Is Evernote Premium’s new price worth it? – CNET
Evernote, once considered a tech “unicorn” with a valuation of over $1 billion, is on the receiving end of much criticism and scrutiny this week, following the announcement of a price hike and device limitations for free users.
One thing is clear about the recent changes: no one is happy, since Evernote wants you to start paying for features that were once free. For some, paying for the new plans is a no-brainer, as the chat and sharing features built into Evernote make it a powerful collaboration tool, as do its helpful integrations with IFTTT and Zapier.
Still, the pricing changes force us to ask, is paying the higher prices for Evernote worth it?
Evernote’s new plans
Until 2015, Evernote had two tiers, Basic and Premium. Last year, the company introduced a middle tier called Plus, which was slightly more affordable than Premium with a cap on its features. Here’s what the plans look like today:
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Evernote
- Evernote Basic was and is still entirely free to use. It still limits uploads to 60MB per month and allows you to use the web clipper tool, search for text within images and share notes with other users. What’s new is a passcode lock on the mobile apps, previously a feature reserved for paying users, and a limit of two devices on which you can sync Evernote.
- Upgrading to Evernote Plus unlocks features like accessing notebooks offline, emailing notes to your Evernote account and the ability to email customer support. It also increases the upload limit to 1GB per month. This plan went from $2.99 (£2.99 or AU$3.99) per month or $24.99 (£19.99 or AU$29.99) per year to $3.99 (£3.99 or AU$4.99) per month or $34.99 (£29.99 or AU$49.99) per year.
- Evernote Premium, the top tier, adds the most features, such as the ability to search for text in Office documents and PDFs, annotate PDFs, scan business cards and suggested notes and content from the web that are relevant to the note you’re currently working on. These features, plus up to 10GB of uploads per month, will set you back $7.99 (£4.99 or AU$11.00) per month or $69.99 (£44.99 or AU$89.99) annually. That’s up from $5.99 (£3.99 or AU$) per month or $49.99 (£34.99 or AU$69.99) per year.
For those looking at paid tiers, that’s roughly a 33 percent to 40 percent increase, depending on whether you pay monthly or annually. The monthly rates saw the smaller percent increase in price, while the annual pricing became less enticing. And, no new features were introduced — you’ll be paying more for the same set of features.
Evernote is, however, offering a grace period to free users who need sync across more than two devices. This grandfathered plan will only last for a few weeks and the new changes and pricing will roll out for users at different times, the earliest being August 15. Keep an eye on your inbox for an email from Evernote within the next two weeks detailing the exact time frame for the changes to be applied to your account.
Is it worth the money?
Taylor Martin/CNET
Whether you can justify paying for Evernote or not certainly depends on your personal usage, but with zero new features added, the blatant price hike is hard to recommend.
For plain note-taking: Save your money
With only plain text notes, you’re not likely to reach the 60MB limit. Evernote Basic comes with 60MB of uploads per month. Very few plain text notes in my Evernote are over 4KB in size, which means I could upload approximately 15,000 notes to my account in a month with Basic. That’s a lot of notes to take in a month — approximately 500 per day.
But if your needs exceed what Evernote Basic has to offer and you just want to take notes, services like Google Keep or Simplenote provide everything you need for free. And if you’re within Apple’s ecosystem, the inbuilt Notes app uses iCloud to sync your notes between your Apple devices. While iCloud may not be free for you, the note taking will likely have very little impact on your total iCloud storage.
My personal solution for syncing notes between all my devices is using a cloud storage service I already pay for — Dropbox — and finding individual applications on different platforms for taking notes. Currently, I use iA Writer on Android, iOS and Mac, which together cost less than a year of Evernote Plus.
Consider device limits
I don’t expect the device limit to affect most Basic users, despite how off-putting it may be.
Basic users will only be able to use sync in the official Evernote apps with two devices at once — such as a computer and a phone, a phone and a tablet or two phones. Most people will only need Evernote on a phone, computer and maybe a tablet. If you only install the Evernote app on your two mobile devices and opt to use Evernote in a web browser instead of a desktop app, you will still have access to notes from all your devices.
If you have multiple phones or tablets you wish sync notes between there are a number of free alternatives that don’t restrict the number of devices you can use with sync.
For web clipping and other files: Maybe
One of the draws of Evernote for me is the web clipper tool. Think of it as a more powerful version of Pocket that allows you to save full web pages as PDFs or screenshots directly into Evernote, as well as save or bookmark articles for later reading.
You can also use Evernote for storing documents, such as PDFs, spreadsheets or photos — much like Dropbox. However, when you branch out from plain text notes, you will chew through the 60MB upload limit very quickly, as note sizes can jump from a few kilobytes to several megabytes each.
Having web clippings, important files and notes all under one roof allows for some helpful organization and consolidation of apps. But you still can’t use Evernote to edit or alter most of those file types — just notes and PDF annotations. At that point, Evernote becomes a weird combination of a collaborative cloud storage account with upload limitations and inbuilt note taking. But it’s not particularly efficient for cloud storage and we’ve already established that there are great, free alternatives for note-taking.
Bottom line: If you want to use Evernote for anything beyond simple notes and you’re heavily invested in the app, you’re better off upgrading.
But there are alternatives. Microsoft OneNote, Evernote’s biggest and most direct competitor, offers almost everything you will get with Evernote Premium for free. OneNote works with Android, iOS, Mac and Windows. It also works from the web for platforms that aren’t officially supported, and includes its own web clipper, offline access to notes, email to OneNote and most other Evernote Premium features completely free.
Moving on
For the last three years, I’ve been a big fan of Evernote despite some of its quirks. I have hundreds of notes in my account and spent time meticulously organizing everything with tags and in different notebooks. I gladly paid for Premium to get more out of Evernote.
But without any new features or major changes, the price hike stings quite a bit. It just doesn’t make sense for me to upgrade to Evernote Premium when the annual price of Microsoft Office and 1TB of storage in OneDrive is the same price and OneNote is free.
Get the iOS Control Center on your Mac – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
On iPhones and iPads, swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen, from anywhere within the operating system, unveils a panel of quick settings toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Night Shift, volume, brightness, Airplane Mode and more.
Officially, the closest thing to you can get to that on a Mac is settings toggles in the menu bar. But a third-party app called Command Center puts the Control Center you know and love on your iOS devices on your Mac.
It looks almost identical to Control Center, though some settings from mobile devices — like flashlight or the camera shortcut — are swapped out for more logical toggles for a computer, such as shortcuts for Log Out, Restart, Shut Down and hiding desktop icons. It has sliders for brightness and volume, music controls and toggles for Do Not Disturb, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a Night Shift- or f.lux-like mode that adjusts the temperature of your computer’s display either manually or automatically.
Taylor Martin/CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
You can also drag and drop files into the section titled File Drop to get quick access to them without cluttering up your desktop.
There are two themes to choose from — light or dark — and tucked away behind a second tab is an activity monitor that shows CPU, RAM, network and battery usage and condition.
The best part, though, is how it’s accessed. By default, it’s hidden off screen. If you want, you can click the menu bar icon to show the app. But the faster and easier way is to slide your cursor towards the edge of the screen, either right or left, depending on your personal preference, and Command Center will appear.
The app will set you back $9.99 (£7.53 or AU$13.34), which might give some potential buyers pause. That’s a lofty price tag for something so simple. But I’ve been using it for several days now and I’ve found it’s quite a bit faster than using the menu bar shortcuts for quick toggles. Whether that’s worth a tenner or not is up to you to decide.
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Home networking explained, part 5: Setting up a home router – CNET
Editors’ note:This article was first published on March 26, 2013 and updated on July 1, 2016 with up-to-date information.
It might seem like a daunting task to set up a new home router. But it doesn’t have to be if you understand the most common way routers are managed: through the web interface. The hardest part of using the web interface is getting to it. Once you have accessed it, the rest — at least most of it — is self-explanatory.
Most routers’ web interfaces are similar and self-explanatory.
Dong Ngo
Note: Almost all home routers on the market come with a web interface; that is, a web page from which users can view, manage and monitor the router’s settings and features. The only company that doesn’t offer a web interface for its routers is Apple. There are also some new types of routers with vendor-assisted setup and management using a mobile app, such as the Google OnHub, the Eero or the Starry that also don’t have a web interface. With that in mind, this guide is intended only for routers with a web interface.
In this post, I’ll talk about how you can quickly set up any router by accessing its web interface using a browser and manage it from any connected computer or even a tablet or smartphone.
Let’s start with the basics.
1. What is a browser?
Home networking explained
- Part 1: Here’s the URL for you
- Part 2: Optimizing your Wi-Fi network
- Part 3: Taking control of your wires
- Part 5: Home router setup
- Part 6: Securing your network
- Part 7: Powerline explained
- Part 8: Cable modem shopping tips
- Part 9: How to access your home computer remotely
A web browser is a software application designed for retrieving, presenting, and exchanging information resources on the internet. All browsers have an address bar where you can type in the web address of a website, such as http://www.cnet.com. After that, you hit Enter and the browser will let you browse (hence the name) the content of the site. As you surf the internet, the address bar automatically displays the current address of the web page you’re looking at, whether you typed in the URL or got to it by clicking on a link, such as one from within an email or from another web page. This web page address is called a uniform resource locator (URL).
Among the most popular browsers are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. You’ll find at least one of these browsers on any computer, tablet, or smartphone, and any of them can be used to manage a router’s web interface.
Common home router Web interfaces (pictures)
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2. Setting up the hardware
When you get a new router, setting up the hardware is very simple. (If this part of home networking is new to you, check out part 1 of this series first). All you need is a computer that has a network port (most computers do) and two network cables (a new router comes with at least one network cable). Follow these steps, regardless of what the router’s included setup guide might say:
Connect the router’s WAN port to your internet source, such as a DSL or cable modem, using the first network cable. All home routers have just one WAN port (sometimes labeled the internet port); this port is always separate from the other network ports and often is a different color to further differentiate it. Note: If you do not have internet access at home, or want to have an isolated (non internet-enabled) network, you can skip this step. Later on you can always complete this step when the internet is available or needed.
Connect one of the router’s LAN ports (most routers have four LAN ports) to the computer using the second network cable.
Plug the router into the power outlet using its power adapter, as you would with most electronics. If the router has an on-off switch, make sure the router is on. Many routers don’t have this switch and will turn on as you plug it in.
That’s it — you have just finished the hardware setup.
A router’s WAN (internet) port is always clearly distinguished from the LAN (Ethernet) ports. Also note the reset button, which brings the router’s settings to default value.
Dong Ngo/CNET
3. Accessing the web interface
The next step is to use the web browser to display the router’s web interface. Basically, you will need two things: the router’s URL, which is always its default IP address, and default log-in information. You’ll find this information in the router’s manual, and sometimes it’s printed on the underside of the router, as well.
Most, if not all home routers on the market have a default IP address in this format: 192.168.x.1, where, depending on the vendor, x tends to be 0, 1, 2, 3, 10 or 11. For example, routers from Trendnet almost always have a default address of 192.168.10.1, while D-Link routers use 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1.
And the log-in information is also quite predictable. The username (if any) is almost always admin and the password (if any) tends to be one of these: admin, password, default, or 1234.
Once you have gotten these two pieces of information, just type the router’s IP address in the address bar of a browser on a connected computer, press Enter, and then enter the log-in information, after which you’ll be greeted with the web interface.
| 192.168.0.254 / 192.168.1.254 | (blank)/(the device’s serial number or access code) |
| 192.168.3.1 | admin/admin |
| 192.168.1.1 | admin/admin |
| 192.168.2.1 | (blank)/(blank) or admin/1234 |
| 192.168.11.1 | root/(blank) |
| 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 | admin/(blank) |
| 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 | admin/admin or (blank)/root or (blank)/admin or Administrator/admin |
| 192.168.0.1 | admin/motorola or admin/password |
| 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 | admin/password or Admin/1234 |
| 192.168.10.1 | admin/admin |
| 192.168.1.1 | admin/1234 |
You can quickly find out the router’s default address by using the ipconfig command on a Windows computer.
Dong Ngo/CNET
Also, from a connected computer, you can always find out what the current IP address is of the local network’s router. This is helpful if a router’s default IP address has been changed. On a Windows computer do this:
Run the command prompt (you can find it in the Start menu, or in Windows 8 just type cmd when you’re at the Metro Start menu, then press Enter).
At the Command Prompt window, type in ipconfig then press Enter. You will see a lot of things, but the IP address following the Default Gateway is the address of the router.
On a Mac, it’s also quite easy to find out the default IP of the local network’s router.
Dong Ngo/CNET
On a Mac: Head to System Preferences > Network > select the current connected connection (it’s likely Ethernet) > click on Advanced > on the first tab, TCP/IP, the router’s IP address is shown next to Router.
4. A new router’s basic settings
Though the design of the web interface is opened varies from one vendor to another, most of them have granular menus. Listed below are typical main menu items and what they do.
Wizard: This is where you can start a step-by step guided setup process. Many routers’ interfaces show the wizard when the web interface is accessed for the first time. You just have to go through and set up a few of the routers’ settings, such as its log-in password (to be changed from the default — you should definitely do this to keep your network secure) and the name and password for the Wi-Fi network (or networks, for dual-band routers). Some wizards also ask for your time zone, the current time and date, and so on. With most routers you can skip the wizard and set up the router manually, if you want to, or you can finish the wizard and get back to the interface to further customize the network.
It’s a good practice to save the router’s current settings before making changes. This way you can always restore the previous settings if something goes wrong.
Dong Ngo/CNET
Setup section
Wireless (or Wireless settings): Where you can customize the router’s Wi-Fi network(s). You can pick the name of the network, change the password, turn the Wi-Fi Protected Setup feature on or off, and a lot more.
WAN (or Internet): Most of the time you should use the Auto setting for this section. However, some ISPs might require special settings; in those cases you can enter them here.
LAN (or Network settings): This is where you can change the local network settings, including the default IP address of the router itself. (Note that if you change the router’s default IP address, which is recommended for security reason, you’ll then need to use the new address to access the router’s web interface.) Here you can also change the range of IP addresses used for local clients, and add clients to the DHCP Reservation list. Once on this list, the clients’ IP addresses will remain the same, which is required for some internet applications. Most of the time, you don’t need to change anything in this section at all.
Tools (or Administration) section
Admin password (or Password): Change the router’s password. This is the password required when you log in the router’s web interface.
System: Where you can back up the current settings of the router to a file, or restore settings from a file; update the router’s firmware; and so on. It’s always helpful to back up the router’s settings before you make changes.
You’ll find a lot more settings and features on a router’s web interface, and when have time, you should try them out. If worst comes to worst, you can turn to the last-resort step below to restore the router to its default settings.
5. The last resort
All routers come with a reset button. This is a tiny recessed button that can be found on the bottom or side of the device. Using something pointy, such as an unfolded paper clip, to press and hold this button for about 10 seconds (when the router is plugged into a power source) will bring its settings back to the factory default. In other words, the router will be reset to the state it was in when you bought it. You can set it up again from the beginning, or you can log in to its web interface and restore the router’s settings from a backup file.
Google Fit makes it easier to see your daily stats with new design
Google Fit, the company’s fitness tracking app, has recently received a pretty sizable update. Included in the update is a new look that helps show all your daily stats at once, an easier way to see how your weight is trending and more.
You’ll be able to see how you compare to other users in your area and even set more detailed goals. A full list of changes in this release include:
- More goal options and support for multiple goals. Set daily, weekly and monthly goals and goals for specific activities like “run three times a week”.
- A new look that shows all of your daily stats at once.
- See how your weight is trending after logging a new measurement.
- See how your activity compares against other Fit users in your area.
- Bug fixes
If you are not already using Google Fit, you can download it now from Google Play for free.
5 great silicone bands for the ZenWatch 2
What are some great silicone bands for the ZenWatch 2?
While the ZenWatch 2 comes in two different sizes – 18mm and 22mm – any watch band with an extra set of pins, regardless of its size, should work with the ZenWatch 2.
While there are plenty of customizable, fun options for the watch face itself, what about picking out a band that works seamlessly for you and the watch? Here are a five great silicone bands and straps for the ZenWatch 2 that are worth checking out!
- Barton watch band
- Benchmark band with stitching
- TRUMiRR silicone buckle band
- Purple silicone watch band
- MODE b&nd by Hadley Roma
Barton watch band
Bright, durable, and modern, Barton’s watchbands are made from a high-quality silicone rubber that work flawlessly with your ZenWatch 2 in either size. You have the option to pick from 18mm or 22mm bands on the Amazon page.
This waterproof watchband is perfect for people who like to wear their watch as they’re doing some physical activity, and if your Barton band gets dirty at all, it’s designed to be super simple to clean.
The watchband comes with two stainless steel bars to secure your watch to the band, and is eight inches long; there’s quite a bit of room to adjust no matter the size of your wrist. The watchband comes in five vibrant colors, including orange, white, bright blue, green, and black, so there are plenty of colorful options to pick from!
See at Amazon
Benchmark band with stitching
A classic approach to the traditional watchband, Benchmark’s navy silicone rubber strap with sharp, white stitching is not only stylish and nice to look at, it’s practical, waterproof, and a great accessory for the ZenWatch 2.
Made with a soft silicone rubber and a stainless steel buckle, the Benchmark strap comes with a spring bar tool that lets you change and customize your watch bands day-to-day, so if you get sick of one style, you can easily switch to another.
The watch strap is eight inches long, but works for people with smaller wrists as it can be adjusted accordingly. The classic white stitching along the band makes this strap a beautiful accessory to pair with almost any outfit or sense of style.
See at Amazon
TRUMiRR silicone buckle band
Though not as flashy and eye-catching as some of the other bands on our list, the TRUMiRR silicone buckle band is a distinct minimalist accessory for your ZenWatch 2. Sometimes, less is more!
This watchband comes in two different styles: a jet black, more patterned, raised silicone that imitates the style of traditional stainless steel watchbands and a smoother, more modern looking black band with horizontal lines running its entirety. You can pick from either option in the link below.
The TRUMiRR is made from a flexible, comfortable, water-resistant silicone rubber and can be easily adjusted with the stainless steel buckle to fit all wrist types.
See at Amazon
Clockwork Synergy silicone watchband
Made from a high quality, thick, and durable silicone with removable pins for quick-change, customizable access, Clockwork Synergy’s purple silicone watchband is a comfortable and slick looking accessory to pair with your ZenWatch 2.
This watch band is very simple and minimalist, so you won’t have to worry about extra patterns or logos junking up your wrist. The same watchband also comes in a few different colors, including black, grey, brown, royal blue, and hunter green. You can even choose the buckle color and pick from stainless steel, brushed steel, yellow gold, rose gold, or PVD black.
The Clockwork Synergy strap is easily adjustable with eight sizes, so whether you have a tiny or enormous wrist there’s bound to be a comfortable option for you.
See at Amazon
MODE b&nd by Hadley Roma
Bright, bold, and beautiful: MODE’s b&nd by Hadley Roma in seafoam green is bound to make a statement once it’s paired with your ZenWatch 2!
The MODE band is easy to clean and is moisture-resistant, so you don’t have to worry about dirtying it up if you’re doing some physical activity. The entire band is also 100% hypo-allergenic, so if you have severe skin sensitivity issues, it may be a good option to look at.
While most smartwatches are changed with pins, the MODE band comes with a slide button that easily attaches the strap directly to your ZenWatch 2 without any additional tools or fiddling. All you have to do to change to the MODE is snap your band into place using only your hands and you’re good to go!
See at Amazon
What’s your favorite?
Is there a silicone watchband that you just can’t get enough of? Let us know which ones are your favorites to wear with the ZenWatch and why in the comments below!
You’ve got questions, Michael Fisher’s got videos (and the fastest growing new tech channel on YouTube!)
Over 30,000 youtube subscribers in less than a week… and MrMobile is just getting started!
It’s been a whirlwind 10 days in MrMobile’s Boston studios, where we’ve been focused on crafting the biggest YouTube debut party the mobile tech space has ever seen. In less than two weeks, I’ve published an introduction video, two smartphone reviews, a preview of the hottest electric car ever to hit the road, a look at a “work phone” that’s also a pretty sweet vacation device, and a mobile accessory I’ve wanted since before Bluetooth was invented.
The response thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, and I’d like to thank everyone who helped push the MrMobile YouTube Channel to over 30,000 subscribers basically overnight. Don’t despair if you missed the initial launch celebration, though! To help you get up to speed, we’ve embedded every single MrMobile video in this post. Click around to see what catches your eye, and when you’re done catching up, hop on over to the MrMobile Channel page and hit that Subscribe button; we still need your help to hit 50K, 100K, and all the milestones that lay beyond!
Warning: You may get addicted watching these MrMobile videos!
This Rugged Work Phone is Perfect for Vacation Too
The Best Android Phone You Can Buy [Summer 2016]
Tesla Model 3: The Model S/X Test Drive That Sold Me On The Hype
Bluetooth Star Trek Communicator Review: A Trekkie’s Dream Come True
OnePlus 3 Review: Killer Flagship
Follow MrMobile Everywhere
- YouTube
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Android Central 295: Nougat Unlocked
There’s no such thing as a slow week in the Android world. And in the span of a single morning we’ve gotten both the nickname for Android N — Nougat — and a long-overdue unlocked version of the Samsung Galaxy S7 in the United States.
Plus we weigh in on some recent stories that probably have been blown way out of proportion, and we answer some excellent questions via email.
Thanks to this week’s sponsors:
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Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral295.mp3
Using your Chromebook with an external monitor, mouse and keyboard
Let’s turn that Chromebook into a bigger work (or fun) station.
One of the most wonderful things about Chromebooks is how simple they are — you don’t have to buy additional accessories to make them work, they just do most of what people want out of the box. But perhaps you have additional needs … like using a larger external screen, necessitating having an external keyboard and mouse in the process.
Sound like something you need to do? Well it’s not tough to figure out, actually — we’re going to lay out a handful of tips for getting your Chromebook up and running with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Monitor
Just about every Chromebook comes with a full-sized HDMI port — take a look around the edges and you’ll quickly know whether or not you have one. If you do, you can connect your Chromebook to any modern monitor or TV with a cheap HDMI cable and be on your way. Some Chromebooks may have smaller micro- or mini-HDMI ports … but don’t worry, those cables are easy to find, too.
If the monitor you want to connect to doesn’t support HDMI (hey, plenty of projectors out there still use VGA), it’s easy enough to get an adapter that takes the HDMI out of your Chromebook and changes it to VGA or DVI as you need. Future Chromebooks will use Mini DisplayPort, and we’ll be looking at the same situation — adapters will handle the transition to whatever monitor you have.
Monitor settings
Once you plug your monitor into your Chromebook, it will start displaying an extension of your desktop immediately. But of course you’ll probably want to tweak the settings a bit so it does exactly what you want it to for the best experience.
Click the status area (that’s where your Wi-Fi and battery icons are) and you’ll see “Extending …” or “Mirroring …” with the generic name of the display you’re plugged into. Click the name, and you’ll be taken to a settings page where you can tweak how you want your displays to work. Click one of the displays to edit its settings — such as resolution and orientation — or click and drag the screen to tell the computer how the two screens are oriented.
Chances are you’ll want the second display to be the “primary” display in this situation, but if you’re just using it as an extended desktop, without a keyboard and mouse, you may want to keep the Chromebook as the primary display. Same goes for mirroring versus extended — you’ll know right away whether you want the external monitor to duplicate what’s on the Chromebook or be its own display.
If you need to quickly switch between mirroring and extending your desktop, you can hold ctrl and press the full-screen button (f4 on a traditional keyboard) to toggle between the two.
Consider Casting instead
If you don’t have high performance demands, and want to keep things clean and free of cables, you can also choose to Google Cast your screen to either a Chromecast or Android TV that’s plugged into your monitor of choice. Install the Google Cast extension, and so long as you’re on a Wi-Fi network with a compatible Google Cast target turned on, click the status area (that’s where your Wi-Fi and battery icons are) and you’ll see a “Cast devices available” option — click there, and you’ll have an option to just Cast one window you have open, or Cast your entire display.
This works great for showing off video, pictures or webpages on a big screen, or even as a secondary monitor to show yourself some static information, but won’t work well if you have to do a lot of typing or manipulation of what’s on the screen.
Mouse
Just like monitors, Chrome OS is perfectly ready to handle connecting a mouse to save you from using the trackpad 100% of the time. Whether you like wired or wireless, you can plug in or connect your mouse and be up and running in a matter of seconds.
The one thing to keep in mind here is if you happen to prefer those fancy mice that have optional software for controlling special buttons, wheels or interactions with the mouse (Logitech comes to mind). Those software suites are designed for use with Windows and Mac computers, and won’t install on Chrome OS. That doesn’t mean that the mouse won’t work, it just means that you won’t have fine control over extra non-standard buttons and wheels. For most folks, this won’t be an issue at all.
USB mice
When it comes to USB mice, there’s really nothing to do but plug in the connector — whether that’s a cable or a wireless receiver — and go. You’ll still be able to control the pointer speed in the standard Chrome OS settings.
Bluetooth mice
To connect a Bluetooth mouse, make sure that your mouse is turned on and pairing mode is enabled (the process will differ between mouse models). On your Chromebook, click the status area (that’s where your Wi-Fi and battery icons are) and click on Bluetooth — look for the model name of your mouse, and the devices will pair in short order.
Just like the trackpad or a USB mouse, you’ll able to adjust the pointer speed in the standard Chrome OS settings.
More: Best wireless mice for Chromebooks
Keyboard
Getting an external keyboard for your Chromebook is the one part of this equation that can take a little extra thought. Just like adding a mouse, you can plug in or connect any USB or Bluetooth keyboard to your Chromebook, but you have to remember that Chrome OS uses a non-standard keyboard layout, with special keys in replacement of the function row and some switches elsewhere (like having search instead of caps lock). While you can use any keyboard you have laying around, you should consider a Chrome OS-specific keyboard if you’re going to buy a new peripheral anyway.
USB keyboards
Just like a USB mouse, Chrome OS can handle USB keyboard the instant you plug them in.
A few different manufacturers make Chrome OS layout wired keyboards, like this one from Dell and another from Samsung. You can also often find bundles with a USB mouse as well.
Bluetooth keyboards
Connecting a Bluetooth keyboard is just like connecting a mouse. You’ll have to put the keyboard into a pairing mode, open up Bluetooth settings on your Chromebook and then select the keyboard from the list of available devices. You’ll be prompted to type a sequence of numbers on the keyboard, and press enter to pair.
There are also a selection of wireless keyboards out there with Chrome OS layouts, like this one from ASUS that will be particularly nice if you plan to keep your Chromebook plugged into a large display and will be several feet away with the keyboard.
Sony Xperia X Performance review: $700 worth of disappointment
Oh, Sony. The company has tried time and again to craft a smartphone that would find success in the US, and time and again it has fallen short. But when Sony pulled back the curtain on a batch of new Xperia X’s at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, I allowed myself to get a little excited. Maybe these were the right phones at the right time, I thought, and maybe a company whose products I otherwise respected would find the foothold it was looking for. After being underwhelmed by the standard Xperia X last month, I still held out hope that the high-end Xperia X Performance would be the phone Sony needed.
Long story short, it’s not. Don’t get me wrong: It’s a serviceable device, and in many ways it’s actually very nice. The thing is, a $700 smartphone should be able to deliver some modicum of excitement to the person who owns it; the X Performance mostly just leaves me cold.
Hardware
Even though the X Performance is the most high-end of the four Xperia phones Sony plans to launch in the US, you wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at it. In fact, do yourself a favor: Don’t put an Xperia X Performance down next to a regular Xperia X, because you’d probably never tell them apart. From the 5-inch, IPS LCD display up front to the 23-megapixel camera around back, these two devices are nearly identical. Well, until you spill a drink on them, at least. The X Performance picks up where previous Sony flagships left off with an IP68-rated chassis that helps it shrug off dust and water with ease, even when you stick it under a soda machine and let sticky stuff like Coke fly.
Beyond that (and as the name implies) we’re basically looking at an Xperia X with a faster quad-core Snapdragon 820. That has its ups and downs, though: The chipset, paired with 3GB of RAM, gives the X Performance flagship-level horsepower, but the phone still suffers from some irritating design quirks. For one, you’d think a modern flagship phone — one that costs $700, no less — would have a fingerprint sensor for quick and easy authentication. Nope! The international version has one, but we Americans have to do without. Meanwhile, the placement of the volume buttons beneath the sleep/wake button on the right edge just seems dumb. Unless you’re a professional finger contortionist, it’s really difficult to hold the X Performance in your right hand and turn the volume down. It might be a mainstay of Sony’s “OmniBalance” design language, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a bad idea.
It’s not all frustrating, though. The X Performance’s fit and finish are lovely, and there’s something alluringly … friendly about its look. There’s a physical, two-stage camera button sitting below those tricky volume keys, and it’s generally a joy to use. On the other edge is a SIM/microSD card tray you can pull out with just your fingernail, instead of having to rely on a paper clip you had to scrounge for. That tray, by the way, will take memory cards as big as 200GB, which is helpful, since 12GB of the X Performance’s 32GB storage allotment is eaten up by system software. Since the X Performance comes with a more powerful processor, it has a bigger battery than the normal X too, if only just. Think: 2,700mAh instead of 2,620mAh.
Display and sound
I liked this 5-inch, 1080p IPS LCD screen when I first saw it on the Xperia X, and my feelings about it haven’t changed. It’s a generally great panel, capable of bright, vivid colors and deep blacks. We have the one-two punch of Sony’s Triluminos display tech and its X-Reality engine to thank for those colors, though you have the option to tweak the screen’s white balance and saturation settings if the defaults aren’t your speed.
While the screen Sony used hasn’t changed, though, the context around that display couldn’t be more different. A 1080p panel is fine for an ostensibly mid-range phone like the Xperia X, but some of the most impressive flagships we’ve seen this year came with Quad HD displays. Remember, this is a phone that costs $700 — if Sony could squeeze an honest-to-goodness 4K screen into the Z5 Premium, why couldn’t it have tried to at least match its competitors with a screen running at 2,560 x 1,440?
Resolution aside, I really can’t complain about the X Performance’s screen. The speakers, on the other hand, leave a little more to be desired. There are two drivers baked into the Xperia’s face for stereo sound, and most of the time audio comes out clear, if a little spacious. The phone’s maximum volume falls short of some competitors’ too — though, really, you probably weren’t going to use this thing to run your next party playlist anyway. Curiously enough, you can make up for that lack of oomph a bit by putting it down on a table instead of holding it. Seriously! A selection of show tunes I played seemed noticeably meatier when the X Performance was sitting face up on a wooden table. Or, you know, you could just plug in a pair of headphones. If you do, you’ll be prompted to go through an “automatic optimization” process that didn’t seem to do much during my week of testing.
Software
While earlier Xperia phones didn’t receive software updates in a timely manner, there’s nothing to worry about here: The X Performance ships with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. As usual, it’s obscured somewhat by Sony’s custom interface, and it can be pretty damn polarizing. For the most part, I’m fond of Sony’s use of bold colors and minimal changes to the core Android experience. Those changes aren’t minimal enough for some, though; my new colleague Cherlynn is no fan of Sony’s changes, stylistic or otherwise. Sure, you’ll have to contend with a few widgets enabled out of the box, but for the most part Sony has done well staying out of Android’s way. My only real gripe: Swiping right in the app launcher brings up a search screen with recommendations for apps you should download, and some of them are sponsored. Ugh.
That’s not to say the X Performance doesn’t come with extras. The upside to Sony’s not having an overbearing carrier partner this time around is that there’s no carrier bloatware in sight. Instead, the few pre-loaded apps here are welcome additions: The SwiftKey keyboard is enabled by default, for one, and the PlayStation app is there for those who want to control their PS4’s. Still, you also get an undeletable copy of AVG Protection that you’ll probably never use, and a Sony app called Sketch lets you doodle on photos you’ve taken. Why did we need this? It’s a mystery for the ages. If it were up to me, all high-end Android phones would just ship with stock Android. Since that obviously will never happen, we’ll have to keep dealing with custom UIs painted on top of Android. At least Sony’s is among the least troublesome.
Camera
As mentioned, the Xperia X Performance has the same cameras as the bog-standard Xperia X, which means it has the same issues too. First, the good: The 13-megapixel selfie camera is pretty great, and the 23-megapixel main camera can snap some vibrant, detailed photos in well-lit conditions. It’s fast to lock on to targets too, if not quite as fast as Samsung’s Galaxy S7 line.
For situations with moving subjects, you’ll be glad to know you can tap the target on-screen to make the focus follow it. (In my experience, it’s good for babies, so-so for cats and kind of lousy for cars.) And there’s really something to be said for having a physical shutter button, one that you can half-press to focus on something. They’re more or less passé at this point, but as far as I’m concerned, the more physical controls, the better. If you require even more control, you can switch into a full manual mode that allows for adjustments to white balance, exposure and more.
Things get a little less pleasant in the dark, where you’ll start to see a fair amount of grain and soft edges appear. Sony tried to mitigate this from the get-go by setting the default image resolution to eight megapixels with oversampling. This mode basically tries to squeeze the data of a 23-megapixel photo into an 8-megapixel still, but it isn’t enough to give the Galaxy S7’s a run for their money. And while the X Performance typically does well in bright light, there’s such a thing as a situation that’s too bright. When that happens, you’ll notice colors start to get washed out. Oh, and you won’t be using the Xperia X Performance to shoot 4K video — another flagship feature that’s missing here. The 1080p videos the phone records are middling too, so I’m not really sure what Sony was trying to accomplish here.
And then there are the camera apps, which Sony uses to inject some silly fun into an otherwise cut-and-dried camera experience. These range from AR applications that put dinosaurs smack in the middle of your office to masks that cling to your face through the selfie camera to a beautiful sketch filter that turns the world around you into an art student’s homework assignment. The only problem is that these features can cause the phone to overheat; when they do, the camera app force-closes to keep things from getting out of hand. At no point was the phone uncomfortably warm, and I guess I’m glad it acted the way it did, but I can’t remember the last time a first-party feature forced a device to behave so drastically.
Performance and battery life
Thankfully, the Xperia X Performance manages to live up to its name: It feels as snappy as other flagships I’ve tested recently. That’s all thanks to the Snapdragon 820 chipset thrumming away inside, along with 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. As usual, my week testing the X Performance involved lots of Slack messages, emails, podcasts and camera use, not to mention playing Real Racing 3, Mortal Kombat X and Hearthstone. The verdict: mostly great. Aside from those moments when using the camera made the phone overheat, I saw only occasional moments of slowdown while multitasking. The Xperia X Performance has 1GB less RAM than most of its rivals, which probably accounts for those occasional hiccups, but it’s also worth noting that Sony’s flagship was basically spanked when it came to benchmark tests:
HTC 10
Samsung Galaxy S7
OnePlus 3
AndEBench Pro
12,637
16,673
14,168
13,841
Vellamo 3.0
3,307
4,876
4,285
5,202
3DMark IS Unlimited
26,070
26,747
28,529
30,058
SunSpider 1.0.2 (ms)
710
608
1547
699
GFXBench 3.0 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (fps)
37
48
45
48
CF-Bench
40,252
49,891
51,227
41,653
SunSpider 1.0.2: Android devices tested in Chrome; lower scores are better.
As it turns out, the 2,700mAh battery in the X Performance is a mixed bag. When putting it through our standard video rundown test (looping a high-definition video with the screen brightness set to 50 percent and WiFi connected), the phone lasted only nine hours and eight minutes. That’s about 50 minutes less than what we squeezed out of the OnePlus 3, and hours behind the HTC 10, LG G5 and both versions of the Samsung Galaxy S7. Thankfully, the X Performance fared better with daily use. I’d normally get a full day of work out it, with notable bumps in longevity on days I didn’t use the camera much. If I was smart about what I used the X Performance for (note: this rarely happens) and used the included Stamina mode, I could get it to last for almost a day and a half. This is one area where the normal Xperia X outshines its more powerful cousin: I could keep that thing alive for nearly three days of light usage on a single charge. Guess that Snapdragon 820 can get pretty thirsty.
The competition
The Xperia X Performance is a phone with a flagship processor and a flagship price tag, but I’ll be blunt: It’s a terrible deal. Sorry! Between the average camera, underwhelming battery, questionable design choices and lack of a fingerprint sensor and 4K video recording, this phone is a hard sell. You’re better off spending your $700 on a Galaxy S7 or an HTC 10, or even a OnePlus 3 and a fancy dinner. One could even make the argument that you’re better off buying a year-old Sony phone like the Z5 Premium: It has a stunning 4K display, shoots 4K video and boasts a bigger battery for far less than $700. Sure, you’d be giving up an improved front-facing camera and the latest version of Android, but some people probably wouldn’t mind the trade-offs at all.
Wrap-up
If anyone from Sony is reading this, here’s a serious question: What were you trying to accomplish with the X Performance? It’s a perfectly passable flagship, but is this really the sort of flagship you want your name attached to? I don’t mean to be overly harsh, because in most ways the Xperia X Performance is an adequate phone. The bigger issue is whether a phone that costs $700 should really just be “adequate.” I’d argue no. Sony’s competitors are busy innovating just to maintain some sort of edge over one another, be it Samsung devoting resources to building first-class cameras, HTC constantly refining its approach to software or LG basically throwing caution to the wind. And here’s Sony, with a smartphone that costs just as much as the others and brings nothing new to the table. The Xperia X Performance is far from a bad phone; it’s just halfhearted, and that won’t get Sony anywhere.
MoviePass tests new prices, aims to reach a $20 plan
MoviePass, the subscription service that lets you see one theatrical film every 24 hours, has come under fire after testing out new pricing options with some customers, which are significantly more expensive and restrictive than existing plans. The complaints also come on the heels of this week’s announcement of a new CEO: Mitch Lowe, a Netflix co-founder who later moved over to RedBox.
While the service typically starts around $30 a month (though it varies by market, it’s $45 monthly in NYC), a select group of users have received emails saying their plans will move to $40 or $50 a month with a limit of six films. For truly unlimited viewing, they have the option of paying $99 a month, a price significantly above anything MoviePass has charged before. Previously, MoviePass subscribers could see one film a day on their base plans, the only restriction was they could only see each film once.
“We’re trying to understand all the different considerations about different price points,” Lowe said in an interview today. He stressed that the company is only testing new pricing with an incredibly small portion of its subscribers, and these messages don’t reflect new rates for all customers.
In particular, he discovered that the $99 plan won’t work at all. “Our goal was to try to see what the uppermost limit was and we definitely found that that was too high,” he said. While it might seem unfair to loyal customers to simply throw expensive new rates at them, Lowe defended that method, saying that it’s “the only way to really get a valid test… If you give people a choice, they almost always take what you’d expect, so you don’t learn anything.”
MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe
MoviePass plans to test out different rates with existing and former customers, and it’s launching a new campaign to entice new users soon. There will be surveys to figure out what people think, as well. Lowe says he wants to find the ideal price point for MoviePass that people would actually love, similar to his “all you can eat” Netflix plan from 1999, and Redbox’s dollar nights, which he launched in 2003.
“My goal is to get a $20 price point, I’m looking for what’s going to be super attractive there,” Lowe said. “There’ll be options, but people will be able to choose from various price points that will give them different levels, so people will ultimately be able to pick and choose what’s best.”
Lowe doesn’t know when MoviePass can offer a $20 plan yet, but he’s exploring many different options. It likely won’t just be about discounted tickets, he also mentioned perks like special screenings reserved just for MoviePass members.
As a MoviePass member and unabashed cinephile, I’ve seen the price jump from $30 a month to $45 in NYC, but even that wasn’t enough to make me abandon ship. Ticket prices are insanely high here — typically starting around $15 for a 2D film — so anything that helps to cut down costs is still valuable. But there have definitely been months where I’ve second-guessed my membership, especially when I don’t even use it for $45 worth of tickets.
MoviePass has had a rocky start. Announced back in 2011, some theaters were quick to reject it during beta testing, and it took a while to get them onboard. The company officially launched in 2012, but it took two more years for it to support 3D and IMAX shows (something it still only does in two markets).
Still, MoviePass has plenty of potential left. “I’m hoping we can create a model that will get more people going to the movies,” Lowe said.
AIVAnet 