ZTE Axon M hands-on: A new hope for dual-screen phones

Many companies have tried to make the mythical dual-screen folding smartphone a reality. All of them have failed. But ZTE thinks it’s time to try again. Now that Android supports multi-window apps, the company expects it will get enough buy-in from developers to create a phone that people will actually find useful. The Axon M will be an AT&T exclusive when it arrives in the US next month for 30 monthly payments of $24.17. I tried out the Axon M and while I’m not completely won over by the handset itself, I find the potential applications compelling.

Think of the Axon M as a tiny laptop with a screen where the keyboard and trackpad would usually be, except the screens face outward. A hinge in the middle lets you flip one display all the way back so both panels are on the outside. The secondary screen is thinner than the main display, but it feels sturdy and didn’t flex during my testing. Together, the two 5.2-inch displays make one 6.75-inch screen and are separated by a 180-degree hinge.

The hinge is rigid enough to hold the screens in place even when they are slightly ajar, and this lets you prop the phone up in what’s called “tent mode” in most convertible laptops. Because the Axon M can only be opened up as wide as 180 degrees for full-screen viewing, you can’t get the displays to face each other. For the most part, you’ll likely be using the Axon M like a regular phone, with both screens pointing outward and just the primary display turned on.

To make use of these viewing positions, the Axon M features three modes that you toggle through by tapping the M button ZTE added to the Android 7.1 Nougat navigation bar. This brings up four icons: Extend (full screen), Dual (two apps side by side), Mirror (same contents on both screens) and the regular single-screen format. The names can be confusing to understand at first, but the icons help by graphically depicting what each mode does. For example, Mirror mode is represented by a rectangle split into two with the letter “A” on either side, while Dual shows “A” on one side and “B” on the other.

The Axon M switched quickly among these modes during my demo. Mirror and Extend are relatively straightforward, since you just have to tap the corresponding symbols and the display is either duplicated or stretched, respectively. Dual mode brings up a launcher for you to pick the app that you want to run on the second screen.

All three modes are useful in their own way. Dual, for instance, makes for efficient multitasking since you can drag and drop info between the screens, bring up a reference Wikipedia article while typing an email, or compose a tweet while watching a YouTube video. Developers don’t need to implement new code for this to work, either; as long as the app works with Android Nougat’s multi-window feature, it will work on the Axon M.

Mirror mode has obvious benefits as well. It lets you display PowerPoint presentations or show a YouTube video to someone sitting across from you. It was also fun to play a game of Battleship in this mode with ZTE’s global vice president of technology Jeff Yee, but the game had to be optimized to recognize input from alternating screens.

The advantages of Extend mode aren’t as obvious. It opens an app across two screens, which lets you see more content at once. My first thought was that the squarish aspect ratio of the two combined screens is highly uncommon and would make for an awkward experience when watching videos or looking at pictures. But ZTE had other plans in mind.

Instead of stretching media to fit, the Axon M uses the extra space to show things like the comments section on YouTube videos. When Twitter is in Extend mode (and the phone is held horizontally), the bottom display shows the keyboard, so it doesn’t cut into the space above for you to compose your thoughts. The Gallery app makes use of the extra space by showing thumbnails of all your pictures on one side while displaying a full-size preview on the other.

Apps work well in Extend mode when they’re designed for it. ZTE says it has already optimized 80 of the 100 most commonly used apps, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Photos, Chrome, Maps, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Firefox and Pandora. Apps that haven’t been optimized will go into tablet mode when Extend is activated to make use of the larger canvas. The difference, though, is that these apps won’t realize that there is a half-inch tall gap in the middle of the display, so when you’re, say, scrolling through an article, words will be lost in that dead space. Optimized apps, on the other hand, will skip over this gap so you won’t miss any crucial information as you browse.

It’s nice that ZTE is trying to alleviate this issue, but this fix doesn’t feel like a feasible long-term solution. The gap is jarring when I’m trying to view things continuously across the two screens. It’s less of a problem in Dual and Mirror modes, when boundaries for separate apps makes sense, or even in Extend when the gained space is used for something functionally distinct. Yee acknowledged this, and said the company’s goal is to ultimately remove the bezel in future iterations. He’s not sure if it’s feasible within a year, but he said that achieving it in two years is possible, given the technologies he is seeing emerge.

Meanwhile, the company has implemented a handful of features to make such a unique device feel easy to use. You can swipe on the navigation bar when you’re in an app to open it in Extend mode. Pinch to zoom works in full screen, too, even if one finger is on the top panel and another is on the bottom. If you have two videos open in Dual mode, only the audio from one will play, and a button will appear on the top right of the main display to let you toggle the source from which to play sound.

Speaking of, the Axon M is equipped with the same dual speakers and dedicated sound card as the Axon 7, which made for loud, crisp audio during my demo. I also found the Axon M’s screen quality decent — both screens use LCD panels with full HD resolution. Although they’re technically identical, I noticed some discoloration on the secondary display when I looked at it from a wide angle. Straight on, though, image quality appeared to be the same across the board.

Since it’s a dual-screen phone, the Axon M technically doesn’t have a front or back. Because of that, it doesn’t need to distinguish between rear and front cameras. ZTE uses just one 20-megapixel sensor above the Axon M’s main display, opting instead to enable the respective screen for the viewfinder. This can be confusing. When I first opened the camera app, it defaults to the rear even though the sensor was already facing me. So the first thing you’ll see is a message asking you to turn the phone around and use the screen on the other side to frame your picture.

When you tap the icon to use the “front” camera, an alert pops up to tell you to turn the phone around, and the other display is enabled. It’s an unwieldy setup that would almost be worth the hassle if the pictures turned out great, since this is technically one of the sharpest front cameras around. Unfortunately, the photos I took with my preview unit were muted and dull. Give me back a dedicated selfie camera, ZTE!

A big point of concern about a phone with two displays is battery life. The Axon M has a 3,180mAh cell, which the company says will last about a full day, depending on your usage habits. Yee said it’s not yet clear how best to estimate runtime, since the company has to test the phone in both single-screen and dual-screen conditions.

The Axon M’s Snapdragon 821 processor isn’t the newest chipset on the market, but performed admirably in the OnePlus 3T. During my preview, the Axon M ran smoothly, and its 4GB of RAM seemed enough to handle the device’s multitasking. Granted, I didn’t get to push the phone to extremes to see how well it holds up.

Ultimately, the Axon M still feels like a proof of concept. ZTE is aware it will face challenges with such a unique product, and says it remains dedicated to both the Axon M (dual-screen) and regular Axon (single-screen) lines. Yee said the company will launch a developer website to offer “tips and tricks” on how to optimize apps for the Axon M. For now, the Axon M feels like the first iPhone — not as sophisticated as today’s flagships, but it lays the groundwork for future generations.

Razer’s Blade Stealth laptop now packs a quad-core processor

Like the thought of Razer’s Blade Stealth ultraportable, but wish it had a bit more oomph for multitasking? You’re getting your wish. Razer has released a version of its 13-inch ultraportable with a quad-core 8th-generation Core i7 processor (namely, the 1.8GHz i7-8550U) inside rather than the usual 7th-gen dual-core chip. This doesn’t magically turn it into a gaming machine — you’ll still need a Core enclosure for that — but it could make all the difference when editing a video or juggling numerous apps. The CPU update also gives you an extra hour of estimated battery life (10 hours total), so you’re more likely to make it through a long day.

The quad configuration is available now in North America (France, Germany and the UK get it later in the year) for $1,699 and ships with the usual 16GB of RAM, a 3,200 x 1,800 screen as well as a 512GB SSD. Razer clearly sees the more powerful chip as an upsell at this stage rather than an across-the-board upgrade for every model, and that price is perilously close to the $1,900 you’ll pay for the brawnier 14-inch Razer Blade. You’ll want to think carefully about buying this model, then. Still, if you’re more interested in raw portability than playing Destiny 2 on the road, this is one of the speedier options.

Don’t worry if you prefer the Stealth but still want to plug in for some games, though. Razer is launching the Core V2, which tweaks its familiar external GPU housing to better serve as a general-purpose hub. It now has dual Thunderbolt 3 controllers that splits the pipelines for both your video card and other devices, so you don’t have to worry about the Core’s Ethernet connection or USB ports taking precious bandwidth away from your GPU. The V2 also accommodates a wider array of video cards, including GeForce 10-series and Radeon 500-series boards as well as Quadro workstation cards.

The new Core sells for a familiar $499 and ships “soon” to North America as well as France, Germany and the UK. That remains a lot of money to spend just to get desktop-level graphics on your laptop (the price doesn’t include the card itself, remember), but the V2 upgrades make the Core more practical if it doubles as a docking station for your peripherals.

Source: Razer (Blade Stealth), (Core V2)

Engadget giveaway: Win a Sense smart security router courtesy of F-Secure!

With smart home technology proliferating and cybercriminality afoot, adding data security to your home network is a wise move. F-Secure’s new Sense router can help monitor your home and provide feedback on the state of your network, IoT gadgets and even mobile devices while providing dual-band WiFi for your home. The Sense router monitors by device type to offer the protection for each connected product, from threats targeting your home PC to checking for unusual activity on IoT products.

Sense stays connected to F-Secure’s Security Cloud service to stay up-to-date, apply its file scanning services and AI analysis, while upholding its privacy principles. This week, F-Secure has provided us with three of its new Sense smart security routers — which include a one-year security subscription — for three lucky readers. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning this one-stop home data-security device.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
• Contest is open to all residents of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. Three (3) winners will each receive one (1) F-Secure SENSE router including a one (1) year security subscription ($199 value each).
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all of its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until October 18th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

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
Discuss this article in our forums

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
Discuss this article in our forums

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.