Apple delays the launch of watchOS 2 because of a bug
Apple has pushed back the launch of watchOS 2 because of a bug, a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. The new software was expected to hit Apple Watches today, September 16th. “We have discovered a bug in development of watchOS 2 that is taking a bit longer to fix than we expected,” an Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We will not release watchOS 2 today but will shortly.”
WatchOS 2 brings a bunch of updates to the Apple Watch, including native support for third-party apps, new face options, the ability to play short videos right on your wrist, and a nightstand setting that includes an alarm and snooze function.
Filed under:
Peripherals, Software, Apple
Source:
TechCrunch
Tags: apple, AppleWatch, Delay, watchos2
HTC Desire 626 (AT&T) review
Announced in July, the HTC Desire 626 positions itself as an affordable take on the premium smartphone experience. Namely, it delivers a lot of the One M9 flagship and custom HTC stuff in a less expensive, plastic-clad model. In short, it’s a phone for those who don’t want to spend a lot of money or who don’t need a ton of smartphone.
The Desire 626 is available in a variety of color options including Marshmallow White, Gray Lava, Blue Lagoon, Marine White and White Birch. The colors and general build are a complement to the heavier, metal stuff you’ll find in the One series.
If you’ve paid close attention to HTC’s smartphone designs over the last year or so you’ll note that the Desire 626 closely resembles the Desire Eye and Desire 610. Perhaps it’s not coincidence that those models are offered by AT&T. For some reason, Ma Bell likes to offer this sort of smartphone to its customers.
Design
Using a polycarbonate material for much of the phone, the Desire 626 comes with flat (matte) colors for the front and back with a colored band/trim accent around the middle. As you might expect from AT&T, their version is the white and blue (Marine White and Navy) combination.
The overall feeling with this one is that it’s not flashy or gaudy, but it certainly doesn’t feel cheaply made. It’s a soft phone to hold and there is enough curve to the shoulders and that it doesn’t feel squarish or rectangular. It looks every bit the part of what you’d expect out of HTC in 2015, including the front-facing speakers, screen trim, and logo placement.
The first thing I thought upon taking this out of the box was, “wow, this is a tall phone”. It felt great in hand, though, and was comfortable to hold. After comparing to other models such as the One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6, I found it was barely any taller or longer than most of today’s phones. Maybe it was a simple trick of the eye, but on its own, it appeared long.
The HTC One M9 and the HTC Desire 626 closely resemble each other.
The Desire 626 is slim and fits in pockets quite nicely. It weighs just about what you would expect and is more of a pleasure to operate with one hand than its flagship.
As a whole, the phone is solidly built; there’s no creaking or noises when I tried to bend and ply it with moderate force.
Looking at the display, you’ll find the power and volume buttons to the right side of the phone. Both are found inside of the blue trim with the power placed below the volume controls. My hand is not exactly large but my thumb easily found the power button even though it was more flush or recessed than the others. The volume buttons on this model had a nice white accent around them, helping to stand out.
Over on the other side you’ll find the SIM card slot and microSD expansion card slot. Both are accessed by opening a hatch-like spot inside the same trim. I got the feeling the little rubber/plastic piece keeping it connected might break with repeated opening, however it’s not something you’ll be accessing a lot anyhow.
Above and below the screen you’ll find stereo (not BoomSound) speakers; at the top left you’ll easily locate the camera. If you’ve ever taken a group shot with a front-facing shooter you know it’s not always easy to identify where the camera is. In some cases it’s pretty tough to discern which is a camera and which is an ambient light sensor. That’s not the case here; there’s nothing else to distract you.
Flip the phone over and you’ll find the rear camera wrapped in the same blue accent, setting at the top left. Below the sensor is the LED flash. It’s worth noting that even with the pronounced appearance, the camera is flush and the entire rear of the device is flat. There’s none of that wonky stuff that comes with a lip or a camera that sticks out.
The battery cover does not come off of the Desire 626. HTC, or perhaps AT&T, placed a sticker on our review model advising not to try. This basically means no removable battery, which could be a pain point for some users.
Wrapping things up, the headphone jack can be found at the top while the bottom offers up the microUSB port.
Display
Powered off, and a quick glance, it doesn’t appear that the Desire 626 has much of a bezel around the display. Look closer, or simply turn it on, and it tells a different story. Suffice it to say, this phone could feel even better in hand were HTC to pare things down a smidge.
The LCD screen measures 5-inches however the resolution is only 720 pixels. While it’s still HD, it’s not the 1080 stuff and it doesn’t come close to the 1440 pixel screens found in top models. Does this matter to you? For the target audience, I suspect the resolution is not that big of a deal.
Even at full brightness, the Desire 626 is tough to see in direct sunlight.
Color was accurate in our usage and matched up closely enough with other smartphones to satisfy us. It was only when we compared images to other phones that we found the Desire 626 lacking. We might have had to turn the brightness up to the full setting to see it outside, but all other conditions were impressive. If this is your first smartphone then you’ll no doubt be impressed with the screen. If you’ve spent considerable time with higher resolution phones you’ll feel the difference in no time.
Audio
We didn’t have any issues with basic phone calls; our callers could hear us and we could discern the other end. There was nothing here to suggest HTC cut corners or used a generic speaker for calls.
Although there are two speakers on the front of the HTC Desire 626 only one of them is employed for speakerphone. In the cases where you put a call on speaker you’ll use the bottom. It’s loud enough for office, cars, and general house usage. Get into a situation where it’s a little louder and you may just want to switch over to the earpiece. It worked in noisy conditions, just not overwhelmingly.
Interestingly, the same bottom speaker plays music from it but it’s not a stereo sound. Get it up too loud and it really shows its limitations. The top speaker sounds just fine in most scenarios we tested and had decent quality even at the higher levels.
Camera
The HTC Desire 626’s rear (8-megapixel) camera performed as expected, meaning it didn’t exactly wow us. Pictures were fine for most of what we needed but we certainly wouldn’t say the camera is a leading feature. If your main concern is the occasional selfie, group shot, or still life, you will be pleased. Do note that you’ll want good lighting as the indoor, evening stuff we took often had grain or noise.
Right out of the box, the camera app is easy to work with and gets you directly into snapping pictures. There are three modes to choose from: selfie, normal, and panorama. You can hope between these in the settings screen or you can also jump between them with a simple swipe of the screen when the camera is running.
Those who prefer to take things into their own hands will be happy to know there are also settings for exposure, ISO, and white balance Additionally, you can also adjust things for different scenarios or settings with portrait, landscape, macro, night, HDR, and even make-up levels for selfies. Also present are settings for contrast, saturation, video quality, timers, and more. Unlike the HTC One M9, however, you cannot download anything else to the camera for extra customization.
Selfies aren’t my thing, but I found the 5-megapixel shooter to be plenty decent in most settings. It tends to show a little more noise, but that’s generally the case with most front-facing sensors.
Video recording can be done at 720 pixels which is considered high definition. No, it’s not 1080 or even the 4K stuff, but the target demographic likely doesn’t mind. Good in a pinch, it’s gonna get the job done for Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat. As for extended recording of little league football, not so much.
Battery
With a 2,000mAh battery, the Desire 626 may need a boost or two throughout your work day. I tend to play a little harder on my phones, especially when setting them up with a suite of apps and settings. With that said, I was reaching for a charger by dinner time. After a few days, and when things slowed down, I was able to eek out another 1-2 hours of usage.
Even when compared to other entry-level phones this one doesn’t quite stack up. Even the Moto G, at $180, comes with a 2470mAh battery. But, keeping in mind the average Desire 626 customer, it will be enough to power their entire day.
No removable back or removable battery here.
To help, HTC includes Power Saver and Extreme Power Saver modes. The former turns off some of the lesser seen and used features in the phone to extend the life a few hours. The latter ramps this up and toggles off a lot of functions in the name of life. If you’re down to the last few percentages of battery and need to use your phone in an emergency, switch to this and knock off the stuff that isn’t related to basic calling.
Software
The HTC Desire 626 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop atop the most recent HTC Sense user enhancements. This means that users can expect to have personalization and customization. Want new icons, fonts, wallpapers, or (even) keyboards? HTC makes it easy to do so.
There are plenty of options to play with on the Desire 626, be it the home screen, lock screen, or something else. It doesn’t take long for users to set the phone up to something that feels unique and distinctly yours.
HTC Sense does a great job of holding a user’s hand without making them feel stupid in the process. It’s definitely not as lean as other custom UI’s but it has come a long way over the last few years.
As part of its customization, HTC loads an app called BlinkFeed on its smartphones. Designed to provide users social media and news in a quick and easily digestible manner, it’s found on the left home screen of the phone. You can remove it if you’d like, or prefer other apps and services for the same duties. If you’re new to smartphones, though, you might like this.
You can personalize the lock screen and its behaviors with icon shortcuts to apps; users can opt for PIN, passwords, patterns, and other security measures. For those who tend to open their phone just to check email, Facebook, or take a picture, these shortcuts can be invaluable and save seconds. It could be all the difference in a photo of your friend in action.
Other HTC apps include Zoe and the One Gallery. Working together, these can help you create images and videos for events, places, and times that are far more interesting than a single photo. They’re fun to play with and sharing your creations is quite easy.
I cannot speak for other carriers but there are a ton of apps pre-installed from AT&T. You’ll find all sorts of things here that work with their services or tie into their accounts. You can’t remove them or hide them by default but a third party app like Nova Launcher can help tuck them out of sight.
General Performance
Considering the specifications include a 1.1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor with 1GB RAM I was not expecting a powerhouse. Because I have spent time with much more capable devices I easily noticed the shortcomings. But, after handing it off to a less savvy user, they didn’t seem to mind things as much. With no major smartphone experience under their belt, they were acceptable of the phone, calling it “cool” and adding, “not bad, I kinda like it.”
You won’t be able to run too many concurrent applications on the phone and playing some of the newer first person games is just about out of the question. But, for social media, pictures, email, and other basic necessities, it’s sufficient.
Conclusion
Priced about $200, the HTC Desire 626 is about 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of today’s major smartphones. Considering this, we should not expect anything along the lines of a flagship experience. The HTC Desire 626 comes in right where we would expect for something in this space. Specifically, it does not underwhelm but it never overwhelms, either.
When you look at other phones in this price point, such as the http://www.androidguys.com/motorola-moto-g-2015/ you tend to get more hardware for the money. And, given the added customization that you find with a Moto G, the phone feels more unique and yours.
Let’s not forget that Desire 626 will be carrier locked, if only at first, should you get it from a wireless provider. This might not matter to a lot of you, but it could be a big deal if you plan to travel outside of the country soon or are the verge of breaking up with your carrier.
If the review sounds like I am wishy-washy it’s likely because I just didn’t find anything that had me overly impressed. There’s nothing wrong with the phone by any stretch, it’s just kinda boring and average. Ironically, I kinda wish HTC might continue along this trajectory for some of its future devices as it physically feels fresher than the One M9 at this point.
Purchase the HTC Desire 626 from HTC
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The official Khan Academy beta app is now available
Do you thirst for knowledge? You may want to take a look at Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a continual teaching tool that anyone can use, for free. With backing from donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Google, Khan Academy offers high quality education in everything from Intro to Programming, to Maths, and Art History.
Now you can pick up the beta version of the Khan Academy app for your Android device. While the app is a bit limited, you can still access all of the YouTube based videos, progress tracking and full transcripts. Hopefully soon we’ll see practice exercises and teaching tools that you can currently access on the website.
If you’d like to try the app, you can join up on the official Google+ page (optional) and download the app from the Play Store or on APK Mirror. You may see some “Listing Unavailable” errors if you visit on your computer but everything should work if you try to join up using your phone.
Khan Academy is one of the best learning tools on the net and we’re extremely excited to see them taking steps forward in making learning even easier. This app could be a great tool for teaching in, and out of, schools with the rise of cheap Android tablets and phones. Education access to poor and rural communities has been notoriously slow to adapt to new technologies but with apps like this we could be seeing a new revolution in low income earning.
Source: AndroidPolice
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OnePlus 2 review; 2015 flagship runner-up
In early 2014 arose a company out of nowhere. That company was OnePlus and they took the world by storm with their ‘Flagship Killer’ dubbed the One. The OnePlus One broke new ground by offering flagship caliber specs at half the price. Even though the device was somewhat difficult to purchase, OnePlus still managed to sell over one million devices last year.
That brings us to now, and we have the OnePlus 2. A device that tops the One in every category, both internally and externally. The OnePlus One never had a big problem, but there was certain issues that added up. Yellow band issue, touchscreen issues, microphone issues, etc. The OnePlus 2 looks to alleviate those concerns with top-notch specs, a premium build, and still a great price.
Design
If you are familiar with the OnePlus One, the OnePlus 2 is a complete 180. Overall, it has the same shape, but comes with a magnesium/aluminum chassis. On top of that, it still ships with the trademarked Sandstone Black back cover, this time on both the 16 GB and 64 GB variants. The device for the review is the 64 GB variant, but they are identical externally. Just like its predecessor, the 2 ships with a 5.5 inch display. The design of the device along with the curves makes it very easy to hold. Even though it nears the size of the Galaxy Note 5, it is much easier and more comfortable to hold. The OnePlus 2 comes in at 151.8 x 74.9 x 9.9 mm and comes in at 175 grams.
To compare it to the OnePlus One, it is thinner in both directions, vertically and horizontally. The OnePlus 2 is a full millimeter thicker than the One, but also houses a larger battery. I must say, fitting the same sized display in a smaller footprint is definitely a win for OnePlus.
The main difference between the two device is the build construction. Like I stated before, it comes with a magnesium/aluminum chassis that feels excellent in the hand. The One felt decent, but it wasn’t worth bragging about. The 2 however, feels excellent. The sides are rather straight, no curves to be seen. Personally, I really like metal frames on phones, but I don’t really like when they are curved. Metal is slippery already, so adding a curve to lessen grip-ability just isn’t very smart. The metal edge has a very nice finish to it that looks like it will hold up to every day bump and scrapes. It also gives it some extra grip, but ever so slightly.
On the front of the device, the all-new ‘lightning quick’ fingerprint sensor is found on the bottom of the device where the home button resided on the One. Flanking it on either side are the capacitive buttons which light up as two lines. This allows the buttons to be reversible, whereas the previous device had the back button on the right, with the multitasking button on the left.
The top of the device houses the headphone jack along with a microphone. Other than that, the top is completely bare. It does not have an IR blaster. On the bottom of the device comes the speaker and highly-anticipated USB Type-C port. When the device is laying on its back, the grille to the right of the USB port houses the speaker, whereas the one to the left houses a microphone.
The right side of the device is home to the lock button and newly relocated volume rockers. One complaint I had about the buttons on the One was that they felt cheap and weren’t very clickly. That changes on the OnePlus 2, as the buttons are now metal and feel very tactile and tight to the chassis. On its predecessor, the buttons felt very wobbly.
On to the left side, living where the volume rockers used to reside, is something Android hasn’t seen before: an alert slider. The alert slider is something that has been exclusive to Apple devices for some time now, but has never found its way to Android. I am a big fan of this and OnePlus incorporated it very well. In class, it is so much easier to slide the switch all the way up to turn on “Do not disturb mode”. All the way down gives all notifications and the middle gives only priority notifications. Every time the switch is pressed, the phone gives a slight haptic feedback to acknowledge that it happened.
On to the back of the device, I remember when I first got the OnePlus One in the mail, I was excited to hold it in the hand because the Sandstone Black back cover was so highly talked about. It was one of the first phones to have a solid grip to it, and the OnePlus 2 doesn’t skip a beat. It seems to have a coarser texture this time around, which doesn’t bother me any.
OnePlus does offer the StyleSwap covers again, this time in Bamboo, Rosewood, Kevlar, Black Apricot, all available for purchase with no invite. Previously on the One, you needed an invite to purchase a StyleSwap cover, but it was eventually scrapped due to how challenging it was to change the cover. I did it for a friend and you definitely have to be careful, but it can be done rather easily, it just takes time. The good news is that the OnePlus 2 has a back cover that is much easier to be removed and can be done in mere seconds.
The reasoning for the back cover being so much easier to be removed, aside from the obvious, is that it houses the SIM card slots. On the One, the SIM card slot was accessed on the side of the device. This time around, the OnePlus 2 features dual-SIM support. Once the back cover is removed, the SIM tray which is located to the left camera just slides out.
Display
The OnePlus 2 comes with a 5.5 inch LTPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080×1920. That means it comes in at a very modest 401 ppi. There is nothing wrong with the display as it is very clear and crisp. The short answer is that it is a complete upgrade from the One.
One of the biggest issues I have with smartphone displays, especially on devices that fall between the $200-400 range, is that the brightness range seems to be very slim. Now the range on the 2 isn’t very large out of the box, but that is due to the adaptive brightness. You can’t experience the full range until turning off adaptive brightness, then it can get dimmer and brighter than before. Using the phone at night, the display can get quite dim and the brightness is decent; the screen can still be seen clearly in the daylight though. Hopefully they update that in an eventual OTA update.
The color on the 2 is very good though. Watching saturated videos with intense colors is very satisfying, even though the panel isn’t QHD. Coming from the Galaxy S6 edge and Galaxy Note 5, the OnePlus 2’s 1080p doesn’t bother me at all. They did a very good job on the display, but I still wholeheartedly prefer AMOLED displays. The OnePlus 2 can hold its own, but still trails behind the G4’s panel and of course the S6/Note 5.
A welcoming side note about the glass that covers the display, is Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It does a much better job than the Gorilla Glass 3 on the OnePlus One in the fingerprint category. I remember when using my One, fingerprints would gunk up the glass super easily, to the point where I would regularily have to clean it off. So far, my experience with the OnePlus 2 is completely different.
Performance
There was some controversy when OnePlus announced that the 2 would be packing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, which was known for overheating in other devices. OnePlus tried to alleviate consumers by claiming they worked very closely with Qualcomm to make sure the software was optimized for the Snapdragon 810.
The specific ‘optimizations’ are unknown, but once it was found out that the 810 would be throttled to 1.8 GHz, from its original 2.0 GHz. The device in turn has four A57 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz and four more A53 cores clocked at 1.6 GHz. Not only that, but it runs the Adreno 430 GPU and is backed by 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Together, they all surprisingly work very well, much better than the HTC One M9 in my opinion.
To give an example, my HTC One M9 that I owned only scored 52k on the AnTuTu Benchmark. That is along the lines of last year’s Snapdragon 805 processor seen in the Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4. On my one and only benchmark on my 2, it scored 58k, which is a huge improvement over the HTC One M9.
I will include the fingerprint sensor in this portion of the review because it essentially is hardware and has to do with performance. I have used TouchID and Samsung’s fingerprint sensors before, so I know how well it can be done. With the OnePlus 2’s fingerprint sensor, I was pleasantly surprised. It unlocked the device, even when the screen was off almost instantaneously. Now it would miss occasionally, but its recognition was definitely in the 90% area. It isn’t as great as TouchID, but I will say it rivals it and is better than what Samsung is employing in the S6/S6 edge and Galaxy Note 5/S6 edge+.
As surprising as the fingerprint sensor, the external speaker is quite the contrary. The quality is decent, but the speaker is definitely one of the more quieter ones. Music has no low-end, and very high-end saturated. It sounds very good at very low volumes, but that doesn’t cut it. Sometimes it’s so quiet that I have a hard time hearing my notification sound.
The internal headphone jack quality is on point with other devices though. That kind of makes up for it in my eyes, as I listen to music with my headphones on much more than I do through the external speaker. I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the Samsung or LG’s, but it is around there.
Software
I had to add to its own category, because there is no sense in causing another categories score to go down for one issue. While OxygenOS is very stable, it definitely has its drawbacks. One of my main reasons for purchasing the OnePlus One was to experience CyanogenMod on a device that was made for it. It was great. It came with many customizations, decent update times, and a great development community if you wanted to switch over to the nightlys. OxygenOS was hyped as a stable and fast ROM for the One, and that’s just what it was.
Now that the OnePlus 2 ships with OxygenOS 2.0.0 out of the box, it is a lot better rounded than the version 1.0 found on the One, but I still find it not enough. The customization tab in the settings only has three options… THREE. Realistically, there is only two: changing the system to a dark mode/accent colors and change the color of the LED notifications.
Although those customizations are there, they are still very limited. Most ROMs allow for the ability for the user to select any color they wish, usually by hexadecimal or by manual picking a color. On the 2, OxygenOS only allows for pre-determined colors. The colors available for the theme accents can be seen on the left and the LED colors can be seen on the right.
Another thing that grinds my gears about the software experience is how the quick pull-down is always enabled. On default Lollipop, one swipe brings up the notifications, two swipes brings up the quick settings toggles. On the 2, the notification shade always gets pulled down all the way, unless there is a notification, but even then you have to swipe down from the left side of the screen to access the notification. I would understand this choice if there was an option to disable it, but there isn’t.
One of the biggest issues with the software though, has to do with both the hardware buttons and the on-screen buttons. I don’t mind hardware buttons, as they leave open precious screen real estate. They come enabled so I didn’t even think twice about changing it to on-screen. That is until I found out that the hardware home button is only reliable around 70-80% of the time. It is very frustrating to have to press the home button multiple times to go home. No worry, the OnePlus 2 allows me to switch, so I did. I was enjoying it, everything was responsive, that was until I opened Snapchat.
The thing about Snapchat is that it employs the expanded desktop, meaning it hides the notification shade and navigation buttons. The only issue is that the OnePlus 2 doesn’t allow for the navigation buttons to be hidden, so it is always prevalent. This is a problem because it blocks out some of the select-able options in the app. To my surprise, there isn’t an option in the settings for that either.
One aspect I do like in the software is OnePlus’ new Shelf on the homescreen. It is sort of like their take on Google Now, but with more customization and less features. It holds a list of the most used applications and frequent contacts. Personally, if this screen was able to be set as the default homescreen, I might give it a try.
One thing to note is that when OEMs try to implement their own version of Google Now to the left of the homescreen, sometimes it is very sluggish when swiping back and forth. On the OnePlus 2’s launcher it is very smooth and I have no complaints whatsoever. It is just as crisp as Google Now found on the Nexus devices.
Unfortunately, aside from Shelf being able to be customized, the homescreen lacks basic features such as adjusting the grid size. The same goes for the app drawer. I am a fan of maximizing the space on my screen, so for the majority of my time, I am using the Nova launcher.
Now, before you think I’m just hating on OnePlus’ OxygenOS, understand that these are all just personal opinions. I know that all of these issues of mine can be fixed via a software update, so I’m not going to let it weigh on my experience too much. I know OxygenOS is only a few months old and I’m sure it will continue to gain features. Like I stated earlier, I am impressed with how stable and quick it is, no complaints there.
Camera
One of the things that OnePlus kept talking about leading up to the announcement of the OnePlus 2 was how hard they worked on the camera. They were even so confident, they had MKBHD review it before the device was even launched. The 2 is sporting a 13 megapixel camera with an f/2,0 aperture. It isn’t quite the f/1.8 of the G4 or the f/1.9 of the S6/S6 edge, but it is still a decent camera. On top of that, the front camera has been upgraded as well to a 5 megapixel camera.
Backing the 13 megapixel rear shooter is optical image stabilization and laser auto focus. This really helps it in lower light shots, which I found the device did a good job lighting up the image. OnePlus definitely worked hard on their processing software on the 2, and it shows in the quality of the image.
The camera is very good at bringing in the colors and really outputting a solid image. This makes it a very good point and shoot type of camera, for someone who likes to get the best out of their images without doing in post-editing.
One thing that bothered me about the camera was that while it was quick at taking the pictures, it wasn’t quick to ready it for another one. As the image above shows, the device would also process the image for a second after the image was taken. This is somewhat frustrating and annoying if you are trying to take more than one shot.
Battery
The feature most smartphones in 2015 lack, is the battery life. It seems manufacturers have gotten obsessed with slimming down devices so much that the device barely lasts throughout the day (Galaxy S6/S6 edge). The good news is that OnePlus think about taking that approach on the OnePlus 2. They understand, especially from feedback on the OnePlus One, that battery life is a very important, if not the most important category.
So, instead of slimming down the 2, they actually added a little thickness to include the 3,300 mAh battery, which is 200 more mAh than the One. It was a very good move, since they are moving from the timeless Snapdragon 801 to the power hungry 810.
Although the back of the device is removable, the battery is not. No need to worry though, as the OnePlus 2 easily powers through the day. That is definitely a good thing because it does not support quick charging and USB Type-C cords are currently hard to find. I’m sure that will change eventually.
I have been using the 2 as my daily driver on and off for the past two weeks and for a phone in 2015, it is in the top of the pack for battery life. My day usually consists of waking up around 6 AM and not getting back home until 9 PM. The device would easily power the the 15 hours with some juice to spare. For the most part, I would get home with 30-40% left. This would come with moderate usage, around 2-3 hours of screen on time and terrible reception half the day. It’s not terrible, but it isn’t on par with the OnePlus One.
On the other hand, when the device has a good amount of service and is connected to WiFi, it has serious potential to get some good screen on numbers. The image above shows what it’s capable of when those certain requirements are met.
With a 1080p display and a massive 3,300 mAh, I kind of wished it would last a little longer, but I still have hope that will come through with software updates, or once I switch to CyanogenMod once that’s released. Regardless, it does have potential. OxygenOS does not include Power Saving, so that could be added in the future to extend the battery life. At the end of the day, it is still ahead of the Galaxy S6/S6 edge, LG G4, and HTC One M9, which also has the Snapdragon 810, in the battery life category.
Conclusion
The OnePlus 2 is a fitted successor to the OnePlus One. It comes with even better specs and an upgraded build for only a slightly higher price tag. OnePlus was able to use a top of the line processor and an include a metal chassis while still keeping the device under $400. I’ll call that a win in my book for sure.
In my opinion, the build on the 2 is the perfect combination of metal and plastic. The metal chassis really adds rigidity to the device and it feels excellent in the hand. The back doesn’t feel creaky whatsoever and feels very firm. Add the additions of easily swappable StyleSwap covers and the design is top-notch.
While the device is solid internally and externally, I am completely satsified with the device. The thing that has me disappointed is the software experience of OxygenOS. Coming from CyanogenMod on the OnePlus One to OnePlus’ in-house ROM OxygenOS was definitely a step backwards. I am still optimistic that with time, OxygenOS will become a solid alternative to CyanogenMod one day, but that day hasn’t come yet, and doesn’t look to be coming in the near future.
At the end of the day, the OnePlus 2 outperforms many in the same class, but I wouldn’t call it the ‘Flagship Killer of 2016’. It is a worthy competitor in 2015, but not the killer the OnePlus One once was. Overall it is still a great phone and will only get better in time with software updates.
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iPhone 6s Order Statuses Begin Shifting to ‘Preparing for Shipment’
The first batch of customers that pre-ordered the iPhone 6s are beginning to see their order statuses change from “Processing Items” to “Preparing for Shipment” on Apple’s website. There have been no specific reports of order status changes on the iPhone 6s Plus yet, but the larger smartphone should also begin seeing movement soon as the September 25 launch approaches.
The customers that have seen early movement on their iPhone 6s pre-orders all appear to live outside of the United States, with order status changes occurring in Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Apple has also begun charging credit cards for some of these customers, which is common at this point in the pre-order process but earlier than usual this year.
While some orders are now moving to the “Preparing for Shipment” stage, new iPhones will be held at FedEx, UPS and other couriers for delivery until September 25. In rare cases, however, some customers might receive their iPhone slightly earlier.
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus shipping estimates range between September 25 and October 2 for several customers, but some iPhone 6s Plus and Rose Gold models may ship later due to stronger demand.
Apple began accepting pre-orders on September 12 at 12:01 AM Pacific in the U.S. and eleven other countries, with shipping estimates quickly slipping to 2-3 weeks or later for the most popular models.
iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s launch on September 25 at Apple Stores and authorized resellers in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
How to Update Apple Watch’s watchOS Software
watchOS is the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch, powering its fitness tracking capabilities, apps, communication features, time-keeping abilities, and more. Apple plans to push regular updates to fix watchOS bugs, refine performance, and introduce new features, and the release of watchOS 2 alongside iOS 9 later today is a major uprade for the platform.
watchOS updates are installed in a unique way that differs from how we install iPhone and Mac updates, so we’ve crafted a quick tutorial to remind users how to get the latest version of watchOS on their Apple Watches so they’re ready for watchOS 2.
Read more 
Discover Rolls Out Apple Pay Support for iOS 9, Offers 10% CashBack Bonus for Apple Pay Purchases
As promised earlier this year, Discover has rolled out support for Apple Pay as of today for users running iOS 9 betas or the golden master. Other users will be able to add Discover cards once iOS 9 launches to the public in a few hours. With the addition, Discover cardholders will be able to take advantage of Apple Pay to make secure, contactless payments using Apple’s payment service.
To encourage users to give Apple Pay a try, Discover is offering a deal for all of its U.S. cardmembers. Any customer who uses their Discover cards through Apple Pay will get a 10 percent CashBack Bonus through the end of 2015. CashBack Bonuses are available on up to $10,000 of in-store purchases, and Discover it Miles, Miles, and Escape cardmembers will earn an extra 10 miles per dollar on up to $10,000 of in-store purchases.
“We are excited for Discover cardmembers to have the ability to use Apple Pay. Rewards have always been important to our cardmembers, and we want to make sure they receive a generous offer for shopping with Discover and Apple Pay,” said Heather Roche, vice president of rewards at Discover. “We want to encourage new and existing Discover cardmembers to add their Discover card to Apple Pay with a few simple clicks using our mobile app, take advantage of this 10% Cashback Bonus, and experience the ease and convenience of using Apple Pay.”
According to Discover’s Apple Pay press release, Discover members who want to use their cards with the service will need to update to Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 9, and then add their cards to the newly renamed Wallet app (formerly Passbook). From there, adding a card to Apple Pay is as simple as scanning it in and verifying it, as seen in our how to on using Apple Pay.
With Discover now supporting Apple Pay, all of the four major credit card networks in the United States work with the payments service. MasterCard, American Express, and Visa have worked with Apple Pay since the service launched in October of 2014.
Since Apple Pay first became available, Apple has worked with hundreds of banks and credit unions to expand Apple Pay support. A full list of supported banks in both the United States and the United Kingdom is available on Apple’s website.
Apple Pay is compatible with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus. Apple Pay is also available on an Apple Watch paired with one of the aforementioned devices or an iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s.
(Thanks, tmiw!)
ICYMI: Internet of balls, telepresence tourists and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: A new basketball has a tracking chip that can tell the difference between a swish and airball. It also syncs with an app that tracks stats and lets the user know how they’re doing. Now even the ultimate staycation lazybums can still tour museums and famous spots around the US with telepresence robots. Here’s hoping they don’t meet the same fate as HitchBot. And Tesla has some competition from Porsche, as it unveils its concept car for an all electric luxury ride.
Not at all tech, but definitely entertaining, check out the video from the Chinese Super League ping pong championships.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Misc, Meta, Robots, Transportation, Internet, Software
Tags: basketball, China, Chinesepingpong, electricvehicles, engadget, engadgetdaily, engadgetdailyshow, engadgetvideo, ev, evehicles, icymi, incaseyoumissedit, pingpong, Porsche, smartbasketball, telepresencerobot, telepresencetourists, Tesla, video, Wilsonbasketball
Wanted: your custom ‘Super Mario Maker’ levels
Something happened when we were broadcasting the Wii U’s Super Mario Maker on Playdate last week. Sean Buckley and myself (and almost assuredly someone from Twitch chat) thought it’d be a great idea to play through levels that the community made, live on the internet. And guess what? That’s absolutely what we want to do, but we’ll need your help. For a future stream we’d love to do nothing but play custom levels created exclusively by our loyal Playdate viewers. All you need to do is take the ID code for your masterpiece and drop it in an email to EngadgetPlaydate@gmail.com. It’s easy! We’re playing pretty loose with the rules too. You can send us a couple of your favorites (but fewer than 30) if you’re having a tough time narrowing it down to just one, and all that we ask if you not have anything lewd contained therein.
You have until 12 am ET next Tuesday, September 22nd to make any submissions. Should we choose to play through your level we’ll be in contact via email to let you know when you need to be online for the broadcast. Ideally, you’ll be able to join us in chat while we play.
Simple as that! Since it’s going to be my cohost Sean that’s actually playing through the game while I cackle in delight as his misfortunes, if you could make them a tad on the difficult side that’d be even better. Or, you know, maybe try and curry favor with him by cramming as many amiibo blocks into the level as possible. It’s up to you!
Filed under:
Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Nintendo
Tags: community, gaming, hd, hdpostcross, mario, mariomaker, nintendo, playdate, supermariomaker, wanted, wii, wiiu
Hewlett Packard will cut another 30,000 jobs during split
As it continues the process of splitting itself into two distinct companies, Hewlett-Packard has announced that it’ll fire between 25,000 and 30,000 more employees. That figure is believed to be on top of the 55,000 roles that were earmarked for the door when the plan was announced last October. If you’re not caught up on the news, here’s the tl:dr version: the ailing hardware maker is becoming two smaller firms in the hope that it can survive in a world that no longer loves the PC. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will produce software, services and servers for the business crowd, much like IBM, while HP will take over the personal computing and printer divisions.
The firm is bullish that it’s going to come out of this transformation all the better for it, with the company saying that HPE (as it’ll be known) will earn $50 billion in annual revenue. That may not be in line with the reality of the situation, however, since Reuters points out that its enterprise division saw an 11 percent drop in sales during the latest quarter. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anand Srinivasan piled on, telling Bloomberg that “the solution to revenue growth is not going to come from restructuring actions.” No-one should mention that to Meg Whitman, however, as the deal’s probably too far down the road for anyone to change it, now.
[Image Credit: Bloomberg via Getty]
Filed under:
Desktops, Internet, HP
Source:
HP
Tags: Bloomberg, HewlettPackard, HP, IBM, MegWhitman
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