Meitu M8 Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon phones blend cuteness with capable cameras

Why it matters to you

If you consider selfies — and Hello Kitty — to be selling points, Meitu’s M8 might not be a bad option.

Meitu, the firm behind the eponymous “beautifying” app that touches up your blemishes, is back at it again. But this time around, the company is launching a new phone: The Meitu M8.

The M8, the successor to Meitu’s T8, boasts upgraded hardware with Meitu’s signature — and polarizing — hexagonal shape. It ships with a 5.2-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) AMOLED screen, and a quad-core MediaTek Helio X20 processor paired with a Mali-T880 graphics chip and 4GB of RAM. Rounding out the specs are 64GB of internal storage, a USB Type-C connector, Bluetooth 4.1 radio, and a 3,000mAh battery.

The M8, as you might expect from photo-centric Meitu, packs a capable pair of cameras. An impressive 21MP shooter rounds out the back, but the Sony IMX362 12MP sensor on the front is the highlight. It’s dual-sensor, which means it lets in more light than most, and is equipped with a phase-detection autofocusing system that locks in on subjects at the “millimeter level.” Other high-tech accouterments include optical image stabilization, which improves low-light performance, and Meitu’s proprietary “dual image engine,” which accelerates post-processing.

Meitu calls the M8 the most “intelligent” smartphone it has ever made. That’s thanks to algorithms that detect and enhance faces based on your age, gender, and facial features, and a Snapchat-like feature that automatically detects and enhances backgrounds. Meitu said that the M8 can distinguish between people, objects, and scenery.

That AI allows for an untold level of customization, Meitu claims. You can adjust selfies based on your age, gender, and facial features like skin tone and hair color. And the M8 can differentiate between portrait sizes, face shapes, and subject light exposure.

The M8 boasts a curved screen, and comes in two series options and four color choices: the “Fresh and Hip” series (white and pink) and the “Chic and Classy” (red and purple).

Special limited-edition Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon versions of the M8 will launch simultaneously. The first 20,000 buyers will get exclusive exterior designs, special UIs, gift boxes, collection certificates, and a bright-pink, gold-accented selfie stick.

If Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon aren’t your style, the M8 will launch in limited-edition themes created by “top designers” like Salvatore DellAquila, Duncan Sham, and Tash Willcocks. Using Meitu’s online design tools, you’ll be able to engrave symbols and text on the phones, gift boxes, phone cases, screen backgrounds, and letterheads.

The Meitu M8 goes on sale on May 12 at noon for 2,999 yuan ($435) in China. The rest of the world, it appears, will have to wait.

Microsoft continues AI push with expanded Bot Framework, new Cognitive Services

Why it matters to you

Microsoft’s new tools and services for developers will enhance applications and services with a more intelligent, personal experience for end-users.

During the Build 2017 keynote on Wednesday, Microsoft detailed its plans to bring artificial intelligence into the hands of every developer. This initiative includes making enhancements to its Microsoft Bot Framework, adding new AI-based “cognitive” services, a new “lab” for testing experimental cognitive services, incorporating artificial intelligence into additional products and services, and more.

For starters, Microsoft’s Cognitive Services suite brings machine-based intelligence spanning vision, speech, language, knowledge, and search to applications. They’re the backbone of features like facial recognition, speech recognition, text translation, image search, and so on. Microsoft now provides 29 distinct Cognitive Services, with Bing Custom Search, Custom Vision Service, Custom Decision Service, and Video Indexer now added to the portfolio today.

Microsoft also launched the Cognitive Services Labs platform, enabling developers to play with experimental cognitive services. One of the first experiments on the plate is a gesture API that enables end-users to control and interact with apps using simple hand motions. Harry Shum, Executive Vice President of  Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, indicated more experiments are coming.

“The improvements we are making in understanding speech and language are driving a paradigm shift — moving away from a world where we’ve had to understand computers to one where computers understand humans. We call this conversational AI,” Shum said in press release.

In addition to new Cognitive Services, the company announced expansions to the Microsoft Bot Framework, a platform for creating intelligent “robots” within apps and services. Since the platform’s launch in 2016, more than 130,000 developers have signed on, and now Microsoft is enhancing the platform with “Adaptive Cards” that can be used across multiple apps and platforms.

“Developers also can now publish to new channels including Skype for Business, Bing and Cortana, and implement Microsoft’s payment request API for fast and easy checkout with their bots,” Shum added.

Microsoft also injected its Azure cloud platform with a service called Batch AI Training, enabling developers to train their own deep neural networks using any framework they choose, such as Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, Tensorflow, and Caffe. Developers can create their environment and run these models against multiple processors, multiple graphics chips, and “eventually” field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which are integrated circuits that can be configured by developers.

Finally, Microsoft announed a new Office feature called Presentation Translator. Available in Powerpoint, it uses the company’s AI capabilities to translate PowerPoint presentations between multiple languages in real-time. Attendees of a meeting can use a link generated by Presentation Generator to see the translation on their device. It joins Powerpoint Designer and Office Researcher, two previous features that used the company’s AI knowledge.

Overall, these changes don’t have much immediate impact on consumers. However, Microsoft hopes that its Cognitive Services and Bot Framework will allow the design of next-generation applications that use AI to interact more intuitively with users. Only time can reveal the wisdom in this approach, but the company’s continued commitment in these areas, which were first detailed in-depth during last year’s Build conference, shows the company expects big things from these technically complex initiatives.

Microsoft adds third-party notifications to Teams activity feed as it bolsters Office 365

Why it matters to you

Microsoft announced a grab-bag of Office 365 features, the most notable being third-party notifications in Teams, and Actionable Messages in Outlook.

Office 365 remains an important product for Microsoft, representing a core component of the company’s “cloud-first, mobile-first” productivity solutions approach. It’s no surprise, then, to see Office 365 featured early and often at Microsoft’s Build 2017 developers conference.

Kirk Koenigsbauer, Office corporate vice president, highlighted three areas where developers have new opportunities in building Office 365 solutions. The Microsoft Teams developer platform, the Microsoft Graph, and Office partner integrations all received announcements at Build 2017 about new ways for developers to leverage the more than 100 million Office 365 subscribers.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the company’s Slack competitor, which offers groups with collaborative tools built around a chat-based workspace. One of its more powerful features is a robust developer platform that offers tabs, bots, and connectors that help developers build functionality into Teams that tie into third-party solutions.

Today at Build 2017, Microsoft announced that it’s opening Teams up to all developers to publish apps through the Office Store. These apps will show up in a new app discovery experience to make it easy for users to add and utilize apps from within Teams.

In addition, two new capabilities have been added to the Developer Preview. First, compose extensions pull information from a service or app into chats to avoid distracting users with context switches. Second, third party notifications can now populate in the activity feed, allowing services to keep users alerted about key information and updates.

All of the developer platform capabilities — tabs, bots, connectors, compose extensions, and activity feed notifications — can be packaged into a Teams app and then published in the Office Store. All of the new Teams features will make their way to the Developer Preview first, and will then roll out to users over time.

Microsoft Presentation Translator add-in

Microsoft demonstrated a new add-in for Presentation that uses the company’s translation APIs to enable subtitles within presentations in the same or different languages. Developers and users can find out more about the Presentation Add-in here, as well as sign up for early access.

Microsoft Graph

The Microsoft Graph is the API that serves as the gateway for grabbing information from Microsoft services and platforms, including Office 365, Azure AD, and Intune. Microsoft announced new Microsoft Graph APIs and functionality to make it easier for developers to integrate intelligence and data, including the general availability of SharePoint site, OneNote, and Planner data APIs.

Actionable Messages

Outlook on the web previewed new Actionable Messages last fall, allowing users to perform actions like approving expense reports and assigning tasks to team members without leaving Outlook. Now, Actionable Messages functionality is being made available to additional Office 365 users via Microsoft Teams, and in Outlook 2016 for Windows desktop, if you’re an Office Insider on the Fast Ring.

Some new integrations will be coming from Salesforce, Freshdesk, Wrike, and other services, and new Actionable Message tools are being made available for developers. Go here for more information on building using the feature for Outlook and Teams.

More Office 365 updates

Other Office 365 announcements include new ways to create Office 365 Add-ins, an integrated sign-on system for the Microsoft Graph and other services, and new File Handler capabilities for OneDrive. In addition, Microsoft Flow received new capabilities allowing it to be integrated with applications like SharePoint, and to create focused and tailored business processes.

Microsoft will likely announce additional details on Office 365 and the tools that enable developers to leverage what the company calls the “largest productivity service available.” Developers can sign up for the Office Developer Program to stay up-to-date with all of Microsoft’s APIs.

Microsoft takes the wrap off Visual Studio for MacOS, now available to everyone

Why it matters to you

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment used by millions of developers the world over. By rolling it out for Mac OS, Microsoft could win over a few million more.

Today at Build 2017, Microsoft announced the general availability release of its popular Visual Studio development environment for MacOS. It’s particularly appropriate, given Microsoft’s theme for this year’s Build is a commitment to open platforms, and providing developers the tools they need to succeed.

“Visual Studio for Mac brings the integrated development environment (IDE) loved by millions to the Mac. Developers get a great IDE and a single environment to not only work on end-to-end solutions – from mobile and web apps to games – but also to integrate with and deploy to Azure,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group.

Previously, a preview version of Visual Studio for Mac was available from Microsoft, allowing users to get a feel for the development environment and how it would work on Mac OS. Today, however, users can download and utilize a full version of the Microsoft Visual Studio customized for use on MacOS.

This comes as part of Microsoft’s commitment to openness, and providing developers with tools that allow them to move easily from one operating system environment to another.

“I talked about a core design principle for Azure – helping guide your success. Providing powerful tech and lots of new features is necessary, but not sufficient – it is how you achieve success with the cloud that matters most,” Guthrie continued. “For you to be successful, the cloud and the development tools also must work seamlessly together, which is why we ensure great experiences across Azure and the Visual Studio family.”

By rolling out Visual Studio for Mac, Microsoft hopes to create a seamless development environment for the creation of everything from mobile apps to games. Visual Studio for Mac isn’t a pared down version either, despite running on MacOS, it includes full support for Visual Studio standbys like C#, F#, .Net Core, Asp.Net Core, Xamarin, and Unity.

Microsoft says Cortana has 145 million users, announces new hardware partners

Build 2017 saw a rejuvenation in a number of key areas for Microsoft, many of which have little or nothing to do with consumers. Cloud computing and enterprise licensing might be popular subjects at Build, but they make for dreary dinner conversation. That’s not so with Cortana, the AI-powered digital assistant that Microsoft continues to pump new features into.

For good as reason, as it turns out. Microsoft announced this morning that Cortana has over 145 million users, around a third of the total 500 million users that Microsoft says have upgraded to Windows 10.

As a result of that support, Microsoft is continuing to open up Cortana’s capabilities to other developers in the form of Skills. By programming Cortana with a Skill, software makers can allow Windows 10 users to ask questions and send commands to their favorite apps in plain language. The Cortana Skills Kit is now open for public preview, and any app developers in the United States can download and push a Cortana Skill to the Bot Channel to try it out on the desktop and mobile versions of Cortana.

Microsoft has plans to take Cortana into new places as well. Harman Kardon’s Invoke speaker made some noise in the last few days with full Cortana integration built into its sleek, wireless shell. It won’t be the last to check that box off, with HP signing on to produce an unannounced Cortana-powered device, and Intel jumping on board to produce reference platforms for even more gadgets down the road.

Microsoft’s updated numbers on Cortana usage help explain some of the bold new places that Redmond has been pushing it into. The Windows team has been very responsive to user feedback, as well as that anonymous telemetry that many users unknowingly, or knowingly, opt into. If users are looking for more, and better, ways to utilize the voice commands in Windows 10 and on Windows Phone, who are we to argue?

The best fix for the Galaxy S8’s fingerprint sensor is a thin case

It shouldn’t have to come to this, but has.

As has been discussed since launch, the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is tough to use consistently. But that’s not just because of its positioning — part of the issue is how it sits nearly flush to the back glass with very little separation from the camera lens. Combine these issues, and it can be really hard to distinguish where exactly the fingerprint sensor is without sliding your finger around a bit.

The fix for many is to switch to primarily using iris scanning or Smart Lock to limit the number of times per day you’re reaching up to the sensor, but I have another fix: using a slim case to give the fingerprint sensor some physical separation. Now I’m not the biggest fan of cases, and usually only pop one on when I’m traveling or expect the phone to get bumped around a bit. But with the Galaxy S8, the case provides more than just protection — it’s a fantastic way to make the fingerprint sensor usable.

More: Best Galaxy S8 cases

I’ve been using both the Elago “minimalistic” case, which set me back $9, and the Olixar FlexiShield case, which is $10. Both aim to be extremely thin to only provide resistance to scratches rather than bumps or drops, and that’s perfectly fine for me considering I really dislike bulky cases. But no matter how thin they are, they add much-needed barriers to the camera and fingerprint sensor, separating the two so you always know that you’re finding the fingerprint sensor back there.

A case doesn’t completely fix the problem, but makes it a whole lot better.

In using both of these cases (though I prefer the Elago case overall), I have a dramatically higher success rate with the fingerprint sensor and barely any accidental touches of the camera lens. Having this well-defined area to reach for with my index finger doesn’t make the fingerprint sensor perfect by any measure — it’s still far too high to reach comfortably — but at least keeps the experience from getting frustrating on a daily basis. It’s all about having some consistency in using the phone.

When you’re looking for a thin case that can help with the fingerprint sensor in this way, be sure to find one that actually has material between the camera lens and fingerprint sensor. Many Galaxy S8 cases offer one big cutout on the back for the camera lens, fingerprint sensor and heart rate sensor, meaning you won’t get the full benefit of the case. Product images will give you a good idea of just how thick the case is and how much physical separation they provide between the camera and fingerprint sensor.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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Best Wireless Charging Pads for LG G6

What’s the best charging bad for LG G6?

The LG G6 supports wireless charging the U.S. and Canada, and if you want to keep it conveniently charged, without having to plug it in, then you’ll need a great wireless charger. Keep in mind that the LG G6 does not support fast wireless charging, so you needn’t worry about the speed of any wireless charger — they’ll all work just as quickly.

Here are our favorites.

• Choetech wireless charger with smart lighting sensor
• Samsung wireless charging pad
• Choetech T511 wireless rubber charging pad
• Spigen Essential F300W wireless charging stand
• Sojitek wireless car charger

Choetech wireless charger with smart lighting sensor

Choetech’s wireless charging pad has roughly the footprint of a coffee mug, so it’s the perfect desk or table accessory, taking up minimal room while keep your LG G6 charged. Its LED indicator has a smart sensor that dims it or shuts it down completely in the dark so that you can place your G6 on it before bed and not be kept up by its blue hue.

Choetech’s pad has a 4-foot Micro-USB cable and comes with an 18-month warranty.

See at Amazon

Samsung wireless charging pad

Samsung’s wireless charging pad is the most popular wireless charger on Amazon, with over 8,000 reviews, 70% of which are 4- or 5-star. This charger is stylish, with your choice of a black or white finish, and can be plugged into a wall socket or into another device via USB.
As with all great wireless chargers, you can still use your phone while it charges up, and Samsung offers a 1-year warranty just in case anything goes wrong.

See at Amazon

Choetech T511 wireless rubber charging pad

Another great Choetech charger, the rubber wireless charging pad features an anti-slip surface, so you can pop your LG G6 on it and won’t have to worry about it sliding off and interrupting charging. This charging pad is 3.6 inches x 3.6 inches, so it’s plenty big enough to accept your LG G6 without you having to balance it precariously, but it’s compact enough to not be intrusive on your desk space or coffee table.

Choetech doesn’t provide a wall plug, but the one that came with your G6 will work just fine.

See at Amazon

Spigen Essential F300W wireless charging stand

If you prefer more of a stand design for your wireless charger, then check out Spigen’s, which sits at an angle, so you can see your LG G6’s screen while laying down. Since this charging stand has three coils, you can place your G6 vertically or horizontally and still have it receive a charge.

See at Amazon

Sojitek wireless car charger

If you like to keep your LG G6 charged up on the go, but having to plug it in and unplug it in the car, then check out Sojitek’s wireless car charger and mount. You just plug the mount into your car’s USB port or to a USB-12V adapter and then you can mount your G6 and unmount it as you please, charging it while you drive.

Sojitek’s mount sticks to your dashboard or windshield via suction cup, so you’ll want a flat dashboard for it to stay put properly. Double-check laws where you live to make sure accessories on your windshield aren’t illegal (they are where I live!).

See at Amazon

Your favorite?

Do you use a wireless charger with your LG G6? Let us know which one in the comments below!

LG G6

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• LG G6 vs. Google Pixel: The two best cameras right now
• Everything you need to know about the G6’s cameras
• LG forums

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Cortana now has over 141 million monthly users

One way or another, there are a lot of people using Cortana.

On stage at BUILD today, Microsoft announced 141 million monthly active users for its Cortana assistant. This number is slightly off from the 145m rumored to be sent to prominent Alexa developers in order to lure them over for the Cortana Skill launch, which also happened today, but it’s an impressive figure all the same.

141 million monthly users surpasses Amazon’s Alexa by a considerable margin, considering 3 million Echo units have reportedly been sold as of last month. The big question here, which in an early briefing Microsoft was unable to answer, is how many of those monthly active users are actually speaking to Cortana. Microsoft’s figures are for any kind of Cortana use, which includes text, voice, and assistant notifications based on user input. That information may prove useful for developers looking to target Cortana Skills to the largest portion of the user activity type, but for now it’s not available.

Either way you look at it, Cortana’s significant user base across Windows, Xbox, Android, and iOS is more than a little impressive. Microsoft expects Cortana Skills will put Cortana in a position to better compete with the whole category of digital assistants, and if that figure is enough to convince developers to give this platform a fair shake that monthly figure will likely expand even faster.

Everything you need to know about Microsoft Build

Samsung Bixby voice-controlled speaker incoming? Patents would suggest so

Patently Mobile has obtained a granted design patent for an “audio device” made by Samsung. However, since it’s only a design patent, it doesn’t give away any details as to specs or features, but just shows us a design that Samsung has in mind.

• What is Bixby? Samsung’s smart AI explained

However, given it’s described as an audio device, coupled with the fact the company has its own voice-assistant called Bixby and the design looks like a screen mounted on a tripod; we wouldn’t be surprised to find out Samsung is prepping its very own Amazon Echo Show rival.

Just because this particular design patent has been granted, doesn’t mean it will represent the design of the final product, but it’s clear that Samsung is planning a device to takeover your home.

It may be sometime before we see Samsung’s Bixby speaker see the light of day, especially since the Bixby voice assistant can only understand Korean at the moment and wasn’t even available on the Galaxy S8 at launch. Clearly, Samsung has some work to do with its voice assistant before it rolls it out on a more global scale.

• Apple’s Siri speaker: What’s the story so far?
• Amazon Echo vs Amazon Tap vs Echo Dot vs Echo Look vs Echo Show: What’s the difference?

If the Bixby speaker does become a reality and have a touchscreen, it would be only the second voice-controlled smart hub to feature a screen after the Amazon Echo Show. We’d expect it to work in a similar way, being able to show you video clips of the latest news, make and receive video calls, and access smart home products such as cameras. 

Pico Goblin is a wire-free Android VR headset that doesn’t need a smartphone

Virtual reality headset firm Pico Interactive will debut its new all-in-one Pico Gobiln next month at the E3 2017 videogames show in Los Angeles.

It’s a mobile-style Android headset, with no wires and similar to a Daydream or Samsung Gear VR device, but also runs without a smartphone.

The Pico Goblin has its own processing, display, storage and Android operating system, so is a real pick-up-and-play product.

It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with Android 7.0 Nougat driving two 70Hz displays – one for each eye – with a combined 2.5K resolution.

• Best VR headsets to buy in 2017, whatever your budget
• E3 2017: Rumours, press conferences and what to expect from the world’s biggest games show

The headset itself has the company’s three-degrees-of-freedom (3DoF) head tracking on board. It also comes with a 3DoF tracking controller to use to interact with virtual reality experiences.

“We created the Pico Goblin to liberate people from clunky VR technology,” said Pico’s vice president of design, Ennin Huang.

We don’t yet have a price but the company claims it will be set at an “affordable” level.

Pocket-lint will be going hands-on with the Pico Gobiln during E3 next month. The manufacturer will also be showing its flagship device, the Pico Neo CV. That too is an untethered, standalone headset but with 3K AMOLED displays and 4GB of RAM to offer an upgraded experience.