HomeKit-Enabled D-Link Omna Camera Gains New Features in App Update
D-Link’s HomeKit-enabled Omna 180 Cam HD home security camera today gained new functionality through a major app update that brings important new features to the device.
The user interface of the app has been improved and it’s no longer quite as slow when you open it up, which is a major plus.
There’s a new pinch-to-zoom feature that allows you to zoom in on the video feed from the camera, a new toggle lets the night vision feature to be turned off if desired, and there’s now support for event notifications when motion is detected. It’s also possible to turn off the LED indicator light on the camera following the update.
Both video clips and snapshots taken with the camera can be saved to a local album from the microSD card from the playback menu, and for users who don’t have an Apple TV or an iPad to enable remote viewing, there’s now a built-in remote live streaming feature.
Customers who own the Omna 180 Cam HD can download the new update in the iOS App Store. Following the update, new firmware will need to be downloaded to the camera through the Settings section of the Omna app. Along with today’s iOS update, D-Link released a new app for Android, enabling Android compatibility.
The Omna, one of the first cameras to support HomeKit, is an in-home security camera with a wide-angle lens, night vision support, and a two-way microphone, among other features. It records all data to a microSD card and does not offer a cloud upload feature.
We reviewed the Omna when it first launched earlier this year and some of the features that were implemented today were among our chief complaints with the device.
D-Link recently lowered the price of the Omna, and it is now available for purchase from the Apple Store for $149.95.
Tags: HomeKit, D-Link
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Watch Series 3 LTE Models Shipping Earlier Than Expected
Customers who were not lucky enough to secure an LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 model right when pre-orders went live have been waiting patiently for their new devices, with many shipping estimates ranging into October after delivery dates slipped by weeks.
Some of those customers won’t be waiting too long, though, as Apple is getting those backordered Apple Watch Series 3 models out quicker than expected. MacRumors has heard several reports from readers who expected their devices in mid-October but are already receiving shipment confirmations, and many others are discussing their early arrival dates in our forums.
Orders appear to be arriving early in several countries, including the United States and the UK. From MacRumors reader danmart:
My order (UK, confirmation received 08:05, 42mm SSSB with Sport Band) was originally projecting 9-16 October. Just received notification that it will deliver on Thursday!
Some customers who have been waiting on an Apple Watch have been able to secure one in a local Apple retail store by keeping an eye on stock using Apple’s in-store pickup tool.
All of the Apple Watch Series 3 models with LTE connectivity list shipment dates of at least three to four weeks when purchased online in the United States, and availability is similarly limited in other countries. Given that Apple is getting some of these watches out early, the wait could be somewhat shorter.
Non-LTE Series 3 Apple Watch models are readily available in stores and will ship out right away.
Customers who chose a Nike+ model have also been waiting for their devices to arrive. While the first LTE models delivered on September 22, Nike+ models won’t start arriving to customers until Thursday, October 5.
Apple Watch Series 3 pricing starts at $329 for the non-LTE devices and $399 for LTE connectivity, with prices going up based on band selection and case material.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Confirms a Fix is Coming for Static Noise Problem Affecting iPhone 8 Earpiece
Apple is working on a fix for an issue causing some iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus owners to hear intermittent crackling noises when using the device for phone calls, the company told The Verge in a statement this afternoon.
“We are aware of the issue which is affecting customers in a small number of cases,” said an Apple spokesperson. “Our team is at work on a fix, which will be included in an upcoming software release.”
Many MacRumors readers began noticing the static noise shortly after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus became available last Friday. It is described as a “very annoying” crackling sound that can be heard from the earpiece of the device during both standard calls and FaceTime calls.
The noise issue can be bypassed by using headphones or the speaker phone option on an affected device, suggesting the issue lies in the software rather than the hardware. MacRumors forum member Jgpsolo describes the problem:
It is a high-pitched crackle like an audio pop that happens in the earpiece top speaker intermittently during calls. Some calls are fine and others crackle. It is not audible on earphones or on speakerphone, only through the earpiece. The caller on the other end doesn’t hear it.
Changing cellular settings like WiFi calling or Voice Over LTE does not seem to improve the problem, and resetting a device also does not appear to offer a reliable fix.
It’s not clear when Apple will release another update to fix the issue, as no specific time was provided by the company. Apple’s first iOS 11 update came out this morning, addressing an Exchange email bug that prevented many users from sending mail from Outlook, Office 365, and Exchange Server email accounts.
Related Roundup: iPhone 8
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums
Twitter Testing Expanded 280 Character Limit for Tweets
Twitter today announced that it is going to “try out” a longer character limit, doubling the current 140-character limit to 280 characters.
The 280 character limit is going to be available in languages that are “impacted by cramming,” aka all languages aside from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
Tweet with traditional 140-character limit on left, new 280-character limit on right.
According to Twitter, most tweets in English have 34 characters while most tweets in Japanese have 15 characters, and Twitter users tweeting in English hit the 140-character limit more often, which can be a “major cause of frustration.”
Twitter says the new character limit is “only available to a small group” of users at the current time as it gathers data and feedback on the impact of the change. It won’t roll out to all users until Twitter is sure that it “works” for the Twitter community, but Twitter is hoping 280 characters will “make it easier for everyone to Tweet.”
We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters – we felt it, too. But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint. We are excited to share this today, and we will keep you posted about what we see and what comes next.
Twitter has had a 140-character limit in place since the service first launched in 2006, so a character expansion is a major change to the way Twitter works.
Originally, our constraint was 160 (limit of a text) minus username. But we noticed @biz got 1 more than @jack. For fairness, we chose 140. Now texts are unlimited. Also, we realize that 140 isn’t fair—there are differences between languages. We’re testing the limits. Hello 280!
— Biz Stone (@biz) September 26, 2017
Before considering a character limit expansion, Twitter made several other changes to give customers more room to share their thoughts. Starting in 2016, photo attachments, GIFs, polls, and other media stopped counting towards the 140-character limit, and in March, usernames no longer counted towards the limit.
Customers randomly selected to be part of Twitter’s beta testing group will be able to use 280 characters in their tweets starting today.
Tag: Twitter
Discuss this article in our forums
Got some cash burning a hole in your pocket? Here’s the best tech under $20
Twenty bucks might not sound like a whole lot, but you’d be surprised what you can get for such a small sum of money. We live in a world where you can get a cheeseburger for $1, a functioning computer for $5, and thousands of HD movies for $10 — so it stands to reason that you should be able to pick up some pretty sweet gadgets for less than the cost of a cab ride. In this article, we’ve rounded up some of the best tech under $20, so you can ball out without breaking the bank.
If you can stretch your budget a bit further, we’ve also compiled lists for the best tech under $50, and the best tech uder $100.
PalmVid Clothes Hook Hidden Camera with DVR
You can file this one under “Things James Bond Would Have In His House.” The Clothes Hook Hidden Camera from video security provider PalmVid tucks a three megapixel camera with 720×480 video resolution into a barely visible hole in the top of the clothes hook. It can record up to four hours of continuous footage on a fully charged battery and has a motion-detection option that will only record when there’s movement in front of the camera. The footage is saved on a separately sold microSD card, giving you the freedom to choose how much spying you wish to capture. You may never look at someone’s closet the same again.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
PalmVid
Techboy TB-802
In just the last three years, the number of hobbyist drones has skyrocketed, but most drones are still fairly expensive. If you aren’t trying to break the bank in order to play in the sky, the Techboy TB-802 is a great choice. The coolest thing about this 1.2 ounce quadcopter is that you can fly it using a motion control remote that fits in your hand. You can simply press a button on the controller and tilt your hand to send your Techboy into a 3D flip. The remote controller can control the Techboy from up to 20 yards away.
Price: $16
Buy one from:
Tom Top
Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation External Battery
Mophie is always a great source for powerful, portable external batteries and its Juice Pack Powerstation is a buget-friendly steal. For less than $20, the 4-lb Juice Pack Powerstation can give nearly any USB-connected device hours of extra battery life, depending on what you are charging. With its smart battery technology, the Juice Pack adjusts how much charge to give without overheating your device.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Best Buy
Anker Ultra Portable Pocket Size Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
Anker has put out quality bluetooth speakers at reasonable prices for years, and its A7910 model is one of its best. The A7910 portable speaker is the size of a ring box, and can easily fit in a backpack or purse. The device can pump out music for up to 12 hours on a full charge and only takes three hours to fully recharge. The speaker’s miniature stature belies the impressive sound quality it pumps out via its 3W audio driver and passive subwoofer.
Price: $17
Buy one from:
Amazon Anker
Sandisk 32GB MicroSDHC Card
If you can expand your phone’s memory (sorry iOS users!) and want to do so on the cheap, SanDisk is your best choice. With 32GB of storage you can store more than 11,000 compress photos and 480 hours of videos shot with a standard 8 megapixel cell phone. Of course, you can use this card for plenty of other things as well (action cams, DSLRs, etc.), but if you plan on shooting RAW photos or high-FPS video, you’ll probably want something with faster write speeds.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
SanDisk
LESHP HD 1080P 12MP Sports Camera
Why spend $200+ on a GoPro Hero when you can get the same specs for just 20 bucks? LESHP’s generic “waterpoof action sports camera” packs nearly all the same features and functionality that you’ll find in a first-gen GoPro, but for a fraction of the price. On top of that, it can handle greater submersion depths than some more expensive action cameras on the market. It sports a 12 megapixel camera, and provides a good 70 minutes of recording time on a single charge.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
Walmart
Google Cardboard
Virtual reality is still relatively new, but with more than 10 million units sold, the Google Cardboard is one of the most popular VR headsets around. Don’t let the exterior fool you, either: a lot of engaging entertainment can be found inside that piece of cardboard. You can view live soccer matches, YouTube videos, and even stand next to Paul McCartney while he performs on stage. Best part is, all you need is an Android or iOS phone running the appropriate software and you are all set.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Google Amazon
Sony ZX110 Headphones
Decent headphones usually cost a bundle of cash, but Sony’s ZX110 headphones are a rare exception. Despite the fact that they cost just $11 bucks, these badboys pump out sound that’ll put your stock Apple earbuds to shame. The foam cushions add much needed ear comfort for those long listening sessions, while Sony’s Acoustic Bass Boosting technology gives you more low-end punch than most in-ear headphones can offer. For under $20, you will seldom see a headphone deal better than the Sony ZX Series.
Price: $11
Buy one from:
Best Buy
WONBSDOM Universal 200X Zoom Clip-On Microscope Lens
If you think a phone is only as good as its camera, WONBSDOM’s clip-on microscope lens is great way to beef up your photography arsenal. The mini lens clips onto your phone and has dials on top for adjusting focus and zoom. The tiny lens adds a ridiculous 200x zoom to your phone, effectively transforming it into a microscope that also answers calls. The zoom is so crisp, people have been able to see the fibers in their carpet. Since the zoom attachment is a clip-on, it should work with phones no bigger than 13 millimeters in thickness, which most phones fall under. For less than an LED iPhone case you can get deeper into your pictures than ever before.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Amazon
Logitech K360 Wireless USB Desktop Keyboard
Logitech usually offers elite wireless keyboards, and the K360 is no different. The sleek keyboard is only compatible with certain versions of Windows, but is packed with versatility. It comes with six hot keys for play, pause, play previous, play next, adjust volume, and mute functions — all of which make interacting with media much simpler. You can also customize 12 programmable F-keys to give you quick shortcuts to your favorite websites, applications, and almost anything you want to access on your device.
Price: $20
Buy one from:
Amazon
Got some cash burning a hole in your pocket? Here’s the best tech under $20
Twenty bucks might not sound like a whole lot, but you’d be surprised what you can get for such a small sum of money. We live in a world where you can get a cheeseburger for $1, a functioning computer for $5, and thousands of HD movies for $10 — so it stands to reason that you should be able to pick up some pretty sweet gadgets for less than the cost of a cab ride. In this article, we’ve rounded up some of the best tech under $20, so you can ball out without breaking the bank.
If you can stretch your budget a bit further, we’ve also compiled lists for the best tech under $50, and the best tech uder $100.
PalmVid Clothes Hook Hidden Camera with DVR
You can file this one under “Things James Bond Would Have In His House.” The Clothes Hook Hidden Camera from video security provider PalmVid tucks a three megapixel camera with 720×480 video resolution into a barely visible hole in the top of the clothes hook. It can record up to four hours of continuous footage on a fully charged battery and has a motion-detection option that will only record when there’s movement in front of the camera. The footage is saved on a separately sold microSD card, giving you the freedom to choose how much spying you wish to capture. You may never look at someone’s closet the same again.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
PalmVid
Techboy TB-802
In just the last three years, the number of hobbyist drones has skyrocketed, but most drones are still fairly expensive. If you aren’t trying to break the bank in order to play in the sky, the Techboy TB-802 is a great choice. The coolest thing about this 1.2 ounce quadcopter is that you can fly it using a motion control remote that fits in your hand. You can simply press a button on the controller and tilt your hand to send your Techboy into a 3D flip. The remote controller can control the Techboy from up to 20 yards away.
Price: $16
Buy one from:
Tom Top
Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation External Battery
Mophie is always a great source for powerful, portable external batteries and its Juice Pack Powerstation is a buget-friendly steal. For less than $20, the 4-lb Juice Pack Powerstation can give nearly any USB-connected device hours of extra battery life, depending on what you are charging. With its smart battery technology, the Juice Pack adjusts how much charge to give without overheating your device.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Best Buy
Anker Ultra Portable Pocket Size Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
Anker has put out quality bluetooth speakers at reasonable prices for years, and its A7910 model is one of its best. The A7910 portable speaker is the size of a ring box, and can easily fit in a backpack or purse. The device can pump out music for up to 12 hours on a full charge and only takes three hours to fully recharge. The speaker’s miniature stature belies the impressive sound quality it pumps out via its 3W audio driver and passive subwoofer.
Price: $17
Buy one from:
Amazon Anker
Sandisk 32GB MicroSDHC Card
If you can expand your phone’s memory (sorry iOS users!) and want to do so on the cheap, SanDisk is your best choice. With 32GB of storage you can store more than 11,000 compress photos and 480 hours of videos shot with a standard 8 megapixel cell phone. Of course, you can use this card for plenty of other things as well (action cams, DSLRs, etc.), but if you plan on shooting RAW photos or high-FPS video, you’ll probably want something with faster write speeds.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
SanDisk
LESHP HD 1080P 12MP Sports Camera
Why spend $200+ on a GoPro Hero when you can get the same specs for just 20 bucks? LESHP’s generic “waterpoof action sports camera” packs nearly all the same features and functionality that you’ll find in a first-gen GoPro, but for a fraction of the price. On top of that, it can handle greater submersion depths than some more expensive action cameras on the market. It sports a 12 megapixel camera, and provides a good 70 minutes of recording time on a single charge.
Price: $19
Buy one from:
Walmart
Google Cardboard
Virtual reality is still relatively new, but with more than 10 million units sold, the Google Cardboard is one of the most popular VR headsets around. Don’t let the exterior fool you, either: a lot of engaging entertainment can be found inside that piece of cardboard. You can view live soccer matches, YouTube videos, and even stand next to Paul McCartney while he performs on stage. Best part is, all you need is an Android or iOS phone running the appropriate software and you are all set.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Google Amazon
Sony ZX110 Headphones
Decent headphones usually cost a bundle of cash, but Sony’s ZX110 headphones are a rare exception. Despite the fact that they cost just $11 bucks, these badboys pump out sound that’ll put your stock Apple earbuds to shame. The foam cushions add much needed ear comfort for those long listening sessions, while Sony’s Acoustic Bass Boosting technology gives you more low-end punch than most in-ear headphones can offer. For under $20, you will seldom see a headphone deal better than the Sony ZX Series.
Price: $11
Buy one from:
Best Buy
WONBSDOM Universal 200X Zoom Clip-On Microscope Lens
If you think a phone is only as good as its camera, WONBSDOM’s clip-on microscope lens is great way to beef up your photography arsenal. The mini lens clips onto your phone and has dials on top for adjusting focus and zoom. The tiny lens adds a ridiculous 200x zoom to your phone, effectively transforming it into a microscope that also answers calls. The zoom is so crisp, people have been able to see the fibers in their carpet. Since the zoom attachment is a clip-on, it should work with phones no bigger than 13 millimeters in thickness, which most phones fall under. For less than an LED iPhone case you can get deeper into your pictures than ever before.
Price: $15
Buy one from:
Amazon
Logitech K360 Wireless USB Desktop Keyboard
Logitech usually offers elite wireless keyboards, and the K360 is no different. The sleek keyboard is only compatible with certain versions of Windows, but is packed with versatility. It comes with six hot keys for play, pause, play previous, play next, adjust volume, and mute functions — all of which make interacting with media much simpler. You can also customize 12 programmable F-keys to give you quick shortcuts to your favorite websites, applications, and almost anything you want to access on your device.
Price: $20
Buy one from:
Amazon
Visited Showtime online recently? It allegedly mined virtual coins on your PC
Why it matters to you
Showtime’s alleged use of a virtual coin mining script invades your privacy by silently accessing your equipment without permission.
What the heck? A Twitter post appeared on Saturday, September 23, accusing Showtime of silently using the CPUs of visitor PCs accessing at least two of its websites in order to generate a digital currency called Monero. Security firm Bleeping Computer followed up with an investigation to discover that the sites were running a script in the background to silently generate virtual coins by accessing the connected PC’s processor through a web browser.
Typically, miners generate virtual coins using dedicated machines. If you ask the PC gaming community, these miners are eating up all low-cost, high-performance graphics cards, leaving the market dry and available units highly overpriced. These machines not only generate digital coins, but they help maintain the base ecosystem, such as processing transactions and keeping track of purchases.
But silently using the processor of visitor PCs accessing a website is new. The script used by Showtime is a JavaScript kit called Coinhive, which sat undetected on Showtime’s secondary website, and its online streaming service, Showtime Anytime. Showtime removed the script once the report went live.
The use of Coinhive by a mainstream service is a bit of a mystery. There is speculation that hackers may have gained access to Showtime’s websites and inserted the script to take advantage of unsuspecting visitors. There’s also speculation that Showtime was experimenting with the script, as a specific command in the code kept Coinhive dormant 97 percent of the time. If the script were placed by a hacker, it would generate virtual coins at full speed.
Unfortunately, there’s a good chance Showtime used the script on purpose. The Pirate Bay did something similar two weeks ago using the same Coinhive script, although the site didn’t silently sip unused CPU resources. Instead, The Pirate Bay wanted feedback from its visitors, who didn’t like the idea of a website silently accessing their system resources in the background.
The use of Coinhive presents several problems. For starters, Sites using the script are intentionally slowing down your PC to generate virtual coins as something of a payment for accessing their services. Even more, Coinhive is already becoming a tool used for ill intent, such as running on “typosquatted domains” — those often malicious websites you visit when typing the wrong web address — and appearing in Chrome browser extensions.
But that is only the chilling tip of the iceberg. Hackers have flocked to Coinhive and are reportedly breaking into websites to install the kit and silently generate virtual money. Coinhive is also making its way into advertisements that lead not only to sites that seize the browser with fake security alerts, but generate virtual coins in the background while the user tries to regain control.
Ultimately, your PC is your property and no one has the right to use your hardware to create virtual money without permission. The Pirate Bay’s experiment alone could have generated at least $12,000 in Monero per month you will never see.
Parent company CBS Corporation declined to provide a comment.
Sony Xperia XZ1 vs. Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact: Is bigger necessarily better?
Sony has finally taken the wraps off its big phone releases for the year — the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact phones. The new phones are Sony’s flagship devices, which means they boast the latest and greatest Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 835, as well as a decent amount of RAM and storage.
But how do the phones compare with each other? And which one should you go for? We put them to the test to find out.
Specs
Sony Xperia XZ1
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
Size
148 x 73.4 x 7.4 mm (5.83 x 2.89 x 0.29 inches)
129 x 64 x 9.3 mm (5.08 x 2.52 x 0.37 inches)
Weight
5.47 ounces (155 grams)
4.94 ounces (140 grams)
Screen
5.2-inch IPS LCD
4.6-inch IPS LCD
Resolution
1,920 x 1,080 pixels (424ppi)
1,280 x 720 pixels (319ppi)
OS
Android 8.0 Oreo
Android 8.0 Oreo
Storage
64GB
32GB
SD Card Slot
Yes
Yes
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM
4GB
4GB
Connectivity
GSM / HSPA / LTE
GSM / HSPA / LTE
Camera
Front 13MP, rear 19MP
Front 8MP, rear 19MP
Video
4K at 30fps, 1,080p at 60fps, 720p at 960fps
4K at 30fps, 1,080p at 60fps, 720p at 960fps
Bluetooth
Yes, version 5.0
Yes, version 5.0
Fingerprint sensor
Yes (Not in U.S.)
Yes (Not in U.S.)
Other sensors
Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, barometer, compass
Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, barometer, compass
Water Resistant
Yes, IP68
Yes, IP68
Battery
2,700mAh
2,700mAh
Charger
USB Type-C
USB Type-C
Quick Charging
Yes
Yes
Wireless Charging
No
No
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Color offerings
Black, Warm Silver, Venus Pink, Moonlit Blue
Black, Snow Silver, Horizon Blue, Twilight Pink
Availability
September 19
October 4
Pricing
$700
$600
DT Review
Coming soon
Coming soon
The specs of the two phones are actually almost identical — which is good news for anyone who wants a powerful phone in a smaller package. They both feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor, and they both feature 4GB of RAM, which should be plenty for most users.
When it comes to the storage on the phones, the Xperia XZ1 offers twice as much as the XZ1 Compact, coming in at 64GB compared to the Compact’s 32GB. Because of that, we’ve awarded this one to the Xperia XZ1.
Winner: Sony Xperia XZ1
Display, design, durability
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The display on these two phones will be one of the main points of difference. While the Xperia XZ1 Compact has a 1,280 x 720-pixel, 4.6-inch display, the standard Xperia XZ1 has a full HD, 1,920 x 1,080-pixel 5.2-inch display. Both of the displays are LCD, but while the XZ1’s display is larger, the resolution bump is enough to make it much sharper as well.
The design of the two phones is more or less the same, apart from the size. Sony has never gotten a lot of love for the design of its phones, but these new ones don’t look terrible. One interesting thing to note about the XZ1 Compact is that it’s quite a bit thicker than the standard XZ1, which might be a problem for some. Both phones feature a camera sensor on the top-left of the back of the phone. The design is relatively angular and minimalist, with big bezels framing the screen. There is a fingerprint sensor on the side of both devices, but sadly it won’t be functional in the U.S. variants.
Last but not least is durability, and the phones are the same here, too — both offer an IP68 rating, which allows them to last as long as 30 minutes in up to 1.5 meters of water. In other words, while you probably won’t want to take the phone swimming, if you drop it in the bath, it should be fine.
Both phones are almost the same here — but the better display on the Xperia XZ1 puts it ahead.
Winner: Sony Xperia XZ1
Battery life and charging
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
With one larger device and one smaller one, you might expect a pretty substantial difference in battery capacity — but in reality, it turns out that the batteries are exactly the same size. That’s not great news for the standard-sized Xperia XZ1 — not only does it have a larger display, but it also has more pixel-dense display, meaning it’ll be much more battery-intensive.
The batteries on both phones come in at 2,700mAh, which isn’t a ton, but they also both support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, which should be helpful.
We don’t have official battery life figures from Sony, but given the fact that the XZ1 Compact will almost certainly last longer because of the smaller display, it’s the winner here.
Winner: Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
Camera
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Sony camera sensors can be found in smartphones all over the world — and not just in Sony phones. But does that translate into a great camera on the XZ1? We’ll need some time with it to find out.
The rear-facing camera on the phones is the same. It’s 19 megapixels with electronic image stabilization and predictive phase detection autofocus. Video, however, is where this camera really shines. It offers 4K recording at 30 frames per second, 1,080p recording at up to 60 frames per second, and 720p recording at up to a massive 960 frames per second. With that, you’ll be able to capture super slow-motion recordings, which will be great in certain situations.
The front-facing camera here is a little different — the standard XZ1 offers a 13-megapixel front-facing camera, while the XZ1 Compact is at 8-megapixels. That makes the XZ1 the winner here.
Winner: Sony Xperia XZ1
Software
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The two phones are going to offer an identical software experience, so we’re not going to award a winner here. They both run Android, and they happen to be among the first to ship with Android 8.0 Oreo — which is good news for those who want the latest and greatest versions of Android. Currently, the Android experience on Sony phones seems to be pretty close to stock Android, which is good news for those who hate bloatware.
When it comes to software updates, Sony is generally decent at updating within a few months, but it’ll still take some time for your phone to get new versions of Android as they come out.
Winner: Tie
Price and availability
The Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact costs $600, and will be available online and in stores starting October 4. The standard Xperia XZ1 went on sale September 19, with prices starting at $700.
Because of the price difference, this one is going to the Xperia XZ1 Compact.
Winner: Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
Overall winner: Sony Xperia XZ1
This one was probably obvious from the get-go — the Sony Xperia XZ1 is simply a better phone. It has a better screen, more storage, and a superior selfie camera. But the advantages of getting it may not really matter to you if you’re specifically seeking a smaller phone. The phones are equally powerful — and though the larger XZ1 offers more storage, they do both have a MicroSD card slot.
The Xperia XZ1 Compact is a better deal financially, and it’s also one of the few small phones on the market with a decent set of specs. The XZ1 offers most of the features that a flagship phone should (unless you’re in the U.S.), and it’s the first phone to ship with the latest flavor of Android on board.
Corel PaintShop Pro 2018 Review
Ask for a budget-friendly alternative to Adobe Photoshop and Corel’s PaintShop Pro is likely one of the first suggestions — and now that program is getting both faster and easier to use. On Aug 9, Corel announced PaintShop Pro 2018, the latest version of the photo-editing and graphic design software. Besides the move from the X9 name to an annual nomenclature, the latest edition of the affordable software includes a number of user-requested enhancements, including a simpler interface, new creative tools, and faster performance.
“Whether you’re looking for professional photo editing power or just getting started, you need software that lets you jump in and be productive right away. PaintShop Pro now lets you choose from two unique interfaces, plus it gives you the ability to customize them to build an editing and design environment that’s uniquely your own,” said Chris Pierce, Product Manager for Corel Photo. “With PaintShop Pro 2018, we’re delivering a dramatically faster, easier, and highly creative experience that’s even more accessible and of course, still subscription free.”
After walking through the program’s latest features, we put the new version to the test ourselves in a Corel PaintShop Pro 2018 review to see how the software stacks up.
Simplified User Interface
PaintShop has many of the same tools as Adobe Photoshop and anytime you open a program with that many controls, the result, for a newbie, is a feeling of being in way over your head. With PaintShop Pro 2018, however, Corel is introducing the Essentials workspace. Like the name implies, the interface pares the software down to the most basic options — crop a photo, fix red-eye, clone out a zit, or add some text without having to dig through every imaginable option.
In the Essentials workspace, the toolbox is reduced to a few basics and the options are all organized into a single tab. If the basic interface is missing a tool, clicking on the add icon allows you to customize the options, even without moving into the fully fledged version. Users can also customize the colors inside the interface if the light tones are a bit too distracting, as well as adjusting the size of the icons. We found Essentials an easy way to jump into learning a new program; commonly used edits are still there and easy to find, and it was a snap to adjust the interface to a dark design with which we’re better acquainted. For more advanced edits, switching to the full workspace is as easy as selecting the option under the File menu — there’s no need to close and re-open the same image to select a different workspace from the welcome screen. (The welcome screen also saw some improvements, by the way, including a gallery of work by other users and a section of video tutorials.)
With many of the tools in it available in free photo editors, the idea isn’t to live in the Essentials tab, but to learn in it — or maybe just do a quick edit.
The Essentials workspace is an easy way to jump into learning a new program.
Alongside the completely new Essentials workspace, the main workspace includes several improvements but is still largely a program X9 users can quickly jump into. While the previous version was organized into three tabs, the 2018 version includes just two. Corel removed the Adjust tab because most users spent their time in the manage and edit tabs. Edit is where all the editing options are, clearly, while Manage is a photo organizer that aids in finding the image files you need. The Manage option also includes features to search for faces, view EXIF data and geotags, and rate individual images.
Among the editing options, updates for 2018 include an entire menu devoted to customizing the interface, including colors and sizes. Besides just creating a workspace that’s more comfortable, it makes options easier to see and more touch-screen friendly, or lets them take less space on the screen. As in the Essentials workspace, you can customize the toolbox by clicking the plus icon to add or remove tools, including a search bar if you can’t find exactly what you are looking for. Different panels, including options for layers and an organizer that functions much like a time manager, let you determine the balance of image to tools onscreen by closing unnecessary options for that particular project.
While the full workspace is more crowded than the Essentials option, a learning center column that automatically opens at the side and a small box at the bottom that explains what each tool is eases the learning process.
Performance & Tool Enhancements
Much of Corel’s updating effort was concentrated on speed improvements. We can’t quite vouch for it, however: The beta program is Windows only, and we tested the program on a borrowed budget laptop with 6GB of RAM while our fast 16GB MacBook idled sadly nearby. While it’s impossible to determine what part of the performance is affected by the software and what is a result of the computer’s limited memory, some elements were slow while others were pretty fast considering the limited hardware and large RAW files.
Corel says it picked the most-used tools inside the program and their boosted speed, a statement that seemed to coincide with our experience despite the limited processing power: Along with quicker loading on start-up, the depth of field tool is four times faster, for example. The crop tool and text options also saw a speed boost.
Much change in PaintShop Pro 2018 is a direct result of asking a panel of users what they’d like to see. As a result, there are a number of small tool enhancements. “While some of these feature enhancements aren’t overwhelmingly new, they are very specific for the user, they are user requested,” Pierce told Digital Trends. “Our beta program is ecstatic about the program.”
PaintShop Pro 2018 is a result of asking a panel of users what they’d like to see, there are a number of small tool enhancements.
The crop tool now includes a number of different compositional guides besides the Rule of Thirds grid, including the golden ratio, golden spiral, and triangle. Text options now include superscript, subscript, and justified alignment. The clone tool will also now show a preview of the change before clicking, while the eyedropper will now pick up both color and transparency to copy over to another element in a design.
New brush options are also part of the update, and they’ll automatically adjust for the canvas size when opening a new document. Existing gradients can now be adjusted without going back to re-apply the effect.
The color options now include pre-selected palettes, making it easy to choose hues that complement each other inside the same project. Corel also added a new Creative Collection with 30 new gradients, 30 patterns, and 15 textures. The new options are free to download, but they don’t download automatically with the software to prevent slowing down the program for people who are primarily photo editors, rather than graphic designers.
Additional Tools
Corel PaintShop Pro can be purchased as a separate software, or as a bundle with additional programs.
While PaintShop includes a RAW tool, RAW photographers will want to opt for the bundle that includes AfterShot Pro 3. The built-in RAW tool has a few features missing compared to Adobe’s Camera RAW: Exposure sliders are reduced to two compared to Adobe’s six, color adjustments only include saturation, and while there are noise reduction tools, there isn’t a sharpness option. AfterShot Pro 3 includes those missing slider options.
The Ultimate Bundle also includes Painter Essentials 5 to edit brushes or convert photos to paintings, as well as Perfectly Clear 3 SE to restore an image’s lost details with more advanced sharpening and noise reduction.
A capable, budget photo editor
With PaintBrush Pro 2018, Corel remains a good alternative for users that balk at Adobe’s subscription-based model, which runs about $120 a year for both Photoshop and Lightroom. The software costs $80 by itself, or $100 in the Ultimate Bundle. AfterShot 3 makes that bundle worth the extra cost for photographers that shoot in RAW, since the built-in tool is a bit limited. The software will also be released in a bundle with VideoStudio Pro X10, released in February, for $160. All the bundles are one-time purchases, with discounts for owners of previous versions who want to upgrade to the latest option.
PaintShop Pro 2018 has much of the same features as Adobe Photoshop, including advanced options for both photography and graphic design. Photoshop still takes the cake for features, with elements like face-aware edits and a few more options in Camera RAW, but when paying a subscription is too much to ask, PaintShop Pro can easily step up. The updated interface and makes it easy for beginners to learn, while PaintShop veterans will see a speed boost along with some new user-requested features.
Footage of a racing drone zipping over the Swiss Alps will give you vertigo
Why it matters to you
This footage shows what is possible with drone photography in the hands of a skilled pilot.
In 2017, footage shot by drone is nothing new. But a spectacular new first-person drone flyover of the Swiss Alps will drop your jaw — and quite possibly give you vertigo, too. Titled Elevations, the short film was shot by Gabriel Kocher, a Swiss physicist living in Montreal, who moonlights as a racing drone pilot. Having finished second in the Drone Racing League’s Allianz World Championship earlier this year, Elevations is part of Kocher’s Gab707 YouTube channel — designed to focus on more creative uses of drones as a way of exploring rugged landscapes.
“This shoot came about while I was hiking in the Swiss Alps in early September this year,” Kocher told Digital Trends. “The drone is a small 220mm diameter custom-built racing drone made for long range that I built myself. It gets strapped to my backpack, along with all the photographic gear that I carry wherever I go. What makes this unique is that the drone is flown FPV [first-person view], through video glasses that allow me to see through a small camera placed on the drone. In contrast to regular camera rigs, this kind of machine brings through all the control movements made by the pilot, capturing much more of the sensation of flight. Its very high power-to-weight ratio — around 8:1 — allows it to get very close to obstacles and acrobatic flights.”
The footage is accompanied by a second video offering an uncut, lower resolution look at the material shot by Kocher. The final edit includes an added sheen — although the only thing that’s tweaked is the addition of driving background music and some footage stabilization to iron out wind-related wobbles.
“The biggest challenge in capturing this kind of footage is that it is shot at the edge of what the technology can do,” Kocher continued. “Not outrunning the battery capacity is a key factor, but the hardest one is keeping the drone in view from the ground station. While I’m looking for a maximum of proximity to the terrain, dropping behind an obstacle will result in a control loss and likely a crash — so this is a constant memory and mental 3D-mapping game.”
On this occasion, we think Kocher won this particular game!
AIVAnet 