PokeMatch is the ‘Pokémon Go’ dating app you’ve been dreading
If you’re one of the millions of Pokémon Go addicts, you know that waking life carries a new, unrelenting question: what Pokémon are around me right now? The need to keep trying to catch them all has probably soured a few dates since the game launched three weeks ago, but fear not, amorous players: the PokeMatch app has arrived to set you up with the similarly poké-obsessed.
The app is pretty straightforward and prefaces date hunting with the important questions: Are you looking for men, women, both, other or just a friend? Want to meet someone from team Valor, Mystic or those other guys? Then you swipe left or right as is standard for dating apps, and when you match with your poké-destined, lets you designate a PokéStop to meet at.
It is, miraculously, not the first service to match Pokémon Go gamers: ProjectFixup made a special version of its dating service called PokéDates, which ditches the swiping and messaging to let a specialist match compatible folks. PokeMatch is live on iOS and Android, and since it uses photos from your Facebook login, make sure it’s loaded with your best trainer pics before you go try to catch ’em all.
Source: TheNextWeb
Lights in the sky: Inside San Francisco’s illuminated art scene
San Francisco is well-known for its bridges. The Golden Gate Bridge needs no introduction, but the other bridge, the Bay Bridge, has often paled a bit in comparison. It’s known for horrible traffic as commuters pass back and forth between San Francisco and Oakland. And, let’s be honest, the bridge just isn’t as well-known as the Golden Gate. It’s functional, but not beautiful.
In 2010, however, the seeds for changing that were planted by Ben Davis, who teamed up with artist Leo Villareal to conceive and create the Bay Lights, a massive light art installation that spans the bridge between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island. ” I was sitting there looking at the beautiful west span of the Bay Bridge in 2010 as it was approaching its 75th anniversary,” Davis recalls. “I’m thinking: ‘how do you let this beautiful piece of infrastructure shine in the region’s consciousness again?’”
The answer is the 1.8 miles LEDs stretching 500 feet into the sky that lights up the bridge every night. “When you see a weather report or the intro to a basketball or baseball game, it’s the image that gets broadcast, it’s what people see now,” says Villareal. “It’s interesting, because the Golden Gate is so iconic and this has shifted the way people look at the Bay Bridge.”
It’s the largest light sculpture in San Francisco — but it’s far from the only one. In a city known as the epicenter of the tech revolution, there’s so much technology-based art that you can now take light art tours over the holiday season. They started in 2013, the year the Bay Lights first lit up and have continued ever year since. All told there are 27 installations around San Francisco, a handful of which we’ll dive into in more detail here. The best thing about them is that you can see most of them year-round. Whatever part of town you’re in, there’s likely something worth seeing. Particularly if it’s twilight.
The Murmur Wall and Lightswarm, by Future Cities Lab
A large number of these installations are in the SoMa neighborhood, with one being particularly suited to San Francisco: the Murmur Wall. Designed by Future Cities Lab and installed outside the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the 60-foot Murmur Wall is a mass of steel and acrylic tubing, LED lights and digital displays. The bent steel tubes bring to mind the bicycle racks dotted throughout the city, but the installation’s technology brings a decidedly more modern and social aspect to the art. Intermingling with the steel are a number of LED light tubes that lead into a series of screens at the piece’s center — and using your smartphone, you can send a short text message to the wall that’ll display on the tubes.
Once your message has been submitted, you’ll see a blue ball of light make its way from the left side of the display to the screens, where it briefly scrolls across. Once the message leaves one of the screens, you can again follow the ball of light as it makes its way through more LED tubes and shows up on more displays before it finally exits the installation entirely.
Messages from passers-by aren’t the only things that the Murmur Wall displays — the project also taps into Google and Twitter and shows trending topics on its screens, signified by yellow balls of light rather than blue. When I checked out the installation in late May, the Golden State Warriors were in the thick of the playoffs and numerous messages relating to the team flashed on the wall, both from individuals as well as the trending topic algorithm the artwork uses.
While the value of the short snippets of text floating across the screen may be debatable, there’s something very tranquil about watching the lights and words move from one end of the structure to the other. It’s an engaging piece of artwork even without the intention of tapping into things trending around the city. And while not everything that flashed across the screen was worth noting, there were several times when the messages or trends coming through felt relevant, timely or interesting to read.
Just behind the Murmur Wall is another exhibit by Future Cities Lab that also integrates the city around it, albeit in a more organic way than the Murmur Wall. Lightswarm is a collection of 430 different light modules all connected together and hooked up to sensors that measure and respond to ambient noise around the structure. The light modules themselves are all mounted on the walls of the Yerba Buena center, and the sensors take the sound from outside the building and translate that into different patterns that are displayed on the wall.
In a crowded city, it’s sometimes difficult to determine what sounds the wall is actually reflecting — but come nighttime, it’s actually pretty quiet down by Yerba Buena. Once the sun starts dipping down, a group of friend chattering as they walk by is reflected in the movements of the light on the Lightswarm sculpture, or you can walk right up to the glass wall of and start tapping on it to see how the sculpture reacts. Given the size of Lightswarm, it’s tricky to tell exactly how the sounds of the city affect the lights, but the wave-like shape of the 3D-printed parts and their pulsing colors give the viewer a sense of calm in the middle of a busy neighborhood.
Bayview Rise, by Haddad / Drugan
While Lightswarm and the Murmur Wall are best seen at night, the huge, illuminated Bayview Rise mural is equally worth experiencing during the daytime. Located in the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco’s southeast corner, the illuminated, animated mural was built on the city of grain silos. From a long distance, like on the highways that snake past the painting, you can get a sense of the full image, while up close you can appreciate the more abstract details that make up the composition. At night, the image really comes to life thanks to changing lighting that gives the mural an entirely different feel.
“We do site-specific public art and it’s mostly exterior, often incorporating nighttime lighting,” says Laura Haddad of her work with partner Tom Drugan. “We try to do it in a way that isn’t just illuminating a sculpture so you can see it at night but adding another layer of meaning to the artwork.” Between viewing the mural from afar or up close and during the day versus at night, there’s definitely a lot of ways to take in Haddad and Drugan’s artwork.
The project came about from an open call for artists from the port of San Francisco in 2013, and at the time Haddad was experimenting with how various colored lights would change the look of different colored images. The idea of using the side of the silo as a canvas for the new technique came up pretty quickly, so she put together a quick demo to test it out. “We made a quick video of an 11-x-17 colored print with LEDs cycling through,” she says. “It was really effective, how the images changed with the light.”
Beyond getting the interplay between the light and mural just right, Haddad and Drugan also wanted to make sure they made a piece of art representative of the neighborhood. “I lived in San Francisco in the ’90s but didn’t really didn’t go that neighborhood much,” Haddad says. That’s not unusual — Bayview isn’t exactly a tourist destination. “But the port wanted to do something there for the community and give them a landmark,” she explains.
To capture the vibe of the area, Haddad says they took a number of meetings with community leaders to get the pulse of the neighborhood; the mural itself contained a number of symbols of the area to make it uniquely suited to Bayview. The red balloons are inspired by the words of a 96-year-old community activist who said that the neighborhood was like a “balloon waiting to inflate and rise.” The cows reference the historic Butchertown, once located at the site of the silo. Other patterns include shorebirds rising from the waters of the bay and a heron bird that references Heron’s Head Park, a nearby environmental restoration project.
Ultimately, the mural helps define the neighborhood, even for people who don’t live nearby. I’ve seen the Bayview Rise countless times while driving up and down the freeway a few miles way — you can’t miss it. For years it piqued my interest, and it likely does the same for the huge number of commuters driving on I-280 through San Francisco.
The Bay Lights by Leo Villareal / Illuminate
As engaging as all 27 exhibits featured on San Francisco’s light art tour are, nothing comes close to the Bay Lights project, both for the sheer scope of the art itself as well as the logistical challenges needed to make it a reality. In true San Francisco fashion, artist Leo Villareal said the project “was built in the spirit of a startup and not accepting no for an answer.”
Davis’s elevator pitch to the many city and state agencies that needed to work together was simple: “I have an idea that might let your bridge outshine the Golden Gate for a little while.” But when Villareal put together a one-minute video mock-up showing his vision for the Bay Lights, it got even easier to get the help the team needed. “[The video] transformed everyone’s opinion about the project,” David recalls. “The reality is once you can visualize something, it changes the entire conversation. If you can get to the essence and the heart of it in 60 seconds, you suddenly have this very powerful tool.”
The project was the result of two and a half years of collaboration between Villareal, Davis and a host of other contributors, particularly from a technical standpoint. Both Villareal and Davis say they’re not terribly technical people, but they were facing a serious challenge. “We know how to make pixels into a screen, but to take those pixels and spread them out over 1.8 miles, 500 feet in the sky above water and live traffic, it’s an unusual challenge,” Davis says.
Incredibly, the artwork has been built and attached to the bridge not once, but twice. The original Bay Lights were turned on in March 2013, and were shut down two years later by design. However, the area had such a strong response to the project and its closure that Davis and Villareal went back to work, seeing how they could make it a permanent installation.
To do that, Davis’s Illuminate organization convinced the city of San Francisco and the California department of transportation (Caltran) to take over operation of Bay Lights. Davis’s non-profit Illuminate raised the money to reinstall the lights the second time, but then the group gifted the artwork to Caltran, San Francisco and the state of California. Davis recalls his pitch like this: “We’ll bring this artwork live, in conjunction with Super Bowl 50 when the eyes of the world are on the Bay area and on your bridge, and at that moment we gift the installation to you in exchange for your stewardship.”
From a cost perspective, Davis said the maintenance comes to about $250,000 per year. With an operating budget of $8 million for the west span of the bridge, about 143 cars paying their toll in day covers the costs needed for upkeep. And when the installation went up the second time, the equipment needed was re-engineered to survive in what Villareal called “the bay’s harsh marine environment.”
With the installation now built to stand the test of time and the state of California in charge of its upkeep, the Bay Lights gives the bridge a shot to become as iconic as the Golden Gate. A big part of that comes from the artwork’s simplicity, something Davis and Villareal had to fight to preserve when they were raising money. “There are ways of engaging in commercial stuff, but it’s important to keep it pure,” says Villareal. “The Bay Lights isn’t aggressive. It doesn’t demand your attention.”
Indeed, any kind of visible commercial endorsement — or anything beyond the abstract patterns you can see on the bridge every night — would have kept the Bay Lights from becoming the kind of icon Davis and Villareal hoped for. “The piece became really accessible because it was free from the distraction of interaction,” Davis says. “Would the heavens be any more majestic if you could rearrange the stars with your iPad? Fucking no.”
“There are lots of illuminated bridges — you can search Google and find 100 garish examples,” Villareal says, “but there’s something about the Bay Lights that’s restrained.” That tasteful restraint is now hallmark of both of San Francisco’s bridges. The Golden Gate has its copper color and breathtaking views, while the Bay Bridge has its lights. There’s no doubt it’s a better legacy than traffic jams.
Facebook and Twitter helped catch suspected militants in Brazil
Big social networks have been doing more to quash extremist content and views lately, but rarely are they praised for having a real impact on investigation. On a television interview last night, a judge confirmed that Facebook and Twitter cooperated with authorities to help track down 12 suspected militants that were planning to attack the Rio Olympics.
After a judicial order to assist the Brazilian investigators’ “Operation Hashtag,” the internet titans provided information on their online behavior that was key to locating the militants. But it isn’t clear how much Facebook and Twitter shared or whether they gave authorities actual user exchanges. During the interview, the judge only said: “The companies began to provide data related to the content of the conversations and data about where those conversations were posted.”
Lately, the social giants have taken a zero-tolerance policy toward extremist discussion. YouTube, Facebook and others have instituted systems to automatically delete content that includes beheadings or other incidents they deem likely to incite violence. Meanwhile, Twitter has stepped up its post-incident response, deleting many pro-extremist accounts and tweets in the wake of the recent attack in Nice, France.
But cooperating with investigators raises sticky questions about privacy, especially for Brazilian police, who have liberally pressured tech companies for user data to solve local drug crimes. Back in March, they detained a Facebook vice president for the company’s failing to provide user data for the messaging service WhatsApp, which it owns. Authorities refused to accept that the company cannot access it due to automatic encryption and blocked the service for 72 hours in May, then punitively froze Facebook funds in July. But it seems that the Olympics was too international and high-profile to avoid cooperating.
Via: Fast Company
Source: Reuters
Nike’s latest soccer cleat is its most data-driven shoe yet
In soccer, like most other sports, footwear plays a major role in helping athletes perform at their best. Your shoes say a lot about who you are as a player, and you need them almost as much as you need the ball to play. This week, soccer pros all over the world will test-drive Nike’s latest flagship football boot, known as the Magista 2. Unlike the original, released in 2014, Nike says its new model is fully driven by two years of research. Over that span, the sportswear giant relied on collecting athlete data and 3D-printed prototypes to build the design that hits stores tomorrow.
It’s 30 percent lighter than before, for one, thanks to a new soleplate that Nike overhauled using a proprietary tool called Finite Element Analysis. The FEA system tests traction patterns to build an optimal base for the foot, allowing designers to configure key elements like placement of the studs. What made this scientific testing easier to turn into tangible form was 3D printing technology, says Nathan VanHook, senior design director of Nike Football. A prototyping process that in the past would have taken weeks, or even months, can now be done in a matter of hours.
By relying on 3D-printed plate models for FEA traction, VanHook says his team was able to receive instant feedback from different variation studs. These are sent through a robotic simulator to see which work best for rotation, acceleration and deceleration, until designers and engineers eventually land on the sweet spot. This data helps create a shoe that’s supposed to perform well on any given day, regardless of the condition of the field — immaculate, rough, wet, dry or somewhere in between
The Magista 2’s insole next to a few 3D-printed sample plates.
VanHook, who designed one of the most coveted Air Yeezys during Kanye West’s Nike partnership, says what he appreciates the most about 3D printing is the freedom it provides to experiment. “You see things right away,” he explains. “We can take the lever and say, ‘Let’s see what the most extreme [thing to do] is,’ and are able to prototype and iterate super fast.” Put simply, VanHook says, 3D printing has sped up Nike’s innovation process tenfold. He says there’s no reason to wait to cut metal tooling or mold something anymore, noting that the key is to go from the sketch to the actual making as quickly as possible.
As far as design goes, the Magista 2 is arguably Nike’s most eye-popping soccer shoe to date. And that’s coming from a brand known for its flashy designs on the pitch, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 Mercurials, as well as the HyperVenom and Tiempo lines. Most of them feature colorful, highlighter-like tones that are hard to miss even for fans without 20/20 vision. The Magista 2’s “heat-map” design is intended to mimic the hot spots where most players are bound to interact with the ball. So, in this case, red reveals areas of the foot with high sensitivity to touch.
For example, if you’ve ever played soccer you know how effective it is to kick the ball with the inside of your foot. It provides both power and accuracy. Sure, you don’t need a shoe to remind you of that, but it doesn’t hurt to have that mapped on your feet for aesthetic purposes. The interesting part about this design is that it was originally used on every prototype of the Magista 2 for data-collection, but Nike ultimately decided to turn it into an actual product. “It was pretty amazing when we first started seeing all the data come in and we painted it up,” says VanHook. “It’s the simplest idea, but it’s really complex how the data came through.”
Nathan VanHook with the Nike Magista 2.
To develop Magista 2, VanHook and the design team needed some in-house assistance. They worked with people from the Nike Sport Research Lab every step of the way, from R&D to prototyping, to the influence of the final design. NSRL is basically an underground bunker, located inside the most restrictive building at Nike’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The $40 million facility, built in 1980, is so secretive that even Nike employees who work in other buildings need to go through a screening process to receive a guest pass. It’s an important part of everything Nike does for soccer, basketball, football, running and basically every other sport for which it makes products.
Nike is often coy about what goes on at its high-tech lab, but in a sneak peak it posted online in 2014, it describes it generally as a place to “quantify athletes’ movements, the environments they play in and they products they use.” For this particular project, NSRL provided VanHook the necessary information to create an upper that’s designed to offer a better grip on the ball, improved traction and, as mentioned earlier, a lighter-weight design than the first Magista.
Similar to what Adidas did with its AlphaBounce running shoe, Nike researchers used motion capture to study how different areas of the foot control the ball. Again, this is what’s mirrored on the Magista 2’s upper design, which is made out of Nike’s trademark FlyKnit material.
NSRL isn’t just for testing products, however. It’s also a facility where athletes go to be evaluated frame by frame, sometimes for their personal gain and other times to help Nike with things like footwear research. The soccer lab has over 20 cameras capable of capturing footage at up to 10,000 frames per second, which is a crucial factor when every little detail counts. The 3D motion capture system is akin to what’s used for animation films, but Nike’s purpose is to recreate performance and model the foot and ball to see how they interact with each other in various scenarios.
“We deal with a lot of the nerdy stuff in here,” says Mike Amos, senior researcher at the Nike Sport Research Lab, “and we have some excellent designers that can help visualize that [data].” Despite all that research, VanHook says there were some tedious challenges during the design process. He points to the cuff around the ankle on the Magista 2, explaining how challenging it was to make anatomical shape that offered support and comfort simultaneously. To do so, VanHook says he had to work closely with the knit team, and they eventually went through more than 120 panels of fabric and yarn before getting to the ideal shape.
A themed Magista 2 will be worn by the USA women’s national team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
So, how does all of this translate when you’re wearing and playing in the Magista 2? The best way to describe the experience is that it feels like you’re wearing a thick sock. Which is exactly what Nike had in mind. That said, it did take 15 to 20 minutes of running around to feel comfortable. At first I thought I needed to go a size up, but the shoe eventually adjusted to my foot. After all, comfort is the least you can expect from a $300 pair of cleats, or $175 for the indoor version.
With Magista 2, one of the features Nike is focusing on is ball grip, but I didn’t notice much of a difference right away compared to other soccer shoes I own — including the previous-gen Magista. Maybe that’s something you’ll notice with more wear and tear, as I only tested them for about two hours. At the end of the day, the Magista 2 isn’t going to turn you into Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar or Messi. But it is designed to improve your performance in training and during games. If nothing else, though, it’s always nice to have the best-looking cleats on your rec team.
Google Maps now highlights busy neighborhoods
In a new update hitting desktop, Android and iOS today, the Google Maps team has done a little design housekeeping to clear some of the clutter and create a cleaner look across the board. While doing away with certain elements like road outlines, the update also adds a new feature that highlights active neighborhoods or “areas of interest.”
These areas of interest are now shaded light orange are meant to highlight “places where there’s a lot of activities and things to do” like popular business districts or neighborhood strips. According to the Google Maps blog, these areas are determined by “an algorithmic process that allows us to highlight the areas with the highest concentration of restaurants, bars and shops,” although some additional human interaction is apparently needed to determine the busiest spots in high-density areas like New York City.
Here’s that new feature in action, showing some busy neighborhoods in beautiful, Oakland, California:
In addition to the new highlighting, Google Maps is also getting tweaks to the color scheme that should make it easier to identify everything from parks and natural features to hospitals and highways. In other recent updates, Google also added the oh-so-handy multiple destinations feature for mobile directions and even higher resolution imagery in Satellite view.
Audi is trying to beat Tesla at its own game
Audi’s ramping up its electric car plans and hopes to have three models by 2020. It’ll also form a new subsidiary to work on autonomous cars.
The company’s chief executive Rupert Stadler told Reuters that Audi’s renewed push for electric cars is a direct result of the emissions scandal that embroiled its parent company Volkswagen.
Stadler wasn’t spilling the beans on the new cars, but did say there would be a subcompact among them. To make room for the new vehicles, some older models would likely be dropped. We’re looking at you, two-door A3.
Another premium manufacturer focusing more heavily on electric and autonomous cars will likely take some of the spotlight off Tesla’s autonomous vehicle ambitions.
“”This is about a robot car that may not even need a steering wheel or pedals, so it’s ideal for urban traffic,” Stadler said.
Audi’s also got tentative plans for fuel cell cars too, but doesn’t think there will be enough charging stations to make the technology viable until at least 2020.
Source: Reuters
‘Soft Gold’ OnePlus 3 coming to the U.S. on July 26, other markets on Aug. 1
After a bit of teasing, OnePlus has now announced the launch dates for a new Soft Gold color for the OnePlus 3. Available in the U.S. starting on July 26, and other markets on August 1, the Soft Gold finish comes in addition to the OnePlus 3’s current Graphite color offering.
Here are the exact dates and times you can expect the Soft Gold OnePlus 3 to go on sale in each region, according to OnePlus:
- US – July 26, 12:00 pm US Eastern time
- EU – August 1, 12:00 pm CEST
- HK – August 1, 6:00 pm Hong Kong time
- CA – August 1, 6:00 am Canada Eastern time
While India is absent from that list, OnePlus notes that it will have more information on an exact launch date for the country soon. And for those interested in the Soft Gold variant, OnePlus says it will be in limited quantities, so you’ll want to hop on it quickly. In any case, when it becomes available in your region, you’ll be able to order the Soft Gold OnePlus 3 on the OnePlus website.
Are you planning to pick up a OnePlus 3 in this new finish? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
OnePlus 3
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OnePlus
OnePlus 3: A second opinion
A phone as good as the OnePlus 3 should really cost more than $399. They’ve nailed it this time around. Now they just have to keep the software up to date.
There’s not a whole lot to say about the OnePlus 3 that we haven’t already said. (You’ve read our official OnePlus 3 review already, right?) This phone is legit. It hits a price point that’s not inexpensive, but doesn’t break the bank. And on paper, the OnePlus 3 probably should cost more than the $399 asking price.
It ticks all the boxes. It’s nicely designed and built just as well as anything else out there.
So is there any reason to not recommend this phone?
Let’s take another quick spin around the OnePlus 3 and see what’s what.
Your basic metal phone
OnePlus 3 Hardware
I’ve used quite a few metal phones from China. (I’ve also used quite a few metal phones that we don’t typically label as being “from China.”) And there’s absolutely this prototypical design that’s taken over. Thin. Sleek. Sloped edges tapering off at the sides. Antenna lines where we’re used to seeing antenna lines.
It’s your basic metal phone, sure. But it’s also beautifully done.
The OnePlus 3 has all this. There’s nothing inherently interesting about the look and feel of the phone. Manufacturers have gotten really good at this sort of thing, and OnePlus pretty much nails it here.
Power button on the right. Volume rocker on the left, with a dedicated three-way switch for notifications — all, priority and none — just above it.
I’m not 100 percent sold on this notifications switch (others disagree with me) if only because I’ve found myself too often slipping it to “None” by mistake. Is that any worse than being annoyed by too many notifications, though? Maybe not. I love the idea. I think maybe it’s just that Android’s notifications are still a little more complicated than I like. This isn’t a must-have feature for me. But neither is it a bad one. So maybe it’s better to have it than not.
The fingerprint sensor on the front of the phone is perfect. It’s very much reminiscent of the HTC 10, and that’s a very good thing. It works the first time, every time, just as you’d expect from that sort of feature at this point.
The 5.5-inch AMOLED display has been fine for me. It’s maybe on the upper end for size at this point. But while it makes the phone a little larger than what I’m used to right now (I’ve been using an HTC 10 and Galaxy S7 a lot), the whole thing is still plenty manageable. It’s maybe just a little bit on the slippery side.
And one reason I’d definitely continue to use the OnePlus 3 over the HTC 10? None of those annoying polarization issues with the display.
Elsewhere: the speaker isn’t bad. It’s not great, but better than I expected. USB-C is fine, and my port of choice at this point. And the headphone jack is there, and works as headphone jacks work.
This isn’t a small phone. And at 158 grams it’s not a light phone. But it’s a damned solid one, hardware-wise.
With 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, the spec-conscious just got excited.
Dual SIM cards are interesting, but not something I’ve ever really wanted. Nor am I using them.
Maybe the most important thing for me is under the hood, with 64 gigabytes of storage standard, and no mucking about with SD cards. About 53GB of that is actually available, and of that I’ve used 13GB so far — that’s with a ton of music downloaded locally for flying. For my money, this should be the standard.
And that extra storage is what gives otherwise simple and normal hardware a leg up.
(What about the 6GB of RAM, though? It’s cool. But I’ve never been one to worry too much about RAM management. Life’s too short, and these phones generally handle that sort of thing on their own just fine now.)
Stay out of the way
OnePlus 3 Software
I’ve used a lot of phones with software that, to put it mildly, just isn’t good. And generally when a manufacturer gives its software a name we expect an experience that’s full of things we don’t want.
OnePlus’ ‘Oxygen OS’ has gotten really good, and it doesn’t over exert itself anymore.
And that’s not to say the “OxygenOS” OnePlus is using is devoid of features. It’s not. (Hell, you still have the option whether to use on-screen buttons, or capacitive hardware buttons. I’m actually using the latter.)
OnePlus sticks with Google-like launcher by default (I’m still using Action Launcher 3, though). And it’s got all the other Google apps you’d expect. (I’ve recently switched to Google Keyboard, too, though SwiftKey is also preloaded.) But mostly things just stay out of the way.
Go explore the settings menu. There’s a lot going on in there. I’m using a dark theme. I’ve probably flipped a few other switches I forgot about. (I did turn off VOLTE, though, which was causing calls to fail on T-Mobile.) I’m using some of the gestures, but not all, and I’ve got a few other things tweaked. It’s not quite as insane as, say the latest EMUI from Huawei, but there’s still a good bit to play with.
The only question here is on software updates — OnePlus hasn’t excelled in this area in the past, and that has me worried.
Fast enough, long enough
OnePlus 3 Battery & Performance
Snapdragon 820 (that’s the processor from Qualcomm if you’re versed in such nerdery) pretty much means not having to say you’re sorry these days. Same for that 6GB of RAM. So things have been running snappily enough for me.
Dash Charge means not having to say you’re sorry.
The 3,000 mAh battery is pretty standard at this point, and so I was pretty sure of what I’d get here as well. And that is generally a full day of use. Sometimes I’d need to charge up a little bit in the late afternoon, sometimes not. Just depends on how hard I’m pushing things, and whether I plug in in the car on my way home.
OnePlus has this “Dash Charge” thing that Andrew explained in great detail in his full review. For me? Call it what you want. If it gets me something like 55 percentage points back in about 20 or 25 minutes, that’s great. The plug itself is a bit beefy, but not insurmountable. OnePlus also offers a Dash Charge car charger as well. (And I like how OnePlus puts a little effort into the design of the charger and its USB A-to-C cable.)
But the bottom line is this thing performs just as well as all the other 820 phones I’ve used this year. Maybe even a little better since the software load is pretty light.
It’s a camera, Jim
OnePlus 3 Camera
There’s no smartphone camera as good as the Galaxy S7. That’s the benchmark for me. Everything else (except maybe the LG G5) comes in second. That rings true for the OnePlus 3.
I didn’t use the OnePlus One or OnePlus 2 at all, so I don’t have any baggage on that front. The OnePlus 3 has a pretty good camera. Not outstanding. The front-facing shooter isn’t all that great. But the rear camera definitely gets the job done.
The camera app isn’t really anything special. I’ve left HDR on the entire time, and there doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference if you do toggle it.
Samples, because that’s all that matters:
A really good phone at a really good price
OnePlus 3 The bottom line
You’re hard-pressed to find a real reason to not recommend this phone.
I generally don’t review a phone with its price in mind, because prices tend to vary a little bit, and can change over time.
But you can’t ignore that this is one hell of a phone being sold for just $399. That’s a full $200 less than the HTC 10, which is right up there in my list of favorite phones for the year. It’s a good $300 or so less than the Samsung Galaxy S7. And while that’s almost a different a caliber of phone, I wouldn’t fault anyone for not wanting to spend that much money and instead opting for the OnePlus 3.
It’s one hell of a phone on paper. It’s a really good phone in practical use. And I’m having a really hard time finding a reason to not say “Stop thinking and buy it.”
The concern over software updates is real. But with OnePlus doing so much else right these days, perhaps we have reason to be optimistic.
OnePlus 3
- OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
- OnePlus 3 specs
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Google is making it easier for emergency services to find you when you need them
Google is using your Android phone to make it easier for emergency services to find you when you need help. With support from mobile networks, the Emergency Location Service sends your location of your phone to emergency services when you call an emergency number.
From Google:
This feature, when supported by your network, sends location from your phone to emergency services when you dial an emergency number. This uses the same location technologies available to apps on your phone, including Wi-Fi, GPS, and cell towers, to produce a more reliable emergency location both indoors and outdoors.
Your location is only sent to emergency services, and is never seen by Google, nor sent through their servers. The Emergency Location Service will be available as a part of Google Play Services for phones running Android 2.3 Gingerbread or later, which Google says covers around 99% of Android phones.
Emergency Location Service is already live in the UK and Estonia through carriers like BT, EE, Vodafone, O2, Tele2, and Telia. Google is working with other countries and carriers in order to facilitate an faster international rollout of the feature.
Essential accessories for Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus
What are the essential accessories for the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus?
The Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus are awesome. We know it, you know it. And awesomeness deserves, well, more awesome. We’ve rounded up all the very best essentials for your favorite new phone.
- Screen protectors
- Cases
- Headphones
- Bluetooth speakers
- Car mounts
- Charging accessories
Screen protectors
For some added protection and security, a tempered glass screen protector is an excellent investment. No need to worry about cracks or shattered glass with one of these in place.
Jasinber tempered glass screen protector
A quality tempered glass screen protector won’t interfere with the touch screen on your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus, and that’s true of the screen protector from Jasinber. For good measure, your purchase comes with two.
The adhesive on the back of the tempered glass spreads automatically when applied to the surface of your phone, so installation is precise and simple. It offers exceptional clarity; you won’t even realize it’s there, but you’ll be glad it is.
See at Amazon
OMOTON tempered glass screen protector
OMOTON’s tempered glass screen protector offers a lifetime warranty; pair that with the two-for-one pricing and you’ve got security and a great deal.
Application is bubble-free and it won’t leave behind any gooey residue if or when you remove it. It’s clear, oleophobic, hydrophobic, and completely scratch resistant, which means you don’t have to worry about fingerprints, oils, and all the daily crud that tries to get onto your phone screen.
See at Amazon
Cases
Make a statement or enhance the look of your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus with a case that protects and fits like a glove.
Orzly FlexiCase
Orzly’s FlexiCase has a non-slip gloss finish so your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus will be easier to grip. It’s a slim fit that won’t bulk up your phone, and it’s made of a flexible silicone gel that won’t move around or let dirt and dust get it.
The case allows you access to every port, button, and screen feature you want, and it’s available in black, blue, red, purple, or a simple clear finish that shows off the hardware on your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus.
See at Amazon
Abacus24-7 flip cover wallet
Odds are, if you’re leaving the house with your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus, you’re also leaving with cash and cards. The flip cover wallet case from Abacus24-7 will keep all of your essentials in one convenient place.
Take your pick from four colors of vegan synthetic leather that feels like the real thing. Your phone stays safe and the screen stays protected while you get space for three credit cards (one with a clear window that’s perfect for your ID), and separate compartment for some cash.
See at Amazon
Headphones
Take your tunes and your talk on your daily run, walk, or commute with the right headphones for the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus.
Jaybird X2 Sport Bluetooth headphones
There are six color variations of the Jaybird X2 Sport Bluetooth headphones, and they start at under $100. That’s a good buy, folks.
You can choose an under-ear or over-ear fit, and either way they’re not going to budge no matter how active you are. They ship with multiple tips so you’re virtually guaranteed to find the perfect, comfortable fit. You’ll have up to eight hours of music or talk time, and the sweat proof lifetime warranty is a huge bonus.
See at Amazon
SoundPEATS Bluetooth headphones
For HD sound, noise cancellation, and a low price point to boot, SoundPEATS Bluetooth headphones are where it’s at. The nine vibrant color variations give you plenty to pick from; maybe match a pair to your favorite case?
You’ll get up to six hours of play or talk time, and they’re sweat-resistant, so run all you like and don’t worry about a thing. SoundPEATS include several different sizes for the ear tips which means you can find a comfortable fit that won’t move on you.
See at Amazon
Bluetooth speakers
Bring the party with you wherever you go with portable Bluetooth speakers. Your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus has the soundtrack, and you can have the ultimate sound system to match, wherever the party may be.
UE Boom 2
The waterproof, shockproof UE Boom 2 is an impressive Bluetooth speaker. Its six color options range from the vibrant to the subtle, and they’re among the best-reviewed portable speakers out there.
With a 15 hour battery life and a 100-foot range, they suit virtually any environment. You get 360-degree sound with excellent bass; no one will believe all that sound is coming from such a tiny speaker. The Blockparty feature allows you to go between three friends’ devices on one speaker, or you can choose to pair a second speaker to your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus.
See at Amazon
JBL Flip 3 portable speaker
If you want quality and a speaker that stays under the $100 mark, the JBL Flip 3 portable speaker is right up your alley. It’s splash proof (because water happens) and comes in eight different color options.
The bass radiator creates sound that will keep the party going long into the night. If you feel like sharing, you can connect up to three devices to the same speaker (but everybody knows your playlist is the best).
See at Amazon
Car Mounts
Always on the road? Keep in touch and get where you’re going safely with a car mount that will keep your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus secure and hands-free.
iOttie Easy One Touch XL
You can choose a dashboard or a windshield mount with the iOttie Easy One Touch XL car mount. The XL will fit your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus even with a case on, so you don’t have to constantly take it out of the case to install it.
The car mount really is a one-touch device to lock your phone into place or to remove it. It’s fully adjustable with 360 degrees of rotation, which is necessary if you’re using your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus as a GPS device.
See at Amazon
New Trent Arcadia magnetic car mount
The New Trent Arcadia car mount offers an alternative to windshield or dashboard mounting by using your car’s air vents and a powerful magnet. The mount is available in black or blue.
The slim magnet adapter will fit inside virtually any phone case and hold your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus securely in place. The car mount allows you to fully rotate your phone without the need for an extended arm, and there’s no cradle; just pop on your phone and go.
See at Amazon
Charging accessories
Keep your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus charged to the max no matter where you are with some handy charging accessories for home, office, or the road.
APLUS desktop charging cradle
The APLUS desktop charging cradle is specifically designed to fit the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. It keeps your phone propped up and plainly in sight while it charges, which is perfect for speakerphone calls or video watching.
The charging cradle can also become the regular resting place for your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus, even when it’s not charging. Keeping it up off of a flat surface means you won’t misplace it or lose it under papers and other desk junk again.
See at Amazon
AUKEY 30W 2-port USB car charger
When you’re going to be on the road for a good stretch, why not use that time to charge your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus? The car charger from AUKEY allows you to charge two devices at once at equal speeds.
It includes a 3.3-foot USB cable, so you can charge your phone and use it in a car mount for speakerphone or GPS purposes. There are built-in safeguards to protect your Moto G4 or Moto G4 Plus from overheating and overcharging so you can be mindful of the road and not worry about how the charging is going.
See at Amazon
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