How are you liking the Pixel 2 XL’s display after the November update?

Here’s what you had to say about the Pixel 2 XL’s new display modes.

With the recent November security patch update that Google just started to push out, the Pixel 2 XL is gaining new display profiles to silence the complaints that many users have voiced regarding the dull and washed-out nature of the phone’s screen.

The Pixel 2 XL previously featured a Vivid toggle that increased saturation by around 10-percent, but this has now been replaced with Normal, Boosted, and Saturated.

Some users are still waiting to get their hands on the November update, but for those that have already downloaded it, here’s what they’ve had to say for their initial impressions.

Csquared
11-08-2017 10:42 AM

“

After the Nov update on Pixel 2 XL what are your thoughts on the Saturation Settings.

I have found that the Boosted works best for me. I like the Saturated setting except I think it makes white backgrounds look to red.

Reply

nelamvr6
11-08-2017 11:03 AM

“

I settled on Boosted also. It may be my imagination, but it appears to me to be a little more saturated than the previous “Vivid” setting. Has anyone seen figures from Google on the levels of saturation for the 3 new levels?

I tried Saturated for a while, and it some situations it was more fun. But in the end most things just seemed too cartoonish. The thing that made me switch back to…

Reply

Ca_lvn
11-08-2017 04:50 PM

“

Everything’s different, boosted has a little increase to it, I miss the stock one

Reply

rich250
11-08-2017 07:31 PM

“

normal
boosted
( and should be ) oversaturated

Reply

Thoughts about the new display modes seem to be all across the board, so we’d like to hear from you – If you have the November update on your Pixel 2 XL, has your opinion about the display changed?

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Kick off your Philips Hue obsession with this 4-bulb Starter Kit for $60

It’s time to make your lights smarter without going broke!

Is this deal for me?

If you’ve been looking to get into the whole smart home lighting game, and have yet to make the move because of price, this offer may be the best one out there. This Starter Kit comes with four white bulbs and the hub that’s required for them to work all for just $59.98. This price is available at both Amazon and Best Buy right now. Normally, this kit runs $99.99, and at this price it’s only $1 more than the 2-bulb Starter Kit is right now.

Amazon has also dropped the price of the Philips Hue LightStrip Plus down to $49.98, which is a match of Best Buy’s price drop for its Early Black Friday deals. This is a savings of $40 from the normal selling price of the LightStrip Plus, so you won’t want to pass it up.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – Smart lights are incredibly awesome, but also a pretty expensive thing to get into. With Philips Hue bulbs, you need a Hub to be able to use them, and this discounted kit includes all of that. Normally, a 4-pack of bulbs runs $49.99, and the Hub is $59.99 on its own.
• Things to know before you buy! – This deal is part of Best Buy’s Early Black Friday discounts, and the prices are set to last through Saturday, or until they sell out. These are going in and out of stock at Amazon.

See at Amazon

Best Alexa-enabled speakers

Not everything Alexa has to be an Echo. There are some great options out there for smart speakers without Amazon’s logo on the box.

If you want everything that Amazon Alexa has to offer — but don’t actually want an Amazon Echo, well, you’re going about things the hard way.

But you’re also in luck. Because Amazon Alexa can be baked into just about anything these days, and that also means other speakers.

Here’s a quick look at some of the best Amazon Echo alternatives you can find.

Sonos One

This will be one of the more expensive entries on this list at $199, but for good reason. Sonos is the No. 1 name in wireless home audio, with great sound and ridiculously easy setup. And Sonos One is the first of its speakers to have Alexa built in. (And be sure to check out our full Sonos One review.)

The multiple microphones means Sonos One will hear you wherever you are. And it’s able to control anything that Alexa can control — and that means additional Sonos speakers as well. Looks great, sounds great. It’s still in its infancy, so Sonos is still working out a few software kinks, but this one should be high up on anyone’s wish list.

See at Sonos

Vaux cordless home speaker

OK, I’m going to cheat a little here, but for good reason. The VAUX cordless home speaker is, in fact, a cordless home speaker with Alexa inside. Literally. It’s a speaker that you put an Amazon Echo Dot inside, connected via the 3.5mm audio port. It’s an ingenious little thing.

Why get this over something that takes advantage of Alexa via software? For one, it’s only $49. And because it uses an actual Echo Dot, you’ve always got the option to remove the Dot to use it in the more traditional way.

It’s a clever little option, actually, and one that you should definitely check out. Check out our full review.

See at Amazon

Sugr Cube Minimalist

You can’t troll around on Amazon without running into this speaker. The Sugr Cub Minimalist has mixed reviews, but there’s no denying that it’s one of the more intriguing-looking speakers of the bunch. And for a lot of folks that’s going to be a big selling point.

It’s also on the more expensive side, at $169 for the darker cherry, or $159 for the lighter maple model. But with it you can full Wifi and Alexa support, touch motion controls, and the knowledge that visitors are going ask about that cool-looking speaker on the shelf.

And all you have to do is have them ask Alexa. She’ll be happy to explain.

See at Amazon

Eufy Genie

If you want something that’s more like an Amazon Echo Dot but comes in even less expensive, then you need to check out the Eufy Genie. (I have, and you can read that whole experience here.)

It’s currently listed at a mere $25 — or about half the cost of an actual Echo Dot. And you get a pretty good experience from it. I still think I looks better than the Dot, and it performs reasonably well despite having fewer microphones with which to listen for you.

It’s a really inexpensive way to get into the whole Alexa thing, and it’s worth checking out.

See at Amazon

Invoxia smart portable speaker

If you want something a little different, Invoxia’s got an intriguing offering. This speaker has Alexa built in, of course, and it’s also got some other tricks up its sleeve. It’s got a small display on the front, a few physical buttons for things like internet radio stations and Spotify playlists, and you can make VOIP calls with a paired smartphone.

But maybe the coolest part? This rechargeable speaker has a magnet on the back so you can stick it to the fridge. Very cool. The basic gray model starts at $119.

See at Amazon

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Amazon adds offline video downloads to FreeTime on Fire tablets

If you have a child and own a Fire tablet, chances are you’re subscribed to Amazon FreeTime. FreeTime already offers access to a load of kid-friendly apps, games, and video content, and the introduction of a new Offline Mode aims to make FreeTime just as enjoyable even when your son or daughter is away from an Internet connection.

Offline Mode will automatically be enabled whenever your Fire tablet is disconnected from a Wi-Fi connection or if Airplane Mode is turned on, and when this happens, your kid will only see content on FreeTime that’s been downloaded to the tablet.

Apps, games, and books can already be downloaded for offline use, but starting this week, Fire tablets will soon be able to download movies and TV shows from FreeTime as well. This can be done by simply holding down on the video title you’d like to download to the Fire tablet, and holding down on it again will delete it from your local storage.

Also, just in time for the holiday season, Amazon is adding new books, videos, and apps/games to FreeTime so your little ones have access to even more content that’s okay for their eyes to see.

Some of the new additions include The Hobbit, Curious George in the Snow, Charlie Brown: Mayflower Voyagers, Team Umizoomi (Season 2), Angry Birds Space, Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, Beach Buggy Racing, and plenty more.

Amazon Fire tablets

• Amazon Fire 7
• Amazon Fire HD 8
• Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition
• Amazon Fire 8 Kids Edition
• Amazon Fire HD 10

See more at Amazon

Skype Lite for Android is a throwback to a simpler (better?) Skype

Skype got a major overhaul on Android earlier this year, but the unreleased Skype Lite harkens back to the old school design of the video and messaging service.

Skype Lite is aimed at the mobile market in India, and in this case, “unreleased” means possibly unstable. But depending on your Android device and region, you may still be able to install it. The design is much simpler than the new Skype, and it would be great to see a version of this app make its way to a wider audience.

Quite a few Skype users have pushed back against the latest design changes to the main Skype app on Android. The added bells and whistles, Snapchat-esque features, and new design are certainly different and haven’t been well received by many. In contrast, Skype Lite has very few extra features and focuses on being a basic video and messaging app. And that’s a good thing.

Skype without Snapchat

Skype Lite is split into three main headers: calls, chats, and discover, which is for bots. You can easily jump between these and message or call people or bots just like you would on normal Skype.

Skype Lite is purposefully made to be basic. There’s no following people on yet another social network, and there’s no capture feature. The app is just easier to use than the new version of Skype.

Skype Lite has a handy hamburger menu, rather than a plus icon that doesn’t help that much. And it still lets you send photos within message threads just by tapping on a camera icon. Navigating the app is easy and familiar.

One design choice that adds extra steps is that to open your SMS messages you have to tap SMS insights to switch over to your texts. But overall, the app is very fluid.

Lite but usable

Design doesn’t mean much without function, and Skype Lite doesn’t disappoint. Messaging is quick, and video calls work well. It does precisely what a Lite version of an app is supposed to: deliver the basics of a service while being easier on your phone and data.

The features that are available are very basic. But for most users on mobile devices, Skype Lite is completely fine. It lets you talk to your friends, family, and colleagues without any fuss.

The app also supports SMS messaging, but it does not support the SMS relay that is seen on the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform (UWP) versions of Skype. The app supposedly also has SMS insights that automatically categorize messages for you, but in our testing, we couldn’t get this feature to work.

Summing things up

Using Skype Lite makes it frustrating to use the new version of Skype on Android. Skype Lite is easy to navigate, does what you need it to do, and doesn’t try to be something it isn’t.

When you throw in support for SMS messaging, and the fact that it’s designed to be lightweight, it can be argued that Skype Lite is the best version of Skype on Android, though at the moment it is still an unreleased app. Hopefully, in the future, Skype Lite goes mainstream and is available in all regions.

This app isn’t generally available, and it’s still rough around the edges, so we’re not giving it a rating quite yet. But it shows a lot of promise and is great to use if it’s available to you. You just might like it better than the full version of the app.

Download: Skype Lite (free)

Best Multiplayer Games for PlayStation VR

PlayStation VR’s library of games grows every week, and it continues to attract some gems. One thing about virtual reality, mostly due to the physical nature of the headset, is that it can be a bit of a solitary experience. If you’d like your gaming experience to entail meeting some new friends or duking it out against human intelligence, we’ve rounded up the best multiplayer games for PlayStation VR.

Read more at VR Heads!

Defective microphones on Pixel 2, Galaxy S8, Note 8 can be fixed by blowing in them

To blow or not to blow

Whether you’re making a phone call, doing speech-to-text, or talking to Google Assistant, you use the microphones on your phone more than you probably realize. As such, the fact that mics on the Pixel 2, Galaxy S8, and Note 8 mysteriously aren’t working has got a lot of customers quite irritated – and rightly so.

Google’s Product Forums and the Samsung Community feature numerous users complaining that the microphones on their devices aren’t responsive, and for a lot of people, it’s said that blowing into the microphone ports actually gets the mics working again.

Blowing into the microphones appears to only be a temporary fix, however, as users report they eventually stop working and you’ll need to blow into your device once again.

Stop the blowing and start an RMA.

Although this is a possible way to get your mic working again, we’d advise being careful about doing so. A microphone on a phone can stop working for a number of reasons, and one of those is if something gets in the way of the mic. If this is the case, blowing can move the obstacle out of the way and things can be hunky-dory once again.

On the flip side, if the microphone itself is damaged, blowing and blowing into it will do nothing but add moisture – something you definitely don’t want to do.

You can certainly try the blowing technique if you’re noticing this issue on your handset, but we’d suggest going the more proper route by starting an RMA process with either Google or Samsung depending on which phone you have.

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Five home automation accessories under $35 that work with Google Home Mini

Now that you’ve got the cheap controller, it’s time to get some things to control.

So you’ve got yourself a shiny new Google Home Mini. Good for you. It’s a great inexpensive way to get into the smart home game for less than $50.

But now that you’ve got the controller, you need some things to actually control. And it’s real easy for things to get expensive real quick. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of dollars of connected … stuff.

Or, you can dig deep and find the cheap stuff. And so we’ve dug deep. Really deep. Here’s the best connected stuff we’ve found for Google Home Mini — all for less than $35(ish) each.

• Belkin WeMo Mini
• SwitchMate Bright
• APower SmartPlug
• TP Link Smart LED
• Philips Hue A19 dimmable

Belkin WeMo Mini

This is a great little connected outlet for about $35. (I know because I have one.) And it’s great because it doesn’t take up much space, leaving plenty of room left over for the second plug of a two-gang box.

What’s it do? It turns your dumb plug into a smart plug. You can control it remotely and set timers, or other schemes.

And with the holidays coming up, it’s the perfect little gizmo to control lights. Because nobody wants to hit the front porch in the their underwear when it’s 30 degrees out.

See at Amazon

SwitchMate Bright

This is great for those who don’t want to do any rewiring. You just pop the $35 SwitchMate on top of an existing switch or plug, and it does all the work for you.

You can set timers for whenever — a fun one is to have the lights kick on in the morning so you’re not stumbling through the house any more than necessary. And you an also set it to turn things on so the house is lit up when you arrive home in the evening.

Is it any easier than this? Probably not.

See at Amazon

APower SmartPlug

Here’s another smart plug that plugs into your existing dumb outlets (because, yo, dawg, I heard your outlets like outlets) and smartens things up a bit.

I’m cheating a tad because you’ll have to hit Amazon’s “Other Sellars” to find this one under the $35 limit, but it’s definitely doable.

The plug itself is a little clunky. But if you’re looking to save a few bucks, sometimes you have to go that route.

See at Amazon

TP Link Smart LED

A basic smart bulb isn’t nearly as expensive as it used to be. Sure, you can get white bulbs that can change their color temperature — more orange or yellow than white or blueish-white, or vice-versa. But those dollars start to add up pretty fast.

If you just want something basic, look for a dimmable light. This one from TP Link is just $20 and gives you basic functionality. You can turn it off and on from Google Home Mini. (Or, yes, from anything else.) You can dim it so it’s not BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN all the time.

Is $20 a lot of money for a light bulb? Yes, it is. But it’s not all that much for something connected.

See at Amazon

Philips Hue A19 dimmable

Speaking of relatively inexpensive smart lights, this is another dimmable A19 bulb — this time from Philips Hue. It runs $30 — for two bulbs this time — and works through Philips’ excellent connected system. (At some point I’d spring for the hub, too, though that’s another $60 and thus outside the scope of this post.)

Philips Hue bulbs really are a bit of a rabbit hole. Once you start down it, you’re going to find it hard to stop.

So if you’re going to do it, start with this inexpensive option.

See at Amazon

Any others?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Logitech will brick all Harmony Link devices in March

Bricking a device, which usually happens during firmware update gone wrong, is never a good thing. It’s even worse when companies do it to their devices intentionally. According to emails received by users, Logitech will be intentionally bricking all Harmony Link devices via a firmware update as of March 16th, 2018. The bad news was first reported by Bleeping Computer.

Harmony Link is a smart device that allows users to control their home entertainment systems via a smartphone app. It released in 2011, and has since been replaced by the Harmony Hub. The technology is cloud-based, and apparently the company has chosen not to renew a license that will expire next year, one that the Link is dependent on. Presumably the license is expensive, and Logitech would prefer to migrate users over to the newer Harmony Hub rather than spend money on outdated tech.

While that logic is somewhat understandable, if frustrating for users, it gets worse when you take a look at how Logitech has treated the Link. Despite the knowledge that this certificate was due to expire in 2018, it has continued advertising and selling the product for years. It’s basically been selling existing units in a fire sale over the past few months with a limited three-month warranty, according to Bleeping Computer. If your product is still under its warranty, Logitech will upgrade it to the Hub for free. Outside of that period, Logitech is giving customers 35 percent off a Harmony Hub.

Frankly, this isn’t great. As we’re more and more dependent on cloud-based devices, this is a risk we increasingly have to take into account. While it’s understandable that a company would shut down support for a product it sees as obsolete, intentionally bricking the devices is a step too far. On top of that, this is a device that Logitech has continued to sell up until just a few months ago. What’s really interesting is that Logitech has apparently banned the use of the word “class action lawsuit” from its Reddit page, where angry users of the Link are making their voices heard. Clearly the company knows that its users have a good reason to be frustrated.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Bleeping Computer

Snap heads to trendy east London to peddle those unsold Spectacles

What do you do when hype around your quirky hardware play dies, leaving you with hundreds of thousands of unsold units? You open an experience and retail store in a trendy part of east London and hope to catch a few late adopters cruising by, of course. That’s exactly what Snap is doing this weekend, opening of a store dedicated to peddling Spectacles in the hipster haven that is Shoreditch’s Boxpark. It’s no transient pop-up, though, but a permanent store and Snap’s first in Europe.

Those genuinely interested in dropping £130 on social eyewear will’ve probably bought theirs already, either at a vending machine, online or at Harrods. Snap even dropped its second London vending machine at the very same Boxpark over the summer, but perhaps the company believes it hasn’t fully tapped the east London scene because it wasn’t letting potential customers try before they buy.

Spectacles are far from a hot item these days and the company might have to resort to recycling unassembled parts to cut its loses. That said, CEO Evan Spiegel recently said Spectacle sales had topped 150,000, which was above the 100,000 projection.

Snap has bigger problems than a few unsold Spectacles right now, though. Aside from bleeding money, user growth is slowing. Snapchat is being redesigned to combat this after user feedback suggested the app can be “difficult to understand or hard to use.” And rumor has it the new app will be available as soon as next month.

Via: CNET

Source: Boxpark