LG V30 hands-on: The phone the G6 should’ve been

Despite all its resources and technical know-how, LG has always felt like an also-ran in a race dominated by Apple and Samsung. The G4 is the subject of a class-action lawsuit. The modular G5 was an ambitious non-starter. Last year’s V20 and the G6 were welcome steps forward, but neither of them managed to generate that much excitement.

The company’s new V30 smartphone just might be able to change that. Announced today at IFA, the V30 is meant to be as much a creative tool as it is a device for taking phone calls. This time, though, LG wisely excised some gimmicks, leading to a device that, after a week of living with a pre-production model, feels more polished and more focused than I dared expect. I’m trying to be cautious with my optimism, but it’s honestly a little tough: I haven’t enjoyed an LG phone this much in years.

A lot of that is thanks to the V30’s clean, comfortable design. The V20 and the G6 seemed to revel in their boxy frames, but the V30 has rounded edges and slightly curved panes of Gorilla Glass 5 wrapped around a glossy metal frame. It’s pleasant in hand, almost shockingly light and a pleasure to look at. (I never thought I’d give that last compliment to an LG phone, but here we are.)

LG didn’t skimp on the niceties, either: The V30’s body is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance, there’s a headphone jack on the top-right corner, and it takes microSD cards as large as 2TB to supplement the included 64GB or 128GB of storage. You’ll find an industry-standard USB-C port on the bottom for charging, and a combination fingerprint sensor/home button on the V30’s back, just beneath its updated dual camera. (More on that later.) Fans of the V20’s removable battery are in for a shock, though: the V30’s 3,300mAh cell is sealed inside the phone’s frame. Aside from that, LG did an excellent job with the V30’s fit and finish, and things get better when you fire the phone up.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

See, the V30’s 6-inch OLED screen takes up almost all of the phone’s face; the bezels here are narrower than the ones flanking the Note 8’s massive display. So far, it’s plenty bright, with great viewing angles and colors that are vivid but not overdone. And, just like the G6, the display here is atypically long: It runs at 2,880 by 1,440, which means it’s twice as long as it is wide. LG’s argument is that this provides ample room for split-screen multitasking, and that’s definitely true — I’m just not sure who does this regularly. I only wish the glass covering the screen were a little more durable. It’s been less than a week and I’ve already put a gouge into it that’s impossible to un-see.

In any case, LG’s decision to go with a nearly edge-to-edge screen means there was no room for a secondary display, a hallmark of earlier V-series phones. I say good riddance. Having a little extra space above the rest of the screen for notifications and app controls was neat in theory, but it always felt more gimmicky than valuable. Instead, LG put all those second-screen shortcuts into a “floating bar” that you can invoke by tapping a button on your home screen. Having the option to quickly skip songs or add an event to your calendar is nice, but the phone has to be unlocked and on before you can access those shortcuts; that makes the whole thing even less convenient than before. No wonder LG leaves this feature off by default.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

LG took a restrained approach with the rest of its software. The V30 runs a version of Android 7.1.2 that has been lightly painted over with LG’s custom interface. For the most part, LG does a very good job at giving you access to Nougat’s core functions without getting in your way. The biggest change to the stock Android experience is the iPhone-style home screen setup — by default, all your apps live on your home screens rather than in a separate launcher window. (You can bring back the classic launcher easily if that’s more your speed.) I haven’t uncovered all of LG’s other changes yet, but there is one more worth pointing out. When you swipe down on a home screen, you’re treated to a Google-powered search bar that peeks inside your installed apps to find whatever you’re looking for. This in-app search feature actually debuted on the V20 last year, but it’s as useful as ever.

LG’s light touch with software also keeps the phone running smoothly, though to be fair, there’s a lot of horsepower here. The V30 uses the ubiquitous Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip paired with 4GB of RAM, making it an exceptionally snappy performer. Did you honestly expect anything else? None of the games or weirdo multitasking scenarios I attempted presented any trouble, but I’ll have the final benchmark comparisons between the V30 and the rest of this year’s pack of flagship phones when LG makes retail-ready models available.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Now, about that dual camera. Unlike the G6, the V30 pairs a 16-megapixel main camera (complete with f/1.6 aperture lens) with a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera for when you want to capture more of the action in front of you. That’s a little different from the dual cameras we’ve recently seen in phones like the Essential PH-1, but I’ve always preferred this approach since it’s way more flexible in the field. (Snapping photos with different perspectives without even having to move is also lots of fun.)

More importantly, most of my early test shots came out great; the colors were spot-on and nicely detailed. Naturally, photos taken with the main camera seem a touch crisper and more nuanced since the sensor captures images at a higher resolution. The wide-angle camera is no slouch either; it was great for shooting landscapes in Central Park over the weekend. Not all is perfect, though. So far, the V30’s cameras suffer from a lot of hazy, soft edges in low light — even the main camera with its wide aperture had trouble producing crisp images. The Galaxy S8s seem more capable in the dark, but here’s hoping the final batch of V30s fixes this issue.

Really, though, LG built the V30 to shine when shooting video. For non-auteurs like me, LG’s CineShot movie mode packs features that approximate high-end cinematography without any of the effort. Applying color presets to your footage is helpful for capturing the right atmosphere in a scene, and I really dig its Point Zoom feature. Long story short, you can tap anywhere on the screen to lock your focus and zoom in and out, even when your subject is lurking in the corner of the frame.

If you’re a vlogger or a YouTuber or someone who wants to try shooting serious footage with a smartphone, you’ll want to stay in the manual mode for full control over your footage. All the usual settings are there — you can tweak shutter speed, exposure, ISO and more — but you have options for changing your frame rate and bitrate. Cinematographers (or wannabes) will also enjoy the ability to export footage in LG’s CineLog format, making color grading easier once they get the files off their phones.

Meanwhile, plugging in a pair of headphones allows to you use the built in HiFi Quad DAC — you know, the one the US version of the G6 didn’t get. So far, it has made a notable, if not overwhelming, difference. Music I’ve listened to on the V30 and all benefited from a little extra depth; songs sounded a little brighter and more spacious than before. You can change how much of an impact the DAC has with some handy presets, too, and it’s worth taking the time to get the settings just right. The LG V10 from way back when offered some more nuanced controls, but no matter: The V30 still makes for great listening.

After years of being underwhelmed by LG phones, it feels very strange to like one this much –especially an unfinished one. Sure, LG made some compromises, and I can imagine some long-time V-series fans not being pleased with the company’s shift in strategy and design. That’s fair, but I can’t get too upset: In the process, LG has managed to build what certainly feels like its best phone in ages. Here’s hoping the final, review-ready units don’t take too long getting here.

Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!

Olympus gives its entry-level mirrorless camera a 4K upgrade

Olympus has unveiled its latest entry-level mirrorless camera, the 16-megapixel OM-D EM-10 Mark III, and it’s going to be a very tempting option for beginners. For $50 more than Canon’s new M100, you get a much nicer-looking, not-much-heavier body, complete with several adjustment dials and a 2.36 million dot electronic viewfinder. It’s also got 5-axis in-body image stabilizion and the same image processor as the OM-D EM-1 Mark II, which can shoot rippingly fast. Oh, and it supports 4K, 30 fps video, a nice step up from the previous EM-10 Mark II.

Olympus is pitching this to folks looking to move up from a smartphone, a common marketing tactic for budget mirrorless or DSLRs these days. As such, it has four shooting assist modes for beginners (auto, scene, advanced photo and art filter).

It’s not lacking a lot of features for pros, though, with 200-25,600 ISO, 4.6 fps shooting at the highest quality level (8.6 fps at lower quality), 121-point contrast AF, a 1/16,000th electronic shutter, silent mode and UHS-II card support. It has a built-in flash and 3-inch 1,040K dot touchscreen you can use to focus on specific parts of a scene.

The EM-10 III can shoot 4K video (3,840 x 2,160) at 30p max, with a data rate of 102 Mbps. 60fps is possible at full HD, and 120 fps at 720p. Olympus notes that you can attach a stereo microphone, likely by the $50 SEMA-1 microphone adapter, as the EM-10 III doesn’t have a microphone port. Autofocus and image stabilization are supported for movie modes.

As far as drawbacks, the EM-10 III does have a smaller sensor than the M100 and Sony’s aging A6000, both in megapixels (16 versus around 24) and size (Micro Four Thirds versus APS-C). Despite the reasonably high ISO, Olympus doesn’t have a great reputation for low-light shooting, either, especially compared to Sony. It’s also limited to USB 2.0 and lacking Bluetooth and NFC, which is kind of inexcusable if it’s trying to tempt the social and selfie set. (Also, OM-D EM-2 Mark III is still a lousy camera name.)

Nevertheless, if were a beginner looking to step up, I’d be mighty tempted by the Olympus OM-D EM-10 III for its 4K video, EVF, 5-axis stabilization and, yes, that pretty body. You can pick one up in late September for $650 (body only) or $800 with an M.Zuiko 14-42mm kit lens.

SanDisk’s New iXpand Base Makes it Easy to Back Up Your iPhone

Western Digital today announced its latest SanDisk product, the SanDisk iXpand Base. The iXpand Base is designed to make it simple to back up an iPhone’s photos, videos, and contacts, offering storage and an intuitive nightly backup setup.

The iXpand Base is designed to look like a small iPhone dock, with a flat rubber-coated base where the iPhone rests. At one side, there’s a Lightning cable that plugs into the iPhone, and at the other, there’s a power cord that plugs into the wall.

The idea is to connect the iPhone to the iXpand Base at night to charge your phone. While it’s plugged in and charging (15W charging is supported), the iXpand Base makes a backup of all of your critical files with the iXpand Base app, essentially providing an automatic, hassle-free way to make a nightly backup. Many people likely upload their photos to iCloud for safekeeping, but it’s always a good idea to have multiple backups.

“iPhone users care deeply about their content and understand the importance of protecting it. Our top priority is to offer convenient solutions like the iXpand Base that fit with people’s everyday habits so they don’t have to change their routine, and never have to worry about losing memories,” said Jim Welsh, senior vice president, Client Solutions, Western Digital.

The iXpand Base offers up to 256GB of local storage, so it can also be used to offload photos and other files to save space on an iPhone. With the data backup feature enabled, if you need to transfer content to a new phone, it’s just a matter of plugging the new device into the base and downloading the app.

SanDisk’s new iXpand Base is available starting today from retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. Pricing starts at $49.99 for 32GB of storage. 64GB of storage is available for $99.99, 128GB of storage is available for $129.99, and 256GB of storage is available for $199.99.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and Best Buy and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tags: SanDisk, Western Digital
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SanDisk Debuts New $250 400GB MicroSD Card

Western Digital today introduced a new 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card, which it says is the world’s highest-capacity microSD card available on the market.

The new 400GB card comes two years after the company introduced its 200GB SanDisk Ultra microSD card, with the new version doubling the storage capacity. According to Western Digital, this new milestone was achieved through leveraging proprietary memory technology, design, and production processes that allow for more bits per die.

“Mobile devices have become the epicenter of our lives, and consumers are now accustomed to using their smartphones for anything from entertainment to business. We are collecting and sharing massive amounts of data on smartphones, drones, tablets, PCs, laptops and more. We anticipate that storage needs will only continue to grow as people continue to expect more sophisticated features on their devices and desire higher quality content,” Jeff Janukowicz, research vice president, IDC. “We estimate mobile device users worldwide will install over 150 billion applications alone this year, which require a ton of memory on all of our favorite devices.”

Designed for use in Android smartphones, drones, cameras, and other devices that use microSD storage, the new card can hold up to 40 hours of full HD video and it features transfer speeds of up to 100MB/s.

The 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card will be available from SanDisk and other major retailers soon. It is priced at $249.99.

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Nest Announces the Thermostat E With a New Design and a Lower Price

Nest today announced the $169 Nest Thermostat E, a more affordable version of its original $250 smart home thermostat from 2011 with most of the same features, but with a less conspicuous design.

Replacing the metallic look of its predecessor, the new HVAC energy-saving device features a soft-touch plastic white control ring around a black display, which lies behind a frosted screen to make the thermostat blend in to most home environments.

The display itself offers a more basic readout than previous Nest’s, showing the temperature only. When the frosted display is off, the screen is grey. When it’s on, it displays soft text and images that are designed to be easy to see and read with a slight glow. The display uses an ambient light sensor to share information at just the right brightness.

Meanwhile the unit’s innards have been simplified, which means the Thermostat E doesn’t offer the same wide compatibility with various U.S. domestic setups as the pricier device, so check before ordering.

Like the original Nest, the Thermostat E learns the user’s temperature preferences over time, smartly adjusting them on the fly depending on the circumstances. Alternatively, the Thermostat E can be set up on a simple schedule, based on an average of thousands of schedules already learned by the company’s devices. Users can adjust temperature using the control ring or via Nest’s iOS app for remote access.

The Thermostat E costs $169, while the original Nest Learning Thermostat will remain available to buy for $250. The new thermostat can be ordered from Thursday on the company’s website, with shipping set to start on September 1 and availability in retail stores from September 10.

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Nest’s Thermostat E has an all-new design, cheaper price tag

Nest wants to make smart thermostats more appealing to a broader audience.

Nest unveiled its first smart thermostat in 2011, and rolled out two updated variants with added compatibility for heating and cooling systems and a larger screen. The underlying design has largely remained intact, along with the $249 price tag.

Nest is looking to change that with the Thermostat E — a “​simpler,​ ​more​ ​affordable​” thermostat with an all-new design that will retail for $169. Whereas the Nest Learning Thermostat is made out of metal with a glossy finish, the Thermostat E features a polycarbonate chassis with a “ceramic-like” control dial that gives it a plainer look. There are other differences as well — the Thermostat E doesn’t have a far-field sensor, so you won’t be able to use Nest’s Farsight feature. But you still get basic proximity detection.

Nest designed the Thermostat E to be able to blend into the background, and as a result the frosted​ ​display has a simpler interface that just shows the current temperature. The display itself has a resolution of 320 x 320, and there’s a layer of polarized glass to diffuse incoming light from the screen.

Like the Nest Learning Thermostat, the Thermostat E can be controlled from your phone, tablet, or laptop, and it offers the same energy-saving features. The thermostat uses your phone’s location to determine if you’re home or away, adjusting the temperature accordingly.

It also learns your usage patterns over time, and it integrates with third-party services like Alexa and Google Assistant. Unlike the Learning Thermostat — which works with 95% of heating and cooling systems in the U.S. — the Thermostat E is compatible with 85% of homes.

By making smart thermostats more appealing to a broader audience, Nest is hoping to see a 3x increase in sales over the next four years. The Thermostat E is now available direct from Nest for $169.

See at Nest

Now Amazon Prime Video’s Android app is available in the Play Store

Amazon’s video app has always had odd gaps in its platform support, or weird hurdles to work around like requiring sideloading on Android. In the last few months, those have started to close, with the news that it will be available on Apple TV, and its inclusion on Vizio’s SmartCast platform. Now, 9to5Google points out that the Amazon Video app is finally available as a standard app in the Google Play Store — no more sideloading required.

Just like before, the Amazon Video app can stream or download movies and TV shows, including those available with a Prime subscription (although not all Prime videos are available offline). Sadly, it hasn’t added Chromecast or Android TV support, but with Amazon taking most of our advice about simplifying its approach, hopefully, features like that are around the corner.

Via: 9to5Google, AFTVNews

Source: Google Play

Nest’s $169 smart thermostat is all about simplicity

Since Nest unveiled its first smart thermostat back in 2011, they’ve always seemed like high-end pieces of technology that most people could only covet. After chatting with consumers, the company learned that some folks don’t want yet another bright screen in their home. Others, meanwhile, almost felt intimidated by the ultra-sleek gadgets. That led to the creation of the Nest Thermostat E, a completely redesigned model with a lower $169 price (compared to $249 for the third-gen Nest), and which boils down its features into a much simpler interface and hardware design. Think of it as a Nest for the rest of us.

The Thermostat E still looks like a Nest device, but it doesn’t have a metallic ring, or a bright phone-like screen. Instead, it features a plastic control dial that feels like ceramic, as well as a “frosted” LCD with a subtler, watercolor-inspired interface. Nest’s higher-end thermostat almost always ends up being the center of attention in every room, thanks to its bolder design. The Thermostat E, on the other hand, is designed to blend in to your decor. There’s a “softness” to it that feels almost antithetical to what you’d expect from a Google-owned brand.

Since the Thermostat’s E screen is focused on showing you the current temperature, it doesn’t display the current time or weather like its more expensive sibling. Nest also says it won’t work for very complicated HVAC systems — for example, if you have three stages of heating or cooling. For that reason, the company claims it’ll work in around 85 percent of homes in the US, compared to 95 percent with the original learning thermostat. Otherwise, it packs in all of the capabilities you’ve come to expect, including the ability to control your home’s temperature through the Nest app, as well as learning about your routine over time. The Thermostat E also comes with a pre-set schedule, which will save you money even if you don’t manually tell it when you’re leaving the house.

While it might seem a bit odd for Nest to announce a $169 device that’s almost entirely as capable as its $249 flagship thermostat, the company doesn’t see the two as competitors. Instead, it views the Thermostat E as a way to open up to a new batch of consumers who are potentially more price-conscious, and who don’t necessarily want a flashy screen on their wall. In some states, you’ll also be able to get rebates just for using a Nest device, as well as discounts for signing up for peak power reduction programs.

Thanks to their energy smarts, Nest’s Julia Deluliis says the company’s thermostats have saved more than 14 billion kilowatt-hours so far. Given their current sales trends, and taking into account this cheaper model, the company believes it’ll be able to reach a whopping 100 killowatt-hours saved within the next four years.

While things haven’t been entirely rosy for Nest — it lost its renowned co-founder and CEO Tony Fadell a few years ago, and suffered through a handful of so-so products, like the recent IQ camera — the company is still a rare success in the smart home market. And with the Thermostat E, it has another chance to show how that category can be genuinely useful for consumers, instead of just a hyped-up tech dream.

Andy Rubin apologizes for Essential’s massive privacy mistake

The suspicious email some people who pre-ordered the Essential phone received wasn’t a scam or a phishing attempt at all. Andy Rubin, the company’s founder, has apologized and revealed that it was a legit email from an account that’s gone rogue. In a statement posted on Essential’s blog, the Android platform’s creator said the company “made an error in [its] customer care function.” It seems a customer service rep used a misconfigured account that sent a single email asking for a photo ID and other identifying info to multiple recipients. As a result, around 70 of them ended up sending sensitive info to “a small group of other customers.”

Unfortunately, they can’t erase their details from other people’s inboxes and can’t prevent anyone from keeping copies. Essential has offered them a year’s worth of identity theft protection service through LifeLock, though — and a promise to prevent something similar from happening again. Rubin said the company has already “taken steps internally to add safeguards against this happening again in the future.” It has disabled the misconfigured account and has pledged to invest more in its infrastructure and customer care, which it recognizes are important elements as it continues to grow.

Part of the founder’s statement reads:

“Being a founder in an intensely competitive business means you occasionally have to eat crow. It’s humiliating, it doesn’t taste good, and often, it’s a humbling experience. As Essential’s founder and CEO, I’m personally responsible for this error and will try my best to not repeat it.”

Source: Essential

Watch us play ‘Destiny 2’ on PC at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET

It’s happening! After much begging from the PC community, Destiny 2 is coming to PC — and it looks glorious. The franchise’s unique art style looks all the better at the higher resolutions and detail settings that a PC can handle.

We will play Destiny 2 in the PC beta this afternoon at 3 p.m. Pacific / 6 p.m. Eastern, checking out the new Strike mission before heading into some serious 4 vs. 4 multiplayer action. Come watch, comment, and let us know what you think of the PC beta.