LG V20 long term review: is it still worth your money?

With the release of the LG G6 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 lineup, the LG V20 might not be the first name you think of when you walk into a carrier store right now, but you might want to consider it nonetheless. Released only about eight months ago, the V20 represents LG‘s focus on the biggest screen, the best camera, and the clearest audio it could pack into a device at the time.

It’s big. It’s pretty attractive. While also having enough power to get through most any task without breaking a sweat.

You may have seen some commercials for the V20 when the device first released. In fact, they were almost inescapable. The ever-handsome Joseph Gordon Levitt on the drums and a band of characters that all look way too excited to be on television. These were designed to show us how amazing it is to record media on the V20. Because, as the commercial says, it was all filmed on the V20. That’s an impressive claim when you think about it – filming a commercial that will be seen by millions and played thousands of times on a phone.

But, every phone has an amazing camera right now. When you walk into a carrier store and look at the wall of phones, can you find even one that can’t take quality pictures? Sure, the V20 does an amazing job, better than almost everyone else on the market, but is doing something slightly better a true selling point? Are people willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for dual cameras, impressive camera applications, and quality 4K recording than phones that come with “just” really good cameras?

The LG V10 was a standout phone due to the construction of its body and its media features. The V20 is an evolution of the V10, but is it enough to justify purchasing it over other flagships of 2016? Is it enough to justify an upgrade from the V10? We look to answer these questions and more over the course of this review. But first, let’s take a look at what the V20 is packing under the hood.

Specs

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
• GPU: Adreno 530
• RAM: 4GB
• Battery: 3200mAh (removable)
• Storage: 64GB (expandable)
• Display: 5.7″, 2560 x 1440p LCD with Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Software: Android 7.0 Nougat with LG UX 5
• Camera (rear): Dual 16MP (f/1.8) and 8MP (f/2.4) cameras
• Camera (front): 5MP (f/1.9)
• Dimensions: 6.29 x 3.07 x 0.30 in (159.7 x 78.1 x 7.6 mm)
• Ports: USB type-C, 3.5mm microphone, Infrared

As you can see, the LG V20 is an absolute beast on the spec sheet. It stands up to basically everything else released last year and is only slightly behind the flagships of 2017. The only discrepancy that one might come across is the use of the Snapdragon 820 processor instead of the newer Snapdragon 821. In reality, the chips are the same, just clocked at different frequencies. This thing still flies through tasks, no matter the model number associated with it.

It’s nice to see the inclusion of the microSD slot and a removable battery in the V20. As someone who has tried to target phones with these two features, I can tell you how much I miss them when they’re absent on a device I’m using. Almost every flagship device in the past few years has had some sort of quick charging capabilities (sorry Apple fans) so yes, it’s great to plug your phone in for 15 minutes and get several hours worth of battery life. However, nothing is quicker or more convenient than just popping in a new battery and being on your way.

The same goes for the microSD card reader. Pixel owners heap praise onto Google for giving customers unlimited space to upload their full resolution pictures and videos, but do you know what’s better? Not running out of space in the first place due to having 64GB of onboard storage and an almost endless amount of expandability.

What didn’t make this listed specs above, is the inclusion of the quad-DAC that LG heavily marketed. LG decided to go the opposite route of Apple. Not only did it keep the 3.5mm headphone jack, but it made it even better with the inclusion of a class-leading Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). If you’re the US, the V20 is your only choice right now to get this DAC since LG left it out of the US version of the G6. I’ll go into more detail later, but the audio experience with the V20 is astounding and one of the best features of the phone.

Physical Overview

The LG V20 is definitely a phablet. This thing is huge. While it’s not as big as some of the more ridiculous devices like the Posh Mobile 7″ LTE phone, it definitely will be a two-hand device for all but those with the longest of digits. I love big phones but even I found it just a little bit too big. If you hold the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus and the V20 next to each other you’ll notice that while they’re about as tall as each other, the S8 Plus is much skinnier and that makes all the difference when trying to hold your device comfortably.

There are compromises you have to make for a device that big (like comfort) and if you’re not willing to make them, keep your money in your pocket because using a phone that’s too big can be extremely frustrating. With the release of the G6 and Galaxy S8 that both pack huge screens in small bodies, it hurts the case to pick up the V20 if something like this bothers you like it does me.

The inclusion of the second-screen ticker at the top doesn’t help keep the size down, either. I found that the ticker had little real functionality and actually made my experience worse. Often times I would end up swiping left or right on the ticker when I meant to swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification shade. I also turned on the flashlight randomly and opened the Settings app more times than I can count. I applaud LG for trying to be innovative here, but I think the idea is better than the execution.

Just in case I forgot my own name

The bezels are pretty small and that does help cut down on some of the width and helps to make the phone look a little more appealing. I also appreciated how thin the phone is, as I’m unafraid to admit that the thinner the better for me. Sure, I’ll take a slightly fatter device for more battery life if the phone is severely lacking in that department, but otherwise, I want it as thin as I can get it.

The V20 scores highly here. It’s not only thin but also surprisingly light for how big the device is. Multiple people remarked at how they expected it to be much heavier when they picked it up for the first time. The weight distribution is excellent as it never felt top-heavy.

The USB Type-C charging port sits on the bottom of the device where you’d expect it to be and is flanked by three machined lines for the speaker to its right and a 3.5mm headphone jack with a microphone to its left. The headphone jack is becoming somewhat of a luxury now with Apple and Motorola removing it on its flagships. I agree with our friends over at The Verge that removing such a universally accepted port is dumb and hostile to consumers. I hope these Android OEMS get it together and stop removing features that people love. As we mentioned above, LG has doubled down on the jack by including a quad-DAC inside that makes the headphone jack a selling feature instead of a missing one.

Flipping over to the rear of the device finds…not much. We used to have the volume buttons and fingerprint scanner/home button combo back here, but only the latter combination has made it to the V20. Yes, the volume keys returned to the side of the device to make room for the new dual camera setup. Flanking the cameras are the flash and laser auto-focus sensors.

As we mentioned the volume buttons moved to the left side of the device, and pretty high up I might add. On the right side of the device near the bottom is the battery door release button that gives you access to the removable battery, SIM card, and microSD card slots.

Display

The V20’s 5.7″ display on my review unit is as good as you’d expect. The 2k display is an LCD panel that won’t give you those deep blacks of a Samsung AMOLED panel but will hold its own. It can feel a bit washed out from time to time but that may be because we’re used to looking at over-saturated displays. I’ve had friends complain about their disdain for this display but the longer I used it, the more I got used to it and wasn’t bothered by this like I was when I first got the device many moons ago.

A big advantage that the V20 has over opponents is just how bright it can get. I had no problem using the V20 outside during mostly sunny or partly cloudy days at max brightness. Only the brightest of days saw any issues pop up. Alternatively, the V20 also has a nice brightness floor. Reading in bed before I got up in the morning was an enjoyable experience, provided that I found the right way to hold the device.

Max brightness on a very sunny day. Not great, but workable.

With all the great things to say about brightness, this doesn’t mean the V20 is without issues. First of all, the auto-brightness is just not good enough. I’ve found this to be an issue in almost every LG device I’ve used in the last two years which includes the LG G4, V10, G5, G6, and the V20. Pulsing from dark to bright while sitting on a table is unacceptable. The extremely low brightness, when set to auto brightness, kills any hope that I can ever use it on any LG device. I hope that the unit that LG sent over was just having issues, but my past history with its other devices leads me to believe otherwise.

Another issue, as I mentioned above, is the second display. I hope that LG shutters the ticker for the V30. It provided almost no value other than sometimes giving me a notification that I’d normally have to pull down the notification shade for. I’m not a fan and I doubt it moves the needle in terms of sales. That real estate could be better spent on forward facing speakers. LG has the right idea with the always-on display of the G6, they don’t need an extra ticker display to do that.

Software

Samsung and LG have always been the two major OEMs that have the heaviest skins on their phones. Nothing has changed in that regard for the LG V20. While I do think that LG made some nice changes and added some improvements into Android, a lot of the software feels changed just so that LG can say it changed it. Sometimes putting a coat of paint on something is a nice touch, sometimes it’s just wasting paint. LG has done a little of both in the V20.

The most immediate and noticeable change that people will see in the V20 is the lack of an app drawer. It can be enabled, but it doesn’t come as the default selection. I’m not entirely sure if the motivation here is just to get a little closer to Apple’s design language so that the choice is a little easier for consumers or not, but that is entirely what it feels like. The app drawer is a staple of Android and one of the core features that give people a real choice between it and iOS. Removing it as the default option is confusing and backward thinking. LG did it with the G5, G6, and has now done it with the V20. Please stop it, LG.

There are some smart additions like a button to drop the notification window

I do, however, like what LG has done in the notification tray. We could classify this as a new coat of paint too, but I believe that the small icons and notification tiles are a step up from stock Android and something that both LG and Samsung are getting right. I love the quick toggles at the top of the default swipe down and while I’m not going to use LG’s QuickMemo or anything that it sticks in there, they do get it mostly right by giving users some customization here.

The Settings app comes by default in tab view and one of the first things I do is change it to the list view. Android, for the most part, pretty much nailed the settings application in Stock Android and I wish companies would quit trying to reinvent the wheel here. The tab view can be confusing when looking for a specific setting to change. I found myself using the search within the settings app more often in tab view than in list view.

Tabs. Ew.

LG’s software isn’t just what launcher but that is the most front-facing part of it. It’s what everyone sees when they get the device unless they install a launcher, and honestly, a fair amount of people who get a phone don’t know what a launcher is. Nothing LG did in its software made me think twice about installing Nova Launcher the minute I was done with the review process of V20.

You’ll get your usual bloatware apps installed by default like Facebook, Evernote, LG’s suite of apps, and whatever your carrier decides to stick on the device. I’m not going to ding LG for theses more than anyone else because they are not even close to the worst at it. There are some dumb apps like LG Friends Manager (no one uses LG Friends) but at most they’ll sit in your app drawer as you scroll past them.

A few apps, but not an overwhelming amount of bloatware.

LG continues to skin things just to skin them. Continues to trade Google’s apps for its own inferior apps. You have to wonder how much cheaper these devices could be and how much faster the updates would come if LG, Samsung, and the like didn’t spend time developing useless crap like this.

Speaking of faster software updates, I haven’t had one software update yet. The phone launched with Android 7.0 Nougat and the Sept. 2016 security update and that’s where it sits today. This, to put it mildly, is frustrating. LG must do better with software updates if it wants to keep customers who are more plugged into these issues happy. I want my phone as safe as possible. I use the fingerprint scanner, I have it encrypted, and I have a pin. LG, please help me make it safer by giving me security updates.

Performance

If you think you’re missing out by buying the LG V20 instead of the LG G6 or the Samsung Galaxy S8, think again. The V20 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage in tow and it stands up to the flagships of 2017 in every way.

I don’t think this phone has lagged once. I’ll occasionally get some touch latency but that is about it when it comes to the V20. I’m not huge into games but the few I’ve played have looked beautiful and I can’t see any dips in frame rate. For day to day use, app loading times are quick and I don’t get any hiccups when scrolling through long lists of items like in a Reddit app or long menus.

I’m honestly very impressed with how the V20 has held up in comparison to 2017’s flagships. I would have expected the G6 and S8 to have at least some noticeable performance gains on the V20 but I’ve noticed none.

Battery life has been stellar and has actually gotten better the longer I’ve had the device. I get roughly five hours of screen on time and get through a solid day of use with it. I keep my brightness around 30% or lower (really, it doesn’t need to go any higher unless I’m outside) and generally check social sites, read emails from the four accounts I have synced and look at Reddit. Pretty standard stuff.

Camera

The LG V20 features a dual-camera set up with a 16MP main shooter and an 8MP wide-angle lens. The front of the device has a 5MP shooter capable of pulling off some pretty decent selfies (that I will spare you from seeing).

While the main 16MP lens is wonderful for your everyday shots, the 8MP wide-angle lens really comes in handy for group shots. While I do appreciate having it on the device, the fish-eye effect can be a bit much for me so I generally use the regular lens if I can.

You can shoot 4K video with the V20 or you can drop down the resolution to 1080p with 30 or 60 frames per second. Where the V20 really shines though is in manual mode. Most phones have a manual photography mode, but the V20 features a manual video mode and it’s awesome. You get the options to change the white balance, focus, shutter speed, ISO, and iris to get the perfect video. After playing with the manual video mode, I definitely believe that you can shoot a commercial with it.

Here are a few samples from the camera that we think give a fair representation of what the V20 can do.

Conclusion

So, how do I feel about the V20 after spending multiple months with it? Well, I’m not in love with it. Generally, when I find a device I love, I truly latch onto it and will think fondly of it even after I stop using it. I don’t feel that way about the V20.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really good phone. If you’re into listening to high-quality audio on your phone, this is what you want to pick up. The quad-DAC truly makes a difference in what you’ll hear in your headphones. If you’re into capturing those special moments with your camera or on video, you should definitely consider the V20. There are other devices out there that may take better pictures but the V20 is in the top tier and the manual video mode is second to none on the market.

There is other, smaller, stuff that I enjoy too like the removable battery, the thinness of the device, microSD card slot, and a few smart software tweaks. But, it’s not enough to make me fall in love. The software is needlessly skinned and has LG apps where Google apps should be. The phone is just too big and the second ticker display up top is wasted real estate.

There are a lot of really good ideas that are realized in the V20, but there are also some really bad ones too. I don’t think it’s the best phone on the market, but that’s truly a subjective title. If you’re into what the V20 does best, I think you should definitely check it out. As one of the only phones out there with a removable battery, it’s a bit of a dying breed. But, if you want a smaller device with a large screen, good battery, an IP rating, and a great camera, you have other choices in 2017.

Chipotle finds malware exposed credit card info across the US

Hackers stole credit card information from customers at Chipotle restaurants across the United States between March 24th and April 18th, the company announced today. Chipotle revealed in April that it had been the victim of an attack, and today it shared details about the type of information stolen from customers, which covered “cardholder name in addition to card number, expiration date, and internal verification code.” No other information was compromised, Chipotle said.

The attack pulled data off the magnetic strips of credit cards used in physical Chipotle locations around the US. The company has not said how many customers were affected, though it offered a searchable list of locations that were actually hit in the attack, including the dates each restaurant was vulnerable. Some were compromised for about a week, and others for the full four weeks. If you swiped a credit card at a Chipotle in March or April, check out the list of affected restaurants right here.

“Because of the nature of the incident and the type of data involved, we do not know how many unique payment cards may have been involved,” Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold told Engadget.

As Reuters notes, Chipotle is not offering credit monitoring services to compromised customers. The company said monitoring services don’t alert customers when a fraudulent charge is made in their name.

“Chipotle takes this kind of issue very seriously, and we regret any inconvenience or concern it may have caused,” Arnold told Engadget. “To help prevent a similar incident from recurring, we have resolved the issue and continue to work with cyber security firms to evaluate ways to enhance our security measures.”

Source: Chipotle

One Nexus 5X lawsuit is dismissed as LG vows to maintain or replace devices

Why it matters to you

Lawsuits like this keep big tech companies in check. If you’ve experienced these bootloop issues, you want LG to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Good news for Nexus 5X users stricken by chronic bootloop issues. LG has committed to continue to support owners by extending the device’s manufacturer warranty and offering repairs, refunds, and replacements when deemed necessary.

The phone maker has been the target of class-action lawsuits involving several of its devices, including the G5, G4, V20, and V10, in addition to the Google-sold Nexus 5X. Chimicles and Tikellis LLP, the law firm representing affected Nexus users in one particular case, recently filed for voluntary dismissal after LG made the announcement. The news comes courtesy of Android Police, which reported that those who joined that particular lawsuit are now receiving emails notifying them of the termination.

Meanwhile, separate cases are still ongoing. In March, G4 and V10 users took their frustrations to the next level, filing a class-action lawsuit after a string of bootloop reports over the preceding months. Shortly thereafter, it was extended to the G5, V20, and Nexus 5X.

That case was brought to California federal court, and the plaintiffs claimed that the G4 was acknowledged by LG as having “loose contact between components,” which is what caused the bootloop issues. Despite allegedly knowing, LG didn’t recall the device, nor did it stop production of the phone or fix the issue. However, LG did acknowledge the problem and offered replacements for a time. Those replacements, however, reportedly didn’t come with a fix, and eventually fell into the same issues.

So what is the big deal with bootloops? When a phone enters a bootloop, it repeatedly restarts itself. According to the suit, the damages included things like loss of data — which can be a real pain when experienced. In terms of monetary value, the amount the plaintiffs are seeking will be “determined at trial,” but they’re also seeking a “comprehensive program to repair all LG phones containing the bootloop defect,” and that LG pay legal fees and costs.

This is not the first time we have seen big issues as a result of bootloops — in fact, it is not even the first time we have seen them from LG. When Nexus 5X owners began complaining of bootlooping problems, the company decided to offer some full refunds. It’s unknown exactly why LG didn’t extend the same courtesy to users of its other devices.

It will be interesting to see how this case progresses and we will update this article as we hear more.

Article originally published on 03-17-2017 by Christian de Looper. Updated on 05-26-2017 by Adam Ismail: Added news of termination of one Nexus 5X class-action suit, and that a separate suit had been extended to cover more devices.

How to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

You’ve got an Apple Watch. You’ve got a Mac. Doesn’t it make sense to have them help each other out? One of the time-saving ways the two devices can coordinate is called Auto Unlock. It uses your Apple Watch to sign into your Mac computer, similar to the way a smart key fob can automatically unlock your car doors when you’re in close proximity. However, to make sure your Watch and Mac are best buds, you’ll have to review your settings and authorize the feature. Read on to find out how the pairing process is done, and the requirements for setting it up, as we explain how to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch.

Check the requirements

The Auto Unlock feature does have some system requirements, which mostly involve newer operating system updates. On the smartwatch side, you will need to be using WatchOS 3 or later. If you’ve never tried to update your Apple Watch before, it’s easy to do so. Just put the Apple Watch on its charger, make sure your iPhone is connected to a reliable Wi-Fi network, and place your phone and Watch beside one another. Then, access the My Watch app and download any available software updates.

The requirements for your Mac are a little more demanding. You need a mid-2013 model or newer to use this feature, so older Macs simply don’t qualify. If you have a Mac that has the right hardware capabilities, it also needs to be running MacOS Sierra 10.12 or later. You can click on your Mac Notification sidebar to catch a look at any outstanding updates that have yet to be applied, just in case.

Configuring your settings

Your next job is to check your settings and make sure that everything is set up so that your Apple Watch and Mac can talk to one another, even when your Mac is just waking up. Check and double-check this list before you move on.

Your Bluetooth is turned on — This isn’t a problem for the Apple Watch, but make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your Mac — sometimes Bluetooth ends up disabled, especially if you’ve had past trouble with accessories. You can turn on the feature from within the Bluetooth section of System Preferences.

Your Wi-Fi is on and connected — If you need to configure your Wi-Fi settings on your Mac for whatever reason, you can do so within the Network section of System Preferences.

You have the passcode turned on for your Apple Watch — We know the Apple Watch passcode isn’t the easiest login option, but it’s necessary if you want to start using Auto Unlock. To enable the feature, open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch at the bottom, and select the Passcode option. Then, tap Turn passcode on and enter your desired code twice on your Apple Watch.

You are using two-factor authentication — This one is a little trickier, because the terms are confusing. Your Apple ID originally used “two-step verification” for security when signing in. There is also an updated method called “two-factor authentication” that sounds like the same thing, but is actually a different process. You can turn on the “authentication” version if you have MacOS El Capitan — which isn’t a problem, thanks to the previous update requirements — and an iCloud account that allows you to turn on Two-Factor Authentication in the Security section of the iCloud menu. You can find your iCloud menu in System Preferences panel on your Mac. Yes, this does mean that you need to use iCloud in order to use Auto Unlock.

Internet Sharing is turned off — Internet sharing is a feature that allows you to share your internet connection with someone else. You can find the setting in the Sharing section of System Preferences. Make sure the box beside Internet Sharing is not checked, otherwise Auto Unlock will not work.

Setting up Auto Unlock

Step 1: Check that your Apple Watch and the Mac you want to unlock both use the same ID to sign into iCloud. Otherwise, the whole plan falls to pieces.

Step 2: Once done, head over to System Preferences and select Security & Privacy.

Step 3: The first open tab should be General, which has your basic login and password settings. If all your updates and connections have been validated, look for an option below the traditional password settings that says, Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. Make sure this option is checked, and enter your current password.

Step 4: Turn off your Mac and turn it back on again while wearing your Apple Watch. If everything works as intended, your Apple Watch will sign you in with a notification that says, Unlocking with Apple Watch. Sometimes, if you had to change some of your login or password settings in order to enable the feature, you may have to input your passcode one last time. If this happens, try logging out and logging back in again to see if Auto Unlock kicks into gear.

Troubleshooting

Throughout this entire process, keep in mind that your Apple Watch has to be fairly close to your Mac. Usually wearing it will enable Auto Unlock, but try holding your wrist closer when logging in to see if this solves any issues you may be facing.

If it still isn’t working correctly, head back to the Security & Privacy section of System Preferences and make sure that Disable automatic login is also checked, the option right above, Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. This should automatically be disabled when you turn on Auto Unlock, but if for some reason this isn’t happening, your login process could get messy, so it’s worth checking.

How to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

You’ve got an Apple Watch. You’ve got a Mac. Doesn’t it make sense to have them help each other out? One of the time-saving ways the two devices can coordinate is called Auto Unlock. It uses your Apple Watch to sign into your Mac computer, similar to the way a smart key fob can automatically unlock your car doors when you’re in close proximity. However, to make sure your Watch and Mac are best buds, you’ll have to review your settings and authorize the feature. Read on to find out how the pairing process is done, and the requirements for setting it up, as we explain how to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch.

Check the requirements

The Auto Unlock feature does have some system requirements, which mostly involve newer operating system updates. On the smartwatch side, you will need to be using WatchOS 3 or later. If you’ve never tried to update your Apple Watch before, it’s easy to do so. Just put the Apple Watch on its charger, make sure your iPhone is connected to a reliable Wi-Fi network, and place your phone and Watch beside one another. Then, access the My Watch app and download any available software updates.

The requirements for your Mac are a little more demanding. You need a mid-2013 model or newer to use this feature, so older Macs simply don’t qualify. If you have a Mac that has the right hardware capabilities, it also needs to be running MacOS Sierra 10.12 or later. You can click on your Mac Notification sidebar to catch a look at any outstanding updates that have yet to be applied, just in case.

Configuring your settings

Your next job is to check your settings and make sure that everything is set up so that your Apple Watch and Mac can talk to one another, even when your Mac is just waking up. Check and double-check this list before you move on.

Your Bluetooth is turned on — This isn’t a problem for the Apple Watch, but make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your Mac — sometimes Bluetooth ends up disabled, especially if you’ve had past trouble with accessories. You can turn on the feature from within the Bluetooth section of System Preferences.

Your Wi-Fi is on and connected — If you need to configure your Wi-Fi settings on your Mac for whatever reason, you can do so within the Network section of System Preferences.

You have the passcode turned on for your Apple Watch — We know the Apple Watch passcode isn’t the easiest login option, but it’s necessary if you want to start using Auto Unlock. To enable the feature, open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch at the bottom, and select the Passcode option. Then, tap Turn passcode on and enter your desired code twice on your Apple Watch.

You are using two-factor authentication — This one is a little trickier, because the terms are confusing. Your Apple ID originally used “two-step verification” for security when signing in. There is also an updated method called “two-factor authentication” that sounds like the same thing, but is actually a different process. You can turn on the “authentication” version if you have MacOS El Capitan — which isn’t a problem, thanks to the previous update requirements — and an iCloud account that allows you to turn on Two-Factor Authentication in the Security section of the iCloud menu. You can find your iCloud menu in System Preferences panel on your Mac. Yes, this does mean that you need to use iCloud in order to use Auto Unlock.

Internet Sharing is turned off — Internet sharing is a feature that allows you to share your internet connection with someone else. You can find the setting in the Sharing section of System Preferences. Make sure the box beside Internet Sharing is not checked, otherwise Auto Unlock will not work.

Setting up Auto Unlock

Step 1: Check that your Apple Watch and the Mac you want to unlock both use the same ID to sign into iCloud. Otherwise, the whole plan falls to pieces.

Step 2: Once done, head over to System Preferences and select Security & Privacy.

Step 3: The first open tab should be General, which has your basic login and password settings. If all your updates and connections have been validated, look for an option below the traditional password settings that says, Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. Make sure this option is checked, and enter your current password.

Step 4: Turn off your Mac and turn it back on again while wearing your Apple Watch. If everything works as intended, your Apple Watch will sign you in with a notification that says, Unlocking with Apple Watch. Sometimes, if you had to change some of your login or password settings in order to enable the feature, you may have to input your passcode one last time. If this happens, try logging out and logging back in again to see if Auto Unlock kicks into gear.

Troubleshooting

Throughout this entire process, keep in mind that your Apple Watch has to be fairly close to your Mac. Usually wearing it will enable Auto Unlock, but try holding your wrist closer when logging in to see if this solves any issues you may be facing.

If it still isn’t working correctly, head back to the Security & Privacy section of System Preferences and make sure that Disable automatic login is also checked, the option right above, Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. This should automatically be disabled when you turn on Auto Unlock, but if for some reason this isn’t happening, your login process could get messy, so it’s worth checking.

At $28K, the most expensive gadget we’ve ever reviewed is now … a hard drive

On your phone, right now, how many cloud storage apps do you have? Two, three? Juggling those accounts can be a bit of a hassle, and keeping them secure is even more of a pain. Luckily, peripheral manufacturer OWC has a solution that can free us from our cloud storage addiction.

Meet the Thunderbay 4 Mini, a remarkably unremarkable hard drive enclosure, and one of the most expensive pieces of hardware we’ve ever tested.

Don’t let that plain, unassuming exterior fool you — this little guy has a dark secret. Inside, it’s running four solid-state drives, each of which have 10TB of storage capacity, for a whopping total of 40TB. So, that begs the question — how much would you pay to never have to deal with a cloud storage service again?

The answer, oddly enough, is also the answer to another burning question. How can you store $27,700 in plain view without anyone stealing it?

That’s right. This featureless black box retails for nearly 30 grand. But is it really worth such an enormous, unbelievable price tag? Why? Let’s break it down.

A niche-within-a-niche market

Let’s get this straight right away – the Thunderbay 4 Mini probably isn’t built with you in mind. It’s not the kind of drive you’d pick up on your way out of Best Buy for those extra vacation photos nobody really wants to see. This is a hardcore, professional-grade storage solution, built for people who need to store tons of data and access it quickly, even if the internet isn’t available.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

For anyone else, $27,700 for a hard drive is just absurd. For that price you could buy yourself, your spouse, and one of your kids an Acer Predator 21x — or about 5,000 avocado toasts. Or you could just go with regular hard disks, instead of solid-state drives, and net yourself about 500TB of — much slower — storage space.

Considering its luxury pedigree, this plain, black metal enclosure is surprisingly tame. 40TB is a lot of storage, but the use of four 10TB BlackDisk 2.5-inch solid state drives results in a compact box that measures just 7.6 inches deep, 3.8 inches wide, and 4.6 inches tall. The inconspicuous enclosure can find a home at any desk, but it does include a key lock, so no one can swipe the drives inside — though someone could just pick it up and walk off.

This sturdy but unremarkable hard drive enclosure is the most expensive piece of PC hardware we’ve tested.

Moving on to the actual features the drive has, the enclosure itself boasts an internal power supply and a fan, to keep things nice and cool. Internally, each drive bay is isolated from the others, in order to reduce sonic resonance and dampen vibrations — assisted by the vibration-absorbing rubber feet underneath the enclosure.

Aside from the 10TB drives, the goodness mentioned above can be obtained in more affordable packages than the amazing $27,700 incarnation we received. Solid state storage options range from 1TB to 40TB, and disk drive options range from 2TB to 8TB. The bare enclosure is also available for $417.50, if you’d like to bring your own drives to the party.

Kind of like a cheetah-elephant

There’s more to the enclosure than looks, or capacity. Performance is also part of the story. OWC can ship the drives in a variety of RAID configurations. Ours came configured in RAID4, for maximum performance.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

So, how does 30 grand worth of hard drive perform? Pretty well, it turns out. While it’s not as quick as an internal hard drive, the Thunderbay 4 Mini is among the quickest external hard drives we’ve ever tested.

The OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini managed 294 megabytes per second when writing files, and 841MBp/s when reading files. That’s about one gigabyte every four seconds, which is about 15 gigabytes per minute, and well, even at those speeds it would take you about 44 hours to completely backup your 40TB collection of Overwatch fan art — which is literally all of it ever, even the weird stuff. Especially the weird stuff.

Its performance does not disappoint.

Looking at speed and speed alone, that’s not bad for an external SSD. Most tend to fall well short of those numbers. For instance, the LaCie Rugged Type-C external drive only managed 134MBp/s write speed and 130MBp/s read speed.

The Samsung Portable SSD T3 comes closer, even eclipsing the Thunderbay’s write speed by a fair margin. The 2TB external drive, which is half the size of an iPhone, managed a write speed of 392MBp/s and a read speed of 422MBp/s.

Just think about that. The OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini, stuffed with a small data center worth of disk space, is almost as quick as a tiny, throw-in-your-pocket 2TB external drive. It’s like a fully-laden semi-truck that can barrel down the highway at 100 miles per hour — though a little less terrifying.

Thunderbolts and lightning

The OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini’s connectivity is straightforward. On the back there’s a power plug, and two Thunderbolt 2 ports.

During our tests, we didn’t notice any significant differences in read/write speeds when operating the Thunderbay 4 Mini directly via Thunderbolt 2, or through a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. That’s important because Thunderbolt 2 isn’t a super-common port. Apple has since abandoned it in favor of the USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 standard, and you won’t find it on most desktop PCs.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Though the Thunderbay 4 Mini is easiest to work with on a Mac — since desktop Macs still offer Thunderbolt 2 ports — it’s also compatible with Windows, and includes a Windows version of its management software.

Also, if 40TB isn’t enough storage space, the OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini can be daisy-chained with other peripherals and indeed other external hard drives running on Thunderbolt 2 — including a second Thunderbay 4 Mini. In case you or your employer has another $27,700 just lying around.

Bottom line

If the Thunderbay 4 Mini with 40TB of storage is sitting in your Amazon shopping cart, you might as well buy it. Clearly, you’re a part of the very narrow market that would really benefit from a product like this.

But, if you saw the price tag and had to re-read it a couple times to make sure this wasn’t a much-delayed April Fools’ joke, then you’d be better off with any other external hard drive — or maybe just a big flash drive.

Available on: 

B&H

Prototype device lets you easily switch between privacy options online

Why it matters to you

This device makes it easier to know how your data is being encrypted when you’re online.

Even people who consider themselves to be in the know about tech can get flummoxed when it comes to the subject of online privacy. Who is tracking you and how is something many users don’t follow, and there are few simple means of learning this information.

That’s something a nifty piece of hardware created by Spanish designers Roman Torre and Angeles Angulo hopes to address. What they’ve developed is a 3D-printed prototype of a desktop device, called Thero, that allows users to switch between encrypted communication methods simply by turning a dial.

“The idea is that everybody that has Thero will be aware of the importance of their own data and privacy,” Torre said. “Through the physical manipulation of the device we believe that is easier to [experience] … privacy, compared to solutions already available in the market, which are based exclusively around software. Those can be too abstract and tricky for the current medium internet user.”

Thero boasts four different privacy settings: one that offers mostly open internet access; another for total encryption using the Tor network; another that blocks social media; and a “total blackout” mode which only lets users navigate using an internal web server. Switching between these modes is as easy as using the click wheel on an old-school iPod to switch between songs. When users switch modes, they even receive a visual reminder on-screen to let them know of how they’re currently protected — or not protected. The device itself is powered by way of a Raspberry Pi 3, and programmed using Python.

“For now, this is just a concept, a prototype that is working but not for a commercial use,” Torre said. “We are now developing a better software solution, and we are open to proposals or new ideas to implement. We are also interested in bringing it to market. We would like to work with other collectives who are interested in finding the best applications for it.”

Prototype device lets you easily switch between privacy options online

Why it matters to you

This device makes it easier to know how your data is being encrypted when you’re online.

Even people who consider themselves to be in the know about tech can get flummoxed when it comes to the subject of online privacy. Who is tracking you and how is something many users don’t follow, and there are few simple means of learning this information.

That’s something a nifty piece of hardware created by Spanish designers Roman Torre and Angeles Angulo hopes to address. What they’ve developed is a 3D-printed prototype of a desktop device, called Thero, that allows users to switch between encrypted communication methods simply by turning a dial.

“The idea is that everybody that has Thero will be aware of the importance of their own data and privacy,” Torre said. “Through the physical manipulation of the device we believe that is easier to [experience] … privacy, compared to solutions already available in the market, which are based exclusively around software. Those can be too abstract and tricky for the current medium internet user.”

Thero boasts four different privacy settings: one that offers mostly open internet access; another for total encryption using the Tor network; another that blocks social media; and a “total blackout” mode which only lets users navigate using an internal web server. Switching between these modes is as easy as using the click wheel on an old-school iPod to switch between songs. When users switch modes, they even receive a visual reminder on-screen to let them know of how they’re currently protected — or not protected. The device itself is powered by way of a Raspberry Pi 3, and programmed using Python.

“For now, this is just a concept, a prototype that is working but not for a commercial use,” Torre said. “We are now developing a better software solution, and we are open to proposals or new ideas to implement. We are also interested in bringing it to market. We would like to work with other collectives who are interested in finding the best applications for it.”

Samsung Galaxy Book 12 review

Research Center:
Samsung Galaxy Book

Over the last few years, 2-in-1 and hybrid systems have gone a from clumsy pipe-dream to something of a creative outlet for normally stodgy computer makers. It’s also given traditionally smartphone-centric brands like Samsung and LG an entry point into the computing market, by leveraging existing skills building tablets.

Samsung’s previous attempt, the TabPro S, was alright. Its awkward design didn’t sit right with laptop users, but the Super AMOLED screen looked great. Samsung’s Chromebook Pro and Plus improved on the formula, but without Windows 10, they focused on budget buyers instead of competing with the Surface Pro 4.

The Galaxy Book hits the reset button on Samsung’s 2-in-1 line, with Windows 10, two size options, Intel Core i5 processors, and an improved Super AMOLED screens that promise deep black levels and unmatched contrast. Pricing starts at $1,130 for the 12-inch version, which has 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid state drive. Our review unit, upgraded to 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, retails for $1,330.

Is the Galaxy Book a new beginning for Samsung’s PC ambitions? Let’s find out.

Unbearably light

There are two distinct pieces to Samsung’s Galaxy Book — the tablet, and the detachable keyboard. The tablet itself shows off Samsung’s strong points, with a design language lifted directly off its Galaxy smartphone line. It has sleek, rounded edges, and a medium-dark silver color that users may recognize from the Chromebook Plus. It’s light enough to work well as a tablet, with a texture that doesn’t slip, although the buttons on the upper left aren’t exactly convenient.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The trade-off is that the Galaxy Book is so very, very light, it doesn’t feel like a sturdy system. There’s no panel flex, and there are no major gaps to speak of, but the Competiting Surface Pro keeps its weight below two pounds as well, and feels a lot more premium than the Galaxy Book. The shape is also very nondescript – which will work for some people.

Both systems suffer the same issues when used as a laptop. The Galaxy Book has a folio keyboard, so it wraps around the system like a hot dog bun, with magnetic points on the cover to stick to magnetic points on the tablet. Propping up the screen means scooting the back cover down to one of several points, as opposed to the kickstand on the Surface Pro, which adjustable to any position along its range of motion. While neither system sits well on your lap, the Galaxy Book takes up gobs of space, which makes it particularly hard to use in tight quarters.

A few good ports

The Galaxy Book has a pair of USB Type-C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s a common set of configurations for the category, and even beats out the new Surface Pro, which only boats a Type-A USB Port. The Galaxy Book charges over either of its Type-C ports, where the Surface’s magnetic power connection pops right out if someone trips on the cable. There are advantages on both sides, but the Galaxy Book certainly has the better set of wired plugs.

For wireless connections, the Galaxy Book packs in 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and optional LTE.

Feeling awkward

As we mentioned above, the Galaxy Book’s detachable keyboard and touchpad don’t set the bar high for sturdiness and space.

Despite a physical connection to the system, we often saw lag in keyboard and trackpad response after the system was sitting idle for a short time. It didn’t take long, and even during our screen testing, we had issues when we didn’t touch either input for less than 30 seconds. It’s a minor inconvenience, but also one that shouldn’t exist.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The keys themselves have solid travel, with a soft, linear action that will appeal to laptop users looking for something light for occasional typing. It’s backlit, as well, with three different color settings that illuminate the characters, and the keycaps around them, in a bluish off-white.

Active stylus support is the saving grace for the so-far-troubled Galaxy Book. The pen provides a sharp, responsive writing experience, although its’ drawings capabilities don’t quite match the sensitivity levels provided by the Surface Pen and PixelSense display.

The pen writes a familiar story. On its own, it feels comfortable and light, if not on the small side. It writes well, and Samsung’s handwriting wizardry is sharp and reliable. Sitting next to the Surface Pen, the difference is evident immediately. The Surface Pen’s sturdy, barrel-shaped design feels excellent in hand, writes and draws beautifully, and has a real button and eraser, where the Galaxy Pen only has a side button.

Movie and music machine

Finally, the Galaxy Book has its moment in the sun. Samsung’s displays have always been a strong point for the brand, and it was one of the first manufacturers to put OLED displays into laptops. Organic LEDs create their own light when powered, so there’s no glow in the dark areas of the screen, resulting in perfectly flat black levels.

No, the number isn’t a mistake — the Samsung really did hit a contrast ratio above 300,000:1, thanks to the perfect black levels provided by its Super AMOLED panel. It dunked on the Surface Pro 4, which boasted one of the best contrast ratios we’ve seen from a non-OLED screen at just over 1,000:1. The Surface Pro 4 must backlight the whole screen all the time, so even a completely black screen still has some brightness to it, where the Samsung has none.

Color accuracy was nothing to write home about, but that’s typically only important to those designing design or production work. The Samsung makes up for it by covering a whopping 99 percent of the AdobeRGB spectrum, a quality we’re only used to seeing in high-end desktop monitors, and the very best laptop screens.

The screen is a joy in everyday use.

Not only does the screen score exceptionally well in almost all our tests, it’s a joy in everyday use. Deep black levels are incredibly important when it comes to image quality and immersion, because they allow greater sense of depth, and greater detail in shadows. A simple, black jacket is the perfect example. Most laptops and 2-in-1s will display the jacket as dark grey, with little detail in the fabric. On the Samsung Galaxy Book 12, however, the jacket looked dark as night, and showed fine detail in the fabric’s texture. That makes Samsung’s device a superb choice for movies.

The Galaxy Book also manages to pack in some serious speakers for its size. Even at full volume, they produce loud, clear sound, with just a hint of distortion, something we’re not used to hearing from laptops in general, let alone a 12-inch 2-in-1. Bass is lacking, but we don’t expect great subwoofers in any laptop, even massive gaming machines.

Ready to sprint

Our review unit packed in the Core i5-7200U with 8GB of RAM, a step up from the 4GB of RAM found in the base 12-inch model. It’s bound to perform much better than the Core M chips that are becoming more common, but is far from a powerhouse.

Compared to similar systems, the Galaxy Book holds its own performance-wise. Granted, these are all a far cry from the sort of performance we see from higher-end laptops, but power tends to take a backseat to versatility and portability with 2-in-1s — a solid trade, if it’s fair on both sides. None of them are built for encoding video, so the slow times on the 4K conversion test shouldn’t be a major concern.

In everyday use, the Galaxy Book didn’t feel sluggish or unresponsive, which becomes the more pertinent question at this end of the performance spectrum. Snappy performance and fast boot times are critical, and the Galaxy Book 12 did not disappoint.

Just an SSD

The SSD in our review unit had 256GB of capacity, which is the other half of the upgrade from the base 12-inch model. The drive connects over the usual SATA standard. Some systems are moving towards the PCIe connection, which has performance benefits.

While Samsung’s read and write speeds were competitive, both the HP EliteBook and Surface Pro 4 beat them handily, thanks to their use of the faster PCIe connection. The Surface Pro 4 is a middle ground, with faster read speeds, but write speeds that fall in line with the Galaxy Book.

Given the price, we feel giving the Galaxy Book 12 a PCIe drive would’ve been the right call. It’s ironic, actually – Samsung itself produces some of the best solid state drives, but its 2-in-1 falls behind competitors in this area.

Game off

We have yet to see a 2-in-1 with any sort of graphical power, and the Galaxy Book is no different. Its Intel HD 620 integrated GPU is fine for 2D games and HD movies, but lacks the sort of power, and driver support, needed for modern 3D titles.

The 3DMark scores of the competitors fell close to each other, but were all well short of even the most basic dedicated GPU options found in larger systems. Not that we expect anywhere near that sort of performance, particularly in smaller, portable machines like the Surface Pro and Galaxy Book.

Its benchmark performance didn’t give us confidence in the Galaxy Book’s gaming prowess, and a quick test run in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI only confirmed that. The game ran at just over 10 frames per second on average at 1080p, with 2X MSAA on, and both sliders set to medium. At Ultra, it went from moderately unplayable to a complete slideshow, at five frames per second.

It might be able to play the odd round of Hearthstone, but if your first question is “can it game?” it’s unlikely you’ll be satisfied with the answer.

Compact size, compact battery

Coming in under two pounds, the Galaxy Book is exceptionally compact. It folds up neatly, and its small footprint means it shouldn’t have any issue fitting into a small back or laptop backpack. That’s only half the story.

The other half is battery life, an area where 2-in-1s don’t just need to be average, they need to be excellent. It’s one of the main draws in a lightweight laptop, and the Galaxy Book does fine, but that’s about the nicest we can say.

It falls behind the Elitebook G2 in longevity in all but the video playback loop, where both systems lasted just over 12 hours. Both Peacekeeper and a web browsing loop drained the Galaxy Book’s battery in less than five hours, well short of the Elitebook. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 lasted six hours, 26 minutes in the Peacekeeper test – and its hardware is several generations older. We’ve not yet tested the battery life of the new Surface Pro.

We previously hoped that OLED screens would improve battery life, but in practice, that’s only been the case in certain situations. That said, the Galaxy Book packs plenty of battery life for a mixed workload, although you may still want to bring a charger to the office.

Ditch the screensaver

Samsung has kept its Windows 10 installation clean for the most part, although there were certainly some oddities right out of the box. For one, Samsung still insists on using a screensaver, which is just the default cheesy spinning text. As Microsoft has moved almost every system setting into the new Settings pane, screensaver options were left in the old dialogue menu, so turning it off requires a few steps.

Samsung Galaxy Book Compared To

Samsung Chromebook Pro

Asus Chromebook Flip C302CA

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

Acer Spin 7

Lenovo Yoga Book

Samsung Notebook 7 spin

Dell Inspiron 17 7000 2-in-1 (2016)

Acer Switch Alpha 12

Huawei Matebook

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

Dell XPS 12 (2013)

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

Apart from that, there’s no extra bloatware to speak of. Samsung includes a settings panel, but it rolls everything esoteric about the machine into one simple application, including screen options, keyboard and stylus options, and even customer support and warranty links. If manufacturers must include such a menu, that’s the way we prefer they do it.

Warranty

Samsung’s one year limited warranty on the Galaxy Book is typical of the category.

Our Take

Samsung’s Galaxy Book 12 aims squarely at Microsoft’s Surface Pro and similar 2-in-1s, and it lands at least one hit – display quality. For some users, the OLED screen will be the killer feature, and admittedly, there’s a lot of appeal to a system that makes watching movies and music videos an absolute pleasure. Yet you might not watch for long, because the tablet’s battery life is a sore spot.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. In fact, that’s the Samsung’s biggest issue. It seems appealing at a glance, but loses when set next to the cheaper, more refined Surface Pro. HP’s EliteBook x360 G2 is more expensive, but has one of our favorite laptop keyboards and killer performance. There’s no shortage of competitive 2-in-1s, which means Samsung must really kill it to make a name for itself. The Galaxy Book doesn’t go far enough.

How long will it last?

Samsung’s adoption of cutting edge tech is limited to the Super AMOLED screen and active stylus support. It’s unlikely any major new features will come to the category in the next few years, and a full-power SSD also helps this system go the distance. Whether it will physically hold up is a question only time can answer, but that keyboard may need a replacement after a couple years.

Should you buy it?

No, unless the Galaxy Book will spend most its life playing movies. It’s not that the Galaxy Book is a bad option – but there are better options for a lower price.

Every paper has a unique fingerprint, and this algorithm can find it

Why it matters to you

This surprisingly straightforward technique could make life tough for counterfeiters.

One way to prevent forgery of official documents could be to check the “fingerprint” of the paper it is printed on, claims a new piece of research from the U.K.’s Newcastle University.

If you did not know that each piece of paper has its own individual fingerprint, you are not alone. The insight that the texture of each piece of paper is slightly different — and therefore a unique identifier — is something discovered by the researchers on the project, which included computer scientists and security experts Dr. Siamak Shahandashti, Dr. Feng Hao, and Ehsan Toreini.

“We were inspired by the simple fact that if you hold a piece of paper against the sun you can see patterns and imperfections in the texture of the paper,” Shahandashti told Digital Trends. “These patterns, which are visible even to the naked eye and are a natural result of the manufacturing process, look different in different pieces of paper, just like our fingerprints are different. We wondered if there was a way to extract this paper ‘fingerprint.’ We explored several techniques, and finally, we developed algorithms that are similar to those used in iris recognition from a very high-level point of view.”

The system the team developed requires just an off-the-shelf camera and light source, such as the lightbox one might use for tracing. By putting a sheet of paper against this light source and then taking a picture, an algorithm can then be used analyze the data to find out the document’s paper fingerprint. It is accurate even when the paper has been written on, crumpled up, or soaked with liquid.

“What makes it so exciting, with our scientist hat on, is the mere realization that if you see a paper pile that looks exactly the same, our algorithm is able to distinguish every single one of them from the others,” Shahandashti. “If we put our engineer hat on, the immediate applications this method can have range from providing an easy way to establish the authenticity of documents, receipts, and certificates to enabling alternative solutions for access tokens, and even ensuring chain of custody in forensic investigations.”

The team’s work is described in a paper, published in the new issue of the academic journal ACM Transactions on Information and System Security.