Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra, XA2, and L2 hands-on review

Sony hasn’t made any dramatic changes to its Xperia smartphone lineup over the past few years — it has maintained a design ethos of chunky bezels around the screen, and no fingerprint sensor in the United States due to “business decisions.” Toward the end of 2017, Sony teased it may be cooking up a design refresh in 2018, and at CES we’re already seeing hints at what kind of design changes we can expect. It’s all starting with the midrange and budget Xperia XA2 Ultra, Xperia XA2, and Xperia L2 smartphones.

While the L2 and the XA2 are average Android budget smartphones, the XA2 Ultra has some interesting additions that may indeed make it a smartphone worth considering when it launches towards the end of January or early February. We dive into all three smartphones in our Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra, XA2, and L2 hands-on review.

Xperia XA2 Ultra

The Xperia XA2 Ultra is a midrange phone, so don’t mistake it for the flagship Xperia XZ1 or XZ1 Compact series that launched late last year. It feels large in the hand because of its 6-inch size, but unlike other 6-inch phones we’ve seen in 2017 — such as the Galaxy S8 Plus or the LG V30 — it doesn’t quite follow the “bezel-less” trend, with minimized edges around the screen.

To be fair, the bezels have shrunk if you compare the XA2 Ultra to the XZ1 Compact. There are almost no bezels on the sides of the screen, and Sony has shrunken the top and bottom edges. They’re still a tad chunky that what we’re now used to, but it doesn’t look as dated as Sony’s previous devices. The rest of the phone is quite familiar. The circular power button sits on the right edge, below the volume rocker. On the same edge, you’ll also find a dedicated camera button, which sits in a natural position when holding the phone in landscape mode for photos.

The biggest redesign is apparent on the phone’s rear. Below the circular single-lens camera sits a fingerprint sensor. That may not sound like a big deal, but Sony has traditionally placed its fingerprint sensors on the edge of the phone, below the power button. What’s more is this fingerprint sensor will finally be activated and ready to use on devices sold in the U.S. In the past, Sony hasn’t activated the fingerprint sensor on its U.S. phones due to “business decisions,” but it seems as though the company has finally changed its mind. It’s a good step in the right direction, but we’re sad it took Sony so long to make this a feature standard.

The second-most-visible change is on the front top bezel — you’ll find two selfie cameras. One is a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization, and this is the main lens you’ll use to capture most selfies. The additional 8-megapixel camera is a 120-degree wide-angle lens that’s helpful for group photos, and when you want more of the background in the shot. Switching between both lenses is fast, and the phone seemed to capture images quickly without visible shutter lag. We haven’t played around with the cameras enough to make a verdict on the quality of these photos, but we were satisfied with what we saw.

Accompanying these two front cameras is a slow-sync flash, and it’s the other cool trick the XA2 Ultra offers over the competition. Traditionally if you’re in a dark environment like a nightclub, and you try to take a selfie with the flash of the screen or a front-facing flash, only you would be illuminated and the background would be completely dark — not ideal if you want to show where you are. The XA2 Ultra’s slow-sync flash solves the problem by lighting up the selfie-taker and the background, so everything is relatively visible. We tried this out in an incredibly dark room, and the results were surprisingly good.

These front-facing cameras are really the highlight of the XA2 Ultra. Other than that, the phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor with 4GB of RAM, runs Android 8.0 Oreo, and has a Full HD display. We didn’t notice any issues with performance as we swiped through the home screens and opened multiple apps, but we’ll have to do more testing. The software experience was relatively close to stock Android, but we did notice there were a lot of preinstalled apps from Sony. How’s the display? It didn’t stand out. At 6 inches, the screen didn’t feel particularly sharp with a 1080-pixel resolution, but most people will be satisfied.

You get the option of 32 or 64GB of storage as well as a MicroSD card slot if you need more space; and there’s a large 3,580mAh battery that’s charged via the USB Type-C port. The XA2 Ultra has Bluetooth 5 on board, and it supports AptX HD, a high-quality audio protocol.

The rear camera is worth noting as well. It’s a large, 23-megapixel camera that has an impressive 12,800 ISO, meaning the phone may be able to capture good low-light photographs — though with quite a bit of noise. We’ll have to test this to see how the XA2 Ultra performs, but we didn’t notice much shutter lag, and the quality of the photos were solid.

We’re not sure yet how much the Xperia XA2 Ultra will cost, but it will be available in silver, black, blue, and gold toward the end of January. Price will really influence our opinion on this phone, and we’re hoping it will be $400 or under.

Xperia XA2

Take mostly everything we talked about the XA2 Ultra, shrink it down a few inches, and you have the Xperia XA2. It’s significantly smaller at 5.2-inches, and is comfortable in the hand. The fingerprint sensor on the rear is well-placed, and its design is the same angular look we’re familiar with the Xperia line. Both the XA2 and XA2 Ultra feature metal builds that feel quite high-end, and the left and right bezels are again incredibly slim.

It also runs Android 8.0 Oreo with the Snapdragon 630, but the XA2 only has 3GB of RAM instead of 4GB. The screen is the same 1080-pixel resolution, but it’s sharper than the XA2 Ultra because of the smaller screen size. The rear 23-megapixel camera is the same, but on the front you’ll only find one 120-degree, wide-angle, 8-megapixel camera. There’s only 32GB of storage available, but there is a MicroSD card slot, and the battery capacity is 3,300mAh.

We like the form factor of the XA2 over the Ultra, but we’d have loved to see the same slow-sync technology to help improve low-light selfies. This phone will be even more affordable than the Ultra, and it will be available around the same time toward the end of January. It’s coming in silver, black, blue, and pink.

Xperia L2

The Xperia L2 is the runt of the litter, and that’s easily identifiable in the phone’s design and build quality. The body is made of a plastic-type material, and it felt quite cheap in the hand. The bezels around the 5.5-inch screen were fairly chunky, and the it easily looks dated. This is not an attractive phone.

It’s incredibly thick, and the back is slightly curved. It’s lacking the dedicated camera button, but everything else design-wise is fairly similar to the XA2 and XA2 Ultra.

The L2’s processor is likely from MediaTek, as Sony only said it’s a quad-core 1.5GHz chip, with 3GB of RAM, and it oddly runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat. It’s unclear when Sony will upgrade it to the 2017 Android 8.0 Oreo.

The rear camera is rated at a 13-megapixels, but you’ll find the same 120-degree, wide-angle, 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The 5.2-inch screen only has a 720-pixel resolution, and it was just average. The phone supports Bluetooth 4.2, has 32GB of storage with a MicroSD card slot, and there’s a 3,300mAh battery that should provide great battery life. No price has been announced yet, but it’s also expected to launch at the end of the month.

The L2 is the least impressive phone of the lot, but if the price is right, it could be an excellent budget phone that could give phones like the Moto E4 Plus a run for its money.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact review
• Sony’s latest Xperia smartphones boast changes, but not a major redesign
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium, XZs, XA1 Ultra, XA1: Our first take
• The best Xperia XZ1 cases to keep your Sony phone shiny and intact
• Razer Phone vs. LG V30: Can Razer topple a smartphone giant?

Might Google Assistant and the Lenovo Smart Display be the whole-home hub the Echo Show isn’t?

The Amazon Echo Show has left plenty of room for Google and Lenovo to make a better product. The question is will they. …

The just-announced Lenovo Smart Display is better than the Amazon Echo Show, says our own Andrew Martonik. He’s seen it. I haven’t. But I’m inclined to believe him.

For as excited as I might have once been about the Echo Show, any luster wore off pretty quick. More than six months in, it’s still pretty worthless as a way to glance and gather important information. It no longer can play videos from YouTube — pretty much the only video source that matters. And one of the other tentpole features — the ability to watch a security camera in real time — really is more of “Alexa, please show me my camera in hopes that something’s actually going on in front of it, and take a few seconds to do so.”

In other words, the Echo Show is still a pretty passive device. You have to tell it what you want and what to do, rather than it actually showing useful newsworthy headlines. Or popping open my Ring camera when it detects motion. (The latter is something that happens on all my phones, and all my computers, and all my tablets.)

The Echo Show is not the whole-home hub we’ve always wanted. … So will the Lenovo Smart Display fill that gap? It could.

Take my biggest gripe — the lack of proactively displaying useful information. OK, the Echo Show gives the time and weather quite nicely. That’s not even table stakes, though. That should be the equivalent of an LED showing that the device has power.

For a number of years now, the driving force behind what Google does has been to give you the information you want not just as quickly as possible, but to predict what it is you’re going to need to know and show it to you that much sooner.

Or, as one reasonably smart person asked way back in 2012: “How long before Google Now becomes your home screen?”

Google has a pretty big trump card with YouTube and services built into millions of phones.

Then there are the hooks. The things that let the device talk to the services.

Sure, the Echo Show can display calendar information, but that requires the extra step of connecting Alexa to whatever calendar service you use. If you’re getting a Google-powered thing like the Smart Display, chances are you’re already using Google services like Calendar and Contacts. That takes care of calendar info, as well as finding folks to call through the included Duo service. (Of course, you’ll have to have folks actually using Duo, but I have a feeling that’ll be easier to do than getting them to use Alexa calling, as it’s way more likely to be built into a phone.)

So that’s another hurdle leaped.

Then there are the basic services. Don’t discount Amazon’s on principle — Prime Music is good. So is Prime Photos, and the Echo Show is a great digital picture frame. Alexa calling works very well. And Amazon’s got a ton of video to watch. But it doesn’t have YouTube, and Google’s not letting it have YouTube. And they all require separate downloads — Google has the bonus of being preloaded on its Android phones.

So the Lenovo Smart Display will have services that are easier to get to, services that may be missing (OK, banned) from the Echo Show, and fewer steps to integrate everything in the first place.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Way ahead of myself.

We need to know about third-party services. We see Nest cameras working, which is great. But companies not own by Google need to have their services working with this sort of product. And they need to work better than they do with the Echo Show.

And, frankly, we just need to see what else happens here. Presumably, this new implementation of Android Things will be a big topic of conversation at this year’s Google I/O developer conference. The two models of Smart Display — the $199 8-inch version, and the $249 10-incher — won’t see the light of day until sometime toward the end of next summer. That gives Google tons of time (says the person not actually doing any of the work) to work on things on the software side. And will Google be doing its own hardware, as rumored, and end up competing with its partner Lenovo on this front? And what else might Amazon do in the meantime?

And then Google and Lenovo have to actually sell the thing.

So, yeah. There’s a lot to get excited about here. Maybe Google will be the one to give us the whole-home hub we’ve been wanting. (I want it, so I presume the rest of y’all do, too.)

But we’ve got a while to wait. And Google’s got work to do.

Google Hardware

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• Everything you need to know about the Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast vs Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

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New BlackBerry KEYone Bronze Edition goes really well with whiskey

It’s a BlackBerry KEYone, but it goes well with sipping the good stuff.

Every once in a while, after a long day on the job, I sit down on my leather chair with a thumb of good whiskey and just spend a few minutes looking really good while drinking whiskey.

But every time I do that I keep my phone in my pocket because none of them are appropriate to put on the table next to my delicious glass of whiskey. Until now.

Today, BlackBerry Mobile unveiled a Bronze Edition of its KEYone smartphone, and while it shares all of the specs of its Black Edition counterpart, it has one very important advantage: it goes well with whiskey. Preferably good whiskey, because that’s what a phone like this deserves, but any whiskey — even Canadian whiskey — will do.

If you don’t believe me, look at these photos. Picture this phone on a table next to a glass of whiskey. It just works.

Unfortunately for you (and me), my brief time with the BlackBerry KEYone Bronze Edition took place at 9am, which was too early to ask the lovely people at BlackBerry Mobile for a demo whiskey. But rest assured when I procure my own BlackBerry KEYone Bronze Edition, I will take photos of it on a nice table next to a glass of good whiskey and you’ll understand.

Until then, know this: the phone is coming to select countries in the EMEA region, but pricing and specific availability isn’t yet clear. It will be the first KEYone with dual-SIM capabilities, because whiskey drinkers need two phone numbers. It will also have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Are you as excited about the BlackBerry KEYone Bronze Edition as I am? Do you drink good whiskey? We should talk, preferably in the comments down below.

🥃

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BlackBerry Motion is coming to the U.S. Jan 12 for $450

The BlackBerry Motion is getting a U.S. release date, but its price may scare some away.

Starting January 12, BlackBerry Mobile fans will be able to purchase the Motion, which until now has been available in Canada and some European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets, on January 12 for $450.

The phone has the same basic bones as the popular KEYone, but lacks the keyboard and tones down some of the higher-end specifications. For instance, its 12MP camera uses a cheaper sensor, so photos aren’t quite as sharp, and the 5.5-inch 1080p display doesn’t have the same color reproduction and viewing angles.

Still, the phone runs BlackBerry’s ultra-secure and super-speedy version of Android 7.1, with an update to Oreo on the way. It also has a massive 4,000mAh battery and is IP67 water and dust resistant, the first for a BlackBerry device.

BlackBerry Motion specs

There’s plenty to like about the Motion, including its interesting design and rugged build. If you’re interested, the phone goes on sale on January 12 at Amazon and Best Buy.

If you’d rather wait for something newer or slightly more upmarket (and don’t want to import one of the beautiful new Bronze Edition KEYones), BlackBerry Mobile is promising at least two new devices in 2018.

See at BlackBerry Mobile

Razer is shutting down the cloud storage for the Nextbit Robin

The Nextbit Robin’s Smart Storage will be shutting down on March 1st.

When it was released in early 2016, the Nextbit Robin featured something we hadn’t seen before or since: rather than being able to be expanded via microSD, the Robin offered every user 100GB of cloud storage for backing up infrequently used files and apps.

The world has changed for Nextbit and the Robin since then, with the company itself being sold to Razer and sales for the Robin stopping immediately afterwards. Warranty support ended six months later, and today the company announced that all users would be signed out of the Smart Storage feature on March 1st. The Verge reports that customers will need to have all their cloud-saved data backed up by that date. The sync server will be shut down on January 15th, and app restore will not work after then. Customers who want to keep using their Robin after that date will need to manually pin the apps to the device.

The spirit of the Nextbit Robin lives on in the Razer Phone, but that doesn’t make things any easier for current users who loved the Robin. Are you still using your Nextbit Robin? Let us know down below!

These are all the Google Assistant speakers with displays

Smart Displays are coming first from JBL, Lenovo, LG, and Sony.

We’ve already seen a lot of cool tech from CES 2018, but if there’s one thing that’s been apparent throughout the show, it’s that Google is betting it all on Google Assistant. The company came at Amazon’s Echo Dot in late 2017 with the Google Home Mini, and now it’s ready to tackle the Echo Show/Echo Spot with its new Smart Displays.

Smart Displays are Google Assistant-powered speakers that also feature screens, and while we likely won’t see a Google Home-branded one until later in the fall, there are already four companies that have announced Smart Displays of their own. Let’s take a look at what we know so far.

Lenovo Smart Display

The first of these gadgets that was announced is the Lenovo Smart Display. You’ll be able to get Lenovo’s Smart Display with either an 8-inch or 10-inch display, and while the 8-inch model opts for a traditional plastic back, the 10-inch unit has a gorgeous bamboo one.

Both models have an odd wedge on the back, and this allows you to position the Lenovo Smart Display either vertically or horizontally. There are buttons for adjusting speaker volume, and there’s even a switch that places a physical lens cover over the front-facing camera that’s used for video calls.

Lenovo will sell the 8-inch Smart Display for $199, and upgrading to the larger 10-inch one will cost you $249.

JBL Link View

JBL’s Smart Display goes by the name of the Link View, and while it serves the same general purpose as the Lenovo Smart Display, its design is quite a bit different. JBL has only announced one version of the Link View so far, and it comes with an 8-inch screen. There’s a 5MP camera above it and a JBL logo at the bottom and both the left and right side are flanked by two 10W stereo speakers that are paired with a passive radiator on the back to enable “rich, deep bass.”

The body as a whole favors an oval shape versus the rectangular nature of the Lenovo Smart Display, and while you won’t find any bamboo back here, it’s arguably the sleeker of the two thanks to the all-black paint job. Along with this, there’s also support for Bluetooth, Google Cast, and IPX4 splash resistance.

Pricing details have yet to be announced, but JBL says the Link View will be available at some point this summer.

LG Smart Display

We know that LG will be releasing a Smart Display, but exact specifications for it are still up in the air. The above render is all that we’ve seen so far, and as you can see, it’s arguably one of the plainest-looking Smart Displays yet. There’s a screen in the middle that’s flanked by two speakers, and a front-facing camera can be found at the top.

LG’s opting for a rectangular design, but unlike what we’ve seen from Lenovo, there doesn’t appear to be any funky wedge on the back.

Whatever Sony’s working on

Google’s confirmed that Sony will be releasing a Smart Display, but we know literally nothing about it. Neither specs or renders for the speaker have been released, and as such, there’s not a whole lot we can say about it right now.

Might Google Assistant and the Lenovo Smart Display be the whole-home hub the Echo Show isn’t?

Kate Spade is the latest fashion brand to launch an Android Wear watch, on sale now from $295

Android Wear seems like it’s almost exclusively for ‘fashion’ brands at this point.

CES 2018 isn’t so much slated as a smartwatch show as previous years, but for Kate Spade it’s as good an opportunity as any to launch its first Android Wear watch.

Fossil, which owns the Kate Spade brand, has released other “hybrid” mechanical/electronic smartwatches under the name previously, but this is the first all-touch device for KSNY.

The watch style is defined by the scalloped waves around its bezel, and it comes in three different color and band combinations: yellow gold with a black leather band, rose gold with a tan leather band, and rose gold with a matching link bracelet. The case is stainless steel and waterproof up to 1ATM, and has a rotating crown for non-touch interaction, but doesn’t have a heart rate sensor.

Another attempt at getting fashionable brands in on the smartwatch game.

We’re looking at 1.19-inch circular AMOLED display here at 390×390 resolution, and all three have the same overall case size of 42 mm — but with a narrow 16 mm band. The smartwatch is using identical internals to Android Wear watches from the whole of 2017: a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 4GB of storage, Bluetooth 4.1 LE and “24 hours” of battery life — though no mAh capacity was offered at launch.

The one bit of software differentiation that Kate Spade has to offer is a “Choose Your Look” watch face customization app. Right on the watch screen, you can make a custom watch face using classic Kate Spade styling, a variety of color choices and with functions just the way you want them. You can save custom watch faces to return to later, too. It’s a nice little nod to the fashion-forward tendencies of someone who’s buying a Kate Spade watch. This is similar to the recently-launched Michael Kors Sofie watch, with which it shares a striking resemblance.

The smartwatch goes up for pre-order online starting today, and will hit stores starting in early February. Pricing is set at $295 for the leather strap models, and $325 with a metal bracelet. If there’s one thing this watch truly has going for it, it’s the potential to leverage current Kate Spade relationships be in a ton of retail locations.

See at Kate Spade

Press release:

kate spade new york Enters the Touchscreen Smartwatch Market with Playfully Sophisticated, Feminine Style in Exclusive Pre-Sale Beginning Today

“Choose Your Look” Watch App Provides Unparalleled Fashion Customization, Allowing Customers to Live Colorfully Every Day

NEW YORK, NY – January 9, 2018 – Today at CES, kate spade new york announces the debut of the brand’s first touchscreen smartwatch. Available for pre-sale starting today, and launching widely in February, the feminine smartwatches are versatile, multi-functional and playfully sophisticated. The all-new touchscreen smartwatches build upon the existing kate spade new york wearables collection, which also includes hybrid smartwatches designed for women.

The touchscreen smartwatches are available in three styles for her: a rose gold-tone case and bracelet; a rose gold-tone case with a soft vachetta leather strap; and a yellow gold-tone case with a smooth black leather strap. A delicate scallop-patterned case surrounds the full-round 1.19-inch AMOLED display that features 390×390 pixel resolution and an ambient light sensor to enhance battery life. Additional iconic spade detailing on the crown gives these touchscreen smartwatches a distinctly kate spade new york look.

Compatible with both iOS® and Android™ phones, the new kate spade new york scallop touchscreen smartwatches are powered by Android Wear™ 2.0, Google™’s smartwatch platform, and the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Wear 2100 processor. The smartwatch connects to her phone via Bluetooth technology and offers user-friendly notifications and messaging, downloadable third-party apps, and extra help from Google Assistant. The kate spade new york scallop touchscreen smartwatch also offers the following features:

• Receive notifications directly to your wrist, such as calls, texts, and other alerts
• Download third-party apps through the on-watch Google Play™ Store
• Call up your Google Assistant by pressing the crown or saying “Ok Google;” ask about the weather, set a reminder for happy hour, or get directions
• Track steps, calories burned, distance and more with Google Fit
• Stream your favorite tunes right from the watch, when you are connected to phone or WiFi, with the Google Play Music app

Unique to kate spade new york, the watch includes the “choose your look” watch app. By answering a few simple prompts about the look she’s wearing – including time of day, color of her outfit, tone of her jewelry, and color of her handbag – the watch dial that perfectly complements her outfit will appear.

“The kate spade new york girl is connected at all times. And now, with our ‘choose your look’ watch app, she has access to the most feminine, fashion-forward and customizable smartwatch functionality to-date,” said Mary Beech, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, kate spade new york. “Whether she’s wearing pink, stripes or dots, our scallop touchscreen smartwatch will match her outfit, tying her look together with a unique kate spade new york twist.”

The kate spade new york scallop touchscreen smartwatch also features customizable, animated dials that will delight her as she moves through her day. Winking eyes, falling daisy petals and zooming New York City taxicabs keep up the fun with every step. Lastly, exciting weather effects on the dial let the wearer check to see if the weather is sunny, raining or cloudy in her location.

The touchscreen smartwatch will be available for pre-sale starting January 9 and available in-store and online beginning February 2018.

Razer’s Project Linda turns your phone into a laptop

Razer is trying its hand at the holy grail of mobile computing: your phone is also your laptop.

It’s been the dream of smartphones for well over a decade, and basically every attempt so far has been a failure. Razer is now giving it a shot and, to be honest, Project Linda is the best version of “your phone is also your laptop” that we’ve ever seen. It might even be good enough to actually work.

Let’s just say up front that this is a prototype. Razer likes to do this thing where it rolls out a concept product (like a laptop with three 17-inch 4K displays) to gauge interest and get feedback. Since this isn’t a final or complete product we’re not going to talk too much about specs or price or availability. What Razer Project Linda is, however, is the fullest and best realization of a dream of mobile computing.

Project Linda is a shell for the Razer Phone, turning the high-powered device into an Android laptop. But unlike past attempts at this concept, which have almost universally used a middling laptop design and poor cabled or wireless phone connection, Razer designed Project Linda to accept the Razer Phone into a cavity carved out where a traditional laptop’s trackpad would go. It connects via the USB-C port, with a plug that mechanically (and loudly) sticks into the phone for power and data — and to simply hold it in place. The high resolution display of the phone becomes the trackpad, flanked by a pair of smartphone speakers — that can easily rival most laptops — that are now pointing right at you. There’s even a slot carved out along the front to provide easy access to the phone’s side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

The laptop shell itself is based on the highly regarded Razer Blade Stealth, with a similar compact and spartan design. Project Linda sports a 2560×1440 120Hz 13-inch LCD and a full-sized Razer keyboard complete with customizable Chroma lighting. The laptop shell offers a USB-C port, USB-A (in signature Razer neon green) and a headphone jack, plus 200GB of storage and a large 53.6Wh battery capable of recharging the Razer Phone 3-4 times. It all lands in a package that’s 2.76 pounds.

The software is filled with eye candy, but also concerns over app support.

There’s still a lot for Razer to sort out. We were told that it wants to add touchscreen support as well as HDMI-out for hooking up to even bigger displays. But those things are pretty simple. The bigger hurdle here is the software. Android isn’t very well positioned to make use of a 13-inch display, and just doesn’t offer robust support for this kind of dual-display system, so Razer is having to build that itself with its relatively small Android team. The current concepts that Razer showed us have a more desktop-like interface that makes better use of that extra screen, plus a few ideas that it has for using the Razer Phone’s display as a secondary source of information when you have a wireless mouse connected.

Beyond all of Razer’s own work just to make Project Linda’s core operations a reality, apps (and more importantly for Razer, games) would also need to support the dual-display system. That’s going to require an API from Razer for developers to implement in their apps — a big ask for the small (if dedicated) Razer Phone user base.

That’s assuming that Project Linda ever sees production. Over the years several of Razer’s “Project” concepts have moved into reality, but not all of them make the jump. And if it does, we have no idea what price you’ll be looking at, though knowing Razer and the penchant for going all-out, it won’t be cheap.

When the Razer Phone was announced, its 8GB of RAM seemed like overkill. But when hooked up to a laptop like this with intentions for higher-performance applications, it doesn’t seem so ridiculous now. We want to see this evolve and become a reality.

Project Linda just made the Razer Phone a lot more interesting

What if your phone could become a computer? It’s a question Motorola, Microsoft, HP, Samsung, and Huawei have all tried to answer – and now Razer’s getting in on the fun. While the Razer Phone doesn’t necessarily ring all my bells, it certainly has enough power to bring Project Linda’s laptop to life. With a 13″ display, Chroma keyboard and a battery big enough to charge the phone three times over between top-ups, the Project Linda notebook is plenty compelling – and its ingenious re-use of the Razer Phone’s screen, fingerprint sensor and speakers only reinforce its allure.

But can anyone make the notion of a laptop-smartphone hybrid work in 2018, or is Project Linda doomed to follow Project Valerie into the dustbin of history? You won’t find the answers in the above video, but you will see the coolest smartphone dock of 2018 (so far). Join me for the Project Linda Hands-On!

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Hisense announces two Android TVs with Google Assistant and Alexa

Introducing the H10E and H9E Plus.

Android TV has had a surprisingly big presence at CES 2018, and one of the companies responsible for this is Hisense. Hisense announced a slew of new televisions for its 2018 lineup, and the two highest-end models (the H10E and H9E Plus) are both powered by Android TV as opposed to the much clunkier Hisense OS.

Hisense H10E

Starting first with the H10E, this is Hisense’s most premium TV for the year. It’s essentially a more powerful version of the H10D that came out in 2017, and one of the biggest upgrades comes in the form of its 2200 nits brightness rating compared to the H10D’s 1000 nits. The panel is obviously 4K, and there’s even support for HDR and Dolby Vision.

There’s no word on pricing or availability, but we do know that the H10E will only be available with a 75-inch screen size.

Hisense H9E Plus

As for the H9E Plus, you’ll find a lot of the same here. There’s a 4K panel and Dolby Vision, and you have the choice of either a 55-inch or 65-inch display. Unfortunately, just like the H10E, there’s no word on pricing or availability.

Both the H10E and H9E Plus are powered by Android TV, and as such, you’ve got access to the Google Assistant. However, if just one virtual assistant on your TV isn’t enough, you can also use Amazon Alexa.

Westinghouse has a 43-inch 4K Android TV that costs just $350