Can Google’s Pixel 2 ace conventional cameras? We spent a week finding out

When I tested the original Sony A7 in 2014, I proclaimed that the future of photography would be mirrorless. I was wrong. The future of photography is computational, and spending even a single day with the Google Pixel 2 is all you need to acquaint yourself with this fact.

I spent several days with it when I took it on vacation as my only camera. The camera in the Google Pixel 2 (and Pixel 2 XL) is so good that it feels like magic. It’s not the camera hardware itself (the lens and imaging sensor) that takes credit for this, but rather Google’s software and processing. Thanks to machine learning algorithms and the advanced HDR+ mode that’s been around in Google phones for a few years now, the Pixel 2 produces the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever captured on a smartphone. What’s more, in some situations it even yields results that are better than many straight-from-the-camera images shot with a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Tinh tế Photo/Flickr

To be sure, larger cameras with interchangeable lenses aren’t going anywhere — there are still limitations of Google’s computational approach, and there’s no substitute for being able to swap out different lenses. But at $650, the Pixel 2 is priced to compete with advanced compact cameras like the Sony RX100-series, and, for most people, it’s the obvious better buy — you get an entire phone with it, after all.

We have already touted the Pixel 2’s camera, but for this article, I’m looking at it from a working photographer’s point-of-view, and whether it can truly function as a “real camera” replacement.

Why dynamic range matters

Dynamic range may be the least understood aspect of image quality among non-photographers. Most people generally understand megapixels and even noise/grain, but dynamic range is one of the key aspects of image quality that separates a large-sensor DSLR or mirrorless camera from something like a smartphone.

HDR+ off (Photo: Marc Levoy/Google)

HDR+ on (Photo: Marc Levoy/Google)

Essentially, a camera that captures more dynamic range is able to “see” a broader range of tones, preserving more detail into the shadows and highlights of an image that a lesser camera would have clipped. If you have ever taken a picture on a bright sunny day, you have likely run into the dynamic range limitation of your camera — particularly if that camera was a phone or other small point-and-shoot. This could show up as your subject being too dark against a backlit sky, or as the sky showing up as pure white instead of blue. The camera tries its best to compensate for the wide range of contrast in the scene, but it has to make a sacrifice somewhere.

The camera in Pixel 2 is so good that it feels like magic.

The sensor in the Pixel 2 has this same problem, but Google has worked around it with software. With HDR+ turned on, the camera shoots a quick burst of photos, each with short exposure times to preserve highlights and prevent motion blur. It then merges the images together and automatically boosts the shadows to recover detail.

While boosting shadows is possible in a single-exposure photograph, doing so would result in also boosting noise. Because the Pixel 2 has several photos to work with, the shadow noise is averaged out and you end up with a much cleaner result. Google has an in-depth explainer of HDR+ if you’re interested in learning more about how it works.

On a basic level, this is similar to how other HDR modes work in other phones, but it simply works so incredibly well on the Pixel 2. The system is smart enough to preserve detail across a very wide tonal range without resulting in a flat image or jumping into the psychedelic, over-HDR look. It is, for all intents and purposes, comparable to a DSLR or mirrorless camera — except that you don’t need to spend any time processing the images in post, making it more immediate and more approachable for casual photographers.

Stereo depth-mapping from a single lens

While many phones have “portrait modes” that mimic a shallow depth of field, most accomplish this by using two separate lenses and sensors placed side-by-side. This allows the phone to compute a depth map based on the subtle differences between the two images, in a similar fashion to how our eyes perceive depth in the world around us. The Pixel 2 has just a single camera module, and yet it can produce the same stereoscopic depth map.

Original image before synthetic depth map is applied. (Photos: Sam Kweskin/Google)

Depth map generated from Google’s stereo algorithm, lighter is closer to the camera.

Visualization of blur applied to each pixel, the brighter the red the more blur.

Final synthetic shallow depth-of-field image, generated by combining HDR+, segmentation mask, and depth map.

Magic? Almost. The Pixel 2 uses on-chip phase-detection autofocus, which means each pixel is actually divided in half. Google has a much more detailed explanation of how its portrait mode works, but basically, those split pixels offer just enough stereo separation to create a depth map.

This allows for shallow-depth-of-field photographs of any subject within the allowable distance, but for portraits, the phone goes a step further. It uses AI trained on millions of sample photos in a neural network to recognize faces, improving the accuracy of where blur is applied in the photograph.

In practice, the Pixel 2’s portrait mode has the same inconsistencies of other smartphones, but mostly I’m impressed that it works at all. As AI and processing power improves, this computational approach to depth of field control will get even better and, eventually, may offer advantages over a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Namely, anything done computationally can theoretically be controlled or removed after the fact. Depth of field and even the subjective quality of blur could be altered in post, opening up new avenues of creative control.

A Pixel worth a thousand words

It is debatable whether the Pixel 2 (and its larger sibling, the Pixel 2 XL) is the best smartphone out there, but it’s certainly one of the best smartphone cameras (the new Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus may have nudged it off the top, but only just). It’s also commendable that Google put its top camera tech into a non-flagship phone, rather than saving it for just the XL model, making it more accessible to more users.

I’ll still hang on to my mirrorless kit, but the Pixel 2 proves that software, not hardware, is the future of photography.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Sharp shooters: The best camera phones you can buy
• 5 features that make awful smartphone cameras a thing of the past
• APK app unlocks Pixel 2 portrait mode on older smartphones (sort of)
• The best digital cameras you can buy
• Vivo injects A.I. into its new Super HDR photo tech for more beautiful pictures

How to customize the Galaxy S9 navigation bar and home button

Samsung offers several customization options to change up the color and orientation of the nav bar on the Galaxy S9.

With the switch to the Infinity Display design language last year, Samsung got rid of the home button and capacitive navigation keys, instead option for on-screen keys. Doing so has opened up a lot of customization options for the navigation bar itself, including changing the color, the orientation of the back and recents keys, and hiding the nav bar itself when you’re in a full screen app.

Samsung Experience 9.0 on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ offers a similar set of customizability, and if you’re just getting started with the device, here’s how to customize the Galaxy S9’s navigation bar and home button:

How to customize the Galaxy S9 navigation bar

Open the Settings app from the app drawer or home screen.
Navigate to the Display settings.

Scroll down to access the navigation bar settings.

Tap Navigation bar.
Select a Background color to change up the look of the nav bar.

Toggle the Show and hide button to auto-hide the navigation bar when in an app.

How to customize the Galaxy S9 button orientation

You can change the orientation of the home and recents keys, and select the press sensitivity of the home button as well. There’s also the option to unlock the phone with the home button, which bypasses the lock screen entirely. Here’s how you can adjust the home button sensitivity and change the button orientation:

Open the Settings app from the app drawer or home screen.
Navigate to the Display settings.

Scroll down to access the navigation bar settings.

Tap Navigation bar.
Select Hard press Home button to adjust the home button sensitivity.

Drag the slider to the left or right to decrease or increase the sensitivity (use the Pressure Test button to gauge the button’s sensitivity).

Hit the Back button to go back to the navigation bar settings.
Select Button layout to change the orientation of the back and recents keys.

Recents – Home – Back is the default orientation, and Back – Home – Recents lets you switch to the Google-prescribed layout for the nav keys.

That’s a quick look at customization options for the nav bar and home button on the Galaxy S9. How are you liking your S9/S9+? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Deal: BYOD to Boost Mobile and get a free month of unlimited data!

If you’re in the market for a new phone plan, Boost Mobile may have just the thing.

There’s a deal on a great BYOD plan at Boost Mobile! For just $50 a month, you’ll get unlimited talk, text & data along with streaming (in standard definition) and 8GB of mobile hotspots. Act now and you’ll get a full month of unlimited data free. Offer ends April 5, 2018

How this deal works:

New Boost Mobile customers who bring their own phones and sign up for the $50 Unlimited Gigs plan will get a one month credit of $50.

• Must be a new customer & requires an initial payment of $50 at time of activation.
• Customers can bring their compatible devices (select iPhone and Android models) and former Sprint devices are not eligible.

Boost Mobile: Unlimited Gigs plan

• Unlimited Data, Talk & Text, after you reach 23GB speeds may slow temporarily during times of high network traffic
• Coverage on Sprint’s nationwide network
• 8GB of mobile hotspots
• SD video streaming, up to 480p
• All taxes and fees included

See at Boost Mobile

Are you happy with the Galaxy S9+?

Well, are you?

This year, Samsung introduced more changes than ever between the Galaxy S9 and S9+. Although both phones share a lot of similarities, only the S9+ has dual rear cameras, 6GB of RAM, and a larger 3,500 mAh battery.

A lot of people in the Android Central forums have been switching over to the larger Galaxy S9+, and they’re doing so in favor of the Note 8, iPhone X, and a lot of other high-end devices.

We decided to check in to see how happy (or not) our S9+ owners are, and these are a few of the responses.

amyf27
03-27-2018 09:22 PM

“

So happy. Just got mine today traded in the Note 8. Have loved the Note line for a long time. The S9Plus is fantastic.

Reply

DamianP
03-27-2018 08:42 PM

“

Love mine so far. the ergonomics are what got me to switch plus a bit better battery life .(yes I have both as well).
The S pen is nice to have but I just didn’t use it much.

Reply

GibMcFragger
03-28-2018 02:41 AM

“

Went from the iPhone X (meh camera, annoying notch, iOS sucks) to Note 8 (too bulky, never used S-Pen) to this S9+. No regrets, love it.

Reply

srinathp1988
03-27-2018 08:55 PM

“

I come from Note 5(Note 3 before that) and I am very happy. I hardly used the pen before , so I did not wait for the note this year

Reply

Now, we’d love to hear from you – If you’ve got the Galaxy S9+, are you happy with the phone?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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How does Apple’s new push for the education market compare to Chromebooks in the classroom?

Apple’s new education offerings are clearly aimed at the Chromebook but are they enough?

Hooray competition!

Apple had its focus on education event in Chicago this week, and the company is getting serious about taking back one market it used to have under tight control: the classroom. Not too long ago, if you were to look at the computing products school systems were buying you would have seen an Apple logo on almost all of them. Apple offered a consistent, secure and unified experience to educators and students which made them the company to work with if you wanted to deploy computers to the classroom.

Apple is using the same tactics Google did when they pushed Chromebooks for the classroom.

They were also very expensive and had a high training and administration cost which meant most schools went without. Google seized upon this and made sure that Chromebooks offered what educators needed at prices school board officials could afford and now have double the market share (52%) that Apple products (24%) do when it comes to the classroom.

With its latest announcements, Apple did a lot to address those issues. Whether it’s enough to create a surge in the numbers is yet to be seen, but it’s a great example of why competition is good for the people who use the products. Especially so when the people using them are the next generation. Here’s a breakdown of what Apple now has to offer and how it all compares to what Chromebooks bring to the table.

More: Apple Education Event: The most important announcements

Cheaper iPads

It’s unfortunate that the most important thing Apple announced will be all about the money. That’s just the way things work when schools aren’t provided with the funding needed to offer the education every child deserves and the single biggest factor when it comes to providing equipment for the classroom is the dollar.

The 6th Generation iPad has a 9.7-inch display and runs atop the same A10 chip the iPhone 7 introduced. It has support for the Apple Pencil like the previous generation iPad Pro but the best news was the price — $329 retail and $299 for schools.

A $300 iPad will gather a lot of attention. It should.

It’s important to note that the $300 price is for the tablet only — the Apple Pencil stylus, as well as an add-on keyboard, are going to cost extra. And the Smart Connector didn’t make its way into the newer cheaper iPad so that means a Bluetooth or connection through the Lightning port and a generic keyboard is the best solution. Once these costs are added in a new iPad is going to cost as much or more than a good Chromebook for the education sector like one of the new Lenovo models, so schools won’t be saving any money should they make the move back to Apple.

The new pricing is great for regular consumers and an iPad is one of the best tablet experiences any amount of money can buy. But for a budget-minded school board, there’s no benefit when you compare price to price.

New features for iWork

Apple’s iWork suite — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — received a substantial update, too. Apple Pencil support was added in and part of the feature allows for annotations to be anchored to the object they are annotating so they will stay attached no matter how that object is moved or used across the iWork apps. The biggest impact comes to Keynote, Apple’s answer to Powerpoint, as annotations remain available even if an object is animated or moved across slides.

It’s going to take a miracle to get school systems to switch from Google Docs and Gmail to iWork and iCloud. These changes are great but not miracle-grade.

Additionally, digital publishing was added to the Pages app (Apple’s version of Word) which allows anyone to create their own eBook without any extra tools. These changes are really nice, and as someone who happens to appreciate iWork, I’m excited to see them in action. But they aren’t exactly game-changing even if Apple wants us to believe they are.

As mentioned, I like using Numbers and Pages and think they are better than Microsoft’s Office apps or Google Docs’ app suite but I’m very much in the minority. Most schools use Google Docs, which is a byproduct of Chromebooks gaining traction in the classroom. Apple Pen support and authoring tools aren’t likely to be enough to make a switch from the excellent collaboration and cloud management Google (and Microsoft) offer with existing solutions. And those solutions also will work just fine on an iPad.

Swift Playgrounds AR

While most students aren’t budding programmers, for those that are Swift Playgrounds is a great way to learn to code. This week’s update adds support for build Augmented Reality apps through Swift and AR looks to be the next big thing that any developer will need to know how to build.

Swift Playgrounds is a beautiful learning tool that I wish Microsoft Visual Studio would emulate.

The unfortunate reality is that Swift Playgrounds limits itself to Apple-OS and Linux devices. Swift and Cocoa are excellent development languages that work with existing Objective-C code already in place on billions of devices. But there are billions of other devices out there and better ways to teach kids to program exist. Until a for-profit company decides to build a product that’s easy to use and helps students learn to program in any language — and spends money to promote and support it — it will always be one method versus the other.

It’s worth mentioning that nothing exists for Chrome OS that is as good as Swift Playgrounds when it comes to learning how to code. I’d love to see Google step up in this area instead of waiting for someone else to make an IDE that runs through a web interpreter of the same caliber.

Apple Classroom and Shared iPad

Apple Classroom and Shared iPads are the biggest announcements when it comes to iPads in the classroom, even if they won’t get the attention that lower prices will.

Shared iPad works the same way as multiple accounts on a Chromebook. Each student gets their own sandbox that syncs with their user ID and login, and can pick up any iPad, tap their profile photo and enter their password and get to work. The things they do will be stored in iCloud and available anywhere the student’s user ID is used.

Time spent trying to manage a classroom full of devices is better spent teaching, and tools that make it happen are important.

Apple Classroom is a management application that teachers or other school officials can use to manage student logins but has an extra feature that’s really great. A teacher can use Apple Classroom and open an app or webpage on every managed iPad at the same time so all the students are seeing exactly what they need to be seeing. Google’s answer is Google Classroom which offers a completely paperless system and uses a “classroom stream” to share media and communicate with every student at once.

When it comes to administration and management Google’s G Suite for Education and Chrome administration tools are going to be difficult to beat. Google uses Enterprise-grade management tools and features combined with the best collaboration tools available to make class time and assignments easy for teachers to manage and for students to learn from. Apple’s answer looks to be a less pragmatic approach and will likely offer less of a learning curve for teachers which makes it very attractive.

Students are the real winners

When everything is said and done, the people who will benefit the most from Apple’s new classroom features are the students themselves. Even if these moves fail to make any significant changes in schools when it comes to which computing platform is available, it will trigger a response from Google and Microsoft and result in better products all around.

When it comes to educational products we want everything to be better than ever.

We all should want the tools and services available for education to be great because they shape the future. For the next generation to do better than we’re doing right now we have to provide the best we can offer so students learn what they need to know when they’re holding the keys. It’s not an Apple versus Google battle once you get past the quarterly earnings report and I don’t care which products students are using as long as they are the best products.

We’ve seen Apple offer some great tools, now it’s time to see how Google responds and enjoy seeing these two companies compete because it gives our children a better education when they try to outdo each other.

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
• Acer Chromebook 14 review
• Join our Chromebook forums

Firefox has a new extension to prevent Facebook from snooping on you

Introducing the Facebook Container Extension.

Facebook’s come under a lot of fire for its mishandling of user data, and rightfully so. Not too long after the FTC announced it had an ongoing investigation into the social network, Firefox is now introducing an official extension that’s been created with the sole intent of making it more difficult for Facebook to track your online presence.

The Facebook Container Extension is available to use with Firefox now, and once it’s installed, Facebook will be housed in its own “container” each time you visit it. You’ll see blue lines around Facebook indicating that it’s in a new container tab, but everything will still work as per usual.

Here’s where things get interesting, though. Upon installing the extension, it’ll automatically delete any of your Facebook cookies and log you out of your account. Clicking on a non-Facebook link while browsing Facebook will open it in a regular tab, and clicking on Facebook Share links in regular tabs will open them in the Facebook Container.

As great as this sounds, Mozilla does note a couple of quirks to keep an eye out for –

If you use your Facebook credentials to create an account or log in using your Facebook credentials, it may not work properly and you may not be able to login. Also, because you’re logged into Facebook in the container tab, embedded Facebook comments and Like buttons in tabs outside the Facebook container tab will not work. This prevents Facebook from associating information about your activity on websites outside of Facebook to your Facebook identity. So it may look different than what you are used to seeing.

Last but not least, Mozilla says that the Facebook Container Extension doesn’t allow it to see any of your data that it collects. The only thing it has access to is seeing the number of times you’ve added or removed the extension from your browser.

If you’re a Firefox user, is this something you’ll be using going forward?

Facebook never earned your trust and now we’re all paying the price

Honor 7X with Android Oreo review: EMUI 8 plays for keeps

Honor hasn’t forgotten about the 7X, and the recent beta rollout of Android Oreo has made it an even better budget offering than before.

When we first reviewed the Honor 7X back in December, we called it “the new budget champion.” Never before had a sub-$200 phone offered such a modern design and premium build quality, all while also delivering on the basics like battery life and camera performance.

The one thing that set the phone back was its software; not just because of the love-it-or-hate-it EMUI interface, but because even at launch, it was already outdated. The Honor 7X originally shipped with EMUI 5.1 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat, but Honor has since begun rolling out a beta version of an Oreo update with EMUI 8, and it’s changed quite a lot about the phone. So it’s time to revisit the Honor 7X and answer the burning question — is it still worth buying?

See at Amazon

Still sleek

Honor 7X Hardware

Nothing has really changed on the hardware front; the Honor 7X is still one of the most finely crafted devices you’ll find within its price range, with an anodized aluminum unibody design. It still picks up finger oils and smudges like crazy, but it’s held up well, all things considered, with my unit only showing a few small scratches here and there.

The 5.93-inch 18:9 display is as slick and modern as ever, and the Full HD+ (2160×1080) LCD panel still looks bright and sharp as well. It’s an excellent display for a phone of this price range, and the minimal bezels surrounding it make it feel immersive to use.

I’m also still loving the fingerprint sensor on the back, which is fast and accurate, and brings the added benefit of enabling navigational gestures for pulling down the notification tray and swiping through photos in your gallery. Sitting just above the fingerprint sensor are the two rear cameras — I still don’t necessarily love the way they protrude separately from each other, but dual cameras are great to see in a $200 phone.

There are still some missing hardware features like NFC and water resistance, but given how few other $200 phones offer these features, I’m willing to give Honor a pass — especially since the 7X still retains the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack. What’s more frustrating is the inclusion of a dated Micro-USB port, as opposed to the USB-C standard we’ve come to expect these days.

On the inside, the Honor 7X is packing some fairly decent specs, including a Kirin 659 chipset and, in most cases, 4GB of RAM. You’ll also get between 32 and 64GB of internal storage, which you can expand with a microSD card in the second slot of the phone’s hybrid SIM tray.

Android Oreo

Honor 7X Software

The biggest difference from the last time we reviewed the Honor 7X is the software. It was pretty disappointing to see this phone ship with Android 7.0 Nougat and EMUI 5.1, and unfortunately, if you buy the phone right now it’ll still come with that older software.

But Honor recently launched a beta version of its upcoming Oreo update, and it finally makes the software feel as modern as the hardware. I’ve been using it on my Honor 7X for about a week now, and EMUI 8 brings some significant and much-needed improvements that make the 7X feel more like the Honor View 10 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro.

The Settings menu is far more organized than before, with sub-categories like wireless networks and system settings containing similar options. You’ll notice a few new options in the Settings as well, like the addition of a floating dock for navigation. When enabled, you can place the dock anywhere on the screen, then tap it to go back, long press to go home, or press and drag in any direction to switch between recent apps. If you like it enough, you can hide the navigation bar now as well, freeing up space at the bottom of the screen.

The Honor 7X also receives some overdue features from Oreo itself, including long-press menus on home screen icons, as well as picture-in-picture (PIP) viewing for apps like Google Maps and YouTube. I particularly enjoy the latter feature, which allows me to multitask without having to dedicate an entire half of my screen to another app, though PIP did slow my Honor 7X down a bit — it might be a little too much for the phone’s relatively low-end processor.

Arguably, the most important changes to the Honor 7X are happening behind the scenes. With the Oreo beta, it already has the March security patch — something even most flagships can’t claim. It also brings Project Treble compatibility, which is hugely significant because it addresses one of Honor’s biggest pain points: slow updates.

Project Treble is potentially the biggest win for the Honor 7X in the long run.

This is an especially promising sign considering OEMs aren’t required to add Treble support if the phone didn’t originally ship with Oreo. While it’s still not a guarantee that Honor will keep up with regular software updates, it’s at the very least a show of good faith. Project Treble support is also good news for the modding community, since it makes flashing AOSP ROMs (translation: installing stock Android) easier.

The Oreo update has made the Honor 7X an even better budget offering, but EMUI still won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It still comes with a fair amount of bloatware, and its power management is still aggressive, to say the least. If you didn’t like EMUI before, this update likely won’t change your mind. Still, performance is smoother than ever, despite the Oreo update still being a beta, and it makes using the 7X much more enjoyable.

Seeing double

Honor 7X Cameras

And hey — the Honor 7X still takes pictures, too! Things are pretty much the same as before in the camera department, with a dual camera system consisting of a 16MP f/2.2 primary camera with PDAF (phase detection autofocus) and a 2MP secondary sensor used to measure depth for artificial bokeh effects.

As far as the software goes, not much has changed, but the Honor 7X now has AR lens effects, similar to what you’d find on Snapchat or Instagram. You can choose from a number of cartoon animal filters to apply to your face, or place yourself in front of a background like space or the beach. It’s a fun effect, but you probably won’t be taking many photos like this.

Just like before, the Honor 7X takes fairly impressive photos with good colors and dynamic range. Honor’s post-processing helps a lot with overall image quality, but the lack of OIS still means that a shaky hand can easily ruin a shot. It’s also still pretty weak in low light situations, though it’s certainly not the weakest performer in its price range.

The camera app features a long list of shooting modes (14, to be exact), but don’t expect to find Honor’s scene detection software from the View 10 here — that’s only made possible with the NPU on Huawei’s more powerful Kirin 970 chipset.

Still great

Honor 7X Battery Life

The Honor 7X already had pretty good battery life the first time we reviewed it, with plenty of longevity from its 3340mAh battery to last you through the day. With a regular load of social media, music and video streaming, work apps like Slack and Trello, and the occasional gaming, I’ve had no trouble making it through a workday with some juice leftover, and battery life has even marginally improved since the update to Oreo.

Battery life isn’t much different, but Oreo makes a slight improvement.

Unfortunately, there’s no support for fast charging on the Honor 7X, which means that big battery will take a little while to refuel. Honor’s 5V/2A charging is decently quick, but it’s not quite up to par with what we’re used to these days — and I’m still a little annoyed that the phone uses Micro-USB. Your household may be different, but this phone and my Logitech mouse are the only two things left that I have to charge with Micro-USB; it’s time to move to USB-C.

The bottom line

Should you still buy the Honor 7X? Yes

It’s hard to believe just how much phone you can get these days for only $200. Between an aluminum body, an 18:9 FHD+ display, dual cameras, and the latest version of Android, the Honor 7X is still an incredible value three months after entering the market, and with support for Project Treble, it should hopefully keep getting better.

You’ll still have to make some compromises. The Honor 7X isn’t water resistant, nor can it make NFC payments, and it takes a bit longer to charge than most phones these days. But with the upcoming rollout of Android Oreo and EMUI 8, Honor is showing that it’s finally taking software updates seriously. Even in its beta phase, the Oreo update has breathed new life into the Honor 7X, and it’s likely going to hold its title of budget champion for the foreseeable future.

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Get up to $100 for inviting people to use Google Pay

Google’s offering $10 for each referred friend.

If you’re like me, you’re still probably trying to get used to the Google Pay brand that officially started replacing Android Pay in late February. Google’s been doing a lot of marketing to get everyone on board with the new name and look, and in an effort to increase its adoption, Google’s now resorted to giving away free money.

First spotted by our friends at Android Police, inviting people to use Google Pay will allow both of you to get a $10 Google Play credit. You’ll be given a custom referral code that you can send to friends and family members, and if they use this upon joining, you’ll both get that $10 credit once they make their first purchase using Google Pay.

Some users are seeing the promotion pop up on Google Pay’s Home tab, but it can also be found by opening the hamburger menu and tapping on “Get Rewards.”

If you’re in the U.S., you can use my code GACCA6SY for a free $10.

You can make up to ten unique referrals, resulting in an earning cap of $100. The offer is available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Poland, Russia, and Australia, and you’ll need to be 18-years or older.

Google’s running this promotion through May 14, and you’ll be given 28 days to redeem your credits once you get them.

Download: Google Pay (free)

Better legal streaming options are the best way to end piracy

The best way to stop piracy is innovation, not censorship

I watch a disgusting amount of Netflix these days — well, ‘watch’ might be the wrong word to use. Often, Netflix is just playing in the background while I do other things like folding laundry, browsing Reddit on my phone or, regrettably, falling asleep at night.

It’s a similar story for Spotify, which delivers all my tunes whether I’m on a road trip, walking to the store, or hanging out with friends.

But here’s the thing I realized recently — Netflix and Spotify alone have done more to curb my illegal downloading habits than any PSA campaign, copyright law, or regulatory board ever could.

I was inspired to ponder on the changing way I consume media after watching an excellent NYT’s documentary on the rise and fall of Napster, which brought me right back to 1999 when my 11-year-old self was first introduced to the world of peer-to-peer file sharing. It opened my eyes and ears to a wide world of music that I may have never otherwise discovered and led me down a decade-long love affair of pirating media.

Netflix and Spotify alone have done more to curb my illegal downloading habits than any PSA campaign, copyright law, or regulatory board ever could.

From Napster to The Pirate Bay, for the longest time, it was way easier to just download everything than dealing with iTunes, paying for cable, or bothering with rental services. Ten years ago, I admit that, like most folks my age, I was downloading most of the music and media I consumed.

That is no longer the case today, thanks to vast improvements in both the technology we use to watch and listen to content and the availability of legal streaming services that are way more convenient than the illegal counterparts. And here’s the thing I’ve discovered: I can justify paying for a growing list of legal streaming services so long as they are more efficient to use than the process of illegally downloading something.

Today, I could spend the time to download a massive library of all my favorite music and transfer all the files to my phone — or I could just use Spotify. I could torrent a movie or TV series and send the files across all my devices — or I could just load up Netflix or Amazon Prime Video across most of my devices and instantly be watching a show or movie I love.

It helps that both Netflix and Amazon have become studios in their own right, creating original content that is instantly accessible to everyday viewers like you and me. Netflix might be banned from the Cannes Film Festival, but I’m still more likely to watch Netflix content than any of the films debuting in France.

More and more we’re seeing TV networks, premium cable, and film studios offering their own streaming services because once you ditch cable and start enjoying the convenience of streaming content you don’t go back.

Here’s the thing — I’ll always check out an offer for a free trial to a new streaming service, or test a free service with a ton of ads with a paid subscription available to remove those ads, and I’ll ultimately subscribe if it’s got things I want to watch and I can justify it in my monthly budget. The ad-free premium model worked gangbusters for Spotify and its the model that YouTube appears to be following in the run-up to the company’s forthcoming music subscription service.

But this still leaves traditional cable TV providers in a tricky spot; as we all know, cable TV is pretty expensive that also happens to be chock full of ads. After years of binging on Netflix, it is downright jarring to sit down and watch a TV show on cable these days because of all the ads, and a DVR that lets you fast forward through the ad breaks in recorded shows is only marginally more convenient and still frustrating in a lot of ways.

Censorship and stricter copyright laws won’t curb piracy — better legal streaming services will.

In Canada, a consortium of media companies lead by Bell has been lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to blacklist specific websites linked to piracy and require all Canadian internet service providers to block those sites.

I acknowledge that the TV and movie industries are massive with a lot of folks working hard that need people to pay for the shows and movies they create to maintain a living, but censoring websites is such an ass-backward approach to trying to alleviate piracy without addressing the fact that the way we consume media has evolved.

To me, it just shows that these big, wealthy media companies would rather invest in lobbying the government than investing in creating innovative services to better serve potential consumers.

There’s no reason why watching a hockey game on Bell’s own TSN GO streaming service is choppier than an illegal stream offering 1080p HD quality. And there’s no reason for me to pay whatever cable companies are charging for cable service and DVR box rentals when I can stream content endlessly on my phone, computer, or Android TV box.

Censorship and stricter copyright laws won’t curb piracy — better legal streaming services will.

Facebook is pushing back its smart speaker following privacy concerns

This is probably for the best.

Between May 1 and 2 this year, Facebook will host its annual F8 Developer Conference in San Jose, California. This year’s event was supposed to be where Facebook would introduce the world to its first smart speaker, but these plans have apparently been scrapped.

According to sources that spoke with Bloomberg, Facebook will not announce its speaker this May as a result of the recent controversy that’s popped up regarding Facebook’s misuse of its users’ data.

Facebook is apparently still on track to launch its speaker later in the Fall, but F8 was supposed to act as an early preview so developers and consumers alike could get an early glimpse of what’s to come. It’s disappointing that we’ll have to wait a while longer before getting to see what Facebook’s Echo and Google Home competitor will look like, but this move is more than understandable considering everything that’s going on right now.

There’s still a lot that’s unknown about Facebook’s smart speaker, but it’s expected to offer features we’ve seen in competing products – such as easy access to a virtual assistant and a video-chat feature.

Are you still interested in a Facebook speaker following everything that’s happened over the last few days?

Facebook kept logs of calls and messages on Android phones, and followed the rules to do it