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Lenovo’s Tab P11 Pro is great for watching movies, not doing work

Lenovo’s Tab P11 Pro is the company’s top-tier Android tablet. With an 11-inch OLED screen, quad speakers, and snap-on keyboard, it’s meant to go head to head with Samsung’s Tab S7 and Apple’s iPad Air. But while the Tab P11 Pro is excellent for watching movies — that OLED screen and the Dolby Atmos speakers are quite nice — it’s considerably less impressive when you attempt to use it for productivity.

Pricing for the Tab P11 Pro is aggressive, particularly when you add up everything you get. The list price for a base model with 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM is $499.99, but thanks to Lenovo’s frequent discounts, you can buy one for $375 right now. The model I’ve been testing has 6GB of RAM and comes with a detachable keyboard and active stylus pen in the box. That one’s list price is $599.99, but it’s currently discounted to $460 on Lenovo’s site.

Considering the similarly sized iPad Air starts at $599 before you add a pen or keyboard to it, the Lenovo has a lot of value on its side. No matter which model you opt for, you get the same 11-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED screen; Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor; quad JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos tuning; 128GB of storage with the ability to expand it with a microSD card; and premium aluminum unibody design.

The screen and speakers are really the stars of the show here. The OLED panel is not as bright as you can get on an iPad, so it isn’t as good in direct sunlight. But in almost every other scenario, including outdoors in the shade, it looks fantastic. Colors are rich, blacks are deep and inky, and the resolution is sharp. It provides a great experience for watching movies or any video, really.

The P11 Pro’s OLED screen looks great, and the quad speakers sound fantastic.

Similarly, the quad speakers are loud, punchy, and immersive. The Tab P11 Pro’s speakers outclass the iPad Air’s dual speakers and easily hang with the excellent sound system on Apple’s higher-end iPad Pro. Unfortunately, Lenovo is taking the same route as Apple and omitting a headphone jack, so you have the option of using a USB-C dongle (not included) or wireless headphones for personal audio.

Combined, the OLED screen and quad speakers provide the best movie-watching experience on a tablet anywhere near this price. To get something better, you’re going to have to pay a lot more money.

But Lenovo isn’t pitching this as just a couch potato tablet — it’s following Apple and Samsung’s lead in presenting the P11 Pro as a tablet that you can also get work done on. And that’s where the P11 Pro falls on its face.

Starting with the keyboard and pen accessories that are included with the top-end bundle, there’s as much to dislike as there is to like. The snap-on keyboard has a nice fabric cover and comes in two pieces: a back cover with a built-in kickstand that attaches via magnets and the keyboard itself that communicates with the tablet through pogo pins on the bottom edge of the P11 Pro. It’s a similar design to what Samsung uses on the Tab S7 line, and I like the flexibility it affords. I can use just the back cover to prop the tablet up for movie watching without having to have the keyboard in the way all the time. It’s great to have this flexibility when you’re using the tablet on a cramped airplane tray table.

Unfortunately, the typing experience on the keyboard itself leaves a bit to be desired. The layout is as cramped as expected with an 11-inch tablet, and there’s no backlighting available. The trackpad is small and has palm rejection issues — even just using the keyboard to write this relatively short draft was an exercise in patience, as my cursor would randomly jump around any time my left hand brushed against the trackpad as I typed. There’s also very little software support; I can’t adjust the scrolling direction on the trackpad as I can do with a laptop or other tablets.

The bundled stylus is nice to have, but it, too, falls behind the competition. It has many levels of pressure sensitivity, and it writes smoothly enough for my basic note-taking needs. But it doesn’t charge on the back or side of the tablet like Apple or Samsung’s pens (you instead need to plug it in via a USB-C port on its end), and there’s nowhere to safely store it on the tablet. Lenovo includes a rubbery holster for the pen that you’re supposed to stick to the back of the P11’s case with adhesive. But the adhesive is weak, and the pen holder falls off very easily. It all just feels like an afterthought.

Similarly, the software support for the pen is weak. Lenovo includes the Squid notes app (the basic free version, not the full version) for jotting down notes, and you can download many other options from the Play Store. But the pen doesn’t integrate into the system like it does on Apple or Samsung tablets. You can’t use the pen to take quick notes from the lock screen or easily capture screenshots and mark them up like you can on the iPad Air or Tab S7.

The P11 Pro’s “productivity mode” leaves a lot to be desired.

When you attach the keyboard to the tablet, Lenovo’s custom productivity mode launches. This is designed to provide a desktop-like interface, similar to Samsung’s DeX feature. But it’s a mess: few apps can be launched full-screen with it, and every app opens in a tiny, windowed box that you have to resize each time. I was able to successfully create a split-screen between a Google Doc and another window, such as Slack or the browser. But in general, the productivity mode feels like a tacked-on afterthought, just like the pen, and really isn’t a great experience.

Elsewhere, the software is standard Android (version 10; there’s no update to Android 11 as of the date of this review, though the P11 Pro does have the latest security patch available), which works best when you’re watching a full-screen video or playing a game, and doesn’t have as many tablet-oriented apps as iPadOS. The Snapdragon 730 processor isn’t as powerful as you get in Apple or Samsung’s tablets, but it’s not really a bottleneck here. You’ll be limited by the lack of tablet-optimized apps way before you hit the performance ceiling of the chip.

In all, the Tab P11 Pro is the tablet to get if you are looking for an excellent movie watching experience and don’t want to spend more than $400. You won’t find a better display or speakers for this price. I’d personally skip the pen and keyboard bundle entirely (even though that does mean you give up the handy back cover and its kickstand) and just use this tablet for what it does best: entertainment.

Photography by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Qualcomm Debuts Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows on Arm

(Image credit: Qualcomm)

In an attempt to get more developers to build software for Windows 10 on Arm, Qualcomm is debuting a Snapdragon Developer Kit. The company announced the small desktop PC today ahead of Microsoft’s Build developer conference.

The new system was built “in collaboration with Microsoft” and will run Windows 10. While Qualcomm refers to the system as “cost-effective,” it hasn’t listed a price for the system, which will run on the Snapdragon 7c platform. It will be available for purchase in the Microsoft Store sometime this summer, and is part of an effort to have developers port software to native ARM64.

Qualcomm told members of the press that developers won’t need to return the system, an apparent dig at Apple’s Developer Transition Kits for the M1 processor, which needed to go back to the company.

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

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(Image credit: Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon developer kit resembles an Intel NUC or Apple’s Mac Mini, in that it’s a small, low-profile desktop. Thus far, every Windows on Arm device has been a laptop, as one of Arm’s benefits is long battery life. Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm said in a statement that the “developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”

Qualcomm’s kit has a large power button on top and a sparse selection of ports, including USB Type-A and an SD card slot on the side.

In December, Microsoft started adding x64 emulation to Windows on Arm Insider Builds. But the developer kit is an attempt to kickstart more Arm-native apps. Today, Zoom is announcing an optimized version of its video conference app, which is coming this summer.

There are a number of existing native Arm apps for Windows 10, including VLC, Twitter, Firefox, Edge, Microsoft Office, Netflix, Twitter, Skype and Windows 10. But the number that will be able to be emulated when x64 hits mainstream Windows will increase significantly. Still, native apps will perform even faster.

Without information liek price and full specs, it’s hard to even surmise what kind of effect this will have with the developer community. Qualcomm is teasing that more information will be shared at a Build session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”

Qualcomm also announced its Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 system on a chip today for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The company was light on details, but promised laptops using it will start at $349 and offer multi-day battery life depending on use.

Apple iPad Air (2020)

Our Verdict

The latest iPad Air gets more than just a makeover – it’s a brilliant all-rounder and all the tablet most people could ever need

For

Great picture and sound
Attractive design
Excellent user experience

Against

Imperfect front-facing camera
Touch ID button is awkward
Not the cheapest tablet around

It’s not every day an Apple product gets what you could call a major revamp. On many occasions in the past, there has been a slight change here and a minor tweak there, leaving the tech world slightly underwhelmed. However, by Apple’s standards, it has positively gone to town on the iPad Air (2020).

Not only does the fourth generation iPad Air boast a brand new design, complete with a new Touch ID sensor and speaker layout, there’s also a bigger screen, more powerful processor and improved main camera. Everything is set up for the iPad Air (2020) to make quite the splash, but where does it rank when it comes to the best iPads you can buy?

Pricing

The fourth-generation iPad Air slots between the entry-level iPad and the flagship iPad Pro (2021). It’s available with either 64GB or 256GB of storage and prices start at £579 ($599, AU$899) for the entry-level 64GB Wi-Fi-only model and £729 ($749, AU$1129) for the Wi-Fi/Cellular model.

That makes the latest generation iPad Air around £100 ($100, AU$120) more expensive than the previous model. If Apple had just touched up the design and kept the status quo, you’d probably consider that a big jump in price. But the new model is a clear improvement on iPad Airs of old.

Build

(Image credit: Apple)

Nowhere are the changes more obvious and apparent than with the new iPad Air’s exterior. It has been redesigned to mirror the iPhone 12, and if you like the look and feel of that smartphone, you’re going to love the iPad Air 4.

Apple iPad Air (2020) tech specs

(Image credit: Apple)

Screen size 10.9in

Resolution 2360×1640 pixels

Storage 64GB/256GB

Finishes x5

Battery life 10 hours

Cameras 12MP rear / 7MP front

Dimensions (hwd) 24.8 x 17.9 x 0.6cm

Weight 458g

Those flat sides and crisp edges give the tablet a more purposeful appearance from the off. It makes for quite the contrast switching from the smooth, curved edges of the previous version, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable, and those flat sides make it easier to grip when you’re watching in portrait or landscape.

It’s similar in look and feel to its big brother, the iPad Air Pro, although the Air is the first iPad to be made available in a range of optional colours. There are Rose Gold, Green and Sky Blue variants to choose from, in addition to the more traditional Silver and Space Grey. We find the Green finish of our review sample particularly easy on the eye.

Run your eyes around those flat edges and you’ll also spot a couple of new additions. The first is the presence of speaker grilles on the top and bottom of the tablet. Instead of offering speakers along just the bottom, the iPad Air 4 now offers landscape stereo speakers. That’s right, no longer does audio sound lopsided.

The iPad Air is now fitted with a USB-C port instead of Lightning, which makes one wonder why Apple is persisting with Lightning on the iPhone. Perhaps we’ll see the socket on the iPhone 13 when it makes an appearance later in the year?

The iPad Air’s volume buttons remain in the same location, as does the power button, although it’s slightly larger and longer, likely because it now handles Touch ID duties. We find that this takes some time to get used to and is at times a little more awkward to operate than the dedicated face-mounted Touch ID button of before. We can’t help but think a fingerprint sensor built under the screen, which is already used by smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 range, might work better.

Features

(Image credit: Apple)

The big news on the screen front is that the new iPad Air is bigger than ever. At 10.9in, it’s marginally larger than the previous model (10.5in), but you only notice the difference when viewing the two tablets together. The effect is emphasised by the slimmer bezels at the top and bottom, which have been achieved by ditching the fingerprint scanner/home button. It all makes for a streamlined viewing experience.

Resolution is 2360 x 1640 (vs 2224 x 1668 on the iPad Air 3) with a pixel density of 264ppi and a maximum brightness of 500 nits.

It’s still a wide colour display with True Tone, so the iPad Air can adjust the balance of its screen based on ambient lighting conditions. The only thing it doesn’t have compared to its more expensive Pro sibling is a 120Hz refresh rate, which would be nice, but not vital.

The new iPad Air (2020) has the brains to match its beauty too. It is powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, the same silicone that drives the entire iPhone 12 line.

In terms of CPU performance, Apple claims the iPad Air 2020 is 40 per cent faster than the previous generation A12 Bionic chip, while its GPU performance is supposedly up 30 per cent, too, for faster graphics processing.

Although it can’t match the specs of the iPad Pro 2021, both in terms of processing power and storage, Apple still claims the Air is more than powerful enough to be able to edit 4K video on and it’s fully compatible with the Apple Pencil 2, which will come in handy for creative types.

So how do Apple’s claimed performance percentage increases translate into real life? The iPad reacts extremely well to multiple apps being open and even the rigours of gaming. In fact, the iPad Air arguably turns the iPad Pro into even more of a niche product. For most people, the iPad Air 2020 will be a powerful enough tool.

Apps such as Netflix and Amazon Music boot up without hesitation, and even if you have more than a handful of apps running in the background, the iPad Air won’t struggle to cope. Navigating between apps via a series of simple swipes is quick and hassle-free, and once again, Apple’s intuitive iOS operating system delivers a smooth and class-leading user experience.

As far as cameras are concerned, the iPad Air 2020 sports a 12MP snapper on the rear (up from 8MP on the previous version) while it sticks with the old 7MP FaceTime HD camera on the front. The Air can record in 4K resolution at 24, 25, 30 or 60fps and capture slow-mo video in 1080p at 120fps or 240fps.

Apple has stripped down the accessories included in the box for the iPhone, but you still get a 20W charger to go alongside the USB-C charging cable. With a full battery, the iPad Air 2020 should be good for up to 10 hours of battery life under average use. As an occasional web browser and viewing device for the odd episode of The Crown, you should be more than covered.

Sound

(Image credit: Apple)

One of the more exciting changes to the iPad Air’s design from an AV perspective relates to its speakers. On the previous iPad Air, they were positioned on one side, on the edge beneath the Touch ID sensor. Here, the speakers have been repositioned to fire out from either end of the tablet, so you can be treated to proper stereo audio with both sides of your iPad contributing equally.

Not having the audio offset to one side makes a big difference. It’s a better fit for watching programmes in landscape mode, especially while bingeing episodes of your favourite series on Netflix. The most obvious improvement is a wider spread of sound, which helps give it a more cinematic and immersive feel. It’s not exactly surround sound, but it is better than it was previously.

The sound coming out of the speakers is more solid and defined too. There’s extra weight to dialogue and although the vibrations through the iPad’s chassis can be pretty disturbing at higher volumes, it never seems to muddy the clarity of what you’re hearing. Stick to normal volume levels and you’ll be just fine.

You still need to be a little careful about hand placement if you’re holding the iPad in landscape mode, although it is much improved on the older model.

Switch to playing tracks through a pair of wireless headphones and Apple’s trademark musicality is there to enjoy. The iPad makes quick work of Radiohead’s 15 Steps and its attempts to trip the tablet over, displays an excellent sense of rhythm and there’s a real snap to the claps that help keep the track on course. There’s plenty of precision to the percussion including a solid, weighty kick drum.

Screen

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple’s tablets have a reputation for delivering excellent images when watching video and the iPad Air 2020 doesn’t let the side down. It’s punchy and bright, but also throws in a great level of subtlety when the scene demands. Compared with the previous model, the latest iPad Air appears a bit sharper, slightly better detailed and capable of great subtlety in dark scenes.

Playing the second episode of Jupiter’s Legacy on Netflix, as everyone lines up at the funeral of their fallen comrades, the detail and definition in each character’s suit really captures the eye. Blacks are deep and rich, but there’s subtlety around creases and where light casts a shadow on certain areas. There’s a great general sense of depth to the scene too.

The iPad peers into the nooks and crannies and paints different gradations of black and grey with great care and attention. It also picks out subtle differences in the intensity of the white shirts worn by some of the characters. Skin tones also appear natural. As Sheldon, Walter, Grace and Brandon sit down for dinner, the bulbs in the chandelier bulbs emit a welcoming, warm glow and there’s a great sense of depth.

Verdict

If you want the ultimate iPad experience, Apple would probably point you in the direction of its Pro range. But the iPad Air 4 (2020) is all the iPad most people will ever need. It’s such a solid and capable all-rounder, that very few will feel the need to spend the extra for the iPad Pro.

The design is superb, the user experience is tough to beat and both sound and picture quality are on point. It’s an excellent tablet, and even with a slight price increase, we still feel it’s worth every penny.

SCORES

Picture 5
Sound 5
Features 5

MORE:

Read our guide to the best tablets

Read our Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ review

Everything you need to know about the new Apple iPad Pro

Netflix is holding a week-long ‘geek’ event in June about The Witcher, The Sandman, and more

Netflix is announcing a new week-long virtual event, “Geeked Week,” where it will share information about upcoming titles like The Witcher, The Sandman, and The Cuphead Show. During Geeked Week, you can expect to see “a wide array of exclusive news, new trailers, live art, drop-ins from your favorite stars and much more.” And fortunately, you won’t have long to wait: Geeked Week is taking place in just a couple weeks, from June 7th through the 11th.

If you want a preview of what’s to come, check out Netflix’s poster below, which also mentions The Umbrella Academy, Resident Evil (unclear if this is referring to the upcoming anime or the live-action series), Sweet Tooth, and Cowboy Bebop.

Netflix’s poster for Geeked Week

Image: Netflix

During the event, can keep track of what’s announced on GeekedWeek.com and by following the @NetflixGeeked social channels on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch and Facebook.

The week of June 7th is shaping up to be a huge one for news, with Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference also staring on June 7th, the Geoff Keighley-hosted Summer Game Fest kickoff event debuting on June 10th, and the all-virtual E3 beginning on June 12th. Keep it locked to The Verge for all of our coverage of the big events.

HomePod and HomePod Mini will support Apple Music Lossless

(Image credit: Apple)

Last week, Apple announced that lossless audio was coming to Apple Music, but it was also revealed that not all Apple devices would be compatible. We now know that the HomePod and HomePod Mini will in fact support these higher-quality music streams. We just don’t know when.

All Apple has revealed on its new lossless audio support page is that “Support for lossless is coming in a future software update”.

The page also reiterates that the new Apple TV 4K 2021 doesn’t currently support the Hi-Res Lossless format, although the use of the word “currently” could suggest it might change in the future.

Apple’s page also runs down how to listen on other devices, and repeats what we told you last week, that Apple’s AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max don’t support lossless. That’s no great surprise for the true wireless earbuds, but more of a blow for the AirPods Max, as some had assumed their wired connection would enable lossless.

Apple’s iPhones and iPads support Apple Music’s two lower tiers of lossless, namely CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) and Apple Music Lossless (24-bit/48kHz). If you want to listen to Apple Music tracks above 24-bit/48kHz on your iPhone/iPad, you’ll need to connect an external DAC and use a wired pair of headphones. Check out our guide for how to listen to hi-res audio on an iPhone.

There’s better news for Apple fans looking to enjoy the Spatial Audio feature also coming to Apple Music next month. It’s much more widely supported on Apple devices including AirPods headphones and HomePod speakers.

MORE:

Check our full guide: Apple Music lossless: which devices will (and won’t) play lossless and Spatial Audio

The new music streaming state of play: With Apple and Amazon offering lossless streaming for no extra charge, what now for their rivals?

Try 30 Apple Music tips, tricks and features

Need new music? 10 Apple Music playlists to listen to right now

Facebook reportedly hit with campaign by pro-Palestinian activists leaving 1-star app store ratings

A social media campaign by pro-Palestine activists has pushed down the ranking for Facebook’s app in Apple and Google’s app stores, NBC News reported. The activists are seeking to protest Facebook’s alleged censorship of Palestinian accounts on its platform, and are instructing people to leave Facebook’s app a one-star review.

According to NBC News, Facebook is treating the situation as a high-priority issue internally; one software engineer wrote in a post on an internal Facebook message board that “users are upset with our handling of the situation,” adding that the users “have started protesting by leaving 1-star reviews.” Facebook has reached out to have the reviews removed, but so far, Apple has declined the request to remove the reviews. It’s not clear how or if Google responded to the request.

The rating for Facebook’s iOS app on the App Store as of Sunday afternoon was 2.3 stars out of 5, with 1-star ratings far outpacing others. In the Google Play store the situation was similar; the Android Facebook app had a slightly higher 2.4 rating, with the majority of the reviews 1-star.

Apple and Google did not immediately reply to requests for comment Sunday.

Facebook did not reply to a request for comment from The Verge, but a spokesperson said in a statement to NBC that the company does not censor it users, but applies its policies equally “regardless of who is posting or their personal beliefs.” The spokesperson added that the company has a dedicated team that includes Arabic and Hebrew speakers who are “closely monitoring the situation on the ground, who are focused on making sure we’re removing harmful content, while addressing any enforcement errors as quickly as possible.”

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

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

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

Design

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

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

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

Pocket-lint

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

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

What is ALLM and VRR? TV gaming tech explained

Picture Features

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

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

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

Pocket-lint

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

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

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

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

Smart Features

Smart System: Android TV 9.0

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

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

Pocket-lint

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

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

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

Picture Quality

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

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

TCL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sound Quality

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

Pocket-lint

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

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

Verdict

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

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

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

Also consider

LG 65NANO906

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

Read our review

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Writing by John Archer. Editing by Mike Lowe.

Apple says HomePod and HomePod Mini will support lossless audio after future update

In a new support document on its website, Apple dives a little deeper into the details around the upcoming launch of lossless audio on Apple Music.

Apple now says that both the HomePod and HomePod Mini will support lossless audio after a future software update. That’ll be good news to people who’ve invested in one or a pair of Apple’s smart speakers. Two HomePods grouped in stereo playing a lossless source? Yeah, that’s going to sound wonderful. Apple isn’t yet giving any timetable for when this software update will be released, however.

The document also clarifies that the Apple TV 4K will only support standard lossless audio when the ALAC files become available in June. Apple has said that in most cases, the “Hi-Res Lossless” tier will require external devices like a USB DAC.

Apple uses the document to tout its “commitment” to providing customers with the best possible listening experience. It talks up both AAC — claiming that the format has become “virtually indistinguishable from the original studio recording” as encoding methods have evolved — and its Apple Digital Masters initiative. I continue to think that Apple is much more excited about spatial audio and Dolby Atmos mixes coming to Apple Music than anything to do with lossless itself.

The document also reiterates what Apple told The Verge earlier this week in regards to the AirPods Max: when listening to audio via the Lightning-to-3.5mm cable, the company says it’ll sound fantastic, but it won’t technically be “lossless” due to an analog to digital conversion that occurs in the cable. Apple again confirms that lossless quality will be exclusive to Apple Music:

Can I redownload my iTunes purchases in lossless?

If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can redownload music in lossless only from the Apple Music catalog.

The straightforward answer to the question as written is really a flat “no,” but obviously Apple wants to nudge people towards its subscription service. Apple Music will offer over 20 million songs in lossless quality at launch in June, and that total will reach over 75 million by the end of 2021.

Tim Cook’s Fortnite trial testimony was unexpectedly revealing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How To Program Webcam-Powered Scratch Games

Keeping fit can be fun. What if, instead of running around a park we made a game where you have to hit as many balls as you can to score points? The catch is that you only have 30 seconds to get the highest score! Sounds easy, hand me the joypad! No! To control the game we have to use our body and a webcam that will look for our hands, feet, head and react when we hit a ball. In a twist, we can only start the game shouting “GO” and then the countdown starts!

For This Project You Will Need

Raspberry Pi 4 or 400 (or a Windows / Apple computer)
The latest Raspberry Pi OS
A USB webcam

Starting the Game

1. Power up your Raspberry Pi 4 / 400 and connect your USB webcam. We are using a USB webcam instead of the official Raspberry Pi camera as we need the built in microphone.

2. Go to Preferences >> Recommended Software to install Scratch 3. Scratch 3 is found in the Programming category, place a tick in the box and click Apply to install.

3. Open Scratch 3, found in the main menu under Programming. On first start Scratch may take a little while to open. We’re going to assume that you have an understanding of how to code with Scratch.

4. Click on the blue folder icon in the bottom left of the screen to load the Extensions menu. Select Video Sensing to add a palette of new blocks that will be used to create our interface.