New MacBook Pro and 13-Inch ‘MacBook’ Coming Next Week, iMac and Display Not Ready Yet
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research report outlining his expectations for next Thursday’s “Hello Again” event where Apple is expected to make a number of Mac-related announcements.
In line with long-standing rumors, Kuo believes the highlight of the event will be a redesigned MacBook Pro in both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, adopting an OLED touch bar and Touch ID sensor, USB-C, Thunderbolt 3, and the same butterfly keyboard design introduced on the MacBook in 2015. Kuo also adds several new tidbits to the rumor mix:
Our new predictions also include: (1) Intel’s (US) Skylake processor; (2) the same panel resolution but better display quality and energy efficiency thanks to an oxide panel; (3) a new option of 2TB SSD storage capacity; (4) adoption of a similar processor as Apple Watch to control the OLED touch bar more energy-efficiently in the new MacBook Pro models; and (5) a Type-C & MagSafe-like adapter rolled out by Apple or a third-party supplier, given positive reviews for the MagSafe charging design.
Beyond the MacBook Pro, Kuo says Apple will also be introducing a “13-inch MacBook,” a claim he has shared previously. Rather than being a slightly larger version of the current 12-inch MacBook, however, this is likely to be a MacBook Air, which would align with other rumors claiming that only the 13-inch MacBook Air will be seeing an update with new USB-C ports.
On the desktop side, rumors have indicated that Apple is working on updated iMac models with discrete AMD graphics options, as well as a new standalone external 5K display, but Kuo says those products will not be ready until the first half of next year. It is still possible, however, that Apple could announce them at next week’s event.
We also expect Apple to launch new iMacs (21.5-inch and 27-inch) and Cinema Display (27-inch) in mid- 1H17. We cannot say for certain whether Apple will announce the new iMacs and Cinema Display on October 27 as the shipping schedule is not imminent.
Apple’s event is being held at the company’s Cupertino campus and kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time on Thursday. MacRumors will have full coverage both here on the site and on our @MacRumorsLive Twitter account, and Apple will be offering a live video stream of the event.
Related Roundups: iMac, MacBook Air, Thunderbolt Display, MacBook Pro, Retina MacBook
Tag: Ming-Chi Kuo
Buyer’s Guide: iMac (Don’t Buy), MacBook Air (Don’t Buy), Displays (Don’t Buy), Retina MacBook Pro (Don’t Buy), MacBook (Neutral)
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Moto G4 Play review: Under priced
If there’s one thing Motorola has been great at doing since the original Moto G, it’s creating a great phone for a very great price. Even under new Lenovo ownership, the same holds true for the Moto G4 Play. If you’re looking for a great valued, brand new smartphone under $200, you can’t go wrong with this phone.
Build
The Moto G4 Play contains the same materials used on the outside on the regular Moto G4, which I ended up really liking. The back is a textured plastic that feels like rubber and gave me a good grip on the phone. The Motorola “M” dimple is back, and although it’s really subtle, it’s a good reference point for your index finger as you make calls. I’ve grown to prefer all-metal phones such as the HTC 10 and Nexus 6P, but after a couple days I didn’t mind the relatively “cheap” plastic feel of this phone. For the asking price, this phone feels solid.
I tried twisting the phone and bending it a bit, but didn’t feel any creaks or movements with the outer body. Motorola advertises this phone as water resistant too, but don’t go dipping this phone into a full tub of water. It’s meant to withstand rainfall and spills, but not full water submersion.
The body is definitely manageable to hold with one hand, but with wider bezels than most 5 inch phones on the sides and top, it’s not as easy to hold as the Nexus 5 for example (on the right in the image below), a phone that came out in 2013. However, I can’t complain for the price, and I was certainly able to use this phone one-handed without much hand adjustment.
Display
Motorola sure knows how to put a decent display on an affordable device. A good comparison would be with the Nexus 4’s display, as they both look near identical, despite the G4 Play having a slightly larger 5 inch display and newer Gorilla Glass 3.
The colors look quite natural, but slightly more washed out than the regular G4. Color saturation matches just about all lower-end LCD displays, however the darker colors look lighter than they should be. There’s a noticeable light bleed coming from the back lights of the panel, but this is only apparent when the phone is viewed from the sides or bottom. If you’re worried about the lower 720p display, don’t be. Everything looks very crisp on it, and I really enjoyed scrolling through wallpaper apps trying out the sharpest offerings.
Performance
This is the aspect of the G4 Play that shocked me the most. This Snapdragon 410-powered phone actually runs really fast and everyday tasks felt very snappy to me. If I were to compare every day performance of this phone with another, it would be just slightly slower than the Nexus 5 powered by the Snapdragon 800. It sounds crazy, but I am using them side by side and the differences are extremely minimal.
Gaming performance was frustrating with the G4 Play, as games took a very long time to load, with an average of 88 seconds to load my Fallout Shelter game, with similar longer than average loading times with other games. Other than that, frame rates held up well enough and I didn’t notice any crazy slowdowns during intensive games like NOVA 3.
Multitasking on the G4 Play was a pleasant experience, with the 2GB of RAM providing just enough space for you to switch between your most recent 5-6 apps on average with no hesitation or reloading. Anything more than 6 apps though you’ll see some of them close and reload when you open them.
Performance is much better than I expected with this phone, and it shocks me that I can get very similar UI navigation speeds in a phone that costs a fraction of today’s highest end devices. You won’t be sorry with the Snapdragon 410 on-board.
Battery
Like the Moto G4, the Play version offers fantastic battery life. With this 2,800mAh battery, I’ve been consistently getting at least a day and a half of moderate to heavy usage. Using a lot of Snapchat, way more Groupme than I’d like to admit, occasional SMS texting, web browsing, lots of Reddit and an hour or two of YouTube and Netflix a day, I have not felt worried about getting through a day with this phone.
The only downside is this phone has a big battery but no fast-charging capabilities. This means charging this phone to 100% takes quite a bit of time and I recommend you plug it in at night regardless of what’s left after a day. And with Android Marshmallow, standby battery life is just as phenomenal as other phones, only draining 1% on average at night off the charger.
If you’re on the go more than the usual person and aren’t often around a charger or don’t want to wait for the slow charging, you’ll be glad to know the battery is removable so you can buy a new one to swap out whenever (after you power down the phone, of course).
Camera
You might be thinking you’ll be getting the world’s crappiest smartphone camera in a phone at costs $150 unlocked, and at first I was under that impression as well. But as I took more shots throughout my testing, I became more and more impressed with what a camera of this cost can get you.
Photography is not my expertise, but I’d like to talk about these photos I’ve included here. Shots in full daylight lack a bit of detail when zooming in, and blurriness is evident with the lack of OIS. I had to stand and hold the camera very still to get a crisp shot, but when I did I was happy with it.
Shots with HDR, such as the second photo above, don’t seem to capture the correct lighting in dark areas, and detail falls short because of this. HDR processing time took about two seconds as well, which is more than I’d like to wait. The graffiti wall shot pleasantly surprised me by keeping the correct lighting of the shot and the right amount of detail when looking at the wall. I also appreciate the outdoor shot of my campus, as the detail of the back building and the bushes looks pretty good for a camera of this price.
As you see with the night time shot, you might as well not bother taking pictures when the sun goes down. The lights in the field are way blown-out, the shutters on the houses are barely captured, and there is absolutely no detail found on the grass. However, finding a good phone that can take good pictures at night, even at expensive prices, can still be difficult.
Software
With the G4 Play, Motorola clearly did a great job optimizing the software to take full advantage of this Snapdragon 410 chip, as this phone handles everyday tasks with no problem, and barely any hiccups. Navigation is far more fluid than it has a right to be at this price, and that more than likely has to do with Android Marshmallow on-board and Motorola’s dedication to optimizing software correctly.
The software is nearly stock Android, giving the user a clean, and clutter-free experience. The default homescreen launcher is Google Now Launcher, giving the user a clean homescreen with easy access to Google Now and an app drawer that contains all your apps.
Motorola added a few features not found on stock Android, but I’m disappointed they did not include some of the gestures that made other Moto phones great, such as twist for camera and chop for flashlight. Whether this is because of the lower-end CPU or something else, I really wish it had it anyway. Moto display is back, providing convenient pre-lockscreen notifications, but it doesn’t look as good as it does on other Moto phones because of the more noticeable light bleed coming from the display.
Motorola also included a screen shrink option for those wanting full range of the display with one hand. To activate this, simply swipe up from the navigation bar. To deactivate, you just have to touch any part of the black area above the display.
Conclusion
The Moto G4 Play impresses me almost as much as when the original Moto G came out years ago. For $150, you can grab a customizable phone directly from Motorola’s website that offers a crisp 5 inch 720p screen, a front facing speaker that gets fairly loud, speedy performance that almost matches flagship devices, incredible day-and-a-half to two-day battery life, and a solid build. The phone’s cameras are lackluster if you compare pics with other phones, but in daylight it’ll get the job done just fine. There’s also no quick charging, but the large battery makes up for this.
I recommend this phone, hands-down if you’re looking for a new phone under $200.
A Guide To Waterproofing Your Google Pixel
So the Pixel’s not waterproof — there are workarounds!
For most people, the Google Pixel’s lack of waterproofing isn’t a total dealbreaker, and most folks will pick up a Pixel or Pixel XL without giving waterproofing a second thought.
Then there are those of us who have dropped our phones in the toilet at some point or have a loved one who has (like a certain writer’s wife), so we know the perils that can come from a not-so-waterproof phone. Even if you’ve had cell phones since the 90s and have never had a phone damaged by water, you might believe waterproofing your phone is just good sense.
And it is, just in case.
Get a waterproof case
The most logical option for waterproofing your Pixel is to slap on a waterproof case. This way you still get full use of your phone without having to hide it away from the elements. Here are some of the best waterproof cases you can get:
LifeProof FRĒ
The LifeProof FRĒ is your answer to protecting your Pixel or Pixel XL from everything. LifeProof claims these cases are waterproof, dirt-proof, snow-proof, and drop-proof (from up to 6.6 feet), so you’ll never have to worry about your Pixel — it’s in good hands.
LifeProof’s FRĒ is rated IP68 for ingress protection, which is as high as it gets, meaning that you’ll have to work pretty hard to get any dirt or dust in there, and your Pixel would have to be submerged in 3 feet of water for more than half an hour to risk damage. Each case also passes the U.S. Military Standard test for drops and vibrations, so you’d be hardpressed to rattle your Pixel’s cage.
This is likely the best case for you if you’re looking to waterproof your Pixel and protect it from whatever else might befall it.
For now, the FRĒ only comes in Asphalt Black.
See at LifeProof
Grab a sack… A waterproof sack!
Universal waterproof phone bags are an awesome way to keep your Pixel totally dry and are perfect for folks living the active life or vacation. Waterproof bags aren’t practical solution, so you likely won’t use one every day, but for times when you’re at the beach, hiking, or know you’ll be out in heavy rain, they’re excellent for keeping your phone a phone and not a brick.
JOTO universal dry bag
JOTO’s waterproof bag is rated IPX8, which is as good as it gets for ingress protection. It basically means that your phone can be safely submerged in this bag for an indeterminate amount of time. JOTO even says it’s good to 100 feet deep!
There’s a clear window on the front and back, so you can continue to use your Pixel and even take photos with the case/bag on. These bags fit phones up to 6 inches diagonally, so your Pixel XL is good to go, but you might have to remove a protective case if you have one on already.
The snap and lock closure is easy to use, and while securing your Pixel tightly, it’s easy to put it in and take it out without much fuss. There’s also a handy lanyard attached, so you can secure it to your swim trunks or cargo shorts and off you go!
See at Amazon
Best practices
If you don’t feel like shelling out $90 for a LifeProof case and a waterproof bag doesn’t really suit your lifestyle, then you’ll just want to do your best to your keep your Pixel as dry as possible.
Don’t take it out in the rain
This may seem like a no-brainer, but the urge to check a text while walking down the street on a rainy day can sometimes overcome you. Yes, the Pixel has an IP53 rating, so a little rain won’t bring it down, but if you’re looking to keep it pristine, inside and out, then keep it pocketed in the wet weather.
Bring a comic book!
Don’t bring your Pixel into the bathroom with you. Yes, playing Two Dots on the can is a great way to… “pass” the time (badum tshhh!). Not only is it grody, but what if you’re running a bath while you’re on the John? You rest your phone on the edge of the tub just for a second so you can finish off and wash up. As you stand, you knee grazes your phone. Splash! Au revoir, Pixel.
OK, so maybe it’s not that dramatic, but just leave your phone outta the bathroom and bring a comic book instead, huh?
If it gets wet, dry it off
That may seem like another no-brainer, but if your Pixel gets a little wet, wipe it down with a soft cloth or, at the very least, the sleeve of your shirt, especially if your phone’s in a case. No, it’s not likely that that water will get inside and do any damage, but do you want to take that chance?
Having water air-dry off of your phone is generally a bad idea anyway, since water dries things out as it evaporates, so if there are any plastic components that get wet, the air-drying can make them brittle in the long run.
Front pockets only
If you have to pocket your Pixel, make sure it’s the front pocket only. There seems to be this trend (especially among women) or folks keeping their phones in their back pockets. My wife kindly explained to me that women often do this because their jeans aren’t made with big front pockets because they’re so tight. Fair enough. Put it in your purse or anywhere else that’s not your bra (#cancerawareness).
If you go to sit on the toilet with your phone in your back pocket, you may just drop it in when you pull your pants up or down. Trust me. It happens. And you might have even just bought her an awesome case that was probably a little more expensive than cool phone cases should be, and when she got a new phone, she got the next iteration, so the awesome case didn’t fit.
Front pockets or purses only (or jacket pockets or whatever; just no parking in rear)!
In summation
Your best option for waterproofing your new Pixel or Pixel XL is the LifeProof FRĒ, but if that’s too expensive for you, get a waterproof bag for traveling, and just be careful otherwise.
Google Pixel + Pixel XL
- Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
- Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
- Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
- Pixel + Pixel XL specs
- Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
- Join the discussion in the forums!
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Camera comparison: Google Pixel XL vs. Galaxy S7 edge
Google has made a huge stride in camera quality, but can it take on Samsung head to head?
Though Google’s new Pixel phones have seriously impressive imaging that put its previous Nexus phones to shame, we have to remember that before they arrived it was well-observed that Samsung led the pack with the camera on the Galaxy S7 edge (and of course Galaxy S7 and Note 7).
Now that we’ve had a Pixel for a little while, it was only natural to compare it head-to-head with the camera that is leading the pack among all Android phones. Here’s how the camera experience on the Pixel XL and Galaxy S7 edge compare.
Performance and interface
Pixel XL (left) / Galaxy S7 edge (right)
Before you even get to looking at photo quality, it’s important to have a camera that can open quickly, perform well and have an intuitive camera interface. Both phones have the speed part down, with a double press of the power button (Pixel XL) or home button (Galaxy S7 edge) taking you to the camera in about a second. Shot-to-shot performance is on par between the two, and extremely fast — even when shooting in HDR or taking burst shots. This is how every phone should perform.
Both UIs get the job done, but Samsung offers many more options.
Google’s camera interface is still pretty simple. To many people that means it’s lacking features, but it definitely hits on the points most people need. You can use tap to focus and now adjust exposure with a slide, as well as toggle on grid lines, switch between HDR modes and swap to the front camera with a double flick of your wrist. Google’s implementation of switching to lens bur, slow-mo and panorama modes is super simple as well — I don’t have any complaints there.
Samsung’s main camera interface is just as simple as Google’s, but wins hands-down when it comes to the ability to tweak your shots, offering a full Pro mode with complete manual control over the camera. That’s a big differentiator for some who want to make changes to very specific parts of the camera or perhaps mount the phone to a tripod for interesting shots. Samsung also has a larger array of shooting modes available by default, with even more waiting to be downloaded — but nearly everyone will stick with the main modes in either camera.
Camera quality
Now let’s look at the output. As I do with all of my camera comparisons, I keep things smple to help reflect how the cameras perform in the hands of the average user. I kept both the Pixel XL and Galaxy S7 edge with their respective “auto” HDR settings turned on — then I took out one, snapped a photo, took out the other, snapped a photo. No tripods or lighting or burst mode or editing; just the direct output from the camera as it shot it.
You’ll also notice a variety of situations in the samples below; indoors, outdoors, dark, light, the whole spectrum. Here are my results, set side-by-side.
Pixel XL (left) / Galaxy S7 edge (right) — click images to view larger
In general, the Galaxy S7 edge still tends to take warmer and more saturated photos, which is something we’ve expressed in previous critiques of its camera and is just as apparent here next to the cooler, less-saturated and slightly more natural Pixel XL camera. The Galaxy S7 edge also tends to over-smooth certain parts of images, which comes across a bit more pleasing to the eye at a glance but isn’t as impressive as the sharp lines the Pixel XL was able to produce. Most of the differences really aren’t noticeable until you zoom way in on photos, though.
The biggest thing that stands out is how similar the photos are between the two.
When it comes to low-light performance, the Pixel XL seems to have jumped past the Galaxy S7 edge if only because of its consistency. The GS7 edge’s tendency for warmer photos is more pronounced at night, and its smaller pixels don’t take in as much light as the Pixel XL’s, which leads to a bit more grain and chroma noise in really dark parts of photos. The Pixel XL isn’t immune to grain and noise of its own, but the grain feels a bit more “natural” in these shots, rather than being over-processed and blotchy. Both phones were definitely still capable of taking a slightly blurry shot if you didn’t keep your hands steady at night.
Across this variety of situations, the biggest thing that stands out to me is how similar the photos are between the Pixel XL and Galaxy S7 edge. I don’t think there was a single photo I took in this comparison with either camera that wouldn’t be considered a “good” (or better) photo if I had shown it to someone on its own. It’s only when you start to set the photos side-by-side that you notice a few differences.
I’m personally a bigger fan of the way the Pixel XL tends to be a bit more natural, cooler and sharper, but the GS7 edge takes photos that are arguably more pleasing to the eye with their more-saturated and warmer colors. The only true “win” for the Pixel XL here is in its consistency of handling low-light photos with its HDR+ software … everything else is basically a wash.
Bottom line
These are two expensive phones with impressive cameras worthy of the price, that much is clear. Both can launch the camera in the blink of an eye, take great photos in just about every situation and manage even the toughest scenes. They trade punches in certain areas of emphasis, but the end result in either one is a great photography experience.
Samsung has a slight advantage in terms of its camera interface when it comes to customizations, shooting modes and full manual controls. Google is catching up in this respect, and offers a slick experience for just about everyone — save for those who need those extra tweaks.
Each phone can take amazing photos, and you have to zoom in, analyze and nit-pick in order to find issues in either one. Google may have a slight advantage in its tendency to keep things looking more natural and sharper, but how much that matters is basically a personal preference at this point.
Both the Pixel XL and Galaxy S7 edge have fantastic cameras — you can’t go wrong here.
Google Pixel + Pixel XL
- Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
- Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
- Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
- Pixel + Pixel XL specs
- Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
- Join the discussion in the forums!
Google Store
Verizon
Razer’s Blade Stealth and ‘Core’ add up to the gaming laptop I always wanted
For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of a computer that didn’t exist: something that could get me through the work day but also transform into a gaming powerhouse at home. It’s taken decades, but that old fantasy is finally starting to coalesce into reality. Laptops from Alienware and MSI can be bought with an external graphics dock that lends them the power of a desktop-class GPU. Earlier this year, Razer even made a bid for my dream laptop — but its Blade Stealth stumbled with middling battery life and by launching before its companion GPU dock hit the market. Recently the company updated the ultraportable with more storage and memory, a faster processor, a higher-capacity battery and the graphics extender that makes it so special: the Razer Core. Now that we finally have the complete package, it’s time to revisit the Stealth and see if it makes good on its promise.
Hardware
Like every Razer Blade laptop before it, the updated Stealth is a study of black, anodized aluminum accented with the glow of a customizable LED keyboard. This is hardly a surprise — the new Stealth is less a “new laptop” than a modestly updated version of the ultraportable Razer that came out earlier this year. Yes, there’s a new processor inside and a bit more memory, but all of that is contained in the same chassis as the original Stealth. Not that I’m complaining: Razer’s first take on the Ultrabook was thin, light and well built. This one is too.
The Blade Stealth ticks every box it needs to in order to qualify as an ultraportable. It measures just a half-inch thick at its fattest point, with a silhouette that gently tapers toward the palm rest. Its weight is almost negligible; it’ll add less than three pounds to your bag (2.84 pounds, to be precise). At 12.5 inches at its widest point, it won’t take up much space either. It’s solid and durable, too — there’s nothing like a CNC milled aluminum chassis to lend a device a high-end feel.
As for looks, Razer has always walked a fine line between subtle design and conspicuous branding. Like all Blades before it, the Stealth is draped in an attractive matte black finish and adorned with a glowing Razer logo. And it’s kind of cool. Maybe too cool. For Razer’s line of thin gaming laptops, the standard Blade design language looks sleek and almost sophisticated. But in a professional environment, the Stealth will stand out. Folks thinking about picking up the machine to double as a work and gaming machine should ask themselves, does the Stealth look too awesome for you to be taken seriously in next month’s board meeting? If the answer is “yes,” consider turning off the backlight behind the Razer logo and covering it with a sticker.
There isn’t a lot of room for connectivity on the Blade Stealth’s thin frame, but there’s enough. Each of the laptop’s sides houses a single USB 3.0 port, as well as an HDMI socket on the right, and a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Thunderbolt 3 connection on the left. Short of adding a built-in memory card reader, you can’t expect too much more from an ultraportable. Still, that Thunderbolt 3 connector adds some versatility; Stealth users who buy the Razer Core GPU dock will gain four additional USB 3.0 ports.
Keyboard and trackpad
Like the Stealth’s chassis, the keyboard here is one we’ve seen before — but it may also be the last time we see it. Don’t misread me: The Stealth’s keyboard is quite good. Its full-size keys are well spaced, comfortable to type on and even feature Razer’s Chroma backlighting, which allow the keys to glow in any of 16.8 million colors, with up to six accompanying animations, to boot. It’s not a bad keyboard, but Razer itself has already shown that it could be even better.
Just before Razer announced the refreshed Blade Stealth, it unveiled an iPad case that featured new low-profile mechanical keys. It’s a new kind of key technology that could potentially give laptops keyboards the feel of a full-size mechanical keyboard — complete with defined actuation and reset points and up to 70 grams of pushback force. Razer told us the new key technology was developed too late to make it into this generation of Razer laptops, but we might see it in laptops later down the line. It’s something I’m looking forward to; the Blade laptops already offer a great typing experience, but I won’t say no to something even better.
For years, I searched for the Windows-user’s answer to the MacBook Pro’s excellent trackpad — and Razer nailed it with the original Blade Stealth. The company’s trackpads were always pretty good but tended to suffer from mushy buttons. The Stealth got rid of those, and the mousing surface has been perfect ever since. It’s smooth, spacious and handles multi-touch gestures with aplomb. I couldn’t ask for more.
Display and sound
Perhaps nothing better exemplifies Razer’s attitude toward laptop design than the Blade Stealth’s screen options. The laptop’s 12.5-inch display can be had in two flavors: a 3,840 x 2,160 4K panel with a 100-percent Adobe RGB colorspace, or a 2,560 x 1,440 QHD screen with 70-percent RGB color gamut. Our review unit came with the latter, but both panels represent what seems to be the unspoken philosophy of Razer’s design process: gorgeous at any expense. Both of these display options are indeed stunning, with vibrant colors, deep blacks and wide viewing angles — but the cost is real. These beautiful screens bestow the laptop with the burden of short battery life.
To be fair, this problem isn’t unique to the Stealth — the next generation of high-resolution displays are killing laptop battery life across the board — but Razer’s latest portable was advertised as having longer battery life than the previous generation. It doesn’t (more on that later), and the display is the likeliest culprit. The Stealth’s screens are touch sensitive, too.
As standard as touchscreens have become on Windows systems, reaching across the keyboard to tap the screen still feels odd to me. That said, you have to give the company some credit: The Stealth’s display is beautiful. Movies, web pages and apps all look great, but the screen was at its best when the laptop was hooked up to the Razer Core GPU dock; playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on maximum settings at 2,560 x 1,440 is a thing of beauty.
I’ve consistently found nothing to complain about when it comes to the Razer Blade line’s audio quality, and that’s true of the new Stealth too. The laptop’s stereo speakers live on either side of the keyboard and push out balanced sound with no noticeable distortion and minimal tinniness, but there’s not much depth to the sound either. Razer recently bought THX, so the audio quality could one day improve, but for now these are merely good speakers. Not great, but good. And for laptop speakers, that’s more than enough.
Performance
| Razer Blade (Fall 2016) (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, Intel HD 620) | 5,462 | 3,889 | E3,022 / P1,768 | 4,008 | 1.05 GB/s / 281 MB/s |
| Razer Blade (Fall 2016) + Razer Core (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, NVIDIA GTX 1080) | 5,415 | 4,335 | E11,513 / P11,490 | 16,763 | 1.05 GB/s / 281 MB/s |
| ASUS ZenBook 3 (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, Intel HD 620) | 5,448 | 3,911 | E2,791 / P1,560 | 3,013 | 1.67 GB/s / 1.44 GB/s |
| HP Spectre 13 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,046 | 3,747 | E2,790 / P1,630 / X375 | 3,810 | 1.61 GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Huawei MateBook (1.1 GHz Core M3, Intel HD 515) | 3,592 | 2,867 | E1,490 / P887 | 2,454 | 538 MB/s / 268 MB/s |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (1.2 GHz Core M7-6Y75, Intel HD 515) | 4,951 | 3,433 | E1,866 / P1,112 | 2,462 | 545 MB/s / 298 MB/s |
| Dell XPS 13 (2.3GHz Core i5-6200U, Intel Graphics 520) | 4,954 | 3,499 | E2,610 / P1,531 | 3,335 | 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,131 | 3,445 | E2,788 / P1,599 / X426 | 3,442 | 1.5 GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) | 5,403 | 3,602 |
E2,697/ P1,556/ X422 |
3,614 | 1.6 GB/s / 529 MB/s |
| Lenovo Yoga 900 (2.5GHz Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,368 | 3,448 |
E2,707 / P1,581 |
3,161 | 556 MB/s / 511 MB/s |
Razer calls the Blade Stealth the “ultimate Ultrabook,” and as far as light, powerful laptops go, it fits the bill. I brought the Stealth with me when I covered Oculus’ Connect 3 conference earlier this month, and it didn’t let me down. For three days, the Stealth juggled multiple active browser windows with half a dozen open tabs apiece, a mess of disorganized Google Drive documents, multiple social media streams, video and image capture and editing tools and a handful of team messaging apps. Yes, my workflow is a complete disaster, which makes the Stealth’s tolerance of it all the more impressive. The Intel Core i7-7500U CPU and 16GB of RAM shrugged off everything I threw at it.
Unfortunately, killer performance is only half the puzzle. Ultraportable notebooks are supposed to be able to handle a full day’s work on a single charge, or at least something close to it. I just couldn’t get that kind of longevity out of the Blade Stealth. Engadget’s standard battery test (looping an HD video at a fixed brightness) exhausted the Stealth’s 53.6Wh battery in a little over five and a half hours — far short of the nine hours promised on the laptop’s product page. A second test, simulating an active browser workflow, lasted just 10 minutes longer.
Battery life
Razer Blade Stealth (fall 2016)
5:36
Surface Book (Core i5, integrated graphics)
13:54 / 3:20 (tablet only)
HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, 2015)
11:34
Surface Book (Core i7, discrete graphics)
11:31 / 3:02 (tablet only)
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, 2015)
11:23
iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2015)
10:47
HP Spectre x360 15t
10:17
Chromebook Pixel (2015)
10:01
ASUS ZenBook 3
9:45
Lenovo Yoga 900
9:36
Apple MacBook (2016)
8:45
Samsung Notebook 9
8:16
Dell XPS 13 (2015)
7:36
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
7:15
HP Spectre 13
7:07
Huawei MateBook
6:35
Razer Blade Stealth (Spring 2016)
5:48
Dell XPS 15 (2016)
5:25 (7:40 with the mobile charger)
It’s actually not uncommon for laptops to fall somewhat short of their promised battery life, but the Blade Stealth’s failure stands out because the refreshed model was advertised as having longer battery life than the original. Our review unit didn’t. Not only did it fall 10 minutes short of the first-generation Stealth in our standard test, but it did so with a lower-resolution display than the 4K model we reviewed in the spring. To get the Stealth to run for more than seven hours on the battery, I had to reduce its screen brightness to its absolute minimum, disable all keyboard lighting features and turn off the sound completely. It’s a manageable problem, but I also didn’t see the improvement I was hoping for.
The Razer Core
If you can accept the Stealth’s middling battery life, you’ll have yourself a rather nice ultraportable — but you won’t get the full Stealth experience unless you pick up the Razer Core. This $500 accessory dock lends the laptop the power of a desktop-class graphics card, and it’s what makes my modular gaming laptop dream possible.
The GPU accessory dock is built from the same high-quality black aluminum as the Stealth itself; it’s heavy, durable and looks like a miniature desktop tower. The solid metal body is only broken by stylistic grooves on its front and top sides, a Razer logo on the left and a grated window on its right. On the back, the Core features four USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, a single Thunderbolt socket for connecting to the laptop and an AC power plug. Just don’t plan on lugging the Core around: It weighs a hefty 11 pounds.
Lifting a recessed handle from the dock’s back panel unlocks it and allows you to slide the Core’s internal components out of the metal chassis. Inside, the Core is as simple as it gets, offering users nothing more than two power supply cables for the graphics card and single PCI-E port in which to install it. Even if you’ve never installed a desktop GPU before, setting up the Core is straightforward; there’s only one place for the card to go.
Using the Core with the Stealth is easy too: As soon as you plug it in, the Core automatically installs its own drivers. I fed the Core an NVIDIA GTX 1080, which it recognized almost instantly. After it finished installing, a new NVIDIA GPU activity monitor appeared in my system tray. “There are no applications running on this GPU,” it told me. Well, let’s change that.
I challenged the Razer Core-equipped Stealth to run two of my library’s most intensive games: Just Cause 3 and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. Both were playable at the laptop’s native 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, even tuned to their highest graphic settings, but neither performed quite as well as I expected. The Witcher III looked gorgeous at 40 frames per second, as did Just Cause 3 running at a steady 50 — but with a GTX 1080 calling the shots, those numbers should have been higher.
At first, I thought the Stealth’s dual-core processor might be holding the Core’s performance back, so I switched to a less CPU-intensive game to double check. Sadly, Overwatch was underperforming as well, struggling to break 50 fps on multiple graphics presets. Eventually, I figured it out: The Core’s Thunderbolt 3 connection simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to pass the graphics processing to the external GPU and pipe the results back to the laptop. Hooking up an external monitor directly to the GTX 1080-equipped core yielded much better results: 76 to 100 frames per second in Overwatch and 60+ in Just Cause 3. The Witcher III still hovered around 40 fps at 2,560 x 1,440, but that might be the processor’s fault — that game is a CPU beast.
And there, we have the rub: The Razer Core can absolutely turn the Blade Stealth into a gaming machine, but it won’t quite match the performance you’ll get with a desktop. It’s also a segmented experience; the Core performs better when it’s outputting games to an external monitor, making games on the Stealth’s gorgeous display a worse experience by comparison. Frankly, I expected that: Thunderbolt 3 is fast, but asking it to farm graphics rendering out to an external dock and pipe those results back to the laptop eats up a lot of bandwidth. That isn’t to say the Core is underperforming, but it’s limited by today’s technology. No matter what GPU you install into Razer’s Core, it won’t be living up to its potential — but to realize the dream of an external graphics dock, you have to be OK with that. That’s where the technology is right now.
Beyond the technical bandwidth limitation, I experienced one other issue with the Core: It got a little confused when I tried to switch graphics cards. Specifically, the GPU dock failed to automatically recognize my AMD Radeon R9 Nano the same way it did with the GTX 1080. It still installed the drivers right away, but the Radeon control panel didn’t realize the graphics card was installed. When I tried to reinstall the drivers manually, the machine suddenly recognized that the Radeon software was already installed, at which point it started working.
Despite these hiccups, the Core works as promised. Getting into a game is as simple as plugging a single USB-C wire into the Stealth, which piped in the GPU, power and any accessories I hooked up to the Razer Core. Going back to mobile mode is just as easy; you can unplug the Core (even while in a game!) without restarting the laptop, and everything works fine. It’s a dead-simple plug and play experience. And it needs to be: The Core’s $500 price tag wouldn’t be tolerable if the machine were hard to use.
Configuration options and the competition
Choosing a Razer Blade Stealth configuration is mostly a question of screen resolution and storage space. The $999 base model will get you a 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U dual-core processor (3.5GHz with Turbo Boost), integrated HD 620 graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB PCIe SSD and a QHD (2,560 x 1,440) display. Tacking on an additional $250 or $400 will net you 16GB of RAM and 246 and 512GB SSDs, respectively. The 4K Stealth starts at $1,599, also with 512GB of storage. Finally, the $1,999 configuration steps up to 1TB SSD.
The Blade is a decent value for an ultraportable with a seventh-generation Intel Core i7 CPU, but if you need something with better battery life, you may need to look elsewhere. Dell’s XPS 13 is still a good option, starting at $800 with an Intel Core i3-7100U, 4GB of RAM and over 10 hours of runtime, and can even be upgraded to match the Stealth’s Core i7. But if you’re dead set on a 4K display, you’re out of luck — the new XPS 13 tops out at 3,200 x 1,800. If you’re not married to Microsoft’s platform and don’t mind having only a single USB-C port for connectivity, you might consider Apple’s latest MacBook, which can handle 4K resolution for more than eight hours.
If you’re looking at the Blade Stealth in the first place, however, that Razer Core GPU dock is probably part of the reason why. Technically, the Core should work with any Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptop that supports Intel’s switchable graphics standard, but it’s only officially supported on Razer’s Blade and Blade Stealth machines. It works great on those, but at $500 it’s hardly the most affordable external graphics dock on the market. Alienware’s Graphics Amplifier sells for about $200 less but only works with Dell’s own gaming laptops, which are significantly bulkier than the Blade Stealth. MSI’s $1,300 GS30 Shadow is a thin and light laptop with an external GPU dock, but it’s stuck with a fourth-generation Intel processor.
Ironically, the best alternative to the Blade Stealth’s GPU dock might actually be a desktop computer. If you’re willing to learn to build a PC yourself, $500 can go a long way toward building a killer desktop gaming setup — one that won’t throttle the potential of your GPU the same way the Core does. In fact, taking this route won’t even hamper your ability to play high-end PC games on an ultraportable laptop: Steam in-home streaming can easily bridge the gap for most games.
Wrap-up
The Razer Blade Stealth initially caught my eye for its potential to fulfill a long-dormant dream: a portable, powerful laptop that could borrow the power of a desktop-class graphics card to transform into a gaming powerhouse. I’ve waited decades to realize this fantasy, and the Blade Stealth finally made it a reality… with some caveats. While the Stealth is indeed a powerful, thin and gorgeous laptop, its battery life keeps it from living up to Razer’s claim of the “ultimate Ultrabook.” The shadow of compromise hangs over the Core as well. At a high level, the GPU dock delivers on its promise, but today’s technology simply can’t siphon the full, unadulterated power of a desktop GPU through a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
Still, I love the Razer Blade Stealth and Core combo. It’s not the best ultraportable, and it won’t make the most of your desktop graphics card — but it’s one of those products that “just works.” For gamers without the patience to maintain a desktop but aren’t willing to sacrifice size, weight and battery life for a full gaming laptop, it’s worth all of the tradeoffs. Ultimately, the Razer Blade Stealth isn’t for me, but the Stealth is nonetheless going to make a very specific niche of laptop-loving PC gamers very happy.
Plum is a smart but expensive gadget for the wine-obsessed
Wine has a culture all of its own, steeped in tradition and practices passed down over the years. But wine experts will tell you it’s also a science, with precise measurements and conditions required to make that perfect bottle. The new Plum wine fridge stands firmly on the side of science. The $1,499 device can hold only two bottles at once, but Plum’s creators say it can make just about every aspect of serving wine better. It’s a lofty claim, but after seeing what Plum can do, I’m intrigued.
I really enjoy a good glass of wine — but aside from knowing the few varietals I enjoy most, I’m fairly clueless. I don’t understand what differentiates a pinot noir from a cabernet, and I don’t know the ideal temperature for serving wine. White goes in the fridge, red stays on the counter. Plum CEO David Koretz says there are millions of people like me who could better enjoy wine and learn a lot more about it with this product.
That’s because the Plum is packed full of technology you don’t typically see in most wine-serving devices. It’s connected to the internet, and there are cameras inside each of the wine-bottle chambers. Once you insert a bottle of wine, the cameras scan the label and upload it to Plum’s database. After about 30 seconds, the 7-inch touchscreen on the front of the fridge tells you exactly which wine you’ve loaded up.
From there, Plum will adjust each of the wine chambers to the proper temperature for the bottle you’ve put in. Each compartment is totally sealed off from the other, so you can chill a white wine while slightly cooling a red at the same time. Koretz says Plum can recognize 220 different varietals of wine and adjust to the optimal serving temperature for whichever bottle you have.
If you don’t care much about wine, this certainly won’t persuade you to spend $1,499 on the Plum (though you probably weren’t in the market for such a device in the first place). But Koretz says that in a taste test with a dozen ordinary wine-drinkers, every single one was able to recognize that a wine tasted best when chilled to its ideal temperature.
And that’s not Plum’s only trick, either. There’s also an intriguing internal setup that lets you pop in a bottle of wine and have it stay fresh for about 90 days. Sure, most people don’t need that long to drink a bottle of wine, but there are circumstances when this could come in handy (for example, if you have a particularly high-end bottle you sample only on special occasions). David Koretz says the idea is to let you drink wine at your own pace and not worry about the bottle going bad. People pour out wine all the time because they open it, want just a glass or two, and never get around to finishing the bottle. Plum’s preservation system means you can crack open a bottle and drink at your own pace.
The system preserves wine by first puncturing the cork or cap of a bottle with a dual-core, stainless steel needle. Puncturing the closure rather than removing it entirely keeps the wine from oxidizing. Plum then pumps in argon gas to pressurize the bottle. From there, the wine travels through stainless steel to the tap (using steel throughout the process is another way to keep wine from oxidizing). When you’re ready to actually drink the wine, you just tap the “pour” button on the touchscreen, which lights up when you’re nearby, thanks to a proximity sensor. You can either pour a small 1-ounce sample or a full 5-ounce glass, and the system lets you adjust each of those sizes to suit your taste.
Indeed, Plum is pretty customizable overall — if you prefer your wine a little warmer or cooler than the recommended temperature that the device pulls down, you can adjust it as you see fit. The system then remembers that you like your chardonnay a few degrees cooler than the default setting and will set all future bottles to that temperature.
Plum’s internet connectivity comes into play in a few other ways. Once you have wine loaded into the machine, you can tap the screen to get details about the varietal and winemaker — there are reviews, info on where the wine came from and info on what to look for while you’re drinking. The Plum also saves your wine-drinking history and uploads it to an account you can create, so if you particularly enjoy a certain bottle, you can go back and find it. For someone like me who regularly enjoys a wine and then promptly forgets about it, this would come in pretty handy.
That seems to be the entire premise of the Plum. It’s clearly a luxury item, meant for wine drinkers who are at least semiserious about the experience. At $1,499, this isn’t going to be a mass-market device — but there are already plenty of wine-dispensing and preserving systems out there. As someone who enjoys both wine and technology, using Plum sounds like an intriguing proposition, even if it’s out of my price range. Having something that uses the internet and its technology to make wine taste better and make me more knowledgeable would be great — and even though I can’t justify its cost, there are plenty of people who can.
How to use the Google Pixel’s Smart Storage feature – CNET
Google Pixel reviews are in and new Macs are incoming
Today’s daily tech wrapper includes a swarm of Pixel reviews, a slew of new Macs and Instagram’s Stories feature heading to the “explore” tab.
by Jeff Bakalar
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No matter how much storage your Pixel phone has, odds are you’ll eventually have to free up storage space on your device.
It’s never fun to have to pick through apps or photos and videos to decide what stays and what goes, but Google is making it easier than ever to do with its Smart Storage feature.
You can let Smart Storage do its own thing, periodically running in the background, or you can manually trigger a sweep of your phone’s storage to clear space on demand. Here’s how to set up and use both methods.
Automatic cleanup
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
To access Smart Storage, open the Settings app, then tap on Storage > Manage Storage.
Here you can enable or disable Smart Storage. When triggered automatically, Smart Storage will only remove photos and videos previously backed up to Google Photos.
Don’t worry — you won’t lose access to the content. You can still redownload it should you want to view or share it again.
It’s important to tailor how often you want Smart Storage to remove photos and videos from your device. Tap on the option and select from 30, 60, or 90 days.
Going one step further
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Left: Google Pixel Smart Storage results. Right: Nexus 6P results on Android 7.1 Nougat beta.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
In the Smart Storage settings, there’s an option titled Free up space now. You can use this tool to manually force your device to clear photos and videos, plus downloaded files and apps you haven’t opened in the last 90 days.
Of course, my Pixel shows a blank listing for all categories because I haven’t had it long enough to accumulate a lot of junk. However, I ran this feature on my test Nexus 6P running Android 7.1, and it found nearly 4 GB worth of items I don’t use and downloads I no longer need.
Check the boxes next to the category, or each individual app and file you want to remove, and then tap on the Free up button.
8 tips for using the Google Pixel’s camera – CNET
Pixel XL vs. iPhone 7 Plus: Battle of the cameras
Does Google’s new Pixel phone really have the best camera ever put in a smartphone? We tested it against Apple’s dual-lens iPhone 7 Plus to find out.
by Vanessa Hand Orellana
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Before you can begin taking stellar photos with your new GooglePixel, you need to learn a thing or two about the camera app itself.
For those who’ve used Google’s Camera app previously, you’ll feel right at home with a few minor tweaks. Those coming from a competing Android handset or an iPhone, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
Here are eight tips to help you get the most out of the Google Pixel’s camera:
Quickly open the camera from anywhere
Samsung uses a double-press of the home button as a camera shortcut. Starting with iOS 10, Apple uses a quick swipe to the left on the home screen to launch the camera.
With the Pixel, Google uses the lock/power button. This feature first launched with the 2015 crop of Nexus devices, and it’s a welcomed carryover to the Pixel line.
Double-press the power button and the camera app will open, regardless if the phone is locked or if you’re composing an email.
Double-twist your wrist
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
When taking a photo you can switch between the rear and front camera by tapping on a button to the left of the shutter release, or use a fancy new Moves gesture.
Using the same motion as turning a door handle, twist your wrist two times when in the camera app and the phone will switch between cameras. Twist again to go back to the previous camera.
The new feature is enabled by default in the Moves section of the Settings app, where you can view an animated tutorial detailing how to use it, or if you’d prefer, turn it off.
Shooting modes are kind of hidden
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
For iOS users who are accustomed to various shooting modes being visible, switching between modes may be a bit confusing on the Pixel.
The trick? Swipe in from the left-edge of the display to slide out a list of modes and the Settings button.
Currently, the list of shooting modes include: Slow Motion, Panorama, Photo Sphere and Lens Blur.
Give the volume button a job
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Out of the box, the volume button will act as a shutter release when using the camera app. However, you can go into the Camera settings and set it to control zoom, or remove any camera-related tasks from the button.
Change picture, video quality
Customize the picture and video quality your Pixel captures by opening the Camera settings, and switching to your preferred resolution.
For whatever reason, Google is shipping the Pixel with 4K disabled by default. With free unlimited storage at full quality, there’s no reason to have 4K turned off.
Disable video stabilization
As long as you aren’t panning around when recording video with stabilization turned on, the feature is really impressive. However, if you’re walking around or moving the phone quite a bit, stabilization causes the video to jump around a lot. For some, it’s acceptable. For others, it’s annoying.
You can turn off Video Stabilization in the Camera’s settings.
To auto-create a GIF or not, that is the question
When you press and hold on the camera’s shutter button, it rapidly captures photos one after another.
Because Google Photos is awesome and likes to combine burst photo sessions into an animated image, the Pixel’s camera app naturally does the same.
But if you hate seeing your photos come to life, you can disable the feature in the Camera’s settings.
App shortcut
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Don’t forget you can long-press on the camera app’s icon to bring up shortcuts to taking a selfie or recording a video without interacting with the app itself.
How to use Pixel’s built-in nighttime feature – CNET
Google Pixel unboxing
Want to see what comes with the latest Google phone? Take a look inside the box of the Google Pixel XL.
by Lexy Savvides
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Google’s Pixel phone ships with a new Night Light mode, similar to Night Shift on iOS devices.
When enabled, either mode will change the tint of your device’s display in an attempt to eliminate eye strain as bedtime nears.
The idea is that you’ll have an easier time falling asleep when compared to viewing the standard light from an electronic device.
Set up Night Light
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
You can find the new Night Light feature in Settings > Display > Night Light.
You have a few options regarding how the feature works, be it manually enabling it or letting it run on a predefined schedule. Alternatively, you can let Night Light mode activate and deactivate on its own based on your location, to determine sunset and sunrise time.
Manually enable
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Using one of the quick tiles, you can turn Night Light on or off from any screen. Swipe down from the top of your display, then swipe again to view the Quick Tiles.
A Night Light tile will be present; tap on it to toggle the status of the feature.
It’s really, really red
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A Nexus 6P without Night Light next to a Google Pixel XL with Night Light turned on.
Jason Cipriani/CNET
As you can see in the image above, the red tint is fairly dramatic. The initial reaction the change on your phone’s display is a bit jarring at first. Over time, you will get used it it. Eventually, you’ll wonder how you ever used a device that didn’t have a similar feature.
The jury is still out on whether or not it helps you fall asleep faster, but one thing is certain: It drastically reduces eye strain in low-light situations.
Unlike Apple’s implementation of Night Shift, Google doesn’t offer the ability to customize how extreme the red tint is on your display. Hopefully that’s a feature that’s added in the near future.
Sony MDR-1000X review – CNET
The Good The Sony MDR-1000X is an excellent-sounding, comfortable wireless headphone with effective noise-canceling that measures up to Bose’s for muffling ambient noise. It has good battery life and some nifty extra features geared toward frequent travelers.
The Bad Not great as a headset; its adaptive noise-canceling is too noticeable at times.
The Bottom Line If you can overlook a few small drawbacks, the MDR-1000X is a top-notch wireless noise-canceling headphone that’s stacked with features and sounds excellent.
When it comes to noise-canceling headphones — those models that actively block outside noise like airline engines — Bose is generally considered the gold standard, but Sony’s engineers have been on a mission to beat Bose at what it does best.
The result of their efforts is the MDR-1000X, which Sony is calling its most technologically advanced headphone. It features both wireless Bluetooth connectivity and adaptive noise-cancellation in a swanky looking chassis that retails for $400, £330 or AU$700.
Sony says it developed new ear pads for this headphone, and the embedded touch controls for volume adjustment and skipping tracks either direction are more responsive than those found in its predecessor, the MDR-1ABT.
What you get in the box.
Sarah Tew/CNET
I’m not going to get into all the technical details but this headphone is equipped with similar drivers to the highly rated MDR-1A (a wired headphone) and has microphones not only on the outside of the ear cups to measure ambient noise, but inside to take account for the shape of your head and ears, and whether you wear glasses.
Sony has trademarked this feature, calling it the Sense Engine, and the company says it tailors the noise-canceling individually to you. You can also choose alternate settings that allow more ambient noise to seep in or even filter out everything but voices so you can hear announcements in airports while listening to music.
Another cool feature is the ability to muffle your music and let the outside world in by simply holding your hand over the right ear cup, where the touch controls are located. Once you finish talking to someone, you remove your hand and the music resumes playing at its previous volume and the noise cancellation kicks back in.
The headphone in black.
David Carnoy/CNET
Battery life is rated at 20 hours and a cord is included if you want to listen in wired mode. You don’t need power to use it as a corded headphone (that means if the battery dies, you can still get sound out of it), but it sounds better as a powered headphone in wired mode.
Like a lot of Sony’s latest headphones, the company is promoting it as a high-res headphone, with support for Sony’s proprietary LDAC format that’s supposed to provide higher quality sound than conventional Bluetooth streaming. Unfortunately, you need a Sony music player with LDAC to take advantage of it. (Sony makes a variety of hi-res music players, but I suspect that the majority of people will use this headphone with their phones).
Also, Sony says this is the first headphone to have its Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE HXTM) built-in to “upscale compressed music from any source to near hi-res audio sound quality, even in wireless mode.”
AIVAnet 