Google’s Pixel range of smartphones looks set for a major refresh. Not only will Google bring back a high-end model missing from last year’s line-up (instead of ‘XL’ it should be called the Pixel 6 Pro), it’s also giving it a curved OLED screen.
That’s according to new renders that come courtesy of reliable leaker OnLeaks (via digit.in). They show the Pixel 6 Pro sporting a curved, 6.67in OLED screen, along with the first triple camera array in Pixel history. There’s no word on what refresh rate the OLED panel will have, but this being a high-end model, we would expect 90Hz or 120Hz.
The cameras include a wide-angle snapper, a periscope telephoto camera and one unknown camera, all arranged next to an LED flash. They are lined up horizontally across the upper rear of the Pixel 6, which is another change for the range. The colour strip across the top is also a new design element.
Top and bottom speakers should provide stereo sound when watching in landscape, while wireless charging should come as standard, as it did on the Pixel 5. And the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro could be the first phones powered by Google’s own chips – the search giant is rumoured to be working on an SoC (system on a chip) codenamed Whitechapel. Controlling both the hardware and Android software on the phone would ape Apple’s approach to its iPhones, and give Google greater control, which could lead to gains in performance and battery life.
Other renders from OnLeaks and @91Mobiles show the Pixel 6 looking like a smaller version of the 6 Pro, but with a flat screen instead of curved.
(Image credit: OnLeaks/@91Mobiles)
The Pixel 6 will have a dual camera set-up instead of a triple, and its screen is smaller – 6.4in to the Pro’s 6.67in. But it has the same wireless charging and in-display fingerprint scanner. This squares with previous Pixel 6 renders, which suggests this latest leak is on the money.
We’re expecting an official announcement sometime in the autumn/fall, but we’ll keep you up to date with all the latest Pixel 6 news, leaks and rumours as they emerge over the coming weeks.
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Battery life has been the Achilles’ heel of smartwatches and fitness watches. While solid state storage and processing power have been evolving at a rapid clip, battery life has remained stagnant. This goes quintuple for watches that track your activity using GPS, which is a particularly power-hungry thing to do. And yet, somehow, the Garmin Enduro now exists. If you’re the type of person who likes to run until their kneecaps have been ground into a fine powder, this is the watch for you.
The $800 Enduro is a multisport fitness watch. And by multi, I mean pretty much all the sports. Built-in activities include: Run, Ultra Run, Trail Run, Treadmill, Virtual Run, Track Run, Indoor Track Run, Bike, Mountain Bike, Indoor Bike, Pool Swim, Open Water Swim, Triathlon, SwimRun, Hike, Expedition, Climb, Indoor Climb, Bouldering, Ski, Snowboard, Cross Country Ski, Cross Country Skate Ski, Backcountry Ski, Surf, SUP, Kayak, Row, Indoor Row, Navigate, Track Me, Pilates, Yoga, Breathwork, Cardio, Strength, Golf, and others (including downloadable options made by third parties) but honestly I’m tired of typing. Basically, it has all of the same activity modes as Garmin’s current multisport flagship, the Fenix 6 (starting at $550, up to $1,100), but there are some significant tradeoffs, which I’ll get to in a sec.
Let’s start with the body. Physically, the Enduro is a perfect twin of the larger Fenix 6X. (You can see a more in-depth comparison between the two on Garmin’s site.) It has a 1.4-inch transflective (sunlight visible) color LCD screen. It’s extremely easy to read, particularly outdoors (at night it lights up with the push of a button). The screen also doubles as a low-key solar panel, giving you extra juice when you wear it outside.
The body is just over two inches by two inches and 0.6 inches thick. In other words, it’s a bit chunky, and people with smaller wrists probably will not like it. I have weirdly big wrist bones, so I didn’t mind the way it felt, and it didn’t look like I was wearing a tablet on my arm. Despite its size it’s quite light, coming in at 71 grams for the steel version or 61 grams for the more expensive titanium version. That weight is partly due to the new, slightly stretchy nylon strap, which is comfortable and dries quickly. There are a lot of other strap options to choose from, should you so desire.
Like the Fenix and most other Garmin watches, the Enduro has five physical buttons which you use for navigating in lieu of a touchscreen. This is the most intuitive of any of the fitness watches I’ve used, and the UI has only gotten better with age.
The Enduro lacks a touchscreen but has five physical buttons.
In addition to being a training watch, it has basic smartwatch features, including displaying notifications from your phone. Android users (like me, I tested it with a Pixel 5) can quick reply to messages from the watch (unfortunately Apple has blocked this feature on the iPhone for any device except the Apple Watch, which seems pretty anti-competitive if you ask me).
From the main screen, pressing the bottom left button (the down button) gets you to a bunch of widgets that provide a lot of data at a glance. It’s just the right amount of information density. If you want more granular info, you can dive into the Garmin Connect app (iOS and Android), which has a lot of detail, but its design is very dated and it can be tricky to find what you’re looking for in it. It’s not bad, but it could benefit from a refresh.
In addition to daily tracking of things like steps, floors climbed, heart rate, sleep quality, and even respiration rate, the Enduro also has a pulse oximeter which uses a special red LED. In my testing, it was roughly as accurate as the finger-based (medical grade) one I bought toward the beginning of lockdown last year. You can choose to have it track your pulse ox 24/7, but that will take a big bite out of your battery life. You can also choose to just track pulse ox as you sleep, which might be good for someone who suffers from sleep apnea. If you don’t have any underlying health concerns, though, I’d just leave it off and check it on demand whenever you want.
The Enduro is primarily a training watch, and it has all of the excellent tools that the Fenix line has, including Body Battery (which surprisingly mapped quite closely to how well rested or depleted I felt), Stress, VO2 Max over time, as well as Training Status. There are some new features debuting on this watch as well. One of the most useful I found was Trail Run VO2 Max. It takes terrain into account, so if you’re running slower because of rocks, it won’t give you an artificially low V02 Max score. Garmin has also upgraded its ClimbPro features, which take ascend and descend into consideration in both your stats and your pace recommendations. The watch can even alert you before you get to a hill (you have to preload a route into the watch) so you can prepare yourself for a climb. There are also new Ultrarunning specific features which I was unable to test because I prefer other ways of injuring myself. It’s worth noting that these new features are also making their way to the Fenix line.
So, why might you want the Enduro over the Fenix? Capital B Battery life. That is really the one and only reason. The battery lasts more than twice as long as the Fenix, and the Fenix is one of the longest-lasting training watches I’ve tested. If you currently use an Apple Watch, you may weep when you read this, but here are the numbers the company claims:
Smartwatch mode: up to 50 days / 65 days with solar
Battery Saver Watch mode: up to 130 days / one year with solar
GPS: up to 70 hours / 80 hours with solar
Max Battery GPS mode: up to 200 hours / 300 hours with solar
Expedition GPS Activity: up to 65 days / 95 days with solar
That is absolutely unparalleled. It’s also conservative in my estimation. I wore this watch for a solid month, constantly using it as a smartwatch (checking notifications, checking my vitals, etc). That included 12 hours and 51 minutes of surfing (GPS tracked), four hours and three minutes of running (GPS tracked), and three hours and 16 minutes of strength training (non-GPS). I did not have to take the watch off to charge it at all. Not one single time. It is easily the longest-lasting training / smartwatch I have ever tested, and by a gigantic margin. Garmin claims that it didn’t do this by stuffing in a larger physical battery but by optimizing the underlying platform. I tried to get more details, but they were understandably tight-lipped about the secret recipe.
So, you may see that and think “well then, obviously this is an easy choice over the Fenix 6, right?” Well, not quite. There are some things the Enduro doesn’t have, and they aren’t insignificant.
Garmin’s app is functional but in need of a refresh.
The biggest thing the Enduro lacks is maps. The Fenix 6 has topographic maps of the entire US built right into it, and that’s been incredibly useful to me. It’s actually kept me from taking wrong turns while hiking on a number of occasions. You can still track back with the Enduro, bread-crumb style, but it will appear as a disembodied trail without any context or landmarks to help guide you. This also means the Enduro doesn’t have some specific cycling training and other navigational features.
The other big thing the Enduro is missing is music. The Fenix allows you to store songs on it and play them via Bluetooth earbuds, so you can leave your phone at home. The Enduro doesn’t. If you want tunes to go with your workout, you’re going to need to carry a second device. This brings up a somewhat frustrating point.
With those things missing, you might assume that it’s because the Enduro has less storage compared to the Fenix. It doesn’t. In fact, it has double the storage of the Fenix at 64GB vs. 32GB. As far as I can tell, the only reason the Enduro doesn’t have maps and music is because Garmin didn’t want to cannibalize sales of the Fenix 6, which is frustrating. If you compare the Enduro to the Fenix 6 Pro Solar edition (which has the same hidden solar-panel display as the Enduro), both watches are a wince-inducing $800. The Fenix is a bit more svelte and has a very slightly smaller screen, but otherwise they’re the same. You just have to choose, do you want maps and all the features they come with, or do you want double the battery life? Garmin could have easily given you both — and perhaps the Fenix 7 or Enduro 2 will have both, or a firmware update could bring maps and music to the Enduro — but for now it’s an either / or between two fantastic features.
The Enduro is the watch to get if you never want to worry about charging it.
It’s a strange dilemma. Ultimately, I think the Fenix 6 is the better, more complete watch, and so that’s the one I would lean toward recommending. You just have to remember to charge it three times as often. That being said, the Enduro is still an excellent watch, and being able to go on a very long trip and leave the (proprietary) charger at home is a real boon, and if you do any ultra-length activities, then this is absolutely the watch you want. For now, I’ll stick with the Fenix 6 in case I get lost, again.
Spotify is adding the ability to download playlists, albums, and podcasts on Apple Watch to play offline, the company announced Friday. Users will be able to stream audio in 96kbps, add and delete Spotify content on their phones, and sync with the Watch.
“Being able to download music and podcasts complements the existing feature of being able to stream your favorites from the watch, and now you don’t even have to take your phone with you,” the company said in its news release.
Spotify added the ability to stream music using an Apple Watch in November; until that point, the Apple Watch only worked as a remote for Spotify music playing on an iPhone or other Spotify Connect-compatible device. Spotify first launched its Apple Watch app in 2018.
The offline feature will be available starting Friday on Apple Watch Series 3 or later running WatchOS 6.0 or later, with WatchOS 7.1 and up recommended. A Spotify Premium subscription is also required. Spotify Premium memberships range from $9.99 per month for a single account, up to $15.99 per month for a family plan. There’s also a $4.99-per-month student account option available.
Another streaming music service, Deezer, beat Spotify to the punch, adding the ability to download music from its Apple Watch app earlier this week.
Also this week, Spotify said it was launching a new feature to allow Google’s Wear devices to download music and listen offline, without needing an accompanying phone. It hasn’t been released yet, but it’s in the works, the company’s product lead for wearables said during Google’s developer keynote on Tuesday.
After launching its paid podcast platform last month, Spotify has announced it has teamed up with audiobook service Storytel to let subscribers listen to books in-app.
This partnership will allow users of both services to link their accounts and access a library of 500,000 titles from within Spotify’s platform. However, listeners will still need to pay for a Storytel subscription to play the additional content.
The move is part of Spotify’s goal to become a singular home for all types of audio, with music, podcasts, live conversations, and audiobooks now all accessible from within its app.
Speaking about the partnership Courtney Holt, Global Head of Studios, Spotify, said: “By utilizing the Spotify Open Access Platform, Storytel will be able to deliver its premium audiobooks offering using Spotify’s best-in-class platform, all while retaining direct control over their relationship to their audience.”
The service will roll out in 25 global markets later this year, but an exact launch date is still tbc.
MORE
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Remember the Google Chromecast Audio? It was a little dongle that made any speakers smart – just plug it in, and it would add wi-fi to the party, letting you stream online music through your phone, tablet or computer to your speakers.
Now Belkin has launched a similar device but with Apple AirPlay 2 wireless tech onboard. That means you can stream music from an Apple device to your old speakers that don’t have wireless streaming built-in.
The Belkin Soundform Connect plugs into your speakers using an optical or 3.5mm connection. Then you simply tap the AirPlay icon on your Apple device and your track will start playing from your speaker as if by magic.
AirPlay 2 is adept at multi-room audio, too. So plug Soundform Connect devices into speakers in different rooms and you can fill your house with sweet music. Use Apple’s HomeKit, and you can assign different speakers to different rooms, and create scenes and automations using the Home app.
You can also control playback using Siri voice control, so you can ask what’s playing in each room, adjust the volume, play, pause and more.
To use it, you’ll need an iPhone running iOS 11.4 or later, an iPad with iPadOS 11.4 or later, a Mac running macOS Catalina or later, or an Apple TV running tvOS 11.4 or later.
The Soundform Connect is small enough to fit in a pocket, so you can easily take it with you wherever you go. And it won’t break the bank, with a price tag of £89 ($99).
MORE:
These are the best AirPlay speakers around right now
Find out: What is Google Chromecast? Which speakers and TVs are supported?
Another AirPlay rival: DTS Play-Fi: what is it? What speakers and devices support it?
Talk of a possible Spotify HiFi launch hit the headlines this week, but it seems the music streaming giant wants to focus on a new feature for Google Wear devices: offline listening.
In a keynote speech at the recent Google I/O developer conference, Spotify’s product lead for cars and wearables revealed plans to allow the company’s 350 million users to download music to their Google Wear smartwatch.
YouTube followed up with a similar announcement. The company’s YouTube Music app is also due to get an update that will let some 35 million users download tracks directly to their Wear OS watch.
Apple Watch users have enjoyed offline listening via Apple Music for years but Apple Watch does not currently support offline Spotify playback.
As yet, Spotify hasn’t said when new the offline listening feature will be available – only that the new Spotify app has been “rebuilt from the ground up for Wear”. YouTube Music is due to land on Wear OS devices “later this year”.
The announcements came as part of a major overhaul of Google’s flagging Wear OS. The latest version of the software was developed in partnership with Samsung and claims improved performance (apps open 30 percent faster, apparently) and a sleek user experience based on Samsung’s popular Tizen OS.
MORE:
Spotify HiFi is missing something – but will it matter?
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Yep, this is a Swift. It has all the features that characterize Acer’s Swift line: a thin body, a lustrous Acer logo, a chassis so light it’s hard to believe you’re holding a laptop and not an empty shell. But the 3X is targeting a slightly different market from the Swift 3 and Swift 5 for one reason alone: it has a discrete GPU.
Intel’s new Iris Xe Max, the company’s new discrete graphics card, is making its first appearance in an Acer laptop. With a starting price of $899.99, the Swift 3X is both one of the lightest and one of the most affordable systems you can buy with discrete graphics. It’s not a system meant for intense gaming, though — the target audience is closer to amateur creators and students who work with photo and video for class. For this specific demographic, the Swift 3X makes sense. For anyone else, the 3X is a bit below its price point in enough other areas that there are likely better options.
That’s kinda blue, right?
The first thing you might notice about the Swift 3X is its interesting color scheme. The model I tested comes in a new “steam blue” color, which is a nice change from the sea of black and gray laptops that you’ll see in any public setting. There’s a bright blue hinge on the back with “Swift” printed across it as well, which will certainly make the device stand out.
Weight, though, is the standout feature. The 3X weighs just 3.02 pounds and is 0.71 inches thick. As devices with discrete GPUs go, it’s an unusually portable machine. I brought the 3X on a weekend trip and could slip it into a packed backpack with no problem. It didn’t weigh me down at all. In terms of ports, you get a USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 2 with Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort, two USB 3.2 Gen 1, and an HDMI 2.0, as well as a combination audio jack. There’s a fingerprint reader below the arrow keys on the chassis, which worked well.
The display is another standout feature. It looks great, with excellent colors and sharp details. What’s nice is that its matte finish, combined with Acer’s ComfyView technology, does a really excellent job of eliminating glare. Using the 3X outdoors was a mixed bag, though — I didn’t see my reflection, but the screen still wasn’t quite bright enough to comfortably use. (It maxed out at 274 nits in our testing — you want at least 300 nits to use a device in very bright settings.)
That said, build quality is one area where the Swift 3X doesn’t quite measure up to competitors. Most of the chassis is aluminum, but it has a bit of a flimsy and plasticky feel. There’s noticeable flex in the keyboard and screen, which I don’t love to see in laptops over $1,000. And it’ll look like a bit of a clunker next to more expensive fare like Acer’s own Swift 5 — a big reason is that the bezels aren’t tiny (Acer claims an 84 percent screen-to-body ratio) and are visibly plastic. It also feels like a step down from some similarly priced devices like the Asus Zenbook 14.
The keyboard and touchpad are functional but not my favorites. They’re a bit shallower and stiffer, respectively, than the best input devices you can find at this price. The touchpad is spacious enough but had significant trouble with palm rejection — my cursor bounced all over the place often while my palm was on the pad, and it sometimes interfered with my typing.
Finally, this isn’t a machine I’d recommend for peripheral-free videoconferencing. While the microphones didn’t have any trouble picking my voice up, the webcam and speakers leave a lot to be desired. The 720p webcam is grainy and didn’t do well in low-light settings. (It doesn’t support Windows Hello facial login, either, though that’s not a crime at this price.) The audio is adequate for Zoom meetings, but I heard some distortion at maximum volume and had to turn the thing down. And I’d recommend an external speaker for anything more. When a friend and I tried to watch a YouTube video on the device, we had to lean in to hear the words clearly. Music has clear vocals, but bass is weak.
The Swift comes loaded with DTS Audio Processing, which allows you to swap between presets for music, movies, and games, but there’s no preset for videoconferencing. I actually preferred listening to music on the movie preset, which seemed to have the best balance overall.
Backlit keyboard and a precision touchpad.
These are all compromises you’re making for the Swift 3X’s main attraction, which is its performance. In addition to the Intel graphics, my review unit is powered by Intel’s Core i7-1165G7. This quad-core chip powers many of the best ultraportable laptops on the market and should be capable of doing whatever general office tasks you need to do. It also enables a number of modern amenities, including support for dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, and Thunderbolt 4.
My test configuration, which also includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, costs $1,199.99. The $899.99 base model has a Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. I imagine that most people in the Swift 3X’s target audience will want the more expensive model (for the extra storage if nothing else) unless they’re on quite a tight budget. But note here that you’re paying a premium for the GPU — an Acer Swift 3 with identical specs to my test model (which is basically this machine without the GPU) costs $999.99, while an Acer Swift 5 (with no GPU, but a step up in build quality and a chassis that’s over half a pound lighter) is just $100 more at $1,299.
The system does deliver, though. I used the Swift 3X to edit a number of photos with multiple other apps and tasks running in the background, and the device breezed through it without any slowdown or lag.
I never felt much heat, even when I was bouncing between over two dozen Chrome tabs — the bottom of the chassis got slightly warm, but that was the extent of it. I only occasionally heard the fans spin up during my daily work. The fold-under hinge creates some extra ventilation space, as do the dual copper heat pipes. You can swap to Performance and Silent fan profiles as well, though I didn’t find the Silent profile necessary given how quiet the Swift was on default settings. I did hear some annoying coil whine on Silent once or twice.
The Iris Xe Max GPU delivers entry-level graphic performance. The Swift 3X scored a 313 on PugetBench for Premiere Pro, which measures a device’s performance on a number of Premiere Pro tasks. That means it’s a step above integrated graphics — it beats the LG Gram 17 and the XPS 13, with the same RAM and processor, and it trounces both the AMD-powered and Intel-powered Surface Laptop 4. But it doesn’t beat the M1 integrated graphics in Apple’s MacBook Air, and it’s still a step down from midrange Nvidia graphics cards: the Dell XPS 15 with a GTX 1650 Ti scored well above a 400.
Intel’s Deep Link technology provides better AI performance, per the company.
To get an idea of how these numbers translate to real-world tasks, we ran a five-minute, 33-second 4K video export. When comparing this machine to good ultraportables with Intel integrated graphics, you’re looking at a two- to three-minute improvement in export time with the Xe Max. The Swift 3X completed the task in eight minutes flat; the Gram 17 and the XPS 13 both took over 10 and a half minutes, while the AMD Surface Laptop 4 took 16:33. The Swift 3X was even 15 seconds faster than the MacBook Air, though the MacBook Pro finished the task in 7:39. Again, though, the Swift 3X is closer in performance to all of the Intel machines than to anything with a decent GPU — the XPS 15 took just 4:23.
Battery life was also a pleasant surprise, given the discrete GPU. I averaged seven hours and 51 minutes of continuous multitasking at around 200 nits of brightness. That’s comparable to the life span I got from the Swift with the same workload and better than what I got from the cheaper Swift 3. An unfortunately large amount of bloatware also comes preloaded onto this device (ExpressVPN, Norton Security Ultra, other various promotional stuff) so you may see better battery life if you take a few minutes to clean all that out.
Buy it for the GPU.
The Acer Swift 3X offers more powerful specs than most laptops you’ll be able to find at its price point, with a standout display and battery life, and it manages to do so while being quite light and portable. It’s a step above machines with Intel’s integrated graphics, and a step below anything with a half-decent Nvidia GPU. That’s the clearest case in its favor — and if that sort of laptop is what you’re looking for, you may be uniquely suited to the 3X. The major competitor at this weight and price point I can think of is the Asus ZenBook 14, which can come with an entry-level Nvidia GPU, but the chips in it are a generation old now, so we wouldn’t expect the same performance.
With that said, most other aspects of the chassis (the touchpad, the keyboard, the webcam, the speakers, the general build) aren’t quite up to par with other devices you can find at the $1,199 price point. I think you have to really want the GPU. If you don’t, but you’re shopping at this price point and are a fan of the Swift line, the Swift 5 offers better build quality, a thinner and lighter chassis, and a better keyboard and touchpad for just $100 more, with integrated graphics that are still pretty dang good.
(Pocket-lint) – Your computer’s internal speakers aren’t really supposed to perform very well. They’re the thing that always gets pushed aside to make way for better processors, more efficient fans, and sleeker designs. So if you’re often watching videos or listening to music on your computer, it’s a great idea to go for some external speakers.
The sound will be so much bigger so you’ll actually be able to understand what people are saying. No, people really don’t sound so tinny in real life.
As with most other speaker systems, there’s a wide variety to choose from in terms of cost and design. You can get the classic two speaker pod design that fits nicely on either side of your computer. Then there’s the soundbar design that works well with desktops unless you have an alternative space for them around your laptop. For that full bass sound, you can go for a subwoofer too.
Our guide to the best computer speakers to buy today
Creative
Creative Pebble 2.0 USB-Powered Desktop Speakers
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We really like the subtle styling of the Creative Pebble 2.0 USB-Powered Desktop Speakers. The black rounded casing and exposed copper driver make a nice distinction from the standard rectangle and mesh speakers you so often get.
It’s USB-powered, so no long cables looking for a wall socket needed. And it’s simple. You just have a volume knob and no complicated adjustments to get good sound.
ELEGIANT
ELEGIANT 10W RGB Desktop Speakers
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Computers can be quite drab, so for those that want to brighten up their desks, the ELEGIANT 10W RGB Desktop Speakers can provide that colour.
It’s got both wired and Bluetooth compatibility, and two 5W drivers pushing out a peak of 200W. That makes for a decent sound for sure. There’s a focus on bringing through both the highs and lows, so you get a nice, deep bass rumble.
Razer
Razer Nommo Chroma Computer Speakers
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These are such cool looking speakers that pack way more of a punch than you’d expect. The Razer Nommo Chroma Computer Speakers are made to bring out the clarity and breadth of the sound of games and movies.
The Custom 3-inch Woven Glass Fiber Drivers and rear-facing bass ports are the sources of all that great sound. And they even have LED lights under their bases for that dash of colour.
Cyber Acoustics
Cyber Acoustics CA-3602FFP 2.1 Speaker Sound System
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Sometimes you just need to feel that bass rumble at your feet, you know? And nothing will deliver that like a dedicated subwoofer. So bring back the noughties, because this three-piece Cyber Acoustics CA-3602FFP 2.1 Speaker Sound System hits hard.
Each speaker has two 2-inch drivers and combined with the 5.25-inch subwoofer, you get 62 watts peak power and 30 watts RMS. And there’s a neat Desktop Control Pod with the controls and a couple of extra AUX inputs.
Sanyun
Sanyun SW102 Computer Speakers
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For a small, unintrusive speaker set, check out the Sanyun SW102 Computer Speakers.
Two 5W drivers power these little cones, and they’re positioned to deliver 3D sound, so don’t worry about which direction they’re pointed.
You’re going to have to like blue lights though because they don’t change colour.
BeBom
BeBomBasics SP20 USB Powered Multimedia Small Desktop Speaker
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The BeBomBasics SP20 USB Powered Multimedia Small Desktop Speakers are something you don’t need to feel precious about.
There are plenty of other super fancy speakers out there that need all the attention just to work properly. but these cheap and cheerful little speakers are a plug-and-play item that requires no thought to use.
TaoTronics
TaoTronics Computer Speakers
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If you don’t want to mess about with individual speakers, then a soundbar design is perfect for you. The TaoTronics Computer Speakers comes in at a very attractive price.
It’s USB powered and has the obligatory AUX headphone jacks, so if you need to stick your headphones on for a while, it’s easy.
The large knob on the side is convenient too – you won’t be searching for it, that’s for sure.
Maboo
Maboo 3.5mm Jack PC Speakers Wired with Subwoofer
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The Maboo 3.5mm Jack PC Speakers Wired with Subwoofer presents a 2.1 speaker system at a very reasonable price. There are two 3W speakers combined with a 2.5W subwoofer to make sure the bass keeps pace.
It’s a straightforward design, and we like the white on black contrast. They’re not large either, so won’t be taking up all the space on your desk.
ZETIY
ZETIY USB Computer Speaker
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The ZETIY USB Computer Speaker is as basic as you get. And that’s a good thing.
It’s USB powered, so no extra cables going into the wall. The USB even takes place of the aux cable too.
And the single speaker means less fuss and space taken up. You can take it wherever you go because it’s small and there’s no worry about cables getting tangled.
Logitech
Logitech Z200 PC Speakers
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We like brands who always deliver the goods while keeping the price in check. Logitech is just one of those brands, and their Z200 PC Speakers are exactly one of those products.
They’re small, but pack a punch, perfect if you don’t have much desk space but want to increase your computer’s audio. Their no-nonsense design is refreshing too.
Writing by Claudio Rebuzzi. Editing by Dan Grabham.
Its ambition is to be applauded, but Deezer falls between the two stools of Spotify and Tidal and struggles to justify itself over either
For
Vast catalogue and device support
CD-quality HiFi tier
Envelope-pushing 3D audio
Against
No hi-res streaming
Spotify does discovery better
Tidal does hi-fi better
Deezer appears to be stuck with a bit of an identity crisis. When we first reviewed the music streaming service in 2015, it clearly saw itself as a Spotify rival, bringing a vast library of music to a mainstream audience as efficiently as possible.
By the time of our re-review, in early 2018, Deezer had begun courting the hi-fi crowd with a comprehensive catalogue of CD-quality tracks and murmurings of hi-res MQA support to come.
In 2020, with hi-res yet to appear on the platform, Deezer hopped into bed with Sony and started offering 360 Reality Audio streaming to subscribers to its HiFi tier.
And now here we are in 2021 and 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC files (ie. CD quality) is still the pinnacle of Deezer’s HiFi offering. Yes, it is a solid step up from the 128kbps MP3 files of “standard streaming services”, but those are now few and far between. As both Apple (with Apple Music Lossless) and Spotify (with Spotify HiFi) become well and truly embroiled in a hi-res music war and Amazon Music quietly drops its premium tier by £5 per month to just £7.99 if you’re a Prime Member, where does that leave Deezer?
Clearly, the French streaming service is trying its best to find a USP, and that’s to be applauded, but the result is that it falls short of matching Spotify’s mainstream appeal and Tidal’s hi-fi credentials.
Features
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
While Spotify held on resolutely to its compressed music streams until its 2021 HiFi tier announcement, Deezer has offered ‘CD quality’ tracks in the 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC format since 2017.
These tracks are available to those who subscribe to the £14.99 ($14.99) per-month HiFi tier – which used to cost £19.99 until roughly a year ago – and while initially you also needed to own one of a handful of specific devices, they can now be enjoyed on almost any device that supports the core Deezer experience. In fact, Deezer now comes pre-loaded in kit such as Mobee-K’s new smart USB-C headphones while Apple’s own HomePod and HomePod Mini support Deezer voice control, and Deezer tracks can be downloaded to enjoy offline on your Apple watch, too.
It once looked likely that Deezer would add hi-res streaming to its repertoire, but the company has since decided to go down the 360 Reality Audio route. Think of this as a Dolby Atmos rival but specifically for streamed music, and you’ve got the idea.
Deezer was the first music streaming service to offer 360 Reality Audio, but it has since been joined by Tidal, Amazon Music HD and nugs.net (for the uninitiated, that is a streaming service dedicated to live concerts). Back to Deezer and the tracks available in the format are included as part of its HiFi subscription. You will need to download a different app, called 360 by Deezer, if you want to listen to them all, but this extra app also gives access to all of the non-360 tracks of the standard app so you don’t have to constantly switch between the two.
The bad news is that 360 by Deezer is only available on iOS and Android devices. There are eight playlists, including ‘New on 360 by Deezer’ that can be enjoyed on a computer or hi-fi via the desktop app as teasers – but not the full package.
Pricing
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
Below Deezer HiFi there are three tiers. Premium (£9.99/$9.99 per month) shares features with HiFi – no ads, unlimited streaming and control on mobile apps, and offline access – but limits sound quality to 320kbps.
Deezer Family (£14.99/$14.99 per month) gets you everything on Premium for up to six profiles. There’s also a free, ad-supported tier with 128kbps streaming and limited mobile app use.
Compatibility
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
As well as smartphones and computers, the Deezer app is also available on many other devices: TVs from the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG; wireless speakers by Sonos, Amazon, Bluesound and Bose; and even cars via Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. And that’s far from an exhaustive list.
What’s more, Chromecast and AirPlay allow you to send tunes to yet more devices. Deezer might not quite match Spotify’s ubiquity (it’s missing from Cambridge Audio’s streamers, for example), but it’s close.
Regardless of the device used, subscribers can access a catalogue of over 56 million songs, more than 52 million of which it claims are in the CD-quality FLAC format. It’s an impressive figure, but with all music streaming services making similarly huge claims, the numbers game is rendered a little academic.
What matters is whether the tracks you’re looking for are available and, in our experience, Deezer produces the fewest blanks after Spotify. It’s very rare to find a song in Spotify’s catalogue that isn’t also available in Deezer’s – and usually in that higher-quality format. One nil to Deezer.
We find Deezer stocks pretty much every track of the diverse range we search for, and all in CD quality too. Just be aware that, unlike Apple Music and Tidal, Deezer doesn’t have artist or album window ‘exclusives’, although it does occasionally release its own live sessions with big artists.
Ease of use
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
As HiFi subscribers, we mostly use the desktop and iOS mobile apps, and the ability to flick from one to the other is made easy by the fact each platform offers a very similar interface.
Deezer’s appearance is perhaps best described as stripped-back – almost brutally so. The interface is clean and clear, but also a bit bare, particularly on desktop. Music streaming services are generally similar in layout, with a bottom playback bar and a few left-hand side tabs bordering the centralised chunk of content – and Deezer doesn’t stray too far from this template.
Since our last review update, things have been slightly tweaked. ‘Home’ has been replaced by ‘Music’, although it does the same job as before: presenting users with personalised playlists as well as the opportunity to browse music by charts, new releases, popularity and various moods. Radio stations still appear at the bottom of this page, but podcasts now have their own tab.
‘Favorites’ has replaced ‘My music’, but again, the purpose is unchanged: it’s a gateway to your saved playlists and ‘favourite’ tracks, albums and podcasts.
Performance
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
We play the What Hi-Fi? January 2021 playlist, and are pleased to hear Deezer HiFi (CD-quality) streams are clear, full-bodied and, perhaps most importantly, an upgrade from the ‘Better’ (320kbps) quality streams. It’s worth noting sound quality can be changed between ‘Standard’ (128kbps), ‘Better’ (320kbps on wi-fi and 128kbps on mobile data), and ‘High Fidelity’ (1411kbps).
The HiFi streams cling more committedly to the textures of the ‘80s-style keys, percussion and synths underpinning Chaka Khan’s Pallion (aka Hot Butterfly), and those of the affected backing track and vocals in Dua Lipa’s Levitating.
However, we find Tidal’s CD-quality streams a little crisper, cleaner and more precise. There’s more fuel driving Tiny Giant’s Draw Me a Line, and greater space around the instrumental and vocal accompaniment. Timing of the drumbeats and underlying cymbal rhythm is noticeably more accurate, too, with Tidal’s version of Donald Fagen’s I.G.Y. springing into life with a touch more bite.
That said, listening through Grado SR325e headphones plugged into a MacBook Air, the differences are admittedly subtle. And it’s only when we up the transparency of our set-up with a Chord Hugo 2 DAC that these discrepancies become really significant, helped by Tidal’s fancy options for taking exclusive control of the DAC and bypassing the MacBook’s audio processing and volume control. Deezer has no such options.
Of course, the ace up Deezer’s sleeve is 360 Reality Audio, which isn’t offered by any other streaming service. 360 Reality Audio offers a 3D sound space by creating multiple virtual speakers and can be listened to via most standard headphones – although the experience has been optimised for Sony’s range.
At its best, it’s really rather impressive, immersing you in the music and surrounding you with spatially distinct instruments in a way not previously experienced. As a technological showcase it’s very effective, and gives you fresh insight into some of your favourite tracks (although the selection is fairly limited at this point).
But whether the 360 version of a track will replace the stereo version in your affections is debatable. For one, even the best tracks sound comparatively lacking in punch and weight when compared to their stereo equivalents, and some other tracks just don’t seem to have made the transition to 3D particularly well, coming across as rather flat and compressed in terms of detail and dynamics.
It’s worth remembering that 360 Reality Audio is still in its infancy and there’s already so much to like. In time it could be absolutely brilliant – it’s just not a hugely persuasive reason to opt for Deezer over Tidal right now.
Verdict
(Image credit: Apple / Deezer)
While we prefer Tidal’s comprehensive layout and slightly superior sound quality, the main chink in Deezer’s armour is its current lack of hi-res audio.
After all, subscribers to Tidal’s HiFi tier get access to over a million (typically 24-bit/96kHz) hi-res Masters in addition to CD-quality streaming – although they have to pay a little more for it at £19.99 ($19.99) per month – and Amazon Music HD delivers hi-res tracks for £7.99 ($7.99) per month for Prime members and £9.99 ($9.99) per month if you don’t have an Amazon Prime account.
Deezer may still have hi-res in its sights, but all has gone quiet on that front since the announcement of its partnership with MQA back in September 2017. And until it comes as part of a competitive package, it doesn’t shine brightly enough to be the leading light in music streaming.
Its core, non-HiFi subscription, meanwhile, falls just a whisker short of Spotify when it comes to ubiquity, discovery and presentation.
But, while Deezer rather falls between the two pillars of Tidal and Spotify right now, the addition of hi-res streams (and some of the hi-fi-focused features of Tidal) could actually one day see it become the best of both worlds.
SCORES
Performance 4
Features 4
Ease of use 4
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(Pocket-lint) – The last Apple TV 4K launched in 2017. At the time it coincided with the start of the movement to embrace the growing trend of 4K content from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
In 2021 watching TV hasn’t changed that much, but we are doing a lot more of it. Subscription services have boomed, we’ve now got more choice – including Apple’s own TV+ service – and therefore even more content to watch.
But does the 2021 Apple TV 4K set-top box embrace current viewing habits enough to be worth the upgrade – or even a purchase in the first place – especially given the crowded marketplace dominated by a host of other, cheaper options from Amazon, Roku, Google and the likes?
Everything feels the same
Puck-style box design, measures 98 x 98 x 35mm
Supports: 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
32GB / 64GB storage variants available
Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, AirPlay
The design of the Apple TV box itself hasn’t changed at all for the 2021 model. It’s a squarish box that’s certainly larger than the competition. It features just three inputs on the back: Ethernet, HDMI, and power.
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You’ll still need a shelf or a wall-mount to put it on, and if you were hoping for a miniaturised stick to put straight into a spare HDMI socket on your telly then, well, you’re out of luck.
As has always been the case there are no buttons on the box itself, so everything is controlled via the included remote. Or you can use your iPhone, iPad, or voice control via Siri.
The Apple TV 4K’s interface hasn’t changed either, so the focus is about giving you access to all the relevant streaming services – as long as they have a supporting app.
The continued push into a central place to discover more content from supporting streaming services, rather than silo-ing everything in their respective apps, does help you discover content that’s available. However, it’s hard at times to differentiate whether that content is going to cost you above and beyond your current subscriptions. And it’s still missing Netflix within those content recommendations – which is a glaring omission.
As with the 2017 model, you get 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), including Dolby Atmos object-based audio and Dolby Vision HDR support – which is great stuff if your TV and/or AV setup supports it (Apple’s AirPods Pro or AirPods Max still don’t with the Apple TV but do for the iPhone and iPad, for example).
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The ability to connect game controllers (sold separately) via Bluetooth 5.0 means you can grab one of those spare Xbox or PlayStation controllers to jump in too.
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Apple hasn’t increased the storage options for the 2021 model either. It still comes in 32GB and 64GB capacities, but that’s not really an issue as everything is streamed these days anyway.
New, new, new
High Frame Rate (HFR) support up to 60fps
Apple A12 Bionic processor
Updated Siri remote
HDMI 2.1 port
There are some changes of course. Internally the 4K TV box now comes with a much faster processor – the one previously found in the iPhone XS – and that helps on the gaming side of things via Apple Arcade.
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Why only the iPhone XS processor and not the iPhone 12 processor or the iPad Pro’s M1? It’s likely to come down to cost and need. After all, this isn’t a Mac mini nor a fully-fledged games console. Most Apple Arcade games are designed to work nicely on the provided processor – we didn’t have any trouble running NBA2K21 or other games, but the loading times could be improved.
The new box also gets better connectivity. There’s Wi-Fi 6 (ax), allowing it to better connect to your Wi-Fi in dual-band (2.4GHz/5GHz) for those high bandwidth streams you’ll be planning. There’s also HDMI 2.1 support to enable a new High Frame Rate mode that allows you to play content up to 60 frames per second (supported by the iPhone 12 Pro, for example) and any future benefits that will come from that port over time.
Apple has also added support for Thread. This fairly new smart home connectivity technology is backed by Apple, Amazon, and Google. Again, you might not find a use for it out of the box on day one, but it’s likely to become much more important in our smart home futures, so having some level of future-proofing is welcomed.
There’s a new colour-balancing mode that’s not exclusive to this model, which uses your iPhone to help ensure the Apple TV is optimised for the best colour balance in your room. It’s clever, but for us made very little difference.
A new, much needed remote
Remote measures: 136 x 35 x 9.25mm
Although you can buy the new remote on its own – which is a way to easily ‘upgrade’ the older box – the new one included in the this box is the biggest and most visible change for the 2021 Apple TV 4K. It’s one feature that removes a lot of the pain barriers (first-world problems, we know) to using the Apple set-top box on a daily basis.
The new remote is considerably bigger than its predecessor, doesn’t sport a design you’ll get the wrong way up, nor a Siri button that you’ll accidentally press by mistake all of the time.
The Menu button has been ditched, there’s a new mute button, and Apple has thankfully shifted the Siri button to the side to emulate other remotes and match the same experience found on the iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Watch.
Swiping is still available, but it’s now via a circular physical touch button d-pad with a dedicated scroll option for scrubbing through shows – reminiscent of using an iPod from days gone by. That said, you can ignore that and still swipe left to right too – which can cause some muddled responses.
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There’s even a new ‘power’ button that can not only turn off your Apple TV 4K, but also your TV and AV kit. Handy.
What is a surprising omission, however, especially given the recent launch of AirTags, is that the remote doesn’t have a finding option to help you find it down the back of the sofa when lost. No Find My Support, no ‘play a sound’ option. It’s another glaring own goal.
The ecosystem shines through, but you have to pay for it
Third-party app support, including Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix, more
Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade
Support for catch-up services (including BBC iPlayer)
Against the competition the Apple TV 4K does deliver, but it can also be seen as very expensive for what you get – it’s almost four times as much as the Roku Streaming Stick+, for example. That’s a big premium to pay for just watching movies and getting access to the Apple TV store – something which you might already have if you’ve got the right TV.
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Where Apple is hoping to convince you though is that the benefits to be found in being part of the Apple ecosystem. Getting started is incredibly easy thanks to a simple setup process using your iPhone. Apple Fitness+ users benefit with connectivity to the Apple Watch, and Apple Arcade subscribers get a wealth of games to play too – but that’s a lot of extra cash for features that not everyone might want or have the need to use.
Verdict
There is no denying that the 2021 Apple TV 4K delivers what it sets out to do: packaging streaming services and Apple services all in the one place. It’s the extras like Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness+ that make this a nicely rounded package that will cater for the TV viewer as well as the casual gamer and fitness fan.
Despite this, we can’t help feeling that there are better and cheaper ways to get streaming content like Disney+, Netflix, or even Apple TV+ on your television from the likes of Roku and others.
The Apple TV has always come at a premium, but the 2021 model doesn’t move things on enough to justify either an upgrade or a recommendation over the competition – unless you really believe you’ll be able to maximise on all the additional Apple services and features it offers. And if you’re a current Apple TV 4K owner then you can simply buy the updated Siri remote on its own.
If you’re looking for an inclusive package that has potential to grow over the coming years and possibly adapt to how you use your TV or enjoy content in the home, then that’s one angle. The trouble for many with the 2021 box is that you’ll have to take the hit and pay for all that potential up front – whether it’s ever fully realised or not.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Roku Streaming Stick+
Roku is s big name in streaming, offering access to all the major services in a slim device that supports the latest 4K HDR formats. A simple remote makes it easy to control, while its asking price undercuts the majority of the competition.
Read our review
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Amazon Fire Stick 4K
Amazon’s media streamers keep getting smaller and more affordable, with features like Alexa voice control via the remote making it a no-brainer for many. Although it leans towards Amazon’s content, it does also cover all services – including Netflix – and supports 4K HDR formats and Dolby Atmos object-based audio too.
You can now download Deezer playlists to your Apple Watch. That means you can leave your iPhone 12 at home while you go for a run without missing out on your favourite tunes.
The new feature comes as part of an update to the Apple Watch app. It lets you download all playlist content to your timepiece – that includes your favourite tracks playlists, editorial playlists, and any personal playlists you have created.
To get your Deezer playlists onto your Apple Watch, you’ll have to use your mobile network or the same wi-fi network as your phone or tablet.
If your phone is nearby, your mobile network will automatically handle the download and transfer the data to your watch via Bluetooth or wi-fi. If it isn’t, or it’s in airplane mode or turned off, your Apple Watch can handle the download itself providing it’s connected to wi-fi, or it has a mobile connection of its own.
According to Deezer, you can store “several gigabytes” of tracks on your Apple Watch, though that will depend on which Apple Watch model you have and how much space it has free.
To use the new feature, you’ll need an Apple Watch Series 3 (or newer) running at least Watch OS6.
The update gives the app a new look and feel. Plus it lets Deezer Free customers listen to tracks, albums, and playlists in shuffle mode and access their Queue list, all from their Apple Watch.
This is a shot across the bow of arch-rival Spotify, which currently doesn’t let you download playlists to the Apple Watch. Earlier this month, Deezer added support for Apple’s Siri voice assistant to the HomePod and HomePod Mini smart speakers.
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Check out all the best music streaming services available
Spotify has announced a series of streamed concerts due to take place over the next month, recognising that the global live music industry is still a long way from getting back to normality.
The streaming giant, which may soon be launching a HiFi service, has billed the five virtual events as an “intimate” way for musicians and fans to safely connect, letting the artists choose the location for the pre-recorded show. The concerts are set to be between 40-75 minutes long and, as they won’t actually be live, can be viewed across multiple time zones, although you can watch only during the specified time you buy a ticket for.
Entry to each of the performances will cost $15 (or the equivalent in local currency), and users will need a Spotify account of any tier to gain access.
The five upcoming shows are:
When you purchase a ticket, it will be linked to your Spotify account, so you can’t share logins or trade if you’re no longer able to attend. In keeping with convention, Spotify also states that tickets are non-refundable.
More
See best music streaming services 2021
Spotify HiFi is missing something – but will it matter?
11 of the best Spotify playlists to listen to right now
With freedom ever-nearing and summer in sight, the arrival of Bang & Olufsen’s new outdoor Bluetooth speaker is a timely one. The B&O Beosound Explore is built to withstand the elements – it’s IP67 waterproof and dustproof (meaning it’s completely dust-tight and can withstand immersion in up to a metre of water for up to 30 minutes) and has a scratch-resistant, twice-anodised aluminium chassis that flies the flag for durability.
It also has an aluminium carabiner to hang it from your rucksack during hikes, along with an integrated strap. And at just 631g, it shouldn’t weigh you down.
Despite all this ruggedness, the Beosound Explore promises to deliver the signature B&O sound through dual 1.8-inch drivers. The grill is cut in 360-degree lines to offer omnidirectional sound, so everyone around the campfire should get a face full of music.
(Image credit: B&O)
Its design is apparently “reminiscent of forests, glaciers and fjords typically found in Scandinavian landscapes”, and the speaker comes in Black Anthracite, Green or Grey Mist finishes. We think it looks rather swish. Handily, its top-mounted controls are also easily usable when wearing gloves.
With up to 27 hours of playing time from a single charge, too, it should last the length of your whole excursion, from the early excitement right through to the “why did I ever agree to this?” stage.
The Black Anthracite and Green finishes are available now, while the Grey Mist model is coming this summer. It costs £169 (€199).
Will it earn a spot in our list of best Bluetooth speakers? Stay tuned to find out…
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Time to take cinema outdoors? Here’s how to set up an outdoor projector in your garden
Apple’s wireless audio tech explained: Apple AirPlay 2: compatible devices, features and how to use it
Yesterday brought the momentous news that Google and Samsung will merge together their Wear OS and Tizen-based smartwatch platforms into a single operating system. The new software is currently being referred to as Wear, but that name could change as we get closer to the first devices that will ship with it.
The unified platform is intended to give Android smartwatches a huge boost and much simpler strategy. It will also allow developers to create apps and widgets for a single OS instead of splitting their efforts between Wear OS and Tizen. A lot of this is spelled out in more detail in the below video, but let’s also focus on the big highlights.
It’s going to be faster than Wear OS
Speed and responsiveness were one of the major talking points when Google and Samsung made this announcement during the I/O 2021 keynote. The companies are claiming that apps open up to 30 percent faster than they currently do on Wear OS. Google also promises “smooth user interface animations and motion,” which hasn’t always been a strength of Wear OS.
Battery life will be a step up, too
Samsung’s smartwatches were already routinely outlasting Wear OS products, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. The company is lending Google some hardware expertise to ensure better stamina. “Samsung implemented our best technology to provide optimized performances, and advanced sensor batching and low power display technology to ensure an efficient and long-lasting battery,” Samsung’sJanghyun Yoon wrote after Tuesday’s news. Google’s Bjorn Kilburn said customers can expect “handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day.”
The next Samsung Galaxy Watch will run Wear
Samsung has confirmed that its next smartwatch — and all others in the pipeline — will run the unified Wear platform. But the company made sure to note that it will bring over some of its popular hardware elements, like the rotating bezel mechanism.
A standalone Google Maps app will do turn-by-turn directions
In a report from Wired, we learned that there are plans for a Google Maps app on Wear that features “a new user interface that will also work even if your phone is not with you.” That hints at cellular data support on the new unified platform.
Spotify and YouTube Music apps will support offline downloads
Spotify already allows owners of Samsung smartwatches to download songs for offline listening, and now that same convenience will be extended to Wear. That’s one thing Spotify for the Apple Watch still doesn’t do.
Google also confirmed that YouTube Music will be available on Wear. Like Spotify, it’ll include full support for offline listening.
Fitbit activity tracking will be built into the platform
Having completed its acquisition of Fitbit at the start of this year, Google will now integrate some of the brand’s health and activity tracking features into Wear. Future premium Fitbit wearables will also run the unified platform.
Device makers will be able to customize the look and feel
Google tried to emphasize on Tuesday that this platform isn’t just intended for itself and Samsung. “All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform,” Kilburn said. That’s going to prove important if Google wants to keep companies like Garmin on board with the new platform. And we can’t forget about the many traditional watchmakers — Fossil, Citizen, TAG Heuer, and others — that have gotten behind Wear OS in recent years in the absence of a flagship smartwatch from Google.
Apps should be faster and easier to develop with new APIs
Wear’s apps will use the latest Android development techniques like Jetpack and Kotlin to help reach the best possible performance. Google is also promising to make life easier for app makers with new APIs that cover Tiles, health services, watchfaces, complications, and more. And an activity indicator will show when certain functions are running in the background.
Some Wear OS smartwatches might get upgraded to Wear
There aren’t any firm promises yet, but Google at least didn’t outright say existing products won’t be updated to the new OS. The company told 9to5Google, “we will have more updates to share on timelines once the new version launches later this year.”
Samsung will not update Galaxy Watch models to Wear
Samsung will not be updating its Galaxy Watch line to Wear, but says it has no intention of leaving its current customers in the dust once it starts releasing Wear hardware. “For customers who already own the Tizen OS based Galaxy smartwatches, we are continuing to provide at least three years of software support after the product launch,” the company said Tuesday. However, it seems plausible there will be more than a few features and new Wear tricks that will never make their way to older Galaxy smartwatches.
Samsung will bring over its watchface designer tool
Some people out there really care about having a good watchface selection on a pricey smartwatch. Google and Samsung are promising a wide mix of styles, and Samsung told Wired its design tool — and many of the company’s own signature watchfaces — will be available on Wear.
The unknowns
Google and Samsung shared a decent chunk of information on day one, but we’re still left without answers to a few important questions. We should learn more details over the summer as we head into fall hardware season.
When will the first Wear smartwatch be available?
Is the underlying operating system closer to Wear OS or closer to Tizen? (Considering that developers will be using Android tools to build apps, it seems like the former.)
Will there be required helper apps like some of Samsung’s watches have needed?
Is Wear going to continue offering some semblance of iOS support?
What’s going to happen to Samsung Pay and Bixby? Are they both goners on the wrist?
The Epos H3 gaming headset thumps out crystal-clear, bassy audio with excellent range. However, the microphone makes an annoying, persistent hissing noise.
For
+ Lightweight
+ Excellent audio reproduction and thump
+ Soft earcups
Against
– Not a lot of features for the price
– No software
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published on April 20, 2021 and was updated on May 19, 2021. We retested the microphone after learning it was originally tested with a faulty 3.5mm jack.
The Epos H3 is a solid choice for those seeking the best gaming headset for their rig. They’re also cross-platform compatible with Mac, PlayStation 5 (PS5), PS4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, allowing you to have one pair of headphones for all your gaming needs.
Combining comfort with affectionately loud drivers boasting thunderous bass and crystal-clear audio worthy of praise, it’s money well spent at $119. The H3 also features passive noise canceling, raising the bar another level; although, you may still wish for a better microphone and roomier fit.
A quick glance at the H3’s specs sheet, and you might suspect that these are bulky, heavy cans. At 1.4 pounds, they’re weightier than many other wired gaming headsets, such as the MSI Immerse GH61 (0.6 pounds) and Roccat Elo X (0.7 pounds). However, Epos managed to distribute the weight and minimize pressure in such a way that the H3 actually feels lightweight. This is partially due to the memory foam and soft leatherette included on the headband and ears for comfort that cradles the head and ears without being overbearingly cushy. The unit is so lightweight that my only concern was them getting hot, like many other over-the-ear units using leatherette that I have reviewed, but, thankfully, I was able to wear them for over 2 hours at a time without ever even getting warm.
The H3’s earcups connect to the steel headband via a dual-axis hinge and are also designed to mold to the shape of human ears. But because I’m a huge person with an obnoxiously large head and substantial, malformed ears, I initially had issues getting the H3 to sound as expected. Here, I learned of the sturdiness of the steel headband. Adjustments were easy, and I was able to get the H3 so I could listen to The Best of Johann Sebastion Bach in pure comfort.
The Epos H3’s are stylishly elegant in Onyx Black as tested but are also available in Ghost White. Each ear cup holds an Epos logo, and the right ear cup has a built-in volume control knob that is responsive and with smooth controls easily activated by my thumb. On the left ear cup is the 3.5mm audio connection jack. The microphone is also on the left ear cup and pulls down nicely into place with a solid click to let you know it’s in place and ready to go. Lifting it back up conveniently mutes the microphone, so there are no embarrassments.
Overall, with its lightweight, but quality, plastics, and steel headband, the H3 is sleek and sturdy with the feel of a much more expensive gaming headset. They also lack the sometimes gaudy RGB lighting of other gaming headsets, which is great for when you simply want to game and not also put on a light show. The plastic keeps the headset trim at 0.6 pounds overall which adds to the comfort level I mentioned previously.
Audio Performance
Epos H3 uses closed drivers that deliver satisfactory audio as soon as you plug them in, which is good news since there’s no software available with the H3. The H3 gaming headset is truly plug-and-play, coming with a 3.5mm audio cable and a 3.5mm splitter cable, should your device require a separate mic input to record audio.
I fired up Borderlands 2, and as I was following the annoying robot Claptrap around, I could discern when one of the crazy characters tried to slide up on my right and start beating on me. I side-stepped and shot him dead with my weapons, and the gunshots were wonderfully reproduced and sounded realistic. When I threw a grenade at a couple of post-apocalyptic-looking gents, the explosions were rich, full, and crisp, making for a thoroughly enjoyable battle.
While playing Batman: Arkham Knight, I could easily trace the sounds of fire shots as they petered out into the distance. They sounded just as realistic as the gunshots I heard while playing Borderlands 2. The bone-crunching sound of Batman’s punches landing on the jaws of enemies I vanquished were exquisitely reproduced in my ear. When using the jet turbine in the Batmobile to launch from one roof to another, the thunderous roar was gratifying and clear with zero distortion.
Overall, gaming with the H3 ensured I could hear moving footsteps coming from different directions, or gunfire in the distance, and I didn’t find myself missing virtual surround sound or the ability to tweak audio performance with a dedicated app. These cans are lovingly loud, so it’s a good thing the H3’s volume knob is so responsive and easy to find with a blind thumb.
To test out the cans’ music prowess I turned to Busta Rhymes’ “Dangerous”. As soon as the baseline started pumping, I was thrilled, as the H3’s delivered the bombastic bassline with lust and passion few can compete with. At a typical listening volume, I heard sweetly produced highs and mid-range tones. And when I pumped the volume to the max, they delivered the same thump and clarity.
Microphone
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
I originally published this review reporting an audible hiss with the headset’s microphone, but since then I’ve learned that this was caused by a faulty 3.5mm jack in my PC. With that issue remedied, I retested the microphone, and the hissing issue disappeared. Now, the bidirectional mic is able to catch the full range of my deep throaty voice. In recordings I could hear my voice’s natural depth and timbre beautifully and without any distracting background noise, thanks to the mic’s effective noise-cancelling.
Note that the H3 doesn’t have its own software, so microphone performance adjustments aren’t readily available. However, I didn’t miss it too much because my recordings were still very clear and of premium quality worthy of some podcasting.
Epos specs the H3’s mic as covering a frequency range of 10-18,000 Hz.
Features and Software
Although Epos does have a gaming software suite, the H3 does not work with it. But the audio quality is so good, I did not miss having software assistance.
One of my favorite features of the Epos H’3 is the responsive audio knob that is built-in to the right ear cup. It makes adjusting the volume quick and easy. Also, you will need to adjust the volume as these cans can get very loud, which I love.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
At $119, the Epos H3’s audio quality is equal to its price tag; however some may find it steep when you compare it to units that come with gaming-ready features, like RGB lighting, software for tweaking and the option for virtual surround sound. If you’re someone who doesn’t need many extras, the H3 also earns its price with strong build quality and comfort, (especially for those with smaller heads, who won’t have to fuss with adjustments).
The downside comes from the microphone, which records really clear audio but also adds a hissing noise that I couldn’t eradicate no matter what adjustments I tried or software I used. Overall the mic performance is solid but not the best in its class and certainly not a replacement for the best USB gaming microphones.
But if you’re interested in a gaming headset that sounds amazing right out of the box and can put up with the ok microphone, these are for you.
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