Samsung is working on a detachable two-in-one Chromebook

When it comes to portable computers, consumers now have more options than ever. There are doubtless plenty of people who make do with a smartphone, but those wanting a larger screen have the choice of a tablet or traditional notebook computer. Both options have their pros and cons. Laptops offer a larger screen, better keyboards, and are usually more powerful, but they’re also typically more expensive and less portable.

Detachables offer an appealing middle-ground between tablets and notebook computer. A detachable is basically a tablet that comes with a connected keyboard, so you can use it as a traditional notebook. And if you want to use it as a standard touchscreen tablet, then simply remove the display from the keyboard.

Detachables have become fairly popular with the rise of the Microsoft Surface, but most of them are pretty pricey. The Surface Book 2 is a great piece of hardware, but it starts at more than $1,000. This brings us to Chrome Unboxed’s report that Samsung is working on a detachable Chromebook.

Generally, Chromebooks, which uses Google’s custom Chrome OS, are more affordable than Windows or Mac laptops. There are some outliers such as the Pixelbook, but Chromebooks generally cost anywhere between $200-$500. It would be nice if Samsung’s detachable Chromebook will stay within that price range, as it’s uncertain if the market has room for too many thousand-dollar Chromebooks.

As for the device itself, we don’t know too much about it, but we do have a few pieces of the puzzle. For starters, it has been reported that this device will be powered by a Kaby Lake processor, and it has been codenamed “Nautilus.” Samsung has not announced this device yet, but one of the names attached to the project, Jongpil Jung, is one that has been exclusive to Samsung devices.

One of the big questions surrounding this Chromebook is when it will launch. There are two likely venues for an announcement. The first is at CES in January of next year, but that may be cutting things a bit close, since development reportedly only began this September. An option that would give the development team a bit more time would be at Samsung’s annual spring event, where it will also likely unveil its next flagship smartphone.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best Chromebooks you can buy right now
• Score a new work laptop and save with our favorite Chromebook deals on Amazon
• Is Google’s Pixelbook a worthy competitor to the Surface Pro?
• The Pixelbook nearly doubles Samsung’s Chromebook Pro in price. Is it justified?
• The best laptops you can buy

Microsoft takes on Apple’s prestige: Surface Book 2 15-inch vs MacBook Pro 15

There are quite a few premium laptops that can outperform the MacBook Pro 15, but it’s tough to compete with Apple’s build quality and engineering expertise. The MacBook Pro 15 might be expensive, but as a luxury device it has few competitors. Or well, it had few competitors, until Microsoft released its Surface Book 2.

The Surface Book 2 is slick, well-built, and every bit as expertly engineered as the MacBook Pro 15. In a lot of ways, it’s the culmination of Microsoft’s pursuit of premium hardware, and it might even be slick and stylish enough to sway some MacOS die-hards. Let’s find dig into the details to find out for sure in our Surface Book 2 vs. MacBook Pro 15 battle royale.

Specifications

 MacBook Pro

 Microsoft Surface Book 2

Dimensions
13.75 x 9.48 x 0.61 (in)
13.5 x 9.87 x 0.56-0.90 (in)
Weight
4.02 pounds
4.2 pounds
Keyboard
Full size backlit keyboard
Full size backlit keyboard
Processor
Up to seventh-generation Intel Core i7
Up to eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8650U
RAM
16GB
16GB
Graphics

AMD Radeon Pro 555 w/ 2GB of RAM

AMD RAdeon Pro 560 w/ 4GB of RAM

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 w/ 6GB of RAM
Display
15.4-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
15.-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
Resolution
2,800 x 1,800 (220 ppi)
3,240 x 2,160 (259 ppi)
Storage
Up to 2TB PCIe-based onboard SSD
Up to 1TB PCIe SSD
Networking
802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2
802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2
Ports
4x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C
2x USB-A ports, 1 Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, 2x Surface Connect ports, SD Card reader
Webcam
720p FaceTime HD camera
5.0MP 1080p front-facing camera, 8.0MP 1080p rear-facing autofocus camera
Operating System
MacOS High Sierra
Windows 10
Battery
76 watt-hour
90 watt-hour combined
Price
Starts at $2,400
Starts at $1,500
Availability
Now (Apple Store)
Now (Microsoft Store)
Review
Full Review of 13-inch Model: 6/10
Full review: 8/10

Design

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Sitting on a table, closed, both laptops are striking. The MacBook Pro exemplifies a slimmed down streamlined elegance, an artistic refinement of the traditional laptop. The Surface Book 2, on the other hand, looks like something from the future.

Both devices feel solid and sturdy, like they were machined from a single solid piece of aluminum — or in the Surface Book’s case, magnesium. There’s no give, no flex, nothing moves when it shouldn’t. Both devices feature strong, stable hinges, and killer build quality.

The Surface Book 2 has a trick up its sleeve, though. The display detaches from the base to become a fully-featured Surface tablet. When used as such it offers full support for the Surface Pen and Surface Dial.

This versatility means the Surface Book 2 works how you want it to. Laying on a couch, or sitting at desk, the Surface Book 2 is designed to fit your needs. The MacBook Pro 15 offers an excellent desktop and laptop user experience, but you can’t exactly pop its screen off and read a book while lying in bed.

Even though these two devices are evenly matched when it comes to aesthetic design and engineering, we’re going to have to give the Surface Book 2 the win in this category. Its clever design allows it to do things the MacBook Pro 15 just can’t.

Winner: Surface Book 2

Hardware

Looking at processor performance, the MacBook Pro 15 actually has a leg up on the Surface Book 2. According to Geekbench, the MacBook Pro 15’s processor earns a score of 4,644 in single-core performance and 15,665 in multi-core performance. The Surface Book 2’s 8th-generation processor hits 4,547 in single-core performance, and 13,900 in multi-core performance.

What does that mean, in practice? It means they’re going to be close to evenly matched in day-to-day performance. The MacBook Pro 15’s processor, though older, is quicker because it’s designed to use more power than the processor in the Surface Book 2.

Looking at graphical hardware, though, there’s not much of a contest here. Even the most expensive MacBook Pro 15 features a graphics card that can’t keep up to the Surface Pro 2’s GTX 1060.

Not only is the GTX 1060 a quicker card, it has 6GB of RAM to the AMD Radeon Pro 560’s 4GB. That effectively puts a speed limit on the Radeon Pro, meaning it can’t outperform the GTX 1060, even if they were on even footing — which they are not. You’re going to get a lot more graphical horsepower out of the Surface Book 2.

In this arena, we’re going to call it for the Surface Book 2. The MacBook Pro 15’s victory in CPU power isn’t even close to the performance gulf between the Radeon Pro 560 and the GTX 1060.

Winner: Surface Book 2

Display

When it comes to display quality, Apple is hard to beat. Their slick glassy displays possess a clarity and depth that very few manufacturers can compete with. Given how well Microsoft has done with the Surface Book 2 so far, it might be a close contest.

Looking at display contrast — the difference between the darkest part of the screen and the brightest part — the Surface Book 2 has a solid lead over the MacBook Pro 15, and that’s impressive.

The Surface Book 2 hit a contrast ratio of 1,410:1 in our tests, while the MacBook Pro 15 topped out at 910:1. Both are stellar scores, and lend each display a unique sense of depth and character but the Surface Pro 2 wins this round. Let’s see how they do with display gamut and color accuracy.

When it comes to display gamut — the breadth of colors the display is capable of reproducing — the MacBook Pro 15 wins, hands down. Hitting 91 percent of the finicky AdobeRGB spectrum, the MacBook Pro 15 easily outpaces the Surface Book 2, which came in at 71 percent.

Apple’s displays are typically professional-grade, so their color accuracy is typically hard to beat. And that’s definitely the case here. The MacBook Pro 15 scores an impressive 0.61 average color error. Any score less than 1.0 is considered almost impossible to see with the naked eye, so that’s excellent.

The Surface Book 2, on the other hand, hit an average color error of 3.96. The colors are vibrant, but a bit too vibrant. With a score like that, the Surface Book 2 features color issues that are definitely noticeable to the naked and untrained eye.

With its solid victories in display gamut and color accuracy, this round goes to the MacBook Pro 15.

Winner: MacBook Pro 15

Portability

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

There are really two facets you need to look at when you’re comparing the portability of different devices: Form factor, and battery life. A laptop’s form factor, its size and weight play an important role in how “carryable” it is. Whether or not you’ll really feel it when you carry it around in a bag or just around the office.

In that way, the MacBook Pro 15 has a bit of a leg up based solely on its dimensions. It’s thinner and lighter than the Surface Book 2. It’s a narrow margin, but the MacBook Pro 15’s uniform thickness and slightly lighter body make for a laptop that’s easier to tote around.

There’s another important component here, though. When it comes to battery life, the typically best-in-class MacBook Pro 15 falls short of the Surface Book 2’s impressive, unbelievable longevity — and it should. That’s because the MacBook Pro 15 has one battery tucked in under the keyboard, while the Surface Book 2 has a battery in the display — for the tablet portion — and a larger battery underneath the keyboard, for a whopping total of 90 watt-hours of battery life. The MacBook Pro 15 features a 76 watt-hour battery.

According to manufacturer estimates, that means the MacBook Pro 15 can last about 10 hours of wireless web browsing. During our testing of the Surface Book 2, it managed an impressive 15 hours of wireless web browsing.

The winner here has to be the Surface Book 2, because those extra hours of battery life are going to mean a lot more than than an extra fraction of a pound when you’re trying to make it through a whole workday on a single charge.

Winner: Surface Book 2

Software

Here’s the thing about comparing MacOS to Windows: It’s a moot point. These days there are so few software exclusives — not including games — that you can get just about any software suite on Windows or MacOS. Both platforms are quick, modern, and stylish, and they each have their own weird eccentricities.

This one is solely a matter of preference, and it’s so easy these days to install Windows on a Mac that the division between these two diametrically opposed operating systems is becoming less and less important.

MacOS High Sierra doesn’t do anything that Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update doesn’t do, other than maybe integrate with iCloud — but on the other hand, Windows integrates well with Microsoft’s OneDrive.

These two operating systems are ultimately different flavors of the same thing, and some users will prefer one over another. That’s why this round is a tie.

Winner: Tie

Bottom line

The overall winner is the Surface Book 2, due to its superior hardware, versatile design, and unbelievable longevity. Not to mention that its most expensive, top-end configuration is still about $900 cheaper than the comparable configuration of the MacBook Pro 15 which tops out at $4,200. MacOS is great, but it’s not worth that much!

It’s clear the MacBook Pro 15 has a real competitor in the premium laptop space. Sure ,there have been laptops that have been almost as well-engineered as the MacBook Pro 15, but the Surface Book 2 really takes the competition to another level, and offers a compelling alternative if you want something slick, stylish, and engineered like a fine watch.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft Surface Book 2 15-inch Review
• We tested it: The Surface Book 2’s 15-hour battery easily outlasts your workday
• Is the Surface Book 2 a worthy sequel to the original? Here’s how it compares
• HP Spectre x360 15 review
• HP Omen 15 review

Win the game with these handy Razer Phone tips and tricks

By specifications alone, the Razer Phone is an impressive device. It packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor and that’s coupled with 8GB of RAM. Add in the loud, front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos, and you’ve created a phone for multimedia consumption and gaming.

Despite being the first Razer Phone, the software experience isn’t too different from a smartphone running stock Android. Still, there are a few neat tricks Razer has added to make this $700 phone special. We’re here to help with these helpful Razer Phone tips and tricks.

How to use Game Booster

Game Booster is a pretty powerful version of the battery saving app on most Android phones, except as the name suggests it’s geared towards optimizing games for battery life, or boosting them to offer ultimate performance. Find the app in the app drawer, and open it. In Game Booster, you can select Power Save, Performance, or the Custom icon to make adjustments to apps on the device. Choose Power Save or Performance if you want to choose a blanket setting for all your apps and games. Power Save will do things like lower the resolution a game is played at, reduce the strain on the CPU, cap the frame rate at 60, and turn off anti-aliasing all to help save battery life. Performance, on the other hand, will take everything to its highest setting so you get the best experience.

Custom lets you tweak the settings for each app or game. Click on Add/Remove games, and toggle the app you want to tweak settings for. Press the back arrow button to return to the main screen, and click on the app. Here, you can adjust the clock speed of the CPU (higher gives you better performance), resolution, frame rate (higher for smoother gameplay), and you can turn on anti-aliasing (which smooths out jagged edges in games). If you don’t want to deal with these settings, you can use the slider above to choose the type of performance you want: More battery, or higher performance.

How to turn off notifications while gaming

Gaming on a console versus your phone are two very different experiences. On a console like the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro, you’re can be fully immersed in a game. When gaming on a phone, social media notifications and email alerts that pop up over what you’re doing can be a huge distraction.

The Razer Phone has a handy Do Not Disturb feature that allows you to turn off your notifications while gaming. Your notifications will still come through, but they won’t appear on the screen when you game. To turn it on, head to the Game Booster app and toggle on the Do Not Disturb slider.

How to set up gestures in Nova Launcher Settings

One really nice thing about the Razer Phone is it runs a stock version of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Instead of creating a skin to run over Android, Razer uses a third-party launcher called Nova Launcher Prime. It’s a popular app that lets you customize your home screen the way you want, and it’s all made possible through the Nova Settings app.

There are plenty of different settings you can tweak, but let’s take a look at gestures. Open the Nova Settings app or find it by pressing and holding down on the home screen. Tap on Gestures & inputs, and you’ll see nearly a dozen different gestures you can pair with a specific function. For example, you can set swiping down on the home screen to expand your notifications. Just tap each gesture, and configure them to your liking.

How to use a theme from the Theme Store

Not a fan of the all-green theme on the home screen? The Razer Theme Store lets you change things up by installing themes to your phone, and they can change the wallpaper or app icons. The themes on the Razer Theme Store are based on popular games and are currently free, though it looks like paid themes may be coming in the future.

Setting up a theme from the Theme Store is pretty straight forward. Open the Theme Store app and select Install for the theme you like best. Once the theme is installed, you’ll need to select it and click Apply to change your theme. If you decide you want to switch back to the stock theme, press My Library on the bottom of the screen. Once open, you’ll see all your installed themes. Select the Arrival theme and click Apply.

How to change the refresh rate

The Razer Phone is unique because the display’s refresh rate can go up to 120Hz, as opposed to 60Hz like most smartphones. The refresh rate is how many times per second your phone’s display updates. While 60Hz may be fine for most, doubling it to 120Hz has some benefits. A quicker refresh rate helps prevent the stutter you see sometimes when you’re gaming or scrolling through your Twitter feed.

Although Game Booster allows you to adjust the refresh rate for individual apps, you can adjust the refresh rate for all apps on your phone in the settings. Go to Settings > Display > Refresh rate and make your selection between 60, 90, and 120Hz. Switching to 60Hz will definitely help improve your battery life.

How to turn on and customize Dolby Atmos

The Razer Phone boasts some pretty impressive stereo speakers on its front grill. It also includes Dolby Atmos sound technology to create a 3D effect when gaming or even watching videos. The quickest way to turn on Dolby Atmos is to pull down on the Notification Bar and click on the Dolby Atmos icon. When you click on the icon, you’ll see a slider at the top to turn it on as well as the list of presets to select. Toggle the slider on, select your preferred preset and then click Done.

To set up custom Atmos presets, you’ll need to open the Dolby Atmos app and click on Custom 1 or Custom 2. You can then adjust the equalizer and other options to fit your preferences. When you are happy with your settings, press and hold on the name to change it. This lets you tweak the sound exactly to your liking.

How to take a great photo

While the Razer Phone packs dual cameras on the rear, the camera app is pretty bare bones right now. It doesn’t offer portrait or panoramic modes like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and many other smartphones, but the camera software will be updated in the future to include more features.

The only current feature is you can use 2x optical zoom, but there’s no quick icon to jump to that level of zoom. Instead, you’ll need to pinch out for the screen. Watch closely as you zoom and you’ll see the screen shake a little to let you know you’re using the telephoto lens. Go too far, though, and you’ll be using digital zoom. There’s nothing to indicate what zoom you’re using, and Razer said it will address this in a later update.

You also shoot 4k video on the Razer. To enable 4k, you’ll need swipe left in the camera app to switch to video. You’ll see a video icon appear in the center of the screen. Once you’re in video mode, press the menu bar on the left side and open Settings. Under the video section, you press camera video resolution and change to UHD 4K.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Razer Phone hands-on review
• Razer Phone vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 8: A new challenger approaches
• Razer Phone vs. iPhone X: Android newcomer takes on Apple’s finest
• Android flagship throwdown: Razer Phone vs. Google Pixel 2 XL
• Razer Phone vs. LG V30: Can Razer topple a smartphone giant?

Oh She Glows is the most stunning recipe app you’ll ever see

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

Thanks to social media, presentation has taken on an entirely new meaning. We’ve evolved into a world where our photos are curated to look perfect, and flat lays have become more than a photography term. This especially applies to all the food we consume, with some of us not being able to take a first bite until we capture the beauty of a dish. This week, we have an app that will bring out the foodie in you — just in time for those Instagram-worthy holiday photos.

Oh She Glows — available for iOS and Android — is an app that consists of over 95 plant-based recipes, including over 75 gluten-free recipes. I know, that might not sound too appetizing if you don’t have any specific dietary restrictions, but there’s still a dish for everyone. From brownies and pumpkin spice lattes, to gazpacho and butternut squash mac ‘n cheese, you’ll be too mesmerized by the photos to realize it’s all extremely good for you.

The app is an extension of the recipe blog OhSheGlows.com, which has accumulated over one million followers to its site. It includes the most popular recipes from the site, along with photography shot by the author, Angela Liddon. The recipes have also been edited and even improved since first being created.

When I first opened the app, I scrolled endlessly through all of the different recipes not even reading what the titles were. My eyes were instead glued to the beautiful images of the food. Each photo looks so crisp and clear, with the food laid out both neatly and festively. The birds-eye view and marble laid out underneath adds a sleek touch, you almost want to print the photos out and frame them.

For those on an iPad — the iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 4, and iPad Pro specifically– you’ll have split view. When you tap on a specific recipe, you’re brought to all of the information needed to create the dish or drink. To your left, there’s the amount of servings, prep time, and the list of ingredients. It also addresses any dietary concerns you’ll need to know, like whether or not it’s gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, etc.

To the right, there’s a brief but entertaining headnote behind the recipe. Underneath it are directions, a list of tips, and nutritional information. In the top-right, you can tap on the heart if there’s a recipe you love and it will save to the “Favorites” section. At the bottom, you can also add notes to it that you can refer back later. If there’s a specific recipe you’re searching for, there’s a search bar included that allows you to type it in and quickly find it.

To make searching easier, you can narrow down what you’re looking for as well. There are filters included, which you can separate by dish types, dietary info, meals, and seasons. Under the “Other” filter, you’re able to select options such as “Homemade Staples,” “Kid Friendly,” “Quick + Easy,” and more.  To help make planning easier, you can also choose to view each dish by category so you distinguish between condiments, dessert, and main dishes.

Aside from the interface being extremely aesthetically pleasing, it’s also simple to navigate. Essentially, all you need to do is scroll up through and tap on whichever recipe you’re interested in. My favorite part of the app is that you can cross out each ingredient or step in order to keep track of your cooking or baking. By tapping on the text, it will strike it out for you so you visually know that it’s done. Tapping on it again will remove the strike.

On the iPhone, it’s a little different. You’ll notice that instead of split view, the information is separated into tabs instead. By tapping on each one, you’ll be able to see everything you need. All the other functionalities are the same. You also won’t have to worry about your having to unlock your device with messy hands while cooking, since there’s an anti-lock feature.

Even though I have yet to try the recipes myself, I love that they all seem extremely simple even for a novice like me. Of course it depends on the dish, but most of them don’t require too many ingredients and they also don’t look intimidating either. There’s a huge variety in the different types of food as well, to really suit even the pickiest of eaters — AKA me.

The Oh She Glows app will cost you $2, with another in-app purchase available called a “Bundle.” Each Bundle includes a variety of themed recipes, and there’s even a holiday one for free. With the Cookie Lover’s Bundle, you’ll have access to four cookie recipes ranging from Gingerbread to Peppermint Crunch cookies — and they’re adorable.

Unfortunately, there’s no actual tutorial on how to make them look as visually beautiful. Let’s hope when I do try out the recipes, they don’t turn out looking (or tasting) like a Pinterest fail — and neither will the photos.

Editors’ Recommendations

• EatLove and Allrecipes partner with AmazonFresh for cooking convenience
• Hello Fresh vs. Blue Apron: Which meal-delivery service is better?
• Any app can show recipes. Chef Tyler Florence’s teaches you how to cook
• Be thankful for Marley Spoon’s new Thanksgiving meal kit this season
• VSCO photo filters just got even better with custom one-click photo Recipes

20 car technologies we’re thankful for (and a little spoiled by)

The weather’s getting colder, the leaves are falling, and the pumpkin spice is flowing. That can only mean one thing — holiday season 2017 has arrived. It’s a time of festivity, family bonding, and rampant consumerism, but whatever you’re celebrating, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

Today, we’re keeping our focus narrow and highlighting some truly amazing automotive tech that we often take for granted. There are cars on the road right now that can effectively drive themselves, park without any human intervention, and even update themselves wirelessly without ever leaving the driveway. Call us old fashioned, but that’s pretty incredible.

For this list, we’re focusing on common car features, with a few obscurities thrown in for good measure. Here are 20 car technologies we’re thankful for this holiday season.

Heated and ventilated seats

Heated seats have been around for quite some time now, but that doesn’t make them any less awesome. Few sensations rival the warm embrace of heated leather around your backside in winter, except perhaps a cooled one in summer. Add in a massage function and you’ll be happy as a clam.

Though the 1972 Saab 99 is sometimes credited with offering the first heated seats, Cadillac actually made the feature available on the Fleetwood luxury car in 1966. The option was quite rare, though, and warmth was distributed via carbon-cloth heating pads. Whomever is responsible, our lower backs collectively thank you.

Adaptive cruise control

The next feature we’ve chosen to honor is much more modern one — adaptive cruise control (ACC). Systems can vary from automaker to automaker, but all ACCs use some sort of radar/camera system to track the vehicles ahead and adjust speed accordingly. While regular cruise control holds the car at a steady velocity until the driver intervenes, ACC will speed up or slow based on the position of the cars in front, reducing fatigue. Some will even bring you a complete stop when necessary, allowing the driver to set off again with a quick touch of the “Resume” button. For best results, pair with lane keeping assist for a stress-free ride.

Completely autonomous cars are still years away, but semi-autonomous features like this are a glimpse into a driverless future.

Backup cameras/parking sensors

There was once a time where, in order to see what was behind you, you actually had to turn your head and look. We still think it’s a good idea, but when entry-level cars like the $15,790 Honda Fit come with a backup camera as standard, you don’t really have to. In fact, rearview cameras will be required on all vehicles under 10,000 pounds come 2018.

The benefits of these devices are obvious. With a high-resolution image to reference, it becomes much more difficult (though not impossible) to run over the recycling bins at the end of the driveway, and with parking sensors enabled, backing into a tight spot has never been easier. Some cars even offer 360-degree cameras for even greater visibility. Has one of these devices saved your bumper before? Let us know in the comments.

Automatic liftgates

The 2013 Ford Escape is the best car in the world – If your hands are full of groceries in the pouring rain, that is.

The automatic liftgate, aka the hands-free liftgate, was first introduced on the aforementioned Escape crossover for the 2013 model year. Though the “foot-activated” system didn’t always work properly — leaving frustrated commuters kicking their cars like an angry Michael Flatley — it did pave the way for one of the most convenient and smart technologies out there.

Thankfully, modern examples of the automatic liftgate don’t require Taekwondo training to operate. Simply walk up to your vehicle with the key fob in range and the car will sense it and automatically open for you.

Ambient interior lighting

Ambient interior lighting may not be very high-tech, but boy is it fun. Normally found on high-end luxury cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, LED lighting can generally be adjusted to different colors and levels of brightness, making drivers and passengers feel like they’re in a high-end club rather than a car. You can even channel Star Trek by putting the cabin into “Red Alert” mode, but you’ll have to make the sounds yourself … if you’re into that sort of thing.

Non-luxury automakers are clearly recognizing the value of this feature, as ambient interior lighting has made its way downmarket. For instance, the 2015 Kia Soul offers mood lighting in five colors, the brightness of which can change based on the intensity of your music.

Keyless entry and push-button start

We’re approaching a time where old-fashioned car keys will go the route of the floppy disc — obsolete, clumsy, and forgotten. Most new cars offer an electronic key fob as opposed to a standard key, which allows drivers to lock, unlock, and start their vehicle from afar. And with their proximity sensors, fobs can automatically unlock a car’s door when the driver touches the handle, which is handy when you have bags, children, animals, or bags of children and animals in your hands.

Once inside, you’ll find yet another function made possible by the key fob —push-button start. Not only is keyless ignition the biggest advancement in vehicle starting technology since, well, the key, it immediately increases the perceived value of the car. Just hit the switch and go.

Navigation

In-car navigation has sure come a long way. When the first GPS units starting showing up in the 1990s, they were laughably slow and inaccurate, often taking several seconds to respond to simple commands like zoom in or zoom out. While car manufacturer systems still lag behind smartphone navigation in many ways, they’re certainly getting better, and they’ll still get you out of asking for directions.

Modern navigation technology can search for local points of interest, download traffic data, automatically detour in case of an accident, and much, much more. What’s next? Smarter head-up displays, holographic windshield projection, more Cloud connectivity, and cool gizmos like Jaguar Land Rover’s 360 Virtual Urban Windscreen.

Smartphone integration

While we’re on the subject of navigation, let’s move onto one of our favorite topics here at DT Cars — smartphone integration.

The marriage between cell phone and car used to be limited to USB ports for charging and Bluetooth connections for calling and music, but the options today are much more plentiful. Products like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto allow motorists to use nearly all of their mobile’s functions from the driver’s seat, including messaging, music, podcasts, and a variety of applications completely hands-free.

Automatic emergency braking

We’re thankful for some of the features on this list because they’re cool. For others, we’re thankful because they can save our lives. This one happens to be a little bit of both.

Automatic emergency braking uses similar sensors to those found in adaptive cruise control systems, only here they’re used to stop the vehicle autonomously when danger presents itself. It could be a pedestrian jutting into the lane or perhaps the car ahead suddenly slamming on the brakes, but either way, automatic braking can respond quicker and more efficiently than the human brain can. Some systems even bounce radar underneath the car in front to read the vehicle two places ahead, and can warn the driver of impending danger. Cool and safe? We like that.

Active exhaust valves

One of these is not like the others. Active exhaust valves may not be the first things that come to mind when talking about cool car tech, but they’re techie nonetheless, and definitely cool.

When a button is pressed inside the cabin, cars equipped with this function open (or close) special butterfly valves inside the exhaust, unleashing or quelling the full sonic fury of the powerplant on the other side. This is especially helpful on loud cars like the Jaguar F-Type R, which can easily set off car alarms with its throaty V8 soundtrack. Simply hit the switch and the car quiets down to civilian levels … at least until the next straightaway.

Driving modes

Changing behavior on a whim may not be the best trait in humans, but in cars, it’s a sign of maturity. Modern vehicles can stiffen their suspensions, adjust their steering ratios, and even embolden their engine notes depending on what drive mode they’re in, and flipping between them is no more complex than turning on the AC.

Cars can have any number of the following modes — normal, eco, comfort, sport, sport plus, individual, and track — with each offering a different flavor of performance or luxury. Everything from the Toyota Prius to the McLaren 570S has this feature, but they obviously serve very different purposes.

In the Prius, these modes allow the driver to commute on electric power alone or access all of the hybrid’s power if they’re in a rush. In the McLaren, they can firm up the adaptive dampers for better handling or muffle its thunderous exhaust for more subtlety. In any case, driving modes allow the person behind the wheel to tailor their ride’s character electronically, and in some cases, they can turn a supercar into a luxury car.

Wi-Fi

In 2016, most automakers include a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot in their cars, meaning motorists can stay connected no matter where the road takes them. We can’t recommend using your phone, tablet, or connected refrigerator behind the wheel, but it’s nice to know that the days of pillaging internet from coffee shops and libraries are largely over.

Wi-Fi is expected on high-end vehicles like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but even affordable cars like the $13,000 Chevrolet Spark offer wireless internet with an OnStar subscription. Better yet, quality aftermarket hotspots can be scooped up for as little as $50, so if you don’t want to unplug, you really don’t have to.

Traffic light prediction

Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly when the traffic light was going to change? If you spend a lot of time in the city, this information could make your commute a whole lot more bearable, and it could even save you money. Believe it or not, there actually is an app for that.

The EnLighten App (Android, iOS) is a free program made by Connected Signals, and it uses data from GPS and local Traffic Management Centers to predict the duration and frequency of traffic lights. With this info on hand, you could safely finish that text or take a much-needed sip of coffee, and you could even time the lights as you go, allowing you to coast and save money on fuel.

EnLighten isn’t available everywhere, but automakers are taking notice. BMW is working to integrate the iOS version of EnLighten into its BMW Apps suite, and Audi introduced a similar system on the 2017 Q7, A4, and A4 Allroad. The systems are a ways away from mainstream adoption, but before you know it, each red light will be like a little vacation.

Voice recognition

Voice recognition isn’t the most advanced system on our list, but when used properly, it’s definitely one of the most convenient. This technology can initiate calls, get directions, draft and read texts, play songs, and even search for local points of interest without the driver typing a single word. And when you aren’t looking at your phone, you’re (hopefully) looking at the road, which means you aren’t plowing into the car in front of you.

A good voice control system might just be be your new favorite feature, but a bad one can actually be more distracting because of how much you have to wrestle with it. Thankfully, the options are getting better each year, and with the increased proliferation of natural language processing and apps like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, conversing with your car might actually get you somewhere.

Automatic parking

Automatic parking is the answer to an age-old question — why do it when your car can do it for you? The technology started popping up in the United States in the early 2000s, mostly notably in 2006 with the Lexus LS460. With sonar sensors and a rearview camera working in concert, the luxury sedan could parallel park almost completely by itself, with the driver using only the brake to stop once signaled to do so. Lexus had started a trend.

Ever since, manufacturers like Ford, Audi, Jeep, BMW, and more have flirted with autonomous parking systems, and this year Tesla unveiled a Summon feature that allows Model S and Model X drivers to park their vehicles remotely with their key fob. Imagine a future where you pull up to a restaurant, hop out of the driver’s seat, and watch your car autonomously scoot away in search of parking. When you’re done, it zips right back to you like a loyal pet, waiting to take you back home. That future isn’t far away now, and for that, we give thanks.

Welcome lighting

Welcome lighting might be the best manufacturer-approved way of showing off since the hood ornament. It serves a practical purpose by illuminating the area around the driver’s door at night, but the fact that many automakers use welcome lighting to project their logos means passersby will always know exactly what kind of car you’re driving — even in the dark.

Massaging seats

If you’re going to sit in a seat for a long period of time, it had better be comfortable. Luckily, modern car seats can be like armchairs, right down to their ability to massage an occupant. Massaging seats are admittedly a bit decadent, but they’re great for long road trips, or even to make sitting in traffic more relaxing. The only downside is the possibility of getting too relaxed. You still have to pay attention to the road, after all.

Lane keep assist

Of the many safety technologies now available on modern cars, lane keep assist addresses one of the simplest problems. Keeping a car centered in its lane isn’t that difficult, but drivers still need a little sometimes, particularly on long trips. Lane keep assist systems can use the brakes or steering to keep a car from crossing the line, helping to make the roads a little bit safer.

Lightweight materials

Whether its carbon fiber, aluminum, or high-strength steel, automakers are putting more lightweight materials into their cars. That’s a good thing, because reducing weight improves everything about a car, from fuel economy, to acceleration, to handling. Weight reduction is also necessary to meet stricter emissions standards and compensate for the bloat brought on by a growing array of tech features. Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s maxim — “simplify, then add lightness” — still holds true.

Electric fast charging

Electric cars are great for the environment and the wallet, but long charging times initially made road trips impractical. Enter DC fast charging, which dramatically reduces charging times compared to conventional AC charging systems. While 240-volt Level 2 AC systems take hours to recharge an electric car, many DC fast-charging stations can recharge a battery pack to 80 percent capacity in around 30 minutes.

DC fast charging still has a long way to go. The stations themselves are relatively expensive and thus less common than AC stations. There are also three competing standards (CHAdeMO, CCS, and Tesla’s Supercharger) which means not every electric car can charge at every station. Regardless, we’re thankful for the progress made so far.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Every automaker’s electrification plans for the next few years explained
• Tell me where it hurts: MIT app diagnoses car issues by listening, analyzing sounds
• House Republicans pitch to abolish federal EV and PHEV tax credits
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• Sick of walking everywhere? Here are the best electric skateboards money can buy

You won’t miss the home button on the iPhone X, thanks to these new gestures

One of the biggest complaints about the iPhone X — besides the lack of Touch ID — is its complete lack of a home button. Instead of the standard set of gestures and buttons that have defined the product for years, iPhone users must now relearn how to navigate Apple’s latest headset. Gone are the days of simply swiping up to access the Control Center and down for notifications, but, thankfully, the new gestures aren’t a huge departure from the originals.

Swiping down on the screen of your iPhone X will still bring up notifications, but only if you swipe from the left side of the screen to the right side of the notch in the center. If you swipe from the right side of said notch (where the battery and signal icons are located), you will now bring up the Control Center, which used to be located at the bottom of the screen.

Swiping up from the bottom now brings up the home screen, nixing the need for the traditional home button. Simply swipe up from the small line located on the bottom of your lock screen, or from the very edge of your phone. Easy, right?

While you could swipe up in the same motion and hold your finger in the middle of the screen to access Multitasking, there’s a actually a faster way to do it. To open Multitasking immediately, swipe up from the button of your screen and to the right in one motion.

The latest iteration of iOS 11 also offers Multitasking Gestures, which allow you to quickly access the last app you were using — simply swipe right along the bottom of your screen to do so. If you swipe to the left, you can even bring up the  app you used before that.

Many iPhone X users also miss Accessibility mode, a feature seemingly absent on the latest iPhone. In previous iPhone models, lightly tapping twice on the home button allowed you to pull the contents of your screen down, allowing you to access them more easily with one hand. Thankfully, you can still do this! After you’ve ensured Reachability is toggled on — you can do this by going to Settings > Accessibility — swipe down on the very bottom of your screen to trigger the feature.

Gesture controls aren’t the only thing Apple changed with the new iPhone. The physical buttons lining the sides of the iPhone now perform different functions to some extent, because of the missing home button. To turn off your device, hold the Sleep/Wake button and one of the volume buttons (it doesn’t matter which one) until you see a prompt to power down.

If you hold the Sleep/Wake button for an extended period of time, you’ll activate Siri. If you double tap it, Apple Pay will launch. To take a screenshot, hold the Volume Up and Sleep/Wake button for one second, or until you see a copy of the screenshot appear in the lower-left corner. With all the same features — along with a few new-and-improved ones — just a click or two away, you’re not going to miss the home button on the iPhone X.

David Cogen — a regular contributor here at Digital Trends — runs TheUnlockr, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him on Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to navigate iOS 11 with Apple’s iPhone X
• Master your new iPhone with these helpful iPhone X tips and tricks
• How to take a screenshot on an iPhone
• Apple iPhone X review
• Is your smartphone frozen? Here’s how to reset your iPhone

Try these accessible tech teaching tools on your next dream golf vacation

The closest most of us will probably get to the famed island green at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is the EA Sports PGA Tour game from 2015, but if you’ve got the money for a dream golf vacation at the posh resort, you’ll find an array of state-of-the-art technology in the PGA Tour’s Performance Center that will help improve your game.

“We use the technology — Trackman, Foresight’s GC Quad system, V1 Pro computer software, high-speed video, hitting vests, balance plates, etc. — to assess where they are with the game and how their body functions during a swing, and to quantify how to improve their game,” Todd Anderson, PGA instructor, told Forbes. “We don’t have tech that’s different than everyone else, but it’s how we assess a golfer and apply that to help them improve their game that’s unique.”

Previously only available to tour pros, these high-tech assessments help with clubfitting and individualized teaching tailored to a specific golfer’s needs. Golfing resorts around the country are embracing the latest tech teaching tools and incorporating them into their resort packages.

“When they go to high-level performance centers like ours, they expect them to have the latest technology there,” added Anderson. “It comes with the territory and is becoming a larger part of how resorts bill their destination.”

The Sawgrass resort even includes a tech-heavy putting facility to help golfers learn how to read greens better. The Quintic ball roll software uses a high-speed camera, tracking the putter during impact and ball movement afterwards.

Once you get out on the course, there are hundreds of high-tech gadgets you can take along with you to give information about the course or provide feedback on your game. There are electric scooters you can ride instead of carts, or even driverless carts that follow you around the course. You can use GPS devices to plan your shots, or range-finding wearables that tell you how far you are from the hole. You can also don wearable sensors to track and analyze your swing, or smart golf balls that tell you when you’ve hit it correctly.

So far, there’s no device that will automatically shout “Noonan!” when your opponent lines up for a putt, however. You’ll have to do that one on your own.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Improve your golf swing with the sensors from SwingLync
• Teach yourself to hit the ball out of the infield with Garmin’s Impact sensor
• Samsung and TaylorMade partner to help you improve your golf game
• Nokia Go review
• ‘Everybody’s Golf’ review

Try these accessible tech teaching tools on your next dream golf vacation

The closest most of us will probably get to the famed island green at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is the EA Sports PGA Tour game from 2015, but if you’ve got the money for a dream golf vacation at the posh resort, you’ll find an array of state-of-the-art technology in the PGA Tour’s Performance Center that will help improve your game.

“We use the technology — Trackman, Foresight’s GC Quad system, V1 Pro computer software, high-speed video, hitting vests, balance plates, etc. — to assess where they are with the game and how their body functions during a swing, and to quantify how to improve their game,” Todd Anderson, PGA instructor, told Forbes. “We don’t have tech that’s different than everyone else, but it’s how we assess a golfer and apply that to help them improve their game that’s unique.”

Previously only available to tour pros, these high-tech assessments help with clubfitting and individualized teaching tailored to a specific golfer’s needs. Golfing resorts around the country are embracing the latest tech teaching tools and incorporating them into their resort packages.

“When they go to high-level performance centers like ours, they expect them to have the latest technology there,” added Anderson. “It comes with the territory and is becoming a larger part of how resorts bill their destination.”

The Sawgrass resort even includes a tech-heavy putting facility to help golfers learn how to read greens better. The Quintic ball roll software uses a high-speed camera, tracking the putter during impact and ball movement afterwards.

Once you get out on the course, there are hundreds of high-tech gadgets you can take along with you to give information about the course or provide feedback on your game. There are electric scooters you can ride instead of carts, or even driverless carts that follow you around the course. You can use GPS devices to plan your shots, or range-finding wearables that tell you how far you are from the hole. You can also don wearable sensors to track and analyze your swing, or smart golf balls that tell you when you’ve hit it correctly.

So far, there’s no device that will automatically shout “Noonan!” when your opponent lines up for a putt, however. You’ll have to do that one on your own.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Improve your golf swing with the sensors from SwingLync
• Teach yourself to hit the ball out of the infield with Garmin’s Impact sensor
• Samsung and TaylorMade partner to help you improve your golf game
• Nokia Go review
• ‘Everybody’s Golf’ review

Android 8.0 Oreo now rolling out to OnePlus 3/3T with OxygenOS 5.0 update

The update will first be rolled out incrementally and then expand to more users.

OnePlus recently announced the 5T as its latest flagship handset, and while the phone does have a lot to offer, one area of annoyance lies with the fact that it won’t receive an official build of Android Oreo until some point in 2018. However, if you own a OnePlus 3 or 3T, an over-the-air update for Oreo is rolling out now. An open beta for Oreo on the 3/3T began in October, but this update is being made available for all users as an official build.

With this being an update to Oreo, you’ll soon have access to the likes of notification dots, picture-in-picture, Google’s Autofill API, and smart text selection. However, in typical OnePlus fashion, you’ll also find a variety of custom tweaks to elevate your Oreo experience even more.

OnePlus has added a new folder design within its launcher, there’s now an option to upload photos you’ve taken directly to Shot on OnePlus, and the recently announced Parallel Apps feature that allows you to have two separate instances of the same application is here as well. Lastly, the update comes with the September security patch (and strangely not the more recent November one).

The Oreo/OxygenOS 5.0 update will be rolling out incrementally at first starting today and then expand to more and more users over the coming days.

Android Oreo

• Android Oreo review!
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• How to get Android Oreo on your Pixel or Nexus
• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
• Join the Discussion

The $110 Samsung T5 portable SSD is fast, secure, and down to a low price

This portable SSD is super fast, and an SSD isn’t going to fail from getting bumped around like a hard drive might.

The Samsung T5 250GB portable SSD is down to $109.99 on Amazon. This SSD usually sells around $130. Recently it has dropped to $120 a few times, but this is its first drop to $110 and, therefore, its lowest price ever.

The 500GB version is also on sale for $170.The last deal we shared on this drive is when it dropped from a street price of $200 to $180. It has stayed at $180 since then, so this is an all new low.

The Samsung T5 is fairly new, having just released in mid-August. It has still gotten quite a few great critical reviews in a short amount of time, including an Editor’s Choice and 4 stars from PC Mag, 4.5 stars from Tech Radar, and a review from Forbes that said it “offers a great sweet spot in terms of size, performance and price.”

Features include:

• Superfast Read-Write speeds of up to 540 MB/s
• Top to bottom metal design that fits in the palm of your hand
• Optional password protection and AES 256-bit hardware encryption
• Includes USB Type C to C and USB Type C to A cables

The T5 comes with a three-year warranty.

See at Amazon