Scientists to deploy ‘SnotBots’ to capture and analyze whale blow

Why it matters to you

New tech offers a more dynamic way for scientists to study the health of whales, giving us a glimpse at the health of the ocean at large.

Drones will soon be deployed over the ocean to help scientists study whales in an unusual way. Dubbed SnotBots, these custom-built, remote-controlled drones are designed to hover over pods of whales and capture snot shot out of their blowholes. This method allows researchers to collect biological data — including DNA and pregnancy hormones — for analysis without harming or seriously disturbing the whales.

The project is part of a collaboration between nonprofit Ocean Alliance’s Parley for the Oceans and Intel, which is providing software to perform the analyses.

Besides the SnotBots’ collections, another fleet of drones will be equipped with cameras that will capture images of the whales so scientists can identify them. This will enable the team to monitor the whales without physically tagging them.

“For lack of a better term, I’ll call it ‘facial recognition,’” Alyson Griffin, vice president in Intel’s global marketing and communications group, told Digital Trends.

When the drones snap photos and collect snot, the data is streamed back to a ship, where Intel-backed software will analyze the data in real time. This will save time from what is usually a manual and and labor-intensive process.

“Algorithms on the ship analyze the health of the water and whales,” she said, “including who’s related, whether there are viruses, and what the acidity of the water is.”

Traditionally, missions like this would require collecting DNA or blood samples from individual whales in an invasive way, while monitoring them meant physically tagging with tracking devices. Now, Griffin said scientists “can be a safe distance away where there’s no harm to the whales.”

Studying whales is of course beneficial for whales, but it’s also important for us humans and the environment as a whole. As some of the ocean’s apex predators, whales offers a glimpse of the ocean’s overall environment, which ultimately relates to the well-being of humanity.

Glue and tape make Microsoft’s Surface Laptop a nightmare to repair

Why it matters to you

If you consider repairability an important feature, the Surface Laptop isn’t for you.

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is not a laptop — according to a recent attempt to take it apart to test its repairability. Instead it’s a “glue-filled monstrosity” that cannot be taken apart without destroying it. Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop faired well when we pitted it against the Surface Pro, but when it comes to iFixit’s teardown, it earned a score of zero out of 10.

One of the reasons some people opt for Windows systems is that they are usually easier to take apart, repair, and upgrade than their Apple counterparts. That’s not always the case, but it’s a reasonably good rule of thumb. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop turns that paradigm on its head, however, as iFixit claims it’s impossible to take apart without destroying it.

Although disassembling most laptops isn’t easy, the Surface Laptop is overly and overtly complicated right off of the bat. There are no screws hidden under the rubber feet, so your first port of entry requires removing the Alcantara coating. There are immediate signs of adhesive and metal clips, which means even returning the laptop to its original state from this step in the teardown process would be difficult.

Things only go from bad to worse from that point on, with knives being used to cut through material, separate adhesive and “ultrasonic spot welds,” which means you’ll need a whole other level of expertise to put the Surface Laptop back together. iFixit jokingly recommends duct tape should you try yourself, which shows just how difficult the system is to repair.

Although everything can be taken apart and laid out nearly like the iFixit photo suggests, that’s likely how your Surface Laptop will stay if you ever get that far. The repairability score of zero should be a stark warning to anyone considering trying it.

“There is nothing upgradeable or long-lasting and it literally can’t be opened without destroying it,” the teardown report reads.

The CPU, RAM, and storage solution are soldered to the motherboard itself, meaning you can’t replace or upgrade anything. The headphone jack can accessed only by removing the heatsink and motherboard; you can’t even replace the battery.

In short, if you own a Surface Laptop, it’s best you don’t try to take it apart. If you’re thinking about buying one and repairability and upgradeability are important to you, look elsewhere. Maybe on our list of the best laptops?

Verizon opens enrollment for screen repair services just in time for summer

Why it matters to you

Eligible Verizon customers have another chance to sign up for a plan to get their phones fixed immediately, from the convenience of their own home.

Update: With summer here, Verizon opened enrollment once again for its Total Mobile Protection plan. The company also lowered the deductible for cracked screen repairs and added more mobile devices to its list of eligible phones.

Verizon is giving customers another chance to sign up for its Total Mobile Protection plan this summer from now until July 14. The plan was updated with a few minor changes and among them is a lower deductible for repairs coming in at $49  — cheaper than the original $79. The Samsung S7 Edge and iPhone 7 are also now included under the list of phones eligible for cracked screen repairs.

Under the plan, customers have the option for same-day, on-site screen repair. Owners of select devices can request a technician to meet them at home or work to have a shattered display immediately replaced — provided they live in one of the locations listed.

The news release on Verizon’s website specifies which phones are eligible for same-day repair, as well as the more than 200 cities where remote service is available.  Multiple versions of the Apple iPhone, and Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Note, as well as Motorola’s Verizon-exclusive Droid brand, are included.

In addition to the deductible, customers will have to pay a standard monthly cost of $11 for a smartphone, $9 for basic phones and tablets, or $33 for multidevice protection for 3 to 10 lines. Verizon is also allowing Total Mobile Protection customers to file up to three claims a year, and for multi-device applicants, one account can now share nine claims.

The Total Mobile Protection is the most comprehensive of Verizon’s plans. It extends the warranty of the device, comes with Tech Coach technical support, and covers physical damage, theft, and loss. Total Equipment coverage, which is $9 per month for smartphones and $7 per month for basic phones and tablets, contains everything found in the top-level plan except for Tech Coach.

Rounding out the list, the Wireless Phone Protection option, which runs $7.15 per month for smartphones and $5 per month for everything else, only covers damage, theft, and loss without extending the manufacturer’s original one-year warranty. Customers can sign up for an extended warranty alone for $3 a month. More details on all of these programs are available on Verizon’s site.

See more at Verizon

Sprint is using Jay Z’s new Tidal-exclusive album to get new subscribers

Why it matters to you

If you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the new Jay Z album, you will have to sign up for Tidal.

Few things in popular culture will leave a dent in the national conversation like new music from one of the greatest rappers of all time. Jay Z is releasing a new album, 4:44, exclusively on Tidal and Sprint is promoting it as a perfect reason to get a Sprint cell phone plan.

The mysterious 4:44 project was confirmed on Sunday by Tidal on Twitter as Jay Z’s 13th solo album, and first since 2013’s Magna Carter Holy Grail. The news comes less than two weeks after Sprint announced it will offer its customers a six-month subscription to Tidal for free. Jay Z’s return to the microphone will also be the first major release since Sprint purchased a 33 percent stake in Tidal in January. Looks like Sprint is ready to use Tidal’s biggest draw to lure in new customers.

Sprint has had its trouble adding enough subscribers to regain its spot among the top three wireless networks since losing its spot to T-Mobile in August 2015. Since then, Sprint subscribers have remained relatively flat at roughly 58 million with less than 200,000 subscribers added in the first quarter of 2017.

Before we knew we were getting a new Jay Z album, 4:44 advertisements started popping up around the country. Our hopes were temporarily shot when a 4:44 commercial supposedly for a new film debuted during Game 3 of the NBA Finals featuring Academy Award winning actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danny Glover. Portions of the same commercial were re-released on Tidal over the weekend, but this time with Jay Z rapping a few lines from a song entitled Adnis, following the announcement of Jay’s new album. The song title is in reference to his father Adnes Reeves, who died in 2003.

As of now, Jay Z’s highly anticipated new album will appear on Tidal after midnight on June 30. The last time a Jay Z release was so closely tied to cell phones, he gave his Magna Carta album away for free to the first million Samsung Galaxy devices owners who downloaded the Magna Carta app. Looks like the same plan, just a different app this time. Let us see how many new cell phone subscribers a new Jay Z album is worth.

Close to the Metal Ep. 46: A PC perspective on E3 2017

     

All eyes fall on Los Angeles every summer for E3, a week of video game announcements, huge press conferences, and sprawling expo halls. We sent down a full squad of writers to cover every inch of the show — or as much as we could — including the hosts of the Close to the Metal podcast. There was plenty to see and too many games to play, but we did manage to find a few computers stashed among the Xbox Ones and Playstation 4s.

For the third year, E3 played host to the PC Gaming show, a smaller press conference exclusively for announcements from developers working on PC titles. Games like Sea of Thieves and Killing Floor 2 made an appearance, but one of the biggest announcements came from the team behind Lone Echo. Not only did the developers announce a July 20th release date for the zero gravity story game, but also announced the multiplayer side of the game, Echo Arena, would be free for a limited time. Intel sponsored the giveaway, with the hopes of it becoming a true VR esport.

We also got the chance to play Bungie’s hotly-anticipated Destiny 2, which is finally making its way over to PC in the fall. Running at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second at 4K, the game is absolutely stunning, and we’ve got the gameplay video to prove it.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Xbox One X. Promising true 4K gaming at $500 is no easy feat, and it gives gaming computers a lot more room to fight back. We’ll get under the hood on Microsoft’s latest console, and ask whether people really have the resolution to support it.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube every Tuesday at 1pm EST/10am PST.

Surface Laptops can easily be reverted to Windows 10 S after upgrading to Pro

Why it matters to you

Switching to Windows 10 Pro on the Surface Laptop doesn’t have to be a permanent move if you don’t want it to be. Microsoft now makes it easy to switch back.

If you’ve upgraded your Microsoft Surface Laptop to Windows 10 Pro but don’t find yourself actually needing the added functionality of the fully fledged operating system, you can now downgrade back to Windows 10 S without too much hassle. All you have to do is back up your personal information and then download and run the newly available recovery image.

Although Microsoft released the Surface Laptop with Windows 10 S installed as standard, Microsoft took an approach similar to its original release of Windows 10 and offered a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for all owners in 2017. However, while the Pro version of the OS does have the ability to install non-Windows store apps and a few other advantages, its efficiency isn’t quite so strong, so reverting back to the original OS does have its advantages.

Some Surface owners have found that Pro just isn’t for them, so Microsoft has a Windows 10 S Surface recovery image that can now be downloaded from the Microsoft support site.

If you want to take a stab at it yourself, you’ll want to make sure you back up all of your personal files, as the recovery system does wipe your drive and start from scratch. You’ll also need 9GB of space for the recovery image, so make sure you have a spare USB drive or external storage solution handy.

For those a little nervous about the procedure, don’t fret — you can always contact Microsoft support for direct help. However, as MSPowerUser points out, there are also a few helpful tips and hints on the support site itself, which walk you through the process from start to finish.

You can also check out our very own guide on how to reinstall Windows 10, which will help fix any problems you might have along the way. We’ll walk you through the whole process, from the best ways to back up your files right through to reactivation.

California company wants to sequence your pet’s poop (for science)

Why it matters to you

If you care about you pup’s health, you should care about its microbiome.

You probably heard that there is a community of trillions of microorganisms living on and in your body and that it plays a fundamental role in what makes you unique, affecting everything from your weight to the way your brain works.

In fact, every animal has its own unique colony of microbes — called a microbiome — crawling over its body and any imbalance in the system could mean the difference between sickness and health.

Now, a California-based company offers to analyze your pet’s poop to study its microbiome. After a successful campaign for KittyBiome in 2015, the company is back with for man’s best friend with DoggyBiome.

“One thing that is becoming clear is that many diseases are associated with altered states of the microbiome,” AnimalBiome founder and CEO Holly Ganz told Digital Trends. “Irrespective of whether the microbiome is causing these conditions, such observations highlight why the microbiome is so promising as a diagnostic tool.”

Two years ago, Ganz and her team launched the KittyBiome Kickstarter campaign, which raised more than $23,000 to analyze the various microbiomes of domestic cats and study how these microorganisms related to certain diseases. As it turned out, 20 percent of the cats in the study had chronic digestive disorders, according to Ganz, who trained as a microbial ecologist.

“Our subsequent market research has shown that 10 percent of all dogs and cats in the [United States] have chronic digestive disorders,” she added. “This helped me realize that my idea for a microbiome-based diagnostic could address a large market, as well as meet a real need.”

Through the Kickstarter campaign, AnimalBiome hopes to collect and sequence feces from dogs of all shapes and sizes. Its end goal is to create a database of dog microbiomes (as well as health, diet, and lifestyle) which they will use to determine what microbes support health and which can cause illness in an effort to help make pets healthier. The company is also testing at least one wild animal, a wolf named Atka, who lives in a conservation center in New York.

“We are hoping to get contributions from dogs from different breeds and mixes, as well as dogs with different health conditions,” Ganz said. “By understanding what healthy dogs look like and how sick dogs differ, we can create better diagnostics and therapeutics.”

Early-bird rewards to get your pet’s poop sequenced are available for $79 dollars and will later jump to $99.

Google Wifi review

Research Center:
Google Wifi

When it comes to covering a home in reliable and fast Wi-Fi, the router industry has seemingly divided itself into two camps. There’s the super-powerful-and-tons-of-antennas camp, which uses a single device and a lot of brute force to get the job done (like this Linksys EA9500), and there’s the divide-and-conquer camp, which favors mesh networking to distribute the job amongst two or more less expensive units, placed around a home (like the Eero, Almond, Velop, and Luma). For consumers who crave connectivity but cringe at the idea of complicated configurations, the mesh approach has been winning hearts and minds.

So it’s no surprise that Google, which until recently only offered a stand-alone Wi-Fi solution — the OnHub — has now joined the mesh networking party with its plainly labeled Google Wifi, a Wi-Fi router that sells for $129 USD ($179 CDN) for a single unit, or $299 USD ($439 CDN) for a three-unit combo pack. At this price, it can claim value equality with most of the other mesh products. But how does it fare when it comes to the real test — fast, reliable wireless networking?

Oh so easy

Let’s not mince words; Google Wifi is by far the easiest Wi-Fi router to set up. Once we downloaded the free Google Wifi app for iOS and Android (previously known as OnHub), and signed in using our Google account, it took less than a minute to get the first access point (or simply “point” as Google calls individual Wifi units) connected and configured.

Simon Cohen/Digital Trends

You start by plugging the Google Wifi into your cable/DSL/fiber modem with the included Ethernet cable, then into a power source via the included USB-C power adapter, and follow the app’s on-screen prompts. It finds the point automatically. There are no buttons to press, because it doesn’t have any. Then, it asks you to confirm by using your phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the bottom of the point.

The app then prompts to choose a label for the point, like “office,” or “living room,” and asks for a network name and password. Within a few moments of completing this step, it’s ready. There are, of course, some optional settings you can tweak at this point, but they’re not necessary.

Other routers, including the Linksys Velop, use a similar process, but Google has it down to a science. Every consumer electronics product should be this easy to use.

Yes, you need an account

If the idea of connecting your Wi-Fi router to Google via an account makes your skin crawl, this is not the Wi-Fi product for you. A Google account is not only required, it’s central to many of the app’s features, like notifications and remote access.

Google Wifi is by far the easiest Wi-Fi router to set up.

Lots of other router companies give you the option to create an account with them for additional features (like remote access), but with Google Wifi, it’s mandatory.

There’s at least a certain amount of control, as the app lets you turn off data sharing in three mains areas; cloud services, Wi-Fi point usage, and Wi-Fi app usage. Of these, only Cloud services has direct benefits to consumers, because it lets Google intelligently alter the way Google Wifi deals with your specific wireless environment. Google could have chosen to embed this ability into the points themselves, but Google being Google, well — that’s just not how they do things.

Beautiful, but simple

The Google Wifi’s hardware looks great. With its tiny form factor (a little bigger than two stacked Amazon Echo dots), smooth, all-white body, and its single illuminated LED ribbon, a Google Wifi point is sure to please even the most gadget-averse home decor maven. While not quite a perfect design match for its Nest line of home monitoring and automation products, Google Wifi is nonetheless elegant and understated — exactly what you want in a product that is meant to be out in the open, and thus highly visible.

Simon Cohen/Digital Trends

The thin, Cylon-esque LED ribbon is itself a beautifully designed element. It can communicate errors with colors — from red (something’s wrong) to a gentle teal glow (everything’s fine) — or nothing at all, if disabled entirely from within the app. If you’re used to the bank of flashing lights that traditional routers proudly display, you may miss some of the info they convey, but we suspect you’ll quickly adapt to this new light show.

Google’s commitment to simplicity carries the same price as it does in other intuitive routers – namely, an absence of wired connectivity options. Once connected to your modem, there’s only a single available Ethernet jack for your wired devices, and no USB ports at all. While it’s true that each additional point opens another pair of Ethernet ports, that’s only helpful to devices at new locations that require Ethernet. Stationed next to a home theatre system, it could be helpful — but in a living room, kitchen, or bedroom, we doubt the ports will ever get used.

Google Wifi Compared To

TP-Link Deco M5

Linksys Max-Stream AC2200 MU-MIMO…

Netgear Orbi

Synology RT2600AC

Linksys Velop

Linksys WRT3200ACM

Starry Station

D-Link DIR-869 EXO AC1750

Portal Wi-Fi router

Ubiquiti Amplifi HD

HooToo TripMate Titan

Linksys EA9500 Max-Stream AC5400

Zyxel NBG6815 AC2200

Netgear Nighthawk X4S

Google & TP-Link OnHub

There’s something to be said for the fact that most of us live in a 100 percent wireless world, but we wish this new breed of mesh routers wouldn’t make us choose between wired and wireless connections. So far, only Netgear’s Orbi offers the best of both worlds.

There’s only an app for that

Google Wifi’s simplicity extends to its control options. There’s no web interface. Pointing your browser to its IP address will produce a polite yet firm advisory that you need to use the Google Wifi mobile app if you want to make changes.

For the most part, this isn’t a bad thing. The Google Wifi app (Android | iOS) is a pleasure to use. With a home screen that features Google’s familiar Assistant card-based messages for the router’s various functions, there’s a strong argument to be made that Google Wifi is the friendliest router on the planet.  The deeper configuration options are equally friendly, with the whole app giving off an Android vibe.

We love that the app not only shows you how many devices are connected to your network — with actual human readable names like “Kitchen” instead of the generic “Sonos” followed by a MAC address — but also a real-time readout of the wireless bandwidth being consumed by each one. You can choose to give any of these devices priority over the others for a one, two, or four-hour window, which could come in handy when streaming 4k content to a Roku, for instance.

There’s also a handy Family feature which can create groups of connected devices, then establish manual or scheduled internet access for each group, which we think is better than trying to do so on a device by device basis. We’re also big fans of the ability to restart the entire network from within the app, an action that required physically switching off or unplugging routers with Linksys’s Velop.

The Google Wifi app is a pleasure to use.

There’s even a security upside to having app-only access to the router, according to Google. It claims that since Google Wifi will only respond to requests made from the Google Wifi app, on the same network, using an approved admin Google account, it reduces the number of attack vectors that hackers could use to compromise the router.

The downside of this arrangement is that some advanced options found on other routers are missing. You can reserve an IP address for a device, yet you can’t adjust the actual range of local IP addresses — Google Wifi sets this at 192.168.86.X, and that can’t be changed. Likewise, you can let the router decide which DNS server to use (it uses Google’s own DNS by default), or set your own, so there’s no way to use a VPN service.

You can set up a guest network with its own password and, impressively, you can select any of your attached network devices to be accessible by guest users, which is ideal for parties when you want guests to be able to stream to a Chromecast or tweak a Sonos playlist, yet don’t want them snooping through the contents of your PC. On the other hand, there’s no way to separate the Wifi’s 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios into different networks. Both get the same SSID (network name), which favors network reliability over customization.

We get the point

Adding extra points to a Google Wifi network is as easy as setting up an initial device. The app walks through a nearly identical process, including the identification and QR code scan, but adds a step that checks to see if the new point close enough to an existing point. It turns out that Google Wifi points want to be close together — the app says they should be no further than 30 feet apart. This meant that our first attempt, using a location that had worked just fine with every other mesh product we’ve tested (see Location “D” below), wasn’t close enough. Moving six feet closer did the trick, and the new point was added without additional fuss.

Simon Cohen/Digital Trends

This short distance requirement could create challenges for some users. Even with a three pack, the theoretical maximum distance between the first point and the third is 60 feet. That may not be enough for larger homes. Intriguingly, the Google Wifi app makes it just as easy to remove points as it does to add them, something we’ve never encountered with a mesh setup.

How’s that speed?

The raw data suggests that even a single Google Wifi point is enough to cover a small home. There were no dead spots in our three-story test home with 2,400 square feet of space. Although the faster, 5GHz network didn’t extend all the way into the basement, the 2.4GHz network did, and transitions between the two bands happened quickly and seamlessly.

But there’s more to this story, and trying out a few different usage scenarios quickly showed us why the app wants to place points relatively close to one another.

We saw no problems when using a smartphone to browse the web from various locations. Page loads sometimes took a while at the edges of the Wifi’s range, but nothing truly objectionable. However, other devices — like a fourth generation Apple TV, and Playstation 4 — had trouble maintaining a reliable connection to our primary point located two floors away. We were a little surprised that even the router’s 2.4GHz radio, which is typically offers good range, couldn’t reach these devices reliably. Competing Almond 3, Velop, and Portal routers could manage it.

We were anticipating better performance, because Google Wifi uses the latest version of the 802.11ac standard. And yet, Google makes it clear that a single point is only sufficient for about 1,500 square feet, so perhaps we were asking too much.

The DetailsAdding an additional point fixed the connections to the Apple TV and PS4, but we still encountered times when the Apple TV would drop its connection, and need to be rebooted to jump back on.

We tested the Google Wifi using the same app (FRITZ!App WLAN) on two different Android devices: An Alcatel Idol 4 (with AC wave 1) and a Google Pixel XL (with AC wave 2). Here’s what we found when we ran a single Google Wifi compared to two recently reviewed routers, the Securifi Almond 3, and the Linksys Velop, letting each router decide what band our test devices should use:

Alcatel Idol 4: Mixed Band Throughput Test in Mbit/s

Location
Google Wifi
(Location C)
Almond 3
(Location C)
Linksys Velop
(Location C)
A
72 (2.4GHz)
57 (2.4Ghz)
65 (2.4Ghz)
B
72 (2.4GHz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
C
433 (5GHz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
433 (5GHz)
D
72 (2.4GHz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
65 (2.4Ghz)
E
72 (2.4GHz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
72 (2.4Ghz)
F
72 (2.4Ghz)
57 (2.4Ghz)
72 (2.4Ghz)

Source: FRITZ!App WLAN on Alcatel Idol 4

Google Pixel XL: Mixed Band Throughput Test in Mbit/s

Location
Google Wifi
(Location C)
Almond 3
(Location C)
Linksys Velop
(Location C)
A
390 (5GHz)
390 (5GHz)
520 (5GHz)
B
780 (5GHz)
585 (5GHz)
866 (5GHz)
C
866 (5GHz)
866 (5GHz)
866 (5GHz)
D
260 (5GHz)
520 (5GHz)
520 (5GHz)
E
866 (5GHz)
866 (5GHz)
866 (5GHz)
F
115 (2.4GHz)
115 (2.4GHz)
190 (5GHz)

Source: FRITZ!App WLAN on Google Pixel XL

The data above supports what we saw in real-world testing. While in most situations the Google Wifi router performed well, it had trouble reaching location D. It also came behind the Velop in locations B and F. This indicates that while it’s capable of very high speeds, it does have troubles with range that aren’t shared by its competitors.

Warranty information

Google Wifi comes with a one-year warranty from the manufacturer. That’s standard for routers.

Our Take

Google Wifi is an easy, simple, and affordable way to update your wireless home network. Its app-based setup and management is a breeze, and we think most buyers will be happy with the way it looks — an important consideration for mesh routers that will end up in conspicuous places around your home. Its Wi-Fi radios aren’t especially powerfulm, however, which means you may need more units to cover the same area as compared to other Wi-Fi routers.

Is there a better alternative?

What the Google Wifi does, it does very well, and does it at a price that is hard to beat. But there’s several areas where it simply chooses not to compete, and if these areas matter to you, you may want to look at other mesh products.

There’s no integration with Amazon’s Alexa (for obvious reasons), and no way to connect it with a service like IFTTT. Securifi’s $159 Almond 3 offers both features, and throws in an extra Ethernet port, a USB port, and compatibility with a slew of Z-wave home sensors.

Likewise, those who demand top-notch wireless throughput may be willing to pay more for the $199 Linksys Velop, with its tri-band radios and dedicated backhaul. It’s also worth pointing out that you don’t need to create accounts with these companies to use their products.

How long will it last?

In the wild world of Wi-Fi, with its seemingly ever-changing standards and speeds, it can be hard to tell just how long any Wi-Fi router will remain relevant, or even supported. However, Google has good track record of supporting its products, and we’d say that Google Wifi’s simple form factor, combined with its app-driven control system, suggests a longer than average life for products in this category.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you want a simple and elegant design that is beat only by its user-centric app. At $129 for a single or $299 for a three-pack of points, it’s a good value compared to the alternatives. Keep in mind, however, that it has just one Ethernet port, and it may have trouble reaching the extremities of large homes.

HTC U11 vs Google Pixel XL: Which should you buy?

Google still demands top dollar for its aging Pixel XL. So should you consider the latest phone from Pixel-maker HTC instead?

They’re both made by HTC, pack similar display sizes, high performance and phenomenal cameras. But there’s a big price difference between the Google Pixel XL ($769), and HTC U11 ($649) — and you’ll also be getting a significantly different software experience. So which should you buy? Let’s take a look at some of the major points of divergence between two of the top Android phones of the moment.

Where to buy the HTC U11

Where to buy the Google Pixel XL

First off, the specs. And in this area, you’re mostly looking at a generational gap between the U11 and the Pixel XL. As great as the Pixel is, this is late-2016 smartphone hardware going up against a 2017 flagship.

Operating System	Android 7.1.2	Android 7.1.1
Display	5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLEDGorilla Glass 4	5.5-inch Quad HD SuperLCD5Gorilla Glass 5
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM	4GB	4/6GB
Storage	32/128GB	64/128GB + microSD
Main Camera	12MP f/2.0 with HDR+, laser AF	12MP f/1.7 with OIS, HDR Boost
Front Camera	8MP f/2.4	16MP f/2.0, UltraPixel Mode
Battery	3,450mAh	3,000mAh
Fast Charging	USB-PD	Quick Charge 3.0
Water Resistance	IPX3 Splash Proof	IP67 Water Resistant
Edge Sense	No	Yes
Headphone Jack	Yes	No
Daydream VR support	Yes	No

Aside from faster benchmark scores and (potentially) quicker high-end gaming performance, the Snapdragon 835 powering the U11 also leads on efficiency. And that allows the phone to sip power from its fixed 3,000mAh cell at a rate which gives the U11 similar battery life to the Pixel XL, despite its larger capacity.

I’ve noticed virtually no difference in longevity between the Pixel XL and U11 in day-to-day use — both are “all day” phones, though you’d probably struggle to get a second day out of either. Quick charging — provided through Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 in the U11, and USB-PD on the Pixel — allows for fast refills on both phones, with the U11 having a slight lead on charging speeds.

Specs are all well and good — what about the way these things look and feel? Well, both phones share a handful of common design traits, like the style of speaker cutouts, the rounded corners of the display and the style of the metal trim. But overall these are two very different designs. The Pixel XL is understated, particularly in the silver and black color options, while the HTC U11 is all about color. There are five bold hues available, including the eye-catching “solar red” and “amazing silver” options, which change color as they tilt through light.

The glass back of the U11 makes it a little slipperier, and a good deal more fingerprint-prone, while the upper glass segment of the Pixel is a magnet for hairline scratches. So Google’s phone wins on ease of use — it’s easier to grip onto the angled side walls of the Pixel XL — while HTC’s is prettier. Mostly, though, it’s a matter of personal preference.

LCD or AMOLED? Fingerprint on the back or front?

The same goes for the fingerprint scanner — both phones have excellent one-touch sensors, but the U11 keeps its fingerprint sensor on the front, flanked by capacitive keys for back and task-switching. On the Pixel, it’s located around the back, and can be used in conjunction with a handy swipe gesture to bring down the notification shade. Again, neither is objectively better, it’s just down to which you prefer.

The 5.5-inch displays, too, are equally matched, but differ in the technology they use — AMOLED on the Pixel, SuperLCD 5 (read: a pretty good IPS LCD) on the U11. I would give the U11 a slight advantage in daylight use, but it’s a razor-thin edge, and you could just as easily call it for the Pixel if you prefer the more saturated colors of AMOLED.

Of course, one thing the Pixel’s AMOLED panel gets you is Daydream VR support. Currently no LCD-based phones can use Google’s VR platform, and HTC says it has no plans to support Daydream on the U11.

While both phones feature hefty top, bottom and side bezels, the U11 offers more on-screen real estate thanks to its off-screen buttons. That’s a plus for a handset with a relatively large footprint by the standards of 5.5-inch phones.

If you can put up with not having a headphone jack, you’ll find a great audio experience in the U11.

Audio, too, is won out by the U11, with one major asterisk. There’s no headphone jack built into the phone, so you’ll need to rely on HTC’s 3.5mm-to-USB-C dongle included in the box, or use the company’s (admittedly great) USonic noise-cancelling USB-C earbuds.

On the Pixel, you’ll get that all-important headphone jack, but the sound quality from the built-in speaker doesn’t come close to matching HTC’s BoomSound Hi-Fi. Although the U11 features just a single bottom-firing speaker, alongside the earpiece up top, it’s able to produce rich bass and enough volume to compete with even the noisiest of backgrounds.

That’s not the only hardware advantage HTC has to offer in the U11. It’s also water resistant, rated IP67 (as opposed to the “splash resistant” rating of the Pixel), so you needn’t worry about dunking it in the sink or using it out in the rain. And there’s also Edge Sense — HTC’s squeezy shortcut feature, which can let you quick-launch the camera, jump into Google Assistant, or do any number of other (configurable) things by squeezing the phone in your hand. I was skeptical at first, but after a few days with the U11, I’m starting to appreciate the simplicity of the squeeze gesture compared to a double-tap.

Google has an inbuilt advantage when it comes to software, but it’s not as cut-and-dry as you may think.

Google’s phones have always had an inbuilt advantage when it comes to software. Nexus and Pixel phones get new versions of Android first, and if that’s something you care about, software alone might be reason enough to cough up the extra money for a Pixel XL. But HTC’s software pedigree shouldn’t be dismissed, even if Sense has been dailed back to a (mostly) stock Android experience, augmented by one or two extra apps and tricks. HTC’s lightweight UI isn’t a million miles removed from the Pixel software experience, and more importantly, it’s every bit as fast.

On the other hand, don’t count on the U11 getting Android O anywhere near as quickly as the Pixel. Google’s phones are expected to get version 8.0 of the OS in August; for its HTC-branded cousin, you’re looking, conservatively, at a holiday 2017 timeframe.

Nevertheless, the U11 is wicked fast on Android 7.1.1. And that speed extends to the U11’s camera, whether you’re launching it from the Edge Sense squeeze shortcut, a double-tap of the power button, or an app shortcut on the home screen. Image quality, too, has come to rival pics produced by Google’s legendary HDR+ mode. In fact, HTC has its own take on that technology in the U11, dubbed HDR Boost.

Two excellent smartphone cameras — the main difference here is how you’ll store your photos.

I still think Google’s post-processing is able to draw out more color detail from low-light images — while also doing a better job retaining highlight and shadow detail in extremely high contrast scenes. But there’s no denying the U11 produces sharper and generally more accurate photos, as opposed to the more overtly colorful, less true-to-life Pixel pics. And HTC also benefits from a more fully-featured stock camera app, which includes a manual mode and RAW photo capture support.

HTC also leads in the selfie arena, with the U11’s 16-megapixel front-facer producing high-res pics in daylight, backed up by a lower-res UltraPixel mode for use in darker settings.

Really, though, I’m picking nits here. What’ll probably have a more significant impact on your photographic experience is the storage provided in these phones. The U11 comes with 64GB as standard — there’s a 128GB model offered in parts of Asia, which also boasts 6GB of RAM — where as the Pixel comes with a mere 32GB, and good luck tracking down the more expensive, lesser-spotted 128GB variant. What’s more, the U11 provides a microSD slot, letting you offload all your photos from precious internal storage. On a 32GB Pixel, storage anxiety will very quickly set in, despite the free full-res photo and video backup offered through Google Photos.

A clear win for the HTC U11 — with a few caveats.

So let’s wrap things up: By just about every measure, the HTC U11 is the better phone of the two. It’s faster, with a more attractive, eye-catching design, boasts more internal storage plus microSD expansion and costs less. And in other key areas like display quality, camera and battery life, the U11 goes toe-to-toe with Google’s phone.

Unless you really want the Google Pixel UI and Daydream VR, or want to be among the first to update to Android O, you’re better off with the HTC U11.

HTC U11

• HTC U11 review
• HTC U11 specs
• Manufacturing the U11: Behind the scenes
• Join our U11 forums
• HTC U11 vs Galaxy S8
• HTC U11 vs LG G6

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Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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