Thanks to the latest firmware updates, Moon’s streaming products now support Spotify Connect, following their recent compatibility with AirPlay 2.
Every Moon component based on the company’s MiND2 (Moon Intelligent Network Device) streaming module is receiving the latest firmware update – the ACE all-in-one music system, MiND 2 network player, 390 network player/preamplifier and the 280D, 680D and 780D v2 streaming DACs.
Spotify Connect support means owners who subscribe to Spotify Premium or Spotify Family can stream the service’s catalogue to their Moon product directly from the Spotify app. Fingers crossed that they will also support the CD-quality Spotify HiFi tier coming later this year.
AirPlay 2, meanwhile, offers direct streaming between the Moon and an Apple iOS device. The two new features are two of the biggest in the streaming world, opening doors to super-easy and intuitive networked playback for Spotify subscribers and Apple users.
MORE:
Spotify Connect: what is it? How can you get it?
Apple AirPlay 2: compatible devices, features and how to use it
(Pocket-lint) – If you’ve looked at Oppo’s Reno family over the years, confused at exactly where it fits, which devices are in it, and if they’re even available where you live, then fear not – you’re not alone.
Since the first Reno phone (which was released in 2019), Oppo has expanded the range considerably. Among that product family is where you’ll find a particular gem: the Reno 4 Pro.
It’s a sleek, attractive and well-proportioned, but for a mid-range device it’s arguably a little pricey. Does that affect the overall proposition? Read on…
Design
Dimensions: 159.6 x 72.5 x 7.6mm / Weight: 172g
Monogrammed design on Space Black model
All glass front and back design
When 5G first hit the scenes – and just like when 4G became a thing – phones were pretty large. Not only did phones need an extra external chip to act as the modem, but space was required for cooling, while larger batteries were required to ensure longevity.
In 2020, however, thanks to the advancement of processors that have built-in 5G modems, that changed. Samsung showed it with the S20. And Oppo – having first shown it with the Find X2 Neo – does it again with the Reno 4 Pro. It’s impressively slim and sleek for a 5G-capable device.
In fact, it’s very similar to the Find X2 Neo in terms of size, shape and build. It’s got the glass on the front and back that curves towards the edges, making it look and feel really slim. It’s narrow, too, and has really skinny bezels on the front – ensuring the screen takes up the majority of the space (around 94 per cent of it, says the spec).
Where it differs is in the styling and finish of that rear panel. There’s a new Arctic Blue model that features a frosted glass finish, but unlike most other frosted glass phones, this has been created with an Oppo-designed technique using microscopic laser etchings along the surface. This way the finished product resists scratches and fingerprint smudges.
We were sent the Space Black model which has a much more traditional black, glossy look. However, even that’s unique. There’s a rainbow effect that appears when you angle it towards light, as well as a pattern of repeating monograms spelling out ‘OP’. Because, er, Oppo. The company says this is to make the phone something of a fashion statement. We feel you’ll either love it or hate it. Opinions are definitely mixed here at Pocket-lint.
The camera housing is among one of the most attractive we’ve seen on a smartphone. It’s a simple, glossy rectangle with rounded corners that protrudes from the back with three identically sized camera rings in a neat row. It’s compact, and pleasant to look at.
To pick up and hold the phone in the hand, the Pro is just a delight. Some of the rough edges we found between the glass and metal on the Find X2 Neo aren’t an issue here. This is one slim, smooth and sumptuous mid-ranger.
Those curved edges and the slim nature of the phone do mean there’s a tendency to accidentally touch the display though. We’ve often accidentally tapped an icon in the bottom corner of the display when it pressed into the base of our thumb. Similarly, with navigation gestures enabled, we’ve also often found ourselves trying to swipe away notifications only for it to launch the ‘back’ gesture instead.
Display
6.5-inch AMOLED display, 90Hz refresh rate
FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels)
Punch-hole selfie camera
The screen on Oppo’s top mid-range phone is AMOLED, meaning you get plenty of benefits. It’s bright (at about 500 nits peak brightness), and features deep inky blacks and vibrant colours.
It also has the added bonus of a 90Hz refresh rate, which means animations stay smoother. When you’re switching between areas in the user interface or scrolling up and down menus it helps everything seem all that much more fluid.
Heading into 2021, the Quad HD resolution display seems to be on the way out in smaller devices for the sake of battery life. And so Full HD sharpness on the Reno 4 Pro is perfectly fine – and as much as expected. It’s still virtually impossible to see any individual pixels.
For the most part this is a bright and vivid panel. We put it side-by-side with the Samsung Galaxy S21, for instance, and – set to vivid mode – the Oppo more than pulls its weight for things like Netflix watching, general interface appearance, and photo viewing. Where it struggles a little is with games, but we’ll get more into that in the performance section.
It’s not quite perfect though. The curves in the corners, for instance, don’t quite match the more square corners of the phone, while the top and bottom bezels are noticeably thicker than the sides. Both combined makes for a slightly uneven look.
Performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor, 12GB RAM
4,000mAh battery, 65W Super VOOC 2.0 charging
256GB storage, no microSD expansion
5G connectivity
Look at the current mid-range market and you’ll see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 700-series is the most popular. Here, it’s the same 765G chip that’s inside the OnePlus Nord and a handful of other powerful mid-rangers.
Joining it, there’s a generous 12GB RAM and 256GB storage (in the UK variant), which is more than enough to keep the most demanding apps running smoothly and ensure you have enough space to store all of your photos, music and video for entertainment on the go.
Like the Nord, we’ve not had any issues with performance. In fact, for most tasks, the Pro will feel pretty much as good as any flagship would. It’s fast and responsive, partly down to the fluidity of the display, partly down to the 765G platform being plenty powerful enough.
Loading up games isn’t quite as quick as some of the more recent top-tier phones, but the difference isn’t remarkable. Where you do notice the difference is in the graphics quality. Details that might be smooth and sharp on higher-end phones seem a little rough around the edges. Lines look a bit jagged, almost like the game won’t run at its full resolution. At least, that’s what we found while playing Mario Kart Tour.
The 4,000mAh battery on board is about standard in terms of capacity these days. But what’s not standard is Oppo’s Super VOOC 2.0 flash charging technology. This particular flavour is the 65W variant – which we’ve seen on top-tier phones like the Find X2 Pro. With an empty battery, it’ll charge from 0-66 per cent in just 15 minutes and finish its charge completely in 35 minutes. Now that’s fast!
What we’ve found in the past with phones using this tech is that it changes your charging behaviour. You no longer have to charge it overnight. You can wait until it runs almost flat, plug it in, and even 10-15 minutes is enough to get through the rest of the day.
Oppo seems to have done something rather magical with battery life too. Its standby performance is pretty remarkable. If you’re someone who isn’t glued to your phone constantly then you shouldn’t have too much trouble making the Reno 4 Pro last two days between charges. We’ve left it overnight on many an occasion, in standby, and woken to find it only having lost five per cent of its charge. Impressive.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
Main: 48-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture
Wide/macro: 12MP, f/2.2
Zoom (2x): 13MP, f/2.4
32MP selfie camera
4K video at 30fps
The Oppo Reno 4 Pro’s 48-megapixel main camera is joined by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 13-megapixel 2x zoom lens. What’s interesting here is that the 12-megapixel ultra-wide is also being branded as a ‘night’ camera. A lot of that is down to the fact that Oppo has boosted its night performance, especially when shooting video.
Pocket-lint
: Macro modeMacro mode
That ultra-wide doubles (triples?) as a macro camera, too, and that means not having to rely on a dedicated low resolution sensor for close-up shots – as is so prevalent in many rivals. And you can tell: the macro shots are actually decent, retaining good colour and depth, while avoiding suffering from that nauseating swirling bokeh effect we’ve seen from some of the poorer macro solutions.
As for that third lens, that’s a 5x hybrid zoom camera, so while it’s not quite as impressive as the high-end periscope-like lenses that go up to twice that, it’s still a very versatile system. At 2x optical zoom, images retain colour, sharpness and depth, but as soon as you push it up to 5x – which is where it’s using digital zoom – things can look a little ropey. Images lose sharpness as they tend to once you switch into digital zoom.
Transitioning between the four main focal lengths is easy enough though. There’s an icon on the screen that you can tap to quickly switch between 0.6x, 1x, 2x and 5x. Or you can tap, hold and drag it to use the smoother zooming interface – as it turns into a wheel on the screen.
Pocket-lint
: Ultrawide cameraUltrawide camera
What impressed us was that – while sometimes the images came out with slightly over-exposed highlights – the balance of colour and light between the three cameras was pretty uniform. Greens and purples look the same in all three in the collection above. While they all have a little over-sharpening in the darker areas, that evenness isn’t something you typically see when using three unique sensors.
Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
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Laser detection autofocus ensures that the camera focuses quickly and reliably even when the light levels aren’t optimal. Indoors in dim conditions we found it to focus fast, which made it quick and easy to grab the shot we were after without repeatedly tapping the screen in frustration trying to get the camera to lock on.
There are plenty of shooting modes too. Open up the More tab in the camera app and you can shoot with stickers, shoot in ‘Pro’ mode to get fine-tuned control, shoot slow-mo, time-lapse, and even scan text or use Google Lens to assess the scene for text and everyday items. It doesn’t feel overly busy with options thankfully, and the main collection of shooting modes is where most people will spend their time.
Verdict
The Oppo Reno 4 Pro’s spec sheet may make it seem like a mid-range phone at a near-flagship price, but its performance and everyday reliability makes this one genuinely good phone – regardless of the price.
The camera system is strong and consistent, offering versatility without falling into the same traps as other mid-range phones with multiple cameras on the back. This has three cameras and all of them useful and actually decent.
A perceived lack of power could put off the smartphone enthusiasts when compared to similarly priced devices, but we’ve enjoyed almost everything that the Oppo phone has to offer. The only minor criticism is graphical performance compromises when it comes to gaming.
While the Oppo is considerably more expensive than the OnePlus Nord or Google Pixel 4a, for that extra money you get a more premium design, a more versatile and powerful camera, and a stupendously fast-charging battery. The Reno 4 Pro is an impressively slim and sleek device that still has all the functionality you’d expect from a top-tier phone.
Alternatives to consider
Oppo Find X2 Neo
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It’s not exactly the same, but it features similar build and performance. The only compromises you make, really, are a poorer camera system and slower charging speeds. But it’ll save you some money as a result.
Read our review
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
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Samsung hit all the right notes with the ‘Fan Edition’ of the S20. It’s got all the top features that matter – like a 120Hz display, flagship-spec processor, and a solid camera system. The price isn’t that much higher considering the spec bump either.
As you may have heard one or two times, we’re now roughly a year into COVID and pandemic lockdown life. To fill the void in our lives that was once occupied by social gatherings, visiting family, and breathing indoor air freely, many of us have turned to new hobbies and habits. Some of them are even healthy!
Taking a daily or, if I’m being honest, semi-daily walk is a lockdown habit that has seen me through These Unprecedented Times. I’m not alone, either — without gyms or really anywhere else to go at all, lots of us have embraced (or at times, endured) a daily walk around the neighborhood.
To be sure, it’s not always easy. I got tired of walking by the same houses and the same pieces of fossilized trash about six months in. It rains a lot where I live and that can turn an otherwise pleasant walk into a real bummer. Other days, the motivation just isn’t there and the mailbox is as far as I get. But a few tricks along the way have helped me and fellow Verge staffers stay committed to the walk ritual. Here are some techniques to keep your pandemic walk routine fresh and the apps that can help you put them into practice.
Find a new route
Footpath helps you map out new routes and gives you key information like elevation change along the way.
This year I’ve embraced the life-changing magic of hauling myself out of my own neighborhood and going on a walk somewhere else. It feels counterproductive driving somewhere to take a walk, but it really does help shake things up when I’m burned out on my usual route.
AllTrails is an app popular with hikers, but it’s also great for finding nearby parks and trails you may not know about, whether you’re in an urban spot or farther from the city. There’s also an active community who leave helpful tips, like whether the restrooms are a horror show or if the parking lot is a hotspot for break-ins. All of its basic features are available in the free version.
Footpath is another good tool to help identify a new route, whether it’s close to home or somewhere unfamiliar. Use the app’s detailed street map to draw roughly where you’d like to go; the app will snap your route to the nearest streets and pathways. Footpath gives you important details about the route like mileage, elevation gain / loss along the way, and even a time estimate that factors in hills so you know what you’re getting into. You can trace out the full route or draw a path to a destination you’d like to reach and the app can create a loop route back to your starting point.
The free version will help you brainstorm some new walks, but more advanced features like turn-by-turn navigation — iPhone only for now but coming to Android soon — require an Elite subscription ($23.49 annually). Alternatively, you can add Elite features to individual saved routes for a one-time fee of $1.99 each.
Make it mindful
Any therapist or Silicon Valley CEO will tell you about the benefits of meditation. My brain is too noisy for a traditional sitting-and-breathing meditation, but I find walking meditations a lot easier to get into. Calm and Headspace (each is $69 for an annual subscription) offer walking meditations of various lengths; the ones offered by Headspace are tailored to more specific circumstances, like walking in a city or just back and forth at home. There are also plenty of free options if you search YouTube or your streaming music service of choice.
Find something to tune into
Time to Walk is an Apple Fitness Plus feature.Image: Apple
Finding a bite-sized podcast to listen to during walk time is a nice bonus incentive to take a break and head out the door. NPR’s Short Wave is a quick ten-ish minutes with episodes every weekday. One of my Verge colleagues uses her walk to catch up on Gamertag Radio. Or check out an audio book from your local library with the Libby app to make walk time double up as your reading time. And for something a little more freeform, use the time to listen in on a conversation on Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces.
If you’re an Apple Fitness Plus subscriber, Time to Walk is a great option. Featured celebrities like Dolly Parton share stories, recorded as they walk in places that are meaningful to them. It’s a nice, reflective experience with a diverse range of hosts. You will need a subscription to Apple’s $79 / year fitness service and an Apple Watch, so it’s more likely to be an option if you’re already invested in those things.
Gamify it
Seek helps you identify local animals and plant life, rewarding you with badges as you observe more species.
It works on kids and it works on adults: when all else fails, turn it into a game. Tracking walks on MapMyRun or Strava can give you that extra sense of accountability and accomplishment when you get back home and tap the “finish” button. It’s a neat little trick that works on my lizard brain.
Or, do as another of my Verge colleagues does and take note of local critters and plant life with the Seek app. It uses your phone’s camera to identify plants, birds, and other kinds of fauna. Best of all, it will keep track of species you’ve indentified and award badges as you identify more. Badges!
Of course, that’s just the real-life version of the classic catch ‘em all game. Another Verge staffer uses that oldie but goodie Pokémon Go to keep her neighborhood walks interesting. If you missed its rise in popularity the first time around, here’s the gist: several years ago, Pokémon Go tricked a bunch of us into going outside to look for AR characters in real-life locations. Once you find them, you can capture them by flinging virtual pokéballs at them on your phone screen. Keep it casual and just see how many different pokémon you encounter and capture on your walk route, or seek out rarer pokémon more aggressively. It’s your world.
There are a lot of video doorbells on the market. You can get one from Amazon’s Ring, Google’s Nest, Arlo, Eufy, August, or countless other companies. But none of those video doorbells will natively work with Apple’s HomeKit platform.
For a long time, if you wanted a video doorbell and you were committed to building your smart home around HomeKit, the only option you had was to use hacky workarounds such as Homebridge to integrate unsupported devices into the Home app. That changed late last year as two HomeKit-compatible video doorbells finally hit the market.
I’ve been testing the one from Logitech, the $199.99 Circle View Doorbell (the other is the $299.99 Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell), on my front door for the past few months. It is a very capable video doorbell, with excellent performance and a number of useful features. But it also comes with some significant asterisks attached.
The Circle View Doorbell is a wired doorbell and does not have a battery option. In order to use it, you’ll have to have existing low-voltage doorbell wiring rated at 8-24 volts AC, 10vA or higher, or run wiring from an AC adapter wall wart (not included) to it, as I did. It supports existing doorbell chimes if you have one and includes the accessories you need to make it work. You can check the online installation guide (there aren’t any instructions included in the box, so you have to follow the instructions from your phone or a computer) to see if your existing hardware is compatible. I don’t have a chime in my home, so I skipped the parts of the setup related to that.
The Circle View comes with all of the other hardware necessary to install it, except for a Micro USB cable and A/C adapter, which is required to power the doorbell and configure it before you mount it at your door. It’s likely that you already have one lying around at home, but it’s still an odd omission.
Installation and setup are relatively simple: you get the doorbell powered up, scan the barcode on the back using the Apple Home app on your iPhone to add it to your virtual home, and then install the hardware at your door. The whole process took me about 15 minutes and shouldn’t be much of a challenge for anyone with a screwdriver, a power drill, and even the smallest amount of home repair experience. (Trust me, I’m no Bob Vila.)
But if you want to avoid all of that and just have someone else do it for you (an impulse that I strongly relate to, no judgment here), Logitech has partnered with HelloTech to have someone come to your home and install the doorbell. The service costs $100 on top of the price of the doorbell and includes setting it up and wiring it up at your door. It does not include running wire to your door; you have to have the wiring in place already (likely from an existing doorbell).
Because the Circle View doesn’t have an internal battery, it’s much more compact than something like the Ring Video Doorbell 3 and is closer in size to the Nest Hello or Ring Video Doorbell Pro. There’s the camera in its expected place, a built-in nightlight below that, and a round illuminated circle indicating where to press. The whole bottom half of the doorbell is the button to ring it, so you don’t have to be particularly precise when using it. In the box are straight and angled mounts to better position the camera’s view depending on your home layout. Unfortunately, the angled mount’s 20-degree tilt is not enough for me to see the one spot on my porch where most packages are left through the doorbell’s vertical view.
Lastly, the Circle View only comes in black and has a modern and gadget-y look to it. I don’t mind it, but it might not fit your home’s decor or your style, and there isn’t much you can do to change it. Other companies offer white or black versions of their doorbells, and some even have interchangeable faceplates.
The Circle View Doorbell has a 5-megapixel camera with a tall aspect ratio that lets you see visitors from head to toe.
At its core, the Circle View is very similar to other video doorbells. It will ping your phone with a push notification when someone rings the doorbell, including a video thumbnail preview; you can view a live feed from your phone; and use the two-way speaker to talk to the person at the door like an intercom. The video feed is a tall 160-degree view, which is meant to let you see a person from head to toe or be able to see if a package was left on the stoop. It has a 5-megapixel sensor with 1200 x 1600 HD resolution and HDR functions resulting in image quality that generally looks good.
It also functions very well. Pulling up the video feed from my phone or an iPad is noticeably faster than with other video doorbells, likely due to the Circle View’s support for 5GHz Wi-Fi and my strong mesh Wi-Fi network (a must for any smart home). Push notifications to my phone and watch are nearly instant, though the thumbnail preview rarely loaded on my Apple Watch, just showing a gray square. The speaker and microphone work well for two-way communication, should you desire to ever use it (I don’t). If you’re watching something on an Apple TV when someone rings the bell, you will get a thumbnail preview right there on your TV screen (though you can’t do anything but see it).
The built-in nightlight comes on automatically and is searingly bright, which is unpleasant for those walking up to your door.
The Circle View has some functions that make it slightly unique. The built-in nightlight below the camera will come on automatically when it’s dark out to enable what Logitech calls “color night vision.” It allows you to view a full-color feed even at night, unlike the grayscale view that most other video doorbells offer, and it’s much nicer to use as a result. The light is either on or off — there’s very little in the way of customization — and it is searingly bright, which is unpleasant if you’re the person walking up to the door to press the doorbell. If you have a porch light, the built-in nightlight is unnecessary, and I ended up just turning it off permanently. One thing to note is the Circle View doesn’t have any sort of IR night vision (that grayscale view other cameras offer), so it doesn’t quite have the same range in the dark as others. But in my experience, the range it has with the color night vision is more than adequate.
From left to right: the Circle View’s image at night with the nightlight on, the nightlight off, and with a porchlight on.
The other thing that makes it unique is its support for Apple’s HomeKit platform. The Circle View is so committed to HomeKit that there isn’t even a Logitech app to set it up — everything related to the doorbell’s functions is handled in the Apple-developed Home app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. It also supports Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video, which when paired with a HomeKit hub such as an Apple TV, iPad, or HomePod, allows for storage of video clips in iCloud and face detection features. You can also use a HomePod or HomePod mini as a chime for the doorbell — though in my tests, this was less reliable than I had hoped, working about half the time.
The Apple Home app allows you to see a live feed, timeline of recorded events, control nearby smart home gadgets, and manage the features of the Circle View Doorbell.
The HomeKit Secure Video features require an iCloud subscription of 200GB per month or more and allow you to view up to 10 days of end-to-end-encrypted clips captured by the camera. The clips don’t count against your storage quota in iCloud, but the base plan only supports one camera. If you have other HomeKit Secure Video cameras in your home, you’ll need to pony up for the 2TB plan that handles up to five. If you have more than that, well, I’m sorry, five cameras is all HomeKit currently supports. The facial recognition features can tie into your Apple Photos library to identify certain visitors and even announce their names on a HomePod when they ring the doorbell. I didn’t find this function very useful. Most of the people in my Photos library are my own family, and they aren’t ringing the doorbell to their own home very often.
Within the Home app, you can view the camera’s feed, see a timeline of recorded clips (if you use HomeKit Secure Video), manage notifications, choose when the camera will record video, set up the face recognition features, turn on and off the nightlight, and customize the activity zones for motion detection. You can also set up automations that control other smart home devices when the doorbell detects motion. (Third-party HomeKit apps such as Eve’s will let you set up automations triggered by the doorbell’s built-in light sensor as well.)
While all of that sounds like a lot of options, it’s actually quite limited compared to other doorbells. There’s no way to customize the sound of the doorbell chime, like you can do with Ring or Nest, so forget about any fun holiday-themed chimes. Motion detection alerts cannot be limited to just people or vehicles, so the branches of the tree near my porch would cause the doorbell to ping my phone whenever the wind blew. While you can set an activity zone, you can’t adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection or limit alerts to certain times of the day. I ended up turning the motion detection alerts off entirely as a result. I also couldn’t use the motion detection to trigger automations because of how often it would get tripped.
The Circle View is much smaller than battery-powered doorbells like the Ring Video Doorbell 3.
All of those limitations are because the Circle View relies entirely on the Home app, so it can only do what Apple has built support for. A dedicated Logitech app, while obviously more cumbersome, would likely allow for more options and customization.
A dedicated app would also address the other big limitation with the Circle View: it doesn’t work with anything other than Apple’s devices and platform. That’s fine if you’re fully committed to HomeKit and don’t ever think you’re going to buy a different phone or use a different platform.
But if you share a home with just one person who isn’t fully invested in Apple’s ecosystem and uses an Android phone, the Circle View is effectively a dumb doorbell to them. There’s no way for them to get alerts on their phone when the bell is rung or to view the video feed.
The Circle View also doesn’t work with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, so forget about hearing chimes through an Amazon Echo or viewing the video feed on a Home Hub. (More advanced smart home enthusiasts who are working with platforms like Home Assistant can skip right past the Circle View, too. It doesn’t support any standard protocols.) You are tied to buying an iPhone and using HomeKit for as long as you have this doorbell installed. It’s much like the Apple Watch in that respect. The Circle View Doorbell is effectively an accessory to an iPhone.
Other doorbells may not integrate as nicely with Apple’s platform, but all of them at the very least offer apps for both iOS and Android to view video feeds and manage features. And most of them support Amazon’s and Google’s smart home platforms, giving you a lot more flexibility should you ever want to change things. In my experience covering and using smart home tech for the better part of a decade, limiting yourself to compatibility with just one platform is a recipe for disappointment and frustration down the road.
Still, there are obvious advantages if you’re okay with the Circle View’s limitations. Nothing is ever sent to Logitech’s cloud, so you don’t have to worry about yet another privacy policy or potential security issues. The video that’s stored in iCloud’s HomeKit Secure Video service is end-to-end encrypted, so only you and those you give access to in the Home app can view it. It’s about the closest thing you can get in terms of security to local storage for video clips (which, no, the Circle View doesn’t support) while still having easy access to them from anywhere you might be. You also don’t have to worry about police partnerships or unsavory social networks tied to your doorbell’s camera, as you might with other devices.
The Circle View’s privacy features and platform limitations align so closely with the features of products that Apple itself produces that you could almost imagine an Apple logo on the front of the doorbell instead of Logitech’s. It’s fast, performs the basics very well, and provides a sharp, detailed view of your doorway from your phone. If that’s what you’ve been waiting for from a video doorbell, and you’re not turned off by its limitations, then the Logitech Circle View is an easy choice.
Apple is making it easier for parents to find podcasts to listen to with their kids. The company is teaming up with nonprofit Common Sense Media, which specializes in age-based content reviews, to curate various collections that’ll appear in the Apple Podcasts app in the US and online. The initial four themes focus on narrative storytelling, shows that kids themselves recommend, mysteries and dramas, and Common Sense’s “all-time” picks. Programming comes from Tinkercast, American Public Media, WNYC Studios, Rebel Girls, and Nickelodeon, among others, and Common Sense will provide age group recommendations.
The collections will be updated monthly with new themes being tied to “important historical and cultural moments,” like Women’s History Month. You’ll see these show suggestions starting today in Apple Podcasts’ main homepage carousel, and then they’ll be available through the Browse tab indefinitely.
Podcasts for children have become increasingly popular as the hype around audio grows and parents look for ways to keep their kids entertained without relying on a screen. Common Sense previously published podcast recommendations, but this new partnership with Apple represents its biggest commitment to audio programming yet. Hot Pod writer Nick Quah reported last year that kid podcast creators saw huge bumps in listenership at the start of the pandemic. One company, Gen-Z Media, said its show Six Minutes performed about 2 million downloads a month, but during the pandemic, it was on track for 3 million.
Other companies, like Spotify and Amazon, place their kid-approved content into separate apps and experiences. Apple seems to think that’s unnecessary for now and that parents can instead rely on themed collections to oversee what their kids enjoy listening to. Apple does provide a kid-oriented device experience, but that’s more to give parents control and insight into what their children are consuming than having Apple actually whitelist content.
WhatsApp is reportedly working to increase the security of its cloud backups with a new password protection feature that’ll encrypt chat backups, making them accessible only to the user. WABetaInfo reported on the work-in-progress feature last year, and today it shared screenshots of how it could be presented in the service’s iOS and Android apps.
“To prevent unauthorized access to your iCloud Drive backup, you can set a password that will be used to encrypt future backups,” one of the screenshots reads. “This password will be required when you restore from the backup.” The app then asks the user to confirm their phone number, and select a password that’s at least eight characters long. Another screenshot warns that “WhatsApp will not be able to help recover forgotten passwords.”
• The chat database is already encrypted now (excluding media), but the algorithm is reversible and it’s not end-to-end encrypted. • Local Android backups will be compatible with this feature.
The chat DB and media will be encrypted using a password that only you know. https://t.co/WAliLUnF18
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 8, 2021
Although WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, meaning they’re only visible to the sender and recipient, the service warns that this protection doesn’t extend to online backups stored on Google Drive and iCloud. Once on these servers, the security of the backups is the responsibility of the cloud service providers, who in the past have made them accessible to law enforcement authorities with valid search warrants. Encrypting the backups with a password only you know would theoretically prevent anyone from accessing your chat history without your authorization.
These latest reports about the feature come as WhatsApp’s reputation has taken a hit from a new privacy policy, which has stoked fears that it may store more information with parent company Facebook. Although WhatsApp insists the new policy doesn’t affect the security of users’ personal messages, rival messaging services like Signal and Telegram have seen a surge in interest as users explore other options.
WhatsApp declined to comment on the unannounced feature when contacted by The Verge, but WABetaInfo has a good track record of unearthing features before they become official. It’s spotted features like adding contacts via QR codes or disappearing messages long before their official announcements.
Streaming online doesn’t have to cost a fortune with DIY systems like StreamPi. Using a Raspberry Pi, you can create a custom stream deck experience totally catered to your streaming needs.
It’s a cross-platform, open-source application designed to integrate with common platforms used by streamers, and it’s triggered with touchscreen buttons. The StreamPi website lists Samuel Quinones and Debayan Sutradhar as its primary developers.
(Image credit: StreamPi)
The app is currently designed to work with both Linux and Windows machines. Users can program custom functions that work with apps like OBS, Spotify, and recently new additions like Twitter, Command Line, and more. There are also plans in the works to expand support with additional programs like Discord. The Raspberry Pi runs StreamPi and accepts input from the user, which triggers events using any of the supported applications.
It also features themes for the interface that can be changed and customized with a little programming. You can also see the device in action — the team behind the project posted a demo of a Raspberry Pi 4-powered system on Twitter.
To explore this project in-depth, visit the official GitHub for StreamPi. Check out our list of best Raspberry Pi projects for more useful creations from the maker community.
Now with RGB, the QuadCast S is great in all the same ways the original model was but with flashing lights. If that’s essential for your streaming setup aesthetic that’s great news. For everyone else, the sound quality and polar options are the big pull.
For
+ Very useful shock mount
+ Superior build quality
+ Sounds as good as similarly priced competitors
+ Four polar patterns
Against
– Not much different from original QuadCast
– Software needed to turn RGB off
– Not quite a studio mic
In the upper echelons of streamer mic, it seems, there are two ways to play it. The first is to emulate the look and feature set of analog recording mics as closely as possible and rely on the convenience of that USB input as a selling point. The Beyerdynamic’s Fox is the gold standard for this approach, for example. The second approach is to go all-in on the gamer appeal. Guess which approach the HyperX QuadCast S ($160 as of writing) opts for?
It only takes the time for the power to make its way along the USB cable and up to that huge RGB lighting zone to figure that one out. This refresh of the existing HyperX QuadCast, which had been one of the best gaming microphones, is meant to give the likes of Razer’s Seiren Emote a run for its money on pure streamer setup aesthetic appeal. But if you look beyond all the flashing color there’s actually plenty here in common with more studious studio mics too. A lot of it inherited from the original Quadcast, we hasten to add. Don’t lose sleep if you bought the original just before this S variant came out. You’re not missing out on anything other than potential migraines; the specs are nearly identical.
If you weren’t already a QuadCast owner though and are looking for a serious USB mic, there’s a lot to like in the QuadCast S.
The QuadCast S is far from a drastic redesign of the original QuadCast, but there are differences. Small ones. The elasticated cord around the QuadCast S’ shock mount is now gray instead of the original red, for example, and the USB input connection is now USB Type-C instead of USB Type-A. We did say they were small differences.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Otherwise, you’re looking at the same unit. You get a large capsule housing three separate diaphragms to offer four polar patterns and a dial to switch between them at the back, a headphone monitoring input below that, a touch-sensitive mute at the top and a smooth and satisfying gain control dial at the base of the mic.
We’ll tackle the different patterns and the sounds they create below in the sound quality section, but let’s cover those other design features. The QuadCast S’ headphone monitoring is clear and doesn’t run too hot for higher gain settings, so there’s very little breakup until you start shouting or getting close to the capsule.
As with the QuadCast and HyperX SoloCast, the QuadCast S’ mute touch button is a nice design that alleviates that audible popping sound you sometimes get from depressing a physical mute switch on other mics. Meanwhile, the mute button’s lighting leaves you in no uncertainty as to whether you’re muted or not.
The gain control feels really well built, but its travel considerably exceeds the visual indicators on each side. So unless you like your output set at between 30%-70%, you won’t be able to get a visual on your preferred setting.
Sound Quality
The QuadCast S is a refresh of an existing mic, so you know what’s coming: The sound characteristics are unchanged, as far as these ears can discern.
And they didn’t need to change. Boasting four polar patterns and three separate mic membranes was something of a party trick for the original QuadCast, so much so that it obviously informed the product name. And while the Blue Yeti X can tick those same polar pattern boxes, there was a gulf in sound quality between the two. So it goes with the QuadCast S we’re reviewing.
There are a couple of provisos, though. Our first is that the QuadCast S comes frustratingly close to being a good low-budget studio mic with all those polar patterns, but since it’s limited to 48K Hz/16-bit recording, it doesn’t quite spread its wings and get there. 48KHz/16-bit is ample for a streamer mic’s intended usage, of course, where the audio will either be heavily compressed at the source or by the platform. But if you have a stereo / omnidirectional / cardioid / bidirectional mic available to you, perhaps you’d be tempted to use it for some home recording and music production. In those situations, it’s nice — not essential, but nice — to have a higher sample rate and bitrate to play with.
Today’s high-end streamer mics all exist within a very narrow gamut with ready-to-go-audio, and the QuadCast S fits the profile. Like Razer, Elgato and cheaper Blue models, there’s definitely a slightly scooped EQ hat boosts low mids, suppresses mids and accentuates high-end frequencies for clarity of speech. That means your recordings sound professional, rather than natural; the mic is doing a bit of EQ and compression for you.
Blue’s Yeti X still offers the happiest compromise between natural and broadcast-ready to our ears compared to the QuadCast S and other high-end mics, but these are fine margins between models we’re talking about.
Features and Software
You know the drill by now with RGB devices. Cometh the lights, cometh the accompanying software app. In this case, it’s HyperX’s NGenuity software that acts as a gateway to customizing the QuadCast S’ two lighting zones (top and bottom), colors and behavior, and it makes doing so pretty simple.
There’s not much tweaking to be had on the audio side though. Gain, mic monitoring and headphone volume are controllable via software, but there are no EQ presets or noise cancellation options. Small footprint software is a plus for some people, of course, but if you were looking to sculpt the mic’s sound without going into a DAW and applying plugins, you should look elsewhere.
For anyone resistant to installing yet another peripheral manufacturer’s app onto their C:/ (this reviewer included), it’s worth noting that customizing RGB behavior is just about the only thing you can’t do without NGenuity installed. You can do everything else, from muting to choosing polar patterns, with physical dials on the unit. That may sound like a given, but with some budget mics, like the Razer Seiren Mini, jettisoning all physical controls, perhaps it’s worth stating explicitly. That leaves the physical unit much more feature-rich than the software, which does its best to act useful when you load it up. But when part of the screen’s devoted to showing you which settings you’ve already selected using physical controls, (such as the polar pattern), you get a clear sense that this isn’t essential software.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The HyperX QuadCast S brings a gamer-fied aesthetic to the already great mix available in the HyperX QuadCast, with flexibility and out-of-the-box sound quality. There’s not much to complain about, but if you have the standard QuadCast there’s not much to get excited about either.
If you’re specifically drawn to the QuadcCast S for its four polar patterns and the potential for home recording, consider an analog XLR mic or the Beyerdynamic Fox for its higher sample and bitrate.
If you’re happy to keep things CD-quality when you’re recording however, the QuadCast S will see you right.
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For the past month, I’ve been testing the two most powerful Wear OS watches you can buy: the TicWatch Pro 3 from Mobvoi and the Fossil Gen 5 LTE. They’re not spec-for-spec identical, but they do share a basic shape: big, chunky, round, and black. If you’re using Android and want a smartwatch, they’re at the top of a persistently tiny list of top-flight smartwatches.
Despite Wear OS’s reputation, both watches are perfectly competent and can do the basics of what many people want out of a smartwatch. Both also offer what I’d characterize as acceptable battery life: a full day most of the time, two at a stretch. The TicWatch can actually go much longer, thanks to a clever second screen layered on top of the first one.
But Wear OS does have that reputation: for years, watches that ran it have been slow, ran out of battery life quickly, and suffered from a tiny ecosystem of apps. Some of those problems have been solved, but that doesn’t mean that these watches (or, honestly, any smartwatch available to Android owners) lives up to the polish and features iPhone users can get with the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch comparison isn’t really useful for Android users — it’s not and probably never will be an option. Instead, let’s just look at these two watches on their own terms.
The Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Pro
TicWatch Pro 3 review
At $299.99, the TicWatch Pro 3 is not an impulse buy. But the price is about right for what Mobvoi has created. It has pushed the limits of what Wear OS can do in two ways.
First, it has crammed the best technology it could get for a Wear OS device in here. One big differentiator for the TicWatch Pro 3 is that it is the only watch using Qualcomm’s latest smartwatch processor, the Snapdragon 4100. (More from Motorola and possibly OnePlus have been rumored to be coming this year.)
That processor makes the watch faster than other Wear OS devices — though it still can sometimes feel a step behind both Samsung’s Tizen-based watches and even Fitbits. It also accounts for some of the TicWatch’s battery life, which I’ve found can last two and even three days with all the bells and whistles turned on.
The second thing Mobvoi has done to push Wear OS is add a bunch of bells and whistles to make up for the platform’s missing features. The main thing it’s done is put an LCD panel on top of the regular OLED screen. This allows the TicWatch to go into a low power mode when it’s on standby and a super-low power mode when you need it to last for more than a few days on a charge.
Wear OS powers its fitness offerings with Google Fit, which has seen a few updates but is very far behind Apple’s fitness offerings. Mobvoi can’t fix that, but it has tried to fill in the gaps with its own suite of fitness apps on the watch. It even includes a blood oxygen sensor — though it’s no more accurate than the norm for smartwatches, which isn’t very good.
However, using them requires you to place a large amount of trust in Mobvoi the company — as the watch makes perfectly clear when you try to launch these apps, there’s no way to do that without sharing a bunch of information with Mobvoi. I applaud the transparency, but that still wasn’t enough to make me comfortable with it.
One thing to keep in mind with the TicWatch Pro 3: its aesthetics. It’s unapologetically a big, chunky watch. I don’t have huge wrists and it absolutely feels dominated by this thing. It is “honest” in its design, at least, in that it isn’t trying to look like a fancier watch than it is — right on down to the matte plastic lugs that hold the replaceable straps in place. I also wish it had a rotating crown for scrolling.
I ended up using the TicWatch Pro 3 like a bog standard Wear OS watch in the end, turning off its extra screen and sticking to Google Fit for fitness data. It absolutely did the job, but at $299 I think most people would be better off considering other options.
There is only one spec that the TicWatch lacks: LTE. For that, you’ll need to buy the Fossil.
The Fossil Gen 5 LTE
Fossil Gen 5 LTE review
I reviewed the original Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch in 2019, and I called it the “best of a Wear OS situation.” I think that (dubious) honor now goes to the TicWatch Pro 3, but if you need LTE, the $349 Fossil Gen 5 is one of two options you’ve got on Android (the other is Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 LTE).
Fortunately, the Fossil Gen 5 is essentially unchanged by the addition of LTE. If you’re willing to pay your carrier the extra monthly charges to turn it on, using the Gen 5 with LTE felt virtually the same as using it with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Even battery life didn’t seem to be a problem. I did notice the watch was more likely to hit two full days with LTE turned off, but I usually didn’t manage to drain it in a single day even when using mostly LTE. Sadly, Fossil also feels as though it needs to make up for Wear OS’s shortcomings by keeping its entirely too complicated battery saver features. A watch should never require users to dig into granular radio toggles.
It does still use the older Snapdragon 3100 processor, though it didn’t feel particularly slow as a result. Aesthetically, it’s very slightly different from the regular Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle that I own and it’s not that much smaller than the TicWatch, but subtle differences make it look just a little more premium.
All in all, if you must have an LTE smartwatch and you use Android, this is your best option if you really prefer Wear OS to Tizen. If you’re agnostic, I think the Galaxy Watch 3 with LTE is probably a better choice.
Wear OS watches
As I’ve been harping on for three years now, every smartwatch for Android involves some kind of compromise.
Samsung watches need a lot more apps and require you to install a lot of extra stuff on your phone to get them working.
Fitbits are great for fitness but not so great at integrating into Android. There’s also the not-so-little matter about the company now being owned by Google’s hardware division. The future of the entire Fitbit ecosystem is sort of up in the air right now.
And honestly, the future of Wear OS is also up in the air. There’s little movement lately in app support and though Google has done a decent enough job keeping the OS from falling into utter decay, it hasn’t done much more than that. It’s overdue for an overhaul.
There are likely more Wear OS watches coming that might be worth waiting for, but the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 remains the best option for traditional smartwatch stuff. At the end of the day, it’s difficult to recommend anybody spend three or four hundred dollars to get on board the rudderless Wear OS boat.
Both the TicWatch Pro 3 and the Fossil Gen 5 LTE are good enough smartwatches for what they are. It’s just that what they are is the best of an old platform with a questionable future.
Rumors about a long-desired upgrade to the Nintendo Switch have been swirling for some time, and this week, Bloomberg reported that this fabled new Switch might actually be coming soon.
This upgraded Switch will apparently have a 7-inch 720p OLED screen that can output 4K graphics when connected to a TV, according to the report. An OLED screen would be a major upgrade from the Switch and Switch Lite’s LCD, likely providing deeper colors and darker blacks. And the 4K output would be a big jump, too; right now, the current Switch tops out at a 1080p resolution when hooked up to a TV.
But a lot of us here at The Verge still like our existing Switches quite a bit, even those of us with the launch model that debuted four years ago this week. The changes we’re clamoring for aren’t necessarily an OLED screen or additional performance. (In fact, it might be annoying if additional horsepower led to Switch Pro-exclusive games like when Nintendo introduced the New Nintendo 3DS.) And while more battery life would always be appreciated, we’re mostly hoping it just doesn’t dip below the bar Nintendo set with the Switch v2 revision.
Here’s our list.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Better Joy-Cons (and more colors)
The Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, while a creative design that offers more ways to play the console and a handy way to get two controllers in every box, have notoriously unreliable thumbsticks, with many users reporting joystick drift issues over time. Nintendo has said little about what appears to be a widespread problem, but the company did implement a free repair policy in 2019 for users having issues. Nintendo also didn’t use the launches of the Switch Lite and the second revision of the current Switch to fix drift issues, so they’re still ongoing — this could be another chance for Nintendo to make it right.
Other changes could simply make the Joy-Cons better controllers. Putting a real D-pad on the left Joy-Con, similar to the D-pad on the Nintendo Switch Lite, might make playing platformers and fighting games a lot easier than mashing the left Joy-Con’s current four-button design. Slightly bigger shoulder triggers could make the Switch easier to hold in your hands. And I’d really like more colors — perhaps Nintendo could offer an Xbox Design Lab-like way to deck out my Switch and its Joy-Cons when I buy it?
Bluetooth headphone support
Using Bluetooth headphones with your Switch is surprisingly hard: you’ve got to buy and plug a third-party Bluetooth adapter into the headphone jack, the console’s USB-C port, or the Switch’s docking station. (Even though the Joy-Cons use Bluetooth, the Switch has never come with Bluetooth audio support.)
The demand for Bluetooth audio was so strong a whole cottage industry of third-party adapters has sprung up — just search “Nintendo Switch Bluetooth adapter” on Amazon to see some of the many offerings available. But even if you buy, most of these dongles awkwardly stick out of the console’s USB-C port, requiring you to remove them to charge, and some feel like they could snap off if you aren’t looking out.
A Switch with native support for Bluetooth headphones might be particularly nice for playing in bed, no extra dongle or wired earbuds required.
A Quick Resume-like feature
We’ve really liked Quick Resume on the Xbox Series X / S, which lets you swap between games without having to boot them from scratch before getting back to where you left off. We think the Switch would really benefit from a similar feature, especially since it has so many games that you can jump into for a few minutes at a time. Imagine hopping from a visit to your friend’s Animal Crossing island to a Hades run to a quick bout in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, all without having to wait for the games to cold boot each time — sounds great, right?
One Verge editor would also really, really like not to have to find a save point in his JRPG every time their partner wants to tidy up their Animal Crossing island.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
A better kickstand
The current Switch’s kickstand seemed like a good idea at first, but in practice, it isn’t quite as useful as we had hoped. It’s small, unstable, only clicks into one angle, and, terrifyingly, snaps off rather easily (though it’s easy to put back on). That means the kickstand works best on flat and still surfaces at only one angle — which hasn’t been all that great for many situations where we’ve actually wanted to stand up the Switch, like on an airplane or in the backseat of a car.
One thing many of us really want is for Nintendo to fix this with a bigger, Microsoft Surface-style kickstand. Not only would that make the console much more stable stood up, but it could also be adjusted to many different viewing angles, which could be really handy for things like backseat Mario Kart races.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Glass screen and smaller bezels
The current Switch has a plastic screen that scratches very easily — many Verge staffers have immediately slapped inexpensive tempered glass screen protectors on their consoles to avoid permanent scuffs. A lot of us are hoping Nintendo adds a glass screen to this new model that’s more scratch-resistant so we don’t need to add our own.
A bigger screen hopefully means that we’ll see smaller bezels, too, which would give the console a more premium feel. The current Switch has giant black bezels that reveal just how much space could still be filled by screen. And if you’ve used the Nintendo Switch Lite, while it has a smaller screen, the bezels also aren’t as prominent, which makes the Lite’s screen’s smaller size less obvious.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
An upgraded dock
The Switch’s current dock works well enough — it gives the Switch a place to charge and helps the console connect to the TV — but we’d like it more if it was smaller, had magnets to make the Switch just a bit more secure, and a built-in Ethernet port, since plugging in a USB-A to Ethernet adapter to get wired internet is a clunky solution.
A good name
Nintendo isn’t exactly known for easy-to-remember hardware names. This is the company that signified an entirely new console generation with the letter U, released a handheld called the New Nintendo 2DS XL, and released a smaller version of the Switch that can’t actually “switch” at all.
While it seems likely Nintendo will just call it the “Switch Pro” or “Switch Plus” or maybe the “Super Nintendo Switch” for fun, we thought we’d also come up with a few names Nintendo can throw in the trash right now:
Nintendo Switch Max
New Nintendo Switch i XL
Nintendo Switch VII Remake Intergrade
Nintendo Switch HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue 358/2 days χ[Chi] øø™
$witch
The SwitcherU
2 Nintendo 2 Switch
Nintendo Swiitch
Nimtenbo Swantch
Nintendo Switch 3(+ months between game releases)
Swii
Netflix
The Nintendo Switch, which turned four years old this week, still doesn’t have a Netflix app. Perhaps the added potential horsepower of a 4K-enabled Switch means we’ll finally be able to watch Bridgerton.
(Pocket-lint) – Many have accepted that heart rate monitoring is part of their workout routine. With heart rate sensors now common on sports devices, we’ve come a long way from the dark days when such monitors were expensive devices exclusive to the sporting elite.
So with such wide availability of the hardware, is there a demand for something as simple as the Polar’s dedicated heart rate monitor, the Verity Sense?
Design and build
30 x 30 x 9.6mm, 5g
50m water resistance
The Polar Verity Sense is basically just the optical sensor, battery and connectivity hardware you might find in a sports watch, but in a neat button, measuring 30mm in diameter and just under 1cm thick.
The idea is that you can wear the sensor rather than having to wear a watch, or as an alternative to wearing a chest strap – which for many years was the mainstay of heart rate sensors. The Verity Sense is Polar’s second-gen device, improving on the OH1 in many ways.
Pocket-lint
The Verity Sense offers 50m water protection, designed for protection against swimming, so it’s more than happy to be sweated into too. That’s what it’s for – it’s a sports device you wear next to the skin, which means you’re going to be sweating into it a lot.
There’s a single button on one side to power on and off, and switch through the three different modes that it supports. On the opposite side is a coloured LED which will visually display the mode you’re in – blue when connected to another device, green when storing its own data, white when in swimming mode.
Wear and comfort
Strap and clip included
Goggle clip for swimmers
The Verity Sense is designed to be worn against the skin, clipping into a holder on an elasticated band which will keep it in place. This can be adjusted to fit, so will suit various sizes, designed to be worn on the fore or upper arm.
Best fitness trackers 2021: Top activity bands to buy today
By Britta O’Boyle
·
· Updated
Our guide to the top fitness trackers available, helping you count steps, track calories, monitor your heart rate, sleep patterns and more.
Polar advises against wearing on it the wrist like a watch. Given the size of the strap, we think most people would struggle to wear it securely in that position anyway.
Pocket-lint
You basically wear it like a band and we found it easy just to slide it up the arm to a position where it was tight enough to stay in position, but not so tight that it’s uncomfortable. Having been cycling, running, and done plyometric exercises wearing the Verity Sense, we’ve found it stayed in place without a problem.
In that sense, it’s comfortable, more convenient and, for many people, more accessible than a chest strap. We only found ourselves adjusting it on a ride going over 2 hours and then you can move it down your arm a little, or tweak the strap a little to make it looser, if your arms have expanded slightly over the course of the activity you’re doing. The slider on the strap is easy to nudge a little to make it slightly looser on the move.
Being low profile also has a distinct advantage: you can fit the Verity Sense under long-sleeve tops easily. Even when wearing it under tight bike kit or compression gear, we didn’t find it a problem. Having fought with chunky sports watches under tight sleeves, it’s a welcome change – although wearing a chest strap under tight gear has never been a problem either.
Pocket-lint
It can, however, function just about anywhere that it can stay in contact with the skin – indeed a clip is supplied so you can wear it on your goggle strap when swimming, to get your pulse from your temple. We haven’t had the chance to test this in the pool, because the pools are closed at the time of writing, but we’ve worn it to check that it would get a reading through a layer of hair and it seems to work reliably.
Functions and connections
Three recording modes
Bluetooth and ANT+
Polar Flow app
Supporting Bluetooth and ANT+ means that the Verity Sense is compatible with a wide range of devices. Bluetooth is commonplace, allowing you to connect to your phone, laptop, or smart trainer like the Wahoo Kickr, and a whole lot more.
ANT+ is widely supported in sports devices, allowing connection to Peloton, Garmin Edge bike computers, and more.
Having both available means connections are a breeze, so you can setup whichever devices you want to benefit from Polar’s data. We found that connecting to the Hammerhead Karoo 2 was as straightforward as connecting any other sensor.
Pocket-lint
The Verity Sense will also support two simultaneous Bluetooth connections, so you can have it connected to different devices if you want to record and monitor heart rate on two different platforms at the same time.
There’s also the option to disable ANT+ if you never use it via the Polar Flow app – which is another aspect of this device. It’s managed via Polar’s app, so will need to connect to your phone for firmware updates or to download data you choose to save to the internal memory.
There are three modes of use. The first is as a heart rate sensor for another device. As described above, this will let Verity Sense supply live data via Bluetooth or ANT+ to be recorded or displayed elsewhere.
That might be using it with Apple Health or Strava to record a manual activity, with an indoor bike trainer or treadmill, or with bike computers to get a more complete set of data on your rides.
Pocket-lint
When used as a sensor, you don’t have to use Polar’s apps at all. The only time you’d need to use Polar’s apps are when using the other functions that it offers.
The second mode is to have the Verity Sense record the data itself. In this mode, as soon as you switch this mode on it will log the heart rate data to its internal storage, up until you turn it off.
It will hold up to 600 hours of data and you’ll have to sync to Polar Flow to extract the data, where you can then examine it. Bear in mind that it will be recording the whole time the device is on (with the green light showing), so that may well include all those breaks, any delay before you start, and so on.
This mode means you don’t need a phone or any other device nearby for that activity – and if you’re doing something where you don’t want to wear a watch, it’s especially useful. We’ve used it for workouts and it’s a useful feature, even if you can’t immediately figure out how you might apply it to your own exercise routine.
Pocket-lint
Finally there’s the swimming option. This gives additional support, using the internal sensors to detect turns in the pool. You’ll have to set the length of the pool in Polar Flow, but then you’ll get a readout of pace, distance and your heart rate for your swim.
Performance and battery life
20 hours battery life
What’s perhaps surprising about Polar’s optical heart rate sensor in the Verity Sense is that we’ve found it to behave itself better than some of Polar’s other devices, like the Vantage V, which was a little temperamental when we reviewed it.
That’s a good starting point for the Verity Sense, in that it acquires your heart rate quickly and sticks to it, avoiding some of the warm-up lag that sometimes plagues optical heart rate sensors. But it’s an accurate sensor too.
Pocket-lint
Comparing with a Garmin chest strap and a Garmin Fenix 6, we’re getting averages within a beat of those devices, hitting the same highs, seeing the same recovery drops when pausing at traffic lights or coasting downhill and so on.
What can send things out of sync slightly is the inability to control the activity time. As we said above, when using it to save data internally, it starts once the mode is set, and stops when you turn it off. (A little secret here – it doesn’t actually turn “off” it just stops measuring heart rate, because it will still sync with your phone once all the lights are off.)
The result is that, used as a standalone device, you will probably end up sandwiching your workout with non-exercise activity, which can pull the exercise average down. What’s perhaps more important to consider when used like this are the times spent in different zones – and Polar’s software will show you that sort of breakdown.
Pocket-lint
The good performance is backed up by solid battery life too. There’s a lot less demand on this type of device than there is on a watch – but 20 hours of recording is good going. That’s going to cover most people for most activities for a couple of weeks, if not longer.
Charging takes place via USB, by slipping the sensor into the supplied adaptor, so it’s nice and easy.
Verdict
For those who always monitor their activities with a phone – running with it, for example – the Polar Verity Sense is a way to easily add heart rate data to get a lot more information on what your body is doing. That might equally apply to anyone who doesn’t want to wear a watch, or can’t because you’re wearing gloves or something else around your wrists.
There’s immediate appeal for cyclists. With most bike computers supporting additional sensors, adding heart rate without a chest strap – and more affordably – makes the Polar Verity Sense a no brainer. That equally applies for indoor training too, something that’s seen a huge boom.
For many, the Polar Verity Sense is cheap enough to buy as an accessory for those times that you want to use it, even if you have another watch that will offer you heart rate monitoring, just because it is great to have the choice of a dedicated sensor in some situations.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Polar H10
squirrel_widget_3139769
Polar has a chest strap of its own, offering great performance and comfort. It supports ANT+ and multiple Bluetooth streams as well as standalone tracking mode.
Wahoo
Wahoo Tickr Fit
squirrel_widget_4253691
Wahoo’s collection also includes a band-type optical heart-rate tracker, offering Bluetooth and ANT+ to easily get heart rate data into other devices.
Last month, The Verge broke news of Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi’s new app Fireside, which promises to deliver a “next-gen podcast platform,” and today, we can provide a better sense of the app’s functionality and interface. It’s currently in beta on iOS with a limited number of testers, most of whom appear to work in venture capital or as podcasters. However, their chats are visible to anyone, even non-users, through a browser, and from this desktop view, as well as screenshots of the app that The Verge has viewed, we can get a sense of what Fireside is trying to achieve.
Broadly, the app is best described as a hybrid between Spotify’s Anchor software and Clubhouse. Although it prioritizes live conversation, like Clubhouse, it tries to make off-the-cuff conversations sound more professional. Intro music welcomes people into a room, for example, which is a nice touch, but it doesn’t exactly translate like it does during an edited podcast. The music, for now, sounds disjointed and out of place.
The broad emphasis, at least based on the conversations happening in the app, appears to be on how Fireside can help podcasters monetize their work through exclusive conversations or, in some cases, recruit them to Fireside for all of their podcasting efforts. The app encourages audience participation more than Clubhouse, in that users can react to conversations without being onstage, and they can type comments or questions.
Creators on the app say they’ve heard that the app will allow them to host their shows and distribute them through RSS feeds to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players, too, which is more aligned with Anchor than Clubhouse. One creator in a chat says they plan to use Fireside for hosting instead of their usual service.
Looking at the desktop view, users’ profiles include a photo, bio, and follower / following count. You can also view the rooms that user has hosted, as well as the ones they’ve participated in. The app natively records conversations, so you can listen to these past chats from the desktop. The app seemingly assigns an emoji to the archived chats, although it’s unclear how they’re chosen.
After you tap into a chat, you can press play on a conversation. You’ll likely immediately notice hold-like music at the start, which comes from a Fireside bot called waitBOT. The bot says it plays “soothing music for you while you wait for people to join.” You can also see the description of the event as a chyron along the bottom of the screen, as well as info, like how many people listened in and who hosted it.
A “jump” button allows you to skip to highlighted parts of the conversation, which the host chooses. As speakers change throughout the conversation, you’ll see their profile picture and name. Speakers with a gavel are moderators, while speakers with a crown are the hosts. Moderators and hosts can automatically mute people and welcome people to the stage.
Tuning into a live chat from the desktop is a little less thorough than the recorded conversations. You can only view icons and names, as well as the number of people listening. When someone’s microphone is on, their photo is fully opaque, and when they’re muted, it’s transparent.
From the app itself, which The Verge has seen in screenshots, users can “react” to conversations with emoji and sound effects. People can clap, for example, which shows up in the recorded conversations and solves for a problem Clubhouse users have run into: a silent room and no way to gauge how what they’re saying is going over.
Audience members can also choose an emoji and type a comment without jumping into a conversation directly. These comments and emoji will show up over participants’ heads as a thought bubble. Moderators or hosts can then type back or address comments during the chat.
If participants do want to join the live chat, they can request to join the stage by tapping a microphone emoji and submitting a written request.
A view of a live Fireside chat.
For now, this is our best view of Fireside. Fatemi declined to comment for this story, and we don’t have a better sense of when the app might launch publicly. We’ll update this story if we learn more.
After almost a decade of total market dominance, Intel has spent the past few years on the defensive. AMD’s Ryzen processors continue to show improvement year over year, with the most recent Ryzen 5000 series taking the crown of best gaming processor: Intel’s last bastion of superiority.
Now, with a booming hardware market, Intel is preparing to retake some of that lost ground with the new 11th Gen Core Processors. Intel is claiming these new 11th Gen CPUs offer double-digit IPC improvements despite remaining on a 14 nm process. The top-end 8-core Intel Core i9-11900K may not be able to compete against its AMD rival Ryzen 9 5900X in heavily multi-threaded scenarios, but the higher clock speeds and alleged IPC improvements could be enough to take back the gaming crown. Along with the new CPUs, there is a new chipset to match, the Intel Z590. Last year’s Z490 chipset motherboards are also compatible with the new 11th Gen Core Processors, but Z590 brings some key advantages.
First, Z590 offers native PCIe 4.0 support from the CPU, which means the PCIe and M.2 slots powered off the CPU will offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity when an 11th Gen CPU is installed. The PCIe and M.2 slots controlled by the Z590 chipset are still PCI 3.0. While many high-end Z490 motherboards advertised this capability, it was not a standard feature for the platform. In addition to PCIe 4.0 support, Z590 offers USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 from the chipset. The USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard offers speeds of up to 20 Gb/s. Finally, Z590 boasts native support for 3200 MHz DDR4 memory. With these upgrades, Intel’s Z series platform has feature parity with AMD’s B550. On paper, Intel is catching up to AMD, but only testing will tell if these new Z590 motherboards are up to the challenge.
The AORUS line from Gigabyte spans a broad range of products: laptops, peripherals, and core components. Across the enthusiast spectrum, the AORUS name denotes Gigabyte’s gaming-focused products, with the AORUS motherboard range featuring a consistent naming scheme that includes the Pro, Elite, Ultra, Master, and Extreme motherboards. Within this lineup, the Master serves as the high-end mainstream option offering prime features at a high but attainable price point.
The Gigabyte Z590 AORUS Master features a monster 19-phase VRM utilizing 90 A power stages and Gigabyte’s signature finned cooling solution. Both Q-Flash and a dual BIOS have been included, providing a redundant safety net for ambitious overclocking. The Gigabyte Z590 AORUS Master also offers a full-coverage aluminium backplate for added rigidity and additional VRM cooling. Additionally, Gigabyte has included a 10 Gb/s LAN controller from Aquantia. All of the features are in order, so let’s see how the Gigabyte Z590 AORUS Master stacks up against the competition.
1x Q-Flash Plus button 1x Clear CMOS button 2x SMA antenna connectors 1x DisplayPort 1x USB Type-C® port, with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 5x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red) 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports 1x RJ-45 port 1x optical S/PDIF Out connector 5x audio jacks
Audio:
1x Realtek ALC1220 Codec
Fan Headers:
9x 4-pin
Form Factor:
ATX Form Factor: 12.0 x 9.6 in.; 30.5 x 24.4 cm
Exclusive Features:
APP Center
@BIOS
EasyTune
Fast Boot
Game Boost
RGB Fusion
Smart Backup
System Information Viewer
USB TurboCharger
Support for Q-Flash Plus
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress Install
Testing for this review was conducted using a 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K. Stay tuned for an 11th Gen update when the new processors launch!
Using a password manager is one of the best steps you can take to protect your security online. A good password manager makes it easy to generate unique, strong passwords, and it will then securely save them so they’re available wherever you need them, whether that’s on your phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop computer. Basically, they take 90 percent of the work out of being safe online.
Hopefully, at this point everyone knows why it’s important to use a unique password for all of your accounts online. But the short version is that using one password everywhere means that if just one site you use gets hacked, an attacker potentially has the password that unlocks your entire online life. Breaches still matter if you use a password manager, but at that point it’s a case of resetting just one password rather than dozens.
Although different password managers have different selling points, most offer the same core set of features. They generate passwords which they securely store, and they’ll prompt you to save passwords when you use them on websites. They’ll also sync your passwords across devices and autofill them into websites and apps when required.
There are many good password managers available that charge a monthly fee, but for this guide we’re going to be focusing on free services. All of them have paid subscription tiers, but for most, the free tier offers the essential core features of a password manager.
Our pick for the best for most people is Bitwarden.
The best for most people: Bitwarden
Bitwarden has basically everything you could want out of a password manager. It’s available across iOS and Android; it has native desktop applications on Windows, macOS, and Linux; and it also integrates with every major browser including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge.
Bitwarden’s security has also been audited by a third-party security company, and although it uses the cloud to sync your passwords between devices, it says it stores them in an encrypted form that only you can unlock. You also have the option of protecting your Bitwarden account with two-factor authentication to provide an extra layer of security.
Importing our passwords was easy, and Bitwarden has guides for many popular password managers in its support pages. It supports biometric security on iOS and Android, and all of its software is nicely designed and easy to use.
Bitwarden does have paid tiers, but we think most people will be able to do without most of the features they offer. Paying gets you access to encrypted file attachments, more second-factor security options, and reports on the overall security of the passwords you have in use. But even on the free tier, you can perform checks to see if individual passwords have been leaked in a password breach. Paying also gets you access to a built-in one-time code generator for two-factor authentication, but it’s easy and arguably more secure to use a separate app for this.
Verge Score: 9
Good stuff: Well-designed apps and browser extensions; third-party security audit
Bad stuff: No bulk exposed password report with free tier; desktop prompt to save passwords a little small
Bitwarden
Runner-up
As part of our research, we also tried a variety of other password managers. Of these, Zoho Vault is another feature-packed free option, but its interface isn’t as good as Bitwarden’s.
Zoho Vault
Image: Zoho
Zoho Vault’s iOS and Android apps are nice enough, but its browser extension is a little clunky and buries useful features like its password generator behind one too many sub menus. It’s also unclear if the software has gone through a third-party security audit; the company didn’t respond to our query in time for publication.
Verge Score: 7.5
Good stuff: Cleanly designed apps; reports on strength of passwords
Bad stuff: Clunky browser extension; no native desktop apps
Zoho Vault
Also-rans
There were two other free password managers we felt weren’t up to Bitwarden and Zoho Vault’s standards. Norton Password Manager has the advantage of coming from a well-known cybersecurity company. But we found the way it attempts to simplify its setup process actually makes things more confusing, and Norton’s support pages didn’t do a great job at helping us work out where we’d gone wrong. Norton didn’t respond to our email asking whether the software has gone through a third-party security audit.
We also gave LogMeOnce a try, but we weren’t reassured by the presence of ads in its smartphone app. It also asked for many more permissions than the other password managers we tried. The company says this is necessary to enable its Mugshot feature, which attempts to give you information about unauthorized attempts to access your account, which is an optional feature. The company says it regularly hires third-party security researchers to test its products.
Until recently, LastPass would have been included as a free password manager, but it’s making some changes to its free tier on March 16th that mean it will be much less usable as a free password manager. After that date, free users will be able to view and manage passwords on just a single category of devices: mobile or computer. “Mobile” subscribers will have access to phones, tablets, and smartwatches, while “Computer” subscribers will be able to use the service across PCs, Macs, and browser extensions. Given how most people switch between these two classes of devices on a daily basis, we think this will severely limit how useful LastPass’ free tier will be for most people.
Our focus on simplicity also means we’ve excluded KeePass, a password manager that relies on third-party apps on non-Windows platforms. In addition, if you want to sync your passwords between devices, you have to use a third-party storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
Beyond the free options, there’s a huge array of paid password managers out there. Some of these have free tiers, but they’re so restrictive that they’re effectively not usable as a day-to-day password manager. 1Password is perhaps the most well-known paid option, but others include NordPass, RememBear, Passwarden, Dashlane, RoboForm, and Enpass, all of which limit their free versions in ways that we think make them unsuitable for long-term use.
Finally, most modern internet browsers offer built-in password management features, but we think it’s worth taking the time to store your passwords in a standalone service. It gives you more flexibility to switch platforms and browsers in the future, and password managers also generally have interfaces that are better suited to the task of storing passwords. To make things simpler for yourself, you might want to turn off the built-in password manager in your browser once you’ve picked a standalone version to use, so you don’t run the risk of having passwords stored in two places at once.
Earlier this month, we reported about a new feature that was discovered in a Beta version of iOS 14.5 that seemingly allowed users to set a third-party music or podcasting app as the default for Siri voice commands. It wasn’t clear how it worked, and it didn’t always ask the user which app they wished to open the audio with. There also was no menu that let you manually select an app to do this with.
To clarify the function and its purpose, Apple reached out to TechCrunch to explain what this feature was and that its purpose was not to set a default audio app for Siri. Apple confirmed that there is no specific setting in iOS where users can set a default music service like they can with email or browsing apps.
Apple explains that this prompt to select a music app is for Siri to learn which apps you use to listen to which kind of content. Maybe you like to use YouTube Music for tunes, but you might like to use Google Podcasts for listening to weekly shows. The same may go for genres of music – perhaps you listen to tech house mixes on YouTube, but you listen to Beyonce on Apple Music.
This will let Siri understand the user’s preferences based on how you listen to content. This would also help Siri to become more useful in selecting the right app for the right situation. According to TechCrunch, this processing is all performed on-device.
Not allowing the user to select a ‘default’ music app is a smart move to improve the experience on iOS – and without having to specify the app every time you ask Siri. The average user doesn’t want to dig through menus for something to just work, so letting Siri do the legwork is very on-brand for Apple.
Source
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