Huawei has announced its first smartwatches running its own HarmonyOS operating system, the Huawei Watch 3 and Huawei Watch 3 Pro. In theory it’s the third separate operating system Huawei has used for its smartwatches, which originally ran Google’s Android Wear (now Wear OS) before introducing its own LiteOS software with more recent devices.
Despite the new OS, the Watch 3 offers a similar set of features to Huawei’s previous wearables. New additions includes a redesigned home screen that now consists of a watchOS-style grid of apps rather than a list, and there’s also support for video calling through Huawei’s own MeeTime service.
Although it’s branded as a HarmonyOS device, the Watch 3’s long battery life suggests its operating system is significantly different from the version of HarmonyOS Huawei is using on its new tablets, and may have more in common with LiteOS on its previous watches. Huawei did not respond to questions about any similarities between HarmonyOS and its existing operating systems.
The Watch 3’s design doesn’t deviate much from Huawei’s previous smart watches. It’s got a circular 1.43-inch OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1000 nits. The display is edge-to-edge, so there’s no rotating bezel on this smartwatch. Instead you control it via a rotating crown, similar to an Apple Watch. The watch is available in a couple of different styles including an “active” model with a rubber strap, a “classic” model with leather, and an “elite” version with a metal bracelet.
For activity tracking, the watch features many of the same sensors as previous models, including heart rate tracking, an Sp02 sensor, and sleep tracking. But new for this version is a temperature sensor, similar to Fitbit’s Sense smartwatch from last year. Huawei says this sensor can continuously track the temperature of your skin throughout the course of the day. Huawei says the watch supports a hundred different workout modes, ranging from running to climbing, cycling, and swimming.
eSIM support returns from the Watch 2 Pro, which means the Watch 3 can also be operated independently from a phone with its own 4G LTE connection. The watch supports making voice calls directly, and there’s also support for video calls via Huawei’s MeeTime service (though there wasn’t any confirmation about whether the watch will work with other video calling services like WhatsApp).
With 4G turned on, Huawei says you should get around three days of battery life from the Watch 3, but that extends to 14 days if you’re willing to turn off 4G and use the phone in “ultra long lasting mode.” Even in this low-power mode, Huawei says you should still be able to track your activity and workouts, and its watch faces will still be animated.
As well as the Watch 3, Huawei is also announcing the Watch 3 Pro today, which offers up to 5 days of battery life with 4G turned on, and up to 21 days in its long battery life mode. Other improvements include a more premium titanium construction, and more accurate GPS tracking.
Third-party app support is still a big question mark hanging over Huawei’s first HarmonyOS watches. As always, Huawei promises it’s working with developers on bringing their apps to its devices, and showed off a range of app logos including one for the Emirates airline. But beyond that, there weren’t any app logos for services I recognized, and Huawei hasn’t confirmed support from any of the major music streaming services.
Huawei is yet to confirm pricing or release details for the Huawei Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro, but said an announcement should be made soon.
(Pocket-lint) – It can be a little difficult to stand out from the crowd in the wireless earbuds world at the moment, whether you’re an established presence or a newcomer.
Best true wireless earbuds rated: Wire-free Bluetooth audio
Having a big name attached to your ‘buds could be a help though, and music producer Kygo has been making some waves with his headphones brand over the last couple of years.
The earbuds, called Xellence, are a creditable addition to his oeuvre. But in this bustling market are they particularly memorable?
Design
Plastic case and build
60g weight (including case)
Touch-sensitive controls
Unlike other audio brands named for or endorsed by celebrities, these earbuds from Kygo really don’t look too glaringly brash. Yes, there’s a repeated ‘X’ blazoned on both the case and each earbud, but it’s a logo subtle enough to blend in nicely, and aside from that these ‘buds look pretty normal – in a good way!
The best Lightning headphones 2021 for your iPhone or iPad
By Dan Grabham
·
The case is small and lightweight, built from plastic, and easy to pocket. It’s got indicator lights to let you know its charge level, and the earbuds clip in easily with the help of magnets. The case charges by USB Type-C – we’d have liked to see wireless charging, too, but that’s life.
One slight worry on our end is that the case’s lid, while sturdily hinged, is pretty thin – if there’s a potential point for breakages, this could be it. However, it’s satisfying to open and shut, so doesn’t feel fragile in the hands.
Moving to the earbuds, each has a round exterior that corkscrews in toward a silicone tip (with multiple sizes included). A twist gets each into your ear canal and we found them comfortable enough to wear for long periods. That said, those with smaller outer ears could find them a little chafey.
In terms of controls, the whole flat outside surface of each ‘bud is touch-sensitive. A tap on the left or right earbud will alter the volume of playback, while double-taps can pause (and unpause), while triple-taps can change noise-cancellation mode (or ‘ANC’ as it’s often called).
Each earbud also has a small button to its rear so that can activate your chosen voice assistant, but this is so awkwardly placed and hard to press when the ‘buds are in your ears that you’ll doubtless almost never use it.
That ‘X’ on each Kygo ‘bud has a backlit LED which looks fairly classy, but you can turn the lighting off easily if it doesn’t suit your style.
Overall this is a solid showing in design terms – there’s nothing here to redraw the lines for all wireless earbuds, but Xellence looks nice and feels good to use.
Sound quality
10mm drivers
Personalised sound with Mimi
When it comes to actually listening to music, Kygo’s Xellence ‘buds offer a fairly similar picture: it’s a solid performance, not that it rehapes the mould of sound potential. The sound stage here is entirely decent, with a richness that makes plenty of different genres sound warm and natural.
If you use the optional Bass Boost setting, you’ll get a welcome added oomph on the low-end, and while we didn’t find that highs got particularly defined, it’s still more than capable of punching through whatever playlist you throw at these ‘buds.
One nice twist on this is that the earbuds use sound personalisation in partnership with audio engineers Mimi. In the companion app, you can take a hearing test that takes a couple of minutes. It assesses how each of your ears receives different frequencies, then creates a custom EQ (equaliser) to make music as natural sounding as possible. It works nicely and you can really hear the difference if you toggle it on and off.
That’s further enhanced by decent ANC. There are three settings for Xellence – noise cancellation, ambient mode, and no cancellation. With cancellation on you’ll unsurprisingly get a more isolated sound, and we found that it did a very decent job of drowning out external sound without impacting our music.
Ambient mode boosts the volume of sounds around you using the included microphones. As is often the case, it works fine but is eerie and too distracting for prolonged use. With both turned off, meanwhile, the in-ear shape still gives solid passive isolation and you’ll save some battery life.
Best noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones for blocking out noise when you’re working from home
Earbuds aren’t just for music in modern life, though. Call quality is a key factor, and Kygo’s Xellence doesn’t excel here. Your voice will come through slightly muffled and echoey, sadly, meaning these aren’t a great pick for conference calls or long catch-ups.
Software and battery
10-hour battery life, 20 further hours in case
X by Kygo companion app
Bluetooth pairing
The aforementioned X by Kygo app is where you’ll get a bit of added control over these earbuds, and it’s a fairly slick affair. It’s easy to pair new earbuds through it (although this is also straightforward in your phone’s settings) and you can toggle between a bunch of settings.
This includes the Mimi sound personalisation test, changing the earbuds’ lights, turning the Bass Booster on, and adjusting ANC. You won’t necessarily find yourself opening it up all too often, but it’s a useful hub.
We found our connections over Bluetooth to be pretty strong and reliable, meanwhile, although leaving the room that your phone’s in can still be a risky affair.
On the battery front, meanwhile, you get a stated 10 hours of battery life that shrinks to 8 hours if you’re using ANC. The case adds 20 more hours to make for 30 total before you need to plug it in again – and those numbers line-up with our testing. That makes for battery life that isn’t the best in the industry but is solid enough to see you through most working days or journeys.
Verdict
Xellence delivers good sound quality, the sound personalisation is a bonus for those who use it, while active noise-cancellation does well enough in blocking out ambient sounds. The design is equally fine without standing out to excess – except maybe for those lights.
X by Kygo’s Xellence is a dead solid pair of wireless in-ears, then, but you’re unlikely to be blown away by any one particular element. Which isn’t deep criticism, but it does feel like something ‘X-tra’ would be needed for these ‘buds to really stand out in what’s a hugely crowded market.
Also consider
Apple AirPods Pro
If you don’t mind spending a bit more, and especially if you’re on iOS, Apple’s own in-ears are simply superb, offering all the software conveniences you could want, alongside extremely impressive sound and some of the best active noise-cancelling (ANC) you can find.
Read our full review
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Klipsch T5 II True Wireless
Alternatively, to keep the cost down, a slightly better-priced pair of earbuds can be found here from Klipsch. These don’t have active noise-cancellation (ANC), but they don’t really need it too badly. That feature absence explains their simply superb sound quality for the price.
Read our full review
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Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
(Pocket-lint) – When it comes to small cars, there’s one model that’s always really stood out: the Fiat 500.
Relaunched in 2007 – and revised in 2015 – the Fiat 500 has secured its position as something of an icon. Alongside the Mini, it’s perhaps one of the most distinctive and commonly sighted small cars on the road.
Now with an electric powertrain, there’s a brand new design that harks back to the original 1957 model, wanting to race into a new generation of small car motoring. Say hello to the Fiat 500e.
Perfectly cute design
The new Fiat 500e will run in parallel to the combustion version that’s already on the road in the short term, but it has had a design refresh that’s fairly radical. It’s larger – longer, with a wider track and bigger wheels – but you’ll recognise this diminutive model at a glance, as it retains much the same profile.
This 500e drops the Fiat badge from the front, instead carrying 500 branding on its nose, with a new bonnet lid that’s reminiscent of the 1957 model. On the previous version the bonnet curved around the top of the headlights, now the lights are split, with the top section like an eyebrow on the hood.
The creases down the side of the car meet this bonnet line perfectly, to give a much stronger sense of visual design, while the wider track means there’s a little more freedom at the rear of the car for a larger wheel arch, which adds a strength to the hind quarters.
With the wheels planted firmly on the corners, there’s still a toy-like aesthetic to the Fiat 500. It’s fun to look at; a car that makes you think about youthfulness and vibrancy – although perhaps not in the black version which reminds us of a tiny London taxi.
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This is also one of the only electric cars you can get as a convertible. That’s right, the Fiat 500e holds on to the ragtop which is also powered, sliding open to let in the sunshine like a giant sunroof, or retracting down the back for more of a convertible result. The convertible is available on all but the entry-level trim.
That hood blocks the rear view when it’s all the way down, but it’s fairly quick to open and close with the press of a button – a really distinctive feature. Bear in mind that you then lose the hatchback, instead getting a small opening into the fairly small 185 litre boot.
Across this design, it’s all about the little details, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is a small car, smaller than the Mini Electric, smaller than the Vauxhall Corsa-e and smaller than the Honda e too – but perhaps just as cute as that Honda.
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There’s also only four seats in the Fiat – just as in the Mini and the Honda e – and it’s a three door design, so very much designed around the two in the front. The rear seats are small, with negligible legroom, so forget about transporting people in the back on a regular basis, it’s just not that car.
A refreshing interior
The interior is more conventional, more mature, ditching the “everything must be round” approach of the previous model and giving a more spacious finish as a result. There’s a natural advantage here: with no transmission tunnel, Fiat has made sure to remove that floor-line obstruction, so there’s more space around your feet.
There’s still a bump for the driver display and the centre display still sits on the top of the dash, but the big round buttons of old have now gone, with increased touch controls on the display, and rows of buttons for important climate controls.
You’ll also spot that there’s no gear selector, instead just a line of buttons to press. In the age of electric cars, poking the ‘D’ button because you’re about to drive is all you need.
The Fiat 500 has been characterised for its body-colour dash on previous models and there’s a number of options here. The Action (entry-level) gets a black dash (the same as pictured); the Passion will let you have black or white; the Icon is body colour, or Technowood; while the La Prima edition gives you the option of a fabric finish- so there’s no lack of character.
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Much of the interior uses harder plastics, although we feel it’s more sympathetically done than in the Vauxhall Corsa-e. Fiat’s focus, instead, is on pushing other elements, particularly the Seaqual fabric, which is 100 per cent recycled plastic, of which at least 10 per cent of which has been reclaimed from the sea.
The options available to you are very much dictated by the trim level, with Fiat saying that the Icon is likely to be the biggest seller – and also having the widest range of options.
Those who follow the car world will know that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with PSA to form the Stellantis Group from which we’ve seen a range of electric cars from Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën and DS Automobiles. While all those brands share the same platform (so are all very similar) the Fiat 500e doesn’t: this is a platform that was developed by Fiat – so this car is different in many ways and that’s evident from the interior design and specification.
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We like the sophistication of this new model and again there are little details that shine through. Take, for example, the subtle silhouette of the Turin skyline in that dashboard cubby hole – which houses the Qi wireless charging pad – or the electric door handles and indoor release buttons.
There’s so much that just jumps out as unique about the Fiat 500e that it’s only really the Honda e that compares. The Mini Electric, by comparison, is much like every other Mini on the road, while the Corsa-e is the same as its combustion siblings – and shares many parts with those other Stellantis Group cars.
A practical technology story
The Fiat 500e feels technologically advanced, although there are decisions to be made because they have an impact on the interior tech that you’ll get. The entry-level model in Action trim doesn’t have a central display, instead getting a smartphone mount on the dash so you can slip your phone into it.
This obviously helps keep the price down and for many, but you’ll then need to have a smartphone to run the Fiat GOe Live app. We haven’t tested this, but we can imagine that you could run Android Auto for phone screens and get access to most things you want. As Apple CarPlay needs a display in the car and won’t run standalone, Apple users would have to find another solution. You can have it as an option on the Action for £850, if you prefer.
However, move up to the Passion trim and you get a 7-inch display, while Icon and La Prime get a 10.25-inch display. We think most people will likely buy a trim level that has a display as it means you can have proper Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – and the good news is that both can be wireless too. There’s USB ports for charging, or on some models a wireless charging pad so you can just drop your phone into the cubby hole and have it charge as you drive.
Fiat’s infotainment system has a lot going for it. It’s better than some small car rivals and we prefer it to the Mini and the Corsa-e, although you don’t get the wow factor here that you get from the Honda e’s wall of displays. There’s customisation, it’s responsive, and it’s easy to click through and get to what you want. We normally prefer physical buttons for major segments, but Fiat has them permanently showing down one side of the built-in display, so it’s easy to navigate.
Every trim gets the 7-inch driver display – and this offers a lot of flexibility, which is why you might be happy to forego a central display at a push, because this will let you move through a whole range of screens to access a wide range of information. Again, it’s a lot more flexible than some models, with controls on the steering wheel making for easy navigation.
The steering wheel itself is great, the bi-spoke design another retro touch, but there’s one thing you might take some time to find: the volume control. This is between the front seats, alongside the electric handbrake and drive selector switches. It’s easy enough once you know it’s there, but we’d much rather Fiat had found somewhere on the dash or wheel for it.
Cruise control comes in from Passion trim upwards; La Prima offers intelligent adaptive cruise control and lane centring (level 2 autonomous driving) as standard – this is also an (expensive) option for Passion and Icon models too – along with some other fancy features, like the rear parking camera.
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For a car that’s harking back to its 1957 relative and wanting to be one of the smallest on the road, there’s certainly a lot on offer.
Driving, range and charging
Regardless of the model you choose, you’ll get keyless entry and a start button, but there are two different battery capacities. Again, this is to offer a version that’s as affordable as it can be, with a 24kWh battery for the Action – if you want any other trim level, you move up to a larger battery (42kW) and more powerful powertrain too.
We’ve not driven the entry-level option, but to outline the differences, you get a 24kWh battery, 70kW motor producing about 95hp, and the top charging rate is 50kW – which is what you’ll find in many fast-chargers around the UK.
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This configuration is going to be best suited to city drivers, with a shorter range of 118 miles / 190km (WLTP standard), which is going to be limiting if you have ambitions of driving longer distances.
All other models get that larger 42kW battery and 87kW motor, which produces around 118hp. All models do 0-62mph / 0-100kmph in about 9 seconds – so none are hugely fast, but the initial speed is what you feel, regardless of whatever model you’re driving. As with all electric cars, it’s as peppy as you could want it to be, but it won’t win any drag races.
Obviously, a higher capacity battery means a longer range – and Fiat officially rates it at 199 miles / 320km (WLTP). In our own testing, we were able to average about 4 miles per kWh on the motorway, which comes out at about 168 miles; in more careful driving around urban environments with plenty of braking we got over 5.5 miles per kWh – which would return about 230 miles, which isn’t too bad at all.
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With a bigger battery, longer practical range is within your grasp from the Fiat 500e too. The car’s economy is still better than you’ll get from rivals like the Honda e or the Mini Electric.
There are three driving modes – Normal, Range, Sherpa – which is an interesting twist on things. Range is the eco mode, while Sherpa is the ‘limp home’ mode, limiting speed to 50mph / 800kmph maximum – meant to be use to get you to a charger. There’s no sport mode and we can’t say that really matters here.
The Fiat 500e drives like a city car, the controls are lighter than light, and the ride is a little bouncy – certainly less forgiving than some larger models – but not too noisy. Road noise will come into the cabin, more so if you have the convertible, but generally speaking, it’s smooth enough.
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Speaking of noise, the Fiat 500e has its own AVAS (acoustic vehicle alerting system) which plays Nino Rota’s Amarcord when you’re doing under 12mph to make sure that pedestrians know they’re about to be hit by an Italian car. You’ll catch snippets of this if manoeuvring slowly and you can’t help but smile.
The best electric cars 2021: Top battery-powered vehicles available on UK roads
By Chris Hall
·
Of course the best thing about small-car driving is all the practical benefits that come with it – you can actually park it, it will nip through traffic and negotiate congested streets – further reinforcing its position as a great car for busy roads.
Verdict
The Fiat 500e is dripping in style, bringing plenty of style and character to a refreshed design. At one extreme it’s one of the most affordable electric cars around, at the other it’s a highly personalised offering that’s filled with the latest creature comforts.
The design alone will win it fans, although those jumping over from the older combustion version will have to swallow the electric price bump that comes with it.
It’s clearly a car that’s designed for two people, with the rear seats more likely to be used for an overflow of shopping – but the same can be said of the previous Fiat 500. Or all Fiat 500s, really.
As electric cars go, the Fiat 500e is fun, considered and currently unique. We’re sure it will be as popular with young drivers as it is for those wanting a second car for commuting.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Honda e
The Honda e’s appeal lies in its refreshing retro take. There’s nothing like it on the road and it’s well appointed too, with digital wing mirrors as one example. But in like-for-like pricing, the range is shorter than the Fiat 500e.
Read our review
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Mini Electric
The natural small-car rival, the Mini Electric is more powerful, so a little more sporty to drive, but has a smaller battery so offers less range. While it has plenty of character, we think the interior design could do with an update.
AMD is partnering with Samsung to provide RDNA 2 graphics technology for an Exynos mobile system-on-chip, potentially giving a boost to GPU performance in flagship Samsung phones. The announcement was made today at Computex Taipei.
There aren’t many details on the chip or which products it’ll be used in, but AMD describes the chip as a “next-generation Exynos SoC,” and says Samsung will provide further information later in 2021. The GPU will use AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture, enabling features like ray tracing and variable rate shading. AMD says it’ll make its way to “flagship mobile devices.”
“The next place you’ll find RDNA 2 will be the high-performance mobile phone market,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said on stage. “AMD has partnered with industry leader Samsung for several years to accelerate graphics innovation in the mobile market, and we’re happy to announce that we’ll bring custom graphics IP to Samsung’s next flagship mobile SoC with ray tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. We’re really looking forward to Samsung providing more details later this year.”
Exynos is the brand name that Samsung uses for its own in-house processors. In the US and certain other markets, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy phones ship with Snapdragon SoCs from Qualcomm, while the rest of the world gets Exynos chips. The Exynos models are generally regarded as slightly less performant than their Qualcomm equivalents, but it was seen as a surprise when Samsung decided to switch to the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy S20 in its home market of South Korea.
Whether AMD’s mobile solution will provide tangible benefits over Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs is unknown. But by throwing out buzzwords like ray tracing and lending its latest RDNA 2 architecture, AMD is certainly setting expectations high for future Samsung devices.
(Pocket-lint) – Xiaomi’s expertise when it comes to affordable fitness trackers is no longer a matter for debate. This is the sixth iteration of its impressive Mi Band tracker, after all, and practice does tend to make (closer to) perfect.
Best fitness trackers 2021: Top activity bands to buy today
We’ve been wearing it for a couple of weeks, day in and day out, to stack it up against the competition as well as its own previous versions, and we’ve come away without much surprise. This is a really solid band, with only minor drawbacks.
Design
1.56-inch AMOLED display, 152 x 486 resolution
5ATM water resistant
Weighs 62g
The Mi Band 6 isn’t exactly a revolution when it comes to the design side of things – it looks much like the Mi Band 5, with some telling changes. That means that you still have a vertically-oriented display in a silicone housing and a band fastened by a punch-hole.
It’s super light and comfortable to wear, making it one of the easiest bands we’ve tried for overnight use, and there are plenty of holes in the strap to let you adjust the tightness of the fit when needed.
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The tracker is only available in one colour – black – although you can swap out coloured bands if you like.
The Band 6 charges with a small included cable that magnetically clips onto its underside. Nice and simple.
Where things have changed slightly is the screen, although the body of the tracker is only different by a matter of millimetres. Gone is the Mi Band 5’s display, replaced with a new bigger AMOLED option that squeezes in an extra 50 per cent of real estate.
We’re impressed by the change, too. The bezels around its edge are pretty tiny and the 450nit maximum brightness is impressive when cranked up, with a resolution of that’s crisp enough.
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The tracker is still nice and thin, too, so it won’t jut out from your wrist too far at all, further contributing to its comfort factor. Water resistance means you can feel free to keep it on in the shower, which also means it’s fine for a swim if you’re feeling more ambitious.
The band might not be a real redesign, but more display on a similar-sized body is always a good equation from our point of view, and the Mi Band 6 is easy to wear for long periods, which is all it really needs to do.
Tracking
SpO2 blood oxygen monitor
Heart rate monitoring
30 sports modes
Sleep tracking
The Mi Band 6 isn’t going to set the world alight with its design, then, but its tracking is the real reason you’ll be picking one up. It’s here that Xiaomi once again demonstrates that it has chops in this price bracket.
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You get heart rate tracking that you can trust to maintain solid accuracy, alongside an SpO2 blood oxygenisation monitor that, while a little finnicky when it comes to taking readings, is absent from many more expensive devices.
Blood oxygen monitoring: Apple Watch Series 6’s biggest feature explained
There’s also sleep tracking if you’re happy to wear it during the night, and passive stress monitoring if you want your tracker to tell you how you’re feeling (no, it doesn’t speak soothingly to you). The extent to which these last two features are constructive and useful might vary from person to person.
You get a whole bundle of exercise modes to pick from as well, when you decide to get a bit more active. There are 30 included, covering mainstream options like outdoor jogging and more niche choices like rowing.
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These are easy to select and control while you’re on the go, although when we left the Band 6 to its own devices and relied on auto-detection for our activities things weren’t always quite as responsive as we’d want.
Overall, though, the picture is impresive and easy to use – with data collected in week-long retrospectives and available through the companion app for more detailed assessment.
Best fitness trackers 2021: Top activity bands to buy today
By Britta O’Boyle
·
Our guide to the top fitness trackers available, helping you count steps, track calories, monitor your heart rate, sleep patterns and more.
Software
Mi Fit companion app
14-day battery life
Tethered GPS
The software side of things is right down the middle of the road on the Mi Band 6. It’s not exactly the smoothest and most responsive system you’ll ever use, but it more than gets the job done.
Responsiveness on the touch screen is decent, while menus are fairly easy to swipe through and navigate around. A swipe in any direction from the home screen might bring up the settings menu, swipe you through more features, or bring up the main menu of options.
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It’s all easy to learn, and you thankfully also don’t need to worry too much about battery life. Xiaomi’s stated 14-day battery life matches up to our testing, and even when we ramped up the screen’s brightness there wasn’t too much of a battery hit.
You’ll need the Mi Fit app to connect to your phone for tethered GPS and synced health records, which is pretty easy to accomplish. The app itself is very much fine.
Accessing your heart rate history or step counts is pretty simple, as is adding more home screen options for your band, but its layout is hardly the most intuitive, and seems to assume that you might have multiple Xiaomi products to control, muddying things a bit.
Xiaomi also takes pains to again highlight its PAI system, a collated score to give you an idea of whether you’re being active enough to maintain a healthy pattern of life.
It’s a little bit opaque in terms of how the score is designated, but simple enough to provide no-frills motivation if you’re in a rut, and it’s satisfying to watch the numbers rise as you take the time to get a bit sweaty more often. Still, you can pretty easily ignore it, as it’s far from a training plan or anything.
Verdict
The Mi Band 6 shows that experience counts as far as fitness trackers go – and Xiaomi has plenty of it to go around. It hasn’t reinvented the wheel in the Mi Band 6, but it’s a solid improvement thanks to its better display.
Still, there’s nothing here to force an upgrade if you’ve already got an older Mi Band and you’re happy with it – and the slight hike in price that comes with the higher-quality screen does mean that the Band’s previously stellar value is merely ‘good’, now.
If you want a simple fitness tracker to start watching your lifestyle more carefully, the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 is a solid choice, much like those that came before it – but with a bigger, better screen to help everything along.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Fitbit Inspire 2
It’s a little pricier, but if you want something similarly slim and light but with a better companion app, this Fitbit makes a solid case. You get top-class tracking, but the display is far less vibrant than the Xiaomi’s – so it might come down to taste!
Read our review
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Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
THX’s debut product is nicely made and well-featured, but it lets itself down in the sound department
For
Neat, versatile design
MQA support
Adds power, clarity and cleanliness
Against
Sonically basic
Outclassed by cheaper rivals
Next time you’re in a cinema, take a moment to appreciate THX. After all, the US firm will be in some way to thank for the audio presentation you’re experiencing.
THX was born out of George Lucas’s disappointment at the quality of audio systems in theatres showing his Star Wars movies. Members of his Lucasfilm team, including sound engineer Tomlinson Holman, were tasked with developing a certification program for audio standards, and the first film to meet those specifications was the 1983 release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi.
Almost 20 years after becoming a separate company, THX is celebrating another milestone, with its first crack at the consumer electronics market in the THX Onyx, a DAC/headphone amplifier. The company’s Achromatic Audio Amplifier (THX AAA) technology sits at the heart of the THX Onyx, a compact, portable device designed to enhance the sound between your source device and wired headphones.
Features
(Image credit: THX)
The THX Onyx is one of the most discreet portable DACs we’ve seen. It has a thin metal body, longer and narrower than the average USB stick, at the end of a short, thick USB-C cable.
THX Onyx tech specs
(Image credit: THX)
3.5mm output Yes
USB-C output Yes
USB-A adapter Yes
With that connection, and the USB-A adapter supplied in the box, the Onyx works with any Windows 10 PC, Mac or Android device via either of those output sockets. iPhone and iPads require the slim Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (not supplied), although it’s worth noting that, in this case, your headphones’ in-line remote functionality won’t work.
Neither method requires specific drivers or installation – simply stick it into your chosen device, select it as your device’s sound output (if necessary) and plug your wired headphones into the 3.5mm socket at the other end of the DAC.
THX says the Onyx produces a power output comparable to that of entry-level desktop headphone amps, or five times more powerful than similar USB DACs. The claim is that its feed-back and feed-forward error correction method reduces distortion and noise levels up to 40dB lower than conventional power amps.
This amplification design works alongside an ESS ES9281PRO DAC chip, which can handle files up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD128, as well as a Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) renderer for fully decoding and playing back MQA hard files and (MQA-encoded) Tidal Masters in their native quality – handy for Tidal HiFi subscribers who can access hi-res tracks in the Tidal catalogue.
Build
(Image credit: THX)
The Onyx’s metal casework doesn’t just house the amplifier, DAC chip and MQA renderer: it also has LED lights that indicate the file type and size being played. Blue denotes 44.1kHz or 48kHz PCM files and yellow signifies sample rates above that, while red and pink shine respectively when DSD and MQA signals are played. It’s a neat function, providing reassurance for those with hi-res music collections, and adding some visual interest to the design.
Apart from the LED lights and THX logo, the Onyx is as smart and discreet as the category demands, with both the casing and rubber cable feeling sturdy. THX has magnetised part of the casing and cable so that they can clasp together. It can be a balancing act when connected to the bottom of a phone, but a helpful method of cable management on a laptop or computer.
Sound
(Image credit: THX)
Whatever way you arrange the Onyx, it delivers sound much more powerfully than your source device – it’s cleaner and clearer, too. We use a range of earbuds and over-ear headphones, from reference models to more price-appropriate pairs, and various source devices, including Android phones and Apple MacBooks. Compared with the sound coming straight from the devices’ outputs, the THX amplifies the music, making it much bigger, more direct and more involving to listen to. A noisy and compressed sound, this is not.
There’s a hefty dose of clarity and degree of polish to the presentation that wasn’t there before as the THX certainly improves on the typically paltry output of such portable or desktop devices. However, we have concerns about its inability to enhance the source’s sound in every aspect – and as well as other similarly priced portable DACs can.
The five-star Audioquest DragonFly Red (£169, $200, AU$280) – the class-leading portable DAC at this price – provides a much wider window into a song, bringing musical details and instrumental textures to the surface that the THX overlooks.
The THX is second best when it comes to communicating the dynamics and timing, and therefore the rhythm and musicality of a track. Even the five-star Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable and Audioquest DragonFly Black v1.5, both around half the Onyx’s price, fare better on these fronts.
We play Destroyer’s Savage Night At The Opera and, while the Onyx delivers Dan Bejar’s vocals with clarity and solidity, the DragonFly Red gets under his deadpan delivery more convincingly, while revealing more insight into, and tighter interplay between, the starry haze instrumentation. It’s a more mature presentation that makes the Onyx sound rather crude. And it’s this lack of transparency that makes its laudable efforts to support hi-res formats and MQA seem pretty futile.
Verdict
The THX Onyx has a logical design to serve a logical purpose, but the sonic execution lets down what is an otherwise well-considered product. It clears the first hurdle in amplifying device sound and bringing more clarity and cleanliness, but fails the all-important second by not delivering the level of detail or rhythmic quality required at this price. Suffice to say, you can do better.
Xiaomi has shown off its latest fast charging tech demo, and consequently is claiming the new world records for both wired and wireless charging speeds. Using a modified Mi 11 Pro with a 4,000mAh battery, Xiaomi says it’s able to fully charge the phone in 8 minutes over a 200W wired “HyperCharge” system, or in 15 minutes with 120W wireless charging.
Charging speeds are a frequent battleground for Chinese smartphone companies, who often release demonstrations of breakthroughs that may or may not show up in final products. Two years ago, for example, Xiaomi announced a 100W system that could charge a 4,000mAh battery in 17 minutes, while last year’s Mi 10 Ultra filled up in 23 minutes at 120W — though it did have a bigger 4,500mAh battery.
Oppo is another leader in this field, with its VOOC technology forming the basis of OnePlus’ Dash and Warp fast charging systems. Last year it demonstrated a 4,000mAh-in-20-minutes 125W system, though that was more than a year after Xiaomi’s supposedly faster 100W announcement, and the excellent current flagship Find X3 Pro charges at “only” 65W.
You can see Xiaomi’s latest effort here:
Progress is always welcome, and the thought of being able to fully charge a phone in eight minutes is certainly appealing. It’s worth noting, though, that these fast-charge systems always require proprietary chargers and cables, so they’ll mostly be used at home rather than in the emergency situations where they might be most useful. Ultimately, any given phone’s ability to make it through the day on its own juice will continue to be the more important factor for a while.
With SpaceX’s Starlink being made available in my area, I became curious about just how many satellites were overhead at any given time. Fortunately, the US Space Command tracks and makes available data for tracking the live positions of objects in orbit. We can download this data, and use a Raspberry Pi and some speakers to announce when a particular satellite is making an overhead pass. You can also get an SMS message sent to your phone in addition to the audio.
What You’ll Need For This Project
Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 3 with power adapter
8 GB (or larger) microSD card with Raspberry Pi OS. See our list of best microSD cards for Raspberry Pi.
Desktop speakers with a 3.5mm audio input
How to make a Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker
Before you get started, make sure that you have your Raspberry Pi OS set up. If you haven’t done this before, see our article on how to set up a Raspberry Pi for the first time or how to do a headless Raspberry Pi install (without the keyboard and screen).
1. Install git, which will allow us to clone the code from github.com
2. Clone the repository and descend into the directory created.
git clone https://github.com/rydercalmdown/pi_satellite_announcer.git
cd pi_satellite_announcer
3. Run the installation command. It will take care of installing a virtual environment, any necessary low level dependencies, and the python requirements.
make install
4. Visit space-track.org and create a new account. This will let us download two-line element (TLE) data tracked by the US Space Command. The code will update data from this website once per day, and store it locally to minimize stress on their servers.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Once registered, return to your raspberry pi and edit your environment.sh file – replace the template values with your space-track username and password.
6. Retrieve your home latitude and longitude values from Google maps by right clicking on the map and selecting the first option.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. Copy your latitude and longitude values into environment.sh, and set your desired radius in kilometers. For example, a radius of 20 kilometers would only report satellites overhead if their position on the ground is less than 20 kilometers away from you – they could be at any altitude.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. Plug in speakers to the 3.5mm audio port on your raspberry pi, and test that you can hear them with the following command. I’m using a megaphone, but any speakers with a 3.5mm audio input will work. You may need to increase the volume with the alsamixer command. If you run into trouble, try configuring your audio in the raspi-config menu.
# Test speakers
espeak -a 200 "this is a test" --stdout | aplay
# Adjust volume
alsamixer
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
9. Set up a twilio account. We’ll use this to send a text message when a satellite appears overhead. If you don’t wish to use twilio, you can edit app.py and set the ‘use_twilio’ variable to False.
10. Follow the setup instructions for a twilio account. Detailed instructions can be found on Twilio’s site here. You will need to create a phone number, and get your account credentials to perform the send actions.
11. Once you have your credentials and phone number, Add them to the environment.sh file.
nano environment.sh
# Twilio credentials
export TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID=your_account_id
export TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_account_token
# the number you purchased with twilio
export TWILIO_NUMBER_FROM=+10000000000
# your phone number
export TWILIO_NUMBER_TO=10000000000
12. Run the code with the following command. It will connect to space-track, download the latest TLE data, and immediately start reporting satellites over the latitude, longitude, and radius provided in the environment.sh file.
make run
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
13. Play around with the code. Right now it only announces satellites that are not considered debris, but this can be adjusted easily. You can also filter down by constellation, or only announce satellites with names that are interesting to you, like the international space station (ZARYA).
Unredacted documents in Arizona’s lawsuit against Google show that company executives and engineers were aware that the search giant had made it hard for smartphone users to keep location information private, Insider reported.
The documents suggest that Google collected location data even after users had turned off location sharing, and made privacy settings difficult for users to find. Insider also reports that the documents show Google pressured phone manufacturers into keeping privacy settings hidden, because the settings were popular with users.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against Google last May, alleging the company illegally tracked Android users’ location without their consent, even if users had disabled location tracking features. The lawsuit suggested Google kept location tracking running in the background for some features, and only stopped the practice when users disabled system-level tracking.
The unredacted documents show one Google employee asked if there was “no way to give a third party app your location and not Google?” adding that it didn’t sound like something the company would want revealed to the media, according to Insider.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in an email to The Verge that Brnovich “and our competitors driving this lawsuit have gone out of their way to mischaracterize our services. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We look forward to setting the record straight.”
Update May 29th, 8:11PM ET: Added statement from Google spokesperson
Unredacted documents in Arizona’s lawsuit against Google show that company executives and engineers were aware that the search giant had made it hard for smartphone users to keep location information private, Insider reported.
The documents suggest that Google collected location data even after users had turned off location sharing, and made privacy settings difficult for users to find. Insider also reports that the documents show Google pressured phone manufacturers into keeping privacy settings hidden, because the settings were popular with users.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against Google last May, alleging the company illegally tracked Android users’ location without their consent, even if users had disabled location tracking features. The lawsuit suggested Google kept location tracking running in the background for some features, and only stopped the practice when users disabled system-level tracking.
Earlier this week, a judge ordered parts of the documents in the case to be unredacted in response to requests from trade groups Digital Content Next and News Media Alliance, Insider reported. The unredacted documents show one Google employee asked if there was “no way to give a third party app your location and not Google?” adding that it didn’t sound like something the company would want revealed to the media, according to Insider.
Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment Saturday. The company said in a statement to The Verge last year that Brnovich had “mischaracterized our services” in the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp said that users would lose functionality over time if they didn’t accept its new privacy policy by May 15th. In a reversal, Facebook now says that plan has changed, and users who don’t accept the updated policy actually won’t see limited functionality (via TNW).
“Given recent discussions with various authorities and privacy experts, we want to make clear that we will not limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works for those who have not yet accepted the update,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. WhatsApp tells The Verge that this is the plan moving forward indefinitely.
The rollout of the policy has been a confusing mess, and raised concerns that WhatsApp would begin sharing more of users’ personal data with Facebook. (Some WhatsApp user data, such as users’ phone numbers, is already shared with Facebook, a policy that went into place in 2016.) WhatsApp has stressed this is not the case, though — the policy update is regarding messages sent to businesses via WhatsApp, which may be stored on Facebook’s servers.
The majority of users who have seen the new policy have accepted, the company says in a support article. This article also notes that you’ll get reminded about the new policy if you haven’t accepted it, and that’s still the case now, WhatsApp said in its statement.
“We will continue to remind users from time to time and let them accept the update, including when they choose to use relevant optional features like communicating with a business that is receiving support from Facebook,” WhatsApp said. “We hope this approach reinforces the choice that all users have whether or not they want to interact with a business.”
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There are plenty of buying guides for figuring out the best phone to buy at a given time, across a wide variety of prices. We have two of them, in fact. But if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool phone enthusiast, you don’t need a guide that’s going to give you the best rational recommendation. You need something that’s going to help you scratch your new gadget itch in the most satisfying way.
I’m here for you because, well, I’m one of you. This is the internet’s premiere buying guide for phone enthusiasts. We’re not going to focus on practical, rational choices, nor are we going to concern ourselves with budgets. These are the dream phones, the ones you buy not as a utilitarian tool, but for the fun of playing with a new piece of tech that you’ll probably sell or trade in for a loss in six months. I’m not even going to single out a specific model that you should buy, because you’re likely buying a new phone every year (or maybe more!) anyway. This is all about throwing caution to the wind, diving deep into a hobby, and buying something you don’t need but absolutely want. Budgets be damned.
Grab your cargo shorts, we’re going shopping.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5GPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
1. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
The best folding phone because you know you need one in your collection
Folding phones are the future, right? You can’t call yourself a Real Phone Enthusiast without one in your life. Hands down, the best folding phone you can buy right now is Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. It’s got everything you might want from a modern smartphone, but it also opens up into a tablet-sized screen that lets you put more than one app side-by-side or look at a giant version of Google Maps. It’s easy to justify because you can tell yourself that you will get SO MUCH WORK done on it, right after you finish watching that YouTube video. Promise.
The Fold 2 costs more than most laptops, you have to baby it, and there’s a really good chance the screen will crack or break on you even if you are careful, but that’s just the price you have to pay to be on the bleeding edge.
Apple iPhone 12 MiniPhoto by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge
2. Apple iPhone 12 Mini
The best iPhone for when you’re double-fisting an Android phone
Look, I know that you know that everyone in the world has an iPhone and it’s the farthest thing from an “interesting” phone. But at the same time, it’s hard to ignore what Apple’s doing, and really, iMessage and the Apple Watch are pretty great. Lots of people carry an iPhone alongside an Android phone, and you could be one of them.
The best iPhone for doing this is the iPhone 12 Mini. It does everything its bigger siblings can do, but it can easily fit in a secondary pocket and isn’t a burden to carry around. The battery life is kinda lousy, but who cares, that’s why you have a second phone on you anyway, right?
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate comes with a clip-on fan and has 18GB of RAM.Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
3. Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
The best phone for seeing what this “gaming phone” trend is all about
Gaming phones are so hot right now (unless they’ve got a great cooling system) — it seems like a new model is released every three months. You can’t call yourself a true phone enthusiast without being up on this trend, and the best one to dip your toes into it with is the Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate.
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate has a ton of features that can make any mobile accomplisher swoon. A massive battery. A ridiculously high refresh screen. An OLED screen on the back you can customize to show whatever you want. A bunch of accessories to make gaming better. 18GB of RAM! How could you not buy this phone?
Asus ROG Phone 5
$1,000
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The Asus ROG Phone 5 is the quintessential example of a modern gaming phone. It has over-the-top specs, lots of gaming accessories, and a head-turning design.
$1,000
at Asus
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 UltraPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The best phone for pretending you’re going to use a stylus
Writing on a phone screen with a pen is so cool! It feels futuristic and is just so natural. At least, it is for the first week until you forget about it and it never leaves the little garage built into the side of the phone again.
If you’ve been telling yourself that little “I’m gonna be a stylus person” lie, you need a phone that supports one and it’s hard to see buying anything other than Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20. It’s got a low latency S Pen, a bunch of software features that can utilize the stylus, and all of the other bells and whistles of a modern smartphone, which means it works quite well long after you’ve forgotten about the stylus.
The Google Pixel 4A
5. Google Pixel 4A
The best phone for messing around with the Android 12 beta
Okay, I said I wasn’t going to recommend anything rational in this guide, but this is perhaps the recommendation that makes the most sense: if you want to mess around with the Android 12 beta but don’t want to install it on your main phone, you should just buy a Google Pixel 4A. It’s only $350 (that’s just $20 more than it costs to fix a broken screen on an iPhone 12 Pro Max) and can work with Google’s latest and greatest software even before it’s released to the public.
You know the Android betas are going to be messy — battery life is going to be bad, there will be lots of bugs, certain apps might not work correctly — so you don’t want to put it on a device you actually need to rely on. Once the beta period is over, the Pixel 4A is a great device for experimenting with the aftermarket ROM world. Get a Pixel 4A and flash those ROMs to your heart’s content.
The Microsoft Surface DuoPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
6. Microsoft Surface Duo
The best phone for making people go “Whoa, is that a phone?”
As a phone enthusiast, you already know this harsh truth: the Microsoft Surface Duo is not a good phone. It has an old processor. The camera is worse than any iPhone of the past five years. The battery life is decidedly Not Great. It gets hot doing simple tasks. There are SO MANY software bugs. It’s got a generation-old version of Android. It doesn’t even support wireless charging or NFC payments! Oh yeah, and there’s that questionable build quality to worry about.
But there’s something undeniably cool about the Surface Duo, like it’s a device from the future coming here to bless us in the early 21st century. It’s so thin, it has two screens, the hinge is incredibly neat. Open it up in public and you’re sure to get someone to ask “wow, is that a phone?” which we all know is the ultimate goal here. You can then show them all of its cool features, right after it’s done rebooting itself for the fifth time that day.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro MaxPhoto by Becca Farsace / The Verge
7. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
The best phone for telling yourself that you don’t need an actual camera
For years now we’ve been told that phone cameras are so good that you don’t need an actual camera. The iPhone 12 Pro Max might be the best example of that yet. It’s got a bigger sensor! It’s got three focal lengths! It can shoot video in Dolby Vision HDR!
At the end of the day, it’s still a phone camera and can’t really hold a candle to the image quality or creative control you get with a larger mirrorless camera. But hey, it’s fun to live in that lie and you can totally see the difference between the 12 Pro Max images and other phones. When you blow them up on a big screen. And zoom in.
Oppo Find X3 ProPhoto by Sam Byford / The Verge
8. Oppo Find X3 Pro
The best phone for saying “you can’t get this in the US”
Perhaps the ultimate phone flex is pulling a phone out of your pocket that nobody else is going to have. If you’re in the US, the Oppo Find X3 Pro is that phone. It’s got features you can’t get on any American phone and a design you won’t see everywhere, like a microscope camera and softly rounded camera bump. Sure, it won’t really work great on the cellular networks here, importing it is an expensive hassle, and you won’t have any warranty whatsoever. But just think of the envy on your friends’ faces when you tell them they can’t have this phone.
Oppo Find X3 Pro
$1,178
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Oppo’s Find X3 Pro is the company’s latest flagship and it’s not sold in the US. It has a unique camera system and head-turning design that you won’t see on American phones.
$1,178
at Amazon
OnePlus 9 ProPhoto by Becca Farsace / The Verge
9. OnePlus 9 Pro
The best phone for when you realize that Pixel phones aren’t great, but you don’t want a Samsung either
Google’s Pixel phones have such great software and then… mediocre everything else. Samsung phones have incredible hardware but are laden with heavy software and actual ads inside of the stock apps. The OnePlus 9 Pro splits that difference — it has software that’s similar to Google’s on hardware that’s virtually a Samsung with a different logo on it.
The 9 Pro is just what the phone enthusiast ordered: a high-end, bells-and-whistles device with All Of The Specs but none of the cruft.
Samsung Galaxy Z FlipPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
10. Samsung Z Flip 5G
The best weekend phone for when you’re “disconnecting”
Here comes the weekend, with all of its promises of relaxation and enjoyment. You don’t need a phone that’s going to make you more productive, you need something that’s going to slip into your pocket and won’t distract you with a colorful display unless you absolutely need it to.
The Z Flip 5G is this phone. You can flip it closed to ignore it and then pop it open and have a full smartphone inside, complete with every feature you get on non-flippy phones. You’re making a compromise without really making a compromise, because we all know that you had no intention of actually disconnecting for the weekend.
Tesla is starting to use the camera above the rear-view mirror in the Model 3 and Model Y to help make sure people pay attention to the road while using Autopilot, the company’s advanced driver assistance system.
Until now, the main way Tesla’s cars measure driver attention is through torque sensors in the steering wheel that look for resistance — a crude way of ensuring drivers keep their hands on the wheel. If it doesn’t register enough feedback, the car performs a series of escalating visual and audible warnings.
The change comes after regulators and safety experts spent years begging Tesla to add better driver monitoring to its cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has even admitted that crashes involving Autopilot stem from complacency. But he previously rejected his own engineers’ calls to add more robust driver monitoring to the company’s cars. Musk said at the time that the tech was “ineffective.” Companies like General Motors and Ford currently sell cars with camera-based eye-tracking systems that are meant to make sure drivers pay attention while using hands-free driving features.
A Twitter user who says they just took delivery of a new Model Y posted an image Thursday that shows software release notes describing the new safety feature:
The cabin camera above your rearview mirror can now detect and alert driver inattentiveness while Autopilot is engaged. Camera data does not leave the car itself, which means the system cannot save or transmit information unless data sharing is enabled.
In subsequent tweets, the Model Y owner said the steering wheel sensor alerts were still active.
Electrek has also seen the release notes.
Model S and Model X vehicles made before 2021 do not have a cabin camera, though the redesigned versions announced in January (which have still not shipped) are supposed to have them.
Tesla doesn’t define the term “driver inattentiveness” that it uses in the release notes, or what happens if it decides someone isn’t paying sufficient attention. Earlier this year, hacker @greentheonly and an accomplice were able to tease out what a work-in-progress version of the camera-based driver monitoring system could see. It was particularly good at noticing when the driver looked down at a phone, though it struggled in low light.
The in-car camera was pretty much benign in the early going with the Model 3 and Model Y, though Tesla started using it to make sure that drivers in the beta test of its “Full Self-Driving” version of Autopilot were paying attention to the road. Musk said in March that Tesla removed some beta testers from the program because they “did not pay sufficient attention.”
The addition of camera-based driver monitoring feature also follows a fresh wave of scrutiny on Autopilot, which rose up after a pair of fatal crashes where it initially appeared the driver assistance system may have been involved — though, in one case, officials walked back the claim that Autopilot was active, and in the other, an early report from the National Transportation Safety Board made it seem unlikely that the system was in use. There have also been a number of recently documented cases of social media users posting videos that show them fooling Autopilot into thinking someone is still in the driver’s seat.
Major US wireless carriers are gearing up to shut down their old 3G networks — a process that has been fraught with delays and miscommunication as companies alert customers with older phones that it’s time to upgrade. To that end, Verizon and AT&T have published guides to which devices will stop working after their 3G networks go offline next year. Here’s what you need to know.
Verizon has delayed its CDMA 3G network shutdown several times but is now firmly committed to shutting the network down by December 31st, 2022. All 3G basic phones and smartphones will lose service, but some 4G devices will be impacted as well — namely, those that don’t support VoLTE (Voice over LTE). A few connected devices are affected, too; take a look at Verizon’s full guidelines for more details.
Taking the opposite approach, AT&T has published a complete list (spotted by XDA Developers) of exactly which phones, tablets, and smartwatches will keep working after its 3G shutdown on February 22nd, 2022. (Separately, there’s concern in the alarm industry: many home security devices use AT&T’s 3G and it’s possible that users won’t be able to replace them in time.) In any case, AT&T makes it easy to understand which mobile devices will keep functioning after the network shutdown.
T-Mobile’s 3G shutdown is a bit more complicated. It operates a UMTS 3G network, which the company will reportedly shut down in April 2022, and Sprint’s former CDMA 3G network, which the company says it will sunset on January 1st, 2022. T-Mobile hasn’t published a list of affected devices, but customers can check their device’s IMEI to see if it’s LTE and VoLTE compatible, which should indicate whether the device will keep working after the 3G networks are taken offline.
(Pocket-lint) – The ‘Style Edition’ edition of Acer’s Predator Triton series returns in a 16-inch format, bringing gaming/creator levels of performance into an altogether more discreet, less flashy clamshell than the ‘gaming norm’.
The Predator Triton 500 SE arrives hot on the heels of the smaller-scale Triton 300 SE becoming available to buy. So if the smaller model doesn’t quite pack enough of a punch then is the larger device worth waiting for – and worth saving up for?
Design & Display
16-inch Mini LED panel
2560 x 1600 resolution (WQXGA)
1600 nits brightness maximum
240Hz refresh rate
16:10 aspect ratio
Built-in fingerprint sensor
Thickness: 19.9mm
DTS:X Ultra audio
The 500 SE is, as its 16-inch diagonal panel would dictate, a larger machine than the original 14-inch 300 SE. Not only that, the 500 SE is a rather more developed device, its screen embodying the latest Mini LED technology for a much brighter experience.
Pocket-lint
Mini LED – a technology used by some high-end TVs – houses multiple LEDs behind the surface for a more intense brightness, because there are literally more of the illuminators than earlier technologies could cram into place.
In the case of the Predator Triton 500 SE that means a maximum of 1600 nits – which is as bright as you’ll see the most flagship of mobile phone achieve. It’s better than most high-end OLED tellies, too, so this panel has got the guns to really deliver a strong image to the eyes.
Not only that, it’s a WQXGA resolution, bringing greater sharpness potential to your games, movies and content. All across a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is versatile for all kinds of content and not ‘tall’ like some older laptops.
Pocket-lint
The screen, then, is the Triton 500 SE’s main event, no doubt. But the sell of this laptop is in its design – the idea being that its silvery colour is subtle enough to not scream ‘gaming laptop!‘. The lid has a simple raised Predator symbol logo to the top corner, but no in-your-face text or other logo prints anywhere else to be seen.
However, just as we said of the smaller-scale Style Edition original, the Triton 500 SE’s panel just feels a bit, well, flimsy. There’s too much flex to it; the lid looks and feels too plasticky – when it really shouldn’t at this end of the market.
Pocket-lint
It’s all pretty discreet, although switch on the RGB lighting under the keyboard and there’s no hiding it. And you only need to look at the large vents to the rear to know that it’s ready to pass a lot of air through for the sake of cooling. Still, at 19.9mm thick, it’s really not that massive for such a device.
11th Gen Intel Core i7 / Core i9 processor options
Nvidia RTX 3070 / 3080 GPU options
Up to 4GB PCIe storage / 64GB RAM
5th Gen AeroBlade fan cooling tech
Turbo button for overclocking
Killer Wi-Fi 6 (AX1650i)
Predator Sense
In terms of power available the Triton 500 SE delivers a lot more than the 300 SE can muster. The 16-inch model packs in 11th Gen Intel Core i7 and Nvidia RTX 3070 for its circa two-grand asking price (£1,999 in the UK). That’s nearer three-grand (£2,999 in the UK) if you opt for the Core i9 and RTX 3080. No small chunk of change, more just a big chunk of awesome power.
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All of that obviously requires more cooling than your average, hence those big vents to the back and side of the device. But we’ve found the fans do kick in with little fuss, meaning there’s quite a bit of potential noise. There are additional fan controls within Predator Sense software – which has its own dedicated activation button – to take extra command, including maxxing them during gaming sessions.
Even the dedicated Turbo button to the top left area above the keyboard, can push overclocking – and that’ll send those fans into a frenzy. The cooling setup is called AeroBlade 3D – now in its fifth generation – a system that uses the fans to pull air in over the most heat capacitive components (CPU, GPU, RAM) and hold air in chambers to aid with this cooling process.
We’ve not had the time to test this laptop under full pressure, merely see it at a pre-launch Acer event to gauge some of how well it will handle serious tasks. Being a gaming laptop with Intel architecture we wouldn’t assume the battery will last especially long – and you’re going to need it plugged into the wall to get maximum potential anyway – but Acer does claim it can manage up to 12 hours in altogether more work-like conditions.
Pocket-lint
Interestingly there’s some pretty serious ports built into the design, from the dedicated Ethernet port for best connectivity, to the full-size SD card reader – which is a really rare sight these days on laptops. As for speeds, the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4, so there’s certainly no slack there – a bit like the Predator Triton 500 SE’s overall ethos really.
First Impressions
If Acer’s original 14-inch ‘Style Edition’ Predator Triton didn’t quite deliver on scale or power, then the Predator Triton 500 SE is here to up the ante. It’s got a bigger, brighter and meaner screen, plus power options that are far more considerable – but then so is the price tag, so you’ll need to get saving.
The design – pretty much pitched as ‘gaming laptop for the business person’ – is more discreet than your gaming laptop average, but there’s still all the RGB lighting, cooling vents, ports and Turbo overclocking that you could want.
It’s good to see something a bit different to diversify the gaming laptop and creators market. Although, as we said of the original SE model, the 500 SE ought to up its game when it comes to screen sturdiness – especially at this price point.
Writing by Mike Lowe.
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