Galactic battle: How the Galaxy S9 Plus camera compares to Samsung predecessors

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus fares extremely well in low-light camera tests, rivaling top contenders like the Google Pixel 2 and the iPhone X. But, how does it compare to previous Samsung Galaxy phones? Many people looking at the S9 Plus are likely upgrading from the phone’s predecessors, like the Galaxy S6, S7 Edge, and maybe even last year’s S8 and Note 8. In our latest camera shootout, we’re pitting Samsung’s newest phone against the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S7 Edge, and the Galaxy Note 8 to mark the differences in the camera, and to see if it’s worthy of an upgrade.

Check out our Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus reviews to learn more about the new phones themselves, as there’s a lot more new than just a re-imagined camera. What exactly is new with the S9’s camera? Read all about it in our guide explaining variable aperture.

Camera app

The S9 and S9 Plus’ camera apps are a departure from those in the Galaxy S7 Edge, S8, and Note 8. With previous generations, the camera app is quite similar. You swipe to the right to access different camera modes, and swipe to the left for filters. The Note 8 has dual cameras, so it offers a 2x optical zoom, and it also has a Live Focus mode, which adds a blur behind subjects (like Apple and Google’s Portrait Mode). The S7 Edge, S8, and Note 8 camera apps have a clean interface, and are very easy to use.

With the S9 and S9 Plus, all the different camera modes — including Live Focus on the S9 Plus — are now accessible by swiping left or right throughout the camera app, similar to the iPhone’s camera experience. You can customize the layout of these modes in the camera settings. To access filters, just tap the wand icon near the shutter icon. It’s just as easy to use, though we’ve repeatedly and accidentally swiped into another photo mode, which can be annoying when trying to quickly snap a photo.

In this comparison, we’re focusing specifically on the Galaxy S9 Plus. Both phones will take the same photos — though the Plus has the edge with the second camera offering Live Focus and 2x optical zoom. Note that we used Auto mode for all our photos, as that’s what most people use.

Plaça Espanya

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

We start with the Plaça Espanya in Barcelona.

The Note 8’s photo is a little blurry, which may be due to some shakiness when taking the photo. We’ve gone through several other photos (not seen here) with the other phones on this list of the same subject, and all showed some blur in one photo or another — from the Galaxy S7 Edge to the Galaxy S9 Plus. The Note 8 and the S9 Plus have dual optical image stabilization that should mitigate this, but we haven’t found it to be as useful as we’d like in low-light.

The Galaxy S7 Edge manages to produce a solid photo, but its biggest weakness is in color. The lighting is too red, producing a photo with a uniform and bland hue. Barring the blurry Note 8 photo, the S7 Edge’s image is also the least sharp. Zoom into the arches of the arena in the background, and you’ll see fuzzy details.

The S8 and Note 8 photos have similar color schemes, and the Galaxy S9 Plus’ photo is a tad more saturated. The S9 Plus photo is undoubtedly the sharpest, offering great detail even on the communication tower on the arena. We’re impressed at the detail the S8’s photo offers — it’s second to the S9 Plus, and we think the Note 8 would sit right here as well if the photo didn’t come out blurry.

Look at the sky on the S9 Plus photo, and you’ll see Samsung’s image processing in action thanks to the reduced noise. The other photos all show far grainier skies. Where the S9 Plus loses points is the uniform and unnatural yellow hue, kind of like how the red hue on the S7 Edge’s photo. The S8 and Note 8 seem to have a little more depth here, as the sky and arena don’t seem to be draped in incandescent light.

Verdict: The S9 Plus wins for its great photo details and noise reduction, but Samsung’s previous phones put up a valiant fight.

Food

Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

We all love taking photos of our food, but often times mood lighting in restaurants isn’t adequate enough to light up these shots. That’s still evident here, as all these photos are relatively dark (the S7 Edge photo isn’t the same as the other three, we admit, but it’s close). The S7 Edge and S9 Plus photos shine here for detail, and the S8 and Note 8 photos aren’t as sharp. The S9 Plus does a great job with color correction, as the plate is accurately white. The S8, S7 Edge, and Note 8 all make the whole photo very yellow (with slightly redder tones on the S7).

Verdict: While the meal itself was delicious, it’s tough for any camera to make it look appetizing. The Galaxy S9 Plus’ color accuracy and solid details come the closest, so it takes the win again.

Garden

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

We peeked our phones through a fence to to capture this interior garden that was decently-lit. It’s an easy win for the Galaxy S9 Plus, thanks to good color, great detail, and it brings out a lot more of the archways closer to the foreground than the other cameras. The Note 8 and S8 photos are incredibly similar, though the Note 8 is a little blurry, likely due to slight movement (or perhaps even wind). They both light up the garden well, but the color is much cooler than what it was in reality. The right side of the photo is completely dark, unlike the S9’s photo, where you can see some more brickwork. We think the detail between the S8 and the S9 photos is almost equal, but the S9 Plus trumps both.

Verdict: Galaxy S9 Plus. We finally see the S7 Edge dip in quality drastically here. The whole photo is completely red, the details are fuzzy, and the surrounding archways are completely dark.

Arches

Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

The arches on the Barcelona Cathedral are just about the only part of the building that’s lit up at night. All these phones do a decent job of bringing out the archway’s surrounding, though it’s evident the S7 Edge is the weakest here. Zoom into the statues on the arches, however, and it’s impressive at the detail these phones can capture. The S7 Edge does a solid job, but its angels aren’t as sharp as those on the Note 8 and S8. The S9 Plus photo is indeed detailed, but it’s a little fuzzy once you zoom all the way in. We love the colors offered by the S9 Plus photo here though, as it’s accurately whiter than the rest, while still retaining a slightly warm ambiance. That’s not to say the yellower tones on the Note 8 and S8 photos are bad, but they do dull the photo’s atmosphere. All these cameras do a great job of not overexposing the statues at the bottom of the archway too much.

Verdict: These photos are all impressive, but the S9 Plus gets the win yet again for its color balance. However, we do think the Note 8 offers the best detail here.

Barcelona Cathedral

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

It’s astounding how well these phones have captured the Barcelona Cathedral and the surrounding scene. Even the Galaxy S7 Edge’s photo here is impressive, considering how little light the sensor had to work with. While these are all shareable photos, zoom in and it’s easier to spot a few differences. The sky, namely, looks fantastic in the Galaxy S9 Plus photo. The clouds were moving fast, and the S9 Plus photo makes it look incredibly lifelike, with very little noise. It’s also surprising how little noise there is in the S7 Edge photo’s sky — whereas there’s plenty of noise on the S8 and Note 8 photos.

The S9 Plus offers the best blacks with great contrast, giving the cathedral a lot of depth. It also has rich, warm tone that’s very close to the tones in the S8 and Note 8 photos. The S7 Edge loses out here as the whole photo looks a little washed out with muted colors. We do prefer the archway on the S7 Edge and the S9 Plus here, though, as they look the most detailed; they’re a little blurry on the Note 8 and S8 photos.

Verdict: We like the S9 Plus photo here, but the S8 and Note 8 do come very close behind.

New York

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Our next comparison moves away from the dark streets of Barcelona and into New York during the day. These photos are very difficult to discern from one another. The S9 Plus manages to stand out for a slightly less blue sky, which is more accurate to what we saw in real life. The other phones seem to pump up the blue. However, the S9 Plus is the only blurry photo. It’s tough to see, but zoom into the water tower towards the left of the photo. The S9 Plus is the only one of the lot that’s ever-so-slightly blurry. Again, it’s not immediately noticeable, but there’s no reason the photo should be blurry in these lighting conditions — and we were very still when taking all these photos. The S7 Edge’s photos have a little more contrast, so the brickwork on the buildings are slightly more defined, which we think looks better.

Verdict: We’re surprisingly giving the win to the Galaxy S7 Edge here. The sky isn’t as blue as the S8 and the Note 8, which gives it a more realistic look, and it’s impressively the sharpest photo. We’re not sure why the S9 Plus photo is a little blurry, but it would take the win if it wasn’t because it has the most accurate-looking sky, and also has the same defined brickwork we see on the S7 Edge.

2x optical zoom

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Here we can see the dual-camera system in action on the Galaxy S9 Plus and the Galaxy Note 8. These phones have a second lens that offer 2x optical zoom. That means it’s not digitally zooming in the photo, which hampers the image quality. We’ve zoomed in close to multiple parts of the photo, and we’re having a difficult time deciding a winner for details. Both photos are sharp. The differences are in color — the Note 8 is a little more saturated. While we think the sky in the Note 8 photo is too blue, we do think it does a better job accurately showing off the colors of the buildings. The S9 Plus photo has a more realistically blue sky, but it pares down the color in the rest of the photo in its attempt to white balance everything. The small, white building in the left corner of both photos, for example, should be beige instead of white. The Note 8’s photo is a tad more accurate.

Verdict: These photos are very similar, but we like the Note 8’s results here.

Portrait

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

The most important task we rely on our smartphone cameras for is capturing photos of our friends and family, so it’s important to see how well these phones can capture portraits. In this test, we’re mostly happy with all the results. The Galaxy S7 Edge shows the same reddish hue we’ve seen in previous photos — it works relatively well, though it’s not as realistic. It’s certainly better than the greenish tint in the Galaxy S8’s result, the photo we like the least. The Note 8 photo sits somewhere in between: It’s not as red and not as green, but there’s a nice warm tone. These three phones show off the same amount of detail. It’s solid, but take a look at the Galaxy S9 Plus’ results and you’ll see a stronger overall photo. There’s plenty of rich detail when you zoom in, and the colors are accurate — the subject isn’t as warm as in the Note 8 photo.

Verdict: The Galaxy S9 Plus wins this round, but the Note 8 and the S7 Edge sit close behind.

Portrait with Live Focus

Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Both the Galaxy S9 Plus and the Note 8 use the second camera for a mode called Live Focus. Like Apple and Google’s Portrait Mode, it adds a blur behind a subject, creating a cool bokeh effect that places an emphasis on the person or object. The detail in both these photos are similar, though the S9 Plus photo doesn’t look as grainy. The S9 Plus also does a better job with the blur, as the strands of hair at the top of the head are blurred a little, because they are further back from the subject’s face. The Note 8 photo makes it all visible, but if you look at the strand of hair on the right shoulder (left from the viewing perspective), a strand is missing — yet it’s visible on the S9 Plus photo. The Note 8 also cranks up the saturation in this photo, adding a warmer skin tone as well as pumping up the colors on the blouse — even the blurred background has a warm hue.

Verdict: The S9 Plus photo is closer to reality thanks to its white balance, and the less grain makes it the overall stronger photo. It takes the win.

Conclusion

Overall, the Galaxy S9 Plus has the most wins and took the shots we liked the most. A lot of these choices are subjective, though, and you may come to a different conclusion than us. The S9 Plus’ camera shines the most in low light, and we think it’s worth the upgrade on that point alone. Live Focus has also improved over the Note 8, and we think the second camera is worth splurging for over the smaller S9. It’s evident though, that you may not see major changes in some lighting scenarios, particularly in the daytime — even compared with the Galaxy S7 Edge’s camera.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Buying a Galaxy S9? Here’s how to sell your old Galaxy phone
• We put the Samsung Galaxy S9’s camera to the ultimate low-light test
• Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus review
• Here’s how to buy the brand-new Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus
• The Samsung Galaxy S9 has finally arrived — here’s everything you need to know

Latest Apple patents hint at souped-up Apple Pencil that can measure 3D objects

Another week, another set of patents awarded to Apple. Last week, we saw patents from the company related to haptic notifications, the use of enzymes to make a phone more waterproof, and a new coloration technique for titanium. Now, there are two new patents to go over — both of which relate to the Apple Pencil.

Rumors indicate that Apple is working on an improved Apple Pencil for upcoming iPad models, so it’s possible that the technology described in the patents could be unveiled soon. Or, it’s also possible that it could show up in the third-generation of Apple Pencil, or even later. Here’s a look at the two patents, and what they mean.

An Apple Pencil with exchangeable modules

The first patent relates to modules on the Apple Pencil that can be removed and replaced as a way to change the functionality of the device. The newly filed document is actually aimed at claiming the patent from a provisional document filed by Apple in 2016 — companies can file provisional documents that don’t mature into fully granted patents until they file additional documents. That’s what Apple has done here.

Regardless of the document type, the patent is still pretty interesting. There are a few reasons you might want an Apple Pencil with an exchangeable module. The first and most obvious benefit is battery life — if your Apple Pencil’s battery runs out, you can simply screw in an additional module and get a fully recharged device. Apart from that, however, the patent describes that a module could have a small display showing graphical information or virtual buttons, and so on.

Using the Apple Pencil to measure objects

The second patent relates to using the Apple Pencil for measuring things in the real world — not just objects on the display. The patent describes the Apple Pencil calculating positioning data using things like acceleration, the device’s orientation, and more. The patent also notes that the device can be used to create three-dimensional illustrations by using that positioning data.

This patent is also aimed at claiming the benefit of provisional documents filed in 2016.

Both of these new features would be very interesting to see in a new Apple Pencil — but we’ll have to wait and see whether or not they show up. Apple is holding an event on March 27, and rumors indicate that it will be the launch event for some new iPads.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Apple is still working on an iPhone without the notch, new patent reveals
• Apple vs. Qualcomm: Everything you need to know
• Apple patent aims to use haptic feedback to make notifications distinguishable
• Apple files patent for a crumb-resistant MacBook keyboard
• What if Apple replaced the MacBook keyboard with a giant screen?

Online shopping at Overstock gets easier with AR functionality in its app

If you thought it was hard to visualize a new couch in your living room while standing in front of said couch at Ikea was hard, then it was probably nearly impossible to visualize any piece of new furniture in your home simply by looking at a photo. Sure, online shopping is much more convenient than going to brick-and-mortar stores, but when it comes to actually purchasing pieces that look as good in real life as they do on the web, things get a bit dicier. Now, Overstock is trying to solve that problem. This week, the online shopping network introduced augmented reality to its Overstock app for Android, now powered by Google’s ARCore technology. Folks can now take advantage of the AR experience directly from the app and check out thousands of true-to-life-size 3D models in high resolution in their bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, or anywhere else.

While Overstock has boasted AR functionality for its iOS app ever since the ARKit launch last September, this marks the first time that Android users will be able to enjoy the same experience. With the introduction of ARCore, augmented reality technology has been made readily available to more than 100 million Android devices.

“We have invested significant resources into cutting-edge tech, like augmented reality, to make sure shoppers have the best possible experience,” Amit Goyal, senior vice president of software engineering at Overstock, said in a statement. “This technology brings thousands of products directly to our customers’ living rooms. In a matter of minutes, they can search thousands of furniture pieces, see how they look in their space, purchase the one they want, and have it delivered to their home — on one mobile app.”

Using the app should be quite straightforward. You can search for any of the thousands of products sold on Overstock, including furniture, rugs, home goods, decor. Place these knick-knacks in an AR environment next to your own belongings to see how the size, texture, and colors mesh with your overall design aesthetic. And if you want a second opinion, you can share photos of your AR design either through direct messages or social media. For maximum efficiency, you can also add products to your cart or purchase pieces with Android Pay, all while staying within AR View.

“Overstock’s mission is to leverage technology to make the online shopping experience easier and more enjoyable,” Overstock President Saum Noursalehi said in a statement. “With AR and advancements in machine learning, soon you will be able to completely decorate your home in an AR environment through simple communication with artificial intelligence that understands interior design.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• See how that couch would look in your living room in AR with Ikea Place
• Sotheby’s is making homebuying immersive with AR app Curate
• Try before you buy with the new AR View on Amazon’s Android app
• Escape reality with the best augmented reality apps for Android and iOS
• Over 60 ARCore apps are now available from the Google Play Store

Facebook was always too busy selling ads to care about your personal data

Last year, Facebook collected over nine billion dollars in ad revenue over just a single quarter. That’s a lot of ads. As a trade-off for using a free service, people on Facebook put up with the proliferation of these ads in their newsfeeds. But what if the trade-off involved more than that? What if it involved your personal data being sold off without your consent?

Let’s be clear. This isn’t an actual data breach. It’s merely a policy
no one at Facebook
cared about.

Facebook’s latest scandal involves a data analysis firm called Cambridge Analytica, which was supplied with the personal data of 50 million Facebook profiles without the consent of those people, which just happened to be used in the election of a certain presidential candidate. On its own, the scandal is more than a little troubling, and it provides a startling look into how little the world’s biggest social media platform is concerned about personal data.

Let’s be clear. This doesn’t involve an actual data breach. It’s merely a policy no one at Facebook cared about.

Under the guise of academic research

Using personal data for the sake of academic research has been a weak point in Facebook’s privacy policy for years now — and it’s the first vulnerability the collaborators involved with the Cambridge Analytica scandal exploited.

Despite the name, Cambridge Analytica has no official connection to academia. It’s a research organization founded with the specific purpose of impacting the electoral process, and was run by former Trump aide Steve Bannon, as well as and hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

The facade of academic research was used as an entry point for an important figure in the crew — Aleksandr Kogan, a researcher who worked for both Cambridge University and (briefly at) St. Petersburg State University. According to a report by the New York Times, when doing work for Cambridge Analytica, Kogan told Facebook that he was collecting data for academic purposes rather than political.

The description for the app said, word for word, “This app is part of a research program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.” Apparently, Facebook did nothing to verify that claim. To make things worse, Kogan stated he later changed the reason for his use for the data, and Facebook never bothered to inquire about it further.

Facebook has been giving the data of its users to academic researchers for years now — and not in secret.

Facebook has been giving the data of its users to academic researchers for years now — and not in secret. Facebook freely provided personal data from its users to Harvard University for an academic study back in 2007. Others since then include a partnership with Cornell University on influencing the mood of Facebook users, and yet another in 2017 which studied how AI could guess a person’s sexual orientation from only a photograph.

These studies were all met with public outrage, but Facebook emphasized that they weren’t the result of data breaches or significant holes in the company’s research protocols. It saw them as only “minor oversights.”

There’s little reason to believe a platform that views massive misuse of data without consent as “minor oversights” cares about your privacy. And that’s not where it ends.

Under the guise of a personality quiz

The other area where Facebook’s data policies are weak lie in something we all know too well: personality quizzes. They’re prominent on Facebook, and Kogan used the vulnerable pinch point to collect the data that Cambridge Analytica purchased from him.

Through Global Science Research (GSR), a separate company he created, Kogan developed a Facebook plugin called thisisyourdigitallife. It paid a group of 270,000 people to download the app and take the quiz. That might not sound like much, but the app was then allowed to collect data from each of those people’s friends as well. The result was data for 50 million profiles, now in the hands of Cambridge Analytica. That’s a lot of data.

Christopher Wylie, one of the founders of Cambridge Analytica, blew the whistle on how the data firm harvested data from millions of Facebook users. Photo: Jake Naughton for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Never did Facebook inform its users that data was being used without their consent. That alone is already calling British law into question.

According to The Guardian, Facebook learned this trick was used to mine massive amounts of data in 2015, which was then used by the Ted Cruz presidential campaign. Facebook’s response was to send Cambridge Analytica an official letter, obtained by the Times, stating the following: “Because this data was obtained and used without permission, and because GSR was not authorized to share or sell it to you, it cannot be used legitimately in the future and must be deleted immediately.”

Never did Facebook inform its users of all
the data that was
being used without
their consent.

Over two years passed before Facebook would even follow up on its request. “If this data still exists, it would be a grave violation of Facebook’s policies and an unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments these groups made,” a blog post from Facebook stated. Eventually, it did get around to it, but it shows that Facebook’s problem isn’t that it lacks policies. It’s that they aren’t enforced.

Cambridge Analytica wasn’t the only organization bending Facebook’s privacy policies. A previous employee of Facebook spoke to The Guardian, saying that “My concerns were that all of the data that left Facebook servers to developers could not be monitored by Facebook, so we had no idea what developers were doing with the data.”

That’s from Sandy Parakilas, who was the platform operations manager in 2011 and 2012. “Once the data left Facebook servers there was not any control, and there was no insight into what was going on.”

Who could be bothered to care?

As reported by the Times, research director Jonathan Albright at Columbia University summarized the problem well: “Unethical people will always do bad things when we make it easy for them and there are few — if any — lasting repercussions.”

I want to share an update on the Cambridge Analytica situation — including the steps we've already taken and our next…

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Facebook will make sure it takes care of this specific problem, sure. After remaining silent for multiple days after the release, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did finally make an official statement, in which he took a bit more responsibility for what happened: “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.”

He also vowed to take others steps, such as auditing suspicious apps or limiting the amount of data developers can access from applications. These policies will all help prevent a very similar scenario from unfolding, but cybersecurity is all about prevention. It requires a proactive approach to stopping holes in the system.

For a company that lives and dies on the trust people have in giving away personal information, you’d think it’d issues a little more seriously across the breadth of its platform. If it doesn’t make massive changes to the way things are done across all levels of privacy and security, #deleteFacebook could grow into far more than just a hashtag.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 9 things to know about Facebook privacy and Cambridge Analytica
• South Korea fines Facebook $300K for allegedly throttling its services
• Social Feed: Embeds might be iIllegal, Vimeo adds simultaneous live-streams
• Facebook use has already dropped 50 million hours — but no biggie, it says
• Here are five tips to keep your data private on Facebook

Why spend more? This $600 laptop might be all you need

Before you pull out your credit card and finish that order for a premium notebook that’s well over $1,000, we have a question for you. Are you sure you need to spend so much money?

We ask because we recently reviewed the Acer Aspire E 15, a well-equipped (if very large) notebook that surprised us with its combination of fast components, decent display, and great battery life. We review a lot of notebooks at Digital Trends, and while we do like many of today’s premium notebooks, we have to give proper credit to a $600 machine that can  provide so much of what most people need, for so little money.

That’s why we’re asking that question, and we’ll put it a different way: What do you really need your laptop to do?

Do you need a fast processor that can churn through the usual productivity tasks without slowing you down? Because the Aspire E 15 comes equipped with a quad-core eighth-generation Intel Core i5-8250U CPU that’s plenty fast. In fact, it’s just about as fast as the processors in notebooks that are way more than twice as expensive, at least for the usual productivity tasks.

What about RAM? Is 8GB enough for you? Because that’s what you get with the Aspire E 15 in our review unit’s configuration. Not only that, but you can open the chassis and expand the RAM yourself, all the way to 16GB. And really, 8GB of RAM is more than enough for most people who aren’t editing huge photos and videos.

Are you looking for a notebook with a discrete GPU? That is, do you want to do some gaming on your notebook and the usual integrated Intel graphics just won’t suffice? The Aspire E 15 has you covered there as well with an Nvidia GeForce MX150 discrete GPU. Now, that’s not going to be fast enough to run modern games at 1080p  with graphics quality turned up. But if you lean towards esports titles or are will to accept lower resolutions and graphical detail, then it’s a good enough GPU for you.

Of course, you’re likely worried about display quality, and you should be. Most budget notebooks are equipped with lower resolution displays (1,366 x 768, usually), with poor viewing angles and terrible contrast. Not the Aspire E 15, which sports a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) 15.6-inch display that offers surprisingly good contrast and decent  colors. It won’t please photographers or videographers, but it’s just fine for productivity work and Netflix binges. We do wish the brightness was a little higher, but does it do the job? You bet.

Finally, there’s battery life. You might like to take your notebook away from your home or office and not worry about carrying a power supply around with you. If so, the Aspire E 15 is perfect. It offers surprisingly good battery life, better in fact than many more expensive notebooks, promising at least a full working day’s longevity. Even if all you want to do is move your machine around the house, then this is one budget notebook that gives you some freedom from the plug.

That’s not to say that the Aspire E 15 is the perfect machine for everyone. If you’re particularly concerned about thickness and weight, then you’ll find it falls on the wrong end of the “thin and light” spectrum. If you want an all-metal chassis, then you’ll also need to look elsewhere. Needless to say, serious gamers will want a more powerful graphics card than the MX150.

But everyone else needs to at least give the Aspire E 15 a good, hard look. It’s fast, lasts a long time on a charge, and has a good enough display. And best of all, it comes at a $600 price that won’t require a second mortgage to finance.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Best laptops
• The ZenBook 13 leaves no more excuses for laptops without discrete graphics
• HP Spectre 13 (2017) review
• Amazon is blowing out prices on the original Surface Book, starts at $790
• The best stealth gaming laptops

These are the best Bluetooth headsets you can buy

Gone are the days when Bluetooth headsets were only for the business elite (or maybe business dorks). They aren’t just there for taking calls — they can also be used as a portal to your digital assistant and provide you with vital information when you need it, without the need to pull out your phone.

There are a ton of things to consider when buying a Bluetooth headset, however, such as battery life and audio quality. If you need your headset available to you all day, for instance, battery life might be the first thing to consider. You also want to keep design and various features in mind. If you’re looking for wireless earbuds for music streaming, check out our list here.

So which Bluetooth headset should you get? With all the options out there, it can be a little difficult to decide. Below are some of our current favorites.

Our pick

Sennheiser Presence-UC

Why should you buy this: With excellent battery life, great design, and top audio quality, this is the Bluetooth headset to beat.

The best

Sennheiser Presence-UC

The Sennheiser Presence-UC has a top-tier battery life, great audio quality, and a beautiful design.

$132.79 from Amazon

$114.42 from Jet.com

Who’s it for: Those willing to spend a little extra for the best.

How much will it cost: $137

Why we picked the Sennheiser Presence-UC:

When buying an audio product, you might want to consider an established name in the audio world — like Sennheiser. Sennheiser has long been a dominant force in both consumer and pro audio, and for good reason. The Presence is a pretty sleek device, one that is certainly a lot fancier than many of the other options on our list.

The design is a combination of black and silver with a MicroUSB port for charging, and an LED light on the back. It features an ear hook like most Bluetooth headsets, but unlike others, that ear hook can be removed and attached as needed. The device utilizes Bluetooth 4.0 and implements Sennheiser’s “SpeakFocus” tech, which is designed to enhance voice clarity in all scenarios.

It also uses the company’s WindSafe tech, so it eliminates — you guessed it — wind noise. Plus, Sennheiser claims it will last between eight and 10 hours on a single charge.

The best for the fashion-conscious

Jabra Stealth

Why should you buy this: The Jabra Stealth is probably the best-looking device on this list.

The best for the fashion-conscious

Jawbone Era

The Jabra Stealth is sleek and stylish, while still retaining functionality.

$39.95 from Ebay

Who’s it for: Those who care about how they look.

How much will it cost: $75

Why we picked the Jabra Stealth:

The Jabra Stealth is aimed at being sleek and stylish, while still offering excellent functionality. The Stealth is perhaps most notable because of its design — it’s arguably the most stylish headset on the list, thanks to its sleek arm and discreet earpiece. In other words, this may be one of the few headsets that won’t draw immediate judgment as you walk down the street.

The Stealth offers a range of unique features. For starters, you’ll get Jabra’s “Noise Blackout” technology, which is aimed at ensuring clear calls without any noise in the background. On top of that, the device offers Jabra’s “microPOWER” battery, which helps give it its six-hour battery life. Sure, that’s not incredible, but for such a small device with a likely small battery, it’s pretty darn great.

The best for the price

Plantronics Voyager 5200

Why should you buy this: With an arm for superior audio and a seven-hour battery life, this is an excellent headset for its price.

The best for the price

Plantronics Voyager 5200

The Plantronics Voyager 5200 has a long battery life and a top-tier audio quality for a low price.

$109.55 from Amazon

Who’s it for: Those who want quality at a low price

How much will it cost: $100

Why we picked the Plantronics Voyager 5200:

Arguably a little less stylish than the Jawbone Era, the Plantronics Voyager 5200 looks a lot more like what you might expect a Bluetooth headset to look like. While it won’t win any awards when it comes to design, it still has a lot going for it. The Voyager 5200 hooks around the ear, so you won’t need to worry too much about it falling off, which is great for those that fast-paced lives. The design is completed by the small microphone arm, which is noticeable, but not overly large.

Plantronics says the device should last up to seven hours on a single charge, though we suggest being a little conservative and estimating around five to six hours. That is still not bad. Like the Era, the Voyager 5200 also has an optional charging case, which grants the device two extra charges.

The Voyager 5200 offers excellent audio quality, too, and while the noise cancellation may be a little too aggressive for some tastes, it helps mute background noise in spades. The device can even withstand a few raindrops if it needs to, given its IPX4 rating, meaning that splashes of water from any direction shouldn’t harm the device.

The best for the great outdoors

Jabra Steel

Why should you buy this: With a rugged dust, water, and shock-resistant design, this is the toughest headset on the list.

The best for the great outdoors

Jabra Motion

The Jabra Steel is tough and dependable.

$79.95 from Amazon

Who’s it for: Those who work outdoors or in noisy or wet environments.

How much will it cost: $80

Why we picked the Jabra Motion:

The Jabra Steel has a very simple, straightforward, ruggedized design. It’s two-and-a-half-inches long with an optional ear hook to hold it in place. It scores an IP54 rating, which means it can handle rain and dusty environments, making it ideal for anyone working outdoors. There are extra-large buttons, so you can operate it, even with gloves on, and it supports voice commands for hands-free operation through your phone’s voice assistant.

You will find pairing via NFC is an easy option, and you can connect two devices simultaneously. It also boasts aggressive noise cancellation, which is great for loud environments. The audio quality is good, and you get a reasonable six hours of talk time when fully charged.

The best for home use

VXi BlueParrott B450-XT

Why should you buy this: With on-ear buttons and a secure, overhead design, this headset will help you manage your business at home.

The best for home use

VXi BlueParrott B450-XT

With a long arm and on-ear buttons, the VXi BlueParrott B450-XT is great for home or office use.

$100.73 from Amazon

$149.99 from VXI

Who’s it for: Those that want a headset for home or office use only.

How much will it cost: $100

Why we picked the VXi BlueParrott B450-XT:

Sometimes you’re not looking for a headset to use on the go — sometimes, you really need something to use at home. That is what the VXi BlueParrott B450-XT is here for. While a little bulky, the device features call control buttons right on its ear, along with noise-canceling capabilities and an over-head design, keeping the headset securely on your head.

Along with that, the headset has a rather long microphone arm offering great audio quality — allowing the person on the other end of the line to hear you loud and clear. The headset can also be programmed with the Android or iOS apps and has NFC for easy pairing.

Is now a good time to buy?

Now is as good of a time as any to buy a Bluetooth headset. While it seems like most companies have slowed down a little in releasing headsets, if you’re in the market for one, there is no reason not to buy one right now.

On top of that, there are plenty of options available, even for those who don’t want to spend much money because they don’t think they’ll use a Bluetooth headset all that often. When choosing a headset, you will want to consider a number of different metrics — and one that many people forget is design. Keep in mind, this is a device you’re going to wear on your head, so you want it to look decent on top of working well.

In reality, most people don’t need a Bluetooth headset, as wired or wireless earbuds should suffice. but then again you probably wouldn’t be reading this if you hadn’t already decided that a Bluetooth headset was something you might need — either for your personal life or for your business.

How we choose the best Bluetooth headsets

Here at Digital Trends, we pride ourselves on being experts in tech, and that includes Bluetooth headsets. Whether it be audio specifications, how Bluetooth works, or why current design trends are in, we know what we’re talking about. For this particular list, we put in the necessary time and research to go through hundreds of different headsets and determine which headsets are best for each category.

Thati s not to say they will be the best forever — they will be overtaken eventually. But for now, we’re confident that these are indeed the best Bluetooth headsets around.

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The Larsson & Jennings Connect is an amazingly thin hybrid smartwatch

The name Larsson & Jennings may be unfamiliar to many, outside the world of stylish dress watches, but it’s about to become better known among smartwatch fans. The company is a newcomer to the world of watches, as it was founded in 2012, and even more so to hybrid connected watches. The Connect, announced at the Baselworld 2018 watch show, is its first. And we got to try it on.

It’s early days for the Larsson & Jennings Connect — the models we saw were still prototypes, and the companion app wasn’t finished. But we got up close with the watch’s design, and saw how work on the all-important app is progressing. The company makes beautiful, dressy watches, meaning they’re stylish, simple, and slim enough to slip under a shirt cuff. This same ethos has been carried across to the Connect.

Thin and light

There are two versions of the Connect, one with a 42mm case and the other with a 38mm case, and it’s the larger model that really catches the eye because of its incredibly thin profile. It’s also very light on the wrist, and the slim leather strap is pliant and comfortable. We’d certainly have no problem wearing it for an extended amount of time. You’d be surprised to learn it’s a smartwatch because of the design; there are no subdials on the face, and the crown isn’t flanked by other buttons. Add those elements, which can be found on other Larsson & Jennings watches, and the wonderful simplicity of the Connect would be lost. This minimalist approach makes the brand’s first watch stand out more.

The 38mm Connect is thicker, due to the same amount of technology being squeezed inside. It’s still the same overall style; but the watch loses some of its appeal with the thicker body. We couldn’t see any of the connected features working, but do know the watch won’t have a vibration motor inside. Instead, you’ll be alerted to notifications via a single flashing light under the 12 o’clock mark. This helps keep the body slim, and the coin cell watch battery lasts longer. It does lessen the value of an everyday smartwatch.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

This may be less of a concern for a dress watch like the Connect, which is likely to be worn at times when the buzz of a notification on your wrist may be distracting. CEO Andrew Jennings told Digital Trends that people often feel the phone itself vibrate in a pocket, and therefore replicating it on the wrist isn’t always necessary. Outside of discrete notifications, the watch tracks activity, sleep, calendar appointments, and you can use the crown button to locate a lost phone, or activate the camera shutter. The app wasn’t ready and didn’t connect to the watch, but we were told its design was almost final.

First in a range of hybrids

Hybrid smartwatches continue to be the most interesting and diverse wearables you can buy, as there’s no compromise on design (and battery life) for watch fans. Larsson & Jennings has succeeded in making a very comfortable niche for itself with the traditional, Swiss-made timepieces, for which it’s best known, and we’re pleased to see it follow up with a connected watch that follows these same principles. Jennings also said the Connect is the first hybrid from the company, and it has plans to expand the range in the future.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

We’re excited to try the Connect out in the real world. The watch is a minimalist stunner, and we haven’t seen many smartwatches of its type in the past. The app also looks well-designed and simple to use. The Larsson & Jennings Connect is set to launch in September for 215 British pounds, or a little more than $300. No U.S. price has been announced yet, but we’d expect it to be less on release.

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Hackers seize Atlanta’s network system, demand $51,000 in Bitcoin as ransom

Atlanta mayor Keisha Bottoms said on Thursday, March 22, that hackers attacked the city’s network system and encrypted data. The details are somewhat slim for now, but hackers reportedly used the SamSam ransomware and demand around $51,000 in Bitcoin to unlock the city’s seized computers. Atlanta is currently working with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, Microsoft, and Cisco cybersecurity officials to determine the scope of the damage and regain control of the data held hostage. 

“Our Atlanta Information Management team is working diligently with support from Microsoft to resolve the issue,” the city’s official Twitter account states. “We are confident that our team of technology professionals will be able to restore applications soon. Our city website, Atlantaga.gov, remains accessible and we will provide updates as we receive them.” 

As of Thursday afternoon, the city said it faced outages on various “internal and customer facing applications,” such as means for accessing court-related information and paying bills. But the city itself isn’t exactly under siege: Airport, public safety, and water operations remain unaffected by the attack, and the city payroll wasn’t touched. The only bone Atlanta is throwing the public is that the attack affects “various city systems.” 

According to Atlanta’s newly appointed chief operating officer, Richard Cox, Atlanta Information Management officials were made aware of problems with internal and customer-facing applications at 5:40 a.m. Thursday. At the time, he acknowledged that the city fell prey to ransomware, but given the investigation is still ongoing, he couldn’t provide the extent of the damage.  

“The ongoing investigation will determine whether personal information, financial, or employee data has been compromised,” he said during a press briefing. “As a precaution, we are asking that all employees take the appropriate measures to ensure their data is not compromised. The city advises employees to monitor and protect personal information and in the coming days we will offer employees additional resources if needed.” 

What the city didn’t officially disclose was the ransomware note discovered in the investigation. A screenshot reveals the hackers’ demands: 0.8 Bitcoins for each seized computer, or six bitcoins to unlock all computers held hostage, equaling to around $51,000 in real cash. Once Atlanta sends the Bitcoins to a digital wallet, the city is to leave a message containing the host name on a specific website. The hackers will then provide decryption software to release the computers from captivity. 

The SamSam malware doesn’t take the typical route of installing itself on computers when unsuspecting owners click a link within an email. Instead, hackers find unpatched vulnerabilities in network servers and manually unleash SamSam to seize key data systems and cause maximum damage to the company’s infrastructure. 

SamSam is one of many in a family of ransomware targeting government and healthcare organizations. It was first observed in 2015 and encrypts various file types using the Advanced Encryption Standard (aka Rijndael). It then encrypts that key with RSA 2048-bit encryption to make the files utterly unrecoverable. 

As of Friday morning, Atlanta’s main website and its affiliated portals remained unaffected by the ransomware attack.

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Common Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus problems and how to fix them

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are the culmination Samsung’s smartphone philosophy. They are big, they’re beautiful, and they are easily some of the most advanced machines that have ever graced our collective pockets. But they’re not perfect, and issues can arise. That is why we scoured forums, comments, and news to find the most common problems with the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, and how to fix them.

Issue: Dead zone on the touchscreen

Users on Samsung’s official forums as well as multiple Reddit threads are reporting that sections of the touchscreens on their Galaxy S9s are completely dead, and not reacting to their touch. In most cases, the dead section seems to be a band laid horizontally across the device and isn’t in the same place for each person.

Users have attempted factory resets and changing sensitivity options in the phone’s settings, but so far none of those methods have been reported to work.

Samsung confirmed it is looking into the issue, Engadget reports. The company released the following statement:

“At Samsung, customer satisfaction is core to our business and we aim to deliver the best possible experience. We are looking into a limited number of reports of Galaxy S9/S9+ touchscreen responsiveness issues. We are working with affected customers and investigating.

We encourage any customer with questions to contact us directly at 1-800-Samsung.”

Workaround:

• Since this seems to be a hardware issue, your best bet is to speak to whomever you bought the device from and get it fixed or replaced under your warranty. If you received your device from Samsung, it asked affected users to contact them directly at 1-800-Samsung.

Bug: Samsung Pay is not working

Given it’s Samsung’s payment service, you’d expect Samsung Pay to work with the Galaxy S9 right out of the box. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and multiple users are reporting Samsung Pay is showing up as an “incompatible app”.

Solution:

• Make sure you’re updated to the latest version. Samsung rushed out an update as quickly as possible, and that seems to have fixed the issue. If you’re still having issues with the app, try uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

Bug: Very dark super slow-motion video

Some users are reporting that super slow-motion video on their S9 devices is showing up with dramatically increased levels of darkness in lower lighting conditions. This bug does not affect all S9 units, but if it affects yours, then you will notice a dramatic difference in the lighting between your Auto camera mode and when you switch to your Super Slow-Motion mode. This can be seen in the video below.

The bug does not seem to be because the mode requires more light than standard video, as one user’s normal video shows good indoor lighting.

Solution:

• According to a comment on one of the videos, Samsung acknowledged this problem and is working on software to correct it. If you have this problem, hang tight and Samsung should fix it soon.

Issue: Can’t record voice calls

If you record your phone calls for security or archival purposes, then it seems that you will not be able to do so on the Galaxy S9. According to multiple users, no matter which call-recording software is used, the S9 will only pick up one side of the conversation, and will not record the person on the other end of the call.

So far it seems that this issue only affects the international version of the Galaxy S9 equipped with the Exynos 9810 processor, and the Snapdragon 845 is unaffected by this limitation.

Workaround:

• None at this time. As clarified by moderator BruceH on the Samsung EU forums, call recording is blocked on the S9 and S9 Plus in order to meet Google’s security policies and local laws in the EU. These processes have been specially built up on the S9 and S9 Plus, since similar restrictions on older Samsung phones were able to be bypassed by certain apps. It seems that Samsung has finally managed to close that loop for good.

Bug: Smearing or pixelation around black objects/black crush

If you have noticed that black areas don’t look quite right on your S9 Plus then you’re not alone. Users have noticed that black areas in media and images are failing to blend properly with other colors, resulting in areas that look pixelated, blurred, or just plain odd. When comparing an S8 Plus and an S9 Plus side by side, the issue becomes very clear (S9 Plus on top).

It seems that this is an issue only with the Galaxy S9 Plus, and only affects some units when below 40 percent brightness.

Workaround:

• Samsung is aware of the issue and is working on a patch. According to YouTube channel This Is Tech Today, using the app Screen Balance can help to reduce the issue in the meantime.

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A foldable iPhone could be released as soon as 2020, according to analyst

Apple could be getting into the foldable phone game. According to a Bank of America analyst quoted in a report from CNBC, the next major redesign of the iPhone will come in the form of a foldable form factor. The report notes that Apple may already be working with suppliers to create the new phone, which wouldn’t be released until 2020.

It’s important to note that just because Apple is working on a foldable iPhone, that doesn’t mean we’ll actually see it in 2020 — or anytime after that. Samsung has been working on a foldable device for a while now, and many rumors suggest that it may be released to the public this year. If it’s successful, speculation is that Apple likely won’t want to be far behind.

Samsung Project Valley

OLED displays are largely to thank for the rise of the foldable concept phone. OLED displays can be flexible because of the fact that they’re made up of individual pixels. Apple has even started adopting OLED displays — the display in the new iPhone X is an OLED display.

The news isn’t all that surprising. In 2016, we learned that Apple had been awarded a patent for a foldable device. The patent highlighted the use of an OLED display, and had a clamshell form factor. Given that patent, it’s possible that the design of the phone could end up similar to that of the ZTE Axon M, which is a dual-screen device that folds out so it can be used like one big screen. The Axon M is a little inelegant, so if Apple’s device does mimic ZTE’s design, we think it’ll be a little more refined.

A foldable iPhone could end up being a very interesting product. The Bank of America analyst suggested that the device could be folded out to be used like an iPad. Many consider the foldable form factor to be the next major change in smartphone technology. Not only could such a device be folded out to offer larger displays, effectively rendering tablets useless, but it could also fold into smaller form factors that are easier to carry and much more portable.

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