Twelve South Releases New ‘Inspire’ Candle as Small Tribute to the Mac

Last year, popular accessory maker Twelve South introduced a candle that promised to deliver a “New Mac” scent. The limited time product was so popular among Apple aficionados that it quickly sold out.

Twelve South is back at it again this year with a new “Inspire” candle, which it refers to as Mac candle N°2. Made from 100 percent soy wax, it is said to give off strong notes of bergamot, lemon, and tarragon.

This year’s candle won’t smell like a freshly unboxed MacBook. Rather, Twelve South says each scent profile was chosen for its ability to help clear your mind of clutter and stimulate creativity in the home or office.

Twelve South said the new candle is a “small tribute to the Mac,” and it shared a quote from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

In the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there, and it’s a way of expressing… our deep appreciation.

The candle is available for $29.99 on Twelve South’s website in the United States. It has an approximate burn time of 60-70 hours.

Tag: Twelve South
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Pixel 2 Reviews: Iterative Update Lacks ‘Wow Factor’ But Still ‘Best Android Phone You Can Buy’

Two weeks after first unveiling the Pixel 2 at an event in San Francisco, reviews of Google’s latest smartphone have now been published online. Many of the reviews written on the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL are positive, with multiple articles referring to the smartphones as the best Android devices on the market, as well as legitimate competitors to Apple’s iPhone series. The only slight negatives appear to surround Google’s decision to aim for functional, more iterative updates over flashier feature additions.

Like most reviews posted today, The Verge was more impressed by the design and look of the Pixel 2 XL than the smaller Pixel 2, calling the latter phone “humdrum” with “big, chunky bezels” that don’t compare favorably to the XL’s smaller bezels and larger 6-inch screen. The site noted that each device’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB of RAM resulted in a snappy UI, running “better overall than Samsung’s or LG’s” version of Android.

Image via The Verge
The Verge described an all-day battery life that “lasts until bedtime just fine,” and said that the Pixel 2 is “easily a contender for best smartphone camera” with photos that are “way sharper than the iPhone 8 and the Note 8.” Although the site had qualms with the 2 XL’s display quality — calling colors “muted” — the overall takeaway came down to being impressed by the smartphone’s snappy functionality, despite a lack of “razzle dazzle.”

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL do not razzle dazzle. It’s not just the somewhat disappointing screen on the Pixel 2 XL, it’s that Google has gone out of its way to do things that are functional instead of flashy. Instead of going bezel-less, it added front-facing speakers. Instead of a million camera effects, it focused on one or two, while making the core camera experience much better with machine learning. The list goes on.

The Pixel 2 has many, many things going for it. Were it not for a few problems — the screen, the slightly inelegant design, and (yes) the lack of a headphone jack — it might have received the highest score we’ve ever given a phone. As it is, it’s a great phone, but not quite a home run.

TechCrunch compared the second iteration of the Pixel line — focusing its review on the Pixel 2 XL — to an “S” generation of the iPhone, meaning that the Pixel 2 is an “evolution” of a smartphone that was already solid, but lacks a central “wow factor.” Still, the site was impressed by what Google accomplished with a single-lens camera system, describing “admirable” performance in low- and mixed-light settings, and mostly positive early impressions from Google’s AI-powered “Lens” feature, which automatically tags objects in pictures.

Image via TechCrunch
Even though the Pixel 2 XL runs for upwards of $800, TechCrunch ultimately stated that Google’s smartphone shows “what can be done without having to charge users $1,000 for a device.”

The Pixel 2 doesn’t make a particularly compelling upgrade case for users of last year’s model. The hardware isn’t a radical departure, and many of the new software features will be coming to the first-generation model — after all, Android support for older devices is one of the key tenants of Google’s first-party software approach. The device also doesn’t push the boundaries of what a mobile device is as much as other recent flagships.

The new phones offer a glimpse at that future and, in the case of the device’s camera, show what can be done without having to charge users $1,000 for a device.

Ars Technica looked at the performance of the Pixel 2, calling Google’s build of Android for the new smartphones “the most highly optimized, smoothest, and fastest build of Android I have ever seen.” Although the site had similar problems with the OLED display as The Verge — Ars called it “an ugly graniness” most detectable in dark environments — and the “dated aesthetic” of the 5-inch Pixel 2, its final impression was that Google’s new smartphone is “the best Android phone out there.”

The Pixel XL, Pixel 2 XL, and iPhone 8 Plus via Ars Technica

Every single animation goes off without a hitch. Scrolling is flawless. There are additional, exclusive animations on the home screen like bounce scrolling and folder opening that add to the buttery smooth feel. It’s amazing—head and shoulders above every other Android phone out there.

With the Pixel, you get an iPhone-like update experience, a cohesive software package, and super fast UI performance. It offers a harmonious device with a single, cohesive design language and none of the junk that slows your phone down. In 2017, that’s enough to merit the title of “Best Android phone.”

Interestingly, Ars Technica also pointed out that the Pixel 2 marks Google’s first foray into its own custom designed system on a chip (SoC), packed into the smartphone in addition to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. Although not active yet, the chip is said to be “dedicated exclusively to camera image processing” on the Pixel 2, and will eventually make processing photos “faster and more efficient than ever.” Google calls the SoC the “Pixel Visual Core,” and it includes an eight-core Image Processing Unit capable of more than three trillion operations per second.

For more Pixel 2 reviews, check out the following sites: CNET, Business Insider, Engadget, TIME, Wired, ZDNet, CNN Tech, and Venture Beat.

Tag: Google Pixel
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DHS will demand that feds implement basic email security

After suffering several security breaches over the past few years, the US government will finally require federal agencies to implement basic email security measures. According to Reuters, Homeland Security’s deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity Jeanette Manfra has revealed at an event in New York that the agency will soon require other federal agencies to adopt DMARC and STARTTLS. DMARC helps detect and block spoofed emails to prevent impersonation of government officials. STARTTLS prevents emails from being intercepted en route to the recipient. Both are at least a decade old and have already been widely adopted by email providers like Google and Microsoft.

Manfra said Homeland Security will issue a binding directive soon, after which agencies will have 90 days to implement the new requirements. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has been trying to convince agencies to begin implementing the standards since earlier this year. See, the problem is that some government offices already use at least one of those two security measures, while others don’t. In fact, the Pentagon has only started using STARTTLS to protect the military’s mail.mil email accounts in July. The directive will ensure all agencies are protected by both — as they say, better late than never.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Reuters

Facebook buys popular teen polling app ‘tbh’

In another bid to establish a deeper connection with young’uns who might just see Facebook as a way to communicate with grandma, the social network has snapped up “tbh.” It’s an app targeting American teens that focuses on positive interactions with friends online. Facebook likely took notice, because the application (according to the company’s post about the acquisition) has been downloaded by over 5 million people over the past few weeks. It currently has 2.5 million daily users despite only being available in select states.

You can think of tbh (and yes, that’s to be honest) as a polling app, which only allows questions that’ll make the choices feel good about being selected. For instance, you can create a poll asking “Who has the most infectious laugh?” or “Who has the cutest smile?” then list four choices among your contacts. You get gems whenever you get selected, and you’ll have the option of getting in contact with the users who chose you. It’s up to them to decide whether to reveal who they are. As you can see, it could also be a recipe for shattered self-esteems — what if nobody chose you? — but its creators’ goal is to create a community where people can feel happier and more confident about themselves.

According to TechCrunch, Facebook moved fast enough that it paid less than $100 million for the purchase. That’s chump change for the company and probably one of the reasons why it didn’t build a copycat instead. However, that’s still a huge deal for a start-up that almost ran out of money before developing tbh. The developers will even get to run their team independently with Facebook’s money to back them up.

Source: Reuters, TechCrunch

Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: Google’s best phones get even better

Google’s first Pixel smartphones weren’t just smartphones; they were a proclamation that Google was more than just a software giant. They were proof that it could craft first-class devices that showed off what Android was really capable of. The new Pixel 2 and 2 XL continue that new tradition and offer some major changes to the Pixel formula. They’re also among the first devices to highlight what’s new and notable in Android 8.0 Oreo. While they don’t get absolutely everything right, Google’s new phones have still managed to further the Pixel’s reputation for Android excellence.

Hardware

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Having two nearly identical Pixels last year was a blessing — the choice between them just boiled down to what size you preferred. Things are different now. The Pixel 2 isn’t just the smaller of Google’s new phones; it’s also the more traditional. That’s mostly because of a boxy design that features a 5-inch 1080p OLED screen and some big top and bottom bezels. To anyone hoping for a sleeker small PIxel this year, I’m sorry: the bezels are just about as big now as they were before.

At least this time Google made use of that real estate by squeezing stereo speakers above and below the screen. While I’m glad those bezels serve a purpose this time, they still make the Pixel 2 look and feel a bit outdated. While it’s been said that the Pixel 2’s look was tailored to fit the company’s “design ethos,” it seems much more like an engineering compromise. Even so, the Pixel 2’s smaller screen isn’t without upsides. It makes for a device that’s remarkably comfortable to hold and use, and the phone’s excellent build quality means the Pixel 2 feels like it’s built to last.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

The Pixel 2 XL, meanwhile, offers more of what you’d expect from a flagship smartphone in 2017. It’s a bigger, more elegantly designed machine, with a gently curved glass panel draped over its 6-inch P-OLED display. The bezels that run around that screen are much smaller too. At first I was a little let down that Google didn’t take a more aggressive approach to eradicating bezels on the new XL. But the logic became clear after about a day: The slim bands of space on either side minimized the number of accidental touches when I reached across the screen with my thumb.

It’s quite manageable for a big phone too. Phablet detractors might still have some trouble using the larger XL. But, thanks in part to its tall and narrow 18:9 aspect ratio, I had little trouble getting my average-size hands around it. And if nothing else, Google’s updated design language works better when applied to a bigger phone — the glossy glass window around back doesn’t take up as much space, and the camera sits closer to the phone’s midline. It’s a small touch, but the camera placement just looks nicer on XL.

As always, though, the two versions of the Pixel 2 are more alike than different. Like most other flagships we’ve seen this year, the Pixels use the high-end Snapdragon 835 chipset, paired with 4GB of RAM and the Adreno 540 GPU. Both are encased in handsome glass-and-metal bodies with 12-megapixel camera bumps jutting slightly out of the phones’ glass “windows.” Both are available in 64GB and 128GB options, with no option to add more storage with a microSD card. Both have always-on displays that show off the time and notifications as they roll in. The list goes on.

Intriguingly, the Pixels also pack what was once an HTC-exclusive feature: pressure-sensitive edges that can be squeezed to activate Google’s Assistant. It’s a neat feature for anyone who hates the idea of saying “OK, Google” in public, though I’ll never stop hoping Google will let us remap the pressure trigger for other things. Oh, and for the first time, we have a pair of Pixels that are actually IP67 water-resistant. This might not sound like a big deal, but it’s a feature that has become common among premium smartphones. Obviously, taking a dip with a Pixel in hand is a lousy idea, but this additional life-proofing is definitely a welcome addition. (Just ask anyone who ever got pushed into a pool.)

Sadly, Google pulled an about-face on the headphone jack. It’s gone, and it seems pretty unlikely to ever return. In fairness, Google worked with some wireless headphone makers to improve the Bluetooth pairing process — the company provided a pair of Libratone Q ADAPT headphones for review to prove the point — but the trend is still disquieting. It’s particularly odd since Google poked fun at the iPhone’s lack of a headphone jack last year and LG’s V30 (which is a close relative of the Pixel 2 XL) managed to pack the one in just fine.

Display and sound

Chris Velazco/Engadget

It might be bound by big bezels, but the Pixel 2’s AMOLED screen is definitely no slouch. In fact, I was surprised to see that the smaller Pixel’s display showed off crisper, livelier colors than its big brother. A 1080p panel might seem a little passé in this world of super-high-resolution screens, but the pixel density is more than enough to pick out nitty-gritty details in photos. Viewing angles were great too, and quite honestly, I’m very pleased with how the junior Pixel’s screen turned out

Meanwhile, the Pixel 2 XL’s screen was more of a mixed bag than I expected. It’s bigger and more pixel-dense, but colors aren’t quite as punchy as on its smaller sibling. Google attributes this to the XL screen’s tuning — the official line is that the company was aiming for more “natural” colors, with the potential for the display’s wide color gamut to offer up punchier visuals when necessary. (There’s an option for “vivid colors” that’s enabled by default in both phones’ display settings, but it didn’t seem to change much of anything on the 2 XL.) The result is that the 2 XL’s screen often produces colors that seem flatter than those on other phones on the market, but I wouldn’t necessarily call that a deal-breaker.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Less pleasant is the bluish tint that appears when you look at the XL’s screen from an angle. I wouldn’t call this a deal-breaker either — the V30 suffers from a similar shift — but it’s a notable shortcoming for a phone that costs this much. Since your phone is going to be smack in front of your face most of the time, it’ll be a non-issue for some people. Still, I just can’t unsee it. At least the Pixel 2 XL’s P-OLED panel doesn’t suffer from the same blotchy, uneven look as some V30 screens at low brightness. I used an app called Reading Mode to lower the 2 XL’s screen brightness beyond what Android normally allows, opened a pure gray test image and didn’t notice anything unusual. Whew. Maybe I’m being a little nitpicky, but you’ll definitely find better big screens elsewhere.

I was pleasantly surprised by Google’s decision to put front-facing stereo speakers on both Pixel 2s. Sadly, neither set is all that impressive. Alt-rock songs like Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” sounded fuller on the XL, while the regular 2 tends to overemphasize mids and highs. That meant the Pixel 2 delivered crisper vocals, while the XL let them languish in the mix. Ultimately, there isn’t a clear winner in the sound department. Neither set of speakers is well suited for the entirety of my weirdo music collection, so the pack-in USB C–to–3.5mm adapter or Bluetooth headphones were a must.

Software

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL are among the first devices to ship with Android 8.0 Oreo, and if history is anything to go on, most Android users won’t get it for quite a while. You can expect a full review soon, but for now, let’s take a quick look at how it runs on the new Pixels.

First off, I’ve found Oreo to be much cleaner and easier to start working with than earlier versions. The new Settings app is a great example: Google has reduced the number of sections to dig into, and more advanced settings are tucked away in drop-down menus. That means you may need to do a little more tapping to find what you’re looking for, but overall, it’s friendlier to newcomers. Besides, you can just use the system-wide search to find what you need. Meanwhile, smaller additions like system-wide Autofill make it dead simple to log into accounts and services without struggling to remember your password.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Maybe the most obnoxious thing about smartphones is the constant influx of notifications, but Oreo handles them with elegance. The notifications shade, for instance, has been divided into three basic sections. Notifications for ongoing processes, like music and navigation, get top billing. After that, you’ll find all the notifications your apps generate, same as always. The last section is the one you might miss — Google refers to it as a spot for “By the Way” notifications, which typically include traffic updates and the weather. Basically they’re like a less intrusive Google Now.

App notifications can now be categorized into channels by developers — the Play Store specifies six of them, for instance — and you can define how they present themselves to you. I definitely don’t want my Pixel to play a sound every time one of my apps is updated, but I may want to see the notification LED blink. Alternately, I might want to mark Play Store account alerts as “urgent” so they make a sound and pop up on-screen. Not every app supports this kind of nuanced notification handling, and most people probably won’t bother. Still, there’s a lot of depth to Google’s approach, and power users should have a great time with them. If you’re less discerning about these kinds of things, you can also just tell apps to shut up for an hour.

Apps have notification dots now too, though they don’t actually tell you how many associated notifications there are. That’s fine by me — iOS’s notification badges make me anxious when the numbers get high enough. In Oreo, the dots are color-coded to match the app icon, and long-pressing the icon offers a quick glance at what just rolled in.

Oreo also picks up a picture-in-picture feature that first appeared on Android TV last year. It’s surprisingly useful on smaller screens. Tapping the home button while watching a video shrinks the window and sticks it in a corner. You can flick it around the screen as needed. Still, the experience hasn’t been perfect: not a single non–YouTube Red video app I’ve tested so far works with picture-in-picture, and having to pay Google $10 a month to use the feature with the company’s most popular video service kind of stinks. It’s much more effective with Google Maps, though. Minimizing the app allows you to see live navigation directions in the corner of your screen while, say, finding a new song to listen to in Spotify.

One of the most jarring changes deals with what’s left of Google Now. It’s been a platform mainstay since the Jelly Bean days, but the focus has definitely shifted since then. To the left of the home screen is what Google refers to simply as your “feed,” which offers info cards on subjects you’ve recently searched for or topics Google already knows you’re interested in. Oh, and every single emoji has been redesigned. Rest in peace, my dear blob friends.

So yeah, there aren’t a ton of shiny new user-facing features in Oreo. Instead, Google went big on structural changes that should improve the way devices handle over the long haul. Project Treble, for instance, separates Android’s core from manufacturers’ software tweaks, which should make it easier and faster to roll out updates. Though I’ll believe it when I see it. Another feature, Vitals, is a series of system optimizations and analytics tools for developers so they can see if their apps are working as intended. I’ll continue to fiddle with Oreo as I work on our full review, but one thing seems clear: it’s the most powerful, accessible version of Android I’ve played with so far, and that bodes well for the Pixel 2 and 2 XL.

The Pixel experience

Chris Velazco/Engadget

The appeal of Google’s Nexus line was that you would get a clean, unfettered taste of what the latest version of Android had to offer. Here’s the rub, though: any hardware maker can whip up a smartphone and load it up with stock Android. Software cleanliness alone is no longer a sufficient reason to drop hundreds of dollars on a smartphone, and Google gets that — that’s why the Pixel 2 and 2 XL pack a handful of features you won’t find on other devices.

Let’s start with the Pixel Launcher — it’s changed a lot since last year. The Google pill thing is gone, replaced by a persistent search bar that lives just below the Favorites tray. It’s now much, much easier to reach with a thumb and start searching. The new At a Glance widget lives where the search bar used to, and it’s been handier than I expected. In addition to offering the time, date and temperature, it highlights traffic alerts and your next calendar appointment (before any reminder notifications pop). It has already warned me about a few scheduled phone calls that I’d forgotten about, and for that Google has my thanks.

If you want them to, the Pixels will also quietly listen for music playing around you. When they identify a song, the results appear at the bottom of the always-on display, and a quick double tap offers more information via Google Assistant. It’s undeniably useful, but also a little creepy — the privacy implications of a phone that’s always listening are hard to ignore. For what it’s worth, Google says none of the audio or data ever leaves your phone, and it’s powered by machine learning processes right on the device. Even so, it’s probably a good thing that Now Playing is off by default. Oh, and, for better or worse, this is one feature that can’t be ported to the older Pixels, since it relies on some specific hardware.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

Also present is a preview version of Google Lens, the image recognition tool the company announced at this year’s I/O conference. The concept is simple: Snap a photo of something and Lens will attempt to figure out what it is and offer you additional information. If that sounds a lot like Samsung’s Bixby Vision, well, you’re spot-on. The difference is that even in its decidedly beta form, Google Lens seems more capable than Bixby. That’s partly because Google has dedicated gobs of money and brainpower to image recognition, and because the Knowledge Graph is better suited to returning information about what’s in front of the camera. Sure, if you want to try and identify some wine or buy something on Amazon, Bixby might have an edge. Otherwise, Google’s Lens seems like the project that really deserves watching.

Both versions of the Pixel also work with Google’s Project Fi wireless service, but there’s a twist. While all versions of the phones have the usual nano-SIM card slots, Fi users can activate and use an embedded SIM, making these two the first mass-market phones to use non-physical SIMs. The best part is, Fi customers will basically never notice the difference. I was able to transfer my Fi service to the Pixel 2 XL in mere moments, and it’s been working perfectly ever since. Oh, and Pixel customers have a dedicated support team just a tap away in the settings. If something’s gone awry, you can fire up a chat or request a call from a Google tech to help you sort things out.

Beyond the usual Pixel niceties, there are a few smaller changes that are still worth pointing out. Holding down the power button brings up a neat little window with options to power off or restart right next to your finger, making it faster to shut the phone down. You have a little more control over media volume; instead of the usual 15 clicks it takes to go from mute to full blast, there are 25 on the Pixels. Oh, and if you’re using a Pixel 2 XL, you can pinch to zoom to expand YouTube videos to fill the entire screen rather than viewing them with black bars on the sides. (Apps like Google Play Movies can also play videos using the whole screen, but pinch to zoom doesn’t won’t work there.)

Camera

Chris Velazco/Engadget

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL share the same 12.2-megapixel camera, and it’s already been hyped like crazy — in DxOMark’s rankings, the Pixels seemed to blow rivals like the iPhone 8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8 away. I don’t think things are quite that simple. Over a week of testing, both versions of the Pixels proved themselves to be highly impressive performers, to the point that the 2 XL has become my go-to smartphone camera. It’s that good, but this race is closer than you might think.

In solid lighting conditions, the Pixels absolutely shine. Images came through with plenty of detail and vibrant colors, which have been great for capturing the contrasts of New York City in the fall. It helps that the Pixels shoot in HDR+ by default — the feature stitches together multiple brief exposures to improve the resulting photo’s dynamic range and detail. In case you couldn’t tell, it works really, really well. There were only a handful of times when I preferred an iPhone or Note shot over a Pixel photo, and that’s a serious testament to how good Google’s computational photography skills have gotten.

The Pixels are very good in low light too, offering up photos with surprisingly pleasant colors and minimal blur. Problem is, the sensors aren’t as good as the Note 8’s when it comes to eradicating noise. Look closely and you’ll spot plenty of it. There is a trade-off, though: while the Note 8 retains a little more detail and manages to expose dim shots better right off the bat (a function of its slightly better aperture), the Pixels did a better job at reproducing colors naturally.

When it comes to zooming, the Pixels are at a clear disadvantage. The dual cameras used in the Note 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus allow for optical zoom, while the Pixels are stuck with digital only. As a result, zoomed photos of objects in the distance have noticeably less detail — looks like Google’s computational approach can’t fix everything. It is, however, very good for simulating more complex optics when shooting in Portrait mode. I’ve been really impressed with how good Google’s algorithms are at differentiating between what’s in the foreground and what’s not. That goes for selfies too. Since the Pixels don’t need additional hardware to produce bokeh behind a subject, photos using the 8-megapixel front-facing camera look excellent. (It helps that the Pixels’ cameras use a retouching feature to lightly clean up faces.)

Before and after Portrait mode.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

A lot of work went into making the Pixels two of the best no-nonsense smartphone cameras out there. But for some, it might be a little too simple. There’s no Pro mode for manual control, and the only options to tinker with are a focus and exposure lock button and an exposure compensation slider. That’s it. Now, are you ready for the really crazy part?

There’s actually a new image-processing chip baked into the Pixel 2s — the Pixel Visual Core — that Google hasn’t activated and didn’t tell anyone about. It’s an octa-core processor Google designed itself that delivers additional horsepower for imaging and HDR processing. Google says it’ll push an update in the coming weeks to fire it up. That Google designed its own mobile chip is surprising enough; even more impressive is that every test photo I’ve taken that used HDR+ hasn’t even touched that extra chipset yet. More important, Google says that third-party camera apps will also be able to shoot with the Pixel 2’s HDR+ mode when it activates the chipset in the coming weeks. The ability to shoot improved photos from right inside an app like Instagram is a very strong (not to mention surprising) reason to pick a Pixel over the competition.

All told, some of the Pixels’ camera rivals can outperform it in some areas, and in areas where the Pixels pull ahead, they don’t do so dramatically. Even so, if I had to choose a smartphone camera to take with me everywhere, it’d be one of the Google Pixels. They’re effortlessly good. It’s just too bad that Pixel 2 owners don’t get the same sweet deal offered last year. You can store all your full-resolution photos to Google’s servers for free as usual, but only until 2020 — if you’re still using a Pixel 2 after that, your uploads will be compressed.

Performance and battery life

Chris Velazco/Engadget

I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise, but the Pixel 2 and 2 XL are incredibly fast. Part of that is obviously due to the high-end Snapdragon chipset Google used, but we also have some of the under-the-hood performance tweaks to thank. All of that comes together for an experience that’s among the smoothest I’ve encountered: frenzied multitasking (even in split-screen mode) is an absolute breeze, and none of the graphically intense games I threw at it gave me any trouble whatsoever. Flagship performance has become almost ubiquitously good this year, but the Pixel’s dearth of software bloat gives it an edge over devices like the Note 8. It just feels faster.

Still, it’s not perfect. I ran into some occasional issues with games like Tempest, a pirate-themed RPG that has you cruising the open seas searching for trouble. While most games I tried handled the Pixel 2 XL’s longer screen without issue, Tempest left a chunk of empty space between the edge of the app window and the on-screen navigation keys. This is something developers will need to keep in mind as these kinds of displays become more popular.

Google Pixel
Google Pixel XL
Galaxy Note 8
AnTuTu (total)
152,491
159,382
139,218
141,065
16,673
3DMark IS Unlimited
38,898
39,235
28,645
29,360
38,960
GFXBench 3.0 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (fps)
52
52
46
48
55
CF-Bench
N/A
N/A
39,997
39,918
67,415

Meanwhile, Google basically nailed its battery life proclamations. The smaller Pixel 2 packs a 2,700mAh battery. And yes, that’s just a hair less capacious than the original Pixel’s was. Still, it was more than enough to get me through a full day and then some. You could feasibly stretch that out to a day and a half if you use the phone sparingly. The XL’s larger 3,520mAh battery is clearly the one worth yearning for, though. It routinely lasted at least through a day and a half of nearly constant use. And I could easily have dragged that out to two full days had I not spent so much time sucked into a freemium Digimon game all week.

The competition

On the Android side, Google’s fiercest competition comes from — who else? — Samsung. The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus were released at the beginning of the year, and they use the same Snapdragon brain as both of the PIxel 2s. Beyond that, their expansive Infinity Displays are almost beyond reproach and easily outshine the panels Google used this year. Both also have excellent cameras, and while I prefer what Google has achieved with the Pixels, the S8s have a slight edge in low-light photography. Honestly, the decision boils down to software: The S8s still run a version of Android 7.0 Nougat painted over with Samsung’s custom interface. It’s swimming in Samsung apps too, including the lackluster Bixby virtual assistant. Google’s cleaner approach, coupled with the promise of software updates for three years, will make the Pixels more attractive to some.

If you’re not already wedded to Android, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are also strong options. Don’t let their traditional designs fool you: both of Apple’s new smartphones feature terribly fast A11 Bionic chipsets, and Apple’s constellation of quality apps is nothing to sneeze at. Things get a little trickier when it comes to photography, though. While the 8 Plus’s dual camera certainly gives the Pixel 2 XL a run for its money, the smaller Pixel 2 easily outclasses the iPhone 8’s single sensor.

Wrap-up

Chris Velazco/Engadget

I find it difficult to make sweeping statements like “This is the best phone out there, period,” because such generalizations are prone to be wrong for a lot of people. That said, I can safely say the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are the best Android phones I’ve used all year (and I’ve used a lot of them). While I don’t agree with all of Google’s choices, something special is bound to happen when a company as smart as Google takes such strict control over how its vision of smartphones should be realized. The optimist in me thinks we haven’t seen Google at its best yet, either — remember, Google’s hardware team just picked up 2,000 new employees from a company that itself made some truly memorable phones over the years. I fully expect things to get even better in time, but for now, Android fans shouldn’t miss the Pixel 2 and 2 XL.

The Pixel 2 has a surprise: Google’s first custom imaging chip

Google didn’t spill all the details about the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL at its October 4th event. As it turns out, these phones have a secret weapon: Google’s first custom imaging chip (and indeed first system-on-chip of any kind), the Pixel Visual Core. The eight-core processor works closely with software to handle Google’s machine learning-assisted HDR+ photography up to five times faster than the Pixel 2’s main CPU, all the while using a tenth of the energy.

More importantly, the chip makes HDR+ shooting accessible to any third-party camera app. You don’t have to use Google’s software to capture more detailed highlights and shadows. The tech giant is also promising new uses for Pixel Visual Core over time (it’s programmable), so you could expect to see more photographic abilities as time goes on.

There’s only one main catch with the Core. You see, it’s not actually enabled yet — it won’t be available as an option until the developer preview of Android Oreo 8.1 arrives in the “coming weeks,” and it won’t be ready for all third-party apps until sometime after that. If you bought a Pixel 2 as soon as you could, you’ll have to rely on the stock camera app for a while. Google didn’t say to expect this feature when you bought the phone, to be fair, but its full potential won’t be realized until considerably later.

Source: Google

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update bets big on mixed reality

Microsoft’s next major Windows 10 release for 2017, the Fall Creators Update, doesn’t make any huge waves. But you might have gathered that from its name alone. In many ways, it’s a continuation of what the company started with this spring’s Creators Update, which added Paint 3D, game mode and a slew of improvements focused on making things, be it art or a simple spreadsheet. (I’ve heard the word creation so many times this year from Microsoft reps, it’s beginning to sound like a cultish chant.)

With its latest OS, available today, Microsoft is preparing for the arrival of virtual reality headsets. At the same time, it’s delivering some genuinely useful quality of life improvements for Windows 10 users.

Stepping into “mixed reality”

Microsoft just has to be different. It’s not giving up on the name “mixed reality” anytime soon, primarily because it sees it as a combination of virtual and augmented reality. Aside from the pricy HoloLens, though, most of what we’ve seen from Microsoft falls strictly into the VR side of things. With the Fall Creators Update, the company is officially supporting VR headsets from partners like Acer, Dell and Samsung. The big difference from other VR platforms? Some of the headsets are inexpensive, at around $300, and they don’t require any complex sensor setups.

While I didn’t have any of the headsets to test for this review, I’ve tried out several over the past few months. The early demos started out as fairly simple experiences, but they’ve steadily gotten better. Last week, I tried out Lenovo’s headset together with Microsoft’s new motion controllers (which will be bundled together for $450), and I came away impressed. It fit comfortably, looked sharp (thanks its 1,440 by 1,440 per eye resolution) and featured solid motion tracking.

I checked out a few 360-degree videos, strolled around Microsoft’s mixed reality living room environment and played a bit of the Halo Recruit experience. Don’t get too excited about Halo in VR, though. It’s basically just a simple shooting gallery at this point. You get to pick up guns and take aim at a wave of enemies. But it’s arranged like a carnival game, with you standing in one place while cutouts of the baddies slowly stroll by.

If you don’t have a VR headset, you can still check out Microsoft’s new Mixed Reality Viewer. It uses the cameras on your device, be it a webcam or a rear shooter on a Surface, to overlay digital objects in the real world. You can change their sizes and orientations, but beyond that the app is more of a preview than a serious introduction to mixed reality.

Photos get remixed

The impressive Story Remix feature Microsoft debuted at Build this year is here — but it’s baked into the Windows 10 Photos app. Basically, it lets you easily create short films from your photos and videos. Don’t expect to throw in any 3D objects in those movies, though. Microsoft says that feature — which was easily Story Remix’s most impressive aspect — still needs more work. Windows Insiders will be able to preview the 3D object integration in a few months, but it’s unclear when average users will get it.

As it stands, though, the Story Remix features we get in the Fall Creators update are still useful. I threw together several photos of my cats, hit the create button, and within seconds I had a 15 second short film. If you don’t like what the app gives you at first, you can also hit the remix button to change things up. Alternatively, you can also hop into the film and edit it yourself. I ended up moving some photos around and choosing some dramatic adventure music that perfectly suited my cats.

I’ve been looking for a decent photo manager to replace Google’s aging Picasa on my Windows PC. With these new capabilities, it looks like Microsoft’s app might be the best option.

OneDrive on-demand

For some reason, I’ve never felt compelled to set up OneDrive syncing on Windows 10. Maybe I’m just a little old school, or perhaps I could just never get the hang of configuring OneDrive in a way that made it useful on my desktop. With the new Files On-demand feature, though, those worries are a thing of the past. It lets you see all of the files and folders in your OneDrive without having to manually synchronize them. They simply show up in Windows Explorer. When you need a file, you just have to double-click to download it. Sure, it could lead to some confusion if you work offline a lot, but for many always-connected users, it could end up saving some valuable hard drive space.

What’s up, MyPeople

MyPeople, an app that was initially supposed to debut with the last Creators Update, is finally making its Windows 10 debut this fall. It lets you easily get in touch with your closest friends and family via a new section in the task bar. From there, you can quickly send them an email, Skype message or even a note on Xbox Live, all without opening any external apps. If you spend most of the day chatting with a handful of people, it could end up saving you plenty of time.

When we first caught wind of this feature, it sounded as if it was turning Windows 10 into a more empathetic OS. Well, we’re not quite there yet. After pointing it to my Gmail contacts, it only showed me a handful of people that I don’t talk to very much. It turns out most of my friends don’t really use Microsoft services much. Still, it’s early days for MyPeople; I’m hoping it’ll improve over time.

Better security

Windows users probably don’t think much of Defender, Microsoft’s homegrown security app. But it’s been a lifesaver for IT departments and people who inevitably end up troubleshooting issues for friends. Now, Microsoft is making Defender even more useful. It’s new Exploit Guard feature, for example, will prevent zero-day exploits from taking over your system. If you’ve got multiple computers in your house, or you’re on a corporate network, the new Device Guard will also keep serious infections from spreading to others.

Odds and ends

Microsoft

Here are a few other aspects of the Fall Creators Update to note:

• You can now place 3D objects in PowerPoint slides.
• Speaking of PowerPoint, the Surface Pen now doubles as clicker to advance through slides. You just need to hit the eraser button.
• Cortana received the usual voice improvements, and she has a handy panel for displaying search results and other information.
• Windows now supports eye tracking using Tobii’s hardware, which could be useful for those who can’t use hand-based gesture controls.
• The task manager can now track GPU performance alongside CPU and memory.

Wrap-up

If anything, the Fall Creators Update is a reminder of the new Windows world we’re living in. Microsoft is upgrading its desktop OS faster than ever — even outside of these major releases. So even if you can’t take advantage of Microsoft’s big push into mixed reality, remember that the next update isn’t too far off.

Google’s second Daydream headset is all subtle improvements

Samsung’s Gear VR ushered in an age where we strap our phones to our faces for entertainment. But when it debuted last year, Google’s $79 Daydream View managed to make the whole process look just a little less geeky. To coincide with the launch of its new Pixel smartphones, Google whipped up an updated version of the Daydream View that costs $20 more than the old one. So, what’s actually new here? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

First off, no one could blame you for having trouble telling the new Daydream View apart from the old one. Google’s cozy design language is still in full effect — it’s all gentle curves and soft fabric here — and you still just place the phone onto the headset’s flap and cinch the whole thing shut with a bit of elastic.

Don’t be fooled though, there’s more going on with the new View than you might expect. Some phones were prone to overheating and shutting down in the original headset. Obviously, this is no bueno for a device that sits so close to your face, so Google added a magnesium heatsink to help phones shed heat.

So far, it seems to be working pretty well. I spent the better part of my weekend sitting on the edge of a virtual lake angling for virtual fish in hourlong chunks, and the Pixel 2 only got about as warm as it did after playing a typical mobile game. Then again, your mileage may vary depending on how long you stay in your virtual realm of choice — most of my time with original Daydream was spent watching videos or playing games like Don’t Talk and Nobody Explodes in short bursts.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

This has its drawbacks, though. The heatsink’s placement means you can’t just stick the Daydream controller into a slot on the front flap anymore. Instead, Google stuck an extra elastic loop on the back of the new View’s headband for the controller. It’s functional, sure, but it’s far less elegant than Google’s original solution. At least the controller’s buttons are more pronounced so you’ll never mix them up. The Home button feels a touch more concave than before, and the Apps button is raised instead of flat.

More important, the new View is much better at shutting out stray light that can distract from the VR experience. The original was notorious for letting light bleed through small gaps where the headsets rested on people’s noses, and I’m glad Google finally got around to fixing it by improving the foam cup your face pushes up against. You’d think a more secure seal against your face might get a little uncomfortable, especially because the View largely relies on a single elastic strap to keep everything snug. Not so. The pad that presses into your face now seems to spread the weight around more evenly, and the new View comes with an extra strap that sits atop your head to help make the whole thing a little less front-heavy.

The other major change to the View’s design becomes apparent when you look into the headset for the first time. Comparatively speaking, the new Fresnel lenses used to magnify a phone’s screen are huge. Google made the change to increase the headset’s virtual field of view by 10 percent, and while that sounds like a pretty modest bump, it meant I take in more of whatever world I was in at a glance. More important, these new lenses also make the sweet spot — that point where your eyes can perfectly focus on the screen — a little larger than before. After five or six minutes of trial and error, I got the ideal strap lengths locked in, and I’ve been staring at the sweet spot ever since.

So yeah, the hardware has been improved in subtle, helpful ways. The software experience, meanwhile, hasn’t really changed. You’ll be plopped into the same virtual forest in front of the same virtual menu to access the same virtual apps. That’s what makes the new Daydream such a hard sell: Because all of the heavy lifting is handled by the smartphone, the actual experience isn’t hugely different from before. When it comes to content, Google still has a ways to go — at current count, Google has around 250 Daydream apps, but the Gear VR’s head start still means it has a stronger catalog of exclusive apps to work with. In particular, Samsung and Oculus’ mobile headset has a better selection of licensed experiences — you’ll need a Gear VR if you want to cruise through Blade Runner’s techno-noir LA or peer into a handful of Disney-themed worlds.

Ultimately, the new Daydream View is a solid new choice for people with compatible phones looking for a crash course in virtual reality. If you already have an old View and haven’t run into the trouble others have, there’s no pressing need to upgrade. And if you fall into the category of people who yearn for a more powerful mobile VR experience, well, you should probably just wait for Google’s standalone headset instead.

Microsoft’s Precision Surface Mouse focuses on ergonomics

Microsoft has taken the wraps off the Surface Precision Mouse, a Bluetooth LE 4.2 and wired ergonomic model designed for folks who work on their PCs all day. With a wide flange for your thumb, it bears a slight resemblance to Logitech’s MX Master 2S mouse, albeit with a less flamboyant, more business-like design. Microsoft says it’s aimed at customers of the all-new Surface Book 2 and Surface Studio, who tend to be graphics pros, coders, engineers and others who need both accuracy and comfort.

The Surface Precision Mouse joins the Surface Mouse, Surface Arc Mouse and Surface Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse in Microsoft’s Surface stable. The new model comes with three customizable buttons that can be set to launch apps, execute macros and do other chores. It can be paired with up to three PCs at the same time, and works with macOS, Android, and Windows 7, 8.1, and 10. Interestingly, the customization options are not available on Microsoft’s stripped-down Windows 10 S, even though that’s the default OS on the Surface Laptop.

We had a chance to play with the Surface Precision Mouse and found it to be very easy on the hands, so it should make a fine companion for Microsoft’s Surface Ergonomic Keyboard. It might leap to the top of wish lists of Surface, or any other PC buyers, for that matter. It arrives on November 16th, and the only thing that might give you pause is the $99 price tag, which makes it the most expensive mouse in the Surface lineup.

Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 includes a brawnier 15-inch version

Microsoft’s Surface Book has grown long in the tooth, to put it mildly: the base model hasn’t been touched since 2015, and even the Performance Base version was really just a higher trim level instead of a true follow-up. At last, though, there’s a proper sequel. Microsoft has unveiled the Surface Book 2, and this is much more of what fans of the detachable laptop-plus-tablet concept were looking for. It’s more powerful, with quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core processors across most of the line and GeForce 10-series graphics on all Core i7 variants. However, the real star of the show is the addition of a second model: there’s now a 15-inch version for those who are more interested in an expansive display than portability.

The 15-inch touch panel is only slightly higher-resolution than its smaller counterpart, at 3,240 x 2,160. Microsoft was clearly focused on maintaining pixel density (it’s slightly less dense than the 13-inch model at 260PPI) rather than dazzling you with a 4K screen. It weighs more for both the combined system (4.2lbs versus 3.6lbs or less) and the tablet portion (1.8lbs versus 1.6lbs), for that matter.

However, you might not mind so much given the extra graphics power. The Core i7-equipped 13-inch model’s GTX 1050 and 2GB of video RAM are respectable, but the 15-incher ships with a GTX 1060 and 6GB of video RAM. Microsoft claims the Surface Book 2 is fast enough to play games like Forza Motorsport 7 at a solid 60 frames per second in 1080p. While you wouldn’t want to buy either laptop with gaming as the focus (you can clearly get more bang for your buck elsewhere), this makes the 15-inch rig a tempting option if you don’t want to give up your game library just to try Microsoft’s removable tablet design.

On that note, Microsoft has refined the system in mostly subtle ways. The Surface Book’s signature hinge has been tweaked to wobble less when you touch the screen, while there are promises of a faster, more comfortable backlit keyboard. Newer processors help the machine last for up to 17 hours in laptop mode, and 5 hours in tablet mode. And finally, finally, Microsoft has deigned to include a USB-C port in a Surface device. There’s just one on each model (you also have two USB-A ports and an SDXC card reader), but it’ll spare you from using a dongle to charge your phone or attach a newer external drive.

We don’t have full pricing as we write this, although Microsoft says the new range will start at $1,499 when it ships on November 16th (pre-orders start on November 9th). Be prepared to pay through the nose to get the exact system you want, mind you. That starting price tag is for a 13-inch rig with a dual-core 7th-generation Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid-state drive. Opt for the 15-inch edition (which only comes in Core i7 form) and you’re going to pay a staggering $2,499. These high prices aren’t such a big problem now that the more affordable Surface Laptop exists — it’s just obvious that Microsoft sees the Book 2 as an upsell for buyers who need more horsepower.