former relationship and the wedding that didn’t happen. Here is just one devastating passage:
Social media and photo apps were by now full-on services, infused with artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and an overwhelming amount of presumption. For months, photos of my ex appeared on the Google Home Hub next to my bed, the widgets on my iPad, and the tiny screen of my Apple Watch. So yeah: My ex’s face sometimes shows up on my wrist. As I write this, Facebook reminds me that nine years ago I visited him in Massachusetts and met his family’s dog.
Goode also writes about how difficult it is to escape these reminders because of the near-impossibility of removing your data from the internet:
I managed to do half the work. But that’s exactly it: It’s work. It’s designed that way. It requires a thankless amount of mental and emotional energy, just like some relationships. And even if you find the time or energy to navigate settings and submenus and customer support forms, you still won’t have ultimate control over the experience. In Apple Photos, you can go to Memories, go through the collage the app has assembled for you, delete a collage, untag a person or group of people, or tell the app you want to see fewer Memories like it. The one thing you can’t do? Opt out of the Memories feature entirely.
But she also shares how this technology and the data we keep can still give us meaning, even if it is from a time that may no longer represent what it once did:
Never mind that I’m wearing a white silk dress in the photo, that there’s a ring on my finger and a hazy row of bridal gowns on racks behind us. I still won’t delete it. I won’t archive photos from the half-marathon I ran with my ex, the one finish line we crossed, because I ran 13.1 miles and I’d prefer to remember how that felt on days when I have nothing left in the tank. I won’t delete the albums I have from half a dozen Christmases, because I need to believe holiday gatherings will happen again. I won’t unfollow our wedding photographer on Instagram, because—even though she never shot our photos—I appreciate her work as a keeper of other people’s memories.
No matter what I write here, I can’t do Goode’s incredible story justice. Just go read it.
If you’re finding that background noise is disrupting voice or video calls made from your computer, then a new piece of software from Nvidia might help (provided you have the necessary hardware to run it). Released in April 2020, RTX Voice uses the hardware found in Nvidia’s RTX (and more recently, GTX) GPUs to process your incoming and outgoing audio and eliminate almost all background noise.
Below, you’ll find a quick demonstration I recorded to show how it works. This was recorded from a Blue Snowball microphone using the built-in call recording functionality in Zoom. When I don’t have the software enabled, you can hear the loud clacking of my mechanical keyboard in the background of the call. But when I turn on RTX Voice, the sound completely disappears.
As well as processing your microphone’s input so that the people you’re speaking to can’t hear any background noise around you, you can also set the software to eliminate background noise coming in from other people. So you can save yourself from your colleagues’ loud keyboard as well as protecting them from your own. It’s a win-win.
How to use RTX Voice to reduce background noise
RTX Voice is pretty simple to use, but the big caveat is that you need the right hardware. In order to run it, you’ll need an Nvidia GeForce or Quadro RTX or GTX graphics card since the software uses this hardware to process your audio. That means you’re out of luck if you’ve got a Mac, or a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU.
As well as hardware requirements, the other thing to note about RTX Voice is that since the processing is being done by your graphics card, it might take system resources away from any games or other graphically intensive applications you’re running. I ran some quick and dirty benchmarks to try to gauge the performance impact and found that running RTX Voice on my Discord microphone input reduced UniEngine’s Heaven Benchmark by just over 3fps or around 6 percent, rising to over 8fps or 14 percent if I used the software to process incoming audio as well. That more or less tracks with YouTuber EposVox’s report of a 4 to 10 percent reduction when using it on his microphone, rising to 20 percent with both mic and speakers.
I think that makes RTX Voice a much better option for calls where you’re unlikely to be running something graphically intensive at the same time, like a work conference call, rather than while you’re running a game simultaneously. If you’re looking for something more gaming-specific, Discord recently launched its own noise suppression feature, which might be a better alternative.
RTX Voice can be set it up in just a couple of minutes.
First, update the driver software of your graphics card if it’s not already running on version 410.18 or above
Download RTX Voice from Nvidia’s website and install it
Once the software is installed, you can configure it to improve your incoming audio, outgoing audio, or both. Nvidia recommends only turning it on for your input device (read: microphone) to minimize the impact the audio processing will have on the performance of your system. You can also select how much noise suppression you want. I left it at 100 percent, but you might want to play around to find what works best for you.
You can set RTX Voice to work on your microphone input and / or your speaker’s output.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Once installed, “Nvidia RTX Voice” will appear as an audio input and / or output device for your PC. That means you can go into your voice chat app of choice and select it as though you’d plugged an extra microphone or set of speakers into your PC. Check out Nvidia’s site for specific instructions on how to configure the software for individual applications; here’s what the setting looks like in Zoom.
Once enabled, most chat apps will let you manually select RTX Voice as though it’s an input or output device.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Nvidia’s software isn’t unique. In addition to Discord’s feature, Microsoft also plans to add a similar piece of functionality to Teams later this year. The advantage of RTX Voice, however, is that it works across a much broader range of apps. Nvidia’s site lists 12 apps that it’s validated. However, I tested out audio recording app Audacity, which Nvidia doesn’t list as being supported, and found that RTX Voice worked just fine, so there are likely to be other unlisted apps that also work.
Not everyone will have the hardware to take advantage of this latest feature, and for others, the performance hit won’t be worth it. However if, like me, your gaming PC is mainly being used as a work computer these days, then using RTX Voice is a no-brainer.
Correction: This article originally stated that RTX Voice won’t work on a Windows machine with a dedicated GPU when it should have read that it won’t work on a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU. We regret the error.
Update 10:31AM, April 6th: Nvidia has extended RTX Voice support for earlier GTX, Quadro, and Titan-branded graphics card, so we’ve updated this post with relevant info.
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(Pocket-lint) – Sonos Roam is the second portable Bluetooth speaker in the company’s portfolio, but really it’s the first when talking portability – because the Sonos Move isn’t all that portable by comparison.
A Bluetooth speaker by day, Sonos speaker by night, or vice versa, the Sonos Roam is very portable, very smart and has some excellent features on board. It’s more expensive than your average Bluetooth speaker, but then it isn’t your average Bluetooth speaker.
So should you buy the Sonos Roam? Yes. Why? Let us explain.
Design
Dimensions: 168 x 62 x 60mm / Weight: 430g
Finish options: Shadow Black, Lunar White
IP67 water- and dust- resistant
Triangular prism design
The Sonos Roam is a triangular prism shape, which is surprisingly great for carrying around. Its curved edges are smooth and comfortable to hold, while the soft-touch finish, super-light weight and rubbered ends make it feel durable and more than capable of withstanding a knock and tumble.
It can also handle a dunk. Falling into the Ultimate Ears Boom 3 and Megaboom 3 category – both of which are waterproof – the Roam is IP67 rated for dust and water. That means you can submerge Roam in up to 3ft of water for 30 minutes. Like Sonos Move, sand and dust are no match for Roam either, and though we didn’t dare try – Roam should also be able to withstand drops too.
The Roam is pretty much the same size as a 500ml water bottle – and significantly more portable and lighter than Move. It’s also smaller than competitors like the UE Boom 3.
As Sonos users would expect, Roam follows similar design traits to the rest of the Sonos portfolio. That means controls up top, very small holes making up the plastic speaker grille for a clean look, and black or white colour options. We had the Lunar White model in for review and while we’d love to see some special edition colours at some point – like Sonos offered with its limited edition Sonos One Hay collection – the off-white option is still lovely looking.
It’s worth mentioning that the Roam does deter slightly from Sonos’ more recent speakers in that it offers raised tactile controls rather than capacitive ones. There’s a play/pause button, volume increase and decrease buttons, and a microphone on/off button as usual – but the symbols are embossed on the rubber finish. It’s also worth noting that this finish – while really lovely to the touch – does seem to dent, so press the buttons with fingers not nails.
Pocket-lint
The Sonos Roam can be positioned horizontally or vertically – just like the Sonos Five. There’s one power/Bluetooth button on one edge next to the USB-C port and there are also four small circular, rubber feet to help the Roam sit properly when positioned horizontally.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: What’s the difference?
Features
Google Assistant/Amazon Alexa
Automatic Trueplay
Sound Swap
The Sonos Roam will function as any other Bluetooth speaker when in Bluetooth mode – with a few extras. When connected via Wi-Fi though – which it will switch to automatically – it has all the features that come with other speakers in the Sonos system, which is the main thing that sets it apart from other Bluetooth-only speakers.
Sonos system features include support for over 100 music services, easy grouping, stereo pairing and control through voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, among plenty of other features like equaliser (EQ) adjustment. Like the Sonos Move, however, the Roam cannot be used as surrounds with the Sonos Arc or Sonos Beam, and it can’t be bonded with the Sonos Sub either.
Pocket-lint
The Roam does have an additional feature over other Sonos speakers: Sound Swap. This allows users to bring a Sonos speaker into an existing group by pressing-and-holding the play/pause button on top of the speaker you want to add to the group.
Bring it into a group with other Sonos speakers already playing, or by continuing to hold the button (for around five seconds in total) it will transfer the music on the Roam to your nearest Sonos speaker. This is done using an ultrasonic frequency, with the strongest signal determining the closest speaker. You can read more about Sound Swap in our separate feature.
It’s an excellent addition – one that’s really useful when you’re bringing Roam in from the garden and want to continue what you’re listening to in your living room, for example.
Other features on Sonos Roam include both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support – although you’ll have to choose between them rather than use both at the same time, which is the case for other smart Sonos speakers. We use Google Assistant in our home and Roam delivered as we’d expect, turning our lights off when requested and answering questions and responding efficiently.
Pocket-lint
An LED light on top of the Roam above the microphone icon lets you know when Roam is listening. There’s another LED above the Sonos logo to indicate power, as well as Bluetooth pairing mode. At the bottom of the speaker – when it’s vertically positioned – an orange LED light appears when the battery is low.
Roam also offers Auto Trueplay tuning – just like the Move – to automatically tune its sound to its surroundings. It uses spatial awareness to adjust the sound for the speaker’s orientation, location, and content. Auto Trueplay tuning has been improved to work over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can read more about Auto Trueplay in our separate feature.
Hardware and specs
Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi (802.11ac), AirPlay 2
10-hour battery claimed
The Sonos Roam can automatically switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections – there’s a button to switch between the two modes so the Roam delivers a seamless experience when moving in and out of your home. There’s also AirPlay 2 support.
There’s a rechargeable battery under the Roam’s hood, which is recharged using the USB Type-C port, or via a Qi compatible wireless charging dock. Sonos has its own official wireless charging dock available to purchase separately, which the Roam will magnetically snap onto. Otherwise, a USB-C cable is included in the box – but not the power adapter itself.
Best Alexa speakers 2021: Top Amazon Echo alternatives
By Britta O’Boyle
·
Pocket-lint
The battery is said to last 10 hours – one hour less than the Move – or 10 days when in sleep mode. This is a slight over estimation in our experience though. We got around eight-and-a-half hours from the battery when the volume was set to 50 per cent, though this is still pretty good going considering the Roam’s size.
When the music stops playing the Roam goes into sleep mode automatically – but it only takes around a second to wake it back up using the multi-functional power button positioned on the back of the device. We have a separate feature on how to put Roam into Bluetooth pairing mode.
Sound quality and performance
Two class-H amplifiers
Custom racetrack mid-woofer
Single tweeter
Under the hood of the Sonos Roam are two amplifiers tuned to the speaker’s acoustic architecture, along with a single tweeter for the high-end, a mid-woofer for everything else, along with a high-efficiency motor to increase power and range.
There’s also a far-field microphone array that uses beamforming and multi-channel echo cancellation in order to best hear your voice-based commands.
Pocket-lint
What all this means is the Sonos Roam sounds incredible for its size. As is typically the case with Sonos speakers, it’s on the bassy side, but we love that about it and if you don’t then you can always adjust the EQ in the Sonos app to suit your preference.
Roam has some serious punch for how small it is too – more than filling a decent sized room or smaller garden with sound, even at 50 per cent volume. Of course it doesn’t match the Sonos Move for output clout, but if you’re choosing between the Sonos One and Sonos Roam, the latter gives the former a good run for its money in terms of sound, while also offering smarter features.
We listened to a range of tracks in testing, from The Eagle’s Hotel California and Massive Attack’s Teardrop, to Pink Floyd’s Time and Laura Marling’s Soothing – just some examples – and we were continually impressed with the Roam’s capabilities during testing.
Vocals and acoustics sound great; the speaker delivers rich bass, while also handling treble well. As far as small Bluetooth speakers go the Roam more than delivers on the sound quality front.
Verdict
The Sonos Roam is a little pricey when compared to other Bluetooth speakers, but in the same breath it does a lot more than most Bluetooth speakers.
Its portable and lightweight design is met with excellent sound performance, plus all the features that come with the Sonos system, a choice of smart assistants, along with extra – and great – features like Sound Swap to seamlessly switch between other Sonos speakers and groups.
For those already invested in Sonos, the Roam is a no-brainer as an addition. It allows you to bring your Sonos system with you wherever you go, without you having to think.
For those considering a Bluetooth speaker and wondering if the Roam is worth the investment over others – it delivers everything a Bluetooth speaker should, plus so much more.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Ultimate Ears Boom 3
SQUIRREL_WIDGET_148748
This cylindrical speaker is IP67-rated for water- and dust-resistance just like the Roam, plus it delivers great sound for its size – and through 360 degrees. It’s cheaper than Roam, but it doesn’t offer as many connected features.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
JBL Xtreme 2
SQUIRREL_WIDGET_145677
If you want loud and crisp sound, plus impressive bass, the JBL could be for you. Again, however, it doesn’t have as many features as the Roam, but it’s a great party speaker that comes with a practical carry handle too.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Sonos Move
SQUIRREL_WIDGET_167282
The larger Sonos has many of the same features as the Roam but delivers much bigger sound in a not-as-portable design.
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The Sonos Roam is the most focused, calculated product from Sonos yet. It’s a small $169 speaker that’s meant to compete with portable Bluetooth speakers that people so often carry everywhere without a second thought. But it’s also designed to slot into Sonos’ multiroom audio platform and showcase the versatility that comes with it. In fact, excluding the co-branded speakers that Sonos makes with Ikea, the Roam is now the cheapest way into the company’s ecosystem.
The Roam supports hands-free voice commands, has Apple AirPlay 2, includes wireless charging, and features a rugged design that lets you use it practically anywhere. There’s a lot riding on this speaker; Sonos only releases a couple new products per year, so they all have to deliver. So let’s examine how the Roam stacks up against similarly sized speakers and whether it should replace whatever you’ve got now.
At 6.61 inches tall, the Roam actually stands shorter than popular Bluetooth speakers like the UE Boom 3 and JBL Flip 5. And at under a pound, it’s lightweight enough to toss into your backpack or tote. The Boom is bigger all around: you could pretty much fit the Roam right inside it. UE’s Megaboom 3 and the new JBL Charge 5 both increase the size advantage further, and they’re still close to the Roam in price. Going up from there, you get to the real giants like the UE Megablast. For this review, I’ll keep it simple and focus on speakers that resemble the Roam in size.
The Roam retains what’s become the standard Sonos aesthetic, with hundreds of precision-drilled holes in the speaker enclosure. But this is not a cylinder-style speaker that shoots audio in all directions. The Roam has a curved triangle shape that naturally projects sound both forward and up when it’s laid horizontally. It comes in either black or white, and I’ve noticed that when the black one is in bright lighting, you can actually see a hexagon pattern behind the holes. That plate is there for structural reasons, but it’s not really visible on the white speaker.
Battery life tops out at 10 hours.
This is the first Sonos speaker to earn an IP67 dust and water resistance rating. By certification standards, that means it should survive up to 30 minutes in three feet of water. In practical terms, it means you can use the Roam in the bathroom while you shower and near pools without fretting about damage. It’s probably a good idea to keep it on a floaty if you insist on bringing it into a deep pool, though. This speaker doesn’t float. Yes, I checked.
The Roam has the best water resistance of any Sonos speaker.
I’ve also managed to drop my two review units a few times, and they’ve come away with only light blemishes and a couple nicks you really have to hunt for to notice. I chalk that up to clumsiness; there’s no built-in handle like the Move, but in general the curved triangle shape is easy to grip. Both sides of the Roam have silicone end caps to help with ruggedness. From what I’ve seen, it should be able to withstand a tumble off a bicycle and the wear and tear that comes with being a truly portable speaker.
It’s rated IP67 and has silicone at both ends to withstand bumps.
On the top (when vertical) or left (horizontal) is where you find the controls, which are actual clicky buttons beneath the silicone instead of the usual capacitive sensors that Sonos tends to use. Going with real, tactile buttons for this product was absolutely the right decision. They’re easy to feel for and hard to press accidentally. There are four buttons: play / pause, two for track controls, and a microphone button for enabling or muting the built-in microphones that are used for voice assistant commands with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
On the back of the Roam is a USB-C port and power button. Aside from wired charging, you can also juice up the speaker using any Qi-compatible pad that it’ll fit on. My Anker dual-charging station handled the task well. Sonos also sells a wireless charger that attaches to the Roam magnetically, but I didn’t get a chance to test that. The included USB-C-to-USB-A cable is nicely angled on the Roam’s side so that it doesn’t get in the way no matter how it’s oriented. Neither the cable nor the Sonos wireless charger are water resistant, so you’ve got to keep those dry. If you’re in a hurry, definitely go wired; Sonos says it takes “about two hours” for the Roam to go from 0 to 50 percent when charging wirelessly compared to “about an hour” when plugged in. Higher-power chargers can cut down on both of those times.
You can use either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant with the built-in mics.
Now onto the main agenda: sound quality. Sonos has built a favorable reputation with its past speakers, but the question is whether the company can make good on its name with a speaker this small and portable. What I’ll say is that the Roam is one of the clearest, most pleasant portable speakers I’ve used. Others like the UE Boom 3 can come off muddy and lack depth. There’s little about their sound and articulation that stands out.
The Roam seems to make a priority of ensuring that the texture and vibrancy of music comes through with maximum clarity. Vocals sound crisp, and strings in classical music come through lush without getting pitchy. Like other Sonos speakers, the Roam features automatic room optimization called Trueplay, and Sonos says it’s constantly adjusting to optimize sound for whatever environment it’s in. This does actually make a difference in an echoey bathroom, but it’s not some magic cure-all for an acoustically challenged room. (Auto Trueplay works with music both streamed over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.)
Let’s face it: while Sonos claims that the Roam “defies expectations,” it can’t defy physics. This is a relatively small speaker, and perhaps the best-sounding one in its size class, but it has weaknesses. At the top of that list is bass, which can’t quite match that of the Sonos One and is roundly defeated by the much larger, heavier Move. Even the barely larger JBL Flip 5 has more assertive bass that gets noticeably boomier than the Roam. It can go louder, too. Larger Bluetooth speakers like the UE Megaboom and JBL Charge 5 will almost certainly trounce the Roam at bass response, but I don’t consider that surprising.
Sonos’ speaker has some low-end resonance — you’ll feel the vibrations if it’s on a table — but it’s clear that the company has opted for balance over boom factor. The Roam can also only do so much when you’re using it in a wide open space outdoors with no walls for the sound to bounce off of. It’ll crank loud without much distortion but can’t reach the same fullness as the Move. It’s when you really turn up the volume that you’ll be left wanting some added oomph. A party speaker this is not.
Two Roams paired together can produce an excellent stereo soundstage — but only on Wi-Fi.
Using two Roams at the same time as a stereo pair brings out even more detail, and the bass also benefits from two of them playing together. There’s no beating proper stereo separation, and two Roams do a better job blanketing a bedroom or living room in music than one alone. Unfortunately, the process of creating a stereo pair can get tedious. You have to manually do it from the Sonos app every time. This makes sense since you have to select which speaker is on what side. But I’d love it if there were a button shortcut to more quickly form a stereo pair — or at least a prompt when you power on a second Roam that asks if you want to pair them instead of leaving both to their lonesome by default.
To the frustration of some Sonos customers, the Roam doesn’t allow you to use the stereo pair feature when listening over Bluetooth. This is also the case with the Move, but considering how much Sonos is hyping the portability of its new speaker, it feels like a fumble on the company’s part. Maybe this poses engineering challenges, but other Bluetooth speakers like the UE Wonderboom 2 can already link together as a stereo pair without needing an app to get there. Bluetooth stereo might be a compelling reason for some people to own two Roams, but right now the feature isn’t there.
The $169 Sonos Roam beside the much bigger, heavier $399 Sonos Move.
Sonos has at least introduced some new tricks with the Roam when using it around the house. The first is called sound swap, which lets you quickly pass off audio from the Roam to whichever of your other Sonos speakers is closest. You just hold the play button for a few seconds, and the currently playing music hops over. Repeat the process, and audio moves back to the Roam. This has worked well in my experience so far, and Sonos goes about locating the nearest speaker in a clever way. When you activate sound swap, all of your speakers briefly emit a high-frequency tone that your ears can’t hear — but the Roam can. When you venture outside, the Roam does a solid job automatically pairing to your phone once you’re outside Wi-Fi coverage.
The other new feature that debuts with the Roam is the option to play Bluetooth audio over your entire Sonos system. In the Sonos app, you can add your other speakers as a group with the Roam that’s playing the Bluetooth audio source. My turntable doesn’t do Bluetooth, but if yours does, this will be an easy way to play your records in multiple rooms — at the cost of fidelity, of course. There are other ways of integrating vinyl into a Sonos system if you care more about audio quality. I did test this feature using content from a friend’s phone over Bluetooth, and it played just fine across my other Sonos speakers. The Move can’t be updated with this feature because the Roam has a new antenna that can connect to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi simultaneously. The Move only supports one or the other at a time.
But even with these new capabilities, there are still those occasional times where a Sonos system falls out of step. Maybe music playback inexplicably starts seizing up, or maybe the volume controls in the app you’re casting from — like Spotify — stop working. Even after shifting to its new S2 platform, Sonos hasn’t completely ironed out the blips when its mobile app goes on the fritz or seems to momentarily lose control over everything. The bugs are rare, but they happen.
A useful, delicious size reference.
What’s worse in the case of the Roam is how poorly Sonos handles moving between Wi-Fi networks. Everything works just great at home, but if you want to use the Wi-Fi features of Roam at someone else’s place or when traveling, it’s a real headache. The process of adding another “trusted network” in the Sonos app didn’t always work in my experience. I hope this is something Sonos will focus on more now that it’s selling a speaker that’s portable in a way that the Move never was. Music on the Roam sounds best over Wi-Fi, and it’s also needed for features like AirPlay 2. Bluetooth is right there as a fallback, but the Roam really has to get friendlier with guest networks.
The estimated battery life of 10 hours is also on the low side: the UE Boom 3 gets 15 hours and JBL’s Flip 5 hits 12. Wireless charging helps make up for this to an extent. It’s pretty rare among Bluetooth speakers, and you can play music as the Roam sits on the charger replenishing its battery. But I still wish Sonos could’ve eked out some extra playing time. The company says you can reach up to 10 days of standby time, but that strikes me as optimistic. My review units have held their charge for quite a few days, though.
There’s also a battery drain bug if you set up Google Assistant on the Roam that Sonos warned reviewers about, and it’s bad enough that the company is encouraging customers to power the speaker down when it’s not being used to conserve juice. Sonos says it’s working with Google on a fix and that customers using Alexa won’t encounter the same issue. The beamforming microphones generally picked up my voice commands without obvious mistakes the vast majority of the time, and aside from the Google battery bug, both voice assistants worked as expected.
The Roam’s many features make it among the best portable speakers at its size.
It’s best to think of the Sonos Roam as a personal speaker. It’ll do fine on your desk pumping out the soundtrack to your day. It can handle picnic duty for a small group at the park or come for a ride-along on your bike. And yes, it shines in the shower. But if you’re leading a dance class or trying to entertain guests at a barbecue, these are the types of situations where the larger Move easily wins out and proves its worth. Think of it this way: the more people that will be listening, the sooner you’ll turn to a speaker that isn’t the Roam.
But even with that understood, the Roam has a lot going for it. When in the comfort of your home, features like AirPlay and voice assistants do make it feel more capable than other speakers that are equally small and easy to carry. That and convenient wireless charging are where the $170 price gets easier to accept.
The Roam can fill in any nook of your living space — the bathroom, the garage, wherever — that doesn’t have another full-time Sonos speaker in it. On the go with Bluetooth, it’s easy to use and kicks out clear, satisfying sound for its size. Sonos needs to work on keeping the Roam’s smarts together when you’re on different Wi-Fi, and stereo pairing over Bluetooth should’ve been a feature on day one. But neither is enough to sink the overall value of Sonos’ latest speaker. As long as you don’t expect miracles from its compact size, I think you’ll end up happy.
TikTok creators will soon be able to add automatically generated captions to their videos as the app attempts to make itself more accessible. The option to add auto captions will appear in the editing page after a video has been uploaded or recorded. TikTok says the feature will be available in American English and Japanese at first, but it plans to add support for more languages “in the coming months.”
The platform is adding the feature to make TikTok videos easier to watch for deaf and hard of hearing viewers. However, a TikTok dialogue box also says the feature is useful for anyone watching videos “when it’s difficult or inconvenient for them to listen to audio.” Creators can edit their captions after they’ve been automatically generated to fix any mistakes, and viewers can turn captions off via the captions button on the share panel.
As automatic transcription has gotten better over the years, services have increasingly been adding it to their software to make content more accessible. Last month, Google built the feature into Chrome, allowing it to generate captions for audio played through the browser. The company’s Live Caption system is also available as a system-wide feature for select Android devices. Video chat services like Zoom and Google Meet can auto-generate captions during calls, and Instagram also seems to be testing a similar feature for its videos.
TikTok’s auto captions are only its latest accessibility feature. The app also warns creators about videos that might trigger photosensitive epilepsy and provides filters for viewers to avoid these videos. A text-to-speech feature was also added late last year.
In a strange twist of fate, Nvidia quietly patched its RTX Voice app at an unknown time to support all GeForce GTX graphics cards supported under Nvidia’s 410.18 driver or newer. This means RTX Voice works with all products from the best graphics cards in the RTX 30-series down to the GTX 600-series.
Nvidia released RTX Voice a year ago as a new spin-off feature for RTX 20-series GPUs to improve audio communication by reducing unwanted background noise intelligently using AI. Nvidia claimed the app uses the Tensor cores built into its latest products to accomplish this feature.
But ironically, right after the app was released, a super-simple hack leaked allowing you to run RTX Voice on Windows 7 and, best of all, non-RTX GPUs.
So it’s not too surprising that Nvidia eventually patched RTX Voice itself to support GTX graphics cards. However, the RTX nomenclature becomes very misleading with the new change.
If you want to use RTX Voice on your GeForce GTX GPU, you can head here to download the app.
But, if you own an RTX 20-series or RTX-30 series graphics card, you’re better going off going with its successor, RTX Broadcast, which includes RTX Voice and a webcam feature that allows you to set up virtual backgrounds when streaming or video chatting. Plus, it’s doubtful that RTX Voice will receive ongoing updates, unlike RTX Broadcast.
But our casual in-house testing has found bot the older RTX Voice app and newer RTX Broadcast to work surprisingly well. I’ve used both on my RTX 2060 Super, and it’s one of the best programs I’ve come across that accurately deletes background noise without killing or muting your voice. For more, see our Nvidia Broadcast noise removal demos on our YouTube channel.
Social audio app Clubhouse will let all users pay other creators starting Monday. It’s the first monetization tool built right into the app. Clubhouse says it won’t take a cut of payments, meaning that creators get the entirety of what somebody sends them. Not everyone will be able to receive payments just yet, though; that will be rolling out in waves, “starting with a small test group,” Clubhouse says.
To pay a Clubhouse creator who can receive payments, tap on their profile, then tap on the “Send Money” button, and then choose how much you send them. You’ll also have to pay a “small card processing fee” that goes to Stripe, which is Clubhouse’s payments processing partner. The first time to try to pay someone, Clubhouse will ask you to add a credit or debit card.
The news of direct payments comes a few weeks after Clubhouse announced its first creator accelerator program, Clubhouse Creator First, which will take on 20 aspiring hosts and creators to help them build their audiences and monetize their shows.
The accelerator and the new direct payments could give creators more incentive to stay on Clubhouse instead of jumping to one of the many other social media platforms that have copied Clubhouse’s social audio format. Right now, Clubhouse is only available on iOS as an invite-only app, though an Android version is in the works.
Epic is further stitching together its various platforms with a new Fortnite integration for its social video app Houseparty that lets you stream your gameplay to friends. The integration builds on an existing one that uses Houseparty’s video chatting capabilities to bring live video chat into Fortnite, and now this essentially does the reverse.
That way, your friends can see you live both through your mobile phone camera and also the feed of your active Fortnite game. Think of it a bit like Twitch streaming without all the fuss and just for your friends instead of the broader public. Epic says the feature supports streaming from a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, or PC right now. “We will let everyone know if we’re able to support more platforms in the future,” Epic says in its blog post.
Epic owns Houseparty, which streamlines fast and easy group video chat, following a 2019 acquisition, and the game maker has used the app to boost the social feature sets of its various gaming platforms. A few months following the acquisition, Epic began using Houseparty for improved Fortnite cross-platform audio chat, and now a full bridge between the game and the app exists.
For a breakdown of how to enable Houseparty gameplay streaming and video chat, check out Epic’s FAQ here.
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