Incipio Offgrid Express for iPhone 6/6S review – CNET

The Good The Incipio Offgrid Express will fully charge the iPhone once and powers up your phone’s battery just as quickly as more expensive chargers.

The Bad The case has a few inelegant open seams that look unattractive and awkward.

The Bottom Line The Incipio Offgrid Express has some design flaws, but get this over the pricier Mophie Juice Pack.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

If you’re looking for a slim battery case to charge your iPhone on the go, but you don’t want to spend more than $100, the Incipio Offgrid Express is a good $80 option (or £60 and approximately AU$110). The accessory offers a meaty 3,000mAh battery and it can double your phone’s battery life for a good deal less than Mophie’s $120 Juice Pack Plus.

Though its battery reserves aren’t as high as the Juice Pack Plus (the Mophie sports 3,300mAh battery) and its design isn’t as clean cut, Incipio’s case does essentially the same thing and works just as well.

To use the Offgrid Express, plug the handset into the battery charger and snap the bumper around the phone’s edges to attach both pieces together. For the first few times, I had a hard time snapping the bumper into place all the way since there always seemed to be a gap at the seams. But as I kept fastening the case together throughout the day, I eventually got the hang of it.

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On the bottom right edge is a button that turns on the indicator lights so you know how much charge is left. You can also long press the button to turn the charger on and off. The case uses Micro-USB charge, which is common for iPhone battery cases. Because of this, you’ll need two different cords to charge your case and iPhone (the latter uses a proprietary eight-pin Lightning connection). If this is a big deal for you, Apple has its own Smart Battery Case that uses the eight-pin port too.

During my time with the case, I saw that it did attract some fingerprint smudges, but they’re much easier to wipe off compared to Mophie’s case. The Offgrid Express also adds extra bulk to your device, especially at the bottom. Because your headphones may not fit through the case and into the handset’s headphone jack, Incipio included a headphone port extender. In addition, a small rectangle on the left of the case is cut out to allow users access to the phone’s ring/silent switch. Given the overall thickness of the case, that means you’ll need to dig your fingers a bit deeper to toggle this on and off.

Ozmo Active Smart Cup review – CNET

The Good The $60/£45/AU$80 Ozmo Active Smart Cup looks great, its related app is easy to navigate and its simple reminders encourage you to drink more water and less caffeine.

The Bad Ozmo occasionally thinks water is coffee — and vice versa. It can’t track other caffeinated beverages like tea or soda.

The Bottom Line Ozmo’s Active Smart Cup is a neat concept whose hit-or-miss performance and limited features don’t match its high price.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

The Ozmo Active Smart Cup is an intriguing concept that gets bogged down by its high price and lack of features, ultimately making it tough to recommend. Here’s the gist.

To combat dehydration, Hong-Kong-based startup Ozmo developed a $60/£45/AU$80 16-ounce Bluetooth-enabled cup available worldwide (also called Ozmo). Of course, you can put any drink under 176°F (80°C) in this sturdy-lidded drink holder, but it’s specifically designed to auto-log your water and coffee consumption via built-in sensors. Initial question: Do we really need this much help remembering to drink water?

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The Ozmo app walks you through the simple initial configuration then asks for some basic information — your age, your height and weight, and your activity level (from low to extreme). From there, it arrives at an optimal amount of water you should drink every day. Mine was 108 ounces or 13.5 cups. That seemed high, but it’s probably because I grew up with the ol’ 8 cups of water a day adage and never really questioned it.

The software also decides on a maximum daily caffeine intake for you, 21 ounces in my case — just over 2.5 cups.

Motorola Moto G4 Plus review – CNET

The Good In addition to retaining its sibling’s water-resistant body and full HD screen, the Moto G4 Plus adds a fingerprint sensor, slightly better camera, and you can select more storage and memory.

The Bad That fingerprint scanner confusingly looks like a home button, and the lack of NFC means you can’t use the phone for contactless payments.

The Bottom Line The Moto G4 Plus adds a fingerprint sensor and slightly better camera to the mix, but its cheaper sibling is still the better deal.

See manufacturer for pricing.

The Motorola Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 are extremely similar Android phones that perform far better than you’d expect for the price. In fact, these fourth-generation entries in the Moto G line effectively redefine value in the smartphone realm, moving from merely “good enough” to “amazingly good for the money.”

Both phones offer a bevy of solid features, including 5.5-inch full HD screens, capable octa-core processors and decent 3,000mAh batteries, including some notable niceties — expandable storage and water-resistant bodies — not found on current iPhone models that retail for three times as much.

The Moto G4 Plus edges ahead in the specs race with a fingerprint sensor and a better camera. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t include NFC compatibility for Android Pay purchases at real-world retailers.

For that reason, we’re more inclined to stick with the base G4 model, which costs just $199 or £169 at its base configuration. But if you value scanning your finger to unlock and zooming in to photos for more detail, the Plus may well be worth the modest price increase — an extra $50 or £30.

Read our full review of the Moto G4 for details on both phones, or continue here for a quick overview on the primary differences between the two models.

Editors’ note (July 6, 2016): This review has been corrected to reflect that the G4 Plus does not offer NFC or Android Pay, and that we recommend the cheaper Moto G4 as the better overall buy.

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What’s the price difference?

Motorola doesn’t make it easy to give a direct comparison between the US and UK markets. That’s because the phone is available in slightly different configurations at retailers (like Amazon) and the company’s own Moto Maker site (where you can configure customised versions). But the bottom line is that both phones have amazingly low starting prices for what you’re getting.

The base 16GB G4 is $199 or £169. Adding $30 or £30 gets you a 32GB version at Motorola’s website. (For the equivalent price in Australian dollars, please see the spec chart at the end of this review.)

The base 16GB version of the G4 Plus starts at $249 or £199. For £30 more (£229), those in the UK can get a 32GB version (not currently available in the US). The Plus tops out at $299 or £264 for 64GB, which also doubles the on-board RAM to 4GB from 2.

The bottom line is that the Plus adds a couple of “nice to have” features, especially if you prefer to unlock the phone with your fingerprint or like to zoom in to your photos for greater detail. But the lack of NFC and full Android Pay features makes us inclined to stick with the baseline G4 model.

What’s different between the G4 and G4 Plus?

It boils down to two main things. The G4 Plus has a larger, 16-megapixel (versus 13MP) camera and a fingerprint scanner that unlocks the phone. What the Plus also allows you to do is spec up the internal storage capacity up to 64GB, which also snags you double the RAM (4GB in total).

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If the fingerprint scanner had worked with point of sale Android Pay, the G4 Plus would be an easy recommendation over its less expensive twin. But its lack of NFC means you won’t be paying for cabs and Chicken McNuggets at the register.

One other problem with the fingerprint sensor is that it looks like a home button and I regularly found myself pressing it to leave an app — which does nothing, as it purely functions as a scanner.

Do I need the G4 Plus’s 16-megapixel camera?

More resolution means more pixels are crammed into the image, so fine details on shots taken with the Plus’s 16-megapixel sensor look sharper. Take a look at the comparison image below to see what that really does to an image.

Moto G4 Vs Moto G4 Plus camera resolution comparison (click to see full size)

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

More pixels don’t always make better-looking photos, though. Both phones can capture lovely scenes and are well equipped for your summer snaps. The resolution is only a benefit if you want to zoom in on details, or display them at full screen on a monitor. If you mostly look at your shots on the phone or on Instagram, the extra resolution matters less.

Yamaha YSP-2700 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Yamaha

Until recently there were only a couple of sound bars that peeked “Kilroy was here”-style over the $1,000 mark, but now we have two just from Yamaha alone. The company is following up its gargantuan YSP-5600 sound bar with a sleeker, less-costly option in the YSP-2700.

The YSP-2700 is a “7.1-channel” sound bar — with a wireless sub — that uses Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projector technology to simulate surround sound. The Yamaha uses a series of 16 drivers across the front of the unit to beam sounds around the room. In the past we’ve found the technology works better than competitors’ in providing an enveloping soundstage, even if it’s not very successful at producing rear effects.

Like models such as the Zvox’s SB500 and Definitive Technology’s W Studio series, the 37-inch-wide Yamaha YSP-2700 takes cues from the computer industry by shunning a plastic housing in favor of a solid block of aluminum.

As expected for a $1,199 (AU$1,499; not yet announced for the UK) sound bar, the connectivity includes three HDMI inputs and one output that offer 4K pass-through compatibility. The sound bar will also decode both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for users who want to be able to decode all manner of Blu-ray soundtracks.

The Yamaha includes Bluetooth streaming both from a phone and even more handily to a set of Bluetooth headphones.

As with most new products under the Yamaha banner, the YSP-2700 includes Yamaha’s multiroom Wi-Fi system called MusicCast. It offers streaming of a number of services including Pandora, Spotify and Rhapsody plus hi-res music from a networked device.

The YSP-2700 will be available in the US in September, while availability in the UK and Australia have yet to be announced.

Motorola Moto G4 review – CNET

The Good The Moto G4’s big, bold screen and junk-free software make it a pleasure to use throughout the day. Its ability to survive a dunking will appeal to the clumsy among us.

The Bad Processor performance is great for everyday tasks, but gamers will want to shop elsewhere.

The Bottom Line With its big, bold screen, water-resistant design and rock-bottom price, the Moto G4 is a dazzling deal.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

The Moto G has always been among the top dogs when it comes to “cheap but good” phones and the new G4 — and slightly fancier G4 Plus — have kept up that tradition.

Competition in the budget arena has never been more fierce, but the newest fourth-generation Moto G continues to hold its own thanks to a host of hardware upgrades, including a larger and brighter 5.5-inch, full HD display and faster octa-core processor, without shedding last year’s water-resistant construction and expandable storage (you can add up to 128GB by adding ultra cheap microSD cards).

And then there’s that price. In the US, you’ll pay $199 for the unlocked phone, which will work with all major US carriers when it hits on July 12. (You’ll find more details here. You can also buy the phone at a deep discount from Amazon, if you accept ads.) In the UK, the standard 16GB Moto G4 starts at a similarly affordable £169.

Motorola — which is now owned by Lenovo, by the way — hasn’t said how much the phones will go for in Australia, but the Moto G4’s UK price converts to about AU$300.

So what’s the catch? Not much, really. Spending a bit more for the aforementioned Moto G4 Plus gets you a fingerprint sensor (for easy unlocking), a slightly better camera and — at the top end — double the RAM and even more built-in storage. But neither phone has NFC or contactless payment options, so the Plus upgrades don’t feel worth the extra money in our book.

Editors’ note, 4 p.m. PT: This review has been corrected to reflect that the G4 Plus does not offer NFC or Android Pay, and that we recommend the cheaper Moto G4 reviewed here as the better overall buy and Editors’ Choice.

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Moto G4 vs. G4 Plus: What’s the difference?

The G4 Plus gets its name from its 16-megapixel camera (up from 13 on the regular G4) and a fingerprint scanner on the front. It also offers more RAM (4GB vs. 2GB) on its top-end 64GB configuration. Otherwise the phones are the same, from processor to screen.

Obviously, the Plus costs a bit more — and configurations vary by region. Americans will pay $50 more for the 16GB Plus ($250), while those in the UK will pay an additional £30 (£199). An extra $100 or £95 gets you a 64GB G4 Plus, which — as noted above — also doubles the RAM. (The UK also gets a 32GB Plus that doesn’t appear to be available in the US.)

That said, none of those upgrades are particularly compelling in my book. I kept confusing the Plus’s fingerprint sensor for a home button (it’s not), and its lack of NFC means there’s no contactless payment option. The extra megapixels in the camera, meanwhile, didn’t offer a big difference in everyday shots, unless you were zooming in. For those reasons, the cheaper G4 is the better option for nearly everyone.

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Slender and water-resistant

The Moto G4 and the G4 Plus are almost identical. They both have 5.5-inch screens, which is half an inch larger than the previous model and a full inch larger than the original Moto G from 2013. Both displays have full HD (1,920×1,080-pixel) resolutions, which are bright, bold and well suited to your tweeting and snapchatting.

Even better, the handsets are water-resistant, so they won’t shut down the first time you spill your drink on them. The back panel is removable, providing access to the microSD slot to expand the storage. You can’t swap the battery out, but its 3,000 mAh capacity is sufficient for a full day of use, so you may not need to carry spares around.

On our looping video battery rundown test, it took 13 hours 20 minutes to drain the battery entirely, which is a respectable performance. By comparison, the LG G5 took 12 hours 30 minutes, while the OnePlus 3 took 14 hours 17 minutes.

As with the rest of the Moto family, you can select from a wide range of back panels and metallic accents using the online Moto Maker tool. This is also where you can choose the amount of storage (16 or 32GB for the G4; 16 (US), 32 (UK) or 64GB for the G4 Plus, with 4GB of RAM for that most capacious option).

Nippy software, free of junk

The G4s run a near stock version of Google’s Android 6.1 Marshmallow software, making them easy for even Android novices to use right out of the box. (Motorola will eventually offer a Moto G4 Play version too, which will have totally stock Android.) Many budget phone makers — I’m looking at you, Huawei — load their phones up with so much junk from the start that they’re tough to navigate and find the essential features. Not so here. The interface is uncluttered, and aside from a single Motorola personalisation app, there’s no messy bloatware.

That lack of bloatware helps the phone feel nippy and responsive. There’s no annoying lag when you swipe around the home screens, the camera opens quickly and loading apps is very swift.

HTC Desire 530 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

HTC first showed off its Desire 530 back in February at Mobile World Congress. Now, the 5-inch smartphone is coming to the US.

Like most of the company’s phones, the Desire 530 looks slick. It sports a trim 8.3mm profile and has a thin bezel on either side of its screen. On the back you’ll find what HTC calls a “multi splash” design — it looks like spots of paint on a blank canvas (which is much nicer than it sounds).

Available on T-Mobile and Verizon, the Desire is a phone for the budget conscious, with an unlocked version coming to HTC’s website “later this month” for $179.

For that price, you’ll get the following specs:

• 5-inch, 1,280×720-pixel resolution display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 210
• 1.5GB of RAM
• 2,200 mAh battery
• 16GB of internal storage, up to 256GB of expandable storage

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On the back you’ll find an 8-megapixel camera, while the snapper on the front weighs in at 5 megapixels. That front camera comes with “Auto Selfie” and “Voice Selfie” features, which let you take selfies without pressing a button.

The Desire 530 will be available in three colors — Blue Lagoon, Sprinkle White and Stratus White.

Fujifilm X-T2 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Following the release of the X-Pro2 early this year, Fujifilm returns to revamp its X-T mirrorless series with its replacement for the X-T1, the X-T2. While it looks like a significant upgrade over the X-T1, it’s because that model is over two years old; the X-T2 incorporates a lot of the newer technologies that are in the X-Pro2.

Fujifilm plans to ship the camera in September — at least in the US — body-only for $1,600 or a kit with the XF18-55mm f2.8-4 lens for $1,900 (£1,400/£1,650 and AU$2,300 — I can’t find a kit price there).

Editors’ note, July 11, 2016: Updated with corrections based on a brief time with the camera as well as pricing for the UK and Australia.

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New highlights

• Sensor and autofocus. It uses the same 24.3-megapixel X-Trans III sensor and X-Processor Pro as the X-Pro2, but with an increased number of phase-detection autofocus points. Fujifilm claims much better speed and accuracy, plus adds more controls over continuous autofocus behavior. As a refresher, the X-Trans technology uses a 5G:2R:2B ratio (green, red, blue) color filter array rather than the 2G:1R:1B used by the standard Bayer array on a typical sensor. The extra green — the most sensitive sites on the sensor — provides sufficient data that there’s less false color produced by de-mosaicking (reconstructing colors from the array) and obviates the need for an optical low-pass filter to blur the edges between the pixels.
• 4K video support. One one hand, it’s great that Fujifilm has upped its video game to 4K. But in my experience the company has never done a great job with video; I hope we don’t just see the same artifacts writ high resolution. It can output clean HDMI at 4:2:2 (8-bit) depth.
• Design and features. The biggest change is the LCD; now it not only tilts up and down, but can flip out to the right, as well as tilt up or down while flipped out to the right. Really nice. It also increases to two SD card slots, which is essential for serious continuous shooting or 4K video recording. The viewfinder has similar specs to that of the X-T1, but with a higher maximum refresh rate of 100 frames per second. It does seem pretty responsive. Fujifilm adds the ability to use focal-plane sync to shoot with flash at any shutter speed. There are a couple of tweaks to the control layout, most notably the removal of the recording button from the top and the replacement of the focus assist button on the back with a joystick similar to the X-Pro2’s. While the X-T series has always had a more pronounced grip than the X-Pro models, there’s a new optional Vertical Power Booster Grip (VPB-XT2; $330, £300) that’s intended to deliver improved frame rates during continuous shooting and increase the maximum 4K recording time to 30 minutes, in addition to extra battery life.

Other updates and announcements

There’s also a new flash, the EF-X500 (GN 164 in feet and GN 50 in meters), which has a tilt and swivel head, and a video LED. It will ship in September as well for $450 (directly converted, £350, AU$600).

Additionally, the company announced it plans to release a firmware update for the X-Pro2 in October, updating the autofocus algorithm with many of the same performance enhancements as the X-T2, the focal-plane flash sync capability and improvements to the parallax correction in the viewfinder.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen an X-series lens roadmap; there are no real dates on the new one. Fujifilm plans an XF23mmF2 R WR for 2016, followed by the XF50mmF2 R WR and XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro in 2017. The latter has replaced the 120mm f2.8 macro lens that was promised on the last roadmap.

My take

I’m kind of baffled as to the differentiation. The X-T2, which is close to identically priced to the X-Pro2, incorporates the same sensor and a newer autofocus system than the X-Pro2, plus a tilting LCD and support for 4K video. It has similar performance specs as well. The two cameras basically have different designs and viewfinders — the X-T2 looks more streamlined with a bigger grip — but the X-T2 seems a significantly more advanced camera for the same money. Unless you really want the X-Pro2’s hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder.

Comparative specifications