Reviews arrive days before the iMac Pro launch, and it’s a big performance jump

Early reviews of the upcoming iMac Pro have arrived just days before the long-awaited workstation becomes available to purchase. The reviews are based on the same configuration: a 10-core Xeon processor, an insane 128GB of system memory, AMD’s monster Radeon RX Pro Vega 64 graphics chip, and a 2TB solid-state drive. Low performance likely won’t be an issue with this hardware configuration.

Apple’s review units shipped with Intel’s Xeon W-2155 ten-core processor with a base speed of 3.3GHz, and a maximum turbo speed of 4.5GHz. According to this review by Jonathan Morrison, the processor scored a 5,450 in the Geekbench 4 single-core test, and a 37,434 in the multi-core test. That latter multi-core number puts the chip in the same ballpark as Intel’s Core i9-7900X 10-core chip for the mainstream desktop market, but it’s lower in single-core performance.

While the review basically focused on the perfect iMac Pro setup, another review posted by Vincent Laforet goes into deeper performance numbers. In Final Cut Pro X, he compared Apple’s review unit with his existing iMac 5K model with an Intel Core i7 CPU, 32GB of system memory, an AMD Radeon R9 4GB graphics card, and a 500GB Fusion drive. Also on the comparison list was a brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of system memory, a 1TB SSD, and a discrete AMD Radeon Pro 560 graphics chip.

He converted high-resolution media on all three devices, and saw the job completed in just under eight minutes on the new iMac Pro. The iMac 5K fell into second place with 15 minutes and 47 seconds followed by the 15-inch MacBook Pro in 19 minutes and 55 seconds. He saw a similar dominance in Black Magic Resolve converting 8K video to 4K footage.

Part of the huge performance boost stems from the speed of the iMac Pro’s SSD. According to Laforet, it managed a hefty write speed of 2,996MB per second, and a read speed of 2,450MB per second. Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro’s 1TB SSD saw a write speed of 1,743MB/s and a read speed of 1,400MB/s. The iMac 5K’s drive was significantly slower.

Craig A. Hunter’s review gets a bit more technical with workstation software, such as using NASA’s tools for computational fluid dynamics. Charts show a big performance gain over the MacBook Pro, the iMac 27, the Mac Pro, and more. The problem is, the comparisons are unfair because the closest models are generations behind. Hunter also notes that the iMac with an Intel Core i7 quad-core chip is slightly faster in single-core performance, but overall a 10-core chip provides more processing power.

Finally, Marques Brownlee points out that you’ll never be able to manually upgrade this $5,000-plus machine — there’s no visible way to get inside. He also provides Geekbench numbers similar to what we saw in the first review, but also lists an older iMac’s single-core benchmark that surpasses the new iMac Pro. Ultimately, the iMac Pro’s biggest weakness is apparently the inability to upgrade storage and memory for the big bucks you’re shoveling to Apple.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Intel and AMD’s love/hate relationship spilled in benchmarks detailing two chips
• AMD crams desktop performance into ultra-thin laptops with its new Ryzen APUs
• Yes — Core i7 is faster than Core i5. But what’s the real difference?
• Intel is cramming custom AMD Radeon graphics into an eighth-generation chip
• Microsoft Surface Book 2 15-inch Review

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

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

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

Willing Webcam

Willing Webcam is an app that brings in video from built-in cameras and from about 400 IP network cameras to Mac video cameras.

Available on:

iOS

Cranky Weather

There’s always something to complain about, especially when it comes to the weather. Cranky Weather gives you hilariously twisted weather reports for every situation.

Available on:

iOS

Orderly

Orderly displays the to-do’s using the Apple bookshelf metaphor, so that you get a glimpse of your to-do lists without having to open them individually.

Available on:

iOS

Throwback Stories

Throwback Stories helps you create stunning Instagram Stories from your memories, providing a set of useful tools to enhance and animate your stories.

Available on:

iOS

CalcKey

CalcKey allows you to perform calculations right within iMessage, without even having to leave the app, so you can finally work out exactly how much your friend owes you for dinner quickly and easily.

Available on:

iOS

Metadata

Wether you shoot on your phone, DSLR, or create images in your favorite photo editing application, Metadata will show you your image measurements, DPI, file size, location data, and device information.

Available on:

iOS

Editors’ Recommendations

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

Mirror Emoji Keyboard turns selfies into characters that look like you

Stock emojis are fun, but they lack any originality to make them feel personal. One startup, Mirror AI, is looking to change that. The company announced on Dec. 13 that iOS and Android users can download the beta version of Mirror Emoji Keyboard, an app that turns selfies into a custom emojis.

Mirror Emoji uses facial recognition technology to build a keyboard of emojis and stickers that look like you. Using artificial intelligence, the app looks for unique characteristics from a photo, then turns those fe into emoji. The beta version of the app cab generate hundreds of custom emojis that represent different expressions, but the developer says those numbers will increase into the tens of thousands in future versions of the app.

The app also works on photos of friends. These friend emojis appear alongside your personal emojis. The company is looking into customized emojis for groups and pets.

“[Mirror Emoji Keyboard] is the culmination of a year’s worth of work from our dedicated and experienced engineering team and is only the beginning,” Serge Faguet, CEO and co-founder of Mirror AI, said in a press release. “As our user base grows, our technology will continue to improve, leading to even greater personalization as well as as automatic detection of clothing, pets and frequent companions in your camera roll.”

The custom emojis are generated in a matter of seconds, Mirror says. The keyboard is available currently within messaging apps, including Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage.

Mirror AI says that the app is designed to recognize both facial features and expression in a way that gives the platform an edge over other custom emoji apps. Mirror Emoji is the company’s first app since its inception earlier this year, and the startup plans to continue evolving the tech into more complex applications.

“An entire section of our brain is dedicated to human facial perception which is an incredibly hard problem for artificial intelligence approaches to solve and we are just starting to scratch the surface of the possibilities,” Mirror’s CTO and co-founder, Evgeny Kuryshev, said. “We are fortunate to have some of the top engineers in this field, which allows us to relentlessly work to improve this technology. A decade from now, Mirror aims to deploy our technology and usage data for complex tasks from powering virtual reality characters to advertising personalized to viewers’ faces.”

Mirror Emoji Keyboard is available as a free download from the App Store and Google Play.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Unicode 11.0 includes over 130 potential emojis for 2018
• It’s just a click to a wink: How to get emojis on your Mac
• How this ‘Frowning Pile of Poo’ emoji started a messy conflict
• MacOS High Sierra 10.13.1 adds 70 new emojis for more expressive conversations
• Apple releases iOS 11.1 with new emojis, bug fixes, and more

2018’s Nokia 6 could be Nokia’s first ever bezel-less phone

The recent Nokia phones have been decent Android smartphones, but they’ve failed to set the world on fire. We liked the high-end Nokia 8, and the variants like the Nokia 6 were good phones for their market. And while the Nokia 6 launched Nokia’s new foray into smartphones, and was only released in January 2017, we’re already hearing rumblings of an upgraded version of the Nokia 6, ready to launch in 2018.

Among other issues the new Nokia smartphone range had, the look was one of the most glaring, as it was rather aged when compared to others in the same field. We recently saw Honor bring the bezel-less future to the budget market with the Honor 7X, and midrange phones like the OnePlus 5T have seen the bezel-less trend expand beyond flagship phones like the LG V30, the Galaxy S8, and the iPhone X.

The Swedish company is likely hoping its time in the shade is over, thanks to leaked images of a 2018 model of the Nokia 6, obtained through the TENAA certification required to launch phones in China. The biggest change seems to be the inclusion of a 5.5-inch display, which while the same size as the last Nokia 6, is outputting an 18:9 resolution of 2,160 x 1,080. Since that screen size is the same as its predecessor, and the pictures imply a larger screen-to-body ratio, it’s a safe bet the new Nokia 6 will also be significantly smaller than its big brother.

Internally, it seems a lot has changed. The Snapdragon 430 core in the last Nokia 6 has been upgraded to a Snapdragon 630, and while the RAM is listed at 4GB with 32GB of storage, this odd configuration could simply be one of the models on display for the phone. Unfortunately for fans of the front home button, that button on the Nokia 6 has been shifted around to the back of the device, now a common move for phones expanding into the bezel-less and edge-to-edge market. It’s also rumored this device will be dual-SIM, perfect for anyone who needs their device to have dual-SIM functionality.

A release date for the Nokia 6 isn’t currently known, though rumors from earlier this month do point at a January release for new Nokia devices. Whether or not we’ll see the missing Nokia 9 remains to be seen, but if the Nokia range is really getting a makeover, this could be the Swedish company’s chance to get back atop a market it used to rule.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Everything you need to know about Nokia’s return to smartphones
• Nokia 9 rumors hint the reinvigorated company’s not finished with 2017 yet
• Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 3: Our first take
• Nokia 6 vs. Moto G5 Plus
• Nokia 3310 3G review

Samsung Galaxy S8 Oreo update: Top features + what’s new!

Samsung Galaxy S8 owners around the world will soon be getting their first major Android update. The upgrade to Oreo keeps the core GS8 experience the same, but brings welcome performance tweaks and a handful of new features on top of everything else this phone could already do.

First of all, though, your Galaxy S8 is still a Galaxy S8. This update doesn’t make any drastic changes to the overall look or feel of Samsung’s software, even though technically we’re up to “Samsung Experience” version 9 now.

Of course this is Android Oreo, so you get all the new features we’ve been seeing in Pixel phones and some others for the past few months — things like improved notification management — notifications channels, and the ability to snooze alerts that aren’t important right this second. And it’s also easier to sign into apps — Autofill with Google pulls in details automatically from your Google account.

Other changes on the Samsung side? New edge lighting, shortcut features from the Note 8, new clock widgets, a GIF keyboard and much more. Check out our Galaxy S8 Oreo video above for a quick rundown of what’s new.

• Android Central on YouTube
• How to get the GS8 Oreo beta
• Samsung Galaxy S8
• Android 8.0 Oreo
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8

What’s the best music player app?

Check out the music apps our forum users recommend the most.

As popular as music streaming services have become, there’s still a large group of people that have local media files they prefer to listen to instead. This is a great route to take if you want to be able to listen to your tunes offline and don’t want to pay a monthly subscription fee, and when it comes to Android, there are a ton of different apps out there that are aimed at making your music listening experience as awesome as possible.

Our forum users recently got into a discussion about which music app they like the best, and these are some of the top answers.

dmark44
12-08-2017 06:41 PM

“

Shuttle+ was the one I stuck with on my past phone. It has a nice, clean material design interface. I tried PowerAmp, Rocket and N7.

Reply

nelamvr6
12-09-2017 11:33 AM

“

PowerAmp Pro. I was using Neutron for a while, but had lots of distortion over BT. PowerAmp has it all, sounds great, manages my library perfectly. Nothing to dislike. It works, and works well.

Reply

N4Newbie
12-09-2017 02:08 PM

“

Okay, you piqued my curiosity with this one, so I downloaded and installed.

I like the material design; Shuttle is far and away prettier than my go-to player, PowerAmp.

But, one thing I know I would miss with Shuttle is PowerAmp’s “Queue” function. Think of it as a one-time playlist of sorts. When I hit the gym in the morning, for example, I pick a couple of albums and enqueue them, turn…

Reply

Joe Zambito
12-09-2017 05:37 PM

“

Currently using Poweramp. Nothing can compare. I have been getting standby drain but easily fixed by a force stop of the app. Just a heads up.

Reply

hpilot
12-12-2017 12:03 PM

“

Rocket Player together with iSyncr is by far the best player I have used – love it!

Reply

How about you – What’s your favorite music player app?

Join the conversation in the forums!

The $20 TP-Link smart plug has matched its lowest price ever

Lowest barrier of entry for you to start your smart home is right here.

The TP-Link smart plug is down to $19.99 on Amazon. This device normally sells for $30. It has had a couple drops to $25 and one as low as $23, but it hasn’t matched this deal price since earlier in the summer.

This is one of the easiest ways to start adding smart home elements to your appliances. It needs no hub and comes with a free app. So all you have to do is plug it in, connect it to your Wi-Fi, download the free app, and you can turn whatever you’ve plugged into it on and off with your phone.

If you do already have an Echo Dot or something similar, you can connect it to that easily to enable voice control.

Here are all the features:

• Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.
• Turn electronics on or off from anywhere with your tablet or smartphone using the free Kasa app (Compatible w/ Android 4.1 or higher & iOS8 or higher).
• Use Away-Mode to turn devices on and off at different times to give the appearance that someone is home while you are away.
• Easy to use and install. Just plug a device into the Smart Plug and connect to your Wi-Fi network. 120VAC Volt Compatible.
• Schedule the Smart Plug to automatically power electronics on and off as needed, like setting lights to come on at dusk or turn off at sunrise.

The smart plug has 4 stars based on more than 6,000 user reviews.

See on Amazon

Deal: NVIDIA Shield Android TV on sale for just $149

Also available with the SmartThings Link for $169.

The NVIDIA Shield Android TV is one of the best streaming boxes you can buy, and if you’ve been waiting and waiting to pick one up, now might be the perfect time to finally do so. If you live in the United States, you can now purchase the Shield TV for as little as $149. It’s important to note that this is the variant of the Shield TV that only comes with the regular remote and not the game controller, but even so, you’re still looking at a savings of $30 off the regular price.

If you want to get even more bang for your buck, you can also get that same model of the Shield TV with the Samsung SmartThings Link for just $169 – a savings of $50 compared to the regular price of $219. The SmartThings Link essentially turns the Shield TV into a hub for all of your SmartThings devices, so if you’re invested in Samsung’s smart home ecosystem, this is probably the better buy for you.

The Shield TV and SmartThings bundle will only be available at Best Buy, but you’ll be able to get the regular version of the Shield TV with just the remote at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H.

These savings are available through December 24, and no matter which one you end up choosing, you’ll be able to get three months of YouTube Red for free.

See at Amazon

The LOFT portable battery case lets Google Home escape from the home

If you’ve always wanted your Google Home to be a little more portable, this’ll take care of that.

Sure, pretty much everything that’s baked into Google Home is already in your perfectly portable smartphone. Google Assistant. Music. Podcasts. Answers for all of the world’s questions. But let’s face it, even the best smartphone speakers suck compared to Google Home.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just take your Google Home outside, without needing an extension cord? Indeed, it would. And it is.

The LOFT portable battery case is a $50 accessory for Google Home that adds a 4200 mAh battery and unshackles it from an outlet.

It’s super simple. Just pop off the old base (give it a tiny twist to break the magnetic connection, and it just slides right off) and then pop on the LOFT, making sure the little power post lines up to slip inside the Google Home. After that, just plug the Google Home power supply into the bottom of the LOFT, and let it charge up.

Once you’re ready to take your Google Home outside, all you have to do is unplug the cord. The internal battery does the rest, for up to eight hours, LOFT says. The LED lights on the front let you know how much battery remains.

It’s that easy. There are three colors from which to choose — black (which goes nicely with a Panda’d-out Pixel 2), copper, and silver. The grille pattern looks plenty nice and is easily of enough quality so that I’m not even going to think about putting the stock base back on, whether or not I’ll be moving my Google Home around. And it only adds about an inch and a half of height to the whole smash, taking things up to about 7 inches at their highest point.

It’s not quite a must-have. But if you’ve want to be able to take your Google Home somewhere cords just aren’t going to work, it’s a great and inexpensive option.

See at Amazon

Google Home

• Google Home review
• These services work with Google Home
• Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
• Join our Google Home forums!

Google Store Best Buy Target

These are the top 10 most popular Google searches of 2017

Time to look back and see what was big in 2017.

Every year in December, Google announces the most popular searches over the past 365 days as a way for us to look back and see what major things and events had the biggest impact on our world. For 2017, Google says it saw a huge increase in searches that began with “how.”

These searches include the likes of “how do wildfires start”, “how far can north korean missiles go”, “how to help flood victims”, and much more. Searches like these are said to have seen an increase of ten times compared to any other year prior, and while many of them are a result of natural disasters, tensions between nations, and controversial world leaders, Google reminds us to look at these searches as a way of people wanting to better understand the world and help push things forward.

With that said, the top 10 global searches for 2017 are as follows:

Hurricane Irma
iPhone 8
iPhone X
Matt Lauer
Meghan Markle
13 Reasons Why
Tom Petty
Fidget Spinners
Chester Bennington
India National Cricket Team

On the consumer technology side of things, the top 10 global searches include:

iPhone 8
iPhone X
Nintendo Switch
Samsung Galaxy S8
Xbox One X
Nokia 3310
Razer Phone
Oppo F5
OnePlus 5
Nokia 6

When looking at the top 10 searches for consumer technology in the United States, there are two other Android phones that make an appearance with the Pixel 2 coming in at eighth place and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 at tenth.

The evidence is here – people really, really want a Razer Phone.

It’s pretty impressive to see the OnePlus 5 making such a big dent in the consumer tech market on a global scale this year, but what’s even more shocking is the strong presence of the Razer Phone being the seventh most popular consumer tech item for all of 2017. The Razer Phone was fairly late to market with a release just this past November, and along with this, our own Alex Dobie found a couple game-breaking issues that prevented him from recommending the device in its current state. However, even with all of this being the case, it’s clear that there is in fact a market for an Android phone made by Razer.

We aren’t at all surprised that the iPhone 8 and X were to two most popular phones of the year, but the Galaxy S8 and it’s ultra-futuristic design doesn’t fall far behind them. Also, while Google still has quite a bit of work to do for expanding its hardware on a global scale, seeing the Pixel 2 come in at eighth place for the United States should still be considered a win for the company.

What are your thoughts on these top 10 searches? Do any of them surprise you? Let us know in the comments below, and check out all of the other categories on Google Trends here.