Upgraded Tesla Model S rumored to arrive next week

Recently, Tesla’s world has revolved around the Model 3. But there’s more coming soon from the company. Rumors of an upgraded and pricier Model S began circulating last month, and now more details about that EV have emerged. According to CNET’s Tim Stevens, the overhauled Model S could debut as early as next week, based on information from sources inside Tesla. The report claims Tesla is set to make “luxury-minded” changes to its flagship vehicle, internally and externally, as Elon Musk’s team looks to compete against Audi, BMW and Mercedez-Benz.

This purported version of the Model S is said to bring a redesigned fascia front, as well as new seats and LED lights. Unfortunately, there’s no word on how much of a price hike this will come with, though it sounds like we’ll find that out sooner than expected. In the meantime, a Tesla spokesperson gave Engadget the following statement:

We don’t comment on rumor or speculation about future releases. Tesla is constantly innovating and adding new features to our vehicles to perpetually improve Tesla vehicles for our existing and future customers. We price our vehicles consistently throughout the world which requires us to adjust pricing to foreign currency exchange rates. We have let customers know that some price changes will take effect in early April. We always encourage those interested in purchasing Model S to place their order so they can start enjoying the many benefits of Model S today.

Source: CNET

This plastic could make paint scratches a thing of the past

Self-healing plastics are nothing new. In fact, IBM stumbled across the discovery of one such polymer by accident not too long ago. But now there’s a new Wolverine-like plastic stealing the headlines (okay, fine… ‘science journal’ headlines) and this time it hails from researchers at the University of Reading in the UK. The supramolecular polyurethane, developed with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, reportedly repairs itself at body temperature (98.6 degrees F or 37 degrees C). The new material’s unique properties allow it to “[flow] like a liquid” when its bonds are disrupted and reform, as its viscosity is lowered when damaged.

Since it’s been proven non-toxic to humans, researchers are evaluating this new polymer for eventual use in the healthcare industry. The project’s lead researcher Professor Wayne Hayes says this new material could extend the durability of bandages, reducing the potential to “damage healing skin” caused by frequently changing out the dressing. Or, adds Hayes, if engineered to gradually dissolve, it could also be used as stitches for surgical wounds.

The polymer’s even being touted as a boon for self-healing paints, which would help eliminate the appearance of scrapes and scratches on your car or even smartphone. No word on whether it’ll prevent your iPhone screen from cracking, though.

Via: Phys Org

Source: University of Reading

The Braven BRV-HD Bluetooth Speaker checks all the boxes (Review)

You’re searching for a Bluetooth speaker. They’re everywhere. Amazon is filled with them, and Google returns almost 27,000,000 (yes, twenty-seven million!) results. So, how do you decide what’s right for you?

First, you need to decide on what really matters. Sound quality? Build quality? Battery life? Waterproofing? Braven tried to check all four boxes with its BRV-HD speaker. On paper, it sounds great, but how does it fair in real world situations?

Physical Overview

When I first laid eyes on the Braven BRV-HD, the first thing I thought was “industrial.” The aircraft grade aluminum grill is bolted into a body built to take falls and still look great. This thing reminds me of a construction site, and I feel like it would fit in perfectly both on site and sitting around a fire with some friends on a summer night sharing some drinks.

The top of the speaker reveals a ridged design that reminds me of laces on a football. This thing is seriously easy to hold if you have big enough hands. The soft rubber texture provides awesome grip, and it only increases when it gets wet.

Dead center on top, we find a series of five buttons: Power, Call, Play, Minus and Plus. They’re set into the body of the speaker so you have to be looking directly at them in decent light to know what you’re pressing. The buttons don’t stick out like a sore thumb, which is nice, but there needs to be some sort of raised design or color added to the buttons to make them easier distinguish.

This thing is heavy. Really heavy. Braven says it’s over four pounds on its website, and it is every ounce of that. Carrying this in a backpack is the ideal situation. If you’re carrying it by hand or in a smaller handbag, it’s going to be rough. Part of the reason is because the body is so big. 10in x 3in x 4.3in doesn’t sound big, but it’s on the larger side for Bluetooth speakers.

Sound

But, that bigger body has its advantages. It houses the two drivers and two passive radiators to put out some serious sound. The best way to describe the sound from the Braven BRV-HD is powerful. It doesn’t hit every note perfectly but does a great job of projecting quality in the spaces it’s needed.

Dust collector

The highs and mids are well represented without being overpowering. You’re not going to hear instruments you’ve never noticed before in a song, but you will get a true representation of what the artist intended the song to sound like. Vocals sound great without outshining the instruments supporting them, and piercing instruments like cymbals don’t overreach into painful territory.

Where the BRV-HD is a bit weak is in the bass at medium to high volumes. You certainly won’t be rattling any windows due to the bass. It is decently represented at lower volumes but fails to scale as the volume climbs.

Songs from artists like Skrillex and Bassnectar felt a bit hollow on close inspection. Here’s the caveat with this observation – I don’t really think it matters that much. This speaker isn’t replacing your home theater system. It’s not replacing your computer speakers or your headphones. It’s for taking to the beach or hanging out with friends. Do you need a ton of bass when you’re having a couple of beers with your friends? I’d say no, and what the BRV-HD does provide is sufficient.

Features

Seriously. All the dust.

The BRV-HD isn’t all about excellent build quality and good sound quality. There are a ton of features packed in, too. One of my favorites is the ability to charge your phone while you play music through the speaker.

Not enough speakers have this feature. Streaming music can be harsh on your battery, and you probably don’t need an entire 28 hours of streaming battery life out of the BRV-HD in one sitting, so why not use some of that juice for your phone? The speaker packs an 8800 mAh battery inside, which is good for two full charges on your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and plenty of battery left over for the speaker itself.

The BRV-HD is IPX3 certified, which in layman’s terms, means that it can withstand splashes. This isn’t something you want to try and drown to show off how cool it looks underwater or see what Nero sounds like from the bottom of a pool. Take it to the beach and feel good about being able to take it home in working condition.

Braven didn’t settle for the BRV-HD just being a good speaker. It’s a great speakerphone too. While there can be some interference when you answer a call while connected to the speaker, my experience overall was a positive one due to the noise-cancelling microphone.

If you’re in the market for a truly wireless experience, you can daisy-chain two Braven speakers (BRV-HD or Braven 8 series only) together. Unfortunately, I don’t have two so I can’t test this feature out myself, but if you have the cash, this is a really compelling selling point.

Conclusion

There are a million Bluetooth speakers out there. Everyone claims to be the best. Everyone claims to have stellar build quality and the best audio quality. Of course, they would, right? It’s all marketing speak.

But then, you run into a company like Braven. Braven’s BRV-HD speaker is marketed as a speaker that plays high-definition audio for 28 hours and has the build quality to take anything thrown at it. No hyperbole. No “we’re the best speaker in the history of sound”. They just deliver.

My daughter. The artist.

They’re certainly not perfect, but no one is. The bass could be a bit better represented and if the body could withstand a three-year old’s crayons, that would be wonderful, but this is truly a rugged, loud Bluetooth speaker worthy of the asking price.

Product link: Braven, Amazon

Dyson V8 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Dyson hopes this will be your next vacuum cleaner.

Luke Westaway/CNET

Dyson’s got a new version of its cordless vacuum cleaner, and hopes the V8 will convince those living in smaller abodes to ditch the bulky dirt-suckers of old, in favour of its trendy, stalk-like cleaning machines.

It’s not cheap though, starting at £450 or $600. (Australian prices are yet to be announced, but £450 converts to around AU$840.) It goes on sale in the UK today and in the US in August.

Harder, better, faster, quieter

The new model replaces 2014’s Dyson V6, and has a similar look to its predecessor, but boasts a number of improvements. The battery will now last up to 40 minutes, Dyson says, a significant improvement on the V6’s 20 minutes. That still doesn’t sound like a lot of battery, but should be plenty to give your whole home a once-over before you return the V8 to a power source.

The V8 is more powerful than the last model, but makes less noise.

Luke Westaway/CNET

Suction power itself has been boosted too, while the noise the vacuum makes has been reduced. This improvement is hard to measure (though Dyson boasts a reduction of 50 percent), but having heard the V8 running, it’s more of a high, airy whine than a jet-engine roar. I suspect you’d be able to conduct a conversation while it was going.

New dirt mechanism

A more understated — by in my opinion, far more valuable — addition is a new mechanism for emptying the V8’s drum. Anyone who’s used a Dyson vacuum cleaner will know that sometimes, opening the bottom of the plastic dirt-collection cylinder and emptying the collected mess means getting your fingers involved, reaching in to the drum itself to fish out chunks of dust and hair that have become wedged up against the filter.

A new dirt ejection method is one of the V8’s new features.

Luke Westaway/CNET

When you click the button to empty the V8, however, the entire filter lifts out of the drum, so there’s nothing for dirt to get stuck against. It remains to be seen how big an improvement this is in practice, but in theory at least this sounds like a much better way of ditching the dirt. The drum’s capacity has also been beefed up from that of the V6.

The V8 weighs a mere 2.6 kg (5.7 pounds), and Dyson’s tried to position components closer to your hand, so that it’s easier to lift the vacuum up and clean above you. If your curtains (or ceiling) could use a clean, you may appreciate that centre-of-gravity consideration.

Pricey cleaning tech

This is a cleaning head for hard floors. It comes with the pricer ‘Absolute’ model.

Luke Westaway/CNET

All those improvements will take a toll on your bank balance. The V8 is on sale today in the UK in two versions. The “Animal” version costs £450, while the even pricier “Absolute” model costs £500, but comes with the soft roller cleaner head for hard floors that you can see above. When in goes on sale in the US (from Dyson.com in August and other stores in September), it’ll replace the V6 Absolute at $600, with further details to come.

That’s a lot of cash to splash on a vacuum cleaner, so stay tuned for the full review, where we’ll see if the V8 justifies its significant price tag.

2016 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron review – Roadshow

The Good The 2016 Audi A3 e-tron’s electric motor offers a healthy 243 pound-feet of torque before the gasoline engine joins in, bringing the total output to 204 horsepower. The Audi Connect infotainment system offers 4G LTE data, useful for navigating and monitoring the PHEV’s charging remotely. The e-tron’s performance around town and while touring is quite good for an eco car.

The Bad With an EPA estimated 17 miles per charge (22 miles, as tested), the e-tron struggles to justify its plug-in hybrid price premium. Audi’s proprietary MMI connection smartphone connection is a separate paid option.

The Bottom Line The 2016 Audi A3 e-tron adds eco-friendliness and a bit of utility to the already premium A3, but it’s far from the best choice for plug-in hybrid efficiency or EV range.

The new 2016 A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid arrives in the United States this year, bringing the “sportback” body style with it. If your excitement for the latest Audi A3 was dampened when you learned that we’d only be getting a sedan for this generation, then prepare to turn the enthusiasm wick back up.

Electrified e-tron

The e-tron badge signifies that an Audi is electrified, but not necessarily fully electric. The A3 e-tron is a plug-in hybrid that uses both electric and gasoline engines.

The electric motor is a 102-horsepower unit that makes a very potent 243 pound-feet of torque. The e-motor is joined by a 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine that adds 150 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque to the mix. However, hybrid math is never as simple as addition, so the total system output is stated at 204 peak horsepower. Combined torque is not stated, but probably not much more than the e-motor’s 243 pound-feet.

Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow

Power reaches the front wheels via a six-speed dual clutch automated transmission — which Audi calls S tronic. Sadly, the automaker’s quattro all-wheel drive system is not available, likely because AWD is typically less fuel efficient than FWD and efficiency is the whole point of this e-tron model.

The A3 e-tron can operate in four different hybrid and EV modes. The first mode, EV, uses only the electric motor for completely silent and emissions-free motoring. This is a full EV mode that is capable of achieving highway speeds. And with 243 pound-feet of torque on tap, the A3 e-tron feels very responsive around town.

The next mode, hybrid, is what the A3 defaults to once its battery reaches a critical level. When in this mode, the gasoline engine comes to life to deliver the sportback’s full cruising range. However, the gasoline engine almost never works alone; both motors are used in tandem, even past the EV mode’s range, to maximize efficiency.

The last two modes are variations on the hybrid mode. Battery hold is useful for maintaining the battery’s level during longer trips and preserving a bit of EV for a slower city or suburban segment near the trip’s end. Battery charge actively uses the gasoline motor to add EV range for use later in a trip, and because of its heavier use of the combustion engine, is the least efficient mode. (It’s far better and more efficient to tough it out until you can plug in, under most circumstances.)

2016
Audi
A3
sportback
e-tron
(pictures)

See full gallery

1 – 6 of 41

Next
Prev

In addition to the four hybrid/EV modes, the A3 also features four Drive Select modes: Comfort is the default setting. Dynamic firms up the steering feel and tweaks the throttle and transmission programs to be more responsive and sporty. Auto, well, automatically adjusts these settings based on the driver’s inputs. The last setting seems like a vestigial one. The Individual mode is usually where the driver can mix and match modes for the various aspects of Drive Select, but in the A3 e-tron, the only option in this menu is steering, which makes this mode feel a bit redundant.

Toggling between Dynamic and Comfort didn’t really seem to affect the A3’s throttle responsiveness as much as I thought it would, but the difference in steering effort was noticeable. I found that I preferred the extra weight and feedback afforded by the dynamic mode and so spent most of my time in that mode. On a twisty bit of road, I was impressed by the handling. The e-tron feels heavier than the A3 sedan I tested last year, but not significantly so. Meanwhile, the reasonably wide 225mm aspect of the tires provided fairly good grip for low rolling-resistance rubber.

BlackBerry says it’ll launch two mid-range Android handsets in 2016

BlackBerry thinks the high-end phone market has gone soft, so it’s now dropping down a peg by zeroing in on the mid-range phone market.

The National spoke to the CEO of BlackBerry, John Chen, and claimed BlackBerry plans to launch two new Android phones this year, even though it just launched the Priv Android phone at the end of 2015. The company is eager to offer more devices because the Priv, which launched with a $700 price tag (now $650), was probably too high-end and expensive for people to consider.

“The fact that we came out with a high-end phone [as our first Android device] was probably not as wise as it should have been,” Chen told The National, while declining to say how many Privs were sold in the last quarter. “A lot of enterprise customers have said to us, ‘I want to buy your phone but $700 is a little too steep for me. I’m more interested in a $400 device’.”

BlackBerry sold 600,000 handsets during the quarter ending in March. It is unknown how many of those were Privs, but analysts forecasted it would move 850,000 handsets. Eager to meet expectations, Chen told ETTelcom.com he “truly” believes BlackBerry can make money in handsets and admitted he’d get out of the handset biz if the market won’t let him make it profitable.

Before that ever happens, however, BlackBerry will shift to the mid-range this year to improve its sales. The two phones it is planning will run Android, as the company is moving away from making BB10-powered handsets, and we know one of the phones will have a hardware keyboard while the other will be a full-touchscreen device. You can expect these devices to cost up to $400 each.

We don’t yet know about other features nor when the phones will retail.

You can buy the Vive at brick and mortar stores this summer

HTC announced on Friday that its new VR headset, the Vive, will be available for sale both online and off come this summer. The company is partnering with Microsoft Stores in the US and Canada — as well as Gamestop, but that’s only in America — to sell the devices in their retail locations.

The first set of Vive demo models will go to Microsoft’s flagship New York store, the Bellevue Square location in Washington, the store at Utah’s City Creek Center and the Park Meadows Mall store in Colorado. An additional 30 Microsoft Stores are scheduled to receive demo units throughout the rest of 2016. If you don’t live near one of those and just have to try out a Vive right now, ten Gamestop shops will receive their demo units by the end of this month.

As for actually buying a Vive, units won’t go on sale — like, you just walk up and buy one — until later this summer. However, if you want to pre-order from one of these stores, HTC will fulfill those requests by June.

Source: Polygon

Find your unseen messages in Facebook’s other hidden inbox – CNET

Last year, many a Facebook user was surprised to learn of the “Other” inbox, a dumping ground for private messages from people you don’t know or haven’t friended. The big problem: You never received notification when one of these messages arrived.

Later in the year, the service phased out Other in favor of something called Message Requests, but it was largely aimed at users of the Facebook Messenger app. At least it showed notifications when new requests came in.

But, lo and behold, Facebook is still holding out on you. There’s yet another inbox of sorts that’s even more tucked away than the first one. And it may be holding all kinds of important messages (or it may be all spam). Here’s how to peek inside the desktop version; mobile instructions follow below.

Step 1: Open Facebook in your browser.

Step 2: Click the Messages icon that’s in the blue toolbar.

Enlarge Image

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Step 3: By default, it shows you the Recent list; click Message Requests, then scroll down and click Filtered Requests.

Enlarge Image

Never knew these were there. Sorry, people who tried to reach me on FB!

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

(Another way to get there: In the left-side toolbar, click Messages, then the More pulldown and then Filtered Requests.)

If you’re mobile, fire up the Messenger app, tap Settings > Message Requests, then See filtered requests.

Enlarge Image

Et tu, Messenger app?

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

As I said before, you might find yourself looking at messages Facebook legitimately filtered as spam, or you might discover important contacts who thought you were ignoring them.

Either way, it’s probably a good idea to check this inbox on a regular basis to make sure you don’t miss something important.

In the meantime, yo, Facebook: How about a better system of dealing with messages like these?

Win a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge from dbrand and Android Central!

We’ve partnered with dbrand for another amazing contest! This time we are going to have two winners, and each is taking home either a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge phone plus a bundle of 23 skins from dbrand. Keep reading for all the details!

The Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 edge are not only super hot right now, they are also arguably the greatest fingerprint magnets of all time. Covering the device with a skin resolves this with no added bulk. Also, the glass back can be quite slippery, especially once hand sweat and grime has accumulated on the glass. A dbrand skin adds texture and grip, which ensures your phone is not going to go flying across the room unexpectedly.

How to Enter: Head down to the widget at the bottom of this page. There are multiple ways to enter, each with varying point values. Complete all of the tasks for maximum entries and your best shot at winning!

The giveaway is open until April 22nd and winners will be announced on the blog shortly after the close date.

The Prize: Two super lucky Android Central readers will take home a brand new Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge PLUS the complete line of dbrand skins for their new phone!

Please note that service is not included with the phone. Also, in the event that the winner resides outside of the United States, the prize maybe be subject to duties and taxes, which are the responsibility of the winner.

Good luck everybody!

Win a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge from dbrand and Android Central!

The Galaxy S7 edge: A second opinion

The Galaxy S7 edge is both the Galaxy S7 that we wanted, and the Galaxy S7 that we deserved.

There are a whole lot of people on this little planet who eagerly wait to see what new products big tech companies like Samsung introduce every year. If you’re reading this — either as a regular Android Central reader or someone who found us for the first time, you’re probably one of them. And this year, when we first got to see the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, we saw the very best that Samsung — and possibly anyone else — could produce today.

We knew how special the S7 (in my case, the edge model in particular) was when we first got our hands on it. As part of our job we get early access to a lot of the latest tech, and we talk amongst ourselves before we’re allowed to talk in public. All of us knew that we had something different here, and things can and will never never be the same.

I have the T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy S7 edge now, and have been using it for a while. See what I think of one of the best phones you can buy.

I love the way it’s built

I appreciate things that look good. Whether we’re talking about the iconic design of a classic Chevrolet El Camino, or a stately yet beautiful oak table, I enjoy things that show me that a bit of thought and engineering went into the way a thing looks. And not everything that looks good needs to look the same. We’re a blog about Android phones. We touch and use and write about a lot of Android phones. The HTC One M7 and the Nexus 4 have a very thoughtful design that most of us can appreciate even if we don’t particularly like it. The Galaxy S7 edge gives me the same appreciation when I see it that the Nexus 4 or One M7 do.

Metal and glass look good. You don’t have to think they are the best materials to use for building a phone to say that. Curves “feel” organic and futuristic, especially when done with glass. And Samsung has refined and perfected what they started with the Note edge and continued with last year’s edge phones with the Galaxy S7 edge. When you pick it up, you no longer feel the angular lip where the metal meets the glass and instead you have the same construction with a seamless feel on all sides of the phone, front and back. Is that a huge change from the S6 edge? No, not really. But it’s an important one, and allows the S7 edge to feel as good as it looks.

The screen amazes me. I can’t sit here and tell you that anything looks better on the LG V10 or the Nexus 6P or the Galaxy S7 edge unless I’m reading tiny print (the V10 and its LCD wins that one). But I can’t get over the viewing angle on the S7 edge. No matter how far I tilt it away from my face, I can still tell exactly what I’m looking at until I basically reach the point when I’m looking at the side or the bottom of the phone. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t even care other than the nerd part of me who wants to read white papers. I just think it’s cool. Be suspicious if anyone tells you the screen isn’t incredible.

That makes sense — Samsung is one of those companies that makes the screens all the other companies want to use. Is AMOLED super saturated? Yup. Does using blue pixels to make the color white cause a tint on certain images in certain conditions? Yup. I just don’t care. I have an AH-IPS 100 percent sRGB factory calibrated monitor on my desk if I need to inspect something for color accuracy. On my phone — the computer in my pocket — I love the vivid and bright screen. Look around, most everyone else does, too.

I used to have a big problem with giant phones. Not so much using them, but carrying them around. Because they kept getting bigger and nobody was making smaller models with top-end parts inside but Sony, I gave up. I embraced my Nexus 6 and learned to accept a phone that I couldn’t carry in my shirt pocket like your weird IT guy at work does. Since then, people making phones have started making them more narrow. I’m good with it. The size of the GS7 edge is no issue, and I like the extra battery. You’ll now find me with my Nexus 6P in one pocket, and the GS7 edge in the other.

The dynamic duo.

I understand the argument about fragility with this design when used on something that lives a large part of its life in a pocket or bag. And I can’t argue that the materials and the finish — I’m using the silver titanium model — are always in need of a cleaning and covered with fingerprints and smudges. I just don’t care. I’ll take the trade off because I love the design and the materials used. Because of them, my $700 phone almost looks and feels like it’s worth $700.

And I don’t give a damn that the holes don’t line up.

Cameras and features

While I appreciate an elegant and premium look, I value the way a product works even more. Samsung has three standout features that help make the S7 edge very compelling on the function side — the edge screen, the camera and the multifunctional home button and fingerprint reader.

A lot of words have been said about the camera on the Galaxy S7 edge. Aside from a few controversial ones from a fellow I trust here, they’ve all been positive. I told myself from the beginning that I didn’t care what anyone else thought and would form my own opinion after using it. I came to what I think is a pretty reasonable conclusion — the camera on the GS7 edge is good enough that all the fuss made no longer matters. Sorry, Dan. I just don’t see what you’re seeing.

There is a very slight lip around the camera and flash.

We’re at the point where the cameras on our phones are mostly good enough that none are really better than the others. The camera on the Galaxy S7 edge is great. Add it to the list of phone cameras that are so good that you need a real camera to get anything “better.” You will never need another camera unless you’re one of those prosumers or need to produce photos that you’re paid for.

Enjoy your Lumia, or your G5 or Nexus 6P or iPhone camera. They all take pictures that are better than we should expect from a cell phone. Sometimes a certain picture from a certain phone will look better than other pictures from other phones. Let people who have to hash out things like which is “best” worry about it. Take your pictures (or video) and enjoy how nice they look, then share them with the world so we all can enjoy them as much as you do. The Galaxy S7 edge lets you do just that, and you won’t find anything to complain about.

The finger smudges bother me as much as they bother you. I immediately wiped them away once I took the picture to show them.

Fun fact — I don’t think a fingerprint is a good security method. My fingerprints are my identity, not my password — they never change. But I also agree that using a fingerprint sensor makes security easy, and that means more people will use it. That’s nothing but win in my opinion.

The key is building hardware that is accurate and convenient. That’s where previous phones, like the aged Motorola Atrix, the iPhone 5s and the Galaxy S6 failed me. Don’t get me started on the LG V10. If I’m going to use fingerprint authentication, it needs to work all the time, every time. The Galaxy S7 edge nails it.

If I’m going to use fingerprint authentication, it needs to work every time. The GS7 edge nails it.

I don’t know if the technology of the past is to blame, but fingerprint scanning never worked well for me. I have some pretty ugly fingerprints. There are burns. There are scars. There are callouses. Partially because of disregard for safety when handling hot equipment, and partially because of my amazing guitar-shredding skills. Mostly the disregard for safety part. OK, only the disregard for safety part then.

Until we saw the Nexus 6P, fingerprint scanning was always hit or miss with me. You’ve probably seen others talk about how good the Nexus 6P and 5X were at fingerprint scanning. The Galaxy S7 edge is every bit as good. Other than the placement — I like it in the back where my finger rests when I’m holding a phone — I think it’s perfect. People who want to unlock a phone while laying flat on a table will enjoy it in the front. This is a small quibble that’s easy to get used to — the Galaxy S7 edge has an amazingly accurate and fast fingerprint scanner. You now have no excuse to not lock your phone.

On the edge.

The most intriguing feature to me is the edge screen. It’s been revamped with Samsung’s version of Marshmallow, and it’s now bigger and arguably better than before. You can do various things from having contacts live there, or having a compass, but I use it for my calendar. I have instant access to things I need to see with a quick swipe of my thumb. More importantly, I don’t have a calendar widget looking at me every time I unlock my phone. I want my home screen — yes, I only ever use one — to be clutter free. Something in my life has to be simple and easy.

I want to see amazing people do amazing things here. We all can make fun of having a ruler on the edge screen, but that’s handy for a lot of people. Little things that some of us might need have a cool sliding shelf to live on, quietly tucked away when we don’t need them. Samsung’s annual developer conference is coming up. I hope the seats are filled with people smarter than me who have ideas how to put something as simple and fantastic as a ruler on my edge screen. There’s a lot of potential here, and something many regard as a gimmick can be made absolutely cool with the right ideas. If nothing else, how about a scrolling daily classic Doonesbury comic to go along with the stock tickers and sports scores?

The new TouchWiz

I’m not buying the line about how Google convinced Samsung to change TouchWiz or how they rode into South Korea on a shining white stallion to “fix” it. It was never broken, and millions and millions of sales tell you you’re wrong when you say it was. But it is better, and not all of it is because of the hardware.

Samsung’s take on Android still looks colorful and messy to me. Not because it is too colorful or messy, but because it’s not what I like. You can never account for taste. The “clown puke” colors of the past — which did a great job of showing off an AMOLED display and were totally not an accident — are replaced with an equally vivid (and for many, equally as horrible) new design palette that looks more like Google’s Material Design. You can love it, or you can hate it. Or you can theme it through Samsung’s Galaxy App store.

Change your theme in the phone settings.

Samsung doesn’t stop there. The base software on the S7 edge is filled with apps and programs that Samsung is proud of. They’ve also changed just about every part of the vanilla Android source code — both visually and functionally — that they can. Some of it’s better, and some of it is worse. Again, that’s purely a matter of what you like. There are really only two things I can say about it.

• I want Samsung to never stop messing around with Android and making it their own. The open source part of Android is made better by companies doing stuff to it and changing it. That’s how open source software works. I wish more of what they do was available to everyone at the code level, but the ideas and the critical changes that improve Android make their way back to Google. They then make their way to everyone. Every good thing Samsung does makes Android better. Every stupid thing Samsung does makes Android better.
• I can take 20 minutes and strip away the stuff I don’t want. I can disable or uninstall some of it. I can hide most of the remainder. Buh-bye Milk Music. Adios Gear Manager. Go away forever Flipboard Briefing. You can do the same things to the stuff you don’t want.

Ideally, all the things we don’t want could live in Google Play or Samsung’s Galaxy App store. That isn’t going to happen. If it did, nobody would know about them. We all give a strong opinion about what Samsung should do with all the things we don’t want — and those things are different for each and every one of us. But until someone has a solution that lets people discover the things Samsung has to offer, they belong right where they are.

This needs to be a new AT&T meme.

Carrier apps are a similar but different story. I’m with the rest of the happy bandwagoners when we say they need to die. But carriers want people to see these apps, use these apps and make money from these apps. Luckily, I have the T-Mobile S7 edge and it’s not been ravaged the same way some others have. After seeing what AT&T in particular has done, I would have a different opinion about it all. That’s not fair to Samsung, nor is it fair to anyone seeking the input of industry experts about a phone purchase. If things ever reach a point where sales are affected — and we’re not even close to that — something will change.

I wish carriers didn’t mess with things. But the GS7 edge can handle it either way.

The most important thing about all of it is that with the GS7, it doesn’t matter. Hardware plays a part, as does Samsung’s skilled engineering team. The S7 edge does not suffer from having things you don’t use running in the background. Those days ended with the Note 5. Even with a mountain of services and software features I’ll never need and didn’t want, my S7 edge is enjoyable to use. Forget benchmarks and timed tests about opening apps or side-by-side scrolling death match showdowns. I feel no difference in how fluid the things I want my smartphone to do happen between my Nexus 6P and my S7 edge. That’s a game changer for Android enthusiasts, and it’s not just hype. Samsung has an extremely complex (on the user-facing side) computer operating system running amazingly well on mobile hardware. The new bar has been set.

This is how you do it.

Getting the latest security update the same day it became available, as an OTA right to the phone, seals the deal.

Should you buy a Galaxy S7 edge?

Hell yeah.

This is the best smartphone you can buy today. The cons I find in the way the software looks and is presented are more than outweighed but a long list of pros. The features like the camera or screen are as good or better than advertised, and it’s going to be very difficult for anyone to make a better phone on any platform.

That’s the best part. As great as my Galaxy S7 edge is, I know it’s going to force someone to build something even better. Fans of every platform benefit because this thing is so damn good.

The Galaxy S7 edge isn’t the first phone from Samsung I think is good and I could recommend, but it is the first one I want to use myself. I’m picky when it comes to spending lots of money, and have pretty simple wants and needs. If HTC or Motorola show me something amazing later this year that I just have to use, I’ll have a tough decision to make between my S7 edge and my gold Nexus 6P.

Yeah. I never thought I’d say that either.

See at Amazon See at Verizon See at Sprint See at T-Mobile See at AT&T