First-gen Pixel phones aren’t receiving SMS messages

Google is aware of the issue and working on a fix.

Google’s Pixel 2 is finally here, and while it’s a worthy upgrade from last year’s model, we don’t blame those that want to hold onto their 2016 Pixel for a bit longer. The first-generation Pixel and Pixel XL are still great phones, but a bug has popped up that’s preventing some users of the devices from receiving SMS text messages.

This is an issue that’s apparently been going on for some time now, and our own Daniel Bader has been affected by it as well. Basically, if you have a Pixel or Pixel XL, there’s a chance you won’t receive text messages that are sent to you.

That’s a bug that could prove to be extremely annoying, and unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any specific reason for it happening. A lot of users on Google’s product forums report that they’re having the issue with Pixels on Verizon, but others are using the phone on Big Red without any issues at all. Others also claim that the bug first popped up after updating to Android 8.0 Oreo, but then again, another person says that they had the issue prior to the Oreo update.

Thankfully, a manager from the Pixel User Community responded to these complaints with the following message:

Hey all,

Thanks for all of the reports. The team is aware of the issue and working towards a fix. Some of you have mentioned that rebooting or factory resetting the device resolved the issues. Definitely try to reboot, and if you factory reset, make sure all of your data/info is backed up.

I’ll keep you all posted!

Some people report that they started to receive texts once again after a simple reboot, but for the majority of people (including Daniel), a full factory reset is required. It’s good to know that Google is aware of the problem at hand and working on a proper fix, but we can only hope that that resolution comes sooner rather than later with a problem as serious as this.

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

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• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
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• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Acer Chromebook Spin 11 review: Built like a tank and great for both kids and adults

The best Chromebook for a youngster might be the best Chromebook for you, too.

We knew we would be seeing Chromebooks with Intel’s new Apollo Lake processors, and seeing one of the first to ship be an education-focused model was a great surprise. Chromebooks designed for the classroom have a few special needs because let’s face it — kids can be rough on the equipment! The Acer Chromebook Spin 11 fits the bill with MIL-STD 810G compliance, a unique spill-proof keyboard, and a tough 360-degree dual-torque hinge.

What’s special about the Spin 11 is that it brings high performance, Android apps, a Wacom EMR (Electro-Magnetic Resonance) stylus, and an 11.6-inch Gorilla Glass antimicrobial touchscreen. These are things you don’t expect to find in an education-focused Chromebook because they tend to add to the already high prices that we’re used to seeing for models built for the school system.

Guess what? This one is still only $399. With pricing built for everyone in a Chromebook designed to take a beating, plus extra features we didn’t expect, we had to take a closer look at the Acer Chromebook Spin 11.

See at Amazon

Built to survive the kids

When you build a Chromebook with the idea that kids will be using it at school and carrying it home every night, it has to be able to take a beating. Thin, light aluminum models might look nice, but getting thrown into a locker or sliding around on the floor of the bus would quickly turn them into a paperweight.

The Spin 11 is built to take that sort of abuse. It’s built from polycarbonate both top and bottom with a rubberized bumper that rings the bottom shell. The bumper extends away from the body and will be the first thing that hits when the Spin 11 lands on the floor to minimize the impact.

Inside the bumper, the Spin 11 is built to withstand 60 kilograms (132 pounds). The average K-12 student could stand on it while it’s closed and afterward you can open the lid and go. This is an important spec, as anyone who has a child of their own can tell you. Kids can get rough and they tend to do the unthinkable — like standing on their laptop.

• Dimensions: 11.7-inches (width) x 8.1-inches (depth) x 0.8-inches (height)
• Weight: 3.1 pounds
• MIL-STD 810G military standard rated

The Spin 11 is a convertible, and the hinges are yet another of its rugged features. They’re steel and recessed into both sections with a pivot point. Acer calls this a 360-degree dual-torque hinge, and while it doesn’t make for the smoothest of motions when you’re flipping the screen back, they’re not going to break. Ever. You would have to rip the hinges away from the body itself to damage anything at the pivot point. It’s hard to be excited about a laptop hinge, but the design is ingenious and should prove to be long-lasting.

One really cool thing you won’t find on other Chromebooks is the dual camera setup. You’ll find a 720p HDR webcam above the screen like you would on any other laptop, but a second 1080p camera is positioned just north of the keyboard tray to act as a rear-facing camera. We’re not saying the Spin 11 is the best tool to take photos at an event or anything, but you totally could. Remember, the best camera is the one you have with you.

A Gorilla Glass and germ-proof display

The screen is also built tough. It’s an 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 multi-touch LED-backlit IPS display, which is pretty standard when it comes to laptops of this size, Chromebook or not. It’s clear and bright and renders colors nicely. These are all things that the screen on a $400 machine has to be able to do well, and I have zero actual complaints. Of course, a higher resolution would always be great when it comes to a laptop display, but the business end of the Spin 11 should serve its purpose well for both schoolwork and entertainment. It’s what’s on top that stands out here.

The display is built with Corning’s Gorilla Glass and has an antimicrobial layer on top where fingers are going to be touching it. Not only is it going to be difficult to scratch, but it’s also going to keep germs from passing themselves to classmates and teachers. Again, if you have a child you’ve had to remind them to wash their hands more than once. Kids can be curious and fearless, which means fingers in places where they shouldn’t be. The Spin 11 can’t keep them from sticking those fingers in their mouth or rubbing their eyes, but it can keep the germs from moving to someone else’s fingers. Like yours.

A keyboard built for those oopsies

Usually, when you spill a glass of water on your laptop you can send it off to the big recycle bin in the sky. Electronics and water don’t mix, and the standard way to combat the problem has been a thin membrane over the keyboard tray. That’s a great idea and it works, but it also affects the keys and your typing is going to suffer. There’s no rubbery skin here.

There are actual drainage holes on the bottom of the Spin 11. Neat!

Instead, the electronics have been protected and the body of the Spin 11 has drainage holes underneath. A spilled glass of water will run through, come out of the holes and end up in a puddle on the desk. Yes, that can be messy (and fun to test) but a puddle on the desk can be cleaned up whereas a puddle inside a laptop is a death sentence for it. You can still tell the kids not to set their glass of water next to their laptop, but you’ll also know they aren’t going to fry the circuit boards when they don’t listen.

It’s important to note that this was designed for water. Things like Kool-Aid may be mostly water, but there’s a chance that the Spin 11 isn’t going to like a cup of Sharkleberry Fin should one get dumped on it.

Even more features

It’s great that the Spin 11 is tough, but a few extra features make things even better. The Spin 11 has a couple of features that take it over the top when it comes to a rugged, education Chromebook.

Included in the box is a Wacom EMR stylus. With the most recent versions of Chrome OS, you’ve got support for drawing and text entry and the Spin 11 is one of the few models designed to take advantage. It’s a fairly fluid experience; the action on the display keeps up well with most of your penmanship, but you can make it choppy if you get a little excited. The early issues of line-lagging and the pen no longer working until you reboot have been worked out of Chrome with the latest software, and out of the box, the pen makes for a good experience.

The stylus is digital but takes no batteries thanks to Wacom’s EMR technology. This works by switching back and forth from a power-sending mode to a mode that listens for the RF signal from the pen. This happens many times per second and is fast enough so that the Chromebook knows where the pen is in relation to the screen all the time, when it’s touching the screen, and how hard it’s touching. The end result is an active digital stylus that never needs batteries and you don’t have to plug in anywhere. It works really well, and you can read more about EMR here.

Another big plus is that the Spin 11 supports Google Play and Android apps out of the box. Once you’re signed in and all systems are go, you’ll see a welcome screen that helps you get set up and installs the Play Store app into your tray. this only takes a minute or two and you’ll have access to the apps you already love using on your phone, using the same account.

Of course, Chromebooks that are managed by a school administrator can have Google Play disabled through the management console if desired.

Great specs and ports galore

The Spin 11 is one of the first Chromebooks to use the Intel Apollo Lake family of processors. The model we tested came with a dual-core Celeron N3350 clocked at 1.1 GHz with a 2.4 GHz Turbo setting, 4 GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM, and 32 GB of storage.

Our first take with Apollo Lake has proved to be great.

Apollo Lake processors (officially known as Intel Atom E3900 series) use the 14 nm Goldmont architecture and were designed for things that need to be battery friendly but still able to do intense computing in bursts when needed. Special attention was given to things like video acceleration and clock cycle timing so that the chip is capable of 4K 3D graphics and media playback, or 15 simultaneous 1080p video streams should the need arise.

If you’re not into processors enough to keep up with the latest news from the far east, what you need to know is that the chip inside the Spin 11 was built to sip power most of the time, but be able to ramp things up if you need it to. In our testing, that means the Spin 11’s 4870 mAh battery lasted all day plus. Normal usage left me with more than 15% of the battery when it was time to close the lid at night, and while testing I was able to watch just shy of 9 hours worth of 1080p YouTube videos or play 6 hours of CPU-intensive Flash games at Kongregate. Acer lists the battery life at 10 hours and they’re not far off the mark.

You would never know you were using a processor designed to be battery friendly, unless you checked the battery level.

The Spin 11 is also quite the performer, and you would never guess that you were using a dual-core Celeron designed to be power-friendly. A workday here means 10 or more tabs open in the browser, Google Docs, Gmail, and Twitter open all day, along with the Slack Android app at a minimum. For me, add Play Music’s glitchy web interface open running from the minute I open the lid to the minute I close it. The Spin 11 handled it all like a champ. Students will have no problems with their schoolwork, and neither will the teachers who have to oversee it all. That means you will appreciate the performance, too.

Last but not least at all is the abundance of various ports and holes on the Spin 11. Anyone who uses a laptop full-time will tell you that connection options are important, even if some companies making them don’t agree. The Spin 11 is ready for you to plug in almost anything. Along the sides right where they should be, you’ll find:

• Two USB-C 3.1 ports (with Power Delivery so you charge through either one)
• Two full-size USB A 3.0 ports
• A headphone/microphone combo 3.5 mm jack
• MicroSD card slot
• Kensington lock port

Being able to plug a card reader into your Chromebook is great. Being able to do it without any type of adapter or while the power cord is plugged in is priceless.

Chrome is Chrome on every Chromebook

Chrome is one of the few software products from Google that is consistent no matter what brand of laptop you’re using. The very same Chrome experience you’ll have on a Samsung Chromebook Plus or an ASUS Chromebook Flip or even a Google Chromebook Pixel is what you have on the Acer Spin 11.

Chrome OS is the same on every Chromebook. We like it that way.

If you’ve never used a Chromebook before, you need to know that it may look like the computer you’re used to using, but it’s different. You can’t install apps made for Windows or MacBooks, and much of the experience is with the cloud and your Google account in mind. Chrome OS was designed from the ground up to be sleek and fast, even on low-end machines, and is secure out of the box.

You’ll find apps at the Chrome Web Store and Google Play, as well as frontends for Web apps that run just like a native application as long as you’re connected to the internet. Chromebooks are built to do the things most people do on a laptop very well, but if you need specialized software for an office or industrial work you’ll probably not be able to use it on a Chromebook. This makes a Chromebook excellent for students or a business who uses Google’s office software.

There’s nothing installed specifically for the Spin 11 other than the low-level software required to make all the hardware — including the Wacom EMR stylus and digitizer — operate. It’s Chrome, just as Chrome should be, running on hardware with enough “oomph” to run it better than most others.

Should you buy this?

I’ve used the Spin 11 every day for two weeks, for both work and play. There’s absolutely nothing that would give me pause when it comes to recommending it. The new Apollo Lake chip lives up to my tempered expectations, which means all-day battery and enough power to do everything I need a Chromebook to do. I’ve had a lot of good things to say about the Spin 11, but here are some things i didn’t like.

• The screen resolution. Yes, I know that most laptops in this size and this price range have the same display resolution. I can still wish the one I am using did not.
• There is no slot for the Wacom stylus. It’s the size of an ink pen. How many ink pens have you lost?
• The trackpad isn’t glass-coated. It’s pretty smooth with just a hint of texture, and it’s actually nicer than I thought it would be. But plastic and that very slight textured finish mean this white laptop will get dirty. Dirty laptops still work, but a small sheet of thin glass would make this a non-issue.
• It’s heavy for an 11-inch laptop. It wasn’t designed to be thin and light. And it’s not.
• I told myself I would hate the keyboard when I first tried it. I was wrong. I can;t heap any extra praise on it, but it just worked without me grumbling or making any adjustment to the way I type. So I guess that is praise on some level.
• The reflective coating (possibly the antimicrobial layer?) on the display makes for some awful glare under bright light. You’ll need to adjust the angle, move your head or find a new spot to sit outside in the sun.

Some of these are typical spoiled reviewer whining. It’s hard not to compare everything to the one very best thing. The lack of a stylus slot could be a real issue, as could the glare outside that wrecks an otherwise viewable display. Overall, I think the Spin 11 is a really nice Chromebook and should suit almost anyone.

Ask yourself if you really want a rugged and heavy Chromebook.

But the one thing (there’s always one thing) you should think about is the rugged factor. It’s great that the Spin 11 can take a beating and survive, but do you need a Chromebook that can take a beating?

The Spin 11 is hands-down the best Chromebook I’ve ever used for a youngster. Kids are great, and I just melt around them like a big old softie. But they also have a knack for breaking everything they touch, and the Spin 11 is prepared for anything except the most insane thing a child could dream of doing to it. If you are looking for a Chromebook for any child young enough to still be in that “break-everything” stage, this is the one to buy.

You might want something lighter and thinner. If so, the Spin 11 just isn’t for you because light and thin are the two things it is not. Never fear, there are plenty of others out there!

See at Amazon

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
• Acer Chromebook 14 review
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Now Playing on Pixel 2 can already identify tens of thousands of songs

A list that’ll keep on growing.

Google’s Pixel 2 is bringing a lot of cool new features to the table, but one of the most interesting is one called “Now Playing.” Now Playing uses Pixel Ambient Services to identify songs that are playing in the background around you, and once it knows what title it is, it’ll automatically display the name of the song and artist on your lock screen so you can see what’s playing without having to lift a finger.

The feature sounds wildly cool in theory, but its usefulness will ultimately come down to how well it actually works. A developer by the name of Kieron Quinn recently used a program to determine just how many songs Now Playing is able to identify, and during his test, he created a list of 17,300 songs that the Pixel 2 was able to ID.

That’s not a small number any means, and even though Quinn was already of the mindset that there could be even more songs he just wasn’t able to pick up with the software he used, Google was quick to reach out to the folks at 9to5Google to state that Now Playing on the Pixel 2 can identify tens of thousands of different songs – much more than the 17,300 initially discovered by Quinn.

Now Playing will undoubtedly get smarter and be able to identify even more tracks as time goes on, so the fact that it can already recognize that many titles is seriously impressive.

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL review: The new standard for Android

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL hands-on preview
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

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Point this $6 Nubee infrared temperature gun at anything to see how hot or cold it is

Point it at anything and get the temperature! I wonder how warm my desk is…

Is this deal for me?

This Nubee temperature gun with infrared thermometer is down to $6.27 as an Amazon add-on item. The Nubee normally sells for around $20, and this is its lowest price ever.

An add-on item requires you to order $25 worth of stuff, although the $6.29 for the temperature gun does count as part of the total. If you aren’t over $25 with an add-on item in your cart, Amazon will only let you continue shopping instead of checking out. (Pro tip: Order using your Echo by saying “Alexa, order the Nubee temperature gun” and you may get the add-on price without the add-on limitations!)

You’d be surprised at the sheer number of practical uses you can find for a temperature gun. Heating up a pan and want to know if it’s hot enough yet? Use the gun! Boiling water? Looking for leaks around windows or vents? Get the surface temperature of food or check your roasting coffee beans. If that’s not enough for you, you can always use it to make sure your toilet water temperature is constant or to drive your cat crazy.

Features include:

• Max temperature function: it can take the highest temperature of the area tested by scanning and save the data at the bottom of the screen.
• EMS adjustable function: each article has its suitable emissivity, the adjustable emissivity function can make the test more accurate by adjust suitable emissivity for different articles.
• Reads in Celsius or Fahrenheit, there is a switch on the panel to choose between them.
• There’s also a switch to turn on or off the laser sight and adjust the emissivity on different objects.
• Aim precisely at whatever you measure thanks to the laser beam guiding the way. Even from a distance, the laser provides a mark to aim with, ensuring that you’re measuring what you want to be measuring.
• The Infrared lens inside that provides temperature readings without touching or coming close to anything dangerously hot or cold.
• Instantaneous results appear on the Infrared thermometer’s LED screen for fast readouts of temperature.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – Temperature guns are a great way to get a reading on things that might be too hot or too cold to touch, and this one is down to an all-time low price as long as you can make it work as an add-on.
• Things to know before you buy! – If you have an Amazon Echo device, you may be able to get around the $25 limitation for add-on items by saying “Alexa, order the Nubee temperature gun.” Sneaky, sneaky, Amazon. The trick is finding the right listing, which may be difficult but seems to work ok for this one.

See at Amazon

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• Amazon Prime Student is now available as a $5.49 monthly subscription
• The hottest toys of the upcoming holiday season

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DxO One camera with USB-C coming to Android later this year

Still no word on pricing or exact availability.

If you’ve been following flagship smartphones for any length of time this year, chances are you’ve heard something or another about how this phone has the highest DxOMark rating, and just a few months later, a new phone came out with the same praise.

We can all agree at this point that DxOMark ratings are pretty useless when it comes to judging smartphone cameras, but DxO as a company is actually releasing something quite interesting later this year. It’s called the DxO One, and it’s a camera that plugs into your Android phone via USB Type-C.

DxO One first launched with a lightning cable for the iPhone back in 2015, and it received positive reviews at the time. However, it’s steep price tag of $499 kept most potential customers at bay.

The one-inch sensor on the DxO One can capture up to 20.2 MP images, and the f/1.8 aperture should allow for solid low-light performance. There’s a fixed focal lens of 32mm, and it’s capable of capturing images in both JPEG and RAW. While you’ll want to plug the DxO One into your phone to get the full experience, you can also capture images blindly by using the gadget entirely on its own.

We weren’t sure if the DxO One would ever make its way to Android, so it’s nice to finally have some closure on the matter. DxO says that it’ll have more information about the Android-compatible version of the One on November 2, and the device will initially be released through some sort of Early Access program. Unfortunately, we don’t currently know if pricing will change or when it’ll be widely available for everyone to purchase.

From the Editor’s Desk: Why DxOMark scores are basically worthless

The $13 EasyAcc Mini portable Bluetooth speaker doesn’t have small sound

Good things come in small packages.

Is this deal for me?

The EasyAcc Mini portable Bluetooth speaker is down to $12.79 with code X2J7ATBC on Amazon. It has regularly sold at $16 for the last several months and has only dropped below $14 once before.

This code also works on the Red and Blue versions but only brings the total down to $13.59 since they regularly sell at $17.

It’s a safe bet you aren’t going to find a speaker that produces all this sound and yet costs less than $20.

Features include:

• Small, stylish, compact, and extremely portable; fits easily into your bag or pocket so you can use it on the go.
• Equipped with a 3.5mm audio cable for non-Bluetooth devices (just insert the Micro USB end into the speaker); compatible with all touch screen tablets,smartphones, laptops, iPads, iPhones, and iPods with Bluetooth built-in.
• Cylindrical microphonedesign can reduce background noise during voice calls (speakerphone must be within 20cm).
• Built-in rechargeable lithium battery offers 4-5 hours of playtime and is charged via Micro USB Cable(charging cable included).

This speaker supports microSD cards, so if you want to play a collection of your own digital music, you should invest in one.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – This is one of the lowest prices we’ve ever seen, and this speaker is a lot more powerful than it looks.
• Things to know before you buy! – This is an older model in the EasyAcc Mini lineup. The more recent Mini 2 is $25, though.

See at Amazon

ZTE Axon M hands-on: The clamshell is back

The ZTE Axon M is a specimen not seen in the world of the smartphone in some time: it’s a clamshell. No, not a flip-top communicator of the Starfleet variety, but a side-folding design previously reserved for fancy wallets, pocket maps, and “little black books.” Some, like MrMobile’s esteemed thumbnail designer, might go so far as to call the ZTE Axon M a “folding phone.” But MrMobile himself would never be so bold.

For real though: in a sea of single-sided slabs, ZTE’s Axon M is a legitimately interesting design. Featuring two 5.2″ displays bonded by a solid-feeling hinge and a thick aluminum midplate, the Axon M has the kind of heft that makes you take a smartphone seriously … and the double-wide screen real estate that’ll conjure memories of Best Buy’s big-TV section. But for all its interesting points, the Axon M isn’t what you’d call unique; it’s a design we’ve seen before, on a phone that sold about as poorly as a phone can sell. Will this time be different? Tune in for MrMobile’s first look, and stay tuned to the YouTube Channel for the Axon M review, coming soon!

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Google Advanced Protection is for high-profile hacking targets

Many internet giants offer security measures like two-factor authentication (which you should really use) to keep your account safe from hackers. But there are a handful of people who are so valuable as targets that hackers will go after them specifically — say, election campaign managers. And Google wants to do something about it. It’s introducing the previously rumored Advanced Protection Program, an extra layer of security for people who virtually expect cyberattacks. Sign up and you’ll put restrictions on your account that will be borderline onerous, but could be vital when you know you’re facing a serious threat.

To start, you need a physical security key to sign in. These certainly aren’t unheard of (Facebook supports them), but it’s not optional for anyone in Advanced Protection. Google also limits full access to your Gmail and Drive accounts to specific apps (currently its own), so a rogue program can’t spy on you or steal your data. And hackers won’t have much luck with social engineering, either. There are “additional reviews and requests” if someone claims to be locked out of an account, reducing the chances that someone can impersonate you well enough to get account details.

Google is promising to “continually update” its security measures to adapt to threats. You’ll get the latest the company can offer, in other words.

At the moment, Advanced Protection is limited to personal Google accounts. However, you don’t need to be a celebrity or political figure to enroll. Google is quick to stress that this is for anyone who has a particular reason to be worried about hacks, such as someone escaping an abusive relationship or a journalist who needs to protect the anonymity of a source. While it’s patently obvious that this is coming about as a response to the hacks that defined the 2016 US election (Google makes not-so-vague allusions to the attack on John Podesta’s account), it’s clearly useful on a much broader level.

Via: Reuters, Wired

Source: Google, Advanced Protection

Microsoft’s internal bug database was hacked in 2013

Over four years ago, Microsoft’s internal database for bug tracking was apparently breached by hackers. It was discovered in 2013 but never disclosed to the public, according to five former employees of the company who spoke with Reuters.

This is a serious issue because of what exactly was hacked. Microsoft’s internal database of bugs contains secret security flaws and possible exploits within its widely used software that need to be fixed. With this information, hackers and foreign governments had a road map on how to breach vulnerable systems.

Microsoft was able to fix the stolen vulnerabilities within a few months after the hack was detected. The company also checked to see whether the leaked information had been used in other breaches around that same time, before Microsoft was able to patch them. The company was unable to link their internal hack to any other breaches.

According to the former employees, Microsoft has since put more of an emphasis on internal security. Still, the fact that Microsoft didn’t disclose that the breach occurred isn’t a great move. It’s not hard to follow their line of thinking — that bringing publicity to it might encourage the group responsible to exploit these vulnerabilities more quickly because they knew the breach had been noticed and an eventual fix for these issues was coming. But the fact remains that computer systems around the world were even more vulnerable than usual because of a security breach. Had it been public, the organizations could have taken preventative measures to ensure their security.

Source: Reuters

DxO’s snap-on smartphone camera is coming to Android

DxO, the company best known for its lens and camera scores, is also behind one of the nicer smartphone-attached cameras out there, the $499 DxO One. Up until now, it has only supported the iPhone and iPad, but the company has revealed that it will soon release the DxO One Android via an early access program. It didn’t give many details, other than saying it will attach to type-C USB connectors, so it’ll likely only work with newer Android devices.

It should function much the same as it does on an iPhone, turning your smartphone into a display for the camera and letting you choose the f/stop, shutter speed, ISO and other settings. With a one-inch, 20-megapixel sensor similar to the one on the high-end Sony RX100 V compact, it’ll generally give you nicer images than even the iPhone 8 Plus, Galaxy Note 8, Pixel 2 and other top-shelf smartphone cameras.

The company says version 1.0 of the DxO One Android camera app will arrive “in the coming weeks” as part of the Early Access program. You can sign up now to get in line, and the company has promised more details on November 2nd.

In other DxO news, there are new accessories for its current iPhone DxO One, too. For better selfies, there’s a new tilt stand (above, right) that lets you set different angles for hands-free use, along with an external battery pack (left) that doubles its runtime. The latter also includes the “Outdoor Shell,” a weather-resistant case. The tilt stand is included with new DxO One cameras (the company didn’t mention if current owners can buy it separately) and the battery pack is $60.

Via the latest version 3.0 iOS update, the DxO One now supports Facebook Live streaming with multi-camera shoots, using both the DxO One and your phone’s own camera. That could be helpful for folks who do a lot of live streaming, as an extra camera angle can make your shows more interesting.

It bears mentioning that you could buy a used Sony RX100 Mark III or IV for around the same price, and then just pair it with your smartphone. The DxO one is smaller, though, and more convenient if you share a lot of photos or edit them on your phone. Also, camera makers are not known for their great smartphone apps, and Sony’s PlayMemories app is no exception. As mentioned, the DxO One is $499 at DxO’s store.

Source: DxO One