Nova Launcher Beta adds Android O style notification dots, but Dynamic Badges are better

Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.

Notification badges have made huge strides on Nova Launcher in the last few months. We got Dynamic Badges to replace the hum-drum numeric badges back in March, and now, Nova is letting us downsize our badges and try out the more simplistic Android O-style dots in its latest beta update. And while I’m all for bringing the latest Android goodies to older versions, this is one bit of O-ey goodness I will be skipping.

Android O dots are, well… they’re boring. They’re uninformative. If you’re using a white or black icon pack, they’re also these ugly, bland gray dots. I understand everyone wanting to try out something from Android O, I really do, and I commend the Nova Launcher team on getting this cranked out so quickly, but… Dynamic Badges are just better. They can add pops of color from the notification images they pull in, and if they can’t get one of those, at least they use the app’s colors instead of pulling a color to match your icon pack, thus making the dots blend in with your app icons, especially in the app drawer.

Of course, in Android O, notification dots are more than just badges, but shortcuts to actioning notifications from the icon itself with a long press. This won’t be possible in Nova Launcher until Android O is released later this summer, but it’s a nice preview of what’s to come.

If you’re excited to try the dots in Nova Launcher beta,
feel free to opt-in and try them out. After you do, I only ask that you try Dynamic and see if the Nova way is better for your home screen. It’s most certainly better for mine.

Gifting on Google Play: What you need to know

I just want to send someone a gift card…and on Google Play, that just got a lot harder.

We’ve talked about how Google was missing the ability to gift content before, and there’s a little good news on that front: you can now gift books through Google Play. Now there’s a bit of bad news, too: you can’t buy Google Play gift cards on the Google Play app anymore. If you want to add credit to your Google Play balance, you’ll need to go hunt one down at a brick and mortar store or answer some Google Opinion Rewards.

The ability to buy gift cards on Google Play’s app and website has vanished recently, followed shortly by an update of Google Play Support to show that you can’t buy the gift cards digitally anymore, you have to buy a physical card, and that you can gift Google Play Books and Google Play Music All Access. We’re not sure what prompted the change, but for parents who top off their kids’ Google Play accounts through gift cards or those who found Google Play credit to be an easy last-minute gift, you’re going to want to head to a retailer that stocks them and grab a few.

So now, you now have to use three different methods to gift three different kinds of Google Play content:

• To give Google Play credit, you have to go to a store that sells the physical gift cards.
• To give a Google Play Book, you have to find the book on the Google Play site or app and tap Gift.
• To give a Google Play Music All Access subscription, you have to open the Google Play Music app, open Settings and tap Send gift.

And here is what we now cannot gift through Google Play:

• Movies and TV shows
• Music albums and individual songs
• Magazine and newspaper subscriptions
• Apps and games

We can only hope that gifting books is the test balloon before being rolled out to the rest of the content in the Google Play Store, but that’s anyone’s guess, at this rate. What isn’t a guess is how much of a pain removing digital gift cards is going to be.

Aviate Launcher review: Smart, but not better

How’s Aviate Launcher these days? Let’s take a look!

Updated May 2017: Review updated to reflect the stability of the launcher and how it’s aged over the last two years.

Aviate Launcher has garnered hype since it first debuted on Android, and after being acquired by Yahoo has actually seen steady improvement through updates. It’s been awhile since we last examined it, and now it’s time to take a fresh look and see how it works today.

Aviate aims to analyze how you use your phone to better surface information and apps that are relevant based on a variety of factors, taking the burden of customization away from you. But does it work? We’re going to find out.

The basics of Aviate

Aviate falls into the category of “predictive” launchers, as it aims to change and adapt with your usage, location, and the information you provide it. There’s less focus on your personal customization — you can choose a wallpaper and icon packs, but that’s about it — and more on just letting Aviate do its thing.

There’s a set design of four main home screens, and you’re stuck with them. Your main home screen — as in the one you get when you hit the home button — is left of center, and has a standard five-across quick launch bar at the bottom that you can put any apps you want in it, with additional rows available if you want more than five apps. You also have a search bar at the top of the screen.

The entire rest of the screen is blank, letting you add standard Android widgets from your installed apps, but only at full width — you can’t have side-by-side vertical widgets or a variety of small widgets. A simple swipe up on the screen gives you quick access to calls or messages, as well as frequently-used contacts, eliminating the need for dialer or contacts app icons.

To the left of the main screen, you get a very Google Now-like experience in the “Smart Screen” — a vertically-scrolling list of cards with various information that Aviate thinks is relevant at the time. You’ll see directions to work in the morning, directions home when you’re out of the house, events and places near you, news, weather and upcoming events on your calendar. The entire list adjusts throughout the day based on the time and where you are, and you can specifically call up “Today,” “Places” and “Entertainment” sections if you want more to look at.

You can’t dismiss timely cards like you do on Google Now, though — you have to either leave them there and let them be updated, or remove them until you call them back again from the settings.

It’s like 70% of Google Now … but with Yahoo.

Right of the main screen is where your apps live. Rather than having standard icons and folders, your apps are organized into “collections” based on their function. You’ll tell Aviate during setup what apps and categories you use most on your phone, and it’ll set up at least five collections for you. Off the bat I had Transit, Utilities, Productivity, Social, and Entertainment — encompassing pretty much everything I do on the phone. Collections are basically just folders, with five apps listed above the fold for quick launching, with the rest of the apps in the collection available with an additional tap. You can choose the positioning of the collections manually, but they’ll also automatically move based on how often you use each one.

Another swipe over and you get every app installed on your phone, sorted alphabetically and easily findable thanks to big letters showing you where you’re at and a nice scroll bar on the side. The persistent search bar at the top of every page works for searching installed apps as well, if you prefer that method.

What it’s like to use

Predictive features, especially ones that move elements around on your launcher, can seem intrusive and annoying, but in Aviate they’re subtle and for the most part useful. Having my apps categorized automatically (but still tweakable manually when needed) is great, and really shows you the difference between how you think your phone should be set up to be most efficient and how it actually should be laid out based on usage.

Predictive Collections and apps are nice to have, but the Smart Screen isn’t so great.

The so-called Smart Screen isn’t quite as useful, though. It offers pretty basic and mundane information that I can really get anywhere, particularly from Google Now, no matter what launcher I use. Some of the predictive things like having a music selector when I plug in headphones is neat — though useless if you use Bluetooth — as is the predictive adjustment of information based on location, but it’s not quite good enough in itself to make me want to use Aviate.

Perhaps the biggest thing hurting Aviate is that it’s tied to Yahoo, which owns and operates the app. The search bar at the top of the launcher sends you to Yahoo Search rather than Google, and lots of the predictions and information in the Smart Screen is just pushing you out to the web rather than pulling it in and displaying it nicely inside the launcher or sending you to an installed app.

And my life just isn’t tied into Yahoo — it’s in Google. Although Aviate can read my calendar app to see my upcoming events, it isn’t scanning my email for information on travel and appointments, intelligently learning about what sports teams I like, offering public transit information, or any of Google Now’s data-driven predictive features.

Taking the questionable draw of Smart Screen out of the equation, Aviate actually works quite nicely as a standard launcher. Focusing on a handful of frequent apps and one or two widgets on the main home screen will make sense for a lot of people, and having the rest of your apps categorized by type and sorted by use will be the best way to keep the phone clean and usable. As someone who usually keeps their launcher super simple I can see why Aviate has so many downloads in Google Play.

The bottom line

For a lot of people who have stuck with the stock launcher on their Android phone, Aviate may actually be one of the front-runners for a potential launcher replacement. It offers some useful features, a clean and attractive interface, and overall good performance in everything that it does. Aviate clearly has its loyal users and will continue to gain them, but it’s absolutely not for everyone. And while I like the idea of the predictive app collections and simple main home screen, I just don’t see enough value in those items to also deal with less-than-stellar predictive information in the Smart Screen.

Google will work with Vietnam to remove ‘toxic’ content

In line with recent agreements to prune their internet content in certain countries, Google’s parent company Alphabet will now work with Vietnam’s government to remove “toxic” information from its sites. The announcement came today following a meeting between Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Earlier this year, Vietnam urged domestic companies to cease advertising with Facebook and YouTube until they cleaned up content it deemed offensive, “toxic” and anti-government. In their meeting, Schmidt assured the prime minister that the company would work with them to remove content that violates Vietnamese laws.

This isn’t a new move. Last year, Google developed curated YouTube sites for Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka for similar reasons. However, on the other side of this issue, amid their ongoing battle with Chinese censorship, Google let users know when they were using search terms likely to be blocked by the government. And in 2014, the company shut down their Russian offices after severe crackdowns ordered by Putin.

Alphabet notes that its collaboration with the Vietnamese government isn’t outside of their current policies for working with governments and is part of their ongoing attempt to comply with regional laws. “We have clear policies for removal requests from governments around the world, and those policies have not changed,” spokesman Taj Meadows told Reuters.

While Vietnam doesn’t currently make up a substantial portion of Google’s operations, it’s one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, meaning there’s a financial incentive to comply with their laws — even if they are restrictive.

Source: Reuters

When is Android Wear 2.0 coming to my smartwatch?

Google is in the midst of rolling out Android Wear 2.0 to many smartwatches on the market.

It has released three major updates to Android Wear in the past two years. In Android Wear 2.0, you get a design overhaul, standalone apps, improvements to watch faces, messaging, fitness and a whole lot more.

Information on when updates will land on existing devices has been in short supply, although many now have the new software.

So here’s as much information as we can find on exactly what watches already have it and when others might get AW2.0.

Android Wear 2.0: Release date

Google announced last spring that its wearables OS would soon get a massive update, in the form of Android Wear 2.0. The official announcement of Android Wear 2.0 was on 8 February 2017, launched alongside the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style.

For existing devices, Google started releasing the software to manufacturers on 15 February. It needed to be tested by individual companies before being sent as an over-the-air update, hence the delay to your specific device.

The following devices have been confirmed as either having the update or soon to get it. We’re updating the details as companies tell us more.

Android Wear 2.0: Asus

Asus said that the Android Wear 2.0 update will arrive on the following devices:

• Asus ZenWatch 2
• Asus ZenWatch 3

True to its word, the update started to roll out to the ZenWatch 3 in mid-May. We’re still waiting on details for the ZenWatch 2, however.

Android Wear 2.0: Fossil

After a bug fix that delayed Fossil’s rollout a little, all of the following have now been updated with AW2.0.

• Fossil Q Founder
• Fossil Q Wander
• Fossil Q Marshal

Android Wear 2.0: Casio

Casio confirmed that the WSD-F10 watch should be updated to Android Wear 2.0. The new Casio WSD-F20 will have AW2.0 at launch.

If you haven’t got it yet an update is available for the following:

• Casio WSD-F10 Smart Outdoor Watch

Android Wear 2.0: Huawei

Huawei Watch users running the Android Wear 2.0 preview have reported they’re getting the full update to their device, which means the over-the-air update for everyone else should also be available now. Android Police has said if you repeatedly tap on the “system is up to date” screen, it should force trigger the Huawei Watch to download the Android Wear 2.0 software.

• Huawei Watch
• Huawei Watch Ladies

Android Wear 2.0: LG

On 10 April, LG confirmed it began rolling out Android Wear 2.0 for the following models:

• LG G Watch R
• LG Watch Urbane
• LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition

Android Wear 2.0: Michael Kors

Google has confirmed the following watches have been upgraded to Android Wear 2.0.

• Michael Kors Access Bradshaw Smartwatch
• Michael Kors Access Dylan Smartwatch

Android Wear 2.0: Motorola

Google confirmed the following watches will be upgraded to Android Wear 2.0:

• Moto 360 Gen 2
• Moto 360 Sport

We’re still not sure when it will be available for the Moto 360 Sport, but it announced on Twitter that a roll out to the Gen 2 started on Thursday 25 May.

Android Wear 2.0: New Balance

New Balance confirmed to us that the Android Wear 2.0 update for the RunIQ watch is now available.

• New Balance RunIQ

Android Wear 2.0: Nixon

Nixon has confirmed that there will be a range of other software improvements that come with the update to 2.0. Google has also said that this watch should now have the update, confirmed on Nixon’s website.

• Nixon Mission

Android Wear 2.0: Polar

Polar sent out notifications for the update to the M600 from the end of March. In addition to the overhaul presented by Android Wear, the update also includes improved swim tracking, with the ability to detect the stroke you’re using.

• Polar M600

Android Wear 2.0: Sony

After much speculation of “will it, won’t it?”, Sony has confirmed that Android Wear 2.0 will not be made available for the Sony Smartwatch 3. On the Smartwatch 3’s product page, it says it can only support up to Android Wear 1.5.

If you’re a Smartwatch 3 owner and were hoping for Android Wear 2.0, you can sign a petition to try and convince Sony and Google to change their minds. 

Android Wear 2.0: Tag Heuer

Tag Heuer has confirmed that it is now rolling out the Android Wear 2.0 update to the original Connected watch. The update brings several of the features currently found on the recently released Connected Modular 45, including 30 digital faces and direct access to the Play Store.

• Tag Heuer Connected

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: What’s the rumoured difference?

Rumour has it OnePlus will be launching its 2017 flagship in the next few weeks, with many predicting June to be the month of the next “flagship killer”.

There have been several leaks surrounding the new handset, many of which point towards a well-specced device, but how will it compete against its rivals?

Here is how the OnePlus 5 compares to the mighty Samsung Galaxy S8, based on the speculation.

• OnePlus 5: Release date, rumours and everything you need to know

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Design

• Ceramic or glass rumoured for OnePlus 5
• Galaxy S8 is waterproof and will probably be narrower
• Both likely to have USB Type-C, headphone jack currently unknown for OnePlus

The OnePlus 5 is rumoured to be coming with a glass or ceramic build, rather than the aluminium body found on its predecessor. Though no measurements have been detailed as yet, leaked images suggest the next OnePlus flagship will offer a dual camera on the rear, as well as possibly the front.

The images also suggest USB Type-C flanked by speakers either side, a fingerprint sensor built into either the display or a capacitive button beneath the display and it also appears the screen will be flat and the headphone jack may be absent.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 features a metal and glass sandwich design, a curved display and a fingerprint sensor positioned at the rear next to the single camera lens. USB Type-C is on board, as is a 3.5mm headphone jack and there is a dedicated button on one side of the device for launching personal assistant, Bixby.

The Galaxy S8 measures 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0mm, weighs 155g, comes in five colours and it is also IP68 waterproof.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 review

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Display

• Galaxy S8 could have larger, sharper display
• Galaxy S8 has Mobile HDR
• Both expected to be AMOLED panels

The OnePlus 5 is said to be coming with either a 5.3-inch display or a 5.5-inch screen, both of which are expected to be flat.

Rumour has it OnePlus might opt for a Quad HD display this time round over Full HD, which would result in a pixel density of 534ppi or 554ppi, depending on the screen size. There has been no mention of Mobile HDR in rumours, but it is expected to be an Optic AMOLED display like the OnePlus 3T.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9, offering a Quad HD+ resolution (2960 x 1440) for a pixel density of 570ppi. The S8 is therefore likely to offer a larger and sharper display than the OnePlus 5, unless OnePlus opts for a similar almost all screen design.

The Galaxy S8 also offers Mobile HDR, meaning it is compatible with HDR content when it becomes available through Amazon Video and Netflix. 

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Camera

• Dual-camera on front and rear reported for OnePlus 5
• Galaxy S8 has iris scanner on front
• Higher resolution reported for front and rear of OnePlus 5

The OnePlus 5 is thought to be coming with dual cameras on the rear, and possibly on the front too, though nothing has been confirmed as yet.

Some leaks suggest there will be 23-megapixel sensors on the back with a 16-megapixel snapper on the front, while others claim there will be 16-megapixels on the back and front. We’re expecting to see PDAF and OIS on board, and perhaps a wider aperture than the f/2.0 found on the OnePlus 3T.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has a 12-megapixel Dual Pixel rear camera with an f/1.7 aperture, OIS and autofocus. The front snapper has an 8-megapixel sensor, also with an f/1.7 aperture and autofocus. Results from both are excellent.

There is also an iris scanner on the front of the Galaxy S8, a technology that has not yet been touted for the OnePlus 5.

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Hardware

• More RAM rumoured for OnePlus 5
• Larger battery capacity reported for OnePlus 5
• Galaxy S8 offers microSD 

The OnePlus 5 is confirmed to be coming with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, though RAM and storage options are still speculation. Both 6GB and 8GB of RAM have been thrown about, as well as 64GB and 128GB of storage.

We’d don’t expect microSD to be on board but it has been claimed the battery capacity of the OnePlus 5 will hit the 4000mAh mark.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 features either the Exynos 8895 chip, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, depending on the region. Both models come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, with microSD for further expansion. 

There is a 3000mAh battery capacity under the hood and Samsung offers 32-bit audio support.

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Software

• Different software experiences, though Android at heart
• Both Android Nougat at core

The OnePlus 5 is likely to launch on OxygenOS, which will be a customised version of Android Nougat, while the Galaxy S8 runs on Android Nougat with Samsung’s TouchWiz software over the top.

The software experience of these two devices will therefore be quite different, though both have Android at the heart so there will be familiar features, they will just be packaged in a slightly different way.

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Price

• OnePlus 5 likely to be cheaper by at least £200

There hasn’t been a decent leak regarding the OnePlus 5’s price, though based on its predecessor, we’d expect it to sit around the £400 mark.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 on the other hand costs £689, making it quite a bit more expensive.

OnePlus 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: Conclusion

Based on the rumours, it looks as thought the OnePlus 5 will offer more RAM, a larger battery capacity and a dual-rear camera setup compared to the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Samsung’s device however, offers a curved display, potentially larger display, waterproofing, iris scanning and an excellent camera experience. It is likely to be £200 more expensive though.

For now, everything except the processor is speculation regarding the OnePlus 5 but we will update this feature as soon as any official details or more substantial leaks appear.

A Paris school is using AI to monitor distracted students

For those of us who zone out during university lectures, the temptation multiplies when you taking classes from home. Next fall, a business school in France will try to stop online students from getting distracted with an AI app called Nestor. To judge your level of attention, it can track your face and eyes and even detect when you pull out a phone. If you start to slack off, it can warn you via pop-up messages or emails, and tell you roughly when you may drift away again.

The bot will be used for two classes at the ESG Business school, including a 30 hour “street marketing” course, as part of a distance learning program. Eventually, it’ll be offered as part of live lectures and used in conjunction with a camera that can analyze students live to see if they’re engaged or bored, ESG says. It can then, believe it or not, send a text or notification as a virtual kick in the rear.

The data from the program will also be useful to teachers, letting them know which parts of their lectures are grabbing students and which parts aren’t. The developers say it could also help students in different ways — if you let it track your online activities, it could proposed a personalized course schedule based on times when you’re watching YouTube, for instance.

Marcel Saucet, head of the company that created the bot, said that Nestor won’t store video footage nor sell it to advertisers, a promise suspicious students might take with a grain of salt. The data will also be encrypted and anonymous, the company promised. As The Verge notes, ESG is not the first first school using AI that way, as the IE Business School in Madrid uses an “emotion recognition system” to spot inattentive students.

Via: The Verge

Source: ESGCI

Windows metadata bug has been waiting to cripple older machines

If you’re still using Windows 7 or Windows 8, there’s another security issue you need to be aware of aside from Wannacry. This one won’t hold your computer ransom for bitcoin, though. Actually, it might be more annoying than it is dangerous. Researchers from Aladdin RD, an information security company, recently discovered (translated) that a bad image call embedded into a website can bring older computers to a grinding halt. In this case, it’s filename “$mft.”

As Ars Technica points out, it’s a metadata file that exists in the root directory of the OS’ NTFS file system. When something tries using it, like a malicious website accessed through Internet Explorer in this case, the NTFS driver never releases its lock on the file. This in turn blocks other legitimate processes from accessing the file system.

From here, every program trying to access any type of file will start to hang and you can see where this is going. Now, this type of vulnerability isn’t new (older versions of Windows had similar responses calls for c:concon), and neither is the fix. Simply reboot your machine and you should be good to go.

Microsoft is aware of the problem, but isn’t going to fix the bug in Windows Vista. Considering that Redmond is still supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8 there may be a patch coming, though. We’ve reached out for more information and will update this post should it arrive.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Aladdin RD (Russian)

Facebook and Google ask Congress for surveillance reform (again)

It’s no secret that the American government monitors the web data of non-citizens it considers potential threats. But major tech companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are looking to change the way that surveillance is handled by the government.

The government is authorized to look through the web activity of non-US citizens located outside the United States through Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire at the end of the year. The US House of Representatives argues that, “FISA Section 702 is one of the most important legal authorities to stop terrorist attacks.” The tech companies don’t disagree — they aren’t campaigning against reauthorization — but in a letter obtained by Axios, they’re asking that specific privacy-related concerns be addressed.

Companies such as Uber, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Snap want more government oversight of surveillance. They also want to disclose more about the specific requests they receive under this law, though it’s not clear what the terms of disclosure would be. Additionally, tech companies are trying “reduce the likelihood of collecting information about non-US persons who are not suspected of wrongdoing,” the letter says. More than 30 companies signed the letter, though, strangely, Apple was not among them. (We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, but have yet to hear back.)

It doesn’t help that Congress has specific concerns about the number of Americans whose data has been collected (illegally) under FISA, which is only supposed to cover non-US citizens living in foreign countries. Privacy is such an important issue, especially as our personal details and web data are increasingly treated as a commodity.

The United States government believes it’s important to examine the web data of certain non-US citizens to prevent terror attacks and other anti-US actions, and companies like Facebook and Google are caught in the middle. These companies handle overwhelming amounts of sensitive information, and keeping their users’ trust and protecting their privacy is crucial. When national security is involved, these two issues come into conflict. It’s understandable that tech companies want to protect themselves and their users, but balancing the demands of national security with respect of users’ privacy is not easy.

Source: House of Representatives, Axiom

The best turntable for casual listening

By Chris Heinonen

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

After spending over 50 total hours comparing turntables and measuring their performance, we’ve determined that the Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB is the best turntable for most people. It’s highly adjustable, has a built-in phono preamp for hassle-free setup, sounds great out of the box, and even has a built-in USB port if you want to digitize your LP collection. It’s also very speed-accurate, according to our tests.

Who should get this

These turntables are for people who are either first getting into vinyl playback, or have been out of it for a while and want a simple solution. Many of the turntables discussed here feature integrated phono preamps, which is important because signals from phono cartridges must be amplified and equalized to be compatible with normal stereo systems or powered speakers. Most new entry-level receivers lack phono preamp sections, and soundbars and wireless speakers never had them, so a built-in preamp can be important.

If you already have a turntable that works for you, you probably don’t need to upgrade to a new turntable from this guide. You can likely get more out of your current turntable by upgrading the cartridge or getting a new phono preamp than you can from buying a whole new table.

How we picked

Ten turntables ready for testing. Photo: Chris Heinonen

Since we last updated this guide more and more companies have jumped into the turntable game. Vinyl sales have risen through the past decade, and audio companies want to capitalize on the trend. Many turntable brands have introduced new and ostensibly improved models since our last update.

We brought in nine new or updated turntables to compare with our existing pick, the Audio-Technica LP120. We listened to all of the turntables in a dedicated home theater room that measures 11 by 13 by 8 feet. For direct comparison, we played identical copies of an album on multiple turntables using a line-level audio switcher. We also considered belt-drive and direct-drive models for this guide. To learn more about these models, see our full guide.

Our pick

Photo: Chris Heinonen

The Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB is the best turntable for most people because it sounds great, has an internal phono preamp, is speed-accurate, and lets you easily digitize your LP collection. The AT-LP120-USB is a great entry point for the vinyl enthusiast, with sound quality that holds up in comparison with some tables costing twice as much.

The sound quality of the AT-LP120-USB, with the included cartridge and integrated preamp, is remarkably good. With high-quality source material, it can present a quiet background with very good channel separation and vocal clarity. It can stumble a bit on very busy musical sections on the inner grooves of records (where the fidelity is not as good as on the outer grooves), but many tables do this.

Most modern receivers lack a phono preamp, which is necessary to hook a turntable into a sound system, and even fewer people own an external one, so it’s convenient that the AT-LP120-USB has one built in. This means that straight out of the box, the Audio-Technica can plug directly into a soundbar or powered speakers that have an analog input. You can disable the preamp inside the Audio-Technica with a switch, but when we tried it, it produced a ground hum that wasn’t present with the internal preamp.

The AT-LP120-USB’s inclusion of a USB output makes it easy to digitize your LP collection. Most new LPs include download cards so you can get MP3 or FLAC versions of the album, but used LPs lack this. The USB output lets you connect the AT-LP120-USB directly to your computer, so you can use a program such as Audacity to digitize your collection.

Runner-up

Photo: Chris Heinonen

The Fluance RT81 looks much like the Audio-Technica and sounds almost identical too. It has the same cartridge and a similar tonearm, but uses belt drive instead of direct drive. It lets you select between 33 RPM and 45 RPM and has an integrated phono preamp, but unlike the Audio-Technica, it will automatically stop the platter from spinning once the arm reaches the center of the record.

Some people might prefer the look of the Fluance to the Audio-Technica, but it is unlikely anyone will be able to tell them apart sonically. Listening to identical records at identical points and switching back and forth, we noticed no difference in sound quality between the two.The Fluance often sells for $50 less than the Audio-Technica, but lacks a USB output for easy dubbing of your vinyl. Plus its speed isn’t quite as accurate, and we don’t have the long history with Fluance’s turntables (the company only recently began selling them) that we do with the Audio-Technica. If the Audio-Technica is sold out, or you decide you like the Fluance for aesthetic reasons, it should provide the same sound quality.

A better-sounding upgrade

A better-sounding upgrade

The updated entry-level model from Rega, the Planar 1, offers improved audio quality over the Audio-Technica and has the easiest setup of any turntable we tested. When we listened to The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends,” the Audio-Technica put poor Ringo back in the corner and muffled his voice. The Rega put him center stage and let him shine.

The Planar has a couple downsides. It runs around 0.5 percent fast, but in listening tests comparing it with other more-accurate tables we didn’t notice this speed difference. You also have to remove the platter to switch from 33 to 45 RPM.

A budget pick

Photo: Chris Heinonen

If you want something that can just play records easily for as little as possible, the Audio-Technica LP60-BT will do the job. Unlike the other tables we considered, LP60-BT is fully automatic: Press a button and the table spins while the arm moves into position. Once a record is done, the arm goes back into place and the table stops. It has a built-in phono stage and you can even get it with a Bluetooth output for use with wireless speakers.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

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