NASA seeks public input on how to cut SLS and Orion costs
NASA has admitted in its latest Request for Information (RFI) that it’s spending a bit too much money on the Space Launch System’s and the Orion capsule’s development. The agency is asking for public input on how to minimize the “production, operations and maintenance costs” of the rocket-and-spacecraft system — an issue it needs to address soon since it will be under a new administration within a couple of months.
While President-Elect Trump once said he wants NASA to concentrate on exploring Mars and beyond, which is what the SLS is for in the first place, a budget cut would be devastating. It apparently costs the agency $3 billion a year to develop SLS and Orion. Seeing as NASA had a $19 billion budget for the fiscal year of 2016, it’s safe to assume the project eats up a huge chunk of the agency’s money.
The RFI confirms what Bill Hill, the engineer who oversees the project, told Ars Technica earlier this year. “We’re just way too expensive today,” he said during the interview. “It’s going to take some different thinking and maybe a little bit more risk taking than what we’re wanting to do today.”
As Ars notes, it sounds like NASA is also opening its doors to competing technologies designed to do what the powerful rocket and the capsule are meant to accomplish. In one part of the RFI, the agency wrote that it’s also on the lookout for “Competing exploration services in the mid-2020s timeframe and beyond if the market demonstrates such services are available, reliable, and consistent with NASA architectural needs.”
It could mean that the agency is willing to use rockets and spacecraft developed by private space corporations instead of the SLS and Orion if they will be cheaper to maintain and operate. SpaceX is already working on reusable Falcon Heavy rockets designed for deep space exploration like the SLS. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance have contenders of their own, as well. But if the new administration doesn’t scrap the project, NASA hopes to send SLS and Orion to space once a year by 2023.
NASA will accept kinds of suggestions to lower the project’s costs, including new construction methods and the bulk purchase of materials. If you want the agency to consider your input, though, you’ll have to send it in on or before December 23rd.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: FedBizOpps
Amazon will let Italians buy Fiat cars with a click
Amazon has made it easier to research cars online, but actually purchasing a car? That’s another story. Even a recent deal with Seat in France limited customers to making a downpayment on the web — they still had to agree to a phone interview to clinch the sale. However, the dream of one-click vehicle shopping just came a bit closer to reality. Amazon is partnering with Fiat to let Italian motorists buy the 500, 500L and Panda on the web at discounts up to 33 percent greater than seen at retail. They’ll still have to visit a dealership to complete the purchase, but this is about as direct as it gets if you’re not ordering a Tesla.
Orders should be ready about two weeks after you pull the trigger, Fiat says.
This is clearly a competitive move on Fiat’s part. While its sales were turning a corner before this (it swung from a loss in Q3 2015 to a profit this year), incentivized online sales could help it keep that edge. You might be more likely to buy a 500 if you can order it from home and get a better bargain. Just don’t expect to see dealerships cut entirely out of the loop in the near future. As Tesla learned first-hand, dealers routinely fight attempts to introduce direct sales — Amazon can get close to that business model, but it faces a backlash if it makes dealerships obsolete.
Source: Reuters
Uber starts selling digital gift cards online
Uber has made it much easier to buy gift cards for friends, family and anyone else who paid for your fare in the past. You can now get digital gift cards straight from Uber’s website and send them straight to someone else’s email address. The company started selling physical gift cards through retailers back in September, but now you only have to click a few buttons to get one.
If you’ve ever bought e-gift cards from websites that use CashStar’s program, such as Sephora, the process will look very familiar. You can choose the digital card’s design, write a note to go with it and choose the amount you want to give. The ride-sharing company says your recipients can use what they get to pay for either a ride or an UberEATS purchase if the latter’s available where they live.
Source: Uber
US government releases official guidelines for smart guns
Back in June, the US Department of Justice proposed a list of specifications for manufactures of smart guns: a preliminary outline of the baseline features law enforcement agencies wanted to see in the future of pistol safety technology. This included a slew of safety features, failsafe countermeasures and requirements for rechargeable and replaceable batteries. Now, the government has made that draft official.
The final version of the guidelines look a lot like the draft — pistols with security devices must be able to disable the weapon’s firing mechanism when not in the control of an authorized individual. The security features of smart guns need to be a permanent part of the weapon too, though they are allowed to incorporate external verification accessories like rings, tokens or wristbands.
Also like the draft, most of the guidelines are about what smart gun security features can’t do — impair operation or increase time needed to draw, holster or fire the weapon. If a firearm’s security features are malfunctioning, they also need to default to unlocking the weapon. If that sounds pretty lax, it’s supposed to be: the department says the project is designed to spur the growth of gun safety technology without limiting innovation by choosing a standard too soon.
As nice as it is to see these guidelines developed, it’s important to remember that they’re optional: this is a voluntary list of specifications. Even so, there’s a good chance the industry will adopt it all the same — these aren’t just the standards the Department of Justice wants to see in the future of smart guns, it’s the baseline requirement government buyers will look for when they purchase firearms for law enforcement agencies, too.
Source: DoJ, NIJ
Aeon Labs Aeotec Water Sensor review – CNET
The Good The Aeon Labs Aeotec Water Sensor has a simple, but effective design — especially given its $35 price tag.
The Bad The Aeotec has too few extra features to really stand out among the competition.
The Bottom Line For users with a smart-home hub and a particular desire to monitor their sump pump well, the Aeotec Sensor is a great option. For most others, it won’t be a good fit.
Flood sensors don’t need bells and whistles to work well; they just need to tell you when your basement is flooding. You can make your own flood sensor and alarm for a couple bucks, but if you want one that sends you push notifications on your phone, one of the most affordable options is the $35 Aeon Labs Aeotec Water Sensor.
The big catch with some leak detectors, including Aeotec, is that you need a smart-home hub like SmartThings or Wink to use them. Why? Because the detectors function using a communication protocol called Z-Wave, which essentially allows them to work with low energy consumption, and send messages that the hub translates into alerts that it sends to your phone. If you want something that communicates directly with your phone without a hub, you’ll have to dish out more money for devices like the D-Link Wi-Fi Water Sensor or the Honeywell Lyric Leak and Freeze Detector.
If you do have one of these smart-home hubs, Aeotec is a great option for a flood sensor. It’s simple, but it performs its function reliably. The only major issue it has is that it relies on a wired probe. Essentially, the dual-probe that most flood sensors use to detect water, is connected to a long wire, making it useful for attaching to the edge of a sump pump well or open floor drain. But if you want to just set it under a sink or in a particular problem area of your basement, its wired probe won’t be ideal.
One problem every flood sensor needs to address is how it will be powered. Aeotec relies on batteries, so it will still send alerts even if the power goes out. The batteries should last well over a year, but you’ll need to replace them to keep the device doing its job.
Looking for a flood sensor? Check out your options.
- Honeywell Lyric Leak Detector
- SmartThings Leak Sensor
- D-Link Water Sensor
- Everspring Flood Detector
- FortrezZ Flood Sensor
While Z-Wave and the wired probe end up limiting the Aeotec Sensor, they also mean it will work well for people with particular needs. So if you have a Z-Wave bridging smart hub, and want to monitor water levels in your sump pump, then the Aeotec Sensor is a great option.
Samsung SmartThings Water Leak Sensor review – CNET
The Good The SmartThings Leak Sensor works reliably and features a streamlined design.
The Bad It’s so simple, some people might be reluctant to drop $40 on it.
The Bottom Line SmartThings’ device is reliable and simple to install. For those who already have a SmartThings hub, getting one or two of these sensors to put around the house should be a no-brainer.
Sometimes, simplicity is better. SmartThings as a smart home control system works because each individual component, from motion sensors to locks to lights, performs its function well. That cooperation creates a broadly successful system that accomplishes complex tasks.
In that context, the SmartThings Water Leak Sensor is a fine device. It does what it’s supposed to: alerts you via push notification and in the SmartThings app when it detects water. But for $40, I wish it did just a little bit more.
Here are the features of the SmartThings Water Leak Sensor:
- Water detection
- Temperature sensing
- Works with SmartThings
- Battery-powered
What it doesn’t have:
- Audible alarm
- Wi-Fi connection
- Humidity sensing
- Tilt sensing
I love how simple it is in some ways — I really could see myself buying a few of these and just tossing them under sinks and beside pipes around the house. And the SmartThings sensor has a clever design that funnels water toward the probes on its underside.
Looking for a flood sensor? Check out your options
- Aeotec Water Sensor
- Honeywell Lyric Leak Detector
- D-Link Water Sensor
- Everspring Flood Detector
- FortrezZ Flood Sensor
The problem is, if you’re looking for a gadget to set off alarms, monitor large areas or alert you to other potential problems like humidity, then SmartThings is just too simple to help you. Plus, it requires an investment in the SmartThings hub if you don’t already have one — making it much more expensive in total.
If you already use the SmartThings platform, and want a simple gadget to monitor your home for floods, this Leak Sensor is a solid pick. Otherwise you’ll want to find a different device.
Everspring Z-Wave Wireless Flood Detector review – CNET
The Good The Everspring Flood Detector works reliably for monitoring sump pump water levels.
The Bad Everspring has almost no extra features that make its price tag seem worth it.
The Bottom Line With a price tag of $40 and almost no distinguishing features, the Everspring Flood Detector fails to leave a mark in the larger market.
Flood sensors might seem simple — and on one level they are: they simply use probes to set off an alarm when they make contact with water, which increases the conductivity between them. But despite that relative simplicity, there’s also a lot of room for creative design by the companies that make flood sensors. Some have water-sensing probes attached to their bodies; some have cables with twisted probes embedded in them for long sensing range. And then there’s Everspring.
The Everspring Z-Wave Wireless Flood Detector has a single wire that stretches about eight feet, and at the end of it: a two-prong probe. While Everspring’s $40 device certainly isn’t as feature-rich as others on the market, it meets a very specific need, and does so reliably. The problem is, that need is too niche for most users.
Here are the Everspring Flood Detector’s features:
- Requires smart home hub
- Audible alarm (which you can barely hear if you’re more than a few feet from it)
- Battery powered
- 8-foot wired probe
Everspring doesn’t have temperature or humidity sensing. It doesn’t have tilt-sensing. Really, it has very few features to speak of, besides that long wired probe. Granted, that wire allows for easy monitoring of sump pump well water levels without letting water anywhere near the device itself. But is that feature alone worth $40?
Looking for a flood sensor? Check out your options.
- Aeon Labs Aeotec Water Sensor
- Honeywell Lyric Leak Detector
- SmartThings Leak Sensor
- D-Link Water Sensor
- FortrezZ Flood Sensor
Everspring’s device has a bigger problem: it essentially does exactly what the Aeotec Flood Sensor does, but for more money. Although in rare instances having an eight-foot wired probe might be useful, for the majority of users, it’s unnecessary.
While Everspring performs reliably, it simply doesn’t boast enough distinguishing features to recommend it over more useful and affordable alternatives.
Six innovative solar systems that go beyond standard arrays
By Cat DiStasio
Solar technology has skyrocketed in recent years, as new innovations pave the way for more affordable designs that generate clean energy in unique ways. We’ve branched far beyond the familiar solar panel, with new developments that experiment with different shapes and materials to maximize the clean energy potential of the sun. Engineers have been working to create flexible solar cells that can adhere to nearly any type of surface. Innovations centered around concentrating and multiplying the sun’s energy have also increased in recent years, as more industry leaders look to ways to get a big bang from solar power without requiring huge swaths of land, which aren’t always readily available.
Sphelar spherical solar cells
Developed by the Japanese company Kyosemi in 2012, these spherical solar cells look more like disco balls than any renewable energy generator you’ve seen before. The spherical cells were created to capture sunlight from any direction, thereby maximizing energy production in places where full, direct sun is not the norm. The company’s Sphelar cells eliminate the need for complicated, motorized solar tracking systems, which reposition solar cells to face the sun as the position shifts throughout the day. With a dome-like face that points in many directions at the same time, Kyosemi created a solar cell that doesn’t need costly motors in order to make the most of a sunny day.
V3Solar’s Spin Cell
Another curious take on the shape of future solar technology is found in the spinning cone known as V3Solar’s Spin Cell. Its maker claims the rotating blue prism can generate over 20 times more electricity than a stationary flat panel with the same surface area of solar cells. The design initially launched last year and V3Solar is testing prototypes that exceed not only the energy generation of traditional solar panels, but also the durability, since the spinning action protects the Spin Cell from overheating — a common pitfall of conventional panels.
Sunflare CIGS solar cells on a roll
Perhaps one of the most useful innovations in solar cell technology is the emergence of flexible solar generating materials.Los Angeles-based startup Sunflare’s CIGS solar cells are a stellar example, because they are supplied in a roll not too unlike wallpaper. Upon reaching their destination, the solar material can be rolled out and mounted to nearly any surface — sometimes with little more hardware than some double-sided tape. The ultra-lightweight solar cells weigh 65 percent less than traditional solar panels and are also 10 percent more efficient, generating more energy in areas that need it most. The panels’ flexible delivery make them a perfect solar solution in rural areas and for portable projects, with an affordable price as well. Sunflare estimates the energy produced by their rolled up solar cells costs as little as $1.07 per watt.
IBM’s solar sunflowers
IBM is well known as a leader in all sorts of technology fields, but most people probably don’t realize they are working on more efficient solar power generation as well. Enter the High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system, which concentrates the sun’s radiation 2,000 times and is capable converting 80 percent of it into useful energy. IBM’s solar concentrator looks like a sunflower, with reflective surfaces lining a dish-like structure. All told, the system can generate up to 12 kilowatts of electrical power and 20 kilowatts of heat on a sunny day, which is the equivalent of the electricity it takes to power several average US homes.
Tesla’s integrated solar roof system
Rooftop solar arrays are not new, but Tesla and SolarCity recently unveiled a revolutionary product that fuses the solar power generation with roof coverings in a variety of styles for an integrated clean energy solution. Tesla’s “solar roof” is nothing like the eyesore solar arrays of yore: It will be sold in four different styles, allowing homeowners to improve the overall aesthetic of their residence while simultaneously generating clean energy they can store in the integrated Powerwall 2.0 battery system. Because Tesla is still interested in selling its electric luxury cars, a Tesla charger is also included, making it easy for people to power their homes and their cars with the sun’s energy.
SolarWindow transparent solar coating
Maryland-based startup SolarWindow Technologies promises its transparent solar cell technology can produce 50 times more energy than conventional solar panels — a claim that is far and above what other recent innovations have achieved. Framing their creation as a “power-generating window,” SolarWindow is actually a coating that can be applied to an existing glass or plastic surface, which generates electricity without obstructing the view or shutting out daylight. Because of its lofty energy conversion claims, the inventors also say their system will pay for itself much earlier than traditional solar panels — translating into a net-zero cost savings in just one year, as opposed to as many as 11 with conventional solar arrays.

Pixel Plus: How to make your phone look like a Pixel (and better)
There’s a lot of beauty in Google’s shiny new Pixel, and that extends to the Pixel Launcher.
The clean lines of the redesigned Google widget atop the screen, the whimsical portholes for folder icons, the faint white bar behind the dock … Google did a lot of interesting things with its new launcher layout, and while I’m all for the Pixel look, let’s face it: not all of us have 800 bucks for a Pixel. And even those with a Pixel can get fed up with the launcher’s limitations when it comes to desktop grid size and icon packs. Don’t worry! You don’t have to give up your sweet Pixely theme just because you’re giving up the Pixel Launcher.
Luckily for us, two of the most popular replacement launchers on the market have already done most of the work for us; all we have to do is turn the proper settings on. We’ll show you how to bring out the Pixel in Nova Launcher and Action Launcher, and how to put it all together.
Google Wallpapers
I’ve said before in themes like these that stock wallpapers are boring as hell, make me sad and shouldn’t be used. Thankfully, I don’t have to say that this time because the Wallpapers app that ships on the Pixel and is available on Google Play has dozens and dozens of beautiful and diverse wallpapers ranging from Google Earth and Landscapes to Life and Textures. They even have daily wallpaper settings so that your wallpaper can’t get stale and sad, because you can wake up every morning to a new one! Yay!
See our review of Google Wallpapers
Icons
The Pixel uses round icons. Woo. Hoo. There are a lot (by which I mean a metric crapton) of round icon packs out there, but we’ve come to the two we prefer over all others, and indeed over the mismatched stock icons on the Pixel.
Pixel UI Icon Pack, left, and Dives – Icon Pack, right
- Pixel Icon Pack (Free) is a free icon pack with the Pixel icons we’ve come to love (or not), along with a decent amount of themed third-party icons and a masking tool for icons that don’t have an icon in the pack yet. There aren’t a lot of alternate icons, but it looks decent in the app drawer and on the home screen, is easy to apply and easy to navigate if you’re looking for a specific icon or alternate.
- Dives – Icon Pack ($0.99) is by Vertumus, a developers with some very robust and beautiful packs, and while you can find the standard Pixel icons here for stock apps along with round icons for thousands of apps, what we also have here are alternate icons for apps like Google Play Music that look SO MUCH BETTER than the one Google is using. In fact use the alt_3 icon for all the Google Play apps. Oh, and the icon pack is on sale for a dollar right now, half off its usual $2 price tag.
Pixel via Action Launcher (aka the easy way)
Action Launcher recognizes that changing settings across an entire launcher takes a while, which is why they were gracious enough to provide a shortcut. Here’s how to find it again if you didn’t use it the first time it popped up:
Open Action 3 Settings.
Swipe up to scroll down to the bottom of the settings menu.
Tap Help.
Tap Looking for Pixel Launcher features.
Action Launcher will then list and explain all of the Pixel features and styles it has. It’ll tell you where you can activate each individual one.
Tap Apply All.
Action Launcher will tell you what all it is about to change and ask you if that’s what you wanted. Tap OK.
Tap the back button to get back into the main menu of Action 3 Settings.
Scroll up and tap Display.
Tap Icon pack.
Select Dives or Pixel Icon Pack. Action Launcher has some of the default Pixel icon built in, but you’ll want a real icon pack to put some consistency on your launcher.
This will get you everything for the Pixel theme except the Google search bar, which isn’t available in Quickbar but instead as a standalone widget at the top of the widget drawer. While this does mean that you can put that little pill wherever you want on the screen and that you don’t look the entire top bar of your screen like you do on other launchers, you can’t customize the color like Action Launcher’s signature Quickbars, nor can you get the date or weather. Shame.
Pixel via Nova Launcher (aka the hard way)
Nova Launcher is the Old Faithful of third-party launchers: it is beautiful, it is dependable, and it’s the best quarter I ever spent in Google Play back in the day. While you can get most of the way to Pixel with the free version of Nova Launcher, you need Nova Launcher Prime for the gesture actions we’re going to be using for the app drawer. The Pill search bar is still in beta for Nova Launcher, which you can opt into here.
If you didn’t already use Nova Launcher, you can import your current layout to Nova upon installing it by going into Nova Settings. In the Backup & import settings, tap Import and select your launcher. You’ll have to click through a few warnings about deleting your current Nova layout, but if you just installed the launcher, you’re just losing the default layout
Open Nova Settings.
Tap Desktop.
Tap Desktop grid.
Set the desktop grid to 4 rows by 5 columns. Tap Done to return to Desktop settings.
Tap Width Padding and select Medium.
Tap Height padding and select Medium.
Tap Persistent search bar to turn it on.
Tap Search bar style.
Tap the pill-shaped Pixel Bar style.
Tap Bar color
Set it to white.
Scroll down to Logo style and select the colorful G.
Scroll down and tap Weather to turn on weather content in the search bar.
Tap the back button twice to return to the main menu in Nova Settings.
Tap App & widget drawers.
Tap Drawer App Grid.
Set to 6 rows by 5 columns.
Tap Done to return to App & widget drawer settings.
Tap Frequently used apps to turn it on.
Tap App drawer style.
Tap to select Vertical.
Make sure Card background is turned off.
Tap Swipe to open to turn it on.
Tap Background.
Select White and set Transparency to 0%.
Tap Enable fast scrollbar to turn it on.
Tap Scroll accent color
Select Teal (fourth row, first column).
Tap Search bar to turn it on.
Tap the back button to return to the main menu in Nova Settings.
Tap Dock.
Tap Dock Background
Select Rectangle.
Tap Color.
Select White.
Drag Transparency to 70%
Tap Draw behind navigation bar to turn it on if you have on-screen navigation buttons.
Tap the back button to return to Dock settings.
Tap Dock icons.
Set to 5. Tap Done to return to Dock settings.
Tap Width padding and select Medium.
Tap Height padding and select Large.
Tap the back button to return to the main menu in Nova Settings.
Tap Folders.
Tap Folder Preview.
Select Grid.
Tap Folder Background.
Select N Preview.
Tap Background.
Select White and set Transparency to 0%.
Tap the back button to return to the main menu in Nova Settings.
Tap Look & feel.
Tap Icon theme.
Select Dives or *Pixel Icon Pack**.
If you want an extra way to swipe open your app drawer, tap Gestures & inputs.
Tap Swipe up.
Tap app drawer.
Going beyond the Pixel
The stock Pixel theme we’ve described up above brings a nice, clean, bright look to our launchers, but there’s no saying we have to follow the Pixel theme to the letter. Here are a few ways to make your Pixel theme a little more flexible, fun, and fitting:
- Folder Fun: By changing the color of your folder Background in Nova or Folder icon background away from white, you can make your folders pop with a colored ring on that porthole preview. It can be a challenge to pick a hue that looks good on your theme as both a preview and folder background color, but when pulled off properly it can be quite stunning.
- Pretty Pill: While you can’t customize the color of your Pixel search widget in Action Launcher, Nova will let you customize the color of the search bar to better match your wallpaper or theme colors. I don’t know about you, but white widgets hurt my soul.
- Shapely Icons: If circular icons aren’t your cup of tea, you can fall back on some of our favorite icon packs: the Material icon pack Glim or the monochromatic Whicons and Zwart packs go with almost any theme, Pixel included.
So, how Pixely do you like your launcher? Have any circular icon packs that we may have overlooked? Chime in below in the comments, and if you have any themes you’d like me to tackle, sing out!
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
LG V20 review: Great for audiophiles, but who else?
After the unabashed wackiness of its G5, LG had a real conundrum on its hands: Does it keep up the modular streak for its 2016 V-series flagship phone and risk lousy sales, or try something a little more traditional? As it turns out, LG chose the latter and built a more conventional kind of powerhouse: the V20. None of that means the phone is boring, though. Between its stellar audio, a neat dual-camera setup and a second screen, there’s theoretically enough charming weirdness here to help the V20 stick out from the competition. The bigger question is whether all those disparate bits come together to form a compelling whole. As is often the case, the answer depends where your priorities lie.
Hardware
It’s funny how little the V20 ($672+) looks like its predecessor. Last year’s V10 all but shoved its rugged design in your face, with its rubbery DuraSkin rear and a pair of stainless steel bars flanking its display. The design looked better in person than I thought it would, but it definitely wasn’t for everyone. The V20, meanwhile, is more subdued in its style, even though it’s rated to handle 4-foot drops, just like the V10.
Now, don’t go confusing “subdued” with “attractive” — the V20’s aesthetic is best described as utilitarian, and I’d be surprised if anyone felt the blow-to-the-gut pang of attraction that sometimes comes with seeing finely crafted gear. In fact, when I first laid eyes on the V20, I couldn’t help but point out visual similarities between it and the BlackBerry Z10 — not exactly a comparison LG should be proud of. Regardless, the V20 is plenty sturdy: It’s made of 6013-series aluminum capped on the top and bottom with a tough polycarbonate to help it deal with drops.
It’s also huge. The 5.7-inch Quantum LCD display is a handful as it is, but the V20 also has a tiny secondary display above the main screen. For the sake of comparison, the V20 is just a hair longer and thicker than the iPhone 7 Plus, which is itself a whopper of a smartphone. Both of these phones also coincidentally share a dual-camera setup (which I’ll dive into later), but the V20 is noticeably lighter. It’s too bad that the V20 isn’t water-resistant like some of its rivals, but the trade-off might be worth it to some people. You see, LG is one of the few flagship smartphone makers who still let users remove their batteries. To that end, there’s a button low on the phone’s left side that pops off the V20’s metal battery cover, revealing a 3,200mAh battery and a combination SIM/microSD slot. The phone takes memory cards as large as 2TB, by the way, though the 64GB of included storage will probably be enough for most.
Sitting directly above is the standard rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, which is among the fastest I’ve used on a smartphone. Many people seem to appreciate its placement on the back of the phone, and I’m slowly becoming one of them. Sure, it would be nice to be able to unlock the V20 with a touch while it’s sitting face-up on a table, but I like that the sensor is in the perfect spot for my finger to rest on it when I pull the V20 out of my pocket.
Displays and sound
As mentioned earlier, the main screen is a big ol’ 5.7-inch IPS LCD running at Quad HD, and it’s noticeably brighter than the panel on the G5. As a result, legibility and color reproduction are also better under direct sunlight than on the G5 or the V10, though I’d be shocked if they weren’t. Speaking of colors, they’re rendered well across the board and look surprisingly natural, thanks to LG’s Quantum display tech. When LG first embraced quantum displays in the G4, it claimed it offered a more accurate take on colors. That may be true, but the V20’s screen might not be for everyone right out of the box; it’s quite cool, so there’s a tendency for whites to look a little blue. You don’t get the visceral vividness and deep darks that come with AMOLED screens, but hey — it’s ultimately a matter of personal preference.
More important, the secondary display is back. To be clear: It’s not actually a separate screen — just an extra bit that juts out from the top of the main panel. In theory, the 1040×160 overflow area is a neat idea: It acts as a dedicated zone for the time and notifications when the main display is off, and offers shortcuts to apps and actions when the main display is on. I have a few issues with LG’s multiscreen implementation, but let’s just get the big one out of the way first: As with the V10 and even Samsung’s Edge line, very little about this second display is essential.
Most of the shortcuts — like toggling WiFi and Bluetooth and grabbing a screenshot to mark up — exist in the Quick Settings tray above the notifications shade anyway, so you’re rarely saving time. Ditto for app shortcuts: I’ve found it much easier to leave my most used apps on the bottom row of a home screen rather than scoot up my hand (or use my other one) to tap on an app icon in the overflow area. Still, it’s not like the second display is without merit entirely. The best part is having a set of music controls available while the phone is locked. Your mileage may vary, but I’d have given up on the second screen completely were it not for that.
So yeah, the second screen is of dubious value. The V20’s audio performance more than makes up for it, though: The phone is kitted out with a Quad DAC and support for 24-bit high-resolution audio. I’ve been a little dismissive of this stuff in the past, but the V20 has helped me turn a corner. With the DAC enabled and headphones plugged in, your audio will automatically sound at least a little richer and fuller. The differences can be harder to suss out with certain songs — particularly ones you stream — but the changes stemming from the DAC are almost universally welcome. LG’s choice of DAC also means the V20 supports 32-bit audio and lossless formats like FLAC, if that’s something you’re down with, though it goes without saying that the V20’s single speaker won’t come close to doing them justice.
Chances are you won’t see them, but the V20 also plays host to a trio of microphones for high-quality audio recording. They’re technically what are called acoustic overload point microphones, and I’ll spare you the drawn-out explanation — just know they’re designed to keep distortion to a minimum in very loud situations. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how crisp and clean the resulting records have been, and while these microphones would really shine at concerts and right next to musicians, they’ve also been great for recording interviews and conversations for work.
Software
LG pulled off a neat coup with the V20: It’s the first smartphone that shipped with Android 7.0 Nougat preloaded. Google made that victory a hollow one when it launched the Pixel and Pixel XL with Android 7.1, but whatever: Nougat is still surprisingly hard to come by, and I’ll take it where I can get it. (You can check out our full Android 7.0 review here, by the way.) All of the new little — and not so little — Nougat tricks are here and ready to play with. Even LG left some facets of Nougat almost completely untouched, like the notifications shade and the quick-settings panel above it. Nicely done.
That said, not every Nougat feature works as Google intended. Android 7.0 lets you play with the display size, for instance, allowing you to adjust the size of text and app icons. When left untouched, Nougat gives you five display options to help you find the perfect size, but LG’s implementation gives you only three. Fine, that’s probably not the biggest deal, but it’s a sign that Google’s word still isn’t gospel for OEMs. At least the horsepower on display here makes the V20 an efficient multitasker; not every app works with Google’s new multiwindow mode, but the ones that do run smoothly.
Of course, Nougat is only part of the equation — LG painted over it with an updated version of its custom interface, called LG UX 5.0+. For the most part, it’s a rehash of the interface on the G5, but there’s at least one big change to keep your eyes peeled for. By default, the V20 doesn’t have a traditional app drawer; all of your stuff gets splashed across your home screens by default. Seeing a flagship Android smartphone ship in the US without an app drawer is a little unusual because these setups are more popular in Asia, but it’s easy enough to revive the launcher if you miss it.
The rest of LG’s custom skin is as bright and inoffensive as always. I do wish LG would pare back its paint job to let stock Android shine through, especially since there’s a tendency for some of the company’s first-party apps to feel clunky. It doesn’t help that my review unit is a Verizon model, which means it’s loaded with bloatware I couldn’t wait to uninstall or disable. At least Verizon was kind enough to shove most of its apps in a folder for easy decimation.
The cameras
Remember the G5’s fascinating dual-camera setup? The one that was eventually overshadowed by the iPhone 7 Plus even though they aspired to the exact same thing? Well, LG tweaked the formula for the V20, swapping in different sensors. All told, the 16-megapixel main sensor and 8-megapixel wide-angle camera next to it are fun to use in tandem, even if the resulting photos aren’t as good as what competing devices are capable of.
Most of the time, you’ll be using that 16-megapixel camera with its f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization and more often than not you’ll get photos that look pretty good. Other phones do better with color representation and detail — here’s looking at you, Galaxy S7 and Google Pixel — but the V20 puts up a decent fight. The larger problem here is one of consistency. When shooting in Auto mode — which many people will be doing — the V20 often gets the exposure a little wrong or gets a little too ambitious when it tries to automatically reduce noise. Low-light performance is decent too, but not even a wide aperture, image-stabilization and multiple autofocus methods can prevent grain and ghosting.
The smaller, 8-megapixel sensor has to grapple with these issues too, plus the barrel distortion that becomes prominent when you’re shooting from a distance. It also would’ve been nice if LG tightened up the transition between the cameras when you’re zooming in and out on a subject. There’s still about a one-second pause while the phone makes the switch, which could make the difference between nabbing the shot you wanted and missing it completely.
As far as off-the-cuff shooting goes, the V20 could be much, much better. Ironically, the manual-shooting mode LG included might be my favorite on any smartphone. Familiar settings like ISO, shutter speed, white balance and more can be found at the bottom of the screen, but they’re joined by a tremendously helpful manual focus mode that highlights parts of the image when they’re nice and crisp.
The tragically vain will be glad to know that the 5-megapixel front-facing camera is perfectly adequate, and offers a wide enough field of view that squeezing a few friends into the shot should be no trouble. While we’re talking about the perfectly adequate, shooting video with the V20, even in 4K, yielded footage that was pleasant enough. If only LG were better at playing the expectations game. The company spent a decent chunk of its V20 launch event talking about how awesome Qualcomm’s built-in video-image stabilization is. And while it’s certainly helpful, it’s hardly the miracle-worker I was hoping for.
Performance and battery life
For all the V20’s quirks, the stuff under the hood is very familiar. Like the G5 before it, the V20 packs a quad-core Snapdragon 820 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. It would’ve been nice to see LG give the V20 another edge in the form of the newer Snapdragon 821 chip, but alas, we probably got a little screwed by the intricacies of supply-chain management. Either way, we’re still working with a phone that keeps pace with the best of ’em; the slowdowns I experienced were thankfully rare, even when running graphically intense games.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
LG V20
AndEBench Pro
14,941
16,164
13,030
13,172
Vellamo 3.0
5,343
5,800
4,152
5,266
3DMark IS Unlimited
28,645
29,360
26,666
27,968
GFXBench 3.0 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (fps)
46
48
47
39
CF-Bench
30,997
39,918
46,290
32719
That’s great, but horsepower doesn’t count for much without a good battery to back it up. Alas, the 3,200mAh cell here fails to impress. Sure, it’s more capacious than the one that shipped with the G5 earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean the V20 lasts any longer on a charge. In my nearly two weeks of testing, the V20 typically powered through 12-hour workdays full of Slack messages, emails, podcasts and the occasional Hearthstone match, and came out on the other side with about 10 percent charge remaining. For those keeping count, that’s almost exactly the same usage I squeezed out of the G5 and its smaller battery.
Now, 12 hours of continued, mixed usage on a single charge isn’t bad, and Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 3.0 tech means topping up the V20’s battery takes very little time. And if that’s not fast enough, you could always carry around a spare battery and just swap it in as needed. Even so, there’s no denying that devices like the Pixel siblings and Samsung’s Galaxy series tend to last longer with their sealed batteries.
That was also true in our video rundown test, where we loop an HD video with screen brightness set to 50 percent while connected to WiFi. The V20 stuck around for 11 hours and 10 minutes — that’s a bit better than the 10.5 hours I got on the G5, but hours behind devices like the Galaxy S7 and Google’s Pixel phones.
The competition
I’ve been making not-so-veiled references to Samsung’s current line of Galaxy phones and Google’s Pixel family, and for good reason. If you’re looking for a new flagship and the V20 is on your shortlist, these devices need to be too — after all, they offer similar horsepower for around the same price. For those who like the idea of the V20’s second screen, there’s always the Galaxy S7 Edge. It packs just as much horsepower as the V20 and an always-on display you can rub to peek at your notifications and the news without having to unlock the phone. In general, its battery life is much better too, though you’ll have to deal with a custom interface and a lack of Android Nougat.
Then again, if it’s great photos you’re after, you won’t do much better than the Pixel or Pixel XL. Both pair impressive 12-megapixel cameras with really impressive (not to mention instantaneous) HDR image processing, which add up to the best point-and-shoot camera experience on an Android device. It doesn’t hurt that the Pixel phones run a clean version of Android 7.1 Nougat, offer access to Google’s clever new assistant, and offer speedy performance.
By now, though, it’s clear the V20 isn’t your average Android flagship. There’s an underlying emphasis on creativity here that extends way beyond what other device makers have attempted. In that regard, no clear competitors come to mind.
Wrap-up
LG has done a fine job choosing top-tier components and focusing on things like audio quality and manual photography. On paper, that sounds great! In practice, there’s an underlying lack of cohesiveness between these parts. Audio nerds will find a lot to like here, the swappable battery is nice, and there are some great shots to be captured if you’re comfortable tinkering with the shooting settings. If what you need out of smartphone matches LG’s vision, the V20 is a great choice. But for people who value power and polish over a highly specific set of tools, there are more well-rounded options out there.
AIVAnet 