Deal: Get a $200 discount on the Pixel 2 XL when purchased on financing

You can also get a free 18W charger (normally $35).

As great of a phone as the Pixel 2 XL is, there’s no getting around its high price. Spending $850+ on a new gadget is a lot of money, but thanks to a new promo the Google Store is running, you can currently get it for $200 off.

Between now and March 31, 2018, you can get a $200 statement credit on the Pixel 2 XL when you purchase it through the Google Store’s financing program. You’ll need to have a decent credit score in order to be approved for the financing option, but assuming you are, you’ll pay 0% interest as long as you make your monthly payments on time.

The 64GB Pixel 2 XL costs $35.38/month for 24 months at its regular $850 price tag, but the $200 discount (which is applied within two billing cycles) will help to put a good dent in what you owe.

In addition to this, buying a Pixel 2 or 2 XL by March 31 will also make you eligible to get a free 18W USB-C power adapter. This is the same charger that’s included with the Pixel 2 out of the box, but having a second one never hurt anyone. Unlike the deal above, you don’t have to finance your new phone in order to take advantage of this.

See at Google Store

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

Best Buy
Verizon
Google Store
Project Fi

Is the Honor View 10 still worth buying four months after it was announced?

They say time heals all wounds, but that doesn’t do anything to fix a botched release.

When we reviewed the Honor View 10, we found it to be one of the best affordable flagships for just $500 — it held its own against the similarly priced OnePlus 5T, and you could even make the argument that it’s a better value than the more premium Huawei Mate 10 Pro. But that was all the way back in January.

Since the View 10 was announced last December, Honor has been pretty quiet regarding its release date and even U.S. pricing — we only just got that info a few days ago. In that time, plenty of other great phones have been announced, including the Galaxy S9, Nokia 7 Plus, and many more. Older phones have had time to drop in price in the last few months, too; the original Google Pixel can easily be found for under $500 these days.

Four months after its announcement, the View 10 still features top-end specs and a modern design.

With all of this in mind, what makes the Honor View 10 still worth buying? Well for one, it still carries extremely capable specs; the Kirin 970 inside is Huawei’s highest-end chipset, and the same one found on the Mate 10 Pro, including the Neural Processing Unit for AI enhancements. In addition, the View 10 is one of the few phones with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage for just $500.

The rest of the hardware is no slouch, either — even four months after its announcement, the View 10 still looks modern thanks to its 18:9 display and dual camera module around back. Interestingly, the fingerprint sensor still rests below the screen, a location that’s mostly been replaced with rear-mounted sensors these days (even on other Honor and Huawei devices), but if fingerprint sensors aren’t your thing, you can always unlock the View 10 with facial recognition.

In the U.S. at least, the View 10 is also one of the few phones to ship with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, bringing it up to date with phones like the Pixel 2 — though the software experience is noticeably different. The View 10 features Huawei’s EMUI software interface, which adds a number of quirks to the UI — some good, some bad.

As always, it all comes down to user preference, and EMUI 8.0 is the most mature and cohesive version of the software yet. Unless you’re a diehard stock Android fan, you probably won’t mind the View 10’s software too terribly.

So is the View 10 still worth buying? Unless you’re planning on holding out for something like the Nokia 7 Plus, I’d say absolutely. Especially at $500, the View 10 is still a hell of a deal, and thanks to a powerful spec sheet it runs just as smoothly as a top-dollar flagship. But if you need features like wireless charging or water resistance, or you just can’t live with EMUI … well, there’s been a lot going on in the last four months.

Have you ordered a View 10, or do you have your sights set elsewhere? Let us know in the comments below!

See at Honor

5 awesome PlayStation VR games you probably haven’t heard of

Some games fly under the media radar. It doesn’t stop them from being great though.

I play a lot of PlayStation VR games as you can imagine, after all, I need to find as many cool games for you as I can, and a lot of them are AAA titles like Doom VFR, Skyrim VR and eagerly anticipated games like Moss. Sometimes though I like to delve into the PSVR library to find little gems you probably haven’t heard of but will love to play.

This list is by no means exhaustive, after all, there are hundreds of PlayStation VR titles to choose from, but these are five games that I think are awesome that you may not have of heard of, much less played. A lot of these games may have a similar feel to them as well, static shooters seems to be the stable of the PSVR library and they make for some great games, but each one has its own variance that makes them unique and worth playing.

Blasters of the Universe

Blasters of the Universe is a wave-based “bullet hell” shooter that is crazy fun and just plain crazy. Set in what looks to be late 80’s – early 90’s, around the Lawnmower Man years, you play as a young arcade player who gets sucked into a machine to fight against the reigning champion of the game. As a premise, it smacks of Tron and the visuals have that 80’s CGI effect that looks fantastic, to be honest. With a soundtrack that could be ripped straight from Thor: Ragnarok this game fills you with the feeling of nostalgia for old arcade halls while giving you a fresh VR feel to the gameplay.

The game itself is fairly straightforward, shoot bad guys as they attack you in waves, all the while dodging their weirdly geometrical shaped bullet volleys. Happily, as the game tells you from your start, only your head exists, so that’s the only part you need to move to keep the bullets from hitting you. This makes the game at least playable because if you had to move your whole body to dodge the literally hundreds of bullets you would tire within minutes, as it is you get to feel somewhat accomplished as you dodge around while shooting and reloading your weapon of choice.

The weapons in Blasters of the Universe are completely customizable too, from the type of weapon to the barrel, ammo, sights and even the size of the magazine, all can be mixed and matched to never give you the same gun twice. You do have to unlock all the parts as you play but being able to adjust the weapons to your play style is a really great feature, for example, I like high powered three burst weapons with a power boost magazine. I have to reload more than normal but I can kill a lot of enemies with just one or two trigger pulls, but you might like to run a fully automatic gun with a large capacity magazine and seeking bullets or a single shot super high powered gun, there is so much to choose from.

See at PlayStation Store

Happy Drummer

One of the first games I have seen on the PlayStation VR that replicates music, Happy Drummer is a cute, light-hearted attempt at a drum simulator using a set of tribal drums to make the music. With its very cartoony graphics, upbeat tribal music and crazy dancing people all over the place, Happy Drummer is a great game to play with a group of people around. Kids and grown-ups will get equal amounts of pleasure from banging these drums and bouncing along to the happy tunes.

The game is simple using the Move controllers as your drumsticks you have to beat the drums in time with the little stars and arrows that the floating Shamen throws at you, the arrows are normal beats, the stars are both sticks beat the same drum. About halfway through each song the drums spin round and instead of the normal three drums you have five to contend with, upping the difficulty and the laughter, at least around my house. There are currently four songs with three difficulties each so it rarely gets repetitive, making it a great game to pull out at parties for everyone to try this new “VR Thingy” they have heard about. Infection vectors are important for new platforms people, infect as many as you can.

See at PlayStation Store

Fruit Ninja VR

Ok so you may have heard of the smash hit game Fruit Ninja that’s been available on mobile devices for years now, but did you know they make a VR version that is far better than the mobile game? You do now. Fruit Ninja VR has the same basic gameplay has the mobile version, fruit pop up from the ground and you need to slice as many as possible to gain the highest score, but with the added fun of using two samurai swords to cut the fruit. Visually this is far more appealing but it also adds a new mechanic, spearing.

You can use the swords to pierce through the fruit, then cut them, maximizing your cutting power and looking darn good while doing it. You can also use the flat of your blade to knock away bombs, though it takes some time to learn and you will blow up a lot while learning it.

Fruit Ninja VR is another great party game for people new to PlayStation VR as it has a simple, yet endlessly fun mechanic that gives everyone a score to beat each time. I have a lot of cookouts where are live, Southern California sunshine FTW, and Fruit Ninja VR is a fan favorite with all my friends. It is well worth having in your gaming arsenal.

See at PlayStation Store

Dick Wilde

I make no bones about it, I love this game. It’s dumb, crazy and very funny and as a game to play with a group of people. Dick Wilde is a wave-based shooter slightly similar to Blasters of the Universe but with a southern, swampy feel where you fight mutant gators, electric eels and seagulls that poop on your as you try to shoot them down. As you can see, this game is not going to be winning any awards for Best Story, but it doesn’t need to.

Using a selection of weird, homemade weapons that normally have two firing modes you have to beat off the waves of enemies while shooting the golden carp that give you extra points. It’s a simple style of game that lends itself to friendly competition, so much so, that they actually included a party mode where you fight against your waves of enemies to raise a high score, then pass the headset over to your friend for them to try her luck. This kind of pass-and-play is normal when playing VR, few people own more than one headset, except my Editor Russell of course, so passing it around really is the only option for parties. Dick Wilde has just made this a more formal affair with high scores and names for each person making it feel more communal.

See at PlayStation Store

Superhot VR

If you have used VR a lot in the past few years you may have heard of Superhot VR, if you are new to it you may not. That’s my reasoning for putting this game in here and if that feels flimsy then so be it. Superhot is one of the best games to come out of VR since, well ever. Taking the “bullet-time” mechanic to its ultimate level and creating a voxel world of Matrix-style abilities, Superhot blows me away every time I play it. Graphically the game is extremely simple, just some red polygons and white surfaces really, but its gameplay draws you in and makes you want to play it over and over.

Essentially Superhot is a wave-based shooter like others on this list but your movement controls time. As long as you move slowly enough you can dodge bullets, catch guns out of the air and destroy voxel people with wild abandon. Move too fast, however, and the whole world speeds up and bullets whizz past and into your head. This creates a really intense paradigm where you are constantly contorting your body while trying to do it as slowly as possible to stay in control. It’s exhausting frankly but so immersive, so much so that it’s the first game I fell over playing, I was kneeling behind an imaginary box and tried to lift myself up using said imaginary box. Needless to say, the voxels did not hold my real world weight and fell on my face, much to the amusement of my Wife and child.

Really, if you don’t own this already, you should get it now.

See at Amazon

What did I miss?

So that’s five of the most awesome games you probably didn’t know about, but what did I miss? I’m sure there are more in the library of PlayStation VR games. Let us know what your favorites are down in the comments.

Lock your door from your phone with the $100 August 2nd-gen smart lock

The door should be the smartest part of your home.

The 2nd gen August Smart Lock is down to $99.99 on Amazon. This is a match of Best Buy’s daily deal, bringing it back down to the lowest price we’ve seen on the popular smart lock.

The third generation August Smart Lock is more than $200 right now, and even when it goes on sale doesn’t drop below $180. You’re still getting plenty of functionality in the 2nd gen and saving a lot of money in the process.

This smart lock is versatile and works with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant as well. You can control it with the Echo Dot this week or the Google Home Mini, depending on your ecosystem preference.

See on Amazon

This is what the OnePlus 6 could look like

The OnePlus 6 is expected to share the same design aesthetic as the OPPO R15 — and that means a notch at the top of the display.

Earlier this month, we revealed that the OnePlus 6 will offer a 19:9 notched display. With the OPPO R15 now official, we have a clearer idea of what the OnePlus 6 will look like, as both devices are expected to share the same design aesthetic.

That was the case last year, with the OPPO R11 sharing its design language with the OnePlus 5. OPPO and OnePlus are sister companies controlled by China’s BBK Electronics, and seeing as how the former doesn’t have a presence outside Asian markets, it makes sense from an R&D standpoint to share resources.

Therefore, with the R15 sporting a notch akin to that of the iPhone X, it’s a high possibility that the OnePlus 6 will follow suit. As for the device itself, the R15 features a 6.28-inch OLED panel with a 19:9 FHD+ resolution and 90% screen-to-body ratio, and the device is powered by a 12nm MediaTek Helio P60. OPPO has also launched a Dream Mirror Edition variant with a ceramic body that’s powered by the Snapdragon 660.

Both variants come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, along with a 20MP front camera, 3450mAh battery, and Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. The standard R15 has a dual 12MP + 5MP camera configuration at the back, with the Dream Mirror Edition offering a 16MP + 20MP setup.

The standard R15 will go on sale from April 1 for ¥2,999, which comes out to $475. The Dream Mirror Edition, meanwhile, will cost ¥3,499 ($550). What do you guys think of the possibility of a notch on the OnePlus 6?

OnePlus 6: All the rumors in one place

Deal: Honor View 10 on sale for just £375 (£75 off)

This is a really good deal.

The mid-range smartphone market is better than it’s ever been before, and one of the best in this class is the Honor View 10. The View 10 is a seriously good value at its normal retail price of £450 in the UK, but thanks to a new discount on Amazon, it’s now better than ever before.

Right now on Amazon, you can buy the Honor View 10 for just £375. That’s an entire £75 off its usual selling price, and it makes buying the View 10 a no-brainer for folks that want a quality phone that won’t break the bank.

As a quick refresher, the Honor View 10 comes equipped with a 5.99-inch 2160 x 1080 display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and slim bezels, dual rear cameras, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with EMUI 8.0 layered on top of it.

There’s no word as to how long this deal will last, so I’d suggest buying sooner rather than later to ensure you don’t miss out on it.

See at Amazon

Android Wear needs way more than just a Wear OS rebrand

The new look is nice, but Android Wear’s core problems lie far deeper.

Google first launched Android Wear in 2014, and since then, the platform hasn’t changed all that much. Android Wear 2.0 introduced a slightly updated UI and a few new features in 2017, and on March 15, 2018, Google announced that it was re-branding Android Wear as “Wear OS by Google.”

The purpose of the new name and logo is to shine some light on Android Wear being open to Android and iOS users alike, and it follows in Google’s recent pattern of axing the Android name from its other products and services (RIP Android Pay). The name is catchy and the logo looks good, but Google’s going to need to a lot more if it wants Android Wear/Wear OS to succeed and put a dent in recent activity from Apple, Fitbit, and Samsung.

Completely overhaul Google Fit

Fitness has become a massive focus for smartwatches, so much so that Apple markets the health-focused features of the Apple Watch almost more than anything else. Even after wearing an AW myself for just a few short months, I almost instantly became addicted to closing those blue, yellow, and red rings.

Unfortunately, Wear OS doesn’t currently have anything that can compete with Apple, Fitbit, or even Samsung for that matter.

Google Fit is the out-of-the-box fitness suite that comes with every Wear OS device, but it’s pretty clear that Google’s all but taken it behind a shed to be shot. There’s no way to log your food intake, water consumption, or sleep. You can’t create fitness challenges between you and other users, there aren’t any badges/trophies to collect for your hard work, and the companion app offers very little insight into previous workouts.

A health/fitness platform that’s designed by Google and links right to your Google account should be an easy sell, but in its current form, Google Fit pales in comparison to Fitbit, Apple Health, and Samsung Health.

Fitness/health tracking is becoming a bigger and bigger reason people buy smartwatches with every passing day, and with Google Fit in its current form, it’s an immediate turn-off from Wear OS for anyone that’s serious about trying to live a healthier life.

Seriously, where is the Pixel Watch?

Plenty of people before me have pleaded with Google to create a Pixel Watch, but that’s not going to stop me from doing so for the 1839th time.

This phone and laptop are begging for a watch sibling.

Before Google launched the Pixel line, Nexus phones were seen as nothing more than devices that Android die-hards geeked out over because of their top-of-the-line specs and new software goodies with the latest version of Android. The Pixel and Pixel 2 offer a lot of what made the Nexus line so great, but now they’re being sold on carriers, Google’s marketing them to general consumers, and people are now choosing between Pixel and Galaxy phones when it’s time to upgrade.

The Pixel brand is starting to mean something, and that’s important.

Google is one of the most well-known companies on the planet, and that’s why you see its logo on the Pixel 2’s box, the back of the phone, and on the home screen. It’s teaching people that “Pixel” is synonymous with “Google”, and now that that brand awareness is starting to form, people will easily pick up on the fact that a Pixel Watch is made by Google and will pair nicely with their Pixel 2,3, or whatever.

I’ll get into what I’d like to see from the hardware in just a second, but Google’s main battle lies in marketing and branding. Consumers know that the Apple Watch perfectly compliments the iPhone and that Fitbit wearables are meant for people who want to be healthier. When it (inevitably) releases the Pixel Watch, Google needs to lay out an extensive promotional campaign and ensure people know exactly why they should buy it over an Apple Watch, Fitbit Versa, or Samsung Gear Sport.

Pixel Watch Pt. 2

Alright, so Google’s got its work cut out for itself when it comes to branding the Pixel Watch, but what kind of hardware will appeal and connect with buyers?

There are plenty of third-party OEMs still making Wear OS watches, but the vast majority of companies keeping it alive are fashion brands like Skagen, Fossil, and Kate Spade.

Similar to the Pixel phones and Pixelbook, the Pixel Watch should have a simple yet attractive design that looks good on both male and female wrist. I know I’ve already made a lot of compassion to the Apple Watch, but this is something it excels at.

A heart-rate sensor needs to be on board, as does NFC for mobile payments and a built-in GPS for easily mapping your runs without having to carry your phone. If Google wants to have a watch with LTE connectivity, do what Apple does and have a separate model specifically for that.

As for pricing, I think something around $250 or $299 would be the sweet spot.

Will any of this happen?

Alongside the Wear OS announcement, Google did say that one of its main focus points for future software updates lies with new fitness features. In addition to this, a Google Fit companion app is finally coming to iOS in the coming weeks. We still aren’t sure what kind of new fitness features Google’s working on, but it’s encouraging nonetheless to see it investing time and money into Google Fit.

Google’s in a great position to do something meaningful with Wear OS.

Will we see a Pixel Watch this year? I’d bet that we do. I’m guessing Google will take more about new software updates/features for Wear OS at I/O this May, and we’ll get a hardware announcement later in the year with the Pixel 3.

The timing would be perfect to go along with Android Wear’s name change, and I can’t imagine Google would pass up on an opportunity like this to really make something out of Wear OS.

Now that my rambling is done, I’d like to hear from you. What do you think Google needs to work on in order to make Wear OS a success? Sound off in the comments below!

Android Wear

• Everything you need to know about Android Wear 2.0
• LG Watch Sport review
• LG Watch Style review
• These watches will get Android Wear 2.0
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

HTC Vive Pro headset now available for pre-order at $799

That $799 price includes just the headset.

During CES 2018, HTC introduced us to the Vive Pro – a new and improved version of its Vive VR headset. The Vive Pro comes equipped with an updated design, higher-resolution displays, and improved audio quality, and now it’s officially available for pre-order.

You can reserve your Vive Pro from the official Vive website right now, and as you can tell by the title of this article, it’ll cost you a whopping $799. That’s $300 more than the new $499 price of the regular HTC Vive, and it comes with only the Vive Pro headset.

HTC’s assuming that you already have the tracking equipment and controllers that come with the standard Vive, and if you don’t, you’ll need to buy those separately. That’s a lot of money to spend on just the headset itself, but considering this is pretty much the most powerful consumer virtual reality hardware to-date, it’s somewhat expected.

To help offset the high cost, HTC is also throwing in a free six-month trial of its Viveport subscription service. Viveport lets you pick up to 5 VR titles to play each month from a library of 400+ games, and a six-month subscription usually costs $40 on its own.

HTC will begin shipping the Vive Pro on April 15, and the above Viveport promo is available for anyone that buys a Vive Pro between now and June 3.

See at Vive

Honor 7X vs. Moto G5S Plus: Same price, opposing philosophies

The Honor 7X is all about the hardware, whereas the Moto G5S Plus is aimed at delivering the best possible software experience.

The Honor 7X is one of the best budget phones around for under $200. The phone features a gorgeous aluminum design that’s backed by a Kirin 659 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage. There’s an 18:9 screen up front, and dual cameras at the back.

The Moto G5S Plus also has dual rear cameras, and the phone sports a 5.5-inch 16:9 panel with a home button that houses the fingerprint sensor. The industry as a whole is switching to taller 18:9 panels, and it’s likely we’ll see Motorola follow suit withthe Moto G6 series. But if you’re not a fan of taller screens, the Moto G5S Plus is a decent alternative. Let’s see how it fares against Honor’s latest budget phone.

Honor 7X vs. Moto G5S Plus: Specifications

What the Honor 7X does better

The Honor 7X easily takes the lead on the design front. Honor has been making gorgeous aluminum unibody phones for some time now, and the Honor 7X resembles the much more upmarket Honor 8 Pro when it comes to the design aesthetic.

The Honor 7X also wins out when it comes to the display, with the 5.93-inch 18:9 panel boasting a better contrast ratio and accurate colors. The reduced bezels also means you’re getting more screen real estate in roughly the same size as a 5.5-inch phone — the Honor 7X is just 3mm taller than the 5.5-inch Moto G5S Plus.

The Honor 7X has a nicer 18:9 panel, and the design is much more upmarket.

With the Honor 7X, you’re also going to receive updates faster. Although Motorola hasn’t altered its software experience following its acquisition by Lenovo, the brand isn’t as quick as it used to be in terms of delivering software updates. Motorola led the field for platform version and monthly security updates, but over the last year and a half we’ve seen the manufacturer lag behind the likes of HMD Global, BlackBerry, and OnePlus.

One reason for the delay in updates could be the expanded portfolio — Motorola now fields phones in the Moto C, Moto E, Moto G, Moto X, and Moto Z series, and the added models and sheer number of SKUs sold globally is likely straining its engineering resources. The result is that there’s no Android 8.0 Oreo update for the phone yet, and there’s no timeline for when the update will be available.

Meanwhile, Honor has kicked off the Oreo beta program for the Honor 7X, which usually means a stable update is about a month away. That’s not ideal, but the Honor 7X is well on track to receive Android 8.0 Oreo before the Moto G5S Plus.

See at Honor

What the Moto G5S Plus does better

Motorola’s differentiation in the budget segment has always been the software experience, and things haven’t changed much in this area (thankfully). You still get an uncluttered user interface with little to no bloatware, and Moto Display and Moto Actions are meaningful additions that make it easier to interact with the phone.

The Moto G5S Plus offers an uncluttered software experience.

Another area where the Moto G5S Plus wins over the Honor 7X is fast charging. Honor’s budget phone is still limited to 5V/2A, while Motorola’s TurboPower tech delivers an 15W charge. It comes in handy when you’re looking to top up your device in the middle of the day.

And although the Moto G5S Plus has a smaller 3000mAh battery (the Honor 7X has a 3340mAh battery), it is much better optimized and delivers better battery life. If you care about a bloat-free software experience that’s akin to pure Android, you’ll like what the Moto G5S Plus has to offer.

See at Best Buy

Which should you buy? Honor 7X

The Moto G5S Plus with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage costs $80 more than the Honor 7X, and you’re paying the premium just for the software experience.

EMUI 5.1 has its quirks, but you can eliminate most of them with a third-party launcher, and the phone has a nicer design and a better 18:9 screen. The uncertainty around updates and the higher price tag means you’re better off with the Honor 7X.

See at Honor

Google Pay now supports transit passes and tickets

Starting first with the Las Vegas Monorail.

When Android Pay was re-branded as Google Pay, it didn’t come with any new features. The app was given an updated look with a slightly tweaked UI, but that was about it. However, today Google’s taking advantage of the new name by adding support for transit passes and tickets.

Starting first with the Las Vegas Monorail, you’ll be able to add tickets right to the Google Pay app on your phone and travel around the Las Vegas Strip without having to worry about using your debit/credit card.

Tickets live alongside your other cards in Google Pay.

To make this work, all you have to do is buy a ticket or pass from the Las Vegas Monorail website, save it to your phone, and then hold your phone to the NFC terminal at the fare gate. You don’t have to open the Google Pay app, as it’ll automatically know to bring up your pass when it makes the connection.

Once the ticket is added to Google Pay, you’ll see locations it’s accepted at, where the nearest station is, and a breakdown of your recent trips.

The Las Vegas Monorail is the first travel/transit company to adopt this new feature, but it’s expected that more will follow suit shortly.

If you live in Las Vegas, is this something you’d use?

How to set up Google Pay