Intel Optane technology is now supported in new range of NUC systems

Why it matters to you

Intel Optane technology may not be setting the world on fire but it has found a new home in Intel’s own NUC platform.

Intel is looking to bolster the uptake of its Optane-caching technology by integrating it into the new lineup of its next-unit-computing (NUC) range. A trio of the new micro-systems supports Optane at various price points, offering seventh-generation processors in the barebones systems alongside the caching technology.

The new NUC kit systems are called the NUC7i3BNHX1, NUC7i5BNHX1, and NUC7i7BNHX1 and come with Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs respectively. Each is built on the same BGA platform, with a 4-inch by 4-inch form factor. They each support only a single internal storage drive of the 2.5-inch size. With support for Intel Optane though, you could make that an older hard drive and still have decent performance.

The purpose of Optane is to act as a caching drive, effectively speeding up your access to the most popular files and folders you use. Optane makes use of the M.2 socket and can offer decent performance increases for older drives, especially mechanical ones. As ExtremeTech points out, it is not going to make a decent solid-state drive (SSD) operate much faster, but hard drives can see a real benefit.

Each of the systems comes with a 16GB Optane module pre-installed, so you can take advantage of its caching abilities right from the get-go. You will need to provide your own storage, though.

While your mileage may vary with such a feature depending on which storage drive you choose, for general performance, the i7 system is going to be the quickest of the bunch. It comes with an  i7-7567U and supports up to 32GB of DDR4 memory. Priced at $530 though, it’s not a cheap way to get yourself a micro-desktop for your living room.

The Core i5 version is a little more affordable at $415 and has a power draw of just 15w to go along with it. That is thanks to its clock reduction, but that model still has the same number of cores and threads as its bigger brother. The Core i3 model comes with just two cores in comparison, but it still supports hyper threading. Its price tag is the most affordable at $325.

None of these systems are world beaters in any respect but with the addition of Optane technology, it should enable those with older, slower storage drives the chance to build a pretty speedy little system while enjoying some of the performance improvements of modern solid-state storage.

The world’s largest X-ray laser is now officially open for business

Why it matters to you

This giant image-producing laser will allow scientists to record ultra-detailed images of chemical reactions as they happen.

The European XFEL, the world’s most powerful image-producing X-ray laser, has officially opened for business in Germany. Capable of generating enormously intense laser flashes at a rate of 27,000 per second, the groundbreaking laser had its official opening ceremony late last week — after a construction period lasting eight years. The X-ray laser is located 125 feet below ground, in a 3.4-kilometer tunnel beneath the northern city of Hamburg. Earlier this year it did its first test laser flash, but this month marks the $1.7 billion project’s completion.

“An X-ray laser is basically a very intense X-ray light source,” Professor Christian Bressler, one of the scientists involved in the project, told Digital Trends. “Imagine your doctor’s X-ray diagnosis machine, make it a billion times more intense, and deliver all that intensity onto the tip a sharpened pencil. It allows us to study phenomena which otherwise would lie completely in the dark — [such as taking] multiple snapshots during the course of an evolving biochemical reaction. It has just the right intensity, precision and ultrashort time structure that [is needed to] record still images even during an explosive chemical reaction. This way we hope to get a new understanding of the fundamental steps of emerging chemical reactivity.”

Essentially, the giant laser is a super-speed strobe light that’s capable of capturing stages in the motion of individual atoms so researchers can get a picture of their exact arrangement at every stage of a reaction. The technology the team employs is capable of not only recording a 1-megapixel image from a 50 femtosecond X-ray flash, but also of readying itself to do so again just 200 nanoseconds later.

“One of the first research projects to be awarded time at the SPB/SFX instrument is a collaboration between many international groups who are world leaders in a technique called Serial Femtosecond Crystallography,” Dr. Richard Bean, another scientist working on the project, told us. “The femtosecond X-ray flashes will be used to record diffraction images from hundreds of thousands of tiny protein nanocrystals on our state-of-the-art X-ray camera, and later computationally combine these patterns to generate an atomic-resolution 3D model of an individual protein molecule.”

Something tells us there’s a pretty spectacular coffee table book of photos in this project’s future! Alongside, you know, some spectacular science and stuff.

Save big with Amazon’s one-day storage and networking sale

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with another one-day sale from Amazon you won’t want to miss.

If you’re looking for some new networking or storage gear for your home or office, you won’t want to miss this one-day sale from Amazon. Whether you are looking for some additional storage for your smartphone or camera, or need a new router to increase your Wi-Fi speeds or range, you won’t want to miss out on these great deals.

Storage

• 32GB SanDisk microSD card – $11.99 (Was $14.99)
• 64GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive – $15.19 (Was $18.99)
• 128GB Samsung USB-C Flash Drive – $42.99 (Was $54.99)
• 2TB Seagate 3.5-inch HDD – $94.77 (Was $139.99)
• 4TB WD Elements Desktop Hard Drive – $99.99 (Was $129.45)

Networking

• ASUS RT-ACRH13 Gigabit Router – $49.99 (Was $69.99)
• D-Link AC1900 MU-MIMO Router – $83.99 (Was $119.99)
• D-Link Wi-Fi Range Extender – $96.99 (Was $129.99)
• TP-Link 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch – $39.99 (Was $54.99)
• Netgear ReadyNAS 2-Bay NAS – $191.20 (Was $239.99)

This is just a small sample of what’s available in this sale, so be sure to check out the link below for all the discounts.

See at Amazon

More from Thrifter:

• How to save money using Target’s Cartwheel service
• How to avoid baggage fees

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

How to run smarter with the right tech accessories

Finding the right mix of tech to get the most out of your training runs.

Summer is winding down, and by sticking to my nutritional goals and making an effort to fit more walking into my day, I’m already at the halfway mark to reaching my weight loss goals. After battling through a late summer cold that slowed me down, I’m ready to power through Autumn with a running routine supported by a few pieces of tech.

The Moov Now fitness tracker

If you’ve been following along with this column, you’ll know that I previously advised against buying an expensive fitness tracker if you’re only looking for something to track your steps, and I stand by those comments.

But the Moov Now fitness tracker is different, in that it’s more of a coaching tool than a purebred fitness tracker. When you wear it on your wrist, it performs the basic functions of an activity tracker by tracking how active you are throughout the day via the Moov Now app. I like it especially because there’s no distracting screen, no need to charge it nightly, it’s comfortable enough that I can forget I’m wearing it, and it’s waterproof enough for tracking swims or just wearing in the shower.

But the real fun begins with the in-ear coaching. Moov offers a selection of workouts and activities that work with the Moov Now to monitor your body’s movements and provide instant coaching feedback via your headphones. By strapping the Moov Now to your ankle, it’s able to not only monitor your time and distance progression, but also specifics related to your stride and how your feet land as you run.

Moov offers a selection of workouts and activities that work with the Moov Now to monitor your body’s movements and provide instant coaching feedback via your headphones.

There are several different training modes for running and walking, which help you to train different aspects of your stride. There are programs for improving your form and run more efficiently, improve your pace and distance, or work on sprint intervals to burn fat. The feedback it provides is surprisingly accurate and helpful, offering quick tips on maintaining a steady breath, feedback if you’re stepping too heavily or landing on stepping heel first, or encouragements to pick up the pace a bit. As someone who’s definitely injured himself because of bad form in the past, it’s nice to have a subtle piece of tech looking out for me.

It doesn’t track calories or offer advanced metrics, but Google Fit still does a decent job of that for me. Plus, since it’s an ambient fitness tracker I can comfortably wear it to sleep and get statistics on my sleeping habits as well. Plus, at $60 you can afford to buy two, which opens up the ability to do shadow boxing training.

See at Amazon

Other necessary apps for a solid run

Beyond Google Fit and Moov Now, there are a couple other apps that I use on runs. I’ve been following along with a Couch to 5K app to jumpstart a running routine and work my way up to running in a 5km fun run.

I’ve personally settled on C25K Pro because I like the look of it and it doesn’t have too many unnecessary bells and whistles — key when I’ve got four apps working at one time. I’ve run into some overlap where the C25K program is telling me to slow down to a walk while the Moov Now app wants me to pick up the pace — clearly these apps weren’t designed to be used together, but it works well enough to keep Moov Now for the coaching tips and the C25K app for the interval training towards increasing my endurance.

That fourth app and final app? Spotify, of course. I absolutely need music to enjoy my workouts, and Spotify Premium is packed with a ton of awesome playlists specifically for running and working out.

Armband and Bluetooth headphones

I recently did a round up of the best armband cases for the Galaxy S8 and ended up picking up the Sporteer Velocity V150 Universal Armband because it looked comfy, was compatible with big phones like the Galaxy S8 and Pixel XL, and also provided ample storage for credit cards, IDs, a house key, and any other small items I might want to have on me. It lets me keep my pockets empty and my phone secure — it can even manage to fit my phone in a case!

See at Amazon

For headphones, I follow the same buying philosophy as buying sunglasses: I know I’m going to drop, smash, or lose them eventually, so there’s no point in spending too much money on a pair.

As such, I’ve settled on the Aukey Sport Bluetooth Headphones which look kind of bulky in my ear but hey, for $20 sweat proof Bluetooth headphones they will definitely do the trick for me on runs. Maybe once I’m doing 5km runs in stride I’ll upgrade to something more hip and flashy, but for now, Aukey has me covered.

See at Amazon

Are you ready to run?

What workout tech have you tried? All combined I spent around $100 for my three running accessories — a modest investment towards improving my running stamina and endurance. Have you found any accessories that work especially well for you? Let me know in the comments!

Next time, I’m going to be looking at body weight workouts you can do around the home using minimal equipment — plus a little help from the Internet!

Read the previous entries in the Tech For Your Health column!

DAZN review: A promising preseason in the books

DAZN’s sports streaming service has handled the NFL pre-season, but is it ready for prime time?

It a special occasion when Canada gets to test drive a new app or service before our neighbors to the South — and it’s even rarer for it to be a live and on-demand sports streaming service anchored by the NFL. It’s time to enter DAZN (pronounced “Da Zone” 🙄) and get a glimpse at another compelling reason for folks to cut out TV cable and dive into the world of streaming.

DAZN is a premium streaming service for live and on-demand sports that’s been operating in European and Japanese markets, and is hoping to find success in North America starting first in Canada. It offers different sports offerings and leagues in different markets, with Canada’s service anchored by a five-year deal with the NFL for exclusive broadcast rights to NFL Sunday Ticket and the NFL RedZone channel — the latter being especially important news for fantasy football players. DAZN lets you pay $150 for a full year of service, or has the option to pay $20 a month.

A Hail Mary for cord-cutting football fans

Now I grew up in a household with cable, which really helped me to foster a great love for watching televised sports. Since moving out of my parent’s place as a college student I quickly made the decision to ditch cable and rely on the Internet for all my entertainment needs. It was a fairly easy decision to make, financially speaking, but forgoing the ability to just “throw on the game” and chill was easily the toughest loss that came with that decision. Sure, there are always online streams available if you know where to look, but they are of course illegal (and often unreliable).

So DAZN admittedly had me intrigued from the outset as an NFL fan a few years removed from being able to watch NFL games. The NFL Sunday Ticket package was always a premium upgrade through our cable provider and we never had it, so I had to make due with whichever games were broadcast on Sunday. Now I’ll be free and clear to watch my Packers play every game this season, whether live or on-demand, along with any other games that catch my attention.

Supported across all your devices

Streaming quality isn’t always great, but it’s available everywhere which is nice.

One of the big strengths behind DAZN launching into Canada is the great app support across a wide variety of platforms and consoles. Got a PS4 or XBOX One? Got a Roku TV or Chromecast? Got a Samsung Smart TV? Got an Android phone, tablet, or TV box? There’s a DAZN app for nearly any device you own, with support for more devices coming soon.

Not only is it available across all your devices, but you’re able to use most of those devices simultaneously to watch multiple games. I was able to stream four NFL games at one time across my NVIDIA Shield, a PC, and two Android smartphones — all using the same DAZN account. This would be great news for anyone planning to share their account amongst family and friends like so many people do with Netflix, though we’ll see whether DAZN cracks down on multiple IP addresses connecting to the same account.

It’s also worth noting that the stream quality seems to really depend on a number of factors, from the device to your internet connection. I got the best results streaming from the DAZN website on a PC with a hardwired internet connection. Watching games on my NVIDIA Shield connected via Wi-Fi was fairly smooth with no major hiccups, but was pretty far from what I’d call HD quality. Streaming a game to my phone, whether on Wi-Fi or using my data plan, was mostly flawless but also not quite the HD quality advertised.

This could be because it was still preseason, which means the TV broadcasts themselves were second-tier at best. However, DAZN doesn’t give you any options for selecting the video quality or any statistics relating to the stream quality so you’re left at the whim of whatever you get. It’s one of those features that you’d expect to see along with the ability to “follow” a favorite team and get notifications for game start times — not deal breakers, but certainly not what you’d expect from a $20 monthly service

And there are other sports included, too

NFL is obviously the main draw for this Canadian launch, but DAZN has tried to boost the value by including other sports. Along with NFL Game Pass (which includes every NFL game, NFL Network programming, Hard Knocks: 2017 Buccaneers, and NFL Redzone), you also get nine different soccer leagues/competitions, FIBA basketball, a selection of tennis tournaments, KHL hockey, darts, and snooker.

I love the idea of one subscription service and app that gives me unlimited access to my favorite sports…

That’s probably going to be a bunch noise for many casual sports fans, but the inclusion of KHL games is at least a somewhat intriguing addition for hockey-hungry Canadians. When you subscribe, you also get weekly emails filling you in on some of the more interesting match ups to check out on the app.

But DAZN isn’t the first company to offer streaming sports in Canada — Rogers offers NHL Gamecentre Live for Canadian customers on its premium mobile package which gives you access to nearly every game played in a season, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Along with on-demand full game replays and highlights, Rogers is leading the way with great features like multiple camera angles and a choice between home, away, and alternate language broadcasts.

…but I hate the idea of five different subscription services for each sport or league I want to follow.

Granted we’re comparing DAZN to Canada’s largest telecommunications company here, but by that comparison, DAZN’s offerings so far are pedestrian at best. I love the idea of one subscription service and app that gives me unlimited access to my favorite sports; I hate the idea of five different subscription services for each sport or league I want to follow. Whether DAZN is capable of becoming that all-in-one solution is yet to be seen.

I would love to see DAZN find subscriber success in its first year of its NFL deal and use that success to parlay deals for the streaming broadcast rights to other pro sports leagues in Canada (the CFL and AHL come to mind). NFL viewership in Canada is surprisingly on the rise, so it’s a great market to focus on first. It’s all a matter of how they plan to expand and improve the service moving forward.

Will DAZN change the way Canada watches sports?

Much like predicting the success of an NFL team during the preseason, it’s far too early to know where DAZN is going to be by year’s end. They’re offering a free 30-day trial for new subscribers, and are pushing that $150 for the year deal pretty hard, but if there are any streaming quality issues or delays, crackdowns on account sharing, and a lack of app support for upgrades or new features, it’s easy to imagine people canceling their subscriptions before season’s end.

Just 5 years ago I was stuck refreshing apps for a scoring update, and now I’m free to stream live NFL games wherever I go.

I’m personally loving it so far. Between Spotify Premium, Netflix, and now DAZN, I’m paying roughly $40 a month for near unlimited access to all the music, television shows, and football I can handle. I appreciate the fact that just 5 years ago I was stuck refreshing apps for a scoring update and now I’m able to stream live NFL games wherever I have data service.

So the value is going to remain for as long as the novelty still feels fresh. Instead of having to sneak off to a TV to watch the fourth quarter, I can now just quietly stream it to my phone wherever I am. That’s worth the price of admission for me, but once the Super Bowl Champions have been crowned and the offseason sets in, I along with most DAZN subscribers will surely be asking “Okay, so what’s on next?”.

Have you tried out DAZN?

Calling all Canucks! Have you had a chance to check out DAZN? What have been your experiences? Do you think sports streaming is here to stay?

Listen to studio-quality sound at its lowest price ever with the $63 Status Audio CB-1 headphones

Our friends at Thrifter have a great deal on the Status Audio CB-1 headphones!

Amazon has the Status Audio CB-1 over-ear headphones for $63 today. The street price for these headphones is $80, and this drop to $63 is a match for the lowest price ever.

The CB-1 headphones are perfectly made for the audiophile who cares more about sound than about design. In most of the critic reviews for these headphones, the biggest negative is the design is generic, but all of them praise the sound. Thanks to Status Audio compromising a bit in design, you get quality studio sound for a lot less than you might expect to pay. That’s a good trade off to me compared to something like Beats that notoriously overcharges for design and compromises on sound.

Features for these headphones include:

• Designed for audio professionals who make a living with their craft
• 50mm drivers deliver analytical, neutral sound signature
• Ergonomic ear-pads for long recording sessions
• Two detachable cables, coiled and straight, with twist-lock function
• Foldable – headphones collapse into a small form factor

Users give these headphones 4.7 stars based on 370 reviews.

See at Amazon

More from Thrifter:

• What does Amazon’s takeover of Whole Foods mean for you?
• Five free travel apps to help you save big on hotel stays

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 review: An expression of dominance

When Samsung makes a move, big or small, everyone takes notice.

To the hyper-observant phone nerds, the Galaxy Note 8 was never going to be a mind-blowing new piece of technology. We, after all, are no longer Samsung’s target market — even for the Galaxy Note, traditionally its most enthusiast-focused device. The 2017 iteration of the Galaxy Note line isn’t designed to necessarily entice and excite all of the most hardcore users — it’s now clearly just the top piece of Samsung’s three-pronged mainstream phone line.

The Galaxy Note 8 has a couple simple goals. It’s aimed at reinstating a confidence in the Note brand after the Note 7’s recall, and once again offering an S Pen-toting top-end flagship to act as the face of the Samsung brand. The Note 8 is supposed to be an example of the very best the company has to offer; a culmination of what has made Samsung so successful in the past few years. That means, of course, that the Galaxy Note 8 is mostly identical to the Galaxy S8+ — the previous benchmark for the very best it offered before now.

Samsung is going to market the hell out of the Galaxy Note 8. But what we care about is whether or not it’s a phone truly worthy of an amazingly high asking price and all of the hype that brings with it. We answer these questions, and more, in our Galaxy Note 8 review.

See at Best Buy

About this review

I, Andrew Martonik, am writing this review after 10 days using a U.S. unlocked Galaxy Note 8. The phone was used on T-Mobile in Seattle, WA and on Deutsche Telekom in Berlin, Germany. The phone arrived on software version NMF26X and was not updated during the review period.

In video

Galaxy Note 8 Preview

To get the quick take on the Galaxy Note 8 and see it in action, you’ll want to watch our video preview above. Once you’re done with the video and yearning for even more Note 8 info, you can read the complete review below.

Iteration at its finest

Galaxy Note 8 Hardware and display

About 90% of the experience of seeing and holding the Galaxy Note 8 is familiar — that is, if you’re one of the millions of people using the Galaxy S8 and S8+ already. But most people won’t be looking to buy a Note 8 if they have a GS8 or S8+; they’ll be coming from another phone, and should get ready to be impressed by this thing.

The combination of a sleek aluminum frame and sharply rounded glass is still striking, especially in the black and blue colors where the metal is well color-matched to the glass undercoating — which has a different, subtle pattern to it as well. Tolerances are tight, and the bezels are very small all around the screen. Does the narrow frame and bountiful curved glass make the Note 8 more fragile than some other phones? Probably. But changing the design would mean it wouldn’t be so darn beautiful. For most, that’s a fine trade-off.

More: Complete Galaxy Note 8 specs

Don’t let the familiarity fool you — this is still wonderful hardware to see and hold.

Instead of prattling on for too long about things that haven’t changed, I want to focus on the parts of the Note 8’s hardware that are actually unique. Most importantly, its seriously huge proportions. Looking back to this time last year, when I reviewed the Galaxy Note 7, I found it was the first Note that was actually compact and comfortable enough to use like a “normal” phone. Now, Samsung has gone back in the other direction — the Note 8 is larger in every dimension than its predecessor, most notably being 9 millimeters (5.8%) taller and 26 grams (15%) heavier.

The Note 8’s super-tall 18.5:9 aspect ratio for its 6.3-inch display does indeed give you more to look at without making the phone dramatically wider, which is key for being able to actually get your hand around it. But then again that means that the phone is ludicrously tall. Before you get to any part of actually using the screen, you notice how much the extra height influences your (in)ability to reach the fingerprint sensor on the back. It’s an annoying placement on the Galaxy S8, but it’s a usability nightmare on the Note 8. I really like iris scanning, but it can’t (yet) fully replace a fingerprint sensor; and the Note 8’s sensor is a hassle to use each and every time.

To put it succinctly, the Note 8 is once again no longer a practical one-handed phone that gives you a big screen in a somewhat manageable size. You do indeed get a whole lot of screen to work with, which is super useful particularly when using the phone with full-screen apps (or multi-window) in portrait orientation. But for anyone with average to small hands, it will be difficult to reach the top third of the display or reach to the opposite side of the screen for a slide-in gesture. And you know what? Some people are totally fine with that compromise — they just want more screen, and that’s a key reason they’re buying a Note. Anyone who wants something more compact (and still capable) can get a Galaxy S8.

You’re rewarded with what is, once again, the best smartphone display available today.

If you’re ready to handle the Note 8’s body, you’re rewarded with what is, once again, the best smartphone display available today. I’ve been gushing over these Super AMOLED panels for a few years now, and Samsung just keeps outdoing itself. The WQHD+ resolution, which comes out to 521 pixels per inch, offers plenty of density. But what really stands out is the visual clarity, punchy colors and ridiculous brightness.

DisplayMate gave out its first ever A+ rating to the Note 8, and the numbers are staggering: peak brightness of 1240 nits, 112% of the DCI-P3 color space, and reflectivity of just 4.6%. And it passes the eye test, too — I have nothing but great things to say about this screen. I just don’t see how you could have a complaint with it. Every company should aspire to have this level of panel in their phone, and every person who sees a Note 8 will feel as though their current phone is inferior — because it is.

One important aspect of Samsung’s recent phones is just how many great hardware features they offer that we end up taking for granted just because of how consistent they have been between devices. IP68 water resistance is here, of course, but so is fast wireless charging, a plenty loud speaker, and yes a headphone jack — plus, a really nice set of AKG earbuds in the box to complete the experience. For all of the areas Samsung innovates and switches things up, it has been extremely consistent in these core areas, and they’re ones that are easy to market against the competition that are so often missing one (or many).

Same solid as ever

Galaxy Note 8 Software, specs and performance

Unlike the hardware strategy of offering three different phones at different sizes with slightly different capabilities, Samsung’s software continues to attempt to be all things to all people. The Note 8’s interface and features are again near-identical to the Galaxy S8, as well as the Galaxy S7 and Note 5 after their Nougat updates. The interface has definitely grown on me over time, especially as Samsung has moved to a nice combination of whites, grays, and blacks with hints of transparency and pops of color.

There’s still an abundance of features, some of which have roots as far back as the Galaxy S3 and Note 2, but for better or worse Samsung has turned most of them off and effectively hidden them in the settings. If someone has an old Samsung phone and move up to a Note 8 and wants to find some random feature they loved, it’s probably here — and at the same time, the start-up experience isn’t nearly as chaotic as it used to be. There’s room for improvement, and nobody is going to mistake the Note 8 for having Motorola-esque software, but it’s the best it’s ever been.

Samsung has to keep walking the line of having every feature imaginable while staying accessible.

Samsung’s only areas that need real improvement, from my perspective, are its launcher and keyboard apps. The launcher is still quirky with its wasted space in folders, funky app drawer layout and weird grid spacing depending on how you use widgets. The keyboard continues to have poor word prediction and strange auto-fill tendencies. But if you’re like me and don’t care for either one, you can replace both apps in a snap and move on. The rest of the interface — the parts you can’t change — are solid.

Yes, Samsung continues to ship apps that duplicate Google’s pre-installed versions, and I really wish there was a way it could just give in and let us actually choose which we want … but that just seems like a fruitless fight at this point. Samsung is in love with its custom apps.

You’ll notice I went through a large portion of the software section without mentioning Bixby. Well, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Samsung went through its whole press conference and the subsequent first week of advertising without highlighting it, either. Bixby is still very much a work in process, and it just hasn’t caught on for me anywhere near as much as Google Now and Google Assistant have. Bixby Home is still very slow to load and then not helpful once it does, and something about having to level up and gain “xp” just to get extras like themes rubs me the wrong way. During my time in Germany this past week I attempted to use Bixby Vision to make translations only to find it fail or take so long to produce results I had moved on. Bixby has potential, but my word it isn’t there yet.

Performance

Samsung phones have a bad reputation for getting a bit … sluggish over time, with even the most powerful of its phones eventually succumbing to the weight of all of the features and apps. Granted I’m working on less than two weeks of time with the Note 8, but so far everything has been extremely fast — nary a hiccup, crash, stutter or (gasp) reboot. This is with over 100 apps installed, and everything actively running and syncing in the background with no intervention. That’s a great sign.

Performance has been perfect — let’s hope it stays that way over time.

I’m using the Snapdragon-powered U.S. model, but I don’t see how things would be any different with Samsung’s own Exynos processor running the show in an international model. With 6GB of RAM there’s plenty of room for old apps to stick in memory, ready to respond. Most of the time I could scroll back in the Recents menu to an app from earlier in the day and it’d still be sitting there ready to go — it seems that’s what people ask for in these phones with lots of RAM, and the Note 8 has it. More importantly, a year down the road the phone will still have plenty of RAM for what will surely be evermore resource-hungry apps.

Battery life

The Note 8 has an understandably conservative battery capacity, with 3300mAh inside — smaller than both the Note 7 and Galaxy S8+ (3500mAh) that came before it. With a more efficient processor running the show, and some software optimization, the hope is that the combination can still provide great battery life; something the Note line has traditionally been known for.

It offers plenty for most people, but that doesn’t quite align with the Note line’s history.

The most notable characteristic of the Note 8’s battery life has been rock solid consistency. Every single day I used the Note 8 in my review period I got almost the same battery life, even though I obviously didn’t use it the exact same way each day. From full to dead, the Note 8 was good for 15 to 16 hours, which in my case also includes 3 to 4 hours of “screen on” time. I use the phone at its full WQHD+ resolution, leave all of my apps running and syncing, use automatic brightness, use Bluetooth for audio for a few hours a day on average and leave Always On Display turned on. I get a whole lot of email, send a ton of messages and take plenty of photos.

I absolutely appreciate the battery consistency. I never had a moment where I was surprised about how much battery I had left at a certain point in the day. Nor did I really feel like I had to baby it in the afternoon to get to the evening. I do, however, recognize that not everyone uses their phone like I do — and indeed I don’t always have a “typical” or “average” day with my phone. Sometimes I want to sit and watch soccer highlights on YouTube when I have 30 minutes to kill on a train, or want to play a game for the same amount of time, or flip on my hotspot for a couple hours when I need a connection on my laptop. In these cases, it pushed the Note 8 to trigger battery saver (at 15%) around dinnertime — and then if I took it easy I could still end the day without charging.

For most people, getting a solid 16 hours of battery life each an every day will suit their needs just fine. Add in a few drops on a wireless charging pad throughout the day and you’ll be golden. Turn off Always On Display, and you’ll probably extend that battery life by an hour (seriously, it’s that big of a drain) as well. But should you have to make these little compromises or changes in behavior to get great battery life out of one of the biggest phones available today? This level of longevity isn’t surprising at all given its specs, screen size and battery capacity — but it may be a little off-putting for those who are used to a big Note delivering bigger-than-the-rest battery life.

S Pen

Aside from a couple of budget-level imitators, the Galaxy Note 8 is your only real choice for a phone with a stylus — and just like each and every Note, the S Pen is a core part of the experience with special-made software and integrations into the system. The S Pen offers 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, which combined with the 0.7 mm tip gives you precise control whether you’re jotting down a quick note, signing a PDF, or spending time drawing something more intricate.

There are two types of people: those who use the S Pen every day, and those who have never touched it.

Alongside the typical software suite of Samsung Notes, Smart select and Screen write, you now have a new feature called “Live message” that lets you draw out a message and have it turned into an animated gif that you can then send into any app that’ll accept that file format. It’s a neat thing that you’ll use four times and never touch again. Screen off memo, which lets you pull out the S Pen and immediately start writing without unlocking the phone, now lets you expand your notes to a staggering 100 pages. That’s decidedly more useful.

I still get the feeling that the S Pen is something that is both a must-have feature for the Note fanatics out there and also something that so many Note users have never used. If you’re the type of person that loves the idea of the fine control a stylus provides, and does a ton of writing, the S Pen is probably worth having — then again, I probably didn’t need to tell you that. If these features don’t immediately appeal to you, you’re more likely to leave that S Pen sitting in its silo day after day. Even though I can see the value of the S Pen for the people who need its specific set of features, I’m certainly in the camp who just doesn’t find a use for it.

Good, with a gimmick

Galaxy Note 8 Cameras

Samsung has joined the dual camera club with the Note 8, and it’s going with the same combination popularized by the iPhone 7 Plus: a pair of equal resolution sensors behind different focal length lenses. The Note 8’s main camera is virtually (if not entirely) identical to the Galaxy S8+, but the secondary is a different sensor type with a longer focal length, about 2X the main, and an f/2.4 aperture.

Despite my slight distaste with the idea of the main camera remaining stagnant, the photos you get out of it each and every time are good, and a majority of the time, they’re great. Samsung still has the experience of launching the camera super-quickly and capturing just as fast absolutely locked in. Daylight photos are punchy and always pleasing to the eye, and low light photos are still great with Samsung’s typical tendency to have a warm color temperature and slightly over-softened edges in some shots. But those are tiny nitpicks — just look at the photo samples below and see what this thing is capable of.

The secondary camera in itself isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it’s great to see how close its results are to the main camera in terms of colors, sharpness and overall quality. The narrower field of view offers a unique shooting option, including for macro shots when there’s enough light. Though the unique effect of a 2X lens isn’t quite as exciting, in my use, as the dramatic wide-angle shooter available on LG’s last few flagships. Having OIS on the long lens truly does help give you more consistently sharp photos in a variety of shooting conditions, though Samsung’s software does tend to opt for a digital crop in on the main sensor when you switch to 2X mode in very dark scenes. The funniest thing about it is that I often had to check the EXIF data to find out which camera it used — props, again, for having these two cameras produce such similar results.

Live Focus is the only part of this camera setup that needs work.

The one part of the camera experience I’m not fully behind yet is the “Live Focus” mode, which is the in-vogue feature that uses both cameras at once to detect a subject and artificially blur everything in the background. Just as we’ve seen time and time again, the computation required to do this effect properly is very hard — and the Note 8 exhibits many of the same struggles as the iPhone 7 Plus, OnePlus 5 and others. Basically, it doesn’t always know where the edges of objects are, and when it has to guess it can often get it wrong. The reason why this edge detection is critical is because that’s where the software starts to apply the blur — and our eyes can instantly tell when the edge and background blur doesn’t look right.

Live Focus shots can be dramatic, beautiful and unique. They can also look like something a free app from the Play Store applied to a photo you took with a single camera. You’ll notice there are 29 “regular” photos in the gallery above, and only three Live Focus shots — I think that says something. Yes I may be looking a bit critically at the results, but it shows just how good each camera is on its own versus the potentially hit-or-miss Live Focus. The important part of this is it does look great when it works, and it can get better with software — we saw Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, though not perfect, improve over the last year. I expect the same to happen with the Note 8.

Familiar, but that’s a good thing

Galaxy Note 8 Bottom line

At first glance, it’s pretty easy to underestimate the Galaxy Note 8 on account of its familiarity after months of seeing the Galaxy S8+ in the wild. But the big thing to remember is that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are Samsung’s best-ever selling flagships, so sharing a basic platform with those phones isn’t really a problem. The hardware is easy to love, the screen is absolutely leading the industry, the software is feature-packed and the performance is great. As for Note-exculsive features, the new dual camera setup will give you consistently great photos and the S Pen is great for the people who need the extra utility.

The Galaxy Note 8 is fantastic, but it surely isn’t special.

We can go on and on complaining about the minutia of the fingerprint sensor placement or that the battery that isn’t quite big enough for everyone. But these are minor missteps with what is otherwise a fantastic choice for the person that wants a phone that represents the best the industry has to offer. But let’s remember that a single phone cannot be all things to all people, and the Note 8 surely isn’t for everyone — its size is a serious consideration that should give some people pause, and the price tag is eye-watering.

And that creates a conundrum. For as great as the Galaxy Note 8 is overall, it’s somewhat a victim of Samsung’s success. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are such good phones, and have so much in common with the Note 8, that the biggest and most expensive phone in Samsung’s lineup just isn’t all that special anymore — yet it’s asking for a hefty price premium over the other two. But that’s something for the tech press to get worried about. For everyone who just wants a fantastic phone with excellent hardware, a massive screen and just about every feature imaginable, the Galaxy Note 8 is here and owners will definitely enjoy it. For those who are drawn to it but need something smaller, or cheaper, Samsung will happily sell you a Galaxy S8.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

• Galaxy Note 8 hands-on preview
• Complete Galaxy Note 8 specs
• Galaxy Note 8 vs. Galaxy Note 5: Which should you buy?
• Which Galaxy Note 8 color should you buy?
• All Galaxy Note 8 news
• Join our Galaxy Note 8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint
Best Buy

Galaxy Note 8 review: MrMobile loves that S Pen

Six-point-three; 3300; 195; twelve. Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 8 is awash in numbers … but there’s only one that really matters: $105. That’s how many more clams you’ll shell out at the register if you choose the Galaxy Note 8 over its close cousin, the Galaxy S8+. In exchange, you’ll get a larger screen, dual cameras, a few spec bumps … and the most misunderstood accessory in smartphones. Many folks are asking if adding a stylus is worth all that extra dough, especially ten years after we first pledged allegiance to our new capacitive-screen overlords. Fortunately, I’ve had the past ten days to find out.

I’m MrMobile and I’ve put the Galaxy Note 8 through its paces from Boston to Berlin. Check out the video above for my take on this latest super-slab, and then see Android Central’s Galaxy Note 8 review for all the deep-dive details on this mega-monster.

Stay social, my friends

• YouTube 
• The Web
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Instagram

Amazon Prime Students have access to exclusive back-to-school Kindle deals

If you’re in the market for a new Kindle to go back to school with, you won’t want to miss out on this deal from the team at Thrifter!

Amazon has several deals on a few different versions of the Kindle right now, but many of them are exclusive to people using the Prime Student program. Prime Student is the same as regular Amazon Prime but it comes with a six-month trial instead of 30 days, and after that it costs 50% as much as the regular version. Of course, you have to be associated with a university in some way to get it (Student, Teacher, Staff, etc).

While Prime Student regularly runs deals exclusive for the people using that membership, right now Amazon is discounting the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite by $30 and the Kindle Voyage by $50. These deals expire Sept 15.

The Kindle Paperwhite down to $90 and the Kindle down to $50 are fairly regular deals. We see those price drops a lot, and you can get the Paperwhite without 3G for $90 at Target right now, Prime member or not. The Kindle Voyage for $150, however, is a great deal. Normally it only drops to $170 when it’s on sale.

The Kindle Paperwhite is a 6-inch e-reader with a high resolution display. It has a built-in light and no screen glare. One charge of the battery lasts for hours. With Wi-Fi and free 3G connection you have access to the entire Kindle library from the Paperwhite’s screen.

With the Kindle Voyage you get pretty much all of that in a thinner device with a higher resolution screen and better lighting.

Amazon has also discounted the price of the Fire TV Stick to $35 from $40. It’s a great way to stream all the Prime movies and TV shows you’ll have access to with your Prime Student membership.

Prime Student has all the regular benefits of being a Prime member, so if you sign up be sure to check out all the different ways to take advantage of that benefit. One of those benefits is at the beginning of each month Amazon releases free Kindle books to Prime members.

See the Paperwhite at Amazon See the Voyage at Amazon

More from Thrifter:

• How to save money using Target’s Cartwheel service
• How to avoid baggage fees

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Action Launcher Quickthemes: One touch customization for your Android phone

Quick themes are good, and Action Launcher’s Quicktheme gets quick themes themed quickly.

Action Launcher has garnered a fair bit of praise from us at Android Central. Some love Quickdrawer and being able to ditch the traditional app drawer. Some love the Covers and Shades, which free up space and get us into apps faster. But as a themer, Action Launcher’s got a great trick that can make your home screen feel completely new with one easy step.

Setting a new wallpaper in other launchers just gives you a new image behind all your widgets and folders. Setting a new wallpaper in Action Launcher will change not only that image but will recolor your Quickbar, Quickdrawer, and folders. Quicktheme does this by sampling colors from your wallpaper and using them to color the launcher’s other elements in colors it believes it’ll match. That beats digging around in Nova Launcher’s settings to re-color everything manually. You can even choose between several tints for your themes, most are pulled from your wallpaper but there will always be two defaults: Material Light and Material Dark.

During Action Launcher’s most recent overhaul, Quicktheme got a handy little upgrade. Colors were arranged in a grid rather than a list, allowing you to better compare your choices, and Quicktheme finally got transparency support for the Quickbar, Quickdrawer, Quickpage, and dock and folder backgrounds. This has made it easier and quicker to get the hue and shading you’re after, then get back to your busy day.

Same settings, new wallpapers, new themes

In most instances the algorithm Action Launcher uses to pick these shades will be enough. For wallpapers with a lot of colors, or wallpapers with a very small amount of an accent color you’re trying to match, it can sometimes miss. Sadly, the only way to draw new colors is to set the wallpaper again with a different zoom or crop. There are also instances when Action Launcher fails to pull colors from a wallpaper altogether, as it samples colors from a live wallpaper’s icon rather than the live wallpaper itself.

While the ability to manually set colors when the pre-selected colors fail would be great, the built-in tones work well for most wallpapers and themes. Being able to simply set your wallpaper and watch the rest of your launcher re-theme itself to match is gratifying, instead of having to fuss around in your launcher’s settings manually re-coloring your folders and drawers.

Updated September 2017: Updated for Action Launcher’s new-old name and its updated Quicktheme features and UI.