Nintendo is planning to release an upgraded model of the Switch this year with an OLED screen, according to a new report in Bloomberg. The report says Samsung Display is providing the screen, which will be a 7-inch 720p rigid OLED panel set to go into mass production this June.
The current Switch has a 6.2-inch 720p LCD panel, while the Switch Lite’s screen is a 5.5-inch 720p LCD. Many Switch games struggle to hit native resolution in handheld mode, so the lack of an upgrade in resolution isn’t really a surprise. Bloomberg’s report does note, however, that the new Switch model will be capable of 4K graphics when hooked up to a TV, so the decision to stick with 720p in handheld mode could also be about preserving battery life.
The report doesn’t state a possible release date for the new Switch, but Bloomberg’s sources say that it’ll come in time for the holidays and that the displays will start shipping to assemblers around July. The initial monthly target is said to be “just under a million units;” if the last holiday season is anything to go by, Nintendo will want to make as many consoles as it possibly can.
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Calling the 2021 Motorola Moto G Stylus the best budget stylus phone feels a bit like a backhanded compliment. There’s more or less just one other contender for that title, the LG Stylo 6, which is too underpowered to recommend. But the G Stylus doesn’t just win by default; it’s actually a well-rounded and capable phone for under $300.
It offers a big 6.8-inch 1080p screen, a generous 128GB of built-in storage, and a Snapdragon 678 processor with 4GB of RAM. Motorola introduced it earlier this year with a $299 MSRP, though it’s now selling for $279 from the manufacturer and other retailers.
Other highlights include a 48-megapixel main camera accompanied by ultrawide and macro rear cameras, a 4,000mAh battery, a “water-repellant” design, and a fingerprint sensor embedded in the recessed power button. It’s a well-rounded set of features for a budget device, even without considering the G Stylus’ headline feature.
The G Stylus includes apps for note-taking, doodling, and coloring.
Moto G Stylus (2021) stylus features
The main selling point is definitely the G Stylus’ stylus, so let’s cover that first. Like the Stylo 6, the G Stylus includes a built-in capacitive stylus tucked into the bottom-right corner of the device. Popping it out brings up a quick menu of shortcuts to stylus-friendly apps.
There’s a note-taking app and a shortcut to take and annotate a screenshot. You can also jot down a quick note without unlocking the screen. It’s a basic set of features — nothing too advanced like what the Galaxy Note series offers — but with a couple of neat bonuses.
With AI, the phone can recognize what you’re trying to draw and turn it into a coloring book template.
First, messaging apps support handwriting-to-text conversion. This is a Gboard setting you can enable on any Android device, but it’s available by default on the G Stylus. Pressing the “globe” icon to the left of the spacebar opens up the handwriting panel. Write your message, and watch it appear in the text line above.
The Moto G Stylus’ other trick is the ability to create cinemagraphs, still images with a moving element. To create one, you’ll basically take a short video clip, holding the camera still. Then you use the stylus to draw on the areas of the scene with motion. The rest will remain frozen as a still image. You don’t necessarily need a stylus for this, but the added precision is helpful. Results can be saved as an MP4 or a GIF. The app does a decent job of stabilizing a handheld image for a more convincing final product, though the resulting clip is fairly low-res. Still, it’s fun to play with.
While the LG Stylo 6’s stylus features felt a little more fun and creativity-focused, the Moto G is a little more no-nonsense. Sure, there’s a coloring book app that does a neat trick of using AI to identify a rudimentary sketch of a cat and turn it into a template for your digital “crayons.” But where’s the animated GIF creator? Or an app that records as you sketch so you can text your friends and show off your mad doodling skills? These things exist in third-party apps, no doubt. But the native feature set feels, for better or worse, a little more grown-up.
The Moto G Stylus features a big 6.8-inch screen.
Moto G Stylus (2021) screen and performance
The Stylus’ screen is nothing fancy — standard 60Hz refresh rate LCD — but it’s a decently bright and large 6.8-inch 1080p display. The phone itself is, naturally, also large and on the heavier side, but the slightly rounded edges of its back panel make it more comfortable to hold than its dimensions suggest. It looks a little ridiculous peeking out of the top of a yoga pants pocket, but this stylus-packing device was never meant to be ultra pocketable.
The G Stylus uses a Snapdragon 678 processor with 4GB of RAM, and this combination feels more than adequate for day-to-day tasks. Apps load quickly, and jumping between them feels snappy. There are some occasional hiccups and slight slowdowns when scrolling through media-rich apps like Twitter, but nothing that feels too frustrating.
Battery life is also good — not outstanding but thoroughly sufficient. Motorola claims the Stylus will get two days to a single charge, which feels like a little bit of a stretch in my experience. More importantly, I had no problem getting through a full day, including two-plus hours of screen time, with plenty of battery life left to spare. Motorola includes a 10W charger, which it calls “Turbo Power” when it’s connected. Charging speeds are more average than “Turbo”: 10 minutes of charge got me an extra 10 percent, and it took about 40 minutes total to bring an 80 percent battery up to full charge.
The Moto G Stylus ships with Android 10 and is expected to get an update to Android 11. Motorola doesn’t say exactly when, but G Stylus owners can keep an eye on the company’s software update page for more information. Motorola’s budget device support isn’t great; the phone will get just two years of security updates, ending in January 2023. Samsung recently announced that even its budget A-series Galaxy phones will now be guaranteed four years of security updates. Hopefully, that’s a policy more manufacturers like Motorola will consider adopting.
The Stylus includes standard wide, ultrawide, and macro rear cameras.
Moto G Stylus (2021) camera
The triple camera on the G Stylus is the same found on the $400-ish Motorola One 5G Ace, with the addition of a dedicated depth sensor. To recap, that includes a 48-megapixel f/1.7 main camera that produces 12-megapixel images, an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 2-megapixel macro camera.
There are no surprises here. Like the Ace, the G Stylus is capable of good-quality images in bright light, particularly from the main camera. Downsampling from 48 megapixels to 12 allows it to capture plenty of detail, but if you look close, you’ll see some crunchy-looking sharpening. Colors are reproduced well, without looking overly saturated. As an exception, the camera seems to boost saturation and warmth when it identifies a subject as food. The results are more appetizing, if a little unnatural.
Taken with ultrawide lens
Taken with ultrawide lens
Unfortunately, the ultrawide camera is less good. Even photos taken in bright light show smeary details and some ugly noise. A photo I took of a city street has an unusual purple tint, while a photo from the main camera in the same spot looks much better. This is all evident even at smaller image sizes for social sharing, which is unfortunate. The macro camera is bad, but the selfie camera is a little sharper and better than expected from a budget phone. Win some, lose some.
While the camera system on the Ace was a bit of a letdown, it feels about right on the less expensive Moto G Stylus. You won’t find an amazing night mode or top-notch picture quality here, but for a sub-$300 phone, it does the job just fine.
The G Stylus is a well-rounded budget device, even if you don’t care about its pen-focused features.
The Moto G Stylus is a well-rounded budget phone that also happens to have a stylus. Of Motorola’s 2021 budget devices that I’ve tested so far, this one offers the best balance of features and cost-saving measures. It has a big display, stylus features, good battery life, and solid everyday performance. The cameras, though flawed, are good enough to get by.
This is the obvious choice for someone looking for a budget stylus phone, but I hesitate to recommend it to everyone else. The $299 OnePlus Nord N10 5G offers a faster refresh rate screen, a better camera, and slightly better performance for nearly the same price. If you can afford to spend a bit more, the $349 Google Pixel 4A will offer better software support and a great camera.
If you’re a stylus devotee or even just strongly stylus-curious, the Moto G Stylus is a good choice. But if you’re ambivalent toward the stylus, you might be better off with one of these other options.
(Pocket-lint) – Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs employ a revolutionary new LED backlight that’s significantly smaller and more efficient than previous generations. This enables the manufacturer to squeeze extra LEDs behind the panel, allowing for increased dimmable zones and greater precision.
This approach is generally referred to as Mini LED, and should not be confused with Micro LED, which is a completely different self-emissive display technology. However, Mini LED does promise to significantly improve local dimming and reduce unwanted blooming – all at an affordable price.
The QN95A is the flagship 4K TV from Samsung for 2021, and not only incorporates this Mini LED backlight but, in a change from last year, also includes the majority of features found on the high-end 8K models. So you’re not forced to buy the higher resolution TVs to get all the latest gizmos.
So just how jaw-dropping is Mini LED in the Samsung QN95A (which is the QN90A in other territories)? Spoiler alert: it’s very impressive indeed.
Design, connections and control: Slimmed down minimalism
Slimmer One Connect Box
Single fibre optic cable that includes power
4x HDMI inputs with eARC, 3x USB; Ethernet
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2
Along with those increased number of dimming zones, the QN95A includes a slimmed down One Connect box (where the connections go – it’s not on the TV’s frame as a result), comprehensive smart platform, AI processing, extensive gaming features, and Object Tracking Sound.
Plus, the QN95A is a gorgeous piece of industrial design, with a minimalist appearance, nearly bezel-less screen, and speakers cleverly hidden in the edges of the panel. The stand is well-made, providing solid support, and can be installed on a narrow surface.
It’s a testament to the smaller LEDs used that Samsung is able to cram a full-array backlight into a chassis only 15mm deep. It also means the QN95A looks great wall-mounted (using the optional ‘No Gap’ bracket), and the single cable from the One Connect box makes installation tidier.
The new slimmed-down One Connect box is sleeker and more elegant. Its reduced size is also discreeter, making it easier to hide away. The textured matte finish is also preferable, because the earlier glossy black boxes tended to attract fingerprints and smudges.
The box houses four HDMI inputs, one of which (HDMI 3) supports eARC. All of the HDMI inputs are capable of handling 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, making this TV a great choice for next-gen gamers who want to take full advantage of their new consoles.
What is HDMI eARC? Why is it different to HDMI ARC?
There are also two USB 2.0 inputs, twin tuners for terrestrial and satellite broadcasts, a CI slot, an optical digital output, and an Ethernet port. In terms of wireless connections, there’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and support for Apple AirPlay 2.
The sleek metal Solar Cell remote is ergonomically-shaped, making it comfortable to hold and easy to use with one hand. While essentially the same as last year, the new zapper sports a solar panel on the back that recharges the batteries – making it eco-friendly and economic.
Features: Mini LED and multi-intelligent processing
Processing engine: Neo Quantum 4K Processor with AI
100% of DCI-P3 colour, 2000nits of peak brightness
Anti-reflection screen and Ultra Viewing Angle
HDR Support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Adaptive
The Samsung QN95A’s main selling point is its use of a Mini LED backlight, made possible by a newly-designed micro layer that contains LEDs significantly smaller than previous generations. This is possible due to the elimination of the protective packaging and lens around the diode, allowing for thinner panels, more LEDs, and an increased number of dimmable zones.
There are 792 zones in the QN95A – a big increase on the 480 zones used previously – but upping the number of zones also requires more processing power, so a new local dimming algorithm redirects power from darker areas to improve efficiency and peak brightness. All while the Quantum Matrix system coordinates all the zones, and the Black Detail Boost feature increases shadow detail.
The new Neo Quantum Processor increases the processing power by employing multi-intelligence deep learning. Instead of a single neural network, this processor combines up 16 to create a neural analyser specialised for upscaling and processing video. All this added power is designed to deliver the best possible experience, regardless of what you’re watching.
The QN95A supports high dynamic range (HDR) in the form of HDR10, HLG (hybrid log-gamma), and HDR10+ Adaptive. The last of which uses dynamic metadata designed to adapt the tone-mapping on a scene-by-scene basis, and now employs a sensor to customise the performance based on the ambient lighting conditions in your room.
The combination of Mini LED and Quantum Dot tech ensures brightness levels and a colour gamut that’s tailor-made for HDR. Samsung claims a peak luminance of 2,000 nits. In our measurements the QN95A topped 2,800 nits in Dynamic Mode, although the more accurate Filmmaker Mode maxed out at 1,700 nits.
What is QLED and Quantum Dot?
In terms of the colour gamut, this reached 94 per cent of DCI-P3 – not quite the claimed 100 per cent but still impressive given the overall brightness. It’s the combination of very bright peak highlights combined with saturated colours at increased luminance levels that gives QLED an inherent advantage over OLED when it comes to delivering impactful HDR.
The Filmmaker Mode was introduced in 2020, and is designed to deliver an image that represents the content creator’s original intentions. It uses brightness and colour settings to match the industry standards, and turns off any unnecessary processing or frame interpolation.
What is Filmmaker Mode and why does it matter?
Other features introduced previously and continued into 2021 include the anti-reflection screen and Ultra Viewing Angle technology. The former is designed to reduce reflections from ambient light in the room, and works well, making this an effective TV for daytime viewing. The latter reduces the colour and contrast drop-off experienced when viewing LCD TVs at extreme angles.
The processor doesn’t just improve the picture quality, it also analyses the audio signal and optimises the sonic performance based on the TV’s location in your room. Other acoustic features include Adaptive Sound+, with Active Voice Amplifier for clearer dialogue, and Adaptive Volume that adjusts the volume based on content.
Samsung
The QN95A supports Object Tracking Sound Plus (OTS+), which uses eight speakers and 70W of amplification to produce a more immersive audio experience. There are four speakers along the bottom for the left, right and centre channels, along with a pair of woofers and two speakers at the top for greater immersion.
This particular model also supports Q Symphony, so when combined with a compatible Samsung soundbar, the system employs the TV’s top speakers to give the overall soundstage a greater sense of height and immersion.
Finally there’s the new Tap View feature, which allows owners of compatible Samsung smartphones to instantaneously connect by simply tapping the phone against the TV’s chassis.
Picture quality: Impressive local dimming
The Samsung QN95A certainly delivers when it comes to picture performance, with all those extra zones put to good use. It’s relatively easy to add lots of zones behind an LCD panel, what’s considerably more difficult is orchestrating them in a way that delivers the deepest blacks and the brightest highlights without causing blooming or losing details in the shadows.
Samsung has always employed a highly effective local dimming algorithm in its TVs, and the latest iteration continues that tradition. The results are genuinely impressive, with the blacks appearing deep and inky, while the highlights are free of blooming. This is best demonstrated by the scene in First Man where the Apollo command module orbits into the shadow of the moon.
Samsung
In this sequence the screen goes completely black and then the surface of the brightly-lit Moon gradually appears through the spaceship’s window. This scene is incredibly difficult for any display that uses local dimming, but the QN95A does an excellent job of highlighting the details in the moon’s surface through the window without introducing haloing or other artefacts.
The QN95A also handles bright colourful HDR images with skill, allowing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 to take full advantage of the wider gamut offered by the format. The scenes on Ego’s planet are a riot of Day-Glo colours that pop with comic book vibrancy.
The same is true of Pan, where the Samsung delivers the film’s exaggerated colour scheme correctly, and reproduces the arriving-in-Neverland sequence with no clipping and a clearly defined sun setting over the mountain. This proves the QN95A is correctly tone-mapping HDR10 content, and retaining the original creative intent.
The film Overlord mainly takes place at night, and is often a very dark, but the Samsung handles this difficult material very well, delivering deep blacks, excellent shadow detail, and highlights where necessary. The TV also renders all the subtle differences in the film’s primarily green and brown colour design very effectively.
The QN95A is equally impressive when it comes to motion handling, with 24p content looking smooth, and free of judder or unwanted artefacts. The Picture Clarity motion settings apply frame interpolation, resulting in smoothing, which can be useful with sport, while the LED Clear Motion setting uses black frame insertion, darkening the image, but improving the motion.
Samsung
The built-in apps deliver excellent 4K and HDR images, and in the case of Amazon Prime there’s the added enhancement of HDR10+. The levels of detail and contrast are equally as impressive when watching Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+, despite the lack of Dolby Vision support.
What is Dolby Vision? Dolby’s own HDR tech explained
Since the QN95A uses an LCD panel, there’s no danger of screen burn. It also offers a host of features aimed at next-gen gamers, including VRR (variable refresh rate) for syncing the TV’s refresh rate with the console’s frame rate, thus reducing tearing. There’s also support for 4K at 120Hz, along with AMD Freesync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync.
There’s ALLM for automatically detecting a console and selecting the Game mode, which results in a class-leading input lag of 9.2ms. The Game Motion Plus is designed to smooth out motion, but in doing so it does increase the lag to 14ms – although that’s still very respectable. If all that isn’t enough, the QN95A even supports the 21:9 and 32:9 ultra-wide aspect ratio options offered by a number of PC games.
What is ALLM and VRR? TV gaming tech explained
Samsung has realised that with so many different gaming options and features now available, it’s easy to lose track of what exactly you’ve selected. The solution is the new Game Bar, which pops up when a game source is detected to provide at-a-glance key information. This includes HDR, frame rate, VRR, and key gaming picture adjustments.
Pocket-lint
Finally there’s a multi-view mode that allows users to watch two different sources simultaneously. You can adjust the size of the two picture-in-picture screens, change their relative position and choose which has audio priority. While this feature isn’t necessarily game-specific, it is useful for gaming while watching YouTube tutorials.
Smart features: Comprehensive platform
Tizen OS
SmartThings app
Alexa/Bixby built-in
The Samsung QN95A uses the same Tizen-powered smart platform as previous generations, which remains a responsive, intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface. There’s a launcher bar along the bottom and a second layer that provides faster access to the video streaming services.
In terms of those streaming services, the choice is fairly comprehensive and includes Netflix, Amazon, Now TV, Disney+, Apple TV+, Rakuten, YouTube, and all the UK TV catch-up services. The only problem with all this choice is it’s hard to keep track, but Samsung has a solution.
The Universal Guide helps you find the content you want by presenting it all via a user-friendly interface. It then uses AI machine learning to analyse your viewing habits and create a single ‘For You’ page with personalised content to suit your tastes.
The Digital Butler was introduced in 2020, allowing for quick and easy connection by automatically scanning for nearby devices, detecting them and then representing all of them in an easy-to-understand graphical fashion.
Finally there’s a brace of built-in smart assistants – Samsung’s own Bixby, and Amazon Alexa. You can also access Siri via Apple’s AirPlay 2, while the Samsung SmartThings app allows for quick and easy setup, plus a degree of control if you don’t fancy using the provided remote or your voice.
Sound quality: Object tracking sound
Object Tracking Sound Plus (OTS+)
4.2.2 speakers and 70W of amplification
Adaptive Sound+
Q Symphony
The QN95A sports Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound Plus (OTS+), which integrates eight speakers in a seamless fashion, hiding them in the outer edge of the TV cabinet. The audio performance is genuinely impressive, with an open soundstage, additional height, plenty of bass, clear dialogue and powerful amplification.
Samsung
Object Tracking Sound doesn’t just involve more speakers, it also analyses the audio signal and uses sophisticated processing to align sounds with the location of specific images on the screen. It really works, creating an engaging experience with improved directionality and immersion. There’s also an optimisation feature to fine-tune the audio based on the acoustic environment.
While there’s no on-board Dolby Atmos decoding, the QN95A can send the object-based audio format back via ARC from its internal apps to a supporting soundbar or AV receiver. Since it also supports eARC, the Samsung can even pass lossless audio back via HDMI to a supporting soundbar or AV receiver.
Anything missing?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it really is time Samsung added support for Dolby Vision. The company is the only TV manufacturer not to embrace the dynamic metadata format, and while HDR10+ is similar, there’s significantly more content available in Dolby Vision.
While we’re on the subject of Dolby, the QN95A also doesn’t include on-board Atmos decoding. This is a shame because with all those extra built-in speakers, the Samsung could really take advantage of the additional height channels the format offers.
Samsung’s smart platform is undeniably comprehensive, but it doesn’t include Freeview Play. This isn’t really an issue because all the UK TV catch-up services are present and correct, but it does mean these aren’t integrated within the EPG (electronic programme guide).
Verdict
The Samsung QN95A makes an excellent case for embracing Mini LED as an alternative to OLED. While it remains an evolution of existing LCD backlight technology, rather than something completely new like Micro LED, it does offer an impressive picture performance.
The added precision of nearly 800 dimming zones results in deeper blacks, brighter highlights, improved shadow detail and almost no blooming. Add in the superior colour performance of Quantum Dot and upgraded processing, and you have a highly capable 4K HDR TV. Its pictures truly sing.
The QN95A is also a seriously specified model with a comprehensive smart platform, every necessary streaming app, the One Connect box, excellent audio quality thanks to OTS+, and a shed-load of features for next-gen gamers.
Also consider
Philips
Philips OLED+935
squirrel_widget_3642896
Not fussed about Mini LED and OLED more up your street? Philips’ top-end 2020 telly integrates Ambilight – edge lighting that goes beyond the screen, for extra immersion and dynamism – plus a B&W soundbar for top notch sound quality. It’s a very different offering to the Samsung, but a very elegant alternative indeed.
The Raspberry Pi Pico is turning up in many imaginative projects, and the latest to the list is a long-range wireless chat “Doomsday Communicator” from Bobricius that features a simple QWERTY keyboard and a small IPS LCD display.
#RP2040 #raspberrypi #pico #picomputer with QWERTY keyboard and IPS display 240×240 stay tunned for news ;)It is precedessor for new #micropytohon based #armachat pic.twitter.com/Ihxh7PX0l5March 2, 2021
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Bobricius’ Raspberry Pi PICOmputer is the latest in their ARMACHAT long-range radio messenger boards. Powered by a single 18650 Lithium-Ion battery, ARMACHAT boards send messages over a radio connection, with frequencies and license requirements varying depending on where you are in the world. They can also be used in a mesh network with other users, handy if there’s ever an apocalypse.
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(Image credit: Bobricius)
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(Image credit: Bobricius)
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(Image credit: Bobricius)
The PICOmputer uses the power of the Raspberry Pi Pico to drive a 240 x 240 pixel IPS LCD which is directly connected to the SPI interface of the Pico via the main PCB. A series of tactile switches provide a QWERTY keyboard which will do the job. Cleverly, Bobricius uses an additional PCB that fits over the keys to protect them from damage and stop “the wobble” of the keys from creating a typo. There’s a GPIO breakout along the top of the board, just in case we need to add any extra features. Based on previous models, we assume that the 18650 Lithium-Ion battery is charged in situ and that the PICOmputer has a charging circuit to accomplish this safely.
There isn’t much information right now, and it is early days to estimate a release date. Based on the previous models, we expect prices to be around $140.
The range of Raspberry Pi Pico accessories keeps growing, and the latest is from Olimex. In a render teased via Twitter, Olimex appears to be working on their own breakout board with a focus on emulation, and it looks like they have crammed in everything we could need for a dose of retro computing.
RP2040-PICO-PC teaser small PC with RP2040-PICO module. Video, Audio, SD-card, UEXT, I2C, Lipo battery, Reset, USB pwr, USB host for keyboard, Debug TxRx, SWD for JTAG debug #rp2040 #raspberrypi #circuitpython #retrogames pic.twitter.com/str79xsMkmMarch 1, 2021
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Olimex, a well-known name in the maker community, has teased its own breakout board for the Raspberry Pi Pico. Its focus is on designing a board to accommodate retro emulation. Spurred on by Graham Sanderson’s BBC Micro computer emulator, Olimex confirmed that this board would be their first board in the Pico range.
The RP2040-PICO-PC is, as the name cryptically suggests, a ‘PC’ that uses the Raspberry Pi Pico as the heart of the board. Looking at the teaser image, it appears that Olimex is looking to use Pico boards directly with the RP2040-PICO-PC. But in a recent tweet, we saw that Olimex had received a sample of bare RP2040 chips intended for community members to develop their own RP2040 devices. Could we see an RP2040 at the heart of the board?
Back to the teaser. In the image, we can see series of two male headers for the Raspberry Pi Pico. Whether they are intended to hold the Pico via solder or friction fit remains to be seen. There is a chance that they could also be breakouts for the GPIO, and the RP2040 is mounted on the underside of the board. Right now, the render is all we have to go on.
The RP2040-PICO-PC has a micro USB port on the right side of the board, and next to there is a two-pin JST connector, most likely for a Lipo battery connection. There’s also a micro SD card connector on the bottom left of the board, most likely accessible via an SPI interface. Along the top edge of the board, we see a DVI video output, a USB host connector for a keyboard, and a 3.5mm audio jack. A 10-pin connector is right at the top of the board — this is a UEXT (Universal EXTension) connector that breaks out I2C, SPI, and RS232 serial. The UEXT connector is intended for use with UEXT modules, such as an LCD screen and sensors that are available separately.
How much and when can we buy one? Well, for now, those questions will have to remain unanswered, but we can say that the RP2040-PICO-PC could be a fun project for retro enthusiasts.
The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is beautiful, bold, and totally functional.
Samsung’s flagship Chromebook is less expensive and better than before
I’ll spare you the suspense: the battery life is good.
It’s not incredible. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 is far from the longest-lasting Chromebook I’ve ever tested. But after last year’s Samsung Galaxy Chromebook couldn’t even make it five hours on a charge, my expectations were on the floor. I performed my first battery test on this year’s sequel in an optimistic but nervous state. Finally, several months after the Chromebook 2 was announced, I’m breathing a sigh of relief. To repeat: the battery life is not a disaster, folks. The battery life is fine.
That’s sort of the theme of this machine. There are a couple of standout features, and the rest of it is fine. And I’m very happy with that.
Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook, released almost a year ago, was a high-risk, high-reward play. There were a number of fantastic features, some of which (the OLED screen, the built-in S Pen, the 0.38-inch-thick chassis) were so fancy it was shocking to see them on a Chromebook. But two of its features were significant problems: the $999 price tag (putting the device in competition with the likes of the MacBook Air), and the battery life.
The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 (which isn’t so much a sequel to the Galaxy Chromebook as it is a more affordable alternative) lacks some of the Galaxy Chromebook’s most ambitious features. The stylus, the fingerprint sensor, and the OLED panel have all disappeared. But in their place are all-day battery life and a sub-$700 price tag. In doing so, it makes its case not as a groundbreaking Chromebook of the future, but as a device you might actually want to buy today.
With colors like these, who needs OLED?
From afar, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 looks fairly similar to the Galaxy Chromebook. That’s a compliment — the Galaxy Chromebook’s striking design was one of its biggest selling points. The Chromebook 2 comes in a bold “fiesta red” color, which is a cross between bright red and bright orange. You certainly don’t see Chromebooks of this hue every day, and it’ll turn heads if you’re sitting in public. (You can also buy this in “mercury gray” if you’re boring.)
Pick the thing up, and you’ll start to see where Samsung has cut some corners. It’s thicker and heavier than its predecessor, at 0.55 inches thick and 2.71 pounds, respectively. It’s still plenty light, though it’s a bit hefty to hold as a tablet for long periods. With square edges, it also has a blockier vibe, and the finish feels a bit plasticky and is quite a fingerprint magnet (though the prints are easy to wipe off if you have a cloth on hand).
None of these changes are massive knocks against the Galaxy Chromebook 2, though, especially at this price point. It still looks quite nice, and the aluminum chassis is sturdy. There’s little to no flex in the display or keyboard, and while I saw a bit of screen wobble while typing and using the touchscreen, it wasn’t too distracting. This is where the Chromebook 2 has an advantage over our current top pick, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713. That device is bulkier than Samsung’s, quite bland in its design, and has a bit more flex in its keyboard and screen.
The really big chassis downgrade Samsung has made is in the display. The Galaxy Chromebook has a 4K OLED panel that’s absolutely beautiful but, to be honest, not necessary for the majority of people. Instead, the Chromebook 2 is the first Chromebook ever to feature a QLED panel. QLED panels aren’t OLED, despite the name similarity; they’re LED-backlit LCD screens that use Samsung’s quantum-dot technology.
But OLED or not OLED, this is still one of the best displays I’ve ever seen on a Chromebook. It’s gorgeous. Colors were vibrant and accurate, with solid contrast and fine details. This machine is great to watch videos on. It is glossy and kicks back some glare but nothing that was too distracting. The other disappointment is that it’s 16:9 (1920 x 1080 resolution). The Chromebook Spin 713 also has a very nice panel at the roomier 3:2 aspect ratio. But on the whole, the Chromebook 2 looks great. Its speakers sound quite good as well, making for a solid entertainment device all around.
I’ll admit that the keyboard took some getting used to. It’s flatter than some of the best Chromebook keyboards I’ve used, including that of Google’s Pixelbook Go. But it does have a nice key texture with a click that’s satisfying but not too loud. I was enjoying it after a few days into my testing. In terms of ports, you get two USB-C ports (one on each side — bonus points for convenient charging!), a microSD slot, and a headphone jack. The one thing I’d wish for is a USB-A, but I know I’m fighting a losing battle there.
As I noted before, the Chromebook 2 is missing some of the snazzier features you’ll see on more expensive devices (including the Galaxy Chromebook). The most significant is that there’s no biometric authentication on this; it’s password-only, and I do miss the convenience of the fingerprint reader on its predecessor. (If you’re super anti-password, you could, technically, pair the Chromebook to an Android phone and unlock it with that phone’s biometrics.)
Another thing you don’t get is a bundled stylus. The Galaxy Chromebook shipped with a nice pen, which lived in a tiny garage in the chassis. The Chromebook 2 is compatible with USI pens, but you’ll have to store them separately. And there’s no camera on the keyboard deck, something a number of recent Chromebooks have included to allow for easy front-facing photos while in tablet mode.
But while those features are all nice bonuses, they likely won’t impact the average user’s experience too much. And at the $549 to $699 price points, I’m not enraged by their absence.
Pretty chassis with no stylus garage in sight.
You can buy the Galaxy Chromebook 2 with one of two processors: the starting $549.99 configuration includes an Intel Celeron 5205U with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and the $699.99 model (which I received) includes a Core i3-10110U, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.
In my first hands-on with this device, I was hesitant about the base configuration. Despite the appealing price, a Celeron with 4GB of RAM is quite an entry-level system, and I generally wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who needs their device to do school or office work. However, I now think there’s one compelling use case for the Celeron model: a Netflix machine. If you don’t plan on using the Galaxy Chromebook 2 as a primary driver but want to take advantage of the QLED screen for entertainment, you can probably get away with the $549 price. (Everyone else should probably spring for the Core i3.)
The Core i3 is a step down from the Core i5, the processor that powered the Galaxy Chromebook. But like an OLED screen, that processor is overkill for many Chrome OS tasks. As I used the Chromebook 2 to send emails, fiddle with spreadsheets, write in Google Docs, stream Spotify, and do other standard work, I didn’t notice any performance issues. I also never felt any heat in the keyboard, the touchpad, or the bottom of the deck. (The Galaxy Chromebook 2 has a fan, which some thin Chromebooks don’t.)
Battery life, as mentioned, is quite acceptable. I averaged 7 hours and 21 minutes of continuous work at 50 percent brightness, sometimes using a mix of Chrome and Android apps and sometimes sticking mostly to Chrome. The Chromebook 2 does take a bit of time to charge, though. It only juiced up to 54 percent in an hour.
Where the system lagged was in tasks that leverage the internal storage. The Galaxy Chromebook 2 has eMMC storage, which is considerably slower than the SSD you’ll find in most laptops. The process of getting a batch of around 100 photos from a camera into Adobe Lightroom just dragged. It took so long that, several times, I considered aborting the mission and hopping over to my MacBook. I ran AndroBench to confirm that the storage was the issue, and the results were… not great. To be clear, eMMC isn’t a huge knock against a Chromebook at this price, but it is a spec I’d stay away from if you’ll need to do anything with photos or other tasks that involve writing files to the drive.
Great for lighter loads, meh for more.
Finally, I think this is my first Chromebook testing period where I haven’t run into any big hiccups with Chrome OS. The operating system itself has been smooth for a while, but I’ve run into all kinds of issues with Android apps (one of the OS’s big selling points) in the past. No major problems here, though: nothing crashed, nothing bricked the device, nothing randomly changed size, nothing disappeared during tablet-mode transitions. That’s a welcome relief.
Your experience with Android apps on the Galaxy Chromebook 2 will vary widely based on the app. I generally used them to keep distractions like Twitter separate from my browser where I was working. Some popular services, such as Podcast Addict and 1Weather, don’t have great browser equivalents, so it’s handy to be able to load those apps through Chrome OS. But on net, I found that the apps I used for stuff every day — Slack, Messenger, Google Docs, Reddit, Twitter, Gmail — were either equivalent to or worse than their browser counterparts. The Android interfaces were generally slower to update and still had some kinks to work out. (You can’t click and drag to highlight in Docs, for example.) Slack also wouldn’t let me clear my status icon and occasionally sent me multiple pings for the same message. And Facebook Messenger occasionally refused to minimize, and also sent me huge dumps of notifications each morning from conversations I’d had on my phone the previous night. If you run into issues with Android apps, you can use the web app versions, which mostly work great.
In comparing the Chromebook 2 to the market, the most prominent competitor that comes to mind is Google’s Pixelbook Go. It offers similar benefits (an attractive design, decent battery life, a portable build) with similar caveats (no biometric authentication, no built-in stylus). But as of this writing, the $649 Pixelbook Go configuration comes with only 64GB of storage and an older Core m3 chip. So while there are reasons certain folks might prefer Google’s device (it has a better keyboard, it’s thinner and lighter), I think the $699 Galaxy Chromebook 2 is the better value among the two. For just $50 more, you get a better processor, more storage and RAM, a brilliant color, a convertible build, and a spectacular screen.
A $549 Chromebook that looks like a thousand bucks.
A more difficult comparison is the convertible Chromebook Spin 713. For $70 less, you can get that system with a Core i5, an NVMe SSD, a better port selection that includes USB-A and HDMI, and a 3:2 screen that’s also excellent. On the whole, Acer’s device still offers better value for the average person. That said, there’s a valid reason some people may want to splurge on the Galaxy: looks. The Spin 713, like a number of Chromebooks that are great on the inside, looks like something that you’d see on a middle school laptop cart. Pared-down as it is, the Galaxy Chromebook 2 is still a Samsung device: it asks a premium for hardware that’s beautiful to look at and built to last.
Put the Galaxy Chromebook 2 next to the Galaxy Chromebook, and the former has clearly cut some corners. But it’s cut the right corners. In some ways, it’s the device I’d hoped the Galaxy Chromebook would be: beautiful, bold, and totally functional as well. It’s exchanged a bit of panache for a lot of simplicity. It’s, as I said in my hands-on, “a regular-ass Chromebook.” And I couldn’t be happier with it.
(Pocket-lint) – Despite the overall TV trend being towards ever bigger screens, when it comes to OLED technology there’s actually been a growing clamour for something smaller. Not everyone can fit a 55-inch screen in their living room – yet that size has traditionally been as small as OLED TVs get.
Happily there are finally no less than three 48-inch options out there for people who want the contrast-rich picture quality OLED is renowned for but in a more manageable package: the LG OLED48CX, the Philips 48OLED+935, and on review here, the Sony KD-48A9.
Sony KD-48A9 review: Design
4x HDMI inputs, 3x USB ports
LAN & Wi-Fi multimedia options
From the front, the 48-inch Sony A9 is gorgeously minimalistic. The frame around the screen is both exceptionally narrow and sits in the same plane as the image, so it all looks like one immaculate sheet of glass.
The screen sits so low on its heavy duty, centrally mounted desktop plate stand, too, that from any regular viewing distance the screen appears to be holding itself upright using some sort of magic.
Sony
The outer edges of the screen are less than a centimetre deep, too. This outer trimness does contrast starkly, it has to be said, with a central section of the rear that actually sticks out more than the backsides of most modern tellies. Unless the set is going to be hung on a wall, though, the A9’s chunky bits don’t detract much at all from the overall supremely elegant look.
The 48-inch A9’s design doesn’t appear to include any forward-facing speakers. Except that actually, it does. For despite being Sony’s smallest ever OLED TV, the A9 still uses the brand’s unique Acoustic Screen technology, where precisely positioned actuators are used to turn the screen itself into a speaker.
The 48-inch A9 isn’t short of connections either. Four HDMIs, three USBs, and support for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity are all present and correct.
Disappointingly, though, none of the HDMIs can handle enough data to support 4K streams at 120Hz, or variable refresh rates (VRR). In other words, this A9 can’t support the two most important new features of the latest games consoles and PC graphics cards. Despite Sony actually making one of those games consoles.
Sony KD-48A9 review: Picture Features
HDR Support: HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG
Processing engine: X1 Ultimate
While this A9 might be smaller than other Sony OLED TVs, it’s certainly no less clever. It gets the same premium X1 Ultimate processor that all of its bigger OLED siblings also get, complete with all of its proven benefits.
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For starters, it converts sub-4K sources to 4K using a vast dual database of picture analysis to give more effective results in real-time. There’s also a Super Bitmap system for refining striping out of HDR (high dynamic range) colour blends, and a Triluminos colour system that uses precision colour mapping to deliver an enhanced range of colour tones more accurately.
Sony’s Pixel Booster technology is on hand, meanwhile, to deliver enhanced contrast by better sharing power around between the individual pixels in the A9’s self-emissive OLED screen, while Sony’s renowned MotionFlow processing contributes to improved motion handling. There’s even a new option that inserts partial black frames into the image to create a more authentic looking 24 frames per second (24p) cinematic experience, but without the same degree of brightness reduction that black frame insertion usually causes.
The X1 Ultimate processor also powers a standard dynamic range (SDR) to HDR conversion system that’s sophisticated enough to treat various objects in the image differently, rather than just applying a conversion algorithm to the image as a whole. Sony is so confident about this system that it’s applied by default and undefeatably to most of the A9’s picture presets.
Unlike Sony’s A8 OLED TV range, the A9 is designated as one of Sony’s Master Series OLED TVs. This means that each set has been individually checked over and fine tuned in Sony’s factories before being released for sale.
As an OLED TV, of course, the 48-inch A9 gives you the technology’s key advantage of every single pixel in its 4K screen producing its own light source and colour, so that the darkest pixel in any image can appear right next to the brightest – without either compromising the other.
Sony
Being self-emissive also means the A9 can be watched from pretty much any angle without any loss of contrast or colour – something which the vast majority of LCD TVs cannot compete with.
In the interests of fairness, it needs to be stressed that OLED TVs can’t achieve the sort of brightness levels that LCD sets can. The highest brightness the 48-inch A9 can achieve is 665 nits in its Standard preset, dropping to 590 nits in Cinema mode. For comparison: premium LCD TVs can routinely hit more than 1,000 nits. In fact, Sony itself has managed almost 4,000 nits from its ultra expensive ZG9 8K LCD TVs.
The A9 supports three high dynamic range (HDR) formats: the standard HDR10 system; the HLG format typically used for live HDR broadcasts; and the premium Dolby Vision format, which adds extra scene-by-scene picture information so that compatible TVs can deliver more accurate images. There’s no support for the Dolby Vision-rivalling HDR10+ system – but that’s much less commonly found in the content world than Dolby Vision.
Sony KD-48A9 review: Smart Features
Smart System: Android TV plus YouView
Happily, after a buggy and cumbersome past life, the Android TV interface is finally improving to the point where you can actually start to appreciate the platform’s main strength: the amount of content it carries.
Sony’s implementation even includes Apple TV alongside the usual Netflix, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Rakuten, and other suspects, while Android TV’s remaining blind spots when it comes to the streaming services of the main UK broadcasters are covered by the inclusion on the A9 of the excellent YouView app. This brings all the UK streaming services together into one attractively presented, easy to browse umbrella app.
Pocket-lint
Android TV on the A9 proves to be significantly less buggy than previous generations, and integrates smoothly with the TV’s setup menus. There’s none of the excessive menu sluggishness Android has sometimes caused in the past, either.
There’s still something a little dated about its full screen presentation, and it still doesn’t feel quite as well adapted to TV (as opposed to smartphone or tablet) usage as some rival TV smart systems. But it’s now something that isn’t actually a chore to use, and that’s a definite step in the right direction!
It’s worth adding, too, that Android TV supports Chromecast out of the box, while voice recognition/control support is on hand courtesy of Google Assistant.
Sony KD-48A9 review: Picture Quality
While the 48-inch A9 isn’t the only 48-inch OLED TV on the market, its picture quality ensures that it’s a unique proposition.
The best way to start developing an impression of just how lovely the A9 is to watch is to say that it’s the closest Sony has got yet to matching the renowned picture quality of its legendary BVM-X300 professional OLED mastering monitor (a screen that cost tens of thousands).
Sony
The A9’s handling of dark scenes and black tones isn’t just great, as would be expected of any OLED TV, it’s pretty much perfect. It’s completely consistent, for instance, with no hint of the sort of sudden shifts in the overall black tone that you see with some OLED rivals.
There’s no sign of noise, either, be it fizzing or blocking, in areas of near-black detail. Yet at the same time the amount of subtle shadow detail the A9 brings out of even the darkest parts of the image is exceptional.
In other words, the screen doesn’t just take the easy route to clean, dark areas by sneakily crushing subtle details out of dark areas.
Colours, too, are exceptionally handled. Not a tone looks out of place or unnatural, no particular shades end up getting too much emphasis, potential colour banding is handily suppressed by the Super Bitmapping system, and the sheer range of tones the screen can produce does justice to even the most aggressive HDR/wide colour gamut sources.
Thanks in part to the finesse of its colour management and light control, the A9 delivers native 4K images with excellent sharpness and texture. So much so that you’re never in doubt that you’re watching a 4K screen despite the A9 being relatively small by today’s standards.
Pocket-lint
Just as importantly, though, the sharpness doesn’t feel forced. The set just looks like it’s bringing out every subtlety that’s present in a 4K image, rather than using processing to artificially sharpen things up.
The natural clarity continues during action scenes and sports events, too, thanks to Sony’s excellent motion processing system. The new black frame insertion system is pretty effective – motion looks less juddery without sliding into the ‘soap opera effect’, and the image doesn’t lose as much brightness as you’d expect with a BFI-based system. Sony’s regular MotionFlow True Cinema option, though, is so effective that most users likely won’t feel the need to trade even a little brightness for the BFI option’s slightly more authentic cinematic flicker.
It’s not just native 4K images that look detailed and clean on the A9. The upscaling prowess of Sony’s X1 Ultimate processor adds detail while removing source noise pretty much flawlessly, achieving remarkably convincing results with all but the most heavily compressed sources. Even Sony’s (sensibly restrained) SDR-to-HDR conversion system delivers results so natural and believable that even the most die-hard picture accuracy obsessives will likely find the system hard to resist.
While it’s useful to break the A9’s pictures down into their different elements, the really key point about them is that they are almost free of distracting shortcomings, errors or inconsistencies. Which means, of course, that they’re phenomenally immersive and satisfying.
Sony
If there’s an issue with the 48-inch A9’s pictures, it’s just that they’re not very bright. The measured brightness figures quoted earlier are around a fifth lower than the numbers measured in the same circumstances from many rival OLED sets. Something to consider for people looking for a TV to go into a typically bright room, perhaps.
It’s important to add, though, that the local contrast impact achieved by the Pixel Booster feature is good enough to ensure the A9’s picture still feels startlingly punchy in a dark room, and certainly doesn’t completely fade into the background when the lights are on.
Sony KD-48A9 review: Sound Quality
Concerns that the 48-inch A9’s smaller screen size might lead to a diminished performance from Sony’s Acoustic Surface technology prove unfounded. The sound still projects forward into with pleasing directness, and swells out nicely to create a sound stage that spreads far beyond the outer edges of the screen.
There’s a lovely open, rounded feel to the sound’s tone, too, that even holds up in very loud, dense film moments. In fact, the sound expands really nicely to embrace raucous action scenes; there’s no levelling off too early or thinning out with the heaviest content like you get with many TV sound systems.
Sony
Also impressive is how detailed the A9 sounds. This includes some startlingly accurate positioning of specific sounds – voices, gunfire, moving vehicles – on the screen, and lots of general detailing.
The soundstage’s precision slips once it expands far beyond the screen, though, limiting the effectiveness of its Dolby Atmos support. Bass, too, while clean and lively, doesn’t sound particularly meaty, denying big soundtrack moments the foundation of rumbles they need to deliver their full sense of scale and impact.
Verdict
The Sony KD-48A9’s pictures are as good as it gets. Close to the sort of thing typically only seen on pro-grade monitors, in fact. Especially if you’re prepared to darken your room for serious viewing.
It sounds good for its size too, and even its Android smart system is finally turning into a reasonably friendly place to hang out.
But the 48-inch A9 doesn’t quite bag a full five-star score for two main reasons: first, its puzzling lack of support for the latest cutting-edge gaming features (120/4K and VRR). Second, its asking price is pretty steep when a very similar 55-inch Sony KD-55A8 is available for hundreds less.
Alternatives to consider
LG OLED48CX
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LG’s 48-inch OLED telly is brighter and slightly cheaper than the Sony. It also, crucially, supports all the latest 4K/120Hz and VRR gaming features across all four of its HDMI inputs. Its picture quality isn’t quite as overall refined as that of the 48A9, though, and its more conventional speaker system is not quite as effective as the Sony’s Acoustic Surface approach.
Read our review
Sony KD-55A8
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Aside from sporting a less premium design and not having each set individually optimised in Sony’s factories before shipping, the A8 OLED range is a very close sibling indeed to the 48A9. And this 55-inch mode can be yours for less cash than the A9 too – if you’re ok with it being a bigger set.
FALD stands for full-array local dimming and is an expensive, as well as the most premium, type of backlight technology found in LCD displays, including PC monitors and TVs. It’s especially beneficial for viewing HDR content and is found in some of the best gaming monitors.
A monitor with FALD technology has a backlight that’s broken up into different zones, where each zone can output a different brightness level simultaneously. FALD monitors usually have 384, 512 or 1,152 zones. The more zones, the better the image and the more expensive the display.
Why is it important for a monitor or TV to be able to use various brightness levels within one image? This has a great impact on the monitor or TV’s contrast, which is one of the most important factors in image quality (the higher, the better). High contrast is also key in making HDR content look better than SDR content. The very best HDR monitors use FALD backlights or OLED, which we’ll get into momentarily.
FALD is also particularly key for monitors or TVs that can get super bright. With monitors hitting 1,000 nits or greater, black levels also increase, hurting contrast — that is, unless you have some sort of local dimming.
Generally speaking, local dimming is the ability to set different brightness levels in different areas of an image (versus global dimming). FALD isn’t the only type of local dimming. If you want a good HDR screen but don’t want to spend the premium for a FALD monitor or TV, a display with an edge-lit backlight is your next best bet.
FALD vs Edge-Lit
(Image credit: VESA)
Edge-lit backlights, also known as edge array local dimming backlights, are similar to FALD backlights but instead of having hundreds of zoness, edge-lit backlights usually have 8, 16 or 32 zones. As the name implies, these zones live on the edge of the display panel.
Halo Effect
Both FALD and edge-lit monitors are subject to the halo effect. The halo effect happens when one of the backlight’s zones is brighter than an adjacent zone(s) and causes a glow to bleed into the dimmer zone(s).
If you look closely, the halo effect is visible, especially around the “dee” in “deeper.” (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
For example, with white text on a dark background, white from the text may bleed into the surrounding black area, giving the words an odd, glowing look.
FALD is a backlight technology found in LCD monitors, while OLED monitors are not LCD monitors and don’t use a backlight at all. Instead, every pixel in an OLED monitor emits its own light, making each pixel like its own zone.
So which is better? OLED monitors can hit an immeasurably low black level, making for theoretically infinite contrast. Remember, we consider contrast the most important factor in image quality and a big part of the HDR experience.
Another benefit an OLED monitor has over a monitor with a FALD backlight is that it won’t suffer from the halo effect.
However, OLED monitors typically don’t get as bright as FALD monitors can. Take two of the best 4K gaming monitors, the Acer Predator X27 and Alienware AW5520QF. The Acer has a FALD backlight and is specced for up to 1,000 nits brightness, while the Alienware is an OLED monitor and only specced for 400 nits. If you tend to use your monitor in a dark room, though, the lack of comparative brightness may not bother you.
But because of how their technology works, both offer impressively high contrast. Video editors may opt for FALD over OLED, while OLED may be preferred for photo editing and gamers should weigh the pros and cons of each technology.
This article is part of the Tom’s Hardware Glossary.
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The LG Stylo 6 is a sub-$300 phone with a built-in stylus, which puts it in exclusive company: the $299 Motorola Moto G Stylus is more or less its only direct competition. For its $270 price, the Stylo 6 offers good battery performance; a big, bright screen; and the handy pen-derived features that stylus life offers. But as much fun as I had doodling on its generously sized screen, it’s just too slow to recommend.
That’s a shame because I genuinely enjoyed aspects of using this phone. I couldn’t seem to drain the battery below the 30 percent mark even on a day of heavy usage, and I experienced real enjoyment texting my spouse a precisely drawn, animated doodle of a farting butt. Photos look good on its vivid, wide 6.8-inch screen, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover while rewatching Chernobyl (don’t worry, I talk to my therapist about this) that it has stereo speakers.
Unfortunately, that enjoyment was overshadowed every time the phone took an extra beat to switch between apps, open Twitter, load my Instagram feed, or start my Google Maps navigation. It’s not unusably slow, but it is quite noticeably slow. If you have the patience of a small insect like I do, there’s a fine line between the two.
The Stylo offers a large 6.8-inch screen.
LG Stylo 6 screen and performance
The Stylo 6 is a large phone, as you’d expect a phone with a stylus to be. It offers a 6.8-inch 1080p LCD with a standard 60Hz refresh rate and modest bezels. Its dimensions are similar to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, also a large phone, except that it’s slightly taller. The screen itself is plenty bright and vivid, and the aforementioned stereo speakers make watching videos that bit nicer.
I found the phone overall too big to use comfortably one-handed, and it felt awkward in even large coat pockets. That’s beside the point, though, if you’re considering the Stylo then you probably already know you want a large phone, so to each their own.
The Stylo 6 offers a Mediatek Helio P35 chipset and 3GB of RAM. Herein lies the Stylo 6’s troubles: this processor and RAM combination just doesn’t offer enough power for this phone. I noticed stuttering often as I scrolled through media-rich screens on Twitter and Instagram. Ditto the previously mentioned slowness opening and switching between apps, and the camera suffers from laggy processing speeds, too.
I sometimes tapped the screen, then wondered if the phone had recognized the tap a split second before it opened an app or whatever I was trying to do. Conversely, I’d tap the screen too lightly or quickly and wait an extra second before realizing it hadn’t registered, just because I’d gotten used to giving the phone a little extra time to do everything. This would all be more forgivable (if still frustrating) on a $200 phone, but depending where you get the Stylo 6, it’s pushing closer to $300 and should really do better.
If there’s a bright spot to the phone’s processing woes, it’s that battery life is great — possibly as a side effect. The Stylo 6 has a 4,000mAh battery, and after a typical day with two-plus hours of screen-on time, I was usually down to only 70 percent. I was sure a day of heavier use with Google Maps navigation, Spotify, and more social media scrolling than usual would challenge it, but nope. I didn’t even drain it enough for a low battery warning before plugging it in at night.
There’s just one configuration offered with 64GB of built-in storage, which isn’t great, but it’s expandable by way of microSD. It ships with Android 10 and, unfortunately, a lot of preloaded apps and games that you probably don’t want. LG isn’t known for a generous upgrade schedule so it’s very unlikely the Stylo 6 will see an Android 11 update.
Popping out the stylus brings up some shortcuts.
LG Stylo 6 stylus features
Of course, the stylus features are a big (sorry) draw here. The stylus is tucked away and spring-loaded into the lower-right corner of the device, and it activates a set of shortcuts when it’s removed. You can take a quick note, grab a screenshot or a GIF of whatever’s on your screen, and mark it up with notes, or draw something immature to text to your partner.
You can do useful, productive things with a stylus, but you can do this, too.
Despite Samsung’s Galaxy Note being the de facto stylus phone, LG has been making phones with styluses for ages, and it shows with little UI touches like automatically toggling off gesture navigation when you start a note so that you don’t accidentally swipe out of it. You won’t find advanced features like the (much more expensive) Galaxy Note series offers here such as handwriting-to-text conversion or the ability to use the stylus as a remote control. Basically though, it does all of the things you’d expect it to do, and these features work well.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed having the stylus available. It’s much easier to draw or write silly notes on images with the pen rather than your finger, which I had basically given up on doing because they always look terrible.
The ability to also jot down a quick note without even turning the screen on is something I really appreciated. I feel like I’m always fumbling to unlock my phone, find the notes app, and open a new note just to type out something quick like an email address or a song title. None of this is unique compared to a Galaxy Note, of course, but the Stylo 6 has a set of genuinely useful features that aren’t very common, especially at this price point.
The Stylo 6 features standard wide and ultrawide rear cameras, plus a depth sensor.
LG Stylo 6 camera
The Stylo includes a 13-megapixel main camera, a 5-megapixel ultrawide, a 5-megapixel depth sensor, and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. That’s not a lot of resolution to work with, but it’s enough to allow the Stylo to take decent-quality images in good light.
White balance occasionally leans a little too magenta or too green, which sometimes gave an effect I liked — kind of a nostalgic film-like quality. At other times, images just looked too cool and washed out. I like how the Stylo handles high-contrast scenes; the HDR effect doesn’t look too strong. Your preview image will look overly dark, but an HDR icon on the screen indicates that the final image will look much more balanced.
Images in low light or moderate indoor lighting look okay for social media but show a lot of smeared detail if you look closely. The ultrawide lens is somewhat limited by its low-res sensor. Even in bright daylight shots details look smoothed over, and it’s just not up to low light photography.
Taken with ultrawide
Portrait mode
Portrait mode
Taken with ultrawide
The camera is also a victim of the phone’s underpowered processor, particularly in portrait mode. The live preview is quite laggy, which gets worse once you push the shutter and wait for the phone to process the image. This can take as long as six seconds, during which you’re unable to take another image.
It’s hard to know if you got the right frame of your subject, and it’s a frustrating experience trying to photograph a subject that’s moving even just a little bit because you can’t “spray and pray.” The camera keeps shutter speeds relatively low, too, so blurry subjects can be a problem. By sheer luck I got a portrait mode photo of my cat mid-yawn, but I wouldn’t count on being able to do that again.
I captured a few images with the Stylo that I really like, but I felt like it was more in spite of the camera rather than because of it. The images this phone captures will look okay on Instagram and Facebook, but overall, the Stylo’s camera capabilities lag behind most other devices at this price.
The Stylo 6 offers a lot of likable stylus-based features, but it’s ultimately too slow to recommend.
The Stylo 6 has a few good things going for it: an affordable price, built-in stylus, big screen, and great battery life. But factoring in its shortcomings, namely an underpowered processor, it’s not a device I can easily recommend.
Even around its $270 price, there are many other more capable options. The $300 OnePlus Nord N10 5G offers a better camera and processor. The 2021 Motorola Moto G Power includes a massive battery and better processor performance for $200. Neither of those comes with a stylus, of course, but I don’t think the Stylo 6 is even your best bet for an inexpensive phone with a stylus: for just a little more, the 2021 Moto G Stylus offers better performance and an upgraded camera.
If speed isn’t a concern, a stylus is a must-have, and the price is right, I think you can live a reasonably happy life with this phone. Maybe my patience is just too thin, and a more enlightened person can coexist peacefully with it. The rest of us would do best to look elsewhere.
(Pocket-lint) – Motorola is really, really good at making affordable phones. That, ultimately, is its bread and butter. So when, for 2021, it decided to rejig its Moto G family – although not by much, it now takes on a bigger-number-equals-better-features approach – the arrival of the Moto G30 looked like a familiar success story.
But with the Moto G10 appearing alongside it, at a slightly lower price and slightly watered-down spec, is the G30 the obvious winner? With a more powerful processor and faster refresh-rate screen being more or less the only differences, we’d say so – especially if you’re looking for an outright buy for the £/$180 mark – but what shortcomings might you expect?
As you can see from the specification skinny listed above, Motorola has got, um, ‘creative’ with its colour palette offerings. The model you see here on review is called Pastel Sky. That’s a totally non-descript duo of words for describing any colourway, really, and perhaps that’s for the best – because the two-tone mud-green and sparkly-pink that is its reality is, frankly, ghastly to the eyes.
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Pop a case of the G30 and you needn’t break a sweat though – although the one in the box is translucent though (uh oh). Or just buy the Phantom Black model so you won’t need to hide it from any curious onlookers (they won’t be thieves, that we can assure).
From the front, however, the Moto G30 cuts a familiar standard. The bezel around the screen is kept reasonably minimal. The teardrop notch to the top – where the selfie camera lives – is neatly done. By default the Android 11 software offers gesture navigation, so there’s not too much invading the bottom edge of the screen either.
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Plus, Motorola being knowledgeable of what people want in this category, the G30 comes complete with a 3.5mm headphone jack, an on-board microSD card slot for expanding storage, and a neatly integrated fingerprint scanner to the rear that’s well positioned this time around (that wasn’t the case for the G9 Power). There’s even a Google Assistant button – hence the trio of buttons to the side – to play nice with Android 11 and voice commands, if you so wish.
As we pointed out up top of this review, the G30 comes equipped with a 90Hz refresh rate screen. That betters the 60Hz panel of the Moto G10. Which sounds all well and good – because that’s a 50 per cent improvement in cycles per second, for a smoother visual experience – but, actually, it would have made more sense for this model to have featured extra resolution.
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While the HD+ panel here is totally fine – you’re not going to lose an eyeball due to any jaggies – given the total power available it can’t always keep up to speed with its 90Hz refresh logic. So, we say, resolution over refresh rate would have been the better shout.
Motorola has got better with managing brightness, too, so although auto-dimming is still relatively dog-with-a-stick keen, you won’t feel as though a dark veil has unnecessarily shrouded your smartphone world. Colours remain perky too.
Performance & Battery
Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 platform, 4GB RAM
128GB storage, microSD expansion slot
5,000mAh battery, 20W fast-charging
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Android 11 software
Which leads us to the innards of this phone. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 platform on board here, along with 4GB RAM, which is a couple of steps down the Qualcomm ladder (800 series at the top, 700 series is still used in many flagships, so this is the next in the line-up).
Best smartphones 2021: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
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That processor choice is why, hands down, the G30 makes a lot more sense to buy than the G10 (which has a Snapdragon 460). Not just because of the logic of smaller-number-must-be-worse thinking, but because of the practicalities in use.
For example: we had a G10 hang when opening Google Photos and then crash. The G30 hung around a bit, sure, but wasn’t totally gazumped by the experience, and eventually clicked into play and was on its merry little way.
Gaming, too, gets the upper hand from that better platform: yes, there are some slight pauses or stutters from time to time, but it’s not constant, meaning the G30 is good enough to dedicate to some medium level tasks. It’s got us through South Park: Phone Destroyer battles and even connected Zwift cycling sessions. We just don’t think the G10, by comparison, can offer the same quality of experience.
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As is often the case at this price point you don’t get the fastest ever storage or Wi-Fi systems available, so downloads and installs will take a little longer than some devices higher up the flagship food chain. In isolation you won’t notice it though.
The choice of that processor also plays very nicely with the large-capacity 5,000mAh battery that’s on board. We’ve found the Moto G30 to push through a day – with several hours of screen time, some of which has been gaming – and still be at half empty (no, not half full) by bedtime.
Indeed, as we write this review it’s sat with 20 per cent remaining after 28 hours of not seeing a plug socket. So it’s a borderline two-day phone, especially if you’re fairly light with use (which we are not).
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In terms of software, there’s Google’s Android 11 on board. That’s backed up by just the one auto-installed Moto app, adding some handy tips, display, gestures, and gaming controls. It’s worth playing around with these settings, whether to enable a do-not-disturb during a gaming session, or for the screen to remain on when you’re looking at it. It’s not an intrusive app, just a nice little bonus.
Android 11 does default to gesture navigation though, which may be new to you. It involves swiping in different directions to perform different tasks and, as a system, can be decent – but can feel a little laggy in the Moto G30, presumably the result of available power. Here we’ve been happier to live with on-screen Android softkey navigation instead.
The Moto G30’s rear camera protrusion isn’t to excess; it’s a neat bump to the upper corner on the rear. Despite this small scale it houses four cameras within – a 64-megapixel main, 8MP ultra-wide, and pair of 2MP sensors for depth measurement and macro close-ups.
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Sadly, however, the case for four cameras comes under the same scrutiny as so many other phones over-selling the numbers for the sake of it. The depth sensor has no real use, the macro sensor is basically a write-off – images are small, quality is poor, and colour balance all over the place – and even, in this instance, the wide-angle camera’s quality is questionable.
Yikes. That’s three out of four down, then. But, fear not, the main camera’s output on the G30 is pretty decent. The camera app is rather slow, mind, on account of the overall processing power, but with some artificial intelligence (AI) smarts aiding with scene detection – you can see the colour balance, saturation and enhancements pop into view after a little delay – shots in good light retain enough clarity.
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Don’t expect computational photography prowess here as you may find elsewhere – the night mode, for example, is average and nothing like, say, Google’s excellent mode on the Pixel series – but there are enough automated modes, including HDR (high dynamic range) to help results along. Low-light isn’t this sensor’s best friend, but it’ll be able to deliver shots from the main sensor if you hold it nice and steady.
Verdict
Although the Moto G30 takes its share of criticism – three of the four cameras are poor (two a total write-off), the Pastel Sky finish is questionable (and that’s being kind) – in the interests of context there’s little else out there at this price point that can even compete.
So, really, the G30 is all about expectation. It delivers a lot for the money – and a generally smooth user experience thanks to Android 11 software – in a long-lasting package that can handle apps and games reasonably well too.
In many ways the presence of Motorola’s G10 makes the G30 all the more appealing – as for a little extra you get the step-up in processing power, which makes the performance ample enough to recommend it as the choice.
Rivals, such as Realme and Redmi, sometimes offer more in raw specification but – as we’ve so often found from use – they just can’t touch the Motorola when it comes to core software-based user experience. So the Moto G30 is solid is a rock when it comes to standing out on its own.
Also consider
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Redmi Note 9
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It’s almost the same price, but brings a bump in resolution and some other features that might make it more attractive. However, as we’ve said already, the software experience just isn’t as fluid – with the Motorola running just that much better.
Lenovo has introduced its new ultrawide business display designed primarily for office use. The ThinkVision P40w-20 features a Thunderbolt 4 interface (along with other inputs) and comes with a built-in hub with multiple USB ports and a GbE connector. In addition, the monitor fully supports Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT), which is important for parties that use remotely managed vPro machines.
The Lenovo ThinkVision P40w-20 LCD is based on a 39.7-inch 10-bit IPS panel featuring a 2.5-meter radius curvature, a 5120 x 2160 resolution, a typical brightness of 300 nits, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and 178º/178º vertical/horizontal viewing angles. Though it’s not designed to compete with the best gaming monitors, the P40w-20 offers a better-than-the-minimum 75 Hz refresh rate, along with 6 ms normal or 4 ms extreme response times.
As for colors, the monitor promises to display 99% of the sRGB as well as 98% of the DCI-P3 color spaces. The LCD ships factory-calibrated with a Delta E<2 accuracy. Meanwhile, the product does not officially support the Adobe RGB color gamut.
The ThinkVision P40w-20 has an aspect ratio of 21:9 and is therefore aimed at multitasking professionals rather than on those who need to replace two displays with one. Meanwhile, the unit still has a built-in KVM switch and supports Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture capabilities in a bid to more comfortably use the LCD with more than one PC.
(Image credit: Lenovo)
One of the key selling points of the ThinkVision P40w-20 is its connectivity. The product comes with two Thunderbolt 4 connectors (the second one to be used for daisy chaining another LCD or a storage subsystem), one DisplayPort 1.4, and one HDMI 2.0 input. The display is also equipped with one GbE port, a quad-port USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A hub (with a USB Type-B upstream port), and an additional USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port (supporting power delivery of up to 27 Watts). In addition, the unit has an audio jack, but there is no word whether it has a built-in speaker.
The Ethernet port on the ThinkVision P40w-20 fully supports such capabilities as Wake-on-LAN (S3/S4/S5), PXE Boot,and MAC address pass through to transfer and securely maintain a network to up to two connected sources simultaneously. The GbE chip inside the port can also support Intel Active Management Technology for Intel vPro clients
Like most monitors for professionals, the Lenovo ThinkVision P40w-20 comes with an adjustable stand that can regulate height, tilt, and swivel. Alternatively, a VESA mount can be used, which will be particularly handy for multi-monitor configurations.
Lenovo plans to start selling its ThinkVision P40w display in June, 2021, for an MSRP of $1,699.
If you’ve read the review of the NETGEAR Orbi LTE router, you might have guessed that this review was on its way. Indeed, this was the very first product I received for review in the UK, with testing done in a hotel while I was sorting out more permanent accommodations, as the next few pages will no doubt indicate. However, circumstances were such that I received two units accidentally, had to return the first one, and test the second unit, which meant the Orbi review was finished first. Regardless, here we are and thanks again to NETGEAR for sending a review sample to TechPowerUp!
The Nighthawk MR2100, also referred to as the Nighthawk M2, is an interesting product in more ways than one. It is obviously a mobile hotspot router, as shown by the way of the form factor and company image above. A few years ago, NETGEAR made waves with their MR1100, a truly all-in-one portable LTE router that worked with just about any carrier worldwide, but had poor battery life and a lower maximum throughput. They aimed to change that with the release of the MR2100 with a better battery and double the WiFi throughput, but somehow managed to create a product that never had a retail launch in the US. Sure, there were some ways to get it through certain carriers, but it is missing some LTE bands that a few specific carriers in the US and some European countries utilize. With the recent launch of their brand-new 5G WiFi 6 mobile router, does it still merit a place in 2021? We aim to address this question in this review that begins with a look at the specifications in the table below.
Great fun to use and it can be useful for many projects. The GPIO access could be an issue for some, so plan your build wisely.
For
Low cost
Easy to use
Crisp display
Against
Lose access to GPIO pins
When the Raspberry Pi Pico was released, UK retailer Pimoroni were the first to market with a slew of add-ons for the latest Pi. The Pico Display retails for around $20 and is a small IPS screen with pushbuttons and RGB LED that connects directly to the Pico and acts as a fun introduction to writing code that will appear on the screen. While it may just be “a bit of fun” for most, Pico Display and the Raspberry Pi Pico have enough power to competently create games and animations in a package no larger than a pack of gum.
Design and Use of the Pimoroni Pico Display
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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)
The Pico Display is a pack, a term used by Pimoroni to describe a board which attaches to the pins of a Raspberry Pi Pico, in much the same way as a backpack. Measuring just 2 x 1 x 0.3 inches (53 x 25 x 9mm) Pico Display is only slightly larger than the Pico itself. Dominating the Pico Display is a 1.14 inch 240 x 135 pixel IPS LCD screen. Power to the Pico Display is sent via the 3V3 GPIOpin and the Pico Display communicates with the Raspberry Pi Pico via an SPI interface. Also present on the Pico Display are four pushbuttons (A,B,X,Y) and a single RGB LED.
To use the Pico Display we need to flash Pimoroni’s custom version of MicroPython which has the MicroPython libraries for this and other boards in their range. There are also C/C++ libraries for Pico Display should you require them.
To get a feel for Pico Display we looked to the demos and tried a few out. The first demo that we saw, demo.py, draws random sized and colored circles on the screen. These circles bounce around the screen giving the illusion that they are bound to the laws of physics. Even with 100 circles bouncing around the screen everything ran smoothly.
Spurred on by this demo, we decided to write something to scroll text across the screen. Each time the code looped it would choose a different color for the text, and that color would also be used for the RGB LED. This took a little bit of time to write, more from our understanding of the process than problems with the library.
Once our logic problem was solved, we had scrolling text and random colors. But what next? The four buttons at the corners of the screen had not yet been used, so we adapted our code to include conditional statements that would look for a button press and then run the block of code associated with that condition. In our case it was three different text strings, two with randomly chosen colors and one with a set text color and different background color. The MicroPython library for Pico Display is easy to use, once you understand the process of how it updates the screen
Use Cases for the Pimoroni Pico Display
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As this is a pack, despite using only a handful of GPIO pins, it denies access to all of them and this will limit where and how it can be used. If you would like to make a simple scrolling text name badge or inspirational quotes then Pico Display is for you.
But this board is not limited to merely text. It can also be used to make your own video games such as Tetris. If you would like to use the Pico Display with another board, then you would need to purchase the Pico Omnibus two way expander or the Pico Decker quad expander, but be mindful of the GPIO pins that each board will use, as clashes will prevent the boards from working.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Pimoroni’s Pico Display is a low cost way to create unique animated projects with your Raspberry Pi Pico. Using the Pico Display with MicroPython is simple and we can get decent results with very little code.
Like the Pico Unicorn pack, the Pico Display is more of a means to learn a new skill while having fun, than a serious board to solve a problem. However, this is not a negative as the Pico Display uses the same library as the Pico Base Explorer and that means the skills learnt on one are transferable to the other.
Dolby Vision IQ aims to solve a problem with which we’re probably all familiar. How many times have you watched a TV drama and found it was too dark for you to make out all the details? The Game of Thrones finale was marred for many by being too gloomy for viewers to see what was going on, while Netflix’s Ozark has also come under fire for leaving far too much to the imagination. And they’re not alone.
So why is so much new TV so dark? In part, because filmmakers are making the most of the expanded contrast that HDR (High Dynamic Range) allows, grading content with the dark depth they see fit. However, that grading often assumes that the content is being watched in a pitch black room. Add even a little bit of ambient lighting and a lot of dark detail can get lost. Simply turning up the screen’s brightness may appear to improve things but in reality you condense the contrast and lose dark depth – even on the latest OLED TVs.
Dolby Vision IQ, which launched in 2020 and is steadily becoming more widespread, aims to address this issue for Dolby Vision HDR content.
What is Dolby Vision IQ?
“Beyond HDR” is how we heard Dolby Vision IQ being described when the technology was launched at CES 2020.
It’s essentially an updated version of Dolby Vision, one of a number of HDR formats alongside HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma). It’s designed to optimise Dolby Vision content on your TV according to the brightness of the room.
To do this, Dolby Vision IQ uses the dynamic metadata from Dolby Vision, as well as light sensors inside your TV, to dynamically adjust the HDR picture based on the content and ambient light conditions in your room.
If you switch from bright live sport to a darker TV show, the TV will adjust accordingly for the optimum picture. The idea is that you don’t have to do anything – the picture will simply look correct regardless of how much light is in the room.
Which TVs support Dolby Vision IQ?
(Image credit: LG / Bosch, Amazon Prime)
LG and Panasonic were the first TV manufacturers to board the Dolby Vision IQ train, with Panasonic offering the feature on all of its 2020 OLED models and LG including it with all of its 2020 OLEDs and a number of its Nanocell and LCD models.
Both brands will continue to support Dolby Vision IQ in 2021. Panasonic has confirmed that its flagship JZ2000 model will have it and we’d expect its other 2021 OLEDs to follow suit when they’re announced. LG, meanwhile, has confirmed that Dolby Vision IQ will be available across a large portion of its TV lineup again in 2021.
TCL recently announced its first Dolby Vision IQ TV, too – the C825 Mini-LED model.
Interestingly, while Sony and Philips both support Dolby Vision across many of their TVs, neither brand has so far launched or even announced a Dolby Vision IQ model. Both claim that their own ambient light sensors work with Dolby Vision content to create a similar effect, but we suspect that they will eventually adopt the official format, perhaps on models that launch in the second half of 2021 or start of 2022.
Less surprising is that Samsung doesn’t offer any Dolby Vision IQ TVs because it still doesn’t support even standard Dolby Vision. Instead, the company pushes its own HDR10+ format, which now has a rival to Dolby Vision IQ in the form of HDR10+ Adaptive.
In terms of content, any Dolby Vision movie or TV show can be given the IQ treatment – it’s not a separate format in that regard.
Does Dolby Vision IQ actually work?
(Image credit: Future)
Now, a TV’s light sensor being used to affect picture performance is nothing new. For years TV manufacturers have been using this technique to produce optional ‘eco’ (or similar) modes that work to adjust picture performance according to room conditions. And, in truth, we often recommend turning it off, finding that it detrimentally affects picture quality, usually by dulling the image.
Dolby Vision IQ is an altogether different and better beast, though. Rather than artificially dulling the picture in a dark room, it brightens it in a light room, and it does so while maintaining naturalness.
Playing It on an LG GX in a bright room, much of the detail in the sewers beneath Derry is lost when Dolby Vision IQ is disabled. At one point, as one of the bullies goes looking for Ben, the entire image is more or less black, with just one point of light on the screen. It’s simply impossible to figure out what’s going on. Enable Dolby Vision IQ (which on a 2020 LG OLED involves selecting the Dolby Vision Cinema Home preset and switching on AI Brightness) and the tunnel walls and dirty water are revealed, and it becomes clear that the camera is giving us the bully’s eye view as he peers through the darkness.
Crucially, in a dim or pitch black room, the image isn’t messed about with and you get the standard Dolby Vision picture quality. In short, Dolby Vision IQ delivers on its promise of delivering the correct picture in all lighting conditions, at least when tested on an LG OLED – the core Dolby Vision performance varies from TV to TV more than you might expect, so there’s actually no guarantee that all models from all brands will deliver Dolby Vision IQ in exactly the same way. Of course, this is something that we test as part of our reviewing process.
You might think that this is much more about the TV’s light sensor and adaptive processing than it is about Dolby Vision, but there’s little doubt in our minds that it’s the combination of Dolby Vision and the TV’s own technologies that’s makes Dolby Vision IQ so successful. We wouldn’t recommend using LG’s AI Brightness feature with standard HDR10 content, for example, as it has a tendency to exaggerate brightness and contrast in a way that doesn’t look natural.
In summary, is Dolby Vision IQ any good? Yes, it is, and we’d recommend enabling it if your TV supports it. There’s no downside when viewing in optimal, dark conditions, and a considerable upside when watching movies and TV shows with the lights on or curtains open.
Ease your way into the joys of commuting by electric bike
Aventa is a new electric bike with a secret: its battery is removable despite the clean design.
London-based Furosystems just launched the Aventa series of pedal-assist e-bikes into the European market. A more powerful US model is planned for later this year, or early in 2022 if the double whammy of Covid and Brexit creates undue complications.
Aventa is sold in three variations, with the first deliveries starting in mid-March. Each model is priced to include all the accessories needed for typical urban commuting: mudguards, bell, luggage rack, kickstand, and front and rear lights. The standard Aventa ships with a 10.4Ah 375Wh battery, hydraulic disc brakes, and full-sized LCD display for €1,799. If you want more range, then you can opt for the Aventa Max, which costs €1,999 and has a bigger 14Ah 504Wh battery. The Aventa Pure is the entry-level model. It lowers the specs with mechanical disc brakes, a tiny 7.8Ah 281Wh battery, and a miniature LCD display. That also lowers the price to €1,599, which compares favorably to commuter e-bikes from Cowboy (starting at €2,290) and VanMoof (starting at €1,998), and city bikes like the Muto (starting at €1,799).
It’s the entry-level Aventa Pure model I’ve been testing for the past month in frozen Amsterdam.
First canal freeze in years, so why not?
The Verge is always on the hunt for affordable and attractive electric commuter bikes. But they need to be from reputable companies. After all, if you’re going to spend a couple of grand on an e-bike meant for daily use then it had better be reliable and serviceable for years to come, not sold by some fly-by-night operator on Amazon or Indiegogo that’ll go bust just as soon as you need to make a warranty claim.
Furosystems appears to be a company with staying power. It recently raised £750,000 (about $1 million) from investors ahead of the Aventa launch. That’s pennies compared to the recent funding rounds by Rad Power Bikes ($150 million), VanMoof ($40 million), Cowboy ($26 million), and Super73 ($20 million), but CEO Eliott Wertheimer tells me that the company was already profitable before the November funding round. In addition to the new Aventa e-bikes, Furosystems already sells Fuze scooters and the Furo X folding e-bike.
Last year Furosystems did 60 percent of its sales in the UK, according to Wertheimer, with the remaining 40 percent split across France and Italy. This year the company is planning to grow sales from about 3,000 units to 10,000 by expanding into Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Aventa e-bikes are being assembled in Portugal with components sourced from around the world. Wertheimer tells me that his ultimate goal is to design and manufacture every part themselves, but to do that now would be too costly.
The Aventa Pure e-bike I’ve been testing is built for European roads. That means a motor with 250W of continuous power (and 500W peak) and a top speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph). That speed is fine in congested city centers, but too slow for anyone commuting along lonely roads or protected rural bike paths for any great distance. Mind you, that’s criticism of European transportation policy, not the Aventa.
The 25 km/h speed limit can be overridden for markets that allow it.
Furosystems does provide instructions to override the speed limit “to comply with local regulations,” requiring just a few taps on the buttons surrounding the LCD display. With that tweak the Aventa will reach a top speed of between 32 km/h and 36 km/h depending upon the rider’s size, I’m reliably told. But I was a good boy for this review. While I confirmed the speed hack was legit (and thrilling), I stayed within the European limits for my testing now that police are increasingly cracking down on illegally fast e-bikes in cities throughout Europe.
Furosystems says that the Aventa Pure’s 281Wh battery is capable of more than 40 km (25 miles) of range. In my testing, on long stretches of uninterrupted rural roads, I’ve already gone well beyond that estimate since I’m often pedaling at speeds greater than 25 km/h. At those speeds the motor is just idling as it’s not needed to supply power to the pedals. As a result, my battery says it’s still more than 50 percent full after 47 km (29.7 miles) of riding, despite riding at the max of five pedal-assisted levels.
Although the Aventa lacks any kind of throttle or boost button, the sturdy little Bafang motor fitted to the rear wheel hub was able to flatten the steepest hills I could find (which aren’t anywhere close to San Francisco steep) thanks to its ability to generate 500W of peak power.
When riding in stop-and-go traffic, power is provided smoothly and evenly to each downstroke of the pedals despite the lack of any torque sensor like you’ll find on more expensive e-bikes. On flat surfaces, I barely used the nine speeds allowed by the Shimano Altus derailleur. But those gears definitely came in handy when trying to start under heavy loads on inclines or when getting some exercise at top speeds.
The Aventa puts the rider into a somewhat sporty forward lean on a saddle you’ll want to replace if regularly riding long bumpy distances. The ride is almost silent, disrupted only by a thin rattle when riding over some of the bumpiest brick roads I could find. While I wasn’t able to pinpoint the exact source of the rattle, it did go away when I rode without the battery installed.
Removing the battery is an easy, but awkward, procedure as it’s locked into place by a key at the base of the downtube. To extract it the bike has to be laid unceremoniously onto the ground. You can also flip the bike upside down, but at 16.5 kg (36 pounds), the Aventa may be relatively lightweight for a fully loaded e-bike, but it’s definitely not light. Nevertheless, being able to remove the battery for indoor charging is a necessity for many city dwellers who don’t have the space, or strength, to lug a hulking e-bike up narrow stairs to an apartment.
The top image with better cable management is what buyers today will receive in mid-March, compared to the review bike which was sold in December and January.
Now, about the cable management. The Aventa Pure e-bike sent for review has far too many exposed cables and connectors for my liking. Fortunately, that’s being fixed for anyone preordering an Aventa today, as the bikes being manufactured now for delivery starting mid-March will route the cables through the frame. While integrated cabling certainly looks better, the exposed cables and connectors on my review bike make it more modular and therefore easier to service whenever a part needs replacing.
My review unit arrived with a smashed headlight, for example, caused by a clumsy courier. Furosystems sent me a new assembly which I was able to install myself by releasing a pair of screws and unclipping the damaged unit. It took all of two minutes. Ease of repair is an important consideration for a young direct-to-consumer company that lacks a sophisticated global repair network. Shipping a busted e-bike to a foreign country for service is no fun for anyone, least of all the owner. Just ask early adopters of the VanMoof S3.
Wertheimer tells me that Furosystems is constantly iterating and taking on customer feedback, and is willing to switch back to the external cabling if customer surveys suggest a strong preference.
Other notable specs and observations:
Charges in about 4.5 hours, or as long as 7 hours if you buy the Aventa Max with higher-capacity battery.
The aluminum frame can fit riders between 165 cm (5 feet 4 inches) and 195 cm (6 feet 4 inches) and up to 120 kg (265 pounds).
The lighting kit on the Aventa Pure features an integrated front light that can be controlled from the display pad (which also controls the LCD’s backlight). The rear clamp-on lamp has to be operated manually.
The mini LCD display is fine for showing battery level, speed in km/h or mph, and distance traveled.
There isn’t Bluetooth or an app, which is fine by me — the Aventa is powered on via a button below the LCD.
I hate the giant logo printed on the downtube. I get it, the company is young and needs to build recognition, but it comes at the expense of the buyer who’s transformed into a rolling billboard for a brand without any prestige (yet). One bystander asked me if I got it from some bike-sharing startup. Ugh, the humiliation.
The battery can be inserted backward accidentally. It really should be keyed to make insertion idiot-proof (hi, I’m an idiot).
The quick-release front-wheel and saddle stem are convenient but also magnets for thieves. Be careful out there.
The entry-level Aventa Pure is a lot of bike for the price, coming in at €400 less than the VanMoof S3, which has become a benchmark of sorts for commuter e-bikes. The Aventa Pure also has a removable battery unlike the S3, and that might make all the difference for many buyers. True, the Aventa Pure doesn’t have all the gee-whiz features you’ll find on premium e-bikes at €2,000 and above. But expensive features like integrated security, theft recovery, at-home servicing, crash detection, and apps that can recommend the least polluted bike routes are ultimately just nice-to-haves, not critical functions of an electric bike.
The Furosystems Aventa Pure is an attractive, inexpensive, and bare-bones e-bike for commuters. It will get you from A to B and back safely and reliably, and likely well into the future. And honestly, what more do you need?
The Aventa Pure is a great icebreaker for anyone wanting an introduction to e-bike commuting.
Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
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