Honor’s 7X is a big, unremarkable mid-range phone

It’s no wonder Huawei’s been the third-biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world for so long now. The company releases so many of the things, it’s hard to keep track. Following Huawei’s recent launch of the Mate 10, it’s now sub-brand Honor’s turn to welcome a new device to its ranks: the Honor 7X. It’s designed to succeed the now year-old 6X, which offered dual-camera tricks at a mid-range price. The 7X has a key selling point of its own too, in the form of a big ol’ 5.93-inch “FullView” display.

Honor says it’s basically managed to cram a nigh 6-inch display into the body of a 5.5-inch phone. What the company really means by that is that it’s following the flagship trend of eliminating as much bezel as possible to flood the phone’s face with pixels, hence the tagline “FullView.” It’s a good enough attempt but doesn’t quite nail the edge-to-edge aesthetic of, say, the Galaxy S8. Truly bezel-less, the Honor 7X is not.

Despite its size, the 7X is comfortable to use even if you can’t get to every corner of the screen with just the one thumb. The phone is incredibly light considering its size, metal body and reinforced corners; and there are no sharp angles to dig into your palms as you shift it around to probe far-flung regions of the display. The 7X’s 5.93-inch, 18:9, 2,160 x 1,080 LCD screen is undoubtedly the star of the show here. It’s big and full of detail, and it cuts through even the brightest of daylight. It can also dim to as low as 3 nits so as not to tax your eyes when you’re thumbing through the pages of Engadget while dozing under the covers.

You could argue that the big screen is particularly media friendly, but you have to bear in mind that not a great deal is shot with an 18:9 aspect ratio. That means the majority of YouTube videos, as an example, are letterboxed to the left and right of the frame. The camera viewfinder takes up only two-thirds of the screen, for the same reason. There are a couple of features specific to this tall display, though. First, there’s a one-key split-screen mode that works with a few messaging apps, including WhatsApp and the standard SMS client.

Should you get a WhatsApp notification while you’re watching a video, let’s say, you can hit the Android multitasking key and it’ll load the app up into another window, side-by-side style. It’s kinda like Android’s inline reply functionality, but more like Facebook Messenger’s bubble, in that it lets you see all the recent chatter in the thread. Honor has also partnered with Gameloft so players of the mobile FPS title Modern Combat Versus get a wider 18:9 field of view while running ‘n’ gunning on the 7X.

Don’t let that big and bright display distract you from the Honor 7X’s shortcomings, however. Don’t get me wrong: There are other things to like about the handset, the camera being one of them. Or rather, the dual-camera arrangement, featuring one 16-megapixel color sensor paired with a 2-megapixel monochrome number and phase-detection autofocus to boot. Unlike some Huawei phones with a similar setup that can take native black-and-white shots, though, this 2MP sensor is purely capturing lighting and depth information. The data is used to improve contrast and low-light performance, as well as enable you to play around with depth of field to inject digital bokeh into your pics using the aperture setting.

The camera app has various common modes you might expect, like HDR and slow-mo video, as well as an iPhone-esque portrait and wide-angle features. The 8MP front-facing camera also has a bokeh mode for introducing background blur into your selfies, and a basic effects catalog for adding animal face overlays, à la Snapchat. Shots from my limited time with the 16MP camera bode well. They came out crisp, well-saturated and with the right amount of contrast more often than not.

Sandwiched between the dual-camera situation and the big screen is Huawei’s Kirin 659 octa-core processor (four 2.36GHz cores and four 1.7GHz cores), 4 gigs of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage — you can choose to stick up to a 256GB microSD card or another SIM into the thing, but not both — and a 3,340mAh battery. In short, all the power and space you’d want and expect in a mid-tier device.

The main issue with the Honor 7X isn’t what it’s offering, but what it isn’t. You get a fingerprint sensor, but no NFC chip, so you can forget about using Android Pay or whatever your preferred mobile wallet/payment service is. There’s no waterproof rating to speak of, and the 7X opts for the older micro-USB port instead of USB-C. This isn’t the biggest deal; you probably have micro-USB chargers hanging out of plug sockets at home already, but it does mean there’s no fast-charging feature for a speedy top-up. Finally, the 7X ships with Huawei’s EMUI 5.1 layered over Android 7.0 Nougat — if you’re buying a brand-new phone, you’d like it to have the latest Android 8.0 Oreo build.

Unfortunately, there’s no firm word on pricing just yet — that’ll be revealed at an Honor event on December 5th — but since the 6X cost $250/£225 at launch, I’d expect the 7X to come in below $300/£300. In Western markets, the phone will be available primarily in black and Honor’s trademark blue, though a gold version will retail elsewhere.

If you’re going to be in the market for a mid-range device in the near future, and you like the idea of a decent camera and oodles of screen, then the Honor 7X might be right up your street. That said, assuming $250/£250 is a pretty accurate estimate of price point, remember that there are a number of cheaper devices that have more value-adding features, such as that NFC for mobile payments that the Honor 7X is sorely and strangely missing.

Nintendo’s ‘Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’ lands on mobile on November 22

Attention, smartphone-owning Nintendo fans: The long-awaited Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is almost here. No really, it is.

Following several launch delays earlier this year, the Japanese gaming giant confirmed on Sunday it’s finally going to release Animal Crossing for iOS and Android on November 22. Yes, folks, that’s this Wednesday.

The free game will join Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes as Nintendo tentatively expands its offerings for mobile devices.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is already available for mobile users in Australia, but as most of the game’s fans don’t actually live there, Wednesday’s launch is really the main event.

Nintendo’s newest mobile game offers a different take on the regular versions of the popular life simulation game found on its traditional platforms, hence its original Pocket Camp name. But in keeping with the series, the game runs in real time according to your local time. So you’ll see day and night (if you play it day and night), as well as seasonal changes, too.

In the mobile version of Animal Crossing you’ll take on the role of the manager of a campsite. To get started, choose your manager’s physical appearance, then decorate the campsite however you like and interact with visiting animals as you set about building a community.

“Your campsite can be anything you like,” Nintendo proclaims on its website, “from a traditional space that celebrates nature to a flashy fun house with concerts and rides. It’s all up to you!”

You don’t have to stick around the campsite the whole time, either. Hop in your camper and take a ride to the beach, the forest, or someplace else, and collect stuff while you take a look around. If you sell some of what you find in exchange for Bells, you can spend them at the Market Place on other items like furniture and clothes. Help others on your travels and you’ll earn Bells and craft materials in return.

Ah yes, the game lets you craft lots of different items for your campsite and camper. While some are just for decoration, others are required to get animals to visit. You’ll need Bells, and in some cases Leaf Tickets — another of the game’s currencies — before you can set about crafting.

You can earn Leaf Tickets, but to get your hands on them more quickly you’ll have to hand over some real-world money to Nintendo.

Animal Crossing has built up a loyal following over the years. The original version launched for the Nintendo 64 in Japan back in 2001. After that it went global, with updated versions landing on the company’s newer consoles and handheld gaming devices over the years.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Animal Crossing Pocket Camp brings Nintendo’s life sim to mobile devices
• Stay huddled inside this month with the best new video games in November
• ‘Star Wars: Battlefront II’ review
• ‘Everybody’s Golf’ review
• Master ‘Assassin’s Creed Origins’ with our beginner’s guide

Eve Technology Eve V review

Research Center:
Eve Technology Eve V

In February 2015, Eve Technology decided to create the world’s first crowdsourced 2-in-1. The concept? To build a machine based entirely on input from the Eve community. The result is the Eve V, a clear competitor to the Microsoft Surface Pro. It was delayed due to some manufacturing setbacks, but it’s here now. Our Eve V review looks to see if the crowdsourcing concept overcame its hurdles to create a competitive option.

We were provided with one of the very first production units for our review, equipped with a seventh-generation low-power Intel Core i7-7Y75 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD). Pricing for our review model is $1,600, including the detachable keyboard and active pen. The low-end model with a Core m3-7Y30, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD comes in at $800, while the highest-end configuration with a 1TB SSD is $2,000. That puts it firmly in premium territory, though it’s a bit less expensive than the Surface Pro.

Eve Technology is going up against major players in the Windows 10 2-in-1 market. Does the crowdsourced Eve V have what it takes to compete?

Solid, but not perfect

The Eve V has an aluminum unibody chassis painted a very distinct shade of black, with curved edges that made it comfortable to hold as a tablet. The build quality is great, with a “solid hunk of metal” feel that rivals the Surface Pro. Like Microsoft’s detachable tablet, the Eve V sports a kickstand that opens in back and allows the machine to be lowered to a comfortable angle.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Eve V’s bezels are slightly larger than those on the Surface Pro, which makes the Eve V just a bit wider and deeper. Regarding the kickstand’s hinge, we thought the Eve V’s worked just as smoothly as Microsoft’s, but it doesn’t open to quite as wide an angle. It’s a step up from the hinge on the less expensive Asus Transformer Pro T304, however.

The Eve V is just a hair thicker than Microsoft’s option at 8.9mm (versus the Surface Pro’s 8.5mm) for just the tablet portion alone. Like the Surface Pro m3 and Core i5 versions, the Eve V is fanless across all its configurations. That means no matter the processor you choose, you’ll enjoy silent operation.

The build quality is great, with a “solid hunk of metal” feel that rivals the Surface Pro.

The design of the detachable keyboard is equally interesting. It’s black to match the tablet, and it uses Alcantara fabric — just like the Surface Pro’s latest keyboard — that provided a soft and comfortable surface. It’s a bit thicker that Microsoft’s version, however, because it includes a battery to support its Bluetooth functionality (more on that below). That makes the tablet and keyboard combination a bit less svelte.

Overall, though, we were impressed with the Eve V’s design and build quality. It’s certainly much closer to the Surface Pro than it is to the Asus Transformer Pro T304. Eve Technology has created a machine that appears to be built just as well as its more established competition.

You wanted ports, you got ports

The Eve community asked for more than the usual ports, and the Eve V delivers. There are two USB-A 3.0 ports, one on each side, to go with one USB-C 3.1 port, and another USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support. There’s also a micro-SD card reader hidden underneath the kickstand, and a 3.5mm audio port.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Wireless connectivity is provided by 2×2 MU-MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. All in all that’s very good connectivity for a tablet, particularly compared to the Surface Pro’s single USB-A 3.0 port and mini-DisplayPort connectivity. The Eve V’s support for 40 gigabyte per second (GB/s) Thunderbolt 3 is particularly welcome, and a first for a detachable tablet.

Mediocre keyboard and pen technology that’s behind the times

As mentioned earlier, the Eve V’s detachable keyboard is quite similar in design to the Surface Pro’s latest model, complete with Alcantara fabric. The key mechanism is different, however, with the Eve V’s keys offering similar travel to the $160 Microsoft Signature Type Cover, but a much more abrupt bottoming action that made the keyboard feel a bit stiff. The Asus Transformer Pro’s keyboard also provides a more satisfying typing experience.

There’s excellent connectivity for a tablet, with class-leading Thunderbolt 3 support.

We’ll note some odd key cap decisions, such as the backspace key being labeled “oops!” – seriously — and the “V” key labeled with the Eve V logo. They’re whimsical touches, but otherwise the keyboard is a standard layout, with only the right control key missing.

The keyboard offers two features that set the Eve V apart from its detachable keyboard competition. First, the keyboard not only connects via pogo pins to the bottom of the tablet, but it’s also Bluetooth-enabled. You can use the keyboard separately from the Eve V, and because it supports up to three Bluetooth devices at once, it’s usable with your smartphone and other devices, as well. That’s a rare trait not replicated by other 2-in-1 PCs.

Second, the Eve V’s keyboard offers multi-colored backlighting, with support for seven colors that can be toggled by hitting Fn+V. That’s also a trait no other PC 2-in-1 has. There are two backlight levels, though the brightest level could benefit from some extra oomph. We found the backlight bright enough in very dark environments, but we couldn’t see the lighting at all when there was much ambient light.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The touchpad is on the small size, but it has a smooth Gorilla Glass surface that provided for good precision, and the buttons were responsive. It’s a Microsoft Precision touchpad, and so supports the usual Windows 10 gestures. We enjoyed using it at least as much as the Surface Pro’s touchpad.

Eve Technology Eve V Compared To

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017)

Asus Transformer Pro T304

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Apple 10.5‑inch iPad Pro

Amazon Fire HD 8 (2017)

Xiaomi Mi Pad 3

Apple iPad 9.7

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

Chuwi Hi12 Windows 10 2-in-1

Dell Venue 10 7000 Series

Microsoft Surface Pro 3

Microsoft Surface 2

Sony Vaio Duo 11

Acer Iconia Tab W700

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT

The active pen that’s included with the Eve V is one component that highlights the machine’s delay. When the tablet was first designed, its 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity and moderate latency was acceptable. Today, tablets like the Surface Pro, and even the Lenovo Yoga 920 convertible 2-in-1, offer 4,096 levels of sensitivity, near-zero latency, and new features like tilt sensors. The Eve V’s pen is serviceable, but its noticeably slower than its peers.

The Eve V offers Windows 10 Hello password-less login support via a fingerprint scanner that sits behind the power button. Waking up and unlocking the tablet was as easy as pushing the power button with a registered finger, and it was reliable and fast during our testing.

A great display that was worth the wait

One reason for the Eve V’s delay was difficulty acquiring an order of high-quality displays. That’s no surprise given the behemoths Eve Technology competes with for component supplies. The company finally managed to secure a Sharp IGZO display, which sounds promising – but it has tough competition. Microsoft’s Surface Pro has one of the best displays we’ve tested.

According to our colorimeter, the Sharp display was a good choice. Brightness was excellent at 403 nits, which is more than enough to overcome bright ambient lighting, and good enough to compete with the Surface Pro’s 427 nits. Contrast was also excellent, at 1010:1 at full brightness. Microsoft’s system again has the edge with its ratio of 1180:1, but the Eve V’s score is nothing to laugh at, and superior to most laptops and 2-in-1s we’ve reviewed.

Color support was also above average, with coverage of 74 percent of AdobeRGB and 97 percent of sRGB gamut. Color error came in at 1.27 – a lower score is better, and anything 1.0 or less is considered excellent. Gamma, on the other hand, was just slightly too bright at 2.1. Eve Technology individually calibrates each screen on the production line, and provides a utility to switch to the calibrated results. We tested with the calibration enabled, but there wasn’t much difference in the colorimeter results compared to the non-calibrated settings.

The Eve V’s display also competes strongly against the Surface Pro in sharpness. It’s the same 12.3-inch size and 3:2 aspect ratio, but its resolution is 2,880 x 1,920 (281 PPI) compared to the Surface Pro’s 2,736 x 1,824 (267 PPI). That’s a much higher resolution than the Asus Transformer Pro’s 12.6-inch display, which is 2,160 x 1,440 (206 PPI).

In normal use, we rate the Eve V’s display as roughly equivalent to the Surface Pro’s, which is a very good result. It’s bright, with great contrast and strong color accuracy, all of which make for an enjoyable experience. Eve Technology took its time to secure a quality display, and the delay paid off.

Decent speakers, better headphone experience

Quad upward-firing speakers sit atop the Eve V’s chassis. They provided plenty of volume and minimal distortion at full volume, but they also lacked punch in the low end, with only passable midrange and highs. They’re okay for the occasional YouTube video or background tune, but you’ll want headphones to watch a movie or listen to music.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The technology is the audio jack is a bit different than most. Eve Technology paid attention to requests from its community. They built in a dedicated Texas Instruments amplifier that provides a watt of power to drive higher-impedance headphones. We tested the Eve V with a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones and found the output to be clean and detailed, perhaps slightly more so some other notebooks that we had sitting around. The difference was not striking, however.

Performance is held back by the low-power processor

Our review Eve V was equipped with a seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7Y75 power-efficient CPU. That’s still the most recent Intel processor of its line, but most new machines are shipping with Intel’s eighth-generation Core processors, which offer a better mix of performance and efficiency.

In our benchmark tests, the Eve V performed in line with other machines using the same CPU. It scored 4,203 in the Geekbench 4 single-core test, and 7,297 in the multi-core test. That compares to the 3,867 and 7,163 scored, respectively, by the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet with its Core i5-7Y57 processor. Notebooks with eighth-generation CPUs achieve much higher scores. The newest HP Spectre x360 13, for instance, hit 4,713 and 12,979 respectively.

We also run machines through a more demanding test, encoding a 420MB video to H.265 using the Handbrake application. In this test, the Eve V took 1,462 seconds, which again is quite competitive with similarly-equipped machines like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet, which took 1,810 seconds. However, it’s more than twice as slow as notebooks using the newest CPUs. The refreshed version of HP’s extremely thin and light Spectre 13, for example, took only 672 seconds. The Surface Pro, with its seventh-generation Core i7-7660U, was surprisingly quick at 822 seconds.

In actual use, the Eve V was fast enough to perform the productivity tasks typically asked of detachable tablets. If you’re looking for a true notebook replacement, however, then the Eve V will fall short of your performance expectations.

Mixed storage performance, but it’s good enough

Eve Technology chose the Intel 600p PCIe SSD for the Eve V. That’s not the most common option today, when most manufacturers opt for Toshiba and Samsung SSDs, and so we weren’t sure exactly what kind of performance to expect.

In the CrystalDiskMark benchmark, storage results were decidedly mixed. In the read test, the Intel SSD scored 1,100 megabytes per second, which is competitive with our comparison group. In the write test, however, the drive scored a relatively low 561MBps. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet scored a much faster 1,478 in the read test and 1,237 in the write test with its Samsung PM961 PCIe SSD. The Surface Pro used the Samsung PM971, which is aimed at saving space and power, and still scored a superior 1,104 and 936, respectively.

We don’t want to be too hard on the Eve V, however. While these aren’t the fastest scores for PCIe SSDs, they’re much better than SATA SSDs, like the one used in the Asus Transformer Pro. And in real-world use running productivity applications, you’ll enjoy a tablet that boots quickly and has no slowdowns opening and closing apps. You’ll notice things are a little slower if you work with large files, but otherwise you’ll likely find the Eve V’s storage to be plenty fast enough.

This tablet isn’t built for gaming

The Eve V is saddled with Intel HD 615 integrated graphics, care of its Core i7-7Y75 low-power CPU. Simply put, that doesn’t bode well for gaming.

As we expected, the Eve V scored rather poorly in the 3DMark Fire Strike test, managing a score of only 705. No machines with integrated Intel graphics do much better, and so the Eve V is no better or worse than average here.

We ran a quick test of Civilization IV at Full HD and with medium and ultra graphics turned on. The Eve V managed 10 frames per second (FPS) and 5 FPS respectively, which is right in line with our comparison group. In short, the Eve V is fine for casual Windows 10 games — but don’t rely on it for anything more.

Tablet format plus good battery life equals excellent portability

Eve Technology packed a whopping 48 watt-hours of battery capacity into the Eve V, which is significantly more than most tablets, including the Surface Pro with its 45 watt-hour battery. The use of low-power CPUs gave us high hopes for the Eve V’s battery life.

On our most aggressive battery test, the Basemark browser benchmark, the Eve V lasted an impressive four hours and 27 minutes. That’s one of the longer durations we’ve seen yet from a Windows machine. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga came close at four hours and 22 minutes, as did the refreshed HP Spectre x360 13 at four hours and 14 minutes. The Surface Pro only made it to three hours and 12 minutes on this test.

On our web macro test that loops through some popular web sites, the Eve V was less impressive but still solid, lasting for seven hours and 21 minutes. That’s longer than the five hours and 38 minutes managed by the Surface Pro, but significantly less than some newer machines with eighth-generation Core processors. The latest HP Spectre x360 13, for example, lasted for almost eight and a half hours.

If you want a true notebook replacement, the Eve V will fall short of your performance expectations.

Finally, the Eve V was able to loop an Avengers trailer for 10 hours and 24 minutes. That’s only eight minutes longer than the Surface Pro, but it’s over two hours longer than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet could manage.

Overall, the Eve V provides good battery life for a tablet. The use of a low-power CPU and a relatively large battery paid dividends in how long the machine can last away from a charger. As far as we could tell, though, the Eve V doesn’t have any kind of fast charging capability. That’s another recent technology that points out the machine’s delay in making it to market.

The good thing is that the Eve V is thin and light enough, and sports good enough battery life, that you’re likely to make it through a full workday without worrying about plugging in.

Software

The Eve Community requested a clean installation of Windows 10 for the Eve V. Other than the calibration utility mentioned earlier, that’s precisely what Eve Technologies delivered. The standard apps that are installed with Windows 10 are there, but otherwise the Eve V is refreshingly free of extraneous software. Only Microsoft Signature Edition machines are typically as cleanly configured.

Warranty

The Eve V comes with a one-year parts and service warranty for most buyers in the U.S., which is typical for notebooks today. If you’re an Indiegogo backer, then you get two years of coverage. We do have to note that Eve Technologies isn’t as established as the major manufacturers, and so we don’t have any information on their ability to support the Eve V over the long term.

Our Take

The idea of crowdsourcing a major piece of hardware like a detachable tablet is intriguing, and the Eve V is certainly designed in accordance with its community’s demands. It’s also late, meaning that some design decisions — like the pen technology, the lack of fast charging, and the use of older seventh-generation CPUs — put the Eve V behind the market right out of the gate. Eve Technologies packed some nice components into an alluring and well-built tablet, but it would have been much more attractive a year ago.

Is there a better alternative?       

The Eve V is positioned directly against the Microsoft Surface Pro, and we compared those two extensively throughout this review. The Surface Pro has some advantages in performance, pen technology, and keyboard experience, while the Eve V enjoys better battery life in productivity tasks. The displays, a Surface strength, are roughly equal.

However, the Eve V is also less expensive at $800 for the entry level Core m3, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD model with keyboard and pen, whereas the Surface Pro starts at $800 for a Core m3, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD. The Signature Type Cover costs $160, while the Surface Pen runs $100, making the least expensive Surface Pro configuration total up to $960. At the high end, the Eve V is $2,000 for a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, while the equivalent Surface Pro with keyboard and pen runs $2,960.

If you want to spend a little less money, then the Asus Transformer Pro T304 is a viable option. It’s not as solidly built and its battery life is weaker, but it performs well and has a better keyboard. But you’ll also pay $1,000 for a Core i7-7500U, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD with the pen and keyboard included. That’s less expensive than the similarly equipped Eve V at $1,200 with a Core i5-7Y57 low-power CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD.

Finally, you could skip the tablet 2-in-1 format altogether and choose the new HP Spectre x360 13 convertible 2-in-1. It provides significantly better performance and battery life along with a better pen and keyboard, and you can get it with an eighth-generation Core i7-8550U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD for $1,250, which is only $50 more than the Eve V with its seventh-generation Core i5. Add $150 to the HP’s price and you can even get a 13.3-inch 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) display that offers a stunning 331 PPI.

How long will it last?

The Eve V is solidly built, and evokes confidence that it will last as long as you’ll need, so long as you treat it as you would any other premium notebook. It’s equipped with great legacy and future connectivity support. However, its seventh-generation, power-sipping CPU will start to show its age way too soon.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you’re a fan of the crowdsourcing concept, and you’ve been anticipating the Eve V’s release. It’s everything the company promised. If you’re looking for a tablet first and don’t need the best performance, then the Eve V is generally a good choice, particularly given its good battery life. It’s not inexpensive, however, and you’ll need to be confident that Eve Technology can provide long-term support and ensure a consistent manufacturing process.

Garmin contactless payments go live on the Vivoactive 3 smartwatch, just about

If you’ve been itching to use your Garmin Vivoactive 3 smartwatch to its fullest potential — like making contactless payments when you’re been out and about — here’s some good news for you.

The tech company has just announced that Garmin Pay is now live in the U.S. and seven other countries, including Australia, for the Vivoactive 3. So if you’re out running without your phone and cash, there’s a chance you’ll be able to pay for sustenance with a simple flick of the wrist.

We say “a chance” because at launch you can only add Mastercards issued by a limited number of banks. In the U.S., the list currently includes BECU, Bank of America, Capital One, First Tech Federal Credit Union, and U.S. Bank. Support for more banks is coming “soon,” the company promised, and Vivoactive 3 owners with Visa cards will also be able to use Garmin Pay before long. For updates on compatibility, as well as support information for outside the U.S., check out this page on Garmin’s website.

Similar to Apple Pay and Android Pay, Garmin’s system, which is powered by the FitPay payment platform, also utilizes NFC (near field communication) technology, allowing users to make a payment without having to reach for their handset or wallet.

Dan Bartel, Garmin’s VP of worldwide sales, said in a release that Vivoactive 3 wearers “now have the freedom to leave their phone and wallet at home when they go to run or work out, and still be able to make purchases wherever their day takes them.”

The Vivoactive 3, which starts at $300, was announced by Garmin at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany in August, 2017.

The successor to the Vivoactive HR features a round-faced Chroma color display with a single side-facing button. The GPS-enabled device also incorporates heart sensors for constant monitoring during workouts. Impressively, the battery is said to last for a whole week, though with GPS on this figure is cut dramatically to 13 hours.

An interesting feature on the Vivoactive 3 is Side Swipe. This lets you swipe the side of the watch to scroll through the menus if your don’t want to get your sweaty hands on the display.

To find out more, check out how the Vivoactive 3 fares against the latest Apple Watch and the Fitbit Ionic.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Garmin reveals three new wearables, introduces Garmin Pay
• Apple Watch Series 3 vs. Fitbit Ionic vs. Garmin Vivoactive 3
• Here are all the places that support Apple Pay
• Everything you need to know about Android Pay
• At last, New York City subway to ditch MetroCard in favor of tap-to-pay

Amazon UK discounts vital mobile accessories ahead of Black Friday

Save on power banks, storage expansion, and more ahead of Black Friday!

There are a bunch of deals running on Amazon and we’re still in the run-up to Black Friday. Some of these promotions cover vital accessories for smartphones and other portable devices. Such listings include 20 percent off a 32GB MicroSD card and more than 60 percent off a 12,000 mAh power bank.

There’s nothing worse than running out of power and needing to reach someone or use the internet in a location without access to a power outlet. This is where a handy power bank comes into play, supplying your smartphone or portable device with much-needed juice. As for SD cards, these are used for storing not only photos but documents and other files.

Here are a few recommended items you should take with you on journeys:

• AUKEY 12,000 mAh power bank – £11.99 (61% off)
• GRDE 25,000 mAh power bank – £17.58 (41% off)
• KiWiBiRD all-in-one SD card reader – £8.99 (18% off)
• SanDisk 32GB MicroSD card – £13.49 (25% off)

These deals won’t last forever so be sure to have a gander and see if anything takes to your liking. More Amazon deals can be found on the Black Friday page:

See all Black Friday Amazon UK promotions

HaptX promises to make your virtual hands feel like real ones

The holy grail of VR is immersion: to truly feel like you’re in a virtual world. While most modern VR headsets do a pretty good job of this, the experience isn’t perfect. One problem standing in the way of true immersion are the controllers. They’re OK for basic tasks like picking up objects, but they still feel a little unnatural. Even VR gloves like the Manus offer only vibration feedback; it lets you know you’ve touched something, but not what you’re touching. A new startup, however, aims to change that. It’s introducing a pair of gloves that promises to make your virtual hands feel just like real ones.

The gloves are made by HaptX, which used to be known as AxonVR. It changed its name partially because there are a lot of other companies that are using the name Axon — it’s the name of a phone, a trucking company and a maker of non-lethal weapons. HaptX also happens to be the name of the technology that makes the realistic touch possible.

When the company says “realistic touch,” it means the gloves let you feel the shape, texture and even temperature of whatever you’re holding — you can even feel if an object is hard or soft. That’s right; the gloves will actually prevent your hand from going through virtual objects.

At the heart of the technology is microfluidics, which is a study of how fluids move through small, sub-millimeter channels. HaptX CEO and co-founder Jake Rubin spent several years at Cal Poly researching the subject, along with the company’s other co-founder, Dr. Robert Crockett. This led to the creation of the HaptX skin, which is made up of hundreds of tiny little air pockets. Whenever you touch something in the virtual world, these air bubbles — also known as haptic actuators — inflate, displacing your skin in the same way a real object would. The actuators can be woven into fabric, which results in what Rubin and co. call the HaptX smart textile.

“These are basically tiny little haptic pixels,” said Jake Rubin, CEO and founder of HaptX. “And by changing their pressure over time, very quickly, we can create any sensation in your skin.” He likens it to a visual display, with each pixel changing in color to create an image. He explained that with the HaptX gloves, the pixels are tiny and in high density near the fingers — where the most sensitivity is needed — and larger and lower density at the palm.

The sensitivity of the displacement can be up to 2 millimeters, which Rubin said is much higher of than that of other VR gloves. Other haptic gloves like the GloveOne and the aforementioned Manus use vibrating motors that buzz or rumble, the Teslasuit uses electrodes that deliver small electric shocks, and still others like the VRgluv use motors that provide resistance on the fingers. None of these, according to Rubin, offer the same accuracy and finesse as the HaptX.

I tried a prototype of the gloves, and I was trepidatious at first. For one, the test glove was too big for my hands — Rubin says most of the HaptX engineers have larger mitts than I do. The issue is that in order for the HaptX material to work, my fingers need to touch the glove’s fingertips.

After some pulling, however, my hand fit. The glove was made out of a mesh fabric on the inside and a Vive receiver was attached to the outside; my fingertips were secured by what felt like plastic clamps. The glove was attached to a wire connecting to a large Xbox-like machine. This, Rubin said, houses all the valves to control air flow.

The glove felt bulky, heavy and a little uncomfortable. Rubin tells me that the final version will come in different sizes and be slimmed down, so hopefully, this is only an issue with the prototype.

Then, I had an HTC Vive strapped to my head and the HaptX folks fired up the demo. A small farm appeared in front of me, with raining clouds, a barn and a wheat field. I placed my hand underneath one of the clouds and immediately felt light raindrops. I waved my hand through the wheat field and felt every strand run through my fingers.

Next, a small fox ran out. When I placed my palm in front of it, it leapt into my hand, giving me a ticklish sensation as it ran around. When the fox finally lay down, I felt its whole body in the palm of my hand. Next, a huge spider crawled into view; it too climbed onto my hand. Its eight legs felt so fuzzy and realistic that it sent shivers up my spine, and I cringed in reaction.

I also squeezed the clouds and the rocks to see which was softer. I felt more resistance with the rocks but still managed to close my fingers into a fist, forcing the rocks to slip out of my hand. Ideally, I shouldn’t be able to close my fingers at all. Rubin said that could be because the glove didn’t fit my hand well enough in the first place.

Despite the unpleasant feeling of the glove, I was surprised by how realistic the touch sensations felt. It’s unlike any other VR controller I’ve tried. That said, there are a few flaws. For one, the gloves need to be attached to the aforementioned box. Rubin said they could be put it in a backpack for untethered applications when doing room-scale VR, but that sounds a little clunky. He thinks the technology will get to the point where they won’t need a box, but it’s not there yet.

Also, the prototype I tried didn’t have a temperature setting, because that version uses water instead of air. Rubin said the company is focusing on the non-temperature version of the gloves so it can get them to market sooner.

As impressive as the HaptX gloves felt, Rubin doesn’t intend for them to be used for video games, at least not yet. Right now, Rubin is marketing HaptX to be used for commercial applications like training simulation in medical, military and industrial spaces, location-based entertainment for theme parks, and design and manufacturing using telerobotics. This is because, in those applications, fidelity and finesse are way more important than in gaming.

“Some of these full-scale military simulators cost tens of millions of dollars,” said Rubin. “And there are these entertainment companies that are overlaying VR on physical environments but you still need a very large room. It’s not very scalable.” With something like HaptX, however, all you’d need to is change the software. He said that HaptX can be used when prototyping products, so manufacturers can “feel” what a car’s interior is like, for example.

Rubin hopes to release the first version of the gloves starting next year. He doesn’t rule out the technology trickling down to consumers, but that’s not the company’s focus. “We expect the price to come down quickly over a course of two to three years, to the point where consumers can have it,” he said. “It may never be, you know, $100 but it should be cheap enough within a couple of years that a consumer could certainly purchase and own this kind of technology.”

Interestingly, Rubin also said it’s possible for the HaptX material to be built into a full bodysuit. “When you combine these existing arm exoskeletons, our haptic wearables and a locomotion solution like an omnidirectional treadmill or a lower-body exoskeleton, it would get you very close to a holodeck — a full immersion in a virtual environment.”

London buses to be powered by coffee grounds

As part of ongoing efforts to reduce pollution in the capital, London’s buses are set to utilise a new source of fuel: coffee grounds. Thanks to a collaboration between Bio-Bean, Shell and Argent Energy, double deckers will be filled with a B20 biofuel created by blending oil extracted from coffee waste with diesel. So far, they’ve produced enough to power one London bus for a year, but as Londoners drink 20 million cups of coffee a day, it could provide enough oil to power a third of Transport for London’s entire network.

Bio-Bean’s plant can recycle 50,000 tonnes of waste coffee a year. The company collects waste from high street coffee shops, as well as instant coffee factories, and uses it to extract an oil. This is then mixed with other fats and oils to create a 20 percent biocomponent of B20 fuel. Buses don’t need to be modified either, keeping costs low.

Fuels like Bio-Bean will provide a greener alternative as London continues to introduce greener methods of transport. Mayor Sadiq Khan has said that from 2018, all new single-decker buses in the centre of the city will be zero-emission, helped by a sizeable fleet of hybrid electric buses. However, the end goal is to have a zero-emission transport system by 2050.

Source: Shell

‘Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’ comes to your phone November 22

Soon, Aussies won’t be the only ones building summer camps in Nintendo’s latest mobile game. The gaming giant announced that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will arrive on iOS and Android devices worldwide on November 22nd. The title marks Nintendo’s third foray into smartphone gaming, following Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes.

Have you heard the news? Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be coming to mobile devices worldwide on 11/22! #PocketCamp pic.twitter.com/jShJwDgnls

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) November 20, 2017

As usual, it’s a free-to-play instalment from an existing series, but this time round we’re getting many of the hallmarks from the Animal Crossing franchise. The main difference is you’re making a camp filled with cute animal inhabitants instead of a town. And, Nintendo is hoping to pocket from your dedication with the addition of Leaf Tickets, which let you buy in-game items and speed up construction by grinding or ponying up real cash. The lucky campers in Australia have been able to play the title since late last month, so everyone else has some catching up to do.

Source: Nintendo (Twitter)

NASA can pinpoint glaciers that might flood coastal cities

It’s safe to say that melting glaciers and ice sheets are bad things: they raise ocean levels and risk flooding low-lying coastal areas. But which of these icy bodies do you have to worry about in your area? NASA might help. It recently developed a technique that can determine which glaciers and sheets pose a threat to a given area. It’s complex, but it could make a big difference for coastal cities that may need to react to global warming.

Gradient fingerprint mapping, as it’s called, uses advanced math to check the local variations in the ice thickness of all of the world’s ice drainage systems. When you map all these gradients, you can determine where the water will ultimately go. And it’s more complicated than you think — if a lot of ice melts, it can actually lower the sea level in certain areas because of the reduced gravitational pull.

The resulting predictions can be surprising in multiple ways. For one thing, proximity isn’t necessarily an indicator of which glaciers you have to worry about. New York City primarily has to fret about the glaciers in Greenland’s northeast (those furthest away), for example. As for that gravitational effect? The sea level around Oslo, Norway would actually fall if only the glaciers in the same Greenland area melted. Meanwhile, the breaking ice sheets in the western Antarctic would pose the greatest danger to Sydney.

It’s not exactly the most heartening discovery, but it could be important if there’s no way to dramatically slow or halt the melting process. Planners could use the data to understand whether or not they need sea walls and other measures to prevent flooding. Like it or not, that know-how may become crucial in the next few decades.

Via: Earther

Source: Science Advances

Kevlar cartilage could help you recover from joint injuries

It can be difficult to fully recover from knee injuries or other damage to your joints, if just because there hasn’t been an artificial replacement for cartilage that can withstand as much punishment as the real thing. That may not be an issue in the long run, though: scientists have developed a Kevlar-based hydrogel that behaves like natural cartilage. It mixes a network of Kevlar nanofibers with polyvinyl alcohol to absorb water at rest (like real cartilage does in idle moments) and become extremely resistant to abuse, but releases it under stress — say, a workout at the gym.

You don’t even need a lot of it to replicate a human body’s sturdiness and overall functionality. A material with 92 percent water is about as tough as real cartilage, while a 70 percent mix is comparable to rubber. Previous attempts at simulating cartilage couldn’t hold enough water to transport nutrients to cells, which made them a poor fit for implants.

There’s a long way to go before the material becomes useful. Researchers are hoping to patent the substance and find companies to make it a practical reality. The implications are already quite clear, mind you. If it works as well in patients as it does in lab experiments, it could lead to cartilage implants that are roughly as good as the real tissue they replace. A serious knee injury might not put an end to your running days.

Source: University of Michigan, Wiley Online Library