Subwoofer 101: How To Place and Set Up Your Subwoofer

On the A/V awesomeness scale, few components compete with the subwoofer. There’s just something primal about a box made for the sole purpose of rattling your bones and delivering low tones. We think everyone should have at least one – but two is better. Unfortunately, as awesome as subwoofers are, they can mighty fickle.

Unless you’ve got a firm handle on the science of acoustics and a deep understanding of how your A/V equipment works, placing and setting up a subwoofer for the absolute best performance can and sometimes will wind up being a sweaty case of trial and error. Though it is impossible for us to anticipate and respond to the myriad variables that your distinct room will introduce (things like floor type, ceiling type, room dimensions, etc.) what we can do is point you in the right direction. Our aim is to give you the tools and understanding you need to figure this out on your own. There will still be some trial and error involved, but at least it will be educated trial and error; and at the end of it all, you’ll be enjoying better bass. Yay for bass! Now, let’s do this.

Why a subwoofer?

You get way more bass for your dollar from a box purpose-built to belt it out. Subwoofers are less obtrusive than the sort of floor-standing speakers with drivers big enough to pull off the same task. Also, they have dedicated power on board, lessening the strain on your A/V receiver or multi-channel amplifier. In short, they are a more efficient route to satisfying low end needs. The proper integration of a subwoofer will also improve the overall sound quality of your system; you should notice an increase in the depth and width of your system’s soundstage, and your primary loudspeakers should sound less constrained because they’ve been relieved of a lot of heavy lifting.

The importance of placement

Most folks don’t think of it this way, but when you listen to an audio system, what you’re really hearing is the effect your room has on the audio system. Walls, windows, and furniture all color the sounds that you hear, but bass frequencies are particularly sensitive to room factors. That’s why where you put your sub is really important.

One of your subwoofer’s biggest enemies are parallel surfaces – you know,  those crazy things called walls in your living room or den. Bass waves are omni-directional, so they tend to bounce all over the room. When they reflect off your walls, they will often bounce back into one another, creating one of two scenarios: standing waves or bass nulls.

While we concede that a corner is often the most convenient option, it is rarely the ideal option.

Standing waves (which are influenced by the size of your room and the length of the sound wave) are an excess of bass energy. This occurs when a specific frequency is reinforced by room factors or by similar wavelengths occurring at roughly the same time and place. What you hear in such a case is that “boomy” effect or “one-note bass” which lacks definition or tautness. On the opposite end of the spectrum are bass nulls, which happen when reflecting waves cancel one another out, leaving you with a dead spot.

In order to deal with room acoustics and the effects they have, you can choose to work either with the room or against it. Working with the room involves acoustical treatments along with smart subwoofer placement and adjustment. Working against the room can involve anything from fancy EQs to room correction software. We prefer the former tactic to the latter when possible.

Where to put it

As a general rule, placing your subwoofer in a corner or close to the wall is going to result in more bass, but not necessarily the best bass. Small, low-powered subwoofers like the ones that usually come with home-theater-in-a-box systems and soundbars tend to use small drivers paired with low-powered amps and, thus, tend to benefit from some boundary reinforcement. Unfortunately, all you’re really getting is more of the same crappy bass. While we concede that a corner is often the most convenient option, it is rarely the ideal option.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Subwoofers with larger drivers and more powerful amps don’t need to lean on your wall for help.  In fact, high-quality subs tend to sound their best when pulled at least 8-12 inches from any wall. Subwoofers also work better in the front half of your listening space, placed closer to your front channel loudspeakers which helps with timing delays and phase cancellation.

Here are some handy suggestions for where to place your sub based on what sort of flexibility you have, and what to expect from it living there.

• Carte Blanche: So you can put your sub anywhere? Well, congratulations to you. No, seriously, that’s awesome because so few people have the flexibility you do. But, since you’ve got it like that, here’s what we suggest: Move your listening chair or couch away from where you normally sit. Now, stick your subwoofer right where your chair used to be and cut loose with some heavy-duty bass content. Walk and crawl around the room, listening carefully for where the bass sounds most even and defined. It’s not just about that visceral kick to the gut. You want to hear the timbre (tonal quality) and texture of the notes. Put a piece of tape down on the floor when you notice things are sounding good, then move to another spot. Keep doing that until you have 3-4 options.

• Anywhere in the front: Follow the “Rule of Thirds” for subwoofers. The idea is that, by placing your subwoofer a third of the way into your room as measured from a wall, you reduce the instances of standing waves and nulls. Mathematically speaking, by following this guideline, the odds that where you sit will be a” good bass spot” are increased.

• It has to be in a corner: Look, nobody wants to put baby in a corner, but sometimes you have to. Here’s what you can do to mitigate problems that come from putting a sub in a corner. First, if your subwoofer is ported on the rear of the cabinet, you can stuff the port with tennis balls, rubber balls, or even rolled up socks to seal the cabinet and cut down its interaction with the wall behind it. Many manufacturers now provide custom plugs with their products so that you can experiment with the sound. Second, move the subwoofer at least 6-8 inches out from the corner. Bribe your buddy with a few microbrews to literally crawl along the floor for you; move the subwoofer a few inches in each direction to find the ideal spot. Just make sure he doesn’t get crazy with the volume.

• Under a couch or table: This is not the worst plan in the world, but expect a hole in the sound if you have really small satellite speakers that depend on the sub for frequencies over 120Hz.

• Inside another cabinet: We understand that, sometimes, certain circumstances can’t be surmounted. But you need to know that this is the worst possible scenario. Putting a sub inside another cabinet pretty much defeats the purpose of a subwoofer. Those non-directional low frequencies need room to breathe in the room, and you’ve just crammed them in a closet and shut the door.

• Inside the wall: This is becoming more and more popular with custom installers, and while there are some really good in-wall subwoofers available from JL Audio, Paradigm, and B&W, this is not the type of product renters should even consider installing – unless you’re really, really good at repairing drywall, and even then you risk seriously angering the neighbors. In-wall subwoofers need to be professionally installed with special boxes that are designed to hold the subwoofer cabinet in place and isolate it from the rest of the room. Done properly, it can be an effective solution. One thing to remember: in-wall subwoofers are really expensive because they often require external amplification, crossovers, and a lot of labor to install them properly.

Automatic vs manual calibration

Most mid-range and up A/V receivers these days feature automatic room correction (ARC) of a sort, and while they do a decent job of detecting things like speaker distance and channel levels, they are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to determining crossover settings. For the purposes of this discussion, the term crossover refers to the point at which a speaker stops producing bass and the subwoofer takes over. As you can imagine, this setting is critical for getting the best possible bass response in your room.

Some ARC software offerings do a better job than others. Anthem’s ARC is by far the most effective we’ve seen, followed by Sonos Trueplay, which is more effective mainly because it only has to deal with a handful of Sonos speakers. Yamaha’s YPAO, Audyssey, and others are generally less effective.

Rather than rely on the automated system, determine the best crossover settings for your system yourself. You can still use automatic calibration for the rest of your speakers, and only manually calibrate the subwoofer. For more a closer look at just how to do that, see below.

Dialing it all in

Once you have found the best location for your subwoofer and made some essential system settings,  you need to dial in the sub’s phase, crossover point and volume. The smaller the speaker, the higher the crossover frequency is going to be. If you don’t already know what your speakers are capable of, look up the frequency response specs for your speakers in their manual or online. Now take that number, and bump it up by 10hz.

Setting the crossover dial is easy: crank it all the way up. This will essentially defeat the sub’s internal crossover, allowing your A/V receiver to take care of the task. If you are not using an A/V receiver or preamp/processor to control your crossover (perhaps using line level inputs for a stereo rig), then set the crossover as close as possible to the point at which you want the sub to start producing bass. This is usually based on the speaker’s rated low-frequency extension. You can also have your buddy (Is he still around? Hope he didn’t drink all the beer) start with the crossover dial all the way down, and slowly bring it up until you feel like you have a good blend between your main speakers and the sub.

Next, play some bass-intensive music (movies are unreliable and don’t give your ear something familiar to latch onto). If while listening you notice an obvious drop in bass energy (or what we like to call “suck-out”) near the frequency at which your subwoofer and main speakers crossover, you need to make adjustments to your phase control. Play the same track over and over again and listen while a friend changes the phase setting (this could be a continuous dial or a simple switch with one or two positions). Stop when you’ve arrived at the setting that results in the fullest sound. If adjusting phase doesn’t rid you of your suck-out, then the problem may be due to bad placement. Go back to the placement section of this guide and try again.

Rather than try to out-muscle the effect your room has on sound by tweaking the sound itself, tweak your room.

With regard to volume, it is a mistake is to crank your subwoofer’s volume dial to its maximum setting. Instead, set the volume dial to about 75 percent or so and adjust the subwoofer output level from your AV receiver or preamp/processor instead. Turn the volume up and down in wide swings at first, then in smaller increments until you reach the point at which you don’t really notice the subwoofer. It should essentially “vanish” into the sound, creating the illusion that your entire system is reproducing all of that bass response. A well-integrated subwoofer will also expand the soundstage in terms of both depth and width.

Work with your room, not against it

Here’s where we get into working with your room instead of against it. Rather than try to out-muscle the effect your room has on sound by tweaking the sound itself, tweak your room so it doesn’t affect the sound in the first place. One of the easiest ways to do this is to put some kind of acoustic treatment in the corners of the room. You can go with bass traps or some other purpose-built sound-absorption device, but these can be expensive … and ugly. To bust up the acoustical mess in your room’s corners, try placing a piece of furniture (avoid glass or large flat surfaces – that’s what we’re trying to fix, here!) or a large potted plant (it can be fake) in the space. Shelves filled with books are great for this sort of thing, too.

If you have hardwood or concrete floors, investing in some carpet or a rug will help tremendously. For those with hardwood floors, the use of floor spikes and protective discs under your sub will make a difference. If you want to spend more money, you can also consider a dedicated subwoofer stand (yes, they make those).

Double down!

Before we share our final bit of advice, bear in mind that we’re not salespeople – we have absolutely no interest in milking you of your hard-earned money. What we’re about to tell you is true. We’ve tried it ourselves, and the results are fantastic.

You should have two subwoofers.

Seriously, you really should. One of the best research papers ever written on this topic was penned by Todd Welti, an acoustic technician at Harman International (the company that makes Harman/Kardon electronics, JBL speakers, etc.), and this was his conclusion. We understand that, for domestic reasons, the multiple subwoofer route is frequently less than ideal, but we’re here to tell you it sounds spectacular. If you can swing it, you should. Multiple subs won’t fix the issue of standing waves, but it will give everyone in the room a better sense of bass response by eliminating the potential for those null spaces we mentioned earlier.

Go forth and be moved

It may take a few passes – or even a few days – to get things just right. You might even upset a few neighbors or roommates along the way. But that glorious moment when your subwoofer is delivering the kind of bass that makes your spine tingle is worth any associated work and grief. Have fun!

For help with the rest of your system, be sure to check out our guide to the various types of speakers and what they’re good for, as well as our list of the best A/V receivers you can buy.

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Nasal vaccine suspends peanut allergies in mice. Could humans be next?

Imagine a vaccine that can “turn off” peanut allergies, an allergic reaction which affects more than 3 million people in the United States alone. Thanks to research carried out at Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan, such a dream might become a reality.

Researchers at the institution have developed a special nasal vaccine, and demonstrated its efficacy in mice. The vaccine is a nanoemulsion capable of increasing the body’s natural immune response. After just a few monthly doses of the vaccine, mice were temporarily protected from allergic reactions after peanut exposure. This immunization against the reaction continued for two weeks after the final dose of vaccine had been administered. The exact duration is still being investigated.

“Our group is working towards the development of vaccines as a safe and long-lasting immunotherapies to treat food allergy,” Jessica O’Konek, a research investigator at the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center, told Digital Trends. “We studied our experimental vaccine in mouse models of peanut allergy and found that three doses of the vaccine changed the immune responses to peanut, suppressing the components of the response that are known to result in allergic reactions. Importantly, mice that received the vaccine had significantly less severe reactions to peanut exposure compared to mice that received the placebo. These results are exciting because they demonstrate that just three doses of a vaccine can confer protection from allergic reactions to peanut.”

While this work has currently only been conducted with mice, it is a potentially significant advance which may one day be carried over to humans. Interestingly, mice with an allergic response to peanuts exhibit similar symptoms to humans, including itchy skin and difficulty breathing.

“We are currently testing how long the protection induced by the vaccine lasts, as well as expanding our studies to include other food allergens,” O’Konek continued. “We are also further investigating the mechanisms by which this vaccine works, and are hopeful that we will move this forward towards clinical trials in humans.”

A paper describing the work, “Nanoemulsion adjuvant-driven redirection of TH2 immunity inhibits allergic reactions in murine models of peanut allergy,” was recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

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Mind-reading A.I. algorithm can work out what music is playing in your head

Most of us have used apps like Shazam, which can identify songs when we hold up our phone up to a speaker. But what if it was possible for an app to identify a piece of music based on nothing more than your thought patterns. Impossible? Perhaps not, according to a new piece of research carried out by investigators at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2014, researcher Brian Pasley and colleagues used a deep-learning algorithm and brain activity, measured with electrodes, to turn a person’s thoughts into digitally synthesized speech. This was achieved by analyzing a person’s brain waves while they were speaking in order to decode the link between speech and brain activity.

Jump forward a few years, and the team has now improved on that earlier research and applied their findings to music. Specifically, they were able to accurately (50 percent more accurately than the previous study) predict what sounds a pianist is thinking of, based on brain activity.

“During auditory perception, when you listen to sounds such as speech or music, we know that certain parts of the auditory cortex decompose these sounds into acoustic frequencies — for example, low or high tones,” Pasley told Digital Trends. “We tested if these same brain areas also process imagined sounds in the same way you internally verbalize the sound of your own voice, or imagine the sound of classical music in a silent room. We found that there was large overlap, but also distinct differences in how the brain represents the sound of imagined music. By building a machine learning model of the neural representation of imagined sound, we used the model to guess with reasonable accuracy what sound was imagined at each instant in time.”

For the study, the team recorded a pianist’s brain activity when he played music on an electric keyboard. By doing this, they were able to match up both the brain patterns and the notes played. They then performed the experiment again, but turning off the sound of the keyboard and asking the musician to imagine the notes as he played them. This training allowed them to create their music-predicting algorithm.

“The long-term goal of our research is to develop algorithms for a speech prosthetic device to restore communication in paralyzed individuals who are unable to speak,” Pasley said. “We are quite far from realizing that goal, but this study represents an important step forward. It demonstrates that the neural signal during auditory imagery is sufficiently robust and precise for use in machine learning algorithms that can predict acoustic signals from measured brain activity.”

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

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MIT’s new A.I. could help map the roads Google hasn’t gotten to yet

Google Maps is a triumph of artificial intelligence in action, with the ability to guide us from one place to another using some impressive machine learning technology. But while the routing part of Google Maps doesn’t need too many humans in the mix, manually tracing the roads on the aerial images to make them machine usable is incredibly time-consuming and mundane. As a result, even with thousands of hours spent on this task, Google employees still haven’t managed to map the majority of the 20 million-plus miles of roadways that stretch around the world.

Fortunately, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) may have come up with a solution. They developed an automated method to build roadmaps which is 45 percent more accurate than existing methods. Called RoadTracer, the work uses neural networks to intelligently map roads on images. The system could be especially well-suited to map parts of the world where maps are frequently out of date, like remote and rural areas in the developing world.

“We trained the neural net using aerial images of 25 cities across six countries in North America and Europe,” Favyen Bastani, a graduate student at MIT CSAIL, told Digital Trends. “Specifically, for each city we assembled a corpus of high-resolution satellite imagery from Google Earth and ground truth road network graphs from OpenStreetMap, covering a region of roughly 10 square miles around the city center.”

RoadTracer works by starting with a known location on a road network and then examining the surrounding area to work out what is most likely to be the next part of the road. Once this point has been added, the process is repeated again and again until the entire road network has been added.

Going forward, the team hopes to move beyond relying on principally aerial images for mapping. “For example, they don’t give you information about roads with overpasses, since you obviously cannot see them from above,” Bastani said. “One of our other projects is to train systems on GPS data, and then to eventually be able to merge these approaches into a single mapping system.”

A paper describing the work will be presented in June at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) in Salt Lake City.

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Sleep with the fishes in the world’s first underwater villa

Travelers heading to the Maldives will soon be able to spend their entire vacation under the waves, if they wish.

The tiny Indian Ocean country already lets you dine in the depths of the deep blue sea, and later this year you’ll be able to book a room there, too.

Brought to you by the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort, the residence is said to be the first of its kind in the world.

It’ll be called “Muraka,” which means “coral” in the local language of the Maldives, will be able to accommodate up to nine guests. The undersea residence aims to offer “an intimate and immersive experience of one of the Earth’s most breathtaking marine environments,” Conrad Hotels & Resorts said in a release.

It adds: “Muraka is designed to blend into its environment, giving guests’ unparalleled views of the Indian Ocean at every turn. With vibrant colors and a diverse array of marine life all around, Muraka’s residents will be able to sleep alongside the wonders of the abundant and colorful marine life that inhabit the sea.”

The residence is designed as a two-level structure with space above sea level as well as below. Five meters (16.4 feet) beneath the waves, you’ll find a king-size bedroom, living area, bathroom, and spiral staircase that leads to the upper-level living room.

Views from the bedroom promise to be stunning, with the 180-degree transparent surrounds offering panoramic views of the Maldives’ rich, marine environment, as shown below.

(PRNewsfoto/Conrad Maldives Rangali Island) Conrad Hotels & Resorts

The upper level, meanwhile, offers a twin-size bedroom, bathroom, gym, butler’s quarters, private security quarters, integrated living room, kitchen, bar, and dining area, as well as a deck “that purposely faces the direction of the sunset for optimal viewing pleasure.”

On the opposite side of the villa guests will find a relaxation deck that faces the direction of sunrise, which you can enjoy while immersed in the deck’s infinity pool.

If that wasn’t enough, the upper level also features an additional king-size bedroom, together with a bathroom with an ocean-facing bathtub.

“Driven by our inspiration to deliver innovative and transformative experiences to our global travelers, the world’s first undersea residence encourages guests to explore the Maldives from an entirely new perspective below the surface of the sea,” said Ahmed Saleem, chief architect and designer of the undersea residence.

Prices for a stay at the Muraka have yet to be revealed, but it’s safe to say that most of us will need a lottery win to have any chance of staying there.

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Fitbit Versa vs. Fitbit Ionic: A battle of Fitbit’s flagships

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Fitness giant Fitbit first tested the smart wearable waters with 2016’s Blaze before releasing its first true smartwatch in 2017 dubbed the Ionic. A fitness-oriented device complete with smartwatch functionality, including music storage, contactless payments, message and call notifications, and various applications, the Ionic also carried the first iteration of Fitbit OS. Expectedly, there were improvements to be made.

Fitbit has since responded with the Versa, which is currently available for pre-order. Though our own review of the Versa concluded it looks strikingly similar to the Apple Watch 3, we found it to be much more than just a simple lookalike led by its upgraded operating system, Fitbit OS 2.

But is the Versa truly a step up from the Ionic? Its lower price point may suggest otherwise and its lack of built-in GPS capability has some fitness buffs scratching their heads. Furthermore, the Ionic did score highly in our own in-house review. Aside from the on-paper differences, Fitbit made definite design improvements with the Versa, which is sleeker and lighter than the Ionic, but with the Ionic soon to receive the same OS updates as the Versa, are these improvements worth the switch? We put Fitbit’s two latest smartwatch models in a head-to-head spec showdown to find out.

Specs

Fitbit continues to keep its internal specs under wraps, focusing instead on marketing its fitness features. Our own time with the Versa revealed speedy load times with just a touch of a lag while scrolling. Although the Ionic features the original Fitbit OS, software updates will carry over, making both operating systems essentially the same and compatible with all applications on the platform. This is great news for women who are Ionic wearers as they’ll no doubt appreciate the female health tracking features introduced with the Versa — and released later in 2018.

Both smartwatches are loaded with critical sensors including a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, optical heart rate monitor, altimeter, and an ambient light sensor. Although Fitbit has not yet announced an actual use for this yet, we can mention the relative SPO2 sensor here, capable of detecting blood oxygen levels.

The biggest leg up the Ionic has over the Versa is its built-in GPS, allowing you to accurately track distances.

One edge the Ionic has over the Versa is NFC built into its base model, allowing for contactless payments. You can still get this with the Versa Special Edition — however, it does cost $30 more. Both allow you to view alerts from your phone including text messages, app notifications, phone calls, and calendar events. As of now, response options are currently limited to Android users but developers are working on alternatives.

The biggest leg up the Ionic has over the Versa is its built-in GPS, allowing you to accurately track distances. Fitbit left this feature off the Versa entirely, which could be a deal-breaker for hardcore fitness enthusiasts who want to leave their phones at home. To be clear, the Versa still performs well without a smartphone but GPS unquestionably improves distance-tracking accuracy.

Both fitness-oriented smartwatches are chock-full of functional workout features and although the Versa is bringing more to the table, the fact Ionic users will soon utilize the same features leaves the Versa without much clout here — ultimately, built-in GPS gives the Ionic an edge.

Winner: Ionic 

Design

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

The Ionic features a blocky, rectangular shape that while separating it from antiquated circular timepieces, gives it more of a masculine appearance. While many love the design, some women find it to be rather large on their wrists, complimented by a wristband that appears too big to wear with additional jewelry. Fitbit countered this with the design of the Versa, featuring a shape it dubs the “squircle” with curved edges and more aggressive corners — designed specifically to look better on those with slimmer wrists, including a smaller wristband.

The Versa is also slimmer than the Ionic, with Fitbit touting it as the lightest smartwatch in the U.S. — this also makes it incredibly comfortable to wear. The Versa offers band choices of black, pink, or gray and special edition options that include a lavender woven band or a charcoal woven band. There are plenty of accessory bands to choose from, as well including silicone, metal, Horween leather, and designer options.

If you like the look of the Apple Watch and the Pebble, you’re going to find the Versa equally appealing, whereas the Ionic has more of a sporty aesthetic and is less sleek overall.

The Fitbit Ionic offers the same number of options, however, it does have a unique band changing mechanism which has proven appealing to many users. Both products include small and large wristband sizes which can be adjusted as necessary.

The Versa and Ionic have impressive screens that are easy to see in direct sunlight, equal resolutions, and feature 1000 nits of brightness. You’ll find three buttons on each watch, one on the right and two on the left. In the design category, it comes down to personal preference. If you like the look of the Apple Watch and the Pebble, you’re going to find the Versa equally appealing, whereas the Ionic has more of a sporty aesthetic and is less sleek overall.

Although it’s a close call, it’s clear Fitbit made the greatest design improvements with the Versa.

Winner: Versa

Battery life

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

It’s been a close race in every category so far, and battery life is no exception. The company claims that both the Versa and the Ionic offer four-plus days of battery life which is a huge step above competitors — looking at you, Apple Watch Series 3. The primary difference is when you utilize the GPS function on the Ionic, it cuts the battery life down to just 10 hours.

Our review of the Versa showed it to last three and a half days but this was while we consistently utilized all its functions. Although the 145mAh battery is smaller than the Ionic’s, early reviews show that both watches offer roughly the same battery life — and they only take a couple hours to charge.

Winner: Tie

Pricing and availability

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

The Fitbit Versa is currently available for $200 while the Fitbit Versa Special Edition — including Fitbit Pay compatibility — is priced at $230 via the company’s website. The Ionic is listed for $300 on Fitbit’s website but with the release of the Versa, you can find it on sale through third-party retailers, such as Amazon.

Even with sales, it’s hard to account for the $100 difference between the base models of the two, when the only real technical difference is the integrated GPS. You just can’t ignore the Versa’s stand-out fitness features, smart capabilities, and stunning design for $100 less than the Ionic.

Winner: Versa

Overall winner: Fitbit Versa

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

Fitbit continues to rival Apple with its newest addition to the smartwatch ranks but the question is how much better is the Versa than the Ionic? The Versa’s design has been dramatically improved, attributing to equal appeal by both genders. However, it lacks the built-in GPS offered by the Ionic, which could be a deal breaker for fitness enthusiasts who desire accurate distance tracking.

Due to the design improvements and its exceedingly lower price point, it’s hard not to crown the Versa as an overall winner. It will likely appeal more to the average smartwatch wearer, fitness enthusiast, and women in general while the Ionic is best for hardcore athletes requiring distance tracking capacity.

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ZTE’s U.S. technology ban could leave it without access to Android

ZTE could be banned from using Google’s Android operating system as a result of announcement made on Monday, April 16 that banned it from using U.S. technology for the next seven years.

The ban came following allegations that the Chinese company knowingly made false statements to U.S. officials regarding its sale of American technology to Iran. While ZTE chose to settle with the U.S. government over the issue, it emerged that the company had lied to officials about the disciplinary actions taken against staff, even going so far as to reward some employees for illegal actions. As a result, it is now illegal to sell or supply U.S.-based technology to ZTE — and critically for the Chinese company, that could include the Android operating system.

This is an especially large issue for ZTE — if you’re not using an Apple iPhone as your daily driver, then chances are you’re using an Android device. Android powers a staggeringly huge portion of the mobile market, with some sources putting the Google OS’s market share at almost three-quarters of the market, with most of the rest being dominated by Apple’s iOS. If ZTE were to lose access to the Android operating system, it would give the firm very few options in operating systems, with mobile operating systems outside iOS and Android taking up less than 1.5-percent of the market. One option for ZTE might be to reach out to Samsung for the Tizen operating system — but that OS is limited in apps and reach.

In contrast, while the impact on ZTE of this ban would be crippling, the blow to Google would be fairly minimal. While still a manufacturer with respectable sales numbers, ZTE is far from being a major player within the Android ecosphere, and the loss of ZTE’s presence wouldn’t even scratch Google’s mighty visage. Bloomberg reports that ZTE’s lawyers are currently in talks with Google officials regarding the ban and how to proceed going forward. ZTE has stated that it is assessing the full range of implications this decision has on the company. We have reached out to Google for comment.

Suspicion towards Chinese tech companies like ZTE and Huawei has intensified as of late, with the U.K. recently announcing that ZTE phones could pose a risk to national security, while both companies have been singled out as risky by U.S. intelligence agencies, and this is likely the reason why many U.S. carriers and sellers have cut ties with Huawei.

Editors’ Recommendations

• American companies are banned from selling to Chinese smartphone maker ZTE
• ZTE and Huawei respond to intelligence agency warnings over security risks
• Huawei to refocus its efforts on other markets in the face of U.S. roadblocks
• Xiaomi plans to launch its smartphones in the U.S. by the end of 2018
• Report: Best Buy has broken ties with Huawei and will no longer sell its phones

France is making its own WhatsApp clone in response to surveillance fears

prykhodov/123rf.com

France is building its own alternative to WhatsApp for French government officials, after concerns that foreign agents could use other services to spy on communications.

The messaging app is being built using free-to-use code from the internet, and will be heavily encrypted. The data centers will be located in France itself, where the French government can assure their safety and take steps to bolster its defenses wherever needed. Around 20 French government officials are currently testing the app, according to a French spokeswoman, and the aim is to have use of the service mandatory for all government employees by the summer.

While a large portion of modern messaging apps use end-to-end encryption to secure conversations from outside agents, there has been a rising tide of opposition from governments who feel they should be allowed access to certain messages in order to better protect national interests. Brazil took on chat giant WhatsApp over encryption in 2016, while another chat service, Telegram, has recently been banned in Russia because of the developers’ refusal to allow access to chat logs.

This particular case is likely much more relevant to France’s interests, as President Emmanuel Macron is apparently very fond of the chat app. While encryption has stayed secure on most chat apps, it’s clear that France isn’t willing to bet its data safety on that status quo.

“We need to find a way to have an encrypted messaging service that is not encrypted by the United States or Russia,” the spokeswoman said. “You start thinking about the potential breaches that could happen, as we saw with Facebook, so we should take the lead.”

Also likely to be central to the development of the new app are the growing concerns of data safety following the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. WhatsApp has been owned by the social media giant since 2014, and the scandal has heavily impacted Facebook’s reputation for security. The data-based scandal became so serious, of course, that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to testify before the U.S. Congress. WhatsApp also has a checkered past when it comes to data security, with hackers having accessed sensitive data, and having broken into private group conversations.

With data safety and security becoming increasingly relevant in our modern world, don’t expect France to be the last country to take these sorts of steps.

Editors’ Recommendations

• What does Grindr’s acquisition by a Chinese company mean for users?
• Hackers seize Atlanta’s network system, demand $51,000 in Bitcoin as ransom
• From the doctor to the DMV, blockchain can make governments swift and secure
• Tech companies pledge to not help governments pull off cyberattacks
• Governments are stepping in to regulate social media, but there may be a better way

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 review, 7 months later: A great phone that nobody should buy anymore

Samsung’s stylus-toting flagship holds up well but has been entirely replaced by the latest Galaxy S.

The Galaxy S9+ gets all of the focus right now, but we must remember Samsung has another big flagship that was hot stuff just a couple months ago: the Galaxy Note 8. I wrote my review of the Note 8 just over 7 months ago, and since using a couple other big-name flagships and Samsung’s latest, I’ve come back to the Note 8 to see how it stands with some age and a fresh software update to Oreo.

Samsung’s tick-tock release strategy spacing out the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines every year always puts each one in an odd predicament every six months, but in this case it’s extremely pronounced. With the Galaxy S9+ on the scene, the Note 8 has effectively zero addressable market now — here’s why.

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Lots to like

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 What I still love

Look, this is a $950 phone that came out just over half a year ago — it’s still going to feel fresh, modern and capable. And the Note 8 absolutely does. Partially due to the Galaxy S9 launching with a relatively unchanged design language, you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything in that respect with the Note 8 — it’s sleek, simple and beautiful. It’s also surprisingly robust: mine just recently survived a nasty 4-foot drop onto tile with nothing more than a scuff in the frame’s paint.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Note 8’s hardware is still great. And the display is top-notch.

It also still has a headphone jack, which instantly keeps it relevant to so many people, and also has some fan favorites like wireless charging and an SD card slot. Outside of signing the odd PDF I come across or annotating a screenshot I really haven’t been able to work the S Pen into my Note 8 usage, and I think stylus importance as a whole is regularly overestimated, but of course this is still the absolute best stylus experience on any phone if you need it. Samsung knows it has a certain set of users who will buy each and every Note because they’re tied to the stylus workflow — I just question how big that market is.

The Note 8’s screen is still amazing and a core strength of this phone. I’ve never found a situation in which it wasn’t bright enough to get the job done, and it even manages to get dim enough to not be bothersome at night (with some help from the blue light filter). Not that I expected any, but I don’t see any sort of screen defects like dead pixels, banding, discoloration or burn-in. It’s all great, and this is still a top-of-the-industry display.

But that’s all old news. We know the Note 8’s hardware is great. The big change Note 8 owners have experienced is the update to Android Oreo. Note 8 owners didn’t have to endure a full year before their update like Galaxy S8 owners did, but it still took a while. My expectations were tempered entirely by using the Galaxy S9+, so I knew what to expect — and thankfully, the experience of using a Note 8 on Oreo is near-identical to that of the GS9+.

Oreo is good, and I haven’t experienced bugs or slowdowns like so many previous Samsung updates.

This isn’t a dramatic departure from Nougat, especially considering the Note 8 already had some features not found on the GS8 series, but this still feels modern and is of course the newest software Samsung has to offer. It has all of the same shortcomings of duplicate apps and mountains of settings, but we expected that. Oreo didn’t bring any changes to the S Pen experience, which honestly doesn’t feel like it needs anything changed just for the sake of change, nor did it add some of the superfluous GS9 features like AR Emoji, but I see no huge loss there.

Performance is still great after the Oreo update, and my Note 8 hasn’t fallen back into its pattern of odd slowdowns and general jankiness that I found a couple months in. Samsung’s updates are particularly notorious for dramatically changing performance and arriving with bugs, and so far that hasn’t been the case here.

In daily use you’d be hard-pressed to find an area where the Galaxy Note 8 was slower than the Galaxy S9+, though perhaps you’d notice small changes in load times and multitasking if you set the two side-by-side for some synthetic testing. I certainly never felt like I was missing out on something when using the Note 8 on Oreo, and happily kept using it even though I could’ve bailed back to the Galaxy S9+ at any moment.

The GS9+ bests the Note 8’s camera overall, but this is still a great pair of shooters.

The Note 8’s cameras may not be top-of-the-line anymore since Samsung really stepped up its game with the Galaxy S9+, but it the older phone still deserves credit for the high overall quality. Extreme low-light shots won’t match the GS9+, but daylight shots, mixed lighting scenes and zoom photos are indistinguishable to my eyes — though it’s worth noting the Oreo update didn’t seem to make any improvement on Live Focus portrait shots. Looking at the great photos I’ve taken with this phone, this is still one of the better cameras available today, even if it’s been bested by Samsung’s latest.

A couple things faded

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 What I don’t like

7 months in, there isn’t too much to complain about with the Galaxy Note 8. Using the Galaxy S9+ the past few weeks has made it even clearer that I can’t stand the fingerprint sensor placement on the Note 8. It’s just downright too hard to reach, and useless for the notification swipe-down gesture. And that extra bit of screen size and its slightly blocky shape make it just that much tougher to handle and use in one hand compared to the latest Galaxy S. But these are things I found after a week of using it.

The Note 8 was never a strong battery performer, but Oreo added an extra question mark.

The only issue I have with the Note 8 that has changed since I first reviewed it is the battery life, which has taken a downward trend since being updated to Oreo. To be clear my battery life wasn’t exactly fantastic before, just merely average — but since grabbing Oreo to my U.S. unlocked model, I’ve had a couple days with very basic usage and under 3 hours of “screen on” time that hit 5% battery in under 12 hours. On Oreo, I’m good for roughly 16-17 hours of usage now no matter what I really do throughout the course of the charge. Anything even slightly intense, like hopping into Android Auto for 20 minutes or streaming video, takes a big chunk out of the battery.

Could this be fixed in a future update? Maybe, but don’t hold your breath.

On one hand it’s not uncommon for new updates to flip some bits incorrectly and cause odd battery drain, but this also isn’t exclusive to my phone. Chatter on Twitter, in our forums and on Reddit points to many Note 8 owners that are seeing battery life drop-offs after the update, all pointing to high “Android System” use as the culprit. There are theories about how to “fix” this, but I’m skeptical considering that my Galaxy S9+ battery life, with a larger battery and the same Oreo software, is also pretty weak. Suffering from the same bug? Perhaps. But it’s just as likely that this is just what a modern Samsung phone with Oreo gets out of a battery of this size.

Surprisingly, the glass back of my Note 8 has held up far better than my Galaxy S8’s has — albeit with months less of use, and more time spent in a case. But it definitely isn’t in mint condition, and as I continue to use it I simply watch its glossy exterior pick up cosmetic damage. Watching these shiny phones gradually pick up scratches with use is just part of the deal now — the best you can say is the Note 8’s body hasn’t aged any worse than expected.

No longer the best

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 7 months later

The Note 8, with the new Oreo software on board, is a really good phone that feels modern and worth the money even in April 2018. The latest software hasn’t slowed down like Nougat did for me, the hardware still looks and feels great, the screen is fantastic, and the cameras are very capable. The only things that really haven’t aged well on the Note 8 are the fingerprint sensor placement and the battery life — complaints we had from Day 1.

The Galaxy S9+ is the best Samsung phone available — only serious stylus users should consider a Note 8.

But the Note 8 doesn’t exist in a vacuum, even in Samsung’s own lineup. And because of that, I can’t come up with any reason why you’d buy the Note 8 today. For as solid and modern as it feels, there isn’t anything the Note 8 does better than the Galaxy S9+, save for the exclusive S Pen — and yet, the GS9+ is less expensive and has its own set of improvements and better features. The Note 8 is still $960 from Verizon, $960 from Sprint, $950 from AT&T and $870 from T-Mobile. That’s too much in a world where the Galaxy S9+ is $50 to $100 less.

Anyone who has had a Note 8 for months can still feel proud of it. In the past 7 months, the smartphone world hasn’t advanced beyond it. It feels fast, modern, powerful, feature-packed and capable. But for anyone looking to buy a big, expensive smartphone today, the Galaxy S9+ is Samsung’s sole front-runner — and unless you know you need a stylus, there’s no reason to buy the Note 8.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8

• Galaxy Note 8 review
• Galaxy Note 8 vs. Galaxy S8+
• Which Note 8 color is best?
• Complete Galaxy Note 8 specs
• Join our Galaxy Note 8 forums

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Is the Pixel 2 a good phone for former iPhone users?

Our forum members sure do think so.

Switching from iOS to Android (or vice-versa) is an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. Checking out a new mobile operating system often requires a big learning curve, but for some people, it’s one of the best decisions you can make after using the same OS for years on end.

One of our newer members to the Android Central forums is currently using an iPhone 6S, and they’re thinking about upgrading to the iPhone 8 Plus or making the jump to the Google Pixel 2 XL.

A decision like this isn’t made lightly, and a lot of our other members were quick to respond with their thoughts on the matter. Here are some of the top responses.

DesertTwang
04-17-2018 06:54 AM

“

I, too, made the switch from an iPhone 6, and got the Pixel 2. I was nervous as well about making the switch, especially after my last Android experience, which was horrible (Galaxy S3). But ever since I’ve had my Pixel 2, I love my smartphone again and never once looked back.

If you, like me, already are using a bunch of Google apps and services, the integration is pretty amazing. Fur…

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LeoRex
04-17-2018 07:32 AM

“

I’ve been using Google’s phones since the Nexus 5 and personally will not get phones from other marks for my personal use… I’ve dealt with Samsung’s and LG’s and I’m done with the headaches…

That being said, there really isn’t a ton to distinguish between the pixel 2 and the 8+ to be honest… Both are excellent phones to use… Fast, reliable, etc.

The Pixel’s camera is universally…

Reply

ajb1965
04-17-2018 04:33 PM

“

I have the 2XL and the iPhone X. I am writing this right now on my Pixel 2 XL. nuff said 🙂

I also had the iPhone 8 plus before the X. I can say that the cameras on both phones are amazing, but I prefer the XL shots over the iPhone. I do a lot of outdoor photography and I tend to get a lot of blue dot lense flair from the X. indoors they are about equal.

No quality issues with mine….

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cbreze
04-17-2018 12:42 PM

“

I think both are excellent phones. I have one of each and find it harder and harder to stick with the iPhone and find myself using the P2 for longer and longer periods of time. Since both are excellent devices it boils down to which OS I want to be using and Android wins as it is so much more flexible which equates to a better experience overall. The iPhone is in a drawer and has assumed back up…

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There’s plenty more to say on this subject, so we’d now love to hear from you – Do you think the Pixel 2 is a good upgrade from the iPhone 6S?

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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

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