According to a Vice report, some Amazon delivery drivers are instructed by their employers to turn off Amazon’s safe driving monitoring app, so they can drive faster and get their deliveries done. The drivers don’t work for Amazon directly, but instead for companies known as Delivery Service Partners, and they report that their managers or dispatchers ask them to turn off Amazon’s Mentor app after leaving it running long enough to get a good score.
Mentor, the app made by a company called eDriving, gives delivery drivers a safe driving score based on variables like their braking, acceleration, speed, and distraction throughout the course of their 10-hour shift. Many drivers report that the score that the app gives them is factored into their bonuses (and the bonuses and incentives paid to the delivery companies contracted to Amazon).
Vice reports that some of the delivery companies will have the drivers keep the app on for part of the day to try to trick Amazon and the Mentor app, with one company sending drivers messages like “everyone needs to be logged into Mentor for at least 2 hours no more no less.” A driver in Michigan said the company wanted the app turned off to improve delivery times. “They were harsh on drivers that weren’t going as fast as they wanted.”
An Amazon spokesperson told Vice that the behavior is unacceptable and that it “does not adhere to the safety standards that [Amazon expects] of all Delivery Service Partners.” They also said that “more than 90% of all drivers are able to complete their deliveries before the scheduled time while following all safety procedures.” (Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on how it collected and validated that statistic.) As Vice points out, it’s Amazon’s software that determines the delivery routes and Amazon that sets the productivity targets the drivers are incentivized to hit.
According to Vice’s report, Mentor is also buggy when it’s on, with drivers reporting that it dings them for distracted driving when they haven’t touched the phone. The app’s reviews on the App Store have titles like “inaccurate and they don’t care,” “Frustration personified,” and “inaccurate data will cost us our jobs.”
Delivery companies also reportedly ask employees not to report damage to vehicles to Amazon, instead electing to fix the vans themselves to avoid them being taken out of commission.
It’s unclear how Amazon’s recent introduction of AI-powered monitoring cameras will change this dynamic between the Delivery Service Partners and their drivers. One could imagine that having a camera in the van would make it easy to determine if employees were turning off other monitoring devices. One could also imagine there are other ways to ensure safe and quick deliveries that don’t require an Orwellian work environment.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on if it tracks which companies make these requests of drivers.
Apple’s Night Shift feature, which it says “may help you get a better night’s sleep,” doesn’t appear to live up to its claim, according to new research. Because exposure to blue light affects the regulation of sleep cycles, the hope is that Night Shift, which filters blue light from screens after sunset, will make falling asleep easier. But as a recent study shows, sleep is weird and complicated, and a single phone feature likely won’t do much to combat sleepless nights.
The study, published in Sleep Health, tracked the sleep of 167 young adults for one week. People were divided into three groups: one that used their phones for an hour before bed with Night Shift turned on, one that did the same with Night Shift turned off, and one that didn’t use their phones at all before bed.
“In the whole sample, there were no differences across the three groups,” said Chad Jensen, the lead researcher of the study, in a press release. “Night Shift is not superior to using your phone without Night Shift or even using no phone at all.”
This is only one small study that will need to be replicated at a larger scale with different samplings of people before it can be generalized. Still, the results for the Night Shift feature fall in line with early skepticism about how much it can help sleeplessness, especially because Apple doesn’t specify which wavelengths of light are blocked. And while blue light and phone use do likely contribute to difficulty sleeping, there are many other variables to consider within the complexities of sleep and sleep hygiene.
The researchers were mildly surprised that even the group of people who went phone-less before bed didn’t necessarily have better sleep on average. “Our hypothesis was that we would see better sleep without using the phone across the full sample,” Jensen tells The Verge, “so it was a bit surprising that we didn’t find that.”
Part of that result is likely due to the fact that most of the participants were college students who, according to the researchers, were already sleep-deprived. When people are already very sleepy, it doesn’t really matter if they’re on their phones before bed, says Jensen. “Because your need for sleep is so high at that stage that you fall asleep pretty readily no matter what you do before bed.”
One of the few phone-related differences that the study did observe actually had to do with how much sleep participants got. Of the people in the study who slept more than the roughly seven-hour average sleep time, the people who went phone-less slept better and didn’t wake up as often during the night compared to those who used their phones. But the people who slept less than the average showed no difference in any measures of sleep quality, regardless of whether they used a phone at bedtime or not.
If you are a generally well-rested person, Jensen lists myriad factors that could impact your sleep beyond your phone use: caffeine, exercise, the temperature of the room, the amount of light, the amount of noise, consistency of sleep schedules and bedtime routines, and using the bed for activities besides sleeping. And that’s all before we even consider various sleep disorders that can make people too sleepy or not sleepy enough, even if they strive for good sleep habits.
“Sleep is so individualized, there’s not one thing that works for everyone,” says Raj Dasgupta, a sleep medicine specialist at the University of Southern California. Some people are more sensitive to light and might find blue light filtering helpful, but it won’t be the singular fix that leads to better sleep for everyone.
As far as phones go, there are things to consider besides just blue light exposure, says Jensen. “All those other forms of stimulation that are not related to light are equally important.” If you’re reading a depressing article or laughing at TikToks at bedtime, that level of alertness and engagement will likely hinder your ability to fall asleep, and filtering blue light won’t offset that effect.
It isn’t enough to have great new devices, apps, and games — you also have to know how to use them. Here at The Verge, we offer step-by-step how-tos for experienced and new users who are working with online, macOS, Windows, Chrome OS, iOS, and Android apps, services, phones, laptops, and other tools. From simple instructions on how to install and use new devices, to little-known strategies on how to take advantage of hidden features and the best methods for adding power or storage, we’ve got your technological back.
If you use your phone in portrait lock all the time, it can be frustrating trying to get YouTube videos into full screen with the tiny button in the UI. Thankfully, there’s a better way, using the app’s built-in gestures: you can simply swipe up on a video to fill up the screen and swipe down on it to go back to portrait orientation.
We’ve actually written about this feature before, but it seems like it’s easy to miss; most of the people I’ve shown it to had no idea it existed.
Easy.
Of course, this feature works on Android phones as well, which I personally like better than having to hit the auto-rotate button built into the OS.
There is one obvious limitation: it only rotates one way. If you want to hold your phone with the left side facing up, you’re out of luck unless you turn portrait lock off. Still, it’s way better than having to tap on the video once to get the UI controls to show up, then trying to hit the tiny full-screen button.
Now all we need is this feature to be added to every other app (or for our phones to get smart enough to realize that if I’m watching a video and turn my phone, I probably want to see the video in full-screen, despite portrait lock).
Google is announcing some improved Assistant features for families, including improved broadcasts, new bells, and some new stories that can be read to kids. Google says it’s rolling out the features for Mother’s Day, but a few of them could be useful for everyone, not just moms.
The first is an expansion of its Broadcast feature, which lets you send messages to Assistant devices in your house. Using Family Broadcast, messages will now show up on your Family Group’s phones as well, which your family members can reply to. For instance, if you wanted to tell everyone to be quiet when they come home because you’re taking a nap, they’ll now be able to get that message outside of the house.
Getting Family Broadcasts on the phone.GIF: Google
Google is also adding new reminders to its Family Bell feature, which lets you set up recurring reminders for your family. Google now lets you automatically remind your family that someone needs to water the plants or remind your kids (or spouse) to clean up the house, just in time for spring cleaning.
Assistant is also getting a few more entertainment features, from Harry Potter stories that will start appearing this weekend, stories about real-life heroes like Jane Goodall or Ruth Bader Ginsburg for smart displays, and an Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? game for the Nest Hub.
Google also hints that there’s an Easter egg or two included in the rollout: it hints that you should try setting a timer on Mother’s Day. (I can’t imagine what the surprise will be, but my interest is piqued.)
Google is about to take a pretty significant step that will help keep user accounts more secure: it’s going to enroll people in two-factor authentication by default. Today the company wrote in a blog post that it will soon start enrolling customers in two-factor authentication (or “two-step verification,” as Google calls it) if their accounts are “appropriately configured.”
Once enabled, they’ll receive a prompt on their smartphone to verify that an attempted login with their Google account is legitimate. “Using their mobile device to sign in gives people a safer and more secure authentication experience than passwords alone,” said Google’s senior director of product management, Mark Risher. (On-phone alerts are more secure than SMS messages, which can be intercepted.)
If standard two-factor authentication doesn’t cut it for you, you can always use a physical security key like those from YubiKey, or Google’s own Titan, as another way to safeguard your account. Back in 2019, Google also added the option for Android smartphones to serve as a security key, and this has since been extended to iPhones.
This is all part of Google’s push for “a future where one day you won’t need a password at all,” and the news comes on World Password Day. Distressingly, even after countless enormous hacks and password dumps, Google says 66 percent of Americans “still admit to using the same password across multiple sites, which makes all those accounts vulnerable if any one falls.”
Google advises customers to go through the company’s quick security checkup to ensure their settings and account protections are where they should be.
(Pocket-lint) – Samsung’s 2020 flagship phones came in the form of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 – now succeeded by the Galaxy S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra.
The Galaxy S20+ sits in the sweet spot of the three 2020 devices, offering a big display, lovely design and some great specifications but how does it compare to its predecessor?
This is the Samsung Galaxy S20+ against 2019’s Galaxy S10+ to help you work out what the differences are. You can also find out how the Galaxy S21 devices compare to the Galaxy S20 devices in our separate feature.
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Design
S20+: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g
S10+: 157.6 x 74.1 x 7.8mm, 175g
It is clear the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S10+ are part of the same family, both offering premium, solid finishes made up of a combination of metal and glass. The Galaxy S20+ offers a refreshed design compared to the S10 though, opting for a vertical rectangular camera housing in the top left of its rear over the horizontal rectangular housing found in the centre of the S10+’s rear.
On the front, the punch hole cameras positioned in the top right corner of the S10+’s display have been replaced with a centralised singular punch hole camera on the S20+, resulting in a much neater and more symmetrical design. It takes up less screen space so it’s a nicer effect.
The Galaxy S20+ adjusts the aspect ratio slightly too compared to the S10+, meaning a slightly narrower, taller device. Both are IP68 water and dust resistant and both have an under display fingerprint sensor on board, which is very much the same in terms of performance.
The S20+ also loses the “Bixby button” on the side.
Display
S20+: 6.7-inch, Infinity-O, 120Hz
S10+: 6.4-inch, Infinity-O, 60Hz
Despite offering only a slight increase in height, the Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 0.3-inch larger display than its predecessor – which is a result of the slightly adjusted aspect ratio we mentioned and a further reduction in bezels.
Both the S20+ and the S10+ have Quad HD resolutions, which Samsung has been offering on its flagship devices for some time now. The Infinity-O display on both devices offers virtually bezel-free edges and a punch hole camera cut out. Thanks to the repositioning and switch to one camera on the S20+ though, this cut out is much less intrusive compared to the S10+.
The S20+ and S10+ both have Super AMOLED screens, offering plenty of vibrancy and deep blacks and both support HDR10+. The S20+ offers a 120Hz refresh rate at Full HD+ however – though not variable like the S21 – while the S10+ operates at 60Hz. That means the S20+ will give you smoother animations around the device, although you might not actually notice much difference in practice unless you have the devices side-by-side.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is a powerful device, offering 2020’s Exynos 990 processor in the UK and Europe, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor in the US and elsewhere. Supporting these chipsets is 12GB of RAM as standard, coupled with 128GB or 512GB of storage, both of which offer microSD support for storage expansion.
The Galaxy S10+ also comes with a powerful processor in 2019’s Exynos 9820 or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855, depending on the region, but it offers 8GB of RAM as standard. To get the 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, you’d have to opt for the ceramic model. The S10+ is also only 4G compatible, while the S20+ is 5G enabled.
Both the Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S10+ offer fast charging, wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. The S20+ has a 400mAh larger battery capacity though, which should mean it lasts a little longer than the S10+, although in practise we don’t think there’s much of a difference.
S10+: 16MP ultra wide, 12MP main, 12MP telephoto, 3D Depth; 10MP + 3D Depth front
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ changed things up quite a bit in the camera department compared to its predecessor. Both offer quad rear cameras, but the S20+ has a new 12-megapixel main camera that features larger pixels and a fixed aperture, while the S10+ had Dual Aperture.
The S20+’s ultra wide camera also gets a 12-megapixel sensor, but with smaller pixels and a narrower aperture, while on the telephoto lens, Samsung goes for resolution in the S20+, with a 64-megapixel sensor compared to the S10+’s 12-megapixel offering. The zoom is a little more complicated on the S20+ than the S10+, with what Samsung calls “Hybrid Optic Zoom” out to 3x optical and Super Resolution Zoom taking you out to 30x. This latter option is basically zoom with AI to try and clean things up.
On the front things change too. The S10+ offers a dual front camera, while the S20+ only has one single camera.
There are several new features with the S20 device though, including Single Take that allows you to capture from all cameras at once, as well as 8K video capture capabilities – which the S20+ uses that 64-megapixel sensor for. The S10+ meanwhile, also has a number of great features, but only 4K video capture.
Price
S20+: From £999 (5G)
S10+: From £899 (4G)
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ started at £100 more than the S10+ when it first arrived as it was only available as a 5G handset in the UK.
The Samsung Galaxy S10+ started at £899 when it arrived in March 2019.
Both models should be available cheaper now though given they have been succeeded by the Galaxy S21 series.
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Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ not only offers a nicer design than the Galaxy S10+, but it offers numerous improvements, including a larger and faster display, more camera capabilities and better hardware, such as more RAM as standard and a larger battery capacity.
The Galaxy S10+ is still a great phone however, and is quite a bit cheaper following the availability of the S20+ and S21+, which might make it a better choice for those on a budget. For those wondering whether to upgrade, the S20+ has some great potential, but it’s still pretty close in experience to the Galaxy S10+ so you might want to consider the S21+ instead.
In the ongoing contest to find the world’s smallest booting computer, we might have found a new contender. In a post via Hackaday, prolific builder of things Ryan Walker has posted on Medium about his project to squeeze a fully functional Wi-Fi router into the casing of a phone charger. And for once this doesn’t involve a Raspberry Pi rather an alternative single board computer has been chosen.
(Image credit: Realtek)
The project, which Walker describes as a ‘Pineapple’ (a router designed for network attacks and exploits that you connect to your target’s network for password sniffing, man-in-the-middle attacks and other nefarious network noodling), is designed to look completely innocuous, housed inside of a typical phone charger case. It boots Linux on an Allwinner A33 (a quad-core processor used in cheap Android tablets) with 1GB of DDR3 and an SD card for storage.
The device, from initial CAD files to final firmware, is planned to be completely open-source, hence the rather down to earth Bill of Materials (BoM) that lists easily sourced parts. The initial prototype uses USB Wi-Fi adaptors, but the plan is to use a dedicated chip for seamless integration into the device.
Aside from its potential security implications, this project shows the interesting story behind what’s effectively a DIY SBC, and we look forward to the second part of Walker’s blog, in which he promises to detail more of the process of putting the thing together, and making it small enough to fit in a phone charger casing. He’s already wrestling with the power supply implications – and we suspect the final product won’t be able to charge your phone.
If you get annoyed with the number of apps that crowd your iPhone’s home screen, you probably welcomed a feature that came with iOS 14: the App Library, which gathers all of your apps into various categories and displays them on a separate page to the right of your home pages.
The App Library doesn’t only add some automatic organization to your iPhone’s home pages, but allows you to clean up your home screen by hiding as many apps as you want. You can keep your favorites front and center, and get the more utilitarian or less-used apps out of the way. (In fact, one way to keep a clean screen is to have all your newly-installed apps appear in your App Library only — we offer directions on how to do that here.)
If you want to organize your current apps by hiding some of them, there are several ways to do it. You can remove individual apps from the home screen, you can hide an entire screen of apps, or you can organize several apps by putting them into a folder.
Here’s how.
Hide a single app
To hide individual apps:
Press on your selected app until a menu appears. The menu will include a number of options, depending on the app’s features (for example, if I press on an app for Microsoft Teams, the menu will let me make a new call or start a chat). But you will always get an option (in red) to remove the app. Tap on that.
You will now have the choice of deleting the app from the phone or removing it from the home screen. Select the latter. You’ll still find the app in the App Library.
If the app is not already in the App Library, then after you tap “Remove App,” you will instead be given the choice of either deleting the app or moving it to the App Library.
Hide a page of apps
You can also hide an entire page of apps — and get rid of that page — at one blow if you want. And since it’s really easy to also restore that same page, it’s a great way to hide groups of apps that you only use occasionally.
Tap and hold on an empty part of your screen until the apps begin to jiggle
Tap on the dots at the bottom of the screen
You’ll now be able to see small versions of all your screens (except the App Library and Today View). Beneath each visible screen is a checkmark; uncheck any screen you want to hide and tap “Done” in the upper right corner.
To “unhide” any of the screens, follow these same directions and replace the checkmark of the screen that you want to see again.
Use folders to organize apps
You can use folders on the home screen to gather similar apps together and save space. You won’t be completely hiding the apps — they’ll be there. But they’ll be consolidated in a single space.
It’s very simple to create a folder:
Long-press on an app in the home screen until the icons jiggle
Move the app onto one of the other apps you want to group it with
You’ll now have a gray icon that contains the icons for the apps in the folder. Tap on the icon to open the folder and access the apps in it.
iOS will assign a name to the folder depending on what apps you’ve put in it. To change the name, long-press on the folder, and select “Rename” from the pop-up menu. Then type in the new name.
To remove an app from a folder, simply open the folder, long-press the app until it jiggles, and move it out of the folder and to another space on your home screen. If you remove all the apps from a folder, the folder will disappear.
If you want to get rid of a folder, you can also long-press on it and select “Remove Folder.” Any apps that were in the folder can then be found in the App Library.
(Pocket-lint) – While many of us are still very much locked indoors for the foreseeable, working from home, the spectre of a potential commute is beginning to rear its head for plenty of people. Now more than ever, an electric bike is an attractive prospect.
Avoiding public transport, getting fresh air, but without the risk of exhaustion, what’s not to love? The main downside is that many of the most well-known options are prohibitively expensive.
That provides an opportunity for the likes of FuroSystems, a smaller manufacturer who can attract people with cost-saving as well as features. Its Aventa is a prime example – a great e-bike that doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch, but offers a great experience at a very sensible price.
Sleek and disguised
Weight: 16.5kg
Aluminium frame
Central LCD display
Tektro HD-E290 Hydraulic Disk Brakes
Turning first to the look and feel of the Aventa, the good news is that it falls safely into the “you wouldn’t know it” category of electric bikes. This is a bike that at first glance doesn’t look electrified, which we consider to be a good thing.
Only one chunky part of its frame and the motor on the rear wheel give the game away, but the matte paintwork and FuroSystems logo do a good job of disguising this.
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An integrated front light keeps things sleek up front, athough there’s no back light for some reason – and you’ll need a reflector/light to ride on UK roads legally – while a fairly narrow set of handlebars and a sleek saddle makes for a racing-style fit. It’s not the most laid-back e-bike we’ve ridden – that honor belongs to VanMoof – but when you get the Aventa’s saddle adjusted right it’s entirely comfortable and feels nice and nimble.
The Aventa’s other big clue as to its electrification is a little dashboard that’s located between the handlebars – a small digital display that acts as a speedometer when its turned on, as well as indicating the battery level and what amount of pedal assist you’re currently getting.
We’re a bit torn on this. On the one hand, it gives you a bunch of useful information if you want it, with the pedal assist level particularly good to keep track of. Equally, however, it’s fairly ugly and has a tendency to make you look like you’ve got a GPS or phone strapped to your bike and are in the process of getting lost. If we could remove it easily, we probably would – indeed we think that’d be a good thing to stop it looking like a fancy e-bike.
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On the left handlebar, nicely nestled where your thumb rests, is the main control point for this e-bike, comprising a power button (holding it down switches it on and off), and a button each to either raise or lower the level of pedal assist. These are smartly placed and easy to use while riding, letting you adjust on the fly. The right handlebar houses a traditional gear switcher to let you control the bike’s nine standard gears.
Overall we’re impressed by how premium the Aventa looks and feels. It’s not quite at the level of VanMoof and Cowboy’s bikes – particularly when it comes to cable tidying, with most of the cabling on the bike’s exterior – but it’s also a big chunk less expensive than those options. And sometimes that can be what matters most.
Pedal assistance
6 levels of pedal assist, 25kmph/15.5mph top speed
Integrated Lithium-Ion battery
60km/37m range per charge
An e-bike’s design is important, but how it feels to ride is the key variable, and FuroSystems does well on that front. The newest version of the Aventa is easy to switch on and has six different levels of pedal assist to pick from – which help you to get up to a speed of 25kmph/15.5mph before letting you put in the work to go faster. That speed cap is the UK legal limit for an e-bike, it varies in other territories.
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Between the first and second levels of assist you won’t even notice a huge difference, with acceleration just feeling a bit easier than it otherwise would. Putting things up to level three or four on the power scale gets you a more appreciable boost as you kick off from a standstill, and makes getting up to speed feel really easy. On strenghts five and six, meanwhile, things feel really zippy – just after you start turning your pedals you’ll get a nice push of extra power.
Getting the system right on pedal assist is a little harder than it seems, while making sure that you feel in full control of your acceleration is something other e-bikes we’ve tested haven’t quite managed, but the Aventa strikes a great balance. You’ll find it super easy to get going at traffic lights; hills also won’t pose much of a challenge as far as maintaining your speed. All this is achieved without a particularly loud motor noise – just a very low-level whirr that wind-noise cancels out.
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With a standard nine-gear shifter also available, if you run out of battery then you’re far from stranded, and using normal gears in conjunction with the pedal assist levels lets you get to a pretty precise level of work as you cycle, which makes the Aventa good if you’re keen on having plenty of control.
A sizeable 80km/50m range means you can get plenty of cycling done on a single charge too, which is for the best since the Aventa’s battery isn’t removable – a typical shortcoming of e-bikes’ designs at the moment.
A four-hour charge should juice it back up, but you’ll have to lug it near to a power point to do so, and at 16.5kg you’ll find that a slightly tiresome task. Still, heaviness is also far from unique to the Aventa, it’s part and parcel of an e-bike, so it’s not a great sin. For context: a carbon road bike, all in, is about 8kg; a London ‘Santander Cycle’ is around 24kg, so this sits somewhere in the middle – not bad considering it’s the only electrified option.
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Apart from that pedal assist things are extremely simple to operate – there’s no companion app or smart features to speak of here, which means an ease of use that’s almost refreshing at times.
On the flip side, it does make for a lack of security features that competitors can offer, like bike tracking or even integrated locking. Still, provided you gear yourself up with a proper bike lock you’ll be able to lend it to mates and ride it without your smartphone, both options that can be surprisingly tricky on some so-called ‘smarter’ bikes.
Verdict
FuroSystem’s pitch is pretty clear when it comes to the Aventa: you can get a lot of the same feeling while riding it that you’ll find from the Cowboy or VanMoof S3, but you’ll have spent hundreds less on the bike.
That’s a surprisingly accurate summary of how it feels to use too. No, the Aventa might not have a ‘killer feature’, but it doesn’t put many feet (or wheels) wrong at all. You get really solid pedal assist, impressive range, and a design that manages to look as sleek as you could reasonably hope – and discreet too.
While a removable battery, smarter features, and better cable integration would be nice, the savings you make on the up-front cost more than explains their absence. So, if your budget doesn’t stretch to one of the more chic names in the market, the Aventa is an option that’s well worth considering.
Also consider
VanMoof S3
VanMoof also doesn’t have a removable battery, but its smoothness of ride and comfort are unrivalled, making its S3 or X3 brilliant options to ride. Either model is pricier than the Aventa, but you get a lot of app-based smart features like auto-unlocking and bike tracking, plus a design that’s a little more unique and modern.
Read our full review
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Cowboy
If your budget can go even further, the Cowboy is a superb option that has perfect pedal assist and probably the best app integration of any e-bike we’ve tried, making for a superb package that is just a bit of an upgrade on the Aventa in most areas. The biggest fillip it lands over other bikes, though, is that removable battery – making it miles more convenient than many competitors. Still, you’ll be paying for those privileges.
Read our full review
Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
Cowboy, maker of some of our favorite pedal-assisted electric bikes, is back with two new models for 2021. The Cowboy 4 is a complete overhaul to last year’s Cowboy 3 while the Cowboy 4 ST features the company’s first step-through frame. Both bikes benefit from a new powertrain with 50 percent more torque than last year’s C3 as well as a new integrated “cockpit” with Quadlock mount that wirelessly charges your phone as you ride. But that’s just a start to the bevy of tweaks both big and small that Cowboy hopes will justify a price tag of €2,490 / £2,290 (about $3,000 USD) when the bikes ship in September.
I had a chance to ride near final pre-production versions of the Cowboy 4 and Cowboy 4 ST alongside Adrien Roose, co-founder and CEO of Brussels-based Cowboy. While the two bikes share the same specs, the rides couldn’t be anymore different.
“We’ve stayed true to our initial vision of providing a better alternative to the car — in form and function — and with the Cowboy 4 it’s a shift we will accelerate and lead,” said Roose in a press statement.
The fourth-generation C4 maintains the same sporty riding position and ultra-responsive steering as every Cowboy before it. But this year’s model has a redesigned 250W rear-hub motor that remains silent as it assists riders up to a max speed of 25km/h (15.5mph), even though it’s smaller and produces noticeably more torque. The bump from 30Nm to 45Nm of torque is apparent on the first downstroke, with the lightest of touches propelling the slightly heavier 18.9kg / 41.67-pound e-bike forward with enough gusto to help smooth out hills.
The C4 ST has a lower saddle and higher grips that put the rider into a more upright position. That coupled with a lower gear ratio (2.71 on the C4 ST vs. 2.85 on the C4) makes the ride feel more relaxed despite having the same motor and Gates Carbon belt drive as its brother. The C4 ST is the model you buy for long, lazy commutes with a laptop bag, or for anyone who won’t fit the C4’s taller frame.
The C4 e-bikes, like their predecessors, offer only a single power setting with no throttle and no extra gears. They rely on a torque sensor to adjust the power delivery as needed, which has traditionally resulted in one of the most intuitive pedal-assisted rides on the road.
Cowboy refers to the Quadlock mount with integrated wireless charging unit as the “cockpit.” It can charge your phone at up to 15W from the e-bike’s removable 360Wh battery, but requires a Quadlock-compatible case that must be purchased separately for about €29 / £29. Although the cockpit is bulky enough to fit another battery, the space is mostly empty I’m told, providing a wide base for the wireless coils and access to the frame to run brake cables through.
The Cowboy apps for iOS and Android have also been totally redesigned with an emphasis on health and fitness in addition to navigation, with many new features rooted in game design theory. “What we’re trying to achieve is some weird mix between Strava, Peloton, and Pokémon Go,” said Roose, “simply to encourage people to bike more.”
The fourth-generation Cowboy 4 also improves upon the Cowboy 3 in a number of other ways:
The C4 is redesigned down to the component level, making one of the best looking e-bikes look even more cohesive and sleek. Cowboy says the C4 now features “200 custom-made parts” assembled by Flex in Hungry, including the motor and tires. The Selle Royal saddle, SunRace hydraulic brakes, and Gates drive are the notable outliers.
The €89 Cowboy mudguards are finally standard, which partially explains the added weight and price of the new e-bikes.
The C4 and C4 ST still don’t come with kickstands, but at least Cowboy now makes its own as a €29 / £29 add-on. It’s also making an optional rear rack priced at €99 / £99.
Cowboy doesn’t currently sell e-bikes in the US, but that will change next year, according to Roose, who’s particularly bullish after hearing President Biden’s plans to cut CO2 emissions. “Our growth, and the growth of the US e-bike market, is making a move for us quite appealing and we want to jump,” said Roose. “We’re talking the next 12 months.”
For Europeans, the €2,490 / £2,290 purchase price for a Cowboy 4 / 4 ST includes theft and crash detection, and free on-demand mobile repairs available nationwide in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Luxembourg, the UK, and in select cities in Spain and Italy. Cowboy also touts its 94.4 percent customer satisfaction rate, noting that owners get replies to support requests within six minutes, on average. A little poke at e-bike rival VanMoof, perhaps, which struggled to support buyers of its S3 and X3 e-bikes as sales ramped up during the pandemic.
The C4 and C4 ST are available in three colors: black, khaki (greenish), and sand (off-whiteish). Test rides will begin in July before the bikes start shipping in September to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Preorders begin today after a €100 / £100 deposit.
The Cowboy 3 is also being reduced to €2,190 today and now comes standard with mudguards. That’s a price drop of €189 compared to the same e-bike purchased last year.
The Oppo Reno5 lineup launched at the beginning of this year, but it’s only now that it’s getting a European release. Now, the most affordable of the bunch – the Reno5 is here and looks well-equipped too. An OLED panel with a high refresh rate, fast charging, capable SoC, lightweight build and plenty of base storage and memory.
And in a (not so) surprising move, Oppo is releasing this one under two names in Europe. The Reno5 is launching in Eastern Europe, whereas Western Europe is getting it as the Find X3 Lite. The two models are identical in specs as you can see.
Oppo Reno5 5G • Oppo Find X3 Lite
So even though we got specifically the Reno5 model for review, our review findings should apply to both devices in equal parts.
While the Oppo brand is well-known in Asia, and even though it’s yet to make a name for itself in Europe, it’s positioned as a premium brand elsewhere. So it’s no wonder that the company avoids undercutting the competition price-wise and yet focuses on making well-executed handsets with a premium look and feel.
The Reno5 (or Find X3 Lite, if you prefer) uses a bright, 90Hz OLED panel and a 64MP main camera and it also offers one of the fastest charging technologies. It’s also nicely compact and pocketable.
Probably the biggest selling point of this one is its size and ergonomics. In a market where behemoths rule, the Reno5 5G is a breath of fresh air with its compact 6.43-inch display and a weight of 172g.
Oppo Reno5 5G specs at a glance:
Body: 159.1×73.4×7.9mm, 172g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and frame.
Display: 6.43″ AMOLED, 90Hz, 430 nits (typ), 750 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 410ppi.
Chipset: Qualcomm SM7250 Snapdragon 765G 5G (7 nm): Octa-core (1×2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime & 1×2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver); Adreno 620.
Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 2.1.
OS/Software: Android 11, ColorOS 11.1.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, 1/1.73″, 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 119˚, 1/4.0″, 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, 24mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm.
Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps; gyro-EIS, HDR; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
Battery: 4300mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 35 min (advertised), Reverse charging, SuperVOOC 2.0.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); 3.5mm jack, The phone also comes with 128GB of base storage, and the Snapdragon 765G 5G is nothing to scoff at.
What we can scoff at is the phone’s current pricing. The launch price of €450 is quite optimistic considering that the competition in the midrange is quite heated and this phone comes with a plastic back and frame.
But let’s not rush to any conclusions as this phone might offer more than what meets the eye at first glance. First, time for an unboxing.
Unboxing the Oppo Reno5 5G
The phone comes in a premium-looking box and fresh mint color. It contains the usual user manuals and the 65W-capable wall charger with a USB-A to USB-C cable.
Oppo has also thrown in a bonus case, too, along with a pair of 3.5mm headphones.
The Galaxy S20 FE was a big hit for Samsung and we’ve already seen evidence it will get a successor later this year. Now Ross Young is reporting that the Galaxy S21 FE will enter mass production in July which is now two months away. The actual release date is rumored to come in August
Colors are:
– Gray
– Light Green
– Light Violet
– White
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) May 3, 2021
We’ve already seen renders of the device which unsurprisingly follows the Galaxy S21 design language. The S21 FE is expected to bring a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a centered 32MP punch-hole camera, Exynos 2100 or Snapdragon 888 chipset depending on the region and 128/256GB storage capacity.
We’ve also seen evidence of a 4,500 mAh battery and the phone is expected to arrive in White, Gray, Pink and Violet colors though the new tweet also mentions Light Green and Light Violet options.
Samsung is working on an entry-level 5G phone dubbed Galaxy A22 5G and it will be powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 chipset. We’ve previously seen renders of what to expect in terms of design and now the phone was spotted in the TUV database
The device bears the SM-A226B/DS model number and packs a 15W charger. Sadly, the listing does not reveal any additional information. Based on previous findings, the A22 5G will bring 6GB RAM and a 48MP primary camera alongside an 8MP ultrawide snapper two 2MP modules.
Samsung Galaxy A22 5G (renders by OnLeaks)
It will sport a V-shaped waterdrop notch with a 13MP selfie cam and should boot Android 11 with One UI 3.1 on top. The A22 will also be available in an 4G/LTE only model for regions where 5G proliferation is not up to par yet.
We recently saw a video revealing the design and major features of Huawei’s HarmonyOS. Now we are looking at another clip showing a quick speed test comparison between EMUI 11 and HarmonyOS 2.0. You can watch it below.
As you can see, apps on the phone running EMUI 11 load a tad faster than HarmonyOS 2.0, but that might be due to network lag. It’s also worth noting that the comparison is made between the Developer Beta3 of HarmonyOS 2.0 and the stable firmware of EMUI 11, which could also have some impact.
Besides, EMUI 11 and HarmonyOS 2.0 are running on different phone models, which is yet another thing to consider for the differences in app load times.
Either way, we’ll reserve our judgment until we get our hands on the stable build of HarmonyOS 2.0 and run some tests ourselves.
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Quantum 2 smartphone in South Korea, and we expect it to hit the global market under the name Galaxy A82 5G. While the company hasn’t said anything official about such a device, it has already listed it as an eligible phone for quarterly security updates.
Samsung models eligible for updates
The Quantum 2/ Galaxy A82 5G comes with a 6.7” Dynamic AMOLED screen with 1440p resolution and three cameras on the back – 64MP main, 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro. The selfie camera has a 10MP sensor and there’s a 4,500mAh battery inside.
The Galaxy Quantum 2/Galaxy A82 5G comes with a Snapdragon 855+ chipset which was the 2020 flagship and provides 5G connectivity and plenty of performance. The South Korean version derives its name from the unique QRNG security chip but we’re yet to see whether this feature will be available overseas.
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