Google Play helps fight hunger on World Food Day, donates proceeds

Why it matters to you

All proceeds made from specific in-app purchases will be donated to World Food Program USA.

In honor of World Food Day on Monday, October 16, Google Play launched a week-long campaign to raise funds and awareness for the cause. Google Play will donate 100 percent of revenue — made from in-app purchases in the “Apps and Games Against Hunger” collection — to World Food Program USA.

The UN World Food Programme consists of an international community that is committed to not only ending hunger but achieving food security and improved nutrition by 2030. While we do grow enough food to feed every human being on the planet, 815 million people still go to bed hungry every day.

You have the option to choose from 12 different popular apps and games — available in North America and South America. From Monday until October 21, all proceeds from designated in-app purchases made from the “Apps and Games Against Hunger” collection will be donated. Among the list include Dragon City, Sling Kong, Cooking Fever, and more.

Within the collection is ShareTheMeal – Help children, a charity app by the WFP. Using your smartphone, you can help feed a child with a 50 cent donation at a time. The app launched almost two years ago and garnered 81,000 new users within only a few days of being live.

At the time, the beneficiaries of the donations were Syrian refugee children living in Jordan. The children received necessary and vital nutrition each day, as part of WFP’s school meals program. In trial runs, ShareTheMeal had proven to be extremely effective — providing more than 1.7 millions meals for children in Lesotho throughout the month of June 2015 alone.

The app also encourages transparency when it comes to giving and users can follow progress within the app as well as track where their donations are going. As part of its most recent update, the app now includes a feature called Camera Giving — which takes a photo of your food, places a #ShareTheMeal filter, and allows you to share your meal.

With this current campaign, Google Play aims to fight hunger, one app at a time while simultaneously bringing attention to a serious issue. World Food Program USA is only one branch of contributors who support WPF and its mission to feed families in need across the globe.

Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro hands-on review

Research Center:
Huawei Mate 10

Huawei is trying to crack into the U.S. high-end smartphone market again, and its ultimate offering — a phone that will compete with the likes of the iPhone X and the Galaxy Note 8 — is the Mate 10 Pro. It’s a gorgeous, polished smartphone that utilizes this year’s popular “bezel-less” design trend, with skimpy edges flanking the screen. It packs a lot of features we’ll dive into in our hands-on review, but there are some questionable decisions that have us scratching our heads.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro isn’t the only phone the Chinese company announced Monday, October 16, at its event in Germany. There’s also the Huawei Mate 10, which carries a similar design to the Pro, but with several key differences. The regular Mate 10 will not be coming to the U.S.

Mature design, colorful display

Last year’s Mate 9 looks incredibly boring and bland next to the new Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. The all-glass rear looks much more mature and minimalist, with a beautiful “reflective stripe” that runs horizontally over the dual cameras. The stripe is supposed to catch light differently throughout the day, which will be interesting to see once we’ve had a chance to use the phone for a longer period of time. Like the Mate 9, there will be a Porsche design variant of the Mate 10, and the reflective stripe will run vertically with the dual cameras in an attempt to mimic a racing stripe.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

There’s not much else on the rear, other than the Huawei logo and the fingerprint sensor below the dual camera setup on the Mate 10 Pro. This is one of a few design differences between the two devices. The regular Mate 10’s fingerprint sensor sits on the front.

In our brief time with the devices, we did notice a lot of scratches on the glass back, which is a consequence of using glass over metal. There’s no wireless charging, so it’s purely for aesthetics. We recommend slapping a case on the phone.

Flip the phones over and it’s easy to notice that they have slightly different dimensions. The Pro features a 6-inch AMOLED screen, and the regular Mate 10 has a 5.9-inch LCD screen. The Mate 10 Pro has an 18:9 aspect ratio, it’s a hair taller and narrower, and it’s easier to hold. The normal Mate 10 has a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, and it’s noticeably wider. It was tough to access the other edge of the screen when holding the phone with one hand. The 18:9 aspect ratio on the Mate 10 Pro means it has some handy tricks like the ability to display multiple columns in supported apps. All the native apps on the device are supported, but it’s not clear yet if there’s third-party support.

The all-glass rear looks much more mature and minimalist

The edges, or bezels, around the screen are slightly smaller on the Pro, though you’re stuck with the Huawei brand name on the bottom edge. There’s no branding on the front of the Mate 10, as the fingerprint sensor sits on the bottom.

The AMOLED screen on the Pro has an unusual 2,160 x 1,080 pixel resolution, while the Mate 10 has an LCD screen, but a higher 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. It’s odd to think the bigger Pro model has a lower screen-resolution, but we didn’t see any problems with the screen. Both were sharp and colorful, with inkier blacks on the Pro model, and an overall brighter screen on the Mate 10. We were partial to the AMOLED display on the Pro, but we’ll have to test the devices more thoroughly for the review. You’ll be happy to hear that both screens support HDR10, which means you’ll see greater color depth when watching HDR-supported content on services like Netflix and YouTube.

Overall, we think the new Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro look beautiful. They’re stylish, sleek, and there’s also a brilliant blue model we’re hoping comes to the U.S. But there are two final notes on design that will lift your spirits and then pull them down. First, the Mate 10 Pro is IP76 water-resistant — like the iPhone 8 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, you can take it underwater up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. That’s great, but it’s a shame there’s absolutely no IP-rating for the regular Mate 10. The second is that there’s no headphone jack or MicroSD card slot on the Pro, but the Mate 10 has both. To be fair, the Mate 10 Pro comes in a single 128GB storage option, and the Mate 10 starts at 64GB.

There will be a USB Type-C to 3.5-mm headphone jack adapter in the box of the Mate 10 Pro, but it’s a shame there is no headphone jack. Well, at least Huawei will have a wireless headset or earbuds alternative you could buy. And the phone has to use the latest Bluetooth 5 technology, right? Wrong. Huawei has decided to go with Bluetooth 4.2 for both Mate 10 devices, even though every new flagship at this level packs Bluetooth 5, which offers better range and faster data transfer speeds. The reason? Huawei didn’t think version 5 was an important enough addition. We’re perplexed, too.

Neural processing, Android 8.0 Oreo

Both the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are powered by Huawei’s all-new Kirin 970 processor, which the company says offers a 20 percent bump in performance over the Kirin 960 found in the Mate 9. The Pro gets 6GB of RAM, and the regular Mate 10 has 4GB.

In our brief time with them, both phones seemed to be relatively quick, but not as speedy as phones like the Google Pixel 2 or the iPhone 8. Swiping through the interface and opening apps was fast and problem-free, but on the Mate 10 in particular, we detected a delay from the time we pressed the power button to when the screen turned on. Tapping away on the camera shutter button, we saw a small amount of shutter lag that could affect camera performance. We’ll have to continue to test performance in our review.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Both devices also feature a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which Huawei claims will help process artificially intelligent queries much faster. This allows the overall software to be smarter. For example, if you’re watching a movie or playing a game and you receive a notification, the phone will suggest swapping to split-screen mode (via the notification), in case you don’t want to leave the game or movie. It can also propose switching to eye-comfort mode, which removes blue hues from the screen, when the phone detects that you’re in a low-light environment. There’s also a specially built Microsoft Translator app that utilizes the NPU to process real-time translations when you point the camera at text. It was impressively fast, and Huawei said the Chinese to English translations were accurate (we’ll take their word).

Keep in mind that Huawei’s take on Oreo looks quite different.

The Huawei Mate 9 currently runs EMUI 5.1, which is based on Android 7.1 Nougat. Naturally, you might think both Mate 10s run EMUI 6.0. Nope. To align with the latest and greatest version of Android — 8.0 Oreo, the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro run EMUI 8.0. Considering LG’s V30 just became available and released with Android Nougat, it’s nice to see Huawei going with the most recently launched version of Android. You can read about all the new features in Oreo here, but keep in mind that Huawei’s take looks quite different.

We didn’t get a chance to check out EMUI 8 in its entirety, but one of the most notable additions is a floating navigation circle that sits on the home screen. The idea is that to embrace the full edge-to-edge design, you may not like the fact that the Android navigation buttons take up a sizeable chunk of the bottom edge. You can toggle it off in the settings and opt for the floating circle, which can be placed anywhere on the screen. Tap it to go back, and press and hold it to go home. Tap and hold it and swipe it to the left or right to access your recent apps. It’s neat, though we’d have preferred a more subtle circle.

Both devices pack a massive 4,000mAh battery that Huawei said should keep the phone running for two days. There’s Huawei Supercharge on board, which should offer up a little more than 50 percent with just a 30-minute charge using the included cable.

Capable, smart camera

As is tradition, Huawei is continuing its partnership with Leica on the Mate 10. Both phones have the exact same Leica-branded camera setup — a 20-megapixel monochrome camera and a 12-megapixel RGB camera. What’s unique here is how they both have a f/1.6 aperture — a world’s first. The first smartphone to have a f/1.6 aperture was the LG V30, but Huawei is the first to use it on both cameras. It should help with low light, as it allows the camera to take in more light.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Sadly, unlike the Galaxy Note 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus, you’ll only find optical image stabilization on the RGB camera. As we mentioned earlier, we did notice some slight shutter lag when we snapped a few photos, but we’ll have to continue testing to make sure.

The Portrait Mode images — where a blur effect is added behind a particular subject — looked great, as did some other shots we quickly snapped of our surroundings. We do have some concerns with one of the highlight features of the camera, which works in tandem with the NPU.

Huawei’s camera utilizes the NPU to identify the subject of the photograph.

Huawei’s camera utilizes the NPU to identify the subject of the photograph. It’s not like Samsung’s Bixby Vision or Google Lens, where it tries to give you information about the subject. Instead, the artificial intelligence will identify and tweak the image to certain presets it has been taught. For example, if it detects you’re photographing food, it will try to boost the saturation of the food to make it look more appealing. It can detect the difference between plants and flowers, knowing to work on the greens or make sure the flowers pop over everything else. Based on some sample shots we were shown, we fear it could end up oversaturating some images. We’ll have to play around with this more.

We were still impressed at how the camera could identify what we were photographing in real time so quickly. There will be 13 presets at launch, with more to come later.

Huawei Mate 10 Compared To

LG V30

Sony Xperia XZ1

Huawei Honor 9

Google Pixel 2

Essential Phone (PH-1)

Moto X4

Asus Zenfone AR

ZTE Blade Z Max

Moto Z2 Force

Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom

Moto Z2 Play

Motorola Moto E4

Huawei Nova 2 Plus

Samsung Galaxy S5

Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition

There’s an 8-megapixel on the front with an f/2.0 aperture, and Huawei said it uses the NPU and AI to help take better selfies with improved bokeh (blur effect), though we didn’t get a chance to play around with this feature.

Desktop mode

One of the more unique capabilities of both the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro is how you can use it in a desktop mode. All you need is a USB Type-C to HDMI cable, which you use to connect the phone to a TV or monitor. You’ll immediately see a desktop version of Android on the big screen, but one of the benefits is the phone screen does not turn off — you can keep using your phone, and nothing will change on the desktop.

When connected to a TV, you can turn the phone screen into a touchpad to control the cursor. Not all Android apps will support a desktop format, but you’ll still be able to see and open anything. What’s neat is if a keyboard and mouse is connected to a monitor, you can use those for input controls on the TV. If you simply want to mirror your phone screen, you can do that, too.

We were impressed during the brief time we used this feature. It’s clearly attacking Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Note 8, both of which offer a desktop mode — but the catch is you need Samsung’s pricey DeX dock station. You also can’t use the desktop mode and the phone at the same time with Samsung’s implementation. We’re looking forward to seeing how well Huawei’s attempt works.

Price and availability

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro will cost 800 euros (about $945), and it will be available in the U.S. starting in mid-November, while the Mate 10 will cost 700 euros (about $827), and it’ll be available internationally in late October. That’s European pricing, so the Pro may cost a little less in the U.S.

There will be a Porsche Design version of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and it will cost 1,395 euros and will come with 256GB of internal storage. It will not come to the U.S.

So far, we’re excited for the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. We’re sad to see the Pro missing the headphone jack — but so do the Google Pixel 2 and iPhone 8 — but the omission of Bluetooth 5 is confusing, as is the lower resolution on the Pro. Still, they look stylish and attractive, and we can’t wait to get our hands on them to give them a full workout.

Sony brings back robot dog Aibo with smart home features

Why it matters to you

Sony is raising its game in the smart home hub industry with a rehashing of Aibo, a robot dog with more than 60 emotions.

Sony is looking to recapture some of its old magic by revitalizing a project that has been dead and brought back to life more times than we can count — the smart dog Aibo.

The robotic dog has been around since 1999, serving as an alternative to a live animal that can bark, wag its tail, play fetch, and perform a number of other simple commands. The idea made sense, as Sony assumed people would rather shell out the dough for a fake dog over a real one who eats real food (and leaves real droppings).

Aibo failed to gain much traction early on, however, as the dog’s features got repetitive quickly. And the product wasn’t able to deliver the same level of companionship that a real dog brings to the relationship.

The project was once again resurrected in 2015 with more advanced capabilities, including having the ability to imitate up to 60 different emotions. Nevertheless, the $2,000 price tag was a tad too high for many.

Now Sony’s Aibo is coming back to meet current consumer demands in the form of a part-robotic dog, part-smarthome hub. The company hopes that the product will serve as a competitor to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home.

The project is currently slated for a spring 2018 release. Its functionalities will include the ability to perform all the same features as the robotic dog that some people fell in love with, plus it can tell you the weather, the time, set an alarm and more.

Not much has been unveiled regarding how Aibo will serve as a smart home hub, but it will likely serve a similar purpose to the Amazon Echo: taking voice commands, connecting with other smart devices in your home, playing music, streaming video, turning on the lights, and more.

Perhaps the new Aibo will serve more as a guard dog, informing its owner about the presence of an intruder. The potential for Sony’s idea is great as the robot dog will be open source, allowing software developers to improve Aibo’s skills.

Sony will reportedly release a number of other consumer offerings beyond Aibo that will help the company become relevant once again with products similar to the Echo, Samsung SmartThings and smart Apple devices.

California announces new policies for autonomous and self-driving cars

Why it matters to you

The new rules that remove human pilots from autonomous car testing brings true self-driving cars one step closer to reality.

California officials recently announced a new list of revisions for rules regarding the testing of self-driving vehicles following a series of concerns raised by technology experts and automakers. This seems to be a follow-up to earlier announcements in March, after the state of California opened up its legislation to public input.

According to the announcement, the new rule revisions will now permit automakers and tech firms to test autonomous vehicles without needing a human in the driver seat. Additionally, public use of vehicles equipped with self-driving capabilities is now allowed as long as passengers are not paying any extra fees required for their use.

The new revisions are scheduled to go into effect by June 2018 and were first proposed to the public this past March. The companies behind the new rules include Waymo and Google’s parent company’s self-driving car unit, Alphabet Inc. Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Apple, and many others shared their input at committee meetings in April with the state of California, backing the suggestions.

So far, the new regulations apply to autonomous passenger vehicles and does not include commercial vehicles weighing at least 10,000 pounds or more.

California agreed to offer permits for up to two years, under the situation that all vehicles must abide by state laws, “except when necessary for the safety of the vehicle’s occupants,” or others who share the road.

Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

Everyone likes Apple apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers put paid apps on sale for free for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up while you have the chance. Here are the latest and greatest iOS app deals available from the iOS App Store.

These apps normally cost money and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

Rainbow Weather Widget

Rainbow Weather Widget is elegant, unique, and beautifully simple. The minimalist design focuses on what you really need: The current weather and the weekly forecast.

Available on:

iOS

Time Manager

Time Manager is an easy way to keep track of your daily activities. All your tasks will be totaled and broken down into reports and graphs for you to see how well you’re spending your time.

Available on:

iOS

VisuCaller

VisuCaller scans and calls printed phone numbers. It can also scan contact information which can be saved to your device’s contacts or an app list. Simply move the viewfinder over information and once scanned it appears in the list.

Available on:

iOS

OVLA

OVLA is an application to add text and artwork into your own photo. Make your photo into an awesome work in the easiest and simplest way.

Available on:

iOS

Blue Light Therapy

Blue Light Therapy App uses natural processes within your brain to help with waking up and falling asleep. With just four minutes in the morning you will find yourself being able to get out of bed and start doing, rather than endlessly snoozing.

Available on:

iOS

Big Ben Alarm Clock Bells

Bring the landmark of Britain and perhaps the most famous clock in the world to your iPhone. Download this app and bring the beautiful sounds of Big Ben into your life.

Available on:

iOS

Sony’s Xperia XZ1 gets most everything right

I’m excited about a Sony phone, but that shouldn’t surprise you.

There are so many phones launching this quarter, it’s difficult to keep up. In the U.S., Sony’s phones generally get announced and go on sale with little fanfare, largely because they lack carrier backing. This is true of the Xperia XZ1, which is available on Amazon right now for $650, and its smaller Xperia XZ1 Compact counterpart.

Here in Canada, things are a little different: for the XZ1, Sony has the support of the country’s second-largest carrier, Bell as well as upstart Freedom Mobile. The result is a wider net of potential customers and, mercifully, a lower price on subsidy to offset Sony’s traditionally high prices. Oh, and it also has a fingerprint sensor.

Canadians can buy the Xperia XZ1 at a carrier, and use its fingerprint sensor. Jealous?

The Xperia XZ1 is the company’s best phone in years, and finds the company performing at its peak, with few real compromises compared to other flagships on the market, for the first time since 2014 or so. Though the company has frequently brought out great products — everything from the Xperia Z line was, while flawed, pretty reliable — it faltered slightly with the Xperia X series, and only slightly recovered with 2016’s XZ.

In truth, the Xperia XZ1 does little to further Sony’s industrial design, and it doesn’t completely resolve its most endemic problem — a camera experience that pales in comparison to leaders like Google, Samsung, Apple, and HTC. Instead, it gets the Japanese company closer than ever to those lofty heights, while providing Sony’s famously good battery life, exceptional build quality, and stable software.

The whole package

Sony often gets criticized for the glacial pace of its design evolution, but I am content with the subtle ways Sony continues to improve its phones. The Xperia XZ1, for instance, is the perfect size for one-handed use; its 5.2-inch LCD display is quite good, even at its comparatively low 1080p resolution; its audio capabilities are impressive, and work seamlessly; and as Andrew remarked in his review, the phone’s camera is demonstrably better than any Sony phone to date — even using the same hardware as its larger XZ Premium counterpart.

Then there’s something else — a thing I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s a kinship with a piece of technology that rarely happens as quickly as it did here. Perhaps it’s the perfectly-placed, 100% reliable fingerprint sensor (sorry, Americans) or the two-stage shutter button that, now, actually produces great photos. Or perhaps it’s the fact that it ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, the first on a non-Google phone.

After the honeymoon

Here’s my issue with the narrative about flagships today — their first impression is given more weight than their long-term usability. The Xperia XZ1 has just come out, but I have only had good experiences with Sony phones in the months and years since their release and have no reason to think differently about this one.

That’s because Sony doesn’t encumber its software with useless apps, nor does it generally feel weighed down by the stagnating Android skin it’s so often criticized for not updating. Yes, Sony’s app drawer scrolls horizontally and requires some awkward finger maneuvering to put an app on the home screen, but if that’s the biggest criticism one can levy at it, I think it’s in pretty good shape.

Who cares if the launcher feels old-fashioned when it’s the first phone running the latest Android version?

Such an affordance to consistency between generations also affords Sony the ability to iterate on its platform updates more quickly than other companies; who cares if the launcher feels old-fashioned when it’s the first phone running the latest Android version? Seriously, the latter is far more important to me — especially when it forgoes much of the instability and bugginess that I experienced on the Pixels. It’s not perfect, mind you, but I’ve only been forced to close an app or restart the phone a couple of times.

This is a phone that, were I forced to settle down with a single device for a year, I could happily keep in my pocket. Its size, weight, build quality, water resistance, dual front-facing speakers, audio prowess, camera shutter button, performance, and up-to-date software are points in its favor. And its “boring” design, its utilitarianism, happens to be one, too: phones are meant to be used, not admired.

The bezel problem

Sony phones have bezels. They’re ugly. Their designs are not in the same league as those from Samsung, LG — even Google.

I mean, sure. This is not the most modern phone you can buy, not by a long shot. If you’re a screen-to-body ratio absolutist, you should probably stay as far from the the Xperia XZ1 (and the Pixel 2, for that matter) as possible. But in this case bezels are useful — holding the phone in landscape in one hand and pressing the shutter button requires pressing one’s palm into the bottom portion below the screen. Were that area filled with pixels, it would almost certainly make the shutter button less usable.

The bezel problem is also emblematic of the XZ1’s other minor issues: the camera isn’t great in low light, and the stereo speakers aren’t as loud as some of the competition. Indeed, the 2700mAh battery doesn’t outlast all the competition (though it handily beats the Galaxy S8, which has a larger cell), and the aluminum back is occasionally slippery.

These are all issues I grew to accept in a short amount of time, but they may be dealbreakers for you. That’s fine — don’t buy the phone.

The camera performs

I’m not going to rehash what Andrew wrote about the phone in his effusive piece on the Xperia XZ1’s camera, but I’ll say this: I haven’t felt this comfortable just shooting with a Sony phone in a very long time.

In years past, Sony was its own worst enemy, with superlative camera hardware let down by awful post-processing. This year, things are considerably better, with warm and inviting colors, instant and accurate autofocus, and low-light performance that, while not always awesome, is much better than in previous models.

Of course, I haven’t mentioned the 3D Creator software — the gimmick that scans your head, or a sandwich, and models it in full 3D. When I tested the phone, it was a neat trick, but since actually getting the phone I haven’t once opened the app and likely never will.

A sound choice

In addition to very good imaging, Sony’s latest phone, as its previous ones did, emphasizes audio quality. It lacks the high-output amplifier and DAC of the LG V30, but Sony makes up for it somewhat we support for a number of impressive proprietary and standard codecs that purport to make streaming audio sound better from any set of headphones.

This bears true. Every headphone I tested, Bluetooth or wired, on the phone sounded great, and Sony’s ClearAudio+ suite of optimizations actually works, dynamically altering the equalizer based on the headphone type connected.

The Sony story

Sony doesn’t make any money from its smartphone division. Its mobile business is largely subsidized by other better-performing areas in the company, namely PlayStation and imaging.

Sony also doesn’t sell its phones in the U.S. on any carriers, and the unlocked versions available on Amazon and elsewhere are basically handicapped. While I think you’d be very happy with a Sony phone in the U.S., your money may be better spent elsewhere.

See at Amazon

In Canada, however, the story is different. You’re back by carrier subsidies at Bell and Freedom Mobile, and the XZ1 ships with that unmatched fingerprint sensor. I used an unlocked Bell model on TELUS and the thing performed beautifully, from phone calls to near-gigabit data speeds. The thing flies. While we don’t know pricing at this point, I see no harm in checking out the Xperia XZ1 when it goes on sale later this month.

This one-day sale brings new low prices to SanDisk microSD cards and more

You can never have too much storage.

Is this deal for me?

SanDisk is one of the most popular brands when it comes to storage accessories like microSD cards and flash drives, and today you can pick up a bunch of these at huge discounts. Amazon’s Gold Box deal of the day includes tons of SanDisk options at pretty large discounts.

Whether you need a new memory card for your phone, tablet, or action camera, or want to be able to carry around more files and media with you on the go, you won’t want to miss out on these discounts. On several products, we are seeing new all-time lows, and others have dropped in price for the first time in quite a while.

MicroSD Cards

• SanDisk Ultra 32GB – $11.19 (Normally $14.49)
• SanDisk Ultra 128GB – $36.99 (Normally $44.99)
• SanDisk Ultra 200GB – $62.99 (Normally $76.99)

Flash Drives

• SanDisk Ultra Fit 64GB USB 3.0 – $15.19 (Normally $18.99)
• SanDisk Ultra Fit 128GB USB 3.0 – $27.99 (Normally $37.99)
• SanDisk Extreme 64GB USB 3.0 – $26.90 (Normally $33.99)
• SanDisk Ultra 128GB Dual Drive – $27.99 (Normally $34.99)
• SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick 256GB – $99.99 (Normally $154.99)

Solid State Drives

• SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB – $279.99 (Normally $349.99)
• SanDisk iXpand Base 256GB – $129.99 (Normally $149.99)

There are a variety of other products and storage capacities available as well. Be sure to hit the link below to check out the entire sale. B&H Photo has price matched this sale.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – These one-day deals bring great prices on a variety of products. Many of these items are down to new lows and are at the lowest prices we’ve seen them in quite a while.
• Things to know before you buy! – This is a daily deal. That means it is here today and gone tomorrow. Be sure to check out all the options, and stock up on the ones that you need.

See at Amazon

More from Thrifter

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

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

Have you noticed any lag on the LG V30?

One $800 phone with extra lag, please.

In our initial review of the LG V30, we came away from the phone feeling quite impressed. Our own Alex Dobie praised the V30 for its sleek design, great cameras, high-quality DAC, and buttery smooth performance. However, now that the V30 is available to purchase in the U.S. and customers are starting to get hands-on time with the phone, some conflicting thoughts are starting to pop up.

Although most everyone seems to be onboard with the V30 from a hardware stance, the performance of the software has left some scratching their hands as to whether or not LG’s latest flagship is worth the cash.

Here’s what some users in our forums had to say.

tsquare2112
10-15-2017 08:32 PM

“

very lagy, and a tad buggy too. I will be purchasing the pixel xl2 tomorrow, I got used to fast phones with the pixel XL and oneplus 5. I wanted to like it, but I just cant handle the lag. guess I will return it and keep my upgrade open for something else down the line.

Ive installed nova prime, and turned off annimations via developer options. Neither has helped. Ive even favtory reset the…

Reply

ptm88
10-13-2017 12:20 AM

“

Yes this is true I have the v30 and it got very laggy. Something with the software isn’t right, compared to my Pixel or OP5 it’s not even close in speed. Could be the AT&T bloat and maybe the unlocked version would be fine but idk. I’m going to try a hard reset tomorrow but something tells me it’s LGs software.

Reply

bhatech
10-13-2017 07:43 PM

“

Same here with T-Mobile model, not the smoothest phone I have used recently. Just because of this I can’t wait for my Pixel 2 XL to arrive. I think I will return it to TMobile early next week.

Reply

Running into lag on a brand-new phone is never fun, but thankfully, not everyone seems to be having this issue.

polbit
10-13-2017 04:41 AM

“

I have to say, I played with both 2 XL and V30 yesterday for about an hour at a Verizon store, and did not notice any lag on the V30. I was specifically testing for that too, as I can’t stand lag (returned Note 7 due to lag, before the recall). They were not next to each other, but I went back and forth few times, and couldn’t tell a difference.

Reply

Rumblee1
10-13-2017 11:29 AM

“

I’ve had mine since Monday and it’s all loaded up with my apps. The first couple of days it seemed a bit laggy, but since then, it’s been flying. No lag whatsoever. Break it in.

Reply

If you’ve had any hands-on time with the LG V30, we want to know – have you experienced any lag on the phone?

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Huawei Mate 10/10 Pro: Hands-on with the “Intelligent Machine”

In some ways, the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are familiar offerings from smartphone giant Huawei. They offer high-capacity batteries, Leica-branded cameras, and a user interface long on features (and short on restraint). But the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro also bring more genuinely exciting stuff to the table than any of their forebears. They’re powered by the Kirin 970 SoC, whose “Neural Network Processing Unit” promises to help the phone take better pictures, predict your actions more quickly, and age more gracefully. They come in a new all-glass design that’s much prettier than the unibody aluminum finish of yesteryear (even if it’s also less durable). And they come packing features that run the gamut from gimmicky desktop emulation to must-have water- and dust-resistance.

So how do they feel to use? Well, I spent about two hours with Huawei’s Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, and came away more excited for these than any prior phone in the Mate line. Join me for the MrMobile first look above, check out Android Central’s in-depth Mate 10 / Mate 10 Pro Hands-On here, and stay tuned for my full Mate 10 Pro review coming soon!

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Huawei doubles down on software with fast Mate 9 Oreo update, monthly security patch goal

Huawei’s software boss confirms Mate 9 Oreo update scheduled for four weeks after the Mate 10 launch. Huawei will target monthly security updates for its new flagships. And the company is already working with Android P.

The newly-announced Huawei Mate 10 ships with Android 8.0 Oreo and the new EMUI 8 interface, but Huawei isn’t limiting its latest software to just the new releases.

At a meeting at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, ahead of today’s Mate 10 announcement, the company’s software boss told Android Central that updating existing handsets to the new versions is also a priority, while also commenting on security updates and the next version of Android, Android P.

Dr. Wang Chenglu, Huawei’s President of Consumer Business Group Software, told AC that Oreo for the Mate 9 will arrive around four weeks after the Mate 10 begins shipping. Assuming the new phone ships within the next month, that should mean unlocked Mate 9s will be upgraded to Oreo before the end of the year.

Dr. Wang confirmed that the Oreo update will bring Google’s Project Treble feature to the older phone, potentially accelerating any further updates. In addition to new features in Oreo, Mate 9 owners can look forward to performance improvements in EMUI 8. The company’s own internal benchmarks showed a small but significant improvement in responsiveness for the Mate 9 going from 7.0 to 8.0, with a score of 85, up from 79. (The Mate 10 scored 89 in the same tests.)

Performance improvements and Project Treble will be coming to the Huawei Mate 9 with Oreo.

As for security updates — arguably more important than Android platform upgrades — Dr. Wang says Huawei will target monthly security patches for its new flagship phones, assisted by Project Treble. That’s a considerable step up from its current pace of quarterly security updates, though Wang framed this as a “target” for the company as opposed to a hard promise to users.

Interestingly, Huawei is also doubling down on co-operation with Google in the next version of the OS. “We have an earlier engagement with Google for [the] Android P version,” Wang told AC. “For the P version, we started engaging with Google more than three months ago [as of late September].”

Huawei’s focus in Android P will involve “not just features and functionality, but also AI ecosystems,” he said, pointing out that by doing this, Huawei could ensure its latest Kirin CPU are best optimised for Google’s Tensorflow Lite library — an important part of helping developers leverage its NPUs (neural processing units) in AI-equipped apps.

All of this is big news for a company that’s historically dragged its heels on OS upgrades for older phones. The usual hurdles, including mobile operator certification, are likely to apply even if Huawei is able to meet its update goals for unlocked devices. Nevertheless, early signs are that the company is finally taking software updates seriously.

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