Litecoin vs. Ethereum

When it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies, nothing is a sure thing. If last year’s major booms and busts told us anything, it’s that you can expect volatility, wherever you go. That said, diversifying your crypto-portfolio is a wise move, as although bitcoin often drags everything up and down with it, there are some tokens that do things better than others.

But which alternative currencies should you invest in? We have our favorites, but if you want to put your eggs into one specific basket, you need to look at the differences between some of the best options. What about if we pit Litecoin vs. Ethereum? Which one comes out on top?

Litecoin has been around a lot longer than Ethereum, but Ether has grown in value far quicker. Then there are smart-contracts to consider. In this guide we’ll break down the key differences between these two altcoins, to give you the best basis for your own cryptocurrency investments.

If you’d rather skip all that and just look at how to buy Ethereum or trade your coins for something else, we have guides for that too.

As a store of value

With all the furor surrounding bitcoin and its contemporaries’ massive value spike throughout — and particularly at the end — of 2017, one of the biggest concerns for those looking to buy cryptocurrency is whether they’ll retain their value. The short answer to that is nobody knows. Cryptocurrencies are incredibly volatile and can rise and crash tens of percent points in a single day at times, but there are some that are proven more than others and may be more stable investments for the future.

Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies — debuting in 2011 — so it has one of the best records for retaining or increasing in value. It also has strong name recognition, which with many hundreds of alternative cryptocurrencies out there, is an important facet in and of itself. Many exchanges now support Litecoin, which makes buying and selling it easier. That too should help it store value long-term.

Ethereum is not as old as Litecoin — it only came into existence in 2015 — but it’s quickly garnered interest for its potential uses beyond cryptocurrencies, which we’ll address in more detail later in this guide.

That interest has increased Ethereum’s name recognition. It’s separate enough from the “coin” nomenclature that it can strike out on its own a little easier, and it’s seeing growing support from exchanges. It’s still not common to see Ether used as a payment method, but that is steadily growing too.

Other factors worth considering in this debate are that Litecoin has a definitive 84 million token maximum, meaning that at some point in the future there will be no new Litecoin created. Ether, on the other hand, will continue to be awarded for mining into the foreseeable future. The developers may one day, cap it, but that has yet to happen. The scarcity brought about by a limitation on the number of tokens could mean that Litecoin ends up being a more valuable cryptocurrency in the future.

For now, Ethereum seems likely to be the best store of value. It has a much higher and growing interest from the wider cryptocurrency community, and despite its younger age, its growing name recognition and availability should drive it forward, making it easier to purchase, access, and spend. Ethereum would likely disappear only if cryptocurrencies, as a whole, went kaput.

As a transaction medium

The main reason that cryptocurrencies exist, at least initially, was to be used as a form of entirely decentralized digital money online. That means using it to buy goods and services. However, as we’ve seen with bitcoin, scaling difficulties can make that far harder to achieve, especially if you aren’t willing to pay huge fees. So how do Litecoin and Ethereum compare in that respect?

Considering Litecoin was originally created to be a better online transactional medium than bitcoin, it’s no surprise that it’s pretty good at it. At the time of writing its median transaction fee is just $0.04 with a block time average of 2:19 (minutes/seconds). Confirmations come pretty quick — around four times faster than bitcoin.

That makes Litecoin great for conducting transactions online, especially considering the growing number of online outlets that accept it. Ethereum, though, is equally viable. Although its average fees are much higher — its median rate is around $0.85 — the Ethereum block time is under 15 seconds. You can expect your transfers to receive multiple confirmations in a minute or less.

That’s why over the past year we’re seen Ethereum become the most traded cryptocurrency in the world, with more than a million transactions taking place some days. In comparison, Litecoin handles just over 50,000 transactions a day, while even bitcoin handles 230,000 or so. Ethereum is trading hands with incredible frequency.

Both Litecoin and Ethereum have their strengths in transactions. While Litecoin is the cheaper of the two to spend online, owners appear to be more interested in using Ether for the time being. Its short block time is hard to beat.

Beyond cryptocurrencies

While Litecoin is a cryptocurrency through and through, Ethereum is a little smarter than that. Ethereum itself is more than the Ether token. It’s also a platform that can facilitate Ether transactions in its own right. These are called “smart contracts.”

We go into more detail on smart contracts in our discussion of Ethereum, but in short, a smart contract is a contract that is underpinned by blockchain technology to engender trust. Instead of lawyers confirming a contract has been adhered to, the blockchain does it automatically. The contracts can tell when goods or services have been transferred, and Ether payments are then automatically sent.

It’s a pie in the sky idea, but theoretically smart contracts could eliminate all sorts of middlemen, from crowd-funding websites — have a smart contract send funds when milestones are reached — to real estate — send purchase funds when the owners have completed their end of the bargain.

Litecoin has no such goals and that’s fine, but it does mean it’s decidedly less functional than its younger sibling. Ethereum is the natural evolution of the decentralizing idea of cryptocurrencies that began with bitcoin. Litecoin is more of an iteration on that early idea.

So which is best?

As with all cryptocurrency head to heads, naming one a champion over the other is hard to do. There are no guarantees in any of them and one could crash and burn tomorrow while another soars in value. That said, we do have our favorites and as it stands, Ethereum is the more functional, the more versatile, and the more technically impressive of these two cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin market cap has already dropped more than $80 billion in 2018

Bitcoin may have hit historic highs in December 2017, but just one month into the new year, investors are feeling the pinch of a major correction. Following a slight dip towards the end of last year, bitcoin has crashed hard in the weeks that followed, leading to a fall in market cap of more than $80 billion.

Although bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices are regularly discussed in terms of individual token prices, the sheer number of tokens out there means that the entire market of any individual cryptocurrency can be worth billions. In the case of bitcoin, it was worth more than $200 billion at the start of 2018, but already that’s fallen to $143 billion at the time of writing. Other cryptocurrencies have been similarly impacted, though Ethereum has managed to remain in the black, despite similarly volatile peaks and troughs.

This should all come as no real surprise to long-term cryptocurrency evangelists, as the digital currencies have always been volatile in nature. It was only in 2017 that their value seemed only able to increase. Crashes have happened before, with this latest one spurred by a combination of mistaken reporting related to statements made by India’s finance minister, as well as Facebook’s announcement that it would no longer support ICO and cryptocurrency advertisements. As BusinessInsider points out, the subpoenas levied against major exchanges Bitfenix and Tether didn’t help either.

This latest crash is a big one, though. At the time of writing bitcoin has fallen to $8,500, its lowest figure since the end of November last year. However, despite all of the negativity surrounding the flagship cryptocurrency, many in bitcoin social circles claim that holding on to your coins is far better than panic selling.

They may have at least some good reasons to do so. Acceptance of bitcoin in various online outlets is only increasing and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey also announced just a few days ago that full bitcoin support with the Cash App. That should make it easier than ever for those without much understanding of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to buy their own.

As scary as the prospect of regulation can be, we don’t think it will have the teeth some fear it may develop in the future. With enough evangelists still touting bitcoin as “gold 2.0,” it seems unlikely to fall from relevance anytime soon, even if its latest bubble has well and truly burst.

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Microsoft lowers Surface Book 2 and laptop price of entry

Microsoft’s Surface line of notebook and desktop PCs is known for its stunning design, innovative form factors, and excellent input options and Windows 10 integration that make them great options for creative and productivity tasks. At the same time, Surface is also notorious for another of its attributes — price. Surface prices range from the very low end of the premium segment well into the stratosphere.

That has likely cut into Surface sales, which were basically flat in Microsoft’s second quarter 2018 earnings report in spite of the release of the new Surface Laptop and Surface Book 2. It’s possible that pricing impacted those results, and perhaps in response, Microsoft has introduced two new versions of those machines aimed at making them affordable to more users.

First up is the Surface Laptop, which has added a new low-end seventh-generation Intel Core m3 CPU to the mix. When configured with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, which are the only options, the notebook now comes in at $800. That’s a full $200 down from the previous entry-level offering of a Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD, offering some significant savings for a reduction in overall performance. You’ll be somewhat limited in pizzazz, however, as Microsoft is only offering this configuration in one color, Platinum.

Next is the Surface Book 2 13.5-inch model, which previously started out at $1,500 for its entry level configuration with a seventh-generation Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and integrated Intel HD Graphics only. Now, you can configure the entry-level model with a 128GB SSD and spend only $1,200, an even more significant savings of $300. You’ll be limited in storage, but you could also add in a MicroSD card to expand storage if things get too tight. In the meantime, you’ll enjoy the same pop-off and extremely high-quality display, class-leading pen, and excellent keyboard and touchpad.

We’ll note that there are other notebooks and 2-in-1s that you can buy for these kinds of prices. However, if you want the unique good looks of the Surface Laptop or the unparalleled flexibility of the Surface Book 2, then at least now you can buy into either line for a price that won’t make your bank account cry.

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Somebody invented a ferrofluid lava lamp, and it’s as awesome as it sounds

Regular lava lamps haven’t been unironically cool in decades, but technologists keep finding new and exciting ways to update them for the 21st century. Recently, we covered the way that Silicon Valley-based web performance and security company Cloudflare is using a wall of lava lamps as a crucial step in its encryption processes. Now, another enterprising engineer has reinvented the lava lamp by adding a dose of everyone’s favorite magnetized liquid rocket fuel, ferrofluid.

Freshly arrived on Kickstarter, “The Rocket” is an appropriately rocket-shaped lava lamp, which replaces the regular wax in lava lamps with ferrofluid. Invented by NASA in the early 1960s, ferrofluid exhibits both regular liquid properties, as well as the bizarre ability to be manipulated by a magnetic field. When it comes into contact with a magnet, the tiny solid particles of magnetic material in ferrofluid cause the mass of black liquid to move towards it, creating weird geometric spiking patterns in the process.

In the case of a lava lamp, this means that it behaves like a regular wax lava lamp — but with the added benefit that it’s interactive, since you can use an ordinary magnet to push, pull or spike the lava that’s inside.

“I love ferrofluid because it appeals to anybody with a curious mind,” creator Kyle Haines told Digital Trends. “People always try to break down who would like this into demographics, but I’ve introduced a lot of different types of people to ferrofluid and the one common denominator to me is curiosity. Of course geeky types like it, but so do art teachers and people with zero background in science.”

While all Kickstarter campaigns carry a degree of risk on the part of investors, Haines points out that he has been selling ferrofluid gadgets — including a generation one lava lamp, minus the rocket shape — for several years. As part of this campaign, he has also created a ferrofluid glowing alien head, which is all kinds of cool.

If you would like to make a pledge to the campaign, head over to the project’s Kickstarter page now. A small bottle containing ferrofluid will set you back a mere $19, a glowing alien head is $49, and the rocket-shaped lava lamp starts at $74. A $99 version comes with added ferrofluid. Supplies of each are limited to 100, though, so make your move quickly.

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What is AmazonFresh? Here’s everything you need to know

Grocery shopping can be a time-consuming process, especially if you live in a major city. Between sitting in traffic on your way to the store and then waiting in a long line to check out, it’s almost easier to just order take-out or pick up fast food. Unfortunately, eating out all the time likely won’t do any favors for your health. Luckily, there are grocery delivery options out there that help to maximize your time and make healthy eating a lot more feasible. One of the more popular choices in the arena is AmazonFresh, a service that the online marketplace first started in 2007. If you’re curious about AmazonFresh and want to give it a try, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about the grocery delivery service.

How much does AmazonFresh cost?

To get started with AmazonFresh, you’ll first need to obtain an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $13 for a month or $99 for a year. AmazonFresh will cost an additional $15 a month, or $180 a year. Delivery of the groceries is free if you order more than $50 worth, but if you order less, Amazon will add a $10 delivery fee to your bill.

What can I buy on AmazonFresh?

Whole Foods

You can buy pretty much anything you would find at your local grocery store on AmazonFresh. You name it — fruits, vegetables, canned goods, condiments, packaged snacks, raw meat — and AmazonFresh has it.

Plus, you’ll have access to approximately 1,000 Whole Foods products as well, since Amazon acquired the organic grocery chain in 2017. However, most of the products are part of Whole Foods’ 365 brand and fall under the categories of beverages, frozen goods, cereals, baking, and snacks. As of now, you won’t find any Whole Foods fresh meat or produce on AmazonFresh.

How long does AmazonFresh take to deliver?

Once you’ve stocked your online cart with the groceries you wish to purchase, the site will prompt you to reserve a delivery time. You can choose same-day or next-day delivery based on what works with your schedule. You can also select from “Doorstep Delivery,” which is a three-hour delivery window where you don’t have to be at home, or “Attended Delivery,” which is a one-hour window that requires you to be available to take the delivery.

Where is AmazonFresh available?

Amazon

AmazonFresh currently delivers to residences in Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Chicago, New York City, London, parts of California and New Jersey, and more. Recently, users in states like Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and California have reported that AmazonFresh no longer delivering to their zip code. Luckily, you can easily check and see if delivery is available to your address.

What other options do I have?

If AmazonFresh doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, there are a few other grocery-delivery options on the market.

• Google Express delivers produce to San Francisco and Los Angeles homes, and customers can try a three-month trial at any time. The service is $95 a year to use, and the minimum price on all orders that include fresh groceries is $35. If you don’t want to pay the annual fee, you can also pay a flat fee of $5 per store.
• Instacart is a same-day delivery service available in many major cities across the country. Delivery costs $6 for a two-hour delivery window and $8 for a one-hour delivery window, or you can pay an annual membership fee of $149.
• Shipt, a popular choice on the East Coast and in Texas, offers grocery-delivery services for $99 a year or $14 a month, which is comparable to AmazonFresh’s prices. Shipping is free if your order is more than $35, but Shipt does say that the average price of each product will be about 15 percent more than what they cost in-store.

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Microsoft Surface Pro 4 users unite over display issues, create ‘Flickergate’ site

Microsoft’s Surface line of hardware has created entirely new categories of PCs, such as the detachable tablet 2-in-1 that’s spawned a market of copycats, as well as the Surface Book with its tear-off display. Users love the machines for their performance, innovation, and overall designs, but many have suffered from a host of issues surrounding battery life, sleep, and other nagging issues.

The company has worked hard to fix Surface issues, and even went so far as to apologize for some of the problems and promise to do better. Consumer Reports thought that Microsoft wasn’t doing enough, and the publication refused to endorse the Surface line as a result. Now, a group of Surface Pro 4 users have banded together to get Microsoft’s attention over a specific issue, namely display flicker, by creating a site dubbed Flickergate.com to highlight the problem.

If you head over to that site, you’ll find numerous accounts of users whose Surface Pro 4 displays have exhibited the same problem. Head over to the Reddit Surface subgroup, and you’ll find numerous threads on the subject. Apparently, when the displays reach a certain high temperature, they start to flicker and become unusable. There are a number of videos demonstrating the problem, and we’ve included just one of them at the top of this story.

Adding insult to injury, the issue apparently often occurs after the original manufacturer’s warranty has ended, and Microsoft’s charge for replacing these machines is a hefty $800. Even worse, whether a machine is replaced within the warranty period or after the fee is paid, the replacement units eventually start suffering the same problem.

We reached out to Microsoft for a statement, and received the following statement from a spokesperson:

“We are aware that some customers have experienced a screen flicker on Surface Pro 4 and are monitoring the situation closely. Customers impacted by this should contact Microsoft support.”

So far, thousands of users have apparently complained of the issue. According to Flickergate.com, that number has now exceeded 1,800. If you’d like to lend your voice to the cause, you can click on the “Help us in raising our voice” button on the site to send a message of support and provide details of your similar issue. Note that if you use Firefox or Chrome, hitting the button does appear to redirect to what looks like a spam page.

While Microsoft hasn’t yet addressed the issue directly, its support team is definitely now aware of the issue. The question then becomes one of whether the company will find a good solution for users who are suffering from what appears to be a fairly widespread issue. We’ll be sure to update this story with any good (or bad) news in that regard.

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Say what you mean the first time, every time, with the best translation apps

Learning a new language can be hard. Most people are familiar with the 10,000-hour rule — made popular by writer Malcolm Gladwell — that suggests it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to become an expert in any given field. While the rule has been disputed, it still takes hundreds (if not thousands) of hours to become fluent in a second language, never mind a third or fourth.

The vast majority of us don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to the study of a new language, especially if we’re gearing up for our next international adventure. We might arm ourselves with a few useful phrases like how to ask where the restroom is, and then turn to a translation app to help us out with the rest.

Translations apps aren’t perfect, but they’re certainly better than nothing. They’re improving all the time, and can be a valuable tool if you do decide to learn another language down the road. That being said, nothing beats actually learning a new language, but translation apps will get the job done (with only a handful of errors). Maybe one of these days Google will perfect its real-time translations earbuds and we won’t have the need to learn any more languages. But in the meantime, we’ve found the best translation apps.

Google Translate

Google Translate is one of the best apps out there for translation. Available on iPhone and Android, Google’s contest-winning translator can translate sentences between 103 different languages. It offers voice, image, and handwriting translations for many of those languages as well and can translate bilingual conversations on the fly. The app is completely free (no in-app purchases) and sets the bar high for accurate machine translations. It does have a few downsides, namely its inability to edit sentence translations as a whole (especially in languages like Chinese), but it’s easily one of the best translator apps out there. Currently, Google is working on implementing live translations into its latest pair of earbuds.

Get it now on:

Apple Store  Google Play

iTranslate

There are a couple of different iTranslate apps on the market right now, including iTranslate Converse, iTranslate Voice, and iTranslate Translator. Like Google, the developers at iTranslate are trying to perfect a live translation service, called the Ear Translator. But we’re just going to talk about the flagship translator app, iTranslate Translator, for the moment. This app offers on- and offline translations for over 100 languages (16 offline). It’s compatible with the Apple Watch and there’s also an iMessage and iPhone keyboard extension, which makes it incredibly versatile. While the initial app is indeed free, it is ad-supported, and you’ll need to pay to subscribe to a Pro account to get the most out of the app. Depending on which package you choose (a month or a year), it will cost you about $3 to $5 a month to have the power of language at your fingertips.

Get it now on:

Apple Store  Google Play Microsoft Store

Naver Papago Translate

Most translation apps have no problem translating Romance and other European languages, but often struggle to provide accurate translations of Asian languages. This is because most translation apps are created in the United States, where companies lack extensive data on languages like Chinese and Japanese. Papago, from Naver, the creator of Korea’s top search engine, only supports 10 languages, but provides better Asian language translations than its competitors. It offers many of the same features as the other apps, including text, voice, photo, and conversation translations. Based on its reviews, it suffers from inaccurate voice and photo recognition, but is the most accurate translation app for the languages it offers, and will likely only continue to get better.

Get it now on:

Apple Store  Google Play

Microsoft Translate

Microsoft Translator is — you guessed it — Microsoft’s take on a machine translator. It offers text, image, and voice translations for over 60 languages, all of which can be downloaded for offline use. You can also connect the app and translate multiperson conversations (although this doesn’t work with Windows Phone). Microsoft Translator has a phrasebook for verified translations and pronunciation guides that will help you learn important phrases while you’re traveling. It’s compatible with most smartwatches and devices, and if you connect the app between any of your own devices, it will automatically sync translations you have already made, ensuring that you don’t make the same translation over and over. Microsoft Translator is powered by the same technology used by Microsoft Office, Bing, and Twitter.

Get it now on:

Apple Store Google Play Microsoft Store

TripLingo

TripLingo takes a slightly different approach to translating than other apps like it. It offers the typical voice, image, and text translations, but also has four different slang levels for translations (formal versus informal), professionally recorded audio files, as well as a “culture crash course” to get you familiar with local customs and etiquette. It currently offers support for up to 42 languages. Another interesting feature of this app is that if a translation is not working or you still can’t understand its meaning, TripLingo will get you in touch with a live translator to help you out (for a fee). While this app is very cool, it’s unfortunately one of the most expensive. The base app is free and offers basic features for all of its languages, but in order to get the lessons, offline dictionary, and live translation services, you have to pay $20 per month for a subscription. Twenty bucks isn’t much considering how useful something like this could be on vacation, so it may be worth it.

Get it now on:

Apple Store Google Play

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Advertisers can soon slide three images inside Instagram Stories

Get ready for more Instagram ads — Stories is gaining expanded advertising that allows businesses to use up to three ad pieces together rather than one. On Thursday, February 1, Instagram announced that carousel ads are moving to Stories, starting with a limited number of businesses.

Instagram Stories ads previously only allowed businesses to slip in one image as the photos and videos from friends play on that short loop. With carousel ads, businesses can now add up to three images or videos inside Stories. The change, Instagram says, allows businesses to add more depth, like Gap’s new add that shows two video clips before a third image that invites viewers to shop with a simple swipe up.

Like original content inside of Stories, users can still tap through ads along with swiping back and forth, so for Instagram users that find the Stories ads annoying, there is just more to tap through before seeing the rest of the Stories. Businesses can also add some of the same effects to their campaign that users have access to, including stickers and drawing tools.

The expanded advertising option is starting with a limited group of advertisers before a more widespread rollout. The first businesses to use the new format, along with Gap, include Coca-Cola, Renault, and Paramount.

During the 2017 year-end earnings report earlier this week, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Instagram’s parent company Facebook, said that Stories ads are working well with Instagram Stories. She said that most viewers see the ads with sound on, while the swipe-up feature allows users to quickly find out more information.

The growth of Stories means that the company is focused on bringing new features to the sharing medium, including those expanded monetization options. “We expect Stories are on track to overtake posts in feeds as the most common way that people share across all social apps,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this week. “That’s because Stories is a better format for sharing multiple quick video clips throughout your day. The growth of Stories will have an impact on how we build products and think about our business, including WhatsApp and Instagram, which are the number one and number two most-used Stories products in the world.”

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One way to cool your massive bitcoin mining rig? Submerge it in oil

There is something about the prospect of making some serious loot that brings out the innovation in folks. With this entrepreneurial spirit coursing through their veins one smart team of bitcoin miners has built a $120,000 mining rig with a somewhat unorthodox twist: It’s submerged in a vat of cooling oil.

Due to the high temperatures created by the hardware used for mining cryptocurrencies, this 36 ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit chips) rig protects its valuable chips by rapidly dispersing the heat.

“Having been into mining for a while, we were dreading the arrival of summer as cooling becomes more of an issue than usual, forcing us to build all the cooling systems in our mines to withstand the hottest week of the year,” Alexander Aksenov, one of the brains behind the project, told Digital Trends. “Facing high [capital expenditure] costs for autonomous air-cooled systems, my partner Mirian and I began exploring alternative methods of achieving stable temperatures, taking as a benchmark the cost of a quality automated ventilation system.

“Having reviewed numerous immersion-cooled solutions that could be adapted to our needs,” he continued, “we came to the conclusion that the market is oversaturated with high-quality overpriced products that serve a purpose when financially subsidized, but are not viable for mining adaptation due to high costs severely affecting [return-on-investment] periods. That is when we made the decision to create an immersion-cooled solution from the ground up, which will be completely self-sufficient and autonomous from surrounding infrastructure.”

The system they built is able to cool up to 72 kilowatts of heat, coming ready with a full fuse box, Ethernet switch, and Zabbix-based monitoring system attached to it. It can be set up in any household or industrial space that meets the power requirements and has running water for keeping the oil appropriately chilled. As Alexander says, the byproduct of this system is hot water, which leaves the plated heat exchanger at a temperature of around 50 degrees — allowing them to heat the surrounding building and even provide enough hot running water to take showers.

The setup is located in Russia, where the pair of cryptocurrency masterminds have been working on their innovation lab since leaving previous jobs in the financial sector. “Cryptocurrency revealed to be the perfect platform for an exciting new direction with tremendous potential for growth that provides life-changing digital solutions, so we gathered our savings, converted them into crypto, quit our jobs and never looked back,” Aksenov told us.

At present, he said that the pair is working on a brand new immersion-cooled concept, although no further details are ready to be shared.

The only thing about this that sucks? That the pair is no longer working in conventional finance. After all, these kind of out-of-the-box thinkers are exactly what the financial system needs. Still, finance’s loss is cryptocurrency’s (and, presumably, this pair’s) gain.

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Here are five features we’d like to see on the Samsung Galaxy S9

With just a few weeks until Mobile World Congress 2018, rumors about the next generation of smartphones are at a fever-pitch. While some manufacturers are choosing to skip major smartphone launches at the annual trade show this year, Samsung is returning to make a splashy debut for the Galaxy S9. As one of the most highly-anticipated phones of 2018, the Galaxy S9 needs to wow us. Here are a few features we’d like to see on the upcoming flagship.

A game-changing camera

Although the camera on the Galaxy S8 is great, it was quickly eclipsed by the iPhone X, the Google Pixel 2, the HTC U11, and even the Galaxy Note 8. We have a hunch Samsung will incorporate the best elements of the Note 8’s camera into the S9, and while there’s no way to confirm this yet, it’s clear the camera is the highlight of the phone. The invitation to its upcoming Unpacked event at MWC has a tagline that reads, “The Camera. Reimagined.”

This year we’re expecting to see at least one of the new Galaxy S9 models feature a dual camera array. We’re also expecting a huge improvement in low-light photographs with Samsung’s new Isocell image sensor on board, and we’re excited to potentially see a “Super Slo-mo” mode that will shoot Full HD video at 460 frames per second. We hope any of these improvements will hold up throughout the year when the S8 will inevitably face stiff competition.

Facial recognition

Face ID is a big deal for smartphones. Yes, Apple’s unlocking system on the iPhone X is hardly a new technology — Android devices have utilized facial unlocking systems for quite some time, but they were never as secure. Well, Samsung may be ready to go head-to-head with Apple with an awesome face unlock feature.

Galaxy S9 rumors point to a new feature called Intelligent Scan, which combines iris and facial recognition to create a more secure authentication system. While it’s sure to be a definite improvement, we’re still not sure if it’s going to offer the same level of protection as Face ID. What we really want is this system to be reliable, and better utilized in third-party apps. If secure facial recognition exists on the Galaxy S9, you should be able to use it to authenticate and open your Chase Bank app, just like you can with Face ID. Even better, Samsung may be keeping the fingerprint sensor on the S9, and it’s always great to give users a choice in case they do not want to use the facial recognition method.

Stereo speakers

Samsung needs to up its audio game with the Galaxy S9, especially since Samsung’s acquisition of Harman was completed early in 2017. The Galaxy S8 only has a single bottom-firing speaker, and it’s easy to cover it up with your hand when holding the phone in landscape mode. Leaked images of the S9’s packaging indicate we may see stereo speakers tuned by Harman’s AKG — finally some good audio to pair with a beautiful screen. Still, it doesn’t look like these speakers will be front-facing, which is disappointing. We’ll have to wait and see.

We’d also be very happy if Samsung kept the headphone jack, because wireless earbuds are still far from perfect.

A better battery

Evan Blass

After Samsung’s disastrous battery incidents with the Note 7, the company really seemed to get its act together with the Galaxy S8 models and even the Note 8. Last year’s flagships featured meaty batteries that last a full day without charging. But after using smartphones like the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Razer Phone, we want to see a 4,000mAh battery in the Galaxy S9 so we don’t have to deal with battery anxiety.

Storage options

dbrand

While most of the major flagships in 2017 offered a 64GB and 128GB storage model in 2017, the Galaxy S8 only came with 64GB (in the U.S.). We’re hoping to see Samsung join the ranks of Apple and offer the Galaxy S9 with a 128GB or 256GB option. We’re grateful about the inclusion of the MicroSD card slot, but more internal storage would be great.

The Galaxy S9 will be unveiled at Samsung’s Unpacked event on February 25 at Mobile World Congress. If you want to know what else you can expect at the trade show, check out our guide, and tune into our site for complete coverage.

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